I was sitting in a talk today and saw some data that showed that insulin is involved in cancer. This probably should have been obvious to me previously but it wasn't. That's just one more example of how an excess of insulin is bad for you. Cancer cells learn how to hijack multiple systems in order to proliferate, and the insulin signaling pathway is one of them. In order to produce results and downstream signaling events, insulin has to bind to a receptor on the outside of cells called the insulin receptor. This insulin receptor then turns on a cascade of all kinds of events including those advantageous to proliferating cells. In fact, insulin receptor is highly upregulated in a lot of different types of cancer cells (meaning there is more of it to help proliferation). There are many different types of cancer cells that the insulin receptor is upregulated including lung cancer cells and breast cancer cells. What I would like to see is if there is data correlating obesity and cancer. Furthermore, many anticancer drugs induce or maker worse insulin resistance.
No weigh in today since I still haven't gone out to get a new scale. Probably will join the gym this week. I had to skip breakfast since I woke up too late. Had 3 sausages for lunch. Had chicken wings for dinner. No soda all day, just water.
Sugar Blues showed up today, so I will start reading it tonight and give a review as soon as possible.
Transforming biochemistry knowledge into weight loss:
This page was begun as an experiment. An experiment I was conducting on myself. An experiment to test which conditions would allow me to loose weight. Now that I have been at it for a while I realize this page serves as more. It serves as a means for me to research. It is a way for me to pick health topics of interest, research them from a biochemistry stand point, and then share them with the world. Sharing them with you gives me an official feeling and keeps me motivated. However, as described below, I am still experimenting on myself.
How did this happen? I don't know exactly although I am almost sure it boils down to diet and exercise. I hope to find the answers as I explore my journey through weight loss on this blog. I was not always fat. Therefore, I know that I can be unfat again.
I am a biochemist. I should have known better. Of all people, I should have known how to avoid this predicament I am in now. I now wish to harness my scientific knowledge to experiment on myself as well as explore the chemical basis for weight loss methods.
Methods:
I will try new diets. I will experiment on myself. The diets will be chosen from among the most popular in our society. I will chronicle the results and my general experience in my blog here. I will also explore the biochemical basis for these diets as well as evaluate their effectiveness and truthfulness. I will also exercise as regularly as possible, 3-5 times per week, to avoid biasing the results. I will try to keep everything constant in my life except the diet. My method is not perfect. I don't necessarily want to lose raw pounds, but rather gain an understanding of what methods work best for me to permanently regain my health.
Hypothesis:
1. No diet will be clearly better than the others. Conversely, each diet will offer some truth, some piece of knowledge or methodology that I can take away with me to help myself. I think that in the end, I will be able to formulate my own diet based on a synthesis of all the things I have learned from all of these diets.
2. I have been on diets before, lost weight, and then regained it. I wasn't born fat. Given that, I think that my main problem will be shown to be psychological. I think that I may have compulsive eating problems- compulsive eating problems associated with very unhealthy foods.
3. I will lose quite a bit of weight. My blog will help keep my motivation levels high.
4. There will be a lack of clear scientific basis to many of the diets.
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