sade082

Two friends were discussing dieting. Friend A said he wanted to lose weight and gain muscle. Friend B said, "You can't do both at the same time."  I intervened: "That's a myth because you can. Friend B said, "No you can't. It's impossible."  I said, "It is possible, and I have. That's the entire premise of work out programs like the Body-For-Life."  "Do you have proof?" he said.   "Yes. As a matter of fact, I have loads of proof. I have articles. I have myself." "What do you mean, you have yourself."  "I am proof. I have lost weight and gained muscle lots of times. I have lost up to 40 pounds while gaining muscle. I mean, I'm no Arnold, but I do have some muscle tone that didn't exist." See, that was the end of the discussion. But this highlights the difference between common sense and what they teach in colleges and universities. They teach conventional wisdom. They teach the same st...

So, I started a weight loss program in 1998. Eggs were not on the recommended food list. I ate fake eggs, but they were expensive and no fun. Today it appears eggs are now recommended. They are now the staple of my diet. So, what has changed? When did I start eating eggs? Why? Well, it started when I was listening to a radio program on the radio. This would have been sometime in 2015. A pediatrician was being interviewed. He said researchers were studying why children pooped out during the course of the day. He said a theory was that they were eating foods high in carbohydrates for breakfast. They were eating lots of foods like cereal. By the third hour and before lunch, their carbohydrate levels tanked. This made it hard to pay attention. This affected grades for the third hour. I'm simplifying this, but this is the gist of it. I'm sure they developed various theories attempting to explain this. Should lunch be earlier? Or did it have to do with what kids were eating for break...

When it comes to medicine we have to be careful what we read. This is particularly true when it comes to conventional wisdom, especially when something is said without citation. Something like, "High-fat foods may cause weight gain and heart disease." We are fed a barrage of information about fatty foods causing weight gain and heart disease. Seldom is there a reference supporting this. It's just said as though it were a fact, similar to the one that says, "Humans are causing global warming." Evidence, please? At least with global warming, it's computer moderated information. What they don't tell you is that the information that comes out is only as good as what comes it. So, if what goes in is junk, what comes out is junk. But, when it comes to fatty foods causing weight gain and heart disease, there's no evidence to be heard from. In this case, it seems that someone just made this up because it sounds good . Then everyone else just kind of went wit...

Sus-Prhine was once a top-line treatment for asthma in emergency rooms. I am a victim of a myth. I am guilty. I believed, and have for a long time, that epinephrine is better at opening airways and ending asthma attacks than albuterol. I am guilty of thinking, at times, "Why don't we just give epinephrine?" However, truth be told, according to studies, epinephrine is not any better than albuterol. This is one of the few times where the medical profession dispelled a myth and realized the truth before me. Various studies in the late 1980's and early 1990's showed that albuterol was equally effective as epinephrine at opening airways. It was also shown to be far safer. The most convincing study was published in 1991, and I wrote about it in my post, "1991: Study finds albuterol works just as well as albutero l." The study gave albuterol and epinephrine to various children of an average age around 8-years-old, and the various testing done showed that both m...

So, New York City has now received permission to fine chain restaurants for serving up too much salt, or for not using icons to warn customers of salty food. This ruling allows me to segue into a topic I've been meaning to get into for quite some time: What if they are wrong? What if too much salt is not harmful? If salt is proven to be safe, will New York change this ruling? This subject kind of touches home with me because my mom suffered for many years with hypertension, and still does. She used to have to drink these horrid tasting drinks to keep her blood pressure in check. I think they were potassium drinks, but I'd have to ask her. My mom was also encouraged not to eat foods that contained salt, so she never added salt to anything she cooked. She never ate foods like potato chips, and used a salt substitute. The science makes sense. The theory has it that eating salt raises the level of sodium chloride in your bloodstream, and this salt is absorbed into cells lining the ...