Digital Scryer

I was looking at this article from the Alternative Medicine Blog about Metabolic Syndrome X today when researching reasons that my friend couldn’t lose weight. My comments are in bold italics.

Syndrome X also known as metabolic syndrome is a condition that has at its center insulin resistance and at least 3 of the other 5 diagnostic criteria. These other criteria according to Steinbaum (2004) are:

Insulin resistance is a big part of obesity and diabetes, the potential for it scares the heck out of me.

-Abdominal obesity, waist circumference of 40 inches or more for men, 35 inches or more for women.
-Elevated triglycerides, >150mg/dL
-Lowered HDL cholesterol, <40mg/dL men, <50mg/gL women)
-Hypertension, >130/85mmHg
-And elevated fasting glucose levels. >110mg/dl (but this number was lowered to
100mg/dL since Steinbaum wrote her paper)

These are all symptoms that I personally have had at one time or another, except hypertension.

Insulin resistance happens when target tissue are unable to respond adequately to proper insulin level. Because these cells are unresponsive, B-cells of Langerhans secrete more insulin, starting a viscous cycle because as resistance worsens, secretion increases.

I’ve read many times in the works of Dr. Joseph Mercola, that one of the main causes of insulin resistance is too many grains or grain based foods in our diets.

Steinbaum (2004) calls the overproduction of glucose by the liver, the impaired peripheral glucose utilization, and the increased production of fatty acids the “hallmarks of metabolic syndrome”.

Once the beta cells can no longer maintain the high rate of insulin production, we find an increase in hepatic glucose production in both, the fasting state and after a meal, with decreased glucose absorption, eventually leading to type II diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is the less scary of the diabetes, being preventable and even “curable” with proper diet and exercise.

The abnormal fatty acid metabolism and increased abdominal obesity also lead to an increase in glucose production. The intra-abdominal adipose tissue does not react to insulin. Because of that, it undergoes lipolysis creating free fatty acids. Once in the liver, these free fatty acids churn up glucose production and for triglycerides. Everything I just described, impaired glucose tolerance, hyperinsulinemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and visceral body fat are found in syndrome X. Moreover, this mechanism is ultimately responsible for coronary disease.

A vicious cycle; insulin resistance makes you fatter, getting fatter increases insulin resistance.

One theory connects hyperinsulinemia with cardiovascular disease because of an increase in the hypercoagulable state and because insulin affects thrombosis. Impaired glucose tolerance and hyperinsulinemia contribute to impaired fibrinilysis. This can be observed by increased levels of plasminogen activation inhibitor-1 antigen (PAI-1) and tissue plasminogen activator antigen (t-PA). PAI-1 prevents clot dissolution by inhibiting t-PA and research shows that these factors contribute to coronary artery disease.

More reasons that heart disease is our number one killer.

According to Garvey and Hermayer, (1998) the clinical implications are the following:

There is not one single standardized test for the metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome should lead to careful screening and monitoring of other co-conditions.
Patients with metabolic syndrome require more aggressive treatment for the cardiovascular risk profile.

This makes sense. Monitoring other co-conditions is of great importance, especially when you’re on your way to being healthy.

Drug therapy to avoid worsening of metabolic syndrome

Primary goal of treatment is to normalize all abnormalities that are associated with metabolic syndrome.

From my POV, embracing natural treatments/diet and exercise to gain control of these symptoms is the best way to go, at least in the long run.

Beste Gesundheit,

Werner

For a couple of great books on how to beat Metabolic Syndrome X check out Metabolic Syndrome and Cardiovascular Disease or The Metabolic Syndrome Program: How to Lose Weight, Beat Heart Disease, Stop Insulin Resistance and More

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Technorati Tags: B Cells, Beta Cells, Diabetes Type 2, Dr Joseph Mercola, Fatty Acid Metabolism, Fatty Acids, Glucose Levels, Glucose Production, Glucose Utilization, Insulin Level, Insulin Production, Insulin Resistance, Metabolic Syndrome, Metabolic Syndrome X, Proper Diet, Syndrome X, Type Ii Diabetes, Waist Circumference

The first article on my new blog, Yeast Infections Treatment. Check it out here!

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The journal Cell Metabolism posted this week about a drug called SRT1720 which activates the SRT1 gene. This gene is believed to be heavily tied to the aging process, and the extension of life caused by calorie restricted diets in many animal studies.

When this drug was used on mice, it caused them to become virtually immune to weight gain even on a horrible high fat diet. It also effectively doubled their stamina when distance running. This is an amazing development with massive (pardon the pun) weight-loss potential.

Imagine being virtually tireless while running your tubby self on the treadmill and losing fat like some kind of…fat losing…machine…thing. All the while gorging yourself on whatever fast food junk you wanted. Sounds like the American dream to me!

Now this doesn’t mean you’d be healthy, filling your face with a limitless amount of chemically laden garbage and fried food, but you would be better off. A physically fit body can deal with the stress of a horrible diet far better than a roly poly one.

Here’s my question/theory; With all the “Mind Over DNA” research that’s come out of India in recent years, and is now taking place more in North America as well, the mind body connection is bigger than ever before. Manchester U proved that the mind can trick the body into thinking it’s exercised, and numerous studies point out that exercising activates different gene pathways so that connection is perfectly plausible.

What’s to stop an enterprising hypnotherapist or psychiatrist or EFT practitioner or whatever, from developing a course/program/mp3 downloads to trigger this SRT1 activation without the need for any drugs? I’m not talking about the “DNA Activation” BS that many people try to hawk, I’m talking about actual, science-backed, mind over body type stuff.

Of course some trials would have to be done to prove any of it actually worked, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t and it’d mean a cheap, drug-free way of having this advantage without having horrible side effects, or having to restock your supply.

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Technorati Tags: Cell Metabolism, Diet, DNA, DNA Activation, Drug-Free, EFT, Fast Food, Gene, Genetics, High Fat, Hypnotherapist, Journal, Junk Food, Manchester University, Mice, Mind Over DNA, Psychiatry, SRT-1, SRT-1720, SRT1, SRT1720, Stamina, Weight gain, Weightloss

This is Part 2 of the series How To Become A Superhero, enjoy!

Physical Training:

Superheroes/Vigilantes have to be in good shape, or they wind up severely injured or dead, and that’s not fun. Unfortunately being in supreme physical shape takes lots of time and dedication to achieve and maintain, especially at the levels that may require you to kick ass on a group of armed thugs who have no compunctions against killing you.

As to how good of shape you should be in, I’d say Olympic Decathlete level, possibly combined with winter and summer Pentathlete, and Triathlete levels. By this I mean being able to qualify for each of them on the Olympic team. This should give you more than enough of a base to handle any physical situation you might find yourself in ever, let alone on the street fighting thugs.

Now I’ve been thinking of a way to do  this without having to dedicate yourself to 12-16 hour days of intense physical training, possibly without having to do any training at all. There were two university papers I read that seemed totally unrelated, unless your mind is twisted and lazy like mine.

One was exposing animals to simulated levels of higher gravity (in a giant gravity simulator, think the Gravitron at the fair) in order to see how much they could withstand. They found that the animals (chickens mostly) all could adapt permanently to 2.3-2.5gs of gravity. This put them in supreme physical condition, but when increased to 3gs of gravity, they were so biologically inefficient (earth life being about 7% efficient overall) that they used up far more energy than they could take in; they burned fat faster than they could eat it.

Now you’d think this’d give you a lot more free time, but who wants to spend 12-16 hours a day in a giant centrifuge? Therein comes the second aspect of the article reading.

Our homies at Manchester U in England (yes I know no British person has ever used the word “homies” :P) discovered something amazing about the mind body connection. They found that people who imagined exercising while under hypnosis had a 16% increase in muscle strength and size, when compared to the people who actually did the exercise and had a 30% increase, that’s 53.33% effectiveness. For doing nothing. Other than some hypnotherapy sessions.

My crazy imagination combined the two, using hypnotherapy to create in people a subconscious sense of increased gravity. If this worked, it’d take probably a few months of rigorous programming, and some in depth and powerful reinforcing triggers (i.e. “Every time you hear a phone ring, the feelings of your body adapting to an increased gravity field grow stronger” etc.) but it could work. It would require an initial time investment, but probably not as much as actually hitting the gym religiously, and once successful, you wouldn’t need the sessions anymore. A maintenance free Olympian body.

This can all then be pushed to a greater level. For example, a decathlete is a jack of all trades, skilled in many events, master of none. He’s not going to lift weights like a power lifter, or sprint like a sprinter because his training is too general. Not only that, but under normal circumstances, having the muscle mass of a power-lifter is going to make you slow as hell when it comes to sprinting. What if there was a way to have your cake and eat it too? Maybe there is.

The next thing I’m going to cover is the phenomenon of hysterical strength. Hysterical strength is basically an overload of motor neurons called tetanic contraction. Ever hear those stories of 120 lb. mothers who lift cars off their trapped babies? THAT is hysterical strength. Tetanic contractions can be 20 times normal muscle contractions, so it’s feasible for a sprinter, with the ability to access a little bit of his hysterical strength at will, to lift like a power lifter. Granted because his body’s not built for feats of this magnitude, said sprinter isn’t going to be able to do them for that long, or that often, without risking serious injury to himself.

Our Olympic decathlete superhero with the ability to access his hysterical strength at will, should be able to trounce those athletes who focus solely on one event… at least for a little while or when it really counts. In real emergencies he’d be able to go right hella superhuman as well.

Think of a guy who can normally bench twice his weight, now think of full tetanic contraction allowing him to lift FORTY TIMES that weight. 230 lbs times 40 = Wow (9200 lbs or 4.6 tons actually).

Now achieving controlled tetanic contraction without the poison called adrenaline would be exceedingly difficult, but I can see it being accomplished with hypnosis or meditation. There are many stories of monks coming out of deep meditation and doing some amazing feats of strength. I read recently about a guy named Andrew Lai who can do this very thing at will, although I haven’t been able to dig up much more info about him. If anyone can find anything, by all means post a comment. Stay tuned next time for Part 3, skills of a Superhero.

Back to Part 1

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Technorati Tags: Adrenaline, Andrew Lai, Chickens, Decathlete, England, Fighting, Gravitron, Gravity, Hypnosis, Hypnotherapy, Hysterical Strength, Manchester University, Meditation, Monks, Olympic, Pentathlete, Physical Training, Superhero, Superheroes, Triathlete, Vigilantes

Or is it? Recently TUFTS University released a study revealing the link between eating and addiction.

http://www.tufts.edu/med/news/newsitems/test%20PR.html

Dopamine regulation in relation to eating was similar in obesity prone rats to other addictive behaviors. What this means is that in certain cases of obesity, food is as addictive as heroin or crack. So it might not actually be your fault.

Dopamine regulating drugs or treatments, especially the kinds that they use in treating heroin overdose for example, could be used to help people lose weight. Genetic tweaking in this regard could also make obesity proof people, though I can’t see that happening as it’d hurt the (fast)food industry’s profits.

This conversely could be used to help the food manufacturers make more addictive additives that played on this flawed dopamine regulation… if you believe in that conspiracy-esque theory.

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Technorati Tags: Addicted, Dopamine, Food, Mice, Obesity, TUFTS