Gyroscopic Investing

Benko wrote:As we get older (40-50 or more) our body's become less insulin sensitive.

https://joshmitteldorf.scienceblog.com/ ... metformin/

You can take metformin, but I've had good luck with Gymnostemma (works via AMPK):

https://examine.com/supplements/gynoste ... taphyllum/

There are now 4 people I know who have taken it (all over 40) and slowly lost weight (without really doing anything else).

Dose 2-3 grams (5:1 extract) per day.

Okay, now you've got me confused. I have been reading that you want to reduce the weight (particularly the fat around the middle) in order to increase insulin sensitivity (i.e., reverse insulin resistance). But your post would suggest that increasing insulin sensitivity promotes weight loss. Which is the chicken and which is the egg?

Maddy,

1. "Okay, now you've got me confused. I have been reading that you want to reduce the weight (particularly the fat around the middle) in order to increase insulin sensitivity (i.e., reverse insulin resistance). But your post would suggest that increasing insulin sensitivity promotes weight loss. Which is the chicken and which is the egg?"

Check out Peter Attia’s TED talk on insulin resistance (mentioned in the following article) and

DOES INSULIN RESISTANCE CAUSE WEIGHT GAIN, OR VICE VERSA?
https://blog.ourpath.co.uk/diabetes-sci ... ice-versa/

"From the work I’ve highlighted above, weight gain is likely to be strongly driven by insulin resistance and/or hyperinsulinaemia, coupled with glucagon action."

2. I ran across gynostemma through research on AMPK, found encouraging research on it at examine.com and in my TCM (traditional chinese medicine sources), and though n=4 is tiny, seems to be helpful in weight loss.

Wow. Fantastic article, Benko. Thank you.

I've recently fallen in love with my own baked pasta woth mozzarella and parmesan. Doesn't really dovetail with weight reduction.

Re gynostemma, there is a confusing smorgasbord of formulations. Any particular one, Benko, that you would recommend?

Also, any experience with berberine and/or gymnema for restoring insulin sensitivity?

dualstow wrote:I've recently fallen in love with my own baked pasta woth mozzarella and parmesan. Doesn't really dovetail with weight reduction.

Stop torturing me.

MangoMan wrote:

dualstow wrote:I've recently fallen in love with my own baked pasta woth mozzarella and parmesan. Doesn't really dovetail with weight reduction.

Recipe? You can't make that statement and not share with your gyroscopic buddies!

Ha! Tomorrow, I promise. I'm already changing the sauce for next time, though (to Bolognese).

Maddy,

Gynostemma: There are probably a lot of fine options, but I tend to be picky. My bias is to always buy e.g. chinese herbs from chinese herbal companies. I'm also used to buying powdered extracts and taking in warm water (gynostemma taste isn't that strong).
However the company I use has been out ofstock for months. This looks like a good place to buy from:

https://primalherb.com/product/gynostemma-extract/ you can probably get a wholesale discount since you're a doctor.
NB: I have not ordered from them before, just call and make sure they have good QC e.g. stuff tested for heavy metals, etc.

Dosing is not standardized. I'll get back to you over the weekend with dosing after I check with a chinese herbalist I know.

If you want caps, iherb carries paradise herbs:

https://www.iherb.com/pr/Paradise-Herbs ... -Caps/4637

Oh and I posted an abstract outside this thread (so all could see it) on gynostemma AKA Jiaogulan for weight loss.


Insulin sensitivity:

If you didn't aleady, check out this:
https://joshmitteldorf.scienceblog.com/ ... metformin/



One other way to increase insulin sensitivity is fasting. I think intermittent fasting can increase it, but also fasts of 3 days or more can produce a number of significant health benefits. Similar results can be gotten via FMD (fasting mimicking diets) and there is research to back this up (scroll down):

https://www.lifebox.diet/blogs/practica ... -core-plan

You can just google fasting mimicking diets for recipes, or there are two companies which will send you the food for a 5 day cycle. I'm on day 2 of 5 of a fasting mimicking diet from https://www.lifebox.diet/. Prolon is the other company and Dr. Longo from that company is the one who first did the research and then started making the food available.

Maddy,

Beyond knowing that the 3 other people (besides me) who took gynostemma lost weight, I don't.

Thanks, Benko. Very good information.

Just for the record, though, I'm not a doctor. I always had an interest in medicine and started out pre-med in college. But alas, my talent lay elsewhere, and I bombed out quite decisively halfway through organic chemistry. After going into law, I did a few higher-end PI and med mal cases and always thoroughly enjoyed delving into the medicine and working with expert medical witnesses.

Maddy,

My apologies. I vaguely knew it didn't seem right as I was typing it. I was thinking of WiseOne.

MangoMan wrote:

dualstow wrote:...baked pasta woth mozzarella and parmesan. Doesn't really dovetail with weight reduction.

Recipe? You can't make that statement and not share with your gyroscopic buddies!

I started out with this very simple recipe: https://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/baked ... 656d5d422b
and have been modifying here and there.
I used regular rigatoni mezze, as I don't like whole wheat pasta very much.
I used a pasta sauce that includes some pork sausage.
Now I'm replacing the sauce with a homemade bolognese sauce, which generally includes both beef and pork (but more beef).
For that, I ambitiously began with a recipe from a real Italian friend. But, halfway through the translating process , I felt it wasn't that different from the English-language recipes I can find online. Some have mushrooms, others don't, but the core ingredients are there.

Again, this feels funny in a weight loss thread, but something about cooking things on the stove and then bringing them all together for baking makes magic happen.

Benko wrote:Maddy,

My apologies. I vaguely knew it didn't seem right as I was typing it. I was thinking of WiseOne.

It's okay; we all look alike.

Maddy wrote:

Benko wrote:Maddy,

My apologies. I vaguely knew it didn't seem right as I was typing it. I was thinking of WiseOne.

It's okay; we all look alike.

I love a medical lawyer homesteader with a sense of humor. In fact, I appreciate almost everyone who takes the gift of life seriously, but not themselves.

My new physician is a proponent of intermittent fasting, and is encouraging me to try. Today I ate 600 Cal. Tomorrow for breakfast a tray of lasagna, steak, and Churros.

He personally eata from Noon to 8 pm. I was thinking about 600 Cal two days per week

For me, the easiest way to drop some weight is to give up something such as alcohol, or desserts, or second helpings, or restaurants for a while (this assumes a relatively constant level of exercise). My body does not react favorably to fasting or missing more than one meal; the resulting intestinal issues can be almost incapacitating as I can't get far from a bathroom (after effects of some surgery a while back).

Mountaineer wrote: ↑Thu May 17, 2018 10:48 am For me, the easiest way to drop some weight is to give up something such as alcohol, or desserts,

Uh-oh. Last night I went out for dinner with some neighborhood ladies and came home and had cake for dessert. I also had a gin-based cocktail before going out.
The only discipline I have is that I will not buy cake in a store. I'll only eat it if I bake it myself. And, this was the first cake that I've ever baked, so I haven't had sugar in a good long while.*

*That's literal, not a metaphor.

Drink protein powder for a week or two, then eat kinda healthy outside of that. Worked for Dave Gulledge. And do some steroids too to achieve maximum results.

Wow, his chest hair melted off, too!

He has achieved his final form.

Desert wrote: ↑Thu May 17, 2018 6:48 pm

Mountaineer wrote: ↑Thu May 17, 2018 10:48 am For me, the easiest way to drop some weight is to give up something such as alcohol, or desserts, or second helpings, or restaurants for a while (this assumes a relatively constant level of exercise). My body does not react favorably to fasting or missing more than one meal; the resulting intestinal issues can be almost incapacitating as I can't get far from a bathroom (after effects of some surgery a while back).

I agree, especially restaurants. There is no way I can lose weight or even maintain weight if I eat out very often. Portions are generally huge, and I don't like to be wasteful.

Desert,

Man do I feel your pain. The other trick is not having garbage around the house.

If you're anything like me, you'll benefit from having no breakfast, a light/healthy or no lunch, and a hearty meal when you come home that is either crock pot ready, quick enough to eat two hours before bed, or good leftovers.

There's nothing like coming home to any one of those options after a low/no calorie day.

But it sounds like you're retired so i guess I'd say if I were in the same scenario I'd definitely tilt towards active lifestyle with vegetable-heavy diet. Lots of awesome recipes lean on heathy doses of meats and tons of veggies with good sauces and seasonings. I almost never go out to eat and usually am disappointed when I do.

moda0306 wrote: ↑Thu May 17, 2018 8:56 pm Lots of awesome recipes lean on heathy doses of meats and tons of veggies with good sauces and seasonings.

Moda, would you share a few?

MangoMan wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 8:19 am IDK how you guys do this and function at work. If I skip breakfast, I can barely think straight by 10:30. Add lunch and I'd be drilling through patients' cheeks. Not a good business plan.

...coffee...

drinking bulletproof coffee, coffee with grass-fed butter and mtc oil when I have hard work and need energy is how I keep going till 1130+ without food, I do have some natural lack of appetite in the early am, and now that I have been eating this way for years it has become even more natural, I very seldom bonk before lunch time (drinking either regular black or souped up coffee). I suspect not everybody can do this depending on your health and metabolism but with I bit of acclimation time I bet most could expect to see some benefits..

I always think about an orangutan mentioned in Roger Fouts' excellent book, 'Next of Kin' (which is mostly about Washoe the chimp).
This orang was happy and beloved by zoo-goers who were enthralled with his crayon drawings.
When the vets decided he was overweight, they reduced his meal portions and not long afterwards he started angrily eating the crayons and throwing his feces at his visitors and former fans.

Now, I haven't gotten quite that bad. (A woman at Tim Horton's did, the other day). But, I feel some kinship with that orang. Take away my morning protein and I get ragey.