Thursday 13 November 2014

LCHF Catalyst Documentary - fresh from Australia

Just watched the latest Catalyst documentary from ABC Australia on Low Carb High Fat diets. It was shown for the first time today.


It was very well made and great credit should be given to presenter Dr Maryanne Demasi and the Catalyst team for producing another documentary after they were so badly treated for their previous expose on Cholesterol & Statins which got recalled due to ruffling too many feathers.
http://freetheanimal.com/2014/05/australia-catalyst-cholesterol.html.

Tim Noakes stars as ever and the addition of Stephen Phinney and the Cricketer Shane Watson add more science and accessibility to the subject, but it is the testimony of Diabetes patient Gabrielle Brunsdon that really makes you stop and listen.

I also like the way that Catalyst post the transscript from the documentary on their web page.
Here it is: http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4126228.htm

And if you like that, then you will love this!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/835313616/cereal-killers-2-run-on-fat







Monday 10 November 2014

Shedding a load

It had been a long weekend of carb eating. A funeral is no place to get all egotistical about diet and so I tucked into the sandwiches, the scones, the cakes and later on the full-on curry along with everyone else. There was lots left over and so the following day was a tidy-up session with very little going to waste. And I have to say that I did enjoy the experience. It turns out that a few of the relations read this blog and so it was pleasantly hypocritical to mull over the pros and cons of LCHF while scoffing a bacon croissant at breakfast time.

Come Sunday the time for feasting had passed. Back to a normal 2-egg breakfast but I felt bloated and needed to get outside for a run. I have a minor achillies injury so a 20 minute recovery/stretching  jog just didn't provide the relief I needed. Out with the road bike then, and I took off with nothing but a sip of water in the bottle and a vague idea of where to go.  At 10:30 I passed a remembrance parade in Hurstpierpoint but dodged by just before the Sargent Major strode into the road to stop the traffic. I was appropriately dressed in red and black (the Aspire colours!) but I’d done enough looking back for one weekend.

I was feeling sluggish sill; but there was no hurry. I normally like the road out towards Henfield but got angred by a couple of un-explainable near-misses and I raced for a mile, regretted it, cursed a lot and wished I was on a grassy trail somewhere instead.  

After an hour or so there was a chimney fire at the Crabtree Inn. I stopped to watch as 2 fire engines arrived. And then a strange thing happened. I got back on the bike and sped off up the hill, and I felt lots better. After a few more miles of sunny roads to the south of St Leonard's Forest I realised that I was flying. With no GPS reminder of how fast each mile had passed I had been unaware of getting faster and faster.

After about 90 minutes of reasonably hard work I hit “The Bliss Point”. The road was gently hilly but I was cruising well above 20 mph, enjoying the scenery and wondering why everything felt so easy. Maybe I was still burning carbs or perhaps I had reverted to fat-burning, perhaps it was a bit of both. Either way it was the most pleasant 60 minutes of riding I can remember.  Even the interjection of 3 sharp hills near Ardingly did little to dent my happy mood, and 45 minutes later I arrived home thoroughly cleansed, feeling positive about life and not the least bit hungry or thirsty after nearly 40 miles of riding at what, for me at least, was a cracking speed.

Sometimes when your body and mind are have been stressed out, a long run or ride is the only thing to turn the tide.