The Body Fat Setpoint, Part IV: Changing the Setpoint

Prevention is Easier than Cure

Experiments in animals have confirmed what common sense suggests: it's easier to prevent health problems than to reverse them. Still, many health conditions can be improved, and in some cases reversed, through lifestyle interventions. It's important to have realistic expectations and to be kind to oneself. Cultivating a drill sergeant mentality will not improve quality of life, and isn't likely to be sustainable.

Fat Loss: a New Approach

If there's one thing that's consistent in the medical literature, it's that telling people to eat fewer calories does not help them lose weight in the long term. Gary Taubes has written about this at length in his book Good Calories, Bad Calories, and in his upcoming book on body fat. Many people who use this strategy see transient fat loss, followed by fat regain and a feeling of defeat. There's a simple reason for it: the body doesn't want to lose weight. It's extremely difficult to fight the fat mass setpoint, and the body will use every tool it has to maintain its preferred level of fat: hunger, reduced body temperature, higher muscle efficiency (i.e., less energy is expended for the same movement), lethargy, lowered immune function, et cetera.

Therefore, what we need for sustainable fat loss is not starvation; we need a treatment that lowers the fat mass setpoint. There are several criteria that this treatment will have to meet to qualify:

1. It must cause fat loss
2. It must not involve deliberate calorie restriction
3. It must maintain fat loss over a long period of time
4. It must not be harmful to overall health
   

I also prefer strategies that make sense from the perspective of human evolution.

Strategies: Diet Pattern

The most obvious treatment that fits all of my criteria is low-carbohydrate dieting. Overweight people eating low-carbohydrate diets generally lose fat and spontaneously reduce their calorie intake. In fact, in several diet studies, investigators compared an all-you-can-eat low-carbohydrate diet with a calorie-restricted low-fat diet. The low-carbohydrate dieters generally reduced their calorie intake and body fat to a similar or greater degree than the low-fat dieters, despite the fact that they ate all the calories they wanted (1). This suggest that their fat mass setpoint had changed. At this point, I think moderate carbohydrate restriction may be preferable to strict carbohydrate restriction for some people, due to the increasing number of reports I've read of people doing poorly in the long run on extremely low-carbohydrate diets (2).

Another strategy that appears effective is the "paleolithic" diet. In Dr. Staffan Lindeberg's 2007 diet study, overweight volunteers with heart disease lost fat and reduced their calorie intake to a remarkable degree while eating a diet consistent with our hunter-gatherer heritage (3). This result is consistent with another diet trial of the paleolithic diet in diabetics (4). In post hoc analysis, Dr. Lindeberg's group showed that the reduction in weight was apparently independent of changes in carbohydrate intake*. This suggests that the paleolithic diet has health benefits that are independent of carbohydrate intake.

Strategies: Gastrointestinal Health

Since the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is so intimately involved in body fat metabolism and overall health (see the former post), the next strategy is to improve GI health. There are a number of ways to do this, but they all center around four things:

1. Don't eat food that encourages the growth of harmful bacteria
2. Eat food that encourages the growth of good bacteria
3. Don't eat food that impairs gut barrier function
4. Eat food that promotes gut barrier health

The first one is pretty easy: avoid refined sugar, refined carbohydrate in general, and lactose if you're lactose intolerant. For the second and fourth points, make sure to eat fermentable fiber. In one trial, oligofructose supplements led to sustained fat loss, without any other changes in diet (5). This is consistent with experiments in rodents showing improvements in gut bacteria profile, gut barrier health, glucose tolerance and body fat mass with oligofructose supplementation (6, 7, 8).

Oligofructose is similar to inulin, a fiber that occurs naturally in a wide variety of plants. Good sources are jerusalem artichokes, jicama, artichokes, onions, leeks, burdock and chicory root. Certain non-industrial cultures had a high intake of inulin. There are some caveats to inulin, however: inulin and oligofructose can cause gas, and can also exacerbate gastroesophageal reflux disorder (9). So don't eat a big plate of jerusalem artichokes before that important date.

The colon is packed with symbiotic bacteria, and is the site of most intestinal fermentation. The small intestine contains fewer bacteria, but gut barrier function there is critical as well. The small intestine is where the GI doctor will take a biopsy to look for celiac disease. Celiac disease is a degeneration of the small intestinal lining due to an autoimmune reaction caused by gluten (in wheat, barley and rye). This brings us to one of the most important elements of maintaining gut barrier health: avoiding food sensitivities. Gluten and casein (in dairy protein) are the two most common offenders. Gluten sensitivity is widespread and typically undiagnosed (10).

Eating raw fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt and half-sour pickles also helps maintain the integrity of the upper GI tract. I doubt these have any effect on the colon, given the huge number of bacteria already present. Other important factors in gut barrier health are keeping the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in balance, eating nutrient-dense food, and avoiding the questionable chemical additives in processed food. If triglycerides are important for leptin sensitivity, then avoiding sugar and ensuring a regular source of omega-3 should aid weight loss as well.

Strategies: Micronutrients

As I discussed in the last post, micronutrient deficiency probably plays a role in obesity, both in ways that we understand and ways that we (or I) don't. Eating a diet that has a high nutrient density and ensuring a good vitamin D status will help any sustainable fat loss strategy. The easiest way to do this is to eliminate industrially processed foods such as white flour, sugar and seed oils. These constitute more than 50% of calories for the average Westerner.

After that, you can further increase your diet's nutrient density by learning to properly prepare grains and legumes to maximize their nutritional value and digestibility (11, 12; or by avoiding grains and legumes altogether if you wish), selecting organic and/or pasture-raised foods if possible, and eating seafood including seaweed. One of the problems with extremely low-carbohydrate diets is that they may be low in water-soluble micronutrients, although this isn't necessarily the case.

Strategies: Miscellaneous

In general, exercise isn't necessarily helpful for fat loss. However, there is one type of exercise that clearly is: high-intensity intermittent training (HIIT). It's basically a fancy name for sprints. They can be done on a track, on a stationary bicycle, using weight training circuits, or any other way that allows sufficient intensity. The key is to achieve maximal exertion for several brief periods, separated by rest. This type of exercise is not about burning calories through exertion: it's about increasing hormone sensitivity using an intense, brief stressor (hormesis). Even a ridiculously short period of time spent training HIIT each week can result in significant fat loss, despite no change in diet or calorie intake (13).

Anecdotally, many people have had success using intermittent fasting (IF) for fat loss. There's some evidence in the scientific literature that IF and related approaches may be helpful (14). There are different approaches to IF, but a common and effective method is to do two complete 24-hour fasts per week. It's important to note that IF isn't about restricting calories, it's about resetting the fat mass setpoint. After a fast, allow yourself to eat quality food until you're no longer hungry.

Insufficient sleep has been strongly and repeatedly linked to obesity. Whether it's a cause or consequence of obesity I can't say for sure, but in any case it's important for health to sleep until you feel rested. If your sleep quality is poor due to psychological stress, meditating before bedtime may help. I find that meditation has a remarkable effect on my sleep quality. Due to the poor development of oral and nasal structures in industrial nations, many people do not breathe effectively and may suffer from conditions such as sleep apnea that reduce sleep quality. Overweight also contributes to these problems.

I'm sure there are other useful strategies, but that's all I have for now. If you have something to add, please put it in the comments.


* Since reducing carbohydrate intake wasn't part of the intervention, this result is observational.

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21.00 | 0 comments

Healthy Diet Foods

Healthy eating regularly is important to keep your body healthy and protected from various types of diseases, and if you want to go on a diet to slim down the body's need for a healthy diet which you must choose healthy diet foods that contains nutrients that are beneficial to health body.

The need for healthy food can vary with a person because depending on gender, age, health, etc., therefore there is no diet that would work for everyone, and better if you consult with your doctor or nutritionist before doing healthy diet and choosing health diet foods for your diet consumption.

When you choose healthy diet food, try to select healthy food as a replacement selected processed foods to allow all internal organs work well and for that you should be able to choose healthy diet foods with the right amount of fat, protein and carbohydrates, high in fiber, vitamins and minerals.

Organic food can be a good choice for your healthy diet foods because the food organic using natural materials that do not contain chemicals that can damage the body, and by consuming organic foods means that you reduce the amount of toxins that enter the body, and make it a habit to read labels of product you choose so you know exactly the content of which is within the healthy foods you will buy, and it can help you to not buy unhealthy food that contains a lot of salt, sugar, or preservatives or artificial sweeteners.

By making consistently healthy diet and consume healthy diet foods on a regular basis, so to get the body healthy, strong, and protected from various kinds of disease, not something hard to obtain.

healthy diet foods

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20.08 | 0 comments

TRADITIONAL FOOD

Vegetables eaters often called vegetarian, means those who live from the source plants, including vegetables, grains, nuts and fruits. Is it true that vegetarian food is the best food for humans? Have long time many groups of people who have a belief that vegetarian food is the best food. In the discovery recently of a tribe that has a stone age culture, the Tasaday tribe. Prove that this tribe is a vegetarian.

A similar discovery was reported by the expert archaeological excavation of the Sumerian and the ancient Babylonians. The Archaeological reported that these two ancient nations produce 60 kinds of vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, and the life of these foods. This is what causes them to be healthy and live longer.

Those who make a research on the Ancient Egyptians also said that the ancient Egyptian life from wheat, barley, beans, onions and garlic. They only ever just eat meat. But over time they add meat foods in their diet, and it can be seen in the investigation of their mummies, which is the hardening of the arteries.

Aristoteles, Hippocrates, Plato, Diaogenes and Galen

History shows that one Greek philosopher, a named Phytagoras, has promoted a vegetarian diet in the 6th century BC, this followed by other philosophers, including :

1. Aristoteles, the famous philosopher Greek
2. Hippocrates, known as the father of the doctors
3. Plato, who was known as a vegetarian and a vegan approved
4. Diaogenes and Galen, known as the father of the Roman doctor was a promoter vegetarian

The characters of the Buddhist religion, Brahma, Hinduism and Jainism also teaches vegetarian food as an appropriate food for humans. One of the words of Siddhartha Gautama who is famous: "Do not kill any one animal".

Many public figures, scientists, religious leaders are vegetarians (not live without eating meat) has the full confidence that vegetarian food is the best food for humans. They among others are:
1. Charles Darwin, pioneer in the theory of evolution
2. Leonardo da Vinci, painter, and famous artists in the 13th century
3. Albert Einstein, the famous theory of relativity so that the emergence of the atomic bomb
4. Benjamin Franklin, the independence of the United States
5. Mahatma Gandhi, Indian independence leader
6. Isaac Newton, physicist

Besides the names mentioned above, there are many more characters of the famous, such as: Henry Ward Beecher, William Blake, Horace Greely, John Milton, Nicolo Paganini, John Ruskin, George Bernard Shaw, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy, and Francis Voltaire, Richard Wagner, as well as other figures who do not want to eat meat.

vegetables

Some of these figures provide comment or opinion on the meat:

1. "Since childhood I have abolished the use of meat", comments Leonardo da Vinci
2. "Many of my prayers are answered in a way to stop eating meat", comments Henry Ward Beecher
3. "I hold fast to the principle that meat meal is not suitable for humans. We are guilty of imitating the lower animals, when we actually higher than they were. Experience teaches that flesh foods are not suitable for those who would defeat his own desires ", commented Mahatma Gandhi
4. "I realized that food is not meat in accordance with a better sense or subtle, and I will avoid in the eating" commented Albert Schweitzer
   

Since the 19th century, the movement of vegetarianism, more and more developed. Vegetarianism unions have been established since 1809 in England, and in the year 1847 in America. This movement continues to grow well in this 20th century. But recently after the year 1980, the number of adherents of these schools of growing community. In America alone there are an estimated 12 million people are vegetarians. What is the incentive for them to become a vegetarian? One of the reasons is the belief that a vegetarian will have a longer life compared with people who are not vegetarians. Is this correct? Let us discuss in the next article.

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22.50 | 0 comments

Stew: Not Just another Hearty Soup

When it comes to warming up, not only our bodies but our kitchens, stews are at the top of the list. Just the smell of a simmering stew spells comfort and warmth. Soups can also give us this warm feeling, but be not confused - soups and stews are very different. Both are generally cooked on top of the stove or in a crock pot and both can contain meat and vegetables, but their liquid bases are different in many ways.

What is Stew?

The definition of a stew is solid food cooked in resilient gravy. Solid ingredients include meats, carrots, potatoes, celery and other types of vegetables. These meats and vegetables are chopped coarsely and added to a liquid. The liquid is thickened by flour or arrowroot after the stew simmers for a period of time.

Stews are simmered over low heat. The simmering time may be 3 hours to 8 hours depending on the type of stew. This simmering process allows the flavors of the stew ingredients to intermingle with each other. Often times extra spices are not necessary to give the stew its distinct comforting flavor and smell.

Where Did Stews Originate?

It is said that stews have long been a favorite in France. The French are known for making flavorful stews that are economical. When stew first originated it was considered a food for peasants. Stews were easily made with just a few ingredients and can be a dish that is served for more than just one sitting.

It didn’t take long for stews to become a dish of distinction. Today the French pride themselves on their vibrant and hearty stews. Yet France is not alone on their love for this type of dish. Polish too have their own form of stew known as “bigos” and the Germans consider goulash their favorite type of stew. The Americans are also true lovers of a good stew.

The Difference Between Stews & Soups

Even though both soups and stews warm the body, there are significant differences between the two.

Soups are often water based. Milk, or even fruit juices, can also be used to make a soup base. Soups can be served warm or cold and are usually served in a bowl due to the thin liquid soups are cooked in. Soups cook quickly compared to stews, which means the addition of more spices and seasonings are often times necessary to give a soup its distinct flavor.

Stews are much thicker and their liquids are often referred to as gravy. Stews are usually served as a main course. Soups can be both a main course or served as a starter for a meal. A good stew is always served hot and can be placed on a plate rather than in a bowl due to its thicker consistency. Stews are also much richer than soups and hold well when frozen and reheated.

Soups and stews can warm you up on a cold winter day and give a little comfort to fight off the winter blues. The differences between the may be quite distinctive, but the end result is still a warm comfort and great taste. Try simmering a hearty stew to see the difference for you.

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07.05 | 0 comments

Health Food Stores Online

With increasingly advanced ages, the more the technology of the goods is also used in everyday life, including the use of the Internet, today the internet has become part of the lives of many people, and even today many people look for information online or buy the product or service health products online such as through health food stores online.

With the purchase of health products through health food online stores many advantages to be gained compared to buying health products offline, and among other advantages are as follows:

1. Save money

Buying products online can be done from anywhere including from home, so you will save transportation costs or parking if you buy products online, and besides it is usually cheaper price because health food stores online do not have to pay many employees or pay the rental shops, because usually health food store online does not need a lot of people or a large room, saving operational costs, and can give a price cheaper products to customers

2. Save time

It only takes a few minutes to buy a product online, because you can directly select by visiting the website of the health food store online, and then the goods will be sent to you after you make payment for the purchase of these products, and here also you do not need to queue in making a purchase, so the health food stores online can save your time to be shopping efficient

3. Obtained Easier

Usually a website for selling has category for products group with a variety of category, and they provide a field where the product search in the website, so it will make easier for visitors to find the healthy product that they want, just enter the keyword of the product in the search field

Health food stores online help people in buying healthy food products quickly, and easily, and therefore if you are also seeking health product for a particular type, then it would not hurt if you try to buy online

Health food stores online

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01.03 | 0 comments

The Body Fat Setpoint, Part III: Dietary Causes of Obesity

What Caused the Setpoint to Change?

We have two criteria to narrow our search for the cause of modern fat gain:

1. It has to be new to the human environment
   
2. It has to cause leptin resistance or otherwise disturb the setpoint
   

Although I believe that exercise is part of a healthy lifestyle, it probably can't explain the increase in fat mass in modern nations. I've written about that here and here. There are various other possible explanations, such as industrial pollutants, a lack of sleep and psychological stress, which may play a role. But I feel that diet is likely to be the primary cause. When you're drinking 20 oz Cokes, bisphenol-A contamination is the least of your worries.

In the last post, I described two mechanisms that may contribute to elevating the body fat set point by causing leptin resistance: inflammation in the hypothalamus, and impaired leptin transport into the brain due to elevated triglycerides. After more reading and discussing it with my mentor, I've decided that the triglyceride hypothesis is on shaky ground*. Nevertheless, it is consistent with certain observations:

• Fibrate drugs that lower triglycerides can lower fat mass in rodents and humans
  
• Low-carbohydrate diets are effective for fat loss and lower triglycerides
• Fructose can cause leptin resistance in rodents and it elevates triglycerides (1)
• Fish oil reduces triglycerides. Some but not all studies have shown that fish oil aids fat loss (2)
  

Inflammation in the hypothalamus, with accompanying resistance to leptin signaling, has been reported in a number of animal studies of diet-induced obesity. I feel it's likely to occur in humans as well, although the dietary causes are probably different for humans. The hypothalamus is the primary site where leptin acts to regulate fat mass (3). Importantly, preventing inflammation in the brain prevents leptin resistance and obesity in diet-induced obese mice (3.1). The hypothalamus is likely to be the most important site of action. Research is underway on this.

The Role of Digestive Health

What causes inflammation in the hypothalamus? One of the most interesting hypotheses is that increased intestinal permeability allows inflammatory substances to cross into the circulation from the gut, irritating a number of tissues including the hypothalamus.

Dr. Remy Burcelin and his group have spearheaded this research. They've shown that high-fat diets cause obesity in mice, and that they also increase the level of an inflammatory substance called lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the blood. LPS is produced by gram-negative bacteria in the gut and is one of the main factors that activates the immune system during an infection. Antibiotics that kill gram-negative bacteria in the gut prevent the negative consequences of high-fat feeding in mice.

Burcelin's group showed that infusing LPS into mice on a low-fat chow diet causes them to become obese and insulin resistant just like high-fat fed mice (4). Furthermore, adding 10% of the soluble fiber oligofructose to the high-fat diet prevented the increase in intestinal permeability and also largely prevented the body fat gain and insulin resistance from high-fat feeding (5). Oligofructose is food for friendly gut bacteria and ends up being converted to butyrate and other short-chain fatty acids in the colon. This results in lower intestinal permeability to toxins such as LPS. This is particularly interesting because oligofructose supplements cause fat loss in humans (6).

A recent study showed that blood LPS levels are correlated with body fat, elevated cholesterol and triglycerides, and insulin resistance in humans (7). However, a separate study didn't come to the same conclusion (8). The discrepancy may be due to the fact that LPS isn't the only inflammatory substance to cross the gut lining-- other substances may also be involved. Anything in the blood that shouldn't be there is potentially inflammatory.

Overall, I think gut dysfunction probably plays a major role in obesity and other modern metabolic problems. Insufficient dietary fiber, micronutrient deficiencies, excessive gut irritating substances such as gluten, abnormal bacterial growth due to refined carbohydrates (particularly sugar), and omega-6:3 imbalance may all contribute to abnormal gut bacteria and increased gut permeability.

The Role of Fatty Acids and Micronutrients

Any time a disease involves inflammation, the first thing that comes to my mind is the balance between omega-6 and omega-3 fats. The modern Western diet is heavily weighted toward omega-6, which are the precursors to some very inflammatory substances (as well as a few that are anti-inflammatory). These substances are essential for health in the correct amounts, but they need to be balanced with omega-3 to prevent excessive and uncontrolled inflammatory responses. Animal models have repeatedly shown that omega-3 deficiency contributes to the fat gain and insulin resistance they develop when fed high-fat diets (9, 10, 11).

As a matter of fact, most of the papers claiming "saturated fat causes this or that in rodents" are actually studying omega-3 deficiency. The "saturated fats" that are typically used in high-fat rodent diets are refined fats from conventionally raised animals, which are very low in omega-3. If you add a bit of omega-3 to these diets, suddenly they don't cause the same metabolic problems, and are generally superior to refined seed oils, even in rodents (12, 13).

I believe that micronutrient deficiency also plays a role. Inadequate vitamin and mineral status can contribute to inflammation and weight gain. Obese people typically show deficiencies in several vitamins and minerals. The problem is that we don't know whether the deficiencies caused the obesity or vice versa. Refined carbohydrates and refined oils are the worst offenders because they're almost completely devoid of micronutrients.

Vitamin D in particular plays an important role in immune responses (including inflammation), and also appears to influence body fat mass. Vitamin D status is associated with body fat and insulin sensitivity in humans (14, 15, 16). More convincingly, genetic differences in the vitamin D receptor gene are also associated with body fat mass (17, 18), and vitamin D intake predicts future fat gain (19).

Exiting the Niche

I believe that we have strayed too far from our species' ecological niche, and our health is suffering. One manifestation of that is body fat gain. Many factors probably contribute, but I believe that diet is the most important. A diet heavy in nutrient-poor refined carbohydrates and industrial omega-6 oils, high in gut irritating substances such as gluten and sugar, and a lack of direct sunlight, have caused us to lose the robust digestion and good micronutrient status that characterized our distant ancestors. I believe that one consequence has been the dysregulation of the system that maintains the fat mass "setpoint". This has resulted in an increase in body fat in 20th century affluent nations, and other cultures eating our industrial food products.

In the next post, I'll discuss my thoughts on how to reset the body fat setpoint.


* The ratio of leptin in the serum to leptin in the brain is diminished in obesity, but given that serum leptin is very high in the obese, the absolute level of leptin in the brain is typically not lower than a lean person. Leptin is transported into the brain by a transport mechanism that saturates when serum leptin is not that much higher than the normal level for a lean person. Therefore, the fact that the ratio of serum to brain leptin is higher in the obese does not necessarily reflect a defect in transport, but rather the fact that the mechanism that transports leptin is already at full capacity.

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11.00 | 0 comments

BEST FOOD

You like to eat and you had to eat. You are always looking for food, is possible the most delicious food in the world. Do not we live to be happy? ... your favorite food? ... Spaghetti? Hamburger? ... Pizza? ... or Traditional food? Everything is quite good and well known by the world community. But the question arises, whether it be good for your body?

Therefore, humans eat to live, not live to eat, then select the food is an important issue. Tongue does not always taste so good measure. Even for the prosperity of the household, the nation and state, various considerations must be made in choosing the right foods for humans.


ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN BODY

One of the main things that must be considered in choosing the food is whether the food we eat is compatible with human anatomy? Human beings have been created in such a way with the specific organ, with their respective functions that have been determined. Deviation from natural law will harm the human body.

Thus, the best food for humans by itself is a suitable food for the human mouth, human teeth, human stomach, and also the human intestine. Scientists have long to get the structural differences between animal herbivores and animal carnivore. Let's look at the differences existing in both types of animals.


MOUTH AND TEETH

carnivore teeth (a dog) - herbivore teeth (a cow) - omnivore teeth (a human)

When we look at the human mouth and the dog's mouth, we immediately can see the real difference. Human mouth has a small opening so that food can enter into the mouth only in limited amounts. In addition, mastication is needed before these foods into the human body.

If you eat a big piece of meat, by itself will occur in the throat blockage. Another case with carnivore animals that have a large mouth opening, which can include a larger meat. By opening the mouth, it turns out humans are among the herbivores.

What about human teeth? Dr. WAS Collen, with other scientists from Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, reported in the American Society for the study of Atherosclerosis, that people's teeth made for eating vegetation.

Dr. Coelen find that the structure of herbivore incisors have sharp form, whereas the teeth molars have a flat surface or slightly wavy, which is used to crush and chew the food. In the carnivore group, tooth structure has been created in such a way as to allow the animal to eat the raw meat. Carnivora have elongated canine teeth, strong and sharp side to bite and rend flesh. Molars were the teeth have a sharp side for cutting meat. It turned out to resemble human teeth tooth herbivorous gorillas and other animals both in the amount of the composition, or structure. Thus, the most appropriate food for humans in terms of tooth is owned plants.


MOVEMENT MOLARS

Dr. Hereward Carrington stated that the way food mastication of herbivorous animals is different class when compared with carnivore groups. Herbivores have three kinds of movement that is a molar vertical movement, horizontal movement, and movement forward and backward. Carnivore animals have only one kind of molar movement, the opening and closing the jaw. When we examine the movement of human molars, has three kinds of the same molar movements as herbivores, although the movement is limited. Thus, it is clear in this respect humans are not considered in the carnivore.


INTESTINES

Research that has been created by Dr. GS Huntington, author of The Anatomy of the Human Peritoneum and Abdominal Cavity, in studying the differences in the digestive tract of some animal food and human, that small intestine is very long herbivore, colon also very long and smooth, whereas the small intestine shorter carnivore, large intestine was also shorter, straight and smooth. Human small intestine and colon length was also much too long, like the bags to form the letter "U" inverted, where the composition is suitable for placement of the remains of fiber derived from plants, compared with the meat. Dr. Huntington, in studying the structure of the human digestive tract does not have enough evidence that the man belonged to the carnivore, and even evidence obtained from human teeth and human intestine showed that human ancestors most are the ones even entirely herbivorous.


HOW SWEATING

human sweat glands

Dr. Philip Chen said that the herbivorous group, sweat glands sweat through the pores of the skin, while the carnivore, the sweat out through the mouth. What about you sweat? No different from herbivores is not it?

SOME OTHER EQUATIONS

Several other similarities between humans and herbivores can below :

1. In the blood group herbivorous animals and humans showed that the ratio of alpha and beta lipoproteins are decreased, whereas in animal blood carnivore, the ratio rises.

2. Human saliva contains enzymes such as saliva ptyalin other herbivores, which is useful for digesting carbohydrate, whereas saliva from carnivore groups can not digest carbohydrate.

3. Humans drink like other herbivorous groups, that is sucking the water, whereas the carnivore animals drinking water by using his tongue.

4. Human bile salt like other herbivore groups, quite different from carnivore groups.

In terms of human anatomy, human have proved a lot in common with herbivores, both in terms of the mouth, teeth, tooth movements molars, intestines, sweat way, the comparison of lipoprotein in blood, saliva, how to drink and bile salts. When the anatomy, humans are among the herbivores, it is clear that the best food is food herbivores, namely in the form of food or produced from plants.

Of the human anatomy, human actually intended to eat plants, then the negative symptoms will arise when humans eat meat, of course excessive. Since humans also need food meat but in a certain amount, then classified to the omnivorous human (eat plants and some meat).

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03.22 | 0 comments

Krauss's New Article on Saturated Fat Intervention Trials

Dr. Ronald Krauss's group just published another article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, this time on the intervention trials examining the effectiveness of reducing saturated fat and/or replacing it with other nutrients, particularly carbohydrate or polyunsaturated seed oils. I don't agree with everything in this article. For example, they cite the Finnish Mental Hospital trial. They openly acknowledge some contradictory data, although they left out the Sydney diet-heart study and the Rose et al. corn oil study, both of which showed greatly increased mortality from replacing animal fats with polyunsaturated seed oils. Nevertheless, they get it right in the end:

Particularly given the differential effects of dietary saturated fats and carbohydrates on concentrations of larger and smaller LDL particles, respectively, dietary efforts to improve the increasing burden of CVD risk associated with atherogenic dyslipidemia should primarily emphasize the limitation of refined carbohydrate intakes and a reduction in excess adiposity.

This is really cool. Krauss is channeling Weston Price. If this keeps up, I may have no reason to blog anymore!

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10.53 | 0 comments

Low Fat High Protein Foods – How To Get Your Lean Protein

by Mike Roussell PhD(c)

All the foods that you eat greatly impact your ability to lose weight. Protein, carbohydrates, and fats each have important roles and specific qualities that make them essential to a fat loss diet. What is interesting this is that the USDA, National Cholesterol Education Program, American Heart Association, and many scientists have previously essentially written off the benefit of protein above the body’s minimal requirement. “15% of calories or 0.8g/kg is all you need” We’ve heard that before.

However, there has been a surge of research and buzz around the importance of increased protein intake for not just weight loss but cardiovascular disease reduction, blood sugar control, and lowering blood pressure.

If you are looking to maximize fat loss then you are going to need to make sure that you get more than ‘adequate’ protein levels. When you increase your protein intake and decrease your carbohydrate intake, from a biochemical perspective you are removing an insulin stimulating nutrient (carbohydrates) and replacing it with a nutrient that has a much lesser effect on insulin (protein). Protein also causes your body to release another hormone called glucogon which counteracts insulin. Control insulin and you control the rate in which you burn fat.

Here are some great tips for choosing and maximizing lean protein consumption for fat loss (surprisingly from the US Government).

Start with a lean choice:
*The leanest beef cuts include round steaks and roasts (round eye, top round, bottom round, round tip), top loin, top sirloin, and chuck shoulder and arm roasts.
*The leanest pork choices include pork loin, tenderloin, center loin, and ham.
*Choose extra lean ground beef. The label should say at least “90% lean”. You may be able to find ground beef that is 93% or 95% lean.
*Buy skinless chicken parts, or take off the skin before cooking.
*Boneless skinless chicken breasts and turkey cutlets are the leanest poultry choices.
*Choose lean turkey, roast beef, ham, or low-fat luncheon meats for sandwiches instead of luncheon meats with more fat, such as regular bologna or salami.

Keep it lean:
*Trim away all of the visible fat from meats and poultry before cooking.
*Broil, grill, roast, poach, or boil meat, poultry, or fish instead of frying.
*Drain off any fat that appears during cooking.
*Skip or limit the breading on meat, poultry, or fish. Breading adds fat and calories. It will also cause the food to soak up more fat during frying.
*Prepare dry beans and peas without added fats.
*Choose and prepare foods without high fat sauces or gravies.

Use these tips to add high quality, low fat, high protein foods to your diet. The quality of your diet will improve, your weight loss will increase, and you’ll be an all around healthier person.

About the Author/More Info:

Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete 28 day diet and training system crafted to help you lose 10,15, or 20lbs of body fat in just 28 day. To start losing weight fast visit WarpSpeedFatLoss.com. Mike Roussell is a nutrition doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania. Mike's writings can be found in magazines such as Men's Health, Men's Fitness, and Testosterone Nation. Mike specializes in fat loss nutrition and diets for busy men and women who need to lose weight fast without it interfering with their lives. Warp Speed Fat Loss (WarpSpeedFatLoss.com) is a complete Done-for-You A-Z Fat Loss Blueprint that gives you exactly everything you need to eat to lose weight in record time.

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05.58 | 0 comments

The Body Fat Setpoint, Part II: Mechanisms of Fat Gain

The Timeline of Fat Gain

Modern humans are unusual mammals in that fat mass varies greatly between individuals. Some animals carry a large amount of fat for a specific purpose, such as hibernation or migration. But all individuals of the same sex and social position will carry approximately the same amount of fat at any given time of year. Likewise, in hunter-gatherer societies worldwide, there isn't much variation in body weight-- nearly everyone is lean. Not necessarily lean like Usain Bolt, but not overweight.

Although overweight and obesity occurred forty years ago in the U.S. and U.K., they were much less common than today, particularly in children. Here are data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control NHANES surveys (from this post):

Together, this shows that a) leanness is the most natural condition for the human body, and b) something about our changing environment, not our genes, has caused our body fat to grow.

Fat Mass is Regulated by a Feedback Circuit Between Fat Tissue and the Brain

In the last post, I described how the body regulates fat mass, attempting to keep it within a narrow window or "setpoint". Body fat produces a hormone called leptin, which signals to the brain and other organs to decrease appetite, increase the metabolic rate and increase physical activity. More fat means more leptin, which then causes the extra fat to be burned. The little glitch is that some people become resistant to leptin, so that their brain doesn't hear the fat tissue screaming that it's already full. Leptin resistance nearly always accompanies obesity, because it's a precondition of significant fat gain. If a person weren't leptin resistant, he wouldn't have the ability to gain more than a few pounds of fat without heroic overeating (which is very very unpleasant when your brain is telling you to stop). Animal models of leptin resistance develop something that resembles human metabolic syndrome (abdominal obesity, blood lipid abnormalities, insulin resistance, high blood pressure).

The Role of the Hypothalamus

The hypothalamus is on the underside of the brain connected to the pituitary gland. It's the main site of leptin action in the brain, and it controls the majority of leptin's effects on appetite, energy expenditure and insulin sensitivity. Most of the known gene variations that are associated with overweight in humans influence the function of the hypothalamus in some way (1). Not surprisingly, leptin resistance in the hypothalamus has been proposed as a cause of obesity. It's been shown in rats and mice that hypothalamic leptin resistance occurs in diet-induced obesity, and it's almost certainly the case in humans as well. What's causing leptin resistance in the hypothalamus?

There are three leading explanations at this point that are not mutually exclusive. One is cellular stress in the endoplasmic reticulum, a structure inside the cell that's used for protein synthesis and folding. I've read the most recent paper on this in detail, and I found it unconvincing (2). I'm open to the idea, but it needs more rigorous support.

A second explanation is inflammation in the hypothalamus. Inflammation inhibits leptin and insulin signaling in a variety of cell types. At least two studies have shown that diet-induced obesity in rodents leads to inflammation in the hypothalamus (3, 4)*. If leptin is getting to the hypothalamus, but the hypothalamus is insensitive to it, it will require more leptin to get the same signal, and fat mass will creep up until it reaches a higher setpoint.

The other possibility is that leptin simply isn't reaching the hypothalamus. The brain is a unique organ. It's enclosed by the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which greatly restricts what can enter and leave it. Both insulin and leptin are actively transported across the BBB. It's been known for a decade that obesity in rodents is associated with a lower rate of leptin transport across the BBB (5, 6).

What causes a decrease in leptin transport across the BBB? Triglycerides are a major factor. These are circulating fats going from the liver and the digestive tract to other tissues. They're one of the blood lipid measurements the doctor makes when he draws your blood. Several studies in rodents have shown that high triglycerides cause a reduction in leptin transport across the BBB, and reducing triglycerides allows greater leptin transport and fat loss (7, 8). In support of this theory, the triglyceride-reducing drug gemfibrozil also causes weight loss in humans (9)**. Guess what else reduces triglycerides and causes weight loss? Low-carbohydrate diets, and avoiding sugar and refined carbohydrates in particular.

In the next post, I'll get more specific about what factors could be causing hypothalamic inflammation and/or reduced leptin transport across the BBB. I'll also discuss some ideas on how to reduce leptin resistance sustainably through diet and exercise.


* This is accomplished by feeding them sad little pellets that look like greasy chalk. They're made up mostly of lard, soybean oil, casein, maltodextrin or cornstarch, sugar, vitamins and minerals (this is a link to the the most commonly used diet for inducing obesity in rodents). Food doesn't get any more refined than this stuff, and adding just about anything to it, from fiber to fruit extracts, makes it less damaging.

** Fibrates are PPAR agonists, so the weight loss could also be due to something besides the reduction in triglycerides.

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12.00 | 0 comments

New Saturated Fat Review Article by Dr. Ronald Krauss

I never thought I'd see the day when one of the most prominent lipid researchers in the world did an honest review of the observational studies evaluating the link between saturated fat and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Ronald Krauss's group has published a review article titled "Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease". As anyone with two eyes and access to the medical literature would conclude (including myself), they found no association whatsoever between saturated fat intake and heart disease or stroke:

A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD.

Bravo, Dr. Krauss. That was a brave move.

Thanks to Peter for pointing out this article.

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09.42 | 0 comments

Organic Herb Seeds

Having an organic garden at home is one way that the body can get food healthier than non-organic foods. If you currently have a garden, but you did not plant the organic herb seeds or organic seeds, and you only used to plant a few crops or ornamental plants, so try to plant the organic herb seeds in your garden as well to get organic spices good for your health.

Organic herb seeds can be purchased at organic stores that sell organic seeds or you can buy herb seed online, too, because today some vendors of organic seed has also been selling these organic herb seeds over the Internet, so people can easily buy the seeds of their organic crops want them online. You just choose, and then pay for this products and the store will send the organic herbs seeds or organics seed directly into your house,

Organic seed is better because organic fertilizers, natural weed elimination method, the plant will produce a far better than non-organic crops. Even non-organic seeds that have been genetically modified are the opposite of organic seeds. Thus, investment-changing nature of the seeds in your garden is not recommended.

Based on the research been done on organic foods has been said that fruits and vegetables, organic food contains 40% more antioxidant substances from non-organic food, while the antioxidant substances help the body to avoid various kinds of diseases because this substance may fight free radicals in the body. And free radicals are commonly known to cause various diseases in the body such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and so on.

Therefore, organic foods in everyday life is a wise choice to get health benefits from this foods, and make sure that you really buy quality organic herb seeds or plant seeds that you buy certified organic seal, so that the organic herb seeds or plant seeds can grow organic better premises, and you obtain organic plants in your own garden with a good quality.

organic herb seeds

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00.01 | 0 comments

Paleo is Going Mainstream

There was an article on the modern "Paleolithic" lifestyle in the New York Times today. I thought it was a pretty fair treatment of the subject, although it did paint it as more macho and carnivorous than it needs to be. It features three attractive NY cave people. It appeared in the styles section here. Paleo is going mainstream. We can expect media health authorities to start getting defensive about it any minute now.

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13.35 | 0 comments

Healthy Snacks For Kids

Children often feel thirsty and hungry because they often play and spend a lot of energy so that they feel thirsty and hungry and want to consume more foods that thirst and hunger disappeared, and for that if you have small children so you should provide healthy snacks for kids to be consumed if your child is hungry and thirsty.

There are many different types of healthy snacks for kids you can prepare when your kids are hungry and thirsty. and you should choice the healthy snack that easy to be eaten by kids, and make sure the healthy foods contain lots of nutrition that have many benefits for their health and growth, and also make sure that not too many in number because at the time they are too full to eat the healthy snack, it can make they don’t wan to eat their lunch or dinner.

You can prepare some fruits that are ready to eat such as bananas, oranges, apples, Pears and others which have a small cut and inserted into a special place on the table. Or you can also prepare the coated bread with strawberries or peanuts jam or cheese and chocolate inside bread. And do not forget to prepare the water, fruit juice or nonfat milk to drink.

Other healthy foods can you give example by preparing a dry cereals including nuts and honey, the kids are enjoying these foods or you can make your own creations by mixing different types of healthy foods such as raisins, dried fruit, some chocolate, and aunt, seeds in a place easily seen and eaten by children when they are hungry.

Do not forget to check the type of nutrients contained in each type of healthy foods that will be consumed by your child, so that you know for certain types of nutrients into your child's body, and also make sure you do not give junk food that can make bad for the kid’s health also consuming junk food will keep the kinds will be influenced to always eat unhealthy food and will carry over until they grow up, so if you do not want your kid’s body becomes ill from consuming keep unhealthy foods. Start to give the best healthy snacks for kids in their daily lives so that their bodies can develop a perfect and healthy and protected from various kinds of diseases are around them.

Healthy snacks for kids

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01.29 | 0 comments