Sweet Enlow

I commented a few months back on Melody Peterson’s book investigating the policies of the major drug corporations.  Needless to say, it can make one upset and concerned for the general well-being of society.

I just read this article covering this exact manipulation of the health-care system for profit.  As important, the article does a great job debunking the idea that higher cholesterol automatically means higher heart risk and that one must lower it immediately (of course through drug companies statin products).

This is a great article and it should be read by all concerned with their health, drug companies, and the health care system. (I got this from Tommy John’s facebook page… you should friend him)

http://www.healthiertalk.com/why-cholesterol-may-not-be-cause-heart-disease-0949

read this!!

I was at dinner with some close friends last night and they were inquiring into why I do not eat grains (followed by giving me a hard time about it).  I stated that I wasn’t going to explain it to them over a great dinner and affect the mood; however, this blog provides a great platform for the explanation.

One of the people I highly respect, Mark Sisson, says it best in his great book The Primal Blueprint:

“Ingesting grains (breads, pastas, crackers, snack foods, baked goods, rice, corn, cereals etc…) and other processed carbohydrates causes blood glucose (blood sugar) levels to spike.  This spike is a shock to our primal genes which are accustomed to natural, slow-burning foods.  Your pancreas compensates for this excess of glucose (sugar) in the bloodstream [too much glucose is toxic to the body - hence the importance of timely insulin shots for diabetics] by secreting excessive levels of insulin.  While insulin is an important hormone that delivers nutrients to muscle, liver, and fat cells for storage, excessive insulin released in the bloodstream causes glucose to be removed so rapidly and effectively that it can result in a “sugar crash”: mental and physical lethargy and (because the brain relies heavily on glucose to fuel it) a strong craving for quick replacement energy in the form of more high-carbohydrate food.” (24-25)  Additonally, after years of eating a grain based diet, one can become “insulin resistant” which a very serious health issue and requires its own post.

Eating poorly, as in lots of grains, “leads to a vicious cycle of another ill-advised meal, another excessive insulin response, and another corresponding blood glucose decline” (25)

I quoted Sisson here verbatim because there is way to say it more clearly or simply… except maybe that we weren’t evolved to eat a lot of grains and eating a non-evolutionary-based diet can cause many problems.

His book is beyond excellent and I recommend it to everyone.

 http://www.amazon.com/Primal-Blueprint-Reprogram-effortless-boundless/dp/0982207700/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262868204&sr=1-1

First off, merry Xmas to all that are reading.  I hope your holidays have been as enjoyable as mine thus far.

If you live in Tulsa, you know that we got a pretty rough blizzard here yesterday and it has caused me to think: what is the best technique to traverse ice by foot?

Here is my theory which has been battle tested in 3 winters in the northeast,  3 years in Montana (as a kid), and the occasional terrible storms received here in Northeast OK.

When it is Icy, of course go slow, but more importantly, don’t bring your feet off the ground.  The majority of the slippage occurs when the foot strikes the icy surface beneath the walker.  By never bringing the foot off the surface, one can keep the little friction that is already occurring thereby decreasing their chance of falling.  It is kind of like ice skating with your shoes.

Just a theory, but it has worked for me.  Would be an interesting case study on Mythbusters.  Try it out Tulsans

I recently made a post entitled “A Case against Running” which progressed into a post for which I received many comments – some agreeing, some disagreeing.  I would never admit that it was not at least partially bias because I do not like endurance training, but I (at least I attempted to) backed up each statement with evidence countering conventional wisdom.  Interestingly enough, an article in the New York Times came out yesterday that was very poignant for the topic of discussion on running.  Never being one to shy away from hearing the other side, I had to post and comment on this article.  My response is, unlike my last article which was a summary of another person’s work, almost entirely me personally responding with knowledge I already have.    That being said, the article  is entitled “The Human Body is Built for Distance” – here is the link.  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/health/27well.html?_r=2&hpw.  Please take 5 minutes and read this before you go on.

The author’s overall gist is that we have, in fact, evolved to be distance runners.  She lists reason like length of feet and alignment of toes, the gluteus maximus only engages in running, we are able, because of our sweat glands, to out run just about any animal in a marathon type length etc…  Lastly, the author makes a comment that humans used distance running to “watch the sky for scavenging birds and then to run long distances to the site and steal the meat from whatever animal was there first.”

To start, one can not refute the author’s overall thesis that we are in fact evolved to be able to run.  However, I would argue that, while we are capable of running long distances, sprinting is really what our bodies were meant to do.  One can see this is in proper gene expression throughout the different body types in hunter gatherer societies.  The author mentions the Bushmen as proponents of long-distance hunting.  When I think of Bushmen, I do not think of a sprinter – lean, muscular, explosive – I think of marathoner.  This is due to their massive amounts of distance they log hunting.  There are exceptions of course within the society, but East Africans who come from cultures like these tend to be the top runners in the world (logical) and they all look similar.  Frail.

Picture from the NYT

The author also makes a point to discuss scavenging and stealing another animals meat (as mentioned previously).  I have never really heard about this technique for hunting in my reading of Hunter-Gatherers (HG), but lets assume that this was a regularly practice.  To act like one would, as the author suggested, conduct essentially a marathon to go collect food I feel is rather absurd.  Logically, this does not make sense.  If you relied on every bit of energy for sustenance, would you conduct a marathon to not guarantee food, but just hopefully arrive at that site?  O, and by the way, once you get there, you have to essentially fight off another animal to steal its food.  I somehow doubt after running an extreme amount of distance, you will be prepared to even adequately defend yourself, let alone go on the offensive and “steal another animals food.” 

In addition to the author’s point on hunting, I have never really heard of HG’s running long distance to kill their prey except from the Bushmen.  Thus, I wanted to bring to attention what I have always read about and to me makes entirely more sense.  I have always read, particularly as we came into being homo sapiens, that we would usually conduct basically a complex ambush in that our brain power and short, intense bouts of energy were combined to bring lethality.  This seems logical because we humans were using something to our advantage that animals do not have – complex thought process.  It does not seem in humans best interest, even though the author claims that at 26.2 miles one could out run a horse, to conduct such a long hunt that you are essentially exhausted whereby the only efficient thing you can do is, well, rest.

Lastly, the author’s main subject of the paper deals with an Indian tribe in Mexico that is known for distance running, the Tarahumara, and, what seemed more intriguing to the author, the ability to run so well in nothing but thinly soled sandals.  The author shows how these people log extreme amounts of distance and never seemingly get hurt.  Well, on accident, the author helps prove a lot of things I argued in my first post.  One, running should not be chronic in that it should not be highly strenuous (under 75% of max. heart, but more like 55%).  Two, “high-tech shoes has led to poor running form and a rash of injuries.”  I would say more than a rash.  A recent study, listed in the article, stated that 90% of people training for marathons sustain injuries in the process or after.  This is seen to most through joint pain, but also extremely high amounts of bodily inflammation, and immune suppression.  The high-tech shoe issue is easily correctable by getting some Vibram Five Fingers or even some thinly soled Pumas- this is basically what these Indians practice already with their thinly soled sandals.  In addition, this new fad of ultra-marathoning, which, in my opinion is beyond absurd, is now seeing people remove their toenails so that they wont fall off or become infected during the race of 50 or 100 miles.  This could be due to shoes, or simply for the fact that people are doing something entirely against their evolutionary design. 

To close, running should be conducted in a playful manner where frequent walking breaks takes place.  This is much in align with our gene’s and, to bring the scavenging argument back up, much more close to what a human would have likely done to gather food (and it would not have been over a span of 26 miles).  I would highly doubt any HG would exert himself for hours chasing down birds over resting in the shade allowing for there to be contemplation on the way to make his/her next kill.

Either way, always good to hear both sides.  Thanks to Kyle for sending me the link in digital form

I live my life as best I can by the evolutionary principles that have shaped and molded us into the humans we are today.  What most dont realize is that we have been homo sapiens for approximately 150,00 years.  The genetic differences between current humans and these homo sapiens is essentially non-existent.   As far as health is concerned, this means eating in a paleolithic manner (more to come on this soon) and exercising in such a way the promotes optimal gene expression.

In addition to Baby, my knowledge has come mostly from two figure heads in the Primal community, Arthur DeVany (a Ph.D Economists oddly enough) and Mark Sisson.  I am in the process of finishing Sisson’s book The Primal Blueprint in which I am sure I will write on; however,  I just read a section that I could not resist commenting on.  It is about four pages concerning the consequences of what Sisson calls “Chronic Cardio.”  Sisson explains that Chronic Cardio is excessive endurance exercise whereby your heart is operating between 75 and 95% of your max heart rate.  One can think of the classic example of someone going to “get a run in.”

I am extremely passionate about this topic for two reasons.  One, I HATE running… I can not think of anything I despise more.  It is bland, uneventful, and painful.  Two, I am in a culture whereby everyone thinks its basically the only way to really exercise…if its not the main component, it is always in a substantial auxiliary position.  In addition, people think that if you don’t run well, you will be less successful at your job (This would never be said but it is implied).  As one can imagine, it is highly frustrating. 

Now it is time to back up my bias against running with some science:

Very simply, our bodies have not evolved and are not genetically adapted to endure the type of excessive stress chronic cardio places on our body.  It leads to numerous problems with metablosim, stress management, immune function, and general health.

Concerning metabolism, as exercise intensity increases, your preferred fuel shifts from fats to glucose.  This causes our body to have the feeling of needing to replenish with quick-energy carbohydrates… usually resulting in us to overeat due to the evolution adaption against starvation risk.  Thus, if you’re looking to reduce fat, cardio is not the way to go.  Often times you may lose weight but your body composition results in everyone’s favorite look – “skinny fat.” 

Chronic Cardio also increases Cortisol production which ultimately breaks down muscle tissue and suppresses production of key hormones like testosterone and HGH.  This leads to, among other things, immune supression and undesirable changes in fat metabloism.  “Furthermore, the stress of chronic cardio increases systemic inflammation (a major contributing factor to almost ever health problem including heart disease and cancer) and an increase oxidative damage.  This leads to an acceleration in the aging process.”

So we have aging, immune deficiencies, and hormonal suppression.  I could go on but I think you get the point.

I think part of the problem with the overall culture of running is that it is easy to formulate and requires nothing.  Point taken, but one can do most primal workouts with little or nothing as well.  What is a primal workout?  Well, it consists of short-duration, intense workouts.  Great examples that most know are intervals, crossfit, and/or just simple sprints.  This type of excersising operates under the principle of the power law distribution.

Intensity on the Y; Frequency on the X

Shown above, the Power Law demonstrates that we should have a tremendous amount of leisure with brief bouts of extremely strenuous exercise.  Our genes were designed to function under this premise.  Running and other components of chronic cardio clearly violates this principle and thus diminish proper gene expression. 

Lastly, Sisson talks about, and I completely agree, the psychological and lifestyle virtues of devoted exercise.  That is great and I respect people that have this discipline.  Unfortunately, in a lot of aspects, I feel it’s doing more harm than good.  Sisson knows this first hand considering he was once an avid marathon-er and completed many Ironmans.  So he has been involved in both cultures and he now only advocates exercising primally.

a thousand words

 For Primal Workout ideas and a much better in-depth anaylsis go to these three sites

www.marksdailyapple.com 

www.arthurdevany.com

http://www.theevoway.blogspot.com/

I recently received my latest product in my attempt to better my physical condition.  Not a shocker here but they were originally mentioned to me about 9 months ago by the ever progressive Baby, but, in addition, one of my health guru’s who I highly respect, Mark Sisson, proclaimed that they are absolutely essential to his workout.  They are Vibram’s Five Finger shoes and they are incredible.  Here is a picture of the basic model:

The basic premise is that it allows one to train essentially barefooted.  For me particularly, it makes entirely too much sense to not train in these.  I consistently roll (wrestle/jiu jitsu) and box/muay thai approximately 5 days a week participating barefoot the entire time.  In addition, advocates of the primal lifestyle (Baby, myself, IVYMurph) love to constantly train in a setting that best represents our ancestors.  Training barefoot thus becomes essential.  There are so many nerves, muscles, bones, and tendons involved in your feet that it should be pretty clear that stimulating these sensory receptors/body parts is beneficial for your health.

Here are a few quick facts and studies done on vibram’s (this is all taken from the vibram website):

• Time named the shoe one of the best inventions of 2007
• Vibram was inspired to create these shoes based off studies that show our current choice of shoes, particularly to train in, are actually weakening our feet and causing us to become more susceptible to injury
• The fact that there is no heel helps align spine and increase proper posture

In addition to the websites stated benefits, I personally like training barefooted simply because it feels more organic.  I just feel better about the particular workout.  This is entirely a personal feeling, but I know IvyMurph feels very similar.

I have become fairly obsessed with health after a substantial stint of not caring; luckily I grew out of that immaturity.  This product can and will increase your overall well-being.  Check them out

Ps… people will stare at you in the gym and will undoubtedly ask you questions…

And hippies love these shoes…organic