Back at the beginning of the pandemic, our little Central American country felt like it was overrun with people from all over the world trying to find a safe place to see out the lockdowns.

Each nationality brought with them their own stories about corruption, cover-ups and conspiracy theories.

I listened with an open mind to all of them, the 5G linked to the nanobots in the nasal swabs was a personal favorite of mine, but some of them are panning out to be more fact than fiction. 

There have been a series of articles in the UK paper “The Telegraph’ that shows how the Wuhan Virus leak was the most likely cause. The leaking of the “lockdown files” shows how the decision to mask children was mainly political. That the excess deaths that came from the lockdowns are way higher than expected and we now have more clarity on just how harmful it was to shut down schools and lock down countries. 

Also, we are clearer on the virus, as Esther Mcvey articulates

 “Moreover, we must not forget that the severity of the disease ended up being much lower than our politicians had made out. While Michael Gove told us in March 2020 that “we are all at risk”, Prof Mark Woolhouse, an infectious disease expert, points out we knew that the virus was “highly discriminatory” as early as February 2020, with age and comorbidities being the crucial factors.”

Of course, it’s easy to point fingers in retrospect but as the UK gears up for a Covid inquiry it looks like they will be focusing on the small details like whether or not lock down should have happened a week earlier rather than whether or not it should have happened at all.

What can we learn from this? 
Comorbidities were and are the biggest risk factors when it comes to succumbing to illness, whether it be COVID or as we are being prepped for…“the next one”.

What I learnt was that in most countries our access to healthcare is not guaranteed. 

Our access to the outdoors, fresh air, and high-quality food isn’t guaranteed…Oh don’t forget toilet roll -I remember you horders…I noted your names in my little black book….

But as the phrase goes, we should be ‘making hay while the sun shines’.

•  If you are overweight or obese now is the time to address it.
•  If you have high blood pressure now is the time to figure it out.
•  If you are underweight or have digestional issues, now is the time to address it.
•  If you are lacking strength and muscle mass (probably one of the biggest predictors of all-cause mortality…aka dying) now is the time to get strong. 
• If your blood work isn’t optimal (assuming you actually know) now is the time to make the lifestyle changes to correct it. 

I believe that “your lifestyle is your medicine”, and what you do today will set you up for success in the future. The hard work you put in now might just be the difference between you needing hospital care (when it’s not available) or thriving. 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever wondered if you should eat so early or even so late?

You may have heard other people swear by an ‘intermittent fasting’ lifestyle, but you might not know exactly what that means. In this short article, I will unpack a little of that and look at what some research suggests about when we should eat. 

Some people swear that skipping breakfast is the elixir of youth. Others might tell you that an early supper is the way forward. But a new study in the journal of Cell Metabolism, eating earlier is linked with health benefits; by contrast, eating later is linked with poor health. 

In this study, researchers divided 16 individuals into two groups. They both ate the same food, but one group ate late, and the other ate early. They found that eating later in the day made people hungrier during a 24-hour period, slowed their metabolism, and lowered their body temperature. Hence, they used fewer calories which led to increased fat tissue deposits. The authors concluded that these changes might increase the risk of obesity in certain individuals. Sure, the study was small, but we must remember the insidious effects of hunger; the study suggested that the hungrier people got, the more their cravings for calorie-dense, salty foods increased. Also, as most of us can attest to, our willpower to resist such temptation decreases the later in the day it is. 

So what about this ‘window of eating’ you may have heard about?

In another study on 137 firefighters in San Diego, CA, researchers compared two groups that ate the same Mediterranean-type diet. One group ate their meals in a 10-hour window, the other ate theirs in a 13-hour window. They found that eating meals within a 10-hour window decreased the size of bad cholesterol particles, which could reduce risk factors for heart disease. They also found that a 10-hour eating window improved blood pressure and blood sugar levels among those with health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

By contrast, a smaller eating window might not be that beneficial. One of the study authors, Satchidananda Panda, Ph.D., told NBC News.

“When we think about 6 or 8 hours, you might see a benefit, but people might not stick to it for a long time,”.

One possible mechanism for the increased health benefits of a shorter eating window might be the increased rest time of our internal organs, allowing them to shift focus from dealing with incoming food to elimination. This elimination of toxins and waste products is key to good health. 

What works for you, shorter or longer eating windows?

Earlier or later? 

Sources:

1. https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(22)00397-7?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1550413122003977%3Fshowall%3Dtrue#%20
2. https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(22)00361-8
3. https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/123702-overview