Donating blood for selfish reasons

I hadn’t donated blood for years up until last month.  I donated for these reasons:

• giving blood is one way to decrease iron in the blood
• giving blood is a small stress for which the body might rebound to become healthier
• giving blood may help others who need the blood

One possible explanation for why women generally live longer than men is that they lose blood monthly until menopause and because having babies also helps to keep excessive minerals in check.

Here’s a quote from the website at  http://www.physicians-background.com/blood.html:  “The two studies involved over 6,500 men and were conducted by the University of Kansas and the University of Kuopio in Finland. Researchers believe by giving blood, men — and post-menopausal women — rid their bodies of excessive iron, which is thought to contribute to heart disease.”

I came up with the idea to donate blood from reading about an anti-aging product that chelates minerals from the body.

Blueberries and milk — NOT

I stopped putting blueberries in my morning smoothie drink after reading that ingesting milk along with blueberries reduces the antioxidants.   Since (apparently) protein binds up some of the phenolics, it may be better to eat blueberries without protein foods.  Protein apparently also binds some of the antioxidants in tea; it may be best to eat all antioxidant-laden foods without any protein foods.

So lately my fairly standard morning routine has been:

• Do 10-20 minutes of anaerobic exercise first thing in the morning.
• Eat 12-25 grams of whey isolate immediately after exercise to feed my muscles and to act as a secretogogue for GH.
• Eat 1/2 to 1 cup of fruit about 2-3 hours after exercising. (I like blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and/or prunes.)
• I eat a smoothie on most days either at lunch or dinner.  I sweeten my smoothies with half of a banana and don’t bother putting in the fruits laden with antioxidants.

An article discussing research on milk with blueberries:  http://www.naturalnews.com/025516.html

An article about milk and antioxidants in tea:  http://www.naturalnews.com/025670.html

Avoiding Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

On Sunday, September 21, I paddled a canoe solo for 4 hours.  I was going with the current on the Mazon River and covered about 6.5 miles.  Even though anaerobic bursts were few and brief, and even though I paddled rather leisurely, I was still exhausted after the trip and my muscles were starting to tighten up and give me signs that I might be in for some DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness).  Fortunately the soreness in my “lats” never came and here are some possible reasons why:

1. I performed steady light activity all afternoon and evening.  Some people have suggested that movement and increased blood flow helps the muscles recover without the pain.  If I would have sat in my recliner chair in the afternoon and evening, I think I would have had some significant muscle-tightness; instead I was fairly flexible and pain-free in the evening.
2. I took a cold shower in the evening.  I think a blast of cold exposure does something positive to the muscles.   Some athletes dip themselves in cold baths after extremely hard workouts to prevent DOMS; maybe my cold shower helped to nip it in the bud.  (Previously when I have had a case of DOMS, I found that although a cold shower temporarily helps, it does not eliminate DOMS; maybe the cold exposure is necessary before DOMS starts.)
3. I stretched before going to bed.  Maybe the stretching helped to nip it in the bud.  (I have previously found that stretching temporarily helps a DOMS case that is under way, but it does not eliminate DOMS.)

Twice a week fasting; my experience with carbs

For the last couple of weeks, I have been fasting twice a week whereas I used to fast just once a week.  So far, so good.  I wanted to see how I would feel fasting twice a week and to see if I would lose some more weight.  I have felt pretty good fasting; my weight was 156 pounds this morning which is about 4 pounds less than what I weighed at the end of August.

I noticed that I have had some big calorie days since starting to fast twice a week and that my total calories vary greatly from day to day.  I had 4800 calories on September 13 which was the day after a fasting day and a day in which my last meal was a carb-load meal; I started eating ice cream and I couldn’t stop, so I realized once again that once I start having sweet carbs, my craving for carbohydrates becomes uncontrollable.  I don’t mind eating a little ice cream, but I may avoid it completely because I have a history of eating lots of sweets once I have a few bites of sweets.

I like the fact that total calories vary significantly day by day.  The body learns to adapt to not having food and it learns to adapt to assimilate nutrients when it has food.  When I have lots of carbs (and calories) on the 2 days in which I have a carb-load meal, my thyroid has a chance to reset itself so that my metabolism doesn’t slow down and go into ”starvation mode”

Here’s a link to a “pdf” document from my FitDay program that shows my total calories for the last 2 weeks:  fitday-food-calories

My laughter experiment to reduce the need for sleep

Two week’s worth of results indicate that laughing right before going to bed reduces the need for sleep.  I last wrote about this on Sept. 4.

For the last 2 weeks, I have averaged 7 hours of sleep per night, sometimes sleeping less than 7 hours and sometimes a little more than 7 hours.  I think this is due to watching funny YouTube videos before going to bed which create a surge of growth hormone.  I often laugh out loud to funny scenes and bloopers; and I can feel how laughter leaves my body in a different state.  Watching a funny video seems easier (and more effective) than trying to recall funny scenes from memory, but I still occasionally recall funny scenes during the day.

Prior to starting my efforts to naturally release growth hormone, I used to sleep at least 8 hours per night.  Then during the 19 months of my growth hormone attempts, my need for sleep reduced a little but sometimes reverted to a need for 8 hours.  I am pleased with (seemingly) reducing my need for sleep to 7 hours per night; I hope it continues.

For your information, I do not use an alarm clock since I don’t have to be at work until 9 am.

Here are some links to YouTube videos which made me laugh:

Christmas Vacation – the squirrel scene.  3 min., 24 sec.

The Three Amigos – “look up here” scene. 1 min. 4 sec.

The Office  — office pranks with Jim vs. Dwight.  9 min 48 sec.

Some changes to the blog

Since my exercise program hasn’t changed in the last couple months (and I don’t expect it to change), I won’t be posting what exercises I am doing on a daily basis.  In the near future, I will post a page that will have a bunch of sample workouts.  I also expect to add some more info to the page on “Mark’s growth hormone plan” to explain why I have chosen to do the things I do.

Periodically I will give a status report on my progress.  And occasionally I will write other posts, but I expect my posting to be much less frequent.

Another short fast and a quick, makeshift workout

My last meal on Tuesday was lunch and I didn’t eat again until 9 am on Wednesday.  It was easy staying away from food while fasting including the birthday cake that I confronted at Delphine’s 103rd birthday party.  (Happy birthday, Delphine!)  I didn’t have any aches in my kidney during this fast, but I was awake for about an hour in the middle of the night again.  On Wednesday, I had a rather physically active day and I consumed about 3500 calories; I had 204 grams of carbs on Wednesday evening during one of my 2 carb-load meals per week.

On Wednesday morning, I went to work earlier than usual so I only had time to do this brief circuit twice:

1. explosive push ups switching hands from close together to far apart in midair
2. alternate leg drop/raise while laying on back and having legs at 90 degree angle from back

Then while driving to work, I did a bunch of exercises which surprisingly create a nice lactic acid burn:

1. squeezing a rubber ball
2. throwing punches while squeezing the rubber ball
3. squeezing the ball between my legs
4. pushing a knee upwards against resistance supplied by an arm
5. doing shoulder shrugs as fast as I can with no resistance
6. moving my shoulders forward and back as fast as I can
7. throwing elbows backwards
8. doing “karate chops” sideways
9. exercising my neck against the resistance provided by an arm

Sunday’s, Monday’s, and Tuesday’s exercise

On Sunday morning I did the following exercise circuit twice:

1. Shoulder shrugs with one shoulder at a time with 35 lb dumbbell
2. Overhead press ups one arm at a time with 35 lb dumbbell
3. Horizontal rows with 35 lb dumbbell
4. Wrist curls one arm at a time with 35 lb dumbell
5. Mountain climber
6. Pseudo-planche push ups (push ups with hands placed even with belly button)
7. 20 each 7-yard suicide backward run
8. 20 each 7-yard suicide sideway run
9. 20 each 7-yard suicide forward run

Sunday’s entire exercise session took 20 minutes.

On Monday morning, I did the following exercise circuit twice:

1. lunge jumps (jumping in air when coming up from lunge and switching legs in mid-air)
2. shadow boxing and karate kicks
3. side lunges
4. upper body rotational twists using interlocked hands for resistance

Monday’s entire exercise session took 13 minutes.

On Tuesday morning, I did the sprint 8 workout running which took 16 minutes.

Fri. exercise, a fast, and Sat. exercise

Friday exercise:  On Friday morning, I took 2 grams of glutamine about 30 minutes before doing the following exercise circuit twice:

1. one-arm push ups
2. hand clap push ups
3. plank
4. side plank
5. gymnast back arch
6. wrestler back arch

The entire session took 13 minutes.  Then I laid down briefly and did the hurdler’s stretch.

My fast:  I started a 22-hour fast at 1 pm on Friday.  This is the first time that I have done 2 fasts in the same week; I want to see how I feel having missed my evening meal on Tuesday and again on Friday.  I spent about an hour mowing a friend’s yard with a power walking mower and trimmed around a fence in the late afternoon on Friday.  When I got home, I did some tasks online and then researched some lists of “funniest movies” and then I laughed while watching some YouTube clips of “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and “Dumb and Dumber”.

For about an hour during the early evening hours of my fast, I noticed a minor ache in my left kidney area (which was probably due to the release of some toxins from body fat that my body can’t process very well).  I slept well, straight through the night and woke up refreshed with a little less than 7 hours sleep; remembering funny movie scenes and watching funny YouTube videos before going to bed seems to be why I am sleeping less so I will continue this nightly activity.

Saturday exercise: On Saturday morning while still fasting, I did the following exercise circuit twice:

1. 3 reps of “backwards crawl up a tree or wall” (start in push up position with feet against a tree, then walk your feet up the tree and walk your hands toward the tree until doing a handstand; then walk back down) (this exercise came from Johnny Grube of The Wildman Training Program)
2. chin ups (today when doing the “negative” I leaned my body to one side or the other to mainly use one arm in going down)
3. “close hands” push ups with elevated feet
4. bicycle abs (laying on back with hands behind head, alternately touch an elbow to opposite side knee)
5. “hands wide apart” push ups with elevated feet
6. neck exercises using hands to provide resistance

The entire exercise session took 18 minutes.  Then I enjoyed listening to music for 15 minutes while laying down; I suspect that more exercise-induced growth hormone is released when listening to music; I find listening to music in a relaxed frame of mind after exercise is very pleasant.

Before breaking my fast, I went for 70-minute, easy, aerobic bike ride that covered 11 miles.  I broke my fast at 11 am.

Another 5 funny movie scenes to release growth hormone

For the last 3 days I have been diligently recalling funny movie scenes in an attempt to determine what causes me to “require” 8 hours of sleep on some nights and what causes me to wake up refreshed after 7 hours of sleep on other nights.  I have been doing this “recall technique” since May, but recently I wasn’t doing it regularly until this week; it takes effort to recall funny scenes, but it is worth the effort; in order to make it a little bit easier I either keep recalling the same scene or I recall several scenes from the same movie.

This week, I have been recalling funny movie scenes while driving in my car and for awhile before going to bed.  I notice a lightening of mood and I almost laugh out loud at times.  And so far it seems like it could be responsible for allowing me to wake up refreshed after 7 hours of sleep.  It seems to have worked for the last 3 nights so I am going to continue this experiment.

I first wrote about laughter releasing growth hormone on May 26, 2008 and about 5 funny movie scenes on May 30, 2008.  Here are 5 more funny movie scenes:

1. A Fish Called Wanda.  John Cleese’s character can’t get Ken to say “Cathcart Towers Hotel”.  A 2.5-minute YouTube video of the scene.
2. Tropic Thunder.  Ben Stiller’s character wears a most unusual hat about half-way through the movie.
3. Tropic Thunder.  Tom Cruise’s character gives a tongue lashing to the guy who called from Ben Stiller’s cell phone. (And Tom’s dancing is hilarious.)
4. Tropic Thunder.  Jack Black’s character is willing to do anything to be untied from a tree.
5. Austin Powers.  Austin Powers and Mini Me in a scene where they supply a urine sample.  A 4-minute YouTube video of the scene.

If you have time, describe one of your favorite funny movie scenes in a comment.  And anyone else have any noticeable success with recalling funny movie scenes?

Thursday’s exercise:  On Thursday morning I warmed up by jogging for a few minutes and then did an 8-sprint workout by running 20-second sprints with rest intervals of 100 seconds.  The entire exercise session took 19 minutes.