Posts Tagged ‘Research’

2015 Intermittent Fasting Updates and The Importance of Meal Timing

Tuesday, March 31st, 2015

Intermittent Fasting for Health

The benefits of Intermittent Fasting (IF) continue to turn up in research and studies.

  • improved insulin sensitivity, blood glucose, and lipid levels
  • relief from inflammation
  • improved metabolic efficiency and reduction in body fat composition
  • increased energy, decreased lethargy
  • improved mood and mental clarity
  • reduced LDL and total cholesterol
  • helps prevent, slow progressing, and possibly reverse type 2 diabetes
  • protection from cardiovascular disease
  • improved pancreatic function

And of course one of the best benefits of IF – less time spent agonizing over meal planning and perfecting your diet.

Intermittent Fasting for Health

For 18 years I’ve studied nutrition, changing my diet around to meet my current goals – bulk, cut, health, lean gains, etc… I’ve done a 0 carb diet, low fat meals, I subsisted on a Chanko diet once for a month, tried paleo eating, juicing, hell at one point I even ate nothing but apples and canned tuna for about 4 weeks straight. So far nothing has been as easy or felt as good at intermittent fasting.

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What Causes Strokes in Healthy People?

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

The prevalence of stroke victims in the US has increased in recent years. A study analyzed the history of over 8 million hospital patients from 1995 to 2008 has identified a 33% increased risk of suffering from a stroke if you are between the ages of 5 and 44.

Strokes Caused by Blood Clots

Contributing factors were found to be diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension), blood lipid disorders, tobacco use, and obesity. People with one or more of those factors have a greater chance of developing an ischemic stroke, which is caused by blood clots. High blood pressure was reported in 50% of the stroke victims, and being male and over the age of 35 puts you at an even greater risk than anyone else. Great!

Brain Stroke

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“Gluten-Free” Does Not Always Mean Gluten-Free

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011
Gluten Free

Foods that claim to be gluten-free are not always gluten-free. Many of those foods actually have enough gluten to cause gastrointestinal distress in those who are intolerant to wheat protein, also known as celiac disease. Gluten is actually defined as the protein contained in wheat, barley, rye, and other similar grains.

How can food manufacturers get away with this? It’s actually not entirely their fault, as there has never been an established US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation to define just how much gluten can be in gluten-free foods.

What is the Standard for Gluten-Free?

As of this writing, manufacturers can decide how much gluten they put in their gluten-free foods. However, the FDA is now planning to push through a standard for gluten-free food, that manufacturers will be required to meet before they can put gluten-free labels on their packaging.

The Feds are proposing that gluten-free food – usually wheat products like cookies, cakes, and breads – should contain no more than 20 parts per million of gluten. At those levels lab tests are unable to detect the presence of gluten, thus meeting the label claim of “gluten-free”.
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Intermittent Fasting Helps Prevent Diabetes, Heart Disease, and Lowers Cholesterol

Monday, April 11th, 2011

Eating 5 or more meals a day is great for weight gain, but not so good for weight loss, and is not optimal for good health.

We already know that increased meal frequency does not increase the metabolism or decrease appetite. In fact eating more than 3 meals each day can often lead to increased calorie consumption over time, because people eventually get bored and tend to begin to ignore their meal portions, which results in overeating.

Conversely, we know that fasting tends to decrease your appetite once you get past that first 6 hour fasting window. We also know that intermittent fasting lowers insulin resistance and blood pressure, and promote lightening-fast weight loss. Knowing those facts, here are a couple more great reasons to switch to an Intermittent Fasting lifestyle, for good health and efficient fat loss.

First, The Study Results

To keep you interested, we’ll talk about the research results first, then we’ll look at the studies.

New studies on periodic fasting by the American College of Cardiology have determined:

  • periodic intermittent fasting seems to reduce the risk of falling victim to type 2 diabetes by 50%
  • intermittent fasting also decreases your risk of developing heart disease
  • HDL cholesterol increases during an intermittent fast
  • triglycerides decrease during an intermittent fast
  • human growth hormone (HGH) levels increase during a fast, leading to weight loss and muscle gain
  • HGH increases by a factor of 20 in men and a factor of 13 in women, on average

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The Psychology of a Max Effort Attempt

Thursday, February 10th, 2011
Visualization
Visualization

The technique of using visualization in sports training has become increasingly popular in recent years. While some people may question its effectiveness, research has found visualization can be quite successful.

A study conducted by Guang Yue, a psychologist from Cleveland Clinic Foundation, found that non-professional people gained 13.5 percent muscle strength just by carrying out mental exercises. Luckily, you don’t have to earn a psychology degree to understand or practice visualization; read on to learn how you can use this technique to psych yourself up to hit the gym and set a new personal record.

How to Use Imagery and Visualization

Over the years, many professional sportsmen have made use of visualization to achieve great success. For example, world champion golfer Jack Nicklaus, states that he never fires a shot, even while in practice, until he visualizes it clearly in his head. Muhammad Ali is also known to have used varying mental exercises to help improve his performance.

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What Are Shin Splints?

Sunday, January 9th, 2011
What Are Shin Splints
What Are Shin Splints?

What is a Shin Splint?

“Shin splints” is a term used to describe the pain felt between the knee and the ankle after athletic activity, and are considered a cumulative stress disorder rather than an acute injury. This painful condition occurs when muscles and tendons in the lower legs pull on the tibia bone along the shin.

There are several reasons why athletes develop shin splints, but ultimately we can say they develop when the constant stress placed on the joints, bones, and muscles of the lower leg overwhelms the body’s natural ability to recover from trauma.

The most common cause is inflammation of the periostium, the sheath that surrounds the tibia. Traction forces on the periostium from the muscles of the lower leg cause shin pain and inflammation.

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Being Overweight Could Cost You More Than $8000 a Year

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Obesity is Expensive

Consider the statistics:

  • 72 million adults are considered obese (defined by the BMI being over 30)
  • 84.8 million adults have no leisure-time physical activity
  • total obesity-related health care costs are estimated at $147 billion

Those are some frustrating numbers.

Given those ridiculous health care costs, and all the other money that you have to shell out food, clothing, fad weight loss gimmicks, etc… just how much does it cost annually for the average person to be obese?

A recent study conducted by George Washington University researchers found that the annual cost of being overweight is $8,365 for men and $6,518 for women with an obesity-related shortened life span factored in.

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The Common Cold is NOT to Blame for Childhood Obesity!

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

File this next report under the extremely-interesting-but-dangerous-to-publish category.

Parents of fat kids unite! You now have another reason to sit back and let your child get fatter rather than teaching him how to exercise and eat properly.

Future Fat Boy
Future Fat Boy

Apparently a study has turned up the adenovirus 36 (AD36) as a possible cause of childhood obesity. Adenovirus 36 (AD36) is also responsible for passing on the common cold. Supposedly that means we can now blame the common cold for the reason our children are fat!

After reading the results of the study, I’ve determined that AD36 could contribute to obesity in a small portion of obese children, but there’s no way that it is a leading cause of obesity in America. Read the post then let me know if you agree or disagree.

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NSCA and ACSM Proclaims Strength Training is Good for Kids

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Strength Training is Good For Kids!

It’s official! After many long years of arguing with fools, I am validated! Based on hundreds of studies and thousands of hours of research, the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) have finally taken the position that age-appropriate resistance training is not only good for kids, but recommended.

Strong Kid
Strong Kid

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