The Brain Controls Insulin Action

Insulin regulates blood glucose primarily by two mechanisms:

1. Suppressing glucose production by the liver
2. Enhancing glucose uptake by other tissues, particularly muscle and liver

Since the cells contained in liver, muscle and other tissues respond directly to insulin stimulation, most people don't think about the role of the brain in this process.  An interesting paper just published in Diabetes reminds us of the central role of the brain in glucose metabolism as well as body fat regulation (1).  Investigators showed that by inhibiting insulin signaling in the brains of mice, they could diminish insulin's ability to suppress liver glucose production by 20%, and its ability to promote glucose uptake by muscle tissue by 59%.  In other words, the majority of insulin's ability to cause muscle to take up glucose is mediated by its effect on the brain. 

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Indian Summer Girl - FW - Paris

Catherine Baba - FW - Paris

Catherine Baba - Stylist

Ashley - Les Tuileries - Paris

Ashley - Student

Catherine - Les Tuileries - Paris

  Catherine - Free-Lance Fashion Journalist

Jones - Place Vendôme - Paris

  Jones - Fashion Designer

Walking the Line - FW - Paris

Roxane Mesquida - FW - Paris

Giovanna Battaglia - FW - Paris

Giovanna Battaglia in YSL vintage

Anna dello Russo - FW - Paris

Anna Dello Russo is the Editor and creative consultant for Vogue Japan

Green Biker - Les Tuileries - Paris

  Green Biker - No Data

Apple - Grand Palais - Paris

  Apple - Blogger from Beijing

Bright Stars Girl - FW - Paris

Leigh Lezark- Les Tuileries - Paris

  Leigh Lezark - Model and american DJ, best known as one-third of the New York City
  based DJ trio the Misshapes

Quinn - Les Tuileries - Paris

Djinda - Opéra - Paris

Djinda - Student in Communication

Taylor Tomasi Hill - FW - Paris

Taylor Tomasi Hill is the style and accessories director for US Marie Claire magazine

Harvard Food Law Society "Forum on Food Policy" TEDx Conference

Last Friday, it was my pleasure to attended and present at the Harvard Food Law Society's TEDx conference, Forum on Food Policy.  I had never been to Cambridge or Boston before, and I was struck by how European they feel compared to Seattle.  The conference was a great success, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Food Law Society's presidents Nate Rosenberg, Krista DeBoer, and many other volunteers. 

Dr. Robert Lustig gave a keynote address on Thursday evening, which I unfortunately wasn't able to attend due to my flight schedule.  From what I heard, he focused on practical solutions for reducing national sugar consumption, such as instituting a sugar tax.  Dr. Lustig was a major presence at the conference, and perhaps partially due to his efforts, sugar was a central focus throughout the day.  Nearly everyone agrees that added sugar is harmful to the nation's health at current intakes, so the question kept coming up "how long is it going to take us to do something about it?"  As Dr. David Ludwig said, "...the obesity epidemic can be viewed as a disease of technology with a simple, but politically difficult solution".

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Femme Fatale N°221 - FW - Paris

Alina - FW - Paris

Alina - Project Manager for "Absolutely Fabulous"

Yoana - Place Vendôme - Paris

  Yoana - Blogger

"Oh my God !" by Karlie Kloss - FW - Paris

Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall

Happy Day friends, I hope this week is treating you well. A busy one as always here...full speed for a client who we have been working months to prepare her home for a party she is having next weekend. Things are starting to come together, chairs being reupholstered, chandeliers hung, and accessory shopping until I drop! 

It is b-day season around here as well with my 2 oldest children having birthdays 2 weeks apart in October and November. I swear every other commercial is can I have that, I want that, really? Me too, including those pajama jeans that seem to pop up pretty frequently...maybe they will help with the bulge that is developing from taking down all the Halloween candy.

The Furniture Market in High Point begins this weekend and while I sometimes dread the thought of going, once I am there it is always a nice inspirational get away. I have quite a few items on the books I am looking for this market so hopefully I will have some luck this fall. 

In my world of design antique mirrors are one of those items that I love finding when shopping. The right one can add a certain old world or vintage look to any room. What I love most is not limiting this antique mirror to a small frame but rather a whole wall. I have had this on my wist list for quite some time with a wall in my dining room in mind and I look forward to one day having my own mirror on the wall. There are so many wonderful elements that these mirrors add but the main one being the illusion of space. How fantastic are these images ranging from living spaces to kitchens with walled mirrors? Oh which one is the fairest of them all?

Pinterest, Elle Decor, Lonny, and Elizabeth Bauer

Anne-Catherine - Le Louvre - Paris

  Hat / Minimarket - Sweater / Vintage - Shirt / American Apparel - Bag
  / Viktor&Rolf - Shoes / Luella for Underground

Mia - Ecole de Médecine - Paris

  Mia - Blogger - Check her blog Mia Marionette "Here"
  jacket from Filippa K and the hat is second hand

Losing Fat With Simple Food-- Two Reader Anecdotes

Each week, I'm receiving more e-mails and comments from people who are successfully losing fat by eating simple (low reward) food, similar to what I described here.  In some cases, people are breaking through fat loss plateaus that they had reached on conventional low-carbohydrate, low-fat or paleo diets.  This concept can be applied to any type of diet, and I believe it is an important characteristic of ancestral food patterns.

At the Ancestral Health Symposium, I met two Whole Health Source readers, Aravind Balasubramanian and Kamal Patel, who were interested in trying a simple diet to lose fat and improve their health.  In addition, they wanted to break free of certain other high-reward activities in their lives that they felt were not constructive.  They recently embarked on an 8-week low-reward diet and lifestyle to test the effectiveness of the concepts.  Both of them had previously achieved a stable (in Aravind's case, reduced) weight on a paleo-ish diet prior to this experiment, but they still carried more fat than they wanted to.  They offered to write about their experience for WHS, and I thought other readers might find it informative.  Their story is below, followed by a few of my comments.

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Taylor Tomasi - Louvre - Paris

Taylor Tomasi - Stylist for Marie-Claire US

Shala Monroque - Les Tuileries - Paris

Shala Monroque - It Girl

Yay Jing - Grand Palais - Paris

Yay Jing - Buyer

Marianne - FW - Paris

  Marianne of "Style Devil"
  Shoes from Alexander Wang, skirt from H&M, vintage sweat-shirt, bag from Celine
  and sunnies from The Row.

Anne-Catherine - Les Tuileries - Paris

   Anne-Catherine - Fashion Student
   Check her blog "here"




Bag / Proenza Schouler PS1 - Shirt / American Apparel - Shirt worn as a Skirt / Comme des   Garçcons - Sunnies / H&M - Boots / Minimarket