Turns out I haven't written anything in almost two weeks now. Truthfully, I almost completely forgot about my blog, partially a consequence of not having anything to write about, and partially due to all the things I have going on lately. I've actually quite enjoyed taking a break, and don't really think you'll see much in the way of content over the next few months, other than a post here and there when I'm bored or have something on my mind. If you want, follow my Twitter stream for some random amusement. I spent the last weekend ...

So today is January 13th, which means I've been both caffeine and pop (soda for you Americans) free since the start of the year. I've given up caffeine at various times in my life, so that's not amazingly impressive for me. But I can't say that I've ever given up pop for more than a few days at a time before. I've had quite a few problems sleeping over the last few years, and I often have trouble both falling asleep and staying asleep. It seems even the smallest of noises will wake me up sometimes, or even ...

Today was an odd day. It was the first day back to work in about two weeks now, which in itself was a lot of fun, given what we have on our plate. Prior to that though I had to go a few tests down at Chilliwack General Hospital as a final follow-up to all that garbage I went through with my c. diff. infection years ago. Thankfully everything checked out ok, and I think I can finally put that whole health saga finally behind me. That said, I got nothing but sympathy for anyone who ...

It's true, I hate going to the gym. Lots of people say they go and get this massive rush of endorphins and it makes them feel like they are on a high all day. I generally feel a bit more energetic when I leave the gym, but not to the point where I feel super amazing. I see some of the people who do hours at a time of cardio, and I just can't imagine how they do it. The thing is, it's not that I'm lazy. I love sports, and I'd like nothing more than to ...

A lot of the nutrition researchers continue to argue that the body needs to obey the laws of thermodynamics, that is energy in minus energy out has to equal weight gained or weight lost. Using that definition, the way to lose weight is to create a negative caloric balance (by cutting food or increasing energy expenditure) such that the weight disappears. That viewpoint neglects the fact that the body is not a closed system, and the internal cellular metabolism depends on many aspects, one of which is thought to be the macronutrient composition of the food that goes in. ...

You see it all the time these days. I guess it's because everyone is so specialized in their particular fields that they often don't have the knowledge or ability to make connections to other fields. When I read medical research, I often find it strange that a paper that focuses on endocrinology doesn't make an obvious comparison to another field, for example, nutrition. Some of the implications of the compartmentalization of science are so obvious that it seems strange that making the mental connections is so hard to do. For example, there's still so much ongoing ...

The more research that's published, the more evidence I seem to run into that indicates insulin resistance (and consequently obesity) seems to be related to oxidative stress and/or nutritional deficiencies. As I've pointed out before, one of the strange paradoxes that most theories generally can't explain is why obesity often goes hand in hand with poor nutrition. That is, if obesity is caused solely by overeating, then we should see the lack of obesity in populations where food is scarce or nutrient poor. As several populations have shown us (most notably the Pima Indians), that isn't always ...

Most people probably wouldn't look at aging like one, but aging is actually fairly similar to a disease, one that ultimately catches up with everyone. There's no real smoking gun with regards to what causes us to age, but there are a few culprits: Every normal cell has within it an ultimate limit on the number of times the cell can divide before dying. This limit is known as the Hayflick Limit, and ultimately determines when cells in the body die. It is believed that this limit is a direct result of the influence of the enzyme telomerase ...

Strangely enough, most people in Vancouver probably don't remember me as ever being super skinny. For whatever reason, I've always had a bit of meat on my bones. You can chalk it up to a slow metabolism, or crappy genes or whatever, but there are not many times in my life where I've been rail thin. The first time I came close though was probably around grade 11. I was playing three sports at the same time, getting lots of rest, and for the most part, lived a pretty stress free life. I couldn't tell you what ...

Despite being tired, I dragged my ass down to the gym tonight. Without a doubt, it was probably one of history's most pathetic workout sessions, but I managed to get through it. I also score fairly low on the whole "coordinated gym-goer" scale, mostly because I don't have any shoes that are really gym worthy. I have a pair of running shoes, but they're not really meant for going to the gym, and they hurt my feet. So instead, I usually wear a pair of vans or something else to make sure there's a clear separation ...