Ridgefield Wellness

Note: this article originally appeared in CrossFit Journal.

Find out how CrossFitter Chad Hamilton fought testicular cancer and is making his recovery. As he underwent chemotherapy, he continued CrossFitting as much as he could and even participated in the fundraiser Barbells for Boobs. Now he’s cancer-free and rebuilding his CrossFit abilities.

Hamilton says his attention to his own health has benefited his recovery.

“It could have been a lot worse if I didn’t treat my body as well as I do,” he says.

He talks about chemotherapy and coming to CrossFit even during his treatment. According to Hamilton, CrossFit helped him get through it.

“If I couldn’t lift a weight, then I had camaraderie of everybody else just taking care of me in that emotional way,” he says.

Now cancer-free, Hamilton is still feeling the effects of chemotherapy, but he’s pushing hard to regain his lost strength and endurance. He’s also setting new goals for himself.

“I just want to compete in the Open, you know, and see how I stack up this soon after chemo,” he says. Hamilton also plans to start a foundation for men diagnosed with male cancers.

9min 31sec

Additional reading: It’s All for the Boobs by Hilary Achauer, published Oct. 25, 2011.

Watch the video - note this pops a new window

 

 

There are a lot of things that hold us back in life.  I’m taking about just not getting stuff done.  I’ve got a small bit of information that I need to share with you, and hopefully you’ll get more done in 2012 (if that’s something you want).  This concept works for the big stuff, the little stuff, the hard stuff and the fun stuff… Pay attention, and be more productive…. starting…. NOW.

Rule #1 – If it’s something that will take less than 2 min.  Do it now.  Please read this again, think about it, and remember it.  This stems from one of the greatest guys at doing stuff Og Mandino.  He has given me my productive mantra, and that is simply, do it now, do it now, do it now. (say it to yourself… it’s fun!)

Rule #2 – Keep a list of stuff to do.  It’s nothing new and many of us do this, a little sticky note, or a 3×5 index card, or a fancy iphone app. Here’s the trick.  Make sure that stuff on the list is done in the correct order.  I have 2 different approaches that have worked for me, and I encourage you to give them a shot.  Spend some time in the morning making your todo list for the day.  I like to do this first thing in the morning when I get to my desk at work.  I list out everything I have to do.  This stuff is work related, personal, and stuff that is somewhere squished in between.
Approach numero uno… Once you have made your list, take a moment to see if anything will take 2 min or less and remember Rule #1. (AND DO THEM NOW) — If you have, let’s say 10-30 things to do that take 2 min or less, make one todo item for those things and prioritize them as one uber task.  Now, you’ve got 10-20 things to do, or maybe even just 5.  What are the top 3 things that you MUST DO TODAY?  Simply go ahead and mark those things as special…. I just write a small MDT and circle it next to the task.  Do those things today.  Those things are your priority, and everything else is secondary.  Speaking of priority…
Approach el número dos… We often have this list that is daunting, and it sometimes just never gets done.. things get pushed off to the next day, and then you’ve got a list that just seems to suck all the energy out of you.  Think about prioritizing your list by not what’s most important, but by the items that are hardest to accomplish.  By doing the hard stuff first, there is psychological magic that happens.  The hard stuff, or the stuff you don’t want to do gets done early in the day, and the easy stuff, or the stuff that you don’t mind doing, gets done at the end of the day.  The day gets easier and easier and better and better…  Now you’ve gotten a lot done, and by the time the night rolls around, you are happy, and you feel a sense of accomplishment.  It’s amazing!!!!

Shoot me a note if there is anything that you want information about to make your life EXTRAordinary in 2012.. It’s time.  Do it now.

I recently have been working with someone who has been dealing with some radical shifts in their energy, sex drive, mood, and strength.  After a hunch, he got tested and diagnosed with low testosterone.  He has been getting his bloodwork done and working with an osteopath to get things moving in a more positive direction.  He wants to try and stay away from testosterone supplementation, and asked if there was anything else that could be taken to help the process along.

Last year I had the pleasure of attending a workshop hosted by Daniel Vitalis over at Catch A Healthy Habit in Fairfield.  The workshop hit on many points, but I was intrigued by the notion that we are messing with our hormones due to toxins and environmental factors.  There are plenty of phytoestrogenic “things” out there and we are negatively impacting our testosterone levels – like soy, plastics, crap in our tap water…  Daniel spoke about the benefits of pine pollen. When it is tinctured, our testosterone becomes more readily available for the body to assimilate.  His Company SurThrival offers a tincture of the Pine Pollen, in two different strengths. A 1:1 extract (Pine Pollen Gold) and a 1:4 extract (Pine Pollen Silver).  I picked up a few bottles of both and have been experimenting with them.

For therapeutic dosing, It is recommend that one uses the Pine Pollen “Gold” product.  I was curious as to how this works, and did a bunch of research.  There was some peer reviewed medical research out there, and I was glad to see some science back up the anecdotal folklore evidence.  Pine Pollen is an adaptagen, meaning that it regulates (adapts) to a dosage your body needs.  It’s also a tonic medicine, and that is great because it means it can be used indefinitely, without it having toxic effects on your body.  In powder form, it is more like a food.  It contains Vitamins A B-Carotene, B1, B2, B3, B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin D (assimilated when taken with fat), and Vitamin E. It also contains tons of minerals and over twenty amino acids and all eight essential amino acids. Yup… it is a complete vegan source of protein.

According to the SurThrival website, “Pine Pollen has the potential to increase immune and endocrine function, reduce sensitivity to pain, lower cholesterol, stimulate liver regeneration; it is an anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritic, and anti-tumor. Another potent function of Pine Pollen which has brought a significant amount of attention to it, is that it is an androgen. The fact that Pine Pollen is an androgen means that it has the ability to raise testosterone levels effectively, making it a naturally derived source of testosterone! This is a huge discovery, as sources of testosterone in nature are few and far between. Pine Pollen raises the testosterone levels in the blood and balances the ratio of androgens to estrogen. What it is in the Pine Pollen that has this effect on the hormonal levels, are the sterols. The sterols are basically plant steroids, which benefit us, though also help the pines grow and develop!”

So.. why am I writing about this?  Well.. I started taking pine pollen myself, and my energy has increased drastically over the last several weeks.  It turns out the the person I was working with did some followup bloodwork, and his testosterone levels are increasing as well.  With what seems to be no negative impact in taking Pine Pollen, and the benefits that I’m feeling, I just wanted to put this information out there so that you can make your own informed decision on supplimenting your wellbeing with something that you are not going to hear about at your pharmacy.

Control your own health, destiny, and well being by rolling your own healthcare… it’s up to you to thrive in this world by not sitting on your butt and just listening to what the doc tells you.

What do hookers and cocaine have to do with eating well?  I’ve been talking to a few folks about their “cheat” plans.  It’s a common theme in the 80/20 diet, the 6 day diet, the 90/10 rule – whatever you want to call it.  The plan is to go out and set time aside to be “bad” and binge.  So, logic says, if you deny yourself the freedom to eat whatever you want all the time, you set yourself up for diet failure.  Allowing yourself a cheat meal or day gives you some semblance of balance, and theoretically allows you to stick with the healthy way of eating.

The questions have been coming at me like wildfire lately.  “Should I IF [intermittent fast] after a binge?” “Should I eat healthy food, like a salad, if I know I’m going to be eating badly? Or does it not matter at that point?” – My favorite statement: “I can’t wait until Saturday, I’m going to eat tons of pizza and drink heavily.” Or, does this sound familiar? “I’ll start watching what I eat again on Monday.” — That is great… do you not watch what you eat everyday?  I mean, you don’t look at what you put in your body on the weekends?

Planning a food binge is just like setting up a night of hookers and cocaine.

Here’s the deal.  Planning a food binge is just like setting up a night of hookers and cocaine.  It’s detrimental to your health.  There are PLENTY of situations that we face that can lead to us falling off the eating right wagon.  Why plan your cheats?  If you are out with friends.. it’s OK to eat nachos every few weeks, or have a few drinks… but why PLAN the binge?

5 things I like to keep in mind:

1. Don’t eat to numb your emotions – eat for the pleasure of eating (don’t cheat with crappy food)
2. Don’t pre-plan your cheats - live life and cheat opportunities will present themselves
3. Just because you don’t eat perfect, doesn’t mean you jump ship. – Get back on the wagon the next meal, not the next day.
4. If you are intolerant to food, seriously think about the consequences of your actions. – For example: Gluten Free? Cheat with a GF pizza, not a full blown gluten laced pizza.  Is it really worth it?
5. Re-saturate your muscle glycogen stores – having occasional cheats in your “healthy” lifestyle, may just be helpful.

I love when I get to take a peek at the latest books from North Atlantic Books!  Here’s a peek at my latest cookbook treasure.  I had a feeling this book would have some gems in it when I noticed that David “Avocado” Wolfe had taken the time to write the forward.

This book is a great hardcover, with amazing pictures and in a simple, easy to use, format.  If you are a regular follower of this blog, or the RW facebook page, you might notice that there is a propensity towards a raw food lifestyle.  If you have dabbled at all.. I’d recommend this book.

While there are some great simple recipes, like asparagus with a raw hummus or olive tapenade, there are also some more advanced dishes like a Chili sin Carne (kind of like a raw jambalaya).  I’ve made several of the recipes, including one for raw brownies made with avocado and coconut oil (gluten free of course) that are pretty RAWkin… I actually found the brownies to be really rich.  I kept them in my fridge and broke off pieces of them to put in my chia pudding in the mornings… imagine, I got to eat chocolate for breakfast most mornings for weeks and it was GOOD FOR ME!

While, if you are new to raw foods, you might be lacking some of the equipment… (like a food dehydrator), you will definitely want to check out this book if you are familiar with the raw food lifestyle.  If you have it in your arsenal, you will be prepared for every day recipes, as well as some treats for special occasions.  ENJOY!

This book is currently on SALE: The Art of Raw Food: Delicious, Simple Dishes for Healthy Living