But It's My Destiny! (or is it?)

With nutrition comes the classic debate: nature vs. nurture. Is your health and the way you look determined more by your genetics or your habits? The nature camp would say that your genetics is your destiny and there is little you can do to control it. The nurture camp would say that habits and lifestyle largely affect your health and appearance. So which is it?

Pictured above are German twins, Otto and Ewald. As you can see, one is physically larger and healthier looking than the other. So why is this picture so important? Because genetically, Otto and Ewald started out identical, but clearly their lifestyle and habits affected their appearance. Essentially, they were able to CONTROL their genetics! There is actually a name for the study of this: epigenetics. By having different lifestyles, you can majorly affect your "gene expression," and change your so-called Destiny. 

To give you an example of this, let's look at alcoholism. Many people would say this is an inherited disease, but what happens if an "alcoholic" never has alcohol? Yes, genetically they may be predisposed to alcoholism, but if alcohol is never introduced into their system, the disease would not manifest itself! Too skeptical of even this analogy? Take the scenario of a fair skinned person and dark skinned person at the beach. Who is going to sunburn quicker? Obviously the fair skinned person, due to genetics. But let's keep that person indoors, or put long sleeves on them, and all of a sudden they have changed how their genes are expressed!

The same idea can be applied to Type II Diabetics. Diabetes occurs when a person can no longer manufacture insulin which controls blood sugar levels. A Standard American Diet (SAD) messes with blood sugar levels so much that a record number of people are diagnosed with Diabetes every day. If one were to stay away from grains, sugar, and starches, the disease would most likely not manifest itself because the stimulant is not present, just like alcohol to the "alcoholic."

It's amazingly sad that people will essentially "give up" effort to eat well because they think it's their "destiny." Just imagine a person saying "Well, it's my destiny to be an alcoholic so I might as well drink as much as I can." You would probably be outraged if this were a friend or family member. The same should be true for those choosing to let "destiny" control their health. Anyone with Diabetes in their family history (or obesity, or heart disease, etc etc) needs to realize that they DO have control over their future and yes, it might need some extra effort compared to others around them, but I hope they see that it's worth it. Some people need a little more vigilance when it comes to diet, just like a fair skinned person needs to be more vigilant about the sun.

For those who are new to this blog or wondering how to start, check out: How to Be Healthy 101

Save Money: Buy More Meat!

As you know, meat is a big part of a performance and health diet, but it can get expensive to keep the cuts of meat constantly varied! One solution is to buy bigger parts of the animal to cut down on cost and the number of trips you need to make to a butcher or store. Some people will buy a whole cow while others will split parts of the animal with groups of people. While the cost upfront can be steep (upwards of $2,000 for a whole cow), it will save you money in the long run because the cost per cut goes down. Plus, you don't have to head out to the store as much. All you need is some planning and enough freezer space. Deep freezers are ideal if you have the room for one. 

Here is an excellent guide by Iowa State on what cuts of beef and pork look like and what to expect when buying in bulk. It's very thorough and goes through things like the differences among live weight vs. hang weight vs. cut weight; plus it has colorful pictures of different cuts of beef so you can actually know what the difference between a NY strip and T-bone are: Beef and Pork Whole Animal Guide

Eat Wild has a listing by state of farms that will sell whole-eighth of animals, here is the link for my Pennsylvania friends, but you can get to any state from here: Eat Wild - PA

Have you bought animals in bulk? Would you consider doing it if a group of people went in on one?

Supplements: Vitamin D

Check out the video above for a great explanation of Vitamin D. Basically, you want to get a good amount of natural sunlight everyday (20-40 minutes at least, but without burning) and if you cannot (especially during the winter months on the East Coast) then supplement with Vitamin D from a store. Eating meat will also provide a small amount of Vitamin D, but the best source hands down is the sun. Supplements are super cheap and depending on skin color, diet, etc. you could take anywhere from 4000-10,000 IU per day. By doing so, you bolster your immune system, retains calcium, reduces inflammation, and help a host of other processes in the body, including defenses against cancer and infections.

How much sun do you get per day? Do you notice your physical or mental health vary with the amount of sunlight you are exposed to? 

Big Isn't Strong, Strong is Strong

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Big isn't strong, strong is strong. Do you agree or disagree?  When I went to my USAW certification and saw a 26-year old guy clean and jerk 225# at 5'2" and 120 lbs. it really humbled me. (and that was his daily practice, not even an PR) Now to be clear, he had been oly lifting for 8 years and had amazing technique, but it was fun to watch him work. 
"Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy" occurs when fluid in the muscle increases due to muscle fatigue. The guys who want to get huge should train for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. "Myofibrillar hypertrophy" occurs when the actual muscle tissue increases in size due to muscle tension. This results in a dense muscular look. The small olympic lifter would train mostly singles and triples (reps) under maximal tension, therefore resulting in mostly myofibrillar hypertrophy. 
So, what are your thoughts on perception of strength and reality? Have you encountered people who you think are strong, but they don't live up to expectations? Or vice versa: have you encountered people who are "normal" sized or even small and are stronger than you ever expected? Is there a difference between technical lifts such as the the clean and jerk and "real world" strength such as lifting a box? Which would you rather be?

Shorter, More Frequent Posts

The title pretty much says it all. I find it challenging to sit down and write long posts that require a few hours of research/writing. So I'm going to change over to more frequent posts, but much shorter length. Every so often I will throw in a longer post when it's necessary. I hope this is ok with everyone! Of course you can always throw me anonymous feedback with the box in the upper right corner.