Healing Outside The Box

  Many athletes involved in all types of sports add protein powders to their daily regimen, assuming that it will help stimulate muscle mass as they train. But does it? You would assume many research studies are looking into this, and you would be correct. I discuss an elaborate study that shows that provided the protein intake is adequate, exercise will help strengthen muscle somewhat, as well as improve the weight of bone mass. Additional protein does not work any better than adequate protein. Here is the link to the study. I found an interesting article That refers to many studies on building muscle mass later in life. The article can be found here. The national Institute of Health (NIH) recently put out a literature review of many randomized control studies on the subject of muscle mass with exercise in older individuals. That link can be found here. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out to me on my website contact page, at healing outside the box.com.

That idea for this episode was sparked by an article in the Guardian about a woman who changed her yard into a suburban micro-farm. That article hit so many positive notes that I thought it was worthy of an entire episode. But first, I did a quick review of the new documentary "Food Inc. 2". This is a sequel to the popular but controversial documentary "Food Inc", produced in 2008. Although they made excellent points in this sequel and it's an important topic for the front burner, I would have to put this one in the category of "more of the same". I recommend that you may be better off watching the first of this pair of documentaries, which is available on YouTube TV, Netflix, and other places. This educational piece on micro-farming used a specific example of one woman's brave step into what will hopefully be the future of local farming. In 2014, the Obama Administration started the micro-farm program which joined forces with local farmers and wanna-be farmers to provide financial incentives for homeowners to grow their own food.  At a time when folks are concerned about the rising price of supermarket food, this program provides an opportunity to have free food or nearly-free food grown in your neighborhood. This program utilizes water recycling and overall water conservation, community access to organic soil,  space-preserving technology, natural pest control, farm subsidies, and a path to cash for sharing your harvest.  All this program needs now is a nudge from our leaders.

I often get questions from people who have seen advertisements for weight loss supplements and they wonder if they work. One of those supplement companies has a product that they call "GOLO". Their pitch is that it is a combination of supplement pills and a low-calorie diet, but it is primarily pills that contain a few minerals and some crushed herbs. I took a deep dive into the literature on the herbs they have included and I discuss the results in this episode. Before I got to GOLO, I mentioned a wonderful organization called World Central Kitchen. They recently lost seven of their disaster relief workers in Gaza; tragically they made headlines for the worst possible reason. These people head towards the disaster while the rest of us are fleeing. They need our help more than ever now. I first read an article in a lay magazine about the basics of the diet advice and herbal remedies they include. The link to the article can be found here. I read an NIH article about the gardenia extract and I was surprised that there was some promise with this one. Here is the link to the NIH article. This is an NIH article on the Banaba extract. Another NIH article shows promising results from the salacious extract for both weight loss and blood sugar control.

I stumbled upon an article about meditation that led me down a rabbit hole of other articles looking into why or how meditation helps us feel better. Turns out, there are hundreds of recent articles discovering exactly what meditation is doing in our bodies. So where would I begin? It was overwhelming to be sure. But I started with articles from the National Institute Of Health, or NIH, which publishes a meta-analysis on a certain topic. The first was a very long NIH group of studies which reported that there is a special protein called brain derived neurotrophic factor, which is necessary for healthy brain function. Low levels of this protein can be found in patients with Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease. But what can we do to improve the levels of this protein? Exercise helps. A high antioxidant, plant-based diet helps. But what about meditation? The results discussed here seem promising. Next, I reveal an NIH meta-analysis article that gets into the area of epigenetics. This can get complicated and sciency, but they are basically saying that meditation might help us with adaptability to our environment. They may be in the initial exploratory phase of understanding what is going on, but I find it fascinating. The article can be found here.  There is a more comprehensive article by the national Center for complementary and integrative health that is excellent. It gives us all a feel for the larger picture. I could see a time where regular meditation becomes a part of our healthcare plan. At the very least, it could help us through this post-pandemic, scary – political time in American culture. As always, feel free to contact me on my contact page, at healing outside the box, if you have any questions or suggestions of future episodes.

Today's episode is a relatively short one, so I thought I would start by giving you a 5 minute sample of my new memoir, called Helpers Anonymous (now on audible and itunes. If you are interested in listening to the audio version of the memoir, you could send me your first name and email address and I will email you one of the free audible codes for the book. If you want another version and just prefer to get it yourself, the paperback, ebook, and audio versions can be found on Amazon, right here. The question today is not about whether proteins are essential for life and if we need to get them from food. It is and we do. Today we are talking about the source of the protein, plant versus animal. And more specifically, does one type of protein influence blood sugar control or insulin resistance?  As it turns out, an abundance of branched-chain amino acids from animal protein, may be associated with insulin resistance or even type II diabetes. The National Institute for Health (NIH) has put out several journal articles, like this one, reporting that people with type II diabetes have higher levels of branched-chain amino acids than control subjects. Another more detailed NIH article goes into the connection in more detail. The title is "the emerging role of Branched-chain Amino acids in insulin resistance and Metabolism." But the entire role of branched-chain amino acids is still unclear. One NIH article suggested that when branched-chain amino acids were taken as supplements by the military to guard against traumatic brain injury, they may have been effective. However, they do not increase the growth of brain cells. The reason that there is no clear-cut proof that animal protein causes an increased risk of insulin resistance, may be that it's just complicated. One possible explanation that is being investigated is that it may be more to do with altered gene expressions, caused by mutations. Whatever it is, the problem is related to protein that comes from animals, not plants. 

Back in the old days, maybe 50 years ago, scientists believed that it was all about the math. We decided that a deficit of 3500 calories would equal 1 pound of weight loss and the weight loss was from the burning of fat stores for that energy. If that's the case, a daily deficit of 500 calories per day would be equal to 1 pound of fat loss per week. But that is not the case at all. The reason for the leveling off of weight loss is explained today. But first, a bittersweet announcement. I will be ending my ongoing podcast episodes at episode 300, but the old content will remain available on my website, Healing Outside the box. The work to put out a podcast episode was just too much for someone like myself, as I am getting physically weaker. I will still continue to write and keep my website running, and look into nutrition in the news for my social media posts. Speaking of which, the makers of balance of nature supplements have been ordered to stop production and sales of their products until they can come into compliance with FDA regulations. You can read more details in this article from the Center of Science for the Public Interest. There is a short video by Dr. Michael Gregor that discusses the science behind the debunking of the "3500 calories for one pound myth" about weight loss. There is a blog post as well with similar information. The national Institute of Health (NIH) has a few articles that provide the scientific background as to why the theories are changing. It is related to the power of our gut microbiota. More specifically, how the quality of the microorganisms can either help or hurt our weight loss efforts. The first is an explanation of how both probiotics and prebiotics can set up healthy gut microbiota to make weight loss happen more effectively. The second explains that a higher diversity of gut microbiota affects weight loss. They show that a lower diversity of microbes was related to obesity and insulin resistance. It's all about the microbes, baby.

If there was ever a topic that my unique combination of background experience leads me to have an opinion about, it would be Ozempic. Yet, even I am not sure about exactly where the internal debate in my head finally lands. And that leads me to believe that the "one size fits all" nutrition advice just won't work here. But before I get into Ozempic, I want to bring your attention to a short video on scientific studies examining skin creams for anti-aging. Because the topic is so subjective and mice won't sit still long enough to apply the skin cream, there are very few legitimate double-blind studies on whether or not these creams work. However, there was one study that demonstrated improvements in the skin after application of a niacin cream. The video can be found here.  I mentioned that even the 60 Minutes news show has differing opinions on the subject. The 60 minutes – Australia clip discussed an incident where a young woman died because she was so adamant about not wanting to stop the Ozempic, that she ignored nausea and vomiting and died in her sleep. The 60 minutes- US clip was basically an advertisement for the drug. The clinician implied that it would be perfectly safe for the patient to remain on the drug for an entire lifetime. That is simply not true.  Another video I discussed was 6 short interviews with 6 experts who had 6 different pieces of advice. That video can be found here. I eventually get around to giving you my opinion, but I suppose I owe you a quick synopsis of my background on which I formulated this opinion. In school, my major was Nutritional biochemistry. My first real job was as a lab tech at the Nutritional Pathology labs at MIT. We tested substances to see if they would cause cancer in laboratory rats. Then I worked in the Biochemistry labs at Brandeis, testing whether substances could decrease or increase the risk of cancer. Then I got a second degree in food science where I focused on microbiology, or pathogenic organisms in food. Then I got a registered dietitian certification and worked with people who had obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. I also studied eating disorders.  So as you can see, all of my earlier experiences lead me to focus on preventative healthcare. I am glad to hear that so many people are losing weight on these drugs, but thoughts about being cautious are stewing in the back of my mind.  If you have any questions about Ozempic or weight loss that you wish to discuss with me, you can go to my services page on my website to book an appointment. You can also text me at my Google voice number, which is 978-712-9556.

Once again, I review different types of foods where sell-by dates are important and explain why that may be the case. As in part one, the take-away message is that it's good to know which foods might spoil and taste lousy versus which foods could cause food poisoning. But first, I announce that there are still promo codes for free copies of my memoir in audiobook format. Simply leave your email address and first name on my contact page and I will email you a code to the audiobook. You can also contact me on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter (X} and leave your email address there. In part two, I go through most of the popular condiments and discuss food safety issues around common products like oil cold cuts, nuts, and canned goods. The two organizations that do the inspecting, grading, and labeling laws are the USDA and the FDA. The USDA website can be found here and the FDA website can be found here. As always, you can reach me through my website, healing outside the box, or message me on my contact page, if you have any questions or suggestions for future topics.

Breaking news! (I hope) My new memoir called "Helpers Anonymous" is now out in audiobook format, on audible and iTunes. I still have free codes to hand out! So if you would like to listen to my audiobook, I still have some available for free audiobooks. If you would like a complimentary audiobook, just message me with your first name and email address on my website contact page, at Healing Outside the Box. Here is the link on Amazon if you're interested in the paperback or Kindle version. I also want to bring to your attention an article that came out recently. It suggests that we humans are not that much unlike wild animals in that we eat more in the fall to survive the winter. Although we are not likely to counteract evolutionary history anytime soon, awareness of the situation can certainly help to keep the extra pounds to a minimum. You can get a short version of the details in this video from Dr. Michael Gregor. As always, if you have any questions, or would like to speak to a nutritionist about how to perhaps avoid squirreling away extra calories this fall/winter, you can reach me on my website services page, which is here.

When I learned that up to 70% of college athletes are now taking creatine supplements, I decided to look into studies that examined its effectiveness.  Before I got into creatine supplements, I went over a few points from the previous episodes on the benefits of berries and other antioxidants. There is a five minute video by Dr. Michael Greger on the power of berries to fight inflation as well as cancer cell growth. That video can be found here. I then discussed some studies comparing two groups of people and the incidence and mortality of Covid-19. The groups were separated based on whether they ate a plant strong Mediterranean diet or a more traditional meat and potatoes American diet. This NIH study showed that the group eating more plants and no red meat had better outcomes, both in terms of incidence of severe symptoms and mortality. Interestingly, they ran the same study after the 1918 flu pandemic with a Seventh-day Adventist seminary and found similar results. Seventh-day Adventists, as a group, don't eat meat or chicken. There was a recent article originally published in the British medical Journal and re-published by NIH, which basically said the same thing with almost 600 patients. People who regularly ate a diet high in legumes and whole grains had significantly lower odds of getting severe Covid 19. I eventually got around to talking about the necessity and effectiveness of creatine for athletes. A good overall article on this subject can be found here. I have an announcement about my new memoir...It is coming out in audiobook form soon! If you send me your email and join my new episode mailing list, I will be giving out free copies of the book for 7 days! Just leave your first name and email address at https://healingoutsidethebox.com