Myths about fat from documentary "Fathead"

This short funny clip "Big Fat Lies" from the documentary "Fathead" explains in a nutshell how fat came to be vilified.

Big Fat Lies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8WA5wcaHp4

Truth is, while there are industrial junk-food fats like soybean oil and corn oil (i.e. in Fritos and potato chips) that are not healthy, there is a much larger list of fats that are good for you adn that people have eaten as a primary fuel source for thousands of years, from plant fats like nuts, coconut oil, and olive oil to animal fats like dairy cream and meat fats if not overcooked.

As mentioned in previous posts, fats are slow burning fuel, carbs are fast-burning fuel, and these are the only two fuels humans have. So if you're not eating enough fats, your going to necessarily overeat carbs by a landslide, which cause weight gain, send your blood sugar through the roof, spike your insulin, make you tired and likely diabetic.

Excessive sitting is a health hazard apart from lack of exercise

Spending way too much time sitting is a serious health hazard, regardless of how much much you exercise when not sitting. Scientists suggest "interrupting" sitting by walking around periodically, standing while talking on the phone or to others, etc.

Experts: Sitting Too Much Could Be Deadly
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/20/health/healthy_living/main6119907.shtml

Your Health: Too much sitting puts the body on idle
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/painter/2010-02-01-yourhealth01_ST_N.htm

Lead still in DC water

If you move to DC, you have to have your water tested for lead. Lead poisoning in the water supply continues to be a problem in DC, despite public awareness of the problem for decades.

People continue to wonder what the problem is with DC schools, citing money, socioeconomic factors, etc. How about kids, particularly "Poor kids who live in older buildings" (Jaffe) being poisoned by lead?

Lead in D.C. water is a public health disaster by Harry Jaffe
http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/harry-jaffe-lead-dc-water-public-health-disaster

CDC Report: D.C.'s Water May Still Contain Lead from the DCist
http://dcist.com/2010/12/cdc_dc_pipes_still_may_be_contamina.php

High Lead Levels Found in D.C. Kids
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012602402.html

Water-cleanup experiment caused lead poisoning
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/40275/title/Water-cleanup_experiment_caused_lead_poisoning

Wikipedia entry: Lead contamination in Washington, D.C. drinking water
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_contamination_in_Washington,_D.C._drinking_water#2004:_Washington_Post

Caffeine after exercise inhibits muscle building

Personally, I'm not a big fan of caffeine, as one cup of coffee at noon keeps me up at night. Which makes it that much more baffling how for a few years there I downed multiple liters (literally) of diet Coke a day (i.e. was addicted). The only caffeine I get now is in occasional chocolate bars or the little bits left in decaf, which I think is good (still enough caffeine to keep me up at night).

But regardless of how much caffeine you can tolerate, caffeine following exercise is a bad idea. In a nutshell, caffeine inhibits the building of muscle, which is exactly what you don't want during the 30-90 minute post-workout (PWO) "anabolic window", a special time for building muscle.

According to Ori Hofmekler, author of the popular Warrior Diet and an upcoming book "Unlocking Your Muscle Gene", caffeine inhibits mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin), the muscle-building mechanism. This is OK, he argues, before excercise, because you don't build muscle while you exercise but rather aftward. It works against recovery, however, post-workout.

Hofmekler cites three thing that "spring-load" mTOR so that it can come back with a vengeance when the time comes to build muscle: fasting, exercise, and caffeine. When the spring is released, it builds muscle (assuming there are enough amino acids available from protein). Drinking coffee after exercise prevents the spring from being released.

"Fasting, exercise and coffee inhibit mTOR in a way that can be compared to a spring being compressed in a closed box."

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/04/16/ori-hofmekler-on-coffee.aspx

Fats explained

This article from Mercola.com disspells myths about fat and breaks down how essential fats are to our diet, particularly saturated fat, a great source of energy which was condemned as a cause of heart disease.

Notes:
-The "bad" fats are trans fats and excessive omega 6s. Both were/are pervasive in the junk-food industry.
-While omega 3s are great, do not buy cheap fish oil because it may have contaminants like PCBs, etc. Paying more for "pharmaceutical grade" fish oil is worth it. Having said that, krill oil is now the new thing that is supposed to be better than fish oil, we'll see...

The Forbidden Food You Should Never Stop Eating by Dr. Joe Mercola
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/09/01/enjoy-saturated-fats-theyre-good-for-you.aspx?e_cid=20110901_DNL_art_1