Sweet Enlow

As I sit here shivering, I can’t help but recall a line from one of my favorite movies, “The Whole Ten Yards.” After a fight with his wife, Oz (Matthew Perry) states that if he doesn’t change his behavior, he will be taking “cold showers for the rest of his life.”

Oddly enough, that might not be so bad…

Only a few a days ago, I purchased a book that I have been looking forward to coming out  for months, The 4-Hour Body, by Tim Ferris. Ferris, like myself, takes a great interest in a number of things, including physical health. Moreover, he is just an interesting guy. You should check out his blog at www.fourhourworkweek.com. This book chronicles his last ten years of unconventional experiments he has conducted on himself (after his bestseller “The 4-hour workweek cashed in, he has the luxury of some pretty expensive methods, but his results are just the same). He is a literal human guinea pig. His book has a number of highly fascinating sections – How to give a woman a 15 minute orgasm, how to drop 20 pounds in 30 days (by eating paleo…what a shocker), how to run 50 km in only 4 weeks, how to triple your testosterone etc… One chapter that particularly caught my eye was his discussion of the effects of Ice baths/showers. His studies’ state:

1.  (The evidence is rather scientific, but a scientific explanation is not needed for the overall point) Ice Showers recruit necessary cell components (namely, GLUT-4) to the surface of the cell increasing lean muscle gain

2. Even at short durations, cold exposure could increase adiponectin levels and glucose uptake by muscle tissue.

3. In the absence of shivering (short term exposure), there is still a substantial increase in “thermogenesis” increasing fat-burning for heat.

4. Cold Water exposure increases immunity.. He states specifically, “acute cold water exposure has immunostimualting effects, and preheating with physical exercise or a warm shower can enhance this response.”

5. Cold Showers are effective treatment of depression.

In thinking about this from an evolutionary standpoint, it makes sense. There were undoubtedly times when humans had to endure some harsh winters without much food yet required energy – thus, the fat-burning evidence. So, by placing ourselves in a similar situation – albeit less intense – logically should benefit our health.

That being said, I have tinkered around with cold showers for about a year and I thought there was something to it, but I never stuck with the practice – until this week. Simply put, it has been an amazing experience. Thus far, after 5 days, I have gone from a 32.5 waist to 31.75, have a bookoo amount of energy (seriously. its biggest effect I have noticed), and I am sleeping better (and faster) than I have in a long time.

Moreover, Ferris conducted personally experiments where, though only anecdotal, he personally attributes a massive increase in testosterone to ice baths (in his testosterone section). This I have noticed as well Lastly, Japanese studies have shown that due to the increase in heat, Ice Showers actually make one fall asleep faster at night – even after the shocking experience. Again, I am literally falling asleep 5 minutes after my body becomes re-acclimated.

Ferris recommends that one take a 5-10 minutes shower twice a day, preferrable upon waking and right before bed. I have personally been doing twice a day at 5 -7 minutes.  Yet, I will test tonight or tomorrow his more extreme method of taking a literal ice bath where you dump a bunch of conveinent store bags of ice into a tub and fill it with water and “soak” for about 20 minutes. Should be interesting…..

I highly, highly recommend trying this unconventional approach. I know it is painful at first and the “shrinkage” is laughable if not embarrassing, but the after effects are incredible!

If the leaning out continues, I promise to post pictures of progress.

If you are going to run, please run barefooted or with vibrams. Thanks to Major Smith for this link!

“Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution”

- among other brilliant scholars, “Baby” Dan Dixon

Over Xmas, a friend and I discussed their latest plans to run a marathon.  It was not a pleasant conversation for her.  Yesterday, that friend called me to talk of her marathon.  It again was not a pleasant conversation.

To be honest, I think marathons are one the worst events that occur within the fitness community.  It would be the worst, but some people have gone above and beyond and starting running “ultra-marathons”" – 50 or even 100 mile runs.  These are simply absurd.

Marathons are difficult and I applaud anyone who has the discipline and will-power to take on tough tasks like a marthon.  However, under no circumstances will I ever value someone’s attempt to run a marathon as a “great thing” because, while most are entirely unaware, marathons are extremely detrimental to one’s health – even just one.  Hell, the race itself can put one in considerable danger.

My real issue with Marathons, though, is that they are entirely a product of the combination of conventional fitness wisdom and pop culture.  Conventional Wisdom states one should conduct chronic cardio.  Ultimately, the greatest test of the chronic cardio runner is the marathon which is then, of course, inflated by pop culture.  My friend lives in California where long-distance, endurance-type racing – marathons, triathlons, etc… – permeate all aspects of the fitness community… unfortunately (However, Mark Sisson is hopefully starting a revolution in SoCal).  I can’t think of a worse community that embraces such a damaging activity more than California – well, maybe one.

My hating of marathons is not anecdotal or bias - not by a long shot.  Art Devany, arguably the smartest man out there concerning living primally, puts it best:

“With my apologies to David Letterman, here are the top ten reasons not to run marathons.

10. Marathon running damages the liver and gall bladder and alters biochemical markers adversely. HDL is lowered, LDL is increased, Red blood cell counts and white blood cell counts fall. The liver is damaged and gall bladder function is decreased. Testosterone decreases.

9. Marathon running causes acute and severe muscle damage. Repetitive injury causes infiltration of collagen (connective tissue) into muscle fibers.

8. Marathon running induces kidney dysfunction (renal abnormalities).

7. Marathon running causes acute microthrombosis in the vascular system.

6. Marathon running elevates markers of cancer. S100beta is one of these markers. Tumor necrosis factor, TNF-alpha, is another.

5. Marathon running damages your brain. The damage resembles acute brain trauma. Marathon runners have elevated S100beta, a marker of brain damage and blood brain barrier dysfunction. There is S100beta again, a marker of cancer and of brain damage.

4. Marathons damage your heart. From Whyte, et al Med Sci Sports Ecerc, 2001 May, 33 (5) 850-1, “Echocardiographic studies report cardiac dysfunction following ultra-endurance exercise in trained individuals. Ironman and half-Ironman competition resulted in reversible abnormalities in resting left ventricular diastolic and systolic function. Results suggest that myocardial damage may be, in part, responsible for cardiac dysfunction, although the mechanisms responsible for this cardiac damage remain to be fully elucidated.”

3. Endurance athletes have more spine degeneration.

2. At least four participants of the Boston Marathon have died of brain cancer in the past 10 years. Purely anecdotal, but consistent with the elevated S100beta counts and TKN-alpha measures. Perhaps also connected to the microthrombi of the endothelium found in marathoners.

1. The first marathon runner, Phidippides, collapsed and died at the finish of his race.

In addition to Devany’s top ten, I wanted to point out a few more things that happened to my friend.  She told me yesterday that she had been sick for around 3 weeks and could not simply get over it; random throat infections, painful headaches, and extreme fatigue were plaguing her.  She goes to the Doctor to also find that she was extremely anemic and low in hemoglobin.  The Doctor tells her that these are all direct products of her training up for her marathon.  Running distances of 10-20 miles regularly can do that..

This, of course, all makes sense to someone who understands how we have evolved.  Running like that directly suppresses one’s immune system which explains why she was sick for 3 weeks “unexplainably.” 

Ultimately, my friend called to tell me she had torn her meniscus, another direct result of consistent long-distance running.

She was very upset because she is now not able to complete something she trained so hard for and for that I am very sorry.  But I told her yesterday that hopefully this will be a sign as to change her lifestyle, at least considering her health.  She is pretty stubborn though…

I will never run marathon and, if I have a say, neither will the people I care about.

Living at The Institution can make living your desirable life – whatever that may be –  difficult at times.  Honestly, I am frustrated more often than not.  So, when trying to living a paleo lifestyle, The Institution can really make things difficult.

Besides trying to avoid the “mandatory” meals where processed carbs and mass quantities of deserts are shoved down your throat “family style,” another issue that arises is snacking.  Part of the poor food culture here at the The Institution is the “company stores” (company stores allow cadets to satisfy their hunger when the Mess hall is closed or simply out of convenience).  In these “stores,” there is nothing but food that is a direct detriment to ones health.  At the store, one can only choose between products made by Nestle, Hostess, or Hershey.   

I do my best to avid these products at all times because, aside from being simply bad for you, they quell your appetite away from the food you should actually be eating – fruit, vegetables, red meat.  So, I wanted to point out a few snacks that are great alternatives to ”fatty cakes.”  (these are my favorite and by no means the entire spectrum of what could eat.  For a bigger list, go to the Mark Sisson’s site.)

• trail mix – a great combination of all paleo foods – nuts and dried fruits.  Ideally, you want to stay away from the ones with chocolate in it, but I personally think it’s no big deal – there are worse alternatives
• beef jerky – pretty obvious here. 
• Seasoned Nuts – I personally don’t like nuts much, so I had my mom buy some seasoned nuts with special flavoring.  Personal preference on this one.
• Dark Chocolate – I don’t have a “sweet tooth” per se, but I do crave chocolate every once in a while.  True Dark Chocolate actually has a lot of nutrients, but those all consist of at least 70% cocoa.  Hershey’s Dark doesn’t consist of that much, but its better than the traditional.
• Blackberries – I love blackberries and because of their packaging, they can make for some good snacking.

Keep in mind that snacking is really for the weak (myself included).  You should almost always strive to maintain a “feast/famine” diet with acute starvation (intermittent fasting) as an integral part of your life.  Easier said than done I know, but results are best achieved when intermittent fasting is substantial in one’s lifestyle

This is a quote I pulled from Loren Cordaine’s weekly newsletter concerning paleo.  People ask me for a simple explanation and I always end up talking much more than I wanted.

“The basic concept behind the Paleo Diet is that the foods that best promote health and optimum functioning are the foods that we evolved to eat. Humans evolved over 2.5 million years as hunter-gatherers, and it is only in the last 6 – 10,000 years that we have been eating grains, dairy, sugar, vegetable oils, high fructose corn syrup, and other modern foods. Because evolution moves so very slowly, the standard American diet (and even so-called “healthy” diets) wreaks havoc with our Paleolithic constitutions.”

More to come on Paleo lifestyle as usual, but for the people entirely unaware, this about sums it up.

I read recently in the NYT an article discussing an experiment concerning women’s exercise and their cognitive ability. 

The article states:

“Researchers in British Columbia randomly assigned 155 women ages 65 to 75 either to strength training with dumbbells and weight machines once or twice a week, or to a comparison group doing balance and toning exercises.

A year later, the women who did strength training had improved their performance on tests of so-called executive function by 10.9 percent to 12.6 percent, while those assigned to balance and toning exercises experienced a slight deterioration — 0.5 percent. The improvements in the strength training group included an enhanced ability to make decisions, resolve conflicts and focus on subjects without being distracted by competing stimuli.”

This isn’t a shock to someone who believes in living primally and in accordance to our evolutionary design.  “Lifting heavy things,” a favorite of Mark Sissons, proves not only to be healthy for muscular and bone structure, but now is showing to actually help improve one’s cognitive ability.  Again, excellence in any facet of life when living correctly – proper diet and exercise namely - should not be of surprise to anyone …

so ladies (and gentleman), get off the treadmill and hit the weights – you will actually be smarter.

here is the article in its entirety.  I recommend reading it for it provides some interesting insight

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/health/research/26exer.html

Last night, President Obama issued what was supposed to be his most important speech of his young presidency.

I was highly interested – as I think most should.  Many things Obama stated sounded fishy, especially after I spoke to my Ph.D-from-MIT professor.  But what is not fishy is the rising deficient our country is currently experiencing – about a trillion a year.  As costly as the two wars are to the government, what is striking is that these wars cost little compared to our government’s welfare programs, social security, medicare, and Medicaid.

Social Security is so complicated that I can not even begin to address the issues surrounding it.  However, what is relatively easy to fix is the American citizen’s continuing dependance on government support for their medical issues – namely, prescription drugs.

I guess one might call me a “moderate libertarian” in that I tend to have more compassion than other libertarians.  But, on the aggregate, little to no government involvement is almost always my dream.  I do not have a serious problem with the government taking care of someone who suffers a catastrophic injury, but providing billions, literally, for prescriptions to treat obesity, self-inflicted diabetes, and heart conditions is not ok – its simply unfair.  In no way is it right for taxpayers to pay for someone else’s poor choices…

Regardless of my philosophical opinion…

The solution to the health care crisis is so simple – diet.  To be more precise, its the paleolithic diet.

In my opinion, it literally requires an intelligent person , which all of our government officials are supposed to be, 30 minutes of reading to understand why eating the way we have evolved changes the whole dynamic of American health.

When you eat a paleolithic diet, you do not get sick.  Coughs, colds, allergies cease to exist.  Obesity doesn’t exist.  Diabetes the same…  Dont believe me, ok.  Research some fellow paleo-eaters and hear their testimonies. 

I just finished this book entitled “The Biology of Belief” and its basic premise is that our genes are, in fact, not controlled by our genetics but controlled by their enviroment – namely proper diet, excercise, and lifestyle.  These 3 components force proper human gene expression. 

Colds, Diabetes, Obesity, OK.  What about cancer?  The causes of cancer have baffled scientists for years.  Well, the author of “Biology of Belief” makes a powerful statement concerning cancer, particularly breast cancer, widely considered a genetic curse, when he writes “that 95% of breast cancers are not due to inherited genes.  The malignancies in a significant number of cancer patients are derived from environmentally induced epigenetic alterations and not defective genes.” “In fact, only 5% of cancer and cardiovascular patients can attribute their disease to heredity.” (Lipton 42)

shocking… but not really

Personally, I started living Paleolithically (as best I can) around one year ago.  It is definitely a change, and it is not necessarily easy in the beginning.  But its not easy because we have developed such a poor enviroment/diet for our bodies over the course of our lives that it takes some time to get back living how we were designed.  (Of course, the worst being the heavy reliance upon grains…. again for another post entirely.)  For example, when I eat grains, I feel sick the next day.  I am almost always congested, sore throat with mucus build-up, and overall very fatigued.  Sounds ridiculous I know, but the same happens to all my other paleo-eaters.  Ask them…

If the American government were to “nudge” our community into the right direction, the benefits would be astronomical, both economically and socially.  Michelle Obama wouldn’t even have to chair a committee concerning Obese children.