Beehives Ordered!

I have just placed my order for my first 2 bee hives!  I'm very excited about this as I've been reading about beekeeping for over 10 years.  I've also found a local bee keeper who has taken me under his wing and is allowing me to help him with his hives.  Hands on training is the best way to learn!  I hope they will arrive tuesday of next week.  That gives me a week to assemble, paint and set them up before my nucs are ready for pick up.  A nuc is a 5 frame bee package with a queen, workers, and drones.  It is a jump start to a hive rather than a 3 to 5 pound bee package.  The frames have brood, pollen, and honey reserves on them already.  I don't expect to have any surplus honey this year for my mead making... but next year there will be many many pounds of golden goodness!  There will be a special blog post with pictures on the assembling of the bee hives.
Mikey

Changes

There has been quite a few changes going on as to my focus, and this blog.  I am still deep into the primal/paleo movement.  But, I have so much more to offer than just recipes and workout ideas.  So... I will be relaunching the blog shortly to bring in articles on my other areas of interest.  The following are a sample.  Organic gardening.  Back yard chickens.  Beekeeping.  Brewing.  BBQ.  Wood working.  And many others.  My main focus is trying to get as much use out of my 1.5 acres of land as possible.  I have so many hobbies and projects going on at a given time that some of that knowledge will be useful to some folks.

On the fitness side... I've gotten 2 new kettlebells from DragonDoor.  A 53lb and another 35lb.  I've been doing doubles with my twin 35's and they are killers!!!  2hand swings with the 53 pounder is MONEY my shoulders are toasted!!!!!.  I'm still eating primal and cooking up a storm.  And much brewing of mead has lately joined the kitchen work.  The garden is humming along nicely.
Talk to you all soon with pics and new articles!
Primal Mikey.

Made of Corn by Joe Nash

This essay was written by my brother Joe Nash.  It sums up the state of our food system, and our health situation that is caused by our farming system.  It will open your eyes.  All you primal/paleo lifestyle advocates must READ this essay.  Repost it  with credit to it's author.  It is a game changer.  He sums the entire situation up for all those we are trying to educate.  I am proud to pass on his work.  Read this!

His blog can be found at http://joegoesbacktoschool.blogspot.com/

Made of Corn

            Corn is a grass plant.  A very large version of the grass plant that grows in the front yard of the average American.  The primary species of corn grown throughout the Midwest is called Yellow Dent.  If you were to go into a field of this corn, and pull a cob off the stalk, take it home and try to eat it, you would be sorely disappointed.  The majority of the corn in the United States cannot be eaten without being processed.  If the average American went to a scientist to have their hair tested (as a record of the makeup of the human body), they would find that the carbon in their bodies comes primarily from corn.  Not from sweet corn grown, cooked, and eaten at home, but from all of the byproducts of the Yellow Dent corn that is grown primarily across America today.  From sweeteners, to the meat we buy from the grocery store, to the oils used to cook in or with, it is mostly derived from corn.  It makes no sense to produce such a large crop of an inedible substance that has not been proven safe, while overusing our most valuable natural resource, farmland.  The food we grow, how we grow it, and how it gets into our bodies has had, and continues to have, a massively negative effect on our health system, and the nutrition intake of an entire generation.

            Crop prices once stayed high by limiting the amount of grain that went to market.  In 1973 the limits were taken away, and instead the farmer was paid with government subsidies, and the price of corn was allowed to go down.  The government pays farmers to grow more and more corn, soybeans, and wheat, all genetically modified, otherwise any farmer would lose money by growing their crops.  On an average acre of land, a farmer can grow four times the amount of corn that they could eighty years ago.  Over the years the corn has been genetically modified to grow closer to the plants around them, so that more plants could be planted per acre.  Additionally all but very few of plants are genetically modified to withstand one specific type of pesticide that would kill any normal plant not genetically modified to withstand it.  In this way, the food source is genetically linked to the pesticide used to kill everything but the food plant.  The result of modern technology is five tons of food from one acre of land.  As technology increased over time, a single farmer could work more and more land, and smaller farms were swallowed up.  Now a single farmer can farm 1,000 acres.

            Tons upon tons of corn sit harvested, but unused over the winter after harvest due to overproduction each year.  If the corn grown was immediately edible, the state of Iowa could produce enough food to feed the entire United States, with two trillion corn plants grown each year.  As it stands now, if an Iowa farmer had to rely on their own crop to feed their family, it could not be done because it is inedible, and if they produced their own crop without government subsidies, they would lose money.  None of this is productive or intuitive, yet it happens year after year.  In this way, genetically modified corn is not only bad for the health of the average American, but bad for the soil, the farmers, and the economy.

            If we used corn just for directly edible food purposes, then we would not need to produce so much corn, and we would not have soil that is so distressed from constant farming.  I learned from the film King Corn: "Of the 10,000 pounds of corn per acre grown, roughly 32% is exported or turned into ethanol. 490 pounds will become sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup, and more than half the crop, a full 5,500 pounds is fed to animals to become meat." 

            Cattle by nature graze, and are fed grass primarily in nature.  As the principle feed for cattle in feed lots, the mass production of corn becomes the mass production of animal protein.  Wet corn gluten feed comes as a by-product of the ethanol industry, and silage is derived from the entire corn plant.  Sixty percent of the feed ration for an average farm animal is made from corn, and these corn by-products.  If feed cattle in a confinement feed lot were not harvested for meat, they would die within months from the feed given to them.  Most cattle being harvested are already suffering from acidosis.  They are given antibiotics to combat illness caused by acidosis.  150 days of feeding of a calf results in a cow ready to be harvested for meat.  We harvest meat from an obese animal who's muscle tissue looks like fat tissue.  According to the film King Corn: "If you harvested meat from grass fed cattle who graze and move on an open range, it would have 1.3 grams of saturated fat in an average t-bone steak, the same steak from cattle in a feed lot would have 9 grams saturated of fat."

            High fructose corn syrup is made with water, sulfuric acid, boiled off starch from corn after the fiber has been separated, enzymes that digest the corn, and involves a massive amount of heat.  It is the dominant sugar in almost every kind of food, even foods you wouldn't think would need any sugar at all.  It is used because it reduces acidity of some foods, adds browning properties to breads, and enhances flavors of spices and fruits.  It has no nutritional value, and is used because it is less expensive than sugar.  HFCS is known to have adverse metabolic effects on the human body and is empty calories contributing to obesity and health issues in the United States.  Look at the ingredients of the products you buy, and there is a good chance that it contains corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup.  Drinking one soda per day doubles your chances of getting Type Two Diabetes. 

            If American's demand something, they will have it.  We are a consumer driven society.  American's however, want cheap food.  There was a time when 30%  to 35% of the income from an average family went to feed them.  Now the average family spends 16% to 17% of their income on food.  If American's demanded better quality food instead of cheaper food, then the farmers would respond by producing what is being demanded.  This requires a person to think about what they are putting into their bodies to process.

            The agriculture of the past is now involved in growing fast, cheap food that lacks the nutrition required for the body to thrive.  The drive for plenty of food in the past 30 years as a result of government involvement  has resulted in a drastic increase in production.  We may be the first generation in history where the abundance in production brings too much.  The price of the decrease in health is too high a price to pay for cheap and easy food.  Realistic expectations are that the lifespan of the average American will decrease in the next few generations due to obesity, and the health problems caused by the poor quality of the food that we consume. 

            There are several nutrients that were in the soil of the past that are not added into the soil now, and the soil is overused.  Potassium, nitrogen and phosphorous are the nutrients put into an otherwise dead soil through fertilizer, and that combination has been used for over a century.  The other nutrients that the soil would have naturally have, has already been leached out.  Natural soil that has not been overused contains fully 52 different minerals.  We are borrowing our future to pay for today by creating deficient, toxic food.  Many farm families are being eliminated as the commodity of corn, and the business of farming becomes part of multinational corporations. 

            We have reached a turning point in our society.  From watching Foodmatters, we learn that every year, approximately 652,486 people die of Heart Disease, 553,888 people die of cancer, and 225,000 people die of adverse reactions from medication and infections they got while in a medical setting.  These deaths, and the effects on our health system have put our society in a burgeoning crisis.  Dr. Linus Pauling who won two unshared Nobel Prizes, and holds forty-eight PhD's was quoted as saying: "Optimum Nutrition is the medicine of tomorrow."

            The food you buy that is considered fresh, produce, meat, etc. is on average one week old.   You lose up to 60% of the nutrition originally in the food by the time you get it home.  Additionally when you cook the food, you lose even more nutrition and many important enzymes in the cooking process.  The food structure is so blasted by what it has been through to get to your table, that it can cause Leukocytosis, basically causing your immune system to produce white blood cells that treat part of what you have eaten as a dangerous foreign body.  50% of protein is also destroyed and damaged by heat in the cooking process.

            All of this information begs the question: What can I eat if I cannot eat what is offered most often?  Super foods, would be one answer.

            Spirulina is the highest protein content vegetable in the world, yet it is not widely available.  Cacao Beans is the highest source of magnesium, chromium, iron, manganese, zinc, copper, and vitamin C.  It can protect us from viruses, DNA damage, and cancer due to its high antioxidant content.  Commercially produced chocolate however has been exposed to heat, and the vitamin C is usually destroyed in the heating process.  Even so, it is considered a super food.  Eating raw foods is another great alternative.  If you eat half of your food raw, there will be a very significant noticeable difference in your personal health.

            Large doses of vitamins, especially in whole food, or natural forms, can cure and correct many ills that we have by helping the body to use the considerable power it has to heal itself.  Myths persist that large quantities of vitamins can be harmful, but there are no studies or examples to support that assumption.  Until very recently, people who are becoming Doctors, and getting their PhD. in Medicine were never trained in nutrition.  Diet and nutrition are usually set aside in favor of pharmaceuticals.  According to Foodmatters: "Less than 6% of graduating physicians in the USA receive any formal training in nutrition."  Giving white bread and popsicles to a patient with cancer is doing a disservice to the patient when nutritional alternatives exist. There are studies that show high doses of Vitamin C, even from the 1940's, used as a treatment for the common cold, and other more serious ailments.  The reason one vitamin can work for many different ailments is that there are only so many vitamins out there, but the human body has thousands of processes.  There are plenty of studies available on high dose vitamin therapy, but they are not recognized by mainstream medicine.

Orthomolecular medicine, the medicine of nutrition, warrants research and study by mainstream medicine.  High dose nutrient therapy, and organic nutrition is still not mainstream, but it could be exactly the divergent brand of medicine called for to change the course of future healthy living.

            If there is a reason not to try alternative therapies for existing ills, then the evidence is hidden away.  In the future we may be using 3000mg of Niacin to treat depression, or 100,000 grams of intravenous Vitamin C every 24 hours to treat cancer.  If these things can work, then there should be research.  The side effects are nothing compared to the suicides from Prozac usage, or the hair loss and compromising the immune system with Chemotherapy. Hippocrates is quoted by every physician who graduates, it was he who said: "Let Thy Food Be Thy Medicine, And Thy Medicine Be Thy Food."

            Most important, we need to let the soil heal itself in the bread basket of our nation, and farm less land.  We need to produce less, and pay more for our food.  We need to make sure that the food we grow is edible raw, and that the animals we rely on for food are eating what nature intended.  Americans should not be looking forward to genetically modified cattle that are immune to acidosis, and can digest corn.   U.S. citizens have a chance for healthy nutritional organic alternatives.  Demand it now, and we can save the next generation from an early death.  As it stands now, we are malnourished, our immune systems are weaker than they are supposed to be, and we are basically made of corn.

Busy busy time.  Spent all weekend doing strength training in the form of cleaning out the garage and tilling the garden in prep for planting. Tilling was going fine until the motor mount bolts fell out of the borrowed tiller and the belt fell off.  Was only about 3/4ths of the way thru the garden.. Grrrrr.

 Been doing my primal improvised training, a bit of kettlebell, eating primal, and not really paying attention. Got on the scale and noticed I've lost another 3 lbs of fat while I wasn't watching.. AWESOME!!!!

 

Keep living the life!

Poppabear.

Still here!

Hey all, just checking in for a quick moment.  Life is so busy right now not much time to blog or post.  But rest assured I am still living the primal lifestyle, working with my kettlebell and running my fool arse off in my vibrams.  Spring is about to hit and I am prepping the garden for planting, relaying out the interior of our house, and running around like a crazy man.


Hope you are all keeping busy too!!!
Poppabear.

RKC conditioning Success!!!!

 

I did it.
15 a side full turkish get ups.
15 a side Clean and Press
200 2hd swings.
same training session in under 40 mins with my 35lb kettlebell. I can now get my 53 pounder!
It will be weeks before I will have the money to buy it, so I will spend the time working on this conditioning, making it easier, taking less time, and working on my form.

It wasn't easy, but it didn't kill me either. The more I do it, the easier it will become, and when I can afford my 53 pounder I'll be in even better shape to use it once it gets here.

Hell Yeah!!!! 

Poppabear

Feeling under the weather

The whole family has been fighting the flu for about a week now.  We are all hanging in there.  I'm Just about over the whole thing, and as soon as I am, there will be some new blog entries.  I have been taking this down time to think about the focus of my blog, and how to make it stand out among all those other primal/paleo blogs out there.   I've got a few ideas...

I will share them with you soon.
Poppabear.

The primal week that was

30 day primal challenge - day 44~!

Not a lot of time this morning, or a ton of stuff to talk about, so I'm just going to jump right in with the weigh in.

Starting weight: 192 lbs.
Last week Weight 183 lbs.
Today's weight: 182 lbs.
Goal weight: 170 ish.

It's official I'm down 10 lbs.  (happy dance)

And, I've done it with moderate exercise, and nutrition.  All by following the guidelines of "The Primal Blueprint" and "The Paleo Solution."  Simple natural weight loss with ZERO stress.  I simply made it my lifestyle, and do it everyday with every meal.  Simple.

Set your goals, my friends.  But keep them flexible.  Goals are nothing more than a mark to shoot for.  You can't be so hung up on hitting that exact mark, that it becomes your entire focus for trying at all.  That causes stress, pain, frustration, etc.  And you know Poppabear is all about avoiding stress.  Shouldn't we all be?

More later.. I have a happy dance to do.
Poppabear.

 

Making it Natural

Okay, so here’s a hard one.  How do we make natural come natural?  Our lives are so busy, so full of stress, so full of super important crap that we just cant forget about for just one second.  How are we supposed to relax, eat right, and exercise also?

We have to make it natural and forget about it.  It’s not  “I’m on a diet” it’s just how I eat.  Lets all take a deep breath for a second and get our minds clear.  This is bound to be a rambling post, but bare with me.

The easiest way to make a massive life change is to embrace it, make the change, and forget about it.  Figure out what works, and once you have that set in your skull, make the change and don’t spend anymore time thinking about it, but be ready to absorb new info as it comes in.

Example: 1

I have read both Mark Sisson’s The primal blue print, and Robb Wolf’s The Paleo Solution.  I’ve read through all the chewy science bits, looked at them and said, “Well, that makes a lot of sense. I agree.”  And after that I don’t worry about it.  It may be easier for me to dump large quantities of info out of my skull once I read it and make my judgment.  But, it works.  Sure, if I ever have to give a talk on the subject of insulin in front of a large group I will have to do some quick cramming.  But, until that happens I am not going to stress over it.

Example: 2

It is so much easier to remember a small list of things that I don’t want to eat rather than 30 reasons why they are bad for me for every food on that list.  I can navigate the basic reasons with little thought, and that’s all anyone who asks what this whole primal/paleo thing is all about wants to hear anyways.  If they want more info, I point them to the experts.  The massive amount of information available to us can be overwhelming.

These are my own little ways of relaxing, and avoiding stress.  This approach has worked very well for me.  If I’m not worrying about the reasons, or second guessing facts I’ve already agreed with, the entire lifestyle is so much easier.  So much more natural.

Oh, this doesn’t at all mean I have quit learning about the paleo/primal lifestyle.  Far from it.  I read around 20 blogs a day, chat on Facebook with primal friends, tweet my little tweets back and forth with the community, and of course educate others in the BASICS.  But it is relaxed, there is no stress.  I don’t worry about when I’m going to eat, what I’m going to eat, when I’m going to train, or if I’m training too much. 

Just relax my friends, and enjoy the ride.

As I’ve said, this was going to be a rambling post.  The words were falling out of my head faster than I could organize them.  I would love to hear any thoughts you all might have on this subject.

Poppabear

By the way... I do quite a bit of chatting and posting on Facebook and twitter, as I have said above.  If you would like to send me a friend invite please do, or you can follow me on twitter @PoppabearsCave.

The Primal week that was

And what a week it has been! I am on day 37 of my 30 day primal challenge as we speak, and have been taking this last week to drive my efforts up a notch.  This week I began training in earnest to reach my fitness goals.  To this end, I’ve gotten a new coach, A man who inspires me with his fitness approach, Mike French.  It’s a good two for one deal, as his wife Tami French is also an amazing coach and helps me out as well.

I have really been reaching the intensity I’ve been searching for in my training sessions lately.  It’s not just going through the movements any more trying to get finished.  It’s focused and every rep is as close to perfect as I can get it.

The RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge) conditioning is coming along very nicely, I feel stronger every day!  I really want to push myself and buy a heavier Kettlebell, but I have a training plan and am going to stick to it until I can make the requirements, which are:

200 2hand swings (done)

20 a side Clean & Press (done)

20 a side snatches (done)

15 a side Turkish get ups (not done!)

So the Turkish get ups are the focal point for progress here.  I have found a very good youtube tutorial on them here.

The running has been coming along smoothly, I have increased my distance to 4 miles, which I ran 2x this week in my Vibrams.  I finally got into the zone and it felt so good, to run by myself through the woods listening to my 80’s rock on Pandora.  At one point I was starting to flag a bit around mile 3, when “eye of the tiger” came on.  I laughed out loud and picked up the pace.

Here is the numbers for week 5:

192 week 1 weight

185 week 4 weight

183 current weight

Another nice easy 2 pounds dropped this week.  Well on my way to my goal of 170.

I LOVE THIS LIFE!!

Poppabear

A brief history of the kettlebell

The first kettlebells were brought over to America by Pavel Tsatsouline.  He swallowed several and smuggled them out of mother Russia in his stomach.  Through many hardships, long ocean voyages, storms etc, the precious cargo was safe inside the Iron Russian.  Once he reached our shores he was able to deliver the kettlebells into the eager hands of his new disciples. (Hence the reason behind the weight measurement of Pood’s for kettlebells)

Ahem…

Actually they go back quite a bit further back.  The earliest reference to the russian kettlebell was 1704, and one of the first published workouts was published in the Russian magazine “Hercules” in 1913.  Since that time it has been the workout of choice for the Russian military, and civilians.

In the 80’s the U.S. was soundly beaten by the Russian track and field team.  It was found that this was due to their extreme conditioning with kettlebells.

Then came Pavel.

See, I told you it was brief.

Next post:  Why it’s important to take supplements on a paleo, primal nutrition plan. 

Poppabear.

Kettlebell Fatloss Training

Well my friends, the first 30 days of Poppabear going primal are in the books.  I'm not sitting back and opening a Mt Dew and chewing on a snickers bar to celebrate.  Instead I'm moving right into the next 30 days and stepping up my fatloss training program.

I was inspired to take this step both by my amazing Beachbody Coach Mike French, and this excellent article by Dragondoor.  Check them both out!

The important concept I want to share with you today is the difference between a workout, and training.

A workout is engaging in an activity with the drive of reaching exhaustion.  The exhaustion is the drive.  Training is engaging in an activity with intent of growing nearer to a goal.  So, with this new philosophy in mind, I will no longer say I am working out to lose weight.  I am training for fat loss.

Look at your fitness rotation and tell me.  Are you working out and going through the motions, or are you training for a result and towards a goal?

Okay, it's a simple concept, and I don't think we need to spend any more time on it.  I'll let that rattle around in your heads a bit.  Here is my training rotation I will be following for the next 2 months.  If there are any changes that come up I will post them as they happen.  I am keeping it simple and focused.

Training Rotation:

Feb 14 – Apr 14

Goals:

Hit target weight of 170

15 a side full get ups

200 2h swings (50 – 100 straight)

15 a side clean press

Tools:

Rasputin (16kg Kettlebell)

Primal nutrition

Vibrams

Rotation:

Kettlebell Strength training 3x a week

Running for distance and/or sprints 3x a week

Recovery 1 day a week

Accountability: 

Strength training results and running times/distance will be kept in a training journal (s).

Weekly weigh in on Sunday morning.

Proper form will be observed at all times. 

Sloppy form on movements will not count toward rep totals.

Training numbers will be posted on blog, facebook, and group messages.

Rewards:

Once KB lifting requirements are made I will be allowed to purchase a DragonDoor 53lb kettlebell.

Improved core stability

Improved balance

less fat, more lean muscle

As I said, I am keeping this simple, but it is very focused.  There is room for change and improvements.  Feel free to send me suggestions.

Poppabear.

30 day primal challenge day 30!!!!

Well, my friends, here it is.  Day 30.  The month flew past!

Lets get this out of the way right at the start.  I’m going to keep going.

I am just starting to see the benefits of living the primal lifestyle.  I am through the hardest part of the adjustment phase, why in the world would I stop now? 

I am going to do a few things different for the next 30 days, and I’ll mention those later.

But first, an honest assessment of my 30 day primal challenge.

Nutrition:

I had zero problem with nutrition.  I did not crave sugars or grains or fast food.  I completely dropped all soda (I used to be a total Mt Dew junkie drinking 5 cans a day).

I enjoyed cooking, and will continue to do so. 

I love spending time with my wife in the kitchen, working on meals.  Excellent bonding time.  I used to pick on my brother for doing kitchen work with his wife after he got home from a stressful day at work.  Now I admit that my baby brother had a good thing going, and I’ve missed out on a lot of quality time with my sweety.  That is a side benefit I had not thought of when I started.

Joy of cooking.

More time with my wife.

I did have one problem with my eating habits.

Beer.

Now this is a total honest report, my 1 reader…  I had not been a heavy drinker before.  Sure I would drink several pints at our BBQ’s and bonfires, but it was not an everyday thing.  

The Devil in a Can

 Halfway through this challenge I started craving Guinness stout something horrible.  Sometimes I managed to shrug it off.. Sometimes I didn’t.  I figure it must have been the liquid bread aspect of Guinness that my body craved.

So here is my weight outlook\

Starting weight: 192

Ending Weight: 185

7 pounds lost with very very little exercise. 

Am I disappointed? No, not at all.  This was a learning month, no doubt about that.  I have  been reading no less than 16 primal blogs a day.  Reading Mark Sisson’s book “The Primal Blueprint”  and Robb Wolf’s “The Paleo Solution”  Both books are a must for this lifestyle.  I have been listening to podcasts, and buying paleo/primal cookbooks.  Re-outfitting the kitchen, and just plain learning to cook something other than BBQ.  It has been a busy month!

Winter is a very difficult time to exercise.  There has been 3 blizzards here breaking all snowfall records.  I have spent a lot of time in front of my computer researching and reading.  However, the weather is changing and warming up.  I am setting up a new workout rotation with my coach Mike French (who is totally awesome). 

 I will continue to battle the evils of Guinness, and dial in my nutrition even further.

 The last few days I have just hit ketosis, so I know I am primed for weight loss.  With a goal of 170 lbs, it is totally doable.

What will I be doing different?  More exercise, less Guinness.  That aught to cover it.

I am excited to see what the next 30 days brings!

Poppabear.

           

Field trip day to CSA, Farmers Market, and Meat Market

Wow, Yesterday was a super busy busy busy day.  The entire family got up super early (for them) and we made the white knuckle drive to down town Kansas City for an open house meeting of our local CSA (Not cub scouts of America.. It’s Community Supported Agriculture).  Poppabear is a country bear and does not handle the stress of city driving well.  Especially with two little girls chattering in the back seat like monkeys fighting over a banana.

            We made it there, alive, and the first person I sought out was a good CSA for grass feed beef.  I met up with Tom and Paula Parker, from Parker Farms.  We spent over an hour talking the evils of feed lots, and various other things.  We had a lot of similar views on the important things.  In the end, we signed up and come April we’ll be getting plenty of grassfed beef, and lamb. I am very excited!

            My thanks go out to my sister Joyce for introducing me to CSA’s.

            

 Next, we piled back into the car and made the trip to the Kansas city river market.   

It was off season, so not a lot of the stalls were open.  But we bought spices!!!!  OOOOOOOoooOOOooh we bought spices! 

 

  I picked us a bunch of good curry powder, and cilantro.  My brother Joe pointed out some poblano  peppers we decided to pick up for the grill that night.

            After another white knuckle ride we arrived at McGonigle’s meat market.  The choices of meat were staggering, and we didn’t make it out of there without dropping a good amount of cash on stuff we couldn’t get closer to home.  Kansas City is known world wide for its BBQ.  McGonigle's is where the BBQ pro's buy their meat.  'Nuff Said!

I was happy to find some ox tail, and lamb stew meat.  I picked up some ruby trout fillets for later as well. 

 

We all picked out a steak for the grill, and headed back home.

            

 The plan was for the families to come back to the cave, grill up some food, and then walk around the property and discuss the multi family garden layout for the spring.  We all agreed it was too much work for the day we had just had, so we ate our steaks and called it a night.

It was a good day.

Poppabear.

Kettlebell Snow day (aka Poppabear’s epic workout)

It was a stressful week for Poppabear.  I have spent the last 4 days snowed in, stuck in a hotel room in Oklahoma City.  I was going stir crazy.  To make matters worse, I didn’t bring Rasputin with me.

 

So, I finally got home, grabbed my kettlebell and my Vibrams and headed out into the snow.

 

It was an epic workout.  I swear I could hear “Eye of the Tiger” playing in the background.  My workout was like a Rocky montage.

I am totally blasted! I put everything I had into that workout, form and intenstity.. here's the numbers (cause poundage is fun!) 10 sets of 20 2hand swings, 5 a side 1/2 turkish get ups,15 a side clean and press. All with Rasputin (my 35lb kettlebell).  For a grand total of 8400lbs moved! Hells yea! And I feel it.. every inch.

 

I love working out with the kettlebell, all the intensity and compound movements.  I can’t think of a better workout for the time.  Every action works multiple muscles, and works them HARD!!!  I really needed it after being cooped up in a hotel room for 4 days with only a treadmill.

 

I feel so pumped!

By the way, this is day 28 of my 30 day primal challenge.  Look for a big 30 day summary on Sunday!  Tomorrow we go to our local CSA and talk to the farmers about buying shares in their organic farms.  YUM!!!!

Follow me @PoppabearsCave on twitter!

Poppabear.

What will you eat when the zombies come?

What I mean is….

How important are your eating morals going to be when there is no commercial foods available.  Will you let your children starve because there is no Tofu, or when the only thing you have to eat is a deer that you will have to kill and harvest yourself?  

Will you cry and tear your hair out in anguish of the act that filled the stomachs of your family?  Or will you thank the gods for the gifts of food that fill our world.  Fresh meat, veggies, fruit, nuts?

If you would change the way you eat to survive at the end of the world, are your morals that deeply a part of you?

There are lots of reasons why folks choose to eat vegetarian, here is the basic breakdown I have encountered.

Moral

It is cruel to eat meat, but vegetables have no soul and are therefore exempt from mercy.

I am protesting the conditions animals are kept in by denying their worth as a food source.

Scientific

Evolution is a theory, and we were made in the image of god, who told us not to kill.

We can get the nutrients we need to survive by eating lab enhanced abominations of tofu/veggie/burgers which are superior to natural nutrition in every way.

These are broad brush strokes of the types I have encountered.

None of these reasons stand up to my thought process.  But they don’t have to.  I’m not going to try and change the way anyone is eating. (Except my daughter. Her, I have control over). My time and energy can be used for better ends than tormenting others.  Besides I have come to an epiphany.

The less people who eat grass fed meat, the more is left for me, and my family.

You can have my share of tofu, I’ll take your steak.

 Poppabear

On the Road again!

I'm going to be on the road this week, but I've prepared.  Spent most of Sunday making healthy road snacks. (New batch of Jerky, dehydrated banana chips, and spiced nuts)

Chicken breast stuffed with ground pork sausage and wrapped in bacon!

Have enough meals for a few dinners (left over curry and left over pork stuffed chicken)  I will be hitting subways for salads - no dressing.  I like them because they are big and I can build my own.  There is also steak house buffets if i get desperate.  Anyplace where I have a lot of choices I can stay eating clean.  This week will be a real test.  I am totally prepared food wise.

As far as exercise goes, I've brought my Vibrams and will be hitting the treadmill in which ever hotel i'm in, or doing body weight stuff.  I don't want to drive 400 miles with a lose kettlebell in my truck.. Not a good idea.  I'll let ya know how it goes!


Poppabear.

The Primal week that was

Poppabear turns 41!

Short short post today, as it’s my birthday and I’m going to take it easy today… With KETTLEBELLS!

30 day primal challenge day 21

3 weeks in and feeling amazing!!!  Energy is through the roof!  I have spent more time in the kitchen with my wife cooking, than sitting on my arse watching tv.  Bonus!  She has even stopped twitching every time I start messing with her cooking stuff.  We are making progress.  I am really getting into this cooking thing, and having a blast with it.  My mom and dad got me a really sweet new chopping block, that I have already made good use of.

That ceramic knife is super sharp!

Lets look at the stats

Previous weight 187 lbs

Current weight 185 lbs

That’s a nice easy 2 lbs of fat burned off this week.  That’s the rate I want to stay at. Nice and safe.  Nothing drastic. My goal is around 170, I’m 5’8” so I think that’s pretty good.  To be honest I haven’t really looked at where I need to be weight wise for my size.  It’s a flexible goal as more info comes in.

Nutrition has been totally spot on… except for a few pints. (Yay)

Brought my running distance up to 3 miles (yesterday) in my Vibrams.  A few years ago I would never have thought I would be able to run 3 miles a day before my 41^st birthday.  I still have not set a firm goal for my running… I’m just enjoying it!

Finally got a copy of Robb Wolf’s book, “The Paleo Solution”, and it is wonderful so far.  Robb, I really like your writing style.

I have been posting a lot on twitter lately, give me a follow @PoppabearsCave

Been a Great Week!!!!

Poppabear

The Nutrition Holy Wars

Paleo, Primal, Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Raw Foods, Whole Foods, Low Carb, FDA Pyramid…

What’s your food religion, and what’s your side?

Which ever you choose, you’re a heretic to the others.  Your opinions are openly disdained or mocked.  You are a crack pot.  Your research is faulty.  You are a sheep following a fad.  But… you can be saved, if you just change to the way we do things.

You can be redeemed if you follow the one true path to health… Our path of course.

(What ever their path is)

Trying to change someone’s choice of nutrition is like trying to change the face of God.  There is going to be a fight.

I am just as guilty of this as the next fanatic.  I have found my path, the research pans out, I feel good, my energy is up, my mind is clear, and I’m losing weight.  I am content.

And I’ll defend my choice with words and swords.  And, I’m a bit more outspoken than most.

So, it comes down to this choice.. Educate, and convert… Or destroy and divide.

We can try to be the bigger Man/Woman and turn the other cheek when we are faced with a statement so asinine, we stand there slack jawed, and full of pity for the speaker. 

I think that’s a young mans game.

 The older I get, the less apt I am to listen politely to the foolish, once I’ve figured out they have no intention of giving me equal time to tell them my opinion.  Once a person has stated they have no respect for your opinion, you are no longer bound by politeness to listen to theirs. Yes, you can borrow that one.

So, what has started me off on this rant?

Two fitness experts, that I deeply respect, have jumped the shark.  I won’t name names, as I still have ties in that fitness community.  One is a vegetarian who pushes that lifestyle to excess, and has a following of millions for his fitness program.  The other has published a blog entry on the gluten free/grain free hoax.  Both have bothered me to the core, and shaken my faith in an entire product line. 

Because I’ve found the true path.  And like any new convert I’m ready to defend my faith.

With words and swords.

Welcome to the war.

Poppabear.

Primal day 17, and ongoing goals:

Day 17 of our 30 day primal challenge~!  

I have been going along, simply trying to stay 100% primal (And hitting about 90%) without setting any goals for weight loss, or physical fitness.  I had figured that I would have enough research work cut out for me to add stress of a weight goal at this point.

But now that I’m in the full swing of it, I am ready to set some goals, and a deadline.

Goal 1:

To drop from current weight (as of this morning) of 188lbs to 170lbs of lean muscle by the April 30^th Primal Accelerated Success Seminar.

Goal 2:

To have the kitchen set up for 100% primal meals, and to eat 100% primal on the road during travels.

Goal 3:

To create a primal play course on the farm, with rope climb, chin up bar, and other primal play workout stations with lots of combo movements.

Goal 4:

To host a Kettlebell seminar day here at the cave.

Goal 5:

To be ready for more races in the spring, to raise my running up to 5 miles at a time, with Vibrams.

Goal 6:

To help support and educate the primal/paleo community through my blog, and walking the walk, everyday.

 

All of these goals are flexible.  My running distance may go up…  Shooting for 100% primal in all nutrition is a goal, while 80% is acceptable.  In the spring it will be much easier to maintain, as we will have the expanded garden up in full swing.  Not to mention that Momma Bear and I are giving serious thought to bringing in a bee hive to the farm. (MMMMM fresh honey).

 

I write these goals as I am snowed in with the family after the worst blizzard in 20 years here.  It has afforded me much time to sit, reflect, and study.  The first 17 days of this journey have made great changes in me.  I have given up all soda. ( I drink only black coffee and water)  I have quit smoking (yet again) with no cravings or other issues.  My energy is up, my mind is clear. 

And, I’m EXCITED about living!!!!

Poppabear.