Fasting is back in the news again!

Here are just two of the titles that have been sent to me via email over the last week:

“Routine Periodic Fasting Is Good for Your Health, and Your Heart, Study Suggests”

and

“Study: Periodic fasting good for health, heart”

So what’s going on?

Well the mainstream media has caught on to Dr. Ben Horne’s latest research.

Now, Dr. Horne is a friend of ‘Eat Stop Eat’ and we’ve exchanged emails, so I think it’s worth while to really examine his latest findings.

Firstly, Dr. Horne’s work is on 24 hour fasts, once or twice a week, almost exactly the Eat Stop Eat protocol (add in some weight training and it would have been perfect) so it is VERY relevant to us.

Secondly, it’s not just Dr. Horne – He’s among more than a dozen doctors with Intermountain Medical Center’s Heart Institute who discovered the most recent round of physiological benefits from fasting.

Alright so let’s take a look at what they found:

During 24-hour fasting periods, he found that Growth Hormone increased to an average of 1,300 percent in women and nearly 2,000 percent in men!

When growth hormone is elevated you are burning fat and preserving muscle – so finding this kind of rise in 24 hours is excellent news for us!

He also found that fasting, was also found to reduce other cardiac risk factors, such as triglycerides, weight and blood sugar levels.

Another bonus for us!

Now, according to the news article is was said that “Dr. Horne believes that fasting could one day be prescribed as a treatment for preventing diabetes and coronary heart disease.” Now to be fair, I haven’t actually seen or heard him directly say such a thing, but it is a logical suggestion in my eyes.

And, I should add in that Dr. Horne does caution that fasting may not be for everyone and I completely agree- anyone with a serious medical condition should discuss Eat Stop Eat with their doctor before they try fasting.

Now here’s the bad news – Even though this is even more support for the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle, it doesn’t mean Eat Stop Eat or fasting is going to go mainstream any time soon..or ever for that matter.

In fact, if it ever threatened to do so, it would be shot down VERY quickly – The smear campaign would be immense!

Food companies, supplement companies, food ingredient suppliers, pretty much anyone who in anyway makes money off of you eating does NOT want you to take a break from eating for 24 hours once or twice a week. It would be a financial nightmare.

So, While this research does add to the ever growing body of scientific research that supports our way of eating, it’s not going to change the fact that your friends or family or coworkers may simple never ‘get it’. More than likely, at some point they will give you a hard time about fasting. They will tell you that you need to ‘eat to keep your energy up’. They will push eating on you to make themselves feel better about how much they eat.

This is something we are just going to have to deal with

So here’s what I want you to do:  Add this latest round of research to your ever growing support for Eat Stop Eat,  but don’t expect it to prevent the funny looks you get when you tell people you are fasting. Also, when dealing with friends and family – share the concept of Eat Stop Eat with the people that are ready – The ones that want to lose weight. Do not bother discussing with the people who simply want to argue with you, it’s a waste of your energy.

BP

Don’t worry be happy could just as easily be ‘don’t worry be skinny’ if we examine the link between stress and weight loss. ( ‘Lean’ would have been a better word, but ‘skinny’ fit better)

I know it sounds Taoist or Zen, but your emotions and your outlook on life play an important role in your health. We’ve known this for an exceptionally long period of time, yet for some reason, we like to ignore it.

(Why work on your outlook on life when you can just take a supplement or eat organic?)

But the truth is, it is important. Stress can have a profound effect not only on weight loss, but also your quality of life.  Take the following as an example:

The first documented account of the existence, composition, and fate of chylomicrons was made by S. H. Gage in 1924. And while our knowledge about these compounds has increased exponentially since 1924, there is one piece of information from the original research that we have completely ignored for, well almost a century now.

According to his Key Note Speech on the topic of Nutritional adaptations in 1979, Rene Dubos explained the following:

It reported in detail and with striking time curves that the fate of chylomicrons was profoundly influenced by emotional states. The prospect of having to give a lecture on anatomy was sufficient profoundly alter the rate at which chylomicrons disappeared from the blood.

This is important because Chylomicrons transport the fat from your food to your liver, body fat stores, heart and skeletal muscle tissue, where their triglyceride components are unloaded for use or storage. Basically, they’re the school bus for the fat you eat, taking it through your blood and dropping it off at various locations.

So emotional stress can have a large and immediate impact on fat metabolism.

Here’s another amazing story form the same talk:

A nutritional and medical survey was carried out from 1955 to 1961 in the Pennsylvania town of Roseto. At that time, 90% of the town’s 1630 inhabitants were descendants of Italian settlers.

The Rosetans ate at least as much saturated fat as other Americans, they took large meals, drank a great deal of wine, and most of them were overweight.

Yet, not a single Rosetan male under 50 died of heart attack during the 6 years covered by the survey, and the incidence of heart disease among older men was less than half what it was in neighboring towns.

According to the conclusions of the survey the rarity of heart disease in Roseto might have been due to some genetic peculiarities of the Rosetans or to their ways of life: “gay, boisterous and unpretentious, mutually trusting (there is no crime in Roseto) and mutually supporting.”

The Rosetans themselves explained their good state of health by the fact that they simply did not worry much. Their heart attack rate seems to have increased and to have reached the United States norm when they moved to large cities and had to change their ways of life.

This sounds eerily similar to something that Dr. Aubrey DeGrey (Author of Ending Aging) once told me at a meeting in Cambridge. I asked him if there was any common characteristic that was shared by all the centurions (people living over the age of 100) that he had met. His answer was “they all smile a lot”.

So stress and life situations are important. They play a role in inflammation (see www.inflammationtheory.com), and they play a direct role in fat metabolism, and probably a whole host of other metabolic processes.

But here’s the million dollar question:

How do you manage stress?

I get that when you are stressed out, nothing is more annoying then someone telling you that you need to relax.

I will also guess that just like inflammation, the stress response is actually a good one in small/acute doses.

What we DON’T want is chronic stress.

So here’s the best piece of advice I can offer you – If something is stressing you out deal with it as quickly as possible. Don’t let it linger.

When it comes to dealing with things that are stressing you out, whether it’s your weight, your job or your relationships an excellent adage:

There’s no time like the present.

This is probably why I like Eat Stop Eat so much…it deals with the issue in an immediate manner, and tends to be a low stress undertaking.

BP

Stress and Weight Loss

A quick thought for today:

I think we all know that steroid use is probably much more prevalent that we’ve been led to believe.

And while the average person may only think of larger-than-life bodybuilders as the only people who use steroids, the educated/experienced person has a pretty good hunch that celebrities, rock stars, hollywood actors (and actresses) athletes, and ‘average sized’ male models all have a good chance of having some sort of experience with steroids.

Now, the point of this post isn’t on the ethical, moral or legal debates about steroids. Rather it’s about the health effects.

It is well assumed that long term steroid use has a causal relationship to negative markers of health.

The assumption being that steroid use CAUSES the negative health effects.

This is the fact that health care experts, governing sports bodies and the mainstream media trumpet as the main point in their anti-steroids argument.

However, my thought is that there is an alternative hypothesis worth exploring.

The hypothesis is this:

Long-term steroid use is associated with negative health outcomes, but it is not causal.

It is having and maintaining a muscle mass that is far outside the realms of normal for your specific height that is causally linked to disease.

In other words, it’s the massive amounts of extra muscle causing the diseases…the steroids are just what allowed you to have that muscle.

The interesting thing about this hypothesis is that it opens up the idea that small dose steroids my not be bad for you, and that having massive amounts of muscle (even if somehow obtained naturally), could actually be associated with disease.

A bit of a re-think, especially in our current “more muscle = more health”  way of thinking.

I’m definitely not an anti-muscle person (You can see Anabolic Again for proof of that), but I do find it interesting after seeing John Barban’s Transformation that a natural lifter can look very muscular while still having an amount of muscle that would be considered ‘normal’ for is height. Heck, John even has a normal BMI in these pics ==> http://johnbarban.com/transformation-pictures/

BP

Some simple truths when it comes to weight loss:

You’re probably not going to see a magic weight loss pill in your lifetime.

Despite pouring of dollars into anti-obesity drug development, and with many great and creative minds working on the problem  for the last couple decades the Holy Grail of an anti-obesity drug that is both highly effective and safe appears elusive.

(Which of course beg the question – What the heck do the supplement marketers know that these guys don’t )

and quick fixes don’t seem to work either….

Exercise is great, but even the best exercise program can’t prevent things like social overeating, mindless eating, food addiction, or the like.

(fancy way of saying you can’t out train a bad diet)

So if we aren’t getting an anti-obesity drug anytime soon, and exercise has it’s place, but isn’t the cure all…the question becomes:

Why are we so afraid to eat less?

We’ve even tried the opposite (The eat more to lose weight approach) which has the pleasant effect of making you never feel hungry, but you also never really feel lean either.

In the health and fitness world we’ve promoted all combination of proteins, fats and carbs. For some reason none of these combinations had staying power as ‘the cure’

On the government side (where we are typically afraid to take a stand on anything) we stick with the ambiguous and nonsensical “Get plenty of exercise and eat a healthy and balanced diet”

Which of course begs the questions

What type of Exercise?

How much Exercise?

What is healthy?

What is balanced?

And even when we know what ‘healthy and balanced’ is, we’re still skirting the issue of ‘HOW MUCH” healthy and balanced diet.

The answer is less.

If you weigh more than you want to, you are eating more than you need to.

Most likely, our timidness to say ‘eat less’ comes from the fact that there is a small group of people who always see things in black or white type extremes.

So ‘less’ to them means A LOT LESS, or even BARELY ANYTHING….And this is scary.

(I’m not sure why this is, but I have a hunch it has a lot to do with this post –> Perfect abs)

That being said, if this IS the reasoning for shying away from saying ‘eat less’ then we are putting the needs of a few people ahead of the needs of a massive group of people (pun not intended), and this isn’t right.

The other reason we may shy away from saying ‘eat less’ is that it creates the need to know ‘how much less’.

This question creates the need for calorie counting, and predictive equations.

And predictive equations create the need for guesstimating fat mass and lean body mass and the average calorie burning associated with exercise.

So we measure, predict and guesstimate…then pretend it’s all 100% fact.

Because if there is one thing us ‘experts’ don’t like to say..it’s I DON’T KNOW (again probably because of this –> perfect abs)

Now, we all have our estimates (I like 10 times IDEAL body weight if you’re NOT doing Eat Stop Eat,  11 or 12x if you ARE doing Eat Stop Eat), but again, they are ALL estimates.

This is where the confusion sets in…we start pretending we know EXACT numbers when everything is estimates.

So it could be our fear that people would take ‘eat less’ to the extreme that keeps us from saying ‘eat less’. It could be the fact that by saying ‘eat less’ we have to admit that we don’t know EXACTLY how much less.

Or..

It could also be the simple fact that ‘eating less’ doesn’t sell.

You don’t sell magazine covers, diet programs, books etc with the headline “EAT LESS TO LOSE WEIGHT” it’s not catchy, it’s not sexy and it certainly doesn’t put you in a “Oh my gosh I HAVE to buy this” frame of mind.

So, those are probably the three biggest reasons why eating less isn’t the answer.

Of course, there is the one reason why Eating less IS the answer…. it works.

BP

I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately on the health benefits of different styles of eating.

From allergenic foods to anti-inflammatory foods, I’ve gone through most of the major theories.

And you know what I’ve found?

In terms of risk of chronic disease, inflammation, oxidative stress, and quality of life nothing beats simply eating less.

In fact, most diet styles from Vegetarian to Paleo can be extremely healthy, especially when combined with eating less (or at least not overeating).

So this begs the question – What the hell are we doing with these confusing ‘food pyramids’?

I mean really – do they help or do they simply confuse?

In my mind their main benefit seems to be their ability to ignore the giant pink elephant that is calorie intake.

So, I’m going to throw my hat into the ring and present what I think would be a food pyramid that would actually create a massive benefit in the health of a nation that would choose to adopt it.

(Please keep in mind this a work in progress and is meant for the general population – so elite athletes and many disease states would be excluded)

So here we go…the Pilon Pyramid:

In this example the number IN THE PYRAMID represents the AVERAGE number of meals taken per day, with a ‘meal’ being any food or drink consumed that meet a certain minimum caloric requirement, which would be dependent on the age category.

As an example 25+ years of age would have a meal being anything over 200 Calories, where as for the 2-15 range a meal couple be anything over 50 Calories (this is just a ‘guess’ as my expertise is NOT pediatrics or children’s nutrition).

Focusing on the adults, the basic plan would work like this, anything under 200 would be free and not count as a meal.

Anything over is a meal, so if you are going to go over and have a 400 Calories super-mocha-caramel-frappa-coffee you may as well have a sandwich because this is going to count as one of your meals.

The goal would be to greatly reduce ‘snacking’ and hidden calories, increasing time spent ‘not eating’ and cutting down on the overall calories an adult eats.

This plan would allow for all sorts of eating styles, from Eat Stop Eat, to Veganism to Paleo to you name it.

It graduates the frequent eating needs of infants into a less frequent style of eating for adults who have finished growing in height and have greatly reduced needs for frequent meals.

Obviously the idea is rough, but by focusing on meals we can focus on creative and constructive ways to address the actual problem (calories) while still being open to most major forms and styles of eating.

Simple but effective?

(and again – a work in progress)

BP

Why think beyond Nutrition and Exercise?

Because there is so much more that is in our control.

We can’t change the air we breathe, our genetics or whatever the long term effects of being surrounded by cell phone signals, wi-fi, and the like…but we can control what we eat, how much we move AND we can control our actions.

And our actions DO EFFECT our physiology.

(Think about the feeling you get when you get caught doing something really bad…like a speeding ticket…it’s not just mental it is a whole body reaction.)

Here’s a great quote from Dr. Zhivago:

“Your health is bound to be affected if, day after day, you say the opposite of what you feel, if you grovel before what you dislike… Our nervous system isn’t just fiction, it’s part of our physical body, and it can’t be forever violated with impunity.”

There’s more to health than organic foods, protein, fish oil and interval training.

BP

Quick post today, but I wanted to remind you of something that is very important…

I’ve always said that “Health” is a very vague term, that means many different things to many different people.

That being said, there is one version of the word “Health” that has a concrete definition -

To many people, HEALTH IS AN INDUSTRY.

As Nick Reminded me last night:

The Food industry is makes about 165billion US$ and the weight loss industry 60billion US$, so they get you coming AND going.

And in the food industry, it is Organic, Health and Functional foods that are consistently making the biggest gains in sales from year to year.

So make no mistake, any health information you read comes with a bias.

Bottom line, just remember, to many people, your health is just part of the money game.

BP

It doesn’t really matter.

well, no that came out wrong.

It’s not that the four words really don’t matter, it’s that ‘It Really Doesn’t Matter’ Are the four words.

…now that we have that cleared up.

Here’s the deal…

In the health and fitness world EVERYTHING is important.
Your core strength is important.

The ratio of fructose to sucrose in your diet is important.

whether your vegetables are from Chile or are homegrown is important.

Your deadlift is important.

Your metabolic rate is important.

Foam Rolling is important.

It’s all important because it’s important to the person writing to you, and they want it to be important to you too….

but it might not be.

In fact, it might not really matter at all.

Alright it’s time for another random ‘Pilon Analogy’

Imagine it’s the day before you start a your new job.

You’re trying to plan your commute into work and you want to be on time (after all, you need to set a good impression)

You decide to look on googlemaps and find the best route from your house to the new corporate office.

Route A is Main Street. Taking Main Street will take you 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Rout B is Front Street. Taking Front Street will take you 20 minutes.

Easy. You think to yourself…obviously tomorrow morning you are going to take Front Street to work.

But, just as you are about to close your lap top, a little box pop’s up on your screen.

“Warning, there are 4% more pot holes on Front street then there are on Main Street”

Then another

“Warning there are 8% more street lights on Front Street then there are on Main Street”

Then another

“Warning Front Street has 11% higher commuter volumes on Wednesdays and Fridays then Main Street”

Wow, you think to yourself, maybe Front Street was the wrong choice.

…so you do a quick Google search to check out Main Street…

It turns out that Main Street has some really nice bike lanes.

You click another link and find out that Rihanna, Metallica and Justin Beeber have all commented on how clean Main Street is

..Sounds like an awesome street, and you start thinking about how you’re going to get up 2 hours early every day and dedicate yourself to driving on this cool new street.

Then… You snap back to reality.

Wait…what I WANTED was the fastest way to get to work.

Front Street takes 20 minutes…including the extra lights, and pot holes and slightly higher commuter volumes.

That’s what I want.

The rest…It doesn’t really matter.

(End of Long Pilon Analogy)

If you didn’t make it through that analogy I don’t blame you.

Here’s a much shorter example.

I get an email every morning from a radio show.

It updates on everything going on in Toronto..the closest major city to where I live.

Here’s the issue.

I live over an hour from Toronto…almost 2 hour from anywhere good in Toronto.

And I HATE going into Toronto. Never do it..well as rarely as possible.

So everything in that email is borderline useless to me.

Non of it really matters to me.

So I unsubscribed.

Now think about your health and fitness goals.

What matters and what doesn’t?

Because, lets face it 90% of stuff you read about, stress about or even try out…It doesn’t really matter.

Want to lose weight?

Eat less until you start losing weight.

It doesn’t really matter what your metabolism is…1,500, 2,500, 50,000… they’re just numbers, they don’t matter.

Are you losing weight? That’s what matters.

Want to gain muscle? Are you concerned about how many calories you should be eating?

Measure your waist and your shoulders, chest, legs and maybe your upper arm.

If your shoulder measurements are going up and your waist isn’t then your eating the right amount of food.

If your arms and legs are getting larger and your waist isn’t…then your eating the right amount of food.

What’s the EXACT calorie cost of building an ounce of muscle? Who cares, it doesn’t really matter.

Focus on what matters to you, and then get rid of the rest.

(Or at least put in on the side burner for a while.)

And don’t let other people try to push what’s important to them into becoming what’s important to you.

They may want the world’s best core strength..you may not.

The term “It’s all relative” is true. But to make it even truer (if that’s a word) it should be…

“It’s all relative to you”

The rest doesn’t really matter

BP

That’s our new Eating Responsibly slogan – WWGS?

Firstly, as you may or may not have noticed, I play with the the look of my blog…a lot.

Most likely this is to compensate for the fact that the www.EatStopeat.com site is a bloody nightmare (damn you iweb).

So I apologize for all the color changes etc..but it’s keeping me sane.

OK, now..onto nutrition.

Last post I talked about how eating responsibly is basically listening to your grandma.

For me, this meant

No treats before dinner, but if you eat all your veggies you can have dessert.

No chocolate for breakfast.

Did I mention eat your veggies?

Etc.

Then I had the idea..actually, scratch that, I’m lying…

Then Daniel emailed me with the idea that we should collect up as many grandma sayings as possible on this blog.

GREAT IDEA.

So I’ll start..grandma words of wisdom..or WWGS?

With all apologize to my American Friends, I would never EVER have gotten away with soda pop for breakfast, diet or regular it wouldn’t matter.

Grandma would NOT approve of a 500 ML of diet coke for breakfast.

OK, now your turn…

WWGS?

Some people are naturally big and strong, while some people will always be small.

Some are short, and some are tall.

But nobody was ‘meant’ to be fat.

You can always improve.

You can work within your strengths, and improve on your weaknesses, but you can’t change you you are.

But your body fat?

That’s not you.

It’s hiding you.

I know this sounds ‘new age’, but it’s true.

You don’t need to be ‘shredded’ to have self-worth.

6 Pack abs wont make you a better person.

But, if you want to change how you look, body fat is the ONE thing you can really change.

One small change to the way you eat, and some dedication to stick with it.

That’s all it really takes.

Some people are big and strong, some people will always be small.

But nobody was meant to be fat.

BP

(This is my reasoning for Eat Stop Eat)