Fatty Coffee Goodness

I'll say it right now.  Potential health benefits aside - if you are a lover of coffee, you owe it to yourself to try this.  

Since coffee was first discovered in Ethiopia, humans have been relying on it to shake off hangovers, get their asses out of bed and into work, and fuel themselves through the day. But the first drinkers of coffee didn't mix in cream and sugar. They used butter. The addition of high percent fat like butter into coffee isn't new. Its actually an ancient practice that is as old as drinking coffee itself. There is actually a whole ceremony associated with it in Ethiopian cultures. 

Fast-forward a bunch of centuries, and we end up with a more refined and precise version of this called "Bulletproof Coffee" - a phrase coined by its "creator" (or "re-discoverer" I guess) Dave Asprey of the site The Bulletproof Executive. Dave is a pretty well respected "biohacker." - a new breed of self-proclaimed scientist that will regularly test foods, supplements, sleeping trends, exercise regimens, etc on himself and observe and track the results. Dave experimented with using high quality fats in his coffee, and got some tremendous boosts of energy and fat loss... as have countless others. And the science backs it up. I highly recommend you read his article here, lest I just end up paraphrasing it. One caveat I have however is that with the popularity of this movement, Dave has gotten very entrepreneurial and has his own line of coffee, oil, etc. I'd do the same thing and it's quality stuff, but using just his products are obviously not necessary.  

For those of us that try our best to espouse a more primal lifestyle - fat is not the enemy. My diet at any one time contains more than half fat - yet I am in the best shape of my life (barring some occasional self induced injuries.) My lab-work is excellent. My blood pressure is normal. My athletic performance is better than it was 20 years ago, and my endurance is through the roof.  A tremendous amount of recent research is readily available that extols the virtues of good fats in your body. And fats taste good. There is countless recent research citing the many virtues of  Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT's), not the least of which is its ability to increase energy and cut fat in humans. 

By blending the caffeine in coffee with good healthy fats - like those found in grassfed unsalted butter or coconut oil - many people experience an uberboost of long lasting and sustained energy that lasts well into the afternoon

Now let's issue a realistic caveat here... Firing up the blender and making fatty coffee isn't going to solely make someone lose weight or fix their cholesterol. It works well for people as part of a more holistic approach to their health, but it's no more of a magic bullet (no pun intended) by itself than any other one change.
I've also learned that you can't use shitty coffee. This works best with blending good quality coffee at home. Starbucks is the bare minimum in quality - I like coffee from local roasters and I've gotten great coffee from Kicking Horse Coffee as well. If you're going to do it - do it right. I take a cup of this excellent coffee, put it in my Vitamix, and add 1-2 tbs of either unsalted Grassfed butter or Coconut Oil. We're shooting for a massive boost of (MCTs) here... and that will certainly do it. 

So the recipe is that simple. It is a cup of good coffee, a pat of good grassed unsalted butter or coconut oil, and you blend it on high. Watch this video to see how the butter and fat froths out in the coffee: 

The result is pretty fantastic. As the fat melts and blends, it emulsifies in with the coffee, creating this gorgeously creamy, frothy mixture. Remember - butter is essentially cream in its most compacted and dense form. Primal folks don't really worry about calories - but concerns for the caloric content are essentially alleviated due to the high quality of fat that comes from the MCT rich butter or coconut oil. You're looking at about 100 cal of pure good fat, vs 50 low grade calories for a cup of coffee with cream and sugar. And this has the consistency of a latte - which normally rings in at about 300-400 calories. 

And it tastes excellent. 

Its a pretty foreign concept - and a lot of people think it sounds really gross. My only response to that is - try it. You've got nothing to lose but a few minutes and a cup of coffee. Just be sure its good, high grade coffee (don't try this with Tim Hortons) and use a good grassfed cultured butter like Kerrygold or Vermont Creamery .  Blend on high - pour it into your mug, and enjoy it. Let me know how it turns out.  

If you enjoy coffee - you owe it to yourself to give it a spin. 

Good luck!
Tom

From The Bulletproof Exec
http://www.bulletproofexec.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Butter-Infographic1.jpg

References:Dave Asprey's Original Bulletproof Coffee Story and Recipe (Dave has since created his own line of high end coffee and MCT oil, so it has become somewhat commercialized - but cheers to him for making a buck)The scoop on Cultured Butter from the NY TimesAn additional analysis of Medium Chain Triglycerides from NYU

Yoga Sucks

Are there training wheels for yoga? 

Or maybe a remedial program? 

30 minutes of iPad yoga in my living room on the "beginner" difficulty has illustrated that I can move/stretch/balance at about 15% to 25% of what the movements expect.  I feel like Kevin from the Office competing on Dancing with the Stars.

With such a huge discrepancy - it's no wonder I keep injuring and breaking things on myself. I need to do this more often.  And I hate it. But I have to do it. 

There is a lot to be learned from why we do the things we do. The human mind will always gravitate toward doing something comfortable vs. doing something challenging. By nature, we defer to what we know and can do well. That is why you see so many treadmills in a standard gym. Almost EVERYONE knows how to walk! if I get on a treadmill, I know I can do it... and I might even turn it into a jog, or a run. But if I need to back off a bit - its ok, because I can always walk. 

But I hate treadmills. 

I've always enjoyed any sort of weightlifting because by body seemed naturally inclined toward it. Large Polish Man Lifts Heavy Things and Grunts. I tended to do well, excel, and see positive progress. But it also created severe imbalances in my body. For many years, I trained with the standard isolation of muscle groups that you see most people do Leg Day, Back/Bi, Chest Tri...  Then I moved to more "functional" training which was a huge improvement - training massive muscle groups and working several areas of my body at once, but I was still heavily focused on strength training. 

The counterbalance to this that a lot of people would offer is "you need more "cardio." I freaking hate that word cardio. It makes me think of 1980's Aerobics Videos that were on before cartoons. Cardio for most is essentially repetitive movement - but it is once again, isolating and specific. And in case you noticed, most people don't really get anything out of it - except perhaps to catch up on Designing Women, or Kate and Alley, or whatever the hell is on TV. But that is a different topic for a later post... 

I didn't realize just how out of balance I was until I had a mobility evaluation with the physical therapist that eventually got me to completely rehab my back. He ran me through a series of movements and drills that were seemingly simple, but were very telling in how my body moved and functioned. Simple movements like standing on one elevated leg had me falling over on my ass. A test of my hip flexors showed that they were as taught as piano wires and were in constant shifting competition with each other. As we continued on through the evaluation - it became readily apparent that I didn't hurt my back because I lifted too much. I hurt my back because I sat in a chair all day, typed with shitty posture, and did strength training with the muscles I LIKED to use - and avoided the movements I didn't like. All of this was a big old pile of steaming body imbalance. 

SO what does this have to do with my $3 iPad Yoga program? If I'm going to be a holistically well human being, I have to identify where I am most weak, and address those areas. PT Chris told me I had no business doing weighted squats if I couldn't execute a series of squats with perfect form using only my body weight. I want in the worst way to just show up at the gym and rip through a bunch of very familiar Kettlebell sequences... but as I continue to raise that side of the teeter totter, my mobility and flexibility will continue to degrade and become more imbalanced. So I have to push down on the other side of mobility and flexibility. 

Attempting Yoga was intimidating for me because its the last thing I ever saw myself doing. But by going through 1/2 hour of movement, I was able to instantly identify several areas of my body that need help, and begin to focus my practice on them. I am horrible at breathing, and I'm beginning to learn to breath through the motions, and stay calm as I sweat and stretch and move. I try not to be too hard on myself, but when you see someone touch the ground with their hands, and mine are at my knees - well no wonder why I feel like crap so much! So I guess Yoga doesn't suck. I just suck at it. And I need to get better at it. I'm sure there is an Indian man somewhere saying "Lifting Weights Sucks." 

And I have no doubt this will help me in my kettlebell practice, as well as in life in general. 

I've got more to write on this... in fact, this will be a common theme in this blog. Finding ways to unbreak what I've broken. 

My main message is this. Find whats uncomfortable to you, and do it. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to come out of a pattern, but when you can conquer it, you own it. 

Thanks. -Tom

References: 

Physical Therapist Chris Nentarz  Buffalo Spine & Sport; Endurasports

iPad Yoga Studio for $2.99: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yoga-studio/id567767430?mt=8

Starting Over

Sometimes... I wish I'd never gotten off the couch.

After several years of a mostly sedentary/computer gaming/drinking lifestyle, I decided a few years ago to get myself together, and try to get my body in some semblance of shape. I essentially want to put off dying for awhile and that seemed like a good idea.  At one point in my life I weighed over 330 lbs and smoked two packs of cigarettes a day. I dumped a lot of those bad habits a decade ago, but it still wasn't feeling healthy or "Fit."

It started with some bicycling, and went on to training for two 100 mile bike rides for charity and a few thousand miles a year of training.  I felt great. This evolved into full on personal training, and I shifted my focus to functional training and kettlebells - which ended up evolving into a passion for me. Everything was going great.... 

And then the wheels fell off. 

On December 2 of 2012 I "tweaked" my lower back... And that started this crazy roller coaster that I've been riding.  I've lifted ten times that weight thousands of times before, but I picked it up at just the right angle, at the right time, with the right amount of fatigue -and I felt a sharp pain and I hit the floor. A visit to the chiropractor and a subsequent MRI confirmed that I had not one, but two disk herniation in my lower lumbar spine - L4-L5 and L5-S1. It seemed like an awful lot of damage for one small twinge - but as I later learned - that "injury" was just the straw that broke the camel's back. The REAL injury is the culmination of a couple decades of sitting at a computer, poor posture, poor pre and post workout habits, being overweight, stress, wearing crappy shoes, and a billion other things that eventually caused my body to say ENOUGH! - and throw me out of whack. THAT is one of the main reasons I started writing in this blog.

Several months of chiropractic, acupuncture, soft tissue work, and physical therapy and a lot of mind/body work got my back to where I am about 95% pain free and functional without anything stronger than ibuprofen and without surgery. THAT is another reason I am writing in this blog. 

At some point during that healing process, my upper body decided to revolt (I have a theory that it was either jealous of the lower half) and threw me into a really scary cycle of arm and hand numbness and tingling, hands falling asleep at night, loss of function and dexterity, freezing hands, and all sorts of other stuff. There were days I couldn't even type - which, when you use your computer for a living - is not good.

I've been poked, prodded, tested, had Xrays, MRI's, EMGs, etc etc etc - and I've fortunately so far t

ended up with just a pile of symptoms in an otherwise healthy body. After a host of visiting specialists, Blood tests, Xrays, etc. to rule out various potential systematic causes - I have the pleasure of dealing with some double crush nerve impingement and what looks to be what is called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome - which is a really fancy way to say "more nerve impingements."

I also managed to turn a rib, give myself pneumonia, and sprain my shoulder in the past month. I don't mess around with this stuff.

One thing I learned is that these all can be symptoms or result of some deeper and more chronic manifestations. Tension. Stress. Poor Sleep. They all pile up into a shitstorm... and they have to be dealt with.

THAT is another reason I'm writing in this blog.

The point of this, and subsequent posts...

I've been reading and studying so much in the past several months. I've had opportunities to work with some of the most skilled healthcare practitioners in the area. I've learned so much about the human body, movement, rehabilitation, recovery' nutrition, etc. - and it should be shared. 

So I am writing for the following reasons:

- I need to journal this stuff for me.  I want to have it all in one place so that I don't forget things, so that my reference points are centralized, and so that I can see progress or lack of as I work forward in trying to get back to health. 

-I feel that I need to give back. I've had so many gifts along the way helping me.  If I can write or share something that helps someone else be healthier or avoid injury - then that's great. 

- I miss and enjoy writing, and I need to continue to practice it or I'm going to forget how to do it. 

- because I think I'm on to something here....

So that's it for now.  Expect random updates on health, fitness. Eating, nutrition, amateur butchery, body mobility and recovery, and all of the other weird shit I'm into. My only request is that if you're going to follow this - be respectful. Everything may not be your cup of tea, but it may help someone else. I'd like to keep this as positive as possible.

My acupuncturist told me on the first day she saw me that this injury will end up being one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I'm starting to see that she is right.

Sto'Lat. (Polish for - May you live 100 years) 

Tom