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Lately
I have been running and bicycling in the park as an adjunct to my
exercise training. I also got a fanny pack to lighten my load. As a
result, I am experiencing much less back pain. My old cross-country
running 180/min stride rate returned to me very quickly, and I am
expecting steady improvement in endurance.
This is my first time
running in decades, but I am managing a steady running pace in 2km. It
is a very gratifying experience to do this at age 50+.
Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/
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Adult muscle loss happens to almost everyone, and much of the muscle mass is lost prior to middle age. If you do nothing about it, you are losing ground. Strength training can address this problem.
Muscle is insidiously converted to fat, without being noticed. Even if you maintain a constant weight, you are most likely still losing muscle mass. If you gain weight, you are also still most likely losing muscle mass. If you are suffering with lowered metabolism, it is most likely due to loss of muscle mass. In addition to lowered metabolism, loss of muscle mass is associated with many of the diseases of aging, such as metabolic disorders, diabetes, bone loss, and degenerative disease.
Longevity and calorie restriction aficionados are frequently stymied and puzzled by a loss in metabolic rate, which often occurs even in those who are actively engaged in healthful pursuits. They simply can't eat as much food as they used to, because it makes them fat. The most likely explanation for this problem is muscle loss, and I have observed muscle loss in many such people, including myself. It is quite simple: More muscle uses more energy, burns more fat, and resists reductions in the metabolic rate. Fortunately for me, strength training appears to have reversed the trend of muscle loss, and it can help you to. In addition to feeling better, your improved appearance will likely attract much more favorable attention from other people.
I am a lifelong bicycle commuter, supplement user, and I am very heath conscious, because of my longevity goals. After over 30 years of bicycle commuting, I am only convinced that it is not enough. Aerobic exercise and cardio-conditioning programs are insufficient to the aim, and strength training is a necessary component. I am over 50, but recently I made impressive strength gains using a Bowflex training program. My muscles were likely pre-conditioned by the lifelong bicycle regimen, but I am also rather convinced that the clean-living Mormon lifestyle, and the parsley program described in this blog also helped accelerate the gains. I recommend all of these, but today I am especially recommending strength training, so often the missing piece.
Consider a life without strength. Is it possible to do anything at all without strength? It is no surprise to see it equated with the highest pursuits, and our very existence my depend on strength training. Moreover, it is just about the only known way to resist muscle loss, and it should be viewed as a necessary component of any longevity program. Strength training recommendations are now a part of federal fitness guidelines, because it is beneficial to anyone, regardless of their state of health. My recommendation is to embrace strength and avoid muscle loss. If you do nothing about muscle loss, you are already only losing ground to much regret. Start a strength training regimen now.
Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/
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It was great to hear about the progress with diabetic neuropathy that is being made today. Are we saying that diabetic neuropathy results from faulty neuronal regeneration?
Some general principles apply. Regeneration is an application of the development apparatus. As such, it requires healthy signaling pathways, gradients, and intercellular recognition factors. We study the faulty signaling pathways in diabetes, but such errors likely also lead to missing or incorrect expression of intercellular recognition factors. The result would be that cells which may be able to enter the regeneration pathway are blocked because they cannot get correct coordinates, as it were. They cannot tell where in the body they are, or else they get a signal that they are in the wrong place, when they are not. I think that this type of problem results in a whole host of degenerative issues. Cells may wear out and die, but the expected replacements do not arrive, simply because they do not know where to go.
Problems cascade, for example, if the schwann cells do not arrive first, then the axons may not be able to determine their regeneration path. I feel that similar problems may result in diseases of the bone and muscle. Signals and recognition factors that distinguish bone from cartilage from joint may be missing or expressed in the wrong place, for example. Tendons may not be able to determine where to attach to the bone or the muscle, so that when damage occurs, it is effectively permanently disabling and degenerative. Cartilage might attempt to regenerate as bone or as joint.
Diabetic neuropathy teaches us that such shortfalls in regeneration result in pain, which would be logically trivially obvious. Moreover, this would likely explain the pain resulting from other issues, such as arthritis and the overtraining injuries which do not heal. Pain pathologies resulting from faulty regeneration should be distinguished from those that are amenable to therapeutic intervention, and to training/recovery cycles. For example, regenerating neurons will require desensitization to reduce the pain level. Degenerating neurons will respond adversely to desensitization. One infers that mild neuropathies and other issues can be reduced by strenuous training or therapeutic regimens. There are likely similar benefits to be obtained in the bone, cartilage, or in mildly arthritic joints.
Personally, I am making great strides with my training program, and the mild aches and pains which I associated with CR-related regimens, have been reduced. It is likely that the training has been therapeutic to regenerated tissues. If that is the case, then one would expect continued progress in the coming year. If a road block occurs in strength gains, then one might infer a blockage in the generation of new muscle tissue. I ordered a Bowflex rod upgrade today. We will see what happens.
Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/
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How to kill a cell that lost a critical phosphatase?
Don't know. The best strategy is to avoid making such errant
cells. One possibility is to use metabolic control, calorie restriction,
to keep the cell from getting activated. This does not kill the bad cell, it
merely prevents activation, a workaround, a band-aid. It is crucial to get adequate supplementation during calorie restriction, because it
is almost impossible to get all the vitamins you need on a restricted
diet.
consider the mast cell:
The cell turns on, but lingers on past the point of utility. It might not turn off at all. As a
result, the system receives too much histamine, an adverse
reaction, though usually a minor one. This is also an excellent
analogy for things happening throughout the immune response and whole
body. It is a metric for an error in metabolic control, the band-aid.
In due course, the adversely activated cell is likely to suffer further
damage, and then it will succumb to metabolic control like a cancer
cell succumbs to chemo. Thus, sustained CR-related regimens _may_
reduce the population of damaged cells over time. Tough work.
The CR-memetics, like flavonoids, are also tough work, because they
are so likely to make you hungry.
Fasting might be easier, as abstinance is often easier than self-control.
Fasting also might work faster, as it were, and more reliably. The
reason for this may not be immediately apparent. Consider that the
malfunctioning cell is using too much energy, and it is slow to
come out of that state, if at all. Fasting lowers the overall energy level
below what CR-related regimens can do, so that it might be expected
to kill even more of the errant cells that are using too much energy.
The duration of the fast matters. Even a good long night's sleep
might be expected to kill some errant cells. Harder cases will
require more fasting, and more extended fasting. It might be
reasonable to extend the fast all the way to the point where it
begins to become unhealthful, in order to kill the errant cells that
are most intransigent. In my estimation, this might take more than
a month, depending on the starting weight. Be sure and keep
an eye on your BMI, body mass index. For a shorter fast,
drop the supplements on the last few days. The healthy cells may
have reduced needs for supplementation under deep fasting conditions,
but errant cells, may be needing the nutrients, and they will already
be stressed by the extended fast. If results are encouraging, then
repeat the fast after a period of recovery. Be sure and resume a
healthful diet and supplementation regimen as part of your recovery
plan. You will likely find this part irresistable ;-}.
After two extended fasts, I have become more concerned about the
possibilty of muscle loss during fasting, but with my new Bowflex,
this is less of a worry. Any healthful strength training regimen will do.
I intend to start a second round of fasting in the next couple of weeks,
having completed a six week fast at the end of March. I have been
enjoying my recovery period very much, but I am also anxious to give
this a try, with a ~7 day supplementation cutoff at the end. I may be letting you know
how it turns out, and how the addition of strength training to the fast
worked out as well.
Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/
"This kind cometh not out but by much fasting." - Jesus Christ, say a prayer for me ;-)
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Much has been made of the antioxident effect of coffee and its metabolic
derivatives. Give such care in the analysis, one wonders why it is not
more frequently observed that roasting likely annihilates the beneficial
quality of the substance. Moreover, in addition to destroying most of
the beneficial antioxident character of the coffee, roasting likely
produces unhealthful and even genotoxic alkaloids. Given the large
amounts of caffeine and reactive phenolics with their unsaturated side
chains, it seems inevitable to me. Most importantly perhaps, the same
argument can be made regarding the roasting of nuts. Send me to Mars.
I need to swear off of Planters Nuts. No snickers on my face.
Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/
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Visit proclus realm! http://proclus.tripod.com/
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Asthma,
red-faced histamine release, itchy eyes, etc, could be an advance
indicator of pulmonary hypertension. Think mast cells. Just sayin.
Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/
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This is a short update, and hopefully, there will be more to write later. I've started up a new strength training regimen using the Bowflex PR1000, which is quite enjoyable, and progress is being made. In addition, I was so curious about the prospect of hunger potentiation and manipulation, which I mentioned in the previous blog entry, that I started an elimination diet regimen, in order to get some personal experience. I am also reasoning that there will be serendipitous insights, which seems to be the case. I am theorizing the matter relates to food allergies and other allergies as well, so I chose Dr, Sears' elimination diet as a starting place. Fortunately for myself, I can take periodic breaks from the regimen,
because this is not for a pressing medical condition, such as food
allergies. Arbitrary food elimination is another possibility, but Dr. Sears' approach should make it easier to isolate effects. For example, I am curious about the comparison of rice to wheat, and it is very easy to substitute in the wheat. I also substituted salmon for turkey. It is a rather painstaking approach, and progress is slow. Moreover, it is likely that strict adherence to a high carb regimen is unwise in the long term, unless you are under a doctor's supervision. Remember that, if you decide to try the diet. Here are the links, and hopefully I will have more to write about this later. THE ELIMINATION DIET http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/t041200.aspTRACKING DOWN FOOD ALLERGIES http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T041800.aspRegards, proclus http://www.gnu-darwin.org/ |
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An important fact which may be eluding us may be that excessive hunger results directly from a market-driven manipulation of appetites. The equation is simple; drive hunger and sell more food to make more money, even if it makes people fat and unhealthy. There are conclusive examples that demonstrate that this is actually happening in isolated anecdotal cases, of which MacDonalds, Burger King, and Coca Cola are prominent examples. These examples are important, because they demonstrate that this manipulation of hunger and thirst for profit is INTENTIONAL. A common example is the use of excessive salt in foods, such as movie popcorn, to promote thirst and sell soft drinks, drinks that do not adequately quench thirst either, and may in fact promote thirst. Sell more, buy more, eat more, get fat and unhealthy, while someone else gets rich. By our over-indulgence, we are being fed upon.
This manipulation may not always be intentional, and some may be only following a market formulation, which appears to be successful in the sense of immediate profitability. For example, many soda makers may not be aware that their recipes were designed ultimately not to quench thirst, but rather to promote it. They stay in business, due to their successful market exploitation model, which was stumbled on or discovered.
These incidental examples are not the key point. Further investigation into the systematic manipulation of appetites is indicated, in order to determine the extent and societal cost of these practices. I suspect it is a wide spread problem with profound effects which are often highly adverse. Our understanding of the biochemical basis of hunger and thirst adds a new level of threat in a regimen where businesses may manipulate our appetites at the molecular level. They simply have too much to gain from such pursuits, and in the profit-driven model, it is irresistible for them. It is likely that appetite manipulation research is already underway.
Some criticism of this thesis takes the following form. How could anyone stay in business by selling food or drink that does not satisfy? This is a ham-handed attempt to hide the obvious fact, that a more profitable business model is a situation where people will only be satisfied with more than they need, even if it is contrary to their well-being. Appetites are particularly amenable to such exploitation because people derive satisfaction directly from eating and drinking. Only a careful approach is needed to balance satiety and appetite in order to maximize profit. Simply put, you may be satisfied temporarily, but if you get hungry sooner, you will buy more. You will eat more initially in order to avoid it, and you will likely eat more than is healthful. You will be more hungry than you should be later, but that does not matter to the seller, and if fact, that is what he is counting on. It is a simple fallacy to say that market forces will drive such businesses out, and meanwhile people are suffering now.
It is clearly possible to obtain profits through the manipulation of appetites, and craven business interests have demonstrated repeatedly that they are willing to do something profitable, even if it is detrimental to people in general. There are countless examples of this, tobacco, alcohol, and polluting industries to name just a few. You may be convinced that their insidious products are harmless by their advertising campaigns and PR. Hostile business practices work, and some business people even consider this as the normative goal in a regimen where only profits matter. Let's get these crocodiles under control before they eat us up.
Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/
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Let
me reiterate, there is no such thing as low penetration x-rays. If you
walk through the scanners, you are risking your life. It is not worth
it. Please stop. Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/
[0]
I would just like to add a link to the previous related story for context. Michael L. Love: not flying - air travel is a huge waste of fuel. Avoid X-rays. *http://xi.nu/gd225 In addition, the following story provoked this post. UCSF biochemist: 'Naked' X-ray scanners still unsafe - Goodluck to the UCSF team in their studies. Regards, proclus http://www.gnu-darwin.org/
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Some combinations of fruits and vegetables seem to me to release an
explosion of tartness in the mouth that is really exciting and
unparalleled. One of the best tart explosion foods may be grapes, which
apparently have the biochemical ability to release trapped sulfates and
carboxylate molecules to make acid right in the mouth. There are
few culinary surprises that can match the delight of this flavor
explosion, and I discovered today that grapefruit is well able to
produce it in combination with grapes.
Even more wonderful is the fact that these two foods are among the most
healthful that are available, grapes for the resveratrol and other
polyphenolic compounds, and grapefruits for their beneficial chalcones
and flavonoid molecules, such as naringenin. Please read further
in the blog for more ideas about how to better access this excellent
nutrition, which has demonstrated anti-viral, cancer-fighting, and
general anti-aging properties. There are recipies and scientific
articles to help with your life enhancement project.
Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/
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Here are some notes that emerged from weekend discussion of bee hive
collape. It appears that the collapse results directly from a paired
virus and fungus, and further research is clearly indicated in order
to prevent collapse of valuable bee colonies, which are also crucial
to the ecosystem and human food production. Personally, I intend to
look further into the viral mechanism, but there is already something
that I can say about this, and about the fungus as well. Plant
biodiversity loss can result directly in an upsurge in viral and
fungal infections in animal populations. I was disturbed to learn this morning from
http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/ that eastern bats are also
suffering a decline which may prove catastrophic, and that this
decline is the result of an emergent fungal infection. We need to
remember that a wide range of plants provide flavonoids and other
molecules which have been demostrated to impede fungal and viral
infections. When plant biodiversity declines, one can expect an
upsurge in such infections. This is observable in human populations
as well. When adequate consumption of fruits and vegetables decline,
an increase in disease and infection is observed. In researching declines in animal population, it is of concern that
the agent which prevented infections may be endangered itself, so that
the connection is difficult to observe, but it is crucial that we
observe it and prevent species and biodiversity collapse. In fact, we
may indeed be preventing the collapse of our very own species.
Clearly, addressing the problem of climate change and global warming,
will help us to preserve ourselves by protecting the ecosystem and
biodiversity that we depend upon for our very survival. Bee colony
collapse provides an elegant example of this fact, since we require
bee pollenation for so much of our food production. It should be
noted that bat pollenation is required for many species of plants. The conclusion is obvious. The observation of viral and fungal
pathogens in species collapse is an argument for biodiversity, not
against it. Moreover, plant biodiversity has not received the
attention that it deserves, but if we do not address it, loss of plant
biodiversity may become a species-level threat for humans as well. We
need to look far more carefully at the use of pesticides and
genetically modified organisms in light of these facts. Biodiversity
loss has already been observed in some areas where such measures have
been deployed. In an age of climate change and global warming we must give more
attention to plant biodiversity, for it is the plants that are best
suited to repair the damage from accumulation of greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere. Moreover, it is now becoming quite evident that life
itself depends on plant diversity for protection from various
infections and other maladies. Regards,
proclus
http://www.gnu-darwin.org/ BTW, if you want to take action on the situation with the bats, here
is the link. It is a wonderful halloween activity! For Bats, the Future Is Spooky
http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5067
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