What I learned….
| April 30, 2012 | Posted by Melinda under Uncategorized |
…in vet school today.
Fat+sugar (specifically fructose from sucrose) = fatness.
Would share with you the mechanism of the whole thing but it’s a blur on the slide……something about activating, lack of feedback inhibition, excess of acetly CoA –> fat blah blah blah blah. Apparently Fructose is more lipogenic than glucose.
Why this applies to veterinary medicine.
More fat in meat = better fat. More fat = better USDA grade = more money.
How do we get all this fat into beef? We give them corn (which is somehow magically = to fructose)! Which they are not designed to eat, so we give them additives to change the ruminant biochem. Since they have a lipogenic diet, it results in marbled beef = higher profits.
I don’t have the nutrition and biochem background to critically exam this info, but it was interesting and I’m inclined to think it’s true.
Eating fat isn’t necessarily the problem –> it’s the fructose/corn that’s the issue. And I’m not thrilled that the supermarket beef has a bunch of fat that wouldn’t be there if the cows weren’t fed an abnormal diet…..Abnormal diet in cows = abnormal composition of meat = what in my body? I’m currently eating grass fed raised beef that I buy from my pastor and it’s about time to drop the cash for another 1/2 of a cow…..I always wonder whether it’s REALLY worth it (even though the taste alone is close to making it worth it) and hearing stuff like this from people that I respect and don’t have a commercial stake in the industry are really convincing.
Vowing to take a look at primal/paleo again……
In other news, I rode yesterday. An hour at a trot. A really really really really fast trot. And she didn’t buck or try to break gait. I would prefer a slower trot –> some under 10 mph. We were going close to 15 or 16 I think……not so great for those rear suspensories or other soft tissues, so I’ve been told. I’m not totally sure how fast I was going, but we can guess based on the following facts.
1. It was much much faster than 10 mph
2. It was much much faster than her usual preferred crusing pace of 12-13 mph. In fact, it can be explained by the mathmatical formula of what 10mph feels to 12mph, 12 mph felt to this pace + 2mph (10:12 = 12:? + 2).
3. It was so fast and extended it felt like my Standardbred’s extended trot, where you can no longer post. There’s 3 beats. You kinda come out of the saddle, and then your butt has a “double bump” in the saddle.
4. My legs were shaking after I dismounted.
So…… yeah. Not the “best” thing for us, but I think it’s something we needed. She needed to be able to go without too much micromanaging, I needed to know I could trust her at speed, AND we both need to know that I can ride a bit “too” fast during a short ride and that she can take a few stumbles and her leg doesn’t blow up. I’ll be rechecking it today. Because I really need to know that the level I’m conditioning (1-2 hours at a trot) isn’t THAT close to the line. Because if an hour doing just a “little” too fast causes a change in that leg, than I need to rethink what we are doing. Because the probability of us both being perfect (me rating speed and her taking stumble or two) is about nill and I CANNOT be conditioning so close to the line that a mistake or two on a shorter conditioning ride spells disaster. All sorts of things happen at endurance rides and I don’t want to carefully bring her up to a 50 mile distance, only to find out that we were too close to the line and had a subclinical injury/damage that I never caught –> where if I do a rather rough shorter ride and there’s a hint of a problem, I can back off and rethink this whole thing. Hope this makes sense. I have a test today, a final on Friday (actually 3 of them), and an oral exam next week…..so my brain is rather fried.
Still no little “heat conditioning” veins present on Farley, her pulse was about 80 after trotting in and dismounting and immediately checking. Did this ride at 2pm while the temps were in the 80s. Pulse dropped below 60 by the time I finished rinsing her off and gave her, her post-ride mash. With LOTS of elytes in it. One Tablespoon elyte to 2 cups of pelleted feed. Still not touching her elyted water, but I’ve been able to up the elytes in her mash no problem.
BTW – a little tip that may or may not be true, but couldn’t hurt to try. After a lesson/ride/session with your horse, there may be some evidence that giving them something to munch on (hay/mash) may improve their “latent learning” –> ie how well they synthesize, retain, and make new connections about what you just taught them. The book I’m reading suggests giving a dog a chew toy/bone/kong at breaks between training sessions to help with the latent learning process, something based on observations in the horse world. No, I don’t have a scientific reference for ANY of this, so take it as an anecdote/one persons opinion if you will :).
And one more TMI for you –> I think I once again managed to jam the last joint on the middle finger of my right hand. This is only the 100th time or so I’ve managed to do this. I have drastically reduced mobility in that joint which probably makes it even MORE likely for injury. I *think* I did it dismounting yesterday but I’m not sure. It seems a bit worse this time –> it’s a different color at the tip now (greenish purple) and it’s numb so I’m thinking maybe it’s time to actually do something about this? mmm…but then I can’t type! And really it doesn’t hurt unless I try to bend it past it’s reduced ranged, or I bump the joint at the flex point on the underside of the figure. Maybe by the time I’m 50 it will be so stiff I’ll go around giving people the bird. Thank goodness you don’t finger the fiddle right handed or I would be screwed.
With all the tests coming up, you might be thinking that it’s about time for me to announce another “black out” period for new blog posts….and you would be right. As tough as it might be, I PROMISE to practice self control and NOT post until after my test on Friday. Ummm…..and completely ignore the fact that I have like 3 REALLY cool posts I’m itching to do. Including a review of Laura Crum’s new book. And the 10 commandments of endurance riding. And a Platypus water bottle review. Yes, I’ll ignore all this goodness in favor of passing this block.
“Shut up and learn?”
Naahhh. I’m not buying it.
Had to laugh about your standie’s fast trot that is un-postable. That’s the gait where you look around for the wings, cuz this rig obviousy has some…!
I think I’ve posted about this before, but once I allowed my standie to go as fast at a trot as she wanted, and about the time tears were flying out of my eyes and my helmet was trying to do lift off because of the wind under the visor, and I was posting sideways and hanging onto the mane for dear life, I chickened out and reined her in –> and she was still accelerating!!!!!!! I did GPS it and it was over 20 mph, but don’t remember the exact number. It was as close to flying as I wanted to get. There’s something so very raw flying at the trot as opposed to the gallop. The gallop seems down right civilized as compared to the sheer rawness of the trot for some reason.
FYI replying to blog comments does not count as posting. No siree –> even if I’m doing it during class.
Actually, my study guide doc is taking FOREVER to save and I sincerely hope that it doesn’t crash and I lose all my notes right before the test….because it’s been like 2 weeks since I backed up my computer. BAD MEL!
Dennis has always said the standard breds racing trot is 30-35mph. (Something we never bother to tell the limber rats, who think of the trot as a slow speed.)
I just know that we can beat cantering horses on an artillery team.
Pa
La La La (fingers in ears; that is if you ever want me to climb back on a limber again)
On the beef thing..isn’t it maddening?? I started digging into this about two years ago… we have not switched to grass fed yet, but we do order our beef from a local farmer that finishes his beef with his own organic raised Barely.. I have been reluctant to go grass fed because everyone I have talked to about it says it’s awful and very “gamey” tasting.. what do you think??
I like lamb, which some people find digusting because of that “different” taste, but I don’t particular care for wild game that has a strong game taste. I can tell a flavor difference in the grass fed beef, but mainly when I eat store bought beef for some reason and am confused because it has no flavor –> that’s when I realize that grass fed has a different taste, even though it doesn’t register at the time. My boyfriend, who’s a VERY picky eater cant tell the difference between lamb and other meat (seriously! pork/beef/lamb all taste the same to him!) and he can’t taste the difference between store beef and grass-fed beef. It is a bit tougher, but since I’m usually “doing” something with it and rarely eat just a steak, I don’t notice. My mom uses a tenderizer when she wants to eat grass fed as a steak or do something else with it that she wants to make sure it isn’t tough for with success. Hope this helps –> summary: it does taste different, but I don’t think it tastes “gamey” and certaintly is less strong than lamb, AND some people can’t tell the difference.