Browning Yourself With Fructose

Why is sugar, and especially fructose, such a health minefield?  Among other things, the risk comes for AGE.  Read on:

Take Home Messages:

• Sugars in baked goods or blood, react with amino acids or proteins to make inflammatory AGEs.
• Blood sugar tests only measure glucose and ignore fructose, which is even more unhealthy.  So, foods laced with fructose can be low glycemic, but very unhealthy.
• The major AGE in blood is HgA1C.
• Diabetics have more stable, lower blood sugar on low carb diets, e.g. my Anti-Inflammatory Diet.  The liver produces needed blood sugar from protein.
• Diabetic use of fructose or agave nectar or honey encourages AGE, inflammation and diseases of diabetes.
• Starch (not RS) is the only polysaccharide digested by gut enzymes and is high glycemic.
• AGE is inflammatory leading to artery plaque and hypertension.
• AGE as browned foods are probably tolerated by the body.

http://coolinginflammation.blogspot.com/2014/02/diabetic-hypertension-browning-of.html

Read the whole post to better perceive the "lurking dangers" of AGEs that result from sugar intake.

How Many Died?

At the same time, scientists at the University of Maryland were finishing up some intensive research on the impact of trans fats on heart disease.  Their findings appeared so incriminating for the lab-created substance that it spurred the USDA to run an analysis of the margarines currently on the market, testing them for their trans fats levels - an endeavor other researchers across the globe were also gaining interest in at the time.

The results were grim.  It turned out that the margarine market was a virtual sea of transfats, with nearly every brand, both regular and those promoted for health, containing disturbingly high levels.  According to Light, the head of the USDA's fats lane-who'd spearheaded the analysis-had attempted to spread the findings to other scientists and the public, only to have his efforts thwarted by the steely fist of the USDA.  As she described the sorry scene:

“The head of the fats lab told me that when he attempted to publish a paper with his findings in a peer-reviewed scientific journal .. [the] USDA suppressed it, refusing to allow the information to be published.  This eminent, world-renowned scientist told me, with tears in his eyes, that in his twenty=year career in research, he had never been confronted with such blatant political interference in science.

As disturbing as that interference was, it was hardly surprising.  Partially hydrogenated oils were a sacred cow for food manufacturers:  they were cheaper than animal fats, had a gloriously high melting point, prolonged the shelf life of whatever they touched, and provided just the right consistency to make foods profitably addictive.  That Father USDA had rushed in to protect the food industries favorite commodity wasn’t anything new-just business as usual.  Denise Minger, "Death By Food Pyramid"

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Food-Pyramid-Politics-Interests-ebook/dp/B00HFKX24Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394503651&sr=1-1&keywords=death+by+food+pyramid

From the first strong evidence of the negative impact of trans-fat until the government finally started warning us about same - took 16 years.  In the mean time, the government was steering folks towards margarines with vegetables oils, meaning they were pointing us at the substances laden with trans fats.  Thanks, USDA.

The book's title is: "

How Shoddy Science, Sketchy Politics and Shady Special Interests Have Ruined Our Health"

It is not an exaggeration.  That more folks are not angry is testament to many things.  Our faith in government and our unwillingness to examine the ways government is killing us, the paucity of good science with regards to human health, and our desperation to believe experts - who will tell us anything that makes them feel better.

PN - Nutrient Timing?

While it’s still wise to bookend your training with protein and carbohydrates, you probably have one or two hours on both sides of your training to get those benefits.

What’s more, for most people — save a few specific types of athletes — it doesn’t seem to matter how fast you digest things.

So imagine this:

Rather than worrying about slamming down some waxy maize starch and whey hydrolysate immediately after training, shoving people out of the way on your mad dash to your gym bag for your Super Shake bottle, you can actually drive home, take a shower, prepare, and eat a delicious whole food mixed meal.

To back up this idea, recent data suggests that the total amount of protein and carbohydrate you eat, over the course of the day, is more important for body composition and performance than nutrient timing strategies.

So, make no mistake, we’re not done with workout nutrition. (In fact, I’ll outline our current workout nutrition strategies in my next article.) Rather, we’re simply more open to the idea that there are several ways to eat for performance and body composition.

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/nutrient-timing

One of the things I like about PN is that they will review and reconsider.  In a dogma laden business, that is a good thing.

Oatmeal: Heart healthy. . . or Not?

Is this true? Is oatmeal heart healthy because it reduces LDL cholesterol?

I don't think so. Sure, oatmeal can reduce LDL cholesterol modestly. But try this: Have a serving of slow-cooked (e.g., steel-cut, Irish, etc.) oatmeal. Most people will consume oatmeal with skim or 1% milk and some dried or fresh fruit. Wait an hour, then check your blood sugar.

If you are not diabetic and have a fasting blood sugar in the "normal" range (<100 1-hour="" 150-180="" a="" and="" be="" blood="" but="" can="" dl-that="" dl="" effect="" even="" everybody="" frightening="" glucose="" have="" high.="" instant="" it="" majority="" mg="" not="" o:p="" oatmeal="" of="" or="" quick="" response="" s="" show="" sugar="" the="" this="" try="" typically="" very="" will.="" will="" with="" worse.="" you="">

If you have mildly increased fasting blood sugars between 100 and 126 mg/dl, after-oatmeal blood sugars will easily exceed 180 mg/dl. If you have diabetes, hold onto your hat because, even if you take medications, blood sugar one hour after oatmeal will usually be between 200 and 300 mg/dl.

www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/c/7986/106385/oatmeal-heart?utm_content=buffer63c7a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Some folks with high LDL are sick and don't live well.  No one with out of control blood sugar is healthy and living well.  Skip the oatmeal and have some meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds, little fruit or starch, and no sugar/wheat.

The 11 Most Destructive Nutrition Lies Ever Told

Might be a bit of a stretch to call these "lies".  More like crappy science dressed in the Emperor's clothes.  The government gave them its imprimatur and we kept trying to pretend we could see them.

A few decades ago it was decided that the epidemic of heart disease was caused by eating too much fat, in particular saturated fat. This was based on highly flawed studies and political decisions that have now been proven to be completely wrong.

A massive review article published in 2010 looked at 21 prospective epidemiological studies with a total of 347.747 subjects. Their results: absolutely no association between saturated fat and heart disease (6).

The idea that saturated fat raised the risk of heart disease was an unproven theory that somehow became conventional wisdom (7). Eating saturated fat raises the amount of HDL (the “good”) cholesterol in the blood and changes the LDL from small, dense LDL (very bad) to Large LDL, which is benign (8, 9).

Meat, coconut oil, cheese, butter… there is absolutely no reason to fear these foods.

Bottom Line: Newer studies have proven that saturated fat does not cause heart disease. Natural foods that are high in saturated fat are good for you.

Read more: http://authoritynutrition.com/11-biggest-lies-of-mainstream-nutrition/#ixzz2uvOEQb18

Healthy Snack Food Is .... Snickers?

This is a great picture.  Snickers is "not as bad" as whole grain bread or oatmeal - and which one would you really rather eat if you have to pick a food that's bad for you?

http://s258.photobucket.com/user/Gyrobob_theOriginal/media/Healthy%20Stuff/SnickersBloodSugarTest01.jpg.html?src=pb

CrossFit One World: CAN YOU DO DOUBLE UNDERS?

Excellent summary of some of the finer points of the double under.
http://crossfitoneworld.typepad.com/crossfit_one_world/2012/01/doubleunders.html

I hit PRs this month up to 72 unbroken double unders.  I've been flailing around at under 50 double unders for 3 or 4 years, trying to crack the DU code.  The last obstacle - after getting rid of wrong rope, no technique, and no clear concept of what a DU is - was sorting out how to properly spin the rope without tension in my shoulders (deltoids).  Broke through that barrier this month, and I have no idea how!  Except - I was practicing the fundamentals of DUs with more consistency and discipline.

7 years in - it's either that I'm a slow learner or there's really always something to be learned.