Sorry about the lack of updates on The Road Forager. I have a WordPress app for my iPhone but it has dumped about 5 blog attempts into the either…just fracking gone, so I am resorting to the clunky process of downloading the photos, then doing a post. Hopefully subsequent updates deal with this issue as it IS a nice way to update the blog when it works.
So, Nicki and I went through San Francisco Airport on our way to Chicago and I stopped by one of my favorite places to eat along the way, Max’s “The Greek” across from gate 71 in the United terminal. I usually go for the 1/2 Chicken with Greek salad (olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese and red onions). It is damn yummy. We had a good bit of time to kill so I ended up getting some more food a little later, this was a grilled salmon and steamed veggies plate from a Japanese shop in the central United area. It was yummy, I did not get a wheat dose…both good things while eating on the road. Here is what those meals looked like.
This might be a good spot for a little training and food update. After becoming a serious fatty from my mass-gain experiment I started the leaning out process about a month ago with the Zone. 1/2 carbs, most of those post workout. It worked…kinda. Tired, hungry, and generally annoyed. I worked as a Chemist for years and I think I;ve done all the weighing and measuring I EVER want to do. I leaned out but it seemed sluggish and not very much fun from a culinary perspective. When I’m on the Zone I just do not cook.
I have not been doing much in the way of met-con for some time, focusing instead on rings work, handstand walking and general strength work…pretty much what I was doing before finding CrossFit. This inspired me to eat the way I ate for years which was cyclic low carb. Easy, fun and effective. I’ve leaned out remarkably fast, feel REALLY good and performance has been pretty good to boot. I did a 4:34 Fran with about a 80% effort yesterday and have literally done no met-con for weeks. My best ever was 2:58 so I’m pretty happy with this. The thing I’m reminded with all this is it’s great to experiment and it’s also good to have more than one strategy to answer a given problem. Some people absolutely THRIVE on the Zone. Fortunately or unfortunately, I’m not one of those peeps.
Cyclic low carb eh? I may have to try that… I’m just not ditching the last bit of fat, specifically the insulin loving love handles. I’ve leaned out a lot, but I’m with you on the zone. I actually went back to straight Paleo out of frustration and then I found myself wanting more cheats. Going to read up now and try this, getting leaned out for better performance is my goal. While I get great performance on the Zone, I’m just not getting an leaner now (even tweaked). Thanks Rob!
The jousting accident that turned Henry VIII into a tyrant
Medical study uncovers turning point in king’s life. Michael McCarthy reports
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After the fall Henry became cruel, vicious and paranoid
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Henry VIII became the tyrannical monster remembered by history because of a personality change following a serious jousting accident, according to a new historical documentary.
After the accident – just before he became estranged from the second of his six wives, Anne Boleyn – the king, once sporty and generous, became cruel, vicious and paranoid, his subjects began talking about him in a new way, and the turnover of his wives speeded up.
The accident occurred at a tournament at Greenwich Palace on 24 January 1536 when 44-year-old Henry, in full armour, was thrown from his horse, itself armoured, which then fell on top of him. He was unconscious for two hours and was thought at first to have been fatally injured.
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Leading article: Kingsize fall
But, although he recovered, the incident, which ended his jousting career, aggravated serious leg problems which plagued him for the rest of his life, and may well have caused an undetected brain injury which profoundly affected his personality, according to the History Channel documentary Inside the Body of Henry VIII. The programme focuses on the king’s medical problems which grew worse in his later years, especially his ulcerated legs and his obesity: measurements of his armour show that, between his 20s and his 50s, the 6ft 1in monarch’s waist grew from 32in to 52in, his chest expanded from 39in to 53in, and, by the time of his death in 1547 at the age of 56, he is likely to have weighed 28 stone.
Robert Hutchinson, a biographer of Henry; Catherine Hood, a doctor; and the historian Lucy Worsley, who is chief curator of Britain’s Historic Royal Palaces, offer a picture of a sovereign eventually overwhelmed by health problems by the time of his death. His doctors recorded that he had badly ulcerated legs, was unable to walk, his eyesight was fading, and he was plagued by paranoia and melancholy.
However, Henry had started out with excellent health as a young man, being universally admired for his manly physique. An ambassador at the Tudor court reported: “His Majesty is the most handsomest potentate I have ever set eyes on. Above the usual height with an extremely fine calf to his leg and a round face so very beautiful it would become a pretty woman.”
He may have had a bout of smallpox at the age of 23, but the experts speculate that his real medical problems began at the age of 30 when he appears to have contracted malaria, which is thought to have returned throughout his life. They were intensified by two factors: open sores on his legs and sporting injuries.
The sores – varicose ulcers, which began on his left leg when he was 36, and later affected his right – may have been caused by the restrictive garters he wore to show off his calves. They never healed, and increasingly restricted his mobility.
Henry also suffered various injuries because of his well-known love of sports – he excelled at pursuits such as archery, wrestling and real tennis, and, playing the latter game he seriously injured his foot.
But it was jousting – two armoured horsemen charging at each other with wooden lances in “the lists” – which proved the most dangerous. His first serious accident occurred in 1524 when he failed to lower the visor on his helmet and was hit by his opponent’s lance just above the right eye, after which he constantly suffered from migraines.
Jousting nearly killed him 12 years later. The fall at Greenwich left him “speechless” for two hours, and Anne Boleyn, the woman for whom he had divorced his original queen, Katherine of Aragon, was told that he would die – the shock of which news, she said, caused her to miscarry the child she was expecting. The miscarried baby was male, and it was immediately after this that Henry told Anne they would clearly never have male children together, and turned against her. Less than six months later Anne had been executed and Henry had married the third of his six wives, Jane Seymour.
But the jousting accident may have affected his whole personality, the experts suggest. “We posit that his jousting accident of 1536 provides the explanation for his personality change from sporty, promising, generous young prince, to cruel, paranoid and vicious tyrant,” Lucy Worsley says. “From that date the turnover of the wives really speeds up, and people begin to talk about him in quite a new and negative way. “After the accident he was unconscious for two hours; even five minutes of unconsciousness is considered to be a major trauma today.” Henry may have suffered a brain injury, Dr Worsley says. “Damage to the frontal lobe of the brain can perfectly well result in personality change.”
What is beyond doubt is that the end of his jousting combined with his leg ulcers to restrict his movement and Henry, who had a large appetite anyway, began to put on weight rapidly. The programme reconstructs his diet, suggesting he may have eaten up to 13 dishes a day, the majority comprising meat such as lamb, chicken, beef, game, rabbit, and a variety of birds like peacock and swan, and he may have drunk 10 pints of ale a day as well as wine, as water was unsafe.
Henry, the programme says, “became a comfort-eating paranoid recluse – a 28 stone man-mountain.”
Leave it to Robb to make airport food look appealing!! lol
YOU WEREN’T A FATTY!
I don’t understand… if you were “Zoning” (1/2) carb, wouldn’t that still be considerably low carb?
So what do you mean when you say you’ve switch to how you were eating “years” ago; saying it like your old or something! How many less carbs do you think you are consuming; less than 1/2 of your carb blocks?
Hope you have a great trip in Chicago!
Blaire and I talked about this the other day…despite being on only 1/2 Zone carbs, it was still too many for me…
Hey Robb,
Do you follow any set plan with the CLC. If I remember from the N.H.E book, he advocated higher carbs on a kind of rotating schedule like every 3rd day then 4th day, repeat etc.. What have you found to be effective?
Cheers,
Rob
Rob-
I have really decreased the size of the carb loads…only about 100g. About every 3-4 days. Working well thus far but there is no single way to do this!
“cyclic low-carb”? Do you have any details or references for those of us looking for that sort of thing? (I did a quick site search, but didn’t find anything)
I’ve had the same experiences w/ Zone, and would love to hear your approach. Thanks, Robb!
Adam-
Check out the book “Natural Hormonal Enhancement”. You will also find a load of info in the compilation pieces from the CF and Performance Menu boards.
Hey Robb-
Long time lurker, and I’m headed to your cert in Boston soon. Anyways, I have been looking for some reading about cyclic low carb, any recommendations? Thanks, and see you soon.
-Mike
Mike-
Natural Hormonal Enhancement is a good read.
Hey Coach,
So I have been doing some reading of different information and have a question on PWO meals. I am in no way trying to do the “us vs. them” thing but it seems that’s just what happens with anything CF. I follow your advice over others but just want to get a better understanding.
Some say that the post workout meal should not be had because it is a chance for the body to balance out any insulin sensitivity damage done. That if someone can add insulin weight on quickly its best that the person stay in a state where the insulin is balancing out post workout and not eat for an hour after a workout/ or not at all until the next meal and (though they don’t say) probably would suggest (I assume) balanced, low density proportions. Some suggest that there is no effect taken from a high carb PWO meal and that it can even turn off the fat burning effect. Devany thinks that a high carb meal PWO shuts down the insulin enhancing sensitivity.
Your suggestion, and that which is followed by top CF athletes, is get that stuff in there quickly after a workout for recovery. But from your stand point what’s all this jabber about screwing with the insulin sensitivity that the “others” are talking about?
I’ve done what you normally say to do in situations like this; “try it out and see which one works for you” but honestly I can’t tell. I’ve gone back to strict zone/paleo for the past 6 days and leanness kind of fluctuates but as far as insulin sensitivity I am unsure as to what the hell is actually going on, internally (im thinking longevity besides performance). My carbs are pretty low to begin with. To narrow it down where is your standpoint coming from, so I have a better understanding and am able to relate to others the “why” and would you recommend high carb or no carb on different days? How and why?
Hopefully this isn’t a bad/ annoying question.
Thanks for any help,
Chris
Chris!
This…is a trade-off. There are arguments for BOTH approaches. If you have a health and longevity bias, I’d say low carb PWO (generally), if you are a performance bias (wanting to kick ass at CF or another sport) generally a PWO carb re-feed is in order. All that said there are reasons to swap BOTH approaches…it’s complex and interesting stuff and I will HAMMER it in my book. Till then, just keep an eye towards your bias and fuel accordingly.
Now that I think about it the Paleo community is full of asowme bloggers, podcasters, and entrepanuers. three podcasts off the top of my head are everydaypaleo.com is two women and a male moderator. Good for the wife and get the family involved. Then there is the Paleosolution.com that is Rob Wolfe and it gets into the workout stuff. Latestinpaleo.com is the news and opionion in the community with angelo coppela. The last one is the one I would recomend for this group to learn about paleo and the controverseies in there.Current score: 0
Good point on experimenting Rob. I found that the zone + weighing and measuring has worked really well for me. But that’s just me, there’s rarely one answer but better to start on a common path and then blaze your own trail!
Maybe that’s the case with me too? As you know I’m much happier on very low carb. Thanks for the phosphatidyl Serine tip I’ll give that a try.
Quick follow-up question – Did you maintain all of your strength gains through the leaning process?
Steven-
Not all, but most. Keeping a dedicated, linear progression going really helps to prevent the down-tick in strength.
Robb,
What version of cyclical low carb are you doing? Original metabolic diet or are you tweeking it? I ask b/c there seems to be so much leeway in how much post-workout carbs, etc that it start to look almost zone-like after enough modifications.
Also, how do you think a carb cycling diet would work with crossfit football work outs? This would be for someone who does them just for kicks, not actually training for anything.
Thanks
Michael-
You are spot on! CLC essentially becomes PWO carb load athletes Zone if the re-feeds are frequent enough…just depends on how you want to slice it all up!
You jsut have to tinker with this! it might be great, it might be horrible…The adaptation period can be upwards of 3 weeks so you DO need to give it some time!
Rob, thanks for all your great info. The website is a great resource. I was wondering if you could go into what exactly you meant by cyclic low carb. I’m guessing it’s still paleo but how is it different from say, skining the zone? Thanks and keep up the good work.
Dustin-
It’s just keeping carbs below 30-50g/day most days. I did a pretty good review of CLC for the Performance Menu…check that out!
Hey Robb, I completely agree with the experimenting. I’m another one who falls back to the paleo/zone. My wife has been at a plateau recently and I made all the zone adjustments down C up F and all the other variations. Nothing seemed to work. Last week I started on a 20g C a day she feels ago. I know she won’t last so when do you start cycling the carbs. I’ve seen different variations.
I think I can keep her at this level one more week then I was going to go to 40-60g for a week then back down for another week.
I know you are busy but if you could give us some insight on your cycle.
Matt
Matt-
There are loads of ways to tackle this…read the CF/PM message board compilations as I’m pretty sure that topic get hammered in there. I will try to do a post on CLC soon.
What does Squire think of pullups as an exercise..evol ‘correct’ pleasum ?
Magic for the shoulders…we did swing from the branches for quite some time…
Robb-
Are you upping your fats considerably? For example, what would your macros (in % look like)? I’m just wondering as I plan on experimenting myself.
Also, did you avoid re-feeding for those 3 weeks? And would you reccomend this approach to someone doing the mainsite WOD’s?
Tommy-
Adding some fat to most meals, not force feeding like I have done in the past….I have no idea what the macros play out to…likely 20-30% protein, the remainder fat. Pretty minimal carbs on low carb days.
I did no re-feed for 14 days, I do not follow the mainsite WOD. More strength work, shorter met-cons have been my approach for some time. It would be POSSIBLE to do the mainsite on low carb but your total work output would be quite low. If you REALLY want to rock CF you need (generally) to take in carbs more frequently.
Robb-
Cool. Thanks for your response. Is this a long term diet (i.e. more than 6-12 months) or short-term? I am thinking about doing it myself but then questioning how to re-introduce carbohydrates (such as fruit) when I go back to Zone-style/Paleo dieting which is my long term approach.
Hope to meet you at the Boston Cert, sir.
Thanks-
Tommy-
I ate this way exclusively for over 5 years. I love it. It fit my activity level for that time and I felt good. You just need to tinker and see what delivers the goods for you.