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The Physiology of Willpower: Linking Blood Glucose to Self-Control

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Re: The Physiology of Willpower: Linking Blood Glucose to Self-Control

#41

Post by xiaoma »

nunb wrote: post #31
decode wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't figure out if you're saying your expectations were confirmed or undermined. I don't know much about nutrition, but I was under the impression that noodles, rice, and beans are all high in starch, which the body turns into significant amounts of glucose in a healthy way (sustained blood glucose over time, instead of short spikes like with simple sugars). I'm sure surviving on Ramen is bad for you, but as far a…

Replying to several others here, including this one. (Short version: use fat and starchy/tuberous food to have sustainable/stable blood sugar levels). There is no way to turn any carbohydrate into "significant amounts of glucose in a healthy way" unless you are talking about digestion or metabolism of fat. One slice of "whole wheat" bread is worse for you than a teaspoon of sugar (Glycemic load versus Glycemic index)…

As I've pointed out before on this site, the people who get the largest ratio of their food from carbohydrates live longer, weigh less and have fewer cardiovascular problems than those who eat more proteins and fats.

It doesn't matter if you're looking at wealthy countries (Japan vs the US), developing countries (China vs Mexico) or poor countries (Kenya vs Guatemala). In each case, the people getting 75% + of their diets from complex carbohydrates are much better off than those who eat a more animal-based diet.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=615086 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=613745

Re: The Physiology of Willpower: Linking Blood Glucose to Self-Control

#42

Post by HalcyonMuse »

nunb wrote: post #32
decode wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always thought the long-term blood glucose levels were the reason that runners traditionally have a spaghetti dinner the night before a big race. Am I confused, or is there just bad science behind this practice?

Bad science, I'm afraid. Or rather, junk science, since science itself is simply unbiased experimentation and hypthosesis-testing. In the absence of carbo-loading there is no lactic acid "wall" and hence no sainted feeling. Perhaps that's why the runners magazines don't talk about it ;-) What did all those kenyan runners eat for fifteen years before blowing past their fellow marathoners? Did they drink beer and carbo…

Source? I feel poorly educated all of a sudden.

Re: The Physiology of Willpower: Linking Blood Glucose to Self-Control

#43

Post by nunb »

HalcyonMuse wrote: post #42
nunb wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bad science, I'm afraid. Or rather, junk science, since science itself is simply unbiased experimentation and hypthosesis-testing. In the absence of carbo-loading there is no lactic acid "wall" and hence no sainted feeling. Perhaps that's why the runners magazines don't talk about it ;-) What did all those kenyan runners eat for fifteen years before blowing past their fellow marathoners? Did they drink beer and carbo…

Source? I feel poorly educated all of a sudden.

I don't have medical papers for the barefoot assertion, just personal experience with running pose-style.

http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/ and http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1170253/The-...

(a nice comparison in the second photograph of heelstrike vs. forefoot strike for Jurek vs. Quimare: more info by googling Tarahumara).

Discussion and links (including some to pose running). http://digg.com/other_sports/The_Running_Shoe_Debate_Barefoo...

EFAs - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acid#Essential_fatty_acid...

Omega-9 is more susceptible to free-radical damage, that's just basic chemistry. Lipid hypothesis is well worth looking up, link from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-9_fatty_acid -- the lipid hypothesis is what most people take to be gospel truth, despite, for example, well known bad-science (throwing out non-conforming data) shenanigans on the part of Keys. (A summary forthcoming in a "popular" movie called fathead).

If you are more interested, Mary Enig is worth looking up, she has an in-depth explanation of competing n-3 and n-6 pathways that is touched upon here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3_fatty_acid

Lastly Gary Taubes is a great guide to the debate.

Omnivore is descriptive, not prescriptive.

For the rest, try going to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez and searching for MRFIT, or googling Rotterdam study or the Lyon study. I believe paper summaries are not enough and that one needs to read the study, understand the methodology etc.

e.g. http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/134/11/3100 is a link that turns up. They found countervailing evidence, basically, that fat-intake was inversely associated with CHD (bets are on fat-soluble vitamins like K2 being the agents).

This whole thing is very OT for HN, so I'll stop here, if you don't mind. cheers.

Re: The Physiology of Willpower: Linking Blood Glucose to Self-Control

#44

Post by nunb »

xiaoma wrote: post #41
nunb wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Replying to several others here, including this one. (Short version: use fat and starchy/tuberous food to have sustainable/stable blood sugar levels). There is no way to turn any carbohydrate into "significant amounts of glucose in a healthy way" unless you are talking about digestion or metabolism of fat. One slice of "whole wheat" bread is worse for you than a teaspoon of sugar (Glycemic load versus Glycemic index)…

As I've pointed out before on this site, the people who get the largest ratio of their food from carbohydrates live longer, weigh less and have fewer cardiovascular problems than those who eat more proteins and fats. It doesn't matter if you're looking at wealthy countries (Japan vs the US), developing countries (China vs Mexico) or poor countries (Kenya vs Guatemala). In each case, the people getting 75% + of their…

The China study was certainly interesting, far greater caloric intake (and output, presumably), but more than the diversity of plant food I found the lack of processed food very interesting. Processed food implies omega-6 fats in great quantity, hexane/heat-processed oils, soybean and wheat as food substrates, and artificial flavorings (aka soy isoflavones).

I would be interested to hear what you think of this: http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional_diets/japan.html or http://westonaprice.org/mythstruths/mtsoy.html

cheers.

Re: The Physiology of Willpower: Linking Blood Glucose to Self-Control

#45

Post by xiaoma »

nunb wrote: post #44
xiaoma wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I've pointed out before on this site, the people who get the largest ratio of their food from carbohydrates live longer, weigh less and have fewer cardiovascular problems than those who eat more proteins and fats. It doesn't matter if you're looking at wealthy countries (Japan vs the US), developing countries (China vs Mexico) or poor countries (Kenya vs Guatemala). In each case, the people getting 75% + of their…

The China study was certainly interesting, far greater caloric intake (and output, presumably), but more than the diversity of plant food I found the lack of processed food very interesting. Processed food implies omega-6 fats in great quantity, hexane/heat-processed oils, soybean and wheat as food substrates, and artificial flavorings (aka soy isoflavones). I would be interested to hear what you think of this: http:…

The China study was interesting. The rice-eating south and wheat-eating north did about equally well, but the meat-eating upper class did not.

As for that link about Japan, it contains a pretty serious error. My guess is that the authors may have confused the caloric density of dry rice vs prepared rice.

Though fish intake has been pretty stable and the intake of rice has drastically declined in the past generation, people in Japan still get several times more calories from rice than from fish. It's also worth pointing out that as meat consumption has gone up, so have the rates lifestyle diseases. I've lived most my adult life in Taiwan, and the same thing is happening here.

>"there were a number of changes in the Japanese food supply: in 1961, 90% of the caloric supply per capita per day consisted of 90% vegetable products, and 10% animal products. In 2002, the ratio changed to 79% vegetable products, and 21% animal products. Rice appears to have given way to other grains (such as wheat) as well as increased intake in meat products. However, fish products appear to have maintained their standing as a constant in the Japanese food supply.

While the daily total calorie supply increased through much of the 1960s, it then stabilized, and then rose again in the 1980s. The supply of calories from rice declined from over to 1000 calories per capita in the early 1960s, and then declined to 618 calories per person. Calories from fish rose, and then largely stabilized. Fish accounted for just over 173 calories of per capita calorie supply in 2002, rising from 112 calories per capita in 1961." http://www.japanreview.net/essays_fish_and_rice.htm

My take on it is that we'd all be healthier if we were eating as if we were on WWII-era rations, but few people have the will power to live like that voluntarily. It's much easier to try to convince ourselves we need to eat in a way few of our ancestors could have afforded to.

Re: The Physiology of Willpower: Linking Blood Glucose to Self-Control

#46

Post by awolf »

nunb wrote: post #39
awolf wrote: post #36

I'm a type 1 diabetic. My when my glueclose levels are low from taking too much insulin and/or not eating enough I can certainly feel the effects in not being able to concentrate, being iritable, and often confused. But when my blood gluclose levels are elevated it does not necessarily mean there is an abundance of sugar to serve as fuel for my mind. It just means I have eaten too much food for my injected insulin to…

> So... In this case... Being diabetic is an advantage? I take it this is a rhetorical question? Out of interest, have you measured your HbA1c lately? Care to share it? You aren't Polish, are you? I am interested in making an ancestry-map of diabetes-sufferers.

HbA1c is 7.1.

Not polish- 1/4 Austrian.

Re: The Physiology of Willpower: Linking Blood Glucose to Self-Control

#47

Post by gailliot »

nunb wrote: post #31
decode wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't figure out if you're saying your expectations were confirmed or undermined. I don't know much about nutrition, but I was under the impression that noodles, rice, and beans are all high in starch, which the body turns into significant amounts of glucose in a healthy way (sustained blood glucose over time, instead of short spikes like with simple sugars). I'm sure surviving on Ramen is bad for you, but as far a…

Replying to several others here, including this one. (Short version: use fat and starchy/tuberous food to have sustainable/stable blood sugar levels). There is no way to turn any carbohydrate into "significant amounts of glucose in a healthy way" unless you are talking about digestion or metabolism of fat. One slice of "whole wheat" bread is worse for you than a teaspoon of sugar (Glycemic load versus Glycemic index)…

what brain regions need glucose to function, whereas others can use acids? from where did you learn this?
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