I’ve succumbed to Twitter
When I first learned of Twitter, I thought it was the most idiotic thing I had ever heard of. My thinking was similar to that of the suits in the photo above. Who gives a flying flip about the fact that I’m at the gas station or grocery store, or, God forbid, that I’m headed to the golf course?
But after reading about it a little more, I realized the potential. Not for having all my friends know where I am or what I’m doing every second of the day, but for the transmission of information about other things. I read a lot, and I’m constantly coming across articles of interest. My first thought is almost always, I should blog about that. Then I realize that the piece really isn’t worthy of an entire long blog post.
When we first started the website, I figured I could get the info out by putting it in the News Headlines section of the front page, but I soon realized that almost no one was reading the news headlines I put up. How did I figure this out? By putting up a news headline about, say, a new study that came out, then having 15 commenters ask me if I had heard of this same new study.
The other problem I have with the news headlines (other than that no one reads them) is that I can’t comment on them. If I put up a poorly done study showing that high-carb diets make us all healthy, for example, the few people who read the news headlines might think I thought it was a valid study when in reality is was a POS.
So, Twitter to the rescue. I can post on the almost blogworthy articles and do it with a little (very little) commentary. Plus I can, if necessary, inform readers if I happen to be stuck somewhere traveling with no wi fi available while comments stack up. I can use my iPhone (more about which later) to do that. And maybe, just maybe, if I am out and having an extraordinary low-carb breakfast, I may find myself taking a picture of it and posting to Twitter. But don’t count on a lot of that. If I get another hole-in-one, you can be sure that I’ll be burning Twitter up with photos.
Speaking of my new iPhone, I’ve taken yet another step into the world of higher technology, but my foray hasn’t been without a few missteps. I got the iPhone for a number of reasons, but one of the chief ones was so I could monitor this blog and deal with comments while away from my computer. I tried doing it the first few times with disastrous consequences.
I tried going through the comments and approving them, but in the process of trying to enlarge them (which one does by spreading one’s fingers while touching the touch screen) so I could read them without my reading glasses, I managed to delete several at a time the first few times I did this. So, if you sent in a comment and it vanished (I know people get some kind of message when their comments are awaiting moderation, but I don’t know what message they get – if any – if their comment is deleted), that may be what happened. One comment in particular that I deleted has been causing me heartburn. A cardiologist wrote in questioning my take on statins and referring to an old simvastatin study to bolster his argument, and I inadvertently deleted the comment with my fumble fingers . If you read this, Doc, please resubmit. I don’t want you to think I was avoiding your question.
You can follow my musings on Twitter in a couple of ways. There is a little blue bird and the words ‘follow me on Twitter’ in the upper right part of the blog beneath the ‘about me’ and above the big sort of orange RSS feed subscription button. You can click there, and you will be taken to all my updates. Once there, you can also sign up to be notified whenever there is a new update. I imagine that most people reading this will know vastly more about this process than I, but for those who don’t, there it is.
So, have fun with it. But be forewared, I probably won’t be able to keep from indulging myself in a political update or two here and there. The field is simply too rich to be ignored right now. Please bear in mine that I come to politics from a libertarian perspective, and that I pretty much loathe all politicians of all stripes.
Oh, and I haven’t yet succumbed to Facebook, but as the fact that I’m now on Twitter attests, I’ll never say never.
Dr. Mike,
Just a follow up to my earlier comment about Jeff Volek. I have to say that I totally agree with you. Dr. Volek is fantastic, and I’ve been known to spend hours on PubMed going over abstracts of his work. He’s a bright light shining in a very dark place.
After I posted my comment about that study, I found that Dr. Volek has indeed commented on it. He appears to think it has validity. Here is a link to his comments, if you’re interested: http://tinyurl.com/coejca
Being that I used to be an avid bodybuilder and have done the whole carb-reloading thing after exercise in the past, I’m going to experiment with “protein-only” post-workout and compare my results with what I used to get with the carbs + protein. Should be interesting. Since I eat low-carb every day, I’ll be keeping my workouts very short — 25 minutes tops — as my glycogen stores won’t last long. I’m determined to find the best way to incorporate low-carb into bodybuilding. Right now, the bodybuilding world is riddled with the whole “low-fat” message. Surely there’s a better way.
Thanks for the link. I hadn’t seen his comment on the study.
Public service announcement regarding HED:
http://www.freetheanimal.com/root/2009/04/hed-high-everything-diet-if-eating-garbage-is-your-problem-just-eat-more-of-it.html
Another angle on Smithfield and this swine flu madness:
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-chinese-agribiz-giant-eyes-smithfield-ta
Gotta admit, I did and still poke fun at Twitter and ‘Tweeting’ and all that, but the way you are using the resource is truly outstanding. I check it often.
This, however, although ostensibly a good thing, spooks me a little bit:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/22/twitter.locked.in/index.html
Based on posts by Bruce K on Stephan’s blog…
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/04/nutrition-and-infectious-disease.html
Jana:
“As far as I can see, the ‘high-everything’ diet also restricts a lot. Actually only sat fat, starches and calories are not limited. For example, Kwasniewski differs from this diet more or less only by not allowing too many starches (but they are also the preferred carbs in his diet).”
But other diets restrict one or more of those things (carbs, fats, calories). So the HED is unique and it’s not really a diet. It’s ANTI-diet or NON-diet. There is no reason to limit anything, like JK does. The body will heal much faster by eating High-Everything (carbs, fat, and calories) – with the exception of refined sugar, HFCS, artificial sweeteners, and junk fats (PUFAs and Trans Fats).
“May I ask, which foods have you been eating on this diet?”
I eat anything and everything with great digestion, energy, focus, and attitude. That’s the whole point of HED – getting to where you can eat everything (gluten, wheat, lactose, casein, potatoes, beans, fiber, fruit, 100% fruit juiice, honey, maple syrup, occasional sugar). You are not dieting by my definition of the word, which is to “avoid foods, restrict *ANY* macro-nutrients, or restrict calories.”
I can eat a dozen different foods at the same time and have perfect digestion, no bloating, calm stable energy, no fatigue or indigestion or anything. And I am NOT the only person eating HED who can – the HED has many followers who attained the health I have or discovered they already had it when they gave up dieting. People have improved their health rapidly and dramatically, eliminating allergies and chemical sensitivity, food intolerances, and other problems simply by eating the HED. And you will notice that the final rule of the diet says you should try to overcome the rules. That is what brings you to an entirely new level of health – the level where the rules fade, and you have even more freedom than the HED has given you from the start.
Also, Jana, sugars are not restricted if you can tolerate them. People are free to eat fruits, 100% fruit juice, grapefruit juice, orange juice, honey, maple syrup, and other natural sugars. The whole myth that fructose is damaging is bullshit. It only applies to people with a crappy slow metabolism caused by dieting (eliminating foods or restricting macro-nutrients or restricting calories by any deliberate or conscious means). The HED is not a diet. It’s a way to overcome dieting and get to the level of health where you can TRULY eat high-everything (high-fat, high sugar, high starch, high calories, and even some alcohol and other sugar and other things perhaps). Basically, the term diet doesn’t do it justice. It is a tool for overcoming diets.
Also, the HED is not a high meat or high protein diet. Protein should not be more than 20% of calories, preferably more in the neighborhood of 6-10% like the human milk contains or the Kitava Diet. I feel that the HED will spare protein strongly by several mechanisms (namely being high in carbs, fat, and calories).
The Myth of the High-Protein Diet
NutritionData – Milk, human, mature, fluid
In short, the HED is not a diet. It’s a way of overcoming diets and living your life free of dietary rules and dogma. I hope you will consider the ideas with a calm and open mind. Read the testimonies that have already been given on Matt’s blog and the HED website. Forget about stupid rat studies cited by people like Stephan and Peter. Rats can’t tell you how they feel. Go with your heart and mind and instincts.
The HED will bury all other diets.
Join us or watch us surpass your health by an increasing margin.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/High-Everything-Diet/
Bruce
Okay. This is four or five comments on this subject. I’m sure most people who follow the comments have seen it by now, so I would rather you not use the comments section of this blog to troll for followers. You’re welcome to comment on anything and everything anytime, but I’m deleting any more comments proselytizing for the HED.
Anecdotal observations (so worth exactly what you paid for them) over many years of Diabetes groups is that a significant minority (if not more) were eating something akin to a High Everything Diet already. Yeah we must be in that 30% of carbohydrate intolerants because it didn’t work.
The one thing that can be said in its favour is that when we are placed on a Heart Healthy Low Fat High Carb diet this generally worsens our numbers and greatly speeds the diabetic progression in exactly the same way that a low carb diet doesn’t.
Now a vanishingly small number of diabetics actually do seem to make a low fat diet work, but they are well outnumbered by the rest of us. Proportions may be different in a non-carbohydrate-intolerant population, it’s plausible that a HED diet improves on the SAD but it is certainly non-optimal compared to something along the Protein Power/Primal balance
hi dr eades,
this isn’t about twitter (good for you….it takes me a very long time to accept new technology and i only recently bought my first ipod and dvd player so you’re light years ahead of me!) but i do have a question. i’ve been loving your blog and the low carb way but my body has taken a strange proportion. i’ve lost a good amount of weight and inches and am quite trim in my chest, belly and waist (ribs and clavical are clearly visible) but i still have way too much fat on my hips, thighs and upper arms…i’ve begun to look like a bosc pear. i do weight lifting and lotte berk routines at a ballet barre so i am building muscle but i’ve got this nasty fat that won’t budge. i eat meat/fish/poultry, vegetables, nuts/seeds, very small amounts of cheese, fruit and unsweetened greek yougurt. i’ve considered cutting out the fruit and yogurt but i seem to get very lightheaded and exhausted when i do. i’m 49 years old, 5′ 8″ tall and about 155 pounds…definitely in perimenopause but feel terrific and take no meds. any suggestions?
many thanks.
ida
Thank you, Dr. Eades. I had planned this to be my last comment on this thread. I’m sorry for posting it in an unrelated thread, but I just picked the first thread I saw. People can read all about this radical and subversive “anti-diet” on my website. I hoipe you consider the ideas and comment on them in the future. I have changed my life completely. My whole attitude on diet has changed, thanks to implementing these paradigm-shifting ideas. Cheers, Bruce
Oh!
P.S. What is your opinion on the swine flu epidemic, Dr. Eades?
Pretty mild. Pretty overblown.
for Vladim, and Dr. Eades:
“Richard Veech warned against ketosis in people with pre-existing heart conditions since the elevation of free fatty acids in blood affects “the transcription of uncoupling proteins,” which can induce cardiac abnormalities like unstable angina and cardiac arrhythmia.”
Found this on http://books.google.com/
Hunger: An Unnatural History
By Sharman Apt Russell
Published by Basic Books, 2005
ISBN 0465071635, 9780465071630
262 pages
That said, it’s kind of sketchy and who knows what the original context of the conversation was.
I have personally had some palpitations, PJCs (premature AV junction contractions), while on very low carbohydrate diets. I think it may be electrolyte imbalance, due to water loss. I find it virtually disappeared after sprinkling Morton’s Light Salt (a good source of potassium) on water, and on foods. These PJCs are benign, I found after having stress test at a cardiologist and a couple of ECGs. Additionally I had a CT Heartscan done (score: 0).
This is in regards to your tweet (ugg… I hate saying that as well) discussing poor/misleading study analysis conducted by university medical centers.
http://scienceblogs.com/bioephemera/2009/05/fake_journals_the_internet_and.php
If you don’t feel the journals are talking about your drug enough, well then just make your own journal!!! They DID do a great job on the name…
Yes, I’ve got this one on its own special tab awaiting a post. I didn’t figure a tweet (loathsome word, that) would get the full measure of my disgust across.
Never thought I’d say it, but I’m now on Tweeter!
This is one of those tools that can be used for great good…..or can be a tremendous waste of time!!! Looking forward to lots of good from you!
I hope I’m up to the task.
for Vladim, and Dr. Eades:
“Richard Veech warned against ketosis in people with pre-existing heart conditions since the elevation of free fatty acids in blood affects “the transcription of uncoupling proteins,” which can induce cardiac abnormalities like unstable angina and cardiac arrhythmia.”
Found this on http://books.google.com/
Hunger: An Unnatural History
By Sharman Apt Russell
Published by Basic Books, 2005
ISBN 0465071635, 9780465071630
262 pages
That said, it’s kind of sketchy and who knows what the original context of the conversation was.
I have personally had some palpitations, PJCs (premature AV junction contractions), while on very low carbohydrate diets. I think it may be electrolyte imbalance, due to water loss. I find it virtually disappeared after sprinkling Morton’s Light Salt (a good source of potassium) on water, and on foods. These PJCs are benign, I found after having stress test at a cardiologist and a couple of ECGs. Additionally I had a CT Heartscan done (score: 0).