PGBDRetweeted
I started following the advice and knowledge you spread on blog a while back and I’ve seen great results in fitness, energy levels, sleep, overall health! I feel like I owe you money or something lol
FOR FREE, MY NIGGA! WE HITTIN' YOU WIT THA BLU LITE SPECIAL!
YOU ROLLIN' THE DICE AND PLAYIN' WIT YO LIFE WHEN YOU LET POA POKE YOU!
*Dr. Poa Killed My Father On April 1 (April Fool's Day As If To Say My Father And His Children Were Fools). After He Killed My Father* I Maintained My Composure And Tried To Ax Him A Few Questions, Specifically Why He Decided To Change His Plan Of Attack** (The Type Of Surgery He Was Going To Perform) At The Last Minute. But He Didn't Give ME A Valid Reason (He Mumbled Some Nonsense And Told ME To Grieve) And After A Few More Of My Questions He Abruptly Walked Away And Left ME Hanging. So I Started Cussing And Threw A Little Fit, Which Led To My Brother Richie Dragging ME Out Of The Operating Area. But I Continued To Cuss Him Out And Threaten Him From Behind Closed Doors And Once I Was Allowed Back Into The Operating Area I Saw Him Quickly Sneak Out Through Another Door Like A Little Bitch!
*I BELIEVE HE ATE LUNCH IMMEDIATELY AFTER KILLING MY FATHER AS WELL (AS WELL AS IGNORING ME, LEANNE).
**He Along With The Rest Of The Surgeons Had Planned To Perform Open Heart Surgery On My Father, But On The Day Of The Operation, After They'd Administered Anesthesia To My Father And Poked Holes In His Chest To Examine Him, They Changed Their Minds And Decided To Try A Less Invasive Procedure On Another Day, But My Father Never Came Out Of The Anesthesia Induced Unconsciousness. He Experienced Cardiac Arrest And Died While In His Unconscious State. The Problem I Had With This Was Its Spontaneity. Why Wait Until The Day Of The Surgery To Change Your Mind And Then Choose A New Plan Of Attack. For Such A Major, Risky Surgery You'd Think That More Planning And Preparation Would Have Gone Into It Rather Than Just Some Spur Of The Moment Decision! (Dr. Poa Made A Game Day Decision With My Father's Life! That's Sickening! And He Should Lose His Medical License For That!)
*I BELIEVE HE ATE LUNCH IMMEDIATELY AFTER KILLING MY FATHER AS WELL (AS WELL AS IGNORING ME, LEANNE).
**He Along With The Rest Of The Surgeons Had Planned To Perform Open Heart Surgery On My Father, But On The Day Of The Operation, After They'd Administered Anesthesia To My Father And Poked Holes In His Chest To Examine Him, They Changed Their Minds And Decided To Try A Less Invasive Procedure On Another Day, But My Father Never Came Out Of The Anesthesia Induced Unconsciousness. He Experienced Cardiac Arrest And Died While In His Unconscious State. The Problem I Had With This Was Its Spontaneity. Why Wait Until The Day Of The Surgery To Change Your Mind And Then Choose A New Plan Of Attack. For Such A Major, Risky Surgery You'd Think That More Planning And Preparation Would Have Gone Into It Rather Than Just Some Spur Of The Moment Decision! (Dr. Poa Made A Game Day Decision With My Father's Life! That's Sickening! And He Should Lose His Medical License For That!)
I Called Dr. Poa (The Bald-Headed Chink) On Wednesday Night (11/05/14) Close To Midnight To Ax Him 'Bout The Amount (Dosage) And Kind Of Anesthesia He Used On My Father. But Before I Could Get The Word Anesthesia Out My Mouth He Hanged Up On A Nigga [ME]. I Don't Think He Respects ME Or Thinks Well Of ME Y'all. As A Matter Of Fact, I Think He Thinks That I'm A Low Status, Homeless Person That Won't Go To His Place Of Employment And Beat His Flat MothaFuccin' G00K Ass Face In (Beat It Flatter Than What It Already Is). Anyhow, I Wanted To Ax Him 'Bout The Anesthesia Because I've Read That Certain Breeds Of Dog Don't Respond Well To Certain Type Uh Anesthesia And That Certain Dosages Of Anesthesia Lead To Their Early And Untimely Deaths. In Other Words, I Wanted To Ax Him If He Purposely Gave My Father The Wrong Type Of Anesthesia Or Too Much Anesthesia Because I THINK HE DID (I Have A Strong Feeling That He Intentionally Killed My Father). (I'll Explain Later.)
...if you're having open heart surgery it's probably a good idea to have the best nurses, the best cardiologists, and the best anesthesiologists together in the same room. On a routine appendectomy you'll rarely see that combination: we all say we want "the best doctor," but the best doctor's time is scarce, and it's probably best for his time to be spent working on crucial surgeries as part of a high-quality team. (Hive Mind)
MY FATHER DIDN'T HAVE THE BEST IN THAT OPERATING ROOM THAT DAY (ONE OF THE SURGEONS WENT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOR HIS UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE AND KNEW MR. GERY NUNNELEE, SO I THOUGHT MY FATHER WOULD BE IN GOOD HANDS*!) . DR. POA IS NOT THE BEST! AND HIS ANESTHESIOLOGISTS ESPECIALLY ARE NOT THE BEST (THEY'RE THE ONE'S WHO OVERDOSED HIM; ADMINISTERED THAT FATAL DOSE TO HIM).
*Little Did I Know That Dr. Poa Would Poison Him!
I STOPPED BY THERE THE OTHER DAY AND HE WASN'T THERE. WE GONNA SEE WHO THE FOOL IZ FOO! WE GONNA SEE WHO THE FOOL IZ FOO! I KNOW WHAT I DO! MR. POA FINNA GET HIS CHINK ASS HANDED TO HIM! LITERALLY! IMMA CUT HIS CHINK ASS SHIT OFF! AND THEN TAKE A BITE OUTTA THAT SHIT!
...if you're having open heart surgery it's probably a good idea to have the best nurses, the best cardiologists, and the best anesthesiologists together in the same room. On a routine appendectomy you'll rarely see that combination: we all say we want "the best doctor," but the best doctor's time is scarce, and it's probably best for his time to be spent working on crucial surgeries as part of a high-quality team. (Hive Mind)
MY FATHER DIDN'T HAVE THE BEST IN THAT OPERATING ROOM THAT DAY (ONE OF THE SURGEONS WENT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOR HIS UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE AND KNEW MR. GERY NUNNELEE, SO I THOUGHT MY FATHER WOULD BE IN GOOD HANDS*!) . DR. POA IS NOT THE BEST! AND HIS ANESTHESIOLOGISTS ESPECIALLY ARE NOT THE BEST (THEY'RE THE ONE'S WHO OVERDOSED HIM; ADMINISTERED THAT FATAL DOSE TO HIM).
*Little Did I Know That Dr. Poa Would Poison Him!
There I Am (The One With A Broomstick In His Hand)!
.jpg)
How Four Key Survival Traits are now Killing US
https://www.amazon.com/Too-Much-Good-Thing-Survival-ebook/dp/B00W22IL46
YOU EAT TOO MANY CARBOHYDRATES (BREADS, PASTAS, RICE, NOODLES, AND ALL DISHES THAT ARE MADE FROM THEM) ON A DAILY BASIS AND THIS IS EVENTUALLY GOING TO LEAD TO YOUR GAINING OF WEIGHT, YOUR DEVELOPING OF DIABETES, YOUR DEVELOPING OF HEART DISEASE, YOUR DEVELOPING OF CANCERS, AND YOUR DEVELOPING OF COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENTS! ENJOY YOUR HIGH CARBOHYDRATE DIET WHILE YOU CAN BECAUSE ONCE YOU HIT ABOUT 50 THE JOY WILL COME TO AN END! ("FASTING? CALORIE RESTRICTION? NO WAY. WHAT ARE YOU? POOR? I EAT WHATEVER I WANT AND HOWEVER MUCH I WANT WHENEVER I WANT AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE TO WORK TO OBTAIN IT. I ORDER PIZZA THAT'S DELIVERED TO MY HOUSE WHILE IS IT ON MY FAT ASS, I ORDER HAMBURGERS, FRIES, TACOS, BURRITOS, AND SODAS THRU DRIVE-THRUS THAT ARE DELIVERED TO ME IN MY CAR WHILE I SIT ON MY FAT ASS, AND I SIT MY FAT ASS IN RESTAURANTS AND ORDER WHATEVER CARBOHYDRATE LADEN DISHES THEY HAVE ON THEIR MENU, WHICH ARE ALSO SERVED TO ME WHILE I SIT ON MY FAT ASS. I'M A FAT ASS PIECE OF SHIT AND I DON'T GIVE A FUCK!" Well, That's Good For You! Enjoy Your Fat Ass Well You Can!)
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/sep/05/could-a-drug-that-mimics-a-zero-carb-diet-help-us-live-longer-healthier-lives?CMP=share_btn_tw
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/sep/05/could-a-drug-that-mimics-a-zero-carb-diet-help-us-live-longer-healthier-lives?CMP=share_btn_tw
- 🇺🇸 @Mangan150
Eating as much as you wish accelerates all age-related diseases, dramatically shortening human lifespan. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.4161/cc.9.4.10766 …
You Drive Your Cars Everywhere You Go, You Go To Work And Sit For Hours On End On Your Fat Ass, You Go Home And Sit Your Fat Ass In Front Of The Computer Or TV 4 More Hours On End, Then You Go To The Gym And Hop On The Treadmill For 30 Minutes 2 Times A Week And You Think You're Benefiting From That 60 Minutes A Week, Weak Workout. You Think You're Healthy. You Think You're Fit. You Think You're In Good Shape. You're Fuckin' Deluded And You're Going To Die Prematurely From Heart Disease Or Cancer Or Dementia Or Any Of The Other Diseases Of Civilization! We Didn't Evolve To Lead This Type Of Life. We Didn't Evolve To Lead Sedentary, Physically Comfortable, Non-Physically Vigorous (Non-Lung Capacity Maximizing, Non-Muscle Fatigue Inducing, Non-Sweat Inducing, Non-High Heart Rate Inducing) Lives! Our Genes Are Not Designed For This Type Of Life And Don't Respond Well To This Type Of Life, Hence Our Susceptibility To All Of These Diseases If We Lead A Non-Physically Active Life! READ ABOUT THE COGNITIVE BENEFITS OF CONSISTENTLY AND PERSISTENTLY BEING PHYSICALLY ACTIVE.
"ALL MA NIGGAZ ACTIVE...ACTIVE & ATTRACTIVE...KEEPIN' IT ACTIVE" - HOT SAUCE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg-GEzM7iTk
NO PLAY PLAY GO CRAY CRAY
http://binghamton.edu/evos/seminar-series/aaronblaisdell.html
Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny!
Most of the problems in human health come from being too domesticated.
- from "Anaerobics" by@GuruAnaerobic
- from "Anaerobics" by
"ALL MA NIGGAZ ACTIVE...ACTIVE & ATTRACTIVE...KEEPIN' IT ACTIVE" - HOT SAUCE
Modern life, by reducing the physical stresses of exercise and going hungry, leads to all the health problems and obesity we see.
Some comfort such as rest and food are of course strictly necessary.
But all comfort all the time makes us sick and fat.
Physical stress is as necessary for health as is rest and food.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg-GEzM7iTk
NO PLAY PLAY GO CRAY CRAY
http://binghamton.edu/evos/seminar-series/aaronblaisdell.html
Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2013/10/13/how-exercise-makes-your-brain-grow/
SEXORCISM
"Eating 3 energy-rich meals with no physical exertion is unusual when viewed in the light of evolution...Throughout human evolution, critical thinking and decision-making occurred as individuals navigated through a heterogenous environment hunting and foraging in a fasted state."
https://twitter.com/robkhenderson/status/1137793345869230080
"natural selection favored individuals capable of outperforming competitors when in a food-deprived state. The range of cognitive capabilities (spatial navigation, decision-making, sociality, and creativity) are largely concerned with food acquisition and reproduction"
SEXORCISM
Carl Zimmer
David Perlmutter, MD Moving your body will do more for your brain than any riddle, math equation, mystery book, or even thinking itself. #WorkoutWednesday
For a long time, science couldn't explain why our brains had gotten so big - disproportionately so, when you consider our body's size in comparison to other animals'. Evolutionary scientists in the past liked to talk about our carnivore behaviors and need for social interaction, both of which demanded complicated thinking patterns (to hunt and kill, and to engage in relationships with others). But now science has another ingredient to add to the mix: physical activity. According to the latest research, we owe our tremendous brains to the need to think...and the need to run.
To arrive at this conclusion, anthropologists examined patterns between the brain size and endurance capacity of many animals, from guinea pigs and mice to wolves and sheep. They noted that the species with the highest innate endurance capacity also had the highest brain volumes relative to their body size. Then the researchers took their experiment further by looking at mice and rats that were intentionally bred to be marathon runners. They created a line of lab animals that excelled at running by interbreeding those that ran the most in their cage's wheel. And then the truth began to emerge: Levels of BDNF and other substances that promote tissue growth and health began to increase in these newly bred animals. BDNF is also known to drive brain growth, which is why the new thinking is that physical activity may have helped us to evolve into clever, quick-witted beings. David A. Raichlen, an anthropologist at the University of Arizona and leading scientist in the evolution of the human brain, summed up the concept brilliantly in his explanation to the New York Times, as reported and paraphrased by Gretchen Reynolds: "The more athletic and active survived and, as with the lab mice, passed along physiological characteristics that improved their endurance, including elevated levels of BDNF. Eventually, these early athletes had enough BDNF coursing through their bodies that some could migrate from the muscles to the brain, where it nudged the growth of brain tissue."
With an enhanced ability to think, reason, and plan, early humans could then sharpen the skills that they needed to survive, such as hunting and killing prey. They benefited from a positive feedback loop: Being in motion made them smarter, and sharper minds further allowed them to stay in motion and move more effectively. Over time, humans would come to engage in complex thinking and invent things like math, microscopes, and MacBooks.
The bottom line is that if physical activity helped us develop the brains we use today, then it's safe to say we need exercise to maintain those brains (not to mention to continue to evolve into a smarter, faster, more clever species).
The biology of how exercise can be so beneficial to brain health goes far beyond the argument that it promotes blood flow to the brain and thus delivers nutrients for cell growth and maintenance. Indeed, cerebral blood flow is a good thing. But that's old news. The latest science behind the magic of movement in protecting and preserving brain function is stunning. It boils down to five benefits: controlling inflammation, increasing insulin sensitivity, influencing better blood sugar control, expanding the size of the memory center, and, as I've already mentioned, boosting levels of BDNF.
Some of the most compelling science has been performed in just the last couple of years. In 2011 Dr. Justin S. Rhodes and his team at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois made discoveries using four groups of mice in four different living arrangements. One group lived in the lap of luxury in a setting that included lavish, mice-friendly meals (nuts, fruits and cheeses, and flavored waters) and lots of playful toys to explore, such as mirrors, balls, and tunnels. The second group of mice had access to the same treats and toys, but their living quarters included running wheels. A third's group cage resembled a Motel 6; they contained nothing extraordinary and the mice ate standard kibble. The fourth group of mice similarly lacked access to fancy amenities and food, but their home included running wheels.
At the start of the study, the mice underwent a series of cognitive tests and were injected with a substance that allowed the researchers to track changes in their brain structures. Over the next several months, the scientists let the mice do whatever they wanted in their respective homes, after which the researchers re-tested the mice's cognitive functions and examined their brain tissues.
The one variable that clearly stood out above all others was whether or not the mice had a running wheel. It didn't matter if they had things to play with in their cages. The animals that exercised were the ones who had healthier brains and outperformed on the cognitive tests. Those that didn't run, even if their world was otherwise stimulating, didn't improve cognitively. The researchers were specifically looking for cognitive improvements that implied a boost in complex thinking and problem solving. Only exercised proved key to that improvement.
We know that exercise spurs the generation of new brain cells. Scientists have actually measured this effect by comparing mice and rats that ran for a few weeks versus those that were sedentary. The running animals had about twice as many new neurons in their hippocampi as the couch potatoes. Other studies have looked at which types of exercise are the most effective. In 2011, when a group of 120 older men and women were split into two groups - one assigned to a walking program and the other to a stretching regimen - the walkers won over the stretchers. They were the ones who showed larger hippocampi after a year and higher levels of BDNF in their bloodstreams. The stretchers, on the other hand, lost brain volume to normal atrophy and didn't perform as well on cognitive tests...
Whatever the activity, we have enough proof to confidently say that exercise needn't be exhausting to be effective for the brain.
Exercise drives up testosterone and enhances growth of cells on the brain including regions for memory. Move it or lose it
Exercise has been proven to induce growth of new neurons in the brain, but the real miracle is that it also has been shown to help build novel networks in the brain. It's one thing to give birth to brain cells, but another to organize those cells into a network that functions in harmony. We don't get "smarter" just by making new brain cells. We have to be able to interconnect those cells into the existing neural network, otherwise they will roam around aimlessly and eventually die. One way to do this is to learn something new. In a 2007 study, newborn neurons in mice became integrated into the animals' brain networks if the mice learned to navigate a water maze. This is a task that requires more cognitive power than physical ability. The researchers also noted that the newbie cells were limited in what they could do; they couldn't, for example, help the mice perform other cognitive tasks beyond the maze. To do that, the mice would need to exert themselves physically, which would encourage those new cells to become spry and cognitively limber.
And therein lies the secret benefit of exercise: It makes neurons nimble and able to multitask. We don't know how exercise facilitates mental makeovers on a molecular level, but we do know that BDNF plays a role by strengthening cells and axons, fortifying the connections among neurons, and sparking neurogenesis. Neurogenesis increases the brain's ability to learn new things, which in turn strengthens those new brain cells and further fortifies the neural network. Remember, too, that higher levels of BDNF are associated with a decrease in appetite. So for those individuals who have trouble controlling their appetite, this provides yet another impetus to exercise.
Exercise both promotes neurogenesis (the creation of new neurons) in the brain’s memory center and creates a more hospitable environment for them to thrive via BDNF up-regulation.
Nice work @RudyTanzi!
In a similar study, Harvard researchers identified a strong association between exercise and cognitive function in elderly women, concluding:
In this large, prospective study of older women, higher levels of long-term regular physical activity were strongly associated with higher levels of cognitive function and less cognitive decline. Specifically, the apparent cognitive benefits of greater physical activity were similar to being about three years younger in age and associated with a 20 percent lower risk of cognitive impairment.Multiple effects coalesce when the body is engaged in physical activity. Exercise is a potent anti-inflammatory. By activating the Nrf2 pathway I described earlier, physical exercise turns on the genes that suppress inflammation. And this can be measured in the laboratory. Scientists have documented time and time again that C-reactive protein - a commonly used laboratory marker of inflammation - is lower among people who keep an exercise routine. Exercise also improves insulin sensitivity. It helps manage blood sugar balance and reduce the glycation of proteins. We know this to be true from studies done on the effects of exercise on hemoglobin A1C. In one notable study, researchers told thirty participants to make no lifestyle changes while putting thirty-five others on an exercise program three days a week. The control group did not participate in any form of exercise. After the sixteenth week, hemoglobin A1C decreased by 0.73 in the exercise group but increased by 0.28 in the non-exercise group. To put these numbers in context, if your hemoglobin A1C was 6.0, a reduction of 0.73 brought on by exercise represents a 12 percent reduction of hemoglobin 1C, and this rivals diabetes medications.
NOW READ BELOW ABOUT BNDF, Nrf2 AND A1C MENTIONED ABOVE.
A1C
Most doctors employ a measurement of one glycated protein routinely in their medical practice. I've already mentioned it: hemoglobin A1C. This is the same standard laboratory measurement used to measure blood sugar control in diabetics. So, while your doctor may be measuring your hemoglobin A1C from time to time to get an understanding of your blood sugar control, the fact that it's glycated protein has vast and extremely important implications for your brain health. But hemoglobin A1C represents more than just a simple measurement of average blood sugar control over a 90- to 120-day period.
Hemoglobin AIC is the protein found in the red blood cell that carries oxygen and binds to blood sugar, and this binding is increased when blood sugar is elevated. While hemoglobin A1C doesn't give a moment-to-moment indication of what the blood sugar is, it is extremely useful in that it shows what the "average" blood sugar has been over the previous ninety days. This is why hemoglobin A1C is frequently used in studies that try to correlate blood sugar control to various disease processes like Alzheimer's, mild cognitive impairment, and coronary artery disease.
It's well documented that glycated hemoglobin is a powerful risk factor for diabetes, but it's also been correlated with risk for stroke, coronary heart disease, and death from other illnesses. These correlations have been shown to be strongest with any measurement of hemoglobin A1C above 6.0 percent.
We now have evidence to show that elevated hemoglobin A1C is associated with changes in brain size. In one particularly profound study, published in the journal Neurology, researchers looking at MRIs to determine which lab test correlated best with brain atrophy found that the hemoglobin A1C demonstrated the most powerful relationship. When comparing the degree of brain tissue loss in those individuals with the lowest hemoglobin A1C (4.4 to 5.2) to those having the highest hemoglobin A1C (5.9 to 9.0), the brain loss in those individuals with the highest hemoglobin A1C was almost doubled during a six-year period. So hemoglobin A1C is far more than just a marker of blood sugar balance - and it's absolutely under your control.
An ideal hemoglobin A1C would be in the 5.0 to 5.5 range. Keep in mind that reducing carbohydrate ingestion, weight loss, and physical exercise will ultimately improve insulin sensitivity and lead to a reduction of hemoglobin A1C.
BDNF
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150305125355.htm http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/05/18/exercise-benefits-brain-health.aspx http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2013/10/how-exercise-beefs-brain)
http://www.amazon.com/Go-Wild-Free-Afflictions-Civilization/dp/0316246093(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150305125355.htm http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/05/18/exercise-benefits-brain-health.aspx http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2013/10/how-exercise-beefs-brain)
Passage From This Book Regarding BDNF Coming Soon!
The burning question: How can we grow new brain neurons? In other words, what influences neurogenesis? And what can we do to enhance this natural process?
The process, as one might expect, is controlled by our DNA. Specifically, a gene located on chromosome 11 codes for the production of a protein called "brain-derived neurotrophic factor," or BDNF. BDNF plays a key role in creating new neurons. But beyond its role in neurogenesis, BDNF protects existing neurons, ensuring their survivability while encouraging synapse formation, the connection of one neuron to another - a process vital for thinking, learning, and higher levels of brain function. Studies have demonstrated decreased levels of BDNF in Alzheimer's patients, which, based on an understanding of how BDNF works, should not come as a surprise...
We now have a firm understanding of the factors that influence our DNA to produce BDNF. And fortunately, these factors are mostly under our direct control. The gene that turns on BDNF is activated by a variety of of lifestyle habits, including physical exercise, caloric restriction, following a ketogenic diet, and the addition of certain nutrients like curcumin and the omega-3 fat DHA.
...Physical exercise is one of the most potent ways of changing your genes; put simply, when you exercise, you literally exercise your genes. Aerobic exercise in particular not only turns on genes linked to longevity, but also targets the BDNF gene, the brain's "growth hormone." More specifically, aerobic exercise has been shown to increase BDNF, reverse memory decline in elderly humans, and actually increase growth of new brain cells in the brain's memory center. Exercise isn't just for trim looks and a strong heart; perhaps its most powerful effects are going on silently in the upstairs room where our brains reside. The emerging scientific view of human evolution and role of physical activity gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "jog your memory". A million years ago, we triumphed over long distances because we could outrun and outwalk most other animals. This helped make us the clever human beings we are today. The more we moved, the fitter our brain became. And even today our brain's healthy functioning requires regular physical activity despite the passage of time and ills of the aging process.
Another epigentic factor that turns on the gene for BDNF production is calorie restriction. Extensive studies have clearly demonstrated that when animals are on a reduced-calorie diet (typically reduced around 30 percent), their brain production of BDNF shoots up and they show dramatic improvements in memory and other cognitive functions...
In January 2009, for example, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science published a study in which German researchers compared two groups of elderly individuals - one that reduced their calories by 30 percent and another that was allowed to eat whatever they wanted. The researchers were interested in whether changes could be measured between the two groups' memory function. At the conclusion of the three-month study, those who were free to eat without restriction experienced a small, but clearly defined decline in memory function, while memory function in the group on the reduced-calorie diet actually increased, and profoundly so. Knowing that current pharmaceutical approaches to brain health are very limited, the authors concluded, "The present findings may help to develop new prevention and treatment strategies for maintaining cognitive health into old age."
Further evidence supporting the role of calorie restriction in strengthening the brain and providing more resistance to degenerative disease comes from Dr. Mark P. Mattson at the National Institute of Aging, who reported,
Epidemiological data suggest that individuals with a low calorie intake may have a reduced risk of stroke and neurodegenerative disorders. There is a strong correlation between per capita food consumption and risk for Alzheimer's disease and stroke. Data from population-based case control studies showed that individuals with the lowest daily calorie intakes had the lowest risk of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.Mattson was referring to a population-based logitudial prospective study of Nigerian families, in which some members moved to the United States. Many people believe that Alzheimer's disease is something you "get" from your DNA, but this particular study told a different story. It was shown that the incidence of Alzheimer's disease among Nigerian immigrants living in the United States was increased compared to their relatives who remained in Nigeria. Genetically, the Nigerians who moved to America were the same as their relatives who remained in Nigeria. All that changed was their environment - specifically, their caloric intake. The research clearly focused on the detrimental effects that a higher caloric consumption has on brain health.
If the prospect of reducing your calorie intake by 30 percent seems daunting, consider the following: On average, we consume 523 more calories a day than we did in 1970. Based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the average American adult consumes 3,770 calories daily. Most would consider "normal" calorie consumption to be around 2,000 calories daily for women and 2,550 for men (with higher requirements depending on level of activity/exercise). A 30 percent cut of calories from an average of 3,770 per day equals 2,640 calories.
We owe a lot of our increased calories consumption to sugar. The average American consumes between 100 and 160 pounds of refined sugar annually - reflecting upwards of a 25 percent hike in just the last three decades. So focusing on just reducing sugar intake may go a long way toward achieving a meaningful reduction in calorie intake, and this would obviously help with weight loss. Indeed, obesity is associated with reduced levels of BDNF, as is elevation of blood sugar. Remember, too, that increasing BDNF provides the added benefit of actually reducing appetite. I call that a double bonus.
But if the figures above still aren't enough to motivate you toward a diet destined to help your brain, in many respects, the same pathway that turns on BDNF production can be activated by intermittent fasting...
Calorie restriction...confers profound neuroprotection, increases the growth of new brain cells, and allows existing neural networks to expand their sphere of influence (i.e., neuroplasticity).
P. D. Mangan Retweeted
I don't advocate that humans practice calorie restriction (CR).
So why do I discuss CR so much?
Because it is a proof of principle.
You Don't Have To Calorie Restrict! You Just Have To FAST Occasionally!
Nrf2 (Anti-Oxidants Are Unnecessary!) NERF(D)
So if our brain tissue is being assaulted by free radicals, does it make sense to load up on antioxidants? To answer the question, we need to consider our cells' energy suppliers, the mitochondria. In the normal process of producing energy, each mitochondrion produces hundreds if not thousands of free radical molecules each day, Multiply that by the ten million billion mitochondria that we each possess and you come up with an unfathomable number, ten followed by eighteen zeros. So one might ask, how effective would, say, a vitamin E capsule or a tablet of vitamin C be when confronted by this onslaught of free radicals? Common antioxidants work by sacrificing themselves to become oxidized when faced with free radicals. Thus, one molecule of vitamin C is oxidized by one free radical. (This one-to-one chemistry is called a stoichiometric reaction by chemists.) Can you imagine how much vitamin C or other oral antioxidants it would take to neutralize the untold number of free radicals generated by the body on a daily basis?
Fortunately, and as one would expect, human physiology has developed its own biochemistry to create more protective antioxidants during times of high oxidative stress. Far from being entirely dependent on external food sources of antioxidants, our cells have their own innate ability to generate antioxidant enzymes on demand. High levels of free radicals turn on a specific protein in the nucleus called Nrf2, which essentially opens the door for the production of a vast array of not only our body's most important antioxidants, but also detoxification enzymes. So if excessive free radicals induce better antioxidant production through this pathway, then the next obvious question is, what else activates Nrf2?
...New research has identified a variety of modifiable factors that can turn on the Nrf2 switch, activating genes that can produce powerful antioxidants and detoxification enzymes. Vanderbilt University's Dr. Ling Gao has found that when the omega-3 fats EPA and DHA are oxidized, they significantly activate the Nrf2 pathway. For years researchers have noted decreased levels of free radical damage in individuals who consume fish oil (the source of EPA and DHA), but with this new research, the relationship between fish oil and antioxidant protection is now clear. As Dr, Gao reported, "Our data support the hypothesis that the formation of...compounds generated from oxidation of EPA and DHA in vivo can reach concentrations high enough to induce Nrf2-based antioxidant and...detoxification defense systems.
Not surprisingly, calorie restriction also has been demonstrated in a variety of laboratory models to induce Nrf2 activation. When calories are reduced in the diets of laboratory animals, they not only live longer (likely as a result of increased antioxidant protection), but also become remarkably resistant to the development of several cancers. And it is this attribute that further supports the fasting program described in the next chapter.
Several natural compounds that turn on antioxidant and detoxification pathways through activation of the Nrf2 system have been identified. Among these are curcumin from tumeric, green tea extract, silymarin (milk thistle) bacopa extract, DHA, sulforaphane (conrained in broccoli), and ashwagandha. Each of these substances is effective in turning on the body's innate production of key antioxidants, including glutathione. And if none of these compounds sound like something you're used to having daily in your diet, then you'll be happy to know that coffee is one of the most powerful Nrf2 activators in nature. Several molecules in coffee, some of which are partly present in the raw material while others are generated during the roasting process, are responsible for this positive effect.
Aside from antioxidant function, activation of the Nrf2 pathway turns on the genes to produce a vast array of protective chemicals that further support the body's detoxification pathways while dampening inflammation - all good things for brain health.
Benefits of intermittent fasting.
Periodic fasting is the normal state of humans; our genes were designed for it.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/oby.22065 …
FASTING
One critical mechanism of the human body that I've already covered is its ability to convert fat into vital fuel during times of starvation. We can break down fat into specialized molecules called ketones, and one in particular that I've already mentioned - beta-hydroxybutyrate (beta-HBA) - is a superior fuel for the brain. This not only provides a compelling case for the benefits of intermittent fasting to, as contradictory as this may seem, nourish the brain, but also serves as an explanation for one of the most hotly debated questions in anthropology: why our Neanderthal relatives disappeared between thirty and forty thousand years ago. While it's convenient and almost dogmatic to accept that Neanderthals were "wiped out" by clever Homo sapiens, many scientists now believe that food scarcity may have played a more prominent role in their disappearance. It may be that the Neanderthals didn't have the "mental endurance" to preserve because they lacked the biochemical pathway to utilize fat to feed the brain.
Unlike other mammals', our brain can use an alternative source of calories during times of starvation. Typically, our daily food consumption supplies our brain with glucose for fuel. In between meals, our brains are continually supplied with a steady stream of glucose that's made by breaking down glycogen, mostly from the liver and muscles. But glycogen stores can provide only so much glucose. Once our reserves are depleted, our metabolism shifts and we are able to create new molecules of glucose from amino acids taken from protein primarily found in muscle. This process is aptly named glucogenesis. On the plus side, this adds needed glucose to the system, but on the minus side, it sacrifices muscles. And muscle breakdown is not a good thing for a starving hunter-gatherer.
Luckily, human physiology offers one more pathway to power our brains. When food is no longer available, after about 3 days, the liver begins to use body fat to create those ketones. This is when beta-HBA serves as a highly efficient fuel source for the brain, allowing us to function cognitively for extended periods during food scarcity. Such an alternative fuel source helps reduce our dependence on gluconeogenesis and, therefore, preserves our muscle mass. But more than this, as Harvard Medical School professor George F. Cahill stated, "Recent studies have shown that beta-hydroxybutyrate, the principal ketone, is not just a fuel, but a superfuel, more efficientl producing ATP energy than glucose...
Indeed, Dr. Cahill and other researchers have determined that beta-HBA, which is easily obtainable just by adding coconut oil to your diet, improves anti-oxidant function, increases the number of mitochondria, and stimulates the growth of new brain cells.
https://twitter.com/chriskresser/status/1012070586846187521
Daily fasting (or intermittent fasting) may be an effective tool for losing weight and lowering blood pressure. And, it’s easy to do.
He follows a special diet, fasting for 20 hours at a stretch.
In chapter 5 we explored the need to reduce caloric intake in order to increase BDNF as a means of stimulating the growth of new brain cells as well as enhancing the function of existing neurons. The idea of substantially reducing your daily calorie intake does not appeal to many people, even though it's a powerful approach to not only brain enhancement, but also overall health. But intermittent fasting - a complete restriction of food for twenty-four to seventy-two hours at regular intervals throughout the year - is more manageable, and I recommend and outline a fasting protocol in chapter 10. Research has demonstrated that many of the same health-providing and brain-enhancing genetic pathways activated by caloric restriction are similarly engaged in fasting, even for relatively short periods of time. This is counter to conventional wisdom that says fasting lowers the metabolism and forces the body to hold on to fat in a so-called starvation mode. Much to the contrary, fasting provides the body with benefits that can accelerate and enhance weight loss, not to mention boost brain health.
Fasting not only turns on the genetic machinery for the production of BDNF, but also powers up the Nrf2 pathway, leading to enhanced detoxification, reduction of inflammation, and increased production of brain-protective antioxidants. Fasting causes the brain to shift away from using glucose as fuel to using ketones manufactured in the liver. When the brain is metabolizing ketones as fuel, even the process of cell suicide (apoptosis) is reduced, while mitochondrial genes are turned on, leading to mitochondrial replication. Simply put, fasting enhances energy production and paves the way for better brain function and clarity.
The new intermittent fasting study is noteworthy because it showed that one meal a day improves health and survival regardless of the diet the mice ate.
So it could be that when you eat is as important as what you eat.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jerrybowyer/2017/01/06/looking-for-a-cognitive-enhancer-skip-the-drugs-and-try-fasting-instead/#69ccd58b4592
 |
| http://news.ufl.edu/archive/2015/02/feast-and-famine-diet-could-extend-life-study-shows.html Feast Or Famine! (There's An Evolutionary Reason Why Our Bodies Respond Positively When There's A Lack Of Food Or When We Fast And I'll Explain Why Later.) http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-diet-mimics-fasting-20150623-story.html They practiced "intermittent fasting" we practice "continuous gorging" what are we designed for? |
Shawn Baker 
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/07/intermittent-fasting-diets-are-gaining-acceptance/?smid=tw-share&_r=0
For much of human history, sporadic access to food was likely the norm, especially for hunter-gatherers. As a result, we’ve evolved with livers and muscles that store quickly accessible carbohydrates in the form of glycogen, and our fat tissue holds long-lasting energy reserves that can sustain the body for weeks when food is not available.
...
For much of human history, sporadic access to food was likely the norm, especially for hunter-gatherers. As a result, we’ve evolved with livers and muscles that store quickly accessible carbohydrates in the form of glycogen, and our fat tissue holds long-lasting energy reserves that can sustain the body for weeks when food is not available.
...
one benefit of fasting is that it forces the body to shift from using glucose for fuel to using fat. During this process, the fat is converted to compounds known as ketones, a “clean” energy source that burns more efficiently than glucose, like high-octane gasoline, Dr. Ludwig said.
The same process, known as ketosis, occurs when people go on extremely low-carb, high-fat diets. Dr. Ludwig said ketones seem to have unique effects on the brain. High-fat diets, for example, have been used for years to treat people who suffer from epileptic seizures. (Catch A Seizure When I Fade YA!)
...The foundation of our success as a species is our ability to adapt to a wide range of conditions, environments, and foods - the very ability that allowed us to occupy the entire planet, unlike any other species. In fact, we are not going to shy away from this apparent contradiction. Not only did evolution equip us so we can eat a wide variety of foods, but it made variety a necessary condition of our well-being. We not only can but must have variety to be healthy...
...The enormous energetic demands of our brains mean, as we have seen, that we could not be at all casual about nutrition. The demand for energetically dense foods dictated that we eat meat, which meant hunting, which in turn required a great deal of intelligence. But it also meant gathering plants, which in turn required detailed knowledge of plants, seasons, and even subtle clues like what sort of leaf pattern in what sort of state of wilt signaled that a succulent tuber was hidden a few feet under the ground, ready for harvest. Our attention to color, our empathy for animals, our recognition of patterns, even our ability to communicate with one another - are all rooted in this fundamental need to feed our brains, and at the same time, our brains return the favor by allowing it all, a sort of positive feedback loop that drives development. We revel in all of this and take pleasure in it, still enjoying a primal rush of pleasure on walking through a bustling farmer's market on a sunny afternoon.
But the whole array of demands gets ratcheted up to another level still when we add to this what has come to be called the omnivore's dilemma, a dilemma caused by conflicting interests. Because we are omnivores and because we range over the entire planet, it is in our interests to exploit as many food sources as possible. This means that an important characteristic of omnivores is bred to the bone in humans: we are neophiliacs. We have to be. We have an innate love of novelty, of variety, a need to sample new things.
...the undeniable push in humanity is toward variety.
Tyler Graham and Drew Ramsey are not evolutionary biologists but a science writer and a medical doctor, respectively, and their argument, summarized in their book The Happiness Diet, does not derive from !Kung practices but from modern humans. They argue as we do that out happiness and well-being are rooted in what we eat, and this is more than a matter of depression. For instance, trace brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF. In Spark, John called this chemical "Miracle-Gro for the brain." It is the important link that explains why simple exercise can have such a profound effect on cognition and well-being, and we'll have more to say about it in the next chapter, when we address movement. But nutrition effects BDNF, too. Eating a diet high in sugar decreases BDNF. Eating foods with folate, vitamin B12, and omega-3 fats increases BDNF in the brain, just as exercise does.
Graham and Ramsey examine a list of twelve micronutrients and vitamins: vitamin B12, iodine, magnesium, cholesterol, vitamin D, calcium, fiber, folate, vitamin A, omega-3s, vitamin E, and iron; each is plentiful in the very foods, like fresh fruits and vegetables, that we have eliminated from the modern industrial diet, and each is vital to brain health and well-being on very specific pathways. But this is just the beginning. We are starting to understand the phenomenon of bioavailability, which says that addressing the lack of a given vitamin or micronutrient is not simply a matter of adding a given amount back through a supplement. The body's ability to absorb those nutrients is greatly influenced by the presence or absence of other nutrients. For instance, eating spinach with lemon helps the body absorb much more of the iron in the spinach. Eating eggs and cheese together delivers a better uptake of vitamin D and calcium.
...We can only begin to satisfy the complex and highly evolved requirements of our bodies, especially our brains, through variety. That's why evolution hard-wired us to value it so greatly.
And the fact is, no one understands this fundamental, innate drive for variety more than the modern-day marketers of industrial and processed food. Walk through the aisle of any convenience store or thumb through ads for fast-food chains, soft drinks, and box cereals. Note the variety, exotic names, every shape, color, and texture imaginable. This is what we crave. Then begin reading labels and note the predominance of the suffixes "-trose" and "-crose," i.e., sugar, and of corn and corn derivatives, processed soybeans, trans fats, and flour. The variety is an illusion. Under the label and chemical colorings and aromas, it is the same deadly industrial blend.
All of this forms the outline of our prescription, and the first half we've already given you is indeed negative: to not eat sugar, dense carbohydrates like grains, and trans fat, which is to say processed foods. But this is really advice to reject the monotony of the modern industrial diet. We are not urging a diet or even calorie restriction; we are outlining a sustainable way of life, and it rests on variety: the profusion and explosion of flavors, colors, and textures that evolution tuned our senses to pursue. Nuts, root vegetables, leafy greens, fruits, fish, wild game, clean, cool water. Range far and wide. Eat well.
...
There is a popular myth about evolution: that it is progressive and leads only one way, to bigger, better, and smarter, to more complex. It can lead that way, because complexity takes time to assemble, so complex comes later. But so does simpler, and the koala bear, that cuddly icon of cute, is our favorite example. Koalas are interesting to biologists because they eat only one thing, eucalyptus leaves, so they inhabit these trees ubiquitous in Australia. As a result, they really never have to leave the trees; they can just sit and watch the world go by, day in, day out.
It wasn't always so. Koalas once had a more diverse diet in their evolutionary history. The mark of this is inside their head, as their brain does not fill the entire space allotted for it in their skull. That's because, coincident with adopting the narrower diet, their brain shrank, and evolution has not yet had time to make skull size compensate, so the tiny little brain rattles around in a too-big case. One single source of food. That, and they are sedentary. If the koalas wanted to retain the bigger brain that evolution gave them, they also needed to move, and this is the lesson we turn to next...
The British scientist Daniel Wolpert likes to begin his case with the sort of fundamental and vexing question that seriously shakes up our thinking: why do we have a brain? He expects the obvious answer: to think.
"But this is completely wrong," he says. "We have a brain for one reason only: to produce adaptable and complex movements. There is no other plausible explanation." He is saying that our brains are literally built on and inextricably tied to movement of our bodies. Movement builds our brain because movement requires a brain.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201706/hunter-gatherer-ancestry-may-be-why-our-brains-need-exercise
http://blog.paleohacks.com/effects-of-exercise-on-your-brain/
http://time.com/4587930/aerobic-exercise-brain-dementia/
Wolpert's career of researching this traces the same arguments that people often use about basic intelligence: that computers can't do what we can do. After generations of trying, the best and brightest of computer science still have been unable to approach something like artificial intelligence, and what we mean by that is that we can't program computers to perform music, exercise judgement, or write books. Wolpert thinks something is missing in this familiar argument: "While computers can now beat grand masters at chess, no computer can yet control a robot to manipulate a chess piece with the dexterity of a six-year-old child."
This is because even the simplest of motions - a flick of a finger or a turn of the hand to pick up a pencil - is maddeningly complex and requires coordination and computational power beyond electronic abilities. For this you need a brain. One of our favorite quotes on this matter comes from the neuroscientist Rodolfo Llinas: "That which we call thinking is the evolutionary internalization of movement."
The telling encapsulation of this argument is the case of the sea squirt, a primitive sea animal with a rudimentary nervous system. For part of its life, the squirt spends time moving but only to look for a spot where it can anchor itself in the path of a ready source of food. On doing so, its first act is to eat and digest its own brain; it doesn't need one anymore because it no longer needs to move.
Yet this is the sort of linkage between brain and movement that holds up from sea squirt to human along the long evolutionary chain. The association is clear: the more a species needs to move, the bigger its brain - a relationship particularly pronounced in mammals. And although we don't often think of it this way, the arguments gets its clincher with the great ape that (a) has the very largest of brains (we humans) and (b) happens to be the champion of movement. Coincidence, you think? One of our greatest and enduring fascinations as humans is with movement. Sedentary as we may be, we still pay enormous amounts of money and invest enormous amounts of cultural capital in watching people move, obviously so with sports but consider, too, movement like ballet. What other species could accomplish this level of variation and control in pure movement? Our attraction to ballet and dance is not coincidence, just as our deep appreciation for a naked human body of the gender that attracts us is not coincidence. This attraction is evolution's way of making us pay attention to what matters, and movement matters. Evolution has made us think that graceful movement is beautiful.
Neuroscience in the '90s delivered a game-changing set of realizations that shone a couple of bright lights in new directions on the concepts of neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. The first says your brain is plastic in the prechemical sense of the word, malleable, shape-shifting, moldable. It is not the hardwired, compartmentalized organ we once thought it to be; it's not true that given cells and networks of cells and given areas and structures of the brain are assigned a stack and that's that. Lose a set of cells to, say, a stroke, and you lose the ability to perform that task. Or, more to the point, get dealt a weak spot by genetics, say for language, and you will always have a struggle with language. But the brain can, in fact, rewire itself, repurpose bits and pieces. It can adapt. It grows. This is neuroplasticity.
Neurogenesis says something similar but even more revolutionary. New cells and networks of the brain grow as needed, very much as muscles grow with exercise. In fact, new-era neuroscience says that the brain is a muscle. This is more than an analogy. As science began to understand these phenomena, it began to tease out mechanisms, the cascade of signals and biochemicals that triggered this exquisite set of responses. This line of inquiry greatly illuminated what evolutionary biologists had already realized: that big brains and intricate physical movement went together, that evolution had in fact used some of the same principles to signal brain growth that it had used to signal muscle growth. Through time, evolution used biochemistry to enhance muscles, movement, and brains.
So far in our story, we have relied often on the concept of homeostasis, which is an array of signaling mechanisms within the body that responds to shocks or changes in the environment to return systems to a normal operating state. We'll see it again and again to the point of ramping up to a new level of complexity and a new idea as our argument develops. All in time. But at this point in the discussion we need another related idea: hormesis. Hormesis is a biological response to low doses of a stressor, such as toxin, that improves the ability of the body to handle that toxin. It can be applied to exercise. Unlike homeostasis, hormesis does not return the body to a normal state. When a bodybuilder lifts weights, he is placing heavy stress on a given set of muscles, a process that damages them by overload. The body reacts with an immune response and inflammation. And now notice that we have introduced two troubling words into the discussion: inflammation and stress. The fact is, the body uses both to rebuild, and we'll argue later for a more refined appreciation of these forces.
But for now, the important point is that rebuilding the body does not simply build back what was torn down: it builds bigger and better, an adaptive response. Your muscles face a new challenge in the form of heavier weights, so the body responds by building infrastructure to meet that challenge. It grows and makes the body more resilient. Take the challenge away, and the body heads in the other direction: once again, use it or lose it.
And now we come back to BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, the Miracle-Gro of the brain. Movement places demands on the brain, just as it does on muscle, and so the brain releases BDNF, which triggers the growth of cells to meet the increased mental demands of movement. But BDNF floods throughout the brain, not just to the parts engaged in movement. Thus, the whole brain flourishes as a result of movement. It provides the environment that brain cells need to grow and function well.
Chemically, there is more to this story - lots more. For instance, exercise also triggers responses in the important neurotransmitters long studied in connection with issues like addiction and depression, chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. These are parallel processes. It all hangs together. But in the end, cells are cells. The brain is an energy-burning network of specially adapted cells like any other organ and is wrapped up in the health of the rest of the system. This ought to follow logically from the connection between the brain and movement: if the body needs stronger or more refined movement to meet a given challenge, it will need more brain circuitry to guide that movement. It would make no sense adaptively to build one without the other, so we need the biochemical provisions to do both.
This is no longer conjecture or theoretical construct. We may be a sedentary culture, but while we've been couch-bound in front of video games and computer monitors, science has been busy assembling a massive pile of evidence that says the quickest, surest path to the health and well-being of the brain and body is movement, or vigorous aerobic exercise.
Begin by considering a formal review of the literature, now more than a decade old but with conclusions that have even more support today. Writing in the Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers including Frank W. Booth laid out the case that inactivity was a looming factor in at least twenty "of the most chronic disorders." Yes, it does include obesity, but it extends far beyond to other afflictions of civilization, including congestive heart failure, coronary heart disease, angina and myocardial infarction, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, gallstones, breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immune dysfunction, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, and a range of neurological dysfunctions, a subcategory of particular interest here and one we will unpack in a moment.
In almost all of these cases, the causes of the disease are directly linked to inactivity...This is the realization that ought to ring through public discourse like a loud pealing bell, given that the list cited above is hugely responsible for the crushing burden of healthcare costs in our society - and yet almost nowhere in the widespread discussion of reducing those costs do we mention how much of that bill is traceable to our sedentary ways.
In Booth's analysis of all of this, there is a simple sentence that greatly adds to the urgency. We are not just talking about sick people or physical debilitation. He writes: "Sedentary lifestyle is associated with lower cognitive skills." Stated more bluntly still, our inactivity is making us dumber. If anything, this conclusion can now be stated even more confidently, given the wealth of research in the decade since Booth made it. Both epidemiology and neuroscience have described the biochemistry that makes it so.
...
...We have long thought that many of the late-life neurological problems of aging stem directly from the decline of the cardiovascular system, that poor circulation robs the brain of oxygen. The group at the Mayo Clinic did indeed follow this trail and did indeed find what they called a "vascular" effect. But interestingly, the weight of the evidence caused them to conclude this was secondary. The main benefit of exercise, they wrote, was improved neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. Specifically, they traced this to the key neurotrophic factors of exercise, the Miracle-Gro effect with BDNF that we talked about, but also to a group of parallel biochemicals, especially IGF-1, or insulin-like growth factor.
To take this line of reasoning one step further, the researchers were able to find a number of papers in the pool that looked at brain growth - actual, physical, measurable brain growth - as a result of exercise and found that seniors who exercised developed "significantly larger hippocampal volumes," and because the hippocampus participates in memory processing, they had improved memory as a result. They found that exercise also prevented a loss of gray matter overall (a loss common in aging) and, additionally, improved brain function as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging, showing better and more robust connections throughout.
MORE TO COME
...The enormous energetic demands of our brains mean, as we have seen, that we could not be at all casual about nutrition. The demand for energetically dense foods dictated that we eat meat, which meant hunting, which in turn required a great deal of intelligence. But it also meant gathering plants, which in turn required detailed knowledge of plants, seasons, and even subtle clues like what sort of leaf pattern in what sort of state of wilt signaled that a succulent tuber was hidden a few feet under the ground, ready for harvest. Our attention to color, our empathy for animals, our recognition of patterns, even our ability to communicate with one another - are all rooted in this fundamental need to feed our brains, and at the same time, our brains return the favor by allowing it all, a sort of positive feedback loop that drives development. We revel in all of this and take pleasure in it, still enjoying a primal rush of pleasure on walking through a bustling farmer's market on a sunny afternoon.
But the whole array of demands gets ratcheted up to another level still when we add to this what has come to be called the omnivore's dilemma, a dilemma caused by conflicting interests. Because we are omnivores and because we range over the entire planet, it is in our interests to exploit as many food sources as possible. This means that an important characteristic of omnivores is bred to the bone in humans: we are neophiliacs. We have to be. We have an innate love of novelty, of variety, a need to sample new things.
...the undeniable push in humanity is toward variety.
Tyler Graham and Drew Ramsey are not evolutionary biologists but a science writer and a medical doctor, respectively, and their argument, summarized in their book The Happiness Diet, does not derive from !Kung practices but from modern humans. They argue as we do that out happiness and well-being are rooted in what we eat, and this is more than a matter of depression. For instance, trace brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF. In Spark, John called this chemical "Miracle-Gro for the brain." It is the important link that explains why simple exercise can have such a profound effect on cognition and well-being, and we'll have more to say about it in the next chapter, when we address movement. But nutrition effects BDNF, too. Eating a diet high in sugar decreases BDNF. Eating foods with folate, vitamin B12, and omega-3 fats increases BDNF in the brain, just as exercise does.
Graham and Ramsey examine a list of twelve micronutrients and vitamins: vitamin B12, iodine, magnesium, cholesterol, vitamin D, calcium, fiber, folate, vitamin A, omega-3s, vitamin E, and iron; each is plentiful in the very foods, like fresh fruits and vegetables, that we have eliminated from the modern industrial diet, and each is vital to brain health and well-being on very specific pathways. But this is just the beginning. We are starting to understand the phenomenon of bioavailability, which says that addressing the lack of a given vitamin or micronutrient is not simply a matter of adding a given amount back through a supplement. The body's ability to absorb those nutrients is greatly influenced by the presence or absence of other nutrients. For instance, eating spinach with lemon helps the body absorb much more of the iron in the spinach. Eating eggs and cheese together delivers a better uptake of vitamin D and calcium.
...We can only begin to satisfy the complex and highly evolved requirements of our bodies, especially our brains, through variety. That's why evolution hard-wired us to value it so greatly.
And the fact is, no one understands this fundamental, innate drive for variety more than the modern-day marketers of industrial and processed food. Walk through the aisle of any convenience store or thumb through ads for fast-food chains, soft drinks, and box cereals. Note the variety, exotic names, every shape, color, and texture imaginable. This is what we crave. Then begin reading labels and note the predominance of the suffixes "-trose" and "-crose," i.e., sugar, and of corn and corn derivatives, processed soybeans, trans fats, and flour. The variety is an illusion. Under the label and chemical colorings and aromas, it is the same deadly industrial blend.
All of this forms the outline of our prescription, and the first half we've already given you is indeed negative: to not eat sugar, dense carbohydrates like grains, and trans fat, which is to say processed foods. But this is really advice to reject the monotony of the modern industrial diet. We are not urging a diet or even calorie restriction; we are outlining a sustainable way of life, and it rests on variety: the profusion and explosion of flavors, colors, and textures that evolution tuned our senses to pursue. Nuts, root vegetables, leafy greens, fruits, fish, wild game, clean, cool water. Range far and wide. Eat well.
...
There is a popular myth about evolution: that it is progressive and leads only one way, to bigger, better, and smarter, to more complex. It can lead that way, because complexity takes time to assemble, so complex comes later. But so does simpler, and the koala bear, that cuddly icon of cute, is our favorite example. Koalas are interesting to biologists because they eat only one thing, eucalyptus leaves, so they inhabit these trees ubiquitous in Australia. As a result, they really never have to leave the trees; they can just sit and watch the world go by, day in, day out.
It wasn't always so. Koalas once had a more diverse diet in their evolutionary history. The mark of this is inside their head, as their brain does not fill the entire space allotted for it in their skull. That's because, coincident with adopting the narrower diet, their brain shrank, and evolution has not yet had time to make skull size compensate, so the tiny little brain rattles around in a too-big case. One single source of food. That, and they are sedentary. If the koalas wanted to retain the bigger brain that evolution gave them, they also needed to move, and this is the lesson we turn to next...
The British scientist Daniel Wolpert likes to begin his case with the sort of fundamental and vexing question that seriously shakes up our thinking: why do we have a brain? He expects the obvious answer: to think.
"But this is completely wrong," he says. "We have a brain for one reason only: to produce adaptable and complex movements. There is no other plausible explanation." He is saying that our brains are literally built on and inextricably tied to movement of our bodies. Movement builds our brain because movement requires a brain.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201706/hunter-gatherer-ancestry-may-be-why-our-brains-need-exercise
http://blog.paleohacks.com/effects-of-exercise-on-your-brain/
http://time.com/4587930/aerobic-exercise-brain-dementia/
Wolpert's career of researching this traces the same arguments that people often use about basic intelligence: that computers can't do what we can do. After generations of trying, the best and brightest of computer science still have been unable to approach something like artificial intelligence, and what we mean by that is that we can't program computers to perform music, exercise judgement, or write books. Wolpert thinks something is missing in this familiar argument: "While computers can now beat grand masters at chess, no computer can yet control a robot to manipulate a chess piece with the dexterity of a six-year-old child."
This is because even the simplest of motions - a flick of a finger or a turn of the hand to pick up a pencil - is maddeningly complex and requires coordination and computational power beyond electronic abilities. For this you need a brain. One of our favorite quotes on this matter comes from the neuroscientist Rodolfo Llinas: "That which we call thinking is the evolutionary internalization of movement."
The telling encapsulation of this argument is the case of the sea squirt, a primitive sea animal with a rudimentary nervous system. For part of its life, the squirt spends time moving but only to look for a spot where it can anchor itself in the path of a ready source of food. On doing so, its first act is to eat and digest its own brain; it doesn't need one anymore because it no longer needs to move.
Yet this is the sort of linkage between brain and movement that holds up from sea squirt to human along the long evolutionary chain. The association is clear: the more a species needs to move, the bigger its brain - a relationship particularly pronounced in mammals. And although we don't often think of it this way, the arguments gets its clincher with the great ape that (a) has the very largest of brains (we humans) and (b) happens to be the champion of movement. Coincidence, you think? One of our greatest and enduring fascinations as humans is with movement. Sedentary as we may be, we still pay enormous amounts of money and invest enormous amounts of cultural capital in watching people move, obviously so with sports but consider, too, movement like ballet. What other species could accomplish this level of variation and control in pure movement? Our attraction to ballet and dance is not coincidence, just as our deep appreciation for a naked human body of the gender that attracts us is not coincidence. This attraction is evolution's way of making us pay attention to what matters, and movement matters. Evolution has made us think that graceful movement is beautiful.
Neuroscience in the '90s delivered a game-changing set of realizations that shone a couple of bright lights in new directions on the concepts of neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. The first says your brain is plastic in the prechemical sense of the word, malleable, shape-shifting, moldable. It is not the hardwired, compartmentalized organ we once thought it to be; it's not true that given cells and networks of cells and given areas and structures of the brain are assigned a stack and that's that. Lose a set of cells to, say, a stroke, and you lose the ability to perform that task. Or, more to the point, get dealt a weak spot by genetics, say for language, and you will always have a struggle with language. But the brain can, in fact, rewire itself, repurpose bits and pieces. It can adapt. It grows. This is neuroplasticity.
Neurogenesis says something similar but even more revolutionary. New cells and networks of the brain grow as needed, very much as muscles grow with exercise. In fact, new-era neuroscience says that the brain is a muscle. This is more than an analogy. As science began to understand these phenomena, it began to tease out mechanisms, the cascade of signals and biochemicals that triggered this exquisite set of responses. This line of inquiry greatly illuminated what evolutionary biologists had already realized: that big brains and intricate physical movement went together, that evolution had in fact used some of the same principles to signal brain growth that it had used to signal muscle growth. Through time, evolution used biochemistry to enhance muscles, movement, and brains.
So far in our story, we have relied often on the concept of homeostasis, which is an array of signaling mechanisms within the body that responds to shocks or changes in the environment to return systems to a normal operating state. We'll see it again and again to the point of ramping up to a new level of complexity and a new idea as our argument develops. All in time. But at this point in the discussion we need another related idea: hormesis. Hormesis is a biological response to low doses of a stressor, such as toxin, that improves the ability of the body to handle that toxin. It can be applied to exercise. Unlike homeostasis, hormesis does not return the body to a normal state. When a bodybuilder lifts weights, he is placing heavy stress on a given set of muscles, a process that damages them by overload. The body reacts with an immune response and inflammation. And now notice that we have introduced two troubling words into the discussion: inflammation and stress. The fact is, the body uses both to rebuild, and we'll argue later for a more refined appreciation of these forces.
But for now, the important point is that rebuilding the body does not simply build back what was torn down: it builds bigger and better, an adaptive response. Your muscles face a new challenge in the form of heavier weights, so the body responds by building infrastructure to meet that challenge. It grows and makes the body more resilient. Take the challenge away, and the body heads in the other direction: once again, use it or lose it.
And now we come back to BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, the Miracle-Gro of the brain. Movement places demands on the brain, just as it does on muscle, and so the brain releases BDNF, which triggers the growth of cells to meet the increased mental demands of movement. But BDNF floods throughout the brain, not just to the parts engaged in movement. Thus, the whole brain flourishes as a result of movement. It provides the environment that brain cells need to grow and function well.
Chemically, there is more to this story - lots more. For instance, exercise also triggers responses in the important neurotransmitters long studied in connection with issues like addiction and depression, chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. These are parallel processes. It all hangs together. But in the end, cells are cells. The brain is an energy-burning network of specially adapted cells like any other organ and is wrapped up in the health of the rest of the system. This ought to follow logically from the connection between the brain and movement: if the body needs stronger or more refined movement to meet a given challenge, it will need more brain circuitry to guide that movement. It would make no sense adaptively to build one without the other, so we need the biochemical provisions to do both.
This is no longer conjecture or theoretical construct. We may be a sedentary culture, but while we've been couch-bound in front of video games and computer monitors, science has been busy assembling a massive pile of evidence that says the quickest, surest path to the health and well-being of the brain and body is movement, or vigorous aerobic exercise.
Begin by considering a formal review of the literature, now more than a decade old but with conclusions that have even more support today. Writing in the Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers including Frank W. Booth laid out the case that inactivity was a looming factor in at least twenty "of the most chronic disorders." Yes, it does include obesity, but it extends far beyond to other afflictions of civilization, including congestive heart failure, coronary heart disease, angina and myocardial infarction, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, gallstones, breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immune dysfunction, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, and a range of neurological dysfunctions, a subcategory of particular interest here and one we will unpack in a moment.
In almost all of these cases, the causes of the disease are directly linked to inactivity...This is the realization that ought to ring through public discourse like a loud pealing bell, given that the list cited above is hugely responsible for the crushing burden of healthcare costs in our society - and yet almost nowhere in the widespread discussion of reducing those costs do we mention how much of that bill is traceable to our sedentary ways.
In Booth's analysis of all of this, there is a simple sentence that greatly adds to the urgency. We are not just talking about sick people or physical debilitation. He writes: "Sedentary lifestyle is associated with lower cognitive skills." Stated more bluntly still, our inactivity is making us dumber. If anything, this conclusion can now be stated even more confidently, given the wealth of research in the decade since Booth made it. Both epidemiology and neuroscience have described the biochemistry that makes it so.
...
...We have long thought that many of the late-life neurological problems of aging stem directly from the decline of the cardiovascular system, that poor circulation robs the brain of oxygen. The group at the Mayo Clinic did indeed follow this trail and did indeed find what they called a "vascular" effect. But interestingly, the weight of the evidence caused them to conclude this was secondary. The main benefit of exercise, they wrote, was improved neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. Specifically, they traced this to the key neurotrophic factors of exercise, the Miracle-Gro effect with BDNF that we talked about, but also to a group of parallel biochemicals, especially IGF-1, or insulin-like growth factor.
To take this line of reasoning one step further, the researchers were able to find a number of papers in the pool that looked at brain growth - actual, physical, measurable brain growth - as a result of exercise and found that seniors who exercised developed "significantly larger hippocampal volumes," and because the hippocampus participates in memory processing, they had improved memory as a result. They found that exercise also prevented a loss of gray matter overall (a loss common in aging) and, additionally, improved brain function as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging, showing better and more robust connections throughout.
MORE TO COME
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/breakfast-was-the-most-important-meal-of-the-day--until-america-ruined-it/2017/05/12/f1d0e128-368c-11e7-b4ee-434b6d506b37_story.html?utm_term=.61fd3e2dea99
And Don't Eat Cereal!
"UH NIGGA GREW UP ON MILK AND CEREAL" - RUBIX CUBE
And Don't Eat Cereal!
"UH NIGGA GREW UP ON MILK AND CEREAL" - RUBIX CUBE
The health of our gut microbiome greatly impacts the health of the whole body, in large part due to the hundreds of trillions of bacteria residing there, breaking down our food, fighting pathogens, controlling our metabolism, and more.
Killing It Softly
Sugar Bad For Biome! Microbiome!
BIOME
