At any rate I have put a link at the bottom of the page wherein you can view the presentation (pdf) in full. Admittedly, the actual presentation was kind of a wreck, however it spurred a wonderful discussion (which I stayed for) for the remaining hour or so of the class. Enjoy.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Anxiety, Dying, and the Power to Create
The other day I gave a presentation for a doctoral class (Culture and Subjectivity). Originally I was supposed to be enrolled in the course, but due to some procedural politicking by our department I was not able to enroll. The short solution, for me, was to just take the course as an independent study with the professor as my supervisor. This actually worked out quite well as I then spent the summer re-working the syllabus and molding it specifically to my own clinical interested and licensing board specifications (the course was initially academically rather than clinically motivated).
Gone... Vegetarian? (Part II)
As promised, here's the follow up to earlier post on going ... er... "flex"-etarian. Part One covered some of the history and theoretical reasons for me taking on this task. I said in the last post, that when I had gone "low-protein" before that I was (among other things) still eating too much and had drastically overestimated my daily caloric need. Basically, I was eating enough calories day-to-day but the once-weekly daily binge was putting me over the edge. Fortunately I keep records of these kinds of things; here in this blog and on spreadsheets when I change or try something new. I think I was in the best physical shape when I was on training for a boxing match. So I looked back to my records and found that I was eating about 1600 calories per day with one cheat day (no holds barred) allowed. What I did this time around was try to estimate what I might have eaten on that given cheat day and divide it over the course of all seven days of the week in an attempt at more stability and regularity in my diet. After throwing some numbers around, what I came to is that I should be eating somewhere between 2100 and 2400 calories per day. Basically I'll take that one giant binge and spread it out to a daily "snack" of anything I want but with some restrictions; say, < 300 calories. We'll see how this goes, fortunately my dieting records usually correlate to exercise, sport, fitness training so I also have a bit of a gauge on how physically active I was during those times. This means that what worked when I was boxing may not produce the same results as when I'm climbing; but we'll see how it goes.
That brings me to the next point. My current lifestyle is actually rather sedentary. I spend a lot of time sitting at a desk and crunching a keyboard. There are several calculators available on the web (I would be severely in doubt of their accuracy) that can give you an estimate of your required daily caloric intake. The "better" ones will include something about exercise schedule or activity level. What I find in my current lifestyle is that I exercise frequently (5 or 6 days per week) but typically cardiovascular intensity is not very high. That is, I work out a lot, but climbing tends to put more stress on my nervous system and connective tissue than on muscular and cardio-pulmonary (heart and lung) capacities. That is of course subject to how I'm training (performance vs. endurance) but at the present time, this is how it stands.
A concept that I dubbed "Sticky Diet" is something that I've become quite a huge fan of. Basically it is a quick summary of your diet that you "stick" to your refrigerator, stove, cabinet, or anywhere in the kitchen (or wherever you cook/eat) that you'll see it frequently. My latest movement has been to use a simple checklist app on my smartphone (Google Keep has my preference). My checklist doesn't get too specific, but does divide things by meals and lists general categorical entries; for example:
- Lunch
- 160 calories Shredded Cheese
- 2 servings Vegetables
- 1 serving Fruit
- 1 serving Starch/Bean (7" tortilla, 56g pasta, etc...)
As I've said before , I'm not explicitly opposed to meat consumption, but opting to exclude as much as I can; hence milk and cheese still being permitted in my diet. I do have some other "beyond the numbers" principles that I apply here. I put some cinnamon in my coffee because it help the body regulate blood sugar better (some diabetics take cinnamon supplements). I also put lemon juice in my drinking water not just for the taste but it also help with digestion. I pretty strict about not drinking calories (i.e. soda, milk, cream & sugar in coffee). The only exception I make is my morning whey-protein/coffee combination because I usually don't feel like eating heaping bowl of eggs or oatmeal first thing in the morning but I still want to get my metabolism kickstarted with a few calories. One last psychological component, I usually shake (purchase) my daily snack out of vending machine rather than buy it with the rest of my groceries. This is purely to resist the temptation of having junk food in the home. If I get the munchies I'll be forced to munch on something nutritious. That's about all for now, I'll leave you with some specific digits and we'll see how things pan out. One last comment, I'm not terribly concerned with my body weight as I'm not presently competing in weight-class-based sports; however if I can shed a few pounds and increase my (finger)strength to weight ratio, I'm all for it. I'm also not terribly concerned about a few pounds here and there because of the 80/20 principle. If I want to loose 20% of my weight its going to take at least an additional 80% of effort. No thanks, for the time being I'll take 80% of the results for 20% of the effort :)
- Average Daily Estimates:
- Calories: 2089 (+ condiments)
- Fat: ~61.7g (26.6%)
- Carbs: ~296.6g (56.8%)
- Protein: ~100.8g (19.3%)
- * I wouldn't mind a bit more protein and fewer carb; I was aiming for a 50/25/25 split but this turned out pretty close.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Gone... Vegetarian? (Part I)
First, nobody freak out or get too excited! To my vegetarian and vegan readers I can assure you that I have no political or ethical interests associated with this kind of practice. To my carnivorous readers, relax, I live in the south and there is no denying that "soul food" still smells and tastes delicious. Now onto the "meat and potatoes" of this post...
Lets start with a little background. A little over a year ago I became a regular at my school's rock climbing gym. One of the more obvious matter of facts was that heavier people required stronger fingers to climb rocks and thus there was a significant advantage to be had for the lighter climber. However, most of the world's top climbers aren't exactly built like they'll be competing in strongman competitions. Clearly more fat-weight was a bad thing, but I soon began contemplating the same of excess muscle weight. Modern pop-culture has imbued this kind of bodybuilding mindset where there is an emphasis on gaining "lean mass." I won't rant on this too much, but the bottom line is that excess muscle mass is still more weight you have to haul up a vertical (or steeper) face. Anyway, about a year ago I read Eric Horst's training for climbing and wanted to start a carbohydrate centered diet to try my hand at shedding the predominantly protein-based "athlete" diets. In one of my old dieting posts I considered this effort to be an utter failure for a variety of reasons. Some of those reasons had a bit of "scientific" principle behind them, but ultimately I think I was trying to comfort a bruised ego. Looking back and reanalyzing things, I think that I had some good procedures in place, but also some very bad ones. I went against my own grain and took the recommended dieting procedures straight out of Horst's book rather than apply his principles to the years of data I've collected about what my body requires for energy. Long story short, I had a great diet plan then, but the problem was that (while the daily caloric intake was adequate) I was still allowing an all out binge-eating day once per week. After doing some more recent calculations and analysis I think I had a great plan and measurement except for the fact that I didn't need that ridiculous binge day weighing in at a whopping 5000 calories or so.
That wasn't an explicitly "vegetarian" diet, just a carbohydrate centered diet rather than protein. I actually started this vegetarian kick in mid August for the strength-to-weight-ratio reasons above. As abhorring as it may be to pop-fitness, I wanted to lose some mass. Keep in mind, however, that a reduction in BMI (Body Mass Index) would require me to not "get fat" while losing muscle; else I would only have a lower volume of muscle and a higher volume of fat while retaining the same "mass." In August I started a "flexetarian" diet though I didn't know it was called that then. I was still eating meat once per week and allowing myself eggs and dairy. After a couple weeks I ex'd the eggs, then, a few weeks later, dropped the schedule meet-eat. I am by no means "anti-meat", I still eat it once in a while, but without a scheduled frequency. I keep the dairy in my diet because I get a lot of protein from whey protein and cheese (I don't drink milk.)
The next thing that I found was that my school, work, and training schedules became a lot more dense about a month into the process. What I found was that I had estimated my daily caloric intake accurately, but only for a more sedentary lifestyle. As a result I was "cheating" way more than once per week. Granted, these weren't all out binges, but they were certainly stifling to any progress. I mentioned "re-analysis" in the first paragraph, and this is where that comes in. My best physique (weight wise) was when I was boxing. Fortunately I have blogs on blogs and spreadsheets of spreadsheets logging my diet and training procedures. I looked back on my records to see what I was eating (calories) then. I then imagined a what I might eat on a typical "cheat day" on that diet. I added it all up (cheats included) and re-calibrated my estimated average daily caloric need. As far as "cheating" goes on diets, I'm a believer that sustainability is paramount. What I've found in my personal experiences is that that weekly cheat (whether its all day or a few hours or a single buffet) still leaves you craving that re-load period. Consequently, if you find yourself not being able to stick to your diet prescription for a single week, something is wrong. I won't lie, garbage food still tastes good though. What I'm predicting here is that a more stable, once daily, minimal allotment of "junk food" (say < 300 calories) budgeted into my diet will be a more sustainable procedure than earlier practices.
That's the theory behind this, Part II will house the number crunching portion.
Lets start with a little background. A little over a year ago I became a regular at my school's rock climbing gym. One of the more obvious matter of facts was that heavier people required stronger fingers to climb rocks and thus there was a significant advantage to be had for the lighter climber. However, most of the world's top climbers aren't exactly built like they'll be competing in strongman competitions. Clearly more fat-weight was a bad thing, but I soon began contemplating the same of excess muscle weight. Modern pop-culture has imbued this kind of bodybuilding mindset where there is an emphasis on gaining "lean mass." I won't rant on this too much, but the bottom line is that excess muscle mass is still more weight you have to haul up a vertical (or steeper) face. Anyway, about a year ago I read Eric Horst's training for climbing and wanted to start a carbohydrate centered diet to try my hand at shedding the predominantly protein-based "athlete" diets. In one of my old dieting posts I considered this effort to be an utter failure for a variety of reasons. Some of those reasons had a bit of "scientific" principle behind them, but ultimately I think I was trying to comfort a bruised ego. Looking back and reanalyzing things, I think that I had some good procedures in place, but also some very bad ones. I went against my own grain and took the recommended dieting procedures straight out of Horst's book rather than apply his principles to the years of data I've collected about what my body requires for energy. Long story short, I had a great diet plan then, but the problem was that (while the daily caloric intake was adequate) I was still allowing an all out binge-eating day once per week. After doing some more recent calculations and analysis I think I had a great plan and measurement except for the fact that I didn't need that ridiculous binge day weighing in at a whopping 5000 calories or so.
That wasn't an explicitly "vegetarian" diet, just a carbohydrate centered diet rather than protein. I actually started this vegetarian kick in mid August for the strength-to-weight-ratio reasons above. As abhorring as it may be to pop-fitness, I wanted to lose some mass. Keep in mind, however, that a reduction in BMI (Body Mass Index) would require me to not "get fat" while losing muscle; else I would only have a lower volume of muscle and a higher volume of fat while retaining the same "mass." In August I started a "flexetarian" diet though I didn't know it was called that then. I was still eating meat once per week and allowing myself eggs and dairy. After a couple weeks I ex'd the eggs, then, a few weeks later, dropped the schedule meet-eat. I am by no means "anti-meat", I still eat it once in a while, but without a scheduled frequency. I keep the dairy in my diet because I get a lot of protein from whey protein and cheese (I don't drink milk.)
The next thing that I found was that my school, work, and training schedules became a lot more dense about a month into the process. What I found was that I had estimated my daily caloric intake accurately, but only for a more sedentary lifestyle. As a result I was "cheating" way more than once per week. Granted, these weren't all out binges, but they were certainly stifling to any progress. I mentioned "re-analysis" in the first paragraph, and this is where that comes in. My best physique (weight wise) was when I was boxing. Fortunately I have blogs on blogs and spreadsheets of spreadsheets logging my diet and training procedures. I looked back on my records to see what I was eating (calories) then. I then imagined a what I might eat on a typical "cheat day" on that diet. I added it all up (cheats included) and re-calibrated my estimated average daily caloric need. As far as "cheating" goes on diets, I'm a believer that sustainability is paramount. What I've found in my personal experiences is that that weekly cheat (whether its all day or a few hours or a single buffet) still leaves you craving that re-load period. Consequently, if you find yourself not being able to stick to your diet prescription for a single week, something is wrong. I won't lie, garbage food still tastes good though. What I'm predicting here is that a more stable, once daily, minimal allotment of "junk food" (say < 300 calories) budgeted into my diet will be a more sustainable procedure than earlier practices.
That's the theory behind this, Part II will house the number crunching portion.
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