Another Look at the Paleo Diet

There's a lot of buzz around Paleo-type diets these days, particularly among the Crossfit crowd.  I've tried Paleo before, but I've been doing a lot of re-investigating over the past week and I'm finding out a lot of interesting things.  My previous diet post wasn't posted that long ago, but it left me feeling really unsatisfied.  On paper it seemed like a logical plan and while it was flexible, it was ultimately very imbalanced which made it difficult to adhere to.  Perhaps I was the subject of too much boredom and didn't give my last plan a good solid try, but for whatever reason I'm pretty excited about and proud of all the digging around I've done this time around.  Besides, there's nothing like a month long lay-off to brood over new training and nutritional strategies.
      I plead the case of a modest recreational athlete in moderate-good physical condition.  I consider my time valuable and as such am always looking to improve my performance.  More often than not that is through nutrition.  Aside from obvious strength-to-weight ratio benefits, proper nutrition is paramount in recovery which is most certainly the limiting factor in performance improvement by way of training.
     I tried the Paleo diet around the turn of the new year and that lasted for about a month.  I made the common misconception that Paleo is synonymous with a low-carb; it is not.  So that's why that got left behind.  However, I've stumbled across some interesting information that is sparking quite a bit of interest for me.

Paleo 2.0

     There are a lot of interesting points in that (linked) article that are worth talking about.  But here are some the ones that were most salient to me.  Some of theses points are in contrast to the still oft touted 70's Paleo 1.0 ideology and therefore thought provoking.

• About the only things "the experts" have can come to a consensus on is that we should eat less processed food.
• Fad diets have run the gamut from raw food only, vegetable only, meat only, raw meat, low carb, high carb, etc...
• Most of the food we ate throughout history are not available to us now (either in type or quantity)
• There is no one specific diet consumed by the entire succeeding species of humans
• Our bodies are very good at adaptation and can / have thrived in a variety of different settings and conditions with drastically different eating habits.
• "'Paleo' no longer refers to any particular diet eaten at any particular time, but in the sense of 'old.' traditional neolithic, paleolithic, and modern foods that we know are healthy or are similar nutritionally or metabolically to what archaic diets might have been like.." - "emulating" rather than replicating.
• More on this later, but there is a growing body of supporters who assert that as we come to be more and more skeptical of fads, that we should not abandon sound medical advice in the hope of retaining a certain pedagogy of eating.
• Avoid wheat (specifically gluten):  potatoes, sweet potatoes, root vegetables may be considered "grey area foods", but they are certainly better options than bread, crackers, cookies, and pasta.  I can probably hand this without too much problem, however, I may include rice as it technically grows and provides some grain benefits (see sub-bullet above).
• Avoid fructose ("low-fat" stuff and fruit [especially concentrated juice]):  Fructose, the sugar in fruit, is apparently digested differently than glucose and is, in combination with wheat, among the top disease instigators throughout "nutritional transitions."  Typically I don't eat much fruit anyway, but it is probably far lesser evil than whatever your sweet tooth has you craving.
• Avoid Linoleic Acid (part of the Omega 6 fatty acid family):  Stop eating temperate vegetable oils (corn, soy, canola, falx, etc...) and limit or exclude nuts.  Robb Wolf's Paleo Quick Start Guide suggests that 1 - 2 oz of nuts per day should still be fine.

More on Paleo 2.0

     This is another article from a different source that has a lot valuable information as well and expands on some of the above principles.

• Dairy may be okay without gluten.  First, though, the article recommends removing both and then adding dairy back after the body has "detoxed" from gluten.  Preferably "dairy" is limited to hard cheese, (real) butter, ghee, and not so keen on other pasteurized options.  This shouldn't be a problem for me as I don't eat much dairy, though I do like it.
• Avoid nightshade vegetables:  Apparently eggplants, bell peppers, tomatoes, and unskinned potatoes can all cause disease issues.  This sucks because tomatoes and bell peppers are two of my favorite vegetables.  I may have to let this one go in the hope that the benefits of well washed produce outweighs the potential negatives.  Other produce warnings can be found (here) courtesy of PBS.
• Avoid Legumes (peanuts, beans, lentils):  This is another seemingly controversial point.  While both cases for and against seem to have legitimacy, its probably best to take a different approach:  start with the best available (though imperfect), most strict Paleo plan, and then experiment with adding different things in to find out what works best for you.

My Adjustments and Thoughts:

• I hate to bring up calories, but its still important and foundational to weight loss / gain.  It certainly is not that be-all-end-all,b ut there is a lot of merit to it.  Eating "the right foods", or even cutting back / out the bad ones, can go an awfully long way; but so does common sense.  This is where your your personal history, experimentation, and adaptation come into play.  Not everyone requires the same amount of fuel and too much "good" food is still "too much" food.
• Fruit probably isn't necessary.  If you're ancestors were European, they probably weren't eating too much fruit in February (thanks Tim Ferriss).  Fructose (the sugar in fruit) isn't exactly Plaeo friendly anyway (reference).  However, thinking on a continuum, rather than black and white, an apple is probably a better choice than whatever you sweet tooth is actually craving.
• Adherence:  There's a ton of good information here (Robb Wolf podcast ft. Tim Ferriss).  I'm certainly not one of the grains are the devil types that you may find in hard-line Paleo circles.  Although being grain free (Paleo being old / pre-agricultural revolution) is one of the main tenets of the Paleo diet, I prefer to fall back on the staple of if it doesn't grow, don't eat it.  This seems to make a lot more sense to me.  Rice... okay, pasta and bread... how can I grow a garden of noodles?  Dairy... unless its butter or you're milking you're own cow / goat, probably not.  Nevertheless, a good starting point is to cut it out for a while and then re-introduce it.  Similarly, this is why a lot of people fail at their New Year's resolutions of weight loss; there are too many behavioral changes demanded at once.
• Moderation.  I've written quite a bit about cheating, and so have others (link).  The bottom line is this, take your progress where you can get it.  This may come in a variety of flavors.
• Eating "healthy" 6 days of the week is better than one or two.
• Eating 80-90% "pure paleo" and allowing room for some favorite non-paleo foods (whole grains, etc...) is far better than the way most Americans eat.
• There may be plenty to complain about with legumes and grains, but not nearly as much as McDonald's and Pop-Tarts.
• Is the point getting through?  I've also had a recent thought though that planning a "cheat meal", just one indulgence, or any number of occurrences may be doomed from the start.  While I do think its a good idea to give yourself a break or a "treat" now and then, regular intervals of stimulation lead to stimulus adaptation.  Basically, what used to be enough won't eventually satisfy.  Here is a good article on the myth of a balanced diet and portion control.  A more appropriate plan of action might be to see how long you can go without eating any junk food, if you have to, eat some non-paleo but still generally healthy foods; or better yet a willing indulgence of "paleo-safe" foods (similar ideas are discussed here).  And only on the very rare and irregular occasion make the conscious and intentional decision to eat something you know is unhealthy but absolutely delicious (don't deny it, they're made to taste good so we eat more and make the manufacturer more money!).
•  After doing some more investigating I found myself liking the plain and simple look and feel of what is listed on the climbstrong website (I've discussed this before).  Pretty much the nifty little pyramid is quite convenient for both grocery shopping (via the method above) and daily consumption.  I was also reminded of another previous method and that is the "Diet Solution" by Scivation.  Yes, yes, I know it is a bodybuilding website and the designers are bodybuilders, but that doesn't mean they don't have something valuable to share.  Particularly, Scivation gives pretty simple template for "meal creation":  select protein source, if lean add fat source, add vegetables, post-workout carbs.  What's good about this combination is that it will allow me to eat as much as I deem necessary on any given day so long as the food meets some certain criteria. 
• Apparently there is still a lot of hubub floating around about saturated fat and cholesterol, but there is more and more information being produced that runs counter to the idiom of 30 years ago that consumed cholesterol increases cholesterol in the blood.  It may, but not nearly to the degree that once though. (see here, here, here, and here).  
• Some Other Good Resources:
• Paleo Approved Carbs
• On Beans and Nuts
• Good Resources on Macronutrients and Processed Foods
• "Debunking" (but supporting) Paleo
• Tim Ferriss and Robb Wolf discuss a few things (particular note on beans / lentils)
• Rice
• Cost.  A lot of people, myself included, have used the excuse that eating healthy is "too expensive" at some point or another.  It does seem absurd that a dozen cheese burgers cost a nickel and an meager salad costs $8 (thanks Jim Gaffigan).  Many counter that point by boasting their grocery bill as an "investment on their health."  The above complaint is just as illogical as "exercise takes too much time. (many many trainers have proven the contrary)"  My last grocery bill for ~2 weeks was $76.94.  That's less than $6 / day.  Granted, I did have  a couple things at home prior and may eat out once or twice over that span, but you get the idea.  Take your progress where you can get it.  Maybe you're budget doesn't allow for steak and salmon every night, you can still do pretty good with chicken and ground beef (preferably grass fed / farm raised, but even if not...).  

Pilot Testing:

• Unknown to anyone reading this, I actually began my "paleo reboot" almost a week ago and this post has been amassing itself ever since.  I was planning on weeding the garbage out of my cabinets while I "ease into" and polish the details of this post.  
• 6/18:  Eating "generally" healthy, but still included some dairy, peanuts, and grains.
• 6/20:  Removed dairy and peanuts, still some minor seed oil use.
• 6/21:  Planned cheat meal turned into cheat DAY, leading to the above section on cheating.
• 6/23:  With empty cabinets and an empty fridge I headed to the grocery store.
• Updates to come...

Vertical and Horizontal Warriors: Rock Climbing and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

This post has laying in wait for quite a while now.  As I mature as a rock climber and still retain a heartfelt connection to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu I become increasingly mesmerized and awe-stricken by the similarities between the two.  Initially there is an obvious overlap of physical demands but also a seemingly subliminal shared ontology.  The physical components of the two sports make either one a great supplemental or cross-training activity for the other.  However, as I reach what I'd call the "blue belt" level of climbing I realize how I've only just begun to tap into the richness of experience that both activities elicit when one is becomes involved beyond the "beginner" (say... < 2 years) level of each sport.

Physical Comparison
     Lets start simple, with the physical comparison.  Perhaps the most obvious commonality is grip strength.  Elbow-down strength is crucial in both sports.  Pick your poison; a hangboard or pullups from your gi draped over the pullup bar to practice your cross-collar choke.  Climbing demands more of the tendons and fingers and thus climbing-grip probably has more benefits to BJJ than the other way around.  But moving on... Balance and flexibility are also extremely important in both sports.  You don't have to watch too many YouTube videos to realize that you're body can get contorted into some pretty funky positions either at the crag or on the mats.  There are also a couple siblings to that point.  Body positioning and awareness and core strength.  Flexibility suffers a loss of practicality when it cannot be functionally applied.  It is much less a matter of being able to touch your toes than it is knowing when to shift your weight this way or that way.  One expression that I really like is "There is no 'core'.  The body is one piece, treat it that way."  Here's a nice video illustration.  Regardless of the words we use, sending hard projects and high-level grappling highlight the impracticality and functional waste of isolated or aesthetic muscle mass.  Furthermore, relative strength, or strength-to-weight ratio, is also important.
     Moving on from there, both climbing and jiu jitsu require similar use of oxygen systems.  That is, interval-type efforts.  This similarity is weaker than some of the others, there is validity to it.  A hard boulder problem will probably take less than one minute to complete, but the intensity is cranked way up.  There are many a sparring and competition rounds where a grappler may find that the round alternates between an all out flurry (be that a controlled and intentional effort or not) and long minutes of regaining your composure.

Mental Comparison
     Beyond the physical components, there lies the technical and mental aspects.  I would say that jiu jitsu is probably more generally physically demanding than rock climbing, but climbing is more technical by nature.  HOWEVER, there is a place for both.  At the extreme end of each sport (the extremely poor physical condition and the elites, the one-percenters) general strength can be very beneficial to one's performance.  In BOTH sports well honed technique and keen tactical decisions will take you miles further and faster than general non-sport-specific strength.  It's always worth a good chuckle when a jerk of a meat-head rudely and pompously asserts his hypothetical "mad skillz" only to be completely shut down and flee minutes later only to try and resuscitate his wounded (and now put in perspective) ego.  This is as true on the mats as it is on the rock.
     Another mental aspect of both sports is that, by far, the greatest rival you will ever face in either will be yourself.  Your stiffest competition and staunchest limitation will be proportional to your fear, your ego, and willingness to learn.  All of this is evidenced by the fact that it takes a very long time (more than a lifetime) to "master" either of these sports.  I can't help but be a little skeptic of the 5 year black belts (in any martial art).  I suppose I'm a bit jaded and my ethical standards are different than others' though.  I'd say the 10,000 hour rule is A) a pretty liberal aggressive estimate and B) only counts as hours of actual movements, not chillin' and shootn' the breeze with your bros and broettes.  Similarly, there are plenty of people who are 50+ and easily outclass many practitioners of their sport.

"Spiritual" Comparison
If you're still reading, hopefully you're getting the idea so far.  Both rock climbing and jiu jitsu will, eventually, challenge and change the way you thing about and interact in the world.  Credit there, and to the title of this post, goes to Arno Ilgner's The Rock Warrior's Way.  While it has been at least a year since my last good roll and several years since I was regularly training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, it was, and still is, a large part of my life with a lot of resonance that still finds a way to play out in my life.  Climbing is my things, for now, and I love both sports and hope to continue them (both, though perhaps not at the same time) for many years to come.  I realize that when I finally get back on the mats I'll need to get reoriented, re-learn, and remember a lot of things.  However, this is the final and most beautiful point of this comparison or brethren warriors.  Once you've settled into your dirt-bag lifestyle or local gym you majestically, slowly, and surely begin to realize that both rock climbing and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are far more than a prescription of methods, moves, and techniques.  They are "art", no, more than that.  They are a philosophy of movement, a way of being, a challenge of interaction, the "physical manifestation of your character."source

Climbing and Dieting: Perspective

      Like most climbers, I suppose, I'm always looking for the next big (slightest) advantage that I can get.  Frequently that comes down to "strength" and "technique."  In terms of strength there are generally two options:  (1) get stronger, and / or (2) get lighter.  In case you were wondering, it is incredibly difficult for an athlete of moderate to excellent physical condition (physique) to improve both categories at the same time; exceptions apply.  Perhaps my word choice was a bit poor there, as Mark Twight might say; "Physique is a consequence of fitness."  Anyway, for the last month or so I've been (loosely) following this plan.
     As much I want to stick to my guns and tout that "You can't outwork a ****ty diet", I did a little research recently that makes me think that that statement is highly dependent on how much "work" and how much "****."  Over the last 14 days I've spent 6 days at the crag.  I kept a log of what I ate over a four day period.  What is interesting (to begin with) about that span is that it captured two extremes of my lifestyle.  That is, the "workout" (crag) days had a much higher energy demand than a typical training session at an indoor gym.  On the other hand, the "rest" days were absolute couch-potato days which are much different than a typical day where I would still be walking around campus to classes and such.
     On the couch-potato days I ate ~1500 calories of (most) healthy foods (lean meat, nuts, fruit, vegetables, and a few starchy carbs).  On the crag days I consumed a whopping 3900+ calories.  For reference I weigh about 170 lbs and about 5'8".  Granted, a lot of those ~4000 calories did not come from "healthy" sources.  Wendy's and Dr.Pepper are my post-crag guilty pleasures.  But it was quite an interesting observation to note that while I was actually at the crag I was in more of a survival maintenance mode; e.g. modest water intake, trail mix, and maybe a granola/cliff/power bar or two; then once we hit civilization again it was a no-holds barred refill.  I couldn't help but be reminded of my former efforts at assorted ketogenic (low carb) diets.  One such "cyclic" ketogenic diet calls for a very low carb intake Monday - Friday, then "carb loading" (from hopefully mostly 'good' sources) on the weekends.  I'm not sure how or if I'll implement this (i.e.: low carb on rest days and loading on crag days) since, as I stated earlier, my observational period hit both active and inactive extremes and may not be a good measuring stick for more regular (stable) activity patterns.
     The last 10 years or so of recreational activities have been consumed by weight-class-based sports (wrestling, MMA, BJJ, boxing, etc...).  I've tried really hard to break the 170 lb. barrier on many occasions.  My peak fighting weight (before cutting any water weight) was ~167 lbs.  Typically I'm pretty comfortable in the 170 - 175 range and start to raise an eyebrow if things get any higher than that.  Going from 175 to 160 lbs is only a 4.5% decrease though it took (perceptibly) more than an 80% increase in effort.  In terms of getting "stronger" or "lighter", then, that puts me / us in a strange position.  In particular, I am of the stocky muscular build and will probably, unless something goes terribly wrong, never attain the coveted string-bean tendons-of-steel body type.  Fortunately, a revelation occurred to me a a couple months ago to put things in perspective. 
     If I lose, say, 10 lbs and my climbing does not improve, what difference did the weight loss make?  On the other hand, if my climbing drastically improves but I happen to gain a few pounds in the process, who cares?
     Of course, this leads me to what should be a fun post on defining climbing "success."  But alas, that is for another time (coming soon).
     Recently I've re-read Eric Horst's "Training for Climbing" which expands upon the principles in his "How to Climb 5.12."  I've been trying to wed the things I'm (re)learning from the his books as well as my previous track records / experiments.  I agree with Horst that trying to climb low carb is a terrible idea.  The biochemistry is fairly straight-forward, at least sometimes.  The most readily available source of energy for the body is glucose (e.g.: some form of carbohydrates).  So I think my current project will look something like this:

Goal:  160 lbs (72.57 Kg)

1. Get stronger.  I'm fairly lean already.  If I happen to loose a few pounds, cool, but my priority is improving my performance.
2. Trying to publish something that is an accurate mirror of what I actually practice.  Often times I publish something and inevitably start to go astray, not necessarily awry, but the prescribed "plan" is not longer an accurate descriptor of my current practice.  I'm trying to find something that I can stick to since I've already found a variety of things (evidenced in this blog) that "work."

Baseline:
*Updated 6/1614:  As I (partially) anticipated, my baseline, being based on a couch-potato day, was too low of an estimate for a day of mild activity (much more common than potato-ing it) without additional exercise.  I also speculate that the additional carbohydrate addition on "workout days" was a bit too aggressive.  Other updates shown in blue-italic font.

• Protein:  100g (1.4g/Kg - upper end of Horst's recommendation)
• Carbohydrates:  100g (Generally the maximum on most 'low carb" diets)
• 140g:  This is no nearly "low carb" and the keto-fans can rant all they want, but while there are no "essential grains", they do / can serve a very useful biological function.  Anyway, all I did here was add another (generous) serving of carbohydrates to my previous estimate.
• Fiber:  In an attempt to weed out garbage carbs from helpful ones I usually check the 'Dietary Fiber' content.  If it is less than 4, its probably not that good for you.  4 is kind of an arbitrary number, but taking a look through my cabinets, it seems to be good cut off point.  The exception being one of those daily servings of carbs can be of a high glycemic index and low fiber (this is for quick absorption post-workout).
• Fat:  77g (Between 1g / Kg and 1g / Lb of body weight)
• I find this to still give good balance on non-training days.  This leaves me with a diet containing a little less than 42% fat which is still the largest caloric contribution of any macronutrient on non-training days; which was my plan from the start.
• Calories:  1500 (baseline for a couch-potato day)
• With the recent carb buff this has been bumped up the the mid 1600 range, so ~1650 calories.

Adjustments:

• Protein:  100g (Same as above)
• Carbohydrates:  Add ~0.5g / Kg of Body Weight / Hour of Exercise
• This accommodates varying degrees of daily activity
• Its up to you to decide what counts as "activity" and understand the difference between hungry (biological need for fuel) and bored.
• Initially I set this at 1g / Kg but that was bit too aggressive and my base non-training days were too conservative.  The new updates have a somewhat low protein content but are fairly balanced (~24/34/42 Protein/Carb/Fat).  As training hours increase for the day, marcronutrient ratios scale to a much higher carbohydrate content (>60%) while protein drops fairly low (although attempts should be made to keep it around 15%) and fat content levels off at about 20% which should still be sufficient.
• Fat:  77g (Same as above)
• Calories:  *** (Dependent on exercise / activity level - AS IT SHOULD BE!)

Other Notes:

• Mostly Low GI (Glycemic Index) carbohydrates on crag days and throughout regular (training or rest) days
• High GI meal within 2 Hours of training session
• Avoid (not exclude) refined grains, sugar, and things that don't grow.
• Load up on vegetables
• Fruits / Grains / Beans / Other Starches per above GI guidelines
• Contemplating a mobile app to keep track of things:
• I actually find this extremely neurotic and compulsive and works against the sustainability of changes most people seeking in spite of coveting "the dieting secret."  However, I'm explicitly seeking performance improvement, sustainability is an afterthought.
• A simple checklist on my phone does the trick.  After sketching some sample daily menus I was able to, as before, chunk things down into terms of X servings of Vegetables, X servings of lean meat, X servings of fat, etc... and simply check off each item throughout the day.  The neurotic part only has to happen once and sooner or later you'll probably have the list memorized anyway!

My Summer of Code: A Hobby

    Sorry to disappoint anyone who was looking for the annual Google event, but rather a far more modest endeavor.  School has been out for a couple weeks now and not having any courses or a job scheduled for the summer can only mean one thing for me.  An opportunity to indulge my inner [nerd]gear-head.  That is, this will most certainly be a "summer of code" for me.

     I make now effort to hide my FOSS and Linux fandom.  On the other hand I'm learning to ration my zealot cards.  A "comparing distributions" ("flavors" of Linux) post seems a bit cliche' at this point in time as there is a great deal of information already on the inter-webs; though it may come in the future from here.  Anyone who has spent any time on this blog knows that that I can span pretty farm from a stereotypical analytic / mechanistic behavioral personality.  However, I find that hobbies such as computer science, provide a nice counter-balance to the more existentially weighted side of my brain.  But such projects remain just as I have mentioned.... "hobbies."  I am not a programmer and I do not work in IT.  I have no (plans to obtain a) degree in computer science, and anything I can or have to offer has come through putting my nose on a grindstone and pouring over Google searches and forum posts.
     More to the point, there is a philosophy behind that this kind of thinking and that is the constant push for new.  Better?  Perhaps.... My recently found free-time (who knew that ever existed!)has afforded me an opportunity to oblige the internet gods and let my left-brain get grinding.  This is, of course, also a nice change of pace for this blog.  I'm sure the summer will hold plenty of climbing updates, and a *hint, hint* new nutrition post is in the works.  Nevertheless, its an exciting time.

     Basically I'll spare you the speech on "Why you should(n't) switch to Linux" and, rather, let you do your own homework and make that decision for yourself.  For me the decision was made nearly two years ago.  I won't say I "never" looked back, but through many a all-nighter, many beers, a lot of coffee, much Google-ing and hair-pulling, and not much else other than the joy of doing it I'd like to think I've gotten somewhere.  Maybe that isn't any further than before, but its certainly not the same place.  I've also started to use GitHub and that is where you will be able to find far more information on my summer projects.

Inscriptions on the Soul and Forgetting to Remember

     Ample evidence of suffering in the world is readily available.  Some authors suggest a description of trauma as a sort of "psychical fracturing."  Others describe an individual's Self-World in terms of struggle, wonder, and mystery.  Where, then, do trauma and suffering find themselves in relation to one's Self-World or identity?  Some suggestions may be archetypal daemons, dissociation, or repression.  This lecturette does not seek to ask "why" or "how", but rather "what now?"  What are the hopes and obligations of the clinician and the client under the circumstances as they have been presented now?

     Ah yes, it is that time of the semester.  Where grad students grow out scraggly beards, live for the wee-hours of the night, have an i.v. drip of coffee, and a steady diet of junk food.  Of course, today was the day of the 16th annual University of West Georgia Student Psychology Annual Research Conference (SPARC).  Some of my seasoned readers may remember discussions of this last year.  Again this year I presented, though it is difficult to provide a pinpoint answer as to "what" I presented on.  The simplest solution is to provide you with the (above) description of the presentation I provided for the conference schedule and of course links to the presentation and corresponding lecture transcript.

The Simplest Diet You'll Ever Need

     It should be no surprise to anyone that the No. 1 New Year's Resolution each year is to lose weight and that right about this time of year millions of people (who have undoubtedly failed at this resolution) are trolling the inter-webs hoping to bandwagon aboard the latest and greatest miracle fad.  I won't lie, a few such things have caught my attention as well:

• 11 Most Destructive Nutrition Lies
• Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 of Produce
• No-Brainer Nutrition for Triathletes

     Before going any further, let me reiterate that I'm not here to sell anything to anyone or to flaunt a zealous fanhood of certain methods, ends, sports, and authors.  That includes the USDA's MyPlate.  Rather, I firmly believe that rules are born of principles (applicable to much more than nutrition of course).   Those principles begin with the sharing of information, hence the title of my previous blog about being an "open source" athlete.  The proverbial "source code" to these kinds of things should be freely available, which, they mostly are; subject of course to the manipulation of business marketing and sales pitches.
     If you've read much of my writing on nutrition in the past you know that I've spanned a pretty broad spectrum of experiments, fads and fashions, trials and errors.  What I have found quite interesting is that regardless of the diet "plan" I was adhering to my body weight stayed about the same (+ or - 5 lbs) so long as I retained the same daily activity level (both recreational and non).
  The later part of this post with get into some more specific aspects and findings that I've discovered in my own research (subject of course to my personal dietary and exercise habits and lifestyle).  But for now, I'll present you with three simple rules principles:

• Listen to  Your Body
• If you're hungry, eat.  Understand that its an uncomfortable process for the body to consume itself for energy (e.g.: losing weight).   When you want to eat something, ask yourself if you're "hungry" or "bored."  If something "sounds" good, then you're probably subject to more psychological romanticism than physical need of nourishment.
•  Do Your Own Homework
• Be it a phone call to your doctor (hint, hint, nudge, nudge), searching the depths of the internet, reading medical journals, books, or magazines; it will be helpful to draw your information from a variety of sources.  Most of all, keep a track record of your successes and failures.  Nothing will give you a more individualized database than a case study of your own body. 
• Don't Eat **** That Doesn't Grow!
• This is probably the best one-liner of dietary advice I have ever heard.  Of course, this tends to run on a continuum more than a binary, but  you can figure that out for yourself.  Basically, if you can't (at least theoretically) kill or harvest it, you probably shouldn't be eating it.  Much to the chagrin of carb-haters, potatoes and rice probably aren't going to kill you.  When it comes to bread and pasta, that's up to you.  A half-gallon of ice cream to chase your McD's Dollar Menu buffet? (you get the idea).  The only caveat here is that even the most seasoned dieter must (I demand it) admit that "junk food" still tastes good.  Whether you'd like to admit it or not, an occasional small reward can do quite a bit of good.  Though, again, "occasional" and "small" are operational definitions that one must decide for themselves.

Further Reading:  Some Findings about Dieting and Climbing

Climbing and Cheating: A Tidbit for Motivation

     Several months ago I made one of many trips to Escalade Climbing Gym.  The gym has a bulletin board above the water fountain on which I noticed this article tacked up and it immediately drew my attention.  I made a note to myself to write a blog post on the contents.  Yesterday, I was at Escalade again and while using the restroom -- a promising source of inspiration of course -- and noticed the same article tacked to the bulletin board above / behind the toilet.  This reminded me to look up / research the article and do a little write up on it.
     The article is short and worth the read, but the meat of it is Tom Hanson's wise words -- " There is no cheating in climbing, only lying."  To further get the point across:  Most of us [climbers] are climbing for an audience of one:  yourself.  If you want to pull on draws and fall your way up a sport route, and then tell yourself you redpointed it, the world is going to keep on spinning.  You're only kidding yourself, unless you record it on [insert your favorite forum, message board, or social media] ticklist, which is not illegal - just kind of lame.  Its not cheating; in other words, its lying.
     If further explanation is needed, insert Carolyn Parker's shorter and sweeter coverage of the same topic.  "Is it cheating?"... "It depends on what you claim you did."  In the world of climbing... there is not a stop watch or referee, our world is all we have, honesty and integrity are paramount.  If ever an ascent was misrepresented it is always found out.  Then your ascent and your integrity will always be in question.  "Is it cheating?"... "If you have to ask, then it is."