Blog Archive

Friday finally.

Have you heard the music of Jon and Roy???  Or The Raconteurs & Jack White?

I’ll get back to yesterdays post and Liver health soon.  It’ll be finished an posted under our nutrition section soon.

It’s tough stuff to figure out the nutritional bull crap from the real good science.

Let’s take a day off….

Musically -vs Lyrically – who do you like best…..?

or

Jack White.

…..a lot of people think that the milk man (in this last song) is the brother , I think the milk man is another person in the story , “it was a cold glass bottle of milk that got delivered every morning at nine” , it means the milk man saw a lot of things about this family, and at the end Jack White is singing “well now you heard ANOTHER SIDE to the story, but u wanna know how it ends?  If you must know the truth about the tale – go and ask the milk man” so I think it means that milk man knows another side.  Love it.

TBear

now back to fitness…

Friday’s Skill/Strength Element:

Hang Squat Snatch, 2 reps, 4 sets.  Focus on speed.

Friday’s Workout:

4/4 DB Power Snatch (W 25-35lbs, M40-50Lbs)*

20 Double Under**

AMRAP in 1:30

Rest 3:30

Repeat for a total of 6 Rounds

*Heavier is better than lighter, but your ability to hit 8 power snatches in quick succession will be the most important factor in determining your workout weight.

**If you can’t do double unders, you’re in luck today, do high knee skips.  The goal is to move as fast as possible through your working rounds. Open throttle.

15m Butt Scoot penalty if you drop a dumbbell

If someone sees Bronto or Goose Willis warming up, put them in a headlock and drag them over to the computer to read that last line.

 
Saturday’s Skill/Str Element:

SumoDeadlift.  Quickly work up to a heavy double.

Saturday’s Workout:

In teams of 2, one member working at a time:

140 Wallballs (20/14/12Lbs)

1400 M Ballrun (200 M x 7)

140 Burpee

Andy

I rant again.  Maybe because of two recent hogties.  I don’t know?  Maybe it was the alternative hot sauce application techniques, or the stellar Nicaraguan weather or my newly profound infatuation of zen yoga or just the daily cold showers.  Whatever.  I get to do a Thursday rant.

Many of us abuse our bodies and the organs inside us.  Maybe beyond what we should, for a variety of reasons, or maybe the new stressors are good for our adaptation and growth. (whatever – we live – and we choose our daily actions moment to moment )….>>>>let me get back to helping us understand a little more about what’s going on with our one and only liver.

I know people who occasionally perished from liver disease that was usually associated with a high level of alcoholism.  I didn’t really get what was going on – and was quite naive for many years with how the liver functioned until last year when friends of mine discussed the god awful things that we consistently do to it.  Oops.

Liver disease is pretty much the direct result of choosing poor lifestyle habits.  There can even be no level of alcohol abuse and you can still get fucked.

I’ve attended a couple of decent seminars but mostly reading a bunch of recommended books/blogs/papers (by our conglomeration of nerdy crossfitters/ like Wolf, Taubes, Denise “The China Study debunker” Minger (a true contrarian and genious woman in my mind),  Matt “Baconman”Lelonde, Sally Fallon, Paul Jaminet, Sisson, Kurt Harris, Bernardi, Eades, etc. etc.) that has focused around “optimal health diets”, nutrition, real biochemist peer reviewed research and good decent science that I can count on as substantial, informative and fairly well received from what I can discern and argue as correct.  Anyway – Let’s learn a little about our lovely body filter – OUR LIVER.

Many writers, researchers, bloggers etc speak of the liver and its role in all around weight management.

The bad “liver loaders” are:

1) Binge drinking.  It’s not the calories in alcohol that cause the weight gain.  It’s the 3 or 4 day given’r every night.   After an over indulgence of just 3 days it takes the liver a week to process/clean out the system.  The liver is also crucial in metabolizing fats.  As much as I can multi-task, the liver really can’t.  Given the choice, our liver basically focuses on the alcohol, as it seems to be the most immediate threat, for the complete week…. and JUST when it’s ready to get back to fat, the weekend comes again.  And so the cycle continues.  The weight gain is the minimal of the concerns.  As miraculous as our crossfit bodies are, it can only take so much of this and then disease happens.

2) Fructose and Sugars.  Stay away from it.  It has an ability to sneak into the liver and it is very hard for the liver to process.

3) Caffeine (motherfrickentrucker!!)

4) then on to Trans Fats, Pesticides, Synthetics and Skin “care” Meds.

Dr. Libby Weaver (PhD), wrote “Accidentally Overweight” a book I got for Christmas from Kel’s Family.  There’s a whole chapter on liver health.  I’ll paraphrase as best I can because this could go on for awhile and probably will.

The skin is the largest organ, it absorbs EVERYTHING we put on it.

The liver, it’s the second largest.  It now processes not only everything we put in our bodies but also everything we put on it.

Most of us use chemicals and paraben loaded products on our skin and still eat processed foods (yes that includes eating out almost anywhere her in Van)……….It’s a lot of work for your liver!!  Hear it??

(wiki – Parabens are a class of chemicals widely used as preservatives by cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Parabens are effective preservatives in many types of formulas. These compounds, and their salts, are used primarily for their bactericidal and fungicidal properties. They can be found in shampoos, commercial moisturizers, shaving gels, personal lubricants, topical/parenteral pharmaceuticals, spray tanning solution, makeup,^[1] and toothpaste. They are also used as food additives.)

Hormones……..your lovely liver even processes those!  Cholesterol is a very important substance.  It is the building block off all our steroid (sex) hormones including progesterone and testosterone. The process that cholesterol goes through to form steroids is illustrated below from her book.  You diet contributes maybe 20% of the cholesterol in your blood while your liver takes care of the other 80%. Too much blood cholesterol can lower your levels of sex hormones being produced.  Since your sex hormones make you feel vital and and alive, they play an enormous role in whether you bounce or stagger out of bed each morning.  When your optimized and balanced you’ll feel amazing.  Zinc helps along with our essential fatty acids.  Get on em.

The best and easiest way Dr.Libby explained overall liver function is to:

Hold out your hand, open your fingers.  Imagine where your wrist is as the entry to your liver from your body.  Everything, EVERYTHING that goes into your body and on your skin is coming in through your wrist.  Your palm is your liver.  Your fingers are the exit.  There is a traffic jam happening.  OVERLOAD.  Things (hormones, chemicals, alcohol) are unable to exit and leave the body.  What happens?  They go right back into your system, to try again at another time.

Now imagine

that happening day after day,

week after week,

year after year……..

breakdown>>>>>>>>>disease.

& Remember the liver is the major fat burning organ in the body and regulates fat metabolism.

In her book “Accidentally Overweight”,

(GO BUY IT – I’ll give you a little treat if you do and show me the book all marked up)

It’s an easy read, to the point, and probably the best collection of sentences, chapters and analogies that I’ve read to date.

Further – Dr. Libby offers a “quickie test” to see if you need to love your liver a little more.  Cool know?

Take your hand; that area right under where a bra strap would be (for you dudes reach under your pecs), and place it there.  IF you feel a liver roll you may want to think about making some changes.

Ok, so hopefully you get it.  If you want to make some changes.  Start with your “diet”.

1. Stay away from sugars
2. Avoid foods that are processed
3. Take a lot more “C” –  RDA isn’t right.  Talk to Alana, NoTone, myself or an informed doc
4. Eat veggies and greens.  Go for colorful ones
5. Eat your food raw at least one meal a day
6. Get off the drugs
7. Eat less bad fats
8. Don’t listen to Dr Oz.  How do you think he gets paid? Answer-commercials
9. Isn’t paleo expensive
10. Need a meal plan??
11.

Foods that support your liver (local, non gmo, grown from nutrient rich soil)

• Garlic
• Grapefruit and grapefruit seed extract
• Beets, carrots
• Avocados
• Apples
• Cold pressed olive oil
• Lemons/limes
• Walnuts
• Cabbage (if you can handle it)
• Turmeric (the livers favourite spice)

AND remember your supplements……..like:

• Proper Probiotics (get a stool test done – find out what your got for gut bacteria
• Antioxidants and Multi-Minerals
• Good sources of DHA and EPA
• Milk-thistle extract helps support the liver by stimulating liver enzymes.
• Beneficial extracts from green tea, olives, and turmeric compounds.
• Consuming multiple sources of dietary fiber. Higher fiber means lower glycemic levels inside your body – less insulin = less body fat storage.

A Denis Waitely Quote

“Life is inherently risky.  There is only one big risk you should avoid at all cost and that is the risk of doing nothing”

So try this

For one week simply observe yourself.  Imagine that you are observing someone else’s life.  Step outside yourself and notice your habits, what you feed yourself.  Notice the triggers.  The times of the day and when in your life that better choices can be made.  I want at least 1 drink after leaving the gym.  Coaching is exhausting.

Step #2.  DECIDE.  Pick just one of those non-health supporting habits and resolve to, for just one week, change it & stop it.

That is a valuable skill!

Next week – take it to another level, add another health supporting habit.

For example: After a week you notice your urine is darker – you don’t drink enough water.  You start to drink more.  Then you add a lemon wedge.  The next day it’s a slice of lime as well.  Then you put a few drops of grapefruitseed extract in, maybe some Vit D drops. You then may even venture into water treated with Magnesium Prills.  I’m loving it…water becomes more alkaline (increased pH) and noticeably finer, which enables increased cellular hydration.

It really is THAT easy.

PaleoBear.com

and

the PaleoFoodCo.com

will be a reality soon.

Stay tuned for our launch this summer 2013.

TBear

Thursday’s Plan

Squat Focus Wk 7

A. Box Jumps, landing in the power position, 2 reps, 5 sets

B. Back Squat, @ 97.5 %, 2 reps

C. Speed Squats, @70%, 3 reps, 5 sets

D. Pause Squats, 5 sec pause, @55%, 4 reps, 3 sets

Andy

Remember, many ideas and things can go online and do so all the time.  It confuses the masses, but I think we are use to it. Does a TED video give thoughtful and thorough insight all the time?

I for one can’t begin to assimilate a thorough response tonight – but by Friday…..you’ll hear Paleobear’s rebuttal and all what the paleo realm and it’s followers have learned.  Remember Paleo is just a framework for developing healthy eating decisions – it doesn’t mean eat like the caveman did.

Robb Wolf has done his homework…. Check out his thoughts below.

http://robbwolf.com/2013/04/04/debunking-paleo-diet-wolfs-eye-view/

I’d love to hear some of your chatter and thoughts??

TBear

ps.

If you have Quicktime and don’t care for the paleo bashing check out this little 28 pic humpday photostream.

Tuesday Night

Wednesday’s Lesson Plan

Today’s Skill/Strength Element:

Groove the workout movements

Today’s Workout:

5 Handstand Push Ups

10 Alt Pistols

15 V Snaps

Rounds in 20 Minutes

Andy

Faux Pas #2:

Blood, Sweat and Tears are all ok at CFV…  just don’t leave them on the floor.

Gross…..

A lot of people always ask how to do Paleo on a tight budget. Yes the protein can be expensive but a great way to eliminate costs by lowering the food bill is growing your own garden!

Yes not everyone has the luxury of having a giant space to garden, but there are urban spots that you can get all over the lower mainland. Not only will this bring down your Paleo Carb cost but gardening has a little something special about it that can improve your mood!

After a long day at the office heading outside for some fresh air and planting, harvesting, watering or picking out weeds calms you down and helps to de-stress.

The feeling of accomplishment when you go out into the garden and pick your vegetables and then whip up dinner with these fresh, herbicide free plants is overwhelming it is very cool to know that you grew that!

Start simple! I would suggest trying herbs, tomatoes and kale! Super easy and hardy plants! Strawberries need a bit more care but are also pretty seamless!

Growing flowers and trees is also pretty awesome! I am enjoying being outside and seeing my new daffidols and taking in the scents!!!

Let me know who is gardening this year and maybe we can have a grow off!!!

Dash

Today’s Skill/Str Element:

Bulgarian Split Squats 6 L/6R, 4 sets

Today’s Workout:

Nicole

400m Run

+

1 set of unbroken pull-ups

Repeat for  20 minutes.

Total pull-ups for the leader-board.

A