Tag Archives: nutrition

An interesting theory on the treatment of muscle cramps

Posted on August 31, 2017 | 17 comments

Being the nerd I am, after experiencing a few days of painful muscle cramps (which I wrote about here), I went to Google like a madman.

Here’s what I learned from the experience and subsequent Googling.

Most things I wrote in the original post still stand. But there are a ton of completely different types of muscle cramps; those associated with cirrhosis, MS, pregnancy, dialysis, idiopathic nocturnal, etc.

Number 1 mandatory advice: do all the long-term stuff like broths, (20% off Kettle & Fire!) potassium, mag, etc (even though all of these things have mixed findings; they might work for your specific type of cramp and are unlikely to cause harm). But for immediate management of painful cramping, you may need to bite the bullet and take a muscle relaxer or benzo or something.

A lot of this post is inspired by a crazy theory touted by a new anti-cramp product (targeted at yet another type of cramp, “exercise-associated muscle cramp” [EAMC]), but the explanation of it’s mechanism is super-interesting.

I still stand by the previous interventions, except according to a few case studies and a lot of anecdotes, pickle juice can work within 1-2 minutes! That observation was part of the basis of developing this product. Some people think the acidity in pickle juice activates gastrointestinal TRP receptors (see below), and I’m totally cool with all kinds of vinegar…

But I digress.

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

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, diet, Exercise, strength

Tagged carbs, diet, muscle, nutrition

How to manage painful muscle cramps

Posted on August 28, 2017 | 11 comments

(I think)

disclaimer: to the best of my knowledge, the causes and cures of painful muscle cramps are unknown. Researchers have studied nearly every electrolyte & metabolite in people who don’t get cramps, people who get cramps, people who get cramps while they’re actively experiencing a painful muscle cramp, and when they’re not.

Conclusion:

¯\_(?)_/¯

This is about idiopathic painful muscle cramps. Pregnancy, dialysis, and cirrhosis-related cramps may be completely different.

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11 Comments

Posted in Advanced nutrition, circadian, Fish, muscle, sleep, strength

Tagged circadian rhythm, diet, muscle, nutrition

The Struldbrugs of Luggnag

Posted on August 25, 2017 | 6 comments

Intermittent fasting (in mice)

Every-other-day feeding extends lifespan but fails to delay many symptoms of aging in mice.

THIS IS BASICALLY THE WORST POSSIBLE OUTCOME

The Struldbrugs of Luggnag

Tl;dr: they’re immortal, but just keep getting older and older and it sucks. It’s basically the exact opposite of what we want, which is something akin to eternal youth.

This paper was a Giant.

Brief background: they were testing a model of intermittent fasting known as EOD, or ad libitum access to food every other day. It’s hard to relate this directly to humans because one mouse day is probably about at least 5 human days… although similar to humans, when chow time comes around, we tend to eat a lot. REFEED MAYHEM.

[rant]
It’s like that dude who takes a pic of 3 big steaks and posts it online, saying “dinner is served, bro” …trying to make it seem like they eat that way normally, ~3x/d, when in reality they’ve been intentionally restricting food intake all day to create a big enough energy deficit to accommodate said steaks… #CICO

P.S. as far as circadian rhythms and dietary protein requirements are concerned, this way of eating isn’t doing you any favors…
[end rant]

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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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Posted in Advanced nutrition, circadian, TPMC

Tagged body composition, calories proper, circadian rhythm, energy balance, nutrition

Meal timing and the circadian regulation of nutrient partitioning.

Posted on August 23, 2017 | Leave a comment

Breakfast [in the morning] strengthens circadian rhythms and reduces postprandial glucose excursion after lunch (Jakubowicz et al., 2017)

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Surviving is not thriving. You need robust circadian rhythms for both.

Posted on August 21, 2017 | 1 comment

Worded another way, we strive for optimal, not merely survival.

We’ve seen it time & time again in various experimental models. Most recently in Antelope Ground Squirrels and Mice with disrupted master circadian clocks. In humans, we see mood disorders, impaired nutrient partitioning, increased cancer risks, et cetera, et cetera.

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Posted in angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, chronopharmacology, circadian, Dopamine, melatonin, Sun, Vitamin D

Tagged circadian rhythm, nutrition

Sunlight, Meal Timing, and Circadian Rhythms

Posted on August 17, 2017 | 1 comment

Hey fam, remember this? Sunlight and the circadian rhythms in your skin

Tl;dr: During the day, when potential DNA damage from UV light is higher than at night, the circadian rhythms in your skin upregulate expression of enzymes which protect & repair DNA. They also downregulate proliferation because the last thing you want is for a harmful DNA mutation to be rapidly spread. All of this thanks to a robust circadian rhythm.

NEW STUDY

Time-Restricted Feeding Shifts the Skin Circadian Clock and Alters UVB-Induced DNA Damage (Wang et al., 2017)

In general, LIGHT entrains the central circadian clock and FOOD entrains peripheral clocks. That’s why we try to get a big breakfast and go outdoors in the morning (or mimic this as closely as possible).

And from the aforementioned blog post, there is a bona fide circadian rhythm in skin, too. Well it appears this one, similar to other peripheral tissues, is regulated in part by FOOD but is also influenced by LIGHT.

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Posted in angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, chronopharmacology, circadian, Dopamine, melatonin, pair-feeding, sex, sleep, Sun, Vitamin D

Tagged body composition, circadian rhythm, nutrition, obesity

Ketosis in an evolutionary context

Posted on August 15, 2017 | 104 comments

Humans are unique in their remarkable ability to enter ketosis. They’re also situated near the top of the food chain. Coincidence?

During starvation, humans rapidly enter ketosis; they do this better than king penguins, and bears don’t do it at all.

Starvation ketosis

Humans maintain a high level of functionality during starvation. We can still hunt & plan; some would even argue it’s a more finely tuned state, cognitively. And that’s important, because if we became progressively weaker and slower, chances of acquiring food would rapidly decline.

Perhaps this is why fasting bears just sleep most of the time: no ketones = no bueno..?

Observation: chronic ketosis is relatively rare in nature. This doen’t mean animals evolved a protective mechanism against ketosis.

Animals with a low brain/carcass weight ratio (ie, small brain) don’t need it. Babies and children have a higher brain/carcass weight ratio, so they develop ketosis more rapidly than adults. Is this a harmful process? No, more likely an evolutionary adaptation which supports the brain.

The brain of newborn babies consumes a huge amount of total daily energy, and nearly half comes from ketones. A week or so later, even after the carbohydrate content of breast milk increases, they still don’t get “kicked out of ketosis” (Bourneres et al., 1986). If this were a harmful state, why would Nature have done this? …and all those anecdotes, like babies learn at incredibly rapid rates… coincidence? Maybe they’re myths. Maybe not.

Ketosis in the animal kingdom

Imagine a hibernating bear: huge adipose tissue but small brain fuel requirement relative to body size and total energy expenditure. No ketosis, because brain accounts for less than 5% of total metabolism. In adult humans, this is around 19-23%, and babies are much higher (eg, Cahill and Veech, 2003 & Hayes et al., 2012).

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, circadian, clamp, coconut, diet, Dietary fat, Exercise, fat, insulin, Ketosis, Protein, Trans fat

Tagged Atkins, calories proper, carbs, diet, energy balance, energy expenditure, fat, insulin, nutrition, Paleo, protein

Hormesis and a blow torch

Posted on August 4, 2017 | 1 comment

I joke about hormesis a lot because it has little-to-no scientific proof. Maybe it’s true, but it’s really hard to prove experimentally.

Imo, whatevs. But I do walk the walk: Hormesis of the AGEs.

disclosures: I’m a horrible food photographer… it’s really hard to take pictures while actively blow torching food! (and not burning down the house)

and 2) bowls don’t last forever, especially mine.

My weapon of choice: this and these

Continue reading →

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, diet

Tagged diet, nutrition, Paleo

Endurance Performance Doesn’t Decline on a Low Carb Diet

Posted on July 29, 2017 | 2 comments

The new study by Zinn and colleagues doesn’t debunk ketoadaptation. And the authors agree!

In brief, it was 5 ~50-year old recreational endurance athletes. They’ve been training a lot for a very long time. In other words, one way to view this study is the opposite of n00b gainz. Experienced exercisers don’t typically make gains in 10 weeks without drastically changing their training program or increasing protein intake – neither of which occurred in this study.

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

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Long-term fat adaptation.

Ketoadaptation

More on physical performance and ketoadaptation

A timeline of ketoadaptation.

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, diet, Dietary fat, endurance, Exercise, fat, insulin, Ketosis, muscle, Protein, strength