Health and Fitness May, 2012

[Nancy]

I did a med./ short walk it was cooler and wind came up mid way through it br-r-r! But endorphin's helped lift my mood so that helped!

[Harriet]

Harmony, the traditional warning is that women shouldn't go under 1,200 calories in a day. But Dr. James Johnson proved and published in his book, The Alternate Day Diet, that lower calorie days were fine as long as they were alternated with higher calorie days so that all a person's 2-day calorie totals were a good average for them. He does have a diet plan with a tougher first 2 weeks than the later weeks. But for a general idea of his point, there is an online calculator if you're interested, here for a person's maintenance amounts and slow weight loss, fast weight loss. For instance, he says at my weight/sex/height/age, if I want to try low-calorie days, I should have 1,920 calories on high calorie days, and that that will be protective for me. If I have 960 to 1160 calories every-other-day, I'll maintain. If I have 850 or less, I'll lose, and he gives the increments for fast or slow weight loss by percentage, choosing from 850, 670, 575 and numbers under that that would probably just be discouraging, lol.

[Harmony]

Harriet, that is interesting. Mine turned out to be 1843 / 369 at 20%. But I'm not sure I filled it in right. What weight are we supposed to put in, our goal weight or our weight now? I put in my weight now. Did I do it wrong?

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Harmony, apparently NSAIDs will slow the blood flow. Whodathunkit? During my 'drop-a-day' period, I stopped taking my once-a-day, 200 mg, ibuprofen (I take it at night to relax the jaw and back), thinking it might be aggravating my insides somehow and making this unusual flow. Three days later, my heavy flow started and didn't stop. The day before my doctor's appointment, I was doing reading on the internet and discovered that NSAIDs can cut blood flow 1/3 in cases like mine. I got up from the computer and immediately took an Advil. Then another at bed. And another in the morning because by that point my bleeding had visually decreased.

So, when she put me on a stronger NSAID, I figured it would work better. Blood flow has slowed but I'm still bleeding. Today I took the Naproxen in the morning but switched to Advil in the afternoon and will take another before bed. Tomorrow, I'll just go with Advil. Ironically, on Naproxen I feel sicker (headache, body aches) than I did when I was taking nothing.

I haven't had severe cramping with this, just a full feeling and a bit of an ache from time to time (especially if I'm standing for long periods of time.) So Naproxen doesn't make any sense since I'm feeling worse with it than I was before.

Flow has been getting lighter all day, except in the morning when I was exercising. I'll likely go without a tampon again tonight. Would have gone without this evening as well but since I was going out, decided to err on the safe side. But, optimistically, I can make myself believe that the end might be in sight. Of course, for how long before my next period starts, who knows? It is actually due to start again tomorrow but since it never stopped....

This whole process has been an eye opener for me.

I'm still struggling with iron absorbing. I thought I had read that calcium was bad for iron absorption so stopped taking milk with my non-heme iron sources (and added orange juice.) But then I read something that made me question that. So today I paid closer attention and got the list of foods that block absorption of iron. Lactic acid (in milk) aids, but calcium in large quantities blocks. Spinach is a good source of iron but also has blocking compounds in it. Tea blocks absorption. So do eggs (and yet they have iron in them.) So does cocoa/chocolate because of phenolic acid. "Phenolic acid can also be found in apples, peppermint and some herbal teas, spices, walnuts, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries. It is important to note that these foods should not be consumed two hours prior to, or following, your main iron-rich meal." Oh, and whole grains are bad (and yet a great source of iron.) Hmmmm, berries were a good source of iron according to another website.

Near as I can tell, we should all be anemic because every source of iron can't be eaten with other foods. Or must be eaten with other foods. Or can't be eaten with itself since it might be a good source of iron (i.e. grains) but is also a source of something that blocks absorption.

It sure makes it hard to know what to eat. Reading labels doesn't cut it in this case.

[Harriet]

That number for high-cal days sounds right, Harmony, very close to the rec for me and I'm a little taller. Except I wouldn't go all the way down to that 20 percent on low-cal days if it were me. That is STRICT and I would get discouraged on low-cal days. The 30 or 35 percent would be better for me.

Yes, weight now for the calculation. This type of eating is called "intermittent calorie reduction", btw.

I watched the second half of the video Lynlee gave us, beginning at about minute 43. Wow. I am not a biochemist, for sure! LOL. But I got the gist of it, since he intersperses with plain talk. I'll see if I can type up my notes. A lot of the lengthy explanations will be left out, but they were mostly alphabetic lettering anyway!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you preload a child with a can of soda, the child will eat MORE at the meal than they would without the cola.

When you eat/drink High Fructose Corn Syrup, the brain does not see that it happened.
Liver metabolism for fructose is different.

Glucose (sugar):
100 cals glucose (2 slices white bread) is potentially useful to every cell in the body. 20 percent goes to the liver.
The liver can store it in unlimited amounts as glycogen - non-toxic. Done every day by carb-loading athletes.
Our mitochondria must deal with 2 percent. Even if a bit isn't burned off, enzymes make fat out of it at low risk.
The brain has seen the signal, and hunger is shut off.

Ethanol (alcohol):
When you drink ethanol, a carb which is also a toxin, 12 (chronic) health problems can result.
It can also wrap your car around a tree. (acute problem = reason for regulation)
It is metabolized in the brain, which is why our world has a 1,500-year history of alcohol control policies.
Our mitochondria has to deal with more than 90 percent of it.

Fructose:
Only the liver CAN metabolize fructose.
Its waste product is uric acid causing 1) gout and 2) hypertension
It blocks the mechanism that keeps blood pressure low.
We have a hypertension epidemic in the US at the present time.
Sports Drinks : you deplete glycogen (energy storage) faster. Healthy only if you are an elite athlete.
....1967 Univ of Florida invents GatorAde
....1970 Florida Gators win NCAA Football championship, but GatorAde still used mostly by athletes.
....1992 Pepsi buys GatorAde and puts HFCS in. Now consumers are mostly children and teens.
In normal adults, 30 percent of fructose proven to end up as fat.
This is called "the dislipodemia of obesity"
So what is a high-fat diet? Isn't it a diet that makes you fat? Then high sugar diet is a fattening diet.
With 6 days of High Fructose, the same normal adults (college students) triglicerides doubled.
It causes "Non-alcoholic hepatitis" and the pancreas begins to have to work harder.
....so now, additional rise in bp
....even less ability for brain to understand you are not starving even though fat cells are saying so.
....causes continued consumption.
8 out of the 12 previously mentioned health problems caused by exposure to ethanol are caused by
exposure to fructose.
....hypertension
....myocardial infarction
....dslipidemia
....pancreatitis
....obesity
....hepatic dysfunction
....fetal insulin resistance
....habituation, if not outright addiction
But how do we make ethanol (alcohol)? Naturally. (as opposed to HFCS)

4 things to teach our children and parents (in his practice)
....Get rid of all sugared liquids. Only water and milk.
....Eat your carbohydrates with fiber.
....Wait 20 minutes for second portions.
....Buy your screentime, minute for minute, with physical activity.

There is no such thing as a good sugared beverage.
Fructose ingestion interferes with obesity intervention (doctor's supervision, etc).
The more soft drinks, the less well diet and exercise work, his program proved.

Exercise is important for 3 reasons:
....1)insulin will work better at the muscle
....2) stress reducer, means appetite is calmed
....3) stop the process before sugars turn to fat in the first place
Burning calories is the stupidest reason ever for exercise. You can't do it.
One Big Mac and you have to mountain bike for 10 hours.
One chocolate chip cookie requires 20 minutes of jogging.

Fiber is important:
....When God made the poison (fructose) he packaged it only WITH the antidote.
....That's why fruit is fine to eat.
....1) Reduces the rate of carb absorption
....2) Increases speed of transit -that's your saiety signal
....3) Suppresses insulin

Btw, the Paleolithic Diet would cure Type 2 diabetes fast - maybe one week.

Only 7 items on McDonalds entire menu do not contain HFCS,
and even those don't make sense to most people without additions (like tea without sugar)
or are otherwise bad for you (sausage patty, hash browns).

Some infant formulas are really "baby milkshakes" loaded with unnecessary sugars. Read labels, get advice.
With a can of Coke and a same-size can of beer, calories getting to liver are similar.
Therefore a "soda belly" is made of the same thing as a "beer belly" and looks similar

You are not what you eat, you are what you DO with what you eat.
And what you do with fructose is harmful to you.

Therefore (his biochemical explanation has proven), fructose is a toxin.
But the FDA will only regulate acute toxins, not chronic toxins, and one meal with HFCS won't kill you.
The problem is, people have 1,000s of meals with it.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

There's a version of Weight Watchers (off-label, not sanctioned) where you alternate your high and low point days. It is called the Wendy Plan. Basically, on low days, you eat your minimum number of points (in my case about 1300 calories) and on high days, you eat an extra 500 - 700 calories. Some people find their weight loss is quicker on this plan, and surmise it might be because the body never knows what it will have to work with so it keeps the metabolism running faster so it needs to draw on fat stores on the low point days.

[Lynlee]

you are a meaty note taker Harriet.
thank you.I admit to now wondering about the truth of all his claims. But it really is about quantity ingested. I am trying to cut back on fruit juice, but I've found 1/2 milk and 1/2 juice is like an instant smoothy. without the fruit fiber though. Not taken daily, just when theres no time, or bananas for a banana goatmilk drink.
I'm guessing that I need more activity to go with my screen time, though steering away from lots of things keeps my weight and guts pretty stable.
Watch out for the lables of things - manufacturers are getting sneakier changing what they call things. And front of packaging claims are often false when you read the fine print of ingredients. Here thats the case at any rate.. HFCS is now in lots of things esp in US. But growing in use here. Also MSG can get called lots of things - if you have a problem with that.

Harriet - I have a full litre jar of cold pressed extra virgin coconut oil. It does smell like fresh coconuts. I'm the one it gives a smell to. Not hideously revolting like if I eat potatoes or wheat, but I've decided I don't like it. I guess I need find it a new owner.

Nancy - I hear your confusion with all this iron uptake conflicting advice. Do you have access to a dietian? They might be able to point you in the right direction.
Theres a lot of mistaken experts can just tout their view on thw web.

[Nancy]

I had anemia from heavy periods and had my uterus out at age 22 I had vericous [sp] veins of the uterus. Periods were like labor each mo. so I do not regret that decision.

I have a handle on what I can eat now and no longer need to track every thing I eat or the insulin I take doc. said after that first summer I had a good handle on it.

I was just trying to do it to prevent gaining wt.

[Harriet]

Interesting discussion on iron and anemia. I remember a favorite meal main dish of liver and onion that I used to make and being told it was good for iron. As all this sounds, however, I might have been wiser to have just serve the liver and onions alone without side dishes and serve the rest of the meal 2 hours away from it.

Lynlee, I am tired of taking pencil notes on programs and never transcribing them until I can't read them any more, or remember why I thought they were important! LOL! That happened to me with some Dr. Oz programs. With this one, it was about something that already interested me. I would have edited the notes shorter, but that would have taken more brain power. While I do think Dr. Lustig was exaggerating on a couple of his asides - just 7 days to a cure on Paleo Diet, or not being able to burn off a Big Mac until 10 biking hours - his actual speech topic was extremely well-documented with the detailed biochemistry charts and lots of experts cited who had "vetted" the information, allowing their names to be given at the end, with some of their comments.

Needless to say, I have turned more against HFCS through all this research. I wish someone would do the math for me, that if you scrupulously got HFCS out of your diet in every way, how long would it take to start flattening your tummy a little! LOL. I'd like a timeline! Possibly there IS a timeline somewhere about how quickly it would lower your triglycerides, since they documented the time it took to send the number up.

[Twins' Mom]

Harriet, the Michael Pollan books will also put you off HFCS - I can't remember which, specifically, devoted a lot of space to the corn syrup processing and HFCS "foods" that are so pervasive in our diet. (I think I've read The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and Food Rules.)

I made a trip to the drugstore and fought off the impulse to get fast food. Made myself a wrap with low carb wrap, grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, olives (all bottled), hummus, and small basil leaves. Ready for Shabbat nap now.

Dh had already suggested to ds that we go out for supper so that's the plan. DD is chilling again so we're continuing the Advil and tylenol regime.