Caveman Training. Shock and Traumatize Your Body: an introduction

If you want your body to change, you've gotta shock and traumatize it. I'm going to be doing a whole series of ways you can shock and traumatize your body. I'm also going to be doing a write-up that breaks down this concept and explains WHY it works. For now, give this a try on your own:
-Sprint (til you slow down significantly and your body is shocked)
-do bear crawls (til you slow down significantly and your body is shocked)
-do push ups (til you burn out and hit failure)
-do crab crawls (til you slow down significantly and your body is shocked)

TTT Caveman Diet Plan

Okay. You're all sold on the philosophy of the caveman diet written about here right? You're all sold on the science behind why it works written about here right? So now it's time to get to the specifics of the plan. What you've all been waiting for. In this post is going to do the following:

A. list the 5 goals of the TTT Caveman Diet
B. list foods that are acceptable to eat on the caveman diet
C. list foods/substances that are not acceptable on the diet
D. Introduce to the concept of "TTT caveman mixing and matching"
E. Give specific examples of what I eat and how you can start to make meals based on this philosophy
F. dispel false concerns that may arise around this philosophy of eating

A. list the 5 goals of the TTT Caveman Diet
1. Normalize your insulin levels and keep them low by eating between 50-150 grams of carbs per day
2. Maximize nutrition content by eating a lot of live foods
3. Balance out the omega 3 and 6 ratio while getting plenty of good fats
4. Optimize amino acid quality and quantity
5. Make it taste good and eat until you're comfortably full

1. Normalize your insulin levels and keep them low by eating between 50-150 grams of carbs per day
I write extensively about this here and here. If you're serious about losing fat this is the TICKET. This is IT. Keep in mind, that paleo-anthropologists suggest that our ancestors consumed, on average, only about 80 grams of carbohydrates a day. Keeping your carb levels between 50 grams per day and 150 grams per day will get you lean. It just depends on how quickly you'd like it to happen. Here's a chart that shows what I'm talking about:


2. Maximize nutrition content by eating a lot of live foods
Eat vegetables!!! TONS of them. Eat a variety of them. Eat fruits (within the context of your carb range). Also, take a quality vitamin, mineral, and antioxidant supplement. The goal is to be HEALTHY as well as lean. Vegetables and fruits are ticket. NOT enriched food.

3. Balance out the omega 3 and 6 ratio while getting plenty of good fats
Eat fish! As often as possible. Eat GRASS fed meats as often as possible. Get ground flax seeds as well. Sprinkle flax on salads, eggs, etc. Gives your meals texture and they're actually tastes really good. Also, take a quality fish oil, cod liver oil, or krill oil supplement. Use olive oil for your salads. Use coconut oil. Use organic butter. Absolutely avoid transfats like the plague. It will kill you, seriously. Avoid mainly polyunsaturated fats, such as corn, soybean, sunflower, safflower and other vegetable oils. Their popularity arose from the widespread belief that saturated fats and cholesterol cause heart disease. This is absolutely NOT TRUE.

4. Optimize amino acid quality and quantity
Make sure you're getting enough protein. I try to get around 1 gram per pound of body weight (195 lbs so around 195 grams). This isn't some hard science rule, it's a principle/guideline, it can be broken but aim for it. To do this, I focus on having a source of protein with every meal (eggs, meat, nuts, etc.). Also, get a NATURAL whey protein if you'd like. I don't recommend doing whey more then once or twice a day (best around workout times).

5. Make it taste good and eat until you're comfortably full
Don't worry, eating caveman style is actually very tasty. The best part about it: it's not about counting calories or micro analyzing your portions. Eat til you're COMFORTABLY full. Being comfortably full means the hunger feeling is gone, yet you could still be up for a run. Don't stuff yourself silly. Use common sense and your intuition.

Use any sort of seasonings/condiments that come from the food sources listed below. Also, cook with saturated fats (butter or coconut oil is my choice usually). Saturated fats stay stable at high heat. Non-saturated don't, which makes them go rancid and creates free radicals that you consume (not good). Eat foods on the list that you LIKE. But again, get as many live foods as possible.

B. list foods that are acceptable to eat on the caveman diet
Eating caveman style is about PRINCIPLES. If you like onions, eat onions. If you hate onions, don't eat onions. Eat vegetables, nuts, fruits, animal products that YOU ENJOY. Experiment too.

Acceptable Vegetables
(link)
Acceptable Fruits
(link)
Acceptable Nuts
(link)
Acceptable Herbs and Spices
(link)
Acceptable Seeds (- the grains)
(link)
Acceptable Meats and animal products
-eggs
-meats of your own choice (mix it up)
-cream (limited)
Acceptable Fats
-butter (limited)
-animal fats (from naturally raised sources, grass fed, no hormones, no antibiotics, etc.)
-coconut oil
-olive oil
-other omega 3 containing oils that you may stumble upon
Acceptable drinks
-water (try to get filtered pure stuff)
-coffee (NO SUGAR)
-teas

C. list foods/substances that are not acceptable on the diet
The PRINCIPLE of what to avoid is basically processed carbs, processed foods, and artificial stuff. It's really that simple. This is hands down the hardest part of the TTT Caveman Diet. Cutting out the junk. This is really about forming NEW HABITS. Changing your desires. Creating a lifestyle. The first month will take alot of willpower. ALOT. I'm going to be posting alot of information on the science of HABITS and how our mind links things up. Stay tuned if you're struggling.

-processed carbs (white flour, white sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, soda, juices, etc. )
-grains (it's virtually impossible to meet the GOALS of the caveman diet while eating grains)
-artificial flavorings, artificial ingredients, artificial sweeteners, artificial everything really
-high omega 6 oils such as corn, soybean, sunflower, safflower and other vegetable oils
-milk (if you MUST drink milk, keep it within the confines of goal #1, milk has quite a bit of sugar, which means LIMIT it....alot. Also drink raw if possible)

D. Introduce to the concept of "TTT caveman mixing and matching"
Creating meals and living the caveman diet is SIMPLE. It really is. Just mix and match. Create meals that have a good source of protein, and get a bunch of plants and fruits in with it.

So the concept of mixing and matching goes like this (I'm going into caveman role here):
a. Sam like eggs
b. Sam like onion
c. Sam like mushrooms ugggg
= scrambled eggs with onions and mushrooms
a+b+c=meal.....simple

Here's how this meal meets all 5 of the TTT Caveman Diet goals:
1. Normalize your insulin levels and keep them low by eating between 50-150 grams of carbs per day
-no sugars, limited carbs
2. Maximize nutrition content by eating a lot of live foods
-free range eggs are packed with nutrition, onions are too, mushrooms are as well
3. Balance out the omega 3 and 6 ratio while getting plenty of good fats
-I buy eggs that have high amounts of omega 3, plus the flax seeds, plus the cod liver oil shot I took
4. Optimize amino acid quality and quantity
-eggs are filled with quality amino acids: a full range of them
5. Make it taste good and eat until you're comfortably full
-Cooked the shrooms and onions in butter, then added the eggs and mixed them together, added some sea salt and pepped them, added a natural salsa. Tastes great.


The finished product:
Tasted great. Filled me up for 4 hours or so. Felt great.
-Scrambled eggs-
Ingredients: 4 free range omega 3 eggs, mushrooms, onion stems, cooked in butter and coconut oil (less stick on pan when you combine the two), sprinkled with sea salt, pepper, flax seeds, and salsa.
Prep time: about 6 minutes
Cost: maybe around $2 or $3



What else did I eat?

-Spinach salad-
Ingredients: spinach, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, pepper, flax seeds
Prep time: 2 minutes
Cost: maybe around $1 or $2


-Stir Fry-
Ingredients: mushrooms, brocolli, carrots, garlic, onion stems, bell pepper, sea salt, ground pepper, salsa, balsamic vinegar, lamb steak.
Prep time: 20 minutes (cooked enough to save and eat today as well)
Cost: maybe around $7 (lamb was a bit expensive, but it's 2 meals)


I also had 2 blueberry protein shakes yesterday: 1 before and 1 after workout
Ingredients: around a cup of blueberries, some cream (maybe a few tablespoons), coconut oil, natural protein powder
Prep time: 1 minute
Cost: maybe around $2 or $3


F. dispel false concerns that may arise around this philosophy of eating
1. "it takes too long." BS. It does not. Total time preparing food for me yesterday was about 30 minutes. All it takes is a resolve and a TINY bit of proactivity
2. "it's too expensive." BS again. it really isn't. When you don't buy the crackers, breads, and JUNK, you cut your grocery bill in half. And realistically this is your health. THIS IS YOUR LIFE. Freaking take care of yourself.
3. Saturated fat is bad. BS once again. I'll be doing future posts on this.


Final note:
Get organic and natural animal products as much as you can. Don't freak out over it, but it's optimal. Stay within the confines of the caveman philosophy and your life is going to soar. Don't, and you're probably going to end up overweight and sickly. The extent that you follow this will be the extent of your results.

Also, set yourself up to win. Start off by eating this way 5 days a week. Monday thru Friday for example. This will produce results for most of you. You'll start to gain momentum, and you'll give yourself a much needed psychological break. When you start getting results, and you start feeling more powerful, more energetic, and vital, you will have begun the process of REWIRING what your brain desires. When this happens, you'll find yourself wanting to go 6 days a week. You'll get even more results. Your desires will change a bit more. Then you'll get to a point where one cheat meal is all you want/need. Eventually, you will have completely reprogramed yourself. A new lifestyle. THAT is awesome.


Thanks for reading.

Tell your friends.

Sam

Caveman Diet 102: WHY it works (the science stuff)

It isn't hard to look around and see that something is wrong. Something is seriously WRONG. I'm at a book store right now, and out of the 10 people within my sight, there is only 1 of them that isn't overweight. I'm not saying this to be a jerk or because I secretely look up to Ben Stiller's character in the movie Dodgeball, I'm saying this to be REAL. I'm a sincere person, and I really care about people. To be honest, I'm a little pissed off that it has come to this point. I'm mad. I don't feel that people were meant to live this way. People weren't meant to feel lousy about themselves. People weren't met to have no energy. People weren't meant to live life battling ailments and prescriptions that cause even more ailments. People weren't meant to be unathletic and sluggish. We ARE ALL ATHLETES. We were meant to live active lives. We were meant to have an abundance of energy and physical vitality. I'm passionate because I SEE the matrix behind this. Most people don't. They've accepted the norm. They've lost hope. They've given up. They have NO STANDARDS and so they inner rationalize and never take action to change.


Okay enough of my rant, and onto the subject at hand; caveman diet and why it works. The caveman diet has a SOLID foundation. Like I said, it's a philosophy around eating. It's based on emerging evolutionary understandings and studies. It gives us a clear picture, and cuts out the confusion when it comes to what we should be eating.

Here are the basics behind WHY it works:

1. It balances the omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acid ratio
2. It gives you the proper amino acids to build and maintain muscle
3. It keeps your insulin levels LOW and naturally regulated

1. It balances the omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acid ratio

Essential fatty acids play a part in many metabolic processes, and there is evidence to suggest that low levels of essential fatty acids, or the wrong balance of types among the essential fatty acids, may be a factor in a number of illnesses, including osteoporosis. These are the ESSENTIAL fatty acids (essential meaning your body can't produce them, they must be consumed).

Estimates vary, but experts generally characterize Western diets as anywhere between 10-30 parts omega-6 to 1 part omega-3 (10-30:1). Omega-6 fatty acids found in corn and other grains as well grain-fed livestock, are crucial when BALANCED with the right amount of Omega 3's. What's the ratio we should be getting? A minimum of 4:1 and some say 1:1. Certainly a radical change from the ratio MOST people are currently getting. If you lived 10,000 years ago, and you hunted and gathered for your food, your essential fatty acid's would naturally have been balanced.

What you're missing out on when they're not balanced:
Basically it spurs inflammation. Here's a list of disease that studies have linked to imbalanced omega ratios:
-heart attacks
-thrombotic stroke
-arrhythmia
-arthritis
-osteoporosis
-inflammation
-mood disorders including panic and depression
-cancer

How this benefits you:
It it simply giving your body the right fuel. You will avoid the death list above ^. You're more likely to experience positive results in your fitness, health, and emotional levels. Your hormones balance out and you keep your bodies inflammation responses in check.

What ACTION you can take:
Start eating more food that contains omega 3's. Fish, flaxseeds, omega eggs (chickens that were fed flax seeds), grass fed meats.

Supplement with FISH OIL or Cod Liver Oil. Sprinkle flax seeds over your dishes (enhances taste and texture anyways).

2. It gives you the proper essential amino acids

Amino acids are used to repair and maintain tissue in the body, including muscle. If you're not getting enough, you're simply not going to optimize your health and fitness. Experts from the Medical Research Council at the University of College London estimate that, while the typical Western diet today is composed of 49% carbs, 35% fats and 16% protein, the diet of traditional hunter-gatherer populations included twice the protein intake.

How this benefits you:
I try to get at least 1 gram per pound of body weight per day (195). Sure, I can survive on less, but I’m all about maintaining and building my lean mass. You can only do that with protein. If you're serious about losing weight, you MUST build your metabolism by increasing the amount of your metabolic tissue (muscle). If you're a lady reading, this doesn't mean 'bulking up,' it means toning your muscles and building their strength and power. Consuming protein is the giving your body the materials to make this happen.

What you're missing out on when you don't get the proper amino acids
It will be next to impossible to build your body, build your metabolism and make any changes. Also, because there are essential amino acids that our bodies DON'T manufacture on their own, we must get them through eating. When you follow the caveman diet, this naturally occurs.

What ACTION you can take:
Start to eat good sources of protein! Try to get organic and naturally raised animal products. Eggs, meats, fish would have been any caveman's primary source.

3. It keeps your insulin levels LOW and naturally regulated
photo and quotesource

If we go back 10,000 or more years, we find that our ancestors had very little access to sugar – or any carbohydrates for that matter. There was some fruit here and there, a few berries, roots and shoots, but most of their carbohydrate fuel was locked inside a very fibrous matrix. In fact, some paleo-anthropologists suggest that our ancestors consumed, on average, only about 80 grams of carbohydrate a day. Compare that to the 350-600 grams a day in the typical American diet today.

All carbohydrates eventually get converted to glucose. This is a good thing, in the right PROPORTIONS. While glucose is a fuel, it is actually quite toxic in excess amounts unless it is being burned inside your cells, so the body has evolved an elegant way of getting it out of the bloodstream quickly and storing it in those cells. How does your body do this? Insulin response. When you pollute your body with excess amounts of carbs, insulin comes to the rescue. It's job is to get the glucose (the end result of what carbs get processed into) out of the blood stream. Where does this excess glucose get stored? FAT. The more I've researched and learned about insulin and carbs, the more convinced I am that they are certainly the major cause behind obesity, fat gain, type II diabetes (obviously), inflammation response, and a host of other negative effects.

How this benefits you:
When you eat like a caveman, you get the PROPER amount and PROPER source of carbohydrates. Proper amount 50 to 150 grams per day coming from VEGGIES and certain fruits.

What you're missing out on when your insulin levels are out of control:
Well you're definitely on your way to diabetes. You'll feel sluggish. Your body will continuously storing more fat. Everything in your body goes DOWN HILL.

What ACTION you can take:
Start eating the right amount, and right sources of carbs. Cut out processed sugar first and foremost. Cut the pop, candy, and cookies. Then focus on cutting out bread, pasta, crackers, things of this nature. Start eating A LOT of veggies and fruits. You'll feel better, look better, perform better. Remember this saying: nothing tastes as good as vitality feels. You'll find this out if you give it a try.


Final note:

I've listed 3 major areas that when handled will transform the way you feel and look. However the list is virtually endless. The more I've lasered in my focus into the area of health and proper nutrition, the more I'm blown away by the implications of living right vs. not living right. It really is the difference behind living a life you were MEANT to live, and not.

So with that said here's a quick list of additional 'side effects' of the caveman diet. It forces you to avoid a lot of modern poisons found in modern foods. You just don't eat the artificial stuff when you're eating with the caveman philosophy in mind. You don't get the transfats. You don't poison yourself with excess glucose. It increases your antioxidant, vitamin, and mineral intake. We all know the importance of that. It naturally regulates your hormones. It keeps your bodies inflammation response LOW and naturally where it should be (a lot more on this later). Your body burns off the excess fat naturally and healthfully. The system as a whole runs like it is supposed to. You optimize your energy and vitality overall. Your fitness and athleticism gets resurrected.


or


It's up to you.

Tomorrow I'll be giving the WHAT TO DO of the caveman diet. Yes that means SPECIFICS that you can follow. Thanks for reading.

Sam

Caveman Diet 101: the basis

I've battled fat my entire life. I was never obese, but I never liked to take my shirt off either. In fact, on many occasions I had 'given up' on having ripped abs. Since I've been following the caveman way of eating, the fat has melted off at a surprisingly fast rate.








Some of you might know by now that I fully subscribe to a caveman-like diet. Today I hope to break down the basis behind this philosophy of eating. What we'll find out is that by looking at the evolution of man, we'll start to get a clear picture on what we should be eating.

The foundation:
The caveman diet is founded upon evolutionary science. The question being asked is this: what did the human body EVOLVE to eat? It seems obvious and intuitive to ask this question. Let's take a look at an example of WHY we should be asking this question. We all remember the mad cow disease epidemic right? What was found to be the CAUSE of all these cows going bonkers?

British inquiry into BSE concluded that the epidemic was caused by cattle, who are normally herbivores, being fed the remains of other cattle in the form of meat and bone meal (MBM), which caused the infectious agent to spread.

The bottom line is this: the cows weren't eating what they EVOLVED TO EAT. Cows evolved to graze on ranges of grass. As a side note, it makes sense that grass fed beef has been found to be significally more healthy then grain/feed-lot fed beef.

In other words: feed a cow what it evolved to eat and you get a healthy robust cow. Feed a cow what it DID NOT evolve to eat, you get a sickly cow that just might go 'mad.'

vs.



The point is this: to optimize our health, fitness, and well-being levels, we MUST eat what we were meant to eat. In other words what we EVOLVED to eat. So back to the original question: what did the human body EVOLVE to eat? Well let's go WAAAY back and meet human's ancestors:

Kinda creepy picture I know (especially the little hobbit dude). Here's a chart showing the break off of man with the other 'homos.'



In this article by Stephen Guyenet PhD, he goes over what these ancient ancestors ate:

Homo erectus diverged from our lineage about 1.5 million years ago. I don't know if you've ever seen a Homo erectus skull, but 1.5 million years is clearly enough time to do some evolving. Homo erectus hunted and ate animals as a significant portion of its diet.

If you look at the chart above, Homo rhodesiensis (typically considered a variant of Homo heidelbergensis) is our closest ancestor, and our point of divergence with neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis). Some archaeologists believe H. heidelbergensis was the same species as modern Homo sapiens. I haven't been able to find any direct evidence of the diet of H. heidelbergensis from bone isotope ratios, but the indirect evidence indicates that they were capable hunters who probably got a large proportion of their calories from meat. In Europe, they hunted now-extinct megafauna such as wooly rhinos. These things make modern cows look like chicken nuggets, and you can bet their fat was highly saturated.

H. heidelbergensis was a skilled hunter and very athletic. They were top predators in their ecosystems, judged by the fact that they took their time with carcasses, butchering them thoroughly and extracting marrow from bones. No predator or scavenger was capable of driving them away from a kill.

Our closest recent relative was Homo neanderthalensis, the neanderthal. They died out around 30,000 years ago. There have been several good studies on the isotope ratios of neanderthal bones, all indicating that neanderthals were basically carnivores. They relied both on land and marine animals, depending on what was available. Needless to say, neanderthals are much more closely related to humans than chimpanzees, having diverged from us less than 500,000 years ago. That's less than one-tenth the time between humans and chimpanzees.

I don't think this necessarily means humans are built to be carnivores, but it certainly blows away the argument that we're built to be vegetarians. It also argues against the idea that we're poorly adapted to eating animal fat. Historical human hunter-gatherers had very diverse diets, but on average were meat-heavy omnivores. This fits well with the apparent diet of our ancestor H. heidelbergensis, except that we've killed most of the megafauna so modern hunter-gatherers have to eat frogs, bugs and seeds.

What's the bottom line? The closest human ancestors hunted and gathered their food. The closest human ancestors ate meat, and probably lots of it. Modern humans share genetics with these ancient ancestors. This should start to give us a clue, a base, for optimizing our diets.

So let's fast forward a million years or so: in comes the homo sapiens (humans....us).

Mitochondrial DNA and fossil evidence indicates that modern humans evolved in east Africa about 200,000 years ago

. (source)

What kind of diet did early homo sapiens maintain? Research show it to be the same as their ancient ancestors. They hunted, and gathered their food. They hunted for meat, they gathered for nuts, seeds, insects, fruits, vegetables. It wasn't up until around 10,000 years ago that humans began to farm and consume large amounts of grains. It was less than 100 years ago that humans began to manufacture, process, and create foods. Is it a coincidence that degenerative disease has EXPLODED among modernized human populations? Is it a coincidence that the rates of obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes has EXPLODED and continue to grow? Ha. Yeah right.

In other words, we've got a few million years of hunting and gathering programmed into our DNA. Just like cows thrive off pasture because that's what they EVOLVED eating, I believe that humans thrive off a hunter-gatherer type diet. Conversely, when you feed cows things they didn't evolve to eat, disease appears. The same goes for humans.

This is the caveman diet. The philosophy and understanding that should be behind all of our eating decisions. It's also called paleolithic diet, or hunter gatherer diet. Look it up on google if you'd like. I've chosen the label of caveman diet in my mind because it makes it kind of fun; it strikes an emotional 'click' with me.

Today was meant to be present the foundation. Tomorrow I'll be going into WHY the caveman diet works, the nitty gritty of fatty acids, amino acids, insulin levels, nutritional content, and on and on.

But for now, start thinking about this way of eating. Start asking yourself: wwce? (what would caveman eat). Did they have twinkies available? How about deep fried twinkies? Did a caveman drink 100 grams of sugar in a big gulp coke? Can you go gather a loaf of bread off a plant? How about some enriched wonder bread? Maybe start to CONSIDER the possibility of moving in this direction of eating. I can tell you that the results I've experienced have been amazing. Fat has melted off. Muscle has gotten more powerful. Energy levels are higher then ever before. Everything in life is better.

I've never claimed to be a scientist, but hopefully this is useful information and a good foundation for you to really research this on your own. It just makes sense.

Sam

Social Proof: Don't Let it Stop You

“When you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."

You've probably noticed that you're about the only person in your social circle doing things proactive to change your health and fitness levels. In fact, you might have people criticizing you for it. Whenever one embarks on a journey of personal change, inevitably opposition shows up. Opposition comes in many forms. Friends, family, random people, yourself and your own limiting beliefs, your own success barriers, events, the list could go on forever. However, the single most influential form of opposition, in my humble opinion, that stunts personal progress is a concept called SOCIAL PROOF.

Social proof, also known as informational social influence, is a psychological phenomenon that occurs in ambiguous social situations when people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior. Making the assumption that surrounding people possess more knowledge about the situation, they will deem the behavior of others as appropriate or better informed.

So why is this understanding important? You MUST understand

that your subconscious mind (part of the caveman that you're inhabiting) is continuously looking around for acceptable ways to behave, think, act, respond, and ultimately live from the SHEEPLE around you. If you're trying to make a change in how you eat, maybe you're taking my advise and trying out the caveman diet, you've got to know that your mind is going to be looking around, seeing that no one else eats like this, and you'll likely start to feel the feelings of opposition and be influenced to STOP; and go with the flow. You feel that PULL, that DRAW, to do what others are doing.

Here's a quick video that demonstrates my point:


Cavemen do what other cavemen do. Plain and simple. When you're conscious of this fact, you can observe it in yourself and choose to override this auto reaction. When you're not conscious of this, you're going to just respond to what all the other caveman are doing and follow suit.

A classic example of this is Nazi Germany. Another is American Slavery. Both were crimes against humanity, yet because it was 'the norm' very few people were opposed to it (at least initially). Don't fall into that trap.

The goal of this post was to just expose you to this idea of social proof and how it can be your biggest opposition in making personal changes in the way you eat, and live.

I leave you with some visuals of what you'll get if you follow do what others are doing, live how others are living.







It's okay to be different. In fact, it's NOT okay to NOT be different in the area of health and fitness.

Design your life.

Sam

Genetic Expression: Get the MOST out of your exercise

So you want to change the way you look? Maybe add more muscle, and cut fat? Or just cut fat? In this post I'm going to be breaking down how different ways of exercising literally alters the way that our genes express themselves.

So what's up with that picture? Who are they? What the significance and relevancy? Otto and Ewald are two identical German twins, but you’d never know it by looking at them. Identical twins share virtually the EXACT same genetic blueprint. So how could they look so different? Answer: genetic expression. Specifically, the different ways they exercised and how it made their SAME genetic blueprint express itself differently.

Both twins are athletes. Otto runs distance, Ewald competes in the field events (discus, shot put, hammer throw, etc.). The different types of training (one, low-intensity cardio; the other, high-intensity resistance-type training) resulted in two very different body types, even for a pair of humans with the exact same genetic code.

Specifically, Otto (the beta of the two ;) engaged in a type of steady-state cardiovascular training. He other words, he would run in circles for hours and hours. Now don't get me wrong, this is fine if you're someone who loves the sport of running, or riding bikes, or whatever. However, if you're someone looking to drop the FAT, and get a prettier body, this IS NOT THE WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING. I'd even argue that if you're looking to gain optimal health, this is not what you should be doing.

Ewald on the other hand (the alpha ;), engaged in what we call interval training.

Interval training is a type of physical training that involves bursts of high intensity work. This high intensity work is alternated with periods of rest or low activity (the intervals in interval training). The term can refer to any cardiovascular workout (e.g. cycling, running, rowing, etc.) that involves brief bouts at near-maximum exertion interspersed with periods of lower-intensity activity.

So how does this tie in with gene expression? Well if it isn't obvious already, Otto and Ewald's identical genes expressed themselves differently due to the type of training they engaged in. Otto ended up looking frail, slightly pudgy, and weak. Ewald ended up looking strong with lower bodyfat.

Scientifically, here's what happened:

It turns out that Otto's more low intensity stimulation decreased ATP concentrations and activated AMP kinase. This inhibited stimulation of TSC2 so that mTOR-mediated myofibrillar stimulation did not occur. In Ewald's case, the genes got another signal: high intensity contraction stimulated PKB activity, increasing TSC2 and activating the mTOR signal, resulting in markedly increased myofibrillar protein synthesis.

So, a low intensity signal turns on different genes and signal cascades than a high intensity signal. Low intensity -- no muscle protein synthesis. High intensity -- markedly increased muscle protein synthesis. Same genes, different signals, different bodies.

In summary, decide what kind of body you want to create. If you want to be a long distance runner, so be it. However, if you're looking to cut fat and become more strong and muscular, choose your exercise wisely. Your genes are going to express themselves according to what you DO. Specifically, LIFT HEAVY THINGS, do sprints, look up and study interval training techniques. Shock and traumatize your body by exerting 100% effort.



So go out there and DO something. Be a doer, not a talker.

Create your body.

Sam

Ps. I leave you with this GROSS oversimplification of this issue....however, there's truth to it.

A Little Perspective

Hey guys – here with another quick post. Just something that I experienced today that I thought I would share; it was definitely a reality check for me.

I don't think I ever stop to realize how lucky I am to even be in a position to physically be capable of going to the gym in the first place. Ok, maybe that’s a stretch. I’m aware of it, but I don’t think I appreciate it as much as I should. Let me explain.

There's a guy I see at the gym quite often. In fact, he's been there 3-4 times a week for probably as many years as I have. Pushing himself to work harder, to put up more weight - sometimes just to make it through a work out. But the similarities end there.

This man has what I can only assume to be severe mental and physical disabilities. I highly doubt he can talk well, if at all. Beyond that, he can hardly walk on his own. When I see him, he is there being helped out by his mom who usually has figured out some type of creative jimmy-rig to keep him on a machine. Once he's on it though, everything he does is on his own. The weight is minimal and the range of motion is maybe 5% - but he's giving it his all.

Even though I've seen this guy probably hundreds of times and recognized how incredible it is that he is there working out I guess I've never stopped to put it into perspective what I can learn from him. It made me realize just how asinine I am at times. I think sometime it's easy for me to over look the big picture because I'm too focused on the fine details - trying to see the forest through the trees. By all means, it's understandable to want to push yourself at all you do but I suppose it just woke me up to recognize that sometimes the little victories -whether it has to do with the gym, relationships, work or life in general - are worth celebrating.

I'm not sure if that fully grasps what that single moment did for me, but it was a nice way for me to stop and put things in perspective - something I need to make sure I do often. I'm really grateful for that. It's funny - the people that usually make the most impacts on others are usually the ones that never even try to in the first place. They're just trying to do the best they can - even if that means struggling to walk on a treadmill in the middle of a crowded gym.

Sometimes getting more focused on your diet or your cardio or whatever doesn’t come from reading about or learning the newest ideas and methods – sometimes, at least for me, it’s just realizing that the fact I am even physically capable of lifting weights or running or biking is a blessing that some people may never get to experience. Taking that into consideration really changes things in my eyes. It’s much harder to waste something that you know others would give everything for.

Just some food for thought for this evening – definitely something that has made me look forward even more to tomorrow’s workout.

Genetic Expression 101

This is a topic I've been learning a lot about lately. Frankly, it's blowing my mind and increasing my resolve to live right: all the time. In this post I just want to expose people to the emerging science of genetic expression. I've never claimed to be a scientist, but these understandings have helped me in unspeakable ways and I want to pass them along. This is just an intro, and I'll be going into more depth in future posts. I would like to thank Mark Sisson for introducing me to this rabbit hole.

We hear a lot about genes, genetic dispositions, nature vs. nuture, etc. Limited understanding around genetics can create ALOT of limiting beliefs for yourself. I hear things like this quite often "I just don't have the genetics for it, I have fat genes," and on and on. Well the REALITY is that our genes are NOT set in stone. As more and more science has emerged around genetics, it is reinforcing the reality that WE ARE IN CHARGE. We really do control what happens in our lives. This isn't some mumbo jumbo anymore, this is a scientific reality.

So specifically, "Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product." Interpretation: simply the science of genetic expression confirms that the day-to-day choices we make have incredible impact on which genes get 'turned on' or 'turned off.' Furthermore, we can influence gene expression to a far greater degree than anyone ever thought possible.

Here's a quick synopsis of astudy that illustrates what I'm talking about.
In this study researchers followed 30 men with low-risk, early prostate, cancer. They gave the men "intensive" lifestyle intervention program where

The changes included a plant-based diet (predominant fruits, vegetables, legumes, soy products, and whole grains low in refined carbohydrates), moderate exercise (walking 30 minutes per day), stress management techniques (yoga-based stretching, breathing techniques, meditation, and guided imagery for one hour per day), and participating in a weekly one-hour support group. The diet was supplemented with soy, fish oil (three grams/day), vitamin E (100 units/day), selenium (200 mg/day), and vitamin C (2 grams/day).

After three months of the intervention regimen, the researchers conducted several tests on the subjects, including new biopsies, and examined normal prostate tissue samples. The results were striking. The men showed signs of improved health, including lower blood pressure and weight loss. However, the activity measured in the genes themselves showed the most profound change. Of the more than 500 genes traced, 48 disease-fighting genes had “up-regulated” and 453 disease-promoting genes had “down-regulated” since the lifestyle intervention as show by the graph below. Within these changes, researchers found “significant modulation of biological processes that have critical roles” in the formation of tumors.

A good way to look at this is seeing it as a recipe:

Everyone the DNA “recipe” to build a human being. The DNA itself is not really so much a “blueprint” (as many people assume) as it is a recipe. As with all recipes, it allows for a little variation to spice things up and even room for improvement. That means that some ingredients can change a little and you still wind up with the intended result. A little more sugar, a little less salt, an added spice, a lower cooking temperature: the end result still resembles the picture in the cookbook.

So what causes your genes to 'express' themselves in different ways? What causes your certain parts of your genes to 'turn on' and 'turn off'? THE ENVIRONMENT that YOU PRESENT THEM.

Similarly, while your genes are “fixed”, the expression of those genes – the amount of proteins they cause to be made, whether or not they are even switched on or off at all – depends on the “environment,” the circumstances surrounding those genes. Diet, exercise, exposure to toxic chemicals (or fresh air), medicines, even the thoughts you think (which generate actual chemical signals) all influence gene expression – positively and/or negatively, depending on the choice. Eat a diet that is high in sugar, and gene expression moves in a direction that produces more insulin, that shuts off insulin receptors, that down-regulates lipase and other enzymes involved in fat-burning, that increases pro-inflammatory cytokines, etc. When you change to a diet low in sugars and rich in healthy fats, those or other genes are directed to reduce inflammatory expression, down-regulate insulin-producing metabolic machinery, up-regulate insulin receptors and rebuild cell membranes to reflect the presence of better building materials (omega 3 fatty acids, etc.)

So what does all this mean?

It means that the outcome of our bodies and fitness levels aren't the result of a fixed genetic destiny. Instead, they are the result of the way our genes have expressed themselves due the environmental factors directly under our own control. The next time someone tells you they’re fat because of their genetics, know that they are dead wrong.

I'll be going into more depth on how we can optimize our diet, exercise, thoughts, etc. to optimize our gene's expressions and therefore improve the quality of our lives.

Thanks for reading.

Sam

PS. In a future post I'll be breaking down how exercising in various ways literally alters our genetic expressions. Here's a picture of identical twins who exercised in different ways and therefore had their genes express themselves differently. I just want you to have a little preview of the implications of these understandings.

Sunday Sprints: Turn on the HGH

2 sources recently inspired me to start doing sprints at least once a week: "Sunday Sprints" is what I'm calling it. The first source was this commercial with Adrian Peterson:



No additional words are needed to describe why this inspired me. ha

The second was from a blog that I ran across by accident called "Mark's Daily Apple.". He has written a book that I'm planning on picking up called "The Primal Blueprint". One of his 10 principles for living a primal lifestyle that promotes health, fitness, and wellness is what he calls "run really fast every once in awhile."

"In a world where danger lurked around every corner, your ability to run was a strong indicator of whether you would live long enough to pass your genes down to the next generation. (Note to Nietzsche: That which didn’t kill Grok made him stronger). Avoiding a charging beast to save your life, or surging forward to catch a different beast for dinner, the net effect was still survival. A combination of the hormonal events that occurred simultaneously and the resultant gene expression within fast twitch muscle made sure that the next time this happened Grok could sprint a little faster."

I will be reviewing this book once I read it, so stay tuned.

So WHY should you give sprints a try? Well sprinting has been found to release human growth hormone, which is one of the KEY's to achieving a better body. here's some research on the matter:

"In a new study, researchers compared HGH growth hormone levels in several ways — resting (for a baseline measurement), after a 6 second cycle sprint, and after 30 second cycle sprint. Researchers also measured growth hormone for hours afterwards to see how long HGH stayed in participant’s bodies after exercise, (The time course of the human growth hormone response to a 6 second and a 30 second cycle ergometer [an indoor rowing machine that measures the amount of energy or work performed] sprint, 2002, Stokes).

The 6 second sprint method did move HGH some, but didn’t come close to the body’s potential to release this powerful hormone. The 30 second all-out effort sprint experiment increased HGH by 530% over resting baseline and 450% over the lesser intensity sprint.

Like earlier research studies, HGH stayed elevated for 1.5 to 2 hours after the sprinting program. And according to the researchers at the University of VA, the HGH released during exercise targets body fat for up to two hours after training. (Impact of acute exercise intensity on pulsatile growth hormone release in men, 2000, Pritzlaff).

HGH may be the most powerful fitness improving, anti-aging (and anti-middle-aging), body fat reducing, muscle toning, hormone in your body. And the fitness hormone can be increased by 530% with specific types of anaerobic fitness training. Natural is almost always better. And increasing the fitness hormone naturally through exercise is the natural choice!"

Go give it a try. Whether you're a girl or a guy, HGH is a highly desired substance. In addition, there's something great about letting loose and just going balls to the walls: sprinting as hard as you can. It's therapeutic, freeing, it makes you feel more alive. We seem to have forgotten the importance of this.

Design your life.

Sam

Welcome the Newest Member to True Transformation Training

Who I Am/Why I’m Passionate about this Work/What True Transformation Means to Me

I’m the newest contributor to True Transformation Training – and I’m really excited about what I can bring to the table. Let me give you a quick background on why this work means so much to me. For most of my life, I was the poster child for lazy America. I’m the kid who would pay his friends $5 to carry my backpack home from school on those dreaded days when I had to walk – oh how I hated those days.

For most of my life I did everything possible to avoid exercise. I made every excuse in the book ranging from Sport Induced Asthma (which I doubt I fully understood) to an indented rib making it hard to breathe if I ran too much. Yup, that was me. The kid in gym who always had a note to get out of a run; it’s not something I’m proud of, but looking back I can’t help but be proud of how far I’ve come.

I finally got around to playing sports when I was in high school, but even then, I wasn’t driven by anything other than keeping up with my friends. I bounced in and out of gyms and exercise routines for a few years following high school, but nothing ever stuck. I always wished it would – I envied (and probably secretly loathed) the friends around me who took the time and energy to work out. “Someday, I’ll be like that – I just have too much to do right now… I’ll start Monday.” Oddly enough, as many of you know, Monday never came.

Fast forward to the spring of 2005 – after a minor arthroscopic surgery on my knee I hit an all time laziness level and ballooned up to 275lbs and about 32% body-fat. I hid it ok – at least I thought so on my 6’3 frame, but overall, I was miserable in my own body. As a “friend” so delicately pointed out to me one day, I was shaped more like a pear with my hips being broader than my shoulders. Definitely not the thing a male wants to hear.

That summer I spent six weeks in London for a study abroad program. During that time I was forced to walk everywhere I wanted to go – something I would have never done at home, but it turned out to be the best thing that happened to me. In the time I was there I lost a total of 20lbs just from adding a bit more movement to my daily routine. When I returned to the states I was set on never going back to how I was before I left. My rediscovered confidence was definitely something I didn’t want to lose again. At that point I made the conscious decision to change. It wasn’t about fitting it. It wasn’t about trying to impress anyone. No one was tugging my arm and making me do it. Something in me finally clicked – and honestly, I believe that’s a point all of us need to make before we can truly change.

I went on to lose a total of 50lbs and now sit at a comfortable 225lbs and 12% body-fat. I have been to the gym no less than 3x a week (minus a few vacations here and there, or a week off to let my body recover and reenergize), every week for the last four years. During that time I fell in love with exercise and fitness. I became a personal trainer for a short time early in 2006 and realized at that time that my passion wasn’t just about exercise or nutrition or anything like that, but rather, it was all about sharing my story with the clients we worked with and helping them realize that they have just as much – if not more – potential than everyone else. I have a true passion for motivating others to see the greatness in themselves; something that took far too long for me to realize in myself but has been invaluable since.

As I would explain to my clients, we all have our own shadows that keep us from reaching our true potential – it could be a fear of failure, a fear of success, a lack of knowledge or any number of things. But as I continued to work with others, and with myself, I realized there is a real difference between a roadblock and an obstacle, yet we often confuse the two as synonyms. To me, I see a roadblock as something we have no control over, something that will take us off our predetermined route. If you are headed to the grocery store and the road is closed, that is a true roadblock; but even then, there is a detour route; another way to reach your destination. I’ve found that very few things in life are truly roadblocks because we always have our choices – our options of how we think, feel and act.

Most “roadblocks” are really nothing but an obstacle. Some may be much more difficult to maneuver around, however, there is always a solution – a way to overcome whatever may be keeping you from what you set out to accomplish. The key is identifying whatever that may be in our lives and taking the time and energy necessary to figure out a solution – a way to move past that obstacle to reach your goal. This is what I would focus on with my clients. I saw my training as more than just “this is what you should eat” or “this is what you should work out” because truly, you can know everything in the world about health, fitness and wellness, but without a true belief in yourself and your ability to reach your goal – no matter how long it takes or what the cost may be – that knowledge is wasted.

So – that is what drives me. That is what I hope to bring to the table. Exercise, fitness, wellness, health, call it whatever you’d like, but it is something I truly care about, both for myself, my family, my friends and those of you reading this blog. I believe with all my being that we all have greatness within us; it’s just a matter of tapping into it so we can make the changes in our lives as necessary and grow.

I see this blog as more than just a fantastic place to learn more about how to eat healthy and how to exercise correctly – hopefully it will serve as a catalyst in your personal growth and development on all levels. True Transformation is not just about how clean your diet is or how perfect your form is doing a Leg Press – it’s about plugging yourself in on all levels and truly taking control of your life. Having the self confidence, self respect and self worth to know you are deemed for greatness and the only thing standing in your way is getting started.


Looking forward to more –

Nico

Excuses and Rationalization: Life's Blood Suckers

In this post, my goal is to effectively break down the source of excuses which we'll find to be our subsconsious mind's need to rationalize. I'll also break down what it takes to start moving toward the immeasurable quality of what I call objective-self-honesty. Finally, I'll give advice as to how we can move away from being a rationalizing excuse creator, and move toward being an objective-self-honest person.

So let's start by breaking down the word excuse. The meaning I'll be talking about is defined as an "attempt to lessen the blame attaching to (a fault or offense); seek to defend or justify." Justify is defined as "to show or prove to be right or reasonable." A comparable way of looking at this is the term JUSTIFY which is defined as "attempt to explain or justify (one's own or another's behavior or attitude) with logical, plausible reasons, even if these are not true or appropriate." So in other words, an excuse or a justification can be either true and accurate, or completely UNTRUE and INACCURATE.

This is an EXTREMELY important concept to understand if you're someone looking to make some changes in your life. Why? Because you really have to understand that your subconscious mind is WIRED to rationalize and make excuses when things don't go your way. Stick with me, I'm going to explain this in detail.

Look, the ability to CREATE your life and your own self to be however you want really comes down to being able to cut out the excuses and take action. Excuses are really the manifestation of RATIONALIZATION. Guess what, your brain is biologically programmed to rationalize. This isn't something I'm making up, this has been proven time and time again within psychological studies. "In psychology and logic, rationalization is the process of constructing a logical justification for a belief, decision, action or lack thereof that was originally arrived at through a different mental process. It is a defense mechanism."

So for example, let's say a shy man avoids dating because of anxiety around he experiences around women. He might not want to face the fact that he has this anxiety. So instead, he tells himself that he isn't dating because he really wants to focus on his career and put that first; he wants to get ahead first and worry about the opposite sex when he has achieved success. Of course, this is actually bogus. It is a made up story, an excuse that spawned from rationalization.

How about this: A person steals because he is selfish and greedy. However, his brain DEMANDS that he not think of himself as a bad person. Therefore, he decides that the reason he is stealing is because society is unjust; the rich did not deserve their wealth, and stealing is correcting an injustice. Again, an excuse that has spawned from rationalization.

So why are our minds programmed to rationalize? Answer: to maintain order and homeostasis, to avoid emotional pain, and ultimately to promote survival by avoiding painful emotional unease. In psychological terms, to avoid cognitive dissonance. Now, you might be thinking "I don't do that." .....Yes you do. In fact, someone who claims to not be a rationalizing machine is almost certainly so deep within the grips of it, they are unable to recognize it. We ALL rationalize, we ALL make excuses. The question is HOW MUCH?

If you aren't the person you want to be, if you don't have the life that you really want to have, it is most likely due to your OWN rationalizations. You see, rationalizing makes things okay. It makes it okay that you didn't get what you wanted. When things are okay, you don't take action. Period. The cycle goes like this: get inspired by something (maybe the video above), feel motivated, decide to make a change, maybe take a bit of action to make it happen, lose the feeling an hour, a day, a week later, forget about your decision, go back to your day to day living, have a somewhat discontent funk around you because you know deep down that you're weak and not in control, rationalizing brain takes over and creates some sort of an excuse, the excuse is very logical and makes sense even when you verbalize it to someone else, go back to your same situation; your same self; your same life. Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat,repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat,repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat,repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat,repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat,repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat,repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat..........

Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat,repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat,repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.
Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat,repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat,repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. Then you die.

What a life!!!!!!


The cycle goes on and on and on for most of us. Very few people ever truly make a change in their lives. Ever. Most people go through life REACTING to what comes along, rarely if ever doing anything proactive to create themselves and their life how they really want it. After all, it's MUCH easier to rationalize after the fact, create excuses, and live a life of maintenance.

Here's a question that I think your intuition will have an answer for; will someone who is consistently going through this cycle EVER experience life to the fullest? Will they ever have a life of THEIR OWN DESIGN? Will they feel confident and proud of who they are as a person? You and I both know the answer is a resounding NO. Will they ever put themselves through the pain of working out everyday and eating plain food? No way. It's much easier to blame their fitness and health levels on genetics then to take that kind of action.

So are we all doomed? NOPE. All of us can overcome our rationalizing mind through AWARENESS (hopefully this post will provide the start of that) and PRACTICE (that's totally up to you). Becoming a objective-self-honest person and overcoming rationalization is just like a muscle! It has to be trained. This is an cliche example, but here's a person who DIDN'T rationalize, didn't create excuses, and TOOK ACTION instead. Michael Jordan. He got cut from his high school basketball team. He admits to going home, locking himself in his room, and crying for hours. It would have been SOOO easy for him to have rationalized to himself and said "I just wasn't meant for basketball, I'm just not gifted enough, I just don't have the genetics for it, I'm not tall enough, etc. etc. etc." But he didn't. Instead he went on to be the best basketball player of all time by TAKING ACTION. He inspired countless amounts of people. He became a massive force for good and a role model of possibility. He was my childhood hero and he's still to this day one of my heros. The world is a better place because Michael Jordan told his rationalizing brain to F*** off. My hope is that you and I can start to do the same.




So why would a person do this? Why would someone cheapen their lives and rationalize their lack of action? Well first of all they usually aren't aware that they're even doing it. Their subconscious mind is RUNNING THE SHOW. Scary. The subconscious mind wants to maintain the 'okay' feeling, keeping things in balance, taking the path of least resistance, avoiding excess energy expenditure. When you're REAL with yourself, when you point the finger where it belongs (right at yourself), it creates emotional pain and imbalance. It FORCES you to TAKE ACTION to solve the problem. What's the path of least resistance? Taking action, or making excuses? Obviously making excuses.

So how do YOU rationalize and make excuses? Get honest. How have YOU engaged in this life sucking behavior? I'm just as guilty as everyone else. I use to say "the reason I'm not ripped is because of my genetics." It definitely WAS NOT the fact that I was a sugar addict and couldn't go for more than a day without indulging and stuffing my face with massive amounts of the stuff. Nope, it was because of my genetics. What a JOKE.

My goal for this post was to really solidify these things in my own mind and hopefully help you to start along the path of becoming an objectively-self-honest person. Becoming someone who is honest and REAL with themselves on a consistent basis. Someone that takes action when they find something they don't like about themselves, rather then making excuses. Becoming someone who doesn't make excuses and instead takes action. Someone who is proactive and creates their selves and their life HOW THEY WANT.

So let's go out there and start to apply this concept. Know that your subconscious mind is a rationalizing, excuse creating machine. Also know that you can overcome this through awareness and practice. Start to manage your mind. Start to manage your excuses and get real with yourself. When you find yourself saying something like this to yourself "I didn't get this because of this" or "I'm this way because of this thing," STOP, become aware that your subconscious is rationalizing and take charge, get real, and TAKE ACTION.

Thanks for reading. Anyone can leave comments so please do.

Create your life how you want it.

Sam

Losing Weight vs. Losing Fat Part II

In this post, my hope to take a bunch of this 'science' stuff and articulate it so it can be easily understood and applied to turn your body into a fat burning inferno of glory. Then I will be giving specifics on what foods have allowed me to experience this.

Okay back to the topic at hand: weight loss vs. fat loss. As you recall, we want to lose fat, not weight. What keeps us from doing this? It comes down to having a system that is imbalanced. Specifically, the hormones that are running the show; insulin and leptin.

First of all, let's take a look at leptin. What is it? Leptin is a hormone produced by the fat cells. It is present in the blood stream and its level is in direct proportion to the amount of body fat a person has. i.e. the more fat, the more leptin is produced. Leptin's primary function is to act on the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls appetite and satiety. It tells the hypothalamus to reduce appetite (because fat stores are high), which results in decreased food intake. So in other words, it is what's controlling your appetite, the AMOUNT of food you desire. Ever wonder why the heck you're always hungry? Ever wonder why you want to over eat and every time you sit down it's a will-power battle to excuse yourself from the table?

Check out this little article (with pictures :) "Portion Size, Then Vs. Now"

So what's going on here? Are human beings just more gluttonous then ever before? Hardly.

"Leptin is accurately described as an anti-starvation hormone because low levels lead to increased hunger. In the past it was described as an anti-obesity hormone but researchers have since discovered that obese people (who produce large amounts of leptin) are RESISTANT to its action. This is in a similar way that some people are resistant to insulin."

The bottom line is this: Leptin is the hormone, that if you're beginning to put on too much fat, when functioning PROPERLY, suppresses your appetite. The killer is WHEN FUNCTIONING PROPERLY. If you have trouble controlling your the amount of food you eat (portion control), you probably have leptin resistance going on. Which means your hypothalamus has become de-sensitised to the action of leptin. The perfect analogy is the boy who cried wolf (for those not familiar here's a little video, for those of you who have ADD and need a break from reading, it's here for you too). When leptin is constantly telling the hypothalamus to suppress the appetite, soon the hypothalamus essentially responds "you little jokester you, leave me alone."


So how do we become leptin resistant? Excess fructose consumption (SUGAR) has been found to be the bottom line cause. Which leads me to the next hormone that is running the show: insulin.

We've all heard of insulin because we probably all know someone who is diabetic.

"Type 1: Results from the body's failure to produce insulin. It is estimated that 5-10% of Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes have type 1 diabetes. Presently almost all persons with type 1 diabetes must take insulin injections.
Type 2: Results from Insulin resistance, a condition in which cells fail to use insulin properly, sometimes combined with relative insulin deficiency. Most Americans who are diagnosed with diabetes have type 2 diabetes. Many people destined to develop type 2 diabetes spend many years in a state of Pre-diabetes: Termed "America's largest healthcare epidemic,"[4]:10-11, pre-diabetes indicates a condition that occurs when a person's blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. As of 2009 there are 57 million Americans who have pre-diabetes"

(from Wikipedia.com). Again, the boy who cried wolf. "Insulin, you're always around, I'm not taking you seriously anymore."

Cool, I don't have diabetes so how does this apply to me? How does insulin keep me from cutting off the fat?

"Insulin is a storage hormone. Its function is to take nutrients from the blood stream and store them in body cells. Insulin has the ability to increase the uptake of glucose into the liver and muscles for storage as glycogen (storage carbohydrate); it can also increase the uptake of glucose by fat cells where it can then be stored as body fat; it also increases the uptake of amino acids into muscle tissue where it can be used to build muscle. Since insulin is a storage hormone (rather than a mobilising hormone), it also stops the body from mobilising and utilising fat as a fuel source; it stops fat burning immediately!"

Therefore, if your goal is to burn off body fat as quickly as possible, your goal should be to keep insulin as low as possible. When your insulin levels are low, the love handles will start to come off. When they're high, they simply won't. If you DO lose weight, it's definitely NOT fat....which means you're actually just shedding muscle.



So what's the common cause that is SCREWING up your bodies ability to shed the fat? What's causing these 2 controlling hormones to be so screwed up in MOST OF US (yes the majority of people are now overweight). SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR. Did you get that? It's SUGAR. Eating excess amounts of sugar and foods that get metabolized into sugar CAUSES leptin resistance (which means you're always hungry), and also causes insulin to be released which SHUTS DOWN your bodies ability to burn fat and eventually leads to type II diabetes (insulin resistance).

Think about it, how much sugar do YOU eat? How much of your diet is composed of foods that get metabolized into sugar (breads, pastas, etc.)? How much sugar does the average person eat? Here's a stat for you, in 1700 the average person ate 4lbs of sugar per year. In 2000 the average person ate 145 lbs of sugar per year. Does it make sense why almost everyone has turned into a blob of goo? Doesn't it make sense why our portion sizes have continued to rise? Why diabetes is off the charts?

Here's a little graph if you're still not sold:

So what's the solution? Well obviously we need to eat less sugar. But how do we get ourselves to do this on a REGULAR basis. WE MUST associate massive amounts of pain to sugar. When you see that fat on you, think sugar. When you see the guy in the rascal scooter with his ass hanging out the side, think sugar, and GET PISSED at the system and have sympathy. His/her body happened to react to what the system fed him (corporate food manufactures). When you see the mcdonald's m, think evil and think sugar (they literally engineer their foods and pack it all with high fructose corn syrup...the absolute WORST form of sugar).

Some of you know that I don't eat grains, pastas, wheat products at all. Why? Because most of them get metabolized as SUGAR (more on this in future posts).

So what should we be eating? The short answer is this: things that are produced by mother earth (which are naturally low in sugar). Here's what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast:
4 raw eggs (organic free range) mixed with
6-8 oz. raw milk (organic grass eating cows)
1 apple
1 pear
1 tbsp of cod liver oil
Vitamin and mineral supplement

Lunch
Large spinach salad which had chicken, boiled eggs, a bit of cheese, olive oil and vinegar

Snack
1/2 cup of almonds

Pre-workout (around 6)
4 oz raw milk
1 scoop of natural whey
1 tbsp of cocnut oil (organic cold pressed)
1 cup of blueberries

Hit the gym with TONS of energy to spare

Post-workout
4 oz raw milk
1 scoop of natural whey
1 cup of blueberries (I'm on a blueberry kick)

Dinner (8:30 or so)
3/4 lb of Salmon cooked with some organic butter and a little olive oil
coenzyme q10 supplement (anti oxidant)
alpha liopic acid supplement (anti oxidant)
Sauerkraut


The fact is we just weren't made to eat much sugar or foods that get metabolized as sugar, ESPECIALLY the processed sugar that literally gets infused into almost all corporate manufactured, boxed up foods. Live in accordance with this, and watch your life soar: your fitness and health levels will explode, your energy will too, your fat levels will drop significantly etc. etc. etc. Resist this reality and watch your life go to shit. Plain and simple.

Anyone can leave comments by clicking on 'comments' so please do. :)

Live life on your own accord. Be who you're meant to be.

Sam

Losing Weight vs. Losing Fat

Let's cut to the chase: no one really wants to lose WEIGHT! NO ONE. If you think you do, you're mistaken. Almost everyone wants to lose FAT, and INCHES. What the arbitrary scale says is pointless, the mirror is what counts. When it comes down to it, we want to get the rolls off and look more shredded up. We don't want to be a skinny fat kid (someone who looks decent in clothes because of their size, but when you see them in a bathing suit they are soft and pudgy).

Losing weight is easy. It really is. All you have to do is eat less food. Here's how you do it: go on a low calorie diet, using every ounce of willpower you have for a few months, and watch the number on the scale drop. But what happens? At the end of your low calorie diet, are the rolls gone? Are you looking any better? Or are you basically a smaller version of the same chubby self. When you sit down are the rolls gone? haha YEAH RIGHT!!!! You may have lost weight, but you really aren't looking much better.

So let's REDEFINE the goal. IT ISN'T ABOUT LOSING WEIGHT. IT'S ABOUT LOSING FAT! In fact, I'd go as far as saying this: Don't even pay attention to the scale, pay attention to the mirror, body measurements, and fat testing results.

The fact is losing the right kind of weight can be a very daunting task. Losing FAT is tough! Especially for certain genetic types (people who naturally hold fat......which includes ME). It definitely takes more effort than just eating less food. You really have to micro-analyze WHAT foods you're eating (protein, carb and fat sources), WHAT type of protein, fats and carbs they are, WHERE those foods are coming from (natural? organic? from a lab?) and even when you're eating them (meal timing), while constantly tracking their effects on your body.

So what happens on a starvation diet/low calorie diet? When you're starving yourself you're sending a signal to your body that says "there is limited amounts of calories available, get rid of the calorie burning tissue (muscle)." The starving Ethiopian with a pot gut is not the look I want, not sure about you (that's a VERY sad situation, and I hope to one day make a difference for people who are starving). But ultimately that's what you're going to get on a low cal diet. You'll end up a smaller version of your chubby self. No muscle, no health, no vitality, no energy to even workout, etc. etc. etc. You'll end up with a smaller number on the scale, but won't look any better when it comes down to it, you'll feel like hell, and eventually you're will power will run dry. But guess what!? At the end of it all, you'll end up with a slower metabolism due to less muscle on your body, because the survival machine that is your body will have gotten rid of it all through a process called catabolism. Muscle is METABOLIC tissue, which means it requires calories to be maintained. When you're dieting willpower runs dry, it will be easier than ever to gain more and more fat back. People get stuck in this ENDLESS LOOP, and frankly it's sad. Are you one of them? NOW is the time to turn this around.

So what's the REAL solution? The real solution is NOT weight loss, but fat loss. Look, I'm definitely NOT someone who hit the genetic lottery when it comes to storing fat. If I ate like the average American I would be a more than pudgy tub of goo, I would be a humanized walrus. Seriously. It's taken me YEARS to realize that FAT loss is not so much about calories but he SOURCE of those calories. Which ultimately translates into your leptin levels and insulin resistance (more to come on this).

So, here's the proof. This is a few years back. I was working out EVERYDAY....like a maniac, really watching what I ate (so I thought) and STILL, as you can tell, I was a pudgy tub of goo.
To be honest, I've basically looked this same way up until I RADICALLY changed what I was eating about 3-4 months ago.

This picture was taken a few weeks ago. This is me, after about 3 months of paying CLOSE attention to the sources of calories I was ingesting (I finally stumbled onto the RIGHT information and finally dedicated myself 100 percent on taking action and following through:

So how do we turn our bodies into FAT burning machines? Well here's the short answer that will be expanded upon massively as this blog continues:
1. Workout....HARD....SHOCK your body every single day (more to come on this in the future)
2. Eat FAR less carbs while being VERY selective on the sources of carbs. This will translate into normalizing and optimizing what's going on with your leptin and insulin levels.

In my next post, I will be going into DEPTH on leptin levels, insulin resistance, and specifics on WHAT to eat to turn your body into a fat burning inferno. OH and guess what, you'll just happen to feel better than you've ever felt along the way. You'll find you'll have more energy, more ability and desire to hit the gym hard, and you just might be GAINING muscle while you lose fat.

See ya at the next post (Monday at the latest). Let's make this interactive and fun. Leave comments whether they be positive or negative feedback, questions, accolades or even insults. :) Let's make this REAL and RAW (just like the foods you should be eating)

Oh and live life on your own accord :)

Sam

Tips for working out chest

Tired of not seeing results with your chest?

Intellectual Understandings DON'T WORK....Emotional Connections DO

One of my favorite quotes that has stuck with me from studying NLP is "people are doing the best they can with the resources they have." What does this mean? It simply means that human beings are rationale. Yet simultaneously we humans are literally RUN by our emotions.

Its important to understand the concept of CAUSE and EFFECT. In life, ANYTHING we do, even what we think, is a cause that will produce an effect. If I punch a wall, then I will hurt my hand. The effect would be a hurt hand, the cause is punching a wall. The RESULTS we produce in our life are EFFECTS of CAUSES set in motion! So here's the challenge though, THERE IS A GAP BETWEEN MOST OF THE EFFECTS WE LIVE WITH and the CAUSES THAT PRODUCED THEM. Sometimes it TOUGH to trace back the cause of certain effects in our life. So what do most human-beings do? We dilute ourselves and pretend that effects in our life didn't have a cause and it happened 'just because' or because of 'luck' or 'genetics' or whatever! We falsely attribute the cause.

So what does this all mean? And how can it be applied? Well let's connect the two concepts with this example. How can people STILL not exercise? Isn't it crystal clear that lack of exercise is the CAUSE to tons and tons of emotional and physical pain? So what's going on here? Are people INTENTIONALLY self destructing? The answer is NO. I FIRMLY believe that people are doing the best they can with the resources they have. Knowing something or hearing something INTELLECTUALLY does NOT give us the RESOURCE needed to take action or base our decisions upon. What does give us this resource? OUR EMOTIONS!!!!! When someone makes an EMOTIONAL CONNECTION around cause and effect relationships, they have the resource needed to shape their decisions. So when someone just 'knows' that exercise is good and not-exercise is bad, it WILL NOT COMPEL THEM to do ANYTHING. However, when someone FEELS that exercise equals health, vitality, lack of disease, sexiness, etc. they WILL BE TOTALLY COMPELLED to take action! So here's the bottom line: people ARE doing the best they can with the resources they have, but INTELLECTUAL KNOWLEDGE is NOT a sufficient resource.

Why is this? Because we are EMOTIONAL beings. Plain and simple. Some of you might be saying, "no dude, I'm totally just logical. I make decisions on 'logic.' " Well guess what? No you don't. If you're human, you make your decisions based on emotions. Being 'logical' is ultimately a feeling. If you're a 'logical' person, you value the FEELING of being logical.

Isn't this true? I mean, I see it ALL the time. Look around you. When is someone compelled to make a change in their life? Isn't it when FINALLY something happens that hits them emotionally? When they realize that the foods their eating is making them feel like S***? When They realize they're sick of feeling unattractive and they make the connection that the CAUSE is their lifestyle. When they go to sit down and their pants rip open exposing their lard covered, cellulite bum bum and they realize the CAUSE is their lifestyle? When a smoker goes to the doctor and sees the inside of his lungs and makes the emotional connection that smoking is going to KILL him?

Seeing things, getting visual evidence, hearing things, and getting FULLY EDUCATED allows us to make EMOTIONAL CONNECTIONS. For instance, when I was a kid I saw my uncle die of cancer. He was a 6'4 man who when I saw him weighed around 90 lbs and had lumps over his entire body. Do you think seeing that created an emotional connection for me? When I asked what CAUSED this, everyone told me tobacco. I made an EMOTIONAL connection that tobacco = death. Have I ever messed with tobacco products? hahaha. HOW COULD I?????!!!!! So how can someone who STILL SMOKES despite having an intellectual understanding of the effects of smoking do it? THEY HAVEN'T MADE AN EMOTIONAL CONNECTION.

So what's the point of all this? Well we have GOT to understand that we are literally RUN BY OUR EMOTIONS. If you want to make a change, you MUST GET YOURSELF to make an EMOTIONAL connection between the cause and effect relationship. If you're want to start eating for PERFORMANCE you have got to get yourself to FEEL what your life will be like if you DON'T! How will it feel to FEEL lousy? How will it feel to feel unattractive? How will it FEEL to realize that you have SOLD YOUR LIFE SHORT and settled? How will it feel............etc. etc. etc.

We've gotta understand this in order to make a conscious decision to change.

Hope this helps someone.

Sam