WHY EXERCISE DOES NOT NECESSARILY LEAD TO WEIGHT LOSS IN ALL PEOPLE
written by: ALEX HUTCHINSON
Monday, May 14, 2012
There’s no doubt that exercise burns calories. So why has study after study found such modest average weight loss even after subjects follow relatively vigorous, well-designed exercise programs?
The usual answer is that you unwittingly eat more to compensate for your workout. That’s partly true, but it skims over a vital detail: Few of us are “average.” Break down the study results, and you find that exercise is highly effective at melting off pounds for some people, and ineffective for others. Scientists are now teasing out the factors that explain these different responses – and poking holes in weight-loss plans that promise one-size-fits-all success.
“There’s currently a strong interest in identifying ‘behavioural phenotypes’ within the obese population so that treatments can be more specifically targeted,” saysGraham Finlayson, a biological psychologist at the University of Leeds. “This is the case for exercise, food, diet, pharmacologic and surgical approaches.”
The wide variability in response to exercise is shown clearly in the results of a 12-week program of supervised exercise, published in a review co-authored by Dr. Finlayson in the British Journal of Sports Medicine last month. Although the intensity and duration of each workout was the same for all 58 subjects, some lost more than 10 kilograms while others actually gained a small amount of weight – opposite extremes from the average loss of 3.2 kilograms. (more…)
The beating of women is due to mental illness–wanting to be the woman being beaten is the same–the other side of the coin
Irritated today by a radio interview I heard about the stupid Rihanna/Brown thing.
I can’t stand them, and am disappointed by how so many people are talking about them as though they matter…
But what really got my goat was the discussion NOT mentioning that Chris Brown is mentally ill.
The ‘expert’ went on about his “unfortunate lack of contrition”…
It sounded inane…like observing the lack of contrition of a schizophrenic.
And in the same vein…battered women are ILL TOO!
Why is this not more commonly observed?
Sane women, when punched in the face the first time…LEAVE.
CALL THE COPS.
SHOOT A GUN.
Do something, and seek recourse…take umbrage.
Insane women, seek that masochistic thrill over and over and over.
It’s been studied and reported on so many times in my life.
I am surprised that this whole episode is being discussed as though it were the 1950s or 1550s and not 2012, when we KNOW that..both parties to (chronic) Domestic Abuse are basically insane.
[And here, of course I am not looking to 'blame the victim', by any means...but observe a scientific reality]
I am not surprised, and am saddened that I am even babbling over this in this post.
I do not expect them, these “stars” to behave normally, nor do I expect people we may know, who are not celebrities, to behave normally .
Women who find themselves in a series of abusive relationships NEED HELP.
It is not easy, actually, to find the men who WILL actually punch you in the face, kick you when you’re down, and bruise you so it isn’t publicly visible…jesus.
You have to hunt for them.
This is the same reason I get infuriated when Honour Killing is quickly labelled, without thought, ‘Domestic Abuse’.
Honour Killing is Socially Sanctioned. It is a COMMUNITY CONSPIRACY.
Domestic Abuse, on the other hand involves the insanity of one, and more than usually, two.
INSANITY.
We can not analyze behaviours to seek normal reactions of (victim) escape, (perpetrator) contrition, etc.
The expert on the radio actually compared Brown with Michael Virk–the dude who abused DOGS (and is now apparently very contrite and making public service appearances).
Hurting a DOG is obviously different from hurting a human life partner. (and I never like placing animals as lesser than humans, but in domestic abuse situations, I must–you don’t have sex with your dog, you don’t have children with your dog, you don’t have the complexities of an adult human relationship with a dog)
C’mon people.
I hate when the media fails to spread knowledge, but merely perpetuates further ignorance.
I don’t have high expectations of the likes of Oprah, but this was CBC Radio.
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I think in almost all circumstances both partners ought to be held on mental health legislation, for professional intervention and addressing underlying causal conditions.
-rudhro
[VIDEO] Yak Blood Drinking Festival – Mustang, Nepal
A Hindu who refuses red body fluid from any bovine ought refuse white body fluid as well–the darn thing doesn’t DIE. We blood-let ourselves in some cultures. It’s a great ethical-vegetarian compromise! The future of ethical foods–free range blood sausages. Mmm, protein!
- rudhro
Officially Selected in the 6th International Film Festival Rural Arica Nativa 2011, CHILE.
Festival of drinking fresh blood of Yak to cure diseases, like gastritis, is being celebrated in Nepal’s north-west district Mustang.
The festival is celebrated twice a year during April-May and July-August by local people.
Some 5-10 glasses of Yak blood is taken out by piercing its neck and drunk without killing the animal.
It costs around Rs 60 to drink a glass of Yak blood and people drink instantly before it freezes.
More videos by Director Chetan Raghuram…
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The yak, Bos grunniens or Bos mutus, is a long-haired bovine found throughout the Himalayan region of south Central Asia, theTibetan Plateau and as far north as Mongolia and Russia. In addition to a large domestic population, there is a small, vulnerable wild yak population. In the 1990s, a concerted effort was undertaken to help save the wild yak population.
[FILM] “”True sexuality demands the destruction of the ego,” she says, …a kind of self-annihilation…, which is “the opposite to what Freud proposes.”—’A DANGEROUS METHOD’ –brings to mind the novel “The Interpretation of Murder”
I really enjoyed this film. Having been recently ruminating once more on the sociological pathology of Honour Killings and the necessity to control the chastity of young females in most patriarchical societies, this film made me wonder whether it was indeed the birth of the Austrian-’Jewish’ school of psychoanalysis which led to the advent of the liberation of female sexuality in Western society. This may be obvious to some, but I find the potential of this quite intriguing. Especially in light of my introduction to Otto Gross from this movie. He actually deserves a separate post on his own (soon). I think psychoanalysis may be owed a great debt by the Western Society generally, a society which today is quite distinct from its Victorian Era incarnation, having had so many taboos and inter-related psychic truths brought out of closets into the public to be acknowledged and dealt with. The writing in this film is quite erudite, making one almost want to take notes at times. Such as the questioning of WHY humans, while such sexual animals, have this overwhelming need to repress this sexuality at the same time. This of course, is what the foundation of psychoanalysis was all about–the search for an understanding of this unfortunate duality…which inevitably leads to emotional baggage in a great number of humanoids. This film is recommended for neurotic uber-ruminators. Perhaps as a elementary introduction to the history of psychoanalysis. Also do read The Interpretation of Murder.
-rudhro
Keira Knightley in ‘A Dangerous Method’ — Oscar-Worthy or Laughable?
“Cooked food provides more energy than when it’s consumed raw” // “raw-food diets generally lead to weight loss”
WENCY LEUNG
Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011
Do you like your steak rare or well done? A new study suggests we may be biologically adapted to skip rare, still-bloody beef in favour of thoroughly cooked meat.
Researchers have found meat provides more energy when it’s cooked, leading them to believe cooking played a key role in human evolution.
Lead author Rachel Carmody, a Ph.D. candidate in the department of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, and a team of researchers compared how different preparations can affect the energy value of food. Using mice as test subjects, they found that the energy the rodents gained was greater when their food was cooked than when it was pounded and consumed raw.
The researchers fed separate groups of mice organic sweet potato or organic lean beef, prepared in various ways, over 40 days. They tracked the changes in the animals’ body mass to determine the energy they gained or lost on each diet.
Researchers hypothesize that changes to the structure of proteins caused by cooking may allow more to be absorbed and digested by the consumer, rather than by bacteria in the gut. Moreover, cooking makes muscle fibres easier to chew and increases the surface area of the meat that is exposed to gastric acids and enzymes. Cooking may also kill pathogens, like E. coli and salmonella, thus reducing the amount of energy the body expends for immune defence, the researchers suggested.
Their findings support the idea that traditional calorie-counting may be an inaccurate measure of the energy content of food. That also explains why raw-food diets generally lead to weight loss, Ms. Carmody said in an e-mail. However, such diets are not without risk; the researchers noted that previous studies found raw foodists experience high rates of chronic energy deficiency and reduced fertility. “This finding suggests that, in humans, the caloric gains conferred by cooking may be not merely advantageous but also necessary for normal biological function,” says the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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So, the lesson I’m taking away from this? Isn’t some wacko, cultish Oprah-fad diet rumour. But if I didn’t go to the gym, or had no time jog, i’mma eat rawer. Whereas if I haven’t been eating enough on a single day, I’ll eat more well done veggies, meat etc. One should never eat the same things all the time, prepared the same way. That is insanity, and anality. Not to mention BORING. Our ancestors as they hunted and gathered, had a variety of things going through their systems, depending on what was hunted or how far the tiger was or what yummy bush berries they walked into. Variety and moderation is what, in my opinion, is healthy.
-rudhro
Truth about potato chips revealed: Baked is not better than fried
PAUL IRISH
STAFF REPORTER
November 8, 2011
Are you one of those who browse the snack rack at your local convenience store looking for those “healthier” baked potato chips as opposed to the artery-clogging fried variety?
If so, you may be wasting your time.
Reports from the United States confirms that baked chips — although featuring a lower fat level — have high levels of acrylamide, a cancer-causing and potentially neurotoxic chemical.
It’s not an additive but is formed — as a general rule — when food is heated enough to produce a fairly dry and brown/yellow surface.
The research supports work in Canada and other countries that point to the chemical as being a concern. (more…)
[AUDIO] CBC RADIO’S QUIRKS AND QUARKS DISCUSSES THE HUMAN POPULATION REACHING 7 BILLION, HOW IT HAPPENED, WHAT IT MEANS, AND WHY WE SHOULD CARE
The United Nations estimates that on October 31st, the world’s population will reach 7 billion. Although the actual number is not certain, it does underlie the fact that our population is growing at an alarming rate. It took until the early 1800′s to reach the 1 billion mark, but the last 50 years alone have seen the births of 4 of the total 7 billion This rapid increase raises the question, how many more people can the earth sustain? Or have we already surpassed the earth’s capacity? Among the many people asking questions like this are Dr. Madeline Weld, President of the Ottawa-based Population Institute of Canada, and Robert Engelman, President of The Worldwatch Institute in Washington. They discuss how various factors – including access to contraception, the empowerment of women, poverty, consumerism, and the environment – apply to our population growth, now and in the future.
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_________RUDHROISM
“Be afraid, be very afraid…” I love this–I have thought about so much of what they discuss in this two person interview. Oil, a non-renewable resource has allowed us to “over-shoot” where we as humanity really oughtta be today. The ‘stlen’ or ‘free’ energy boost since the 1850s. The unsustainable industrialized production of foods such as corn. The inefficient production of meat. The fact that cultures have not changed, yet babies no longer die. Cultures dictated that a “real man” or a “real woman” reproduce at a rate much higher than necessary for population replacement. But this was so when if you had 8 children, 5 perhaps were not expected to reach reproductive age. Today all 8 will make it, and in turn produce 8 of their own children due to cultural memes such as religion which dictate that this is the ONLY WAY.
So many have disagreed with me. So many have called me simplistic to point to the growth of population as the REAL problem and climate change as merely a symptom. But it is in no way ‘Malthusian’ to ask, what is the POINT of ‘conservation’, ‘kyoto protocols’, ‘environmental awareness campaigns’ etc etc etc, if EVEN IF we maintain 1990 levels of pollution, carbon consumption, garbage, the number of showers a human takes, and how many times a toilet is flushed per day–thus water use…the food one eats and from whence it originates, IF?
There are 10 Billion, 20 Billion, or 100 Billion humans?
This is not an irrational observation, though I have been told it is. This is not a simple minded, non-intellectual, comment.
This is about the Tragedy of the Commons. This is about witnessing the growth of certain cities, such as Calcutta, Shanghai, Lagos, Mexico City, Tokyo etc and seeing that for a given level of infrastructure, from trains, buses, roads, all the way to the farming lands that feed and the water basins that provide potable water to these megalopoli–only a certain number of people can enjoy them before it all becomes a hellish experience of the scarcity of resources writ large, on a daily basis. No room for your child in school, no electricity, no water, no fresh fruits and vegetables, no room on the road for your car, no sufficient public services of any kind.
I have been told that life and economics is not like this, as eventually all people reduce their fertility rates when they reach a standard level of income. I actually have a minor in Economics and have studied a variety of theories on developmental economics. So I am not speaking from ignorance or ‘a little learning is a dangerous thing’. Listen to what is stated as ‘the scientifically sustainable human population’ in the audio link above.
I’d also recommend listening to Robert Wright’s Massey lectures on his book (or reading the book itself) called ‘The Short History of Progress’–where he shows that human history is filled with groups of humans not paying heed to the natural feedback loops of nature. We are a part of nature. And it frustrates me to no end, when humans in 2011 deny the unity that is humanity. There are no more ‘groups’–we are all one group, and are aware of this, in some respects yet not others.
We are all one. It doesn’t MATTER if you live in Edmonton, Mexico City or Calcutta. It doesn’t MATTER what your last name is, what religion you’ve been handed down or converted into and what this meme teaches you. There are basic facts about the sustainability of the human earthling population.
If you add to the population, it affects the whole world. But I don’t think humanity is yet ready to understand that we are indeed one.
““If you’re a typical North American, at the end of a long, stressful day at work, you’re not saying, ‘I can’t wait to get in my car. I would just love to go for a drive.’ It’s much more likely you’ll say, ‘I wish I could go for a walk,’ ” That’s the point at which people run up against what’s called the Marchetti Wall – the psychological barrier against spending more than about an hour getting to work or coming home. The concept is named for a Venetian physicist named Cesare Marchetti, who posited not only that human beings instinctively adjust their lives to avoid travelling more than that amount every day, but that we’ve been doing so since the Neolithic era…”
Cars have ruined our cities, our societies and are relationships–not to mention the more obvious environmental issues. I used to LOVE them…dream about them, yearn for them and have them define my concept of freedom, adulthood and status. I grew up in Edmonton though. Having since driven my last car from Vancouver to Toronto and sold it while it sat unused, cost me parking, insurance and other sundry charges–as I rode my bike or walked in the downtown splendour that is superurban downtown Toronto..I now just view them as moving chambers of internal combustion explosions–whether super new or an old beater: the technology is 150 years old. They are a hassle downtown, and I love that. ”Where do I park?” ”Where’s the gas station?” ”Shit! Another ticket??!!” ”My car’s broken down, I have to repair it for $2500…” “I still can’t find parking!?”
No more for me. And as an Urban Planning Grad Student in 2011, I relish the opportunities awakening in the cities of the world, to go back in time and redesign neighbourhoods and streets for human beings…
To rediscover what Jane Jacobs had referred to as the Ballet of the Streets of her beloved Manhattan. The death of the love affair with the car, is like how smoking is so frowned upon now…a paradigmatic shift is in the works, and as a soon to be professional Urban Planner, I can’t think of a better, practical, more necessary vocation.
Let the War on the Car begin. Let’s rediscover the joys of having Main Streets, not malls, and Eyes on the Street, not eyes in the rearview, and the strengthened Social Capital of familiar faces on the stroll home everyone.
-rudhro
Are we reaching ‘peak car’?
ANITA ELASH
Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011
Anyone who has been stuck in big-city gridlock lately may find this hard to believe, but millions of Westerners are giving up their cars.
Experts say our love affair with the automobile is ending, and that could change much more than how we get around – it presents both an opportunity and an imperative to rethink how we build cities, how governments budget and even the contours of the political landscape.
The most detailed picture of the trend comes from the United States, where the distance driven by Americans per capita each year flatlined at the turn of the century and has been dropping for six years. By last spring, Americans were driving the same distance as they had in 1998. (more…)
Potatoes bad, nuts good for staying slim, Harvard study finds
By Rob Stein, Wednesday, June 22
Everyone knows that people who chow down on french fries, chug soda and go heavy on the red meat tend to pile on more pounds than those who stick to salads, fruits and grains.But is a serving of boiled potatoes really much worse than a helping of nuts? Is some white bread as bad as a candy bar? Could yogurt be a key to staying slim?
The answer to all those questions is yes, according to the provocative revelations produced by a big Harvard project that for the first time details how much weight individual foods make people put on and keep off. (more…)
BLAME THE NAZIS, OR STOP HAVING SEX WITH YOUR COUSINS–HUMANS ARE MORONS
Tânia Moelmann, in 2009, with her 3-month-old twins, Kiara, left, and Yasmin, in the Brazilian village of São Pedro in Cândido Godói.
TWIN ‘MYSTERY’ IN BRAZIL MIGHT BE SOLVED
In a Brazilian Town, a Rogue Gene and a Boom in Twins
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO and MYRNA DOMIT
March 24, 2011
SANTIAGO, Chile — For years, so many twins have been born in the small southern Brazilian town of Cândido Godói that residents wonder whether something mysterious lurks in the water, or even if Josef Mengele, the Nazi physician known as the Angel of Death, conducted experiments on the women there. (more…)
[AUDIO] THE DETOX DIETING MYTH–”There’s no evidence that detoxification diets speed the removal of toxins from the body or that the elimination of toxins will make you healthier. Medical experts believe the healthy human body is well equipped to deal with toxins. Our skin, lungs, kidneys, liver and gastrointestinal tract are efficient at removing or neutralizing toxic substances within hours of consumption.”
BBC – Scientists dismiss ‘detox myth’
“There is no evidence that products widely promoted to help the body “detox” work, scientists warn.
The researchers warned that, at worst, some detox diets could have dangerous consequences and, at best, they were a waste of money.” (more…)
What Really Causes Runner’s High? The brain’s own stash of Marijuana…
February 16, 2011
For decades, endorphins have hogged the credit for producing “runner’s high,” that fleeting sense of euphoria and calm that many people report experiencing after prolonged exercise. Who among us, after an especially satisfying workout, hasn’t thought, “ah, my endorphins are kicking in.” Endorphins are the world’s sole celebrity peptide.
Endorphins first gained notoriety in exercise back in the 1980s when researchers discovered increased blood levels of the substance after prolonged workouts. (Endorphins, for those who know the word but not the molecules’ actual function, are the body’s home-brewed opiates, with receptors and actions much like those of pain-relieving morphine.) Endorphins, however, are composed of relatively large molecules, “which are unable to pass the blood-brain barrier,” (more…)
There’s a Jungle in Madrid’s Train Station
Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain
May 22, 2007
It seems sustainability and well-being have finally reached non-places such as airports and train stations. We wrote about Madrid’s T4 airport extension with its fabulous bamboo roof that lets natural daylight in. If you travel by train (the treehugger way to go), the Spanish capital doesn’t let you down either.
They decided to grow a jungle in the main train station called Atocha, just down the road from el Prado Museum. (more…)
Why wine drinking and monogamy go together
BEPPI CROSARIOL
Tuesday, Feb. 01, 2011
Among the many jabs temperance advocates like to take at alcohol is that it promotes promiscuity. One glass over the line and we all know what comes next. Loveless sex, lecherous men and “fallen women.”
But what if I told you that wine-drinking cultures throughout history have tended to be more monogamous than their abstinent counterparts? What if polygyny – the social doctrine sanctioning multiple female partners for a man – tended to prevail in societies that did not imbibe?
That paradox was uncovered recently (more…)
What’s better: 30 minutes of swimming or running?
ALEX HUTCHINSON
Globe and Mail
Monday, Oct. 04, 2010
As a form of regular aerobic exercise, swimming has lots of benefits. It uses large muscle groups, can be maintained continuously for long periods of time, and is easy on lower-body joints because it doesn’t involve bearing body weight. But research on the health-promoting effects of swimming is surprisingly sparse – and some studies now suggest that a half-hour of swimming may not provide the same benefits as a half-hour of comparable land-based exercise.
The problem is that your body gets a fundamentally different physiological challenge from being horizontal in water compared with being upright on dry land, thanks to the hydrostatic pressure and high thermal conductivity of water, according to Hirofumi Tanaka, director of the University of Texas’s Cardiovascular Aging Research Laboratory. (more…)
