I’m an Omnivore

1 hour
4 miles
12 donuts
2400 calories

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The last two months have been pretty bad in terms of eating, exercising, and even blogging. I went back to grains, then dairy, then sugar as part of an experiment on acne, so I really didn’t feel like I was in any position to write about eating healthily. I’m definitely eating better this month. And I have been running in an attempt to train for the Krispy Kreme Challenge that takes place this Saturday. I say “attempt” because I have pretty low expectations. Finishing might just be a miracle.

Anyway, I started going back to the gym recently. Last night was the second time. I decided to do some biceps and back exercises. I also did a little bit of ab work, some riding on a stationary bicycle, and running. From my understanding, you lose muscle strength a lot slower than you lose aerobic fitness. But you still lose it…

I got back from the gym feeling a little stuffed up. It was pretty cold and rainy outside (I was wearing shorts of course) and I really didn’t want to get sick again. That fear was unfounded. I woke up totally cleared up. I actually feel fine, except for one small detail. I can’t move my arms below 90 degrees. Woops! I wonder if this is normal. I guess I’m just going to have to look like a robot for the rest of the day.

A few weeks ago, I came down with a cold. Colds suck. Now, that shouldn’t be such a big deal normally, but I am keeping a close eye on the way my diet is affecting my health. Oh, and there’s also the fact that I wrote this article:
4 Ways to Never Get Sick Again

I speculated there that getting sick frequently is probably not necessary, a bold claim indeed. So it sure is a peculiarity that I became sick myself. There could be a lot of reasons that I got sick and I can only guess as to why. I was just returning from a bit of traveling (commercial flights are pretty good environments for the spread of illness) and I was returning from Wisconsin. And believe me, it was cold! There was even snow on the ground at one point and it was in November. I usually can’t even expect to get a good snow during the whole winter in North Carolina. Anyway, my cold could be attributed to the flight or stress or the temperature.

However, there are a few interesting notes here. The last few times I’ve gotten sick have been preceded by the same thing: lack of the sleep. I distinctly remember (and it helps that I write it down too) that the first signs of illness (usually a sore throat and mild congestion) start the day after getting 4 or 5 hours of sleep the night before. That’s not what happened this time! In fact, for the days preceding this cold, I was getting 8-9 hours every night.

Of course, there’s one other thing: my diet. I recently reintroduced dairy into my diet as part of a self experiment on acne. I got sick just weeks after I started eating dairy again. I have to say: I’m not really surprised. Surely, this could be a coincidence, but it is thought provoking to me. I’ll feel more confident about this connection, one way or the other, when I start experimenting again with Paleo next month.

I’ll leave you with an intriguing video about preventing and treating colds and flus. I don’t agree with everything presented here (especially skeptical of the hydrogen peroxide tip), but this guy does confirm some of my previous outlandish thoughts about getting sick . Enjoy:

In case you’ve been wondering why I’ve neglected my posting duties, I’ll point you in the direction of a box. To be completely honest two boxes were involved, often working in conjuction to dominate my life during the last month.

Beyond that though, I had been putting a ridiculous amount of time into preparing my halloween costume, Xerxes from the movie 300. I shaved my head three times, went to the tanning bed (never thought that would happen), learned a great deal more than I cared to know about makeup, and of course, the hallmark of any great homemade costume creation, perused thrift stores and hardwore stores looking for something good.

I actually was quite pleased with the result, although it would have been nice to have been nine feet tall:

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Last month, I explained Why Paleo Is the Healthiest Diet Possible. One of the underlying topics I covered was the role of natural selection in human evolution.

I think that understanding human evolution is the single most important step to understanding nutrition.

Here’s the thing. As I said last time, people misunderstand or reject evolution more often than not. While reading one reader’s comment on that post, I cringed:

Evolution is a response to the idea that adaptation will either kill us or make us better/fitter/more adapted. So, by eating grains, potatoes, and yes, even milk, I’m ensuring that my children can digest a wider range of foods than my ancestors could.

Wow! I don’t think it works quite that way. I felt that this reader was misguided, but understandably so. There is such a strong anti-evolution, even an anti-science, bias in this country that it’s amazing anyone learns anything about it at all.

I hope I don’t come across as a jerk for this post. I’m not an expert and I won’t pretend to be one. I just want to share my own understanding of natural selection.

I wrote a quick and dirty genetic algorithm. Genetic algorithms are specialized computer programs that mimic real evolutionary mechanisms to solve problems. Therefore, they’re a good way to show how natural selection works. My genetic algorithm attempts to simulate a small population (20) of organisms of the same species. Here’s how it works:

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If you go check out my diet page you might notice that I’m going back on grains. In fact, I’ll be back on dairy in a month. My descent into the Paleo diet is going to have to be put on hold for a short while. Before I get too involved, I want to answer a very important question:

What really causes acne?

Is it poor hygiene? Not getting enough sunlight? Touching your face too much? As you can probably guess, I think the real reason behind most acne problems is diet.

I’ve got a damn good hunch that diet is the real issue for most cases of acne. Certain experiences have made me feel this way: for instance, my face was very clear during one week. I didn’t have so much as one pimple. I broke down one night during that week and bought a small box of Junior Mints. Within hours, I had several zits. It was ridiculous. In general, I have seen a significant improvement in my acne since I started changing my diet. However, this could be attributed to other reasons and I haven’t documented this change yet, so I am now planning to go back and see the difference.

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I’ve always wanted to make my own sesame chicken. I get sesame chicken almost every time I go to a chinese restaurant. Believe it or not, I actually find chinese restaurants good places to avoid grains and dairy. Dairy usually isn’t a problem at all; grains can mostly be avoided if you just stay away from rice and noodles. Anyway, I used this recipe:

Flawless Sesame Chicken

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Did you know that, out of the three big macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins), there is one that is completely nonessential? It’s true. You don’t have to include it in your diet and if you don’t, you won’t end up nutritionally deficient. You can survive without this macronutrient for a long time and many cultures have been doing just that for centuries. Want to know which one it is?

Drum roll please.

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