Stuff You Should Read
Filed under: General Health, Nutrition
1. Bad cholesterol: It’s not what you think – It’s time to rethink the halo-and-pitchfork view of our blood fat levels. MSN Health actually came out with a great article on heart disease and cholesterol! To be honest it was actually written by Men’s Health, but it is a step. This article was absolutely excellent, and really continues yesterday’s theme about dietary cholesterol and how 40 years of advice may not have been helping you at all. The book on heart disease is being rewritten, and it is about damn time. Below are some of my favorite quotes from the article:
“Just because you have less of the symptom (statin users take note) doesn’t mean you’ll have less of the disease.”
“After looking for relationships correlating with the 8 percent of people who went on to develop cardiovascular disease, they found three scenarios that predicted it, from the most powerful predictor to the least:
- High levels of smaller and medium LDL combined with low HDL (a dreaded diabetes-linked syndrome Dr. Krauss had previously called atherogenic lipoprotein phenotype, or pattern B)
- Low HDL Levels
- High total LDL Levels
According to Dr. Krauss, the three risk factors appear to represent three separate processes that put your cardiovascular health at risk. For men, the first two scenarios are more predictive of heart disease, but the third — high total LDL — was only marginally predictive of heart disease in men. Nowhere to be seen, of course, is the “total cholesterol” number doctors have been bashing us over the head with for decades. Turns out that number is not as useful a predictor for individuals.”
Since heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US, do yourself a favor, read this article!
2. Magnesium and Insulin Sensitivity – by Stephan Guyenet. Stephan always has absolutely awesome information on his blog. In this post he discusses the connection between magnesium deficiency, as more and more Americans are deficient, and its link to proper insulin sensitivity and glucose control.
He also goes into detail on further implications it might have, such as impact on blood cholesterol levels (improving blood magnesium levels can decrease LDL and triglycerides, and increase HDL). This is a quick and very interesting read, which he wraps up with ways to get more magnesium into your diet. Check it out.
3. Apples vs. Ho Ho’s – by Tony Gentilcore. I think the title says it all. For everyone who lives on 100 calorie snack packs and the like, do yourself a favor and check out Tony humorously teaching you a thing or two.
4. The Case Against Conventional Dairy – by Me. I personally think this is the greatest blog post I have ever written, and it is certainly the longest and most thoroughly detailed. If you want to learn more about dairy, its health benefits and potential health consequences, do not miss my self-proclaimed magnum opus.
I also want to give a quick shout out to CP Bobsled Olympian Bree Schaff. Bree kicked some ass and came in 5th, and she has only been in bobsled for 2 years!
I will be on vacation in sunny Florida all next week, but I will make it my mission to still post a blog or two. Have a great weekend everybody!
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Posted on February 26th, 2010 by Brian St. Pierre
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