Ground Up Strength

Diets: "They All Work When You Stick To Them"

Public perception, even that of some health professionals, is that people who are classified as obese are lazy and have made few serious attempts to lose weight [1]. We are now starting to understand that the underlying causes of the obesity epidemic operate at numerous levels – individual, cultural, societal, and biological. We also acknowledge that fad diets are not the solution to weight loss [2], and that we need to consider a number of short and long term strategies to facilitate the social change needed to enable individuals, families and communities to live healthy lifestyles [3].

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Appetite regulation - does it exist?

Appetite regulation and feeding behaviour are critical for survival. Through appetite regulation the proper amounts of fat, carbohydrate and protein are provided through specific signals, as has been demonstrated both in rodents and in man. Although feeding is necessary to provide energy, it also leads to severe perturbations in the homeostasis of the body. To help the body to maintain homeostasis various pre-meal events occur, such as the cephalic phase secretion of pancreatic juice, the production of satiety signals and the production of heat. The latter probably involves the action of uncoupling proteins present in the intestine. The diet-induced thermogenesis is hence important for achieving energy balance in the body. The increasing prevalence of obesity in the Western world is suggested to be a consequence of the overflow of tasty high-fat and sweet food items, which after ingestion override the original rules that we were once constructed for.

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Its A War Not A Battle

This post is related to some of the concepts discussed in Strength: Simple But Difficult

I really like a good analogy. And I consider myself pretty good with them. I've noticed that some people are masters of good analogies. And others…not so great.

The trick with an analogy is you have to argue with yourself. When you come up with an analogy to illustrate something you need to try to tear it down. Come up with situations where the analogy doesn't hold. The easier this is to do and more situations you think of…the worse the analogy.

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Misconceptions Abound: Strength, Fatloss, Skills, and Progression

This page is a blog page. That means that I am not going to provide a bunch of scholarly references at the end. I am not going to do a week of research to prepare. I might have done a little cross checking but these pages are meant to be informal reactions, opinions..me drawing on my experience, etc. And HOPEFULLY, to stimulate discussion of ANY kind.

That is my idea for this particular blog. Many others use blogs with many different models.

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What is Training People?

I was perusing "fitness" blogs today and the funniest thing happened. I saw a blog post in which the post itself didn't interest me. It was more of the same old same old simplistic reaction to a complex "human" problem. What got me wanting to blog about the page, on this, my FIRST post on my blog here, was the TITLE.

The title was about how so-called fitness professionals train people. I got confused. You see, for a minute I thought the stress was on the word train. But instead it was on the word people.

Changes the subject of the post a little, doesn't it?

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What To Eat: Three Questions To Ask Yourself

By Michelle May, M.D.

We are bombarded with conflicting messages about what to eat—often side by side on the same magazine cover. These confusing messages create internal conflict when what you want to eat must face off with what you should eat according to the latest expert.

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Cissus Quadrangularis & Irvingia Gabonensis Combination

Aim: To evaluate the effects of two formulations, Cissus quadrangularis-only and a Cissus
quadrangularis/Irvingia gabonensis combination, on weight loss in overweight and obese human
subjects.

Methods: The study was a 10 week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design involving 72 obese or overweight participants (45.8% male; 54.2% female; ages 21–44; mean age = 29.3). The participants were randomly divided into three equal (n = 24) groups: placebo, Cissus quadrangularisonly, and Cissus quadrangularis/Irvingia gabonensis combination. Capsules containing the placebo or active formulations were administered twice daily before meals; no major dietary changes nor exercises were suggested during the study. A total of six anthropomorphic and serological measurements (body weight, body fat, waist size; total plasma cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, fasting blood glucose level) were taken at baseline and at 4, 8 and 10 weeks.

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Trans Fatty Acids: The Poison In Our Food Supply

By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com

Most people are eating a poison every day without giving it a second thought. This substance can increase belly fat and consuming even small amounts (2% of total energy intake) is consistently linked to coronary heart disease. The research also says that this stuff can increase visceral fat, contribute to insulin resistance, increase risk of type 2 diabetes, increase bad cholesterol, decrease good cholesterol, trigger systemic inflammation and adversely affect almost every cell in your body.

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7 Steps To Weight Loss Without Dieting Deprivation And Guilt

By Michelle May, M.D.
www.AmIHungry.com

If your commitment to eat right, exercise and lose weight always seems to lose its steam, you're not alone. Successful weight loss isn't just about what you're eating, but why you're eating in the first place. If you’re ready to lose weight without dieting, deprivation and guilt and decrease emotional eating, you need to know about Instinctive Eating (sometimes called intuitive eating).

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The Two Pounds Per Month Rule and How to Burn Fat Faster

Why do you always hear that 2 pounds per week is the maximum amount of fat you should safely lose? If you train really hard while watching calories closely shouldn’t you be able to lose more fat without losing muscle or damaging your health? What if you want to lose fat faster? How do you explain the fast weight losses on The Biggest Loser? These are all good questions that I’ve been asked many times. With the diet marketplace being flooded every day with rapid weight loss claims, these questions desperately need and deserve some honest answers. Want to know where that 2 pounds per week rule comes from and what it really takes to burn more than 2 pounds of fat per week? Read on.

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