More than 7 years after the death of Dr. Atkins, the inventor and promoter of the controversial Atkins diet,  new legitimate scientific evidence may vindicate the man much maligned by the conventional heatlh community. A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine and funded by a grant from the National Institute of Health divided over 300 participants into two groups: one ate a low fat diet, the other a low carb diet (the low carb dieters were permitted to eat as much fat and protein as they wanted,  just like the Atkins diet).  Six months into the study, the low-carb group had a greater reduction in diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides and a particularly bad form of “bad” cholesterol called VLDL (very low-density lipoproteins). And amazingly, at all measured points throughout the two-year study, the low-carb group had a significant increase in HDL (”good”) cholesterol.

The amazing and surprising conclusion that I draw: when compared with a low fat diet,  a low carb diet may actually be more effective at lowering risk factors for heart disease. So bring on the bone-in porterhouse and steamed broccoli (I can live without the baked potato).

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“The point of life is living it. And I tell you, I got in that cage and I felt alive. I felt human again. You get that thing over your head, people think you’re 70 and you don’t know shit. They don’t bother to get to know you. I like Eminem. I like rap music. …Mentally, I feel the same as I did when I was 30. I like the same kind of cars and the same kinds of women. Nothing’s changed for me, but there’s this stereotype. You don’t change, but they try and make you fit a mold and be something you don’t want to be, which is an old person. Not me. I’ve been a fighter all my life.”

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 Dr. Wiseman says:

“A few seconds of bad fortune can unravel years of striving, while a moment of good luck can lead to success and happiness. Luck has the power to transform the improbable into the possible; to make the difference between life and death, reward and ruin, happiness and despair. Research has revealed there are four main differences between the lives of lucky and unlucky people.”

Lucky people…

Create, notice and act upon chance opportunities
Use intuition to make successful decisions
Expect the best for the future
Transform bad luck into good fortune

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Director Kevin Smith was recently a victim of this policy and has “vowed never to fly Southwest again”.  Now if only we could get all the other airlines to adopt this policy we could ground Kevin forever.

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Dr. Oz has even developed an 8 times a week sex schedule to help you figure out how to work it in. 

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But if we are really serious in this country about healthcare reform, shouldn’t we be equally serious about healthy behavior reform?  With obesity as the single largest contributor to healthcare costs in our country, shouldn’t we be applauding companies that give employee incentives for healthy behavior? Last week I discussed this issue in Super Sized- My Story. And I was thrilled to see someone in this country taking the initiative to influence people in a positive way to engage in healthy behaviors that will help all of us. Thank you, Mr. Mackey!

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I was reflecting on this when I recently analyzed the McDonald’s menu for the drive-thru diet posts on this blog. In those days, a meal of a McDonald’s hamburger, small fry, and small coke ran 685 calories. Hardly a healthy meal, but manageable. Fast forward to 2009. Hardly anyone orders a McDonald’s hamburger  or a small fry anymore. That sandwich is considered so small that it is relegated to the children’s Happy Meal. And McDonald’s recently ran a promotion where the 32 ounce drink was 99 cents, which was actually less than the small size. In 2009 ,the typical average adult meal at McDonald’s consists of a Big Mac, large fry, and large coke, and comes in at a whopping 1,370 calories, exactly double my satisfying fast food treat from 1963. And although I am using McDonald’s as an example, it is only the prototypical example of all corporate fast food and sit down restaurants. The bottle of Coca-cola that I grew up with was 6.5 ounces. The average bottle that you purchase in a convenience store is between 20 and 32 ounces, a four fold increase.

Given these facts, it is actually amazing that only 1/3 of Americans are classified as obese and only 2/3 are overweight. It is popular for us to blame our obesity on stress eating, depression, or unhappiness. From my point of view our obesity is caused by our evolutionary craving for food that drove our hunter-gatherer ancestors to spend their entire existence looking for food, combined with our scientific ability to engineer artificial foods that satisfy our most basic cravings without the satiation that comes with nutrients. Add to that cocktail the unbelievable ability of humans to market to each other, and the unlimited (relatively speaking) ability of the average American to afford to purchase calories, and it’s actually amazing that obesity isn’t closer to 100%.

Although hunting for food with a gun is still practiced in parts of our country, the most common weapon for hunting now is the automobile.  We cruise the suburban savannah in our SUV’s, spotting our food sources grazing on the edges of the boulevard.  Our prey aren’t camoflaged by their surroundings, they invite us to hunt them with signs that brag about the billions and billions of their kind that have been downed before.  And there are no limits to the amount of our prey that we can take home. Our limits are our pocketbooks, and as obesity statistics show, money is not a limiting factor for calorie consumption.

So the question is, what human motivation is stronger than our evolutionary need to binge on food, stronger than the easy accessibility of calories, stronger than multi-billion dollar advertsiing budgets?  What motivates people to engage in a  healthy lifestyle in the face of all that is stacked against us? Are most of us doomed by our DNA controlled  propensity for instant gratification? Maybe not. The obesity rate in Japan is about 3.5% compared to over 30% in the U.S. The average citizen of Japan consumes over 200 caloires less per day than the average American. It seems to me that we have created a culture of unhealthy eating in our country. Over the last year, we have focused the debate in this country on our health care delivery system and costs. But the number one health care problem in this country is obesity. Obesity by itself is the source of the majority of our country’s health care costs. And this problem has gotten little attention from the government.  A few years ago, we declared a government sponsored “war on drugs”.  And although this war has not been successful, we have been fairly successful in indoctrinating our children in the dangers of drugs through the DARE school drug education programs.

Until we recognize that obesity is a severe national problem, as severe as cigarette smoking and drugs, we cannot begin the cultural change that is required for us to slim down.  For example, I have noticed that it is not politically correct to criticize people who are obese. In the 1960’s smoking was part of our culture. It was promoted through advertising and protected by the government. It would have been unthinkable to outlaw smoking in public places. Has the time finally come for us to treat obesity like cigarettes? It is a choice that turns into an addiction. It causes severe health problems, costs our country billions of dollars that we cannot afford, and if we don’t prevent our children from getting hooked, then they all become unhealthy obese adults.

I came to realize over a period of time that being fat made me less attractive, less able to do the active things I wanted to do, and was going to become more and more of a problem as I grew older.  But we are all fighting an uphill battle living in a culture that promotes obesity and doesn’t treat it for what it is. Until we can turn our culture around, each of us are fighting the battle as an army of one.

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The researchers scanned the brains of 94 elderly people.  Although the test participants were elderly, they were all  cognitively normal. They were not afflicted by brain degenerating diseases such as Alzheimer or Parkinsons. According to Dr. Paul Thompson, a UCLA professor of neurology, just a 4% loss of brain tissue represents“severe” brain degeneration.

So not only can being fat affect your health, we now have evidence that if affects your intelligence.  Of course, we don’t know for sure if the deficiency in brain tissue caused people to be fat, or if the fat caused the loss in brain tissue.

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Comment on this post by clicking on the title or email the author, dennis@healthjag.com

The simple fact is that most of us sabotage our own health by poor eating and lifetstyle choices. Corporate America has capitalized on our evolutionized craving for high fat, high calorie foods by providing the ability to access a virtual unlimited menu of unhealthy, highly processed foods for $1 simply by rolling down the window (actually we don’t roll down windows anymore, we push the button, thus relieving our fingers of that strenuous, calorie burning task). I once drove 300 miles, and using cruise control was able to  severely limit any body movement and calorie burning, but was able to consume over 5,000 calories in less than 5 hours.

I have never smoked, but I suspect that my poor eating choices for much of my life have left my heart just as unhealthy as a lifelong smoker’s. My first resolution for the New Year: Be Conscious of Every Eating Choice that I Make Every Day.  Being conscious of each choice doesn’t guarantee a good choice. But it does make me say, “Yes, the satisfaction I am going to get from this Big Mac is worth more than life itself.” Sort of like shaming myself into being a healthier eater. 

I wish  you all a New Year full of healthy eating.

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1) Getting Up Late. Sleeping late on a weekend and then going to brunch at a restaurant (or even making it at home) always makes me feel like I am on vacation.

2) Eating Guilt Free. I justify my overindulgence at brunch by saying that I am really eating two meals and that therefore I can double my calorie quota. I have been known to make brunch the only meal of they day and actually triple my calorie quota.

3) Bloody Marys, Mimosas, Screwdrivers. You can drink before noon and no one gives you a second glance.

4) Omelet Bars. I feel good about myself when I pick out the healthy veggies and see them folded into my omelet.

5) Unlimited Bacon. This was actually my son’s favorite reason for brunch and I actually have to agree with him on this. Thanks, Michael.

6) Value.  In most towns outside of the major cities,  you can get a gourmet meal with champagne, seafood, a carving station, fancy desserts, and more for under $20.

7) Conversation. Some times its difficult to get your family and favorite friends together in one place for an extended conversation. If you feed them they will come.

Eggs Five Ways. I love eggs. I have actually had an omelet, scrambled eggs, eggs benedict, egg salad, and egg foo young at the same brunch.

9) Carving Station. Who doesn’t love a white suited man piling big hunks of hot roast beef, turkey, and ham on your plate?

10) Dessert Table. Need I say more?

I am going to shower now and wake up the family and see if anyone wants to go with me.

We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.
- George Bernard Shaw

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More and more studies are showing harmful effects of soy, especially to men. Diets high in soy have been shown to lower testosterone levels. Low testoste0one levesl can have severe adverse consequences  including weight gain, lower sperm count, reduced sex drive, breast enlargement, and erectile problems. Testosterone gradually declines in men after the age of 30. Adding large amounts of soy to a man’s diet may make it difficult to maintain  healthy testosterone levels.

In a major ongoing study involving over 3,000 elderly Japanese-American men, those who ate the most tofu (soy curd) during midlife had up to 2.4 times the risk of later developing Alzheimer’s disease. As part of the three-decade long Honolulu-Asia Aging Study, 27 foods and drinks were correlated with participants’ health. Men who consumed tofu at least twice weekly had signifcant cognitive impairment to those who did not consume tofu.

Additionally, higher midlife tofu consumption was associated with low brain weight. Brain atrophy was assessed in 574 men using MRI results and in 290 men using autopsy information. Shrinkage occurs naturally with age, but for the men who had consumed more tofu, there was unusually large shrinkage compaired with normal brains. Details of these studies and more soy studies can be found at Soy Online Service: Abstracts Click Here

So stay away from the soy unless you want to turn into a senile girly man!

However, no real scientific studies have proven the link in  humans.  This is another case of trying to decide whether to take a nutritional supplement before legitimate science proves its benefits. Since Dr. Oz meets my definition of a highly respected health leader, and the benefits seem to be so potentially staggering, I have decided to take the plunge and add resveratrol to my diet. Although Dr. Oz endorses resveratrol, he does not endorse any particular brand. He does suggest 500 mg per day. Note this is the equivalent of dozens of bottles of red wine per day. Even though I love red wine, I don’t think it would be wise to try to outdo the French in my red wine consumption.  If you decide to add the supplement to  your diet, try to find one branded by a reputable company. I am purchasing the Walgreen’s brand because I have some faith in the quality control of a national chain.  I have not notice any side effects as of yet but will keep you posted.

And if you decide to ingest yours the old fashioned way. Pinot Noir seems to have the highest concentrations of the resveratrol.

Dennis

I used to try to cheat breakfast. Fueled by plenty of caffeine I would try to make it to lunch. The theory was that if I was trying to lose weight, if I could just make it to lunch, I would have saved all the calories for future use. The reality was that my low blood sugar would cause a throbbing headache, which would lower my productivity and my grouchiness would threaten everyone who came into contact with me until lunchtime.

When I began my HealthJag I came across some interesting research by the Mayo Clinic that made me rethink my strategy. Their research showed that skipping breakfast generally results in an increase in total daily caloric intake, a higher fat diet, and weight gain. All of the causes of this are not exactly clear, but I am a guy who likes to play the percentages. If eating breakfast can make me lose weight faster, eat a healthier diet, AND feel better until lunch, it might be worth a try. So I now try to eat a healthy breakfast each day. Does it work? All I know is that when I was trying to cheat breakfast I got to my highest weight ever, and when I stopped cheating breakfast I got to my lowest weight since college. So for me it seems to work.

Starting tomorrow, a new daily post will be featured, “What You Should Have Had for Breakfast This Morning!”.  It will be a healthy breakfast recipe that I have tried and enjoy.  But the picture accompanying this post is definitely NOT what you should be eating for breakfast this morning!

Baseball.

It’s as simple as that. We now have a consensus that the home run records of Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa were fueled by steroids, the ultimate nutritional supplement. We also know that marginal major league baseball players and 45 year old pitchers have been catapulted to MVP performance levels by steroids.

I am not suggesting that steroids are a good thing, only that they demonstrate that we know for sure that certain nutritional supplements do have a dramatic effect on your body’s performance AND your health. Most of us want to take advantage of the health benefits that nutritional supplements can provide. The biggest concern is the unregulated nature of the supplement market. There is no guarantee that what the label says about those pills is actually what’s inside those pills.  Nor are there guarantees about ingredients or impurities not listed on the label. We don’t know for sure that they are effective or that the negative effects don’t outweigh the positive. There are hundreds of unregulated supplements advertised on the internet and I am sure that most of them are either useless or harmful.

Vitamins and dietary supplements, both those made domestically and those made internationally, do not need to get approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before they are sold to the public. Nor does the FDA have any regulations establishing a minimum standard of practice for the manufacture of dietary supplements and vitamins.

So how do we decide on which nutritional supplements to take and which brands to buy? The easy way is to get all of your nutrition naturally and forget the supplements. But since I want to lead a vigorous life to at least 100, I want the same advantage that Bobby, Mark and Sammy wanted against the rest of the world. What I am doing is trying to see if there is a consensus on a particular supplement’s benefits by major respected health leaders and if there is scientific evidence to support the claims.  Then when I make a decision  to take a particular supplement, I will try to find a brand that is labeled by a major manufacturing company or retailer in the United States.  I understand the major holes in this method. But until there is some regulation of the supplement market, there is little else that we can do.

In the coming weeks I will share with you the supplements that I think are beneficial. Please share yours with me!

Two years ago my sedentary lifestyle and poor diet left me unable to effectively fight the everyday battles that life brings.  It had sapped my physical energy levels, drained my  intellectual energy levels and affected my personal relationships. I felt that if I had totally lost control of everything in my life, and didn’t know how to regain it.  Many of the self-help books and tips that I read told me that control over your life is an illusion anyway so you have to learn to accept this reality.  But for a control freak, that is not an acceptable answer. I know that I can’t control how the economy is affecting my life, and I can’t control the choices that other people make that affect me.  But as I thought about it, I came to realize that there are a few things in my life that I can control. I CAN control the choices I make each day of what to put into my mouth, and the choices I make about my daily activities, and the choices I make about what I am thinking. And these choices have a major impact on the quality of my life, in spite of the fact that the rest of the universe seems indifferent to my existence. So I chose to end my crying jag and begin something more productive: a HealthJag.

I came to realize that my Health is NOT  the most important thing in my life. It is the ONLY important thing. With great health, I have the energy to be more focused, productive,  adventurous, attentive to relationships and make better decisions about everything. Without my Health I am capable of none of these things. My HealthJag is about having fun while exploring the things that matter about living a healthy and vigorous life, and about feeling well enough to live each day to the fullest. It is my hope that this HealthJag will last a long time. I know the longer it lasts, the longer I will live, the better I will feel, and the happier and more fulfilled I will be.  

During the last two years I have lost 40 pounds, climbed the Grand Teton and learned that a HealthJag can lead to a more adventurous, vigorous and fulfilling life.  But this is just the beginning of my journey. I want to invite you to come on a HealthJag with me. On our journey together we will discover and share information about what we can do each day to live healthier and more energetic lives. I will try to share something each day with you and I hope that you will share your comments with me.

Dennis Wilson