I ran 9.5 kms (5.9 miles) today, 3 minutes faster than yesterday. 1.5 minutes faster than Monday... Actually, today was the first time I reached 9kms... I was hovering at the end of 8kms the prior two slower midday runs... After a week of overcast skies, I decided we should take advantage of the sun and run at the height of its brilliance before the late afternoon electrical storms hit... Last week I noticed that my BP rose with every additional day lacking sunlight. I thought it may have been from decreased consumption of vitamin C. I thought it may have been from an increased consumption of red meat or saturated fats... Needless to say, I was a bit confounded. How could my BP find itself on the upswing if I was running 5-6 days per week increasing the time or the distance with every run?
I have this goal-system: If today I ran 5.9 miles in 58 minutes and 40 seconds, then tomorrow I must run that same distance, no matter how slowly. If I run those 5.9 miles in 62 minutes, then the following day I must run 62 minutes or those 5.9 miles. Now, If I run a fast 62 minutes and reach 6.3 miles, the following day I must run that same distance or where my feet take me beyond that distance in 62 minutes. Did I confuse you? Today is July 17th. Back around May 16th, I ran a fast mile (fast for me at the time)... I ran it in 9.5 minutes. And that's where I stopped. I couldn't continue. The following day I made my goal running minimally 15 minutes. But ran 20 and thought that I would stick around 20-24 minutes for a few weeks. But, somehow I found myself with these rocking chair goals swinging between increased distance or increased time... I said to myself, "if you could run 5.5 miles painfully and slowly for 58.5 minutes yesterday, that means that you can do the same today." And tomorrow I will say, "If you could run 5.9 miles for 58.8 minutes yesterday, you can do the same today..." Truthfully, the time differences between fast and slow are maximally 3 minutes since I first ran that 9.5 minute mile in mid May... But, as you can see exactly 8 weeks later, I've increased the run almost 50 minutes and almost 5 miles, 5-6 days per week. And I haven't injured myself... Truthfully, I don't know if I ran this many miles per week 22 years ago, before injuring myself. But, my diet was much different then than now. I was a vegetarian then; meaning that I may have been lacking various nutrients, such as collagen, protein, fat... (yes collagen is a type of protein... that comes from gelatin... And, yes, you can obtain certain types of plant gelatin from sea vegetables. But, when a young and naive college student earns his pennies during 10 hour per week work-study paying $4.5 per hour, he doesn't have the luxury of purchasing kelp and other holistic or alternative medicine/nutrition products etc...) So, I injured myself ending my running ecstasy.
Bloody runs... It was a catchy title, wasn't it...? (and then I extended the title) These titles and topics tend towards writing themselves in my mind walking towards the bathroom or while sitting on the toilet... Writing causes me much stress. It tends towards raising my BP at least 20-30 points. Believe that? Good enough reason to put the writing aside now isn't it? But, why so much stress? Because the pieces flow so much better during a walk, or while driving... or while sitting on the toilet. I find myself writing you so smoothly (in my mind), so flowery... All ideas flow clearly into the next... everything is well-tied... The intentions come out equally "on paper" in my mind... I could have flowed from feeling the blood in my lower abdomin threatening the breaking of my concentration, clenching anal muscles or gluteals and hoping the discomfort will subside... to writing about what Chris Kresser said or what Dr. Sears or David Palmutter or what Dr. Atkins believed or what Udo Erasmus or Richard Johnson or the Ultra Vegetarians say or what the collective in The Harvard School of Nutrition says about the Mediterranean Diet or what those who push the 100% raw diet say... And loop it back to what Penina Glazer, the chairperson of my Thesis Committee said about reading all sides of the argument and you'll find the truth somewhere between all of their arguments...
I could loop this back to my heavy bleeding after the run or how eating Prickly Pear Cactus Paddles removed that problem the days I was eating cactus... And how, although I'm not eating cactus for at least a week, my bleeding has been lower than normal, probably because of eating a flax seeds, that are high in Mucilage, but not as high as Cactus Paddles... And return to what the Paleos say about Omega 3 from Vegetable sources such as Flax seeds and Chia seeds not being easily converted into DHA and EPA essential fatty acids... arguing that humans must eat animals (cold water fish; if you had that much money every week; if that wasn't the only expensive item you must purchase in order to be healthy... also thinking that the fish must be wild and not from fish breeders and all your meat must be organic and free range... etc)... Yes, your health is worth the cost... as long as you have the money for the purchases... or access towards those products... I don't. Flax seeds cost me less than $2/pound... Costco Salmon costs me somewhere around $60/pound and it is not wild salmon, nor is it organic... Worse, it is skinless...
The paleos say that saturated fat and cholesterol don't create health risks... However, I find that when I eat bacon or a decent amount of fatty beef, my blood pressure rises... Now the paleos will tell you that if you were an overweight Japanese smoker living in Japan and eating a lot of cold water fish, you would be part of the group of humans with the highest BP and the lowest coronary disease levels on the planet... But, that would mean that you grew up in that Pacific island culture eating a lot of that fish... Those same Japanese but non-smokers raised and living in California have very high rates of coronary disease.
Now, visit with the other statistical group of Humans with very low rates of coronary diseases--British Vegans-- and you will notice that, contrary to what the Paleos say, they have very high levels of Omega 3 in their tissues. Why? They don't eat cold water fish... It couldn't be from Alfalineic Acid from plant origins. Humans can't efficiently metabolize that... or can they?
But, maybe not if they are eating a lot of saturated fat...
And this is where eating for your health becomes very tricky... If you injest more Omega 6 fatty acids than Omega 3 fatty acids, the Omega 3 (be it from Salmon or Mackerel or from Chia or Flax seeds) will be cancelled out... meaning that your HDL ("good" cholesterol) will decrease... Likewise, if you eat too much saturated fat (be it from beef, butter or coconut), your poliunsaturated fatty acids--alfalineic--(Flax Seeds, Walnuts) or your monounsaturated fatty acids--Omega 9-- (olive oil, macadamia nuts, avocados) will be cancelled out... Your body needs omega 6 for healthy inflamatory immunological responses. But, too much omega 6 causes chronic inflamation which is the cause of all modern degenerative diseases... Also, your body needs the proteins from animals, especially glutathione (from gelatin; for decreasing cancer risks) and methionine from muscle meats (for controlling hystamine levels and somewhere it was also mentioned for decreasing risks of cancer). And, as I mentioned somewhere else here, you need the gelatin/collagen for tissue elasticity (elastin) and for healthy joints... amongst many other things...
And somewhere in all of this literature someone (it may have been David Palmutter or Dr. Sears) said that the problem with exercise and weight loss is that exercise increases appetite... Is that true? I find that I eat much less running more... It's as if my body became more efficient... Granted, I haven't eaten refined carbs--bread, pasta, tortillas, rice-- (with the exception of the equivalent of 12 grams of table sugar or honey--3 teaspoons per day) for coming on 5 months now... which is their wonderful argument that is very correct, especially within Margarita's and my very-low refined carb "diet" experience... However, over these almost five months, I've found that my appetite has decreased as my exercise regimen has increased.
One must be on the alert of foolish statements made just for supporting one's argument/movement... If it weren't a movement meant for giving these guys status, popularity and money, then they wouldn't have to ignore facts, exaggerate "truths" or blatantly contradict themselves (as if they didn't have editors working with them before they published their books) or blatantly lie for justifying their position. Even Udo Erasmus (who I find almost flawless) makes the mistake of saying repeatedly that almost all the fruit we eat becomes ripe in Autumn, explaining the reason why a high fructose diet would cause one to gain weight; like bears before hibernating, humans had to store fat for the invernal periods of scarcity. It was easiest to do that eating all of that wonderful fruit before the winter famines... when freezers and refrigerators and packaging or preservation technology didn't exist... But, when I think of ripened autumn fruit, only apples come to mind... But, in the summer I think of strawberries and raspberries and peaches and plums and watermelons and canteloup and nectarines and grapes and blueberries and cherries and mulberries... (when thinking about what people may have grown in their backyards in New Jersey; an apple producing state). And I wonder on what planet Udo lives where all the fruit becomes ripe in Autumn... And he is SO informative... But, his information suddenly has become "unpopular" with the birth of the Paleo myth... although, it may be the best starting point for truly improving the human diet. But, somehow you've gotta return to the basics and the truly conscientious "scientists" who aren't trying to become important or trying to sell you something... and maybe you will see that the vegetarians have a certain point, and the raw foods eaters have a point... and the carnivores have a point... But, it is very possible that the high carb/low fat people are missing a very important point: that the carbs (consumed beyond your calorie burning capacities) are quickly converted to fat that is packed away in your gut and around your internal organs, not the fat readily burned for energy or used for building tissue etc, and your body needs much more healthy fat than the low fat promoters are supplying in their diets for optimal health. Plus, cholesterol is necessary for well being (both HDL and LDL; they are fat transport vehicles and also found in cell structures...) Cholesterol is only found in animal sources. So, what do the vegetarians do?... Just as the liver converts fat and protein to glucose if necessary, it also "fabricates" cholesterol...
I almost forgot to mention that when Dr. Atkins died he was very overweight... he claimed that his heart problems were from a virus he obtained... And, no, he didn't die of a heart attack. He died smashing his head after slipping on the ice in New York City. But, I wonder if his fall would have been softer had he not weighed so much... And, you've gotta wonder... maybe his diet didn't affect his heart. But, how can obesity be healthy or comfortable? And I would worry about taking the advice of an obese cardiologist, although maybe his weight has nothing to do with his ideas... but maybe somewhere within those ideas something is greatly lacking.
Oh, by the way... I may bleed because of my J-Pouch... I may bleed because 17% of long distance runners experience rectal bleeding after the run and it is not a health risk (supposedly)... I may bleed because of something else... I have a J-Pouch as one of the responses towards my FAP/Gardners Disease. I don't see doctors because I don't trust them, especially not here in Mexico... I must educate myself and do the work... And maybe I am the only one who can "heal" me...
To this date I am certain that I am the only FAP/Gardners "victim" who believes that our issues could have been greatly prevented by an extremely alternative diet from early childhood... But everyone wants to be "normal"; meaning eating whatever you damn please as do your peers... But, living without a large intestine is not normal. Living with a J-Pouch is that much less normal. Who knows? Maybe dying of rectal cancer or other cancers isn't so abnormal... so maybe we should embrace our special diseases? Maybe we should continue eating what we damn please. But, please, don't let me hear you later complaining about... you finish the sentence since you know what I'm talking about...
As you may know, various people in various FAP/Gardners Syndrome groups set up lynch groups for pursuing me after I made that famous comment about the modern diet possibly triggering off the FAP gene expression... Because that is what it is: the gene suddenly being turned on for expressing itself. If you read deep into nutrition and cancer you will notice that certain chemicals or foods or diets "cause" the changing of genetic codes in our DNA... Now, why wouldn't this happen with FAPers? You have the gene so it must express itself? If you know about my family history of FAP/Gardners, you would know that each of us with the gene has had a totally different experience... My younger sister Beth has developed cancer twice: She's supposedly much healthier than am I being so physically active; a marathoner. But, she also eats much much much more sugar than I, since she was a little girl. Why one has a drastically different sweet tolerance than another person is beyond me... She also has a much different alcohol tolerance than do I, also from childhood. I've never been a drinker... Read about glucose and cancer cells. Read about Flaxseeds and cancer too... Oh, by the way, I've never had cancer... But, I have the gene and live without a large intestine or a rectum... I live with this damn J-Pouch.
And I strongly believe that diet has everything to do with the trajectory of FAP/Gardners, your health and your illness. The only problem is that it is VERY COMPLICATED and you really should go back to school for studying nutrition... to begin with... But you won't... Nor will I go back to school for studying nutrition.
But I do have my head in the books. And what I'm reading is very interesting... Probably much more interesting than anything I could paint or write or (cook?)... Now I've gotta think about that... Granted, my cooking has evolved greatly over the past 4+ months... or it has become a bit boring... But, as Margarita says, "we've eaten all of that stuff. We don't have to eat it anymore..." Now we can become healthy. Too bad it is almost a bit too late... at the age when the organs begin naturally breaking down. But, why speed up the process...?
Oh, by the way, we saw that wonderful movie "chef"... what a dream! what a fantasy! I was there briefly in NYC and quite a bit over the past 11 years here in Mexico. What wonderful food... we can't eat now... but it's ok... It's time to do other things... Who knows? maybe run a half marathon one day if I don't bleed to death on the way to the finish line!
Pico de Orizaba
Taken from Huatusco, Veracruz, the closest town to Margarita's family's ranch.
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