Entries by Chet Zelasko

Functional Essential Fatty Acids

Understanding that linoleic acid is the essential omega-6 fatty acid and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is the essential omega-3 fatty acid, the logical question would be what about fish oil and other sources of omega-3 fatty acids? It’s just a little complicated, but let me explain. It’s true that in humans, we can use ALA to […]

Essential Fatty Acids

There are always controversies in nutrition. With all that’s been written about seed oils and sources of omega-3 fatty acids, I thought we’d go back to the basics this week—back to what are the essential fatty acids, seen above floating in the bloodstream. Similar to essential amino acids, essential fatty acids are the fats that […]

Exercise Rules!

The top sumo wrestlers weigh an average of 355 pounds. I watched a little wrestling when Konishiki, a Hawaiian sumo, was popular; he had been the heaviest sumo up to that time weighing over 600 pounds. The question is with weighing so much, are sumo wrestlers at risk for weight-related disease? It comes down to […]

Body Fat: Location Matters

Last week, I mentioned in passing that a hippopotamus has less body fat than most humans. Since then, I’ve wondered exactly how little body fat they had. By several estimations, it’s around 5%—about the same as elite soccer players. That’s not enough fat to cause the hippo health problems as we see in humans; they […]

Your Perfect Diet

Continuing what I learned from the podcast, I hope you had the chance to listen to it as well. I checked out Dr. Daniel Lieberman’s research, and he is a leading expert in his field. There are three facts that stood out to me. Three Facts The first thing I learned is that hippopotami have […]

Get a Guest Pass

Have you ever wondered what being an Insider is like? One of the benefits is our monthly conference call, and I’m giving everyone an opportunity to participate for a small fee. You’ll be able to participate two ways: you’ll be able to listen to my presentation on the nutrition topic I’ll be talking about, plus […]

Paleolithic Diet: More Hype than Hope?

Over the weekend, I was listening to a podcast about the Paleolithic diet. Daniel Lieberman, the expert being interviewed, has focused his research on the Paleolithic era. I found it quite interesting based on the number of gurus and influencers that continue to say that era was the diet we should mimic for optimal health. […]

Exercise on the Wild Side

Here are a few observations and comments about exercising on the wild side. What we think about structure and uniformity to our schedule is important; having a schedule and sticking to it relieves you of the need to decide what you’re going to do every day. But some of the time, we just have to […]

Election Day: Get Wild!

Today from coast to coast, there are primary elections being held—five today, including Michigan, and about a dozen more the rest of the month. It’s not just the U.S.—it looks like Iceland, Kosovo, U.K., and Zambia have elections this month, and there may be more I’ve missed. I’m a Michigan election inspector and will be […]

Use Animal Protein to Build Muscle

Plant-based food versus supplemental shake: that is the question. It’s not the only question, but it’s where we start today’s Health Memo. The supplemental shake used in the study used the same type and amount of amino acids found in the rice and beans. They also used the same amount of carbohydrates, fiber, and fat. […]