More evidence against processed food…the additives

Posted by abraham.williams@gmail.com on in Food

Thanks to Art Bogie for sending me this link on food additives and uncontrollable children. As I have been limiting my children’s access to processed foods and sugar since they were born, I can see what happens to them when a neighbor slips them a Gogurt (a sugary concoction in a plastic tube that plays as yogurt…28grams of sugar!). My children are so sugar insensitive that when they’ve eaten something processed and filled with sugar, they go bazonkers. Even the smallest amount is evident.

This article calls out sodium benzoate and food “colouring” agents. Evidently, when sodium benzoate, asorbic acid, and potassium benzoate are combined the result is carcinogenic. The link to hyperactivity is even listed in wikipedia here. Yikes, check your food labels.

Health Surveys

Posted by abraham.williams@gmail.com on in Health

I just took a health survey. It told me I was on track, but needed to eat more whole grains. I knew it was going to do that when I saw question 34. It’s based on the US food pyramid that recommends 6-11 servings of grains. I say no thanks to elevated glucose levels! However, they saw this as a problem.

Here’s a great post from Mark’s Daily Apple that illustrates the grain fallacy.

In all fairness, I’m glad there’s a health survey out there to educate people. How our body responds to different things we eat is a huge labyrinth with many unknown answers. I applaud the survey for just existing.

I did however have feedback for them. Here is my feedback verbatim.

There are two main flaws that I noticed in this data. I don’t blame you for having them, you are following mainstream beliefs. However, you cannot base a health assessment on flawed data.

1. Your survey assumes eating whole grains is healthy. This is NOT true. The majority of the studies used to bolster this belief compares whole grain consumption with processed grain consumption. Of course the disease rates of diabetes and CAD would be lower than processed grains. However, they never compare whole grain disease rates with subjects who consume no grains. While grains provide fiber, they provide little nutrients and high calories. In other words, they are high energy and low nutrient dense. They are high energy also because they supply a large amount of glucose. Glucose raises blood sugar. And, to top it off, I bet you go by the 6 – 11 servings a day recommended by the US Food Pyramid. This means insulin insensitivity for cells and that the pancreas has to continually produce insulin and amylase. By following the whole grain advice, I would actually increase my chances for diabetes type 1 and 2. Also, there is a direct correlation between sugar consumption and blood triglycerides. You ask for my number, but you do not ask about sugar consumption. That is probably the highest indicator of disease there is apart from a sedentary life style.
2. Your survey assumes using plant oils for cooking is healthy. This means you support the Lipid Hypothesis. Actually, the rise of heart disease correlates with the use of plant oils substituting for animal fats. Corn oil, canola, safflower, etc are all extracted from seeds by the use of solvents. Solvents like bleach that still remain in small quantities in the oil. Also, these oils turn rancid in light. Once rancid, they are free radicals. Free radicals contribute to cell wall loss also known as premature aging. Animal fats are much more stable than plant oils. Even olive oil, the best plant oil, that is cold pressed, the best way to extract oil, must be kept in a dark container to prevent it from going rancid.

Another comment: In addition, my body fat has gone down to 10% since I stopped consuming grains. Although, your study mentioned BMI, which should be considered BSI, it did not mention a low body fat percentage as healthy. When I took the survey before it was 17%.

Walk, walk, walk.

Posted by abraham.williams@gmail.com on in Health, Workouts

I see many folks who are confused about what to do for exercise. There’s so much info about doing strength training and it’s benefits. There are all kinds of sports and many things for people to do. However, probably one of the best things any one person can do to get healthy or maintain their health is walk. That’s right, just walk.

If you don’t exercise at all, start walking. Walk for 3o min a day, every day. You will feel great and you will lose weight.

There’s no need to bother with going to a gym, just walk before or after lunch. Or, you can walk early in the morning or later in the evening. If you have legs, you don’t need a gym membership. You’ve got all you need.

Get walking. I’ve seen the results in my wife who has recently starting walking. Prior to this she ran about 2 times a week for about 40 minutes. While she enjoyed the running, her body stayed the same. However, after 2 weeks of walking regularly, she has definitely lost weight.

For me, I do no cardio to speak of. I walk 3o min to an hour every day in addition to my 3 to 4 sessions of evolutionary fitness movements. I’m down to 10% body fat now.

Same workouts over and over = repetitive stress

Posted by abraham.williams@gmail.com on in Workouts

I was talking with a friend who described his workout to me. He goes to the gym three times a week. He told me he does about 12 exercises. This is his routine:

  • 3×10 Bench press
  • 3×10 Flys
  • 3×10 Incline or decline bench press
  • 3×10 Curls
  • 3×10 Hammer Curls
  • 3×10 Concentration Curls
  • 3×10 Tricep Rope extensions
  • 3×10 Tricep Kickback
  • 3×10 Overhead tricep extension

I said, you do this 3 times a week? He said, “Yes.” I asked if he has back pain. He says, “Yes.” I told him, “Dude, you are only working your chest and your arms and you are overworking them. You are doing the same exercises over and over. Do you know what repetitive stress is?” He says, “No.” He is doing 9 sets on his chest three times a week! It’s the same for the arms. As bizarre as this sounds, I know it’s common. (I even did it before I knew better.)

It took a great deal of explanation to illustrate that the medial rotators (chest and biceps) have antagonistic partners (a.k.a all the upper back muscles). These are the lateral rotators and they are being put on a constant stretch by the tight chest muscles, which means they are being weakened. When I pointed out his medial rotation and protraction of his scapula, I think he almost got it.

Since I know he is going for size and looks, I tried to sway him by recommending he work on his back and legs where he’ll gain the most size. I don’t think he was interested. I tried the symmetry angle as well…no dice. I talked about giving the muscles enough time to recover. If they are overworked, they will only become inflamed. Also, I explained his method likely only produce cortisol and not growth hormone which means he’s actually defeating his entire purpose.

Nonetheless, he is continuing his chest and arms workout. He also goes heavy most every time and 1 rep max is just about every week. It’s only a matter of time before he’s injured.

Advertising designed to make us feel inferior

Posted by abraham.williams@gmail.com on in General

I walked by a window of an unnamed fitness facility. On a mannequin, there was a shirt that said “Look better in the buff.” I guess it means people walking by don’t look as good as they could. It means they should be better than they are. It means by coming into the facility and buying the services, you will look better in the buff.

This shirt slogan is probably not a shirt someone would actually wear. It’s there for a purpose. It’s advertising. Clearly, it’s advertising. However, it’s actually pretty tacky advertising. I think tacky is a nice word. It’s designed to make people feel poorly about how they look. It’s designed to insert low self esteem. It’s designed to make someone feel poorly about themselves. After you feel poorly about your self esteem, you then will have a need to feel better about yourself. This is where the fitness facility comes in. For this reason it’s disgusting. They are creating a need where one might not be and they are using self esteem as the medium. Lame…, very lame.