Why there is no CARE in health care

There was a vocal health care discussion on the Facebook comments section of a picture a good friend posted, and it just irks me that no one is really talking about the problem.

Health Care and Health Insurance are two, diametrically opposed systems with one common goal.  Money. In the US our care is governed by the insurers.  Health insurance companies are in business to make money.  Not help grandma get end of life care, or to make sure Bobby gets his braces.

As a matter of fact, the way that they MAKE money is to NOT pay for either one of those things.  To put the choices of our well being into the hands of ANY entity whose sole purpose is money will insure that the only moment we will see them care is when it is fiscally responsible.  And it is NEVER fiscally responsible to give money away.

Ever. They give away just enough to make sure that people don't leave and go to another insurer who is willing to accept just a little more risk by giving just a little more money away.

On the other side of the coin, we have a for-profit health CARE industry, whose sole purpose is to MAKE MONEY!  Hospitals and medical entities make money ONLY if we are sick or traumatize.  There is no profit in that model for preventative care.  None.  Why?  Because if you aren't obese with high blood sugar and coronary disease, then they won't be able to charge you for heart medicine, cholesterol medicine, heart surgery, diabetes management, etc, etc, etc....they can't make any money off of you.  If they endorsed that you eat less food of higher quality, move at least 30 minutes a day, NOT smoke...EVER and actually BE healthy rather than treating the symptoms once you AREN'T healthy, they wouldn't make any money.

That isn't to say that all doctors are bad, on the contrary.  They are the warriors who work in an industry that has no interest in seeing them succeed in curing and preventing.  Just cutting and prescribing.  And they weigh that on their conscience every day because they, too, need food on the table and braces for their kids.

The only people who don't want a health INDUSTRY overhaul are the ones who get paid or who already get it free (some fall into the BOTH category).  They are the insurers, the hospitals, the drug companies and the politicians; and they, my friends, have EVERYTHING to lose if we, the (un)insured and (un)cared for actually get a system that is a health CARE system.  They have everything to lose and they are the only voice at the table.  Not one of them is there negotiating for with our voice. 

I’m not saying that for profit is bad.  Capitalism is one of the main things that drives continuous improvement through competition.  I long for the day when our system actually either a.) let’s capitalism work in the industry or b.) abolishes it completely and makes it illegal to turn profit on the health and care of ANYONE.  Right now, you have a system that is part mob protectionist racket (You can’t sell insurance here in THIS state…unless we get out cut), part clinical lab trial (I bet your six year old can name at least one heart or erectile dysfunction drug), part Dr. Frankenstein (What, you want to lose weight?  Here, we’ll cut you open and staple your stomache) and part jabba the hut (What with your stomached stapled, you won’t have to move at all).

Take your health and your health care into your own hands. Get informed and please, please, please understand the motives of the entities that control your insurance and care.  Eat less food, eat food of higher quality, MOVE (run, play lift, skip) and most importantly CARE.  If YOU don’t care (about your health, your money and your future) then why the hell should anyone else, dirty politician or otherwise?

I'm Back

I’m back into a more mellow swing of things as of this week for the foreseeable future.  And by more mellow, I mean at least a little more time for me.  Burning 65+ hours a week for 7+ weeks in a row took its toll on me.  Stress levels were up, I gained 9 lbs, I lost my rythm around health and fitness and even though I was in Chicago, I was only able to see a couple of shows the entire time I was there.

The new role is different at this point, and I’m involved at the beginning of the work, rather than being low level zip lined onto a burning ship to try and fight the fire, sail it to shore and still convince everyone that everything is going just fine.  It also has me working in Minneapolis again, which has a few other benefits.

First, I’m closer to home, which doesn’t seem like much, given that I’m still gone all week, but being a 2 hour car ride vs. three hours total travel by plane (6 by car in a real pickle) –  IF there is a flight, and IF there are seats on it – is a big deal.  Not to mention that Sara’s brother and his family are here, which means that her coming up to visit me isn’t out of the question once the glacier decides to receed.

Of course, with a more stable work environment, I can plan to be at the gym, and there is no place better than CrossFitMN in Edina to recapture my work out rythm and shed the final 25lbs of fat I’ve been dreaming of.  I asked to rebaseline myself today (not out of fear of the AMRAP that was on the board, I SWEAR!!!)

Baseline #1 (6:44)
• Row 500m
• 40 Squats
• 30 Situps
• 20 Pushups
• 10 Pull ups

6:44 is faster than the last time I did it (8:04) and a MUCH better time than I thought I was going to put up, given the last few months that I’ve had.

Today was also my first real CrossFit workout wearing my Vibram Five Fingers, and they did not disappoint; as soon as the workout started, I forgot they were there.  Granted, this wasn’t an intense lifting or running WOD, so there’s still research to do.  I haven’t worn them running a significant distance yet, but as things get warmer here in the great white north, I’m sure Damian will oblige my curiosity and invite me to run my self into the dirt on several, soul liberating occasions.

Finally, I’ll hopefully get to return to Improv.  I’ve offered to Sub for any of the current teams that need a stand in coach for the current round of Six Ring, and if all else fails, I can get out to the theatre for a $1 show.  How sweet is that?

How's your health (by County)

County Health rankings have been releaesd over the last few days (and the page then slashdotted, so _if_ it loads, it loads slow).  I was actually suprised to see that Wisconsin, as a whole, is better than most, and La Crosse County is near the top (meaning LOWER BMIs) in the state as far as Obesity (26%).  That being said, that’s still one in four people.

Find your county, look at the stats, figure out what YOU can do to help improve the health of your community.

• County Health rankings Website (http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/)
• La Crosse County Info (http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/wisconsin/la-crosse)
• Obesity (http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/wisconsin/la-crosse/11)

First Law, Warrior Frame of Mind and Podcasts

My fitness, or relative lack of it in the last few weeks, can be directly defined by Newton’s First Law.  I have great velocity, but am easily effected by the outside forces in my life.  When I started CrossFit I had friends there to do it with me, and had great results.  Even when I transitioned to working out at home, I was on a great roll and turned quite a few heads with my workouts at the Y.

Cut to the death march that was this project.  I’m just not motivated to work out after 15 hour days, I eat poorly because I can’t prep my food and my sleep is stressed and short.  It’s not an excuse, it’s just the truth. And to overcome this truth, I’ve tried to create another outside force on my current state.

So, I’ve improved the home gym (and have more on the list to be ordered with the tax refund), I’m back to eating paleo (Walking through Whole Foods truly makes me happy), I scheduled time for the gym on my calendar so that people can’t schedule time with me and I’m dedicated to engaging my brain as well as my body to focus on fitness and health at least once a day. 

Because today was a travel day I used the time to read and listen to podcasts.  On the reader I’ve found what appears to be an excellent companion to Dan Milman’s Way of the Peaceful Warrior in Rudy Reyes’ Hero Living.  It really is a different path up the same mountain as Socrates’.  Rudy’s experience with enlightenment was much more brutal, but no less revealing and motivating than Dan’s.  His point of view is ringing clearly with me right now and I’m going to have to reread it and take notes, but for now I’m just ‘listening’ to the what he has to say.

I’ve dumped the tech podcasts from my iPod for the immediate and am focusing on my health (mental and physical).  I’m listening to both CrossFit Radio, as well as the Science2Health podacast (which used to be the “Fitness Rocks” podcast) and while I have a couple more on there, these two are mostly complimentary so I’m just sticking with two messages for now.  I got through two of each of the podcasts as well as another forty or so pages of the book during my travels today, and they helped me to think and focus on a couple of things that have been bugging me mentally lately, including how I go about goal setting and how much I really am focused on being healthy not just for me, but for my kids. 

This isn’t about resolutions or weight loss, it’s about my frame of mind and squaring it with the reality of my chosen profession and it’s subsequent lifestyle. 

Yet another argument for Fish Oil

There is an interesting article today picked up by several news sources that talks about the effectiveness of Fish Oil against psychotic mental illness.  I’ve searched for a couple of years for the fish oil that I can take (I have a sensitivity) and finally found one at GNC (triple strength, no less).  Even before I got involved with CrossFit and read Dr. Sears I had been told by several trainers that I should be taking Fish Oil, but because of my sensitivity (ok, ok, I puke, are you happy?) I was taking the next best thing, Flax, but at much lower doses (it has been shown to have negative effects on hormones in menat the mega dose level) and only recently have tried fish oil again at the suggestion of a CrossFit coach, who pointed me at several well filtered and rated (How Fish Oil is Rated) oils.

Fish Oil has been proven to have significant positive impact on several fronts, including Heart Disease, Stress, ADHD, Chronic Inflamation, and now, psychosis.  Although there is one study (200 patients) that showed that a portion of heart patients with Ventricular Tachycardia or Ventricular Fibulation had a higher than standard deviation for more complications while taking fish oil than did the control group, if you AREN’T in this group, start. 

And just think…now there’s a lower risk that you’ll have that psychotic break you’ve been so concerned about. 

References

• Fish oil supplements 'beat psychotic mental illness' - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8490937.stm
• GNC Triple Strength Fish Oil – http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3685052
• How Fish Oil is Rated - http://www.zonediet.com/RESOURCES/ARTICLES/Article/tabid/130/itemid/738/Default.aspx
• Dr. Sears on Fish Oil vs. Statins - http://www.drsears.com/ZoneTV/tabid/394/Default.aspx
• Fish Consumption, Fish Oil, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, and Cardiovascular Disease – http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/106/21/2747
• Counter Study – http://www.webmd.com/video/fish-oil-heart-study

Body Composition

My most recent numbers:
Total Pounds lost: 27.00
% Body fat lost: 5.10
BMI Change: 3.70
Pounds of fat lost:17.62
Pounds of lean muscle lost: 9.38

I know, I know, negative lean muscle delta isn't good. Interestingly enough, I'm stronger and have more endurance even with the loss of muscle mass, but this now must become a focus. I wanted to wait until I hit 200lbs before _really_ worrying about it but I'm thinking I'll adjust my protein blocks accordingly and start adding a little more weight to my olys.

The roughest thing is the project that I'm on. I haven't been to the gym in three weeks and I'm getting depressed. I'm fighting t keep my schedule clean so that I can get ou of the office at a decent hour, but no one really respects that the drones shouldn't have to work 24 hours a day. It's toughsetting boundaries, especially over the last few weeks with the potential of program ending dates not getting met.

I'm hoping that the most recent round of 'All hands on Deck' has passed and we can get back to our regularly sheduled healthy (ier?) lifestyle.

These Four Things

These four things have been rolling around in my head lately:

• Dave Egger’s TED Talk from Once Upon A School from last year.
• A Story on the Huffington Post about a JROTC program in San Francisco taking responsibility for the PE of several schools.
• CrossFit Kids
• I was at the YMCA doing my CrossFit workout* and there was a father about my age, maybe younger, and his son (about 10 years old) there “working out”.  They had been there from before I arrived (I saw them when I came in) and were still there when I left. I give awesome kudos to dad for getting them both there, but neither one had broken a sweat by the time I left, and both were drinking a 4 serving size bottle of Gatorade.  They were both considerably overweight (I know I’m not the poster child of fitness, but it also puts me in a state to know where others are) and dad was obviously trying to do the right thing.  What was missing was education.  I heard the son asking questions about machines and how to use them, and I thought “What ever happened to playing as fitness?  Why aren’t you running around outside chasing a football and playing catch?”

Schools cut funding in PE and the Arts first; these activities and structures that give our children outlets of expression and energy (both creative and physical).  Sports, on the other hand, gets booster money and proclaim the schools success through wins and losses, and therefore get better funding, but that’s not the root of the problem.

When you cut PE (as an actor and improviser, I have another rant on arts altogether, but I’ll save that for another post), you are killing the opportunity for kids to get the natural, hormonal goodness of sunlight, endorphines and the calm that comes after really being active.

So, how about this:  Instead of a store front with a back room that teaches writing skills, how about a place called the “Jungle Gym” that sells all sorts of Safari based paraphenalia, and the secret path leads out back to a Crossfit Kids gym?  Or steal the Super Hero idea from 826NYC store ouright and have the ‘Super Hero Training Ground’ out back and we let passionate people who are stupidly, insanely passionate about health, fitness and kids do what they love, and help kids rediscover play.

Not XBox Play, or Wii Fit bullshit play, but real, actual, ‘Let’s GO Ride our Bikes!’ ‘Keep Away’ ‘Dodge Ball’ ‘Swing on a rope, run on a log, do cartwheels until we fall over’ play that we all seem to have forgotten.

 First things first, however. Friday, on my lunch hour, Rachel and Daddy are going to go outside and play.

*WOD: (posted time 26:05)
10–9–8–7–6–5–4–3–2–1
Run 200m
Dips
Box Jumps
Push-ups

Me, CrossFit and a big Change

I made a life style change recently.  I didn’t go on a diet, or start a weight-loss plan.  I started living differently.

I’m trying to live by the CrossFit tennants (World-Class Fitness in 100 Words [1]):

• Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.
• Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast.
• Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense.
• Regularly learn and play new sports.

Based on lectures on nutrition and performance from coaches in the CrossFit system, I’m focusing on:

• Rest
• Food
• Exercise

In that order of importance for my lifestyle, given my known weaknesses and patterns.  This is also why I twitter my workout and take pictures and use Wolfram|Alpha to log my food to FaceBook.  Being open and honest about this info are steps to transparency (meaning I’m hiding nothing from others or myself).

My starting weight at the end of June was 230 lbs (26.9% Body Fat and 31.2 BMI).  I weighed today at 218lbs (24.3 % Body Fat, 29.6 BMI), which means that since 06/29 I’ve lost 11.5 lbs (which translates to 2.4% Body Fat and 1.4 pts of my BMI). I should mention that I was at 238lbs in December, but didn’t log or track anything in between, so it’s just an errant data point.

More importantly, I’m more fit.  I ran 2 miles today, I also rowed 1200m, did 50 jumping pull ups, 60 squats, 25 push presses, 40 Wall Ball throws, 30 Burpees, 30 body weight dips, 12 hanging leg lifts and I’m sure I’m missing something, but I was a little winded there at the end. I have the sheet and will log it accurately with my time after work.

My time?  Oh, that..it took 40:29. That’s not a great time (there are a couple of people who did harder exercises during this Workout and did it in close to half my time – but they are what we like to call “After Pictures”), but let’s be clear:  Six weeks ago, I would not have been able to finish even half of that.  I couldn’t even run a mile or row 400m without rest.

I’m getting fitter.  And I’m not using my weight loss as an indicator, or my muscle size.  I’m using Time and Performance.  Weight Loss and Muscle Size are by products of fitness.  This is what I’ve always thought, which is also why I get bored at the gym doing rep after rep of the same thing.

My one concern is that when I’m done here this week and I start to work from home and take paternity leave over the next month, that I can maintain the rigor and give myself the time to continue this hard work.  Right now, as I write this, the answer is “Yes, of course I will.”  I have a passion to do it.  I like being pushed and how I feel when I work with intensity.  I like the results so far as well, so I’ll see you at the gym.

And if you want to be this motivated, go and check out your local CrossFit Affiliate.  I promise you, if you do it, it will change your life.

Special thanks to all the folks at CrossFitMN, especially Damian, Christine and Kat whose motivation has kept me focused.

[1] – What is Fitness and Who is Fit

Want to be Motivated?

How about being able to Clean and Jerk your body weight 30 times?

At the ripe old age of 14 years old, Kallista Pappas (103#) shows what it means to be (have, exude..hard to describe) what Kohashi sensei would have called “senshin”.  Sensei described it to me by flooring me with a jo because I was loosing focus and messing with my grip instead of finishing a kata.  I’ll describe it to you by presenting the video above (taken at the 2008 CrossFit Games).

Pay attention to the girl in blue in the background of the opening shot.  She actually falls hard on the press and takes the bar on her shins…gets back up and finishes her last 7.  She finishes despite the pain, not losing focus, and giving everything she has to complete her task.  Senshin.

I know that I’m not tough, but now I know just how not tough I am. 

WOD - 04/14

Warm Up
(3 rounds of 10-15 reps after run)

• 400m
• lunges
• Sit-up
• Back-extension
• Pull-up
• Dip

Fifty of Each, for time.

• Sit Up


• Overhead Squat


• Pull Up


• Burpee

Now that I'm looking at it, I suppose that this is a 1/2 Angie with an added overhead to the squat.