Lent, Day 22: Sleeping and Drinking the Weight Away
March 18, 2009
Today seems to be a day of Alternative Approaches to Weight Loss. It’s been very educational.
Remember that goal I had just before Lent to try to go to bed before 11:30 every night? The one that just plain didn’t go so well? Well, apparently I should have worked harder to succeed at that one. Today alone I’ve had ‘Sleep Helps You Lose Weight’ put in front of me in three different venues. The morning news mentioned something called the ‘Sleep Diet’ in which participants make it a point to get at least 7 and a half hours of sleep a night and change nothing else about their routine. Presumably (and they had the usual entourage of takers there to report in) those who were able to do this lost 10 pounds more than those who didn’t. There was also an article in the latest Popular Science that talked about this, and I think Rachael Ray did a thing on it too.
In addition, there was an article in Discovery Magazine that caught my eye earlier this week. It mentioned Resveratrol, the substance that Dr. Johnson discussed at length in the Alternate Day Diet book as being in some way responsible for obesity prevention and longevity. I don’t remember now whether the body produces it in response to calorie restriction and it activates the SirT-1 gene, or whether the SirT-1 gene codes for Resveratrol, or what. But somehow they’re related and I’m clearly too lazy to go get the book and look it up. (I did Google, but all I can find is information on Resv. in wine.)
Anyway, Resveratrol is apparently the next Up-and-Coming thing. It’s being explored as a possible cancer preventative, anti-aging agent, obesity prevention/cure. It cuts down on free radicals, it improves overall function, it slices, it dices, it makes julienne fries!
I don’t know if I buy it. Wasn’t it just a year ago that Hyluronic Acid was going to save us from all of our ills? Isn’t Oprah proclaiming the Acai Berry to be Nature’s Perfect Food? Eh.
Still… I’m tempted to develop my taste for red wine, since presumably that’s the most common source of Resveratrol. Any excuse in a storm, right? 
Entry Filed under: Lent, Successes, Vegetarian. Tags: Food, JUDD, Sleep, Weight Loss.
1. melalvai | March 20, 2009 at 11:23 am
It’s in red grape skins and in seaweed. You don’t get much from eating grapes because it’s only in the skin, but it gets more concentrated in wine. It’s most concentrated in kale I think. They make kale pills that have a lot of resveratrol. I’m suspicious though, like all the other herbals, taking something in a highly concentrated form is just not the same as “this has been used for hundreds of years by French villagers”.
I am more impressed by the research on curcurmin (found in cumin, ie curry). It actually prevents brain damage caused by a stroke.
2. Jennifer | March 30, 2009 at 6:43 am
Yeah.. you also get a lot of hype from snake-oil salesmen that makes anything suspect. What does curcurmin do to prevent brain damage? That’s really interesting.
3. melalvai | March 30, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Uh…I don’t actually understand neuroscience. So I’m not sure. :/
4. Jennifer | March 31, 2009 at 6:12 am
Well, if you don’t, odds are I won’t either.
My experience with neuroscience boils down to Dr. Tomasi’s physiology class and lab, which admittedly I did take twice. 
It’s probably just as well.