Posts filed under ‘Basics’

Do Calories Count? 1st Law of Thermo (Part 2)

Despite breaking this post up into two parts (part 1 here), this one is still a little long. Push through to the end, and you won’t be disappointed.

Last time we talked about the issues involved with applying the First Law of Thermodynamics to the entire human body as a control volume. Go back and read that post, especially the “Summing Up” paragraph at the bottom.

All caught up to speed? Good, let’s get going.

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9 comments April 28, 2011

Do Calories Count? 1st Law of Thermo (Part 1)

This is a two-parter. Part 2 is here.

Calories are a contentious subject in the fitness and nutrition community, especially around these parts. The whole foods corner stresses that food quality is more important than quantity, and the low-carbers place the emphasis on hormonal balance; both of these stances can be extorted with little effort into the definitive “calories don’t count.”

I must say, this calorie apathy is extremely tempting to buy into, but I can’t quite get myself to embrace it completely. On one hand, I know our hunter/gatherer ancestors’ dinner didn’t make a stop on the scale between beast and belly, and they did just fine. There absolutely must have been times of excess (I’d venture to guess some lived their whole lives in times of proverbial “feast”), so I don’t buy the claim that they stayed healthy due to lack of food availability. This is why I believe that staying healthy and lean should be relatively effortless – and certainly should not require scales or measuring cups.

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1 comment April 26, 2011

Michael Pollan and Time Travel

I have been reading some Michael Pollan lately, and I must say, I’m impressed. First I read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, then In Defense of Food.

I do, however, take offense on a few points. Pollan’s effort to move the American diet back in time is a huge step in the right direction, but he doesn’t go far enough. He seems to think we should step back 100 years or so and give it another shot. I think we should wind the clocks back even further, more like 10,000 years. Surprisingly, this seemingly major time step only leads to a few differences.

Specifically, my primary complaint is that he supports consumption of wheat in whole-grain products. I’m also not a huge fan of the steps he takes to arrive at the “mostly plants” portion of his mantra. Let’s dive in.

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April 23, 2011

Real Results – FTA Feature

Richard at Free the Animal posted a great feature about me today. Big thanks!

Below is the full version of the story I sent Richard. Enjoy!

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1 comment April 19, 2011

(Evolutionary) Eat This, Not That

As I mention in the “About” section, I think food quality is extremely crucial to health, and my definition of food quality is very similar to the paleo/primal menu. Here’s my take on nutrition.

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2 comments December 23, 2010

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