Deep Nutrition - Catherine Shanahan MD

I am reading Cate Shanahan's Deep Nutrition. This book is awesome. She graduated with a graduate degree in genetics and then got her MD from robert wood johnson, UMDNJ (Same school that steph and I go to). She's in with the Weston A. Price idea of nutrition and gives 4 specific nutritional guidelines that are pretty new as far as dietary principles go.

1. Eat meat on the bone - you get the protein, fat, and cartilage. Cartilage has plenty of glycosaminoglycans (the same expensive stuff people buy for their joint pain, glucosamine). These compounds also support collagen under your skin. If you want to avoid cellulite and wrinkles, this is good stuff to eat.

2. Organ Meats - They used to be proclaimed as an incredible health food. Now we are so afraid of fat we won't touch the stuff. The truth is that organ meat is some of the most nutrient rich food you can eat, trumping even the most nutrient rich vegetables. Organ meats tend to contain compounds that tend to help with the health of your own body's tissues. For example, eyes contain vitamin A and hyaluronic acid, two compounds essential to eye health. Heart contains Coenzyme Q10 another nutrient marketed as a heart healthy supplement with solid research to show its benefits. Eat some organ meats!

3. Raw foods - Foods contain plenty of delicate beneficial components that are destroyed through cooking. Needless to say eat a plethora of vegetables and fruits that are uncooked. No one can dispute the health giving properties of these foods. Dr. Shanahan is also a fan of raw milk!

4. Fermented Foods - Now this one is another one like organ meat that has been almost completely eradicated from our american cuisine. Cultures used to thrive on these products. Fermentation creates more nutrition in a given food and also helps break down the food making it easier to digest making it a great food for people who have stomach troubles. Lastly, fermented foods contain probiotics, a highly beneficial product found in foods like yogurt(fermented) that help to bolster your intestinal tract with powerful beneficial bacteria with benefits ranging from decreasing constipation to boosting the immune system.

buy this freaking book already!
http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Nutrition-Your-Genes-Traditional/dp/0615228380/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317264130&sr=8-1

I love goats.

8/27/2011 - Deadlifts! Coming off of a deload, I'm excited to get this crackin.

Dynamic Warmup and Hip/Core prehab work

Deadlift (No belt)SS w/Banded broad Jumps x 5 - 10
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 5
365 x 5
410 x 10 - PR with no belt. Finally getting this to come around again. back is feeling better.

Tire Flip Sled Reverse + Drag Medley (250lbs x 150')
550 x 8 + drag
700 x 8 + drag
800 x 8 + drag - Definitely getting stronger at tire work.

Focus mit work. Fun stuff here. Still doing the 4,000kcal per day. thinning out still. My strength is still whoopin butt.

I started doing some meditation and yoga in the mornings. I catered the yoga poses and strengthening exercises for improving my posture and the results have been great. Meditation is an awesome and powerful tool.

225lb Bench Press Day

Yo guys, we had a large turnout over at llama bash today with Me, Greg, Matt, Maria, Pete, and Noel. We're all getting amped up and training out there with wild animals. For my deload week bench day I've decided to take 225 for a stroll in the park. Its been a while since I've really been focusing on bench and its been on the up and up so I was excited for today! i uploaded everyone else benching on youtube today too so check it out. http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhee

9/22/2011 - Bench Deload day

Dynamic warmup + Band no money and pull apart

Bench Press SS w/MB Slam x 15
125 x 5
175 x 5
215 x 5
265 x 3
225 x 22 - PR here, nice

Dips SS w/pullup variations
BW x 12
45 x 12
70 x 12
90 x 9 - Don't know if this is a new best, I feel like it isn't

Axle Curls / Incline Bench external rotation

Done, and EAT. I have dropped a few lbs and lost some flabbo. My goals for now is to get stronger and stronger. i think I got a little carried away with my weight gain for my own comfort. I'm leveling out with my weight and am happy for future progress!

Hello friends of friends

Alpacas coming at ya.

Training 9/20/11 - Deload week

Dynamic warmup and hip/core prehab

Deadlift SS w/ 15 burpee box jumps
135 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 5

Tire Flips
550 x 3
750 x 3
800 x 3 - started using tacky cloth here
900 x 3
1000 x 3 PR

Sand Bag Shoulder
210lbs x 8 in 1:35 - tiring! PR

Band Rotary punches x 10-15 / Human flag holds / Ring absaw

Felt great today. Deadlift still feels a little iffy, i hope this goes away soon. New bests on the sandbag and tire though

I changed up my eating a little bit recently. I took my calories down to 4,000 from 5,000. the routine is pretty much the same food wise though. I was getting a bit flabby!

I started doing some gymnastics stuff on off days and I'm having fun with it. I'll try and post some stuff soon.

training 9/15/2011

Awesome lecture from a guy who had 3-6 months to live very inspirational, Randy Pausch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Pete has been training the past few days over at team llama bash. Big thanks for coming out and training, I know he already works out 5 times per week in the wee hours of the morning. I'm pretty sure every time he's been here he has done the same exact exercises the morning of. Maria was over today too, its always fun to have a bunch of people. Matt's been getting freaky strong too. Today I think he benched 235 for 13, the other day he got 265 for 8. All good stuff.

Dynamic Warmup + shoulder prehab(band pullaparts and band no moneys)

Axle Bench Press / MB Slam x 5-10
125 x 5
175 x 5
215 x 3
235 x 3
265 x 3
285 x 8 - PR bench is on the up and up. pretty cool because I have evened out my eating and have dropped a couple pounds of cheese weight.

Ring Dips 4 x 6-10 @ 45-70lbs
Weird pullup variations, 4 sets, working toward that solid front lever and 1 handed pullup. I can now do kipping one handed pullups which is cool.

Incline Bench Y's and external rotation work 4 sets
Axle Curls 4 sets.

How to treat Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVC)

I've had a funny heart beat for about 10 years. I've been to the doctor and had many tests performed, EKG, echocardiograph, stress echocardiogram, halter moniter, event recorders, the whole gammit. I'm 25 years old! What could be wrong? I have been told time and time again I am young and have negligible risk for any serious heart problems. However I consistently feel like my heart stops beating for a second and then catches up with a stronger beat and another faster beat following the stronger beat. What gives?

Well in my undergraduate education I had a class on how to interpret an EKG. I described my symptoms to my professor at the time and she was fairly certain that I was experiencing PVCs. They are typically a benign phenomenon and occur in response to stress.

Fast forward a few years and I'm having these PVCs 4 to 10 times per minute. This is bad. It feels terrible . At this point I head back to the cardiologist and get myself an event recorder. Its a pretty cool device that attaches to your chest and reads your heart rhythm for 2 weeks at a time. I go back to the doctor after this and he tells me I'm having PVCs and PACs (similar phenomena) and this is a normal thing. NORMAL?! Come on! My options are either ignoring them or taking a Beta Blocker to rid myself of these. Uhhh....


Since then I've learned a few things that relate to lifestyle and nutrition that can effect PVCs in the body and I've put them in a list:

**Disclaimer: If you think you may be having a heart arrythmia consult your doctor immediately! and ask about these interventions before trying them.

Stress in the main culprit in my PVC activity. When I'm stressed my body responds by tormenting me with PVCs. Here is how I manage my stress with lifestyle changes.

1. Manage the relationships in your life that are stressing you and drop the ones that can't be changed. Recommended Reading: Non-violent Communication by Marshall P. Rosenberg Ph.D.

2. Manage your life! If your job sucks, find a new one or change your attitude. I could go on forever about this but do your best to sit back and ask yourself what you want to get out of life (your career, lifestyle, relationships etc.) and start making progress toward that!

3. Practice Pleasure! This is exactly what it sounds like. Enjoy your life. Engage in activities that are pleasurable. Smile and laugh. Love more.

4. Meditate! Meditation is such a powerful thing that in 1984 the National Institutes of health recommended meditation over prescription drugs as the first treatment for mild hypertension. (1) Transcendental meditation has been found to increase intelligence, creativity,perceptual ability, reduce blood pressure and reduce rates of illness by 50%. (2) Recommended Listening: Guided Mindfullness Meditation practice CDs by Jon Kabat-Zinn

5. Stop drinking and eating foods with caffeine and other stimulants as well as alcohol: Coffee, Green Teas, chocolate, beer, wine, liquor etc. These are notorious for causing PVCs!

6. Get to Sleep! Sleep in a dark room with no light. Use eye shades and ear plugs if you need to. Shoot to be in bed by 10:00PM and sleep until you can wake up feeling rested. Recommended Reading: Lights Out by T.S. Wiley

I don't mean to bash doctors at all they are an integral and incredibly important part of our well being. However they don't specialize in dietary and lifestyle changes. Often times this is the primary cause of our problems in the first place. This means that a pill won't cure the problem, its going to take some work on our part to change our daily habits.

Remember, consult your doctor and then bring these options up with him or her before trying anything here.

Bibliography:
1. D. Goleman. The Meditative Mind (Los Angeles: Jeremy P. tarcher, 1988), 168
2. R.W. Cranson et al. "Transcendental Meditation and Improved Performance on Intelligence Related Measures: A Longitudinal Study" Personality and Individual Differences 12 (1991), 1105-1116

training 9/13/11

Back is still not 100% Ihave been using Wendler 5/3/1 on bench and dead and just doing the minumum for deads.  Starting going beltless.  I want to get stronger without one of those thangs.

Dynamic warmup + hip and core prehab

Deadlifts SS w/Burpee box jumps
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 3
365 x 3
405 x 3
425 x 4 - supposed to be a 3 rep day

Tire flip / Arm over arm drag
550 x 5
725 x 5
800 x 5 + 75' arm over arm with 300ish lbs

Reverse drag / Arm over Arm 75' both ways
500lbs

Arm over Arm 75'
600lbs

Band roatary punch 3 x 10
Ring Ab saws 3 x 10

Not a bad day all in all.

Been eating the same foods.  Dropped down to 4,000kcal because I was turning into a fat slob!

woo!

training today!

Dynamic warmup + band pullaparts and no monies

Bench / MB Slams
35 x 5
125 x 5, 5
175 x 5
215 x 3
245 x 3
265 x 11 - think thats a PR

Weighted Dips / Pullup variations
BW x 10
45 x 10
90 x 10
75 x 10

Bicep and Tricep nonsense

My Grocery list

Haven't posted in a bit. Wanted to give you guys an idea of what I put into my shopping cart on a weekly basis. I like shopping at trader joe's and I do get some select things from Wegman's and a local produce place called produce junction.

Trader Joe's is probably the cheapest place I have been able to find organic products and is a great place to shop for a health conscious individual! Here's what I bought today from trader Joe's.

1. Organic bananas
2. Kerrygold Irish Butter, unsalted(grass-fed)
3. Bacon! (not pasteured though)
4. Eggs - I usually get eggs from my parent's chickens but once in a while I'll get some supplemental eggs here.
5. Dr. Bronner's soap - all organic oils, no strange perfumes or chemicals
6. Cheddar Cheese (grass fed, would be better if it were raw too)
7. Olive oil
8. Organic extra virgin olive oil
9. Organic Garlic'
10. Limes
11. Organic Carrots
12. Avocados
13. Organic Romaine hearts
14. Organic baby spinach
15. Yellow Onions
16. Coconut Milk
17. Organic green tea
18. Organic salsa
19. Gluten free oatmeal
20. Wild caught salmon
21. Organic Broccoli
22. Organic frozen blue berries
23. Organic frozen Strawberries

I try and do organic as much as possible. If I find I can't afford all organic I'll try and follow the dirty dozen (http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-214)

I recently put an order in for 1/5th of a cow from Neptune Farms in Salem County NJ. This is 70-90lbs of all cuts of meat including organs and bones! I'm pretty pumped about it. The farm is organic and the cows are 100% grass-fed. Going to be sweet.

I also purchase some raw, grass-fed milk from my main man Alvin at Spring Water Farm / Dutch Meadows Organic Dairy in paradise pennsylvania. I buy a bunch of gallons and freeze them and they taste fine after thawing. Contact Alvin at (717) 442-9208.

If you are looking for local, pasteured/grass-fed food try www.eatwild.com. That's where I found Neptune farms. Often times you can get organic/pasteured products much cheaper then you can find them in other places. I found Alvin at http://www.realmilk.com/ You can find other people supplying real milk there as well. Get your health on.