High-protein diets are a bust.
01.25.07 (5:20 pm) [edit]This was given to me as a supplement in my nutrition class. Thought I'd share as nutrition effects everyone and many are still confused about high-protein diets.
The Cooper Institute in Dallas released the following statement in 2001. (They are a very important fitness and health research center.)
"The Cooper Clinic DOES NOT recommend a high protein, low carbohydrate diet for the following reasons:
It is inadequate in major nutrients (i.e., carbohydrates) and micronutrients (many vitamins, minerals, anioxidants and phytochemical).
It is imbalanced.The U.S. Dietary Guildines, the Surgeon General, the American Heart Association, American Dietetic Association, American Cancer Society and the American College of Sports Medicine all recommend a diet comprised of 10-15% protein, 55-60% carbohydrate, 20-30% fat and 20-35 grams of dietary fiber.
It promotes water (not fat) loss. It gives one false sense of weight loss due to an immediate loss of body fluid. May also cause excessive potassium loss, electrolyte imbalance and dehydration. Rarely is weight loss permanent.
It causes ketosis.High protein, low carbohydrate dies result in the formation of ketones (vs. glucose [the real body fuel]) as a source of fuel. Ketones are formed and released into the bloodstream resulting in ketosis (a fasting type state). Ketosis supresses appetite, may cause msucle breakdown, causes nausea, dehydration, headaches, lightheadedness, irritability, bad breath and potential kidney problems.
It is often low in fiber--causing constipation and possibly increasing one's risk for colon cancer [Didn't Dr. Atkins die of colon cancer?] and heart disease.
It is often high in cholesterol and saturated fat-- [no one wants alot of those in the first place] increasing one's risk of heart disease and cancer.
It may raise uric acid levels-- increasing one's risk of gout. [EWWW!]
It may raise BUN and creatinine levels--a sign of impaired kidney function. [I'm not entirely sure what those are, but I know that they are in lots of performance enhancing supplements, and because they are, athletes are supposed to stay away from those supplements. If they're bad for athletes they can't be good for anyone.]
No controlled studies prove its safety and/or effectiveness.
Summary: Calories are the bottom line for losing weight. Healthy, varied, balanced meals at reduced calorie levels are the most effective means of losing weight-- permanently and healthfully."
I thought that was interesting. Hope someone else benefits from that bit too!
Updates: Abbie, Paisley
01.21.07 (8:52 pm) [edit]Here are some updates on the last couple prayer requests I've listed here.
Abbie: The more I hear about her case the worse it sounds. Her particular type of cancer doesn't usually have the best results. For Abbie though the doctors remain cautiously optimistic because she is so young. The cancer has made a home for itself near her spinal cord, where it could possibly impeed her nerves if it grows too large and paralyze her. In doing exploritory surgery, the docs hit a nerve or two and now she can't control her bowel movements and has to wear an adult diaper. That must be even more horrifying than the disease itself for a young person. Just think of the jeering she probably receives at school. And I thought being taunted with "Four eyes!" was bad. Her family isn't taking it particularly well either, especially her dad. The people she needs the most to be pillars of strength for her are crumbling down. Keep Abbie and her family in your prayers. Let's add her friends to that list as well; pray for understanding beyond their years for Abbie and her situation.
Paisley: Praise God; Paisley is the bright spot! Both Paisley and mom are home now! After her blood transfusion 2 weeks ago she improved by leaps and bounds and traveled the 2 hours back home with mom late this past week. Both are doing splendidly and Paisley continues to gain weight! I wish I had a picture to show you guys, but she is so adorable! Maybe I can borrow one from mom or grandma next week. :-D Amazing what prayers do!
Thank you all for your continued prayers!
First Impressions of the Semester Ahead
01.19.07 (4:52 pm) [edit]Here lie my first of impressions of the semester.
The down side: I may strangle myself with my physiology of exercise text before the semester is out. (I still haven't made it through the first 35 painstakingly boring pages they call the first chapter.) My history professor is "out of the country" and so once he returns he will hit the class with a HUGE pile of dates and facts. I have to complete 20 hours of "professional development" aka volunteer work. (I need money right now for Spain and really shouldn't be offering myself for free to former and future employers.) I also must complete 10 hours of community service for my greek. Oh, and I'll be unavailable pretty much every weekend the entire semester due to tennis. With all of this, I will have little to no free time. :-p
The upside: Tumbling has been renamed "Rythmic Body Movements." None of the grad students that teach the activity classes know how to tumble so they gave us this girl that basically is inventing a class out of thin air. The way she described the class, it will turn out as something like jazzercise or an entire period of tag, depending on the weather. I hate tag; I was always it because I'm really slow. BUT at least I don't have to tumble. Hooray! I really like my Spanish class. We're a very lively bunch and will probably not learn much; however, we will have fun! My nutrition class sounds encredibly interesting. I don't have to go to chapel EVER AGAIN! My tennis strokes don't look half bad for having taken 2 months off. :-) Maybe I'll be able to get them in the court this semester.
Perhaps I'll make it out somewhat unscathed. This not having any free time to spend with friends thing is making me want to move out more and more though.
Aqui estan mis impresiones primeras.
La mala: No tengo mucho tiempo liberte. Juego mucho tenis. Tengo muchos clases asistir y mucho tarea tambien. Me tengo que ofrezcer mucho para desarrallo profesional y mi club greigo. (Nesecito el dinero para me viaje a Espana.) No tengo mucho tiempo para mis amigos.
El bueno: Me gusta mis clases de movimientos cuerpo de ritmo, espanol y nutricion. No tengo que ir a capilla! Mi tenis mire bueno.
Quiza estare bien.
Cancer victimizes young
01.15.07 (6:26 pm) [edit]An old friend of mine-- high school doubles partner to be specific-- has passed along this prayer request which I pass along to you.
Her 11 year old cousin, Abbie, was diagnosed with childhood bone cancer about 3 weeks ago. She's undergoing chemotherapy and experimental treatments. Cancer is horrible for adults, but for a child... I can't even imagine. I know I've posted lots of prayer requests here lately, but who can resist sending prayers for an acutely ill little girl? Pray for her and the family's strength, not only to fight the disease but to fight together.
Blood and Chocolate (The Movie)
01.11.07 (11:03 pm) [edit]
This movie is based upon one of my favorite books by Annette Curtis Klause. The movie doesn't look half as good as the book, but I will be going to see it just because I am a loyal B&C fan.
The movie makes out the story line to be some sort of new twist on Romeo and Juliet. The book takes that plot much further and slices it so Romeo and Juliet are unrecognizable so you don't really even know who Romeo and Juliet are until the last few pages! I highly doubt the movie will use the same ending as the book; that ending just doesn't seem like a good movie to me, but I loved it!
Oh, sorry, I haven't said what this movie/book is actually about. The main character, Vivian, is a werewolf and must make choices throughout and a final choice as to which she loves more: the side of her that craves blood or the side of her that desires chocolate.
Academic Ramblings
01.10.07 (8:00 pm) [edit]I finally got my tennis schedule for this coming semester today. It's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I was afraid that I'd be missing alot of class due to tournaments, but it doesn't look that way.
I was either stupid or crazy at the time I signed up for classes because I'm taking 4 classes from 8am to 12 pm on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. The tennis team usually misses alot of Fridays in the Spring because this is our big season. Looking at the schedule, I'll only be missing Fridays 3 times this semester!! I think I missed 10 Fridays or so last year. I remember it was just under the "you don't pass if you miss this many classes" mark. I think I'll be alright. I am taking a Trigonometry class online. Kind of scared about that. I was flipping through the text for my physiology of exercise class... that looks REALLY hard. I don't think that should be too bad though, because that's one of my major classes and I'm actually interested in that topic. I'm also antsy about "beginning tumbling." Just how "beginning" is this going to be? I can't even touch my toes without bending my knees, or do a cartwheel with straight legs. I am going to die.
Back to tennis... we're not going anywhere cool this year. We're trying to save up to go to Hawaii next year. If I want to graduate in 4 years, I won't be going to Hawaii. The more I think about it though, I think I'd rather take an extra semester or 2 and get to keep playing tennis after this semester and go to Hawaii and all the other fun things I'd be missing out on if I killed myself with the 17 hours a semester minimum I need to graduate in the normal amount of time. Hey, an extra semester isn't half bad for basically having 3 minors. Why not enjoy myself a little? What other time in my life will I have this much freedom and so little responsibility? That would push back PT school by a year then, which in turn would basically push life after college-- getting out of my hometown (finally), getting myself my own family, etc-- back a year too. That would really stink. That's why I may not want to enjoy myself right now. I have a decision to make.
Alright, that is the end of my ramblings. Sometimes it helps to just think "outloud." That's one of the many reasons I started this blog anyway-- a sort of cheap therapy. Haha. Ok, I'm really out.
Your Prayers Requested
01.10.07 (12:06 am) [edit]If everyone could lend a prayer, I'd be grateful. One of my sister's friends tried to commit suicide today by jumping in front of a car. He did this because his girlfriend broke up with him. Due to the fact that he didn't try some other, more sure method and the reason, I'm thinking he's just wanting attention. Perhaps ask he'll demand attention in safer way. Or maybe even just get hit next time with no too serious injuries to get some sense knocked into him. Something! I can't have my little sister crying over dumb friends like that every night.
A Joke.
01.05.07 (1:11 am) [edit]Q: What is green, has four legs and will squash you like a bug if it falls out of a tree?
A: a pool table
P: Que es verde, tiene cuatro patas y aplastate como un insecto si se caera de un arbol?
R: una mesa de billar
Your opinion is requested.
01.04.07 (7:47 pm) [edit]I got to reading around on tBlog today and noticed that alot of people blog to practice a second language. Then I got to thinking--*gasp*-- maybe I should do that to practice my Spanish. I'm much better at reading and writing Spanish than I am speaking, but maybe writing will help speaking too. I'd like to not speak like a two year old when I go to Spain. What do you guys think? Should I blog some in Spanish? Would anyone care? Should I put it on an old blog of mine, since no one would read it anyway or should I just leave it here on tBlog and put a translation on the end? Your opinion is requested.
The Best Christmas Present of All
01.01.07 (9:22 pm) [edit]Sorry to all my tBlog friends; I've been working my tail off to gather funds for my upcoming study abroad trip and have had nil time to myself the past little while. That is why your kind comments have gone unanswered and this blog has gone unupdated. This is also why I would love your donations which can be taken by the little PayPal button in the right panel. Hehe, had to get that in there, ya know.
I'm sure if you bothered to look at the title of this blog you probably put my general blogging history, my screename and that title together to figure this post is going to be some sentimental mush about the gift of Jesus. That's partially true, but mostly not so. Now that I've got your curiosity heightened, let's get some background to this Christmas tale.
The best Christmas present I received this year was from my grandfather. He's a rather quiet old gentleman and doesn't usually have much to say, except when he feels rather strongly about my grandmother's cooking. So most of what I know of my grandfather I have either observed by his actions or learned from my grandmother's blabber mouth. My grandmother tells me that he grew up on the Texas/Mexico boarder learning Spanish as his first language. I think that alot of his quiet comes from that; being a bit stuck between two languages. Don't get me wrong; he's very fluent in English, but one never truly understands a second language like he does his first, in my opinion. His family always claimed Catholocism, but again, according to Grandma, they weren't much for actually practicing the faith beyond all the pomp and ritual of the church. As a result, Grandad hasn't exactly put faith on the top of his priority list.
Fast forward to the present. The past two years or so Grandad has made a point to attend church with his family; the actual service, I mean. (He's been coming to all the parties and pot lucks ever since I can remember.) Now, he never has gone to Sunday School with Grandma nor does he stay one minute after noon nor does he attend any other service but Sunday morning. (He says that he's got his "Jesus quota" for the week with that one event.) But he's in church with his family these days and we consider that a blessing.
Now skip to Christmas Eve last week. My family hosted my mom's side's Christmas party which always bumps right into if not over the candle light service at church. Myself and Grandma particularly enjoy that service, so we always excuse ourselves from the party to attend. Grandad and my sister joined us. Grandma and I were rather giddy that we would have company this year. We arrived a wee bit late and so sat on the back row because the room was mostly dark since this was the candle light service. Grandma led the way down the row--the half blind woman leading, this really sounds like the beginning of a really bad joke-- with myself and sister following along behind and Grandad bringing up rear and taking a seat on the edge of the row. We all sang Christmas carols and listened to the Christmas story be read aloud and then came the concluding Communion service. Grandma beckoned Grandad to come sit on the other side of her near the center of the row. (She asked him to because where he was sitting on the edge of the row he would have to take the communion plates. Grandad never takes communion I knew, but Grandma told me later that he actually never even wanted to touch the plates. I suppose that's because he felt it some vile tradition that he not need take part in, seeing as how he doesn't practice the faith anyway.) Grandad complied with her wish because he doesn't argue with Grandma over details-- no one does anymore because she's too stubborn and refuses to see anyone's side but her own. When the plates made it to our row, I took the plate and my communion portion and then passed it down the row to the rest of my assembled family. Lo and behold, when Grandma tried to hand the plates back to the usher, Grandad took hold of those plates with a passion and took his communion portion too.
Grandma spent the remainder of the service in tears for decades of answered prayers. I was rather awestruck and couldn't hardly even sing the last carol which was ironically befitting: "O Come, All Ye Faithful." Shout your praises to the heavens, you bloggers of faith! A new name has been written down in the Book of Life!
See, I told you this wasn't totally about Jesus being the best Christmas present!
