Surgery part two: my stay at the hospital.

Hospitals are strange places. Nobody really likes them. It's where you go when something is wrong, usually. I don't like hospitals either. One of the things hospitals are, unfortunately, well know for is the bad food. I know I'm difficult with food in general but hospitals are a really bad place to have food allergies and not sticking to the food pyramid. I eat primal and low carb. Grain and I are not friends. I told them this and so they served me gluten free bread. Maybe it's just because they don't serve it a lot (most of the time it arrived frozen) but it tasted like cardboard. It also had the texture of cardboard. I know the anaesthesia didn't help but my stomach reacted pretty much the same way as to normal bread. Not well. I had brought some food myself but not enough and it didn't stop them from trying to feed me cardboard and milk all the time. I didn't have the energy to explain to them why I didn't want any so just repeated I was allergic or simply said no thanks. So this was no fun and really didn't help my recovery.

Don't get me wrong. The nurses were all really nice and trying to be helpful. But they also had instructions to follow, protocols and such. Just like with the people who did my surgery I felt like they had to take an empathy course or something at that hospital. I was truly amazed. They really tried to make me as comfortable as possible with the means they had.

The other thing that didn't help was the lack of sleep. Hospitals are very noisy. And with the heat we had to leave the window open to get in some cooler air. This meant we were also letting in all the lovely sounds of the train, the tram, the highway and the huge flock of blackbirds. I don't sleep well in unknown environments in general and if they are noisy I can pretty much forget about it. A nurse coming in at 1 and 6 in the morning to check my pulse and blood pressure didn't help much either. My temperature has been checked more often during my stay at the hospital then in the 10 years before that. And if the nurses weren't chatting just outside the room which was at the beginning of the hall so everyone had to pass by our room, the other trans guys would be snoring softly. If I had been able to move I would have been tossing and turning all night long. But I couldn't. The drains made it impossible to lay in any other position then coma mode; flat on your back with your arms along your sides. Both your chest and abdomen had been stitched up so you didn't want to put your arms anywhere on your body. Truly wonderful.

After a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus and ovaries) you only have to stay one night but after a mastectomy (the chest surgery) you have to stay a bit longer. It depends on the drains sticking out of your armpits. Usually it's 2 or 3 nights and then they remove the drains. Sometimes they send you home with drains though. After 2 nights of about 3 hours sleep each I was ready to go home. I felt like a prisoner, claustrophobic and helpless. I'm not good at giving up control and having people prod and poke me 6 times a day, feeding me bad food and pills while I have a bunch of tubes sticking out of me was not my idea of a good time. I was amazed at how quickly I plummeted into feelings of depression and it really scared me. I knew I had to get out of there. So on Saturday morning I managed to convince the nurse to convince my doctor to let me go home, drains and all. She called my doctor and a few hours later I was on my way home. I felt so relieved. At that point I didn't care I had to keep the drains for 5 more days until my check up. All I wanted was to go home so I could sleep. And I did. I slept 10 hours that night while I usually sleep about 6 or 7. I was so happy to be home. The worst had passed. Things were only going to get better.


For pictures of my recovery check out my tumblr.

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To count or not to count.

Last year this time around I was working as a group fitness instructor. I was preparing to get on the board of the local LGBT rights organization; the COC. We were a few weeks away from getting the keys to the new location for the gallery. Things were looking good.

 

 

Right now, I don't work at a gym any more. I don't work at the COC any more either. And at the end of the month we are turning in the keys to the gallery due to lack of funds. So things have changed quite a bit and not for the better it seems. Initially I felt like I had no control over the things that were happening. They were simply happening to me. I did my best but in the end I still failed.

 

 

One of the ways I cope with set backs like these is by focussing on something I actually can control. I focus on numbers and keep track of something measurable. Usually the thing I set my focus on is my bodyweight, my food intake and my exercise. I developed my first eating disorder when I was about 7 so this is nothing new. It's more like a default setting. Things go wrong? Start controlling your intake. This time I fell into that trap again. I'm pretty sure this will always be my weak point and that's okay. Everyone has one and I know mine very well. About 5 years ago I decided to stop trying to destroy myself and tried to turn things into something a bit more constructive. I still do. So I have spend a lot of time reading research and watching interviews and debates on nutrition. Scientists tend to focus on health, on finding guidelines that people can use to build their own optimal diet. The more attention you pay to something the more it grows and constantly reading about stuff that has health as the ultimate goal makes it easier to actually stick to that and not use the information for evil, as in self-destruction.

 

 

 

A funny thing is happening. Food has always been a tool but the emphasis is shifting more towards the goal. The goal used to be to get to a minimal weight while still 'functioning' (read not getting locked up in a hospital to get force fed). Back then I spend most of my time thinking about food and weight related things. It was a full time job. Then the goal became looking good, strong and healthy. And now the goal seems to shift again to actually being healthy and having the energy to do all the things I want to do. There is a huge difference between wanting to look good and healthy and wanting to be healthy and feel energetic. Wanting to look good is about how others see you. Wanting to be health is about something completely different. It's about how I treat myself, about finding myself worth the effort to take care of myself. The goal is also no longer focused on food or my body, but on what I can do with it. It's great to look great but if, at the end of the day, I don't have the energy to do the things I enjoy, what's the point? And that's the most important shift right there. My body itself becomes a tool, not a goal. Happy people always look prettier then unhappy people. They radiate. It appeals to other people. You can be as fit as a fiddle and still look awful when you're not happy. So that's the new goal: to do the things that make me happy and sharpen the tool that is my body so I can fully enjoy them.

 

Sounds fantastic! Does that mean I'm going to stop weighing my food and counting my nutrients? I don't think I'm ready for that. But being aware that food is a tool and there are other things in life that are more important really helps a lot. It makes it less obsessive and that gives me more space to breath, and to live. Maybe one day I will be able to let it go, mostly, but I will always be aware of what I eat and how it affects me. I don't think that's a bad thing. I just don't want it to take over my life any more.

https://www.facebook.com/TylerFokker

Cheat day 2. Oh my!

Last Sunday I had my second cheat day. If you want to know why I'm doing this and how the first cheat day went, check THIS blog post.

This time I went for complex carbs as in starches. I was hoping I would feel less bad eating slow carbs and to some extend I was right. My concentration wasn't as bad as the week before. I also didn't feel so incredibly hungry all the time. Since I was aiming to eat close to 7000 calories that was actually a problem. The first time I was hungry all the time so I would continue to eat. This time I had to remind myself. I also felt full quite a lot. I absolutely love sushi but it really does make you feel full so I had to stop eating and wait for a while before I could continue. I found gluten/wheat free cookies and ate 4 packs of different types during the day. Those were relatively easy to munch away on but I really noticed they did have processed sugars in them as I would get a sharp headache after eating them. Luckily that would go away after a while again and didn't linger like it had the week before. I also didn't feel shaky. I just felt full. Really full. In the evening I made gluten free pasta with tomato sauce. I could not get it down. I really tried but I just couldn't manage it. I felt so full and was afraid that if I would force myself to eat it I would throw up. I managed some more crisps but not all of them either. In the end I ate 5,716 calories which was 1,200 calories less then the week before.

In some ways it was the total opposite of the week before. I didn't have sharp headaches. I didn't feel shaky and dizzy. I didn't feel insanely hungry. I did feel full, really full. Where my insides felt toxic the first week this time they felt sticky and filthy. My bowels were not happy at all. When I went to bed and laid down I had a hard time not throwing up. Again it took ages to fall asleep and I woke up a bunch of times. I didn't sweat as much as the week before though so that was less bad.

The day after was also different in some ways but the final result was pretty much the same: I felt horrible. In the morning I just had a dull headache which was better then the sharp one I had the week before. I managed to stop by the hospital to get some blood work done without much trouble. I felt tired and groggy but nothing I couldn't handle. But when I came home early afternoon I pretty much collapsed. I started feeling really shaky and faint and dead tired. I ended up on the sofa for 2 hours before I managed to make myself a cup of tea. And I started to feel hungry. The first time I had no trouble not eating the next day but this time I actually got worried I would fall over if I didn't eat something. In the end I gave in and had some nuts. I still had a meeting in the evening so I couldn't just go to bed. Maybe it was because I had eaten 1,200 calories less then I had aimed for. Maybe my entire system just backfired. Or maybe your body just wants you to keep on eating again the next day to get in as much carbs as possible before winter comes.

Fast sugars were somewhat worse on the day itself but less bad the day after. Slow sugars were not too bad on the day itself, though at the end it got somewhat unpleasant, but the day after was horrible. If I would have to choose which one to do again I would prefer not to at all. They were both terrible in their own ways. In reality most people combine these two types of food and I can see how that can create some sort of balance and a vicious cycle. I also felt how unhealthy it is and can cause a lot of damage in the long run. The human body is not meant to do this every day.

Next week I am going to try to do this Paleo style. I'm not sure yet how I will manage to get in enough carbs that way but I am going to try. I should probably check my friends page on facebook . She has loads of Paleo recipes for desserts and such. Like Paleo apple pie! And Paleo brownies! Now that I am looking forward to. If it doesn't contain enough carbs I'll just add a spoon of honey. I'm sure I can live with that.

https://www.facebook.com/TylerFokker

Man 2.0, engineering the Alpha.

Five weeks ago I started a program called Man 2.0, engineering the Alpha. It's an American program designed for overweight non movers (people who don't work out and walk about 5000 paces a day). The goal is to lose fat mass of course but mostly it is meant to reset your hormones. It should boost testosterone, repress estrogen and cortisol (the stress hormone) and reset your hunger hormones and fat burning hormones. All in all it should make you feel fitter, stronger, more energetic and happier. It should also make you look better. I know that I have female plumbing but I also know that there are transmen who try to become more masculine all on their own, without synthetic hormones. And some of them succeed very well. I have noticed the synthetic testosterone that I am taking is still making me nauseas. Plus, it's a nuisance to have to remember it all the time. Most of all, I prefer not to be dependent on doctors and my insurance in order to be able to be myself. Right now my meds are still covered but they are cutting back on every possible thing here in Holland and I heard rumor that the psychiatry for the screening is on the shit list. The less medication I need the better. So I decided to try this program.

The first few weeks I just felt horrible. I talked to some friends about it who know quite a bit about this sort of stuff as well and realized I had forgotten a tiny detail: I'm not a non mover. Those 5000 steps a day I already spend inside my house. I don't have a car. I ride my bike to the gym or walk. I stand many hours a day. I also teach BodyPump, do kung fu and yoga. All those things count. If I would stick to the calories the program told me to I would have only 90 calories a day for all those activities, spending the rest on my basic metabolism (this is the energy you need to not die, as in keep your heart beating, breathing, that sort of thing). No wonder I wasn't feeling well. So I started eating more and indeed my fat mass dropped and my muscle increased.

The program is divided into 4 phases, each lasting one month. I am now in phase two which includes cheat days. During a cheat day basically you just binge all day long. The reason behind this is to boost certain hormones that become too low when you are eating a bit below your maintenance need, slowing down your fat loss. Most of the time you eat low carb (sugar) but this day it's all about the carbs. Normally I eat less then 100 grams of carbs a day which really isn't a lot. But on a cheat day you take in loads and loads. There are several ways to do this. I have 3 cheat days so I decided to try 3 different methods. Cheat day 1: processed sugars. Cheat day 2: slow carbs like starches. Cheat day 3: Paleo, eating lots of fruit and such. I wonder if I will feel different on different types of carbs.

So how did cheat day 1 go? And what did I eat? Here is the list:

25 g dark chocolate: 131 cals

250 g negerzoenen: 933 cals (Officially they are called zoenen these days as they used to be called nigger kisses and that was racist so they changed it. In the US I think they are called angel kisses. In Germany Schaumküsse. At least everyone agrees on the kissing part.)

4 tompoezen: 1152 cals (see right image)

600 g huzaren salad: 1020 cals

75 g white chocolate: 406 cals

216 g nougat: 900 cals

75 g butterscotch chocolate: 490 cals

1 piece of brownie: 264 cals

100 g chocolate raisins: 388 cals

200 g Brie: 676 cals

125 g cassava crisps: 613 cals

Total calories: 6973

I had expected to feel sick but I didn't. I was really surprised. I had expected to feel full and my bowels did but my stomach didn't. I kept feeling hungry all day. Even though I did get a bit queasy I had no trouble continuing eating because I felt so hungry. I hadn't felt that hungry in ages. It was like trying to fill a bottomless pit. In the evening I had about 2000 calories left and I felt slightly panicked because I knew I would still be hungry. I've always wondered how people get obese. Now I know. When you eat loads and loads of carbs you just feel more and more hungry. It's horrible.

Other then the constant hunger I had trouble concentrating, not understanding what people said all the time and constructing sentences took a lot of effort. If I would have had to drive I surely would have caused an accident. I felt slightly spaced out and shaky all the time. This feeling continued throughout the next day. I had a hard time falling asleep, feeling restless. I woke up in the middle of the night in a pool of sweat. In the morning I felt like I had slept on a plane. My entire body felt sore and stiff. I had a sharp headache and I was dead tired. I went for a walk to get the blood flowing again and clear my head which did help to make me feel a bit better. But in the afternoon I just felt completely exhausted again and fell asleep on the sofa twice. I didn't feel as hungry as I had expected, less hungry then the day before actually, and managed without food just fine the whole day. I had plenty of fluids though. I felt sticky on the inside and really just wanted to wash it all away.

All in all it was quite a nasty experience. I felt really miserable. I hope next Sunday will be better with the starches. I do need to find some gluten free pasta though. I haven't had pasta in ages as I don't eat grains at all these days. I may be willing to make an exception for this one day but gluten is just too much. Just that, even in small amounts, will make my belly so unhappy it will be hard to tell how I feel from the starches.

One things is for sure. I am permanently cured from processed sugars. I might have a tiny bit sometimes, but just for the taste. Then again, a lot of the foods that I had been looking forward to actually tasted quite bad when I finally had them. It's pure, white and deadly alright. Once you are no longer addicted to sugar you can taste what it really is. Pure poison. Quite a wake up call.

https://www.facebook.com/TylerFokker

How to get rid of love handles.

I get these type of questions all the time. I have fat there and there. How do I get rid of it? If I do crunches, do I get rid of my tummy fat? If I do chest presses, will my boobs disappear? Etc etc. People still seem to believe that they burn fat there where they are using their muscles. Alas, no such thing. It seems to make sense at first sight but if you look at things closer, there is something else going on.

Not all fat is just fat. Your body stores different types of fat in different places. It puts it in places where it makes sense to your body. If your liver is turning fructose into fats, then it makes sense to store those fats in that region. Other fats are stored to save for later, like the fat on ladies thighs and buttocks. That's the type of fat you want to build babies so you want to keep that for when you need it. There is a place, reason and purpose for everything. Just because you don't think it looks pretty, doesn't mean it's not functional.

I'm not saying you should be satisfied with a body you're not comfortable with. I'm just saying you need to work with what you have. Women will always be more likely to store fat in their lower regions and men around their waist. Those are things you need to accept. Also, some people are more inclined to lose weight in certain areas then others. Somehow I actually tend to lose fat on my thighs quicker then on my stomach even though my metabolism is still fully female. Don't ask me why. Of course, when I gain fat mass again that's also where it jumps right back on.

But if you can't target the zones where you want the fat to Go Away! what do you do? Just make the excess fat go away. If your body is healthy, fit and fully functional it should look good as well. What we define as looking good is looking healthy. I know, these days our ideals are a bit off, but they do represent what we need right now. When you look at the women Rubens painted, they were all plump. Why? Because it showed prosperity. Why? Because most people didn't have enough food to get plump. Right now obesity is the one of the leading causes of death. As a result we cling on to super skinny ideals because we are afraid of being overweight. But do we need to be super skinny? No, we don't. We need to be healthy. We need to find a middle ground between our realistic fears and our exaggerated ideals. Even the men on the cover of Men's Health are not realistic. It's not how real people look. It's not how you and I look. Those are people who spend all their time working on looking good. It's their job. And guess what, we don't have that job. We have other things to do. If you feel fit, healthy and able to do with your body what you want to do, there is a good chance you will like what you see in the mirror. If you don't, maybe you should think about why. Most likely there is some other area in your life that makes you feel like you need to compensate for that by looking extra attractive to others. Just saying..

But I want to get rid of my love handles! I hear you. I don't disagree with wanting to not have love handles. I'm still dreaming of a six-pack as well. But I've had a beef with my body since I was little. So what do we do?

First of all, you have to be patient. These things don't happen over night. We all know that but we tend to pretend that only applies to other people. It does not. I know, it sucks.

Second, we have to check what we eat. I hear people mention different percentages, usually between 60 and 80, of how much food helps with body composition. It varies per person but in essence this is true. More then half of your results come from what you eat. So you need to check that. The first thing people usually say when I tell them that is: so I should eat even less fat. And I respond: NOOOO!! Most likely you need to eat more fat. Good, healthy fats, like olive oil or coconut oil or avocado's or fish. If your body doesn't get enough of something it will cling on to every tiny bit it can for when the shit really hits the fan. It goes into starvation mode and will refuse to burn fat. So in order to get your body to start burning fat again, you need to reassure your body more fat is coming. This also goes for water by the way. If you don't drink enough you will get bloated because your body will cling on to the water it does get. Not good for your kidneys, among many other things. Drinking more water or (herbal) tea could result in losing several pounds even. As I mentioned before, your liver turns fructose into fat. So avoiding fructose would be a good idea. That does not mean not eating fruit. In fruit fructose is packed in fiber and doesn't enter the bloodstream that easily. You want to avoid the processed sugars like corn syrup and regular white sugar. For more on sugar check my blog post http: Why drinking 'fat coke' really is like drinking fat.

Third, exercise. Finally! So, how much cardio should you do? Should? I don't know. Do you like doing cardio? Then by all means, go ahead and do it. But if you don't like it and you're just doing it to lose weight, you can stop. It's okay. You can go ahead and get a barbell and start building a bit of muscle. You don't have to get huge. You just have to get lean. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, even when you are asleep. In the long run doing fitness will get you more result then doing endless cardio. Cardio burns what you have now. Muscle burns what you eat the rest of the day. If you do still want to do cardio, do it after your strength training. When you are pushing weights your body needs to energy stored in your muscles. If you already used that for cardio you will not get the best results. If you have done your strength training and then do cardio, there will be not carbs left in your muscles and your body will be more inclined to start burning fat. So it's beneficial both ways. On a side note: muscle is more dense so you may still weigh the same, but your waistline will have shrunk. The best way to measure your process is by your belt.

That's all I have for now. This should get you started. If you have any more questions, let me know. Good luck!

https://www.facebook.com/TylerFokker

Why drinking 'fat coke' really is like drinking fat.

Lately I have been posting a lot of links on sugar on my facebook page. In my previous blog I also mentioned sugared beverages are bad and promised to explain why. If you want the complete picture you can watch the The Skinny on Obesity clips on YouTube but if you want to go straight to the bitter truth you should watch Ep. 2: Sickeningly Sweet. That clip describes very well how what we call sugar is treated by the body.
We all know now that sugars are carbs, but most people don't know what a carb is. Some will get to a carbohydrate which is the complete word. That still doesn't mean anything to anyone. People might now it's energy. Very good. But not all carbs are just energy. Some are toxic. Like alcohol, hence the word intoxicated. Alcohol is metabolized (changed into something else or used as energy) by the brain and the liver. The liver is the place in the body that handles all toxins. There is another carb that the liver deals with: fructose. That's sugar, right? Sugar from fruit. How is that bad? Wasn't fruit supposed to be good for you? Yes, it is. Fruit contains a lot of vitamins and minerals and fiber along with glucose and fructose. Glucose is the good kind of sugar, the kind that your entire body can use for energy. That's the kind of sugar/carb you want. The fiber helps keep the fructose in your bowels where it can be eaten by the bacteria living in there. They are the good guys that help you get rid of the toxins. So only a small amount of the fructose is absorbed and your body can handle that just fine. That tiny bit is moved to your liver where it is broken down and part of it is burned and that tiny last bit that's left will be turned into fat. If you live a healthy life and don't sit around all day you will burn that bit of fat later on, no problem. But that's fruit. What about juice? Isn't that just fruit as well? Sure, but without the fiber. And without the fiber your body will absorb the whole lot of fructose. That's just the beginning.

Let's take a look at coke. 240 calories per serving according to the Coca Cola website, of which 65 grams of sugar. That's everything. There is nothing else in there. So how is this fat coke? Those 65 grams of sugar are half glucose, which is fine, and half fructose, which is bad if you absorb it because, like I said, some of it will get turned into fat. Unless there is fiber of course. Now lets take a look at what they say about that. "Not a significant source of fat calories, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and iron." No fiber. None what so ever. So all the calories from fat coke go straight to your liver and get turned mostly into fat. And that is how fat coke really is like drinking fat.
But honestly, the same goes for any drink that has sugar (as the companies call it without discriminating between different types like glucose and fructose) that doesn't contain any fiber. The only drinks that are really good are water, tea and smoothies (if properly made with fresh fruit, preferably unpeeled). Coffee is a different issue and an ongoing debate I first need to reed up on more before I say anything about that so for now let's just ignore that one, just leave out the sugar from now on.

It gets even worse when it comes to soda. Look at the amount of salt: Sodium 75mg. You need to double that for the total amount of salt. 150 mg of salt in one serving. Salt makes you thirsty and you drink more. So you get another coke, and absorb more fructose and salt. Check out Ep. 3 on how fructose makes you hungry and you will see how sugared beverages are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the sugar problem. It's the core of what we in Dutch call welvaatsziektes, freely translated to prosperity illnesses which I think covers the load quite well. If you want to lose weight and become healthy and fit, cut out the fructose (except when taken with fiber like in fresh fruits). That's the best thing you could ever do for your body.


The full lecture: Sugar: the bitter truth.  There is a lot more information about this out there but I have found this the most accessable for most people. If you want you can do a bit more research yourself or keep an eye on my facebook page as I will post a link to the articles I come across.

On exercise and losing weight.

A lot of people ask me how they can lose weight. Mostly they ask me what kind of exercise they can do to get rid of fat. They ask if sup ups or crunches are better for losing stomach fat. Well, sit ups are a no go these days in general because they are not very effective and they can be bad for your back and neck. Most important, they don't burn stomach fat. But neither do crunches, or planks, or cardio even! Okay, it does at some point but only if your body feels like it. You can not force your body to burn fat where you want it. You can only make it burn fat in general. Your body will decide which fat it can spare. So targeting area's where you want the fat to be gone is nothing but frustrating unless you get lucky and most of us don't. A friend of mine is burning her boobs and she's not happy about it but mine have been staying the same and I want to get rid of them. Life is unfair when it comes to stuff like that. So all you can do is be patient and wait for your body to be ready to start at the fat you want to burn. This means you need to burn the other fat your body wants to get rid of first. The order in which you burn fat doesn't change. I go from bottom to top: legs and ass first, now my stomach and eventually my boobs I hope. A lot of people do it the other way around too. Some have a different order all together. The only way to find out what your fat burning order is, is by burning it.

So what is a good way to start burning fat? Crunches, and planks, and cardio. But didn't I say that doesn't work? I said at some point. It takes time. Fat doesn't burn anything. It just sits there. Muscle does burn energy, even when you are asleep. Especially when you are asleep to be more precise because that is when it restores itself and that takes up energy. And of course when you are moving. When you have very little muscle you will only be able to use little muscle doing your daily things. When you have more muscle you will automatically use more muscle in every day use, like walking up the stairs. You use your entire legs and butt for that. Not just part of them. So more muscle is more energy use. And that is a very effective way to get rid o the extra calories.


What about cardio? There is a button on every crosstrainer/stationary bike/stair master/etc that says: fatburning, or something of the sorts. If you press that button and follow the program, you should be burning fat, right? Cause it said so. Sure. You will burn more calories from fat then from sugar during exercise. True. Now lets take a look at how this works. A Big Mac contains 570 Calories. If you weigh 170lbs, or 77Kg, you have to do 75 minutes of cardio to burn that. And that doesn't get rid of the fries. You would have to do twice that much exercise if you get a large fries with that which is also 570 Calories. So, you do your 2 and a half hours of cardio to burn your meal and then what? You feel hungry and you go and eat again. In the mean time your easy tread will only have boosted your internal energy burning system, your metabolism, a tiny bit. You get a bit of an afterburn, where you are burning more calories after working out then before, but not much. This disappears pretty quickly. So a few hours later the effect will be gone and the pizza you are having for dinner does straight to your stomach fat again. Not what you want.


So then what? Lately there have been studies on this quite a bit. One of the studies you should really take a look at if you have the time is The truth about exercise. It's a BBC documentary. They show that you can achieve a much greater boost for your metabolism by doing high intensity interval training, also known as HIIT these days. 30 seconds of explosive training followed by recovery and then repeated a few times. In total you might be spending 5 minutes or so on your training bike and that's about it. That's all you need to boost your internal burner to keep that flame high. You will start feeling fitter, more energetic and healthier in general.


Does that mean you can just go ahead and eat what ever you want? Hell no. Food is the most important factor in weight control. Period. That's just fact. So you need to take a look at that as well. One of the first things you should get rid of is sugared beverages. I'll explain why soon.


Want to stay up to date quicker and get some extra tips? Check out my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TylerFokker. I also have some links on there explaining a few things about the sugared drinks so if you're curious, go check it out.

A bit about food.

I've been having a lot of nerve pain again lately. There is no telling why. It comes and goes. I have permanent nerve damage from my good old anorexia days. My body stripped the fatty acid casings off my nerves in my arms and legs, hands and feet, to preserve my brain. It seems so have worked because I am still alive and function just fine. But the price is nerve pain. Misfires you can call them. The nerve gets triggered for no reason, resulting in pain. It's not comfortable but I have a high pain threshold and you get used to it. It's not fun though, I can tell you that. I used to hope that with a healthy life style it would go away. Alas, eventhough it is a lot better, it will never fully go away.  Some things you can not restore. Obesity has long term effects that can not be reversed as well even if you lose all the extra weight. People hardly think about these things. There are so many things we do now that seem fine at the moment but have devastating effects in the long run. Because we don't see anything happening right now we think we can get away with it. Statements like: my grandparents ate like this all the time and they lived well into their eighties, simply don't apply. We need to develop a new view on the way we treat ourselves.

A Dutch study: http://musclemotion.nl/PDF/052-055%20Voedingswaarde.pdf
And an American one: http://www.utexas.edu/news/2004/12/01/nr_chemistry/

Here in Holland we still promote eating 2 pieces of fruit and 2 ounces of vegetables as day. These recommendations were set back in 1986. The amount of vitamin C in apples has declines by 80% since then. An apple a day does not keep the doctor away anymore.

 

My sister lives in Sydney. She told me the other day that she doesn't buy tomatoes because she can not afford them. She and her boyfriend both have above average incomes. Tomatoes are about 14 dollars per kilo. That's 11 euro's. Can you imagine? But she's not the only one who can not afford to eat healthy. I come across people at the gym on a regular basis who tell me they don't buy fruit because it's too expensive. In a time like this with the economy going down the drain world wide a lot of people are confronted with the choice between quantity and quality when it comes to food. Most people choose quantity. It's nice to get your vitamins but if you don't get in enough energy you're going to starve anyway.

To sum things up: most people can not afford healthy food and choose quantity over quality which can lead to long term, possible permanent damage.

I'm facing the same challenge. I don't have much to spend but am set on eating as healthy as I can. So I save money on a lot of other things. I hardly ever buy clothes, I don't go out but have people come over for a cuppa, I turn off the lights when I'm not in a room, I shower at the gym most of the time, etc. That saves me money to spend on food. I buy most of my fruit and veggies on the market instead of in the supermarket. Yes, even when it rains. It's a lot cheaper, at least, it is here in Holland. And I use my balcony to grow vegetables, strawberries and herbs. This year the harvest was a bit disappointing and it's starting to get colder so it's time to bring some of the pots inside. I am going to plant some new seeds and use the windowsill as a bit of a greenhouse. These are little things one can do but they add up.

I hope this helps people a bit to become more aware and get in good health. You only have one body. Treat it well and it will carry you.

It's a sign!

One of the problems people have today is that they are no longer in contact with their own bodies. They don't understand the signals their bodies are giving them. In the long run this can lead to obesity, burn outs, heart attacks and lord knows what. Nothing pretty I assure you. The body doesn't really discriminate between types of stress. Most people can't feel the difference between hunger and thirst. Deadlines can set off the same type of triggers in the brain as an angry bear. So between us not listening to our bodies and our bodies not always being too clear on what the hell is going on, it is understandable we are pretty clueless as to how we should treat our bodies.

What we need to do is learn to listen and then to learn to respond appropriately. Easier said then done. What I have found helpful is to stop and think. When ever you are craving something it's a sign. When you feel like having steak it usually means your body wants protein. When you are craving crisps it could be something else though. It could be the salt, the carbs or the fat or that little additive they are said to put in there to make it addictive, or it could just be habit. Which one is it? Stop. And think. Which one? It could even be you're not craving food at all but comfort and you would be much better off with a genuine hug. As the orphanages during and right after the second world war discovered, you can give a baby shelter and food and clean nappies, but if you don't pick it up and give it a hug, it will die anyway. People need love as much as they need oxygen. So if you want a healthy lifestyle replacing crisps with hugs is one of the best things you can do.

People tend to eat what they think they crave but often they misinterpret the signals. Probably the most common signal read as need for sugary and/or fatty foods is stress. Everybody does it. I do to. You really don't want to know how much chocolate I have been eating lately. It's horrible. And now my teeth ache. Not because of the chocolate but because I have been grinding them at night while I sleep. Gee, stressed much? Just a little. Eating chocolate is not a bad thing. You can have a cube every day if you want. Just not a whole bar every day. I measured my fat% again last weekend and it went up quite a bit. I guess that's what I needed to pull myself together and get a grip on things. To say Stop! and think. What am I so stressed about? A lot of things actually and that makes it harder to deal with. There isn't just one solution. It's going to take quite a bit to get things organized the way I want them. It would be nice if things were a bit more clear at work but it looks like I'll just have to accept a temporary solution. So be it. On a brighter note I have been accepted as the new coordinator at the trans initiative here in town. This means more work but at least I will have the feeling I'm making a difference. I guess that is a way of getting a hug, knowing that what you do matters to someone. That would be much better then chocolate indeed.