Doctors Drive me Nuts.

Yes yes, my mommy is a doctor too and she sometimes drives me nuts too, but she's my mum so it's ok :)

I just got back from visiting a dermatologist and an allergist.

First the dermatologist:
I'm seeing him about acne and scarring on my shoulders, I've had pretty bad acne in my past and it's gotten better over the years through positive changes in lifestyle, diet and exercise. Some years ago I took a course of iso-tetronin (sp?) and it dried the hell out of my skin, my lips cracked up in massive pain, but my really bad acne subsided considerably.
So the Dermatologist had me on Doryx, a low dose antibiotic for about a month and he's given me a prescription for another 2 months. When I went in today I told him that I had ran out of the stuff for the last 5 days, but that I had noticed my energy levels were way higher when I wasn't taking the meds, even though I was taking pro-biotics.
"taking what?" he asked. He didn't know about pro-biotics, yet he was ok prescribing me Doryx for 2 years straight. I told him that the antibiotics were killing off my intenstinal microflora and that I could literally "feel" it, to which he said " you should probably go and check with a sports medicine doctor about that".(red flag red flag red flag). I asked him about the mechanism of action of the Doryx, he avoided the question and told me that I have 2 options: Doryx straight for like 2 years or more to keep my acne at "bay" or accutane, that that would take 2 weeks to get in due to some federal regulations... I told him I want the fastest most effective solution. He busted out of the room to "collect something" and sent in his assistant with some permits to fill out - i have to read the paperwork, I'm not sure what the permit is for, but I have to go submit some blood tests tomorrow and then go pick up the meds in 2 weeks.
hmm.......

second, the allergist:
I came to see this guy about a year ago when I suspected having an allergy to some sort of pollen. I worked with him for a while since he got a bunch of blood tests done for me including the testing of homocystene levels, anti-oxidant levels and C-reactive protien. I went to see him today because I'm doing an in depth investigation into food allergies, specifically, delayed-onset IgG type food allergies and how they affect weight loss, water retention, depressed energy levels etc etc. He doesn't test for them becuase he claims "there isn't enough scientific evidence to prove the efficacy of these tests" - he knew he just opened a massive can of worms right there and followed up with "maybe you should go see a naturopathic doctor, they believe in this stuff more than I do" - I then asked him for a referral and he is going to get back to me with a contact. The good thing is that he was open to me going to see someone else and was open to finding out about new things / approaches that did work.


so why do doctors drive me nuts?
what did these 2 men have in common? They were both in their forties or early fifties and so have probably been doing this for a while. The problem is that I don't believe they are current in the scientific breakthroughs and/or discoveries that are occuring in the medical world. It seems intuitive that the older a doctor is, the more "experienced" he is. I argue otherwise - that's its probably safer to assume that the older a doctor is the older and more obsolete his knowledge is. One of the first times I came to this realization was just over a year ago when I was back home in Kenya and went to see one of the more famous cardiologists in nairobi. He had put my grandmother on some diuretics in order to reduce her blood pressure, he was also the doc who had treated a bunch of my late uncles who died of heart attacks. (what's wrong with this picture?).
so anwyay, we got into a conversation about heart disease, cholesterol and drugs like Lipitor. I asked him if he had heard about Co-enzyme Q and how statin drugs affect endogenous production of Co Enzyme Q10, which in turn could lead to cardiomyopathy. He had nothing to say.

So just remember that what doctors tell you is NOT THE WORD OF GOD. Most people treat it that way. Get a 2nd opinion, get a 3rd opinion, go to a different country and get an opinion. Definitely talk a doctor in a different age group / generation.

In terms of cholesterol, I'm not going to delve into the details of it in this post, all you need to know is that if you are taking statins and not supplementing with Co Enzyme Q10, you are messing with your hearts oxygen supply at a cellular level and your heart muscles could very well be slowly dying away - a condition that you won't feel or get measured until you drop dead some day on the golf course.

REMEMBER:
The pharmaceutical companies make millions of dollars every year, they give incentives and kick backs to doctors that prescribe their drugs. Moreover, the majority of "prescription" medication is not curative, it holds symtops at bay or masks them in some way. eg. statins go in and mess with your normal cholesterol output whereby dietary changes are a safer and longer term fix.

Cheers to your health!


CoQ10: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coenzyme_Q

Air Squat!!!!

My aunt from kenya asked me about un weighted squats the other day.
here'a a link to a video from Crossfit that does a fabulous job of explaining the key points of the air squat:

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_AirSquats.wmv

when you can do 50 full depth air squats, start doing tabata squats!!!

example tabata squats:
http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/sample2tabata.wmv

You should use a medecine ball or some other soft surface if you have an issue with not going deep enough on each rep.

the squat...

If you're going to go to the gym and do one movement only. Let that movement be the Squat.

- Bar is resting on traps
- hands are gripping as close as possible
- elbows tucked back
- back is arched, butt is back, hips are NOT forward
- feet are positioned around shoulder width apart, toes pointed out slightly.
- get full range of motion and come up fast.

here's an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYddZUIzJ9g

weight on the bar = 325 #


The squat is the king of functional movement. Tight core, full body, full range of motion, etc etc.
There is NO other lower body based movement that comes close.
The leg extension, leg curl and... god forbid... the leg press are all great tools to rehab from injury and they all have a place.... in the physical therapy department.

for example, I hear all sorts of stuff like people trying to "save their back" or "not compress the spine" or whatever, what these people do not realise is that they are increasing their chances of future injury from using machines because for example, the leg press is designed so that the core does not have to remain tight in order to push up the weight (well not compared to the squat anyway) and you your legs may get stronger while your core remains weak, furthermore if you don't develop your body as a UNIT, you will never reach your athletic potential.

start squatting! with weight, without weight, with someone on your shoulders etc, your body will thank you for it.

My bulking blue print

I've been getting some questions about bulking up lately. So here's what I did earlier this year to gain some new (~15 lbs) of muscle.

- I started out eating a lot ... about 3500 calories a day. I then found that this was too much.
- my sweet spot was somewhere between 2500 and 3000 for putting on size, I did put on some fat, but not much (since I was on catalyst)
- I was doing standard bodybuilding type workouts with mostly 5x5's. I was lifting as heavy as possible on most days and ending workouts with some high rep light work to remove the lactic acid and stimulate some Growth Hormone release.
- After Every workout I took Advocare's Post workout recovery shake, I could feel a huge difference on the days that I didn't take it.
- I was eating a lot more carbs than I usually do, around 200 grams a day. For you zoners out there, all I did was make sure that I hit 25 blocks and then I'd eat more if I felt like it.
- Sleep and hydrate more than usual - your body needs more water to get really anabolic, also the extra sleep will help you make superior gains. TO soop up my sleep even more, i was taking 1000mg of Vitamin C at night to buffer cortisol release, and NightTime recovery and some GABA when I remembered.
- Take a BCAA blend. This is probably the most important part of your supplement program in addition to ensuring adequately high levels of protien intake. I shot for at least a gram per pound body weight.
- DO lots of heavy squats. If you don't you won't grow. Period. Oh and you probably want to do some max deadlifts once every 2 weeks or so.
- Every 2 - 3 days I increased my fiber intake and took a fiber drink to help move along all the extra food I was eating.
- Stay active and get in a short run every 3-5 days to ensure that all the extra food is moving smoothly through the digestive system.
- Take a good pro biotic every morning and a digestive enzyme supplement before very large meals. This will help your body actually ABSORB the nutrients you are taking in. Otherwise you could be wasting your time in the gym and in the kitchen.

that's what worked for me. stick to all the points and it will work for you too.
It's been almost a month since I finished my bulking phase, and I've lost about 4 pounds, of which I think is mostly fat. I haven't been doing much lifting in the past couple of weeks and have re-started up on more yoga, gymnastics, dance and ruby to get the new muscle functional and strong through full ranges of motion.

It was interesting, i stopped bulking when I "biceps" and chest started "coming in the way" - seriously it's funny shit when you have to put some noticable extra effort to bring your hands to yoru face and compress the bicep. Also, reaching over behind the shoulders gets a little more challenging when the pecs are larger :)

have fun and post questions if you have any!

Advocare - "White Box"

This post is in progress.... my aim is to cover one product a day :)....

The reason for writing this particular post is that I thought I had supplementation down. I used jarrow's alpha lipoic, Primal Defense from Garden of Life, Bio-K, Juice Plus, Jay Robb's egg protien powder etc etc...

So when you switch all your products to a different suppplement line and then see MASSIVE results, you have to wonder why. So I started to investigate....

When I first tried Advocare I was skeptical. I dilly dallied with the products for while and thought they were so so, I still had my "old" supplements to use up. Then I started to like how I felt and began to do more research. The turning point was when I saw that one my Olympic weightlifting coaches was an endorser for the product (can anyone say burpee!!! LOL). So I emailed him and he told me that his kids and athletes are on it and that he loves the company and the products. Bam... I was sold and ordered a bunch of products for me and my family.

When the results started to appear, I started investigating the products more deeply to figure out why they were working. Below I'll outline the products that have had the most noticable and measurable impact on me and why. Then I'll talk about the results from combining multiple products and how they work synergistically and complement each other.


Meal Replacement Shake:

- Holy crap what an awesome awesome awesome product. This one makes the "Top Five" in terms of impact
- I first didn't like the stats on it since I've been so anti-carb, but it has a brilliant blend of complex and simple carbs so that your blood sugar stays stable.
- Theres also 5-6 grams of Fiber in each shake which is awesome for digestive health
- There's no Soy, just whey protien concentrate, milk protien isolate and Calcium Caseinate
- There's a bunch of BCAAs and L-Glutamine built in.
- 500mg of calcium!!!
- Here's the kicker though..... they freakin put freakin' put acidopholus, bifidus and Bromelain and Papaim into the mix. So not only are you getting high quality protien, you're taking it in with pro-biotics and digestive enzymes so that you absorb more of it.
- The first day I tried it, I felt "runbly" in the stomach since I was dding in the acidopholus and fiber, that's great because it means my digestive system was NOT in top shape.
- Start your day with this shake and your blood sugar will stay stable for a very very long time. All this for 220 calories.... that's just freakin' amazing.


Catalyst:
- I'm not going to go too deep into the science of BCAA's here, you can search MSN for it :)
- what I will say is that this product does an absoulutely awesome job of preserving lean muscle mass WHILE cutting fat due to a calorie deficit. This product is what will prevent you from yo-yo dieting, since you won't lose lean muscle.
- When I'm in my leaning cycle, if I'm not too hungy, I'll have a couple of catalysts and a spark and miss a meal or two.. or three.... the spark revs up the metabolism and suppresses the appetite, the water you take with it hydrates you, the Catalyst keeps aminos floating around in your blood stream in case your body decides it wants to burn protien. It also keeps a positive, anabolic nitrogen balance so that you're building muscle while starving.
- This one defintely hits the "Top five"

- it's funny I go through a bottle a of this stuff about every 8-10 days. I finances actually even out and I sometimes end up saving more money. Think about it, 3 catalysts and spark cost a little under $2 whereas a meal would be costing me anywhere from $5 - $10 easy.

- Alright, moral of the stroy, you wanna get lean, reduce your calories, skip some meals and up the catalyst.. comprende?

Spark:
- The best energy drink I have had.
- it has L-carnitine that transports fatty acids across the mitochondrial membrane so that fat is more easliy used as an energy store.
- It has a Co-enzyme Q10 for energy production and cellular anti-oxidation. I could write a book on the positive virtues of Co-Q10 - it has so many positive effects on the body.
- GABA, L-Tyrosine, L-Phenylalanine --> all pre-cursors for neuro transmitters, they help with mental focus and clarity (honestly, I get so much more work done, uncle Bill should send Advocare a thank you letter....)
- B complex - all used for energy production at the cellular level.
- Vit C (180mg), Vit E (30IU), Vit A(1000 IU) --> anti-oxidants
- Chromium -> helps with insulin sensitivity
- Caffeine (120mg) and Taurine (200 mg) -> synergyistic stimulants
- basically, this energy drink is the bomb because unlike red bull, coffee, etc it has the regular stimulants, but without the high doses of sugar and it's packed with all these vitamins and co-factors. So what? so that means that you aren't going to experience the all too familiar caffeine crash that I always get from drinking too much coffee or other stimulants.
- My workouts are better on Spark, I take one every morning when I wake up, on an emtpy stomach with my Thermo and catalyst, then I wait 30 mins before eating. I also have another one in the afternoon as a pick me up instead of coffee.
- If you are a coffee addict or energy drink addict, try switching to spark for a couple of days and see how you FEEL. You'll have more energy that lasts for longer, with vitamins and a mild appetite surpressant. So your blood sugar will be stable and you'll make better choices all day in terms of activities and nutrition. As you can see I'm a fan :).
- oh yeah, this makes the "Top 5"

Rehydrate:
- what's the best way to test a a rehydration product?.......
- Fly to mexico, play in the sun for 8 hours, drink very little water, eat a light dinner, have 5-10 shots of tequila (or hard liqour of choice) until you cannot walk in a straight line, then go home and have a serving of the product before going to bed.
Wake up in the morning and check for any of the following:
- body aches
- head ache
- stomach pain
- joint pain
- low energy
- stiffness
- etc.....
--> I'm happy to report that Rehydrate passed with flying colours and became the staple late night, post party drink for me and my buddies... how else can you sustain 2 weeks of non-stop partying? haha :)
- Ok so moving on to science.....
- L- Argnine and L-Glutamine!!! yay aminos... find me a reydration product that has those?
- 1:1 sodium:potassium ration for optimal inter and intra cellular hydration.
- low glycemic carbs so that you don't drink it have have blood sugar spikes.
- Co-Q10 and L-Glutathione --> both potent anti-oxidants to stave of post exercise free radicals.
- btw, did I mention that this product just tastes amazing?
- If you're a parent, don't be buying your kids sugar laden juices and drinks, give them re-hyrdate, it's cheaper and much much more healthy for them
- I think it's the NFL or some other major league whereby the kegs on the sideline have re-hydrate on the inside, but a massive "gatorade" sign on the outside since Advocare does not Pay for any endorsements.
- I started playing around with rehydrate about 3 months ago and I have to say it does do an awesome job of keeping you hydrated. This in turn helps with appetite control, internal cleansing and weight loss, since if you are sufficiently hydrated, your body will be less reluctant to hold onto it's fat stores.
- Ok, so this is a great addition to your regimen for post workout electcrolyte replacement, which btw, will improve recovery, general drinking etc etc. it's miles ahead of gatorade, powerade and any of that crap - plus it's CHEAPER



Muscle Fuel:

Muscle Gain:

NightTime Recovery:

MNS Max Energy:

Herbal Cleanse, Probiotic Restore and Fiber Drink:

CorePlex and Omega Plex:

Protein Plus Bar:

Weight loss tools: Crave Check, Fibo Trim and Carb Ease


Product Synergy