Gary Taubes explains it so well

Watched his lecture at Berkeley again.

At the hour point, he cuts to the chase. Fat storage happens because of alpha glycerol phosphate, which is needed to bin fatty acids into triglycerides. AGP (my abbrev.) comes from burning glucose and nore is available to store fat when insulin levels are high. Want to store less fat? Keep insulin levels in the blood low. Take in less glucose.

Yalow and Berson in 1965 say "Insulin is the principal regulator of fat metabolism". Gary talks about how emaciated type I diabetics can be, as they no longer produce their own insulin. They have nothing to drive fat accumulation with. When treated with insulin therapy, Dr. Best (yes, that Dr. Best) describes how they develop adipose deposits in the stomach where the insulin is injected.

My husband and I started the South Beach Diet in late September 08. My husband has lost 25 pounds and his blood profile has improved so much his doctor is ecstatic. My husband's triglycerides are WAY down from where they were. The doctor had recommended South Beach. I have lost 17 pounds. Don't you hate men who always win in the weight loss game? My profile is improving as well. LDL and HDL levels close to normal.

It's the insulin, stupid.

Weight of the Evidence: Glycemic Index Doesn't Matter Much in Overall High-Carb Diet

Weight of the Evidence: Glycemic Index Doesn't Matter Much in Overall High-Carb Diet

Saw Twilight again! Yikes.

Don't know whether it was 5 or 6. Doesn't matter anymore. For my age group (40+) I'll bet I would win the prize. I just keep agreeing to go with any one of my friends who wants to go. The girls are laughing. And I'm not really a Twilight Mom, as my girls are in their 20s, and one will not go see the movie till its on DVD. (Doesn't like theatres....)

There are some universal reactions from all my friends. All have said how handsome Edward Cullen is. Not sure that translates directly to Rob Pattinson, as he looks different in person. (The hair.....)(the youth...as I have said before, he is younger than my youngest..) Everyone likes that the action is not too intense, no swearing, they like the "sexual" undertone (that one is hard to quantify, isn't it?) They like Bella. Most identify gaps in the story line that leave them a bit out in left field...but you cannot in 2 hours take hundreds of pages and cram them into a story line. People universally like the shots in the forest and in the meadow. Also the bedroom scene.....(we are all married women, some for several decades, and it brings back that memory of hot passion of the first romance/liaison...)

So this is a great love story. Hope the new director gets it right when they start on New Moon, which promises to be interesting. I'm wondering how they'll do the Italian portion, how they'll explain the Volturi -- it's a leap. That movie will have modern vampires, ancient vampires and the Quileute wolves to deal with. Hmmmm.

But many of my friends, all over 40, have bought New Moon. Will New Moon earn Summit another big bag of cash?

Personally, I liked Midnight Sun a lot, and think it could or should be finished (Go Stephenie) and either could have scenes cut into upcoming movies or done on its own, if she did finish it. Give her the money, someone. And release the DVD, Summit. Good Christmas present for us.

Rob Pattinson and Heath Ledger

I worry about Rob Pattinson, in a motherly way. He's younger than my youngest child. He's handsome, creative, musical, and by his own account, anxious. He describes getting sweaty palms when he thinks about the crowds he's facing in his new found fame and adoration. There is already a cult behind him. He's also a Brit in the American movie machine and in Los Angeles, where the ghosts of Marilyn Monroe, John Belushi, River Phoenix and countless others lurk. There are also many walking wounded, as Robert Downey, Jr., Kiefer Sutherland, Brittney Spears and Amy Winehouse attest to us every day on the covers of magazines. I worry about new-found fame and wealth, and what bad things will happen to Rob, because I remember Heath Ledger well. They seem to have the same intensity and hyperfocus. I saw a column somewhere that asked, "Is Rob Pattinson the new Heath Ledger?" Let's hope not. Heath was chewing on anti=anxiety drugs, oxycontin, oxycodone and other things in an effort to medicate himself against something. What was it? Anxiety that he wouldn't perform to the standard he wanted to? Against expectations of the industry of hangers-on who are dependent on the continuing light of the stars? Against his own personal demons in addition to all this? I hope Rob Pattinson has a good head on his shoulders and careful advisors. It would be heartbreaking to see it all go wrong, as it has so many times before.

Who is at fault here?

Re the Detroit automakers. Are the problems facing the industry caused by the workers or management, or a combination of both? If workers can only make the cars that come down the line, than those who made the production decisions are at fault for causing cars to be built that went unsold, or those who got into complicated and nonsensical financing schemes to keep a failing industry going. The autoworkers, while they should make decisions knowing that some may end their jobs, shouldn't be forced to give up their hard won protections. They need protection from the bad decisions of management, especially now.

Are people going to continue to buy cars? Without a doubt. For north american auto makers, they need to be different cars than the pickups, hummers and big SUVs that have gone before. Just as we have moved from the huge monster cars with big engines, we now need to move to fuel efficient cars. Detroit has to belatedly get with the program.

Labour costs are high, but it is a tedious job and labour is all most people have to sell. Automakers and all other manufacturers want to have people who can afford to buy the products they build, as Henry Ford knew well. Trying to steal their job security and buying power under the guise of financial crisis will only serve to prolong and exacerbate the same.

A word about Twilight

I admit it. I love the series of books and the movie Twilight. Why? Who knows. I'm a Master of Arts student in political science doing a public policy thesis on nursing. I've been in the military, a civil servant (now retired) and have worked in the private sector as well. This is something COMPLETELY different for me. I enjoy all the hype that has been generated around the movie - love the capitalist marketing machine. It's a prime example of making something out of not much, not to say that the movie is irrelevant. Our lives must be at some kind of low level if we thrive on this stuff, but here I am admitting that I am enjoying it all. I have to laugh at all the magazine articles about Rob Pattinson and Kristin Stewart and the other cast members, who are probably horrified at some of the things that get written. The hype machine. But I'm all for entertainment and I enjoy the soundtracks of movies when they introduce new material. I'm enjoying the Paramore and Muse music, as well as Rob Pattinson's songs. And I say to my friends, there was no swearing and less sex than one would see on afternoon television. Bravo. I've gotten so that I just don't go to movies any more - I'm done with war, horror, chase, shootemup, etc. It leaves me with little but foreign movies and Twilight. And it's nice to watch a love story, even when the stars are younger than my kids. I may just go for the third time.

Fat percentages in "optimal" diet still not settled

We know that the amounts of fat and carbs in the optimal healthy diet has not been settled. Dr. Walter Willett of Harvard Department of Nutrition says, "(W)e have found virtually no relationship between the percentage of calories from fat and any important health outcome. But what does seem important is the type of fat and the form of carbohydrate." (Harvard World Health News) He goes on further to explain how the message of substituting unsaturated fat for saturated fats got mixed up with substituting carbohydrates for fats. What's more controversial is when he says that the view that all complex carbs are good is not substantiated by any data, and is inconsistent with historical knowledge that the type of fat is a critical factor.

I personally have gotten fat by eating lots of carbs, thinking they were "OK". My friend lost 60 pounds on a low carb diet and I thought she was crazy. She pointed me to Gary Taubes' book "Good calories, Bad calories" and I learned a bit about endocrinology and have been researching more. I now try to stay away from potatoes, rice, bread, crackers and sugary things. I've had good success and have been able to reduce my metforming dose. I am careful about what kind of fats I eat and stay vigilant with saturated fats. I must admit I eat a lot of eggs.

When you learn more about how your body works, you wonder how you have gotten by all these years. I am looking at endocrinology texts now, and reading sources like medical journals. Of course there is a lot of money to be made (and has been made) from low fat foods. Obesity will cost health systems lots in the future until the message changes from Heart Associations and nutritionists.

It's the insulin, stupid.

I'm convinced that the root of many of our diet problems is having a hangover from a life we no longer live: that is, being farmers who till the soil manually, stuke wheat, weed large gardens, manually clean farmhouses, clean horses, tote feed buckets....you get the picture. You burned your calories off.

We were just on holiday and met a number of Europeans who were travelling on the train through Canada with us, who were horrified at the size of both the meals and their fellow travellers. While the portion sizes on the train are far from what you'd get at a local restaurant chain, having 3 gourmet meals a day is too much. As is the plain old North American diet, which can be several large bowls of cereal (sugar laden), orange juice (sugar laden) toast with jam, (sugar laden...), then lunch, which can be just as bad. Then supper. Also beer, wine, liquor or Coke. It's the aftereffect of high carb/glucose diets that is making us fat.

For me, the new motto is, "It's the insulin, stupid."

And in a farmer's garden, lots of potatoes were grown. It was a staple. It filled you up. That is fine for people who never eat too much and stay slim the majority of their lives. But if you get overweight, your body works against you. If you combine bread, potatoes, beer and a sweet dessert, you've got the recipe for a constant state of high insulin in the blood stream, hunger from the highs and lows of glucose, a state of inflammation and the pathway to chronic disease. It would be better to eat eggs, ham, meat, salad, steak and broccoli. You'd feel full and wouldn't need those desserts. The beer is a different story.

Our metabolism is such that an influx of glucose into the blood stream requires a big insulin push, whereupon fat is stored. Fewer carbs, less fat storage. It's that simple. Every complicated article and textbook I read boils it down to stimulating less insulin. Insulin has such a complex effect on our bodies. Many of its effects aren't well understood even yet, with all our advanced research capability.

Losing weight is a complicated array of processes, but by not carb loading, you don't facilitate fat storage. And while saturated fat continues to be considered a problem, eating lean protein, lots of plant materials (low sugar fruits and vegetables) and small amounts of "good" fats like olive oil and omega 3 fats, and getting some exercise to reduce insulin resistance is the way to lose weight.

Think about it. Lions in the wild are carnivores, eat few carbs, and still grow.

The low-fat message has confused North Americans, and they started eating just about anything that was labelled low fat. Dont get me started on the food industry and how well its done because of this lack of interest in the realities of human metabolism. it all drives me crazy!

Low Carb diets do work folks.

So my husband and I have been following a sort of South Beach diet, somewhere between strict phase 1 and phase 2. He of course has lost 10 lbs to my 7, which is par for the course. I don't eat fish which complicates things. I'd like to but get a scratchy throat which could mean allergies. But we've eaten chicken, beef, ribs etc, cottage cheese, cheese.....just little bread. It can be done. I've been eating carb free jello. I have sugar free coffees.

Most interesting is that my blood sugar (I'm a type2 diabetic) is now hovering between 5 and 7 all the time. My doc reduced my metformin a bit. Nice!!! My ankles aren't swollen as much, and she also reduced one of my heart meds that affect my blood pressure. I went to Pritikin in the spring and they say that losing 5% of your body weight improves your health, so I am closing in on that. I need to do it several times.

I got onto this because one of my acquaintances lost 60 lbs and improved her blood profile while doing it. She pointed me to the book "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes and the rest is history, in that I am doing lots of research on the idea that carbs and therefore insulin can almost be said to be the root of most of the obesity epidemic.

Of course skinny folks don't have to worry as much except if they eat a high carb diet, of simple and easily digestable carbs. Also high fructose corn syrup is a culprit. But being fat brings its own brand of wonderfulness - high blood sugar, high insulin readings, insulin resistance. Fat doesn't just lie there, it is working all the time and affecting you.

I'll let you know how things go, and how my blood profile changes over the next while. Learning to burn fat and stay away from carbs will be interesting.

A sane person's view

What has happened to the driving public? They have all gone mad. Or have gotten so insufferably arrogant. For instance, so many people in large trucks think that they are safe turning after the light is red. It
is like they are saying, "Try it" to the rest of us who drive Corollas. It is true that a car in the intersection when the light turns yellow has the use of the intersecton until they are through, but you can't enter the intersection when the light is red and expect to get through safely every time.

And don't get me started about red lights. I see at least one person running a red light every time I drive. These are the people who speed up when the yellow light is getting old. You are supposed to be cautious when the Don't walk sign stops flashing and be prepared to stop.

I'm prepared to support red light cameras and the resulting fines. Call it a tax on stupidity.

Society works in most respects because people support reasonable rules. If driving becomes too haphazard, there will be more carnage on the road from every day driving and not just high speed chases and road rage.