The ancients knew this—the idea of yin and yang, or warming and cooling—and how it applies to diet and exercise. When I say the ancients, I want to be clear; I speak predominantly of the ancient Chinese and Indian cultures and not my mother-in-law; she came much later, around the Civil War.
The objective is to strike balance, or to eat and too exercise like Goldilocks—not too hot, not too cold, but just right.
Some foods warm us up. Or, in more recent terminology we could say they are acid forming. These include, mostly, proteins and grains.
Other foods cool us down. In other words, they are alkalizing. Fruits and vegetables constitute these foods, very generally speaking.
As well some forms of exercise warm us (hard, intense, destructive) and others cool us (soft, tranquil, restorative). Neither is right, neither is wrong. They both have their proper place, and are both equally beneficial in the RIGHT dosages.
As a general rule, you ought to have more cooling than you do warming foods and activities. This should be pretty obvious—SHOULD BE—but isn’t, or else I wouldn’t have to bring it up.
Low-intensity exercise should be engaged in more regularly and frequently than high intensity. And you should eat more leaves and berries than you do goose livers.
Many people do the reverse of what is right, as is only the naturally inherent, and all-too-human thing to do; and then wonder why their bodies are wrecked and don’t smell very good. This is the result of too much yang, and not enough yin.
If you think you’re “too hot”, here are a 3 ways to cool the system down.
** 1. Lower the VOLUME of high-intensity exercise (you don’t have to lower the intensity at first, just back off on volume) and increase the VOLUME and FREQUENCY of low-intensity exercise such as brisk walking, and general mobility work.
** 2. Refrain from eating as many animal proteins (and grains, too) on the days you don’t need them—meaning, the days you aren’t engaging in high-intensity exercise. When you destroy your own flesh, eat flesh. Otherwise, eat leaves. If you wish to maintain a higher protein intake, fine, just switch it over to spirulina for the day.
** 3. Fast. Fasting helps to restore proper yin/yang balance to the body. Even a short-lived fast (up to 16 hours) accelerates detoxification, increases insulin sensitivity, and surges growth hormone.
As I said in yesterday’s post, being extremely competitive, and balls-to-the-walls intense in your daily exercise routine is a game reserved for children and the very foolish.
The more difficult, worthwhile, sustainable, and intelligent thing to do is to strike and maintain a proper balance of yin/yang, and not let your ego get in the way of making progress.
– = +
– Pat
PS – Three spots left for our fitness minimalism retreat. CLICK HERE to make one of them yours.
Excellent post about feeding, and intensity. I always need a reminder to be less intense. Constant intensity leads to burn out and injury, but I still need to constantly remind myself to hold back a bit. Gah!!!
This is a common problem. Many have the ability to red line it. Few have the sense or ability apply the brakes when the light flashes yellow, and keep doing it, too, until something really nasty happens.
I would really like Pat to read the book called 80-10-10. I think it would be very insightful.
I have been on a Juice Fast for 10 days. After day 3 it has been a piece of cake and I am am able to work out every day. I am loosing about a pound a day and have so much energy that I might go for 21 days. After that I will only eat raw vegan. Read that book!
And what makes you assume I haven’t? It has some insights, but too, it suffers from some defects (especially its position on fats), cherry-picked research, and dogmatism.
I did 80/10/10 raw for 9 months, it is not advisable. Unless your goal is to lose the ability to contract what little muscle your body doesn’t eat it’s way through ins search of adequate amounts of protein. But if to be asked at least once a day if you have cancer or some other form of terminal illness because of how thin & yellow you’ve ended up them the 80/10/10 diet is definitely for you!
I also did an 80/10/10 cooked Dr McDougall style vegan diet straight after that for around 9 months, I gained around 30lbs which put me back up to a healthy weight, but boy was a skinny fat as hell for it. But people stopped saying they thought I had leukaemia, which was nice.
Nice post. I try to tell my clients the same thing . Not as eloquently though. Maybe that’s the problem…
Enjoyed the post. Usually use eggs or almonds as a protein source. My check out seaweed.
greetings and blessings Pat,
I cannot thank you enough for re-introducing walking into my exercise regimen. It truly ties everything into ultimate functionality and increases recovery tenfold.
HI Pat,
Thanks for the post. About a week ago you recommended doing 300 swings a day. Can you still do this every day and get in enough cooling?
Another great post as usual,
I am shocked how winded I get doing anything strenuous after my recent surgery, 7 weeks. My Docs and others have said this is normal and will return. I have dropped my bells from 20/24 to 16/16.It seems embarrassing to go to 12/16. It’s tough to get through a workout without taking a nap between sets or taking all day.
So I’m taking it from this post 1,2,3, might be better than 1,2,3,1,2,3 and then repeat if possible? I’m anxious to get back up to speed as well as keep a respectable weight and keep up with the program.
Pat,
I feel so silly in the error of my ways. I’ve had some very good coaches but I think my stubbornness in thinking I needed more got in the way of real progress. Now I did tone it down a little when I did the Meta Reset but now that we’re going full on to the minimalist program I will finally let go of my wanting to do more and more.
Back before I joined your group I had let go of some principles I learned prior to meeting your acquaintance 🙂 In the summer of 2013 I was doing three workouts a day some days. Just absolutely crazy, heavy this, meta that. And did I loose fat? Nope I got puffier!
I just completed a test for the training I’ll be doing on the minimalist control group and I’m going to stick to two metabolic sessions. I was doing way too many on the 30 day meta reset. I’ve learned to not even sweat and feel comfortable with that. So thank you. I need time for other things, like taking care of my queen. 🙂
Point number 2 is something I’m applying as we speak.
The ancients, did have it right. All the “new” medicine, is just a re-casted story on an old theme. Love this post, Pitta! Look at everything in nature, we are made of the same stuff of the stars and everything around us. We are all just different proportions of the same ingredients, and to balance we need different proportions of those same ingredients added or taken away- at various times. I love the Goldilocks analogy, I’ve used it myself. Cooling and Heated states are less and more depending on your starting point. Baby Bear’s porridge is hotter than Mama Bear’s yet cooler that Papa Bear’s meal. The Moon is cold compared to the Earth, yet hot, compared to Pluto. Start to understand the body you live in; respect the planet you hail as home, and the fuel you require (mind/body/spirit) to orbit this life in balance, will be come more clear.
Awesome post! People have been preaching way to much protein for years!
Needed to modify my fasting times to work around my wife’ schedule as well as the current walking track I am using (due to weather here in Kentucky). I assume ties of day are less important as the actual fasting so I am fasting from 6:00 PM until 10:00 AM. That is not a problem is it? Using the time element and focusing form makes the workouts. Challenging right now as guess it is suppose to be. Thanks
Danl, I see no issue with that–good luck!