Some questions answered

The flat-iron I use is one inch. I use the cheap-o Andis one with a flat plate and a beveled edge from good ol' Wal-Mart.

The shampoo I use is Hydrotherapie from Biolage.

I buy most of my product at Target. I find they have the best selection.

My middle daughter, the blonde one, has hair to just beneath her shoulders. It is thin and baby fine. So any of you who want to know about hairstyles for shorter hair, try those. Also, on my side bar there are several moms who deal specifically with baby hair and short hair.

Unfortunately, I won't delve into adult hairstyles. I just don't have the time and most days I don't get around to doing my own hair! Many like THIS and THIS can be done on adults.

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Acne: Disease of Civilization

I often focus on the bigger facets of the disease of civilization. Things like cardiovascular disease and cancer, which are major killers and the subject of intensive research. But the disease of civilization is a spectrum of disorders that affects the body in countless ways, large and small.

I recently read an interesting paper written by an all-star cast, including Loren Cordain, Staffan Lindeberg and Boyd Eaton. It's titled "Acne Vulgaris: A Disease of Western Civilization". The paper presents data from two different groups, the Kitavans of Papua New Guinea and the Ache hunter-gatherers of Paraguay. Both were systematically examined by doctors trained to diagnose acne. Out of 1,200 Kitavans and 115 Ache of all ages, not a single case of acne was observed. Hunter-gatherers and other healthy non-industrial cultures have nice skin. I dare you to find a pimple in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.

In Western societies, acne is a fact of life. The paper states that 79 to 95% of modern adolescents suffer from some degree of acne, along with about 50% of young adults. That's an enormous difference.

The paper presents a very Cordain-esque hypothesis to explain the high incidence of acne in Western societies. In sum, they state that the Western diet causes hyperinsulinemia, which is thought to promote acne. This is due to insulin's effects on skin cell proliferation, its interference with the retinoid (vitamin A) signaling pathway, and its effect on sebum production.

They then proceed to point the finger at the glycemic index/load of the Western diet as the culprit behind hyperinsulinemia. It's an unsatisfying explanation because the Kitavans eat a diet that has a high glycemic load due to its high carbohydrate content, low fat content, and relatively high-glycemic index foods. I think the answer is more likely to reside in the specific types of carbohydrate (processed wheat) rather than their speed of digestion, with possible contributions from refined vegetable oil and an excessive sugar intake.

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More Knots

Wet the hair on the top and the front.

Make a slanted part. From that slanted part, you part the hair down from the end of the part to the ear. Divide this section in half, I followed the original part. Pull into a ponytail and secure with an elastic.

You then pull the elastic into a knot. To see a tutorial on how to make a knot, go HERE.

Then take that first knot and pull the hair from that knot down into the next section and make another ponytail. Then you make another knot.



Repeat on the other side.



Now, you could just leave it like this. It would be pretty with curled ends to make it feminine, however, it was PE day. Lots of running involved. So we pulled it back.



And we did just one more knot.

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Tidy Braids

Someone requested that I share how I keep their braids so together. Here you go!

Here is that soaking wet ponytail again.


And here it is all gooped up with product.




Section it into three parts. Try to make them even

Then just braid. I hold my braids tight...some people braid loose, some braid tight. I belong to the latter group. It's all about preference.

Just keep going. Notice the parts under the braid are starting to get unruly. Since I MUST have order, I take care of that by running my comb down each part.

Then just proceed to the end.

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Little Ponytails off a Slanted Part

This is the look we are trying to acheive today.









Directions:

Wet the hair thoroughly.

Part from right or left side through the crown.

Part from the crown to the ear on either side, I also take the hair that I am not using and put it in an elastic so the stray hairs don't get caught up in the ponytails

On one side, you follow the part and do that into three ponytails.

On the other side, you work off the part and make the three ponytails come off the part.

I then took the elastic that was holding the extra hair out and I parted the hair down the middle.

Then pull the three little ponytails into the main two ponytails and made them into messy ponys by only pulling them half through the last time I pull them.

I liked the way the ends looked so I didn't curl them. I just sprayed them with hairspray and put the bows in.

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Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is milder form of NASH, in which the liver becomes enlarged and accumulates fat. Ready for a shocker? The prevalence of NAFLD is thought to be between 20 and 30 percent in the Western world, and rising. It's typically associated with insulin resistance and often with the metabolic syndrome. This has lead some researchers to believe it's caused by insulin resistance. It's a chicken and egg question, but I believe it's the other way around if anything.

There are certain animal models of human disease that are so informative I keep coming back to them again and again. One of my favorites is the LIRKO mouse, or liver-specific insulin receptor knockout mouse. The LIRKO mouse is missing its insulin receptor in the liver only, so it is a model of severe insulin resistance of the liver. It accumulates a small amount of fat in its liver in old age, but nothing that resembles NAFLD. So liver insulin resistance doesn't lead to NAFLD or NASH, at least in this model.

What else happens to the LIRKO mouse? It develops severe whole-body insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, high fasting blood glucose and hyperinsulinemia (chronically elevated insulin). So insulin resistance in the liver is sufficient to cause whole-body insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia and certain other hallmarks of the metabolic syndrome, while liver and whole-body insulin resistance are not sufficient to cause NAFLD or NASH. This is consistent with the fact that nearly everyone with NAFLD is insulin resistant, while many who are insulin resistant do not have NAFLD.

In all fairness, there are reasons why NAFLD is believed to be caused by insulin resistance. For example, insulin-sensitizing drugs improve NAFLD. However, that doesn't mean the initial metabolic 'hit' wasn't in the liver. One could imagine a scenario in which liver insulin resistance leads to insulin resistance in other tissues, which creates a positive feedback that aggravates NAFLD. Or perhaps NAFLD requires two 'hits', one to peripheral insulin sensitivity and another directly to the liver.

In any case, I feel that the most plausible mechanism for NAFLD goes something like this: too much n-6 from polyunsaturated vegetable oil (along with insufficient n-3), plus too much fructose from sweeteners, combine to cause NAFLD. The liver becomes insulin resistant at this point, leading to whole-body insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, impaired glucose tolerance and general metabolic havoc.

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Corkscrew How To

Start by putting the hair in a ponytail. I wet the ponytail thoroughly.


Then I goop it up with product. This is the BOLD IT! Gel. See how shiny it is? I worked it through the entire ponytail.

Separate the hair into two sections.

Now you twist the two sections separately in the same direction. See the picture below. I twist them super tight because it will relax a bit in the end and I don't like them to relax too much. You also use both hands because you aren't holding the hair AND the camera

Then I twist them together the other way. You don't have to do it this way. You could twist each side down completely and then twist the opposite way, I have found that for myself, I twist as I go because I can hold it tighter.

Like this.

Here is the completed twist. It just needs to be secured. However, because this was pre-bath and I had to bribe her, I just used a clip to hold the end.

But you can see in this picture how it relaxes just a bit.

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