June Challenge--June 1-June 7 Discussion thread

[Billie]

Gabe and I are leaving bright and early tomorrow for a short vacation in Colorado. But I wanted to get this posted so we would have a thread open to begin discussion. The Challenge should be posted momentarily and I do hope you will all join in. Each week we will start a new thread, just so people can navigate it a bit easier

The June Challenge is something new something that will take some thinking and something definitely out of the proverbial box.

I printed a journal article by Loren Cordain entitled Cereal Grains: Humanity's Double-Edge Sword to read on the road tomorrow. Since it is 55 pages and about 7 font, I should be cross-eyed through Nebraska :eek: . Once I get to Colorado and can access a computer I will put my thoughts about the article here, I hope you join in with your own articles, and your thoughts about the hopefully many articles, news stories, scientific information--this June we are about New Learning.

[SherryJ]

Safe trip, Billie and Gabe... hopefully, I'll see you in a few days! :D

I look forward to the discussions that are to come this month...

Sherry

[Mitra]

Billie & Gabe, enjoy your trip. I'm planning to focus on grains this week, too. There are people who think whole grains should be the basis of a healthy diet, people who think no grain is fit for human consumption, and/or that we haven't had time to adapt to them, people who think grains are good if you prepare them properly to neutralise the anti-nutrients, and people who think there's no problem as long as you keep them within your carb limit. I'll do some reading around all of this and see what sense I can make of it. (I have a secret agenda - I'd really like to be able to keep eating my desem bread. I'll try not to let that influence my judgement, but thought I'd better declare my interest up front ;).)

I'll probably start by reading the same article as Billy.

[Shadow]

Oh sure, here I am once again swimming upstream :p! My article this week has to do with saturated fats and some questions stemming from what was said. I am not doing grains :rolleyes:.

Before I throw a wrench into the thread by discussing something different than what the rest of you are thinking of, should we separate out by various topics or just go week by week with everything thrown into the mix?

Or should I, too, focus on grains and hold off on the fats discussion until others are leaning that way :)?

[Missy]

:eek: I already branched off! :eek:

I vote we branch off...I think we can get to conveluded in subjects if we tried to keep it contained to one thread. Then perhaps at the end of this month, someone could link all of the questions/subjects with links to that months inquiries?

NOT THAT I HAVE A CLUE???? :eek: :jawDrop: ~ and I leave it to the board "GODS"...lol :D

I think this is such a great idea...that it could remain a monthly challenge. :thumbsup:

Have fun on your trip Billie and Gabe! How fun, are you meeting up with Sherry?....how fun!!!!!!! :D

[gitfiddle]

Lita, I think Missy's topic-related thread is a practical solution. I can forsee a lot of good ideas buried in a multiple-topic thread, don't you think?

[cmcole]

I realize that Billie is away, and cannot reply immediately, but having topical threads is great, because then I can, if desired, print out a copy at the end of the thread, and have it for reference.

If there are a variety of topics in one thread, then it would mean having to sift through it and chop it up, just to follow the train of thought (my opinion)

[LisaS]

can we at least keep something like "JUNE CHALLENGE:" in the subject - and then the subject of the thread, like "June Challenge: Trans-fats and insulin resistance" or "JUNE: Intense Exercise and fat-loss"

[Shadow]

Great ideas, everyone :D! Thank you all for the input - it's much easier to make things better for the board when people are willing let us know what works best for them :).

I am sure Billie and Gabe will read all the suggestions once they've "landed" in CO and then decide on how to organize us :p.

So stay tuned and keep that input coming :thumbsup:!

[Gaelen]

Actually, if separate threads, each labelled "June Challenge: (fill in the subject)" will make the Challenge easier to follow and easier to participate in, there's no reason we can't just do that. IMO, challenges work best when they respect members' needs, and if the information/discussions they generate are accessible both in the moment and later, for reference and continuing discussion. ;)

So when someone's ready to launch a focused topic, that person could just announce in the weekly discussion post that s/he's starting a thread titled: June Challenge--(fill in your topic). A moderator or admin can link all of the threads started that week to the weekly central challenge post for reference later. Agreed?

Start your keyboards... ;)

[Billie]

Whatever works best for the people here is what works for us. But we might want to wait and see how much traffic we get to the challenge, or at least in the main weekly thread, please log in and indicate a topic you are thinking about so we can have them all together somewhere.

Part of the challenge is new learning, so I also think if we have to wade through a few responses heck we might learn something!:)

[Ottawa]

Billie,
Some of these may generate a lot of responses and within the weekly thread may become cumbersome or lost in the shuffle. Feel free to move it wherever you want to since it will work out in the end and I will Title it using the June Challenge.

I will start one in in this forum based on June Challenge "The Villians", those foods/choices that subtract from the positive results we get from eating this way.

They include (HFCS) high-fructose corn syrup, trans fat, and refined carbohydrates. The author also included Saturated Fat as do many programs and possible we could do a summary on that included in the thread.

[banshee]

OK, I've decided that I'm going to focus on nutrient learning this month, and since it was one of my saviors, I'm going to start with magnesium. I already know quite a bit about it, but I'd like to learn more about what magnesium actually does in/for the body. But since a lot of what I read about Mg probably won't be "new" learning, I'm going to also add in potassium, calcium, and zinc to the list for week one. Look for a separate thread called June Challenge: Mg, K, Ca, Zn to start when I get some initial materials together.

[Mitra]

That looks great, Mary. I've found some useful info on the Vitamin & Mineral section (http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/nutritionessentials/vitaminsandminerals/) of the Food Standards site - not the "front page" stuff, which always says that if you eat plenty of veg & whole grains you don't need to supplement Vit x,y,z - but at the bottom of the page is a link to a pdf that actually summarises and references research on the effects of too little or too much.

[Missy]

Mine is "In the spirit of the June Challenge...warning female issue" it's about menstruation and diabetes.

I'm sooooooo excited about learning all of these various subjects of interest! I HATE being gone!!!! :cool:

[gitfiddle]

I'm collecting some information on Body Image.

[LisaS]

in the realm of physiology & exercise physiology:

I'll be posting tonight or tomorrow some information about Visceral Adipose Tissue (VAT) (we previous discussed this a little bit here: http://www.proteinpower.com/forum/showthread.php?t=533 ) and a study that looked at reducing VAT

I'll also be posting informational links about V-dot O2 max (essentially a measurement of how much oxygen your body can use per minute) and then relate this to a study of exercise & insulin resistance.

[Billie]

Just checking in--those are some great topics everyone! How exciting to see people excited about learning.

I read a little more on my paper but it is pretty scientifically based and so I am sloughing through it.

Will try to get something up in the next day or so regarding the paper I have been reading.