SHR

The portion-size effect (PSE) refers to the notion that food intake is influenced by the amount of food served. In the most general sense, larger portions lead to greater intake, and it has been estimated that a doubling of portion size results in a 35% increase in intake. Moreover, the idea that “mindfulness” can aid in overcoming the PSE has been shown to be false. Although there is substantial evidence that the PSE exists, little has been discussed regarding why it occurs. As such, Peter Herman and colleagues from the University of Toronto, Canada set out to tackle the “mechanism” issue head-on.

  Eat your fruits and vegetables. We have all heard this saying before, and fruit consumption has long been advocated as a nutrient source full of vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants. One the other hand, there are health circles that caution against consuming excessive fruit because of its high sugar content, especially fructose. Similarly, nuts are regarded as an excellent source of “healthy” fats, minerals, and fiber among some, and a harmful brew of anti-nutrients and “bad” fats (referring exclusively to linoleic acid) by others. The question remains, what actually happens when healthy individuals drastically increase their consumption of either. We can argue back and forth about the hypothetical outcomes all we want and never make progress, which is why Agebratt et al recruited 30 university students to supplement their diets with 7 kcal per kg of bodyweight of fruit or nuts every day for 2 months. Blood samples, nutritional intake, activity...

Consider all the paleontological research that gives us insight into the diets of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. When you combine this with research about the diets of contemporary hunter-gatherers, an ugly picture of inconsistencies begins to show that basically states each tribe had their own diet, both in terms of food selection and macronutrient distribution. Accordingly, it has become commonplace to state that there is no single paleo diet. Regardless, commonalities do exist. For instance, nearly three-fourths of the worldwide hunter-gatherer population derive over half of their subsistence from animal foods (hunted and fished), whereas only 13.5% of worldwide hunter-gatherers derived more than half of their subsistence from gathered plant foods. This led to estimated macronutrient intakes of 20-40 % protein, 20-40 % carbohydrates, and 25-50 % fat. Now what if I told you that these numbers and our current understanding of hunter-gatherer diets is bullshit. Because it is, and we now...

My blog post yesterday featured a picture of me when I turned 50 almost 8 years ago. So many people thought it was a current picture and made comments on Facebook about how great I "look" that I felt like a fraud. If I looked like that I'd be pretty damn pleased right now. But I don't. It pains me to post this picture but its how I look NOW. I was 248 on Thursday and I weighed in at 245 when I took this at the gym yesterday. I look bloated and am carrying much of my fat in my lower back and from the distended gut I think some visceral fat as well. Well this is my before picture and what I look like currently. I feel like I really lost a lot of ground over the past 8 years. But I intend to regain that ground and more...

  Have you ever heard that you can’t build muscle while dieting? It is certainly something that I used to believe, but my thoughts on the subject have changed over the last couple months as more and more data was being published showing that my previous belief was wrong. The most recent data comes from the lab of Dr. Stuart Phillips at McMaster University. This guy is a true superman of research investigating skeletal muscle metabolism and the impact that exercise and nutrition can have on it. I highly recommend you read up on some of this review articles if you are interested in the subject matter – you won’t be disappointed. Anyways, in Dr. Phillips’ latest study, he recruited 40 overweight young men (average age and body fat of 23 years and 24%, respectively) and had them complete an intense 4-week exercise routine while sustaining a 40% caloric deficit. The...