Tchaikovsky’s Death: Cholera, Suicide or Murder?
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was the first Russian composer to become known throughout the world. He conducted major classical orchestras in Europe and the United States, and was elevated from commoner to nobility by Czar Alexander III. How He Became One of the Greatest...
Low-Carbohydrate, High-Fat Diets for Endurance?
Can athletes improve their performance by following a diet that is low in carbohydrates and high in fat (LCHF)? Several popular sports magazines have carried articles advocating LCHF diets, even though at present there is no data to support this regimen for sports that require speed, including marathon running and long-distance bicycle racing. LCHF diets can slow you down in both training and racing.
Ty Cobb: Anger in Athletes
Ty Cobb was probably the most aggressive baseball player who ever lived. He was better than everyone else at almost every baseball statistic except fielding, for which he still holds the American League record for errors (271) by an outfielder. During his baseball...
Sitting Will Not Harm Vigorous Exercisers
I think that asking people to stand at work, rather than sit, is harmful advice because standing and not moving is no better than sitting and is just going to make you too tired to exercise vigorously when you are not working.
Did Roy Orbison Work Himself to Death?
Roy Orbison was one of America’s top singers and songwriters from 1957 to 1988. He sang his emotional ballads while standing still and wearing black clothes and dark-framed tinted glasses. Between 1960 and 1964, 22 of his songs placed on the Billboard Top 40. Elvis...
Paul Prudhomme: The Perils of Morbid Obesity
Paul Prudhomme died Thursday, October 8, 2015, at age 75. He was an internationally famous chef and restaurateur who, in the early 1980's, used blackening and spicing of fish and chicken in the Cajun and Creole traditions to build a food empire. He started a cooking...
Calcium Pills Do Not Prevent Fractures
In light of the overwhelming evidence that extra dietary calcium does not prevent fractures, it is very puzzling that many medical and public health organizations still recommend extra calcium
What to Eat Before Prolonged Exercise
Eating a meal three hours or less before exercising can prolong your endurance and improve your performance. This applies whether you are going on a long walk, cycling, rowing, jogging, playing golf or tennis, lifting weights, or even if you are running a marathon or...
Coca Cola Pays to Convince You that Sugared Drinks are Safe
Sugared drinks are associated with increased risk for obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, certain cancers and premature death (J Am Coll Cardiol, 2015;66(14):1615-1624). Yet Coca Cola has given more than 118 million dollars to prestigious health research institutions,...
Eating During and After Intense Workouts Makes You a Better Athlete
Eating during and after long, intense workouts helps competitive athletes recover faster from their workouts and therefore helps to make them stronger and faster. It is the intense workout that makes you stronger and faster, so the more rapidly you recover from an intense workout, the sooner you can take your next intense workout and the more improvement you will gain.