Currently viewing the tag: "Thermal Load"

Muscling Your Metabolism (Part 1)

By On · 133 Comments

defiant healthAs I sat on my back porch early one morning in October, 2008, there was no way for me to realize how this one crazy moment would completely change my life.  Over the weekend, I attended a meeting in Philadelphia and on the last night proclaimed to a friend that I was about to do the most odd experiment in my life.  I wanted to get to the bottom of “metabolism” and “burning calories.”  I wanted to understand why it seemed so difficult to lose a couple of pounds and yet I could easily GAIN a couple in a weekend.

So on the first day of this self experiment, I was sitting in shorts with no shoes, shirt, or hat.  I wondered what was it like to be cold? I wanted to see how far I could go.  That morning it was 33F/0.5C and the following week (an unseasonable chill for the area) it ranged from 32F/0C-41F/5C. So many things about all of this were fortuitous and not planned.  My goal was simple question:

Why do I get cold and what causes me to reach the point where I must seek warmth?

For the first time in my life, I was shivering uncontrollably. I don’t think I’d ever REALLY shivered before. I started writing down symptoms and sensations. I remember at one point my already illegible scribble in my notebook becoming even more unrecognizable and I put the notebook and pen down. Closing my eyes I could feel pain in my feet and hands.  My ears, nose and face burned and shivering got a little more aggressive. At first, I could close my eyes and will my shivering away for 10-20 seconds. At some point that no longer worked. My scalp tighten and I felt all the blood struggling to stay in my limbs.

I can’t remember if it was my ears, feet, hand, or face that finally made me call it quits, but I do remember walking in on very numb feet, barely able to open the door and deciding a warm shower was in order.  Even as my hand went under the first cold water that came out of the shower head, it was burning warm.  The shower faucet was the type that had the temperature preset and there was no WAY I was taking a shower at the normally adjusted temperature – it was entirely too hot. These perceptions of change are something we are all too fast to forget; There are a range of environments we can survive and our body doesn’t sense absolutes, but is driven by change.

What I’ve learned since makes me look back and laugh a bit at how extreme I perceived that morning to be, but not because I didn’t really experience the agony. This isn’t just a melodramatic, reminiscent account – it happened as severely as I remember it. What I have learned is just how adaptable the Human body is to the world around us. As machines go we are INCREDIBLY adaptable.  Our simple, one-dimensional explanations of what we might in one moment experience or perceive are often skewed from what we are really capable of doing.

I was  just as wrong about my ideas of metabolism back then and I would argue that many physicians, nutritionists,  and fitness experts fall into the same trap.  What sets me apart now is that I am measuring metabolism weekly in range of conditions and people and it’s opened up my eyes to an entirely new world.

The Beginning

I’ve been reading/collecting/studying physiology, nutrition, and metabolism textbooks from the late 18th century to the early 19th century.  The work that was completed during this period is spectacular. What began with the Enlightenment and persisted through the Industrial Revolution was a very profound shift in how we viewed our bodies. Although there had been exploration of what we now calle metabolism going all the way back to Hippocrates (460 BC-370 BC), the progress we made during this ~125 years was simply astounding.

It’s important as one reads these classic papers and textbooks to somewhat immerse in their world.  It’s easy to see the debate of the time and it’s interesting to look back with the same clarity that  I now reflect on my first cold experiment, and know who’s right and who’s wrong.  When we look back 100 years from now, what do you think we’ll find?  We didn’t drink enough sodas or protein shakes? We didn’t take enough supplements? Where do we get our “protein” anyway? Was everyone allergic to wheat gluten?

Whether it’s the work of Becher, Lavoisier, or Atwater, there are so many hypotheses we know to be true today, but were highly debated when introduced. Yet, curiosity and perseverance caused these free-thinkers to press forward and conduct experiments and collect supporting data. They challenged status quo and it didn’t always make them popular.

For example, nearly a century past with the world’s greatest scientists all knowing that the reason things burned was due to the “phlogiston” contained within the substance.(1) These “phlogisticated” substances were “dephlogisticated” when burned. The air only had a limited amount of phlogiston it could absorb. Whether it was a candle or a Guinea pig in a sealed container, soon the air was no longer capable of absorbing any more phlogiston and the life, like the candle, was extinguished.  We now understatnd  from the work of Lavoisier that it was the oxygen in the air that diminished, but for a century, the best scientists in the world followed the phlogistic doctrine.

It interesting that nearly 200 years later, Lavoisier had it correct in his November 19, 1790 letter to Dr Joseph Black at the University of Edinburgh when he writes:

  1. La quantité d’air vital ou gaz oxigène qu’un homme en repos et à jeun consomme, ou plutôt convertit en air fixe ou acide carbonique, pendant une heure est de 1200 pouces cubiques de France environ, quand il est placé dans une température de 26 degrés.
  2. Cette quantité s’élève à 1400 pouces, dans les mêmes circonstances, si la personne est placée dans une température de 12 degrés seulement.
  3. La quantité de gaz oxigène consommée, ou convertie en acide carbonique, augmente pendant le tems de la digestion et s’élève à 1800 ou 1900 pouces.
  4. Par le mouvement et l’exercice on la porte jusqu’à 4000 pouces par heure et même davantage…”
  1. The quantity of vital air or oxygen gas that a man at rest and fasting consumes, or rather converts into fixed air or carbonic acid for an hour, is 1200 cubic French inches when it is placed in a temperature of 26 degrees.
  2. This amount increases to 1400 inches in the same circumstances, if the person is placed in a temperature of 12 degrees only.
  3. The amount of oxygen gas consumed or converted into carbonic acid increases during the time of digestion and amounts to 1800 or 1900 inches.
  4. By movement and exercise, the amount is increased up to 4000 inches per hour and even more.

Nutrition. Exercise. Thermal Load.  There it is before we even fully agreed on the existence of Oxygen. It might be interesting to note that Lavoisier did this work in his home laboratory and invited scientists from around the world to come work with his equipment.  I like that kind of career and I can completely identify with the inner passion.

This was one of a series of letters written to Dr Black in late 1790 to convince him that the phlogistic doctrine represented good observations, but was fundamentally wrong explanation at the same time.  Dr Black, a stauch advocate of the phlogistic doctrine, replied a two months later not with disdain, but with gracious respect:

…Having been accustomed, for thirty years, to believe and to teach the phlogistic doctrine , as it was understood before the development of your system, I, for a long time, experienced extreme repugnance to the new system, which represented, as absurdity, that which I had hitherto regarded as sound doctrine   Nevertheless, that repugnance, which proceeded entirely from the force of habit, hath gradually diminished, overcome by the clearness of your demonstrations, and solidity of your plan. Although there are some particular facts , the explications of which appears to be difficult; I am convinced, that yours is much better founded than the ancient doctrine…

He goes on to write,

…But if the power of habit prevents some among the older chemists from appreciating your ideas, the young students, who are not influenced by the same power, range themselves universally on your side…

This is how science is ever growing and changes, but these sorts of exchanges can now happen  happen in milliseconds in email and instead of published letters (Lavoisier’s letters to Dr. Black were not publicly published until the late 1800s).  Lavoisier, unfortunately was guillotined just three years later at the age of 50 for his participation in the Ferme générale, an outsourced tax collection service to the king [Note to self: stick with paypal donations]. It was a huge loss and we’ll never know where Lavoisier’s work could really have ended.

The Raging Fire

What strikes me about the totality of this research is the amount of time and widespread acceptance of the simple notion that man kept warm by expending caloric energy.  I’ve had more than one debate with those that should know better, but don’t seem to see the importance of this shift in our daily living environment. Of course keeping warm was an obvious part of life 200 years ago, but we’ve not learned much new to discount it’s importance in the daily balance.

Despite all that, there’s a lot more attention now and more and more people are becoming with both the idea and how it can be used.  We have discussed the  idea surrounding brown Adipose Tissue (BAT) on several blog posts, and it’s quite the rage in the media, but I want to go back to the BATgirl (Part 2) post.

In it we talked about the implications of not having any BAT at all.  We’ve also discussed the idea of exercise induced hormone, Irisin, for potentially creating new BAT, but are there other options? While it certainly can be advantageous to create or have BAT, can anyone, regardless of BAT levels, take advantage of 1) your ability to comfortably adapt to a wider range of cooler temperatures than you might otherwise expect and 2) what mechanisms might be in play when BAT’s not cause for warmth?

Remember, the way BAT causes the heat is through mitochondrial uncoupling – i.e. the cells power plant is encouraged to directly produce waste HEAT instead of ATP for cellular energy.  Since every cell has a mitochondrion for biogenesis, can mitochondrion in cells other than BAT be recruited to the causes?

There are two excellent papers I want to share.  The first is about skeletal muscle mitochondrial uncoupling from  Maastricht University, The Netherlands. (2) I will talk more about respiration calorimetry on the next post, but this study involved measuring the metabolic response in 10 lean men for both a warm (22C) and cool (16 C) environment.

 

Human Skeletal Muscle Mitochondrial Uncoupling Is Associated with Cold Induced Adaptive Thermogenesis

 

 

 

(1) James Bryan Conant, ed. The Overthrow of Phlogiston Theory: The Chemical Revolution of 1775–1789. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, (1950)

(2) Wijers SLJ, Schrauwen P, Saris WHM, van Marken Lichtenbelt WD. Human skeletal muscle mitochondrial uncoupling is associated with cold induced adaptive thermogenesis. PLoS ONE 2008;3:e1777-e1777

 

 

Beauty Sleep

By On · 79 Comments

gloves before sweater make you look better - how sleeping chilled can thin your thighs. Over the last 6 months, we’ve spent a lot of time on macronutrients and food. I believe (and can prove) the common protein-carbohydrate-fat speak paradigm is broken. These macromolecules are all well understood scientifically, and yet conceptually, real food doesn’t come in simple little packages; macronutrient density/percentage varies from food to food. Even when we attempt to cluster foods together with the these labels, it doesn’t capture the dynamic and interchange of the overriding metabolic rules and microbiome influence.

Generally speaking, the more refined one or more macronutrients in a “foodstuff,” the more unhealthy ingestion becomes. Take natural “sugar” for example: remove all of the fiber and other less digestible material to create highly concentrated forms of energy and one ends up with a whole host of metabolic interruptions. The same goes for fat – be it olive oil or lard. I will come back to this in much more detail in the future. Protein, the seemingly magic cure all for everything, is no different. The same is true for alcohol – the forth energy source, although most people have a reasonably good handle on at least this one macronutrient or know when it’s being taken in excess.

If we could somehow magically apply the obvious “truths” and perceptions about the macronutrient, alcohol, to the other three, we’d all be a lot closer to the how the body works. Children are now getting non alcoholic fatty liver disease in record numbers – a disease of mostly alcoholics for decades. For now, stop defining food in terms of “protein carbs and fat;” despite the wide spread use, this will only serve to complicate your choices and you’ll inevitably make a wrong decision. Reductionist thinking about macronutrients is THE problem we face today having mastered acute medical care and the battle ahead is clearly with chronic over-nutrition.

Orbital Mechanics of Sleep

It’s now Fall in the northern hemisphere and so let’s turn back to cold stress and look at how the seasons play into our biology. Certainly everyone should feel confident in the idea that day/light matters. When you skip a few time zones over, it’s impossible to just will oneself to immediately adapt. At NASA, we’d sleep shift a week or two before to avoid the 4 am crash when we worked night shifts for SpaceLab missions. Light and dark signals the body to do different things. While our body is certainly tied to the Earth’s rotation, it’s also tied to the seasons.

Because the Earth spins tilted on it’s axis, there is a difference in light reaching the Earth’s surface at different points of the orbital year. This of course results in the opposite seasons for Northern and Southern hemisphere. The Days get longer and shorter in summer and winter, respectively, and all biology responds in some degree to this seasonal variability.

Humans are not immune.

Seasonal variation matters to all biology on Earth. Anyone willing to take the bet that Humans have been so smart, we engineered seasonal variability out of our life in say, 100 years? We often are lead to believe we rule the Earth, but a tornado, hurricane or volcano can squash that delusion in an instant. Our biology is connected – I’m not one for mystical energies, but I also can’t explain sleep or details of monarch butterfly migration. Something is going on that’s doesn’t seem to care about what iCal/Outlook has in store.

Aww, Nuts. Not Peanuts AGAIN?

Thermal loading can be enhanced by proper food.

Give me the nuts or the iPad is Toast.

I have a squirrel in my backyard (along with lots of other wildlife) and over the last few years, I’ve spent a lot of time just observing habits. Certainly my willingness to feed him “pollutes” the data, but still there are interesting things to learn. In the spring, Gorilla,was eager to eat (my kids named him that after his chest beating poster when he/she wants food). Sometimes, he comes into my house, jumps up on the couch and looks at me. Hey, where are the nuts? In the spring or summer, he would eat maybe 2-3 peanuts and then, he’d stop. The rest, he just buried. This happened all summer. He eats a few, gets full and stops.

He’s not fat.

Fast forward to Fall and now Gorilla will not eat a single peanut. No matter what I do, every single peanut is immediately buried. He still comes to get them out of my hand. He still checks them out, but then it’s bounce, bounce, bounce off to bury the peanut. He knows that there are going to be a lot of days ahead with no food, so it’s time to store. This is, like all biology in the northern hemisphere, a time to conserve and prepare. Our friends down south, on the other hand, are actively making babies and having litters so that they can take the maximum amount of sun-time to grow and develop, while the long days give way to life-promoting light.

Our biology is inextricably intertwined with nature and I don’t think it requires supernatural or mystical to explain it. In time we are chipping away at the pieces, but for now there is a lot we don’t yet understand. What I’ve had the EXTREME privilege to do over the last 4 years is to live, experiment, and explore. It required many boring hours and resulted in minutes of unbridled excitement as ideas turned into confirming numbers on a computer screen. Countless hours of reflection, debate, and bewilderment, but now things are working in a very predictable way – natures way – we just take the time to stop and observe.

Gorilla doesn’t care about protein, carbs or fat and he likely won’t die of heart attack or stroke. Ok, right, I live in Alabama and for the record hunting isn’t allowed in the “city.”

Sleeping Your Ass Off

In the 4 Hour Body, Tim wrote about some of the various activities I did to “thermal load,” i.e. give my body a more difficult thermal environment to cope with and respond. I just wanted to reproduce that hypothesis about Michael Phelps’ enormous caloric intake. It worked and what began as social party small talk, launched into a new career and direction. Now Thousands have written and benefited from putting a little more “chill” in their life. I still get the ice-diet jabs, but they just glance off as many of us now know this is more than a fad diet.

Sleeping is a great time to boost RMR. In this eight day trial, waking RMR was boosted by an 22.5% by nothing more than sleeping more exposed by allowing room temperature to ride/lag with outdoor ambient. – unpublished Cronise.

In the spring, I conducted a few experiments on Sleep, RMR, and mild cold stress that mimic the environment in which our ancestors evolved. Unlike many, I don’t believe thermal load has to be severe or miserably cold. Although it’s taken some time to tease out results, I believe that bringing this evolutionary environment back into your life is not only easy, but enjoyable.  Contrary to our overly warm-adapted, snuggie tendency, we sleep much better when cool.

In this case I merely recorded my waking RMR – using the Microlife BodyGem – to get an indication of what my waking RMR responded.  The BodyGem only measures VO2 and it’s not calibrated before every test, but it does compare reasonably well to my new indirect calorimeter.   What one learns on measuring metabolism frequently, is that its ALWAYS changing.  The idea that we have a fixed “metabolism” or even a “slow one,”  really a stretch. It barely stays still long enough to measure it – and THAT is the advantage you can leverage into additional “calorie out” victories.

But don’t take my word for it, give it a try.  As the Fall comes on, I let the overall temperature in the house fall with the environment. It’s a way to plug back into nature’s cues much like you do with day/night and light.  I now sleep with open windows well down into the 40sF/5C range.  The house doesn’t drop quite that much, but it loosely tracks the outside.  The process for adaption takes two steps:

1) Lose the necessity of the “weight” of the blanket

2) Adapt to lower temperatures

Step 1 is actually the most difficult part.  Remember that the reason for lots of down-feathered duvets goes back to a time when bedrooms weren’t heated.  In many homes just 100 years ago, only the central area was heated and bedroom heat was a luxury (with the exception of fat kings in castles).  We used body heat – many times sleeping 2-4 in a bed – to keep warm on cold winter nights.  Do you sleep with too many covers? Here’s a test: Do you put your feet out of the cover and/or can’t possibly sleep with socks?

How did he KNOW that?

If the answer is yes, here’s what is going on at night.  You are overheating, but have such a psychological dependency on that heavy blanket that your body is trying to “fool itself” into believing you are “cool.” It’s dumping heat through your foot and at the same time fooling the brain with a strong sensor feedback that says it’s okay, I’m not REALLY overheating. Yes, you are. Meanwhile you are conserving heat. How much? More than you think and there is a significant effect on metabolism.

To complete step 1, simply slowly reign back to the sheet. First, blanket half way (you’ll wake up fully covered), then over your feet with sheet fully covered, and progress forward. You will find your “comfort” warm spot between you and the bed when you wake up. If a shoulder is cool, flip over to the “warm spot.”  Once you master sleeping with a sheet, do the same thing with the sheet until you are sleeping largely uncovered.  Room temps around 68-72 are fine, because after all, we don’t really walk around in blankets.  Here’s where it takes a – don’t laugh until you try it – twist.  Once you get down to removing sheets – put on gloves and socks. I still like the weight on my feet, so a cover at the end of the bed works well for me.

Don’t laugh. Just like going out for a chilly walk, covering the SYMPTOMS without shielding the torso, is a great way to help your body adapt – gloves before sweater make you look better.  I promise that as stupid as it may feel, During News Years resolutions – you’ll be feasting not fasting.  Start NOW.  Yes, I really don’t sleep with covers.

Step 2 is the easy part in that once you master step 1, it’s all a matter of letting your body get used to outside temperatures. It begins in the morning and it just requires the attitude to expose more and more time to cool.  No ice baths or miserable plunges are involved. No one’s died in a modern home or apartment due to lack of blankets. It’s a simple modification that adds up over the year. The gloves and socks will most likely be critical and you can even try a ski mask if it’s really cold. At this point I have lost some of you, but have I told you how much I DON’T want to run marathons – isn’t it much better to sleep off that urge?

If you’re camping, pack an additional higher temperature rated bag and start there.  You will wake up well rested and feeling REALLY great.

Why So Quiet?

Shivering for science…

Looking forward to hearing some of your feedback and observations. I will have more data on this soon.

I want to thank everyone for staying active on the comments, checking in on me, and keeping dialog going over the last two and a half months. Honestly, I couldn’t be MORE excited about what’s been going on with science/self experiments.  There are a whole series of posts that will come out and expect that I will not only get back on schedule from here on, but you’ll see post frequency increase as some of these results are made public. Occasionally  it’s prudent to stop filling space with eloquent assertions and wrapping bows around other people’s work and just roll up your sleeves and create new.

I guess with our dismal results a good argument could be made that we need much more sleeve rolling and my assertion is that its absence is precisely what’s lead to the ubiquitous protein-carb-fat myth. That being said, there is a TON of great peer reviewed literature that doesn’t fit current world views that is plainly ignored. Thermal Environment is a small example.

…measuring metabolism during workouts

I’ve had Astronauts, Scientists, writers and rock stars spend time with me over the last couple of months and they all seem to be understanding it despite coming from different backgrounds/educations.  Our biology is elegantly simple, but intensely difficult to describe. I’m taking a “top down” approach – beginning with basic observation, while throwing out the rulebook and trying to not accept anything without some verification. As I inch closer, a new picture is emerging and it’s been directly applied with many  people helped.

I have an AMAZING team of experts assembled and have reestablished connections with academia to leverage my N of 1 work into repeatable, measured, and objective publishable results.  It so easy to cast off lack of data on assertions of industry conspiracy/coverup, big business and “it can’t be measured.” A lot of claims are made and, I think, promised claims and trust broken by what has become a food-nutrtion-diet-supplement industry quagmire.

It has NEVER been easier to do research. Access to technology is incredible – I can only imagine where we would be if we had the diligence of late 19th/early 20th century scientists. As I have been reviewing early literature I am in complete awe of the sheer VOLUME of work/observation that they made with such little equipment. Perhaps excel makes it too easy to graph and draw correlations and we’ve become a little complacent and lazy with hard observation. Certainly the internet has not helped in the unsubstantiated claims department, but it’s also created a unprecedented opportunity for quality work at the individual level. This crowd-sourced research WILL make huge advancements over the next few decades – I am certain.

Mid life crisis indirect calorimeter. I don’t need a fancy car.

I’ve had a lot of offers to just “cash in,”  but decided to dig a little deeper.  It’s way too easy to slide into justifying your current story when clearly the data says it’s broken. We all know the story is broken with the obesity/chronic disease pandemic and it’s not a macronutrient ratios, nor is it lack of exercise, or even genetic destiny.  It’s NOT a low metabolism caused by skipping a meal (boy, will I EVER live down propagating that myth?).  I think it can be measured and fixed and I have a growing number of real world examples that seem to prove the point, but time will tell.

In the Next blog – Muscling Your Metabolism – we’ll look at some of the incredible advancements

Thanks for your support as always!

**************
Do you like these blogs and want to help me? Please take a minute to scroll up on the right side of the screen to consider making a monthly donation to this program. You can also make a one time donation here:

Thanks!
Ray

Fat – Part 2

By On · 50 Comments

the facts on Fat and weight loss. In Fat – Part 1 I explained some details about our body’s use of lipids (fat) and the role it plays in both survival and diet.  The most important concept to take away is that you MUST go on a naturally “high-fat diet,” digesting your OWN adipose tissue, to lose weight.  This may seem so incredibly obvious, but if you take a few minutes each day to think about it, I believe it will have profound impact on your results.

Why? because every calorie you put into your mouth will fuel your body and that will result in the part you WANT to lose remaining safely in place – the rainy day fund. You can juggle macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fat) to your heart’s desire and still it will not make any difference unless you run a caloric deficit.  No matter how frequently you pay your credit card bills, if you keep spending, you’ll never reduce the balance.

There is a yin yang to carbohydrate and fat and that is why they are presented as the evil sisters of the macronutrient triplets: protein carbohydrate and fat.

As we learned in the Carbohydrate posts, these starchy foods (natural starches – not french fries and chips) are not evil things to be “completely avoided.”  Glycemic index has a role, but it’s far from absolute. Fat is much the same.  It got its bad wrap in the 80s and became synonymous with weight gain.  When we look back in 100 years to the chronic obesity epidemic created at the end of the 21st century, the focus on fat in the 1980s will be shown to have started the health decline and launch us into record chronic illness. It will be our amazing mastery of calorie (food) that will be shown to have caused a decline in health after millions of years of battling starvation.

In fact, once fitness experts, media, and even physicians became obsessed with a “low-fat diet,” the food industry surged with advertisements: FAT FREE, low FAT, reduced FAT, no trans-FAT, saturated FAT-free and the list goes on and on. Of course you and I were lead to believe that fat-free = healthy, but all the food industry did was load up our food chain with simple sugar (high fuctose corn syrup, honey, sucrose, agave, etc…) and processed starches (flour, corn meal, wheat flour, etc).

Voilà, we began stuffing our mouths with healthy, low-fat “carbs” and now here we are 2 decades later and suddenly the new enemy is the carbohydrate. Can you sense the pattern here? It’s incredible to think our body’s entire energy economy is based on blood-sugar and yet the “new and improved” diet experts are now telling us our primary energy source is bad for you.

The Lizard Brain

You see, all of these concentrated energy foods give us that “lizard-brain” hit.  Simple sugars, processed starch, and fats (even OLIVE OIL) are all nothing more that concentrated energy with very little nutrient value. Ok, stop right there with the Omega-3 “good fats” thoughts.  Sure, we need omega-3s and we NEED fat (and carbohydrate) in our diet. The problem comes when it’s over processed, think concentrated and readily available.

If you’ve been reading this blog from the beginning (if not, start here), you should start to recognize a pattern and it doesn’t matter if you are paleolithic, vegan, body for life, The Zone, Atkins, Mediterranean or Ornish. No matter WHAT diet you decide to go on, the way you lose will be a caloric deficit.  It was clear to me after a few months of blogging on “boosting” your weight loss with mild cold stress that there was no way to boost, if everyone was confused about the primary issue at hand – burning ones own body fat as fuel.

So let’s think just a little more about fat and compare it to simple sugar.  In both cases you have something that is relatively unavailable in nature in it’s pure form. Rather, you find it in nature combined with other micronutrient your body needs.  Just try eating 250 lbs a year of sugar by gnawing on sugar cane – knock yourself out.

Your body needs more than energy and perhaps it’s seeking the plant-derived minerals, amino acids vitamins and other phytonutrients (light produced nutrients such as antioxidants) or maybe the amino acids found in meat.  Either way you will note that ENERGY (fuel) is ALWAYS packaged in nature with micronutrients or fiber – it just doesn’t exist in its pure form of simple sugars or fat.

We can go ahead and throw out the Inuit now as the exception that survived on seal and whale blubber. I might point out, selfishly, that they also had an ENORMOUS thermal load on their body, which called for extreme caloric intake (in excess of 5000 cal/day); they are not the healthiest culture despite their popularity to justify excessive fat consumption.

Low-carb and low fat diets are one in the same. Both limit ENERGY (fuel) and attempt to maintain the flow of micronutrients (maintenance) your body needs to function and repair while simultaneously living off your fat stores.

If it’s really that easy,  then why is it so difficult to resist?

It’s that damn lizard brain. Eat. Survive. Store. I don’t know when I might get a chance to drive through McDonalds again. WTF? That is the problem.  Your body is the result of millions of years of evolutionary starvation and we have been thrust into a world of plentiful, no EXCESSIVE calorie.

You know what is even worse than this excessive calorie? You are intelligent and you WANT to listen to all the experts that tell you it is okay to eat __________ and still lose weight. Here is what we can all be absolutely certain of: unless you begin to live off of the fat in the stomach, thighs, buttocks, or hips that you so desperately want to part ways with, no amount of macronutrient “juggling” will work.

Oh, and you can’t out-exercise your mouth.

If it Jiggles and Wiggles – Eat It.

So rather going into yet another scheme to juggle good fat from bad fat or good carb from bad carb, just know that simple sugars, processed carbs, and extracted fat/oils (including meats and excessive nuts) all contain a ton of energy (fuel) and will slow down the rate of loss. Its YOU and YOUR FAT that you want to digest. Don’t screw it up with olive oil and bacon. They might taste good and really give you that lizard brain hit, but it is only short lived. It’s only lasts as long as you are eating.

The reason I enjoy a vegan diet is that I  LOVE to eat and eating stops after you swallow.  I can simply eat a tremendous volume of food and not have to worry. Unlike most “vegans” (I use it as an adjective, not a noun), I don’t use oils (gasp – even olive oil) or  excess simple sugars, because I am focused on the maximum micronutrients with minimum calories and the MOST food I can joyfully stuff into my mouth (sorry – it’s true, I love to cook and eat). Besides, there are a lot of fat vegans and vegetarians. Just because it doesn’t have eyes or a mother, doesn’t make it automatically healthy.

For others you might still be addicted to simple sugars, or fat and so The Zone, BFL, paleo approach or Mediterranean might appeal. Just understand that if you tinker too much with fat (or simple sugars and processed carbs) you can easily over consume calories. If you do, your body will not be teased into burning “stomach, hips and thighs.”

So Fats, are necessary for good health, skin, nails, and brain function, but they contain a lot of calories per serving. What is worse is that one can EASILY hide an entire Snickers bar in the dressing on your salad…or cheese sauce on your broccoli…or the butter/sour cream on your baked potato without you even knowing it. Compounding this are the dopamine hits your lizard brain will get from these calorie-dense foods that did not exist when it evolved; eat more. eat more. eat more…thunder thighs.

Don’t kid yourself, sucking down loads of refined oils – even plant oils – are not going to help you in your battles. Afterall it was the vegetable oil and margarine surge of the 60s and 70s that lead to the 1980s “low fat” products that put us on the fast track to obesity.  Refined oils and fats and simple refined carbohydrates and highly processed starches (breads, crackers, chips, and milled grains) are both at the heart of the obesity surge and chronic illness we face today. The french fry, donut or potato chip are iconic images for me – fat-fried (even the “good fat” – LOL), sugar (oh yes, agave – the new, trendy “high-fuctose syrup”) and processed  starches. 

Is the answer protein? well, we will see about that in the next post.

Happy New Year to everyone and thanks for an amazing year in 2011!

Ray

**************
Do you like these blogs and want to help me? Please take a minute to scroll up on the right side of the screen consider making a monthly donation to this program. You can also make a one time donation here:

Thanks!
Ray

Carbohydrates – Part 3

By On · 41 Comments

glycogen is key to running long distance. When we bonk, it's because we are running low on glycogen and must switch to fat reserves.We’ve covered a lot of ground. What we’ve discussed  is that carbohydrates come in the form of simple sugars (monosaccharides) and more complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides). We know that the sugar names all end in “ose” (glucose, fructose, lactose, etc…). Polysaccharides are many of these monosaccharides linked together in a chain and are a common way plants store energy (similar to our fat) for later use.

I’m suggesting you stop thinking about “Carbs” as a food group; instead categorize meat, vegetables, grains, dairy, etc… Starch (potato) and Cellulose (wood) are made from IDENTICAL glucose molecules. They have a different saccharide bonds, only one of which we have the enzyme (amylase) to digest.

So in Part 3, I want to talk about another pseudo-carbohydrate that is critical for you – glycogen. Many of you are familiar with glycogen from athletics. It’s the “load” part of carb-loading in preparation for a race. It’s also the center of your glucose-centric metabolism and the reason I personally don’t think “carbs” are bad or unhealthy.

What is unhealthy is the way we process high-energy foods with even more empty calories and then consume them in excessive quantities.

So, let’s take a little step back to understand what glycogen is and why it’s important to your performance and your life. Your body has three basic storage points for energy: ATP (adenosine triphosphate), glycogen, and fat. the most immediate energy – what is behind the muscle explosion is ATP. You have about 250 grams of this stuff, about the same amount of energy as is contained in a AA battery, energy comes form popping off one of the phosphates to form ADP (adenosine diphosphate + energy)(1). We then use this other enzyme many of you will be familiar with, creatine kinase, to shuttle these phosphates back and forth.

Save the Liver

glycogen is key in energy of muscle tissue. When you run out fat must be utilized. ATP is at the very basic level of your energy utilization. Just above this in the “energy food chain,” is our friend, glycogen.  Think of  glycogen as a “fuzzy protein.”  It is made of a core protein, glycogenin, surrounded by fuzzy starch (poly glucose) hairs. It is located throughout your body.  You have about 2000 calories at any given time; 500 or so is stored in your liver and the rest packed among your muscles where it can be readily accessed. I’m using approximate numbers because everyone is slightly different, but here is an interesting side fact.

It takes (about) 2600 calories to run a marathon.  2000 calories/2600 calories = 77%.  Now using that number and knowing a marathon is 42.2Km/26.2M we see that 77% is 32.5Km/20.2 miles.  Anyone that has attempted to run a marathon can tell you about that number: THE WALL.  If you are like me and would rather freeze your ass off than run a marathon, that is the point where ATP can no longer be generated by glycogen stores (you’ve run out) and you MUST resort to stored fat.

Fat is then the highest level and quantity of stored energy in your body and the body has to work to get it into a primary glucose-based energy system.  Conversely, fatty foods (Oils, lards, etc)  have the densest energy reserves. It’s simple: fat is there for long term storage.  Plants, and Humans have carbohydrate based reserves for the most immediate needs and that is in your blood sugar level and glycogen reserve.

Record marathoners have trained their bodies to dip into fat reserves much earlier and they use fat throughout the race.  When we get back to fat metabolism and thermal loading, you’ll find this is a side benefit of conditioning your body to withstand cold – free fatty acids (FFA) liberated from your fat stores. You may remember from BATGirl, that the mitochondria of BAT and other tissue can use FFA in the presence of a special up-regulating proteins to create HEAT instead of generating ATP.

Your ability to regularly engage in this FFA economy can be significantly influenced by running marathons – extreme milage  volume causes this switch as does mild cold stress.  People make fun of me about cold all the time, but I just think this is far easier than running 50 miles/day. You may see it different.

What happens in Protein-rich diets is you have depleted your glycogen reserves and it’s energetically costly to refill glycogen from converting protein. Your body switches over to fat metabolism and voilà, you start losing weight. That’s how it works and the ultimate decision one should consider is what will be the long term health effects by using your body’s tertiary macronutrient, protein, to drive it into a secondary reserve, fat, by depleting it from it’s primary energy, glucose. The other direction works just as well and in a glycogen replete state, Chris  Voigt lost weight eating 20 potatoes a day – all bad carbs.  This is an interesting contrast to the high-fat approach and I think it’s far more important than a silly PR stunt.

Seems complicated, but I just want people to discuss this factually and make informed decisions.

We can equally manage 1) hunger (satiety) and 2) total caloric intake, while maintaining correct micronutrient intake, living permanently thin as opposed to yo-yo dieting.  This does require modifications to your lifestyle and I won’t tell you it is trivial, but neither is bypass surgery, insulin shots, high blood pressure, or lugging around an extra 50-200 lbs.

So, there really is not debate that carbohydrate, particularly starch, is a perfectly natural food.  As we process with cooking (or over process) ANY carbohydrate, the energy becomes more readily available and then we damn “starch” as the bad-calorie; it’s simply not true.  What is interesting is there are many ways to put your body into “survival mode” and only two that have ever demonstrated longevity in laboratory animals: caloric restriction and mild cold stress.

We still have to cover proteins and fats and we’ll keep the rules engaged, neither are food groups. As well, I want you guys to jump in on new commenters in the future and explain when we discuss carbohydrate here, we are primarily discussing high-starch foods that are relatively unprocessed (heated, with no added fat, dairy, or sugar).  If you don’t believe me, TRY to go find food in a restaurant that 1) contains a starch and 2) is not loaded with sugar, fat, or dairy. I did it as an experiment for 14 months and know first hand the difficulty.

Brain Drain

We are fat, but let’s not damn potato, squash, and rice – the very staples of Humankind – as the punching bag for of our epidemic obesity. Let’s acknowledge that preparation and added empty calories play the MAJORITY role.  When I construct a new paradigm to consider for eating at the end, you’ll see that there is plenty of room for carbohydrate (starchy-foods) on the plate.

Starches are an EXCELLENT food option and contain glucose, the only fuel used by the largest energy consumer of your body: The Brain.  When you run low on glucose (and glycogen), gluconeogenesis creates glucose from amino acids by stripping off the nitrogens and using what is left to synthesize glucose.  Energy for this is driven through beta-oxidation of FFA. If you have a lot of  beta-oxidation is occuring (untreated diabetes or starvation), acetyl-CoA builds up, and is converted to the ketone bodies. That’s the basis of ketosis and why ketones are found in your urine.

The brain-blood barrier is the separation of this distinctly different glucose metabolism from the rest of your body. So, I think is at least it is easily questionable to say carbs are “bad” or even the cause of obesity. At the same time, throwing your body completely into starvation mode, while certainly effective to lose weight, might not be the best long term. Of course we have to consider the implications of caloric restriction too. I just raise the question.

With that is it fair to ask if “carbohydrate” was so bad for you, why did we evolve one of the most advanced, energy-conuming brains of any species to use only a carbohydrate fuel?

Think about it.

 

(1) “On the prebiotic potential of reduced oxidation state phosphorus: the H-phosphinate–pyruvate system,” David E. Bryant, Katie E. R. Marriott, Stuart A. Macgregor, Colin Kilner, Matthew A. Pasek and Terence P. Kee, Chem. Commun., 2010, 46

**************
Do you like these blogs and want to help me? Please take a minute to scroll up on the right side of the screen consider making a monthly donation to this program. You can also make a one time donation here:

 

Thanks!
Ray

Burn, Baby, BURN

By On · 43 Comments


As we discussed in the last post, I want you to suspend all that you know about carbohydrates, proteins, and fat. I want you to clear notions of glycemic index and eating for blood type.  I’m asking you to not have conclusions about our paleolithic ancestors. No, let’s talk about the very basics of energy in our body, but check the Chakras at the door.

Today we’ll take a rather geeky-side step. We are going to talk about energy, oxidation, and heat (not temperature).  These are all things that we can see, measure, and repeat. Let’s reserve comments to questions and clarifications – I don’t want a similar scheme from someone else.  I am confident that what I am saying is true – to the best of our current understanding.

Quick background.  We are “homeotherms” in that our body temperature stays constant. This temperature (around 37C +/-) is the net result of waste metabolic heat. We need to stay in an environment cooler than our body for the most part, so that the waste heat can leave – else we just burn up. Cars need radiators.  We are the same. Heat (not temperature) always flows from hot to cold.  At the atomic level, that’s just lots of atoms bouncing together – just like rubbing your hands together and getting warm.

Heat (not temperature) is then the net energy in that object. Hot coffee has MORE heat than your tongue. It transfers (rapidly) when you sip it. That is what causes the discomfort. That is a very visceral picture of heat, but in thermodynamics we talk about heat in a far more general way. Most of the discussion has absolutely NOTHING to do with temperature and in fact, temperature is something that goes up and down in many cases to preserve the balance of energy when heat is transferred.

Riding The Wave

all metabolism processes release heat - you can consume protein carbohydrates or fat.At the top of a roller coaster, you have a LOT of potential energy just before you fall. At the bottom of the hill you have lots of kinetic energy (energy of motion). Stand on that track and splat, you are mowed over my the massive car. Chemical reactions release and absorb energy in much the same way.  Hold some explosive in your hand, you have potential energy, light the fuse and bang, release of all that stored energy at one time.

Get the picture?

The process of extracting energy from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats is metabolic oxidation.  We add oxygen to the “fuel” and “burn it” to release energy.  This is a extremely complex process, with lots of steps, but we can attack the problem from the basic energy in, energy out approach.

Let’s say you eat some glucose…or even table sugar, sucrose.  In both cases those two molecules have Carbon (C), Oxygen (O) and Hydrogen (H).  These individual atoms are all linked together with chemical bonds. Breaking these bonds requires energy (pulling the roller coaster up the hill) and then releases energy (going down the hill).

Some of the energy does work – like move a muscle, beat the heart or fire a neuron in the brain, but MOST of the energy (80%) is just waste heat energy (not temperature) that gets transferred to surrounding tissue and the tissue then increases in temperature.

What we will learn on specific posts about carbohydrates, protein, and fats is that each of them is processed a little differently by the body, but all can be used for that fundamental energy we need to live (pulling the roller coaster up the hill).

Additionally, we’ll discuss that proteins have a dual use – they can not only be burned like fuel, but they provide a store house of amino acids that are the basic building blocks of our tissue, hormones, and hair.  In that sense when you EAT protein, it is not USED by the body; rather it is broken down into amino acids and the body picks out the ones it needs to make whatever is on the “to-do” list – be it eye tissue, insulin, or keratin (hair & nails). The rest of the unused amino acids get tossed into the burn pile. We don’t store them.  When we dig into proteins, you’ll see that this word is so misunderstood, that it’s caused huge problems. We’ll find why our body doesn’t actually “burn” protein in much the same way as our body can’t burn “starch.”

On the other side of the balance, fats are places our bodies (and plants) can store energy.  We’ll talk about one other form of stored energy, glycogen, in the post on carbohydrates, but just remember that adipose (fat) tissue is a place to dump excess, non waste heat energy until you need it later (gas in the trunk).

So all of these hand-waving sentences: I need more protein to build muscles, high glycemic carbs are my problem, or it’s the good fat, are just distractions at this very basic level. If you were not fat, or competing in an intense triathlon, then really, any of these three fuel sources would do just fine for energy. All of them are acceptable for fuel. Some have more heat energy stored within and others have less.  Some can cause secondary hormonal issues, etc…but your body has evolved to process all three of these. Alcohol is another fuel we can throw in the mix – it’s digestible, but the by-products are toxic; it’s certainly energy that can be processed.

Sweet Mistakes

Ultimately, it is glucose – a simple sugar (carbohydrate) that fuels your brain and keeps the cells nourished. We monitor “blood sugar” and for most of us it stays in a pretty tight range.  Proteins and fat can be inserted into the process with some fancy tricks, but all the heat energy they contain is eventually assimilated to some part the overall system to process glucose.

What do you need to know from this to move on? Simple. These three macronutrients: carbohydrate, protein, and fat are all useful sources of energy. If you are about to run a race and are 6% body fat, you might want to stock up on energy. If you are worried about the scales and the only exercise you get is looking for the remote control, you probably have plenty.

Einstein said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Weight loss, ALL WEIGHT LOSS, is then the process of going on a naturally “high fat” diet and consuming your body fat to fuel the roller coaster of life.  For each and every heart beat, mouse click, or push up, you need some energy and you’ll want to get it out of your own reserves, not help plants and animals lose weight by eating theirs. If you only drink water, you’ll have no choice but lose body fat.

The problem with the starvation approach is that your body also has to constantly replace proteins (not necessarily your meat, but more hormones, cells, etc..) and in the next post we’ll look closer at how that complicates things and makes severe starvation, not the most appropriate form of weight loss.buy big water slides

 

**************

Like these  and want to help? Please take a minute to scroll up on the right side of the screen consider making a monthly donation to this program. You can also make a one time donation here:

Thanks!
Ray

Pyramid Schemes

By On · 33 Comments

Personal perspectives are always plagued with some set of bias.  For example, there are those that look at the great Egyptian pyramids as incredible acts of engineering prowess and still others that see the same building as representing a society that built with diminishing ambition (psssst, a joke). There is always an absurd way to categorize things and any time you base a theory, concept, or idea on a false premise, eventually that idea will crumble.

People can sell “snake oil” for a while, but eventually it will catch up with them and the facts (not opinions, perceptions, or feelings) will rule the day.

My Plate or Theirs?

I think it is certainly clear that the USDA Food Pyramid Scheme, is just that – a scheme and not a particularly good one.  Recently we were presented with a “My Plate.” It’s certainly a step in the right direction. Not Earth-shattering innovation, but it at least it can serve as a foundation for a wide range of nutritional dialog. It’s got catchy colors, cool design, but take a look at it closely…

it doesn’t say meat.

ChooseMyPlate.gov - Is it Industry or Health Promotion?

Look at that. Most everything else on the plate is now in plain English: Grains (not breads), Fruits (not juice), Vegetables (not low glycemic carbs).  Then there is Dairy (liquid meat – check out the nutritional labels and compare beef to milk or cheese) and Protein.

Does anyone REALLY know what a “protein” is? Isn’t that a Chicago song?  Can you distinguish between a hydrophilic and hydrophobic amino acid or understand how these might affect proteins folding? If you could, would you care?  The level of detail in macromolecular science is so incredibly complex today and yet we have many walking around with sound bites cashing in on the latest techno buzz-phrase pandering to the unknowing masses. Meanwhile, those trying to get funding for the basic research fueling this culinary renaissance struggle.

Saying protein is synonymous with meat, is like calling all rectangles squares. The good news is that there is now the foundation to separate this century old belief.

Rational Decisions

As people who know me will clearly defend. I am not AGAINST meat. I love the taste of meat, don’t have a personal issue with eating animals, nor do I focus on carbon footprints of steak.  I am not trying to discount anyone that believes these things, but rather to put out clearly that I am simply not motivated by the politics or ethics of meat.

Yet I did live on a vegan diet for a little over a year. I did it as a “radical” self-experiment; you would have thought I was attempting to join a terrorist plot or cult by the reaction of some friends and family. There were those that thought it an unthinkable personal deprivation – akin to a prison sentence. Still others were overly concerned with how I would “get my protein,” yet none of them could really tell me what protein was or more importantly, how a rhinoceros, giraffe, or even <gasp> a beef-laden steer get’s protein when they are all herbivores.

Whatever protein is, the government wants to be sure you get some and make sure you get a little dairy too – all of the industry interest at the USDA need a “little help from their friends.” Sadly, I happen to LOVE sushi and chicken wings. I’m confident neither the mercury, saturated fat, nor animal protein are all that good for me, so I’ll significantly limit these from here on out.

And yet on my last few years of self reflection and intense study, there are many of the top ailments – Multiple Sclerosis, Diabetes, pulmonary hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, rheumatoid arthritis…the list goes on, which are all radically affected by diet and nutrition. I can’t IMAGINE having one of these and not giving this a try. I don’t understand the “I’d rather be dead then give up cheese” mindset. That sounds more like a heroin addict and less like a rational, or free decision.

My sensitivity and motivation was rooted in a looming trend towards Type II diabetes when I gave it a try. I used to have (and can more or less still induce with diet) bouts of hypoglycemia that was absolutely tied to my meal. It hit me within an hour or so and my friends saw it first hand. I was far more safe driving a car after doing four Jäger bombs, than eating a slice of cheesecake.

New World Order

Gary Taubes presents an interesting history of the media/medical PR machine in Good Calories, Bad Calories (2007) along with the political, socio-economic, scientific debates of Cholesterol-Heart Disease relations and ultimately Eisenhower’s own struggles to his nutritional-based death.

I want to change this thought by asserting two things:

1)  a calorie IS absolutely a calorie in thermodynamics and

2)  a “dietary calorie” is a very loosely determined set of averages related to a “kilocalorie” and isn’t necessarily exact.

Why this distinction? I have spent the better part of the last three years reading vociferously on food, diet, and exercise. Before that I spent a great part of the previous 15 years struggling with my weight. If you are overweight now,  I get it and really do understand. What I have also learned is that a lot of people have made a lot of money on ideas they don’t really understand that well.  Part of the issue is in the quest to make things “understandable” or generalized, it can often lead to further summaries that end up failing.

I believe that a dietary calorie is one of those things that is asserted with exacting detail when in fact it should be viewed more as an approximation.

The Art of Self Misdirection

Let’s take a quick diversion to something I am CERTAIN about, and then let’s see how these same steps might complicate the concepts around the dietary calorie.  Certainly one of the best parts of the internet is that one doesn’t have to be a multi-million dollar corporation or famous spokesperson to get a message out.  On the other hand, if you are viewed as a “reliable source,” you can unknowingly infect millions of people with incorrect information with a simple tap on the return key.

Here is a recent news piece from CBS MIami – Can “Chilling Out” On Ice Diet Help Lose Weight?

The actual news report (video) is quite accurate, even though they focus on the extreme, it covers the point made by both Tim and me. Clearly we have told everyone that these techniques are desinged to ENHANCE diet and exercise, not replace them. We point out, as do many, that “burning calories” (there’s those words again) isn’t that easy when compared to consuming them.

Having watched the video, read the story on the page. See the difference?  Despite the credentials, Dr. Stacey Ingraham, is just wrong.  In fact, this is the very point I made in my TEDtalk and unfortunately she isn’t alone.  It is surprising just how many people confuse the body’s need to dump excess waste heat resulting from exercise as the cause of the energy consumption when in fact it’s a result of the body maintaining a core homeostasis. I tried to comment, but they were all rejected accept the one post asking that a comment be posted.

Not sweating it… Just know that many people that might be help will be confused. This doesn’t just happen with the media – it’s also common when science is summarized and generalized, which brings us back to the calorie.

First, we must look at thermodynamics with great respect. The laws have worked well and while they can be disproven if there is data to do so, no one has ever found any evidence to the contrary. This is the difference between science and dogma. So this is where I can state unequivocally that within thermodynamics a kilocalorie is the amount of energy to raise 1 kg of water 1 degree Celsius. It’s a simple definition and it does not change, nor can it be avoided.  In thermodynamics, Heat (not temperature) = energy.  It’s repeatable, measurable and observable.

Where we do have good reason to doubt is that 1 “dietary calorie” = 1 kilocalorie as it was defined over a century ago.  I’ve participated in the past, and many of you still participate in nearly certain indisputable discussions about X calories of protein vs Y calories of carbohydrate. No matter what mental image you might have about a calorie of this or that, what each conversation, idea, and method involves is a basic estimate on digestibility and absorption of those macronutrients in order that it may be used, stored or excreted by the body.

This is the point where thermodynamics and food split paths. This is where I was able to achieve a thermodynamic advantage. This is where good calories/bad calories, body for life, sugar busters, slow carb, and Atkins all tweak and twist to make us all believe a “calorie is not a calorie.”

So is this all about semantics?  I don’t think so. I am not going to take issue with any of these diet schemes; I’ve used all of them and they all worked for me to restrict calories. I was the one that ultimately couldn’t stick to them or make them a lifestyle.

A Plate Full of Schemes

The My Plate scheme is probably the best the USDA has ever done in helping people move towards a good balance. I think people can lose weight with either choice of protein: plant or animal.  Plant will get you there much faster and my blood work suggests a much healthier landing.

Dairy? I think it’s seen it’s better days and yet I REALLY love cheese. When I look at the label and try to rationalize eating it, but giving up “red meat,” the rational debate goes right out the door. Liquid beef seems a better way to couch it for my mental process.

Changes in Diet and Lifestyle and Long-Term Weight Gain in Women and Men

Changes in Diet and Lifestyle and Long-Term Weight Gain in Women and Men. Bars to the right indicate these food tend to cause this weight gain over each four year period. Bars to the left are weight loss associated with that category of food.

I think most people are in fact trapped by what they THINK or are TOLD is healthy and the sales and marketing on the package, ESPECIALLY THE NUTRITION LABEL. It’s a sad case where in order to label the widest range of food, we have distilled down the categories and quantities until the point where the labels are not very meaningful.   Take for example this: “Zero Calorie Olive Oil” I have in my pantry (hint ALL oil has calories and NO ONE sprays it for 1/3 of a second).

That’s all just plain dishonest and our children are suffering because of it.

Now looking at the chart to the right is anyone REALLY surprised by the results? This study published in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine tracked 120,000 men and women during a 20 year period (1986-2006), my fat years (1).  During that same time I picked up an extra 50 lbs – go figure. Ok, don’t just rationalize your favorite junk food (cheese and yogurt looking good), but take in the entire picture. Bars to the right create a tendency to gain weight eating those foods and bars to left tend to lose. The length of the bar tells you how much on average.

Sure, you are not surprised, but what are you doing to change the trend in your life?

The Hot Points

Simply put – without some way to generate internal heat, you would assume whatever the temperature of your immediate surroundings. We don’t and it requires energy to create this heat in everyone and the energy source is food. If you control the food going in (nutrient dense, calorically poor foods – like plants) and exercise to strengthen your cardiovascular system and create excess waste heat, you’ll lose weight.

If you further expose your body to COOLER surroundings: swimming, cold showers, less layers, morning/evening walks, or just turning down the thermostat, your body MUST burn more or drop in temperature.

The resistance to change in temperature, the external thermal load on your body, depend on how large the temperature difference between your body and the environment and how fast heat (energy) is leaving your body. 40F water is a lot more drastic than 40F air, due to the increased heat capacity and thermal conductivity of water. A change of only 2-3 degrees down in water is equal to many more in air.

Swimming WILL positively effect your body’s heat loss and as such, will also trigger hunger. Resist the urge to eat and you’ll lose faster, guaranteed.

No amount of discussion changes these scientific facts; what is up for debate is how we might effectively and comfortably add these thermal loads to our lives. We don’t have to guess about calories in thermodynamics, maybe we should stick to words and food groups in diet schemes that people truly understand.

1) Changes in Diet and Lifestyle and Long-Term Weight Gain in Women and Men,  Mozaffarian D et al. N Engl J Med 2011;364:2392-2404.

 

 

The heat is on!

By On · 55 Comments


Does infrared sauna burn more than cold exposure?Last week, one of our site members posted a comment to Ch-Ch-Changes about the benefits of heat and cold in losing weight. I think that 36 months ago I would have completely agreed with his comments; now I am not so sure. With his permission, I turned this dialog into a post, because I think there is widespread confusion on our thermoregulatory system and its effect on metabolic rate.

Read Full Article →

BATgirl to The Rescue (Part 2)

By On · 28 Comments

BAT, Brown Adipose Tissue, Thermal diet and weight lossWe learned in Part 1 that not only do human infants start out with more fat than any other species, a higher percentage is brown adipose tissue (BAT). Women, in general have more than men and as Humans age, BAT seems to dwindle. It’s likely if you have ever been obese, you have less BAT then your skinny friends.Custom gummibåt

I have dozens of papers here on BAT. My interest with BAT began after Tim and I discussed it at length and started exchanging ideas and data. Honestly, I came to my conclusions from the complete opposite (but complimentary) approach – it was much more of a 30,000 ft level view on the subject. Read Full Article →