Nutritional Content has moved

(Dani was in Toronto with Monica picking up some gear and ran into Brad Pattison from the TV show At the End of my Leash.)

For those of you that do not know, I will be doing all my nutritional posting on my affiliate site now. You can check it out here. Pay attention to it as I will be blogging about various topics in detail.

Today was a easy Day....I worked on my weakest lift...The Press. It is still improving and I am happy. I also did a lot of technique work on the Split Jerk.

Body Weight Overhead Squat!

(Tyler's delicious, Paleo friendly, stuffed pork and peppers.  Stuffed with ground Italian sausage, onions, fennel seed and apple)

Today I set a PR that I am happy about...BW OHS.  It is one step towards my goal of a Bodyweight snatch.

OHS

3-3-3-3-3-2-1 (in kg)

60-62-65-67-71-80-85 (187lbs)

Followed by Tabata Sit-ups

Why you Should be Taking Fish Oil - Part 1

(This is the Costco Brand I recommend. It's about $25 a bottle)

I wish someone would have explained the importance of fish oil to me. I was always skeptical about taking it, in this series of posts I hope to convince you that it sometime crucial to your diet. I will keep the Star Wars theme going to help with some concepts and spice it up but it will still be a long post. Brew an Americano and dig in, this is worth your time to read. (References and further readings will be at the bottom).

Essential Fatty Acids (EFA), were once thought to be nothing more than a stored form of caloric energy. But they exercise a powerful influence on overall health because of their pivotal role in how cell membranes function. Let's think of them as Droids in Star Wars, it would be hard to imagine those guys functioning withought Droids. The exception is, people that live out in the "boonies"; ones who hunt and live off the land. Which is interesting because old hunter gatheres did not have to worry about supplement EFA because of they good balance it had.

So what do they do? Remember in my previous post when I talked about hormones? Well, EFA's are tranformed by the body into local hormones called eicosanoids. These local hormones regulate CRUCIAL process's in our body which I will go into more detail in Part 2. Think of eicosanoids as Star Wars droids that are built by other Droids. Some Droids are built for helping people and some are built for war and fighting. You want a good balance and ratio between the droids, too many "bad" droids will result in a lot of war. The same is for EFA, two crucial EFA are Omega-6 and Omega-3, you have probably heard of these before? Omega-3 or n-3 are the "good" ones and Omega-6 or n-6 are "bad" but both are required by the body, and as long as a good ratio is kept we are good. The ideal dietary ratio should is around 3:1 to 5:1 - n-6:n-3, with a minimum of 1% daily calories coming from n-3 oils (Innis, 1996). The problem is current diets have made that ratio more like 20:1 to 25:1 (Simopoulus, 1991).

WHAT? Think of it as this. Pre-clone wars, remember how they were building a droid army? That's like our current diets. We have way too many droids built for war and not enough built to help with spaceship navigation, communication and to build infrastructure.

Omega-6, Omega-3, they are both fats? What makes one so good?

Again, fat isnt bad at all, a bad balance of fats will lead to problems. Just like in my previous post I described too many bad carbs will lead to problems. To many complex carbs also affect the balance of fats in your body, I'll explain...keep reading.

The body breaks down n-6 and n-3, and in a nutshell, n-6 breaks down into a pro-inflamatory eicosanoid (AA - arachidonic acid) and n-3 an anti-inflammatory eicosanoid (EPA - eicosapentaenoic acid). You build one droid for war and one for peace. Furthermore, EPA is broken down through a process called delta-6 Desaturase, to make DHA. (This is important to note - one way to get DHA is out of EPA).

High insulin levels in the body will increase the breakdown of fatty acids, but unfortunately most will be broken down into AA (war droids), which increases the body's tendancy to inflamation. Also, people with resistance to insulin or absoulutely low levels of insulin can't make DHA - that Delta-6 process is impaired! So by letting the dark side of the force take over, more droids for war are going to be built and bad things are going to happen in your body...which will lead to war...(disease)...YES that post is coming, you have to understand this stuff first.

What the heck can I do?

Well, as recommended in my other post EAT: meats and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, NO SUGAR. Or, just the Paleo Diet. Unfortunately, this is still not going to give you a good ratio of n-6 and n-3, so you have to supplement. Robb Wolf recommends taking 0.5 grams of fish oil per 10lbs of body weight. This is only the EPA and DHA count in the fish oil.

WARNING MATH COMING UP (I hate math)

So, the above brand has 0.6g of EPA and DHA in it, and I weigh 180lbs. 180/10 = 18x0.5 = 9g

9g/0.6 = 15 pills. Take the pills with a meal that has fat in it. Break it up to atleast morning and evening meals.

To Conclude

Essential Fatty Acids (EFA) or droids, are crucial to the functioning of your body (the galaxy). Your current diet does not have the current ratio to maintain good health. This can lead to problems.

If you want to look better, feel better, and perform better, regulate your insulin and supplement fish oil in your diet. BUT, don't take my word for it. Try it for a month and see for yourself.

Contact me is you want help in implementing anything here (FOR FREE) or you want me to suggest a bullshit detector that will blow both you, and your doctor away! email - sbruceha/uwo.ca

Post any Questions or Feedback to Comments.

Next up: Part 2: DISEASES (WAR)

References:
This Reading is very scientific but outlines a lot of what I explained in the first few pages and then gets into diseases. The references used to make this paper are extensive.
This Reading brings together a whole slew of medical studies that discuss EFA.
The Paleo Diet site also talks about EFA.
I cand dig up more, if you want to geek out contact me.

Insulin Explanation with a Star Wars Slant

Ok, so I want to start blogging more about nutrition but before I do so I must talk about insulin so everyone understands it. This Star Wars slant is for you Johnny!

Insulin is a storage hormone in which we have a lot of influence over. A hormone is something in your body which regulates things. Have you ever heard the term hormonal balance? Ya? Well lets think of Insulin as "The Force" in Star Wars. So it is something that binds the galaxy (your body) together and can be controlled for both good and bad.

Insulin is released with intake of carbohydrates and its job is to put stuff into cells. You want to use the Force to keep peace in the galaxy and instill values in the communities so they can run effectively and extract those values. You don't want to use the Force too much or in a bad way so the galaxy doe not benefit. The same is with insulin you want it to put good stuff into your cells and allow other hormones to extract that later when they need it to run your body.

Although, when insulin levels are too high bad things happen. Let's think of high insulin as the Dark Side of the Force. When insulin is high (Dark side of the force being used) problems occur such as insulin resistance, insulin de-sensitivity. So the Dark Side of the Force prevents all the communities in the galaxy from having peace and values. Eventually they reject the Dark Side of the Force (Insulin). This leads to problems because Darth Vader doesn't like to be fucked with. (I plan on discussing diseases and problems in a later post)

Monitor your Insulin intake, don't let the Dark Side of the Force screw things up. Don't eat refined carbohydrates that spike insulin levels, avoid sugar and starchy items - they are like anger and fear leading to the dark side of the Force. Eat Vegetables and Fruit, maintain peace and good values in the galaxy.

Get lots of sleep, lack of sleep can affect insulin sensitivity - think of it as meditation - a crucial part to staying in touch with the "light side" of the Force.

To sum up, you want to be sensitive to insulin and only take in enough to do the job. Don't get full of fear and anger and become resistant.

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!

(Further readings here)

Next up: Essential Fatty Acids - (Droids

Paleo vs. Infertility - You must be Warned!

(Note in the top pictures that the lines supersede each other)

There was a point in the nutrition cert, this past weekend, that Dani and I glanced at each other with horror. Robb discusses a whole slew of diseases and problems that can greatly benefit from eating Paleo and doing CrossFit only 2 x per week. (If you are not sure what eating Paleo is, read this, ask questions in comments. I will eventually be doing a more detailed post on this stuff). The Topic we found fascinating, but scary, was infertility. This post will explain why if you Eat Paleo and do CrossFit you WILL get pregnant.

Now I am not a doctor, nor an expert, I am just passing on knowledge from someone who has been studying this for years and has seen great success and lots of babies.

The problem is increased insulin or insuline insensitivity from eating too much JUNK.

What are too many bagels and ice cream bars doing? To create a fertile egg (in a nutshell), your estrogen levels are superceded by progestorone, which is a sex hormone binder. With increased insulin your progestone levels drop and with increases levels of insulin you get an increase in levels of androgen which is responsible for creating estrogen. So, you are increasing estrogen and decreasing progesterone. If they don't supercede you will not get pregnant and end up with a longated menstration or a abnomal cycle. This is a basic barebones explaination, if you want to geek out on this or challenge what I say, read this first. All of this hormone stuff is new to me so I am learning a lot as I go, if I goofed something up let me know.

Basic concept which Robb has proven time and time again, not just with infertility but general good health, weight loss and disease prevention.

Eat Paleo, do CrossFit 2x a week and you will get pregnant. He told some great stories about couples who have been tryign for years to have a baby that were successful in less than a month. Other stories about couples who weren't trying but were graced with a baby. I personally spoke with a couple who it took almost 6 months to have their first child, pre crossfit, but only two weeks after both have been doing CrossFit and been eating Paleo. (The guy seemed dissapointed when he told me this).

So, if you want to get pregnant, take some of the THOUSANDS of dollars you would spend in a clinic, put it in a savings account and try this out for a month.

If you aren't looking to get pregnant, you have been warned, be careful, "you will get pregnant on this shit!" - Robb Wolf

Chicago, Chicago!

(Pat and I as he dropped us off at the hotel. We had so much to talk about a chance for a picture earlier never came up.)

(Myself, Robb Wolf and Dani. We had a great opportunity to chat with Robb both before and after the cert. Getting a chance to pick his brain one on one was amazing!)

Wow! What an amazing trip Dani and I had to Chicago! First of all, I have to thank Pat for everything. It was awesome getting to hang out with Pat, I know he is busy with work and the family and I appreciate the chance to hang out after the cert and have him show us around a bit and take us for pizza. Thanks Pat! Pat had the best questions at the cert and was one of the most knowledgeable people there. I'm glad too, because lots of that nuts and bolts in the beginning was a little over my head!!! Although he trains out of his basement, Pat is well known in the area and I'm not the only one that thinks he should compete for a spot in the CrossFit games.

I will be blogging lots about the material from the cert. I learned a boat load and need to digest everything. The amount of information I learned was A LOT but now there is more I have to learn. It has expanded my minds to many different areas to research. Everything I learned I want to eventually blog about on here. So stay tuned!!

Dani and I will be working on building a nutrition consulting business. It is a while down the road but we are looking for Guinea Pigs to work with. If you want free consultation on anything nutrition related drop one of us a line. We will work with you to achieve any of your goals but only if you want to work!

What's with Organic?

(My business feasibility group and instructor - I learned a lot drawing up a business plan and looking at building a survivable business. We wanted to open a rehearsal studio in Montreal in which bands come to our soundproof, well equipped rooms and rock out.)

During the past few days of feasibility presentations there have been a few groups proposing "healthy restaurants" or "organic snacks". Due to time constraints I was unable to pose my questions but here is what I gathered from the presentations:
a) the nutritional information obtained was from the Canada food guide
b) Calories were the end all, be all of a meal
c) The word Organic meant Healthy
d) Saturated Fat and Cholesterol are SO BAD!

I am not an expert in nutrition but from my experience I have noticed certain things that work for me, my friends and my family. I have also done reading in areas that deal with nutrition that enhances performance such as the Zone and the Paleo diet. I'll address the four points I have noticed come up.

a) I consider the Canada food guide a joke in that they receive funding from General Mills (I can't confirm this) so they recommend a ridiculous amount of grain products as part of your daily intake. As stated before grain has a high glycemic index and spikes insulin levels which contributes to a major problem of hyperinsulemia. I would like to discuss grains in a whole seperate post.

b) Countring calroies is not required and there is such a thing as good calories and bad calories. Eat meats and vegetables, nuts and seeds some fruit little starch and not sugar. Shop the perimeter of the grocery store and get some exercise.

c) The word organic means Healthy. I don't know much about this organic thing but the people presenting said that their product would have a shelf life of 9 months. 9 months!!! How can something be healthy that lasts that long on a shelf? The Paleo diet is sometimes refered to as a caveman diet because you eat as a caveman would have. If you can't kill it, pick it or grow it, you don't eat it. Maybe if people worried more about what they ate instead of how it was grown, they might be healthier.

d) Finally,  saturated fat and Cholesterol are not evil. If I was on a strict zone diet and I had to chose between a baggle, apple and orange juice and a McDonalds quarter pounder; I would pick the quarter pounder. Why? It would fit more into my daily block intake and I would not be overloading on carbs and getting a crash afterwards. This isn't an option that should be taken all the time but if you are in a bind its a better choice. I was once criticized for eating 4 eggs every day. To think my cholesterol would be high because of that is total BS, because I don't eat other crap food and I exercise. So whats my point? Saturated Fat and Cholesterol are not all that bad if a proper diet is followed and exercise is implemented.  Plus the majority of stuff you think that is probably saturated like meat, eggs, bacon, lard, etc. is almost 70 percent polyunsaturated.  I will post more on the cholesterol con in a separate post.

Now this is my view on things and there may be some holes in my arguments so a discussion of this is encouraged. I am constantly trying to improve my knowledge on this topic. Although it is basic right now, that is all I would need if I just wanted to increase performance and be healthy. That is the beuty of what we do, it is simple and easy to understand.

Paleo Burgers

(Dani makes great Paleo Burgers)

Program A
Back Squat-------Press------Dead
WU
45x5x2---------45x5x2-----45x5x2
12ox5-----------50x5-------150x5
180x3-----------75x3-------215x3
235x2----------100x2-------290x2
Work set
270x5-----------117x4------330x5
270x5-----------117x4
270x5-----------117x4
Damn Press....so frustrating....it's just weak. But I am making gains still. I'll have to repeat 117 on Monday and hit atleast 13 before I go up. I am still very happy with my squat and dead. I'm going to have to look for some plates becasue I am going to blow by 340 soon.

A while back I did a post on eating clean. Paleo burgers are great because you can enjoy a delicious burger without having to worry about those nasty complex carbohydrates. Remember grains are bad if you want to increase your performance or be healthier. Add a salad or some other vege's and you have an excellent meal. If it is post workout, try making some fries out of squash, take advantage of the insuline sensitivity post workout so you do not get the carb crash from eating complex carbs at other parts of the day. I'll talk more on this at another time, but if you going to cheat, cheat after your workout!

I haven't tried to order a Paleo burger at a fast food joint yet, mainly becasue I do not frequent them. If I am in a bind and end up having to hit a greasy, delicious burger place I will ask them to wrap it in lettuce and see what they say. Should be interesting...

Ditch the Sandwich Have a Salad

(Contrary to Homer Simpson you can make friends with Salad...and live longer to enjoy them)

Some of you may be wondering what I mean when I say eating clean? What I am referring to is eating carbohydrates with a low-glycemic index...such as vegetables and fruit. We refer to these as "good carbs". Bad Carbs are those with a high glycemic index such as bread, rice etc. Eating a lot of carbs with a high glycemic index along with sugar and lack of exercise can lead to Hyperinsulinea. Google hyperinsulinea ...what do you find as related diseases? Obesity, coronary heart disease, cancer, diabetes etc These are very common in both Canada and the US right now...why do you think that is?

Try cutting out the bad carbs....instead fill about a third of your plate with meant and the other two thirds, pile with fresh vegetables and fruit. Toss in some good fat such as nuts and seeds. For breakfast, avoid the orange juice, have some eggs with vege's, fruit and water. Coffee is good just avoid the sugar.

This is a very simple and basic explanation of eating clean...(feel free to add more in comments if you like). Anyone really intrigued that wants more information...there is lots available. For starters you can check out Robb Wolf's blog. His blog will give you basic information on how to eat clean and go into more complex information involving disease prevention, fasting and other juicy topics.

A quick guideline: shop the perimeter of the grocery store. Eat meats and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no Sugar.

Not only will you feel better, look better and perform better but you will live longer. So ditch the sandwich and have a salad.