Organic vs Industrial or "Conventional"

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

1. 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.
2. 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:

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15106189
2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19584499
3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16313688
4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16126048
5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23474283
6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?cmd=Link&dbFrom=PubMed&from_uid=21352578&holding=f1000%2Cf1000m%2Cisrctn
7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Probiotics
8. http://nccam.nih.gov/health/probiotics/introduction.htm
9. http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/changing-gut-bacteria-through-245617.aspx
10. http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update0905c.shtml
11. http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/46/Supplement_2/S96.full

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:

1. Sleep in a pitch black environment (eye masks seem to work pretty well)
2. Don't eat a large meal 2 hours before bed
3. Wind down and stay away from LEDs (fluorescent, etc) an hour before bed or use flux
4. Have a certain routine you do before bed
5. Take a small dose of melatonin if you aren't able to consistently sleep at the same time
6. Sleep in an area where all you do is sleep or have sex
7. 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
8. 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:

1. weight lifting (lift heavy things) - 5/5 technique, five seconds up, five seconds down one set to failure, three minute rest between sets
2. Increase protein - protein from whole foods (best results) and whey/hemp shakes (for convenience)
3. Bench press, bent over row, bicep curl, palm-up wrist curls, pull ups three times a weeks. High load, high intensity
4. 1/2 mile run daily for tone and cardiovascular benefits

Diet and supplementation overview:

1. 175g protein, cycled off for one day per week
2. 2,000IU Vitamin D
3. 2,000IU Calcium
4. Optimum men multivitamin
5. 300mg alpha-lipoic acid morning and after carb meals
6. 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.