Why the brain believes something is real when it is not
Nov 17, 2008
From Scientific American, December, 2008
Why do people see faces in nature, interpret window stains as human figures, hear voices in random sounds generated by electronic devices or find conspiracies in the daily news? A proximate cause is the priming effect, in which our brain and senses are prepared to interpret stimuli according to an expected model. UFOlogists see a face on Mars. Religionists see the Virgin Mary on the side of a building. Paranormalists hear dead people speaking to them through a radio receiver. Conspiracy theorists think 9/11 was an inside job by the Bush administration. Is there a deeper ultimate cause for why people believe such weird things? There is. I call it “patternicity,” or the tendency to find meaningful patterns in meaningless noise.
Traditionally, scientists have treated patternicity as an error in cognition. A type I error, or a false positive, is believing something is real when it is not (finding a nonexistent pattern). A type II error, or a false negative, is not believing something is real when it is (not recognizing a real pattern—call it “apatternicity”). In my 2000 book How We Believe (Times Books), I argue that our brains are belief engines: evolved pattern-recognition machines that connect the dots and create meaning out of the patterns that we think we see in nature. Sometimes A really is connected to B; sometimes it is not. When it is, we have learned something valuable about the environment from which we can make predictions that aid in survival and reproduction. We are the ancestors of those most successful at finding patterns. This process is called association learning, and it is fundamental to all animal behavior, from the humble worm C. elegans to H. sapiens.
Unfortunately, we did not evolve a Baloney Detection Network in the brain to distinguish between true and false patterns. We have no error-detection governor to modulate the pattern-recognition engine. (Thus the need for science with its self-correcting mechanisms of replication and peer review.) But such erroneous cognition is not likely to remove us from the gene pool and would therefore not have been selected against by evolution.
In a September paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, “The Evolution of Superstitious and Superstition-like Behaviour,” Harvard University biologist Kevin R. Foster and University of Helsinki biologist Hanna Kokko test my theory through evolutionary modeling and demonstrate that whenever the cost of believing a false pattern is real is less than the cost of not believing a real pattern, natural selection will favor patternicity. They begin with the formula pb > c, where a belief may be held when the cost (c) of doing so is less than the probability (p) of the benefit (b). For example, believing that the rustle in the grass is a dangerous predator when it is only the wind does not cost much, but believing that a dangerous predator is the wind may cost an animal its life.
The problem is that we are very poor at estimating such probabilities, so the cost of believing that the rustle in the grass is a dangerous predator when it is just the wind is relatively low compared with the opposite. Thus, there would have been a beneficial selection for believing that most patterns are real.
Through a series of complex formulas that include additional stimuli (wind in the trees) and prior events (past experience with predators and wind), the authors conclude that “the inability of individuals—human or otherwise—to assign causal probabilities to all sets of events that occur around them will often force them to lump causal associations with non-causal ones. From here, the evolutionary rationale for superstition is clear: natural selection will favour strategies that make many incorrect causal associations in order to establish those that are essential for survival and reproduction.”
In support of a genetic selection model, Foster and Kokko note that “predators only avoid nonpoisonous snakes that mimic a poisonous species in areas where the poisonous species is common” and that even such simple organisms as “Escherichia coli cells will swim towards physiologically inert methylated aspartate presumably owing to an adaptation to favour true aspartate.”
Such patternicities, then, mean that people believe weird things because of our evolved need to believe nonweird things.
Note: This article was originally published with the title, “Patternicity".
Michael Shermer is publisher of Skeptic magazine (www.skeptic.com) and author of Why People Believe Weird Things.
Friday, March 20, 2015
Hillary Clinton: What if former secretary of state will never respect our laws?
This is just my opinion, but I neither like nor trust this woman. She has a history of elitism and has an ego that would fill an auditorium, and with a husband (slick Willie), they make a team I would never want to see anywhere near the White House ever again.
I hate politics and normally don't speak out about things like this, but this is a manifestation of what is the worst of Washington, and the people we look to for representation.
I still don't understand why people don't see her for what she is. Maybe I never will.
Hillary Clinton
Updated News
Hillary's Coattail Political Career
I hate politics and normally don't speak out about things like this, but this is a manifestation of what is the worst of Washington, and the people we look to for representation.
I still don't understand why people don't see her for what she is. Maybe I never will.
Hillary Clinton
Updated News
Hillary's Coattail Political Career
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
What Does “Supernatural” Mean, Anyway?
This is a reprint from eSkeptic magazine, March 18, 2015.
BY MICHAEL SHERMER
Ever since my Scientific American column appeared last year about the anomalous experience my wife Jennifer and I had on our wedding day involving her grandfather’s long-dead radio that mysteriously began to play music at an opportune moment (never active again), much discussion has ensued regarding the implications for belief in the supernatural, for which I penned a longer explanation and analysis on Slate. In a March 5 New York Times essay Tanya Luhrmann wrote about her own experience involving a bicycle light that mysteriously melted in her backpack, she concluded “Who’s to say that this had some natural explanation rather than a numinous one?” In response I wrote a letter to the editor at the New York Times, which they published on March 10:
When I say that “there is no such thing as the paranormal or the supernatural,” I mean that these words are just linguistic placeholders to talk about something for which we do not as yet have a normal or natural explanation. Analogously, when cosmologists talk about “dark energy” and “dark matter” they don’t mean those words to be an explanation, only linguistic placeholders until they figure out what exactly is causing the as-yet unsolved mysteries (rotation of galaxies, accelerating expansion of the cosmos). But whereas cosmologists do not stop searching for the underlying mechanisms of the observed phenomena just because they have a label, religious believers and New Agers treat words like “paranormal” and “supernatural” (or “miracle”) as if they were causal explanations.
If it turned out that, say, people really could read other peoples’ minds and that they were able to do so because inside our neurons are tiny microtubules in which quantum effects happen that allow thoughts (patterns of neural firing) to be transferred from one skull to another at any distance (like “spooky action at a distance” effects that quantum physicists have measured in experiments), that would not be ESP or PSI, and we wouldn’t need to call it a “paranormal” effect because we would then know that the ability to read minds was due to the properties of neurons and atoms, and it would be subsumed under the sciences of neuroscience and/or quantum physics (quantum neuroscience?). (This is, by the way, an actual theory.)
As for the possibility that a God could be using other forces, “forces outside of nature to interact with the world” as Jerry says, if a God did that (through intercessory prayer, miracles, or whatever) in a way we could measure the effects of such interactions, wouldn’t that mean that God must be using forces measurable by our scientific instruments? Here I am reminded of the analogy drawn by the great British astronomer Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington in his classic 1958 book The Philosophy of Physical Science:
BY MICHAEL SHERMER
Ever since my Scientific American column appeared last year about the anomalous experience my wife Jennifer and I had on our wedding day involving her grandfather’s long-dead radio that mysteriously began to play music at an opportune moment (never active again), much discussion has ensued regarding the implications for belief in the supernatural, for which I penned a longer explanation and analysis on Slate. In a March 5 New York Times essay Tanya Luhrmann wrote about her own experience involving a bicycle light that mysteriously melted in her backpack, she concluded “Who’s to say that this had some natural explanation rather than a numinous one?” In response I wrote a letter to the editor at the New York Times, which they published on March 10:
To the Editor:
Re “When Things Happen That You Can’t Explain” (Op-Ed, March 5): T. M. Luhrmann opines that when things happen that cannot be explained, it opens the door for the possibility of supernatural or paranormal phenomena being real. She cites several examples of powerful personal experiences that people have had, including my own, which I recounted in my Scientific American column.
As interesting as such experiences are to read about, from a scientific perspective they mean nothing because there is no such thing as the paranormal or the supernatural. There is just the normal, the natural and mysteries we have yet to solve with normal and natural explanations. Until such time as we can provide natural explanations for apparently supernatural phenomena, we need do nothing with such stories because in science we will never be able to explain everything.
There is always a residue of unexplained phenomena, and in science it is O.K. to simply say “I don’t know” and leave it at that. Unexplained does not equal supernatural.The always insightful biologist and skeptic Jerry Coyne wrote an analysis of both Luhrmann’s essay and my letter in which he concluded:
I mostly agree with what Shermer said, although part of the letter is confusing: “there is no such thing as the paranormal or the supernatural.” One could take that as a tautology: that such phenomena, because they can be investigated by the tools of science and reason, must be natural by definition, as they’re part of nature. But I think Shermer means more than that: that there is a natural explanation for everything that seems paranormal or supernatural. While everything we know about what happens in the cosmos supports this conclusion, it’s still logically possible that there is a God—a supernatural being—who uses forces outside of nature to interact with the world. If that were true, those interactions would not have “normal and natural explanations.” (I find the paranormal a bit more “natural-ish”, since if we could, say, move objects with our minds, there would almost have to be some natural but unexplained reason for that.)Jerry makes a good point here, but let me add one final point on the matter as it seems to turn on what one means by “supernatural” and “paranormal”.
When I say that “there is no such thing as the paranormal or the supernatural,” I mean that these words are just linguistic placeholders to talk about something for which we do not as yet have a normal or natural explanation. Analogously, when cosmologists talk about “dark energy” and “dark matter” they don’t mean those words to be an explanation, only linguistic placeholders until they figure out what exactly is causing the as-yet unsolved mysteries (rotation of galaxies, accelerating expansion of the cosmos). But whereas cosmologists do not stop searching for the underlying mechanisms of the observed phenomena just because they have a label, religious believers and New Agers treat words like “paranormal” and “supernatural” (or “miracle”) as if they were causal explanations.
If it turned out that, say, people really could read other peoples’ minds and that they were able to do so because inside our neurons are tiny microtubules in which quantum effects happen that allow thoughts (patterns of neural firing) to be transferred from one skull to another at any distance (like “spooky action at a distance” effects that quantum physicists have measured in experiments), that would not be ESP or PSI, and we wouldn’t need to call it a “paranormal” effect because we would then know that the ability to read minds was due to the properties of neurons and atoms, and it would be subsumed under the sciences of neuroscience and/or quantum physics (quantum neuroscience?). (This is, by the way, an actual theory.)
As for the possibility that a God could be using other forces, “forces outside of nature to interact with the world” as Jerry says, if a God did that (through intercessory prayer, miracles, or whatever) in a way we could measure the effects of such interactions, wouldn’t that mean that God must be using forces measurable by our scientific instruments? Here I am reminded of the analogy drawn by the great British astronomer Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington in his classic 1958 book The Philosophy of Physical Science:
Let us suppose that an ichthyologist is exploring the life of the ocean. He casts a net into the water and brings up a fishy assortment. Surveying his catch, he proceeds in the usual manner of a scientist to systematize what it reveals. He arrives at two generalizations:
1 No sea-creature is less than two inches long.
2 All sea-creatures have gills.
In applying this analogy, the catch stands for the body of knowledge which constitutes physical science, and the net for the sensory and intellectual equipment which we use in obtaining it. The casting of the net corresponds to observations.
An onlooker may object that the first generalization is wrong. “There are plenty of sea-creatures under two inches long, only your net is not adapted to catch them.” The ichthyologist dismisses this objection contemptuously. “Anything uncatchable by my net is ipso facto outside the scope of ichthyological knowledge, and is not part of the kingdom of fishes which has been defined as the theme of ichthyological knowledge. In short, what my net can’t catch isn’t fish.” (1958, p. 16)Extending the analogy beyond the physical sciences to all fields, regardless of what forces a God may use outside of our universe, if he’s interacting with our universe in a way we can measure it, then he must be using forces measurable by scientific instruments or our senses, so by definition they must be natural. What our scientific nets catch are natural fish. If one were to argue that God’s forces are non-natural (or supernatural) and they can still effect the world but in a non-measurable way (because our scientific nets only catch natural fish), then what’s the difference between an invisible God and a nonexistent God?
Five Simple Ways to Combat Sugar Cravings
From INH Health Watch
Sugar is the most dangerous ingredient in the standard American diet (SAD). Health Watch readers know eating it causes major health problems…like cancer. And it’s not just deadly… It’s addicting. Based on brain scans, it’s as addictive as cocaine according to one 60 Minutes report.
Giving it up can seem hard. But there are some tricks you can do that will help.
Here are five simple ways to combat sugar cravings:
1. Get More Protein: Foods high in protein will keep you full longer. This helps derail cravings of any kind. Eating more protein also promotes healthy insulin and glucose activity. This doesn’t just prevent diabetes… It may keep you from sneaking something sweet.
When you can’t get cookies off your mind, reach for a bag of nuts instead. Pistachios or cashews are great choices. And it’s not just their protein content that will help you avoid sugar....
2. Eat a Fatty Snack: Healthy fats help balance your hormones, like serotonin. But if those levels aren’t in check, it fuels sugar cravings. And that can also affect your mood. Eating more sugar might feel like a quick fix…but it’s only making things worse.
Next time you’re feeling hungry before dinner, try a high-fat natural snack. Cut up avocado slices and eat them plain. Or pair it with a poached egg. They’re both rich sources of good fats. Fatty nuts and olives also make good snacks.
3. Use More Spices: Sweet spices like clove and cardamom can help fill the need for something sugary. It makes you feel satisfied. Many of these spices also help manage blood glucose levels.
Get creative with your spices. Sprinkle them in your coffee in place of sugar. Add them to your salad. Pairing them up creates new tastes. But it also means getting even more health benefits.
4. Increase Your Magnesium Intake: A magnesium deficiency triggers sugar cravings. And it’s no surprise… This mineral helps regulate glucose, insulin, and dopamine levels. An imbalance of any of these can make your body want sugar.
Spinach is an excellent source of magnesium. Gently steam it and serve it as a side. Throw in some chopped almonds to add even more of this mineral.
5. Drink More Water: Dehydration can bring on sugary urges. That’s because your body is in search of energy sources. This can also put your body into stress mode…one of the leading causes of cravings. But drinking water will help fix that.
You can better fulfill your craving by adding flavor. Try lemon wedges. They’re high in potassium. Combining them with water can boost brain power. You might also want to try dropping in a few cucumber slices. They’re loaded with disease-fighting nutrients.
Have a water bottle handy wherever you go. Carry a bag of mixed nuts with you. If those sweet cravings hit, you’re prepared. Before you know it, they may vanish for good.
Sugar is the most dangerous ingredient in the standard American diet (SAD). Health Watch readers know eating it causes major health problems…like cancer. And it’s not just deadly… It’s addicting. Based on brain scans, it’s as addictive as cocaine according to one 60 Minutes report.
Giving it up can seem hard. But there are some tricks you can do that will help.
Here are five simple ways to combat sugar cravings:
1. Get More Protein: Foods high in protein will keep you full longer. This helps derail cravings of any kind. Eating more protein also promotes healthy insulin and glucose activity. This doesn’t just prevent diabetes… It may keep you from sneaking something sweet.
When you can’t get cookies off your mind, reach for a bag of nuts instead. Pistachios or cashews are great choices. And it’s not just their protein content that will help you avoid sugar....
2. Eat a Fatty Snack: Healthy fats help balance your hormones, like serotonin. But if those levels aren’t in check, it fuels sugar cravings. And that can also affect your mood. Eating more sugar might feel like a quick fix…but it’s only making things worse.
Next time you’re feeling hungry before dinner, try a high-fat natural snack. Cut up avocado slices and eat them plain. Or pair it with a poached egg. They’re both rich sources of good fats. Fatty nuts and olives also make good snacks.
3. Use More Spices: Sweet spices like clove and cardamom can help fill the need for something sugary. It makes you feel satisfied. Many of these spices also help manage blood glucose levels.
Get creative with your spices. Sprinkle them in your coffee in place of sugar. Add them to your salad. Pairing them up creates new tastes. But it also means getting even more health benefits.
4. Increase Your Magnesium Intake: A magnesium deficiency triggers sugar cravings. And it’s no surprise… This mineral helps regulate glucose, insulin, and dopamine levels. An imbalance of any of these can make your body want sugar.
Spinach is an excellent source of magnesium. Gently steam it and serve it as a side. Throw in some chopped almonds to add even more of this mineral.
5. Drink More Water: Dehydration can bring on sugary urges. That’s because your body is in search of energy sources. This can also put your body into stress mode…one of the leading causes of cravings. But drinking water will help fix that.
You can better fulfill your craving by adding flavor. Try lemon wedges. They’re high in potassium. Combining them with water can boost brain power. You might also want to try dropping in a few cucumber slices. They’re loaded with disease-fighting nutrients.
Have a water bottle handy wherever you go. Carry a bag of mixed nuts with you. If those sweet cravings hit, you’re prepared. Before you know it, they may vanish for good.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Volvo auto brake test fail
Volvo's Collision Warning with Auto Brake (CWAB) developed in
cooperation with Mobileye N.V. was introduced on the 2007 Volvo S80.
This system is powered by a radar/camera fusion and provides a warning
through a Head-Up Display that visually resembles brake lamps. If the
driver does not react, the system pre-charges the brakes and increases
the brake assist sensitivity to maximize driver braking performance.
Notice that the airbag didn't deploy either.
I hope they got all the bugs worked out of this one!
Volvo's Collision Warning with Auto Brake
Notice that the airbag didn't deploy either.
I hope they got all the bugs worked out of this one!
Volvo's Collision Warning with Auto Brake
Mummy mystery lingers on daunting Mexico peak
Strange... I climbed this peak in the early 90s. Who would have guess
that there were 30 year old mummies buried in the snow below our feet.
Mummies in Mexico
Mummies in Mexico
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Association for Biblical Astronomy
I find it incredible that there are people who still think like this.
Could it possibly be engineers, scientists, and astronomers have been completely wrong for the last 400 years? You tell me.
Geocentricity
Could it possibly be engineers, scientists, and astronomers have been completely wrong for the last 400 years? You tell me.
Geocentricity
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Graham: ‘You Can Have Every Email I’ve Ever Sent — I’ve Never Sent One’
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says he's never communicated by email. The article doesn't mention that he's a member of the subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law.
Yeah, this sounds about right.
Yeah, this sounds about right.
Senator Lindsey Graham
Sunday, March 08, 2015
Perception
This was posted on the Thinking Athiest Facebook page.
It says a lot of how athiests are often perceived.
Thursday, March 05, 2015
Time for a little levity
A friend of mine pointed this out to me. I just had to share it.
Enjoy a minute or two of Irish humor and smile.
Old ladies with spray glue
Actually, I laughed harder the second time I watched it.
Enjoy a minute or two of Irish humor and smile.
Old ladies with spray glue
Actually, I laughed harder the second time I watched it.
Tuesday, March 03, 2015
Thing charger
Now I don't have a great need for something like this, but I know plenty of people that do. It is interesting and might just be a useful tool if you have plenty of electronics needing a periodic charge.
Check it out.
Thing Charger
Saturday, February 28, 2015
The 7 Reasons We Fail & How to Rebound from Our Missteps
by Harvey Mackay
As any successful person will honestly admit, failure happens, and we’ve all had our fair share of it. But from each failure, we learn two equally valuable lessons. One, that there was at least one reason we failed; and two, that we can rebound from that failure. So, why do we fail? And how do we fix it? According to Shiv Khera, author of You Can Win, failures most often occur for one of 7 reasons. And Harvey Mackay, best-selling author and business speaker, says each one can teach us something valuable, can show us how to avoid falling back into the same hole. Here are the most common failure-causing problems and their solutions:
1. Lack of Persistence: More people fail not because they lack knowledge or talent but because they just quit. It’s important to remember two words: persistence and resistance. Persist in what must be done and resist what ought not to be done. Try new approaches. Persistence is important, but repeating the same actions over and over again, hoping that this time you'll succeed, probably won’t get you any closer to your objective. Look at your previous unsuccessful efforts and decide what to change. Keep making adjustments and mid-course corrections, using your experience as a guide.
2. Lack of Conviction: People who lack conviction take the middle of the road. But what happens in the middle of the road? You get run over. People without conviction go along to get along because they lack confidence and courage. They conform in order to get accepted, even when they know that what they are doing is wrong. Decide what is important to you. If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right and doing well. Let your passion show even in mundane tasks. It’s OK to collaborate and cooperate for success, but it’s not OK to compromise your values—ever.
3. Rationalization: Winners might analyze, but they never rationalize. Those who fail rationalize Image result for failure and have a book full of excuses to tell you why they couldn’t succeed. Change your perspective. Don’t think of every unsuccessful attempt as a failure. Few people succeed at everything the first time or even after several. Most of us attain our goals only through repeated effort. Do your best to learn everything you can about what happened and why.
4. Dismissal of Past Mistakes: Some people live and learn, and some only live. Failure is a teacher if we have the right attitude. Wise people learn from their mistakes—experience is the name they give to slip ups. Define the problem better. Analyze the situation—what you want to achieve, what your strategy is, why it didn’t work. Are you really viewing the problem correctly? If you need money, you have more options than increasing revenue. You could also cut expenses. Think about what you’re really trying to do.
5. Lack of Discipline: Anyone who has accomplished anything worthwhile has never done it without discipline. Discipline takes self-control, sacrifice and avoiding distractions and temptations. It means staying focused. Don’t be a perfectionist. You might have an idealized vision of what success will look and feel like. Although that can be motivational, it might not be realistic. Succeeding at one goal won’t eliminate all your problems. Be clear on what will satisfy your objectives and don’t obsess about superficial details.
6. Poor Self-Regard: Poor self-regard is a lack of self-respect and self-worth. People with low self-confidence are constantly trying to find themselves rather than creating the person they want to be. Don’t label yourself. You might have failed, but you’re not a failure until you stop trying. Think of yourself as someone still striving toward a goal, and you’ll be better able to maintain your patience and perseverance for the long haul.
7. Fatalistic Attitude: A fatalistic attitude prevents people from accepting responsibility for their position in life. They attribute success and failure to luck. They resign themselves to their fate, regardless of their efforts, that whatever has to happen will happen anyway. Look in the mirror every day and say, I am in charge. You might not have control over every phase of your life, but you have more control than you realize, and you are responsible for your own happiness and success. Your attitude determines your altitude, and you can turn “down and out” into “up and at ’em.”
This article gives an explanation of the reasons why we fail. I know from personal experience, these form a lot of the assertions why we seem to fail in the face of success, and I have experienced each of these on certain occasions. Often, our fear of failure is the grounds we do. We watch little kids and see they don't seem to have that learned fear of failure. This is learned by each of us over time. Kids try and fail, but they don't let this discourage them. They keep trying until they succeed. It's only as we get older, we seem to discover it's easier to just stop... and this is the true failure. You see people do amazing things. These are the ones who have discovered what it is to keep trying.
The following article attempts to put this into perspective.
Where do your failures fit in?
As any successful person will honestly admit, failure happens, and we’ve all had our fair share of it. But from each failure, we learn two equally valuable lessons. One, that there was at least one reason we failed; and two, that we can rebound from that failure. So, why do we fail? And how do we fix it? According to Shiv Khera, author of You Can Win, failures most often occur for one of 7 reasons. And Harvey Mackay, best-selling author and business speaker, says each one can teach us something valuable, can show us how to avoid falling back into the same hole. Here are the most common failure-causing problems and their solutions:
1. Lack of Persistence: More people fail not because they lack knowledge or talent but because they just quit. It’s important to remember two words: persistence and resistance. Persist in what must be done and resist what ought not to be done. Try new approaches. Persistence is important, but repeating the same actions over and over again, hoping that this time you'll succeed, probably won’t get you any closer to your objective. Look at your previous unsuccessful efforts and decide what to change. Keep making adjustments and mid-course corrections, using your experience as a guide.
2. Lack of Conviction: People who lack conviction take the middle of the road. But what happens in the middle of the road? You get run over. People without conviction go along to get along because they lack confidence and courage. They conform in order to get accepted, even when they know that what they are doing is wrong. Decide what is important to you. If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right and doing well. Let your passion show even in mundane tasks. It’s OK to collaborate and cooperate for success, but it’s not OK to compromise your values—ever.
3. Rationalization: Winners might analyze, but they never rationalize. Those who fail rationalize Image result for failure and have a book full of excuses to tell you why they couldn’t succeed. Change your perspective. Don’t think of every unsuccessful attempt as a failure. Few people succeed at everything the first time or even after several. Most of us attain our goals only through repeated effort. Do your best to learn everything you can about what happened and why.
4. Dismissal of Past Mistakes: Some people live and learn, and some only live. Failure is a teacher if we have the right attitude. Wise people learn from their mistakes—experience is the name they give to slip ups. Define the problem better. Analyze the situation—what you want to achieve, what your strategy is, why it didn’t work. Are you really viewing the problem correctly? If you need money, you have more options than increasing revenue. You could also cut expenses. Think about what you’re really trying to do.
5. Lack of Discipline: Anyone who has accomplished anything worthwhile has never done it without discipline. Discipline takes self-control, sacrifice and avoiding distractions and temptations. It means staying focused. Don’t be a perfectionist. You might have an idealized vision of what success will look and feel like. Although that can be motivational, it might not be realistic. Succeeding at one goal won’t eliminate all your problems. Be clear on what will satisfy your objectives and don’t obsess about superficial details.
6. Poor Self-Regard: Poor self-regard is a lack of self-respect and self-worth. People with low self-confidence are constantly trying to find themselves rather than creating the person they want to be. Don’t label yourself. You might have failed, but you’re not a failure until you stop trying. Think of yourself as someone still striving toward a goal, and you’ll be better able to maintain your patience and perseverance for the long haul.
7. Fatalistic Attitude: A fatalistic attitude prevents people from accepting responsibility for their position in life. They attribute success and failure to luck. They resign themselves to their fate, regardless of their efforts, that whatever has to happen will happen anyway. Look in the mirror every day and say, I am in charge. You might not have control over every phase of your life, but you have more control than you realize, and you are responsible for your own happiness and success. Your attitude determines your altitude, and you can turn “down and out” into “up and at ’em.”
Do you think there might be bias in the news?
This picture may explain a few things...
if you had a hunch the news system was somewhat rigged and you couldn't put your finger on it, this might help solve the puzzle.
• ABC News executive producer Ian Cameron is married to Susan Rice, National Security Adviser.
• CBS President David Rhodes is the brother of Ben Rhodes, Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications.
• ABC News correspondent Claire Shipman is married to former Whitehouse Press Secretary Jay Carney.
• ABC News and Univision reporter Matthew Jaffe is married to Katie Hogan, Obama's Deputy Press Secretary.
• ABC President Ben Sherwood is the brother of Obama's Special Adviser Elizabeth Sherwood.
• CNN President Virginia Moseley is married to former Hillary Clinton's Deputy Secretary Tom Nides.Now you know why the media usually goes very easy on Obama's many errors.
Do you think there might be at least a little bias in the news?
Friday, February 27, 2015
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Saudi Arabia court gives death penalty to man who renounced his Muslim faith
Nothing validates an idea, ideology, opinion, or religion like killing someone for saying they don't agree.
Monday, February 23, 2015
Where do our biases come from?
Why do you believe the things you do? When did you start believing in them?
The reason we choose to think a certain way and then to evolve those things into a belief system is complex and doesn't always follow the truth based on facts, but they still become part of our way of thinking, and form our convictions.
Check out this clip and consider yours.
The Psychology of Belief - Biases and the Brain.
The reason we choose to think a certain way and then to evolve those things into a belief system is complex and doesn't always follow the truth based on facts, but they still become part of our way of thinking, and form our convictions.
Check out this clip and consider yours.
The Psychology of Belief - Biases and the Brain.
Saturday, February 21, 2015
The skinny on Adipose fat, and the most efficient way to shed it
This article comes from my personal trainer, Danny. We've been working together a little while now, and he has shown me better ways to get the most out of my training time and my body. We have had several conversation on the matter and why he does what he does for his clients. This may not work for everyone, but it works well for me. Enjoy.We’re often told, most of us since our high school P.E. class, that a 25 minute workout is all we need to burn fat, but don’t think that you can get away with a low level workout to accomplish such a task. If you’re going to target only the Adipose fat, which is that fat we all want to get rid of, you’re going to be using way more sources of energy than just the fat you’re looking to burn and it can leave you feeling depleted.
Adipose fat is the tissue below the skin around the internal organs, stored beneath the subcutaneous fat layer, which gives us energy-the same fat that makes us nice and cushy. The body stores adipose fat for survival and uses it when energy is needed. Excess adipose fat is that fat that most of us are trying our hardest to shed. We don’t need all that fat for healthy body function, and that’s where the measurements for obesity come in.
One
of the most effective ways to lose that adipose fat, without out
depleting energy as well, is to sustain a perceived effort level in your
aerobic workout that is between 5-6, on a scale from 1-10. So if 10 is
the hardest you can push yourself, and 1 is the lowest you can push
yourself, find yourself somewhere in between. Keep this consistency for
up to 1 hour 3-4 times weekly. Doing such a workout targets just
adipose fat, but does not stress the body so much as to use up other
energy resources, leaving you still feeling like you have fuel to
accomplish all your daily tasks without interruption. You’re sure to
notice results within the week-up to 2 lbs. every week, in fact. Don't
forget one of the most important elements of your workout...the warm up and stretch!
In between these fat burning workouts, build up your muscles to help facilitate burning more body fat and keeping those pounds off.
Bear in mind, there is going to be a point where you will have to change what type of aerobic workout you’re doing to sustain weight loss-oh the plateau. That’s when the Circuit workout comes into play.
The Neurology of Aging & Movement Longevity
By: Dr. Emily Splichal, DMP, MS, CES
You have probably read at least a dozen articles advocating the benefits of protecting cognitive function as we age. From exercise to crossword puzzles, there are many ways to keep your brain sharp as you age. But how much do you think about your peripheral nerve health and age?
Our ability to maintain an active lifestyle and participate in the hobbies we enjoy is just as dependent on a strong and healthy peripheral nervous system as it is to cognitive function. In this article we are going to explore the neurology of aging, how it affects all of us, and exactly what we can do keep our peripheral nervous system vibrant and healthy ensuring what I call "movement longevity".
The Nervous System: Comprised of both the Central Nervous System (CNS) (brain & spinal cord) and Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) (nerves & axons), our nervous system is responsible for coordinating voluntary and involuntary actions.
Our PNS is a complex network of spinal nerves and plexuses branching from the spinal cord. Traveling out from the spinal cord, it is the peripheral nerves which are sensitive to stimulation from the palm of our hands to the tips of our toes.
These peripheral nerves are sensitive input signals (afferent signals) which go back up to the CNS. The CNS then processes this input and sends an outgoing., action signal (efferent signal) back down to the PNS resulting in controlled, precise movements.
Movement Accuracy: To improve the accuracy and efficiency of each movement, our neuromuscular system is controlled by both a feed forward and feedback system or loop. Feed forward responses (aka pre-activation responses) are based on previous experiences or muscle activation patterns. These responses are stored in an area of the brain referred to as the cerebellum – and occur before the completion of the movement. An example of a feed forward response would be activating the ankle stabilizers before foot contact.
Conversely, feedback responses (aka reactive responses) allow our neuromuscular system to adjust to errors, and auto-correct throughout a given movement. An example of a feedback response would be activation of ankle stabilizers when walking on an uneven terrain.
Age & Input Accuracy: Where the concept of neuromuscular control, movement efficiency and aging come together is through the accuracy of input signals as dictated by the peripheral nervous system. The more accurate the information coming in, the more precise our movements will be.
If we imagine someone who is older, we typically picture someone who is more frail and timid in their movements. We may note a delay in the correction of movement errors and often associate this delayed correction with an increased risk in falls.
With falls being one of the biggest concerns as we age, instability and decreased control can often be attributed to an aging peripheral nervous system. So, is there anything that can be done to protect the nervous system as we age so that we can maintain the movement accuracy of our younger years? Or, must we succumb to the inevitable process of an aging neuromuscular system?
The good news is there is absolutely something you can do to protect your peripheral nervous system from the aging process. It is called neuroplasticity through barefoot science.
To fully understand this concept let's continue exploring the peripheral nervous system specifically as it relates to the plantar foot.
Plantar Proprioceptors: What's unique about the PNS and the foot is this is where the smallest nerve branches exist. Divided into both sensory and motor nerves, studies have shown that 3x as many branches off of the tibial nerve in the lower leg provide sensory function.
The peripheral nerves that have a sensory function to the skin are referred to as cutaneous nerves. In the bottom of our foot they are our plantar cutaneous receptors. These small nerves are responsible for processing information such as texture, skin stretch, vibration, deep pressure and light touch. All of the stimuli which allows us to maintain upright stance, manipulate uneven terrain and absorb impact forces.
Our ability to detect surface compliancy and impact forces is heavily dependent on vibration detection. The importance of this sensory input is demonstrated by the fact that 80% of our plantar cutaneous receptors are sensitive to vibration!
If we go back to aging and the accuracy of input information for precise and controlled movements, vibration detection is of utmost importance.
How Aging Affects Our Ability to Detect Vibration: Studies have shown that as we age, our ability to detect vibration input is impaired. From decreased receptor density to increased input threshold, by the time we are age 70 our plantar foot requires twice the stimulation to create the same response. This means that we need to do everything we can to ensure accurate vibration input is entering our plantar peripheral proprioceptors.
Footwear & Impaired Vibration Input: One of the greatest inhibitors of vibration input are the shoes we love. Regardless of their fashion and functional benefits, footwear is not a natural feature of our nervous system or environment.
Our nervous system and the bare foot were not designed to decipher impact forces through footwear and cushion. This concept is now readily accepted within the running and minimal footwear industries. What can we do to offset the aging nervous system and maintain movement longevity in the unnatural shod environment in which we live?
Tips for Movement Longevity
Tip #1 – Keep blood sugar under control: Although we typically associated elevated blood sugar levels with diabetes, we can all experience fluctuations in our blood sugar levels (think Ben & Jerry's ice cream).
Elevated glucose in our blood stream is converted to AGEs (advanced glycation end products). The myelin that surrounds our peripheral nerves is sensitive to these AGEs. AGEs cause demyelination, or the destruction of the myelin sheath, and disrupts signal transport.
The formation of AGEs stimulates an increase in oxidative stress, free radical formation and an increase in our pro-inflammatory markers. Essentially elevated blood sugar levels (even in a non-diabetic) causes aging and degeneration of peripheral nerves (with the foot nerves going first!).
Tip #2 – Consider Nerve Protective Vitamins: When I was in graduate school a big part of my focus was on vitamin supplementation and diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Having spent so much time researching this topic I became a firm believer in the benefits of the appropriate vitamins in protecting nerve health as we age.
Everyone can benefit from nerve protective supplements – especially if we consider that elevated blood sugar levels (even in a non-diabetic) can start to damage our peripheral nerve function.
Vitamin #1 – L-Methyl Folate: This is not your mother's folic acid! L-methyl folate is the activated form of folate (folic acid) which has been shown to increase nerve growth factor. When taken over a period of 6 months studies have shown an increase in epidermal nerve fiber density (or in other words more peripheral nerves!). Link to study. Dosage: 1000 ug X 3 times day
Vitamin #2 – Acetyl-L-Carnitine: ALC is another powerful nerve protective supplement. ALC has been shown to decrease painful nerve symptoms, as well as increase vibratory sensation. Remember that we maintain balance and absorb impact forces based on our ability to detect vibration so this is extremely beneficial as age! Dosage: 500mg x 2 times day
Vitamin #3 – R-Lipoic Acid: This is probably my favorite supplement! (Yes I do get that excited over a vitamin). Touted as one of the most powerful anti-oxidants, ALA has been shown to improve micro-circulation to peripheral nerves while decreasing oxidative stress. A key point about ALA is that it must be taken in the R-LA form. "R" form is one that is biologically active (vs. "S" form). Dosage: 600 mg x 1 time day
Tip #3 – Cardiovascular Exercise: Cardiovascular exercise has many benefits, one of which is related to peripheral circulation. The vascular system, just like the nervous system, is very intelligent meaning that if there is a loss in circulation to one area of a muscle the vascular system will create what's called collateral circulation (or in other words form new blood vessels). This is why cardiovascular exercise is beneficial for those with peripheral arterial disease. Just like the collateral circulation formed in muscles, our vascular system can create new micro-vascular pathways to our nerves. The more blood and oxygen to our nerves the healthier they are!
Tip #4 – Myofascial Release (aka, foam rolling): When I have a patient with idiopathic nerve symptoms I often include myofascial work into their recovery program. Our complex network of superficial and deep fascial is intertwined with just as complex of a network of arteries, veins and peripheral nerves.
As our peripheral nerves course from the spine down to the foot it is only inevitable that they may get "stuck" or "sticky" at some point. From muscle adhesions to a loss in fascial flexibility, our inflexibility can often impede nerve conduction. Just like when you sleep on your arm and wake up with it tingling, to a smaller degree this is what's happening to our peripheral nerves when they get caught in fascial tissue.
I often recommend to my patients to release their plantar foot, up the back of the calf to the hamstrings and into the glutes and piriformis. For those with nerve symptoms this should be done daily.
Tip # 5 – Go Barefoot! This one pretty much goes without saying! If our small nerves are on the bottom of the foot we want to keep them sensitive and awake through frequent barefoot stimulation.
Our nervous system is very plastic – which means that it can be shaped, challenged and molded based on the stimuli it encounters. Conversely, if you do not stimulate your peripheral nervous system it will begin to weaken, fade and atrophy.
Whether your barefoot routine includes vibration training, standing on different textures or simply walking around your home – daily barefoot stimulation is enough to keep these small nerves on point! Want to kick it up a notch? Workout barefoot!
You have probably read at least a dozen articles advocating the benefits of protecting cognitive function as we age. From exercise to crossword puzzles, there are many ways to keep your brain sharp as you age. But how much do you think about your peripheral nerve health and age?
Our ability to maintain an active lifestyle and participate in the hobbies we enjoy is just as dependent on a strong and healthy peripheral nervous system as it is to cognitive function. In this article we are going to explore the neurology of aging, how it affects all of us, and exactly what we can do keep our peripheral nervous system vibrant and healthy ensuring what I call "movement longevity".
The Nervous System: Comprised of both the Central Nervous System (CNS) (brain & spinal cord) and Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) (nerves & axons), our nervous system is responsible for coordinating voluntary and involuntary actions.
Our PNS is a complex network of spinal nerves and plexuses branching from the spinal cord. Traveling out from the spinal cord, it is the peripheral nerves which are sensitive to stimulation from the palm of our hands to the tips of our toes.
These peripheral nerves are sensitive input signals (afferent signals) which go back up to the CNS. The CNS then processes this input and sends an outgoing., action signal (efferent signal) back down to the PNS resulting in controlled, precise movements.
Movement Accuracy: To improve the accuracy and efficiency of each movement, our neuromuscular system is controlled by both a feed forward and feedback system or loop. Feed forward responses (aka pre-activation responses) are based on previous experiences or muscle activation patterns. These responses are stored in an area of the brain referred to as the cerebellum – and occur before the completion of the movement. An example of a feed forward response would be activating the ankle stabilizers before foot contact.
Conversely, feedback responses (aka reactive responses) allow our neuromuscular system to adjust to errors, and auto-correct throughout a given movement. An example of a feedback response would be activation of ankle stabilizers when walking on an uneven terrain.
Age & Input Accuracy: Where the concept of neuromuscular control, movement efficiency and aging come together is through the accuracy of input signals as dictated by the peripheral nervous system. The more accurate the information coming in, the more precise our movements will be.
If we imagine someone who is older, we typically picture someone who is more frail and timid in their movements. We may note a delay in the correction of movement errors and often associate this delayed correction with an increased risk in falls.
With falls being one of the biggest concerns as we age, instability and decreased control can often be attributed to an aging peripheral nervous system. So, is there anything that can be done to protect the nervous system as we age so that we can maintain the movement accuracy of our younger years? Or, must we succumb to the inevitable process of an aging neuromuscular system?
The good news is there is absolutely something you can do to protect your peripheral nervous system from the aging process. It is called neuroplasticity through barefoot science.
To fully understand this concept let's continue exploring the peripheral nervous system specifically as it relates to the plantar foot.
Plantar Proprioceptors: What's unique about the PNS and the foot is this is where the smallest nerve branches exist. Divided into both sensory and motor nerves, studies have shown that 3x as many branches off of the tibial nerve in the lower leg provide sensory function.
The peripheral nerves that have a sensory function to the skin are referred to as cutaneous nerves. In the bottom of our foot they are our plantar cutaneous receptors. These small nerves are responsible for processing information such as texture, skin stretch, vibration, deep pressure and light touch. All of the stimuli which allows us to maintain upright stance, manipulate uneven terrain and absorb impact forces.
Our ability to detect surface compliancy and impact forces is heavily dependent on vibration detection. The importance of this sensory input is demonstrated by the fact that 80% of our plantar cutaneous receptors are sensitive to vibration!
If we go back to aging and the accuracy of input information for precise and controlled movements, vibration detection is of utmost importance.
How Aging Affects Our Ability to Detect Vibration: Studies have shown that as we age, our ability to detect vibration input is impaired. From decreased receptor density to increased input threshold, by the time we are age 70 our plantar foot requires twice the stimulation to create the same response. This means that we need to do everything we can to ensure accurate vibration input is entering our plantar peripheral proprioceptors.
Footwear & Impaired Vibration Input: One of the greatest inhibitors of vibration input are the shoes we love. Regardless of their fashion and functional benefits, footwear is not a natural feature of our nervous system or environment.
Our nervous system and the bare foot were not designed to decipher impact forces through footwear and cushion. This concept is now readily accepted within the running and minimal footwear industries. What can we do to offset the aging nervous system and maintain movement longevity in the unnatural shod environment in which we live?
Tips for Movement Longevity
Tip #1 – Keep blood sugar under control: Although we typically associated elevated blood sugar levels with diabetes, we can all experience fluctuations in our blood sugar levels (think Ben & Jerry's ice cream).
Elevated glucose in our blood stream is converted to AGEs (advanced glycation end products). The myelin that surrounds our peripheral nerves is sensitive to these AGEs. AGEs cause demyelination, or the destruction of the myelin sheath, and disrupts signal transport.
The formation of AGEs stimulates an increase in oxidative stress, free radical formation and an increase in our pro-inflammatory markers. Essentially elevated blood sugar levels (even in a non-diabetic) causes aging and degeneration of peripheral nerves (with the foot nerves going first!).
Tip #2 – Consider Nerve Protective Vitamins: When I was in graduate school a big part of my focus was on vitamin supplementation and diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Having spent so much time researching this topic I became a firm believer in the benefits of the appropriate vitamins in protecting nerve health as we age.
Everyone can benefit from nerve protective supplements – especially if we consider that elevated blood sugar levels (even in a non-diabetic) can start to damage our peripheral nerve function.
Vitamin #1 – L-Methyl Folate: This is not your mother's folic acid! L-methyl folate is the activated form of folate (folic acid) which has been shown to increase nerve growth factor. When taken over a period of 6 months studies have shown an increase in epidermal nerve fiber density (or in other words more peripheral nerves!). Link to study. Dosage: 1000 ug X 3 times day
Vitamin #2 – Acetyl-L-Carnitine: ALC is another powerful nerve protective supplement. ALC has been shown to decrease painful nerve symptoms, as well as increase vibratory sensation. Remember that we maintain balance and absorb impact forces based on our ability to detect vibration so this is extremely beneficial as age! Dosage: 500mg x 2 times day
Vitamin #3 – R-Lipoic Acid: This is probably my favorite supplement! (Yes I do get that excited over a vitamin). Touted as one of the most powerful anti-oxidants, ALA has been shown to improve micro-circulation to peripheral nerves while decreasing oxidative stress. A key point about ALA is that it must be taken in the R-LA form. "R" form is one that is biologically active (vs. "S" form). Dosage: 600 mg x 1 time day
Tip #3 – Cardiovascular Exercise: Cardiovascular exercise has many benefits, one of which is related to peripheral circulation. The vascular system, just like the nervous system, is very intelligent meaning that if there is a loss in circulation to one area of a muscle the vascular system will create what's called collateral circulation (or in other words form new blood vessels). This is why cardiovascular exercise is beneficial for those with peripheral arterial disease. Just like the collateral circulation formed in muscles, our vascular system can create new micro-vascular pathways to our nerves. The more blood and oxygen to our nerves the healthier they are!
Tip #4 – Myofascial Release (aka, foam rolling): When I have a patient with idiopathic nerve symptoms I often include myofascial work into their recovery program. Our complex network of superficial and deep fascial is intertwined with just as complex of a network of arteries, veins and peripheral nerves.
As our peripheral nerves course from the spine down to the foot it is only inevitable that they may get "stuck" or "sticky" at some point. From muscle adhesions to a loss in fascial flexibility, our inflexibility can often impede nerve conduction. Just like when you sleep on your arm and wake up with it tingling, to a smaller degree this is what's happening to our peripheral nerves when they get caught in fascial tissue.
I often recommend to my patients to release their plantar foot, up the back of the calf to the hamstrings and into the glutes and piriformis. For those with nerve symptoms this should be done daily.
Tip # 5 – Go Barefoot! This one pretty much goes without saying! If our small nerves are on the bottom of the foot we want to keep them sensitive and awake through frequent barefoot stimulation.
Our nervous system is very plastic – which means that it can be shaped, challenged and molded based on the stimuli it encounters. Conversely, if you do not stimulate your peripheral nervous system it will begin to weaken, fade and atrophy.
Whether your barefoot routine includes vibration training, standing on different textures or simply walking around your home – daily barefoot stimulation is enough to keep these small nerves on point! Want to kick it up a notch? Workout barefoot!
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Dudeism
Well it happened.
I am finally an Ordained Dude.
I can't say I worked very hard at it, but
with Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski as my mentor,
I just sort of kicked back and let it happen.
Can you dig this man?
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
The Ultimate Question
Seth Andrews of The Thinking Athiest wrote 'A Letter of Encouragement' in July, 2014, the text of which can be found here - A Letter of Encouragement.
Kevin Ryan took Seth's narration of this and created a YouTube video.
The Ultimate Question
I have read and listened to both. I find it very thought provoking and worth at least listening to, and begs the questions...
Are you your own person, with your own mind and thoughts, or are you someone who follows the well traveled path many have followed before you?
Do you question things or do you just accept the way things are without asking why? "Why" is the most important question you can continue to ask. Asking for evidence or proof is the most crucial thing you should demand.
Believing in yourself is the best start you can make.
Kevin Ryan took Seth's narration of this and created a YouTube video.
The Ultimate Question
I have read and listened to both. I find it very thought provoking and worth at least listening to, and begs the questions...
Are you your own person, with your own mind and thoughts, or are you someone who follows the well traveled path many have followed before you?
Do you question things or do you just accept the way things are without asking why? "Why" is the most important question you can continue to ask. Asking for evidence or proof is the most crucial thing you should demand.
Believing in yourself is the best start you can make.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Sunday, February 08, 2015
Check your blood pressure
Listening to this can cause you to feel disbelief and agitation.
Do not attempt to control your set, this is real.
Welfare Abuse
Do not attempt to control your set, this is real.
Welfare Abuse
Friday, February 06, 2015
Artificial Sweeteners Can Change Your Gut’s Microbiotic Composition
by Sandy Todd Webster
Research:
A new study shows that the widespread use of artificial sweeteners in drinks and food may cause certain gut bacteria to induce glucose intolerance and metabolic disease, both significant markers for obesity and diabetes.
Long promoted as aids to weight loss and diabetes prevention, artificial sweeteners may actually affect the composition and function of your gut’s microorganisms, disturbing their balance and hastening metabolic changes. Published last September in the journal Nature, the study outlines the results of trials conducted on both mice and humans.
Researchers have long puzzled over why noncaloric artificial sweeteners do not seem to assist in weight loss, and some studies have suggested they may even have an opposite effect. Eran Elinav, PhD, et al., in the department of immunology at Weizmann Institute of Science, in Rehovot, Israel, were able to show that artificial sweeteners, even though sugar-free, have a direct effect on the body’s ability to utilize glucose. Glucose intolerance—generally thought to occur when the body cannot cope with large amounts of sugar in the diet—is the first step on the path to metabolic syndrome and adult-onset diabetes.
Following the mouse study, the researchers tested human subjects. As a first step, they looked at data collected from the Personalized Nutrition Project, the largest human trial to date to look at the connection between nutrition and microbiota. Here, they uncovered a significant association linking self-reported consumption of artificial sweeteners, personal configurations of gut bacteria and the propensity for glucose intolerance. They next conducted a controlled experiment, asking a group of volunteers who did not generally eat or drink artificially sweetened foods to consume them for a week and then undergo tests of their glucose levels as well as their gut microbiota composition.
The findings showed that many—but not all—of the volunteers had begun to develop glucose intolerance after just 1 week of artificial-sweetener consumption. The composition of their gut microbiota explained the difference: The researchers discovered two different populations of human gut bacteria: one that induced glucose intolerance when exposed to the sweeteners, the second that had no effect either way. Elinav believes certain bacteria in the guts of those who developed glucose intolerance reacted to the chemical sweeteners by secreting substances that then provoked an inflammatory response similar to sugar overdose, promoting changes in the body’s ability to utilize sugar.
“Our relationship with our own individual mix of gut bacteria is a huge factor in determining how the food we eat affects us. Especially intriguing is the link between use of artificial sweeteners—through the bacteria in our guts—to a tendency to develop the very disorders they were designed to prevent; this calls for reassessment of today’s massive, unsupervised consumption of these substances,” said Elinav.
Research:
A new study shows that the widespread use of artificial sweeteners in drinks and food may cause certain gut bacteria to induce glucose intolerance and metabolic disease, both significant markers for obesity and diabetes.
Long promoted as aids to weight loss and diabetes prevention, artificial sweeteners may actually affect the composition and function of your gut’s microorganisms, disturbing their balance and hastening metabolic changes. Published last September in the journal Nature, the study outlines the results of trials conducted on both mice and humans.
Researchers have long puzzled over why noncaloric artificial sweeteners do not seem to assist in weight loss, and some studies have suggested they may even have an opposite effect. Eran Elinav, PhD, et al., in the department of immunology at Weizmann Institute of Science, in Rehovot, Israel, were able to show that artificial sweeteners, even though sugar-free, have a direct effect on the body’s ability to utilize glucose. Glucose intolerance—generally thought to occur when the body cannot cope with large amounts of sugar in the diet—is the first step on the path to metabolic syndrome and adult-onset diabetes.
Following the mouse study, the researchers tested human subjects. As a first step, they looked at data collected from the Personalized Nutrition Project, the largest human trial to date to look at the connection between nutrition and microbiota. Here, they uncovered a significant association linking self-reported consumption of artificial sweeteners, personal configurations of gut bacteria and the propensity for glucose intolerance. They next conducted a controlled experiment, asking a group of volunteers who did not generally eat or drink artificially sweetened foods to consume them for a week and then undergo tests of their glucose levels as well as their gut microbiota composition.
The findings showed that many—but not all—of the volunteers had begun to develop glucose intolerance after just 1 week of artificial-sweetener consumption. The composition of their gut microbiota explained the difference: The researchers discovered two different populations of human gut bacteria: one that induced glucose intolerance when exposed to the sweeteners, the second that had no effect either way. Elinav believes certain bacteria in the guts of those who developed glucose intolerance reacted to the chemical sweeteners by secreting substances that then provoked an inflammatory response similar to sugar overdose, promoting changes in the body’s ability to utilize sugar.
“Our relationship with our own individual mix of gut bacteria is a huge factor in determining how the food we eat affects us. Especially intriguing is the link between use of artificial sweeteners—through the bacteria in our guts—to a tendency to develop the very disorders they were designed to prevent; this calls for reassessment of today’s massive, unsupervised consumption of these substances,” said Elinav.
Tuesday, February 03, 2015
Monday, February 02, 2015
The Dark Side of Food Labels
by Brendan Hall via The Stack
It can be easy to forget that food is a business. Although some honest companies have your health and well being as a top priority, a large number of companies exist whose one and only goal is to sell you a product. That means they’ll do anything possible to catch your eye and convince you that buying their product is a smart decision.
Food makers often take advantage of labels such as “reduced-fat” or “low-sodium” to trick consumers into believing a product is a healthy choice. But what do these claims really mean? How much fat is reduced? And what other ingredients are taking the place of reduced or eliminated ingredients? STACK took a look at the truth behind these claims to help you see what lies behind the marketing.
Sugar-Free
What it Means: For a product to be labeled sugar-free, it must have under .5 grams of sugar per serving.
Sugar-free products sound awesome—all the sweet taste you love, but without the risk of obesity, tooth decay, diabetes and heart disease that come with sugar. But that’s not exactly how it works. Sugar-free products usually take advantage of artificial sweeteners, which, while not technically sugar, might actually be worse. For one, they’re downright unnatural. Artificial sweeteners are a modern construct, meaning our ancestors never ate them. And just like sugar, artificial sweeteners can be addictive. One study conducted with rats found that they were more easily addicted to saccharin, “an intense calorie-free sweetener,” than to cocaine.
At the end of the day, many sugar-free products' nutritional facts aren’t even much better. For example, compare the normal Tastykake Cream Filled Chocolate Cupcakes to the “sugar-free” variety. Gram for gram, the normal variety only has 28 more calories, but the sugar-free variety is higher in fat (14% of your DV compared to 9%), saturated fat (15% compared to 8%), cholesterol (7% compared to 1%) and sodium (9% to 7%). If sugar-free sweets seem too good to be true, that’s because they are.
Fat-Free, Low-Fat, Reduced-Fat
What it Means: For a product to be labeled fat-free, it must have less than .5 grams of fat per serving. To be labeled low-fat, it must have three grams or less of fat per serving. To be labeled reduced-fat, it must have at least 25% less fat than comparable products.
The appeal of products low in fat or free of fat is easy to understand. On the most basic level, hearing that a food is fat-free may cause you subconsciously to conclude that it won’t make you obese—a.k.a., “fat.” But this simply isn’t true. Many of these products have nearly the same amount of calories as their "full fat" counterpart, and some are higher in sugar, sodium or other troublesome ingredients. This can be especially problematic since people tend to overeat foods labeled low-fat, believing these foods are lower in calories as well. A Cornell University study found that people ate up to 50 percent more when a package was labeled “low-fat” compared to a package with no such labeling.
Say you’ve bought Breyer’s Fat-Free Strawberry Ice Cream instead of their standard Strawberry Ice Cream. The fat-free version has only 20 fewer calories and a gram less sugar per serving than the standard version, but its ingredient list is four times longer. Those facts alone make it a questionable option, and if you end up overeating (as one tends to do when consuming low-fat or fat-free products), you’re really digging yourself a hole. And it isn’t just sweets with these labels that you should look out for. Cheez-it Reduced-Fat crackers, for example, have 3.4 fewer grams of fat per serving than original Cheez-its, but only 22 fewer calories. Yet they're actually higher in carbohydrates and sodium than the original.
Low-Sodium
What it Means: For a product to be labeled low-sodium, it must contain less than 140 mg per serving.
Many of the same issues that exist with products marketed as “low-fat” exist with products labeled “low sodium.” In the case of salty snacks, such as corn chips, a person is apt to believe that the “low-sodium” version is healthier than it actually is, since the main nutritional complaint about corn chips is that they’re too salty to be healthy.
Much like low-fat items, just because a product has a reduced amount of one ingredient does not mean other troublesome ingredients were reduced as well. Take for example, Tostitos Rounds Torilla Chips. Although the “low-sodium” version is lower in sodium than the standard (albeit only by 60 mg per serving), it still contains the same amount of calories, fat and saturated fat. When those numbers are all fairly high, that’s an issue.
Light, Lite
What it Means: For a product to be labeled as light, it must contain a third fewer calories or 50 percent less fat than comparable regular products.
Light products seem like a no-brainer. They’re usually lower in both calories and fat, and the word “light” (or “lite) alone makes you feel like you’re making a healthier choice. But issues can arise when other ingredients are increased to make “light” products more palatable.
For example, Hidden Valley Light Buttermilk Ranch dressing is much lower in both calories and fat than the non-light version. But if you let your eyes wander to the lower half of the nutrition label, you’ll see that the light version is actually significantly higher in sodium than the non-light version. But when people see that the light version is lower in calories and fat, they might feel free to toss that dressing on everything and anything. When it’s high in sodium and a standard serving size is rather small, that can become an issue.
Made With Whole Grain, Made With Real Fruit
What it Means: Products must include some whole grains or real fruit to make this claim, but not in any specific amount.
Alright! I’m eating something made from real fruit or whole grain! The box told me so! The problem with this thinking is that the product can contain a very small amount of these ingredients and still get away with plastering misleading claims on their packaging. The legality of some of these labels is in under review, as the FDA is slowly making changes to curb this type of false advertising. But since such changes can take an excruciatingly long time, you deserve to know what to watch out for.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest released a statement in 2012 regarding rampant “misleading whole grain claims” on store shelves. “Some food manufacturers making whole grain claims or using words like 'multigrain' on labels are just trying to obscure the fact that the products are mostly made with highly refined white flour,” the release stated. The statement ended by urging the FDA to mandate producers to include the total amount of whole grains (in grams) and the percentage of grains that are whole with vague labels such as “made with whole grain.”
The “made with real fruit” label is guilty of many of the same offenses. Several companies have been hit with lawsuits for misrepresenting the amount of real fruit in their products, but few legal changes have been issued by the courts.
For instance, Pop-Tarts came under attack a few years back for a prominent “real fruit” label on its packaging. Yet today, their website still shows packaging that displays “Baked with Real Fruit!” front and center. A simple look at the ingredients list reveals how little real fruit is in a Pop-Tart. Instead, it’s mostly sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Instead of buying junk food with ambiguous “real fruit” labels when it actually contains almost no real fruit, opt for eating some actual fruit. Crazy idea, right?
With respect to whole grains, the ingredient list is your best friend. Since ingredients must be listed in descending order of volume, a true whole grain product will have certain ingredients listed first. Check out this handy table to see exactly what ingredients you should be looking for.
It can be easy to forget that food is a business. Although some honest companies have your health and well being as a top priority, a large number of companies exist whose one and only goal is to sell you a product. That means they’ll do anything possible to catch your eye and convince you that buying their product is a smart decision.
Food makers often take advantage of labels such as “reduced-fat” or “low-sodium” to trick consumers into believing a product is a healthy choice. But what do these claims really mean? How much fat is reduced? And what other ingredients are taking the place of reduced or eliminated ingredients? STACK took a look at the truth behind these claims to help you see what lies behind the marketing.
Sugar-Free
What it Means: For a product to be labeled sugar-free, it must have under .5 grams of sugar per serving.
Sugar-free products sound awesome—all the sweet taste you love, but without the risk of obesity, tooth decay, diabetes and heart disease that come with sugar. But that’s not exactly how it works. Sugar-free products usually take advantage of artificial sweeteners, which, while not technically sugar, might actually be worse. For one, they’re downright unnatural. Artificial sweeteners are a modern construct, meaning our ancestors never ate them. And just like sugar, artificial sweeteners can be addictive. One study conducted with rats found that they were more easily addicted to saccharin, “an intense calorie-free sweetener,” than to cocaine.
At the end of the day, many sugar-free products' nutritional facts aren’t even much better. For example, compare the normal Tastykake Cream Filled Chocolate Cupcakes to the “sugar-free” variety. Gram for gram, the normal variety only has 28 more calories, but the sugar-free variety is higher in fat (14% of your DV compared to 9%), saturated fat (15% compared to 8%), cholesterol (7% compared to 1%) and sodium (9% to 7%). If sugar-free sweets seem too good to be true, that’s because they are.
Fat-Free, Low-Fat, Reduced-Fat
What it Means: For a product to be labeled fat-free, it must have less than .5 grams of fat per serving. To be labeled low-fat, it must have three grams or less of fat per serving. To be labeled reduced-fat, it must have at least 25% less fat than comparable products.
The appeal of products low in fat or free of fat is easy to understand. On the most basic level, hearing that a food is fat-free may cause you subconsciously to conclude that it won’t make you obese—a.k.a., “fat.” But this simply isn’t true. Many of these products have nearly the same amount of calories as their "full fat" counterpart, and some are higher in sugar, sodium or other troublesome ingredients. This can be especially problematic since people tend to overeat foods labeled low-fat, believing these foods are lower in calories as well. A Cornell University study found that people ate up to 50 percent more when a package was labeled “low-fat” compared to a package with no such labeling.
Say you’ve bought Breyer’s Fat-Free Strawberry Ice Cream instead of their standard Strawberry Ice Cream. The fat-free version has only 20 fewer calories and a gram less sugar per serving than the standard version, but its ingredient list is four times longer. Those facts alone make it a questionable option, and if you end up overeating (as one tends to do when consuming low-fat or fat-free products), you’re really digging yourself a hole. And it isn’t just sweets with these labels that you should look out for. Cheez-it Reduced-Fat crackers, for example, have 3.4 fewer grams of fat per serving than original Cheez-its, but only 22 fewer calories. Yet they're actually higher in carbohydrates and sodium than the original.
Low-Sodium
What it Means: For a product to be labeled low-sodium, it must contain less than 140 mg per serving.
Many of the same issues that exist with products marketed as “low-fat” exist with products labeled “low sodium.” In the case of salty snacks, such as corn chips, a person is apt to believe that the “low-sodium” version is healthier than it actually is, since the main nutritional complaint about corn chips is that they’re too salty to be healthy.
Much like low-fat items, just because a product has a reduced amount of one ingredient does not mean other troublesome ingredients were reduced as well. Take for example, Tostitos Rounds Torilla Chips. Although the “low-sodium” version is lower in sodium than the standard (albeit only by 60 mg per serving), it still contains the same amount of calories, fat and saturated fat. When those numbers are all fairly high, that’s an issue.
Light, Lite
What it Means: For a product to be labeled as light, it must contain a third fewer calories or 50 percent less fat than comparable regular products.
Light products seem like a no-brainer. They’re usually lower in both calories and fat, and the word “light” (or “lite) alone makes you feel like you’re making a healthier choice. But issues can arise when other ingredients are increased to make “light” products more palatable.
For example, Hidden Valley Light Buttermilk Ranch dressing is much lower in both calories and fat than the non-light version. But if you let your eyes wander to the lower half of the nutrition label, you’ll see that the light version is actually significantly higher in sodium than the non-light version. But when people see that the light version is lower in calories and fat, they might feel free to toss that dressing on everything and anything. When it’s high in sodium and a standard serving size is rather small, that can become an issue.
Made With Whole Grain, Made With Real Fruit
What it Means: Products must include some whole grains or real fruit to make this claim, but not in any specific amount.
Alright! I’m eating something made from real fruit or whole grain! The box told me so! The problem with this thinking is that the product can contain a very small amount of these ingredients and still get away with plastering misleading claims on their packaging. The legality of some of these labels is in under review, as the FDA is slowly making changes to curb this type of false advertising. But since such changes can take an excruciatingly long time, you deserve to know what to watch out for.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest released a statement in 2012 regarding rampant “misleading whole grain claims” on store shelves. “Some food manufacturers making whole grain claims or using words like 'multigrain' on labels are just trying to obscure the fact that the products are mostly made with highly refined white flour,” the release stated. The statement ended by urging the FDA to mandate producers to include the total amount of whole grains (in grams) and the percentage of grains that are whole with vague labels such as “made with whole grain.”
The “made with real fruit” label is guilty of many of the same offenses. Several companies have been hit with lawsuits for misrepresenting the amount of real fruit in their products, but few legal changes have been issued by the courts.
For instance, Pop-Tarts came under attack a few years back for a prominent “real fruit” label on its packaging. Yet today, their website still shows packaging that displays “Baked with Real Fruit!” front and center. A simple look at the ingredients list reveals how little real fruit is in a Pop-Tart. Instead, it’s mostly sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Instead of buying junk food with ambiguous “real fruit” labels when it actually contains almost no real fruit, opt for eating some actual fruit. Crazy idea, right?
With respect to whole grains, the ingredient list is your best friend. Since ingredients must be listed in descending order of volume, a true whole grain product will have certain ingredients listed first. Check out this handy table to see exactly what ingredients you should be looking for.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
I'm Offended
This is the latest Thinking Athiest Podcast.
It's a great one and certainly much food for thought.
Take a listen. I thought it was very much worth my time.
It's a great one and certainly much food for thought.
Take a listen. I thought it was very much worth my time.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Oklahoma takes the cake!
There are always strange things going on around us, but Oklahoma has reached a new low for setting the bar. If this doesn't make you shake your head in disbelief, you have definitely fallen asleep.
Oklahoma GOP wants to restrict marriage to people of faith
Thursday, January 22, 2015
10 Women Christian Men Shouldn't Marry
I can't say enough about this terrific video, so I won't. Watch it yourself.
I don't know any women who aren't in at least five categories, and I don't any women who are in none (and wouldn't want to).
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
3,500 Calories To Lose A Pound, Revisited
by Tom Venuto social-right post-social-media
Almost everybody has heard that there’s 3500 calories in a pound of fat, so if you create a negative energy balance of 3500 calories in a week, you lose a pound of weight. Create a negative energy balance of 7000 calories (deficit) in a week and you tip the scale to a two pound weight loss and so on, right?
Dr. Kevin Hall, an investigator at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda has done some interesting research about the mechanisms regulating human body weight. He recently published a research paper in the International Journal of Obesity that throws a wrench in works of the “3500 calories to lose a pound” idea…
Some of the equations in his paper gave me a headache… but despite the complex formulas he used to come to his conclusions, the article contained a lot of simple and very practical tips you can use to properly balance your caloric intake with output, fine tune your calorie deficit and help you retain more muscle when you diet.
Below, I’ve distilled some of the information into a simple bullet-point summary that any non-scientist can understand, and then I wrap up with my interpretation of how you can apply this:
Calories required to lose a pound and fine-tuning your caloric deficit
1). 3500 calories to lose a pound has always been the rule of thumb. However, this 3500 calories figure goes back to research which assumed that all the weight lost would be adipose tissue (which would be ideal, of course). But as we all know (unfortunately), lean body mass is lost along with body fat, which would indicate that the 3500 calorie figure could be an oversimplification.
2). The amount of lean body mass lost is based on initial body fat level and size of the calorie deficit
Lean people tend to lose more lean body mass and retain more fat. Obese people tend to lose more body fat and retain more lean tissue(revealing why obese people can tolerate extremely low calorie diets better than already lean people).
4). Very aggressive low calorie diets tend to erode lean body mass to a greater degree than more conservative diets.
5). Whether the weight loss is lean or fat gives you the real answer of what is the required energy deficit per unit of weight loss.The metabolize-able energy in fat is different than the metabolizable energy in muscle tissue. A pound of muscle is not 3500 calories.A pound of muscle yields about 600 calories.
6). If you lose lean body mass then you lose more weight than if you lose fat. If you create a 3500 calorie deficit in one week and you lose 100% body fat, you will lose one pound. But if you create a 3500 calorie weekly deficit and as a result of that deficit,lose 100% muscle, you would lose almost 6 pounds of body weight!(of course, if you manage to lose 100% muscle, you will be forced to wear the Dieter’s Dunce cap).
7). If you have a high initial body fat percentage, then you are going to lose more fat relative to lean, so you will need (and can use) a larger deficit to lose the same amount of weight as compared to a lean person!
8). Weight loss typically slows down over time for a prescribed constant diet (the “plateau”). This is either due to the decreased metabolism mentioned above, or a relaxing of the diet compliance, or both (most people just can’t hack aggressive calorie reductions for long).
9). Progressive resistance training and or high protein diets can modify the proportion of weight lost from body fat vs lean tissue (which is why weight training and sufficient protein while on calorie restricted diets are absolute musts!)
So, based on this info, should you throw out the old calorie formulas? Not necessarily. You can still use the standard calorie formulas to figure out how much you should eat, and you can use a 500-1000 calorie per day deficit (below maintenance) as a generic guideline to figure where to set your calories to lose one or two pounds per week respectively (at least on paper anyway).
Even better however, you could use this info to fine tune your caloric deficit using a percentage method and also base your deficit on your starting body fat level, to get a much more personalized and effective approach:
15-20% below maintenance calories = conservative deficit
20-25% below maintenance calories = moderate deficit
25-30% below maintenance calories = aggressive deficit
31-40% below maintenance calories = very aggressive deficit (risky)
50%+ below maintenance calories = semi starvation/starvation (very risky / potentially unhealthy)
Usually, we would suggest starting with a conservative deficit of around 15-20% below maintenance. What this research is saying, is that there can be big differences between lean and overweight people in how many calories they can or should cut.
If you have very high body fat to begin with, the typical rule of thumb on calorie deficits may underestimate the deficit required to lose a pound. It may also be too conservative and you can also probably use a moderate to aggressive deficit more safely without as much worry about muscle loss, metabolic slowdown, etc.
The long and short of it is that its not quite so simple as 3,500 calories being the deficit to lose a pound. Like lots of other things in nutrition vary from person to person.
Monday, January 19, 2015
Victor Buono
As I work on getting in shape and shaving off a few pounds, I am reminded of the actor, Victor Buono, I was a big fan of his early on. He made a lot of character parts in movies, but is just as well known for his King Tut character in the original Batman TV series. He was always a very large guy and at one point, he made an album called Heavy. It was a parody of himself and fat people in general. Quite creative and original.
One of his more famous pieces was The Fat Man's Prayer. Have a listen and enjoy.
One of his more famous pieces was The Fat Man's Prayer. Have a listen and enjoy.
Saturday, January 03, 2015
The new me... in progress
Yeah, I know... I've said this before, but this time it's for real, really, I'm not kidding.
I've been working on this for a while, but although I've given it a fair shot, I haven't been consistent. I haven't found the ability to push myself to the edge where real improvement actually begins. As time has passed and I was experiencing little or no improvement, I decided that it was time I call in the big guns.
Being at the vintage I am, I realize I am going to get few chances to still get the body I knew was inside and trying to get out. I looked for a trainer that could see the same potential and would push me the way I used to push myself.
The person I found is just the guy to do the job. We met prior to starting and had a long chat, and I instantly knew that I had found who I was looking for. We actually have a number of things in common, and he thinks the way I do about setting and accomplishing goals.
His name is Danny and from the first visit, I knew my workouts were never going to be the same. He is dedicated, persistent, always positive, and he laughs at my crummy jokes. He is also doing his best to squeeze every last ounce of effort out of me.
We have been at it for only three weeks, but so far in this short time, but he has extracted more total results out of me than any previous trainer I have worked with, for any length of time.
We are still early in the process, but if the first few weeks are any indication, I am finally on the right road. Danny sent this out (PHYSICAL FITNESS IS NOT ABOUT WORKING HARD, IT'S ABOUT WORKING RIGHT!), and it certainly typifies his attitude and work ethic, and I'm glad I found him.
Let's see how it goes. When there is something to report, I'm going to be pleased to let you know.
Cheers,
Thursday, January 01, 2015
6 Steps to Change Your Life for the Better
by John
C. Maxwell
You can change your life if you really want to. You can
improve it, make it better. And it all starts with changing the way you think.
So are you ready? I am going to walk you through a six-step plan for achieving
positive change.
Step 1: When you change your thinking, you change your
beliefs. Change begins with looking into your own mind. What you
believe—what you think—is a collection of continual thoughts that have formed
themselves into a conviction. When you break down the process of thinking into
a manageable number of steps, you can reduce the perceived risk associated with
change.
Step 2: When you change your beliefs, you change your
expectations. Belief is the knowledge that we can do something. It is the
inner feeling that what we undertake, we can accomplish. For the most part, all
of us have the ability to look at something and consider whether we can do
it. So in belief there is power… our eyes are opened, our opportunities become
plain, our visions become realities. Our beliefs control everything we do. If
we believe we can or we believe we cannot, we are correct.
Step 3: When you change your expectations, you change your
attitude. Your expectations are going to determine your attitude. Most
people get used to average; they get used to second best. Nelson Boswell said,
“The first and most important step toward success is the expectation that we
can succeed.”
Step 4: When you change your attitude, you change your
behavior. When our attitude begins to change, when we become involved
with something, our behavior begins to change.
Step 5: When you change your behavior, you change your
performance. Most people would rather live with old problems than new
solutions. We would rather be comfortable than correct; we would rather stay in
a routine (rut) than make changes. Even when we know that the changes are going
to be better for us, we often don't make them because we feel uncomfortable or
awkward about things feeling different. Until we can get used to living with
something that is not comfortable, we cannot get any better.
Step 6: When you change your performance, you change your
life. Yes, a person can fail, but they can turn around and
understand their failure to make it a success. But I want to tell you, a person
who makes excuses for everything will never truly succeed. I promise you, when
you excuse what you are doing and excuse where you are and you allow the
exceptions, you will fail to reach your potential. It is impossible to turn
excuses into possibilities.
Hope is the foundational principle for all change. People
change because they have hope. If people do not have hope, they will not
change. You are responsible for the changes that you make in your life, but the
good news is, you can make the changes you need to make in your life.
Best wishes for 2015
I for one am glad to say goodbye to 2014.
Let's learn from the lessons it has taught us.
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