RICE!

Yes, I have been slacking big time and this is long overdue, but I thought it might be good to quickly discuss one of the world's most popular grains, rice. Why rice? Because, like most good things, rice has been destroyed by the internet "health" gurus. You know them. They tell you that all saturated fat is bad and that whole wheat will make live longer. Wheat is garbage. But more on that in another post...we're talking about rice here!

Most of you probably grew up with enriched white rice.  And then somewhere, somebody published a study that says white rice is virtually devoid of nutrients and will make you fat. And then it caught on like wildfire. After that, what appeared that would save us all? BROWN RICE!!!

Brown rice has fiber! It has more nutrients! It's untouched by mills!

OK, let's start with fiber. Most of us know the primary reason we need fiber, but the bottom line is that if you are eating enough fruits and vegetables, you do not need fiber from grains. Period. There is a vicious rumor going around that you need oatmeal and brown rice to make your digestive system operate. Whoever came up with that obviously hasn't discovered raspberries. Most brown rice has about 4 grams of fiber per cup. Raspberries have 8 grams. There are plenty of other examples like this, but I like raspberries...

So how about those nutrients? While it is true that brown rice contains more thiamine, niacin and iron then white rice, it also contains much higher quantities of anti-nutrients like phytin (phytate), trypsin inhibitor, oryzacystatin and haemagglutinin-lectin. What the heck are those? Think of your nutrients like a basketball and they need to go into the hoop to do any good in your body. Then antinutrients like phytin are the seven foot tall basketball player waiting there to block your shot. And unlike the other antinutrients listed, phytin will not cook out of your rice. So it will do everything to block that extra niacin you're getting. Hey, but doesn't brown rice contain protein?! Yes. The only problem is, unlike animal proteins like beef and chicken, grain proteins are inferior and produce an inflammatory response. Antinutrients and bloating to boot...sign me up!

When white rice is made, they basically strip it down and then enrich it again with vitamins. Pull out the bad stuff and the good stuff and put the good stuff back in...sounds good to me. In addition, white rice is easier to digest and easily assimilated into the body.

All that being said, white rice is still a carb. That means don't stuff your face with it. As with most carbs, enjoy them in moderation AND eat most of them in your post-workout afterburn (2-3 hours) and you will be in good shape. Eat a giant mixing bowl of white rice 10 hours after your workout or worse yet, while watching others work out and you may have some weight issues.

So next time you go to a restaurant and they offer you the "healthy" brown rice, tell them they can have their cardboard and you can happily eat your white rice to the shock and awe of the hyper-inflamed people around you. 

ICE

Some of you have heard me use the term RICE, which stands for Rest Ice Compression Elevation. This is a term we use when we are referring to injury. But let's just stop for a second and consider something else. How about icing BEFORE you get injured? Now that's one heck of an idea Rob!

As we have discusses, working out of any sort is PRO-INFLAMMATORY. We break the tissue down, inflame it and then our body builds it back up bigger, faster and stronger. But our body can sometimes use a little assistance.

Ice is not just something you should break out when you are feeling a little off in the elbow, knee, shoulder, etc. Often I use ice when I know I have attacked a specific body part. Did your evil trainer give you loads of squats today? Maybe some ice on those knees isn't such a bad idea. You DO NOT have to be injured to help your body reduce that inflammation.

And guess what else? Ice helps with DOMS. You know, Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness? Or that, "Holy crap, I can't walk up the steps" feeling. Want to reduce that feeling? Why not ice?

And if you're a pill popper, you might want to think about ice first. Anti-inflammatory medications like Aleve and Ibuprofen need to be broken down by the liver before they are effective. Ice works instantly. Also, areas like tendons have reduced blood flow and the effectiveness of these pills is less than, yes you've got it, ICE. Want another reason not to be reliant on pills? Prolonged uses of these drugs leads to gastrointestinal stress, kidney and liver problems. Hmmmm...all of a sudden those frozen peas look appealing.

Speaking of peas, what's the best way to ice? While I have certainly been in a pinch and used peas or blueberries ( and then, yes, have eaten them), I highly recommend um...ice. Mix water with a freezer. Ice is created. Too hard? Supermarkets and gas stations magically make bags of ice too.

20 minutes of icing will do on any area, but if you're like me and you like to do everything faster, try putting water in a Dixie cup and then freeze it. Pull it out of the freezer, ripe the top of the Dixie cup and then proceed with an "ice massage" over the area. A little messier, but it only requires 5 minutes.

If you are a real masochist like myself, you can even fill your tub with cold water and sit in it for 10 minutes ( I time my ice baths to ensure NO more than ten minutes). The secret is not moving. Find your inner Zen and just go for it! That may be a bit extreme, but it does get every muscle, tendon and ligament in the lower torso!

If you are training regularly, you should get very cozy with your ice packs. Learn to love them and you will recover better and feel better.

Primal Recipes

Ran across this website. I have tried ZERO of these but they are "primal", which is sort of how I eat....90% of the time. I will try a few and post on them.

http://pantrybites.com/

NOTE: I have noticed that many of these are NOT weight loss recipes!

Nutrition Data

I love that emails to my clients are becoming good options as blog posts. I received an email from a client of mine that suggest I check out this site.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/

I have seen this site before and I think it COULD be useful if you are unsure about how many carbs are in a particular food, or if you want to find out if moose liver has Vitamin A in it (answer: yes, a crapload). But unfortunately, what could have been a really decent research site turns out to be laced in a crapload of moose, well, not liver.

Some of the tools seem interesting. The nutrient search tool is kind of cool (it's how I found the moose liver), but honestly really only for nerds like myself who care how much Vitamin A is in a food. My fear is that MOST people will use this site for help or guidance on which foods are healthy. For each food listed, they have an ND rating that values the healthiness of a food, a fullness factor and quick pros and cons of that food.

Here is an example of why their suggestions suck.

Example:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/beef-products/10525/2

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/legumes-and-legume-products/10334/2

Look at the NUTRITIONAL TARGET MAP. Sounds professional, right??? Now look at the "ND rating". Tofu has an ND rating of 4.6. Beef? 2.5. Tofu more nutritious than grass fed beef? Riiiiiiiiight. Even worse is the fullness factor. Tofu more FILLING than beef? I think everyone can agree that is total BS. But let's go back to that whole ND rating...

Obviously the folks at ND didn't look at their own information on Vitamins and Minerals. According to them, tofu contains 8 Vitamins and Minerals. Beef? 18. So I am assuming their ND rating is based off of their summation of beef:

The good: This food is low in Sodium. It is also a good source of Protein, Vitamin B12 and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Niacin, Vitamin B6, Zinc and Selenium.

The bad: This food is high in Cholesterol. This food also contains Trans Fat.

And here is the summary of tofu:

The good: This food is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Protein and Iron, and a very good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin B12, Calcium and Phosphorus.

Nothing bad for tofu. So it all comes down to cholesterol and trans fat. The evidence that animal cholesterol leads to high human cholesterol which in turn leads to heart disease is thinner than my hair in the last post. There are plenty of wonderful blog posts and journal articles backing the idea that dietary cholesterol has nothing to do with heart disease. For a ridiculously in depth look get GOOD CALORIES BAD CALORIES by Gary Taubes or his smaller, beach friendly, WHY WE GET FAT.

But what about the TRANS FAT, Rob!!!!! Trans fat! Dear God! Hide the children! It's in our food! It's poisoning society! Beef DOES contain trans fat. But the wonderful folks at ND forgot one thing. There are two kinds of trans fat, natural and artificial. The primary natural trans fat, CLA, found in beef is, ummm, harmless and it might even have anti-cancer properties. It's not the same trans fat that's in Oreos!!
So if you're a nerd like me and you want to find out how much Selenium is in sea lion liver (answer: a crapload), then use ND for those purposes. Otherwise, avoid ND's low fat agenda.

Crossfit WOD 5

As you may know, I am involved in Crossfit and am competing in the open. It has been a very humbling experience as I have thoroughly has my ass handed to me workout after workout, but this past one was a particular ego check....is that me, or am I going BALD! Ouch. Oh well. Maybe time to shave it all off! Cool picture though minus my lack of hair.

Front Rack

Many of you struggle with maintaining front rack position. Not everyone is built to have a "perfect" looking front rack. Some of you may have to externally rotate on the bar more. Look at the arms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1WbjI_uFyM

In order to improve that rotation:
http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/Subscapularis/Broomstick.html

Good luck

PS...I grabbed this idea from Lincoln Brigham on the Crossfit boards....don't know him, but thanks!

Food "list"

I was writing this to a client and it took me so long I decided to post it!

I will make a detailed food list if you need, but here is the gist of it. NO FLOUR. NO SUGAR. NO VEGETABLE OILS.

Make dinners out of this:

MEAT

VEGETABLE ONE

VEGETABLE TWO

1. You can have any meat, fish, etc. Try to buy free range chicken and eggs, grass fed beef, pastured pork.

2. The vegetables can and SHOULD be cooked with FAT! Steamed veggies taste like dirt. Butter, Coconut Oil (for high heat), Olive Oil (buy two kinds, cheap for cooking and extra virgin for salads), Use small amounts of pancetta, bacon or other cured meats to make things like Brussel Sprouts taste awesome. Peas and Corn are high glycemic vegetables and not good for people trying to lose weight. Try to MINIMIZE them as much as possible.

3. Beans (black, kidney, chickpeas, etc) are TOO carby. They are not allowed! Green beans are OK once and awhile.

4. Spice with anything. Sauces CAN contain cream and creme fraiche. Sour cream is legal too. So is Coconut Milk

5. If having salad, any veggies are good. Cheese is fine. NO fruit. NO store bought dressings. Nuts are OK in small amounts. Here is a link to some dressings http://www.marksdailyapple.com/10-delicious-diy-salad-dressings/. You can make any of them except the raspberry one ( It has honey and you are not allowed to have sugar!)

6, No flour or bread crumbs in your cooking.

7. No packaged junk. Look at the ingredients...most packaged food items have sugar, corn syrup, or crappy oils.

8. NO dessert!

9. Try to drink a glass of water 30 minutes before the meal, then either sip water or a glass of wine with your meal. Even a glass of scotch or bourbon is fine. Alcohol is not as horrible as people say, but you have to MODERATE it. If you can't drink alcohol without binging, drink water.

10. ABSOLUTELY NO VEGETABLE OILS....Canola, Sunflower, Safflower, Peanut, etc.....Cook only with butter and olive oil at low temps and coconut oil if you are going high temp. Most meats can be safely prepared in olive oil or butter.

11. No pasta. That includes that whole wheat CRAP they say is good for you and tastes like cardboard.

  

This really is EASY. I had a chicken/artichoke/spinach/feta cheese dish last night and Duck breast with Brussel Sprouts (cooked with pancetta!) the night before. They were both ten times better than whole wheat pasta. Meat and fat are awesome. Carbs are over rated. And if you have any questions about "health", I have truckloads of books that support this as a healthy diet in addition to a weight loss one. The low fat, carb crazy society we live in now is nothing more than a con.

This guy eats high carb/low fat

This guy eats high fat/low carb

 Thanks to 203 for taking this picture!!!! And I had to cut out Michelle....sorry!

Vitamin C supplementation

So I try not to be too much of a journal junkie because I personally feel like there are scientists out there wasting time and effort on biased trials just so they can make a claim that Honey Nut Cheerios reduces cholesterol, but I did find this journal article interesting, especially considering  many people I know use Vitamin C supplements to HELP with training. Maybe you should think twice. In fact, and I am still digging, but Vitamin D in the winter when there is no access to sun is about the only supplement that I am 100 percent behind. Yes, I like fish oil, but there are some interesting counter-arguments there (I'll get into that later).

In the meantime, check out the article about Vitamin C and if you're not a complete nerd like me, just read the conclusion!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18175748

Rotate!

OK,

I have been a slacker. And certain clients are hounding me, so I am vowing to be more proactive again and getting back to this blogging business.

It's time to talk about the world's least sexy body movement, external rotation. Many of you may have heard of the "rotator cuff" and some of you may have had the unfortunate honor of injuring this "area". The rotator cuff is actually four seperate muscles that support the glenohumeral joint (the shoulder joint!). I am a huge fan of functional movements and my clients spend most of their time doing multi-joint compound movements. I hate doing assistance exercises during my sessions, but I need to stress that you all do these on your own!!!

As much as I loath isolation exercises, there are some that are very beneficial as assistance exercises and if you are not doing rotator cuff work, including external rotation, on your "off" days, then you are playing with fire. Teres Minor and Infraspinatus are the two muscles that are most responsible for external rotation and there are many different ways to work these muscles. One of the simplest is side lying external rotation. A video of this exercise is here:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/external-rotation

Pick a LIGHT weight and do 3 sets of 20 on each side. Most of you will want to start with those tiny pink one pound weights. Women won't mind, but I'm sure the men will roll their eyes at this. And while you men might feel like a goofball lying on your side and knocking out reps with a pink weight, you'll look much dumber when you shred one of your rotator cuff muscles because you spent of your off days doing bicep curls instead of an exercise that can actually help you.

In addition to help preventing an injury, rotator cuff exercises like side lying external rotation can actually increase your strength on lifts like the bench press. So just check your ego, pick up the pink weight, and then you can impress your friends with a bigger bench!

Warm-up!

First off sorry for the big delay, but the Holidays are hectic and then January just, um, stinks....so many bills!

This post makes me feel like a fed up mother who is tired of telling her teen son to eat his vegetables as he gobbles down Twinkies and Cherry Coke.

I often say there are 3 things that cause injuries when training ( other than complete body breakdowns that do happen from time to time).

1. Injury from lack of sleep/stress. Usually the "body breakdown" injuries tie into this
2. Injury from poor technique/being a bonehead. Anytime you are training and think, "Hmmm, this feels a little too heavy" or if you just know that your form is terrible and you continue through the exercise.
3. Injury from a lack of proper warm-up.

Let's talk about #3 for a minute. The warm-up is never fun. It's not sexy. It really is like seeing a big heaping pile of plain steamed broccoli on your plate. You know it won't be that great, but you also know your body loves it. The bottom line is you NEED to warm up for 10 minutes at the minimum. Usually 5 minutes on a full body cardio machine like a rower and then follow that up with 5 minutes of exercises that are similar to what you will be doing that day. In the case of most of my clients, this means warm up EVERYTHING because we hit everything in a circuit. Let's look at a few of the benefits and WHY it reduces injury rates:

1. Increased heart rate , which enables oxygen in the blood to travel with greater speed
2. Increased production of synovial fluid located between the joints to reduce friction and allow joints to move more efficiently
3. Dilation of capillaries , which enables oxygen in the blood to travel at a higher volume
4. Increase of temperature in the muscles, reducing viscosity and making them more "loose"
5. Decreased viscosity of blood, which enables oxygen in the blood to travel with greater speed
6. Greater extensibility and elasticity of muscle fibers, which will increase force and speed of muscle contraction

So do what you have to do. Hold your nose and eat the broccoli and for God's sake, warm up.