What Makes You Eat More Food?

Some interesting articles from Time magazine, the first of which is a photo essay aimed at resolving this question (with my £0.02 in braces):

1. Time of Day (habit is 'blamed', but what of those of us who eat as directed by hunger?)
2. Sight (which I guess is related to cephalic phase insulin secretion)
3. Variety (not sure how this ties in with the fact that I regularly eat a LOT of my favourite foods)
4. Smell (again related to cephalic phase insulin secretion)
5. Alcohol (although the traditionally lean French seem to mix wine with food successfully)
6. Temperature ("heat is a satiety signal" apparently, and I am not sure how this ties in with obesity in warmer parts of the globe like the Arab states)
7. Refined carbs (in particular I stick to the mantra to "NEVER eat 'food' that goes well with chocolate/sugar!")

A further article concerns the science of appetite which concludes with the concept of 'sensory-specific satiety' and comes with this caution:

• "If you overload on one thing—say, the heavy dose of meats that the low-carbohydrate Atkins plan recommends—you're going to crave the sweet or crunchy or doughy experience of the fruits and breads you're forbidden"

I don't know much about Atkins' diet, but fresh veg has all the texture I desire.  As for the 'doughy' stuff - it makes me feel lethargic.  Sugar in general, if I hit the sugar button at lunchtime, the afternoon becomes a lethargic doze-fest.  Still, at least the wo/men in white coats are looking beyond the 'eat less, do more' paradigm.

Finally, after mangling the relationship between obesity and the laws of thermodynamics, Caroline Sayre climbs aboard the carbohydrate wagon, just as it departs the Paleo-station.  (I suspect the existence of a return ticket.)

Strength Workout

Summer is nearly over and my me-time has been limited. I snatched 45 minutes to churn out a quick workout.

Warm Up (5 minutes)
Main (40 minutes).
1. Stairgators (1)
2. Barefoot Sprinting (1x10s, 1x10s, 1x10s)
3a. MU to Ring Routine (3, 3, 3)
3b. Pistols (assisted: 8, 8, 8)
4a. Scissor Splits (2L, 2R, 2C)
4b. Planche (20s, 20s, 20s)
5. Golfers Elbow Drumstick Rotation (10)
6. Barefoot Kill Carry (1)
7. 321 (All 4 down the rung sizes)

I ramped up the pistols and boy am I feeling it! I also cycled the exercises (shown by 'a' and 'b' notation), so that I had a good rest in between sets and to keep myself busy throughout.  The 321 stuff was embedded in the workout.

The pistols were killer!

DM in Action

Another Danny MacAskill gem.  This one is not his new release Industrial Revolutions (good as it is), but an awesome add for Volkswagen (which gets uber-awesome at the 30s mark).

Quinsy ME

 Bloody tonsilitis.  Not had it for a few years (since Feb 2009), but I am clearly susceptible to it.  I picked up a dose last week that has metamorphosed in to a quinsy (as it did last time).  Really.  Fucking. Painful.

It came towards the end of last week and peaked this weekend.  And when I say 'peaked' I mean it was like trying to swallow sharpened glass whilst someone punched me in the neck whilst someone else set about my left ear with a screwdriver, whilst undergoing brain surgery without anaesthetic. 

Three days of fasting seemed to kick it largely in to touch and it migrated from deep in the throat to the back of the mouth.  I thought I was on the road to recovery but last night it flared up again.  I wasn't sure whether to keep with the fasting and trust in my ability to 'self-heal' or whether to go 'neo'. 

I recall that I fixed myself last time, but this time, due to last nights flare-up, antibiotics won through.  I'd got a prescription from the doc' yesterday morning and we agreed I'd give it a bit more time before I cashed in the prescription.

Byut hell, I really don't want to got through any more suffering.  What do they say, this is NOT about paleo re-enactment.  Hell yeah to THAT.

Two days off work has allowed me to refocus on my training plan.  I have hit quite a few RMs (HSPUs being a good example), of late, but not made much progress on my planche or DL.  I am going to put a bit more of a drive on these.

Once the craziness of summer is over I will effect this plan.  In the meantime I am going to roll with it.  Train when I can.  And get well soon.

Not So Fast

One of my triggers to follow a paleo principle was the 'hunger shakes'.  I'd be cramming toast, fruit and nuts in to my mouth as I cooked the evening meal.  'Paleo' put paid to all that.  Soon I was able to skip meals.  No shakes, nothing.  Something had changed within me.  And yet at all times prior to going paleo I was lean an reasonably muscular.

I'd be tempted to say that fasting is an important part of being lean.  Allowing hormonal patterns and various metabolic activities to exploit their full range of variability - prompting us to 'go hunt'.  But the ability to fast came AFTER removal of the three horsemen (or possibly the reintroduction of meat and animal fat).

Everyone must be aware of the recent dramatic events in the paleosphere (Perfect Health Diet also has a great contribution).Everyone seems to be holding a piece of the jigsaw, but the overall picture is far from clear. 

But the biggest problem for the rest of us is which way do we go?  We cannot wait for science to direct us, we need to make decisions NOW.  We want to do no harm. 

Me? I am keeping it 'black box'.  Eat and live close to the ground.  Follow your paleo compass.  Halve your plate, fill half with meat and half with veg.  Emphasise seasonal elements.  Go hungry then eat until full.  KISS.

The Pilosophy Behind Your Habitat Should Be Your Biology

Here is wisdom:

• “In the old days when they designed houses here, nothing about the animal would be taken into consideration,” he says.
  “Now the inspiration for the design comes from the animal itself. We looked at elephants and biologically how they are programmed, what behaviours we wanted to maximise and what they do in the wild – and we created an environment where they could do all those in the zoo situation.”

 

 

 

Concrete Circus

Channel 4 are pimping out their summer schedule with some urban adventure and performance of the highest quality.  Readers of this blog will certainly be familar with Danny McAskill:

• A new generation of the very best urban sports stars are teaming up with incredible young film-makers. Together they've produced stunning films that have captured the attention - and the imagination - of tens of millions of viewers.
  For the very first time, Concrete Circus, directed by Mike Christie (Jump London, Inside Incredible Athletes), brings together five of the world's best street sport talents and their amazing film-makers.
  Their recent films have it all: beauty, danger, jaw-dropping action, and - between them - nearly 50 million online views. They are: urban trial-rider phenomenon Danny McAskill; skateboarding virtuoso Kilian Martin; Storm Freerun's Blue with extraordinary 19-year-old parkouriste Phil Doyle (who are joined for an impressive cameo by the incredible pakour/skater Mathieu Ledoux); and, last but not least, BMX flatlander Keelan Phillips. This feature-length documentary follows each team as they set about making a brand new film here in the UK with their film-makers (Stu Thomson, Brett Novak, Claudiu Voicu and Kendy Ty). The premire of the four new films forms the centrepiece of the documentary.

 It airs on Channel 4 on Monday 15th August at 2100hrs.  If the trailer is anything to go by, this is going to be awesome!

Camping!

Just spent a weekend camping with the family.  Being outdoors really changes the family dynamic.  It is easy to berate younger members of the tribe for causing a mess.  I hear myself telling them to put stuff away and to leave other stuff alone.  It must be tough for them that not only I have they spent their whole life listening to me telling them what to do, but now I seem to nag them.

After a life of instruction it is no wonder they can tune me out.  Thus it is no surprise that I have to repeat what I say time and again.  Living in a tent is NOT enough to change this dynamic, but once we step on to the hill or in to the woods everything changes.

There are to toys to theirs to get in my way.  There is nothing of mine for them to trash (we're talking the 'Goirdon Smith Custom' here).  There is no mess to cause.  If they want to pick up a stick and play with it, that is fine.  There is nowhere to 'put it back'.  They are only limited by their curiosity and we can run, jump, climb and splash as we want.  No need to nag.

Awesome.

The dynamics of the modern house seem set up to cause tensions that really do not feature in the wilds!  Why we are at it, I notice that parts of the media are once again trying to convince us that our body is a white box.  It isn't, it is a black box.  Our health is NOT balanced on a pin-head.  Seek evolutionary drivers.

Strength Phase2 W/O2

Warm Up (5 minutes)
Main (40 minutes).
1a. ME Leg PRess (Work up to 6 sets of one rep) - Full stack 260kg
1b. RLLs
1c. ME One Arm Lowers (6 sets off each arm)
2. DE Medicine Ball Throws (5kg for 6 sets of 2)
3. Back Bridge (15s, 15s, 15s)
4. Reverse DB Wrist Curls (10, 10)

Bamboo Bike

Slow food, foraging, straw-bale building and autonomous housing, silvaculture/permaculture, traditional skills and crafts - all are areas of 'green' interest for me.  Looks like I can add a new item to that list, bamboo engineering.

Strength Phase2 W/O1

Rather than breaking these routines down by week, I have allowed them to drift over more than a week.  This is part auto-regulation and part trying to fit working out in to my life at the moment.

Warm Up (5 minutes)
Main (40 minutes).
1. Barefoot Sprinting (1x10s, 1x10s, 1x10s, 1x10s)
2. DE Fast MU to Ring Routine (1x1, 1x1, 1x2)
3. Stairgators (1x1, 1x1, 1x2)
4. Scissor Splits (2, 2, 3)
5. Golfers Elbow Drumstick Rotation (10, 10)
6. Barefoot Kill Carry (1)
7. 321 (All 4 down the rung sizes)

Popcorn

I have spent some time compiling a list of useful films and videos that you can find by following the 'Popcorn' link above.  If anyone has any further recommendations then please let me know and I will add them to the list.