Wednesday, November 14, 2012
the new and brave drugs for autism - really?
so researchers have come up with a new drug that is being marketed (or premarketed i guess) as targeting the "underlying mechanism" for autism. when i read about it that really piqued my interest as sofar i`ve thought that autism is still considered an idiopathic condition (ie. no known cause). thats why drugs sofar have concentrated on alleviating the symptoms of the condition like anxiety, aggression and repetitive behaviour. so i was exited and i admit, sceptical, at the same time. i mean - something that would cure the underlying cause would indicate that a cause has been found - right? wrong
this whole thing is based on a few rat studies that show that about 15% of autism cases can be manufactured by a single-gene glitch. and in these cases it looks like the connections between neurons in the brain contain too much of the neurotransmitter glutamate. still this is way better than nothing - right? means that maybe they have figured out what actually cuases that imbalance? what causes that specific faulty gene being turned on. right? wrong
the drug in question works by balancing the amount of glutamate (a neurotransmitter). it really pisses me off how this can be called "adressing the underlying cause" of autism. in this area of epigenetics. really. i`m speechless. because you know what? the one thing that HAS been confirmed in studies is that the gene that in these 15% of cases where autism can be considered a genetic disease (in mostly male children from mathematically intelligent background), confers intelligence in most cases and can only PREDISPOSE you to the disorder. you have to do something to swich it on. you can all make intelligent guesses at what that might be, because i dont see any studies on that coming up in the nearest future.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
book review - THE PALEO MIRACLE
my first ever (extremely brief but completely to the point) book-review - woohoo. nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that i`m in it, or that my impossibly hot and brilliant boyfriend is the co-author - right. but i`ll stay very professional about it and just say - this is the most inspirational, eye-opening, emotional and powerful book i`ve read this year - and if you know me, you know i go through books like i go through grassfed butter.
as christmas is coming, this would be the ideal gift "read conversion material" to give your friends/relatives who still doubt what we preach. there is nothing more powerful than real people and real stories, especially stories of unbelievable and phenomenal change of health.
disclaimer: these stories will provoke teary-eyedness and awe as well as provide the kind of inspiration that no number of scientific double-blind peer-reviewed studies can give.
so go and get yours at BUY-THE-BOOK and dont hesitate to write a review of your own.
paleo it forward - save a life
Sunday, November 11, 2012
The role of the brain (predominantly the hypothalamus) in obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes
copy/paste from my FB post directed at paleopeeps (because its sunday and im lazy)
We all know about insulin, leptin and ghrelin – the appetite regulating hormones. Insulin is secreted in response to glucose, leptin is secreted by fatcells so its presence depends on fatmass and ghrelin is secreted in your stomach in response to CCK and also in response to the mechanical fullness/emptiness of the stomach… easy and simple right. Well actually everything that gos on inside the body is controlled by the brain – that goes for EVERYTHING. Appetite is regulated by the hypothalamus. NPY/AgRP neurons in the hypothalamus stimulate appetite by producing two neuropeptides — neuropeptide Y (NPY) and agouti-related protein (AgRP), that inhibit the activating of satiety neurons and stimulate melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) in the lateral hypothalamus. This enhances appetite and decreases metabolism and energy expenditure. Insulin and leptin inhibit the NPY/AgRP neurons. Ghrelin stimulates them. The action of these hormones inside the brain is totally different than in the rest of the body. Insulin`s role in the brain is to decrease energy intake. That is called negative feedback. When energy stores are full, circulating insulin is high >> high insulin in the central nervous system increases glucose (contrary to the effect that high insulin has in the rest of the body = decreasing glucose and increasing hunger) and thus decreases feeding behaviors. So in the brain, insulin is its own counterregulatory hormone, and therefore insulin`s function in the brain produces features of insulin resistance.
We all know about the causes of obesity: leptin resistance and/or insulin resistance = there is plenty of leptin or insulin circulating in the bloodstream but the receptors in the hypothalamus are “death”. Leptin is produced in subcutaneous adipose tissue so the more of it you have, the higher leptin levels you have. This would provide a negative feedback loop releasing fatty acids from adipose cells. Leptin resistance not only happens when receptors have gone death but also when only a low level of this leptin is reaching the hypothalamus. Insulin and leptin use many of the same neurons, receptors and the same messengers to control metabolism so I guess that hypothalamic insulin resistance could be the cause of leptin resistance, but it is not the sole cause because many of overweight individuals remain insulin-sensitive, and not all insulin-resistant persons are overweight. Enter the blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier is semipermeable along the arcuate nucleus to allow the passage of certain proteins but prevent the entrance of others. Leptin and insulin can cross the barrier. Problems in the transport of leptin have a role to play in peripheral leptin resistance. We know that leptin injections straight to the brain work, but it doesn’t work peripherally. Leptin transport is also inhibited in starvation and by hypertriglyceridemia. There have been mice studies that show that triglycerides induce leptin resistance- no human studies ofcourse…. Elevated triglycerides also stimulate ghrelin transport – explains ghrelin entrainment patterns. Ok, so what causes triglyceride levels to increase? Au contraire to Dr. Peat, fructose seems to have something to do with it. BUT only if consumed in excess – what that excess is is personal as well as not very well studied. We know that also sucrose in excess can elevate triglycerides causing leptin resistance and subcutaneous obesity.. So leptin resistance is connected to subcutaneous adiposity – that doesn’t really have much to do with diabetes 2 right? How about insulin? We all know that insulin is produced by the pancreas and it’s main function is to regulate the availability and storage of glucose and fatty acids. Insulin resistance happens when insulin receptors in tissues become less responsive to insulin resulting in hyperinsulinemia >>> type 2 diabetes.
Here comes the part where Peat seems to be on to things: triglycerides do not impair insulin transport over the blood-brain barrier - certain free fatty acids do. Trans fats and omega-6 unsaturated fatty acids are responsible for an inflammatory response in the insulinreceptors. BUT certain sugars like fructose also appear to be pro-inflammatory for the insulin receptors.. what is news is that these inflammatory processes occur not just in the liver and muscles, but also within the hypothalamus. The issue that I have with Peat`s theory is that the research I`ve read does not make omega 6 fatty acids the PRIME culprit but point to one single longchain saturated fatty acid.
Thaler et al. , Schwartz et al and Benoit et al. showed that one particular long chain saturated fatty acid — palmitic acid — causes inflammation and reduces insulin sensitivity in the hypothalamus, leading to overeating and obesity.
This is why I propose that fructose be acknowledged as a PARTIAL or “coculprit” to hypothalamic insulinresistance: In lean and healthy individuals, fructose at reasonable levels is converted to glucose in the liver, and brief excess is then stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles. But in excess, fructose is converted to fat of two types — triglycerides and one particular fatty acid. Can you guess which fatty acid? Yep, palmitic acid, the fatty acid associated with brain insulin resistance. The excess fat is accumulated in the liver (fatty liver disease) which results in hepatic insulin resistance.
So here gos, hate me if you will: high fructose consumption >>>> elevated triglycerides >>>> leptin resistance + high fructose consumption >>>> palmitic acid >>>> hypothalamic insulin resistance.
A diet full of sugar AND PUFAs AND palmitic acid causes cytokines to be expressed in the hypothalamus, activating the intracellular inflammatory signal transduction.
Research by Ono et al shows that hypothalamic insulin resistance precedes and probably causes insulin resistance in other organs and tissues (at least in rats). In a study by Obici et al central administration of insulin suppressed glucose production by the liver and blocked insulin signaling in the brain. That in turn impaired the ability of insulin to inhibit glucose production in the liver. So the majority of insulin’s ability to cause muscle to take up glucose is mediated by its effect on the brain. The hypothalamus is in charge of whether or not the body has an adequate energy intake by regulating energy stores and energy balancing hormones. In the case of leptin resistance the brain acts to restore homeostasis by signaling the peripheral metabolism to make more subcutaneous fat . When insulin signaling in the brain is impaired, the upkeep of homeostasis requires that more insulin be brought into the brain. To do this, the body must become hyperinsulinemic, so that enough insulin gets into the hypothalamus. The best way to accomplish this is to induce whole body insulin resistance, primarily in the liver and muscles. How does the insulin resistant brain manage to induce insulin resistance in the rest of the body? By growing intra-abdominal fat. Hypothalamic insulin resistance disrupts the hypothalamic-pituitary -adrenal axis, leading to increased secretion of ACTH and cortisol. These in turn stimulate the growth of intra-abdominal fat. That type of adipose tissue produces copious amounts of macrophages and releases pro-inflammatory cytokines and adipokines into the bloodstream. In the liver where they cause fatty liver, insulin resistance, and liver inflammation. Blood circulation carries these proinflammatory molecules to the muscles again causing insulin resistance and inflammation. So this is the way that the fat around your intestines ties in with whole body insulin resistance. Insulin resistance in the body causes the pancreas to go into overdrive to supply more insulin causing in hyperinsulimia >>> TYPE 2 DIABETES. So now the hypothalamus gets enough insulin. Once the inflammation in the arcuate nucleus in the brain is removed, and the NPY/AgRP neurons become more sensitive to insulin this response should stop and the situation return to normal.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
an article delving into the depths of the pride of one soldier
WHO WOULD GIVE US AN ANSWER?
by Hendrik Arro
On the 8th of August of this year an official ceremony took place at Ämari airbase in commemoration of an Estonian-born American pilot, major Aado Kommendant, and his colleague, aircraft Captain lieutenant colonel Charles M. Walling. Both of these men fell 46 years ago in the Vietnam War when their aircraft, a F-47 Phantom, was shot down in action. Their remains were recovered only recently, and on the 8th of August the remains of Aado Kommendant were formally reburied in the ground of the national military cemetery atArlington airbase, USA United States embassy in Estonia , a commemorative ceremony was conducted at the Ämari airforcebase in Estonia
Due to the fact that both of these men had lost their lives fighting the communist regime, the leadership of the Estonian Air Force proposed that the Estonian airforce veterans would take part in the commemorative ceremony. The reason being, that they had fought communism in their own time. In addition to that, the monument called “The Last Flight,” erected at the Ämari Air Base in 2004 in the memory of Estonian airforce soldiers lost or killed in battle, was sculpted by a pilot of the former 11th Night Harassment Group (Nachtsclachtgruppe 11), Kalju Reitel. In addition to all that, the Estonian Parliament had recently approved a legislative act recognizing these men who had fought in the Second World War as freedom fighters. Accordingly it was a shock when a message was received from the U.S. Embassy stating that they did not wish to have the Estonian veterans, who had served in the fight against communism in the Second World War among the ranks of the German Army, take part in the ceremony.
Well, a no is a no. Because the Estonian Air Force veterans have always had a relationship of mutual respect and well meaning with the leadership of the Estonian Air Force, the veterans decided not to cause problems between the Estonian Air Force and the US Embassy by attending the foreign ceremony. The only issue remaining was – what was the matter in the first place?
All this inevitably raises a question among the ranks of Estonian freedom fighters - does the recognition of the Estonian Civil War and the Estonian freedom fighters by the Estonian Parliament only mean something in certain limited circles even inEstonia
At this point we would like to remind the Americans, who consider themselves the pinnacle of the anti-communist movement in the world today, that in the history of the fight against communism there are events that even the Americans would like to forget about. But let us remind ourselves – at the same time that the Estonian and Latvian soldiers fought for the independence of their countries in face of the communist menace, the US President, along with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, were pleading for Stalin`s friendship in Jalta, handing him half of Europe on a silver plate. There really is no point in even mentioning the failed Atlantic Charter. I guess you could call it an “occupational accident” of the western leadership of the time. W. Churchill figured it out quite soon after the event, as was evident from his famous speech atFulton
In the light of everything presented above I would like to ask – should all of the American soldiers who fought in alliance with Stalin be held responsible for all the crimes committed by that regime both during and after the Second World War, even though they did not take part in committing these crimes? After all, those crimes were made possible by the fact that theUSA gave direct assistance to the criminal Soviet Union . So in order to achieve an equal burden of responsibility with the Estonian soldiers, at least part of the responsibility for the Katõn murders, the genocide of the Baltic peoples (and the list could go on and on) should be borne by Americans. If we follow the example of how Americans are handling the matter of the Estonian and Latvian soldiers, who once fought for the independence of their homelands, it would not be an exaggeration at all to say that Americans have been at least indirectly involved in the aforementioned events. Let us think about who we are assisting before sending our troops on the next mission. What would that look like to the other countries and nations? An inevitable question arises – are Americans nowadays the friends and allies we think they are, whose association with us can do us no harm, or is there present the same danger as there was in our relations with the Germans back then - assisting them might be pragmatically necessary, but the consequences could be that Estonian soldiers could someday be (in the courts of some Islamic country perhaps) prosecuted and sentenced of being guilty by association with the US.
by Hendrik Arro
On the 8th of August of this year an official ceremony took place at Ämari airbase in commemoration of an Estonian-born American pilot, major Aado Kommendant, and his colleague, aircraft Captain lieutenant colonel Charles M. Walling. Both of these men fell 46 years ago in the Vietnam War when their aircraft, a F-47 Phantom, was shot down in action. Their remains were recovered only recently, and on the 8th of August the remains of Aado Kommendant were formally reburied in the ground of the national military cemetery at
Due to the fact that both of these men had lost their lives fighting the communist regime, the leadership of the Estonian Air Force proposed that the Estonian airforce veterans would take part in the commemorative ceremony. The reason being, that they had fought communism in their own time. In addition to that, the monument called “The Last Flight,” erected at the Ämari Air Base in 2004 in the memory of Estonian airforce soldiers lost or killed in battle, was sculpted by a pilot of the former 11th Night Harassment Group (Nachtsclachtgruppe 11), Kalju Reitel. In addition to all that, the Estonian Parliament had recently approved a legislative act recognizing these men who had fought in the Second World War as freedom fighters. Accordingly it was a shock when a message was received from the U.S. Embassy stating that they did not wish to have the Estonian veterans, who had served in the fight against communism in the Second World War among the ranks of the German Army, take part in the ceremony.
Well, a no is a no. Because the Estonian Air Force veterans have always had a relationship of mutual respect and well meaning with the leadership of the Estonian Air Force, the veterans decided not to cause problems between the Estonian Air Force and the US Embassy by attending the foreign ceremony. The only issue remaining was – what was the matter in the first place?
All this inevitably raises a question among the ranks of Estonian freedom fighters - does the recognition of the Estonian Civil War and the Estonian freedom fighters by the Estonian Parliament only mean something in certain limited circles even in
At this point we would like to remind the Americans, who consider themselves the pinnacle of the anti-communist movement in the world today, that in the history of the fight against communism there are events that even the Americans would like to forget about. But let us remind ourselves – at the same time that the Estonian and Latvian soldiers fought for the independence of their countries in face of the communist menace, the US President, along with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, were pleading for Stalin`s friendship in Jalta, handing him half of Europe on a silver plate. There really is no point in even mentioning the failed Atlantic Charter. I guess you could call it an “occupational accident” of the western leadership of the time. W. Churchill figured it out quite soon after the event, as was evident from his famous speech at
In the light of everything presented above I would like to ask – should all of the American soldiers who fought in alliance with Stalin be held responsible for all the crimes committed by that regime both during and after the Second World War, even though they did not take part in committing these crimes? After all, those crimes were made possible by the fact that the
Thursday, May 3, 2012
the winter that never came part 2: my CT experiment n=1 + some autoimmune disease musings
i have been lifting weights since 2001 undulating between powerlifting and bodybuilding. in the beginning of 2011 i decided to be serious about powerlifting again after some years of pure bodybuilding. that decision meant a royally sore but. and legs, and back, and chest... basically everything hurt. training was intense and i loved it, but i started to need a bit more as a recovery aid than the usual glutamine. cold water came to mind. so since early autumn (august) of 2011 i started taking cold showers after workouts- i started out with short (minute or 2) usually targeting my legs. as i started to feel the results and getting more adapted to cold i added to the time and graduated to fullbody showers. then around the end of 2011 - bang, Dr. Kruse comes out with the CT series and puts a big smile on my face. around that time i got around to taking labs to track my MS - hsCRP, cortisol, leptin, vit D, thyroid hormones, DHEA... the whole shebang. and i liked what i saw, but there was room for improvement. now i have been doing 2 x 20-30 minute showers 4-5 times a week for 3 months. a few weeks ago i decided i should test the functional benefits and went for a walk - in around 0 degrees celsius in my underarmour heatgear (designed to cool you off in hot places) t-shirt and shorts. i was pink and peachy and walked at a leasurely pace enjoying the looks i was getting on the streets. just last week i got the opportunity to try immersion for the first time : 8 deg celsius water for 30 minutes. i would have gone much longer but i decided not to give my mom a heartattack - we were having a spaday - she in the saunas me in the coldtubby. id say this is an experiment that has graduated to a lifefstyle for me.
before embarking on this journey i had been mostly ketogenic paleo for years, so i think that the sucess and easyness of CT for me must be partly attributed to that fact. to tell you the truth im not crazy enough to revert back to SAD, trigger my MS and then implement keto and CT just to prove the point, but my extremely subjective feeling is that the MS issue has improved even more. sometimes you dont notice anything is wrong before it is gone and you feel perfectly normal and go "hmmm i guess that occasional nagging numbness in my upper thigh must have been lingering symptoms after all."
you know, im quite a shallow person - i like to work on my body just for esthetics sake - im the first to admit that the hours i spend deadlifting have nothing to do with the health of the posterior chain (a weak link in human physique) and everything to do with how my skinny jeans fit. but in the next addition to this series i`d really like to talk a bit about health for a change. neolithic diseases of civilisation, autoimmune disorders and ageing in relation to circardian biology and cold. in addition id like to bring up a theory of mine about the connection between the brain and autoimmune disease: what if it all starts (or at least is connected) in the brain afterall - lets talk about LTP (longterm potentiation). yes i know this is something that has benn researched in neuropsychology and memoryresearch, but my theory gos something like this: if LTP works with psychology (one neuron that encodes an experience triggers another neuron that ellicits the response), then could it work more generally also... might there be a neurological trigger to autoimmune responses? if so which enzymes cause which proteins to be triggered and do they have antagonists? i mean could there exist a socalled biochemical "memory" that initiates the same kind of neurological consolidation process when a autoimmune recession takes place? and how is it all connected to biological mismatches, circardian biology and coldadaptation. stay tuned.......
before embarking on this journey i had been mostly ketogenic paleo for years, so i think that the sucess and easyness of CT for me must be partly attributed to that fact. to tell you the truth im not crazy enough to revert back to SAD, trigger my MS and then implement keto and CT just to prove the point, but my extremely subjective feeling is that the MS issue has improved even more. sometimes you dont notice anything is wrong before it is gone and you feel perfectly normal and go "hmmm i guess that occasional nagging numbness in my upper thigh must have been lingering symptoms after all."
you know, im quite a shallow person - i like to work on my body just for esthetics sake - im the first to admit that the hours i spend deadlifting have nothing to do with the health of the posterior chain (a weak link in human physique) and everything to do with how my skinny jeans fit. but in the next addition to this series i`d really like to talk a bit about health for a change. neolithic diseases of civilisation, autoimmune disorders and ageing in relation to circardian biology and cold. in addition id like to bring up a theory of mine about the connection between the brain and autoimmune disease: what if it all starts (or at least is connected) in the brain afterall - lets talk about LTP (longterm potentiation). yes i know this is something that has benn researched in neuropsychology and memoryresearch, but my theory gos something like this: if LTP works with psychology (one neuron that encodes an experience triggers another neuron that ellicits the response), then could it work more generally also... might there be a neurological trigger to autoimmune responses? if so which enzymes cause which proteins to be triggered and do they have antagonists? i mean could there exist a socalled biochemical "memory" that initiates the same kind of neurological consolidation process when a autoimmune recession takes place? and how is it all connected to biological mismatches, circardian biology and coldadaptation. stay tuned.......
Thursday, April 12, 2012
the winter that never came. part 1
i want to write about cold, hunger, darkness and physical exhertion. sounds bad doesn`t it. in my ears it sounds perfect - evolutionarily perfect that is. this is a recount of going back to the basics - of the hows and whys. lots of theory and some selfexperimenting. there will be several installations. lets begin with the background, the logic.
being paleo means a lot more than eating lowcarb. in the paleosphere lowcarb even isnt a must anymore. for me paleo is a lifestyle that encompasses everything necessary to achieve optimal health - the thrive not survive way of life. what we need to do in order to comprehend what that really means is very simple: yes, we live in a modern world but our bodies and our biochemistry is far from "modern". even though i do not even want to envision what my life would be like without modern comfort (im too old and lazy), i have been given a brain and some imagination and a strong desire to make myself into the best, healthiest - OPTIMAL - version of myself. my biochem and evolutionary biology background brought me to paleo as my logical thinking found a soundingboard in a filosophy that states that in order to thrive we need to feed our bodies the fuel that we were designed for. but the simple fact is this is not enough - yes the paleo "diet" is important. very much so, but there is so much more to it. to why modern man is such a physical wreck despite of all our modern comforts and possibilities. in a time when we have so much more possibilities, science and knowledge open to us - why is mankind in such a sorry state healthwise?????
lets hope that the theory of "gluttony and sloth" has died a deserved slow and painful death at least for the majority of paleosphere. lets say we all agree that there is a lot of underlying complex interplay (hormonal, biochemical) that makes calories in = calories out moot in the same way as telling a poor man that he is poor because his moneyflow into the bankaccount is smaller than the flow out of it. the info might be true. maybe. maybe not. maybe he got robbed. lost his job... we dont know. but you get my point though. hopefully. the info will not do him any good because it isn`t answering the question why.
i want to go deeper than the surface with this post. i want to make it clear that even though the outside may be perfect- you might be a fitness model - the inside (what really matters - the biochemistry, the longevity, the health of a person) might not match. i want to talk about why is that possible and even probable and what can we do to make certain we dont fall into that trap. the trap of complacency.
modern life has created a hoard of lifestyle factors, especially in the last 100 years, that have brought the human animal farther and farther from our "natural habitat" - the niche, the environment that we developed over millions of years to successfully inhabit. since the times of Lucy the aurtralopithecus afarensis 4,2 million years ago to this day, the last 100 years have changed our lives more than all the previous millenia put together. im sure every sane person can understand that that must create some kind of stress on our bodies and minds. we eat things our granny would not have recognised as food. we have streched the day into the night with electrical light. we use our tvs and computers to the wee hours of the night flooding our retina with the blue spectrum - corresponding to broad daylight. and we suffer from insomnia and wonder why. our houses are well insulated, our clothes are technological, our cars have heated seats - we live in eternal day and summer. whats wrong with that you may ask?
the thing that is wrong with all those nice things is: our biochemistry is GOVERNED by 2 things: the circardian and seasonal rythm (the light and temperature of our environment) and our diet corresponding to that rythm.
So you can see - we have created an eternal summer and daylight environment that is very far from the environment that we have developed in and evolved to thrive in. so what should we do? give up these modern comforts? or maybe use this large brain that evolution has given us and come up with ways to tap into the latent genetic and biochemical potential within us that corresponds to a certain kind of environmental niche. the lion will not thrive in alaska. the human animal can not thrive in an eternal summers day.
CIRCARDIAN AND SEASONAL BIOLOGY
even those of us who come from tropical ancestry can understand that there is a difference between hot and wet seasons, day and night, drought and plenty, that has been successfully eliminated from our modern lives. for those of us that live in temperate regions the change has been, simply put, huge. our biochemistry was molded over millenia to fit those cycles. to prepare our bodies to cope with the changing seasonal temperatures using that which was available to us - seasonally available fuel sources. for example - the abundance of carb-rich food during summer and early fall prepares our bodies for winter - and im not talking about simple fatstorage here - the biochemistry gos much deeper than that. after such a season our bodies would have been primed to take on the winter - ready for it in every way and benefitting from it! those of us who were fit enough, emerged lean and mean in the springtime. now we eat a "summertimediet" all round the year preparing our bodies for a winter that never comes.
so lets list a few biological mismatches between our lagging archaic biochemistry and our current modern world:
- food availability vs. scarcity
lets just say that 6-8 meals a day was not an option for 99,99% of hominid history. so why would it be optimal now? im sure you probably know i have been practicing intermittant fasting for years. thats why. going just a little deeper this is what IFing will accomplish for you: increased autopghagy (clearance of dead cellmatter and thus reducing inflammation), increased HGH response in fasted training, increased insulin and leptinsensitivity.
- carbohydrate content of our food
logical thinking will supply that carb-rich food (veggies, tubers, fruit and berries) were not available year-round for the majority of our history. it would be also logical to assume (and correct) that carb-loading in late summer/early fall would bring about some biologic conditioning and correspond with biochemical adaptations in accordance with seasonality - eg. abundance of carbs in the diet would signal approaching winter and our body would make use of the carb-load preparing us for the season of cold and scarcity.
this carbload essentially triggers seasonal insulinresistance which is very beneficial when one needs to store energy for a cold and dark period of scarce foodsupplies. except the winter never comes any more.
- omega 6 content of our food
the interesting thing is that the maximum omega 6 content/load of seasonal foodsupply coincides with that of carbohydrates. we used to get more omega 6 when plantmatter was available to us in addition to the higher omega 6 content of game meat in the summertime.
it is an essential fatty acid, yes. with an essential job to do in our bodies. one of those jobs is increasing the plasticity of our cellmembranes in order to cope with the onset of winter. this change would be reversed during the winter in the favour of omega 3-s in accordance with carbs reappearing in the diet and the lengthening of light cycles. that never happens now.
....to be continued... digging deeper in part 2
being paleo means a lot more than eating lowcarb. in the paleosphere lowcarb even isnt a must anymore. for me paleo is a lifestyle that encompasses everything necessary to achieve optimal health - the thrive not survive way of life. what we need to do in order to comprehend what that really means is very simple: yes, we live in a modern world but our bodies and our biochemistry is far from "modern". even though i do not even want to envision what my life would be like without modern comfort (im too old and lazy), i have been given a brain and some imagination and a strong desire to make myself into the best, healthiest - OPTIMAL - version of myself. my biochem and evolutionary biology background brought me to paleo as my logical thinking found a soundingboard in a filosophy that states that in order to thrive we need to feed our bodies the fuel that we were designed for. but the simple fact is this is not enough - yes the paleo "diet" is important. very much so, but there is so much more to it. to why modern man is such a physical wreck despite of all our modern comforts and possibilities. in a time when we have so much more possibilities, science and knowledge open to us - why is mankind in such a sorry state healthwise?????
lets hope that the theory of "gluttony and sloth" has died a deserved slow and painful death at least for the majority of paleosphere. lets say we all agree that there is a lot of underlying complex interplay (hormonal, biochemical) that makes calories in = calories out moot in the same way as telling a poor man that he is poor because his moneyflow into the bankaccount is smaller than the flow out of it. the info might be true. maybe. maybe not. maybe he got robbed. lost his job... we dont know. but you get my point though. hopefully. the info will not do him any good because it isn`t answering the question why.
i want to go deeper than the surface with this post. i want to make it clear that even though the outside may be perfect- you might be a fitness model - the inside (what really matters - the biochemistry, the longevity, the health of a person) might not match. i want to talk about why is that possible and even probable and what can we do to make certain we dont fall into that trap. the trap of complacency.
modern life has created a hoard of lifestyle factors, especially in the last 100 years, that have brought the human animal farther and farther from our "natural habitat" - the niche, the environment that we developed over millions of years to successfully inhabit. since the times of Lucy the aurtralopithecus afarensis 4,2 million years ago to this day, the last 100 years have changed our lives more than all the previous millenia put together. im sure every sane person can understand that that must create some kind of stress on our bodies and minds. we eat things our granny would not have recognised as food. we have streched the day into the night with electrical light. we use our tvs and computers to the wee hours of the night flooding our retina with the blue spectrum - corresponding to broad daylight. and we suffer from insomnia and wonder why. our houses are well insulated, our clothes are technological, our cars have heated seats - we live in eternal day and summer. whats wrong with that you may ask?
the thing that is wrong with all those nice things is: our biochemistry is GOVERNED by 2 things: the circardian and seasonal rythm (the light and temperature of our environment) and our diet corresponding to that rythm.
So you can see - we have created an eternal summer and daylight environment that is very far from the environment that we have developed in and evolved to thrive in. so what should we do? give up these modern comforts? or maybe use this large brain that evolution has given us and come up with ways to tap into the latent genetic and biochemical potential within us that corresponds to a certain kind of environmental niche. the lion will not thrive in alaska. the human animal can not thrive in an eternal summers day.
CIRCARDIAN AND SEASONAL BIOLOGY
even those of us who come from tropical ancestry can understand that there is a difference between hot and wet seasons, day and night, drought and plenty, that has been successfully eliminated from our modern lives. for those of us that live in temperate regions the change has been, simply put, huge. our biochemistry was molded over millenia to fit those cycles. to prepare our bodies to cope with the changing seasonal temperatures using that which was available to us - seasonally available fuel sources. for example - the abundance of carb-rich food during summer and early fall prepares our bodies for winter - and im not talking about simple fatstorage here - the biochemistry gos much deeper than that. after such a season our bodies would have been primed to take on the winter - ready for it in every way and benefitting from it! those of us who were fit enough, emerged lean and mean in the springtime. now we eat a "summertimediet" all round the year preparing our bodies for a winter that never comes.
so lets list a few biological mismatches between our lagging archaic biochemistry and our current modern world:
- food availability vs. scarcity
lets just say that 6-8 meals a day was not an option for 99,99% of hominid history. so why would it be optimal now? im sure you probably know i have been practicing intermittant fasting for years. thats why. going just a little deeper this is what IFing will accomplish for you: increased autopghagy (clearance of dead cellmatter and thus reducing inflammation), increased HGH response in fasted training, increased insulin and leptinsensitivity.
- carbohydrate content of our food
logical thinking will supply that carb-rich food (veggies, tubers, fruit and berries) were not available year-round for the majority of our history. it would be also logical to assume (and correct) that carb-loading in late summer/early fall would bring about some biologic conditioning and correspond with biochemical adaptations in accordance with seasonality - eg. abundance of carbs in the diet would signal approaching winter and our body would make use of the carb-load preparing us for the season of cold and scarcity.
this carbload essentially triggers seasonal insulinresistance which is very beneficial when one needs to store energy for a cold and dark period of scarce foodsupplies. except the winter never comes any more.
- omega 6 content of our food
the interesting thing is that the maximum omega 6 content/load of seasonal foodsupply coincides with that of carbohydrates. we used to get more omega 6 when plantmatter was available to us in addition to the higher omega 6 content of game meat in the summertime.
it is an essential fatty acid, yes. with an essential job to do in our bodies. one of those jobs is increasing the plasticity of our cellmembranes in order to cope with the onset of winter. this change would be reversed during the winter in the favour of omega 3-s in accordance with carbs reappearing in the diet and the lengthening of light cycles. that never happens now.
....to be continued... digging deeper in part 2
Friday, February 17, 2012
not wanting it enough
I know this is going to be a confrontational post, one that will get many dislikes for sure, but i have been thinking about this a lot, discussing this with everybody i have come to contact with lately.
Fitness, nutrition, antiaging and actively studying anything and everything to do with that is a very big part of my daily life. It has nothing whatsoever to do with my actual dayjob - it is all a "hobby" you could say. So is helping other people out. I put lots of effort into it, lots of time and passion. I literally spend at least 2 hours daily reading up on the newest goingons in biochemistry, molecular biology, evolutionary medicine and exercise physiology. I want to be able to say with honesty that when i give out info to people i have done my best and i don`t just sprout broscience around. Real science works. I`m living proof. The thing is, i have come into contact with some people that really need to make a change, not just for looks, but for serious health issues. I have given them the results of this 12 years n=1 journey of experiment and study... and what happens? They listen, nod and at the same time i feel like i`m reading their minds... there is no way they will ever even give this a chance, give themselves a chance. When people just quit on me when they dont get a sixpack in a week then i get frustrated because for the life of me i cant make myself understand - why don`t they want it enough??!! I hear the same things all over again - i cant really commit to it now, there are lots of birthdays coming up, vacations, weddings. They are so busy at work, with children.. etc etc.
The same person is back after a year or so swearing that they are ready to commit now. They have had a terrible year healthwise, they have again tried every fad in a mag for a week with no results and they just can not understand how i manage to either stay in shape, make progress at the gym, stay healthy etc etc considering my many medical issues.... I MANAGE BECAUSE I WANT IT ENOUGH!
I want to be able to work out like an elite athlete despite my MS and heartcondition. I want to be able to enjoy my body as a result of nurturing it with the right kind of nutrition. I want to be able to enjoy freedom of movement that results from doing all that - believe me once you have been paralysed you begin to appreciate that. I want to be able to live life to my fullest potential and i want to learn every single day, i want to feel fast and sharp of mind and body.
When i sit across the table, for the umpteenth time, from the same man in his 40s, still 100 lbs overweight, still type 2 diabetic, bloated and red from systematic inflammation raging inside him. Still in pain, almost impotent, suffering physically and mentally. I want to first cry for him and then give him a good spanking. WAKE THE HELL UP!!!!!! Your life is passing you by. And the small step you need to take to realise your potential could have been taken a year ago. Why didn`t you want it enough?????? More than your own and your loved ones physical, mental and sexual wellbeing, happiness and longevity you wanted that beer on a vacation and that doughnut every day at the office. You made a choice. You have to live with it. I have to grieve for you.
Excuses are for those who dont want it bad enough. yes i saw that on facebook. And this one too:
Fitness, nutrition, antiaging and actively studying anything and everything to do with that is a very big part of my daily life. It has nothing whatsoever to do with my actual dayjob - it is all a "hobby" you could say. So is helping other people out. I put lots of effort into it, lots of time and passion. I literally spend at least 2 hours daily reading up on the newest goingons in biochemistry, molecular biology, evolutionary medicine and exercise physiology. I want to be able to say with honesty that when i give out info to people i have done my best and i don`t just sprout broscience around. Real science works. I`m living proof. The thing is, i have come into contact with some people that really need to make a change, not just for looks, but for serious health issues. I have given them the results of this 12 years n=1 journey of experiment and study... and what happens? They listen, nod and at the same time i feel like i`m reading their minds... there is no way they will ever even give this a chance, give themselves a chance. When people just quit on me when they dont get a sixpack in a week then i get frustrated because for the life of me i cant make myself understand - why don`t they want it enough??!! I hear the same things all over again - i cant really commit to it now, there are lots of birthdays coming up, vacations, weddings. They are so busy at work, with children.. etc etc.
The same person is back after a year or so swearing that they are ready to commit now. They have had a terrible year healthwise, they have again tried every fad in a mag for a week with no results and they just can not understand how i manage to either stay in shape, make progress at the gym, stay healthy etc etc considering my many medical issues.... I MANAGE BECAUSE I WANT IT ENOUGH!
I want to be able to work out like an elite athlete despite my MS and heartcondition. I want to be able to enjoy my body as a result of nurturing it with the right kind of nutrition. I want to be able to enjoy freedom of movement that results from doing all that - believe me once you have been paralysed you begin to appreciate that. I want to be able to live life to my fullest potential and i want to learn every single day, i want to feel fast and sharp of mind and body.
When i sit across the table, for the umpteenth time, from the same man in his 40s, still 100 lbs overweight, still type 2 diabetic, bloated and red from systematic inflammation raging inside him. Still in pain, almost impotent, suffering physically and mentally. I want to first cry for him and then give him a good spanking. WAKE THE HELL UP!!!!!! Your life is passing you by. And the small step you need to take to realise your potential could have been taken a year ago. Why didn`t you want it enough?????? More than your own and your loved ones physical, mental and sexual wellbeing, happiness and longevity you wanted that beer on a vacation and that doughnut every day at the office. You made a choice. You have to live with it. I have to grieve for you.
Excuses are for those who dont want it bad enough. yes i saw that on facebook. And this one too:
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