No doubt I have learned a lot from the whole Paleo movement. With it's aid I think I may have sidestepped diabetes in my future because what it has taught me about carbohydrate metabolism. I know now that it is not likely the bacon and eggs that will do me in but the bagel with cream cheese. Even though I think the Paleo people are a lot less dogmatic than some of the other promoters of certain diets (veganism especially) they are still dogmatic and don't quite accept or understand the is/ought dichotomy (i.e. the way we as a species have eaten for the thousands of years before agriculture isn't necessarily the best/healthiest way we should eat). It a very common mistake that people make and I think I have made it.
The weakest link in the Paleo paradigm is our ignorance of what humans ate before the adoption of agriculture. It's called pre-history for a reason. There is no documentation. We have to use scant fossil evidence to determine what humans might have eaten. Even if we did know conclusively what we did eat, it doesn't mean we should eat it as I have stated above.
Another problem I have with Paleo is the fact that it tries to emulate eating the way we did in the 200,000 years (just a guesstimate) we were hunter-gatherers. I don't think it's necessarily bad to experiment with an approach like this, but you have to accept that that this is a random period of our history. It is a fact that we are descendants of apes that relied primarily on carbohydrates as a food source. I mention this because some Paleo's think that an "optimal" diet is very rich in meat. I'm thinking that this is wrong now. Not that I think it's bad to eat meat for your health in general, it's just probably bad in the copious amounts some Paleo's eat it.
Starches are another fear of the average Paleo. We handle starches quite well. Eat your potatoes. That's all I will say about that.
After years of self-experimentation, I discovered that the Paleo diet works quite well as a fat loss and hypoallergenic diet. The problem is that I don't think it is sustainable in the real world that we live in. It's hard to stay Paleo for a whole host of reasons. It's difficult to get enough calories in and let's face it: carbs are damn tasty.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Exercise Should Be Fun and Playful...
… and at times, excruciating.
I'm with famed paleo blogger Art Devany when it comes to
exercise. Workouts should never be dreaded or worked through like a soldier
marching over a desert. People think that a militaristic attitude must be
adopted if you want to see results from your workouts. That is not needed.
There is no need to wake up at 5 AM everyday to go for a monotonous hour-long
jog followed by weight training. That is too extreme for any sane person for
the long haul. For most people, a workout program like this will eventually
lead to failure. There is just no way the average person has enough discipline
to follow through with that kind of Spartan workout and not get injured or give
up in the long run.
To understand how you should workout, know that you are an animal and not a machine. Just like your pet dog and even like the lion on the Serengeti savannah. As an animal you have to survive. The worst thing you could do is to expend too much energy. You only expended energy when you were on the prowl looking for food. This is why you are so lazy. It has nothing to do with discipline. We are all lazy over-eaters! It's encoded in our goddamn DNA. Our genes tell us, "forget it and just lay down for a while." And at other times our genes say to us, "RUN! THERE'S A LION ON YOUR ASS!" That's what your body has seen for millions of years.
Your average gym-goer works out like she's a machine fueled by sugary, manufactured products like Gatorade and Cliff bars. People think that you must burn more calories than you take in. There is some truth to this but it is an overly simplistic and linear model that does not accurately describe the way your body works. Sure, you're not going to be breaking any laws of thermodynamics here so it is somewhat accurate. But it is not helpful. Not the least bit.
When you walk a mile you burn roughly 100 calories. When you sprint a mile you also burn about a hundred calories. So if we applied the mechanistic model you would say that each workout had about the same effect on your body. You burned 100 calories with both workouts. Well that's not the case. A person that regularly sprints a mile, as opposed to a person that walks it, is going to see far more positive changes in body composition. She will burn more fat and build more muscle and expend more energy throughout the day. Why is that? When you run hard, you are sending your body a signal to become more efficient and adapt to the stress. When you walk, there's really no reason for your body to do anything at all. Sure you burned some calories but that's all you've done. There are no metabolic changes going on once you have lazily walked a mile.
Positive changes in body composition come from acute forms of stress. So when you workout, you should be going easy most of the time and at infrequent times, you should be going hard.
To understand how you should workout, know that you are an animal and not a machine. Just like your pet dog and even like the lion on the Serengeti savannah. As an animal you have to survive. The worst thing you could do is to expend too much energy. You only expended energy when you were on the prowl looking for food. This is why you are so lazy. It has nothing to do with discipline. We are all lazy over-eaters! It's encoded in our goddamn DNA. Our genes tell us, "forget it and just lay down for a while." And at other times our genes say to us, "RUN! THERE'S A LION ON YOUR ASS!" That's what your body has seen for millions of years.
Your average gym-goer works out like she's a machine fueled by sugary, manufactured products like Gatorade and Cliff bars. People think that you must burn more calories than you take in. There is some truth to this but it is an overly simplistic and linear model that does not accurately describe the way your body works. Sure, you're not going to be breaking any laws of thermodynamics here so it is somewhat accurate. But it is not helpful. Not the least bit.
When you walk a mile you burn roughly 100 calories. When you sprint a mile you also burn about a hundred calories. So if we applied the mechanistic model you would say that each workout had about the same effect on your body. You burned 100 calories with both workouts. Well that's not the case. A person that regularly sprints a mile, as opposed to a person that walks it, is going to see far more positive changes in body composition. She will burn more fat and build more muscle and expend more energy throughout the day. Why is that? When you run hard, you are sending your body a signal to become more efficient and adapt to the stress. When you walk, there's really no reason for your body to do anything at all. Sure you burned some calories but that's all you've done. There are no metabolic changes going on once you have lazily walked a mile.
Positive changes in body composition come from acute forms of stress. So when you workout, you should be going easy most of the time and at infrequent times, you should be going hard.
As
hard as you possibly can.
You can apply this to any workout. If you're on a treadmill, go hard for 30 seconds and walk for about 2 minutes. Then repeat 5 more times. This will get you more results than a 45 minute jog. It's also much quicker.
You can apply this to any workout. If you're on a treadmill, go hard for 30 seconds and walk for about 2 minutes. Then repeat 5 more times. This will get you more results than a 45 minute jog. It's also much quicker.
Or
you can just lift weights. Lifting heavy weights using compound movements is a
great way to build muscle and burn a tremendous amount of energy.
So, remember, there should be peaks and valleys in your workouts. The worst thing you can do is sustain a steady slow pace. It gets you nowhere and it's excruciatingly boring.
So, remember, there should be peaks and valleys in your workouts. The worst thing you can do is sustain a steady slow pace. It gets you nowhere and it's excruciatingly boring.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Fasting Again
I'm going to give this fasting thing a go again. Last May I tried fasting for whole days at a time. I fasted a total of ten days. All and all it was a good experience. It was tough at first but gradually became easier. The hardest part was night time. I felt like I had to eat during the night or I would never go to sleep.
This time I'm going to give the Warrior Diet diet fasting pattern a try. Ori Hofmekler's diet utilizes fasting for fat loss. In his diet, you under eat during the day and have a large meal at night. So, basically, you don't eat at all during the day and you go to town at night. I've been following this fasting pattern for the past few days and I've been feeling pretty good. It's much easier than fasting for whole days at a time. And I sleep like a baby with a full belly. Going to sleep on an empty stomach is not fun.
I've been consuming way to much junk and processed stuff so I'll have to clean up my act a little bit in that regard. But other than that I've been following the fasting protocol during the day very strictly. The diet allows for a four hour window of feasting. And they are glorious hours. I have to say fasting this way is quite easy and I think I'll eat like this for a long time. I'm at least going to do it for thirty days to see what kind of results I get. I think I'll lose quite a bit of fat. Hopefully I'll keep my muscle mass.
I'm going to try this until May 15th. This shouldn't be too hard.
This time I'm going to give the Warrior Diet diet fasting pattern a try. Ori Hofmekler's diet utilizes fasting for fat loss. In his diet, you under eat during the day and have a large meal at night. So, basically, you don't eat at all during the day and you go to town at night. I've been following this fasting pattern for the past few days and I've been feeling pretty good. It's much easier than fasting for whole days at a time. And I sleep like a baby with a full belly. Going to sleep on an empty stomach is not fun.
I've been consuming way to much junk and processed stuff so I'll have to clean up my act a little bit in that regard. But other than that I've been following the fasting protocol during the day very strictly. The diet allows for a four hour window of feasting. And they are glorious hours. I have to say fasting this way is quite easy and I think I'll eat like this for a long time. I'm at least going to do it for thirty days to see what kind of results I get. I think I'll lose quite a bit of fat. Hopefully I'll keep my muscle mass.
I'm going to try this until May 15th. This shouldn't be too hard.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Bean Me!
I have had a coffee addiction for about 6 years now and I show no signs of giving up. Not that it's really that bad for me. As far as addictions go, caffeine addiction is mild in its damage to your body. Cigarettes kill. Coffee just makes you jittery.
Many are torn on the issue of coffee. Some avoid it for its purported damaging health effects and some consume it in copious amounts for its purported health benefits. I don't think coffee is all that bad for you. A quick check on wikipedia will point you to studies that show its benefits. There is very weak evidence that it is bad for you if you're not nursing, pregnant, or elderly.
The only thing that worries me is that caffeine elevates cortisol levels in the body. Considering I drink about 5-6 servings throughout the day that adds up to a healthy amount of cortisol swimming through my veins. Cortisol is a stress hormone that breaks down muscle tissue for energy. Instead of fat as fuel, my body uses muscle for fuel. Not very good for my body composition.
It's difficult for me to quit for both psychological reasons and physical reasons. Psychologically, I crave the desire to drink something all day. It's an OCD like symptom I think a acquired out of the habit of sucking on a straw all day long. I feel naked without that medium size Dunkin' Donuts coffee in my hand. It's kind of like the way ex smokers don't know what to do with their hands after they quit. They've always had a cigarette their and now it's just searching for something to do.
Physically I notice a huge difference in my mood and behavior when I skip my morning coffee. I start to get a headache about mid afternoon and I'm extremely lethargic all day. I'm not as talkative as I usually am (which I'm not all that talkative to begin with) and I have very little patience with people.
As soon as I let that espresso swim in my stomach for a bit I feel the effects of caffeine almost immediately. My finger tips start to tingle and my mood is uplifted almost immediately. I have more energy and feel like doing some kind of physical activity.
Sometimes, I drink way too much caffeine and the pleasant effects of caffeine quickly become unpleasant. As the day wears on I'll start to get tired but can't sleep or lay down and be still for the life of me. I'll want to sleep but be too restless to do so. I feel jittery and I begin to become impatient with people once again.
The worst effect I suspect excess coffee consumption causes is insomnia. If I have a coffee after 3pm there is no way in hell I'm going to bed at a normal hour. I already don't sleep well to begin with so the caffeine will usually cause me to not fall asleep until 3am or later. This makes sense because the half-life of caffeine is about 6 hours. So if I have 2 cups in the morning, two in the afternoon, I still have well over one cup of coffee in my system well after 9pm.
I tolerate a fairly high level of caffeine pretty well and the dangerous effects of caffeine are way overblown so I'm going to continue consumption. I think I will reduce my consumption and not consume it after 3pm.
Everybody is different when it comes to the reactions of drugs so I can't make recommendations. Most tolerate small amounts of caffeine OK but some will go off the walls even if they drink small amounts. As long as you don't continue drinking when you feel the jitters coming on, you're probably fine.
Many are torn on the issue of coffee. Some avoid it for its purported damaging health effects and some consume it in copious amounts for its purported health benefits. I don't think coffee is all that bad for you. A quick check on wikipedia will point you to studies that show its benefits. There is very weak evidence that it is bad for you if you're not nursing, pregnant, or elderly.
The only thing that worries me is that caffeine elevates cortisol levels in the body. Considering I drink about 5-6 servings throughout the day that adds up to a healthy amount of cortisol swimming through my veins. Cortisol is a stress hormone that breaks down muscle tissue for energy. Instead of fat as fuel, my body uses muscle for fuel. Not very good for my body composition.
It's difficult for me to quit for both psychological reasons and physical reasons. Psychologically, I crave the desire to drink something all day. It's an OCD like symptom I think a acquired out of the habit of sucking on a straw all day long. I feel naked without that medium size Dunkin' Donuts coffee in my hand. It's kind of like the way ex smokers don't know what to do with their hands after they quit. They've always had a cigarette their and now it's just searching for something to do.
Physically I notice a huge difference in my mood and behavior when I skip my morning coffee. I start to get a headache about mid afternoon and I'm extremely lethargic all day. I'm not as talkative as I usually am (which I'm not all that talkative to begin with) and I have very little patience with people.
As soon as I let that espresso swim in my stomach for a bit I feel the effects of caffeine almost immediately. My finger tips start to tingle and my mood is uplifted almost immediately. I have more energy and feel like doing some kind of physical activity.
Sometimes, I drink way too much caffeine and the pleasant effects of caffeine quickly become unpleasant. As the day wears on I'll start to get tired but can't sleep or lay down and be still for the life of me. I'll want to sleep but be too restless to do so. I feel jittery and I begin to become impatient with people once again.
The worst effect I suspect excess coffee consumption causes is insomnia. If I have a coffee after 3pm there is no way in hell I'm going to bed at a normal hour. I already don't sleep well to begin with so the caffeine will usually cause me to not fall asleep until 3am or later. This makes sense because the half-life of caffeine is about 6 hours. So if I have 2 cups in the morning, two in the afternoon, I still have well over one cup of coffee in my system well after 9pm.
I tolerate a fairly high level of caffeine pretty well and the dangerous effects of caffeine are way overblown so I'm going to continue consumption. I think I will reduce my consumption and not consume it after 3pm.
Everybody is different when it comes to the reactions of drugs so I can't make recommendations. Most tolerate small amounts of caffeine OK but some will go off the walls even if they drink small amounts. As long as you don't continue drinking when you feel the jitters coming on, you're probably fine.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Ethical Eating
I have to admit I'm kind of selfish. An vain.
All I ever cared about when I was younger was to have a nice looking body. My body was not so nice. Quite flabby and pasty actually. I was envious of those guys who actually had visible muscles on their torso. I preferred that most would not notice the love handles. I too wanted that surfer look that those few men had. So, in order to fulfill my vain quest of lookin' good nekkid, I read as many health magazines and websites as I could. I watched what I ate and began to experiment with certain exercises.
I decided to try a psuedo low fat vegetarian diet. Not for the ethical reasons, just the lookin' good nekkid reasons. It didn't work out too well. I was a lot skinnier but still flabby.
It was only until I stumbled across a body building website called T-Nation that I started to have the opinion that meat wasn't that bad for you. Actually from then on I had the opinion that it was quite good for you. Very good actually. Meat was essential to health. I knew this and I still believe it quite strongly.
But that doesn't mean that it's right to eat it. You can get away with good health if you became what is called a lacto-ovo vegetarian (one who eats no meat but does eat milk and eggs). I didn't believe this before but I do now. So does this mean I now have and obligation to not eat meat any more? If I don't have to eat meat than why let the animal be born, raised and slaughtered just for my sake. I just could easily eat a potato stir fry rather than a beef stir fry. Other than their taste, they're the same. They're both filling meals. The beef does fulfill more nutritional requirements but the potato's lack of nutrients can be remedied by simply eating a diverse array of vegetarian foods. And milk and eggs.
I used to believe that carbohydrates make you fat. This was because I, and many others around me have had great success losing weight with a low carbohydrate diet. Say what you will about low carb diets but you can't deny the facts. They help you lose a lot of weight and fast. Because of my propensity to gain weight easily, I ate a lot of meat (being a no carbohydrate food and all)and very little plant foods because plant foods are mostly carbohydrate. I don't even want to think about the number of Italian sausages I have consumed in the past 5 years. It ain't a small number. I ate a lot of meat because I thought for sure that yams and bananas would make me bloat to the size of the Pillsbury Dough Boy. But that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I do just fine with carbohydrates. As I think most health people do (I still think low-carb is necessary for some people who want to lose weight and/or normalize their blood sugar).
Now that I think more about it, my opinion is that meat can be healthy and necessary sometimes, but it doesn't have to be a staple food. It could just be something to make sure I cover all my nutritional bases (Vitamin B12, essential fatty acids, essential amino acids, etc.). My staples could just be white rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and plantains. I'm moving more towards the vegetarian side of the omnivore spectrum.
All this being said, I have no naivete at the destructiveness my just being has on living creatures and the environment as a whole. Just because I'm not eating a sentient animal doesn't mean sentient animals don't suffer on my behalf. The agricultural plot of land that grows my food displaces thousands of animals. Agriculture, even vegetarian agriculture, does do damage. A lot of damage. Animals die, dams destroy underwater ecosystems, and a lot of cheap labor is exploited because of our current industrial agricultural system. So as an effort to reduce the amount of suffering I cause in the world, I will look more into where my food comes from. I will be shopping at more farmers markets and get my meat from a grass fed source. Also, I will be more involved with gardening for my own food.
All I ever cared about when I was younger was to have a nice looking body. My body was not so nice. Quite flabby and pasty actually. I was envious of those guys who actually had visible muscles on their torso. I preferred that most would not notice the love handles. I too wanted that surfer look that those few men had. So, in order to fulfill my vain quest of lookin' good nekkid, I read as many health magazines and websites as I could. I watched what I ate and began to experiment with certain exercises.
I decided to try a psuedo low fat vegetarian diet. Not for the ethical reasons, just the lookin' good nekkid reasons. It didn't work out too well. I was a lot skinnier but still flabby.
It was only until I stumbled across a body building website called T-Nation that I started to have the opinion that meat wasn't that bad for you. Actually from then on I had the opinion that it was quite good for you. Very good actually. Meat was essential to health. I knew this and I still believe it quite strongly.
But that doesn't mean that it's right to eat it. You can get away with good health if you became what is called a lacto-ovo vegetarian (one who eats no meat but does eat milk and eggs). I didn't believe this before but I do now. So does this mean I now have and obligation to not eat meat any more? If I don't have to eat meat than why let the animal be born, raised and slaughtered just for my sake. I just could easily eat a potato stir fry rather than a beef stir fry. Other than their taste, they're the same. They're both filling meals. The beef does fulfill more nutritional requirements but the potato's lack of nutrients can be remedied by simply eating a diverse array of vegetarian foods. And milk and eggs.
I used to believe that carbohydrates make you fat. This was because I, and many others around me have had great success losing weight with a low carbohydrate diet. Say what you will about low carb diets but you can't deny the facts. They help you lose a lot of weight and fast. Because of my propensity to gain weight easily, I ate a lot of meat (being a no carbohydrate food and all)and very little plant foods because plant foods are mostly carbohydrate. I don't even want to think about the number of Italian sausages I have consumed in the past 5 years. It ain't a small number. I ate a lot of meat because I thought for sure that yams and bananas would make me bloat to the size of the Pillsbury Dough Boy. But that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I do just fine with carbohydrates. As I think most health people do (I still think low-carb is necessary for some people who want to lose weight and/or normalize their blood sugar).
Now that I think more about it, my opinion is that meat can be healthy and necessary sometimes, but it doesn't have to be a staple food. It could just be something to make sure I cover all my nutritional bases (Vitamin B12, essential fatty acids, essential amino acids, etc.). My staples could just be white rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and plantains. I'm moving more towards the vegetarian side of the omnivore spectrum.
All this being said, I have no naivete at the destructiveness my just being has on living creatures and the environment as a whole. Just because I'm not eating a sentient animal doesn't mean sentient animals don't suffer on my behalf. The agricultural plot of land that grows my food displaces thousands of animals. Agriculture, even vegetarian agriculture, does do damage. A lot of damage. Animals die, dams destroy underwater ecosystems, and a lot of cheap labor is exploited because of our current industrial agricultural system. So as an effort to reduce the amount of suffering I cause in the world, I will look more into where my food comes from. I will be shopping at more farmers markets and get my meat from a grass fed source. Also, I will be more involved with gardening for my own food.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Deadlift Comp
I'm entering a powerlifting competition in Wallingford, CT on July 31st. It should be interesting considering I've never done anything like this before. I will only be competing in the deadlift because I'm most comfortable with that lift. I'm a terrible bench presser and even worse squatter.
Weight lifting has been a dear friend of mine ever since high school. As a health conscious kid that read a lot of health magazines I eventually came to understand that lifting heavy objects was superior in almost every single way to chronic cardio. Those poor joggers look so pathetic whenever I see them on the side of the road.
I'll be in the 181 lb class so I have to make sure my weight is below that for the competition. It's been hovering in the low 180's but I'm trying to get down to 175 so I have some head room. It wouldn't be fun to compete in the next weight class.
I don't remember exactly what my all time best deadlift was but it was definitely in the low 400 range. But this was back in college when I weighed about 20lbs more than I do now so I expect my one rep max to be considerably lower now. Hopefully I'll be lifting at least 400 lbs by the competition.
Weight lifting has been a dear friend of mine ever since high school. As a health conscious kid that read a lot of health magazines I eventually came to understand that lifting heavy objects was superior in almost every single way to chronic cardio. Those poor joggers look so pathetic whenever I see them on the side of the road.
I'll be in the 181 lb class so I have to make sure my weight is below that for the competition. It's been hovering in the low 180's but I'm trying to get down to 175 so I have some head room. It wouldn't be fun to compete in the next weight class.
I don't remember exactly what my all time best deadlift was but it was definitely in the low 400 range. But this was back in college when I weighed about 20lbs more than I do now so I expect my one rep max to be considerably lower now. Hopefully I'll be lifting at least 400 lbs by the competition.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Fasting Experience
I just completed my month long fasting experience and it went quite well. I don't know exactly how much weight I lost but it must have been significant because many people told me I looked thinner. For the month of May, I fasted for ten days. Not in a row, mind you. They were separated by at least a day.
The first couple of days were very hard. It wasn't that hard to skip breakfast as I am usually not hungry in the morning but it was incredibly difficult not to eat something as the evening rolled around. Going to bed a little hungry is hard but going to bed really hungry is really hard. I remember having quite vivid dreams of food that first fasted night.
Overall, it was a good experience. I haven't fasted for a full day before this experiment and can tell you your body adapts to the fasting quite well. By the last few days I was not nearly as hungry as I was. I would recommend fasting to anyone for its therapeutic effects. You'd be amazed at how much more bloated you feel when you're in a fed state. In a completely fasted state, your body feels very light and lean.
The first couple of days were very hard. It wasn't that hard to skip breakfast as I am usually not hungry in the morning but it was incredibly difficult not to eat something as the evening rolled around. Going to bed a little hungry is hard but going to bed really hungry is really hard. I remember having quite vivid dreams of food that first fasted night.
Overall, it was a good experience. I haven't fasted for a full day before this experiment and can tell you your body adapts to the fasting quite well. By the last few days I was not nearly as hungry as I was. I would recommend fasting to anyone for its therapeutic effects. You'd be amazed at how much more bloated you feel when you're in a fed state. In a completely fasted state, your body feels very light and lean.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Intermittent Fasting and Growth Hormone
I'm doing an intermittent fasting experiment for the month of May. I will do a daily fast for ten separate days. I marked ten random "F's" on the calendar on ten different days to fast on.
My first day was yesterday and went quite well. It was a little stressful and experienced a bit of brain fog by the night time but overall it was good. I also had trouble sleeping but that could have been because I drank way too much coffee, even for me.
My main reason for doing this is to increase growth hormone levels in my body. Fasting can release growth hormone very significantly in someone that is fasting. There is about 10 times serum growth hormone in a fasting individual than a non-fasting individual. The evolutionary reasons for this can be speculated on.
During a time with no food, pre-agriculture man certainly would have had some kind of adaptation to get him through the slump. Growth hormone would be released to maintain much needed muscle mass during a time of caloric scarcity, and fat would be burned to provide him with energy to look for food. Growth hormone preserves lean tissue and burns fat. Lean tissue is much more important in times of scarcity. Your body needs some kind of trigger to make sure you don't wither away during a fast.
Obviously, I have some body composition goals in mind here. I want to be as lean and muscular as possible. But I also want to see what effect this has on my mind. Mystics have been known through out history to use fasting for spiritual realization. I don't think I'll get enlightened during my vain attempt to look good nekkid but it wouldn't hurt if I got some peace of mind in the next few weeks. Fasting has a very calming effect on the mind once you get used to it. I'm not sure why but it might have something to do with utilizing ketone bodies as a main envergy source in lieu of glucose for the brain.
I'm no stranger to fasting but this is the first time I will be fasting for whole days. Yesterday was quite a challenge but it wasn't immensely difficult. But I did have a lot of dreams about food that night.
My first day was yesterday and went quite well. It was a little stressful and experienced a bit of brain fog by the night time but overall it was good. I also had trouble sleeping but that could have been because I drank way too much coffee, even for me.
My main reason for doing this is to increase growth hormone levels in my body. Fasting can release growth hormone very significantly in someone that is fasting. There is about 10 times serum growth hormone in a fasting individual than a non-fasting individual. The evolutionary reasons for this can be speculated on.
During a time with no food, pre-agriculture man certainly would have had some kind of adaptation to get him through the slump. Growth hormone would be released to maintain much needed muscle mass during a time of caloric scarcity, and fat would be burned to provide him with energy to look for food. Growth hormone preserves lean tissue and burns fat. Lean tissue is much more important in times of scarcity. Your body needs some kind of trigger to make sure you don't wither away during a fast.
Obviously, I have some body composition goals in mind here. I want to be as lean and muscular as possible. But I also want to see what effect this has on my mind. Mystics have been known through out history to use fasting for spiritual realization. I don't think I'll get enlightened during my vain attempt to look good nekkid but it wouldn't hurt if I got some peace of mind in the next few weeks. Fasting has a very calming effect on the mind once you get used to it. I'm not sure why but it might have something to do with utilizing ketone bodies as a main envergy source in lieu of glucose for the brain.
I'm no stranger to fasting but this is the first time I will be fasting for whole days. Yesterday was quite a challenge but it wasn't immensely difficult. But I did have a lot of dreams about food that night.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Binge Eating
I went out to eat yesterday with some friends and decided to stray away from my diet. I hadn't eaten all day and was quite stressed due to a bad substitute teaching experience I had early in the day. Because of this I was ready to stuff my face with carbs and feel the rising serotonin levels in my brain. I desperately needed to feel better so I wasn't concerned about the damaging effects to my body. My blood sugar was quite high this morning so I guess my body wasn't quite used to that bolus of wheat flour and sugar I had the night before.
I'm not sure how long the damaging effects of a meal like this last in your body. It might last months, maybe even years, but I think that the worst parts of it are over in a few days and your body returns to the fat burning state you were before. If you don't feel like drawing attention to your "restricting" diet with your friends I don't think it hurts a whole lot to let go a bit. Personally, I have a problem stopping myself at a certain point when I indulge so I eat until I am completely stuffed. I had this pattern of eating when I was younger so it is pretty ingrained in me. I'll just learn how to live with it rather than fighting it.
I have a similar relationship with alcohol as I do with high carbohydrate food. I can abstain from it for a long time and not even think about it or miss it but when I have one drink I want another. The more I think about it, the more similar alcohol and sugar seem to me. They are both damaging to my body and I have some level of addiction for both of them. I can't ignore this fact.
I'm not sure how long the damaging effects of a meal like this last in your body. It might last months, maybe even years, but I think that the worst parts of it are over in a few days and your body returns to the fat burning state you were before. If you don't feel like drawing attention to your "restricting" diet with your friends I don't think it hurts a whole lot to let go a bit. Personally, I have a problem stopping myself at a certain point when I indulge so I eat until I am completely stuffed. I had this pattern of eating when I was younger so it is pretty ingrained in me. I'll just learn how to live with it rather than fighting it.
I have a similar relationship with alcohol as I do with high carbohydrate food. I can abstain from it for a long time and not even think about it or miss it but when I have one drink I want another. The more I think about it, the more similar alcohol and sugar seem to me. They are both damaging to my body and I have some level of addiction for both of them. I can't ignore this fact.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Diet Update
I've been adding more carbs in my diet from sources like potatoes and rice. I don't consume them often, but often enough so I don't stay in a deep ketosis. Something tells me that my body needs a break from gluconeogenesis and some glucose from and outside source is like a welcome break for my metabolism. I don't think it'll harm my fat loss attempt. I seem to do fine with a bowl of rice krispies or a couple of sweet potato fries once in a while.
It was incredibly different to follow the paleo diet a la Arthur Devany. It's just not practical for me to buy that many vegetables. They're expensive and they go bad within a few days. Cream, bacon, eggs are my staples now. They are very cheap and a very rich source of calories. I never feel starved after a meal now.
Grass fed meat will be next change to my diet. I've been trying to consume less conventional super market meat but there's no good excuse not to go for grass fed if it's available. I found a family farm about twenty minutes away that sells pasture raised meat. It's more humane and way healthier so I'll make my way down with Heather to buy some meat and see how it is. It'd be nice if I could get some tallow too so I don't have to fry with butter and olive oil all the time.
The "Every Day Paleo" book by Sarah Fragoso is on the way and I should be getting in the next few days. It looks great and has an introduction to Robb Wolf so I'm looking forward to it. Looks like there's some great ideas in their to make my meals less boring.
It was incredibly different to follow the paleo diet a la Arthur Devany. It's just not practical for me to buy that many vegetables. They're expensive and they go bad within a few days. Cream, bacon, eggs are my staples now. They are very cheap and a very rich source of calories. I never feel starved after a meal now.
Grass fed meat will be next change to my diet. I've been trying to consume less conventional super market meat but there's no good excuse not to go for grass fed if it's available. I found a family farm about twenty minutes away that sells pasture raised meat. It's more humane and way healthier so I'll make my way down with Heather to buy some meat and see how it is. It'd be nice if I could get some tallow too so I don't have to fry with butter and olive oil all the time.
The "Every Day Paleo" book by Sarah Fragoso is on the way and I should be getting in the next few days. It looks great and has an introduction to Robb Wolf so I'm looking forward to it. Looks like there's some great ideas in their to make my meals less boring.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
The Archevore
I think any human on the planet would do well to adapt one of the many "Paleo Diets" out there. There are so many Paleo gurus (for lack of a better word) out there that all give great advice. Some of the big guys of the Paleo Movement are Arthur Devany, Loren Cordain, and Robb Wolf. Anybody that wants to live and eat healthy would do well to follow one of these guys' protocol. That being said, I no longer follow any of those guys' diets.
I just started reading Kurt Harris' blog a couple weeks ago and since then I have changed my diet quite a bit. I'm eating way more fat (saturated fat specifically)and am even more scrutinizing with my avoidance of plant oils like corn oil. I've never felt better in my life.
Harris calls himself an Archevore which roughly translates to "one who eats the essentials." In his opinion, the essentials for anyone are lots of animal fats with little vegetables and very little fruits. Starchy tubers, white rice and corn are allowed in small amounts as well. Doesn't sound very "Paleo" does it. Rice? Corn? The staple is the fat of the animal not the protein? It just doesn't sound right to a paleo dieter who is trying to emulate the diet of our paleolithic ancestors. But his arguments are very convincing and since stumbling across his blog I've added way more saturated fat via copious amounts of heavy cream (sounds gross but it's delicious).
Arthur Devany and Loren Cordain advocate a leaner diet composed of lean meats, vegetables and some fruit. Starchy foods are best avoided, according to them. I've had great success with following this type of diet but there was always a problem: I couldn't stay on a diet of lean protein and lots of vegetables without calorically starving myself. It's really hard to get enough calories eating this way. Also, I always had the nagging feeling that something was missing. Like I wasn't completely full.
The problem, I think, was that I wasn't eating enough fat. Specifically animal fat. Boy does it feel good to not worry about making sure my bacon is well cooked and drained. I now typically fry eggs in the bacon grease. Also, my preferred fat to cook with is now butter and not olive oil. It sounds strange but butter is healthier than olive oil. Arthur Devany be damned. I am not trimming the fat from my steak anymore and I won't throw out any egg yolks. Devany wrote in his book that you should avoid the (I'm paraphrasing here) "rush of fatty acids entering your bloodstream". I was never sure what he meant by it but I always made sure to never have too many fats in one meal so that I could avoid that "rush". I now think that that reasoning is completely bunk so bring on the bacon and sour cream!
Besides, a large amount of fat in one sitting wouldn't be nearly as damaging to your body as a rush of sugar would. This makes sense if you want to think about it from a historical perspective too. Hunter-gathers would never eat hundreds of grams of carbs in one sitting. Pasta, skittles, twinkies and bread came years later. On the other hand, a large dose of fat in one sitting was probably a relatively frequent event. Whenever they brought down some large mammal, I'm sure the first thing they would eat would be the fattiest portions of it. So, it would make sense that we are adapted to get large doses of fat (at least once in a while) but not large doses of carbohydrates.
I think Devany's blog is great and filled with just as much science and truth as Harris' blog but Harris' diet is way easier to be on and I feel great on it. Not great. Phenomenal. I no longer have to worry so much about getting vegetables in every meal (they're way over-rated) or eating too much fat (seriously, give cream a try). It's just more practical for me to be on.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Carb Phobia
I'm no longer very worried about keeping my carb intake that low anymore. It's become apparent to me that the human metabolism can handle quite a bit of carbs. More than I thought. Relatively speaking, the diet that I follow is low-carb compared to the SAD (Standard American Diet)but I no longer fear starchy foods.
Grains are still a big no in my book though. There's just too much nasty stuff in their that is bad for anyone. It's not the carbs or starch that's bad for you in grains, it's all the anti-nutrients they contain. Potatoes don't seem to be as bad when it comes to anti-nutrients so I think I'll have them once in a while. I'll probably reintroduce them when I don't want to lose anymore fat.
Grains are still a big no in my book though. There's just too much nasty stuff in their that is bad for anyone. It's not the carbs or starch that's bad for you in grains, it's all the anti-nutrients they contain. Potatoes don't seem to be as bad when it comes to anti-nutrients so I think I'll have them once in a while. I'll probably reintroduce them when I don't want to lose anymore fat.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
My Review of Vibram Five Fingers
My calves are sore as hell. I could barely get out bed and walk this morning because these damn shoes made me use muscle I haven't used since I was twelve.
These shoes are great. These Vibrams have a therapeutic value to them. If you have any kind of back, hip, or knee pain. Buy a pair of these and see what it does to you. My hip pain has not gone away completely but it is reduced. I think what's happening is my body is finally starting to really on its musculature to support my weight rather than resting on the joints. I have a habit of leaning on my right hip, as evidenced buy some x-rays my chiropractor took of me. I have less of a tendency to do this now because of my improved balance. I feel more connected to the ground and can actually grip it with my toes.
On the down side: these things look ridiculous. Be prepared for a lot of stares and pointing. And laughing. I walked around BJ's with them and there were a lot of glares at my feet. Because of this, I don't think I'll wear these all the time. I don't mind what people think but it takes a lot out of you when you get all these stares. I don't care how not self-conscious you usually are. You will feel self-conscious with these things on. But you just have to weigh that with the benefit of improved posture and walking mechanics.
These shoes are great. These Vibrams have a therapeutic value to them. If you have any kind of back, hip, or knee pain. Buy a pair of these and see what it does to you. My hip pain has not gone away completely but it is reduced. I think what's happening is my body is finally starting to really on its musculature to support my weight rather than resting on the joints. I have a habit of leaning on my right hip, as evidenced buy some x-rays my chiropractor took of me. I have less of a tendency to do this now because of my improved balance. I feel more connected to the ground and can actually grip it with my toes.
On the down side: these things look ridiculous. Be prepared for a lot of stares and pointing. And laughing. I walked around BJ's with them and there were a lot of glares at my feet. Because of this, I don't think I'll wear these all the time. I don't mind what people think but it takes a lot out of you when you get all these stares. I don't care how not self-conscious you usually are. You will feel self-conscious with these things on. But you just have to weigh that with the benefit of improved posture and walking mechanics.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
A Quote From Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Let me explain. If you consider your diet and exercise as a simple energy deficits/excesses, with a straight calorie-in, calorie-burned equation, you will fall into the trap of misspecifying the system into simple causal and mechanical links. Your food intake becomes the equivalent of filling up the tank of your new BMW. If on the other hand you look at food and exercise as activating metabolic signals, with potential metabolic cascades and nonlinearities from network effects, and with recursive links, then welcome to complexity, hence Extremistan. Both food and workout provide your body with information about stressor in the environment. As I have been saying throught, informational randomness is from Extremistan. Medicine fell into the trap of using simple thermodynamics with the same physics-envy and with the same mentality and the same tools as economists did when they looked at the economy as a web of simple links. And both are complex systems."
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Social Expectations
I ordered a pair of Vibram Five Fingers a few days ago and expect them pretty soon. I'm probably more excited as I should be. I'm really becoming a dork when it comes to this fitness/nutrition thing. The most difficult part of becoming healthy is to eschew the social norms and be a little bit eccentric. If you're not a little weird, you're probably not very healthy.
But there is a point where you have to say, "OK, my health is important, but having friends is important too". Sometimes you have to compromise and give in to the social norms.
These weird slip-on hybrid sock-shoes are going to get some stares but there is no real harm done. On the other hand, if you turn down food from a person as a guest in their house, you will be perceived as being a little rude. Nobody cares that the gluten in the wheat flour is going to wreak havoc upon your gut preventing you from properly digesting your food. "It's just a freakin' cookie!", they say. "Everybody eats cookies from time to time and so should you." OK. Fair enough. I shall do away with my health concerns for the small band of time that I am a guest in your home.
With a little practice, I think you can turn down any insulin spiking, high-fructose corn syrup, sugar laden foods tactfully. But sometimes you have to just bite the bullet and eat a damn cookie.
Footwear is a different story. I don't care how unpleasant these things are to the eye. You'll just have to deal with that. I hear they stink like hell after a while, though.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Blood Sugar
I bought a blood sugar tester the other day so that I can check my glucose levels. I have to say I'm pretty surprised at the results I've gotten. Certain foods that I wouldn't think would raise my glucose levels that much have raised them significantly if I binge on them. I guess that's a lesson not to binge on even low glycemic foods as they can cause a large insulin spike if eaten in large quantities. My fasting morning levels are usually in the 90's but hope to change that. I'm aiming for the 70's but I don't think it really matters that much as long as my insulin levels are low. I have no idea what my insulin levels are but I'll find out as soon as I get some bloodwork done.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Falling Off the Wagon
I'm going to decrease my fat intake a bit and up the amount of carbs I'm getting from fruit. I didn't realize how stressful it is for your brain to run on purely ketones. I haven't been following my diet for the past few days. I just kind of broke after I had some sushi with rice and a beer. My glucose starved brain just forgot how wonderful it was to be run on carbohydrates so I just caved. My willpower was gone and I stuffed my self with beer, cookies, and potato chips.
Art Devany doesn't recommend a very high fat diet for reasons I don't want to explain (I would post the link but it's a paid site and you have to be a member). But basically, living purely off of fat and protein isn't good for the long term. You have to cycle cycle in carbohydrates so you don't lose all semblance of control.
So, yeah. Time for more carbs in my severely restricted diet.
Art Devany doesn't recommend a very high fat diet for reasons I don't want to explain (I would post the link but it's a paid site and you have to be a member). But basically, living purely off of fat and protein isn't good for the long term. You have to cycle cycle in carbohydrates so you don't lose all semblance of control.
So, yeah. Time for more carbs in my severely restricted diet.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Is Fasting Good For You?
I used to do the whole bodybuilder thing of eating frequent meals throughout the day so that I would stay in an anabolic state. I wanted to build muscle and it seemed like the logical thing to do. I think the bodybuilding approach is a sure fire way to build muscle fast but it's definitely not right if you're prone to gaining fat. If you're a former fat boy like me, you probably have very greedy fat cells and all that food that enters your body will be stored straight to them. Occasional fasting is good for increasing your insulin sensitivity in your muscles so that you will gain muscle easier. I'm not sure what it does to your fat cells but you certainly do burn quite a bit of fat with occasional fasting.
Bodybuilders fear that they will go catabolic (a state where you're body breaks down cells in your body for energy) if they miss a meal or two. There's really no need to fear a large decrease in muscle mass if you make intermittent fasting a regular part of your life. There's really not that much decrease of real muscle mass. Your muscles may deflate a bit due to the loss of glycogen stores (glycogen is stored with water which make your muscles swell) but your body will not give up that muscle easy if you regularly do some kind of strength training. Plus fasting releases growth hormone which promotes fat loss and muscle growth.
If you're doing the whole bodybuilder thing and you gain fat easily, you may want to think about skipping a meal once in a while. It won't kill you.
Bodybuilders fear that they will go catabolic (a state where you're body breaks down cells in your body for energy) if they miss a meal or two. There's really no need to fear a large decrease in muscle mass if you make intermittent fasting a regular part of your life. There's really not that much decrease of real muscle mass. Your muscles may deflate a bit due to the loss of glycogen stores (glycogen is stored with water which make your muscles swell) but your body will not give up that muscle easy if you regularly do some kind of strength training. Plus fasting releases growth hormone which promotes fat loss and muscle growth.
If you're doing the whole bodybuilder thing and you gain fat easily, you may want to think about skipping a meal once in a while. It won't kill you.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Brain Fog
I can't ignore this issue because it's so common when you come from a diet of pizza and beer to a strict paleo-type diet. Brain fog happens when your blood sugar is low. Your brain prefers running on glucose. When you don't supply your brain with glucose from dietary sources, it will use the glucose that is stored in your liver and muscle cells. However, once those stores run out, your body starts to produce ketones from your fat cells. It takes quite a long time (at least for me it does) to get used to a brain running on ketones. You'll notice your ability to concentrate fall dramatically. This isn't really a bad thing. Your body just needs a couple of weeks to adjust to the sudden disappearance of potato chips and milk shakes. Once your insulin levels are not chronically high and come to a natural level, the brain fog disappears. If you really have to, just have a piece of chocolate or fruit. This should give you a little energy boost. In the long run, a paleo-type type will keep your blood sugar far more stable than a high carb diet because there are no insulin spikes.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Fat Head
I just saw Tim Naughton's movie, Fat Head, and I have to say I'm pretty pleased with it. It's just a great movie that cuts through all the lies that you were fed by "nutritional experts. The thing that resonated with me the most was when Naughton tells the audience of his experience with eating a very low fat diet and his corresponding depression. When I started a very low fat diet, as recommended by my high school health class in sophomore year, I became severely depressed by my senior year. I wish somebody told me that fat in the diet was essential to emotional well being. I would have been a lot happier in my later teen years. Who knows what kind of damage I could have done to my developing nervous system.
You can watch the movie for free on Hulu
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You can watch the movie for free on Hulu
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Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Sprint Your Way to a Lean Body
If you're really serious about losing that extra layer of fat you should consider doing a little sprinting. Do not jog. For the love of God do not jog. Jogging, or doing any low-level cardio activity, is rather counterproductive for fat loss. Jogging does technically burn more fat during the exercise than does sprinting but in the long run sprinting kicks jogging's ass by a long shot.
Here's why.
Jogging only activates your type 1 muscle fibers. These are your endurance muscles. They are the muscles you use while you walk or jog at a slow pace. They have very limited potential for growth and do not burn a lot of energy while at rest. In other words, they don't get very big and they don't burn fat while you're sitting on your lazy ass. Once you get of the treadmill, you're done burning fat.
Sprinting activates your type 2 muscle fibers. These are your badass, lift a heavy car, dunk a basketball, punch someone in the face muscle fibers. They are the muscle fibers you use when you do any strenuous activity. Unlike type 1 fibers, they do burn a lot of energy. Even when you're watching TV. After your done with your sprinting workout, you're metabolism is kicked into overdrive for 24-48 hours. This is because your body is adapting by replacing damaged muscle cells.
Jogging does nothing like this. In fact you actually lose muscle mass while jogging. Just think of the emaciated look of a long distance runner and the lean muscular body of a sprinter like Usain Bolt. They are miles apart in terms of body composition. Really, who would you rather look like?
Sprinting gives a bigger bang for your buck. When you workout, think intensity not endurance.
Here's why.
Jogging only activates your type 1 muscle fibers. These are your endurance muscles. They are the muscles you use while you walk or jog at a slow pace. They have very limited potential for growth and do not burn a lot of energy while at rest. In other words, they don't get very big and they don't burn fat while you're sitting on your lazy ass. Once you get of the treadmill, you're done burning fat.
Sprinting activates your type 2 muscle fibers. These are your badass, lift a heavy car, dunk a basketball, punch someone in the face muscle fibers. They are the muscle fibers you use when you do any strenuous activity. Unlike type 1 fibers, they do burn a lot of energy. Even when you're watching TV. After your done with your sprinting workout, you're metabolism is kicked into overdrive for 24-48 hours. This is because your body is adapting by replacing damaged muscle cells.
Jogging does nothing like this. In fact you actually lose muscle mass while jogging. Just think of the emaciated look of a long distance runner and the lean muscular body of a sprinter like Usain Bolt. They are miles apart in terms of body composition. Really, who would you rather look like?
Sprinting gives a bigger bang for your buck. When you workout, think intensity not endurance.
Monday, March 7, 2011
"The Top Ten Worst Nutritional and Dietary Mistakes People Make"
This is one of the best nutrition articles I have ever encountered. I haven't heard about Nora Gedgaudas until today but I am buying her book as soon as I can. Here is a link to an interview with her. Interesting stuff. I especially like her warning not to trust doctors when it comes to nutrition. I doubt myself sometimes when I hear what a doctor tells me to do. His advice is always so antithetical to what I actually believe about nutrition. Of course, he is way smarter than me and clearly understands the human body better than I do, but reason and experience tell me that his nutritional advice is worth almost nothing. Last time I had a checkup, probably three years ago, he was absolutely amazed at my HDL/LDL ratio. It was the best he had ever seen. He told me to keep doing whatever it is I was doing because it's working very well. Funny, because when I told him the diet I was eating he told me I wasn't getting enough carbohydrates. Sigh.
Anyway, here is the article:
10) Relying on superficial descriptions such as “natural” or even “organic” on labels to determine whether a food is truly healthy.
Here’s where the Food Industry gets you. They hone in on buzzwords they think will sell their product. Terms like “natural” or “organic” are useless if the product in question is loaded with sugar (organic or not) or if the product contains highly processed ingredients and /or additives. Furthermore, labeling laws designed to supposedly “protect the consumer” are dubious, at best. Learn to read the fine print in the actual nutritional analysis on the back and come to understand the ingredient lists. A good rule of thumb where packaged food is concerned is to follow the edicts of ‘The X-Files’ and “Trust No One”. If it wouldn’t look like food to someone wandering around 40,000 years ago with a loin cloth and a spear, it probably isn’t food for you, either!
9) Relying on the media, your doctor or even conventional nutritionists/dieticians to provide accurate nutritional information
Keep in mind that most "mainstream" information sources have an inherent agenda (hidden or not so hidden in them). Anyone providing "education" regarding what it is you need to be healthy who comes from a mainstream perspective will either directly or indirectly be furthering the financial interests of various multinational corporations, mainstream medicine and/or pharmaceutical companies. This is not paranoia or cynicism...it is reality.
–And there is considerable reason to be cautious.
Medical doctors—although often well-meaning-- may be the singularly least qualified persons to offer nutritional recommendations. Their education in nutrition is almost non-existent and carefully cultivated by medical schools entirely toward promotion of pharmaceutical interests. Keep in mind that somewhere around World War II medicine ceased to become a profession and became a full-blown industry. One really does not go to medical school to study health; but rather, one goes to medical school to study disease…and the treatment of the symptoms of disease by the use of drugs, surgery and (often expensive) medical intervention. Medical schools are essentially funded by pharmaceutical interests. --Not that doctors are ill-intentioned in the least, but hospitals are profit-oriented institutions…and the advice you get there may not be in your own best interest so much as the interest of the hospital or clinic (this observation was actually imparted to me in confidence by the head of a department at a major medical university). The same may unfortunately be said for many “natural health care providers” that are often as beholding to the interests of neutraceutical companies as allopathic physicians are beholding to drug companies. I do not suggest people ignore the advice of their healthcare providers, only that people be cautious, do their homework and/or seek second (if not multiple) opinions wherever possible. No one will ever care more about your health and your own best interests than you.
Conventional nutritionists and dieticians (the very people that design hospital food and school lunch programs…take a hint) are bound to the dictates of the unfounded and enormously unscientific USDA Food Pyramid. However well-meaning, these folks have been “indoctrinated” and fully trained by a complex, very corporate-driven system determined to retain considerable political and economic power.
Finally, the media on nearly all fronts are utterly bound by the interests of their advertisers: food, telecommunication and pharmaceutical industries. They literally cannot afford to be objective or tell the “truth” when millions of their advertising dollars are hanging in the balance from fast food, processed food telecommunications and drug companies.
8) Believing that junk food “in moderation” is OK.
This is a biggie. People will rationalize ‘til Sunday why it’s OK for them to eat French fries or potato chips “once in a while” or have their daily beer. While it’s true that it really isn’t what you do “once in a while” that usually determines your ultimate health or success in life (of course, the definition of “once in a while” is another interesting thing to consider) but what you do consistently that matters most…this does have its exceptions.
For instance, the only genuinely safe amount of trans-fats in anyone’s diet is ZERO. A single serving of trans-fat in French fries or chips may take up to two years for one’s body to fully eliminate, and its biological effects on your system in the meantime are chaotic and anyone’s guess as to how deleterious they are likely to be. Is “occasional” Russian roulette an “OK” thing? MSG is an excitotoxin and always does some degree of neurological damage. Is neurological damage “in moderation” OK? Furthermore, sugar consumption in any quantity is damaging and dysregulating to the system. Some of the effects are reversible and some not. Ultimately, it is the cumulative effect associated with glycation and insulin production that determine our health and life span. We live in a world where we can ill-afford any compromise to our health or well-being. Every meal matters. Is “a little hormonal chaos” or “just a tad” of systemic damage acceptable?
In the end, it’s all a matter of what you prioritize. If health really matters to you, then the less you compromise it, the better. If superficial indulgence matters more…then I doubt you would be reading this. It’s a choice we make. We need to make our choices more consciously and thoughtfully--and less impulsively. Furthermore, the less you compromise your health, the easier it becomes not to compromise (you just don’t get tempted after a while) AND the least likely you are to backslide and fall back into less healthy patterns of eating. --Like the Nike ad says: “Just Do It”. Stick to your guns. Maintain your “health integrity”. The ongoing and positively cumulative payoff will well exceed any superficial compromise to your impulsive desires. Your quality of life will not suffer in the absence of French fries, candy, potato chips, dessert or doughnuts. If you think it will, then you may need to take a look at what may be either addictions or a lack of healthy priorities.
7) Following “government guidelines” or “The Food Pyramid” for healthy eating.
Anyone who wants to see for themselves what “government guidelines” and The Food Pyramid can do for their health only needs to drive to the nearest Native American Reservation and look around. The government supplies these reservations with much of their food, based on these guidelines. Take a look at the tragically pervasive rate of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, alcoholism and any other degenerative illness you can think of. Look at life expectancy. Consider also what now constitutes “food” in government guideline-designed school lunch programs. After all…everyone knows that “ketchup is a vegetable”…
6) Thinking that “being slim” means you are healthy---using weight as your litmus of “good health”.
Although it’s always better not to be overweight, looking good on the outside in no way means everything is working right on the inside. It is entirely possible to be slim…AND diabetic. It is entirely possible to be slim and suffer a heart attack or stroke. It is entirely possible to be slim and get cancer…or just about any other disease. Superficial image isn’t everything. –It’s not even close. This is a major...and often disastrous cultural illusion. Diet programs designed to help you lose weight are typically focused on “low calories” to the exclusion of quality health or nutrition. They typically supply their desperate victims with empty processed foods and coddle them with empty “low-cal” and “low fat” carbohydrates and sugary treats to seduce them into their programs (“look---I can EVEN eat chocolate cake and STILL lose weight!”). Those that market these programs, often supported and or designed by registered dieticians, should be ashamed of themselves.
5) Using vitamins to “make up for” unhealthy eating habits.
Keep in mind that vitamin companies are profit-oriented institutions, also. Many would like you to believe that you can make up for eating crap by just taking your daily “One A Day”. There is no such thing. “Supplements” are just that: ---Supplements. They can be an incredibly useful adjunct to an already healthy diet…but never E-V-E-R a substitute.
4) Believing that exercise can “make up for” unhealthy eating habits.
I could go on with this one for hours. It’s an extremely common misconception and one that allows far too many people to rationalize extremely unhealthy dietary habits. Exercise does not determine your biochemistry—diet does. It’s true that exercise (properly done) has many important health benefits. It can help improve, for instance, insulin sensitivity. This will not, however, somehow magically compensate for eating that stack of pancakes for breakfast. Although it is possible to burn off the sugar (with anaerobic exercise) it is NOT possible to burn off the insulin. Trans-fats, too, will NOT melt away and evaporate on the treadmill or stationary bike at the gym after you ate those French fries for lunch. Exercise is an ADJUNCT to a healthy diet…NOT a substitute.
3) The belief that “genetics is destiny”.
Don’t get me started.
Even by the most conservative geneticists’ standards, we have anywhere from 80% to 97% control over our own genetic expressions. We ALL have dormant genes for all sorts of things, both good and bad. You’re not just fat because your mother and father were fat. –Nor are you destined to have a heart attack just because half the people in your family have had one, or by the same token will you get diabetes, or cancer. Genetics can have some influence, certainly…but genes are turned on and off by regulatory genes and regulatory genes are mainly controlled by nutrients. A gene will not express itself unless the internal environment is conducive to its expression… and we have ultimate control over that by the foods we choose to eat, the emotions we habitually choose to experience, the toxicity of the environment in which we live and the lifestyle we consistently choose to live. Learn to be the master of your own genetic destiny.
2) The belief that eating healthy means having to give up enjoyment of food, good flavor, fat, dietary cholesterol or animal source foods.
All of us, regardless of our ideologies, ethnic backgrounds or anything else are genetically “hunter gatherers” and 99.99% identical to humans living 40,000 to 100,000 years ago. We are, in effect, creatures of the Ice Age and designed to consume a diet rich in animal source foods and natural fats, together with a variety of fibrous plant matter. Vegetarianism and veganism are modern day ideas founded more in ideological principles than principles of human physiology and anthropological evidence.
Animal source foods are only as healthy as their sources, and no one should be eating hormone- and antibiotic-laden, feedlot-fattened, or unethically-treated meat sources. The alternative is not vegetarianism/veganism…the alternative is finding healthy, ethically- or naturally raised sources of these animal source foods that we have consumed and have been physiologically adapted to eating as hominids for the last 2.6 million years. Ethical livestock farmers are out there…and we should all be giving them and NOT the commercial livestock industry our business. Plant foods are wonderful, too, and a source of many antioxidants and phytonutrients needed by us more today than ever before. They are far from the entire picture for health, however.
1) The belief or assumption that eating a quality diet is too expensive…or too difficult or complicated to maintain.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The dietary guidelines suggested in my book: “Primal Body—Primal Mind” can not only save you hundreds of dollars in grocery bills (while still being able to afford very high quality meat, fish, eggs and produce), but one also must take into account money to be saved in avoiding medical bills or loss of work income through illness. We’re talking pennies on the dollar here. By approaching diet from an educated, principle-based (and not “formulaic”) perspective one automatically understands what is needed and also knows better how to navigate the landmines of mis- and dis-information set by corporate economic and/or political interests. It’s all way easier and far cheaper than you think!!
Anyway, here is the article:
10) Relying on superficial descriptions such as “natural” or even “organic” on labels to determine whether a food is truly healthy.
Here’s where the Food Industry gets you. They hone in on buzzwords they think will sell their product. Terms like “natural” or “organic” are useless if the product in question is loaded with sugar (organic or not) or if the product contains highly processed ingredients and /or additives. Furthermore, labeling laws designed to supposedly “protect the consumer” are dubious, at best. Learn to read the fine print in the actual nutritional analysis on the back and come to understand the ingredient lists. A good rule of thumb where packaged food is concerned is to follow the edicts of ‘The X-Files’ and “Trust No One”. If it wouldn’t look like food to someone wandering around 40,000 years ago with a loin cloth and a spear, it probably isn’t food for you, either!
9) Relying on the media, your doctor or even conventional nutritionists/dieticians to provide accurate nutritional information
Keep in mind that most "mainstream" information sources have an inherent agenda (hidden or not so hidden in them). Anyone providing "education" regarding what it is you need to be healthy who comes from a mainstream perspective will either directly or indirectly be furthering the financial interests of various multinational corporations, mainstream medicine and/or pharmaceutical companies. This is not paranoia or cynicism...it is reality.
–And there is considerable reason to be cautious.
Medical doctors—although often well-meaning-- may be the singularly least qualified persons to offer nutritional recommendations. Their education in nutrition is almost non-existent and carefully cultivated by medical schools entirely toward promotion of pharmaceutical interests. Keep in mind that somewhere around World War II medicine ceased to become a profession and became a full-blown industry. One really does not go to medical school to study health; but rather, one goes to medical school to study disease…and the treatment of the symptoms of disease by the use of drugs, surgery and (often expensive) medical intervention. Medical schools are essentially funded by pharmaceutical interests. --Not that doctors are ill-intentioned in the least, but hospitals are profit-oriented institutions…and the advice you get there may not be in your own best interest so much as the interest of the hospital or clinic (this observation was actually imparted to me in confidence by the head of a department at a major medical university). The same may unfortunately be said for many “natural health care providers” that are often as beholding to the interests of neutraceutical companies as allopathic physicians are beholding to drug companies. I do not suggest people ignore the advice of their healthcare providers, only that people be cautious, do their homework and/or seek second (if not multiple) opinions wherever possible. No one will ever care more about your health and your own best interests than you.
Conventional nutritionists and dieticians (the very people that design hospital food and school lunch programs…take a hint) are bound to the dictates of the unfounded and enormously unscientific USDA Food Pyramid. However well-meaning, these folks have been “indoctrinated” and fully trained by a complex, very corporate-driven system determined to retain considerable political and economic power.
Finally, the media on nearly all fronts are utterly bound by the interests of their advertisers: food, telecommunication and pharmaceutical industries. They literally cannot afford to be objective or tell the “truth” when millions of their advertising dollars are hanging in the balance from fast food, processed food telecommunications and drug companies.
8) Believing that junk food “in moderation” is OK.
This is a biggie. People will rationalize ‘til Sunday why it’s OK for them to eat French fries or potato chips “once in a while” or have their daily beer. While it’s true that it really isn’t what you do “once in a while” that usually determines your ultimate health or success in life (of course, the definition of “once in a while” is another interesting thing to consider) but what you do consistently that matters most…this does have its exceptions.
For instance, the only genuinely safe amount of trans-fats in anyone’s diet is ZERO. A single serving of trans-fat in French fries or chips may take up to two years for one’s body to fully eliminate, and its biological effects on your system in the meantime are chaotic and anyone’s guess as to how deleterious they are likely to be. Is “occasional” Russian roulette an “OK” thing? MSG is an excitotoxin and always does some degree of neurological damage. Is neurological damage “in moderation” OK? Furthermore, sugar consumption in any quantity is damaging and dysregulating to the system. Some of the effects are reversible and some not. Ultimately, it is the cumulative effect associated with glycation and insulin production that determine our health and life span. We live in a world where we can ill-afford any compromise to our health or well-being. Every meal matters. Is “a little hormonal chaos” or “just a tad” of systemic damage acceptable?
In the end, it’s all a matter of what you prioritize. If health really matters to you, then the less you compromise it, the better. If superficial indulgence matters more…then I doubt you would be reading this. It’s a choice we make. We need to make our choices more consciously and thoughtfully--and less impulsively. Furthermore, the less you compromise your health, the easier it becomes not to compromise (you just don’t get tempted after a while) AND the least likely you are to backslide and fall back into less healthy patterns of eating. --Like the Nike ad says: “Just Do It”. Stick to your guns. Maintain your “health integrity”. The ongoing and positively cumulative payoff will well exceed any superficial compromise to your impulsive desires. Your quality of life will not suffer in the absence of French fries, candy, potato chips, dessert or doughnuts. If you think it will, then you may need to take a look at what may be either addictions or a lack of healthy priorities.
7) Following “government guidelines” or “The Food Pyramid” for healthy eating.
Anyone who wants to see for themselves what “government guidelines” and The Food Pyramid can do for their health only needs to drive to the nearest Native American Reservation and look around. The government supplies these reservations with much of their food, based on these guidelines. Take a look at the tragically pervasive rate of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, alcoholism and any other degenerative illness you can think of. Look at life expectancy. Consider also what now constitutes “food” in government guideline-designed school lunch programs. After all…everyone knows that “ketchup is a vegetable”…
6) Thinking that “being slim” means you are healthy---using weight as your litmus of “good health”.
Although it’s always better not to be overweight, looking good on the outside in no way means everything is working right on the inside. It is entirely possible to be slim…AND diabetic. It is entirely possible to be slim and suffer a heart attack or stroke. It is entirely possible to be slim and get cancer…or just about any other disease. Superficial image isn’t everything. –It’s not even close. This is a major...and often disastrous cultural illusion. Diet programs designed to help you lose weight are typically focused on “low calories” to the exclusion of quality health or nutrition. They typically supply their desperate victims with empty processed foods and coddle them with empty “low-cal” and “low fat” carbohydrates and sugary treats to seduce them into their programs (“look---I can EVEN eat chocolate cake and STILL lose weight!”). Those that market these programs, often supported and or designed by registered dieticians, should be ashamed of themselves.
5) Using vitamins to “make up for” unhealthy eating habits.
Keep in mind that vitamin companies are profit-oriented institutions, also. Many would like you to believe that you can make up for eating crap by just taking your daily “One A Day”. There is no such thing. “Supplements” are just that: ---Supplements. They can be an incredibly useful adjunct to an already healthy diet…but never E-V-E-R a substitute.
4) Believing that exercise can “make up for” unhealthy eating habits.
I could go on with this one for hours. It’s an extremely common misconception and one that allows far too many people to rationalize extremely unhealthy dietary habits. Exercise does not determine your biochemistry—diet does. It’s true that exercise (properly done) has many important health benefits. It can help improve, for instance, insulin sensitivity. This will not, however, somehow magically compensate for eating that stack of pancakes for breakfast. Although it is possible to burn off the sugar (with anaerobic exercise) it is NOT possible to burn off the insulin. Trans-fats, too, will NOT melt away and evaporate on the treadmill or stationary bike at the gym after you ate those French fries for lunch. Exercise is an ADJUNCT to a healthy diet…NOT a substitute.
3) The belief that “genetics is destiny”.
Don’t get me started.
Even by the most conservative geneticists’ standards, we have anywhere from 80% to 97% control over our own genetic expressions. We ALL have dormant genes for all sorts of things, both good and bad. You’re not just fat because your mother and father were fat. –Nor are you destined to have a heart attack just because half the people in your family have had one, or by the same token will you get diabetes, or cancer. Genetics can have some influence, certainly…but genes are turned on and off by regulatory genes and regulatory genes are mainly controlled by nutrients. A gene will not express itself unless the internal environment is conducive to its expression… and we have ultimate control over that by the foods we choose to eat, the emotions we habitually choose to experience, the toxicity of the environment in which we live and the lifestyle we consistently choose to live. Learn to be the master of your own genetic destiny.
2) The belief that eating healthy means having to give up enjoyment of food, good flavor, fat, dietary cholesterol or animal source foods.
All of us, regardless of our ideologies, ethnic backgrounds or anything else are genetically “hunter gatherers” and 99.99% identical to humans living 40,000 to 100,000 years ago. We are, in effect, creatures of the Ice Age and designed to consume a diet rich in animal source foods and natural fats, together with a variety of fibrous plant matter. Vegetarianism and veganism are modern day ideas founded more in ideological principles than principles of human physiology and anthropological evidence.
Animal source foods are only as healthy as their sources, and no one should be eating hormone- and antibiotic-laden, feedlot-fattened, or unethically-treated meat sources. The alternative is not vegetarianism/veganism…the alternative is finding healthy, ethically- or naturally raised sources of these animal source foods that we have consumed and have been physiologically adapted to eating as hominids for the last 2.6 million years. Ethical livestock farmers are out there…and we should all be giving them and NOT the commercial livestock industry our business. Plant foods are wonderful, too, and a source of many antioxidants and phytonutrients needed by us more today than ever before. They are far from the entire picture for health, however.
1) The belief or assumption that eating a quality diet is too expensive…or too difficult or complicated to maintain.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The dietary guidelines suggested in my book: “Primal Body—Primal Mind” can not only save you hundreds of dollars in grocery bills (while still being able to afford very high quality meat, fish, eggs and produce), but one also must take into account money to be saved in avoiding medical bills or loss of work income through illness. We’re talking pennies on the dollar here. By approaching diet from an educated, principle-based (and not “formulaic”) perspective one automatically understands what is needed and also knows better how to navigate the landmines of mis- and dis-information set by corporate economic and/or political interests. It’s all way easier and far cheaper than you think!!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
To Cheat or Not to Cheat?
Hamlet probably had an easier decision to make but this is still difficult a choice for a dieter. Let's face it, when you're out with your friends at a restaurant it's almost impossible to order the salmon with a side of broccoli. That pizza everybody is devouring is going to look mighty tempting. You also isolate your self a little bit when your eating habits are so different from everybody else. If you're serious about being healthy you can't let others sabotage your weight loss. Believe me the sabotage will come but you have to be strong.
But we are human and we have to live in the real world. Civilization is going to bombard you with sugary snacks and you have indulge a little bit. The point is to not allow others to influence you. If you're going to cheat, at least choose to do so. Don't let someone else choose for you by making fun of your "weird" diet.
But we are human and we have to live in the real world. Civilization is going to bombard you with sugary snacks and you have indulge a little bit. The point is to not allow others to influence you. If you're going to cheat, at least choose to do so. Don't let someone else choose for you by making fun of your "weird" diet.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Eating Happy Cows
I'm suffering from a little bit of cognitive dissonance because I eat factory farmed meat. This terrible practice is weighing on my conscience. Clearly, factory farming is wrong but it's almost all that is available as far as meat goes.
Grass-fed meat is available but it's quite expensive and I can't afford until I get a better job. Right now grocery-store meat is all I ever eat (rhyme not intended) and I know for a fact that 99% of that comes from these killing factories. As a conscientious eater I can't ignore that I am fueling the industry by participating in it so I think I'm going to cutback on my meat consumption until I can afford pasture raised grass-fed meat. It's way better for you anyway.
Grass-fed meat is available but it's quite expensive and I can't afford until I get a better job. Right now grocery-store meat is all I ever eat (rhyme not intended) and I know for a fact that 99% of that comes from these killing factories. As a conscientious eater I can't ignore that I am fueling the industry by participating in it so I think I'm going to cutback on my meat consumption until I can afford pasture raised grass-fed meat. It's way better for you anyway.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Stop Counting Calories, Dummy!
Open up almost any health magazine and read the tips on losing weight. I bet almost every writer in there subscribes to the idea that as long as you burn off more calories than you take in, you will lose weight. This is only part of the big picture. It's really not very helpful to think this way. If you do, you will end up counting all the calories you consume and burn and wonder why you're not losing that 2 pounds a week your diet journal tells you you should be losing. Who has time to do all the calorie counting nonsense anyway? It's very stressful. The reason it doesn't work is because you're body is far more complex than you can even imagine.
There are roughly 50 trillion cells in the human body. 50 trillion! Millions die every minute only to be replaced by another similar cell. It's just staggering to think about. All of those tiny little cells in your body don't know you and don't give a damn about you. They're all as stupid as can be. Even the one's in your brain are dumb. Despite the stupidity of these cells, as a team, they make one remarkable walking, talking, breathing organism. One that can ride bikes, blog on the internet, and drive a car.
When we think about the body, we don't think of it as a decentralized network of cells all looking out for themselves. We think of our body more as a machine when it is anything but. Just think of the language we use when we talk about it. We call food "fuel" as if it's a gasoline powering an engine somewhere in your body. Your body is not like a car or any other mechanism. It is a complex organism that is the product of millions of years of evolution.
It's helpful to know this if you want to be healthy. After you discard the old machine model of the body you can start to think of it as an organism. You are an organism that needs to eat the right foods and exercise to balance all those hormone swimming inside your bloodstream. That's the key to all of this. It's about the quality of food you take in that will manage your weight not the quantity.
You won't lose weight at the rate you hope to if you merely count calories and don't consider the quality of the food you eat. If you eat 2000 calories worth of Twinkies and Pepsi every day, chances are you will gain weight. But if you eat 2000 calories of lean meats and veggies every day you will most likely lose weight. Same amount of calories, different outcome. Why is this so? It's because the lean meats and veggies won't disrupt the delicate balance of hormones your body as been accustomed to for thousands of years. Twinkies, soda, grains, legume and other foods of large scale agriculture are completely foreign to your ancient body and will raise your insulin to levels that it is not used to. Humans and our predecessors have never been exposed to the absurd amount of carbohydrates that we are just surrounded by.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Will Paleo Ever Go Mainstream?
Probably not. But still...
Nightline on ABC had a segment devoted to the paleo diet. Two of my favorite Paleo spokesmen were on the show: Arthur Devany and Robb Wolf. This may be a sign that the Paleo lifestyle is slowly moving from the fringe of weirdos and closer the center of so called normal people. Don't get me wrong, I think there is a long way to go before the average American views bread as being an unhealthy food, but still, it is growing. Every so often there is some new study or news report extolling the benefits of a high protein diet or weightlifting. A few years ago the results of a study that tracked the changes experienced by women on a low fat diet. The result? There was no significant difference in mortality or health problems compared with the higher fat eating control group. Also, there is more evidence that weightlifting is excellent at the prevention of osteoporosis in women. Maybe people will start eating and moving the way we were designed to rather than waist our time starving ourselves and spending countless hours in the gym doing worthless cardio work.
This is probably wishful thinking. It takes a long time to see the truth when everybody is feeding you lies. It is still assumed that the caricature of paleolithic man as being a hunched over brute that didn't live past thirty is correct. People can't understand the thought that ancient man was much more physically healthy than modern man. Homo erectus, an ancestor to our species, had bigger brains than us! Sure, we live way longer, but that's because we don't get eaten by sabre toothed tigers anymore or die of terrible accidents as often. Infant mortality also skewed the average life expectancy of hunter gatherer times. We do live longer but it is usually a life of chronic illness and malnourishment.
As more scientific evidence that supports the claims of the paleo diet come in, I think we will see more supporters on the mainstream.
Nightline on ABC had a segment devoted to the paleo diet. Two of my favorite Paleo spokesmen were on the show: Arthur Devany and Robb Wolf. This may be a sign that the Paleo lifestyle is slowly moving from the fringe of weirdos and closer the center of so called normal people. Don't get me wrong, I think there is a long way to go before the average American views bread as being an unhealthy food, but still, it is growing. Every so often there is some new study or news report extolling the benefits of a high protein diet or weightlifting. A few years ago the results of a study that tracked the changes experienced by women on a low fat diet. The result? There was no significant difference in mortality or health problems compared with the higher fat eating control group. Also, there is more evidence that weightlifting is excellent at the prevention of osteoporosis in women. Maybe people will start eating and moving the way we were designed to rather than waist our time starving ourselves and spending countless hours in the gym doing worthless cardio work.
This is probably wishful thinking. It takes a long time to see the truth when everybody is feeding you lies. It is still assumed that the caricature of paleolithic man as being a hunched over brute that didn't live past thirty is correct. People can't understand the thought that ancient man was much more physically healthy than modern man. Homo erectus, an ancestor to our species, had bigger brains than us! Sure, we live way longer, but that's because we don't get eaten by sabre toothed tigers anymore or die of terrible accidents as often. Infant mortality also skewed the average life expectancy of hunter gatherer times. We do live longer but it is usually a life of chronic illness and malnourishment.
As more scientific evidence that supports the claims of the paleo diet come in, I think we will see more supporters on the mainstream.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Are Carbs the Devil?
You don't need anyone to tell you that there is too much conflicting information about carbohydrates. Carbs have been demonized and extolled by different experts and it's still not very clear to the general public what role carbs should play in their diet. Are carbs good or bad? The simple answer to this is some carbs are good.
Let me explain.
First a little info about macronutrients. You learned about these in high school health class but you probably forgot all about them (okay so you never really paid attention in health class). Carbohydrates are one of the three macronutrients found in food. The other two are fats and proteins. Usually, on the back of processed foods, there is a label with a break down of the amounts of carbs, fats, and proteins. Some foods have more of one macronutrient than the others. Steak, for instance would be mostly protein and fat with no carbohydrates in it at all. Veggies, on the other hand contain mostly carbs with very little fat and protein.
So, why are some carbs bad and some good?
Let's first break down what happens when your body digests carbohydrates. Carbohydrates raise your blood glucose levels which in turn raise your insulin levels. Blood glucose is simply the sugar in your bloodstream. Your muscles and brain use glucose as energy. But too much glucose is toxic to your body. Insulin is released to counteract the high blood sugar. It causes your body to store that excess glucose into your muscles and liver in the form of glycogen to be used later. When your muscle and liver stores are full, your body will then convert that glucose into fat to be stored in your fat cells. Without insulin, your body's cells would be swimming in glucose which is poisonous in high amounts. That is why it is so urgent that type 1 diabetics take insulin along with their meals. Type 1 diabetics cannot produce insulin on their own so they need to inject it from an external source.
If you followed that last paragraph, you understand that carbohydrates raise blood sugar, which raises insulin, which raises fat stores. The less carbohydrates you eat, the less fat you gain. It is best to limit the amount of carbohydrates you eat to very low levels if you want to lose body fat. But this is not enough because all carbs are not created equal. Some sources are better than others.
The best types of carbohydrates to eat are those from vegetables: romaine lettuce, carrots, beets, tomatoes, kale, spinach, etc. That is because vegetables contain a lot of fiber slows the digestion process so that your blood sugar doesn't spike. Blood sugar spikes are bad because they are followed by an insulin spike which severely drops your blood sugar and makes you hungry all over again. The fiber makes it so that your blood sugar slowly goes up and remains relatively stable.
The next best carbohydrates are from fruits. Don't eat too many fruits those because they contain more simple sugars than veggies. Simple carbs more easily spike your blood sugar because they are digested more rapidly. Eating too many fruits in one sitting shouldn't be a problem for most people. Have you ever tried to gorge on fruits? It's pretty hard. After the first three apples your done eating. Personally, I don't like to eat a lot of fruit, but when I do I like to eat a few berries with my breakfast of steak and eggs.
The absolute worst carbohydrates are those from grains and sugars. Yes, that's right. Grains. Yeah, I said it. I want to repeat this a few times so it sticks. Grains are not healthy! Grains are not healthy! Grains are not healthy! Whew. Nice to get that out. I know this is treading on sacred ground for some people (especially vegetarians and especially vegans) but if you follow the paleo logic you would know why this is so. There are a whole myriad of reasons why grains are bad but let's stick with the blood sugar part. Your body digests the carbohydrates very rapidly, just like it does with the carbohydrates in Skittles. Got that? For example, you eat a loaf of bread, your blood sugar will soar just like it does with any candy you pick up from the drug store. Try and think of bread and other grain products as sugar. The two slices of bread between your sandwich are like two slices of sugar. The bowl of cereal your eating is like a bowl of sugar. Don't punish your body by eating this crap.
Don't be to confused about it all. Just keep it simple by adhering to a few simple rules. Eat mostly veggies, a few fruits, and little to no grains and sugars. Carbohydrates aren't all bad, it just depends on the quantity and quality of the ones you eat.
Let me explain.
First a little info about macronutrients. You learned about these in high school health class but you probably forgot all about them (okay so you never really paid attention in health class). Carbohydrates are one of the three macronutrients found in food. The other two are fats and proteins. Usually, on the back of processed foods, there is a label with a break down of the amounts of carbs, fats, and proteins. Some foods have more of one macronutrient than the others. Steak, for instance would be mostly protein and fat with no carbohydrates in it at all. Veggies, on the other hand contain mostly carbs with very little fat and protein.
So, why are some carbs bad and some good?
Let's first break down what happens when your body digests carbohydrates. Carbohydrates raise your blood glucose levels which in turn raise your insulin levels. Blood glucose is simply the sugar in your bloodstream. Your muscles and brain use glucose as energy. But too much glucose is toxic to your body. Insulin is released to counteract the high blood sugar. It causes your body to store that excess glucose into your muscles and liver in the form of glycogen to be used later. When your muscle and liver stores are full, your body will then convert that glucose into fat to be stored in your fat cells. Without insulin, your body's cells would be swimming in glucose which is poisonous in high amounts. That is why it is so urgent that type 1 diabetics take insulin along with their meals. Type 1 diabetics cannot produce insulin on their own so they need to inject it from an external source.
If you followed that last paragraph, you understand that carbohydrates raise blood sugar, which raises insulin, which raises fat stores. The less carbohydrates you eat, the less fat you gain. It is best to limit the amount of carbohydrates you eat to very low levels if you want to lose body fat. But this is not enough because all carbs are not created equal. Some sources are better than others.
The best types of carbohydrates to eat are those from vegetables: romaine lettuce, carrots, beets, tomatoes, kale, spinach, etc. That is because vegetables contain a lot of fiber slows the digestion process so that your blood sugar doesn't spike. Blood sugar spikes are bad because they are followed by an insulin spike which severely drops your blood sugar and makes you hungry all over again. The fiber makes it so that your blood sugar slowly goes up and remains relatively stable.
The next best carbohydrates are from fruits. Don't eat too many fruits those because they contain more simple sugars than veggies. Simple carbs more easily spike your blood sugar because they are digested more rapidly. Eating too many fruits in one sitting shouldn't be a problem for most people. Have you ever tried to gorge on fruits? It's pretty hard. After the first three apples your done eating. Personally, I don't like to eat a lot of fruit, but when I do I like to eat a few berries with my breakfast of steak and eggs.
Don't be to confused about it all. Just keep it simple by adhering to a few simple rules. Eat mostly veggies, a few fruits, and little to no grains and sugars. Carbohydrates aren't all bad, it just depends on the quantity and quality of the ones you eat.
Monday, February 28, 2011
My Evolution
So here I am. 24 years old and a father to be and slowly letting my self go. I am not fat. Not really. But I am dissatisfied with the way I look and feel. Living in 21st century America has taken a toll on my mind and body like it has with almost everybody else. I think I heard somewhere that about two thirds of adults in the U.S. are either overweight or obese. Those are some frightening statistics.
I took an interest in fitness when I was around 14 years old. I became quite fat during middle school and decided to lose the pudge. Health class indoctrinated with the high carb, low fat dogma that just plain doesn't work. I restricted my fat intake and overall caloric intake and became a thin, lanky teenager. Sometime during high school I took an interest in lifting weights and continued with it well into college. During my junior year of college high hit about 215 lbs at around 6' 1" and could bench press about 260 lbs. I was pretty muscular but I was not lean. In an effort to get leaner, I decided to take the paleo approach. I stumbled across Art Devany's great blog and it made complete sense to me. I tried his evolutionary diet and it was just miraculous. You lose fat effortlessly on his diet. After I lost a little bit of that fat from my bodybuilding days, I let my self slip back into the standard American diet.
Those days are over now. I'm committing myself to Art's way of life because it is so obviously the best diet for any human to live on. It's time to face my reality as a human with the genes that prepared me to be a hunter gatherer. I am not a hunter gatherer and don't intend to be during any time of life, but, if I want to be healthy, I'm going to have to emulate the hunter gatherer lifestyle as best I can.
Here is a photo to show you what I look like now:
I'm about 190 lbs in this photo. I'm not aiming for any particular weight because I think goals are for suckers. I'm changing my lifestyle here, not aiming for some illusory goal. It's all about the process any way, not the end result. I think focusing on something that I don't have is going to stress me out and lead me astray.
Anyway, I think I'll post a photo every week or so to track my progress.
Gotta go. I think my fiancée is getting anxious for my attention.
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