I blame genetics

Four days ago I saw a study about two genes which have a role on why people enjoy dietary fat.

Here is the description of the study from newswise.com

Description

While high-fat foods are thought to be of universal appeal, there is actually a lot of variation in the extent to which people like and consume fat. A new study in the March issue of the Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists, reported that two specific genes (TAS2R38–a bitter taste receptor and CD36–a possible fat receptor), may play a role in some people’s ability to taste and enjoy dietary fat. By understanding the role of these two genes, food scientists may be able to help people who have trouble controlling how much fat they eat.

Walking. The underestimated form of exercise

One day this year on my way back to home after attending a university lesson a choice came to my mind. My regular way of going back was get the subway and after arriving at the station nearest to my home  a 5 minute walk. That day though i was in the mood of trying to walk all the way.

My train of thought was something like this: my usual time in order to return home by using the subway(including the wait times in between the trains) was 30-40 minutes, with one more hour  i would be able to do this by walking the whole way. I had also planned a running session that day which would take an hour of my time that day. So i came to the conclusion that it would be nice to not run but to combine my return home with my exercise of the day. I started walking. After one hour and fourty five minutes,lots of sweat and roughly twelve km of walking i was home.

Drug interactions

Last week an unfortunate and near death experience happened to me. After I finished my daily workout routine, I took my multivitamins with lunch and after a while my antibiotic (because of a bad cold I had caught).  It was a huge mistake, maybe the biggest of my life…  After a while my urine turned red and started to have awful pain on my right kidney. During my hospitalization I started having seizures but luckily now; I am alive but one of my kidneys has been shut down permanently…

Caffeine

For most people a part of their daily routine is to start their day with a cap of coffee. You may have heard the usual phrase coffee drinkers use (or maybe even you have said it) “I simply cant function without one in the morning”. Have you ever wondered what makes this magical drink tick? Most likely not because you know the answer. The substance which makes coffee work and gives you the magical benefits of mind awareness and the ability to do all-nighters is ,you guessed right, caffeine.

But I gained weight while doing that routine..

You finally got the decision to change your body. You go to the gym happy that finally you are going to lose weight gaining some muscle in the process. You get a program and you start doing everything religiously in hope that the scale will reflect your hard work. At first you see some results:the magical weight number is lower. Suddenly a day comes when not only you stopped losing weight but you gained weight. You are doing something wrong clearly. But this may not be the truth..

Don’t be mislead

It is common to see everywhere on the net working out programs that give you mass, strength, flexibility and a perfect body. You will see ripped abs and huge biceps along with heavy metal music on the background. Of course in order to have the same results, you must follow carefully the program that the expert has to offer because as always, his majesty has found the secret to the perfect body that no one else has.

Working out with discipline

It is common to see in gyms people of different ages and different body times. There are thin guys, regular and muscular or beasts. Of course each category follows a different workout program because it has different needs. Problems start to happen when you see people from one category jump to another, instead of progressing gradually.

Mercury poisoning. Can it happen to you?

Tuna is a delicious fish which is also a very useful tool for many people who are interested on getting their appropriate amount of daily protein. Every good thing though has a bad side. The bad side of tuna is that it was found to contain amounts of a metallic element called mercury. To be more precise it was found in many species of the water wildlife. After that discovery as usual panic mode ensued with people stopping consuming fish. Even today there is still a discussion about whether are we able to consume canned tuna on a daily basis or it should be avoided entirely.

Οmega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3 fatty acids are one of the most famous kind of fat.In the post I did about fat I did a brief mention about them.They are considered essential for everyone for many reasons but the truth is that most people don't know why.To be honest most people don't know anything about them.The result is that they are being missed from their diet which has a lot of nasty consequences both long and short term.So here you are going to find their benefits , along with links to the research to back it up , plus the best sources of  them.

Simple tips to lose fat Pt. 2

Yesterday we saw what I did to lose the extra weight and today we will see why I followed those steps.

First of all some things I didn't mention in my previous article. When I followed the bodybuilding diet, I did it the wrong way meaning, I started eating too much calories and didn't progress gradually. Second on my meals I was eating low fat milk products (cheese and milk). It was wrong and I believe I would have better results if I ate this extra fat.

Now lets explain each step:

Simple tips to lose fat Pt. 1

First of all I would like to clarify that the following tips are from personal experience only. If you need to start a diet I strongly advise you to talk to an expert.

Now, one year ago I was around 97kg when my average weight was about 89-90 kg (I am 1.90 meters tall). What had happened? I started weight lifting and on the same time listening to the so called bodybuilding experts, suggesting that you should eat 5 meals a day with a calorie progression each week. Of course it took time to understand that what they were implying were not for guys like me who just wanted to stay fit and have an increase in strength and a bit extra muscle. Before I stopped doing the bodybuilding diet I was consuming around 4500-5500 calories each day every week every month for four months. It was obvious that if I continued this way soon I would need to borrow a wonder bra from my girlfriend!

ok I got fat but not that much!

How to use pubmed

Yesterday I did a brief overview of how science works.Today I am going to post some guidelines about one of the most popular scientific sites pubmed.com.It is a site which targets are mainly people occupied with the medical proffession.That site gets a lot of attention lately because of its use by the fitness world too in their combat against broscience.Don't expect a guide about how to use the site.It is actually very easy to navigate.You just search for the thing you want and every study done about it is presented in front of,internet magic I know.On the contrary this post is about some things you must be careful about when you draw conclusions about a subject there.

The value of sleep

For most people the title of the post seems self explainable.Everyone has experienced the nice feeling that a good night or day sleep can give.It is easy to see that after a good sleep your mood and the feeling of pure body energy(you know what I mean) is at the highest level you can achieve.So it is easy to assume that more quality sleep is the way to go.This is only the half truth though.

The Christmas meal guilt and why you shouldn't have it

        As I said in yesterday's post one of the best things Christmas (most holidays and celebrations in general) is large quantities of food ready to be consumed.Even if someone isn't following a diet,it will be natural to feel a bit guilty of gaining weight after binging loads of candies,chocolates and many other things.There are two ways to avoid that feeling:

a)You can avoid it by using control methods like putting mental barriers to prevent overeating or eating less the rest of the day.

b)You can embrace it and accept that overeating can benefit you.

All about milk(well not all some)

   I remember reading a quote from Arnold,yes the once governor of California and movie star, which was something like this:children drink milk,men should drink beer.I am surely not against beer but I dont believe for sure that milk is only for children.To be honest milk is a very good drink for everyone except of course for the ones who are lactose intolerant.

Μultivitamins Useful or not?

This post is,in a way,an expansion of yesterday's post.I guess that nearly everyone has taken a multivitamin supplement.For many years multivitamin supplements were considered essential for a balanced healthy diet.Lately though some scientific studies not only question their necessity but also state that they can be harmful.

Vitamins

From wikipedia

A vitamin is an organic compound required as a nutrient in tiny amounts by an organism.In other words, an organic chemical compound (or related set of compounds) is called a vitamin when it cannot be in sufficient quantities by an organism, and must be obtained from the diet. Thus, the term is conditional both on the circumstances and on the particular organism.

In this post I will provide a list with all thirteen of them and the food sources of each one of them.

Nutrition basics-Conclusion or 3+1 ways to fix your diet

      The best diet is the one you can follow for a long time.When you think that you are food deprived you cant have results.Everyone is different and because of that general guidelines about nutrition dont work most of the time.But some general directions are always helpful for a beginner.

Nutrition basics-Protein

Protein,the holy grail of nutrition today.Foods which contain a lot of protein such as meat,eggs,the dairy products and the protein supplements have become very popular on the Internet,they have flooded the super market shelves and they have filled athlete's diet.Studies have proven that protein consumption helps on the creation of lean muscle mass and in some situations it assists fat burning.So it seems that all this protein worshiping trend seems justified.

A T bone steak.Lots of protein in it and it is delicious as well

Nutrition basics-Carbs

   After fat  carbohydrates became the enemy.As with fats foods with low carbs ,especially low sugar, appeared but even with them there were no visible results on the overall health of the population.Lets see what is the matter with this macronutrient then.