Health & Nutrition by Michael R. Eades, M.D.

Synchronicity is an interesting thing.  The International Journal of Obesity has an article in the Ahead of Publication section of its online journal showing that replacing bagels with eggs for breakfast increases weight loss, which article I wrote about in my last post.  Now comes the British Journal of Nutrition, and in its Ahead of Publication section of this month’s online journal there is an article titled: Increased dietary protein consumed at breakfast leads to an initial and sustained feeling of fullness during energy restriction compared to other meal times.

The authors of this paper present data that adds to the idea that consuming protein for breakfast as part of a calorically-restricted diet leads to decreased hunger and food intake during the remainder of the day.  And this particular paper even adds to the data showing that even minimal decreases of carbohydrate intake along with a little extra protein bring about good things.

Here is how the study was done (and I’m sorry because it is difficult to follow - I had to diagram it to figure out what was going on.  If you don’t want to drive yourself crazy going through all the individual diets, just skip down to the last couple of paragraphs and read the conclusions).

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I found an intriguing study in the Advanced Online Publication section of the International Journal of Obestiy.  (Currently you can download the full text of the article free here.  Often these articles go unfree once they are published, so grab it in pdf while you can.)  The paper shows the value of adding a couple of eggs to not just a low-carb diet, but to any calorically restricted diet.

The authors point out that since different foods confer different degrees of satiety (i.e., meat: a lot; pasta: not much), a diet composed of foods with higher satiety values might just help people lose weight more easily.  Well, duh.  Those of us in the low-carb biz have been saying that for years since low-carb diets are so much more satiating than high-carb diets, and, consequently, those who follow low-carb diets tend to spontaneously reduce their caloric intake.  Of course the lipophobes out there all then shout that the extra fat and cholesterol are going to clog the arteries of anyone following a low-carb diet.

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Steve McCain

According to a recent NBC Sports article, Olympic gymnasts have jumped on the low-carb bandwagon.  And they do it because they need plenty of quick energy for the intense activities they perform.

With rock-hard biceps and abs that would make a bodybuilder jealous, Stephen McCain doesn’t need to lose weight. Yet count him as a devotee of the increasingly popular low-carbohydrate diet. Read more »

Dean Karnazes is an ultramarathoner whose most recent exploit was to run 50 marathons in 50 consecutive states in 50 consecutive days.  Not a bad feat.  His endurance seems almost superhuman, and, based on what I’ve read about him, I suspect it is.  A recent article in the magazine Wired explained how he got started running 14 years ago.

DEAN KARNAZES WAS SLOBBERING DRUNK. IT WAS HIS 30TH BIRTHDAY, and he’d started with beer and moved on to tequila shots at a bar near his home in San Francisco. Now, after midnight, an attractive young woman – not his wife – was hitting on him. This was not the life he’d imagined for himself. He was a corporate hack desperately running the rat race. The company had just bought him a new Lexus. He wanted to vomit. Karnazes resisted the urge and, instead, slipped out the bar’s back door and walked the few blocks to his house. On the back porch, he found an old pair of sneakers. He stripped down to his T-shirt and underwear, laced up the shoes, and started running. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

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