Closing Thought–27Dec19

It has been a busy week but now it is at an end…..I hope everyone had a good Christmas….lots of fun, family and food……

Speaking of food….the New Year brings about all sorts of “resolutions”….one of the the more popular are those that deal with our diet…..so this ism a good story to end one year and wait for the new….

The idea of intermittent fasting is gaining popularity, and newly published research will please advocates. A review of existing studies in the New England Journal of Medicine finds evidence that fasting can lead to a range of health benefits, from decreased stress to lower blood pressure to improved cognition and blood sugar regulation, reports CNN and USA Today. Lead author Mark Mattson, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins, explains that intermittent fasting generally applies to two different methods: eating only during a six- or eight-hour window each day, or the 5:2 approach, referring to five days of regular eating interspersed with two days of limited calories, usually 500 max. One of the studies cited in the review notes that three men with type 2 diabetes were able to stop taking insulin after dropping weight thanks to fasting.

“We are at a transition point where we could soon consider adding information about intermittent fasting to medical school curricula alongside standard advice about healthy diets and exercise,” says Mattson in a news release. The big caveat: Successfully following such a diet is much easier said than done in a society with a strong three-meals-a-day culture. And USA Today talks to a doctor not involved in the study who cautions that it’s not for everyone. For example, older patients who fast might wind up with hypoglycemia, which can cause falls. Mattson’s study maintains that our forebears fasted out of necessity in times of food scarcity. He suggests our modern bodies can benefit from reverting to the practice thanks to “metabolic switching,” in which our cells begin converting fat into energy in a slower process

Just something to think about as we approach that time when we make idle gestures that make yourselves feel better about our lives…..

Enjoy your weekend……

Be well, be safe

“lego ergo scribo”

That Keto Diet

Sunday and I try to be an FYI blog at least on the weekends…..and this is about another one of those trendy diets that pop up every now and then….the Keto Diet….the word “keto” is being used so much that it is getting tiresome.

Let’s be honest…there is a new more trendy diet every year…the Atkins….Jenny Craig…..NutriSystems…..the “Watchers”……South Beach…..and now it is the Ketogenic Diet…..

Have you asked just what is this diet all about? Well I have!

The diet gets billed as a miraculously enjoyable diet—eat all the fat you want, just cut out the carbs. But the ketogenic diet (also called keto) was never supposed to be fun. It was supposed to treat severe epilepsy. And as a medical treatment, it was only intended to be administered under the supervision of trained nutritionists and physicians. The professionals would be able to monitor patients for potential problems and ensure that their diet was actually keeping them in ketosis—a metabolic state where your body switches from using glucose as energy to using ketone bodies, which come from body fat. They needed those checkpoints because staying in true ketosis is exceptionally challenging for adults.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/sorry-keto-fans-you-re-probably-not-in-ketosis

When I was diagnosed with diabetes the Registered Dietician that I had to consult did not mention this diet….not once……

I know there will be those health nuts that swear by this diet…and they would be the same as the ones that swore about the trendy diet last year.

I do not suffer from epilepsy so I shall pass this diet by…..I will use logic and commonsense and I will lose the weight and be healthy without a trend.

A warm day in the garden…..cheese, nuts, fruit and wine…..and watch MoMo stalk that damn pesky squirrel.

Have a good day and hug someone today.

But Wait! There Is Yet Another Diet

Today is Sunday and Fathers Day….I wish all my visiting fathers a good day with your loved ones……..

If your Fathers Day plans calls for a BBQ with all the fixings…… if so I have a post for you…….There is always another diet for your consideration……

If you are watching your weight (after all it is Summer and bathing suit season) then you have seen or read or heard about the numerous diets that will return you to health and make you slim and svelte (now there is a word that is under used these days)……the Mediterranean diet, South Beach, Paleo, and on and on…..since it is the weekend I thought I would help the confusion by throwing yet another diet out there for your consumption ( pun intended)

The new diet is …..wait for it…..the Nordic Diet……

You already know the basics of healthy eating are pretty darn simple: Fill your plate with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein; skip the crap.

You also know that the best diets aren’t really diets, but lifestyle choices that, over time, allow you to become a walking, talking picture of health.

The most famous one out there is the Mediterranean diet, which is mainly composed of plant-based foods as well as some lean proteins like fish and chicken. But another contender is starting to make headlines recently: the Nordic Diet.

https://www.menshealth.com/health/a21050605/nordic-diet-benefits/

Now that I have given you something to think about…I will go to the garden and feast on fruit, nuts, cheese and wine…..enjoy your day…..chuq

Eat Healthy–Live Longer

The weekend and we take a time for ourselves or our family or both….here at IST we attempt to be informative on the weekends for we throw enough war news and foreign policy stuff at my readers that I feel they need a break.

I try to be a good source of FYI….post about life and living….something we must do daily.

So today let’s talk about diet and diets.

For about ten years the go to diet for many people is The Mediterranean diet…that diet that is leans hard on with fish and veggies….all in all it has been called the healthiest of diets.

But wait just a moment!

The Mediterranean diet is seen as one of the world’s healthiest. Now, however, a new report suggests a surprising irony: Kids who live in the Mediterranean region are among the most overweight children in the world. For example, 43% of 9-year-old boys and girls in Cyprus are overweight or obese, reports the Guardian, while the figure in Greece, Spain, and Italy is just slightly lower. The problem isn’t the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes fruit, vegetables, fish, and olive oil, and has been heralded for its health benefits, says study author Dr. João Breda of the World Health Organization. Instead, the issue is that Mediterranean kids no longer eat the diet themselves and consume too much sugar, salt, and fat. Plus, they don’t get enough exercise.

“The Mediterranean diet for the children in these countries is gone,” said Breda. “Those who are close to the Mediterranean diet are the Swedish kids. The Mediterranean diet is gone and we need to recover it.” Specifically on obesity, rates for the nations of Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, San Marino and Spain—18% to 21% for boys, and a bit lower for girls—were higher than in the US, where 17% of kids are considered obese, reports CNN. The study looked at 250,000 children from 34 countries between 2015 and 2017. Breda says the results weren’t all bad. Researchers have seen a slight decline in childhood obesity rates in Greece, Italy, and Spain since the study period. This “conveys a strong sign of hope that if we do the right things and implement powerful solutions, the problem can be solved,” he says.

Sorry to put you in a panic…this is still a good diet according to most research…..these kids have the same problem as most kids….too much sugar and junk…..

The real problem with this diet is the price…..most of the world cannot afford to eat this diet regularly…..

Despite its many purported advantages, the Mediterranean diet might not be all it’s cracked up to be. According to a new study in the International Journal of Epidemiology, its effects depend largely on socioeconomic status. Researchers surveyed 19,000 people ages 35 and over in Italy, giving each a score based on how closely they followed the Mediterranean diet, ranging from 1 on the low end up to 6 or more. After just over four years, they found a two-point increase in score meant a 15% reduced risk of cardiovascular disease overall—but not for participants with low incomes and minimal education. While a two-point increase meant a reduced risk of 61% for those with a household income of at least $47,000, and 57% for those with post-secondary education, “no actual benefits were observed for the less advantaged groups,” per a release.

Despite similar adherence to the diet, that remained the case after researchers accounted for healthy habits common among the rich, like getting plenty of exercise, avoiding smoking, and making regular visits to the doctor, per HealthDay News. Researchers suspect that’s because people with higher education or income tended to eat a greater variety of foods, as well as more whole grains, organic produce, and fish, which can be expensive, per CTV News. They also prepared vegetables in healthier ways. Together, this means they benefited from a “more adequate intake of essential nutrients,” says study author Giovanni de Gaetano. He suggests experts should stop promoting the diet “if we are not able to guarantee an equal access to it.” (Read about its brain benefits here.

Just a little FYI for those devoted to this diet.

I agree….if this is not open to all then stop promoting it as some sort of “miracle”.

For me it is eat moderately and exercise regularly…..I think you will find it works well……but do not believe me….head to your doctor and get his advice……but take this article with you in case he tries to push this diet over others…..

Eat well…..Have a good day, my friends…….chuq

Sunday And You Are What You Eat

It is another Sunday post and I try to help my readers that may be struggling with a few extra pounds…..there are more diets, miracle diets, than hairs on your butt……some make it all so extremely complicated…..and it need not be…..

Caloric intake could be the key to living longer, something we all wish to do, right?

Research has shown that sharp reductions in the amount of food consumed can help fish, rats and monkeys live longer. But there have been very few studies in humans.

Now, some researchers have found that when people severely cut calories, they can slow their metabolism and possibly the aging process.

Clinical physiologist Leanne Redman, who headed the study at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, says the first challenge was finding people willing to take part. After all, they would have to cut their typical plate for breakfast, lunch and dinner by up to 25 percent.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/04/02/598295025/scientists-say-you-may-live-longer-by-severely-restricting-calories

How about all those sports drinks? Hell, they even have hard sparkling water….flavored….anyway instead of wasting money on those ever faddy sports drinks….try a banana…..

A banana might reasonably replace sports drinks for those of us who rely on carbohydrates to fuel exercise and speed recovery, according to a new study comparing the cellular effects of carbohydrates consumed during sports.

It found that a banana, with its all-natural package, provides comparable or greater anti-inflammatory and other benefits for athletes than sports drinks. But there may be a downside, and it involves bloating.

For decades, athletes and their advisers have believed, and studies have confirmed, that eating or drinking carbohydrates during prolonged exertion can enable someone to continue for longer or at higher intensities and recover more quickly afterward than if he or she does not eat during the workout.

There you are….the old Professor’s nutritional info for the week….go now and enjoy the rest of your Sunday…..spoil yourself eat some cheese cake….chuq

You Are What You Eat

Seriously? Easter on April Fools Day? The jokes will write themselves…….I will stop here before some one decides to think that I am anti-religion (they would be accurate in most cases)……..

My Sunday and I am in the process of deciding what I will consume today…..a decision most of us make. Some of us are on diets which is a good thing and some of us are trying this diet or that….but truly which diet is the best?

A question that we all have asked from time to time…..and the answer is….who f*cking knows? Since there has never been an accurate study of these fads side by side.

I have this lady friend who goes from one fad diet to another….from drinking butter in her coffee to a steady diet of walnuts and she is always having one health problem after another and cannot understand why because the diets promise a long healthy life.

The big things these days is the “Paleo” diet……food our cave dwelling ancestors would have eaten…..some say it is a miracle….(btw I do not endorse one diet over another and I get NO compensation by offering these alternatives)

It’s beyond strange that so many humans are clueless about how they should feed themselves. Every wild species on the planet knows how to do it; presumably ours did, too, before our oversized brains found new ways to complicate things. Now, we’re the only species that can be baffled about the “right” way to eat.

Really, we know how we should eat, but that understanding is continually undermined by hyperbolic headlines, internet echo chambers, and predatory profiteers all too happy to peddle purposefully addictive junk food and nutrition-limiting fad diets. Eating well remains difficult not because it’s complicated but because the choices are hard even when they’re clear.

http://www.grubstreet.com/2018/03/ultimate-conversation-on-healthy-eating-and-nutrition.html

I have read many blogs about diet and losing weight…it seems that there are a wealth of experts on the subject and it might all be as simple as “when” you eat not a whole lot else……

It’s beginning to look like a concept called TRF—or, time-restricted feeding—is going to be around for a while in the arena of diet and nutrition. The Washington Post has a feature on it, while the Wall Street Journal and others have covered it previously. The idea is surprisingly simple but backed up by a growing body of research: It’s not so much what you eat as when you eat. More specifically, TRF suggests people should do all their eating in a 12-hour window, though research suggests they’ll get more benefits if they can shrink that to, say, an eight-hour window. One of the lead researchers on the subject is Satchin Panda of the Salk Institute in San Diego, who thinks that humans aren’t built to handle 24-hour access to food and the constant grazing that often results.

“If you’re eating all the time, it messes up that pattern,” he says of our circadian rhythm. His first studies on mice showed a range of health benefits—weight loss, less diabetes, etc.—and follow-up studies on humans seem to support the concept. Another researcher, Courtney Peterson of the University of Alabama, will report in a soon-to-be-published study that men diagnosed as pre-diabetic saw marked improvement after restricting their eating to between 8am and 2pm. Exactly how TRF results in benefits remains a little unclear, but in broad strokes, the body seems to better metabolize calories this way. “I think that within 10 years we will have some really clear guidelines for meal timing,” says Peterson. “But we are in the early stages.” Other researchers are more cautious, with one noting that it’s “extraordinarily complex to actually nail this down.” (Bad news on yo-yo dieting.)

Me? I eat a balanced diet….meat, potatoes, greens, etc….I eat lots of eggs, cheese, honey, nuts, fruits and wine……I am old fashion….I do not push one diet over another and would never tell anyone to eat as I do……our bodies are complex and it needs a proper diet so all systems are fed and work as they were intended.

If one is constantly changing diets then the body is not getting the nourishment that it needs….

Be well, be safe……chuq

Trendy Little Sh*ts!

Sunday and I am so ready to push away from the mind numbing bullsh*t we call “the news”…….we spend entirely too much time treating news as crap and crap as news…..

We Americans and I guess the rest of the world also seems to be ate up with our trends or fads, if you will….BTW what is a man bun? And why? (rhetorical BTW)……there is NO more lucrative business than feeding our insatiable desire for “fads” …..and “stuff”.

Juicing! That thingy that you put veggies and fruit into this overpriced gizmo and smush it down to a drink…..a tasty drink or so I am told by the people that make these worthless things….people that succumb to this fad swear by it….but that matters not…I refuse to drink anything that has the appearance of pond scum.

Sad to tell these people but your fad may be on the way OUT!

Back in February, the New York Times declared “souping” the new juicing. The appeals are obvious: juices tend to be stripped of fiber and loaded with sugar, and soups can be more dense, filling, and warm, not to mention tasty given the commonly added spices such as turmeric and cumin. So was this a passing fad? Apparently not. Tech Times is declaring soup to be a diet trend of 2017 that will likely replace juice cleanses. The Los Angeles Times, meanwhile, offers up a round-up of new souping companies cropping up nationwide, some of which also offer bone broth options, popular in fasts and cleanses. The typical daily caloric intake from souping cleanses hovers around 1,200.

Not everyone is thrilled. One dietician wrote in the Huffington Post in April that while soups are a better component to a meal than juices, they’re both insufficient alone and trick people into thinking they need to buy bottled products to get their organs to cleanse their bodies: “Encouraging that low of a calorie intake anytime is a big red flag in my book. I’m not a fan of starving people—ever.” She adds that our lungs, kidneys, liver, and skin are “wondrous organs that detox naturally when we don’t resort to unhealthy behaviors.” For its part, the Times also reported in April that while juices can be very healthy and Americans should eat more vegetables, chewing is important, and there is no good science behind the detox trends. (Do juice cleanses make you a schmuck?)

Marketing…..make the schmucks piss their money away and then find something to make them do it over again…..

Health Update

Finally a few days away from the mindless dribble of the Right and the profound constipation of the Left…..today I would like to talk about food.

But first…have you ever had an onion start sprouting in storage….I cut the top off with the sprouts and plant them….the last time I got 11 small red onions from my effort…..

And now for the harvest of the morning….my first yellow tomato of the season…..

And finally with home grown ingredients I will make fresh salsa…

On to more important things…..I do not diet per se….I do use a modified version of the Mediterranean diet….I am not a fan of fish so it is off the menu….I read an article about this diet and its possible good results….

Women who’ve survived breast cancer and are looking to prevent a recurrence may be encouraged by news out of a major cancer conference: that adhering to a Mediterranean diet (lots of fruits, veggies, fish, and olive oil) may help fend off the disease’s return, the Guardian reports. For their experiment, revealed at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago, researchers at Piacenza Hospital in Italy studied two groups of women who had been treated for early breast cancer: 199 who ate Mediterranean-style (including an allowance for one alcoholic drink daily) and another 108 who ate what they usually did, but with healthy-eating input from a dietician. After three years of following these diets, none of the ladies who went Mediterranean suffered relapses, while 11 women from the other group did. Science World Report notes these results add onto the news from another, much larger recent JAMA study that found a Mediterranean diet rich in extra-virgin olive oil led to a 68% reduction in the risk of developing breast cancer.

There are drawbacks to the new study—notably, the small sample size, the relatively short follow-up time of three years, and other methodology issues, critics say. “People were asked to participate in one diet or the other,” the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s director of clinical research tells the Guardian. “There is no information about the activity level or change in weight which, for most of the lifestyle research, one needs to be aware of.” And the CEO of UK charity Breast Cancer Care says that while any info about how to possibly keep breast cancer from coming back is a “welcome addition to our toolbox,” there’s no universal panacea. “Lifestyle choices like eating a well-balanced diet, [partaking in] regular exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight can all help reduce the risk of cancer coming back, but they can’t prevent it completely,” she notes, per the Independent. (America is slowly but surely moving toward a more Mediterranean way of eating.)

For my last piece of health news for my readers…..

The Pharma companies spend billions on research and then make many billions after they release their new drug and then there are a wealth of lawyers that sue the companies after that…….

The problem that few know of is that of the antivirus game……..

The Antivirus industry has a dirty little secret that they really don’t want anyone to know. Despite the claims of their marketing departments, their products are not all that effective. Many of them are only protecting against at best 80% or 90% of the threats out there in the wild at any time, and their protection against ransomware is very bad.

Let’s look at that in more detail. AV products need to protect against two general types of threats: ones that are known and threats that are unknown. The ones that are known, they have a signature for so that they can detect the threat and get rid of it. This is called reactive detection.

Source: The Antivirus Industry’s Dirty Little Secret

And then is the cost of your meds……and as usual it is Obama’s fault that they are so damn expensive……

Evidence is mounting that doctors who receive as little as one meal from a drug company tend to prescribe more expensive, brand-name medications for common ailments than those who don’t.

A study published online Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine found significant evidence that doctors who received meals tied to specific drugs prescribed a higher proportion of those products than their peers. And the more meals they received, the greater share of those drugs they tended to prescribe relative to other medications in the same category.

Source: Big Pharma’s big scam: This is why your prescription medication is so absurdly expensive – Salon.com

My update post is now complete……

Enjoy your weekend…..do yourself something nice….go have some fun…….

In Saner Thought

"It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error"..Thomas Paine

Tag: Diets