Potatoes, Protein. . . and some Low Volume Training

The Lovely Potato

So as a few of you know, I am a true potato fiend. In my opinion, they easily belong in the top 5 foods that a person eats. I am doing a sort of research project on them and what I am finding is really interesting.

...This root being superior to both oat and wheat breads:

"The chairmen, porters, and coalheavers in London, and those unfortunate women who live by prostitution, the strongest men and the most beautiful women perhaps in the British dominions, are said to be the greater part of them from the lowest rank of people in Ireland, who are generally fed with this root. No food can afford a more decisive proof of its nourishing quality, or of its being peculiarly suitable to the health of the human constitution."

Here are some more that I found:

"what the Board of Agriculture mentions as a fact of the greatest importance, that potatoes and water alone, with common salt, can nourish men completely"

"The potato, which in some points of view, may justly be regarded as one of the greatest blessings to our species, is capable of operating the greatest calamities, when it exclusively furnishes the food on which a community is content to exist"

"The small farmers live on potatoes and milk. It is considered that he is a very fortunate man if he has milk for his family. He sells his butter and never uses oatmeal in his house."

It seems that these people were therefore living almost entirely on the potato and supplementing it with skimmed milk. This really makes me question the supposed 'great need for fats' in the diet.

Although this is probably not the 'Optimal' human diet, it shows that with enough calories and nutrients it is highly sustainable for hard working people. While I believe that there is no perfect diet, I have experimented with and witnessed that there are several similar factors to them all.

PROTEINS

I have recently increased my protein intake to see what kind of effect it will have on my current condition and recovery abilities. I have been reading up on protein deficiency to see what exactly it is and the symptoms of it.

I found this obvious but unrealized to me: " Protein deficiency is generally caused by lack of total food energy, making it an issue of not getting food in total."

This makes a lot of sense to me as that is why if you see a culture that has a low protein consumption, it is almost always high in starch. Carbohydrates 'spare' protein from being catabolized by the body to produce the much needed glucose (the bodies preferred source of energy). It is important to get your diet free of white sugar and excess fructose to help increase your insulin sensitivity. By doing this you will be able to eat a high starch diet and reap all the benefits with out any of the negatives often associated with 'evil carbs'.

People often talk about the bio-availability [BV] of protein. The problem with this is that the body is an amazing machine and nothing is simple. In studies it was found that "the BV of a protein is related to the amount of protein given. BV is measured at levels below the maintenance level. This means that as protein intake goes up, the BV of that protein goes down. For example, milk protein shows a BV near 100 at intakes of 0.2 g/kg. As protein intake increases to roughly maintenance levels, 0.5 g/kg, BV drops only around 70.^[20] Pellet et al., concluded that "biological measures of protein quality conducted at suboptimal levels in either experimental animals or human subjects may overestimate protein value at maintenance levels." As a result, while BV may be important for rating proteins where intake is below requirements, it has little bearing on individuals with protein intakes far above requirements."

It is easy to see that body adapts to what is being put into. The problem is when we make it extremely difficult for the body to maintain homeostasis. That is where health problems quickly arise. So therefore it is important to monitor yourself and your cravings. These will allow you to feed your body with what it wants when it wants it.

New Routine - Starting 4/5/10

So the new routine is a combination of several things I have been reading and discussing with others. I have decided that I need to improve my strength and not get caught up to much with the high volume training that pro's use. It is effective but should only be used only every-once-in-a-while.

*I will am writing it up right now and will post as soon as I finish*