MGTutoring.com. A Rational Perspective on Education.

February 28, 2009

NIH Study, 2

Filed under: Exercise, Health & Nutrition, Science — Administrator @ 7:54 pm

In “The Latest Nonsense” (at Free The Animal) Richard Nikoley makes some good comments about the NIH study:

Simply A few points:

1. There’s no such thing as a “low fat diet.” They’re all high fat diets if fat loss is the goal.
2. The lowest carbohydrate intake of all the diets was a whopping (yea, I can do the media hype, too) 35%. Presuming an average 2,500 kcal intake per day, that’s about 220 grams of carbs — not “low carb” by any means. So, this is merely a comparison between various moderate to high carb approaches — approaches that leave insulin high and fat mobilization low.
3. The highest fat intake is only 40%. A true high fat diet is 60%+ of energy from fat. You can’t go above about 35% from protein, and that’s pushing it (25% is more realistic). Simple: protein remains about the same, and the tradeoff is between carbs and fat. This study was heavily weighted in favor of carbs, particularly when one considers that carbs hammer insulin and fat has little to no effect. High insulin = no fat mobilization.

In conclusion, they proved that all diets with excess carbohydrate are crap and deliver virtually no results for most people.

On The Radio

Filed under: Americana, Art — Administrator @ 12:56 pm

I’m now listening to Radiola on Live365.com. The station owner, “Andy Senior,” says his station plays:

1920s and 1930s Jazz and Pop guaranteed to wake up the mind and make it smile. Music that shimmers with wit and levity and beats with the pulse of life. Updated weekly! Playlists at http://radiolablog.blogspot.com

and he says that:

The music of the 1920s and 1930s has a lightness and a vitality totally lacking in other musical realms. Also, it could be sophisticated, smart, and funny. It is not the over-processed, demographically-targeted pop of later years. It was all in one take, all on one mike, spontaneous, and totally in the moment. Hence it is still fresh, joyous, and new, even after 75 years.

Exercise and Depression

Filed under: Biology, Exercise, Health & Nutrition — Administrator @ 12:55 pm

There is a connection between mind and body. I’ve posted on this blog about the work that some of have done finding a connection between physical activity and brain development. Scientific American recently had an article about the importance of play, i.e., physical activity, to children.

So it should come as no surprise that there would be a connection between exercise and depression/joy.

Joy is an emotion that tells us things are going right (on the immediate, short-term, here-and-now, perceptual level; we know from the perspective of reason that emotions can be misleading). Pain is an emotion that tells us that things are going wrong. Depression is beyond pain; it tells us things are going wrong, chronically.

We need to take action to survive in this world. Inactivity leads to death. Attaining values requires action, physical work. And for us humans: mental work. It is hard work to survive in this unforgiving, harsh world. (Things seem easy to us now-a-day due to the power of reason.)

So that chronic inactivity is correlated with depression — as these scientists report; I need to look into it more — makes perfect sense. What’s more, it makes sense that chronic inactivity should be a cause of depression (which is the real point of Dr. Ilardi).

in “Evolurionary Fitness as a treatment for depression” (his misspelling, not mine) Art DeVany recently wrote:

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Lindy Fest!

Filed under: Announcements, Art — Administrator @ 12:48 pm

On the Houston Swing Dance Society’s Website they say:

Lindyfest is an amazing lindy hop weekend workshop jammed packed with classes for all dance levels, soul sessions with living legends, hot performances and four endless nights of dancing. Lindyfest brings in hundreds of dancers from all across the globe to learn lindy hop from the masters and experience the excitement of Lindy Hop, all here in Houston.

HSDS is proud to present our 2009 Lindyfest Instructors:

Frankie Manning Dawn Hampton        Chazz Young              Sylvia Sykes
Ryan Francois             Jenny Thomas          Steven Mitchell           Nick Williams
Virginie Jensen           Peter Strom              Ramona Staffeld         Naomi Uyama
Nina Gilkenson           Andy Reid                Skye Humphries         Frida Segerdahl
Max Pitruzzella           Annie Trudeau         Mikey Pedroza           Laura Keat

The event will be March 12th through 15th.

Frankie Manning was one of the creators of Lindy Hop. He and his partner did the first aerials! He has his 95th birthday (he was born May 26, 1914) this year…and he’s still dancing and teaching!!

2009 Schlitterbahn Home School Family Days

Filed under: Announcements — Administrator @ 12:36 pm

Susan Frederick posted a note from Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort on TAFFIE-Announce:

This is for the Central TX New Braunfels location.

A minimum order of 4 tickets is required for this special offer. Orders must be prepaid with a single payment at least 10 days prior to your date of visit.

The homeschool rate is not available at the gate, but if you do have an order and want to add more people the day you go, you can add them at a regular group rate with proof of purchase.Home School Family Days
- $30.30 price with tax, $27.99 if tax exempt
Surf & Save Days Ticket (Valid May 20, 21, 26, 27 & 28)
- $25.97 price with tax, $23.99 if tax exempt
If tax exempt, attach a copy of your Texas tax-exempt certificate and use the tax-exempt prices for your orders.

SUBJECT: 2009 SCHLITTERBAHN HOME SCHOOL FAMILY DAYS

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A Current Read

Filed under: History, Recommended Books — Administrator @ 12:29 pm

This book is good:

It’s a slim book: 124 pages long. But it is interesting and insightful. You cannot, by any rational standard, but respect and admire Mr. Douglas for what he made of himself in the conditions he grew up in. He rose from the lowest depths imposed upon him to self-created intellectual and moral heights. Heroic.

Mrs. Debi Ghate, through whose blog post I found out that February was the month of Mr. Douglas’ birth, recommends two speeches of Mr. Douglas: “Self-Made Men” and “The Equality of all Men Before the Law: Claimed and Defended.”

February 27, 2009

Another Temperature Update

Filed under: Biology, Exercise, Health & Nutrition — Administrator @ 5:22 pm

No 98.6 here!!

Today my temperature was (about) 98 on my mercury thermometer and 97.9 on my electronic thermometer — which I bought recently to check on my mercury thermometer. Conditions: no breakfast today; but I woke up hungry; ate some cashews, chicken, and humus late last night (10:30 or 11:00 PM) before bed; went outside for some exercise this morning between about 9:40 and 10:20 AM: a mix of slow jogging, fast jogging, walking and running; had a shower before taking my temperature, but had nothing to drink. I have no idea how long I ran or how far. The temperature record says the temperature outside was 72 F with a relative humidity of 75% at 9 AM; conditions were 77 F and 63% at 10 AM.

On 2-20-09 my temperature was 97 F at 11:25 AM. Then it was 96 F at 9:50 PM (on my new electronic thermometer), but 97.2 at 10:20 PM on mercury thermometer, after leaving it in for about half hour. I must not have had my electronic under my tongue right, given that the temperatures were consistent today; I had been wondering if one of the thermometers was off.

On 2-24 in the evening (around 5) my temperature was 98. If I would have left the thermometer in my mouth longer, maybe I’d have added a bit to that. The mercury thermometer seems to work slow.

I wonder if one’s body temperature is lower on EF/Paleo. Flour and sugar cause inflammation, which might cause a rise in body temperature. Seems plausible in my ignorance; I’m no expert like Dr. Cordain, Dr. Eades, Stephan, or Art DeVany. I don’t know all the biochemistry and physiology involved.

Update (2:10  PM):  A reader says “I just read one of The Zone books by Barry Sears and he mentioned lowered body temp. as a result of lower insulin levels.” Interesting.

Footprints

Filed under: Biology, Science — Administrator @ 3:28 pm

In “The Shoe Fits! 1.5 Million-Year-Old Human Footprints Found” (26 February 2009 02:07 pm ET) on LiveScience.com, Jeremy Hsu says:

Early humans had feet like ours and left lasting impressions in the form of 1.5 million-year-old footprints, some of which were made by feet that could wear a size 9 men’s shoe.

The findings at a Northern Kenya site represent the oldest evidence of modern-human foot anatomy. They also help tell an ancestral story of humans who had fully transitioned from tree-dwellers to land walkers.
…
The researchers identified the footprints as probably belonging to a member of Homo ergaster, an early form of Homo erectus. Such prints include modern foot features such as a rounded heel, a human-like arch and a big toe that sits parallel to other toes.

By contrast, apes have more curved fingers and toes made for grasping tree branches. The earliest human ancestors, such as Australopithecus afarensis, still possessed many ape-like features more than 2 million years ago — the well-known “Lucy” specimen represents one such example.

Read the rest!

NIH Health Study: How to Confuse the Issue

Filed under: Exercise, Health & Nutrition, Science — Administrator @ 3:23 pm

In “Which Diet Works?” (February 26, 2009; 7:00 AM ET) on WashingtonPost.com, Rob Stein writes:

Anyone who has battled their waistline has asked the same question: Which diet works best? Low-carb? Low-fat? High-protein? A new government-sponsored study out today finally tries to offer a definitive answer.

The study, published in today’s issue of The New England Journal of Medicine and sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, is the biggest to date to compare different strategies head-to-head and to follow dieters long-term to see not only which approach helps shed pounds but which helps keep them off.

It turns out — surprise, surprise — that they’re all about the same. It’s not what you eat, but how many calories you take in, that makes the difference. So, the bad news is: There’s no magic in any approach. But the good news is: If you stick with any calorie-reduction diet, it can help you lose a moderate amount of weight and keep it off.

…

If you’re interested in watching some videos about the new study from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute click here.

The implication is that all diets are the same.

Wrong.

Maybe those four produce the same result, but they also all include flour — e.g., bagel and spaghetti.

(I must say that Stephan at Whole Health Source has some interesting posts about grains: “How to Eat Grains” and “A Few Thoughts on Minerals, Milling, Grains and Tubers.” He points out that it is the gluten, phytic acid and the anti-nutrients that cause us trouble, but that there are ways of preparing grains that destroy most or all of those substances. Just as, if Scotch and soda get us drunk and whiskey and soda get us drunk, it would be a hasty generalization to conclude that it is the soda that gets us drunk, so also we should look for the specific chemicals in grains that cause us trouble and eliminate them from our dietary intake.

Maybe one day we can eat bread, and have it be healthy and nutritional?

As for me, right now, I’m not touching the stuff. No way, no how. It’s a scourge of mankind.)

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February 26, 2009

On the Radio

Filed under: Art — Administrator @ 3:04 pm

Dixieland Gumbo on Live365.com is good. All the station says in their description is:

Dixieland Gumbo. The place to hear today’s Traditional Jazz Bands.

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