Being healthy will lead to MORE and BETTER sex!

Got it?!?!  Does that get your attention?!?!  Good, now let’s listen to the expert.

Today’s guest post is brought to you by NYC fitness expert Jennifer Cassetty who took some time away from her busy schedule to answer a few of my questions.

Does a healthy lifestyle improve sex for both men and women?

• Yes - Studies have indicated that everything you do in life is all connected. A healthy lifestyle and regular exercise can rev up hormones, relieve stress, reduce fat and reenergize the body.  That helps increase blood flow to the certain body parts, priming men and women for a better sexual performance.

How does a healthy lifestyle improve sex for men?

• Exercise and living a healthy lifestyle, in general, can pique desire for couples and make relationships more enjoyable. The results of exercising can be one of the best gifts for yourself and your partner. It builds confidence because you physically look better and you have the energy to perform with your partner.
• For men specifically, eating right and staying active increases blood flow to that certain body part, reducing the chances of being impotent in the bedroom.
• Adding exercise adds confidence that you need to take charge and satisfy your partner. Women like men that exude that semi-aggressive trait that turn women on. In order to do that without being too cheesy, you need confidence. Having a physically fit body gives you that needed confidence some may lack.

How does a healthy lifestyle improve sex for women?

• For women, living a healthier lifestyle improves sex tremendously for them. When you take care of your body (can apply to men as well), you heal faster and with the addition of sex, it can increase speed cell repair and regeneration.
• An extra benefit of having a healthy lifestyle and active sex life is that you will have fewer migraines. Healthier women have sex more often because it actually eases headaches, says Randolph W. Evans, M.D., clinical professor of neurology at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. (Gal’s note - I find this amusing for some reason)

Does sex count as exercise?

• Yes! Having sex allows you to burn calories, reduce stress and increase your energy. Be adventurous and try different positions with your partner. Depending on your position and endurance, you can tone your glutes, abs and triceps. For more information on which positions can tone your body (or which exercises enhance your performance), you can contact me by visiting www.jennifercassetty.com.

Other than the names, do the exercises you mention have specific benefits on sexual performance or pleasure?

• It all depends on the body type. The exercises I provided were general and could be used by just about anyone (after approval from your doctor). To get a specific work out designed for your body type, feel free to contact me, and I’ll be more than happy to design one.

Are there foods you recommend to people looking to improve their libido and sexual appetites / performance?

• There are plenty of foods that are both healthy and improves sexual appetite. For instance, bananas are tasty and have a marvelous phallic shape that reminds us of something special. Bananas have potassium that helps with your sex drive.
• Chocolate was once referred to by the Aztecs as “nourishment of the Gods”. Chocolate contains antioxidants that help in reducing the risk of cancer.
• Ginger should also be used more in meals. It is a stimulant to the circulatory system. Perhaps a stir-fry with freshly grated ginger can stir something spicy up in the bedroom later.
• A glass or two of wine can greatly enhance a romantic interlude. Wine relaxes and helps to stimulate our senses. Drinking wine can be an erotic experience. Let your eyes feast on the color of the liquid. Caress the glass, savor the taste on your lips.

Do these tips apply to people of all ages? Even seniors?

• Yes – they are for every age group, however, I strongly recommend you consult with your doctor before beginning any new lifestyle change and exercise routine.

It’s been a month now since I started experimenting with Mark Sisson’s The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram Your Genes for Effortless Weight Loss, Vibrant Health, and Boundless Energy
and I’m beginning to notice some definite changes.

Cravings

I never realized how much I craved sweets and carbs until I tried to go a few weeks without them.  Wow!  I’ve always though that smokers are weak because they are unable to stop smoking but here I am unable to stop eating candy.  It’s quite literally a compulsion to eat and it’s very difficult to overcome.  Sure, some of you may say, “I can stop eating junk food and chocolate anytime I want.”  Yes, I thought so too but the truth is that it’s a lot harder than you think.

It’s quite clear to me now that my body became addicted to cheap, easy calories in the form of sweets and refined carbohydrates and that addiction proved just as hard to kick as caffeine.  I’m making great progress but it still amazes me how habit forming sugars and carbs are.  No wonder the food industry likes to stuff us full of them, the more we get the more we want.

On The Other Side…

I now realize just how satisfying a good meal can be when you’re not craving carbs.  Here’s my food intake from yesterday.

• Breakfast - A bunch of blueberries and a peach.
• Lunch - Stir fried vegetables with three scrambled eggs.
• Dinner - Chopped salad and a portion of organic beef about the size of a hamburger patty.
• Snacks - A few almonds and figs.

That’s it.  That’s all I ate.  Note that I’m still getting plenty of carbs in the form of fruits and vegetables, I’ve just cut out the junk carbs.  I also haven’t gone insane with the protein intake and converted all my meals to different versions of bacon wrapped steaks.  Instead, I’m eating a nicely balanced diet of fresh ingredients.  End result? I felt great.  Even though this was actually a small amount of calories, I felt amazingly full and had no cravings for more food later on.

Aches and Pains

The aches in my legs have gone away.  I used to have regular pains in my hips and thighs which made it difficult for me to sleep.  Once I stopped jogging, the pains quickly went away and my sleep has never been better (except for last night when my overly rambunctious puppy decided to chase a moth around my bedroom).  At the same time, I’ve actually increased my weight and elliptical workouts so I don’t feel like I’m doing less exercise.  I’m also biking more although I’m still not hiking as much as I would like to.

Problems, Problems, Problems

The only problem I’m experiencing is around food.  I’m still having issues sticking to the Primal Blueprint eating plan for two reasons:

1. It’s not restaurant friendly and a lot of my social life revolves around eating out.
2. I’m not a good cook at home which means most of my meals are variations of stir fries, omelets and salads.

Actually, I suppose this is one problem and not two.  Namely, I severely overestimated my ability to find foods which match my eating plan.  Which is part of the reason I posted my five things to consider before jumping into a new eating plan last week.

I suppose this is what I’ll work on this week, finding new restaurants and new recipes to work on.

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And a big thank you to my friends, you know who you are, who support me even when it’s the middle of the night.

Before I melt, here are some articles from this week that I thought you might find useful:

I’ve never even heard of this blog but I like the name and I like this rant!  It’s all about the methods the authors plans to use to eat better.  All stuff you’ve heard before but it’s nice to see it in one spot plus I always get inspired after reading posts like these.
@Calorie Killers

And if we’re in the mood for a good health related rant (and I always am!), here’s one from a neat little blog called Waterproofing (which normally has nothing to do with health).  It’s all about the various fallacies surrounding weight loss and diets.  I love it!

Understanding

Do you know what the heck this new eating plan means?  I’m serious here folks.  All too often I hear of people trying out new foods and new ways of eating without really understanding what they’re doing.  I’m not saying that you need to understand all the little details of nutrition.  I’m saying, do you even understand what this diet means?  Do you know what foods fit into the Mediterranean diet?  Do you understand what are good sources of fat?  Do you know what’s a good source of protein if you’re going vegetarian?  When you say vegetarian, do you mean you’ll eat eggs, dairy or fish?  If you’re going on a low carb diet, what meats are you going to eat and what plants are you going to exclude?  You can’t just say “I’m going to follow such and such diet” without understanding what that diet means.

Long Term

Can you sustain this change long term?  If the answer is no, then don’t bother.  Temporary changes lead to temporary results.  If you’re looking for permanent changes then you should find an eating plan that you can maintain for the rest of your life.  Also remember that making small changes is easier than big.  So if you have a brand new eating plan you want to adopt, you may want to make gradual changes, adopting new habits one at a time without trying for the big bang approach.

For example, I’m still struggling with caffeine but I’m making great progress with lowering my intake of processed sugars and carbs.  So while I may want to adhere to the Primal Blueprint 100%, I’m going to focus on lowering sugars first and then wrestle with my caffeine habit.  One things at a time…

Social Circle

Does this eating plan fit in with your social activity?  Interestingly enough, the main stumbling block to most of my eating plan experiments has been my social life.  Friends want to go out and they’d like to get something to eat.  Very frequently that means going to restaurants which do not serve foods which fall into my eating plan.  So my choices are either to not go out or to not eat while those around me do.  Neither choice is sustainable in the long term.

Fasting for me was almost impossible since many of my social activities revolve around eating.

Price

Can you wallet keep up with your new foods?  If you switched to all organics without finding a cheaper market than Whole Foods, you’re in trouble.  The average meal at Whole Foods will cost you three to four times the average meal at a generic supermarket.  So make sure you find a cheap source of food or make other adjustments to compensate.

This was a big problem for me with going organic until I discovered the farmer’s market and cooking at home.

Choices

Does your new cuisine offer enough choices that you won’t get bored?  If the only thing you’re ever going to eat for the rest of your life is eggs, that’s not a very good plan.  Trust me, eating the same thing over and over gets boring really fast.  Make sure that you have enough options before you start your new eating plan, not after.

I had some issues initially with the Primal Blueprint over this problem since I couldn’t figure out interesting things to eat that didn’t involve a lot of processed sugars and carbs.  Eventually, I resolved this, but it would have been easier had I planned better earlier.

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Hope these rules help you out in whatever new eating plan you embark on.

What It’s All About

The authors of Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating have a problem.  They see the new food pyramid that the USDA has come up along with the accompanying dietary guidelines and, instead of seeing a good plan to follow, they find it to be a disaster in the making.  They have a variety of issues with the USDA information, the most important of which are:

• They are not based on science
• They are based on the lobbying of the US agriculture industry
• They don’t make distinctions between good and bad components of the same food group.  Good and bad fats for example.

I tend to agree with all of these issues, especially the second one.  I urge people to remember that the purpose of the United States Department of Agriculture is to promote agriculture.  It is NOT to promote good health.  Most folks I talk to tend to believe that the USDA has their best interests in mind.  The truth is that it does not.  The USDA is not the department of health, nor is it an organization concerned with good nutrition.  It is an arm of the government concerned with the promotion and success of US farmers, cattle ranchers and other food producers.  As such, its dietary guidelines are written in a way which makes them seem healthy but in fact they’re written to promote US farming products.

The authors have gone a step further and identified what they say are the worst issues with the USDA guidelines:

1. All fats are bad - This is wrong, there are many good fats.
2. All carbohydrates are good - Again, wrong.  There are good carbs and bad carbs.
3. All protein sources are created equal - No true at all.  Organic chicken for example is far better than factory produced pork.
4. Dairy products are essential - Not true.  Man kind did not evolve to consume a huge amount of calories from the milk of cows.
5. Eat your potatoes - This is a horrible idea for most people and yet a large majority of Americans consume many of their calories from potatoes.
6. No guidance on weight, exercise, alcohol or vitamins - The USDA pyramid and most of the USDA’s information has no advice on these important items.

That said, the authors have decided to come up with a better food pyramid and a better set of dietary guidelines overall.  They themselves admit that nutrition research has been a confusing issue over the past few decades.  Nutrition research comes and goes and what was bad yesterday may be good tomorrow.  This is all true, although they make a strong case for most of the flip flops being based on bad science and rumor rather than good science and research.  At the same time, they have collected an amazing amount of data from a variety of sources.  So while this information may change as we learn more about food and the human body, it does represents some of the best science we have today.

The Core

Out of all the data and research which the authors collected, they have come up with a few basic rules for a good eating plan.

• Watch your weight - Yep, it seems almost too basic to be mentioned but it’s worth noting that even the best diet will be bad for you if you eat too much.
• Eat fewer bad fats and more good fats - The book reviews a variety of good fat sources such as fish, nuts and more.  Meats are treated fairly and the book also provides vegetarian options.
• Eat fewer refined grain carbs and more whole grain carbs - I know many of you think carbs in general are evil, but it’s hard to argue with this rule.  If you eat less white bread and more whole grain bread you’re definitely taking a step forward.  Sure, you can take a bigger step by lowering grain consumption overall but one small step at a time.  The authors provide a variety of tips on grains and how to eat them.
• Choose healthier sources of protein - Yes, this goes out to all of you who think your bacon wrapped steaks are a good idea :)  It’s not!  Protein is good.  Healthy protein sources are better.  A reasonable consumption level of healthy protein sources is best.  I liked the authors rankings of protein sources and they also provide a good set of ideas for vegetarians who may struggle to get enough protein in their diets.
• Eat plenty of vegetables and fruits but hold the potatoes - I don’t really need to go into detail on this one, do I?  The authors do and they give a good amount of information about other root vegetables which we may want to avoid like potatoes.
• Use alcohol in moderation - Yep, one small drink a day is good for you.  Note the emphasis on small.  This is not an excuse to drink a six pack a day.  A small drink is a glass of wine or a single beer.
• Take a multi vitamin for insurance - Even assuming you follow their guidelines, the authors believe you should still take a multivitamin every day, just as insurance.  I have to agree.  Considering the cost is around 10 cents a day and there are no negative side effects, I can’t see how this is anything but a good thing.

The rest of the book goes into detail on these rules and gives a whole lot of information on how to implement them.  It also has sample recipes and menus, all of which sounded really tasty.

So Is It Worth Buying?

Depends.  Are you interested in the details or is the quick summary above enough for you?  For most people, I think this book is a bit too much.  You can read the rules above and get 80% of the books value.  Sure, the rest is interesting but it’s very detailed and might bore a lot of people.  For me, it was fascinating, but that’s because I appreciate reading all the little details.

If you’re a beginner looking for ways to improve your diet, this is not the book for you.  You’re better off with something like Mark Sisson’s The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram Your Genes for Effortless Weight Loss, Vibrant Health, and Boundless Energy or YOU: The Owner’s Manual, Updated and Expanded Edition: An Insider’s Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger.  Those are excellent books for beginners looking to learn more about their bodies.  However, if you’re into the fine print of how your body works and want to learn a lot more about proper nutrition, then Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating is an excellent source of information.

They’re there when I’m sad and they’re there when I’m tired.  They wake me from my stupor and cheer me up from my depression.  The warm sunlight feels so great on my face and the wonderful sounds of powerful music emanate from the headphones and keep me company as I walk.  It’s like an escape from all that is bothering me.  I take the first step down the path, listen to the first song and I’m lost in wonder.  My thoughts race every which way as I lose myself in dreams, hopes and aspirations.  The problems I face seem smaller somehow when I’m faced with the grandeur of the outdoors and my energy level perks up with the music.  The emptiness inside is filled with warmth and the solutions to my issues dance in front of me.

I arrive back feeling refreshed and renewed.  My problems are still there but I feel more ready to face them now.  The walk gave me a break which my body and mind sorely needed.  I don’t feel tired now.  I feel full of energy, ready to face anything which might come my way.  All the ideas I had during the walk flutter about me, waiting for me to write them down and start working.  Even better, my body feels good now that it’s had a chance to stretch out and get some sunlight.  I no longer feel cramped and alone.

And the cycle is broken.  The emotions get better as I work on my problems.  The urge to do something stupid fades away as I focus my new found energy on implementing my ideas.  The need to drown my sorrows in caffeine and sugar fades away.

Banishing Darkness From The Light

There’s an old Israeli song, typically sung on Hanukkah which was a favorite of mine when I was a small child.  The chorus involves all the singer stamping their feet to the repeated singing of “go away darkness, go away before the light”.  That always made me feel better as a small boy, especially since I was afraid of the dark.

There’s a part of me that remembers that song now and understands it as that little boy did not.  There’s something scary about that darkness, about not knowing what’s in front of you and we tend to want to fill that darkness with familiar and comfortable things.  And so we eat “comfort” foods.  Things like ice cream and chocolate and fried dishes.  Food that makes us feel loved and appreciated, perhaps because it reminds us of better days or perhaps because it stimulates our bodies in ways that mimic happiness.  Whatever the reason, there’s a better way.

Sunlight and music, combined with walking.  A magical combination that’s better than any amount of fried foods and ice cream.  This is just one way which I’ve found to cope with stress.  Just one way which doesn’t involve overeating or doing something destructive.  There are many others.  I’ve also found that conversation is a far better coping technique than binge eating.  Find a good friend and talk.  Trust me on that one.

There’s More

I look at this post and compare it to the one from last week and I can see how much I’ve changed over the past few years.  I’m encouraged.  The problems are still there, some old and some new.  Some issues have been resolved and some new ones have emerged.  Overall though, I cope with my issues in a healthier and less damaging way.

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For those who are curious, I highly recommend the music of Rob Dougan for times like these.  Great sounds perfect to sooth your mind and body.

In the meantime, here are a few interesting articles I thought you might enjoy:

Every once in a while, you have to move away from the big blogs / newspapers and all their advice, and focus on the little blogs, the one with the personal success stories and the inspirational ideas.  Here’s one from Mark Olson about how he changed his lifestyle to the better.

Yes, that sweet sweet taste of caffeine laden chemical water lured me into its warm embrace one more time and today I found myself buying not one but TWO bottles of Coke Zero while waiting for my flight out of Austin airport.  I am a failure and the shiny black and red bottles are evidence to that failure.  Surely my life is done.

But Wait!

What about my other carefully laid out goals?  What about my incestuous love affair with chocolate?  Has that too returned into my life?  what about my old habits of consuming two medium domino’s pizzas for dinner?  Am I back to the chicken kickers?  And if not, isn’t my failure to kick the Coke habit a signal of my complete lack of willpower?  Should I not give in now while I can still do so gracefully and kick back with a bag of Lindt Truffles and a bucket of KFC?

Not So Fast…

Yes, the Coke is back, however, not as bad as it was before.  While I did drink some around lunch time, I no longer consume it all day long.  Also, while I may still imbibe my addictive chemical water, I did in fact kick the sugar habit.  I’m chocolate free now and plan on staying that way.  What about my exercise habits?  Still going strong!  What about my increased consumption of vegetables?  Yep, still good.  What about my decreased consumption of processed junk food?  Not a bucket of KFC or a carton of Domino’s in sight!  So am I really a failure?

Of Course Not!

A good baseball player has a batting average in the 300’s.  That means they get on base around 30% of the time.  A good basketball player has a free throw average in the high 60’s.  Barack Obama lost quite a few of the early primary contests and even some of the later ones.  Napoleon won most but not all battles.  Spielberg puts out amazing movies but he also puts out the occasional piece of dreck.  So why am I a failure because I had a bit of coke?

Why should I give up on everything when it’s just one thing that’s not working.  This is madness and in times past I bought into this mindset hook, line and sinker.  I failed at one little thing and I saw it as a reason to stop trying everything.  I had a bit of chocolate and used that as an excuse to order five big macs.  After all, if they day is already ruined due to that chocolate, might as well ruin it all the way!

Time and again I see people make the same mistakes I used to, which is part of the reason I started writing 60 in 3.  I see them take on an ambitious program of weightloss and fitness.  I see them set goals and divise master plans with a dozen different projects.  Then I see them fail and the chain reaction starts.  One little failure causes a bigger, which causes a bigger which causes abandonment of the whole plan.  Is this smart?  Of course not, but it is human.

Focus On The Successes

It’s time to stop focusing on the failures.  Yes, you’re going to fail.  Accept that now and move on.  If you’re not occasionally failing, you’re not really trying.  Your goals should be something you can only barely achieve and sometimes you’re going to fail.  That’s fine.  Accept the failure, learn from it and move on to try again.  More importantly, don’t use one failure as an excuse to abandon all hope.  Don’t use one setback as a reason to turn your back on all the things that are working.

Yes, I had a coke.  I gave in to my need for caffeine and bought a coke zero.  I’m not proud of that, but I also know that I did NOT buy that bag of M&M’s, I did NOT buy that bag of potato chips, I DID work out yesterday even though I was pressed for time, I DID have a healthy breakfast today, I DID order the salad yesterday even though I was in a Texas bar.  All of these things are a success.  All of them are reasons to celebrate and one, or two, little coke bottles shouldn’t change that.

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If you’re reading this, take a few seconds and let us know about your successes.  Use the comments and write down something you’ve accomplished today.  It doesn’t even have to be health or fitness related.  just write down something you feel was a success.  I’ll start…

The Disclaimer

Note - All of these exercises are done as fast as possible.  We’re talking pushing yourself to the max here, no rest in between and no slowing down between sets.  Also, most of these sets (unless a number is specified) are done to break point.  That means you keep doing them until you can’t do a single more rep.

If you have any kind of medical problems, this may not be the workout for you so please consult with a doctor before you try something strenuous like this.

The Workout

• Pushups - Do as many as you can as fast as you can.
• Lunges - Again, as many as you can and fast.  Be careful on this to maintain good form but keep going as fast as possible.
• Sit ups - There are a variety you can do here.  My favorites are the standard ab curls but feel free to substitute your favorite here.

30 second break

• 50 jumping jacks
• 20 dead lifts

60 second break

START OVER!

You’ve just done one “circuit”.  Guess what, now you do another!  Keep doing circuits, each time doing the push ups, lunges and sit ups to the point of failure.  Keep going and don’t let up on the speed.  Each of these circuits will likely take you around 4 to 7 minutes depending on how many reps you can do.  Try to do 5 circuits of the whole thing.  That means 20 to 35 minutes of all out exercise which will get your heart pounding and your muscles aching.  That’s it, that’s all there is to this speed workout.

Details Details

If you look at the exercises, you’ll see that they work out all the major muscle groups from legs to chest and everything in between.  Since you’re doing all these to failure, you’re going to give your muscles a good workout.  At the same time, you’re going to get a kickass cardio workout because you’re going fast.  By the end of the second circuit (or even the first), your heart will be pounding!  Again, don’t over do things and hurt yourself.  I don’t want any 60 in 3 readers getting heart attacks as they workout :)  Know your own limits and stay below them.  However, done right, this workout is a great little combo of resistance and sprints which will leave you exhausted in a good way.

It’s 8pm, I’m alone in the office.  I’m frustrated by my inability to get our software product to do what it should.  I’m lonely, upset over a recent breakup.  I’m tired, suffering from lack of sleep due to a cold.  All of this leads to anger, rage, sadness, frustration and a whole host of other negative emotions.  What do I do?  I reach for the candy and caffeine.  The two things I am trying most to avoid are my friends when I’m in need.

They’re there when I’m sad and they’re there when I’m tired.  They wake me from my stupor and cheer me up from my depression.  The cold Coke Zero feels so wonderful on my tongue and the sweet sensation of the chocolate is like an escape from all that is bothering me.  I chow down on the first piece of chocolate and then the second and the third, each one giving me a brief moment of joy followed by the return of the feelings of loss.  I drink one can of coke and feel uplifted, energetic.  I drink another and feel even happier.  With the coke, the buzz lasts longer but even there it fails and on the ride back home I’m more depressed and alone than I ever was.

Worse, now I’m guilty over binge eating.  I beat myself up for giving up on my goals.  I question my will power and my resolve and this all feeds into my depression and feelings of anger and frustration.  Of course I failed at work, of course I’m sick, of course she broke up with me.  Look at me, I can’t even control my own hunger.  Who would love such a man?  How can such a man be successful at work?  How can such a man be healthy?

And the cycle repeats.  The emotions get worse.  The urge to eat gets stronger.  The need to feel better, if only for a second, if only for a minute more while I eat that candy or while I fly high on that caffeine.  I need it now more than ever, because I know that for a brief second, a brief glorious second, it will all go away and I’ll feel good.  I’ll feel cheerful and happy while the sugar and caffeine course through my veins and trigger hormonal responses.  I know I’ll crash again but that’s in the future.  I need my fix and I need it now.

Addiction

If that sounds like the account of an addict, that’s because it is.  Emotional eating is in many ways similar to a drug addiction.  It is the consumption of stimulants (usually sugar and / or caffeine) to trigger chemical changes in the body which simulate although are not quite the same as happiness.  We’re sad and therefore we eat.  We don’t deal with the issues that make us sad and we may in fact be making them worse, but the food allows us to feel happy for just that brief second, that wonderful moment when all else disappears.

I suppose that on a small enough scale, emotional eating isn’t a bad thing.  If once a year you break down on the anniversary of a loved ones’ death and eat a favorite dish, that’s one thing and no one will ever begrudge you that.  Unfortunately, many of us, myself included, use emotional eating as a crutch for every day life.

• Feel tired in the morning?  Grab a muffin and a coffee.
• Falling asleep at work in the afternoon?  Grab a coke or some cereal.
• Tired and frustrated by your social life?  Go for that gallon tub of Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food.
• Annoyed by your coworkers?  Walk to the kitchen and grab some of that free cereal.
• Want to avoid work you hate?  Go out for a snack.

We all do it and some of us do it quite a bit.  I used to do this all the time, quite literally.  Since there was a period of my life when life essentially “sucked”, or so it seemed like to me, I would eat junk food all the time.  I’ve improved quite a bit since then but there are occasions when I still find myself self medicating my depression away.  Except that, in terms of medication, emotional eating is a very poor one.  It doesn’t solve the problem.  In fact, it usually makes it worse.

A Better Option

What worked for me?  A few things, and keep in mind that I still have issues with emotional eating sometimes, so any suggestions would help.

• Keep temptation away - Can’t emotionally eat that bucket of ice cream if it’s not at home and, if you’re tired and depressed, you’re unlikely to go out and buy one.  Make sure junk food is not conveniently located.
• Solve your problems - There are a million and one ways to solve most problems, even the big ones.  Instead of eating, focus on those things that make you unhappy and come up with ways to resolve them.
• Find a new outlet - For me, this was walking.  When I feel annoyed and frustrated, I try to take a walk.  I usually come back feeling much better and I’m less likely to eat.
• Keep a reminder of the good things near - For me, it’s a picture of my puppy.  The same one you can see in this post.  Looking at her makes me smile.  It makes me happier and that eliminates some of the need to emotionally eat.
• Talk to a therapist - Yah, I know, therapist?!?!  What, am I crazy or something?  There’s nothing wrong with me!  I mean, sure, I’m depressed and so I eat which makes me even more depressed so clearly I’m doing self destructive things but there’s NOTHING wrong with me.  Well, maybe there isn’t, in which case you’ll waste a few bucks.  Then again, who knows, maybe it can help.

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The best solution to emotional eating is to solve the problem that’s causing the bad emotions.  I’m no expert at this but I have been making progress with my own issues.  Sometimes it’s as easy as writing them down and then writing down what, if anything you can do about them.  Try it and see if it works.  At the very least this little exercise will keep you from reaching for the chocolate

From Consumer Reports, here’s a review of “light ice cream”.  If you have a subscription for CR (something I personally recommend) you’ll be able to read more but even the overview is worth it for this gem of information: “The lighter Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s we tried actually have more calories and sugars than the regular Edy’s and Breyers”.
@Consumer Reports

From Contemplative Fitness, read about Roy’s love affair with dead lifts.  Roy seems absolutely infatuated with them and who can blame him?  Luckily, he also includes a great guide for how to perform this great exercise.
@Contemplative Fitness

From the Diet Blog, are crash diets healthy? My answer, absolutely not!
@Diet Blog

And from Mark’s Daily Apple, what could be more primal than tasty internal organs!  mm… yummy kidneys!!!  Think I’m kidding?  Read the article
@Mark’s Daily Apple

The answer depends on your lifestyle.  Are you an active person by nature?  Do you go out to play soccer every Friday afternoon like a good friend of mine?  Do you hike every Sunday morning?  Do you bike to work every day?  All of these things count as physical activity which you are trying to replicate when you work out.

In general, I would recommend that you get a serious resistance workout 3 to 4 times a week.  A resistance workout is something that challenges your muscles.  It could be rock climbing or it could be lifting weights, but it needs to really strain you to the point where your muscles ache and you feel tired, but not out of breath.

I would also recommend a good two or three sessions a week where you challenge your whole body and especially your cardiovascular system.  In other words, exercise which gets you out of breath.  This could be soccer, sprints, fast paced dancing, uphill hiking or anything else that gets your heart rate pumping.

Otherwise, just maintain an active lifestyle with plenty of walking and moving around.

A few things I’ve noticed now that I’m paying more attention to them.

The Undying Cough!

If you’ve had a bad cough recently, you can empathize with what I’m about to say.  Yesterday, I was feeling pretty darn well.  My head was clearing up, I had no headache and that crummy “sick” feeling was almost completely gone.  Only one problem, I was coughing.  Now coughing is a natural thing.  It’s your body’s way of trying to get rid of crap in your airways.  So I don’t usually take anti cough medication during the day.  However, what about at night?  As good as I was feeling, the cough was definitely keeping me awake.  It’s hard to fall asleep when every couple of minutes your body is wracked by a coughing spell.  So I did what most normal people do and took a couple of cough lozenges.  Basically, these are bits of candy with some numbing agent in them that makes the coughing trigger go away.  It seemed to work and I fell asleep.  By the way, I never used to take these lozenges before.  I only started doing so a year or two ago when someone told me that needlessly suffering coughing attacks is silly and only leads to prolonging the cough.

This morning I woke up and I felt worse than before.  The headache was back, the throat felt worse than ever and I felt generally crappy.  So is Mark right?  Is coughing something we should put up with even at the expense of sleep?  Was the cough lozenge a good way of covering up the symptoms but a bad way of getting healthier?  The answer is, I have no clue.  This could just be a bad cold that came back or it might be that I blocked one of my body’s necessary ways of getting rid of disease.  My sample size of 1 is simply not enough data, but it is something to think about.

I wonder how many other ways we have of circumventing the body’s natural function in the name of comfort.  There’s a study I read a while back on how some necessary nutrients are no longer in our foods because we insist on cleaning them up.  That’s right, dirt has nutrients and when you insist on making all your food perfectly clean, you lose out on a lot.  Same applies to medication which reduces fevers.  Fevers are a way for our body to make it tough for viruses and bacteria to live inside us.  When we suppress those fevers, we often make it easier for infections to persist.

So is all medication bad?  Is all treatment unnecessary?  Well, I wouldn’t go quite that far.  However, this is giving me a lot of food for thought.  I think that, as I progress along this two month experiment, I will try to avoid all unnecessary medicine, even things as simple as throat lozenges, and see how I do.

Chocolate Tasted Funny!

Yes, that’s right, I had a sweet tooth breakdown yesterday.  I was in a candy store and there was maple fudge (my favorite!) and I just craved it so much that I broke down and bought a small piece.  Guess what?  It tasted WAY too sweet.  Just four days after starting, something that would have tasted perfectly fine to me before, now tastes way too sweet.  Again, this is just a sample of one, which means that in the long run, this might be meaningless, but I find it encouraging that the cravings for processed sugar are less and less frequent.  Maybe I can finally kick this candy addiction once for all!

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All in all, I’m liking this new lifestyle, although I’m still having difficulty finding good things to eat.

It’s been two days now since I started on this new plan and there’s good and bad news.

Bad News

• Still struggling with a cold.  This has nothing to do with the Primal Blueprint though, I got this cold two days before I started living by Mark’s plan.  Still, it’s a bit frustrating to wake up every day with a sore throat and a headache.  I wonder if my new lifestyle is making things worse or better but I suppose there’s no way to really know that.
• Experiencing the same issues I did when I first tried out intermittent fasting.  Namely, going out with people becomes very difficult since most restaurant meals are not even close to the Primal Blueprint.  Still, with enough planning, I’m finding that I can go out and still stick to this plan.  Mexican restaurants seem good (hold the rice), seafood places are good (again, hold the high carb sides) and sushi places are great (avoid the rice and order sashimi).
• I’m going through a lot of cravings for sugar.  Good thing I started this AFTER I got rid of most of the sugars in my diet last month or else I doubt I could stick with it.  There’s an important lesson there by the way, don’t try anything drastic like this without some gradual changes, you’ll greatly increase your chance of success.
• Not sleeping well, but this could be related to the cold.  I’m trying to avoid taking any medication for this illness but that’s difficult when I’m staying up all night coughing.  What’s worse, losing sleep or taking a cough suppressant?  There’s valid reasons for coughing but my body needs sleep!
• I miss my runner’s high.

Good News

• This is forcing me to cook at home more, which is good.  I’m greatly enjoying finding out how good of a cook I am.  So far I’ve realized that I make a pretty kick ass omelet, stir fry and fish.
• My body feels great even though I’ve been working out while sick.  I’ve been doing 25 minutes of high intensity weight lifting followed by 10 to 15 minutes of low intensity elliptical with a lot of walking and biking thrown in for good measure.  My muscles and joints are experiencing no pain, probably because I haven’t been jogging in two weeks.  Of course, I’m going to see if this has any negative side effects at the end of July, when I do a physical.
• I feel like I have more energy than I did before, which is promising considering the fact that I’m sick and haven’t been sleeping well.  I’m not falling asleep in meetings or in front of the computer, even without caffeine.  we’ll see how I feel when this cold is done.
• My weight is down by several lbs.  This is essentially meaningless though since weight fluctuations over a couple of days can be attributed to the normal metabolic process rather than any changes in body composition.

Things To Try Out This Week

• Need to see if I can have a good meal at an Indian restaurant.  I LOVE Indian food and I’m going to have an issue with a diet that does not allow me to eat it.
• Need to go hiking, something I promised myself I would do regardless of the Primal Blueprint.

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Overall, I’m liking this new way of living.  Of course, it’s only been two days…

Long time readers of 60 in 3 know that I greatly enjoy Mark Sisson’s articles over at Mark’s Daily Apple.  I may not always agree with him, but his posts are thought provoking, educational and informative.  So I was quite happy to hear that Mark was taking his primal blueprint for health and putting it into a book form titled appropriately enough, The Primal Blueprint.

Style

As usual, Mark’s writing is great.  The chapters are well laid out and include multiple examples which are easy to understand.  While there are some high end biology, genetics and nutrition discussions, all of them are well explained.  In other words, this isn’t just a book for fitness enthusiasts, it’s also accessible for people who are just now getting into a healthier mindset.  That said, even the best written book is useless if the content is bad, so let’s examine what the primal blueprint is all about.

Overall

Mark believes, as do I, that people need to get back to their roots.  Health wise, he sees our primitive ancestors as leading extremely healthy lifestyles from a variety of aspects.  His model, a caveman named Grok, does everything right and treats his body well.  By comparison, Mark uses chapter two of the book to show us a modern family by the name of Korg, Grok backwards, and how the modern lifestyle is extremely unhealthy.  So far so good, I like this philosophy, but is there something actionable in the book?  The answer is absolutely.

The primal blueprint is a set of rules for how to live a healthier lifestyle by emulating our ancestors.  This blueprint is laid out in chapter one and each rule is further detailed in subsequent chapters.  I’m going to list the rules out here and give a brief opinion on each.  For more information on them, visit Mark’s site or buy the book.

The Primal Blueprint Rules

1. Eat Lots of Plants, Animals and Insects - I like this rule, yes, even the insects part.  Too many of us limit our diets to just a few specific ingredients.  In the US, a majority of food seems to be beef, chicken, potatoes, wheat and corn.  That’s a bad thing and health conscious individuals will attempt to change this.
2. Avoid Poisonous Things - Well, that’s a no brainer, right?  Seems smart to avoid drinking that drain cleaner.  Except Mark isn’t just talking about obvious poisons.  He’s referring to all the modern crap that people put into their systems.  That means excess carbs, preservatives, processed sugars, caffeine and a variety of others.  I’m not sure I agree with Mark’s policies on whole wheat foods, but otherwise I think he’s spot on.
3. Move Frequently At A Slow Pace - Mark’s recommended physical activity is slow and moderate paced movement.  Things like walking, biking and hiking.  Can’t argue with him on this one, except that Mark argues against prolonged cardio like jogging and makes some very convincing arguments against it.
4. Lift Heavy Things - Makes sense.  Challenge your muscles and build a better body.  This one I agree with and I like Mark’s emphasis on natural, compound exercises like squats and lunges.  The primal blueprint recommends explosive, all out efforts rather than slow and gradual by the way, something I’m not sure I agree with.  However, that’s a minor quibble.
5. Run Really Fast Once In A While - Rather than prolonged cardio, Mark believes in the occasional all out effort.  Sprints are a great example of this.
6. Get Adequate Sleep - No argument here.  This is one of the basic rules of healthy living.
7. Play - Again, no argument.  If you can combine physical activity with fun, you’re doing great.
8. Get Plenty of Sunlight - Just not too much!
9. Avoid Stupid Mistakes - Which basically translates to “don’t walk into traffic”.  Not sure how Mark reconciles this with his snowboarding but hey, it’s definitely a good rule to follow.
10. Use Your Brain - Great last rule to finish with.  Fitness isn’t just about the body.  We need to pay attention to the most important muscle of all, their brains.  Use it or lose it folks!

Is the Primal Blueprint Worth Reading?

Absolutely.  Even if you disagree with some of what Mark says you’re still going to find a lot of worthwhile information here.  Plus the Korg chapter alone is worth the price of the book because it shows us just how unhealthy our modern lives have become.  However, there’s a more important question here.

Is the Primal Blueprint Worth Following?

That is, is this a healthy way to live?  For the most part, I think so.  I agree with Mark on 80% of what he says.  Still, there’s a lot that seems off to me.  Whole wheat is bad?  Jogging is bad?  Cavemen are healthier than modern men?  Mm…  Still, I’m an open minded person and I feel odd rejecting this idea out of hand.  After all, there’s a lot here that makes sense.  So

The 60 in 3 Primal Blueprint Challenge

For the next couple of months, June and July, I’ve decided to adopt the Primal Blueprint in its entirety and see what kind of a difference it makes in my life.  That means the following:

• No more jogging.  Trading this in for occasional sprints and more hiking and walking.
• Eliminate those poisons.  No more breads, pastas, rice, caffeine, sugar and the rest.  Yes, even whole wheat.
• Add a bit more protein to my diet.  Yes, that means eating more meat.  I’ve already found a local farmers market vendor who has great organic beef, chicken and venison plus another vendor who sells fresh fish.
• Focus on vegetables, fruits and nuts for my other nutritional requirements.
• Change my weight lifting routine to be a bit faster in line with Mark’s recommendations.

I’ll blog about my progress here in a series called The Primal Blueprint.  At the end of July, we’ll see how I feel.  That’s when I can tell you if the Primal Blueprint makes for a good lifestyle and not just a great book.

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Mark’s site can be found here: Mark’s Daily Apple

Mark’s book can be found here: The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram Your Genes for Effortless Weight Loss, Vibrant Health, and Boundless Energy

Plus, being sick means I have more time to look for interesting articles, so enjoy:

At first glance, the following article doesn’t seem fitness related.  It talks about video game addiction and teenagers.  However, as someone who spent several years of his life behind a computer screen playing games, I can tell you that the connection between games and health is very strong.  Simply put, when you spend most of your waking hours sitting in front of the computer or game console, you’re not eating well and you’re not moving around enough.  I gained most of my weight as a direct result of lack of exercise and poor diet, both of which were related to my gaming.
@USA Today

and just to give a bit of an opposing view, here’s an article about the health benefits of some exercise related video games such as the Wii fit.  I’m not going to say that these are as good as a normal workout but if they get your butt of the couch then they’re better than nothing.
@US News and World Report

There’s A LOT of useful information in the following article from Consumer Reports.  It’s all about dieting, exercise and do-it-yourself fitness.   I’m not going to try and describe it all because it’s a big collection of information.  So just click on over there and enjoy.
@Consumer Reports

And let’s finish this off with an excellent collection of tips from MSN on how to sleep better.  Something I’ve been trying to do myself lately.

Too many times we get stuck on some fancy plan, some grand idea for how we’re going to change our lives.  We spend hours and days and weeks and months coming up with plans, projects and time lines, all of which are supposed to tell us exactly how we’re going to get from point A (right now) to point B (where we would like to be when our big goals are accomplished).  Those grand plans are nice but almost impossible to implement in total. It’s just not possible to foresee everything that could happen, every obstacle that might come up, every new idea and new method you’ll learn along the way.

Instead, it’s far better to just try something new.  One or two little things perhaps.  Try them out, feel your way through them, pay attention to how they make you feel and act and then go from there.  Stop putting together five year plans and start putting together five week plans.  Actually, let me correct that.  Put together some high level 5 year goals and plans, but don’t be afraid of changing midway through.  Don’t be afraid of changing course.

Read all you can, learn all you can, form an idea and jump in.  Then figure out if this idea is working or not.  See what the results are.  Is this new idea contributing to your progress towards the 5 year goal?  What are some new things that this idea is making you think of?  What are some new ideas this suggested to you?  Adjust, modify, adapt and come up with something new.  Now jump right back in.  Keep doing that over and over and don’t be afraid of changing your 5 year plans and goals if along the way you come up with something better.

Big goals are great, but it’s important to note that writing down “I’m going to be healthy and fit in five years” is meaningless unless you do all the little stuff needed to get you there.  That little stuff cannot be planned out 5 years ahead.  It must be lived through one day, week and month at a time.

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If you’re interested in more on this “strategic intuition”, pick up a book called Napoleon’s Glance: The Secret of Strategy (Nation Books)

And here are a few of the articles I’m reading while flying:

I like this article from the Cleveland.  It’s a brief story on the recent fad of adding Omega 3 acids to every food there and claiming it’s healthier.  Sorry, but you’re getting more than enough Omega 3 in your diet if you just eat an occasional piece of fish.  No need for expensive supplements when you can get your nutrients through a healthy diet.
@Cleveland

How many of you know how many grams of protein are in a single serving of chicken or a glass of milk?  How about an egg?  How many of you know how many grams of protein the human body needs?  My guess would be very few, which is not an accusation by the way, I didn’t know myself until I started 60 in 3.  Which is why I think a lot of these protein supplements companies are making money when they really shouldn’t.

The Advertising

We’ve all heard the advertising.  It’s unavoidable on TV or at the gym.  Buy the supplement and like magic, your muscles will tone up.  You’ll be ripped and toned within a week, all thanks to this wonderful protein shake or powder or bar or whatever.  Yah, right, if only it was that easy.

First, How Much Do We Need?

The human body needs about .8 to 1.8 grams of protein per kg of body weight.  I would like to emphasize that this is per KILOGRAM, not per pound.  For those of you more comfortable with the English system, a kg is 2.2lbs.  So your protein requirements could also be expressed as .37g to .82g of protein per lb of body weight.

That’s a range because some of us need more and some need less.  The more you use your muscles, the more you need because protein is used to repair all the damage you do to your muscles when you move.  So if you’re a serious body builder, you need .82 grams of protein per lb of body weight.  If you’re a serious couch potato, you need .37 grams of protein per lb of body weight.  If you’re somewhere in between, you’re going to need to judge for yourself.  As for me, I work out 5 days a week and I’m active on the weekends, so I’m going to assume .7 grams of protein per lb of body weight.  All of these numbers are per day by the way, so since I weigh 220lbs, I need 154 grams (220lbs * .7 gram per lb) per day.

Second, Are We Getting Enough?

That glass of milk I drank this morning?  8.4 grams of protein.  The 2 egg omelette I had with it?  14 grams of protein.  So it’s 8am and I’ve just had 22.4 grams of protein.  4 ounces of cottage cheese with my salad for lunch?  14 grams of protein.  2 slices of cheese for an afternoon snack?  another 14 grams.  A cup of tofu with some stir fried veggies for dinner?  20 grams of protein.  By the way, these are small servings.  At the end of the day, I’m at about 100 to 120 grams of protein.  Which leaves me around 30 to 50 grams short of my daily goal.  So yes, I drink a protein supplement with a bit more milk.

However, what about you?  Are you vegetarian?  If not, you may be surprised at the amount of protein you’re getting.  One burger patty?  22 grams of protein.  1 cup of chicken breast pieces scattered over a salad?  43 grams of protein.  That’s FORTY THREE!  Think about that for a second.  If I take my vegetarian diet with its small portions of dairy, tofu and eggs and add just a little bit of chicken on my lunch salad, I’d be getting my 153 grams of protein.  For you serious meat eaters, a 9 ounce sirloin steak has EIGHTY ONE grams of protein.

What am I trying to say?  Well, unless you’re a serious vegetarian or vegan, you do NOT need a protein supplement.  Yes, that’s true even if you work out a lot.  You’re getting more than enough protein if you just eat a healthy, balanced diet with a small amount of lean meat.

One Last Thing

For all of you who see these commercials, I want you to remember one more thing.  protein doesn’t build muscles.  Protein is the raw material that your body uses to build muscles IF you give it the incentive to.  If you eat a lot protein without working out, all you’ll get is fat. There is no magic in that protein supplement that will get you toned and ripped without exercise.  Protein will only help if you’re willing to do the work.

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Save your money and your calories.  Avoid the protein supplements and focus on working out and exercise.