Dieting Lifestyle

Five years ago today, we embarked on an incredible journey. Together, we sought to understand the roots of brain health, and how we can help fend off ailments like dementia and Alzheimer’s, diseases for which there are no known cures. This journey began with the release of Grain Brain.

In the five years since, science has continued to investigate the roles carbs and gluten play in our health, and our message has moved to the mainstream. As a result, the information in Grain Brain is now accompanied by ongoing changes and revelations in the world of medicine. Today, I want to share with you the five most interesting things I’ve learned/seen since Grain Brain hit shelves.

1. The Western scientific community has aggressively shifted its position regarding the validity of the idea that sugar poses the greatest nutritional threat to our health, and that dietary fat is not the villain it had been previously portrayed to be. How exciting it is that even the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans call for a dramatic restriction of sugars (finally!), while indicating that fats should now be considered an important part of a healthful diet. Clearly, there was more than a bit of backlash when I made these statements in Grain Brain. But there’s still work to be done. Case in point: the American Heart Association continues to sanction the idea that women can add six teaspoons of sugar to their diets each day, while men can get away with nine!
2. Grain Brain came out swinging against the consumption of gluten. The response was supportive, but there was pushback. The biggest pushback came from those who wanted to hold on to the idea that the only people who needed to restrict gluten were those who were diagnosed with celiac disease. How powerfully validating it has been to see the science that clearly defines the notion of non-celiac gluten sensitivity, meaning that people can experience a variety of symptoms, many of which are not gut-related, who do not carry a diagnosis of celiac disease! This was eloquently described in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Moreover, newer research has shown that permeability of the gut lining, a central mechanism in creating inflammation in the entire body, occurs in all humans with gluten consumption. So it looks like we didn’t stretch the point.
3. Yes, your brain can grow new neurons. As we originally described in Grain Brain, the human brain has the incredible ability to grow new brain cells. Our original discussion focused on the pivotal role of exercise in enhancing this process, known as neurogenesis. Newer research not only continues to confirm the role of exercise in promoting neurogenesis, but also demonstrates how being on a ketogenic diet enhances this process. Since Grain Brain was published, we have been all over this exciting science that shows how cutting carbs, eating more healthful fats, and supplementing with things like MCT oil enhance the body’s production of ketones, which change the expression of our DNA (for the better) and provide a superfuel for the brain. (If you want to learn more about ketosis, sign-up to get my free guide to ketosis and the ketogenic diet)
4. Our gut bacteria control our health destiny. This simple fact has virtually exploded on the health and science scenes. While this was not described in Grain Brain, it was the central thesis of our follow-up book, Brain Maker. Who knew that each and every one of our day-to-day lifestyle choices, including our food choices, exercise habits, sleep routines, stress levels, supplement regimen, etc., not only exerted direct effects on our health, but other effects that may be even more pronounced, through changes that occur in our gut bacteria.
5. We can change the expression of our DNA. This exciting topic has certainly challenged one of the fundamental tenets of biology for any of us who were in medical school prior to the 1990s! Then, it was a widely held belief that our DNA was an inviolate code that dictated everything about our health and wellbeing. What a conceptual revolution! We now fully recognize that, moment-to-moment, our various lifestyle choices directly influence our gene expression. We literally have the ability to turn on genes that favor health while suppressing those that code for risk for disease, just by the choices we make! While this was an important discussion in Grain Brain, this science, known as epigenetics, has expanded dramatically. We now understand, for example, that even our gut bacteria play a role in modulating the expression of our DNA. The research showing how dietary choices affect gene expression has certainly expanded, especially in the area of the ketogenic diet. This is powerful and empowering information that each of us can leverage to rewrite our health destiny!

Some incredible stuff. I can’t wait to see where the next five years, and beyond, take us. Thank you for joining me on this adventure, and I look forward to continuing this discovery right along with you.

(And keep an eye out for the revised and updated edition of Grain Brain, which has some completely new materials, which is due out in December, but available for pre-order today!)

This week’s meal plan offers easy-to-make dishes with 5 ingredients or less. Perfect for a busy week when you want to enjoy good and healthy food without spending too much time cooking. You’ll enjoy a variety of keto meals, all very low in carbs. This week you’ll stay around 10 grams of carbs per day.

Full meal plan →

Noch immer keine Entscheidung hat Skistar Marcel Hirscher getroffen. Er kann noch nicht sagen, ob und wann er aus der EU austritt und will weiter überlegen. Der Sportler fordert von Brüssel einen Aufschub von zwei Jahren.

BRÜSSEL / ANNABERG – „Ich bin innerlich in zwei Lager zerrissen und kann noch nicht sagen, ob A oder B“, so Hirscher. „Eine wütende, emotionsgeladene Seite in mir will den ganzen Zirkus verlassen. Aber eine andere, rationale Seite in mir weiß, dass ich wirtschaftlich auf die Raiffeisen-Sponsoring-Deals angewiesen bin, die ich ohne EU neu aushandeln müsste.“

Chaos

Bis 29. März, wenn die Skisaison endet, muss Hirscher eine Entscheidung treffen, sonst verlässt er die EU ohne Deal. Eine Abstimmung unter den Stimmen in seinem Kopf scheiterte mehrmals, da alle nur laut durcheinanderschrien.

„Hirscher ist die letzten drei Jahre im Slalom hin und her geschlingert. Schon seit Monaten geht es nur mehr bergab“, moniert EU-Ratspräsident Donald Tusk. Er korrespondiert heute mit allen 27 EU-Regierungschefs, um das weitere Vorgehen abzustimmen.

„Ich kann da kaum mehr zuschauen, er soll sich einfach entscheiden. Wie schwer kann das sein“, sagt die britische Premierministerin Theresa May.

Backstop

Ein kritischer Punkt ist der in Hirschers Ski-Bindung eingebaute Backstop. Wenn sich die EU und der Ski-Star nicht einigen, könnten Hirschers Füße somit noch Teil der EU bleiben, obwohl der Rest seines Körpers bereits ausgetreten ist.

Hirschers Austrittsfantasien sind im Skizirkus nichts Neues: Hermann Maier ist bereits 1998 ausgetreten, in dem er bei der Olympia-Abfahrt in Nagano über den Grenzzaun geflogen ist.

Yesterday I 'won' an Ikea Trundle bed off Pay It Forward.  I was thrilled to bits and Stew and I headed off to pick it up.
When we arrived at the address the lady had quite an assortment of stuff to give away, and we were lucky to be offered a lovely lounge chair as well.

Source: https://diet-coke-rocks.blogspot.com/2019/02/what-score-and-bye-bye-mum.html

The bad news is that we're all at risk for magnesium deficiency. The good news is that magnesium-rich foods are healthy, easily available, and most importantly—delicious. As Ilene Ruhoy, M.D., Ph.D., integrative medicine doctor and mindbodygreen Collective member, explained, "There are many great food sources of magnesium, and increasing your dietary intake is preferred as these foods are part of an overall healthy diet for more than just their magnesium content."

According to Harvard Health Publishing, the food that comes in with the highest magnesium content is bulgur, a Middle Eastern cereal food made from the cracked groats of several different wheat species. In its dry form, it contains about 230 mg in a single cup.

If bulgur isn't a staple in your diet, don't despair. There are plenty of other magnesium-rich foods. "I recommend a diet high in legumes, whole grains, dark green leafy vegetables, broccoli, almonds, and pumpkin and sesame seeds. These foods have significant amounts of elemental magnesium," said Ruhoy.

Another great exercise for the index is barbell hyperextensions.
This exercise is amazing for your posterior chain.

Click to expand

UP NEXT

A video of UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi has gone viral this week after the 21-year-old scored a perfect 10 for her floor routine.

The video, posted by the UCLA Gymnastics Twitter account, has racked up nearly 40 million views since Saturday. In it, we see Ohashi performing two minutes of powerful gymnastic moves, energetic dances and jaw-dropping feats of athleticism – all with a smile on her face. Her routine is flawless and she seems to be having the time of her life.

What we don’t see in the video, however, is that Ohashi lives with two chronic illnesses, ulcerative colitis and granuloma annulare.

The gymnast has been open about her health and body image issues on her blog, Behind the Madness. She revealed she was diagnosed with GA, a rare skin disease, in 2008 after she found a “strange, shiny, hard circle” on her left bicep. Eruptions of granuloma annulare often disappear without treatment, but for some, the condition can recur. In Ohashi’s case, doctors told her the circle on her bicep would go away within three years, but as of 2018, she still had it – as well as many other circles all over her body.

“On the bright side, it doesn’t give me any trouble, just a lot of questions from the public eye that I have no answers for, because they remain unanswered for myself,” she wrote. “I’ve had them for so long now, that although at times I wish they weren’t there, I also almost can’t imagine myself without them. They are like a part of me that makes me who I am; and in addition to that, what’s the fun in having normal skin anyway?”

In 2016, Ohashi also began experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms, including blood in her stool, stomach pain, vomiting and uncontrollable bowel movements. This went on for several months and began to interfere with her everyday life. She explained:

I started having uncontrollable bowel movements, where I would have to carry a second pair of clothes with me, times when I was so close to the restroom but not close enough, and times I was incapable of going to the gym, afraid I would have an accident during one of my tumbling passes. I also had a really hard time using public restrooms, (which because of my urgency, is not really an option for me anymore), since I found that most of my bowel movements contained loud gas and had completely changed consistency.

Eventually, Ohashi scheduled a colonoscopy and was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes inflammation and ulcers in the innermost lining of the colon and rectum.

Though she may “look well” in this week’s viral video, Ohashi shared that she continues to experience flare-ups that affect her ability to keep down food and cause her weight to fluctuate.

Whether a person is performing breathtaking gymnastics moves in front of an audience or going for a quiet walk in their neighborhood, Ohashi’s experiences are a reminder that illness isn’t always “visible.”

“We are all experiencing something,” Ohashi wrote. “It’s just a matter of looking beneath the surface.”

Ingredients

Sprinkles

-4 heaping tbsp unsweetened coconut

-Liquid food colouring

Cake

1/2 cup sour cream

-3/4 tsp cake batter extract

-1/3 cup water

-1/3 cup sugar substitute (I used a monk fruit/erythritol blend)

-100g melted butter

-3 eggs

-2 cups almond flour

-1 1/2  tsp baking powder

Frosting

-3 cups swerve confectioners' sugar

-1 cup butter

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-2 tablespoons whipping cream

(Note-this turned out pretty sweet so I might do 2 cups next time, maybe less, and add from there)

Directions

Sprinkles

Separate your coconut flakes evenly into 4 or 5 different bowls.

Add 4 drops of liquid food coloring into a bowl and mix with a toothpick.

Continue on with a different color for each bowl. Set them aside and let them dry out.

Cake

In a bowl, mix together your almond flour and baking powder.

In a separate bowl, stir together your sour cream, vanilla and water.

Whisk in your sweetener, butter and whisk in each egg one at a time..

Add in a little almond flour and baking powder mixture to the wet ingredients and whisk in thoroughly before adding more.

Continue until the almond flour is gone. I added in the sprinkles and mixed once more.

Pour into a cake pan. I used a 7 inch springform pan lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 350 for roughly 30 minutes or until you can put a toothpick into it and it comes out clean (without any crumbles)

Frosting

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter.

Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

Picture of inside of cake here

Frosting adapted from here

Cake from here

Much of this work is being shared via conference talks and blog posts, especially around anomaly and fault detection, and I couldn't find a location for collaboration, quicker feedback and discussions on more abstract (algorithmic/mathematical) topics or those that cross project boundaries. So I created the IT-telemetry Google group. If I missed something existing, let me know. I can shut this down and point to whatever already exists. Either way I hope this kind of avenue proves useful to people working on these kinds of problems.