Fat Magnets, Chitosan, and Soap

Written by Dr. Donald A. Miller


I recently chanced upon a web ad for chitosan, claimed to be a "Fat Magnet", which would let one eat fatty foods and lose weight. Looked like another magic pill. So I turned to my handy Google.Com search engine for information.

Chitosan is processed from chitin, mostly obtained from crushed shellfish shells, crab shells, and similar. Chitosan is a polymer with structure similar to cellulose. It has applications in industry, such as to hold catalysts.

The national governments of both Britain andrepparttar USA have taken legal actions against makers and sellers of chitosan as a diet supplement, because claims that fat absorption can be blocked by ingesting chitosan have been tested and proven false. Yet many internet sites are still selling this snake- oil medicine. I wonder why that is. Don'trepparttar 114994 good guys win and makerepparttar 114995 bad guys go away?

One ofrepparttar 114996 diet sales sites told me that chitosan is an extract of crushed shellfish shells, and can ionically attract "negatively charged fat like a magnet". For starters,repparttar 114997 mechanism of magnets does not involve ions or charge attraction.

An example does come to mind in which ions interact with fats, namelyrepparttar 114998 making and use of soaps.

Again, let's turn torepparttar 114999 handy Google.Com search engine.

Soap was discovered at least four thousand years ago, and many times in many places since then. Soap was not always used to clean, sometimesrepparttar 115000 soft form being used to treat open wounds, or as a hair dressing, for two examples. One way for soap to form is for fat drippings from a cooking fire to combine with water andrepparttar 115001 alkali existing in wood ashes. This alkali is hydroxide of sodium and potassium. One legend says that rain water falling on fire altars used for animal sacrifice to gods caused soap to form and flow into streams that were then discovered to be good for cleaning clothes.

A molecule of soap consists of a molecule of fatty acid (carbon and hydrogen atoms) chemically combined with an atom of sodium or potassium, with some other atoms, such as oxygen, tied in. The chemical process involvesrepparttar 115002 exchange of electrons amongrepparttar 115003 parts, said parts being identifiable as positive and negative ions. Soft fats tend to make softer soaps than solid fats. Potassium makes softer soaps than sodium.

Jesus Diet

Written by Dr. Donald A. Miller


You don't have to be Christian to benefit fromrepparttar Jesus diet. After all, Jesus was not a Christian. In fact, you don't even need to believe in God.

Please note: This article has nothing to do with several "Jesus Diet" hits found on google.com. Some of those provide food for thought, while others are just plain foolish.

For numerous reasons, exact knowledge about Joshua ben Joseph,repparttar 114993 person, is rather scarce. The New Testament was assembled several centuries after his death, and really was not focused onrepparttar 114994 historical person's life. In fact, I have read excerpts from later theological texts which "prove" that Jesus neither ate meat nor defecated, both of which seem unlikely.

So,repparttar 114995 best guess at what Jesus ate can be obtained from study of Mediterranean cultures, especiallyrepparttar 114996 Jewish.

First Conclusion: Jesus never ate ham, not even for Easter or Christmas. People ate pork atrepparttar 114997 risk of death from trichinosis (a worm infestation).

Second Conclusion: Jesus did eat fish. This is documented inrepparttar 114998 New Testament. He did not eat any sea food which lacked fins or scales, such as clams, oysters, crabs, lobster, octopus, eel, as these were un-clean by Jewish Kosher laws. Likewise, he did not eat meat from pigs, horses, donkeys, camels, vultures. He could have eaten deer meat, chicken, duck, turkey, eggs, et cetera. Most likely, he did not eat rabbit, squirrel, rat, or any birds of prey.

Kosher laws were originally based on good empirical observation on what foods did or did not cause illness. They are notrepparttar 114999 latest word on good health practices. Some ofrepparttar 115000 Kosher laws go against modern medical and common sense. However,repparttar 115001 concepts of "eat only what is good for you", and "do not kill food animals with avoidable suffering" are certainly good ones.

Third Conclusion: Jesus did not eat four legged meat every day. The average for those times was about once a week to once a month, even for sheep herders. Hunters inrepparttar 115002 field probably ate more meat. This does NOT mean that Jesus was a vegetarian, as some claim.

Fourth Conclusion: Jesus ate bread; lots and lots of bread. And it was not "low carb", either.

Fifth Conclusion: Jesus probably ate fruits, vegetables, grains, garbanzo beans, nuts, olives, goat cheese, salted fish (when fresh was not available). He probably also needed salt in his diet, ate honey, but most certainly did not eat refined sugars.

Sixth Conclusion: Jesus was in good physical condition. Any carpenter without power tools, any person who walks a lot, would be in good physical condition.

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