Articles About Health And Fitness

This Friday, I'll be giving an invited lecture at the University of Virginia, my undergraduate  alma mater .  I was kindly invited by a medical student named Robert Abbott, and it worked out well because I was already traveling to Charlottesville. The talk will be titled "Why Do We Overeat?  A Neurobiological Perspective".  Here's the teaser: Obesity is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in industrialized nations, yet this is a relatively recent phenomenon.  In the United States, increasing obesity prevalence has paralleled a gradual increase of daily energy intake.  Why do most Americans eat more than we used to, and more than we need to maintain a lean state, despite negative consequences?  This presentation will touch on the neurobiology of action selection, the neurobiology of energy homeostasis, and why our central nervous system hardware may not be up to the task of constructively navigating the modern food environment. The talk will be a...

I'm happy to announce that we're releasing a free e-book titled Why do We Gain Fat, and How do We Lose it? An Introduction to the Science of Body Fat , by Dan Pardi and myself. This is a slimmed-down version of the longer, fully referenced e-book we offer as part of the Ideal Weight Program. In it, we provide a succinct overview of the science of body fat gain and loss, and the evidence base for our program.  It also contains a schematic that ties together the various concepts in visual form. You can download it from the Dan’s Plan site by following this link  to our program overview page. Ideal Weight Program 2.0 Upgrades Over the last year, Dan and I have been working hard to improve the Ideal Weight Program, both in response to user feedback and our own ideas for development.  Here are some of the new features we offer in 2014: Four-week meal plans and shopping lists for the FLASH diet and the Simple Food Diet, as requested by Ideal Weight Program users.  This is...

The Claim: We Overeat Because Our Diet is Low in Vitamins and Minerals We know that animals, including humans, seek certain properties of food.  Humans are naturally attracted to food that's high in fat, sugar, starch, and protein, and tend to be less enthusiastic about low-calorie foods that don't have these properties, like vegetables ( 1 ).  Think cookies vs. plain carrots. In certain cases, the human body is able to detect a nutritional need and take steps to correct it.  For example, people who are placed on a calorie-restricted diet become hungry and are motivated to make up for the calorie shortfall ( 2 ,  3 ).  People who are placed on a low-protein diet crave protein and eat more of it after the restriction is lifted ( 4 ).  Humans and many other animals also crave and seek salt, which supplies the essential minerals sodium and chlorine, although today most of us eat much more of it than we need to.  At certain times, we may crave something sweet or acidic, and pregnan...

This week's lucky "winner"... peanut M + M's!!! Read more »

Obesity is strongly associated with metabolic alterations and negative health outcomes including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some types of cancer ( 1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4 ).  Excess body fat is one of the primary causes of preventable health problems and mortality in the United States and many other affluent nations, ranking in importance with cigarette smoking and physical inactivity.  Obesity is thought to contribute to disease via the metabolic disturbances it causes, including excess glucose and lipids in the circulation, dysregulated hormone activity including insulin and leptin, and inflammatory effects.  This immediately raises two questions: Does metabolically healthy obesity exist? If so, are metabolically healthy obese people at an elevated risk of disease and death? Does metabolically healthy obesity exist? Read more »

This week's lucky "winner"... Oreo cookies!!! Read more »

As we continue to explore the foods our ancestors relied on during our evolutionary history, and what foods work best for us today, we come to legumes such as beans and lentils.  These are controversial foods within the Paleolithic diet community, while the broader nutrition community tends to view legumes as healthy. Beans and lentils have a lot going for them.  They're one of the few foods that are simultaneously rich in protein and fiber, making them highly satiating and potentially good for the critters in our colon.  They're also relatively nutritious, delivering a hefty dose of vitamins and minerals.  The minerals are partially bound by the anti-nutrient phytic acid, but simply soaking and cooking beans and lentils typically degrades 30-70 percent of it, making the minerals more available for absorption ( Food Phytates . Reddy and Sathe. 2002).  Omitting the soaking step greatly reduces the degradation of phytic acid ( Food Phytates . Reddy and Sathe. 2002). The only tang...