I go on and on about the effect of bad diet and no exercise in terms of chronic illnesses. I want to be clear that avoiding chronic illness as much as possible - while important - is not the only or even the main thing I am attempting to communicate to you.
The immediate effects of healthy eating and exercise are every bit as important and maybe more important because we all want that instant gratification. The thing I have failed to point out enough is the effect of diet and exercise on MOOD.
Wouldn't it be nice to have your mood more even? We all have those things that make us mad, but we also have things that we instantly regret once they happen - snapping at your kids or spouse for something that wasn't really worth the trouble.
Properly feeding your brain and providing it enough blood flow can be a huge help to evening your mood out. In order for your brain to communicate with your body, it needs chemicals called neurotransmitters to conduct electrical impulses, or brain waves. Some of these neurotransmitters are dopamine, endorphins, glutamine and serotonin. Your body has to manufacture these chemicals and it uses the enzymes, amino acids, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids, proteins and carbohydrates in the foods that you eat to do that. If you're not eating enough - or enough of the right foods - for your body to manufacture sufficient amounts of these chemicals, depression or anxiety can be the result.
So if you are eating bad or not drinking enough water or not exercising then you can't manage what your brain needs to properly do it's job. I have mentioned here before that a kale salad gets me all jacked up and the same with other foods that have great nutrition. No wonder! They give the brain the right stuff to release the happy feelings that make us good humans.
I'm leaving out the clearing of your skin, the strength and flexibility of your nails and a bunch of other stuff that happens within weeks of making these changes. We can force ourselves to think good thoughts or pretend to be happy or we can actually feel that way! I think feeling that way is the right way.
I don't plan to get any exercise today after my walk and weeding yesterday and with a 10+ mile hike tomorrow so I will register as Guilty today.
Get back to what you were doing.
Be well and more soon....
Friday, July 27, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
And I Don't Even Like U2
Yes I know all the good that Bono does with his money, but I just don't like them. So this morning just before taking off with Athena for a walk I heard "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" on the news.
Like all songs I don't like I couldn't get it out of my head which is a problem when I'm trying to go fast because the tempo is way too slow. Even at double time I am nowhere near where I am shooting for.
Then it hit me - triplets. So I walked triplets over the tune which was making Athena happy so I figured it was appropriately fast. As it turns out it is just under 5 MPH as we averaged 12:05 miles for our 6.7 miles walk.
That gives me one more reason to not like the song - it doesn't work out so that we can go uber fast. Take that Bono!
So I get home and am very sweaty, but we have this nice fog so I headed out to the front yard to deal with 2 plants that needed cutting back. They are these pretty, but crazy spreading vinous plants. I had them most of the way done when I turned and saw my nemesis - ivy.
I quickly finished the initial two plants and then spent the next 1 1/2 hours eradicating ivy. This stuff was here when we moved in 22 years ago and I've cut it back from time to time to stem it's spreading, but never went for the kill. This time I got all Neanderthal on the stuff.
It was wound all around our rhododendron which complicated it's removal, but I stayed in the game and got it all. Now, I'm not dense enough to think I have won the Ivy War, but right now the score is Paully 1 - Ivy 0. We will need to keep our eyesight and health so we can continue to battle the stuff the rest of our natural lives, but for now I get a tiny TADA for my efforts.
Now you know everything I know so get back to what you were doing.
Be well and more soon....
Like all songs I don't like I couldn't get it out of my head which is a problem when I'm trying to go fast because the tempo is way too slow. Even at double time I am nowhere near where I am shooting for.
Then it hit me - triplets. So I walked triplets over the tune which was making Athena happy so I figured it was appropriately fast. As it turns out it is just under 5 MPH as we averaged 12:05 miles for our 6.7 miles walk.
That gives me one more reason to not like the song - it doesn't work out so that we can go uber fast. Take that Bono!
So I get home and am very sweaty, but we have this nice fog so I headed out to the front yard to deal with 2 plants that needed cutting back. They are these pretty, but crazy spreading vinous plants. I had them most of the way done when I turned and saw my nemesis - ivy.
I quickly finished the initial two plants and then spent the next 1 1/2 hours eradicating ivy. This stuff was here when we moved in 22 years ago and I've cut it back from time to time to stem it's spreading, but never went for the kill. This time I got all Neanderthal on the stuff.
It was wound all around our rhododendron which complicated it's removal, but I stayed in the game and got it all. Now, I'm not dense enough to think I have won the Ivy War, but right now the score is Paully 1 - Ivy 0. We will need to keep our eyesight and health so we can continue to battle the stuff the rest of our natural lives, but for now I get a tiny TADA for my efforts.
Now you know everything I know so get back to what you were doing.
Be well and more soon....
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
What The Smart People Are Saying
First, let me catch up on the Guilt or no guilt thing. I sucked on Monday, but walked fast with Athena on Tuesday. Today I have been working on some stuff around the house so I only half suck today.
When I sit down to research stuff to write about I end up doing a lot of Internet searches. When I want to know about low carb diets I avoid sites like lowcarblife.com and others with obvious agendas. I try to look for more reputable sources.
Today I looked for what more respectable sites are calling the worst foods for human consumption. This is what they are saying.
WebMD.com
1. Mayo
2. Soda and sweet drinks
3. Alcohol
4. Processed lunch meat
5. Hot dogs and sausage
6. Whole Milk products
7. Gourmet Ice Cream
8. Creamy salad dressings
9. Stick butter or margarine
10. French fries
Reader's Digest
1. Processed Meat
2. Frozen Meals
3. Doughnuts
4. Potato Chips
5. Low Fat Processed Foods
6. Margarine
7. Soda
Mercola.com
1. Doughnuts
2. Soda
3. French Fries and other Fried Foods
4. Chips
5. Fried - Non Fish - Seafood (Shrimp, clams, oysters, etc)
Livestrong.com
1. Doughnuts
2. Fast Food Burgers
3. Processed Pork Products
4. Soft Drinks
5. Ghee - Clarified butter
6. French Fries and Chips
7. Ice Cream
8. Buffalo Wings
9. Snack Crackers
10. Whole Eggs
Most of this stuff we know why we shouldn't eat, but some are not as easy to figure out. Lite or diet processed foods are usually high in sodium or MSG. Pork is normally cured with sodium nitrites and nitrates. Stick butter and margarine hold their shape because they are high in saturated fat. Non fish seafood is high in mercury and frying it exacerbates the issue. Processed lunch meats normally are high in sodium and often have nitrates and nitrites.
So you don't want to give them all up? Let's get rid of the really dumb ones first. Doughnuts, chips, soda, mayo and french fries is a great start. You'll notice I left you the booze. Also eat grilled stuff instead of fried and you'll find you don't miss the fat at all.
Be well and more soon....
When I sit down to research stuff to write about I end up doing a lot of Internet searches. When I want to know about low carb diets I avoid sites like lowcarblife.com and others with obvious agendas. I try to look for more reputable sources.
Today I looked for what more respectable sites are calling the worst foods for human consumption. This is what they are saying.
WebMD.com
1. Mayo
2. Soda and sweet drinks
3. Alcohol
4. Processed lunch meat
5. Hot dogs and sausage
6. Whole Milk products
7. Gourmet Ice Cream
8. Creamy salad dressings
9. Stick butter or margarine
10. French fries
Reader's Digest
1. Processed Meat
2. Frozen Meals
3. Doughnuts
4. Potato Chips
5. Low Fat Processed Foods
6. Margarine
7. Soda
Mercola.com
1. Doughnuts
2. Soda
3. French Fries and other Fried Foods
4. Chips
5. Fried - Non Fish - Seafood (Shrimp, clams, oysters, etc)
Livestrong.com
1. Doughnuts
2. Fast Food Burgers
3. Processed Pork Products
4. Soft Drinks
5. Ghee - Clarified butter
6. French Fries and Chips
7. Ice Cream
8. Buffalo Wings
9. Snack Crackers
10. Whole Eggs
Most of this stuff we know why we shouldn't eat, but some are not as easy to figure out. Lite or diet processed foods are usually high in sodium or MSG. Pork is normally cured with sodium nitrites and nitrates. Stick butter and margarine hold their shape because they are high in saturated fat. Non fish seafood is high in mercury and frying it exacerbates the issue. Processed lunch meats normally are high in sodium and often have nitrates and nitrites.
So you don't want to give them all up? Let's get rid of the really dumb ones first. Doughnuts, chips, soda, mayo and french fries is a great start. You'll notice I left you the booze. Also eat grilled stuff instead of fried and you'll find you don't miss the fat at all.
Be well and more soon....
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Crossing The Centerline Is Best Left In The Movies
Crossing the center line seems like a cool thing when it's some guy in a movie, and even then we look at them and say "Man that dude is nuts!" Most of our lives are spent avoiding what is avoidable instead of facing off with death at every turn. Call it boring if you want, but it is SANE.
That's why I am offended by the advertisements for stuff like the Baconator that has more fat than you should get in 2 days along with enough sodium for 2 days as well. And it's not just the fast food guys that keep making this stuff worse and worse for you. Applebee's is advertising a Lemon Shrimp Fettuccine which has more than 2000 milligrams of sodium and a bunch of fat.
This kind of eating is crossing the center line without a doubt. Everyone knows the stuff is poison including the food scientists that concoct this crap, but the menu items get more and more unhealthy every day. Somewhere there must be someone watching everyone eat this stuff saying "Man those purple are nuts!"
Eating food is a survival action. You eat to nourish your body so that it can continue to be of use to you. You need a certain amount of nutrients or your body doesn't work right. Yesterday I wrote about the effects of eating the wrong way. Your body actually treats the stuff like it was an infection. Does anyone think the body is just confused? No. It's doing what it is supposed to do when it encounters a toxin - it attacks it.
So, the answer is easy. You eat FIRST for nutrition and second for pleasure. It doesn't work any other way - at least not long term. What you do wrong now you WILL pay for at a later date and what you do right has IMMEDIATE benefits. And the food tastes great as well.
There is this overwhelming attitude that you sacrifice something when you start eating right. I am here to tell you that you give NOTHING up. You get to feel as you were meant to - that's it.
Just something for you to consider anyway.
Be well and more soon....
That's why I am offended by the advertisements for stuff like the Baconator that has more fat than you should get in 2 days along with enough sodium for 2 days as well. And it's not just the fast food guys that keep making this stuff worse and worse for you. Applebee's is advertising a Lemon Shrimp Fettuccine which has more than 2000 milligrams of sodium and a bunch of fat.
This kind of eating is crossing the center line without a doubt. Everyone knows the stuff is poison including the food scientists that concoct this crap, but the menu items get more and more unhealthy every day. Somewhere there must be someone watching everyone eat this stuff saying "Man those purple are nuts!"
Eating food is a survival action. You eat to nourish your body so that it can continue to be of use to you. You need a certain amount of nutrients or your body doesn't work right. Yesterday I wrote about the effects of eating the wrong way. Your body actually treats the stuff like it was an infection. Does anyone think the body is just confused? No. It's doing what it is supposed to do when it encounters a toxin - it attacks it.
So, the answer is easy. You eat FIRST for nutrition and second for pleasure. It doesn't work any other way - at least not long term. What you do wrong now you WILL pay for at a later date and what you do right has IMMEDIATE benefits. And the food tastes great as well.
There is this overwhelming attitude that you sacrifice something when you start eating right. I am here to tell you that you give NOTHING up. You get to feel as you were meant to - that's it.
Just something for you to consider anyway.
Be well and more soon....
Monday, July 23, 2012
What IS The Difference Anyway, Paully?
Why eat more organic whole foods anyway? What is the benefit to me? To answer that you need to know the difference in how your body reacts to raw whole foods as opposed to how it reacts to cooked or processed foods.
If you eat 51% of your food or more as whole uncooked food your body sets to work on digesting it normally. There is no adverse reactions at all. If you eat mostly cooked or processed foods your body has a white cell reaction to the food which causes an inflammatory reaction in the body which takes places before digestion can take place.
What that means is that your body sets it's attention to killing what it feels is a toxin in your system instead of immediately breaking the food you ate into nutrition and feeding the body. That is why you can eat all of the processed food you can and never get the nutrition you need. Your body is too busy fighting off the inflammatory aspects of the stuff to take what it can in nutrition from the stuff.
There is a ton of talk out there on anti-inflammatory diets and their benefit on stopping and curing chronic diseases like cancer, arthritis, diabetes and auto-immune disorders. To simplify the whole thing look at it this way. You need to eat more than half of your food without cooking it. Fresh organic vegetables and fruits don't need our help anyway. They taste great!
Hit your local Farmer's Market or plant your own garden and get used to eating stuff as if grows - without cooking it. The extra micro-nutrients and phytochemicals you ingest are invaluable in properly feeding your body.
Now for some ugly examples of NON-FOOD items from our fast food friends:
From Burger King: Calories Fat Sat Fat Sodium
Chicken Carolina BBQ 630 28 9 2230
Chicken Texas BBQ 430 10 3.5 1690
Carolina BBQ Burger 760 42 16 1620
Texas BBQ Burger 520 21 9 1010
Memphis Pulled Pork 470 16 4.5 1420
Double Whopper 900 57 19 1050
DW hold the Mayo 740 39 16 910
From McDonald's:
Angus Bacon Cheese 790 39 2070
Angus Deluxe 750 39 1700
Big Mac 550 29 1000
Premium Grilled Chicken 350 9 820
Crispy Chicken Club 620 29 1200
Grilled Chicken Club 460 16 1030
And From Wendy's:
Hot & Juicy Single 580 33 14 1240
Hot & Juicy Double 800 48 21 1530
Baconator 970 63 27 2020
Son Of Baconator 700 43 18 1760
Asiago Chicken Club 740 38 12 1780
Ultimate Chicken Grill 390 10 3.5 880
McDonald's doesn't publish their saturated fat amounts on their web site.
You could almost make a case for dome of the grilled chicken choices except for the 800+ milligram sodium counts which is more than half of what you should eat in a day. That also doesn't mention the fact that the chicken is factory farmed which means the animals are fed tons of antibiotics, and in many cases arsenic and live and die in great stress. The sodium is no doubt due to the fact that the chicken is raised so quickly that it has no real flavor of it's own so they salt the crap out of it.
I hope you all spotted that if you hold the mayo on your Double Whopper you also hold 160 calories, 18 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat and 140 milligrams of sodium. WOW!
Eat at home. You use calories preparing a meal. It can be a great family time. You can teach your kids stuff they can use the rest of their lives. And you get to control the quality of the end product.
Be well and more soon.....
If you eat 51% of your food or more as whole uncooked food your body sets to work on digesting it normally. There is no adverse reactions at all. If you eat mostly cooked or processed foods your body has a white cell reaction to the food which causes an inflammatory reaction in the body which takes places before digestion can take place.
What that means is that your body sets it's attention to killing what it feels is a toxin in your system instead of immediately breaking the food you ate into nutrition and feeding the body. That is why you can eat all of the processed food you can and never get the nutrition you need. Your body is too busy fighting off the inflammatory aspects of the stuff to take what it can in nutrition from the stuff.
There is a ton of talk out there on anti-inflammatory diets and their benefit on stopping and curing chronic diseases like cancer, arthritis, diabetes and auto-immune disorders. To simplify the whole thing look at it this way. You need to eat more than half of your food without cooking it. Fresh organic vegetables and fruits don't need our help anyway. They taste great!
Hit your local Farmer's Market or plant your own garden and get used to eating stuff as if grows - without cooking it. The extra micro-nutrients and phytochemicals you ingest are invaluable in properly feeding your body.
Now for some ugly examples of NON-FOOD items from our fast food friends:
From Burger King: Calories Fat Sat Fat Sodium
Chicken Carolina BBQ 630 28 9 2230
Chicken Texas BBQ 430 10 3.5 1690
Carolina BBQ Burger 760 42 16 1620
Texas BBQ Burger 520 21 9 1010
Memphis Pulled Pork 470 16 4.5 1420
Double Whopper 900 57 19 1050
DW hold the Mayo 740 39 16 910
From McDonald's:
Angus Bacon Cheese 790 39 2070
Angus Deluxe 750 39 1700
Big Mac 550 29 1000
Premium Grilled Chicken 350 9 820
Crispy Chicken Club 620 29 1200
Grilled Chicken Club 460 16 1030
And From Wendy's:
Hot & Juicy Single 580 33 14 1240
Hot & Juicy Double 800 48 21 1530
Baconator 970 63 27 2020
Son Of Baconator 700 43 18 1760
Asiago Chicken Club 740 38 12 1780
Ultimate Chicken Grill 390 10 3.5 880
McDonald's doesn't publish their saturated fat amounts on their web site.
You could almost make a case for dome of the grilled chicken choices except for the 800+ milligram sodium counts which is more than half of what you should eat in a day. That also doesn't mention the fact that the chicken is factory farmed which means the animals are fed tons of antibiotics, and in many cases arsenic and live and die in great stress. The sodium is no doubt due to the fact that the chicken is raised so quickly that it has no real flavor of it's own so they salt the crap out of it.
I hope you all spotted that if you hold the mayo on your Double Whopper you also hold 160 calories, 18 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat and 140 milligrams of sodium. WOW!
Eat at home. You use calories preparing a meal. It can be a great family time. You can teach your kids stuff they can use the rest of their lives. And you get to control the quality of the end product.
Be well and more soon.....
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Not The Chocolate Milk Paully!
While watching the Tour De France I have been seeing ads with athletes saying they use chocolate milk to recover from exercise. They should be ashamed of themselves for taking money from the dairy industry and attempting to legitimize milk as a "quality source of protein."
The fact is that the main protein in cow's milk is casein and is the most linked animal protein to cancer development in humans. In fact in a "the China Study" the researchers were able to turn cancer on and off by either adding or eliminating casein in the diet.
Sadly, our FDA and USDA are rife with ex dairy, meat and chemical company employees whose goal is not to provide us with the information we need to make proper decisions about our diets. Instead their goal is to have an industry to work for when they leave their agency positions.
OK mister Smarty Paully, what is a good source of protein for recovery after exercise? I recommend a smoothy with 1 cup of organic Rice Milk, 1 Tbsp chia seeds and 1 cup of frozen berries. This will provide you with 5 grams of protein, 9 grams of fiber, 25% of your Vitamin B12, D, 15% Phosphate, and 30% of your calcium, 20% of folic acid, 10% of Vitamin A along with 2.5 Grams of Omega 3's. Oh - it tastes great too.
The Chocolate milk - per cup is 210 calories with 8 grams of protein and 2 of fiber, but has 5 grams of saturated fat. So the smoothy gives you 250 calories in twice as much drink as the chocolate milk with more of every vitamin except for calcium which is the same. The chia seeds will also help you stay full longer which helps a lot of us.
Guilt or no guilt. GUILT. With the crap weather I have been a bum. I will do better tomorrow.
Be well and more soon...
The fact is that the main protein in cow's milk is casein and is the most linked animal protein to cancer development in humans. In fact in a "the China Study" the researchers were able to turn cancer on and off by either adding or eliminating casein in the diet.
Sadly, our FDA and USDA are rife with ex dairy, meat and chemical company employees whose goal is not to provide us with the information we need to make proper decisions about our diets. Instead their goal is to have an industry to work for when they leave their agency positions.
OK mister Smarty Paully, what is a good source of protein for recovery after exercise? I recommend a smoothy with 1 cup of organic Rice Milk, 1 Tbsp chia seeds and 1 cup of frozen berries. This will provide you with 5 grams of protein, 9 grams of fiber, 25% of your Vitamin B12, D, 15% Phosphate, and 30% of your calcium, 20% of folic acid, 10% of Vitamin A along with 2.5 Grams of Omega 3's. Oh - it tastes great too.
The Chocolate milk - per cup is 210 calories with 8 grams of protein and 2 of fiber, but has 5 grams of saturated fat. So the smoothy gives you 250 calories in twice as much drink as the chocolate milk with more of every vitamin except for calcium which is the same. The chia seeds will also help you stay full longer which helps a lot of us.
Guilt or no guilt. GUILT. With the crap weather I have been a bum. I will do better tomorrow.
Be well and more soon...
Friday, July 20, 2012
New Laptop
So my laptop died suddenly the other night. I closed it for a bit and when I opened it again it was not having it. I even recruited Pam's brother Jim to use his IT background and it looks like the best we will get is the data from the hard drive and then we'll have a proper burial for the rest. Oh well.
The new one is faster and has more everything so I should be held to a higher standard from now on. I will continue to fail reaching that standard as I have in the past.
So, where are we? When last we spoke I had walked on Monday with Athena. We also went out Tuesday and were a little slower on the same route. She started Wednesday a little gimpy since she leaves it all out on the walks. So here is the update.
Guilt or No Guilt:
Tuesday - No Guilt - 6.7 miles in 1:28
Wednesday Guilt No walk or other measurable exercise
Thursday No Guilt - 3 hours of yard work and a couple in the house.
Friday - Waiting for the weather to ease up - more later.
I know there are no burgeoning mass murderers reading this blog, but why can't these idiots just kill themselves instead of taking out a bunch of innocents at a movie theatre? Man, I just don't get it. I know we do a shit job with our mentally ill and guns are way too easy to get, but there has to be something we can do to stop this stuff from happening. I'm just feeling ill over that right now.
I'll find something positive for a next post.
Be well and more soon....
The new one is faster and has more everything so I should be held to a higher standard from now on. I will continue to fail reaching that standard as I have in the past.
So, where are we? When last we spoke I had walked on Monday with Athena. We also went out Tuesday and were a little slower on the same route. She started Wednesday a little gimpy since she leaves it all out on the walks. So here is the update.
Guilt or No Guilt:
Tuesday - No Guilt - 6.7 miles in 1:28
Wednesday Guilt No walk or other measurable exercise
Thursday No Guilt - 3 hours of yard work and a couple in the house.
Friday - Waiting for the weather to ease up - more later.
I know there are no burgeoning mass murderers reading this blog, but why can't these idiots just kill themselves instead of taking out a bunch of innocents at a movie theatre? Man, I just don't get it. I know we do a shit job with our mentally ill and guns are way too easy to get, but there has to be something we can do to stop this stuff from happening. I'm just feeling ill over that right now.
I'll find something positive for a next post.
Be well and more soon....
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