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Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

nytimes.com

171–180 of 322 posts

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#171

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what are other MB influencing factors ? mood ? circadian rhythms ? diet ?

Oh, is this going to be like "X changes your brain"? Where it turns out that doing literally anything changes your brain because it's designed to optimize against absolutely any environment.

Even the composition of your microbiome itself can alter your brain chemistry (actually, it's usually called the gut brain axis).

The study here used fecal transplant from lean to obese mice as well as a less invasive test; so it really does seems like a meaningful distinction.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#172
post #102

I stopped reading as soon as I saw: > They began by recruiting 32 men and women who did not exercise. This is not worth reporting - certainly not in the matter-of-fact manner that they did. It is far far more likely there is nothing worth seeing here. I wish I had the resources on hand to explain why I believe this. It relates to p-hacking and finding results that just fade away with more in-depth investigations. 32…

Why? 32 is a big for a human study.

They recruited 32 people that didn't exercise, they didn't choose them after they already had the data.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#173

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Yup, what I'm usually missing in those is the actual difference in calorie intake. Going vegan for example will reduce a lot because you'd naturally eat less fats. Going carb-free, same story. They're probably more popular than counting calories because there's Rules to adhere to, which is more easy than trying to guess how many grams of pasta are in your plate.

> what I'm usually missing in those is the actual difference in calorie intake... Check out "That Sugar Film," it was on Amazon Prime when I saw it. Highly recommend. In it, he goes from a zero-sugar diet to a "recommend healthy amount of sugar" (and from "healthy" sources — he is not eating candy) while maintaining the same calorie count and exercise routine. Spoiler: he gains weight and inches and develops a fatty…

He went from zero refined sugar to 200g of sugar a day. The average in America is 125g and nobody would recommend anywhere near either amount. He also only ate packaged foods - presumably no vegetables, rice, pasta etc. It's hard to see how any lessons can be learned from this.

And as for the talking heads he chose, well... http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_exa...

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#174
post #72
post #48

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If there's any exercise that has helped me shed weight, it's hiking. By being moderately active throughout the whole day you easily burn an extra 1500-2000kcals. Jogging has never really helped in shedding weight for me, just general fitness.

How many hours per day do you hike? You probably have to hike for an hour to offset just one chocolate bar.

I'm talking about proper hikes I do on the weekend. Like 6-10h. That's 6-10 chocolate bars, and I don't eat that much on these hikes.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#175
post #124

Title: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome The first sentence of the article: Exercise _may_ change the composition and activity of the trillions of microbes in our guts... Kind of a title bait. Also, if you measure your microbiome every day you would see that it varies widely from day to day. So these results based on one measurement before the experiment and one measurement after are not reliable.

what are other MB influencing factors ? mood ? circadian rhythms ? diet ?

mood, circadian rhythm, ancestry, region of the world, diet type, infection, sex, certain diseases, and probably more!

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#176

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What source of fat do you use? I have trouble increasing my fat intake without frying everything, at which point it becomes a lot harder for me to track my intake.

Heavy cream, whipped or otherwise. Or just plain butter or ghee; It's not culturally accepted, but it's tasty.

Saturated fat has a lot of downsides and usually comes along with extra cholesterol. Stick to unsaturated (i.e. vegetable) fats for the sake of your cardiovascular system.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#177
post #162
post #81

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I don't get why you would exclude potatoes and eat bananas. They are very very similar foods. Everything that is flour based is refined, lacks fiber etc so I get the pasta and bread exclusion, but the potatoes one makes no sense imo. Overall in this thread, once again americans discover that they eat shit and simply cooking meals yourself from scratch (with limited fat of course) with no treats between meals makes yo…

You might be a bit careful with criticizing the US on Hacker News, I have been permanently banned for similar remarks. That aside, a large part of it seems to be culture. If you're living in a university-owned dorm, it is often mandatory to buy a card which provides dinner (usually at a ridiculous price). When you don't cook, you are less involved with the ingredients of your dinner, and more inclined to just 'take w…

> You might be a bit careful with criticizing the US on Hacker News,

Is this a problem on HN? I haven't noticed it. You must have said something really atrocious. And the comment above you make reference to, though a bit tactless, is OK in my opinion.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#178
post #15

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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…

This guy lost 50kg eating nothing but white potatoes for a year: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/... I personally wouldn't recommend that but it underlines the point that not all carbs are created equal. Our bodies process complex carbs with fiber very differently than refined sugars.

Potatoes are special. If you eat them with the skin, they are the most complete food.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#179

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> Is peanut butter unhealthy? Obviously excluding the crappy ones that have added sugar. It's mostly fat with lots of salt, which is a pretty good recipe for future cardiovascular disease if eaten excessively.

On mobile so sorry for no links. "Fat is bad" is untrue. Watch any of the plethora of anti sugar films and you can get a brief history on the sugar lobby in the US and how fat's link to cardiovascular disease is limited. Salt is also not a problem, but it depends on your water intake and exercise (ie sweat) levels. Obviously, a pure fat and salt diet might not be the best choice, but both are solid parts of a healthy…

Fat isn't bad per se. Excessive fat consumption however is as are saturated fats.

Peanuts mostly contain unsaturated fats. Peanut butter though might contain all sorts of other ingredients that are rich in saturated fats (like some plant oils).

The problem with salt is that in general Western diets already tend to use too much salt and too much salt can lead to an increase in blood pressure, which ultimately if untreated can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

Re: Exercise Alters Our Microbiome

#180
post #113

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> (with limited fat of course) This part, in my experience as someone who is muscular w/ a low body fat percentage, is not necessary. I actually find it easiest to get very, very lean ( I am American too and otherwise totally concur with what you've written. It's shocking how badly Americans eat, and how distant their diet is from what I consider the basic staple foods that humans should be eating. My dietary suggest…

What source of fat do you use? I have trouble increasing my fat intake without frying everything, at which point it becomes a lot harder for me to track my intake.

Avocado is King. I have it with everything I eat these days. They are a bit expensive (but 4 for $5 at whole foods isn't too bad) and they ripen quickly but they are an amazing source of fat and are very versatile.
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