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Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

nytimes.com

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Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#21

Post by astura »

drdrey wrote: post #20
astura wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I highly suspect any highly restrictive diet will have the same effect no matter the restriction. Especially if "junk food" is one of the restrictions. You hear plenty of stuff like "I went vegan, food tastes so much better now, I've lost weight, I have so much energy, my mood is better, blah blah blah." Same with "alkaline diet," "cabbage soup diet," "low inflammation diet," "bacon diet," "salad diet," "gluten free…

OP's remarkable point is that she is restricting food groups, not calories.

Yes, I am aware, my point stands. I highly suspect any diet that restricts most food groups will produce similar effects no matter what the food groups are. It's far from "remarkable," its what happens when you micromanage your diet plus a small dose of the placebo effect. People have written exactly the same thing about a high carb vegan diet, for example.

My mother in law also has a "I just don't eat [several random food groups]" non-calorie restricted diet as well, but the food groups are different, she says the same types of things and lost over 100 pounds and has kept it off for like seven years. Same with other people I know with omitting other random food groups.

(My mother in law actually eats outside her chosen food groups regularly, she just is really, really, really misinformed about what's in food - which further illustrates my point that it's the micromanaging and restriction, not the type of food consumed.)

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#22

Post by prostoalex »

drdrey wrote: post #14
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #6

I dropped all forms of sugar and corn syrup a few months ago. I was never a health nut. Quite the opposite. It's incredible how much your physiology alters just from that. Water tastes good now. I used to drink water with crystal light, because it was so bland. Shed 20lbs without even exercising. I eat bananas, apples, peanut butter and chicken. Learned to cook a few things. You sort of have to, if you want to avoid…

I have now been seeing from numerous sources that in order to lose weight, diet dominates exercise. One of the reasons is that exercise is associated with compensatory behaviors (such as increased hunger). So exercise for the health benefits, but alter your diet to lose weight. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-exercise-para...

Moreover, exercise is frequently associated with muscle gain, and muscle tissue being heavier than fat tissue introduces a great deal of uncertainty into tracking one’s weight.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#23

Post by majewsky »

dvt wrote: post #4

This is only tangentially related, but I've been practicing intermittent fasting for the past year, and I cannot recommend it enough -- it honestly changed my life. I feel better, I sleep more regularly, I have more energy, and my mind is more alert. I only eat from 12PM to 8PM. IF is also supposed to have an impact on your microbiome, reduce inflammation, and encourage autophagy (especially in the brain). PS: Please…

How long did it take for you to observe the positive effects of IF? I tried it for 1 or 2 weeks last year, but didn't observe any benefits.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#24

Post by tstactplsignore »

teekno wrote: post #11

I was shocked to read that the gut microbiome's gene set is about 150 times larger than the human gene complement [1]. I don't know a ton about microbiology, but it seems like that wouldn't drastically increase the time to sequence these microbes since we are talking about total set size, not the size of individual genomes? There is still so much to learn from the human genome alone - I fully expect many of our next…

It's a bit of a tricky comparison. Bacterial genomes are jam-packed full of protein-coding genes, while human genomes have genes spread out between much larger regions of both "junk" (viral elements, pseudogenes, and repetitive elements) and regulatory regions.

A human genome is 3 billion base pairs, and a bacterial genome is ~3 million base pairs. Considering there are probably 100-1000 bacterial species of clinical / gut ecological importance in a person's gut, it happens to sort of work out that it takes roughly the same amount of sequencing to sequence your gut microbiome as it does your genome.

Studies like this one do not do that. They only sequence marker genes which describe which bacteria are there (however, this process doesn't include all bacteria, doesn't tell you what those bacteria do, or what their small differences are). It's like a census where you just ask for people's last names.

That being said, after reading I think this was a nice little study. It had a small sample size but pretty clear effects that fit in with a lot of priors that we already have about the gut with regards to butyrate production by specific species.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#25

Post by plinkplonk »

dvt wrote: post #8
Meekro wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you describe this in more detail? When do you stop eating, and for how long?

I stop eating at 8PM and don't eat until the next day at 12PM (so my "breakfast" is actually at lunch). My fast lasts ~16 hours daily, giving me an 8-hour feeding window (my friends always make fun of that term). We're already used to an 8-hour fast (sleeping), so it's really not a huge lifestyle change. I don't do anything fancy with calories or macronutrients, anymore. I did when I was going to the gym more regular…

So essentially you are just skipping breakfast?

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#26

Post by dvt »

prostoalex wrote: post #18
dvt wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stop eating at 8PM and don't eat until the next day at 12PM (so my "breakfast" is actually at lunch). My fast lasts ~16 hours daily, giving me an 8-hour feeding window (my friends always make fun of that term). We're already used to an 8-hour fast (sleeping), so it's really not a huge lifestyle change. I don't do anything fancy with calories or macronutrients, anymore. I did when I was going to the gym more regular…

Do you allow for coffee (or tea) in the mornings, or is it just water?

Coffee and tea are allowed during the fast. I've been drinking a lot more tea recently (I'm not a huge coffee drinker). There's a certain threshold where your body kicks into "metabolic" mode. The exact figure varies, but I think you want to avoid eating > ~50 calories[1] or your digestion kicks in and your fast is ruined. A cup of tea or coffee, for example, is around 3 calories. Even milk, in small quantities, is probably fine. It goes without saying that sugar is not allowed.

[1] My figures are probably wrong. Someone feel free to correct me.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#27

Post by dvt »

majewsky wrote: post #23
dvt wrote: post #4

This is only tangentially related, but I've been practicing intermittent fasting for the past year, and I cannot recommend it enough -- it honestly changed my life. I feel better, I sleep more regularly, I have more energy, and my mind is more alert. I only eat from 12PM to 8PM. IF is also supposed to have an impact on your microbiome, reduce inflammation, and encourage autophagy (especially in the brain). PS: Please…

How long did it take for you to observe the positive effects of IF? I tried it for 1 or 2 weeks last year, but didn't observe any benefits.

I'm not sure how you were sleeping, but my sleep patterns got better almost overnight. Wish I had a Fitbit to track it.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#28

Post by dvt »

Svenstaro wrote: post #16
dvt wrote: post #4

This is only tangentially related, but I've been practicing intermittent fasting for the past year, and I cannot recommend it enough -- it honestly changed my life. I feel better, I sleep more regularly, I have more energy, and my mind is more alert. I only eat from 12PM to 8PM. IF is also supposed to have an impact on your microbiome, reduce inflammation, and encourage autophagy (especially in the brain). PS: Please…

How do you still fit in around 2.5k cals in the short time where you do eat? In other words, how do you ensure that you maintain your weight while fasting? I imagine one has to force feed quite a lot in in that period.

> I imagine one has to force feed quite a lot in in that period.

It's 8 hours, so I have plenty of time to eat two, three, or even sometimes four times. What IF cuts out is the late-night snacks that I think are most detrimental.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#29

Post by dvt »

wjnc wrote: post #19
dvt wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stop eating at 8PM and don't eat until the next day at 12PM (so my "breakfast" is actually at lunch). My fast lasts ~16 hours daily, giving me an 8-hour feeding window (my friends always make fun of that term). We're already used to an 8-hour fast (sleeping), so it's really not a huge lifestyle change. I don't do anything fancy with calories or macronutrients, anymore. I did when I was going to the gym more regular…

Any thoughts on the old adagium dat breakfast like a king, ...? Skipping breakfast - no dips in the morning?

I've never been a breakfast person :P

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#30

Post by cycrutchfield »

dvt wrote: post #4

This is only tangentially related, but I've been practicing intermittent fasting for the past year, and I cannot recommend it enough -- it honestly changed my life. I feel better, I sleep more regularly, I have more energy, and my mind is more alert. I only eat from 12PM to 8PM. IF is also supposed to have an impact on your microbiome, reduce inflammation, and encourage autophagy (especially in the brain). PS: Please…

So anybody that regularly skips breakfast now adheres to an IF diet? It cannot possibly be that important if the only difference between your eating schedule and the norm is that you omit breakfast and midnight snacks.
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