My bio hacking, is bio lacking.

On this fine day, I make the realization that my summer of very low, watery green vegetables acting as my carbohydrate intake, has ended. As the season changes, it clearly dictates my return to a simpler time: carbohydrate intake. No this does not refer to the standard American fare. Not even a little bit… It relates to much of the opposite. While the summer has turned me into a gratefully carbohydrate clean body, there is still the trouble of living in the world, and being constantly inundated by peoples carbohydrate dreams.

Upon starting school this season, I realized how many moments I dealt with a ridiculous food regimen that didn't go too well last year. Once breakfast in the classroom started, I was daily faced with carbohydrate-laden meals that asked me if I wanted to have coffee cake more days than I care to remember. Then they started serving these energy bars with sesame and sunflower seeds, cranberries, wheat flour and made with honey. It was so sweet that it was barely edible, and yet, I was first in line some days, to eat this thing. 

Anyway, those days are long gone, and I am happy to have seen those days disappear...meanwhile I've made the jump to meals with high amounts of seasoned vegetables...and it is the best thing I think I've ever done.

Meanwhile I can't fool myself into believing that a cauliflower is a potato. Having said that, if you want a potato, have a potato. In fact, you may find you need it just then. But most people do not know how to monitor their consumption, or control their portions, on food that simply tastes good to them. 

The bio "lack" comes in when I know that my body is feeling unwelcomingly tired, and I need more nutrient intake. This is where I need to know where my next food cue is coming from...because the answer may be in my needing to up those carbs, in vegetable form of course, but from starchy vegetables. That still doesn't mean that the flour tortilla you had around your sausage egg and cheese burrito was acceptable for your cheap meal.

Holiday Parties Gotta Get Primal.

Holiday parties in the middle of summer, over an open flame in the barbeque pit, make for excellent primal fodder. Think of all the times of the year when you don't want to increase the internal temperature of your home and you just want to relax with the mesquite in your "grill," pound on the ground with rocks and grunt a bit for your meal...anyway I digress. Labor Day is coming. Seems like a wonderful time to fire up the grill and get the food cooking.

Let's go over some delicious and very nutritious primal ideas for your summer palate. Then let's look ahead to fall, where spooky goblins, pumpkins, turkeys and santas try to bring you every sugared delight imaginable. Makes me think of the sweet and delicious Turkish Delight Edward and Peter would delectably describe in the Chronicles of Narnia. But again, a second digression...

Body Wrestling#3: Supplementation sometimes changes things.

Hi.

I meant to write this blog a long time ago, but my life decided to get a little bit busier than it had originally been. NO lazy summer this year. This has so far been the summer of planning and making money, building my professional skill sets to an all-time high, waking up my ability to understand my world a bit better. I had better be the smartest lady on the planet!

Speaking of smart, let's chat for a bit about supplementation in a dieting biome. I personally find it to be excessively useful, to actually give my body what it needs to optimize the pipes. What could be better than eating this beautifully clean food and giving it an extra log for the flames, than to throw a terrific, fat burning, metabolically high revving supplement on top? Here, let me tell you what I am taking, in addition to my protein and vegetable lifestyle this summer.

My top favorite supplements have so far proven to give me physical advancement on the journey of balance. I'll give the list and then give a breakdown of what I know to be most important to understand about the supplement.

L-Glutamine: This amino acid is the fix-it amino, essential for rebuilding, protecting and strengthening joints, tissues, and improves gut health. It helps the body to repair and recover faster from tough workouts and any past traumatic injury the body has undergone. It's also good for focus, very important for those with an ADHD approach to life, if you know what I'm saying. When you have too much mental activity going on, this one can help. I take 1500 mg per dose, and I don't think about sugar, really at all much anymore. Thank goodness.

BCAA and basic aminos: I've recently just started taking BCAAs in powder form, and let me tell you, it is not delicious by any stretch...but it seems to be integral to muscle recovery and strength boosting. It also helps to prevent fatigue, increase concentration, and prevent loss of muscle mass through catabolism. I take 5000 mgs of powder before and after exercise, with at least a tablespoon of lemon juice, to help it go down.

Beta Alanine: This is a nonessential amino acid produced naturally in the body and works alongside carnosine to allow the muscles to work longer before fatiguing. But you'll want more when you take this supplement and you start to feel the tingly effects of muscle power. For me, it has tremendously improved my strength and endurance gains. When I take correctly, meaning 3200 mgs before and after exercise, it produces a powerful fat burning, leaning out effect. Studies aren't convinced of beta alanine's effectiveness, though they do show beta alanine being most effective when athletes are performing interval-intense activities. Anyway, I feel different when I take them, versus when I don't, versus when I use the ones produced by Labrada Systems, which I so far deem as the best. Meanwhile, beta alanine can be naturally found in meat, fish and poultry. That's one reason I enjoy having some protein before hitting the weight room.

African Mango Seed: African mango is being touted and heralded for weight loss in the fact that it reduces cravings, reduces appetite, stabilizes blood sugar levels, fills up the tummy with a fibrous substance, moves food through faster, assists with metabolic and insulin resistance mechanisms. Other than that, it's a pretty mango from a faraway land...I also notice that in the carb transfer supplement I sometimes take, it is pretty good at keeping me from feeling like eating more carbs, though the white bean may also help with this function, and especially in carb sparing, where all the carbs are not absorbed by the body. That's cool, because I stopped eating the most offensive carbs, though this supplement worked tremendously for me. But then, when I started using this next supplement, I used it instead of the African mango, because the two just seemed too strong together....

Forskohli: I just recently found this Ayurvedic herb this summer. Eastern medicine has much appeal to me, and I think it resonates with the body more readily, especially when you attune yourself to the theory and philosophy. Once you begin using herbs in synergy, they seem to give a much more pleasing effect in the body, with the results you want. With this herb, it is said to break down adipose fatty tissue and prevent fat from forming. It mildly stimulates metabolic processes because of a diterpinoid called forskolin, found in the herb. Since terpine usually denotes a type of oily substance in the herb that promotes an action such as enhanced metabolic activity, and a hydrocarbon usually plays out in being the active component of fossil fuel, one could say that the herb puts one into a hyperstate of fat burning activity. Anyway, I don't feel compelled to use the two together, forskohlii and African mango. 'Nuff said.

CLA: Conjugated linoleic acid is a fatty acid component found primarily in meat and eggs, and some dairy. It always inspires my metabolism to kick up, while acting as a bit of a fat blocker. It supports lean mass and promotes healthy weight loss. It is also said to promote exercise recovery. It may even explain why people lose weight and fat in particular, when increasing our proteins. And when you escape calories and potential allergy inducing substances such as grain products and starchy vegetables, something else CLA can assist with, I'm thinking it's a good thing.

MCT oil: This thermogenic, immune-boosting oil has me buckling at the knees. Although MCTs can only be extracted in a laboratory, putting them together into a bottle and pouring them into your bullets or on a hot skillet for cooking is exceptional and ideal for calorie wasting, higher energy, better mental clarity and performance, and fat loss. Much of the MCT oil is not even used by the body! It sounds to me, magical indeed.

Body Wrestling, part two: Food Feeling.

     Greens and proteins....animals and grasses. That is all anyone needs. I know. I've just used a form of subjective fallacy, and offended a lot of vegans. Yet and still, I persevere in this idea of ancestral eating being closest to our unique DNA structure. Lately. Though can I really say this is accurate anymore if I also claim that we can change the structure of our DNA? Look at how my writing changes between part one and two because of a little green intake, and now, protein.

     Over the course of the past hour, I have been slowly loading food. I've taken one supplement and I'm on my second cup of coffee (since before returning to slumber for a bit longer). I am taking careful stock in how food moves me. We as a society are far too involved in how food makes us feel. We are often looking for extreme, euphoric sensation from our food. But how about if we took it a little further and allowed the food to move us, but through healthy means? Bottom line in my body is that food is a Shamanic experience and possibly a tool for self realization when used with intention. White flour and sweet desserts are a whole different intention in itself. And also, if form follows function, we have to look at the reasons why a food is the way it is, why it is eaten, what benefits are obtained, and why they are important (or not so important).

     When I eat_______, it makes me feel like ________. I use this sentence frame repeatedly, in the effort to think closely about each bite. So here's my recent one.

When I eat high amounts of greens, it make feel clean as a whistle.
When I eat high animal proteins, I feel sated and clear.
When I eat erythritol, it runs through me like a freight train.
When I eat white flour, it makes me feel like a big sack of lumpy coal in the freezer.
When I drink coffee, I feel neurally stimulated and sharp.
When I eat sugar, I feel foggy and muddy, like a dull blade.
When I don't eat for more than six hours, I feel hollow, empty, and super lean.
When I don't eat for six or more hours, I start feeling giddy and silly, light and floaty. But NOT HUNGRY.

     So this not hungry phenomenon started to make me think I had something going on with my thyroid, as this was accompanied by some minor symptoms...but I found almost all of the symptoms to some small degree. I have since scheduled an appointment with the doc to get a Thyroid blood panel done. As the thyroid hormone goes, it does not suggest it will show it as less than normal. That's common.
     Meanwhile the thyroid really could use some extra thyroxine, to make sure a goiter doesn't form, if it can be helped. So far I have been very blessed, as well as just smart, because I take care of the bugger. Looks also like I've kicked my ghrelin addiction, and possibly my leptin resistance, as I see my body leaning out. But really, again, sensations, sensations, and more sensations rock our world as we sense our way through our food and its effects. I'm gonna say that I'm experiencing more of the Low Carb Flu, and less of an actual issue with my endocrine system, as I am producing some kickass workouts. I should talk about thyroid hormone and the endocrine system in another blog.

     What's funny is that I haven't been feeling hungry, no matter what I do. I'm just not feeling hungry. I just eventually feel the need to consume, and then I do. I don't have many cravings anymore for anything. It's fascinating how, after dropping grain carbs and really oatmeal and brown rice (because those were the only carbs I was allowing myself to have for two weeks), I only craved them for like two days. After that, done. The cravings were gone. I had a craving for erythritol and stevia for a moment, but that seems to have subsided as well. L-Glutamine helped me tremendously with that, which we will discuss in part three.

Body wrestling to greatness. Gotta Do this in Parts...#1

     The time is about 1:44p, as I restlessly stumble sideways through my kitchen, blurring past my teapot, while reaching backwards to hit the on button. I realize that I've had a rough morning, rough night, rough week. My teenage dreams of joining the army suddenly pop into my head, having passed the ASVAB but not pushing forward (because mom said no). But I was up at 4am!! Yes, but I could hardly see straight enough to be awake. Driving was an interesting option for the morning...imagine having to eat in five minutes, five mile run, and do five hundred push-ups immediately in the cold air of the morning. Sounds refreshing! So does sleeping, in that cold air...

     I like life rough, to some extent. Maybe it would have done me well to have gone into the service. I've taken easy for granted too long. It's not always the best when people have an easy life, because they never learn how to triumph through adversity. Here's where dieting starts to make sense to me again, for the first time in years, and why I've resisted for so long.

     I lumber over to the refrigerator door, and I reach in. I find a bowl of fried kale I made yesterday. Having made this my cover photo, I ate some and put it away. I'm very grateful for having done this, as lunch meets my lips. After heating up my big bowl of greens, I stumble over to my flip flops, preparing to head downstairs to find my earphones and begin my binaural beat session. I type blogs, connect with friends and clients, create documents and work on my Huna lessons before heading to my workout with partners. I gotta plan my contribution to the session. With all of us having a goal to meet, plus a necessary stretch session, today will prove to be long and potentially injurious to participants!

     Still needing to have some caffeine and some protein (gotta have my eins), I decide to start typing because I want to document this feeling I'm having. I started a food chronicle so I could blather on about what food does in me, and maybe in someone who's reading this, and to just monitor my progress. At this moment, my stomach feels nice and hollow after being up for several hours on only coffee with cream, and back to sleep, awakening and having my greens. I'm noticing how surprisingly awake and fresh I feel, despite a little stumbling.

     Since I am devoid of grain carbs or even root vegetable carbs at this point, I am naturally inducing my body into ketonic states of fat adaptation. In order to joggle the body, sometimes you must do some crazy things, or go to some length, to force it into submission. I think that everything I do to my body adapts quickly, except for some things that change the structure and function of my energy, and how I output. But somehow I am pushing right through this phase and into some measurable success. The scale hasn't moved incredibly much, though my leanness factor is definitely improving. I'm taking serious strides to create nutritional deficits in ways I hadn't previously explored, and taking new supplements as well.

Visit part two to read on.

Eating Right is a Full time Job.

Proper nutrition and home cooked meals deserve a salary of its own. With the fast food industry taking over our minds and waistlines, we need some recourse over the out-of-control healthy meal energy deficit our country is experiencing, and we have to do something to slow the downhill slide. It's time to do something about it, sometimes slowly, but surely.

It took me awhile for example, to get my head back in the game of buying food and getting in that kitchen. But I want my body and mind to be right, so I do everything I can, to make sure mealtimes at home happen. This includes not getting coerced into too many restaurant meals. After all, unless you have quite a lot of money to spend, both eating out and meals in don't often work due to the expense. It's often one or the other.

It makes for a lonely world. Sure I don't see my friends or family often, due to spending every available minute in the kitchen, but I'm skinny! No seriously, in order to be "skinny," I have to eat at home. Otherwise, every cupcake that wasn't nailed down, I'd probably consume. End of story.

So lately I've been able to break my addiction to shoveling excessive carbs down my Throat. So here's the truth: you really can't eat fats and grains in the same day, not the kind of luxurious fats I would load with in the morning. I see that life is low fats with grains, or high fats with no carbs. Yes, I'm currently on as low as I can. Really it's because there just isn't a reason for grains...not anymore. There are way too many poorly  processed ones. 

Let's go back to the Kitchen with this conversation. So because of my need to eat at home, I have to plan, shop, prep, and produce. I have been invited to so many events including a wedding to which I wondered, "how will this affect my food and training schedule?" I mean really, food and training has always consumed my life, but with this current goal, it has become more all consuming.

And then let's not even ponder what food plan to follow. Since I last blogged in Chronicles, I've done everything from Pescetarian to Warrior to carb cycling to crowding out with heavy roughage intake to 70% fruitarian to giving up and junking out on refined flours, deciding that there were some treats like burritos that I was unwilling to give up. But now I have decided that no craving is worth my health and figure. Especially not flour...or wheat, the evil thing.

My latest mealtime prep has consisted of proteins and veggies. I'm coming up with every version I can think of. So far this week, I've had bacon burgers and salad, bacon and cauliflower, cottage cheese, high protein low carb and sugar free cakes made with almond flour, Spanish "rice," eggs and avocados, avocado grasshopper shakes with avocado, cacao nibs, and DoTerra peppermint essential oil, pork loin with snow peas and bean sprouts, broiled baked chicken with cucumber nutribullets. Really I haven't had much of a desire to consume grains. I imagine that if there be a time soon where I want a grain, I'll carefully journal and examine my reasons why. To be ultra thoughtful of our food intake plays an important role in our food destiny. What we think about today, affects tomorrow.

I stand by my current justified choices but then I'm seeing a result. This means I continue pushing at all costs. Hopefully I can be some form of role model who set the precedent for you in your quest for greater physical results.

Vegas Doesn't do Bulletproof.

Alas, my efforts to stay on point with Bulletproof philosophy has somewhat failed me in a rather sizable way. Or shall I say, I allowed Bulletproof to slide while on our vacation. What would I have done? Packed my French press and a quarter pound of coffee? The only reason why this may work out either in my favor or while breaking even, is because the time spent in Vegas, and the amount of food we even ate was minimal.

Anyway...

Who fasts while in Vegas??!?? ...I kind of did.

It wasn't really my intention. But I sort of just didn't eat. I don't know exactly why, but it seemed to be the thing to do. I mean after all, we weren't there to ruin our girlish and boyish figures, but instead to have fun. And right in the midst of learning to do a new thing with my fasting, was not the proper time to even come to Vegas. So I made the best of it. I also made a new decision to find a similar stride next time, as the food options at the Luxor were slim pickings.

Since being on a grass-fed regimen, I realized I had one of several choices: I could pack my meals from home, freezing and precooking my meats and metering out everything,  I could buy some ready-to-eat foods like almonds, nut butter, protein powder, fruit and jerky, or I could be subjected to the dreaded monster food breakfasts, lunches and dinners at both fast food and sit-down dinner restaurants. This was my dilemma, to which had a simple fix: Don't eat until 2p and then don't eat unless you're hungry, eat snacks I bought from the store before getting on the road, and most of all, if you buy a sandwich and it doesn't for some reason hit the spot, you know that your mind and thoughts do not have to be centered around food, in order to have a good time.

I ended up having a rather uninteresting beefsteak sandwich of only half I chose to eat. The next day I had a chicken sandwich and a coffee. That was it. Earlier that day I had apples and almonds. I guess I ended up substituting my food calories out for a little alcohol. The great thing about alcohol and food consumption is, I get to choose what, how much of it, and when.