Links and Quick Hits

~ Most people aware of lowcarb and paleo dieting are well aware of insulin’s role in promoting fat storage. But how about the role of leptin and leptin resistance? Dr. Mercola gives a good overview.

You become both insulin and leptin resistant by eating the typical American diet full of sugar, refined grains, processed foods … and not a whole lot else.

The solution is fairly straightforward, and this is to instead eat a diet that emphasizes good fats and avoids blood sugar spikes — in short the dietary program detailed in my nutrition plan, which emphasizes healthy fats, lean meats and fresh vegetables, and restricts sugar and grains.

~ So how many saw the latest news? Low-carb Diets Linked To Atherosclerosis And Impaired Blood Vessel Growth. "…mice placed on a 12-week low carbohydrate/high-protein diet showed a significant increase in atherosclerosis, a buildup of plaque in the heart’s arteries and a leading cause of heart attack and stroke." Yea, well, my friend Peter, the UK veterinarian, takes the study to task both here and here. The bottom line?

One offspring from the impatience of cardiologists is the apoE-/- mouse. This mouse is a genetic cripple who’s ability to process fat has been severely damaged. There are a very, very, very small number of people in the world who are homozygous for defective apoE.

~ More bonus footage from Tom Naughton & Fat Head. The eight minute clip includes interview portions with Dr. Al Sears, Dr. Mary Dan Eades, and Dr. Mike Eades.

~ Don Matesz, in addition to many great posts at Primal Wisdom, has the definitive list of ten reasons you can’t lose fat.

Most people simply don’t understand that reducing calories and increasing activity just don’t work for many people in the short term, or for most people in the long term. Hard losers may have a slow metabolism, but its not genetic, and their problem is hormonal, but not due to estrogen, testosterone, or thyroid.

~ And from Time Magazine, for once getting some things right, Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin.

I have exercised like this — obsessively, a bit grimly — for years, but recently I began to wonder: Why am I doing this? Except for a two-year period at the end of an unhappy relationship — a period when I self-medicated with lots of Italian desserts — I have never been overweight. One of the most widely accepted, commonly repeated assumptions in our culture is that if you exercise, you will lose weight. But I exercise all the time, and since I ended that relationship and cut most of those desserts, my weight has returned to the same 163 lb. it has been most of my adult life. I still have gut fat that hangs over my belt when I sit. Why isn’t all the exercise wiping it out?

~ While I have yet to go through all of this carefully, it has been sitting in my inbox courtesy of reader Rachel, for over a month: Vitamin D and Vitamin K Team Up to Lower CVD Risk.

Conclusion

As research documenting the widespread and significant beneficial actions of vitamin D continues to appear in the peer-reviewed medical literature accompanied by reports that the majority of the U.S. population is deficient in this nutrient, more clinicians are evaluating their patients’ vitamin D levels and prescribing supplementation, often in amounts as high as 5,000 to 10,000 IU/day, without awareness of the risk of provoking an imbalance among vitamins D, K and A. Consideration of the synergistic relationship among these vitamins could allow vitamin D to be administered in doses of greater therapeutic value without incurring the risks of osteoporosis and vascular calcification associated with hypervitaminosis D.

Here’s the link to part 1 of the article.