Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

We all know where this is going to lead High Insulin Levels Impair Intestinal Metabolic Function.

The researchers note that excessive insulin appears to alter the mechanics of blood vessel walls, allowing chylomicrons and cholesterol to build up in them, which, over time, creates blockages in the blood stream, leading to heart problems.

I haven't found the actual study, but, the review seems to point to one of two solutions, either cut fat or carbs. Guess which one the authors of the review chose. Despite the growing volume of evidence of the benefit of lowering dietary glycemic loads, fat is still enemy numero uno. We now know that there is more than one way to lower glycemic loads, eat fewer carbs, eat low gi carbs ,or best of all, do both. Not everyone needs or should be on a very low carb ketogenic diet. But, damn few people need 300++ grams of carb per day. Eating that many carbs almost requires one to eat processed food. There just isn't any way around it. I admit, on most days I still eat one slice of bread, generally as toast with my eggs in the morning. I've given up grits and gravy, biscuits and honey, but I still need something to soak up the yolks from my eggs. I also eat sweet potatoes and legumes a regular basis. Even eating bread, sweet potatoes and legumes, I still manage at least two servings of fruit, several servings of vegetables, and a cup of yogurt, all while keeping my glycemic load in the low range, defined as under 80. A high glycemic load is defined as over 120. 300g carb of low GI food (avg gi 50) still gives you a glycemic load of 150, well into high. If you use such whole grain goodness items as whole wheat bread or Cheerios, you GL quickly passes 200. Now remember the problem mentioned at the top of the article was due to high insulin levels. How do we alleviate the build up of chylomicrons? Since chylomicrons are produced as part of lipid digestion, the answer is to limit fat. What about the excessive insulin?? The mighty Oz has spoken.

Getting Turbulent

Over the past couple, three to be exact, of weeks I have been using Turbulence Training. It started as me looking for a change up from my regular HIT workouts, and hearing some buzz about Turbulence training. So I googled it, read the ad, and plopped my money down with no real expectations, other than being a few dollars poorer. I mean Hey, I'd spent more money on bar tabs, so no great loss. Besides, he's anti-cardio. I figured anyone who doesn't like cardio can't be all bad. So I downloaded the ebook and read it. Deciding to give it a go, and not having done a workout like this in quite some time I started with the beginner routines, and its a good thing I did. I was whooped. Turbulence training is just plain hard work. About 45 minutes of butt busting work, three times a week. 20 -25 minutes of strength training plus 20 minutes intervals. Arthur Jones once described productive exercise as "hard, brief, and infrequent ", TT qualifies on all counts. While this may not be HIT in the traditional sense, this is certainly intense training, and I highly recommend it, and look forward to continuing my workouts into the advanced phases.

LiftStrong.com

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Passing Between Scylla and Charybdis

So there I am, on Good Friday, shopping at my local Costco to get items for the up coming Easter Dinner. Ham, check. Yams, check. Veggie tray, check, Fruit Tray, check, Eggs, check. When lo and behold there it was. As I rounded the corner from the dairy case there was one of them there sample tastings of the dreaded Tiramisu. As I struggled to get by my cart found itself caught in the tempest of Costco traffic, compounded by the sirens call I like Odysseus crew, floundered, and washed upon the shore of temptation and sampled the forbidden. The marscapone topped The lady fingers soaked in espresso and marsala. It was mahhhvuhluhs. One bite was not enough, and yet to much. So I bought one to take home. Upon arrival at mi casa, Mrs D noted the the Tiramisu was not on the list I had been sent to the store with. I swore that it had jumped into the cart and refused to get out until I reached the check out line, and then it leaped out of the cart and into the hands of the cashier. What was I supposed to do? I got "the look", that all husbands know to well. We had our gathering of kith and kin on Saturday, and a good time was had by all, including yours truly. In fact I enjoyed myself all the way till Sunday morning when upon testing my Fasting Glucose was greeted with a glaring 120. Reality sucks. No Easter candy for me. I cut my carbs to a net of 70 on Sunday, and Monday I was back down to 104. Better, but still not great.


Progress Report

Well Friends and neighbors, In the first 3 months of the year, I have managed to lose 5 lbs, and one inch off my waist. Slow and steady may win the race but I think this is a bit too slow. My eating has been mostly in line with a healthy diet, but no real efforts made at losing. My exercise has been consistent, but again, no efforts made at any real progression. In retrospect, I haven't been as dedicated as I needed to be to really see any significant results. So, on Monday, I started a four week concerted effort at fat loss. After Zero results from Weight Watcher for several weeks, Mrs D. started back on a 40-30-30 diet about 3 weeks ago, and is down 3 lbs, and 1.5 belly inches in just those 3 weeks. This has in no small way got my attention. Her efforts at managing her diet and consistent exercise are paying off. I, on the other hand, have been, well, somewhat less focused.


Etcetra

In the chalk one up to experience dept, I've recently determined that when my sugar is out of whack, I need to really tighten up on my carbs and calories to get it back down. All those formulas that calculate caloric needs, don't mean diddley squat, and what may be reasonable advice for a person with normal blood sugar could harm a person with impaired fasting glucose.