http://www.thealternativedaily.com/
Most of us have had to deal with pesky ingrown hairs in our pubic region before. They often hurt and can be highly irritating, take a long time to heal and can even become infected. They happen when a strand of hair gets the crazy idea to curl backward or sideways into the skin. According […]
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Have you noticed that some grocery stores in the U.S. have entire aisles filled with different variations of jarred salsa? That’s not a coincidence. Salsa “famously outsold ketchup” after demand picked up in the early ’90s, resulting in countless shelf-stable options of the Mexican staple, according to the New York Times. Not surprisingly, though, a majority of them aren’t the most authentic choices.
We reached out to a few of our favorite chefs and trusted salsa authorities to get their opinion on all of the store-bought versions on the market. (We also wanted to find out which — if any — they’re willing to buy.)
Here’s what they had to say.
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Today’s guest post is generously offered up by Craig Emmerich, husband to—and co-author with—the queen of keto herself, Maria Emmerich. Enjoy!
When we consume macro nutrients, our bodies go through a priority for dealing with them. This priority can be very useful in understanding how our bodies work and how to leverage it for losing weight.
The body doesn’t like having an oversaturation of fuel in the blood at any time. It tightly manages the fuels to avoid dangerous situations like hyperglycemia or blood glucose that is too high. But it also manages and controls other fuels like ketones (beta hydroxybutyrate or BHB levels) and fats (free fatty acids or FFA and triglycerides) to keep them under control and not oversaturate the blood with fuel.
It is like the engine of a car. You don’t want to give the engine too much fuel and blow it up. So the body controls the amount of fuels in the blood to ensure you don’t “blow up.” To do this, the body will address the most important (or potentially most dangerous) fuels first. It does this in a very logical way—in reverse order of storage capacity.
Here is a chart showing the breakdown of oxidative priority for dietary fuels.
Modified Source: Keto. By Maria and Craig Emmerich
Original source: Oxidative Priority, Meal Frequency, and the Energy Economy of Food and Activity: Implications for Longevity, Obesity, and Cardiometabolic Disease, Sinclair, Bremer, et al, February 2017.
The #1 oxidative priority is alcohol because there is zero storage capacity for it. It makes sense that the body would address this first, since it can’t store it anywhere and too high blood alcohol means death.
The second oxidative priority is exogenous ketones. These are ketone salts that raise blood BHB levels. There isn’t a storage site for ketones either, so the body must deal with this before addressing other fuels. That is why exogenous ketones aren’t the best option when trying to lose weight. They displace fat oxidation, keeping fat stored while it uses the exogenous ketones as fuel instead.
The third oxidative priority is protein. Protein is a bit different, as there is a limited storage space for protein, but protein is not a good fuel source. It takes 5 ATP to turn protein into a fuel (glucose through gluconeogenesis) and another 2 ATP to burn in the mitochondria. Why would your body expend 7 ATP for something it can do for 2 ATP by just burning glucose or fat from your body? Protein is only really used as a fuel when other fuels (glucose and fat) are not present and it is forced to use protein. Protein gets preferentially used to stimulate muscle protein synthesis. It builds and repairs lean mass.
The next oxidative priority is carbohydrates. It has a moderate amount of storage capacity at 1,200 to 2,000 calories.
The last oxidative priority is fat. This makes sense, as there is a theoretically unlimited storage capacity for fat. There are people with upwards of 400 pounds of stored body fat, which represents 1.6 million calories.
Oxidative priority can help you understand what happens when you put certain fuels into your body. If you are drinking alcohol while eating carbs and fat, the carbs and fat will primarily go into storage while the body deals with the elevated alcohol.
To understand the power of oxidative priority take the case of an alcoholic. Alcoholics will have very low A1c levels (in the 4s) no matter what they eat! If they eat tons of carbohydrates they will still have an A1c in the 4s because the chronically elevated alcohol levels force the body to store all glucose while dealing with alcohol, creating a low A1c. I am not recommending anyone become an alcoholic to lower A1c level—but quite the opposite actually.
So, what does this mean, and how can you leverage your body’s biology to lose weight?
If you avoid alcohol and exogenous ketones, get a just enough protein to support maintenance of lean mass (about 0.8 times your lean mass in pounds for grams of protein a day), limit the carbs and then reduce dietary fat a bit to force the body to use more stored body fat for fuel you will lose body fat. When you restrict carbs for long enough (4-6 weeks for most people) the body gets used to using fat as its primary fuel (keto adapted). This means it can burn body fat or dietary fat equally well. Eliminating other fuels and keeping dietary fat moderate allows the body to focus on body fat for fuel resulting in fat loss.
That is our bodies system for processing fuels coming in through the diet. Leverage it for improved results and body recomposition.
Craig Emmerich graduated in Electrical Engineering and has always had a systems approach to his work. He followed his wife Maria into the nutrition field and has since dedicated his time researching and looking at nutrition and biology from a systems perspective. Over the last 8 years he has worked with hundreds of clients alongside Maria to help them heal their bodies and lose weight leveraging their biology to make it easy.
Thanks to Craig for today’s keto insights, and thanks to everybody here for stopping in.
You can follow Maria and Craig’s work on their website, Maria Mind Body Health, as well as their subscription site, Keto-Adapted, and their new keto courses.
Questions about dietary fuels and oxidative priority—or other points keto? Share them down below, and have a great end to the week. Take care, folks!
The post Oxidative Priority: Dietary Fuels To the Body appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
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If you traveled back in time to tell 12-year-old Dorie Greenspan that she’d one day grow up to be a revered baking expert, a five-time James Beard Award-winning cookbook author, a New York Times Magazine dessert columnist, and one of the most prolific home cooking authorities of our time, she’d probably find that really hard to believe — with good reason.
Dorie openly admits that, as a preteen, she was busy setting her parents’ kitchen on fire while making late-night frozen french fries with her friends. “I assumed that if they were called fries, they needed to be fried, so I poured them into a big pot of oil on the stove and put a cover on it. I opened the lid and … it was crazy. I didn’t cook again until I got married.”
It wasn’t all smooth sailing from there, either. “When Michael and I got married, our first kitchen was a converted closet. We refer to the first meal I ever made as ‘London Bake.’ It was supposed to be a London broil, but I wanted to take everything out of the oven at the same time and baked it into shoe leather.”
It would be an understatement to say that Dorie eventually got the hang of the whole cooking thing. (Her twelve cookbooks speak volumes.) Perhaps most well-known for her baking prowess and love of French cooking, Dorie insists that she’s not intimidating in the kitchen — and her latest cookbook that just came out this week, Everyday Dorie: The Way I Cook, is proof of that. Filled with recipes that encourage experimentation, helpful ingredient swaps, and delightful surprises, it’s her most approachable yet.
Buy now: Everyday Dorie: The Way I Cook, $23
When we caught up with Dorie she had just flown back from France, where she spends much of her year (when she’s not in NYC or Connecticut), and was gearing up for a busy, appearance-filled book tour. We talked about her famous World Peace Cookies, where she gets all her signature neckerchiefs, why she keeps a hairdryer in her kitchen, and, of course, what French cooking means to her.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
There’s a reason Sur la Table is one of our favorite places to shop. With its eponymous line of cookware and bakeware, wide range of top-tier brands, and various cooking classes, the store is dedicated to making our time spent in the kitchen as easy, efficient, and delicious as possible.
Naturally, the only thing better than shopping at Sur la Table is shopping at Sur la Table during a sale. You see, the store is constantly slashing the prices on its electronics, cutlery, and much, much more. Luckily, this week is no exception. Right now, you can take up to 70 percent off cookware, 30 percent off Halloween decor, and 20 percent off various fall-friendly tabletop items.
Then again, the holidays are right around the corner, so we understand if you don’t want to shell out a bunch of money on big-ticket items. Plus, you need to reserve some things for your wish list. But if you want to spruce up your kitchen with some awesome (and affordable!) finds, the seven items below are all on sale for $25 or less.
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There might have been some debate about what exactly constitutes a condiment, but one thing is absolutely certain: Kitchn editors love condiments. They occupy a whole lot of real estate in our fridges and are that little something extra that we use to take meals from good to great. Here are our favorites.
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There are those inexplicable individuals who abhor mayonnaise, and then there are the rest of us who say mayonnaise deserves a lot more credit. It’s a classic French “mother” sauce, after all. It’s almost pure fat, and any chef will tell you that fat is the best vehicle for flavor, and it’s super-versatile, able to mix into dressings, lubricate sandwiches, and help create crispy breaded crusts.
But if you’re vegan, or just looking to cut down on saturated fat and cholesterol, you’re probably looking for an alternative to traditional mayonnaise, which is made with eggs. Turns out there’s a lot to choose from. Although you might find some in the condiment aisle, most of the eggless options can be found in the refrigerated section (near the tofu) at stores like Whole Foods.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
If all recipes could promise what this one does — all the deliciousness with none of the mess — it’s safe to say we’d all be living our very best lives. Ina Garten’s brilliant take on eggplant Parmesan, published in her new cookbook, Cook Like a Pro, calls for roasting the eggplant instead of frying it, eliminating hot oil splashes and greasy cleanup entirely. The result is an uber-cheesy, saucy, crispy-crunchy eggplant bake, and cleanup is done before you even sit down to dig in.
http://chriskresser.com/
The doctor orders a CT scan for your recurring abdominal pain. When you ask about radiation, she assures you that the dose is low and that CTs are safe. But are they? Is there a connection between CT scans and cancer?
Read on to learn about the increasing use of CT scans, the cancer risks associated with even just one scan, and why children are especially susceptible to radiation hazards.
Computed tomography, or CT, scans can provide valuable diagnostic information, but at a cost—they deliver ionizing radiation, a known human carcinogen. The radiation breaks chemical bonds in tissue molecules, which frees charged ions that can damage DNA and ultimately increase the risk of cancer.
We are exposed to a small level of background radiation all the time, naturally occurring radiation in our environment from cosmic rays, rocks and soil, and even other living things. Background radiation accounts for around 3 mSv (millisievert, the unit for radiation measurement) per year, per person. To get an idea of how CT radiation compares, consider the following estimated doses delivered for different scans: (1, 2, 3)
But there are important nuances associated with these estimates. First, radiation doses for typical scans vary widely by medical center. A retrospective cross-sectional study found up to 13-fold variations in radiation dose for commonly performed scans, depending on the type of scan and where it was performed. (And the centers weren’t spread across the country—they were concentrated within the San Francisco Bay Area.) (4)
Second, the dose delivered is not necessarily the dose each organ receives. The amount of radiation absorbed by each organ, taking into consideration its radiosensitivity, is known as “effective dose” and is measured in milligrays (mGy). For example, during a CT angiogram, the breast can receive an organ-specific dose of 51 mGy, while the lungs receive 64 mGy. (5) A mGy is approximately equal to a mSv, which means that the breast tissue can receive an effective radiation dose equal to 17 years’ worth of background radiation during one angiogram.
What’s the link between CT scans and cancer? Are the radiation doses high enough to cause concern? If you have a scan scheduled or are considering one, check out this article for more information on the risks involved with this procedure.
In an attempt to quantify cancer risks from CT scans, the National Research Council in 2006 calculated that every 10 mSv of radiation exposure increases the lifetime risk of cancer by 0.1 percent. (6) Other studies have calculated that the risk of a single CT scan causing cancer later in life can range from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 2,000 to as high as 1 in 80. (7, 8)
Some of the factors that influence cancer risk include the following:
Currently, the lifetime risk of cancer for any individual is around 1 in 5, or 400 in 2,000. Though it may sound miniscule, the risk of a later cancer as a result of single CT scan goes up to 401 in 2,000. (12) That’s a small, but non-negligible, risk, especially when considering the harms and costs to overall public health. If growing numbers of people are getting CT scans, that seemingly tiny fraction of an increase—from 400 to 401—essentially means an increase in cancer diagnoses across the population.
Many people and organizations believe that this small cancer risk is well worth the benefits of a CT scan, which might be medically necessary if it’s truly the only way for a doctor to assess and treat a life-threatening condition, especially in an emergency. Small doses of radiation might even be beneficial through hormesis, an advantageous response to an acute stressor, similar to the benefit of intense exercise. The body can often repair DNA damage from small doses of radiation, but we don’t know how this ability varies among people of different ages and health statuses. (13)
In a large British study of over 175,000 children, those who were exposed to a cumulative radiation dose of at least 30 mGy had over the three times the risk of developing leukemia and over 2.5 times the risk of developing brain cancer compared to children exposed to 5 mGy or less. (14) Multiple CT scans during childhood increase the risks of other cancers, too, in the 10 years following the first scan. (15, 16)
In 2018, a massive meta-analysis reviewed 18 studies and reported that CT scans in children correlated with increased brain tumor risk in a dose-dependent manner, meaning that the risk increased along with increased radiation exposure. (17)
Other points of view argue that several studies failed to properly adjust for confounding factors, and that once adjustments were made for family history, reasons for scan, and other factors, the cancer risk from CT scans in children was no longer significant. (18, 19) Regardless, it’s hard to argue against lowering carcinogen exposure in young children whenever possible.
Although the FDA oversees the approval of CT scanners, how the scanners are used is largely controlled by each individual medical center. CT scans have become a routine diagnostics procedure, often chosen over lower-quality x-ray images and longer scan times in MRIs. In the ER, doctors regularly order multiple CTs before even meeting a patient.
Recent efforts have been made to reduce unnecessary CTs and lower the average radiation dose per scan. The FDA manages a program called the Initiative to Reduce Unnecessary Radiation Exposure from Medical Imaging. (21) It educates doctors and patients on the risks and benefits of scans, increases patient awareness of radiation exposure, and encourages lower doses and fewer CT scans.
The American College of Radiology Dose Index Registry allows medical centers to compare their CT radiation dose indices to others in an anonymous database. (22) In studies of facilities who consulted the registry data, median dose reductions of up to 30 percent were observed.
Other research has demonstrated that higher resolution scans are not always necessary to correctly diagnose. Two radiologists at Massachusetts General Hospital determined that only one-quarter of the usual radiation was required to correctly identify abnormal growths in lung tissue. (23) Likewise, in pediatric CT scans, only one-half to one-quarter of the common radiation dose may be necessary to achieve the same diagnostic utility. (24) For blunt trauma to the chest in pediatric patients, a CT scan might not even be necessary unless an x-ray is very inconclusive. (25)
BRAIN, an acronym tool prevalent in the birthing and doula communities, is a great exercise for making any medical decision.
If you are looking for an alternative, rapid-sequence MRI or ultrasound may be effective choices for you. (26) If a CT is necessary, ask if it is possible to scan a smaller area, reduce the radiation emitted, and/or decrease the resolution. In children, make sure the exposure parameters will be adjusted for their smaller weight and size.
Compared to the lifetime risk of cancer for an individual, a CT scan adds a very small but still significant risk. Obviously, many other factors are at play in determining one’s overall cancer risk, including lifestyle, diet, environmental toxin exposure, and stress. Still, it makes sense to lower your risk where you can.
Now I’d like to hear from you. If you have had a CT scan, did your doctor inform you of the radiation risk? Did you ever request an alternative to a CT scan for a child? Are you concerned about a connection between CT scans and cancer? Let me know in the comments!
The post CT Scans and Cancer: What Are the Risks? appeared first on Chris Kresser.
Originally posted at: http://www.nerdfitness.com/
I hear two common excuses every day from people who don’t work out.
Well there Rebel, you’re in luck (unless you love excuses).
Today we are going to talk about circuit training! It’s fast, varied, and effective. If you find yourself with no time to get sweaty or getting bored on a treadmill, a circuit training workout could be just what the doctor ordered.
Or not.
But if you have a doctor prescribe you circuit training, that doctor is awesome.
Consider this the ultimate guide for circuit training! I’ll explain the benefits below, but if you’re just looking for routines to follow, click each below to take you to that workout:
Some of the workouts will have multiple circuit choices for you to pick, depending on your fitness level. If I did the math right, there’s 15 total.
Let’s go!
The “circuit” in circuit training comes from the fact that you do a sequence of exercises back to back to back, and then you repeat the sequence. And then again. You cycle through the planned sequence of exercises, or circuit, multiple times.
That’s circuit training.
Generally you hit each major muscle group during one full circuit. You may do lower body for one exercise. Then upper body the next.
You’ll find all sorts of difference circuit training sequences. Here’s some things most will have in common:
Make sense? The point here is to work different parts of your body with different exercises, and then while those parts are recovering, you’re working on your other movements! This helps build cardiovascular health, while also improving muscular endurance and strength. Plus you’ll burn calories!
As we lay out in our article, Cardio vs Interval Training vs. Weight Training, research supports that doing strength training circuits is great for weight loss and overall health. More importantly, for somebody with limited time, doing a strength training circuit is more effective at building strength and burning fat than an equivalent amount of cardio.
In other words, if you are trying to lose weight, you should be doing circuit training.
Now, I understand this stuff can be confusing, and knowing which workout to follow for your body type and goals is really challenging. Which circuit? How should you be eating? How many days should you rest between workouts? What is the meaning of life!?
If that sounds like you, you’re not alone.
Answering questions like these is what lead us to create our 1-on-1 coaching program.
(Admittedly, we’re still working on the “meaning of life” one).
So here’s how it works: we get to learn each person’s goals, lifestyle, challenges, and situation: kids? night shift? travel frequently? All the above? We got you covered.
Then we pair that person with a coach from Team Nerd Fitness that fits their personality, gets to know them better than they know themselves, and builds a custom workout program and nutrition guidance to help them reach their goals!
Want to see if we are a good fit for each other? Click on the button below to schedule a free call, and we can decide if this is something that can help you reach your goals!
Generally, you’ll hear exercise divided into strength training or aerobic exercise (cardio).
What’s the difference, you wonder?
The thing about a circuit is, you actually do both categories. Presses and lunges fall into strength training. Jumping jacks are cardio. And since you aren’t stopping much in between stations, you’ll need more oxygen, and voila. Even more cardio.
With circuit training, you build muscle and burn fat WHILE building stamina.
As Michael Scott would say, “that’s a win, win win.”
There’s some debate on what kind of exercise is better for weight loss: aerobic or anaerobic.
My thoughts? If you’re limited on time and only can pick one, I would pick strength training: when you strength train, you break your muscles down, and your body needs to work extra hard over the next 24-48 hours to rebuild those muscles (with increased calories burned).
Don’t overthink this though, we can cover both with a circuit.
No matter which circuit you pick, I want you to start with one important thing:
Warm up!
I cover why to warm up in an article found right here. It doesn’t have to be much though, give it about five minutes to get your muscles active and your heart rate up. This will help you do exercises properly and help prevent injury. You can run in place, do air punches and kicks, or some jumping jacks.
Here is NF Senior Coach Staci (you might know her incredibly story) showing you many beginner options you can use to warm up as well:
Did I just tell you to prepare for circuit training, with a circuit?!
If you’re curious, here’s my personal warm-up:
Our goal isn’t to tire you out, instead we want to warm up you up. That’s step one.
Completing your chosen circuit training routine would be step two. Below, you’ll find 15 workouts you can follow along with!
This workout circuit, as we lay out in our Beginner Bodyweight Workout article, is as follows:
Run through this circuit three times. If you don’t have milk in the house for the rows, find something of roughly the same weight with a good handle.
If you want to download this Beginner Bodyweight Workout as a worksheet, you can do so when you sign up in the box below:
If the beginner circuit above is too easy for you, move on to our Advanced Bodyweight Workout Circuit. Check out the original article where we covered it here. The workout looks like this:
I warn you, the above circuit will hurt… in a good way. You should be proud if you can get through this three times.
Do you have a nearby playground? Why not workout there! If you have kids, you can do it together. Or let them ignore you.
I’ll give you a Level One workout, and a Level Two. Check out the main playground article for some Level Three exercises.
Level One
Level Two
After you’ve gone through a complete set three times, go down the slide!
Have a kettlebell lying around? Use it for a circuit!
Here’s our kettlebell workout full write-up, but you can also just watch the video and see the workout here:
Once you’ve done the above three times, go ahead and put your kettlebell away for your final step: stretches.
If you want a kettlebell worksheet, grab one by signing up in the box below:
If you have access to a gym, you have a lot of circuit options. If you
If it’s your first time stepping foot in a fitness facility, check out our Beginner’s Guide to the Gym. The gym can be a scary place, but we’ll give you a strategy to get comfy.
We’ll also walk you through each movement above, for both Days A and B below. I would recommend reading that article, going through the leveled progressions, and working your way up to the circuits below:
Day A
Day B
Alternate your circuits on different days. Rest in between. “Day A” could be Monday. Rest Tuesday. Wednesday could be “Day B.”
Sometimes, you just plain find yourself stuck in a hotel room. Maybe you can find the hotel gym, but I bet it’s terrible! It probably has 2 machines, a broken treadmill, and no free weights.
Ugh.
Instead, how about a workout circuit you can do in the room itself! Utilize the furniture to its full potential.
Level 1
Level 2
Set the alarm clock to 15 minutes from now and see how many circuits you can do!
Check out our full post on hotel circuits if you want Level 3!
If those workouts above don’t tickle your fancy, we have these other nerdy circuits you can do too!
Day 1
Day 2
Superset 1: The Fellowship of the Ring
Superset 2: The Two Towers
Superset 3: The Return of the King
If you can get through a superset three times, consider yourself an honorary Ranger. Nothing found in Mordor can faze you.
The below circuit is no joke. Then again, neither were the Spartans.
The above sequence is designed to be completed once. If you can go through it twice, you’re ready to defend Greece.
How many times do you do this circuit? AMRAP, or, As Many Rounds As Possible. I suggest setting a 12 minute timer and getting to work. Be careful though, because only Wolverine can heal automatically.
You’ll need actual rest.
Boom! There are your nerdy circuits. Feel free to rock the soundtrack of the referenced movies during your workout. If you own a cape, now’s the time.
Once you finish your workout, the final step (three) would be stretching and cool down. No matter what circuit you go through, stretch after. It can help a lot with muscle recovery.
Scope this video for an awesome stretching sequence to follow:
You could also do some yoga poses. For stretching, find what feels good and take your time. Let your heart rate come down while you stretch.
You could even do some foam rolling too if you’re a glutton for punishment!
There are all sorts of different ways to do circuit training. We just showed you fifteen.
YOUR MISSION: Complete one of the above circuit training workouts! If you don’t know which one to pick, start with the Beginner Bodyweight Circuit. It’ll get you used to the idea of hustling from one exercise to the next. And you can do it in your living room!
If you got this far in the article, I really want you to try one of these workouts. Right NOW. I always mention the most important step in a fitness journey is starting it. Today, start circuit training.
Once completed, I’d love for you to share your story with the community in the comments:
As a reminder, if you need someone to hold you accountable to follow through on circuit training, we have coaches who can do just that. Our 1-on-1 Coaching program can create an exercise routine just for you, no matter what your situation is.
Find a circuit you’re comfortable with, and do it. Then do it next week. And the following. If you add circuit training to your fitness routine, you’ll be on a solid path for leveling up your life.
-Steve
PS: I couldn’t quite figure out how to use this gif, but it was too good not to include.
If someone creates the “Short Circuit Workout Circuit” you’ll be my best friend forever.
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All Photo credits can be found right here[1].
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