Exercising without a gym

[Topgun]

Thanks for sharing. Ok, get what you mean now. My participation in S'pore FM are the last few years. I've taken part on and off the earlier Mobile & S'pore half marathons in the earlier years, even those, we're well organized. Whilst running through a new city is a welcome experience, I'm not sure if I want to be exposed to situation where I can be sent to oblivion by a mad driver on a city highway And running out of water in early 1/4 of the race is no laughing matter. So no thanks, and yes, I'm a spoilt sillyporean!

 

I've taken part on PDickson and Desaru 1/2 marathon, and Powerman races in M'sian small town rural environment. Yes, those have been fun and different. The comraderie with other singaporean drivers are also appreciated when we race overseas

 

 

 

 

 

[Ender]

Only running 10km in KL. It's my 1st overseas run, so don't want to stress and importantly I have't train for FM yet. Besides I'm driving there the nite before.

 

 

From your account of KL run, seems scary challenging. Don't think I'm ready to take up even HM for it..

Edited June 8, 2010 by Ender

[Chickenbackside]

http://nephropal.blogspot.com/2010/06/aging-and-sirt1.html

 

 

Aging and Sirt1

 

 

 

 

Calorie restriction is known to prolong life. One of the mechanisms of this process is the stimulation of the protein called Sirt1. Sirt1 has the following effects:

 

* decreased fat storage

* decreased insulin secretion

* decrease glycolysis in the liver (meaning decreased breakdown of liver carbohydrate storage for glucose release)

* neuro (i.e brain) and cardiac protection

* increased insulin sensitivity

* increase cell survival

* decreased cell death

* and increased resistance to stress like ROS

 

 

Sirt1 increases another protein associated with life extension called Foxo1 which has the following effects:

 

* resistance to oxidative stress (ROS)

* repair to damaged DNA

* decreasing the level of cellular death (apoptosis) and stopping the cell cycle of replication

* decreasing insulin levels

* decreasing growth

* decreasing inflammation

* increasing insulin sensitivity

* increasing anti-oxidant activities

 

 

So, thus these two proteins essentially slow down growth, decreased inflammation, and increase cellular repair and survival. Whereas the NF-kB protein (click) is associated with inflammation and growth. Obviously all of these proteins have been important for our survival and evolution.

 

There are three new studies that I pulled up concerning the Sirt1 protein. But first let me describe a little about the kidney. The inner filtering system of the kidney is called the medulla. The oxygen level here is low, and blood flow and oxygen delivery just meets the demands. At times, like with surgeries, the blood flow can be dramatically lowered due to hypotension (i.e. blood loss and drugs). This results in hypoxia and free radicals. The cells in this area will die off - but can regenerate. This is a common form of hospital acquired acute kidney disease post operatively. (click here for a further explanation)

 

The kidney is designed as such due to evolutionary mechanisms. Limiting blood flow just to the metabolic requirements thus conserves energy. Otherwise, we would be constantly eating to maintain energy levels (ATP) as there are millions of the microscopic tubes called nephrons in this area.

 

At study (click here for the full article) by Kume, et al, looked at the aged mouse kidney and mitochondrial function. The study showed that calorie restriction lessened mitochondrial oxidative damage. In hypoxic conditions, upregulation of Sirt1 was caused by calorie restriction. Sirt1 allowed for cellular adaptation to the hypoxic conditions. And thus, this would lead to improved renal function. In this process, Sirt1 also activates Foxo3 (like the Foxo1 I described).

 

Foxo3 allows for 1) cellular repair, 2) slow down in growth, and 3) protection against free radicals. It also decreases insulin levels. Moreover, it is inhibited by the Insulin induced PI3K/Akt pathway. Insulin activates the PI3K/AKT pathway leading to increase nitric oxide (NO) levels and improving glucose uptake in the cells by the glucose transporter GLUT4. (see cartoon)

 

The Foxo proteins detect cellular energy levels by the following ways (see cartoon).

 

During calorie restricted and oxidative stressed states, the Foxo protein will translocate into the nucleus to active genes by the JNK pathway.

 

During energy replete states, the PI3K/Akt pathway will cause the Foxo proteins to deactive by translocating them OUTSIDE the nucleus into the cytoplasm.

 

Insulin stimulates the PI3K/Akt pathway which is involved with:

 

* the production of eNOS (nitric oxide - NO). NO causes vasodilitation.

* uptake of glucose in the cells by the Glut4 receptor

 

PI3K/Akt enhances the aging process. (1)

 

Without getting too complicated, in another study (click for the full article), SIRT1 also inhibits mTOR which is a protein that increases cellular growth and proliferation. Whereas, PI3K/Akt increases activity of mTOR.

 

In the brain, calorie restriction increases Sirt1 in the hypothalamus. Sirt inhibits POMC expression (see last post) leading to satiety. In a fasting rats, inhibition of Sirt1 led to decreased food intake Thus Sirt1 is involved with increasing appetite by stimulating the AgRP/NPY pathway and inhibiting POMC. (click here for the full article)

 

This is all complicated, so let me refine it. Let's take the "Winter and Summer modes" from an evolutionary prospective.

 

#1- Winter Mode. During times of decreased food availability, ancient humans needed to slow down growth and conserve energy. Sirt1 activity was increased which led to increased cellular repair and protection against oxidation - free radicals (ROS). Aging was slowed down. Sirt1 would also decrease activity of the Insulin induced PI3K/Akt pathway.

 

#2 - Summer Mode - This was the time of food/calorie abundance. Moreover this was a time of sex, replication, and growth. Insulin activity is higher. Insulin is growth hormone in a sense. Also, sugar accelerates aging. This was a time of growth. HOWEVER, excessive, persistent summer mode (like the Western diet), is associated with the metabolic syndrome and inflammation.

 

We live by these mechanisms and so did Ardi. The key is that she consumed natural foods high in omega 3 and low in carbohydrates. She ate healthy saturated fats. Her food was devoid of grains. Her diet overall was alkalotic and anti-inflammatory. The Western diet is acidic and pro-inflammatory.

 

She lived through the seasons and her metabolism adjusted to it. Her environment, most likely a hot Savannah, did have periods of food abundance and scarcity. In the true sense there was not true "Summer and Winter modes" but metabolically this was seen by the number of calories and fructose consumed.

 

Thus, humans, like all animals are designed for energy conservation and survival to replicate and raise their young. In the Western world, we are beyond energy conservation and the gluttony is causing disease.

 

1) Bartke, A: Insulin and aging. Cell cycle. 2008. 7(21): 3338-3343.

[Chickenbackside]

http://weightology.net/thehealthsleuth/?p=78

 

 

Antioxidant Insanity

Jun 02 2010

 

 

I

[Xtrocious]

Just caught this documentary on BBC Knowledge called "Diet or Die"...

 

There was this very heavy lady - 40 stones or 240kgs - they put her on a restricted calories diet but guess what she was eating? Oatmeal, 2 slices of toast plus milo (I think) for breakfast and they wonder why she continues to put on weight...

 

Another lady - she weighs nearly 25 stones or 160kg - they put her through a stomach stapling operation to reduce her appetite - while they did not show what she ate, she mentioned that her family has been very careful about their diet i.e. everything is low fat...and before she went for her op, she put on 6kg in 2 months

 

Last but not least, there was this guy - 30 stones or 180kg - he eats quite a "sensible" diet then in the evening, he's knocking back beer like water

 

And guess what? The national HMI is paying for all their "medical treatment"...

 

 

 

 

[Chickenbackside]

1st lady, restricted diet of oatmeal, 2 slices of toast plus milo - gain weight

 

2nd lady, very careful about diet, eat everything low fat - gain weight

 

The whole world, eat low fat high carb - obesity epidemic

 

And you wonder why people still insist on doing the same old thing...

 

 

 

 

 

[Chickenbackside]

New Gary Taubes video:

 

!

 

 

[Chickenbackside]

http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller33.1.html

 

 

Health Benefits of a Low-Carbohydrate, High-Saturated-Fat Diet

by Donald W. Miller, Jr., MD

 

 

 

A hundred years ago, before Americans changed their diet and the calamitous events of the 20th century began, heart disease was far less common that it is now. Few Americans were overweight, and coronary heart disease was not yet recognized as an illness. Pneumonia, diarrhea and enteritis, and tuberculosis were the three most common causes of death, whereas coronary heart disease is now the most common cause of death in the United States. The medical subspecialty of cardiology was created in 1940. Since then the number of cardiologists in the U.S. has grown from 500 in 1950 to 30,000 now

[Topgun]

My concern for most of us here is, while we're trying to change our diet to high fat, low carb for health benefits, we continue to eat food 'outside' that's prepared unhealthily. We may up our fats intake, we're also eating proteins from 'unhealthy' sources, prepared by hawkers using vegetable (and possibly even hydrogenated) oils, ingredients with high doses of MSG, salt & preservatives. We're still eating 'bad' food. Few of us are able to be like MO, CBS, skunk who can go the whole hock with own cooked meals with 'expensive' food.

 

And I think in our zeal to do right by our bodies, we're continuing to stay unhealthy. Even though on the surface we may be losing weight.

 

A few of us have now been on this low carb/paleo way for a few months, it's imperative that we go and get blood test done (it would've been good if we'd one before we started this as a baseline reference). And take stock.

 

How much and how fast our bodies are affected by our eating habits (=diet) I'm begining to get a real taste, pun intended.

 

I've been in M'sia for 5 days, returning later today. I've eaten some of my favourite foods (not excessively) like ipoh hor fun, penang prawn mee, ipoh 'original' white coffee , etc. No biscuits and tidbits though and no rice even when eating in restaurants.

 

My cough is back. Stomach bloated a lot of gas even in the morning. And needed to take crap 3 or 4x a day. Basically my body is behaving exactly the way it's been prior to Jan 2010! And it's just 5 days only!

 

I did do my 45 min runs on Wednesday and yesterday. I still can feel myself putting on weight.

 

 

[Chickenbackside]

Yeah, you raised an important point about the quality of food.

 

Yes, I eat a very high fat diet. But I am extremely particular about the sources of my fat. 90% of the time, it is from grass fed cows and virgin coconut oil. That would partly explain why I don't put on any weight despite eating 4-5000 calories a day.

 

If for any reason I can't control the source of my food, I would certainly need to eat a lot less of everything in order not to over ingest inflammatory substances like seed/vegetable oils, sugar, MSG, colouring, E-flavouring... that inevitably find their way into outside food.

 

My own experimentation with myself has yielded similar results as you topgun. It only takes 2 days of eating whatever I want to go back to the crappy feeling prior to eating well. The weight will show up one week later, and it'll take another week of of strict eating and some fasting to lose the weight and go back to feeling fantastic.

 

Luckily I honestly have no desire to cheat on anything anymore. The temptation that I get from nonya kueh is far weaker than my enjoyment for good health now.

[Chickenbackside]

http://drbganimalpharm.blogspot.com/2010/0...pork-again.html

 

 

 

Okinawans: Hormones and Pork (again)

 

 

'The Jungle Effect'

 

I'm reading 'The Jungle Effect' by Dr. Daphne Miller MD, professor at UCSF. It is better than the Blue Zone. She has some candid interviews and observations that remind me of Weston A. Price and Francis Pottenger's nutritional insights. Dr. Miller went around the world, lived amond native groups who practice ancestral food and lifestyle cultures.

 

Her perspective is neat because it encompassed both the medical and nutritional points of discussions -- vitamin A and D and omega-3's are frequently referenced. She keenly noted how Okinawans lived in their 80s and 90s wihtout being incapacitated or wheelchair bound. When women transitioned to menopause they reported 'easy menopause transitions free from hot flashes, sleep disturbances, and mood swings. In addition, the fatigue, poor memory, depression los of sexual drive, and impotence that we consider to be a normal part of agiing were rarely experienced by even the eldest of Okinawans.'

 

 

Sex

 

She also reports that 'In fact, the research team interviewed a number of men and women who were still experiencing healthy, active sex lives in their eighties and beyond.' Why? Could it be the pork? The pigs raised on green pastures and imo -- the purple sweet potatoe that is loaded with antioxidants?

 

 

Okinawans: High Levels of Hormones

 

Dr. Miller is keen and a girl after my own hormonal heart...

'After doing lengthy laboratory analyses on the Okinawan elderly, the Centenarian Study research team was ablt to identify more specifically how these foods may be helping to preserve their vitality. the foods seemed to augment natural homrone levels since Okinawans had higher levels of thyroid hormone, cortisol, and sex hormone -- including TESTOSTERONE, DHT, ESTRADIOL, and DEHYDROXYEPIANDOSTERONE -- than a comparison group of elderly from the United States. Interestingly, if you look across the lifespan, Okinanawans and North Americans seem to have different hormonal patterns. While the average North American starts out in adolescence with higher levels (a fact that many researchers atribute to the synthetic hormones commonly found in U.S. meat and dairy products), the hormone levels seem to fizzle out by the time most Americans reach their mid-fifties. Okinawans, however, tend to start low, increase slowly, and maintain their hormone levels longer than elderly in the United States."

 

 

Better Adrenal Organs

 

..'In fact the researchers did an autopsy on one very elderly woman and were surprised to see that her adrenal glands (the organs where many of these hormones are produced) were the same weight as those of a much younger woman.'

 

 

Pork Does a Body Good

 

Miller references one of the coauthors of the Okinawa diet book, Craig Willcox, as believing that 'pork, as it is eaten traditionally on the island, is actually an important player in the longevity diet.' Errr... that somehow did not make it into the text. Yes. I checked. Fervently and was strongly disappointed with the book and its pork-deficiencies.

 

'He explained that the long-lived participants in the Okinawan centenarian AStudy had high blood levels of proline and glycine, which came, at least partly , from the collagen and elastin in pork. These proteins help the body to build and regenerate normal tissue' she reports.

 

 

Pork = Excellent Source of Selenium for Glutathione

 

'Pork happens to be an excellent source of selenium, an essential mineral that concentraes in the breast and prostate and acts as a building block for a powerful cancer-fighting enzyme called glutathione peroxidase.' She lists sources of selenium: spinach (cooked 1 c) 2.7 ug; whole-grain bread slice (11.2 ug); sunlfower seeds (1/4 c) 25.4 ug; anchovies (3 oz) 31 ug; pork loin 4 oz (37 ug); halibut 3 oz (39.8 ug); Brazil nut (1 nut) 100 ug. Bison is a great source especially raised on sunflower screenings and/or pasture contains 26-31 ug selenium per 100 grams (~ 3 oz). [Thank you gentlereader Sweeney for the reference HERE] Selenium is vital not only for our #1 antioxidant and de-toxifier glutathione, but also for components of enzymes responsible for conversion of thyroid, adrenal hormones and neurotransmitters in our nervous and immune systems.

 

 

Pig: What You Eat is What You Are

 

Is Okinawan pork different? Possibly. Miller states 'In Okinawa, most pork is raised on purple and orange imo [special species of sweet potato, which apparently has a slimly consistency]. Certainly a pig eating such nutrient-rich food cannot help but be nutrient-rich itself.' Lard? Bone broths? Okinawans are subsistence farmers. Miller discusses how the fat was discarded and only lean meats consumed... misinformation? She fails to mention cooking with lard. Again, with my self experimentation, 1-2 Tbs of saturated fat raised my HDL chol from 89 to 105 mg/dl in ~6wks (18%). Perhaps higher, bionic HDLs help traditional Okinawans achieve centenarian status?

 

 

Prior posts:

 

Brain and Cholesterol

When is Cholesterol Too Low? -- coconut oil raises HDL

Brain and Adrenal Health

Okinawan resouces -- pork-rich, island shoreside diet

[Mazdaowner]

Ello, that "Nonya" thing on teh you know what worked ok! Serious. Wah! DAMN SUUURRRDUP!! I'm making 3kgs tomorrow!

 

Luckily I honestly have no desire to cheat on anything anymore. The temptation that I get from nonya kueh is far weaker than my enjoyment for good health now.

 

[Chickenbackside]

http://www.drbriffa.com/blog/2010/06/11/mo...-heart-disease/

 

 

More evidence comes in that saturated fat does not cause heart disease

 

Posted on 11 June 2010

 

 

Back in April I wrote about my

[Mazdaowner]

Hor fun is from rice flour. Unless proven wrong. You've been eating out all this whole, so what's the difference?

it's your own life, CBS only provided the knowledge and experience. What you do after that is really

what you want to make out of it. We all work, we all go overseas, it's not like impossible to

eat this way, if not almost close to it. Yes, you will not reply me as usual, the truth hurts,

but hey, I don't give a damn either, cos I say it as it and not run round the bush.

 

You know for sure you will get sick from eating, but you just can't control your self.

Who's to blame? Only yourself. If I take anything more then "a bit" of carbs, my hell will

start it's "Achilles's heel" again. So why put yourself in pain when you know it beforehand?

 

Hey, your own life, eitehr you take care of it, or destroy it.

 

OUT!

 

I've been in M'sia for 5 days, returning later today. I've eaten some of my favourite foods (not excessively) like ipoh hor fun, penang prawn mee, ipoh 'original' white coffee , etc. No biscuits and tidbits though and no rice even when eating in restaurants.

 

My cough is back. Stomach bloated a lot of gas even in the morning. And needed to take crap 3 or 4x a day. Basically my body is behaving exactly the way it's been prior to Jan 2010! And it's just 5 days only!

 

I did do my 45 min runs on Wednesday and yesterday. I still can feel myself putting on weight.

 

[Chickenbackside]

Ello, that "Nonya" thing on teh you know what worked ok! Serious. Wah! DAMN SUUURRRDUP!! I'm making 3kgs tomorrow!

That one is all nonya goodness without the sugar. Basket, you making me hungry again...

[Mazdaowner]

Makan also not enough lah, few mouths, all gone. Some more the smell,

my boys all came out to see what I was cooking, eyh, don't "share" also cannot

lah, so that's why I say, "few mouths" all gone. Wife only had a small scrap.

But hey, overall, pass man. Give it a go lah.

 

That one is all nonya goodness without the sugar. Basket, you making me hungry again...

 

[Topgun]

Hor fun is from rice flour. Unless proven wrong. You've been eating out all this whole, so what's the difference?

it's your own life, CBS only provided the knowledge and experience. What you do after that is really

what you want to make out of it. We all work, we all go overseas, it's not like impossible to

eat this way, if not almost close to it. Yes, you will not reply me as usual, the truth hurts,

but hey, I don't give a damn either, cos I say it as it and not run round the bush.

 

You know for sure you will get sick from eating, but you just can't control your self.

Who's to blame? Only yourself. If I take anything more then "a bit" of carbs, my hell will

start it's "Achilles's heel" again. So why put yourself in pain when you know it beforehand?

 

Hey, your own life, eitehr you take care of it, or destroy it.

 

OUT!

 

Calling MO, calling MO, do you read?

 

Haha. I'm just telling as it is. I know hor fun is made from rice flour. I took all these goodies knowingly. I know it's going to hurt, but I made the choice. Just telling people here how easy it is for all the hard work go down the drain by just a few days of 'letting go'. And just to prove to myself again. That it's the carbs and their effect on my system that's causing my stomach gases and prolonged coughing fits. Yup proved it

 

What ya mean I don't reply you?

Edited June 11, 2010 by Topgun

[Chickenbackside]

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles...-uncovered.aspx

 

New Bombshell of Disastrous Side Effects from Statins

Edited June 13, 2010 by Chickenbackside