tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44717550858610711992024-03-13T08:04:42.470-07:00minddistortionsAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comBlogger632125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-75489755291514752802013-09-09T04:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.498-07:00Waist-to-weight ratios in pictures: The John Stone transformationvar citeN=0; John Stone is a bodybuilder and founder of a bodybuilding and fitness web site (citeN=citeN+1;document.write(Number(citeN))). There he has provided pictures and stats of his remarkable transformation, which were used to prepare the montage below. John’s height is reported as 5' 11.5". Below the photos are the months in which they were taken, the waist circumferences in inches, Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-24712460353700727442013-09-02T16:03:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.398-07:00Is Refined Carbohydrate Addictive?[Note: in previous versions, I mixed up "LGI" and "HGI" terms in a couple of spots. These are now corrected. Thanks to readers for pointing them out.]Recently, a new study was published that triggered an avalanche of media reports suggesting that refined carbohydrate may be addictive:Refined Carbs May Trigger Food AddictionRefined Carbs May Trigger Food AddictionsCan You be Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-68845282999618762682013-08-26T19:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.471-07:00More Thoughts on Cold Training: Biology Chimes InNow that the concept of cold training for cold adaptation and fat loss has received scientific support, I've been thinking more about how to apply it. A number of people have been practicing cold training for a long time, using various methods, most of which haven't been scientifically validated. That doesn't mean the methods don't work (some of them probably do), but I don'Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-86198083543956969332013-08-26T05:58:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.510-07:00Could we have evolved traits that are detrimental to our survival?var citeN=0; Let us assume that we collected data on the presence or absence of a trait (e.g., propensity toward risky behavior) in a population of individuals, as well as on intermediate effects of the trait, downstream effects on mating and survival success, and ultimately on reproductive success (a.k.a. “fitness”, in evolutionary biology). The data would have been collected over several Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-35012204789952300142013-08-20T19:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.421-07:00Reflections on the 2013 Ancestral Health SymposiumI just returned from the 2013 Ancestral Health Symposium in Atlanta. Despite a few challenges with the audio/visual setup, I think it went well. I arrived on Thursday evening, and so I missed a few talks that would have been interesting to attend, by Mel Konner, Nassim Taleb, Gad Saad, and Hamilton Stapell. Dr. Konner is one of the progenitors of the modern Paleo movement. Dr. Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-9773309788233982502013-08-13T19:37:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.522-07:00AHS Talk This SaturdayFor those who are attending the Ancestral Health Symposium this year, my talk will be at 9:00 AM on Saturday. The title is "Insulin and Obesity: Reconciling Conflicting Evidence", and it will focus on the following two questions:Does elevated insulin cause obesity; does obesity cause elevated insulin; or both?Is there a unifying hypothesis that's able to explain all of the seemingly Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-13120410960796595252013-08-12T04:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.378-07:00We share an ancestor who probably lived no more than 640 years agoThis post is a revised version of a previous post. The original post has been or will be deleted, with the comments preserved. Typically this is done with posts that attract many visits at the time they are published, and whose topics become particularly relevant or need to be re-addressed at a later date. ***We all evolved from one single-celled organism that lived billions of years ago. I don’tAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-47272986593621083682013-08-09T03:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.450-07:00Food Reward FridayThis week's lucky "winner"... cola!Thirsty yet? Visual cues such as these are used to drive food/beverage seeking and consumption behavior, which are used to drive profits. How does this work? Once you've consumed a rewarding beverage enough times, particularly as a malleable child, your brain comes to associate everything about that beverage with the primary reward you Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-51386707058494833742013-08-02T03:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.458-07:00Food Reward FridayThis week's lucky winner... salted nuts!!Read more »Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-81541704806592124092013-07-29T04:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.508-07:00Could grain-fed beef liver be particularly nutritious?var citeN=0; There is a pervasive belief today that grain-fed beef is unhealthy, a belief that I addressed before in this blog (citeN=citeN+1;document.write(Number(citeN))) and that I think is exaggerated. This general belief seems to also apply to a related meat, one that is widely acknowledged as a major micronutrient “powerhouse”, namely grain-fed beef liver. Regarding grain-fed beef liver, Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-28717256053189564342013-07-28T11:34:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.404-07:00Brown Fat: It's a Big DealNon-shivering thermogenesis is the process by which the body generates extra heat without shivering. Shivering is a way for the body to use muscular contractions to generate heat, but non-shivering thermogenesis uses a completely different mechanism to accomplish the same goal: a specialized fat-burning tissue called brown fat. Brown fat is brown rather than white because it's packed with Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-17173959084096381742013-07-27T20:13:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.388-07:00Zucchini: The Home Gardener's Worst Friend? With bonus garden-related rambling.One of my main gardening goals has been to harvest more of something than I can eat, despite my limited gardening space here in the Emerald City. I want the feeling of abundance that comes with having to preserve and give away food because I can't eat it all. Enter zucchini. My grandfather used to say that in New Jersey in summertime, you'd have to keep your car doors locked, otherwise Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-7455826058628161332013-07-16T03:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.489-07:00The Genetics of Obesity, Part IIIGenetics Loads the Gun, Environment Pulls the TriggerThanks to a WHS reader* for reminding me of the above quote by Dr. Francis Collins, director of the US National Institutes of Health**. This is a concept that helps reconcile the following two seemingly contradictory observations:Roughly 70 percent of obesity risk is genetically inherited, leaving only 30 percent of risk to environmental Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-47924612085785041042013-07-15T19:26:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.456-07:00Return to the Source Parkour CampFor those who are interested in natural movement training, this summer my friend Rafe Kelley will be hosting an interesting three-day event near Bellingham, WA called "Return to the Source". Rafe is skilled in a variety of movement disciplines and is the co-founder of the Seattle parkour gym Parkour Visions. Parkour is a very fun sport that hones our natural ability to skillfully Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-67332175696904345902013-07-15T04:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.468-07:00How can carrying some extra body fat be healthy?var citeN=0; Most of the empirical investigations into the association between body mass index (BMI) and mortality suggest that the lowest-mortality BMI is approximately on the border between the normal and overweight ranges. Or, as Peter put it (citeN=citeN+1;document.write(Number(citeN))): "Getting fat is good." As much as one may be tempted to explain this based only on the relative Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-92100836306619268332013-07-01T04:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.519-07:00An illustration of the waist-to-weight ratio theory: The fit2fat2fit experimentvar citeN=0; In my previous blog post, I argued that one’s optimal weight may be the one that minimizes one’s waist-to-weight ratio. I built this argument based on the fact that body fat percentage is associated with lean body mass (and also weight) in a nonlinear way. The fit2fat2fit experiment (citeN=citeN+1;document.write(Number(citeN))), provides what seems to be an interestingly way to putAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-62062845064524025942013-06-28T03:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.463-07:00Food Reward FridayThis week's lucky "winner"... beer!!Read more »Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-78544488632610678662013-06-24T04:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.505-07:00The Genetics of Obesity, Part IChoosing the Right Parents: the Best Way to Stay Lean?In 1990, Dr. Claude Bouchard and colleagues published a simple but fascinating study demonstrating the importance of genetics in body fatness (1). They took advantage of one of the most useful tools in human genetics: identical twins. This is what happens when a single fertilized egg generates two embryos in utero and two genetically Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-36747463037474387062013-06-21T03:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.430-07:00Food Reward FridayThis week's lucky "winner"... low-carb gluten-free bacon chocolate mocha ice cream cake!!Read more »Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-31011493138575113092013-06-17T04:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.410-07:00What is your optimal weight? Maybe it is the one that minimizes your waist-to-weight ratiovar citeN=0; There is a significant amount of empirical evidence suggesting that, for a given individual and under normal circumstances, the optimal weight is the one that maximizes the ratio below, where: L = lean body mass, and T = total mass. L / T L is difficult and often costly to measure. T can be measured easily, as one’s total weight. Through some simple algebraic manipulations, you Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-64735630836102743352013-06-14T08:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.465-07:00Food Reward FridayThis week's lucky "winner"... cronuts!!Read more »Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-16325412139657441112013-06-07T03:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.385-07:00Food Reward FridayThis week's "winner" will certainly be the most controversial yet... bacon!!Bacon is a fatty cut of pork (typically side or back) that has been thinly sliced, cured, then cooked until crispy. This results in a fatty, salty, savory flavor that almost everyone loves. Bacon's extremely high calorie density, saltiness, and savory flavor give it a reward value that competes with Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-40915498610272973182013-06-06T21:10:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.436-07:00UpdateI haven't been putting much effort into blogging these past few weeks. Frankly, a little break has been nice while I take care of other things in my life. But I haven't been twiddling my thumbs. Obesity research hasn't slowed down and there are many topics that I'd love to write about here if I had the time. I'll be starting a new series soon on the genetics of obesity-- aAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-39923981087640981022013-06-03T04:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.433-07:00Dr. Jekyll dieted and became Mr. Hydevar citeN=0; One of the most fascinating topics for an independent health researcher is the dichotomy between short- and long-term responses in successful dieters. In the short term, dieters that manage to lose a significant amount of fat mass, tend to feel quite well. Many report that their energy levels go through the roof. A significant loss of fat mass could be considered one of 30 lbs, or Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4471755085861071199.post-29366087384296565442013-05-20T04:00:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:32:33.407-07:00Sudden cholesterol increase? It may be psychologicalvar citeN=0; There are many published studies with evidence that cholesterol levels are positively associated with heart disease. In multivariate analyses the effects are usually small, but they are still there. On the other hand, there is also plenty of evidence that cholesterol is beneficial in terms of health. Here of course I am referring to the health of humans, not of the many parasites Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12098591499227545188noreply@blogger.com