Here’s what some other extremely smart fitness writers (not that I am calling myself extremely smart, just saying these people know their stuff hands down) also touched on this subject. Once again could this whole myth finally stop gaining momentum…..or are we cursed to ongoing modern media health gossip not getting people real lasting results?

First series of quotes comes from Martin over at leangains.com from his article posted here (which is also an excerpt from his new upcoming book)

You’ve probably heard that eating smalls meals throughout the day ‘stokes the metabolic fire’ or is the ideal way to eat in order to control cravings and blood sugar; as consequence, this should also be the ideal way to eat for fat burning purposes. This belief is partly based on a gross and blatantly incorrect interpretation of research concerning TEF (Thermic Effect of Food).

The problem here is that the research has been presented in such a way that it has lead people to believe that the net effect of TEF of several small meals would be greater than that of a few, large meals.

TEF is directly proportional to the calories contained in the meal you just ate (ref). Assuming a diet of 2400 calories, with the same macronutrient composition, eating six small meals of 400 calories or three big meals of 800 calories, TEF will be exactly the same at the end of the day.

So, while eating several small meals a day will per definition ‘keep the metabolic furnace burning’, three big meals will ‘keep the metabolic furnace blasting’.

Good stuff. I can certainly attest that when I have larger meals my metabolism goes into overdrive (I get hotter and could probably break into a sweat!), especially when combined with an IF eating lifestyle. More from Martin:

Simply put, if you eat six small meals throughout the day, you will store and burn less fat between the meals compared to three meals a day, while you will store and burn more fat with three meals a day. Note that I say ‘store’, because fat storage and fat burning is an ongoing process – with six small meals you will store less AND burn less, and with three meals a day you will store more AND burn more.

Whether you store or lose body fat at the end of the day is a consequence of intake minus expenditure; not meal frequency.

I’m not sure when we starting thinking about minute to minute metabolic responses, but Martin nails it down. It’s about what happens all day long that is the sum of all real results. Too many magazines and other so called experts are telling us to worry minute by minute….is that any way to really live? Or are people just now profiting from our now ongoing consistent obsession to eating? (we’d all probably get the best weight loss if we lived on an island with no diet books, no TV, no media news, no magazines….and just ate naturally).

Lyle McDonald on his blog did a really great post about meal frequency and energy balance as well. Here’s some of the highlights:

Perhaps one of the longest standing dogmas in the weight loss and bodybuilding world is the absolute necessity of eating frequently for various reasons. Specific to weight loss, how many times have you heard something along the lines of “Eating 6 times per day stokes the metabolic fire.” or “You must eat 6 times per day to lose fat effectively.” or “Skipping even one meal per day will slow your metabolic rate and you’ll hoard fat.” Probably a lot

Well, guess what. The idea is primarily based on awful observational studies and direct research (where meal frequency is varied within the context of an identical number of calories under controlled conditions) says that it’s all basically nonsense. The basic premise came, essentially out of a misunderstanding of the thermic effect of food (TEF) also called dietary induced thermogenesis (DIT) which are the calories burned in processing of the food you eat.

They concluded that earlier studies finding an effect of meal frequency on weight gain (or loss) had more to do with changes in appetite or food intake, not from a direct impact on metabolic rate. For example, early observational studies found that people who skipped breakfast were heavier and this still resonates today with the idea that skipping breakfast makes you fatter.

You can read more on his blog, but it still boils down to the TEF of 3000 calories is the same at the end of the day whether in 3 meals…or 6 meals. Here’s some more quotes:

that there is no data in humans that skipping a single meal or even a day’s worth of meals does anything to metabolic rate. Human metabolism simply doesn’t operate that quickly and various research into both fasting and intermittent fasting show, if anything, a slight (~5% or so) increase in metabolic rate during the initial period of fasting. The idea that skipping breakfast or a single meal slows metabolic rate or induces a starvation response is simply nonsensical.

You will not go into ’starvation mode’ because you went more than 3 hours without a meal. Nor will your muscles fall off as an average sized food meal takes 5-6 hours to fully digest

Amen! Another big myth that “diet” and supplement companies will prey on….the dreaded “starvation”….whoooooaaaa (that was supposed to be my evil scary laugh). The metabolism as said above does not shut down with a missed meal….and when you look at IF and enough calories there is actually an INCREASE in metabolism. Wow….what else do we have….

Other studies have shown that splitting one’s daily calories into multiple smaller meals helps to control hunger: people tend to eat less when they split their meals and eat more frequently. But, again, this isn’t an issue of meal frequency per se, it’s because food intake is decreased. When folks eat less, they lose weight and IF a higher meal frequency facilitates that, it will cause weight loss. But, at the risk of being repetitive, it’s not because of effects on metabolic rate or any such thing; it’s because folks ate less and eating less causes weight loss.

All about the calories and hunger control….although eating smaller more frequent meals actually makes me hungrier! (and I am a miserable SOB when I am hungry all the time….so my mood is not going to be optimal on that eating plan).

First and foremost, a 2 vs. 6 meal per day comparison isn’t realistic. As discussed in The Protein Book, a typical whole food meal will only maintain an anabolic state for 5-6 hours, with only 2 meals per day, that’s simply too long between meals and three vs. six meals would have been far more realistic (I would note that the IF’ing folks are doing just fine not eating for 18 hours per day).

Personally I like 3-4 meals a day to balance my exercise and recovery. I go by how I feel and stopped worrying about muscle loss long ago….seems it still sticks around, even with IF added into the equation….who knew, right?

Lastly from Martin’s LeanGains blog again is an interesting email between himself and the author of the most popular online fitness ebook “Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle” by Tom Venuto (article seen here)….Tom who pushes 5-6 meals in his ebook even states:

You will still see me recommend 5-6 small meals per day,and rather strongly. But not dogmatically. What you wont hear me say is that 6 meals increases metabolism or weight loss over 3 meals at an equal caloric intake.

You will also not hear me say that your metabolism slows down if you miss a single meal. (starvation response) I already reviewed that data on my public blog last year:
http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archives/2007/11/is_starvation_mode_a_myth_no_i.php

All in all can we finally put this myth to rest? Are there people still out there that still believe you NEED to eat 6x a day to lose weight?? Eating and calories (and quality of foods) is important in weight loss or muscle gaining efforts, but don’t fall for diets promoting the need to eat all the time…..just so you have to buy their snacks/bars/supplements. It’s a sales pitch!

So summing up…here’s the take home points

• Once again, eating more meals does NOT provide a metabolic advantage at the end of the day (if the calories and macronutrients are the same)
• If you need to get a lot of calories in for a high activity level or trying to put on weight, then more meals may be more realistic to get it all in. (after all, isn’t this where the myth started…with the bodybuilding industry?) But again, not neccessary.
• If a diet tries to sell you on the myth that you need to eat more often to lose fat….walk away before they also try and sell you on their special frozen meals, bars, shakes or other supplements. They want your money! If a so called expert says it, walk away…because they get their knowledge from mainstream hype and gossip (as I know plenty of personal trainers educated only by fitness magazines and diet books on what and how to eat).
• Trying to eat more often may actually be causing more people to gain weight…as they are eating much more than they really believe they are. (as we all know about underestimating what we really eat) This is also more an issue with women, who need far less calories than men on average…and can easily overeat on snacks and meals if not careful. Total calories matter.
• What does eating 6x a day and measuring portions really do for our social life and attachments to food? Does this help or hurt people who may already be obsessive about food? (you know what I would guess…..Hurt!)
• Eating 6x a day is not realistic or a long term lifestyle any of us probably want to follow, so how do we keep it up? We don’t (why you see a new spokesperson for all those weight loss meal programs every 3-6 months…because their other ones in the past gained all the weight right back!). If you can’t sustain it, it’s not going to help you in the long run. Go for lifestyle changes, not quick fixes.
• Be Free from diets….Tupperware containers….Measuring portion sizes….Carrying around snack bars (which are usually filled with sugar and other crap)….free to enjoy good healthy whole foods and sit down to enjoy meals like you used to. Don’t live to eat…..eat to live.

photo by vaguelyartistic

Looking Good in Your Genes: advanced fat loss made simple for maximum results will cover:

• How fat loss really happens
• The Hormones involved
• How fat cells release fat to be oxidized
• Metabolic Dysfunction issues
• Creating an Efficient Metabolism
• Cell Health Explained
• Lifestyle Actions for improved metabolism
• How stubborn fat happens
• How to attack stubborn fat
• How to use exercise (which kind and why)
• Strength and Cardio workout plans
• Nutritional cycling and timing

You will actually see that this ebook is more focus on fat loss and not IF. IF does of course have a role in fat loss but IF using the principles outlined in the ebook will give amazing results.

There will also be an “upgrade” package that I am working on completing also with other great authors such as Brad Pilon from Eat Stop Eat and some other surprises to get more info on IF and other related healthy tools. You will have an opportunity to also get that at additional discount once setup.

Here’s how the pre-order process will work. Please note that you will NOT get an instant download (remember that I am still finishing and revising the ebook). What will happen is that you will get an email from me within 24 hours telling you a secret pre-order page and password for you to use. On the page you will be able to view/download the current ebook as completed so far (remember it is still rough draft but you can start reading what I have so far). Also on that page I will give you a chance to upgrade on the other products (once finalized) at a discount from the main page as well.

So it’s important to remember that the final product is not until Monday but you can view part of it now and get the completed version on Monday all through your pre-order page. To pre-order just click on the buy button below. The last chance pre-sale price is $19.99 (full sales price on Monday will be $29.99). Billing is done under the business name of “ProjectFit”.

If the button is not working on your email/RSS reader then you can also access it by going to this page (click here).

Any questions can be emailed to me at mike@theiflife.com. Remember that NO ebook is available for instant download yet and I will email you within 24 hours to get you the special pre-order page and password.

Side Note on Affiliate sales: If you have a website and want to sell the ebook on your site to your readers (once it is done of course), shoot me an email and I will give you all the affiliate setup instructions (once it is done….again). Hoping that to be pretty much ready to go next week as well. You will get a % for all sales of course.

Once again mainstream media and the medical establishment make me want to sell the TV, throw the radio in the lake and move to an island. But I digress. In case you don’t know what I am talking about then consider yourself lucky not paying attention to the media, because I think this was everywhere (side rant….do they even question what they release to the public anymore? Oh wait….I know who pays the advertising bills and media companies want to make sure their sponsors are happy afterall…ok back to topic at hand) The original story is claiming we all need statins, and is driving people like myself and Mark at Marks Daily Apple mad (he beat me to ranting about this). Below is the press release from the media earlier this week about Statins and you can read the whole thing here (but I’ll highlight up the “best” parts below)

Cardiovascular Disease is the leading cause of death among Americans, costing our healthcare system hundreds of millions of dollars and causing untold suffering. Now there is new hope for preventing this fatal disease - even among those who weren’t thought to be at risk.

Ok we start off by scaring everyone into paying attention…….now what’s next…..

A new study has found that millions of people could cut their risk of a heart attack, stroke and death by taking statins. The study, released at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting this week, found the benefits even for people with low cholesterol and no major risk for heart disease.

Did I just read that right? Even if your cholesterol is low…and have no risks…you need drugs? Huh?

About half all heart attacks and strokes occur in people who do not have elevated cholesterol.

Wait, high cholesterol isn’t even the big bad factor that medicine said it was a few years ago? Wow….shows what they really know about it.

Patients in the study had normal cholesterol. But they had higher levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation that indicates a risk of heart disease.

Finally….a piece of the puzzle that makes sense. INFLAMMATION is more detrimental than high cholesterol. So why do we need the statins again? That part sort of confuses me a bit…somehow statins got lumped into helping people who are really suffering from more inflammation issues.

Well seems Cholestrol isn’t such the evil guy as doctors make it out to be, yet they continue to hand out statins like candy because if you ask any doctor I bet they will say “high cholesterol puts you at risk for heart disease” when there is NO research to prove anyone without a previous heart condition or any woman will even help. Don’t believe me? Well here’s some info below to help clear the air on Cholesterol….

from the Business Week article Jan 08 titled “Do Cholesterol Drugs Do Any Good?”

Yes, Wright saw, the drugs can be life-saving in patients who already have suffered heart attacks, somewhat reducing the chances of a recurrence that could lead to an early death. But Wright had a surprise when he looked at the data for the majority of patients, like Winn, who don’t have heart disease. He found no benefit in people over the age of 65, no matter how much their cholesterol declines, and no benefit in women of any age.

For one thing, many researchers harbor doubts about the need to drive down cholesterol levels in the first place.

The second crucial point is hiding in plain sight in Pfizer’s own Lipitor newspaper ad. The dramatic 36% figure has an asterisk. Read the smaller type. It says: “That means in a large clinical study, 3% of patients taking a sugar pill or placebo had a heart attack compared to 2% of patients taking Lipitor.” The numbers in that sentence mean that for every 100 people in the trial, which lasted 3 1/3 years, three people on placebos and two people on Lipitor had heart attacks. The difference credited to the drug? One fewer heart attack per 100 people. So to spare one person a heart attack, 100 people had to take Lipitor for more than three years. The other 99 got no measurable benefit.

If we knew for sure that a medicine was completely safe and inexpensive, then its widespread use would be a no-brainer, even with a high NNT of 100. But an estimated 10% to 15% of statin users suffer side effects, including muscle pain, cognitive impairments, and sexual dysfunction. And the widespread use of statins comes at the cost of billions of dollars a year, not just for the drugs but also for doctors’ visits, cholesterol screening, and other tests. Since health-care dollars are finite, “resources are not going to interventions that might be of benefit,” says Dr. Beatrice A. Golomb, associate professor of medicine at the University of California at San Diego School of Medicine.

What would work better? Perhaps urging people to switch to a Mediterranean diet or simply to eat more fish. In several studies, both lifestyle changes brought greater declines in heart attacks than statins

Difficult risk-benefit questions surround most drugs, not just statins. One dirty little secret of modern medicine is that many drugs work only in a minority of people. “There’s a tendency to assume drugs work really well, but people would be surprised by the actual magnitude of the benefits,” says Dr. Steven Woloshin, associate professor of medicine at Dartmouth Medical School.

The drug business is, after all, a business. Companies are supposed to boost sales and returns to shareholders. The problem they face, though, is that many drugs are most effective in relatively small subgroups of sufferers. With statins, these are the patients who already have heart disease. But that’s not a blockbuster market. So companies have every incentive to market their drugs as being essential for wider groups of people, for whom the benefits are, by definition, smaller.

Drugmakers, however, do make sure that the researchers and doctors who extol the benefits of medications are well compensated. “It’s almost impossible to find someone who believes strongly in statins who does not get a lot of money from industry,” says Dr. Rodney A. Hayward, professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Here’s an interesting story from NY times site titled “Do Statins Make You Stupid”?

After I wrote about the issue several years ago, a colleague who had once memorized poetry as a hobby told me he was unable to remember poems once he started taking statins. Dr. Beatrice A. Golomb, assistant professor at the University of California at San Diego, has collected thousands of stories from patients about statin side effects. She has said common complaints from patients taking statins include being unable to remember the name of a grandchild, walking into a room and forgetting why you are there, or starting a sentence and being unable to finish. Some complain of personality changes or irritability.

More older people get put on statins….more older people suffer from Alzheimer’s….anyone picking up on this connection in the main stream???

Dr Michael Eades (Protein Power author) also has plenty to say about Cholesterol on his blog including this article about high fat-low fat diets (and corresponding carbs) and what it does to particle size (yes, that is important)

If we look at the HCLF group, however, we see a different picture. In the subjects following the low-fat diet LDL-cholesterol levels fell while apoB numbers stayed the same. This means that there are the same number of particles as before but they became smaller after 24 weeks of low-fat dieting. In other words, the low-fat diet converted the LDL-particles into the more dangerous smaller, denser type. And these guys have the temerity to tell the world that low-carb dieting makes lipid numbers worse!

As Dr Mike says, big and fluffy particle size is good….smaller and more dense is bad. Also you have to read the horror story of one of his readers when his doctor put him on statins.

Over this course: I have lost from 212 lbs. down to 170 lbs., lost muscle mass everywhere even down to my hands, lost close to 50% of my body strength, lost the ability to walk, concentrate and apprehend. I have lived with absolute fatigue, no libido, no appetite, depressive thoughts, anxiety, insomnia and horrible pain. I have been diagnosed with and/or treated for GAD (general anxiety disorder), depression, insomnia, arthritis, ED, poked, prodded and told that “I was just getting old”. I have been sent to a shrink. I came close to losing my ability to make a living. All of this because of a number on a scale that prompted a doctor to put me on a statin, which I have found, through my exhaustive research, has no advantages in overall mortality rate.

Here’s also a great educational video on cholesterol by Dr Ron Rosedale (this is a video posted on You Tube) titled Exposing the Cholesterol Myth.

Lastly Weston Price has a great read on Cholesterol:Friend or Foe:

The question is, why do some people have more cholesterol in their blood than others, and why can the same person have different levels of cholesterol at different times of the day? Why is our level of cholesterol different in different seasons of the year? In winter it goes up and in the summer it goes down. Why is it that blood cholesterol goes through the roof in people after any surgery? Why does blood cholesterol go up when we have an infection? Why does it go up after dental treatment? Why does it go up when we are under stress? And why does it become normal when we are relaxed and feel well? The answer to all these questions is this: cholesterol is a healing agent in the body. When the body has some healing jobs to do, it produces cholesterol and sends it to the site of the damage. Depending on the time of day, the weather, the season and our exposure to various environmental agents, the damage to various tissues in the body varies. As a result, the production of cholesterol in the body also varies.

So what have we learned….I mean besides Drug companies will blanket the media with slick marketing trying to get everyone to buy and use their drugs every single day….well until they are actually held accountable for all they are doing to us in the meantime.

• Cholesterol is not the bad guy as made out. Inflammation is a greater risk factor
• Cholesterol is 80% made by the liver….doesn’t matter what you eat. If you eat less cholesterol then the body makes more. If you eat more cholesterol then the body makes less.
• If your doctor says you need statins, ask him/her where the actual proof is that they do any good….there is none. If they still force you to take it….I might think about finding a new doctor who will work with your lifestyle changes instead. (of course I am no medical professional who can judge your real risk factors so you can’t listen to me…but from the looks of it above, are those doctor even aware of why they are giving out statins?)
• Eating better foods and exercise seem to do more than statins to reduce risks for heart disease
• If we stopped spending billions of dollars on cholesterol related medical visits and procedure, and put it to educating people about what is really going on….we could probably help millions (but there is no financial gain for any company for that).
• Low Fat/High Carb diets make more smaller dense dangerous cholesterol particles (so we can thank the whole eat “low fat” advice over the last few decades as a role in increasing heart diseases)
• Statins make us sick and dumber….all to prevent something it hasn’t been proven to help for most all people. How is this legally on the market?
• Cholesterol goes up when the body is under stress (including inflammation, immmune system, toxins and chemicals in us, oxidative damamge, free radicals, etc). I know chronic joggers with high cholesterol who won’t listen to me when I say “stop jogging so much and eat less sugar”. But they would rather think their doctor knows it all. Sigh…..
• Get your SLEEP….and stop stressing out all day. Lack of sleep and chronic stress leads to increased insulin resistance…high insulin…and all the fun things to come. Lifestyle is a huge factor…and if we choose to ignore this then we choose to make ourselves sicker.
• Get rid of ALL vegetable oils….want a great way to cause cell membrane destruction? Increase your consumption of unstable and easily oxidized fats (PUFAs). Eat more “stable” Sat and MUFA (monounsat fats).
• High Insulin drives MORE cholesterol production!!!! Focus on what matters, insulin control!!!! How do we do that? Well high insulin levels are usually a result of insulin resistance brought on by high blood sugar (from eating/drinking too much processed/easily broken down carbs and sugar and also a lack of protein with meals to slow down gastric emptying). Best ways to reverse the damage, eat less sugar and processed carbs to keep blood sugar stable, eat more proteins/healthy fats/whole food carbs like fruits and vegetables, and exercise to improve insulin sensitivity. Hands down the best way to get better! HyperInsulinia (chronic high insulin levels) could be the #1 risk factor for most ALL diseases.

There you have it….spread the word, spread the truth….as we have to take responsibility for our own health nowadays and realize the HUGE impact our eating and lifestyle have on our state of health. (before they put it in our drinking water for our “own health”)

photo used by zebrapaperclip

Eating 6x a day can help you lose weight…..BUT…….

Hey, I will be the first to admit it that eating 6x a day can work. Many people have proved it. But what people neglect to look at is WHY it works. It’s NOT because of some magical accelerated metabolic process associated with eating more often. Most people call this thermogenesis, where the body expels energy in the form of heat through what it has to do (such as the energy of digestion). But here’s the fun part, if you eat the same amount of food in 6 meals….or 3 meals….isn’t that the same amount of digestion? So how can there be any advantage due to thermogenesis? (getting a bit ahead here)

But let’s go back to the REAL reasons eating 6x a day works:

• People are recommended to eat more fibrous vegetables and protein to keep fuller
• Eating more often can help curb cravings and binge eating
• Smaller meals in right portions of carb/protein/fat can keep blood sugar/insulin stable and encourage more fat burning while in the “fed” state all day long
• At the end of the day people who get success are still in calorie deficit

So there you have it, eating 6x a day works only because it is calorie deficit at heart. So now one has to ask that if you can still eat the same amount of calories in 3 meals then wouldn’t you get the same results?

I can hear all the nutrionists and trainers around the world yelling at me at once “You’re wrong”…”You’re going to crash your metabolism”…and all the other things you hear so often. But honestly folks, where did this train of thought start? Could it be originally from the bodybuilding magazine and supplement industry (a billion dollar industry!!) that preys on the fear of going into a catabolic state and wasting away muscle….so you need to buy more protein powder, bars, etc. Or could it be from one of the many newer weight loss companies making billions selling prepared or portioned out foods/bars/shakes specifically for eating 5-6x a day? Could it be this is the greatest marketing sales pitch in the diet world today? I think so!

Where’s the Proof?

That’s what I would ask anyone touting the 6 meals a day mantra. Really, where is the proof that is the ONLY way to lose weight (as I already talked about it can work, but it’s not the only way)? Where is the proof that is speeds up your metabolic rate at all (which is the only reason people are being encouraged to eat 6x a day)? I already said that anyone can lose weight eating 6x a day but they can also lose weight applying the same calorie deficit to 3 meals a day. Personally when I tried to nibble from morning to night (when I was sold on this philosophy a long long time ago) I was hungry all day long! It made me miserable and starving all the time! There was no enjoyment….no wonder no one can stick with all those new diet books coming out preaching this concept. I mean, who wants to carry around 5-6 meals a day…who has time in their lives for eating eating eating? Are we living to eat, or shouldn’t we really be eating to live?

So you want proof, well here’s some that just shows there is none for the 6 meal a day preachers…..

Effects of meal frequency on energy utilization in rats.
Hill JO, Anderson JC, Lin D, Yakubu F. Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University

“The effects of differences in meal frequency on body weight, body composition, and energy expenditure were studied in mildly food-restricted male rats. Two groups were fed approximately 80% of usual food intake (as periodically determined in a group of ad libitum fed controls) for 131 days. One group received all of its food in 2 meals/day and the other received all of its food in 10-12 meals/day. The two groups did not differ in food intake, body weight, body composition, food efficiency (carcass energy gain per amount of food eaten), or energy expenditure at any time during the study. Both food-restricted groups had a lower food intake, body weight gain, and energy expenditure than a group of ad libitum-fed controls. In conclusion, these results suggest that amount of food eaten, but not the pattern with which it is ingested, has a major influence on energy balance during mild food restriction.“

and……

Meal frequency and energy balance.
Br J Nutr. 1997 Apr;77 Suppl 1:S57-70.
“More importantly, studies using whole-body calorimetry and doubly-labelled water to assess total 24 h energy expenditure find no difference between nibbling and gorging. Finally, with the exception of a single study, there is no evidence that weight loss on hypoenergetic regimens is altered by meal frequency. We conclude that any effects of meal pattern on the regulation of body weight are likely to be mediated through effects on the food intake side of the energy balance equation.”

and…….

Thermogenesis in humans after varying meal time frequency
Wolfram G, Kirchgessner M, Müller HL, Hollomey S.
To a group of 8 healthy persons a slightly hypocaloric diet with protein (13% of energy), carbohydrates (46% of energy) and fat (41% of energy) was given as one meal or as five meals in a change-over trial. Each person was 2 weeks on each regimen. Under the conditions of slight undernutrition and neutral temperature the balances of nitrogen, carbon and energy were assessed in 7-day collection periods, and according to 48-hour measurements of gaseous exchange (carbon-nitrogen balance method) by the procedures of indirect calorimetry. Changes of body weight were statistically not significant. At isocaloric supply of metabolizable energy with exactly the same foods in different meal frequencies no differences were found in the retention of carbon and energy. Urinary nitrogen excretion was slightly greater with a single daily meal, indicating influences on protein metabolism. The protein-derived energy was compensated by a decrease in the fat oxidation. The heat production calculated by indirect calorimetry was not significantly different with either meal frequency. Water, sodium and potassium balances were not different. The plasma concentrations of cholesterol and uric acid were not influenced by meal frequency, glucose and triglycerides showed typical behaviour depending on the time interval to the last meal. The results demonstrate that the meal frequency did not influence the energy balance.

and there are many more…..but what you do see is the following trends:

• There is no real truth to accelerated thermogenesis from increased meal frequency (with same calorie deficit load)
• There is no real truth of improved body composition with increased meal frequency (with same calorie deficit load)
• It’s still about the total calories for the day even with different insulin responses
• Hunger is the biggest issue with any dieting and eating more often is supposed to help combat that (but it depends on what people are eating whether that is true or not)
• People who eat more frequently may have lower insulin spikes for smaller fat burning throughout the day, but the smaller number of larger meals may have also more fat burning ability in the spaces between meals or fasting states….in the end it’s still the same amount of fat burned it seems…..wow, the body is an amazing piece of work….and we are really just beginning to understand it better.

There are also some disadvantages (I mean besides making/storing/carrying around all the food and spending tons of money on supplements) to the eating 6x a day strategy including:

• Can increase cravings if your food choices are not all veggies/fruits/meats
• Does not help decrease insulin resistance (and may help increase it) if you are putting sugar in your body all day long from bars or other processed food choices
• It is very easily to overeat calorie wise at a snack or meal and not put yourself in calorie deficit mode (therefore you do not lose weight). This is especially important for women who need much less then men for a meal or snack.
• This is not a realistic ongoing lifestyle approach for people with real lives, working long hours and doing what we do today. (I mean if it works in the short term that’s one thing, but it has to be sustained to call it a true success. You can see many of those celebrities showing off how they lost all this weight doing some prepared meal plan….but do they keep it off? Many don’t.)

So if you are looking for optimal fat loss you could also add in some Intermittent Fasting (IF) and you get the additional benefits of:

• No decrease in metabolic rate (in fact there is a slight increase due to more SNS hormonal responses)
• Increased release of FFAs (free fatty acids) to burn when you are not eating (aka fasting state)
• Increased GH pulsing (which can preserve muscle and help release FFAs)
• No more worrying about food all day
• No more preparing/carrying around Tupperware containers
• No need for protein powders or shakes (if your goal is weight loss, for people wanting more muscle you still may need additional protein depending on how much you can eat in the feeding window)
• Increased mental clarity
• having a life outside of food and the gym
  

So there you have it. You can eat 6x a day, 3x a day, 10x a day…honestly that is your choice…..it appears that it won’t really matter when the calories are the same. When you add in some IF and keep your eating on a more planned routine, you will see better responses to insulin sensitivity and FFA oxidation. No wonder many people who try IF are finding easy results and more importantly a new freeing way of life. Still lots of questions and much more research to be discovered on all these topics….but there is a better way it seems (if we can stop listening to all the myths in mainstream media that is driven by an industry financially dependent on having us all eat more often).

Note: Some of this was an outtake from the new fat loss e-book/report that should be available end of this week.

photo by shawnblog

This is an update for people who have pre-ordered the ebook in the past. There will be a fat loss report on your special “pre-order member” page by this Wed, so please be sure to check it this week. Also there will be other updates listed as well on the status of the project.

For those that did not pre-order, there will be some new info on the website for upcoming advanced reports. Stay tuned.

Controlling the level of a fatty acid in the brain could help treat Alzheimer’s disease, an American study has suggested. Tests on mice showed that reducing excess levels of the acid lessened animals’ memory problems and behavioural changes……..They identified raised levels of a fatty acid called arachidonic acid in the brains of the Alzheimer’s mice: taken from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7676606.stm

This is quite interesting find. To see elevated levels of AA in brains of Alzheimer’s. AA is actually a form of the omega 6 family, and is PRO-inflammatory. So one could look at the results and say that there is an increase in pro-inflammatory markers in the brain (which I think we can all agree would not be a good thing). But is it the only clue to what is going on? Alzheimer’s in fact is now being called the third kind of diabetes with it’s link with insulin.

Insulin, it turns out, may be as important for the mind as it is for the body. Research in the last few years has raised the possibility that Alzheimer’s memory loss could be due to a novel third form of diabetes.

With other research showing that levels of brain insulin and its related receptors are lower in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, the Northwestern study sheds light on the emerging idea of Alzheimer’s being a “type 3″ diabetes.

from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070926113835.htm

Insulin and inflammation do run hand in hand. So could it be that insulin is the prime controlling agent for whether brain will function properly or not? Insulin will also drive more inflammatory markers, like the release of more AA (as seen above). It is by far the one hormone we have the most control over with our diet (as stated back in the post Insulin the one hormone you need to control). Excess levels of insulin will cause insulin resistance, which will cause more insulin release, which causes more insulin resistance…and the destructive cycle goes on. So for proper brain function, we need to control insulin (which could also explain why most people have more alertness and clarity when either eating smaller meals based on protein/fat/low carbs vs eating a big bowl of pasta or cereal).

So how do we protect our brains with our diet? Simple……and you already probably know much of what I am going to say next:

• Control insulin - avoid high carb intakes that will spike blood sugar (from processed carbs, sugars, sodas, etc). Eat more balanced meals based around healthy proteins, fats, fruits and vegetables. If you eat foods from nature….you should be ok. If you eat foods made by man (processed) you are going to be walking a fine line.
• Manage excess AA conversion - Too much AA in the body (pro-inflammatory omega 6) will also lead to more inflammation and destruction. AA is part of the Omega 6 family (which is not all bad). In fact we need some omega 6s and actually some is anti-inflammatory (GLA). AA is the last part of the down conversion of omega 6s from diets and here is the key. DGLA (2nd to last down state of dietary omega 6s) is not going to be as pro-inflammatory if it remains as in the body, BUT if insulin is HIGH then DGLA is converted into more AA (not good). On the flip side, that conversion can be blocked (enzyme blockers) by glucagon (the other part of the insulin equation) and EPA (hence why it is an anti-inflammatory Omega 3). 2 more reasons to keep insulin stable and get your fish oil.
• Stop creating more AA - when insulin is high, fat storing happens. When fat storing increases, the body creates more fat cells. When more fat cells are increased, the body creates more AA. The more fat cells, the more AA. Lose fat and control insulin, the less AA produced. Simple right?
• Avoid Excess AA - You can also get more AA through eating as well (which is not the form of omega 6s found in natural foods). The most common sources are grain fed meats and eggs. While those livestock are fed cheap corn/soy feed, their body will take those grains and convert them into AA which gets stored in the fatty portions. If you are going to eat meats/eggs it is best to try and get the leanest cuts or to (costs more) opt for grass fed (not grain fed). Grass fed meat is much higher in omega 3s and lower in omega 6s (a more natural balance) while also high in many other minerals and nutrients. Grass fed is a better choice if you can afford it.
• Get your EPA (fish oil) - We have seen above the EPA is a direct enzyme blocker for the internal conversion of DGLA to AA in the body. DHA is also an important essential fatty acid that has been linked to better brain health and activation. Your brain loves healthy fats, and stable insulin. So be sure to take about 3g of fish oil a day (or eat more grass fed and wild caught seafood).
• Encourgage Autophagy - Autophagy (cellular “house cleaning” function) is an important part of cellular health and rebuilding (very important with parts of the body that can not regenerate dead cells, like the brain), which is directly stimulated through calorie restriction/intermittent fasting (and now researchers may believe could be the main reason behind the longevity aspect of CR/IF studies). When autophagy is compromised (with diet or as we get older) then toxic/damaged proteins can accumulate and lead to cell death (instead of cleaning up and recycling material to keep the cell alive). When this happens in an area like the brain or with nerve cells, and they die off, then you have increases in neurodegenerative diseases.

“We discovered that levels of several key pathway members are reduced in Drosophila neural tissue as a normal part of aging,” says senior author Kim Finley, Ph.D., a scientist in the Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory, “which suggests there is an age-dependent suppression of autophagy that may be a contributing factor for human neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.”

“The activation of autophagy facilitates the removal of damaged molecules that accumulate during cellular aging,” says Finley. “This may be particularly important in the nervous system since neurons produce damaged molecules at a much higher rate than most cell types.” Keeping cells free of damaged molecules is critical for neurons because unlike many cells, they do not divide or replace themselves once created at birth. “They rely on autophagy together with other clearance and detoxification pathways to keep themselves healthy and functioning for decades,” explains Finley.

Insulin signaling and caloric restriction are two major determinants of longevity and they also impact the activity level of autophagy. Therefore, regulating autophagy, the pathway that directly does the cleanup work, may be the key factor in controlling the aging process, the researchers say. “By maintaining the expression of a rate-limiting autophagy gene in the aging nervous system there is a dramatic extension of lifespan and resistance to age-associated oxidative stress,” says Finley.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071214144956.htm

How do we do that? Well we keep an energy log/journal. Try it for a couple weeks and you may be surprised at the results. Take one page and write the word “Positive Energy” on the top and another page and write “Negative Energy”. Now for the next several days/weeks everytime you experience feeling great, write down on the postive energy page what you were doing/focusing on/experiencing that made you feel that way. Same thing on the flip side. If you are having a less energetic day/feeling sad or down then you need to write down on the negative energy page what you were focusing on/experiencing in that moment.

To start off you can also write down positive and negative emotions that you do or do not want to focus on. For example for the positive side you could have:

• Sense of Purpose/Inspiration (having a calling every day)
  
• Compassion (realizing that deep down we are all wanting the same thing in life, happiness)
• Friendship/Charity (helping others in some way)
• Appreciation/Contentment (not to be confused with lack of ambition or wanting to get things done, just don’t have your happiness dependent on needing something else in your life as you can be happy right now)

and on the negative side you could have:

• Anger
• Jealousy
• Envy
• Greed
• Feeling Alone (feeling disconnected from others)
  

Looking above at those we can try and focus on what we want in our lives, and also be able to identify things that we do not want. It’s a daily journey we all face and can get caught up in the moment, but if we can become aware of what is going on then we can take control of what happens next and turn things around.

Here’s an example of some things I have in my life that can cause positive and negative energies. I use this list to help me focus and also to help out on days where my energy may not be where it needs to be. It can be the motivating tool to point me in the right direction and turn things around.

Some of my Negative Energy Factors/Events (things that may happen that make me feel tired, less optimistic, get nothing done):

• Wasting too much time on the computer - being a person who spends time on the computer for business reasons I don’t want to get caught up in all the endless sites out there that are just distractions. The web is a big place and I need to just focus on what matters and then shut the computer off and get on with my day. Wasting long days on the computer drains my energy.
• Eating high sugar foods - I know that if I have anything with sugar (not including fruit) that I will soon have brain fog and my blood sugar with come crashing down making me want to take a nap. That’s not how I want to spend my days.
• Staying up late, not getting 8 hours sleep - I admit, I’ve always been a night person but I don’t want to stay up late anymore just because I know how crappy it will make me feel the next day. So I start to wind down around 10pm, no more computer time….have a glass of wine, watch a little TV, whatever it takes. But if I start something late at night and get my brain going again, forget it as I can stay up into the late hours. I used to think doing this was just going to lead to getting more things done, when in reality I got less done over the week because of how messed up my energy levels got. I need my 8 hours of sleep, otherwise my next day is just shot. Some may do great on less sleep, I am not one of those people.
• Worrying about the future - As a person who has worked for themself for a long time I learned one thing, worrying about the future accomplishes nothing. You could spend a whole day worried about paying bills, the economy, retirement funds, whether a business will succeed or fail, or whatever. What good does that do? I don’t worry about where the money will come from or what bills are coming up, I just focus on what steps I need to take now to make those things happen. Without taking steps now there is no way you will ever change the outcome in the future. Those who worry will not get anything done, those who focus will.
• Trying to “wing it” - Without a real vision of where I want to go or what I need to get done, I’ll just end up killing time and spinning my wheels. Real progress comes from knowing what has to be done now and not letting myself get distracted. None of that comes without a solid plan and clear vision of where you want to be.
• Trying to please others or hanging out with the wrong people/crowd - There is nothing wrong with having a couple friends to go out and relax with. But if your “friends” are more interested in wasting the whole night away and paying for it all the next day, then maybe it is time to find people more in line with what you want to accomplish in life. It’s ok to tell people “No” every now and then, as long as you know what you need to do….you’ll be happy in life regardless of what others may think. If you base your actions just trying to make other people have a good opinion of you, then you will never find freedom to be happy on your own.

Those are just a few things I know that I want to avoid and bring nothing positive into my life. So on the other side, I also have a positive energy side (which is usually much longer….as I would rather focus most of my time on what I need to do, not what to avoid). So my positive energy list could look like this:

• Getting Exercise (Who doesn’t feel better after getting the blood going?)
• Being Outside/Getting Sunshine (especially if it is doing exercise)
  
• Talking to/seeing old friends (especially if you can share a beer/drink with them)
• Getting to bed early and starting the day earlier (not sleeping in)
• Having a plan of action for the day (not worrying about anything, just having a clear picture of where I want to be and taking action)
• Accomplishing tasks (and not procrastinating)
• Eating light throughout the day and having a bigger meal at night
• Sharing knowledge and helping people get healthier (hence why I choose what I do for a living)
  
• Paying off all Debt (we all can work on that, but having no debt is a great feeling)
• Appreciating what I already have (taking time out to not buy into the mental addiction that I always need something more in my life, as I have plenty around me to be thankful for)
• Keeping things simple (I don’t like complicated)
• Periods of doing nothing (shutting off the mind, getting outside, no phone, no computer, no ipod, just sometimes staring off into nature….just letting the mind relax and wander. Those are the moments in which I have my best inspiration and ideas. I get back on track easier by forcing myself to go do nothing…..where most people take a break with distractions like TV, video games, movies, computer….that will not help the mind refocus on what I need to do.)
• Working less hours (by forcing myself to get things done in less time everyday I have actually upped my productivity and results. No more working from 8am to 10pm+, it’s now about setting time to get my work done and then moving on with my day. I call that the vacation syndrome, as most people get the most productive on the days before leaving for vacation. Take a mini vacation daily and learn to focus on what is important and ignore things that don’t matter. It’s the 80/20 rule….we spend 20% of our time on the 80% that matters…..and 80% of our time on the 20% that is trivial. Imagine getting the most important things done and having 80% more free time!)
• Having a Crystal Clear vision of where I want to be in life/career (don’t say you just want more money, as that will never happen. You have to be as specific as possible in knowing what you want in life. Only then can you know what steps to take to get there. As that is what success is, just taking the right steps. Anyone can do it, but many never get there for just a lack of real focus. So simple yet so many fail to do it.)

There you have it. You can make your list as long as you want and as many pages as you like. The more awareness you get into your own inner self, the better off you will be able to live life the way you want to. Use the log to look back as far as you want to see when you felt the best, or worst and what lead up to it. You can realize how you felt each day and why it happened. Use this to help track your eating habits and learn what is and is not working for you. Figure out what kind of social activities and exercise brings you the most in return. See what friends/groups bring you positive energies and which ones you may need to stop hanging around. See what commitments you enjoy and which ones you really don’t need to be doing. Focus on making your daily lifestyle full of all the positive energy factors and remove all the negative energy factors. Less is more, especially if those small things can bring such great joy in return. Start today, start right now and make a list. Read that list daily, remind yourself where your focus needs to be. It’s your life to live, so mine as well enjoy it!

photos from: Billie

Doctors are most people’s source for health and nutrition information. But no one really asked where they get their information from? Could it be from what they pick up in mainstream media? Or it is something in a journal somewhere? The fact is that the medical community as a whole is throwing around some wrong assumptions which could be one of the reasons for the health crisis we are in today. This is not to say that doctors are not trying to help people, but just that most of them probably took one basic course on nutrition in medical school and that was it!

When it comes to meat, it has gotten a bad reputation. But like many things it based on false assumptions and only one set of conditions. When scientists needed a reason for the increased heart diseases back in the 1950s, they found their scape goat….meat. Using the same rationale I could say use of automobiles is up since then too, so cars cause cancer….but see how ridiculous that sounds?

Let’s see the 2 biggest opinions probably most in the medical community still hold on to….and why they could be wrong and actually make you sicker in the process

• Opinion: Meat gives you colon cancer; Reality: Misinformed and wrongly drawn conclusions. - I think what it needs to state is that a diet higher in processed meats (high in chemicals and preservatives), high in unstable (polyunsaturated vegetable oils)/destructive (trans)fats along with a low nutrient/antioxidant (fruit/veg) diet can increase the amount of possible destruction to the colon lining and cancer. We have heard the “meat” and “fat” is bad for you for a long time, but yet have many non-industrialized civilizations like the Masai and Inuit who show little to no heart disease or cancers (well until a westernization diet comes in higher in processed foods, additives, chemicals, sugars, and rancid polyunstarated fats). Below is a couple good quotes from Weston Price website on Meat and cancer:

In 1965 an influential physician, Ernst Wynder, took the data for the mostly processed vegetable oils, called them animal fat (which they were not) and compared them with worldwide colon cancer mortality. The table he produced showed high rates of colon cancer in European countries and low rates of colon cancer in Japan, and concluded that there was a positive effect, in other words, that saturated fat, the kind found in beef, caused colon cancer. What the data actually showed was that consumption of polyunsaturated vegetable oils, not saturated animal fats, was associated with the incidence of colon cancer.

Two American studies conducted in the 1990’s have found a higher risk of colon cancer among those who eat red meat. However, no study done in Europe has ever shown an association between meat consumption and cancer. This suggests that European sausage and luncheon meat, included in the rubric of “meat consumption,” are prepared by traditional methods that require few additives, while the similar products in the United States contain many carcinogenic preservatives and flavorings.

In 1975, Rowland Philips compared Seventh-Day Adventists physicians, who do not eat meat, with non-Seventh Day Adventist physicians, and found that the vegetarian doctors had higher rates of gastrointestinal and colon-rectal cancer deaths.¹⁰ National Cancer Institute data show that Argentina, with very high levels of beef consumption, has significantly lower rates of colon cancer than other western countries where beef consumption is considerably lower. A 1997 study published in the International Journal of Cancer found that increased risk of colon and rectal cancer was positively associated with consumption of bread, cereal dishes, potatoes, cakes, desserts and refined sugars, but not with eggs or meat.

Actually, we know one of the mechanisms whereby colon cancer is initiated, and it does not involve meat per se. Colon cancer occurs when high levels of dietary vegetable oils and hydrogenated fats, along with certain carcinogens, are acted on by certain enzymes in the cells lining the colon, leading to tumor formation. This explains the fact that in industrialized countries, where there are many carcinogens in the diet and where consumption of vegetable oils and carcinogens is high, some studies have correlated meat-eating with colon cancer; but in traditional societies, where vegetable oils are absent and the food is free of additives, meat-eating is not associated with cancer.

• Opinion: Meat (or more specifically Sat Fat in meat) gives you heart disease; Reality: Misinformed and wrong again. - You could also add in here that advice that “all cholesterol is bad and the best way to eat is low fat”. Wrong assumptions once again. Again there are plenty of civilizations devoid of heart disease that live on a higher fat intake diet and mostly from saturated and monounsaturated fats (MUFAs). What you will find in common with those people is a lower amount of PUFAs especially in regards to vegetable oils and low consumption of sugar as well. The paranoia about sat fats and heart disease is also known as the “lipid hypothesis”, in which concludes sat fat and cholesterol intake from meats raised blood cholesterol which in turn lead to increased risk of heart diseases. The truth is that saturated fats are important for hormones and cell membrane structure. It is true “you are what you eat” when it comes to fats. If you substitute in low quality and unstable vegetable oils and add in more rancid and processed meats, don’t expect good things to happen. The quality of your meats and fats is important, that is if you like good health. We are only as healthy as our cellular structures, so what do you want them made out of?

The most likely causes of increased heart disease in America are the other changes in our diets—huge increases in consumption of refined carbohydrates and vegetable oils, particularly hydrogenated vegetable oils; and the decline in nutrient levels in our food, particularly minerals and fat soluble vitamins—vitamins found only in animal fats.

Myth: Heart disease in America is caused by consumption of cholesterol and saturated fat from animal products.

Truth: During the period of rapid increase in heart disease (1920-1960), American consumption of animal fats declined but consumption of hydrogenated and industrially processed vegetable fats increased dramatically. (USDA-HNI)

The only claim that can be made against beef as a cause of heart disease is that some studies have shown beef consumption to temporarily raise cholesterol levels in short term feeding experiments. Other studies have shown that beef consumption, including beef fat consumption, lowers cholesterol levels. But even if all studies show that beef consumption raises cholesterol levels, the only conclusion you can draw is—so what? There is no greater risk of heart disease at cholesterol levels of 300 than at 180, and people with cholesterol levels below 180 are at greater risk of death from other causes, such as cancer, intestinal diseases, accidents, violence and suicide.⁵ In other words, it’s much more dangerous to have cholesterol levels that are too low than cholesterol levels that are too high.

As for the Vegetarians who say they are healthier without meat…..

The annual all-cause death rate of vegetarian men is slightly more than that of non-vegetarian men (.93% vs .89%); the annual death rate of vegetarian women is significantly more than that of non-vegetarian women (.86% vs .54%) (Am J Clin Nutr 1982 36:873)

If you choose a lifestyle of eating based on values, that is your choice. However if you are choosing one based on health, then you need to know all the facts. Know what are the real reasons for ill-health, and then make your decisions based on that. Meat is not the bad guy, medical is just “guessing” at best (remember that whole “low fat” craze that now the mainstream medical community is saying was maybe not a good idea….yup, they guessed wrong…Oops).

Ok this is not supposed to be some doctor bashing article (as I know they are trying to do what is right, but just misinformed), but instead a positive move we all need to make if we all want the medical system to get better. It’s broken right now, there is no doubt about it. Emergency care may be the best we have ever seen, but our long term care is in trouble. With escalating rates of obesity, diabetes, arthritis, cancers and everything else we need to take action where it counts, in getting people to focus on a proper lifestyle of prevention including nutrition and exercise. Doctors are overwhelmed with patients nowadays and don’t even have but 5 minutes to talk, diagnose and move on to the next person. They are being overwhelmed and need our help! So it’s time for YOU to help and teach your doctors something!

Ok to sum up the point of all this:

• Meat is NOT bad for you, but BAD meat is bad for you. Remember, anything you eat….anything is only as good as the source it comes from. So aim for high quality (grass fed) meats and stay away from processed ones with lots of chemicals and preservatives (luncheon meats, sausage, hotdogs).
• Avoid vegetable oils. Replace the your PUFAs with better quality Sat fats(butter, coconut oil) and MUFAs (like olive oil, avocado). Throw out the margarine and use butter!
• Get Your Fruits and Vegetables. We are not eating the whole animal and getting all those vitamins and mineral from the beef liver and other places. So make sure you get in plenty of healthy vitamins, minerals, antioxidants from fruits and vegetables.
• Control Insulin with the foods that you choose. Get rid of sugar intake and make sure to eat however you want to during the day. Remember you can lose weight with insulin control and total calories, so whether you eat breakfast or don’t, make your meals balanced and don’t let your blood sugar get out of control.
• Remove Chemicals from your diet/lifestyle, as the more you ingest/eat/drink/breathe/absorb (skin), the more that can go around and create damage internally leading to possible increased oxidation and cellular destruction. Aid your body in trying to keep the inside of you as clean as you can, and it will reward you in kind.
• Train in Moderation - If you want to run a marathon, that is your choice (not any of my goals). But train for it hours daily and that will only increase oxidative damage internally. A marathon runner from Africa living off non-processed meats is going to have better health than a marathon runner from the US living off processed foods. Everything is fun and healthy, but when taken too far it can be more destructive…especially if your daily diet is just a disease ready powder keg waiting for a match to set it off. I like the motto “intensity not duration”. Keep your workouts short and up the intensity somehow, other longer lifestyle activity can be a slower pace and less damaging (like hiking).
• Eat in Moderation - We know from the studies that reducing calorie intake can increase lifespan. One of the thoughts on why this is, is lowered oxidative damage. The more calories you burn and consume, the more oxygen is required and more free radicals created as a by product.
• The only formula to remember: Sugar(processed carbs/grains)+Chemicals(food/drink/environment)+Rancid/Unstable Fats+Excessive Eating/Training(more oxidation/free radicals)=Cell Membrane degradation+Increased Oxidative Damage+Increased Risk of Cancer and Heart Disease

For even more reading you can go to Weston Price’s site (where the quotes above were taken from) and read as much as you like. Also this particular article “Myths & Truths About Nutrition” is a great short read.

It’s your health, time to take charge for yourself as your doctor may be misinformed. Take time out to look around and maybe we will all start to really see why our health is getting worse by the day.

Coming Soon: Part II: Why Your Doctor is Wrong about Fiber

photo by Umpqua

So I really wanted to see what all these “studies” were…and I came across this one all over the place. This is the typical “studies” that are getting large scale media attention and being accepted as doctrine by MDs and Nutritionists out there. So let’s look at it.

A Breakfast Of Meat And Eggs Or Nothing At All Linked To Extra Weight

(Aug. 6, 2003) — Berkeley - People who skip breakfast or who chow down on meat and eggs for their morning meal are more likely to carry extra weight than those who eat other foods, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

Ok that sounds like something most mainstream people (who have never even heard of IF) would agree on. Wait…..did that say people who eat meat/eggs gain weight? Ok that’s a new one to me….Let’s look a little deeper:

The study, published Aug. 1 in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, comes at a time when the proportion of American adults who skip breakfast has increased from 14 to 25 percent between 1965 and 1991. The number of obese adults in the United States has also grown, jumping from 23 percent in 1994 to 31 percent in 2000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“More and more Americans are skipping breakfast as the pace of our lives becomes increasingly hectic,” said Gladys Block, UC Berkeley professor of nutritional epidemiology and principal investigator of the study. “What our study shows is that if the goal is to lose or maintain weight, skipping breakfast is not a good way to go about it. Skipping breakfast may be just as bad as eating a chunk of cheese first thing in the morning.”

So basically skipping breakfast increases over the years and that is the sole reason for the also increasing obesity? Really? Not the increasing amount of processed foods, high calorie junk food, less daily activity/exercise, and sugar everywhere? Cheese now makes us fat too? Wow…..Ok let’s go on:

According to the study, funded by Kellogg Company, the cereal manufacturer, people who ate ready-to-eat cereal, cooked cereal or quick breads for breakfast had significantly lower body mass index (BMI) measurements than those who ate meat and eggs or nothing at all.

So a study…..funded by Kellogg a cereal manufacturer….says that people who eat cereal are more likely to lose weight? Oh….eggs will also make you gain weight? I mean I can’t even start to tell you how confusing this is to me….it’s like those disclaimers on TV for medication that no one ever hears at the end…like “may cause you to be blind and your liver may explode”. More you ask….sure why not:

The study also included fruit and vegetable and beverage categories, but when those categories were compared to other groups, no significant differences in BMI were found.

Yeah because who would want those high calorie unhealthy foods (sarcasm noted…..also talking about whole food fruits and vegetables, not juice…as that is just a sugar bomb)

Breakfast skippers had the lowest level of calorie consumption among the groups, a finding that seems at odds with the high BMIs associated with this category.

One possible explanation, said the researchers, is that people who choose to skip breakfast may already be overweight and are trying to cut down on calories by skipping a meal. It may also be because overweight individuals in this group underestimated the amount of food they ate and reported smaller portion sizes than they actually consumed.

You know for such a well documented study, there sure are alot of questions left unanswered. So basically the researchers can’t tell how many calories people really ate, as it was up to them to report. (and I can tell you from personal experience, people really don’t know how many calories they are consuming).

Other authors of the study are Marion Dietrich, a UC Berkeley food chemist working in nutritional epidemiology; and from Kellogg, Sungsoo Cho, director of nutrition, and Celeste Clark, vice president of corporate and science affairs.

Need I even say any more…..you can read the whole study here and many other places.

So what gets me going is so called authorities on health, who are pushing these kinds of studies as doctrine without actually looking at what is going on. I am sure if you asked me that same question 10 years ago I would of said skipping breakfast crashes you metabolism, makes you lose muscle and so on….but then I decided to take things with an open mind and do my own research. Fortunately I found my own answers and understanding on what is really going on. I found the importance of enough calories without starving myself. I found the importance of strength training for muscle retention and metabolism. I found how the body can burn fat all day long with proper insulin control. I found that what matters is the daily calorie intake. What I didn’t find was the importance of a big breakfast or intake of high amount of grains as the ONLY way to lose weight. Can you lose weight eating breakfast? Of course. Can you lose weight on the Zone….Atkins….Southbeach….of course you can. But my question then becomes…..can you keep it off and are you doing a lifestyle that really supports longterm health and success?

Whether you want to eat breakfast or want to try IF some days, that answer is best left up to you decide knowing the facts (as that is all I encourage, giving you facts and letting you decide what you enjoy while getting results…which leads to a lasting lifestyle)…and not told by so called media or experts…..as they would have you buying Kellogg products all day long….and by their rules I should of gained 100lbs in the last couple years with no breakfast or eggs…..which I am pretty sure has not happened.

Many may say that weight gain is caused because of increased cravings and the sugar response of the brain from the artificial sweeteners (which may or may not be true). But if you start to see that weight gain around the face and center of the body (stomach especially) then there is another issue at heart. In fact if you are showing any signs of fatigue, headaches, muscle/join pain, loss of motivation….then you could be suffering from adrenal fatigue.

The adrenals are an important hormone most noted with it’s involvement with the “fight or flight” response. However when over activated (as it can be stimulated too much with stressors of many kinds) then you will see increased cortisol output. With increased cortisol also comes an increase in insulin resistance. If you “burn out” your adrenal glands then you will see your cortisol plummet and that will lead to fatigue (esp in the mornings) and ever increasing insulin resistance (which can also lead you down a road of diabetes, cancer, heart disease and many other degenerative illnesses). Artificial sweeteners are not something found in nature (hence called “artificial”) and the body is getting mixed signals on what it is consuming. They can have a negative effect on the adrenal glands which also support the thyroid (healthy metabolism)….as the body’s metabolic system is a very complex one of checks and balances. With a compromised thyroid comes even more weight gain down the road…and pretty soon you are in a state where weight loss is going to be very hard unless you correct the imbalances in your adrenal glands and thyroid (which means allowing them to heal and regain normal function while also reversing the insulin resistance you have created).

Also the liver is involved in any toxic substances we put into our body and this includes artificial sweeteners, artificial colors, preservatives, and so forth. Our body does not excrete all those toxins and keeps them running through us (they have to go somewhere), so the liver has to jump into action. Now the liver can only do so much before it gets overwhelmed (as we see with the buildup of fatty deposits from high intakes of High Fructose Corn Syrups), but did you know the liver is also an important fat burning organ? It is responsible for making key enzymes that help to release fat from fat cells to be used as energy in the body. But a sick liver will mean an impaired fat burning process and a body primed for increased weight gain.

So, even though all these little things are not going to kill us right away (so they are approved for mass consumption in our food supply) can we at least start to realize how they add up to put excess stress on our body and organs and cause our whole metabolic process to become disfunctional? (as that is most people’s issue nowadays) The answer is simple, to avoid artificial sweeteners (and all additives found in processed foods/drinks) as you don’t know what they may be doing to your metabolic system until the damage is really done. Eat real foods and let our body operate the way it was supposed to….but if you try to think you can outsmart it with “fake foods” and you are in for an unpleasant surprise (weight gain, insulin resistance, inflammation, brain disfunction, cancers, heart diseases, autoimmune diseases…and the list goes on and on until finally premature death). The name of the game is prevention and healthy living, not wait until it’s too late and hope there is some cure for us…..as we could be waiting for a long long time and live a very sick and expensive (with medical care and drugs) lifestyle.

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