Re: OT:Good Calories, Bad Calories....
Posted: Fri May 25, 2012 6:21 pm
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 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.
