published by drclyde on December 22, 2012 - 2:49pm
Coffee is a weak diuretic at 300 mg caffeine (1) because its similar structure to a natural diuretic produced by the body (2), but moderate coffee is correlated to health benefits for diabetes (3), heart disease (4), Alzheimer’s (5), Parkinson’s (6), and has different effects on different cancer risks (7); for a review of disease risk reduction or increase with coffee see (8). Drink up to 2 cups, at most 3 per day, if you enjoy coffee.
Scientific studies of human caloric needs necessarily assume that we meet our “needs” if body weight does not change. If you lose weight, then you are eating less than your tissues demand (caloric restriction), or you are increasing how much they demand (insulin sensitivity), or both. Depending on what and when you eat, or how much and for how long you restrict your eating, weight loss can shift from reducing mostly body fat to reducing mostly lean tissue. Therefore, weight loss in itself is not a direct indication of health. We know that long-term caloric restriction of 10-40% can improve health as long as there is no malnourishment, but more than 50% caloric restriction ultimately risks organ system failure. Too much of what is good for you, or too little if less is good for you, is not necessarily good for you. We also know that a 100% restriction i.e. fasting, does not lead to immediate death, but is it healthy?
published by wheatgerm on November 26, 2011 - 8:32am
I am trying understand the need for PH balance in my diet. A company Young life http://www.lifeionizers.com/compare-all-ionizers.html sells filter systems for several thousand dollars that outputs water at a PH level 10 saying that our unbalanced diet requires that we have much more alkaline water. The also recommend eating lots of vegetables which helps keep the diet more alkaline. There is also a body of thinking that says dairy should be eliminated because it increases acidity.
I took Subway sandwiches to feed the medical students in my Food Pharmacology class yesterday. Because no sandwich place on the planet gives you enough vegetables to slow down the bread digestion rate enough to optimize health, I asked them for several trays of vegetables so the students could max out on their own. In the condiments bag was salad dressing in case anyone wanted to avoid the carbs altogether.
There is a moment in the future when you will take your last breath. Starting from that moment, your loved ones will live on without you, doing the best they can under those trying circumstances, until they themselves join you in a better place. With this in mind, if you knew that every time you ate a meal high in saturated fat, sugar and total calories you were slicing off one to three hours of your life, what would you do? You might say eating saturated fat and sugar makes you happy so it is worth it, that it is difficult to stop, or that healthier food is not available.
Most diseases are directly impacted by lifestyle. We know this because of disease trends comparing the US to other countries and increased disease in people who immigrate to the US. All humans have genetics that may result in disease (being alive incurs risk), and taking care of ourselves allows us to take advantage of whatever good genetics we have. To know how to take care of ourselves, we need to know the facts on health, including nutrition.
Scientific studies of human caloric needs necessarily assume that we meet our “needs” if body weight does not change. If you lose weight, then you are eating less than your tissues demand (caloric restriction), or you are increasing how much they demand (insulin sensitivity), or both. Depending on what and when you eat, or how much and for how long you restrict your eating, weight loss can shift from reducing mostly body fat to reducing mostly lean tissue. Therefore, weight loss in itself is not a direct indication of health. We know that long-term caloric restriction of 10-40% can improve health as long as there is no malnourishment, but more than 50% caloric restriction ultimately risks organ system failure. Too much of what is good for you, or too little if less is good for you, is not necessarily good for you. We also know that a 100% restriction i.e. fasting, does not lead to immediate death, but is it healthy?
I took Subway sandwiches to feed the medical students in my Food Pharmacology class yesterday. Because no sandwich place on the planet gives you enough vegetables to slow down the bread digestion rate enough to optimize health, I asked them for several trays of vegetables so the students could max out on their own. In the condiments bag was salad dressing in case anyone wanted to avoid the carbs altogether.
Most diseases are directly impacted by lifestyle. We know this because of disease trends comparing the US to other countries and increased disease in people who immigrate to the US. All humans have genetics that may result in disease (being alive incurs risk), and taking care of ourselves allows us to take advantage of whatever good genetics we have. To know how to take care of ourselves, we need to know the facts on health, including nutrition. 
