Eating Against the Grain, Part 3

Short time of availability.

Ina natural setting wheat is only available for harvest about two weeks out of the year.  This means even if you wanted to eat the stuff it you would only have the chance to eat it maybe one month out of the year.  The only reason we can now eat wheat and other grains year round is because we have developed a massive infrastructure to store and transport the grains.  So living year round on a food source that at best our bodies should only be naturally exposed to for a single month at a time is probably not a good idea.  Nature has lots of cycles to it, most of them track the sun and the rest track the moon.  The seasons due to the tilt of the the Earth's axis determine the cyclic variation in temperature, sunlight, and rainfall an ecosystem experiences.  Everything in that ecosystem lives to this same "beat."  This is how plants know when to sprout, when to flower, and then the bees know to go out and pollinate. By harvesting grains all across the country, from multiple strains and types, storing and transporting them all around we interrupt the "beat" of nature.  Our bodies are simply not designed to handle year in and year consumption of wheat even it if were a natural food source.  This applies to vegetables and more so to fruits but we don't try to make biscuits, and cookies, and chips and snacks out of them.  We litterlly drown our bodies in wheat, corn, rice, and other grains that is completely anomalous to our body.  No wonder we get sick with cancer like nothing else does that still lives in harmony to the "beat" of nature.

Grains - Not naturally available year round.

Increasing Mobility

I've been CrossFitting for about a year now as much as my job allows and I have noticed some mobility issues surfacing.  I am a huge fan of Kelly Starret, DPT and usually start my workouts with his Should Prep and Hip Prep routine.  He has a great site Mobility WOD where he demonstrates ways to improve your mobility.  Increase mobility and range of motion over the long term keeps you out of the nursing home, a big plus!  In the meantime it means less aches and pains.  It also translates to safer movement when doing work around the home, office, or in the shop.  For those concerned with athletic performance it means being able to move more weight more efficiently.  That means doing more work in less time, which is the very definition of an increase in power, yes more horsepower just by opening up your joints and tissues.  Here are some things I keep in my bag to perform some of these Mobility exercises!

   You need three Lacross Balls because KSTAR has you tape two together to isolate and block sticky ribs and things like that. 













I have used racket balls as well, they are about the same size but do not have the same hardness feel free to try either or both!










  I also keep Tennis Balls in my Mobility Kit since they offer a different size and density.  Again you need at least three since KSTAR has you tape two together to isolate and block sticky ribs and what not.










You will also want to pick up one of these "Jump Stretch Bands" or "Fitness Loops"  KSTAR uses them for all sorts of stretching, from the PNF of your hips to "distracting the joint" for your shoulders.  I prefer the green, but the yellow should work as well!

And of course the Foam Roller almost goes without mentioning.  You may want to pick up the red one from GoFit it comes with a very nice instructional DVD.




You will also want about a seven foot piece of PVC pipe about an 1 1/2" or so based on what feels best in your hand.  This is critical for shoulder pass throughs and ensuring you have proper form when warming up the shoulders and hips.

Check out KSTAR's Mobility WOD and get mobile, the kind that doesn't rely upon cell phones!

What I EAT, Part 1 - Breakfast

Starting another series this one covering things that I actually eat.  During a workout this morning a co-worker asked me what I eat that gave me so much energy.

So this is what I eat for breakfast, and by breakfast I mean the first thing I eat after waking from my fast during the night.
1.  1 Can of Goya Coconut Milk
2.  2 Scoops of Optima Nutrition Pro Complex -Natural
3.  50 grams of Honey

I drink half about an hour before working out and the rest immediately following the workout.  These items digest fairly quickly being liquids and provide good amounts of the three fuels the body uses during high intensity, CrossFit style workouts.  Half of this shake provides a little less than 30 grams of carbs, a little more than 30 grams of protein and a little more than 30 grams of fat. 

Now my reasoning behind this.
In a fasted state which is more than four hours without food the body most certainly runs on Fat through the beta oxidation pathway.  That means the liver is making HDL to transport Triglycerides from your adipose tissue to your muscles and organs.  The liver is also making brand new glucose from the glycerol backbones of the triglycerides.  This leaves enough glucose for your brain, red, and white blood cells to function, the high intensity producers if you will.  So waking up with all this going on the last think I want to eat is a pile of carbohydrates, because the body can only allow so much in the blood at one time.  How much, about 5 grams is normal, but over ten and lots of bad stuff starts to happen (Diabetes & its associated signs and symptoms).  So eating a pile of carbs first thing in the morning the body must about face.  No more fat burning, its time for fat storing.  That means the liver starts making palmitic acid from the excess carbs.  Sticks three of them on a glycerol molecule making a new Triglyceride.  Then the liver makes an LDL or even VLDL to take the new Triglyceride to your adipose tissue (fatty areas).  We all know high TGs and LDL and VLDL are bad but now we know why your liver makes them.  Its trying to keep your blood from turning into honey and killing you!
Thirty grams of Carbs in a meal is plenty to top off the blood, the brain and my muscles for working out, and enough to charge me up to be ready for some heavy lifting.  This supports the Glycolitic pathway, an anaerobic energy pathway used for short bursts of maximum effort.
Thirty grams of protein is plenty to cause a positive nitrogen balance giving my muscles and any other organs sufficient material to repair and make new tissues, like bigger, stronger muscles!
Thirty grams of fat slows down and spreads out the absorption of the sugars in the honey to help manage a more even flow of sugar into the blood stream.  It also provides fat in the blood to keep the rest of my organs in beta oxidation, and when my muscles run low on sugar they can switch back to fat as well.
So there you go 30-30-30 Carb-Protein-Fat by weight is what I wake up to every morning, and how I finish every hard workout!

Eating Against the Grain, Part 2

Interrupts the Life Cycle.

Unlike fruits and nuts which enjoy riding around in our bodies and being deposited with some fertilizer, grains do not like this.  I touched on this in the last post, but I want to make it clear here that eating grains terminates that grains future generations.  Eating fruit, which seeds survive in your system, set it up nicely to start a new generation of life.  Granted modern living prevents this with our current waste water systems but we are looking at the original design here.  Our genes have changed very little from our original design, and more has changed in the way we live in the last 100 years than the last 10,000.  And we wonder why we now suffer from epidemics of chronic disease?  Anyhow eating grains is not part of the original design.  Their natural state of looking unappetizing and the way in which they move through their life cycle give evidence to this.  In part three I plan to present more evidence demonstrating how eating grains works against nature destroying life.

Yummy Looking Natural Food begging you to eat it.

You really think you should eat this?  Rice in Natural State

Grains - Interrupt the Life Cycle.

Mothers Give

To encompass what mothers do in one word: Give. 

Mothers give you their mitochondria which make food for every cell in your body!
Mothers give you the rhythm of your heart, as yours picked up the beat of theirs!
Mothers give you room to grow, sheltered from the sometimes harsh world!
Mothers give you nutrients, milk, and eventually solid food!
Mothers give you time to dream, often letting go of theirs!
Mothers give you life and advice on how to live it!
Mothers give up sleep to help you find yours!
Mothers give up lots of things just to give to you!
Mothers never give up on you, and you will never forget the sound of her voice!

I dedicate this to all mothers everywhere, especially the ones who were not ready but gave all they could.

Eating Against the Grain, Part 1

Eating against the grain - a series explaining the dark side of eating grains year round.  In this series I hope to explain in detail one detrimental aspect of relying upon grains as food in each part.  I shall simply present the truth and let you decide if you are ready to start eating and living against the grain.

Unnatural food source 
Grains, unlike seeds or nuts cannot be eaten without a good bit of processing.  So let's have a contrasting look at grains versus seeds.

A Wheat Spikelet

Quite appetizing?  Just the sort of thing that begs to be eaten, looks like it will just slide painlessly through fifty feet of your insides.
Imagine the amount of processing involved in not only growing this, but it turning into flour.  This is why Farm Bills give over $40 Billion of our Taxes to a few enormous companies involved in processing yearly!

These are Hemp Seeds still in their shells.  Just like any nut or seed, simply crack the shell and enjoy.  Simple to store, transport, and consume in its basic raw, real, and natural state.  No need to steal from taxpayers subsidize the considerable lack of processing involved in producing nuts and seeds because they are natural sources of food.

So why the difference between grains and seeds?  Simply put they are different strategies of offspring propagation.  Grains are designed to travel on the wind, while seeds, nuts, and fruits are designed to hitch a ride in or on animals like humans. 


Grains - Unnatural food source.

Better than Whey

A month or so ago I blogged about protein power and gave examples of a whey protein that I really like.  A few weeks ago an Augmented protein complex was introduced to me.  It consists of different types of proteins which digest at different rates.  I find this good for several reasons.  Its more like real food, though still liquid so it puts less strain on your digestion system.  It offers you a more steady flow of protein which helps lengthen the release of Leptin which tells your brain to feel satiated from a meal.  This also gives your muscles and tissues more time to synthesis cell components like sarcomeres!  Finally this system also includes all the B vitamins which are kind of important.  Again B vitamins are water soluble so you must take them daily.  They also enable your body to break down and synthesis all sorts of important molecules required for cell metabolism, repair and growth.  The only improvement I can think of for this product is a good amount of Vitamin C (2,000 mg) some Zinc (30mg) and a little bit of selenium to support anti-oxidation and testosterone and cortisol production.   This is just to keep everything water soluble.  If you mix in your fats like you should (Coconut Milk) I would also add EPH & DHA Omega3's, Vitamin E and COQ10, and you will have quite a solid meal.  I usually add honey to my mix as well to support the High Intensity workout that relies on the Glycolitic pathway as well.  If you doing low to medium intensity then the honey will just end up as fat and not as glycogen in your muscles!