E.g., “Two new studies, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, provide evidence that postprandial (after eating) triglycerides may deserve more attention in the assessment of risk of heart disease. These studies suggest that a blood sample taken a few hours after your last meal may identify a risk for heart attack and other serious cardiovascular problems that are not identified from the traditional fasting triglyceride test after a 12-hour fast (today?s preferred test).”
http://www.labtestsonline.org/news/triglycerides070819.html

or say, this one from the well-known Paul Ridker:

Clinical Chemistry. 2008

Fasting versus Nonfasting Triglycerides and the Prediction of Cardiovascular Risk: Do We Need to Revisit the Oral Triglyceride Tolerance Test?

“postprandial triglycerides may be a more potent predictor of risk suggests that the concordance for individuals is only modest and that the variability in postprandial concentrations captures relevant information about an individual’s metabolism”
http://www.clinchem.org/cgi/content/full/54/1/11

integrate all of those and see if it helps. You might also consider adding in 150mcg/day of iodine. Keep em posted.

I’m at university and am doing okay school wise but do not enjoy my time away from school. I am 2 and a half years post brain injury and although it is not noticeable I still face some problems cognitively. So I suppose my stress levels are relatively high at times.

I’m training with a Crossfit coach and he is carefully monitoring my training. I usually train 3 or 4 days on, one day recovery. Usually one of the days is a double.

As for sleep… I usually get 7 and a half hours of sleep a night. I like to get up early. I know I should probably be getting more sleep.

For the food log.. I do not have one but today for example:
banana before going to gym (just rest day)
chicken breast, apple sauce with flax seed and orange for breakfast… some dehydrated fruit

fruit snack

shrimp – tomato – cucumber – celery salad
low sodium vege juice
apple

can of low sodium tuna

and for dinner i will have a sole fillet with broccoli and other veges with almond milk

I do not measure quantities so I am not sure it that will help much

I will be seeing a gyncologist (I think that is the right doctor?) next week and have had ultra sounds in the past but do not want to be put on the birth control pill so I was wondering if there was anything I could do nutritionally?

For you I would want to know sleep, stress levels, a food log, age, training load…lots of potential variables.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35058896/ns/health-heart_health/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35058886/ns/health-heart_health/

For the past two weeks I’ve been plugging what I eat into fitday and found that I’ve been eating around 1,600 max per day, sometimes lower, and this just seems like a low amount of calories for me. I’m 20 years old 5’10 150-152lbs and I workout 3-4x/week, a mix of CF + upper body strength stuff while my right hamstring heals from straining it. I also walk a fair amount due to being on a college campus, no less than 3 miles a day. I have not had the chance to weigh myself in around 3 weeks due to my class schedule, but I will be able to this weekend. Any thoughts as to why this is happening? When I lift heavy I am hungry, and I can turn the switch on to eat 3,000 per day (which I averaged during my SS cycle) when I do SS, but doing CF stuff I just don’t get as hungry. Regardless of exercise, shouldn’t my BMR be higher than what I am eating? I feel like it is, but do not know, and I don’t trust online calculators. Any advice is appreciated.

Anyway, keep up the good work.

I will try the enzymes – it will be interesting to see if they make a difference

thanks for any input….

My program would be
sun: high vol/high intensity – 5×5 squat/5×5 press/1×5 deadlift
mon: rest
tues: bjj
wed: metcon
thurs: rest –> eventually adding bjj here
fri: low vol/high int squats + 5×3 pwr clean + 3×3 pwr snatch
sat: bjj
sun: rest

Some useless stats: 6′ – 185lb. Sleep is 8 hours a day, food is still being tweaked, but full paleo, bout 3700 cals a day 47% fat, 30% protein, 23% carbs.

Am I on the right track? Sorry for the long post, appreciate any input, keep up the good work.

Luke

I’ve been talking to a co-worker and trying to get him to clean up his routine, both diet and exercise, with one point being to drop grains from his diet. He tends to agree that dropping grains would be good but he started eating more grains based on his doctor telling him to because he suffers from what he says is low blood sugar. My response to him was no grains, more fruit if you need the extra sugar. Just curious as to what your thoughts are Robb.

Thanks

Except he fed people with loaves of bread……

(By the way, I later had a second example when I switched from magnesium pills to Natural Calm, felt absolutely awful, switched back to magnesium pills, and now feel better than great again.)

Completely unrelated question: Any thoughts on quinoa?

Thanks, as always, for all the great info!

I was wondering if you will be in Boston soon or should I jump for the NJ site? I know you’re working on the schedule but I thought I’d ask before NJ sells out. Thanks Robb, happy you’re on the road again.

P.S. Love the podcasts!

Really needs to be a fasting number. Vitamin D can help, but get a test to see where you are at currently first. If not in the 50-75 range then supplement.

Great show, as usual. I had a comment re: Carlos’ question in episode 14 about what women can eat during their menstrual cycle to help with cravings. I have had some luck with a recommendation I found in Julia Ross’s books The Mood Cure and The Diet Cure. For ‘urgent’ sugar or carb cravings, break apart a 500 mg capsule of l-glutamine and dissolve it under your tongue, or for less urgent situations, just swallow it. It’s saved me in a few situations from going on a carb binge.

I don’t know how this works biochemically (I’m sure you do) but it may be worth mentioning on the next show if you feel the information is sound. I know a lot of women deal with this problem!

Post that video of you lifting!

Also, just wanted to say: 1 more for yams vs fruit for the leaning out bit. I am seeing some good results with minimal effort + yams pw/o (went with poliquins recommendation for the amount in grams).

Another side note: I live in the same state, approximately 15 min away, from PPC. Have you ever been there? He is in one of the most awkward, backwater areas in RI. Had a real hard time trying to find the actual building. (still looking honestly) Just thought this was ironic is all.

WAIT!! That was a non-fasting test? It’s worthless. It must be fasting levels.

Nick

I did get a call from my Dr and they said that my cholesterol was high but that I could fix it with diet (no shit) so, Im wondering, is it really off base, would vitamin D help and how much should I be taking?

I eat 6 eggs every morning with veggies. My lunches are almost always chicken 85% free range, I would guess about 8 oz at a time and either veggies or berries of some sort. I eat coconut like it was going out of style and I probably chug 1 can of light coconut milk every other day or so. Dinner is usually more chicken but I try to mix it up with pork and beef when I can. Lately Ive not been able to eat enough meat to keep me full, so Ive been trying to up my protein intake. Like I said, I drink milk and eat cheese but only Raw grass fed. I indulge in either wine or tequila exclusively now and maybe only once or twice per week and never in excess (1-2 glasses at a time). Im 6-2, 187, pretty lean, dont know the % but I can see my abs. Strength and power is my focus, not being ripped, but if I get it as a side effect, score!. I get between 5 and 8 hours of sleep every night, with it lately being closer to the 7 mark. I supplement only with carlsons fish oil @ 2-3 tblspoons per day. And my lipid panel came out as follows….

CHOLESTEROL 229
HDL 97
LDL 109
TRIGLYCERIDE, NONFASTING 98

Thanks for looking and, as always, thank you for all you do.

The biggest difference between a protein + yams PWO meal and a protein + fruit PWO meal is in the area of glycogen replenishment. Fructose from the fruit will replenish liver glycogen, whereas yams will replenish muscle glycogen.

While replacing muscle glycogen is important, if you go back and read this (http://robbwolf.com/2009/10/08/crossfit-on-a-low-carb-paleo-diet-mat-lalonde-reporting/) you will see that we may not need a huge PWO meal to accomplish it.

Thanks for all that you do, between this blog and the podcast. I have a followup question to dhani’s of the “do you really mean it?” variety. Working from your high-end recommendation of 1.0 g / 10 lbs fish oil, at 200 lbs, I am consuming 20 g of DHA/EPA in the form of 25 five ml servings of liquid fish oil. This amounts to 1000 calories / day! I’m not currently “WAMing,” but I would think that the oil would make up a considerable contribution to my day’s energy needs. Or do we assume that the body uses all of the precious omega-3s to correct its “metabolic derrangement”? I hope that that is the case, as 1000 calories of oil doesn’t leave a lot of room for other foods.

And regarding the LSD training, Miko Salo does moderate 5 and 6 mile runs some mornings and claims it’s his secret weapon. He eats pasta too. But I love your point about laying on the couch 23 hours a day, then doing fran, then laying on the couch, then doing helen. Mark Sisson is big on the low level activity quality between hard workouts too. Great show!

I do have a vested interest in the answer. My Chinese wife was pretty offended when I told her I wouldn’t be eating rice anymore. If it’s deemed okay that would help in the marital relations dept.

NOT a fan of oatmeal. Still contains gluten.

L.A.

PS- On the menstruation front, I agree with you completely about the misconceptions that women should necessarily have a period every month. Mine has never been regular and my GYN doc told me not to fret, that ideally a woman should have very short or no periods if she was on the BC correct for her body. Going paleo hasn’t changed my irregular period, but all the typical symptoms associated with menstruation (cramps, cravings, bloating, etc) are gone. Joy!

I recently had a large increase in my training volume. PT with my ROTC detachment twice a week, Nor Cal S&C on ramp program roughly 4 or 5 days a week, as well as 2-3 strength training sessions per week. I’m an 18 year old male. Weight: about 135lbs. I was very lean (well below 10%BF). I eat strict low carb Paleo (all carbs coming from spinach, broccoli, etc). About 3 weeks ago, I started gaining BF like nobody’s business! I dropped my caloric intake, but continued to gain BF. I realized that I probably had some overtraining related cortisol issues. I’ve been taking it easy the last two weeks. I’ve only been doing the mandatory, twice weekly PT sessions which are not demanding at all. I assumed that the cutting back on my training would fix the cortisol problem and return my BF to normal. No dice. I dropped my calories and did about a week of WAMing and was getting about 1600 cals (less than 30g of carb). Still no dice. Realizing I may have been under-eating, I have been gradually increasing my caloric intake over the past 5 or 6 days. Still seeing very little progress. I get 8-10 hours of sleep/night. Any idea how long I may need to restrict my training before cortisol is back to normal? Any suggestions on how to get back to single digit BF in a timely manner? In the past, eye balling a low carb Paleo diet was money, but now I can’t seem to budge from around 12% BF. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I had a question on some of the older podcasts. Cheat meals seems to have come up a few times and your take has been that there might be some benefit, there might not, use it if it works for you. My question is, though, if you have a cheat meal once a week are you stopping yourself from ever healing your gut? I’m thinking of the military guys you mentioned keeping crap in their diet every now and then so that they can eat the MRE’s when deployed without significant issues.

It seems like one cheat meal a week wouldn’t throw off insulin sensitivity if you were good the rest of the time but are is there enough of an irritant to keep your gut chronically inflammed?

Just listened to you latest podcast, not sure if that pushes you into 20+ listeners or not, but it made me do some reading on Dr. Eades and was curious if you read this blog post by him:

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/cardiovascular-disease/four-patients-who-changed-my-life/

Also, would love to hear your thoughts on oatmeal, I remember reading your Feeding The Machine posts, and saw it in a few meal plans, maybe OPT’s??

“Robb……Roooobbbb” …awesome Andy!

Just finding myself intrigued by wheatgrass at the moment. Is there anything to it, and is it worth taking a shot a day?

So fructose. Everyday? I eat blueberries, strawberries, blackberries apples, grapes, mangos, quite a lot. The diet on http://www.freeacnebook.com (not my website, I promise) looks exactly Paleo, but says to eat only fruits and no vegetables.

And chocolate. Great fat source. Not everyday?

The whole idea that people closer to the Equator are more carbohydrate tolerant feels like another product of evolution. It reminds me of how people from northern latitudes develop light skin in order to absorb more vitamin d during the summer whereas people from equatorial latitudes develop dark skin in or order to absorb less vitamin d. Robb, these things may be true, but genes can be expressed. Take male pattern baldness. Sure, everything is genetic to some degree. But diet and lifestyle (sun, exercise) can express the way genes act, notably in male pattern baldness.

I have a question about gum disease: I’ve had a hunch for a while now that inflamed gums are caused by the same sorts of things that cause inflammation elsewhere in the body. In Gary Taubes’ book, he mentions briefly one experiment where researchers eating low-carb for a year wound up curing their gum disease. After eliminating grains, gluten, legumes, and dairy, is there anything else that you think might cause irritated gums/inflammation? Can mildly inflamed gums be a symptom of something larger? I feel great otherwise.

Bachelor party?

Podcast is great, I’m glad you guys continue to update it!

However, I will say that your use of the word ‘gig’ is getting excessive…..ha

mike

I have a fast question about post workout. I had posted before that I have been eating 3 meals a day, LCP with all carbs coming from veggies such as broccoli, spinach, red cabbage, asparagus, etc and I was not eating a PWO. I started feeling lethargic so I added a PWO per your recommendation. I also, according to your reply and earlier podcast, switched my Jits S&C from CFSB to 2 times a week of ring based warmup, Squat, Shoulder Press, BW Pull (Pull-ups) and BW Press (Pushup) one day and the other being ring based warm-up, DL, Bench or Clean, BW Pull (Muscle Ups or Chin Ups) and BW Press (HSPU or Dips). I have been using the following post workout. On Strength days I eat an organic sweet potato with cinn. on top, can of salmon (140 cal 22p) and 2 eggs and on jits nights I eat the salmon, eggs, and then a very small shake of 1 cup frozen spinach, 1 spoon cocoa, splash of lite coconut milk, and then between a quarter cup and full cup natural blueberries depending on intensity and time spent rolling. The lethargic feeling has gone away, as well as lasting soreness, and energy in class seems to be going well. My question is if this looks solid or if maybe I should be eating more carbs PWO Jits and no PWO carbs post strength. Maybe I am splitting hairs but you have helped so many people so far and considering you have done jits, which is awesome btw, your the perfect guy to ask this stuff too. Concerns are staying strong, and eventually trying to get DL and Squat up to 2x BW (at 325 max now at 180bw) and staying below 10% BF. Not all about vanity here either, I perform better being lean and generally feel better about life.

Thanks again for the help! I reference anyone who asks directly here, and so far a few people have asked about my eating and conditioning at Jits because I never gas on the mats or when I am banging out muscle ups at the gym and people ask….they get sent here!

Thanks again!

I never, ever, EVER forget anything to do with movies. That’s why I was rubbish in school. All I had was movie quotes rattling around in this tiny pin head of mine.

When I saw the words “Prayer of the Rollerboys” I remembered them in those big silly trenchcoats all formation skating in a V. I have never seen it, but I remember the advert for it in the UK. It was advertised on a VHS from my local video store that I watched with monotonous regularity. I instantly thought it was Lost Boys, but the timings don’t match. I’m going to be racking my brains for months now.

Another ad I always saw was 8 Million Ways to Die with Jeff Bridges. Never saw that either, but I’m pretty sure Patricia’s mom Rosanna Arquette was in it.

Ridiculous.

http://optimumperformancetraining.blogspot.com/2010/02/nutrition-201-pearls.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/01/AR2010010101611.html

I have picked up a lot of peripheral information in what you have presented in the podcasts so far as well as some research I have been doing on my own but would like to get your flesh out on it.

On another note do you believe you will still be coming to VA in July? I saw in one of your posts that it was a possiblity. Fingers crossed it is not planned for the last weekend of the month! lol

Thanks.

Respectfully,
Steven