Search This Blog

Monday, July 8, 2013

She says, "No One Really Understands Blood Sugar and Insulin"

She is Dr. Marlene Merritt and she has several YouTube videos that are definitely worth a look.  I'll give you some links below.

How it all works is actually very understandable they way she explains and in short videos too, not the long ones.  But for me, it was nice to hear someone else talk about the role of blood sugar and insulin in chronic inflammation.  Diabetics die of heart disease far more than of anything else, and far more often than non diabetics.    Heart Disease in an inflammatory disease.  But then so are most (or all) of the diseases of civilization.  Want to have an active functional life after 50 or 60 or 70?  Keep blood sugar low.  Repair insulin resistance.  Get your chronic inflammation gone.  Want to know more about how?  Watch these three videos, it's a good start.  Read my booklet, "Inflammation Run Amok" at http://mindingthemiddleagedmiddle.com/ but start now to repair the damage you've already done and insure good years ahead.




Saturday, July 6, 2013

Post Menopausal Weight Loss

This is a subject I'm critically interested in, more so recently.  For several reasons.

1.  Aging and weight are correlated--not cause and effect--but mixed in together
2.  Disease states of civilization (and age) are tied in with metabolic syndrome usually characterized by the middle aged middle
3.  Since moving to my homestead almost a year ago, I've been losing weight but not necessarily by the theoretical means that is biologically relevant (sugar/insulin/fat storage).
4.  It's become obvious I need to revise some of my booklet on weight loss and I've been working on that document.
5.  Some aspects of this subject left me baffled and looking for better or more complete answers.
6.  I want to be thin again, and being down half-way there is better, but not good enough.

This morning I read a (long) article in Mother Jones, about some of this/these subjects.  I will give you a link shortly, but first let me tell you why this is important.

This article is one of the best I've ever seen in regular media (well, Mother Jones may not be totally regular) that talks about chronic inflammation and how it's tied into obesity and disease.  It's explained well and doesn't pussy foot around much about diseases that "might have an inflammatory component."  It flat out tells the truth that inflammation that never shuts down CAUSES disease.

And not that it's new information to me, but it pretty much also says that inflammation causes obesity, too.  Sometimes I have to hear things a lot of times for it to sink in.  Like a few years ago when I must have read dozens of times how a lot of people are sensitive to wheat.  Then one time I read that and said, "Ok. ok, I'll just try the wheat elimination diet to prove it doesn't apply to me!"  I was wrong.  It applies to me big time.  Getting off wheat was the biggest player in putting my severe arthritis into remission.

But this article covers another factor in all this aging/wellness/obesity stuff which is the health of the gut--most specifically the gut bacteria that actually control much more of aging/wellness/obesity stuff.

That said, this article is still stuck on "whole grains are good" mantra without recognizing they are mostly empty calories with very low nutrient and high toxicity.  Also where there is talk about fat, no one is distinguishing what kind of fat.  So keep those two things in mind as caveats. 

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/04/gut-microbiome-bacteria-weight-loss

I now have a glimmering of why I'm losing weight--finally--having been low carb for a lot longer than losing the extra weight.  In fact it may have much to do with all the probiotics I eat, drink and take as supplements, getting my gut flora into better shape after all the damage done to it by antibiotics.

I commend the article for some excellent information and not pulling punches.