On Health, Fitness & Jeet Kune Do

It seems that there is a huge interest in improving health but there is also a lot of confusion.

The response I have been receiving regarding the healthy water issue has been ongoing, so in an effort to close this subject and move on here are a few final words addressing potential health issues and their solutions.

The effects of chlorine and its byproducts on the human body are not only diverse, but not well understood yet.

There is a lot of money involved in chlorine products and chlorine dependent processes, so powerful companies and influential people benefiting from these chemicals do their best to muddy the waters, so to speak.

I prefer not to focus on politics and conspiracy theories for this blog, so I’ll be brief regarding the harmful health effects of chlorine.

Perhaps the most prominent potential side effect of chlorine and its byproducts is cancer.  This, by itself, should be enough to encourage the use of filters.

Other effects include damage to the nervous system, skin, hair, and respiratory system.

After installing our home shower filters, one of the more obvious changes I noticed was a decrease in skin dryness, less hair in the drain, and of course no swimming pool smell.

Asthma and allergy sufferers would also benefit tremendously from shower filters.  Although there are no clear studies that document this, it is conceivable that chlorinated water adds to overall inflammation in the body, taxes the immune system, decreases energy, accelerates aging.

Truly, there are more dangers to chlorinated water than we know.

Best to use filters for the entire house.

The next obvious question is: What kind of filter should I use?

Carbon based filters will generally do a good job of removing chlorine and harmful organic substances.  Reverse osmosis sytems also filter well using a multistage process that also involves activated carbon.  The only draw back with reverse osmosis is the amount of waste water that is produced per unit of sanitized water.

Ceramic and disk filters removes organisms and small particles but do not remove chlorine, heavy metals, and small organic molecules, unless combined with another filter medium.

I recommend the Berkey black filters in combination with their fluoride filters.  They do a good job of removing chlorine, flouride, heavy metals, organisms, and volatile organic compounds among other things, while preserving the natural minerals in the water.  Just keep in mind not to use plastic containers that leech BPA.

I also recommend plain ascorbic acid (vitamin C) for the shower.  Although not technically a filter, vitamin C water treatment will neutralize chlorine and chloramines.

This is a good start and an amazingly easy and economical way to remove a major source of personal toxicity.

In Health

–
Nhan-Esteban Khuong, L.Ac.
www.SGVJeetKuneDo.com

Here are a couple of comments I received in response to the last post about reducing toxicity.

I feel these are fairly representative of two prominent schools of thought regarding the issue.  I have also included my own reply.

Comment:

Great article to warn people of toxicity, a vital issue to note if we
want to live longer lives!

Cheers,
Ray

Reply:

Hello Ray,

Thank you for the comment.

I agree that examining the filter used for water purification is
absolutely important.

Regarding dissolved chemicals that are not easily filtered, yes, this
is a real danger.  However, I still feel strongly that a good filter is
the best option for the average consumer and would offer a giant step
up for health.

There are two general alternatives to filters in the consumer water
treatment industry: distillation and deionization.  I do not recommend
either of these processes.  Both produce very pure water, which is
exactly the problem.

Distilled water is stripped of everything, including minerals which in
turn will either strip your body and/or your food of those same
minerals leading to potential health deficiencies.  Furthermore, water
distillation has a few additional inherent problems.  The scaling
(water deposits) resulting from distillation is often removed
chemically, and creating potentially harmful byproducts in order to
have pure drinking water might be self defeating.  Then there is the
issue of the amount of energy involved in purifying the water.  Home
distillers are generally powered by electricity and unless your home is
running on green energy, this is also adding to the overall carbon
footprint of the purification process.

Deionized water, on the other hand, strips water of minerals but does
not remove organic materials that do not have a charge.  For this
reason, many home units will combine an additional filtration step. 
Ultimately, we are left with same issue as distilled water in that the
deionized water is stripped of necessary minerals.

The issue of healthy drinking water is important.  As of now I’m not
certain that there is a perfect solution, however, filtration is a
excellent first step.

In Health,

Nhan-Esteban Khuong, L.Ac.

Comment:

I do some work with the American Chemistry Council and I can promise
that chlorine is not harmful — In fact, if we didn’t have chlorine,
Western civilization probably could not function.  It kills the
bacteria and organic material that cause diseases and U.S. cities have
been using it for over 100 years because it’s safe and effective.

Reply:

Hi There,

Thanks for the comment.

There is no doubt that chlorine has definitely made a significant
impact on modern civilization.  I also have to say that I have a bit
more faith in human ingenuity to believe that Western civilization
would not function without chlorine.

As for its safety, such an active oxidizer that kills bacteria and
destroys other organic material has that very same potential with
humans.  The only difference being, that we are larger than bacteria
and thus feel the effects at a lesser level.

Chlorine is essential to life as we know it, but it is not something we
should be consuming outside of natural food sources.  The harmful
effects of chlorine based sanitation products are too numerous to
mention and so abundant that I won’t explain in detail.

I hope you change your mind about chlorine, because it won’t change its
effects on you.

In Health,

Nhan-Esteban Khuong, L.Ac.

I mentioned the distillation and water deionization processes mainly because the first commenter also runs a health blog, however he advocates distilled water.

In Health,

–
Nhan-Esteban Khuong, L.Ac.
www.SGVJeetKuneDo.com

Historically, Martial Arts schools incorporated, to some degree, an herbal pharmacy directed at keeping the students healthy after hard training or combat.  Similarly, students are also given a basic knowledge of how to self treat contusions, and other minor soft tissue injuries.  In modern times we see training centers selling sports balms like Tiger Balm, Icy Hot, Bengay, Cryogel, etc.  Although these products do work, in my experience there is nothing quite as effective as the time tested herbal formulas in the Martial Arts medicine toolbox traditionally prepared by the teacher at the school.

Hit Medicine or Dit Da is a little known branch of Traditional Chinese Medicine developed for healing tissue trauma resulting from fighting.

Unbenknownst to most, Hit Medicine can decrease healing time of minor soft tissue injuries by at least 50% in most cases.  In my early training, I would follow a conditioning protocol of applying herbal liniments to striking and blocking surfaces before and after practice (and sometimes during practice), effectively preventing the majority of bruising and decreasing healing time to a day or two at most.

These protocols are probably most useful to combat sports players who routinely accumulate injuries from full contact sparring.  Although less severe, the average Martial Artist still gets the occasional bruise, strain, sprain, and muscle soreness in which case Hit Medicine comes in very handy.

So what exactly is involved?

The basic Hit Medicine kit should include herbal plaster patches, topical healing wines (Dit Da Jow), an oil based liniment, plastic wrap, waterproof tape, and maybe an oral herbal formula.

The specific formulations on the plaster patches, Dit Da Jows, and oils differ depending on whom you speak to.  In many cases Dit Da Jow is home made using a “family” recipe.  I personally prefer the Yunnan Baiyau plasters and Herbalgy oil along with a homemade Dit Da Jow.  If you don’t have access to homemade Dit Da Jow, Zheng Gu Shui or Yunnan Baiyau Tincture will do.  Simply apply and rub lightly.

For more severe injuries, a wet herbal plaster can be applied and sealed using tape and plastic wrap.  The wrap is usually kept in place for 12 - 24 hours, removed, cleaned and replaced.

These techniques will help with acute injuries, whereas Acupuncture and more advanced Tui-Na techniques should be used to resolve chronic injuries.

Keep in mind that this is a valuable adjunct to training but NOT a replacement for professional medical advice and treatment, so consult your healthcare provider before starting any program.

In Health,

–
Nhan-Esteban Khuong, L.Ac.
www.SGVJeetKuneDo.com

The dietary cholesterol and saturated fat controversy continues to rage on.

I have been asked recently, on several occasions, about the benefits and/or dangers of various foods relating to fat and cholesterol content.  If you haven’t read my Jeet Kune Do Nutrition Plan series, it might shed some light on general nutrition.

As for dietary fats and cholesterol and their relation to cardiovascular health, the main fact to consider is that trans fats are the substance we should be avoiding.

I understand that generations of brainwashing have lead to a fear of saturated fats and cholesterol that have been blown way out of proportion.  Both these substances, except for saturated fats produced via artificial hydrogenation, are actually ESSENTIAL to good health and also provide necessary protective factors.

Here is a concept that will really "bake your noodle" (as The Oracle said to Neo in "The Matrix"), cholesterol is a natural free radical fighting powerhouse that has been shown to be a marker for longevity.

(Uncomfortable silence . . . . )

Yep, I get a lot of blank stares when I tell people this.

I’ll write some more on this topic later with some specific examples.  In the meantime, think twice before considering any "low fat" or "no cholesterol" hype.

In Health,

–
Nhan-Esteban Khuong, L.Ac.
www.SGVJeetKuneDo.com

“I’m doing the low carb thing.”

The “low fat” era came and went (although I’m still not sure if there is any real understanding of the importance of fats among dieters) and we are now on the tail end of the “low carb” trend that was popularized by Dr. Robert Atkins and many others that were hot on his trail.

I still hear the occasional “I’m on a low carb diet”, and advertising still uses this angle to catch the unwary shopper.

All the fluff aside, carbohydrates are a very important part of good nutrition.  Most of the micronutrients in our diets, including vitamins, minerals, and other healthful compounds, come from carbohydrate sources.

What is the standard picture that comes to mind when you think of carbs?  Rice, bread, pasta, potatoes?  These are all common answers, because they are common foods in the average American diet.  Yet, it’s hard to imagine an abundance of micronutrients coming from these refined starchy carbohydrates.  In fact, it’s hard to see these nutrients coming from any starchy carbohydrates (with a few exceptions) regardless of whether they are whole or refined.

Again, referring to ancient man’s diet, we see that grains were not a significant part.  Wheat, corn, rice, and potatoes did not come into existence in the human diet in any appreciable amount until industrial farming and agricultural domestication was established.  Ancient man’s carbohydrates came from a variety of wild grains, tubers, vegetables, nuts, berries, and fruits.

The modern American, will be hard pressed to find nutrient dense wild plant product sources, but we can at least make the healthiest choices of what we have available.

So what carbs should you be including?

Rich colorful fruits and vegetables along with small amounts of whole grains and legumes with the occasional tuber.  Plant sources should be fresh and local, thereby giving them  more time in the sun and opportunity to ripen naturally (as opposed to imported fruits and vegetables that are harvested early and never really mature).  One major caveat with whole grains is the high rate of subclinical gluten sensitivity that seems to be the cause of so many health issues.

The most effective way to determine if you have subclinical gluten sensitivity is to remove it from your diet for at least three months.  Any health changes will be obvious.

Gluten aside, some people seem to do well on a diet high in starchy carbohydrates, however they are the minority.  Most of us would benefit from keeping grains to a minimum and seeking our carbohydrates from colorful vegetables.  If possible foods should be eaten raw to benefit maximally from their life sustaining properties.

Nutrition really is a bit of an art that requires a careful awareness of self in order to truly master.  In the spirit of Jeet Kune Do, there is no set way.

Bruce Lee talked about “honestly expressing oneself” as a powerful path to achievement and realization.  The most important part of learning Jeet Kune Do is listening to your body in order to understand how to fully use it for “honest expression,” and the same holds true for health and nutrition.  The human body is always honestly expressing itself through vitality and/or disease on all levels, including the physical, mental, and spiritual.

Listen to your body.

In Health,
–
Nhan-Esteban Khuong, L.Ac.
www.SGVJeetKuneDo.com

Jeet Kune Do Nutrition Plan Part I
Jeet Kune Do Nutrition Plan Part II

The subject of supplementation for health and performance has been a point of heated discussion among experts ever since the industry emerged.

Bruce Lee was known to be big supporter of nutritional supplements as he used them heavily himself and also recommended them to others as is noted in an interview with Ted Wong published in “Knowing is Not Enough.  Ted Wong goes on the explain how Bruce Lee helped him gain muscle mass through weight training and supplementation.

The general understanding of nutrition, however, and the availability of knowledge has come a long way since Bruce Lee’s time and I think a review is in order.

Is the power of supplementation hype or hope?

From my experience, there are more health / fitness experts that lean towards the supplementation side of the equation than not.  As for my own opinion, I see real whole food as king in the grand scheme of things, yet supplements can play a very important role in maintaining and even boosting health.

Let me explain.

The human body has an extraordinary potential to grow, adapt, heal, and protect, given that all the materials it needs to perform these functions are present.  From the physical side of things (considering true health and optimal performance includes elements of the mind and spirit) food and exercise provide the material and mechanical basis for health.  Historically, humankind has been very physical in everyday life and has had a varied natural food diet that changed accordingly with the seasons.  This is obviously not so in modern times.

As wild variations of foods become extinct at an alarming rate and natural whole foods become increasingly more difficult to obtain, supplementation becomes a more viable option to make a wide array of micro nutrients easier to incorporate into the average diet.

With this is mind, there are many high quality supplements available on the market today, but there are far more of poor quality that offer no benefit and may even be potentially harmful.  The nutraceutical industry is a booming business that is largely unregulated with  all manner of products and health claims.  Although many of these products can be powerful boon to the right person . . . buyer beware.

In future posts, I will cover the basics some common supplements, their properties, and how to choose high quality brands.

In Health,

–
Nhan-Esteban Khuong, L.Ac.
www.SGVJeetKuneDo.com

PROTEIN

This is the single most common term in the diet, fitness, health industries. Often times, however, protein is casually mentioned without little or no elaboration regarding the quality. Much like fats, as I discussed in part one of this series, it is largely misunderstood.

To recap on part I of the series, note that there is not a JKD nutrition plan per se, but rather in the spirit of simplicity, directness, and efficiency we can improve our health and performance through principles that avoid the “classical mess” that is modern nutrition.

Protein is a category of macromolecules composed of amino acids that is essential to human life. The human body can manufacture many of the necessary amino acids but the rest must be obtained from food for optimal health.

In this article I will focus on the four protein sources that receive the most attention:

1. meat

2. milk

3. eggs

4. soy

MEAT: Meat is good. Looking back at our evolutionary ancestry and our human biology, it is clear that our bodies work best on an omnivorous diet . . . plant and animal products. Having said this, I won’t bother going into the biological difficulties and health challenges of a vegetarian diet as this would require a volume by itself.

As a protein source, meat is excellent as it contains a complete amino acid profile, but this is really only a part of the whole when considering foods. In short, the quality of a meat is directly related to the way the animal was raised and the way in which the meat is prepared.

For example, when choosing beef make sure that it is organic, free range and grass fed. If this type of beef is unavailable in your area look for for meat that is, at least hormone and anti-biotic free. The same goes with chicken, make sure it is free range organic; this means it is allowed to run free and supplement its diet with insects and other natural “wild” foods.

As for the preparation of your meats, eat them WITH the fat and minimize frying and overcooking. The fats in naturally raised animals are essential to better digestion and nutrient absorption. Furthuremore, cooking at high temperatures not only reduces nutritional value but also creates toxic byproducts like PhIP and heterocyclic amines which are strongly associated with cancer. I personally eat most of my animal proteins raw or nearly raw (another highly controversial practice).

MILK: It does the body good right? Well, that depends. Milk has been a hallmark of the average modern American diet and it can be a powerful boon to good nutrition but there are a few important considerations.

Milk should only be consumed raw, whole, and unmodified with the exception of culturing. Pasteurization and homogenization turns a life giving super food into a dead allergen ridden waste product. Raw milk, on the other hand, provides a complete protein, and quality fats loaded with highly bioavailable vitamins and minerals that are destroyed or rendered less absorbable when heated (calcium from pasteurized milk is not easily used by the body). The natural bacteria and enzymes found in raw milk also protect it from putrefying pathogens and make it more digestible so people with milk allergies (casein allergies) or lactose intolerance can often drink raw milk. Cultured raw milk such as yogurt, kefir, and cheese have added benefits with increased digestibility and beneficial bacteria.

To find a source of raw milk near you, go to http://www.realmilk.com/where1.html

EGGS: Another excellent source of complete protein, quality fats, and bioavailable micronutrients. There is a misconception that eggs should be eaten sparingly due to their effect on blood cholesterol. This is a myth.

Whole eggs have not been shown to have a negative affect on blood cholesterol or triglycerides.

Much like milk and meat, however, make sure you get your eggs fresh and from organic free range hens. Eggs are best when eaten raw, as this preserves the delicate micronutrients and essential fatty acids within the yolk. The salmonella scare that the FDA has created around raw eggs is, in my opinion, completely overblown. Most eggs, if kept fresh and obtained from reputable sources will not be contaminated. Furthermore, the stomach acids of a healthy person neutralize any Salmonella and infections are generally short lived anyway not lasting more than a few hours unless you have a compromised immune system.

SOY: Where did we go so wrong? If you have not heard by now, know that soy is NOT the health food that so many experts have supported. As far as soy protein isolate is concerned, it is an industrial waste product from the vegetable oil industry. It is a highly processed incomplete plant protein that heralds a whole host of potential health risks. In short, soy inhibits mineral absorption, decreases stomach acid production (necessary for good digestion and immune function), has phytoestrogens which interfere with normal hormone regulation, and undergoes industrial processing that produces harmful byproducts.

The only healthy soy based foods will be found in fermented products such as natto, miso, tempeh, etc.

Again this is only a rough guide to nutrition and proteins, but it will point the way to better health and performance.

In the final installment of this three part series I will cover dietary carbohydrates.

In Health,

–
Nhan-Esteban Khuong, L.Ac.
www.SGVJeetKuneDo.com

OK, so there really isn’t an actual “JKD Nutrition Plan” but there should be.

For those who may not know, Bruce Lee was a huge proponent of optimal health and performance via careful and deliberate nutrition. He experimented heavily with vitamins, protein shakes, and other health supplements; he even explored the latest fads, quickly dismissing nonsense and keeping what worked for him.

In the spirit of Jeet Kune Do, I’ll clear up a few myths and outright fallacies of modern nutrition so that you may “absorb what is useful, discard what is useless, and add what is uniquely your own.”

I warn you however, that what you read here will probably go contrary to everything you think you know about nutrition.

Let’s begin . . .

Myth: Your diet should include small amounts of polyunsaturated oils and no unsaturated fats.

This is perhaps the biggest misunderstanding in nutrition. Unlike what the FDA has lead the public to believe, fat is your friend. In fact, fat is an absolutely essential nutrient that has received a lot of abuse from the media and so-called diet and nutrition gurus over the years.

Polyunsaturated fats like canola oil have been hailed as healthy oils due to their low saturated fat content when the opposite is actually true. “Vegetable” oils like canola and corn oil actually have a high potential of harming the body simply due to their unstable molecular structure. These “polyunsaturated” oils are highly susceptible to oxidation and formation of toxic substances (such as acrylamide) under heat. Furthermore, oxidized oils create a whole host of problems including harmful free radical cascades arterial plaques (analysis of arterial plaques show their composition to be primarily oxidized polyunsaturated fats, not cholesterol as everybody seems to think).

Saturated fats like organic coconut oil and butter, on the other hand, are nutritional powerhouses. Taken raw, their health benefits put them in the class of super foods with their immune boosting and gut healing properties. These fats are also much healthier options for cooking due to their higher molecular stability.

Similarly, mono unsaturated fats like olive oil, hemp oil are more stable than their polyunsaturated cousins and also have positive health promoting properties of their own when taken raw.

Remember that most of the fats in our own body are actually saturated, not to mention that medium chain fatty acids (like coconut oil) make an excellent energy source comparable to carbohydrates. In fact, saturated fat is the primary source of energy for the heart.

Why all the negative hype in the media about saturated fats? Most likely, this is due to the advent of trans fats in margarine and other hydrogenated oils. Hydrogenation, being a process that artificially saturates an oil, thus making it more stable for longer shelf life in stores.

Consider trans and hydrogenated fats as public enemy number one and avoid at all costs. Used as a preservative, nothing eats hydrogenated fat . . . not even mold and bacteria, and neither should you.

The final, but no less important, element in dietary fats concern essential fatty acids. These are a class of fats that the body needs but is unable to produce and therefore, must get out of the diet. Omega three fatty acids are really the only ones you need to be conscious about as they are less abundant than the others (ie. omega 6). Just make certain that the omega three in your diet is coming from an animal source such as fish and egg yolks, as omega 3 from flax and other plant sources is inadequate. Again, as an unsaturated oil, it is better taken raw and with plenty of anti-oxidants to preserve its healthful state.

This is only a rough guide to dietary fats, but will none-the-less produce extraordinary health benefits in the long run.

For in-depth information about nutrition and healthy fats, visit the Weston Price Foundation

Stay tuned for Part II of this series where I’ll be covering dietary protein.

In Health,

–
Nhan-Esteban Khuong, L.Ac.
www.SGVJeetKuneDo.com