Calcium for Strong Bones?

Despite the dairy industry’s ongoing contentions, it isn’t huge rations of calcium that make your bones stronger, any more than massive amounts of protein, in and of itself, make your muscles stronger. It’s physical, weight-bearing activity that does the trick because, like muscles, bones respond to resistance. Likewise, when this doesn’t happen, the bones begin to atrophy, just like muscles. That’s why anyone who leads an exceedingly sedentary life (like many older folks) or spends time in a gravity-free environment (like astronauts), experiences some degree of bone loss, no matter how much calcium they take in.

More specifically, osteoporosis tends to strike more women here in the states, simply because they have traditionally been less active than men. But if you go to parts of the world where women are more active and/or walking around with baskets on their heads (and again, also consuming far less calcium than American women), osteoporosis is a rarity.

So, get your calcium from plant-based sources like the following:

• Most leafy green vegetables
• Soy milk
• Dried fruits
• Oats
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Tofu
• Almond/raisin mix
• Chickpeas
• Sesame seeds
• Squash
• Sunflower seeds
• Pistachios
• Most beans
• The Ultimate Meal smoothie mix

…and do some kind of resistance training regularly.

What in the Hell is Wheatgrass Juice?

While I don’t generally encourage drinking juice (unless the ENTIRE fruit or veggie is pulverized in something like a Vita-Mix), the one huge exception to this is wheatgrass juice.

First popularized by its greatest proponent, Dr. Ann Wigmore, wheatgrass juice is undoubtedly the most powerful of all juices. With a 70% chlorophyll content, you would be hard-pressed to find a more potent purifier of the blood and detoxifier of the body. It’s been known to cleanse the lymph system, remove toxic minerals from cells, aid in the prevention of degenerative diseases, and either prevent hair from going gray or restore gray hair to its original color! (Grecian Formula, watch out…)

Wheatgrass juice is so nutrient-dense, in fact, that one ounce is estimated to represent the vitamin/mineral equivalent of 2.2 pounds of fresh veggies. Accordingly, one ounce is the average serving size of this stuff. But, you should insist on freshly-extracted wheatgrass juice, because if you’re going to endure the bitter taste, you might as well benefit from all of the live enzymes. Many juice bars will juice it for you while you wait.

Or, for the true wheatgrass devotee, you can grow your own in flats and juice it with a special wheatgrass extractor. Mmm, mmm, good! (Actually, many people don’t mind the taste of wheatgrass juice, but I’m not one of them. I’ve drank gallons of the stuff through the years and never acquired a taste for it.) Otherwise, you can try one of the freeze-dried powder varieties and mix it with water, juice or smoothies like other green powders.

Check it out a little at a time, and don’t be surprised if you feel a bit nauseous or even get a slight headache. This shit is so potent that many folks actually feel a detox-type of effect from drinking it.

Bon appetit….

Rock-Solid Pain?

The old motto, “No Pain, No Gain,” is, in fact, true to some degree. We must break down muscle tissue if we want it to grow back stronger. This will involve a little discomfort, so we must learn to love that burning sensation in our muscles when doing resistance training.

However, we must distinguish between the familiar burn of lactic acid steadily surging through our muscles, and the sharper, red-flag kind of pain that signals the prospect of some kind of muscle or soft tissue-related injury like a pull, tear or strain. (So yes…even your pain has to be Rock-Solid!) But as you gradually ease into this kind of training, always warm-up, adhere to strict form and follow some of the other principles we’ll be covering, injuries will be very unlikely.

The Indisputable Key to Longevity: Consistently Under-eat!

Besides following a plant-based diet, one of the more prevalent common denominators among those who live the longest, healthiest lives, is the fact that they seem to consistently under-eat. In fact, the Okinawans, renowned as one of the longest lived cultures on the planet, practiced an eating concept in line with our Rock-Solid suggestion called “Hara Hacki Bu.” This literally translates to; eat until you are 80% full. Not bad advice…

A few suggestions here would be:

1. Eat something every two to three hours. Get in the habit of carrying snacks around with you; Clif bars (or similar), almonds, fruit, veggie sticks, etc. This way, you’ll never get too hungry and wind up bingeing out.

2. Eat slower. Sometimes when we scarf down our food in a hurry, we fill up too much and too fast. This will help to keep every meal and snack the right size.

3. If there’s a lot of food served at a restaurant meal, plan on taking some home in a doggy bag so you can enjoy the meal twice. If the servings are sizable, you might request the doggy bag at the beginning of the meal so you won’t be tempted to mindlessly keep eating.

Finally, if you find that you have a lot of resistance to pulling your ass away from the table and not over-eating, keep in mind that there can often be a lot of psychological issues at play. More on this later…

The Four Golden Rules of Gym Etiquette

Having trained in literally hundreds of gyms around the globe, (and even in some of the more infamous ones here in LA), I’m constantly amazed at how ill-informed so many members are about basic gym etiquette. Do they not know? Have they not been told? Do they not care?

Most health clubs will have most or all of the following rules posted somewhere. But here are what I consider to be the four most important, universal rules that will apply anywhere you go, on the road or at your hometown gym. These four rules should be temporarily tattooed on the forehead of every new member.

By the way, why do I care so much? Because in the same way that there’s a sanctity to the dojo for the martial artist, there should be a sanctity to the health club for anyone who views it as a non-negotiable component to the holistic lifestyle experience. I’ve never set foot in a dojo where this kind of behavior would be tolerated and, in fact, the seasoned martial artist will even bow before entering or exiting any martial arts school…even if they’re just visiting. Bowing aside (as this is more of a nod specifically to the martial art’s deep roots in Asian culture), I would love to see more of this kind of reverence at every gym around the globe.

So – please – for you, for me, and for everyone else at the gym, commit to the following (even as so many others will not):

1. Always put your weights away – When using barbells, always return the weights to the appropriate rack…even if there were already weights on the barbell when you got to it. Same with dumbbells. Put them back when you’re done!

2. Always allow others to work in between sets – After you’ve completed a set and are resting before your next one, never remain lying or seated in position. This prevents someone else from jumping in and grabbing a quick set (while you’re waiting) and makes you look like an inconsiderate newcomer.

3. Always wipe your nasty-ass sweat off the equipment – You should have a towel or sweat rag with you as you train so you can wipe down the seat or bench after each set. Little else is as disgusting as going to use a bench or machine and find it saturated with someone else’s sweat (unless, of course, it was someone with whom you wouldn’t mind exchanging sweat!).

4. Always be quiet – Unless you are training in a true powerlifting/knucklehead kind of gym (which are among my favorite!) where others regularly make noise as they lift, please, don’t yell, grunt or slam your weights around as you train. You might think it’s endearingly barbaric to do so, but it’s really a distracting, eye-rolling imposition to everyone else around you.

Lecture’s over; see you in a couple days.

A Bit More on Coffee…

Based on a few of the responses to the last blog (as well as some personal e-mails), I thought I should go into a bit more detail about coffee, decaf and some potential substitutes.

First of all, in addition to all of the caffeine-related issues discussed in our last entry, let’s not forget that coffee beans are generally a heavily-sprayed crop, grown with the “assistance” of a number of pesticides and other chemicals. One pesticide in particular (D-D-7) is actually banned here in the states, but we still import coffee beans from countries that continue to use it.

Plus, who drinks plain black coffee anymore? Most folks have their java with some combination of milk, cream, sugar, artificial sweeteners and God knows what else. The net effect of both regular and decaffeinated coffee is increased acidity in the bloodstream, which, once again, is a hallmark of compromised health.

Speaking of decaf, is it really the lesser of the two evils? Sorry, but no. There have been a number of studies that have linked both decaf and regular coffee to increased inflammation and homocysteine, as well as escalating cholesterol levels; all of which increase heart attack risk. In fact, many health experts have argued that decaf could actually be worse. Decaffeinated coffee is usually made from beans that are even more acidic than regular coffee beans. This might explain why the Iowa Women’s Health Study showed that higher amounts of decaf (four cups per day) was linked to increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. And from the “more bizarre chemicals” department, keep in mind that 80% of all decaffeinated coffee is processed with solvents like methylene chloride or ethyl acetate, the residues of which can still be found in end product.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I hear you saying, “but how bad can a little coffee be?” Well, while I would never want to promote coffee drinking – to be fair – I must say that the occasional cup probably won’t do much damage. But again, how many folks truly drink it occasionally? And also remember that it’s not JUST the cup of coffee in question. It’s the combination of all the other things you ingest that day, in addition to the coffee, that can create problems for you.

As for substitutes, herbal tea should be your first choice. Green tea, in particular, has some excellent antioxidant properties. Just make sure you don’t load it up with a bunch of sweetener. (A little pure maple syrup or agave nectar should do the trick if you must sweeten it.) Also, look for a product called Teecchino. It’s a pretty tasty caffeine-free herbal coffee substitute. It doesn’t really taste like coffee but has enough of the same properties to make for an excellent substitute. Check it here: http://www.teeccino.com/