MYST 158: Evolution

Quick quiz:

You are starving–literally. Which food do you choose:

 or 

Photo via Pixabay.com by silviarita

Our brains are hardwired to prefer the taste of sweet and salt, and fat (which is now being suggested as the sixth taste–sweet, salt, sour, bitter and umami.)

If you go back to evolutionary history, our bodies craved one thing over all others: calories

Calories meant survival. And way back in those days, lack of food was not because the local c-store was closed. Famines killed. Our bodies became built to store calories (as fat) to prevent future famine-related deaths. Those with the bodies better-suited to store fat were able to pass those genes on to future generations. Those with “skinny genes” (sorry–a bad pun) died early and were unable to pass on defective genes.

We are evolutionarily designed to get fat.

The problem is that in most of the developed world, famines are no longer an issue and we really don’t need to be searching for extra calories to store as fat.

So how does that connect to ice cream and pizza?

A half-cup of Ben and Jerry’s Choc Chip Cookie Dough ice cream has 270 calories. Now, our cave-dude likely had no access to ice cream, so let’s think about something that he could get: animal fat. Which of those three foods would be the fastest to give him the daily calories (let’s assume 2500 calories a day):

Lima beans cooked: 11.5 cups
Kale, raw: 74.5 cups
Honey: 2.4 cups
Animal fat: 1.3 cups

Animal fat and honey (or anything very sweet) packs a lot of calories in each bite. When you needed to hunt, gather, and fight for every bite, you wanted it to count. Our bodies are built over the millions of year to crave and love sweets and fats. (We also love salts, because salt would make our bodies hold water to stay hydrated during the long hunts. Because back then, the only Camelbaks found were actually on camels.)

To lose weight, we need to force our bodies to do the very thing that allowed us to survive. That’s why it is so darn hard to lose weight and even harder to keep it off. We are not fighting our own personal natures. We are fighting against nature.

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Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com

Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over

work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!

All images are Creative Comm

MYST 120: Preventing Your Success

Do you have something in your menu that is preventing you from finding success?

Do you use this?
Do you use this?
Is this part of the problem?
Is this part of the problem?

Photos via Pixabay.com by 422737 (sugar) and StevePB (Coca Cola)

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Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com

Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. And you can read his really nice, contemplative blog. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen.

MYST 108 Myths 1

Weight loss myths, scams, quackery and food-woo. Many, many bogus ideas are floating around (read Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest if you want some examples) and I will explain four different topics in this episode. This will be the first of many myth episodes. I won’t release all of them at once (I don’t want to excessively bore you) but from time to time, I will publish future myth episodes.

This show: High Fructose Corn Syrup. Drinking enough water. Eating Late at Night. Specialty Salts.

Is this healthy?
Is this healthy?

References:

Sugar:

http://www.webmd.com/diet/myths-vs-facts-10/slideshow-diet-myths

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/high-fructose-corn-syrup/faq-20058201

http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/nutrition_news_information/is_high_fructose_corn_syrup_bad_for_you

Water:

http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/Gyn/ObgynClinic/8GlassesWaterMyth.pdf

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/water/art-20044256

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/water-for-weight-loss-diet#1

Eating at Night:

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000895.htm

http://www.webmd.com/diet/myths-vs-facts-10/slideshow-diet-myths

Salt:

http://www.infobarrel.com/The_Healthiest_Salt

Pass the Salt (But Not That Pink Himalayan Stuff)

http://www.webmd.com/diet/myths-vs-facts-10/slideshow-diet-myths

Photos via Pixabay.com by LoggaWiggler.

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Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com

Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. And you can read his really nice, contemplative blog. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!