Day 31 – Intense Workout

I love a good intense workout, one where I am focused and strict in my form while working extra hard to complete all reps and sets. Today I had one of those workouts and everything just fell into place. My motivation was up which certainly helps and I got a buzz from each exercise feeding my drive to outwork and perform well. In the end I was dripping sweat, a sign for me that I was concentrating and working extremely hard.

Instead of doing the ropejumps today I went outside and did some interval runs. I went for a hard run for approximately 400 metres and then jogged for 30 seconds. I did this 10 times and was exhausted by the end. I found this more strenuous than the ropejumps and wonder how they would compare in calorie burn. I’ll try to do this once or twice a week. I’ve seen some research on interval training that has stated that training in short bursts with a short recovery period has some advantages over continuous training, namely it takes less time and you can see bigger cardio gains. During the heavy fast run, lactic acid is produced and a state of oxygen debt is reached. During the interval recovery, the heart and lungs are still stimulated as they try to pay back the debt by supplying oxygen to help break down the lactates. The stresses put on the body cause an adaptation including capillarisation, strengthening of the heart muscles, improved oxygen uptake and improved buffers to lactates. All this leads to improved performance, in particular within the cardiovascular system.

I have run longer and shorter distances for most of my life and have found that I am experiencing improvements by way of interval training from the plateaus I have been at for the past few years. I enjoy the experimentation to find the right balance of workouts for running and exercising to get the most out of it.

I hope I have another great workout tomorrow.

See you then.

Day 30 – Enlighten Up!

Always looking for a good film, I saw a trailer from the independent documentary Enlighten Up! By filmmaker Kate Churchill. She insists that yoga can transform anyone and decides to prove it. She selects 29 year-old journalist, Nick Rosen as her subject and immerses him in yoga, following him until he finds a yoga practice that transforms him. Sounds like a great subject and interesting to anyone who wants to become a better, more enlightened person.

One of the clips I saw shows a Guruji who explains that it took him 6 years to gain health saying “When health was not there, what can I think of philosophy?” He goes on to state that yoga is a subjective way of eradicating the instinctive weaknesses of human being. He asserts that change has to take place, transformation has to take place for whoever it may be.

While I have always held a fascination for yoga, I have never once practiced it, nor can I claim any wisdom about it. However, the words of this guru ring so true and remind me so much of what I’m doing now with the Peak Condition Project, that I will at least look into it more closely.

As far as the movie goes, there are so many parallels between it and the peak condition project but on a more physical level. A person like myself or any one of the many PCPers are looking for transformation, to be in the peak condition of their lives and to be a better, more healthy, confident and long lasting person. But I am starting to understand that being in good shape is the first not the last step in personal fulfillment for me, a stepping stone on a long path of stones to true happiness.

I look forward to this film and wonder what a PCP documentary will look like – I think it would be very interesting indeed.

See you tomorrow.

Day 29 – The Future is Getting Bigger

I was at a movie today with my eldest son and was thinking about Tanya’s blog about the appropriateness of taking a child to a fight or a mature rated movie. We saw Monsters vs. Aliens, it was rated G, and I only had to talk to my boy about several issues I had with the film. What threw me off this train of thought several times was the number of children I saw that were overweight. It struck me so hard that I questioned if it was my mindset in the PCP zone so I counted as best I could the number of children in the theatre and those that I felt were overweight (a little subjective but I gave people the benefit of the doubt on borderlines). Of the 73 children in the theatre, 25 were in my opinion overweight.

This would equate to 34% of the children overweight. I know that child obesity is on the rise but I just can’t think of children as being overweight. Statistics Canada has stated that the combined rate of children and teens who are overweight or obese has jumped from 15 to 26 percent over the span of just 25 years. The problem doesn’t stop here, about 70% of obese children become obese adults, increasing the risk of their developing chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease as well as developing poor body image and self-esteem related eating disorders.

What is most alarming is that many obese and overweight children are developing health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and joint problems, at very early ages.

I was not surprised to find that there is a major gap between the reality and the perception of Canadian parents about the weight of their children – I think of all children as healthy and active with fit bodies. A recent Canadian survey indicated only 9% of parents of children under the age of 18 years identify their children as overweight or obese. Of course, this contrasts with the actual combined rate of 26% so what are these parents thinking, maybe like me they have a perception of children that is not necessarily true.

What to do about this? Maybe Patrick can start a junior PCP but no matter how good that would be I think it needs to go deeper than that. A special Canadian Committee of this topic suggested the following:

A. Set Specific Measurable Targets
B. Implement a Comprehensive Public Awareness Campaign
C. Implement Mandatory Front of Package Labeling
D. Limit Trans Fats
E. Collect Data for Targets
F. Collaborate on Knowledge Exchange
G. Increase Research
H. Develop A Coordinated Effort between all parties and regions
I. Control Children’s Food Advertising
J. Increase Healthy Food Choices
K. Evaluate the Impact of Tax Credits
L. Support Appropriate Food and Physical Activity in Schools
M. Enhance Community Infrastructure

I love all of these recommendations but since the committee announced them last year, nothing concrete has come from it. I will look at some of these in future blogs.

Today the program changed. Exercises are more advanced and there is a focus on legs. I need to work on my legs anyhow so I like this a lot. The food intake has also decreased a little but today I felt the portions were just right. We'll have to see how I fell in a day or two.

Here are my current critical stats:

BMI: 26.9
Fat Percentage: 17.8
Height: 160cm
Weight: 97.5kgs
Arm: 36cm
Chest: 110cm
Waist: 99cm
Hips: 96cm
Thigh: 61cm
Resting Heart Rate: 57 bpm

Not much of a movement on the stats but I am undeterred and feel great!

See you tomorrow.

Day 28 –Day Flew By

Today was a whirlwind of meetings and work. I was out most of the day and when I was at home, I was doing work in my office. Not a great way to spend a Saturday but I’ll be ready for next week.

I was discussing with a friend of mine the implications of professional athletes taking performance-enhancing drugs and he felt it was okay for athletes to do so. I asked him two things: 1) If you had children that looked up to athletes and these athletes took steroids or other harmful drugs, how would that change your viewpoint? And 2) What if every professional hockey player (he’s a big hockey fan) took drugs to make themselves better would you idolize them the way you do today? And just for good measure I suggested that Pro Athletes are admired, loved and idolized by very young people and so there is a higher price they must pay to honour them – they are no longer the anyone they are now more responsible for their actions and much like a parent must do things appropriate and expect those that look up to them to follow in their footsteps.

He just called me up and conceded my points. I told him I wasn’t trying to win the argument but he said I was right nonetheless. Maybe there is hope for those bloodthirsty fans and for the future heroes of sports.

I had lunch out at a meeting today and when I asked for 140 grams of meat and 180 grams of vegetables everyone looked at me like I had a third eye. Not a problem – the server was great, the chef did all the right things and I felt great not having to compromise for the lunch meeting.

See you tomorrow.

Day 27 – High Fructose Corn Syrup

I was cruising’ around youtube and saw this:



I also saw this:



I don’t want to rant really but I would like to say that if you’re trying to lose weight there are evil forces conspiring against you. It is not easy to stay healthy and trim and when you are up against marketing machines and corporate dollars it is that much harder. Like the Tobacco industry telling the world that nicotine isn’t addictive - with a straight face, here the Corn Refiners Association is fighting against negativity, drop in sales or maybe a trend they see coming sometime soon.

I don’t mind these ads, they don’t affect me because I stay clear of the stuff but maybe someone should worry about this because it is a very slippery slope when you say “its fine in moderation”.

Anyhow. Patrick made a comment yesterday on chronicling how I feel after a whole day at work, playing with the kids and so forth. I know my stress levels have dropped considerably but I like the idea of gauging it more scientifically. So I am in the process of developing a system to record how the PCP is affecting my stress, outlook, moods as well as my physique.

I just read Tanya’s blog entry for the day and I salivated when I read about her salad. It sounded so good and I guess I should get more adventurous with the foods and combos I’m eating. I am content with my diet though and feel I’m hitting all the cravings at the right times but I will mix it up a little more.

See you tomorrow.

Day 26 – Test Day

Every week I’ll post a picture and divulge my critical stats so that you can see where I’m at. But today I wanted to test my strength as a baseline so that I can gauge what the PCP is doing for me in that capacity. I want to look better and feel better but one of the key factors for me is to increase stamina and strength.

The tests I have set up are maximum push-ups no time limit, maximum full sit-up in one minute, wide grip pull-ups no time limit and wall sit as long as I can go.

Here are my results:

Push-ups – 60
Full Sit-up – 32 in 1 minute
Wide Grip Pull-ups – 7
Wall-sit – 105 seconds

I am really happy with my results since I know a month ago I would not have been able to do near these numbers. My strength training is working!

I think I’ll test every second week since this took a lot out of me and I’m not sure there will be significant gains in just one week.

I also want to do a cardio test next week so if you have any ideas on this one let me know.

See you tomorrow.

Day 25 – Am I Obesist?

I just read an article titled Why obesity is not a lifestyle choice and found myself wondering if I am predjudiced against people who are overweight. I questioned myself because the article states that most people attribute obesity to simply making poor choices. “Why can't people with excess weight just push away the food and get off their butts? Why should the community pick up the tab for obese people's health problems resulting from gluttony and sloth?” Moreover, while reading this comment, I did not totally object to it.

And after reading the article I felt guilty for thinking that all anyone had to do was eat less and move more and their obesity problem would go away. Was I wrong, to feel this way, I think partially anyway.

People are obese for so many reasons, drugs, glandular issues, psychological problems, but this article makes it sound like those people who are obese are absolved of any wrongdoing. Dr. Sharma states, “I have yet to meet a patient who chose to be fat. I have also yet to meet a patient who chose to have diabetes, wished for a heart attack or longed for cancer.” I would agree and I have yet to meet a life long smoker who wants throat or lung cancer, emphysema or bronchitis but they still continue to smoke. A person can stop right now, or never - that is their choice and is more important than anything else in prevention of the undesired effect.
However, is it a case of self-control, will power or laziness? I don’t think its that simple. Just like people with mental illness, this is more complex and must be looked at through more compassionate eyes.

There are too many temptations and our western society makes it too easy to get fat and satisfy our cravings and so it becomes a more profound issue than one just of self-control. It is an epidemic, one created by people and so people must resolve to solve it but if governments, companies and society look at the problem simplistically as one of individual freedom and separate from their own initiatives then I think were all in for a lot more obesism. Therefore, I need to be more compassionate and with an attitude to help those who are overweight and want to change, I believe the PCP is a great way to start.



On Patrick’s suggestion, I departed briefly from my diet today and had a chocolate on chocolate cupcake. I have to say on my initial bite it tasted great but then the sweetness was overpowering and the lard in the thick icing did not go down well. At second bite I questioned whether this was the best choice but continued on. When I was done, I wondered what it was all about and felt a sense of guilt for veering away from my diet for such a cheap fix. It just didn’t taste the same and I was surprised that Patrick’s prediction that it might not be as good a treat as I imagined was right on the money. And the after affects? I’ve had an upset stomach since it hit my belly and remember my headaches? First one since I started. I guess I’ll try something a little more substantial next time, but hey, now I know.

See you tomorrow.

Day 24 – Diet's effect on me

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the physiological and psychological effects of the PCP diet and found some interesting things out – certainly from Patrick’s daily email but also from a little research. Here’s a fascinating article I found:

The psychological consequences of dieting were clearly illustrated in a classic study of the effects of semi-starvation done in 1950 by Ancel Keys, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota. In the study, 36 healthy, young, psychologically sound males were observed over a period of 1 year. During the first 3 months, the men ate normal amounts of food; during the next 6 months, they were given half as much food; and during the last 3 months, their food allotment was gradually increased. During the semi-starvation period, the men became preoccupied with food and constantly talked about it, read cookbooks, clipped recipes, and daydreamed about eating. When a meal was served, many took an inordinately long time to eat it, trying to make it last. Over time, the men became extremely depressed, anxious, and irritable.

Once they made it through the period of semi-starvation, the men ate nearly continuously, with some indulging in 8,000- to 10,000-calorie binges. The men reported to 10,000-calorie binges. The men reported that their hunger actually increased right after meals, and some of them continued to eat to the point of being sick without feeling satisfied. Although most of the men finally reverted to normal eating patterns within 5 months of the study's end, some continued with their new patterns of "extreme over consumption.

I know the PCP is not like this and certainly not a psychological experiment (key x-files music) but I am thinking a lot about food lately and my cravings for all those sweet and fattening foods I used to eat so long ago, keep recurring. I don’t know what these men ate in the experiment and the type of food eaten may have been one cause of their depression/anxiety.

A Japanese study recently found that the consumption of healthy foods and vitamin C reduce the physiological conditions of stress. Essentially eating well and consuming foods high in nutrients would reduce the symptoms of stress while the consumption of unhealthy or poor nutrient foods would cause liver dysfunction and increase the symptoms of stress.

Not a surprise ending here but interesting since the reduction of calories can increase stress, but better foods reduce it. With the PCP I am actually eating much more than I did before the diet, its just that the foods are so much better and the calorie content is much lower.

So here are some of my physiological experiences:

• I no longer have heartburn or indigestion at all.
• I have not had congested sinuses since the beginning of the project (sodium benzoate may be the culprit)
• My skin is clear and more supple even in our extremely dry climate
• I can't remember having even one headache so far – I used to have them all the time.
• My flexibility has improved from disastrous to mildly disastrous.
• Less hyperactive since no high sugar, processed, food colored foods.

In addition, here are some of my psychological experiences:

• Cravings for sweets have come back with a vengeance and I’m constantly looking for new ways to psych myself out.
• Some irritability especially when I’m late for a meal.
• Excitement with the foods I am preparing and eating.
• Guilt when I eat some junk (more on this tomorrow).
• Frustration with the food marketing machine, all television ads and people around me who eat whatever they want.
• Preoccupation with my next meal.

I will let you know what else I am experiencing in future posts.

I just got a new skipping rope with bearings!!! I’m flying now and loving it. My son and I were playing around and I had him stand up on me and surf while I did some pushups. He was hanging ten while I had to be as stable and flat as possible. It was a great workout and definitely something we’ll continue to do.

See you tomorrow.

Day 23 – Missed the games.

In all the excitement over the past few days I missed a couple of key games in the 6 Nations Rugby Cup. Ireland played Wales and France played Italy. I watched the games in rerun already knowing the outcomes but enjoyed them all the same. Ireland came and concoured completing a triple crown not seen in decades by the club and deserved the championship. It was a close matched game against the Wales team and an exciting finish to the tournament. Then there was the game between France and Italy. It was an uneven match up with France besting the Italians 50 to 8. I’m not sure that France took much pleasure in the win, they didn’t have a great tournament and likely piled on the points out of frustration with how their wins went. My man Sebastien Chabal scored a try and played the whole game using his speed and power to the team's advantage. Which beings me to an interesting point.

Chabal in nightclub brawl
2009-03-23 07:39

Rome - France lock Sebastien Chabal and Italy prop Martin Castrogiovanni were involved in a nightclub brawl following their teams' Six Nations clash, Italian news agency Ansa claimed on Sunday.
Chabal, who scored a try during the 50-8 romp, reportedly left Castro with a bloodied nose after the Leicester Tigers prop believed the French player, known as 'Caveman', was eyeing his girlfriend at the Art Cafe nightspot on Saturday night.
The bearded Frenchman, dressed in a dinner jacket, and Castrogiovanni were separated by team-mates. French players apologised for the incident.

Now I don’t know what really happened, it just looks like tempers flared and fists flew. I do believe that while Chabal is no saint, he didn’t start the fight, but with a nicely aimed punch ended it. That old saying don’t start fights but make sure you finish them applies here but not only or neccessarily to fighting – Lets bring it back to the PCP.

I was reading Patrick’s blog today about how we sit all day and what that does to our bodies – pretty sobering stuff. Nobody is looking for pain, a bad back, soreness, stiffness, whatever, but it can creep up and get you if you're not prepared and ready to stop it.

And in all aspects of life there are people and things out to get you and you’ve got to be prepared to finish the fight or stop it before its happened. I marvel at people who seem to get everything they want in life while nothing seems to effect them and everything they do seems effortless. But that’s my mistake since it was never easy for them, they just worked very hard and were ready to overcome any obstacle. And so that is what I am doing with the PCP. I’m here to live a better life, to fight age, inflexibility, food that will kill me prematurely and be able to power my boys onto my shoulders without getting a hernia. All in all I’m Chabal in the bar not starting the fight but finishing it.

So here’s where I am today:



My Critical Stats:

BMI: 27.0
Fat Percentage: 17.7
Height: 160cm
Weight: 97.9kgs
Arm: 36cm
Chest: 110cm
Waist: 99cm
Hips: 96cm
Thigh: 61cm
Resting Heart Rate: 56 bpm

I’m really progressing considering I’ve lost almost 10 pounds in just over 3 weeks. But what’s really exciting is the strength and endurance I’m gaining from the PCP! This is cool.

See you tomorrow.

Day 22 – Back in the Saddle

As my last post mentioned the weekend was interesting on many levels. My son is back at home and happy to be with his family and in his familiar environment again. He has a full cast on his arm and the recuperation time should be around 5 weeks. My wife spent most of the time with him at the hospital while I looked after our eldest at home. I was really worried about my wife since she was extremely tired and emotionally upset from the experience but like my son, she was very courageous and stayed happy and supportive all the way through. I’m so lucky to have such a great family.

Our experience with the Children’s Hospital Unit 4 where my wife and son stayed for surgery was amazing. The Nurses were great, the Doctors had great bedside manners and they all really cared for the patient and family. I cannot say enough about how great they are. This is in high contrast to the experience we had during admitting to the hospital and makes me wonder why there is such a discrepancy. When we went back for the surgery we were told to go to admitting and the nurse would be expecting us and would facilitate admission quickly. However when we did get to the admitting department they claimed they knew nothing about us and had us wait for a half hour before a nurse found us and frantically whisked us to the doctor consultation – apparently the Doctor had found out that we were waiting and was upset and confounded as to why this had happened. I don’t want to dwell on this except to say a little bit of fix is all it needs to be great.

Patrick asked what the cost was for this, comparing it to the US system. Fortunately, it cost us nothing at all and that is the real beauty of universal health care. I would love to know the true cost of the few days but putting everything together including the drugs, one procedure and one surgery plus time/effort and equipment it would have to be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

I’m back in the saddle and raring to go. I did my 1000 rope jumps today and I while I can’t say I was in the mood to enjoy them, I did get a real sense of satisfaction from them. I did some of the new exercises and found them challenging and strenuous, in other words I like them.

The diet has changed too with less grams and milliliters to consume each day but Patrick has provided us with a great sheet to record the daily input with our heroes in the background. I thought this was so cool and has already been an inspiration to me, looking at it today.

So there you have it, we’re on week 4 and I am starting to realize how focused and committed one must be to reach peak condition. I will redouble my efforts.

Tomorrow I’ll post a new picture and my critical stats.

See you then.

Day 20 & 21 – Whatever Doesn’t Kill Ya…

I’ve been up for 36 hours now and I haven’t taking a real break until just a few minutes ago. Yesterday, after dinner, I was sitting on a recliner chair with my two young sons playing in the same room. My youngest son wanted to get onto my lap and when I moved back to bring him aboard his hand got caught in the scissor mechanism of the recliner. I wasn’t aware of any trouble until my wife cursed and said there was a lot of blood. I will not go into the details but it was not pretty. My wife and I shot into action – I took my eldest to my neighbors for the evening and we went to our local emergency medical centre with or injured son.

This is where it all breaks down. If you’ve seen Sicko by Michael Moore you have an idea of the American Medical system. Canada figures prominently in the film juxtaposing the U.S. system. The problem is that the Canada health care system has problems of its own that really need fixing, sorry though, I digress.

It took us 4 hours to see a doctor, with a child bleeding from a large opened wound and in severe pain I would hate for any parent to go through this. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a triage nurse and the medical people were very friendly but I saw many patients get treatment before my son that were laughing and running around like it was a play date. When we saw the doctor she gulped at the damage and concluded that we would have to go to the
Children’s Hospital on the other side of town. Greatful for the assessment but concerned for our son, we packed him into our vehicle and went to the specialized hospital with a letter describing the seriousness of the injury, an email to the hospital and a phone call to speed up the process all from the medical centre doctor.

When we got to the Children’s Hospital we felt confident that our son would be seen shortly and his pain alieved before too much longer(even if the waiting room was full of people). Guess what, another 5 hours and we finally see a doctor. I was totally frustrated and at 4:00am I was having trouble concentrating.

This Doctor was great and very professional and determined that the hand would need plastic microsurgery to repair nerve and tendon damage.

So today we waited all day in a hospital to see our son’s suffering stopped. This was not meant as a rant but I guess it kinda came out as one. I find it incredible that I can have such respect for these medical practitioners but despise the medical system they work under.

Of course my diet fell apart and I had no exercise at all. I ate some bad for you food from the cafeteria and vending machines and when I finally had time for lunch, it was processed meat, bread and condiments. This was the best I could find in what should be the highest representation of health and wellness in our society.

I am writing today/yesterday (all of it is one big time span) off and looking forward to getting my son back healthy and repaired, ready to recuperate. I'll let you know how it turns out.

See you soon.

Day 19 - I am so tired today

I just read an email from Patrick who warned about overexerting yourself at this stage of the game and it seems to fit exactly what I’m feeling today. I’ve been pushing it really hard and have lost a few pounds over the last few days. I’m just wiped out.

So I’m sticking to the plan, the food, the exercises, everything, I’m just not going to take it right to the wall for a few days – I’ll dial it down a bit, I won’t go to exhaustion or failure and I’ll try to get my eight hours of sleep or more especially in the next few nights.

It is a little frustrating since I go hard all the time but I don’t want to get sick or worse, risk an injury. I’m really excited about what I’ve done so far but Patrick has stated that getting sick now could hold me back for a week.

So I’m going to get my 800 ropejumps in and I’m off to bed and some sweet, sweet sleep!

See you tomorrow.

Day 18 – Lists

Did you know that a recent study led by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that if doctors follow a simple surgical checklist, deaths fell by a staggering 40 per cent!

To me these results are startling and I thought that the medical establishment would have had this figured out by now. But the systems are sometimes too complex or too simplified to take the obvious into account. These questions are not difficult ones: Does the patient have a known allergy? Do we have enough blood on hand? What side of the brain are we drilling into?

When reading an article on this I thought about lists for things we do every day, especially things that can be dangerous in the short term like driving your car or in the long term like buying and cooking food.

I feel overwhelmed at the choices we sometimes face as we buy foods but a list of things to look for would be great. I have mentioned Michael Pollen before and I think his list is a good starting place:

1. Eat food. Don't eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food
2. Avoid even those food products that come bearing health claims.

3. Especially avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable c) more than five in number — or that contain high-fructose corn syrup.
4. Get out of the supermarket whenever possible.
5. Pay more, eat less.
6. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
7. Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks. Confounding factors aside, people who eat according to the rules of a traditional food culture are generally healthier than we are.
8. Cook. And if you can, plant a garden.
9. Eat like an omnivore.

These are broad statements but you can break them down even further and give specific simple questions to ask yourself before you buy or eat a food.

What about you - anything that would help you buy food or eat better? Let me know.

I think I’m back into eating – had a hard time finishing my dinner the other night but with a new outlook on what I can eat as long as its natural and fits into the guidelines, I’m golden. I love the chives and cilantro to taste in my meat dishes. I love the spicy hot spices and have been experimenting with coriander as a milder flavor. Dill is great on salmon, meats and vegetables while I enjoy the sweet taste of fennel on vegetables too.

I know some of my concoctions are not that great but I haven’t thrown anything out yet, I just go ahead and eat it, remembering emphatically not to try that again.

See you tomorrow.

Day 17 - Feeding Little Minds & Bodies

I was definitely excited to read the headline in Ad Age: “FTC Could Set Standards for Food Marketing Aimed at Teens.” With two small boys I worry constantly about what they’re feeding their minds and bodies. The article states “the bill signed by President Barack Obama today calls for several government studies, including one examining whether the government should set standards for determining which foods are healthy and appropriate to market to youths as old as 17.

The bill calls for the Federal Trade Commission, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Secretary of Agriculture to establish an “Interagency Working Group on Food Marketed to Children,” according to a report attached to the legislation.

This is where I become a little cynical because the US government has been down this road many times before. For all the aligning to reduce or cut out the advertising of fattening or dubious foods to children, almost all have started with “studies” and almost none have resulted in legislation:

2008: The FTC produced a report on junk food advertising to kids. No new rules were enacted.
2006: The Children’s Advertising Review Unit corralled food companies into a voluntary effort to restrain their marketing to kids — but there were no new laws enacted.
2006: There was another FTC report, which also staved off regulation by encouraging voluntary acts by advertisers.
2005: The Institute of Medicine came as close as anyone to tying TV advertising to the obesity epidemic, but no laws were changed.

The reports have brought some interesting points to light. Here is a selection of points from the 2008 report:

Companies reported spending $745 million, or 46 percent of all reported youth marketing expenditures, on TV ads.

The cost of TV ads and “happy meal” toys promoted by fast-food chains was $520 million in 2006, “more than twice the amount spent on child-directed marketing in any other food category.”

Companies spent $116 million marketing soda in schools. In total, soda companies spend $20 per teenager promoting soft drinks, which now account for 11% of those kids’ daily caloric intake.

The FTC lists more than 80 kids’ movies and TV shows that have food marketing tie-ins, from Dora the Explorer to Yu-Gi-Oh! (Dora, in fact, has eight food brands attached to her.)

Although most companies have promised to curtail in-school marketing, “one company tested a beverage product by providing samples in middle and senior high school cafeterias.”

Are you surprised that there is an obesity epidemic in Western Nations?

I am optimistic that Obama will do what he can but with the economy and healthcare at the top of his priorities I won’t be surprised if nothing happens.

I am surprised by my enthusiasm increasing with my exercises. My ropejumps are fun but as Patrick suggested I will try some running as a departure. My arms and back are sore from yesterdays workout and my sons are helping me by riding bronco as I do pushups.

I hit a wall with food yesterday and it may have been a self fulfilling prophesy, I don’t know. My dinner was so blah I just didn’t finish it and I didn’t eat anything else for the rest of the evening. At about 11:00pm I was sitting in bed hungry but I shook it off and went to sleep.

Today I tried cilantro, tarragon and cumin separately on my foods and I enjoyed them very much. I’m in the experimental stages and will let you know when I’ve got something good. I also am putting cinnamon in my coffee for a change and find it works well with spicy dishes too. I’m trying rosemary and peppermint tomorrow.

See you then.

Day 16 – Of Mice and Overweight Men

I’m sure a lot of people are waiting for the day when you pop a pill and all your medical issues including excessive weight, are fixed. While many pharma companies have looked for the obesity cure, none have found it and recently a couple of them have abandoned research citing strange side effects and huge costs.



Today I read about a study done on lab mice using neurosurgical genetransfer which seemingly cured obesity. The paper by Lei Cao, published in a recent issue of Nature Medicine, describes the hypothalamic injection of an adenoviral vector containing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) coupled to a physiological responsive regulatory element. This gene transfer resulted in a 20% weight loss within 3 weeks of injection with subsequent weight maintenance over 11 months (several decades in human years).

I really do appreciate this type of research since it gives hope and paves the way for people who are clinically obese due to factors they cannot control. Yet at the same time It frustrates me since it is extremely risky (stereotactic neurosurgery), will be very expensive and it goes against the evolutionary and biological course of humans.

While not a diet pill I also think this gives some false hope to those people who are not obese yet through their mostly North American Western Diet and low exercise are overweight. I wonder how many people are waiting for the perfect fix that may never come.

While here’s another shameless endorsement of the Peak Condition Project – This has to be the first thing people try, a systematic approach to weight loss that is strict and has a diet and exercise component. Try this out honestly, enthusiastically and committed for 90 days – if you don’t see the results you want and you can said you really gave it your best, then look for the magic bullet in a bottle.

I’ve got to change up my food in the next few days, I’m getting bored with the same thing all day so I need to modify things. I have been looking online for some suggestions and a few caught my eye – they are simple and use spices and herbs to get things interesting. I’ll let you know how they are.

Exercise is great and I’m still enjoying the ropejumps. I did 800 last night and it seemed to speed by. With the ropejumps my arms are actually getting tired before I’m out of breath so I expect Popeye-like arms by time we get to 1500 jumps/day.

See you tomorrow.

Day 15 – I’m Losing Myself

So the program has changed as we knew it would. Today comes a reduced dietary intake but same food and a new workout plan. While I was expecting this and have heard others mention the change, it is a little disconcerting to change just when you are getting used to it. As Patrick said, the high amount of food last week was ramping up our metabolisms and over the next weeks the amount will drop helping to shed unwanted weight. The exercises are great but are becoming harder as sets and reps change.

I can vaguely see changes in my body and my pants feel looser so it seems to be starting, at the same time my muscles are strengthening and becoming more firm. My eldest son askes for me to flex my muscles and then demands that I feel his, then asks if they are as big as mine – I always say he's massive and that he’s really strong.

I've noticed that I have had no heartburn for the past 2 weeks – probably because I have cut down on acid beverages but I also know that internal weight plays a part in acid reflux. I’m sheding not only subcutaneous but also visceral fat and as time goes on I’ll notice changes not only in my shape but in how my internal body feels.

This is me at 15 days:



Critical Measurements:
BMI: 27.1
Fat Percentage: 17.9
Height: 160cm
Weight: 101kgs
Arm: 36cm
Chest: 109cm
Waist: 99cm
Hips: 96cm
Thigh: 61cm
Resting Heart Rate: 60 bpm

I’m off to do my 700 ropejumps so see you tomorrow.

Day 14 – Two Weeks Down.

I’m amazed at how fast this program is zipping by. I can’t believe Tanya and I are 2 weeks into it. The food, the workouts and the learning curve on nutrition have been great while Patrick has been our constant guide.

This is what I have learned over the past 2 weeks:

1. My previous diet was terrible. I ate too much processed foods including refined carbs and sugars.
2. I used to drink my calories through juices and pops.
3. My body will respond in kind with the food I give to it.
4. My body really does love exercise.
5. Exercise can be fun and enjoyable.
6. Food does not have to be sweet, salty, saucy or otherwise complicated to make it taste good.
7. I don’t get near enough sleep.
8. You are a bigger influence on those around you than you can possibly imagine.
9. Balance and flexibility is crucial to a healthy body.
10. Its hard to find food that is truly good for you unless you make it yourself.
11. Sticking to a diet and training regime is hard but not as hard as most people think.
12. Its easy to spice up food with herbs and spices.
13. There are lots of sweet foods that are really good for you.
14. I wish I had done something like this years ago.

So there you have it, a few of the things I’ve learned in just a couple of weeks. As my last point says, I wish I had done this long ago, I’m just glad it’s being done now. While time will tell, I think this is one of those pivotal life changing times where I move in a better direction.

I look forward to the coming weeks of the PCP program!

See you tomorrow.

Day 13 – Chocolate Cake or Fruit Salad?

The last few days have been particularly difficult with respect to my diet. I’ve been craving sweets a little bit more and when I give a cookie to my sons, I have an irrational urge to swallow it whole. Not surprisingly, it is most difficult when I am confronted with a tangible choice – cookie or celery, but I’m sure that there’s more to it than proximity and choice. What has changed recently has been taking care of my two boys a little bit more and a greater deal of work related stress.

My work lets me to a lesser degree, study the good, bad and ugly of consumer behavior and with my recent cravings I remembered an interesting paper written by two Stanford professors, Baba Shiv and Alexander Fedorikhin, completed in the late 90s. The 2 authors showed that participants who had been asked to memorize a seven-digit number were much more likely to choose chocolate cake over fruit salad than those who’d been asked to memorize only a two-digit number. Carrying a lighter cognitive load, the two-digit group had more brainpower left to resist the lure of the cake.

Therefore, if you’ve got a lot on your plate and mind even if they are simple things you are more predisposed to select the automatic, emotional-driven, or intuitive processes versus more thoughtful, cognitive processes- the immediate tug of the chocolate cake versus the cognitive tug of the fruit salad.

Is that what is happening to me these days? There’s likely some of that happening as well as biologically my body may be telling me to have a little sugar and it may just be a habitual response.

For whatever reason I’m just glad I’m fighting the impulse to chow down on junk. It’s working well so far but I am wondering if later on in the PCP my defenses will break down. I’m trying to reduce temptations around me and drinking lots of water/coffee/teas and this seems to be working. If you have any tricks let me know.

Workouts are moving up a notch since Patrick wanted us to push each exercise to its limit. I’m trying to go to failure and beyond with the idea that the body gives up way before the mind ever does. Especially with leg exercises like lunges and squats, the burn is painful and fleeting leaving my legs rubbery and tired. It may not sound like it but this is a good feeling. I’m also trying everything I can to get my 8 hours sleep. It’s hard but not impossible.

It was my wife Nicole’s birthday today and I bought her a Chocolate Raspberry Ganache cake. The baker uses only natural ingredients but still it was packed with loads of sugar and other bad stuff. I couldn’t let her down though and had a small piece to celebrate her day – funny thing though I also had fruit salad. Other than that, business as usually and I’m still rocking the PCP.

See you tomorrow.

Day 12 – Your mouth is trying to tell you something

I’m starting to really get into shape. I was exercising, strengthening and eating fairly well before the Peak Condition Project but now I’m starting to rock n’ roll! But one part of my body that I have historically neglected was my mouth. Ever since I was a small child I failed to brush properly or floss and I also ate a whole lot of refined sugars and carbohydrates and so I got cavities and lots of fillings.

Today is different though because I just came back from the dentist and she congratulated me on how well kept my teeth, gums and mouth were, praising me for my good habits. This was new to me as I wasn’t used to praise for my oral hygiene. The Dr. and I were talking after the exam and I told her about the Peak Condition Project and the diet I was currently on. When she asked me how long I was working on my diet/health, I told her that I’d been working on it hardcore for the last week but seriously and regularily for about 6 months. At this she smiled knowingly and we dove into a very interesting discussion.

As my dentist puts it, your mouth, gums, teeth and tongue may be good indications of existing or future health complications. Evidently what’s going on inside your mouth could affect your overall health or what’s happening in your body could surface as symptoms in your mouth.

Here is some interesting information about what your mouth may be telling you:
• While bad breath can be caused by gingivitis, tooth decay or garlic linguine it can also be associated with sinus troubles, diabetes, digestive disorders, HIV, liver disease, kidney disorders and lung problems.
• Ever get those painful canker sores? These can be caused by not getting enough iron, folic acid or vitamin B-12. The culprit could also be hormonal changes, food allergies and viral infections. Interestingly these mouth irritations have also been found to occur in people diagnosed with skin infections or diseases.
• Not brushing or skipping other dental care habits can indirectly lead to heart valve infection.
• If your gums are extremely sensitive, bleed easily, it could be and indication of gingivitis and could also infer non-dental related issues such are anemia, a lack of vitamin K or C, or pregnancy related hormonal changes. Persistent bleeding may also be linked to severe health conditions including leukemia, cardiovascular disease, malnutrition or blood disorders.
• A change in color or shape of your tongue may be telling of a vitamin deficiency, injury or the result of thrush. Changes in the tongue may also be caused by severe allergies or oral cancer.
• A tooth ache could be a sign of non dental related problems such as a vitamin B-12 deficiency or sinusitis. Consuming sweets, acidic beverages or foods, and chewing gum, all can worsen the pain.
• While jaw pain or stiffness may be an indication of a abcessed tooth or wisdom teeth problems – it could be due to non-dental causes as well. Pain in the upper teeth or jaw could be a warning sign for a heart attack or angina. It could also be due to stress-induced teeth grinding.

Really, what my doctor was telling me was that the mouth was a great indicator of health and she was not surprised that I was in good physical and nutritional shape. She sees patients all the time and observes the same pattern all the time: Man comes in, teeth decaying and he’s out of shape and eating corndogs for lunch.

I felt great that I passed my dental exam without even an indication of problems and what the dentist said hit home – our bodies are interconnected wonderful things and when they are falling apart in one area the whole suffers but while we work to make it better in most ways, we see benefits we had not anticipated.

So I’ll keep brushing and flossing but I know now that taking care of the whole package and not just placing band-aids over the symptoms is the best thing to do.

I really seem to be getting into the food eating grove. I’m getting good at cooking simple dishes while being more adventurous every meal and I feel satisfied and clean after I eat.

The work outs are great too. After the initial phase of sore muscles, I’m really pushing myself to failure and enjoying the burn.

That’s it for now – See You Tomorrow.

Day 11 – The Miracle Diet

After my workout tonight I went to the grocery store to stock up on salmon and chicken. While in the check-out aisle a magazine caught my eye. On the cover of the publication it boldly stated that a new diet would help you lose up to 28 pounds in under a month! Not only this but below the claim it also said you could do it by eating chili dogs, hamburgers and manwiches!! I reserved judgment until I came home to research it further but when I went onto the diet site it said very little, only that you’d have to buy the book and program to find out fully.

I don’t want to say that this diet won’t work, it may very well work for the right individual and this is why I won’t mention the specific diet, but what bothers me most is the grandiose claims and guarantees the diet and the publication make. On the site there is at least very small mouse print that states “results not typical”. However, the gullible have already called in their credit card number for the program before they’ve read this.

I guess that’s why I like the Peak Condition Project. It’s not bullshit, it’s the facts and it’s hard work, and in the end the program works. Is this the miracle program, I would say so but there is no magic pill to swallow nor is there a fancy machine to buy, it’s all on the participants shoulders and I’m sure that makes the program doubly rewarding in the end.

I can relate it to playing the lottery or even the slot machines. Play all you want but in the end the house will win. Rather, invest your money – watch it grow, go back to school, build a business, its all the same and its all hard work but your chance of success is always greater this way than with gambling. However, human nature will always point us toward the path of least resistance and this makes sense biologically, we just didn’t evolve to deal with the world as it exists today.

So my quote for today is this – “The hard way and the right way are usually the same way.”

To me it’s a good way to go through life and is a great way to ask yourself what you should do next.

I had a small lapse today…I missed lunch and as I was out grabbing a coffee, I put a teaspoon of sugar in. It really tasted good and then I really felt guilty. I won’t beat myself up about it, I’ve just learned that I can’t skip a meal or it all breaks down. I also learned that lemon juice tastes great on pasta and shrimp – awesome! Workout was great too, I sweat quite a lot but enjoyed the idea that I was giving it my all.

That’s it for today – I’m off to get my 8 hours of slumber. See you tomorrow.

Day 10 – Partially Hydrogenated Fat

Today as I was driving, listening to the radio, I heard a debate about banning trans fat in Canada. The program, called The Point on CBC radio has the announcer invite notable people on the show to discuss important topics of the day. So as the people talked about banning trans fat I think they totally missed a lot of key points. But before I go into these, let me share with you a little information I gathered.

There are four kinds of fats: monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, saturated fat, and trans fat. Monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat are the "good" fats. It is generally accepted that consumption of saturated fat should be kept low, especially for adults. Trans fat (which means trans fatty acids) is the worst kind of fat, far worse than saturated fat.

Partial hydrogenation is an industrial process used to make a perfectly good oil, such as soybean oil, into a perfectly bad oil. The process is used to make an oil more solid; provide longer shelf-life in baked products; provide longer fry-life for cooking oils, and provide a certain kind of texture or "mouthfeel." The big problem is that partially hydrogenated oil is laden with lethal trans fat.

Trans fats cause significant and serious lowering of HDL (good) cholesterol and a significant and serious increase in LDL (bad) cholesterol; make the arteries more rigid; cause major clogging of arteries; cause insulin resistance; cause or contribute to type 2 diabetes; and cause or contribute to other serious health problems.

Okay, I don’t think there is any question that Trans Fat is bad for you, but the debaters on the program reduced the ban to something similar to banning smoking or drugs. The initial problem with Trans Fat is that people buy food products everyday an even if the label says “Zero Trans Fat” or if the ingredients state “hydrogentated” without “partial” (fully hydrogenated oils do not contain trans fat), trans fat may still be in the product. On top of this, if the product you are eating comes from outside your country it may contain trans fat even thought it or partially hydrogenated is not on the label. To further compound the problem, many restaurants, bakeries or eateries use trans fats in a lot of cooking and even if you ask if any trans fat is in the food, they may not know or choose not to disclose.

So the issue is not like banning smoking or illegal drugs since the substance is often missed or unknown to the person ingesting it. It is insidious because people may even be trying to stay clear of trans fat but are eating it nonetheless.

The other point that the debaters brought up was that it should be everyone’s right to choose what they eat. I agree with this line to an extent, the problem with this argument presumes people live in a vacuum. Think about the social and tangible costs. In an interview Food Defender Michael Pollan had this to say: “When I was a kid, in 1960, we only spent 18 percent on food. It's fallen in half in those past 45 years. In that same period, the amount of money we spent on health care has gone from 5 percent to 16 percent of our income. I can't help but think that if we spent a bit more money on food, we might spend less on health care.” I think he makes a good point.

Lastly the debaters lamely stated that people are taking the fun out of eating food by banning it. I guess you could also argue that Russian Roulette is not much fun with bullet prohibition. One point raised was the comparison between food and sex. They argued that current society was more open and celebratory of sex while at the same time puritan and oppressed over food. While I’ll agree with the sex part I actually think that people are becoming more enlightened about food, what it does for us and starting to understand the extremely complex interactions between all the types of things we eat and our bodies.

I kind of wish Patrick was on the show to talk about food and the PCP diet. Purhaps the biggest problem with the guest debaters was that they had very little idea about the topic they were discussing and that's unfortunate since it affects them and us all so dramatically.

So I stretched my body today and felt a bit like Stretch Armstrong. I wonder how long it will take me to touch my toes!? Completed all my exercises and felt great during and after the workout. I’m even looking for people to show off my jump skills(that kind of sounds wimpy) and I think talking about the Peak Condition Project to as many people as I can helps me more than the other way around.



Food was great today. I added some balsamic vinegar to my foods and it tasted wonderful. Salmon, Chicken, seafood, vegetables, pasta all tasted better with a little vinegar kick! Patrick mentioned that vinegar is great for circulation so I know I’ll get that blood pumping.

That’s it for now. See you tomorrow.

Day 9 – Sweet Fancy…

Sweet fancy Moses it was a tough day. I had a business trip today – 1and ½ hour flight out this morning, meeting until late afternoon, back on the plane, home, workout and here I am.

I took fruit(bananas), vegetables(mushrooms), meat(chicken) plus rye bread as a carb. None of it was ideal and there was an awkward moment when I told my host that I was on the peak condition project diet. The gentleman was very interested though and asked lots of questions about it. I’m not sure if I converted him to the PCP side but he said he would check out the site and see if it was for him.

Traveling is tough enough but I’m going to have to get my head around how to better deal with the PCP diet on a trip. There’s so much food to eat right now that I almost need a Sherpa to help me. In any event I got through it and feel much stronger because of it.

In one of the airports, I had to stop myself as I was walking up to a convenience store to buy a candy bar. Old habits – and it wasn’t even that I wanted it that badly, it was so easy and just there. I keep thinking back to my wife’s mother who said that when she was growing up in Ireland, candy only really came 3 times a year: Christmas, Easter and your birthday. Today we live in a constant Wonka’s Chocolate factory of sweet choices and to me its not a good thing at all.

I can already see that my diet will be too bland unless I introduce some herbs and spices into the mix. I like spicy foods and I’m going to get some hot peppers and experiment with them. The fruit is great. When I had my afternoon banana for the first time perhaps in my life, I felt it was sweet! So fruit is my new sweet treat and I’ve got to make sure I don’t overindulge.



My exercises are going well. My shoulders are tired and my legs are sore but what I really need is some flexibility. Tomorrow I will start a stretching regime so that my body can loosen up.

I’m off to sleep now and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Day 8 – PCP Diet

It’s been a week now but today was really the start of what I was expecting the Peak Condition Project would be. I started my day doing my exercise program which has been ramped up to overall include pull-ups, curls, davinci raises, rowing, standing ovation, triceps dips, shoulder raises plus what I have already been doing, lunges, squats, push-ups, leg-ups and crunches - plus of course my ropejumps. It was a lot of exercise to get through but was very interesting and a great change from last week.

The major modification now is my diet. No more 50% of the food diet I used to eat, now its full on PCP and good foods. I began my meals today with a breakfast of carrots, celery, oatmeal, a small glass of milk and some eggs. I truely enjoyed this meal best but can see that it will get mundane if I don’t mix it up on occasion or more regularly. For a snack I had a banana. I had a late lunch of carrots/celery, with some salmon and finished off with oatmeal. My afternoon snack was a nectarine – delicious! For dinner I had mushrooms, oatmeal, with salmon and a coffee. I had a late snack of a nectarine plus a small glass of milk.

All together I was pleased with myself and enjoyed the process of cooking and eating the food. Everything I ate today was as close to natural and unprocessed as possible. Where I could it was wild or organic and I kept thinking back to what Michael Pollan said in his book In Defence of Food: Don't eat anything that your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. I can safely say that my grandmother or great-grandmother would recognize everything I ate today.

I did have some cravings while in the supermarket and wondered several times how big the processed food industry is. I also thought about what kind of processed foods I have eaten all my life with a bit of a shudder. The chocolate brownies called my name several times and when my wife caught me eyeing them, she read the ingredients and said they weren’t to bad for me. I cursed her a thousand times, knowing that while I wanted them, I wouldn’t break, even with her seductive charm.

So there you have it. One more down, many more to come. I’m a bit worried about tomorrow. I’m flying on business (back tomorrow night) but will pack the necessary foods and try not to seem rude when someone offers me a chocolate/strawberry Danish.

I also took measurements of myself and will do so each week. I didn’t expect much of a change this week but look forward to charting my progress in the weeks ahead:

Critical Measurements:
BMI: 27.1
Fat Percentage: 17.9
Height: 160cm
Weight: 101kgs
Arm: 36cm
Chest: 108cm
Waist: 101cm
Hips: 100cm
Thigh: 61cm
Resting Heart Rate: 61 bpm

See you tomorrow.

Day 7 - Who Watches...

You’ve probably heard of the new movie Watchmen that is in theatres right now. Here's the synopsis of the movie:

Watchmen is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the outlawed but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion--a disbanded group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers--Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity...but who is watching the Watchmen?

The graphic novel that the movie is based on came out in the mid-eighties and is one of the first serious comics I bought as a boy. The themes of the story have always intrigued me and without giving away the plot, motivation to change is a central theme played out on many levels in the story line. What makes it a great novel is that it was one of the first comics to challenge the dogmatic superhero themes and it evoked thoughts and questions from the reader never before realized. Who knows if the movie will be any good, I’ll certainly go see it but what intrigues me most about this and similar stories is what motivates the people within. Its really the tension of overcoming some type of delema that makes a story compelling and the same goes for us in the real world. What motivates us to change, to decide to do something, make our lives better, change bad habits or realize our dreams.

So with the subject of motivated change I wonder why so many people fail at their diets, why the diet industry is so huge(people are gluttons for punishment) and why so many live in that vast wasteland of mediocrity?

For me the catalyst to join the PCP was initially my friend Ian who had just spent a lot of time and money getting his Masters Education degree and said to me that he had worked so hard to get his education and mind in order, why wouldn’t he now do the same with his body. His words resonated with me and as always I reminded myself that this was it, my one and only life and I had better get what I want out of it. Then I looked at my beautiful wife and wonderful boys and thought they deserved the best all around dad as well. So here I am going for my peak condition and highly motivated to get there. It also didn't hurt that Patrick is an enthusiastic and engaging leader and the principles of the Peak Condition Project are simple, easy to follow and relatively inexpensive. But let me leave you with one last thought on motivation that ties into Watchmen and the Peak Condition Project. If you knew the world was going to end, but by making it better in some basic but difficult ways, you could save it(or at least prolong it) - What would you do?

Tomorrow we start the Peak Condition Project diet proper and I am preparing myself for the experience of buying, cooking, eating and enjoying it. I’ll let you know how it is.

See you tomorrow.

Day 6 – Farmers Market

My family and I go to our local farmers market weekly to buy fresh produce, free range meats and try to get foods that are in season, diversifying our diets. We love it, the local farmers market is opened all year round and while some foods are shipped in because of our short growing season, you will not find elaborately processed products or much aging food from far away. Today I also looked into a local company that delivers a weekly vegetable box. I really like this idea because it forces us out of our comfort zone with eating typical produce and we’ll find fruits and vegetables in the weekly box that we would never buy on our own.



Aside from the environmental and biological implications of buying through the local market or a weekly vegetable box, the food is just plain better for us. I’ve found that most merchants at the market have signs indicating how they or their supplier deal with pests and fertility and if they don’t display a comment, they will be happy to inform you. They make it a point to know how their foods, livestock are grown/raised. Now try asking the same thing of your local supermarket grocer, I’m willing to bet they’ll fumble for any kind of answer.

It would be great If we could plant a garden to provide ourselves with many of the foods we love, but unfortunately in our climate here in Canada we can’t do it all. That’s not to say we can’t do anything, I’m planning a little experiment with tomatoes and carrots this year and hoping to make a delicacy that my family will enjoy. For me it really means getting back to the basics of eating.

So what about my PCP Training. My abs are sore, but I’m keeping up the pace on crunches and leg raises. I’m also doing a front bridge where I balance on my elbows, keeping my body straight and elevated off the ground. This one is hard but I managed to hold it for a full minute today. I also did 53 pushup today in a row! I recently found the site one hundred pushups which challenges you to do: you guessed it, 100 pushups. I love a challenge and today promised myself that by the end of the Peak Condition Project, thats less than 90 days, I will do 100 pushups at one time. There is a sister site of 200 situps but I’m just going to promise the pushups. Legs are also sore from the lunges and squats but it’s a good, even great kind of pain. As I mentioned yesterday, my skipping is doing well and I’m feeling more like Rocky Balboa every day.

I think I ate a little too much today but I was really hungry especially after my workout. Tomorrow I will stick to plan and focus on eat just the good stuff.

See you tomorrow.

Day 5 – Your Children are What You Eat

One of the main reasons I wanted to get into peak condition is my two boys. They’re young, beautiful, full of energy, and I worry everyday that I’m not doing everything I can for them. The boys and my wife are the main motivators in my life and I want to be healthy and happy for them as much as for myself.

A while ago I read an article on how children learn from their parents. The article was enlightening for me because it pointed out a few flaws in my own parenting methods that made me cringe. The gist of the article was that parents play a fundamental role in shaping young eating habits and attitudes about food(nothing earth shattering there), but children can learn more from what a parent eats while a parent may be sending mixed signals to their children.



Case in point. I have to a greater degree indulged in drinking Coca Cola. Its terrible, full of sugar and other chemicals as well as empty calories, but to me it can be very refreshing. I would drink it in front of my children, but when they asked for some, I would say that they couldn’t have it. What the hell was I doing? Apparently recent studies have shown that I can tell my kids what not to eat until the cows come home but if I eat that banned substance, they’ll probably grow to want/crave it anyhow and learn those poor eating habits.

And the same goes for exercise. Preach all day about the benefits of exercise but if you don’t do it yourself, your kids probably won’t either. As they say in the business world – the speed of the pack is determined by the pace of the leader(or some similar motivating statement), if you really want someone to do something, practice what you preach and be a good role model, eating or exercising the way you want your child to.

I’ve noticed that my boys often try to do a pushup or situp as I am doing it and it makes me laugh when my eldest rips around the house, pretending he’s me on one of my runs yelling “Look! I’m Dada!”. They’re learning the best way they can from one of their biggest influences – It’s quite humbling really.

So I can’t think of a better way to encourage my boys to be the best they can be, than by being the best I can be.

Recapping my day on the PCP diet and only eating ½ my normal diet I keep thinking of Zeno’s paradox - Suppose I wish to cross the room. First, of course, I must cover half the distance. Then, I must cover half the remaining distance. Then, I must cover half the remaining distance. Then I must cover half the remaining distance . . . and so on forever. The consequence is that I can never get to the other side of the room. I keep asking myself If I’d eat this amount, then I’ll just cut it in half and eat it, but maybe I wouldn’t eat it since I wouldn’t be hungry because If I ate 100% and so on and so forth. Its not much of a philosophical treatise but I keep second guessing myself and even forgetting how much I used to eat. In any case, I know its working, I feel lighter, my pants are looser and my wife keeps wolf whistling at me or saying “looking gooooood!”. I can’t wait to get into the full diet and start cooking, changing what and how I eat fundamentally!

The exercises are going well. I have to say I’m enjoying them and even find them relaxing and cathartic. The ropejumps are great too and my skills are getting better, I’m not going to double dutch it any time soon but I’m trying a double jump and do a crisscross just for the fun of it.

See you tomorrow.

Day 4 – The Salt Lick Award

I’ve been really taking to heart what Patrick has been saying about starting the PCP and one thing that has resonated with me has been his comment of staying away from salt. I know salt is bad for me and I should eat less but I really wasn’t aware just how pervasive it is in my everyday food.

I get emails from Dr. Arya M. Sharma, a specialist on obesity here in Canada and he recently sent information about the ”Salt Lick Award” which is given out to increase awareness of salt intake by three national networks – the Canadian Obesity Network, the Canadian Stroke Network and the Advanced Foods and Materials network. Together these agencies bestowed the award on none other than pizza.



This is really sad for me because I really love a good slice or two of pie, but I never realized how much salt is in it. The “Salt Lick Award” press release states that the level of sodium in a couple of pieces of pizza can far exceed the recommended daily intake for adults of 1,500 mg. as well as the Upper Tolerable Limit of 2,300 mg. of sodium.

Consider these examples, based on a scan of nutritional information posted on pizza makers’ websites:

• Two slices (292 grams total) of a Pepperoni Lover’s large stuffed crust pizza at Pizza Hut contain 3,000 mg of sodium – double the recommended intake for a full day.
• Two slices (284 grams total) of a large Rustic Italian pizza at Boston Pizza contain 2,580 mg of sodium.
• One large slice (339 grams) of Meat Supreme from a walk-in Pizza Pizza restaurant contains 2,400 mg of sodium.

The three national networks say that the onus is on the food processing industry to cut back on sodium in processed meats and cheese used to make pizza and in the meantime, they warn that pizza should only be consumed as an occasional treat. When ordering pizza, avoid processed meats, ask for little or no cheese and limit the number of slices.

So there you are, I am now a man who has had his favorite food taken from him and I feel a little lonely. But never fear, I now have Patrick, fellow PCPers and the PCP to guide and help me along.

The workout was great today, I felt strong and confident doing much more than the base requirement. The problem came when I had a long meeting and missed lunch. I felt fine until mid afternoon when I wanted to eat a whole double chocolate cupcake. I didn’t though and finished off just eating half of everything else. So I’m going to try and get some good sleep tonight as I’m really tired and have not had a good sleep in a few nights.

Until tomorrow.

Day 3

I was having my daily protein shake today and decided to look at the whey protein ingredients. According to the packaging it has the following: Protein blend(whey protein concentrate, whey protein isolate), xanthan gum, bromelain, amylase, papain and lipase enzymes. The labeling says “100% Natural” but I wasn’t sure what xanthan gum, bromelain etc was so I started googling the individual incredients.



While on my search I found a very interesting article on Twinkies. The commentary states that while the food only weighs 43g it packs 150 calories (45 from fat alone), sells five hundred million annually and has an alarming number of chemicals and preservative packed into it. Twinkies do contain actual flour, sugar, salt and baking soda as well as water and a trace of egg but it’s really a testament to the chemical food processing legacy:

Ingredients
Enriched Wheat Flour - enriched with ferrous sulphate (iron)
B vitamins - Niacin, Thiamine mononitrate [B1, Riboflavin [B2] and Folic acid
Sugar
Corn syrup
Water
High fructose corn syrup
Vegetable and/or animal shortening containing one or more of: Partially hydrogenated soybean, cottonseed or Canola oil, lard and beef fat
Dextrose
Whole eggs

They also contain also contain 2% or less of:
Modified corn starch
Cellulose gum
Whey
Leavenings: Sodium acid pyrophosphate, Baking soda, Monocalcium phosphate
Salt
Cornstarch
Corn flourCorn syrup solids
Mono and diglycerides
Soy lecithin
Polysorbate 60
Dextrin
Diacetyl
Calcium caseinate
Sodium stearoyl lactylate
Wheat gluten
Calcium sulfate
Natural and artificial flavors: Caramel color, artificial vanillin, Sorbic acid, color (yellow 5, red 40)
Shortening

The article goes on to dissect some of the ingredients, but what I found most disturbing is that some of the B vitamins enriching the flour are also derived at least partly from petroleum, coal and tar, and flammable and carcinogenic benzene plays a major role in the extremely complicated set of chemical reaction that yield the artificial flavouring vanillin. On top of all this, the chlorine used to bleach the flour in Twinkies is extremely toxic.

While this is probably the most blatent example of food processing, our grocery and home shelves are full of processed foods containing strange chemicals and foreign additives.

It reminded me of Michael Pollan’s book, In Defence of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. Pollan asserts that everyone should avoid food with unfamiliar ingredients, unpronounceable ingredients, or more than five ingredients. I guess Twinkies are out as well as my protein powder, but maybe I’ll check out Häagen-Dazs Five which is a new, all-natural ice cream crafted with only five ingredients: skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks and natural flavouring(they must have read Pollan’s book too). I think most of Pollan’s advice is really good.

Now getting back to my protein powder, xanthan gum is a polysaccharide used as a food additive and rheology modifier, bromelain is a two protease enzymes extracted from the plant family Bromeliaceae, and I’ll stop there because even when I sort of found out what these incredients were it didn’t make me feel any better. I actual feel that the label of “100% Natural” is misleading and I have to ask "what the hell are we eating?"

So now I’m concentrating more than ever on the incredients of what I eat, more importantly I’m going to eat natural foods that are as unprocessed as possible. I’m also going to steer clear of the Twinkie isle next time I have a craving for that kind of snack. Knowing what I know now I’d be better off using myself as an agent orange test subject than eating one of those.

Today was a great day as far as the Peak Condition Project goes. I did 50 pushups, 50 situps, 50 squats and 400 rope jumps. I also ate 50% of my normal daily food and didn’t feel too bad at all. I’m taking Patrick’s advice and drinking water, coffee, tea and eating low salt crackers to feel full, and so far so good. I do have a bit of a hollow feeling but It also feels cleansing in very good way.

See you tomorrow.

Day 2

I’ve been following the 6 Nations Rugby tournament and I am extremely excited that Ireland is doing so well. I won’t jinx them by stating what everyone in Ireland is hoping but their chances of winning the tourney are quite good. Now while Ireland is my team, Sébastien Chabal is my man! This hulking French bruiser, named affectionately either “The Caveman” or “Seabass” depending on which side of the English Channel you’re on, can be seen at the top of this blog in the PCP logo/image.

Chabal is a new bread of Rugby player, who is a decisive game breaker – with remarkable strength, coordination and agility. Being the approximate size of Chabal I'm in awe that this bulk of a man can be so quick and nimble in his charge down the field. What makes him even more impressive is that he has a body fat percentage of 7%, something rarely found in a Rugby player. And where does all of this strength come from? I’ll grant that much of it is based on his core, but what makes him such a weapon is that he has the powerful legs of a god.

I’ve realized over the past few months that my legs are a weak point. While I run a bit I have neglected building up the strength in them that would help me in my daily routines, not to mention sports. So today as I was doing my prescribed lunges, I recommitted myself to working and strengthening my legs to a point where they will be relatively equal or better to the other muscle groups in my body.

Especially on lunges I’m keeping my body in correct position aligned over my legs. I’ve read that legs are the easiest to strengthen and build muscle and that’s what I’m going to do. I’ll aspire to Chabal’s strength and within time ensure my body’s muscle groups will be balanced.

Other than the workout, I’m finding that when I’m only eating half my normal intake of food, I’m rethinking what I’ll eat. I know that in time my diet will change under the Peak Condition Project but today I’m eating more fruit and less junk. I guess if I’m going to eat less, it better be higher in what’s good for me. It also brings up the point that while good food tends to be more expensive, you really don’t need to eat as much of it to get the nutrients you need and so in the long run it will cost about the same or less than the junk I’m normally eating.

Tanya, my long distance training partner and myself are officially part of the PCP Evergreen group – cool!

See you tomorrow!

Day 1

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
Buddha

The start of a new project is wonderful – ideally you should feel energized and excited about achieving a goal and look forward to the final result. But I also notice that when people(including myself) start something, they often focus so much on the end result that the real guts and soul of the project is rarely thought about except in passing while speeding toward the end.

Today is my first day of the Peak Condition Project, and while I look forward to the results, I want to savor the moments everyday, and take as much as I can from the experience, hopefully understanding more about myself in the process.

It’s easy to keep looking toward the end when I have hopefully accomplished my goals but what good is it if I don’t learn and grow in a more substantive way. I recently read an article that stated people get much more from experiences in the form of trips, vacations, respites etc. than from investing in retirement funds or 401ks. The point of it was that we as humans need to take from everyday experiences the good and bad, to grow and in turn we become more satisfied and happy. It wasn’t saying that you shouldn’t invest your money, just that a person needs to enjoy and experience their life on the road to their goals.

And so with that I’m going to live in the Peak Condition Project moment and appreciate the experiences day to day. I’m looking forward to the end results but I’m much more excited about testing my own mettle and gauging the present.

So where am I today? Here’s a shot of me on March 1st, 2009 at 7:33am:



Critical Measurements:
BMI: 27.2*
Fat Percentage: 18.6**
Height: 160cm
Weight: 102kgs
Arm: 36cm
Chest: 108cm
Waist: 101cm
Hips: 100cm
Thigh: 61cm
Resting Heart Rate: 62 bpm

*I’m not a big fan of BMI – Its an antiquated system that never really worked in the first place and has me in the overweight category. Nevertheless I want to track as many variables as possible and look for correlations.
**I get my body fat percentage from a fat analyzer using a micro electric current and a test based on body measurement(US NAVY system). I’m not sure how accurate it is but I will measure and see the results over time.

Today I reduced my food intake by 50% - it seemed really easy except when my sons were eating their cookies and I had finished mine. We’ll see how it goes for the rest of the week. I’m actually looking forward to judging my appetite especially as I reduce the amount of calories I eat and I want to figure out ways of positively dealing with food cravings.

The exercise was great – I’m happy that I’ve been working out regularly for the past several months. I’m really working on my form and technique to get the most out of simple exercises. It is really amazing the kind of workout you can get with very little equipment and your own body weight.

This was my regime today:
300 rope jumps
50 lunges
50 pushups
50 situps

So wish me luck and I’d love it if you came along as an innocent bystander or arrogant spectator – let me know what you think and help me get to where I want to be.

I also want to give a shout out to Tanya who is starting the project too - if its not too much trouble check her out here and leave her a bit of encouragement.

See you tomorrow!