Building a Better Human: 2013

Episode 2: 60 Second Paleo

Second episode of 60 Second Paleo!

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Transcript:

This is 60 Second Paleo, I'm Roman. Today I want to talk about multi vitamins. A lot of the multi vitamins you'll find at the everyday convenience store/grocery store, is quite possibly doing more harm than good. When looking for a multi vitamin you really want to look at the quality of the brand and you also want to know the optimal form of the vitamin or mineral you're trying to get. You'll also want to watch out for fillers. There's actually, for a reason that's beyond me, a lot of multi vitamins have gluten in them. So the three most optimal things to do would be: either well research you're multi vitamin and make sure everything's on point. Or do the same thing with you're diet which would need to be extremely on point. The third thing would be to buy the vitamins/minerals separately in the most optimal form. And that's your 60 seconds for today.

Episode 1: 60 Second Paleo

First of many 60 seconds of Paleo!
I'll also be doing a Q&A so feel free to send your burning questions, comments, love, primal hate, why you feel veganism is better or anything to buidingbetterquestions@gmail.com

This is 60 Second Paleo, I'm Roman. Today I want to talk about how, if you've just started a paleo diet, and you're not getting the results you're looking for, you should really look into where you're sourcing your beef from. Hopefully you are eating beef. Compared to grain fed, grass fed has a lot of benefits within the saturated fat. It has more omega 3 fatty acids. Which is important for nerve tissue, it will help with strees and control with metabolic processes. It will also help with cortisol by improving your ratio of omega 3 to 6. It also has more CLA which is a trans fat, one of the few good ones, that improves brain function. It'll help with weight loss and weight regulation and it's been shown to reduce your risk of cancer. It also more vitamins, both water and fat soluble. More anti oxidants and trace minerals. And that's your 60 seconds for today, peace!

Pros and Cons of Eating Paleo

While paleo is one of the most effective ways of eating for many reasons, anybody who says there isn't any downsides are diluting themselves.

Here's a basic chart of the common pros and cons:

Cons

(things that you might experience when going on the Paleo diet)

Pros

(the good stuff that happens to most people on the Paleo diet and might also happen to you!)

Missing foods (grains, sugar, dairy, soy, peanut, processed foods, artificial sweetener, alcohol)
Asking more questions about ingredients in a dish and requesting substitutions when eating out
Changing your eating habits
Possibly experiencing some side effects at the beginning (fatigue, cravings, headache, constipation, bloating…)
Having people asking questions when you say “no” to some food at family gatherings or at work
Meeting with your doctor to discuss things (especially if you have a medical condition or take prescribed medications)

Reducing your cravings
controlling your sweet tooth
Stabilizing your blood sugars
and energy levels
Losing weight (if needed)
Getting healthier
- ↓ triglycerides
- ↑ HDL cholesterol
- ↓ A1C & ↓ blood sugars
- ↓ blood pressure
Controlling your autoimmune condition(Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, celiac disease, vitiligo…)
Improving your gastrointestinal health (IBS, GERD, intolerances…)
Having such good results that your friends, colleagues and family ask you how you did it!
Spending less time grocery shopping (no need to read labels when you buy real, unprocessed food!)

More information available at: http://www.eat-real-food-paleodietitian.com

Organic vs Industrial or "Conventional"

First off two things that aren't well known about organic farming:

General idea is organic products aren't sprayed with pesticides but the fact is almost all large scale organic farms use "organic approved pesticides" which are natural or slightly synthetic chemicals or mixtures.
The USDA Organic label, while it does regulate farming practices, in 2010 over 13,000 certified organic farms were inspected and only 10 had their certification revoked. That may be because everyone believes in health and doing the right thing, or it could be because the USDA certifier gets payed per farm and takes a financial loss by revoking certification.

Now that those facts have been discussed, feel that we can go deeper into organic without the confusion.

EWG, Environmental Working Group, came out with the "Dirty Dozen" and "Clean 15"
http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/
Full list can be found here: http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/list.php
It's well known that pesticides are harmful to animal health and is hard to argue that it's not to humans. When eating conventional (which personally I feel should be called industrial) produce this is a solid guideline.

The main line that should be drawn on organic food is when you focus on it so much it makes you neurotic, for somebody that doesn't handle stress well it may literally do more damage to your body stressing over what's organic and going against the grain on the general population than the pesticides would.

In the end the best plan of action, if possible, is to get to known your local farmers which has the added benefits of not needing to be shipped across the country (or world) as well as supporting the local economy. With my case I have a close relationship with my semi (about a 40 minute drive) local farmers They aren't all certified organic, which includes a mass of paper and paying the certifier, but they don't use industrial pesticides and their livestock is grass fed.

So recap, get to know your local farmers. If that isn't an option and you're on a budget, follow the EWGs research and recommendations

References:

http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5101234

See Appendix A on pesticides

Probiotics 102

Now I'm going to cover soil based organisms, certain benefits/effects different strains have, and references.

First thing about soil based organisms, there has been some evidence that if you don't have a healthy gut flora already (more good bacteria than bad) soil based probiotics may do more damage and possibly become pathogenic. If you're just starting with a probiotic regimen and have had an arguably unhealthy diet in the past recommend steering clear of these in the beginning simply from the perspective of risk/reward, go more toward the lactic acid probiotics. When you've done a regiment of lactic acid probiotics, not been on antibiotics, and eating a relatively clean diet soil based organisms may have even more benefits than the lactic acid based probiotics.

Strains
Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli (most studied strain families): treatment/improving allergies, lactose intolerance, eczema, acne, improved digestive health
Immune System Support: Bifidobacterium lactis HN019, Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC55730, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium lactis Bb-12
Treatment for Diarrhea: S. cerevisiae (S. boulardii), Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG), Lactobacillus casei DN-114 001, Lactobacillus acidophilus CL1285 plus Lactobicillus casei Lbc80r

References:

Image courtesy of bestpricenutrion.com, whom I have no affiliation with.

Probiotics 101

It's almost universally agreed upon that probiotics are beneficial to your gut. Without the tremendous amount of bacteria covering our bodies inside and out, a lot of which is friendly, we would very quickly pass away.

Probiotics is no where near a perfect science yet, but certain cultures have had probiotic foods as staples of their diets for generations with little to no documented negative side affects. Kimchi in many parts of Asia. Raw yogurt, cheese, and milk throughout Europe and raw sauerkraut in the United States.

Health Benefits

Certain strains are showing to have different or complimentary health benefits. Possible health benefits:

Urinary Tract Health
Crohn's disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome Improved
Oral Health
Strep throat and Tonsillitis Defense
Emotional Well Being
Improved Brain Activity (fun fact there's neurons in our guts)
Diarrhea/Constipation Remedy
Treatment of Yeast Infection and Bacterial Vaginosis
Defense from Infection and Pathogens
Relief from Acne and Eczema
Improved Allergies
Anti-Inflammatory and in Effect Anti-Aging

For strains, no matter which strain if the live organisms count isn't in the billions it's most likely not going to be effective. Lactobacillus (the most researched strain) acidophilus and bifidobacteria are the most common types.

Dosage is a question I've been really actively looking into. Some self proclaimed experts suggest to take 10-15 times the recommended dosage (which my spider sense is telling me that's mainly because they sell probiotics! ha). Personally I recommend taking twice the recommended dosage to colonize for the first week or way better take approximately 25 billion organisms of the most diverse strains (while still good quality) you can find for the benefits you're looking for.

Currently experimenting with different types/brands of probiotics and I'll go into more depth on the benefits for each strain and a few good brands in the near future.

Let me know which brands you use and what your favorite strains are that you've had success with in the comments!

My Five Month Hiatus

Haven't posted anything in five months, and there's a good reason for that! I've been off doing some, fairly intense if I do say so myself, training. Military training, technical training, mentoring with a holistic doctor. Learning about the different kinds of probiotics, which are slowly getting pushed into the "main stream", and searching how they're made/synthesized. Learning about the different ways soil health affects our health just as the oceans do. Getting hands on with some more philosophical things like The Zeitgeist Movement and The Venus Project, Was taking notes and testing my biohacking techniques along the way. Fired up to share what I've learned!

~Life's not just about what's Better

Natural Cleaning on the Frugal

Going to be a little more blunt about this since I was pretty shocked when I started learning about different cleaning supplies, costs, and effectiveness.

First thing read labels. Not all ingredients are listed but it made me feel like I was participating in some money grab scheme where all the money companies make goes into marketing rather than making any type of superior product. A lot of the chemicals are toxic and extremely over priced.

Second, buy vinegar (white or apple cider) and baking soda in bulk as it's considerably less expensive that way. Also get a bit of cheap table salt.

Vinegar: disinfectant, general purpose cleaner, spot remover, deodorizer (sometimes overly powerful and will need diluted) adding a little salt to vinegar makes it more effective at removing tough stuck on things
more vinegar uses:
Vinegar Tips
Homemaker Vinegar

Baking soda: deodorizer, water softener, polish and shiner (great for coffee pots), alkaline properties, carpet cleaner
more baking soda uses:
Care2 Greenliving
All You Live Green Save

Lemons are also easy to come by and smell amazing. Wouldn't personally use oranges as the sugar can attract pests.

I've personally noticed that the air quality in the house improves especially if you live in a cold climate and don't get a lot of air flow from outside. The toxic levels of vinegar and baking soda are extremely lower than things like bleach and triclosan (common anti-bacterial agent)

As a side note don't just start eating/drinking baking soda. A lot of people recommend this and many brands (arm & hammer included) contain traces of aluminum which can cause all kinds of side effects. If you want to alkaline your body simply eat a good amount of green veggies or make a kale shake.

If your skeptic run your own effectiveness tests and, of course, the costs aren't even comparable.

Sleeping Better

The general consensus is that most people need 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Myself, other biohackers and various sleep researchers feel this is a rule that cannot be broken but can be bent. On average we spend a third of our lives sleeping and while many people sleep less than that, they aren't taking relatively simple steps to do so effectively.

Most important is the quality of sleep over quantity. 1-2 hours of deep (restorative) sleep. 2-3 hours of REM (rapid eye movement, which is the stage which you do the most active dreaming) and to my knowledge there hasn't been quantifiable data on how the 'light sleep' is necessary except to assist your body in moving into the deeper stages of sleep. With that in mind the faster you can move into these stages the less total sleep you need.

Most effect ways to improve sleep quality:

Sleep in a pitch black environment (eye masks seem to work pretty well)
Don't eat a large meal 2 hours before bed
Wind down and stay away from LEDs (fluorescent, etc) an hour before bed or use flux
Have a certain routine you do before bed
Take a small dose of melatonin if you aren't able to consistently sleep at the same time
Sleep in an area where all you do is sleep or have sex
Use biofeedback to quantify you really are getting enough sleep (I use zeo and there are other alternative, here's a good adjustment as you hack your quantity) note that they can be expensive
Actively use your mind and body so you're not fighting yourself to get to sleep

I've been doing this for several months now and actually have more energy then when I'd sleep ten hours simply because I could. Average 6-7 hours giving myself a half hour window to wake and get out of bed with ease!

Walking My Talk

Everything I recommend I've done and had positive results with personally. Although my experiments and quantified self research is not totally about physical things and body improvements, being able to have the body work as well as possible opens the door to endless possibilities. We now know the fairly obvious which is that the mind and body are connected.

Before:

After:

Decided to enter a "Body Transformation" bodybuilding competition to further quantify my results. Came in 3rd, not bad considering I've heard the trick of the trade is to become grossly out of shape on purpose then use the bodies muscle memory and tendency to want to return to it's old state which is the exact opposite of what hinders so many people that try to lose weight. Considered this my "Geek to Freak" (semi-inside joke). Not quite as stylish nowadays (ha) and eat paleo but I'll do a run through on what I did to achieve these results using the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto principle.

Belly fat - high cortisol - low inflammation minimally processed (low-carb) diet
Muscle gain:

weight lifting (lift heavy things) - 5/5 technique, five seconds up, five seconds down one set to failure, three minute rest between sets
Increase protein - protein from whole foods (best results) and whey/hemp shakes (for convenience)
Bench press, bent over row, bicep curl, palm-up wrist curls, pull ups three times a weeks. High load, high intensity
1/2 mile run daily for tone and cardiovascular benefits

Diet and supplementation overview:

175g protein, cycled off for one day per week
2,000IU Vitamin D
2,000IU Calcium
Optimum men multivitamin
300mg alpha-lipoic acid morning and after carb meals
900mg omega 3 fish oil

There are things I would now change but for the most parts results don't lie. In my teenage years had spent endless hours lifting weights and pounding protein shakes with limited results. Having a game plan with end goals and quantifiable variables cannot be underestimated.

Hack Reading

Some people, myself included, have learned the skill of speed reading. I prefer to simply hack the whole process.

If it's on the internet in digital format and can be copied, put it into here: http://spreeder.com/app.php?intro=1
Sit comfortably, relax, don't attempt to read inside your head and simply let the words flash in front of you at a word per minute pace that makes the inner monologue impossible. After a small adjustment period you will become an accomplished digital speed reader.

For hard copy reading:

Use a finger or even better pen to eliminate back-skipping and keep your eyes from fixating to long
Begin three words in from the line rather than the beginning, use your whole line of vision
Let yourself practice without overly concerning with comprehension at first, most people need a little time to adjust.
Use basic variables (i.e time yourself, later test your comprehension) to insure you're making improvements

No More Sinus Infections

Sinus infections are extremely common especially in the US. It was one of my bodies favorite ways of telling me something was wrong. Antibiotics are usually very effective and can work within days but have various side effects such as killing the good bacteria in your gut and through out your body along with the bad bacteria that's causing the infection.

One of the major reasons for bacterial infections is inflammation and lowered immune system. Causes of this are things like diet, air pollution (i.e. smoke, dust, exhaust, work related chemicals), lack of sleep, exposure to pathogens, and stress.

If you catch the infection early it can be relatively easy to get rid of it with little effort and cost.

Apple Cider Vinegar:

Add 2 tablespoons to 6-8 ounces of water (add honey if desired) drink 8-10 glasses
Get a pot or better vapor steamer, try to eye about 1/18th acv to water ratio and inhale until you can breathe clearer or it becomes slightly uncomfortable
Simply take it like a shot, be careful to not overdue this and aggravate your esophagus

Some other ways to cure it:

Echinacea, kills infections while leaving most good bacteria. Was wildly used before antibiotics were invented. I take 15,000mg twice a day, some people recommend only 300mg but personally haven't seen any side effects
Oil Pulling (could do a whole other post about this) use coconut for added benefits or any vegetable oil besides canola. Swish for 15-20 minutes vigorously, if you become nauseated do on an empty stomach. Hear this has a detoxing and many benefits but the one I was able to quantify is that it cleans bacteria more thoroughly than simply brushing and mouthwash can which results in various benefits, swallowing some of the bacteria present in your mouth depending on the diet will give people a continuous low level infection and this dissipates that.
Horseradish
Cayenne pepper
Black pepper
Parsley
Oregano
Ginger
Garlic
Onion
Sinus rinse with sea salt water and for more extreme cases small amount hydrogen peroxide
If you decide to not take an antibiotic taking probiotics will help. If you do take an antibiotic take the probiotic several hours after
Get at least 8 hours of undisturbed sleep if at all possible

For an already present infection where there is consistent things like yellow or green mucous, wheezing, pressure will need to take some aggressive measures. If you don't improve in a week be sure to get a hold of a physician or topical antibiotic.

This is my sinus infections bomb. Everything listed above 50/50 cayenne pepper and boiling water. Let sit for about 6 hours and add to some food. Surprisingly tastes good. Also rinse sinuses with sea salt and about a Tbsp of hydrogen peroxide

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