May 23, 2010

Get Mobile……Be RAD

Speaking of fuzz……

Unhappy backs

In the past, it’s been hard for me to get clients to iron out their posture unless they’ve got a good toolbox for daily, effective release of stubborn connective tissue.

Opening up the breath capacity is typically the place we start, with work to get extension back in the thoracic spine.  That means straightening up in the spine in the ribcage are so the lungs can expand properly.

Easier said than done.

We used to use foam rollers.  A 4-inch foam roller can be a good tool to start loosening up spines that have been locked into flexion from years of desk typing, or cycling, or whatever.  Mostly effective, but didn’t quite do the trick.

Then, we started taping tennis balls together, but that got old quick, and it was never exact enough to get the job done right.  Too squishy, not precise enough, and on down the line.

Eventually, after seeing that basically every-single-person-in-the-whole-damn-world needed some kind of work with thoracic mobility, we decided to just step in and develop a tool to do the job right;

Enter the RAD Roller; Keep reading →

April 29, 2010

Dealing With Your Fuzz?

This is straight up jacked from Crossfit SF, but it’s just such a strong point that it needs a bigger audience!

I LOVED this video. I’ve been in a number of anatomy labs, seen my fair share of cadavers, but this is something that you usually don’t see because the cadavers are almost always prepared in advance.  The pertinent structures are always exposed, and they don’t treat the fascia as an actual structure to be looked at and thought about in itself.

You watched the video right?  Are you dealing with your daily fuzz?

Foam rolling?  Stretching?  yoga?

I know I usually roll around in bed for a minute before I get rolling, but I also know that there are definite areas that I don’t get on a daily basis, and every once in a while I’ve got to have ‘em beaten out by a massage therapist.  Ellen deals with the fuzz if I don’t.   You can always take the massage therapist route, but it’s better to empower yourself and deal with the issue head on, at your own level.

But back on track here.  You don’t need to go into crazy yoga poses to deal with what builds up on a daily basis.  All you need to do is see that each joint gets to go through its full range of motion at least once per day.  A lot of us go days without even raising our arms above our heads!

Personally, I like to take some time every day to roll around the carpet, stretch out, and just let go of all the daily tension.  Deal with my ‘fuzz’ that is.   Deacon, our household ruffian, does this about 35 times per day;

Deacon deals with his Fuzz on an hourly basis

Roll the shoulders around, do some upward dogs, a few full squats, neck circles……..don’t forget the feet and lower legs too.

You get the idea…….Take a little time to deal with your fuzz tonight, and every other night.

March 21, 2010

Grain Free Meals; A Simple How-to

Duck Breast

Nevermind the Gluten, Here's Duck

It’s come to my attention that most people don’t actually know how to go gluten free.  I’ve gotten so used to it that I forget the challenges some people face in changing their lifestyle.

Changing over is quite easy if you have enough healthy, satiating alternatives to fill the void.  The shift comes with adding in other, more health giving foods into the mix while you consciously drop gluten.

Most folks who are having trouble with keeping sugar, gluten, or grains in general out of the diet aren’t eating enough protein and fat. Switching primary energy sources from carbohydrates to fat will stabilize your energy and mood, without offending the gut.

When you remove a huge source of carbohydrates in the diet, like that pasta beneath you’re chicken, you need to up the chicken, veggies, and maybe the most important; fat.  Here’s my cheesy artistic rendition of the usual meal I see in a diet log.  Low protein, low fat, hardly any vegetable, and the bulk of the energy coming from a cheap and nutritionally inadequate grain.

The standard american plate;

Thinking differently about meal planning is the way to start.  You need three basic things to make a well proportioned meal;

Protein…….The easy one.  Pick anything; chicken, beef, pork,lamb, fish, shrimp, etc., etc……Your protein source is the best bang for the buck as far as spending.  Since this is the most nutrient dense part of a meal, make sure it’s wild, organic, and all that jive.  If you have to choose, spend the extra for organic HERE.

Carbohydrates……….Go green, go big, or go home.  Fill up half the plate with broccoli.  Put butter on it.  Make it fun and add seasonings as necessary.  Green vegetables get a bad rap because most people don’t put much more effort into ‘em besides putting bland steamed vegetables on a plate. Booooooring.  I make big huge salads with homemade dressing.  I add feta cheese and bacon bits.  I love ‘em!  Get creative and aim for every meal.

Fats………. Add fats, liberally.  Butter, olive oil, avocado, coconut oil, nut butters, whatever.  Fat is an amazing slow burning energy energy source that doesn’t spike insulin (aka fat storing molecules), and it’s the main satiating element in a meal.  If you’re hungry a couple hours after eating a meal, chances are you didn’t eat enough fat in the first place.  Don’t make this very common mistake!  I tend to gravitate towards fattier cuts of meat in the first place, which fill me up and don’t leave me needing starchy carbohydrates for energy.

Check out this chart.  This is the starting point for tweaking.  Half the plate is vegetables, 1/3 is protein, and the fat is variable, but always there in good quantity.

Make simple meals that can be cut into those three parts, and then take stock of how you’re maintaining energy throughout the day.  Learning how macronutrient ratios affect you is paramount to creating healthy, energizing meals.  Diet logs are very helpful here.

Pick a protein, pick a veggie, then add fat as necessary.  It’s really that simple.

Here’s what I ate last night;

2-3 Roasted Chicken thighs

Curry Cauliflower (apprx. 2 cups)

and BUTTER for the chicken thighs.

Nutrient dense, energy dense, and fully satiating.  Most people won’t do well on that much fat, but I exercise a tad more than most.

Take a protein, take a vegetable, and then add fat until you feel satiated.

not so hard right?

March 19, 2010

Grains; Engineered for Indigestion

You can take photos of it, as long as you don't eat it

As it is, I’ve basically stopped eating grains altogether.

A number of years ago, I kicked gluten cold turkey and felt some immediate lasting changes for the better, and almost without thinking, the other grains have also fallen by the wayside.   After a while of being off ‘em, you start to lose desire to add them to meals;  they’re just fillers for other flavors.

For a while I included a lot of gluten free substitutes, but eventually I just came to realize for myself that almost none of them work well for me, and I felt a hell of a lot better with none at all! No rice, no corn, nada (I do toss in rice and corn sometimes; sushi, tacos, etc….Just a delivery method for other foods, never gluten though)

Have you ever taken into consideration what a grain actually is? Keep reading →