My Current Lifestyle: Vegetarian, Vegan, Omnivore, Paleolithic, What Is It?

After speaking with a couple peeps recently they noticed that I have changed my eating over the past few months and asked that I briefly paint a picture for your regarding my lifestyle. Oh and the pic to your left is the exact conversation we had. I'm glad someone captured it on film.

So between the spit in the eyes and deafening volume I was able to get a couple words out edge wise. Here's what I said: I advocate wholeheartedly the elimination of any and all grains from one's diet and replace that with an eating lifestyle that is high in healthy fats. Healthy fats will never directly make you fat. That is misleading propaganda from the food industry to sell more grains. Think about this logically for a moment: If eating low fat, and thus replacing the fat with their great marketing campaign to sell "whole grains", actually makes people healthy then why are there more overweight/obese people than ever as well as more cases of diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure and cholesterol, etc.? I think there needs to be a paradigm shift in our nutrition. Eat low to no grains and have at least 50%, if not more, of your food be from healthy fats. Watch your body fat drop so fast. Ok so yes my rant here was for a purpose. Isn't it always? Ha!

So here's a little run down on what my eating lifestyle has evolved to: I do not eat any animal source of food except wild caught fish, organic whole eggs, and cook only with Virgin (unrefined) Coconut Oil, which is a medium chain fatty acid. From time to time I may have a little bit of raw dairy, but that's not very often. Raw (unpasteurized) dairy is the only dairy I will ever consume since it is still alive and filled with nutrients and enzymes.

I used to eat A LOT of animal fats. I would go through a pint of organic Greek full-fat yogurt daily as well as bricks and bricks of raw cheese and gallons of raw full-fat organic milk from grass-fed cows on a weekly basis. I cut them all out months ago when I decided to try a much more vegetarian and on most days actually a vegan based diet.

I also intermediate fast 18-20 hours every day, have for years, eating only one meal that's staggered in the evening that starts and ends with "colors" (vegetables and fruits). My brief thoughts on meal timing is this: what would primal people do? They wouldn't have gum to chew, or graze on foods during the day. They had to hunt & gather their daily meal. There wasn't a refrigerator for shelf life storage. They didn't eat until they retrieved it all & then prepared it. That was in the evening. That's why I eat the way I eat and when I eat.

I also exercise 5-6 days (kettlebell & bodyweight GPP training personally and within my Kettlebell Boot Camp) a week during my fast in order to maximize the glucagon fat burning experience alongside the estrogen & insulin suppression and testosterone & GH increase.

My fat sources mainly come from unrefined virgin coconut oil, avocados, nuts and seeds; however I will be eliminating the seeds for a while since their fat is primarily omega-6 which causes a pro-inflammatory response in the body. I need to get my inflammation rebalanced from a few lingering injuries. I do not have celiac disease, but do have an intolerance to gluten that took me 18 years to finally realize. I'm glad I did cause I have never felt better. I have recently cut out all grains from my diet whatsoever.

After much thought and ongoing research I am not convinced to restrict my eating to that of vegan, but moreover create a balanced Paleo lifestyle that provides its benefits married to that of vegetarian as much as possible. Sounds goofy I know, but I will make it happen. I'm a freak like that.

Here's a quick cooking video I did with my lovely wife Lisa and "Julia Childs" giving you a great vegetarian meal that's so easy, inexpensive, and quick to prepare. Enjoy!

Synergy Kettlebell Boot Camp Quick Highlight Workout: Rain or Shine

We always find ways to get an awesome workout at Synergy Kettlebell Boot Camp. Come rain, shine, sleet, dust storm monsoons, you name it and we train in it. The body doesn't know the difference and sure enough we gain more courage while losing lots of fat. That's what refines a true Fitness Warrior and Warrior Goddess.

All my Campers are amazing people experiences awesome fat loss results every single day and I love being around every one of them. Thanks guys & gals for the opportunity to be your coach and see all your body and life changing goals actually happen. You all are ROCKSTARS!!!

"Fat Blasting" is our theme and kettlebells is how we have our fun! Synergy Kettlebell Boot Camp doesn't really have any mystical powers that melt fat and sculpt bodies even though it might seem like it does and I'd really like to think it does. Here's a cool vid I put together from one of our really cool workouts last week during the start of a monsoon. It clearly showcases how tough these peeps are.

Inexpensively Make Your Own Fat Bat Indian Clubs and Train At Home

A few weeks ago I homemade my own Indian Clubs and over the past couple weeks have been testing them out in my workouts both at home and at Discovery Park where I hold my Synergy Kettlebell Boot Camp. Let me tell you that they definitely bring a different element to training, one that will never replace my kettlebells, but for a change up and some variety fun they are certainly good to have around. For an overall great conditioning and fitness experience you should always change up your program with new movements and progressions to those movements. Unless you are specifically training for an event or competition the varying workouts are what will keep your body challenged and changing. They'll also keep you from getting bored with what you're doing.

Ok so back on topic. The Indian Clubs are so easy to make and they're pretty inexpensive too. Commercial versions are probably easily 10-20 times the cost. I spent about $10 on each of the ones I made. Personally I don't need anything fancy or pretty when I workout. I just need it to work and function how I need it to. In comes my Fat Bat Indian Clubs (pictured below).

Finished Products

Ok so, how did I make my Fat Bats into really cool looking and workable Indian Clubs? Good question and I'm gonna tell you.

Step One

Yeah so you noticed that one bat is yellow and in the first finished Indian Club picture above there's a blue one. Why is that? Well I accidentally made both the yellow and black Fat Bat Indian Clubs a bit too heavy for me at this time. I then had to go back to Wal-Mart (yup that's my source... shhhh... don't tell anybody) and get the blue one to make it a bit more manageable so I can grow into the black and yellow ones.

Ok so the ingredients are as follows:

1. Fat Bats purchased from Wal-Mart for $4 each.
2. 1 can of Great Stuff from Wal-Mart for $3.

3. 1 bag of play sand from Home Depot for about $2.

4. 1 25lb. bag of shot purchased from Sportsman's Warehouse. I absolutely love this place.

5. 1 blue funnel, but I'm sure any color funnel will do.

6. 1 white sand scooper.

7. 1 hammer

8. 1 needle nose pliers

9. 1 screwdriver
10. 1 razor blade
11. 1 roll of duct tape

Note: I used the hammer, pliers, and screwdriver only because I don't own a drill and if you do I would recommend using it to bore the hole in the top of the bad instead of my method, but either way works.

Step Two

I grabbed the bats and burrowed a hole in the top so I can pour in the sand. Since I didn't have a drill to make things easier I got a little workout hammering and pinching the top open with the screwdriver and pliers. I used the screwdriver and hit it into the Fat Bat with the hammer. As soon as I had a few holes in the top I grabbed my pliers and peeled back the top so I had just enough room to fit the funnel spout into. Then I put a couple holes right next to the hole for air to escape when I poured in the sand and shot.

Step Three

Ok so now that you have the hole in the top here comes the easy part. Put the funnel in the top and use the white pour cup and put in the sand to a height of your choice. If you filled the entire Fat Bat with sand the weight would be approximately 20lbs. If you want a lighter bat don't fill so high and then stuff in some newspaper or old ratty shirt as filler so the sand doesn't move around too much. If you want a heavier bat you can pour in as much shot at you want. What I did with my first 2 bats was equally fill them both with sand and then equally used the bag of 25lb shot. This made them about 30lbs or so.

I didn't weigh it yet as I don't have a scale at home, but estimated by balancing the Fat Bat Indian Club with one of my closely weighing kettlebells. I didn't care about exactness in this batch, but was simply going for an equal amount of sand and shot to be tossed into each. My second version was more on manageable weight so I can successfully train with it as designed.

Step Four

Yup that's the stuff that makes it all happen. This is awesome stuff and just be careful cause it gets pretty messy. It's almost like a one time use can cause it just keeps on coming out and coming out. Don't get it on your hands because it almost instantly sticks and then clings to any and every particle of anything you touch. My hands looked like I hadn't washed them in 3 days after this project, but I swear I did. I'm kind of a germ-a-phobe so I wash them quite often.

When you're done with your Fat Bat filling leave about a 2 inch gap from the top of the hole. Spray the Great Stuff in the hole and fill any crack and crevice inside and then leave to sit for about 24 hours. They will look like the below picture when dried.

Pretty cool looking huh? Once it dries you aren't gonna be getting that out unless you drill it again. It seals so well. I wish I can put this stuff in my wife's mouth sometimes. Ha! Just kidding Lisa!! :) SERIOUSLY!!! I'm kidding!

Okaaaaaaay... SO once you've allowed it to dry overnight and have it look like this simply take a razor blade and trim off the excess so that it's flush with the top of the bat. Then clean up the top so that all Great Stuff is wiped off from the plastic. Now it's duct tape time!

Step Five

Wrap the top of the bat so that there's absolutely no way anything will pressure itself to leak out. Then wrap the handle so it's of the thickness that you like. I made mine just a little thicker than a Pro-Grade Kettlebell handle which is 32-33mm. This seems to work very well and makes the Fat Bat Indian Clubs look really cool too.

Step Six

These are the finished products and now my new toys. If you make some let me know if you have any questions and what cool workouts you come up with. I've been practicing my Fat Bat Indian Club swings, swipes, mill presses, and some other fun right alongside my Kettlebell and GPP work. The Indian Clubs are great supportive movements for pretty much any program.

And they also work great if your kid smarts off- as seen below.

Processed Convenience Foods Are The Problem With Our Diet Right?

This world, and moreover the United State, is so generally focused on eat carbohydrates. Everything has some form of a "carb" in it. You look in your salad dressing it even has forms of corn in it and mostly chemical versions of corn with names so hard to pronounce. Carbs are everywhere and there are even diets that warn against eating them. I don't believe that way, but what I do believe- through self and client trial and error as well as many other's research- I present to you.

There are simply way, way too many processed and convenience foods available to everyone and it seems that most people are so acclimated to buying into this convenience. Eating healthy and being healthy takes time and takes effort. Heck, if it were easy more people would already be there. All it takes is a change of mindset and you're half way there to being super amazingly healthy!

Here are a four rules I follow when thinking of eating:

1. Eat Only "Good Carbs":

Sorry to say that pasta and bread DO NOT fall in that category. A couple days ago I ate as my main meal carbs: squash, yams and carrots and the next day in my training session I was barely tired! Remember to only have grains 1-2 times per week at most and on the other days get your fuel foods from high healthy fats.

Try to eat less processed carbs such as zucchini, squash, carrots, yams, sweet potatoes. Also if you do eat grains eat such as barley, old fashioned oats, brown and wild rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth. But in general try to avoid carbs such as pasta, breads, and ANY wheat products of any kind as well as other processed foods even if they are made from what they would say are "quality ingredients".

2. Stay Away From The Commodities:

There are 3 commodity foods here in the U.S. They are corn, wheat, and soy. All have been genetically altered beyond what is healthy. Corn is very starchy and has some pretty bad pesticides used on it to grow. These chemicals increase estrogen in your body which suppresses your natural testosterone and growth hormone levels. When this happens you lose muscle mass, store fat and retain water.

3. Never Eat Processed Meats:

I blogged about processed meats a short while ago and that article mentioned that some of the worst foods to eat are deli meats as they all have very high sodium content and carcinogens(cancer causing agents in the form of sodium nitrate). Also eating really heavy foods such as beef, pork, chicken(and any poultry). These meats absorb only about 50% or less of their protein content and it often times takes a few days or even weeks to fully leave your body depending on your regularity. During that time these foods rot in your gut and give off adverse gases as well as keep good nutrients from being absorbed properly.

4. Limit or Eliminate All Dairy:
I recommend not to consume too much dairy because of the saturated fat within it. If you are eating non-fat dairy that's even worse due to the processing involved as well as the lack of any fat whatsoever. When you do consume dairy foods I recommend to only consume whole milk dairy products and organic- raw(unpasteurized) milk products are the best. In fact raw dairy tastes much better too.

Think about it: The “Western Diet” tells us to eat low fat, low carb, low cholesterol, low calorie and by doing so we’ve managed to become the most unhealthy and fat country in the world. Seems like their methods are WRONG! Let’s try it another way- a better way. The way nature intended it is without any change to it[nature]. The further you stray by eating processed convenience foods the less healthy you will be and more fat you will store. Well that's not cool! Make sense? If you want more info on this let me know. I have lots.

Liberate Yourself From The 4 Walls- Part 4

Exercise HAS to be challenging in order to experience results. There is no way around it, but it can certainly be fun at the same time. Lately I've been doing everything I can to make my workouts creative, but still sticking to the basics. I really enjoy the challenge of both the workout movements as well as coming up with actual content for my personal protocol. Here's one I came up with. This is a totally sweet workout I did the other day. I tossed in Kettlebell Juggling and some super cool bodyweight movements such as flying grasshoppers and jumping spiderman pushups. I also have a special section in there of what Brayden can do. He likes being like Daddy and why not let him have his own workout fun.

Watch, Enjoy, and if you like it give it a shot. :)

Here's another video for you to enjoy in both what you see as well as in the creativity of the workout itself. Bill McKeen, one of my Synergy Kettlebell Boot Campers, satisfied our Weekend Warrior Challenge by putting together a fun workout and an even more fun video to watch. Now this is definitely something the whole family can enjoy together.

Just as always I want to display that you can accomplish an amazing workout without the confines of a stinky, cramped, machine based, non-functional, meat market, four-walled gym. Get outside the walls. Think outside the box and give your body a gift of clean, fresh air, and a powerful workout that can be practiced anywhere and everywhere. All it takes is creativity and green grass. Liberate yourself from the 4 walls.


In case you missed the first 3 parts here you go:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Super Healthy & Energy Packed, High Protein Cereal

I grabbed this off of Yuri Elkaim's Total Wellness TV Youtube channel. This is a great video of how to quickly make a no-nonsense, very healthy cereal that's high in protein. It's very simple and the taste is absolutely amazing!

Pay attention to 0:18-0:42(couldn't agree more), 1:35(I agree that it's NOT), and 3:19-3:43(I talk this alllll the time).

Awe this is sooooo good!

Bob Garon's Liberation Fitness Practice Day: 070809

It's been a bit over 2 years since I last released a full workout video of just me. I have been focused on capturing the hard work and dedication of my clients so the spotlight has been off of me directly.

Today I felt inspired to both motivate you and challenge myself with a really cool workout. I performed this workout having not done anything except a little yoga over the past 4 days due to being a little run down energy wise from a nasal cold. So needless to say I put together a fun comeback workout and boy was it a blast! I was hurtin a bit. LOL

All of these movements can be done at home in your living room, outdoors, garage, backyard, pretty much anywhere. For the pullups you can get a doorway pullup bar, outdoors find a tree branch, or swap out for some kettlebell rows.

I hope you like it and pass it on. :)
Enjoy!

Liberation Fitness Practice Day: 070809

My theme for this workout is: "Motivate & Challenge". The details to what I exactly did are within the vid.

Did You Know: Eating Deli Processed Meats Is Bad; It causes cancer...

Consuming processed meats increases the risk of pancreatic cancer, says new research conducted at the University of Hawaii that followed nearly 200,000 men and women for seven years. According to lead study author Ute Nothlings, people who consumed the most processed meats (hot dogs and sausage) showed a 67% increased risk of pancreatic cancer over those who consumed little or no meat products.

But researchers failed to accurately identify the culprit responsible for this increased risk of pancreatic cancer, says one author. The true cause of the heightened cancer risk is the widespread use of a carcinogenic precursor ingredient known as sodium nitrite by food processing companies, says nutritionist Mike Adams, author of the just-published Grocery Warning manual at: TruthPublishing.com

Nearly all processed meats are made with sodium nitrite: breakfast sausage, hot dogs, jerkies, bacon, lunch meat, and even meats in canned soup products. Yet this ingredient is a precursor to highly carcinogenic nitrosamines -- potent cancer-causing chemicals that accelerate the formation and growth of cancer cells throughout the body. When consumers eat sodium nitrite in popular meat products, nitrosamines are formed in the body where they promote the growth of various cancers, including colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer, says Adams.

"Sodium nitrite is a dangerous, cancer-causing ingredient that has no place in the human food supply," he explains. The USDA actually tried to ban sodium nitrite in the 1970's, but was preempted by the meat processing industry, which relies on the ingredient as a color fixer to make foods look more visually appealing. "The meat industry uses sodium nitrite to sell more meat products at the expense of public health," says Adams. "And this new research clearly demonstrates the link between the consumption of processed meats and cancer."

Pancreatic cancer isn't the only negative side effect of consuming processed meats such as hot dogs. Leukemia also skyrockets by 700% following the consumption of hot dogs. (Preston-Martin, S. et al. "N-nitroso compounds and childhood brain tumors: A case-control study." Cancer Res. 1982; 42:5240-5.) Other links between processed meats and disease are covered in detail in the Grocery Warning manual.

Adams wrote Grocery Warning to warn consumers about the toxic, disease-causing ingredients found in everyday foods and groceries. "There are certain ingredients found in common grocery products that directly promote cancer, diabetes, heart disease, depression, Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis and even behavioral disorders," Adams explains. His Grocery Warning manual covers them all, teaching readers how to prevent and even help reverse chronic diseases by avoiding the foods and food ingredients that cause disease.

According to Adams, consumers can help reduce the cancer-causing effects of sodium nitrite by consuming protective antioxidants before meals, such as vitamin C and vitamin E. But no vitamin offers 100% protection. The only safe strategy is to avoid sodium nitrite completely.

Adams especially warns expectant mothers to avoid consuming sodium nitrite due to the greatly heightened risk of brain tumors in infants. Parents are also warned to avoid feeding their children products that contain sodium nitrite, including all popular hot dogs, bacon, jerkies, breakfast sausages and pizzas made with pepperoni or other processed meats. "Sodium nitrite is especially dangerous to fetuses, infants and children," says Adams.

Sadly, nearly all school lunch programs currently serve schoolchildren meat products containing sodium nitrite. Hospital cafeterias also serve this cancer-causing ingredient to patients. Sodium nitrite is found in literally thousands of different menu items at fast food restaurants and dining establishments. "The use of this ingredient is widespread," says Adams, and it's part of the reason we're seeing skyrocketing rates of cancer in every society that consumes large quantities of processed meats."

Some companies are now offering nitrite-free and nitrate-free meat products, which are far healthier alternatives, but those products are difficult to find and are typically available only at health food stores or natural grocers. Consumers can look for "Nitrite-free" or "Nitrate-free" labels when shopping for meat products. They can also purchase fresh meats, which are almost never prepared with sodium nitrite.

The new research on processed meats points to a chemical toxin as the cause of the increased cancer risk. A heightened cancer risk of 67% is "gigantic," warns Adams. "This is clearly not due to macronutrient differences. This is the kind of risk increase you only see with ingredient toxicity. Something in these processed meats is poisoning people, and the evidence points straight to sodium nitrite."

To learn more about Grocery Warning and source this artice, visit: TruthPublishing.com

As always I recommend staying as close to nature as possible. Everything you put in your mouth leaves a trail and/or has a trail from where it originated. The shorter the trail (or better yet no trail between nature and you) the healthier. The closer you stay to nature the less processed your food will be. The more processed it is, or the less it appears like the way nature intended it, the less healthy it becomes. Be very, very leary of foods with health claims and foods which are infused with "healthy ingredients".

I recommend that as much control over your healthy and diet that you have be proactive and do EVERYTHING that you CAN do in order to protect yourself personally from what is out there. It is my opinion, and I will speak very frank here since this is my blog, if someone is educated on what to do in order to be healthy, what to eat, when to eat it, how to be active, etc. and that person then decides to not act then that is just foolish.

Bob Garon's Yummy Nutty Din Din

My wonderful and loyal Bob Garon Training blog followers I hereby grant you exclusive access into my home to see what one of my all time favorite dishes to eat is. It's so easy to make and very quick to prepare.

Ultimately it's about simplicity in nutrition and balance in daily eating vegetarian/vegan style. If you're not vegetarian or vegan don't tune out now just because you enjoy a good porterhouse or juicy slab of ribs smothered in sweet 'n zesty BBQ sauce every now and then.

You've gotta explore other means of being healthy and CAN have something that is not an animal source of protein from time to time. I will show you how and how nutrient rich it is at the exact same time as getting in your precious protein need.

All the standards can be met such as protein, healthy fats, and carbs to be balanced if you know how to do it AND it's easier veg style than needing to cook meats at the right temps as well as deal with their slow digestion and low protein absorption according to the biological value of protein research.

My ultimate goal is to be as healthy as I possibly can no matter what it takes. Since cutting out dairy and gluten from my diet I feel better than ever and have so much more energy. I felt like both of those were just draining me every day. I have so much energy these days I sometimes can't fall asleep till 1 or 2am.

Now don't get me wrong cause I'm STILL gonna be having my pizza here and there, but no dairy or gluten products every day as I used to.

I encourage everyone to aim to be as healthy as YOU can be no matter what it takes or what that means. I am here for you.