Diet and Fat Adaptation, For Everyday Life and And Athletic Performance

Our bodies are “flex fuel” vehicles. They have a small fuel tank containing “higher octane” fuel (glycogen), and a much larger tank containing a slightly “lower octane” fuel (fat). I’ll explain why fat can be called “lower octane” below. The body wants to use the abundantly available fuel, fat, at lower intensities so it can … Continue reading Diet and Fat Adaptation, For Everyday Life and And Athletic Performance →

Pre-Agricultural Nutrition

I have seen exaggerated dietary claims based on evolutionary reasoning from different viewpoints, vegans claiming it shows we were herbivores, paleo advocates that we evolved eating a lot of meat, and low-carb advocates that we evolved for a million years eating low carb. The truth is a bit murkier, as we’ll see. Exactly what we … Continue reading Pre-Agricultural Nutrition →

Health Aspects of Animal Foods

Other Aspects of Animal Foods: Humanitarian Concerns and Sustainable Agriculture I want to cover this first before getting to health aspects because it can make the discussion of animal products more contentious. In addition to health issues, many choose to reduce animal food consumption for reasons such as wanting to avoid inhumane treatment of animals, … Continue reading Health Aspects of Animal Foods →

Health Aspects of Controversial Plant Foods

Grains and legumes are enthusiastically recommended by many mainstream nutritionists as well as whole-food plant-based (wfpb) advocates. Legumes and minimal-processed whole grains may well be healthy for many people. But there are others who have digestive sensitivities to them, and there are some controversial health aspects. So I’ll go over what I have learned about … Continue reading Health Aspects of Controversial Plant Foods →

Health Aspects of Various Ways of Eating, Including Alternatives to the “Mainstream”

As I promised a while back, I’m finally going to go over what I’ve learned about various diet alternatives. And I reiterate I mean “diet” more in the sense of long-term way of eating. There is some controversy about what I am about to cover, even though I tried to present balanced evidence and look … Continue reading Health Aspects of Various Ways of Eating, Including Alternatives to the “Mainstream” →

Nutrition From A Mechanical Engineer’s Perspective

I'm about to launch a series of posts about nutrition that came from reading I did for my own health due to my heart valve issue, and also that went into my book. I was hesitant to go into such detail here because I really think the "no-junk" guidelines I talked about previously are a good start. … Continue reading Nutrition From A Mechanical Engineer’s Perspective →

Psychological, Behavioral, and Environmental Aspects of Cravings

Many people still have psychological cravings even after biological sources have been addressed. There are psychological and behavioral techniques to address these. I’m sure you’ve encountered at least some of them elsewhere if you’ve ever read any books on weight loss. I’ll summarize a few that have worked for me. Fix your food environment. The … Continue reading Psychological, Behavioral, and Environmental Aspects of Cravings →

Trying to Eat Healthier- Ways to Deal With Cravings

Many of us have a pretty good idea of what to eat to stay healthy (if not, I humbly suggest my healthy eating guidelines for a start)., or the mainstream nutritional advice from my recent post. But actually doing so is easier said than done, because of cravings. I discussed my battle with these in … Continue reading Trying to Eat Healthier- Ways to Deal With Cravings →

Mainstream Nutrition

I am about to launch a series of posts on a layman's perspective about nutrition. As I mentioned in My Eating Story, I became extremely interested in this topic and have read extensively on it since I was diagnosed with aortic stenosis. But before I get to that I thought I would summarize what I … Continue reading Mainstream Nutrition →

My Eating Story

My own odyssey to find a healthier diet began in earnest when I was about 45, back in the late 1990s, when “middle aged spread” started to accumulate, even though I was very active physically. I was able to get down to my desired weight if I was diligent about exercising and watching my calorie … Continue reading My Eating Story →