Health

1 kg of muscle in 1 week.

I read it as the theoretical maximum on wikipedia, and the lady at the health food store today confirmed it as the "safe maximum weight gain or loss rate".

I got some more intelligence on how to do it today, but earlier I made a video about the breakfast I am using. This is science, kids, but not as we know it....

I've got one more week in Australia before I fly to New Zealand to face off with Tri-yuga. Of course, yoga's not about being competitive, and I don't do competition anyway - only decisive victory ;-)

Take one BBC news report from 2003:

"The results were clear with both our experimental groups and in both test scenarios. "Creatine supplementation gave a significant measurable boost to brain power."

Add one report from the Mayo Clinic:

Pasteurized cow's milk appears to contain higher levels of creatine than human milk. The clinical significance of this is not clear.

And you've got a recipe for "finer brain tissue".

The other day Gauranga Kishore mentioned Omega-3 as a possible candidate for milk's brain enhancing qualities. Omega-3 is needed for creating the myelin-sheathing around the nerves in the brain. The deterioration of this sheathing leads to Alzheimer's disease, so it's definitely necessary and beneficial for brain functioning. Although flax seed oil is a more concentrated source of Omega-3 than milk, Gauranga Kishore pointed out that it may not be as universally available.

As well, the other day David Haslam mentioned a number of other beneficial products of the cow, such as cow stool for fertilizing the ground, for use as a cooking and heating fuel, and also as an insulation layer in low-impact environmental housing (aka mud huts).

So add one more thing to this list: Creatine.

Creatine administration was shown to significantly improve performance in cognitive and memory tests in vegetarian individuals involved in double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over trials. Vegetarian supplementation with creatine seems to be especially beneficial as they appear to have lower average body stores, since meat is a primary source of dietary creatine.

- Creatine Supplements: Mental Performance, Wikipedia

In humans, approximately half of stored creatine originates from food (mainly from fresh meat). Since vegetables do not contain creatine, vegetarians show lower levels of muscle creatine which, upon creatine supplementation, rise to a level higher than in meat-eaters.

- Creatine: Sources, Wikipedia

Both quotes have sources cited in the relevant wikipedia article.

Now I have to say that taking creatine and hitting the mat I do feel like I just killed and ate some small animal, or maybe like I need to kill and eat a small animal. If the tag line for Bodyquick is "Got Kill Speed?" and the supplement gives you kill speed (it boosts reaction time by up to 35%), then Creatine gives you "extra killing power".

I'm taking Kre-Alkalyn, a relative new form of creatine supplement. It is "pH-corrected", weighing in at a whopping pH of 12 - extremely alkaline.A pH of 7 is neutral, less than 7 acidic, more than 7 alkaline - up to a maximum of 14 - pure alkaline. The human body operates optimally at around 7.36, on the alkaline side of 7.

Exactly how creatine increases your killing power is still up in the air. This very informative and only slightly technical article describes three current hypotheses.

Apparently (this is according to the Kre-Alkalyn website, which by the way has a horrible 90's design using frames - go here to get the navigation menu), non-base pH Creatine supplements break down in liquid (like in your stomach) into creatinine [wikipedia], which is the exhaust produced when creatine does its thing in your muscles. Creatinine is filtered from your system by the kidneys.

I've been using Creatine for a whole three days now, and I've read a number of testimonials on the internets, and I've got my own story already.

Lots of people are asking questions like: "I'm going on a cruise in a couple of weeks. Can I take creatine and look buff?"

The answer to this is: only if you use the additional creatine in your system to go harder in your exercise program.

Some people report no benefit to their long distance and endurance running.

Some people report "bulking up" and looking "fuller", but losing muscle definition due to water retention.

Some people report sore joints as a result of taking a creatine supplement.

According to the makers of Kre-Alkalyn (who bill it as "the benefits of creatine without the side effects" and "the results without the bloat"), these side effects are due to the deterioration of the creatine supplement to the bio-waste product creatinine when it encounters a liquid.

I have another theory. If the other creatine supplements are non-base pH, and Kre-Alkalyn claims to have a patent covering all creatine supplements with a pH in the range of 7 -14 which implies that they are, then all creatine supplements, with the exception of Kre-Alklyn, are acidic.

If you put something acidic into your muscles then your body will respond to that by diluting the acid to bring it back to your bio-optimum. It will do this by pumping water into the muscle cells. This is why you have to drink a lot of water when you take creatine supplements, and why you immediately bulk up and lose definition.

I haven't noticed any water retention (bloat) with Kre-Alkalyn. What I have noticed is increased strength and muscle recovery. Available creatine in the body enables the production of ATP [wikipedia]. This means more energy at the cellular level. One article I read explained it like this: "you won't go from bench pressing 200 lbs to 250 lbs, but you will go from 5 reps to 7 reps."

In other words, Creatine supplementation doesn't increase your strength per se, it increases the ability of your muscles to recover. This allows you to push yourself more, and this will increase your strength. This is not going to be much good if you're doing long distance and endurance events, which don't have an exertion / recovery cycle. However, it's perfect for Bikram Yoga with the 20 second shivasana (corpse pose) between reps.

Especially for a weedy little vegetarian like me, creatine supplementation seems to be working well. The main thing is that I am able to play faster mrdanga beats for a longer time, and also sing while I'm doing it. I'm getting to test this each morning at mangal-arati and measure the results. And that's ultimately what it's all about. This body is simply an engine for Sri Krishna sankirtan.

Addendum: I cast a wider net, and found other sources of Creatine: juniper berries, apparently, and also this NZ bee pollen. The other day Hari Sauri prabhu mentioned bee pollen as a source of Vitamin B12 as well, so while I'm in NZ I might see if I can get some of this.

Hydration is super important when you are doing hot yoga, or any other kind of intense exercise. However, simply drinking water is not enough. If you've ever drunk your sweat off your mat (and believe me - some days I have!) you know that you're not sweating pure water - you're sweating a complex blend of vitamins and minerals. Just drinking water will soon have you as depleted as a strip mine. You need an electrolyte replacement drink. Commercial drinks like Powerade are full of sugar, and simple carbohydrates (sugars) are no good when you're all about getting ripped. You need to reduce carbs and increase protein to get muscle definition. So I've been mixing my own electrolyte replacement drink - The Sita-pati Koolaid.

I start with a base of Pureau water, then add Herbs of Gold Muscle Resuscitation. This is a bio-enhanced magnesium powder. Magnesium depletion leads to sore muscles, and ultimately to muscle cramping during exertion. The Herbs of Gold powder also contains a number of B vitamins, a range of other trace elements, and stevia - a powerful natural sweetener.

The Herbs of Gold Muscle Resuscitation also gives the Sita-pati Koolaid that rad patented yellow colour. I tell anyone who asks that I'm trying out urine therapy to boost my performance on the mat. ;-)

Next I add 24 drops of Cellfood. Ekendra put me on to this. It has 78 ionic minerals, 34 enzymes, 17 amino acids, electrolytes and dissolved oxygen in it.

Then I add a cap of Lifesprings Colloidal Minerals. This stuff has 75 plant-derived colloidal minerals in it.

Then I add a cap of Colloidal Silver. Colloidal silver is a natural antibiotic.

Sometimes I add a packet of Percy's Powder. Percy's contains Magnesium, Iron, Zinc, Potassium, and Manganese, as Sulphates. More often though I'll take this neat in the juice of a lemon and with a B Vitamin complex capsule. Doing this on an empty stomach, for example straight after a yoga session, is the optimum way to absorb it.

The end result of all this is the supercharged Sita-pati Koolaid.

You can make your own electrolyte replacement drink too. Go to the health food store and have a look at the different things they have. Fire up Google and do some research - read some testimonials and some overviews such as wikipedia (be sure to follow the links to original references), and start trying stuff out.

Don't waste your money or your health drinking commercial cordials. Drink your own Koolaid!

Interestingly enough, my morning realization at Bikram today is an interesting counterpoint to Devadeva Mirel's "Plain Truth".

There she presents the old adage: "Eat right, exercise, die anyway".

Of course that's true, but it's a truth devoid of subtlety. Once you realize this truth, you can still go further. Krishna consciousness is not fatalism or nihilism.

Spending money for your health, for example paying for Bikram classes, eating organic, or buying supplements, increases the performance of your body. This reduces health care costs and increases your potential earning power over time. In other words - you can get the money back.

On the other hand, saving money by skimping on your health decreases your bodily performance, which translates into higher health care costs and decreased earning power over time.

You can always get money back. You can never get back time and your body's performance over that time.

Invest in your health first, not last.

Postscript: You can observe that people who skimp on their health will spend all kinds of money to regain it when they lose it.

If you've followed my blog for even a short while you've probably figured out that I'm a Hare Krishna. Cows are considered sacred by Hare Krishnas, and my recent posting on the effects of dairy on the human body will verge on heresy for some members of the movement. You might say that it challenges a sacred cow - literally.

However, bhakti yoga is not meant to be dogmatic or unthinking, so let's take a look at this sacred cow, shall we?

In an conversation reproduced in the book The Science of Self Realization Srila Prabhupada explained the following, ending with a rhetorical question:

Actually, giving up meat-eating is not a question of Krsna consciousness but of civilized human life. God has given human society so many things to eat--nice fruits, vegetables, grain, and first-class milk. From milk one can prepare hundreds of nutritious foods, but no one knows the art. Instead, people maintain big slaughterhouses and eat meat. They are not even civilized. When man is uncivilized, he kills poor animals and eats them. Civilized men know the art of preparing nutritious foods from milk.

The blood of the cow is very nutritious, but civilized men utilize it in the form of milk. Milk is nothing but cow's blood transformed. You can make milk into so many things--yogurt, curd, ghee (clarified butter), and so on--and by combining these milk products with grains, fruits, and vegetables, you can make hundreds of preparations. This is civilized life--not directly killing an animal and eating its flesh. The innocent cow is simply eating grass given by God and supplying milk, which you can live on. Do you think cutting the cow's throat and eating its flesh is civilized?

At a particular point in history a number of human beings changed from nomadic hunter gatherers to agriculturalists. Some groups of humans, the "uncivilized tribes" remained as nomadic hunter-gatherers right up to the 20th century. In fact, in some remote regions of the world, such as the Amazon jungle, they can be found even today.

The agricultural societies gave rise to the first urban civilizations, and also developed sophisticated metaphysical systems.

An integral part of that was the symbiotic relationship that developed between humans and cows. Without that relationship and the civilisation and worldview that grew out of it, I wouldn't be writing this, and you wouldn't be reading this today.

The utilization of cow's milk by human beings freed up huge amounts of human energy by providing a source of highly concentrated protein at a relatively low cost of energy, time, and risk. This energy was then able to be utilised in pursuit of higher goals.

Cow's milk, like meat, leverages the life energy of another living being to concentrate protein. Human beings can then take advantage of that. The advantage of milk over meat, as Srila Prabhupada points out, is that it does not necessitate the level of violence required for meat eating. Also, milk, especially in modified or cooked forms, is more easily assimilated by humans than meat.

Milk, like meat, is higher up the foodchain than vegetables and grains, so it shares with meat the drawback of biomagnification. As protein is concentrated so are toxins. Parasites, bacteria, and viruses are also present.

Milk can be boiled to reduce the risk of infection, and it can be cultured into yoghurt to extend its shelf life and make it more easily digested.

Overall, milk is a miracle food for a human civilisation based on non-violent principles. It allows people to dedicate their time to the pursuit of higher goals than simply eating each day. Moving from meat-eating to cow cultivation is an advance in civilisation, and it paves the way for further advances in the cultivation of higher values by human beings.

Milk back in the day - a Vedic History

As an example, in the Vedic history Srimad Bhagavatam (SB. 1.19.39) we hear of Sukadeva Goswami, a great saintly person and renunciant. Of him "it is said that (he) hardly stays in the houses of men long enough to milk a cow."

Srila Prabhupada elucidates:

Saints and sages in the renounced order of life go to the houses of the householders at the time they milk the cows, early in the morning, and ask some quantity of milk for subsistence. A pound of milk fresh from the milk bag of a cow is sufficient to feed an adult with all vitamin values, and therefore saints and sages live only on milk. Even the poorest of the householders keep at least ten cows, each delivering twelve to twenty quarts of milk, and therefore no one hesitates to spare a few pounds of milk for the mendicants.

In this way we can see practically how the symbiotic relationship between humans and cows, and the concentration of protein, was an integral part of a civilisation that allowed the development and maintenance of a class of people dedicated to higher thinking.

Milk "creates finer brain tissue for higher thinking"

Repeatedly Srila Prabhupada explains that taking milk creates the opportunity for higher thinking (for example: SB. 1.8.5, SB. 8.6.12, SB. 3.5.7, BG 9.26).

This has often been interpreted to mean that drinking milk makes you more disposed toward or capable of spiritual thinking. Srila Prabhupada himself sometimes presented it that way. In one letter he advised a disciple to daily take a cup of milk filled to the depth of three fingers placed side by side (that would be like 10 cm or 3-4 inches).

However, based on my personal experience of diet and thoughtful consideration of the social development of humanity, I am more inclined to view it from a macroscopic perspective. Milk, as a form of concentrated protein, gave humanity the opportunity to sustain and develop more advanced forms of civilisation. Meat-eating allows more advanced material(istic) civilisation, but milk-drinking enables a non-violent civilisation with higher ethical and spiritual values. So milk drinking provides people with the time to think, and it does so in such a way that they think about more refined things than which village they should pillage next.

Back to the Future

Today, however, we live in a different technological and social milieu. The milk that we are able to obtain is not the product of a non-violent, symbiotic relationship between humans and animals, but rather part of a meat industry that profiteers from the suffering and extermination of others.

Concentrated protein is available to us in forms that were previously unavailable to Sukadeva Goswami - for example, broccoli is 45% protein by calories, and modern vegetable juicers can turn a box of that in a jug of juice, which is easily taken. Modern agricultural techniques and economic infrastructure make boxes of broccoli relatively easily available to contemporary urban dwellers.

Along with its benefits as a concentrated protein, milk also has drawbacks. It enables time-saving and higher thinking, but it also has a health impact - not as strong as that of meat, but nonetheless present.

Lesson from the Govardhana-lila

One key lesson of Krishna's Govardhan-lila is that we should be realistic, not anachronistic. Krishna chastises his father, Nanda Maharaja, for continuing to ritualistically execute a tradition without knowledge, in this case worshiping Indra, the Vedic demigod in charge of rain. Instead, Krishna tells Nanda that he would be better of showing appreciation for the things that actually sustain his life on a day-to-day basis.

Now that other sources of protein are available, some of them superior in terms of health, and with less violence involved than modern milk supplies - do we need to continue to fanatically insist that only by drinking milk, any milk, can spiritual life be successfully executed? Do we need to dogmatically and unconsciously consume dairy products, and in such quantities, in the name of "spiritual realization"?

The rising tide of reason, and direct perception

I am not alone in raising these points.

Madhava Ghosh has spoken on this point (Time to Live in the Here and Now, Milk Drinkers), with specific reference to how cows are treated in the modern dairy industry, our responsibility to the cows, and our moral standing relative to "vegans" and animal activists. Krpamoya prabhu spoke out after his operation for prostate cancer about the health implications of a diet high in dairy products (Go easy on the curd!).

The role of the cow in the post-industrial HK movement of the 21st century

This is not to say that the cow no longer has any value.

Persons who are addicted to meat-eating can change to a milk-product diet and experience a boost in their health, and an improvement in their ethical relationship with the environment.

If the machine civilisation and modern agriculture disappear for whatever reason, we may once again heavily rely on our symbiotic relationship with the cow. It's good for us to remember and honour our roots. We may need to return to them.

And lastly, for Hare Krishnas, devotees of Krishna, we have a sentimental attachment for the cow. At the time that Krishna incarnated on the Earth human society was heavily reliant on the relationship between cows and humans. We remember His interactions with the cows at the time fondly, and because they are related to Him, to us they are sacred.

Personally I take a little milk products, mainly directly related to Krishna (although by normal HK standards I'm practically vegan). This morning I woke the Deities at the local temple, and afterwards shared with my son some milk sweets that were offered on the altar.

So milk still plays an important part in spiritual life, although material circumstances have changed. And who knows, maybe scientists will discover one day that a little bit of milk (Srila Prabhupada said 10cm in a cup per day) does literally change your brain tissue to make you smarter and more spiritual.

But as a primary source of concentrated protein? I'll go with the broccoli, thanks.

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post "Why Dairy Makes You Stiff that dairy products are acid-forming in the body. They result in the same lactic acid build-up that I described in Why Drinking Green Juices Makes You More Flexible.

You can read more about it here: Latose and Lactic Acid.

Yesterday was Ekadasi and I ate lightly and had a "dairy detox" after the cheese on Wednesday. A world of difference on the yoga mat today.

Last night I had some Parmesan cheese. Not a lot, just a little bit, over my beans and rice. This morning in my Bikram class I felt stiff, and was clearing my throat of mucus continually.

Doing the same thing every day, like clockwork, I notice variations like this. I had a similar experience a couple of weeks ago - the day after I drank 500ml of organic milk.

Diary produces mucus in the body - not simply in the lungs, which causes you to clear your throat, but also in the body tissues.

I take a whey protein isolate each day. I also treat myself, from time to time, with a Cherri Berri frozen yoghurt with fresh fruit. Neither of these produce the same reaction as the small amount of cheese did, or the 500 ml of milk.

Diary is good for bulking up. That's why body building shops have huge tubs of whey protein concentrate and isolates. As the lady in the health food store told me: "Compared to rice and soy protein, whey protein concentrates have the most bio-available protein. It's more easily absorbed into the body".

In his "Rules for the Temple", Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura writes:

Excessive foppery, excessive drinking of milk, eating luxuriously like a big man, should be totally given up. We don't want gymnasts (body builders) in our math.

Diary is animal protein - "meat" in another form. Whereas the blood of the cow is salty, her milk is sweet. Otherwise the nutritional value is similar, as Srila Prabhupada would point out.

An early practice in ISKCON was to add salt to burnt milk to remove the burnt taste. Srila Prabhupada wrote to devotees to tell them not to do this, and that this is a "cause of leprosy." H.H. Jayapataka Swami pointed out to me that adding salt makes it again salty like cow's blood.

Milk is a natural food for infants. Small animals and birds are unable to forage for themselves, and unable to digest large amounts or difficult to digest foods. By nature's arrangement their parents are able to supply them - birds by regurgitating into the mouths of their young, mammals by producing highly concentrated milk.

After a number of years a human being develops lactose intolerance, which is a natural way for them to wean off their mother's milk and begin to eat solids.

However, it turns out that a significant number of humans do not become lactose intolerant. Investigation has shown that there are five distinct genetic adaptations for suppression of lactose intolerance.

This indicates that in geographical isolation different groups of humans discovered that instead of expending huge amounts of energy hunting animals for protein, they could get protein by milking cows. Their bodies adapted to this - in a different way in different places.

For a hunter-gatherer a nice big cup of milk is a great way to get protein - little energy has to be expended to get it, versus hunting down and killing an animal - and it's comparatively low risk.

For a subsistence farmer, it can be a life saver. When you farm locally for survival a failed crop doesn't just mean that the vegetable prices go up in the market - it means you starve.

People who could stomach milk had a greater chance of survival. It's not that human beings are "not designed to eat meat". They obviously can. I think the more accurate thing to say is that they are "not optimized for meat eating".

Mucus is the body's reaction to foreign invaders. Because milk is animal protein, it's identified by the body as foreign. While the body can absorb the proteins and bulk up on them, it also bulks up with mucus. This mucus can cause persistent cellulite, and it also makes the muscles stiffen up.

Modified milk, such as yoghurt, which has acidophillus bacteria in it that aid assimilation, and whey protein isolates, are more easily absorbed by the body than straight milk or cheese.

All foods have an effect on the body. Which ones we choose to take is influenced by what we want to do. If I had the choice between starving and drinking millk, I have absolutely no doubt which one I'd choose. If I had to be really big and strong to swing a sword, I'd be knocking it back by the keg. However, right now I'm opting to pass on the milk when I'm working on increasing my flexibility, because I have first hand experience of what it does to me.

For the past four months I've been drinking two or three caps of Oxyrich, an oxygen donor, in a litre of water.

I drink it during my Bikram class, in the water breaks, and the effect has been to almost completely eliminate the soreness and stiffness that I used to feel the day after a class.

According to the marketing speak Oxyrich is "5% v/v of pure di-atomic oxygen in a base of pH balanced De-Ionised Grander Living Water and unrefined Atlantic Sea Salt".

What that translates to is this: diatomic oxygen means O2.That's oxygen gas. According to information on the Oxyrich website, oxygen gas is somehow stabilised in water using electrolysis.

(Read about the use of liquid stabilised oxygen in treating cancer)

Soreness in muscles is caused by lactic acid build up. Lactic acid is a by-product of anaerobic respiration. The word "anaerobic" comes from the Greek an- = without, aer = air. At a cellular level when oxygen is exhausted, when the blood can no longer supply sufficient oxygen to the muscle fibres to meet their demand under load, the cells switch to anaerobic respiration. They "breathe" by burning blood sugars. The byproduct of this anaerobic respiration is acid. The acid build up leads to soreness and stiffness in the muscles the next day.

By supplying the body's cells with extra oxygen by drinking oxygenated water, anaerobic respiration is avoided. When the water hits the body the oxygen is easily absorbed at a cellular level. You can go harder without exhausting yourself, and the next day you aren't sore and stiff.

One of the things about Bikram is that being in the hot room with 30 or 40 other students can quickly lead to oxygen depletion in the air. To get the most out of the practice I oxygenate at a cellular level by adding Oxyrich to my water bottle. You can probably get a similar or the same result by drinking 3% pharmaceutical grade hydrogen peroxide, but personally I'm sticking with the commercial stuff for the time being. I get a 1 litre bottle of it once every two months. Anyway, as Lord Krishna explains in Bhagavad-gita, the perfection of religion is direct perception - try it for yourself and see!

A couple of months back I followed a targeted ad on Facebook ("Yoga students ONLY!") and found Yoga Body - a website that states: "Yoga Poses & Yoga Exercises aren't Enough for Flexibility".

The main premise of the site is that drinking green juices makes you more flexible.

For a little over a month now I've been drinking a cup of juiced leafy greens, such as lettuce or cale, daily, half an hour before going to my Bikram class. My observation is that this premise is correct.

I ordered some of the formula that Lucas sells on the Yoga Body site, and I'll try it out when it gets here, and let you know how good it is. When you order the product you get a free yoga pdf from Lucas. In there he states that he doesn't really know why drinking green juices makes you more flexible, but he knows it's true.

In the meantime, I shared my realization about green juices making you more flexible with some work mates. Param Satya teaches yoga in my office each Wednesday, and we talk yoga over lunch (which she cooks) afterwards.

Being an engineer, of course my mate Jeff wanted to know "how it works".

"It's easy. " I told him. "Here's how it works - you drink a cup of green juice before you do yoga, and it makes you more flexible."

Not quite what he was looking for.

Today I visited Jeff's cube and told him that after a couple of weeks of research I can now give him a rational explanation for why this works.

For the past two days I've been listening to Anthony Robbin's "Living Heallth" Seminar, and connecting a lot of dots in my yoga practice, nutrition, and all of the diet and lifestyle changes that we've been implementing at Red Hill over the past year or so. This morning it all fell into place, and I have an explanation for why green juices make you more flexible. I don't have scientific evidence. It may not be true, but it's a good explanation that gives some context and rational support for something that I can directly experience by drinking green juice.

So finally, after all that preamble, here it is:

Why Drinking Green Juices Makes You More Flexible

Most people have a chronic yeast infection. Yeast is living inside their body, in their blood stream. Some studies indicate that 70%-80% of the population has it. Sometimes it breaks out as thrush, athlete's foot, or some other external manifestation, but a lot of the time it's just like a background noise - ignored but ever present.

This yeast eats the glucose in the blood stream. This leads to a drop in sugar level and sugar cravings. It also causes a drop in energy. To compensate for this and satisfy these cravings people take sugar and caffeine.

As the yeast eats the glucose it produces acid. This acid then enters into the muscle tissue, causing it to become hard - just like when you exercise hard and your muscles go into anaerobic respiration and produce lactic acid. The next day you wake up with sore, tight muscles. Well, basically this process is going on all the time at a low level internally due to the yeast.

So drinking green juices alkalizes the internal environment, which makes it inhospitable to the yeast. The yeast requires an acidic environment to thrive, and in turn contributes to creating an even more acidic environment. Once you start alkalizing the environment the yeast is toast.

So there's a good story for you. Regardless of whether or not it's "true", direct perception is the perfection of religion - so start drinking green juices daily and take your forward bend to the next level!