The Great Potato War

Hello team,

For those of you who didn't hear yet, I add a minor outrage at the idea that we couldn't have white potatoes in this challenge. The rule is you can have sweet potatoes and not white. This is based off of several ideas:

1. White potatoes are not paleo.
2. White potatoes make you fat.
3. White potatoes contain poisons called glycoalkaloids

You all know my thoughts on pure paleo, so we'll leave that alone, but how about the other two? I will start with #3 as it is the easiest to tackle. It is true that if you eat a bunch of raw potato peels, green potatoes, or sprouting potatoes, you will get enough glycoalkaloids to give you headaches, vomiting and diarrhea. But who the hell eats raw potato peels, green potatoes, or sprouting/rotten potatoes? If you do, I'm sorry, but your death had just enhanced the human gene pool.

So let's move onto #2. White potatoes have been demonized because they are high in carbs and spike your insulin. High Glycemic! Everyone run! If something is classified as "high glycemic" or has a high glycemic index (GI) everyone runs from it like the plague. First of all, the GI of a food can change. In fruit, the ripeness can make it have a lower GI. In potatoes, the variety and type of potato and the way it is cooked can change the GI. Hell, if I chew a food enough, that "processing" can raise the GI. What does all this mean???

GI has been misunderstood and adopted by jerkoffs who want to sell you a diet book. I'm not buying it.

White potatoes (ALL potatoes) are good energy. So treat them as such. I will consistently pound this through your head. Carbs=energy. If you need lots of energy, you need carbs. If you are sedentary and don't do much, you don't need them.

This does not mean eat white potatoes every damn day at every meal. It means don't freak out when you have some. And as with all carbs, gauge it on how much you need to lose weight. Are you someone who sits most of the day and then works out  for a half hour, three times a week? Then maybe you should chill out on the potatoes. And chill out on other carbs as well. Or are you someone who is on their feet all day and then works out like a monster six days a week? Potato your face off.

I will agree with the "sweet potatoes are better" comment, but damn it, I get sick of those things and I always need energy, so don't be surprised if you see me with a big plate of mashed potatoes all over my face.

You will often see me looking like this.

Let it Begin

Challenge starts today Team Awesome. It's only six weeks of your life. So do your team a favor and don't cheat with junk food. No beer Malmberg. Let's show everyone why we are Team Awesome. I want to decimate them the first time around in the challenge WOD and then as they getting their self esteem up and feeling good after six weeks, knock them to the ground again. No mercy in this DOJO! Sweep the leg! I just realized Ana X and Jake probably have no idea what that means...

There is no mercy in this DOJO.

A word on the logs. Give me whatever you can. I DO NOT need exact amounts. I do want EVERYTHING you eat however. So yes, tell me what kind of dressing you put on your salad. That brings me to some more tips.

1. All I have to do is eat meat and veggies, right? Wrong. Deli meat is dirt. Stop eating it. Vegetables from cans are dirt. Stop eating them. Eat food as unprocessed as possible.
2. Try to find the time to cook your own food. Restaurants will not be using good fats most likely. If you do eat out, BE THAT GUY OR GIRL. Ask for the side salad instead of fries. Ask for salad dressing made from olive oil on that salad. Make special requests and then tip your server big. Everyone wins.
3. That reminds me. One of the biggest problems with paleo heads, crossfitters in particular is that they emphasize the meat and veggies but don't cover bad fat. Butter. Coconut Oil. Olive Oil. Buy them and don't use anything else for the next six weeks. Sweet Potato French Fries are not good for you. Neither are chicken wings fried in vegetable oil.
4. EVERYONE needs to be getting carb+protein within one hour after your workout. EVERYONE. Please go buy some whey protein and mix it in a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio with carbs. 20 Grams of protein/20-40 grams of carbs. This is a great time to have juice or high glycemic carbs like bananas. I am also STRONGLY encouraging everyone add creatine to their post workout drink. Creatine monohydrate is cheap and works. I always have plenty on hand if anyone need to use some. 5 grams (one scoop) a day for the six weeks and you WILL add lean body mass.

There will be more, but I don't want to overload you! Please post questions to comments or reach out on Facebook. Good luck.

Welcome Back-Paleo Schmaleo

Hello All,

I am bringing this blog back to life mostly to communicate with my "team" and possibly provide them with some quality information. After that, maybe I will get off my lazy ass and continue to post entries here. We shall see.

So welcome team.

I know you have been talked to about nutrition and most of you are buying into the paleo bit, but as you have probably heard me say, I am not paleo. There are many reasons for this and I will not bore you with all of them. True paleo heads who don't eat things like tubers, are incredibly misinformed. Crossfit paleo heads who eat sweet potatoes, but not regular potatoes or rice, are in my mind, somewhat misinformed.

Forget the argument about us living on a diet for millions of years and that this diet is the perfect one. Hogwash. It's called adaptation. Agriculture has been around for 10,000 years or so and you are telling me that in that time, human genes cannot adapt to certain types of grains or develop favorable adaptations like lactose tolerance? Bull.

Adaptation is amazing. I have had clients who came into me and couldn't do a bodyweight squat without falling down and then, in a few months, are back squatting 200 pounds to full depth. How? Adaptation. Your body is adapting every day.

Does that mean I love grains? Not really. There are some grains, like wheat, that our bodies have still not quite figured out and are linked to all sorts of nasty autoimmune disorders. There are other grains, fermented buckwheat anyone?, that can be good for you but are pointless because they taste like ass and don't deliver any nutrients that aren't in vegetables. However, if I'm in need of some energy for a 2 hour workout, I might wolf down some milled white rice (see my post on rice) for extra energy.

I like to look at this way. Chances are your ancestors spent tons of time getting sick so you don't have to. Some people are lactose tolerant because their ancestors were forced into eating dairy. Others are not tolerant. There is no one answer to anything. There is good dairy and bad dairy. There are edible grains and dirty grains. And chances are something that might royally screw up my system, won't screw up yours.

So the bottom line is eat real food. Eat quality food. Get to know your local farmers. Buy their stuff! Stop eating processed junk. And listen to your body. If you are in the bathroom 5 minutes after eating sweet potatoes, maybe you should cut that food out.

This is one of the better posts I have seen on what to eat. I will obviously preface this by saying, YES, we are in a paleo challenge and if you want to "win", then don't eat rice or oatmeal. If you want to win, you will also skip the giant cheat meal. If you read this, please ignore his comment about a peri-workout protocol...unfortunately t-nation requires that their authors plug one of their supplements at one time during their post. So you can pass on the ANACONDA drink. The rest of the information is good.
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_simple_diet

We'll start there. SO much more information we can cover, but let's stop for now.

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.