Archive for 2015

Healing Back Pain

I've put off writing this post for many years because I know it will be controversial. But we're a few days from Christmas, and I a...

Cah Gisting 16:30 Add Comment diabetes, overweight Edit

New Evidence Strengthens the Link Between Hypothalamic Injury, Obesity, and Insulin Resistance

Obesity involves changes in the function of brain regions that regulate body fatness and blood glucose, particularly a region called the hyp...

Cah Gisting 11:50 Add Comment Edit

Fat, Added Fat, and Obesity in America

In the last post, we saw that carbohydrate and particularly sugar intake have been declining in the US since 1999, even as our obesity rate ...

Cah Gisting 10:53 Add Comment overweight Edit

Carbohydrate, Sugar, and Obesity in America

We like explanations that are simple, easy to understand, and explain everything. One example of this is the idea that eating carbohydrate,...

Cah Gisting 09:11 Add Comment Food reward Fridays Edit

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... the Reese's PBC Burger!! Image credit: The Works Read more »

Cah Gisting 10:47 Add Comment cancer Edit

Do Processed and Red Meat Cause Cancer?

Today, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer published a statement in The Lancet detailing its pos...

Cah Gisting 10:49 Add Comment overweight Edit

Why Do Girls and Boys Reach Puberty Younger Than They Used To?

Girls, and probably boys, are reaching puberty years younger than they did in our great-grandparents' generation. Why? There's no ...

Cah Gisting 15:18 Add Comment Edit

Will You Fill Out This Paleo Diet Survey?

This week, I received an e-mail from a graduate student at Humboldt State University named May Patiño. She asked me to share her online res...

Cah Gisting 12:22 Add Comment Edit

That Time I Ate Most of a Large Pizza in One Sitting

Two weeks ago, I had a brush with Extreme Eating. My experience illustrates some important principles of how the brain regulates appetite a...

Cah Gisting 21:05 Add Comment Edit

Out for Two Weeks

I'll be out of town with limited internet until September 27th. Feel free to leave comments, but I won't be able to moderate them u...

Cah Gisting 13:30 Add Comment overweight Edit

How Much Does Sugar Contribute to Obesity?

Last week, the British Medical Journal published a review article titled "Dietary Sugars and Body Weight", concluding that "f...

Cah Gisting 13:53 Add Comment low-carb Edit

More Thoughts on the Recent Low-fat vs. Low-carb Metabolic Ward Study

The recent low-carb vs. low-fat study has provoked criticism from parts of the diet-health community. Let's examine these objections an...

Cah Gisting 17:41 Add Comment low-carb, overweight Edit

A New Human Trial Undermines the Carbohydrate-insulin Hypothesis of Obesity, Again

The carbohydrate-insulin hypothesis of obesity states that carbohydrates (particularly refined carbohydrates and sugar) are the primary caus...

Cah Gisting 12:03 Add Comment Edit

Refined Sugar Worsens Blood Lipid Markers of Cardiovascular Disease

Blood lipids such as LDL and HDL cholesterol are markers of the biological processes that impact cardiovascular disease, and they are common...

Cah Gisting 09:22 Add Comment Food reward Edit

What Properties Make a Food "Addictive"?

Although the concept of food addiction remains controversial, there's no doubt that specific foods can provoke addiction-like behaviors ...

Cah Gisting 10:07 Add Comment Edit

Food Reward Friday

This week's luck winner... soy sauce!! Read more »

Cah Gisting 09:49 Add Comment Food reward Fridays Edit

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky winner... the Pizza Hut Hot Dog Bites pizza!!! Read more »

Cah Gisting 09:57 Add Comment Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome Edit

Insulin Resistance Predicts a Variety of Age-related Diseases

In the last post, I reviewed a study by Gerald Reaven's group showing that insulin resistance strongly predicts the risk of cardiovascul...

Cah Gisting 04:00 Add Comment Edit

Insulin Resistance Strongly Predicts Cardiovascular Disease Risk

I recently came across a very interesting paper by the research team of Gerald Reaven, an endocrinologist at Stanford. He has long been one...

Cah Gisting 09:29 Add Comment Food reward Fridays Edit

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... Hardee's Most American Thickburger!! Read more »

Cah Gisting 04:00 Add Comment Edit

Recent Interviews

Here are two recent interviews I'd like to share with readers: Danny Lennon of Sigma Nutrition Danny Lennon is an evidence-based nutrit...

Cah Gisting 14:00 Add Comment Cardiovascular disease Edit

New Study Strengthens the Case that LDL Causes Heart Disease

There is little remaining doubt in the scientific/medical community that high levels of LDL, so-called "bad cholesterol", cause he...

Cah Gisting 03:00 Add Comment Edit

Do Slower-digesting Carbohydrates Make Us Feel More Full?

One of the most common pieces of advice in the health-nutrition world is that we should focus our carbohydrate intake on slowly-digesting ca...

Cah Gisting 03:00 Add Comment Edit

Food Reward Friday

This week's "lucky" winner... bacon fried Oreos!! Read more »

Cah Gisting 03:00 Add Comment April fool's Edit

My Buddy and Me

Warning -- Satire -- April Fools Post I have a sheepish confession to make: until recently, I had a tapeworm, and that's why I'm lea...

Cah Gisting 14:25 Add Comment Edit

Is Meat Unhealthy? Consolidated links

Several people have asked for a consolidated list of links to my series on meat and health. Here it is! This should make it easier to shar...

Cah Gisting 08:50 Add Comment Edit

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... a bacon hot dog donut, by Krispy Kreme! Read more »

Cah Gisting 09:18 Add Comment Food reward Fridays Edit

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... donuts!! Krispy Kreme donuts being made. Hopefully this image isn't appetizing enough to ma...

Cah Gisting 06:00 Add Comment Edit

Build Your Own Yogurt Maker, Sous-vide Cooker, and All-purpose Fermenter for $40

I make a half gallon of yogurt, twice a month. I like making my own yogurt for many reasons, but it's a bit of a pain. Since I make la...

Cah Gisting 09:54 Add Comment Edit

Is Meat Unhealthy? Part IX

Welcome to the last post in the series. Time to summarize and wrap it up! Respect I respect each person's right to choose the diet they...

Cah Gisting 05:00 Add Comment Edit

We Do Science Interview

I recently did an interview with Laurent Bannock, an expert in sport and exercise nutrition. His podcast We Do Science has rapidly become ...

Cah Gisting 09:27 Add Comment Food reward Fridays Edit

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... the Cinnabon cinnamon roll!!! Read more »

Cah Gisting 14:15 Add Comment Edit

Can High-Fiber Foods Fight the Metabolic Syndrome?

The metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) is a cluster of signs including abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, and blood lipid ...

Cah Gisting 11:17 Add Comment Edit

Is Meat Unhealthy? Part VIII

Health can be defined as the absence of disease, and that is the lens through which we've been examining meat so far. However, most of ...

Cah Gisting 03:00 Add Comment Food reward Fridays Edit

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... the KFC Double Down Dog!! Read more »

Cah Gisting 22:38 Add Comment vegetarian Edit

Is Meat Unhealthy? Part VII

Looking at individual diseases is informative, but it can cause us to become myopic, making broad health-related decisions based on narrow i...

Cah Gisting 10:43 Add Comment Food reward Fridays Edit

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... barbecue ribs!! Read more »

Cah Gisting 11:30 Add Comment low-carb Edit

Does high protein explain the low-carb "metabolic advantage"?

In 2012, David Ludwig's group published a paper that caused quite a stir in the diet-nutrition world ( 1 ). They reported that under st...

Cah Gisting 15:55 Add Comment cancer, vegetarian Edit

Is Meat Unhealthy? Part VI

In this post, I'll examine the possible relationship between meat consumption and cancer risk. Is cancer risk even modifiable? Cancer is...

Cah Gisting 08:18 Add Comment Food reward Fridays Edit

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... croissants!! Read more »