Power Your Brain with Creatine Supplementation [Synchro Life Design #2]

Share this post TFUPM Posted February 24, 2013 in #dmt, #healthandfitness, #lifehack, #superfoods, #synchro, #transhumanism, #triathlon, #yoga


A Polarizing Subject

This latest in the series of Synchro Life Design practices is unquestionably the one that I have had the most conflict with over the years.  This practice is among the most powerful nutritional practices I know of (and one that I've used with great success for the better part of a decade) - yet, it is one that I've held close to the chest and been very careful about who I share it with to avoid getting into difficult opinion-fueled discussions and confusing people about what it is we're about at Synchro.  

The practice is strategic daily supplementation with creatine monohydrate.  Creatine is perhaps better known for its use by athletes trying to add muscle than by people using nutrient-dense superfoods in search of vibrant energy and optimal health.  Because of this association, creatine is greatly misunderstood as a supplement and tends to draw strong reactions from those who don't understand what it's actually doing in the body.  Most people think of it alongside questionable GNC-esque muscle-building supplements and its very hard to convince them that it may have a role to play for those looking to optimize health, energy and overall performance.  If you fall into this camp and you're ready to move on without getting to the meat of this article, stick with me one more sentence…

Creatine supplementation had been shown to increase IQ an average of 21 percent in controlled studies.

Still reading?  Yeah, I thought so. ;)  Let me first take a minute to explain what creatine monohydrate is and what its function is in the body.  Creatine is a naturally occurring amino acid that your body produces and is present in every cell in your body.  Creatine plays a critical role in the metabolism and you would be dead quickly without it.  

To explain the precise role creatine serves in the metabolism, you first need to understand the function of adenosine triphosphate (ATP).  If there is one compound that most directly can be equated with "energy" in the human body, it's unquestionably ATP.  It is the catalyst for thousands on thousands of metabolic process, giving enzymes the "power" they need to perform their function.  ATP does this by giving up a phosphate ion to the enzyme, upon which it is degraded into inactive adenosine diphosphate (ADP).  ADP is essentially useless until it is rephosphorylated, meaning it reacquires a phosphate enzyme and thus becomes ATP again.  The compound responsible for the rephosporylation of inactive ADP back into active ATP?  You guessed it, creatine.  Once in the body, creatine is converted into creatine phosphate.  Creatine phosphate is able to donate a phosphate ion to ADP, transforming it back into ATP.  So in summary, no creatine means no ATP which means enzymes (and life) crawls to a halt.   

Why Creatine Supplementation Is Essential For Optimal Health

Creatine is useful for athletes trying to build muscle simply because it gives their muscles more energy to use during a workout. Controlled studies consistently show that you can do more repetitions of a given exercise when supplementing with creatine than not. More repetitions means that you can push your body harder before fatigue and it will recover to be stronger as a result. This doesn't apply just to weight lifting, though.  Your running, cycling, swimming, dancing, etc, etc all stand to benefit if you have the extra "cell energy" to push yourself a bit further in your workout. 

But what about the IQ gains?  Like any other organ in your body, your brain needs quite a bit of ATP and creatine, especially in times of intense cognitive demand, focus or stress.  A 2006 study took two groups of vegetarians and vegans (who do not get the dietary creatine omnivores get form eating meat). One group was given low/moderate levels of creatine supplementation over a 6-week period, while the second group received placebos.  Both groups were given IQ tests at the beginning and completion of the 6-week study.  The group supplementing with creatine saw their IQ's go up an average of 20% over the 6-week period while the group receiving placebos saw no significant change. [1] 

While everyone will benefit from including creatine supplementation in their diet, it is particularly crucial for vegetarians and vegans in my opinion. Are you really willing to sacrifice 20% IQ (and athletic performance and overall health) because you choose not to eat meat? I certainly am not. There are a TON of good reasons to eat a plant-based diet.  My lifetime of research and experimentation continually returns me to the same conclusion: the performance potential for the human body is highest when eating a highly-supplemented, high-fat, high-protein plant-based diet.  With that said, it is hard to be a truly healthy vegan.  It is way easier to be adequately nourished and healthy while eating meat, as it contains most of the micro- and macronutrients the human metabolism needs to function. As vegans, we have to be far more mindful of what our body requires to function at a high level - and in my eyes, creatine is high on that list.

Possible Concerns?

For those of you who have concerns about potential adverse effects of adding creatine to your diet, its pretty simple but I'll spend a few sentences covering this none the less.  

Creatine monohydrate you buy for supplementation is synthesized in a commercial laboratory, but it is 100% identical to the naturally occurring compound your body produces naturally. Countless studies have been done and the consensus is that supplementation with creatine monohydrate is completely non-toxic and has no observable adverse effects, even when consumed at high doses (10 times higher than what I consume myself) and for long periods of time. [2] As with most things, people with kidney or liver disease should use caution, but for everyone else creatine is impressively risk-free.

Daily creatine supplementation is a practice I've had for almost 8 years now and I hope my enthusiasm for this practice has come across here.  Every system of your body - skeletal muscles, smooth muscles, nervous system, endocrine system, etc - they all require ATP and creatine to operate.  The effects of daily supplementation are undeniable.  You will feel stronger, sharper and more energized in times of intensity, whether physical or mental. Your rides and runs will feel better, you'll feel stronger in the gym, your yoga practice will feel stronger and more vibrant, you'll feel sharper in times of intense thinking or processing, etc, etc.  All of these things lead to you feeling more energized and more vibrant in every moment of your life. Seems like reason enough to at least try it for a month or so, no?

Synchro Life Design : Recommended Creatine Supplementation

Personally I mix creatine monohydrate powder into my Synchro Genesis (creatine is almost tasteless) such that I get about 2g of creatine in each of the 4-6 servings of Synchro Genesis I consume in a day.  This equates to 8-12g of creatine per day, which is on the upper end of what will be useful to someone who is not intensely training in some discipline several times a week.  For most people, I recommend starting with 1g creatine per 15kg of bodyweight per day.  (For someone weighing 130 pounds, this would be 4g per day, for someone at 180 pounds this would be about 6g per day).  If this is working for you, by all means increase the dose - as I said earlier, you can consume huge amounts without seeing any negative effects.

If you are an athlete, you can cycle up your creatine supplementation during times of intense training.  I will increase my daily consumption by about 50% by taking an extra dose before a workout.  I'll do this before every workout for 3 weeks before returning to normal levels for a 2 week period, then beginning another 3 week cycle.

Our favorite brand of creatine is called Creapure and is made in Germany  You can find it here.

Stay Synchro, 

     Graham Ryan

     


Sources

1. Rae C, Digney AL, McEwan SR, Bates TC (October 2003). "Oral creatine monohydrate supplementation improves brain performance: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial".Proceedings. Biological Sciences / the Royal Society 270 (1529): 2147–50.

2. Persky, A. M.; Rawson, E. S. (2007). "Safety of creatine supplementation". Sub-cellular biochemistry. Subcellular Biochemistry 46: 275–289. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-6486-9_14. ISBN 978-1-4020-6485-2. PMID 18652082

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Heal Your Adrenals With Himalayan Salt [Synchro Life Design #1]

Share this post TFUPM Posted January 09, 2013 in #dmt, #healthandfitness, #healthyrecipes, #lifehack, #recipes, #superfoods, #synchro, #transhumanism, #triathlon, #yoga, fitness, health, lifehack, nutrition, organics, superfoods, vegan

Heal Your Adrenals And Feel Awesome - A Technique Using Himalayan Salt

There is no single factor limiting the average person's energy level more than adrenal disfunction.  Environmental toxins, lack of dietary nutrients and stress all take a toll on our adrenal health and thus, the ability of our adrenals to produce critical, energy and metabolism supporting hormones such as adrenaline and aldosterone.  You just simply cannot feel vibrant and energized when those hormones are not present in proper levels.  The Synchro Diet and Synchro Lifestyle are deeply adrenal-supporting, but we don't know of any single thing that will improve adrenal health more rapidly and completely than this regimen we've put together with himilayan rock salt.

The function of the himalayan salt can be broken down into 3 primary modes.  First, the salt will detoxify several of the body's systems through daily salt flushes.  Second, salt supplementation will minimize adrenal usage and adrenal stress throughout your day. Finally, the Himalayan salt will over time, renourish and heal chronically under-nourished adrenal glands.

Himalayan Salt is a unique type of sea salt mined from ancient sea beds at a specific site in the Punjabi region of Pakistan.  It supplies a bunch of important trace minerals including the full spectrum of electrolytes required by the human body and, unlike other sea salts harvested from current oceans, it is completely free of toxins. 


The first part of the regimen is the morning salt flushes.  This is something I do literally the moment I get out of bed.  I do 2oz of Himalayan salt brine (see recipe below) in ~32oz of water and drink until I finish it.  I follow this with another 16-32 oz of water with about 1/2 the amount of salt by volume.  This may seem like a lot to do, especially first thing in the morning, but trust me - it is worth it and soon you won't be able to think of starting your morning without it.  

This morning salt flush does 2 really powerful things in the body.  First, it reduces demand on the adrenals first thing in the morning.  When we wake up in the morning our body naturally wants to raise our blood pressure. First - to supply adequate blood to our brain when we transition from laying down to standing (so we don't black out) and more generally start all of the body's systems that are relatively stagnant when we're sleeping.  To raise blood pressure, the brain calls on the adrenals to pump out adrenaline.  Drinking salt water first thing in the morning subverts this system by slightly raising your blood pressure for a short period of time. This minimizes adrenal usage first thing in the morning saves them for use in the rest of your day.  This technique produces some pretty amazing results - you will notice your energy levels staying higher throughout the rest of your day if you do this.

The second thing the salt flush does is provide your GI system with a powerful detox first thing in the morning.  Clearing out stagnant matter from your GI tract allows your digestive system to function more efficiently - absorbing more nutrition while requiring less of your body's energy resources. I'll say to be prepared, as this is definitely a cleanse of sorts and you will clear some material out, especially in the first week or so.  But in reality you'll feel so amazing doing this regimen, I don't think you'll really mind the cleanse.
In addition to these more immediate benefits, there is also a  more cumulative effect of using Himalayan salt.  A healthy adrenal system requires proper dietary levels of several minerals, the most significant being sodium.  A lot of people, especially health-conscious people are actually chronically deficient in sodium and these other critical trace minerals.  As such, almost everyone has adrenals operating well below full potential capacity.  Himilayan salt is an almost perfect way to replenish your body's levels of these minerals and begin to allow the adrenals to heal themselves and ramp up their potential output of several critically important hormones.  

So in addition to the salt flush i do first thing every morning, I also drink lightly salted water several times throughout the day, especially mid-day when energy levels can tend to drop as well as before and after any time I will be sweating and thus needing to replace sodium.


A Himalayan Salt Mine

Brine Recipe 
1-2 med-large rocks of Himalayan Salt (find it at most any grocery, or here)
~16oz distilled or filtered water

Directions:  Place salt rocks and water in a jar and let sit overnight.  By morning, the water in the jar will have reached maximum salinity and voila! - you have brine.

Morning Salt Flush Recipe
2oz Himalayan Salt Brine
~30 oz distilled or filtered water

Directions: Pour the brine into a large container and pour distilled water into it to ensure it mixes evenly.  Drink until finished.  Follow with another 16-32oz of water with about 1/2 the concentration of salt. For maximum benefit, make sure this is the absolute first thing you do when you get out of bed in the morning!


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The (famous) Synchro Salad Recipe

Share this post TFUPM Posted October 25, 2012 in #healthandfitness, #healthyrecipes, #lifehack, #recipes, #superfoods, #synchro, #transhumanism, #triathlon, #yoga




Although perhaps unconventional for a recipe blog post - I'm going to attempt to begin this article with a tone and gravity that matches the reverence we hold for this kernel of culinary brilliance I'm about to transmit here.  ("...you are talking about a salad recipe, right?" um, yes...)  

If you've made your way deep enough into the Synchro universe to find this blog, you're likely at least aware of the idea that, far more than a product, Synchro is a lifestyle design system.  A system guided by intelligence, elegance and efficiency above all else - intended to optimize your body/mind system such that you are progressively embodying more and more vibrance, energy, clarity and capacity to do awesome shit in the world.  One thing we've observed over the past few years is that for certain components of the system, intelligence, elegance and efficiency are expressed so brilliantly that the resulting component seems like a hack of sorts.  This component produces results far beyond what one would expect from at the work required and the elements that comprise it.  The sum is greater than the parts, so-to-speak, and by a margin that is shocking.  Synchro Genesis is certainly an example of this.  

The Synchro Salad is another.  

     So why is a salad recipe a hack?  Well, to start, let me say why it is so awesome.  To start, it's f'ing scrape-the-bowl-clean delicious.  I'll return to this in a moment.  Secondly, if it is not the most nutrient-dense bowl of food you could ever hope to compile, it is pretty close.    Kale, sprouted lentils, and quinoa come together to make a base that delivers a ridiculous level of nutrients.  It's exceptionally high in antioxidants, powerfully anti-inflammatory, rich in high-quality dietary fiber and because the kale and lentils are so alive, its also rich in enzymes that radically increases the absorption of the nutrition.  The dressing is creamy and flavorful and adds high-quality oils to the salad, also crucial for absorption of the nutrients.  Roasted beets and sweet potatoes take the color, flavor and nutrition of the salad over the top.  The ingredients come together in synergy such that there is an emergent produced when the recipe is completed, both the taste and the power and functionality are far greater than the sum of the ingredients alone.

    The experience of eating a Synchro Salad is a unique one.  It is so delicious to your mouth that you sometimes forget to breathe in between bites.  But unlike other foods that could also fit this description, with Synchro Salad it is as if your whole body is in agreement about this.  You are nourishing your body so deeply and completely there is a energized high, of sorts, that comes as part of the eating process.  Your body does not forget this either.  Some strange positive feedback cycle is created such that it is a qualitatively different type of eating pleasure you get from eating Synchro.  

This is what makes Synchro Salad a hack.

The enjoyment that comes from eating this salad is such that, once initiated, you crave this salad.  One of the healthiest things you could put in your body becomes exactly the thing you want to eat.  Most extremely healthy eaters will confirm that after a while, the things you crave are the things that make you feel the best rather than the things that simply taste the best.  What is remarkable about Synchro Salad is just how quickly it enables this shift to happen for people.

For us, Synchro Salad is an almost-every-night ritual.  We make it and through some psychic mechanism, as soon as the salad is completed, anyone in the house is suddenly present, fork-in-hand. ready to join in the salad.  I've begun to account for what we call "mooch factor", because it is almost a certainty if there is anyone in the house with you, you are not finishing the salad alone.

A final note, then the recipe.  Eating the salad as a night time ritual is strategic, in a sense.  I mentioned that the salad (kale specifically), is powerfully anti-inflammatory.  Eating the salad at the end of the day when inflammation tends to be greatest is therapeutic.  It relieves a lot of the stress of the day such that the quality of my sleep is noticeably better on nights when I eat the salad.  Getting a huge serving of high-quality dietary fiber at the end of a day does wonders for the digestive system.  Especially when your body becomes tuned to getting this big serving of fiber on a daily basis, the improvement is digestive quality and regularity is amazing.

The Synchro Salad Recipe

Dressing

3 Tbsp Veganaise (we like Grapeseed for the high-quality oils)

3 Tbsp of Tamari (or 2tbsp Bragg's Liquid Aminos)

1 Tbsp Shredded Ginger

1 Tbsp Water

Directions:  Add ingredients to jar and shake until completely mixed.

Salad
4-5 Big leaves of green kale, shredded

1 cup sprouted lentils (directions here)

1 cup cooked quinoa

(optional)
1 cup roasted sweet potatoes and beets (cut into chunks and toss in a pan with melted coconut oil.  bake in oven at 425 for ~40min or until soft and the sweet potatoes just begin to brown)

Directions: Add ingredients to a large bowl.  Pour dressing over the top and toss for ~2 min until the salad is completely mixed and the kale begins to soften a bit.  Sprinkle 2-3 Tbsp of nutritional yeast  over the top and toss again lightly.  Prepare yourself for a radically new kind of salad...

...and enjoy!

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Taking Your Health and Performance To The Next Level: A Talk With Amber Zuckswert of EpicSelf.com

Share this post TFUPM Posted May 16, 2012 in #dmt, #healthandfitness, #lifehack, #superfoods, #synchro, #transhumanism, #triathlon, #yoga

A wide-ranging talk on using nutrition to push performance in multiple areas of your life.  Amber is doing a giveaway for Synchro Genesis this week, check out her site for more details:

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Beauty and Personal Development in Professional Cycling

Share this post TFUPM Posted April 24, 2012 in #cycling, #dmt, #healthandfitness, #lifehack, #procycling, #superfoods, #synchro, #transhumanism, #triathlon


It is no secret that we are huge fans of professional cycling. The layers upon layer of beauty in this timeless sport have been the subject of many a website, book, magazine, and movie, and will continue to be for a long time. There is no more beautiful example of man's attempt willingness to inflict mind blowing levels of pain and suffering on their physical body in pursuit of the all-consuming seduction of glory and greatness. And of course, this is all set against the immeasurably beautiful backdrops of both the landscapes where these battles occur and the history of the sport. There are countless instructive metaphors to be drawn here. 

But, there is a more immediate and relevant point to be made about endurance sports in general. More than any other category of sport, endurance sports demand the exploration of the limits of the human body and psyche. An endurance athlete striving to perform at the highest level is constantly having his/her ideas about the limitations of the human body/mind redefined. In this process there is a powerful transformative practice to be embraced and a metaphor to extract and apply to other areas of one's life: the exploration of one's own limitations allows one to realize a higher percentage of those limitations. We will never fully realize our own capacities as human beings - it is a fundamental reality of the human experience - we can only ever realize a percentage of our capacities that we are aware of, and the capacities/potential of a human being is being constantly redefined by the innovators and explorers of the world, moment-by-moment. But inherent in the exploration of our perceived limitations is our movement closer to realizing these capacities. The awareness of them transforms them from barriers to anchors in our lives, pulling us towards them. Do this self-examination on a regular basis and see yourself become a higher expression of your potential as a human being. 

#synchro #transhumanism #lifehack #healthandfitness #cycling  #triathlon #superfoods #dmt 

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