
My experiments with preventing heart disease - kul
http://blog.harjtaggar.com/my-experiments-with-preventing-heart-disease
======
cup
Its nice to see people spend more time thinking about their health and taking
direct actions to improve it. This really stood out for me though:

>During these two months I'd not been exercising at all.

Working in the health field I can't begin to express how important it is to
exercise frequently. The human body is designed to run, not to sit in an
office for 8 hours a day punctuated by 2 minute walking breaks to the bathroom
every few hours.

Also, stop eating once in a while. Nearly every culture and religion has a
historical link to fasting yet only recently are the benefits being explored
in a scientific manner.

Please fellow HN, take heed from the author and try to commit to a good diet
and regular exercise, for the sake of you and your family.

Great work Harj, keep it up. You're a source of inspiration for many.

~~~
rzendacott
For how long and how often would you recommend we 'stop eating once in a
while'? Or do you have resources that recommend what would be a beneficial
amount of fasting?

Just wondering what steps I could take to be healthier, as I've never even
considered fasting in the past. Thanks!

~~~
Harj
This is referring to Intermittent fasting
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_fasting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_fasting)).
The best guide I've seen to getting started with this is here:
[http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/08/06/a-beginners-
guide...](http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/08/06/a-beginners-guide-to-
intermittent-fasting/)

------
mightybrenden
This article addresses a huge problem that Eating Academy and
[https://www.plantdietlife.com/](https://www.plantdietlife.com/) is attempting
to address. This issue should be especially important to a community who does
a majority of their work sitting at a desk for long hours at a time.

~~~
dfc
_Full Disclosure:_ It seems that Brenden is the owner and creator of
plantdietlife. Five of the nine comments mightybrenden has made on HN are
links to PDL.

------
dfc
This is the second or third time I have seen {endo|ecto|meso}morph come up on
HN in the past week. I thought that the {endo|ecto|meso}morph theory was
rejected by modern science and medicine. Has something changed or was I wrong
to begin with? Is there any explanation for the recent occurrences: new fad
diet or prominent blogger appropriating the term?

~~~
Harj
I wasn't aware the terms had been rejected. The terms aren't important though.
The general concept that some people put on weight quicker than others, when
lifestyle factors are controlled for, has been shown to be true by research.

------
jw2013
This is a great article. Not to take anything away from the OP (just upvoted
the post actually), but just out of curiosity I wonder why it is posted on HN.
Is there certain range of topic the HN expect?

~~~
dang
Substantive posts of intellectual interest are always welcome on Hacker News.

~~~
tokenadult
How substantive is an n=1 anecdote about some biomarker interventions with no
hard endpoints?

~~~
tptacek
statistically powerful stories ⊂ substantive stories

~~~
tokenadult
Thomas, in relation to my question and Daniel's answer, could you kindly
explain the direction of the subset relation you are talking about there?

------
lingben
you're continuing to spread a myth

there is no link whatsoever between cholestoral (ldl/hdl) and heart disease,
this has been proven beyond a doubt

heart disease is an inflammatory disorder

~~~
drjesusphd
First of all, it's very difficult to prove a negative.

Second, I always thought that the specious connection was between dietary
cholesterol and blood cholesterol, not necessarily the latter with heart
disease.

Any comments/elaborations?

~~~
Harj
I think there are two issues:

1) The link between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol.

2) The link between cholesterol and heart disease risk.

The former exists because research has shown that a large number of people
don't seem to see an increase in blood cholesterol when they increase their
dietary cholesterol, as I mentioned in the article.

The latter exists because people with seemingly healthy cholesterol levels,
still develop heart disease, which has led to looking for alternative risk
indications e.g. number of cholesterol particles vs total amount of
cholesterol - the theory being that smaller, denser cholesterol particles may
carry less total cholesterol but are more likely to cause plaque build up in
the arteries.

~~~
abbasmehdi
A few years ago I saw a story on BBC suggesting a despairing outlook for
people of the Indian subcontinent origin (Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi - IPB);
it was titled "Asian heart disease gene found". It reported that a significant
percentage of IPBs have a gene that regardless of lifestyle and/or dietary
choices, will kill them rather early [1]. I have not read the actual, grim
study.

For non UK audience: Asian == UK term for people of the Indian subcontinent
origin

[1]
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7833753.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7833753.stm)

~~~
Harj
I wasn't aware of this specific gene mutation but research has shown
empirically that Indian men are at greater risk of premature heart disease
than the average person (one UK study states up to 50% more) even when they
were born and grew up in the West.

