SHR

I have to thank so many of you for your birthday wishes. I am overwhelmed.. and as a result of the outpouring of kindness, I realized something. I received a cosmic gift this year for my 58th birthday. Maybe I knew it intelligently in the past but the role of realization is to bond what we "know" to emotions that make it "real"... to allow us to take action using this knowledge. I realized that  when I focus on the 90% of what's right in my life and not the 10% that's not how I would like it to be... I have a great life with lots to be thankful for. And this weekend I lived in that gratitude. I didn't do anything extraordinary by most birthday standards.. spent the day with the most amazing and generous woman whom I love.. laid out by the pool and worshiped the sun.. went...

I would never have guessed that chewing a piece of sugar-free gum after eating could boost diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT) and fat oxidation. I’m of course talking about the 25-50% increase in DIT observed in a small group of healthy men from Hamada et al’s latest study in the journal Obesity. These researchers recruited 12 healthy, normal-weight young men and had them complete four experimental trials in a randomized crossover design (figure 1). Each trial involved 20 minutes of baseline measurements (gas-exchange variables, splanchnic circulation, and blood samples), followed by consuming a test meal as rapidly or slowly as possible, and completed with 180 minutes of post-meal measurements. Additionally, for 15 minutes after finishing the test meal, 3 kcal of sugar-free gum was chewed or 3 kcal of sugar was consumed. Accordingly, the four trials were rapid-eating with gum (RG), rapid-eating without gum (RN), slow-eating with gum (SG), and slow-eating without gum...

  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...