I get asked for advice on everything it seems. I am not sure if it is my generally approachable personality, or some weird glow some people see that makes them think I know everything. The following are some of the things that people believe and ask me for input, that I actually do know the answer to.
1) Doc, is it true everything you eat after 8 PM turns to fat?
Answer: Not really! It is more a question of what you eat, than when you eat it. Most of our hormone and metabolic sequences are left over from our Paleolithic development food choices. This means that after dark, our natural cycle is to anticipate sleep and not to load up with a big meal. Then again, Paleo man did not have McDonalds or Donut World either. Nor did he have electric lights.
So we’ve been messing with our cycles for a long time. That said, our body takes a 24 hour view to fat storage, and in the end, it’s
calories in versus activity levels. The relative contributions of when you eat are far less impactful.
2) Raw oysters are an aphrodisiac – right, Doc?!
Dr Dave: Right! Actually this one does have some basis in reality. Uncooked oysters are rich in rare neurotransmitting amino acids like NDMA and D Aspartic acid (no, this is not aspartame!). Both trigger sex hormone secretion in males and females. Now the data is in rats, not humans but the rat brain is surprisingly close to the human brain, so it’s not that big a stretch.
3) Is Acne caused by a diet high in greasy food and chocolate?
Dr Dave: Yes, to the greasy food primarily due to the inflammatory effects of TRANS hydrogenated fats (manmade!), but no to the
chocolate, at least not if it’s a [eafl id=”2436″ name=”Chocolate” text=”high quality chocolate loaded with antioxidants.”]
4) Can Grapefruit, pineapple and other highly acidic fruits stimulate your metabolism and help you lose weight?
Dr Dave: Sorry, no enchilada. These are highly nutritious foods, but the actual diets that center on these foods are seriously calorie restricted. That is what gets you thinner.
5) Should you feed a cold and starve a fever?
Dr Dave: Believe it or not, this one might be true, although no one is quite sure why it works. The most important thing in febrile illnesses is to stay hydrated, so drinking plenty of fluids, including chicken soup, is probably a good remedy. Now, for the really weird factoid: chicken soup seems to block the migration of inflammatory white cells to the mucus membranes of the nose and mouth by some unknown mechanism. It does so without blunting the rest of the immune response, so it does not make your immune system weaker; it just kinda goes where you need it. Frankly, I am surprised Big Pharma doesn’t have a prescription version of chicken soup for sale!
Remember this: Flu season is right around the corner and this one unlikely likely thing has gotten unexpected results.
I would urge you to get on a daily dose of this, especially if you’ve decided not to take the flu shot.
Take Care and Stay Healthy!
Dr Dave