Tag: health

Super Healthy Ingredients That Are Not So Super (1 of 4)

In this age of “Back to Nature”, we love to share the news about how certain essential oils, traditional food of exotic culture or drink will help us become healthier and younger.  But how much of this is actually true and how much are just rumors?  Are superfoods really that super? Let’s have a closer look based on what science actually says.

Tea Tree Oil

Alleged benefits: super disinfectant, anti-dandruff, anti-acne, anti-virus cure-all

Talk to any essential oil salesman or google search tea tree oil benefit and you will see or hear a stack full of purported benefits from this super ingredient.  What makes it even more interesting is American Cancer Society statement that there has been no statistically significant, double blind study that actually proved any health benefit of this super ingredient.  Research in 2012 actually showed that Tea Tree Oil should not be used on children as it can cause skin iritations and allergic reactions.  Surely this is all a collusion done by the medical-health mega-industry to maintain their market share right?  Except for the far cheaper and more widely available eucalyptus oil has already proven research that shows it’s beneficial.  If this is all medical industry conspiracy, how come the medical industry openly acknowledge the efficiency of eucalyptus oil that is produced and marketed by companies big and small?

Conclusion: If you are looking for natural oil disinfectant, use eucalyptus oil instead of tea tree oil.  They are cheaper, proven effective, and even proven to help repell mosquitoes, perfect for the summer.

Is Plant Protein Better than Animal Protein?

Many people avoid animal products for a variety of reasons including religion, empathy towards animals, or desire to be more environmental friendly. And it is perfectly acceptable for everyone to exercise their own personal conviction in this issue. What is unacceptable using false pretenses and fake science to push a certain agenda.

As an avid reader of Popular Science, I was quite intrigued when they recently publish an article stating that plant protein is healthier than animal protein. After all, any highschool biology student should know that there are 9 essential amino acids that the human body cannot produce. Amino Acids is the building blocks of protein used to build our muscles, joints and internal organ repair. All animal sourced protein contains all 9 essential amino acids while excluding soy, all plant derived protein do not have all 9 essential amino acids. Latest research indicated that children on a soy protein diet will develop abnormal secondary sexual organs. Another fact is that in comparative study between casein, soy and whey protein, soy simply came dead last in terms of efficiency in building muscle and strength. So what is the argument that plant protein is better than animal protein? Let us dwell deeper:

1. Plant Protein Has More Nutrients and Fiber

This is the first argument put forth by Popular Science. Interesting as the article writer agreed that plant based protein sources lacks Vitamin B complex, Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Thiamine, and Niacin. Last time I checked, these are all considered nutrients. And if you order a grass fed rib eye meal set, it usually comes with a salad bowl appetizer and some more veggies on the side of the steak. Hence I consider this point to be invalid.

2. People Who Eat Plant Protein in Part Have Healthier Habits

No actual study was cited for this. It is simply a meta-study that does not factor in geography, demography or even smoking habits, all which are significant contributing factor. Let me explain why. In West Java, Indonesia, majority of the locals are vegans. Compared to Okinawa, Japan, majority of the locals consume seafood regularly. If we simply compare these two the meat eater will simply comes ahead. We can also compare the Dalit population in new Delhi, India, poorest of the poor, living in one of the most polluted city in the world and majority vegan with the Amish in Pennsylvania, USA, majority omnivore. Both population have no access to modern medicine. And the Amish population are far healthier. This is why controlling factors are very important. There was even a study that correlates being vegetarian with increased risk of getting colon cancer.

3. Meat Has More Saturated Fats

What kind of meat? What kind of saturated fats? And why is it necessarily bad? After all, many people believed that extra virgin coconut oil is healthy regardless the fact that its mostly made of saturated fat. I recently had a meal with a vegetarian friend that insisted we ate in a vegetarian restaurant. Most of the food were rich in refined carbohydrate or deep fried. Unlike saturated fats in which there is still ongoing debate how some of the naturally sourced saturated fat are healthy, all dietitians now agreed that refined carbohydrate and deep fried food are bad for you. What is statistically proven in USA is that animal fat consumption is not correlated with heart attack.

4. Processed Red Meat is Carcinogenic

So what about non-processed red meat, i.e. medium rare, grass fed rib eye steak? The WHO classified processed meat as being carcinogenic due to increased risk of getting cancer in their study. What is most often not mentioned is the actual percentage of risk increase of eating processed red meat and what it all meant. And the answer is 0.0072% if you belong to the high risk population bracket. The risk of getting hit by a lightning is 0.0083%, which means you have higher chance of getting hit by a lightning.

Conclusion

When it comes to the diet and nutrition world, always maintain a healthy skepticism. When it said “research shows”, always try to find the source research, how it was done, who done it, and how it was funded. Fact is, nutrition industry is just like the cosmetic industry, mostly using “in house research” that was never proven objectively. And if you are a meat eater, just have a balanced diet to stay healthy!

Which Is Better? Soy, Whey or Casein?

If you walk around the nutrition aisle of your favorite supplement store, you are bound to find the three most common protein supplements, which are soy, whey and casein protein.  Each would undoubtedly claim to be the best.  Any vegan would tell you that the world’s strongest man is a vegan, even though the man they meant was Bill Pearl, former champion bodybuilder and powerlifter, who consumed milk and eggs in his prime.  Some manufacturers decided to simply make a blend of all three with their patented mix and claim it to be the best on the market.  However, which is actually the best for you?

The Study

Researchers from Northern Illinois University decided to settle this debate once and for all with a double blind study on a group of young weightlifting athletes.  Multiple different groups were given three different supplements at different times related to their exercise schedule.  Each group would be given enough protein to reach 1.2 – 2 grams of protein consumption per Kg in body weight every day.  Hence there would be no debate after this study that protein A got better results than protein B.

As the study was done for over 2 months, there would also be no debate that protein C got worse results because it takes 1 month of continuous consumption before protein C shows any results.

The Results

Naturally, young people who train with weights consistently over extended periods will get results.  And the results show that all three supplements promote muscle hypertrophy and lean muscle mass when consumed both pre-and post training.  However, for strength improvement specifically, only whey protein supplements show significant increase compared to baseline results.  Both milk derived casein and whey protein were far superior to Soy protein in terms of promoting lean muscle mass growth.

As for timing, casein and soy protein are best consumed pre-training while whey can be consumed on both pre and post-training.  For post workout consumption, the most ideal mix is whey protein with glucose (sugar) for optimum leucine absorption in the body.  This is why we recommend Magnus Whey that has the optimum balance.

Which one should you be consuming? If you are a vegan due to religion or belief that by doing so, it will be better for the environment, then the choice is either soy or pea protein.  However, if your main focus is health and performance, then the scientific evidence in the study points to whey as the clear winner.

Is This The New Health Food???

ATTENTION! Researchers in Japan proved that if you wanna be healthy, you should eat tonnes of carbs. At least that’s what Huffington Post, Elite Daily (one is copy paste from the other btw) and a few other media are trying to convince you based on the article title alone. But does this even make sense? After all, according to American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, increasing consumption of carbohydrates among US population is leading to increase of type 2 diabetes.

So what exactly does the research say? Captain Diet Myth Buster is here to the rescue!

Its is quite interesting that if we look simply look at the US National Institute of Health, it actually refers to the Japanese study as evidence of low carb diet effectiveness on health, particularly on reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes. NOT a high carb diet. So how come the very same research could be considered both as a High Carb and Low Carb at the same time by different people? Yes, you are reading it correctly. Same research, some people say its high carb while some others say its low carb.

1. What is the actual quantity recommended in the study?

Well, first of all, if you look at the Japanese Dietary guideline below:

spinning top

It does seems to show that you must eat a whole lot of carbs, i.e. 5 – 7 serving of grains compared to 5 – 6 servings of vegetables. However, if you actually spent the time reading the actual research (not from huffpo or elitedaily), you will find that the Japanese definition of 1 serving of grains (carbs) is abut 40 gr while 1 serving of vegetable is 70 grams. I.e. the amount of recommended grain consumption is gram per gram lower than that for vegetables, and not that high compared to what high carb advocates, coca-cola and pepsi would want you to believe.

2. What are the activity levels on the research subjects?

jogging

As I have previously emphasized on the importance of exercise for health and for weight loss, you cannot separate the diet from the activity of the research subject. In this case, even the FAO and Australian Sports Commission states that athletes active in endurance and High Intensity training need to consume more carbohydrates than normal population. And if you read more of the research subject and buried at the end of the Huffpo piece, you will find that the test subject as a population walks and are physically more active than the general population. Hence it does not translate to the current generation of desk jockeys that are only highly trained on the finger motor control skills.

3. What I would recommend

Yes, the same old tirade, hit the gym folks! But as Gray Cook once said, move well, then move a lot. Get a good PT or Physio that will teach you to move properly, use the hip hinge more and spare your knees on your movement patterns. As for diet goes, forget about the fad diets and eat more of what your great grandma would recognize as wholesome food. Having said that, I do put my dad on my own special mix of nutrition and he can still do a 7 K jog 3x a week even though he is past 74 now.

Will you be the next victim of this silent killer?

Harvard researchers estimated that this killer is responsible for over 5.3 million death in 2008 alone, same as cigarette smoking. Another study published by the Lancet finds that this global pandemic is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. It is …. the globalization of the American lifestyle!

Call it irony, but the rise of technological advancements that brought us modern day conveniences might actually decrease our lifespan. BBC and NY Times among other leading publications have all predicted that the current generation will have a shorter lifespan than the previous generation. This sedentary lifestyle have led Huffington Post to call “sitting is the new smoking”. But if you are thinking that chucking out your sitting desk over for a standing desk will help, then sorry, latest research published on the Cochrane Library has shown that its more of a fad than actual science.

Hence the actual solution to this epidemic is for people to started moving more. Based on the US National Health Interview Survey in 2000, 2005 and 2010, increasing number of doctors are starting to prescribe exercise to their patients. Because exercise has been proven to be a better medicine both to help many things from increase insulin sensitivity for diabetic people, treating depression and anxiety, heck if you have a bad knee, proper exercise (I emphasize that you MUST get a good personal trainer not some guy that got his certificate from some “guru” that never does his own research) is actually more effective than glucosamine.

And no, despite what some people claim, simple 1/2 hour brisk walking is not enough. US based Centers of Disease Control and Prevention recommends men, women and even children to do both cardio and weight training. Hong Kong Department of Health also recommend both cardio and weight training. So at the end of the day, its not your pills of standing desks or excuses from some doctors with outdated knowledge that will help you. Its regularly hitting some “iron diet”. Are you finally going to get off your bum or are you still waiting to be the next victim of this global pandemic?

Check out my YouTube channel for some strength training ideas and leave a comment there or on FaceBook. Remember folks, if you experience any joint pain or other problems while doing any exercise, you should regress it or better yet, contact me as not all the exercises are for everyone.[:id]Para Peneliti dari Harvard memperkirakan pembunuh

Harvard researchers estimated that this killer is responsible for over 5.3 million death in 2008 alone, same as cigarette smoking. Another study published by the Lancet finds that this global pandemic is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. It is …. the globalization of the American lifestyle!

Call it irony, but the rise of technological advancements that brought us modern day conveniences might actually decrease our lifespan. BBC and NY Times among other leading publications have all predicted that the current generation will have a shorter lifespan than the previous generation. This sedentary lifestyle have led Huffington Post to call “sitting is the new smoking”. But if you are thinking that chucking out your sitting desk over for a standing desk will help, then sorry, latest research published on the Cochrane Library has shown that its more of a fad than actual science.

Hence the actual solution to this epidemic is for people to started moving more. Based on the US National Health Interview Survey in 2000, 2005 and 2010, increasing number of doctors are starting to prescribe exercise to their patients. Because exercise has been proven to be a better medicine both to help many things from increase insulin sensitivity for diabetic people, treating depression and anxiety, heck if you have a bad knee, proper exercise (I emphasize that you MUST get a good personal trainer not some guy that got his certificate from some “guru” that never does his own research) is actually more effective than glucosamine.

And no, despite what some people claim, simple 1/2 hour brisk walking is not enough. US based Centers of Disease Control and Prevention recommends men, women and even children to do both cardio and weight training. Hong Kong Department of Health also recommend both cardio and weight training. So at the end of the day, its not your pills of standing desks or excuses from some doctors with outdated knowledge that will help you. Its regularly hitting some “iron diet”. Are you finally going to get off your bum or are you still waiting to be the next victim of this global pandemic?

Check out my YouTube channel for some strength training ideas and leave a comment there or on FaceBook. Remember folks, if you experience any joint pain or other problems while doing any exercise, you should regress it or better yet, contact me as not all the exercises are for everyone.

Myths about Fat and Health Articles

If you read my previous article about juicing, you might have guessed that I’m not a big fan of Paleo diet. And that is correct. But recently it seems to be popular to bash Paleo diet such that even international business times and the telegraph all published an article about how bad Paleo diet is based on a single study which I personally believe doesn’t really answer a lot of question.  Well, unfortunately your writer here is a science based contrarian and this article will instead be dedicated on giving some reason why I still love my bacon and butter:

1. What the research actually said

mouse

First of all, the “latest research” done in Australia (don’t you just love the land from down under that came up with the multifidus story) only involved mice, not humans. Second of all, the mice in the study was force fed 81% fat diet while the control group were only fed 10% fat. Mind you that even if you ate a diet consisting 100% from sausage mcmuffin, you would only be eating 39% fat, less than 1/2 of the rat study and rats don’t normally eat so much fat anyway. So this is definitely something very unnatural. Least we forget that there has been numerous study on Paleo diet on diabetic people, paleo diet on people with certain heart disease, and Paleo diet on healthy individuals. All which gave positive result by the way.

The point I want to take is, never take a conclusion based on a single research, and always have a trusted source (which apparently is hard to find) to translate this research for you. Even the human trials have very limited sample size in very limited setting, hence depending on your genetic make up, Paleo diet might or might not be good for you. In fact, based on a research done in Israel last year, depending on your gene, tomatoes might spike your blood sugar level more than pasta.

2. Why You shouldn’t jump head first into Paleo instead

masai

Wait, so if this latest trend of paleo bashing is not correct, does that mean its ok to go all paleo?

Well, not so fast. As the latest research from University of Chicago has proven, our ancestors actually do eat carbs, including all the way back from 10,000 years ago! And these starches are important for the growth of our brain!

An underlying premise of the Paleo diet is that our human genome has stopped evolving over the past 10,000 years and we are most optimized to function with the diet at the time. These “researchers” then observe the Maasai tribe in Africa and other nomadic tribes around the world before concluding that if you want to be healthy (even if your ancestors are rice eating asian), you should eat like the Massai.

Except that humans do still evolve even to recent times. One study on Eurasians from 6500 to 300 BC with Caucasian farmers has shown multiple genetic mutation for better adaptation to the Caucasian shift to agricultural society. Another study has shown how even our saliva has evolved. Yet another showed another evolution to improve our immune system. Mind you these are just a few of the studies over the past decade that simply debunked the Paleo underlying premise.

3. What I would recommend

Tumpeng-Jawa

As recent article on national geographic based on Professor Stephen Le’s research elegantly put it, you should eat what your ancestor’s ate 500 years ago. Or as the popular saying goes, don’t eat something your grandma would not recognize as “food”.

So, if you have moved to a different country with different climate, have a mixed racial background, or want to be bigger/taller from the previous generation, does that mean you are stuck? Well, I for one always believe that you should experiment, mix and match, and see which works for you. My mentor is 100% British background and he was diagnosed with celiac disease a decade before the gluten free craze, so he eats rice instead. Use caution, see which works for you, and have a trusted expert help you translate the latest craze. I for one love alcohol but having alcohol will quickly bury my 6pack and eating a tonne of rice would not affect my body fat composition. Most of the established science regarding sports medicine diet are correct and well, both Hafthor Bjornsson and Brian Shaw, No. 1 and 2 strongman champion ate a balance source of carbs, fat, protein and fiber.

Why Chicks Should Hit The Weight Room

Recently I had yet another talk with my sister regarding women doing weight training. And its amazing how even in this modern age and feminism, some women are still afraid of getting some iron diet because of misconceptions and old fairy tales. So I hope this article will help convince women to hit the barbell and for the men to cite and better persuade their gf/wife to join them at the gym.

1. You get to eat and not get fat

blueberry cheesecake

A long standing joke is that what women really want is not a dashing rich and adventurous gentleman to be completely devoted to her. What women really wants is to eat and not get fat. And its common sense that in order to loose weight, then you need to spend more energy than what you consume right? Well, what happens if I told you that long term calorie restriction leads to lower metabolism. I.e. you need to continuously reduce what you eat in order to continue loosing weight. Keep in mind that 65 – 75% of calories you spend is while you are resting. Heck research on mice even indicates that if you go on a diet for a while and then you stop, you could even get more fat with the SAME diet as before. So diet alone will not help. Meanwhile, strength training allows you to jack up your metabolism long AFTER you finish your exercise. Basically you can loose weight while keeping the same diet! Mind you all this has been proven by Oxford researchers.

2. No, women will not get ripped just from weight training alone

female bodybuilder

A common misconception is that women that lift weights will get bulky and muscular. Except that Males testosterone blood level is 7 – 8 times greater than females and that the average male produces on average 20 times more testosterone than females. Yes, male body naturally produces and absorbs testosterone at several multiple greater than female. So in order for women to get jacked as big as the image above, they need to use more steroid than men. So no need to worry about looking like a female Arnold ladies. In fact, although this below chick squats more than I do pound for pound, her legs still looks normal.

ZoeSmithLYG

Her name is Zoe Smith by the way, she competes in 49 kg weightlifting class and she squats 160 kg, more than 3x her own body weight.

3. Helps you adjust your body contour

fitness butt

And butts that squats are always hotter than butt that belong to full time desk jockeys. OK, hiking, skiing and tennis also gives great butts, so please don’t get jealous honey. I for one like legs that have some musculature on it, not just skin and bones.

4. Build stronger bones

bone

Tired of listening to your mom or grandma complained about her osteophorisis? Well, tell them to hit the gym as research has shown how weight training increases bone density even in post menopausal women. Plus the men in the family would definitely appreciate the natural butt lifts their women are getting.

5. They also build stronger joints

knee

Your grandma also complained about her knees? Well, as they say, use it or loose it. Research also shown how weight training helps improve joint health even on people with osteoporosis. Of course the key being doing full range motion, proper movement pattern, and not too much repetitive loading. So I do not recommend de-conditioned people regardless of their age to jump into a crossfit or bodypump class.

So there you have it ladies, happy lifting. And if your man is afraid that you would snatch more weight than he does, then maybe its time for you to get an upgrade and get a better man!

Why Juicing is Bad For You

Juicing here as in people doing the juice diet. I’m not talking about “juicing” as in using roids, HGH, insulin etc., although I don’t recommend most people doing it either. I’m talking about the practice of drinking the juice from every fruit and vegetable and just throwing away the most nutritious and healthy bit out of it. Based on IBIS world research, juice market globally has grown to 3 billion USD in 2019 and expected to grow further. In 2015 I went to a health fair and one of the juice cleanse peddler complemented my shape before remarking “you must have done regular cleanse yourself and can recommend us to your friends!” Eumh… how about no? And let me tell you all why its actually bad:

1. Its actually bad for you

A doctor friend would forbid me from drinking coke, but she herself likes to drink orange juice. Because orange juice and all these other juices are healthy right? Except that these juices are high in fructose. Your body doesn’t care if the fructose comes from corn syrup or from freshly squeezed organic orange. And fructose has been linked to obesity and metabolic syndrome. These juices is actually blocking your way towards your ideal body. People that eat lots of fruit and vegetables don’t get the same problem.  The fibers in the fruit and vegetables will help slows down the fructose absorption rate not experienced from simply drinking the juice.

2. Your body already has an amazing cleansing organ

Yes, you don’t need to do a yo-yo diet to clean your body. The body comes pre-equipped with its own cleansing organ called the liver. The liver is so powerful in fact that if only 25% of itself is left, it can still regenerate to its full size.

3. Juicing throws out all the good parts from the fruit and vegetable

the pulp you throw away when you juice contains all the healthy fiber, minerals and fat your body needs. And those fats are essential for certain type of vitamin absorption. i.e. Juicing might lead to nutrient deficiency even though you are drinking the vitamins in excess. Most of those minerals are also not located in the juice, they are in the pulp!

4. Cooking actually helps your body absorb more nutrients

Yes, in the advent of the Paleo movement, everything raw became trendy again. So why did all dominant civilizations across the globe somehow develop cooking indigenously? Because cooking helps your body absorb more nutrients. It even change the phytochemical compounds in the vegetables and term it into a more biologically ready form. Something you don’t get from chugging it raw.

5. It is also bad for the environment

Remember about those wasted pulp in point 3? Well, when you just throw them out and ended up in landfills, it will rot and release methane, 71 to 100 times worse than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere. More people juicing simply means more of the good stuff heading to the landfill. If you think going vegetarian will help the planet, well, juicing is like going the opposite direction, with a rocket.

So there you have it folks, next time, think before you buy that juice and you know, maybe you should just eat the fruits and vegetables instead, better for you and the planet.

Cheers!