Life is Healthy

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Shaolin Refreshment



Shaolin Refreshment 2



So wrong but so funny



So wrong but so funny 2



SO WRONG but SO FUNNY


now get back to work, breaks over!

Faithful readers, I'm really sorry to do this to you. But I needed to change at least the blog portion of my website in order for me to better integrate features that were lacking at my old blog home. You'll see what I mean in the weeks to come.

You can still access this blog through the Lynn's Journey site (www.freewebs.com/lynnsjourney) by clicking on My Weight-Loss Blog. The tab "Blog Archives" are blogs written the last few months that one day, when I figure out exactly how, I will move over here.

In the meantime, welcome to new blog home Blog #1.

I've been thinking a lot about change lately, probably because it's spring and spring is a time of renewal. I've never understood why we make resolutions to change on Jan. 1, in the dead of winter when motivation is at an all-time low. Make them in the spring when everything is fresh and new!

I'm resolving to change my body image. Yes, you read that right. I had a rough few days this week with body image. I went to the Gap and Target on Wednesday and tried on some summer shirts. I hadn’t really looked at my upper body since late summer since I’ve been buried in long-sleeved shirts all winter. What I saw in the dressing room mirror surprised me and actually scared me in a way.

I have a major rotator cuff tear in my right shoulder and a minor tear in my left. I also have bursitis and arthritis in both shoulder joints. I opted not to have surgery just yet because my granddaughter was just born and it would be months before I could hold her. I went to see a chiropractor and she's done wonders. Through weekly treatments (sometimes very painful treatments) and daily rehab exercises with hand weights, I am relatively pain free and have 80 to 90 percent mobility.

This is great news and I'll continue to rehab and see my chiropractor for treatments. However, all those exercises have really defined my arms and chest, which means on my medium to large-boned frame, I am very bony and old looking. I was shocked when I saw my reflection in the dressing room mirrors. Really honestly shocked. The bottom half of me looks the same, but the top is kind of scary.

I'm also going to tell you a truth not everyone likes to hear: the excess skin under my arms (my armpits) is more apparent, too. More than it was last summer. This means I want to be careful what kinds of clothes I wear. Yes, I’m vain that way.

I was mad at first. I mean, here I go and lose all kinds of weight and I have to be almost as selective about clothes as I was at 300 pounds. Then with the help of my maintenance support group, I realize that I’ll probably never be satisfied with how I look and so I’m learning to accept the person I look like now.

I do the rehab because it helps my shoulders. The consequence is that I’m cut and bony. I can live with that. I will change my body image. It'll take some time is all.

Are there any changes you want to make? Small or big, it doesn't matter. Let us know!

My friend Sara has just written the most beautiful, moving and utterly persuasive post in favour of universal health care that I have ever read.

Here's a really good video by one guy who is 40 years old and wants to get fit again.



By his birthday on May 12, he wants:

1) More muscle tone and continued cardio
2) Continued weight loss (lose the rest of the tummy so you can see those killer abs hiding beneath the cottage cheese)
3) Healthier and more frequent eating, but not at night.
4) Reduced caffeine

It's easy to forget why you started something, so here's my reminder to myself. I wanna feel really healthy and secure hanging out by the pool this spring/summer!

I can't stop thinking about this story.

This should never, ever have happened. And so many medical professionals contributed to the problem.

It makes me furious.

Beverly Green, who is featured in this article (and was on the front page of the Globe and Mail last week end) is 45 years old and dying of liver metastasis. She found out way too late that she should have been given Tamoxifen.

I know that the government review being conducted will not lay criminal responsibility but I would really like to see some heads roll.

In my reading, I've come to the conclusion that, in some people, overweight may be a type of carbohydrate intolerance.

Insulin is the master hormone that orchestrates the metabolic changes that cause fat accumulation. It instructs the body to transport glucose and fat from the blood into the cells. It tells the liver to synthesize fat from sugar. It inhibits the release of fat from fat cells. There are no other hormones that have a similar range of effects.

Insulin is the "storage hormone". Don't believe me? Ask a type I diabetic. Type I diabetes happens when the pancreas no longer secretes insulin. These people are rail-thin until they are given insulin injections, at which point they often gain excess weight. Many deliberately skip injections to lose weight. Unfortunately, this has serious consequences as it allows their blood glucose to rise to dangerous levels unchecked.

If insulin is kept low, fat synthesis and storage are inhibited, and fat release from fat cells is increased. Carbohydrate is particularly effective at elevating insulin, acutely and chronically. As carbohydrate digests, it's broken down into glucose, which enters the bloodstream. The pancreas releases insulin in an attempt to keep blood glucose within a healthy range, and the storage begins. Refined carbohydrate is the worst offender, because it causes a large and rapid rise in blood glucose.

Regular overconsumption of carbohydrate causes insulin to be chronically elevated in many people [update- I no longer believe this is true. I now believe that only certain types of carbohydrate- namely wheat and sugar- cause a pathological increase in fasting insulin over time]. This comes along with "insulin resistance", whereby most or all tissues become desensitized to insulin. This is the tissues' way of saying "Stop! My energy stores are already full! I can't handle any more glucose or fat!".

Some people are able to maintain normal insulin levels (and sensitivity) in the face of a high-carbohydrate diet. This is probably partly genetic and partly environmental. Certain people, for whatever reason, have fat tissue that is prone to fat accumulation. It could be because they oversecrete insulin, or because their fat tissue is sensitive to the action of insulin, but probably both. It likely has to do with a combination of insulin resistance in non-fat tissue, and insulin sensitivity in fat tissue. Inactivity and fructose consumption (from corn syrup or sucrose) are also high on the list of suspects.

Fat tissue is typically the last to become insulin resistant because it acts as a valuable buffer to remove excess (and potentially toxic) glucose from the bloodstream. Unfortunately, simply being thin is not a reliable indicator that your body tolerates carbohydrate well. It can indicate either that all tissues are insulin-sensitive and insulin levels are low, or all tissues (including fat) are insulin resistant and insulin levels are high. The latter scenario leads to type II diabetes, pronto.

Since fat accumulation revolves around carbohydrate intake and insulin production, it makes sense that reducing carbohydrate causes weight loss. No more carbohydrate = a lot less glucose, and a lot less insulin to deal with it. This completely sidesteps the problem of insulin resistance, although that seems to respond favorably to carbohydrate restriction as well. Every time true low-carbohydrate diets are matched head-to-head with reduced-calorie, carbohydrate-rich diets, subjects lose more weight and have fewer problems with hunger on the low-carbohydrate diet. I discussed a recent study here.

The idea that you can achieve and maintain a healthy weight without cutting calories sounds too good to be true. In fact, all it represents is a return to our natural pattern of eating as human beings. It may involve breaking an addiction to carbohydrate. True hunter-gatherers eat between 0 and 35% of their calories as carbohydrate, and no refined carbohydrate [correction: a number of hunter-gatherer groups ate more than 35% carbohydrate, typically from starchy tubers]. In industrial nations, we eat approximately 50% of our calories as carbohydrate. Hunter-gatherers also exercise regularly, and don't eat Frosted Sugar Bombs for breakfast. This helps maintain good insulin sensitivity. Since we are genetically very similar to our hunter-gatherer ancestors, we would be wise to learn from their example.