OT:Good Calories, Bad Calories....

[DreamStalker]

I have strong suspicions that most of the information (regardless of topic) from mainstream media is bogus and half-truth propaganda at best. Mainstream corporate media exists for profiteering … not for factual information.

I have pontificated on this topic in the past but I suppose one last stand on the soap box won't hurt (… much). Based on about 4 years of intense research and self experimentation – I have concluded that in order to effectively and efficiently reduce body weight long-term, one must establish a caloric deficit and also readjust the body's hormonal levels.

To establish a caloric deficit one must:
a) reduce caloric intake, or
b) increase caloric expenditure, or
c) create a combination of both a + b

This has been the classic approach based upon the laws of physics and the conventional wisdom of modern medicine. While this approach works just fine for reducing relatively small amounts of body weight or for short-term weight loss or for people at the youthful end of the spectrum, it will generally not produce results for people needing a relatively large amount of weight loss or for older people or for the long-term. This is because older and/or significantly overweight/obese people have dis-regulated hormonal levels that counteract the simple caloric deficit approach. The hormones involved are too many with complex interactions to discuss on a brief forum post. However, the approach to readjusting hormones is relatively simple.

To readjust hormone levels one must:
a) change the type of calories consumed (at least temporarily), and
b) achieve a proper balance of physical activities for caloric expenditure, and
c) get enough sun light for your body to maintain its D3 level (60-80 ng/ml), and
c) achieve a proper amount of high quality sleep, and
d) reduce chronic mental/emotional stress, and
e) doing a + b + c + d is synergistic and much better than any individual goal

The first thing to do to readjust hormone levels is to change the type of calories consumed by reducing carbohydrate intake to only fibrous vegetables. All non-fiber simple and complex carbohydrates such as starches, sugars, and alcohols are treated the same by the body and will dominate a hormonal regulation towards caloric storage as muscle glycogen and/or body fat (and the more overweight and/or older the person, the stronger that hormonal regulation is towards body fat storage). The objective is to force the body into a hormonal regulation that fuels caloric expenditure dominated by fat oxidation instead of glycogen/glucose (by starving it of carbohydrates). The human body is quite capable of producing its own necessary levels of blood glucose via glucogenisis or glycerol conversion although it is much less efficient than to consume carbohydrates for glucose. But that is the point. We evolved to survive famine by efficiently storing carbohydrate calories during times of plenty and burning fat during times of scarcity. Additionally, eliminating dietary intake of fat is not always necessary and for some people may actually have a negative effect on the body's ability to oxidize stored fat. Nonetheless, dietary fat is also calorie dense and one still needs to be able to establish a caloric deficit. The moral of this paragraph: eat lots of “fresh” vegetables, take it real easy on the fruits (best to stick to berries), and eat a moderate amount of “fresh” meat and animal fat (the saturated fat-cholesterol link is what's bogus) – avoid all grains and starchy vegetables as well as industrial processed vegetable oils and seed oils … all with an overall caloric deficit in mind (which is not that difficult when eliminating most carbs and liquid oils).

The second thing to do to readjust hormone levels is to achieve a proper balance of physical activity. Again the body's hormonal balance responds to our physical activity (or inactivity). The body has different types of muscle fibers which expend caloric energy differently. The objective is to increase overall muscle mass and to train the larger muscle cells to fire up their mitochondria to process fat calories. There are three basic types of physical activities to strive for:

a) low intensity/long duration/high frequency activities (ie. long walks/hikes), and
b) high intensity/short duration/low frequency activities (ie. weight/resistance training), and
c) high intensity/short interval duration/low frequency activities (ie. low impact sprinting or multi-orgasmic sex), and
d) each may be incrementally added but all three are needed for optimal hormonal response

By high intensity I mean a high level of exertion that leaves you panting/gasping for air whereas low intenisity allows you to carry on a conversation while doing the activity. Long duration refers to an hour or longer per session whereas short duration refers to less than 30 minutes per session and short interval duration refers to brief intervals of rest within a session lasting less than 15 to 20 minutes. High frequency refers to 5 to 7 times per week whereas low frequency refers to 1 to 3 times per week. Chronic long duration running/jogging should be avoided especially for older and overweight/obese people. There really is no need for specific aerobics training if you achieve the three activity goals above because the two high intensity activity types already include aerobic benefits.

Vitamin D is actually a hormone, a very old and primitive hormone used by all animals on the planet and our modern industialized lifestyle has altered our seasonal production of this very important hormone. Get out in the sun and/or take D3 (not D2) supplements on a daily basis. If you can afford it, ask your priamry care doc to monitor your D3 level along with your typical metabolic blood panel. It should be optimal between 60 and 80 ng/ml.

No need to discuss the importance of quality sleep except that it is a required component for optimized health. It is how we heal, grow, and recycle ourselves at the cellular level.

Our modern world subjects us to “chronic” mental/emotional stress that our genes were never really designed to deal with. Consequently our hormones can become dis-regulated with negative effects on our health. We all need to make time to relax and de-stress on daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal cycles of time.

Once proper body weight composition has been achieved, carbohydrates may be reintroduced on a limited basis, if so desired, and when weight starts to creep back up -- then back off the carbohydrates again. Of course the hormonal stimulating activities of exercise, sun, sleep, and stress management must be maintained in order to keep the body in optimal health.

What is all comes down to is providing for the genetic expression of our individual cells towards optimal health. This genetic expression is all dependent upon how the external stresses we expose ourselves to are interpreted by our hormones. In other words, our hormones interface between our individual cells and the external environment allowing our genes to express themselves accordingly as the state of our health. Or to put it another way, obesity (and all chronic illness) is the genetic expression of our body responding to the toxic environment we have subjected ourselves to and the path to optimal health and body weight composition is to maintain an environment that mimics the natural environment that our human genes evolved in prior to the neolithic, and more specifically, prior to the industrial revolution.

[Cereal Killer]

[Cereal Killer]

Based on about 4 years of intense research and self experimentation –

Prove it. Post photos from four years back and from today.

[portiemom]

I have known Dreamstalker, (albeit through this website) for many years. I have enjoyed his knowledgeable threads and posts and have followed up on his research claims. I found him to be EXTREMELY CAREFUL AND FACTUAL, when he imparts information to the blog, and for that I AM EXTREMELY THANKFUL to him. My only regret is, that I DON'T OFTEN SEE HIM POSTING ANYMORE!!!! 'DREAMSTALKER, I APPRECIATE YOU!!!!! I do NOT need to see any pix of you, then or now, to have proof that YOU ARE GENUINE IN YOUR FACTS AND ADVICE TO US ALL!!! By the way cerealkiller, not that I care, but I doubt the attractive sweating (yuck) gal in the pix is you.....I'm just sayin..

[DreamStalker]

Prove it. ….

I have knowledge and experience for losing over 100 lbs that I offer to the members of this community. They can do with it what they wish. I have no need or desire, no obligation or burden, to prove anything to you or anyone else.

Besides, what's to keep you or anyone else from requiring further proof that any such photos would be anymore authentic than photos off the internet?

BEFORE:


AFTER:


You would do better to learn to prove or disprove any information yourself that you may come across rather than demanding the information source to prove it for you. Another pearl of wisdom that you can do with what you wish.

UPDATE: To revise my previous post - Sorry. I didn't mean to be so gruff/defensive with my response. However, you really should not depend on anyone providing you information to prove its truthfulness, accuracy, or value. If you have doubts and feel the information may be of value to you, take the initiative to follow up and research yourself. I'll be glad to provide you with web links, book titles, etc. Nonetheless, I won't be posting pictures of myself for the same privacy reason(s) that I don't use social media like Facebook ... too many weirdos out there, and yes I have received threats in the past, even here on this site.

[portiemom]

Oh Dreamstalker, thanks for doing what I WHIMPED OUT ON!!!!

[BlackSpinner]

"Sweat is fat crying"

No it is actually muscles crying. The only fat on her is hanging off her chest and won't be helped by those weights.

Oh and a heavy hours work out is about equivalent to one chocolate bar. Too much heavy work outs will actual trigger hormones to retain the fat at the expense of your muscles.

[lazer]

I have strong suspicions that most of the information (regardless of topic) from mainstream media is bogus and half-truth propaganda at best. Mainstream corporate media exists for profiteering … not for factual information.

I have pontificated on this topic in the past but I suppose one last stand on the soap box won't hurt (… much). Based on about 4 years of intense research and self experimentation – I have concluded that in order to effectively and efficiently reduce body weight long-term, one must establish a caloric deficit and also readjust the body's hormonal levels.

To establish a caloric deficit one must:
a) reduce caloric intake, or
b) increase caloric expenditure, or
c) create a combination of both a + b

This has been the classic approach based upon the laws of physics and the conventional wisdom of modern medicine. While this approach works just fine for reducing relatively small amounts of body weight or for short-term weight loss or for people at the youthful end of the spectrum, it will generally not produce results for people needing a relatively large amount of weight loss or for older people or for the long-term. This is because older and/or significantly overweight/obese people have dis-regulated hormonal levels that counteract the simple caloric deficit approach. The hormones involved are too many with complex interactions to discuss on a brief forum post. However, the approach to readjusting hormones is relatively simple.

To readjust hormone levels one must:
a) change the type of calories consumed (at least temporarily), and
b) achieve a proper balance of physical activities for caloric expenditure, and
c) get enough sun light for your body to maintain its D3 level (60-80 ng/ml), and
c) achieve a proper amount of high quality sleep, and
d) reduce chronic mental/emotional stress, and
e) doing a + b + c + d is synergistic and much better than any individual goal

The first thing to do to readjust hormone levels is to change the type of calories consumed by reducing carbohydrate intake to only fibrous vegetables. All non-fiber simple and complex carbohydrates such as starches, sugars, and alcohols are treated the same by the body and will dominate a hormonal regulation towards caloric storage as muscle glycogen and/or body fat (and the more overweight and/or older the person, the stronger that hormonal regulation is towards body fat storage). The objective is to force the body into a hormonal regulation that fuels caloric expenditure dominated by fat oxidation instead of glycogen/glucose (by starving it of carbohydrates). The human body is quite capable of producing its own necessary levels of blood glucose via glucogenisis or glycerol conversion although it is much less efficient than to consume carbohydrates for glucose. But that is the point. We evolved to survive famine by efficiently storing carbohydrate calories during times of plenty and burning fat during times of scarcity. Additionally, eliminating dietary intake of fat is not always necessary and for some people may actually have a negative effect on the body's ability to oxidize stored fat. Nonetheless, dietary fat is also calorie dense and one still needs to be able to establish a caloric deficit. The moral of this paragraph: eat lots of “fresh” vegetables, take it real easy on the fruits (best to stick to berries), and eat a moderate amount of “fresh” meat and animal fat (the saturated fat-cholesterol link is what's bogus) – avoid all grains and starchy vegetables as well as industrial processed vegetable oils and seed oils … all with an overall caloric deficit in mind (which is not that difficult when eliminating most carbs and liquid oils).

The second thing to do to readjust hormone levels is to achieve a proper balance of physical activity. Again the body's hormonal balance responds to our physical activity (or inactivity). The body has different types of muscle fibers which expend caloric energy differently. The objective is to increase overall muscle mass and to train the larger muscle cells to fire up their mitochondria to process fat calories. There are three basic types of physical activities to strive for:

a) low intensity/long duration/high frequency activities (ie. long walks/hikes), and
b) high intensity/short duration/low frequency activities (ie. weight/resistance training), and
c) high intensity/short interval duration/low frequency activities (ie. low impact sprinting or multi-orgasmic sex), and
d) each may be incrementally added but all three are needed for optimal hormonal response

By high intensity I mean a high level of exertion that leaves you panting/gasping for air whereas low intenisity allows you to carry on a conversation while doing the activity. Long duration refers to an hour or longer per session whereas short duration refers to less than 30 minutes per session and short interval duration refers to brief intervals of rest within a session lasting less than 15 to 20 minutes. High frequency refers to 5 to 7 times per week whereas low frequency refers to 1 to 3 times per week. Chronic long duration running/jogging should be avoided especially for older and overweight/obese people. There really is no need for specific aerobics training if you achieve the three activity goals above because the two high intensity activity types already include aerobic benefits.

Vitamin D is actually a hormone, a very old and primitive hormone used by all animals on the planet and our modern industialized lifestyle has altered our seasonal production of this very important hormone. Get out in the sun and/or take D3 (not D2) supplements on a daily basis. If you can afford it, ask your priamry care doc to monitor your D3 level along with your typical metabolic blood panel. It should be optimal between 60 and 80 ng/ml.

No need to discuss the importance of quality sleep except that it is a required component for optimized health. It is how we heal, grow, and recycle ourselves at the cellular level.

Our modern world subjects us to “chronic” mental/emotional stress that our genes were never really designed to deal with. Consequently our hormones can become dis-regulated with negative effects on our health. We all need to make time to relax and de-stress on daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal cycles of time.

Once proper body weight composition has been achieved, carbohydrates may be reintroduced on a limited basis, if so desired, and when weight starts to creep back up -- then back off the carbohydrates again. Of course the hormonal stimulating activities of exercise, sun, sleep, and stress management must be maintained in order to keep the body in optimal health.

What is all comes down to is providing for the genetic expression of our individual cells towards optimal health. This genetic expression is all dependent upon how the external stresses we expose ourselves to are interpreted by our hormones. In other words, our hormones interface between our individual cells and the external environment allowing our genes to express themselves accordingly as the state of our health. Or to put it another way, obesity (and all chronic illness) is the genetic expression of our body responding to the toxic environment we have subjected ourselves to and the path to optimal health and body weight composition is to maintain an environment that mimics the natural environment that our human genes evolved in prior to the neolithic, and more specifically, prior to the industrial revolution.

I appreciate this post and it makes a lot of sense. Saved in "Word" on my desktop for future reference. Thanks!

[SleepingUgly]

My husband joined me recently in lower carbs and now is having to eat more carbs again because he's losing TOO much weight!

[Lizistired]

Yeah. Peanut butter labels are scary! I have been buying Smucker's Natural for years. Ingredients: Peanuts, < 1% salt.

Interesting PBS video. They can reverse kidney damage in diabetic mice with a low carb-high fat diet, but for people, they would rather develop a drug.
It's about 7 minutes
http://video.pbs.org/video/2146699556

[portiemom]

If anyone can give me some ideas for breakfast, that is my most difficult meal. I've been eating too many hard boiled eggs and bacon, not a huge fan as it is of eggs. Running to the ICU and to take care of grandkids is making me eat too many bad foods!
Thanks

[Janknitz]

You can eat non-breakfast foods for breakfast, but I like breakfast for breakfast. Here's my list of non-egg things:

1). Flax"meal"--1/4 cup ground flax cooked in 2/3 cup boiling water with a pinch of salt (2 min in microwave at 30% power). I add nuts, coconut, protein powder, cream, whatever I'm in the mood for.

2) whole milk yogurt sprinkled with nuts or seeds or "nutola" (homemade grain free granola)

3). Smoothie made with almond milk, coconut milk, almond butter, and--if you're brave--2 egg yolks.

4). Flaxmeal muffin (I make mine with almond flour instead) slathered with cream cheese or almond butter.

5). Pancakes made with protein powder or almond flour.

I make stuff on weekends for quick breakfasts like egg "muffins", and always make extra pancakes to freeze for busy work days.

[SleepingUgly]

I thought flax had a lot of carbs, no?

[Janknitz]

All the carbs (4 per serving) are insoluble fiber. Goes right through with no glycemic impact. I subtract fiber grams. Not everyone agrees.

[portiemom]

Thanks Jan, I'm planning on the pancake recipie before I leave for the hospital tomorrow, Thanks Bunches!