Archive for January, 2011

At my presentations, I give a TON of information. In my desire to educate as much as I can, I often feel that I may leave people feeling overwhelmed. As a result, I like to offer tips, tools and tricks to start living the healthy lifestyle. One fantastic tool came my way yesterday when Matt Lucas from CrossFit Southwest in Tempe, AZ contacted me. He is the host of a blog offering a Meal of the Day (MOD). Matt has scoured the internet for some fantastic Paleo meals. Please check his blog on a regular basis. You’ll find the new addition to our website on the sidebar.

It’s getting to be that time of year. The Adventure Race season is upon us. This short but straight forward article will help to get your bike ready for the season. It’s also a good idea to clean your bike after every ride to keep the components working properly.

Clean components work better and more smoothly.  Keeping your bike frame clean will also ensure that the paint job on your shiny new bike lasts a long time. 

In general, bikes and their parts don’t like water.  That being said, if your bike is covered with road dirt or trail mud, you will have to use a gentle spray of water to clean your bike.  The trick is to clean the frame and components without washing away important lubricants.

What you need?

1. Clean rag
2. Simple Green – You can buy this at any store.(Target, Walgreens, Safeway)
3. Water – If you have a really dirty bike
4. Citrus based degreaser – You can find this at any bike shop
5. Watch this video

How to do it (Video)?

Every morning, I start the day with two big glasses of water. It’s important to replenish the body after going without water for 6-10 hours. Start off by rinsing your mouth out several times to help rid yourself of any bacteria that found their way into your mouth overnight. Many people tend to sleep with their mouths open – drawing in countless bacteria. It’s better to spit that bacteria out to start your day than ingest it.

One of the leaders in my field, Dr. Dan Kalish, wrote an email to us reminding us to drink more water. Here is an excerpt from his email:

“It’s January, a new year and I want all of you to do exactly what I do every morning upon arising: DRINK WATER!  This is, for all of us, the #1 action item to a healthy lifestyle. Don’t wait to get sick to improve your health.
Go right now and get a big glass of water, come back and sit down and read the rest of this.
How much water do you drink a day? The vast majority of patients I work with have been dehydrated for many years.  Water is vital to fat burning, energy production, improving your mood, detoxification of chemicals; enzyme function during digestion, every biochemical process in your body relies upon water.
Why water is important
Increasing your water intake can:
Help you lose weight
Increase your energy
Improve your mood
Reduce digestive problems like heartburn and constipation
Dehydration
Most people have lost their normal sense of thirst due to long term dehydration (the brain literally shuts off the thirst signals after a period of time)
It is easy to mistake thirst for hunger and develop a tendency to overeat rather than drink water
Rules for Water
Your body is mostly made up of water and needs to be re-hydrated properly every single day. If you are new to drinking adequate amounts of water you can use a lemon or lime or orange slice to add some flavor, you can also put a pinch of high quality sea salt in each glass you drink to get a good balance of minerals.
When you become dehydrated your body will literally “dry up” the mucous membrane tissues which include the sinus passages, stomach and intestines, this predisposes people to sinus infections, stomach problems like ulcers and creates problems like constipation. Lack of water also will cause the spinal discs to become dry and fragile and lead to problems with neck and back pain.
Lack of water also forces us to hold on to toxins since they are not being flushed out quickly enough and this leads to an excess of body fat since we store these toxins in body fat. As you drink appropriate amounts of water you will flush out the toxins and start to burn off the fat. In addition, the more toxic people become the more they tend to hold on to fluid and become bloated, drinking water also helps reduce bloating again because toxins are flushed out of the system.
Water also has zero calories, is relatively inexpensive compared to other products we drink like coffee, juice and teas.
So for the next 30 days focus on this one issue WATER, drink at least 64 ounces of water every day. If you feel you may have been dehydrated for a long period of time then you can base your water intake on your body weight and drink ½ your body weight in ounces of water per day, in other words if you weigh 160 pounds you should drink 80 ounces of water per day, or about 6-7 twelve ounce glasses.
I highly recommend using a water bottle that you refill throughout the day so you can easily track how much you are consuming. I use quart size glass mason jar myself, refilling it four times each day to get my allotment of water in.
Other general ideas: try to drink most of your water in the morning and early afternoon, before dinner so you don’t have to wake up at night to urinate. Avoid drinking too much water with meals, between meals is best. After about 3 weeks of being properly hydrated you will start to regain your normal sense of thirst and will actually look forward to your first glass of water in the morning.”

Sally Fallon is the author of my favorite nutrition book: Nourishing Traditions. It is actually a recipe book, but is filled with nutrition information. I highly recommend you pick up a copy. Here, she is talking about the three worst nutritional offenders.

Vegetable Oils: Stay away from the liquid cooking oils. Olive oil, of course, is an exception but you DO NOT want to heat the olive oil to anything above a medium heat. You’ll be hard pressed to find many products in the grocery store that are sold in a package that don’t contain soybean, canola, and/or safflower oil. Take a look for yourself next time you’re in the store.

Refined Carbohydrates: Stay away from the white devils – sugar and flour. Also be on the lookout for high fructose corn syrup which is in everything because it is so cheap. But don’t forget that sugar is sugar is sugar. I don’t care if it sounds healthy (ie. organic cane juice, concentrated apple juice, agave nectar, etc.). Sugar is sugar is sugar.

Artificial Flavors and Preservatives: These are typically the products on labels that are the difficult ones to pronouce. With my chemistry background, I’m familiar with many of these. They are normally found in the form of salts so be on the lookout for items that end in the suffix “-ate” (ie. calcium propionate, sodium nitrate, and monosodium glutamate – MSG). Citric acid and sulfites are other preservatives that can mess with you.

Bottom line – read labels and know what you’re putting in your body. Better yet, eat foods that don’t require labels!! Nothing out of a box, can, package, etc.

Believe it or not, this guy is going to give a presentation on mindful nutrition. To a great extent, our thoughts affect our physical body. Don’t let stinkin’ thinkin’ limit your potential. Nutrition topics will cover how fats are healthy, balancing hormones and blood sugar, and modifications to the Paleo diet to make it more practical. Included will be your keys to success in living the healthy lifestyle you’ve wanted to reach the goals you’ve made for yourself.

The presentation starts at 6:45pm at CrossFit Burn in Pacheco on Tuesday, January 18. The presentation will last 60-90 minutes with a Q&A session to follow. So bring your notebooks and bring your questions!! Location can be found here.