There can be an easy way to improve the opiod epidemic
CHINGFORD STUDY: OSTEOARTHRITIS AND METABOLIC FACTORS
This was first posted on The A&G Project Blog
In 1995 a paradigm shifting study on osteoarthritis was published.They found:
- “hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and blood glucose are associated with both unilateral and bilateral knee OA independent of obesity, and support the concept that OA has an important systemic and metabolic component in its etiology”
This shows that osteoarthritis is not just a wear and tear pathology. Systemic and metabolic factors have a huge influence.The take home clinically...lifestyle factors in OA patients need to be addressed for the best outcomes.
Remi & 7 Things We Learned in One Week of Parenting
On March 3rd, 2018 we welcomed our first child into the world. Remi Hendrix Rogers Swanson was born at 11:06pm in Asheville, NC.As many parents say, words can’t describe this experience. The amount of love and joy of having a baby are so overwhelming that the mere act of trying to put it into words diminishes its significance.It’s been 1 week since he was born. It feels as if we’ve been time traveling. Looking back, there’s a few things we’ve learned in the first week.
7 Things We Learned in One Week
1) MY WIFE IS SUPER HUMAN
When it comes to birth, most people discuss the baby and parenting. One thing I wasn’t prepared for was the intensity and the thrill of the birthing process. While there are many digressions I could go into, I think the most amazing aspect was watching my wife, Gaelyn, act like a superhero.I’ve always thought the most of Gaelyn. She’s an incredible person, extremely strong, and has never shied away from adversity. But after watching what she did during the weekend Remi was born, I have a new role model myself.She never wavered, didn’t resist, embraced the intense struggle, and went above and beyond the insane requests her body and Remi were making. Hell, she even made a few jokes in-between the intense contractions. Her rockstar performance made me feel honored to be her husband. I’ve never been so proud in my life.Watching birth also solidified the notion that women are the stronger gender. We’re lucky they keep us around.
2) SWADDLE FOR YOUR LIFE
Everything is new when they hand you the new little life and send you home. The feeding, cleaning, diaper changing, and soothing. It’s all new.But the one thing that is important to quickly master, especially when it’s 3am on that 3nd night and you’re trying to get some sleep, is swaddling.My friends have told me that we’ll try a ton of different swaddling techniques. My pediatrician said finding the right swaddle is the process of matching it to a personality. They were spot on. We tried every different swaddle technique within 3 days.But what helped the most was my brother and sister-in-law showing us this swaddling technique. It moved us to 3-4 hour sleep intervals immediately. I owe them drinks for life.
3) BABY FLUIDS EVERYWHERE
I didn’t know that when I visited my friends who had a newborn that there was a 90% chance I was sitting on dried urine or spit-up.Newborns apparently just sleep, wake up, and spew fluids out of every orifice possible. I didn’t know I could get desensitized so quickly.
3) BABY FLUIDS EVERYWHERE
I didn’t know that when I visited my friends who had a newborn that there was a 90% chance I was sitting on dried urine or spit-up.Newborns apparently just sleep, wake up, and spew fluids out of every orifice possible. I didn’t know I could get desensitized so quickly.
4) LOSING THE ARM WRESTLE
I remember from the pediatric course in grad school that newborns are very reflex driven.But what I didn’t know is that these reflexes would challenge my manhood.Trying to pull Remi’s hand away from his face to help Gaelyn with breastfeeding or attempting to swaddle his arm down by his side ends up being a battle. My frustration builds as I wonder, “how the hell can a 4 day old be this strong?”.Maybe I need to workout more.
5) DON’T GOOGLE ANYTHING
The internet is already a dangerous place for acquiring information. But with babies it’s a damn war zone. It’s riddled with layman blogs and discussion forums. Two of the worst sources of information for new parents.Maybe it’s the monetary goals? Maybe it’s the prevalence? Maybe it’s a dunning-kruger effect? Maybe it’s that all first-time parents are overly concerned and there’s a high demand for any type of information?Regardless of the reason, if you type a baby question on google you’ll either get offered something to buy or read a horror story with the worst case scenarios.We’ve tried to surround ourselves with a good team of experts (doulas, pediatrician, midwife) so that we can get trusted information from true experts. If we do google something, we try to stay in peer-reviewed journals (pubmed, google scholar). We also have a few books on the coffee table for reference (Moms on Call & What to Expect)
6) SELF-CARE: PATIENCE AND SELF-COMPASSION
It’s a new learning experience for everyone. We have no idea what we’re doing. Remi has no idea what he’s doing. So it’s definitely not a time for judgment or perfectionism.We’ve been trying to stay calm and forgive ourselves for the fumbled diaper changes, awkward transfers, and failed soothing techniques. Sometimes we handle these situations with humor and grace, other times not so much.
7) THE JOY AND THE LOVE
For some reason, people love to tell you horror stories when you’re expecting. Or they say negative things like “just wait...”, “you’ll never sleep again...”, “hope you’re enjoying yourself now...”.I never really understood this weird phenomenon. But it turns out it’s as much bullshit as I thought it was.Sure there’s some frustration and mild discomfort. But this adversity pales in comparison to the level of love and joy we have because of Remi. Our hearts are so full that it makes everything else seem insignificant. Nothing can prepare you for this feeling.
THANK YOUS
We’d like to thank the wonderful people at Mission Hospital. From start to finish we were treated extremely well with the best care possible. The nurses were incredible in every way. I’ve never experienced so much compassion, empathy, and professionalism from a healthcare team. This is the gold standard of healthcare in my opinion.We’d like to thank our doula, Rachel Ansari, from Mothership in Asheville. Her guidance and education helped ease our stress and led us in the right direction.We’d like to thank our midwife, Lauren Fountain, who helped give us a safe and meaningful birth. Without her things could have gone much differently. She went out of her way to make sure we were having the birth we wanted in the best possible way. We were lucky to have her on-call.We’d also like to thank our families and friends. Whose support and guidance have made this transition much easier.
Your Body State is Your Mental State
this post was originally published on agmovementproject.com
The mind-body connection is nothing new.In fact, controlling the mind to control the body is common practice.There’s sports psychology for improved performance, meditation to relieve stress, and placebos to decrease pain.Even in our everyday life it’s easy to see this mind-to-body perspective.When we’re sad we frown or cry. When we’re angry or stressed our blood pressure goes up. When we see something funny we laugh.But what if it’s reversed? What if our feelings are actually a result of our body states instead of our emotional states?What if we’re sad because we’re physically tired? What if we’re angry and stressed because we have too much tension in our body? What if we laugh because we’re physically excited?In other words, we should consider that we might be transferring our physiology to our psychology.
THE FLIP SIDE
It’s more difficult to understand the reverse process of this mind-body connection (the body-to-mind connection).Maybe because it’s uncommon to discuss the process of how our body affects our mind (sometimes referred to as embodied cognition).It might be weird if we conversed in terms of our physiology instead of our psychology.A Valentine’s Day card declaring our current sympathetic arousal state wouldn’t exactly charm our partner.And yelling “I didn’t sleep much last night and I have a lot of tension in my body since I’m running late for work!” at the car that just pulled out in front of us wouldn’t have the same catharsis.
So maybe we don’t need to go as far as explicitly bringing our physiology up in social situations.
But since our body influences our mind, maybe we should try to listen to it more often.If we can become more aware of our inner state, we might have more success in managing our thoughts and emotions. We might even improve our relationships and the quality of our lives.
CONTROL OUR BODY, CONTROL OUR MINDS
This isn’t the just latest trend in pop-psychology. It been around for millenniums. It is supported with a strong theoretical background, an abundance of research, and profound pragmatic effect. For instance...Consider the following everyday scenarios where our bodies control our minds:
• We feel more anxious when we haven’t exercised
• Our significant others get emotional late at night when they’re physically tired (or when we’re tired)
• We dislike going to work after a sleep deprived night
• Our sister-in-law gets agitated when she’s hungry
• We’re much less ambitious when we’re sick or hungover
Still skeptical?Here are just a few examples from the literature:
• Facial expressions can affect our mood
• We’re more generous when we hold a warm drink
• Skipping makes us happy
• We’re more likely to be attracted to people on a high bridge
• A wonder woman posture makes us feel more powerful
And then there’s one area of the body to mind effect that has been studied and practiced thoroughly by many different disciplines - breathing.
(source)
HOW YOU BREATHE IS HOW YOU FEEL
One of the more consistent areas of research on how your body affects your mind has been with respiration.A research review is beyond the scope of this article. If you want to learn more seek out the references listed below.However, I do want to point out one study that we can start using immediately.This study had people breathe with a specific pattern and then had them fill out a 22-item questionnaire on their physical sensations and emotions. They were told it was a study on breathing and cardiovascular characteristics to avoid any biases.Breathing Directions:
"Breathe and exhale slowly and deeply through the nose; your breathing is very regular and your ribcage relaxed." (Joy)
"Breathe and exhale quickly through the nose; slightly deeper than regular breathing amplitude. Your breathing is slightly irregular with some tremors and your ribcage is very tense." (Anger)
“Breathe and exhale quickly from the top of your ribcage; with a normal amplitude. Your breathing is slightly irregular with some tremors and your ribcage very tense.” (Fear)
“Breathe and exhale through the nose with a normal amplitude and pace. Your ribcage is slightly tense, and there are some sighs in your expiration.” (Sadness)
The results consistently showed a correlation between breathing patterns and emotions.In other words, it could be theorized that emotions can be elicited by manipulating the breath (results below).
So next time you want to change your emotions, start by changing your breath.*more thoracic breathing was found with fear than any other emotion
A BIGGER PICTURE
This body-to-mind concept is useful beyond breathing and emotions.Changing our physical body can influence the way we think, the way we feel, how we perceive our environment, and how we interact with others. In other words, it can alter our reality.For a greater impact, consider the following 3 step process to change our body to change our mind.
- Understand how our physiology (our body state) may be affecting our psychology (our emotional state)
- Be aware and modulate the physiology we can control (use postures, movements, facial expressions, breathing, attention)
- Develop habits that foster a better physiology (adequate sleep, healthy diet, exercise, etc.)
SUMMARY
Unfortunately, as the pendulum swings it can cause many to forget where the momentum came from.The body-to-mind peripheral theory of emotion used to be very popular. The body used to be considered as important as the brain, if not more. You may have even heard the ancient term, “your body is your temple”.However, times have hanged.We’re now in an age where the brain supposedly “runs the show”. Psychotherapy, complex cognitive theories, and neuroscience are very popular. And for good reason. Advancements in these fields have provided tremendous value in many clinical sciences.But this isn’t a zero-sum game. Both concepts can add value. It is a dynamic system after all.Our physiology matters. Our bodies matter. It’s not just a “peripheral thing”. It's a part of us. And it can have a great impact on not only ourselves, but our perception of the world around us.Whether it’s as easy as altering our breath for a quick emotional change or as in-depth as altering our lifestyle for a more profound effect, being aware of how our body influences our mind can change our world.[subscribe2]
REFERENCES & DEPTH
Philippot P, Chapelle G, Blairy S. (2002) "Respiratory Feedback in the Generation of Emotion." Cognition and Emotion.Misattribution of arousalArousal transference“Grasping air with the lungs goes hand-in-hand with grasping at life” -Alan WattsArtificial Intelligence needs a body if it wants to surpass humansAlan Watts - The Way of Zenembodied cognitionZen and the Art of Motorcycle MaintenanceAntonio DamasioStephen PorgesBody Keeps ScoreAmy CuddyWilliam JamesVagus Nerve Stimulation“Notice this…”"what do you feel?"
The 3 Most Powerful Words
-
this article was originally posted on the A&G Project
"When nothing is certain anything is possible"
-Many Hale
When asking important questions, one of the best answers we can get is…”I don’t know”Why is this so powerful?It’s like opening a door to a new pathway.(image source)Now of course we don’t want to hear this answer to certain simple questions.We don’t want the local to tell us “I don’t know” when we’re lost and asking for directions. We don’t want our financial advisor to say “I don’t know” when we ask him if our investments are doing well. We don’t want our physical therapist to say “I don’t know” when you ask him why breathing is important.
(
There’s definitely a time and a place for the “I know” answer.But maybe for some questions we should look for the “I don’t know” answer.
What is the best meal for me in Asheville? What should I do for a living? How much money is enough to make me happy? Why does ice cream taste so good?There’s no single solution to those questions. But there might be a discussion, or a collaboration, that can help lead to a meaningful answer.“I don’t know” leads to a path.“I know” points in a direction.Directions can be useful, but only if we already know where we’re trying to go. If we don’t know where we need to be, then how can someone else “know” for us when we ask them?
To find where we need to be, we should find someone that has the compassion and wisdom to answer with “I don’t know”.It may not be as comforting as getting a short term answer, but the process will likely be much more effective in the long run.So the next time you find yourself asking a question (or answering one), stop and acknowledge the uncertainty instead of grasping for an answer. Get more comfortable with not knowing.In the end, you might not only find a better question, but a better answer as well.
2017 Hits : Vol. 1 : Ephemerality
click here for this edition's table of contents
Ephemerality
- Ephemeral - lasting a very short time; short-lived; transitory;
1) “There are many forms of ephemeral art, from sculpture to performance, but the term is usually used to describe a work of art that only occurs once, like a happening, and cannot be embodied in any lasting object to be shown in a museum or gallery.”2) “Because different people may value the passage of time differently, "the concept of ephemerality is a relative one".[3]3) One of the things I like most about hiking is the ephemerality of it. Depending on the time of day, the weather, the season, the animals, and the people, it’s different every time. It is constantly altered by time and perspective. And on a bigger scale, with the soaring trees, wrapping vines, flowing rivers, and tectonic shifts, the natural world could be considered the greatest ephemeral “art”.4) 21 Examples of Land Art5) Ephemerality is a practice in accepting impermanence.6) Andy Goldsworthy is incredible. He is “is a sculptor and photographer whose site-specific artworks directly engage with the environment, incorporating natural specimens and found objects into semi-permanent sculptures, which are then extensively documented in photographs” He doesn’t use any tools or glue. It’s a transient act of pure quality.
“The energy and space around a material are as important as the energy and space within. The weather--rain, sun, snow, hail, mist, calm--is that external space made visible. When I touch a rock, I am touching and working the space around it. It is not independent of its surroundings, and the way it sits tells how it came to be there."
(Sycamore leaves edging the roots of a sycamore tree, Hampshire, 1 November 2013 Andy Goldsworthy : image source)7) Wheatfield - A Confrontation by Agnes Denes8) The practice of physical therapy is ephemeral. There is a constant flux in the plethora of variables within practitioner and the patient, as well the interaction between them. It’s being able to realize this dynamic system and listen to the transient states for the right phase shift that can create a positive ephemeral state. Blindly clinging to a permanent variable by either the practitioner ("this exercise or manual technique always works") or the patient ("I am not someone who gets injured and needs to work on myself") can create a negative ephemeral state. 9) 8 types of Ephemeral Art10) Our body is ephemeral. It’s not going to stay the same forever (or even a few hours). It’s going to constantly change. Our physical and mental actions have both immediate and long term effects on our collective physiology.11) I think the ephemerality of our body and mental states is how some can practice the same thing over and over and still find enjoyment each time. Because even if you perform the same yoga poses everyday, it’s never the same. Attention and awareness of the subtle, ephemeral, differences in our individual-environment-task relationship is what helps bring one into a flow state. This transient goal of the mastery of our internal focus is much more rewarding than living in the future trying to attain some external physical goal.12) Chris Jordan’s art isn’t necessarily ephemeral. But the reason behind it may be. He uses visual representations to bring awareness and change to our current cultural issues. In other words, Jordan uses his art as a visual doorway to the “slow motion apocalypse”.
For example, “Whale” is made with 50,000 plastic bags, the same number of of floating plastic per square mile in the ocean.
Or “Caps Seurat”, which depicts 400,000 plastic bottle caps, equal the the average number of plastic bottles consumed in the US every minute.
His art is hopefully ephemeral in the sense that these issues will be resolved in the future and they will become a mere piece of history. Most of all, his work also reminds us that small acts matter and can make a difference.
13) Food is ephemeral. Both in the short term of preparing and eating it, as well as the long term of satiation and effects on your health. However, what you eat will drastically alter those timelines. What kind of ephemeral state do you want your body to be in now? Tomorrow? In 30 years?14) Check out the ephemeral rock balancing of Kokei Mikunihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46I5V51yH5815) Ephemerality is one of my favorite things about music. Both as a fan and as a guitar player. Sure, there’s enjoyment from recording a song and the creative process of making a permanent track. And hitting play to hear a song just the way you remembered it can feel good. But I find much more pleasure in the jamming. It’s when all the variables come together, just right, to create a moment that can only be felt while immersed within it. This is why people follow bands like the Grateful Dead around. This is why playing with other musicians is so much better than recording on the computer. It’s for the ephemeral moments where the music is alive.16) “Janet Echelman reshapes urban airspace with monumental, fluidly moving sculpture that responds to environmental forces including wind, water, and sunlight”. How is our own environment changing our perspective?17) Giovanni Anselmo demonstrates an ephemeral art piece in “Untitled (Sculpture That Eats)”. What energy would we have to keep replenishing to hold the granit together? What will we be letting go of when it finally runs out?18) Check out Christo and Jeanne-Claude. It’s not photoshopped.19) To be aware of your ephemeral state, you have to be in the moment. After this, you can work to shift the ephemeral state into a flow state. It's an intention of the mastery of the now. It’s a timeless meditative process.
(image source)20) Felix Gonzalez-Torres uses ephemeral art to help us feel the impermanence of our relationships and to raise awareness for human rights (gay rights).
In “Untitled: Portrait of Ross in L.A.” he creates an artwork meditating on the 1980s AIDs crisis/prejudice and the heartbreaking loss of losing a loved one. This piece “comprised of 175 pounds of candy, corresponding to Ross’s ideal body weight. Viewers are encouraged to take a piece of candy, and the diminishing amount parallels Ross’s weight loss and suffering prior to his death. Gonzalez-Torres stipulated that the pile should be continuously replenished, thus metaphorically granting perpetual life.”
In “Untitled: Perfect Lovers” he makes us think about the different time scales in which we all exist and the inevitability of death. We each have our individual ephemerality, even our loved ones, thus making all relationships inherently ephemeral. The Dallas Museum writes, “Two clocks are placed side by side; one will inevitably stop before the other. The date of this work corresponds to the time during which Félix González-Torres’s partner, Ross Laycock, was ill, and it embodies the tension that comes from two people living side-by-side as life moves forward to its ultimate destination. González-Torres once commented: “Time is something that scares me . . . or used to. This piece I made with the two clocks was the scariest thing I have ever done. I wanted to face it. I wanted those two clocks right in front of me, ticking.”
21) Brian Eno created his own dynamic system-type of music generating app that creates an ephemeral musical piece each time you listen to it. Fascinating. 22) Dance more. It's ephemeral.23) Ephemerality is something we should all practice more. Sometimes we try to cling to more materalistic permanent things. Houses, furniture, clothes, cars, electronic devices, social media, achievements, professional titles, plans, etc. Rarely do any of these things bring us lasting happiness, or even contentment. If we embrace ephemerality we may start to learn that joy and fulfillment is realized in the moment. Whether it’s art, music, food, movement, or mindfulness, we should all try to cultivate a healthy ephemeral practice.
- “Only the ephemeral is of lasting value.” -Eugene Ionesco
*special thanks to Ryan Swanson for the great conversation on ephemerality and for directing me towards many of the artists mentioned above
The main reason I do this blog is to share knowledge and to help people become better clinicians/coaches. I want our profession to grow and for our patients to have better outcomes. Regardless of your specific title (PT, Chiro, Trainer, Coach, etc.), we all have the same goal of trying to empower people to fix their problems through movement. I hope the content of this website helps you in doing so.If you enjoyed it and found it helpful, please share it with your peers. And if you are feeling generous, please make a donation to help me run this website. Any amount you can afford is greatly appreciated.
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2017 Hits : Vol. 1 : Other Good Stuff
click here for this edition's table of contents[subscribe2]
Other Good Stuff
- “Complexity is the enemy of execution” -Tony Robbins
1. More bad news for our phone addicted society. Using your phone at night decreases your alertness the next day. 2. You should watch the documentary, Minimalism, on Netflix. You don’t have to start throwing away stuff, but you might want to utilize their concepts: true values, needs vs. what we can afford, seeing through capitalism's traps/brainwashing, and spending time where it matters. It’s definitely worth the watch.3. “As a maker, you tend to do too much, because you’re there with all the tools and you keep putting things in. As a listener, you’re happy with quite a lot less.” -Brian Eno4. This 10 second video explains why our country is having so many problems. 5. Singularity, when artificial intelligence escalates to a point of runaway technological growth and change the word, is a very interesting concept. Maybe it’s what needs to happen to save our species and our planet?6. Look into your dog’s eyes. It will release oxytocin and make you both feel better.
“98.2 percent of Costa Rica's electricity came from renewable sources in 2016.”
10. This guy gets it. The next I industrial revolution is in the form in AI. Watch this if you want a glimpse of the future. 11. “Use common sense, and don’t be seduced by the details. Eventually, someone will discover the errors in those details.” -Jared Diamond12. “The transactional mindset of self-interest is the problem of the modern world. If you were to let go of the pursuit of happiness, what would you do? To put it a bit more dramatically, suppose you were told that no matter what you did, you would never be happy. Never. What would you do with your life?”13. "Why does music, being just sounds, remind us of the states of our soul?" -Aristotle14. “In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We've learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.“ -Jimmy Carterhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCOd-qWZB_g
The main reason I do this blog is to share knowledge and to help people become better clinicians/coaches. I want our profession to grow and for our patients to have better outcomes. Regardless of your specific title (PT, Chiro, Trainer, Coach, etc.), we all have the same goal of trying to empower people to fix their problems through movement. I hope the content of this website helps you in doing so.If you enjoyed it and found it helpful, please share it with your peers. And if you are feeling generous, please make a donation to help me run this website. Any amount you can afford is greatly appreciated.
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2017 Hits : Vol. 1 : Intermittent Fasting / Time Restricted Eating
click here for this edition's table of contents
Intermittent Fasting / Time-Restricted Eating
- Definition: intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating is an umbrella term for diets that cycle between periods of fasting (no eating) and periods of non-fasting (eating)
I’ve been experimenting with intermittent fasting for several months now. I first heard about it when I was in grad school. One of my clinical instructors quoted a study that showed the only proven way to prolong life was through fasting.Recently, I’ve been seeing more and more studies, blogs, and people talking about intermittent fasting. My friends Seth Oberst and Jeff Ford have both told me about the profound benefits of this “diet”. So like all health interventions, I thought I’d take a look at the best study out there...an experiment on myself.At first I was skipping breakfast and only eating from 12pm-8pm. This was terrible. It really threw my system off. I didn’t feel great. I didn’t have any energy. And I gained weight. But I was responsible for a big part of this failure. By the time I got home from work around 5:30 I was starving. I started eating a ton of pre-dinner snacks as I was cooking dinner. Then I’d over serve myself for dinner and finish it. I was essentially eating most of my calories between 5-8pm.Then I read some studies on the circadian cycle and how important it is when it comes to diet and weight loss (future post on this in Vol. 2). So I started trying to simply cut down the hours of eating per day. I started to trim the hours back from the latest meal. I tried to make my last meal earlier in the day.An 8 hour cycle isn’t socially possible as a physical therapist. I can’t eat my breakfast eggs while working on someone’s shoulder. Well, maybe if it was a breakfast burrito, but that wouldn’t be good for business.So instead I try to eat my last meal before 7pm. It usually ends up being a 10-11 hour feeding time. I also try to prepare a shake a couple times a week and skip dinner to cut the feeding time down even more. With this type of early time-restricted feeding I’ve had a lot more success. It allows me to reap the benefits without sacrificing my social life or developing orthorexia nervosa. I feel better, have lost some weight, and have more energy.And another important benefit...it makes day-drinking much more acceptable!1. Some of the general benefits of Time-Restricted Feeding:
Weight loss, improved health, decreased morbidity, increased mortality, and more freedom in diet
The last benefit is worth pondering. By using time-restricted feeding as the global focus, it allows for individual variability in the details. In other words, it doesn’t limit specific foods or cause a purge from prolonged suppression. It allows people to use whatever diet works for them (paleo, vegetarian, ketogenic, etc.) in a more efficient manner.
2. Here’s a list of some of the specific benefits
Increased human growth hormone, improved insulin sensitivity, better cellular repair, improved gene function, increased metabolic rate, reduced inflammation/inflammatory markers, reduced LDL cholesterol/ blood triglycerides//blood sugar/insulin resistance, increased BDNF, increased rate of nerve cell growth, and improved resistance to oxidative stress
3. It can prevent heart disease, cancer, obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases (alzheimer’s), and increase lifespan.Think about how many lives could be saved, how much quality of life would improve, and how much money our country could salvage if everyone understood and implemented this...4. Intermittent fasting or early time-restricted feeding/eTRF (only eating 8am-2pm) helps with weight loss.
“The human body has an internal clock, and many aspects of metabolism are at their optimal functioning in the morning. Therefore, eating in alignment with the body’s circadian clock by eating earlier in the day may positively influence health...Researchers found that, although eTRF did not affect how many total calories participants burned, it reduced daily hunger swings and increased fat burning during several hours at night. It also improved metabolic flexibility, which is the body’s ability to switch between burning carbs and burning fats.”
5. Skipping dinner is better than skipping breakfast for intermittent fasting.6. Listen to Rhonda Patrick. Here’s a quick summary of some of the research.“Recent studies suggest that…
Eating within an 11-hour window was associated with a decreased breast cancer risk and reduction in recurrence by as much as 36%.
Earlier meal timing associates with improved effectiveness of weight-loss therapy in overweight and obese patients.
For each 3-hour increase in nighttime fasting duration was linked to a 20% lower odds of elevated glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C), which is a more long-term marker of blood glucose levels.
For each 10% increase in the proportion of calories consumed after 5pm there was a 3% increase in the inflammatory biomarker c-reactive protein otherwise known as CRP.
Eating one additional meal during the day (instead of the evening) was associated with an 8% decrease in CRP.
Eating within a 12-hour window improved sleep and increased weight loss in normal weight people.”
7. The Authority Nutrition always has good stuff:
10 evidence-based health benefits
8. Jess Miller has a thorough article covering the benefits of fasting, the different types, and some example protocols.9. Keep in mind it’s not for everyone. The human species has a ton of variability. Interventions need to be tailored to the individual's variability. A one-size fits all approach never works when it comes to health.10. Bill Lagakos recommends caution with intermittent fasting:
“Can some people benefit from intermittent fasting? Sure, but best choose your fasting/feeding schedule wisely; keep in line with circadian rhythms as meal timing is an important zeitgeber. That means eating when the sun is up; frequency is up to you.”
The main reason I do this blog is to share knowledge and to help people become better clinicians/coaches. I want our profession to grow and for our patients to have better outcomes. Regardless of your specific title (PT, Chiro, Trainer, Coach, etc.), we all have the same goal of trying to empower people to fix their problems through movement. I hope the content of this website helps you in doing so.If you enjoyed it and found it helpful, please share it with your peers. And if you are feeling generous, please make a donation to help me run this website. Any amount you can afford is greatly appreciated.
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2017 Hits : Vol. 1 : Diet
click here for this edition's table of contents
Diet
1) Eat spicy food. Live longer.2) Addictions come in many forms.
“Cravings for gambling, food, sex and drugs all seem to activate the same brain networks, according to new research published in the journal European Neuropsychopharmacology.”
3) 10 portions of fruit and vegetables a day will help you live longer4) Mushrooms are the best. They’re the 3rd food kingdom we rarely think about. They’re biologically distinct and nutritionally unique. Eat more of them. It s good for everything.5) I will always support coffee research.
“These results suggest that caffeine has a specific benefit for memory during students’ non-optimal time of day – early morning.”
And they're now finding it helps to block chronic inflammation.
6) Diet and mental health are very interconnected.
“New research finds that increasing fruit and vegetable consumption may improve psychological well-being in as little as 2 weeks.”
7) Over 90% of serotonin is produced in the gut. How you eat affects your mental health. One method of improving gut and mental health is using probiotics:
“According to researchers, probiotics can help relieve symptoms of depression, as well as be beneficial in helping to treat IBS.”
8) Drinking more water is one of the easiest things we can do to improve our health. Here’s 7 benefits, plus ways to help others gain access to clean water.9) This is a phenomenal concise summary of the dangers of processed foods by Robert Lustig. Here’s just one of the many gems:
“Furthermore, 11 nutritional properties distinguish processed food. (1) Too little fiber. When fiber (soluble and insoluble) is consumed within food, it forms a gelatinous barrier along the intestinal wall.This delays the Intestine’s ability to absorb nutrients,instead feeding the gut microbiome. Attenuation of the glucose rise results in insulin reduction. Attenuation of fructose absorption reduces liver fat accumulation.”
10) Medicine is better understood through a historical lens. The Case Against Sugar.
“Thinking of obesity as an energy-balance disorder is as meaningless as calling poverty a money-balance problem”
“obesity is not an energy-balance disorder but a disorder of excess fat accumulation and so, clearly, a hormonal and metabolic disorder – the result of an ‘endocrine disturbance’, as it was phrased in the 1930s by Eugene Du Bois, then the leading American authority on metabolism. By this logic, the foods we eat influence fat accumulation not because of their caloric content but because of their macronutrient content, the proteins, fats and carbohydrates they contain. This paradigm attends to how organisms (humans, of course, in particular) orchestrate the careful ‘partitioning’ of the macronutrient fuels they consume, determining whether they will be burned for energy or stored or used to rebuild tissues and organs.”
“By this way of thinking, refined sugars are indeed toxic, albeit over the course of years or decades. We get fat and diabetic not because we eat too much of them – although that is implied tautologically merely by the terms ‘overconsumption’ and ‘overeating’ – but because they have unique physiological, metabolic and hormonal effects that directly trigger these disorders”
“Bauer argued that fat cells are clearly being driven by these factors to hoard excessive calories as fat, and this in turn would deprive the rest of the body of the energy it needed to thrive. In this hormonal/regulatory conception, excessive fat-accumulation causes hunger and physical inactivity, not the other way around.”
“if insulin is a fat-forming hormone and Type 2 diabetes is a disorder of insulin resistance, it then follows that high circulating levels of insulin in the blood, rather than insulin deficiency, could be the cause of the disease and obesity as well.”
“Perhaps the obese get that way not because they eat too much or exercise too little, but because they have elevated levels of insulin or their fat tissue is excessively sensitive to the insulin they secrete”
“The sugars and refined grains that make up such a high proportion of the foods we consume in modern Westernised diets trigger the dysregulation of a homeostatic system that has evolved to depend on insulin to regulate both fat accumulation and blood sugar. Hence, the same dietary factors – sugars and refined grains – trigger both obesity and diabetes. By focusing on the problems of eating too much and exercising too little, public health authorities have simply failed to target the correct causes.”
11) Obesity is one thing. Diabetes is another. The sugar epidemic is going to cause ALOT of problems in the future. Not only for our health, but also for our economics.
The main reason I do this blog is to share knowledge and to help people become better clinicians/coaches. I want our profession to grow and for our patients to have better outcomes. Regardless of your specific title (PT, Chiro, Trainer, Coach, etc.), we all have the same goal of trying to empower people to fix their problems through movement. I hope the content of this website helps you in doing so.If you enjoyed it and found it helpful, please share it with your peers. And if you are feeling generous, please make a donation to help me run this website. Any amount you can afford is greatly appreciated.
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