Here's the Blood Test Results (Pre-Paleo from 1/2009 also listed):
Wasn't sure what to expect since I've been eating a lot of Red Meats,Eggs & Bacon....also more BEER
but real happy with the HDL, Glucose & Triglyceride counts.
Blood Pressure: 121/73 was 129/88 Desirable (120/80)
Total Cholesterol: 175 was 153 Desirable (< 200)
HDL: 62 was 36 Desirable (> 40)
LDL: 103 was 86 Desirable (< 130)
Glucose: 92 was 105 Desirable (Between 65-99)
Triglycerides: 48 was 68 Desirable (< 150)
Monday, August 16, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Info on Grains
Here's some info on grains since I'm asked constantly about why they are bad:
What Is Wrong With Grains
As you probably know, we’ve been eating grains, refined or whole, only since the beginning of agriculture some 10 000 years ago. The problem is that our genes where formed about 2 million years ago and haven’t changed much since then, nor did our digestive systems. Eating structurally and chemically different foods is therefore more often than not asking for problems. Grains are miles away from what our bodies should be processing.
In fact, grains aren’t really a good thing for any mammal. We’re better off leaving them to the birds, who have a system adapted to them.
The problem is that our food system is so skewed in the wrong direction that everybody now thinks that grains, especially whole grains, are healthy and nutritious. Grains, a food group that we didn’t eat for 97% of our human existence are now at the bottom of the USDA food pyramid with a recommended 6 to 11 servings per day. This is amazingly wrong!
Be aware that the reason why governments pushed grains in the first place where economical. They are cheap to produce (although not without environmental costs), they can be stored for much longer and they can be sold overseas much more easily. In fact, it’s now one of the few things that the US successfully sells overseas, so I wouldn’t count on them to stop promoting them as the healthiest thing around. Sad but true!
Now on to why exactly grains are probably one of the worst mistakes human kind made.
High carbohydrate intake and elevated insulin
Chronically elevated insulin levels is indeed the number one problem we now have as a society. In a few words, blood sugar as to stay between a very narrow range, otherwise you would die. Insulin’s main job is to lower blood sugar levels after you consume any form of sugar or carbohydrate (they’re converted to sugar anyway). When insulin as to deal with so much sugar that it doesn’t know what to do with it anymore, it stores it as fat. Also, when insulin is always high, inflammation begins and cells become resistant to insulin, so your pancreas as to produce even more of it. When your cells have become resistant to insulin, you’ve become diabetic. This is the new epidemic of westernized countries that we also call the metabolic syndrome.
Guess what, the main food source of carbohydrate in out diet are grains (wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley, rice…). Breads ans pastas are mostly made of wheat. Without grains, people wouldn’t get fat and wouldn’t have high insulin levels. Try to get 300g, US’s recommended daily intake of carbs, with vegetables and fruits. You’ll have to eat buckets of them.
Bread, cookies, cakes, crackers, rice, pasta, pastries and breakfast cereals are all staples and consumed at almost every meal by almost everybody. This leads to a high carbohydrate load at every meal and this is why people get hungry all the time and have so much fluctuation in their energy levels (blood sugar levels are unstable).
Your grand-mother knew that potatoes and pastas are fattening, maybe we should listen to her wise words.
Don’t worry, replacing carbs by fat sources will not kill you. For all human evolution, we’ve been eating animal meat and fat with some vegetables, fruits and nuts in the mix and yet observations demonstrate that caveman was lean, strong and healthy.
Gluten, lectins and phytates, three poisons you can live without
Living organisms all develop ways to protect themselves against preys and invaders. It’s the basis of our survival mechanisms. Animals can usually run or attack, but plants have to find another way. In fact, most plants contain some form of toxins so animals can’t eat too much of them before getting sick.
The only part of a plant that want s to be eaten are fruits, and this is not without a purpose. Fruits contain seeds that we and other animals can’t digest so we evacuate them elsewhere and help propagate the plant to new horizons. It’s a fair partnership after all. It’s not by accident that plants produce fruits, it takes up most of its resources do to so.
Grains are not different from most plants and in certain regards they’re much worse. Grains are the offsprings of soon to become grasses so they need even more protection in the beginning to ensure other species stay far away. Other then that, they also contain toxins that inhibit their own growth until they have what they need to grow (soil and water).
Gluten
Gluten is, arguably, the worst offender. You can find gluten in wheat, rye and barley. Don’t forget that wheat is absolutely everywhere today. You probably already know that those who have Celiac disease can’t have even a tiny bit of it or else they’re in for big trouble.
What you might not know though is that 30% of the population have noticeable amounts of antigiadin in their stools. Antigiadin are antibodies secreted when the body sees giadin, one of gluten’s constituent, as an intruder. Having the antibody in your stools means that your body is actively fighting an intruder and that you already have a low level of chronic inflammation, the source of all modern diseases.
Gluten also has this weird ability to mimic certain proteins and to make its way into your cells, then wreaking havoc and making you develop autoimmune diseases where the body attacks itself (Chron’s disease is an example).
Lectins
Lectins are other toxins present in all grains that cause their load of problems. First, they damage the gut lining and a damaged gut lining is an inflamed gut lining that will have difficulty absorbing nutrients. This also leads the way to colon cancer. Lectins also causes leptin resistance, witch means that your hunger signal is suppressed and that you’ll be hungry even when your body has had more than enough calories.
Phytates
This other set of toxins, also found in lesser quantities in nuts and seeds, bind to nutrients and robs them from your body. You can then think twice when you think that eating grains will feed you loads of nutrients. Phytates make a good job of making them less bio-available. All this list of nutrients on a bag of sliced bread is only a small proportion of what your body will really be able to get.
Do you think that grains can beat any vegetable or fruit nutrition wise or that you’ll find some nutrients only in them? The answer is NO!
Conclusion
I sincerely hope that this article helped shed some light on the problems caused by this group of food that is so popular.
Of all the habits that you can develop, dropping the grains off your diet is probably the one that will pay off the most.
What Is Wrong With Grains
As you probably know, we’ve been eating grains, refined or whole, only since the beginning of agriculture some 10 000 years ago. The problem is that our genes where formed about 2 million years ago and haven’t changed much since then, nor did our digestive systems. Eating structurally and chemically different foods is therefore more often than not asking for problems. Grains are miles away from what our bodies should be processing.
In fact, grains aren’t really a good thing for any mammal. We’re better off leaving them to the birds, who have a system adapted to them.
The problem is that our food system is so skewed in the wrong direction that everybody now thinks that grains, especially whole grains, are healthy and nutritious. Grains, a food group that we didn’t eat for 97% of our human existence are now at the bottom of the USDA food pyramid with a recommended 6 to 11 servings per day. This is amazingly wrong!
Be aware that the reason why governments pushed grains in the first place where economical. They are cheap to produce (although not without environmental costs), they can be stored for much longer and they can be sold overseas much more easily. In fact, it’s now one of the few things that the US successfully sells overseas, so I wouldn’t count on them to stop promoting them as the healthiest thing around. Sad but true!
Now on to why exactly grains are probably one of the worst mistakes human kind made.
High carbohydrate intake and elevated insulin
Chronically elevated insulin levels is indeed the number one problem we now have as a society. In a few words, blood sugar as to stay between a very narrow range, otherwise you would die. Insulin’s main job is to lower blood sugar levels after you consume any form of sugar or carbohydrate (they’re converted to sugar anyway). When insulin as to deal with so much sugar that it doesn’t know what to do with it anymore, it stores it as fat. Also, when insulin is always high, inflammation begins and cells become resistant to insulin, so your pancreas as to produce even more of it. When your cells have become resistant to insulin, you’ve become diabetic. This is the new epidemic of westernized countries that we also call the metabolic syndrome.
Guess what, the main food source of carbohydrate in out diet are grains (wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley, rice…). Breads ans pastas are mostly made of wheat. Without grains, people wouldn’t get fat and wouldn’t have high insulin levels. Try to get 300g, US’s recommended daily intake of carbs, with vegetables and fruits. You’ll have to eat buckets of them.
Bread, cookies, cakes, crackers, rice, pasta, pastries and breakfast cereals are all staples and consumed at almost every meal by almost everybody. This leads to a high carbohydrate load at every meal and this is why people get hungry all the time and have so much fluctuation in their energy levels (blood sugar levels are unstable).
Your grand-mother knew that potatoes and pastas are fattening, maybe we should listen to her wise words.
Don’t worry, replacing carbs by fat sources will not kill you. For all human evolution, we’ve been eating animal meat and fat with some vegetables, fruits and nuts in the mix and yet observations demonstrate that caveman was lean, strong and healthy.
Gluten, lectins and phytates, three poisons you can live without
Living organisms all develop ways to protect themselves against preys and invaders. It’s the basis of our survival mechanisms. Animals can usually run or attack, but plants have to find another way. In fact, most plants contain some form of toxins so animals can’t eat too much of them before getting sick.
The only part of a plant that want s to be eaten are fruits, and this is not without a purpose. Fruits contain seeds that we and other animals can’t digest so we evacuate them elsewhere and help propagate the plant to new horizons. It’s a fair partnership after all. It’s not by accident that plants produce fruits, it takes up most of its resources do to so.
Grains are not different from most plants and in certain regards they’re much worse. Grains are the offsprings of soon to become grasses so they need even more protection in the beginning to ensure other species stay far away. Other then that, they also contain toxins that inhibit their own growth until they have what they need to grow (soil and water).
Gluten
Gluten is, arguably, the worst offender. You can find gluten in wheat, rye and barley. Don’t forget that wheat is absolutely everywhere today. You probably already know that those who have Celiac disease can’t have even a tiny bit of it or else they’re in for big trouble.
What you might not know though is that 30% of the population have noticeable amounts of antigiadin in their stools. Antigiadin are antibodies secreted when the body sees giadin, one of gluten’s constituent, as an intruder. Having the antibody in your stools means that your body is actively fighting an intruder and that you already have a low level of chronic inflammation, the source of all modern diseases.
Gluten also has this weird ability to mimic certain proteins and to make its way into your cells, then wreaking havoc and making you develop autoimmune diseases where the body attacks itself (Chron’s disease is an example).
Lectins
Lectins are other toxins present in all grains that cause their load of problems. First, they damage the gut lining and a damaged gut lining is an inflamed gut lining that will have difficulty absorbing nutrients. This also leads the way to colon cancer. Lectins also causes leptin resistance, witch means that your hunger signal is suppressed and that you’ll be hungry even when your body has had more than enough calories.
Phytates
This other set of toxins, also found in lesser quantities in nuts and seeds, bind to nutrients and robs them from your body. You can then think twice when you think that eating grains will feed you loads of nutrients. Phytates make a good job of making them less bio-available. All this list of nutrients on a bag of sliced bread is only a small proportion of what your body will really be able to get.
Do you think that grains can beat any vegetable or fruit nutrition wise or that you’ll find some nutrients only in them? The answer is NO!
Conclusion
I sincerely hope that this article helped shed some light on the problems caused by this group of food that is so popular.
Of all the habits that you can develop, dropping the grains off your diet is probably the one that will pay off the most.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Non-Paleo Trip to Boston
The Last month has been a little crazy with Sporting Events and Opening up the shore house. Went to all the FLYERS Home games and just got back from a Bus trip to Boston for the weekend to see the phillies get crushed by the Red Sox. So I've missed a few work-outs and have gone a little too Non-Paleo lately. I was down to 146 pounds before the Boston trip (BEER, Quarter Pounder, Fries & more BEER) but now back to 150 so it's time to kick my butt into full throttle Paleo and get some good gym time in. I did join a gym down the shore for $99 which last until Labor day. I forgot to mention I won the biggest loser contest at work. Actually I guess I did so well that no one even bothered to do an official weigh in. I plan on getting my blood tested for Cholesterol/Glucose levels soon (I'll post before & after counts).
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
P90X/Paleo Diet Before/after Photos
Ok Here is January 31st 2010 before P90X and 2 weeks into Paleo Diet pic
June 1st 2010 ....Post P90X & 4 months Paleo pics:
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Last Week of P90X!!!
1 more P90X workout left!!! I'll try to post some pics soon but the results are awesome. Weight now 153 down from 183 at start. (30 pounds lost in a little over 3 months) & last I checked lost 5 and a half inches off stomach. Created a new workout schedule for the Gym & will mix in some P90X as well. P90X is an awesome home workout but The Paleo Diet was the major factor in my weight loss. Not only did the Paleo Diet help me physically but mentally as well. Working night shift (for the last 20 years) you never get totally used to it. I usually only get 4 to 5 hours sleep a day during those 3 nights so I needed those Mountain Dews to stay awake (At least thats what I thought). Now after 4 months Paleo...I feel I have so much more energy even without any Sugar/HFCS. I'll admit during a couple sporting events I had a few too many beers or ate a hoagie or hot dog, but that just makes me go even more Primal!!! Luckily with my shortened work schedule I have plenty of time to buy and prepare the fresh foods that are required. some recent meals:
King Crab legs, Haddock, Bison Chilli, whole Turkey, Steak & (Free Range) Chicken Kabobs...on my new Grill & even tried Oysters for the 1st time (Awesome) along with tons of fresh fruits & Veggiies. Just bought some GHEE to replace butter and added sweet potatoes back to my menu per Mark Sisson. Trying to illiminate Cereal so I've been cooking Eggs & Bacon the last couple days. The Egg protein was giving me stomach aches so back to Whey (Any Suggestions).
Tried a Paleo approved snack bar (Larabar) which is awesome. Check out Nell Stephenson's Blog.
Went to a Salad Creations and it always amazes me at how these places seem to make a healthy salad so un-healthy!!! Average salad with dressing about 700 calories & 1500 mg sodium or how about a buffalo chicken wrap 1000 calories & 2800 mg sodium. I grabbed the Jr Heart lovers (150 cal & 60 mg Sodium) & turned down the roll. Luckily I found a water in the tub mixed with tons of sodas and Iced Teas.
King Crab legs, Haddock, Bison Chilli, whole Turkey, Steak & (Free Range) Chicken Kabobs...on my new Grill & even tried Oysters for the 1st time (Awesome) along with tons of fresh fruits & Veggiies. Just bought some GHEE to replace butter and added sweet potatoes back to my menu per Mark Sisson. Trying to illiminate Cereal so I've been cooking Eggs & Bacon the last couple days. The Egg protein was giving me stomach aches so back to Whey (Any Suggestions).
Tried a Paleo approved snack bar (Larabar) which is awesome. Check out Nell Stephenson's Blog.
Went to a Salad Creations and it always amazes me at how these places seem to make a healthy salad so un-healthy!!! Average salad with dressing about 700 calories & 1500 mg sodium or how about a buffalo chicken wrap 1000 calories & 2800 mg sodium. I grabbed the Jr Heart lovers (150 cal & 60 mg Sodium) & turned down the roll. Luckily I found a water in the tub mixed with tons of sodas and Iced Teas.
Chicken & Steak Kabobs
My new TREK Bike at Valley Forge Park.
Bison Chili
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Time to go more PALEO!!!
I feel the need to do more research on the Paleo Diet so I can kick it up a notch. I just ordered 2 books (Primal Blueprint & The Paleo Diet for Athletes). I have been taking (Non Paleo) Whey Protein shakes with almond breeze milk daily so I just ordered EGG White Protein which I have never heard of but should be a good substitute. I have successfully fased out all High Fructose/Sugar beverages but will need to find a substitute for Diet Green Tea which has Aspertame and Fruit20 Essetials which has Sucralose. I guess it will have to be good old H20 or a natural green tea. It seems that most of the time when I go non-paleo it's with food that most would consider healthy food: (Total Cereal, Arnold Multi-Grain thins, Think Thin - Chunky Peanut Butter Energy Bar, Smuckers Natural peanut butter- just a tablespoon in protein shake). I'll try to post some pics of some Paleo meals soon.
Current Weight=165 Tanita scale BF%=14 but more accurate Caliper reading=18% a little discouraging but had some great workouts last week and even got to the gym twice after P90X to do some interval sprints on the treadmill. My gym which just became Gold's Gym added some new equipment but also added a few more boneheads!!! One of the new trainers (who could easily cast in that MTV show- Jersey Shore) was taking a picture of himself flexing in front of the bathroom mirror while me another member shook our heads and laughed.
Current Weight=165 Tanita scale BF%=14 but more accurate Caliper reading=18% a little discouraging but had some great workouts last week and even got to the gym twice after P90X to do some interval sprints on the treadmill. My gym which just became Gold's Gym added some new equipment but also added a few more boneheads!!! One of the new trainers (who could easily cast in that MTV show- Jersey Shore) was taking a picture of himself flexing in front of the bathroom mirror while me another member shook our heads and laughed.
Friday, March 5, 2010
BEER!!!
Had to dedicate a section to my favorite beverage since some are concerned that my BEER drinking days would be over with this new PALEO Diet. WRONG!!! 1 or 2 Alcoholic Drinks on occasion can actually be beneficial. My previous consumption was not beneficial. I would drink tons of Miller Lite. At EAGLES Games/Tailgate I would drink (Give or Take) 12 Beers and maybe have a Buzz. Add all the other events (Concerts, Phillies & Flyers Games, Summers down the Shore) and I averaged around a Case of Beer every 2 weeks. Obviously I had to make changes here so for the last 2 months I have been drinking 1 or 2 drinks several days a week consisting of Red Wine, heavier Beers (Guinness, Smithwick's, YARDS-Pale Ale, Victory, Yuengling Lager, Blue Moon ) or a Grey Goose Martini. I was actually suprised that Guinness has only 130 calories which is only slightly more than Miller Lite's 96 Calories.
I would like to point out that I realize including alcohol is in NO way PALEO and I'll be the 1st to admit that I'm NOT a PALEO expert but this is what works for me.
P90X Update:
Just over 30 days into P90X workouts: Just when I thought it was getting easier....Some new workouts were introduced this week: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps - which included paper plate pushups really kicked my butt and Back and Biceps - which left me so spent I could hardly curl 20 pounds at the end. Oh yea....I donated Blood 2 hours after that arm workout and my arms were still so pumped I think I filled that bag in record time. I suggested some PALEO snacks instead of their Chocolate Chip Cookies, Pretzels and sodas....Luckily they had water.
Finally a TAX that will not affect me ......Philadelphia's new Tax on Sodas!!!
I would like to point out that I realize including alcohol is in NO way PALEO and I'll be the 1st to admit that I'm NOT a PALEO expert but this is what works for me.
P90X Update:
Just over 30 days into P90X workouts: Just when I thought it was getting easier....Some new workouts were introduced this week: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps - which included paper plate pushups really kicked my butt and Back and Biceps - which left me so spent I could hardly curl 20 pounds at the end. Oh yea....I donated Blood 2 hours after that arm workout and my arms were still so pumped I think I filled that bag in record time. I suggested some PALEO snacks instead of their Chocolate Chip Cookies, Pretzels and sodas....Luckily they had water.
Finally a TAX that will not affect me ......Philadelphia's new Tax on Sodas!!!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
PALEO MEALS
Tried a new PALEO recipe last week (Bison Chili) which turned out great. Only had a pound of Bison Ground Meat so it went quick since wife & Mother-in-law loved it too. The only downfall to this new
eating lifestyle is that it is definately more expensive & I also needed my wife and mother-in-law to enjoy cooking and eating PALEO which for the most part they are. My wife is Italian so once a week they need
to have their pasta so on those days I usually eat a small portion of pasta with a salad. I will have to try to find that spaghetti squash and give it a try. 3 days a week for Breakfast I'll make a spinich omelet with salsa
made with Omega 3 enriched eggs. I still eat cereal (TOTAL- Raisin Bran) about 3 days a week.
eating lifestyle is that it is definately more expensive & I also needed my wife and mother-in-law to enjoy cooking and eating PALEO which for the most part they are. My wife is Italian so once a week they need
to have their pasta so on those days I usually eat a small portion of pasta with a salad. I will have to try to find that spaghetti squash and give it a try. 3 days a week for Breakfast I'll make a spinich omelet with salsa
made with Omega 3 enriched eggs. I still eat cereal (TOTAL- Raisin Bran) about 3 days a week.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Counting Calories
Looks like a lot of people doing the P90X workout & Diet Plan are counting calories thru myfitnesspal so I thought I'd start doing some tracking of my own. My Daily Calorie intake for weight to stay the same is 1700 and I have been averaging about (1600) but more important is that I have been well over the 64 grams of protein (125) and Carbs are less than half the suggested 234 grams (100). I did cheat with a slice of pizza & couple beers Wednesday night over a relatives house. Had Bison steaks (Grass Fed) and Cauliflower for dinner Thursday. My Tanita Scale clocked me at 169 pounds and 15.7 % BF.....I can't remember the last time I was below 170's and I can't believe my BF% dropped almost 5% in 6 weeks.
Friday, February 12, 2010
P90X Workout
Now that I changed my Diet now my work-out routine needed a change. I was turned on to the P90X workout dvd's by some friends so I figured I'd give it a try. I started on Monday February 1st and so far I like it a lot (Although I do curse at that Tony Horton guy during the work-outs) Some of these work-outs really kick your butt. Basically you do a different workout
which are about an hour a day for six days a week for 90 days. They really emphasize on my weaknesses (Stomach and Legs). They also throw in YOGA which I've never done before and actually worked up a sweat during it. This was my least favoite at 1st but now after the 2nd week and maybe some more flexability I'm starting to look foreward to it. P90X also has a support group site were a bunch of other people who started on Feb 1st share tips and encouragement which is cool. So with the combo of PALEO Diet and P90X I am now down to 170 pounds and 16% Body Fat. I don't really have a goal for weight but I would love to get down to 10% BF. I know the next 6% will be a lot harder.
which are about an hour a day for six days a week for 90 days. They really emphasize on my weaknesses (Stomach and Legs). They also throw in YOGA which I've never done before and actually worked up a sweat during it. This was my least favoite at 1st but now after the 2nd week and maybe some more flexability I'm starting to look foreward to it. P90X also has a support group site were a bunch of other people who started on Feb 1st share tips and encouragement which is cool. So with the combo of PALEO Diet and P90X I am now down to 170 pounds and 16% Body Fat. I don't really have a goal for weight but I would love to get down to 10% BF. I know the next 6% will be a lot harder.
Introduction
Feb. 12th 2010Welcome to my Blog. I've been inspired by some of the other Fitness blog's out there so I have decicided to start my own so I can keep track of my progress. My previous fitness routine was 3 or 4 days a week (1.5hrs/day) consisting of mostly freeweight training and 1 mile on treadmill. Not too bad but definetly needed to increase the cardio & change my weight training routine that has been the same for the last 5 years. I've been Working 3 -12.5 hour Nights per week for the last 15 years which I love but definetly tough to get a work-out in on those days. My previousDiet consisted of lots of Carbs and High Fructose stuff including: Pizza (My Favorite), cheesesteaks, Wings, Mountain Dew (need to stay awake on nightshift), Gatorade & BEER!!! TIME FOR CHANGE......January 4th (My 42nd Birthday) we started our yearly Biggest Looser Contest at work. I was 183 Pounds and 20% Body Fat (Not too bad but I'm only 5'7") I've won in past years by just stopping the heavy lifting and increasing the cardio (Muscle weighs more than Fat). This year I am prepared to do things different. Prior to the weigh in I was turned on to THE PALEO DIET from an old friend (Thanks Andy Miles). The PALEO DIET consists of Lots of Lean Meats, Fish, Vegetables and some Nuts (No Dairy, Grains, Legumes/beans and processed foods). The first 2 weeks were tough and was still only maybe 50% PALEO but now after a little over a month....I'm probably about 80% PALEO and Feel GREAT!!!
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