Our GNMHealth Podcast, The Health Hacks Podcast has had its ninth episode posted today. Come check it out for great new stuff and an opportunity to win a copy of Disc of Light’s newest meditation and relaxation CD, BodyMind.
Add comment October 26th, 2006
Since I began my new position as Executive Producer for Health Content at Grasshopper New Media, my life has opened up in different ways.
I’ve been accustomed to merely reporting on health news since this blog launched in January of 2005. Now, it seems that I’m something of a public figure. Weird.
In the course of promoting the Health Hacks Podcast, and GNM in general, I’ve participated in public forums like PodCamp Boston, where I lead a (very small) session, befriended some pretty interesting people and saw my boss, Chris Brogan, catapult into the limelight.
So, while I’m not signing autographs or writing my memoirs (yet) I am at least now interview-worthy. Well, at least in the eyes of my compatriot Jimmy Moore of the Livin’ La Vida Low Carb blog. You can read the interview here.
Giving this interview was an awakening because it made me articulate some things that were only loosely formed in my mind. It has sparked a lot of interest, and many people have contacted me about contributing either to the Health Hacks Podcast, or possibly to a new show (Interested? let me know!).
Anyway, in this interview I was asked about being a “former low carber”. I haven’t really discussed my own diet path much here on HHDC, so I wasn’t really expecting the question.
I reponded that I don’t feel like a “former low carber”, but perhaps like a former Atkins dieter. Really, when it comes to diets, I tend toward being “platform agnostic”. One reason I gave for moving on to other Low carb/controlled carb concepts was that BDK, or Ketosis wasn’t very attainable for me and that BDK is one of the major points seperating Atkins from other similar plans.
One reader asked how that made sense, and here is my response:
If I could, I’d like offer a response to Low Carb Tennis Guy’s questions.
First, I’ll answer his second question. Dr. Atkins was not the only person to develop a low-carb diet. William Banting was promoting a LC plan his doctor developed back in the 1800’s. Today there are many low carb plans, most of which differ in small ways. If you include “controlled carbohydrate” diets then you can even lump in the South Beach diet and other similar plans.
One major difference between the plan developed (as a work in progress over decades of gradual evolution) by Dr. Atkins and many of the other plans is the “Atkins Metabolic Advantage”, a physiological response triggered by a near absense of carbs. It is more commonly known as Ketosis, but Dr. Atkins, in his later years, favored the term Beneficial Dietary Ketosis, or BDK.
The reason for the new term is that many DOCTORS (gasp!) didn’t realize that there is a difference between ketosis and a very harmful but completely unrelated condition called ketoacidosis. These doctors would tell patients to avoid the Atkins plan like the plague, out of ignorance.
Now the problem with ketosis is that while it makes your body burn fat rather than other fuels, it can be really hard to trigger ketosis. Moreover many LC dieters found they could lose significant amounts of weight without reaching ketosis.
I, myself had much trouble reaching ketosis, and was blowing a fortune on ketone test-strips, even though I was losing weight at a good clip. I did find, though, that while Atkins stressed that you wouldn’t need to conciously limit your food intake that didn’t work for me.
You see, in theory, he had a great idea. Atkins was relying on the hunger/fullness mechanism to kick in, which is likely to happen because fats and proteins are filling. However, a certain portion of americans (like me) had such a screwed up way of eating (thanks, McDonald’s!) that we no longer really understood these concepts of “full” and “hunger”.
So, anyway, I found that I did need some external control on portion sizes, which is why I now pair low-carb dieting with the No-S diet (and the Shangri-La diet, but using oil, not sugar).
I still support the Atkins diet both in theory and, for those it suits, in practice. Look at Jimmy- who can argue with that kind of success?!
For more great info on different Low Carb diets, please read Dana Carpender’s excellent “How I Gave Up My Low Fat Diet And Lost 40 Pounds”.
1 comment September 27th, 2006
So, in the latest podcast (episode three @ www.healthhackspodcast.com) I outline a thought experiment regarding combining several diet approaches we’ve been discussing both here and on the podcast.
I have actually put this theoretical diet into action, and combining this with the exercise regimen I’ve discussed over the last three episodes, I’m seeing some results.
The added exercise alone didn’t jumpstart my weight loss. Adding in this new diet has not had a discernable impact according to the scale, however I ended up tightening my belt several notches and eventually losing a pants size.
Reader Ethesis points out, wisely, that beginning any diet can jump-start weight loss. In fact he mentions the idea of rotating diets to keep your metabolism in constant flux. I have always referred to this effect as the “novely factor”.
So what I need to look at in the coming weeks is:
1. Is this plan sustainable?
2. Is it effective?
3. Does it quickly lead to a “brick wall”?
Now, this is just an experiment, and I am neither a dietician nor a nutritionist, but a believer in empirical learning. I have no right to expect this to work, yet I believe it will… but we’ll see.
Jimmy Moore, one of my partners in crime at the podcast, has been involved in a grassroots study of a new low-carb methodology, so I’ll be interested to see what happens on that score as well.
If you are interested in helping test drive this new diet, you can get some details in episode three, but remember, you try it at your own risk.
Be well!
2 comments September 13th, 2006
Wow. Advanced sleep deprivation can make you feel like a character in a Franz Kafka story, or conversely, like a drunken sailor wearing a muumuu while eating peach melba in a Kenny Rodger’s Roaster on the moon.
Or something like that.
Anyway, I’ve been working very intently on the premier episode of the Health Hacks Podcast, of which I am both producer and host. I have a great stable of contributors with whom I am proud to be associated.
Conceptualizing, creating and editing the show has left me working nearly 21 hours a day for two weeks. Tomorrow the completed episode will be posted at iTunes and various other great places and you can hear the fruits of our collective labor.
Then, I collapse and sleep for 2 straight days.
I hope that posting here will become more regular in the next few days.
Best health,
-Kevin Kennedy-Spaien
Add comment August 29th, 2006
Hey! Today is my birthday. Why should you care? You shouldn’t.
BUT…
Also today Health-Hack.com is 164 hits away (11:00 AM Boston Time) from hitting the magic 100,000 page views mark. I would love to see that happen today. There are really only two ways that will happen, though: one would be for a major site to link to me today, and I’m not holding my breath (that usually happens about once a month, and I’m not due for a couple weeks I reckon).
The other way is if all of you reading the RSS feed (and there are a ton of you!) were to click over and read on the site. I realise that this is pure vanity on my part, but simply put, I ain’t proud. Here, I’ll make it easy click here: http://www.Health-Hack.com/
I promise an actual value-added post later today!
Update: Apparently StumbleUpon is favoring Health-Hack.com mightily today! Wee!
1 comment August 11th, 2006
You have most likely noticed over the last several weeks that I’ve been discussing the exciting things on the horizon at Grasshopper New Media. I’ve discussed my involvement with the Fat Guy Gets Fit podcast, and now I’d like to let you know what is happening with that in the immediate future.
First off, FGGF#13 is up at www.fatguygetsfit.com and Chris does a review of Health-Hack.com. (Yay Chris!).
Now starting next week with FGGF#14, we will start to bring on the other contributors to what will eventually be called “The Health Hacks Podcast”. The new show will feature segments from Fat Guy and Health-Hack.com, as well as contributions from other health writers from around the web.
We don’t have all the people we need, yet, so please let me know if you want to join in the mayhem. At this point, the Health Hacks Podcast Posse consists of:
EDIT: The site is live now. www.HealthHacksPodcast.com.
1 comment August 10th, 2006
The latest Fat Guy Gets Fit podcast has been released, so please check it out. My segment features health tips for desk jockeys.
Check it out and let us know what you think either here or at GNM!
Thanks!
Read More:
http://fatguygetsfit.com/
Subscribe:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/FatGuyGetsFit
2 comments August 7th, 2006
Are you already a Health-Hack.com subscriber? If not, why not!?
It’s as easy as pasting our feed into your favorite feed reader, or making it a live bookmark on the Mac. What’s that address? Glad you asked…it’s:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/health-hack/FB_RSS
1 comment August 3rd, 2006
Grasshopper New Media is an exciting project, an alliance of bloggers setting out to create an audio/video content network that will allow people like Chris Brogan, Jimmy Moore, myself - and maybe even you - to build their personal brand while promoting their own personal passions.
My place in this insanely great org is as executive producer of health programming. I am proud to have been asked, and I am proud to ask you: Do you have a contribution to make? Do you have ideas on health, fitness, or related subjects that you are passionate to share on an ongoing basis?
If so, we want to talk to you. We want to help promote you and your message.
Specific areas of interest: Aspects of Physical fitness (running, gym workouts, yoga, weights, cycling, etc.); Weight Loss/nutrition; personal motivation, body-image and self-esteem.
Contact me at kevinks@grasshoppernewmedia.com.
Read More at: www.chrisbrogan.com, www.grasshoppernewmedia.com, and www.fatguygetsfit.com
Interested in contributing to the non-health oriented content channels? Contact Chris at chris@gnmnetworks.com.
Add comment July 28th, 2006
Chris Brogan has just put up installment #11 of the Grasshopper New Media podcast Fat Guy Gets Fit. Chris wears many hats, but is perhaps best known to Health-Hack.com readers as a contributing editor at Lifehack.org(sorry-edited).
Fat Guy Gets Fit is a great program covering topics like exercise and diet for people who are not already an Adonis (or the female equivalent). There is a fitness challenge listeners can participate in as well.
This installment has the first segment that I’ve contributed - a nutrition/diet hack. I hope this is just the beginning of a great content partnership!
Check it out and let us know what you think either here or at GNM.
Read More:
http://fatguygetsfit.com/
Subscribe:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/FatGuyGetsFit
2 comments July 26th, 2006
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Contact Kevin 'Mister Tut' Kennedy-Spaien at webmeister at health-hack dot com
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