Dear Mark: Depression Diet?

I occasionally get emails from readers who are interested in lifestyle changes that can either complement or replace their conventional treatments for depression. Since our post a few weeks ago on antidepressants, I’ve gotten a slew of emails asking me about the role of nutrition in mental health. In response I thought I’d devote a Dear Mark to the general question of diet and depression. Thanks to all who wrote in or commented on the boards or forum!
It comes as no surprise that nutrition directly impacts brain performance just as it does the functioning of every other organ. Although the roots of clinical depression involve a complex (and theoretically contentious) mix of physiological, genetic and socio-emotional factors, the physical picture hones in on neurotransmitters, chemical messengers that travel between nerves in the brain. Of all the neurotransmitters, the key players in mood disorders are dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. When we […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

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Yesterday was my wife’s birthday.
Instead of going out to a restaurant, I offered to cook one of her favorite meals:

Vegetable lasagna with 4 types of cheese
Garlic bread dripping with butter
Caesar salad
Ice cream for dessert
and a bottle of pinot grigio to wash it all down

Mmmmmmm good…seriously. It tasted great. I make a really good lasagna.
However, this morning…
I feel like crap.

No energy
My sinuses are all stuffed up
Headache
Bloated – my wedding ring feels like it’s be soldered onto my finger
Heartburn
Stomach rumblin’ & grumblin”
I am craving carbs like crazy
And my face is all puffy…I have “bread head”

Bread Head…dammit!!!

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Original post by DR

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The basis of Tabata Training is 4 minutes of intense interval training/circuit training. What you are doing is taking an exercise we’ll use sprints as an example here. Sprint as hard as you can for 20 seconds Walk for 10 seconds Repeat 7 more times for a total of 8 sets. So what you have is a total of 4 minutes workout time. Tabata Training can be done with a number of different exercises the idea is to use an exercise that gets the whole body involved or at least the major muscle groups.Tabata Training can be done with Barbells, Dumbells, Kettlebells or just Bodyweight exercises. I’ll give you some other exercises and routines to try in a minute but first let me give you some background and how Tabatas work. Tabata Training was developed by Izumi Tabata (imagine that) at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, […]

Original post by WP-AutoBlog Import

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In his quest to fully become the character of Eddie Riggs, Jack Black has gone too far.
Steroids, growth hormone, synthroid, stem cell gene therapy…you name it, Jack did it.
In only 6 months, he went from this…

to this….

I'm too sexy for this shirt…

and finally to this…

And yes, I know, sometimes the ends do justify the means, but in this case….
…well, actually, in this case the ends do kind of justify the means.
This video game looks awesome. And Jack Black / Eddie Riggs looks awesome.
And this is coming from a guy that doesn’t even like video games.

Eddie Riggs: The True Brutal Legend

But, if you do love video games, you’re gonna love Brutal Legend

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If you like what you see here, click here for updates

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[…]

Original post by DR

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The Cost of Obesity

Interesting fact in this article I thought you might like to know.

Guest post by Tom Raithel

Being a loser is a lot more fun than it used to be.

In fact, being the Biggest Loser in a weight-loss competition sponsored by the Tri-State Business Group on Health this spring resulted in cash bonuses, not to mention the likelihood of improved health and happiness for the 266 participants.

The Business Group sponsored a Biggest Loser competition, modeled after a television program of the same name, to encourage employees of Tri-State businesses to lose weight.

Employees at 12 companies took part in the 10-week contest, said Lisa Gish, executive director of the group.

The first-place team of eight won $800. The second-place team won $400. Employers of some of the teams chipped in additional incentives, Gish said.

“Obviously, our interest was to provide some sort of program on the obesity front, because that is one of the concerns that businesses say they are most challenged with,” Gish said.

“It’s a known problem, and even more than that … they (employers) will tell you that tobacco use and BMI (body mass index, or weight) are two of the biggest problems they have trouble impacting,” she said.

If it shares the stage with tobacco use as a national problem, obesity is increasingly hogging the spotlight. A 2007 study by the Milken Institute, “An Unhealthy America: The Economic Burden of Chronic Disease,” found that the most important way to reduce health costs in the U.S. is to reduce obesity. Obesity is commonly defined as having a body mass index greater than 30.

The study concluded that, if the country reduced the growth of its obese population to 1998 levels, it could save more than $300 million in the treatment of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

That’s just reducing the growth. In fact, the total cost of U.S. obesity and physical inactivity in 2000 was $117 billion, according to a 2008 study by Trust for America’s Health.

Businesses pay part of that cost through higher health insurance premiums, worker absenteeism and loss of productivity, said JoEllen Vrazel, director of the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity of the Indiana State Department of Health.

Just how much this costs businesses locally and nationally is hard to determine, said Andrea Hays, program director for two Welborn Baptist Foundation programs aimed at reducing obesity. “Folks can come up with all the figures they want. Obesity is a tough one.”

But the local problem appears to be worse than national one, she said. A random telephone survey of adults in five counties in the Tri-State revealed that the percentage of overweight and obese people here was in most cases higher than state and national averages.

For example, in Vanderburgh County, the percentage of obese people was 34 percent compared to 27 percent in Indiana and 26 percent nationally. In Warrick County, the percentage of obese people was 40 percent.

As a result, the Foundation has a school-based initiative called Heroes that emphasizes good nutrition and exercise among young children, and an adult program called movement, which encourages healthier eating and more physical activity, Hays said.

Individual companies are also taking action. Flanders Electric has one of the longest-running and most innovative wellness programs in the Evansville area. “The reason why they started it was basically as a cost containment for insurance purposes,” said Jennifer Wakeland, wellness director at the company.

A key aspect of the program is financial incentives for employees, she said.

The program includes an annual health screening for employees in which risks, such as tobacco use, obesity and high blood pressure, are identified. Employees receive information about their risks and develop goals to reduce them. They get money if they make progress toward a goal.

“We’ve been getting results,” Wakeland said. Between 85 and 95 percent of the employees participate compared to many companies that have rates as low as 20 percent participation, she said.

The program includes follow-up blood pressure screening, tobacco cessation classes and the posting of information on a variety of health matters.

As for obesity, the company offers a fitness reimbursement for those who exercise regularly and arranges reduced corporate rates for employees at three local fitness centers, said Wakeland.

Tracy Mallory, benefits specialist for Berry Plastics, said that the Biggest Loser competition generated enough interest the company is offering its own Biggest Loser Part 2 — an individual competition where employees receive financial incentives for losing weight over 12 weeks.

The contest also succeeded because obesity, weight loss and healthier living are all hot topics now, Mallory said. “A lot of people were interested in losing weight, and we just gave them a start.”

Tom Raithel

EBJ correspondent

Cool idea isn’t it…run your own biggest loser contest and get your employees healthy. Win/Win in my book!
-Darrin Walton

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The Champ

I’m happy to announce that Andreaz Engström won the -70 kg class at the Nordic Bodybuilding Championships in Trondheim, Norway, today. The competition pits competitors from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania against each other.

This is the first Leangains gold winner and I’m convinced more will follow in the future. Third time’s a charm, as the saying goes, and this has been an exciting journey for us both. Drawing upon experiences from his first two competitions, I managed to nail the final two weeks perfectly this time around. In combination with his flawless compliance, victory was achieved.

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan)

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Now that Passionate Posts Contest 2009 is over aside from the voting (and make sure to vote!), I’ve decided to tell you where the $100 prize money for the winner of the contest has really come from.
I visited the U.S. a few months ago. When there, I noticed a little sticker on the Reese’s peanut butter cups saying that there was a lottery with cash prizes. This, coupled with the fact that Reese’s peanut butter cups aren’t sold in Israel was just too much for me to resist the temptation. (Don’t worry, I later recovered from the relapse and didn’t even finish all of the Reese’s that I had bought.)
Amazingly, I actually won an $100 cash prize in their lottery. Here’s the picture of the winning certificate:

 
After contemplating what to do with the cash, it dawned on me that there was no better way to use money given by Hershey’s […]

Original post by rafael@thefitnessadviser.com (Rafi Bar-Lev)

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Shepherd’s Pie

Shepherd’s Pie is comfort food at it’s best. Flavorful ground meat is mixed with a simple blend of peas, carrots and green beans, and in the recipe Cherie Randall submitted for the Primal Blueprint Cookbook Contest, topped with a creamy layer of buttery cauliflower puree. Once you’ve tasted the smooth texture and rich flavor of cauliflower whipped with butter you’ll want to start eating it straight out of bowl with a spoon. But for this recipe in particular it’s worth waiting to experience the whole dish together. Alone, ground meat and frozen vegetables may not seem like anything special. But when combined with the cauliflower puree into Shepherd’s Pie, the result is the type of home cooked meal all of us wish was waiting for us at the end of a long day.

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower
2 tablespoons butter
1-3 tablespoons cream (optional)
salt & pepper taste

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 […]

Original post by Worker Bee

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Would you believe I’ve made this dish three times in hopes of getting a good photo?
Ah well, this is me best. Good thing it’s mouthwatering good! You’ll have to trust me on this one.
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Continue reading the full recipes here and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the HEALTHY IRISHMAN Newsletter!
When you do you’ll receive a FREE Entertainment Booklet with recipes and tips for your next dinner party.
Fueling your body with healthy food. Fueling your mind with the wealth of health.
Copyright © 2009 The Healthy Irishman. All rights reserved

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Original post by DR

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The basis of Tabata Training is 4 minutes of intense interval training/circuit training. What you are doing is taking an exercise we’ll use sprints as an example here. Sprint as hard as you can for 20 seconds Walk for 10 seconds Repeat 7 more times for a total of 8 sets. So what you have is a total of 4 minutes workout time. Tabata Training can be done with a number of different exercises the idea is to use an exercise that gets the whole body involved or at least the major muscle groups.Tabata Training can be done with Barbells, Dumbells, Kettlebells or just Bodyweight exercises. I’ll give you some other exercises and routines to try in a minute but first let me give you some background and how Tabatas work. Tabata Training was developed by Izumi Tabata (imagine that) at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, […]

Original post by WP-AutoBlog Import

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