“To lengthen thy Life, lessen thy meals.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
If you have any background in the basics of the Primal/Paleo eating style, you know that one of the benefits of switching over is its effect of body composition. Just by adding in real, whole foods, and cutting out the grains and processed food-like substances, most folks experience an appreciable loss of body fat. Those with higher body fat seem to lose more, though it’s not a “weight-loss” diet necessarily; more like a body fat and body weight regulator. Those with less muscle and more fat tend to lose some fat and gain some muscle almost effortlessly, while those who are already lean tend to maintain their composition easily.
What if maintaining your current leanness isn’t enough? You put in the work, changed up your diet, switched to brief, more intense workouts, and now you want a beach body. It’s not that you’re impatient. You made the switch to this lifestyle for health and fitness, and you’re in for the long haul. There’s just one problem. You’ve got a high school reunion coming up. Or a wedding. Or a Bat Mitzvah. Or a date this weekend. You need (want?) to lean up quickly, safely, and you’d like to stay as close to your typical eating style as possible. But how? I mean the only options for losing weight quickly are hours of cardio and protein shakes, right? Although the paleo diet strategy is an excellent way to lean out over time, it’s not really suited for circumstances which call for short-term, very quick weight loss.
So what do you do?
Enter the Protein Sparing Modified Fast. PSMF for short. It seems like a super simple concept, but I suggest anyone interested to grab Lyle MacDonald’s book, the Rapid Fat Loss Handbook for a more detailed description. The following is going to be the down-and-dirty version – and please – consult your physician before undergoing any weight loss protocol.
The basics: consume about 1-1.5g of protein for each pound you weigh, and an unlimited amount of non-starchy vegetables. Aside from that, your only additional calories will come from some fish oil pills and whatever residual fat/carbos are attached to the protein sources you choose. Do this for 5-7 days, take a day or two off and go another 5-7 days. Larger (less lean) individuals can withstand a bit longer, those who are already very lean should stay on the lower end of that range. Unless you are severely overweight, no one should do this more than 2-3 cycles. At this level of caloric restriction, you are not going to be able to keep up much of a fitness regimen. Since PBB is about strengthening the body from the inside out, maintaining balanced fitness, health, and aesthetic development, the official recommendation is to use it as a once a year thing. This is NOT a “lifestyle,” it’s a crash diet designed to elicit a huge whoosh of fat loss in a very short period of time.
The protein-only nature of the diet has a dual benefit. First, because the body inefficiently oxidizes amino acids for energy, you are technically consuming even less than the 800 calories your body weight calls for. Second, the massive amount of protein you get, in spite of the low-calorie level helps to spare lean tissue by fighting off catabolism. Throw in a couple of weight room sessions, and you will be protected from the ravages of muscle loss on this diet.
So, a 185lb PBB-er will be consuming 185-275g protein each day (or 740-1100 calories). I think the easiest way to do this is to wait as long as you can into the day to eat. Almost taking advantage of a condensed eating window. This has proven to be the easiest way for me to manage the hunger, as I am not usually hungry until 10:30 – 11a despite waking at 6:30a. Spread them out how ever you prefer, just understand that you will be hungry. It’s okay because it’s only one to two weeks, and you will be losing a substantial amount of weight regardless of your current “aesthetic fitness” level. I have personally used this type of eating plan in the past and feel that it works great for shedding weight quickly, while giving you some semblance of “fullness.” Obviously, you are not stuffed at any point during the time you are eating like this, but in the words of Kate Moss (adapted for our uses):
Nothing tastes as good as being ripped feels
Does it work? Yes. Put simply, I have had as good of results from this strategy as any other diet I’ve tried, and it’s short duration makes it easily accessible for anyone. Even the very leanest folks can expect to drop anywhere from 5-10lbs in a week (mostly water), and it’s possible to drop as much as 2-3 pounds fat. Hell, 1 pound fat loss for a person with a body fat under 12% in one week is nothing short of a dieting miracle. Add to that the fact that you are consuming so much protein that you will not be catabolizing much (if any) muscle in the process.
Lightning fast fat loss and maintaining muscle mass? Sounds like a win-win to me.
Watch outs are primarily centered around a general lack of energy during the length of the diet, although anyone who’s been on a strict calorie-controlled diet should be well used to that. You are going to need to be drinking coffee or taking no-doz if you’re planning on being a productive member of the workforce by day 3. Many paleo dieters skip coffee on a regular basis, but trust me on this, you need both the appetite blunting as well as the energy kick you get from the caffeine – I can’t stress enough how brutal 1000 calories of pure protein and veggies can be after 3.5 days.
Another thing to be cognizant of is that during this week you must dial back your training significantly. Three times in a 5-7 day period is the max. Ideally, I would say that a metcon or complexes would be done on day one, to fully deplete glycogen stores and kick up some additional fat burning, then 1-2 full-body strength workout, to maintain all that hard work you put in the other 50 weeks of the year.
If you make sure to go back to eating solid paleo after the 5-7 day PSMF (no pancake fueled binges after!), you can expect to hold on to all the benefits of your accelerated fat loss.
May the PSMF be with you.
TFOD 5.15 + 5.16.10
To insure good health: eat lightly, breathe deeply, live moderately, cultivate cheerfulness, and maintain an interest in life. ~William Londen
WORK
Warmup – Basic Football calisthenics, done at 10-20 yard increments. Focus should be on reps, not speed.
- High Knees
- Butt Kickers
- Straight leg run (watch at the very end, while he’s high stepping – that’s what the aim is here)
- Shuffle (both directions)
- Single Leg Hops (Just forward, one x each leg)
- Broad Jumps
- 10 yard sprints:
- 25%
- 50%
- 75% x 2
20 yard sprints for time
I only ended up doing 4. Just wanted to get out and get in the groove a bit, had pretty good speed though. Felt great to really let it rip.
PLAY
Played frisbee for about an hour, then 27 holes of FROLF. Great fun, plus good exercise, as I ran around quite a bit playing frisbee and then walked (barefoot) the Frolf.
Nice little Saturday…
Sunday was Adult Little League Baseball, so I got to run around like a little kid!
May the force be with you.
The Dude
Bonfire for me tonight… and will probably be seen loving a (few?) delicious, practically PBB Caucasians tonight – it’s Friday!
- 2 oz Vodka
- 1-1.5 oz shot Kahlua
- 1-3 oz Half & Half/Heavy Cream
- Ice
- DRINK!
Or sip some delicious NorCal Margaritas! TGIF…
You gotta let your hair down once in a while. Take the day off and be a social, pack-animal – like we were designed to be.
Via con Dios
Change is the only constant
If it bleeds, we can kill it. ~Arnold Schwarzenegger (Predator)
“Working out.” Part of the word implies a tedious task, but that’s really a connotation spread by those who aren’t currently earning a living at their vocation. When you have a passion for what you “do,” can you really call it “work” in the traditional sense? I love the feeling of improvement every time I go to the gym. When improvement stalls, my enjoyment stalls only briefly, because immediately afterward I start contemplating how I can improve performance again. I dissect what I did wrong leading up to the session: too much food? Not enough? How did my blood-sugar feel? Was it grip strength? Mobility? Too much booze last night? Was the fiance there? I look for those trends in the data of my life and make adjustments from there. Like how I outlined I was trying a BCAA supplement before working out based on some recovery issues. Then I break down form, lifting technique, tempo, rest periods, etc.
The take-home message here is this: Find peace in the grind of a Max Effort Deadlift, a Crossfit MetCon or Tabata Sprints. Find contentment in knowing you acheive something everyday. That you are one step closer to your goal. Then, do it again.
I’m going to be playing around with my workout schedule to incorporate some things I’ve been pondering of late… for instance, if we model our training after our hunter/gatherer ancestors, then should I really be throwing tabata sprints in in-between heavy workouts? We know that hunter-gatherers typically hunt 3-4 times per week on non-consecutive days. Is it any coincidence that a vast majority of non-superhuman (read: non-steroid-fueled) training/workout plans call for either a 3 or 4 session per week, typically non-consecutive day format? Crossfit goes 6 days a week, but their days are usually briefer, and we know that some crossfit-ers still get a cortisol fatigue issue (I think Robb Wolf covers this phenomenon in that episode) from that type of training.
I am obsessed with this concept and am determined to get to the bottom of it. The quote says it all – fitness programming can be daunting, but it can be solved. Like Bruce Lee attempting to find the best parts of each martial art, I will attempt to find a balance of both training economy and peak fitness. I know that there are thousands of fitness and diet programs out there, and they all have nuggets (or mountains) of greatness inside them. How will PBB be different? I’m not really sure yet. Can you get fit using any of those programs? Certainly. My drive and my goal is to find a fitness solution, scalable to everyone, that respects and builds upon the foundation laid out by our paleolithic past. One thing I know for sure: these concepts will center around the modern-day concept of “athleticism,” or as it was known 10,000 years ago, “survival of the fittest.”
Training
My shoulder has been bothering me – my overall lack of scapular mobility (years of bad form + football) gets exposed every few months and either my bench press or my military stagnates, then plummets. This happened over the last week or two, and my press weights dropped dramatically. This time I have a plan. The Z-Health warm-ups should loosen things nicely, and additionally I’ve added in bodyweight rows (feet up on a bench, pull yourself and touch chest to bar, no bar touch, no rep) to strengthen them. I will also increase my focus on pushups and chin/pullups, doing them multiple times every week.
- Z-Health Neural Warmup
- Press (as Mark Rippetoe calls it – Barbell Military Press everywhere else)
- 5 x 50#
- 5 x 80#
- 5 x 100#
- 5 x 115#
- 9 x 130#
- Press
- 5 sets x 10 x 50#
- Chin-ups – 5, 7, 8 reps.
- Decline Bodyweight Rows (really cool exercise, check out the video)
- 1 set x 10, 6
Food
Fasted till training, then STEAK NIGHT!!!
17oz Ribeye (from Whole Paycheck) – Grass-fed, pasture raised, no antibiotics or rBGH, unfortunately “grain-finished,” but MUCH better than the crap at your ordinary grocery store.
Asparagus wrapped in provolone and… Bacon. lol.
EDIT (6.23.10): This post was updated because I didn’t like the attitude of the first few paragraphs. Also -Tofo’s WOD/Food = TFOD. Training + Food of the Day, or because it lines up with my name better?
Via con Dios!
Do or do not. There is no try.
Kicking ass and training consistently – and with some balance – will do wonders for both your body and your mind. Get rid of all the meaningless crap in your life and your training. Get rid of the things that bleed your energy in the weight room and in life – Jim Wendler
Why two J.W. quotes in a row? Cause the dude is a frickin badass, I love his workouts (his mentality in general) and because he’s right.
We eschew the unneccessary in diet and exercise here at PBB, and Wendler does the same. Simple concepts – like, “do what works, F*&$ what doesn’t,” are what guide us through the never-ending deluge of Calvin Klein ads telling us what a man looks like or the avalanche of ridiculous magazines advertised for women that feature ONLY photoshoppped women.
Here at PBB, we will redefine fitness in our own terms, get down to low bodyfat percentages and increase our PR’s every month (week?) at the gym or on the track/hill/wherever. We will do it for health, for self-confidence, to keep up with the kids or to reclaim lost glory. What we will not do is lower ourselves to fad diets and workouts aimed at folks who will be lead in any direction a shiny commercial points them. We understand that there is no shortcut. There is work.
While eating Primal/paleo et al is absolutely delicious, each day we fight the societal pressures to “eat our whole grains” and to run on treadmills. We know, through tedious research and a belief in the burden of proof when our health is on the line, that we are on the right path. It is in light of these truths we know that only through consistent work can real progress be made. We know that it may take longer than “6 weeks to ripped abs,” but it is in that knowledge that peace can be found. It is my belief that you can be A LOT closer to ripped abs in 6 weeks if you keep your head down and push as hard as you can. Can some people get there in 6 weeks? Maybe, but if you do, the odds that you only needed “the ONE move you’re not doing, keeping you from 6 pack abs,” or that you need to “cut these 3 foods for a rock-hard beach body” are infinitesimally small.
“Working out.” Part of the word “work” implies a tedious task, but that’s really a connotation spread by those who aren’t currently earning a living at their vocation. When you have a passion for what you “do,” can you really call it “work” in the traditional sense? I love the feeling of improvement every time I go to the gym. When improvement stalls, my enjoyment stalls only briefly, because immediately afterward I start contemplating how I can improve performance again. I dissect what I did wrong leading up to the session: too much food? Not enough? How did my blood-sugar feel? Was it grip strength? Mobility? Too much booze last night? Was the fiance there? I look for those trends in the data of my life and make adjustments from there. Like how I outlined I was trying a BCAA supplement before working out based on some recovery issues. Then I break down form, lifting technique, tempo, rest periods, etc.
The take-home message here is this: Find peace in the grind of a Max Effort Deadlift, a Crossfit metcon or Tabata Sprints. Find contentment in knowing you acheive something everyday. That you are one step closer to your goal. Then, do it again.
The Workout
-
Z-Health Neural Warmup
-
Interval Sprints (Bike)
-
10 sec sprints/20 sec rest – 12 sprints (6 minutes total work)
-
-
Pushups (tired)
-
35.5 (died*), 12.5 (died*)
-
-
Contrast Shower – 1 min hot/1 min cold x 2
*Important to note that I did not pause. I went until I literally failed at pushing myself off the ground, despite (potentially) awful form.
The Food
Meal 1 – 10:45a
-
6 eggs (Cooked in bacon grease only from uncured, nitrite-free bacon)
-
4 slices bacon (uncured, nitrite-free ONLY)
-
1 tbsp Coconut Oil
As of 3:37p, I am legitimately not hungry.
Meal 2 – 8p
Bacon Meatloaf
Wow… You eat a LOT of bacon. Aren’t you worried about all that arterycloggingsaturatedfat? hahahahahaha. hahaha. Sorry. No, I’m not. Uncured Pig fat (Organic and nitrite-free, of course) should be considered a health food on par with the two apples each day that’ll “keep the doctor away.” Also, it has the same fatty acid profile as the fat in your ass. No joke. Consider the fact, when you’re on a diet, you’re sustaining on… wait for it… pure lard… IN THE FORM OF YOUR OWN FAT. Sorry (that I’m not sorry) for the caps.
Via con Dios!
FWOD 5.11.10 (Deadlift)
Start doing and believing in the stuff that works, and do it today and forever. – Jim Wendler
Great day today at the gym. Fasted workout with plenty of energy… until I was done deadlifting. Then I was did, and just walked straight out of the gym. The whole thing took me about 45-60 min, with the Z-health taking up about 10-15 minutes still. It’s supposed to take 10 minutes, but that only happens once you’ve memorized the movements and flow from one to another – like a “bizarre form of Tai-Chi.”
Workout
- Z-Heatlth Neural Warmup
- Deadlift
- 5 x 135#
- 5 x 185#
- 5 x 225#
- 5 x 275#
- 5 x 315#
- 7 x 355# (Max effort set)
- Deadlift (Again – “Boring but Big protocol)
- 10 x 135# x 5 sets
That finisher of 5 sets of 10 seems so light, but my hips/erectors/etc were so burned by the end! I mean, almost full-failure (with proper form) with 135#, no joke. Much better at a lighter weight than last Saturday when I tried to kill myself with Squats @ 185/205.
I have no doubt this will MASSIVELY improve the following: grip strength, anaerobic/aerobic (lifting) endurance, overall (peak) strength, form, the financial crisis and Barack Obama’s approval rating.
Maybe the last two were a stretch… maybe.
Food
Southwest Chowder Soup (2 bowls… It was delicious!)
This soup was awesome. The broth was Minestrone-like (I know you may not guess that from the ingredients…) and was so chalk-full of veggies that I didn’t think there was any meat in it… until I got to the very bottom and realized there was probably 3-4oz of round steak waiting for me after I made it through tons of cauliflower, zucchini, squash, carrots and broccoli. Awesome side note: we used a POUND of frozen mixed veggies, rather than a cup and 2 zucchinis.
| Ingredients: | |
| 1 Medium Onion (chopped) 1 small carrot (sliced) 1 can (4 oz) Chopped Green Chiles 2 Cloves Garlic (crushed) 2 Teaspoon Chili Powder 1/2 Teaspoon Dried Cilantro 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cumin |
1/2 Teaspoon Dried Oregano 1 lb Round Steak (cubed) 2 Cans (about 14 oz. each) Beef Broth 1 Can (14 oz.) Tomatoes 1 Small Zucchini (diced) 1 Cup Frozen vegetables of choice (thawed) |
| Cooking Instructions: | |
| In microwave-safe 3 quart casserole, mix onion, carrot, chiles, garlic,spices and 1 tablespoon salad oil. Cover; vent. Cook on HIGH 4 minutes.Stir in beef. Cover; vent. Cook on HIGH 5 minutes.Mix broth with water to make 4 cups; stir into beef mixture. Add tomatoes. Cover; vent. Cook on HIGH 10 minutes.Stir in vegetables. Cover; vent. Cook on HIGH 5 minutes. | |
Enjoy!
Via con Dios
Egg rant + TFODs – 5/8 – 5/10/10
Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness. ~Edward Stanley
Straight to it today:
Saturday, 5/8:
- Power Cleans: 3 sets x 5 reps @ 135#
- Squats: 2 sets x 10 reps @ 135#
Sunday, 5/9:
- GROWN MAN LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL: Great workout, as I did a TON of base running. Sore like an old man today, which means I need to get out side and start sprinting.
Monday, 5/10:
- As stated above, I’m a bit sore today, so I’m going with an hour of inStride Cycle XL, or as I call it “desk walking.”
Food wise – lotsa omelets (we ate out for Mother’s Day on Saturday and Sunday), and a couple NorCal Margaritas.
I eat a lot of eggs. I’ll have to do a post soon on why eggs are so awesome, but for the time being – my call to you is this: eat more eggs. However many you’re currently eating, double or triple that amount. Try to always eat enough eggs so that when you tell people at Mother’s Day brunch how many you eat, one of your family members feels compelled to inform you that you’re going straight to hell for eating all that cholesterol. Then, instead of slapping that family member while they are sipping a coke (or drinking some Orange juice from “concentrate” whatever that means…), just say something like, “I’ll worry about hell when I get there.” This will accomplish two things: 1. they’ll think you are a total badass for saying something so awesome and 2. this will avoid you going on a rant about how the coke they are drinking is actually the cause for heart disease, Diabetes, Alzheimer’s (AKA – Type III Diabetes), etc.
Via con Dios
Work-work and FWODs
If the poor overweight jogger only knew how far he had to run to work off the calories in a crust of bread he might find it better in terms of pound per mile to go to a massage parlor. ~Christiaan Barnard
This will be just a snippet, just a teaser for a more in-depth run-down to come, but I wanted to start including meals/food porn/nutrition ideas that come to me as I’m posting my W.O.D’s. So from here on out, I will attempt to post “F.A.W.O.D’s” or FWOD’s for short. People are always asking me: “Tony, if you don’t eat bread, what do you eat?” My “goal” for posting the FWOD’s would be to be part recipes, part bragging and part humanizing. My version (at times) tends to be a bit atkins-induction-y, but bear with me, I do (and recommend to others) eat a ton of veggies. Meat (with fat on it) + Veggies = all you need.
I fasted (minus a cup of coffee with 1 tbsp half and half – a man’s gotta get his coffee, right?) until after my workout, a concept I nicked from Methuselah called “Earning my breakfast.”
WOD:
- Z-Health Neural Warm-up Level 1 – Great warmup, loosens the joints, all muscles up quite well. Kind of like Tai Chi, so a little “out-there” to do at a commercial gym, but I have no shame. If you want to know what this is and don’t want to buy it… I would suggest starting with this Google search.
- Jump rope (both feet x 100, x45) – My left ankle/foot was a bit sore, so I decided against doing too much.
- Z-Health Jump Landing Training – 2 sets x 10 – This develops plyometric deceleration with ZERO load. Cool drill.
- Altitude Landing @ Bench Press Bench Height
- 10 x both feet
- 5 each single foot
- Depth Jumps @ Same height as above
- 5 x 3 foot gap
- 5 x 6 foot gap
- 108 pushups (sets of 25, 25, 20, 12, 13, 13)
Have to keep working at my pushup capacity, but otherwise, this was a nice little workout. Just nice to occasionally go into the gym and do Work without overly taxing any system.
FOD:
Breakfast, Post Workout:
- 3 Hard Boiled Eggs
- Bacon – 1/8 cup chopped (about 4 slices or so)
- Leftover Sirloin Steak – 4oz (Full-fat – no cutting the beautiful fat off the outside!)
- Butter – 1.5 tbsp
- Just a dash of salt + pepper
Could have used some veggies, but otherwise, a delicious and nutritious start to the day!
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and microwave until hot. Not pretty, but this gets the job done and tastes GREAT. For those that like to count calories, according to www.thedailyplate.com:
- 802 calories
- 60g Fat
- 58g Protein
- 3g Carbs
That’s it for today. If I eat something great later, I’ll update. Via con Dios.
Xylitol and the Primal Bodybuilder
This is either going to come off as psycho or funny. Neither would surprise me, neither would disappoint me.
I am addicted to Trident Chewing gum. Original Flavor only – and it better be from a pack that was made BEFORE the “longer lasting flavor” campaign (please don’t get me started…). For all of 2007 – early 2009, I was chewing a pack (that’s 18 sticks) everyday of that delicious, dentist recommended goodness. Friends and family were concerned for my neurotic chain-chewing habits, but I really wasn’t. Trident and I were partners through and through.
That is to say, Trident and I were partners until I noticed a certain “reaction” in the bathroom. This was a subtle change over time, but things were just a bit off. Browsing the interwebs, I learned that diarrhea is a common side affect of the sweetener used in Trident – Xylitol.
She seems to have an invisible touch yeah
She reaches in, she grabs right hold of your heart
She seems to have an invisible touch yeah
She takes control and slowly tears you apart – Genesis (Phil Collins)
Xylitol (a “Polyol” or sugar alcohol) was discovered in 1891 by German chemist Emil Fischer and has been used as a sweetening agent in human “food” since the 1960s. It is found naturally in some fruits, and is a by-product of sugar metabolism produced by the body – between 5-15g of it everyday. It is found most readily as a sweetener in gum/mint products as well as mouth wash, since it has been shown to reduce dental caries: “In clinical and field tests, the consumption of xylitol between meals was associated with significantly reduced new caries formation, even when participants were already practicing good oral hygiene.”
How does it do this?
According to a study from March 2008, Xylitol is a fairly potent antibiotic (Full Study .pdf). To cut a long story short, xylitol kills all manner of bacteria. It prevents caries and cavities when used between meals because it kills the nasties (streptococcal bacterial strains, typically) left over from a bagel or whatever. It appears that it can help shorten ear infections in children. Xylitol is “good” for your teeth because it is essentially a chronic, low dose antibiotic you slosh around in your mouth, killing bacteria.
Antibiotics were a wonderful innovation, having saved the lives of millions, but their current over-prescription has led to a strange catch-22. The human body is made up of between 10 – 20 times more microbial life (bacteria) than it’s own cells – it’s been said that if an alien life form came to our planet, they might view us as moving microbial dumpsters! We don’t just need those bacteria considered “good” to survive, we need the entire cesspool.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=human-microbiome-change (Check out this article for a quick understanding of the gut flora situation)
“In fact, some researchers think of our bodies as superorganisms, rather than one organism teeming with hordes of subordinate invertebrates.”
Antibiotics kill “good” gut flora along with “bad,” typically killing the weakest first, while inevitably leaving the strongest microbes. Taking that penicillin may get you “well,” but at what cost? When we systematically destroy these bacteria, we end up strengthening the strongest remaining species, and when they proliferate, it leads to all manner of inflammation and disease (like MRSA – Methicillin Resistant Staph – super-duper scary).
Now, I am not saying Xylitol is as bad for gut flora as chronic antibiotic use per se, but keep in mind – it is a bacterial killer. This is not a good thing for healthy, primal folks (or primal bodybuilders or anyone really). We want to let our guts sort themselves out – not force our limited understanding of what “good” and “bad” flora is down there!
We have no way of knowing what side effects these types of low-grade, chronic doses of antibiotics will do to us long term, but consider that the chronic antibiotics administered to cattle are not given to keep them healthy, but rather to make them fat.
The likening of modern humans to potatoes sacked out on a couch is misleading. The obesity epidemic linked to diets of processed foods more closely resembles the stumbling progression of cattle to abattoir. Antibiotics and diet systematically lead in both feedlot and food court to gut dysbiosis, immune system failure, hormone disruption, rampant fat accumulation, physical inactivity, depression and the modern suite of chronic diseases. Healthcare costs escalate, but vet bills, in contrast, are forestalled by a captive bolt pistol. – Dr. Art Ayers, www.coolinginflammation.blogspot.com
More info on how it makes US fat, from the Huffington Post:
Science magazine published on March 4, 2010, other important research that observed similar phenomena as Blaser. Researchers at Cornell, Emory, and the University of Colorado have found that gut microbiota determines how food is digested and fat is stored in the body. They too noted that antibiotics disrupt certain bacteria in the gut that can lead to obesity as well as to increased inflammatory processes that can cause metabolic syndrome…
While it may help with dental caries, Xylitol has been proven to Halt Gluconeogenesis and Ketosis (Full Study .pdf). In this study, it was shown that when xylitol levels were raised, not only were Free Fatty Acids lowered but Gluconeogenesis and Ketosis were stopped. These are BAD things for the Primal Bodybuilder. We need Gluconeogenesis and Ketosis cranking on all cylinders – not because we seek them out deliberately, but because in order to properly perform fasted workouts and achieve leanness while restricting carbs/grains, both must be working. We need the glucose created from both dietary protein and the glycerol part of Free Fatty Acids, as well as the ketones for both mental acuity and for their other protective effects, including muscle-sparing during restricted calorie phases (like fasting).
When we lower FFA’s in the blood, we’re not burning as much stored fat, simply utilizing glycogen. Simply put, based on the above study, xylitol is counter-productive to leaning out. This is lame, because here at Primal Bodybuilding, the aesthetics of physical fitness is not overlooked.
Last but not least, while the GI of xylitol is only 13, we know that the smell and taste of sweet things can raise insulin production all by itself. Since it is usually used in fairly low-calorie snacks, the anticipatory nature of insulin could cause a spike greater than necessary based on the snack’s eventual blood glucose effect, causing hypoglycemia (crappy to have before/during a workout). And since it turned off ketosis, you are looking at a much greater perceived swing in blood sugar, possible haziness and impairment of your ability to rock out in the gym.
So, I’ll sum it up. Antibiotics make you unhealthy because they disrupt healthy gut flora. This can (will) make you fat. Xylitol restricts processes integral to both the physical health and aesthetic leanness desired by primal bodybuilders. Last, low blood sugar resulting from possible insulin response to “sugary” snacks can cause poor performance in the gym and lowered mental acuity.
I’ll lump xylitol in with other neolithic “things you can eat,” and vote that, other than occasional use (ie. less than once a week), I say avoid it – it’s not really food in my book.
Maybe this turned into a rant against antibiotic use, but understand that no matter how a scientist at a consumer packaged goods company bends the names of things: we are healthiest in our natural state. Xylitol is counter to that state.
Oh and it kills dogs. Scary shit.
Cinco de Mayo
Health is the thing that makes you feel that now is the best time of the year. ~ Franklin P. Adams
It’s a beautiful day. Go have a NorCal Margarita and enjoy Mexican Culture!
NORCAL MARGARITA
- 2–3 shots of 100% agave tequila.
- Juice and pulp from one lime.
- Shake it all up with some ice.
- Add soda water to taste.
Nick Zadrozny describes it well:
- Tequila is fermented agave juice, which makes it gluten- or and starch-free. Gluten, as nutrition geeks know, is a gut irritant and just generally bad stuff, and starches are way too dense with unnecessary carbs. Rum could likewise work well here.
- Lime juice blunts the insulin response of the alcohol, maintaining your precious and hard-earned insulin sensitivity.
- The lime juice also provides a net alkaline load when it gets to the blood stream, which is a good thing. Most other foods provide a net acid load, and it’s nice to balance that out.
- The carbon dioxide bubbles in the soda water help get the ethanol into your blood more quickly. This has the practical effect of allowing you to drink a bit less for the same effect.
Enjoy.
UPDATE (5.6.10): Had two of these last night, and they were FANTASTIC! Drink up Johnny!
Primal Bodybuilding 
