Both Sides Now: Nerds!

Firstly, here's the song "Both Sides Now" sung by Judy Collins in 1967.


"I've looked at x from both sides now, from up and down and still somehow, it's x's illusions I recall. I really don't know x at all."

Basically, anything can be looked at in a positive or negative way. Which brings me to the subject of nerds. Please note: The following may be a little tongue-in-cheek.

I'm a nerd. Did you notice?

Nerds: The good
1) We're single-minded & very focused. If you want something to work, get a nerd to do it. Just about every gizmo on this planet was invented, designed or developed by nerds.

2) We don't crave a partner's attention. We're not really people-people. Gizmos, on the other hand.....

3) All of the cool stuff like computers, smart-phones & the Internet were invented/designed/developed by nerds.

Nerds: The not-so-good
1) We're single-minded & very focused. If you want more than one thing done at a time, don't get a nerd to do it. A nerd trying to multi-task can result in unintentional hilarity. Don't talk to us when we're concentrating on something!

2) We can be socially inept. Body language = Double-Dutch. If I button-hole you in a fascinating (to me) conversation, I won't notice any of your subtle signs that you want to escape.

The best way to interrupt a nerd is to hold up your index finger and say "Interrupt request!". If you're lucky, the nerd will say "Interrupt request acknowledged!" and allow you to get a word in. This, of course, doesn't work with telephone conversations. Shouting "Stop talking while I'm interrupting you!" loudly is an option.

We also "teach granny how to suck eggs" by stating the bleedin' obvious - just in case you didn't get it the first few times.

3) We can be a bit obsessive. From Duty Calls:-


If you think that I'm nerdy, see "The big bang theory" on YouTube. :-D

Continued on Both Sides Now: Asperger's.

Positive Feedback: How a tiny push can make all the difference.

As an ex-Electronic Engineer, I'm very familiar with the effects of Positive Feedback in electronic circuits. The Schmitt trigger is a classic example of a slowly-changing input resulting in a suddenly-changing output.


While I was chatting to another visitor in mum's nursing home yesterday, I had a "Eureka!" moment. I was talking to her about my sudden mood changes when the bleedin' obvious suddenly occurred to me.

When my mood starts to fall, I start doing less. This lowers my mood further. This forms a vicious circle and my mood suddenly falls to a low value and stays there, with me lying in bed/on the sofa feeling like crap and not blogging.

When my mood starts to rise, I start doing more. This raises my mood further. This forms a virtuous circle and my mood suddenly rises to a high value and stays there, with me walking, scrumping, photographing, Zumba-ing and blogging all about it.

So, do something that you think you can't do. You'll feel better for it!

F.A.O. anyone who links to my blog: The title has changed. It's now:-

Nige's Diet & Nutrition Blog
Diet, Nutrition & Fitness Information + Random stuff.

Please update your links. Thanks.

It's Party time again!

The title is named after George Van Dusen's jolly little number.


I got an invitation to a party at mum's care home today.


Jenny Wood, mayor of Henley visited again.


Mum's hair was a little dishevelled due to her putting a cloth napkin on her head earlier, when there was a cold draught coming through a nearby window.

I was suited and booted with a dicky bow and got too hot. In retrospect, doing Zumba the night before wasn't a good idea!

During the high tea, I fed mum on strawberries & cream. She stayed wide awake and alert throughout the do. The lady to my left was overweight & type 2 diabetic but was fed sandwiches & cakes(!) Suffice it to say that she went into a hyperinsulinaemic sleep and was almost completely uncommunicative when her nephew & niece arrived.

I was bit naughty food-wise and I also had a glass of Champagne which went straight to my head, making me quite merry. I went for a walk to the local Car Service Workshop to clear my head and pay the bill for the repair of mum's car (it needed a new distributor and timing belt as the distributor was knackered and the old timing belt was nearly 13 years old).

For "supper", I gave mum a chopped banana with cream. She was not only wide awake, but talking and making some sense! I started to flag a bit and a lady told me that I looked tired and should go home, so I did. I kept myself alert during the 45 minute drive home by blasting myself with freezing air and playing "Duke" by Genesis at high volume with the window down!

Move More: You are NOT going to believe this!

At 7:30pm tonight, I walked to the place below. It's in the same building as the Co-op.


I did a 45 minute Zumba session. I was the only man in the room! My pulse rate went over 100% MHR but I seem to have survived.

Before 11th December 2010 and Uh-oh! There may be trouble ahead..., if someone had suggested to me that I try Zumba, I would have told them to not be so daft. During the walk home, I phoned my ex-G/F to tell her what I'd just done, as she's very into keep-fit. My, how she laughed!

Here's a Video ad.

Variety is the spice of life.

In Half a breakfast, I couldn't finish my breakfast and it looked a bit yuk. Today, I microwaved a rasher of middle bacon, 2 sausages and 2 eggs (Full English) with Tesco Market Value Stir Fry vegetables (a colourful mix of vegetables with seasoning, 750g for £1) and a sprinkle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) on top. It looked like this.


I ate the lot!

Here's a Full English with sliced mixed peppers, a sprinkle of Losalt & EVOO on top.


Here's a Full English with sliced mushrooms, a sprinkle of Losalt & EVOO on top.


Here's a Full English with finely-chopped onions, a sprinkle of Losalt & EVOO on top.


Delish!

Chaenomeles japonica - flowering - quince, Japanese - quince (H)

This morning, while on my constitutional, I saw a bush in someone's front garden with some fruit on it and thought "I wonder what they are and what they taste like?" This is what it looked like.


When I got home, I took some photos. I took another Crabapple for comparison.


I then cut the fruits open.


Quinces are sour, but the frosts had sweetened it somewhat so it was edible raw. A checkout lady at the Co-op told me that it was a Japonica Quince later in the day.

Polite Requests.

I delivered a large wad (0.25"/6mm thick) of studies with a covering letter to my mum's new GP on Monday 17th Jan 2011. Here's what I wrote in the covering letter:- Personal information deleted.

"Dear Sir/Madam,

I have some requests concerning Mrs *****.

1) Please monitor Mrs *****’s serum B12 & homocysteine. Until Jan 31st 2010, Mrs ***** was receiving 1,000ug/day methyl B12. This was stopped by the management of Lashbrook House after I complained too much. Long-term use of PPIs in old people can adversely affect B12 absorption (evidence attached).

2) Please advise the staff at Acacia Lodge to walk Mrs ***** using the 3-wheeled rollator that I bought for her as often as she is able. Prolonged inactivity results in Insulin Resistance (IR) in skeletal muscle (evidence attached). IR results in hyperinsulinaemia on eating sugars & starches. Hyperinsulinaemia results in drowsiness and stupor (which makes it more difficult for Mrs ***** to do anything).

3) Please advise the staff at Acacia Lodge to reduce Mrs *****’s intake of sugars & starches. A low-carbohydrate/ketogenic diet is beneficial for people with impaired cognitive function (evidence attached). I have recently persuaded Acacia Lodge to give Mrs ***** cooked breakfasts and have supplied Acacia Lodge with Burgen Soya & Linseed bread (12g carbs/slice). This has resulted in improved cognitive function in the mornings.

I don’t want to impair Mrs *****’s quality of life, so she can still have chips or mashed potato (not both in the same meal as happened on Fri 10th Jan, after which I found Mrs ***** asleep in her wheelchair slumped over with her nose squashed against the arm of the chair). She can also have desserts and the occasional chocolate and/or biscuit.

4) Please allow Mrs ***** to have 5,000iu/day Vitamin D3 (provided by me), as UVB cannot penetrate window glass. 5,000iu/day is much greater than the RDA of 600iu/day but it’s a safe amount (evidence attached). That amount of Vitamin D3 has many beneficial effects (rather a lot of evidence attached!) other than bone health (for which 600iu/day is sufficient).

Thank you,

Nigel Kinbrum (son & attorney)
01252 ****** (24-hr Ansafone)
07768 ******"

The GP phoned me on Friday 21st Jan. He's taking my requests seriously and has asked for a week to read all of the evidence that I provided. Here's hoping!

I love onions.

I also love the ONION. The following YouTube video is safe for work.

New directions.

When Rosso suggested to me in December 2008 that I start a Diet & Nutrition blog, I said to him "but whatever will I write about?"

Well, 100+ (quality?) posts later, I seem to have found a thing or two! The thing is, talking about just Diet & Nutrition can become a bit boring after a while, hence the "+ Random stuff".

I shall be having more pictures and music videos.

QUIZ: What is the object in the picture below and how old is it?


Here's Perfect 10 sung by Julie & me at the Woodcutters in Bracknell on 20.1.2011. It's darker in there than it was in 2009.


Any requests (other than "no more singing!")?

Quiz solution: The object in the picture above is the original timing belt from my mum's 1998 VW Polo 1.0L. Not bad for nearly 13 years old.

My kind of town (Yateley is)

Another random post with a musical title. On my walks, I pass several places of interest. Here are some pictures. Permission to publish all pics granted.

1) The White Lion (a foody pub).


2) Yateley War Memorial.


3) Jessie's (part of Yateley Industries for the disabled).


4) Yateley MOT Centre (where I go to get my car serviced/repaired).


5) The Co-op (where I go to get loads of bargains).


6) Yateley Medical Centre (where I go to get myself serviced/repaired).


7) St Peter's Church (taken after dark, so a longish exposure).


8) The Dog & Partridge (a top quality food & music pub, former headquarters of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party!).


9) Boots (where I get my meds).


10) Chez Nige (where I live).

Half a breakfast

This morning, I microwaved 2 rashers middle bacon, 2 sausages, 2 eggs & a chopped onion.


I could only eat half of it. Yes, I know that it doesn't look very appetising. I don't really care what my food looks like. It's the aroma, taste & texture that I care about and by golly, that breakfast smelled delicious (I love the smell of microwaved "fried" onions).

If anything, food that looks like crap tends to suppress my appetite, which for me is a good thing.

I shall have the above for lunch.

Treats

I've found that allowing myself a small treat when I go for a walk makes the walk that much more enjoyable, even if it's freezing cold, pouring with rain and/or blowing gale-force winds.

While walking in Henley-on-Thames during mum's lunch break, I scrumped some Asian pears off a tree growing on the other side of a fence with razor wire on top. Here's one I nicked earlier! :-D

While walking in Yateley today, I scrumped some Crabapples. They were well bletted by the frosts and tasted delicious, if slightly mushy in texture.


On a later walk today, I bought a Co-op 100g "Truly Irresistible" Christmas pudding. It must have been quite resistible as it had been reduced in price from 44p to 29p.

You may have noticed that a lot of my blog post titles contain song lyrics or song titles. I have a musical bent and I enjoy singing karaoke. I had a great time last Sunday down at the Cherry Picker in Slough as it was Julie (the presenter)'s birthday. We sang "The Time of my Life" and another song. Here's Julie & me in February 2009 at The Woodcutters in Bracknell doing that song. It's a bit dark & noisy in there!

Product review: Weightwatchers® Berry Fruits Layered Fromage Frais

The great thing about "Eat Less, Move More" is that the "Move More" part gets me out of the house and away from the computer at regular intervals. I tend to go for a 10 minute walk to my local Co-op (formerly Somerfield), wander around the store picking up bargains on their sell-by date, chat to the girls on the checkout and then walk home.

Today I picked up the above product for 40p (normally £1.75). It's four 100g pots of fat free vanilla flavour fromage frais with fruits and sugars and sweeteners. The four varieties are Blackberry, Cherry, Forest Fruits and Raspberry. There is 1 WW point per pot.

INGREDIENTS (Blackberry): Fromage Frais, Blackberry (12.5%), Water, Fructose, Fructose-Glucose Syrup, Modified Waxy Maize Starch, Modified Maize Starch, Stabilisers: Pectin, Locust Bean Gum, Xanthan Gum; Flavourings, Acidity Regulators: Citric Acid, Calcium Citrate; Sweeteners: Aspartame, Acesulfame K; Preservative: Potassium Sorbate.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION PER 100g POT (Blackberry): Energy 64kcal (274kJ), Protein 5.3g, Carbohydrate 10.4g of which Sugars 9.0g, Fat 0.2g of which Saturates 0.1g, Fibre 1.0g, Sodium 0.04g, Salt equivalent 0.1g.

WHAT DID IT TASTE LIKE? The Fromage Frais tasted O.K. The fruit compote beneath contained a fair amount of fruit but was oversweetened, so there was no sharpness and there was also a slight artificial taste.

WAS IT FILLING? Sadly, no. My stomach likes some fat to keep it happy and this product didn't contain a significant amount. I ate all four pots one after the other.

WOULD I BUY IT AGAIN? For 40p, definitely. For £1.75, no way José!

New beginnings.

Before I start posting on the above topic, mum turned 81 today! Here's a pic.

I made the card in the middle by getting one with 18 on it and modifying it!

I never thought she'd make it to 81. I recently persuaded the nursing home to give her cooked breakfasts instead of Ready Brek or toast, both of which would send her into a compensatory hyperinsulinaemic stupor. She was relatively with-it today after having bacon, egg etc. Coincidence? I think not! I'm also switching her bread to Burgen Soya & Linseed as it's low in carbohydrate and very low GI. Anyway, on with the post.

I need to give another "Thank You" to Richard Nikoley. His blog rocks! A Little bit of everything including Food Porn, but mostly Roger Waters & The Wall made me really think. It occurred to me that, to ease the pain of seeing my mother go downhill with me rendered powerless to help, I had built a wall and was comfortably numb behind it.

As Robert Sapolsky pointed out in his lecture on Depression, never-ending stress and social isolation are very bad. So I am "getting it sorted". I have resumed social activities and am tackling things that need to be tackled. See also Polite Requests.

More odds and sods.

2011 is nearly here, so here's a quick post before I go off and start celebrating.

1) Mum: She had a good Christmas at Acacia Lodge. She even got a visit from Jenny Wood, Mayor of Henley!

2) Computers: I've been doing a spot of housekeeping on my lap-top as there were some start-up errors in the System Log.

It turns out that Microsoft had screwed-up. The Driver Protection feature in Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 (SP1) prevents the operating system from loading drivers that are known to cause stability problems (for example, preventing Windows XP from booting). However, the XP Registry still contained entries for the removed drivers so the operating system couldn't find them, causing errors. Editing the Registry using regedt32.exe to remove the keys that pointed to the missing drivers fixed the problem. There were still start-up errors, though.

It wasn't just Microsoft that had screwed-up. The Registry was full of keys belonging to programs that I had uninstalled. National Instruments LabView left loads of spurious keys. Virgin PCguard left over 1,000 spurious keys relating to virus pattern updates. If I'd known that there was so much crap to clean out, I would have used a free Registry Manager!

Eat Less, Move More: Solutions to problems.

The fact is, in order to lose weight and be healthy, we need to Eat Less, Move More. The problem is that most people (apart from bodybuilders) just can't/won't do it consciously. In Determinants of the Variability in Human Body-fat Percentage, I listed a number of reasons why people eat what (and as much as) they do. Here are some solutions to the problems that cause over-eating and under-moving.

1) Parents: If you've been raised to be a plate-clearer, use a small plate which makes a small amount of food look like more.

2) Genetics: Eat foods that satisfy your appetite for as long as possible. You have to find out what they are by experimentation, as everybody is different.

3) Peer pressure from parents, siblings, friends, business partners & significant others: Thank them but politely decline. If they persist, reduce the level of politeness until they get the message.

4) Religion/tradition: Start a new tradition of not stuffing yourself silly at religious festivals. Then spread the word!

5) Culture: Try new foods. They won't kill you and they may actually taste good. Learn to cook. Herbs and spices or a splash of Worcestershire/Sweet Chilli Sauce can make horribly-bland foods (e.g. boiled/steamed rice) eatable.

6) Time: Be prepared. Pack a lunch-box with sufficient provisions to get you through the working day/night. Microwave cooking/heating saves a lot of time. It only destroys nutrients if you add a lot of water to the food before cooking (which is not necessary) and then throw the water away after cooking, or overcook foods. All cooking methods that raise the temperature of food to >70°C denature proteins. Denaturing proteins only changes their 3-D structure, which actually makes them easier to digest.

7) Habit: Habits can be changed.

8) Media: When an advert for something moreish is broadcast, flip channels for 30 seconds or if that's not possible, look away and hum a tune to mask the sound. Make sure that there's no food in sight while watching TV to prevent mindless nibbling. Keep a bottle of low-calorie drink nearby to sip on regularly. EDIT: I now watch TV on my computer with Ad-blocking, which eliminates all TV adverts.

9) Physiological & psychological reasons: Maintain a stable blood glucose level by not eating foods that are made mostly out of grain dust (a.k.a. flour) and/or sugar and/or other refined carbohydrates. If you're very active and you need to eat a lot of carbohydrate, choose grains that still look like grains (e.g. rolled oats, rice, quinoa etc), fruits, shoots, roots and tubers. Either get sufficient sun exposure or supplement with ~5,000iu/day Vitamin D3 to reduce the risk of low mood due to Seasonal Affective Disorder. The long-chain omega-3 fats in oily fish help to stabilise mood. Magnesium helps to reduce anxiety (also muscle cramps).

10) Allergies & intolerances: Avoid foods that are very moreish.

11) Geography: Eat locally-grown foods from Farmers' Markets, where possible.

12) Season: Eat foods that are in season, where possible.

13) Boredom: Keep busy. Do something!

14) Exercise: This has always been a problem for me. Exercise used to make me hungry, resulting in me eating more calories than I burned exercising. Solution: If I dress warmly enough, that stops me from getting the munchies due to feeling too cold.

15) Beliefs: I'm not going to try to change your beliefs.

16) Senses: Avoid supermarket aisles that contain junk foods. What your eye can't see and your nose can't smell, your heart won't grieve over.

17) Hunger: Don't let yourself become really hungry as that encourages over-eating when you do finally eat. Don't go food shopping when you're hungry, as that encourages the buying of junk foods.

18) Comfort: Don't buy larger clothes/loosen your belt. If your clothes are getting tighter, let that suppress your appetite. If your clothes are getting looser, buy smaller clothes and/or tighten your belt. Never loosen it.

19) Shame/Self-loathing: If that suppresses your appetite, make the most of it.

20) Current fatness: N/A.

21) Willpower: Hopefully, the above solutions will help you to resist temptation.

I hope that you all had a good Christmas/whatever.

Continued on Move More: Solutions to problems.

Odds and sods.

Christmas is nearly here, so here's a quick post before I go off and do Christmassy things.

1) The weather: We Brits love to moan about the weather. As we don't get much snow here for most of the year, when we do there's chaos on the roads and railways. Here's what it was like last Monday morning, shortly before I set off to visit mum.



2) NoScript: As I want my ancient lap-top to browse as quickly as possible, stopping unnecessary scripts from running is a good idea, so I added the NoScript add-on. Every new site that I visit has to have scripts marked as either approved for that site, or untrusted for that site. Approved scripts can run. Untrusted ones can't. I like it and it's definitely speeded-up surfing.

3) Vacuum Places Improved: Something that slows down auto-completion of web addresses and Firefox start-up is fragmentation of the Places database, so I added the Vacuum Places Improved add-on. This defragments the Places database and can be run by either clicking on an icon or set to auto-run.

4) Flagfox: The Flagfox add-on displays a country flag depicting the location of the current website's server and provides a multitude of tools such as site safety checks, whois, translation, similar sites, validation, URL shortening, and more...

5) Adblock Plus: I've been using the AdBlock Plus add-on together with its companion Element Hiding Helper for Adblock Plus for quite a while and I'm still impressed with it.

Nutritional dogma.

Gary Taubes now has a blog. His first two posts have resulted in a lot of opinions being expressed, mine included.

As Henry Larson said in the film "Home for the Holidays (1995)":- "Well, opinions are like assholes, honey. Everybody's got one and everybody thinks everybody else's stinks."

I don't know why, but people adopt nutritional beliefs with a religious fervour. See Low Carb Talibans and read the comments. They choose their TOP EXPERTS (to quote Razwell) and believe everything that they write & say, dismissing any contrary views. What people don't appreciate is that even "experts" get things wrong and have cognitive biases that affect their opinions. See also Elvis lives!

I try to support my opinions using peer-reviewed studies from PubMed. As there are over 20,000,000 studies on that site, the average Joe & Josephine may have difficulty in finding what they're looking for. Here's a tip. Limit the results to studies in English on humans that have abstracts or free full text.

E.G. To find all studies by Leibel RL that meet the above criteria, copy & paste the following line into the search box:-

Leibel RL[Author] AND ("loattrfree full text"[sb] OR hasabstract[text]) AND "humans"[MeSH Terms] AND English[lang]

Other authors worth searching for are Frayn KN, Jéquier E, Flatt JP, Hellerstein MK, Parks EJ, Krauss RM, Dreon DM.

Does anyone have any other author suggestions?

Another useful resource is NCBI Bookshelf.

Uh-oh! There may be trouble ahead...

I won't deny that I'm not very active. On days that I don't visit my mum, I spend many hours reclining on a sofa with a lap-top on a small table, surfing the internet. I make sloths look hyperactive!

I thought that this wasn't a problem as I also don't eat very much (as I'm so engrossed rummaging through the vast amount of information out there) and I'm maintaining a relatively stable weight.

Then I read Sedentary Physiology at Obesity Panacea which lead me to Sedentary Physiology Part 1 – Not Just The Lack of Physical Activity , full study HERE.

"Hamburg et al. (2007) examined the effect of 5 days of complete bed rest on metabolic health in 22 adult volunteers. Study participants remained in bed for over 23.5 h per day, rising only for matters of personal hygiene. At the completion of the study, despite no changes in body weight, they experienced significant increases in total cholesterol, plasma triglycerides, glucose, and insulin resistance. The changes in carbohydrate metabolism were particularly pronounced, with participants experiencing a 67% greater insulin response to a glucose load following the 5-day intervention."

The thing is, I've never liked sports & formal exercise. In infant school, exercise involved running around in the playground. That, I could do. In primary school, exercise involved running around in the playground, some PE and some outdoor sports (rounders & cricket, using a tennis ball). That, I could also do, although my short legs made me rubbish at running. In secondary school, in addition to PE, there were sports such as football, rugby, cricket, hockey, tennis, swimming & cross-country running. That, I utterly hated (tennis was just about bearable) and so to avoid doing them, I developed an art for forging sick notes in my mum's handwriting. This improved my normal handwriting, so some good came of it. So, what to do?

As toilet breaks force me off the sofa, I shall drink more to make me wee more often. I shall also use the upstairs toilet during the day and the downstairs toilet during the night. See also Eat Less, Move More: Solutions to problems.

Estimated macronutrient and fatty acid intakes from an East African Paleolithic diet

Thanks to Stephan Guyenet for bringing the study n-6 Fatty acid-specific and mixed polyunsaturate dietary interventions have different effects on CHD risk: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials to my attention in his post Diet-Heart Controlled Trials: a New Literature Review. This shows that diets high in omega-6 (n-6) polyunsaturates but low in omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturates are heart-unhealthy.

In the West, we are advised to eat lots of "heart-healthy" sunflower oil & spreads. These contain about 70 times more omega-6 than omega-3. Safflower, Grapeseed, Corn & Groundnut Oils also have high omega-6:omega-3 ratios, according to Comparison of Dietary Fats Chart.

I then found the following study also on the British Journal of Nutrition:- Estimated macronutrient and fatty acid intakes from an East African Paleolithic diet.

This shows that traditional hunter-gatherer diets have a short-chain omega-3:omega-6 ratio of 1·12–1·64 and a long-chain omega-3:omega-6 ratio of 0·84–1·92. In other words, there is a moderate balance between omega-6 and omega-3 polyunsaturates.

The diets are also relatively high in protein (25–29% energy) and fat (30–39% energy) but moderate in carbohydrate (39–40% energy).

I thought that followers of a Paleo-type diet would find this interesting.

EDIT: I've just noticed that O Primitivo has already posted about this study!