Optimal protein on an LCHF diet Low Carb Nugget 62 There's a difference between minimal protein intake and optimal protein intake. The minimum daily requirement for an inactive adult is 0.36 grams per pound of body weight. You can live on that. But more is probably better, even for the sedentary. The goal is not just to survive, but to thrive, and that means eating an optimal amount of all nutrients, including protein -- not too much, and not too little. So how much protein is … [Read more...]
Loathsome, tiresome exercise
When it comes to exercise, I'm a Mark Twain kind of guy. At his 70th birthday party, feted by 170 people in the Red Room at Delmonico's in New York City, Twain said, "I have never taken any exercise, except sleeping and resting, and I never intend to take any. Exercise is loathsome. And it cannot be any benefit when you are tired; I was always tired" (The New York Times, Dec. 6, 1905). Twain lived a few more years, dying at age 74. Seventy-four was a decent old-age in that era, and it would be … [Read more...]
Beliefs can cause inflammation of the brain
How dangerous is that beef-steak? Beliefs, dogmas and habits of mind are powerful things. I'd sooner have them on my side in an argument than the puny forces of reason and evidence. Take the belief that saturated fat is the source of all evil in the modern diet. It's a deeply and widely held notion in the Western World. Somehow, we all just know that eating red meat will kill us by clogging up our arteries with its saturated fat. Doctors, nutritionists, media pundits and ordinary people have … [Read more...]
Exploring the HuffPo: Sugar, Paleo and Plaque
Man does not live by steak-and-eggs alone. Woman either, from what I can see. Having consumed plenty of editorial red-meat in recent days, I decided to venture beyond the low-carb blogosphere this weekend to see who else was writing about diet and health. There was bound to be somebody. I ended up at the Huffington Post. All Internet roads seem to lead there. The HuffPo (as we insiders call it) is the New York Times of the Digital Age, except that apparently the HuffPo doesn't pay its … [Read more...]
Blame it on hunger
Weight loss is about caloric net loss. Of course, the key lies in achieving healthful weight loss and sustainable weight loss. Consuming 600 calories of Haagen Dazs — and nothing but 600 calories of Haagen Dazs — a day will certainly lead to weight loss, but it is also unhealthy and unsustainable. -- Andy Bellatti, Don’t Blame Obesity on Carbohydrates. On his Small Bites blog, Andy Bellatti describes himself as “one part vegan chef, one part nutritionist, and one part food policy activist” … [Read more...]
Tip-toeing toward the truth
The big long-term weight gain study that the Harvard School of Public Health announced yesterday was officially published today in the New England Journal of Medicine (Changes in Diet and Lifestyle and Long-Term Weight Gain in Women and Men); it has gotten widespread press attention. My first encounter with it was on ABC World News. As I wrote last night, the ABC team, led by Dr. Richard Besser, focused on carbohydrates as the main factor in weight gain, labeling various forms of potatoes … [Read more...]