Speaking in Lisbon on October 5

My friend Pedro Bastos graciously invited me to speak at a conference he organized in Lisbon on October 5 titled "Food, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases".  I will give two talks:

• "Ancestral Health: What is Our Human Potential?"  This talk will explore the health of non-industrial cultures in an effort to understand how much of our modern chronic disease burden is preventable, and it will briefly touch on one major aspect of non-industrial life that may protect against the "diseases of civilization".  This presentation will focus on age-adjusted data from high quality studies.  
• "Why Do We Overeat: a Neurobiological Perspective."  This talk will attempt to explain why most of us consume more calories than we need to maintain weight-- a phenomenon that is a central cause of morbidity and mortality in the modern world.  It will touch on some of the brain mechanisms involved in ingestive behavior, and outline a framework to explain why these mechanisms are often maladaptive in today's environment.

Pedro will speak about dairy consumption, vitamin D, and chronic disease.  

The conference is targeted to health professionals and students of nutrition, however it's open to anyone who is interested in these topics.  It's sponsored by NutriScience, a Portuguese nutrition education and consulting company.  Sadly, I don't speak Portuguese, so my talks will be in English.  

Access the full program, and register for the conference, using the links below:

Program

Registration

These Carbs Are Actually Good for You!

While carbs tend to get a lot of bad press (think the Atkins diet), they are an essential part of any diet if you expect to have energy and function at an optimal level. "Your body definitely needs carbs," says nutritionist Kelly Aronica, who believes that they should make up at least 50-60% of the calories you consume daily. Why? Because glucose, the simplest type of carbohydrate, is the only thing that can be used to meet the energy needs of the body, support the brain and nervous system, and maintain a well-functioning digestive system.

Though the body has a backup plan if no carbohydrates are eaten, it's not perfect (hence why it's meant as a backup plan). As Aronica explains it, if there's a lack of carbohydrates, the body essentially converts protein and fat into glucose, which is what the body converts into fuel so we have energy. The problem is that this system is less efficient and slower than just consuming carbohydrates and, depending on your sensitivity level, it often leads to low energy and light-headedness. But that's not the only reason to eat carbs.

As Aronica puts it, carbs are also needed because their presence lets the body know to release insulin, which is necessary to use the glucose to build muscle, energy storage, and even fat (if you have excess glucose). Now if the mention of fat made you start to believe all those anti-carb rants, then you need to remember that there's a big difference between carbs that provide fiber, nutrients, and vitamins and ones that only supply sugar. Don't believe us? Aronica points out that a recent study from the New England Journal of Medicine "showed that eating refined potato products, sweetened drinks, sweets and desserts, fruit juice, and other refined grains were linked to weight gain where high-fiber carbs were linked to long term weight loss." So instead of banishing carbs from your diet, be more particular about the ones you eat.

Avoid refined carbohydrates (like white bread) and opt for the carbs that have high-fiber levels and a bounty of nutrients and vitamins, like folate and heart healthy omega-3's. While most of the fibers in food aren't actually digestible, they provide a lot of other important health benefits to keep you operating at your best and are a necessary part of any diet. To help you make better choices, we put together a list of the carbs that are best for your body.

Carbs with Lots of Folate
Lentils, 1 cup Cooked: 1 cup, 358 milligrams Folate

Beets, Cooked, 1 cup: 136 milligrams Folate

Brussels Sprouts, Cooked: 1 cup, 157 milligrams Folate

Black-eyed Peas: 1 cup, canned, 358 milligrams Folate

Chickpeas, Cooked: 1 cup, 282 milligrams Folate

Okra, Cooked: 1 cup, 269 milligrams Folate


Carbs High in Protein

Buckwheat Flour: 1 cup, 15.14 grams protein

Rice, Long-Grain, Dry: 1 cup, 15.00 grams protein

Soybeans, Boiled: 1 cup, 28.62 grams protein

Couscous, Dry: 1 cup, 22.07 grams protein

White Beans, Canned: 1 cup, 19.02 grams protein

Black Beans, Cooked: 1 cup, 15.24 grams protein


Carbs High in Vitamin C

Peaches: 1 cup, 235.5 milligrams Vitamin C

Red Peppers, Cooked: 1 cup, 232.6 milligrams Vitamin C

1 Papaya: 187.9 milligrams Vitamin C

Grape Juice, 6-fluid-ounce can: 179.5 milligrams Vitamin C

Brussels Sprouts: 1 cup, 96.7 milligrams Vitamin C

Peas, Cooked: 1 cup, 76.6 milligrams Vitamin C


Carbs High in Iron

Soybeans: 1 cup, 8.84 milligrams Iron

Cream of Wheat Cereal: 1 packet cooked, 8.09 milligrams Iron

Lentils, Cooked: 1 cup, 6.59 milligrams Iron

Spinach, Cooked: 1 cup, 6.43 milligrams Iron


Carbs High in Potassium

Tomatoes, Canned: 1 cup, 2657 milligrams Potassium

Beet Geens, Cooked: 1 cup, 1309 milligrams Potassium

White Beans, Canned: 1 cup, 1189 milligrams Potassium

Dates: 1 cup, 1168 milligrams Potassium

Raisins, Seedless: 1 cup, 1086 milligrams Potassium

Potatoes: 1 potato baked, with skin, 1081 milligrams Potassium

Lima Beans, Cooked: 1 cup, 955 milligrams Potassium

Plantain, Raw: 1 medium plantain, 893 milligrams Potassium

Treadmill instantly sheds 80% of your weight

 

 

Lose the weight instantly!!!” “Erase pounds in seconds!!”

 

Sound too good to be true? Not if you have an anti-gravity treadmill. The high-tech machine literally “unweights” users, allowing very overweight people to walk or run without pain. The technology started with astronauts, but now it’s making a huge difference in lives across the country.

Anti-gravity and treadmills … How does that work?

The technology was originally conceived in the '90s by two inventors to design effective exercise regimens for NASA’s astronauts. Then it was adapted by AlterG, a company based in Fremont, Calif., for use in training and rehabilitation.

An anti-gravity treadmill looks like your typical gym machine, except for one difference: an air-filled bag that fits around a person’s torso and lower extremities. And that’s where the magic happens.

 Users wear shorts that zipper into the air chamber. Then an airtight seal is formed and the chamber inflates. The user then gets lifted slightly, reducing the amount of body weight the legs have to carry, thus allowing users to walk or run at less than their actual weight.

How much less? As low as 20 percent of their body weight, effectively giving them the weightlessness they would have on the moon.

From the moon … to Metairie, La.

Physical therapist Robbie Porche started out with one anti-gravity treadmill in his southern Louisiana physical therapy clinic. Now he has three. Porche says anti-gravity treadmills have given very overweight patients, who are struggling to slim down, a new outlook on breaking a sweat.

“If they are overweight, it has taken a very long time to get in the condition they are in. It actually brings back that feeling of how it was before they gained the weight. That’s motivation.” He adds, “Patients were actually increasing their time on the AlterG, and then they would start fussing when we would have to kick them off it.”

Barbara Wheat, who has had a full and partial knee replacement, is one of those patients. Unable to exert herself without pain, she struggled with any form of exercise.

“I just felt like I can’t do it. It’s going to hurt. I’m too tired. I don’t want to be bothered.”

But after trying out the anti-gravity treadmill, Wheat says, “Little by little, I gained confidence. I stayed longer and started burning more calories. It just started working for me. I was a linebacker. In the AlterG, I was only a half a linebacker.”

Experts say one of the treadmill's biggest benefits is reducing stress on weakened or injured joints.
Henry Knoll, who suffers from osteoarthritis in both knees, has rekindled a dream of running again. “In 2004 I stopped exercising and I got up to 306 pounds. As a kid I could run distances, and it would never ever bother me. I’d like to be able to get back to that.”

The anti-gravity treadmill may be one small step in the journey of weight loss, but it’s a huge step in helping people lead healthier lives.

5 Myths that Are Destroying Your Diet

Metabolism myths, debunked"But I heard it at the gym!" Stop falling for these common metabolism myths.

1. "Eating after 7 P.M. slows your metabolism."
Calories consumed after dark are no more sinister than any others. But at nighttime, we're often exhausted, starving, or bored, so it's much easier to overdo it.

2. "The more slowly you lose weight, the easier it is to drop a lot."
Actually, in an 18-month study, obese women who dropped pounds faster were five times more likely to lose 10% of their body weight than the "slow-and-steady" losers.

3. "To tone muscle, do more reps with lighter weights." Nope. The best way to build muscle is to work it to fatigue; 20 lifts with a too-light weight won't be as effective. Use a weight light enough to lift at least eight times, but heavy enough that lifting it more than 12 times is difficult.

4. "I just earned a brownie!"
Depends on your workout. A 40-minute spin class will earn you a 410-calorie Starbucks Double Chocolate Brownie, but you'd need to walk for two hours on a treadmill.

5. "If you stop lifting weights, your muscle turns to fat."
That's just not possible. Your muscles might atrophy, and you might gain weight, but one type of tissue can't transform into another.

Gangrene and your body health

Gangrene is a life threatening conditions that occurs when tissue of the body dies permanently. 

Causes of gangrene

Blood circulation is an important role in the body organism. In the circulation process of blood contains oxygen and nutrients which are delivered power sources of body. The gangrene is caused by loss of blood supply to a body part that can be external: skin, or Internal: organs, muscles. As a result, this area suffers tissue death so there is no longer outstanding. The area affected by gangrene is detected by bluish / black area, fishy smell of the wound and the loss of sensitivity.

Any kind of conditions which create obstacles of the blood flow to our body is increases the potential risks for gangrene, also included:

Atherosclerosis

Diabetes

Trauma or injury

Peripheral arterial disease

Reynaud’s phenomenon 

Types of gangrene

Primarily there are two types of gangrene are seen, those are dry gangrene and wet gangrene.

Dry gangrene:

It is common types of gangrene are seen to people who are suffered in autoimmune diseases & diabetes. Mostly affects to feet or hand.

Wet gangrene:

Wet gangrene is found in people who are injured or burns their body in accident. Not to proper blood circulation gangrene affects the injured parts. Wet gangrene is also seen three types: internal gangrene, gas gangrene & Fournier’s gangrene.

Treatments of gangrene

All treatment of gangrene is urgent because the more time of evolution persists, worse prognosis. Generally, you must remove the dead tissue to prevent infection and allow healing of the surrounding healthy tissue. Whatever the treatment, it will require hospital admission and, depending on its severity, a stay in an intensive care unit.

The surgery is very common for cases of gangrene. The goals of this treatment are: remove dead tissue and try to repair the vessel or improve blood flow.

Depending on the level of impact on the circulation and the ability to recover the bloodstream, they can exert two kinds of surgery: the amputation is the removal of the affected body part, this procedure is performed when there is no possibility of recovering the circulation, and the skin graft is the application of healthy skin from elsewhere on the body to the affected area and is applied in cases where surgery has been positive and there is possibility of blood flow.

The treatment antibiotic rarely needed forever. It is used preventively or curatively for cases of infected or gangrenous wounds with susceptibility of suffering. Antibiotics will be administered intravenously.

As we know gangrene is a serious condition of our body so we should take immediate treatments for it.

Is 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 Addiction
Refined Carbs May Trigger Food Addictions
Can You be Addicted to Carbs?
etc.

This makes for attention-grabbing headlines, but in fact the study had virtually nothing to do with food addiction.  The study made no attempt to measure addictive behavior related to refined carbohydrate or any other food, nor did it aim to do so.

So what did the study actually find, why is it being extrapolated to food addiction, and is this a reasonable extrapolation?  Answering these questions dredges up a number of interesting scientific points, some of which undermine popular notions of what determines eating behavior.

Read more »