Is Your Strength Training Regimen Outdated?

Posted on January 30, 2012 | 9 comments
Not Chris Highcock

I’m reading Hillfit: Stength, an ebook  by Chris Highcock of Conditioning Research.  One of the scientific review articles he cites in support of his recommendations is an eye-opener.

Evidence-Based Resistance Training Recommendations is available free online.  It’s published in Medicina Sportiva, which I’m not familiar with.  I’ll confess I’ve read little of the hard-core literature on the science of strength training.  It’s one of my more recent interests.

An excerpt:

We recommend that appreciably the same muscular strength and endurance adaptations can be attained by performing a single set of ~8-12 repetitions to momentary muscular failure, at a repetition duration that maintains muscular tension throughout the entire range of motion, for most major muscle groups once or twice each week. All resistance types (e.g. free-weights, resistance machines, bodyweight, etc.) show potential for increases in strength, with no significant difference between them, although resistance machines appear to pose a lower risk of injury.

The article has already got me questioning some of my notions, such as how often to work out, number of reps moving a weight, speed of moving a weight, and whether I should stick with free weights.  Why not see if your dogma is supported?  Worth a look.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Fisher, James, et al.  Evidence-based resistance training recommendations.  Medicina Sportiva, 15 (2011): 147-162.

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Posted in Exercise

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How Has the U.S. Diet Changed Over the Last Century?

Posted on January 26, 2012 | 1 comment
U.S. obesity rate over last 40 years

Beth Mazur over at Weight Maven has posted a lecture by Dr. Stephan Guyenet in which he outlines the changes in American diet over the last 100 years.  It’s only 16 minutes long.  You may  find an explanation for our excess weight problem and some other “diseases of civilization.”

Steve Parker, M.D.

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Is the “Calories In/Calories” Theory Outdated?

Posted on January 23, 2012 | 3 comments

Not watching The Biggest Loser

Dr. Barry Sears (Ph.D., I think) recently wrote about a lecture he attended by a dietitian affiliated with “The Biggest Loser” TV show.  She revealed the keys to weight-loss success, at least on that show.  Calorie restriction is a major feature, with the typical 300-pounder (136 kg) eating 1,750 calories a day. 

On my Advanced Mediterranean Diet, 300-pounders get 2,300 calories (men) or 1,900 calories (women). 

Although not stressed by Dr. Sears, my impression is that contestants exercise a huge amount. 

Go to the Sears  link above and you’ll learn that all contestants are paid to participate.  In researching my Conquer Diabetes and Prediabetes book, I learned that the actual Biggest Loser wins $250,000 (USD).  Also, “The Biggest Loser” is an international phenomenon with multiple countries hosting their own versions, with different pay-off amounts.  A former winner, Ali Vincent, lives in my part of the world and still has some celebrity status.

This TV show demonstrates that the calories in/calories out theory of body weight still applies, including the fact that massive exercise can help significantly with weight loss.  In real-world situations, exercise contributes only a small degree to loss of excess weight. 

The major take-home point of the show, for me, is that you can indeed make food and physical activity choices that determine your weight.

Most of us watch too much

I know losing 50 to 10o pounds of fat (25–45 kg) and keeping it off for a couple years is hard; most folks can’t do it.  Do you think you’d be more successful if I gave you $250,ooo for your success?

Steve Parker, M.D.

3 Comments

Posted in Exercise, Overweight, Weight Loss

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Modern Paleo Movement History

Posted on January 15, 2012 | Comments Off on Modern Paleo Movement History

Keith Thomas of EvFit has an ongoing “annotated chronology of books, films, websites, research etc. relating human diet and lifestyle to human evolution.”  In other words, a timeline for the modern paleo movement.

Chris Highcock of Conditioning Research did an interview with Keith Thomas (“A Paleo Pioneer”) in 2010.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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Chris Highcock’s Interview With Ray Audette

Posted on January 12, 2012 | Comments Off on Chris Highcock’s Interview With Ray Audette

In a recent comment here, Chris Highcock of Conditioning Research mentioned his 2010 interview with Ray Audette.  Audette is the author of 1999s Neanderthin, one of the first popular press books about the Paleolithic diet and lifestyle.  I bring it up here only because I don’t want it lost in the comment section.  Read the brief interview to find Audette’s Bible quote and connection to the Dixie Chicks.  I spent many years in Texas and therefore feel a strange connection to Audette.  And we both like bluegrass music.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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Who’s Ray Audette?

Posted on January 7, 2012 | 11 comments

Ray Audette hunted with hawks

I ran across a 1995 well-researched online article about Ray Audette, author of NeanderThin and one of the modern paleo movement pioneers.  It’s in Dallas Observer News: http://www.dallasobserver.com/1995-07-06/news/neander-guy/

Audette apparently self-published his book in 1995.  (Publishing by a “vanity press” is probably more accurate for the mid-90s.)  The 2000 edition of the book from St. Martin’s Paperbacks has a foreword by Dr. Michael Eades, who is also quoted liberally in the aforementioned article.

Mr. Audette credited his diet for curing both his diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.  I wonder how he’s doing these days.

1995 was only17 years ago.  It seems like ancient history to me.

Steve Parker, M.D.

11 Comments

Posted in Paleo Movement, Testimonials

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Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt Explains the LCHF Diet

Posted on January 5, 2012 | 1 comment
LCHF Cheese

Dr. Eenfeldt of DietDoctor.com gave a talk at the inaugural Ancestral Health Symposium in California, on the rationale of the current low-carb, high-fat diet (LCHF) so popular in his home country of Sweden.  It’s very understandable to the general public and is a good introduction to low-carb eating.  The entire YouTube video is 55 minutes; if you’re pressed for time, skip the 10-minute Q&A at the end.

He also discusses the benefits of LCHF eating for his patients with diabetes.

If you reduce carbohydrate, you’re going to replace it with either protein, fat, or both.  Carbohydrate restriction, whether or not part of a Paleolithic eating pattern, generally improves blood sugar levels, especially in people with diabetes. 

Steve Parker, M.D.

1 Comment

Posted in Diabetic Diet, Glucose, Low-Carb

Evidence for Human Grain Consumption 100,000 Years Ago

Posted on December 26, 2011 | 8 comments

ScienceDaily December 17 reported findings of a Canadian archeological team who found evidence of systematic grain consumption by ancient humans in Africa:

The consumption of wild cereals among prehistoric hunters and gatherers appears to be far more ancient than previously thought, according to a University of Calgary archaeologist who has found the oldest example of extensive reliance on cereal and root staples in the diet of early Homo sapiens more than 100,000 years ago.

 

Neolithic technology

In case you’re new to the paleo diet, grains are considered verboten by most adherents.  (Paleo diet is also known as the Stone Age diet, caveman diet, and Paleolithic diet.)  The cereal grain mentioned in the ScienceDaily article is wild sorghum.

Many in the paleosphere believe that such ancient humans didn’t have the technical skills to transform wild grains into something edible on a regular basis.  I haven’t read the source material, nor do I have an opinion on whether the archeologists are correct.  I’m just sayin’…

Steve Parker, M.D.

Reference: Mercader, Julio,  et al.  Mozambican grass seed consumption during the Middle Stone Age. Science, December 18, 2009.

8 Comments

Posted in Grains, Paleo Diet, Paleo Theory

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Raw Vegan Diet Reverses Diabetes In 30 Days! No Kidding?

Posted on December 23, 2011 | 2 comments

I wanted to share a link with you that’s a review of a documentary called “Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days.”  It’s at Science-Based Medicine.

The guys over at Science-Based Medicine take a look at the evidence for and against such ideas as reiki, Chinese bloodletting, Chinese medicine, homeopathy, vaccines, vaccines and autism, integrative oncology, holistic medicine, naturopathy, complementary and alternative medicine, quackademic medicine, chelation therapy, and chiropractic.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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Heart Disease Declining In U.S.

Posted on December 14, 2011 | 5 comments

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this year that the prevalence of self-reported coronary heart disease in the U.S. declined from 6.7% of the population in 2006, to 6% in 2010.  Figures were obtained by telephone survey.  Coronary heart disease, the main cause of heart attacks, remains the No.1 cause of death in the U.S.

Self-reports of heart disease may not be terribly reliable.  However, I remember an autopsy study from Olmstead County, Minnesota, from a few years ago that confirmed a lower prevalence of coronary heart disease.  I wrote about that at my old NutritionData.com Heart Health Blog, but those posts are hard to find.

The CDC report mentioned also that mortality rates from coronary heart disease have been steadily declining for the last 50 years. 

Improved heart disease morbidity and mortality figures probably reflect better control of risk factors (e.g., smoking, high blood pressure), as well as improved treatments.  I’ve never seen an estimate of the effect of reduced trans fat consumption. 

Obesity and diabetes always mentioned as risk factors for heart disease, yet obesity and diabetes rates have skyrocketed over the last 40 years.  You’d guess heart disease prevalance to have risen, but you’d have guessed wrong.  In view of high obesity rates, some pundits have even suggested that the current generation of Americans wil be the first to see a decrease in average life span. 

The American Diabetes Association offers a free heart disease risk calculator, if you’re curious about your own odds.  My recollection is that the calculator works whether or not you have diabetes.

Steve Parker, M.D.

5 Comments

Posted in Heart Disease

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