Tag Archives: Paleo

“early Time-Restricted Feeding” #eTRF FTW

Posted on May 17, 2018 | Leave a comment

I feel exonerated!

Early time-restricted feeding improves insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, and oxidative stress even without weight loss in men with prediabetes (Sutton et al., 2018)

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Tl;dr: 8 prediabetic men, 5 week crossover study. When on eTRF, the only rule was basically dinner no later than 3 pm and no snacking thereafter. It was isocaloric because: 1) studies on meal timing and weight loss have been done; and 2) they wanted to test meal timing specifically, not confounded by weight loss.

 

Also, I think the results are due to meal timing, not fasting duration per se, because of the studies by Jacobs & Hirsh. In brief, they tested meal timing with similar fasting durations and showed people who ate one-meal-a-day all at breakfast lost more weight than people who ate one-meal-a-day all at dinner. First they showed this in an ad lib context and then again in an isocaloric context. Metabolism is gimped at night.

For a discussion of these exciting new data, head over to Patreon! Five bucks a month for access to all articles and there are many other options.

Affiliate links: It’s 2018, join Binance and get some damn cryptoassets or download Honeyminer and get some Bitcoins for free!

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

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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#eTRF

 

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, chronopharmacology, circadian, insulin, melatonin, Sun

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Mutual influence of sleep and circadian clocks on physiology and cognition

Posted on May 1, 2018 | Leave a comment

“The 24-hour sleep-wake cycle is one of the most prominent outputs of the circadian clock systems (Heyde et al., 2018)”

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Sleep disruption and circadian arrhythmia induce metabolic, cognitive, and immunological impairments. Is it causal? YES.

 

 

Sleep is highly conserved across the animal kingdom, since the dawn of time.

Interesting comparison: unlike hibernation or a coma, sleep is highly reversible. Lots of rebound regulation: lots of wakefulness makes you tired; lots of sleep leads to increased wakefulness.

Studies have shown improved memory performance after naps and extended sleep durations. Imo, you don’t need to go from 6 to 9.5 hours overnight, but keep that “9.5” on your radar.

Diet is easy, just eat like an adult. You can go 10 days without even eating! Try that with sleep. No, don’t try that. Most definitely incompatible with survival. Sleep deprivation impairs cognitive functions.

As a marker of health: cognitive function >>> how many reps you can do at the gym.

For the rest of this article (it doesnt suck, I promise!), head over to Patreon! Five bucks a month and there are many other options. It’s ad-free and you can cancel any time.

Also, I’m open to suggestions, so please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact me directly at drlagakos@gmail.com.

Affiliate links: It’s 2018, join Binance and get some damn cryptoassets or download Honeyminer and get some Bitcoins for free!

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

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. 

Start your OWN Patreon campaign!

Join Earn.com with this link and get paid to answer questions online.

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It STARTS with Sleep.

 

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, cancer, chronopharmacology, circadian, depression, diabetes, Dopamine, Energy balance, insulin, Leptin, melatonin, sex, sleep, Sun, testosterone, vasopressin, Vitamin D

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Efficacy of a wide range of things, from sleep & diet to supps & meds, may depend on timing

Posted on October 22, 2017 | 2 comments

A study on epilepsy was published comparing gene expression in parts of the brain where seizures developed with adjacent healthy tissue (Li et al., 2017). It was in humans, so they couldn’t really have proper controls, because what healthy person would volunteer to have some of their brain chopped out?

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They found the core circadian rhythm gene CLOCK was reduced in epileptogenic regions of the brain compared to healthy nearby tissue. It could be that this is just the way it is in healthy people, or that the seizure itself reduced CLOCK not vice versa. But the researchers followed-up with animal models lacking CLOCK in either inhibitory or excitatory neurons and showed mice lacking CLOCK in excitatory neurons had a lower seizure threshold and a more severe condition (suggests causation). They had worse seizures in the dark phase, similar to the findings in humans.

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Posted in angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, chronopharmacology, circadian, Dopamine, epilepsy, Ketosis, melatonin, nicotine, sex, Sun, vasopressin, Vitamin D

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Circadian rhythms & the blues. AND THE GREENS

Posted on September 24, 2017 | 7 comments

Open access for all at Patreon! <- linkage

Approximate wavelengths, in nanometers (nm):

680         red
595         amber
525        green
497         blue/green
470         blue

 

 

[Strongly] suggested pre-reading: Artificial light and circadian rhythms: blocking the blues and The Hot Blue-Blocker Experiment

Patrons can just click here…

Study 1 tested the effects of different wavelengths of light exposure (compared to total darkness) from midnight til 2 AM on melatonin suppression on night 1 and melatonin onset on night 2 (Wright and Lack, 2001). Note: there was no light on night 2.

On night 1, they found that 470 (blue), 497 (blue/green), and even 525 (green) suppressed melatonin, ranging from 65 to 81%.

 

 

However, remarkably, on night 2 those same wavelengths had a carry-over effect, delaying melatonin onset by 27 to 36 minutes!

 

 

This is why lens color of your blue blockers matters. Orange lenses block blue, although blue/green and even green can still have a detrimental impact. Redder lenses more effectively block in the green range.

If you get up to pee or whatever in the middle of the night, it might be prudent to rock your blue-blockers and/or have a lamp with a red bulb.

The following graphs show you how much light is blocked by different lenses – remember, we want as little transmission up to around 525 nm (according to study 1 [above] and study 2 [below]).

However, for a quick and dirty test you can do at home, the people at Spectra479 put this together:

 

 

 

 

Carbonshade and Spectra479 are offering 15% off if you enter the coupon code LAGAKOS at checkout.

 

Normal gray-lensed Ray-Bans block about 85% of all light. Cool for blocking UV, but you’re still getting about ~15% of blue and green light. That’s too much.

 

 

 

 

 

Spectra479s block 99.8% of 450-510nm, which fully encompasses blue to blue-green.

 

 

 

 

 

Carbonshades block 99.8% of 400-570 nm, which fully encompasses blue to green, so the largest range of protection according to study 1 (above) and study 2 (below).

 

 

 

 

I haven’t seen the spectral transmission data on Carbonshades, although they performed the best on Spectra479’s at-home test.

 

The popular orange-lensed Skypers block 98% of blue light and probably not too much green (as per the transmission data below and Spectra479’s at-home test).

 

 

 

 

Affiliate discounts: if you’re still looking for a pair of hot blue blockers, Carbonshade  is offering 15% off with the coupon code LAGAKOS and Spectra479 is offering 15% off HERE. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this then this.

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.

For more steps on how to strengthen your circadian rhythms, the potential importance (and relevance) of blocking BLUE/GREEN, and a discussion of the science… head over to Patreon!

Also many more interesting tidbits and some advice, like who might need to upgrade their blue-blockers.

Three bucks a month for access to all articles and there are many other options. And it’s ad-free and you can cancel if it sucks. Don’t hesitate, there are only a limited number of positions remaining at the $3 level.

Lastly, I’m open to suggestions; please feel free leave a comment or email me directly at drlagakos@gmail.com.

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, chronopharmacology, circadian, Dopamine, melatonin, mortality, muscle, sex, sleep, strength, Sun, testosterone, vasopressin, Vitamin D

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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

 

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.

ketones age

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).

 

For the rest of this article and more, head over to Patreon!

 

 

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

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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

 

 

 

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, diet

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Light and food in the morning

Posted on May 31, 2017 | 6 comments

Suggested pre-reading: Metabolism at night

Recently, when the topic of breakfast came up, I got something like this: “correlation isn’t causation, and anyway, it’s because people aren’t eating bacon & eggs at night, they’re having cake & alcohol.”

OK, you can’t say “correlation isn’t causation” and then suggest a cause, literally, in the same sentence.

But anyway, yeah, that actually is a plausible cause. Cake & alcohol are mainly consumed at night.

Also, metabolism is gimped in the evening: 1) skeletal muscle insulin resistance; 2) adipose tissue insulin sensitivity; and 3) impaired diet-induced thermogenesis.

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, chronopharmacology, circadian, diet, Dopamine, Energy balance, melatonin, muscle, Protein, sex, sleep, strength, Sun, vasopressin, Vitamin D

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Ice age fairy tales

Posted on May 12, 2017 | 12 comments

Trigger warning: potentially offensive.

Trying to pinpoint an Ice Age Diet is about as complicated as defining a Paleo or Mediterranean diet… it would’ve been completely different depending on when & where, season, family/tribe, etc., etc.  And while the interwebz are full of anecdotes & guesses (educated & otherwise), there seems to be little reliable information and a lot of contradictions.

And anyway, is this really relevant for us today?

#context

Here’s what I came up with, and why I feel like ranting.

I don’t doubt that humans went through periods of low & high plant consumption, but if someone argues that passing through times of low plant consumption is what “elevated” our species or fostered brain growth or whatever; LOGIC: it can be just as easily argued that passing through times of high plant consumption did the same.  Saying “don’t eat plants because #IceAge” is just as flawed an argument.

Alternatively, considering the importance of #context in our modern environment, couldn’t you also argue that low-plant diets are only evolutionarily appropriate during an ice age (where the Earth is theoretically a giant snow ball LOL)?  Also, if plants are somehow unhealthy, how did we survive periods when hunting was poor?  All of the arguments can go both ways.




I mean, if I lived 10 thousand years ago, I would eat anything I could get my hands on — which would probably look something like a plant-based diet with seafood and whatever else could be hunted, scavenged, etc.  Gotta eat, but why handicap yourself by intentionally avoiding plants – shouldn’t the goal be to spend as little time worrying about this as possible?

If you didn’t have to hunt 24/7, you’d have more time to do other things like acculturation, play, sex, music, story-telling, building traditions, etc., etc.

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, circadian, diet, Fish, mortality, sex, sleep, Sun

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Clara Davis: Babies Know Best

Posted on April 26, 2017 | 7 comments

“The nurses’ orders were to sit quietly by, spoon in hand, and make no motion…”

The babies never had anything other than breast milk prior to starting the experiment.  Fully ad lib, they could have as much of whatever food they wanted.  Every morsel was weighed and quantified.

Setting: orphanage.

 

“Armed with growing evidence from the newly emerging field of nutrition, doctors began prescribing with bank teller–like precision what and when and how much a child should eat in order to be healthy.”  #fakenews LOL

Results: “Every diet differed from every other diet, 15 different patterns of taste being presented, and not one diet was the predominantly cereal-and-milk diet, with smaller supplements of fruit, eggs and meat, that is commonly thought proper for this age.”

“15 uniformly well-nourished, healthy children”

 

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, diet

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Whole grains aren’t all they’re cracked up to be

Posted on April 14, 2017 | 14 comments

WUUUT *rimshot*

A new study on whole grains demonstrates how nuanced & complicated nutritional science can be.

Substituting whole grains for refined grains in a 6-wk randomized trial favorably affects energy-balance metrics in healthy men and postmenopausal women (Karl et al., 2017)

Sounds simple enough…

Study design: adequate to address the questions being asked.  Isocaloric, weight-maintenance diets.  Biggest differences between the two diets were whole grains (0 vs. 200 g/d) and insoluble fibre (15 vs. 30 g/d).

Disclaimer: I’m not a huge fan of cereal fibre, but that’s irrelevant for the point of this post.

 

 

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, diet, fiber, gluten, Grains, insulin

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