Category: news

Oops, I usually post my weekly updates on the weekend, but I’ve been so busy trying to get ahead at work to prepare for my maternity leave, that I let this update slip for a couple days. My wife’s due any day now! There probably won’t be an update at all that week…or more 😉

Recipe for Lucid Dreaming

I’m extremely interested in trying this out. All supplements are legal to buy, although Ben Greenfield does recommend trying at your own risk. I may or may not try this, but right now, I’d like to. He says to take 15mg melatonin, 300mg 5-HTP, and 3000mg L-Tyrosine. That’s it. Go to bed.

Brain function ‘boosted for days after reading a novel’

Proof that books can transport our minds to another world and the neurological effects can give our brains a boost for up to five days. Neat!

12 Free Healthy Apps for Freelancers and Others

I’m a technology nerd, so I always love posts that list a bunch of fun new apps to play with. From this article, the most interesting apps to me are Breathe2Relax, FirstAid by American Red Cross, MindShift, and Relaxing Sounds of Nature Lite.

The Many Things Avocados Do For You (Plus a Recipe!)

Did you know that discolored parts of the avocado contain molds and histamines and that you can safely cut those parts out without having to worry about the rest of the avocado being contaminated. Did you know that the avocado closest to the skin his highest in carotenoids? There’s some great information here and an interesting guacamole recipe too. I made the guacamole and I prefer the traditional method for sure, but the health aspects of his recipe make it enticing. My wife didn’t like it at all, so fair warning. I think it’s the apple cider vinegar.

Hip Thrust with Resistance Band – YouTube

If you don’t like using a barbell for hip thrusts, this is a pretty cool method. I don’t have any heavy duty bands like she uses in this video, but they’re still on my wish list. I’ll get them someday.

eLife – Open Access Journal

eLife is a new journal featuring research studies in life sciences and biomedicine. I heard about eLife after reading this article from Randy Schekman, the scientist who founded eLife after he noticed luxury journal editors limiting the types of research they publish based only on its likelihood of being popular.

Focus@Will – Neuroscience & Music

I thought I’ve blogged about this before, but I can’t find any record of it on my website. Anyway, Focus at Will has a large music library designed to help you focus when you need to, for example while working or studying. Their music has no lyrics and is designed so that it’s not distracting and there are various types of music depending on what you like. You can see the examples in the screenshot above. My coworker purchased a yearly subscription for $35 and he plays it on his speakers, so luckily I get to benefit too. I really like it.

Get More From Your Sprint Workouts

A lot of instructional sprinting articles skip the discussion about warming up, but as we get older, that’s an extremely important part of the whole exercise. This article goes over the warmup in detail, complete with video examples of all of the warmup exercises you should be doing. I really want to go to the high school track to give this all a go.

Ben Greenfield Recommends – Everything I Have Ever Recommended For Performance, Fat Loss, Recovery, Digestion, Brain, Sleep & Hormones

Last week Ben Greenfield did a free class on CreativeLive. It was awesome. My wife sat next to me while I watched it and she kept saying how he packed so much useful information into every single thing he said. He really is a super-smart guy. Anyway, during the course he mentioned this page which has pretty much everything Ben recommends for whatever you’re trying to do. This is a great resource.

How to Have a ‘Brain Orgasm’

This story is about something called ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response, which for those who it works for, creates a very relaxing and mellow feeling, and for some it may even help with anxiety. To feel the effects of ASMR, you might need to watch “whisper videos,” listen to tapping or scratching sounds, white noise, or maybe even Bob Ross – it’s different for everyone. I watched and listened to the video on the page while I worked and didn’t feel a “braingasm” but I suppose I can understand how something like this can be relaxing for some people. I’m very interested in learning more about this, especially since occasionally I get some pretty bad high-anxiety.

Scary Non-Organic Ingredients That Are Allowed in “USDA Certified Organic” Foods

I had no idea that so many low-quality ingredients were allowed in foods labeled as organic. And with companies like Kraft, Dean Foods and General Mills working to dilute the standards of the organic label, who knows how bad organic labeled foods might be in time. The best thing we can do is to eat whole foods from local farms, avoid processed foods as much as possible, and fight against big businesses like Kraft who care more about money than they do our health.

More evidence that routine multivitamin use should be avoided

There’s been a lot of talk lately about how multivitamins are a huge waste of money. It’s mostly true. The points made in this article are good, but they don’t address the issues. Mira & Jayson Calton wrote a great article about this in issue A02 of BeMore! Magazine (page 7, “A Hard Pill To Swallow”). Some of the problems with multivitamins are that we don’t know the sources of each ingredient, some vitamins and minerals could be in amounts that are either too high or too low to be beneficial, and some vitamins might have poor absorption in the body. I don’t believe all multivitamins are bad, but you need to make sure that you are taking multivitamins that meet the requirements above. Even better, buy liquid or powdered individual vitamins that meet your requirements so that you know exactly how each one is made and working in your body.

Flower Shell | Indiegogo

Are you a gun nut who loves flowers? If so, you’ll probably love these shotgun shells filled with flower seeds. The company who makes these fill the shells with only enough gun powder to shoot the seeds into the ground. Fun idea, but you probably won’t be able to use them if you live in the middle of suburbia.

Frank Zane’s Leg Blaster

The leg blaster is designed by three-time My. Olympia Frank Zane and consists of a harness that sits on top of your shoulders which holds weight plates in addition to a platform that you stand on and hang on to, while you squat down to proper squat depth. It looks like a great idea for someone who can’t typically do normal barbell squats. A bit expensive at $650 + $145 shipping, but probably worth it for anyone who needs it.

Interactive: Snake Oil Supplements? The scientific evidence for health supplements

A great interactive infographic listing popular health supplements and placed on a scale based on how much evidence there is supporting the benefits of each supplement. Make sure to hover over each supplement you’re interested in to see why the supplement ranks the way it does. For example, you might notice Garlic is listed both at the very top of the chart and again at the very bottom. That’s because there’s strong evidence for garlic reducing blood pressure in people with hypertension, but almost no evidence of it helping treat people with advanced cancer. Click the bubble to be taken to the study.

Kombucha Scoby Jerky

I had no idea that SCOBYs could be dehydrated and turned into jerky. I’ve heard of people eating them or feeding them to their dogs, but it sounds pretty gross to me. I haven’t made a new batch of kombucha in a while, but when I was making it regularly, I hated throwing away all of those SCOBYs I couldn’t use anymore. It just felt so wasteful. Next time I have an extra SCOBY, I’m going to try making jerky out of it. I’m a little scared…

How To Correctly Do Ab Wheel Roll Out Exercise

I’ve never actually watched a video on proper ab rollout form. I figured “what else is there to it other than rolling out and coming back up.” Well it looks like I’ve been missing a crucial step – activate those abs baby!

10 Effective, Easy & Cheap Biohacks For Everyone To Try.

My favorite thing about this is that all of these biohacks are cheap or even free if you already have some of this stuff around the house. Cheap isn’t usually the case with biohacking technology, for example with things like $1,000 brain trainers or the $600 Zona Plus which is used for improving artery function. I would like to try every single one of the tips in this post.

A Simple Technique for Beating Blisters

What a creative idea! I don’t get blisters often, but next time I do, I’m going to stick a sewing needle and thread soaked in betadine through the middle of the blister. I’ve never seen betadine in the store before, but then again I’ve never looked for it. I guess you can get it at Walgreens.

Why You’ve Never Done the Military Press

I’ve always considered the overhead press and military press the same thing but I guess they aren’t. I just recently re-incorporated the military press into my routine so I’m going to make sure I’m using this strict form that was mentioned here – stand erect, straight back, and heels together.

How to Make Tempeh

I’m not a big fan of soy products, but if I’m going to eat soy I’d prefer it to be tempeh. I don’t actually care for the taste of tempeh all that much, but I like the potential health benefits of it, due to it being fermented. Just like most other foods I make homemade, I’d like to make my own tempeh so that I know exactly what’s going into it and knowing that it’s entirely non-GMO. I hope to find a tempeh starter at my local Natural Grocer later this week.

Tutorial: Why and how to use blue blockers and low blue light bulbs

I just recently purchased pair of cheap blue blockers from Amazon (these ones) to use while on the computer at night and they were just delivered earlier this week. I put them on and the effects were immediate. I love them! As I did more research, I came across this article which talks about how blue light may contribute to an increased risk of cancer. Pretty interesting. I would really like to order a low blue light bulb and a pair of fit-over blue blockers now (because I have to expose my eyes to white light to take out my contacts before bed, so I would rather already be in my RX glasses), much to the disappointment of my wife ;).

The Environmental Costs of Corn-Based Ethanol

The corn farming industry is killing our planet and there isn’t much we can do about it other than forgoing the use of gasoline and playing a bigger part in the political processes that allowed this to happen in the first place. Those are some great things you can do though.

Why Everyone Should Squat In Weightlifting Shoes – YouTube

It’s hard to justify the cost of weightlifting shoes when they can only be used during one exercise, the squat, that is until you actually try them out. Once you own a pair of Oly shoes, you’ll never go back to barefoot or flat-shoed lifting again.

The McDougall Newsletter – October 2013

This looks like a great newsletter for anyone who’s vegan. This is the first time I’ve seen it, but it looks pretty damn good. Lots of great recipes and some cool tips too. Did you know that you can prevent tears caused by cutting onions by breathe only through your nose, without ever opening your mouth? Weird. I’m gonna try that one for sure.

Resistant Starch-Based Dietary Guidelines

I’m not familiar with the resistance starch-based diet. The author of this post calls his guidelines paleo, but it sure looks quite different than what most people in the Paleo movement would consider paleo. The most notable recommendations I see is that he recommends beans, potatoes and corn tortillas. Looks like a pretty good diet to me though.

Harmful or Harmless: Xanthan Gum

I’m really digging the “Harmful or Harmless” series from Chris Kresser. I see xantham gum in a lot of vegan products, and I’ve always wondered if there was anything about it I should be worried about. It looks like it’s generally fine to eat, although people with digestion problems or sensitivities to wheat, corn, soy or dairy, from which it’s typically derived, should avoid it.

Difference between bodybuilding and powerlifting bench press style – YouTube

I had no idea that there was a difference between the bodybuilding and powerlifting bench press. According to this video, bodybuilding style is a wider grip and the bar touches above the pecs and close to the chin. Powerlifting style is closer grip (not close grip, just closer than bodybuilding style), the bar touches the bottom of the pecs and there should be an explosive push from the bottom.

Inner Game of Tennis – YouTube

This is a great video from the 70’s that show how a woman learned to play tennis in only 10 minutes. The Inner Game of Tennis is a book created by a Harvard English major named Timothy Gallwey. The teachings aren’t just about tennis, but about how to get rid of the mental blocks that keep people from learning the things they want to learn, whether it’s tennis, playing guitar or learning a new language.

Five Healthy—and Legal—Ways to Stay Awake Longer

Most of the time I read articles about how to get better sleep, but this one is about how to stay alert when you absolutely need to be awake. There’s also a great tip here about sleeping better too – your body doesn’t produce melatonin for 3-4 hours after being exposed to white light, so if you want to get to sleep faster, get away from white lights for a few hours before bed.

Irlen Institute – Treating The Brain’s Inability To Process Visual Information

I’ve been watching Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof Life course from creativeLive over the weekend (it was airing for free), and people had questions about his tinted glasses. Dave’s glasses are designed specially for his body. He was tested by the Irlen Institute to determine which wavelengths of light are offensive to his brain function and which lens tint removes those wavelengths. This allows his brain to think more clearly and reduce the wasted brainpower he would need to process those offensive wavelengths. These types of lenses can also help people with autism, dyslexia, ADHD, headaches and head injuries. I wonder what color of lenses would work best for me.

Phenibut, Addictive Sleep Aid With Unhealthy Hangover? Dosages, Effects, Side Effects and Safety Concerns

I quickly mentioned Phenibut in one of my updates a few weeks ago, in which the author of the article I linked to, said to use it as a sleep aid twice per week at 600mg each night. I’ve done a lot of research of my own, mostly about the safety of the drug and 600mg seems reasonable enough. I actually bought some to try, but I’ve been a little hesitant to try it based on the potential dangers. I’m very interested in experiencing the benefits of Phenibut though, so I’ll get to it eventually.

Everything You Need to Know About Sleep

Most of us understand the benefits of sleep, but you might not know all of the reasons why poor sleep is so bad for you. If more people did, everyone would try harder to get more and higher quality sleep. This post goes through some neat methods of getting better sleep (red lighbulbs, blackout curtains, reading fiction, changing your mattress), how to get more sleep (turning off electronics, shifting schedule by 15 minutes at a time) and how to wake up better (skip snoozing, use a sleep cycle app, use a dawn-simulator alarm clock). There’s much more covered in the post than what I’ve mentioned here. Great post!

World War D: All Natural Deodorants Battle it Out

I’ve tried so many different natural and organic deodorants trying to find one that works for me and I’ve not had any luck at all. They either don’t work and I get really stinky, or they cause a rash, so I always end up back with Degree, which I absolutely hate because of the terrible company they are and the toxic ingredients they use. Natural deodorants are expensive and when trying to find one that works it can be really costly, but I think continuing the search is worth it in the long run. I’ll have to give some of the products in this post a try, but I’m expecting to add a few of them to my already large collection of slightly used deodorants under the counter.

10 Minutes of Exercise Yields Hour-Long Effects

I feel like I’ve mentioned this post in my weekly updates before, but I can’t seem to find it. I know for a fact that I’ve mentioned this same exercise protocol, although Dr. Mercola calls it “Peak 8.” This is a great post about HIIT training that can be done in about 20 minutes a day and only twice per week. I’ve done it a couple times and it absolutely kicked my ass, but I just love lifting weights so I can’t stick with it.

Paleo Vegetarians – Recipes & Resources

I would really like to start cleaning up my diet a little more, mostly be reducing the amount of the grains that I consume. I know some health circles believe that even just a little grain can create inflammation for up to 6 months or more, but I’m just not ready to remove it entirely yet, so I need to start slowly. I think vegan paleo recipes might be a good place to start.

How to Freeze Kale

I actually have some kale in my garden that needs to be packed up before it dies from the cold. I don’t know if I have enough to warrant blanching and freezing, but maybe. Next year I plan to grow much more kale than this year thought, so this tip will be very handy next winter.

Harmful or Harmless: Carrageenan

I purchased the Artisan Vegan Cheese recipe book by Miyoko Schinner a few months ago and just recently decided to finally make something out of it. One of the common ingredients is carrageenan so I went to Natural Grocer’s Vitamin Cottage to see if they had it. The worker couldn’t find it so she looked it up on the computer. She came back and told me that they don’t carry it and that there have been claims of carrageenan being bad for the gut, which is probably why they don’t carry it. Interesting.

Nicolas Cole: How to Gain 80 lbs. of Muscle, Celiac Disease, and Why World of Warcraft Gets you Jacked

Being a hard-gainer myself, this is a really inspiring interview. I was so skinny growing up that I was often called “toothpick” and “chicken legs.” People don’t realize how hurtful those words are and what sort of psychological damage that can cause. I got so tired of being skinny that I “dirty bulked” like crazy for about a year. I ate everything I could think of, whether it was canned chili and hot dogs or $20 worth of Taco Bell and McDonalds. Every single day I ate to the point of feeling like throwing up. Finally when I got up to about 170 lbs. I learned about healthy eating and weight training. I cleaned up my diet and managed to keep my weight stable ever since. I would still like to be bigger though and that’s still a major challenge for me.

How to Lift and Live with a Herniated Disc

I was talking about back injuries with a coworker the other day and he told me that he’s had a bulging disk since 2011, which makes it difficult to do many things, even riding a bicycle. I mentioned that when I started lifting weights, my back problems almost completely went away, but he said that he can barely lift weights either. This got me interested in looking into what bodybuilders do when dealing with bulging discs and I came across this article. It’s pretty interesting and makes complete sense. Stretch your muscles (not just in the back), focus on single-leg exercises (squats & deadlifts) and reduce the weight if your body tells you to.

What methods help improve recovery?

It looks like all of the generally accepted methods of muscle recovery can be beneficial – massage therapy, foam rolling, electric stimulation, compression clothes and even several not-so-common methods – whole body vibration, water immersion and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Wouldn’t it be nice to have the time and/or equipment to utilize all of these methods?

Fred Peterson 607 Dead Lift @ 75 ! – YouTube

I hope I can still lift heavy weight when I’m 75 years old. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do 600 lbs. though.

Foodpairing – Creativity for recipes

I discovered this site by reading Tim Ferris’ book, The Four Hour Chef. This site is designed to help mix and match foods based on similar characteristics. For example, if you run out of an herb such as sage, did you know that you can replace it with rosemary and the meal will come out mostly the same?

Why we vaccinate–debunking flu vaccine myths in 25 easy steps

This is an excellent research piece, but I think one of the problems with evidence/science-based medicine bloggers is that they are often not willing to accept that it could be wrong. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t trust science-based medicine because that would be silly, but the issue is that while there may have been many studies that prove something as being safe, it doesn’t mean a study won’t be done in the future that will prove it unsafe. I generally trust science-based research, but I still do my own research and question everything.

If You Could Only Do One Lift…

When I saw the title of this article the first two exercises that came to my mind were the deadlift and the squat. When I started doing those exercises seriously I saw some big gains. If you want to build an awesome routine, check out the list of top 10 exercises at the end of this article.

Duct Tape Adjustable Weight Vest

The only reason I don’t have a weighted vest is because they are so expensive. I never thought about making my own before. I think I’d prefer to buy one anyway, but if you’re thrifty and really want a weight vest, give this a try.

7 Hazardous Home Cleaning Products and their Nontoxic Substitutions

The chemicals in your typical everyday commercial cleaning products can disrupt your hormone system, cause allergies, cause cancer and some can even be fatal if swallowed. These aren’t chemicals you want around your house. Instead make your own non-toxic cleaners using the recipes in this article.

Stupidity Spreads Like A Cold Sore At A Christmas Party: How To Avoid Programming Like A Jackass

I think the moral of this story is that when you’re training, you should have a goal in mind when setting up your routine and don’t stray from it. There are two great quotes in this post that really struck a chord with me: “Maybe it’s a sumo deadlift high pull and therefore, not even a real thing,” which is hilarious because I’ve had to look this up before when doing a Crossfit routine and the other quote is “when you ask yourself, “Why am I doing this?,” an intelligent coach will be able to give you an answer. If they cannot tell you why they program the way they do, then take your money elsewhere and find a coach who can.” I think that quote also applies to any routine you see online or in a magazine.

University physicists study urine splash-back and offer best tactics for men (w/ Video)

Must-read if you’re a guy. Urine splash-back sucks.

A Man Replaces His Lawn With a Giant Vegetable Garden and No Regrets

People are always telling me how they would never live in a community that is managed by an HOA because they want to be able to do whatever they want with their property. I totally understand, but I actually like living in an HOA-managed neighborhood because it keeps the community looking great. If there’s one thing I don’t like about it though, it’s that I can’t do a front yard garden like this. I would LOVE to be able to do this.

30 DAY R.E.A.L. Food Meal Plans

I’ve used a service very similar to this called The Vegan Menu, which I love. I signed up for six months but didn’t end up using the meal plans every week, so I saved them up and cancelled my service until I get caught up. I’m still using those menus most of the time and it’s awesome because they give you five days worth of dinner recipes and an ingredient list that keeps all of those recipes in mind, that way you don’t have to buy a ton of stuff every week. This “30 DAY R.E.A.L. Food” service actually looks the same, but better because all meals are free of soy, gluten, corn and dairy, and they provide three meals per day as opposed to The Vegan Menu’s one meal per day. The Vegan Menu is $60 for a year and the 30 DAY R.E.A.L. Food plan is $30 one time. I already signed up to the R.E.A.L. program and there’s only one menu so far. I’m not totally sure if there’s a new menu every month, but I sure hope so. It looks awesome.

Drop And Give Me Ten

I know exactly how Tamara Reynolds feels. There are times when I stray from my workout routine and become lazy and I get really upset at myself for letting myself slip. Nick Horton’s advice to her is to do 10 pushups. It doesn’t matter if you’re skipping leg day, do 10 pushups anyway, because 10 pushups is better than nothing. Scientifically, I don’t know if that’s true, but psychologically, I can see how it would be beneficial. If I stopped and did 10 pushups, I can imagine myself getting motivated enough to just set aside some time to go ahead and do those squats I skipped.

Healthy Whole Grains? Part II

To quickly sum up this monster of an article, don’t believe the hype that whole grains are better for you, because they contain anti-nutrients that have terrible health effects on the body. The studies that are used by supporters of whole grains don’t prove anything, which is explained in this post as well. If you have 30 minutes to spare, sit down and read this. It pretty much dissects everything we think we know about whole grains.

Morbidly Obese Toddler Gets Weight-Loss Surgery

I don’t even understand how it’s possible for a toddler to get this big. It’s really sad.

Male Chef Is Food Porn’s Worst Nightmare

Don’t look here if you’re eating because you’re not going to want to finish your meal. I really like this quote from the interview. It makes sense – “I feel like “Male Chef” erodes the idea of food photography and helps to demolish the idea that food bloggers and food photographers can get peripheral success based off of the efforts and ideas of others.” Check out his Tumbler blog.

Unreal Candy

I learned about Unreal Candy from The Unconventionals podcast. The idea behind UNREAL Candy started a long time ago when Nicky Bronner’s dad took away his Halloween candy because of how unhealthy it was. Nicky was upset and set out to prove his Dad wrong but he quickly discovered how unhealthy it really was – partially hydrogenated oils, corn syrup, artificial colors, flavors, GMO’s and chemical preservatives – so when he got older, Nicky and his brother Michael founded UNREAL Candy with a mission to “unjunk the world.” I can’t eat any of their candy yet because none of it’s vegan, but they’re working on dark chocolate version of their candies which they have stated will be vegan.

The Dangers of Kale and How to Fix It

I was listening to the Joe Rogan podcast and his guest Dave Asprey started talking about the dangers of kale (I’ve linked to the video. Starts at 45:13). Basically, raw kale is full of oxalic acid (the plant’s defense mechanism), which can cause kidney stones and GI issues, is a potential contributor to autism, and is also linked to vulvodynia (extreme sensitivity of the vagina). To remove oxalic acid, start by eating only dinosaur kale, which cuts oxalic acid by half compared to other kales. Then steam the kale for 5-7 minutes and dump water. The water absorbs much of the oxalic acid. You lose some vitamins, but not a lot. Toss the kale in the blender, add protein (hemp, whey, etc.), MCT oil, calcium carbonate and magnesium oxide and you’re good to go.