Get into seeds

Simple way to vastly improve your diet: get into seeds.

Get hold of these three seeds and have them in your kitchen to sprinkle on just about anything:

-Chia (Omega 3)
-Pumpkin (Omega 6 & 3)
-Poppy (Omega 9)

It's better to keep chia and pumpkin seeds in the fridge because Omega 3s tend to go rancid fast unless refrigerated.

All seeds are very dense in phytonutrients, the plant nutrients that don't show up on "vitamins and minerals" lists and are most missing from the modern diet. Seeds help make you feel full so don't feel the need to eat as much, and give that crunchy feel to food. They also have hard-to-find vitamins like B17 which has been linked to curing cancer. You don't need a lot, even a sprinkle or half teaspoon makes a big difference.

In all cases, drink a lot of water with seeds because the insoluble fiber needs to soak up a lot of water to stay fluid.
Other seeds
-Sesame seeds are high in lignans and antioxidants
-Sunflower seeds are not my favorite because they are sky-high in Omega 6s which we usually get too much of anyway.

-Flax seed has special benefits for women, but otherwise for Omega 3s I would go with Chia seeds which taste way better

-Hemp seeds have many benefits including Omega 6 and 3 but for me they cause an allergic reaction, I have tried them several times

Special note: Apricot seeds/kernels are sky-high in B17 which is considered by some a cure for cancer.

Benefits
-Seeds are like little insoluble fiber bombs. Insoluble fiber can be hard to come by usually found in the skins of fruits and vegetables and in nuts. Seeds make it simple to get insoluble fiber.

-Chia seeds in particular are the best source of ALA Omega 3s (different from the Omega 3s in fish oil; ALA is the precursor to EPA and DHA in fish oil and some of the ALA from Chia will convert to EPA and DHA. You need both.)

Egg coffee

Here's a new one: throw three or four egg yolks in your coffee. Gives you around 12-15 g protein, good clean fats, and great clean cholesterol (clean cholesterol is good for you see my older post).

Primal egg coffee: the best part of waking up
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-egg-coffee/

lighter weights may = longer gap post-workout before muscle building starts

This Poliquin article toward the end makes an important hypothesis, that a lighter weight load workout may result in the onset of muscle building around 4 hours post-workout as opposed to a heavy weight load workout which triggers muscle building in just one hour.

This makes total sense with my experience. I have noticed that more endurance-oriented lifting tends not to cause the strong craving for protein right after the workout but rather down the stretch so to speak hours later.

However, my exprience is also that the "carb window" doesn't change the same way i.e. the GLUT-4 window seems to be the same time frame regardless of the load of the workout. I personally have a GLUT-4 window roughly 30-90 minutes post-workout. During those times you can eat lots of carbs. I use waxy maize, milk, cookies etc.

In any case, this article also strongly advises that *volume* is the key to muscle building, whether lifting a lighter or heavier load.

Tip 357: Train With A High Volume To Build Muscle and Get Lean For Summer

http://www.poliquingroup.com/Tips/tabid/130/EntryId/1237/Tip-357-Train-With-A-High-Volume-To-Build-Muscle-and-Get-Lean-For-Summer.aspx

No internet week

Light and screens increase dopamine.

http://www.nointernetweek.co

The protein game: how much protein do you really need?

There was a time when most of my daily protein came from endless protein bars, purchased by the boxload, and whey protein out of a tub. The main course was a footlong Subway sandwich, double meat with all the veggies--which is actually pretty healthy, except that now I'm gluten-free so can't eat at Subway anymore.

But in reality mountains of protein supplements are not necessary, for me at least. I retain lots of muscle even without all that supplemental protein. It could be genetics, because there are definitely "hard gainers" who can't hold onto muscle well. I'm the opposite, a "hard loser," who can't lost weight easily--but can keep muscle pretty well.

The biggest problem I have faced is the insulin that protein releases, which prevents you from losing any weight. (You can't lose fat while insulin is elevated). Which has brought me to experiments with Intermittent Fasting (IF), going 6-8 hours with no food. Part of the reason is that for me, just about any carbs or protein will cause an insulin rise. So zero food during longer periods is really the only way for me to keep insulin down so I can lose fat.

Often you hear that your muscles will disappear if you don't feed them protein every few hours during these fasting periods, but this article gives insights into how the body prevents that.

In particular, the section by Dr. Eades has insights into the body's "amino acid pool" that is fed by the recycling of "junk proteins" as the body cleans out cells during fasting. So the body can add amino acids to the circulating pool even when you don't eat protein.

While some say to eat a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, I have found that less, maybe 1.4 grams per pound works fine for me. The rest will just cause larger insulin spikes.

How much protein?
http://www.theiflife.com/how-much-protein-per-day-build-muscle/

Glucosepane: the key to future efforts to break up sticky AGE molecules

AGE or Advanced Glycation End Products, the sticky particles that accumulate in our bodies as a result of excess sugar, are thought to be behind a myriad of diseases and complications from heart disease to diabetes complications.

Now it is known that one AGE in particular, glucosepane, is the main AGE found in humans.

"Glucosepane is present in human tissues at levels 10 to 1000 times higher than any other cross-linking AGE, and is currently considered to be the most important cross-linking AGE."

The problem is that AGEs are difficult to remove because they are cross-linked to each other. Hence researchers are now seeking ways to break up the cross links in glucosepane.

When they do find a solution, this will be a massive breakthrough that could reverse heart disease and diabetes complications.

Iron overload/Hemochromatosis: wrecks the body but easy to fix

Iron overload/Hemochromatosis: wrecks the body but easy to fixProblem: Iron overload/HemochromotosisI have the gene for hemochromatosis which means I absorb way too much iron each time I eat iron-rich foods like red meat. This excess iron floating around in the bloodstream wreaks havoc on the body: it nicks arteries in the bloodstream leading to heart disease and also is linked to cancer along with other problems. Also, over time excess iron rusts i.e. oxidizes, which is linked to cancer, and also overloads the liver where iron is stored. Some people have extreme iron overload in which their liver is literally "full" of iron and can't hold any more so that any iron they eat just swirls around and around in the blood stream.

This is a problem that is easy to fix thanks to new discoveries. It used to be that people had to give blood in order to reduce their iron, often giving blood every month to keep from having iron overload.

Solution: IP6
But now a supplement called IP6 easily and painlessly reduces iron. Actually, the active ingredient in IP6 is phytic acid which is very commonly found in grains like brown rice, wheat, even chocolate. But with IP6 you can get the phytic acid without having to eat all the grains, and you can easily get a lot of it to quickly bring down your iron.