Day 3 Week 2

Wednesdays mean trivia night!  Every week we go to a local sports bar called Flamin Joes with family and friends for trivia.  Flamin Joe;s is well known in the region for their spicy wings.  Generally, our team does fairly well (at least 3rd place), but this week we were shy of placing by about 5 points.  Darn!  My mom and sister-in-law just got back from their cruise vacation and were able to muster up some extra energy to still join us at trivia tonight.  Besides wings, Flamin Joes has tons of different foods, most of them fried, unfortunately.  In past weeks, I would have allowed myself to eat fried chips or fried potato bites, since they are technically vegetarian, but I am in a better mindset this week to know not to touch the stuff!

Today was actually filled with several temptations.  First of all, I refilled the M&M jars at work, then I set out the Costco cookies for the office, this time away from my desk and in the kitchen.  Then, in the evening, when having dinner with my family, my dad brought us each out a little cup of real mint ice cream.  It was such a nice gesture from him to my mom to give her a treat when she got home like she had been having on the cruise, but to me it was a bit torturous!  Luckily, someone else happily snagged up my portion of the ice cream (thank you!), so I wouldnt be tempted.  Then, later in the evening at Flamin Joes, our table ordered a basket of fried chips.... with spicy seasoning, which made it smell delicious!  Again, I said "No thank you", and stuck to my goals.  Yay me!

After the 6 weeks is over, I hope to be less tempted by things I shouldnt eat.  I think at this point it is less that I really want those things, and more that I am reaching for them out of habit.  Hopefully soon I will have better habits, such as reaching for a piece of fruit, that are easier to stick to.  Now on to my daily log....

Food Log:

• Breakfast: 1/2 small watermelon, 1 banana, 1 apple
• Lunch: salad with baby romaine lettuce, chickpeas, red onion, celery raisins, apples, and cilantro curry almond dressing; carrots and hummus
• Dinner: Indian Chickpeas and Curry, Whole Wheat Vegan Naan, sweet curry kale salad, watermelon
• Extras: Guacamole and chips snack before dinner, 1 beer at dinner, 2 beers at trivia

Exercise log:  Im starting to think I shouldnt even include this in my log.... Ok, so I did nothing today, but I will come home from work tomorrow and go to the gym before my evening out with some girlfriends.... I will!

How I feel:   I am feeling so much more awake lately!  I have noticed my energy levels gradually increasing over the last two weeks.  And when my mom got back from her vacation today, she said that it seemed like night and day for how I am now, and that is a great thing!  Before the start of my 6-weeks on Eat to Live, I was very sluggish and tired all the time.  I had had issues with migraines starting from "TMJ" pains, but I havent gotten the hint of a migraine since starting last Monday.  All I can say that if this is just the start of the benefits of truly committing to Eat to Live, I cant wait to see how I feel after 6 weeks!

What health issues have improved or seemed to disappear with a healthy change in your diet?  Does this give you more incentive to really stick-to-it?

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What Does Your Body Mass Index Say About You

Does your body make one feel unattractive? Are you scared to back try and get in shape? Have you made an effort to shed pounds that are unwanted days gone by? If so, were you unsuccessful or did you give up after a time that is short? This article is meant to help people like everyone else. Read on to learn of easy ways to shed those pounds and have them off.

Legumes and beans of all kinds help greatly when people are trying to lose excess weight. Beans have almost no fat, are full of protein and B vitamins, and satisfy the appetite in a manner that extremely vegetables that are low-calorient. They can provide a healthy and lower-calorie substitute for meat; even for meat lovers. Legumes lend body and flavor to soups, veggie burgers, ethnic dishes, and many other things.

A great way to lose weight is to listen to music when you are doing cardio. Doing cardio can be very monotonous and boring without anything to distract you. Once you listen to music, you will stop checking the timer every minutes that are few and youll be much more likely to put more amount of time in.

To really maximize the potency of a healthy diet, it needs to be a diet that the dieter can stick to. An extremely audacious fat-burning diet, will never be any help in the event that dieter finds it intolerable. A dieter is more likely to carry on the narrow and straight, with a diet that feels comfortable for him or her.

If the goal is to lose weight in general, you need to avoid eating a diet that is high in protein. Muscle growth is gain that is weight. Unless you actually want larger muscles, remember that protein is the fuel that builds them. High-protein diets are great for weight trainers, but people who need to lose overall weight shouldnt ingest too much protein.

Mentally see yourself during the weight you wish to be. This helps train your mind into thinking thats the way you are. If you can get your brain on-board, your body will follow. Cut fully out pictures of this size you wish to be and post them so you can see what you are aiming for.

When attending a vacation cocktail party, get a low calorie drink like seltzer water and fruit juice as soon as you arrive. If you sip slowly on your drink, you will probably not fill up on high calorie cocktails. Having one of your hands busy can keep you against sampling the snacks as well.

Do you like pizza? You will see occasions when you need to savor a slice of pizza, but you can make it a bit that is little. Grab some napkins and blot the oil that is all within the pizza. This may help save your self from extra calories and fat.

Some of the very advice that is basic weight loss is some of the oldest: watch your portions. For example, restaurants would have you believe that a steak should be the size of your head. However, a reasonable portion of meat would actually be the dimensions of a deck of cards, or about as big as the palm of the hand.

Now that you have arrive at the end of this article, do you know what must be achieved to lose weight. Do not pass this chance up; put what you have read into play.

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The program also teaches you the way to keep track on your health at any place. This will provide you a view regarding the way your metabolism works in burning calories efficiently. It will also explain on what changes you are undergoing while you are under the process of the diet plan. A quick-start plan will be provided to instruct you on what you are required to do.

About the Author

The author of this diet program is Brian Flatt who is a fitness trainer, a sports nutritionist, and a health mentor. Due to his commendable versatile skills, he was able to create this kind of program. He earned

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C1 1 2 killer or just a new level

Its official: I started level 2 of Continuity 1.1. And well, I heard lots and lots about this level - that it is tough and really really challenging. Well, to be honest, it is hard, but I didnt find it harder than some of the levels in Meta. It had lots of exercises, it is almost 5 minutes longer than level 1, and yes - the moves are tough. But some similar moves we did in Meta, and I would say they are doable... But that said, I do think I will have some sore muscles tomorrow! During MS I felt like my ass was on fire, and after that I was a bit exhausted. Needed (and still do actually) a nap. 

In two weeks Im moving to a different office, and there I will have a big fat couch... and you can laugh at me, but I will start taking naps in the middle of the day. And I am afraid I will start living in my office at some point. :)))) Ooops.

OK, so great weekend to you all! Im going back to work and thinking of a holiday in December. Sigh.

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Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Essential Diet Weight Loss Guide

As a growing problem in our society currently, some places even reaching epidemic dimensions. The question is "What is our society going to end in place being?" A bunch of fatties eating unhealthy meal and living a poor lifestyle? There is a choice by following this guide explaining different ways to lose weight with some of diet plans methods on the market.
Chinese diet tea.
A recent study on Chinese diet their tea shows that drinking this substance, exhibits rapid and effective weight loss gained over a short period of time. Increased energy level and also a significant effect on fat oxidization. The particular Chinese tea diet does not incorporate caffeine and therefore, does not increase the heart beat rate and metabolism. It is very safe and highly effective for weight loss.
Water.
Almost every diet plan features in a few ways some form of water. Water system has no calories, cholesterol or body fat. Studies show that a high consumption of water: - 8 ounce glasses per day will help energy levels, concentration, mental awareness, weight loss and also give you healthy sounding skin. So drinking on a regular basis will stop fat deposits, clean out the toxins within the body and create a healthier, fitter-looking body.
Free Diet plans.
Free Diet plans are usually geared up and recommended by a dietitian or a nutritionist. They are especially organized and also arranged for athletes and dieters while they contain less fat and calories. Since a result, free diet plans can help you lose weight or maintain a steady decrease in weight. This is also recommended for those people who have busy lifestyles and little time to shop for the correct foods or even have time for planning their own healthy food.
A balanced and nutritious diet.

With a balanced and nutritious diet you can lose weight. You are educated on the information of what are the correct food items, the correct carbs and the proper fats to eat. A good balanced diet would include leafy green vegetables, cereals, fruits, brown bread, and browned rice, generally free from fats, stuffed with proteins.

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Sunday, May 31, 2015

Cocoa Love

I'm not a huge fan of so-called superfoods...diversity is probably the key to a truly healthy human diet in an ancestral and mictobiome sense, but hey, chocolate may be an exception to the rule. I can rain on the parade with the sustainability issues...anyway, here's my new post:

Your Brain on Chocolate

Already an "Essential Read" at Psychology Today. People love positive news about coffee and chocolate.

Also the second in my three part series at Whole9:

Advanced Tips for a Good Night's Sleep

Part 3 should come out at the end of next month and has to do with teenagers and sleep. I'm probably going to add part 4 at Psychology Today to talk about melatonin. I've always been suspicious of using a hormone as a nightly sleep aid and the science behind it is interesting and scary, considering the widespread popular usage. Itsthewoo was ranting about it on twitter...she uses 1mg in the summer for shift work sleep support, but feels (as I do) that supplementing large supra physiologic doses of a wide-acting hormone is an apocalyptically bad idea on a regular basis. Physiologic doses are somewhere around 0.5mg. You can buy pills with as high a dosage as 10mg! I usually recommend people take small doses for circadian support (jet lag, shift work) for brief periods, when they ask. But it is one of those supplements like creatine that so many people take and don't bother to tell you (even if you ask directly).

More later!

I had a great time in Toronto for the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting. Our Food and Mood workshop was a hot ticket as always, with many people turned away, and so many interested folks. We are still perfecting a couple of the broken slides so if you emailed for a copy, hang in there...it's always so great to see the interest in food and psychiatry at these professional meetings.

It's been a while since I linked a song. Here's an oldie but a goodie: I'll Be You by The Replacements

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Sunday, May 3, 2015

Five Years of Evolutionary Psychiatry

Next month will mark the 5th year anniversary of this blog. Hard to believe I would still be at it after all this time. Back in the beginning, an interest in ancestral health felt like a very lonely endeavor. Since then I've met many online friends, physicians and otherwise, who share my interest, and that communication and support has made all the difference. I probably would have never met these people if not for the blog, and for that and the knowledge I've gained, all the thousands of hours and dollars spent have been worth it. Later this year I'll even be going to New Zealand for the Ancestral Health Symposium there, which looks to be absolutely amazing. If your bucket list includes going to New Zealand, the conference is reasonably priced and is the perfect excuse to go.

Have my opinions changed over the years? Yes, I would say so. I'm more cognizant of the differences between people when it comes to diet and genetics instead of thinking of our species as a more homogenous whole. Just one specific example (not really psychiatry but...) I went from being taught about LDL cholesterol by Brown and Goldstein (who won the Nobel Prize for discovering the LDL receptor and basically ushered in the age of statin therapy) to being a cholesterol skeptic to landing somewhere on the skeptical side of the middle ground. I think statins can and do cause wide-ranging side effects, both physical and mental that for many, even most, people outweigh their benefits, but for folks with a personal history of heart disease or familial hypercholesterolemia, or a rotten cholesterol profile and a strong family history of relatives dropping dead from heart attacks at young ages, using a statin to up regulate the LDL receptor will help improve cholesterol particle recycling and might be worth taking. Since the awesome folks over that theNNTblog agree with me, I think I'm on pretty solid ground.

I'm also more friendly to beans and rice than I was at the beginning, but I'm still not a fan of peanuts or processed food. I have more reason to be suspicious of emulsifiers and artificial sweeteners. Due to my blog I've personally seen some very dramatic cases of serious mental illness that are under much better control via gluten-free diets...yes, beware the tyranny of the anecdote, but just keep an open mind about undiagnosed celiac disease that may not present with gastrointestinal symptoms.

I've also spoken with some folks with eating disorders who got a ton better and have remained in remission by restricting food to whole, real, minimally processed diets (which is not standard advice for eating disorders by any means, as restriction is a bad word), but I've also met anxious folks who had no eating disorders begin to worry about every mouthful and obsess about food all the time once they switched to a paleo-style diet. It's so important to know yourself...95% of people in the develop world have to restrict diets somehow. We can't just eat willy nilly whatever and whenever we want, or we will get sick and fat. Some people do much better and are perfectly happy counting calories and having three cadbury creme eggs every Friday night and go on a creme egg binge if they are trying to eat 100% "clean", while other people find strict food quality rules and not thinking so much about calories makes life much easier and lessens eating obsessions. For health reasons I think we should push food quality over quantity rules in general, and far prefer Brazil's food guidelines to the American nutty calculation crazy official rules.  

I've grown in my appreciation of the microbiome over the years, which is reflected in my most recent blog posts at Psychology Today. Modern chronic disease is all about chronic inflammation, and the microbiome is a huge part of our immune system. I think the first truly successful "diet pill" will be a modified probiotic of some kind (and if I'm being cynical will probably be terribly expensive and bankrupt the health care system). I also think the next breakthrough in pharmacology for mental health, particularly for depressive disorders and anxiety disorders (and maybe autistic spectrum disorders and other serious mental illness), will come from a better understanding and manipulation of the microbiome and the "old friends."

I recently closed comments at this blog. Though a few thoughtful comments were being posted, some were at long ago posts I had no time to address, and the vast majority of comments coming through were spam or witch doctors advertising pregnancy and AIDS spells. It's been nice not to have to deal with all that irritating spam email. I do keep comments open on my Psychology Today posts for a few weeks to a month or two.

I do have some new posts up elsewhere:

Improve Your Mental Health With Sleep Part 1
Improve Your Mental Health With Sleep Part II (will be live soon at the 9blog)

And at Psychology Today:
Junk Food, Gut, and Brain

Five Year Synthesis: Start Here Post

Still plugging away and finding *some* new things to write about from time to time. I appreciate all of you who have taken the time to come by, read my blog, and then think about psychiatry and human health maybe a little differently than before. I've even had researchers tell me that my articles helped them out. It's exciting to think my little blog could do something to change the treatment of mental illness for the better.

Here's to the next five years.

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