And I'm too busy for blogging it seems. Still cooking a lot, and finding lots of good recipes, and WANTING to blog, but no time. Work is getting ready to "shut down" so everyone is trying to wrap things up. Hopefully I'll have a little time next week to get some posts in before the year ends. (All I want for Christmas is some time to blog!)
In the mean time, here are two articles that I want to hold on to...
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/12/10/250007042/chowing-down-on-meat-and-dairy-alters-gut-bacteria-a-lot-and-quickly
http://www.npr.org/2013/12/13/250730968/this-docs-miracle-drug-exercise
I do believe that diet and exercise are extremely important, and always have. When I was a kid (probably about 6 or 7), I couldn't believe adults didn't like to run around. I couldn't believe they didn't see that if they ran around, they'd be better off. For me, when my back was in very bad shape in 2005 (after 3 babies in 4 years), I decided I needed to exercise more and get back into shape. People, even doctors, told me to slow down and be careful, but I'm so glad I chose the path of exercise. I also began to change the way I ate in 2006, cutting down dairy and adding more grains and veggies until I went vegan in 2009. It all "can't hurt and might help" and now we are learning why things, like exercise and a good diet, work. (The articles above point to 2 small, but important, clues.)
Oh, and a video
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/eggs-and-diabetes/
To all things green!
Showing posts with label articles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label articles. Show all posts
Monday, December 16, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Epigenetics
Welcome to an introduction to epigenetics by a social scientist, aka me. As a social scientist, I'm often concerned about the environment and how it affects people, for me, especially their learning, but that's not our topic, today. When I learned about epigenetics (a few years back), I got excited. Here we have the intersection of genetics (what you were handed by your parents) and your environment!
What you do in life can make a difference and help you overcome some of the, ahem, problems you may have been dealt in the meiotic mixing and the gametic game that led to the zany zygote that became you. Epigenetics is how the environment affects the expression of your genes. What you eat, breathe, or intake in any way; plus, how you exercise, and how much you stress is in your life affects the expression of your genes.
If you have bad genes, you can't change that and make them go away, but you can turn them off and pretend they aren't there by eating and NOT eating certain foods. (Epigenetics gives me hope that the medical community, and society in general, will someday believe that food is a powerful medicine. Now if we could somehow get a cut of the action to the drug companies...)
Take a look at this post by my happy healthy friend about the 9p21 gene. Here's a gene that increases inflammation in epithelial cells and if you have one or two copies of it ups your risk of a heart attack. The conclusion over there is to eat more fruits and veggies.
Eat more fruits and veggies is usually the answer for helping turn off bad genes. Seriously. It's that simple. In the case of diabetes and the SLC30A4 gene variant, that is linked to beta cells producing insulin in the pancreas, eating more carrots (or veggies/fruits with beta carotene) might help that gene direct the beta cells in the right way.
There's a lot to learn about epigenetics, but what researchers have been finding is that doing "good things," aka exercise, controlling stress, eating more veggies and fruit seems to turn off the bad genes. I don't have "scientific evidence" that eating well and exercising make me healthy, but I feel good and strong; quality of life is important, in my opinion. I can't believe I'd feel like I do if I ate crap and didn't exercise.
Mostly though, research, exercise, and epigenetics aside, I was super excited to see I should eat more pumpkin! I'm very into my pumpkin bars and have been playing around with the recipe. Expect a post on my new version sometime in the near future--as soon as today as far away as next week.
What you do in life can make a difference and help you overcome some of the, ahem, problems you may have been dealt in the meiotic mixing and the gametic game that led to the zany zygote that became you. Epigenetics is how the environment affects the expression of your genes. What you eat, breathe, or intake in any way; plus, how you exercise, and how much you stress is in your life affects the expression of your genes.
If you have bad genes, you can't change that and make them go away, but you can turn them off and pretend they aren't there by eating and NOT eating certain foods. (Epigenetics gives me hope that the medical community, and society in general, will someday believe that food is a powerful medicine. Now if we could somehow get a cut of the action to the drug companies...)
Take a look at this post by my happy healthy friend about the 9p21 gene. Here's a gene that increases inflammation in epithelial cells and if you have one or two copies of it ups your risk of a heart attack. The conclusion over there is to eat more fruits and veggies.
Eat more fruits and veggies is usually the answer for helping turn off bad genes. Seriously. It's that simple. In the case of diabetes and the SLC30A4 gene variant, that is linked to beta cells producing insulin in the pancreas, eating more carrots (or veggies/fruits with beta carotene) might help that gene direct the beta cells in the right way.
There's a lot to learn about epigenetics, but what researchers have been finding is that doing "good things," aka exercise, controlling stress, eating more veggies and fruit seems to turn off the bad genes. I don't have "scientific evidence" that eating well and exercising make me healthy, but I feel good and strong; quality of life is important, in my opinion. I can't believe I'd feel like I do if I ate crap and didn't exercise.
Mostly though, research, exercise, and epigenetics aside, I was super excited to see I should eat more pumpkin! I'm very into my pumpkin bars and have been playing around with the recipe. Expect a post on my new version sometime in the near future--as soon as today as far away as next week.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Vegan Warriors...
I love this! You can be a vegan, build muscle, and be very fit. These guys require a lot of calories and nutrition. If veganism is good enough for them, then it's good enough for me!
Watch and be amazed at the vegans on YouTube!
A link to their web site is here.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
I have this friend...
She's a great athlete, she's in awesome shape, but she eats a terrible diet. She's completely a testament to the power of genetics (she looks good and damn, can she perform); not all of us are so lucky. And, even if we're tremendously gifted and have genetics on our side, like the story of the person in the article (linked below) and my friend, we can benefit from a healthier diet. I wish my friend would be open-minded to improving her diet.
Actually, I really wish, since she's a fitness professional and a role model to many, that she wouldn't encourage others to eat an unhealthy diet. She likes to talk about the taco place she frequents and how much bacon she eats. Her attitude is "I eat it and I am in good shape so you can eat it and work out and you'll be fine, too." Unfortunately, that's not the case. The people who take her class aren't teaching 15+ classes a week and they don't have her genes. In addition, she may be in great shape on the outside--I hope she's in great shape on the inside--but we can't know without some blood work.
In the meantime, go read about the ultra-marathoner, Scott Jurek. I love reading about plant-based athletes. Just this weekend, I was sitting across from a nurse and a long-distance runner and she was wolfing down chicken and beef. She was discussing how she needs protein to do what she does. Next time I run into her (or someone like her) I'm pulling Scott Jurek out and discussing him. Let me know what you think of him.
If you exercise a lot, do you feel it's easy or hard to be plant-based? I love being plant-based, but sometimes I end up eating too many nuts (in my opinion) to make it through the day. It's something I'm working on and I'll tell you more about in future posts.
Actually, I really wish, since she's a fitness professional and a role model to many, that she wouldn't encourage others to eat an unhealthy diet. She likes to talk about the taco place she frequents and how much bacon she eats. Her attitude is "I eat it and I am in good shape so you can eat it and work out and you'll be fine, too." Unfortunately, that's not the case. The people who take her class aren't teaching 15+ classes a week and they don't have her genes. In addition, she may be in great shape on the outside--I hope she's in great shape on the inside--but we can't know without some blood work.
In the meantime, go read about the ultra-marathoner, Scott Jurek. I love reading about plant-based athletes. Just this weekend, I was sitting across from a nurse and a long-distance runner and she was wolfing down chicken and beef. She was discussing how she needs protein to do what she does. Next time I run into her (or someone like her) I'm pulling Scott Jurek out and discussing him. Let me know what you think of him.
If you exercise a lot, do you feel it's easy or hard to be plant-based? I love being plant-based, but sometimes I end up eating too many nuts (in my opinion) to make it through the day. It's something I'm working on and I'll tell you more about in future posts.
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