Beyond Vegetarian: Part 2

     Throughout the last couple years I've gone through several stints and various incarnations of Tim Ferris's "Slow Carb Diet" (ala "The 4 Hour Body").  Recently I've been feeling the season's ripe for change and have taken another look at my notes from the book.  These days you can find a copy on Amazon for about $10 used.  If you're looking for the quick rundown of what the "fat loss" section of the book offers, a good summary cheat sheet can be found here; and the same site provides long list of other summary / cheat sheets (link here).
     This time around I've taken the most minimal approach I can while still employing the principles found in the book.  The book states that one's fitness is dictated by (varying degrees, but more or less) 60% diet, 30% exercise, and 10% drugs.  I've opted not to employ and supplements other than whey protein.  One of my favorite points of the book is the distinction between exercise and recreation.  Basically, recreation is whatever you do for fun, be that some sort of physical activity (of various degrees) or not.  On the other hand, exercise is done with the specific intent of energy consumption (calorie burning, hormone production, etc..).
     So, this incarnation involves several things for me that have some moderate changes from what is prescribed in the book (fitness and dieting should always maintain a degree of plasticity to adapt to one's intent of implementation:  goals, duration, etc...).  Below are the practices I've implemented.

Slow Carb Diet:
     This is actually easier to list foods that are not "approved":  fruit, grains, starch, sugar, and liquid calories.  This diet consists of eating a lot of legumes (beans / lentils), lean protein, eggs, and vegetables.  For more reasons as to "why"... read the book!  For me, a typical day would look something like this:

• Breakfast - Coffee (black), 1 scoop whey protein, 1 whole jumbo egg
• Lunch - ~200 calories worth of beans / lentils, 4oz fish or chicken, 2 servings of fresh vegetables.
• Mid - Afternoon - ~200 calories worth of bean / lentils, 1 serving fresh vegetables
• Dinner - ~200 calories of beans / lentils, 4oz fish / chicken, 2 servings frozen vegetables
• Late Night - 28g nuts, 1 serving frozen vegetables
• *Unlimited green, non-starchy (corn, peas) vegetables -> the nutritional benefits far outweigh any extra calories.
• *The book advises that if you're truly (physically opposed to psychologically) hungry, then one more slow carb meal (See Lunch and Dinner) won't be harmful in the long run.  Indeed consistency maintainability are key to long-term success.
• Cost:  The book has a quick grocery list for one week totaling < $40.  When I went on a grocery run the other day I found that to be pretty accurate.  You may spend a bit more to get stocked up, but you'll spare a few groceries if you eat out and on cheat day.  All in all, I'd say that things balance out as long as you're modest in your eating out and budget appropriately for your weekly binge.  One more thing, don't buy the junk food with your groceries or keep it in the house!

Cheat Day:

     The book recommends taking one day off per week to go wild; with some caveats for "damage control."

• Keep a log of food cravings throughout the week - indulge one day / week
• 1st meal of the day should be clean, normal slow carb meal.
• Heavy caffeine (mild diuretic) throughout first part of day.
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon with each "junk" meal.
• 90 seconds of exercise before and after (w/in 90min) of each junk meal.
• Drink plenty of fruit juice throughout the day.

Other Procedures:

• 90 seconds of exercise each morning upon waking.
• 30 grams of protein w/in 30 minutes of waking.
• 30 minutes w/ ice pack on neck in the morning.
• This is easier to deal with than cold showers / ice baths.  There has been some debate as to its effectiveness especially if someone is eating hot food / drinks and taking hot showers.  However, I look at it this way, if the temperature and duration of your showers and hot beverage consumption stay about the same, you're still getting a lower "net" body temperature throughout the day.
• Add cinnamon (saigon preferably) to coffee.
• Drink plenty of ice water and green tea (decaf) throughout the day.
• The easiest way to accomplish this it to take an empty milk or fruit juice jug, fill it with hot water, add the tea bags and some lemon / lime juice, let it brew / cool, then stick it in the fridge and drink it throughout the day.
• Add lemon / lime juice to drinking water.
• Lots of herbs and spices (particularly garlic) with food.
• 30 minutes w/ ice pack on neck before bed.
• 1 gram of poppy seeds (sleep aid?) before bed.
• Avoid artificial sweeteners.

Now, lets see if this bad boy can fly!

Diet Update: Beyond Vegetarian

     Another time, another change; variety is the spice of life, right?  Speaking from a behaviorist standpoint it takes anywhere from 10 sessions to 7 weeks to "integrate" new patterns of behavior.  Be this diet or exercise, consequently this is also the approximate time it takes the body to get used to patterns (integration) and plateau (i.e.:  no longer a stimulating challenge).  I've finally hopped off the (semi)vegetarian train and found myself seeking an old ally.  But first, a recap of my mostly-vegetarian adventures.

• August 2013 - Begin Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian Diet
• September 2013 - Eggs removed from diet
• October 2013 - All dairy except Whey Protein removed from diet
• Early November 2013 - Attempt to eat as little cooked and as much raw food as possible (within caloric limits)
• Late November 2013 - Stop supplement intake (other than Whey)
• December 2013 - Diet Soda (and artificial sweeteners) removed from diet

     Now, there are some finer points in here that I'll probably get into in later posts, but the bigger picture is that this was a good 5 - 6 month run and I was fairly satisfied with the results.  If I recall correctly, I lost a couple pounds in the early stages but gained them back.  My overall body composition (much to my surprise) stayed about the same was when I was eating meat.  What I did find exceptionally comfortable about this diet is that it evolved into a series of healthy preferences rather than stringent rule and lists of "thou shalt not..."  For example:

• AVOID artificial sweetners
• PREFER vegetables
• PREFER not to eat meat, eggs, or dairy
• but do on rare occasions, or social gatherings
• PREFER to eat a lot of fruits, nuts and vegetables
• but do eat some grains / starch (sweet potatoes, wild rice - not pasta / bread)
• PREFER to eat mostly raw foods - (or soaked rice / lentils / bean)
• but do cook own food on occasion or eat out
• some processed and semi-processed foods are still good (granola, whey, nuts, salsa, hummus)
• however there's something ironic about tofu (e.g.: super processed soy ... "stuff?")

     But all in all, I had to face the facts.  I make no attempt to hide the fact that I was a "lazy" vegetarian.  Meat still tastes(ed) good, but it was simply easier to dice some fresh vegetables than it was to scrub a George-Foreman Grill.
     My theory of small daily cheats was also a bust, but not totally.  I still had some cravings for junk food and the occasional bender but they were much fewer and far between.  When eating as described above I found that I did have garbage food cravings but they were much more mild, say a single candy bar or a single bag of chips rather than a whole pizza and a half gallon of ice cream or something ridiculous like that.  What seemed to work well was to not sweat the small stuff now and then; however, one has to be very judicious in deciding how frequent is too frequent and when "small" is no longer small.
     I also found that after I stopped drinking diet soda that I paid more attention to my physiological hunger rather than statistics and numbers.  Rather, I ate when I was hungry per the above guidelines; not when a prescribe plan said I could / couldn't.  That factor seemed to make things very sustainable.
     In case you have considered trying a vegetarian(ish) diet or even have a vendetta against them, there is some good information available here; titled "Beyond Vegetarian."


Ah yes, I mentioned an "old ally", stay tuned for Part 2.......

Tyranny of Multiculturalism

*Final Essay for my "Social and Cultural Foundations of Psychotherapy" course.  This is a doozy weighing in at 22 page.  Abstract below and here's the link to the .pdf.

Abstract:
     This essay will discuss concerns of the author around suggested standards for practice int he category of multicultural counseling.  The argumentative backdrop is set by a questioning of evidence-based practice and empirically-supported treatments.  Further literature review includes suggested multicultural initiatives and criticisms of such directives.  Considerable length is given to discussion on the necessity of a "political therapy", consequences of practice, and "everyday evilness."

Library Statistics

     I posted the "beta" of this report a few weeks ago, but here is the final draft.  Not much has changed other than some typo corrections (although up re-rereading some still exist).  Essentially I made observations of our university library to monitor the number of computers being used throughout the week.  Without all the stats and graphs, here's the conclusion and link to the .pdf.

     In conclusion, several inferences can be made from this data.  Firstly, the staff hypothesis that the library is most busy during "regular business hours" can be confirmed as seen by the trends in percentage of vacant computers and population.  Secondly, my first hypothesis -- that there would be a significant negative relationship between population and the percentage of vacant computers can be confirmed by the presented data.  Thirdly, my second hypothesis -- that day-of-the-week would not have a significant relationship with the percentage of vacant computers -- has been refuted.  Lastly, my third hypothesis -- that time-of-day would have a significant relationship with the percentage of vacant computers -- can also be refuted.
     Additionally, the initial analysis has been largely supported by in depth statistical analysis.  A library patron's strongest probability for finding a vacant desktop computer to work on would be when there is the highest percentage of vacant computers.  this happens to be on the second floor on Friday if one is not constrained by time, however, if time is an important factor on will find the highest percentage of vacant computers on Thursday around 9:00 p.m.  In general, however, there is a higher percentage of vacant computers later in the week, on a higher floor, and later in the day.  Further research and considerations may need to be made to accommodate for population and (potentially) inherent noise levels associated with more populous times and floors within Ingram Library.

Euthanasia: Implications of a Right to Die

     As the third semester of my graduate career winds down (or winds up!) I've got plenty of final papers/projects to share over the next couple of days.  Let's start by talking bout something light... you know, like death.  The following will be submitted as my final essay for my Human Service Practicum course, for which I volunteered at a hospice.  Here is a link to the .pdf document; the abstract can be read below.

Abstract and Author's Note:
     This article begins an inquiry into the implications and applications of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia within the context of hospice and end-of-life healthcare; accompanied by psychological and therapeutic considerations.  The foundation of this research lies in the acknowledgement of my own (the author's) biases, beliefs, and curiosities.  "The physicians had argued that the claimed right [to die] was analogous to a woman's right to decide to have an abortion (Mariner, 1997, p.2059)."  In acknowledgement of my own beliefs and preferences and in regard to abortion I am a proponent of choice in the hope that "life" will be chosen.  the intent of this article is to explore previous literature and investigate if I, or the reader, can settle upon a similar decision for end-of-life decisions as I do to the corresponding stance on beginning-of-life decisions (the aforementioned opinion on abortion).

Some Goodies for My Linux Friends

    I don't know why I never thought of this before, but I've got a little stash of themes and goodies for my fellow Linux users out there.  Currently, I'm using Arch so everything was designed under that environment.  It will most likely work in other circumstance (Ubuntu and Mint?)  but I can't be certain as I haven't tested them there myself.  Anyway, here are some pictures below as well as links to the appropriate folders.  Giving thanks for open sourced software!  Happy Holidays!

• My "Linux Goodies" folder on 4shared
• A conky I made for Arch
• Here's one I did for Mint/Ubuntu as well
• 
• Several GDM login themes (these should work regardless of Linux Distribution as long as you're using the older version of GDM that supports tar.gz themes)
• 
• 
• 
• And lastly, if you use GRUB, I have a couple themes for that as well.

• 
• 
• Be sure to check out the "Credits.txt" file in the theme packages for references and lists of sources, bases, and wallpapers I used.

Climbing Cold and Some Thoughts on Training

*Photo courtesy of MountianProject.com - not me in the picture, but it is the route referenced below.

     Alas, a "break" from school.  As fall comes to a close there's time enough for one more "decent weather" climb even though all of us in academia know that the Thanksgiving "break" is more or less "catch up on homework and cram final papers/projects" week.

Anniversary Trip Summary:
     Approximately one year ago I embarked on my first outdoor climbing trip to Sandrock, AL.  I've gone back a handfull of times since, but on my climbing anniversary this was quite a unique experience in and of itself.  For starters, we knew it would be cold (high 30s) and a chance of rain.  Arriving at the crag it was indeed quite chilly, windy, and a heavy overcast removing any hopes of sunlight.  The "warm up" route wasn't very warming and in fact it was quite painful.  What I found to be the most "scary" part was that my hands were numb enough that I couldn't tell if a hold was good or not or if I was slipping off it or not.  After letting our party of 4 cycle through the route we decided to search for a less windy location.  There was no chance of a redpoint attempt on the 5.10a right next to us which I had ascent in August.
     We found another crew of climbers who had thankfully started a fire and eased our getting a bit lost on the trails.  That was an exceedingly pleasant "surprise" as their text messages had indicated they had waiting for us.  As it was getting later in the afternoon the drizzle was becoming more persistent though the wind had died down.  I remember commenting to another climber that I was kinda bummed that I had been saving my strength today for some hard routes but had really only climbed once so far that day.  But oh behold!  Right next to us was a 5.11a (Price is Right) that had shut me down (top rope) on my first outdoor trip precisely one year ago.  I recall that some of the overhanging clip-points had me freaked out and  i had to take a break after each of the third to last and second to last anchors.  Though I could feel my hands and the rocks better this time around I had a few small falls working the crux.  I remember getting frustrated with myself and wanting to hang it up, call it a day, blame the weather and the low-light conditions.  Then I got mad at myself for thinking that and reminded myself that I wasn't about to go home with that being how I remembered the trip.  Alas, the route was sent and I have found a new project, and sent a route (lead) that had previously shut me down (on toprope) in the past.  That's a very, very good feeling!  All in all the weather sucked, but I was glad to have sent a new grade and to take a few climbers on their first outdoor trip (who all did excellent by the way!)

Training:
     I won't talk too much about the training "program" I used (reasons below), but essentially I had known about this trip for about 5 weeks.  For the first three weeks I focused on climbing hard grades (mostly bouldering) with one easy climbing / hangboard day per week.  The last two weeks I focused on endurance and technique.  I did a lot of up-downs and lead climbing to work the more specific skills associated with lead climbing.
     If you've been following my blog then you know that I get a lot of ideas for training plans from climbstrong.com.  The author published an article (link) not too long ago that made me reconsider some of my training philosophies.  He talks about a 2 year / 200 hour rule wherein if a climber does not meet those credentials (2 years in the sport or 200 hours of climbing [actual movement]) then s/he is still at the stage where virtually any kind of climbing will cause improvements.  Ergo, specified training programs are a waste of time.  I just done talking about my one year anniversary, so I guess I'm half way there.
     However, I still like having "a plan" when I go to the gym.  Maybe not a specified "workout" broken down to exact reps and sets, but and idea of what I want to work on.  Also, I still like tracking my progress and think its a good idea to shift gears every 4 - 6 weeks or so (i.e. bouldering to sport climbing).  A friend and fellow climber reminded me last week that the "rocks won't go anywhere", that "grades will come in time", and advised that I shouldn't go to the crag feeling I "have to" send a specific route, but rather "just find a line you want to send and work it."  Basically he was telling me that its a mental block to feel like you have to (for example) redpoint a 5.10 before a 5.11.  If you like the line and think you can do it, go for it!  For the time being, I'm liking that idea more and more.
     With the winter off-season approaching, however, I'm already brooding in my head what I can do, while the rocks are wet and the the school rock wall is closed, over the break to "stay in shape."  I'm sure something will find its way on here sooner or later!

Stay tuned....