In Fitness and in Health
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I had a quinoa cake today that must've had wheat in it. Almost immediate nausea and allergic symptoms.
I need to be more careful, that shit sucks. I imagine the suffering will continue for a while.
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It's embarrassing how dumb mainstream medicine is when it comes to diet. They pretty much are stuck in the seventies; I don't get how they can be so clueless. There's so much conventional wisdom that still circulates even after having been conclusively, clinically debunked for decades.
Here's an example:
This is the American Diabetes Association's dietary guidelines, which are nothing short of an epic disaster for anyone, but especially for diabetics:
http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/planning-meals/diabetes-meal-plans-and-a-healthy-diet.htmlThe whole grains and non-fat dairy are awful recommendations. The former causes or worsens diabetes thusly:
The sequence is simple: carbohydrates trigger insulin release from the pancreas, causing growth of visceral fat; visceral fat causes insulin resistance and inflammation. High blood sugars, triglycerides, and fatty acids damage the pancreas. After years of overwork, the pancreas succumbs to the thrashing it has taken from glucotoxicity, lipotoxicity, and inflammation, essentially "burning out," leaving a deficiency of insulin and an increase of blood glucose–diabetes.
–Dr. William Davis, Wheat Belly
The starch in wheat is extremely bioavailable, and that's why a piece of whole grain bread has a higher glycemic index than table sugar. So you can just substitute "wheat" for "carbohydrates" in that quote to see why this is exactly the opposite of what the ADA should be telling diabetics and pre-diabetics, unless they're trying to swell their membership.
The low-fat milk recommendation is also bad for everyone, but especially for diabetics:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/05/21/why-you-need-to-avoid-low-fat-milk-and-cheese.aspx -
unless they're trying to swell their membership.
Drug companies don't make much money from healthy people. Most Americans (over 70% IIRC the stats correctly). Are currently on a prescription drug of some sort. More and more we're finding out that a diet that is free from grain, gluten, dairy, and other toxins that have traditionally been accepted as healthy foods are bad for us. Problems ranging from diabetes to autism to cancer. Think billions of dollars potentially disappearing from those markets…
If everyone stopped buying grain today, the farming collectives/grain industry giants would be bankrupt tomorrow. A lot of people make a lot of money making shit food and do not want to see grain free/paleo/gluten-free/etc take off. This is not a conspiracy/tin-foil-hat issue. It's a money issue. Just like everything else.
I'm very happy to see nutrition discussed here and knowledge being shared amongst us all. Especially the positive results some guys have had this year.
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Alright guys, 2nd opinion needed
I've been working with a trainer for the last 2 weeks and he has suggested to me that I do very minimal cardio and do mostly strength training to lose weight. He claims that cardio exercise eats muscle where as strength training builds it and thus cardio negates any gains you would be getting from the strength training. I have always heard that cardio is the best fat burner but I'm not a professional
Also, I haven't lifted in probably 8 years on a regular basis so any advice on how to deal with REALLY sore muscles would be appreciated. We're talking not being able to straighten my arm all the way and thighs hurting so bad I'm walking like Forrest Gump before he lost his leg braces haha
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Lift weight and look into HIIT for cardio, tabata protocols in particular. And of course cut carbs and add protein and fat to the diet.
Tabata takes about five minutes and is so intense you'll want to (and may) puke. You should only do it 2-3 times per week. A few minutes of HIIT has been clinically shown to be more effective than a half hour of jogging for weight loss due to hormonal issues. Effectively, the ratio of anabolic to catabolic hormones is more favorable with this kind of cardio.
To me this is the holy trinity of health. Weight training, HIIT, and most importantly, diet.
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If you're trying to change your body then diet is the big thing. If you ran pretty intensively for an hour a day, you might lose around a pound or half a kilo per week.
Trying to lose fat and build muscle simultaneously is going to be tricky. For the former you need a calorific deficit, whilst the latter requires a surplus. I think that it's possible if you're out of shape and getting back into things, but it's likely to be for a matter of weeks rather than months.
I'm never convinced that cardio burns muscle. My suspicion is that increasing the workload increases the amount of energy you need, and a lot of running might push you from being in surplus to maintenance.
Interval training is widely acknowledged as being good, and if you're into running you could also look at Fartlek. I'm not convinced that HIIT is vastly superior to (say) jogging, though. I'd be more inclined to do what you like best.
I find that muscle soreness is only a problem for the first few weeks of a programme. After that the body starts to adapt, and you don't suffer so much.
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I don't know shit about shit but, I can tell you the Skogg System/Paleo combo has worked wonders for me. Ask JSJ if you don't believe me He had lost over 20lbs last month using both. Skogg is the perfect balance between cardio/strength training.
"Obstacles are stepping-stones that guide us to our goals"
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The problem with long distance running is how many catabolic hormones like cortisol it releases into your bloodstream. Hence, the whole "compare a marathoner's to a sprinter's physique" thing.
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True dat! I also do DDP Yoga which is an incredibly intense workout that weirdly makes me feel good. Skogg is incredible. I guarantee you won't be sorry if you try it.
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gonna try it, D666 & JSJ. D666, lend me some of your skogg, hahahahahaha.
i'm serious lend me a skogg dvd/vhs/blue-ray/8-track & some light kettle bells, i'm come out by your side to pick it up or whatever. i don't want to spend the money for the stuff as I'm cyncical & a cheap bastard. got to get ready for this thing coming up in another 6 or so months . . . .
oh & what up with those rope systems? been seeing folks doing some crazy stuff with them lately . . .
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Never heard of Skogg, will look into it just cos y'all said so and the name is cool
Yoga is terrific.
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Bags, the most important thing with a trainer is to be comfortable with them and trust that they know what they're doing. Check credentials, ask for references, see how you feel about them after a few workouts. Don't have any hesitation going to someone else. You're paying them for their expertise and ability to help you; if they're not getting it done, go to someone else.
As far as the whole cardio v.strength debate goes, weight loss is really no more complicated than burning more calories than you consume. How you choose to burn them is best determined by what you enjoy. Anything will fail if you don't like it and keep at it. Whether that's cardio oriented or strength oriented is up to you.
Personally, I like Skogg kettlebell workouts and running, which seems to give me a nice balance of both strength and cardio.
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Actually, Chris, this is very difficult to accept, because it's so incredibly counter-intuitive, but the calorie deficit premise is false. I'm reading an amazing book on that right now called Why We Get Fat, HIGHLY recommended.
EDIT: I found an article that summarizes the latest research that Why We Get Fat discussed at length:
http://www.fourhourbodycouple.com/2011/11/01/why-we-get-fat-finally-understanding-the-process/
FASCINATING stuff… It's all about hormonal response, and research seems to be triangulating on a few core dietary premises.
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Bags try the DDP/kettle bells
"Obstacles are stepping-stones that guide us to our goals"
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Oh yeah, I forgot- Tiger Balm is pretty good for muscle soreness. Also helps to stretch some following a workout, and I'm not a big proponent of stretching, generally.
Thanks to Doug for turning me on to both Skogg and Tiger Balm, by the way.
