Mindconnection Brainpower Informational eNewsletter 2023-09-24

Update from last eNL: The anomaly on my abdomen is a lipoma ("complex fatty cyst" as they put it). It's very small, but too large to be Joe Biden's missing brain.

You've noticed the new pic. Yes, those are striations on my right pec. The lipoma is tiny and sits right on top of an ab "bar" so is hard to see.

Do I fast?

Often when people see my physique detail such as shoulder striations or pectoral striations, they assume I do regular fasting to get those cuts. Another reason people assume I do some kind of fasting is I do not get sick, they've come to associate wellness with things like fasting. As if food makes you sick or not eating improves your health.

The reality is I do not skip meals, workouts, or sleeping time. Skipping meals puts unnecessary stress on the body, interrupts peristalsis (the "food conveyor belt"), puts you into ketosis (with the bad breath that comes with it), and has other bad effects.

Fasting vs. meal skipping

Notice that I changed from "fasting" to "meal skipping" here. The reason is not all fasting involves skipping meals, but for most people it is the same thing. Some people will do "low protein fasting" and if you use this strategically it's beneficial. When I prepare for a photoshoot, I "fast" from specific fats (for example, avocados) to reduce my total fat intake because fat is twice as caloric per unit of weight as carbs or protein. I also "fast" from protein shakes; I have fewer of them and they are only 1/4 the normal size. I also will skip a sweet potato two or three times a week, "fasting" from those to reduce total calories. But in no case am I skipping meals.

Once we are into cold weather, I do the opposite of fasting. I bake non-toxic pumpkin pies (no wheat, no sugar, unhomogenized Amish milk, organic pumpkin, organic eggs, organic butter, etc. and they are mostly protein) and I like to put organic, non-heated honey on it. Yes, each jar of honey is a calorie bomb; my "solution" is to bake more pies on which to spread the honey over more time. Hey, if it works.... And I will have the pie in lieu of my usual omelet or in lieu of my usual breakfast.

Meal skipping almost always goes in the negative column when it comes to health, bogus claims to the contrary. One bogus claim is it cleanses your colon. It doesn't cleanse your colon, it actually has the opposite effect. There can be good reasons to skip a meal, but those reasons would require unusual circumstances. Some medical procedures, for example, might require total fasting for X time. But do you really need those procedures? I refuse to take the fasting sugar blood test, because it makes no sense for me when I already do the things that cause the reading to be good. In other words, I look at the inputs and don't need the test to tell me I am doing them right. And the same goes for the colonoscopy; I don't get one because I eat eggplant every day and I do not eat hydrogenated oils or seed oils.

When I had the ultrasound on my abdominal anomaly, they at first told me it required an eight hour fast of food and liquids. I told them then it's not going to happen. We worked out an agreement to a 5.5 hour fast. I could accommodate it with 2.5 hrs less to deal with. I set an alarm to get me up at 0200, at which time I ate my normal 0530 meal minus the coffee. I went back to bed and fell asleep within minutes. My scan was scheduled for 0800. I arrived for my scan at 0740 and was on my way home at 0755. I had my normal 0900 omelet (with that missing coffee).

Good reasons not to skip

Here are some of the advantages of not skipping meals:

You optimize nutrient absorption by spreading it across the day. Consider vitamin C, as an example. It's water soluble and you can absorb only so much at a time. You can uptake 5 or 6 times as much useful C by simply spreading your intake across the day.
Spreading meal input across the day limits the peak loading on your liver, kidneys, and pancreas by spreading digestion across the day.
You condition your stomach to be smaller.
It improves bowel regularity.
You get continual colon cleansing, as opposed to fasting where things will sit and ferment until more fiber comes down the pipe.
There is less stress on your bladder.
You eliminate the starvation response, thus you burn more calories while at rest.
You eliminate the starvation response, thus you don't get cravings that add huge amounts of calories that just get stored as fat.
Your body can absorb only so much protein at a time, and because your body cannot store protein it converts the excess to fat. Cutting your meals in half to get six into a day means you eliminate this problem unless you are over supplementing protein. Most people do not count plants as protein sources, but every plant has the same 20 amino acids as meat. You might be surprised at how much protein you do eat.
Your "healthy gut" biota don't enter a weak state in which they can be overwhelmed by "sick gut" biota.
Fluctuations in your energy level are greatly reduced.
The endocrine disruption that results from trying to process too many carbs at once is eliminated. Carbs aren't bad, you need them. The problem is when you get too many at one time and your insulin level goes way up (this drives testosterone way down, and has other bad effects). When I say "carbs" I do not mean processed junk.
The normal short-term nutrient deficiencies arising from skipping meals are eliminated. In fasting, whether intermittent or some other type, you will experience deficiencies in some nutrients.
A whole food diet is satisfying in many ways, and emotionally healthy.
Meals allow for natural breaks in your day. This improves your productivity and while also reducing fatigue.
If you train hard, you should always be recovering from something. You need nutrients to recover, and by not skipping meals you get them.
If you train hard, you need the caloric input so you can train hard enough to get the adaptive response. Not skipping meals means you go at this with an adequately full tank.
Eating on a regular schedule helps set your circadian rhythm. You sleep better when you don't skip meals.

Mindconnection eNL, 2023-09-24

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6. Health tip/Fitness tips

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