Fred Hahn's Ideas and Insights on Exercise and Nutrition to Better Your Life

I'm in France

Bon Jour! I am deep in the south of France for 2 weeks with the family doing - nothing but having a peaceful  wonderful family vacation hence, no blogging for a bit. But soon some goodies!!

Au Revoir!

Low Carb Wins Again

Here is the link to the recent Low carb vs. Low fat vs. Mediterranean diet study recently published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.

One of the dopiest things they did in this study was increase the low carb group from 20 grams to up to 120grams after the initial 2 months of a 2 year study. So after 2 months the low carb group wasn't necessarily low carb diet anymore.

They also urged the low carb group to get their protein sources from vegetable based sources as if low carbers would ever do such a vile thing.

Seems like the researchers wanted the low carb group to fail wouldn't you say?

You can look over the entire study yourself later but here are the final results of the parameters they tested. Take a look at how powerful the low carb diet fared and how as carbs rose after the 2 month period many of the parameters got worse. If it's too hard to read go here.

Only in the levels of HOMA-1R did the Mediterranean diet do better. HOMA-1R is a way to measure insulin resistance. I can't say much more about it as I am not an expert in this but suffice it to say you want it to go down from baseline.

My guess is that if the low carb group kept their carbs to 20 grams or a touch more they would have experienced a better lowering in this as well as other parameters - closer to the Mediterranean diet, not to mention if their source of protein was actually meat and not tofu or rice and beans. (I wonder how they did and and kept carbs low enough?)

But the press and the researchers of this st did not report this study properly. They'd have you believe that all 3 diets work just as well saying it is personal preference. Compared to the others, the low fat diet rots. And eating a low fat diet rots worse.

Dean Ornish and others of his ilk cried afoul. They said that a real low fat diet has only 10% of calories coming from fat. But when the Ornish diet was compared to a low carb diet in the Atkins vs. LEARN vs. Ornish vs. Zone study, the low fat Ornish diet got its butt kicked. Here was the conclusion of the study:

"Conclusions: In this study, premenopausal overweight and obese women assigned
to follow the Atkins diet, which had the lowest carbohydrate intake, lost more weight
and experienced more favorable overall metabolic effects at 12 months than women
assigned to follow the Zone, Ornish, or LEARN diets. While questions remain about
long-term effects and mechanisms, a low-carbohydrate, high-protein, high-fat diet
may be considered a feasible alternative recommendation for weight loss."

When will the low fatters learn? When will the NIH learn? When will the AMA learn? When will the AHA, the ADA, the NIRM learn?

Hidden Carbs can Hinder

I found this page and thought that some of you folks who are low carbing and not achieving your goals might find it enlightening.

Enjoy!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

It appears from a new study that slow and steady does indeed win the race. I'd comment more on this but I am unable to get my hands on the full text of the study.

When it is made available, we'll delve deep. Promise.

Moronic Musings

A friend sent me this article a few days ago and I have to say that the depth of the stupidity of it is staggering.

The fact that this sort of drivel is out there is a testament to how screwed up the field of exercise really is. Morononic musings like the article below by Mr. Scott abound.

Allow me to dissect, destroy and pulverize his blatherings.

Here we go....

Excerpts : Is Your Workout Wasting Your Time? A no-nonsense look at the often nonsensical world of fitness clubs. By Paul Scott, Best Life

"Researchers, for instance, have known that the leg-extension machine (the unit in which you sit with your shin behind a padded bar attached to a weight stack and then straighten your leg in front of you) trains you to do just one thing: become very strong at the leg-extension machine."

Really? That's it? We don't know if this statement is true as Mr. Scott does not cite any references. If true then biceps curls only get you good at biceps curls, chest presses at chest presses, squats at squats, etc. By inference Mr. Scott suggests that strength training exercises do not promote muscular hypertrophy. Where oh where has Mr. Scott been?

"In one of the few studies on this subject, researchers from the University of Kentucky studied 23 patients with knee pain to see what made them stronger: a step-up test or doing leg extensions. While they found that both groups eventually became stronger at doing leg extensions, only the group doing the step-up test actually became stronger at stepping up and doing functional activities. The reason: The seated leg-extension machine has nothing to do with how we use our legs, which are meant to hold us upright against gravity while we walk, climb, or descend."

A few things here - a step up test is a specific task. In order to get better at the step up test, you have to practice the step up test. The group doing the knee extensions should have been doing the step up test too so that they would become skilled at the task and THEN tested to see who did better. If both groups did as well you could conclude that knee extensions contributed nothing to the step up test. Secondly, step up involve knee extension and hip extension. If the test in performed in a rigorous manner, you will increase the strength of the quads, glutes and hamstrings. The leg extension is only designed to strengthen the quads.As for the leg extension exercise having noting do do with how we use our legs, tell that to a soccer player.

In fact, Chris Powers, a biokinesiology researcher at the University of California determined that although the thighbone rotates under the kneecap as we walk, using a leg-extension machine actually causes the kneecap to rotate on the thighbone. The mechanics of the leg-extension machine simply doesn't simulate what happens in functional activity (e.g., walking, running, or going down steps).

Again no reference cited. And if this is true that the knee cap rotates on the thighbone rather than the other way around, so what? When we strength train we are not attempting to mimic what we do in functional activity whatever that truly means. That is not the purpose of strength training. Do we not extend our knee in in functional activity? A football punter thinks so I'll bet.


"The leg-extension machine puts a lot of strain on the knee ligaments and the patella," says Tim Hewett, PhD, a professor in the departments of biomedical engineering and pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati "I would never consider letting our athletes use a leg-extension machine."

Yes I can hear the training room dialog now - "Boomer - get your butt off that dangerous and evil leg extension machine! Your really gonna hurt your patella doing that. Now, go on over there and snatch that barbell over your head as fast and as explosively as possible 50 times and then get out on the field and ram your cervical spine into the blocking posts till you drop."


"When it comes to promoting strength that is not meaningful, the leg-extension machine is one of many."

Unmeaningful strength - now that statement is a doozy!

Help For Heartburn

Dr. Norm Robillard has written a great book on how to virtually eliminate heartburn without meds or surgery. I have followed his advice inadvertently and rarely suffer from heartburn or, as it is called when chronic, GERD.

Essentially to cure your heartburn don't gulp Maalox or quit coffee. Simply remove carbs - refined carbs, grains and beans and  watch your GERD get gone. His book gives a great explanation for the how and why and it never hurts to be a brain.

Diabetes Clip

If you suffer from type II diabetes or know someone who does, please watch this clip.

Grocery Woes

I'm watching CNBC right now and they are telling me that due to skyrocketing prices, people are buying cheaper foods to save money. Less meat and more macaroni. Less fish and more fish sticks.

I feel for those who are in this predicament (unless they smoke cigarettes and eat Twinkies).

But because of this, if you think obesity in this country is bad now - look out. You ain't seen nuthin' yet.

TIP: A dozen eggs costs less than a box of Cheerios.

A pound of Hamburger meat costs less than a pound of fish sticks.

And let's not forget that the healthier you eat, the less food you need to eat (that is if you want to call Cheerios food).

So realize that nutrient rich foods (meat, fish, eggs, etc.) though at times more expensive, give a family a lot more nutritional bang for your buck.

Eat smart, not cheap.

Adolescent Obesity Levels Off

According to a recent study or, rather, survey, over the past decade adolescent obesity has leveled off. This is good news (if in fact the news is for real).

The sad part is that for the past 20 years or so, kids have been allowed to become so fat. It's our fault - the parents, the government and especially the food companies.

In an LA Times article, Dr. Riza Lavizzo-Mourey, President of the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation is quoted as having said:

"These findings may signal that this national epidemic is not an unstoppable force."

You don't need to see the results of the survey to know that this 'epidemic' is entirely stoppable. In fact, the answer is quite simple. Why so many organizations act as if the reason or cause is insurmountable and unfathomable is beyond me.

Kids today are overfat because they eat too much sugar specifically refined carbohydrates (and yes, to a certain extent, calories in general). In my new book Strong Kids Healthy Kids this will be discussed in more detail.

Additionally, it's got not a thing to do with inactivity. Research indicates that overfat kids are just as active as their leaner counterparts. There are plenty of obese and active kids and plenty of lean inactive kids. Money spent on getting kids more active is money wasted. Of course kids should have gym class. Of course kids should be encouraged to participate in sports. But not for reasons of fat loss.

The idea that inactivity is a factor in obesity is without merit. Several studies have looked at activity/aerobic programs in children and found no change in body composition. Two being a 3 year study by Cohen, 1995 Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 66: A29 and a 10 week study by Ignico and Mahon, 1995 (same issue pgs. 85-90) both showed no change in body composition.

It's the gobbling of sugar, not the refrain from frolic that makes kids fat.

And who feeds kids the wrong stuff? Family, friends, schools and institutions.

Q: How do we stop war? Cease killing people.

Q: How do we stop adolescent obesity? Cease feeding kids that which makes them fat. And we know EXACTLY what these foods are. They are foods that never walked, crawled, swam, flew or grew. There is no such thing as a pasta bush, a bagel tree or a pizza-fish. I never met a cookie-cow in my life.

I don't care that it's hard. I don't care that the kids will complain. I don't care that you have to get up earlier to cook and prepare. I don't care that you have to eat the same way too.

The answers to life's problems are sometimes hard. Really hard. But let's not pretend that the answers don't exist because this is so.

"Forget about likes and dislikes. They are of no consequence. Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness."

A complimentary autographed copy of my book The Slow Burn Revolution goes to the first person who can tell me who said this. HINT: It was a man.

Real Food Pyramid

I know I said I was busy - and I am - but I needed to share this with you.

Eat like this and you will be healthy, wealthy and wise:





















From the Nutrition and Metabolism website. A great place to learn about how to eat for optimal health.

OK back to the grindstone for me!