Author: Henry Barnard

I am a voracious reader and also enjoy writing. I often have a very different point of view than the popular one. I do see value in debate, and thought it might add to the public debate on controversial issues if I were to express my contrarian opinions. I also started keeping my poems recently (I've written little pieces my whole adult life but never kept any); and I've been a photographer now for over 25 years. So I will be adding an occasional poem and hopefully interesting photograph to the blog along the way, just to spice things up.

Prostate Cancer Treatment

What I’ve learned about prostate cancer treatment is that the low-dose radiation treatment in the last 10 years has gotten a lot better because now they use machines that have a precise demarcation for the prostate gland in targeting the radiation.

The other thing that I really had no knowledge of is the role testosterone plays. Testosterone promotes the growth of prostate cancer cells, but if you reduce it to the castration level with hormone treatment (a vaccination), you “starve” the prostate cancer cell into submission.

That seems to be the standard non-invasive treatment for prostate cancer these days: hormone treatment combined with low-dose radiation.

I had 28 sessions of low-dose radiation, which is typical. But each session is quite expensive. Thankfully, I have Medicare and supplemental health insurance, but I do think if someone is unlucky enough to get prostate cancer before the age of 62 when Medicare kicks in, the high cost of the standard radiation treatment would be a significant issue.

Not Hangry

Not As A Rabbit

Where I live has a large rabbit population. I’ve gotten to know them much better.

Rabbits are very afraid animals and full of stealth, and almost always run to seek shelter and hide, but if caught in the open, they freeze and remain absolutely still thinking apparently that this stillness is their safety because they won’t be noticed, but their attention will be very focused on what you do. If you move toward them, they break and run.

Rabbits are very active before sunrise when the light is poor, and they can move about unseen, whereas during the daylight hours, they stay hidden and are relatively inactive. So you rarely see any during the day, but in the dark, they are everywhere.

In my next life, I don’t want to come back as a rabbit, as their nervous system must almost always be on fire — an entire life full of anxiety. No thanks. Let me come back as a lion, not as a rabbit.

Old Dog

Not Hangry

I’m almost never really hungry.

Have been doing intermittent fasting now for 4 years, and for every day, I do a 19 or 20 hour fast. That means that for at least 7 to 8 hours every day (every hour past 12 hours from your last meal), my body is producing ketones for energy. It means that I’ve become “fat adapted” or “metabolically flexible”, where my body uses BOTH glucose and body fat (ketones) as a fuel source for the cells, and the longer the fast, the more this shifts toward ketones, not glucose.

But it also means that because the body can feast on body fat (ketones) at any time, there is very little hunger, as the body has a nearly inexhaustible source of food from one’s body fat if you are fat adapted, which most Americans are not because they eat too frequently (never get past 12 hours), and so the body loses this mechanism to utilize body fat instead of glucose.

This versus the person who is not fat adapted and whose body is accustomed to use only glucose for all the cells. That person is at risk of feeling real hunger any time their glycogen stores are depleted, and the glycogen stores in the liver and muscles don’t contain that much glucose, so the person can actually feel real hunger many times in a single day.

People who criticize intermittent fasting with the idea that it will induce constant hunger and ultimately binge eating don’t understand the role the ketones play in moderating appetite for those practicing intermittent fasting.

Insulin Spike

Sprouting

Proud of myself. With the help of 2 Youtube videos, I’ve successfully sprouted buckwheat groats.

Now the potential is leaving me almost breathless — quinoa, soy beans, beans in general, seeds galore, whatever.

I have my sprouting jars from Amazon with the special lids, and I’m ready to explore these new horizons in nutrition. Just need a little help from Youtube.

Recipes