<p>Hoping to be a regular contributor to this thread. I used to be fairly fit and active, going to the gym five days a week and doing a lot of outdoors activities as well. Was never at my goal weight, but I was pretty happy with my body and fitness level regardless. </p>
<p>That all dropped by the wayside over the past few years, working out, but not really putting any effort into it. Eating crap foods and sleeping terribly. My kid got sick late last year and it took about six months of surgeries and treatments for her to get better, and now I feel like I’ve awakened from a fog and realized how much weight I’ve gained and how badly I let my body get out of shape while caring for kids and home.</p>
<p>For the past month, I’ve given up sugar and wheat, and I haven’t felt this fantastic in years. I’m sleeping soundly, every night, I have no joint pains, no leg pains, and even better, I’m almost never hungry. I’ve been taking spin classes three times a week, yoga four times a week, and doing weight training on alternating days. I’m old enough to know that you are what you eat, and the stuff we put inside of our bodies can affect our energy levels and mood, but wow. I’m terrified to even look at grains and sugar, because I’m just feeling so great and I don’t want to jinx anything. I have a fitbit, which is worth it for the sleep studies alone, and I’m due for a fitness evaluation from a trainer next week. </p>
<p>Big welcome Momannoyed and EnglishLit - we all have to start someplace!!! And while some are more vocal than others, there truly is a wide range of “participation” here in terms of d/e/h/w!!!</p>
<p>9.5 miles yesterday. I really had to force myself to go, I had a headache and just felt overall tired and lazy. I picked a new running trail with interesting scenery to motivate myself. The first 2 miles were awful, the next 6 were good, the last one was one too many. I ran through a local high school’s track practice I think. If you want to feel old & slow, I recommend this.</p>
<p>Idad - the funny thing is that my diet is not that low in carbs (just scarfed down a big slice of watermelon), but it does not take a whole cake for me to feel the ill effects of sugar overload. Cheesecake and ice cream do not leave me feeling so awful, since they actually have some redeemable nutrients. After my marathon and long runs, I crave steak. </p>
<p>Yes, I though of you this morning when I saw the article. The irony is that not too long ago it was believed that running a marathon immunized you from heart problems. </p>
<p>Michael and MOWC- Your speed at getting things done inspired me. I just sent my PCP an email requesting the NMR Lipoprofile particle test. Hopefully, she will add it to the normal panel done before my annual!</p>
<p>It seems some people are predisposed to coronary artery disease. My father had triple bypass surgery about 20 years ago. His cholesterol was low, his diet was good, weight at an excellent level, and he was active doing his own yardwork and so forth. The doctor had no explanation for his clogged arteries and basically said, “Keep doing whatever you were doing before this. Don’t worry yourself because it’s nothing you can control, that we know of.” So he did and lived to be 91. </p>
<p>It took all the willpower I could muster at the restaurant the other night to resist the offer of fancy cheesecake with a raspberry sauce. And, that was after telling the waiter to not even bring the basket of fresh baked bread to the table…</p>
<p>I crave salad after hiking, but that’s probably because I will have eaten eggs and bacon or fried chicken or something with zero greens/veggies earlier in the day. </p>
<hr>
<p>On this running/artery disease issue: I don’t think that long distance running is the best overall exercise (too much wear and tear), but I’m skeptical that it causes coronary artery disease. I’d have to hear some plausible mechanism for that. </p>
<p>To the extent that it’s even a real issue (a big IF), I would think it’s more along the lines of distance running is not protective against heart disease, the same heart disease caused by some combination of genetics, diet, and aging that could hit any of us. I think the protective benefits of exercise are real, but they occur with the first little bit of exercise each week and piling on loads and loads of extra exercise on top of that provides little additional protective benefit.</p>
<p>Question for Idad: I looked at my blood work results again (from this January) and there was a entry that said Insulin Resistance/Metabolic Resistance–No. What tests from the blood work would show that one has insulin resistance? </p>
<p>Slow flow yoga today and a short walk (1.5 miles)–it’s cold today, but incredibly windy outside, which makes walking unpleasant.</p>
<p>An APOb test measures particles like the NMR test does. There’s one molecule of APOb protein on every LDL and VLDL particle, so measuring APOb is the same as couning LDL and VLDL particles. VLDL particles only live for an hour or two (after carrying triglycerides/fat out of the liver) before turning into LDL partcles which last for a couple of days, so APOb is essentially the same as counting LDL particles.</p>
<p>Another possibility (if if was the VAP test) would be the size of your LDL particles. Small, dense particles are associated with insulin resistance. Large, fluffy particles would suggest not insulin resistant. VAP also gives an APOb number, but it’s calculated and probably not that accurate.</p>
<hr>
<p>These are all direct or indirect measures of the liver dumping excess triglycerides (fat) into the blood stream (VLDL particles) and the impact this has on LDL and HDL particles. Dumping fat out of the liver as triglycerides is the hallmark of insulin resistance and trouble metabolizing sugar/carbs. Everybody worries about eating fat, but the fat that really kills us is the fat produced by the liver (from excess sugar and/or acohol)</p>
<p>MOWC, Type A personalities? Me? Nah, ;). Well, yeah.</p>
<p>Regarding marathons and coronary artery disease, it’s been a while, but if memory serves me right, I read some articles a few years ago discussing that “extreme” endurance sports, particularly if pursued at competitive levels, cause increased inflammatory reactions which can create build ups of plaque. The articles also discussed the need to closely monitor intake of anti-oxidants. I didn’t pay too much attention to it back then because in my world of cycling, I generally wouldn’t ride more than three century rides a season and never at race paces because they all seemed to be scheduled when it was really hot out (80-95 degrees) and I was more concerned with avoiding heat stroke than setting a land speed record.</p>
<p>Nice speed work blankmind. 12 400s are brutal. 3 miles in 20 degree weather/snowy sidewalks at around 7:30 pace. Hips were sore from HIT class the day before. Tough keeping up with the twenty something guys and gals. Saw a tshirt at my track meet that I bought for my daughter “See Dick run. Watch Jane run faster”</p>
<p>Turns out the study saying saturated fat does not lead to higher death from heart disease has some errors, and some are calling for it to be retracted. And some of the scientists who authored the study are complaining that the results were misrepresented by the idiots in the media:</p>
<p>Lol. I can’t tell if they’re splitting hairs in that article because the conclusion challenges so many vested interests or if there are truly issues with the meta-data I do know that its reasonable to expect a dramatically different outcome than the rather neutral comparative outcome if in fact vegetable and nut oils were vastly superior to saturated fatty acids from butter et al. </p>
<p>I think in general there is a tendency to hyper-focus on a singular set of varianes (eg fat intake) in something that is just to complicated to reduce in that way (heart disease). It’s kind of like saying if you confirm to a singular portion of Google’s search algorithm, you’ll increase your rank. In fact, the variables in the algorithm are too numerous to reliably “game” unless you address a large set of them. So gains from manipulating a single variable might net an incremental change…but not the “page one” holy grail people seek.</p>
<p>For example, I studied Healing Touch years ago. An author of a popular but “out-there” book on the subject believes a healthy heart chakra has a lot more to do with a physically healthy heart than anything else. She was a former NASA physicist before going off into very alternative healing work, so she has had some background in logic and whatnot that is often missing in metaphysics. So many of her theories have resonated with me.</p>
<p>More recently, research has (allegedly) shown a reduction in cardiac arrest through meditation. Biofeedback has clearly shown a reduction in BP. Prayer has been (allegedly) shown to improve healing. Etc.</p>
<p>So its not unreasonable to believe that the formula for improved heart function might look something like: genetics plus nutrient profile consumption plus metabolic efficiency plus activity level (with end points on either side) plus thought-disposition plus emotional function plus etc. etc. etc. :)</p>
<p>So Dr. mcMom’s working theory an heart disease prevention might look like:
Eat well. Move often. Be happy. Love a lot.</p>
<p>To reduce such things to “butter” or “not-butter” feels a little single-threaded to me, which is why I suspect “science” spins its wheels a litte on this front :)</p>
</p>