Phys Ed: How Caffeine Can Galvanize Your Workout - NYTimes.com
So researchers at Coventry University in England recently recruited 13 fit young men and asked them to repeat a standard weight-training gym regimen on several occasions. An hour before one workout, the men consumed a sugar-free energy drink containing caffeine. An hour before another, they drank the same beverage, minus the caffeine. Then the men lifted, pressed and squatted, performing each exercise until they were exhausted. Exhaustion arrived much later for those who’d had caffeine first. After swallowing the caffeinated beverage, the men completed significantly more repetitions of the exercises than after the placebo. They also reported feeling subjectively less tired during the entire bout and, in perhaps the most interesting finding, said that they were eager to repeat the whole workout again soon.
a cup of coffee before a workout jolts athletic performance, especially in endurance sports like distance running and cycling.
More than two-thirds of about 20,680 Olympic athletes studied for a recent report had caffeine in their urine, with use highest among triathletes, cyclists and rowers.
“fat cells burn around 2.05 Calories per pound, so you’d gain a lot of weight” in order for for the extra fan to burn off the extra calories you’re eating.
Sad reality.
For every 1% increase in energy from saturated fatty acids, cholesterol levels rise by 1.3 to 1.7 mg/dl
http://www.csuchico.edu/grassfedbeef/research/Review Grassfed Beef 2010.pdf
Of course, not all saturated fat is equal, so this is an average over several studies. A few more tidbits from this article:
- Lauric Acid (C12:0) preferentially increases HDL so affects cholesterol in a positive way
- Stearic Acid (C18:0) has no impact on serum cholesterol concentrations
Too much fructose leads to weight gain & diabetes. Don't gorge on fruit.
fructose is “isocaloric but not isometabolic.” This means you can have the identical amount of calories from fructose or glucose, fructose and protein, or fructose and fat, but the metabolic effect will be entirely different.
fructose consumption leads to decreased signaling to the central nervous system from two hormones, leptin and insulin, both of which play key roles in hunger and satiety, as well as weight control.
Here’s a linked paper which gives a bit more science
Because fructose does not stimulate insulin secretion from pancreatic ß cells, the consumption of foods and beverages containing fructose produces smaller postprandial insulin excursions than does consumption of glucose-containing carbohydrate. Because leptin production is regulated by insulin responses to meals, fructose consumption also reduces circulating leptin concentrations. The combined effects of lowered circulating leptin and insulin in individuals who consume diets that are high in dietary fructose could therefore increase the likelihood of weight gain and its associated metabolic sequelae. In addition, fructose, compared with glucose, is preferentially metabolized to lipid in the liver. Fructose consumption induces insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, hyperinsulinemia, hypertriacylglycerolemia, and hypertension in animal models.
high-carbohydrate meals stimulate leptin production in humans relative to high-fat meals
Diets high in fructose induce insulin resistance in rodents (87–89) and in dogs (90). For example, Thorburn et al (91) fed rats a diet containing 35% of energy as fructose for 4 wk and found reduced insulin sensitivity associated with impaired hepatic insulin action and whole-body glucose disposal.
There are numerous studies in which dietary fructose has been shown to induce hyperlipidemia in rodents (104, 107–109). Herman et al (107) reported that rats fed a high-fructose diet had sustained elevations in serum triacylglycerol. Circulating triacylglycerol concentrations rose and remained elevated during the entire time fructose was fed (100 d) and fell promptly when a standard chow diet was instituted. The same investigators also concluded that there was a greater capacity of human liver to metabolize fructose to lipid compared with glucose because high-sucrose diets led to elevated serum triacylglycerol concentrations in humans, whereas the same amount of glucose resulted in lower concentrations of serum triacylglycerol
Similar to insulin resistance and hyperlipidemia, many published experiments have shown that high-fructose diets induce hypertension in animals, including rodents (125–128) and dogs (90).
To put it in simpler terms…when you eat fructose alone, your blood sugar levels remain elevated. Not only that, but your liver tends to convert the fructose into fat, so the amount of in your blood gets elevated. Not only that, but you don’t get the same feeling of fullness, so you just tend to eat more. If your there is too much fat in your bloodstream, you eventually get diabetes.
Here is an article that talks about that
a defect in insulin-stimulated glucose transport in skeletal muscle is the primary metabolic abnormality in insulin-resistant type 2 diabetics. Fatty acids appear to cause this defect in glucose transport by inhibiting insulin-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) and IRS-1 associated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity.
Here is a table, listing the amount of fructose present in various foods
Fruit Serving Size Grams of Fructose
Limes 1 medium 0
Lemons 1 medium 0.6
Cranberries 1 cup 0.7
Passion fruit 1 medium 0.9
Prune 1 medium 1.2
Apricot 1 medium 1.3
Guava 2 medium 2.2
Date (Deglet Noor style) 1 medium 2.6
Cantaloupe 1/8 of med. melon 2.8
Raspberries 1 cup 3.0
Clementine 1 medium 3.4
Kiwifruit 1 medium 3.4
Blackberries 1 cup 3.5
Star fruit 1 medium 3.6
Cherries, sweet 10 3.8
Strawberries 1 cup 3.8
Cherries, sour 1 cup 4.0
Pineapple 1 slice
(3.5” x .75”) 4.0
Grapefruit, pink or red 1/2 medium 4.3
Boysenberries 1 cup 4.6
Tangerine/mandarin orange 1 medium 4.8
Nectarine 1 medium 5.4
Peach 1 medium 5.9
Orange (navel) 1 medium 6.1
Papaya 1/2 medium 6.3
Honeydew 1/8 of med. melon 6.7
Banana 1 medium 7.1
Blueberries 1 cup 7.4
Date (Medjool) 1 medium 7.7
Apple (composite) 1 medium 9.5
Persimmon 1 medium 10.6
Watermelon 1/16 med. melon 11.3
Pear 1 medium 11.8
Raisins 1/4 cup 12.3
Grapes, seedless (green or red) 1 cup 12.4
Mango 1/2 medium 16.2
Apricots, dried 1 cup 16.4
Figs, dried 1 cup 23.0
It’s worth noting that this table is somewhat skewed. 1/16 of a water melon is 286 grams, where as a medium orange is less than half that. Who’s to say you won’t eat 1/32 of a watermelon etc.
This site, listing fructose amounts per 100g is also useful.
Agave / Agave nectar - Has a high fructose-to-glucose ratio
Aparagus - Contains significant amounts of fructans
Apples - 6g fructose per 100g
Artichoke - Contains significant amounts of fructans
Banana - 4.85g fructose per 100g
Blackberries - 2.4g fructose per 100g
Blueberries - 5.0g fructose per 100g
Cherries - 5.3g fructose per 100g
Currants - 3.5g fructose per 100g
Grapes - 8g fructose per 100g
Honeydew Melon - 2.9g fructose per 100g
Inulin - Source of fructans; sometimes added to foods such as yoghurt
Kiwi fruit - 4.3g fructose per 100g
Lemon Lime soda/softdrink - 5.8g fructose per 100g
Mango - 5.5g fructose per 100g
Onion - Contains significant amounts of fructans
Orange juice - 2.7g fructose per 100g
Oranges - 2.2g fructose per 100g
Pears - 6.2g fructose per 100g
Pineapple - 7.2g fructose per 100g
Plum - 3.0g fructose per 100g
Raisins - 30g fructose per 100g
Raspberries - 2.3g fructose per 100g
Strawberries - 2.4g fructose per 100g
Tangerines - 2.4g fructose per 100g
Watermelon - 3.35g fructose per 100g
Note that agave syrup is blamed because of its high fructose to glucose ratio, which is ironic because it’s claimed as a healthy alternative, and arguably healthier choices could be found.
Fructans is mentioned above
A fructan is a polymer of fructose molecules. They occur in foods such as agave, artichokes, asparagus, green beans, leeks, onions (including spring onions), yacon, jícama, and wheat.
Some people have trouble digesting fructose, and for those with intestinal difficulties, it is recommended that they avoid fructans.
Here’s some more about fructose malabsorption syndrome
Even in healthy persons, however, only about 25-50g of fructose per sitting can be properly absorbed. Persons with fructose malabsorption may absorb less than 25g per sitting.
This is yet another reason not to have too much fructose at once.
The article also has this table, which is interesting
Food Fructose (grams / 100 grams) Glucose (grams / 100 grams)
Sucrose (for reference) 50 50
Apples 5.9 2.4
Pears 6.2 2.8
Fruit juice e.g. Apples, Pears 5 to 7 2 to 3
Watermelon 3.4 1.6
Raisins 29.8 27.8
Honey 40.9 35.7
High fructose corn syrup 42 to 55 45 to 58
It’s not that the ratio is particularly worse in high fructose corn syrup - it’s that the quantity of sugar consumed is typically much larger than that that would be consumed when eating fruit.
If you eat small enough portions, less sugar enters your system and therefore less insulin is needed to control a blood sugar rise, and therefore less damage is done.
Let’s look at how many calories are actually burned from eating and sitting around.
A person who weighs 150 lbs. burns about 64 calories per hour while sleeping; someone who weighs 200 lbs. burns approximately 86 calories per hour while sleeping, according to Fit Watch.
Eating burns about 140 calories per hour; watching TV or reading burns around 75; and doing homework, or anything that requires heavy concentration or brain activity, burns around 110.
Let’s be generous and assume 100 calories per hour are burned. That’s 25 grams of carbohydrate. So if you were taking small nibbles or a few pieces of fruit here and there, that’s about 1.5 pieces oranges per hour, about 200 grams of orange. The calculations are similar for standard serving sizes of other fruits. Assuming there is some glucose in the fruit, for which there will be an insulin response, the amount you can eat rises somewhat.
How to make sense of the data on fructose? As I see it, each food has a functional purpose. Protein sources like steak are effective at building muscles. On the other hand if early man came upon an orchard full of fruit in the early summer, he might well gorge and it might be an evolutionary advantage for him to get fatter to take advantage of all the fruit in front of him. Now, as fruit is available in huge quantities everywhere, the possibility of getting fat from gorging on fruit is real.
What’s the upshot? If you want to lose weight and attain better health, pay attention to the amount of fructose you consume.
If you want to improve your insulin response, consider combining fruit with protein, as protein causes insulin levels to rise, without affecting your blood sugar.
Pure protein — protein sources that do not contain any carbohydrates — do not affect your blood glucose levels
Insulin does many things at once. It causes amino acids to be taken in to cells and causes blood sugar to be lowered via a number of different mechanisms.
So, as I see it the takeaways are:
1) Avoid sugary drinks and any drinks with high fructose corn syrups (includes most sodas).
2) If you are eating a fruit that contains fructose, don’t eat too much, so as not to raise the blood sugar too high, as insulin won’t help enough. Don’t gorge on fruit.
3) Consider eating fruit with a meal in which you have some protein.
4) Be careful with respect to the total amount of fructose you consume in any given day. The less fructose you consume the better it is for your blood sugar & the more it prevents obesity, but fruit is good for other reasons, so try to find the compromise that’s right for you.
Drinking Diet Soda Actually Causes Weight Gain
A landmark new study out of Texas confirms this, having found that not only do diet sodas not help with weight loss, but they actually cause both weight gain and health problems.
Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSC) at San Antonio gathered ten years worth of data on 474 participants from a larger, ongoing study called the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging. Among these participants, those that consumed two or more diet sodas a day experienced waist size increases that were a shocking six times greater than those who did not drink diet soda.In a related study presented at the same time, researchers also found that aspartame, a commonly-used chemical sweetener in diet foods and beverages, is actually responsible for raising blood sugar levels.
US Food and Drug Administration adverse event reports going back several decades indicate that artificial sweeteners like aspartame are also responsible for destroying brain neurons, which in turn leads to a host of chronic illnesses.
These include, but are not limited to, chronic headaches, seizures, strokes, vascular disorders, heart disease, premature birth, dementia and other brain disorders, and cancerSo rather than consume artificially-sweetened beverages and foods with the hope that they will somehow induce weight gain and promote health — two notions that have proven once again to be false — the best way to begin to lose weight is to consume less processed, refined sugars and simple carbohydrates in the first place. Read the full article here.
This may not be what some of you want to hear, but it’s important that we all know the damaging effects of artificial, processed food and drink. Long-term weight loss isn’t just about “counting calories”.
Alkaline Diet for healthier bones and to lose weight - another reason to go paleo? or bunk?
Our hunter-gatherer ancestors consumed a diet very different from what’s typical today.
Grains were introduced into the diet after the appearance of stone tools. Refined grains were available after the invention of automated rolling and sifting devices.
Milk, cheese and other milk products were introduced with the domestication of livestock.
Salt consumption rose when technology to mine, process, and transport it became available.
Meat consumption increased with animal husbandry. It further increased with the advent of technology that enabled grains to be efficiently fed to cattle, which allowed cattle to be fattened quickly.
Sugar consumption has risen since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
Grains, fish, meat, poultry, shellfish, cheese, milk, and salt all produce acid, so the introduction and dramatic rise in our consumption of these foods meant that the typical Western diet became more acid-producing.
Some practitioners recommend the alkaline diet if a person has the following symptoms and other illnesses have been ruled out.
Lack of energy
Excessive mucous production
Nasal congestion
Frequent colds and flu
Anxiety, nervousness, irritability
Ovarian cysts, polycystic ovaries, benign breast cysts
Headache
There’s actually a lot of controversy about the alkaline diet. Some smart people think it is complete BS. Skeptics actually run the wikipedia page on the alkaline diet and link to fellow skeptics. They simply believe the body can adjust to the radical change in foods consumed with no problem. These people also tend to be advocates of bean and dairy consumption. They claim that blood ph is unaffected, but that’s not the point. The point of the diet is that a more alkaline diet leads to more calcium retention and less fat accumulation.
There are studies like this one that see no association between bone mineral density and acid load (although even that one saw a correlation in older men). In this case the study looked at an older study and made estimates of net asset load and renal acid load - which I assume were based on the dietary data available - and then compared that to bone mineral density. So that’s certainly a reason t be skeptical. It’s possible that bone mineral density is more correlated with things like exercise and physical size.
Actually if you’re overweight, your bone mineral density actually increases.
it was noted that overweight (BMI > 25 < 29.9) was neutral or protective for BMD
So it’s very possible that those on poor diets simply got fatter, which put more stress on their bones, which led to them having more dense bones.
So what other ways can this data be looked at?
There is evidence that having an alkaline diet increases calcium absorption. Here’s a link to a cool study where they basically fed people alkaline chemicals. As it says, calcium retention went up.
The effects of neutralization of dietary acid load (equimolar amounts of NaHCO3 and KHCO3 substituted for NaCl and KCl) in nine healthy subjects (6 men, 3 women) under metabolic balance conditions on calcium balance, bone markers, and endocrine systems relevant to bone [glucocorticoid secretion, IGF-1, parathyroid hormone (PTH)/1,25(OH)2 vitamin D and thyroid hormones] were studied. Neutralization for 7 days induced a significant cumulative calcium retention (10.7 ± 0.4 mmol) and significantly reduced the urinary excretion of deoxypyridinoline, pyridinoline, andn-telopeptide. Mean daily plasma cortisol decreased from 264 ± 45 to 232 ± 43 nmol/l (P = 0.032), and urinary excretion of tetrahydrocortisol (THF) decreased from 2,410 ± 210 to 2,098 ± 190 μg/24 h (P = 0.027). No significant effect was found on free IGF-1, PTH/1,25(OH)2 vitamin D, or thyroid hormones.
More here:
In a recent study estimating the net acid load (NEAP) of 159 hypothetical pre-agricultural diets, 87 % were found to be base producing, with an estimated mean NEAP of negative 88 mEq/d. In comparison, calculations from the US Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) found the average American diet to be acid producing, with an NEAP of positive 48 mEq/d.
Diet net acid load can be estimated from measurements of urinary excretion of ammonium, titratable acids and bicarbonate (called net acid excretion; NAE), or can be calculated from dietary constituents (called net endogenous acid production; NEAP).
In vivo studies have generally supported the in vitro findings that acid-promoting diets are associated with both increased Ca and increased bone matrix protein excretion (used as a marker for estimating bone loss), and that neutralising the acid intake with diet or bicarbonate supplements decreases urine Ca and bone matrix protein excretion (18 – 21) . In a trial of 170 postmenopausal women, for example, potassium bicarbonate supplementation reduced daily urinary Ca excretion, and one could predict which women would benefit most – those with the greatest urinary Ca loss
In an examination of over 1000 women between the ages of 45 and 54 years, a lower dietary intake of acid-producing foods correlated with greater spine and hip bone mineral density, as well as greater forearm bone mass, after adjusting for age, weight, height and menstrual status (60) . In the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures Research cohort, over 1000 women aged 65 þ years were enrolled in a prospective cohort study.
A number of trials have shown that the bone loss can be reversed by the addition of a base…Potassium citrate combined with calcium citrate may be more beneficial than either alone, as demonstrated in a cross-over trial on bone turnover in postmenopausal women. Urinary Ca excretion and markers of bone health were improved with potassium citrate, more so in those consuming a high-Na diet. … A recent study suggests that bicarbonate has favourable effects on bone resorption and Ca excretion
Kidney stones… In a study of nearly 200 renal stone-formers designed to identify the greatest risk factors for nephrolithiasis[kidney stones], it was the potential acid load of the diet which had the strongest association with stone risk…Potassiummagnesium citrate has been shown to counter renal stone formation associated with immobilisation and was associated with a significant increase in urinary pH.
I view all this as additional evidence that a diet consisting of fruits and vegetables with some fish is healthy, and that foods like dairy and grains are not the best health choices.
Reducing fasting insulin levels has been linked to better health and longevity. Here's how you do it.
A number of studies have shown that high carbohydrate diets increase plasma triglyceride levels, VLDL cholesterol, insulin and glucose concentrations in NIDDM40,41 and in post-menopausal women
Diets high in saturated fats and trans-fatty acids have been shown to decrease membrane fluidity and decrease insulin receptor binding, thus promoting insulin resistance. Interestingly, a high omega-6:omega-3 EFA diet is also detrimental to insulin receptor sensitivity. …
… Very good studies indicate that trans fats interfere with insulin receptors and therefore with insulin resistance.
Physical activity reduces insulin resistance.
Weight loss reduces insulin resistance.
Alcohol reduces insulin resistance.
Minerals such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, zinc, chromium, and vanadium appear to have associations with insulin resistance or its management. Amino acids, including L-carnitine, taurine, and L-arginine, might also play a role in the reversal of insulin resistance. Other nutrients, including glutathione, coenzyme Q10, and lipoic acid, also appear to have therapeutic potential.?
There is also evidence that the amount and range of carotenoid-like pigments in an individual’s blood is inversely related to fasting serum insulin levels,65 suggesting a diet low in vegetables might contribute to insulin resistance.
Dietary micronutrient deficiencies might also promote insulin resistance. Chief among these deficiencies appear to be minerals including calcium, magnesium, potassium, chromium, vanadium, and zinc.68-74 Intake of sodium, either too high or two low, appears to negatively impact insulin sensitivity.
Linoleic acid, the major n-6 fatty acid, is metabolized into pro-inflammatory arachidonic acid, which, in turn, gives rise to leukotrienes and protaglandins. N-3 fatty acids, found in plants and in fish, reduce the levels of arachidonic acid, thereby lowering inflammatory mediator concentrations and increasing insulin sensitization.
a saturated fat metabolite called ceramide contributes to the development of insulin resistance. … Ceramide is a lipid molecule made in the body from something called sphingosine and a fatty acid (which could be oleic acid, a so-called good fatty acid). This molecule is used to make sphingomyelin, which is one of the structural elements in the lipid bilayer, as well as being a cellular signal molecule. Sphingomyelin is one of the lipid building blocks of the myelin sheath so important for nerves.
Fat substitutes may actually lead to weight gain
the body may, when anticipating fatty or sweet foods, get primed for a big dose of calories. When those calories aren’t delivered, the body feels cheated and compensates by overeating, trying to achieve the sensation it expected to get from eating the delicious, high-calorie food it expected in the first place.
Grape polyphenols may protect against obesity. Grape seed extract vs. grapes, wine, apples.
Dr Rouanet and his co-workers divided hamsters into three groups: One group received a standard diet, one group was fed a high-fat diet, and the third received the high-fat diet and the grape seed extract (provided by Partoeno, Bordeaux).
After 12 weeks on the diets, the researchers found that animals on the high-fat diet only had increased abdominal fat, compared to the hamsters on the standard diet.
On the other hand, the hamsters in the grape seed extract group did not have increased abdominal fat, they said.
Grape seed extract is made by taking the seeds out of the grape and simply pressing them.
Most grape seed extract pills I’ve seen are standardized to about 50-100 mg of proanthocyanidins.
So how does this compare to grapes… As wikipedia says…
In red wines, total oligomeric proanthocyanidin content, including catechins, was substantially higher (177.18 ± 96.06 mg/L)
So if there are 4 glasses of wine per bottle, that’s about 40-45 mg of proanthocyanidins per glass - about the same as a pill of grape seed extract or half a pill.
How many grapes are in a bottle of wine? About 2.75 lbs. So clearly it would take a lot of grapes to get the grape seed extract in one pill.
More estimates :
Grapes and grape juice were shown to contribute nearly 18% of the total ~ 58 milligrams proanthocyanidin/person/day (> 2 years old). In fact, purple grape juice had the highest average content of proanthocyanidins per serving of all beverages tested (including red table wine and fruit juices), at 124 milligrams per 8 fluid ounces.
Then I found this nugget
Apples contain on average per serving about eight times the amount of proanthocyanidin found in wine, with some of the highest amounts found in the Red Delicious and Granny Smith varieties.[7]”
So it’s clear that you can at the very least get some benefit from taking grape seed extract pills, but I’m not 100% convinced that’s necessary if you have a healthy diet.
Whey protein and leucine may help you gain muscle and lose weight, but they may also shorten your lifespan
So… some bodybuilders and other enthusiasts like to consume leucine because it can help make your muscles grow.
As you can see from this chart, whey protein has more leucine than other types of protein:
Leucine Content in food / per 100g
Whey Protein Concentrate 8.0g
Raw Cheddar Cheese 3.6g
Lean Beef 1.7g
Salmon 1.6g
Almonds 1.5g
Chicken 1.4g
Chick Peas 1.4g
Raw Eggs 1.0g
Egg Yolk 1.4g
Sheep Milk 0.6g
Pork 0.4g
Cow Milk 0.3g
This chart is a bit deceptive because whey protein typically contains 49 or 50g of protein per 100g serving, compared with 20g for salmon, so if you normalized the serving sizes, it’s about 3.2g of of leucine - which is about twice as much as that of red meat and salmon.
If you consume a lot of leucine, it increases your leptin levels. Leptin is a hormone. The higher your leptin levels the less body fat you will retain.
In the first study we correlated changes in plasma insulin and Leu, to mTOR signaling pathway activation and plasma leptin at different times during meal feeding…….Stimulation of leptin secretion was reduced approximately 40% in animals provided the Leu deficient meal. Further reductions where not observed by removing the other amino acids. Thus Leu appears to regulate most of the effects of dietary amino acids upon the postprandial rise in plasma leptin, but is only responsible for part of the leptin response to meal feeding.
So the point of this is that if you consume leucine, your body gets a signal that it’s time to turn on protein synthesis and build muscle, and that it’s not the time to build up fat levels.
leucine is the most potent single amino acid that activates mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin). The exact mechanisms by which mTOR works are not fully understood, but it has been shown that mTOR is crucially involved in stimulating cellular protein-synthesis and cell growth, probably by activating ribosomal function
-increased protein synthesis rate is an energy demanding process: the more protein is being synthesized, the more energy from other sources has to be spent for it. Protein synthesis has thus a positive influence of nutrient partitioning: calories from food will more likely be spent for protein synthesis than for being stored in fat cells. Some studies suggest that total protein turnover in the body contributes to appr. 20% of resting metabolic rate in healthy humans.Leucine temporarily also increases leptin levels - a hormone that is being produced in adipocytes. leptin levels in turn increase hypothalamic mTOR activity (and further decrease appetite). Moreover, leptin is known to counteract the effects of neuropeptide Y, the effects of anandamide (two potent feeding stimulants) and to promote the synthesis of Alpha-MSH and CCK, two potent appetite suppressants. Moreover it increases hypothalamic release of GnRH and directly stimulates beta-oxidation of fatty acids. It also has proinflammatory actions.
The problem is that like a lot weightlifting products, it’s great at building muscle, but it’s likely a negative for health in the long term.
So one of the few drugs that actually extends lifespan is an mTor inhibitor. You can read more about mTor and lifespan here. The point is that by consuming something that activates mTor, you are actually accelerating the aging process.
So to summarize, if you want to change your appearance, consume whey protein. If you’re into health, it’s another product to avoid. I avoid it.
Waiting Until You're Hungry Can Actually Be Bad For You - Eat Small Amounts Continuously
Waiting too long between meals is one of the surest ways to age the body before its time, says Oz. That’s because hunger pangs can lead to overeating, which may lead to obesity. Here’s how it works: A growling stomach signals “hunger” in the brain by releasing the hormone ghrelin. The problem is that it takes 30 minutes for ghrelin levels to return to normal once you’ve started to nosh. So odds are you’ll overeat.
I find that if I have healthy food nearby I often nibbling a little bit here and there. It turns out that’s actually healthy as I don’t stress my body out with massive hunger and overeating. Having a small amount of food nearby is a good thing.
If you think you ate a lot, you'll feel full...even if you really didn't eat all that much.
Ghrelin levels typically increase before meals and decrease after meals. The higher the levels of ghrelin in the system, the more likely a person is to overeat.
The Yale team’s research subjects were given a 380 calorie milkshake under the pretense that it was either a 620 calorie “indulgent” shake or a 140 calorie “sensible” shake. Those who drank what they thought was the “indulgent” high-fat, high-calorie shake had a dramatically steeper decline in ghrelin after drinking it. Those who thought they were drinking the “sensible” low-fat, low-calorie calorie shake had a flat ghrelin response.
“What was most interesting,” Crum said, “is that the results were somewhat counterintuitive. Consuming the shake thinking it was ‘indulgent’ was healthier than thinking it was ‘sensible.’ It led to a sharper reduction in ghrelin.”
Will Sleeping on Your Side Reduce Snoring?
Snoring occurs when your throat muscles relax during sleep, your tongue falls backward toward your throat and the walls of your throat vibrate, leading to the familiar sounds of a snore. It’s a common notion, then, that most people only snore when they sleep on their back, as this is what allows your tongue to collapse into the back of your throat and obstruct breathing.
In fact, sleeping on your back can lead to snoring in some people — the New York Times reported one study found that 54 percent of snorers were “positional snorers,” which means they only snored while sleeping on their backs. So switching to your side while sleeping is a simple trick to try if snoring is interfering with your, or your partner’s, sleep — but it likely won’t work for everyone.
Causes of snoring:
- Aging, which leads to increased relaxation of the throat muscles
- Obesity (particular having a lot of fatty tissue around the neck)
- Anatomical abnormalities of the nose and throat (enlarged tonsils or adenoids, nasal polyps, or deviated nasal septum)
- Functional abnormalities (such as inflammation of the nose or throat due to allergies)
- Drinking alcohol before bed, as alcohol is a potent muscle relaxant, or taking muscle relaxants in the evening
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