We have both enjoyed sharing our thoughts here at Fitness Spotlight over the last couple years and are greatly humbled by all the readers and support that we got in the process! Unfortunately this will be the last official post here at Fitness Spotlight.

However, that is not the end of us (sorry, can’t get rid of us that easily!). We have “secretly” been working on our next step for some time…and they are ready to announce…

But We Also Have Good News!!

We are proud to present our NEW sites below! We both have worked on our own new sites for the past 6+ months and are excited to officially announce them.  These sites are going to be more complete and offer so much more, all in all a better experience for you the reader! (We will also be transferring our old Fitness Spotlight posts/articles into those new sites, so any old links will go to the new proper place).

So without further delay, here they are!

1) New Site #1 – The IF Life (Mike)

OK, for those that have been around a while you will recognize the name as really not “new”. The IF Life was actually my first blog name that I started with back in early 2008 (before combining with Scott to make Fitness Spotlight). I am now officially “re-launching” the IF Life better than ever! You could even probably call it the new and improved IF Life 2.0.

The “IF” in the IF Life stands for the 3 main principles I still hold dear…

• Simple eating for weight loss/health with Intermittent Feeding/Fasting.
• Getting more from your workouts with Intensity Fitness programming.
• Finding Instant Freedom by keeping it simple and letting go of your health/fitness/eating obsessions.

I am excited to get back to blogging again at the IF Life, with those 3 main principles in mind, and helping you to make your own IF based lifestyle!

~ Mike O’Donnell

2) New Site #2 – Naked Food Cooking (Scott)

Four years ago, when I started my first site, Modern Forager, there weren’t many people talking about the science of eating and the Paleo/Primal lifestyle. Today, there are tons of them and I feel that the movement is rolling along nicely.

I’ve decided to refocus and move away from the science aspect a bit and focus more on the enjoyment of food. Given my background of “Eating Real Food,” I’m now looking to teach people how to actually make magic in the kitchen rather than focusing solely on what they eat.

So come join me at Naked Food Cooking (don’t worry, only the food is naked) for recipes, cooking tips, and ideas for everyone from the kitchen newbie to those of you well-versed in cooking techniques. Let’s start a Real Food Revolution and help get people “clean” by teaching them how to opt out of the fast food lifestyle.

~ Scott Kustes

We Appreciate All of You

While we are still going to both be blogging at our new sites, we would also just like to say “Thank You” to all our readers for your support. It is all of you that inspire us to keep upping our game and bringing you more great resources to help everyone out there.

Unfortunately we can not transfer our Fitness Spotlight RSS account between both new sites, so please be sure to come sign up for both our new blog RSS feeds (direct links provided below). We look forward to bringing you more ongoing great information. See you there!

>> Click here to get the IF Life RSS

>> Click here to get the Naked Food Cooking RSS

Officially signing off from Fitness Spotlight for the last time,

~ Mike and Scott

Angiogenesis And Cancer

A friend recently sent me several articles and a Ted Talk video about how inhibiting angiogenesis might make it possible to stop the growth of cancer. So I figured it was worth taking a look at to figure out what it’s all about and if there’s any credence to the idea.

What Is Angiogenesis?

For starters, let’s talk about just what angiogenesis is. We’ll just take the concise Wikipedia definition:

Angiogenesis is a physiological process involving the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels.
…
Angiogenesis is a normal and vital process in growth and development, as well as in wound healing. However, it is also a fundamental step in the transition of tumors from a dormant state to a malignant one.

So on the one hand, we have “normal and vital” and on the other hand, we have cancer. Basically, tumors secrete several growth factors that promote angiogenesis, allowing capillaries to grow into the tumor and supply the essential nutrients the tumor needs to keep growing. Further, this blood vessel growth is essential to a tumor metastasizing.

Basically, it begs the question, “what if we could stop angiogenesis? Could we stop cancer?” Okay, that’s two questions.

Anti-Angiogenesis For Cancer Therapy

So if angiogenesis is the creation of new blood vessels, anti-angiogenesis is anything that stops the creation of new blood vessels. It could be food or drugs. There are already drugs out there that inhibit angiogenesis to starve cancer cells, some of which are FDA approved. It seems that the proof is there that inhibiting angiogenesis works to stop the unrestricted growth of cancer’s food supply. (One study even showed that it could stop fat tissue growth in mice.)

Can food do the same thing without the negative side effects of drugs?

Can We Eat To Stop Cancer?

Here is a video of Dr. William Li presenting at Ted Talks about using various foods to prevent angiogenesis. It’s a good 20 minute watch, but if you prefer, I’ll summarize after the video.

So if certain foods can promote cancer, it makes sense to me that certain foods can help fight it. Of course, as Dr. Li points out, food alone might not be enough once you’re actually diagnosed with cancer, but it certainly can’t hurt. The goal, though, is to do things that hopefully keep us from getting cancer in the first place. Luckily, it’s not the inevitability that so many think it is.

For those of us that are seemingly healthy, I don’t really think it’s something to obsess about though. Just eat a normal diet loaded with real foods. It’s really that simple. I think people don’t like to consider that lifestyle is a major component of cancer, but for most, it is. The reality is that people have been using food as medicine for a long, long time…long before there were anti-angiogenic drugs and chemotherapy.

Here’s a graph from the video showing the contribution of various lifestyle factors and genes into cancer.

A little back of the envelope math says that between 1/4 and 1/3 of the cause of cancer is diet-related. That’s big and that’s one that’s much easier to change than your genes. Stop smoking and lose weight and you knock off another huge chunk.

Anti-Angiogenic Foods

Take a look at this table from Dr. Li’s Ted Talks page. It shows a long list of foods that have been found to have anti-angiogenic properties.

What was interesting in the video was when he talked about how combining the foods made for an even stronger anti-angiogenic response. It looks like these foods have a symbiotic relationship in the body. Red, red wine and dark chocolate, anyone (while listening to UB40 perhaps)? I’m guessing that plenty of other natural foods also help the body combat cancer. No telling what’s in that “Others” category.

One thing is for sure…the fruit cocktail at your next family picnic sure looks a whole lot better.

Don’t We Need Angiogenesis?

So this question was on my mind while I was looking at all of this, but it seems that what Dr. Li proposes is that eating the right foods doesn’t stop normal angiogenesis completely. They keep angiogenesis at a normal level while stopping the unrestricted growth of blood vessels present in cancer and other diseases. They basically keep the body operating properly. At least, that’s my take from it.

Real Foods To The Rescue

In the past couple years that I’ve been running this blog (and my prior blog, The Modern Forager), I’ve kind of made it my mission to get people to stop obsessing about nutrition and just focus on eating real food. I mean, obviously I enjoy the science of it all as much as the next guy and gal, but I think some of us get a little too twisted up in it. There’s really no need to wear your diet like a “Hi My Name Is…” tag or a badge of honor.

The past couple years, I’ve realized that it’s not about low-carb and low-fat. It’s just about eating real foods. I doubt that someone with a normal, healthy metabolism is going to see any issues from eating all the fruit, sweet potatoes and other tubers, and rice (yes, even rice), they want as long as enough protein and fat is included for health. I am pretty sure that the healthiest, longest-lived people in the world eat all manner of real food (and none of them Zone). So really, stop freaking out about it and just learn to enjoy cooking and eating.

If you need help learning to make Real Food taste good, check out Naked Food Cooking to upgrade your cooking skills.

What do you think? Can food alone prevent or reverse cancer or are there other factors at work? Where do we take it from here?

Microalgae Oil

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Rhonda Perciavalle of Perciavalle Health about microalgae oil.

I’ve got some good news, and some bad news for you vegetarians and vegan types out there. First, the bad news: That flaxseed oil you’ve been relying on for your daily dose of omega-3? It’s not a good substitute for fish oil.

Omega-3 fatty acids consist of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). For most people, the main source of omega-3 in their diet comes from fatty fish, such as salmon.

EPA and DHA

Often, vegetarians, however, rely almost exclusively on flax oil for their omega-3 supplementation – this is a mistake because flax oil consists solely of ALA, which must first be converted into EPA, and then subsequently converted into DHA. In-so-far as meeting dietary requirements of omega-3, DHA and EPA are the only real players here that matter. At least in most respects. We’ll get to the exceptions on that in a minute. Although ALA can be converted into EPA and DHA in your body, several studies have shown this to be a very inefficient process. 1 In fact, the human body can only convert very small amounts of ALA into EPA and DHA. Studies have shown that only approximately 5% of ALA is converted to EPA, whereas, less than 0.5% is converted in to DHA. 2

DHA Conversion

The reason for this inefficiency is due to the rate limiting step: enzyme availability. This is because the enzyme responsible for the conversion of ALA into EPA, delta-6-desaturase, competitively binds to omega-6 fatty acids also. Hence, in order to get DHA from flax-derived ALA, your body must undergo not one, but two rate limiting enzymatic conversions: first from ALA to EPA, then from EPA to DHA. Clearly this is, as stated earlier, a terribly inefficient process that could be circumnavigated entirely simply by going right to the source and ingesting EPA and DHA directly.

The good news is there IS a source of omega-3 that qualifies as vegetarian, won’t offend your moral or dietary sensibilities, has a high grade of purity, and avoids depleting fish stocks…two words: microalgae oil.

Microalgae Oil Supplementation

Something many of you might not know is that algae, such as zooplankton and phytoplankton, are actually the primary source of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids. Fish ingest these microalgae and store the DHA and EPA in their fat, which is why fish oil is high in both of these omega-3 fatty acids. 3 Some microalgae have already been shown to produce high levels of both DHA and EPA, such as Spirulina and Nannochloropsis sp., however, high-EPA microalgae supplements are still in short supply. Even so, switching to microalgae removes at least one enzymatic step – which, apparently, makes all the difference in the world.

In one study, vegetarians that were deficient in EPA and DHA, took 1 gram of microalgae oil daily. 4 After eight weeks, they significantly raised both their DHA and EPA levels. This is in stark contrast to another study that showed that ALA derived from flax oil did not significantly increase EPA and DHA levels. 5 In another, similar example lactating women supplementing with 10.7g per day with ALA derived from flaxseed oil, failed to increase DHA levels in their breast milk. 6 This is particularly alarming for any nursing mothers relying on flaxseed as their omega-3 source because DHA is the most abundant fatty acid in the brain, particularly during development — a time when the availability of all the essential building blocks of life are most important. 7 DHA plays a role in visual acuity 8 and deficiency in DHA during development leads to behavioral and functional deficits including smaller neurons in the cortex, hippocampus, and hypothalamus.9 Moreover, during fetal development in particular, DHA must be obtained through the mother’s circulation and reduced DHA levels leads to visual and learning deficits. 10

Now, with that said, ALA supplementation does have benefits that are distinct from DHA and EPA which, quite specifically, pertains to the skin

ALA Omega 3

Perhaps the most recognizable function of ALA that is separable from other omega-3 fatty acids is its role in the skin. More than 46% of ALA was found in the skin and fur of guinea pigs that were orally administered ALA. 11 Additionally, ALA was shown to promote fur growth in rats, indicating that ALA plays an essential role in hair growth. 12 The effects of ALA deficiency were studied in monkeys and resulted in skin lesions and fur loss, which was restored upon ALA supplementation. 13 Topical application of ALA has also been shown to lighten skin after UV-induced hyperpigmentation and this was due to decreased melanin production as well as increased desquamation of pigment in the epidermis. 14

The bottom line is that ALA derived from flaxseed oil is not an adequate vegetarian source for DHA and EPA, and those should ultimately be supplemented separately from ALA/Flaxseed Oil. Microalgae oil is a good source of DHA and EPA for vegetarians for this. Flaxseed oil, isn’t, however, without its own beneficial effects and might still make a good supplement in addition to whatever else you choose to make your primary source of EPA and DHA.

Honestly when it comes to health and weight loss, you probably know what you need to do. Are there really any true breakthroughs that will help you? Not really. Are you shocked when you hear to “eat less overall, eat healthier foods and exercise more”? Nah.

At some point most everyone has been lean and then maybe life took over, things became busy, emotions were more important, things happened….who knows. But that’s life….things are supposed to happen. Nothing stays the same, it never does. People come, people go. Relationships start, relationships end. People get jobs, people lose jobs.

We can all survive these things physically….and sometimes these small stressors are what help us to take control, adapt and move on in a more positive direction (remember the whole stress response system of the body and how it adapts better to small stressors? Like with intermittent fasting).

The real problem is when events/emotions of the past take over our lives on a more daily and consistent basis….that these acute events can turn into an emotional or mental downfall. The acute stressor that we should of moved on from now becomes chronic and ongoing, that is the most dangerous part. The mental battle is probably the most important one to master….because I’ll let the secret out, losing weight and eating healthy is really EASY….but doing it consistently while not allowing events around you and your emotional states to turns against you, is NOT.

Your mind can be our best friend….or your greatest enemy (and it’s the only true enemy you will ever have, as there are no evil forces outside of us making us do things). There may be influences in life good and bad, but we are still in full control and have a choice…..so choose to get that control back once and for all!

Realize You DO Have Control 100%!

This is Step 1.

You have full control over everything in your life such as…..if you put healthy or sugar-loaded foods in your mouth, if you make time for exercise or blow it off for another day, if you stay up late or go to bed early and get sleep, what you do for a living and how many hours you work, and most importantly…..what you think about yourself and the actions you take because of it.

Stop Blaming Yourself or Anyone Else!

Stop blaming anyone for anything....you'll go nowhere fast with that attitude.

I think most people really want to either blame someone or someone else. You can look in the mass media and it’s full of finger pointing. It must be the fast food industry making us fat….no wait it’s the high fat products….or it could be that TV/video games forcing us to sit down and not be outside playing in the fresh air.

In the end my response is going to be “Who Cares?”. Or a better question may be “Why do you need to have someone to blame? Just take responsibility for your actions and fix the problem!”

The blame game doesn’t help fix/solve the issue at hand. You can blame a fast food restaraunt if you like, but that doesn’t mean plenty of healthy lean people don’t drive it past daily and decide (personal choice) not to stop in. Heck I could walk into a McD’s if it’s the only option and still be able to eat a hamburger without the bun, no fries and water to drink. Chances are I am not going to get overweight on that diet!

What you need to do is understand our healthy choices, take 100% control and then make those choices. You can eat out all the time and pick something (or make something healthy) off the menu. You can take the bun off a burger. You don’t have to order a soda or milkshake. You can sub out veggies for fries with any meal. We do have a choice….no one is forcing us to do anything, even if the media loves to paint a picture that way. Making someone/thing else as the evil force in our lives for everything bad, takes the control away from you….and that loss of personal control can spell disaster.

What is even more scary is the amount at which we can blame ourselves! Why do we need to make ourselves the bad guy? Nothing good ever comes from it. So realize you are NOT to blame Why? Because you are not blaming anyone, remember? If you take an action, then whatever happens has happened. You can’t change it and blaming yourself will not change the outcome in the past. All you can do is move forward and take other actions.

Learn from the past, but then let go of it. Who cares if you used to weight 50lbs less or had a higher paying job, how does that really matter now? You have a choice, to either think anything is possible and move forward…or forever put your life on pause to live in the past and become part of it. The latter is not living.

Master the Simple Things…That is Real Long Term Results!

Eat right, make time for exercise, don’t worry about the little things, smile, enjoy being outdoors, help others……do that and what else is your life really missing? The biggest rewards come from the smallest things in life done on a daily basis.…which in turn are the most important ones to follow. No big secrets here, just most people focus on all the wrong things day after day. Such as:

• Best results hands down for anyone trying to lose weight….is a diet of real foods, avoiding processed carbs like breads/pastas, and enough protein. Will there be times you may eat something else? Sure of course…but you have to stay the course daily and stick with the basics. Diets DO NOT work!! Why? Because once people stop eating that way….there is no sense to take back control. Eat for a LIFESTYLE….one you can always go back to at any time.

• You have to be active every day…..make 30 min somewhere to go break a sweat doing something. You have the time….you just have to prioritize it.

• Stop stressing out about things that are trivial or out of your control. Let go of what you can not control or things of the past, focus on just what you can do now in your life.

• You need sleep. Turn off the tv, stop staying up late, it’s your choice afterall.

• Smile all the time…why not? Be happy….as a choice!

You Are NOT a Victim…..Ever!

Letting go of all your worries, doubts and fears....will allow you to be happy with who you are right now.

This goes with the “no one to blame” point. No one is doing anything to you. If you feel you are a victim, then you have lost control….and once you lose control it’s all downhill from there. Things happen in life, good and bad. You can’t control everything…and bad things will happen.

What defines us is how we respond and act in those situations.

You have the choice to brush it off, smile and keep going forward. Forget what just happened as it’s in the past and can’t be changed…..all that can be controlled is what action you take right now.

This is the one thing I can’t stand about modern medicine giving people a “disease” name. Did they really give anything to you? Are you stuck with it forever and ever? A disease is just a fancy name to a set of symptoms that medicine can classify so they know what treatment/drug to perscribe.

Get rid of the ownership! You may “experience” knee pain, but you don’t “own” arthritis. It is not part of you….because what happens when you clean up your diet and your experience of inflammation is no more? What do you own now? This feeling of helplessness and lack of control of one’s health is deadly….and must be overcome. Whatever you are experiencing in life, don’t be a victim of anything….things happen, accept it, and just move forward and improve your life as you see is the right way.

Excuses No Longer Exist in Your World

Period! No exceptions. Excuses are for people who don’t have control of their mental attitude. You are no longer that person! Whatever has happened, whatever the circumstances….accept that they are what they are and just move on with a new plan. When it comes to our health, fitness, success or happiness….if you leave room for excuses then you will not get where you want to go.

• Can’t get to a gym? – Go outside, do some pushups, run around, lunges, go to the playground and do some pullups, just get out and break a sweat everyday….no excuses. Make it happen every day.

• Eat out alot on the road? - Doesn’t mean you can eat everything on the menu. Make good choices of meats, veggies, or whatever you can create on your own.

• No Time? Too Busy? Work Long Hours? – Well that again is a choice, so you can either workout when you have the time, or make a way to work less (work smarter, find a new job, however you want to make it happen). You do have enough time in one day….actually too much time, the question comes down to how you spend that time. Choose to spend it on the things you enjoy or want to do, ignore the rest. Do some pushups under your desk or run the stairs at work if you must, but really sit down and examine where all your time goes….time to take back control of how you spend your time, as it is the most valuable thing you have to use in this life (and it is a limited resource)!

• No more self defeating words – When you hear yourself say these words, stop and slap your hand, as these are no longer allowed: “I can’t…”, “I don’t….”, “but….”. Replace them with positive action words like “I can…” and “I will….”. If you don’t think it will happen, then you will not take the steps to make it happen…….However, If you believe it will happen, then you will make it happen. You become what you think about!

Food is NOT Your Friend

Emotional eating is something most people may agree is an issue. So why is it emotional? You feel down….had a long day and food cures your feelings? How? Could it be the sugar rush? A childhood memory? What exactly is going on here? Well it could vary from person to person, but in the end the message is the same….food can do NOTHING for you. It won’t listen to you, it won’t help you focus on a positive outlook, it won’t change the past or future, it won’t solve or cure anything……all it can do it help or hurt your body! So stop thinking Ben and Jerry is a real person waiting to comfort you (unless you have their phone number and plan on calling them). Take the personality away from food, it’s not a real person.

Food is something your body needs, it’s fuel to keep your brain, heart, lungs and all cells working. Feed it all the wrong stuff and things may start working incorectly. Sugar is legal crack….it has addictive properties…yet is also has the most destructive properties. Would you give a hyperactive child more sugar?? Heck No. So not only are we going to try and get rid of these emotions in the first place…..we are also going to take away food as an escape. If you can’t do either of those things….then you are in for a long road of up and downs in both emotional state and weight loss/gain.

We need to stop the yo-yo and keep it steady and consistent. Food is just fuel for the body….or in some cases a destructive force. Nothing else. If you need a real friend, pick up the phone and call someone…..don’t pick up the spoon and eat till you are sick to your stomach, that solves nothing.

Don’t Put off Anything for Later/Tomorrow

Either you do something now or you don’t. Don’t tell yourself “I’ll do it later”. Unless you have it scheduled it won’t get done. We all know this. We have all done this whether it is paying bills, calling an old friend, doing our taxes, or working out.

So no more procrastination or putting off what you need to do right now. You can sit down and prioritize the top 3 things you need to do, but by the end of that day everything on your list has to be done! No exceptions…no excuses. As Nike says….”Just Do It!”

You Can’t Change the Past, So Live Right Now!

The journey is now...life is in the present moment only.

Fear, self doubt, depression…..where do they all live? In the past or future! Why? Because what do you really fear? Fear of failure? Fear of losing something/someone? Fear of something happening to you?

None of it has actually happened or may ever happen. Wasted Energy!

Self doubt, where is that coming from? The past. Maybe you think because something happened that you can’t do anything going forward. Do you see things as failures in the past? Well guess what….from now on there are no failures of anything in your life.

All you have is actions and results. If the results were not what you wanted then you learn and try again. Failure is when you give ownership to a result because of your action. You don’t own it! It’s not part of you! How many successful business men try things that don’t work out the way they want them to yet keep moving on in life trying more things? They all do if they are successful!

Depression is in the past too. Usually comes from thinking you are “missing something” in your life. Where does that perception come from? Someone breaks up with you? You gain some weight? Where? Only you have that answer. Another case of ownership….you “are not” depressed, you don’t “own it” for yourself, you are not identified by it. You can “feel” depressed but you can never actually “be” depressed.

Find what you think you are lacking and then realize you have everything you need to be happy right now, if you give up your past attachments. If you were hypnotized to only remember the last hour of your life….you would probably be the happiest person on Earth! So live in the present…..use the lessons from the past, they are not owned by or define who you are. Make the decision on just what you need to do right now. Laugh in the face of so called “failure”….because it doesn’t exist anymore and just means you are trying. Life without trying is not going to get you anywhere. Use the time you have left to explore and live life the way you want without ever living in the past.

There Is NO Quick Fix to Anything, Don’t Expect the Laws of Nature to Make an Exception

“3 min workouts” and “lose 50lbs in 1 hour” sells books, supplements and magazines….it’s not reality. Don’t expect any quick fix other than what you can do with a regiment of eating healthy and exercise. As far as losing weight, detoxing the body, and improving health….the body will only go one maximum speed, but some of us may be far from reaching that potential right now.

Now not to say that eating a certain way or increasing exercise may help get you closer to that one optimal speed, but anything that looks like a shortcut….is just marketing hype. The old saying has been around for a reason, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. You can make great progress in weight loss and health on a steady and consistent healthy eating and exercise regiment, don’t fall for the marketing hype of other people that just want to make a quick buck.

Anything is Possible, If YOU Believe it Can Happen!

The old saying is true, “The only limits in life are the ones you put on yourself”.

If you think you can, then you will. If you say you can’t, then you won’t. It’s that simple.

You become what you think about. So time for negative and self-defeating thoughts are done and gone. Remember, you don’t own them….you just experience them, and from now on you are going to choose not to think that way every again. You have the choice and control.

Wake Up! Be Aware of Every Present Moment, That is the Only Way to See What is Really Going on and Take Control!

Stop sleepwalking through life and "Wake Up"....otherwise you are just living in a dream world.

This is key for all progress in the mental battle. You have to “Wake Up” and be aware of what you are thinking in each present moment and see why. Most people are just mentally “Sleepwalking” through life “reacting” (not “acting”) to anything thrown in front of them.

Become a 3rd party observer of yourself. Step out of your body and watch it from a distance like you were on TV. Watch your actions, your thoughts….see what you are thinking and why. Once you see something as it truly is in life (an emotion, a negative feeling, stress and worry, fear and doubt, happiness and thrills, whatever you are experiencing), you can drop your attachment to it….it’s that easy.

Don’t attach your happiness to any person or thing either, because nothing lasts….and when that thing or person goes away, so does your perceived happiness. Enjoy people/things when you experience them….yet let them be unattached to you and walk away. You’ll never get the monkey off your back if don’t realize it is there in the first place.

Make your day a series of just being aware of the present moment. All day long…practice just being aware of what is really going on. The more you practice, the better you will get at it. Monks do it all day on a mountain top, just sitting in the present moment.

You can do it in your car (turn off the radio and just be present at driving, see there is no where to go but where you are now, stop being in such a rush), at work (see where you spend your time, are you reacting to phone and email or do you have a plan and get your work done on time), at home(what are you spending your time on, what are you thinking you need to do, are you just watching TV and being distracted so you don’t have to be present and aware?

Shut off the TV and just enjoy the moment), sitting on a park bench (nature always helps us get back to slowing down and appreciating the present moment. Look at a bird, a tree…they are in no rush, they don’t care what time it is, they don’t care about your work deadlines, they just do what they do one present moment at a time)….be present anywhere and everywhere you go!

They key is you have to do it. The goal is not to become the expert at it…the goal is just to apply and use it. Say to yourself “NOW”….as a reminder to just stop, sit back and watch what is really going on. Tell yourself that as much as you can especially in times that you are “feeling” (you don’t own it remember?) sad, depressed, happy, or just anytime. Examine all emotions and see what makes them tick at heart. Without action…nothing happens.

Keep it Simple, Stick to the Basics and Live the Journey Daily!

• Health and Weight loss is simple - Follow the basics of healthy eating and be active daily.

• You have 100% control - Now live your life the way you want to. If you don’t like something the way it is now, either do something to change it up or stop focusing on it. Take action or let it go.

• No more Excuses, No one left to Blame - Don’t look for someone to take the blame, there is no blame anymore. Don’t beat yourself up, you are not to blame for anything. Forget the past, and focus just on what you need to do right now!

• “Wake Up” and Live in the Moment - Don’t be asleep like most. Take action on purpose…just don’t react to anything that comes along. Take time to just live and experience life all around you. “Watch” yourself from a distance, and release your attachments. Be Free!

• All you have is actions and results – Failure or success is non-existent and doesn’t matter anymore. Just keep taking actions and moving forward in life on moment at a time. You will become whatever you focus on….so focus on making things happen.

• Enjoy the Journey – That is what life is.…and we only get one turn (as far as I know). Don’t live for regrets or be left to wonder “what if”. Make anything happen, dream big, try anything….if you think you can, you will!

Lastly, help others to “wake up” also in their own journey in life…..as that could be the greatest thing you could ever do for another person. That itself could also bring alot of meaning and happiness back to you.

Above photo by gabork

The gym can be a frustrating place at times. These days I’m fortunate enough to not lift in a “Go Big or Go Home” type of gym, but I do remember what that was like.

There are several red flags to watch out for in a free weight room: skull caps, sunglasses (indoors), and heavy use of the word bro…“it’s all you bro! It’s all you!”. If you workout in this type of environment, I feel for you.

That last thing you want to do is emulate the approach of these guys. While not every guy that fits this description is a full idiot, many of them are at least partially there.

Use your brain to come up with a strategic workout routine that makes sense. Don't just mindlessly follow any particular routine. Understand why something works before adding it into your workout program.

Why You Shouldn’t Simply Copy a Big Guy’s Routine

I understand the idea of learning from someone who is successful at what you would like to learn. This does work a lot of the time, but not so much when it comes to building muscle.

You just don’t know all of the variables, just by looking at a guy. Maybe it took him twice as long as it should have to reach where he is at. Possibly he used steroids. Maybe his muscle is mostly due to amazing genetics. What if he spent the last 6 years in prison and trained 3 hours per day?

“That Guy Got Big and Ripped off Nothing But Tuna and Oranges”!

Back when I was in college there was a Sorority that put on a contest each year for guys to compete to become “Anchor Man”. I think it was Delta Gamma, if memory serves me correctly (it has been a long time).

Anyway this was the equivalent of a beauty pageant, but for guys (very awkward). The last part of the competition was a bodybuilding contest. I didn’t watch the contest, but the guy who won during my senior year trained in the same gym as me.

My workout partner asked him how he got so lean, and supposedly he lived on a diet of tuna and oranges. A year later we found out he was a steroid dealer. Luckily we thought the idea of just eating tuna and oranges was lame and didn’t buy into it…but I am guessing at least 6-10 guys immediately switched to a tuna and orange diet.

Speaking of Brains…

Don't be a Zombie...just mindlessly following a workout routine..."must lift, must lift more, it's all you bro, ugggh."

Gaining Muscle? Let Me Break It Down For You

Let’s keep it simple. A muscle cell is comprised of muscle tissue and fluid. The quickest way to increase the size of a muscle is by increasing the fluid within the muscle cell. Tissue growth is a longer process. Here are the exact terms of the two main ways to increase the size of a muscle.

*Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy: This is an increase of the fluid within a muscle cell. The best way to achieve this type of muscle growth is to lift in the 6-15 rep range. The rest in between sets needs to be kept somewhat short to fatigue the muscle in this rep range. The weights don’t necessary need to be heavy. Contrary to popular belief you can gain a lot of muscle without having to lift extremely heavy weights. Remember the main goal here is muscle fatigue, not so much the amount of weight lifted.

*Myofibrillar Hypertrophy: This is the actual increase of muscle cell tissue. This type of muscle growth makes less of an impact on size, but will make you significantly stronger. This also tends to make the muscles more dense and angular looking. The best way to achieve this is by lifting in the low rep range. Anywhere between 2-5 reps seems to do the trick. Maximum tension, NOT maximum fatigue, is your goal here so rest enough in between sets to lift somewhat heavy.

Understanding the Two Main Types of Muscle Growth Helps You Create Your Ideal Workout

Do you have big muscles but they look slightly soft and rounded? Well then maybe lower the reps, increase the rest and tension, and aim for some Myofibrillar Hypertrophy.

Do you have rock hard muscles but they aren’t as large as you would like? Your approach would be to increase the reps, shorten the rest period, aim for maximum fatigue…which would increase your Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy.

Some would have you believe that muscle definition is simply about body fat levels…this is not true…the density of a muscle (or lack of) largely determines the look of a muscle. This is why two guys can be at 8% body fat and one guy looks fantastic and the other guy still has a soft “puffy” look.

You Can Even Alternate Between the Two Types of Growth Strategically…

One of the common suggestions in bodybuilding circles is to bulk up to gain muscle and then drop off excess body fat to look lean for summer. The problem with this approach is that you wind up with loose skin and it takes another 30-60 days for your skin to catch up with your smaller body size.

You won’t display maximum definition for a month or two after. This is why a lot of men and women look better in late July or August than they do in the beginning of summer.

Well, I have a better method…

Click on the image above and watch Video 3 on the page that opens up. There are 4 videos on my site that explain muscle growth in further detail, but this one describes a great strategy to use before summer!

Understanding Why A Routine Works Is Crucial to Hitting Your Goals

I focus on the lean and angular “Hollywood Look”, but I realize that this isn’t the goal of every guy. If your goal is to get as big as possible, then do the right type of lifting for that goal (mainly sarcoplasmic muscle growth).

Either way, don’t just blindly follow a routine like a zombie. I don’t care how big or ripped or that person is. Use your brain! (Maybe that is what the zombies are trying to tell you when they are saying “Brainsssssssss”)

Note from Editor: You can learn more about “smart” muscle building through Rusty’s visual impact videos here.  I highly recommend it, as training the right way (along with smart eating) is the path to success…especially if you are after that lean and defined muscular “Hollywood” look.

Okay, so let’s look back at Monday’s post on Acidosis and Alkalosis. In my haste to go sit on the beach and stare at the ocean, I gave short shrift to covering how the body actually maintains normal blood pH.

Normal Blood pH

So to quickly recap, the body works hard to maintain a normal blood pH between 7.35 and 7.45, a fairly tight range. And pretty much nothing you do, at least in terms of food, is going to change that. So you can’t really “acidify” or “alkalize” your body. Your body requires a rather tight pH in the blood (and equally tight, though different pH in other systems) in order for your bodily functions to proceed as normal. If you were to “acidify” or “alkalize” your blood, you’d quickly run into some serious issues, regardless of which way you took it.

Basically, the foods you eat are digested and broken down into their components. These metabolites exhibit an acid, base, or neutral pH to the body. When you add them all up, you get the net-acid or net-base load of the overall diet. And then the body has to deal with this acidity or alkalinity to make sure the body stays at the proper pH in all of its various systems, particularly the blood.

Effects On Urine

One of the ways that the body deals with excess acid or base is to pass it off to the urine for excretion. According to this study:

In conclusion, a more alkaline diet, higher fruit and vegetable and lower meat intake were related to more alkaline urine with a magnitude similar to intervention studies. As urine pH relates to dietary acid-base load its use to monitor change in consumption of fruit and vegetables, in individuals, warrants further investigation.

But here’s an interesting observation from Dr. Jarvis, author of Folk Medicine:

By keeping logs, he was able to show that ill health went along with the alkaline urine, while good health went along with acidic.

An interesting observation indeed and, to be fair, I really have no idea what to make of it. Just throwing it out there for discussion. It makes sense though, since urine is typically acidic (5-6 pH).

Effects On CO₂ Exhalation

Unbeknowst to me (but knownst to others…name it!), Yael Grauer recently wrote a similar article over at The Performance Menu looking at this exact same issue. Great minds…

She pointed out that the body maintains proper pH in the blood by breathing out either more or less CO₂, depending on whether the blood is too acidic or too alkaline. Basically, when your blood is too acidic, your breathing increases to release more CO₂. Think about when you exercise…breathing increases due to increased acidity in the blood from the cells doing their thing as much or more than the need for oxygen.

Effects On Bones

Another claim is that the body buffers acidity largely by pulling from its largest reserve of alkaline material – calcium from the bones. Well, Yael’s article pushed me to go out to Pubmed and look for some work by Jane Kerstetter. According to Kerstetter,

We conclude that in rats, as in humans, acute increases in protein intake result in hypercalciuria due to augmented intestinal Ca absorption. BBMV Ca uptake studies suggest that higher protein intake improves Ca absorption, at least in part, by increasing transcellular Ca uptake.

But, it’s not quite so simple. That study shows that meat protein increases calcium uptake from the intestines. That’s not necessarily true of all protein though. In fact, (vegetarians take note) Kerstetter showed that soy protein is detrimental to calcium uptake:

These data indicate that when soy protein is substituted for meat protein, there is an acute decline in dietary calcium bioavailability.

Here is one more from Kerstetter regarding high-protein (which says “high acid” to me) diets and bone health:

The high-protein diet caused a significant reduction in the fraction of urinary calcium of bone origin and a nonsignificant trend toward a reduction in the rate of bone turnover. There were no protein-induced effects on net bone balance. These data directly demonstrate that, at least in the short term, high-protein diets are not detrimental to bone.

Of course, if you aren’t taking in enough calcium, perhaps this is an issue. Perhaps not. I’m guessing that, once again, the body is far smarter than we give it credit for. Maybe the increase in osteoporosis isn’t necessarily due to “an acidic diet,” but the particular types of acidic foods we eat, namely:

• the “healthy” soy protein to replace meat – see above
• lots of grains – contain phytic acid that binds with calcium
• high salt intake – may also bind with calcium
• sugar – depletes vitamins and minerals and has been shown (in rats) to throw off calcium/phosphorus balance

There’s also the severely detrimental effects on bone health of low vitamin D and low magnesium intake, both just as important as calcium for building bone.

It All Adds Up To…

Something I’m still not concerned about. If you’re not eating much in the way of grains, you can likely eat your meat and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables with impunity. You don’t need to calculate acid and base loads like John Berardi mentions in his article Covering Your Nutritional Bases.

As I said in my last article, this is mainly just “eat your vegetables” and anti-meat repackaged, because the people that are talking about it are usually promoting high whole grain diets, another acidic food.

As Yael said:

Don’t worry about meat robbing calcium from your bones. You’ll excrete calcium if your urine is more acidic (with hydrogen ions being secreted to balance the acid load), but your body will be getting it from elsewhere. And even though your urine can become more or less acidic, your blood is going to stay the same. Though eating vegetables is generally a good idea for a variety of reasons, it’s not because minerals are being robbed from the bones. And since it appears that half of the hunter-gatherer diets had high acid-load diets, and none of our caveman buddies had modern diseases, I wouldn’t lose sleep over the possibility.

We really can’t take things out of context, especially when talking about a highly complex biological machine like the human (or any mammalian) body, and expect to be able to distill things down to some excessively simple talking point. If you’re concerned, eat more plant matter. But I maintain that meat, fruit, vegetables, properly-prepared beans and non-glutinous grains (like rice), and some dairy are highly unlikely to harm you or your bones, especially if you’re active (which stimulates bone growth) and you have adequate intake of magnesium and a good vitamin D status.

Any additional thoughts on this matter? Anyone have additional supportive or conflicting evidence that I missed?

Acidosis and Alkalosis

Today, we’re going to talk about acidosis and alkalosis. I’ll explain just what I mean by that in a second. But first, what put this topic in my head?

In the past week, I’ve directly or indirectly read/heard two things that prompted me to write this. First, there was a comment by Shari on my Eat Real Food post lambasting me for promoting a “meat-based diet” because it “not only causes acidosis, but has also been unmistakably linked to increased incidence of colon cancer.” (Of course, most everyone that reads that post realizes that I promote a diet based on unprocessed foods, not necessarily meat, but that doesn’t stop people from seeing what they want to see.)

Second, as you all now know, I just moved to San Diego. Part of setting in has been finding a new farmer’s market since my old one is now about 2200 miles away and it’s just not feasible to pull that off on a Saturday morning. So I hit the weekly Wednesday farmer’s market in Ocean Beach and overheard a girl selling asparagus telling a couple other girls about how awesome asparagus is because it’s “the most alkaline vegetable and alkaline helps you be stronger for longer” (as she flexed). She went on about how you want to avoid acid foods like meat, dairy, and…citrus fruits.

A Quick Physiology Primer: Acid-Base Metabolism

So what exactly are these people talking about? “Acidosis” is quite simply when the pH of the blood falls below the bottom end of the healthy pH range (normal range is 7.35-7.45). “Alkalosis” is the opposite; the pH of the blood is out of bounds on the upper end of the scale. Neither is good. Both can cause serious health issues and/or death (which I suppose is a very serious health issue).

Now, here’s how they claim it works: everything you eat, once digested, exhibits either acidic or alkaline by-products for the body to deal with. Eating too many acidic foods causes your body to become “acidified” and, therefore, more susceptible to disease. On the other hand, eating good alkaline foods helps your body to get into an alkalized state where disease cannot exist. Dr. Mirkin points out at QuackWatch that:

Promoters of these products claim that cancer cells cannot live in an alkaline environment and that is true, but neither can any of the other cells in your body.

Just as an aside, some foods, while being acidic, leave an alkaline ash after digestion. Unfortunately for the girl selling the asparagus, lemons and limes are two of those, so even if she were correct about everything else, her advice to avoid citrus fruits is out.

To continue, you have to balance out your acids by eating more alkaline foods. And then there’s the requisite list of some common foods and whether they are acidic or alkaline (or neutral):

Acidic, Neutral, and Alkaline Foods

The Reality Of Acid-Base Balance

And now to reality…”eat more alkalizing foods” is the New Age, pseudo-scientific way of saying what Grandma said for centuries: “Eat your fruits and vegetables.” Not bad advice, in and of itself, though it seems to have been adopted by people that are especially anti-meat.

I think the reality is that the grand majority of the people talking about the idea are using it as a way to reinforce the “superiority” of a vegetarian diet over an omnivorous diet, much like Shari seemed to be doing on the Nutrition 101 post.

Slippery Slope Alert!

I mean, if alkaline is better than acidic* and animal foods (other than goat milk and human milk) are acidic, then obviously vegetarianism is better than meat-eating. Of course, carrying this to its logical extreme, we would want to avoid acidic foods completely (like the girl at the market recommended), like raw milk, and opt instead for an alkaline food, like soy milk (depending on which list you consult). All meat is out…but that’s okay cause you can eat tofu to your heart’s content.

Pecans and cashews? Out. Luckily you can eat almonds. Spinach as fine…as long as you don’t cook it. Bananas are okay…as long as there’s no green on them. Here’s my favorite…green beans, good; string beans, bad. Other than the strings that have been bred out of most modern green beans, it’s the same plant. Another “we’re not real sure which way is up” moment is that depending on which chart you consult, eggs and chicken breasts are either acidic or alkaline.

Oh, here’s another fun one: antibiotics are alkaline, while probiotics are acidic. Yeeaaaaahhhhh…

But here’s the icing on the cake of this run into ridiculousness. Please see the chart to the right. If alkalizing is what we want, why don’t we just balance it all out with a nice glass of ammonia or bleach. Or hell, sprinkle a little household lye into your next casserole! (Disclaimer: Since some people around here have a hard time picking up sarcasm, this is sarcasm. Please, please do not consume ammonia, bleach, or lye, no matter how much alkalizing you want to do.)

Obviously I’m just having a little fun here, but, as always, much truth is said in jest.

*And then there’s the flip side of the coin: if eating animal foods promotes acidosis, then eating plant foods promotes alkalosis. Of course, while both are definitely medical issues, neither are likely and neither dichotomy is the way it really works. Lucky for all of us, evolution equipped the body with a range of ways to keep blood pH in the proper range and you’re not going to outdo your acid-base metabolism by eating too much meat, dairy, grains, or anything else.

They Missed A Puzzle Piece: Vinegar

Another key piece of information left out by The Alkalizers** is that some acids, like vinegar, improve your blood sugar response, an element of your health that is most likely a bit more important than if your last meal contained 60% alkaline foods and 40% acidic foods (and in reality, were it to matter, there’s no way of measuring whether you’ve properly countered your acids and bases since it’s a continuum, though you could test your urine, a thoroughly pointless endeavor).

Here’s the study:

These data indicate that vinegar can significantly improve postprandial insulin sensitivity in insulin-resistant subjects.

As usual, when people try to complicate nutrition, they leave out some key pieces of the puzzle and ignore some pertinent facts to try to fit into a nice, easily digested little package.

A Nice Cold Bucketful Of Reality

There is no evidence in the real world that food changes the pH of the blood. I searched on Pubmed and I read plenty of stuff by others that had searched Pubmed. No one has come up with anything. And that’s a good thing because with such a narrow range of “healthy,” you wouldn’t want it moving either up or down depending on how much you decide to indulge at a party.

In fact, the stomach is so acidic (getting down towards battery acid and hydrochloric acid), that you can’t even significantly change the acidity of your stomach, much less your blood. And that’s also a good thing since that acid helps you digest things.

Dr. Mirkin again:

All foods that leave your stomach are acidic. Then they enter your intestines where secretions from your pancreas neutralize the stomach acids. So no matter what you eat, the food in stomach is acidic and the food in the intestines is alkaline. Dietary modification cannot change the acidity of any part of your body except your urine. Your bloodstream and organs control acidity in a very narrow range. Anything that changed acidity in your body would make you very sick and could even kill you.

I’ll Say It One Last Time (In This Post)

Seriously…who wants another set of diet rules to keep up with? It’s just repackaging dietary OCD in another way. There’s nothing wrong with eating more fruits and vegetables, but worrying about acids and bases is entering a whole new area of navel gazing.

For Pete’s sake, man! Just eat real food! It really is that simple. When you eat real food, low-carb and low-fat become less important. Glycemic index becomes unimportant. And acid-base balance, if somehow it were to actually matter, takes care of itself. Stop the paralysis by analysis and just cut out the processed garbage.

You can spend your life debating dietary minutiae on Internet forums or you can eat real food, then perhaps go outside and try talking to real people or maybe take up a hobby with your new-found time.

So is this something that we really need to be concerned with or is it, as I said, just another way of complicating nutrition with an unhealthy dose of pseudo-science thrown in for good measure?

** Believe it or not, there’s actually a product called The Alkalizer that promotes “a wetter water for a better body,” because, of course, even regular water is acid-forming. That’s right! It’s not the sugar, fake fats, or processed grains you’re eating that are making you fat and sick. It’s the water coming out of your tap. In other news, I walked out to the end of the Ocean Beach Pier today and saw a surfer jump a shark. If you want a debunking of “ionized water,” check out this site.

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything.
- Charles Kuralt

An Epic Journey

Last week, I embarked on a journey. Those of you that are friends of mine on Facebook already know that I’ve moved 2200 miles from my hometown of Louisville, KY to San Diego, CA. My girlfriend and I hopped in my car last Saturday and took a 7-day, 3100 mile trip across the southern/southwestern United States en route to San Diego.

So really, how often do you get the chance to drive cross-country? In my 30 years, this was my first chance, so I wanted to make the most of it and see as much as possible. I could have hopped onto I-64 heading west out of Louisville, switched to a few other Interstates, eventually ending up on I-8 and cruising into San Diego in about 3 days at 75mph the whole way, watching the country whiz by.

Instead, I meticulously planned out the trip, aiming to avoid Interstate highways and stick to US and state highways where I’d drive through small towns, eat at local restaurants, and see things the expressway just can’t show you. In 3100 miles, we ended up on Interstates for about 50-75 miles, once due to a wrong turn and twice due to roads that were closed.

Sometimes you gotta say “What the f**k”, make your move. Joel, every now and then, saying “What the f**k,” brings freedom. Freedom brings opportunity, opportunity makes your future.
- Miles, in Risky Business

Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

I think to really grow and develop, you need to regularly step out of your comfort zone. Deciding to move away from Louisville wasn’t easy. I have a great group of close friends there, several of whom I’ve known since grade school, along with plenty of family. I’m now in a city where I really only know one person, a friend of mine that decided to move out here also (and he’s not even here yet). I don’t know the best restaurants or how to get around the city like the back of my hand. I have a new job that is going to require me to get up to speed quickly. There’s going to be a nice learning curve over the next few months professionally, socially, and culturally.

But that’s also the beauty of it. There’s so much to learn that life is going to be very exciting! Sure, I could take a vacation and try out a city for a week, but in my mind, immersion in a new place is the best way to really see what it has to offer.

Life is not tried, it is merely survived, if you’re standing outside the fire.
- Garth Brooks, Standing Outside The Fire

I think that quote from Garth Brooks’ song is perfect. You can sit back and watch life pass you by or you can make like you’re in a Dodge commercial and “grab life by the horns.” I think, in the end, you really only regret the risks you didn’t take.

If what you’re doing feels perfectly safe, there is probably a better course of action.
- 88 Important Truths I’ve Learned About Life

Modern Nomadism

Some time back, I read an article by Mark Lundegren of HumanaNatura titled The Nomad Within Us, in which Mark proposes moving around regularly, or somewhat modern nomadism. In the past few years, I’ve really developed more of this mentality and feel that it’s a good way to experience the world and keep things fresh. To put it simply, I probably learned more about the country in 7 days than all the years of history and geography that I had in school.

The thing I really like about what Mark wrote is that you don’t have to take the drastic step of moving across the country. You can learn a lot about your own city that you probably don’t already know just by changing neighborhoods and meeting new neighbors in a new community. And since constant learning is important in health, it seems like a good idea to me.

Lessons From The Road

Here are a few things I learned (or at least had reinforced) this past week…

• This is a very rural country. I’d guess I saw ten trailers serving as someone’s home for each regular house and 100 trailers for each multi-million dollar house. I’m guessing those in the trailers are just as content as those in the houses.
• You have no idea just how beautiful a country it is until you’ve driven mountainous forest roads where you can’t go fast enough to get out of third gear for over an hour. For real excitement, take your Honda Civic on unpaved roads for 40 or 50 miles.
• People are generally very grateful for and hospitable to outsiders coming and eating where they eat and seeing their little towns.
• Your chain restaurants will never beat the food little roadside shacks serve. When you find yourself in a town with a population 1/100 of the city you come from, ask for recommendations and see just how good of a meal you’ll get.
• You probably have no idea what the terrain is like out there. I sure didn’t. Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona were all quite surprising.
• It’s hard to find someone that you can spend 7 days (~80 hours) in a car with and still enjoy their company. But it can be done.

Side note: You can see the pictures of my journey through the southern US on Facebook. Since my girlfriend posted them, I think you have to be a friend to view them. It was a great drive through central KY and TN, down the Natchez Trace Parkway (through TN, AL, and MS), across central LA, through the bayou, across central TX, through Gila National Forest in NM, through the AZ desert and mountains, up through Prescott, then through the real desert in southwestern AZ and southeastern CA, and finally through the hills outside of San Diego, with a final walk out to the tip of the Ocean Beach Pier.

A Nutrition Note

As I’m want to do, I picked up on something nutritional-related on my trek. Check out this picture:

This is a dairy farm in southwest CA. That’s not grass those cows are standing on. We saw (and smelled!) several confinement feeding operations. One of them was in southwest NM…it was calves being kept in dog houses with enough room outside of the dog house to walk out and turn around. Pretty sad. And if you’re buying your milk at the grocery, that’s the type of life the animal lives. Do you think you get the same milk as this cow produces (found grazing with other cows in the middle of Gila National Forest)?

How do you keep things fresh in your life? How do you toe the line between community and mobility? Do you opt for security or excitement or some combination of the two?

Without a doubt, my most popular article on the blog ever has been the Trainer Tells All post, with I can’t even tell you how many times it has been viewed (a ridiculously big number!).  People have asked for a “follow up”, which I always responded “Well I already told ‘all’, so what is left for me to say?” (in a joking tone).

My first “tell all” post came to me as I was out for a long mountain bike one day, and the random thoughts just started coming to me while being out in nature (mostly when I was stopped and just enjoying being outside, not while trying to dodge trees).

In keeping with the same inspiration source, I’ve been keeping notes over the last few weeks as things just “come to me” during the quiet moments of the day.

So in no particular order, here are some more thoughts…as the trainer tells “more”. Hope you enjoy as much as my first article from long ago!

• Here’s the secret to lasting weight loss…find an enjoyable way to eat less (without feeling deprived and giving up) and move more. Done. Send your check to…..
• Anyone who tells you that their/some way is the “only” way, is already wrong.
• Most out there really suffer from “paralysis by analysis”.
• There are 100s of forums filled with millions of people who are mostly just debating weight loss and muscle gaining, while there are people who don’t even have a computer getting real results.
• I’m happier now living a more flexible/enjoyable lifestyle at a leaner 185lbs than I was trying to maintain my 215lbs in college.
• There is more to life than going to the gym and tanning.
• If you want better food choices at restaurants and the supermarket, stop supporting crappy ones. Vote with your fork (and wallet). Companies will give people what they want if the masses demand it (as that is their business model).
• P90x workouts are probably fun and motivating…although most people I know don’t want to spend an hour doing a workout 5x/wk…so they just let their DVDs collect dust.
• Many people I know with fantastic physiques also have low self-esteem and depression issues (as they are too tied to what they look like for happiness, and nothing is ever good enough).
• I like to keep life simple, and try to eat “real food” most of the time….and not worry about being perfect.
• If you are not happy with yourself right now, getting more muscle or a leaner body will not solve it (although nothing wrong with wanting to look good, just don’t obsess over it as see the previous bullet point above).
• I still get a chuckle when exercise companies send me 150+ page catalogs filled with the latest and greatest training tools (why do we need all this?).
• If you think you need to be HUUUGE to act tough, remember Bruce Lee at 145lbs could whoop most anyone’s butt over 200lbs.
• Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, don’t allow your happiness to be based on the judgment of your own cover
• Science and research seems to prove 2 things on a consistent basis, what my grandma already knew is true and we really don’t know much about how the body works.
• Why is spanking a child considered abuse, but letting them become overweight and sick is not?
• When did kids get to eat what they wanted all the time? When I was a kid I was not crazy about eating pork chops and veggies, but the other option of going to bed hungry was not a good choice either!
• The fact that kids need “planned activities” to get out of the house is sad, as back in the day we just rode our bikes around the neighborhood until the street lights came on.
• Kids and grown ups don’t want to “work out”, but they both want to go out and “play”.
• Getting very close to 40, I only really am concerned about being able to lift things and move my own body without injury….not going to worry about exercises to isolate my calf muscles.
• There is no profit in getting people healthy and keeping them that way without prescription medications or diet books/pills.
• All so-called “public service messages” based on fear marketing of something from drug companies (you may have xyz disease!) are just fancy sales pitches for you getting treated with their meds…and it is working.
• It is amazing when you decide to take care of yourself and not depend on anyone else, how easy and rewarding it is.
• The real calorie difference between walking and jogging a mile, is about 30-40 calories/mile. If you run 5 miles a day but eat 10 miles worth after, what good is that?
• So many people want to make dieting and fitness an “all or nothing” full time focus, no wonder so many people burn out.
• If I can train at home and get results with only using bodyweight and resistance bands, you don’t have an excuse.
• I canceled my gym membership again, because I’d rather go play outside.
• I canceled my gym membership again, because I needed the personal reminder that eating is where most of my results come from.
• I canceled my gym membership again, because exercise can happen anywhere.
• I canceled my gym membership again, because walking on a treadmill watching TVs on all different 24hr news channels was not relaxing at all…and more stressful.
• Do pushups (and/or pullups) during every commercial break watching TV, Hershel Walker did growing up.
• Less is more, hence why I have deleted most of my internet explorer bookmarks and RSS subscriptions.
• Knowledge without action is useless.
• I’ll never buy another running shoe ever, and will never need an ITB or knee brace either.
• I’ve read about as much as I care to about exercise and fitness, I get it. Time to explore other passions in life.
• I knew a trainer friend who was 225lbs ripped walking around daily. Then had gallbladder/liver issues. After 4 weeks he was shrunken down to about 180lbs and wasn’t eating much. Once he felt better, he was back up to 225lbs again in another 4 weeks. Just saying, appearances don’t tell everything.
• I suggest getting Michael Pollan’s “Food Rules” simple little book as a fun daily reminder of what to eat.
• I don’t like labels on how I eat (low-carb, Paleo, etc), as I change it daily depending on how I feel and recovery needs. I am in full control of my choices daily….and never tied to just any one way.
• People who exercise can enjoy their vices.
• People who flex in the mirror at the gym in my opinion probably really just need a hug.
• If you still need to count calories, you are probably not eating the right foods in the first place.
• Yes I could train someone on a “Bowflex” to get results with the right eating and workout, it is not that hard.
• Because I can’t say it enough without people saying how wrong I am…eating more meals during a day does NOT speed up your metabolism. Sorry, just relaying the facts as I see them.
• Exercise (especially glycolitic/resistance training based) is key to “lasting” weight loss success, and doesn’t have to be excessive either.
• I’ll give you my strategy in life….sleep, eat light, workout, eat what I want, sleep, fast, eat less than the day before, sleep and repeat. Mix in some fun lifestyle activities and not stressing about stuff and you have a pretty good plan in my book.
• I bet if we burned all the diet books out there, people may be able to start to really think for themselves and get results.
• Learning how to eat is a lifestyle endeavor, as our bodies and needs change as we go…and so we must know how to adapt.
• I’m going to make myself a dip/inverted row stand for commercial breaks (not that I watch much TV, but will keep it around the house for fun)
• Losing weight and building muscle is not that hard, just look at some of the people who do it (not rocket science).
• Unless someone has kept the weight off for a couple years, no one should be listening to anyone bragging about “quick” weight loss (aka Hollywood and other celebs). Most gain it all right back.
• If your mentality is “I need to lose 30lbs, how do I do it?”, then you are already setting yourself up for failure.
• If your mentality is “How do I lose a couple lbs a week?”, then you are setting yourself up for a life of success. (apply same strategy to putting on muscle if that is your goal)
• Thinking you can just magically put on 30lbs of “lean” muscle (not to be confused with just “weight”) in a couple months, is a slap in the face to all the people before you who did it the slow and steady way.
• If your muscle disappears if you take a couple weeks off the gym, it wasn’t really muscle in the first place.
• I get it that training to run a marathon is motivating for people to get back into shape, but people need to also understand that excess exercise does damage to your body and can waste muscle (when it is the only training you do). My advice to a person getting back into shape? Train for and run a 5-10k instead, and don’t forget resistance training to keep those muscles around.
• I stopped taking fish oil, once I stopped eating fatty grain fed meat all the time…and added in more sardines and herring. I feel much better.
• Autophagy (recycling at the cell level) may be the key to lasting health/longevity over 40+, and the only way to turn it up is with a “low food” stress on occasion.
• Being “fit” is too many people’s obsession, and no one really knows what it means in the first place.
• Most guys want their body to look like Arnold in “Conan”, most women want a guy’s body to look like Brad Pitt in “Fight Club”.
• The top bodybuilders are still pretty damn strong…which means they are not always doing sets of 20 reps with light weights.
• Walking around in sandals and barefoot (in house) is the easiest way for anyone to get the muscles in their feet strong again (and even help correct posture issues).
• If I were to start another training studio (which I am not) it would still be like the one I had long ago…a small room with only resistance bands, bodyweight straps and dumbbells.
• If I can’t remember the workout in my head during training, it is too complicated for me.
• My motto nowadays in regards to training can be summed up in 3 quotes: “Go hard”, “Don’t do stupid sh*t” and “Don’t get injured”….usually #2 and #3 go hand in hand.
• I eat ice cream, pizza and burgers on occasion. I make no apologies for it, and neither should you.
• It never made sense to me when trainers telling their overweight clients to eat 2500+ calories a day (for women, 3500+ for men) and workout 4-5x a week. Why not eat less and workout smarter?
• During tougher times throughout my fitness trainer career I have survived for weeks on rice, corn, beans, milk and eggs….and it wasn’t that bad.
• I don’t want to be called an “expert” anymore, as that term has dropped in quality over the years since the explosion of the internet.
• Cultures of people who live long and healthy have varied diets, but usually 2 things in common….they eat real food, and they eat much less than most everyone else.
• I don’t do fancy marketing or sales tricks (even though I know most of them all), I just try and be someone that I would want to listen to…as I hate being sold to all the time.
• Most people probably have to spend alot of money on supplements, diet books and/or exercise programs before they “really get it” and know how simple it all is. I know I did.
• I use the 80/20 rule when it comes to all things health and fitness…I will focus on the 20% that gives 80% of the results and not get obsessed over the other 80%. Then I have plenty of free time to go live life before it passes me by.
• The more times I watch “Fight Club”…the more I appreciate the deeper message, and it is not about fighting.
• If I can’t enjoy a beer with friends after doing something fun and active, I probably don’t want any part of it.
• Sometimes people wonder how the heck I can eat the amount I do and still stay lean…give you a hint, I focus on maintaining muscle with simple resistance training….and I take days off with intermittent fasting.
• Knowing my own tendencies and body type is important. I like to workout hard/explosive, run/skate fast in spurts and eat big meals when I am hungry. Once I tailored my lifestyle around that (including knowing when to plan in recovery), I have never been happier and still get the body composition I am after.
• Workout days I like to put in more carbs (esp after a workout). Other days are more protein. I don’t do well trying to do high carb/protein together.
• If you want to look like a professional athlete, do what they do for 8 hours a day…if you want to look good and still keep your day job, workout and eat smart.
• Most Hollywood stars take 4-8+ months to get ready for a role and look good on camera. So why do most people think they can get it done in 2-4 weeks?
• I enjoy eating, and enjoy it even more after a hard workout. I don’t snack, as that is just torture for me (I get really hungry from it).
• You can get lean and fit eating fast food burgers and snickers bars when the total daily calories are low enough, but I can’t give you any guarantees on your overall state of health as skinny people get cancer and heart disease too.
• Doctors who are not telling their patients to get off their butt and eat less/move more to improve their health are just being cowards. Time to stop worrying about people’s feelings and tell it like it is!
• Don’t blame the fast food industry for obesity, as I drive past 20 fast food chains a day and don’t stop in each one. It is still a personal choice on what to eat, no one is holding a gun to anyone’s head.
• The best way to be healthy is to understand what you are eating and it’s impact on your body. Ignore that and all bets are off.
• The best way to win the long term “war” on obesity and disease, is to get people to “wake up” and become aware of their own choices. We need to embrace the positive solutions of eating and exercise for health and prevention. If we don’t save ourselves, no one else will do it for us!
• “This is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time.” (Fight Club)…lets get living!

Preventing Breast Cancer

I think we all agree that preventing and treating breast cancer is a good thing. We all have moms, sisters, wives, friends, and girlfriends that we want to be as healthy as possible. As such, I think we can all agree that finding the best ways to go about keeping our loved ones healthy is the best solution, while finding effective and efficient treatments is also of high importance.

Let’s take a look at a few things that have been in the news lately.

KFC: Pink-Washing

So let’s take a look at the new KFC campaign to make a large contribution to the Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation. By selling pink “Buckets For The Cure,” KFC intends to:

“Help make the largest single donation to end breast cancer forever.”

And it’s drawn the ire of pretty much everyone, particularly Breast Cancer Action, a group that is working to improve knowledge about the disease.

Back to KFC…I think we should take a good deep look at the ingredients in KFC’s products. Let’s look at the ingredients for the grilled chicken, which one would presume is fairly healthy. One would be wrong. From KFC’s website:

Fresh Chicken Marinated With Salt, Sodium Phosphate, and Monosodium Glutamate. Seasoned With: Maltodextrin, Salt, Bleached Wheat Flour, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil, Monosodium Glutamate, Secret Kentucky Grilled Chicken Spices, Palm Oil, Natural Flavor, Garlic Powder, Soy Sauce (Soybean, Wheat, Salt), Chicken Fat, Chicken Broth, Autolyzed Yeast, Beef Powder, Rendered Beef Fat, Extractives of Turmeric, Dehydrated Carrot, Onion Powder, and Not More Than 2% Each of Calcium Silicate and Silicon Dioxide Added As Anticaking Agents.

Remember, this is the supposedly healthy stuff! In fact, very few of the foods on KFC’s menu don’t have partially hydrogenated oils (oddly, one of them is the Extra Crispy Chicken). Between the high levels of omega-6 fats (tied to breast cancer) in KFC’s foods and the trans fats in the partially hydrogenated fats (also tied to breast cancer), it’s similar to selling cigarettes to help prevent lung cancer.

Donations Are Good!

I know at least one of you is starting to steam from the ears and getting ready to unleash holy hell on me to tell me that any kind of donations are good. Don’t get me wrong. I think donating to these causes is a great thing. I think groups that help spread information and understanding about diseases and help people cope with them are great things. But I also think it’s important that we care about where the money comes from. Think back to my comment about selling cigarettes to contribute to lung cancer prevention…would you care about that?

When it comes to making donations, I agree with The Consumerist:

Or, you could make a healthy meal at home and use the money you saved on eating out to make a direct donation to a cancer charity.

I’m willing to bet you can cook your own chicken at home and make a much larger donation than the 50 cents KFC is going to give to Komen and probably still save money. Just remember to not get sucked into corporate marketing when you’re thinking about how to go about donating or which companies to support. Think Before You Pink is another good resource to help you cut through the fluff.

It’s Lifestyle Choices, Not Fast Food

Now that I’ve pointed out the fact that it’s unlikely KFC is going to do one iota of anything to help solve breast cancer, let’s face another fact: KFC is a corporation and, therefore, has one primary goal…making money. We shouldn’t really expect fast food companies to help solve our problems. We have to take that burden on ourselves, individually. I don’t expect anything different out of KFC, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, or any other food manufacturer.

In fact, as a proponent of capitalism, I think for a corporation to not do what makes it the most money is a disservice to its owners (shareholders). I can’t even be mad at KFC about this. And as an even bigger proponent of personal responsibility, our own individual actions have to go to showing companies that we aren’t duped by their marketing or seemingly false shows of concern.

We have to understand that lifestyle can increase the risk of getting certain diseases. Only by recognizing that can we start to make progress. I drive past numerous fast food restaurants daily without ending up with a load of French fries in my hands. It’s all about conscious choices. Of course, there are some genetic variations and certainly there are illnesses that have nothing to do with lifestyle, but for the most part, cancer isn’t one of them. In fact, according to The Mayo Clinic:

Can healthy eating and regular exercise really contribute to breast cancer prevention? So far, the evidence says yes. What’s more, if you combine these risk-reducing habits with limiting your exposure to substances that promote the disease, you’ll benefit even more.

Do you want a shocking statistic? How about this one?

Up to a third of breast cancer cases in Western countries could be avoided if women ate less and exercised more, researchers at a breast cancer conference said today

KFC (or any other fast food), in and of itself, is relatively harmless, so long as it’s a rare occurrence. It’s when your lifestyle revolves around highly processed foods that the damage is insurmountable. Now, we could look at what passes for healthy eating advice to see more ways to solve breast cancer and so many other diseases. The omega-6 thing is a big one…how many people have given up real fats for vegetable oils and vegetable oil-based margarines?

Still don’t believe me that the omega-6 fats are detrimental in the quantities we eat them? What women eat may affect kids, grandkids. Of course, they focus on the term “high fat” (and even throw in “bacon cheeseburger” at the end for good measure), but what they really mean is this:

The risk associated with high-fat diets, especially those high in omega-6 fatty acids….This imbalance has previously been linked to a host of health problems, including depression, infertility, heart disease and, yes, cancer.

Prevent First, Then Treat

“He who cures a disease may be the skillfullest, but he that prevents it is the safest physician.” ~ Thomas Fuller

As with all diseases, the first and best course of action should be prevention. In the instances where it’s too late for prevention, then choosing the best treatments is paramount. That’s where I think groups like Komen come in; first, educate people on how to live to avoid specific diseases and second, help find more effective, less invasive treatments.

Of course, remember that none of what I’m writing today is truly about KFC or breast cancer. KFC just happens to be an easy target and breast cancer is their chosen cause right now. It’s not about blaming people or pointing fingers. It’s about figuring out the best way to spread the information that people need to be healthy and vibrant.

What I’m really getting at is that preventing and treating disease isn’t about expecting a corporation to handle it for us. It’s about making conscious decisions to reduce our risk, as well as taking action ourselves to help treat those that are affected. To expect a corporation to take on that job is naive.

Real Prevention

Maybe some diseases aren’t 100% preventable, but we can and should do everything we can to reduce our risk as much as possible. As The Mayo Clinic pointed out, lifestyle is the best way to reduce your risk of getting any disease. And that comes from eating plenty of Real Food (and even enjoying yourself occasionally with not-so-real food), exercising, getting sun exposure to keep your vitamin D levels high, and getting plenty of sleep.

What do you think? Are we really taking the best course of action available to prevent diseases, not just breast cancer? How can we improve the ways we help people stay healthy and also how we treat those that fall ill?