Welcome to the New Year! With the New Year comes the resolutions for improving your life in the coming year. Probably the most common resolution chosen in this country is weight loss. This is likely a reflection of the fact that 74% of Americans are overweight. Worse than that, 42% of adults over the age […]
This is a continuation from last week where I was discussing the diet portion of the makeover. Stage 1: the first seven days are designed to overcome lipotoxicity within our cells causing insulin resistance. To do this we have to force our cells to want to burn any available fats in storage for energy. […]
For the last several weeks, I have been trying to understand the complexities of how our bodies process sugar and fat. For many years I have been predominately living a low-carb lifestyle thus avoiding any form of sugar and starches. Then a couple of years ago the concept of higher health being achieved through […]
A week ago Ellen and I had some lab work done to check our fasting insulin and hemoglobin A1c. We regularly test our blood sugar and ketones at home with a finger stick blood test. There is no at-home test for insulin, but I just found out there is a new at-home test for […]
Last week my brother sent me a link to an interview with a researcher in Hungary looking into the root causes of blood sugar issues like metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. The information was fascinating to me because it was all about hormones that were not even discovered until 1971, and never mentioned […]
A little over a hundred years ago a hormone was isolated from the brain that was found to cause contractions of the uterus for promoting the birthing process. Because of this function it was given the name oxytocin, from the Greek for “swift childbirth.” About 50 years later a way was found to synthesize this […]
We live in a truly wonderful age for reasons we completely take for granted, like sewers and garbage service. Turn the clock back just a couple hundred years and your typical London home had a cesspit beneath the house that, when full, would then flow into a trough in the middle of the street and hopefully flow […]
A very modern phenomenon that has become oh so popular is snacking. Until the late 1800’s consuming any food that did not require proper utensils was considered uncouth and unhygienic. Snack foods did not establish themselves until the development of modern packaging. Logos and labels that folks trusted carried the image of respectability and cleanliness. […]
These days poor health largely comes down to some sort of inflammatory condition in the body. Before the 1940’s the main cause of death and disease was infection, but modern sanitation and medicine have largely eliminated most of this in America allowing us to live long enough to have the inflammatory conditions catch up with […]
Hi , The brain is pretty important, and keeping it fed is a high priority. As anyone who has ever experienced low blood sugar can tell you, not having the energy you need for your brain is disastrous. It can seem like you are having a stroke. You can lose your balance, become unfocused, your […]