Maple Syrup? The next superfood

Believe it or not maple syrup there has been a study done by the University of Rhode Island that shows that maple syrup has tons of great antioxidants.  54 to be exact.  These antioxidants help fight against cancer and diabetes.  This is interesting because this is twice the amount that was previously thought to be in maple syrup.    Maple syrup is now known to be nearly as beneficial as some foods such as berries, tea, flaxseed, and redwine.

So the next time you reach for some agave nectar or splenda to put on your pancakes, STOP.  Put on some good nutritious maple syrup to your pancakes.  Not only will they taste a whole lot better, but you will be helping your health as well.

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3 Ways to Bust Through Any Plateu

Many people come to me and ask me, "Mark!  I've been  working out for awhile, and I am just not seeing the gains that I used to when I first started lifting, how can I get those gains back?"  Well while you probably wont see those gains that you did because of the law of diminishing returns, which pretty much means our bodies can only handle so much.  You can only weigh so much, or you can only lose so much weight, their is a limit.  But, if you haven't reached your limit yet, there are some things that you can do.

1.  Change up your supplements/start taking supplements
While many people are taking supplements, they sometimes take the same thing for too long.  If you are still taking that same fat burner that you used 5 years ago or that same pre-workout, it may be time for a change.  Change to products with different active ingredients, and vary what you take.  Or if you don't take any supplements START!  They can really help you take your workouts to the next level.

2.  Change up your workout
There are so many people who do the same thing day in and day out.  They had the same workout split for years.  They would do the same exercise on the same days for so long.  This is not how you build muscle.  I personally never do the same workout twice in a row.  I haven't actually done the exact same workout in over a year.  It is important to vary your rep range and set range and exercises to continually keep the body guessing.

3.  Watch what you eat
Many people ask "Mark I just cant put on size"  or "I just can't lose the fat that I want".  While both these people spend all the time that they need in the gym they don't eat right.  If you are eating not enough/too much food no matter how much you workout, you will not gain size/lose weight.

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How to Really Lose Weight

Ok, there are so many diet crazes, weight watchers, atkins, the keto diet, south beach, and the list goes on and on.  However, I am willing to sum all of them up into one sentence

"Eat less; do more"

If you want to lose weight, all you have to do is eat at a calorie deficit.  What this means is you need to find out how many calories you normally use per day, which is about 

your body weight * 15 = Base Metabolic Rate (BMR)

*Note this number is higher if you are more active and lower if you are sedentary

  or your maintenance calories.  If you want to lose about a pound per week you would lower your calories about 600 below your BMR. Now if you want to eat more you can increase your BMR by doing more (running, swimming, etc.)  It does not matter what you eat when it comes to weight loss.  However, it is much easier to get fuller off of healthy foods like fruits and vegetables than it is candy bars.  But, it is possible to lose weight eating twinkies all day.  Although, you would have other health problems. If you want to find out more accurately how to calculate your BMR you can go here http://www.caloriesperhour.com/tutorial_BMR.php where they go in depth to calculate your calories.  That's it!  That is the secret to losing weight.

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Astral projection

Astral Projection is an out of body experience that occurs when you are asleep.  It is kind of like lucid dreaming which is controlling your actions and being aware of yourself when you are dreaming.  However, astral projection is taking lucid dreaming to the next level.  It is where you literally have an out of body experience.  You can literally see yourself coming out of your body, and you can do whatever you want.  You can fly to mars, be a pirate, mess with your friends.  It's like your dreaming, but it's more realistic.

People who have said to experience astral projection say it is different than anything they have ever experienced.  One person said that it was like she was having a war between her physical self and her spiritual self trying to escape.  While this may seem scary, actually it is a really good thing to do.  It helps you to be able to control how you relax.  There have also been claims of people in groups astral projecting together and going on glorious adventures.

Here are some tips to do astral projection if you so choose.

1. Relax.  Make your whole body still.  Don't move a muscle.  Don't even move your eyes.  You need to keep still until you feel shaking, or a warm tingling.
2. Release yourself. One you finally feel a warm tingling or a shaking, imagine that there is a rope over you and that you are pulling yourself out with a rope.  
3. Enjoy.  Once you have released yourself from your body, enjoy your out of body experience.

Tips

• Don't Freak out!  Whatever you do don't be scared.  If anything bad happens use your mind to will the bad away and only think good.
• Use music.  There is some music like  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgTWoe9KGg, which can aid in astral projection

Overall, this is a really good technique that you can use to relax, and it can be a fun technique to learn because you never know what kind of adventures you can go on.

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The Ketogenic Weight Loss Diet

With so many diets going around it is difficult to keep the facts straight.  The keto diet or ketogenic weight loss diet is a high fat low carb diet that is gaining a lot of popularity.  In this article I don't intend to go to in depth, but I will give you the general pro's and cons of such a diet.

In a nutshell the idea behind the keto diet is that if you eat mostly fat and little to no carbs, your body will use fat as its main source of energy instead of carbohydrates.  When this happens there is an excess amount of ketones in the blood, thus being called ketosis.

The pro's of keto

• Main source of energy comes from fat.  So the fat is easily lost
• It is safe.  It is even used to treat seizures in children
• It is filling.  As opposed to other calorie deficient diets that are low in fat, fatty foods are extremely filling
• It is muscle sparing

Sound's great right!  In the ketogenic weight loss diet your muscles are spared as long as you have adequate protein (about 1 gram for every pound of lean body mass).  Also eating the foods on keto (eggs, meat, cheese, etc. ) is extremely filling, and you have no problems losing weight.  However, there are some downsides to keto.

Cons

• Being tired.  Fat is a really bad way for the body to produce energy.  The result is feeling lethargic.
• Bad breath.  There is mainly only anecdotal evidence that it causes bad breath, but eating lots of meat and cheese can't be too great for the kisser.
• Not getting enough nutrients.  The sad fact that there just isn't as many micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) in meat and cheese as there is in vegetables and fruit, which are strictly banned.

So while the ketogenic weight loss diet definitely has its benefits, the decrease in energy really makes the diet not as fun as one would think.  It is really only fun the first couple of days when you get to eat ton's of fatty foods, but it quickly turns into a difficult diet.  But it is really up to you.  The fact is that this diet works.  You can work around the con's by taking vitamins, brushing your teeth, and taking caffeine or sleeping.  I would suggest that you try the ketogenic weight loss diet if you want to lose fat and preserve muscle.  If it fails you can always try another diet.  

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10 Things You Didn't Know About Your Brain

1.  The brain holds between 3-1,000 terabyte of information
This is pretty impressive seeing that a movie is only a couple of gigabytes, or that the National Archives of Britain with 900 years of history only has about 70 terabytes of information.
2.  The brain is 80% Water
The brain is soft and spongy, and water really helps it perform better.  So the next time you feel dehydrated drink some water, and you will help out your brain function.
3.  The brain itself can't feel pain
But don't worry if you hit your head, you will still pain.  Even though the brain can't feel pain, it is surrounded by bone and tissue that can feel pain.  So that's why you still get headaches.
4. The Higher your IQ the more you dream

Courtesy of Mateu from DeviantArt

While this is true, don't feel bad about not remembering your dreams.  The average dream only lasts about 2-3 seconds, which is barely fast enough to register.
5.  The brain generates as much energy as a 10 watt lightbulb
I don't think any computer has as much memory as the brain, but they all use a lot more energy than the 10 watt lightbulb.  We should study the brain and see how it utilizes power, and maybe we can build a computer closer to it.
6.  Your brain is more active when you sleep
While you would think that day to day life would be a lot more active for your brain, the opposite turns out to be true.  While scientists don't know the exact reason why your brain is more active, you can thank your active brain for tons of interesting dreams while you sleep.
7. The brain is always changing
One study found that learning to juggle changed the structure of the brain in just 7 days.  This goes to prove that the brain learns very quickly.
8. Information can be processed as fast as 268 mph
This explains why your reactions can be really fast.  For example pulling your hand away from a fire.  On the other hand, don't rely on your reactions too much because some information can be processed as slow as 0.5 m/s
9. People who eat lunch did better on IQ tests
Studies show that people who eat lunch score an average of 14 points higher on an IQ test.  So when you are given the option of skipping lunch, don't.  You will be eating to a healthier brain.
10.  The brain uses 20% of the oxygen from your body
While the brain only weighs 3 lbs, your brain takes up about 1/5 of your body's total oxygen.  That's a lot of air!

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The Truth About Sleep

I know, I know, you probably think this article is about how you should get 8 hours of sleep per night, and that if you don't you will be tired and lethargic throughout the day, and that sleep is super important.  Well while this may be true on an average day, I am here to tell you a little bit about how sleep actually works.

Sleep consists of 5 stages (theta waves, sleep spindles, delta waves, delta sleep, Rapid Eye Movement or (REM sleep))  lasting about 90 minutes.  If you wake up at the end of a cycle you will feel refreshed and energized and ready to tackle the day.  On the other hand if you are woken up in the middle of the cycle, due to outside factors (having to pee, alarm clock, someone waking you up, etc.) you will feel groggy and tired.

So here's the point.  If you wake up after just 1 sleep cycle, you should feel great!  But, even though you will feel great be wary because despite feeling good, you need some sleep to recover your body.  But, you might need less sleep than 8 hours.  Some people need only 4 or 5 sleep cycles.  So if you wake up after 4 cycles or 6 hours, you will feel brilliant.  There is nothing wrong with you, and you can enjoy your longer day!  But it is different for everyone.  Some people only need 5, 6, 7 hours or so. So find out for yourself how much sleep you really need you might be shocked.


Now there are some other shocking things about sleep.  In addition to not only needing 8 hours, it is possible to skip the 5 stages of sleep, and go straight to REM sleep.  It is actually possible to sleep for only 2 hours per day, and be fine.  This is called the Uberman sleeping schedule which consists of six twenty-minute naps every 4 hours.  While this would be nice, most of us who live in the real world, this is impractical.  People cant just sleep for 20 minutes every 4 hours with work, and other commitments.  But, there are lots of other different sleep cycles that you could choose from in the list below.

Name	Total sleeping time	Method
Monophasic	≈8.0 h	8 hours major sleep episode.
Biphasic	≈6.3 h	6 hours major sleep episode and one twenty-minute power nap.
Biphasic (90-minute nap)	6 h	4.5 hours major sleep episode and one ninety-minute nap.
Everyman (with 2 naps)	5.2 h	4.5 hours major sleep episode and two twenty-minute power naps.
Everyman (with 3 naps)	4 h	3 hours major sleep episode and three twenty-minute power naps.
Everyman (with 4 - 5 naps)	≈3 h	1.5 hours major sleep episode and four to five twenty-minute power naps.
Dymaxion	2 h	Four 30-minute naps (every 6 hours).
Uberman	2 h	Six twenty-minute naps (every 4 hours).

So, you might really not need as much sleep as you think.  I encourage everyone who reads this to look at this list, and try and figure out something that will fit with your day, and make you more productive.  Because we don't all need to get the typical 8 hours of sleep a night.  We really only need 2 hours of sleep per day to function.



sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/165/3892/513.short

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