When Does Your Metabolism Slow Down?
Many people believe that they gradually gain weight from their 20s onward because their metabolism gets slower over the years, but now it appears that this is not true. The researchers found that metabolism (the rate at which a person burns calories) remains stable through adult mid-life, from ages 20 to 60. After age 60 it begins to slow down at a rate of slightly less than one percent per year.
Eating Meat Still Associated with Heart Disease
There is little debate in the scientific community whether eating mammal meat (beef, pork, lamb) regularly is associated with increased risk for heart disease. An analysis of several studies covering more than 1.4 million people, who were followed for 30 years or more, found that for each 1.75 ounces of beef, lamb or pork consumed, the risk of heart disease increased by nine percent.
Snack on High Fiber Foods
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) found that daily consumption of starchy snacks made from flour was associated with a 50 percent increased risk of death from all causes and a 44-57 percent increased risk of death from a heart attack. This study of 21,503 North Americans, with 149,875 person-years of follow-up, also found that lunches based on refined grains were associated with a 44 percent increased risk of cardiovascular death.
Bacteria in Your Gut May Determine How Much You Weigh
With the ever-increasing epidemic of obesity in North America, more than 70 percent of adults and almost 20 percent of children are overweight, which increases risk for heart attacks, diabetes, strokes, arthritis, and some types of cancers. A recent review of the world’s scientific literature suggests that obesity is determined to a large degree by the types of bacteria that live in your colon.
Processed Foods Linked to Heart Attacks, Colon Cancer
Researchers followed 3,000 middle-aged people, average age 53, for 18 years and found out that the more ultra-processed foods they ate, the more likely they were to suffer a heart attack. Each daily serving of ultra-processed food increased heart attack risk by seven percent, and increased risk of death from a heart attack by nine percent.
How Your Diet Can Help to Prevent Heart Attacks and Cancers
Eating more fruits and vegetables, and restricting meat, egg yolks and non-fermented dairy products, can help to reduce your chances of suffering a heart attack. Eating just two servings of red meat or processed meat per week (not poultry or fish) is associated with increased risk for heart attacks and premature death.
Organic Foods May Not Be Worth the Extra Cost
Organic fresh produce sales in 2020 were $8.54 billion, an increase of over $1 billion from 2019. A very sobering study of 55 rice types found that organic rice contained significantly more arsenic than non-organic rice. More than half of the rice samples were "unfit to feed to infants."
Nitrates: One Reason to Eat Lots of Vegetables
Nitrates from the foods you eat can be converted in your body to nitric oxide, which widens blood vessels to increase blood flow throughout your body, to improve exercise tolerance and to help prevent heart disease and to lower high blood pressure
Limit Fried and Browned Foods
A review of 17 different studies involving more than 560,000 people who suffered 37,000 heart attacks and strokes, followed for 10 years, found that compared to those who ate the lowest amount of fried food per week, those who ate the most suffered a 28 percent greater risk of a major heart attack or stroke, a 22 percent higher risk of heart disease, and a 37 percent higher risk of heart failure.
Food Industry Pushes Foods You Don’t Need
USDA’s Dietary Guidelines are updated every five years, and most of the changes will be based on the report from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee that was released July 15, 2020.
Vegan Diet Helps Obese People Lose Weight and Reduce Risk for Type II Diabetes
A vegan diet with no added fats caused 117 obese people, average age 54, to lose 13 pounds over 16 weeks (JAMA Netw Open, Nov 30, 2020;3(11):e2025454). They decreased their risk of becoming diabetic by increasing the rate that they burned calories by more than 14 percent, and reducing insulin resistance.
Why I No Longer Follow a Vegan Diet
At one time I followed a vegan diet and ate no animal products at all, primarily based on data that associated eating mammal meat and processed meats with increased risk for diabetes, heart attacks, certain cancers and premature death. However, a couple years ago I became very forgetful, so I got a complete evaluation for memory loss and found that my B12 level was low.
Fish Oil Pills May or May Not Help to Prevent Heart Attacks
Three recent large and well-controlled studies showed that omega-3 fish oil pills did not prevent heart attacks or surgical procedures for heart disease in people at high risk for heart attacks, while one study showed reduced heart disease.
Eating Lots of Sugar May Damage Your Colon
A study from the University of Texas found that mice fed diets high in sugar developed severe colitis by increasing harmful colon bacteria and decreasing healthful colon bacteria.
Artificial Sweeteners Are Not Benign
Researchers followed 104,760 participants and found that people who drink large amounts of either sugared drinks or artificially sweetened beverages are at increased risk for developing new heart disease such as stroke, transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), heart attacks or acute coronary syndrome
Avoid Both Low Carb and High Carb Diets
In a new study from Japan, researchers found that both a low-carbohydrate/high animal protein diet and a high-carbohydrate/low animal protein diet were equally associated with increased death rates
Eating at Night Increases Risk for Obesity and Diabetes
A study of 20 healthy, normal-weight people found that changing their evening meal from 6PM to 10PM significantly increased their markers for becoming obese and developing diabetes.
Unexplained Weight Loss Can Signal Onset of Dementia
Overweight people who lose weight without dieting after age 65 are at high risk for dementia. Excess weight is a major risk factor for dementia.
Eat Fish Twice a Week
The American Heart Association recommends that you eat two servings of non-fried fish twice a week to reduce your risk for congestive heart failure, heart attacks, strokes, and sudden death from heart disease.
Eat More of the Good Carbs
People who ate the most whole grains were at the lowest risk for developing diabetes, according to a recent review of data from the Nurses' Health Studies and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.
Vitamin B12: One Supplement You May Need
In the last year, I have seen two experienced cyclists who suffered recurrent numbness and tingling of their hands when they rode long distances. Both had low blood levels of vitamin B12 and one was cured by taking 1000 mcg per day of vitamin B12 pills, the other by eating fish.
TMAO: Why Eating Meat or Eggs May Harm You
Colon bacteria convert choline and lecithin into a chemical called TriMethylAmine (TMA), which is absorbed into your bloodstream and travels to your liver where TMA is converted to TriMethlAmine Oxide (TMAO).
Exercise May Help to Offset Damage from Sugared Drinks
Taking sugared drinks in any form increases risk for heart attacks, but exercise may offset some of the damage. Exercise increases blood flow in people who have even severe blockage of their arteries leading to significant heart disease.
How to Live Longer and Better
No drugs, supplements or potions have been shown to extend your life, in spite of the fact that the internet is full of an incredible number of fraudulent life-extension products that provide no benefits while they steal your money. However, we do have overwhelming evidence that several healthful lifestyle habits can extend how long you live and improve your quality of life in your later years.
Coconut Oil is Not a Special Health Food
Coconut oil does not help a person lose weight, lower blood sugar levels, or dampen down harmful inflammation (Circulation, Jan 13, 2020). The authors reviewed 17 studies and found that coconut oil increased blood levels of the harmful LDL cholesterol much more than the increase from soybean, olive, safflower, canola or palm oils.
How Much Water Do You Need?
Do you believe that a person needs to drink eight glasses of water every day? If you do, you are probably making a lot of extra trips to the bathroom.
Little Evidence to Support Taking Probiotics
Probiotics are foods or supplements containing healthful bacteria that pass to your colon when you eat them. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health reports that close to four million adults in the U.S. use probiotics.
Milk is Not Essential for Health
The main argument for drinking milk is its high calcium content. Milk and cheese contribute 46 percent of the calcium intake by the average American, but researchers have found many recent studies showing that American adults do not need to take in that much milk to provide enough calcium to help prevent bone fractures.
Eat Breakfast, Especially if You Want to Lose Weight
If you are trying to control your weight, you should not skip breakfast because the food that you eat in the morning causes you to burn more than two and a half times as many calories as the food you eat at night.
Why a High Protein Diet May Increase Risk for Heart Attacks
A recent study in mice showed that increasing dietary protein from 15 percent to 46 percent of calories caused the mice to develop 30 percent more arterial plaques than mice on their normal-protein diet, even though they did not gain more weight.
