Paleo Doubts of Mine

May 7, 2012 / posted in Lifestyle, Nutrition / No Comments
Plain Oatmeal

Plain Oatmeal

1 Banana

1 Banana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those unfamiliar with the Paleo Diet, the premise is simple; you simply eat whatever your hunter-gatherers ancestors ate before the advent of agriculture. This means removing all grains, legumes and dairy from your diet. Leaving you with lots of vegetables, fruits, meats, fish, fowl, nuts and healthy oils. The rationale behind this diet is that it takes a long period of time (something like 10,000 years) for a species to adopt a new diet, and we haven’t passed that threshold yet. Paleo advocates also claim that some components of grains are actually toxic and detrimental to overall health.

I’ve gone Paleo for the past 8 days in an attempt to optimize my health and nutrition. For the first few days it seemed to be a welcome change; I’ve lost the need to have to munch on something every couple of hours and maybe even felt a bit more energized. But recently I started getting strong carb cravings and feelings of malnourishment. I should note that in tandem with this diet, I am also working out pretty rigorously following my usual routine. So that might be causing my body to crave more carbs.

In keeping up with the Paleo guidelines, I end up binging on fruits and tubers. All this consumption of Paleo-aproved carbs got me thinking if the diet is sound. By comparing the nutritional facts we learn that a single banana has more carbs than a bowl of oatmeal! Is this Paleo thing really ligit?! I am being unfair — Paleo enthusiasts do suggest limiting your fruit intake. But what would be the harm in replacing my morning banana with a bowl of delicious oatmeal?

Reading through Mark Sisson’s The Primal Blueprint reveals some holes in his biological rationale for going “primal” (Mark’s cooler version of Paleo). He mentions that a high carb diet leads to an over-production of insulin. Which, in turn, causes cells to become unreceptive to glucose — causing malnutrition and the buildup of body fat. But fruits have carbs too!

Dylan Klein does an amazing job at explaining the flaws of The Paleo Manifesto.

Coincidentally positive results from going Paleo might just be some sort of placebo effect taking place. If I recall the statistics correctly, more people heal from placebo drugs compared to actual ones. So there you have it!

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Expensive shoes or proper running form?!

March 25, 2012 / posted in Fitness / No Comments

Ever since I started running, I experienced varying severities of foot pain. At first, I though that the answer was to find the perfect running shoe. There was much hype in the fore-foot running shoe market, but it didn’t seem anything more than just hype. I got myself a pair or Vibram Five Fingers, played around with the Newtons, tried various other brands found in your local sporting good stores. Unfortunately nothing helped me get rid of the pain. Running shouldn’t be this hard and painful, our bodies are naturally designed to run.

I’ve come to the realization that no matter how expensive your shoe is, if your form is not correct, you will continue to experience foot pain. Simply relying on expensive running shoes, while running blindly is not the way to go!

This is what I found works best for me:

  1. Land on your fore-foot instead of your heal to activate your body’s natural shock absorbent mechanism.
  2. As you strike be conscious of the landing to ensure that the bottom of your foot touches the ground in parallel and does not pronoate or supinate (roll slightly to the right or left).
  3. Lean slightly forward.
  4. As you move your arms from side to side keep the movement to a minimum; avoid having your hands pass the center of your torso. This helps prevent shoulder strain and leaves you with more energy for where it’s actually needed — your legs.

During this morning’s run, for the first time, I put conscious thought into every single stride with focus on the above 4 tips. The run felt comfortable and painless. I even felt like running more than my usual distance! As I have already mentioned,  this is what I found worked well for me. You have to do some research and experiment with various techniques to see what helps for you.

The key point to take home is that by buying into the whole shoe market idealogy we have neglected to learn the proper running form. We must regain control of our bodies, and help it do what it does best, naturally.

I would love to hear about your tips that helped you during your runs!

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How Bad Do You Want It?

December 15, 2011 / posted in Fitness / No Comments
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Watch This Before You Drink Another Protein Shake!

September 22, 2011 / posted in Nutrition, Video / No Comments

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The Skinny on Whole Wheat and Fiber

September 20, 2011 / posted in Fitness, Nutrition / No Comments

What are whole grains, and what makes them so special? It’s pretty simple. During the milling process, the bran and germ of the grains are kept intact, while processed out in refined or enriched grains.

What are the benefits of removing the bran and germ? Great shelf life for the manufacturer and softer texture in baking. Unfortunately you lose a lot when you lose the bran and germ, because they contain higher amounts of vitamins, minerals, fiber, essential fatty acids, antioxidants, and phytochemicals.

Fiber found in whole grains help you feel fuller for longer periods of time, which in turn helps you maintain a healthy diet and stops you from over-eating. Refined or enriched grains digest much quicker leading to fat gain, energy crashes and overeating (due to less satiety). On the other hand, whole wheat digests much slower. Slow digestion yields slow release of energy, providing longer-lasting energy and increased satiety.

Studies show that when athletes eat whole-grain carbs before exercise, they have greater endurance, burn more fat during exercise and at rest, and they eat fewer calories during the day.

Another added benefit of whole grains, is that  they aid in reducing the risk of different diseases and cancers. Whole grains have also been showed to decrease the amount of bad cholesterol (LDL) and increase the amount of good cholesterol (HDL). Fiber which is found in high volumes in whole grains, helps regulate your gastrointestinal system. If that wasn’t enough, fiber also help maintain healthy levels of blood sugar in your system which prevent the onset of type two diabetes.

Now that we know the benefits of whole wheat, that doesn’t mean that we can eat whole wheat bread and pasta all day long! Whole wheat should be mixed with plenty of vegetables and protein in your diet. The recommended amount is around 3 ounces. A one-ounce serving can be in the form of a slice of bread; a half cup of cooked cereal, rice, or pasta; or about 1 cup of dry cereal.

When purchasing whole wheat make sure to read the ingredients and not simply fall for the advertising. The ingredients must specify: “whole grain” or “100% whole wheat”.

I’d like to bring more quality content to you, please share this blog with your friends.

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Improve Your Running with the Vibram FiveFingers!

September 2, 2011 / posted in Fitness / 9 Comments

Running is definitively great for you. But all the new footwear sold these days could actually do more harm than good. According to research, running barefoot is the optimal way to run.

Our feet naturally land on the forefoot when running. Forefoot running allows your foot to naturally act as a shock absorbent, when striking the ground. Most running shoes condition your running to land on the heel instead. Heel striking cause the most amount of impact, causing all sorts of injuries–such as knee and back pain.

The Vibram FiveFingers remove the traditional sole and provide just enough padding to protect you from the ground but still maintain the natural running form.

I highly recommend for you to check out the Vibram FiveFingers!

 

 

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Fitness Tips and Secrets

July 31, 2011 / posted in Exercises, Fitness, Nutrition, Video / No Comments

For an entertaining video on fitness tips check out the following video!

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Salmon on a Cedar Plank

June 1, 2011 / posted in Nutrition, Recipes / No Comments
Salmon on Cedar Plank
For a healthy and delicious protein alternative, try out this amazing recipe. This recipe requires a Cedar Plank, which adds a pleasant smoky flavor to your fish.
  • Soak the cedar plank for 2-3 hours.
  • To create the marinate: mix some salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, rosemary, olive oil and mustard.
  • Dice up a few cloves of garlic, 1 carrot, 1 celery stick and 1 onion into finely chopped pieces.
  • Hand mix the marinate, vegetables and salmon.
  • Place salmon in the fridge to marinate for 30 minutes.
  • Place the salmon on the cedar plank and put into a preheated 350F oven for 20-30 minutes.
  • Enjoy!
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The Perfect Push-Up

April 10, 2011 / posted in Exercises, Fitness / 2 Comments

pushup

Push-ups are one of the most common exercises known to man. It targets the chest, back, arms and even your core.

With proper form and a few other full body exercises (like squats, and bicycle-crunches) you can get a nice full body work out if you’re short on time or are just starting out.

To perform a proper push up:

  1. You most maintain a straight line from your head to your feet throughout the entire exercise.
  2. Move slowly both upwards and downwards.
  3. Keep your arms at 45 degree angles from your body. With the biceps parallel to the ground at start.
  4. When going down try to reach the floor with your abdominal.
  5. If you have wrist issues, use fists to support yourself. You may use a carpeted floor for padding.

There’s really not much to it. Just like any other exercise don’t get discouraged if you can’t do 1,000,000 pushups from your first try. If you can’t perform a desired amount of repetitions, just do as many as you can and add a couple every week. With practice and conscience effort anyone can progress to perform a desired amount of pushups in no time.

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A Fast and Effective Cardio Alternative – The M 100

March 27, 2011 / posted in Fitness / No Comments

Try out this great super effective cardio workout if you’re tired your current cardio routine. It only takes about 5 minutes!

  • Squat thrust — 10 reps
  • Mountain Climber — 10 reps (counting 1-2-3-ONE-1-2-3-TWO)
  • Squat Jump — 10 reps

Keep repeating the sets until your total combined reps count is 100.

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