Food diary Dec 25 2024 and thoughts

 Woke up at about 6.30 am, meditated for 7 minutes and did some photobiomodulation for about 30 min,

listening to a podcast interview with Dr Kevin Maki, which I thought was informative about dietary related risk factors.

I went for a short walk (10 min) outside to get some sunlight.

I was not so hungry, so I decided to have breakfast a bit later and instead went for a hot cacao drink with collagen and some stevia leaf powder and glycine.

Breakfast at around 9.30 am consisted of about 30g of organic/natural whey protein, blueberries, half an avocado, 1 teaspoon of glycine, 10 grams of collagen, a pinch of ceylon cinnamon and half a cup of water,  a small peace of ginger,1/4 a teaspoon of stevia. 

I had this in a bowl together with about 60 grams of walnuts and macadamianuts.

About an hour later I had a small amount of oatmeal with a small amount of blueberries, mango, walnuts, pecans, cardamum, ceylon cinnamon and ginger followed by a cup of green matcha tea with cacao and a pinch of stevia.

So essentially two breakfasts one of which was a lot smaller in size. All in all high in fiber, protein, moderate in fats, carbohydrates and fats.

Today I choose to not have coffee. There has been some caughing in the family, so I usually prefer to be lower in coffee and choose tea instead when the exposure to sickness is higher.

So. What is my intention with this dietary protocol so far.

I choose to prioritize protein earlier in the day to not only support muscle protein synthesis and hormones, neurotransmittors but also circadian rhythm by having a clear nutrient signal after my overnight fast in the morning.

I typically have a longer time between my last meal and my sleep time.

As far as oatmeal goes, this is something I like and used to eat before. However I don't as much any more. Instead I use psyllum fiber husk for achieve a similar gastro intestinal cholesterol binding effect that can be achieved with oatmeal. 

It is a preference (using psyllum fiber husk) I have found by "trial and error". Just feeling better during days I stay lower or absent on oatmeal than not. Why this is the case, I don't know. I don't have any clear adverse effects from oatmeal. But I do find it seems to correlate with better overall subjective feeling of results overall. I do still enjoy oatmeal and have it from time to time. There is some utility of oatmeal as a lipid lowering food for those who tend to be absorbing more of their dietary cholesterol. There are also some phytochemical compounds in oats that seems to have potential benefits.

The beta-glucans is one such. But there are others. I listened to an interview with a researcher in Swedish agicultural university in Uppsala Sweden, SLU, where the topic as precisely oats and their role as a food in health research. I found it to be encouraging and to not exclude it out of hand.

As someone prioritizing basic nutrients for health like protein and fiber, oats have 12 g of protein and about 10-12 grams of protein per 100 grams which is perhaps a bit surprising.

Contrast this with yoghurt, which lands around 4 grams per 100 grams. Although yoghurt is a good food in other regards, for example being a fermented food with some natural probiotics, and having calcium etc, it seems at least at survice level that oats is much higher in protein compared gram to gram.

So far so good.

I should also breafly mention other food intentions. Green matcha tea is rich in L-theanine and EGCG and other polyphenols that likely has some health benefits with regard to cognitive and cardiovascular health and inflammation and more.

Same goes for cacao, although cacao in particular has some effects on blood circulation in the brain and also mood that are favourable. 

Whey protein is a food that gets a lot of attention in excersice and muscle building.

But it has also some beneficial results with regards to lipids, cognitive health, immun function and more. It is also a highly functional food. It can, when combined with polyphenols from berries and other foods, increase the uptake of these polyphenols and flavanoids singificantly. Therefor I make sure to always combine whey protein with foods like berries, blueberries or strawberries in particular (my preference), I typically also include other powder supplements in my whey protein shake, like avokado, collagen, taurine, creatine and so on. All of these have interesting applications and have been studied showing some significant potential benefits that motivates me to combine them in my protein shake.

So for me whey protein is not just a good supplement for someone doing strength training or muscle building. It is a versatile healthy functional food that can be effectively used to create a nutrient repleat meal in combination with other food, supplements and nutrients that mix well with it.

So, it has become my breakfast during holiday times, where I want to not spend more time with family, rest and leasure and still have a good nutrient intake with enough protein.

The protein - MTOR animal studies I suspect have been highly overexaggerated and sometimes promoting a low protein diet that in reality doesn't seem to play out with the results you'd expect from the rat studies where this seems to yield a longevity phenotype.

Although I buy that transient MTORC1 inhibition is a well preserved mechanism observed throughout most organisms, I think the translatability of this to humans in the real world, needs to be taken in a much more nuanced way. I reality we cannot assume that severe protein restricted humans have the same situation as a clinically controlled lab environment a researched organism lives in, not being exposed to pathogens and stressors that confounds these findings.

Perhaps then a more transient protocol of temporary restriction, or even a combination of transient periods of slight caloric restriction and exercise and other ways to keep fasting levels of MTORC1, IGF1 and insulin, together gives a similar phenotype as the protein restricted animals.

In biology pathways and mechanisms are highly redundant for the reason of being evolutionary favourable. If that wasn't the case organisms would simply not survive.

There are therefor many ways/pathways for an organism to achieve the same favourable outcome or phenotype through disparate/distinct mechanisms.

And so we as living humans should not choose one single mechanism of action for achieving some desired outcome. We should understand what methods is the best ones and most accessible ones to us given our current situation and physiology and priorities instead of blindly following some theoretical protocol based on a single mechanism.

So now the time is around mid-day and I will soon go on a walk to further strengthen my circadian rhythm and just enjoy my day.

Also I will see if I can find a nice place with nature to get a dose of what is labelled as "Shinrin yoku".

Studies from Japan seem to indicate this has good effects on health markers like inflammation, immun function and blood pressure. This inspires me and there for I likely enhance this effect with a good dose of placebo - belief.

There is always the power of belief. I don't think that is a detractor of results. Rather I view it as a potential power and enhancer of results that we should take adavantage of.

Believe in what you want to achieve!