The world is full of propaganda about anything that is important in the world, food is no exception, this makes it very difficult for the average person to really understand what they should eat.
I believe that Darwin’s theory of evolution holds true in the face of evidence found over the years and that it helps to clarify what kind of diet we should be eating and the lifestyle we should be living.
Nutrition
Human beings have been around for around 200,000 years. Agriculture has been around for the last 10,000 years and modern society has really been around for about 100 years or 4 generations. The human body is designed to support the lifestyle of a pre industrial and probably a pre agricultural age. The amount of change in the average persons diet and lifestyle even in the last 50 years is incredible. So my guiding principle on how to live a long and healthy life is the following
The least ingredients consumed at once the better
Once a caveman killed a wildebeest do you suppose he then went to go find a cranberry bush to mash into a compote and then find vegetables and then some fruit to finish things off? I would claim that he didn’t do that and for 190,000 years he didn’t do that so do you suppose the human digestive system would work better with his diet or ours where a can of sauce contains over 10 ingredients combined with another 3 items and then washed down with a soda etc etc.
Eat food in the approximate quantities found in Nature
Sugar fats and starchy grains are not a problem in themselves the problem is with the quantity of them that we can consume now due to the industrial age. For example 1 can of coke contains 4 times the sugar of 1 apple. There are some less obvious conclusions that this brings for instance grains and milk would not form a large part of a caveman’s diet but it does form a large part of ours.
Packaged food – “Adding Value” to food means more processing
The complex foods that come from the supermarket with 10 or 20 ingredients each if you then use them in a meal you could easily be eating 20-30 different items in one meal than may have gone through a huge number of processes. I think the average caveman would struggle to prepare in his cave. The more you process an ingredient (cook or manipulate it) the more you loose the nutrient content.
Exercise
The lifestyle of the average office worker is not quite the same as that of the caveman. A lot of us sit around at work and some get RSI and then sit around at home. We are designed to be active this is why massage, yoga , weight training, running etc can have a good effect on your health.
Spirit
Cavemen lived a simple life sleep, forage, eat, sit, cave paint, look at the stars, shit and fornicate. The only times when they would be stressed would be imminent danger like a lion etc and then they were in put into a state of “stress” or otherwise known as fight or flight mode. “Fight or flight” mode gives a boost to the senses and strength and speed. After that the caveman was either killed by the lion or escaped or killed it. Assuming the caveman wasn’t eaten he would then retire to his cave and participate again in some star gazing , fornicating or whatever and then sleep.
Modern living though involves deadlines and a range of confrontations every day. What this does is put our body into a state of stress” or otherwise known as fight or flight mode. The state of stress is supposed to be temporary a state unfortunately modern living can cause this state on a semi permanent basis. Exercise such as yoga or to a lesser extent having a bath, weight training or swimming can bring your body out of the fight or flight mode. There is much more to this it is explained really well in a book that I read that I will find someday.
I believe that it is important for most people to use testosterone in stressful activities from time. It is good for my soul. The best activities I find for this that I practice are rock climbing and mixed martial arts training and sparing. I also believe that there is an innate calming enriching effect from being with nature be it near the sea or in the country this in part explains my current passion with gardening and the outdoors in general.
Mixed Martial Arts sparring (struggling to find the time for this)
I like rock climbing but its hard to get out in Melbourne
I have been using MBT shoes at work for the last 3 years to improve posture and strengthen my back and I find they are very effective
I eat a mainly vegetarian diet I am currently exploring what I need to do stay healthy and strong as a vegan – it is a big topic. I did a blog entry on this , did you know Carl Lewis was vegan?
I love green vegetables and try to include them in every meal. I eat less starchy carbohydrates than I used to and also I don’t eat much meat.
My Health
I am in good health am pretty strong and healthy
My One outstanding Medical problem
Currently I am getting migraines and I keep a record of all occurrences on a blog. I have tried a number of things to fix them including massage and chiropractic assistance. I have just seen a doctor that specializes in chinese methods he is convinced my liver is under performing and that is the cause of my headaches. I should know if it works in a month or two
Bad Back – fixed
About 4 years ago I was having trouble with injuries and back troubles since then I have taken up Iyenga yoga and bought MBT shoes this has sorted out my bad back. I have a very strong back and am very supple now.
RSI – Carpal tunnel Syndrome – fixed
This was very concerning for me when my doctor told me I had to give up my day job otherwise I wouldn’t be able to lift up a cup with my right arm. After that I then followed a painful scour of the internet and ended up trying a few things one of them was Cure Carpel Tunnel Syndrome without Surgery . I followed the step by step approach and my arm was fully fixed after a few months. I also took the opportunity to learn to touch type properly (which helps to prevent the pain from building up)
————————————————————————————————–
RELATED BLOG POSTS BELOW
————————————————————————————————–
Theres a big thing in Australia about growing Native plants. I have to say I think its overated and after out chat in the royal botanical gardens in Castlemaine about what plants we know well are “native” I realized that a number of plants I thought were native to the UK were not includeing the apple. The only native widely eaten food I could think of was macadamias. So it got us thinking about where mist of the plants we eat originate.
Tomato- south America Lemon – Asia
Orange – Asia
Strawberry – north America
Capsicum – America
Wheat – ottoman empire
Rice – Asia
Maize – America
Rasberry – Eastern Europe
Almonds, figs, peach – asia
Garlic – central asia
Potato – south America Watermemon – south Africa
Capsicum – south America Apple – Asia
Cucumber- India
I have been having trouble with my eyes for about 3 years
Dry eyes
A scratch on my left eye that won’t heal
A red mark on my nose near my eye
Headaches / right eye pain
I had a bad week with my eyes playing up and I decided to have a go at seeing if this problem could be caused by nutrient deficiencies. So I am embarking on a 1 month course of supplements to see if they can fix it
Vitamin A
Vitamin B6
Cod liver oil
Mens multi (including magnesium and potassium)
Carrot Juice
I’ll do a follow up post in a month
Background
About 2 years ago I bought a coca cola in a bar and drank from glass forgetting there was a straw in the glass. It hurt like hell , everyone I was with thought it was hilarious. I have to admit if had been someone else I too would have found it hilarious. A month later I woke up in agony holding my eye.
What followed was $600 is specialist bills to be told I have a corneal erosion in the eye I scratched. What was happening was that the scratch was not healing and sticking to my eyelid causing it to tear when I woke up. My eyes are also very dry I believe the scratch not healing and the dryness are related for this reason I am trailing supplements to see if it may be caused by a nutrient deficiency.
I was motivated to write this after a friend showed me the video below. Have you ever watched a competitive aerobic competition? No well maybe you should. In tight lycra and big moustache those boys are having so much fun!
All this talk of dance reminds me of the post I wrote a long while about the Melbourne Shuffle (a melbourne dance move that involves a shiny floor and lots of talc) which is worth checking out.
Also did you know that Pumping Iron the video about Arnold Swarzennegger competing in Mr Olympia (prior to any of his film work) was all on yourtube. It is really good – you don’t have to like gyms to like this. It is really interesting. I saw this movie at a music festival once and was riveted. Arnie is playing mind games with the competitors and he is sooo cocky, a real smart arse and has some good one liners. It opens with him taking ballet lessons.
I was recently listening to an interview with Canadian filmmaker Brent Leung has released a film called house of numbers about HIV / AIDS on the Lew Rockwell Show. The film is called House of numbers and the interview blew my mind. The filmaker started making a film about aids and through the course of making the film discovered that the scientific knowledge on what is HIV and what is AIDS is far from the homogeneous. Some well respected scientist even question if HIV exist at all.
The scientist that won the Nobel prize for discovering the HIV virus claims in the movie that HIV / AIDS can be cured by a naturally healthy immune system! At its heart is a focus on numbers (as the name suggests) and the film rips into a number of the huge numbers that a talked bout around HIV / AIDS. Probably have a look at the trailer below and listen to the podcast for more details.
I was listening to the Survival Podcast today and Jack mentioned in passing that vitamin C when used in very doses has been shown hugely reduce cold turkey for heroin addicts and also prevent the heroin high from heroin and had amazing results in getting people off smack and cocaine.
Its a really interesting video
The scientist also talks about vitamin C and its health benefits when used in large quantities. Did you know the RDA for vitamin C for chimps is 60 times that for humans? I didn’t. Theres quite a few interesting things there.
I am a pretty healthy individual however in the last couple of years I have develeoped a few chronic health problems
Dry eyes
Sore eyes
Headaches that can last 3-4 days and put me in a bad mood (I think casued by painfull eyes)
Hot flushes in the afternoon
The headaches are made worse through doing headstands and handstands
Corneal errosion – I scratched my eye a year ago and it still hasn’t healed. The eye specialist reckons I may just have to live with it.
I am not content to “live” with theses symtoms anymore and have declared war on my ailments. I am going try everything I can think of to get rid of this (apart from stopping work on a computer)
My Hypothisis
Overworked Liver and maybe spleen
causing chemical inbalances and dehydration that is
casuing a lack of nutrients getting to my eyes which is
causing pain in my eyes
casusing my preloged headaches (migranes)
The Plan
Action 1 – Medical doctor (Got prescribed sandamigraine for my headaches which I stopped taking after a while because it wasn’t a cure just a way to reduce the symptoms)
Action 2 - Chinese Doctor I- I had acupuncture and some herbal remidies. 5 weeks into it I had a bad bought of headaches and nasty eyes. He suggested that the cause is most likely my liver speen and the herbs were to treat my eyes and liver. It is possible the reoccurence could have been due to a few beers that during a couple of days. However it was not the “miracle cure” I had hoped for so I decided I would try to sort it out myself.
Action 3 -The Liver Cleansing Diet I have been banging on about doing a fast or the liver cleansing diet for ages. I was winging about my headaches at work and saying how I was going to do a fast at some point and caught myself being pathetic. At this point I added to my todo list to get hold of the liver cleansing diet. At this time I have been strictly on the liver cleansing diet for 2 weeks. I have also been pretty free of booze (1 glass of wine and 2 beers).
Action 4 – My corneal errosion played up on the weekend. As a result I hit the internet again and found out that magnesium and zinc contribute to healthy eyes and depending upon the performance of your body your ability to metabolize these minerals can be reduced. For this reason I changed my hypothosis to
bad liver / speen
causing reduced minereal absorption causing mineral deficiency
causing bad eyes
For this reason I thought it worth taking some suppliments I have been on berroca for now 3 days and currently my eyes are not actually dry (exciting)
There are lots of websites out there that claim that it is easy for vegans to be strong and healthy. This is a lie. It actually requires a bit of thought and planning.
On my research it looks like it is possible to be pretty strong and health being vegan although it takes more thought. There have been a few bodybuilders in the past that have been vegan including Robie Hazely. Below is a video of successful vegan sports people
Most vegan body builders I’ve seen on my browse around the internet are not that big. It is a bit hard to compare though as I would expect most vegan bodybuilders wouldn’t take steroids as steroids contain meat products. This guy was the biggest on the video he’s called Andreas Cahling from Sweeden
My diet is almost vegetarian and I am concerned that I may be lacking enough protein and nutrition to keep me strong and healthy.
If you are vegetarian you are more at risk of deficiencies caused by a lack of fats and B12 and can find it hard to put on muscle (because its not a straight forward as just eating a ton of eggs and chicken) the 2 articles below are from vegan bodybuilders.
http://www.veganstrength.org/articles/vegan-strength-getting-big-and-strong/ A melbourne based organisation that has good advice on eating for strength training
There is a really interesting blog about nutrition and veganism called Jack Norris
This video has nothing to do with vegan bodybuilding but it is to do with strength I saw it whilst researching this article. It is nuts its called “insane feats of strength”
My eye has been giving me grief again. I went to see a specialist about three months ago and he told me I have a “corneal erosion”. Basically it like a scab on my eye that keeps sticking to my eyelid and slows dow the repair. Using thick eye lubricant on my eye before I go to bed helps although sleeping on my right side (as it is my left eye with teh erosion) it has been playing up recently and I was doing a bit of research looking into eye health and this is what I found “Taking a vigorous walk for at least a half hour can temporarily reduce discomfort and pressure in the eyes.“
also recommend
“Blend until smooth: Serves one.
1 cup of skim or soy milk 1 dash of cinnamon 3 ice cubes 1 tablespoon flax seed oil 1 tablespoon lecithin granules 2 level scoops of vanilla or chocolate whey protein powder
1/2 banana or 1 cup of fresh fruit (mangoes, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, peaches, etc.)“ full article
I have been on a mini mission this last 5 months. Everytime I have been at a supermarket I have been looking for decent pickled onions and pickled beetroot. It is hard to find in Melbourne.
I have too major gripes with the pickles I have come accross.
1. They ask to be refridgerated after opening because .. (point 2) They do not contain any vinegar! (Instead sugar water and food acid)
I thought the whole point of pickling was to preserve said food and I also niavly expected pickled onions or beatroot to contain vinegar. Last week picked my own. I’d reccomend this as it only took me about half an hour to make 6 jars. (below is one)
Food acid is in so much stuff.
For instance it is in the “peters” lemon “Icy pole”. I was eating one of these a while back and read the label.
“All Natrual ingredients” then the ingredients read on the Nestle website it says
“
Key nutritional benefits
99% fat free
Gluten free
All natural colours and flavours
“ What’s in an icy pole then? “Water, sugar, food acid, natural colouring, natural flavouring”
I had two questions about this 1. How is “food acid” natural 2. How can a lemon icy pole with all natural ingredients contain no lemon???? Was lemon juice one of the “natural flavourings” on the ingredient list?
I called the nestle number on the packet to ask for more details. They could not tell me what food acid was. When I asked what was the “natural flavourings” I was told that this was a trade secret and if other companies knew then they would be at a competitive disadvantage. So it doesn’t take an Einstein to work out that these lemon icy poles have never been anywhere near a lemon.
They are the most comfortable shoes I have every had and they are improving my posture. However the shoelaces busted up prematurely. I just got a call from Peter Shepheard to let me know thah the replacements have come in and they are putting them in the post
Tomato- south America
Lemon – Asia
Watermemon – south Africa
Apple – Asia
Comments on this entry are closed.