The First Quick Notes of 2015

Updated 1.7.2015; reformatted 9.22.2015
The “Quick Notes” feature is one that I mean to continue in 2015. The idea is to present interesting links to studies or articles along with a short commentary. A further goal is to mine my draft files and get somethings out the door, even if they are relatively short.

Brief Habits Update: Desks, diet and exercise

Before getting to recent items of interest, I want to note that I begin 2015 as I ended 2014, in that I am splitting my day between my treadmill and standing desks. There are a variety of reasons for this current condition, but not least among them is my admission that when I really need to concentrate, standing, rather than walking is the better condition. And if I’m going to stand, then I prefer to be at the standing desk which is by a window.

I’ve been such a huge supporter of treadmill desks that it seems almost heretical to admit that I can’t work at once exclusively and be productive, but there it is. Part of it might be the fact that it’s in the basement where the lighting is poor and artificial. I much prefer natural lighting when it’s available.

I also continue my effort to establish a new set point in terms of weight and fitness, but there isn’t any progress to report beyond that fact that I haven’t given up. Indeed, I won’t give up for all of 2015 because I decided to write it into my annual list of resolutions, though my habit based resolutions were not included in my earlier posting.

I have started jogging again, but am not recording the mileage or keeping track of the days I run. I’ve decided in the case of running to list to my body, and if I feel like running I will, if I don’t, then I won’t. The general idea is to run/jog three times a week for about 30 minutes as a way to add a bit of aerobic activity to my routine.

It’s all a big fat saturated lie.

But not in the way that Paleo dieters and Low carbers mean.

I’ve written about Dr. Greger and his website NutritionFacts.org previously. The good doctor is resolutely vegan, but his presentation of medical research is top notch. This video is one of the most important yet. Not because it’s pushing veganism, which in this case it isn’t really, but because he explains why the recent meta studies that purport to show the safety of eating saturated fat are wrong— by DESIGN.

As always, he references a number of studies in the presentation (and unlike so many actually provides links to all of them), but the 1979 study is really the linch pin. Not because it presents data about saturated fat and health, but because it explains why studies of populations are worthless when it comes to determining anything about cholesterol and saturated fat.

Yes, he’s vegan. And yes, the answer is (as always) can be boiled down to “eat more plants.” But this is the first time I’ve ever seen it shown why the sat fat recommendations exist, how they were arrived at validly and WHAT the limitations are. After researching about diet and heart health, ALL the rest of it is noise. If your experimental design CAN’T measure what you’re trying to test… THEN IT IS WORTHLESS. In this worthless category are all the “new” meta-studies looking at population data.

Use it or lose it.

Yet more evidence as published in the New York Times that keeping active as you age is the correct strategy. No one gets out alive, of course, but the key to aging gracefully seems linked to remaining as active as you can.

I had the heart rending experience of watching my own father hasten his demise with inactivity. Part of my reason to beginning to run/jog again is to increase my activity. Yes I walk more than most, but regularly increasing the heart rate is important too. In the article linked above, the elderly subject were bike riders. I’m not fond of bike riding, and so don’t do it. I own a stationary half-recumbent bike which I bought to try and get my husband to move more, but that was an abject failure. The only person that ever rides it is me, and I only do so occasionally.

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