I don't learn very well when someone leads me to knowledge...in fact being lead to knowledge can be one of the most frusterating things I can experience.
Being lead means that I don't have much interaction...I just, and only follow or listen. I've learned that I really need to be able to repeat things back, put them in my own words and reiterate where I think we've been and where i think we're going. A huge Part of me learning, is me guessing where I think we're going next. I enjoy telling this guess to my teacher. If I feel that I truely understand where I've been then I will have a good idea where we're going. If however I can't guess where we're going there is a good chance I don't know where we've been and have actually been lost for some time. When I get to this point....I get soooooooo angry......its a terrible feeling. When I'm lost that anger and pain come from the fact that I have TOO MANY possible truths, meaning the "truth" the teacher is trying to teach is not solidly related to what he/she said before, and I feel like "why in the hell would they say that" and I just have to agree...even if I don't understand I just have to agree...and that is soooo dumb...that is what slaves have to do. The truth is that I DO WANT TO UNDERSTAND. But If I feel like I'm lost I start trying to guess on my own...and I'm in the huge endless world of guessing...but I'm not supposed to be there I'm supposed to be riding int he understanding boat with the teacher.
I'd like to not feel this way.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
ATP, Mito's, homeostasis, oh my!
I think Peter is looking for the "original sin" in this whole cascade.
As I read this article I thought to my self...this seems historically significant. I think it will be a very long time until this info is public knowledge..if ever. I wouldn't be suprised if this guy wins a nobel prize one day. Its deffinately heavy stuff...but the concepts he is getting at are going to explain a lot of the issues and diet descrepancies we've seen.
This explains a real good relationship between the idea of cal's in vs cal's out and actual hunger with out directly talking about those two topics. How it may "work" for some and not others. That over eating is an effect of some other mechanism and not a psychological one. Over eating is not the primary cause.
The whole Adipostat thing...is a competing hypothesis from another researcher. The idea is that the somewhere in the Hypothalamus is a "thermostat" that regulates your fatness hence Adipostat. Peter disagree's with this Adipostat hypothesis. As do I.
A good part of this is over my head, but I like to listen in on discussions by the intellectual giants and take from it what I can. This way I'm sort of ahead of the curve of the pop culture spin machine, and can better form my own opinion's when that wave hits me, because I'm watching TV, or listening to the radio. I've always been facinated how ideas drive the world. Sometimes we're really wrong for 50, 100, or 1000 years.
http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2011/10/adipostat-ballon.html
"Let's just set this out:
Mitochondrial dysfunction leads to cytosolic fatty acid derivative accumulation.
This leads to chronic hyperinsulinaemia via insulin resistance.
This leads to adipocyte distension.
This leads to adipocyte insulin resistance.
This leads to increased plasma FFA delivery at a given level of insulin.
This leads to increased cytosolic FFA derivatives.
This leads to mitochondrial ATP production being normalised.
The cost is increased insulin resistance. Oh, and the MECHANISM for improved ATP production is OBESITY. Call this a cost if you wish." - Peter
wow....
As I read this article I thought to my self...this seems historically significant. I think it will be a very long time until this info is public knowledge..if ever. I wouldn't be suprised if this guy wins a nobel prize one day. Its deffinately heavy stuff...but the concepts he is getting at are going to explain a lot of the issues and diet descrepancies we've seen.
This explains a real good relationship between the idea of cal's in vs cal's out and actual hunger with out directly talking about those two topics. How it may "work" for some and not others. That over eating is an effect of some other mechanism and not a psychological one. Over eating is not the primary cause.
The whole Adipostat thing...is a competing hypothesis from another researcher. The idea is that the somewhere in the Hypothalamus is a "thermostat" that regulates your fatness hence Adipostat. Peter disagree's with this Adipostat hypothesis. As do I.
A good part of this is over my head, but I like to listen in on discussions by the intellectual giants and take from it what I can. This way I'm sort of ahead of the curve of the pop culture spin machine, and can better form my own opinion's when that wave hits me, because I'm watching TV, or listening to the radio. I've always been facinated how ideas drive the world. Sometimes we're really wrong for 50, 100, or 1000 years.
http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2011/10/adipostat-ballon.html
"Let's just set this out:
Mitochondrial dysfunction leads to cytosolic fatty acid derivative accumulation.
This leads to chronic hyperinsulinaemia via insulin resistance.
This leads to adipocyte distension.
This leads to adipocyte insulin resistance.
This leads to increased plasma FFA delivery at a given level of insulin.
This leads to increased cytosolic FFA derivatives.
This leads to mitochondrial ATP production being normalised.
The cost is increased insulin resistance. Oh, and the MECHANISM for improved ATP production is OBESITY. Call this a cost if you wish." - Peter
wow....
Monday, May 16, 2011
Grass Based Health
A new Recomended blog!
Hi everyone I am adding the blog link http://grassbasedhealth.blogspot.com/ to my blog. I think it is really impressive and filled with information from a perspective that I had not been exposed to previously. I think its another angle that helps build the case for paleo type eating.
Thanks Peter, great stuff!
Hi everyone I am adding the blog link http://grassbasedhealth.blogspot.com/ to my blog. I think it is really impressive and filled with information from a perspective that I had not been exposed to previously. I think its another angle that helps build the case for paleo type eating.
Thanks Peter, great stuff!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Hard like Squats
Wanna try something interesting? Consider it an excercise for your emotion. Read this blog and the comments below, or just the comments below it, and just experience how the comments make you feel.
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/lipid-hypothesis/the-vegetarian-myth/#comments
Me, I feel people being angry and it makes me angry.
I can feel insulted even though I'm not being talked to.
I personally have not made any comment on that blog, but as I read I can feel like I'm being talked to. I'm taking responsibility for something that is not mine.
I wonder about my defensive insulted emotion. I let it sit, feel it start to go away then I want to make it burn and I want to reply and get angry back. Notice how anger is hungry.
Find a post that makes you upset. Re-read it and highlight the sentance that makes you upset. Then force yourself to highlight the word in that sentance that really triggers it for you. Try now to realize what you are visually picturing this person looking like or what their life is like or what they are like. Notice you are starting to compare this person you are making up to people that you do actually know. Why are you doing this? What is the point in getting up set. Turn away from your computer, look around, and realize where you have power. Get out of your head. Come to the present notice a smell in your immediate surroundings.
Then read it again. Is there common ground? I see experiencing things like this without giving in to the negative landscape of emotion as a really good workout.
The only reason you would feel angry is if you felt threatened. Anger is a gift yes, but a tool more, and every tool is a weapon if you hold it right....or wrong.
These are hard questions and hard topics to answer. There are many hard topics to cover. Imagine what other topics this post could cover. The cool thing is that if you can control your emotions you have a good chance of thinking about them more often, with grater clarity, with a increased chance of making progress in your quest for your relationship to the world around you.... and you can begin to ask and answer some really hard questions.
To this often. Do this with real live people. Its hard, but worth it. Like squats :) Don't give up. Don't disengage. Do one more rep.
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/lipid-hypothesis/the-vegetarian-myth/#comments
Me, I feel people being angry and it makes me angry.
I can feel insulted even though I'm not being talked to.
I personally have not made any comment on that blog, but as I read I can feel like I'm being talked to. I'm taking responsibility for something that is not mine.
I wonder about my defensive insulted emotion. I let it sit, feel it start to go away then I want to make it burn and I want to reply and get angry back. Notice how anger is hungry.
Find a post that makes you upset. Re-read it and highlight the sentance that makes you upset. Then force yourself to highlight the word in that sentance that really triggers it for you. Try now to realize what you are visually picturing this person looking like or what their life is like or what they are like. Notice you are starting to compare this person you are making up to people that you do actually know. Why are you doing this? What is the point in getting up set. Turn away from your computer, look around, and realize where you have power. Get out of your head. Come to the present notice a smell in your immediate surroundings.
Then read it again. Is there common ground? I see experiencing things like this without giving in to the negative landscape of emotion as a really good workout.
The only reason you would feel angry is if you felt threatened. Anger is a gift yes, but a tool more, and every tool is a weapon if you hold it right....or wrong.
These are hard questions and hard topics to answer. There are many hard topics to cover. Imagine what other topics this post could cover. The cool thing is that if you can control your emotions you have a good chance of thinking about them more often, with grater clarity, with a increased chance of making progress in your quest for your relationship to the world around you.... and you can begin to ask and answer some really hard questions.
To this often. Do this with real live people. Its hard, but worth it. Like squats :) Don't give up. Don't disengage. Do one more rep.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
In the end
In the end death will be.
Instant
or
chaotic
or
peaceful
If its not Instant and you happen to be concious for some part of it; What direction will your mind move you as the lights go out.
If you are alive right now. What direction will your mind move you as the lights burn on?
Instant
or
chaotic
or
peaceful
If its not Instant and you happen to be concious for some part of it; What direction will your mind move you as the lights go out.
If you are alive right now. What direction will your mind move you as the lights burn on?
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
when you think you know
It would be wonderful if every time you thought you knew something you could categorize that general perspective as either positive or negative, and then keep a tally of the on going results and look at a chart of your life. Look at how your life is today, how you feel about that life, and how you feel about the future or past. I think it would be very telling. I think if someone could see a chart kept in one place of when faced with a situation where they don't know the truth what their general opinion is that they would learn a lot about their selves. You may not be shocked, but you may learn a lot. You may even be grateful for such a set of knowledge.
You may never do this. Some people including my self do not enjoy being so regimented and having to do such things.
I think it would be more functionally and actively healthy to do a regular reflection on your thoughts.
Just be aware. It seems this idea keep coming up.
You may never do this. Some people including my self do not enjoy being so regimented and having to do such things.
I think it would be more functionally and actively healthy to do a regular reflection on your thoughts.
Just be aware. It seems this idea keep coming up.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Why I keep saying reality is consistant
No, not just because its true...
I keep saying it because I think it is an INCREDIBLE lifelong, always expanding, never fully reaching maturity learning tool. With it you see that the truth on the inside is mirrored on the out side and vice versa. You can learn things from other people and then learn things about your self from it. You can learn from nature. Saying it, is another way of stating that reality is what it is and its everywhere. It is the "ness" of life. It is a way that I learn. People say you can't really know "truth", and while that is a fun philosophical conversation for sure.....I have to live...... which means I need to know how to live. I need to know what to do and not to do. If all of this is true then I better start learning. If there is no such thing as truth then there is NOTHING to learn..because everything would always be subject to change which means everything could be and eventually wrong and right. But like I said....I have to live.
The mere fact that I am here proves there is truth. I am Ryan therefore I am.
I keep saying it because I think it is an INCREDIBLE lifelong, always expanding, never fully reaching maturity learning tool. With it you see that the truth on the inside is mirrored on the out side and vice versa. You can learn things from other people and then learn things about your self from it. You can learn from nature. Saying it, is another way of stating that reality is what it is and its everywhere. It is the "ness" of life. It is a way that I learn. People say you can't really know "truth", and while that is a fun philosophical conversation for sure.....I have to live...... which means I need to know how to live. I need to know what to do and not to do. If all of this is true then I better start learning. If there is no such thing as truth then there is NOTHING to learn..because everything would always be subject to change which means everything could be and eventually wrong and right. But like I said....I have to live.
The mere fact that I am here proves there is truth. I am Ryan therefore I am.
Hormones?
This is part of a series. If you have not please read Another way first.
I thought, hormones, really. The only other times in my life as a 29 year old male that I have thought about hormones had to do with women and the concept of menstruation, as it starts, supports birth, and then goes away. Something wonderful happened to me as I looked into low carbs and Atkins. I realized I knew very little about my body. This realization was the splitting of a mental atom that has resulted in an explosion of ideas and interest. I'm greatful that I was open to and comfortable with being wrong and accepting that I knew very little.
I had always been interested in thinking for my self and coming to conclusions because I felt they were logical, defensible, and consistent. I had done the same with politics that turned into philosophy.
I had always thought that fat on the body was the result of extra food energy that I did not burn during that day. You go about your day you eat you live your burn energy, if at the end of the day you burned less than you took in you retained that energy as fat. Over time this excess energy accumulates and you grow in your fat. Period. Its all about the first law of thermodynamics. Calories in equal calories out. This is easy to understand and seems to make sense. This is why dieting is all about being a little bit hungry all the time, because after all hunger is a psychological sensation, its not really real...its just a desire. This is why we make fun of fat people as being lazy, and having no self control. I mean when we don't do something in life that we know we should, it comes down to self control, why should diet be any different. So put in less gas in the tank but run the engine more through exercise. All of this is sorta true, but really when it comes down to it, at BEST its half the story and largely miss's the mark. Look back at this paragraph, thats it. There are more metaphors and other tricks, but this is the story you have seen repeated and repeated and repeated. So much so that everyone believes is to be true. People who know almost nothing about human biology and nutrition will tell you what is healthy and that this is the way to lose fat. I've come to believe that its missing something.
What makes your fat cells able to release fat from storage? Its not just burning calories. You can burn plently of calories and not release fat from storage. This must be something good to learn.
I learned about Insulin, Leptin, Ghrelin, Thyroid hormones, enzymes, the differences between the macro and micro nutrients. I learned that real fat is not bad for you and that carbs are not a good alternative. I learned about the liver, the gut, the pancreas, the gall bladder, the pituitary gland, the hypothalamus, the portal vein. I learned the difference between saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated fats, and trans fats and not just the chemical difference but how they interact with your body. I learned which foods fit into those groups. I learned about sucrose, glucose, fructose, and long chain polysaccharides, and again not just chemically how they are different but how they interact with your body differently. I learned how food naturally has different amounts of these macro and micro combinations. I learned how these things affect our hormones differently. I've learned that mother nature is brilliant, and that there is more going on than meets the eye. I leanred that your body will give up its fat while staying nourished in a way that does not require hunger.
Here is a main point. Yes a calorie is a calorie, but what does that tell you? Not much. I put on a table a calorie of gasoline, a calorie of wood, a calorie of alcohol, a calorie of glucose, a calorie of stearic acid. Do all of these things contain the same amount of energy? Is a calorie is a calorie is a calorie, yes, But so what? The point, the primary and most important point is, what are these calories made of, what do they do to you? Each of them is metabolized differently and therefore affect out bodies differently. It is an over generalization to think of food as just how many calories of energy they represent. It is an over generalization that has lead to failure in people's ability to change the % of fat they carry on their body, and worse. This idea combined with the idea that fat is bad for you and will clog your arteries is as bad of an idea as the following out dated and bad ideas.
1. If you have red hair you are a witch.
2. The earth is flat
3. If you were to travel faster that 15mph you would disintegrate
4. putting leaches on you and draining your blood when you are sick is a good way to gain health.
5. De sterilizing the delivery room is not important.
6. Slavery is ok.
7. Women are worth less than men.
When you saw a very tall person growing up did you think they were tall because they ate a lot? No
When you saw a short person did you think. Wow, they must be undernourished? No
We didn't think that because we were not taught that. Actually those two ideas seem sorta funny don't they? Then why did we think that fat people are fat because they eat too much and they are lazy; Because we were taught that. I ask you, why? It is generally correct that fat people eat more and move less, but why? Its not because of a psychological problem is it because of a hormonal problem.
This post is ultimately about this fact. You DO affect your hormones and therefore your body and mind by the type of calories that you put in your body. When there is choice, quality is more important a concept and quantity, its not an either/or point, quantity is important too, but quality is more important, it is primary and our focus should start there. This is true in all aspects of life, everything, When there is choice, quality over quantity...OH Whats that?? reality is consistent??...yea it is. This fact is the most important concept to grasp when it comes to the idea of health. Do not boil down your body's energy storage and release mechanism to the crude image of an engine and a gas tank. If you do so you will most likely reach some very bad problems. The real kicker is that there will be multiple problems that seemingly have no link, and these problems according to your mechanism will only have one solution, eat less and exercise more. Take pills where this isn't enough. Fail.
The new paradigm. Your body, like your mind, is a long series of feed back loops, an input has an output this output in an input that creates an output that is also an input, and so on. In fact there are MANY of these loops going on at once. Some of them are the same process some of them are different. Some of these loops are very old. Work with your body, learn about your body. Things happen for a reason, when it comes to your body those reasons are amazing, intertwined, and complex. When you get this concept you look to work on the cause and not the effect. You gain this appreciation of your genetics. You see how complex and intertwined everything is. You see that this system must have been developing over time. You realize that your body is set up to be optimally healthy under a certain food and emotional environment.
Throughout this blog we will dissect issues that are science, chemistry, and biologically based. We will also look at related issues that are anecdotal based. If these ideas are good they will be aligned, they will be consistent. For instance you are the result of 77,000 generations of homosapien, our genetics have generally been the same for millions of years. With that in mind, what do you think you should eat. Should it be food that has only existed for 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 200, 10,000 years? Do you think when you decide what to eat based upon that historical anectdotal idea that the biological, hormonal, and chemical ideas that we can test today will be consistent with them. Yea they will.
I thought, hormones, really. The only other times in my life as a 29 year old male that I have thought about hormones had to do with women and the concept of menstruation, as it starts, supports birth, and then goes away. Something wonderful happened to me as I looked into low carbs and Atkins. I realized I knew very little about my body. This realization was the splitting of a mental atom that has resulted in an explosion of ideas and interest. I'm greatful that I was open to and comfortable with being wrong and accepting that I knew very little.
I had always been interested in thinking for my self and coming to conclusions because I felt they were logical, defensible, and consistent. I had done the same with politics that turned into philosophy.
I had always thought that fat on the body was the result of extra food energy that I did not burn during that day. You go about your day you eat you live your burn energy, if at the end of the day you burned less than you took in you retained that energy as fat. Over time this excess energy accumulates and you grow in your fat. Period. Its all about the first law of thermodynamics. Calories in equal calories out. This is easy to understand and seems to make sense. This is why dieting is all about being a little bit hungry all the time, because after all hunger is a psychological sensation, its not really real...its just a desire. This is why we make fun of fat people as being lazy, and having no self control. I mean when we don't do something in life that we know we should, it comes down to self control, why should diet be any different. So put in less gas in the tank but run the engine more through exercise. All of this is sorta true, but really when it comes down to it, at BEST its half the story and largely miss's the mark. Look back at this paragraph, thats it. There are more metaphors and other tricks, but this is the story you have seen repeated and repeated and repeated. So much so that everyone believes is to be true. People who know almost nothing about human biology and nutrition will tell you what is healthy and that this is the way to lose fat. I've come to believe that its missing something.
What makes your fat cells able to release fat from storage? Its not just burning calories. You can burn plently of calories and not release fat from storage. This must be something good to learn.
I learned about Insulin, Leptin, Ghrelin, Thyroid hormones, enzymes, the differences between the macro and micro nutrients. I learned that real fat is not bad for you and that carbs are not a good alternative. I learned about the liver, the gut, the pancreas, the gall bladder, the pituitary gland, the hypothalamus, the portal vein. I learned the difference between saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated fats, and trans fats and not just the chemical difference but how they interact with your body. I learned which foods fit into those groups. I learned about sucrose, glucose, fructose, and long chain polysaccharides, and again not just chemically how they are different but how they interact with your body differently. I learned how food naturally has different amounts of these macro and micro combinations. I learned how these things affect our hormones differently. I've learned that mother nature is brilliant, and that there is more going on than meets the eye. I leanred that your body will give up its fat while staying nourished in a way that does not require hunger.
Here is a main point. Yes a calorie is a calorie, but what does that tell you? Not much. I put on a table a calorie of gasoline, a calorie of wood, a calorie of alcohol, a calorie of glucose, a calorie of stearic acid. Do all of these things contain the same amount of energy? Is a calorie is a calorie is a calorie, yes, But so what? The point, the primary and most important point is, what are these calories made of, what do they do to you? Each of them is metabolized differently and therefore affect out bodies differently. It is an over generalization to think of food as just how many calories of energy they represent. It is an over generalization that has lead to failure in people's ability to change the % of fat they carry on their body, and worse. This idea combined with the idea that fat is bad for you and will clog your arteries is as bad of an idea as the following out dated and bad ideas.
1. If you have red hair you are a witch.
2. The earth is flat
3. If you were to travel faster that 15mph you would disintegrate
4. putting leaches on you and draining your blood when you are sick is a good way to gain health.
5. De sterilizing the delivery room is not important.
6. Slavery is ok.
7. Women are worth less than men.
When you saw a very tall person growing up did you think they were tall because they ate a lot? No
When you saw a short person did you think. Wow, they must be undernourished? No
We didn't think that because we were not taught that. Actually those two ideas seem sorta funny don't they? Then why did we think that fat people are fat because they eat too much and they are lazy; Because we were taught that. I ask you, why? It is generally correct that fat people eat more and move less, but why? Its not because of a psychological problem is it because of a hormonal problem.
This post is ultimately about this fact. You DO affect your hormones and therefore your body and mind by the type of calories that you put in your body. When there is choice, quality is more important a concept and quantity, its not an either/or point, quantity is important too, but quality is more important, it is primary and our focus should start there. This is true in all aspects of life, everything, When there is choice, quality over quantity...OH Whats that?? reality is consistent??...yea it is. This fact is the most important concept to grasp when it comes to the idea of health. Do not boil down your body's energy storage and release mechanism to the crude image of an engine and a gas tank. If you do so you will most likely reach some very bad problems. The real kicker is that there will be multiple problems that seemingly have no link, and these problems according to your mechanism will only have one solution, eat less and exercise more. Take pills where this isn't enough. Fail.
The new paradigm. Your body, like your mind, is a long series of feed back loops, an input has an output this output in an input that creates an output that is also an input, and so on. In fact there are MANY of these loops going on at once. Some of them are the same process some of them are different. Some of these loops are very old. Work with your body, learn about your body. Things happen for a reason, when it comes to your body those reasons are amazing, intertwined, and complex. When you get this concept you look to work on the cause and not the effect. You gain this appreciation of your genetics. You see how complex and intertwined everything is. You see that this system must have been developing over time. You realize that your body is set up to be optimally healthy under a certain food and emotional environment.
Throughout this blog we will dissect issues that are science, chemistry, and biologically based. We will also look at related issues that are anecdotal based. If these ideas are good they will be aligned, they will be consistent. For instance you are the result of 77,000 generations of homosapien, our genetics have generally been the same for millions of years. With that in mind, what do you think you should eat. Should it be food that has only existed for 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 200, 10,000 years? Do you think when you decide what to eat based upon that historical anectdotal idea that the biological, hormonal, and chemical ideas that we can test today will be consistent with them. Yea they will.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
What to eat
I realized that I've said a lot, and not said what to eat. There are a few variations of opinions on what is optimal and best. Everyone agrees on the big stuff. The differences are usually about particular health issues like...are you sensitive to dairy, or night shades, or how many carbs exactly should you have, is white rice ok? What about tubers and bulbs? I have opinions on all of this, but don't want this particular post to get too long. oops...
You know...I just deleted a lot of stuff on purpose, because I thought. Why reinvent the wheel, I can't improve upon it. The man who made it is Dr. Kurt Harris and this is it. I just want add a few comments before I put up the link.
There is really solid reasoning behind what he has put here. It is very simple to follow. I have felt great improvements to my physical and mental self as I've followed it. If you have eaten a low fat diet for a long time you may have to ease in for eating lots of fat. You will probably feel weird the first week or so as your body reacts like an addict to the lack of sugar. If you are not eating paleo or low carb now your body is setup to be a carb (glucose) burner and when you stop feeding it "sugar" you will get those crazings...until your body adapts to being able to burn your own fat storage for energy. This process takes a week or so to start and a few months to be really Keto adapted.
Let your hunger guide your portions and meal timings. You will find those things change naturally as your body is properly nourished. It is a process to learn all the things you can eat, as well as being able to spot fake crappy food's and to avoid them. Even in mind of my last sentence, don't freak out about it, if you are not perfect dont' worry about it, but don't give up on the core principals. They are the real key to lean and health. Use knowledge and experience to guide you. A lot of the real and lasting changes come from your perspective of how you see your body. Do not feel like you have to be hungry, do not avoid fat. Seek saturated fat.
For example I am 6' 2" 244 every once in awhile I put what I eat into a calorie counting webpage. I put in there what a real typical day of eating is for me. Just following these principals it turned out to be just under 2000 calories with ratios of 60% fat, 10% carbs, 30% protein. I honestly think that is the optimal ratios for weight loss. Kurt makes a point to say don't worry about those ratios because they will work out on their own. He's right, but if you want to be more neurotic about it for fat loss think highfat, low carb, moderate protein. I just wanted to show an example.
Enjoy.
http://www.archevore.com/get-started/
You know...I just deleted a lot of stuff on purpose, because I thought. Why reinvent the wheel, I can't improve upon it. The man who made it is Dr. Kurt Harris and this is it. I just want add a few comments before I put up the link.
There is really solid reasoning behind what he has put here. It is very simple to follow. I have felt great improvements to my physical and mental self as I've followed it. If you have eaten a low fat diet for a long time you may have to ease in for eating lots of fat. You will probably feel weird the first week or so as your body reacts like an addict to the lack of sugar. If you are not eating paleo or low carb now your body is setup to be a carb (glucose) burner and when you stop feeding it "sugar" you will get those crazings...until your body adapts to being able to burn your own fat storage for energy. This process takes a week or so to start and a few months to be really Keto adapted.
Let your hunger guide your portions and meal timings. You will find those things change naturally as your body is properly nourished. It is a process to learn all the things you can eat, as well as being able to spot fake crappy food's and to avoid them. Even in mind of my last sentence, don't freak out about it, if you are not perfect dont' worry about it, but don't give up on the core principals. They are the real key to lean and health. Use knowledge and experience to guide you. A lot of the real and lasting changes come from your perspective of how you see your body. Do not feel like you have to be hungry, do not avoid fat. Seek saturated fat.
For example I am 6' 2" 244 every once in awhile I put what I eat into a calorie counting webpage. I put in there what a real typical day of eating is for me. Just following these principals it turned out to be just under 2000 calories with ratios of 60% fat, 10% carbs, 30% protein. I honestly think that is the optimal ratios for weight loss. Kurt makes a point to say don't worry about those ratios because they will work out on their own. He's right, but if you want to be more neurotic about it for fat loss think highfat, low carb, moderate protein. I just wanted to show an example.
Enjoy.
http://www.archevore.com/get-started/
Saturday, April 23, 2011
now you know
Now that you have some idea about Gary Taubes and have perhaps looked up the Dr. Oz Show with him. You may have come across some people flaming Gary for not getting his cholesterol checked and "showing the world" what a low carb high fat dies "does to your arteries". Garys stance was that (paraphrasing here) he does not think its that important to get tested. That if you eat a high fat you will be as healthy as you can be so why get caught up in measuring something that he couldn't "improve" upon anyway.
But he did. Here are Garys numbers.
http://www.garytaubes.com/2011/04/before-sugar-were-talking-about-cholesterol/
But he did. Here are Garys numbers.
http://www.garytaubes.com/2011/04/before-sugar-were-talking-about-cholesterol/
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Another way
This is part of a chain. If you haven't read seeking healty diet please do so.
Another way walked past my desk one day at work. Was I open to it?
A friend of mine walked past my desk. A particular friend whom I just happened to really admire, I'll refer to him as K. I looked at K and said "wow did you lost some weight"? Now, I didn't say wow because he was overweight and I was shocked to see his body composition move towards the lean side. No, I said wow, because I always thought of him as a fit, in good shape, 40 something adult male. So K went on to explain to me that he has been on the Atkins diet for 3 months and has lost a lot of fat while eating till his hearts content, pun intended. If life is an amusement park, this was the beginning of a new ride that started out awesome and keeps getting better.
My brain heard Atkins and ever present attendant quickly gave me two ideas.
1. This wasn't to much of an idea as it was a feeling. I experienced the feeling of warning, un-popular, like I felt a little ashamed as if the A word should not be said out loud.
2. I remembered back in middle school when my grand parents talked to my parents about this Atkins diet they were on. At the time I was very lean and thought about diet as much as I thought about retirement. I remember their big point was that Atkins worked better than other diets because when presented with fat, protein, or sugar the body would preferentially burn sugar so it would never get to the fat, because by the time you are hungry again you eat more sugar. I also learned that carbohydrates break down to sugar. I remember really liking this idea at the time. It made sense. Sense is good.
I felt guilty about #1 because of what "every one" else thinks about it. Sorta like...remember in elementary school when everyone loved Michael Jackson, then a few years later everyone hated michael jackson but secretly liked him still, and then later on loved him again...yea like that. I had respect for Atkins though because of my memory of #2. I didn't let the negative overwhelm me. So I approached K with openness and curiosity. He went on to tell me how he ate, how he felt, why he did it, and some about how it works. I remember looking at my desk seeing a bunch of bananas, a bag of apples, and oranges, a box of cliff bars, and bags of tuna. High carb, low fat, calorie restriction. Here were very clearly two worlds colliding. Looking back I think I was really lucky because I wasn't afraid of fat. I was just doing what men's health magazine told me to do, because I wanted abs, and to look like the guys on their magazine covers! Not a bad goal, and actually it's one that I still have.
Being open minded I started to look up Atkins and low carb. I quickly found a diet forum where I saw there was this one guy that was answering every ones questions. With some digging I was able to find his email address and started a several month open dialog about How and why Atkins worked. I was so happy that he responded. It turns out he was a scientist by trade, and what he said to me vastly opened up my world view.
Ultimately body composition comes down to hormones.
Another way walked past my desk one day at work. Was I open to it?
A friend of mine walked past my desk. A particular friend whom I just happened to really admire, I'll refer to him as K. I looked at K and said "wow did you lost some weight"? Now, I didn't say wow because he was overweight and I was shocked to see his body composition move towards the lean side. No, I said wow, because I always thought of him as a fit, in good shape, 40 something adult male. So K went on to explain to me that he has been on the Atkins diet for 3 months and has lost a lot of fat while eating till his hearts content, pun intended. If life is an amusement park, this was the beginning of a new ride that started out awesome and keeps getting better.
My brain heard Atkins and ever present attendant quickly gave me two ideas.
1. This wasn't to much of an idea as it was a feeling. I experienced the feeling of warning, un-popular, like I felt a little ashamed as if the A word should not be said out loud.
2. I remembered back in middle school when my grand parents talked to my parents about this Atkins diet they were on. At the time I was very lean and thought about diet as much as I thought about retirement. I remember their big point was that Atkins worked better than other diets because when presented with fat, protein, or sugar the body would preferentially burn sugar so it would never get to the fat, because by the time you are hungry again you eat more sugar. I also learned that carbohydrates break down to sugar. I remember really liking this idea at the time. It made sense. Sense is good.
I felt guilty about #1 because of what "every one" else thinks about it. Sorta like...remember in elementary school when everyone loved Michael Jackson, then a few years later everyone hated michael jackson but secretly liked him still, and then later on loved him again...yea like that. I had respect for Atkins though because of my memory of #2. I didn't let the negative overwhelm me. So I approached K with openness and curiosity. He went on to tell me how he ate, how he felt, why he did it, and some about how it works. I remember looking at my desk seeing a bunch of bananas, a bag of apples, and oranges, a box of cliff bars, and bags of tuna. High carb, low fat, calorie restriction. Here were very clearly two worlds colliding. Looking back I think I was really lucky because I wasn't afraid of fat. I was just doing what men's health magazine told me to do, because I wanted abs, and to look like the guys on their magazine covers! Not a bad goal, and actually it's one that I still have.
Being open minded I started to look up Atkins and low carb. I quickly found a diet forum where I saw there was this one guy that was answering every ones questions. With some digging I was able to find his email address and started a several month open dialog about How and why Atkins worked. I was so happy that he responded. It turns out he was a scientist by trade, and what he said to me vastly opened up my world view.
Ultimately body composition comes down to hormones.
Monday, April 18, 2011
point of view
Everyone has a point of view. We're all different, so even as we might come to the same conclusion we may still have a different point of view. Understanding yours and wanting to understand others' helps you communicate. You are accepting reality you are learning more, you want to learn more. You can rely on your conclusions more, as you apply this to your life.
Amongst many players in the High fat/Low carb versus low fat/high carb "battle". Two of the people that come to mind are Gary Taubes and Dr. Oz.
You probably know Dr. Oz. Right about now would be a really good time to ask your self why. Why do you know who Dr. Oz is? Now ask your self what kind of diet do you think is healthy. Why do you think that? Both the concept of Dr Oz and the concept of a healthy diet come from the same school of thought. They are children from the same parents. I ALWAYS question something that I "just know" without trying to know. I did not set out to know who Dr. Oz was, I did not set out growing up to know what a "healthy diet" was, it was something that I absorbed by being born in 1980 in America and paying some "normal" amount of attention to media (books, mags, Internet, tv, radio). Therefore I argue that everyone knows what a "healthy diet" is and most agree. For some people, the more others agree with them, the more they agree with their selves. This is called truth through consensus, and is Dangerous, much more dangerous than any weapon, true. To those already included in this consensus group it takes nothing more than empty platitudes and dogma for the followers to agree even more. Most comedians know this, Chris Rock uses this a lot. People cheer and laugh really hard at things they agree with. Thinking is forgone conclusion and no longer necessary. If it took almost no thought to believe in it...beware.
Do you know who Gary Taubes is? Well, with the help of, and to the detriment of Dr. Oz, you may. For you to believe Gary, he will have to EARN your respect and trust. As he does this you may want to know him. This makes sense, and is fine. Always prefer the things in life which had to be earned, if you have to earn it everyday the better it is. Happiness is down this path. Yes, even though your lover says they love you, you still have to earn it everyday. Knowledge and ideas are no different. Remember reality is consistent. Gary stands a chance in convincing you IF you are loyal to the truth and not JUST to what you already believe. Again sometimes those two things are aligned, sometimes they are not.
What is your point of view? Are you able to become undefensive and hear Gary's idea?
Here is an article by Gary on his recent visit to the Dr. Oz show.
http://www.garytaubes.com/2011/03/dose-of-intervention-land-of-dr-oz/
lotta good comments too.
Amongst many players in the High fat/Low carb versus low fat/high carb "battle". Two of the people that come to mind are Gary Taubes and Dr. Oz.
You probably know Dr. Oz. Right about now would be a really good time to ask your self why. Why do you know who Dr. Oz is? Now ask your self what kind of diet do you think is healthy. Why do you think that? Both the concept of Dr Oz and the concept of a healthy diet come from the same school of thought. They are children from the same parents. I ALWAYS question something that I "just know" without trying to know. I did not set out to know who Dr. Oz was, I did not set out growing up to know what a "healthy diet" was, it was something that I absorbed by being born in 1980 in America and paying some "normal" amount of attention to media (books, mags, Internet, tv, radio). Therefore I argue that everyone knows what a "healthy diet" is and most agree. For some people, the more others agree with them, the more they agree with their selves. This is called truth through consensus, and is Dangerous, much more dangerous than any weapon, true. To those already included in this consensus group it takes nothing more than empty platitudes and dogma for the followers to agree even more. Most comedians know this, Chris Rock uses this a lot. People cheer and laugh really hard at things they agree with. Thinking is forgone conclusion and no longer necessary. If it took almost no thought to believe in it...beware.
Do you know who Gary Taubes is? Well, with the help of, and to the detriment of Dr. Oz, you may. For you to believe Gary, he will have to EARN your respect and trust. As he does this you may want to know him. This makes sense, and is fine. Always prefer the things in life which had to be earned, if you have to earn it everyday the better it is. Happiness is down this path. Yes, even though your lover says they love you, you still have to earn it everyday. Knowledge and ideas are no different. Remember reality is consistent. Gary stands a chance in convincing you IF you are loyal to the truth and not JUST to what you already believe. Again sometimes those two things are aligned, sometimes they are not.
What is your point of view? Are you able to become undefensive and hear Gary's idea?
Here is an article by Gary on his recent visit to the Dr. Oz show.
http://www.garytaubes.com/2011/03/dose-of-intervention-land-of-dr-oz/
lotta good comments too.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Candy Cigs
Kurt Harris is awesome and I one of the main reason's I was inspired to start a blog. I don't know how I can add value, but perhaps my shooting the proverbial flare gun into the night as a symbol of another soul that agree's, will count for something.
What Kurt is describing here is living in alignment with your values, AKA to be a consistent person. It's about being what you believe in. People say vote with the dollar. I say vote with your life.
http://www.archevore.com/panu-weblog/2011/4/12/smoking-candy-cigarettes-revised-version-on-pt.html
What Kurt is describing here is living in alignment with your values, AKA to be a consistent person. It's about being what you believe in. People say vote with the dollar. I say vote with your life.
http://www.archevore.com/panu-weblog/2011/4/12/smoking-candy-cigarettes-revised-version-on-pt.html
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
dictaphone
How many ideas a day do you have that you like? How many of these ideas do you wish you could remember and then come back to and edit as it evolves? I wake up in the morning sometimes with the best most exciting thoughts and then I forget them. Damn...
Since I started this blog I've been aware and thinking about it constantly and thinking, OH that would be cool to write about! So I was thinking, wow I need to get to best buy today and buy one, then i realized I could just use my phone...nice, so hopefully this is a new thing..pull my phone out, use my voice recorder, then later listen to an idea I said earlier but have now forgotten.
one of those ideas
On the way to work this morning I was listening to a podcast where the guy was talking about causing a cultural paradigm shift, and how it happens, and why it takes so long! One of the reasons he said is that there are more followers than leaders. I quickly agreed with him. He framed the term follower as someone who makes up and or changes their mind because some leader told them to, or told them this is best. Perhaps substitute leader for authority. Of course at some level we are all both leaders and followers, and perhaps it would be best if we could all switch from being one or the other very quickly from event to event as the situation dictated. Even while thinking of this I realized I still agreed there are more followers than leaders. A follower is someone who passively lives their life, where most of their concepts of what they like, what they don't like, what is cool, what is not cool, what they should be, or not be is dictated to them by someone or something (pop culture) else.
A leader is a person that realizes an revels in the fact that they are really an individual. Leaders understand that they CAN be part of other individuals lives, but that they are an individual and that they are responsible for who they are and all implied aspects of that idea.
In general
A leader asks why. A follower asks how, many times a follower does not ask anything.
Just don't let what you believe happen to you...ask your self why you believe it.
Is this good, is this natural? Well I don't know, but wow...wouldn't it be a different world if there were more leaders than followers. kinda fun to imagine.
Luckily there is something called a settleing point in all things. Some people say "its just the way things are". Right now there is some % of leaders and followers and we think its fine because we can easily see the good and the bad of how it might be if there happened to be a different % of leaders and followers. Whats funny is no matter how "things are" they are that way, and we know no difference.
As I get caught up in the world of possibilities and trying to figure things out. i realize that ultimately I'm an individual, and what matters is what is going on inside of me. Am I doing rational things? Am I trying to grow? Am I brave enough to admit when I don't know? Am I ambitious enough to say that I want to know?
Since I started this blog I've been aware and thinking about it constantly and thinking, OH that would be cool to write about! So I was thinking, wow I need to get to best buy today and buy one, then i realized I could just use my phone...nice, so hopefully this is a new thing..pull my phone out, use my voice recorder, then later listen to an idea I said earlier but have now forgotten.
one of those ideas
On the way to work this morning I was listening to a podcast where the guy was talking about causing a cultural paradigm shift, and how it happens, and why it takes so long! One of the reasons he said is that there are more followers than leaders. I quickly agreed with him. He framed the term follower as someone who makes up and or changes their mind because some leader told them to, or told them this is best. Perhaps substitute leader for authority. Of course at some level we are all both leaders and followers, and perhaps it would be best if we could all switch from being one or the other very quickly from event to event as the situation dictated. Even while thinking of this I realized I still agreed there are more followers than leaders. A follower is someone who passively lives their life, where most of their concepts of what they like, what they don't like, what is cool, what is not cool, what they should be, or not be is dictated to them by someone or something (pop culture) else.
A leader is a person that realizes an revels in the fact that they are really an individual. Leaders understand that they CAN be part of other individuals lives, but that they are an individual and that they are responsible for who they are and all implied aspects of that idea.
In general
A leader asks why. A follower asks how, many times a follower does not ask anything.
Just don't let what you believe happen to you...ask your self why you believe it.
Is this good, is this natural? Well I don't know, but wow...wouldn't it be a different world if there were more leaders than followers. kinda fun to imagine.
Luckily there is something called a settleing point in all things. Some people say "its just the way things are". Right now there is some % of leaders and followers and we think its fine because we can easily see the good and the bad of how it might be if there happened to be a different % of leaders and followers. Whats funny is no matter how "things are" they are that way, and we know no difference.
As I get caught up in the world of possibilities and trying to figure things out. i realize that ultimately I'm an individual, and what matters is what is going on inside of me. Am I doing rational things? Am I trying to grow? Am I brave enough to admit when I don't know? Am I ambitious enough to say that I want to know?
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Seeking A Healty Diet
If you havn't read reality-is-consistent-so-is-health-then please do, it is crutial as it covers some concepts that will be discussed in this blog.
This topic is so important to many people, including me. Which is a good thing, if you care about your life and the quality of it, then you also care about your diet. Your body is made of cells, these cells need certain things to grow and thrive, this is why you care. If you can say out loud to your self that you do not care about your life and the quality of it then something else entirely is going on, and you are probably not reading this blog anyway :) .
I said all of that so I could explain one of the reason's why there is so much diet advice out there, to a rational person the idea of following a healthy diet is important to them. Another reason why there is so much diet advice out there is because its something we all do everyday. The concept of health and diet CAN have as many shades of gray as grains of sand in the sea. Anything that is important and something we do everyday will be similar to this, there will be many opinions on the best way to do it. With so much opinion, how can one walk away feeling like they have any good idea on what to believe? The concept of a healthy diet can seem like too much, too difficult to figureout, and therefore people just eat what ever is infront of them...AKA they don't have a good idea of what their diet is, or what it should be, or what they want it to be. When that happens humans will just do whatever is most convienent. They equate tasing good with feeling good. Doing what ever is most convient is not evil, it does have a place in a good life, but it is not entirely rational on its own. So what is a method to come to a conclusion on this topic.
I did two things. I adopted a method for seeking what I know and finding what I don't. You could call it think for your self, question authority, especially if you are that authority. You could call it a good sense of healthy skepticism. I like to wrap all of that up into its daily helpful form called self honesty, and I'll describe it here as it can relate to diet ideals. I started with the knowledge that I had, and began to seek more knowledge. That action will always improve any action in your life in the longrun, provided that as you move from one conclusion to the next, from one concept to the next, from one belief to the next, that it is a healthy move (as I defined in the previous post). Start where you are, meaning, start to look at what you believe in, today, right now. Why do you believe in it? Is it working for you? Do you like your diet? How do you feel about food? How do you ussually try to solve this problem, does that work in a healthy (as pervisouly defined) way? Do you feel healthy? Do you enjoy your body? If you do not like your body and the way it feels, but do like your diet, are you being irrational? If the answer is yes, can you accept that and begin to do the second thing; Which is to seek more knowledge. Can you allow your self to change? Pain exists to help you change course in thought and action, do your self a favor and be aware of it, and lean in. Pain can teach just as much a pleasure. When you learn from pain it goes from being the bain of your existence to being one of your best teachers. Most importantly I'm talking about the pain of realizing that how you feel physically, and how you feel about your diet might not be compatible feelings, meaning you may feel gross and sick physically, but feel that the diet you are following the the best diet. You may find that you feel gross and sick and keep trying to follow a certain way of eating because you believe this certain diet is your solution, but everytime you try you stop doing what you think is best and do soemthing different... they might not be consistant and therefore not healthy. This might mean you are incorrect in someway and that might be painful to accept. I will tell you that if you focus on seeking truth its ok to be wrong, because your loyalty is to truth not what you believe. Yes, when following what you believe and being loyal to truth and you discover that you believe what you are loyal to, your life gains peace, it is healthy. You can be mentaly peacful, lean, and satisfied. If you are not those three things ask your self how do you think you need to go about gaining them, perhaps what you think you should be doing and what you are doing are not consistent and therefore not healthy. Why are you doing that?
I tried following what I thought was a healthy diet for a year and found that where my body was, was not consistent with how I felt about my diet. I thought my diet was spot on, but my body was not spot on. I was not losing any fat. but no matter how I tried to change my diet, my body didn't respond accordingly, in the way the diet said it should. Sometimes humans can be stubborn and believe that MORE effort is necessary, If something is not working we believe we just have to try harder, push harder, sacrifice more. Maybe, just maybe...the current plan is actually wrong, and that is why its not working, and we're failing because its wrong, its not wrong because we're failing. So I had to look at what I was doing. What was i doing?
In short, I was eating a calore restricted, low fat, and therefore high carb diet. I excercised every other day, doing circuit training. I was suposed to be losing 2lbs of fat a week, but I wasn't. I was hungry. I read lots online about what to eat and when and how much. I bought a digital scale. I paid a monthly fee for a calorie counting website. I ate high fiber. I drank lots of water. I ate 3 meals and 3 snacks. My goal was to be healthy and I was doing what I thought that was. I wasn't seeing any change though. I was still 6' 2" and 260 lbs, and dealing with too much anxiety and depression. I was having a hard time completely following my diet as well. I thought that was becuase I didn't have a lot of self control. Maybe what I was doing was incorrect. Could I see and admit that, yes, because fortunate for me I was, and still am ultimately loyal to "the truth" and seeking it, not to what I believe. Sometimes those things are aligned, but generally I recognize that truth is independant of me and what i think. So I started to seek another way.
This topic is so important to many people, including me. Which is a good thing, if you care about your life and the quality of it, then you also care about your diet. Your body is made of cells, these cells need certain things to grow and thrive, this is why you care. If you can say out loud to your self that you do not care about your life and the quality of it then something else entirely is going on, and you are probably not reading this blog anyway :) .
I said all of that so I could explain one of the reason's why there is so much diet advice out there, to a rational person the idea of following a healthy diet is important to them. Another reason why there is so much diet advice out there is because its something we all do everyday. The concept of health and diet CAN have as many shades of gray as grains of sand in the sea. Anything that is important and something we do everyday will be similar to this, there will be many opinions on the best way to do it. With so much opinion, how can one walk away feeling like they have any good idea on what to believe? The concept of a healthy diet can seem like too much, too difficult to figureout, and therefore people just eat what ever is infront of them...AKA they don't have a good idea of what their diet is, or what it should be, or what they want it to be. When that happens humans will just do whatever is most convienent. They equate tasing good with feeling good. Doing what ever is most convient is not evil, it does have a place in a good life, but it is not entirely rational on its own. So what is a method to come to a conclusion on this topic.
I did two things. I adopted a method for seeking what I know and finding what I don't. You could call it think for your self, question authority, especially if you are that authority. You could call it a good sense of healthy skepticism. I like to wrap all of that up into its daily helpful form called self honesty, and I'll describe it here as it can relate to diet ideals. I started with the knowledge that I had, and began to seek more knowledge. That action will always improve any action in your life in the longrun, provided that as you move from one conclusion to the next, from one concept to the next, from one belief to the next, that it is a healthy move (as I defined in the previous post). Start where you are, meaning, start to look at what you believe in, today, right now. Why do you believe in it? Is it working for you? Do you like your diet? How do you feel about food? How do you ussually try to solve this problem, does that work in a healthy (as pervisouly defined) way? Do you feel healthy? Do you enjoy your body? If you do not like your body and the way it feels, but do like your diet, are you being irrational? If the answer is yes, can you accept that and begin to do the second thing; Which is to seek more knowledge. Can you allow your self to change? Pain exists to help you change course in thought and action, do your self a favor and be aware of it, and lean in. Pain can teach just as much a pleasure. When you learn from pain it goes from being the bain of your existence to being one of your best teachers. Most importantly I'm talking about the pain of realizing that how you feel physically, and how you feel about your diet might not be compatible feelings, meaning you may feel gross and sick physically, but feel that the diet you are following the the best diet. You may find that you feel gross and sick and keep trying to follow a certain way of eating because you believe this certain diet is your solution, but everytime you try you stop doing what you think is best and do soemthing different... they might not be consistant and therefore not healthy. This might mean you are incorrect in someway and that might be painful to accept. I will tell you that if you focus on seeking truth its ok to be wrong, because your loyalty is to truth not what you believe. Yes, when following what you believe and being loyal to truth and you discover that you believe what you are loyal to, your life gains peace, it is healthy. You can be mentaly peacful, lean, and satisfied. If you are not those three things ask your self how do you think you need to go about gaining them, perhaps what you think you should be doing and what you are doing are not consistent and therefore not healthy. Why are you doing that?
I tried following what I thought was a healthy diet for a year and found that where my body was, was not consistent with how I felt about my diet. I thought my diet was spot on, but my body was not spot on. I was not losing any fat. but no matter how I tried to change my diet, my body didn't respond accordingly, in the way the diet said it should. Sometimes humans can be stubborn and believe that MORE effort is necessary, If something is not working we believe we just have to try harder, push harder, sacrifice more. Maybe, just maybe...the current plan is actually wrong, and that is why its not working, and we're failing because its wrong, its not wrong because we're failing. So I had to look at what I was doing. What was i doing?
In short, I was eating a calore restricted, low fat, and therefore high carb diet. I excercised every other day, doing circuit training. I was suposed to be losing 2lbs of fat a week, but I wasn't. I was hungry. I read lots online about what to eat and when and how much. I bought a digital scale. I paid a monthly fee for a calorie counting website. I ate high fiber. I drank lots of water. I ate 3 meals and 3 snacks. My goal was to be healthy and I was doing what I thought that was. I wasn't seeing any change though. I was still 6' 2" and 260 lbs, and dealing with too much anxiety and depression. I was having a hard time completely following my diet as well. I thought that was becuase I didn't have a lot of self control. Maybe what I was doing was incorrect. Could I see and admit that, yes, because fortunate for me I was, and still am ultimately loyal to "the truth" and seeking it, not to what I believe. Sometimes those things are aligned, but generally I recognize that truth is independant of me and what i think. So I started to seek another way.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Reality is consistent, so is health, then so should your diet be.
Reality is consistent. BTW after you read this post, go back and look at the title and realize that it is the begining of a very long chain of decisions and actions. Once you understand the concept you will see that you can add many many things to this sustaining and self perpetuating concept. The longer your chain the more you thrive. True.
This is an interesting concept to play with and test as you live. Here is a quick example. If something is good sometimes its probably good most of the time, why? Because reality is consistent. A way to test and play with this idea is to see if the opposite is true as well. Meaning, if something is bad sometimes it is probably bad most of the time. Remember that since reality is consistent, you must also be consistent in how you apply your thoughts to life. If water when you are thirsty is good sometimes, water when you are thirsty is probably good most of the time.
I bring this up today so that it may be applied to the concept of a healthy diet. A healthy diet if it is healthy will be healthy in all aspects of your life. Why? Because reality is consistent. If a diet helps you sometimes and hurts you other times it is probably not healthy. Or to take time out of the equation If a diet helps you in someways but hurts you in other ways it is probably not a healthy diet.
Lets define the term healthy. The term healthy properly defined will apply to ALL people, because the concept of "healthy" is an objective ideal. The term healthy is objective in nature meaning if it is healthy it is so, independent of how you may feel about it. How you may feel about it would be subjective. You could like your diet or hate your diet or "think" its healthy those three things are subjective perspectives and don't have to do with truth. They ARE motivational and cause you to take action or not, but still are not about truth. BTW if your subjective feelings match up with the objective definition of a thing, you have what I call an aligned perspective and therefore will be experiencing peace in a sustainable way...meaning as you experience peace you will be moving towards more peace and so on. Being aligned though is a topic for another blog. The term healthy is defined by me, as follows. Being healthy is to purposely take actions within your own life that are sustaining and self perpetuating. You know, "being good for goodness sake". If a thing is a reward in its self it is self perpetuating and a good candidate for being a healthy action. Another way to say it is by example. Drinking water is healthy because it sustains the act of drinking water. It is sustaining in that it helps you drink water, drinking water helps you do it again, and again. Drinking water never detracts from the action of drinking water. (At this point I not what to go too deep here by bringing in more concepts like corruption and irrationality...like drinking poisoned water or drinking 10 gallons of water a day, I will, but not in this post. For now think pure H2O and drinking only when thirsty). This idea can be confused with the concept of addiction, like smoking crack is self sustaining and therefore healthy. The difference between water and crack is that while water sustains and perpetuates your ability to drink more water, crack kills you, crack all by its self will eventually keep you from smoking crack, and therefore is NOT sustainable. Crack of course is an easy example, and sorta funny in its absurd comparison. But, lets take a step forward and add another concept to the word healthy, diet.
If being healthy is important to you then finding and following a healthy diet is most likely also important to you. This makes sense because since reality is consistent if there is a concept of healthy then most likely there are healthy things you can do and of course the concept diet can also be healthy...aka a sustainable and self perpetuating action. So ask yourself in the definition of healthy as has been just laid out; Are you following a healthy diet? Let me leave you with one thought. If we believe that reality is consistent and there is such a way of life which would be categorized as being healthy, and you want to be healthy. Then wouldn't the rational action be to openly and honestly ask your self what constitutes a healthy diet, and am I following one? In a blog soon to come I will go deeper into this healthy and necessary question. What is a healthy diet?
This is an interesting concept to play with and test as you live. Here is a quick example. If something is good sometimes its probably good most of the time, why? Because reality is consistent. A way to test and play with this idea is to see if the opposite is true as well. Meaning, if something is bad sometimes it is probably bad most of the time. Remember that since reality is consistent, you must also be consistent in how you apply your thoughts to life. If water when you are thirsty is good sometimes, water when you are thirsty is probably good most of the time.
I bring this up today so that it may be applied to the concept of a healthy diet. A healthy diet if it is healthy will be healthy in all aspects of your life. Why? Because reality is consistent. If a diet helps you sometimes and hurts you other times it is probably not healthy. Or to take time out of the equation If a diet helps you in someways but hurts you in other ways it is probably not a healthy diet.
Lets define the term healthy. The term healthy properly defined will apply to ALL people, because the concept of "healthy" is an objective ideal. The term healthy is objective in nature meaning if it is healthy it is so, independent of how you may feel about it. How you may feel about it would be subjective. You could like your diet or hate your diet or "think" its healthy those three things are subjective perspectives and don't have to do with truth. They ARE motivational and cause you to take action or not, but still are not about truth. BTW if your subjective feelings match up with the objective definition of a thing, you have what I call an aligned perspective and therefore will be experiencing peace in a sustainable way...meaning as you experience peace you will be moving towards more peace and so on. Being aligned though is a topic for another blog. The term healthy is defined by me, as follows. Being healthy is to purposely take actions within your own life that are sustaining and self perpetuating. You know, "being good for goodness sake". If a thing is a reward in its self it is self perpetuating and a good candidate for being a healthy action. Another way to say it is by example. Drinking water is healthy because it sustains the act of drinking water. It is sustaining in that it helps you drink water, drinking water helps you do it again, and again. Drinking water never detracts from the action of drinking water. (At this point I not what to go too deep here by bringing in more concepts like corruption and irrationality...like drinking poisoned water or drinking 10 gallons of water a day, I will, but not in this post. For now think pure H2O and drinking only when thirsty). This idea can be confused with the concept of addiction, like smoking crack is self sustaining and therefore healthy. The difference between water and crack is that while water sustains and perpetuates your ability to drink more water, crack kills you, crack all by its self will eventually keep you from smoking crack, and therefore is NOT sustainable. Crack of course is an easy example, and sorta funny in its absurd comparison. But, lets take a step forward and add another concept to the word healthy, diet.
If being healthy is important to you then finding and following a healthy diet is most likely also important to you. This makes sense because since reality is consistent if there is a concept of healthy then most likely there are healthy things you can do and of course the concept diet can also be healthy...aka a sustainable and self perpetuating action. So ask yourself in the definition of healthy as has been just laid out; Are you following a healthy diet? Let me leave you with one thought. If we believe that reality is consistent and there is such a way of life which would be categorized as being healthy, and you want to be healthy. Then wouldn't the rational action be to openly and honestly ask your self what constitutes a healthy diet, and am I following one? In a blog soon to come I will go deeper into this healthy and necessary question. What is a healthy diet?
Who I am, Who I am not.
In the context of this blog I thought it would be good for readers to know who I am and who I am not.
As far as formal eduction goes I have a Bachelors degree of fine arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design. I do not have an formal degree or training in most of the things I am talking about in this blog. I am considering pursuing a graduate degree. In what, IDK...I like so many things.
I am a guy that loves to think and learn. I have read lots on the topics that I will discuss, and consider my self to be a well educated, well rounded thinker. My natural strength is in communicating my ideas and other's ideas other people. I'm not good with grammer so feel free to correct or suggest better ways of writing. I enjoy explaining things. I hope that I can play some role in the "Archvore/paleo/lowcarb movement", that I can help people with self esteem, and psychological thinking type issues. I'm definitely hoping to learn as much as I teach. I believe that an alive spiritual or personally aware and actively reflective life provides access to the most joy and freedom from the most pain. All of this is a lifetime goal, that could not end, only evolve.
I started this blog as a kind of next step for me. I've had this desire to share my ideas with my friends and family. Sometimes I feel that I want to share more than people care to listen, and that's ok. As I started reading about diet over this past year. I came across traditional blogs for the first time. Yea I know its 2011...I'm surprised its taken so long too. I found that I really appreciate the idea of a blog. I get to write and say things basically to my self, but with the hope and tone that I'm speaking to others. I'm a very talkative person face to face so this concept really appeals to me. I can write as much as I want here on things that are interesting without feeling like I'm talking someones ear off, nor am I "pushing" my ideas on anyone. That gives me a lot of freedom I can enjoy.
As far as formal eduction goes I have a Bachelors degree of fine arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design. I do not have an formal degree or training in most of the things I am talking about in this blog. I am considering pursuing a graduate degree. In what, IDK...I like so many things.
I am a guy that loves to think and learn. I have read lots on the topics that I will discuss, and consider my self to be a well educated, well rounded thinker. My natural strength is in communicating my ideas and other's ideas other people. I'm not good with grammer so feel free to correct or suggest better ways of writing. I enjoy explaining things. I hope that I can play some role in the "Archvore/paleo/lowcarb movement", that I can help people with self esteem, and psychological thinking type issues. I'm definitely hoping to learn as much as I teach. I believe that an alive spiritual or personally aware and actively reflective life provides access to the most joy and freedom from the most pain. All of this is a lifetime goal, that could not end, only evolve.
I started this blog as a kind of next step for me. I've had this desire to share my ideas with my friends and family. Sometimes I feel that I want to share more than people care to listen, and that's ok. As I started reading about diet over this past year. I came across traditional blogs for the first time. Yea I know its 2011...I'm surprised its taken so long too. I found that I really appreciate the idea of a blog. I get to write and say things basically to my self, but with the hope and tone that I'm speaking to others. I'm a very talkative person face to face so this concept really appeals to me. I can write as much as I want here on things that are interesting without feeling like I'm talking someones ear off, nor am I "pushing" my ideas on anyone. That gives me a lot of freedom I can enjoy.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Why Seeking Ryality?
Seeking
One of the most defining things about being human is that we seek. Humans as creatures are constantly looking for things to satisfy our desire's, or things as we seek to escape pain. I am always seeking, something, sometimes I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I enjoy learning and believe there is a truth about all things that is independent of what we subjectively think about it. So I seek outside in the world, and just as, if not more importantly, within my self.
-update-1/2/2012
There is objective reality, this is independant of us. There is subjective reality this is all yours. Subjective exists like a boat on the sea of objective. The rational understanding and expression of both is crutial. The relating between the two is crutial.
Ryality
My name is Ryan, and I'm interested in my relationship with reality. This deserves some seeking. I believe that seeking out myself and my relationship to reality (everything that is) is the main purpose of my life.
I have many thoughts that fall under this huge umbrella. I believe that this concept and way of thinking applies to everyone in some general ways. What is your name? What are you seeking, and what is your relationship with reality?
One of the most defining things about being human is that we seek. Humans as creatures are constantly looking for things to satisfy our desire's, or things as we seek to escape pain. I am always seeking, something, sometimes I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I enjoy learning and believe there is a truth about all things that is independent of what we subjectively think about it. So I seek outside in the world, and just as, if not more importantly, within my self.
-update-1/2/2012
There is objective reality, this is independant of us. There is subjective reality this is all yours. Subjective exists like a boat on the sea of objective. The rational understanding and expression of both is crutial. The relating between the two is crutial.
Ryality
My name is Ryan, and I'm interested in my relationship with reality. This deserves some seeking. I believe that seeking out myself and my relationship to reality (everything that is) is the main purpose of my life.
I have many thoughts that fall under this huge umbrella. I believe that this concept and way of thinking applies to everyone in some general ways. What is your name? What are you seeking, and what is your relationship with reality?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)