I was recently reading an article in the New York Times about the safety of mammograms for women with a high risk of breast cancer as a preventative strategy. What does getting a mammogram have to do with prevention? If cancer shows up on the mammogram does that not mean that the patient already has cancer? I don't see any prevention in that scenario at all. The same geos for the "preventative" screenings for heart disease, colon cancer, and diabetes. It's far from prevention and it's ridiculuos to use the word.
The other question is how many doctors are looking that the research on how lifestyle choices are showing up as causal factors for breast cancer? There's A LOT of it and if you make bad lifestyle choices daily of course your risk for cancer is going to go up. It would make more sense to educate these "high risk" women at a young age about how their lifestyle can increase their risk of breast as opposed to starting mammograms early. This is absolutely why doctors need to stop focusing on drugs and surgery and instead start educating their patients on lifestyle. Is your doctor offering you lifestyle solutions? Eat Well--Move Well--Think Well.
Showing posts with label eat well. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eat well. Show all posts
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Do you really need dairy for strong bones?
The more investigating that I do I wonder where in the world did the notion came about that we need dairy products to have strong bones? The sexy celebrity ad "Got Milk?" would probably be a great place to start. But do Hayden Panettiere, Mischa Barton, or any other celebrity know anything about what it really takes to have "strong bones?" The ad campaign is very successful because 90% of Americans when asked how to have strong bones answer with, "drink milk." When I tell friends and family that I avoid dairy they look at me and always ask, "where do you get your calcium." My response is, "fruits and vegetables." They look at me baffled and then always ask this follow up, "there's calcium in fruits and vegetables?"
The crazy thing is that currently we're consuming more milk, yogurt, and chesse in the U.S. than ever before in history and rates of osteoporosis are on the rise. Osteoporosis costs the American health care system about 38 million dollars per day and that number is growing every year. So who are the experts on strong bones? Osteoporosis was non existent in hunter gatherer populations and there wasn't a single hunter gatherer population that ate dairy. They ate a lot of fruits and vegetables and they did a tremendous amount of weight bearing exercise. But instead of our doctors giving patients more exercise and more fruits and veggies they often give a pill or recommend calcium supplements. This might be one of the most ridiculous things I have heard/seen. Giving people calcium supplements without telling them they need at least 30 minutes of weight bearing exercise every day is the equivalent of telling people to drink protein shakes to get big biceps. It just won't work.
The other science that is coming out about how diet affects bones is the acid/alkaline information. I found the article from the New York Time below to be very interesting:
November 24, 2009
Personal Health
Exploring a Low-Acid Diet for Bone Health
By JANE E. BRODY
The science of osteoporosis and its resultant fractures has long been plagued by some vexing observations. Why, for example, are osteoporotic fractures relatively rare in Asian countries like Japan, where people live as long or longer than Americans and consume almost no calcium-rich dairy products? Why, in Western countries that consume the most dairy foods, are rates of osteoporotic fractures among the highest in the world? And why has no consistent link been found between the amount of calcium people consume and protection against osteoporosis?
An alternative theory of bone health may — or may not — explain these apparent contradictions. It is the theory of low-acid eating, a diet laden with fruits and vegetables but relatively low in acid-producing protein and moderate in cereal grains. Its proponents suggest that this menu plan could lead to stronger bones than the typical American diet rich in dairy products and animal protein, often enhanced by calcium supplements.
These dietary changes might even prevent or delay other chronic conditions that rob far too many people of a wholesome old age.
The low-acid theory was first fully promulgated in 1968 by two American doctors in the leading medical journal The Lancet and has since been the subject of much debate and confusion among bone specialists.
The science behind low-acid eating and the research findings that do, and do not, support it have been spelled out in a new book, “Building Bone Vitality,” by Amy Joy Lanou, an assistant professor of health and wellness at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and Michael Castleman, a health writer.
At the same time, researchers at the Yale School of Medicine are studying the possible bone benefits of adding protein supplements to the diets of older Americans who habitually consume low levels of protein.
Dr. Karl Insogna, a professor of internal medicine directing the study, said in an interview that the 18-month placebo-controlled study would determine whether raising protein intake to a more normal range could increase bone mineral density and help prevent osteoporosis in people over age 60.
Science of the Skeleton
Bones are not immutable. Rather, they are continually being broken down and rebuilt, and when breakdown exceeds buildup, they get progressively weaker. Vital to the solid framework of the body, bones play an equally important metabolic role hidden from casual observation.
Bones are the storage tank for calcium compounds that regulate the acid-base balance of the blood, which must be maintained within a very narrow range. When the blood becomes even slightly too acid, alkaline calcium compounds — like calcium carbonate, the acid-neutralizer in Tums — are leached from bones to reduce the acidity.
Studies by Dr. Bess Dawson-Hughes, at the Jean Mayer U.S.D.A. Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, and collaborators have demonstrated the acid-neutralizing ability of fruits and vegetables and the crucial role they can play in maintaining healthy bones.
The researchers note that fruits and vegetables are predominantly metabolized to alkaline bicarbonate, whereas proteins and cereal grains are metabolized to acids. The more protein people consume beyond the body’s true needs, the more acidic their blood can become and the more alkaline compounds are needed to neutralize the acid.
In one study by Dr. Dawson-Hughes and colleagues, published in January in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 171 healthy men and women age 50 and older were treated with either bicarbonate or no bicarbonate. Those receiving bicarbonate, in an amount equivalent to nine servings of fruits and vegetables daily, experienced much lower levels of calcium loss in the urine, as well as a loss of N-telopeptide, the biochemical marker of bone resorption.
(By contrast, Dr. Insogna said that although eating more protein raised the loss of calcium in urine, it also improved intestinal absorption of calcium and thus might not result in bone loss.)
The Dawson-Hughes team concluded that increasing the alkaline content of the diet by eating more fruits and vegetables should be studied as a safe and low-cost approach to preventing osteoporosis and improving bone health in older Americans.
The finding is consistent with current recommendations from several federal health agencies to consume nine servings daily of fruits and vegetables. That amount has been shown to lower blood pressure and has been linked to a reduced risk of developing heart disease, stroke, diabetes, some cancers and Alzheimer’s disease. Now prevention of osteoporosis might be added to the list.
As the book authors point out, “animal foods, especially cheeses and meats, don’t contain much alkaline material” and hardly enough to “neutralize all the acids they introduce into the bloodstream; the body must draw calcium compounds from bone to restore optimal blood pH,” a measure of acidity. On the other hand, the alkaline material in fruits and vegetables, which are low in protein, can buffer that acidity.
Except for hard cheeses, which are acid-producing, most dairy foods, including milk, are “metabolized to compounds that are essentially neutral,” Dr. Dawson-Hughes said.
In their exhaustive review of the scientific literature, Dr. Lanou and Mr. Castleman found that “two-thirds of clinical trials show that milk, dairy foods and calcium supplements do not prevent fractures.” They conclude that the high fracture rate in countries that consume the most milk and dairy products results from the fact that “these affluent Western countries also consume the most meat, poultry and fish.”
Lessons From Research
This does not mean that older people, many of whom chronically consume too little protein, should avoid this essential nutrient, which helps prevent frailty and the falls that result in fractures. Nor must people become vegetarians to maintain strong bones.
But it does suggest that those at the high end of protein consumption may be better off eating less protein in general and less animal protein in particular and replacing it with more fruits and vegetables. Consider adhering to the amount of protein that health experts recommend, which has a built-in safety factor of 45 percent above the minimum daily requirement and is based on ideal (not actual) body weight and age.
For an adult, that amount in grams is 0.36 multiplied by ideal body weight. Thus, a woman who should weigh 120 pounds needs only 44 grams of protein a day, the amount in 3 ounces of flounder, one piece of tofu and a cup of cooked bulgur. A 60-pound 8-year-old (the multiplier is 0.55) would need only 2 ounces of chicken and one-half cup of cottage cheese to get the recommended 32 grams of protein.
The crazy thing is that currently we're consuming more milk, yogurt, and chesse in the U.S. than ever before in history and rates of osteoporosis are on the rise. Osteoporosis costs the American health care system about 38 million dollars per day and that number is growing every year. So who are the experts on strong bones? Osteoporosis was non existent in hunter gatherer populations and there wasn't a single hunter gatherer population that ate dairy. They ate a lot of fruits and vegetables and they did a tremendous amount of weight bearing exercise. But instead of our doctors giving patients more exercise and more fruits and veggies they often give a pill or recommend calcium supplements. This might be one of the most ridiculous things I have heard/seen. Giving people calcium supplements without telling them they need at least 30 minutes of weight bearing exercise every day is the equivalent of telling people to drink protein shakes to get big biceps. It just won't work.
The other science that is coming out about how diet affects bones is the acid/alkaline information. I found the article from the New York Time below to be very interesting:
November 24, 2009
Personal Health
Exploring a Low-Acid Diet for Bone Health
By JANE E. BRODY
The science of osteoporosis and its resultant fractures has long been plagued by some vexing observations. Why, for example, are osteoporotic fractures relatively rare in Asian countries like Japan, where people live as long or longer than Americans and consume almost no calcium-rich dairy products? Why, in Western countries that consume the most dairy foods, are rates of osteoporotic fractures among the highest in the world? And why has no consistent link been found between the amount of calcium people consume and protection against osteoporosis?
An alternative theory of bone health may — or may not — explain these apparent contradictions. It is the theory of low-acid eating, a diet laden with fruits and vegetables but relatively low in acid-producing protein and moderate in cereal grains. Its proponents suggest that this menu plan could lead to stronger bones than the typical American diet rich in dairy products and animal protein, often enhanced by calcium supplements.
These dietary changes might even prevent or delay other chronic conditions that rob far too many people of a wholesome old age.
The low-acid theory was first fully promulgated in 1968 by two American doctors in the leading medical journal The Lancet and has since been the subject of much debate and confusion among bone specialists.
The science behind low-acid eating and the research findings that do, and do not, support it have been spelled out in a new book, “Building Bone Vitality,” by Amy Joy Lanou, an assistant professor of health and wellness at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and Michael Castleman, a health writer.
At the same time, researchers at the Yale School of Medicine are studying the possible bone benefits of adding protein supplements to the diets of older Americans who habitually consume low levels of protein.
Dr. Karl Insogna, a professor of internal medicine directing the study, said in an interview that the 18-month placebo-controlled study would determine whether raising protein intake to a more normal range could increase bone mineral density and help prevent osteoporosis in people over age 60.
Science of the Skeleton
Bones are not immutable. Rather, they are continually being broken down and rebuilt, and when breakdown exceeds buildup, they get progressively weaker. Vital to the solid framework of the body, bones play an equally important metabolic role hidden from casual observation.
Bones are the storage tank for calcium compounds that regulate the acid-base balance of the blood, which must be maintained within a very narrow range. When the blood becomes even slightly too acid, alkaline calcium compounds — like calcium carbonate, the acid-neutralizer in Tums — are leached from bones to reduce the acidity.
Studies by Dr. Bess Dawson-Hughes, at the Jean Mayer U.S.D.A. Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, and collaborators have demonstrated the acid-neutralizing ability of fruits and vegetables and the crucial role they can play in maintaining healthy bones.
The researchers note that fruits and vegetables are predominantly metabolized to alkaline bicarbonate, whereas proteins and cereal grains are metabolized to acids. The more protein people consume beyond the body’s true needs, the more acidic their blood can become and the more alkaline compounds are needed to neutralize the acid.
In one study by Dr. Dawson-Hughes and colleagues, published in January in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 171 healthy men and women age 50 and older were treated with either bicarbonate or no bicarbonate. Those receiving bicarbonate, in an amount equivalent to nine servings of fruits and vegetables daily, experienced much lower levels of calcium loss in the urine, as well as a loss of N-telopeptide, the biochemical marker of bone resorption.
(By contrast, Dr. Insogna said that although eating more protein raised the loss of calcium in urine, it also improved intestinal absorption of calcium and thus might not result in bone loss.)
The Dawson-Hughes team concluded that increasing the alkaline content of the diet by eating more fruits and vegetables should be studied as a safe and low-cost approach to preventing osteoporosis and improving bone health in older Americans.
The finding is consistent with current recommendations from several federal health agencies to consume nine servings daily of fruits and vegetables. That amount has been shown to lower blood pressure and has been linked to a reduced risk of developing heart disease, stroke, diabetes, some cancers and Alzheimer’s disease. Now prevention of osteoporosis might be added to the list.
As the book authors point out, “animal foods, especially cheeses and meats, don’t contain much alkaline material” and hardly enough to “neutralize all the acids they introduce into the bloodstream; the body must draw calcium compounds from bone to restore optimal blood pH,” a measure of acidity. On the other hand, the alkaline material in fruits and vegetables, which are low in protein, can buffer that acidity.
Except for hard cheeses, which are acid-producing, most dairy foods, including milk, are “metabolized to compounds that are essentially neutral,” Dr. Dawson-Hughes said.
In their exhaustive review of the scientific literature, Dr. Lanou and Mr. Castleman found that “two-thirds of clinical trials show that milk, dairy foods and calcium supplements do not prevent fractures.” They conclude that the high fracture rate in countries that consume the most milk and dairy products results from the fact that “these affluent Western countries also consume the most meat, poultry and fish.”
Lessons From Research
This does not mean that older people, many of whom chronically consume too little protein, should avoid this essential nutrient, which helps prevent frailty and the falls that result in fractures. Nor must people become vegetarians to maintain strong bones.
But it does suggest that those at the high end of protein consumption may be better off eating less protein in general and less animal protein in particular and replacing it with more fruits and vegetables. Consider adhering to the amount of protein that health experts recommend, which has a built-in safety factor of 45 percent above the minimum daily requirement and is based on ideal (not actual) body weight and age.
For an adult, that amount in grams is 0.36 multiplied by ideal body weight. Thus, a woman who should weigh 120 pounds needs only 44 grams of protein a day, the amount in 3 ounces of flounder, one piece of tofu and a cup of cooked bulgur. A 60-pound 8-year-old (the multiplier is 0.55) would need only 2 ounces of chicken and one-half cup of cottage cheese to get the recommended 32 grams of protein.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Obesity is responsible for 100,000 cancer cases annually
This is another example of a lifestyle problem that is putting a major strain on our health care system. Obesity is a lifestyle issue, not a genetic issue and the science is very clear on this. No drug or surgery is going to fix obesity or the problems associated with it. Lifestyle problems need lifestyle solutions, Eat Well Move Well, Think Well.
Obesity responsible for 100,000 cancer cases annually
By Matt Sloane, CNN Medical News
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Researchers calculate actual case counts likely to have been caused by obesity
* Endometrial, esophageal, pancreatic, kidney, breast and colorectal cancers affected
* Obesity also negatively affects survival and can make treatment more difficult
(CNN) -- More than 100,000 cases of cancer each year are caused by excess body fat, according to a report released Thursday in Washington.
Researchers with the American Institute for Cancer Research looked at seven cancers with known links to obesity and calculated actual case counts that were likely to have been caused by obesity.
Specifically, the report says that 49 percent of endometrial cancers are caused by excess body fat. That number is followed by 35 percent of esophageal cancer cases; 28 percent of pancreatic cancer cases; 24 percent of kidney cancer cases; 21 percent of gallbladder cancer cases; 17 percent of breast cancer cases; and 9 percent of colorectal cancer cases.
"This is the first time that we've put real, quantifiable case numbers on obesity-related cancers," said Glen Weldon, the American Institute for Cancer Research educational director. In addition, he said, it's not just causing cancer that's an issue.
"Obesity not only raises the risk for getting cancer," Weldon said. "It also has a negative effect on survival and can make treatment more difficult."
Although there is no concrete science on why obesity increases a person's risk for cancer, scientists hypothesize that excess estrogen released by body fat could be the culprit in cancers such as estrogen-receptor positive breast cancers.
Studies have also shown that increased body fat can lead to increased levels of oxidative stress and inflammatory compounds in the blood, which are linked to DNA mutation and diseased cell growth, as is seen in many cancers.
The American Cancer Society applauded the new research, but said the report is only the first step.
"This helps to communicate the magnitude of the problem," said Dr. Michael Thun, vice president emeritus at the American Cancer Society.
"While the study addresses the magnitude of the problem, it does not propose potential solutions. The bottom line for people concerned about this issue is to try to balance the calories you take in with those your body expends every day."
In addition to cancer, obesity is a known cause of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and strokes.
Obesity responsible for 100,000 cancer cases annually
By Matt Sloane, CNN Medical News
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Researchers calculate actual case counts likely to have been caused by obesity
* Endometrial, esophageal, pancreatic, kidney, breast and colorectal cancers affected
* Obesity also negatively affects survival and can make treatment more difficult
(CNN) -- More than 100,000 cases of cancer each year are caused by excess body fat, according to a report released Thursday in Washington.
Researchers with the American Institute for Cancer Research looked at seven cancers with known links to obesity and calculated actual case counts that were likely to have been caused by obesity.
Specifically, the report says that 49 percent of endometrial cancers are caused by excess body fat. That number is followed by 35 percent of esophageal cancer cases; 28 percent of pancreatic cancer cases; 24 percent of kidney cancer cases; 21 percent of gallbladder cancer cases; 17 percent of breast cancer cases; and 9 percent of colorectal cancer cases.
"This is the first time that we've put real, quantifiable case numbers on obesity-related cancers," said Glen Weldon, the American Institute for Cancer Research educational director. In addition, he said, it's not just causing cancer that's an issue.
"Obesity not only raises the risk for getting cancer," Weldon said. "It also has a negative effect on survival and can make treatment more difficult."
Although there is no concrete science on why obesity increases a person's risk for cancer, scientists hypothesize that excess estrogen released by body fat could be the culprit in cancers such as estrogen-receptor positive breast cancers.
Studies have also shown that increased body fat can lead to increased levels of oxidative stress and inflammatory compounds in the blood, which are linked to DNA mutation and diseased cell growth, as is seen in many cancers.
The American Cancer Society applauded the new research, but said the report is only the first step.
"This helps to communicate the magnitude of the problem," said Dr. Michael Thun, vice president emeritus at the American Cancer Society.
"While the study addresses the magnitude of the problem, it does not propose potential solutions. The bottom line for people concerned about this issue is to try to balance the calories you take in with those your body expends every day."
In addition to cancer, obesity is a known cause of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and strokes.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Cheerios, Raisin Bran, and Cornflakes. The breakfast of heart disease and diabetes....not champions. PART 2
Once glycogen stores are full from the increased glucose that resulted from your breakfast bowl of Cheerios, Raisin Bran, or Cornflakes the excess blood sugar is stored as fat (yep you heard that right, FAT) in the form a triglycerides, or fatty acids (for all of you nerds like me think about the Kreb’s cycle). What form are these fatty acids are stored as? Saturated fat! (Palmitic acid specifically) Now what’s funny is we’re eating the low fat, high complex carboydrate diet marketed to us via the USDA and the lovely food companies that produce our cheap “healthy” food to avoid saturated fat because we’ve been lead to believe that eating saturated fat is one of the causes of heart disease (more how this came about later). Do you see the problem with this recommendation? This is nothing but a high sugar, high glucose diet that ends up converting the glucose into the deadly thing we have been told to avoid, saturated fat.
I grew up in Iowa and my family had a farm that raised some cattle. I learned early on that to make your cattle fat to give them that so desired fat marbling craved in steaks you don’t feed them what they’re supposed to eat (grass), but instead feed them grain and don’t let them move around very much. They get fat very quickly and we don't feed them fat. Look at our food pyramid! We're told that we should be eating a lot of grain. Is there any wonder why we currently have an obesity epidemic in the US? At least we’re becoming well marbled Americans.
Think about what else happens because of the insulin that is being produced to reduce your blood sugar after your favorite bowl of cereal every morning. When blood sugar levels are constantly spiking from a diet high in carbohydrates, the amount of insulin required to deal with that will, over time, damage the insulin receptors, blunting their ability to work. Yet the high levels of sugar still need to be lowered, and lowered quickly. So the pancreas pumps out even more insulin, which temporarily forces the insulin receptors into action but ultimately creates still more damage. Now there is so much insulin in the blood that by the time it's all absorbed by the insulin receptors, blood sugar levels will be too low. This cycle, of high blood sugar à too much insulin à low blood sugar, is called hypoglycemia, and it ends when the sufferer, biologically desperate to raise her blood sugar levels, puts another dose of sugar into her mouth with a sweaty, shaking hand. That will help, for an hour or two-until her blood sugar crashes again and the whole process starts over.
Where it really ends is in type II diabetes (which is currently affecting children and adults at pandemic levels, yet we hear more about the swine flu than we do about our children dying from preventable lifestyle diseases, this crushes me inside). The resistant insulin receptors demand too much insulin, more than the pancreas could ever make. The chronic excess sugar destroys the nerves, the arteries, the retinas, the heart. Despite every advance in medical science, a diabetic's life can be shortened by one third. Such are the wages of civilization's dietary sins. No drug or surgery is every going to fix a lifestyle problem. Lifestyle problems need lifestyle solutions (Eat Well, Move Well, Think Well).
Because insulin also controls a number of other basic life functions, high levels of insulin will cause damage throughout the body. Insulin triggers cholesterol synthesis, activating the enzymes that spur cholesterol production. About 80 percent of your cholesterol is made in your body: only 20 percent is dietary, which is one reason why low-fat diets have proven basically useless. Though every one of your cells both makes and needs cholesterol, most of it is produced in the liver. Elevated insulin means elevated cholesterol. It’s these elevated cholesterol levels that have been caused by a lifestyle problem caused by the “healthy” diet that has been marketed to us via companies like Pepsico, Frito Lay, and General Mill that have made the pharmaceutical industry trillions of dollars. My guess is 100% of the people reading this blog know someone who is on a statin drug. But our dependence on cholesterol medications hasn’t reduced the cases of heart disease in the US. In fact heart disease on the rise. Why? Too much insulin triggers the growth of smooth muscle cells that line the arteries, thickening the walls and reducing elasticity. Blood volume of the arteries shrinks, which means the heart has to pump harder, which is another way of saying "high blood pressure. Insulin also triggers the kidneys to retain fluid, which again increases blood pressure. Arteries with less elasticity are more prone to plaque and arterial spasm, which are the causes of heart disease. Insulin also encourages fibrous connective tissue to grow inside the arteries, providing a scaffold for the first layer of plaque. Lifestyle problems need lifestyle solutions (Eat Well, Move Well, Think Well).
Sources:
Keith, Lierre. The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice and Sustainability. Kindle Edition. PM Press. March 1, 2009.
Chesnut, James. The Innate Diet and Natural Hygiene. 2004. The Wellness Practice--Global Self Health Corp.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Cheerios, Raisin Bran, and Corflakes the Breakfast of Heart Disease and Diabetes PART 1
Today I was asked the question, “why do you think America is so unhealthy?” The answer is crystal clear to me, we currently eat a diet that is not congruent with our genetic blueprint. We don’t move as much as we were genetically designed to move. And finally our emotional, social, and stress patterns are totally different than we were designed. How did this happen? I’m appalled at the current marketing that takes place when it comes to “healthy” food. The food industry has developed over 100,000 new processed foods since 1990. Understand the implications of the fact that fully a quarter of these foods are "nutritionally enhanced" products that can claim endorsements of health by virtue of being low-fat or cholesterol-free or higher in calcium. Try to comprehend the scale of this: food companies spend $33 billion a year in advertising. What they put their money on is the lowest cost, highest priced items-the unmitigated junk-that they can now market as "heart-healthy" since they're all sugar and no fat. Pepsico alone spends over a billion dollars a year pushing sugar and hydrogenated vegetable oils on the US American public, including children. When I ask my patients if cornflakes, cheerio’s, and raisin bran are healthy foods I get a resounding yes from 90% of them. Then they proceed to tell me about how cornflakes, cheerio’s, and raisin bran are low in fat and good for their cholesterol and then I beat them with a stick until they learn that what they have been lead to believe is wrong. This is totally absurd but we can thank our government for giving us the holy food pyramid that promotes a diet that is literally deadly (which is verified by data: currently 7 out of 10 deaths are caused by a chronic preventable disease). The USDA currently states that we should be eating a diet that is 60% carbohydrate. This is the equivalent of two full cups of sugar and if your body didn’t have a way to deal with all of this sugar you would literally be in a coma or dead. Luckily your body has a mechanism to deal with all of the sugar that we get from our low fat high carbohydrate diet. Elevated sugar levels stimulate the pancreas to produce a hormone called insulin. When most people hear the word insulin they think of diabetes. Well if you didn’t have insulin you would also be dead. Insulin is anabolic, meaning it is very important in nutrient storage. It not only stores sugar but it gets amino acids and fats out of the blood and into your cells. For a species that could not always guarantee a steady food supply this ability to store sugar, fat, and amino acids determined our survival. The problem lies in the fact that we live in a world with excess calories and reduced calorie expenditure. Hence we have a lot of sugar, fats, and amino acids floating around that need to be stored. Where do they get stored? Some get stored in the muscles and liver as glycogen, but the reality is that we fill those stores up very quickly. In fact all of the glycogen stored in your liver and muscles isn’t enough to last you one full active day. So how and where do the rest of the sugars, fats, and amino acids get stored? FIND OUT IN PART 2
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