Two Magazine Articles: O Magazine and Bazaar

Hey All,

There is an interesting article in June 2010 O Magazine by Martha Beck on vision boards. It's about how visualizing is not the same as the goal (I'd say mostly yang) energy of work-reach goals. I'd say she is talking about the yin-yang balance being in the zone. She said she'd rather not choose the usual: cute man, mansion, etc. But I see nothing wrong with that. She did say to choose just random shots like a beautiful leaf, because that connects to your subconscious...interesting. I'd say do both types. She said to let go of the goal after you do it, which is great and very difficult i.e. don't be attached. The third "stage" is be in action when an opportunity arises (be present). Unattached action can be tough.

I do believe you can cause what you think of. I've seen it. I liked Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. I tried to move things with my nose and by nodding when I was little. LOL. She goes over a contraption where brain waves change results. As usual, I do see the dual side. Sometimes stuff happens, and if we also think your subconscious/conscious causes stuff, then the danger is you view those with bad circumstances (even earthquake or flood or war victims) as causing it, and I do believe there is also God, destiny, and randomness...just keep inquiring.

Well, I did not get a return (yet) on a coffee (won't get into the story) at one store uptown, and went downtown where I saw a new coffee shop with 50% off coffee at the time I was there...so I did get it back. Then I saw in Bazaar May 2010 with three gals, one being Kim Kardashian, doing nude shots celebrating curves...Well, duh, women have a chest and hips and it's about time that fashion and fitness magazines reflect that, within the parameters of being fit. There is no excuse for not being fit (except severe injury temporarily): You only have to enroll yourself. However, women can be that with muscle and fat within certain parameters as shown by science. So here is yet another article that has to do with my fitness promise....hahaha....putting it out there and letting go as O's article said.

Ab Coaster

I saw a woman on the Ab Coaster yesterday at the New York Sports Club by Union Square (cute club). I tried it. It is an easty-way-out machine. I don't have a burn today after doing five sets of 25 repetitions with 10 pounds on each side. But maybe I will have one tomrorow. You hold onto handles and just use your lower abdominal muscles to bring up your hips and legs. it's harder to do this on teh stand-up machine with handles or even to lay on the floor and bring up your hips in pulses with your lower abdomiaml muscles. But for a change I suppsoe doing the Ab Coaster may be good. It may work out different muscle fibers. i'll see if I have a burn tomorrow! The more fit you are, the more it takes to give you a burn. ;)

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

The Brain and Meditation

Most people know that meditating, taking a break from a busy schedule and focusing on the now in a grateful mode, is good for them. A similar peace for me can be found in Nature or after a hard workout. But there is something special about meditation, when you can get into it, and you are in that altered state of being, much like when you awake or lie on the beach, and are half-asleep.

Scientists have been doing experiments on yoga and the brain. They have found that the brain continues to learn at a rapid rate into middle age, and may not reach its peak in young adulthood. If one practices focusing their attention on the breath or a mantra, the brain restructures itself. In the journal Neuro Image in 2009, Luger et al. published findings on how gray matter in the brain increases after meditation. The brain in these areas becomes more efficient or powerful. The brain can focus in other areas after mediation. Vispassana or reality now medication increases attention in the moment, and prevents times we are absent-minded and may have accidents, etc. This can save lives in areas such as surgery or driving!

Some studies showed a decrease in gray matter or activity in the amygdala, an area of the brain responsible for stress. A study by psychologist Barbara Frederickson et al. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill showed that mediation increases compassion. We feel more connected as One.

She writes that the goal of mediation is not to get rid of or to obsess with unpleasant thoughts, but to become more aware of your thoughts and emotions, and learn to move through or process them without getting stuck. it's about being real and expressing your emotions, while you also observe yourself, to me. Your thoughts and emotions can give you a clue as to who you are and what you want...but you want
to use them for that, and to be still underneath it all. Meditation, yoga and exercise are a part of that.

Information for this blog post was obtained from Kelly McGonigal's Your Brain on Meditation in Yoga Journal.

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

Christy Turlington Quit Runway After Being "Picked Apart"

Even yoga guru and successful supermodel Christy Turlington was annoyed at being picked apart by French before a runway show after deemed "pregnant-looking" for their tiny-sized clothes.

How many women (or men who love them) don't want to have a chest, butt and some soft fat in places?

From Oprah: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Christy-Turlingtons-Aha-Moment

Seventh Chakra: The Crown Center

Location: top of the head, brain, nerves, pineal gland, central nervous system

Human development: Energy used for self-realization and enlightenment

Positive manifestation: Bliss, peace, self-actualization, universal love

Negative manifestation: Abuse, despair, spiritual denial or religious

Associated illnesses: Brain tumors

Somatic sensations: Non-sensation, absence of sensation

Somatic concept: being, not doing; Integration; Results of direct experiences acquired from heightened, enhance awareness, intuition, and honest introspection

Yoga pose-movement: headstand, Salutation pose, Skull tapping

Human Potential: identification with sublime, integration, self-actualization, self-transcendence

Some of the information from this blog post was obtained from Mind and Body Healing Through Awareness, Yoga and Somatic Integration by Linda Christy Weiler, M.S.

Sixth Chakra: The Third Eye

Location: Area between the eyebrows; eyes, face, pituitary gland and autonomic nervous system

Human development: Energy used for mental powers and greater self-awareness

Positive manifestation: Intuition, perceptive, rational cognition

Negative manifestation: Confusion, spaced out, over intellectualizing

Associated Illnesses: Headaches

Somatic sensation: Stillness or emptiness, expanding space

Somatic concept: body parts and people are connected in harmony

Yoga pose-moment: Child's, Dolphin and Repetitive seated bowing

Human Potential: Inspiration, clarity and deep understanding

Some of the information from this blog post was obtained from Mind and Body Healing Through Awareness, Yoga and Somatic Integration by Linda Christy Weiler, M.S.

Fifth Chakra: The Throat Center

Location: Throat, neck, shoulders, thyroid and parathyroid glands, respiratory system

Human Development: Energy used for commucniation and self-expression

Positive manifestation: Trust, truth, communication, creativity

Negative manifestation: Frustration

Associated illnesses: sore throat, thyroid or voice problems

Somatic sensation: Relaxed jaw, sincerity through grounding

Somatic concept: Settled, aware, body language agrees to spoken language

Yoga Pose-Movement: Hare, Fish, Child's poses

Human Potential: Authentic voice and effective, honest communication

Some of the information from this blog post was obtained from Mind and Body Healing Through Awareness, Yoga and Somatic Integration by Linda Christy Weiler, M.S.

Fourth Chakra: The Heart Center

Body Location: Center of chest, heart, hands, arms, lungs, thymus gland, lungs, and circulatory system

Human Development: Energy used for compassion, love, self-expression

Positive manifestation: harmony, unconditional love, acceptance, fulfillment

Negative manifestation: Grief, passive aggressive, attachment, insensitivity, sadness

Anticipated Illnesses: Cardiovascular problems, arthritis, hypertension, stroke

Somatic Sensation: Openness (form of expansion)

Somatic Concept: reach or spread out; inclusion for acceptance, confidence and serenity

Yoga pose-movement: Half shoulder stand, legs up against the wall, Simple Camel Pose

Human Potential: Compassion

Some of the information from this blog post was obtained from Mind and Body Healing Through Awareness, Yoga and Somatic Integration by Linda Christy Weiler, M.S.

Third Chakra: Navel Center

Location: navel, solar plexus, liver, muscles, digestive system, pancreas, spleen

Human Development: Energy used in pursuit of power, achievement, social identity, and raw emotions

Positive Manifestation: Discipline, will power, self-control, and commitment

Negative manifestation: Greed, powerless, guilt, doubt, anger

Associated Illness: ulcers, hepatitis, hypoglycemia, gallstones

Somatic Sensation: Anticipation, grounding

Somatic Concept: Containment, confidence through preparation, courage and timeliness

Positive Aspect: intuition or gut feeling

Negative Aspect: Doubt or dread

Yoga Pose-Movement: Bow pose, Cat, Twist while sitting cross-legged

Human Potential: Assimilation; healthy emotional and energetic "digestion"

Some of the information from this blog post was obtained from Mind and Body Healing Through Awareness, Yoga and Somatic Integration by Linda Christy Weiler, M.S.

Second Chakra

Sacral Center

Location: Sacral spine, bladder, kidney, genitals, gonads, ovaries, reproductive system

Human development: Energy used for sex and relationships

Positive manifestation: Passion, patience, endurance, creativity

Negative manifestation: frustration anxiety, fear

Associated illnesses: impotency, diabetes, kidney and bladder problems

Somatic sensation: urgency, tension from contained energy

Somatic concept: Rising up for creativity, growing and action

Yoga pose movement: Inclined plane, single let seated forward fold, seated spirals

Human Potential: Creativity

Seven Chakras: Chakra One - Root Center

I am earning my continuing education credits to renew my International Sports Science Association certificate. I chose the course "Mind Body Healing" and am reading same book by Linda Christy Weiler, M.S. She reviewed the seven chakras. This information is taken from her book.

Location: Perineum, base of spine, feet, legs, bones, rectum, large intestine, adrenal glands, excretory system

Human development: Used for survival

Positive manifestation: safety, stability, acceptance

Negative manifestation: fear, avoidance distrust, insecurity

Associated illnesses: those that have to do with excretion

Somatic sensation: contraction or being grounded into the base of the body without fear of falling

Somatic concept: Letting go or detachment, stability, security, and support

Yoga pose Movement: Seated boat pose, seated hug-the-knees, rocking in cross-legged position

Human Potential: Survival

Glamour Cover

June's Glamour cover includes model Crystal Renn, size 12, as was shown on the today show. As I've posted before, I think the fashion and fitness industries should include toned and curvy models between the sizes of 6 and 10. Crystal is a beautiful woman, but is still plus-size. In addition, some photographs were air-brushed. She looks size 6 in one of them.

See http://www.glamour.com/

Some progress has been made at least.

Lecture on Meditteranean Diet by Dr. Artemis Simopoulos

On April 15th at the Cathedral in New York City, world-renown author Artemis Simopoulos, MD, lectured on the Mediterranean diet in memory of Dr. Demetrios Flessas. Dr. Simopoulos is the President of The Center for Genetics, Nutrition and Health in Washington, DC, and one of the first researchers to discover the virtues of ω-3 fatty acids through her studies of the diets of the Mediterranean peoples. Through the Center for Genetics, Nutrition and Health, she and others conducted studies on the different Mediterranean diets, as well as Indian, Chinese, Western and other diets. She found that the diet of Greece, with its high amounts of ω-3 fatty acids, or “good fats” — as well as its excellent balance between the ω-3s and ω-6s — is the best of these diets. She is the author of several books, such as The Omega Diet: The Lifesaving Nutritional Program Based on the Diet of the Island of Crete, A Balanced Omega-6/ Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ratio, Cholesterol and Coronary Heart Disease), and Metabolic Control of Eating, Energy Expenditure and the Bioenergetics of Obesity and over 280 scientific papers. Having received her MD degree at the age of 23 from Boston University School of Medicine she was the youngest person to graduate from medical school in Massachusetts.

Dr. Simopoulos began with a slide of Hippocrates, who many centuries ago wrote about the importance of exercise combined with diet, genetics and a good home environment. She then talked about genotype, the environment and development producing phenotype, and presented the results of several studies on diet in easy-to-understand yet detailed graphs and charts. She focused on the importance of ω-3 fatty acids such as linolenic acid and the ratio of ω-6 fatty acids, such as linoleic acid, to ω-3 fatty acids. She stressed that, in Paleolithic times, people ate much more vegetables than today. In the diet then and in many vegetarian or eastern diets today, the ratio of ω-6:ω-3 fatty acids is close to 1:1. . Food production as we know it began about 10,000 years ago. Linoleic acid is plentiful in many vegetable oils, such as poppy seed, safflower, sunflower, and corn oils. The very healthy ω-3 fatty acids α-linolenic acid is found in vegetables common in Greek diet such as purslane, known as glystrida or antrahla in Greek [verify]. This is the eighth most commonly eaten wild plant in the world. Its ω-3 fatty acid content is much higher than spinach, red leaf lettuce and buttercrunch lettuce. Western diets are not as rich in this fatty acid as they used to be or as Mediterranean diets such as the Greek diet are today. Even when meat was incorporated into the diet, it did not include the chemicals and processing that we see today.

Genetics is not destiny through diet and exercise, we can get healthier. In fact, later in the lecture, she said that exercise induces different cellular pathways in the body than the aging process. She showed how, through the years, the consumption of Western diets high in fast food, red meat and processed foods that are often high in saturated fats and calories has increased through the years in the US and worldwide, and has been associated with diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, and several cancers. The preferred diets by nutritionists are diets low in healthy fatty acids and monounsaturated fats, like those olive oil, and high in ω-6/ ω-3 fatty acids.

She went on to show several charts showing the ratio of ω-6: ω-3 fatty acids in various diets such as the Greek and Western diets. The Greek diet prior to 1960, which was closer to the authentic Greek diet, showed a higher percentage of ω-3 to ω-6 fatty acids as was the diet of Crete prior to 1960. Legumes such as lentils, “wild” vegetables know as “horta” in Greek, and fruits played and still play a huge role in keeping away heart disease and cancer. In recent years, fast food and snacks such as ham and cheese sandwiches have predominated in the Greek diet. As a matter of fact, Dr. Simopoulos stressed how much healthier and less full of saturated fats Greek cheeses such as feta and myzithra are compared to cheeses such as American and cheddar cheese. The Greek cheeses contain arachidonic (polyunsaturated ω-6 fatty acid), eicasopentaenoic (ω-3 fatty acid), docosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic (ω -3 fatty acids), whereas US cheeses do not. The Indian diet in rural areas has an ω-6: ω-3 fatty acid ratio close to 5:1. However, in urban areas, perhaps because of the predominance of fast food and frying with ω-6–containing oils, the level of ω-6 fatty acid is much higher to that of ω-3 fatty acid. Another chart showed how people who ate diets high in polyunsaturated fats and fatty acids, such as those of Greenland Eskimos who ate a lot of fish fat, suffered from fewer incidences of cardiovascular deaths than those who ate other diets such as those in Europe and the United States. Moderate amounts of alcohol, especially red wine, were also found to prevent disease.

Livestock and poultry fed on grass instead of corn produce healthier milk, eggs, and meat because they contain ω -3’s. Feeding on these products, less common in Western diets, was associated with lower incidence of cardiovascular diseases and cancers. These products include pasta made from them.

In another study, Greek snails were found to have higher levels of ω-3 fatty acids than French snails.

Dr. Simopoulos advised that, in New York City, one can find purslane and other horta at the Union Square Farmer’s Market. She concluded with seven dietary guidelines of her book The Omega Diet published by Harper Collins:

The seven dietary guidelines of The Omega Diet

On the 5 to 8 of October 2010, Dr. Simopoulos will be in Ancient Olympia, Greece for the conference of the World Council on Genetics, Nutrition and Fitness for Health called “Healthy Agriculture, Healthy Nutrition and Healthy People”. For more information, visit http://ww.cgnh.net/wcgnfh/hahnhp

Childhood Obesity Soaring in Rural America -- Businessweek by Serena Gordon

(copied) FRIDAY, April 9 (HealthDay News) -- In the past 35 years, the percentage of overweight or obese children in one Louisiana town has more than tripled, new research shows.

In the early 70s, fewer than one in six children (14.2 percent) in the town of Bogalusa was overweight or obese. By 2008-2009, almost half of the town's children and teens (48.4 percent) fell into those categories, according to a study in the April issue of Pediatrics.

The startling findings come on the heels of a more encouraging study, published in January in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), that found overweight and obesity rates across the United States appeared to finally be leveling off.

"These findings show that we still have a long way to go as a nation to get where we need to be with childhood obesity," said study author Stephanie Broyles, an assistant professor and epidemiologist at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

"Our national goal was 5 percent for childhood obesity by 2010, and we're nowhere near that. This needs to remain a high priority," she said.

The JAMA study found that 16.9 percent of American children are obese.

In the current study, Broyles and her colleagues used data from the Bogalusa Heart Study, a long-term community-based study to assess the natural history and development of heart disease from childhood through adulthood. Bogalusa is a semi-rural town, according to the study.

At the start of the study in 1973, Bogalusa was a community of about 20,000 people, with 65 percent white and 35 percent black residents. In 2008-2009, the researchers found that the population had shrunk to about 13,000 people and was 57 percent white and 41 percent black.

Between the two study periods, the rates of overweight and obesity tripled in Bogalusa. The researchers didn't find any significant differences in the rates of overweight and obesity between the races. Data on family incomes and education levels weren't available.

Broyles pointed out that this study wasn't meant to single out Bogalusa, but to highlight a growing disparity between town and country. "Rural children may be more at risk for overweight and obesity," she said.

"In places like Bogalusa, you almost have a food desert. Access to whole wheat bread choices, fresh fruits and vegetables are typically more limited," she explained.

And, she said, she doesn't think Bogalusa is the only place experiencing unusually high levels of overweight and obesity in children.

Dr. Goutham Rao, clinical director of the Weight Management and Wellness Center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, agreed that it's likely there are other areas of the country also experiencing substantially higher rates of childhood overweight and obesity. "What I'm hoping is that this study doesn't indicate that we have a growing dichotomy where a huge chunk of the country is getting better, but poorer, rural communities may be getting worse."

Although access to food and physical activity opportunities may be more limited in rural areas, Rao said parents shouldn't just resign themselves to having heavy kids. "There are a lot of things that families can do to reverse this problem. You're definitely more vulnerable because of your environment, but even in Bogalusa, not everyone is becoming overweight," he said.

Rao and Broyles recommended strategies such as limiting TV and computer time, encouraging physical activity and eating together as a family. They also recommended making healthier food choices whenever possible.

Broyles said that the communities and schools need to be involved, too. Schools need to offer healthy food choices and encourage physical activity. Communities can add sidewalks and parks and create safe places for kids to move around, she said.

"There many pieces to the puzzle," Broyles said. "It's not all on the shoulders of the parents. Schools have a role to play; the community has a role to play; and decision-makers and politicians have a role to play. Everyone needs to recognize that this is a really important problem."

More information

For more on overweight and obesity in children, including prevention advice, visit Nemours Foundation's KidsHealth.


SOURCES: Stephanie Broyles, Ph.D., assistant professor and epidemiologist, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, La.; Goutham Rao, M.D., clinical director, Weight Management and Wellness Center, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; April 2010 Pediatrics

New Study on Women and Fat

A new study by neuroscientist Mark Allen and colleagues at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah shows that regular weight women who looked at fat images and probably pictured themselves as fat have a spike in brain activity in the same area that anorexic women have when they picture themselves overweight. This may be due to anxiety stemming from society pressure and media images to be thin. Men do not have a similar spike in brain images, except for male body builders, who had similar activity as bulimic women. The spike of activity was in the brain region known as the medial prefrontal cortex, thought to be involved in self-reflection and evaluation of self-worth.

New studies would need to include overweight people. They may see a spike when seeing thin images or asked to picture themselves thin.


To read more, see http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/allwomenworryaboutgettingfatstudysuggests

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

Hamstrings with Swiss Ball

Lie down on a mat. Place your arms where comfortable. Bend your knees. Put your right ankle on top of a Swiss ball. Keep your other foot on the floor. Using your right ankle, bring the Swiss ball toward and away from you. Repeat for five sets of the repetitions. Repeat for the other leg. To make the exercise harder, lift your legs from the mat throughout each set.

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories .

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Report (AHRQ) on Health Disparities

(Copied from email) AHRQ's annual quality and disparities reports, which are mandated by Congress, were first published in 2003. The reports show trends by measuring health care quality for the nation using a group of credible core measures. The data are based on more than 200 health care measures categorized in four areas of quality: effectiveness, patient safety, timeliness, and patient-centeredness.

The 2009 reports include a new section on lifestyle modifications, because preventing or reducing obesity is a crucial goal for many Americans and an important task for health care providers.

The reports found:

One-third of obese adults have never received advice from their doctor about exercise.
Obese adults who are black, Hispanic, poor or have less than a high school education are less likely to receive diet advice from their doctor.
Most overweight children and one-third of obese adults report that they have not been told by their doctor that they are overweight.
Most American children have never received counseling from their health care provider about exercise, and almost half have never received counseling about healthy eating.
The reports indicate that the lack of health insurance slows improvement in health care quality and reduction of disparities. For many services, not having insurance is the single strongest predictor of poor quality care, exceeding the effects of race, ethnicity, income or education.

Americans with no insurance are much less likely than those with private insurance to obtain recommended care, especially preventive services and management for diabetes. While differences between blacks and whites in the rates of lack of insurance have narrowed in the past decade, disparities related to ethnicity, income and education remain large.

The quality and disparities reports are available online at http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr09.htm, by calling 1-800-358-9295, or by sending an e-mail to ahrqpubs@ahrq.hhs.gov.

For more information, please contact AHRQ Public Affairs: (301) 427-1855 or (301) 427-1244.

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

LKB1/AMPK Tumor Suppressor Pathway Controls Cell Growth and Metabolism

Also speaking yesterday at the biology-chemistry meeting at the New York Academy of Science was Dr. Reuben Shaw of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He showed his work which points to one tumor suppressor pathway's link to metabolism. This is very interesting work: metabolic genetic types or disease or even food may be linked to cancer. This would add to disease prevention and treatment. You can look up in a textbook or online what a tumor suppressor pathway is. There are several of them. As you probably know, tumor growth is a result of non-regulation of cell growth. Usually, apoptotic molecular cell reactions guide a cell to its programmed cell death. these reactions are triggered by chain of events down to DNA. Transcriptions factors and cofactors bind to DNA and regulate if a gene will be transcribed (copied) or not. Genes express amino acids which in turn make proteins which in turn, as enzymes or regular proteins, drive reactions. For instance, transcription factors determine whether the protein 53(p53) gene, which encodes the p53 protein, will be transcribed and how often. This is a tumor-suppressor protein, as other ones are. It regulates cell growth and apoptosis and conserves genetic stability by preventing genome mutation, which may lead to cancer.

Serine/threonine kinase 11(LKB1) is a protein kinase. It modifies other proteins by adding phosphate groups to them, rendering them active or inactive, largely because their three-dimensional structures is changed, allowing them to fit or not on cellular substrates. In the familial cancer Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome (PDS) and 30 percent of cases of non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), this gene is mutated. Loss of its function in genetically-engineered mice leads to tumor formation or metabolic disease. Metformin, a generic drug widely used to treat diabetes, lowers blood glucose through the LKB1-AMPK pathway in the liver. Dr. Shaw is investigating the pathway to further understand the molecular basis behind these reactions. 5' adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is involved in regulating glucose, cholesterol and lipid metabolism in specialized metabolic tissues, such as the liver, muscle and adipose tissue.

Dr. Shaw has found the protein kinase mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) to be involved. AMPK phosphorylates the substrate of mTOR, allowing for mTOR to be inhibited and apoptosis to happen, thus preventing cancer. These steps are also involved in the transcriptional control of glucose metabolism.

Look up Dr. Shaw on www.pubmed.gov!

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

L-Carnitine, Insulin Resistance and Metabolism

I went to a wonderful event at the New York Academy of Sciences about metabolism and cancer. The molecular pathways shown were complex for this blog. I will highlilght briefly what Deborah Muoio, professor of metabolism and exercise physiology at Duke Unviersity had to say. She spoke about pathways in the amino acid L-Carnitine, which is used ot shuttle fat molecules into the mitochondria to be metabolized. I believed I had a blog spot about it here. There is an
article on it on the Web site www.louizapatsis.com. She said that there is no conclusive evident in human beings or animals that L-Carnitine burns fat. However, when I used it for a few months, it made me sweat and helped in losing weight when I wanted to be a size 2 or 6. I would barely used over-the-counter nutritional substances. I As I have written, they are not needed for the average person., are not regulated usually, and are not good in the long term, usually. She is finding evidence that L-Carnitine increases the amounts of acetyl-CoA, which in turn increases glucose oxidation. This is the opposite to glucose intolerance found in adult-onset diabetes, which is a big problem in this country. L-Carnitine decreases with age and in obesity.

She hopes that future research will find mechanisms through which exercise enhances mitochondrial function. lipid tolerance and insulin sensitivity, and DNA studies to examine the impact of diet and/or exercise on metabolic regulation and mitochondrial function in muscle. You can find articles by her on www.pubmed.gov.
Here is one abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19553674.

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

Obliques on the Mat

Here is a variation on obliques. Lie on your left side. Crunch sideways up while at the same time bringing your bent legs u. On leg rests on top of the other. Keep your hands behind your head, elbows "open". Face forward. Imagine your right elbows trying to touch your right ankle. Repeat for four sets of ten repetitions. Repeat while lying on your right side for your left oblique.

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.