What the Primal Blueprint means to me. Law#7 Play

I think we can all agree that leading a stressful life is damaging to our health, there shouldn't be any debate there. But on the other side of the coin, I think we forget the benefits of stress-free times, and at the far end of the spectrum, actually having fun and playing. Play isn't just a past time for kids who haven't had the misfortune to grow up and commit to full-time jobs (including the hour commute each way) and family commitments. We all need to play, the release of "feel good" hormones (including, but not limited to endorphins) is essential to de-stress and have a bit of enjoyment in our lives. Play allowed our ancestors to socialize, build relationships, and actually use their health and fitness to enjoy simply moving. No, sitting in front of the TV for 2-3 hours after a long days work is not considered de-stressing or playtime under the primal blueprint.

Sadly, in the UK it rains far too much in the autumn to enjoy this kind of play

What is play? Play can be a huge number of things, sports are a great example because you are literally playing them. In addition though, you are competing, socializing and building teamwork. In addition, these kinds of playtime are enjoyable ways to move and get the heart going outside of the pre-defined exercise regimes without the view to simply up the number of hours in the gym each week. If anything, play is more important to overall well being than some of the movement laws. Sadly, we don't really allow ourselves to play anymore.

Here are some good, and some bad examples of "playtime" that I have taken part in over the past few years.

• Martial arts - good exercise, discipline, progression, and applied physical ability. Also working with others to refine skills and build the relationships afterwards. I like this example because it combines all of the primal blueprint exercise laws while building skills and physical ability and control.
• After-training drinks - After a 1-2 hour karate session, meeting in the pub afterwards is a great for socializing, catching up with friends and solidifying relationships outside of working hard, and well, beating each other up for a few hours a week. This has taken two forms over my University career. In the early years it was drinking time, i.e. get the drinks in, spill into halls after midnight with maybe 8 pints down, and sleep still in need of a shower. Later on, this became a far more tame glass of water to re-hydrate and maybe a few drinks maximum, or just an orange juice depending on my mood and cash-flow. Socializing, tick. However, there is a bit of a fuzzy area surrounding drinking and good health. Some is perhaps ok, but after exercise, maybe not so much. I'll call this one part of the 80/20 rule.
• Hanging with the family in the garden in summer time. Must be summer in the UK otherwise it rains 95% of the time. Good socializing and catching up
• Sports - I have had games of badminton, chucked a Frisbee around and just general playing around outside and enjoying time.
• Games nights - kind of counts as socializing, but too much time sitting in front of a screen, in a dark room and playing video games for hours isn't really conducive to a healthy lifestyle.
• Playing with my dog - he's coming on 14 years old now so he isn't quite as sprighty as he once was, but still good fun to play with.

I liked this infographic as a fair summary of the benefits of playing sports.

Play is good for us, and just because we have commitments and busy schedules does not mean that we should neglect this key component of our lifestyles. In addition, trying to 'primalise' the play you do get has benefits also and allows playtime to merge with the movement and exercise laws (e.g. does going out drinking with friends, coming home fairly incoherent at 3am and feeling pretty sick the next day really count as play? answer- no, even with all those selfies you took showing how much fun you were having). I am guilty of not getting anywhere near enough play, and this is the primal law I am having the most trouble with. As much as saying that a full time master's degree and a part-time job, as well as fairly strict exercise regime leaves little time for play (especially when I am stressing about coursework) seems like a fair excuse; it will not do if I want to have the best health possible. Once again I'll stress the point, for type 1 diabetics, looking after all elements of health is essential - de-stressing and playing often enables better diabetes control and allows for avoidance of related complications. Its not all about only diet and exercise anymore; we must take a holistic approach.

So here is a challenge for us all. Take a few hours over the course of the next week, and play. Do something new/different, or do something more of what you enjoy. Do it with family or friends, and try to make it as primal as possible. Head to the park with the family and the dog and run about, play and enjoy the time spent. Take a football, Frisbee or whatever you can play with and play. Maybe post a comment and share the playtime fun. I'll try to write a brief follow up post sharing some play that I will be doing while the sun is out. One of the popular quotes of today is 'you only live once', often as an excuse to act like a stupid, spoiled, and selfish child. However, when we recontextualize this into 'you only die once, you live everyday', perhaps we can see the importance of playing, de-stressing and enjoying life everyday - rather than as an attempt to justify reckless behaviors. 

YOLO? I'd rather not. I want to live every day

Respectfully,

Sam

What the primal Blueprint means to me. Law#6 Get Adequate Sleep

Ah, sleep. Sometimes the most elusive of beasts, other times its all we can do to not fall asleep sitting at our desks. We've covered diet and exercise in the first 5 laws; now its time for the lifestyle laws. This primarily in my view where the paleo diet (the hint is in the word - diet) and the primal lifestyle differ. It is not sufficient to only eat and exercise well for optimum health, and laws 6 through 10 cover key, sometimes unspoken rules that when followed bring us closer to our cave-man ancestors and their capacity for amazingly good health.

See, even the most awesome folks need a nap every now and then

Why is sleep important? It seems a stupid question, but the importance of sleep goes beyond simply filling the time at night when we are tired and finished with mass streaming a new tv series on netflix. We don't only need sleep because we're tired, although tiredness is a good indication of when we need sleep.
Sadly, sleep is one of the most neglected elements of health as many don't understand its purpose fully. The other reason is that we focus so heavily on what we eat, and how much we exercise, as well as our jobs, family obligations, and so on, that we forget about getting enough quality sleep.

Now, I cannot claim to be an expert in the science of sleep, but I have some primal information that may help at least the uninitiated. In principle, it comes down to one key concept - recovery. We need to recover from our hectic lifestyles and rebuild ourselves for the coming day. Exercise is one of the best examples. Your exercise gains (muscle mass, strength gain, etc) do not come in the gym, they come from the recovery process. This is why doing weight training every day will not build muscle mass, because you're focusing to much on breaking your body down, that the re-building that strengthens it gets left by the wayside. When it comes to sleep, this is when the majority of our recovery and immune system behaviour kicks in (this is one of the reasons the flu leaves us unable to do much apart from rest - because we need it).

So how did our ancestors sleep, how did they do it? After all, they didn't have soft mattresses with snugly warm tog 15 duvets, or even alarm clocks to wake them up. They used the sun of course, sleeping following sunset and waking with the sunrise. It may not  have been unbroken sleep due to the need for awareness of nocturnal predators, but this isn't necessarily a great measure of quality sleep anyway. Oh, and without 9-5 jobs taking up the whole day, taking a mid-afternoon nap in the shade on a hot day would be perfectly fine and guilt free.

How do we emulate this today? Well, have a look at some of these awesome resources from marksdailyapple. As for what I have to say, here are some observations/ things I have been working on to help me get enough quality sleep.

Me, far too often with Uni at the minute

• Go to bed earlier - this comes from my and Claire's habit to stay up till 2/3am watching recorded TV and then sleep late the next day. Needless to say that this is no longer workable with full-time working weeks and early mornings. What I have noticed however is that simply going to bed when I am tired, rather than the oft-abused 'just one more episode' feeling has helped improve the amount of sleep I get.
• Fully wind down before sleep - I've noticed nowadays that watching TV, or being on the laptop/smartphone/tablet too close to attempted sleep messes up my sleep rhythm. Either it takes me longer to sleep, or I wake up constantly and don't get the quality of sleep I need. I am currently trying to read for 30 minutes before bed each night, and whenever I do my night's sleep is far more refreshing.
• Avoid blue light in the evenings - Blue light gets us up, and this is part of the reason that late-night TV/smartphones/computer screens disrupt our sleeping patterns. I have installed blue light filters on all of my equipment so that if I must check my phone, or be up late working on Uni coursework (most nights at the minute) then at least I reduce the negative effects these can have on sleep. 
• I keep the bedroom for sleeping - I try especially hard to treat the bedroom as a sleeping place, so it is not associated with day-time stressors and can be simply a space for sleep. I must admit that having a partner affects this greatly, especially if there is a particular series she wants to catch up on. But, its a work in progress.

I will likely think of more action points as soon as I post this, but as this post is already overdue because of sickness I'll keep it short. As usual, the best place to look is marksdailyapple, in particular at the definitive guide to sleep, and 17 ways to improve your sleep and embrace this crucial element of good health. Next time, we'll look at law#7 - Play and try to have some fun. In the mean time, here's a picture of cute animals sleeping.

Respectfully,

Sam

Two years a diabetic

I forgot my dates and just remembered that last week was my 2 year diabetic anniversary, if there is such a thing. I know that I was diabetic long before diagnosis, but April 4th 2012 was my diagnosis date. Perhaps what I should say is two years injecting insulin - that's more accurate, I think.

Except without the cake

So, what have I learnt in those two years? It feels like I've learnt more biology and health, diet, physical education in those two years than my nearly 5 years so far in psychology at undergrad and now postgrad level. I guess you pay more attention when its your life on the line. As its my second anniversary, I want to write about two major lessons I've learned about living with type 1 diabetes. This doesn't sound like much, but they cover so much.

1 - You need a holistic approach

You cant deal with type 1 diabetes, or any health condition for that matter, by acting on only a single element. This is why so many type 1's have such bad experiences, because their struggle is only about trying to impossibly balance a high-carb SAD diet, with insulin injections (often two types), regular testing and a lot of stress. Exercise and diet play crucial roles in health. Just because type 1 diabetes is not necessarily caused by being obese, sedentary and eating only pies, chocolate and red bull - but that doesn't mean that living a clean, active life eating good food wont help with the condition. The way I see it is this. There are so many related complications with type 1 diabetes, and I don't want any of them. As I've said more than once, 'I will not be one of those diabetics that looses a foot'. That became a mini-rant, sorry lets return to my main point. Since I started eating primally 90% of the time (completely eliminating grains as a first key objective), and exercising on the 4-day wave, I have reduced my insulin requirements massively. Now I take 5 units/daily basal, and 95% of the time I take 0 bolus units. That's right, most days I only need to inject once. I haven't had a hypo for months - other type 1's know how awesome this is. I am leaner and stronger than ever; down maybe 4% body fat and 4 inches around the waist, with little actual weight loss meaning that my muscle mass has increased greatly as well. In short, taking a holistic approach is the only way to make everything related to your health, and diabetes; awesome. And, do you know what, I love feeling awesome.

How life should be

2 - You have to be prepared to go it alone

This may not be true oprimallyne, but I've found that despite the support of others, you have to be able to make decisions and take charge of your own health. You have to make yourself the accountable person and you alone. I'm not saying don't seek support, but use it wisely. I'll give two examples. My fiancee Claire has been so supporting of my transition into eating and moving primally. But, it is still up to me to maintain this lifestyle. Its still up to me to decline that chocolate cake offered in good faith as I "eat so well the rest of the time". Even with positive reinforcement, you still must recognise your role in keeping yourself healthy. My second example are those people who don't understand, or do but see the way of eating as different and weird (I'm hearing weird a lot at the minute). What you have to accept is the nonacceptance of others. Even though I am by far the healthiest person in my household (despite type 1 diabetes), I am still the one ridiculed as the odd one out. Often it isn't ill-meaning, but there's only so many times I can hear 'just have a sandwich', 'you eat too much meat/fat', 'won't you have a hypo if you don't eat carbs?' and so on. The popular one currently is that I'm off to do my weird exercises again (I refrain from shouting vehemently about that being healthier than sitting in front of the TV for hours straight). Anyway, the point is, whenever you try something new and not within the cultural norms - you will have critics (ironically this may continue when you are the one who is making the healthy choices and suceeding). Its up to you what you do with these critics, and to follow only your own way, the way that works best for you. 

My message is this, whether you receive support and praise, or scepticism and ridicule - its up to you to follow your own best way to health in a holistic way. Its actually quite liberating as now I recognise that I am the responsible, accountable, and master of my own health destiny. For better or worse, its all down to me. 

To all other type 1s, find your way to great health and be awesome.

Respectfully,
Sam

What the Primal Blueprint means to me. Law#5 Sprint once in a while

We're half way there. Law#5 Sprinting once in a while. We've covered what to eat, what to not eat, moving a lot slowly, and lifting heavy things sometimes, now lets get sprinting.

Time to Bolt...

Here's the basic premise. Way back when, we had brief intense events where we might have been running down a hunt, running away from a predator, fighting a rival, etc - but nowadays we simply don't, at least in the same way. These extremely brief, yet extremely explosive and hormonal events triggered increases in strength, speed, twitch muscle responses and greatly increased longevity by becoming simply put, faster. Oh, and improve insulin sensitivity you type 1 diabetics will be glad to know. See, exercise is great for us - when done correctly. Now, this does not advocate a spin class at 85% max heart rate for an hour to exhaust yourself and in reality do little functional good. What it does mean is conducting super-short, super intense bursts of activity. These should be all-out, max effort sessions lasting less than 10 minutes (otherwise it becomes chronic cardio territory and you actually gain less).

So what does a sprint session look like. Well, as long as you follow the rules above almost anything goes. Actual sprints are good, or they could be done on a bike, or in a swimming pool (minus the bike). Here's a basic example using tabata timing. Now, I love tabata timing and TACFIT Commando uses it exclusively, as well as some other TACFIT programs. Take an exercise, in this case lets say a straight sprint on a track. Perform the exercise for 20 seconds, followed by a 10 second break where you catch your breath (by exhaling heavily - I'll cover this in a later post) - repeat this for eight rounds. So in four minutes you have beasted a single exercise and if you have been going at max capacity you really are smoked. One exercise I am working on at the moment is the leaping lunge - basically a jumping lunge trying to reach your legs as high as possible mid air. At the moment, its not in sprint territory because the reps are too low, but when I get up to 20 or so in that 20 second round - its gonna be a push. That reminds me, always maintain good form and if you feel pain, stop the exercise. Its better to be fully recovered performing less than max reps, than perform max reps and spend days aching. I rarely have the two-day aches I used to have, because I exercise smart - again, see Scott Sonnon's pages to go into this point in more depth.

Hill sprints are great, though they are killers

I must confess, I do not set aside specific sprint sessions. However, as some exercises do push me into that sprint - adrenalin response territory, I class these as sprinting elements of my exercise regime. Find what works for you is the main thing, but do include some amount of sprinting every week or two in your regime to fulfill your maximum health potential. For type 1 diabetics, compare a 10 minute sprint session to a prolonged hour in the gym and test your blood glucose before and after to conduct a bit of a self experiment. I've found the more I eat primal - see law#1 and law#2, the less exercise effects by blood sugars, but we must always be wary.

Now, lets all get out there for a sprint :-) To end the movement laws I like the pyramid below as a handy reference. Print it, and pin it up.

Respectfully,
Sam

What the Primal Blueprint means to me. Law# 4 Lift heavy things

Last time we covered moving frequently at a slow pace and the benefits of such exercise. I also discussed how prolonged cardio-based exercise isn't particularly functional or useful (if health or fat-loss are your goals, if you're a dedicated marathon runner then power to you). This time I want to discuss lifting heavy things as a mode of exercise that stimulates muscle growth and strength building.

Our ancestors walked a lot, and this should be a given when thinking about hunter-gatherer societies. Also, they lifted heavy things, not for exercise per se, but to drag the kill home, climb a tree to avoid danger, or haul something heavy across a campsite. For any parent readers, there were no carriers or places to leave your young ones for a few hours, babies would be carried almost non-stop through the days travels. This was an every day event, and as such our ancestors (including the children, and the women) were strong and lean. We may not be able to emulate these brief, yet regular exposures to lifting heavy things in modern society due to 9-5 working weeks and hectic lifestyles. But, the importance of lifting heavy is integral to health. Oh and for type 1 diabetics, increasing muscle mass (especially combined with reduced excess body-fat) increases insulin sensitivity and therefore less insulin is needed. Sound good?

The closest we can get to regular heavy lifting in modern society is planned exercise. There are loads of options out there, but a few key rules should be followed. Firstly, sessions should not exceed around 45 minutes (maybe an hour with breaks, not counting warm-ups and cool downs). Secondly, watch the intensity, you should be working hard, but not at full speed/capacity - that's what law#5 - sprint occasionally is all about. If you rated your excursion on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being maximum effort, I would say around a 6-8 rating would be ideal. Third, the sessions should focus on full body exercises where possible and not focus on isolating individual muscles. But I like the bicep curl machine, or the ab machine or the bench-press machine at the gym some will say. I could argue at length about this, but to keep it short I will only point out that our bodies are designed to work as an entire unit. Take the bench press as an example. You are missing out on the stabilizing tension the core and legs must perform during push ups. This is why gym muscle builders are so injury-prone, because their bodies are imbalanced and their musculature is out of whack. Personally, I would rather be fully-recovered, balanced, and have the ability to perform full body movements, rather than under-recovered, injury prone, but with the ability to boast defined biceps. So, in short lifting heavy things sessions should be brief, intense and full body events. See Marks post on the exercise action items here. What counts as a heavy thing? Firstly, we are heavy things - I weigh about 155 pounds, I would say that that's a heavy thing to lift. Of course weights, kettlebells and so on all count, but I argue that body-weight exercises should form the center of any exercise regime.

Push-ups are good

If you're feeling adventurous.

I plan on writing a series on different full body exercises and routines for beginners with progressions etc. But as I currently utilize TACFIT almost exclusively, I would feel like too much of a thief of Scott Sonnon's work just now. For a series of awesome body weight, dumbbell, and clubbell routines, amongst others - check out the TACFIT programs offered here.
Here's an overview of my medium and high intensity sessions. The exercises stay the same, but I vary reps to increase intensity. Medium intensity should be 6-8 on our exertion scale, and High intensity should be 8-10 (this is where it gets into sprint-like sessions).
Part 1- After warm-up - TACFIT Commando. Six exercises, each performed for 8 rounds of 20 seconds exertion folllowed by 10 seconds rest with a 60 second break between exercises. Totaling 30 minutes exercise. There are three 'missions' each with three progressions. Each runs for 28 days.
Part 2- Clubbell exercises. I'll post a full video on clubbell exercises soon, but for now lets agree that they're awesome. For the uninitiated, the clubbell is like a baseball bat, made of steel, weighing between 2-20kg. It doesn't sound heavy, but the swinging motions work the whole rotational movement. True caveman exercise :-) I am currently working on achieving a century in the double swipes from Trial by Fire to build up.
End with full body compensation yoga, and I am done in around an hour. I know this pushes the boundary of the prescribed 'lift heavy things' mantra. However, I have higher goals than average and ensure that I keep the sessions within safe limits and most importantly know my own limits.

Get a clubbell (or two), use it, love it.

I'll be writing a future post about the benefits of the TACFIT and CST health and recovery first exercise because it is the way forward. It functions perfectly with the primal/paleo lifestyle and most importantly for me, works amazingly to maintain my health living with type 1 diabetes. So, there we have it. Exercise 1-3 times a week for a brief, intense session with full body exercises to improve overall health, and build muscle mass. See you next time for Law#5 Sprint occasionally.

Respectfully,
Sam

Link love #2 Scott Sonnon

My second idol after Mark Sisson. Scott Sonnon is an awesome dude and his health first fitness is pure genius. He also endorses a paleo diet combined with smart exercise.
Don't work harder, work smarter

Check out his blog here

What the Primal Blueprint means to me. Law#3 Move Frequently at a Slow Pace

Primal Blueprint Law#3 - Move frequently at a slow pace.

The evidence against the sedentary lifestyle is mounting. Sitting is killing us. When I began my attempts at a standing desk, I was told that it was weird. I replied simply that the longer we sit, the quicker we die. I firmly believe this, and the science backs it up. We can no longer think that throwing an extended cardio session at an otherwise sedentary lifestyle will stave off obesity, ill health, or make-up-for last nights extra large pizza (even if it was with a diet coke). If we take as given that the previous posts in this series - which covered the primal blueprint eating laws - are sound, then the next few posts will build upon this basis.

Masses of fast food and the occasional heavy exercise session does not make a healthy, fit person

Before going any further, lets get one key element out of the way. Some 80% of body composition is determined by diet alone. This is why massive exercise sessions do not make up for a diet heavy in our primal avoids and the SAD diet. Have you ever seen those people who are regulars at a gym/exercise class, they show up dedicated every time and work the hardest of all- but remain overweight and under-toned. Well, the answer is simple, our bodies adapt to perform our exercise easier - but, these people have already adapted to theirs. That's right, the benefits eventually slide with continued prolonged and unchanging exercise (avoiding this will feature in my next few posts) because your musculature has already adapted to it. That excess fat you're trying to get rid of - I have already explained the best way in my previous posts - eat lots of plants and animals, and avoid poisonous things. To this I can now add; move frequently at a slow pace.
I've spent a long time writing against the methods some have tried and failed with to become healthy. Now it's time to look at the primal blueprint law and how we can follow it. The crux of the matter is this, we have evolved into bipedal walkers because we needed to. We would have walked for hours daily, either to relocate, or to hunt and gather as that's what we were - nomad hunter-gatherers. So, what does moving frequently at a slow pace look like?

Walk, walk, and walk some more

Firstly, lets define moving at a slow pace is personal to ourselves. One persons easy run might be another person's deathly sprint. Take the tour de France, it is likely that the cyclists rarely leave what would be described as moderate level activity - whereas if I attempted one of those mountains I would pass out within five minutes. Perhaps the best way to capture low level aerobic pace is to keep your heart rate between 50-65% Max heart rate, any higher and you begin to move into higher levels of exertion. Want to know the best thing about movement at this pace? You burn fat. Blasting through an hour session at 80% or higher heart rate will burn carbs (and leave that fat around your belly). Moving at a slow pace for 2-5 hours a week (or more) is a fair trade for lasting health.

What does moving at a slow pace look like? The options are massive, to name a few:

If you can, enjoy the scenery

• Walking or hiking
• Cycling
• Swimming

I also class mobility drills and compensation yoga as part of my low level activity. On my 4 day exercise cycle (to be discussed more in later posts), my first day involves around 20 minutes of mobility drills. Think of it as an extended warm up - without the exercise following. I also do similar mobility drills as a comprehensive warm up on my medium and high intensity days. Compensation yoga fits into my second day of the cycle. The focus is not on stretching per se - but performing recovery exercises that allow full recovery from the more high-impact exercise I do. In this way I am enabling full recovery from exercise while maintaining movement regularly. Add in daily dog walks, bike rides to University, walking with and to work and the bike rides me and Claire have started going on more regularly and you have plenty of low level activity. Now, my favorite bit, how does this impact type 1 diabetics? Well, you lose the excess fat that hinders insulin responsibility, by virtue of having a leaner body composition you need less insulin. You don't need to worry about hypos - as you should be burning fat at this intensity. Mostly, it's just healthy - as we already have a long-term health condition, it's important we look after ourselves as a whole, and then our bodies will look after us as well. Remember, the lower your activity level, the quicker you die.

If you want to begin going barefoot for all the additional benefits - grab some vibram five fingers
They are awesome  :-)

Low level activity, when combined with the primal blueprint eating plan really are a match made in heaven. Fat burning activity, with little injury risk and all the benefits. Now, you likely wont build muscle with only laws 1,2, and 3; but, thats where the next law comes in - Law#4, lift heavy things. See you next time.

Respectfully,

Sam