Rule #1 of Classic Physique Building: Don’t Ruin a Perfectly Good Physique!

Jonathan    General    

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Estimated Daily Caloric Intake for Runners

Jonathan    General    

Please click this link for a printable word document:
Daily%20Caloric%20Needs%20for%20Runners.docx

South County Runners Club: Chart for Daily Caloric Needs

Females:

Males:

Remember, these are just averages. Your daily caloric expenditure is dependent on many factors. Also please remember that counting calories is only one way to maintain or lose weight.

Please email me at lizfitness@gmail.com with any questions or comments!!

Hormonal Imbalance Symptoms, Causes And Natural Diets For Women

Jonathan    General    

The symptoms and causes of hormone disruption

Ellen hormonal imbalance is a situation that is hidden in the amount of hormones into the bloodstream through different parts of the body is not properly tuned. The condition can include symptoms, mood swings, fatigue, nausea and high blood pressure or low. This situation is especially common in women who gave birth at menopause or women who have just given birth. For these two reasons, there are medications that may visit your doctor. Other causes of endocrine disorders may be stress, poor health and nutrition, the environment or because of hormonal drugs that have components, such as the contraceptive pill.

Diet tips for natural and hormonal imbalance

The first home remedy for a woman with a hormone imbalance is to evaluate and improve lifestyles and eating habits. It is always important to have a balanced diet full commitment of all the different nutrients for a healthy lifestyle. Avoid junk food and binge eating. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables because they contain essential vitamins and minerals that help balance body systems. Foods that are rich in omega 3 and omega-6 fatty acids for women with hormonal disorders recommended. Whatever the proper food to eat every day. Food on a regular schedule helps the body digest food properly, and is general advice for good health. The consumption of organic foods and processed foods, but a good remedy for hormonal imbalance. Often, the chemical additives to food can in the natural balance of body chemistry caused disrupt hormonal imbalance.

Tips for maintaining a lifestyle hormonal imbalance beds, complete, 7 to 8 hours each night, avoiding excessive alcohol and excessive caffeine. It is also recommended to drink plenty of fluids and maintain hydration levels. Spend some time in the day to exercise and follow a solid fitness program. Exercise improves blood circulation and respiration. Simply improve your health may recover from the problems of hormonal imbalance that the body is able to distribute more efficiently to hormones.

If you have recently been some new drugs, consult your doctor about possible side effects. Several over-the-counter medications can have an adverse reaction which is a hormonal imbalance. Stop the use of these medications can alleviate their condition. There are also drugs, particularly the pill, containing estrogen. These are to be taken only under the recommendation of a qualified physician. Some of these medicines contain high concentrations of hormones, both natural and synthetic, and can cause serious imbalances if taken without medical supervision.

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Oven Roasted Vegetables with Cashew Cream Sauce

Jonathan    General    

Selene says "the vegetables in the oven are doing one of my favorite dishes because it has a simple and delicious, tons of vegetables. Here it is paired with a creamy garlic sauce and cashews.

Recipe for Veganlicious!

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Thank You

Jonathan    General    

I’d like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone who has supported me through donations this year. The money has allowed me to buy materials that I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to afford, and I feel it has enriched the blog for everyone. Here are some of the books I’ve bought using donations. Some were quite expensive:

Food and western disease: health and nutrition from an evolutionary perspective. Staffan Lindeberg (just released!!)

Nutrition and disease. Edward Mellanby

Migration and health in a small society: the case of Tokelau. Edited by Albert F. Wessen

The saccharine disease. T. L. Cleave

Culture, ecology and dental anthropology. John R. Lukacs

Vitamin K in health and disease. John W. Suttie

Craniofacial development. Geoffrey H. Sperber

Western diseases: their emergence and prevention. Hugh C. Trowell and Denis P. Burkitt

The ultimate omega-3 diet. Evelyn Tribole

Our changing fare. John Yudkin and colleagues

Donations have also paid for many, many photocopies at the medical library. I’d also like to thank everyone who participates in the community by leaving comments, or by linking to my posts. I appreciate your encouragement, and also the learning opportunities.

Top 7 Benefits of Black Pepper

Jonathan    General    

What’s so good about black pepper? So I was doing some research on the benefits of black pepper and I thought I would share what I found.

*Black pepper contains very potent solar energy, and is a powerful digestive stimulant. It also stimulates the plasma and the blood, the nervous system, the spleen, and reduces fat.

*It is benefical for chronic indigestion, helps with toxins in the colon, sinus congestion, and can stimulate circulation to help warm cold hands and feet.

Black pepper can be taken as a spice, an oil, a tea, or a compress.

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to start adding black pepper to my meals starting today.

Caution: Overuse of stimulant herbs can impair your body’s natural balancing systems.

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I Promise to Get My Ass in Gear

Jonathan    General    

Really. This week was even worse than the last. Here is my entry in the register Wednesday:

He went on the morning of Day 28 course.

Once again I find myself in the situation looked at the mess in my house and looked at my unfinished projects and stared at my guitar and thought, "I do". And then sit on my ass.

Specifically, the conversation is as follows:

"I really have to wash dishes and clothes." Interior moaning and groaning. "I'm not going to wash clothes. Maybe I'll share my blanket ugly." Internal moaning and groaning. "I really can not do until you click on cleanup. I'll miss my first email." Rest of the day on the computer while thinking, "I was not the dishes …"

I need a hit, that's what I need.

And I'm right, too. I need a hit. I there. Today, I am raising. I do not like to slack a week long, but on the condition of the place, believe me, it is necessary. I'm beginning to like Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout feel. But do not give up! Yes, I cried. Internally, anyway. I just read another blog that talked about the fact that people really believe what they do. Studies have been carried out apparently to prove it. So, here goes … all together … Do not hesitate to Will. They say that every day. So they should be starting.

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

Jonathan    General    

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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Major Announcement

Jonathan    General    

Case Against Cardio

Jonathan    General    

I’ve been reading a great post by Mark Sisson entitled, “The Case Against Cardio.”

I thought I’d share it here.

Here is the link to the original article over at marksdailyapple.com

I have to say its making me definitely rethink some of my workouts. Not that I’m stopping P90X by any means, but I may modify some of the routines and add some different activities.

Its also making me think that my thoughts of running the Chicago Marathon might be a bit misguided.

I declared that a goal when I was a bit “fed up” with the fact that I had put some pounds back on. I thought to myself, “I know how I’ll lose fat, I’ll run like crazy.”

Thing was, I watched a movie on Netflix called “The Spirit of the Marathon.” I was a bit amazed how many fat marathoners there are out there. Overall, yes, very aerobically fit folks, but there are plenty of runners that don’t epitomize the image of fitness.

So, I may be sticking to a primal plan for my fitness regimen. I’ll keep you all posted.

–John