Another one bites the dust...

Within the health and fitness community we are constantly warned about monetary driven guru's, dis-credible Internet forums and magic physique supplements.  For the most part your average gym rat can make such a differentiation, but every now and then the established belief takes a dent in the golden armor.  In a recent presentation Archeolocial Scientist Dr. Christina Warinner explains how flawed our general perception of the popular Paleolithic diet really is.  Based on the countless amount of books/blogs written about this supposed Cave man diet, it seems the guru's have cut the jugular.  What was once believed to be a gold standard has yet again fallen to the Fad diet...

Intermittent Fasting, Research and Efficacy.

"When researchers from the Salk Institute fed mice the same high-fat, high-calorie diet but altered when they were able to eat, some striking results occurred. One group had access to food both day and night, while the other group had access to food for only eight hours at night (the most active period for mice). In human terms, this would mean eating only for 8 hours during the day.
Despite consuming the same number of calories, mice that had access to food for only eight hours stayed lean and did not develop health problems like high blood sugar or chronic inflammation.¹ They even had improved endurance motor coordination on the exercise wheel. The all-day access group, on the other hand, became obese and were plagued with health problems including:²

• High cholesterol
• High blood sugar
• Fatty liver disease
• Metabolic problems

Another recent animal study published in the International Journal of Endocrinology showed a beneficial glycemic effect from fasting that resulted in a lower gain in body weight than in non-fasting animals.³ Other research suggests fasting triggers a variety of health-promoting hormonal and metabolic changes similar to those that occur when you exercise.
Fasting is historically commonplace as it has been a part of spiritual practice for millennia. Modern research has also confirmed there are many good reasons to fast intermittently, including:

• Normalizing your insulin sensitivity, which is key for optimal health as insulin resistance is a primary contributing factor to nearly all chronic disease, from diabetes to heart disease and even cancer
• Normalizing ghrelin levels, also known as "the hunger hormone"
• Promoting human growth hormone (HGH) production, which plays an important part in health, fitness and slowing the aging process
• Lowering triglyceride levels
• Reducing inflammation and lessening free radical damage

There's also plenty of research showing that fasting has a beneficial impact on longevity in animals. There are a number of mechanisms contributing to this effect. Normalizing insulin sensitivity is a major one, but fasting also inhibits the mTOR pathway, which plays an important part in driving the aging process. Fasting has even been linked to a dramatic rise in human growth hormone (HGH)—1,300 percent in women, and an astounding 2,000 percent in men!⁴

HGH, commonly referred to as "the fitness hormone," plays an important role in maintaining health, fitness and longevity, including promotion of muscle growth, and boosting fat loss by revving up your metabolism. The fact that fasting improves a number of potent disease markers also contributes to fasting's overall beneficial effects on general health."

- Mercola, Joseph M., DO. "Why Does Breakfast Make Me Hungry?" Mercola.com. N.p., 17 Aug. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2013.

Fasting for Faith

In Church last Sunday, Pastor Bill preached on "Fasting".  A couple things he preached on came to mind.

   1. Fasting is not something that others should know about.  Instead it is a private ritual between you and God.  You embrace the absence of some pleasure in order for you to grow in faith and is self control.

   2. Fasting is not restricted to just food, you can fast from "Facebook" "Twitter" "Your Phone" "Caffene" anything that would be hard for you to go a long time with out.

   3. Fasting proves to us that WE ARE IN CONTROL, not the pleasure.  When we fast from something that brings us daily pleasure then the true burdens in our hearts come to the surface.  We feed these aching hearts with things that just past the time.  We feed them with food, we feed them with drink and many other pleasures of this world.

Fasting helps us surface those things inside that we cover up so much in life.  And then we get the opportunity to pray about it to the God of the universe.  Instead of spending time on Facebook, hey why not pray for peace, why not pray for the people that work with me, why not pray for my neighbors and so many other people that are hurting.  

FASTING IS SOMETHING SPIRITUAL AND POWERFUL, it is a period of suffering that brings us to realize a whole lot more.  God's picture can become visible in times of fasting.

FASTING QUOTES

I pray that in this time of LENT that you may be able to embrace the struggles of fasting and use your time to pray and listen for God's call in your life.

In JESUS name, AMEN

FAITH FOCUS FINISH

BERN

The man in the arena

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again.  There is no effort without error and shortcoming and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Anti-depressants, the scary truth

Paraphrasing Doctor Andrew Weil, within clinical trials involving anti-depressants, many drugs have been shown to have no greater benefit over the placebo. Physical activity or even something as simple as omega 3 fatty acids (fish oil) when supplemented have shown to outperform these anti-depressant meds from pharmaceutical firms.  #FaithFocusFinish

The prescribed diet will never work

"Humans are not closed energy systems, they are open energy systems so therefore it is impossible to account for and measure differences in metabolic efficiency within a snapshot of time."  There is a reason why prescribed diets and workout plans fail time and time again...you are your own greatest resource. #FaithFocusFinish

The anti-aging magic pill.

Evans and Rosenberg (Tufts University) published a study that claims muscle wasting is not a normal condition of aging; it is an abnormal manifestation of early aging brought upon by sedentary lifestyle and inactivity.  They published a 10 item fact sheet on the  determinates that reduce the effects of the aging process and the number 1 overall aid wasn't drugs or cosmetics...it was lifting weights.  #FaithFocusFinish