Does eating organic reduce your risk of cancer?

Somebody asked me the other day, "Duncan... I haven't seen a blog post from you lately. Is everything okay?" Well, not exactly, but I'll be okay. When two loved ones are fighting cancer simultaneously it can take a major emotional toll on the body.

Within 3 months I've learned more about glioblastoma multiforma & adenocarcinoma than anyone should ever have to know. My feeling is, if you're learning about it, you've either got it or know someone who does.

I am going to apologize in advance for oversimplifying a topic that is highly complex. In fact, I'm going to challenge everyone to educate themselves on one of the biggest things you can do to protect yourself against cancer. That "thing" is what you eat and what you drink.

Too long have we accepted the ideology that, "If it is sold in a store, it must be okay to eat." We trust that someone is watching after us. Hmmm... doesn't it seem odd that the United States now has the highest cancer rate. Does it seem odd that 1 in 4 people, in the United States, will die from cancer. DIE from cancer! Do you understand what that statistic means? It doesn't mean 1 and 4 will get cancer. It means that within the 3 that live, it's because they either won't get cancer or they will get cancer, but will win the battle and die from something else.

Do you ever wonder why or how a seed that was genetically modified to resist Round Up was deemed safe. It's an ingenious invention, actually. Simply plant your corn or soybeans, don't do any traditional tilling or weeding, then douse the crops with Round Up and everything dies except the plant. In the meanwhile, you've got crops that have been soaked in Round Up. Corn in the cob anyone? Must be safe right?

Do enough research for yourself, and you'll discover that many of the things we put into our mouth have multi-billion dollar companies standing behind them. But, the government looks out for us, right? I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I do enjoy listening to them on Facebook while they rally their like minded enthusiasts. The truth is, the government consists of everyday individuals. Some of them have integrity, and some lack it like the Sahara does rain. What I'm saying is, a multi-billion dollar company can find many ways, using the right channels, to get their product to the end consumer.

There are literally hundreds of things that we do, blindly, that have been proven to cause cancer. The defense that most companies use is that there is not enough of this substance to cause cancer. In other words, the results are negligible. At what point does something no longer become negligible? And, what if we add up all the things we consume in a day that are "negligible", now we definitely have something that is no longer negligible, but now circumstantial.

Here are a dozen everyday items that you may expose to your body without ever considering the long term effects due to the ingredients that would be considered "negligible":

Chlorine in water

Mercury in teeth

Charred barbequed burgers

Raspberries

Soymilk

Salad

Eggs

Chicken

"Moderate" air quality

Refined sugar

Deodorant

Lotion

These items either contain carcinogens, pesticides, harmful chemicals, or the animal in which you are consuming was loaded with antibiotics, growth hormones, and put on a diet that actually gives the animal health problems.

Again, I encourage everyone to do their own research so that you can become equally disgusted and invoke change for yourself, your loved ones, and everyone around you.

The change does not come from trying to regulate companies, and what they put in products. That's about as effective as printing out, and marking up a "Terms and Conditions" agreement from Google and sending it back for them to consider revising it. The most powerful way to make a difference is simply to support companies that use "Natural Farming" techniques or are labeled "Organic."

What sucks right now is that naturally grown or organic product is expensive. To switch over, you will spend 1.5 to 2x more on grocery shopping. This is why we're in this mess. Foods have been created to sit on store shelves for a long time. Farming techniques have been modified to pay less workers. Pastures are too small for the number of cows in the field, which leads to infection (thus leading to more antibiotics). Forget having any grass for the cows to graze on when their standing in 6 inches of their own fecal matter and mud, therefore they are fed a genetically engineered product. The same goes for the chickens!

The more people buy natural and organic products, the more these companies will become competitive and will be able to offer a better price. For the sake of our lives, our children's lives, and our grandchildren's lives, make the decision to support the right companies. Once these companies become more supported, they too will become competitive and their prices will go down.

In fact, it's already starting to happen. Mega giants like Wal-Mart and Costco are selling tons of organic products. Products you had to pay out the nose for at organic grocery stores. Believe me, these companies didn't decide on their own that selling natural and organic product that was more expensive was a brilliant idea. They did it because they are listening, and responding to the momentum that is being started by people like you and me!

Respectfully,

Duncan Richardson

Vice President of Bodies in Motion

Chief Master Instructor of The Academy of World Taekwondo

Ph: 208.381.0587

http://www.BodiesInMotionIdaho.com

http://www.facebook.com/bodiesinmotion

http://www.facebook.com/academyofworldtaekwondo

Losing Muscle Mass?

Every weigh in for the UBC always brings in mixed emotions and sometimes confusion. I wrote a blog post a while back to explain what the different weight losses mean. I also offer an explanation as to why you feel better, look better, and clothes fit better, but then the scale says the same thing. Check it out- http://ultimatebodychallenge.blogspot.com/2009/02/i-havent-lost-any-weight.html

In that blog post I talk about the loss of muscle mass. So far, everyone in the past who lost muscle mass was a direct result of not getting enough protein to support muscle growth. In this UBC, I have two people who were adamant about getting enough protein, but still saw a decrease in muscle mass. At the same time, they saw outstanding decreases in fat: 10 lbs and 15 lbs. And, we're not talking about overweight people to begin with either.

First, let me explain how the skin fold calipers work. If you weigh exactly the same amount after 10 weeks, but your skin fold measurement was less, then you replaced 100% of your fat loss with muscle mass. Make sense?

Now, let's say that you weigh less and your skin fold is also less. We don't know anything until we know just how much less and how much less the skin fold is. The caliper method uses a formula to determine the percent body fat. Then, the remaining portion is your skeleton, organs, and muscle. Since the skeleton and organs are non-variables, with regard to weight over 10 weeks, we simply refer to this remaining weight at "muscle mass." Any decrease or increase will be the difference in muscle mass.

Here is the Excel formula for you nerds- =IF(B5="male",(0.27784*((C7+D7+E7)/3+(C8+D8+E8)/3+(C9+D9+E9)/3+(C10+D10+E10)/3+(C11+D11+E11)/3)-(0.00053*((C7+D7+E7)/3+(C8+D8+E8)/3+(C9+D9+E9)/3+(C10+D10+E10)/3+(C11+D11+E11)/3)^2)+0.12437*C5-3.28791),(0.41563*((C7+D7+E7)/3+(C8+D8+E8)/3+(C9+D9+E9)/3+(C10+D10+E10)/3+(C11+D11+E11)/3)-0.00112*((C7+D7+E7)/3+(C8+D8+E8)/3+(C9+D9+E9)/3+(C10+D10+E10)/3+(C11+D11+E11)/3)^2+0.03661*C5+4.03653))

So, how do we lose muscle mass when we eat enough protein, and more importantly- get stronger? Because, the body is absolute amazing piece of work. Unlike an inefficient car, our body learns how to adapt to become more efficient. Athletes, especially ectomorphs, such as myself, experience this all the time.

When I fought competitively, I would be at least 40% more powerful with my kicks at competition time, than non-competing times. My 3 rep max on squats and bench press were higher, but I weighed the same. So, it is possible to condition muscles for strength without experiencing hypertrophy.

Okay, what about losing muscle mass. I still think it's possible to condition muscles for strength, and have your muscle mass decrease. I think it's rare, but possible. Think of professional boxers Manny Pacquiao or Oscar De La Hoya. These are boxers that are skinny little things, but pack a punch hard enough to put you flat on your back.

How do these boxers keep from losing muscle mass while training? They supplement their protein intake. I can't speak for these individuals regarding their method, but I can tell you what I did. I decided that I could not stay at the weight that I was at when I was competitive because I was at the bottom of my weight division (heavy weight). It was already difficult for me to gain more muscle mass, no matter how intense I made my weight training routine when it was coupled with endurance training.

For the 1999 Us Open Taekwondo Championship, I was able to increase my muscle mass by 9 pounds from the year before. I did it by increasing my protein to almost that of a body builder. I was eating 1 1/2 times my muscle mass in protein (bodybuilders are often 2 times their muscle mass). For me, it was roughly 255 grams of protein a day. I ate 5 meals a day PLUS protein shakes after workouts and at night. There was no way I could've physically eaten more protein. Instead, I had to drink it.

So, the moral of the story is... If you're getting stronger, feeling better, losing bodyfat, but experiencing a few pounds of muscle mass decrease, who cares. The workouts in the UBC are not necessarily designed to build muscle mass. They're intense and require you to endure it for an hour. I would say they are similar to my competitive Taekwondo workouts where there is such a high calorie expenditure. This is when your body performs that amazing feat of adapting to become more efficient.

Cheers!

Duncan Richardson
http://www.bodiesinmotionidaho.com/body_challenge.html

My Take on Volumetrics & Energy Density

The other night, I was watching some show that had Jillian Michaels (Biggest Loser Trainer), the CEO of Weight Watchers, and some other person. They started talking about nutrition, so automatically, my ears perked up.

Immediately, I found myself griping to Rachel about the crap they are talking about. Okay, crap is probably the wrong word. What's crap is that everyone who is not so versed in this stuff is going to think that this is what they need to be doing because famous people are talking about it. It really bummed me out, because I like Jillian Michaels too. No worries for you Michaels fans... I will explain where she is coming from later.

Here is what they are talking about, and what is also becoming a huge trend right now. They are using fancy terms to describe nothing new, like- "volumetrics" or "energy density". To cut to the chase, the hip thing to do right now is to eat low energy dense foods that are high in volume. In plain english, food that takes up a lot of space, but has low calories.

The philosophy is that you will consume less calories, but yet feel full because you ate a lot. I even saw a commercial for popcorn that is totally riding this trend. They showed a handful portion of almonds next to a large bowl of popcorn and basically said, for the same amount of calories, go for the choice that gives you more food. The philosophy behind this method says that you will feel more full, therefore eating less calories down the road, and you'll lose weight because of it.

Here is where I come in with all my griping:

1. "Volumetrics" should mean nothing to you. Trust me... this is my turf now when it comes to math & science! Yes, popcorn has more volume than almonds, but the stomach doesn't care. The stomach sees 2 different types of food with relatively the same "mass." Mass should be the term used, not volume.

Take a bowl of popcorn, then smash it up. I don't mean smash it a little. Smash it down until there is absolutely no air voids left. Do you get the picture? Now you have a similar volume to that of the almonds. My question to Rachel was, "What are these people thinking? Do they believe that popcorn somehow expands back into it's original size in the stomach after it's chewed?"

2. "High energy density." What happened to saying, "high calories?" There are less words, and it flows off the tongue a little better. Anyhow, it doesn't even matter!!! Can you tell I'm a little razzled. Let's go back to the popcorn and almonds. Popcorn is not necessarily a bad food. I'll just put that out there right now. But, since when did we digress to going back to looking at just calories? This is so 1984! Oh, now it makes sense to me. People won't know we have digressed if we change the wording from calories to "energy density."

The calories that come from an almond are by way of monunsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (good guys) and protein. The calories that come from popcorn are from carbohydrates, and not a very favorable carbohydrate either (glycemic index of 75). If you're not fully getting #2, continue to #3.

3. Let's switch from popcorn to salad so it doesn't sound like I'm not giving this whole volumetrics/high & low energy density thing a fair fight. We can all agree that salad is pretty dang good for you. It's high in all sorts of macro and micro nutrients. It's got a low glycemic index and it's low in calories. According to volumetrics, you have to eat a lot of salad to equal the calories from almonds.

The smashed popcorn concept applies here too. Salad has less mass than almonds. Smash the salad up really good, until all the air is gone, then you have a mass than is much similar to an almond. This is pretty much how it looks in your stomach.

If the salad or other vegetables have a high water content, then you may get that full feeling that is being hyped here. I really don't like this term they are using, "full", because it implies "satisfied". The real term should be, "bloated." And, when you have that "bloated" feeling, you tend to stop eating for a while, at least until your digestive system can catch up.

There is a difference between "satiety" and "full". Yes, "full" may come from some foods in the volumetrics concept, but "satiety" comes from eating fats and proteins (period). A neuropeptide hormone called cholecystokinin (CCK) is released and basically tells the body, "Hey! We're going to be working down here for a while, can you slow down on the eating? Better yet, stop?"

This is why you can eat an enormous salad, feel full for a 30 minutes, but then be hungry again. I know this first hand because I just finished a rather large chicken salad 45 minutes ago, and I am starving.

Everybody is different, but I seem to only feel the CCK hormone when I have a fat along with my meal. Lean protein doesn't seem to cut it. We are on vacation right now, so we don't have the normal fixings. Typically, we would've had some sort of monunsaturated or polyunsatured fat to go along with the dinner, but not tonight.

So, the point is, if you want to feel a sense of "satiety" after you have eaten, make sure you have a healthy fat & protein. Almonds are a perfect snack. It goes against the philosophy I am bagging on right now, but it will help you more, we've proven it. Take it a step further and ensure you've consumed a healthy carb as well, such as some apple or orange slices.

Now, do I think Jillian Michaels and CEO guy's information is totally useless? Not necessarily. In my opinion, the information is just not good for anyone in our programs. The information they are sharing is for obese people that are one, two, and even three hundred pounds over weight. We are trying to build and tone muscle. We are trying to burn fat in the neighborhood of 10 to 50 pounds top!

A Biggest Loser contestant can literally squat 400 pounds! Can you squat 400 pounds? Of course, I am talking about their own weight. Can you imagine the muscle mass they have accumulated over time to carry the weight they have. Jillian Michaels doesn't care about that muscle mass, nor should she. She is simply trying to get these people to lose everything! Weight Watchers is basically doing the same thing.

The Ultimate Body Challenge is not a Weight Watchers program or a Biggest Loser contest. It's a program that trains you like an althlete, teaches you to eat like an athlete, and will eventually help you look and feel like an athlete. Whether you are an athlete or not, trust me, eating and training like one will provide a longer, more fulfilling life.

Respectfully,

Duncan Richardson
Chief Master Instructor
The Academy of World Taekwondo
ph: 208.381.0587
http://www.FreeKarateLesson.com/weight-loss.html

Should I eat more on days I train extra?

Here is a good question I thought I would share-

"I was also wondering how to fit my run work outs into this plan. That is something I don't want to go by the wayside. I would like to possibly double up on some days and run on my Sport Fusion days (hopefully still getting in 4 runs a week) in addition to the classes. Will that alter my meal plan for those days? Should I be consuming additional calories? The food is where it gets tough for me. I LOVE to eat!! I love theaccountability of this program and hope that it helps me make somebetter healthy eating habits. I'm not a fast food eater, but I love to cook and I don't scrimp when I do :)Thanks for the help! Looking forward to getting my butt kicked tomorrow."

I say run! I say do it all! There are a lot of 80's & 90's mentality trainers that will disagree with me. If you take a good look at the people who look flat out awesome, they are busy bodies. They ski, they mountain bike, they run, they kickbox, they shovel their driveways and then they chase their kids for an hour with snowballs in hand.

Athletes often train several times during the day. In fact, my sister, who is a professional boxer, has a crazy training schedule. I can't recall it exactly, but it consists of something like- running in the morning, sparring at noon, then plyometrics in the afternoon.

Now, onto the nutrition aspect. Should you increase your calories on these days where you are training more? The answer is yes. For some people the answer may be no. Let me explain.

Remember the old adage- calories in vs. calories out. If you are on a fat losing quest, you have your stored energy, most likely around your midsection, butt, thighs, etc. In my opinion, you need to stay consistent with your nutrient intake. There is a concept called the "Zig Zag". There are Up Zags and Down Zags. If you are on a fat losing quest, then you will use the Down Zag concept on days you don't double up on your workouts. See the UBC manual for how to do this.

If your mission is to trim a little, and build a little muscle mass, then you must increase your caloric intake on these days. You can simply increase your activity level on your composition sheet by .1 or you can follow the Up Zag concept. Otherwise, your body will begin to break down your muscles in order to receive the nutrients it's requiring.

I hope this helps!

Respectfully,

Duncan Richardson
Chief Master Instructor
http://www.FreeKarateLesson.com

Glimpse at some history of The Ultimate Body Challenge

Happy freezing, but yet 35 degrees warmer the next week, Holiday Season! Is it global warming, or climate change?? I say it’s Al Qaeda. Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to talk about.

Six years ago, we started a new program in our academy, the Ultimate Body Challenge. I remember the day perfectly clear. I had just retired from engineering (only working for 1 year), eating breakfast, and watching Regis & Kelly. I know what you’re thinking, why am I eating breakfast so late, and watching Regis & Kelly? If you need to know, I was working until 4 am every night, and I have no excuse why I was watching Regis & Kelly.

It dawned on me that we needed a program that goes beyond martial arts, beyond Thai-Robics, and truly helps people develop a body they can be proud of. For some reason, the Ultimate Body Challenge came together that morning.

Rachel and I pulled out all the stops when it came to marketing this program since we had a ZERO following for it. I think we signed up 20 people in the program, and that was a TON of work. We had promotions and contests stacked 10 feet high. We kept with it for 2 reasons- 1) It was an extraordinarily fun program to run. 2) It provided amazing results that left people excited about what we do, and that felt good!

Then, we began to see sort of a shift in marketing. As more and more people began signing up for the program, with or without our marketing, I noticed that I was qualifying more. I was marketing in a manner that seemed to be more selective. I was no longer interested in catering to the masses.

It’s as if our marketing was making it tougher and tougher to get in. Well… it was getting tougher and tougher to get in, especially during the January UBC. What can I say? Space is truly limited, and we turn people away every January now!

So, I’ve been working on a new marketing slogan to continue my marketing trend for UBC 2010. Tell me what you think?

The UBC is So Good… There is No Room At All This January!

Seriously… if you are interested in this program, I would follow the link provided, then pop your name into the cool looking “hover window” that will literally float into your screen. It’s about the extent of my html coding knowledge.

People that get on this list; get first dibs on a spot in UBC 2010… not that there is any room or anything:).

UBC 2010 UBC 2010 UBC 2010

Respectfully,

Duncan Richardson
Chief Master Instructor
The Academy of World Taekwondo
Ph: 208.381.0587
http://www.FreeKarateLesson.com/weight-loss.html

Weight Training vs. Cross Training Programs such as Ultimate Body Challenge

The other day, I read a comment on a YouTube exercise video, “Seriously, weight lifting is so 80’s.” The comment made me chuckle. Whether it’s true or not, I don’t know. I picture leg warmers, headbands and aerobics when I think of 80’s fitness.

Anyhow, I know the point this person was trying to make. She were arguing that a cross training program is ultimately the best sort of conditioning. The gentleman was arguing that cross training programs are too strenuous. It went on and on.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to lift weights in a gym to compare my strength to how it was when I trained in a gym all the time to now. Aside from being ABSOLUTELY bored out of my mind, I realized several things by this experience-

1. Weight lifting is very linear and heavily isolates specific muscles. No, that’s not what I realized. What I realized was that when I crash skiing moguls this winter, which I love to do (ski moguls that is, not crashing), linear, isolating movements will do nothing for me.

Traditional weight training will help me very little since I do NOT crash in a very nice linear fashion. When I crash, my body is in a contorted, upside down, ski behind my head sort of fashion.

The training that helps me the most when I ski are cross training programs.

2. Did I mention that weight training was absolutely boring compared to a high energy cross training program? I couldn’t wait to get done so I could go back to our academy and do one of our routines.

3. I couldn’t handle how depressed half the people looked. One half gazed at their muscles in the mirror, and the other half just gazed in the mirror for 3 to 4 minutes between sets.

So, was I stronger? The answer is no. Was I weaker? The answer is no again! Although I didn’t increase my strength, I increased tons of other things. I used to leave the gym pretty wiped after my workouts. I did the same exact workout, with the same exact weight I used to lift, and had plenty of energy to head to our academy and do a serious cross training workout.

Somebody reading this may ask, “Then, what did I really improve besides endurance?” It’s a good question, because it’s not an apples to apples comparison, so I will just tell you.

I used to injury myself quite a bit playing soccer in high school (hamstring pulls, groin pulls, sprained ankles, etc.) Even as a competitive martial artist, when I was younger, I was always doing something funky to my lower back. And, I did extensive weight training, even under the direction of trainers.

About 5 years ago, we adopted a new training program in our facility that challenged students in completely unorthodoxed ways. Competitive soccer puts people at risk for injury because you don’t strengthen yourself for when someone takes out your legs when you’re in a feel on sprint.

For the past few years I had been playing competitive soccer again on a men’s city league. The ONLY injuries I was ever dealing with were bumps and bruises. Never pulling a muscle, twisting a knee or an ankle. Believe me, several guys on my team and other teams were fighting chronic ailments that were being blamed on “age.”

Teaching these programs and doing them on my own have tremendously improved my endurance, core strength, flexibility, and agility. I have never been out of shape, but I can tell you this… at 35 years old, I have more energy and stamina than I did as a competitive Taekwondo athlete in my early 20’s.

That’s what this type of training has done for me. Now, what it’s done for others is very, very similar, except it’s burned fat off our students bodies like crazy. Students lose, on average, 7% bodyfat in a 10 week period of time. That’s amazing, because they do it by following an athletes diet, not some sort of fad diet for birds.

What are these programs I am speaking about?

The Ultimate Body Shaping Challenge! To learn more about this particular program, visit the following link. http://www.freekaratelesson.com/weight-loss.html

Respectfully,

Duncan Richardson
Chief Master Instructor
The Academy of World Taekwondo
Ph: 208.381.0587

Body Composition Results

So you've gotten the results back from your body composition testing. Now what? First off, there are several scenarios, each providing a different strategy.

1. Muscle mass went up, body fat went down
This is the most desired result. Today, we had a couple students whose muscle mass went way up. They also mentioned that they've been working really hard at trying to get their protein. I would say they had no problem! In fact, if your muscle mass went way up, I'm talking 4 or 5 pounds in 5 weeks (female), and becoming a buffster is not what you're interested in, then you can afford to relax on the protein intake.

If your body fat went down, but only a pound or so, you're still on the right track, but we can definately improve. Remember, we're assuming muscle mass went up. I would check a couple things:
1. What is the quality of your carbs. Are they bread and pasta carbs? If so, limit them, or get rid of them.
2. What is the quantity of your carbs. Perhaps you're eating too large of portions. If so, try cutting the sizes down a little bit. If you're eating primarily greens for every meal, which I doubt with only 1 pound of fat loss, then we've got a different issue.
3. Too much fat. Are you going over board on your fats? Remember, when eating your healthy fats (nuts, avacado, etc.), you only need a little bit. Those calories add up really fast.
4. None of the ones above fit you? Then quit drinking so much beer on the weekends!

2. Muscle went up, body fat went up
I don't see this one too often, but since I spent the 2 seconds to type it, I'll write about it. Anytime muscle mass is up, your protein is good. If your fat went up, then you're overeating, most likely in the carb department. See number 1 above and take it twice as serious.

3. Muscle mass went down, body fat went down
This can be happening for two reasons- 1. Your body is going through an adjustment period, and has decided that it no longer needs the additional muscle mass to carry around the body fat you once had. If you have lost quite a bit of body fat (7 to 15 pounds in 5 weeks), this is typical. No worries!

If you don't qualify for the abundent fat loss option, then this means only one thing... not enough protein. Your muscles will only grow with building supplies (protein). Remember, the more muscle mass you have, the stronger you are and the more calories you burn simply by being alive.

See you in class!

Duncan Richardson