Fitness Lessons I Learned From Charlie Francis

[lkh]

@speedcoach

I train without music often. I can take it or leave it. Sometimes I find it annoying and distracting in gym lifting, other times it gives me a kick in the pants. I study nutrition at Wayne State University and although I am sure you can find studies that relate red meat to cancer, you will likely find as many that refute that notion. Until someone shows a direct cause and effect and it is replicated many times, it is mostly anecdotal. Pub med is an excellent resource as I am sure you could ask Lyle McDonald. He is a very smart man. It’s kind of interesting to talk to professors who are world renowned and do tons of lab work and they laugh at 90% of what the mainstream media prints and puts on TV. We all have our belief systems, and I deny nobody theirs.

This is part of a large body of scientific work showing a clear link between processed meat and cancer:

Nutr Cancer. 2008;60(3):313-24.
Meat and fish consumption and cancer in Canada.
Hu J, La Vecchia C, DesMeules M, Negri E, Mery L; Canadian Cancer Registries Epidemiology Research Group.

Collaborators (8)
Evidence and Risk Assessment Division, Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Jinfu_hu@phac-aspc.gc.ca
Abstract
In this study, we examined the association between meat and fish intake and the risk of various cancers. Mailed questionnaires were completed by 19,732 incident, histologically confirmed cases of cancer of the stomach, colon, rectum, pancreas, lung, breast, ovary, prostate, testis, kidney, bladder, brain, non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHL), and leukemia and 5,039 population controls between 1994 and 1997 in 8 Canadian provinces. Measurement included information on socioeconomic status, lifestyle habits, and diet. A 69-item food frequency questionnaire provided data on eating habits 2 yr before data collection. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were derived through unconditional logistic regression. Total meat and processed meat were directly related to the risk of stomach, colon, rectum, pancreas, lung, breast (mainly postmenopausal), prostate, testis, kidney, bladder, and leukemia. Red meat was significantly associated with colon, lung (mainly in men), and bladder cancer. No relation was observed for cancer of the ovary, brain, and NHL. No consistent excess risk emerged for fish and poultry, which were inversely related to the risk of a number of cancer sites. These findings add further evidence that meat, specifically red and processed meat, plays an unfavorable role in the risk of several cancers. Fish and poultry appear to be favorable diet indicators.

There is a large number of citations with similar conclusions, and also regarding salt. There is also a strong link between grilled beef and colon cancer.

I suspect that Charlie’s point about beef intake once a week was concerning iron uptake. However, if you are studying nutrition and you don’t understand the link between beef/meat intake and a number of different cancers, there seems to be something wrong with what you are being taught. I can understand a single class not getting into the links between diet and cancer and heart disease, but someone studying for a degree in nutrition should know this.

Also, when you talk to “world renown professors” who do tons of lab work, you have to ask who is funding their research. As more more evidence has come out with the specific links between beef and cancer, and also about the supposed advantages of dietary fruits and vegetables NOT having ANY effect on cancer (and multiple large cohort studies show this which have been published in JAMA and elsewhere), I have noticed a number of instances of “political” science. Nevertheless, the party line previously promoted by nutritionists and the beef industry has been shown to be wrong by the medical profession.

And, yes, John Smith does prohibit music (and ipods, cell phones) during workouts. Your attention is supposed to be on the training, not on tuning out.