Isolation Is Not Good for You. So Make a Friend. Or Reconnect With an Old Friend.  Serve.

Being socially isolated is just as bad for your stress levels as smoking researchers claim.  (Photo by Bethany Clarke/Getty Images)

by Paul Gallagher

Having a small social network is as bad for your health as smoking, according to a new study. Researchers from Yale University showed that a person’s position in the social network is associated with blood markers of stress. They discovered that the more people who would call you a friend the lower the levels of fibrinogen, a predictor of heart attack and stroke, in your blood. However, reeling off a long list of those we consider friends does not have the same effect. The number of friends and relatives named by an individual, reflecting the perceived social network, is only weakly related to fibrinogen levels. The association between social isolation and fibrinogen is comparable to the effect of smoking, and greater than that of low education, a conventional measure of socioeconomic disadvantage, the scientists said. What matters is how others see us, not how we see them. Biggest health risks Ischaemic heart disease, also known as coronary heart disease, and stroke are the biggest health risks of social isolation and thes conditions are also the two leading causes of death worldwide.  

Keep reading . . .   You will have to be your own judge on this.  I do know that not knowing anybody hurts.  I know that being homeless or the feeling of homelessness is stressful.  No doubt.  But if you're tied into people, even on the periphery or even online helps.  We often overestimate the number and the quality of our friendships and as do our friends do about us.  And then there is production.  What about production?  We have to produce and create things of value in order to feel, well, valuable and to have a meaningful life.  And, of course, what people can do is up to them.  I drove a truck and ran deliveries with sometimes 50 to 100 miles between stops in the mountain towns of Colorado. That drive can be lonely.  Sitting for long periods with my legs bent at the knees for an hour or more can be stressful.  In fact, it was stressful.  It is why I left that position for more mobile work.  Yet, the folks in the mountain towns relied on me.  They needed their equipment, particularly if they ordered it before the snow storm and could only have it delivered weeks after the storm ended.  

"It's going to be real bad."

According to Wenzel, "It's going to be real bad. Note: These calculations were done by Charles Gaba before Aetna dropped out of 536 markets. Thus, these projections underestimate the premium increases."

This will not end well.  The above figures are the 2017 increases in Obamacare rates according to those respective states.

California rate will be going up 13.2%.
Oregon's rate will be going up 26%.
Texas going up 53.7%.  That's insane.
Washington up 13.5%.
Illinois going up 23 to 45%.  Crazy.
Tennessee is going up 27%.
Florida up 17.7%.
New York up 17.3%.
Maine up 22.8%.
These make the national inflation rate of 1% neglible.

(Sources: Steve Hanke, Zero Hedge, Charles Gaba)

This should put the issue into perspective as well as the rewards from each. I knowingly ordered farm-raised salmon from a local store a few years back and got horribly sick. There are folks out there who continue to dismiss the difference. The little things make huge differences. Don't make a mistake on the little things; they may come back to bite you.

Farmed Salmon is FULL of Antibiotics and Mercury, Here’s How to Tell If Your Salmon is Safe https://t.co/ELPe3cDs34 pic.twitter.com/ExzUlMHhNS

— Dave Asprey (@bulletproofexec) August 16, 2016

Dave Asprey, Creator of BulletProof Coffee (Fantastic Product!) Interviews Dr. Barry Sears, Creator of the Zone Diet

This is a long interview. It's good but it's long. Polyphenols are master sculptures of the gut.
Well, this point was interesting.  Asprey asks which is better--eating 2 pounds of green leafy vegetables or eating high fat meals?
Polyphenols in berries are more water soluble and so find their way into your blood stream better. Green leafy vegetables have less water solubility.  Sounds like they are better used for insoluble fiber than for their polyphenol effect.  The conundrum is that berries have a higher sugar content, so you can't eat a bunch.  Sears argues for concentrates extracted without the sugar content and without the inefficient solubility into your blood stream.  He is essentially recommending his products.

Alberto Viejo recommneds high amounts of polyphenols so your stress

Polyphenol has a half-life.  Their half life is measured in hours. The genes you're activating.  
The green coffee polyphenol are rich in polyphenols but very bitter. They have to be cooked and the polyphenols are released.  In nutrition, nobody's wrong, but often they're not completely right.

You need . . .
Adequate amount of protein [i.e., amino acids] in a day.
Adequate amounts of essential fats. 
Adequate levels of polyphenols.  Essential to manage inflammation.

So you have to have adequate amounts in the right balance to maintain insulin in a zone.  

The fat will have no effect on insulin. Medium-chain triglycerides developed at Harvard Medical School back in the 80s were used for treating burn victims?  Water soluble.  Enter into the blood stream through the portal vein, go directly to the liver and metabolized there on the spot and wipe out stores of glycogen.  Get ketosis very quickly.  Can no longer maintain blood sugar levels for the brain.  

The brain is the only organ that can use energy.  Wow!  Never heard that before.  

Central nutrients Get them all together with the least amount of calories but with the best hormonal response.  Food affects hormones and the expression of our genes.  It's really gene therapy in our kitchen.

Start-ups using time and money to say that it tastes good.

FDA has made it clear: you can make drug-like claims if they're supported by good, clinical research.  Rat studies from China is not "good, clinical research."  You've got to use people.  

Foods and drugs have therapeutic zones, above which the food/drug is toxic, below which the food/drug is ineffective.

Sears claims that the Zone Diet book was really written for cardiologists. 

It's an inflammation management diet, not a weight control diet, althought it will control your weight.  

Excessive Omega 6 from soy and cheese.  I love cheese!  Is this my problem?  

Essential fatty acids are essential because they control powerful hormones in our bodies, called eicosanoids.  Eicosanoids are 

prostaglandins and related compounds.  Most are produced from arachidonic acid, a 20-carbon polyunsaturated fatty acid (5, 8,11, 14-eicosatetraaenoic acid.  The eicosanoids are considered "local hormones."  They have specific effects on target cells close to their site of formation.

A balance creates a nice homeostasis.  Our ability to produce Omega 6 fatty acids is monumental.  Every disease state is the result of Omega 6: obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer, cancer, etc.  When increase the levels of insulin we get an explosion of inflammation. We were ground zero with Omega 6 fatty acids.  Italian children are the fatest in Europe.  

People developed a fat trap, where the calories get into your fat cells and being trapped in your fat cells and not being released to make energy, like ATP.  Gaining weight while starving!!  Signicant change in their metabolism.  Constantly starving of energy. 

Fat cells are our swiss bank account.  Fat Trap caused by significant inflammation.  Not enough ATP, you either slow down or make more calories.  

Metabolism: converting calories into energy.  If you're not hungry 5 hours after your meal, it means you've rectified your metabolism. 

            

Water: Weight Loss in a Bottle?

Scientists might have identified the region of the brain that makes us stop eatinghttps://t.co/9paozQ91gl

— Business Insider (@businessinsider) August 9, 2016

My favorite bottled waters are Arrowhead Spring Water and Arrowhead Filtered Water.

The other bottled water is Mountain Valley Spring Water.

For reasons of vitality, spring water is always preferred to sparkling water.