Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.
Mushrooms can provide as much vitamin D as supplements
Vitamin D is good for bones, muscle strength and strengthening the immune system, so it’s something everyone should be getting plenty of. This study shows that mushrooms grown under UVB lights can produce Vitamins D2, D3, and D4. I’m not sure what the best mushrooms are to get these benefits, but from some quick research I see that wild mushrooms have 400-500 IU of Vitamin D per serving. If you don’t have access to wild mushrooms, you can set store bought mushrooms in the sun or under a UV light for 5 to 10 minutes to increase vitamin D levels. It works both pre and post harvest.
System allows multitasking runners to read on a treadmill
I don’t do much cardio these days, but I have in the past and yes, I’ve tried reading while running on the treadmill, because treadmill running is BORING! If you’ve tried reading while running, you know that it’s not easy. Well it looks like a new device called the ReadingMate might be the answer. The ReadingMate can account for the runner’s motion and will move the text in unison with head movement. Cool!
Interval Training and Intermittent Fasting: A Winning Combo
HIIT training and intermittent fasting is really popular these days and you get more benefits if you do both. The idea is to fast for 12-18 hours – stop eating 3 hours before bed and try not to eat for the next 12+ hours after your last meal. You want to workout in a fasted state and eat a recovery meal 30 minutes after working out. For HIIT training, you want to warmup for 3 minutes, exercise as hard as you possibly can for 30 seconds and recover for 90 seconds at a slower pace. You repeat this for up to 7 more times if you can. Check out the video on this page to see an example. He does it on treadmill, but there are lots of other HIIT workouts you can do. Just search Google.
Blood, Berries or Butter: Maverick Wellness Highways
This is a crowdsource campaign to raise funds to create a documentary featuring people like Dave Asprey, Rich Roll, Nicholas Perricone, Abel James, Steven Fowkes, Justin Mager, Jim Kean, Chris Berka, Patrick Drake, James Hardt, Sarma Melngailis and a bunch of other biohackers. This is going to be one amazing documentary!
Cold Thermogenesis Easy Start Guide
I can do the face dunking and I can probably do 20-40 lbs of ice on my chest with a compression shirt on, but I’m not sure how I feel about cold water immersion. Who knows though, I just might end up trying it sometime this summer.
The Red Meat Scapegoat: The New York Times, Carnitine, Heart Disease and Science
You might have heard all the news recently about red meat causing increased risk of stroke, at least according to sensationalist journalism on sites like Forbes and the New York Times. I’m not saying that the study is wrong, but here’s a write-up from Dave Asprey on where the scientists who performed this study might have made some mistakes. Dave makes some interesting observations, but at this point his theories are still only theories and they don’t prove that red meat doesn’t cause increased risk of heart disease. I definitely think another study needs to be done though.