The poor, misunderstood calorie

I say “breakfast” to indicate the first meal of the day, shortly after waking up. Not “breaking the fast.”

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Other definitions of breakfast from this awesome paper:

• socio-anthropologists: breakfast is the first post-nocturnal meal of the day
• biochemists & doctors: the biodynamic aspects of a meal after prolonged resting/fasting.
• scholars of social sciences: the first meal after a physiological break with consciousness during the need.

Besides those philosophical takes on breakfast, this article also reviews the evidence showing breakfast improves cognitive function, memory, attention span, concentration, and academic performance.

Of the cultures reviewed, meat, cheese, fruit, and wine came up a lot. Some had coffee & chocolate 🙂

It was sometimes eaten outside and finished before it got too hot (this is seasonal/geographical, of course, but interesting). And similar to our ancestors (by some accounts), it was done prior to heading out for the day.

It wasn’t really until artificial lighting came along when people started eating their main meal late at night. Side note: that is a highly interesting observation.

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calories proper

One of the most direct ways is via metabolites secreted from the ‘biome: GABA, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, serotonin, dopamine, etc. (Jacka 2018).

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Germ-free mice (ie, no ‘biome) have all sorts of behavioral abnormalities: pronounced changes in their stress responses, brain plasticity, immune function, neurotransmitters, etc.

And most interestingly, fecal transfers from humans with depression to germ-free mice induces a depressive phenotype in the latter (Kelly et al., 2016).

Over 50% of people with irritable bowel syndrome (constipation, diarrhea, or alternating) have depression, anxiety, or sleep problems (Li et al., 2018).

In my experience, people have multiple complaints at once but with enough discussions and trial & error, we can pinpoint the lowest hanging fruit and it usually turns out to be just one of those factors controlling the rest. Get that sorted and many aspects of health improve.

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calories proper

Interesting review showing many ways how circadian desynchronization can lead to mood disorders and some steps to fix ’em (Huhne et al., 2018)

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Circadian arrhythmia is strongly associated with a variety of mood disorders. It is known.

The authors of this manuscript break it down into 4 potential cause-effect links:

1. loss of synchronization to environmental 24-hour rhythms
2. internal desynchronization among body clocks
3. low rhythm amplitude
4. changes in sleep architecture

And as suggested in the title, each of these factors have specific remedies.

Disruption of the sleep-wake cycle is a characteristic feature of mood disorders, one of the core symptoms that define them, and many think there’s a causal link. Regardless of that latter point, these people strongly benefit from “chronotherapies” targeting the circadian system. Some keen docs already know this and try it prior to prescribing drugs. Good on them.

It is known that shift work and seasonal changes in photoperiod can induce mood disorders in some people. There are also a number of genetic polymorphisms in core circadian genes that substantially increase the risk of certain mood disorders. Of course, there is also a bidirectional relationship such that pre-existing mood disorders may contribute to circadian disruptions, but there’s a large body of evidence (including both human & animal studies) supporting a causal relationship.

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calories proper

This review by Longo & Panda was ‘fair,’ and by now you know my take on intermittent fasting (IF) vs. caloric restriction (CR).

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If you don’t, Tl;dr: since forever, all the studies on IF showed no benefits over regular CR. That tune changed when they switched from testing IF skipping breakfast to IF early dinner (eTRF), although the latter has only been explored in a few #contexts. eTRF seems to be an actually beneficial use of IF (over CR). Eg, insulin sensitivity & satiety improve with or without weight loss.

ALL. THE. FIGURES.

Indisputable fact: the 24-hour light/dark cycle has been around way longer than humans; our circadian rhythms are based on this and it’s more essential for life than nearly anything else.

For example, humans have survived on a wide variety of diets around the globe over time. We can eat almost any diet and as long as it’s not too much, you’re fine. You can even go without ANY food for pretty long (months) and still be OK. Try not sleeping for a couple weeks.

You Die. Literally. Game over. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200.

See also: Scott Kelly’s health after spending a year in space (adequate food & sleep but lacking Earth-appropriate circadian cues)

Drs. Longo & Panda are relatively biased toward IF, although this review was fair imo (with some unfair points, eg, stating IF is the opposite from grazing 6+ meals per day when there are obvious in-betweens, like 3 square meals with no snacking, especially when combined with an early dinner & front-loading calories like 50/30/20 or 33/33/33 eTRF).

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If you want the benefits of  ‘shrooms but don’t like eating them, Real Mushrooms makes great extracts. 10% off with coupon code LAGAKOS. I recommend Lion’s Mane for the brain and Reishi for everything else. 

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calories proper

Effects of macronutrient distribution on weight and related cardiometabolic profile in healthy non-obese Chinese: a 6-month, randomized controlled-feeding trial (Wan et al., 2017)

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Study design was STRONG although the intervention was on the weak side. They provided ALL the food for SIX months for over TWO HUNDRED participants although the differences between the diets were small.

If nothing else, this study was very expensive.

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calories proper

I’m a fan of nutrients. Antioxidants/detoxicants are cool, although I’d rather my body make them in the exact quantity and location they’re needed.

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That’s what Nrf2 does splendidly.

As a quick reminder: glucosinolates present in broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, etc., are separated from the enzyme myrosinase on a cellular level. If you cook them in this condition, without crushing them a bit (like you do with the side of your knife to a clove of garlic), the myrosinase is destroyed by heat before it gets the chance to convert glucosinolates to sulforaphane & isothiocyanates.

No Nrf2 for you.

don’t rush your crucifers, crush your crucifers! #Nrf2

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calories proper

A low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet reduces body weight without compromising performance in powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting athletes (Greene et al., 2018)

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This was a tricky one. Many relevant moving parts.

They were experienced lifters so we can trust they knew what they were doing in the gym, and any improvements would be due to diet as opposed to n00b gainz.

On the flipside, this was a THREE MONTH crossover which really levels the playing field wrt confounding variables.

Carbs were <50 grams or <10% per day, which by virtually any definition is very low carb/ketogenic for these young highly active individuals. They were instructed to maintain their normal protein and calorie intake, which in reflection may have been a flaw in the study design…

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calories proper

or “a misunderstanding of ketoadaptation proper (Sansone et al., 2018).”

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This was a good review article, although imho the authors had a clear bias. It stuck out to me because it is the opposite of my bias lol

One of the characteristics of ketoadaptation is the ability to perform equally high intensity exercise at a lower RQ indicating the reliance on more fat oxidation. This can be assessed by measuring maximal fat oxidation rates, which can reach 1.5 g/min during high intensity physical activity.

This review seems to promote a high carb diet during training, then supplementing ketone esters on game day to boost performance… but also talks of ketoadaptation and maximizing fat oxidation rates… those two things are _kinda_ mutually exclusive…

The old school dogma is that carbs/glycolysis fuel high intensity exercise whereas more fat is used for endurance exercise. That’s still pretty true, unless you factor in nutritional ketosis / ketoadaptation proper.

On the flipside, this article is full of cool tidbits about ketones and facts about exercise economy. For my take on that and more, head over to Patreon! Five bucks a month for full access and there are many other options.

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Affiliate links: KetoLogic for keto-friendly shakes, creamers, snacks, etc. And get 15% off your ketone measuring supplies HERE.

Still looking for a pair of hot blue blockers? TrueDark is offering 10% off HERE and Spectra479 is offering 15% off HERE. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this then this.

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If you want the benefits of  ‘shrooms but don’t like eating them, Real Mushrooms makes great extracts. 10% off with coupon code LAGAKOS. I recommend Lion’s Mane for the brain and Reishi for everything else. 

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calories proper

or, the protein-sparing effects of fat-derived fuels (Koutnik et al., 2018)

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It was originally coined “the glucose-sparing effect,” but the whole point of sparing glucose in this context is sparing amino acids & protein. Because during starvation, if you kept up the rate of protein degradation to meet glucose needs via amino acid-gluconeogenesis you wouldn’t last very long. Not just skeletal muscle protein, but heart muscle, diaphragm, organs, etc.

This nice review highlights some of the new findings about the signalling effects of ketones but the title has led some to think the muscle-sparing properties of ketones during starvation carry over to making muscle hypertrophy gainz in the #context of nutritional ketosis. Here’s what’s up.

Truth is, most studies on nutritional ketosis show it’s great for fat loss, but not so great for the retention of fat-free mass. On the other hand, resistance exercise and increased dietary protein help with the latter. Those two things don’t need to be mutually exclusive…

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Affiliate links: KetoLogic for keto-friendly shakes, creamers, snacks, etc. And get 15% off your ketone measuring supplies HERE.

Still looking for a pair of hot blue blockers? TrueDark is offering 10% off HERE and Spectra479 is offering 15% off HERE. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this then this.

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20% off some delish stocks and broths from Kettle and Fire HERE. 

If you want the benefits of  ‘shrooms but don’t like eating them, Real Mushrooms makes great extracts. 10% off with coupon code LAGAKOS. I recommend Lion’s Mane for the brain and Reishi for everything else. 

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calories proper