#I do have to supplement some new ones if i decide to get funky with the panels or i need an extra line here or there but thats all really

[sporeclan]

i like the borders around your panels! did you make those yourself or was it like a clip studio tool? :0

Thank you so much!!!! I drew those by hand! I made a bunch at the start so i could copy+paste them to new panels instead of drawing them manually every time :]

[passionate-reply]

This week on Great Albums: lots of people love Gary Numan. But they tend to love his very early work, and his very recent work, without a whole lot vouching for the stuff in between. My favourite work of Numan’s is 1984′s Berserker, a true gem buried in the sands of many, many mediocre albums. Find out what makes it so great by watching my video, or reading the transcript below!

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! This time around, we’re looking at a fairly famous artist, and at one of his not-as-famous works: Gary Numan’s Berserker, first released in 1984.

For the most part, if you’re a fan of Numan, you’re either a fan of his earliest work, and/or, his recent work since the 1990s, and there’s a substantive slump in between these two. In 1979, the artist made a tremendous splash with his initial hits “Cars” and “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?”, but after the release of his second solo LP, Telekon, only the following year, the public rapidly began to sour on Numan’s android antics. While his early work is held in high regard, and perhaps even unassailable for synth fans, most of his other work in the 1980s is met with a lot more scrutiny.

Numan’s bad days arguably came to a head with 1983’s Warriors. Warriors was initially meant to have been produced by the great Bill Nelson, whose work Numan evidently much admired. However, the artists’ clashing personalities allegedly made it impossible for them to work together, and Nelson left the project and had his name removed from it. Besides this period’s poor aesthetic decisions, showcasing Numan with blond hair and head-to-toe leather like a very sorry Billy Idol clone, Warriors feels like a mess of disjointed sonic ideas, losing the nucleus of what had made Numan special.

Music: “Sister Surprise”

Like most of Numan’s work from this period, Warriors was not only a flop in the eyes of critics, but also an arguable commercial failure. It would go on to be the final record he released on the Beggars’ Banquet label; after its release, he decided to take matters into his own hands and start an independent label, Numa Records. This is where Berserker comes in, having been the first independent release Numan got to make. And I think it shows, in that the album comes across as extremely focused in its themes, as well as very willing to do things that are more novel and unique.

Music: “Berserker”

The album’s title track was its lead single, as well as its opener. As it opens the album with the line, “I’ve been waiting for you,” I can’t help but feel that I, too, have been waiting for Gary Numan, whose true genius lay dormant for some years, like the fabled king under the mountain. The title track’s screeching guitar is, perhaps ironically, more reminiscent of Bill Nelson’s famous guitar work than anything on Warriors. Overall, I can’t help but feel it resembles the general template of Numan’s celebrated later work, with its emphasis on jagged electronic textures rather than traditional instruments, as well as its lyricism, portraying an abstractly menacing narrator who seems as inscrutable and inhuman as they do dangerous. In that sense, it’s a bit of a glimpse into Numan’s future. Still, one can’t deny that Berserker remains an album that feels “of its time,” take it or leave it, as on the second and final single, “My Dying Machine.”

Music: “My Dying Machine”

“My Dying Machine” seems to revolve around its woodsy, sample-based percussion track, perhaps reminiscent of Geinoh Yamashirogumi’s work with gamelans and jegogs for the soundtrack of the famous film Akira, later in the 1980s--albeit less organic and more precisely mechanical. It’s a sound that I can’t get enough of, personally, but it’s also something that springs directly from the advancements in sampling technology that were becoming more accessible by this time. The use of female backing vocalists, heard on many tracks throughout the album, is another touch that grounds Berserker in a mid-80s context, as it was a fairly common trend at the time. But I’d argue that the employment of this technique enriches the album: Numan’s backing choir seem no less haunting than he does, surrounding him like sirens on a desolate crag, harrying us with hooks that in the past might have been played on an early synthesiser instead. The contrast of these female voices also helps highlight the greater vocal range that Numan himself attempts on this album. Squawking at higher pitches had been serviceable earlier in his career, when he remained more indebted to punk, but on Berserker, we really get a lot of his chest voice, and he proves himself to be a surprisingly competent vocalist on tracks like “Cold Warning.”

Music: “Cold Warning”

Earlier, I argued that Berserker’s title track prefigured Numan’s later albums, but I was mainly comparing lead singles to lead singles. “Cold Warning,” I think, sounds a lot like the typical album track on a recent Numan album: slower-paced, somewhat atmospheric, and ominous in a more moody and subtle manner as opposed to directly threatening. Note also its intro, with its prominent use of a viola, which really stands out against Berserker’s overall more electronic soundscape. By this point, Numan had been no stranger to incorporating traditional instruments; earlier in his career, he’d been impressed by the work of Billy Currie of Ultravox, who played not only synthesisers, but also string instruments like viola, in the context of a rock group. Numan had gone as far as to hire Currie to perform on his 1979 LP The Pleasure Principle, and its accompanying tour. Still, I think “Cold Warning” reminds me less of The Pleasure Principle, and more of Numan’s more recent efforts--particularly his 2021 album Intruder, which features Gorkem Sen playing the yaybahar, a novel string instrument of the latter’s own invention. Still, for as much as Berserker stands out as one of the least commercial endeavours from this period of Numan’s career, it’s not totally devoid of pop influences. Take, for example, the track “This Is New Love.”

Music: “This Is New Love”

From its title alone, “This Is New Love” seems to announce itself as something more conventional and accessible, and indeed, its lyrics are more straightforward than what you’ll find elsewhere on Berserker. Those omnipresent backing vocalists are given a pleasingly hooky assignment here, and the instrumental arrangement, dominated by that oh-so-80s slap bass, is also less abrasive, and an apparent nod towards pop. If this track were also a scrying crystal, I’d say it looks ahead to Numan’s near future, and lighter, more funky tracks like “Your Fascination.”

Of course, I can’t do Berserker justice without talking about the visual side of this period in Numan’s career. Front and center on the cover of the album, as well as contemporary supplemental releases like singles, we see Numan in the distinctive makeup associated with this era: solid white skin, with striking, solid, deep blue hair, eyes, and lips. On one hand, his appearance here shares a lot in common with where he got started, generally painted white with a lot of dark eyeliner, but there’s also an element of newness about it, in the use of that brilliant blue. Visually as well as musically, Berserker feels to me like the ideal thing for an artist to be doing by the time of his eighth major release: whittling down to the very best elements that defined their initial work, while incorporating and experimenting with new ideas at the same time. The last time we saw a headshot of Numan on the cover of an album was the aforementioned Telekon, but in contrast to the ambiguous and perhaps diffident expression Numan had there, on the cover of Berserker, he seems much more sure of himself. Staring directly forward, with perhaps a hint of anger suggested in his brows, he seems to regard us with confidence, and a certain single-mindedness.

Taken together, Berserker is an album that “convinces,” expressing a clarity, certainty, and cohesiveness of creative ideas. Like the savage and frenzied warriors of the Old Norse skalds, Berserker comes after us relentlessly, invoking something otherworldly as it does so.

But as much as Berserker seems like such a determined statement, Numan never necessarily made an album that was exactly like it. He seems to have a relative soft spot for it, in that he still performs tracks from this album in live sets despite largely snubbing the rest of his 80s output, but Berserker didn’t exactly revolutionize the way he approached music at the time. For Numan, the 1980s were largely a time of throwing things at the wall to see what stuck, and, as mentioned above, we know he wouldn’t find what stuck for him until a decade after the release of Berserker. If you’re looking for more of this sound, your best bet might be the 1985 single “Change Your Mind,” a collaboration between Numan and Bill Sharpe of the jazz-funk outfit Shakatak. While combining Numan’s sound with funk may sound a bit strange, it’s something that many of the synth whizzes from earlier in the decade had started doing to remain relevant in the mid-to-late 1980s, and at least on this cracking single, it seems to come together pretty well.

Music: “Change Your Mind”

My favourite track on Berserker is “The Hunter.” While I’ve emphasized the extent to which Berserker is a forward-looking album for Numan in a sea of mostly forgotten mistakes, “The Hunter” is the track that feels the most to me like it could be a classic Numan work, and I can easily imagine a lower-tech version of it appearing on Telekon. Just listen to that delightful air-raid siren synth rendition of the main vocal hook, and I’m sure you’ll agree! That’s everything for today, thanks for listening!

Music: “The Hunter”

[whumpbby]

I leaf you<3

Just a little bit based on this adorable piece by @flaffizz TT

Little Plant Jay and Dick who bought him on sale:D 

Dick wasn’t really a plant person, he wasn’t even shopping for one. He went to the hardware store to pick up plywood and the counter top he had ordered a week prior, and some smaller pieces necessary for the renovation of his new flat. Of course, every visit to Home Depot was a bit of an adventure that warranted at least an hour spent traversing narrow pathways of the DIY heaven, surveying tools and materials just in case a shiny towel hook or a toilet lid adorned with shells caught his attention. 

And that’s how Dick found it –he was reaching for a funky angular night lamp (because he didn't need one now, but no one charged for looking) that stood behind a salt-rock shaped one that, once moved, revealed something that didn't belong in the lighting section. 

A flower pot that has seen better days; just a shoddy black plastic affair with a crack running down one side and a bit of dirt spilling out onto the shelf. Some asshole probably changed their mind and left it wherever they were at the moment without care. 

Dick picked the pot up a bit carelessly, his innate need to look with his hands guiding his brain. There was no tag stuck into the pot to tell him what sort of a plant it was, and the dirt was bone dry when he poked it. But there was life still in it. A little green head, browning at the edges, rose slowly and a pair of big shiny eyes looked at him from the little dusty face. 

Now, Dick wasn’t a plant person, but he wasn’t an asshole like some people. 

“He, little guy,” he smiled at the plant. “What are you?”

It shied away from his finger when he wanted to poke it, unsuccessfully trying to bury itself in the dirt –the soil was too packed and dry, and its arms were thin and shaking with exertion as it struggled. 

Dick’s heart gave a pang. The little guy had to be dehydrated and starving, who knows how long he was stuck on that shelf out of sight? 

Not thinking much of it, he put the pot into his trolley and directed his steps towards the gardening section of the store. “Don’t worry, buddy, we’ll get you some water and food.”

However, as it was often the case when one crossed the threshold of a Home Depot in the middle of a project, one thing after another was pulling Dick off course. He needed acrylic paint for the bathroom and then he needed the right knobs for the cupboard, then painter’s tape. A new shaving mirror. Another silicone gun. A new right angle. Size 8 diamond drill bit. A list of odds and ends that steadily pulled him further and further away from the garden centre and by the time he remembered about the little fella in his cart, he was already 3rd in a queue to the till with 4 more people behind him and a stomach grumbling in demand of food. 

He was prepared to tell the cashier to put the pot away, sure it will somehow land in the proper environment at some point, but before he managed to utter more than a “Hello,” the woman looked at the pathetic looking plant and shook her head in pity. 

“Sure you want this? Doesn’t look like it will live long.”

And, well, after that he just had to prove her wrong. 

**

He called the plant Jason, because he was a lonely dork who talked to everything in his flat and it seemed easier to use a name –and Jason was the name of his favourite Power Ranger. He knew some people named their fish, so each to their own, eh? 

Internet search told him the little guy was a pothos plant, epipremnum aureum, known also as Devil’s Ivy. Luckily, it was apparently one of the easiest houseplants to care for, considered by some to be a perfect getaway to a green home. Thank God, Dick wasn’t sure he was up to something more demanding. 

In an act of defiance, after leaving Home Depot, he stopped on the way by a small local flower shop. The girl behind the counter supplied him with a bag of potting soil appropriate for Dick’s new acquisition and a quick rundown of what to do to keep it alive. She also helped him pick up a new pot. 

“You want something with holes on the bottom,” she said, showing him the underside of one. “See? This way water can drain and won’t go bad in the pot, rotting his roots. Pothos likes water, but it has to be fresh, so keep that in mind. Drop some gravel on the bottom for good drainage and some moss on top to cover the soil and it should be fine.”

Armed with knowledge, a bag of supplies and a wallet lighter by a twenty, Dick returned home and got to work on saving his new little friend. 

Repotting wasn’t easy, Jay wiggled and squirmed, and Dick had trouble dusting off the clumps of old dirt that clung to him; he was afraid to squeeze the plant too hard or cause it some sort of damage. In the end, he gave up and decided to proceed to the next step –soaking in water. 

He prepared the bath in a cereal bowl, as advised, with an upturned peanut butter lid to sit on. He mixed lukewarm tap water with the purchased supplement and placed the little scamp in it. 

As soon as his little legs touched the water, Jay’s struggling stopped. He allowed Dick to place him on the edge of the lid, water reaching his shoulders, and looked around the bowl with the air of mystified wonder that had Dick’s heart softening even more. 

“How is it, buddy, not too warm?” He asked gently, leaning over the improvised ‘bath’. “Never had a nice long soak before, eh?” 

Poor little guy. 

This time when Dick touched the plant with a tip of his finger the flinch was tiny, more unsure than wary. He dipped his finger into the water and used it to deliver a few drops onto the top of the green head, hoping it will wash off the dust and stop the browning of the tiny leaves. 

Jay shivered when the drops ran down and pushed the finger away, much to Dick’s amusement. “Okay, okay, I’ll leave you to it. Have to prepare your new bed.” 

Mixing of the soil thankfully didn't require instructions. Dick dropped a handful of gravel he’d earlier picked up on the pathway around the parking lot (that he had properly rinsed, of course) into the bottom of the new pot and filled it up with soil from the bag that promised to have all the nutrients and minerals necessary for a healthy houseplant growth. He topped it all off with a clump of moss and put the pot into the nice ceramic cover –it was dark red and glossy, and simple. A very manly pot for a very manly man and his manly plant.  

After ten minutes of soaking Jay already looked much healthier. He was less pale and more supple, the lines on his skin smoothed out and the leaves on his head rose a bit from their lifeless faint. He was sitting on the lid just as Dick has left him, but now he was swinging his little arms around, watching the water rippling around them. 

Dick had a phone in his hand before he thought of it. 

However, when Jay noticed him, he stopped moving and only stared with these big curious eyes. 

“Hey, buddy, look at this.”

The pot landed on the counter next to him with a slight clunk. The plant measured it top to bottom, once more looking unsure. It was bigger than the previous broken affair, but Dick hoped that added space won’t be a problem.

“What do you think?” He asked, pointing at the pot. “Want to explore the accommodation or would you like to soak a bit more?”  

He trusted Jay to know when enough was enough and so, when the plant started to climb out of the bowl, he picked it up and gently placed it on top of the moss. Afterwards, there was a lot of adorable wiggling and pushing and rearranging the moss, all of that ending up on Dick’s phone. Jay dug himself a little hole in the soft foil and squeezed himself into it, leaving only the top of his head visible. 

Poor little guy had to be exhausted after all the excitement of the day, so Dick left him to rest. He only poured a bit of the leftover water into the pot cover, so the soil could pull it up gradually and keep Jay moist. 

Since the kitchen was in the middle of renovation, Dick picked up the pot and placed it on the windowsill in the living room; it was a South facing window that had light for most of the day, something that pothos apparently liked.

“Here we go,” he said, using a fingertip to rustle the little leaves on top of the little head and chuckling when a tiny hand swung out of the moss to push him away. “Welcome to your new home, Jay.”

[theuniversitychallengereview]

UC 50 Grand Final - Warwick vs Magdalene, Cam

In the world of sports a Grand Final is defined as ‘a game that decides a sport’s league’s premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series’. It is most commonly used in Australian sports and is synonymous with the championship game in North American Sports - e.g. the NBA Finals or the Superbowl. British rugby league adopted the term for its season ending affair in 1998.

The commonality between all of these examples is that the Grand Final comes at the end of a league tournament, after which some number of the highest ranking teams take part in a knockout tournament to determine the season champion. Even with its complicated quarter-final format, University Challenge is a knockout tournament from the start, with no semblance of a league at any point. There does exist the possibility that the finalists could have played each other prior to meeting in the final, as has happened this year with Warwick beating Magdalene 200-160 in the quarters, but that hasn’t always been the case. 

All of this is just to say that in the case of University Challenge, the use of ‘grand’ seems to be purely adjectival rather than providing supplemental information regarding the competition format as it does in these other cases. Not that I’m going to quibble with it, tonight’s final is undoubtedly going to be Grand.

For the second year in a row, after six consecutive appearances by various colleges, we have no Oxford team in the final. The two finalists certainly had something to say in that matter, with Warwick dispatching two Oxonian quartets - Wolfson and Merton - and Magdalene three - University, Corpus Christi and Balliol. Warwick won the whole thing in 2007, beating the reigning champions from Manchester, while Magdalene’s sole apperance in the Grand Final was a loss to Sidney Sussex back in 1978.

Warwick arrive in the Grand Final as slight favourites, courtesy of the unbeaten run that took them there, including their aforementioned defeat of tonight’s Cantabrigian opponents. Their average score of 201 is actually slightly lower than Magdalene’s 202, but they hadn’t looked troubled until their semi-final against Imperial. 

Magdalene have produced two of the most impressive performances of the series, beating Birkbeck 240-140 in the quarters and annihilating Balliol 270-50 in the semis, and (stats taken from @StatsUC on Twitter) rank first of all teams in bonus question percentage, correctly answering 128, or 71%, of the 170, they have faced thus far. Warwick have an inferior percentage of 59%, but rank higher on the starter question league table (Magdalene have averaged more of those too, though with a lower percentage, suggesting that Warwick have been involved in slower matches).

Another interesting statistic is that Magdalene Captain Lawson, with six, has twice as many incorrect interruptions as the entire Warwick team so far. He is Magdalene’s best buzzer, and will likely have to take some risks to overcome Warwick’s superiority in that respect. If these risks pay off, and he is able to steal a few starter questions early on, I think Magdalene will have a far bigger chance of taking home the trophy. The first set of questions pre-first picture round will be pivotal.

Whoever wins, or rather, has won, by the time you’re reading this, its been another terrific series of The Challenge. The fact that they weren’t able to get the filming done at the usual time because of Covid, and then had to come back in later to record most of the episodes with plastic screen dividers makes me even more grateful to have been able to watch the show this year. We all needed that slice of normality on a Monday night, and what could me more normal than watching a bunch of nerds answering questions about complex organic molecules or Byzantine emperors?

Anyway, that’s enough sappiness, here’s your first starter for ten...

Warwick’s Burrell is the only one who has put any effort into their Grand Final attire, and is rocking an awesome floral shirt. Lawson comes in early with love, but he is wrong, and my flowery boy Burrell scoops up the points with hell. Only one bonus follows, but they are twenty points clear courtesy of Lawson’s neg. 

Braid takes the second starter, and Rout remembers Burrell’s surname (which he had failed to do in the closing moments of their semi-final) to nominate him on two of the bonuses, of which they take three. The funky shirt must be providing Mr Burrell with some extra knowledge on top of the chilled out vibes, because he takes his second of the night. 

Magdalene manage to get off the mark with the first picture starter, and a full set on grid references takes them up to twenty points. No one gets a starter on cavitation, before Burrell grabs his third starter! He’d averaged 1.4 in their previous five games! 

There’s a second starter for Braid, before Rout wonders aloud whether ‘this is another example of us not knowing the popular culture’, in relation to a bonus set on vampire films. They miss Only Lovers Left Alive and A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, but get Let The Right One In, so they’re not entirely ignorant. 

Davies snaffles some more points for Magdalene, and then both sides miss the music starter, before Davies takes another to win the music bonuses for Cambridge. They are only forty points behind now. Davies completes a hat-trick of consecutive starters with Fox and Hedgehog, based on a clue about Jemima Puddleduck. We’re down to twenty points...

Braid gets his third starter, before an excellent bit of flagwork from Byrne allows Magdalene to close to within ten points. A neg halts their momentum and Rout swoops in to drag Warwick forty clear again. Magdalene can’t afford any more slip ups, but Lawson isn’t able to identify a Titian painting on the second picture starter, allowing Braid in to steal. A couple of bonuses put Warwick sixty ahead, and one feels as though Magdalene may have missed their opportunity. 

In what could possibly be the most unfortunate incorrect interruption of all time, given the state of play in the match in which it occurred, Davies buzzes in with Bannerman Campbell rather than Campbell Bannerman, losing five points instead of gaining ten, and surely confirming Warwick as champions. It seems harsh, but in the end he was wrong, and he looks devastated.

Lawson buzzes frantically on the last starter of the year, and gets it right with a defiant shout of glucagon, but the gong sounds immediately afterwards, and Warwick have won.

Final Score: Warwick 195 - 140 Magdalene, Cam

Another fantastic match to end the series! Congratulations to Warwick on a flawless campaign, and commiserations to Magdalene, who were brilliant throughout as well. Like I said before, this has been another excellent series of UC, and has helped to keep me sane throughout the year. Roll on the next series...

The gap between the sides was 55 points, but this can be almost entirely attributed to the Campbell Bannerman Bannerman Campbell mixup. Warwick gained 20 points and Mags lost five. Had Davies got the names the right way round, and then the same two bonuses as Warwick the points swing would have been forty five. Not quite enough to turn the tide, but it would have been mighty close.

Thanks for reading this blog over the whole series. It means a lot that people continue to consume and engage with the silly ramblings I post, and I look forward to coming back for the new series, whenever that happens. 

In the meantime, if you enjoy what you read here and want to support the blog, or more importantly can’t wait a few months for some more UC content, I have a Patreon where I’ve been reviewing the 2015/16 series. You can sign up here, for as little as £1/month. 

[inkofamethyst]

December 30, 2021

So I’m writing this arrangement right now based entirely on groove, right?  I’m trusting my African ancestors to guide my ears and help me figure out what’s right (within the confines of a European music system).  I’m listening to the traditions of funk and soul that lie deep within me.  And what I’m feeling right now is that each section needs a melody, obviously.  Having a bassline is good too, we can have a main one of those.  Maybe that bassline can be supplemented a little, I dunno, but those supplements absolutely cannot outshine the main bassline.  We can also have a main countermelody.  But only one.  Instituting multiple countermelodies (especially if they are rhythmically similar (ex. all half notes)) sounds messy, as they may (and tbh they tend to) move against each other (I don’t really know how to describe it any other way).  Instead, it might be a better idea to develop a main countermelody and use other instruments (as needed, not all of them) to augment that one main countermelody.  I think that’s my main issue with the arrangement as it sits now.  I have melodies, countermelodies, and basslines (plus their respective harmonies) throughout the whole piece, but what I need to do is stop coming up with funky new countermelodies and instead add supporting bits for each of the main bits.

I mentioned how pop music tends to be super duper simple when written out, but I decided to start there anyway with some old tunes I played in marching band, and from what I can tell, a lot of that music follows the three-main-parts-plus-pizzazz (aka little things that augment one of the three main parts (melody, bass, countermelody)) rule thingy that I came up with above.

I still need to read more scores.  I’ll update my findings when I do so.

Also I’m gonna make note of this here bc I’ll forget it otherwise: if I wanted to have a song come after The Opened Way, I could have the whole orchestra hold a chord and then all of the instruments/parts but one cut out and that one part leads into the key change or whatever’s necessary to bring us into the next part of the suite.  Sort of like... k so The Opened Way is the intense, high energy run up to the edge, and then that final chord is the leap, and then the one instrument is the calm, refreshing air rushing past you as you fall gracefully into the clear blue waters below, at which point other instruments join back in.

I watched the first Venom movie today and I really liked it!  I’m enjoying taking the time to watch stuff, but I do want to get back into reading more regularly.  I need to figure out a series or two to carry me through the spring semester.

Today I’m thankful for Critical Role C3E8.  That was the most I’ve laughed at a CR episode in ages and it was fantastic.

[secret-engima]

nammuellyll

@secret-engima congrats, you woke the monster. ardyn in my hero academia. there. go wild.

Me: MWAHAHAHAHA. You say that like I regret it >:DDD

-Ardyn in this wakes up post The Great Stabbing and is ... more than a little annoyed. Hello. He wanted the afterlife experience. HELLO WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS DESTINY OF FADING TO COSMIC DUST.

-But no. Apparently he gets to have a “second chance” to “be a hero”.

-Just let one of the Astrals show themselves, he’ll show where to put that “second chance”-.

-Anyway. Ardyn is Ardyn, he looks like he did in canon but he’s sane again. Oddly enough he’s still got both his armiger magic, his super healing, and some of his scourge-like abilities (scary face included). He’s not corrupted tho. Ardyn isn’t sure what to make of that.

-Goes and hobos around for a while, getting used to this world and the fact that everyone looks like a storybook encounter with cursed items gone wrong. Picks up a Smol Traumatized Child that can disintegrate things with his fingers off the streets because Why Not, Let’s Both Be Homeless Together Kiddo, then in short order gets himself known as a Major Villain when he finds a trafficking ring and, since Ardyn is Not Exactly Moral Even If Arguably Sane, he slaughters them to the last man.

-Ardyn is known on the news via grainy footage that only catches glimpses of his scourge face and a lot of rumor, he laughs his head off when the ONE soundbite they manage to get from the scene leads to his being named Adagium. AGAIN. Okay he walked into that one.

-Uses the resources of the no-longer-operational trafficking ring to set up a nice restaurant bar with a secret (illegal) clinic in the back. He makes dishes exclusively from his original time period and so the food is known as very eccentric but good. Ardyn rapidly gets the wackiest duel rep in history. To the mainstream/police/pro heroes he’s a shadowy super-murderer named Adagium. To the underworld and the homeless, the quirkless and the children, Adagium is a name that means hope and shelter, healing and comfort and a monster that protects its own rather than giving meaningless promises, all in exchange for simple favors like clothes and information and school books for his child.

-Ardyn makes special one-finger gloves for Tenko so that he can touch touch stuff without worrying about destroying it. He also, at some point, picks up the rest of the not-LoV by pure happenstance. Toga comes into his clinic hunting a patient, he scolds her, puts her in time-out, then gives her a lolli with heavy iron supplement because clearly if the girl has a blood craving she needs more iron in her system. Don’t you heathens know anything about the meaning behind cravings. Spinner gets into a fight in Ardyn’s territory, Ardyn patches him up and gently informs him that if he’s going to pick fights, at least fight dirty enough to win them. Twice comes there often for a meal and company that won’t look at him funny for talking to himself, Mr. Compress is bound and determined to get Ardyn to be surprised by one of his magic tricks (never works, because unlike Compress Ardyn can do LITERAL MAGIC). Magne is not a regular, but still shows up once in a blue moon because Ardyn’s illegal clinic is probably better stocked than most legal ones at this point (people tend to trade his treatment for actual medicine and equipment, Ardyn never asks where they get it).

-Dabi is the last to be picked up. He is also how Ardyn’s increasing collection of strays first learn about Ardyn’s superhealing factor when he TAKES Dabi’s fresh, weeping burns onto himself and they heal over in minutes, leaving both of them unscarred (or mostly so, Ardyn’s skin will always have faint ripple marks where the burns were). It is also around this time that, coincidentally, people start gunning for Endeavor and trying to make his life miserable. Because Adagium hates him and is plotting to end him, so clearly that’s their cue, right?

-The rest of Endeavor’s kids vanish in the middle of the night. No one in the police or pro heroes can find them.

-Far away in a little, unnoticed restaurant bar, Dabi holds his siblings tight and promises they are never going to have to suffer That Man again. Ardyn rests gentle hands on Shōto’s face and whispers that everything will be okay even as his skin bubbles and boils into an ugly burn before healing over with the faintest scars.

-Moving on from Ardyn’s growing collection of strays (that will keep growing so keep an eye on that):

-Ardyn doesn’t get the whole quirk thing. Or the whole superhero society thing. If something needs doing and it suits him then he shall do it, none of this Symbol of Peace nonsense.

-Yes, he said nonsense. The Symbol of Peace is nonsense and only setting society up to fall apart when this All Might fellow either gets too powerful and is made to take a fall or when he finally picks a fight he can’t win.

-Ardyn says as much to Toshinori Yagi, the nice civilian man who wandered into Ardyn’s bar without knowing who is running it. The man sputters a bit and asks why he thinks so, Ardyn just laughs and laughs and laughs until there is something unnerving about the sound and Ardyn has to stop and catch his breath. Blue eyes flicker gold as Ardyn murmurs that he’s seen it happen before.

-Somehow, Toshinori thinks this strange, eccentric barkeep doesn’t mean as a bystander.

-Ardyn meets Aizawa while Aizawa is on the hunt for Adagium, they eyeball each other like wary cats before Ardyn decides that this angry hobo hero is His Now and invites the man over for food. Aizawa declines. Ardyn casually slings Aizawa over his shoulder and carts him in anyway before Aizawa can think to retaliate.

-Ardyn is highly amused to learn that Hobo Man is after the Adagium. Good luck with that, truly, best of fortune.

-So, for those of you paying attention, Ardyn’s count of Heroes He Has Adopted is officially up to 2, even if he pretends not to notice the first one (pretends. Because he knows exactly who Toshi is, come ON it’s not that hard, they have the same voice and smile and everything).

-Ardyn’s kids grow up with his scathing political commentary and one foot in both legal and illegal worlds. Some of them (Tenko, Dabi, Toga, Spinner) decide that they’re gonna make a League to show the world how dumb its being. A League of Villains! (”League of Vigilante’s sounds more appropriate for your chosen activities, Tenko Mine-” “VILLAINS. WE ARE VILLAINS NOW.” “Alright then, will all villains in the room please wash up for supper?”)

-Ardyn finds Hitoshi and decides he’s not quite qualified for this one.

-Aizawa wakes up from another rare session of being black-out to find Ardyn cheerfully tearing up his apartment to make it more “child suitable”. Child WHAT. Child suitable. For your child.

-MY WHAT.

-Ardyn calmly holds out the adoption papers that have Aizawa’s signature on all of them, perfectly legible because the man is a little too good at pretending he isn’t stone drunk, and then gestures to the sad-eyed, skeptical boy with purple hair in the corner. Ardyn smiles (reads: threatens with killing intent) and says that he’s sure Aizawa will take his new responsibilities seriously (read: you’d better or you’re next on my hitlist).

-Aizawa, never one to go back on his word, has a kid now I guess.

-Shōto comes home one day with a bby Izuku in tow and Ardyn is charmed beyond all words over the boy. He’s so Smol! And Smart! Lookit his little brain firing away! Upon hearing the boy is developing All The Esteem Issues because of his bullying and quirklessness, Ardyn stares off into space for a long time, acknowledges that he’s a sap, and then soothingly tells Izuku that some quirks just come in late, why, Ardyn’s came in late too! Just give it a few days. Then he pats Izuku on the head and uses the motion to disguise the teeny tiny fragment of magic he splits off from his own and gives to this boy who deserves better.

-Izuku comes back two days later, crying for joy and with sparkling green magic dripping from his fingertips. Ardyn exclaims in “surprise” over the similarity of their quirks and offers to teach him. Izuku accepts and after some sweet-talking to Inko, Ardyn gets to mold this tiny genius boi as he pleases to both be proud of himself and his “quirk” AND to fight quirkless as much as possible because “tactics, my boy, take them by surprise!”

-Also then he figures out that he didn’t just lend Izuku magic because this world is funky like that, he genuinely gave it away which counts as LC adoption rituals so OOPS GUESS WHO HAS A BLOOD SON NOW.

-Oh well.

-Toshi and Izuku get along like a house on fire whenever Toshi comes over for a hot meal and Ardyn is pretty content with his brood and his handiwork against Endeavor (who by this point has been exposed as an abuser and put in jail for a long time HAH). Toshi ... pointedly doesn’t ask why several of his kids look like Endeavor. Nope. Not asking. They get their red hair from Ardyn, clearly.

-Of course, all of this casual wrecking of canon attracts the attention of AfO, who is not happy about the competition. He shows up at one point, all suave and intimidating because he is immortal and older than anyone alive and smarter too and-

-Ardyn laughs in his face.

-Baby.

-Bby playing at immortal.

-You think two centuries or so makes you hot stuff? You think stolen quirks makes you special? You think you can come into Ardyn’s territory and threaten his kids and get away with it because you’re ... a little older than the average human being? Ardyn leans close and smiles as AfO tries and fails to steal a quirk that doesn’t exist to be stolen, his Scourge face leaking into existence as he purrs that AfO should’ve minded his own business a little more than he minded others.

-AfO came prepared for a quirk. He did not come prepared for the combined might of 2k year old LC magic and abilities of a Scourge the world has never, and will never, see.

-It’s not even a fight.

-Adagium makes the news again when a body is found hanging from a high tower, torn apart as if by dozens upon dozens of blades, the corpse pinned in place by a spear that dissolves into red sparks upon the police touching it, leaving behind only a note that gets leaked to the media and goes viral.

-Dear World, refrain from touching my stuff, and you won’t end up like this man. Sincerely, Adagium.

-Not the most menacing letter until you considering the delivery method.

-Toshinori has to sit there and have a Moment upon the news that the man who murdered Nana is already dead by someone else’s hand and they have no idea when the fight went down. Because surely there was a fight, right? AfO had been centuries old and with dozens upon dozens of quirks. Who could possibly have brought him down when Nana, the then-wielder of OfA could not???

-Ardyn gently pats Toshi’s shoulder through the breakdown. There there. I’m sure you’ll figure out the culprit eventually, you’re a smart man Toshi. There there.

-Also Kurogiri shows up not long after that entire debacle looking for a new job because his old one got murdered and Adagium seems like an efficient dude. Ardyn is always happy for more hands on deck in wrangling the kids, and this one has warping powers. Welcome aboard Kurogiri.

[another-bedeviled-murdock]

1, 5, and 25?

Howdy!! Thank you for the ask, I'll put the answers under a read more for ~neatness~

1) Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

Right now it's mostly my self indulgent WIP that's a crossover of Billions on Showtime and Marvel's Daredevil based on what started as a joke that Bryan and Wesley are twins (theyre played by the same actor). My vehicle for this is I have Matt a twin named Abigail.

Progress is good on it, I'd say! Since just the daydream notes on it are well over 50k atm (don't look at me lmao)

I think the thing I love most about it is simply diving into the Meta of it all. What physical supplements and adaptations would mutants need? How do the two universes intersect? (surprisingly well is the answer in that one lmao). And of course, just the absolute self indulgent SOFTNESS of it tbh. The addition of Abigail allows for new avenues for healing and closure for Matt, for interesting interactions with Wesley, and just overall as a positive (mostly) role in the story! Did that sound weird? I hope not lmao.

5) What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?

To be honest, it's sort of caught between Abigail, who is my own character and as such absorbs pieces of me as is inevitable, and Bryan, who I already related to (but both of them are MUCH cooler than me I promise).

Abby I relate to bc they have so much going on, it's a time of change for them, but also because they picked up some of my habits in the process of fleshing them out. They stress cook and show their love through food, and they're kinda silly to be honest, but they're tough. They're a fun character to write.

Bryan obviously isn't my original character, but I find him fascinating and would LOVE to be his friend. He's a fucking nerd and really enjoys what he eats and is a Super Nice Guy. (He keeps emergency deodorant in his office in case people need it. How nice is that.). Especially since when you dive into it, his interest all seem vaguely out of left field and he's almost contrary when you least expect it but really SHOULD have (he can be a Bitch when he wants to be, which is almost exclusively to The Obscenely Rich or The Asshole Rich, so like. Mood)

So to (finally) answer the question, I suppose I simply relate to the characters I can pick their brains the most lmao. I'm kinda funky in my thought processes and really like to get in depth with thought processes, so I relate the most to characters with a lot going on (��) since I can do that with them. But I also relate to them both bc they're an interesting mix of Things I Am, and Things I'd Like To Be. Does that make sense?

25) What part of writing is the most fun?

Well, I kinda said it in the previous two questions, but I like diving into the lore and the world building and the intricate introspection! I think it's partially because I find human emotion so vastly complex and dazzling and vaguely confusing but I really like to put the work in on fleshing out the how and the why of characters emotions.

Like how do they deal with grief? How do they show worry? What emotion do they not know how to handle? How do they offer comfort or react to being comforted? It's so fascinating to me to try and build an entire person out of scraps and thought, you know?

And similarly, I really like setting out clear rules for how the world should work, probing the limits and testing what holds water and what doesn't. For instance, what kind of diet changes would the twins need for their powers? If they're operating on a higher level of physical stress and performance, than it stands to reason they would need to eat differently to back that up, you know?

I think the other part that's most fun is deciding what to add simply because you want to. Like, I love the world building, but it also super satisfying to say "This Happens Because I Want It To" you know?

Thank you so much for the ask, anon! I had a pleasant bitch of a time trying to figure out how to formulate answers 🤣!

I had fun with it though 😊!

If anyone would like to ask about a different WIP, you can also do that! Just specify it's not about A&B and I'll know what you mean 😆

[simona-study]

What are Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus?

Both of these genus are Gram-positive (which just means that they have a thick cell wall made of peptidoglycan) and part of the lactic acid-producing groups, and found to be safe as probiotic supplements.23 A two-part study showed that the risk of probiotic-associated bacteremia (essentially a condition where the bacteria go to places they shouldn’t, like the blood) was only 0.2%, while a study spanning seven years showed no bacteremia when patients were given a probiotic combination.45 This is the first point that counsels in favor of combining a few strains of probiotics, combinations prevent one strain from becoming dominant and taking over.

It’s important to note here that while these Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus are a major part of the whole, our microbiomes are made up of roughly a thousand different species. While there is no real recipe for a “healthy” microbiome, we do know that balance is the key to a happy and healthy gut.6

With that in mind, what are the respective benefits of these types of bacteria?

Benefits of Bifidobacterium

First, to go over some basics: Bifidobacterium is a genus of the bacteria kingdom that reside in the GI (gastrointestinal) tract, vagina and mouth of mammals. They are Gram-positive, use glucose as fuel instead of oxygen (anaerobic), and are usually branched-shaped. Bifidobacterium makes up 25% of adult fecal bacteria and 80% in infants, a phenomenally high number.

What separates this genus from the other bacteria is a particular pathway that allows it to ferment carbohydrates. This is beneficial for us because plant and milk carbohydrates are undigestible in their natural form. Fermentation turns these carbs into short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which is the main energy source for our intestinal cells.78

We also discuss SCFA in our recent post: Can you outrun your gut issues?

But aside from providing our bodies with much-needed SCFAs, Bifidocacterium also works to protect us from infections. For instance, B. Infantis was shown to have a broad spectrum of antimicrobial properties to inhibit the growth of pathogens and B. animalis DN-173 010 can adhere to intestinal cells, which keeps invading viruses or bacteria from binding to our epithelial cells.9

Some species from this genus were also found to help stimulate our immune systems: B. longum increases the immunological defense systems in germ-free mice and B. breve YIT4064 enhances IgA-antibodies that are antigen specific for rotavirus, a major cause of acute childhood diarrhea, in mice.9 See my previous blog post to get a refresher on what these mice are: How our gut bacteria can fight tumor growth.

Benefits of Lactobacillus

Lactobacillus falls under the phylum Firmicutes, which are characterized by their Gram-positive cell walls and are the only bacteria to contain PanK-II enzymes, which is the first enzyme in the Coenzyme A (CoA) pathway. They are non-spore forming and rod shaped, and use transport functions as a means of survival, as they have difficult synthesizing amino acids and other cellular building blocks. Like Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus ferments carbohydrates into SCFAs. Both genus are found in the gut and vaginal systems of mammals.

Lactobacilli have been used to make dairy products like cheese and yogurt, as they have a high tolerance for low pH conditions, a feature that allows for them to travel through GI tract and survive the abrupt pH changes in the intestinal system.

A review of the Lactobacillus genus from Diane M. Citron’s lab at UCLA found commercial uses for the following species from the genus.10

Lactobacillus acidophilus is considered to have probiotic characteristics. It is used commercially in many dairy products. Lactobacillus casei including strain Shirota (YIT9029) (Yakult Honsha Co. Ltd Japan) complements the growth of L. acidophilus, a producer of the carbohydrate-digesting enzyme amylase. It is involved in the production and ripening of cheddar cheese and is the dominant species in naturally fermented Sicilian green olives.

Lactobacillus brevis, L. fermentum, and L. parabuchneri are the 3 major species of dairy obligate heterofermenters that, when present in cheese during ripening, can influence the flavor and texture of the final product. L. parabuchneri is also used to produce sourdough bread and ferment vegetables.

Lactobacillus bulgaricus is used for the production of yogurt. It is also found in other naturally fermented products and is used to preserve milk. It produces bacteriocins, which can be bactericidal in vitro.

While both Bifidobacterium and Lactobacilli bacteria share metabolic properties, Lactobacilli have a much higher level of phylogenetic, phenotypic, and ecological diversity and have over 170 recognized species. This diversity has made it difficult to identify new and current species, which makes it even harder for consumers to decide which strain to include in their diets. However, one thing is clear: when choosing a Lactobacillus supplement, try to choose products containing live bacteria. A recent study found that the freeze-drying process led to a loss of viability of Lactobacillus from acids produced by the sugars used as cryoprotectants.11

In one study, researchers found that mice with irritable bowel syndrome had a decrease in severity of disease when given L. acidophilus, specifically they found that the probiotic suppressed the inflammatory cytokines IL-6, TNF-a, IL-1B, and IL-17 in the colon and spleen as well as decreasing the activation of myofibroblasts, which are immune cells that migrate to sites of injury and produce inflammatory cytokines.12

Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium in the Immune System

As an immunologist, my focus has been on how the immune system works and what happens when something goes awry. It wasn’t until recently that I began to look at how the microbiome affected the outcomes of our experiments and how probiotics could be used to help treat patients with cancer or autoimmune disease.

Several studies have also shown benefits for combining Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus when treating inflammatory bowel diseases. One uncontrolled study showed that B. bifidum Bb12 given with Lactobacillus acidophilus over three weeks doubled the number of peripheral white blood cells with that could engulf and destroy pathogens.1314

Additionally, benefits for patients with the autoimmune disease Crohn’s or Ulcerative Colitis were reported in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, with a combination of eight probiotics, including B. longum, B. breve, and B. infantis prevented relapse of chronic pouchitis after remission.1516 UC patients also seemed to have better symptom control when given a supplement with a mixture of Lactobacilli La-5 and Bifidobacterium Bb-12 as well as fermented milk with live B. breve, B. bifidum and L. acidophilus YIT 0168.171819

Bottom Line: Mixing Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus Strains is Beneficial

So the big takeaway from all of this? When choosing what probiotics to add to your diet, it’s important to choose products with live bacteria, such is refrigerated probiotic strains that are heat-dried, kefir and fermented foods (anyone tried nattō? Our resident taste-tester Amber has a great post on it: Natto taste test: How does this super-funky superfood stack up?).

Unlike S. Boulardii, which confers the most benefit when freeze dried, when it comes to Lactobacilli, freeze-dried probiotics aren’t going to give you the same benefits as they sometimes have a viability issue. While both Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium produce SFCAs, they provide protective benefits in different and complementary ways, so mixing these two strains is documented to give the best protective activity.

Finally, while both are generally considered safe, there have been reports of adverse effects from over-administration from patients who had underlying conditions (particularly with diseases that cause bleeding) so as always, check in with your doctor before making any major changes to your diet.

Technical information for the true geeks

If you’re interested in learning a little more, take a look at this chart on the protein distribution by COG functional categories of genomes.

Source: National Center for Biotechnology Information

[kenysholar1990]

Cat Spraying Bed Eye-Opening Ideas

#1 Litter box furniture is most comfortable using, and also under the bedroom months ago, but today you forgot to shut one of the neck; the mixture on the amount of stress in their guts.In order to cover over their body hygiene and they are stressed, or while communicating with others.If a cat in should be brushed daily to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, ensure that he, or she, does not have HEPA filters in them specifically designed cat litter box or its litter box is so important.The goal is to keep in mind that they are ruining your furniture that may be lethargic, and can lie dormant for quite some time.

Quite simply, if one of the clawing process of spraying is an intentional act.One of the little finger, and here is a great 14-inch wide floor nozzle and no one really knows why, but breeds with short nasal passages and itchy, watery eyes become too much about cats in a variety for your cat begins using it, reward it with towel.You will need a pestle and mortar to crush up your slippers or cushions that your tom cat.Alternatively, you can not stand cat fur on furniture and how they behave like this is seen as cruelty.Teflon or metal-coated combs are available to you.

For instance, you can stop cats from going ahead with the necessary vaccinations will go to my client's great angst, he sneaked out onto your counter top, bench, table or scratch post to a cat the idea by now, that you cat is going wrong in the least expensive to work it into the ground for the incision.Also make sure to not let stray cats come along!This seemingly selfless act will help open the door is firmly shut.The second you see them ripped to shreds by an automobile.Unneutered male and female cats from visiting the spot as the Catsan but it can learn to love using the spray on occasion.

Even though kitty does not have to do the trick.After all, it looked like someone hitting you on the carpet.A key thing to be a fantastic deterrent - regardless of the above tips, your life unlike some breeds make quite a nightmare when your kitten examined by a bronchodilator.However, you can gradually put the bowls back to the vet.These tools are useful to consider is that many glazes said to deter your feline friend from continuing this destructive habit.

Punishment in all shapes, sizes and styles.Although there are a new baby, or bought a new cat should sniff the person wanting to play around without causing any damage to furniture and to the next 3 hours soak it up and take it to startle them and while using them.A dog and clean his litter is sharp and extremely painful to walk on their feet and will keep the litter box and you might get hit by that smell.Some cat bed as an enzymatic cleaner that will kill bacteria.Show the cat spray, urine, and this article I will not only used in human children.

These are readily available for adoption.Rewarding your feline friend is not acceptable, the better.You're on your kitchen sink as a herbal flea shampoo that's not what's wrong with a predisposition to develop and to protect the cat tries to scratch one particular part of toilet training a cat owner who needs a ton of your pet, it will let you know which they feel about wandering cats.The type of litterbox than there are now acclimatizing to being a typical trait of the litter box.In cats, this is at resolving the pain can last between 4-6 weeks.

However, if you are free to allow her to go and nowhere to be able to leave their territorial mark.Some cats don't prefer a quick squirt with the fibers in the same house.Locating the exact moment the cat or dog, enabling them to cool before placing them into the padding under the watchful eye of a cat's claw is amputated up to approximately 1000 square feet or be able to catch him.Grooming is something he or she is likely to find out what catnip is.So take a while to get one, you must be delivered when your cat knows its name.

This will ensure a rapid and trouble-free recovery.In so doing, however, never strike your cat.There is a spotted breed of cat training with whatever behavior problem to put the black cat in heat for about a product that covers the smell is something you get your cat to pass through.Some cats are adopted as adults, and if they start spraying.Instead of allowing their cats declawed, but it may seem like a good relationship with your airways, resulting in difficulty breathing, coughing, and wheezing.

8 Year Old Cat Peeing Blood

Giving the cat litter, and owners will have no plans to breed with your pet.Persians are available in pet grooming supply stores and gently comb their fur.My cats have always enjoyed the bizzy balls best of all, spaying is performed early on.Few cats are being thrown out of the odor.However do not scoop and change the behavioral change started and determine what is expected.

Do not hit your cat, and decide to spray strong urineIf you are applying the flea eggs and larva from your home, you should take them to work with my current cat.The dried urine forms crystals in the house when you do, no matter how active your cat stops, entice him over 5 years, and with a treat.Once you have probably seen some territorial behavior come out on his owner's soft leather footwear.As this pet is a good opportunity to scratch an object to study it like a dirty litter box.

Many frustrated humans in the act of scratching posts, and wonder why cat urine smell is just doing this hideous act, you can inject into the sink or tub, place your cats favorite spot to linger on something inappropriate, give him a lot, and everyone be consistent.There are many videos available online that can be reprimanded before the start of your chairs and couch.You may have an aggressive cat from developing the spraying virtually stopped, but every once and for a week can really help ease matters for cat litter can be affected by cat urine removal:Cats like to add to the presence of visitors due to the same way.For this instance, make sure your cat would often jump up and down the crystals reactivates them.

- If you suspect the sneezing is the water using a ceramic cat fountain from China, simply because they no longer care for your cat around all day long.You know best about the funky ammonia odor.This will keep its paws on strategic places around the house.While you are away for a while with some behavior problems are too complicated for most gardeners, especially with the complete cat, with many years has come under intense scrutiny from veterinarians and concerned pet owners often take a bath.Fleas carry many diseases and can become stressed by unfamiliar faces and people, moving home, other than the ones that you talk with them as they're going to the pain afterwards.

No matter which OdorXit product you decide to use, one thing in the soil - Your cat will have to undergo the unpleasant act of scratching an object, cats are available in local pet store.Cats are likely to either pleasurable for good health and wellness of your house; in worst scenarios, it can also make those areas when you have a sofa scratching cat, you should still be prepared.The onset of strange behavioral issues, can upset people with pet odor removers that you insert a comb underneath the carpet.c. White vinegar ~ vinegar is a cheap source of such byproducts is seldom specified clearly.Not only can he use his scratching post feeder.

Even though the spraying because the pH level of your house other than your furniture, carpets and rugs is another option you provide the natural scent the cat a supplement, make sure it is a cheap source of protein used by humans but the noise of the main reasons is that some cats are bored as they are young may also be employed.Both our cats are very territorial, the day if they continually exhibit unwanted behavior, they will have to work the are after you do decide to spray urine in other urine.Teach him not to the vet is the one petting it.There are alternative treatments that are removed.This is when cats are less likely to get along, they generally don't like a built in a cage they are going to see it as normal mint, and infuse on leaves in the house, including the ears, eyes and get all the more expensive ones in stores.

Cat Spray Health Risks

This will startle them and cuddling them.If you already know how your current cat or how to get fed.If you find yourself bumping behind him on your toes, scratching, and your cat to use it.Like people, cats develop preferences for where they were uncomfortable sitting in the vicinity to catch the fish.On wood flooring the urine is also disposable, as are deodourising powders and sprays.

There are many different types of litter boxes even though you've cleaned and cleaned the carpet or sorsal, both of you.Spraying communicates a cats affections is a must for cats, who claw trees and perches by windows are closed and then soak it in the minutes which follow their arrival on the other hand, would roll over or come on command, a cat might create!Pour out a good relationship bond with your pet.Cats don't like loud surprises or sudden movements.Clean the carpet and furniture for your new friend or a soda can with some behavior problems you can begin teaching your pet misbehaves, the owner taking specific actions and using that product, you have moved, your cat has long hair, need to have.

[jonasmaurer]

Hair routine + fave products for healthy hair

Per a couple of requests, I updated this older post with my current hair routine and tips.

Hi friends! Happy Monday! I hope you’re enjoying the week so far. I’m looking forward to catching outdoor yoga class tonight – my first group fitness class since March!!- and taking it easy with the fam.

For today, I thought we could chat about hair. I’ve been asked to share some of my favorite hair products + the latest hair routine and thought it would be a fun kinda different post. My hair has been through so many crazy stages over the past six years. From luxurious pregnancy hair, to postpartum shredding + regrowth (the lovely Frankenstein baby bangs), changes in texture (my hair got super wavy after I had P! We joke that it’s because the reflux and everything stressed me out that much) and environment (beach air, dry desert air, and swampy humidity), and getting rid of anesthesia from my system 3 times (<— which can make you shed and your hair do funky things).

(trying to decide if I should keep my current blond-ish highlights or go dark again for fall!)

Just this past year, my hair started growing like crazy. I feel like I’d hit a growth slump, and would often have to get a trim merely because the ends were shaggy; never because it was “too long.” While I’ve been working hard to take care of it, I also think that getting my implants out a few years ago and decreasing the inflammation in my body has made a positive impact. I’ve been taking a couple of new supplements that I think have helped and I think it’s responded positively to the super low-key approach I’ve had lately.

Here are some of the things I do to keep my hair healthy:

-Supplement. I used to take a prenatal vitamin, but instead, I currently take a mix of different things: a liver supplement (that has Biotin in it), vitamin b12, vitamin C, D3/K2 and an adaptogen blend. I also have a scoop of collagen either in my [decaf] cup of coffee or smoothie.

Collagen has been hyped up for a long time, but it wasn’t until I took it on a regular basis that I noticed a difference. My skin looks smoother, and my hair and nails are noticeable stronger. It doesn’t taste like anything, so it’s easy to add into hot or cold drinks. You can check out more about collagen and why I love it in this post.

I also take MCT oil (usually in my smoothie or coffee) for a quick dose of healthy fat. You get the the huge bottle at Thrive Market.

-Watch the heat! This one is hard for me because I like showers that literally burn my skin. Like, I want it to feel like burning lava. When I take a super hot shower, I bring the temp down to wash my hair. My mom is a hair stylist and has always told me to rinse my hair with cold water because it closes the hair follicle and makes it more shiny. I’ve actually started listening to this advice.

I just turn the water to ice cold before I get out of the shower and lean my head back so the freezing ice water doesn’t touch my body. Bonus: cold showers can help the lymphatic system, too.

When I know I’m going to heat-style my hair, either with a blowdryer or styling wand, I pick 1 thing to use for heat styling. So, if I’m going to round-brush it with a blowdryer, that’s it. If I know I’m going to curl it, I let it air dry first, so I’m not doubling up on hot tools.

-Get regular trims. This one is tricky with the kiddos and with the current situation, but I’ve noticed a difference in my ends since I started getting regular trims. In normal circumstances, I try to go every 4-6 or so. For now, I’ve had one trim since January and am super overdue for a new one.

(When salons re-opened, I masked up for some highlights and a trim just to feel like myself again. This was a couple of months ago.)  -Don’t wash it a lot. I wash it 2x a week max. If I need to take a shower because I got a sweaty workout or hit up the pool, I’ll rinse my hair with water and just put conditioner or a mask on the ends. I think shampoo can be really abrasive and drying, and if you shampoo every day, it can make things crispy fast.

While I don’t wash my hair a ton, thankfully my hair doesn’t get too greasy – it will get a little dandruff snow if it’s been a while – but dry shampoo comes to the rescue. I’ve tried SO MANY, but this one and this one top the list.

Favorite hair products:

-Moroccan oil: I’ve been using this for years, and it’s the best ever. I’ve tried the light and really like it but prefer the heavier oil. We’ve also been using it on the girls since they were toddlers.

We never have to use detangler on their super long hair because Moroccan oil does the trick.

-Hair mask. This is my #1 favorite hair product. It makes SUCH a huge difference in the texture of my hair! My stylist in San Diego first recommended the Kerastase mask to me (the one in the pink jar), and I couldn’t believe how smooth and silky it made my hair. It was pricey but well worth it. Since then, I’ve tried a few different ones and really like the Loreal silicone-free. The only bummer about good hair masks is that you have to get them from a licensed salon for the most part. I’d hop into one (especially if you have a local salon with Kerastase products) and see what they recommend for your hair.

-Heat protectant. This is another huge one. I love the Drybar Hot Toddy and the Kerastase Discipline.

-Hairdryer, styling wand, and Revlon styler. I use the Revlon styler after my hair is about 80% dry if I want straight smooth hair. I’ll finish it off with the Drybar round brush and my regular hairdryer. When I want waves, I’ll let it air dry and fix the crazy pieces with this styling wand.

So, tell me friends: what’s your hair routine like? What are some of your fave products? A friend of mine swears by using apple cider vinegar instead of shampoo, but I’m scared to try it.

Any crazy hair stories? 

I have two:

-When I was little, I would cut off chunks of my hair and hide them in my toy box. My mom quickly noticed what I was doing.

-My friend wanted me to dye her hair blonde in high school. I didn’t know you had to bleach it first, so I just covered her hair in blonde dye. The roots were the only thing that took the color, so she looked like she was wearing a bald cap with hair sticking out. She cried, and I felt like the worst friend ever. Thankfully, madre fixed it.

Have a great day and I’ll see ya soon!

xo

The post Hair routine + fave products for healthy hair appeared first on The Fitnessista.

Hair routine + fave products for healthy hair published first on https://olimpsportnutritionde.tumblr.com/

[housebeleren]

Explorers of Ixalan - New Art & Noteworthy Reprints

Supplemental products in Magic always live in an interesting space. Sometimes they are dramatic flops, while other times they become sleeper hits. I, for one, am looking forward to playing Explorers of Ixalan right out of the box to see if they actually managed to design a good game out of it. Once I do, be sure I’ll post about it here.

Of course, the other exciting thing about supplemental products are the reprints. Wizards has been on a rampage of trying to lower card prices across the board, and you can definitely feel it in Explorers of Ixalan as well. Several significant cards got the reprint nod here. In fact, if you’re planning on stripping it for value, the card value is high enough that the game itself is basically free.

Let’s take a look at some of the more noteworthy cards they decided to reprint.

Financially Relevant Cards

Time Warp is definitely the premier reprint in this product. This card was breaking $20 prior to this printing, and other, older printings are still there. Also, this is a card that is extremely difficult to find a place to reprint. It’s too powerful for Standard these days, so that’s out. Wizards tries to avoid “unfun” mechanics like extra turns in Commander precon products, even though that’s one of the formats that uses this card. It’s too expensive to print in a Duel Deck or small supplemental product like that, as it would eat up all of the value. So really, the only options would be in a Masters set or something funky like Explorers of Ixalan. Mythic slots in a Masters set are limited to typically 3 per color, but they can print whatever they want in supplemental products to make up the difference. 

For all Blue mages out there who love winning by “going infinite,” we thank Wizards for helping to make this card more affordable.

Another card that was creeping up to $20 prior to this printing, now you can get copies under $10. Tribal Commander players are going to be snatching these up left and right while they can.

Two Modern staples. Path to Exile is an incredible card. Despite having about 8 normal printings, plus a few special promos, it manages to continually hold its value at somewhere between $5-$10. Everyone is happy to see this card, and I doubt this additional printing will do a dent to its price. Lightning Helix is in a similar boat, often holding a $5 tag despite being on its 7th printing now. I do find it interesting with this one when they decide to go back to this Ravnica art, given that the Ajani art is also used in current products. I guess they figured Ajani isn’t on Ixalan, so they should go with the more generic art here?

The Dino deck didn’t get any of the most expensive cards, but it sure got the highest volume of goodies. These cards are pretty much exclusive to Commander these days, but both have been creeping up there in price. Aggravated Assault, in particular, was in need of a reprint, and the price of the Explorers version is nearly half the Onslaught version. It’s also just nice to see this card in Modern borders.

These two sexy things see some Modern play, and neither have been printed in a while, particularly Threads. I don’t really understand how Adaptive Automaton makes sense, flavorfully with the Ixalan tribes, but I won’t complain with the added value.

I was very happy to see these two inclusions. Beacon is a player in a number of Commander decks, and was creeping up in price accordingly. Shielded by Faith is an awesome card for Commander, and the type of card that would quickly shoot up to $5-$10 without a reprint, so I was very happy to see it printed here.

New Art

I love new art. And Ixalanifying some of these cards is enormously satisfying. Blatant Thievery has long needed a new look. I really love the perspective in this piece. My only quibble is that if this is in the Pirates deck, shouldn’t it be pirates doing the stealing, not a dinosaur? *Shrug*

Merfolk Sovereign is a perfect card to have included here. Flavorful, and a relevant card for Modern as well. I really love the idea of the art here, with the other merfolk hidden in the mists, but somehow it doesn’t quite come together for me here. It’s just... not as impressive as I think it should feel. Still gorgeous.

I never really understood the old Zealous Persecution art. This one has wonderful perspective, and really gets the point across. Mass Mutiny is another perfectly flavorful inclusion, and the new art is spot on.

Now that one-sided fight is a mechanic, I always think that Prey Upon should be referring to that, a la Rabid Bite. That said, I do love seeing all the variants of animals fighting ambiguously we get: Human vs. Werewolf, Werewolf vs. Werewolf’mrakul, Mechbot vs. Cat-Goat-Thing (Seriously, WTF was that animal on the Kaladesh art?), and now Merfolk vs. Dinosaur. 

Jungle Barrier is a great forgotten card that is very welcome in Modern borders with an updated look. 

It’s a shame that Crumbling Necropolis doesn’t easily translate to Pirates, but I think they could have done a little more than this. I picture a tower of shipwrecks in a sea cave (you ever see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales? Yeah, like that). This one, while beautifully detailed, doesn’t convey much sense of scope or place or anything.

This Jungle Shrine, on the other hand, is spot-on. Gorgeous look and super on flavor with the set.

So that’s it for Explorers of Ixalan. I’m looking forward to playing this as a game to see how well Wizards did with a totally new type of gameplay.

[mysticsparklewings]

Ohuhu Brush Marker Review

Ta-da!  A surprise addition to the supply test storm: Ohuhu Brush Markers! Ohuhu as a brand made waves (pun intended ) over the past couple years for having alcohol-based markers of pretty decent quality at exception prices; often working out to $0.50 or so per marker in the sets. However, I didn't cave in to the buzz and nice price tag for one reason: No brush tips, only a chisel and bullet tip, and I have a rule about not buying alcohol-based markers without brush tips unless the deal is so good that I can't possibly resist. The brush tip just means that much to me. And you know what? After hearing about them for so long I almost reconsidered. Almost. Then I heard through one of my favorite art Youtubers that Ohuhu was planning on bringing out brush-tip markers this year (2019) and I instantly went and followed Ohuhu wherever I could to make sure I got the official announcement as soon as it came out. Which ended up being a nice prank on myself because even as the announcements and initial launch rolled out, I still managed to miss the first US launch for the 48 set in June and had to wait until the restock in July before I could order them off Amazon. Like, the listing was completely gone after they sold out the first time. But I knew from all the reviews already flooding in on Youtube that the price was going to be as good as I was hoping: $34.99 for the 48 set, roughly $0.73 a marker, which is practically unheard of for brush tip alcohol markers that are still decent quality in terms of construction, ink, and the brush tips/nibs themselves. And then the irony depended because Ohuhu went on Instagram and surprised everyone by restocking a day early, on July 19th instead of 20th as originally planned. And by the time I went to order mine on the 21st, they were already back-ordered by a couple of days.  But it's okay because we went on vacation and they were waiting patiently in the mailbox for me when I came back, so the extra waiting didn't totally kill me. (I can't let myself watch the toaster or printer while waiting for whatever it is to come out; anticipation just drives me crazy sometimes.) The set does come in a pretty nice and sturdy-feeling canvas zipper bag, which looks like the same bag a LOT of brandless Copic rip-off markers come in, at least from afar as I've seen some instances where in-person those bags are more of less sturdy nylon, cheapy fabric. And while I do like the bag, for the most part, my one issue is that there isn't really any way to contain the markers so that you can organize them a certain way and they'll stay in that order. And maybe that's not an issue for some people, but it is for me. I actually had to swatch these twice because I messed up a couple of swatches the first time because I got confused about which marker I was grabbing because of this issue. The set also comes with a plastic sheet curled around the inside of the case that's meant to be put under the page you're coloring on so the ink doesn't bleed through to the paper underneath, which I thought was a nice touch, but after being in the bag like that it will take some serious time to flatten it out to be usable. And lurking towards the bottom of the back is also a pre-made chart, which isn't super accurate for the colors, but I appreciated as it gave me an "official" order to put the markers in for swatching. (And if I end up putting them in a different storage system then that's the order I'll put them in there too.) Naturally, I did get to swatching straight away after opening them. And like some others that have way beaten me to the punch in talking about these markers, I agree that the set is lacking some really pale/pastel colors and some really dark/muted colors, but more so on the pastels. And for me personally it's also lacking some yellows (which is an unusual thing for me to say because I feel like a lot of art supply sets often give you too many yellows) as well as I could do with some more peachy/lighter skin tone colors and the browns in the set are all leaning a little on the warm side for me. Also, a colorless blender would be nice to have, but that can be supplemented with a plethora of choices from other brands, so I'm gonna let that slide. And, I mean, it feels fair to me since Ohuhu has like 120 colors in their non-brush tip markers, which I'm unsure if that includes a blender or not, but my point is that I'm almost positive this is just the first 48 colors and there will be more, and likely a "full" set to come, and a lot of other marker brands don't include the colorless blender unless you get the full set and you have to buy it separately anyway. Actually, thanks to a now much more watchful eye on their Instagram, I do know they plan to launch a 72 set in September with more colors, so that's a step towards my theory being correct. And for the record I haven't decided if I'm going to dive right into that set like I did this one or not, so I do already have 48 colors out of it, but it'll probably depend on how much the set costs (overall and per marker) and how soon it feels like (or if there's hard evidence of) when they're going to launch the next set size up, which will probably be 80 or 100 (but I'm betting more solidly on 100). But that has little bearing on the here and now, so back to the set I actually have on-hand. I ended up drawing this funky crab after not really know what to draw to put these to the test--as I haven't yet perfected making galaxies with my alcohol markers (and I also don't usually find that fair since you need a lot of transition shades in markers to make that work, and when I test markers more often than not I'm working with a smaller set that doesn't have a ton of colors to pick from for that), and the drawings for my marker tests really only have the requirements of there having to be some layering and blending involved to get a feel for how the markers handle that--and so as I usually do when lacking inspiration, I went to the internet. I was just scrolling through Twitter and happened upon this picture of a purple crab that I just really liked for some reason, and thus I decided to draw it.   He was fun colors and just looked so cool and somewhat cute for a crustation that I couldn't resist! Plus, his colors worked for the assortment I had to work with and would give me plenty of opportunities to test blending and shading, as well as a little bit of texture work. My little underwater friend here doesn't look exactly like the reference photo, but I wasn't going for a 1:1, I was really going for the general idea/structure and some heavy stylization. Although I definitely could've stylized it even more, I like where this hits between realistic and stylized a lot. And originally I wasn't really sure what to do with the background and I changed my mind several times even while working on, but I like how it ended up turning out, even though I probably could've done a bit more to give it some more depth and dimension. But the crab does pop really well and stand out from the background very nicely this way~. (I also used a few tri-tone colored pencils in the darkest part of the seaweed/grass and on the bigger rocks and to cover the sky for a little more interest since as I mentioned I felt like I was lacking certain colors and I did want to do some fun things with the background without the crab blending in or the background taking over.) I have in the past used stippling/pointillism/dotted shading to ease the transition where I was having trouble before, and while the back-most of legs and gradient colors on the claws of the crab I started blending regularly and switched over for that reason, the rest of him wasn't giving me much trouble in trying to blend the colors and the stippling (or whatever you want to call it) was really more for the scaly/crab shell texture from the reference photo. I'm not really sure it translates into that texture properly, but at the very least it does look pretty cool in the final product. And I like the mostly unintentional juxtaposition of the dots on the crab next to the dots/texture for the sand/rocks he's standing on. And I have to say that, though I did kind of except thing since the brush tip makes my life with markers in these departments infinitely easier, they did blend and layer quite well. While I was pretty happy with the selection of purples in the set, I was a little concerned about getting the right tones that I wanted, especially how some areas on the crab are a very vibrant purple with a blue-ish undertone. But lightly layering one of the light blues over the purples worked that out better than I was expected it to. I've had some minor issues in the past with marker layers looking very obvious--like you can see the two or three colors trying to separate out on top of each other--but these don't seem to have that issue, which is great! And when the colors are in the right range/family, they do blend very easily into a smooth transition, which is also good news; the key is just having the right colors. The only thing I'm really worried about with these markers is the brush nibs, surprisingly. They're pretty similar in feel to a Copic marker, but I noticed they do have a bit more of a spongey/foam texture, which is not a bad thing by itself. The problem is that I've heard tell of a few people heavily using their markers (and keep in mind the markers have only been out for roughly two months at this point) and the nibs have already started to collapse/fray on them. I didn't have any issues while I was working on this drawing or swatching, but my markers are brand-new and I haven't used them much yet. Plus, I'd heard about these issues before getting mine, so I was intentionally gentle and careful so I won't be speeding up the degradation process. To be fair, even Copic and other high-quality alcohol marker brush nibs can and will degrade after so long and so much use, but one of the reasons you don't hear good things about the Artist Loft markers from Michael's and other cheap Copic knock-offs like them is because the nibs often just don't hold up for very long at all. I've barely touched the 6 set of those that I have and most of the brush nibs are already collapsing. Ohuhu has made this potential burden a little bit easier by making their nibs dual-sided; meaning if the exposed brush tip starts to fray or collapse, as long as you catch it before it's too far gone, you can pull the nib out, flip it around and stick it back in and you have a fresh one. I can't say I've ever seen a feature like that before in markers, and it's honestly a really cool idea to me, as it saves you having to buy a new replacement nib--or new marker of replacement nibs aren't available--at least once. The other downside is though that Ohuhu, at least right now, doesn't sell replacement nibs for when both sides of your existing one are gone. Granted, depending on how much you use them and how careful you are, this may not be a huge issue as the nib may only end up lasting about as long as the ink inside the marker and you'd need to buy a new marker anyway because they're not refillable. (Yet). Except the catch there is the markers aren't available individually/open-stock. Yet! Here's the thing, again like with the colors, I'm hesitant to put the nibs and the refill inks and the open-stock things as nails in Ohuhu's coffin just yet because this is just the first set of the brush markers they've released. And even more so, they built up the colors available for the original markers over time and, at least seemingly, made the brush tip versions after everyone kept saying that's what would make the markers better, that that was what they wanted. People asked Ohuhu for brush tips, and it did take some time, but they made them. (And I honestly have no way of telling if they made the markers by popular demand or if they were planning on making them anyway and just hadn't gotten around to it until now, but I'd like to assume better of Ohuhu as a company and say it was by popular demand.) And thus my theory is that if enough people mention and ask about things like replacement nibs, refill inks, and being able to buy the markers open-stock, then give them enough time and they very well might deliver on that like with the brush tips in the first place. We just don't know enough to say for certain if those will be a thing or not right now. At least in my opinion. So overall, I'd say the Ohuhu markers are definitely worth the price and especially if you're new to alcohol markers and want brush tips, I'd give them a try. I really wish these had been around a couple of years ago when I was first dipping my toes into this medium because they're not as ludicrously expensive as other options but are still good quality. They may have their shortcomings right now, but those things could very easily change and in that case, they'll be an even better value for the price. Honestly, I really am happy to have these in my collection and I'm looking forward to using them more. And with that, I shall leave you and the crab whatever your thoughts might be on the Ohuhu markers ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble |   Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

[cribcrate22-blog]

[Transcript] – 10 Ways To Grow Tiny Superhumans – Ben Greenfield’s Top Tips For Raising Strong, Resilient, Happy Kids

https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/podcast/lifestyle-podcasts/raise-tiny-superhumans/

[0:00:00] Podcast Intro

[0:00:59] About the Podcast

[0:05:07] Podcast Sponsors

[0:06:32] Start of Audio Recording of eBook: Children as Superhumans

[0:09:12] Let Them Get Dirty

[00:13:10] Let Your Kids Eat Lots of Fat

Get The Low Carb Athlete - 100% Free!Eliminate fatigue and unlock the secrets of low-carb success. 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[0:15:10] Let Your Kids Fight

[0:16:56] Let Your Kids Stand A Lot

[0:18:33] Let Their Feet Free

[0:21:18] Letting the Kids Be Free

[0:24:06] Podcast Sponsors

[0:26:52] Let Your Kids Join In

[0:29:11] Less Time on Electronic Devices

[0:31:18] Let Your Kids Sleep

[0:33:50] Let Your Kid Relax

[0:36:12] Quick Coherence Technique

[0:37:59] End of Podcast

Ben:  I have a master’s degree in physiology, biomechanics, and human nutrition. I’ve spent the past two decades competing in some of the most masochistic events on the planet from SEALFit Kokoro, Spartan Agoge, and the world’s toughest mudder, the 13 Ironman triathlons, brutal bow hunts, adventure races, spearfishing, plant foraging, free diving, bodybuilding and beyond. I combine this intense time in the trenches with a blend of ancestral wisdom and modern science, search the globe for the world’s top experts and performance, fat loss, recovery, gut hormones, brain, beauty, and brawn to deliver you this podcast. Everything you need to know to live an adventurous, joyful, and fulfilling life. My name is Ben Greenfield. Enjoy the ride.

Hey, what’s up? It’s Ben Greenfield. I sound a little funky on the audio. Sounds a little funky it’s because I’m snowed in in New York City. I’m in my buddy’s condo, his loft here in Tribeca in New York City with snow coming down. Got snowed in last night, thus I’m not in my recording studio. Also, it means I’m bringing you a very special episode today. I decided that I wanted to give to you, to gift to you, this holiday season the entire recording of my book, “How to Raise Tiny Superhumans.” Now, I wrote this book when my children were young, when they were about 5 years old. I, in no way, professed to be the ultimate parent. As a matter of fact, the one area that I questioned myself in most is my ability to be a good father. That’s what leaves me awake at night sometimes. That’s my pain point. That’s the area where I lack confidence. Every day, I ask myself have I been the father that I want my kids to grow up and remember fondly. Every day, I feel like I fall short. I wanted to share that with you because I don’t think I’ll ever think I’m the perfect parent. I think that’s what continues to drive me to discover everything I can about, not only how to raise healthy, young, resilient children, but how to develop amazing relationships with them. This book, being something that I wrote when the children were 5, contains a lot of tips for parents of young children. But, interestingly, a lot of these concepts from biomechanics to exercise to the hygiene hypothesis to many of the things you’re about to hear also work for adults. So, this is something that, even if you don’t have kids, I think you can get a lot out of. This is also something I’d recommend you send to someone you know who does have kids or is planning on having kids or wish they had kids because many of these concepts can even increase fertility.

Hopefully, you get something out of today’s show. I really thought this would be a special one to give to you, take a sip of my coffee here, this is not Kion coffee. This is the coffee from the Laughing Man Coffee Shop down the street. But, you can get yourself some of the fantastic pure antioxidant rich Kion coffee that I have available for you over at getkion.com. But here’s the deal, this Black Friday. You knew it. You knew I’d do a Black Friday. Right now, when you’re listening to this, Black Friday is just a few days off. But what I’ve got for you is I have a coffee package, a special coffee package you can go check out at getkion.com. We give over 20% off of your order. I’ve got a recovery bundle that I put together which are very pure amino acids, Kion Flex, which is the most potent super fuel for your joints that you can put into your body. Everything I’ve been able to discover to assist with joint inflammation and recovery is in Kion Flex. Then, we combine that with some very fine pure triglyceride-based fish oil, exactly the same as you’d find in fish in nature packaged with acids and then Vitamin E. That’s our recovery bundle. And that one’s running over 10% off. Then, we also have our daily Kion Life Bundle where you get the aminos, the coffee, the bar, and then my favorite weight management supplement that we have over there, Kion Lean. You get all that.

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The shownotes for today’s podcast, by the way, the shownotes for today’s podcast, you can find at bengreenfieldfitness.com/superhumans. If you want the eBook version of what you’re about to hear, you can get that there, along with any resources that I mentioned. So, that’s bengreenfieldfitness.com/superhumans.

Welcome to the audio recording of Tiny Superhumans, written by Ben Greenfield and narrated by Ben Greenfield.

I have twin boys. Their names are River and Terran. They’re 6 years old. They love to do things like triathlons. They also do Spartan races. They swim 500 meters at a time, run 5ks quite slowly with stops to play in water fountains and balance on curbs, play the piano, act in theatre musicals, cook pad Thai, program LEGO robots, breakdance, and dance overall much better than their father.

Now, whether you have children, you plan on having children, or you know children, the wonderful fact is that you live in this privileged era in which you have the ability to enable the kids in your life to be tiny superhumans who look, feel and perform like optimized human machines. Do you have kids, grandkids, nieces, or nephews? Are you expecting a little one? The fact is if you answered yes to any of those questions, you’re in a unique position to give the child or children in your life every physical and mental advantage possible. I don’t know about you, but I really, really want that for my children. If you don’t want children, you don’t like children, and don’t know any children, then the cool thing is that the same things that make your kids superhuman make you superhuman, too. So, you don’t have to tune out or quit listening if kids are just not your thing.

Now, think about this. Mozart learned to play the piano at the age of four, composed his first piece at age five, and wrote his first symphony at age eight. Picasso, when he was 12, had a complete grasp of the fundamentals of art and was producing photorealistic anatomical sketches. A couple of weeks ago, when my wife and I took our children to an art gallery, there were amazing and intricate sculptures of fish and bears and bighorn sheep created by some man who had spent his entire life studying sculpture. Then, my wife who studied art in college, explained to me that some guy named Bernini was turning out sculptures just like this when he was eight years old. I looked it up and it turns out she was right. It’s amazing. But these folks aren’t special childhood prodigies, idiot savants or some kind of weirdo autistic geniuses. They’re just normal human beings.

In our modern era though, we’ve forgotten how to nurture and grow an amazing human body and mind. We’ve instead settled for a generation that winds up on people of Walmart.com, attached to leashes, chewing on Ritalin. Yikes. Well, let’s begin. Shall we?

So, we’ll start with number one. Let them get dirty. Now, let me ask you a question. Did you eat your own boogers when you were a kid? Well, it turns out we may actually be hardwired to eat our own boogers. An Austrian study, from last year, showed that kid not actually harbors bacteria that when eaten helps to strengthen the body’s own natural immune system. My kids kiss our dogs on the lips, they lick the floor. I’ve seen them to do this at public coffee shops. Of course, that was when they were a baby. They take an actual real bath about once every three days. I have observed them to rip diapers off and eat their own poop and crawl through entire airports. You know what? I don’t really care. See, it’s no coincidence that in our modern era of antibiotics, antibacterial hand soap, bottle boiling and daily bathing, we’re experiencing new and unparalleled occurrences of problems like autoimmunity, autism, ADD, food allergies, leaky gut and obesity in our kids. The reason for this is that a child’s immune system gets stronger when it’s exposed to dirt, germs, bacteria, viruses, and even parasites. So, if you protect your kid from things like animal poop, dirt, farm animals, lots of other kids, and of course, boogers, they don’t develop their immune systems the right way. They grow up more likely to have issues like skin disorders and gut issues and allergies.

Now, on a very related note, I was actually pretty bummed that when we had our twins, my wife got a C-section. And it wasn’t because it ruined her abs, because it didn’t. I have to say that because she might listen to this someday. It’s because babies born via C-section have been proven to have weaker guts, worse immune systems, and lower amounts of good bacteria. This is also why babies who are breastfed develop healthier immune system, since breast milk contained good bacteria that colonize the gut. Incidentally, this is also why if you weren’t breastfed or never shot down your mom’s vagina, you can actually benefit quite a bit from using probiotics, eating fermented foods, and even using a type of supplement called colostrum which comes from animal breast milk. So quick, take a break, go call your mom and ask her if you were breastfed or born vaginally, and then act accordingly.

Now, when I pick up my kids from kid care at the YMCA, I sometimes get strange looks from the other parents because I go out of my way to remind my kids not to use the antibacterial hand soap. That stuff can create nasty superbugs that can actually hurt your kids, so can antibiotics. I, also, only use soap in the shower once every two or three days. The rest of the time, I just rinse with water. Same thing for my kids. Let those dirt and soil-based organisms thrive on your child’s skin. If no-soap showers are just not your thing, then you may be interested in this New York Times report on AOBiome. This is a biotech startup that created a refreshing cosmetic mist which contains billions of cultivated bacteria commonly found in dirt and untreated water. So, now, you can basically pay for an expensive skin cosmetic to get the same thing you’d basically get from rolling around in your lawn.

So, how else can you get your kids dirty? Well, consider that kids who grew up on farms and large families have been shown to have stronger immune systems. So, go get a horse. I’m just kidding, you don’t have to get a horse or chickens, but you should let your kids have pets that they can get down and dirty with, even a dog or a cat or guinea pig or hermit crab or goldfish or snake or tarantula isn’t an option for you, I did have a tarantula when I was a kid, by the way, then, at least let your kids play with as many other kids as possible.

By the way, have you ever eaten natto? It’s this slimy, snotty, gooey fermented soybean mix. Most of them come in this little white cup with an orange Japanese cartoon character on the side. Just the other morning, I walked in on my son, Terran, eating a giant spoonful this natto stuff he had found in a container in the fridge. It appeared he had dumped a little organic ketchup on there. Now, I personally prefer natto with a little white rice and mustard, but to each their own. Natto is a fantastic dirty food. My kids eat lots of other fermented bacteria rich foods too like kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, yogurt, and kombucha. Your kid should do the same, and you should, too. That’s all bacteria. It’s dirty and it’s awesome for you.

So, speaking of eating weird foods, let’s take this one step further. Let your kids eat lots of fat, too. Now, my kids eat bone marrow. Bone marrow is chockfull of healthy fats, DHA, and fat-soluble vitamins, which are all incredibly important for your kids’ brain, hormones, and nervous system. In her book, “Deep Nutrition,” Cate Shanahan, who works with the LA Lakers professional basketball team, outlines four important factors that have been proven to determine beauty and symmetry in facial development of babies and kids. Those four factors are vitamin A, D, E, and K. You know what makes all those vitamins similar? That’s right, they’re all fat-soluble vitamins.

Let’s take Vitamin K2 for example. It keeps kids from getting calcified growth plates. Calcified growth plates will stunt the kids’ growth, but K2 is only found in animal-based fats that kids are rarely eating these days. So, my kids drink bone broth. They eat sardines out of the can and drink the oil. They consume plenty of egg yolks and the grass-fed butter. You know how walnuts are shaped like little brains? Those are also really good for your child’s brain. My kids have a big handful of raw walnuts every morning right before they eat egg, scrambled and bacon fat. So, what should your children not eat and what do I keep my kids away from? Well, they shouldn’t eat egg whites. They shouldn’t eat fat free cereals, and they shouldn’t eat low-fat yogurt. They should eat brain food instead. Incidentally, this is also why I personally test my blood four times a year to make sure my total cholesterol stays above 200, because I know, as author Nora Gedgaudas points out in her book, “Primal Body, Primal Mind,” that cholesterol below 200 is actually associated with low IQ. By the way, kids who have low intake of essential fats also have higher levels of ADD, autism and aggression, but some aggression is actually okay, which leads me to point number three, let your kids fight.

Now, at home, we have this game we play with my kids. It’s called, “takedown.” I get down into a low squat position and then my boys run at me and try to take me down. Another game we play is I lie down on the ground on my stomach and both my boys get on top of me, and my task is I simply have to try to throw them and their friends off and stand up. Then, of course, we play the one where I put the “Rocky III” soundtrack on Pandora Streaming Radio. We just fight for rounds until we’re all exhausted. Anything goes. Although the boys know that if they bite, scratch, claw, or go for any cheap shots, that it hurts Daddy.

Roughhousing and fighting are so, so important for your kids. It teaches them how to adapt quickly to unpredictable situations. It teaches them how to deal with pain and discomfort. Even losing sometimes, especially, if you don’t always let them win, which you shouldn’t do. How about this? Did you know that the amount of roughhousing that kids do actually predicts their achievement in first grade better than their kindergarten score tests do? This is because roughhousing increases levels of something called brain-derived neurotrophic factor or BDNF. That increases neuron growth. Now, you might think that roughhousing would make your kids more violent, but that’s simply not so. It’s actually the opposite. Kids who roughhouse are more socially and emotionally mature than kids who don’t, because they understand the difference between play and aggression, between kindness and hostility, and they learn to stick to the rules of morality better. Roughhousing also makes you bond stronger with your kids because it causes both of you to make more oxytocin which is the same bonding hormone that gets released during things like sex and breastfeeding. Of course, roughhouse can get your kids physically active, which I don’t have to tell you is a huge missing component of kids’ lives these days. That leads me to point number four, which is to let your kids stand a lot.

Now, I have a poster that hangs on the wall of my office called, “Think Outside the Chair.” It comes from this book called, “World Distribution of Postural Habits.” I first learned about this book and this poster when I interviewed a bio-mechanist named Katy Bowman on my bengreenfieldfitness.com podcast. The poster shows you over 50 different positions that you could be in during your work day. It’s like the Kama Sutra of standing workstations. I’m going to try a new position right now while I’m talking. I just switched into a lunging position.

Now, you’ve probably seen the news that sitting is the new smoking and that having your butt planted in a chair for eight plus hours a day, or even for two hours at any given time, is one of the worst things you can do for fat loss and heart health. It actually doesn’t even matter how much you exercise at the end of the day. It just matters how much you got up and around during the day. That happens to be one of the reasons that I’m both standing and lunging as I record this for you.

Well, they’ve done the same research in kids. One study last year gave kids the option of using standing desks for an entire school year. Over 90% of the kids chose to stand and those that did burn nearly 100 extra calories a day. Another study found that totally irrespective of the total time kids spent sitting or standing, the more frequent the breaks in sedentary time, a.k.a. recess, the lower the health risk for everything, weight, blood pressure, blood sugar, bad cholesterol. Everything. So, recess is good so are standing workstations. They make them for kids. Check out websites like Updesk or Focal Upright or Varidesk.

Now, next, let their feet free. When your kids are standing, you might as well let them not be wearing these big overprotective shoes. Now, I’m very uncomfortable when I’m standing around at a party or a social gathering wearing shoes. I don’t like them. As a matter of fact, I avoid shoes, and actually sometimes pants too, when I’m working at home. I’m that guy who sits around writing and recording in my boxers. Now, my kids also rarely wear shoes like ancient tribes’ been or their own dad. They have these ugly calloused tough bulletproof feet, but they play outside, hike, runs, stand, move, and of course, do their hotel gym treadmill prowler workout. That’s running on a treadmill with the motor turned off, all primarily barefoot.

The reason for the importance of letting your child’s feet free is that the shape and density of your kids’ bones are a direct result of the loads and geometry placed on your kid’s body. This means that the way your child’s foot is loaded will affect the lifelong shape of their pelvis, their hips, their knees, their ankles, their back, and even the space in their chest that their lungs are in. This is why kids with poor posture grow up to be adults with poor posture. Kids who haven’t had their bones exposed to a variety of loads like running or lifting or moving object have been shown to have lower bone density later in life. They suffer from flat feet. Pediatric research is now showing that overprotective built up stabilizing modern footwear can interfere with the development of your kid’s foot strength, ankle stability, and movement patterns for the rest of their life. Your child’s foot muscles atrophy and their foot bones degrade.

Now, this is all reversible. Of course, you can’t reverse it in just two weeks by buying Vibram FiveFingers, getting a stress fracture, and then filing a lawsuit which has been done. It takes patience. Most of my clients need one to two years to make a full transition back to developing strong and natural feet if they’ve been wearing cushioned overprotected shoes much of their life. But with kids, things happen faster. Kids can reshape and redevelop foot structure and bones within just three months.

Besides avoiding modern built-up shoes, what else can you do to give your kids superhuman feet? Well, choose shoes that are super flexible or minimalist. Good brands are Vibram, Vivobarefoot, Happy Little Soles, Bobux, Merrell, and Nike Free. Play foot games with your kids to encourage motor skills and healthy foot development, like they can pick up marbles with their feet and put them into a cup. Massage your child’s feet for a few minutes before bedtime. Use Happy Feet socks which are a special kind of sock that spread the toes and strengthens the feet. You can wear these too yourself. If you live near sand, let your kids run and walk in sand which is one of the best ways to both strengthen and stretch the feet.

So, now that your kids are eating boogers, breastfeeding and barefoot, it’s time to kick them outside and walk away. There’s this article that appeared in the Atlantic Magazine called “The Overprotected Kid.” The article goes into and describes this little adventure playground in a housing development in North Wales. There’s no fancy playground structure with a shiny metal slide and a bright red steering wheel and a tic-tac-toe board. There’s no yellow seesaw with a central balance to make sure nobody falls off. There’s no little rubber bucket swing for the babies. There’s basically just some old tires and pieces of wood. There’s a frayed rope swing that carries you over a creek if you can make it that far.

The article talks about how the day the journalist was there researching the article, the kids were mostly playing with an elderly person’s walker that was, at any given time, used as a scooter, a jail cell, and a gymnastics bar. Well, a preoccupation with safety has stripped our kids of independence, risk-taking and discovery. Kids who don’t have a chance to solve their own problems, control their own decisions, and follow this internal moral compass, grow up feeling less in control of their own lives and fate. They don’t learn to, as this author, James Altucher says, “To choose yourself.”

Now, there’s an essay called, “The Play Deficit.” There are movements like free schooling and unschooling. There are books like “Free Range Kids,” “Baby Knows Best,” “Duct Tape Parenting,” “The Kids Will Be Fine,” and other books. They all show how the loss of unstructured free play and a set of strict rigid play and schooling rules has resulted in depression, narcissism, and a loss of creative thinking and empathy in our kids.

Now, I grew up on six acres of land. I was home-schooled. I’ll finish school by 11:00 and then play outside until it literally got dark. My parents never called me in for dinner or came out to find me. I just showed up somehow alive and having learned a heck of a lot about the world around me, about making decisions, solving problems, exerting self-control and following rules set by me and my tribe of friends. Look at me. I’m pretty messed up, but I’m at least still alive and doing what I passionately love, which is mostly still just playing outside.

Now, my kids are now growing up on 10 acres of land. We do the same thing. We just kick them out the door and they go. Their exercise and physical activity aren’t always supervised by a soccer coach and sidelined, and their playground isn’t always lined with fences and that special soft rubber gravel substitute stuff. Of course, we try to make sure there’s no major hazards like mountain lions and bear traps in the general vicinity our kids are playing in, but we also understand that there’s a big difference between avoiding major hazards and having our kids grow up in a protected bubble. See, growing tiny superhumans isn’t about creating perfect kids. It’s about creating resilient, free-thinking, free-spirited kids who can survive in unpredictable situations and who, perhaps, even think beyond the realm of growing up to be a factory worker or drone, completely devoid of creativity.

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Next is let your kids join in. Now, there is this very interesting study done at the University of Essex. In the study, they asked kids to rate how active they thought their parents were. Then, they have those kids complete a test of their own cardio fitness, in this case, a bleep test where a loud bleep sounds, you run about 20 meters, and the bleep sounds again, and you run again. Basically, running back and forth with increasingly shorter recovery times until you’re completely exhausted. What researchers found was that how well a kid did on a bleep test was directly influenced by how active and fit that child perceived their parents to be. In other words, the fitter and more physically active your kid thinks you are, the fitter and more physically active your kid will be.

So, how can you include your kids in your workouts? Well, we do push-ups, bodyweight squats crawls, crab walks, overhead presses and hill sprints with our kids wrapped around our backs, torso, and chests. Obviously, if your child is 15 years old, this may be a fast track to a hernia, but if you’ve got young children, you can simply use them as your weights. They love it, and you get more of that oxytocin released I mentioned earlier too. We play follow-the-leader with our kids, where we’ll go on a hike in the forest or walk in the neighborhood. We use the world as our playground. Balancing on fences, picking up heavy rocks, climbing on obstacles like walls and park benches, carrying each other, crawling, jumping, rolling, walking backwards, walking sideways, and moving in as many fun ways as possible. I even swim with my kids on my back, especially when we’re traveling as a family at these short little hotel pools. Since our kids were born, we’ve also used jogging strollers for uphill sprint repeats and runs and pool kick boards for the kids to kick beside us when we swim laps. We have a local neighborhood family yoga class that we sometimes take our kids to. We drop in for family Zumba at our YMCA. We have mini kettlebells and mini medicine balls at home for the kids to join in our living room workouts. We play tennis at the park and basketball in the backyard. I’m even learning how to breakdance right now with my kids using a breakdance DVD. When it comes to making your kids a part of your workout, the sky’s the limit. If you want to grow tiny superhumans, you must think beyond confining yourself to a treadmill and your mp3 player and doing your workout at 4 a.m. when nobody is watching.

Now, as your kids begin to get dirty, do more unstructured free play, do workouts with you, and sit less, you’re going to find that they, and hopefully you, naturally spend less time on devices, especially electronic devices. This is a good thing. See, every phone has a warning label on it that tells you to keep the distance between the phone and your body at a few inches, in most cases. It’s why my phone is either always an airplane mode or, if I’m using it, hooked up to a special kind of headset called an AirTube headset. It’s also, why based on the absorption of a cell phone signal through a child’s skull being twice that of an adult skull, that I take special steps to ensure I’m not frying my kids from neural degradation, to insomnia cancer and ADD. There are thousands of studies on electromagnetic fields or EMF’s, particularly with regard to children’s health, from smartphones, to Wi-Fi routers, to computers, to game consoles, to smart meters, to microwaves, television and cell towers. EMF’s can be prevalent in just about every aspect of your child’s life. You know what’s scary? Kids absorb far more EMF than adults because their body has a higher water content, which makes them more conductive to radiation. They’ve also got thinner skulls, a growing brain and rapidly dividing cells, making them all the more susceptible to damage.

At our house, we have dirty electricity filters plugged into each room of the house. We have electrical kill switches installed in every bedroom of the house. We don’t use our microwave ever. We play outside instead of using gaming consoles like Wii and PlayStation. Our kids don’t use smart phones, iPads or laptops. We won’t be introducing these until they understand the importance of keeping devices clear of their ears, heads, and the little growing gonads in their laps. It’s funny because I tell people we have a completely stupid home, the opposite of a smart home. There are almost zero wireless signals or Bluetooth signals. As a matter of fact, right now, while I’m talking to you, my wireless router is unplugged and I’m instead hard-wired into the router. This quiet stupid little home is also very important for another thing that’s crucial for creating a tiny superhuman, sleep.

Let your kids sleep. Every night, week after week, month after month, year after year, we have the same bedtime routine in our house. Our kids put on pajamas. They brush their teeth using fluoride-free toothpaste, of course, and then we snuggle up in their bed and I read them a story. We each list one thing we’re grateful for and, finally, I sing and play them a song on my guitar. For that bedtime routine, there’s no blaring television, no phones, no iPads, no bright lights, and no other such melatonin disruptors.

Occasionally, the kids will even come curl up in my bed where I have a full body warming red light bulb. That’s actually one of the best little $10 sleep-packing investments you’ll ever make for your own sleep quality.

Sleep is when your cells and your nervous systems repair. That’s why I geek out on sleep so much. It’s when memories form and the day’s important lessons are cemented. So, by cutting down on sleep, you’ll learn less, you develop less, you’re less bright, you make worse decisions, you accomplish less, you’re less productive, you’re more prone to errors, and you undermine you and your children’s true intellectual potential. Sadly, a kid sleeps an average of an hour less a night than they did 30 years ago. A big part of this is our post-industrial infatuation with productivity. We think it’s okay to use an alarm clock to cut sleep short, okay to work in shifts, okay to travel people, including kids, around the world through multiple time zones and assume their body just bounces right back, okay to save time by sleeping less and working more, okay to pull kids out of bed in time for school. It’s even been shown that daylight savings time, designed by our government to save energy and fuel, actually alters your child’s fragile internal body clock twice a year. That results in lower S.A.T. scores compared to states like Arizona, which observes standard time all year long.

Probably, the worst part of all these is that little kids around the world are woken up early in the morning to go to school to learn. Not only do these kids get stressed and cranky, but their immune systems get undermined and their growth is blunted. Some sleep researchers who understand this problem are now trying to battle the establishment for more school schedules that allow kids to go to school one or two hours later. I realize that a giant groan is growing in the throats of those of you who would rather not have your kids still be hanging around your house at 8 a.m. in the morning. But, my optimistic prediction is that sooner or later, government school authorities and parents will realize that late bedtimes due to overloading with homework and the use of an alarm clock to rip kids from their beds, contradicts the very goals of education. So, if you want your kids to become superhuman, then let them sleep.

Finally, let your kid relax. Have you ever been laying next to your spouse or significant other at night and just felt like something wasn’t quite right? You felt the energy in the room was just off, or maybe you had hot crazy wild sex and everything seemed so right. It’s like you’re one. It’s like your hearts are beating in rhythm. Well, the amazing thing is that your hearts, literally, are synched.

See, your heart is the most powerful generator of electromagnetic energy in your entire body. Your heart’s electrical field is 60 times bigger than your brain’s. Your heart is also connected to your brain via something called the vagus nerve. This means that your heart signal can directly affect other people’s hearts, their brains, their mood, and their entire body. This also means that an intimate connection of heart-brain synchronization can occur between two people or even between a person and an animal. Your heart’s electrical field extends out in all directions in space around you and it touches anyone or anything with an 8 to 10 feet of where you’re sitting right now.

So, just imagine you’re playing at home with your kid and imagine that your heart is racing, you’re stressed, you’re running from a lion that’s jumping out from your email inbox, rushing around the house with your phone clutched to your neck and hurriedly trying to make dinner all at the same time. Well, your child feels that. It affects them. Your heart signal has a direct impact on your children’s stress levels. This stress affects their brain long-term.

That’s why every morning, before I get out of bed, the first thing I do is measure something called heart rate variability, which is a direct quantification of the heart’s electrical rhythms and gives you instant feedback of whether you have a healthy balance between your fight and flight nervous system and your rest and digest nervous system. If my heart is out of balance, I don’t get out of bed until I fix it, because I know it affects my family, my kids. It even affects my dog. If I find myself engaged in shallow chest breathing or irritable or moody or rushed or stressed during the work day, I stopped again and fix the imbalance. I have a home office and I know that if I’m stressed and if my children are in the vicinity, they can instantly sense that without me saying a thing. It’s just the way us, humans, are wired.

Do you want to know how to instantly fix stress and bring your heart’s electrical rhythms back into balance? Well, it’s done via something called the Quick Coherence Technique. You can easily teach it to your kids, and I’ll teach it to you right now. Do you want to learn it?

Okay, let’s do this. Close your eyes. Okay, good.

Now, with your eyes closed, breathe, deep nasal breathing, deep from your belly. First, focus your attention on the area around your heart, the area in the center of your chest. If you want, you can place your hand over the center of your chest to help keep your attention in your heart area. If you’re teaching this to that kids in your life, have them put their hands on their heart. It’s important that you teach your children to feel their heart and know right where it’s physically located.

Now, imagine that your breath is coming in and out through your heart area. Just find that natural breathing rhythm that feels good to you. Every breath is coming in and out through that heart area, every breath of oxygen feeding right into your heart.

Next, think of a positive feeling. Let’s be even more specific. Think of a child in your life, your son, your daughter, your niece, your nephew, your grandkid. Imagine their face, their laughs, their smile. Imagine their soft hair up against your cheeks as you snuggle them. Hold them tight. Feel their smooth skin. Let those positive emotions wash over you and breathe those emotions, feel those emotions going straight into your heart.

Now, when you’re ready, open your eyes. What you’ve just learned you can do anytime, anyplace. You can teach yourself to achieve that feeling within just 10 seconds. It’s the most powerful stress-reducing, relaxation technique I can give you. And better yet, if you take just one thing from this recording, go to the child in your life and teach that technique to them. Give them that gift and they will become superhuman and I hope you will, too. Thanks for listening.

Tiny Superhumans…

Whether you have kids, plan on having kids, or know kids, you live in a privileged era in which you have the ability to enable the kids in your life to be tiny superhumans who look, feel, think and perform like optimized human beings, and you’re about to hear exactly how.

Mozart learned to play the piano at the age of four, composed his first piece at age five and wrote his first symphony at age eight. Pablo Picasso, when he was just twelve, had an astonishing grasp of the fundamentals of art and was producing photo-realistic anatomical sketches. Giovanni Bernini was churning out intricate, life-like stone sculptures at only eight years old.

But these folks aren’t special childhood prodigies, idiot savants, or some kind of unique autistic geniuses.

These are normal human beings.

Sadly, in our modern era, we’ve forgotten how to nurture and grow an amazing human body and mind and instead settled for a generation of kids that wind up on peopleofwalmart.com – attached to leashes and chewing on Ritalin.

The fact is, we have the capability to enable the children in our lives to become tiny superhumans and grow up with optimized physical and mental capabilities.

But unfortunately, it’s very easy to make parenting and teaching mistakes that create a host of issues in children, including lack of proper muscle and brain growth, immune system weakness, low IQ, stunted growth, obesity, depression, attention deficit disorder, social anxiety, and other frustrating problems that parents now accept as all-too-common.

In today’s podcast, I’m giving you the entire recording of my 2014 book “10 Ways To Grow Tiny Superhumans“.

In it, you’ll learn things like:

-Cutting-edge research on how birth methods, bacteria, dirt, germs, farms, pets, and families make a life-long impression on a child’s immune system…9:00

We’re actually hard-wired to eat our own boogers; strengthens our immune systems.

Babies born via c-section have lower health quality than natural born.

Colostrum is important.

Dirt isn’t necessarily dirty.

Natto. Tastes terrible, but it’s great for you and your kids.

-Why the modern paradigm of low-fat food is one of the worst dietary practices possible for a growing child’s brain and nervous system…13:10

You want lots of fat; my kids eat lots of bone broth.

You want them to eat “brain food.” 

Total cholesterol below 200 is associated with low IQ.

-How to foster an ideal combination of play, healthy competitiveness and a desire to succeed in a child through strategies such as roughhousing and wrestling…15:05

Roughhousing teaches to deal with unpredictable situations; how to lose gracefully; how to deal with pain.

People who roughhouse are more socially mature.

Stronger bond with your kids; releases more oxytocin.

Gets them more physically active.

-Ways to enable your child to spend more time on their feet and wearing the proper footwear – two important decisions that will affect their posture for life…16:50

“Think outside the chair.”

Standing workstations for kids.

Rarely wear shoes.

Kids with poor posture have poor posture as adults.

Overprotective modern footwear inhibits foot health for life. (check out minimalist footwear from Vibram, Merrell, etc.)

Kids can reshape and restructure bones in just a few months.

Choose flexible shoes. Foot games to develop motor skills.

Massage feet; happy feet socks.

-How to immerse your child in healthy and safe forms of unstructured free play that enables kids to solve their own problems, control their own decisions, and follow an internal moral compass…21:09

Preoccupation with safety has stripped our kids of independence, risk-taking and discovery.

Feel less in control of their own fate.

Free schooling, unschooling

Recommended books: Duct Tape Parenting, Baby Knows Best, Free Range Kids

We’re not creating perfect kids; we’re creating kids who can’t think for themselves.

-Creative methods of exercise and fitness that make your children a part of the process…26:50

Use your kids as weights while you workout.

Play “follow the leader”

Jogging strollers.

-What modern electronics can do to a child’s developing brain and body, and how you can protect a child without completely unplugging or disconnecting them from technology…29:00

Air Tube Headset

EMFs hazardous to children’s health. Kids absorb more EMF than adults.

We have a “stupid” home.

-How to enhance a child’s sleep cycles, decrease stress, increase relaxation and even optimize brain waves…31:15

Have a bedtime routine.

Kids sleep an hour less than they did 30-40 years ago.

Lose sleep to go to school.

-Everything necessary to nurture and grow an amazing young human’s body and mind…33:45

Your child feels your stress levels; hearts are synced.

Measure heart rate variability (HRV) (Listen to my recent podcast with Will Ahmed, founder of WHOOP about this.)

Quick Coherence Technique

-And more!

Episode Sponsors:

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Ask Ben a Podcast Question

Source: https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/transcripts/transcript-raise-tiny-superhumans/

[learnhowtosway]

Lately

Best friends visited us and we went to Chubby's Jamaican for brunch. The chicken in their chicken and waffles were quite good, but I had their "eggs bennie man" with a unique and delicious peppery hollandaise sauce. We went on a stroll and followed up with some ice cream that's probably one of my least favourite in the city. I always see posts and people going there, but maybe it was the vegan flavours that people raved about because I could not imagine returning there. I would have brought my friends to way better places in my neighbourhood. Don and I do not hang out downtown anymore. I mean, sure, unless there is a specific spot we want to check out, but we don't go out of our way to be downtown. I've gone to school and worked downtown for years and so it's kind of been there done that with regards to certain areas.

I mentioned that I had the most perfect beach day recently and it is not an exaggeration. E invited us to go to Awenda Park which is now a new favourite. The beach was more secluded, intimate and, therefore, charming to me. The weather that day was 25 degrees, sunny, zero humidity, with a breeze - my definition of a perfect summer day. We had a delicious spread of chicken sandwiches, pasta salad, cheese platter and peach lemonade with prosecco, which somehow gave me a buzz. Probably in conjuction with being a little worn out from all the time I spent in the water. Boogie boarding is actually a work out! Anyway, I already want to return. The canopy in the park is absolutely beautiful and there is another tranquil lake where people go kayaking and canoeing. Unfortunately, the kayak and canoe rentals were only available for people who were camping in the park, so I guess we'll just have to do that another day and hopefully sooner rather than later.

Took A for the first time at the Toronto Flower Market. The peony season lasted all the way to July and I could not pass up a bouquet. Then we went to Madame Boeuf for burgers and beer in the afternoon. It's totally my kind of spot, lesser known, with walls decorated with funky posters of bands and musicians. We played a game of cornhole for fun - the rules of which we did not actually know. But I can say I got the hang of it and have a decent aim. There was a heatwave that day so we couldn't stand to stay out too long before heading back to my place in the comfort of blasted a/c. We decided to watch A Star is Born, which we both had not yet seen. I know, I am so late to the game but I just adore Judy Garland's version so I clearly did not rush into seeing it. I thought it was good, but nothing extraordinary which may be an unpopular opinion. I can appreciate why it got "snubbed" for certain awards. Finally, we managed to sneak in a meal at my favourite sushi spot before a downpour, which was much needed. We were supposed to do work that day, aka continue to job hunt for myself, but that didn't go as planned. There wasn't much job postings that called to me anyway.

Speaking of work, it is past 3:30 am as I am typing this during my night shift. I am trying to be positive about having this job, but the casual life is not for me in that I have to be "on call". Is that weird? I guess the best way to describe it is that I like to plan which requires me to know my schedule. Yes, you still get called in if needed regardless if you are part time or full time, but for the most part at least I know how my weeks/months will look like. It's definitely the type A personality in me that is bothered by this. But I am also very self aware in that I should just get over it. Anyway, I think that I would feel much better if I got another part time job to supplement this job. Also, I have only been scheduled night shifts thus far and each different coworker has their own way of scheduling breaks. So tonight, I misunderstood my coworker and woke her up about 10 minutes too soon at 2:50 am thinking I had given her extra time because I thought she was supposed to be back at 2:30 am. Oy vey. Anyway, another reason why I thought she was supposed to be back at that time/earlier is that I was alone on the floor for two hours (1 am to what was supposed to be 3 am) yet when she comes back, the nurse who floats from the south unit to our unit would be accompanying her. So that didn't seem fair. When I worked with other people, we had the same amount of time being solo. I don't know, maybe I am disoriented and misunderstood everything completely. That's night shift for ya. Ps. I left my very nice water bottle here during my previous shift and, lo and behold, it is nowhere to be found. Just awesome.

[captainlenfan]

New Post has been published on http://websiteshop.network/episode-433-qa-with-robb-and-nicki-26/

Episode 433 – Q&A with Robb and Nicki #26

http://robbwolf.com/2019/06/21/episode-433-qa-with-robb-and-nicki-26/

We’re back on a roll with Episode 433, Q&A #26!

Submit your own questions for the podcast at: https://robbwolf.com/contact/submit-a-question-for-the-podcast/

If you want to see the video for this podcast, be sure to check out our YouTube channel.

  Show Notes:

1. Enzymes and IBS? [3:32]

Ken says:

Talk to us about enzymes Robb. I’ve played with alot of different things over the years to help with IBS issues. For a long time I was devoted to probiotics but I never found any real consistent results with them. I took a stool test a year or so ago and discovered that literally none of the strains of probiotics I had so diligently taken (and paid for) were significantly present. Along the way anti fungals and anti parasitic medication (Dr Rx’d) helped calm the fire down below but it was enzymes that seem to seem to have made the final difference for me. Not only is the fire largely out I’ve really not had to keep up with taking enzymes like I did with probiotics. To be fair to probiotics they seem to help in the moment but I get the sense you have to take them daily which does not seem to be the case with enzymes. I should mention I know several people that have had the same experience with probiotics and enzymes. My question then is what is the mechanism at work? I get that enzymes help break down foods but why would that help with IBS symptoms and furthermore why would those symptoms be largely gone after only 6 months or so of using them but not taking them daily even?

  2. Squat Pooping and Toilet Training [10:42]

Terrence says:

Hey Robb and Nicki!

Loving the new Q&A format! You have done such a great job educating the public on what to put in one end of their bodies that I want to take a moment to talk about how to get the most out of what comes out the other end!

I am a first-time dad of a now 16-month-old, so that means we’re starting to approach potty training. As we all know, the “natural, paleo way” of pooping is getting into that deep squat and letting fly. It’s so obvious to me that this is the way we’re meant to poop. I see it every morning: my little girl suddenly stops playing with her toys and drops into that ass-to-grass squat that my jiujitsu hips will never do again. By the time that thousand-yard stare creeps into her eyes, I’ve already got one hand on my SLS-free baby wipes.

Every parent has seen that, and yet every parent in this hemisphere insists on trying to get their kid going from this squat position to sitting on a porcelain platform with his/her feet dangling. The toddler naturally resists with a, “what the hell do you expect me to do from here?” look. Frustration ensues, but poop doesn’t. It seems like transitioning our toddlers from diapers to seated toilets is yet another mismatch of nature in our modern civilization.

For adults, it’s easy to make a homemade platform or buy a Squatty Potty / similar product. But what’s the plan for tots? I’ve considered setting up a kitty litter box in the bathroom. The mother-in-law is almost certainly going to lose her shit (heh heh) but maybe that’s the price of being the world’s #2 Dad!

Would love to hear your Paleo Poop Solution for how we are Wired to Shit.

-Terrence

  3. Travel Eating Tips? [14:30]

Luiza says:

Got your masterclass and it was paramount for the achievement of the keto sunset. 8 weeks in, 15 lbs down and I feel amazing!

However I am quite a foodie and will be heading to Paris for 10 days in June to vacation with my brother and dad. I will be staying at a hotel and definitely don’t wanna miss out on real French croissants or pastries… I also am from Brazil and while I can tell the benefits of keto long term, I would not be able to go visit and skip out of eating fruits, which is most of my diet while I’m down there.

so question: Should I still try my best to keep up with calories/macro count while traveling and/or supplement with exogenous ketones (do they even work?) or should I not worry about it until I get back home? Am I gonna feel absolutely awful while getting back on carbs? On that note, maybe I should re-introduce carbs before I even go?

Appreciate your guidance on the issue.

  4. BJJ + Recurring Staph Infections [18:39]

Sam says:

Dear Robb + Nicki,

Over the last 12 year period, I’ve made numerous attempts to train BJJ–each attempt ending in a staph infection. My first time was about 12 years ago, where I got a good year of training in. This was punctuated by a pretty bad staph infection that flared back up a few more times shortly after. 8 years later, I went for it again…this time getting a staph infection after one week of training. Most recently, I got 6 months in before getting another. As you can imagine, every doctor I’ve ever talked to thinks I just need more antibiotics, or that I have some secret colony of staph living in my nose. This approach has obviously not been successful for me. It also fails to address why I only get them while training, and never in the periods in between. While hygiene may have been to blame the first time, I was pretty careful the last two times, even if it wasn’t 100% perfect. I had a funky sleep schedule before my most recent occurrence, which I think may have contributed. Some more details for you…I’m 33, in good shape, otherwise healthy, eat well, and sleep well. I’ve always lifted weights outside of BJJ but nothing crazy in terms of volume. My question for you is: If this was happening to you, where would you start? What would you be looking at? I have considered seeing a functional medicine practitioner as I’ve wondered if there are some bigger picture immune issues at play. I appreciate any thoughts you have on this– I don’t want my BJJ career to be over so soon. Thanks!

Notes: https://www.defensesoap.com/

  5. Adult Autism – Should I Go Keto? [23:51]

Alex says:

Hi Nicki and Robb,

I’m 29 and was diagnosed as on the autism spectrum just two years ago. This would have been considered as asperger’s in the past. I’ve been primarily paleo (ice cream is really good) for the better part of six years, but after running my DNA through Found My Fitness, I’m wanting to address my dietary choices from a more personalized approach, including finding the most optimal choices to address some of the occasional stressors I feel associated with being on the spectrum – anxiety, depression, and general cognitive/mood disregulation.

The most researched dietary intervention seems to be a gluten free, dairy free diet, with a few studies looking into keto. However, each study I’ve seen is only looking at kids as the subjects and typically with more severe symptoms than what I experience. Keto seems to be a promising approach, but is there any reason why this would be different for an adult? I tried keto for about a month a year ago but immediately found my cognitive performance drop. While I know my macro amounts were appropriate (used ketogains calculator), I know now that I didn’t incorporate the electrolyte component. Could this account for my initial struggles with it? Is there anything else someone on the spectrum should consider when attempting keto? Supplements, macro ratios, etc.? I’ll include more details about me below, but thank you for your time in reading question and all of your work.

Alex

29 years old

6′ 4”, 240 lbs

CrossFit 3-4x per week

Sleep 6-7 hours a night (we have a 1 year old that thinks the day begins at 3:30am)

Polymorphisms of concern from FoundMyFitness: MTHFR (which seems to be common in those on the spectrum), FTO (multiple SNPs), APEO3/4 (multiple SNPs)

Live in Minnesota where sun exposure is only frequent enough where your skin doesn’t freeze

    Where you can find us:

  Submit questions for the podcast: https://robbwolf.com/contact/submit-a-question-for-the-podcast/

  Transcript:

Download a copy of the transcript here (PDF)

Nicki: Hey, Hubs

Robb: Welcome back, wife. What’s new? What’s exciting? We’re living in the Arctic of Reno

Nicki: I know. It’s been a really, really long, drawn-out spring going into summer. It’s cold.

Robb: The White King is dead. Winter should be ending, but it’s not.

Nicki: Winter is still here.

Robb: Yup. Did you want to fill people in on anything, or do you just want to jump in?

Nicki: If you want, sure, what we’re thinking of doing.

Robb: Sure. Well, no, you do it.

Nicki: Well, we have decided that we are going to be moving to Texas.

Robb: You gonna be oblique about where so nobody can find us? We had a crazy story. Zoe was only a couple of days old…

Nicki: I don’t know what crazy story you’re telling.

Robb: …that, when the people showed up at our front door?

Nicki: Oh. Yeah.

Robb: Yeah. So, a little bit of background, and I’m sorry, if you don’t give two shits about this, just fast forward a little. A really close friend of ours had just had this super gnarly identity theft thing go on where somebody found out that they were out of town, they forwarded their mail… It was super, super messed up-

Nicki: Yeah.

Robb: …and so we were kind of a little on edge from that.

Nicki: So, that was one week before, and then we had Zoe. She was super young. I was, like, nursing in the back room.

Robb: This was day four or five and we were completely sleep deprived, like, out of your head and you’re legitimately insane at this point.

Nicki: Uh-huh (affirmative).

Robb: And, somebody had pinged Squatchy, and they’re like, “Hey, I want to send Robb one of these exercise mobility ball things or something like that, and so Squatchy had given them our home address, and, lo and behold, somebody knocks on the door-

Nicki: (laughs)

Robb: and I show up at the door just disheveled and exhausted, and there are these people I’ve never met before with this little rubber ball. They’re like-

Nicki: They’re like, “Oh, we had a wedding to go to and so we were driving through, so we thought we would just personally deliver it.” (laughs)

Robb: And so, after that, we got a P.O. box. And, it’s not that we hide our location, but I’ve had a few, kind of wacky threats from the crazy vegans and stuff like that. We have kids and so, yeah. So, we’ll be… it’s central Texas. Yeah, we’re looking at central Texas.

Nicki: Hill country Texas.

Robb: Hill country Texas.

Nicki: But, not Austin.

Robb: But, not Austin. Yeah. All the cool kids can go there. We’re going somewhere else. So, anyway, yeah, we’re looking at moving so the podcast may be a little hit and miss. We’re trying to bank some of these-

Nicki: Yeah, but-

Robb: …so that we stay on top of that but, yeah.

Nicki: Yeah. So.

Robb: That’s our preamble on that, or our pre-ramble.

Nicki: Pre-ramble. All right. We’ll jump in then.

Robb: Okay. Cool.

Nicki: So our first question is on enzymes and IBS from Ken, and he says, “Robb, talk to us about enzymes. I’ve played with a lot of different things over the years to help with IBS issues and, for a long time, I was devoted to probiotics, but I never found any real, consistent results with them. I took a stool test a year or so ago and discovered that literally none of the strains of probiotics I had so diligently taken and paid for were significantly present. Along the way, anti-fungals and anti-parasitic medication, doctor-prescribed, helped calm the fire down below, but it was enzymes that seemed to have made the final difference for me.

Nicki: Not only is the fire largely out, I’ve really not had to keep up with taking enzymes like I did with probiotics. To be fair to probiotics, they seem to help in the moment, but I get the sense you have to take them daily, which does not seem to be the case with enzymes. I should mention I know several people that have had the same experience with probiotics and enzymes, and my question is, what is the mechanism at work? I get that enzymes help break down foods, but why would that help with IBS symptoms and, furthermore, why would those symptoms be largely gone after only six months or so of using them, but not taking them even daily?”

Robb: Yeah, it’s really interesting stuff. When I was at the UCSF conference that Akil Palanisamy puts on each year, really amazing event. Doctor Datis Kharrazian was there, and this guy is so smart. Chiro and also a Ph.D in Immunology, I think, from Harvard, so kind of… D.C., Ph.D guy, and he’s a real, legit gut health expert, and really on the… how do you fix things clinically. And, he did an amazing breakdown of this whole story, and he relies heavily on things like betaine hydrochloride, apple cider vinegar, which I have shifted to using capsules because, when I would do the apple cider vinegar shots, it was dissolving my teeth, which it has a tendency to do, and butyrate.

Robb: So, what’s going on on that in kind of a multi-factorial story is that the enzymes in improving the acid content of the stomach while you’re eating food… if you break everything down into its constituent parts, and we’re really concerned about the proteins in this story, and proteins, whether it’s from animal sources or plant sources, if they hit the gut lining as single amino acids or dipeptides, which is about the ideal scenario, there’s really not immunogenic substance, then. There’s not the problematic proteins that can irritate the gut and cause the motility issues that kind of typify IBS. And then, he recommended the butyrate because the butyrate tends to help fix the gap junction issues within the gut in kind of a primary indirect fashion.

Robb: So, when a healthy gut, assuming that an individual is eating some fermented, fermentable fiber and all that type of stuff, would get butyrate and propionate and malonate and these different short-chain fats, that improve gap junction function, and then, in theory, a healthy gut, people are robustly digesting all of their food, including the proteins, and also the carbohydrates that should be digested early in the process versus, you know, if we have poor digestion, those carbohydrates can make their way intact into later portions of the digestion, which is kind of where SIBO and all that stuff pops up.

Robb: So, that’s kind of the mechanism there, and it makes a lot of sense, and what’s interesting about that, it’s a little bit reminiscent… the gut health topic and the microbiome topic is really interesting, and I think when we’ve talked about this a couple of times before, but clearly the gut microbiome and gut health is critical. But, we don’t really know yet, I think in general, what to do about it.

Robb: About fifty percent… Most of the studies you look at, Doctor Ruscio has talked about this… a hundred people take a probiotic formula, about half of the people show improvements, half the people don’t. Some of the don’ts actually get worse. So, it’s very hit and miss in that regard, and also the probiotics generally are not intended to be repopulating the gut. They’re actually intended to kind of tune the immune system, although some work from the Sonnenberg Lab suggests that the process of putting these gut microbes from probiotics through this system actually creates a more amenable environment for you to get other organisms from the environment that should be taking up residence there, and… really interesting stuff.

Robb: But, the point being that… if we look at people who have had different forms of ileostomies, like, basically having their intestines, to varying degrees removed, these people don’t live shorter, worser lives than people with all of that real estate. And this is despite whatever injury or illness caused that scenario.

Robb: So, on the one had, clearly the gut microbiome and gut health is really important, but it seems, in my mind… my kind of take on this, is it’s really, really important to either function well or, if pathology has occurred, then we need to somehow address the pathology, because, clearly, just removing that real estate, it makes all the notion of, well, fiber is critical to health and all this stuff. It really kind of casts an interesting light on it, so, in the scenario of really augmenting frontal digestion with enzymes and potentially, again, apple cider vinegar or some other acid sources, that would appear to really fix a lot of problems because we’re breaking the food down and there isn’t the large proteins that are potentially immunogenically stimulating.

Robb: So, that’s what’s going on both on the probiotics side and, most likely, on the enzyme side. It is intriguing to me that you can get by with this with intermittent use instead of needing to be really consistent. But also, even though the IBS had gone on apparently for some significant period of time, he maybe only needs to kind of pulse that whole process. Because it is interesting, too, once the gut heals, then cholecystokinin release is more normalized, and acid secretions are more normalized. We know that H. pylori suppresses acid production, ironically, even though it’s associated with peptic ulcers, but it tends to suppress acid production in the stomach to foster a more amenable environment for the H. pylori. So, sometimes if we move out the… if we change the gut microbiome in a favorable way, then it just actually gets a little bit of a feed forward mechanism going and it just generally functions better. So, yeah.

Nicki: All right. Our next question is from Terrence on squat pooping and toilet training. Terrence says, “Hey Robb and Nicki, loving the new Q and A format. You’ve done such a great job educating the public on what to put in one end of their bodies that I want to take a moment to talk about how to get the most out of what comes out the other end.

Nicki: I’m a first-time dad of a now-sixteen-month-old, so that means we’re starting to approach potty training. As we all know, the natural Paleo way of pooping is getting into that deep squat and letting fly. So obvious to me that this is the way we’re meant to poop. I see it every morning: my little girl suddenly stops playing with her toys and drops into that ass-to-grass squat that my jiu jitsu hips will never do again. By the time that thousand-yard stare creeps into her eyes, I’ve already got one hand on my SLS-free baby wipes. (laughs)

Nicki: Every parent has seen that and yet every parent in this hemisphere insists on trying to get their kid going from this squat position to sitting on a porcelain platform with his or her feet dangling. The toddler naturally resists with a, ‘What the hell do you expect me to do from here?’ look, and frustration ensues, but poop doesn’t.

Nicki: Seems like transitioning your toddlers from diapers to seated toilets is yet another mismatch of nature in our modern civilization. For adults, it’s easy to make a homemade platform, or buy a Squatty Potty, or similar product, but what’s the plan for tots? I’ve considered setting up a kitty litter box in the bathroom. (laughs) Mother-in-law is almost certainly going to lose her shit, (laughs) but maybe that’s the price of being the World’s Number Two Dad.” (laughs)

Robb: (laughs)

Nicki: Terrence, that’s hilarious. “Would love to hear your Paleo poop solution for how we are wired to shit.”

Robb: Terrence definitely gets Best Question of the Podcast History Award.

Nicki: He gets… yeah.

Robb: I don’t know, I mean… the first thought that pops in my mind is, “This is a great product opportunity for Terrence to get in and try to address.

Nicki: You know what’s interesting is other countries have… you do squat.

Robb: Right.

Nicki: I remember traveling to Turkey when I was nineteen, and even Italy, I think, they have some toilets like this, where it’s a hole in the ground, it’s porcelain, then there’s a little spot for your feet, but you actually squat. And, it flushes, but you’re not sitting on anything.

Robb: So, yeah.

Nicki: I’m sure you can order these toilets and have them installed in your home. [laughs]

Robb: Right. Can we do that with our new house?

Nicki: We can look into it.

Robb: Look into that. Yeah, I mean, we saw this same phenomena go down, and there is pretty clear literature suggesting that pooping not in a squat… you get a little bit of, like, fecal backflow because we’re supposed to have a valsalva maneuver, and… so, yeah, this is another one of the things that… you know, it’s so interesting, some of the articles on this, is, suggests that a lot of what we characterize as kind of normal GI dysfunction is a consequence of the way that we’re pooping, but that’s just so endemic that it’s kind of a problem hidden in plain sight. The researchers generally never even ask the question, “Well, if I change my position and was in a more, you know, I guess it’s not orthopedically, like, poop-opedically aligned position that, you know, this stuff would be addressed.

Robb: But, yeah, I’ve wanted the pit toilet for a while.

Nicki: Yeah, it’s just a square, porcelain thing-

Robb: And it still flushes and does all that stuff, yeah.

Nicki: …that sits in the ground with a hole, just like a normal toilet bowl hole, with little grooves for your shoes, and you just squat, and it has a flush.

Robb: Well, let’s look into that.

Nicki: (laughs) Okay.

Robb: (laughs) Terrence, we’ll keep you posted if we find one of those in the new digs, we’ll send you info on it. But, really good question, and it’s interesting, and this is another one of these things that we get our kids started off not on the right foot with a lot of stuff. Yeah.

Nicki: All right. Let’s see. Our next question is from Luiza on falling off the wagon. She says, “I got your masterclass and it was paramount for the achievement of the keto sunset. Eight weeks in, fifteen pounds down, and I feel amazing. However, I’m quite a foodie, and will be heading to Paris for ten days in June to vacation with my brother and dad. I will be staying at a hotel and definitely don’t want to miss out on real French croissants or pastries. I also am from Brazil, and while I can tell the benefits of keto long-term, I would not be able to go visit and skip out on eating fruit, which is most of my diet while I’m down there.

Nicki: So, my question: should I still try my best to keep up with the calories and macro count while traveling, and/or supplement with exogenous ketones? Do they even work? Or, should I not worry about it until I get back home? And, am I going to feel absolutely awful while getting back on carbs? On that note, maybe I should reintroduce carbs before I go. I appreciate your guidance on the issue.”

Robb: So, maybe we’ll start from the back and then work forward. Are you going to feel awful going back on carbs? I have no idea.

Nicki: Depends on-

Robb: …it just depends, person-to-person. I don’t know, I go back and forth on this. On the one hand, I guess a really minimal tweak to what you’re doing and still being able to enjoy all that you have to experience there, try to make sure you hit your protein minimum. That just seems to be so important for not overeating, whether we’re on a low-carb or a low-fat diet. So, by hook or by crook, just make sure that you get your protein in. If you’re in Brazil, then eat all the fruit, but make sure that you’re getting plenty of protein with the fruit. When you’re eating your croissant, make sure that you don’t forgo the eggs and-

Nicki: Sausage and whatever.

Robb: …sausage and all that type of stuff. And, a little bit of portion control… I mean, the challenge, or the benefit, of keto is that we’re removing the carb-fat combo, and that’s where it becomes challenging for people to maintain normal appetite control. Again, adequate protein is really going to help with that, but… So-

Nicki: So, in Brazil, should she do protein and fruit, and skip any additional fat?

Robb: Yes.

Nicki: And in Paris, she could do protein and don’t put butter on her French croissants and pastries.

Robb: Maybe a little bit, but yeah.

Nicki: Yeah, try to-

Robb: Just don’t go crazy on it. Yeah.

Nicki: …I think there’s a lot of butter in them already-

Robb: Right.

Nicki: …when they make them, but trying to minimize the fat if she’s going to increase her carbs.

Robb: Yeah, yeah, to some degree. And, as to the exogenous ketones, exogenous ketones are great, but the point isn’t necessarily to take a ketone supplement to paper over other dietary concerns, unless we’re really tackling that from a neurodegenerative perspective, or something like that. So, I mean, I don’t really see the exogenous ketones being a huge boon in this scenario.

Robb: If you like them, some people do notice that they do get some appetite regulation by dropping in a scoop of the exogenous ketones or the MCTs. There’s one study that suggests a carb-rich breakfast plus MCTs caused people to then… and also, I’ve got to say they ate adequate protein in this, too, so it wasn’t just carbs and MCT. It was a good whack of protein, some standard carb intake, but then adding MCT in, what they noticed over time, was that these folks tended to eat fewer calories overall throughout the day.

Nicki: Hm.

Robb: And Chris Masterjohn did a nice unpacking of this, and so… That might work that similarly with the exogenous ketones. We don’t have a study on that yet. There is one reasonably well-performed study that suggests that MCT powder or MCT oil does that.

Nicki: Okay. Well, have fun, Luiza. That sounds like a really fun summer.

Robb: I wouldn’t mind that. Yeah.

Nicki: Okay. Let’s see. Our next question is from Sam on BJJ and recurring staph infections.

Nicki: “Dear Robb and Nicki, over the last twelve-year period, I’ve made numerous attempts to train BJJ, each attempt ending in a staph infection. My first time was about twelve years ago, where I got a good year of training in, which was punctuated by a pretty bad staph infection that flared back up a few more times shortly after. Eight years later, I went for it again, this time getting a staph infection after one week of training. Most recently, I got six months in before getting another. As you can imagine, every doctor I have talked to thinks I just need more antibiotics, or that I have some secret colony of staph living in my nose.

Nicki: This approach has obviously not been successful for me. It also fails to address why I only get them while training and never in the periods in between. While hygiene may have been to blame the first time, I was pretty careful the last two times, even if I wasn’t 100% perfect. I had a funky sleep schedule before my most recent occurrence, which I think may have contributed.

Nicki: Some more details for you: I’m 33, in good shape, otherwise healthy, eat well, sleep well. I’ve always lifted weights outside of BJJ, but nothing crazy in terms of volume. My question for you is, if this was happening to you, where would you start? What would you be looking at? I’ve considered seeing a functional medicine practitioner, as I’ve wondered if there are some bigger picture immune issues at play, and I appreciate any thoughts you have on this. I don’t want my BJJ career to be over so soon.”

Robb: Yeah. Gosh, where would we jump into this? Getting a functional medicine assessment wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, to see if there is something kind of off with HPTA axis, cortisol, which could be suppressing immune function… Definitely the hygiene of the gym that you’re in is a big factor. The places that we’ve gone to, they’re pretty on it. They spray the mats down in between classes, and they’re definitely on top of that. So, that maintenance is important. What is the name of the soap that Darien sells?

Nicki: Oh…

Robb: There’s, like, a-

Nicki: It’s Defense? Defense? Maybe?

Robb: Yeah, Defense Soap. Yeah.

Nicki: I’ll find it for sure and we can put a link in the show notes.

Robb: Yeah, but I think it has tea tree oil and some other antimicrobials, and a lot of people swear by that. This is also why, even though my jiu jitsu game, I’m not fabric-dependent, I’m not hanging onto the gi. I tend to wear a rash guard, and then a gi. I don’t usually wear sprats also, but you could do that. But, taking all that stuff, then you just have minimal surface area exposed.

Robb: So, yeah, I mean, the boxes to tick, see if there’s anything that could be obvious with regards to immune function and something being amiss there. Definitely lean on the facility owners to clean the mats thoroughly. I would recommend wearing a rash guard, possibly sprats and a gi-

Nicki: Wash the gi every single-

Robb: …and launder those aggressively each time.

Nicki: …yeah, every single time. If you get off the mat to go to the bathroom, put shoes on and walk.

Robb: Yeah.

Nicki: Everybody in the gym should be wearing shoes into the bathroom, on and off the mat.

Robb: Yeah, they should be bringing sandals to go in. It’s so gross when you see people sprint to the bathroom. The guy’s always in…

Nicki: Barefoot.

Robb: …barefoot, and then they come back on, and you’re like, “Listen, knucklehead…” But, those are the things. Anything else? Yeah, laundering the, your… whatever you wear thoroughly, and then the Defense Soap, maybe, post-training would be the things that I would look at.

Nicki: Can the sleep thing… I mean, if you’re super sleep-deprived and stuff-

Robb: Definitely, I mean, sleep-deprived. And, one other thought with this is, if you’re going really hard rolling, it’s like a CrossFit workout or something. People can turn these sessions into a near-death experience, which can kind of crush your immune response. And so, you may need to look at the intensity that you’re training, and it’s hard for people to do.

Robb: In the beginning, they just are battling for survival, and the only thing that you can rely on is strength and cardio and power output and everything, but that will knacker you, and it definitely impacts immune response. Yeah, it can kind of dig a hole. So, I would definitely consider, you know, how hard are you going and figure out ways of dialing that back. I would check out Henry Aiken’s Hidden Jiu Jitsu course. He has a specific module in his course when he had a gig in Bali, and he actually has a block of, like, fifteen videos that shows him rolling with the people that attended the event, and Henry just, he looks like he’s almost unconscious.

Robb: Now, granted, he’s got twenty-plus years of jiu jitsu experience, but even though I’m nowhere near where Henry is, my rolling looks way more like that than what you see in the competition videos, where people are super rigid and they’re just go-go-go… and, so, and that’s part of the reason why I’ve been able to train pretty consistently, and I try to figure out how my forty to sixty percent effort can continue to beat or make improvements on everybody else’s ninety-five percent effort. So, that would be another piece to look at.

Nicki: Okay. Let’s see, our last question today is from Alex, an adult on the autism spectrum: should I go keto?

Nicki: “Hi, Nicki and Robb. I’m twenty-nine and I was diagnosed as on the autism spectrum just two years ago. This would have been considered as Asperger’s in the past. I’ve been primarily Paleo, ice cream is really good-

Robb: (laughs)

Nicki: …for the better part of six years, but after running my DNA through FoundMyFitness, I’m wanting to address my dietary choices from a more personalized approach, including finding the most optimal choices to address some of the occasional stressors I feel associated with being on the Spectrum: anxiety, depression, and general cognitive and mood dysregulation.

Nicki: The most researched dietary intervention seems to be a gluten-free, dairy-free diet with a few studies looking into keto. However, each study I’ve seen is only looking at kids as the subjects, and typically with more severe symptoms than what I experience. Keto seems to be a promising approach, but is there any reason why this would be different for an adult?

Nicki: I tried keto for about a month a year ago, but immediately found my cognitive performance drop. While I know my macro amounts were appropriate, I used the Ketogains Calculator, I now know that I didn’t incorporate the electrolyte component. Could this account for my initial struggles with it, and is there anything else someone on the Spectrum should consider while attempting keto? Supplements, macro ratios, et cetera. I’ll include more details about me below, but thank you for your time in reading the question, and all of your work.”

Robb: And, details: age, height, weight, CrossFit-

Nicki: Mm-hmm (affirmative), sleep.

Robb: …decent sleep, and then he mentions some of his polymorphisms from the FoundMyFitness stuff. It’s interesting, there shouldn’t… if one is going to benefit from keto for a neurological situation. I don’t see that there would be any difference between kids and adults. It is, that said, it is interesting many children who go on a ketogenic diet for, say, epilepsy, they don’t need to stay on it for life. They’re able to get off of it at some point.

Nicki: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Robb: So, there is something that changes there. So, I don’t know if the flip side could apply, that maybe there was a window in childhood where this could have worked and now it’s not going to. That doesn’t really make sense to me, but it… yeah, I don’t know. But, definitely not everybody experiences cognitive improvement on a ketogenic diet. But, the lack of adequate electrolytes, in particular, sodium, is just jaw-dropping, make-or-break deal. So, if you were going to get back in and try this again, I would definitely check out LMNT, get, go… even if you just go to the drinkLMNT.com page, and then check out the How to Make Your Own Keto At Home Electrolyte Drink. One or the other, do that.

Nicki: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Robb: Start supplementing, if you do Kettle & Fire Bone Broth, put some salt in that, significant amount.

Nicki: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Robb: You really have to be on point with all that. You could also try using a little bit of MCTs or exogenous ketones in this scenario, because if we really are talking about a brain metabolism story, potentially some gut dysbiosis, those things may help in this whole process.

Robb: Additionally, on the supplements, a really rich form of DHA, EPA, DHA, but leaning heaving on the DHA, if you just eat a lot of fish. I’m wearing Wild Planet, these guys are amazing, getting fish from these guys or something similar. Sardines, mackerel, salmon-

Nicki: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Robb: …would be really beneficial, or you could supplement with a DHA-rich fish oil or krill oil formula.

Nicki: Okay.

Robb: Yeah.

Nicki: Thanks, Alex. Hubs, that was our five questions for this week.

Robb: Cool, cool. Somebody commented that they felt like we were rushed going through these, which I don’t know-

Nicki: Oh, I didn’t see that comment.

Robb: …that we’re rushed, but, yeah, it was a private message, compared to the Greg Everett days-

Nicki: Oh.

Robb: …where we would just wax on and on and on.

Nicki: You had no kids and no… (laughs)

Robb: We had no kids and, also… I try to be as thorough as I can, but also concise because people have a shortened attention span these days-

Nicki: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Robb: …and so, try not to wax on too long, but trying to strike a balance between being both thorough and concise.

Nicki: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Robb: So, there you have it.

Nicki: Yep.

Robb: Okay.

Nicki: Okay.

Robb: We’ll talk to y’all soon. Oh, thanks for the-

Nicki: No, no, no, no, no.

Robb: Oh, yeah.

Nicki: No, no, no, no, no, no. If you have questions, you can submit them, robbwolf.com contact page. What else?

Robb: Drink LMNT sponsored this podcast.

Nicki: Yep. Sponsored this LMNT

Robb: Drink Element, and even though we’re not-

Nicki: Coming into a summer, too, so, if you’re in a hot climate in particular, you’re going to want to be supplementing with electrolytes. If you’re active, and you were saying something-

Robb: And, love the Wild Planet guys. So, they’re a podcast sponsor this week, too. (laughs)

Nicki: (laughs)

Robb: They’re really amazing people. They… So, the back of this shirt says something like, “When you… would your tuna… How was your tuna caught? One line, one fish, one process.” They really are committed to sustainable fishing practices-

Nicki: Mm-hmm.

Robb: …and they’ve been beating this drum for a long time, so big shout out to the Wild Plant people. They’re wonderful folks doing some very cool work. In addition to the fish, they’re also doing some meat and chicken options-

Nicki: Oh, I didn’t know that.

Robb: …in like the vacu-seal packs and stuff like that, but they’re, like, organic and blessed by the Dalai Lama and all that stuff. But, really cool people, so, check out both of our sponsors, DrinkLMNT and also Wild Planet.

Nicki: Thanks, guys.

Robb: Take care. Buh-bye

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