Maggie's Farm

Second Booster for COVID-19 Vaccination: Early Results

Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease

The news these days are preoccupied with the topic. I have never had a single, clear view on it and still do not. Moral, religious, freedom, politics, etc.

As I have noted in the past, I refused to participate in an abortion in medical school and nobody cared. I was not alone. It was not on any clearly-defined moral or religious grounds really, just more like a disgust for the whole idea. Other people did them as comfortably as doing a tummy-tuck. OK for them. Maybe I was weak. It was an inner conflict. I would never have been willing to do a tranny surgery either, but they were not routine then. 

I confess that I came from a good, solid family which stayed together and produced a large litter of good, solid citizens. Protestant, not Roman Catholic.

Regardless of the above, it is all about sex. Sex is a strong drive in us animals. We do not always use our brains despite every form of birth control.

Purification Rites:

 I wanted to transition because my body was my enemy, and my body was the enemy of the world. I hated myself and wanted to punish myself. It was the same feeling that motivates cutting, binge-eating, anorexia, and lashing oneself. My very nature meant I deserved pain. I couldn't remove my whiteness from myself, but maybe I could remove my maleness...

This piece seems to apply mainly to adolescent boys.

My husband loaded trucks at a lumber yard for three years in his teens. Sports too, of course, but he is sure that that labor made him a sturdier adult. Hard manual labor is what growing boys are made for. This might not apply to women, though.

In adulthood, however, if women want to avoid osteopenia the simplest and most natural approach is to lift heavy. Cardio does nothing for bone maintenance. 

Do you supinate, pronate, or neither? Sometimes you can tell by the wear on your shoe soles, but when it is more pronounced you can feel it when you walk or run.

When these things are severe, they can affect your joints and lower back. This is why God made Podiatrists. 

It is normal for guys to want to be strong and to look good (ie appealing to females or imposing to males). It is instinctual. Body-building is the extreme version, but is a harmless hobby for some men (and some women too).

Rippetoe speaks mainly to men, but I think his strength-training advice applies just as well to women. His focus on strong=big, however, is only for guys who want to get "big."  Most guys who pursue general fitness have no major desire to look conspicuously jacked, and women can't do it if they try. When it comes to appearance alone, it seems to me as if men and women want to look athletic.

When it comes to general fitness for life, muscle hypertrophy is unimportant although some amount of muscle growth will occur with any balanced fitness program. (As our readers know, our recommendations are 1/3 HIIT cardio, 1/3 mixed calisthenics, and 1/3 stressful weights for strength. This is a recipe for looking, and being, in athletic shape.) 

Two pieces from Rippetoe:

The Biggest Training Fallacy of All

 Bodybuilding Mythology

1-2 lbs/week is enough.  Sustaining a 2 lb/week loss is difficult, might be too much. Furthermore, fat loss is never steady.

That loss is almost entirely about nutrition. The reason to include exercise, or fitness training, is to minimize muscle loss while getting rid of the fat burden.

Your son wants to be a girl, and your wife agrees with him/her them.  Legal problems ensue.

I have written on that topic over the years. Do any readers want to read something by David Brooks in The Atlantic?

If so, he makes some good points. THE NUCLEAR FAMILY WAS A MISTAKE. The family structure we’ve held up as the cultural ideal for the past half century has been a catastrophe for many. It’s time to figure out better ways to live together.

 According to Ruggles, in 1800, 90 percent of American families were corporate families. Until 1850, roughly three-quarters of Americans older than 65 lived with their kids and grandkids. Nuclear families existed, but they were surrounded by extended or corporate families...

Two books about dealing with dementia:

The 36-hour Day

Creating Moments of Joy along the Alzheimer's Journey 

It's a longer read, probably not of much interest to most but it is about politics. Rittenberg at Substack: On Utopian Thinking. 

I have written about "Psycho-utopianism" (my term, I think). The Garden of Eden had just two people, one god - and a snake. Quote:

... we have seen that utopian thinking is characterized by the following features: failure of reality testing; implicit belief in the omnipotence of thoughts; tolerance of mutually contradictory thoughts. This collection of features will inevitably begin to seem familiar to teachers, psychologists, parents, anyone having to do with small children. For these are precisely the characteristics of infantile thought processes at a particular stage of development: the stage in which the infant mind conceives of itself as comprising the entire universe, and as absolutely perfect: the stage of infantile, omnipotent narcissism. Here, at last we have come upon Utopia! For it is to this lost, dimly remembered but never to be recaptured infantile bliss that the utopians long to return. In fact. such an infantile state is the only Utopia we humans ever have known or ever shall know.

January 1 is when people decide to get back into shape. It is wonderful for the income of gyms, because people pay up and last a few months.

All the same, my general advice to those over 35 or 40 is to start slowly.  If overweight, tiny meals. If underweight, eat food of any sort. Begin with 3 hrs/wk at the gym for a month to get going.

Best way to do it is with a trainer.

I suggest two half-hours of light cardio, 2 half-hours of light weights/machines, and 2 half-hours of calisthenics. After that, a more demanding program.

Most people can use a guide through the journey of physical fitness. It is a lifetime journey to try to avoid eventual decrepitude.

In The LA Times.

Could Viagra reduce Alzheimer’s risk?

Correlation or causation, or just one of the 50+ percent of medical studies which turn out to be wrong? 

Regardless of the above, Cialis and Viagra are good for guys who can use it. You are not dead yet. By coincidence, some might recall that Bob Dole did some of the first TV ads for Viagra. Good for him. 

Three links:

Sally Satel:  What is Happening to My Profession?

 AMA bringing dangerous levels of wokeness into the medical profession

 Doctors now cannot say 'morbidly obese'

Re my post about semaglutide and weight loss, I was not entirely up-to-date. As of this summer, it IS now FDA-approved for weight loss in non-diabetics.

It is termed "a game-changer" for overweight problems.

"Diet and exercise" are typical suggestions for the sedentary or over-eaters. However, strict nutritional plans rarely work for overweight people in the long run, and exercise has minimal effect on fat loss (but is essential for general fitness). Nutritional self-control is difficult for most people. Most, not all. 70% of Americans are overweight by some measure.

Metformin is a typical medicine for overweight, pre-diabetes, etc.  In my experience, it is not very effective and has many side effects.

In my view, semaglutide  might be the current gold standard. It's a tiny weekly injection, done easily at home. Like everything, it has some side effects but not much. It can be labeled as Wegovy or as Ozempic. You have to qualify as meaningfully overweight to get a prescription. It definitely reduces appetite, but has other beneficial physiological effects especially on the insulin system. Can it permanently re-jigger your food compulsions after months of use? It is not clear. 

Semaglutide is on-label for Type 2 diabetes, or pre-diabetes, and off-label for weight loss alone. 

If you have overweight issues, discuss it with your doctor as an option.  It could save your joints, your heart, maybe your life (for a while). I would try it, if eating were one of my hobbies.

Deliberately Divided—A Review

The world does not do a good job with people with the most serious mental illnesses. It is partly the world's fault, but it is partly because many of the seriously-ill reject the sorts of help which can be offered. Or, in many cases, can't get their act together enough to avail themselves of it.

From Michael Shellenberger, Madness for Decivilization 

Do you aspire to climb Ben Nevis in winter?  Or, God forbid, Mount Washington?

Autumn is the time for serious hiking in whatever the weather serves up. Adventure.

We feel the best stuff is made by Montane.  It's a Euroland company so it has an Alpine feel.

LL Bean is fine, but not for winter climbing. Patagonia has the brand, but check out Montane. Bear in mind that they use Euroland sizing, which is different.