RECCE ROOM

From a reader:  "I saw a video recently from a training company that likes RATS tourniquets. At your classes, the medical instructor recommends the CAT tourniquet or the SAM-XT. How do you come to that conclusion? Or do you disagree with your medical instructor?" The Patriot Training head medical instructor works for one of the largest EMS departments in the southeast. As of this writing, he used just shy of 10 tourniquets just last week to save lives. He has taught Stop the Bleed on many occasions, and several of those students have gone on to save lives with those skills. He has been in EMS for a decade. Even if I disagreed with him (and I don't), I would not have a leg to stand on.  Understand first that there are no solutions in life - only trade offs.  Patriot Training only recommends CoTCCC recommended  tourniquets. The RATS tourniquet is not CoTCCC recommended.  In practice, self-aid with a RATS TQ is nigh impossible for many women, most children, ...

Do you keep seeing and hearing people complaining about being sore? I do. I rarely get sore these days, and when I do, it's over in a matter of hours... maybe a day. It is my firm belief that doing only two things will drastically decrease your soreness: 1. ELIMINATE grains from your diet & eat more meat. 2. Supplement with Vitamin D. (I take 25,000 units per day)

This past weekend, at dinner with several other martial artists from the seminar, I observed two separate, but equally sad statements. Statement 1 This statement, made by a woman who stood 5'3" and weighed north of 250 pounds. When asked what she wanted to eat for dinner by the server, she placed her order. The server was made aware of multiple allergies experienced by my fellow martial artist. The list was... impressive. What she wound up eating was mostly grain-based. There were a few vegetables and a tad of meat. It is my opinion, as well as the opinion of many in the medical field with credentials to back it up, that if she went grain-free, her allergies might well reduce or subside completely. Statement 2 This statement was made by a gentleman who, though a towering 6'4", also claimed to weigh 340 pounds. He said he didn't worry about diabetes, because he was so active that he would burn up the sugar. This right after he said he was "only" 270...

By all accounts, this article is written by a regular guy. However, had it been written five years ago, it would have been written by "the fat guy." The fingers writing it are the same (mostly). The brain is the same. The drivers license and handgun carry permit are the same. But to look at the two guys side by side would be a different story. We used to all have "that guy" in our groups. You know, the guy who outweighs everybody else there. The guy you want on your football team, or on your side of a game of tug-of-war. I was that guy. At high school graduation, I was 265. At college graduation, it was 285. Most of my adult life it was 280 - 300. At my peak, it was over 320. I wore XXL shirts and 44" pants. A client and I were discussing proper diet last week. She said: "but you can eat whatever you want... You're skinny!" I am not "skinny," but I sure as hell am not fat, either. Today, I weigh 210. I wear L shirts and 36" pant...

My church, Global Vision, hosted a weight loss challenge. At the time of this writing,  I do not know where I placed, but I do know how I did. We weighed in on Sunday, January 4 to start, then again today to wrap up. My results: 225 down to 212. 13 pounds in 13 weeks. How? Simple - I ate on average 4000 calories per day. High fat, low carb. There was some intermittent fasting - maybe 4 days total. I walked or ran about 10 miles and lifted weights 4 or 5 times. In other words, I intentionally decreased my daily exercise and increased my calorie intake. And still lost an average of a pound a week. Now I'll be on to some powerlifting, and will likely continue to put on some muscle mass. But, for those who wonder how I did it: Typical breakfast: Coffee with (at least) 4 tbsp of heavy whipping cream. If I ate, it was bacon & eggs or sausage & eggs. Typical lunch: If i ate it was: Meat. Salad. Typical supper: Meat. More meat. Green - leafy veggies. In other words: ...

Recently I was asked this question: "You did paleo and lost a lot of weight, right? Would you care to share your meal plan with me and how you did it while traveling?" Excellent question on several levels! 1. Yes, if you want to lose weight in a healthy manner geared for the long term, paleo is the only way to do it. Calorie restriction is not healthy and is not a long-term solution. 2. Yes! You can lose weight and eat paleo even while traveling. Restaurants actually make it "easy" if you know what you are shopping for! 3. Meal plan is easy: MEAT! Here is a picture guide to tell you what is paleo and what is not: Caveats: Grey area food - dairy:  no milk; but heavy (whipping) cream, certain cheeses, and butter are OK in moderation if you can tolerate them. Grey area food - fruit: if I am trying to lose weight, I would not eat anything sugary. Fruit would be out, with the exception of an occasional cheat day (less than two or three servings per month...

I mentioned earlier this week that several years back, I was much heavier (over 100 pounds heavier), and diabetic. Three years ago, I was almost 40 pounds heavier than I am today, and was on diabetic medication- 5 mg of glyburide and 2000 mg of metformin per day. Usually, about three to four hours after taking the glyburide, my BG levels would crash into the 60's. It was an unpleasant feeling to say the least. The metformin caused "intestinal distress" (read: extreme daily diarrhea). Note: Now that my fasting BG readings regularly hit the 60's without medications, it feels totally different! Today, it has been almost a year since my last metformin pill. Almost two since my last regular dose of glyburide. My BG levels are lower than they ever were when I was medicated. A paleo approach has done the trick again. Note: Funny... you NEVER hear about diet & exercise working when the diet includes grains - "healthy whole grains" or otherwise!  How to...

In 2009 (when I started this blog), I was not in as good of health as I am today. Currently, I am over 100 pounds lighter, and far stronger than I was then. Here is a comparison: Dec. 2009 Dec. 2014 Height 6'2" (188 cm) unchanged* Weight 323 lbs (146.5 kg) 212 lbs (96 kg) Chest 52" 46" Waist 45" 36" Bicep 11" 15" Quad 33" 27" Max run: 300 yards 6 miles Push ups 21 100 Pull ups 0 20 Cholesterol: 205 123 Fasting BG**: 240 69 HbA1C 11.6 4.6 Paleo diet works. It works well. It lets you lose enough weight so that you can exercise and truly get yourself in shape.  Lose weight at the table.  Get fit at the gym (or outdoors). * - Did you really expect my height to change? ** - BG = Blood-Glucose level. Also known as "Blood-Sugar....

From time to time, I'll see diabetics on Facebook pages, blog comments, twitter, etc. refer to their blood - sugar numbers as "bs." This is a pet peeve of mine, albeit small. The correct abbreviation is "BG" - for blood-glucose. "BS" is an abbreviation for bull$h!t ... also known as "bovine-scatology." So, for clarity: BG indicates your blood-glucose or blood sugar numbers. BS indicates when your diabetic doctor or DIEtician says "healthy whole grains" are a necessary part of your diet and that they don't raise BG numbers. .

In the spirit of Paleo eating, there is a lot of debate on the merits of a high-fat diet with regards to blood cholesterol and body fat. Most of the arguments against Paleo point to the "medical science" reports of high-fat diets leading to obesity and high cholesterol levels. However, no one can point to a study that concludes that a high fat diet lead the person to being obese or having high cholesterol levels. Show me a study where you have control groups. Show me a study where one group of participants ate a high-fat diet and no grains. Show me a study where one group of participants ate a high grain diet and no fats. Keep the protein levels virtually the same, for the sake of science. Folks, this is the scientific method. It is not too hard. Show me a study that has done this that concludes that a high fat diet is bad, and I will rethink my whole position. Until then all you have is anecdotes, based on faux science. "Science" where no studies were ...

People are starting to eat better, and this report demonstrates that. How long until grains start declining in popularity? .

If you are a vegetarian, you are trying to live contrary to nature. Humans evolved to eat meat . this was God's plan all along. If you try to "buck the system" by going against Divine design and 2 million years of evolution, then you are sure to suffer in life. Indeed, the suffering will likely take many forms: Vegetarians suffer more often from mental health issues.  I'm not alone in this. Though some suggest that the cause-effect relationship may be difficult to prove, nobody denies the fact that there is a direct correlation between vegetarianism and mental health issues. Vegetarians are typically in poorer health than their carnivorous counterparts. There's plenty of science to back this one up. There are many ways to defeat the results of a grain-based (vegetarian) diet: Atkins, Paleo, Primal, HFLC, etc. All these diet plans see fantastic success. Vegetarians are typically liberal. Conservatives and Libertarians are typically not as likely to self-...

Finally, the news is becoming mainstream. Time magazine has an article on " Fat is Good For You ." .

From a reader: You have said on your blog that you are Type 2 Diabetic. You’ve also stated that you have it under control with diet & exercise. If you were newly diagnosed today, what changes would you make and when? Fantastic Question! Genetics My mother died due to complications from diabetes (although she died after I found out I was diabetic). My father lives with diabetes every day. His father died due to complications from diabetes. So you could say I was * predestined * to fight this battle. Motivation My dad goes to dialysis three times per week, and I text with him every morning he goes, to give him something to do during the boring three hours he has to stay at the clinic. It breaks my heart to see the things he has fought through: amputation, loss of eyesight in one of his eyes, hospitalization, dialysis. To say I'd like to avoid these things is an understatement. Knowledge I did a lot of self-experimenting to find out what worked...

Boneheaded advice of the day comes from the "American Diabetes Association." Understand, their "goal" (to the extent that they have one) is to manage diabetes, not fix it. This means they want to keep you in a diabetic state so that you keep purchasing government-subsidized birdseed instead of food, and, therefore, keeping you dependent upon pharmaceuticals. Here is the bonehead advice, from this website : (under the heading of "What is a Healthy Diet?") "Healthy eating includes eating a wide variety of foods including: vegetables whole grains fruits non-fat dairy products beans lean meats poultry fish" Let's analyze, in light of an ancestral diet (you know - before diabetes was a problem): Vegetables - YES! Whole Grains - NO! Fruits - Yes (in limited quantity) Non-fat dairy - NO! (Go full-fat!) Beans - Maybe (if you eat beans, do so in limited quantity) Lean meats. Yes. (but you need real meat with real fat in mu...

From a reader: So sum it up, keep it short. What do you suggest for healthy living? Good question. Diet 1. Paleo / Primal : no grains or starchy vegetables - plenty of meat and vegetables . 1. Warrior Diet (plan) - also known as Intermittent fasting - eat a large meal each evening. 1. Resistant Starch . Exercise Walk (or jog) every day. Lift something heavy at least once per week. Run, jump, and play. Sprint now and again. Get really used to moving your own body (push ups, sit ups, pull ups, dips, etc.). .

This week, we are going to look at the most common things doctors do to line their wallets and "avoid unnecessary liability risks in diagnosis and prescription of medications." Naturally, these missed diagnoses and faulty advice result in unnecessary prescriptions for people or faulty courses of "corrective action." In other words, what the doctor says is not always accurate.  There are two possible reasons the doctors are so inaccurate: either they are voluntarily being insidious for their own gain, or they simply do not know any better. By the way, inaccuracies also come from the nursing community: Registered Nurses and Nurse-Practitioners, as well as Physicians' Assistants will all spout the same B ovine S catology . But why? Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. - Hanlon's razor Or... in this case... faulty training. The paradox of why so many medical professionals stick to false knowledge is not ea...

This week, we are going to look at the most common things doctors do to line their wallets and "avoid unnecessary liability risks in diagnosis and prescription of medications." Naturally, these missed diagnoses and faulty advice result in unnecessary prescriptions for people or faulty courses of "corrective action." In other words, what the doctor says is not always accurate.  There are two possible reasons the doctors are so inaccurate: either they are voluntarily being insidious for their own gain, or they simply do not know any better. By the way, inaccuracies also come from the nursing community: Registered Nurses and Nurse-Practitioners, as well as Physicians' Assistants will all spout the same B ovine S catology . But why? Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. - Hanlon's razor Or... in this case... faulty training. The paradox of why so many medical professionals stick to false knowledge is not ea...

This week, we are going to look at the most common things doctors do to line their wallets and "avoid unnecessary liability risks in diagnosis and prescription of medications." Naturally, these missed diagnoses and faulty advice result in unnecessary prescriptions for people or faulty courses of "corrective action." In other words, what the doctor says is not always accurate.  There are two possible reasons the doctors are so inaccurate: either they are voluntarily being insidious for their own gain, or they simply do not know any better. By the way, inaccuracies also come from the nursing community: Registered Nurses and Nurse-Practitioners, as well as Physicians' Assistants will all spout the same B ovine S catology . But why? Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. - Hanlon's razor Or... in this case... faulty training. The paradox of why so many medical professionals stick to false knowledge is not ea...

This week, we are going to look at the most common things doctors do to line their wallets and "avoid unnecessary liability risks in diagnosis and prescription of medications." Naturally, these missed diagnoses and faulty advice result in unnecessary prescriptions for people or faulty courses of "corrective action." In other words, what the doctor says is not always accurate.  There are two possible reasons the doctors are so inaccurate: either they are voluntarily being insidious for their own gain, or they simply do not know any better. By the way, inaccuracies also come from the nursing community: Registered Nurses and Nurse-Practitioners, as well as Physicians' Assistants will all spout the same B ovine S catology . But why? Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. - Hanlon's razor Or... in this case... faulty training. The paradox of why so many medical professionals stick to false knowledge is not ea...