Free the Animal

Faceoff

I'll do a better one later, but I just couldn't stand looking at my fat face to the right any longer, which was the middle one in the left-to-right series of photos I've had up there since I began my new Life Way. The one to the left is from two years ago.

I'd say at least three pounds of my total wight loss is in my face and neck.

Later: Well, in the comments, my dad thinks I look like "a refugee from Iraq" in the pic to the right. I knew it wasn't a great photo, but...

Anyway, I took my own jab back, then went and redid the thing. Dad & I get along just fine. He says what's on his mind, I say what's on mine, and then we go out for breakfast or lunch somewhere. It's been going on for a couple of decades like that, now. Bea & I will be leaving Sunday to join the parents and my brothers for a week of camping, the 11th (or is it 12th?) annual Hat Creek trip.

Here's the redo, with the new pic now at the root.

I cropped it from this:

Hey, what's that in my hand? Ain't even 5pm, yet...though it is the next timezone to the east.

"Some of the people who are offsetting your cheating"

cheatneutral

"Helping you because you can't help yourself."

(via Art)

Later: Well, I was half-tempted when I blogged this to include some crack about Edwards, speculating whether he, as is Gore with his carbon offsets, behind any of it. Now it's official (the affair, that is).

How is it that all these Democrat darling "pretty boys" can't control themselves? Well, let's just say that I come from a time and place where such behavior isn't engaged in just as much due to plain old self-respect as anything else, like causing pain and hurt to someone you supposedly care about.

Then again, Edwards preaches a lot of selflessness and self-sacrifice, doesn't he? I'd say that at least he practices what he preaches, only I see no evidence of any self-respect for him to lay at the altar of sacrifice.

Genuine self-respect has a prerequisite: rational selfishness. Edwards is a selfless as they come. That's why his conscience will permit him to wreak havoc in the lives of others for the sake of his own pleasures and perceived gain.

Pathetic; through and through.

Concert Follow-Up

Still working out details, which will take a while.

I've received a few emails from friends asking how the concert went. I must say: I'm somewhat embarrassed that the tickets were only $45 each. Could have sat up in the regular seats, but I think we had the perfect deal. See here.

And here's a wide-angle shot of the venue, just as Charlie Musselwhite took stage.

It was a good time, though I think that Charlie and Buddy Guy would have been sufficient. "George Thurlgood and the Deleware Destroyers" -- the headliner -- were great, but I'm familiar with all their stuff. Interestingly, Bea was somewhat unfamiliar and loved George (especially the "I Drink Alone" song). But she got it, and this please me immensely. On the drive home, she says, "I see. It's all about the Blues, isn't it?" Yep.

I really enjoyed Charlie Musselwhite, playing his harps. He did a number of things, old and new, and then something he learned in South America where street performers in Rio have managed to fuse blues and Latin rhythm. It was interesting and something I can definitely enjoy in reasonable doses. But mostly, it reminded me of a friend from way back in my days of living in France. He was the youngest of the sons of Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, journalist and founder of L'Express, author, and politician. My friend spent much of his childhood in the U.S., and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University. He was doing his 2-yr French Military Service when I met him and we spent a lot of time getting "integrated with the local French bar scene." Anyway, one of his hobbies was that he had learned to play a really respectable blues-harp, and with some encouragement, he'd take it out and play for everyone at the various drinking establishments or private parties we frequented. He was really damn good as far as I could tell and I was always interested to know what kind of effort went into learning to play like that. Maybe Ron Good knows.

Buddy Guy. What can I say? He goes to the top of the list in terms of performances I've ever seen that I liked. I'm really at a loss to describe it. How about this: he's 72 years old, and I'd have preferred watching his masterful performance, then, to watching any cocksure 20 or 30-something I could possibly have thought of. How about that? Some may be better than him when they're 72, but we won't know that. In the meantime, I'm plenty satisfied that reality marches on and when executed properly, there's no substitute for solid and competent experience.

He did his various impressions, and threw a good-humor f-bomb or two when the audience objected in hushed boos to his assertion that we only knew the great blues because the Brits (re) introduced them to us. This was after his BB impression, and right before his Eric Clapton impression, which, I must say, was hilarious and touching all at the same time. Here's the deal: how many people even could imitate Clapton playing blues guitar? Whether he's right about the Brits and blues wasn't important. It was all in the context of entertainment, and I was just fine.

I was hoping for a Jimmy impression, but I hoped in vain. Well, at least Buddy complained a time or two about not having enough time. He'd have played until he dropped, had he been allowed to. That was the impression we got, anyway. I don't usually speak for "we," but I feel safe in this single instance. Buddy, as I've learned, in one of his entertainer trademarks, like to visit with the audience. In this case, he B-lined it for the cheap seats, and here's what my iPhone shot.

The respect, admiration, and goodwill in that scene was thick enough to cut with a knife.

Now, here's a couple for my friend, who taught me to pay attention to that which "nobody notices unless you fuck it up."

Thorogood getting the treatment of the full light capability (the other shows didn't).

And now with lights on the audience, signaling that some sort of audience response is desired.

A Brand New Direction

I'm heading in a different direction with this blog.

Over the last year, you may have noticed that it's less and less about politics and its roots, and more and more about diet, fitness, and my own journey to improve myself in that regard. That includes a large dose of independent discovery, research, thinking, and experimentation.

But just as there are lots of sites already that deal in politics in all its varieties, there's plenty of sites -- very good ones I often link to -- that provide excellent information in the area of what I loosely refer to as "Evolutionary Fitness," which really comes down to the dietary and health implications of evolutionary biology in the main.

So what can I bring? Well, it's funny, and you may not see this, but the reason EvFit appeals to me so is that it's quite a lot like my political philosophy, i.e., individualism. But even more so, the reason I'm an individualist -- aside from the fact that we are individuals and not a collective -- is that I wish to live in accordance with the facts of reality and not the dictates of "authorities," and that goes for "health authorities" every bit as much as for our "masters of public policy" (arguably more, because you can't escape your biology at all, while you still can to some extent mitigate the impact of public policy on your life).

So, when I'm talking about atheism, philosophy, or politics with the edge, attitude, and downright arrogance I often do, it's really coming from exactly the same place as when I talk about EvFit, and what morons people are, in general, when it comes to their collectivized notions of diet and health. Here's another thing: while almost nobody listens to me when it comes to politics, virtually everyone listens to me when it comes to fitness. You wouldn't believe how many people email me about it, stop me in the gym, and so on. And here's another thing: once they see the logic in what I'm telling them about health, I can easily relate it to something political and they grasp the connection.

So, I'm going to transform this into a site explicitly about EvFit, with the occasional foray into politics and such, particularly when the logic of the former implies a similar logic in the latter. In terms of style, nothing is going to change, and that's what I bring. I'm not going to be your polite, always objective, furry little health blogger. There's nothing in the world wrong with that, but it's not my style. I want people to cringe. I want them to confront the fact that they'll come back time and again to read what I write, but they'd never admit it to anyone, or, God forbid, link to it.

It'll probably be fun. Comments welcome. Let me know what you think. As to the blog name, I'm undecided. I may just keep it as HonestyLog ("In Your Face Fitness"), or something else. Suggestions welcome. Thanks for stopping by.

Walking in Gloves

I said I'd let you know how it goes, but Justin has written up a review of the Vibram Five Fingers that can pretty much stand up as my own. Take a look.

Five Fingers have helped me be a kid again

That's the most important part. I haven't gotten yet where I wear them much on my morning walks. Frankly, the sensory explosion is a bit overwhelming. I like to focus on the dogs, enjoy the morning. So, the deadening effect of padded running shoes is OK. However, I love to use them at the gym, and then my favorite is the shorter evening walks. It's like a treat. Last week, for instance, Bea had already taken the dogs out for the evening walk when I got home. I tossed on the Vibrams, tracked her and the dogs down, and continued on the walk. It's quite a pleasurable sensation I highly recommend.

One Man's Vices are Another Man's Virtues

Still catching up with Mark Sisson, with 80 posts to go. I can't bear to just dump it; he's got so much good info. So, there might be a highlight or two. Like this one on "vices." On the consumption of lots of fat:

Don’t you love the look on peoples’ faces when you say that?

I do, and it's quite often. People I haven't seen in a while are now always commenting on "all the weight I've lost." I clarify: it's not weight that's important. What's important is that I have shed 50 pounds of fat and gained 20 pounds of lean muscle. I'm now benching 205, and that's after a 10-rep warm up at 135, then 5 reps at 185. When I began, I could not do 10 reps at 135. I weigh 30+ pounds less, yet am more than twice as strong as before. I used to be "big," and man could I get a good pump going in the gym. Fooling myself. I had ribeye steaks for muscles, i.e., much of the "big" was simply visceral fat. Now, my muscles are actually quite smaller in many instances, yet rock solid and very strong.

But yea, I love telling people my "secret." First and foremost, lots of fat -- saturated fat (lard, butter, coconut oil, ghee, red palm oil, olive oil). Why? Because if you want a lean body, you've got to cut the carbs. But you've got to get the calories somewhere and it's pretty difficult to get them from ingesting more protein. Sugar (carbs) drives insulin; insulin drives fat storage. Eat a pound of fat or a loaf of bread, and the bread is what you're going to store as fat. This is solid fact. Also, fat calories are efficient in terms of volume. Makes everything taste way better, and there's more than twice as many cals per gram as for protein or carbs (9 vs. 4). I get about 60% of my calories from highly saturated fat.

Second is the working out, and I now challenge people to guess how much time I spend at the gym. Hours per week, they think. Nope; one hour, never, ever more, and that's in two session per week. Every few months I'll take a week off.

Next is the fasting. I'm now doing much more intermittent fasting than before. It can be no times per week, or three or even four days, but in that case it's usually 16-18 hour fasts. And, almost everyday I go at least 12 hours from my last intake at night to my first intake of the next day. I always, always work out in some degree of fast, i.e., not having eaten in at least 12 hours.

It's pretty clear that at the gym I go to, nobody has the results I have, so fast, and so unique in terms of upper-body leanness; particularly arms, upper back, and shoulders (belly has a ways to go). Word is getting around, my trainer has been telling other trainers what I do; and now they all know my name, I don't know theirs in most cases, and they're asking me what I'm doing. Everyone is most blown away by the working out fasted, and that I never eat post-workout for at least two hours, and it's often more. I some cases, it's an overnight fast, morning workout, and then nothing until dinner.

For most people, it just doesn't compute. Then I tell them my lipid panel and it's utter blank-out. The other day was the funniest, though. I was at the pub going over the same story with someone I've know for a reasonably long time. He's pretty fat, bordering on obese, and when I told him about the fasting, he told me that was "very bad" for my metabolism, and that he's a certified nutritionist. Uh, OK...

Tropical Fats: Good

I'm way behind in my reading. This is from May, but definitely worth the read. Scott Kustes of Moder Forager, guest blogging at Mark's Daily Apple.

I now do all of my stir frys in coconut oil. It is by far the most pleasant fat I've ever worked with and cooked with. I even use it in non-cooked things, like a spoonful in a whey protein shake with vanilla and a couple of raw eggs, and heavy cream and ice in the blender. It offers a wonderful and light coconut flavor. It has a tremendously high smoke point, so it's great for the wok on full blast.

Here's another: heat some up in a sauce pan and use it as a dip for grilled shrimp, just like you'd dip crab or lobster in drawn, clarified butter. Yummy.