Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Zoe Harcombe
Read between
June 5 - June 20, 2023
if a child ate a bag of crisps, a confectionery bar, a burger and chips and had a fizzy drink, they would need to run continuously for five hours to burn that off.
“it is physically and physiologically impossible for Paul to burn off the calories he consumes.” I.e., not withstanding the fact that Paul is bedridden, there is nothing he could physically do in one day that would match what he consumes in one day.
This nicely illustrates a mathematical reality – a human can eat more in a defined period, than is physically possible to expend. We can, however, always adjust the intake to match the body’s need. Why focus on the part of the equation that is the least malleable?
Those who regularly go to the gym and participate in scheduled exercise classes, often have little energy and inclination to be active at other times. They report going to the gym on the way home from work and then “collapsing on the sofa” all evening. Those who don’t have the time (or inclination) to go to the gym are more often active throughout the day, on their feet at work, running errands, cleaning, cooking and managing the household.
Carbohydrate can only be used for energy; it can’t repair cells and perform the basal metabolic roles reserved for fat and protein.
If we more sensibly base our meals on foods such as meat, fish, eggs and vegetables, we don’t have to make time for burning off carbohydrates. We can get on with our day and the body gets on with its planned maintenance.
I do not believe that there is anything natural about running marathons, pumping iron or spinning on stationary bikes. It is far more natural to walk, talk, dance, sing, cook, clean and tend the land.
The tragedy of electronic entertainment is not that we sit on the sofa per se, but all that we have lost in so doing.
The odds of an American child being obese are one in five. Let the children play. The key thing is to let them play without a snack.
Our goal with activity should be the well established S’s: stamina, suppleness and strength and all three of these can be achieved without running marathons. I would add another S – stress – as there is medium evidence for a moderate therapeutic effect of exercise on depression and mental wellbeing.[311] I suggest that alleviation of stress will especially require that the exercise is found to be enjoyable by the person. Dancing, yoga and/or walking a dog are all more likely to have benefits for mental wellbeing than ‘going for the burn’.
In parts of the world where there is still no processed food, and people are forced to live off the land, there is little or no obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes or other modern illness.
As a food/drink manufacturer you cannot afford to have any public health advice going against any of your products or planned developments. This would be disastrous. It would be really helpful in fact if public health advice could be promoting your products – this would be idyllic.
That USA food pyramid is just great for a cereal company – five to eight ounces of grains per day and three cups of milk – cereal is surely the easiest way to get those. The UK ‘eatwell’ plate even has a box of cornflakes on it – branded (Kellogg’s) in some versions.
Dietitians in America, therefore, enjoy a unique monopoly position and they have unfettered access to hospitals, schools, large institutions, prisons – all public health diet advice.
The partners of the American Dietetic Association (ADA) are as follows.
How can any dietary association be delighted to work with the Sugar Bureau? How can I “trust a dietitian to know about nutrition” (their little slogan) when they so joyfully partner with the least nutritious substance that we consume on a staggeringly regular basis? I expect that a number of dietitians are unaware of this and, hopefully, equally appalled.
“A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong, which is but saying in other words that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.”
ATP: stands for Adenosine Tri-Phosphate. It is an organic compound made up of adenosine (an adenine ring and a ribose sugar) and three phosphate groups, hence, the name. ATP contains a large amount of chemical energy stored in its high-energy phosphate bonds. It releases energy when it is broken down into ADP (Adenosine Di-Phosphate). ATP is considered as the universal energy currency for metabolism.
Calorie: a gram calorie is “The amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water from 14.5°C to 15.5°C, at standard atmospheric pressure.” A “kilogram calorie” is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius.
Cholesterol: (C27H46O): a waxy lipid found in all body cells and critical for the working of the body.
Chylomicrons: are the largest lipoproteins. Chylomicrons are formed in the intestine, as a result of digestion, and chylomicrons are the transport mechanism for taking dietary fat (and cholesterol) from the digestive system into the blood stream and from there to the different parts of the body.
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10): a naturally occurring compound found in every cell in the body. It is also called ubiquinone, from the word ubiquitous, which means “found everywhere. It plays a key role in energy production in the body and has been called the energy spark plug for the body.
Enzyme: a protein (or protein based molecule) that speeds up a chemical reaction in a living organism. It acts as a catalyst. There are three types of enzymes in the human body: metabolic enzymes, which run our bodies; digestive enzymes, which digest our food; and food enzymes from raw foods, which start food digestion. There are approximately 50,000 enzymes in the human body.
Glucagon: a hormone released by the pancreas which stimulates the liver to convert stored glycogen into glucose when blood glucose levels fall too low.
Glycerol: has the chemical compound C3H5(OH)3. Glycerol is a sugar alcohol and it has many other names – glycerine, glycerine, 1, 2, 3-trihydroxypropane etc. The 1,2,3 reference indicates that glycerol has three hydrogen/oxygen groups that can bond with the COOH group at the end of fats.
Lipoproteins: are microscopic bodies found in our blood stream. We can think of lipoproteins as tiny ‘taxi cabs’ travelling round the blood stream acting as transporters. They are needed because the vital substances fat and cholesterol are not water soluble, so they cannot exist freely in blood.
Macro minerals: minerals present in the body and used by the body in amounts greater than 100 milligrams per day: calcium; chloride; magnesium; phosphorus; potassium; sodium and sulphur.
Sugar is one of the rare foods that is 100% carbohydrate (no fat or protein). Oil generally and olive oil, as an example, is 100% fat (no carbohydrate or protein).
Pancreas: is a gland organ playing dual roles in the digestive and endocrine systems of the body. It is both an endocrine gland, producing several important hormones, including insulin and glucagon, as well as an exocrine gland, releasing pancreatic juice containing digestive enzymes that pass to the small intestine. These enzymes help to further breakdown carbohydrate (pancreatic amylase), protein (protease) and fat (lipase).
Pyruvic acid: (also called pyruvate) a colourless, water-soluble, organic liquid produced by the breakdown of carbohydrates and sugars during glycolysis.
Trace minerals: minerals present in the body and used by the body in amounts smaller than 100 milligrams per day: chromium; copper; fluoride; iodine; iron; manganese; molybdenum; selenium and zinc.
