Do Calories Count? 1st Law of Thermo (Part 1)
This is a two-parter. Part 2 is here.
Calories are a contentious subject in the fitness and nutrition community, especially around these parts. The whole foods corner stresses that food quality is more important than quantity, and the low-carbers place the emphasis on hormonal balance; both of these stances can be extorted with little effort into the definitive “calories don’t count.â€
I must say, this calorie apathy is extremely tempting to buy into, but I can’t quite get myself to embrace it completely. On one hand, I know our hunter/gatherer ancestors’ dinner didn’t make a stop on the scale between beast and belly, and they did just fine. There absolutely must have been times of excess (I’d venture to guess some lived their whole lives in times of proverbial “feastâ€), so I don’t buy the claim that they stayed healthy due to lack of food availability. This is why I believe that staying healthy and lean should be relatively effortless – and certainly should not require scales or measuring cups.
1 comment April 26, 2011
Manic Monday: French Fry Follies
It is 1949, and McDonald’s has just added french fries to the menu at their only location. This delicious side dish was simply potatoes cut into strips and fried in beef tallow. Those were the days…
Fast forward to 1990, when the artery-clogging combo of Ancel Keys and George McGovern have created a culture unfriendly to familiar fats we fancied – the saturated variety. With their irresponsible application of flawed logic they convinced Americans that McDonald’s should ditch the animal fats in their fryers in favor of industrial seed oils, ensuring that American health would continue to decline significantly for the next 40 years. Oops.
1 comment April 25, 2011
Michael Pollan and Time Travel
I have been reading some Michael Pollan lately, and I must say, I’m impressed. First I read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, then In Defense of Food.
I do, however, take offense on a few points. Pollan’s effort to move the American diet back in time is a huge step in the right direction, but he doesn’t go far enough. He seems to think we should step back 100 years or so and give it another shot. I think we should wind the clocks back even further, more like 10,000 years. Surprisingly, this seemingly major time step only leads to a few differences.
Specifically, my primary complaint is that he supports consumption of wheat in whole-grain products. I’m also not a huge fan of the steps he takes to arrive at the “mostly plants” portion of his mantra. Let’s dive in.
April 23, 2011
Biomechanics of Bicep Curls
Another dry report compiled for my Ortho class, again may be interesting to some.
Every day, thousands of American men in gyms across the country perform biceps curls in the mirror. This exercise, commonly referred to as “curls for the girls†is a staple of the modern male resistance training routine. The widespread proliferation of this movement necessitates a deep understanding of the implications on the human body; namely, the forces sustained by the elbow joint and produced by the surrounding muscles in the execution of the movement.
April 23, 2011
Dr. Katz – Sugar Defender
Last week, Gary Taubes wrote an article for the New York Times, asking “Is Sugar Toxic?“. Those of you familiar with Taubes will find it no surprise that he answers this question in the affirmative.
I don’t think Taubes is an absolute genius, in fact I think he is a little off base in blaming carbohydrate so completely for the current health state of the country – I tend to believe that all the nasty new stuff (Kurt Harris’ Neolithic Agents of Disease, or NAD for short) are to blame, including refined carbohydrate. Despite this small difference, I consider myself a fan of Taubes.
Since the publishing of this article, many have come out of the woodwork to voice their own opinions on the matter, especially those in strong disagreement with Taubes’ argument. Today we’ll look at one article from that camp, one written by a doctor. Read on.
April 20, 2011
What’s Being Said