Greetings to all who receive this E-mail:

It is my most sincere wish that all who receive this e-mail are in sound health in mind and body. For those of you that may have forgotten who I am, my name is Michael Honrales from Los Angeles, California. Many of you I have met through my travels in Asia this year or in my travels to Europe, also within this year. In a particular way many of you met me during World Youth Day held in Cologne, Germany. For the others, you may be collaborating with me in projects within the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Yet others may be close friends of mine. Still others are e-mail pals from many parts of the world. Regardless of how I know you, I send you greetings.

The reason why I am writing this e-mail is to wish you and all of your loved ones, wherever you may be a most Happy and Blessed New Year. For many people, 2005 had been met with many hardships, challenges and heartache. For the world at large, 2005 has been a year in which we saw terrible natural disasters and the passing of wonderful people like His Holiness Pope John Paul II. Although 2005, might have been challenging, it was also filled with many great events, such as lives joined together in marriage, births of children and in the world at large, events such as Live 8, the promise of global debt reduction by the world’s 8 most powerful countries, and the election of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. 

I know that in my own personal life there have been many challenging events such as my mother’s two-month battle with a terrible blood infection in which I had to constantly care of her is among many other challenging events that I had to face. My life was also filled with many blessings, such as the Ordination of my cousin to the Priesthood, my travels to Asia and Europe this summer where I met many of you. No matter what challenges I went through I was able to grow stronger in who I am and in my faith. Those joyful events in my life also inspired me greatly as well. I can still recall the outpouring of love and life that I saw during World Youth Day among the over one million participants.

As we face the New Year, the Church (Catholic Church), has declared the first day of 2006 to be a World Day of Prayer for Peace. For it is only through love and an understanding of one another the we can truly have peace. The Church in her infinite wisdom has asked us to pray for peace during the upcoming year. Let us great this New Year, in a spirit of hope for good things yet to come, not only for ourselves, but for loved ones and even for our enemies. We must also greet this New Year with a spirit of love, not only for those we love, but also for those we might now know and for those who we refuse to get to know.

Instead of setting New Years resolutions such as dieting, earning more money, or looking better, let us set New Year’s resolutions that are more radical and perhaps ever counter-cultural. Let us be resolved to step out of ourselves in order to serve those less fortunate. Let us resolve to give our time, talent, and treasure, at the service of God and others. Let us resolve to be selfless, giving, and loving towards all instead of following what our modern culture tell us to do, which is to act in a selfish manner taking everything for oneself and leaving nothing for others. Finally, let us be resolved to live more simple lives, freeing ourselves from desires of wealth and power.

In closing, I wish you again, many blessings, love and peace for the year to come. May you and you loved ones be filled with love always. May that love that you share with one another spread to all those you come in contact with.

This is an interesting excerpt I just read from the 2004 book "Food for Fitness" by Chris Carmichael, coach of champion athlete Lance Amrstrong (whose bodyfat hovered around 4% during the Tours de France).

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Excess Carbohydrate is Rarely Stored as Fat

Science is beginning to show that the common belief that excess dietary carbohydrate is stored as fat may not be entirely true, or at least show that less carbohydrate is stored as fat than previously thought.  Studies show that when glycogen tanks are only partially full, carbohydrate will be stored as glycogen until your muscle stores are completely replenished.  When glycogen tanks are full and there is still more carbohydrate available, or if excess carbohydrate is consumed, you burn less fat until the excess carbohydrate is burned off.  Even at rest, your body can down-regulate the oxidation of fat in the presence of excess carbohydrate.  This means you use extra carbohydrate to fuel normal bodily functions rather than storing it as fat. 

While the mechanism is different from what was previously believed, the end result is the same.  Since overeating carbohydrate reduces fat oxidation, you end up burning less fat than normal for a given period of time.  This means that less of your already-existing fat stores will be broken down, and possibly that more of the fat you consumed in the previous meal will be stored as well.  As a result, you may end up gaining weight.  The important distinction is that the weight gain is the result of reduced fat oxidation as opposed to the conversion of carbohydrate to fat.

This has important implications for the way we percieve the relationship between carbohydrates and fat.  When we believed the usage of fat and carbohydrate at rest were mainly independent of one another, it was easy to blame carbohydrate for significantly contributing to fat storage.  Now that overeating carbohydrate has been shown to reduce fat oxidation, it's clear that the carbohydrate itself is not the problem, but rather the problem is not burning enough carbohydrates during the day.  When a high-carbohydrate meal is consumed, fat oxidation only decreases when you already have full glycogen stores.  After activity, you continue burning fat to supply energy for normal activities as you store the glucose in your post-exercise meal.  Athletes, therefore, should not fear carbohydrates because an athlete's activity level leads to glycogen depletion.  The carbohydrates you eat will then be stored as glycogen, and if you eat more than is needed to fill the glycogen tanks, most of the excess will be used to fuel normal daily activities and will not be stored as fat.

Source: Carmichael, Chris.  "Chris Carmichael's Food for Fitness: Eat Right to Train Right."  G.P. Putnam: New York, 2004.  145-46.

1. I won a free dinner for 2 at the Assiniboia Downs theme night dinner buffets.  Anyone interested?
2. A friend of mine is organizing an airsoft event December 27th.  Interested?