Dear Osa friends,
Happy 2025 to you! In the process of brainstorming where to go with The Bear Essentials (TBE) this year, I took a look back at topics we covered in 2024. It was so much fun to revisit the newsletters that I decided to create for you a quick one-or-two sentence synopsis of a handful of selected newsletters. Links are included so you can easily revisit or read for the first time any that spark your interest. And then, please keep reading! I am excited to share with you my chosen area of focus for TBE for 2025.
Osa’s fave newsletters from 2024:
Fiber & weight loss: We reviewed a study which tested a high-fiber “microbiome-enhancing diet” against an isocaloric “Western diet” and found that the high-fiber diet led to a greater excretion of calories, suggesting that increased fiber in the diet helps facilitate weight loss.
Is chocolate healthy or not??: We covered an eye-opening story about a falsified study involving chocolate and briefly touched on the actual benefits that may be derived from “the food of the gods”.
Soy isoflavones: This is a favorite topic of mine and one that warrants further exploration. In this issue, we learned about phytoestrogens and zoomed in on the tumor-suppressive potential of genistein, a soy isoflavone.
Estrogen & Flax: Estrogen’s benefits reach every corner of the body, including the hypothalamus, where estrogen helps to control both appetite and blood sugar and increases energy expenditure. Flax is an underutilized phytoestrogen that helps to improve blood pressure, lipid profile, glucose control, and inflammation when used as part of a lifestyle intervention.
Fasting: A hot topic of 2024 for sure. This was probably my favorite newsletter of the year because we discussed what finding “root cause” means and why this approach is in many ways the polar opposite of the conventional model which hinges on bodily control and symptom management. We also touched on thought-provoking research on fasting and inflammation–worth another read!
Chlorophyll: Greens= Magnesium= Improved Function= Better Energy. We also reviewed a study showing that being exposed to more greenery in our visual environment may reduce oxidative stress in the body.
VO2 max: Higher VO2 max reduces all-cause mortality. Full stop.
Time-efficient exercise: High intensity/sprint intervals can increase VO2 max, help you burn fat, AND save you time.
Calcium & vitamin D in colon cancer: Higher dietary calcium and vitamin D may help induce apoptosis (cell death) of adenomas (abnormal cell growths) in the colon.
Calling on your guide: Doing hard things is in your bones. But you need to be able to rest and forgive yourself along the way, and having a guide or guides is essential.
Addressing low testosterone: Women have been educating and advocating for themselves when it comes to our understanding of hormones, whole body health, and replacement options–let’s not leave our men behind!
What a year it was! I’m so glad you’ve been along for the ride.
What’s next for TBE?
This year I have decided to zero in on metabolic health, and especially lipids and their relationship to both cardiovascular and cognitive health. What is metabolic health? What exactly are lipids? And what do these things have to do with each other?
Metabolic health describes how well the body converts food into usable energy and also how well cells use that energy to run the body and process waste products. When our metabolism is dyfunctional, our health can suffer in a myriad of different ways which can depend on our genetic predispositions and our environment. But what do your lipids have to do with this? Well, that’s a lot to unpack–and trust me, we will in the coming weeks!
To get us started: Lipids are organic (i.e., carbon-containing), water-insoluble (i.e., don’t dissolve in water) compounds that exist in three major forms: triglycerides, phospholipids, and sterols. They are wildly interesting and often misunderstood (hey… maybe you have more in common with lipids than you thought!). This is largely because our understanding of how lipids work in the body and how what we eat affects our lipids has drastically evolved over recent decades. There is so much juicy stuff to discuss in this area!
What I want you to know now about lipids is that they are the communicators of our bodies. As you likely have experienced in your interpersonal relationships, when communication breaks down, relationships erode. It’s like that in our bodies too. When lipids are damaged or not present in the form or the amount that our bodies need, communication between cells and among body systems becomes dysfunctional. With dysfunction, we can feel a number of non-specific symptoms like weight gain, fatigue, poor sleep, and brain fog. If we don’t act to correct dysfunction, we eventually get overt disease, such as type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease (aka MASLD), atherosclerosis, or cognitive decline. All of these are associated with metabolic dysfunction, and lipids are a central player.
As with other topics we’ve covered in the past, I look forward to providing you with actionable information you can use and discuss with your health care provider/s, and I hope to show you that your body is not the enemy here. I also plan to re-visit and weave in some 2024 topics including isoflavones, testosterone, and fiber (of course), because there’s so much more to explore!
Thanks so much for being a valued member of the Osa Community.
Here’s to a year of learning and new possibilities,
