2010 November

Adam’s Practical Paleo Diet Tip of the Day – Green Smoothies

November 28, 2010 by Adam 10 Comments

This is about a close to posting a recipe as I’ll ever go…

Those who know me know I’m not a big fan of posting “Paleo” recipes. I talked about some of my reasons in this post. I do like posting some of the “unique” stuff that I do that isn’t necessarily well known in the Paleo community, though.

So, here’s my Tip of the Day – The Green Smoothie

As a blender drink, green smoothies have a lot of advantages. They’re pretty easy to make and you can pack a TON of raw greens into an easy to eat and easy to digest drink that can be made pretty palatable. And, true to my usual attitude toward diet, this isn’t a STRICTLY Paleo meal. It’s healthy and it ROCKS though!

Greens in the Blender – But Not Just ANY Blender

So far, the only two benders I know of that will REALLY liquify rough greens like Kale and Chard are Blendtech and VtiaMix. I have a Blendtec and have been pretty happy with it. They’re NOT cheap though! The main advantage to a “Green Smoothie” over a more common “Juice” is that you keep the fiber and all the other bulk and stuff IN the drink as opposed to throwing it all away when you make a green juice. A green smoothie is closer to real food and tastes a lot better as far as I’m concerned.

Lot’s of GREENS

Here’s about 8oz of raw Chard and Kale:

Here it is blended or “liquefied:”

RICE PROTEIN!?!?!?!?! WTF?

Yup, Rice Protein! Not Paleo (No Paleo Heaven for me!) but it works well for me. Here are the liquefied greens with 4 Scoops of Protein Powder, 2 TBSP Coconut Oil, and 1 TBSP Psyllium Husk Fiber.

Fruit? Ouch! My Pancreas!

Yup, Fruit. TWO kinds! Today it was organic pineapple and organic bananas.

There it is! A LOT of nutrition in an easy, drinkable and digestible package. If you’re interested in Green Smoothies there are two excellent books out there – both by VEGANS! YIKES! They are: “The Green Smoothies Diet” by Robyn Oppenshaw and “Green for Life” by Victoria Boutenko. Yup, that’s right, I just posted a cool diet tip I learned from the RAW VEGAN Community

“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.”

— Bruce Lee

And that’s it for today. Green Smoothies ROCK. Try them!

ttys

Adam

Perfectionism and Self-Sabatage – Paleo Style…

November 28, 2010 by Adam 30 Comments

I really should have known better. It wasn’t till last weekend when there was all the talk about food addiction and all that other fun stuff on Facebook and the SINS page that things really clicked for me and I got a clue.

There are times I go MENTAL with my diet. What I realized is that I’ve been creating a pretty much impossible standard for myself. And it’s been making it harder to stay Paleo and making me pretty crazy besides. I said a lot about “impossible standards” when I talked about the whole body image thing in my post “Body Image, Food Addiction and I’m Not Good Enough.” I guess writing that post made some of the crazy stuff I’ve been doing more obvious…

What RESULT are you after?

In Self-Help there’s a big thing about results. Anthony Robbins is HUGE on defining what result you want before you start anything. What result was I after when I started Paleo-style eating more than 6 years ago? HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE. My “result” wasn’t “I want to eat a perfect Paleo diet and be more perfect than anyone else at it.” That kind of self-righteous bullshit is reserved for vegans and vegetarians as far as I’m concerned

I’m still blown away at times when I mention something like eating brown rice or goat yogurt on Facebook and have a bunch of people FREAK OUT about those foods not being Paleo. I mean, what are we trying to do here? Are we trying to “eat Paleo” as an end in and of itself, or are we after health and performance? If you have BETTER health and performance with a cup of brown rice a few times a week, then eat the damn rice! Are we trying to get through the Pearly Gates of Paleo Heaven or are we trying to LIVE and TRAIN and PERFORM?

On the flip side, nuts and seed make me feel like crap and I don’t digest them very well. BUT THEY’RE PALEO! “Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar…” How canst thou forsake nuts and seeds? Blasphemy!!!!!!! Look at my RESULT. Do I want to follow the diet dogma or do I want HEALTH and PERFORMANCE? Avoiding nuts and seeds is getting me to my RESULT…

But, THAT’S not Paleo!!!!!!!!!!

Something that’s made me nuts about virtually every “diet community” I’ve been around is the dogma and near religion that a lot of people get into. As a community, I think Paleo has a few zealots but, overall, I think we have more of a “use what works” mentality than many other communities. Robb Wolf has played a large part in that because he’s a leading theorist and he’s also pragmatic, humble and willing to change course when he learns something new.

Our diet – call it Paleo if you must – needs to be a living, breathing and evolving thing. A diet is a lot more than a list of what you can and can’t eat. I think Paleo is the best map we’ve come up with to date but, IT’S STILL JUST A MAP.

Something I take regular flak on is my use of rice protein in my fruit smoothies and green smoothies – and my use of smoothies in general! But the damn things WORK for me! I know that Paleo man didn’t have a Blendtec – or an outlet to plug it into – but I DO and smoothies work for my body and where my life is at this moment.

As a side note, I think the people who are screaming the diet dogma the loudest are the ones who are most likely to be pulling down the shades and eating garbage when no one is looking. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone and all that…

The Other Side of Perfectionism

I’ve written a lot about eating organic, buying local and supporting small farms. This past week I realized – all of a sudden – that I had set some SERIOUSLY high standards for myself – and they were making it HARDER to get where I wanted to go. I’ve made it a point for most of the last 6 years to eat ONLY organic food. I’ve stayed as organic as I possibly could. I’ve also made it a point to eat only grass fed beef and I’ve tried to get raw dairy – and make my own yogurt with it – whenever I could. Beyond this, a goal of mine has been to – as I’ve written about – keep everything local.

So, here’s the standard:

100% organic food
All meats organic and fed their APPROPRIATE diet – This means cows are fed grass and chickens are pastured and not fed corn or soy, etc.
As much local as possible – This is somewhat achievable spring and summer, but in the winter in New England it’s a lot harder.
I’ve avoided seasonings other than Celtic sea salt and organic pepper for most of the 6 years. I really did my best to enjoy the natural flavors of things.

And Then I Started Missing the Mark – A LOT

I actually managed the above pretty well. Yeah, one of my staples is pasteurized goat yogurt and the organic whole chickens I get from Whole Foods are fed soy, but most everything else has been on track for the most part. But I wasn’t very hungry for the foods I was “supposed to” eat. Or, I’d start hungry and a few bites in be struggling to get it down. I could look at this as a moral failing – and I’m sure plenty of others would LOVE to as well. But I tend to look deeper than the surface of things…

My Breakthrough

The problem with having perfection as a standard is it’s REALLY easy to NOT meet it. That’s what was happening to me. When “grocery shopping” means a 30-45min drive to the nearest Whole Foods or paying WAY too much at the little local health food store and not having a great selection – it was getting pretty hard to stay 100% clean.

Add to that, I’m preparing ALL of my food myself and it was getting out of hand. I don’t mind devoting a lot of time to my eating and diet, but it was becoming somewhat impractical and some part of me was becoming more and more resistant and resentful.

And then there were those days when I was completely exhausted mentally and physically and said: “Fuck it, I’ll just order a pizza!” And, the reasoning goes, if I’m breaking my diet I might as well have a few Kit Kats for dessert. Oh, and I’ll have pizza left over tomorrow so I might as well “relax” tomorrow too… And we’re on our way down the slippery slope to mediocrity BECAUSE WE WERE PURSUING PERFECTION AND IT WASN’T REACHABLE AT THAT MOMENT.

Making it Practical

This weekend I went to Stop and Shop and – horror of horrors – bought two of their own rotisserie chickens. Not organic, not cooked myself. They even had some cornstarch and sugar added. Now, this IS NOT the way I want to eat. I’m still on the organic, local, humanely raised thing. It’s what I believe in and what I value. But I also have had to embrace the UTILITY of driving 5 minutes down the road and getting a hot, ready to eat chicken once in a while when I don’t have the time or energy to cook AND I’M HUNGRY. It’s a MUCH better option than driving 5 minutes down the road for a pizza.

Basically, what I did is give myself a “middle option” between cooking an organic, pastured chicken myself and ordering a pizza. How about eating chicken that may not be the quality I’d really prefer? That non-organic chicken is going to be a hell of a lot less harmful than a freakin’ pepperoni pizza!

Making Things Taste Good Again

This past week I’ve been really thinking about the food addiction topic. One of the reasons I think a lot of crap food is SO addictive is the seasoning. They’re really good at doing stuff to that food to make it taste good and keep you coming back for more. But the need for new and different tastes is a natural human thing – and probably evolutionary at that. And wars have been fought over spices throughout history, so it’s a good bet that we humans are pretty into them.

Last night I ate chicken, roasted veggies and bacon. All topped off with some Tabasco Sauce and Bone Suckin’ BBQ Sauce (I use Bone Suckin’ because it’s not only AWESOME but it’s one of the few that’s gluten and refined sugar free). And it was delicious! I ate and ate and ate! And this was the same meal I didn’t even want to finish the night before – without the sauces.

You STILL have to work, Pumpkin…

At this point, I’m sure someone out there is saying: “He’s right! I’ll just eat whatever I want! I don’t want to be a perfectionist!” That’s NOT what I’m saying! What I AM saying is that perfection is an impossible standard. Let’s go for OUTSTANDING and keep focused on the RESULTS we want to achieve.

ttys

Adam

Practical Paleo – Diet Tip of the Day – Sauces

November 20, 2010 by Adam 7 Comments

Tabasco, Bone Suckin and Wing It

Explore Sauces and Condiments

I’ve talked before about the power of sauces and condiments to make the boring interesting. There are plenty of websites out there like InsaneChicken.com that specialize in sauces and condiments. There are also plenty of other places you can go to find sauces and condiments. There are A LOT of people out there who take this stuff REALLY seriously!

Depending how seriously you want to take the Paleo thing, you might have to read the labels on the stuff you consider using. Some sauces have sugar, wheat, soy, corn starch, etc. in them. A lot DON’T though and it’s really up to you whether you want to take it this far. But, be warned, if you’re really sensitive to some things, keep an eye out for them in the ingredients of the stuff you consider.

Here are 5 places to look for great sauces, condiments and other ways to make the bland interesting:

Google “Hot Sauce” – I already mentioned Insane Chicken above. And they’re one of the better known out of hundreds and hundreds of online stores that sell hot sauce, mustard, sauces and rubs. And, remember, even if you don’t like spicy food these sites have plenty of “mild” mustards, sauces and marinades too. Just grab a cup of coffee and do some browsing!
Go International - Even the “regular” stores have pretty good international sections now. If you look at all those little cans and jars there are literally HUNDREDS of choices for stuff to throw on top of meats and salads. Spanish or Mexican sections are going to have tons of different peppers, salsas, and sauces. Italian and Mediterranean sections are going to have all sorts of olives, peppers, pestos (some will have cheese and nuts in them) and flavored olive oils.
Try some “Rubs” – Rubs are another big area that the “grilling crowd” gets into. A rub is really just a fancy term for a bunch of dry seasonings mixed together that you “rub” onto meats before grilling, roasting or sauteeing them. They give whatever you’re cooking flavor and they help the meat “crisp up” on the outside. If you go to foodnetwork.com and search “rub” you get back 2,489 results. That will probably keep you busy for a while… Virtually any food store you go into is going to carry a wide variety of rubs and seasonings. Buy one or two and try them out.
Get into BBQ and other sauces - BBQ and BBQ sauce is another “cult” food thing. There are BBQ competitions all over the country and everyone has their own sauce recipes and methods. One of my favorite sauces is Bone Suckin’ Brand. Not only is Bone Suckin’ the best TASTING I’ve had, it’s also gluten and sugar free. Not a bad deal! Their site has tons of recipes and they also make mustards, teriyaki, salsas and other stuff. There is an entire WORLD of mustards, hot wing sauces, salsas, teriyaki and other sauces just waiting for you to try and experiment with!
REAL Pickled Veggies - This is another area with a lot of variety. Things like pickles and sauerkraut can be gotten at health food stores in their raw, organic and “real form” – that is, cultured with healthy bacteria the way they’ve been made for 1000s of years before they got mass produced and canned – and different brands will have very different flavors. You can try, for example, a grilled grassfed burger with a heap of REAL sauerkraut over it and some REAL pickles on the side. Other pickled veggies are things like Kim Chee – traditional Korean pickled cabbage – that can really change the taste of salads and meats. The trick is to find raw and fermented pickled vegetables because you get the benefits of raw foods plus the healthy probiotics. Canned and supermarket versions of this stuff are virtually ALWAYS heated, pasteurized and NOT properly fermented with good bacteria. Stay away from this stuff if you can.

There’s some more stuff to keep you busy!

ttys

Adam

Practical Paleo – Diet Tip of the Day

November 19, 2010 by Adam 6 Comments

Grassfed Burger and Salad

Nevermind “Paleo cooking” – just COOK

My first “real” career was as a chef. I went to culinary school – not Paleo culinary school – and learned, of all things, Classical French Cooking mainly. The thing is, once you learn the basic techniques of cooking you can cook pretty much anything. And there is absolutely NO shortage of cooking resources in this country! There is an entire culinary WORLD out there that can help you learn to cook and keep things interesting. You don’t have to become a Chef or spend $1000 a week at Williams-Sonoma, but getting a little into food and cooking will go a long way toward making Paleo fun and keeping you Paleo long term.

Just get interested in cooking and keep your eyes and ears open. Sure, bread and pasta is out, but there are plenty of “regular” recipes, cookbooks and cooking shows that can give you some great ideas for Paleo dishes.

Don’t limit yourself to Paleo-only resources

Here are 5 non-Paleo resources to get you started:

Recipes on WholeFoods.com - Sure, maybe half of these recipes aren’t Paleo, but A LOT of them can either be made Paleo with a few changes or are almost there already. If you spent some time on this site once in a while you’d definitely have a ton of ideas to work with. You can browse by categories like Beef, Dairy Free, Wheat Free, Portable, Poultry and Vegetables. Remember, a category like “Vegetables” or “Vegetarian” doesn’t need to be a main course. You can use a vegetarian “meal” as a side for your beef, chicken or fish. Yeah, the vegetarians might get mad, but they’re too skinny to do much about it
Spend a day at the book store – If you spent some time in the cookbook section of a big book store like Borders or Barnes and Noble you’d find a ton of great cookbooks. Buy a couple and resolve to try one recipe a week. If you really like beef or chicken, get a book devoted to one of them. Out of an entire book devoted to meat or poultry, a lot of recipes will either be Paleo or can be made Paleo pretty easily.
Recipe books on amazon.com – Same thing here. And you can get really niche on a site like amazon. There are over 2,785 cookbooks on amazon today for “meat, poultry and seafood.”
Check out Food Network and foodtv.com – Again, there’s plenty of non-Paleo stuff here, but there’s also plenty that IS Paleo or can be made so. Guys like Bobby Flay do TONS of grilling and spicy stuff that is either straight-up Paleo or is Paleo when you drop the side dishes. Flay’s show “Boy Meets Grill” is a good one to check out.
Don’t forget the Vegetarians – Believe it or not, I have a bunch of vegetarian cookbooks. Like I said above, a lot of vegetarian recipes make great side dishes for a big old hunk of meat

Paleo can actually be a pretty easy way to eat. Once you get a handle on what’s excluded from the diet you can use a HUGE variety of “regular” recipe resources to find Paleo recipes and ideas for Paleo dishes. If you make cooking and food a little “hobby” for yourself you might even find that you enjoy it!

ttys

Adam

Body Image, Food Addiction and “I’m not good enough…”

November 14, 2010 by Adam 38 Comments

A wise ape once told me that if I wasn’t getting hate mail no one was reading my stuff. Well, people are reading my stuff!

Actually, it really isn’t all that bad. I get about 20 positive responses to what I write for each negative one. It’s funny that we always focus on the negative ones, but that’s another post…

In the last 24 hours I’ve had TWO really positive emails from exceptional and strong women who have struggled with eating disorders and have been inspired by the “Strong is the New Skinny” Message. This makes me feel like we’re actually making a difference out there in the world and creating positive change. It feels good!

Being a guy AND being 1/2 of the “Strong is the New Skinny” team is an interesting thing. I STILL get accused of being a “typical guy” – and worse. And NO ONE believes me when I say I’m NOT a boob guy (I’m NOT!). And, pretty much no matter what we post someone doesn’t like it. But stuff like the two emails I got this weekend tell me that we ARE making a difference and people ARE hearing our message and it’s leading to positive change. And that makes it all worthwhile.

There was a lot of emotion and personal experience behind my original rant that asked “Is Strong the New Skinny?” Why? Because I’ve personally seen what a messed up body image or an eating disorder can do to a woman (not to mention her relationships) and it makes me really mad that our society creates and perpetuates it and that there is a whole medical/pharmaceutical/industrial/consumer complex that feeds off it. Kinda like the Red Court Vampires in a Jim Butcher novel. I ranted about the medical establishment here and I’ll stop for now – even though I could go on and on…

My personal opinion is that the current Paleo Diet and CrossFit culture is about the best we’ve done to date to combat this shit. It needs to be OK for women to be strong, healthy and take an ACTIVE and POSITIVE roll in their health and the way they look. And the SAME goes for MEN too.

I happen to know what a messed up body image and “I’m not good enough” can do to a GUY and it’s not a good thing. It’s similar to what women go through and very different at the same time.

The womens’ body image thing is pretty well defined. I think the male side of things is a bit less known. Probably, because most men want to avoid this:

No guy wants to be a “jackwagon…”

Men Feel Stereotype Pressure Too

Here’s the stuff I grew up with. Granted, Arnold will ALWAYS be my hero, inspiration and THE KING of bodybuilding but, between genetics and drug use, this is just NOT a realistically achievable body for most men:

Now, is this stuff inspiring? HOLY CRAP, YES! But very, very few men will actually achieve this type of development no matter how much work they put in. Even drugs aren’t a guarantee you could get to this level of perfection. Arnold had one in a million genetics on top of everything else that aligned so perfectly that he achieved super-stardom.

Taking this all a step further, I was a HUGE fan of Dorian Yates in the ’90s as well.

As a side note, you can see that Dorian’s development is LIGHT YEARS removed from even Arnold’s hugeness.

Women can argue whether this stuff is attractive to THEM or not but, the fact is, many, MANY young men get drawn in by these images – just as many, MANY young women get drawn into images of super-skinny celebrities like Paris Hilton or whoever else. AND, you can argue that these extreme male bodies are just as unhealthy – mentally and physically – as the extremely skinny female bodies are.

Two Extremes

The two extremes we tend to have – at least in the US – are the “Skinny at Any Cost” thing on one end and the “I’m PERFECT just the way I am, pass the Ben and Jerry’s” mentality on the other. For men, it’s more like “big” or “strong” at any cost vs. “whatever, I don’t care.” I think these extremes – whether male or female – are different sides of the same coin. Why? Because they feed on each other… We’re bombarded with images of BOTH in the media at the same time. Look at the popular womens’ magazines at the checkout counter – “Lose 10lbs in a week” is right next to “Sinful chocolate cake to die for” – in the same freakin’ magazine! It sets up a cycle of dissatisfaction that perpetuates itself.

On one end, you have the “I deserve it” eating. I’ve done this more than a few times. “I had a hard week, trained hard, worked hard, etc. I think I’ll order a pizza…” This is, of course, followed by “Why the hell did I eat that?” “I feel like shit.” and, my favorite “I am SO weak and out of shape! I SUCK!”

This stuff ISN’T new

I’m a big fan of Pema Chodron and Eckhart Tolle. I “kinda, sorta” practice Buddhism but it’s more of an eclectic and pragmatic version. What amazes me is that this whole thing about extreme practices, not feeling good enough and addiction (whether it’s to food or exercise or drugs or sex or whatever…) is AGES OLD. The pathways that this stuff runs through are as old as humanity itself! It’s hard wired into us and, once you see the process and the “mental gymnastics” your ego does to convince you to starve yourself or eat the 30 Kit Kats (my favorite ) or hate yourself or whatever it’s pretty weird to watch. Eckhart Tolle and Pema Chodron both teach that once you SEE what you’re doing you’re conscious and you can change. Yeah, you’ll probably watch yourself DO the stuff for a while, but eventually you learn the ego’s tricks and can keep it in check – most of the time…

Pema Chodron compares it to having a bad rash that we keep scratching at even though we KNOW we’re only making it worse and spreading it. We don’t care because in that moment that we scratch it feels better. Until it feels worse and we want to scratch more…

The “Middle Way”

I think the only thing that saves me – and a lot of others – is actually KNOWING – or having a good idea of what ACTUALLY is healthy and what to actually eat and how to train and how to build a better body. “OK, I messed up this week on my diet and training – now I have to do A, B and C to get back on track…” Sometimes, when I wake up too early I watch those infomercials. You know, the ones with the asinine exercise equipment and screwed up diets and supplements. I usually wonder what it must be like to know so little about training and your body to actually get taken in by that crap. And then I feel bad for the people who – because of the mess that is our food supply – actually think it’s THEM that is messed up as opposed to the terrible food that’s promoted as healthy and the crazy diet plans and exercise stuff.

And, AGAIN, we have a whole big “thing” that feeds off of and profits from our dissatisfaction with ourselves, poor health from bad food and all the other standards “they” show us that we don’t live up to.

I think the “Middle Way” between the two extremes of un-health – starving and crazy diets on one hand and binge eating on the other – is learning everything you can about YOUR body and leaning to train and feed YOURSELF so you can take control and be empowered to make positive change in your own life…

Back in my bodybuilding days I did some INSANE things in the pursuit of a few more pounds of muscle or 1-2% lower bodyfat. It’s funny in retrospect – I knew a TON about training and getting lean and I knew SHIT about health. This is me a while back. I look pretty good, right? When this picture was taken I had a massive sinus infection from too much training, was dehydrated to the point of cramping and was eating jelly candies and drinking grape juice every hour after a week on ZERO carbs. And I won’t even mention the MONTHS of daily ECA (Ephedrine, Caffeine and Aspirin) and starving. I remember being so hungry I was chewing gum constantly and looking forward to more stimulants so I wouldn’t be hungry till my next meal.

Now, I KNOW that stuff wasn’t healthy and I doubt my Fran time was so great either. (Of course, Fran had yet to be born when this pic was snapped – with a FILM camera!) I can remember when I was really dieted down and carb-depleted I was struggling to do seated barbell presses with an empty Olympic bar! LOL Once I recovered I put on a lot of good weight and felt really good, though, and OVERALL, it was a really happy, positive and good experience. It would have been VERY unhealthy to live there though! The point is, I compromised my health to get to this point and was proud when I got there! Skewed priorities maybe?

A side note on the steroid thing…

Something I think is important to point out is the difference between my body in the pic above and the size Dorian and Arnold have. There were NO steroids involved in the condition I got into above – and look at how SMALL I look in comparison to the guys I idolized (idolize?). Yeah, there was SOME pride in the shape I achieved after 6 months of work – but there was a louder voice in my head telling me how SMALL I was and being frustrated that my arms didn’t strain my shirt sleeves when I wore a T-Shirt.

And, I’m not really against steroids either. Any more than some of the surgical stuff women do to look better or feel better about themselves. It’s all about personal choice and perceived risks. But that’s another post too…

The Middle Way – MY PERSONAL VERSION

On a related side note, my CURRENT goal is to beat the above shape by early summer (it’s Mid-November 2010 now). It’s over 10 years later AND THIS TIME I want to be in OUTSTANDING health AND have performance that matches what I look like. No more “mirror athletics” for me. I want the best HEALTH of my life along with the best SHAPE!

What I REALLY want to find is a positive outlet for the “critical voice in the head.” I want to USE the critical voice that’s always there – sometimes louder than others – and let it push me toward positive achievement. AND I want to know when to NOT listen to it and give myself a break and be OK with where I am and with what I’ve achieved to that point. There is always MORE to do and we can ALWAYS DO BETTER. I think the trick is to be ambitious and motivated by your own self-criticism but ALSO know when it’s getting out of hand and not being accurate or positive…

And then there’s this…

Something else I see that makes me nuts – THAT I DO – is train too much. Just like bodybuilding can go unhealthy – and I think it REALLY leans that way to begin with in it’s current state – stuff like CrossFit and Paleo can go bad too. A LOT of people WOD themselves to death and make a mess of their hormonal systems in pursuit of ever lower times and higher rep counts. All good to a point, but when the ego REALLY takes control all sorts of bad stuff happens.

Again, it’s taking things to extremes. Now, I’m not talking about extreme health or extreme performance. I’m talking about taking something healthy in a reasonable “dosage” and taking it WAY to far. Robb Wolf talks A LOT about this and I expanded and commented on some of his stuff here. It happens in just about every physical pursuit…

Please address all hate mail to Wild Gorillaman at…

So, here is MY PERSONAL take on stereotypes, sex appeal and all that stuff. Remember kiddies – this is MY opinion. I get to have mine and you get to have yours. And, guess what? I’m a GUY. And a straight one too – regardless of all the clothes shopping, the cats and what Merle says.

On the one hand, I think we’re HARDWIRED to desire certain traits in the opposite sex. There’s no getting around this. There are certain traits men AND women like to see in each other and that’s the way it is. We can override it to an extent with our intellect, but A LOT of it happens below the level of thought. And we ALL have some kind of “wanting to be desirable” inside. Some more than others, but it’s there. As long as that exists in us as humans – and I think it always will on some level or another – we’re going to respond to certain traits in the opposite sex AND want to create certain perceived positive traits in ourselves. It’s natural and I believe it’s evolutionary. It’s biology 101.

On the other hand, I think once something gets to the point of un-health, the ego is in control and there are problems. This goes the same for the girl dieting till her ribs show as well as my shredded ass in the pic above. Again, we have the issue of technology here. I think modern technology and media can give us WAY TOO MUCH leverage to take our bodies to extremes that they weren’t designed for. And these extremes can be amplified and propagated by the media and set a standard. And then there’s a WHOLE SYSTEM that steps in and fills the void created inside us by the images – and profits greatly as it “fills the void.” And, of course, the void never really gets filled…

There was this really inspiring talk that Becca Borawski posted recently on Facebook:

If you’re struggling with any of the stuff I’ve talked about here – male or female – then the video Becca posted is definitely worth a watch. Even if you just liked reading this post, the video is something I think will really speak to you. What Dr. Brene Brown is talking about here is similar to want I talked about above with Chodron and Tolle – that fundamental “not OK-ness” that goes on and can get nuts when the ego starts to run things out of control.

Changing Role Models

The 21st Century has seen a trend toward focusing on performance. The popularity of UFC events has played a big part in this. CrossFit has too. Whether they realize it or not, people are being exposed to the image of high-performing bodies. If bodybuilder bodies performed there would be more bodybuilder bodies in The Octagon. There really aren’t. There are some VERY muscular guys in the UFC, but you can’t argue with the performance of a guy like GSP who has a relatively achievable body (if not level of performance).

And, on the female side, images like this are replacing the super-skinny images to some extent.

It’s a start…

Yeah, there’s a lot left to do and we have a long way to go. And there are still WAY more negative body images out there for both sexes than positive ones. But it’s a start. Bodies that perform are slowly showing up and replacing the “comic book” extremes for both sexes. It’s a start.

In the meantime, support Strong is the New Skinny on Facebook…

ttys

Adam

Where’d the science go?

November 10, 2010 by Adam 19 Comments

I woke up pissed off today. Not sure why. I could venture a few guesses but that would be a waste of good, ranty writing time

My friend Robb Wolf posted a great story on his blog today. It was by a girl who calls herself “Fat Girl.” I guess it struck a cord with me. “Fat Girl” went to doctor after doctor for migraines and about 20 other health issues for years. In the end, she fixed the problem herself with a ton of hard work and – you guessed it – a Paleo diet. The scenario plays out again and again. It’s almost become cliche: Someone has myriad health issues and goes to doctor after doctor, sees “specialists,” maybe even goes the “alternative” route and sees a Naturopath or 20 and gets absolutely nowhere. Then, in desperation they start doing their own research and their own “doctoring,” find Paleo and get better.

My prediction: This is going to happen more and more until our current “Healthcare” system – conventional AND alternative – implodes. There is too much information out there and too much freedom to access it. People are going to wake up and start taking responsibility for their health and finding out the truth. And this isn’t going to happen for any grand reasons – it’s going to happen because the current systems are USELESS when it comes to dealing with chronic disease.

I used to be a believer

I studied Chemistry in college. I was – still am in a way – a hardcore science type. And I still can’t believe I considered going to medical school. I had a the grades and a Chemistry undergrad degree – I even started the application process. I just decided not to go…

Being a “scientist” and young and kinda cocky (OK, A LOT cocky ) I was all into the “better living through science” thing. I guess, when you spend all your time in a lab with other geeks that’s pretty much the default mindset.

I’d also had a few run-ins with Naturopaths and found them to be useless, unscientific and more interested in selling overpriced supplements than actually helping anyone heal. I was hardcore science all the way. It probably didn’t help that I was working as a Research Associate in a Biotech lab…

I REALLY wanted to believe

When I was about 30 (I’m 38 now) I started having intermittent digestive problems. I was under incredible work stress, life stress, working out too much and too often, sleeping too little, taking night classes for another degree and all the other crap society tells us is required to be successful. I was eating a “healthy diet” low in fat and full of nice, whole grains though. At least I knew it couldn’t be a problem with nutrition…

But, I believed – and had been taught – that technology and education (mainstream, of course) was the answer to everything. Even if technology was screwing stuff up, all you needed was more technology to fix it…

Everyone is a Douchebag…

Someday, I’ll go into my whole story about how I almost died from Ulcerative Colitis and how I cured myself and got my health back on my own because there was NO – as in NO, ZERO, ZIP, NADA – help out there for me or anyone else with that illness or any other chronic digestive disorder. I STILL can’t get myself to delve into that whole story – the incompetence I witnessed from supposed health professionals in every area STILL enrages me.

Like the Gastrointerologist whose response to my very early discovery that I seemed to feel better if I ate only fruit smoothies and steamed vegetables was that I could have nutrient deficiencies on such a “limited” diet and I needed to eat “bread.” In addition to bread, this genius and supposed man of science (he was the HEAD of the Gastrointerology Department, BTW…) gave me enough prednisone to kill a large farm animal and insisted I’d need it for the rest of my life. Or, the Naturopath who insisted I drink HUGE amounts of raw cow milk as a “cure” for my colitis and chronic fatigue. When I told him my symptoms had increased DRAMATICALLY when I started drinking the milk he told me to drink MORE and that I was “detoxing.”

The point is, virtually EVERY health care option readily available to us IS BROKEN. I don’t care if it’s mainstream, alternative or something in between. They’re all pretty messed up in their current state.

The mainstream medical establishment is fixated – to the point of insanity or idiocy, I can’t decide which – on individual systems in the body. As far as they’re concerned, nothing is related to anything else. If you’re depressed, it means your brain is broken – it couldn’t have anything to do with your diet. I mean, look how “far away” your stomach is from your head. How could they be related? Anxious? Your brain is broken – but in a different way from the depression. It couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that the speed of life and the volume of stress we endure every day is THOUSANDS of times faster than anything our equipment is evolved to handle. And, if you’re having digestive problems it couldn’t have anything to do with the coffee and donuts you have every morning. As far as the medical establishment is concerned, the body is just a dumb machine that can be manipulated with chemicals and man’s scientific genius. IS THIS NOT THE HEIGHT OF CONCEIT? A few hundred years of man and science are smarter than MILLIONS of years of evolution? This is man’s ego run amuck.

And, remember, I’m a trained scientist! I lived in that world FOR YEARS!

Lest you think this is going to be some tree-hugging alternative medicine rant, let me assure you that douchebaggary reigns supreme in the alternative field as well. In my experience, Naturopaths apply as much selective interpretation and foolishness in their practice. And they medicate symptoms just as much as allopathic doctors – they just use supplements and herbs that are a lot less powerful. Oh yeah, and they SELL you the herbs and crap they prescribe directly. At least the regular doctors profit from their prescriptions indirectly. Naturopaths have no such compunction to encourage them to hide their profiteering…

I suppose I should say here that, if I ever get hurt in an accident of some kind, I’d like to go STRAIGHT to an emergency room where medical technology can be applied in all its glory. Emergency medicine is one thing. It’s the chronic illnesses we’re missing the boat on…

One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small and the ones that mother gives you don’t do anything at all. Go ask Alice when she’s ten feet tall…

A few years ago I was convinced I had ADD. It couldn’t have been chronic exhaustion combined with work I found utterly unfulfilling or anything. Wanna know how they diagnose ADD? They give you a prescription for Adderall and if you feel better on it and can focus better when you take it – SLAM DUNK – you have ADD. I don’t have any data in front of me, but I suspect that the number of people who feel “better” and focus more readily when taking amphetamines like Adderall is pretty high.

What’s really cool though is that, after I started taking the Adderall, I started having really bad anxiety. Side effect of the Adderall? Nah! Panic Disorder – here’s some Xanax… So now I’m washing my Adderall down with coffee in the morning and taking Xanax to calm down in the afternoon and to sleep at night. I went down that track for about a month before I saw the insanity of what was going on. Better living through chemistry…

This light never turns green

There’s that whole thing about not complaining about the problem without offering a solution. I’d like to offer some solutions, suggestions and maybe point the way toward a better future. In effect, I’d like to issue a call to all of us…

Can we PLEASE pull our collective head out of our collective ass when it comes to health, healthcare, diet and healthy living?

Here are what I think are the most important points we need to keep in mind as we move into the SECOND DECADE of the 1st Century:

We have become VERY good at understanding the chemistry and minutia of the body. We still don’t know SHIT, but we know a lot. It’s probably time to start looking at the body as a whole as opposed to a bunch of isolated systems. This isn’t a car here, people! In a car, a problem with your brakes probably has no effect on the fuel injection system. The body is just a might more complex than a car – yes, even the Escalade your doctor and Jesus drive. Can we PLEASE start treating the body as the complex miracle of evolution that it is?

Diet has EVERYTHING TO DO WITH EVERYTHING. There. I said it. What eat has EVERYTHING to do with our health and is the key to dealing with the chronic diseases we’re facing today. Pills need to be more of a last resort than a first one. And, medicating one issue and then medicating the side effects caused by the first medication is kind of silly. This kind of stuff has spiraled out of control in recent years and it will continue to spiral until it completely breaks and/or we fix it.

Lifestyle has something to do with it too. The average lifestyle is becoming more and more stressful, more and more complex and people are sleeping less and less. This is causing all sorts of problems and all sorts of misery. As a society we really need to acknowledge that doing “more” isn’t always the answer to everything and sometimes we need to slow down to go faster. Maybe, before you take that third job to help pay for your anti-anxiety meds, high blood pressure pills and Type II Diabetes drugs, you might want to look at your life as a whole and see if there are other changes to make. I know, sleeping that extra hour is going to be considered the height of laziness by society at large, but we already know what I think about them

Can we start to admit that this Paleo, Evolutionary Health thing might have something to it? Like, putting an organism that evolved to hunt and gather over millions of years in a car going 80 miles an hour while talking on a cell phone, texting, drinking coffee, eating a donut (or a Zone bar), swatting at the kids in the back seat and worrying about the three mortgages on the house – all at the same time – just might not be the most suitable environment for us. I know, this is radical, “fringe wacko” stuff here, but there just might be a possibility that some of the stuff we do isn’t the smartest.

Most importantly, can doctors and medical professionals PLEASE start thinking and acting like scientists again? There was a time when medicine was about science and looking for causes and solutions – not dispensing pills and prescriptions and doing routine tests because that’s all the insurance pays for. My Physical Chemistry Professor, Dr. Kumar, once told us that the people who make the best scientists are the ones who expect a certain result – don’t get it – and become intrigued and even frustrated by that and are compelled to figure out why they didn’t get the result they expected. Today, we’re prescribing more and more drugs, are more and more concerned about “health” and “diet” and spend more and more time with doctors and healthcare providers – AND WE ARE SICKER THAN EVER. We’re engaging in behavior that is supposed to produce a certain result – and we’re not getting that result – can we PLEASE ask WHY?

In short, can we PLEASE find the science again? This Paleo thing is working for A LOT of people. And “regular” healthcare ISN’T working for a whole bunch of people. How about if we ask “why?”

That’s about it for now. I think I’m ranted out at the moment. Go eat some bacon, read Robb Wolf’s book, join Strong is the New Skinny on Facebook and lift something heavy.

ttys

Adam

It only takes 1,000…

November 1, 2010 by Adam 6 Comments

The “Strong is the New Skinny” Facebook page is approaching 10,000 members. Sure, 10,000 is a nice round number but there’s actually something more significant about it. As far as Seth Godin is concerned, 1,000 is all you need to have a movement.

The basic idea Seth is talking about is that it only takes 1,000 committed people – people who care deeply about a message and want to see change in the world – to make that change happen. Think about it: if EACH ONE of you reading this post right now introduced the Strong is the New Skinny message to another person who also became committed to making REAL change in the body images we see in the media and everywhere else, we’d be well on our way to seeing that change happen.

It’s time to “vote” for Strong is the New Skinny

Since this November is a voting month, I’m going to ask everyone reading this to vote for Strong is the New Skinny, too. If you really, truly believe in what SINS is all about, go out and introduce ONE MORE person to the idea. Think about it, if every single member of the SINS Facebook page brought in one more person, our reach – and the idea – would expand exponentially.

BE the change you want to see in the world

I expanded on what Strong is the New Skinny means to me in this post. Here are the basics of what I said:

TO ME, “Strong is the New Skinny” is about women deciding FOR THEMSELVES what they want to look like and who they want to be.

TO ME, “Strong is the New Skinny” is about women being STRONG and TRAINING HARD and TRAINING “LIKE A GUY.”

TO ME, “Strong is the New Skinny” is about increasing EVERYONE’S awareness that WE – us as individuals – have a serious level of control over stereotypes and norms and what is accepted and what future generations see. We – each and every one of us – has the ability, tools and OBLIGATION to lead and inspire future generations and create a better world. I recently had a woman – a blogger no less – tell me this could never happen because “men” still control the media and it’s impossible to change the current stereotypes. Well… “Men” may still control the print media to some degree, but there’s this thing called the “internet” that has made it possible to spread all kinds of “crazy” ideas on these things called blogs and there’s this new thing called Facebook that has spread an idea or two here and there. I mean, even a fringe wacko like me can get his crazy ideas out. (A diet with no grains? This guy is insane! He’s not even a Registered Dietitian…) And, in case you’ve had your head stuck in the sand – or someplace else – the “male controlled” print media ain’t doing so hot right now. Just ask Seth Godin…

And finally, TO ME, “Strong is the New Skinny” means women can kick ass with barbells and Kettlebells and tires and sandbags and whatever CrossFit nastiness they can find. And it also means a woman can sit down with a pile of bacon and some red meat and know it’s healthy and feel OK about herself while she does it. Because NOBODY wants to be THIS guy…

Yes, I’m talking to you…

So, if you’re a guy, be supportive of strong women wherever you find them and introduce ONE person you know to the SINS idea. And, if you’re a woman, be strong, define your own body image – the one that YOU want – and introduce ONE more person to the SINS movement.

And, ladies, for extra credit eat some bacon

ttys

Adam

Adam’s Practical Paleo Diet Tip of the Day – Green Smoothies

This is about a close to posting a recipe as I’ll ever go…

So, here’s my Tip of the Day – The Green Smoothie

Greens in the Blender – But Not Just ANY Blender

Lot’s of GREENS

Here it is blended or “liquefied:”

RICE PROTEIN!?!?!?!?! WTF?

Fruit? Ouch! My Pancreas!

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It’s a start…

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Where’d the science go?

I used to be a believer

I REALLY wanted to believe

Everyone is a Douchebag…

One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small and the ones that mother gives you don’t do anything at all. Go ask Alice when she’s ten feet tall…

This light never turns green

Can we PLEASE pull our collective head out of our collective ass when it comes to health, healthcare, diet and healthy living?

Other Posts You'll Like:

It only takes 1,000…

It’s time to “vote” for Strong is the New Skinny

BE the change you want to see in the world

Yes, I’m talking to you…

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