Life Equals Risk

Life equals risk.

September was certainly the month of risk for my friends and me. I’ve always been a firm believer in getting out of our comfort zones to move forward in life. People thought I was crazy to leave a steady personal training career to pursue my Internet dreams.

Now, I’ve got the coolest job ever!

Last week, I stepped out of my zone again and endorsed my first supplement on Underground Wellness Radio. Even my closest friends thought it was a bad idea.

The response was more positive than I ever imagined.

Posted by UW Sean in wellness

Anti-Aging: I Will NOT Starve Myself!

This is Part 3 of my series on aging and oxidative stress. If you missed Part 1 and Part 2, please check them out.

I’ve never been a fan of calorie restriction. Just the thought of it makes me ravenous and irritable. I like to eat! However according to science, my exuberance for forage comes with a hefty price.

Food is my best friend. Aging is my worst enemy. Research shows that we can’t have one without the other. Studies on various animals and fungi have consistently demonstrated the benefits of caloric restriction on the aging process. Thus the conundrum:

Feed my belly and shorten my life? Or live longer and just learn to deal with the hunger pangs? Hmm…

All food must be metabolized. It is the process of metabolism (the conversion of food to energy) that produces pro-aging molecules called free radicals. More food. More metabolism. More free radicals. More aging. Ugh!

As much as I’d like to meet my great-grandchildren, a 1200-calorie diet doesn’t sound so appealing. Sorry, kids.

In fact, I have the double whammy, a love for eating and intense exercise. Yes, exercise is good for us. However it also increases the metabolism, which generates more free radicals! It’s not fair.

Posted by UW Sean in wellness

Weird Science: GMO Salmon Coming to a Plate Near You

When I was just a little guy, one of my favorite movies was Weird Science. I wanted to be just like Gary and Wyatt, taking magazine clippings of their ideal female features, hooking them up to electrodes, and creating Lisa, the perfect woman.

Fast forward 20 years and reality is swiftly becoming weirder than fiction. No, the perfect woman has yet to be developed. Well, unless you’re my amazing girlfriend, of course. But if the fossil record is correct and fish were truly the first to evolve into land dwellers, we may be well on our way.

It all began with fish.

Yet again, history is on the precipice of repeating itself. Pandora’s Box is on the verge of losing its lid. The fish is back at it. This time it’s genetically modified and it’s ready for your plate.

The FDA never ceases to amaze me. Just when I thought I had seen and heard it all, the Big Brother of Food Policy has announced that a genetically modified line of Atlantic salmon pending approval poses no harm to humans. When you cut through the doublespeak, this means:

“Pretty soon we will be approving GMO salmon and will require zero labeling for it, so you will have no idea if the salmon on your plate is a Frankenfish or not. Unfortunately, we have no long-term research on this new fish that has never been consumed by human beings in the history of the world, but you’ll be okay. We promise! Actually, even though we’re the federal food police, we did absolutely no research of our own on this fish. We left it up to the company who invented it and also stands to profit from it. Anyway, you’ve been unknowingly eating GMO corn and soy by the boatload for years. You’ll be just fine!”

Boy, do I feel safe.

Posted by UW Sean in wellness

Book Review: Fat is Not Your Fault

Mathematics was never my favorite subject, especially when calculators were not permitted during tests. I dreaded the phrase “solve the following problems long-hand”. Ugh!

Math is an all-or-none discipline. The answer is either right or wrong. There is no gray area. No in-between. A single misstep can undermine the entire outcome. I think we can all relate to spending an hour on a problem, only to later learn that we miffed on the second step. As above, so below.

Such is the case with fat loss. While diet and exercise are so loudly espoused as the sole elements of the fat loss equation, they rarely solve the problem.

Posted by UW Sean in wellness

I Don’t Wanna Get Old!

This is Part 2 of my series on aging and oxidative stress. Please read my previous post, Oxygen is Killing Us.

I don’t want to get old. Really, I’m just not interested.

Yeah, you can lecture me on the wisdom we acquire as we age. I couldn’t agree more. I’m totally down with that. But that’s not what I’m talking about. The aging I’m referring to is the kind that shuffles down the street, drives 50 mph in the fast lane, and knows when a storm is coming by how his joints feel. Nope. You can count me out of that one.