Is Cousin Marriage Dangerous?

BY GABRIEL ANDRADE

How can one forget the dueling banjos of Deliverance? A group of urbanites goes deep into Georgia where they encounter hillbillies. One of the friendlier urbanites tries to establish a rapport with one hillbilly kid, whose countenance is creepy. He appears mentally retarded, suggested to be the result of inbreeding. Yet, he plays the banjo with great agility, to the point that he sets up a musical duel with the guitar playing urbanite. This is only a foreshadow of what will come later: the inbred hillbillies perform all sorts of sadistic acts against the urbanites.

The Ultimate Taboo

In this era of identity politics there is great concern for African-Americans, Latinos, Muslims, the LGBTQ community, and other groups, but nobody seems to care much about the degradation of Appalachian mountaineers in media and cultural portrayals. As far as everyone else is concerned, their incestuous ways make them seemingly subhuman. Indeed, incest has been the easiest means of character assassination throughout history, as the cases of Oedipus, Marie Antoinette, Anne Boleyn and so many others seem to illustrate. And there is the recurrent cultural trope that once relatives mate civilization collapses. Colombian novelist Garcia Marquez eloquently portrays this in his depiction of the Buendia family in One Hundred Years of Solitude, in which the Buendia family persists for centuries until two distant relatives have sexual intercourse leading to a child with a pig tail, and the disappearance of the ancestral Macondo village.

Cousins should not be encouraged to marry, in the same manner that women over 40 should not be encouraged to become pregnant. But, neither should they be forbidden.

The incest taboo can be counted as one of the truly universal human institutions. Yet, there is disagreement about how far this prohibition should go. There is the universal prohibition for someone to have sex with his/her siblings, parents or grandparents, but there are variations regarding cousins, uncles, and others on the family tree. More important, there is also disagreement about what the rationale for the incest taboo is. This latter point was tested in a well-known experiment by the psychologist Jonathan Haidt in which he presented subjects with the following scenario:

Julie and Mark are brother and sister. They are traveling together in France on summer vacation from college. One night they are staying alone in a cabin near the beach. They decide that it would be interesting and fun if they tried making love. At the very least it would be a new experience for each of them. Julie was already taking birth control pills, but Mark uses a condom too, just to be safe. They both enjoy making love, but they decide not to do it again. They keep that night as a special secret, which makes them feel even closer to each other. What do you think about that? Was it OK for them to make love? […]

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You’ll “Get Abs” If You Do Tons of Crunches, & Other Fitness Myths You Need To Stop Buying Into

By Rasha Ali for USA Today

Even though we know fad diets and fitness trends come and go, it's easy to get swept up in the idea that they could be true, especially when there are so many crazes hitting you from every which way.  One day protein shakes are the answer to everything. The next, there's a blogger telling us a mere 10 squats a day will give us better butts.

Rather than rely on wishful thinking, we asked dietitians and trainers to weigh in on five common fitness beliefs. Spoiler alert: they're mostly myths.

1). You need protein shakes to build muscle. Protein shakes are touted as a be-all-end-all solution. They're advertised as meal replacements and as a way to grow and maintain lean muscle. Turns out, you don't actually need to take protein supplements if you're getting adequate protein from food. Kelli McGrane, registered dietitian for Lose It, says although protein shakes can be convenient, you have to be cautious about which ones you pick because they could have added sugars and can cause bloating.

"There are many excellent high-protein foods that can help you build muscle, such as plain Greek yogurt, chicken, lean beef, fish, eggs and tofu," McGrane says. "Plus, in addition to providing protein, these foods also supply additional vitamins and minerals that are important for metabolism and cell growth."

2). Ab-based workouts will “give you abs”.  If you're after that chiseled stomach, doing 100 crunches a day won't help you get there any faster. "Abs are made through nutrition," Austin Dotson, personal trainer, says. "You can do billions of abs exercises, but if you do not consume the proper diet, Jesus will come back before your abs do."

You have to lose body fat to see your abs. To do that, you have to mix proper nutrition with both weight training  and cardio exercises (like running on a treadmill, jump rope or high-intensity interval training). In short, you can't crunch your way to abs.

3). Doing cardio is the only way to lose weight. Yes, cardio can help you shed some pounds, but it's not the only way to do so. In fact, you don't have to do any cardio at all if you only want to lose weight. It all comes down to the calories you're consuming, says James Smith, personal trainer and owner of James Smith Academy.

"Put it this way, Ross Edgley swam around the U.K. for five months, he swam 12 hours a day and came back 5 kilograms heavier. Alternatively, a housewife could manage her intake of calories and lose 5 kilograms in five months without going to the gym or doing any cardio."

Although cardio can be effective in helping burn calories, make sure you're not doing too much of it, Dotson added. "We need muscle to burn fat, so too much cardio is the fastest way to plateau and actually retain more fat," he says. "You need to add some type of strength/resistance training in your regimen  and switch up your methods of cardio."

4). Squats are the best butt-building exercise. Yes, squats can help you grow your gluteus muscles, but there are other exercises that are better suited for targeting that area. Celebrity trainer, Eric Fleishman says exercises like walking lunges and fire hydrants can transform your glutes faster than squats. They're less dangerous too. To add some volume to your backside, make sure you're focusing on all parts of the butt, Dotson says.

"You have to focus on all areas of the glutes: Maximus, medius, minimus, so squats alone won’t do the trick, you need to add in hip abduction, and abductors as well as glute bridges, lunges and deadlifts," he says. You also have to eat enough to sculpt your butt, Dotson says. Make sure you're getting enough protein and other nutrients for those muscle gains.

5). Your fat can turn into muscle. Fat and muscle are two entirely different types of tissue and you can't magically transform one into the other. However, lifting weights can help you build muscle and lose fat at the same time.  "Lifting weights can promote muscle growth, which in turn can increase your metabolism," McGrane says. "This metabolism boost, in addition to a healthy, calorie-balanced diet and general increase in physical activity, can help you burn more fat." 

You can do this by adding resistance training (along with any cardio) into your gym routine. Make sure to strike a balance, as too much cardio can end up burning up your lean muscle, Dotson says. 

Why drug expiration dates don't matter

Here's a little something I ran across. 
Your mileage may vary, but it's good for for thought.

Why drug expiration dates don't matter

The Shocking Phenomenon That Shows How Movement Starved Modern Kids Really Are

by Brandon Hall for The Stack E-zine

The serene interior of an elementary school classroom. Sunlight streams through the windows as a teacher scribbles basic arithmetic on the board. Some students follow along while others daydream. Suddenly, a crash. The kids immediately crane to see what caused the commotion. There, lying confused on the ground, is a child who inexplicably fell out of their chair. They sheepishly climb back into their seat, and the lesson resumes. A couple hours later, it happens again—albeit with a different child. Then again. Then again.

It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie, but it's the reality in many modern classrooms. Children accidentally falling from their seats is now a daily occurrence.

Christina Heyding, a Canadian elementary school teacher, recounted her experience with a class of first-graders in a 2015 piece for The Globe and Mail. "Imagine 23 penguins trying to sit on chairs. This is what my classroom looks like. One week I took a tally. In total, my students fell off their chairs 44 times. There's a vast variety of falls—the backward flip, the wiggly-leg tangle, the forward bang, the sideways slide and the slow-motion smash. No amount of cautioning can prevent these falls."

Ask anyone who works in an elementary school, and you'll hear a similar refrain. Kids dropping out of their chairs is the new normal. But why? What's going on that's making simply sitting in a chair a physical challenge for our youth?

Let's start with the vestibular system. The vestibular system, located inside our inner ear, is responsible for our sense of balance and spatial awareness. It also plays an important role in focus and attention, visual skills, and emotional regulation.

"Inside your inner ear are little hair cells. And we need to move in all different directions so that fluid moves back and forth and stimulates those hair cells, and that develops the vestibular sense. That sense is key to all the other senses. If that's not working right, it can affect everything," says Angela Hanscom, pediatric occupational therapist and author of the book Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes For Strong, Confident and Capable Children.

Our vestibular system is stimulated and developed by moving through space in a variety of directions—particularly at high speeds. Thirty or 40 years ago, kids were getting all the stimulation they needed by participating in several hours of daily unstructured outdoor play. Not anymore. According to the Child Mind Institute, the average American kid now spends an average of just 4-7 minutes per day on unstructured outdoor play. Hanscom recommends, at minimum, three hours per day. Meanwhile, the average American kid spends about nine hours a day sitting down—whether that be at their desk or plopped down on their couch at home.

"They're not moving in all different directions," Hanscom says. "We're actually supposed to be moving in rapid directions on a regular basis. Kids should be rolling down hills, going upside down." Kids are naturally driven to move in all sorts of ways during unstructured outdoor play. They climb things, they chase one another, they jump from high places, they spin until they get dizzy. That wide array of movement helps develop a well-functioning vestibular system, along with countless other important physical and mental skills. Now that unstructured outdoor play has become an afterthought in the lives of children, that natural development has gone missing.

Modern playgrounds and overprotective adults don't help matters, either. In the early-to-mid 20th century, playgrounds featured towering slides, challenging climbs and fast-spinning steel merry-go-rounds. That all changed in the mid-1980s, as schools and local governments became increasingly fearful that litigious parents could have them fired or sued should a child suffer injury on their playground. Thus playgrounds began getting more and more watered down. Today, most American playgrounds are too short, too slow and too easy. Thus, fewer opportunities for diverse, challenging and vigorous movement.

"A lot of kids from an early age will master the playground equipment really quickly. My son, who is 3, can do the playground. My older girls, who are 11 and 14, they mastered it at 5 or 6, which means that now it doesn't offer the challenge it was originally designed to be. It's just basic physics that if you shorten swings, you shorten slides, you're going to get less sensory input. The merry-go-round is a really powerful vestibular input (that's gone away)," Hanscom says. In addition to the neutered equipment now available to kids; teachers, parents and school officials have also become overzealous in their mandates and rule-making.

"Ironically, we tend to tell kids, 'Don't spin, you're going to get dizzy.' Or, 'Get down from that rock, you're gonna get hurt.' But as therapists, we purposefully have swings in our clinics and will spin (kids) in all different directions so that they have a really good sense of body awareness," Hanscom says.
"(Schools) are taking swings away, or if they have swings, the kids have to stay upright now. They're not allowed to go on their bellies, they're not allowed to spin on their swings anymore…We've created unrealistic rules and restricted their movement. They can't sit on the monkey bars. They can't go upside down. And in therapy, we literally try to get them in an inverted position so they have better body awareness. We're going against each other."

The reduction in movement isn't just leaving kids with underdeveloped vestibular and proprioceptive systems, but it's also making them physically weaker. In 2012, Hanscom conducted a pilot study on American fifth-grade students to see how their balance and core strength compared to an average American fifth-grader from 1984. She found that only one in every 12 children could meet the 1984 standard in both measures.

The problem isn't limited to America, either. A study published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sportfound that in 2014, 10-year-olds from a town in England had 20% less muscle strength and 30% less muscle endurance than 10-year-olds from that same town 16 years earlier. The average boy included in the study went from being capable of achieving over 26 Sit-Ups in 30 seconds in 1998 to 15.4 Sit-Ups in 2014.

Weaker core and postural muscles, an underdeveloped vestibular sense, and too many consecutive hours spent at a desk without a break for physical activity—you put these factors together, and you start to understand why a kid might fall out of their seat at school. In addition to that phenomenon, fidgeting now seems to be at an all-time high among students. Years ago, there might've been one or two fidgeters in each elementary school classroom. Now, huge numbers of students are constantly fidgeting in their seats, and more children than ever are being diagnosed with attention deficit disorders. In Hanscom's eyes, it's a clear indication they aren't getting enough movement.

"Extreme fidgeting is a huge indicator that something's not right with their environment. The more I do this, the more I realize it's our environment that's a huge problem. This large number of children should not have trouble with attention and this number of children should not have a problem with sensory integration," Hanscom says. Since movement can help light up areas of our brain that relate to focus, fidgeting is often a self-regulation mechanism used by movement-starved children in an effort to better pay attention. Modern teachers also report that students now ask to get up to do things like sharpen a pencil or use the bathroom exponentially more frequently than students of previous generations, which could also relate to their craving for movement.

While our society can be quick to label kids who cause disruptions and can't pay attention as "problem children," Hanscom recommends considering the environment they're being asked to succeed in. "Some of this is hereditary, but a huge part is environmental. We have to look at, 'What are we doing? What are we asking of children?"

Comical side note: What did I learn during dodgeball? Plenty! 1). Size, strength, and good aim do matter, and if you don't have those, figure out how to get you some or, adapt as best you can. 2). Never stand still, always keep moving. 3). Keep your head on a swivel, you never know what's coming or from where. 4). Always be ready to abruptly duck, jump, and/or do a side slide to evade. 5). If you're lucky enough to get a ball, choose your target carefully for best advantage and aim well. 6). When possible, shadow behind larger players for optimal shielding and longevity. 7). If you get hit: a). Physically, it's a temporary sting (possibly a bruise), no big deal! b). Psychologically, you may kinda suck but it's not the end of the world, better luck next time, no big deal! Many good life lessons there, yes? 

What is Mental Illness, Anyway?

BY PETER BARGLOW, MD

In Mind Fixers: Psychiatry’s Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness, Harvard historian of science Anne Harrington concludes about American Psychiatry that “firm understandings of major mental illnesses and their underlying biology continue to elude the field” (p.272). Harrington cites hundreds of published articles and books demonstrating her major conclusion that the biology of serious mental disease remains a mystery. Such a pessimistic verdict is paired with the implication that treatment of emotional disease has shown little progress, largely as a consequence of inadequate biological comprehension. In Chapter 1, Harrington describes questionable early-20th century psychologically based treatment efforts for hysteria and traumatic psychic war disability. In 1913, Treponema pallidum bacteria that caused Syphilis were found in the brains of patients suffering from the neurological psychiatric disease “General Paresis.” Later antibiotic remedies that destroyed Treponema also ended Neurosyphilis. Surely, one would think, the same kind of scientific advance could generate a cure for schizophrenia or depression? Alas this has not happened even by today.

But the book extensively describes the time period after 1910 when influential Swiss neurologist and emigrant to America Adolph Meyer emphasized that psychiatrists must study mental illness from a biological perspective. The following year (1911), psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler also Swiss who coined the term “Schizophrenia” agreed. He claimed that although this disabling disease had psychological characteristics its origins was organic pathology of the brain. Both physicians asserted that understanding mental illness required more than investigation of pertinent lifetime social and mental data, and must include the actual inspection of brain specimens and the study of heredity and genetics.

In Part I of her book, “Doctors’ Stories,” Harrington examines the history of concerted efforts by American Psychiatry to identify the biology of mental illness. Her comprehensive examination of research findings convinces her that most seriously ill patients whom we treat certainly do have a genuine disease. As a physician I too have no doubt that this is so. For her — and for me — this is certainly why Vladimir Horowitz, probably the finest classical pianist of the 20th century, couldn’t perform between 1953 and 1965. He suffered from a profound Depression Disorder, recovery from which was achieved only through repeated electroshock therapy.

In Part II, “Disease Stories,” Harrington reviews theories about the alleged brain causes of three disabling major mental illnesses: Schizophrenia, Depression, and Mania-Depression. These diseases afflict millions of Americans and lead to severe personal suffering, in addition to the large societal and economic cost from lost work and impaired social engagement. However, there is a serious omission in this section of the book: the necessary exploration of a fourth major mental disease, addiction. This disorder has caused 200,000 American opioid overdose deaths over the past 15 years and its absence from Mind Fixers is notable because of these drugs’ lethality. Even more relevant is that our understanding of the biology of addiction is considerably better than any of the three illnesses included in Harrington’s survey. Naturally occurring brain chemicals such as GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), glutamates, and dopamine have been identified as critical neuro-substances in this psychopathology. Their inhibitory and stimulatory functions, chemistry, and neurological substrates are well understood. As a consequence of this scientific advance in knowledge, effective medications such as methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone have been successful in ameliorating the ravages of both legal and illegal opioid substances. Also this comprehension during the last half century has generated sleeping medicines in the form of benzodiazepines that are far safer than barbiturates which were a major source of accidental overdose deaths during the 20th century So in this scientific medication domain, there has indeed been considerable progress. […]

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One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission that Flew us to the Moon

On this July 16^th, the 50^th anniversary of Apollo 11, Michael Shermer speaks with veteran space reporter Charles Fishman who has been writing about NASA and the space program for more than 30 years.

In One Giant Leap he delivers an all-new take on the race to the Moon that puts Apollo into a new perspective in American history. Yes, the Apollo astronauts are the well-known and well-deserved public heroes of the race to the Moon. But the astronauts didn’t make the trip possible. It took 410,000 people to make the moon landings achievable. Every hour of spaceflight for Apollo required a million hours of work by scientists, engineers and factory workers on the ground — the equivalent of 10 lifetimes of work back on Earth. Fishman tells the story of the men and women who did the work to get the astronauts, and the country, to the Moon and back. Fishman and Shermer discuss:

• When President John F. Kennedy rallied the nation to go to the Moon in 1961, the task was impossible. None of the technology or techniques existed to do it. Engineers, scientists and factory workers in every state in the USA created that technology in just 8 years. They invented space travel on a deadline.
• Apollo is sometimes judged a disappointment because it didn’t usher in the Jetsons-like Space Age we thought it would. Fishman argues that the success of Apollo is the age we live in now — it opened the world to the digital revolution in ways that have never before been appreciated or written about. “The race to the Moon didn’t usher in the Space Age; it ushered in the Digital Age,” he writes. “And that is as valuable a legacy as the imagined Space Age might have been.”
• Secret tapes JFK made of meetings about space, along with other overlooked information from the Kennedy Administration, indicate that Kennedy himself was losing enthusiasm for the Moon race and the Moon landing by the fall of 1963. Had he not been assassinated, it’s not at all clear that Armstrong and Aldrin would have walked on the Moon in July 1969.
• The on-board computer for Apollo was the smallest, most flexible, most powerful, most user-friendly computer ever created when it flew the astronauts to the Moon — and it did its mission with less computing power than your microwave oven has today.
• Much of the most critical work to make the Moon missions possible was done by hand: the spacesuits were sewn by hand; the parachutes were sewn and folded by hand; the computer software was woven by hand; the heatshield was applied by hand, using a specialized version of a caulking gun.
• The iconic image of astronauts unfurling an American flag on the Moon almost didn’t happen. NASA had not even thought about carrying a flag on the Moon missions until just weeks before the first mission blasted off.
• Shermer ends by asking Fishman about the reputation of Wernher von Braun, the Nazi rocket scientist who built the mighty Saturn V rocket that took the astronauts to the moon: how can we reconcile his genius and vision with his Nazi past, especially his involvement in the slave labor that built the V-2 rockets that rained death down on England in the final year of the war?

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The Unspeakable Mind: Stories of Trauma and Healing from the Frontlines of PTSD Science

From a physician and post-traumatic stress disorder specialist comes a nuanced cartography of PTSD, a widely misunderstood yet crushing condition that afflicts millions of Americans.

The Unspeakable Mind is the definitive guide for a trauma-burdened age. With profound empathy and meticulous research, Shaili Jain, M.D. — a practicing psychiatrist and PTSD specialist at one of America’s top VA hospitals, trauma scientist at the National Center for PTSD, and a Stanford Professor — shines a long-overdue light on the PTSD epidemic affecting today’s fractured world.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder goes far beyond the horrors of war and is an inescapable part of all our lives. At any given moment, more than six million Americans are suffering with PTSD. Dr. Jain’s groundbreaking work demonstrates the ways this disorder cuts to the heart of life, interfering with one’s capacity to love, create, and work — incapacity brought on by a complex interplay between biology, genetics, and environment. Beyond the struggles of individuals, PTSD has a tangible imprint on our cultures and societies around the world.

In this conversation Dr. Shermer and Dr. Jain discuss:

• the history of PTSD and why no one talked about it after WWI, WWII, and Vietnam, but now we are
• how Dr. Jain diagnoses PTSD by characteristics presented by a patient
• how to treat PTSD through Cognitive Behavior Therapy through systematic desensitization
• the problem of tracking rates of PTSD because of the expanding bin of who is considered a victim of the disorder
• the difficulty of predicting deaths by suicide
• the difficulty of predicting who will suffer from PTSD, given the many people who have suffered severe trauma and not developed it
• why some stress is good for developing resiliency in life, but when too much stress causes harm, and
• the unseen costs of war.

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Power Foods That Fight Inflammation

Struggling With Chronic Inflammation? 
Skipping the Inflammatory Stuff & Adding These Foods Could Help
by Chris Tuttle, MS, RD

Inflammation is an immune response by the body to any damaged tissues. It is the start of the healing process, and without it the body would not be able to heal and recover. You may understand inflammation as the body's response to cuts, bruises, fractures, muscle tears, infection, and other forms of trauma where you see swelling and feel pain, but there's another kind of inflammation, one that's harder to detect.
Systemic inflammation is insde the body, where there are fewer internal nerve endings, and you don't feel it the same way. It often becomes chronic and can negatively affect many facets of your overall health. Symptoms of chronic inflammation vary, but some common symptoms include fatigue, joint pain, mouth sores, gas, bloating, chest pain, fever, and skin rashes.

Chronic inflammation can be caused by a variety of factors, but it is often lifestyle related.[1] High stress levels, poor sleeping habits, and a diet high in refined sugars and processed foods are all very inflammatory.Continually consuming inflammatory foods can make eating almost uncomfortable. People may think they have food allergies or intolerances, but what is really happening is that the GI tract is inflamed from the repetitive exposure to problematic food.

What can you do to fight systemic inflammation? For starters, make sure your lifestyle includes getting adequate sleep, stress management, and a balanced diet designed to lower inflammation.

Following an Anti-inflammatory Diet: Basically, an anti-inflammatory diet must be made up predominantly of foods that are rich in antioxidants, lower in refined sugar, high in monounsaturated fats, and high in omega-3 fatty acids. Focus on eating lean meats, nuts, healthy fats, and a variety of fruits and vegetables. For example, the Mediterranean diet is considered an anti-inflammatory diet; it emphasizes eating a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, fish, and potatoes with a moderate amount of lean meat and dairy products, and it limits red meat.

I believe that following a diet lower in carbs and higher in fats can also help fight inflammation. If you have a known intolerance, you may consider eliminating or limiting gluten as well. My power food standouts include extra-virgin olive oil, turmeric, spinach, mushrooms, wild salmon, and berries—foods that are micronutrient dense and have a high content of antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids. There are many other great anti-inflammatory foods—such as almonds, walnuts, citrus fruits, broccoli, dark chocolate, and cherries, so no one should be limited to only these six.

6 (of many) Power Foods 

1. Berries contain anti-inflammatory compounds called anthocyanins and have a low glycemic index. They are also a good source of fiber and vitamin C. They're also very pleasant to eat, and can be used in a number of ways in your dialy meal plan. including dessert.

2. Fatty fish are a great source of protein and are high in the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA. These long-chain fatty acids are broken down into protectins and resolvins that fight inflammation in the body. Fatty fish such as wild salmon, sardines, herring, anchovies, and mackerel are all great sources of omega-3s; however, you want to avoid king mackerel, which is very high in mercury.

3. Extra-virgin olive oil and olives are high in monounsaturated fat and contain oleocanthal, which is an antioxidant with a strong anti-inflammatory effect. Note that refined olive oils do not contain as many anti-inflammatory benefits.
Marlene's Note: I featured a pic of Trader Joe's version as it's one of the more affordable options and the one I use myself.

4. Turmeric is a spice commonly used in Indian dishes that contains curcumin, which has been shown in studies to be linked to reduced inflammation.[2]

5. Mushrooms contain phenols and selenium, which have anti-inflammatory effects in the body. They are also high in B vitamins and copper. Note that we're talking about edible, store-bought mushrooms. Do not eat mushrooms in the wild. A number of wild mushrooms are poisonous, so you really need to know what you’re looking at when out in the field.

6. Spinach is referred to as a superfood by many for its high micronutrient content. Spinach is high in folate, potassium, vitamins A and K, iron, and magnesium and is a good source of fiber.

A balanced diet rich in these foods will not stop inflammation altogether, but it can help the body fight inflammation and elicit an appropriate immune response. Lowering inflammation requires a multifaceted approach. Get plenty of sleep, learn to manage stress better, exercise, and improve your diet.

References
   1). Liu, Y. Z., Wang, Y. X., & Jiang, C. L. (2017). Inflammation: the common pathway of stress-related diseases. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, 316.
   2). Chainani-Wu, N. (2003). Safety and anti-inflammatory activity of curcumin: a component of tumeric (Curcuma longa). The Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine, 9(1), 161-168.

The Church of the Latter Day Dude

I received this back in 2014. 

I haven't officiated at anything yet, but at least I'm ready.

In Dudeness We Abide.

Conquer Your Cravings: Break the Sinister Cycle That Promotes Overeating

by Julia Malacoff & Jennifer Nickle (for Precision Nutrition)

From ruining your progress to making you feel like a failure, food cravings aren’t your friend (no matter what they say in the ads). In this article, we break down the real reasons you can’t stop over-snacking and explain how to combine smart behavioral strategies with healthy junk food alternatives—so you can finally conquer your cravings.

Have you ever stared at a pile of crumbs, with a belly full of shame, and wondered, ‘How did I let this happen?’ We can relate. Because almost everyone can relate. Besides driving you to eat, cravings can drive you nuts—making you feel like an out-of-control failure who can’t keep from overindulging. But, you aren’t powerless against these urges, even if it seems that way.

What’s the secret to winning the cravings game? It’s not about eliminating your cravings altogether. That’s wishful thinking. The way you conquer your cravings is by outwitting them. How? By understanding why, where, and when they occur and creating a strategic action plan ahead of time. Think of it as learning “junk food jiu-jitsu”. And if you’re ready, you can start today.

Here are some insights to help you understand cravings so you can get off that train for good, followed by some strategies to help you take action.

     Insight #1: The root of your cravings. No one hates on themselves when they crave a salad, a protein shake, or a grilled chicken breast. But most cravings are closely tied to junk food and have little to do with true hunger. Further, each time you indulge these urges you reinforce the behavior, creating a “cravings cycle” that can hijack your progress… and your sanity.

The cravings cycle works like this: First comes the urge (the craving), followed by the behavior (finding a food that satisfies that craving). Then, you get the reward (eating the food you wanted). That last part is accompanied by a release of dopamine, giving your brain a chemical “hit” of pleasure¹.
From there it can snowball: The more often you reward your brain, the more likely it is to stimulate the craving, and the stronger that craving may become.

   Insight #2: Find your trigger. Ever had your mouth water at the mere sight of a McDonald’s drive-thru? Or smell that movie popcorn and make a beeline for the concession stand—even though you swore you’d skip it this time?

Cravings are often brought on by environmental cues such as sight, smell, taste, location, or company. Tracking when and where your cravings occur can you help you figure out what triggers them. From there, you can adjust your environment and habits to disrupt the cycle.

Each time you experience a craving, jot down the answers to these questions:
   1). What are you craving? (A specific food? A certain flavor or texture?)
   2). Where are you? (Note your location, but also any smells or visual cues—like a restaurant billboard or commercial.)
   3). What are you doing? (Driving? Working? Watching TV?)
   4). What are you feeling physically? (Shaky? Lightheaded? Tense?)
   5). What are you feeling emotionally? (Happy? Cranky? Rushed? Anxious?)
   6). What are you thinking? (For instance: ‘I might as well eat this… I’ve already blown my diet.’)
   7). Who are you with? (Be very specific.)

This isn’t a one-time exercise. It might be helpful to actually keep a cravings journal. Try it for a couple of weeks so you can see what patterns emerge. And trust us, there are almost always patterns.

   Insight #3: Identify & change your patterns. Let’s say you tend to reach for ice cream an hour after dinner every night. According to your notes, you’re not even really hungry; you’re just craving something sweet, salty, or crunchy… or maybe a combination of the three.

Or perhaps you’ve noticed that every day after your 2 pm conference call, you saunter down to the office cafeteria “just to see if there’s anything new.” (There’s not.) And you end up with a 500-calorie “treat” you didn’t need or even truly want out of sheer habit.

You now better understand your cravings and just identified a pattern. Now you can disrupt the cycle with these smart behavioral strategies.

   Strategy #1: Give your craving a time out. Yes, the strategy traditionally used with willful toddlers can also work with Rocky Road. Notice your snack urge and sit with it for 10-20 minutes without taking action.

This isn’t about exercising willpower. It’s about pausing just long enough to let your conscious mind say, ‘Hey, I’m in charge here!’ This gives you the chance to evaluate all your options, and make a rational decision, rather than a reactionary one.

Are you actually hungry? Or are you bored or stressed or procrastinating? Does a steak or baked potato sound good, or is it just those donuts in the break room? These are the kinds of questions you can take the time to ask yourself.

Maybe you’re truly hungry (in this case, have a meal or mini-meal). Or perhaps you’re just not having your best day. (Trigger alert!) Think of this as an opportunity to gather more data about your cravings, so you better understand them. (And give yourself a pat on the back for taking that 10-20 minutes.).

     Strategy #2: Choose an activity that doesn’t involve a form of food. What happens if you step away from the freezer and go for a walk, clean up your phone’s camera roll, or make a new Spotify playlist? By immersing your mind or body in an activity long enough, you may run the urge all the way out of your system.

That’s because cravings are more often psychological rather than physical. Intense compulsions such as cravings don’t usually last longer than 10 to 20 minutes. If you’re not really hungry, the craving will likely dissipate.

   You’ve probably even experienced a form of this “diversion therapy” before. Ever get so involved in a project that you actually forget to eat lunch? Or the afternoon flies by, and you didn’t even think about a snack? Same concept, only this time, you’ll do it on purpose.
   Once you sense a craving, choose an activity you can really dig into, such as:
1). Working on a project or pastime you’re passionate about
2). crossing an item off of your daily to-do list
3). Responding to a few emails
4). Calling or texting a friend
5). Playing an instrument or video (or other) game
6). Shooting hoops in the driveway
7). Drawing or coloring in a coloring book.
8). Exercising, gardening, or cleaning
9). Watching some short (but FUN) videos
   Remember, you’re looking to activate and occupy your mind and/or body. While different activities may work better for different people, watching TV probably won’t help (and in fact, is often a trigger).

     Strategy #3: Eat the right foods during the day. Though cravings can happen any time of day, nighttime cravings and overeating are very common. Over the years, our coaches have discovered clients who overeat at night are often restricting their intake throughout the day—knowingly or unknowingly. 

For example, they might be skipping breakfast and having a salad with little or no protein for lunch. By dinner, they could be making solid choices rich in fiber, protein, and healthy fats, but their appetite is already in overdrive, so it’s no wonder they’re feeling snacky before bed. What you eat during the day matters. 

Fiber (especially from low-calorie vegetables) helps fill you up, and protein keeps you full longer between meals. This makes eating a combination of these nutrients, in sensible portions at regular intervals, key for regulating appetite.

Through years of experience, our coaches have found that even small adjustments to eating habits, such as adding a daily breakfast with a healthy dose of protein and veggies—along with reasonable amounts of smart carbs and healthy fats—can help curb after-dinner overeating.

The message here is simple: If you have a voracious night-time appetite, look at what you’re eating the rest of the day. You may find if you do a better job of nourishing your body at other meals, you won’t hear that little “feed me!” voice when you’re about to brush your teeth.

Are you lost in the world like me?

This is a terrific animation by Steve Cutts.

I have to admit, this is how I feel about cell phones and social media these days. I don't think the creators imagined that it would evolve into the new addiction it has.

Are you lost in the world like me?

If you like this, visit his website. There is plenty of other things to checkout http://www.stevecutts.com/

Ask The Muscle Doc: Is Body Building Style Training “Functional”?

by Brad Schoenfeld 

Don’t get caught up in the craze for “functional fitness”. All exercise can improve your functional capacity & improve your zest for life.

Question: Should I be doing functional training, or will my bodybuilding workouts keep me in good condition for all my other activities?

The term "functional training" is currently one of the most popular buzzwords in fitness. It's also one of the most misused. The idea behind functional training is to use exercises that optimize your ability to carry out the activities of daily living, recreational pursuits, and/or sports performance.[1] Proponents believe that multi-joint free-weight exercises are better than single-joint and machine movements because they better approximate functional tasks. Bodybuilding-style workouts are often dismissed as "nonfunctional" by the functional training crowd.

The problem is, based on the evidence, that viewpoint is overly simplistic at best and in some cases completely misguided. In a seminal study on the functional transfer of training, nine frail, elderly nursing-home patients were recruited to perform 3 sets of leg extensions—considered one of the least functional exercises—with a load corresponding to 80 percent of their one-rep max. The subjects trained three times per week for eight weeks. During that time, their muscle strength increased an average of 174 percent, and their walking speed increased by 48 percent. Most impressively, two of the subjects were able to walk unassisted, without the use of their canes![2] Really, what activity is more functional than the ability to move independently?

In an effort to test the functional fitness concept in younger individuals, our group compared the squat versus the leg press in a group of untrained college-aged men.[3] The subjects were randomly chosen to perform either 6 sets of squats, 6 sets of leg presses, or 3 sets of squats and 3 sets of leg presses. They trained twice per week for 10 weeks, performing 8-12 reps per set. The results showed that squats had the greatest transfer to the vertical jump, followed by the squat/leg press combo, and then the leg press—although it's important to note that all three formats led to improvements in jumping ability over the course of the study. Interestingly, the leg press actually had the greatest effect on dynamic balance, while the squat group saw the least improvements there.

Sports Performance Gains: The functional benefits of single-joint exercises aren't limited to geriatric and untrained populations. Recently, I collaborated on a paper with my colleague Bret Contreras that discussed the potential benefits of single-joint exercises for enhancing sports performance.[4] For example, squats involve the hamstrings in only a limited way, but leg curls are an excellent tool for developing the muscle fully and provide proper quad/ham balance for injury prevention.

Everybody Benefits: Bottom line: We need to stop thinking in binary terms when it comes to exercise prescription. Virtually all exercises can be functional, depending on the context. Certainly, high-level athletes need a greater specificity of training to enhance sports performance, which generally means focusing on compound, free-weight movements, but there can still be a place in an athlete's program for single-joint and machine exercises. For the majority of the population, simply getting stronger, regardless of the exercise used, will enhance their functional capacity. Ultimately, some exercises have greater applicability than others based on individual goals and abilities, but most people can improve their functional capacity substantially by using a wide array of training approaches, and a standard bodybuilding-style program will fill the bill.  

References
1). Beckham, S. G., & Harper, M. (2010). Functional training: fad or here to stay?. ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal, 14(6), 24-30.

2). Fiatarone, M. A., Marks, E. C., Ryan, N. D., Meredith, C. N., Lipsitz, L. A., & Evans, W. J. (1990). High-intensity strength training in nonagenarians: effects on skeletal muscle. Jama, 263(22), 3029-3034.

3). Rossi, F. E., Schoenfeld, B. J., Ocetnik, S., Young, J., Vigotsky, A., Contreras, B., ... & Cholewa, J. (2016). Strength, body composition, and functional outcomes in the squat versus leg press exercises. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 13.

4). Schoenfeld, B., & Contreras, B. (2012). Do single-joint exercises enhance functional fitness?. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 34(1), 63-65.

What To Do When You Fail Or Relapse In Fitness Efforts

by Tom Venuto

We all fail. Everyone fails. Here's a statistic I don't like, but it's the truth: At least 75% of all people who enter a body transformation contest drop out. The difference in people who succeed in the long run is not whether they failed - they did.  The difference is they got up after they fell and got back in the game. They knew failure isn't final.

The difference also is, the successful don't let failures define them.  They know they're not failures - they had a failure. Failure is not a person, it's an event.

Life is full of ups and downs of all kinds, and nowhere do we see it more than in the health and fitness corner of our lives. Sometimes there are so many falls off the wagon in a single year, it seems like you'll never get to your goal. But the amazing thing is, you can, and you will get there, if you just get back up.

If you fall off, get back on. If you stray, come back. If you stop, restart.  

It is that simple. But it's not easy, especially if you were off the path a long time. The longer you wait to take that first step back, the harder it is when you do. Momentum is lost. Inertia takes over and must be overcome.

Here's a true success secret:  The more you shorten the time it takes to get back on track after a slip up, the less these failures will set you back in the bigger scheme of things.

It doesn't matter if you failed before.

It doesn't matter if you crashed so hard off your fitness program you blew up in a ball of frames.

It doesn't matter if you lost but then regained weight - or even ended up heavier than you started.

It doesn't matter if you fell back into emotional overeating, even though you thought you finally had it whipped.

It doesn't matter if you stopped lifting and lost muscle.

It doesn't matter if you got injured or had surgery and the doc forced you to stop training and you never got started again.

It doesn't matter if you made that “I’m really going to do it this time” decision and tanked in a month, entered a fitness challenge or contest and dropped out - even multiple times.

Do you want to know why it doesn't matter? Because you can get back up and get back in the game AT ANY TIME. You have the power to make that decision, always.

Even if you can't train much because of physical limitations, you still have to eat every day, and every time you sit down to a meal is an opportunity to make the right choice. Changing direction can happen that fast - it can start with a decision about your next meal.

Eventually, you reach the point where you've trained yourself to never have long "off streaks."  What was weeks or months or years of languishing between rare spurts of motivation, is now reduced to only days or even hours - because you learned from your past mistakes and you now live by these affirmations:

"I'm only one meal away from being back on my eating plan."... "I'm only one workout away from being back on my training plan." That's why a great new meme we see in health, fitness and body transformation today is: NEVER MISS (a workout or a healthy meal) TWICE.

Too many people take a mistake that is really just a hiccup, and blow it up (in their minds) into a huge failure. If you miss once and interpret it as absolute failure, you really are in trouble, because we're all going to miss the mark at times. If you believe that missing once is nothing at all in the bigger scheme of things and pledge to never miss twice, you've GOT IT!  (And if you do miss twice, then get back with fiery urgency).

What great freedom that is, to have those little slip ups and they don't even bother you anymore because you know you're getting back on and it's what you do most of the time that counts, not what happens once in a while.  This one little mindset shift alone can make all the difference.

That's a goal to strive for in your future:  Give up the all or nothing, perfectionist mindset and let yourself fail a little... but nip it in the bud fast, when you recognize you're off, and get back on. Work on doing it faster and faster. Never fall into the "I'll start on the 1st" trap.  Don't give in to the "I'll start again on Monday" mistake. Forget about even starting over tomorrow, if there is action you can take today, or even right now, that puts you back on track.

But what if you've been off a long time?  What if inertia already has its hold on you?  An object at rest tends to stay at rest. Yep, including your body. I know, it's tough to get started again. It's almost like fighting a law of physics.

Some people get back on track completely with their own will.  We all have that power.  More often, if we're really down, we do it with a little help, incentive, or external motivation. Either way, something triggers us and ignites a spark in our engine.

That's why I'm here, still sending out these messages after all these years for you (1999 was my first e-newsletter). I know people reading this are in many different places in life. Some people are at a peak phase, some just cruising along slowly trying to maintain, and some are in a down place.

Life is full of ups and downs of all kinds, and nowhere do we see it more than in the health and fitness corner of our lives. Sometimes there are so many falls off the wagon in a single year, it seems like you'll never get to your goal. But the amazing thing is, you can, and you will get there, if you just get back up.

If you fall off, get back on. If you stray, come back. If you stop, restart.  

It is that simple. But it's not easy, especially if you were off the path a long time. The longer you wait to take that first step back, the harder it is when you do. Momentum is lost. Inertia takes over and must be overcome.

Here's a true success secret:  The more you shorten the time it takes to get back on track after a slip up, the less these failures will set you back in the bigger scheme of things. I want you to know that even if you're at a low point in health and fitness, you can always, always come to back to it.

The Difference Between Muscular Strength & Muscular Endurance Yes, there is a difference & yes, you need them both!

by Samantha Lafave for Fitness e-zine

By now, you know that strength training is important. Yes, it gives you sleek muscles, but research shows that regularly lifting weights has a bunch of health benefits that go way beyond aesthetics. Thankfully, more group fitness classes than ever are incorporating weights into their routines. Even cardio-focused classes don't shy away from giving clients a little extra oomph-but when you lift 3- to 8-pound weights on a spin bike for five or so minutes, you're training your muscles very differently than when you're busting out a single super-heavy bench press.

That doesn't mean one type of training is better than the other, and it certainly doesn't mean you should stick to one training style all the time. In fact, that would be detrimental to your progress, as you need both muscular endurance and strength in your day-to-day life. But what, exactly, is the difference between the two?

Examples: "Sitting up with good posture or walking home on your commute with good stamina is a test of muscular endurance," says Corinne Croce, D.P.T., SoulCycle's in-house physical therapist. Strength, on the other hand, is called on when you need to lift a heavy box, put a suitcase in the overhead bin, or carry a child without getting injured, says Darius Stankiewicz, C.S.C.S., SoulCycle's in-house strength coach.

Your best course of action: Incorporate both into your weekly routine. But in order to do that, you need to truly understand the difference between muscular endurance and strength. We'll explain.

What is muscular strength? While endurance is all about how long a muscle can perform, muscular strength is how hard it can perform. Or, in more scientific terms, it's "a measure of the greatest amount of force that muscles produce during a single maximal effort," says Michael Piermarini, M.S., director of fitness at Orangetheory Fitness. One of the most common ways to test muscular strength is the one-rep max: lifting as much weight as you possibly can during a given exercise (the chest press and deadlift are popular choices) for one rep, and one rep only.

If you're ever confused about whether you're working on strength or endurance, think about the amount of weight you're lifting and how many reps you're performing, as the relationship is inversely related, suggests Piermarini. Going for lighter weights and a bunch of reps (somewhere in the 15 to 20 range)? That's endurance. Lifting heavier weight and only a few reps (around 5 to 12)? That's strength.

Why do I need muscular strength? For so, so many reasons. Research shows it can counter bone loss and fight osteoporosis, prevent injury, and maybe even decrease your risk of cancer. Plus, "the more muscles you have, the more calories your body burns at rest and over the course of a day," says Piermarini. (Here's more on the science of building muscle and burning fat.) Burning more calories with zero extra effort? Yes, please.

How can I improve muscular strength? Don't shy away from the heavier side of the weight rack, plain and simple. Experts have said time and time again that women do not have high enough testosterone levels to "get bulky," so you can throw that excuse out the window.

To get the most bang for your (dumb)bell, Piermarini suggests focusing on functional movements that utilize your entire body. "Functional exercises are those that we, as human beings, perform regularly in our daily lives," he says. These are movements you perform all day (sometimes without even thinking about it) like squatting, lunging, pushing, pulling, rotating, and hinging. Exercises that translate well include squats, reverse and side lunges, push-ups, bench presses, Russian twists, and deadlifts, he says. "They'll all help make daily activities easier by improving strength, coordination, and balance."

While you're training, "don't get caught up in the mindset that more is always better," he warns. "Instead, focus on the quality of movement. A strength session could be done in anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes." Need some suggestions? Get started with this heavy kettlebell routine or this total-body strength and conditioning workout.

What is muscular endurance? When you head to, say, a spin class, there's usually an upper-body segment incorporated. It's typically near the end of class, and it lasts about five minutes. During that time, you rotate between various exercises-biceps curls, overhead presses, and triceps extensions-without rest for what often feels like forever. That, in a nutshell, is building muscular endurance, which is "the ability for the body to work for an extended amount of time," says Dyan Tsiumis, C.P.T., head instructor at SWERVE Fitness. The longer you can perform that action-whether it's continuous biceps curls, riding a bike, or running-the more muscular endurance you have.

And while you often use the same muscle groups when building both strength and endurance, depending on the action, different muscle fibers are recruited: "Slow-twitch muscle fibers (type 1) are responsible for endurance, and fast-twitch fibers (type 2) are responsible for strength and power," says Stankiewicz. When you do endurance activities that train slow-twitch fibers, you improve the ability of your muscles to use oxygen-which helps you perform longer before feeling tired.

Why do I need muscular endurance? Whether it's a day-to-day life activity-like when you're playing with your kids and doing chores around the house-or you're in the midst of a workout, your body needs muscular endurance. When you have a lot of it, "fatigue will not set in as fast and you will be able to withstand more while using less energy," says Croce. Think of it like running, suggests Tsiumis. "Muscular strength is a sprint, and muscular endurance is a marathon," she says. The more endurance you have, the harder you'll be able to go for a longer distance.

How do I improve muscular endurance? Cardio training is typically the go-to method, but lifting lighter weights for a higher number of reps can also boost endurance. Be it a barre class, climbing stairs, or swimming, choose something that challenges you.

Just don't expect this type of training to make your muscles visibly bigger, explains Tsiumis. "There is little to no increase in the size or strength of the individual muscles themselves," she says. "Slowly, over time though (in typical studies, about 12 weeks), there is increased strength in individual muscles and a thickening of the muscles that occurs." So rather than focus on how you look, tune in to how your body feels. If you're able to run, say, a 10K (6.2 miles) in the amount of time it would normally take you to cover six miles, your endurance is headed in the right direction.

How often should I work on both? Really, it depends on your goals and where your weaknesses lie. "We are often more adapted genetically to one versus another," says Stankiewicz, so if you're simply looking to feel more balanced, then adjust your schedule to favor your weak link. (P.S. Genetic tests like 23andMe can give you a hint about your muscle composition.) In general, though, three sessions a week for both is the standard recommendation, or two if you're new to training.

The Pentagon’s UFOs

How a Multimedia Entertainment Company created a UFO news story

BY ROBERT SHEAFFER

On December 16, 2017, the New York Times published “Glowing Auras and Black Money—The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program,” a now-famous article about the previously unknown Pentagon UFO study program, as reported by To The Stars Academy (TTSA). It was founded by a rock musician named Tom DeLonge, formerly of the band Blink-182, who describes TTSA as an “independent multimedia entertainment company.” This set off a media UFO frenzy that still continues.

To show how little TTSA’s people understand about what they are doing, the so-called “glowing auras” surrounding the objects in the widely circulated video shot by a military jet represent nothing more than a processing artifact of the infrared image. But TTSA’s “experts,” as well as those who look up to them, don’t realize that obvious fact and think instead that it represents something deeply mysterious.

Most people didn’t notice that Leslie Kean, one of the authors of this piece, is a dedicated UFO promoter who has written a popular UFO book. She is also very gullible, at one point promoting a video of a fly buzzing around as if it were some great proof of high-performance UFOs. (And she still has not admitted that she was fooled by the fly.) Another author of the article, Ralph Blumenthal, has also been a UFO believer for years. So this was not the customary news article written by New York Times journalists assigned to investigate a mystery and write an objective story. Instead, it was crafted by UFO believers to appear neutral and objective when it is anything but.

Now the other shoe has dropped. On May 26, 2019 the New York Timescarried another article by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean—the same three authors as the earlier piece—headlined “Wow, what is that?’ Navy Pilots Report Unexplained Flying Objects.” They write:

The strange objects, one of them like a spinning top moving against the wind, appeared almost daily from the summer of 2014 to March 2015, high in the skies over the East Coast. Navy pilots reported to their superiors that the objects had no visible engine or infrared exhaust plumes, but that they could reach 30,000 feet and hypersonic speeds. “These things would be out there all day,” said Lt. Ryan Graves, an F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot who has been with the Navy for 10 years. […]

Read the complete article