Fascinating new research uses masses of data from NHANES to find that current cannabis users have less insulin resistance, smaller waists, and higher HDL, than former or non-users.

( Notes from study and articlesCollapse )

A study showed that engaged women want to lose on average 20 pounds to look great on the big day. A doc in Florida is offering the Ketogenic Enteral Diet (K-E diet) for ladies wishing to slim down before their nuptials. The diet lasts 10 days, costs $1.5K, and causes approximately a 10lb weight loss. The ketosis is monitored using ketostix which are widely available for diabetics. The dieting ladies are permitted nothing caloric by mouth. Great idea? Not so fast. It's not that hard to eat a calorie-restricted ketogenic diet without paying $1.5K and having a tube up your nose. Think about it.

SOURCE
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/fashion/weddings/Losing-Weight-in-Time-for-the-Wedding.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
http://www.medpagetoday.com/CelebrityDiagnosis/32229

This is some pretty wild new info. According to Mercola, cooling the palms of the hands may activate brown fat cells causing more fat to burn. Burn baby burn.

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/03/30/hand-cooling-device-for-effective-workout.aspx?e_cid=20120330_FNL_art_1

http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html

You can check out the progress of America's increasing BMI by state, since 1985, on this govt page. The South leads the charge.


Colorado is the Rocky Mountain holdout but they are sliding too.

Why? It is the #1 diet fad in the world right now. And it was WORKING for lots of people, and did not require a prescription. Or was it really because it was dangerous? We shall see.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/ProductAlert/OTC/30042?utm_source=breaking-news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-news#.Tt5Y7Lifxrw.facebook

Here's a decent orientation about the HCG diet if you haven't heard:

I heard the report on NPR this morning. The potato industry is up in arms about revisions to school food programs that specifically limit potatoes. The potato industry rep, and the academic from the University of Idaho, both said that potatoes are nutrient dense. I expected it from the rep, but the academic? Geeze. OK, so let's talk about potatoes. White potatoes. Idaho potatoes. And what exactly it means to be nutrient dense. Generally we talk about something being nutrient dense because it has a high ratio of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and such relative to how many calories it has in it. Potatoes are excluded because they are very high calorie. The skins are where the nutrients are. There's a little nutrition in the starchy meat of a potato, but mostly it is made up of calories. Energy. Potatoes are great high energy food, they elevate the blood sugar immediately, and then an insulin response ideally follows. If you take away the skin, you are taking away most of the vitamin and mineral nutrition. I think most people know this, but it bears restating in the face of the news. I certainly agree that it would make more sense to limit deep fat fryers in schools, or limit potato chips, but really I think what we need to limit is ALL processed and reconstituted potatoes. Potatoes that come in the shape of french fries or tater tots. Convenience potatoes make people fat. Baking them after they have been machine formed and cheap-fat coated does not make them good for you. Those are the ones that kids don't need. If you want to put some potato chunks in their beef stew or yellow curry, more power to you.

Mind you, my favorite new vice is the Salt and Pepper flavor Kettle chips. And I eat them even knowing about ( The Potato Chip Study (article by Jacob Schor)Collapse )

avoid these for loss of visceral fat, less DM2, CVDz
Mercola is saying that these foods have "similar properties to wheat"
they contain chitin-binding lectins which act similarly to wheat lectin (WGA)
chitins = n-acetyl-glucosamine in long polymers (where are these? on nerve cells?)
WGA and these foods bind them
sprouted wheat contains the most WGA and also BA's (benzoxazinoids, toxic)
he's getting his info from greenmedinfo
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/
(I'm not a member yet but this is a site I plan to join when I'm out of school)
consult his site for links to studies: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/07/05/other-nonwheat-grains-can-also-hurt-your-health.aspx
must run, this saved for future research
*new tag: lectins

dietary supplementation with coconut oil-->reduction in waist circumference after 1 week!!
also coconut--> higher HDL, lower LDL:HDL ratio
randomized, double-blind clinical trial, 12 week long diet
n = 40 women in 2 groups, daily soybean oil vs daily coconut oil
all walked and ate low cal diets
at 1 wk: soybean oil group had incr total chol, LDL and LDL:HDL ratio, decr HDL
(bad trend in fats)
( the studyCollapse )

*for marijuana effect search for "endocannabinoid"
( more than you ever wanted to know about fat----very interesting, too!Collapse )