Category Archives: General

Greetings! Shifting I do…

A while it has been since last I posted and a few updates for you I have.

Speak as Yoda does all the time I cannot

I’ve been trying to do this in Yoda-speak and it is difficult sometimes. In the past, I had posts I wanted to make and when I sit down to write them, it takes 3 times as long because I am trying to translate it into Yoda’s style of speaking. This is tedious and time consuming so I will no longer being doing it. I will try to throw some in here and there, but the majority of the posts will be in plain English.

Where have I been?

I’ve been working in landscaping for almost a year now and it keeps me very busy and very tired at times. It can be hard work and when I come home in the afternoons, I am tired! πŸ˜‰ Typically, I come home and veg out. The typical response when a coworker asks what I’m doing after work is “Shower, eat, sleep.”

I decided I need to get back to doings things like posting to this blog and getting back on the path to good health. I fell off the wagon as far as my smoking and I also need to cut out the adult beverages. One thing about landscaping: we work hard and we party hard. This needs to stop so I can move forward with fat loss and attaining peak health. I plan to quit smoking again and make it stick. I may return to alcohol on a limited basis at some point in the future, but for now, I’m cutting it out.

What’s next?

Last fall, I started following a fat loss protocol called AltShift. It was created by Jason Seib and it works. I was doing well but things over the winter got out of hand and I stepped off the path. I’m getting back into it again and am going to stick with it for the long haul. I think one of the reasons I slipped was that I was getting tired of all the food prep and spending half of Sunday cooking. In the future, I plan to keep it simple and just do it. Being tired of cooking is not a valid reason to avoid eating healthy. Time to step up and get it done.

More on AltShift to come.

Soon I will see youΒ and more updates I will have.

-PY

An Open Letter to Best Express Foods, the Makers of “Aussie Bites”

HI! I love the Aussie Bites but won’t be buying them again. You use canola oil. Organic or not, it’s shit. Before steam engines went the way of the dinosaurs, canola oil (rapeseed oil) was used as a lubricant. Once the steam engines went away, it was discovered that with WAAAYYYY too much processing – using poisonous chemicals – it could be made “safe” for human consumption. Me? I would prefer not to ingest it at all. In fact, your use of this oil is the ONLY reason I will not buy them again (or any of your products, for that matter).

I implore you to switch to a healthy alternative like coconut oil. All of the other ingredients are A-OK! But, the canola oil must go!

At this point, while they are delicious, I can not consider them healthy since you continue to use a steam engine lubricant as an ingredient. Please consider my alternate, and truly healthy, ingredient.

A Call to Arms

First off, I have to can the Yoda Speak. Fun it is on Twitter. In a long blog post, tedious it is!

Some of you may know that I am a regular user of TwoGrand. I love this app. It’s a constant reminder of how awesome the path is and that one should stay on it. Healthy eating is one of the four pillars to awesome heath (the other three being sleep, exercise, and stress management). I tried to post the following on TwoGrand but the app told me to cut it to less than 1000 characters. I have no idea how many characters are in the below post, but I scrapped it and decided to post it here:

———

I’ve been feeling pretty good about my eating this year, but I feel it is time to confess and do a solid reboot. I’ve been eating paleo/primal for the most part. For the last few months I’ve been cheating once a week. For the math nerds, that’s 1 meal out of 21, which is about 5%. 80/20 is usually a good rule and I’ve been holding to 95/5.

That being said, I need to stop the cheats. Those doughnuts and Ben & Jerry’s, while tasty, aren’t helping the cause. In January, I lost ~25#. Counting that month until now, I’m averaging 10# a month. While still decent, I wonder where I might be now if I had not stumbled.

I will be making a few major changes over the next week:

1. I will be going back to 100% paleo/primal. Along with this, I will be cooking more. I miss the good paleo/primal meals and need to do this as not preparing makes it easier to cheat.

2. I will get back on the wagon. While I haven’t been drinking to excess, I have been enjoying paleo friendly adult beverages here and there. My largest weight loss period this year was the first two months of the year. I did not drink during that period. I also know I will sleep better without it, especially since I’m working nights right now.

3. I will quit smoking. Again. Sigh. I quit spring of last year and made it about 7 months but then bad decisions over the holidays led to my backslide. I want to be done with them.

4. While I am on my feet 8 hours a day (night) at work with lots of walking and some heavy lifting (up to 50#), I want to start other physical activities: I plan to install the new parts on my old Model B Concept 2 rowing machine and start REAL heavy lifting at home. I have the weights, just waiting on a bench/squat rack. For the record, the current night job made a huge impact on my weight loss when I started it. Leading up to it, I was losing about 1-2# a week on nutrition alone. My first week on the new job, I was down 8#!!!!

I am only 75# from my goal weight. But as the paleo/primal gurus say: it’s not so much the weight but how you feel. I want to feel good and look good naked. I’m not there yet but I’m close enough to know that it is within my grasp if I recommit myself and just stay the course.

That is my plan. I post it here to remain accountable. I want to weigh ~200# before the end of 2014, with MORE muscle!!

-PY

ps. One good thing about the last 4 months is that I’ve learned what I can get away with while not adding weight. Once I reach my goal physique, I’ll not have to worry about keeping it. πŸ˜‰

LazyYoda and a Meditation Haiku

Long have I been away from here. A new job I have started. Physically demanding it is. Great exercise as well. Combined with my primal diet, help me lose 30+ pounds it has since the New Year started. Tired and sore I feel at the end of the day, but very good, too!

Back to meditation I have come and helping it is. Calm Yoda is. πŸ˜‰ A haiku about meditation I recently wrote:

Thinking constantly
Catch and release, watch them go
Focus on breathing

And that… meditation is.

Write more often I will.

Soon will I rest, yes, forever sleep. Earned it I have. Twilight is upon me, soon night must fall.

Sleep

Important it is and ignore it you should not. Many articles there are on the importance of it. Value it I do in my life. Used to be always I did not sleep as I should. Understand it better I do now and an effort I make daily to attend to it. Staring at TV or computer all night, help they did not. Learned I did that blue light they output and tell your body it does to not make melatonin. Necessary it is to make one feel sleepy. If exposed to blue light you are after dark, then melatonin you will not make and tired you will not be at bed time. Toss and turn you will.

Three changes I have made and help me they do. With these changes, sleepy I feel before bed. Quickly fall asleep I do and soundly I sleep.

Help me these three things do…

F.lux

Installed this app I have on my laptop. As sun sets, change my color settings it does. Slowly, it removes blue light. On the first night, yawning I was before dinner. Good this is. Found it through Mark Sisson I did and grateful I am for it. Use it daily I will and just now I realize available for iDevices it is. Install it I must!

Uvex S0360X Ultra-spec 2000 Safety Eyewear, Orange Frame, SCT-Orange UV Extreme Anti-Fog Lens

Same purpose these serve as F.lux, except work on all light they do. Put them on I will after dinner. Wear them I will until I turn off the lights for bed. Even wear them while reading I do. The blue light they block and sleepy I become. Only will I wear them at home. Self-conscious Yoda is. mmm ehHEHEHEhehe.

Make Time for Sleep

Turn things off and go to bed I do now. Used to be watch TV until tired I felt. Sometimes, long it would take. Now, turn things off. Only watch programs I want to watch. No more watching tv because bored I am. DVR, freed me it has from commercials so less time it takes to watch. Every night, turn devices off and read before bed I do. Heavy the eyes get. Good this is. Consciously, these decisions I make and time I set aside for sleep. When combined with JERF and some exercise, sleep soundly I do. Awake I do in the morning ready for the day. Groggy Yoda I am no more!

Other Changes

Can not sleep on my back. Never liked it have I. Uncomfortable I feel. Always slept on side or partial stomach. Always had arm under pillow, under my head. Shoulder pain I started to develop this year. Watch this I did from Kstarr (another great teacher!) on pillow and neck pain. My pillow I folded in half, length-wise. No longer do I need arm under it. High enough it is to support my head. Gone my shoulder pain is and better I sleep now.

Lastly, block lights and sounds I have. Very dark and quiet my room is. Cool as well. Keep the temp in high 60s to low 70s.

Take the time and effort you must in order to sleep properly. Help you it can for this is when the body heals and if deprive yourself of this you do, then suffer you will.

Found Me You Have

A blog I have started. Only so much one can say on Twitter. Post here I will about all things Paleo, Primal, or JERF (Just Eat Real Food). More than just nutrition this will contain. Meditate I do. Exercise I do. Sleep. All aspects of a healthy life. If want good health you do, then work on all areas you must!

Stay and learn… or do not. Stay you will, I hope. Much potential I see in you. Yes…