In my last post, I explained the importance of normal glucose metabolism.  In this post, I’ll talk about a condition of impaired (faulty) glucose metabolism called prediabetes.  Many people think that the only danger of prediabetes is that a person may go on to develop diabetes.  Unfortunately, research indicates that prediabetes poses grave dangers to […]

In my next several blogs, I want to discuss problems with glucose metabolism.  Before I do, though, I thought I should explain exactly what glucose is and what we use it for. Glucose is a molecule that contains six atoms of carbon, twelve atoms of hydrogen, and six atoms of oxygen.  Almost all glucose in […]

Wow!  I just read a fascinating study directly related to rapid weight loss and metabolism.  I hope you find it as interesting as I did! In 2012, Darcy L. Johannsen and colleagues reported on the effects of rapid and massive weight loss, even when a large reduction in calories was accompanied by vigorous exercise and […]

In my last post, I explained that metabolism refers to the sum of all the chemical reactions that occur in your body.  Your metabolic rate refers to the speed at which these chemical reactions occur and is a measure of how many calories you expend.  Your basal metabolic weight refers to your metabolic rate when […]

n my last post, I shared a Ted presentation on dieting and weight loss. In that post, I repeated Dr. Sandra Aamodt’s premise that losing weight may cause the hypothalamus to slow down a person’s metabolism, making it very difficult to maintain a weight loss. I thought I should clarify the terms “dieting” and “metabolism” […]

Today I watched the Ted video presentation, Why Dieting Doesn’t Usually Work, given by neuroscientist Sandra Aamodt.  She explains that dieting actually causes most people to get heavier.  They lose weight on the diet, but eventually gain it all back and then some.  She ties this in to the function of the hypothalamus–the structure in […]