Ground meat treats: Zucchini and onion meatloaf

var citeN=0; A cousin of the meatball (citeN=citeN+1;document.write(Number(citeN)) 1), the meatloaf is a traditional German dish. The recipe below is for a meal that feeds 4-8 people. The ground beef used has little fat, and thus a relatively low omega-6 content. Most of the fat comes from the 1 lb of ground grass-fed lamb in the recipe, which has a higher omega-3 to omega-6 ratio than the regular (i.e., non-grass-fed) ground beef. The egg acts as a binder. Leave the potato out if you want to decrease the carbohydrate content; it does not add much (nutrient numbers are provided at the end of the post).- Prepare some dry seasoning powder by mixing...

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So boys, what should you do when you get cold?

Over the next few weeks I will be working with British Gas as one of their Smart Mums ambassadors, thinking about the significance of energy conservation this winter.This project comes hot on the heels of the energyshare campaign, where I saw the hard work of communities who are trying to create energy from renewable sources.  With all the complexities of such a project, it's a far cry from the simplicity of flicking a switch in our homes to immediately emblazen rooms in light or to turn up the heat.With the festive season being one of the coldest times of the year and now the boys are off school, it's been a good time to have a chat with...

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Protein powders before fasted weight training? Here is a more natural and cheaper alternative

var citeN=0; The idea that protein powders should be consumed prior to weight training has been around for a while, and is very popular among bodybuilders. Something like 10 grams or so of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) is frequently recommended. More recently, with the increase in popularity of intermittent fasting, it has been strongly recommended prior to “fasted weight training”. The quotation marks here are because, obviously, if you are consuming anything that contains calories prior to weight training, the weight training is NOT being done in a fasted state.(Source: Ecopaper.com)Most of the evidence available suggests that...

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Finding your sweet spot for muscle gain with HCE

var citeN=0; In order to achieve muscle gain, one has to repeatedly hit the “supercompensation” window, which is a fleeting period of time occurring at some point in the muscle recovery phase after an intense anaerobic exercise session. The figure below, from Vladimir Zatsiorsky’s and William Kraemer’s outstanding book Science and Practice of Strength Training (citeN=citeN+1;document.write(Number(citeN)) 1) provides an illustration of the supercompensation idea. Supercompensation is covered in more detail in a previous post (citeN=citeN+1;document.write(Number(citeN)) 2).Trying to hit the supercompensation window is a common denominator among...

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"No More Socks for Christmas" says Suffolk Circle

Members of Southwark Circle in London.  Suffolk Circle members will be marching with similar banners, 11.30am, Wednesday 14th December, The arc, Bury St Edmunds.As a little girl, I used to love helping my mother wrap the Christmas presents.  It was one of my favourite things to do... until I got bored.  And I would get bored.  There were always too many presents and they were always the same, with the long monotony of socks, ties, handkerchiefs or bubble bath.  Sometimes there would be bath salts, just to break the routine.As I carefully wrapped the presents, which would then be dutifully distributed to all the older...

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energyshare, Hexham, social media, old friends and me

The last couple of weeks have have been some of the most extraordinary in my blogging life, having spent much of November helping to campaign for public votes to help Hexham River Hydro win energyshare funding of £100,000, WHICH THEY DID ON SATURDAY, so a HUGE THANK YOU to all of you who voted.With the campaigning over, I now want to take some time out to reflect on what has been a very exciting but overwhelming experience in many ways.When energyshare first got in touch to ask if I'd like to work with them as a blogging champion for one of the shortlisted entries, it sounded like a very exciting prospect.  It was the first time I'd heard...

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Want to make coffee less acidic? Add cream to it

var citeN=0; The table below is from a 2008 article by Ehlen and colleagues (citeN=citeN+1;document.write(Number(citeN)) 1), showing the amount of erosion caused by various types of beverages, when teeth were exposed to them for 25 h in vitro. Erosion depth is measured in microns. The third row shows the chance probabilities (i.e., P values) associated with the differences in erosion of enamel and root.As you can see, even diet drinks may cause tooth erosion. That is not to say that if you drink a diet soda occasionally you will destroy your teeth, but regular drinking may be a problem. I discussed this study in a previous post (citeN=citeN+1;document.write(Number(citeN))...

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My appeal video for Hexham River Hydro (@energyshare)

Last week I had the unique opportunity to visit Hexham and meet the community with whom I have partnered in the bid to win funding from energyshare.I received the most amazing welcome from so many people in the community, including the project partners, volunteers, Transition Town members, the local Abbey, councillors and the Mayor.  However it was the visits I made to the potential beneficiaries of the funding that inspired me the most, including a local community centre in regeneration area and the fabulous kids who really need their local youth initiative.Armed with just my very old smartphone, I managed to take some footage while I was there, to ask for your support in voting for a community project that will not just create renewable energy but will help provide some much-needed...

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Triglycerides, VLDL, and industrial carbohydrate-rich foods

var citeN=0; Below are the coefficients of association calculated by HealthCorrelator for Excel (HCE) for user John Doe. The coefficients of association are calculated as linear correlations in HCE (citeN=citeN+1;document.write(Number(citeN)) 1). The focus here is on the associations between fasting triglycerides and various other variables. Take a look at the coefficient of association at the top, with VLDL cholesterol, indicated with a red arrow. It is a very high 0.999.Whoa! What is this – 0.999! Is John Doe a unique case? No, this strong association between fasting triglycerides and VLDL cholesterol is a very common pattern among HCE users. The...

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My transformation: How I looked 10 years ago next to a thin man called Royce Gracie

var citeN=0; The photos below were taken about 10 years ago. The first is at a restaurant near Torrance, California. (As you can see, the restaurant was about to close; we were the last customers.) I am standing next to Royce Grace, who had by then become a sensation (citeN=citeN+1;document.write(Number(citeN)) 1). He became a sensation by easily defeating nearly every champion fighter that was placed in front of him. In case you are wondering, Royce is 6’1” and I am 5’8”. The second photo also has Royce’s manager in it – that is his wife. Their children’s names both start with the letter “K”. I wonder how big they are right now.I think that...

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Teaming up with energyshare & Hexam River Hydro

It is very rare that something pulls me away from talking about rubbish, but when I was asked to team up with an exciting hydro energy project that's competing for energyshare funding, it was far too interesting to miss.Energyshare has been created by River Cottage and British Gas, jointly managing a campaign whereby communities across the UK have applied to energyshare to have their project funded. These communities have been shortlisted into a small number of finalists, all looking to have their project funded up to the value of £100,000.The competition has also been supported by Channel 4’s Three Hungry Boy’s who spent five weeks touring...

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The China Study II: How gender takes us to the elusive and deadly factor X

var citeN=0; The graph below shows the mortality in the 35-69 and 70-79 age ranges for men and women for the China Study II dataset. I discussed other results in my two previous posts (citeN=citeN+1;document.write(Number(citeN)) 1) (citeN=citeN+1;document.write(Number(citeN)) 2), all taking us to this post. The full data for the China Study II study is publicly available (citeN=citeN+1;document.write(Number(citeN)) 3). The mortality numbers are actually averages of male and female deaths by 1,000 people in each of several counties, in each of the two age ranges.Men do tend to die earlier than women, but the difference above is too large.Generally...

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