The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Rippetoe
Strength training commands a certain mix of brutal honesty, humility, and humour. Funny and stupid shit happens in the process of getting strong, and there are certain intractable truths that do not go away for wishing. If strength training had a slightly more foulmouthed and proletariat Mark Twain it would be Mark Rippetoe. Here are a few of his choice insights.
Dumbass Diets, Part 135: The Red Bull Diet
From the No shit — ya think this might be bad? files:
A 23-year-old Auckland mother who lost 45kg in eight months by drinking nothing but energy drink Red Bull says she has ongoing health problems because of the diet.
Brooke Robertson told the Herald on Sunday she shrank from 105kg to 60kg drinking nothing but 10 to 14 cans a day, often accompanying them with nothing more than a handful of dry Honey Puffs.
She should have kept going and won a Darwin Award for this one.
Free access to EJCN issue on trans fatty acids
Yes! FREE! WOW! Now you too can learn all about trans fatty acids! Shazam!
This supplement to the May 2009 issue of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition contains some review articles as well as the World Health Organization’s position statement on TFAs. Worth reading if you’re nutritionally minded. Of note is the WHO’s recommendation, based on new international data:
to significantly reduce or to virtually eliminate industrially produced TFA from the food supply… by the virtual elimination of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in the human food supply, replacing them with healthy cis-unsaturated fatty acids.
Globe and Mail series on sodium
This week until Friday the Globe and Mail is running a series on sodium in our diets. The average person needs about 1500 mg daily. Our average intake? More like 3600. Like sugar, this shit is in everything — even Cheerios. Check out the Salt-O-Meter to find out where this crap lurks.
A harsh lesson about processed foods for younger people who are now suffering hypertension, even in their teens.
Saturday the 20th: Hypertension at age 14 (full article and video)
The taste of things to come
Monday 22nd: Hunting for the “salt gene” and ethnic disparities in sodium tolerance
Check it out all week and find out how to say Na+ Na+ Na+ Na+, Na+ Na+ Na+ Na+, hey hey hey, good bye.
Moah Powah
Do you want MORE POWER? Do you want to be a TOTAL NINJA? Do you want to run as fast as KENYANS? You’ll be as fast as KENYANS!
It’s like adding chocolate to an electrical storm!
Or, you could just buy Coach Randy Hauer’s e-book More Power. It’s a smart, sensible guide to starting Olympic weightlifting. If you’ve ever entertained thoughts of throwing a bar over your head, get this little gem.
Overfat youth at risk of chronic diseases
Blood markers observed in obese children — some as young as 7 — indicate their bodies host chronic inflammation, a driver of heart disease, and elevations in chemicals that promote blood clots.
The findings, reported today at the Endocrine Society annual meeting, in Washington, D.C., indicate that school-age plumpness can prove more than a social stigma. It may signal that youngsters are on their way to developing cardiovascular disease — and years earlier than even a generation ago.
Glucose metabolism: The canary in the coal mine
Altered blood sugar metabolism can help predict — and perhaps prevent, or delay — the onset of Type 2 diabetes (aka adult onset diabetes). T2D is an emerging health epidemic with close ties to cardiovascular disease. Approximately 85-95% cases of diabetes are T2D. From Medpage Today: Insulin sensitivity, beta-cell function, and blood glucose may provide […]
Slow down, you eat too fast/Got to make the dinner last
From BBC News:
Wolfing down meals may be enough to nearly double a person’s risk of being overweight, Japanese research suggests.
Osaka University scientists looked at the eating habits of 3,000 people and reported their findings in the British Medical Journal…
Energy drinks: Beverages with an unhealthy boost
You’ve seen them in the grocery store refrigerated coolers, with fancy names, like Red Bull, Monster, Full Throttle, and Rockstar. They’re the so-called “energy drinks” that come loaded with caffeine, sugar, vitamins, minerals, and other ingredients.
But are they really good for you? Johns Hopkins reviews the data.
Healthy lifestyles decline in the US
Despite the well-known benefits of having a lifestyle that includes physical activity, eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight, moderate alcohol use and not smoking, only a small proportion of adults follow this healthy lifestyle pattern, and in fact, the numbers are declining, according to an article published in the June 2009 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
Between 1988 and 2006…
