Undersize me – a month of great food and exercise.
Copyright 2004, Andrew Cavanagh. All rights reserved.
In “Supersize me”, already one of the world's most successful documentaries, self proclaimed “gastronomical guinea pig” Morgan Spurlock dines exclusively on McDonalds three meals a day for four full weeks. Spurlock also severely restricts his level of exercise.
In a glaring indictment of fast food his health declines rapidly with negative affects including elevated cholesterol, mood swings, depression and a total weight gain of over twenty-five pounds.
But what would happen if we reversed Spurlock's experiment? Instead of eating junk food for a month why not eat excellent food for a month and add a little exercise?
Instead of “supersize me” why not “undersize me”?
“Supersize me” is a fabulous example of what not to do. Spurlock's supersize me program consisted of:
High levels of saturated animal fat.
High intake of red hamburger meat.
High levels of “bad” trans fatty acids from deep fried food.
High levels of carbohydrates from sugar, french fries and hamburger buns.
Low intake of vegetables.
Fruit intake almost non existent.
Fluids mainly as sugar filled coca cola drinks.
Less than 5,000 steps of walking a day and no other exercise.
If we reverse the supersize me program we should end up with a healthy “undersize me” program:
Moderate, low fat sources of protein.
Mainly white meat like fish, chicken breast, tofu etc.
No deep fried food or vegetable oils.
No sugar, french fries or hamburger buns.
Fruit and vegetables as the main dietary carbohydrate source.
Drink water for fluids.
Moderate exercise for thirty minutes every day.
Spurlock went from healthy blood pressure of 120 over 70 to a hypertensive 150 over 90 in just three weeks. He went from healthy cholesterol readings to outrageously elevated cholesterol during his short experiment.
His lipid profile was so terrible Spurlock's G.P. warned him he was “turning his liver to pate” and advised him to end his experiment before he suffered permanent physical damage.
Spurlock's mental health also suffered with mood swings, periodic depression and addictive behaviour. After two weeks he began to crave McDonalds food and seemed to be getting some kind of “fix” from eating it.
Most alarming of all to those trying to lose weight Spurlock gained a whopping twenty five pounds of body fat in just one month.
Is it possible a reverse “undersize me” program could reverse conditions like high blood pressure, cholesterol, obesity, mood swings, depression and addictive eating behaviour?
Probably the greatest health disaster on the supersize me program was Spurlock constantly elevating his levels of insulin with an enormous intake of carbohydrates from coca cola, french fries and hamburger buns. Excess insulin can lead to high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, perhaps even mood swings and depression.
Eating fruit and vegetables as your main source of carbohydrates should control your body's insulin production. Eating low fat protein with every meal can also help control insulin by stimulating the release of insulin's opposing hormone glucagon.
Reducing excess levels of insulin can lead to a natural reversal of excess fluid retention. This lowering of excess fluid in your body usually lowers blood pressure and often within a week or two of changing your dietary habits.
Controlling insulin could also reduce the production of an enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase. Lowering HMG-CoA reductase usually lowers cholesterol production.
Insulin also stimulates the storage of fat. Controlling insulin while increasing exercise should almost certainly result in weight loss.
Excess insulin can stimulate the production of a group of controlling hormones called type II eicoanoids linked to mood problems, depression and addictive behaviour so an undersize me program could have a positive effect on all of these conditions.
On a final note the supersize me documentary claims McDonalds creates a positive eating experience coupled with manipulative advertising to “imprint” children - motivating them to come back again and again even into adulthood. Spurlock plans a tongue in cheek solution to this imprinting, joking he'll punch his son in the face every time they drive past a McDonalds.
But you can do a little better with less violence on the “undersize me” program.
How about food “the way mother used to make it.” Now that's positive imprinting. In our high paced society we often undervalue good old home cooking.
At home you can create the most wonderful dining experience with your family including conversation, affection, even games before and after dinner. With a little creativity you can create a positive dining and life experience McDonalds and other fast food outlets could never possibly match.
Perhaps we need to focus on values we've forgotten in our race for fast food and other conveniences. By embracing simpler values and a simpler lifestyle we might “undersize” our bodies and “supersize” our souls.
Beating the winter flu naturally.(AUSTRALIA)
Copyright 2004, Andrew Cavanagh. All rights reserved.
Why is it you catch the flu when the weather turns cold and especially when you spend an evening in the cold night air?
Respiratory viruses like influenza or the common cold multiply in your nasal passageways gradually working their way down your respiratory tract. These viruses multiply faster when your nasal passageways are cool - while standing in the cold night air or in front of an air conditioner.
A night in the cold winter evening air will give a flu virus in your body a chance to multiply quickly making it far more likely you'll develop full blown influenza.
You can reduce your chance of catching the winter flu and slow it's progression in several ways:
Avoid hand to hand contact with influenza sufferers.
Wash your hands regularly to prevent the entry of viruses into your body.
Avoid touching your face with your hands.
Perform facial dips to slow the progression of a cold or flu.
Supplement with zinc and vitamin C.
Germs like the common cold and influenza virus usually hitchhike their way into your body through contact between your fingers and the mucus membranes of your eyes and nose. When your mother told you “don’t touch your face with your hands,” she was providing an excellent anti-viral recommendation.
How does a virus make it onto your hands?
Airborne droplets from a cold or flu virus can travel up to eight metres. You can pick up the virus where the droplets land on frequently touched objects like doorknobs or telephones. Even shaking hands is a common method of transmission.
Once the virus is on your hands touching, rubbing or scratching your nose or your eyes completes the cycle of transmission.
So regularly washing your hands becomes particularly important if you want to avoid catching a cold or flu....
Is the Atkins diet safe?
Copyright 2004, Andrew Cavanagh. All rights reserved.
Recently Jody Gorran from Delray Beach in Florida launched a lawsuit against Atkins Inc. claiming his heart disease was caused by adhering to the popular Atkins diet.
Gorran claims his lawsuit is an attempt to warn the general public of the dangers of the Atkins plan. Since Gorran is seeking less than $15,000 in legal fees and damages his claim seems sincere and raises the question: “Is the Atkins diet safe?”
The Atkins plan involves a high intake of animal protein, some animal fats and moderate to severe restriction of carbohydrate intake.
The late Dr Atkins was a pioneer in the diet industry - one of the first to recognize the link between carbohydrates and a hormone called insulin. The Atkins plan was the first to attempt to control insulin with dietary changes.
Atkins recognized insulin is released when you eat carbohydrates. Excess insulin can lead to a wide variety of diseases including heart disease, adult onset diabetes, excess body fat and obesity.
Atkins recommended strict control of carbohydrates in his diet especially in the induction phase where carbohydrates are quite severely restricted. This restriction of carbohydrates was designed to reduce the production of insulin.
By stimulating an enzyme called HMG CoA reductase excess insulin can result in excess production of the “bad” cholesterol linked to heart disease. Excess insulin can also lead to fluid retention and high blood pressure.
Following Atkins guidelines restricting carbohydrates so severely should reduce the production of insulin resulting in improved cholesterol and blood pressure but achieving excellent heart health may not be quite so simple....
Could evening primrose and borage oil make you sick?
Copyright 2004 Andrew Cavanagh, all rights reserved.
Evening primrose oil, borage oil and blackcurrant oil are often prescribed to relieve the symptoms of PMS, eczema and other conditions. But is the recommended dosage for these natural supplements too high for long term use? Is it possible these supplements could actually worsen the disease they’re being taken for and become a real health hazard taken in the dosage level recommended on the product packaging?
Evening primrose oil, borage oil and blackcurrant oil are high in a fatty acid called gamma linoleic acid (GLA). GLA is the basic building block for a group of hormones called eicosanoids.
These eicosanoids control nearly every function in your body, directly or indirectly and come in two basic groups described simplistically as type one or “good” eicosanoids and type two or “bad” eicosanoids. The bad eicosanoids are linked to nearly every major western disease including heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, eczema - even pre-menstrual syndrome.
A deficiency of GLA can lead to poor production of eicosanoids and especially poor production of the “good” eicosanoids resulting in a wide variety of conditions and diseases. But excess intake of GLA supplements like evening primrose oil and borage oil could result in excess production of bad eicosanoids worsening the symptoms of existing diseases and increasing the chance of developing more serious disease.
So what is the safe therapeutic level of GLA supplements like evening primrose oil, borage oil (often called starflower oil) or blackcurrant oil. How much is too much?....
Alcohol – distilling the facts.
Copyright 2004, Andrew Cavanagh, all rights reseved.
Is drinking good or bad for you?
Several studies in the past have suggested modest intake of alcohol could reduce your chance of heart disease. But common sense and medical knowledge places serious doubt on these findings and several recent studies suggest even social drinking could be seriously detrimental to your health.
A study at the University of California in San Fransisco found drinking as little as three alcoholic beverages a day can lead to brain damage and reduced mental performance.
The study found heavy social drinkers had a loss of brain cells similar to but not as severe as serious alcoholics. The social drinkers also suffered from reduced ability to receive and store information and problems dealing with abstract concepts like time and money.
Other serious diseases could also be linked to alcoholism. A large scale study performed by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital found just two alcoholic drinks a day could slightly increase your risk for colon cancer and more than three alcoholic drinks a day could increase your risk of colon cancer by an alarming forty percent.
Another recent study in the University of Ulm in Germany found moderate and heavy intake of acohol could cause nerve damage leading to hearing loss. So drinking alcohol is linked to an increasing variety of disease.
Worse still drinking is associated with a wide range of social problems like physical abuse, violence, alcoholism and more serious drug abuse. A high percentage of road accidents fatal and otherwise are also linked to alcohol abuse.
A key health problem often ignored is the high carbohydrate content of most alcoholic drinks. Excess carbohydrate in your diet can stimulate the excess production of insulin and excess insulin is implicated in many western diseases including heart disease and adult onset diabetes.
So this high carbohydrate content in alcoholic drinks could be one of the root causes of alcohol’s negative effect on your health.
Two glasses of beer total around thirty grams of carbohydrate. This is around the total carbohydrate you should consume in a large meal. Drinking two glasses of beer would almost certainly amount to excessive carbohydrate intake.
Worse still one can of soft drink like coca cola contains around thirty grams of carbohydrate. Alcoholic drink mixes containing beverages like lemonade or coca cola would also be likely to result in an excess consumption of carbohydrates leading to excess insulin release and possibly serious disease in the long term....
Heart disease – statins, diet and exercise.
Copyright 2004, Andrew Cavanagh, all rights reseved.
The popularity of cholesterol controlling “wonder” drugs called statins has soared in recent times. The western world’s biggest killer, heart disease, is linked to elevated levels of “bad” cholesterol and low levels of “good” cholesterol. Statins can help decrease levels of “bad” cholesterol – triglycerides in particular and increase levels of “good” cholesterol – especially HDL cholesterol.
Statins are so commonly prescribed the National Health Service in the United Kingdom is introducing over the counter statins without prescription in July. An editorial in respected medical journal The Lancet suggests the introduction of over the counter statins is simply a somewhat hazardous plan to save the UK medical health system over two billion pounds potentially spent every year on prescription statins.
A huge observational study released in May showed patients who took statins before a heart attack were 34% less likely to suffer from complications or death than those who never took statins. Also, patients who started taking statins in hospital had fewer deaths than those who didn’t take statins at all. The study was extensive involving nearly twenty thousand patients in fourteen different countries.
But this enthusiasm for statins may be premature. Statins can have negative side effects and even more important, statins only treat one of the symptoms of heart disease, not the root cause.
So what are statins, what do they do, are they safe and are there natural alternatives?
An enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase increases the rate of production of cholesterol in your cells. Statins inhibit this enzyme slowing down cholesterol production.
Even more important inhibiting the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme can decrease levels of triglycerides – a “bad” cholesterol fraction and increase levels of HDL cholesterol – a “good” cholesterol. Your body’s ratio of triglycerides to HDL cholesterol is an excellent predictor of potential heart disease – sixteen times greater than any other cholesterol marker according to studies at Harvard University in Boston.
So statins do seem to have a significant positive benefit on your body’s cholesterol levels. But are they safe?
Possible negative side effects of statins include liver problems, muscular disorders, skin rashes, psychiatric disturbances and gallbladder problems. To be fair the side effects of statins have decreased with the introduction of newer statins and better understanding of the effective dosage for these drugs.
But statins are often prescribed “for life” and the potential long-term risks beg the question: are there natural alternatives? Since statins inhibit the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme is there a natural way to achieve this? Fortunately there does seem to be a natural alternative....
Antidepressants may cause suicide?
Copyright 2004 Andrew Cavanagh, all rights reserved.
In March this year the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States issued an alert for patients using antidepressants to be monitored for depression and potential suicide. This alert follows an advisory by the FDA in June 2003 warning of a possible link between antidepressants in children and an increased incidence of suicide.
So why would a drug designed to make you feel happier actually lead to depression or suicide?
Depression is most likely caused by low levels of brain hormones called neurotransmitters. Low levels of a neurotransmitter called serotonin is especially linked to depression.
What does serotonin do?
Imagine your brain constantly sending messages along nerve pathways from one nerve to the next. In between the nerves in your brain are gaps called synapses. In these gaps neurotransmitters affect the way messages pass from one nerve to the next.
Put simplistically serotonin works by slowing down these messages making you feel more calm, happy and relaxed.
The most popular form of antidepressants like Prozac and Zoloft allow the serotonin already in your body to stay in these synapses longer.
So why would an antidepressant lead to depression or suicide? One theory suggests poor drug delivery could cause high and low variations in levels of serotonin in your synapses......
Eat fat to lose fat?
Copyright 2004, Andrew Cavanagh, all rights reserved.
The connection between obesity and diets high in fat is well established. But a recent study at the Boston University School of Medicine found diets low in fat are also linked to obesity.
Children with a moderate intake of fat in their diets were the leanest of the children in a study of 106 families. Children with high fat diets were the most likely to be overweight but more interesting the children with low fat diets were also likely to be overweight.
Understanding what really makes us fat could be the most important health issue in the western world. In a press release on March 3rd this year the Centers for Disease Control in the United States predicted obesity would overtake smoking as the leading single cause of death in the next five years unless radical diet and lifestyle changes were made in the general population. The trend in Australia is alarmingly similar.
Many studies show that low fat diets may be less healthy than their original proponents would have us believe. The resulting confusion over whether fat is healthy or unhealthy and what changes has left many of us confused and unsure. The key is understanding how the fat you eat affects your hormones.....
Maggots and other therapies.
Copyright 2004 Andrew Cavanagh, all rights reserved
From Friday, February the 20th the National Health Service in the United Kingdom approved the widespread use of live maggots to clean infected wounds. Maggots can now be legally applied in English hospitals to various kinds of open wounds including ulcers, stab wounds and post surgical wounds.
This unusual therapy actually has several appealing benefits. Maggots will not devour healthy flesh. They can literally eat the bacteria inside the decaying tissue in a wound reducing the chance of dangerous infections like gangrene.
The UK National Health Service has also discovered sterile maggots are cheaper and safer than antibiotics.
Further reducing the chance of contracting a hospital infection, lucky English patients will now be encouraged to pick up a takeaway pack of maggots to apply in the comfort of their homes.
For centuries maggots were used to devour the decaying flesh from wounds but the discovery of antibiotics put this practice into decline. Sometimes we can be a little hasty in discarding a therapy because it seems a little too strange or unusual. Many unusual therapies, like the “maggot therapy”, are now gaining more scientific credibility.
Remember grandma forcing a tablespoon of cod liver oil down your throat whenever you were ailing? Grandma probably worked on the theory that anything with a taste as horrible as cod liver oil must be good for you.
The cod liver oil was an excellent form of cognitive behavioral therapy. Children previously subjected to the foul taste of cod liver oil would vehemently deny feeling ill and act as healthy as possible to avoid a repeat dose. Many studies show just acting well can improve health. Mark up one point for granny’s psychotherapy 101. But grandma’s wisdom doesn’t end there.
Grandma didn’t have a degree in endocrinology but cod liver oil and other kinds of fish oil could have a significant hormonal effect in the body.....
Hygiene could prevent bird flu, SARS and influenza.
Copyright 2004 Andrew Cavanagh, all rights reserved.
Cleaning your hands could be the simplest method of avoiding viruses like the bird flu, influenza, the common cold and even SARS. The health departments of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia all recommend you wash your hands with soap and warm water as a basic precaution against these viruses.
Germs like the bird flu, common cold and influenza virus usually hitchhike their way into your body through contact between your fingers and the mucus membranes of your eyes and nose. When your mother told you “don’t touch your face with your hands,” she was providing an excellent anti-viral recommendation.
How does a virus make it onto your hands? Airborne droplets from a cold, flu or SARS virus can travel up to eight metres. You can pick up the virus where the droplets land on frequently touched objects like doorknobs or telephones. Even shaking hands is a common method of transmission. Once the virus is on your hands touching, rubbing or scratching your nose or your eyes completes the cycle of transmission.
In the case of bird flu the virus is present in the feces and nasal and respiratory secretions of infected birds. You can catch the bird flu virus by touching infected bird feces with your hands then rubbing or scratching your eyes or nose. Like most viruses the bird flu virus is killed within one minute of cooking at eighty degrees Celsius or more. So it’s unlikely you’ll catch the disease from eating cooked poultry. The bird flu virus is not present inside eggs.......
Slowing the progression of a virus.
Copyright 2004 Andrew Cavanagh, all rights reserved.
Most viruses like influenza, SARS and bird flu enter your body through contact between your fingers and the mucous membranes of your eyes and nose. Cleaning your hands thoroughly with a natural soap can help remove the virus from your hands and significantly reduce your chance of infection. But how can you slow down a virus already inside your body?
When a respiratory virus like influenza or the common cold is inside your body it usually multiplies in your nasal passageways gradually working its way down your respiratory tract. These viruses multiply faster when your nasal passageways are cool - while standing in the cold night air or in front of an air conditioner for example. So you’re more likely to develop a cold or flu during winter or in an air-conditioned room.
Your body responds to a developing virus by increasing mucous production and raising body temperature. This explains the runny nose and fever when you catch the flu. This clever defence mechanism serves several purposes.
Most respiratory viruses are heat sensitive. Raising body temperature can slow their multiplication. The extra mucous helps carry the virus out of your nasal passageways either to your stomach or out of your body through your nose or mouth. You can mimic and even improve on your body’s natural defences to a virus with a novel therapy called a facial dip.
Dr Kenneth Seaton, a pioneer in hygiene research, noticed during the summer months in Australia when children swam regularly in the ocean they experienced a much-reduced incidence of colds, flus, sinusitis and allergies......
Are you sleep deprived?
copyright Andrew Cavanagh 2004, all rights reserved
If you feel sleepy mid afternoon and you fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow chances are you're sleep deprived. World renowned sleep researcher Dr James B. Maas warns that sleep debt from inadequate sleep can suppress your immune system, increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol and increase levels of insulin, a hormone involved in fat storage.
Suppression of your immune system can lead to the colds and influenza so common when you don't get adequate sleep. Long term suppression of your immune system could lead to far more serious diseases. A recent study by the Stanford University Medical Center linked poor sleep to the development of cancer.
Excess levels of insulin and cortisol are implicated in most of the major western diseases like heart disease, strokes and obesity. A study by the Cincinnati Sleep Management Institute suggested that inadequate sleep could chronically raise insulin and cortisol leading to excess weight gain.....
How to get a good night of quality sleep.
copyright 2004 Andrew Cavanagh, all rights reserved.
We’ve established the first basic principle of sleep: get enough hours of sleep every night so you can stay fully alert all day long. But how can you fall asleep more easily and how do you ensure a full night of good quality, restful sleep?
Studies have shown repeatedly that subjects deprived of natural light will go to sleep one hour later every day. Why? Put simply, your body runs on a twenty-five hour clock and you need bright lights to reset that clock.
Your pineal gland, which controls the release of the sleep hormone melatonin, is sensitive to changes in light. Bright light stops the production of the sleep hormone melatonin and helps reset the production cycle for the following night.
So exposure to sunlight first thing in the morning is essential to reset your body clock. Light is detected by your eyes so it’s probably unnecessary to stand in full sun. Looking at the sky while standing in the shade for fifteen to thirty minutes is usually adequate. If it’s dark when you wake up you can use very bright lights to reset your body clock.....
Eat your way to better sleep.
copyright 2004 Andrew Cavanagh, all rights reserved
Sleep is essential for good health. Poor quality sleep is linked with memory and concentration problems, weight gain, poor immune system function resulting in colds and viruses and even diseases as serious as cancer.
You should try to sleep enough so you are fully alert all day long. Also be aware that you are light sensitive and while bright lights in the morning help reset your body’s twenty-five hour clock, bright lights at night can interrupt your sleep cycle. Try to get up and go to sleep at the same time every night so your body can maintain a healthy sleep pattern. Finally, diet has a vital role in the quality of your sleep.
Most of us have experienced nightmares and poor sleep as a result of overeating late in the evening so we know food and sleep are connected. But exactly how does food affect sleep and can you improve the quality of your sleep with improvements in your diet?
Melatonin, the sleep hormone could be affected by diet in two main ways. First melatonin is made from another hormone in your body called serotonin and serotonin is made from tryptophan. Tryptophan is an essential protein you can only obtain from your diet. Foods high in tryptophan include turkey breast, tofu, chicken breast and almonds. Eating these foods will give your body the raw material it needs to produce the sleep hormone melatonin.....
Fighting cholesterol with food.
copyright 2004 Andrew Cavanagh, all rights reserved
Cholesterol is essential for good health. Without it you would die.
Cholesterol is, among other things, the building block in your body of bile acids essential for digestion, the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone and the myelin coating surrounding your nerves so vital for the healthy function of your brain and nervous system.
But there are many different kinds of cholesterol and some can contribute to blocking your arteries leading to heart disease. So which cholesterol is “bad” and which is “good”?
A series of studies at Harvard University found that subjects with a combination of high levels of triglycerides and low levels of HDL cholesterol were up to sixteen times more likely to suffer from a heart attack. So excess triglycerides and low levels of HDL cholesterol seem to be bad for your heart. But why?
Triglycerides are found in several types of “bad” cholesterol. These relatively tiny, dense, forms of cholesterol high in triglycerides find it easier to push their way into the walls of your arteries. Once there, they can cause a chain reaction, which leads to the eventual blockage of that artery. This blockage of arteries is the leading cause of heart attacks.
Why is HDL cholesterol “good”?
HDL cholesterol helps transport “bad” cholesterol away from your arteries back to your liver. This reduces your chance of developing heart disease caused by blocked arteries.
So what can you do to reduce your levels of triglycerides, the “bad” cholesterol and increase your levels of HDL, the “good” cholesterol? First, you need to understand where the cholesterol in your body originates.
Studies have repeatedly shown lowering the cholesterol in your diet has only a moderate effect on lowering cholesterol in your blood and is even less effective at improving the balance of “good” to “bad” cholesterol. This is not too surprising when you realize that only twenty percent of the cholesterol in your body comes from your diet. The remaining eighty percent of cholesterol is produced in your body.
Most of your body’s cholesterol is made in your liver and when you eat less cholesterol your body simply makes more. So eating less cholesterol is unlikely to make a significant change. But other diets could help by reducing your body’s production of cholesterol.
Andrew Cavanagh is a professional health writer and speaker and a member of the Australasian Medical Writer's Association.
He is the author of “One hour to glorious health and permanent weight loss” and the groundbreaking “From depression to glorious health in six steps.” Both books can be downloaded free at this site.
Andrew Cavanagh is also the author of Health Watch, a weekly health feature for regional newspapers.
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