Unleashing The Beast :: FitBob

A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.

In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States.

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/

For those who don’t know, my father has been battling (and conquering) prostrate cancer recently. His latest tests are all good, and he has a great outlook. I’m a firm believer in the mind-body connection, often using visualization techniques for muscular growth (they’re like mountains!) and overall health (picturing my body destroying and flushing all toxins.)

Recently, a friend expressed concern over estrogen content in soy and it’s effects on men and women. I had my father send me the following resources from research he has done, hope you find them useful.

Here are a number of links to articles for and against on soy and prostate cancer. Some have an agenda, but have cited research papers from people at institutions that don’t have agendas. You have to sort out the pros and cons. My favorites are actually not listed below. They are books: The Spectrum by Dean Ornish, Foods to Fight Cancer by Richard Beliveau, and Anticancer by David Servan-Schreiber. See also a study by Gordon Saxe at UCSD on the effects of a plant-based diet (including soy) on the PSA doubling time od people diagnosed with cancer of the prostate.

Mar 14, 2008 … A compound found in soybeans almost completely prevented the spread of human prostate cancer in mice, according to a new study in Cancer …
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080314085038.htm

SoyNutrition.com
Mar 16, 2007 … TOKYO — Diets rich in soy may protect men against localized prostate cancer, but paradoxically may increase the risk for advanced prostate …
www.medpagetoday.com › … › Urology › Prostate Cancer

WebMD.com
Sep 24, 2004 … A soy-rich diet, thought to prevent the development of certain cancers, may improve the prognosis for men diagnosed with prostate cancer.
www.webmd.com/prostate-cancer/…/soy-improves-prostate-cancer-outlook

About.com
prostatecancer.about.com/od/riskfactors/a/soyprostate.htm

csmc.edu
Cell culture and animal studies have shown that genistein inhibits tumor growth. In one study, a group of human prostate cancer cells was treated with …
www.csmc.edu/3421.html

A friend recently expressed concern that I was bringing my 10 year old to the gym to lift with me on occasion, something about the effects of weight training on children’s musculature. I recalled reading something about kids shouldn’t be lifting weights or whatever until they were more more developed, but that was 20 years ago.

He suggested I read up on it, so I did a quick search on them thar interlinks. Here is an excerpt of an article from the American Academy of Pediatrics:

“Young people who want to improve sports performance will generally benefit more from practicing and perfecting skills of the sport than from resistance training. If long-term health benefits are the goal, strength training should be combined with an aerobic training program.”

More: http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;107/6/1470

In short, resistance training doesn’t appear to have harmful effects on children.