Author Archives: brianzajac

Week 25 – Speedo Glove Pool Exercises

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What I Learned in Week 25

Overall: Introduced a new starch (potato) + adding more rice to my diet, Speedo glove pool exercises, and coping with the pain while my muscles gain.

Speedo Glove Pool Exercises

I recently purchased some Speedo exercise gloves to help resistance in the pool.  Below are exercises suggested by Livestrong and Speedo:

Speedo Glove Poole Exercises

Speedo Glove Poole Exercises – Lateral Raise & Body Rotation

  •  BICEPS CURL AND TRICEPS PRESS – This combination of two traditional weight training exercises targets all of the muscles in your arms. Stand in shoulder-deep water with your hands by your sides and your palms facing forward. Keep your elbows tucked into your ribs, and bend your arms. Keep your hands open and your fingers spread to maximize resistance through the water. Raise your hands to shoulder-level, and then turn your palms down, and press your hands back down to your sides. Continue bending and straightening your arms for the duration of your set.
  • CHEST AND REAR FLIES – This exercise will strengthen your arms, front and rear shoulders, upper back, and chest muscles. Stand in shoulder-deep water with your arms extended out to your sides at shoulder height. Turn your palms forward, and spread your fingers. Sweep your arms forward until your hands meet. Turn your thumbs down, and then sweep your arms back to the starting position. Reset your hands and repeat. This exercise generates a lot of power, which may push you off balance. To avoid this, lean against the side of the pool or stand in a split stance for extra stability.
  • SIDE RAISES – Side raises target your shoulders and are very similar to the traditional strength training exercise, side lateral raise, which is commonly performed using dumbbells. Stand in shoulder-deep water with your hands by your sides. Spread your fingers to maximize resistance. Raise your arms out to the side and up to shoulder level. Lower your arms back to your sides, and then repeat. You can also perform this exercise by raising your arms to the front. This variation also targets your shoulder muscles.

My Health in Week 25

  • Overall:   Adding rice & potato plus my 2nd week of getting into the exercise regime has it’s ups and downs.  Listed below are the exercises and how I’m holding up.
  • Exercise:
    • Chiropractor 3X per week:  Neck warm-ups and wobble chair go usually well & depend on how I’m feeling that morning.  Adjustments vary on light to heavy depending on how my neck and shoulders are doing + my energy levels. Head weights for 10 minutes are working out fine. Traction for 20 minutes is by far the hardest thing I’m going through.  Now that I’m up to the maximum, my jaw and neck hurt and increasingly hurt as the week progresses.  This is not to say what they are doing is wrong, it’s just that my neck and shoulder area is very weak and that exercise is very tough on it.  It gets so bad that getting up out of bed has become even more difficult because my neck is so worn out I can’t pick it up easily as I lift myself out of bed. Traction against the wall for 10 minutes is fine and I get an ice pack during this time to help out my neck.  This exercise is really great for pushing my shoulders back.  On Monday, 7/9, I did this exercise lying down and it was much tougher to do (especially with a 6″ foam block on my back – I have back pain due to that on 7/10).  Something tells me they won’t put me lying down again for awhile.
    • Head weights 2X per day for 10 minutes each (1X in the evening if it’s a day at the chiropractor) – usually not a problem, but from Thursday on, I developed a mild groin / right hip problem due to sleeping incorrectly throughout one of the nights.  So the head weights (usually the evening one) are tougher to do & I need to be more careful.
    • Walking as far as I can outside (currently around 10-20 minutes).  Same issue as head weights listed above.
    • Pool exercises on days not at the chiropractor.  Times range from 1/2 – 1 hour and consist of exercise gloves, walking / high-stepping, push-ups and pulling legs in/out / side-to-side to strengthen core.  Pool exercises are really helping me out as they are the only time I can lift up my legs high and do ab exercises I normally cannot do.
  • Potato, More Rice and Corn Starch:  Added 1/2 a red skin potato on 7/5 & the other half on 7/6.  Besides adding rice in the morning, I added it to my meal at Chipolte on 7/7 and ate frozen Yogurt – so far, so good.  And, unlike the previous week, I’m not getting as many of those stabbing pains whenever gas travels through my intestines.  7/9 I attended a healthy food class over at Whole Foods.  One of the dishes contained corn starch and I gave it a try.  It’s only been one day, but it doesn’t seem to affect me either (at least in small doses).
  • Sleep:  I’m waking up 1-2 times a night, but dealing with pain from my right hip throughout the night (feels more like a mild groin injury) due to sleeping incorrectly (I had no idea until I woke up & felt the pain).  I go to bed at 10pm, get up around 1am needing to go to the bathroom quickly (this has been happening for months) + I take 1 ibuprofen.  Then around 4am I take 1 ibuprofen, 1 probiotic, and fish oil and finally get up at 6:30-7:30am.  The 2nd time I wake up, I usually pass out and wake up around 5am.
  • Supplements:  Probiotics, Vitamin D3, Magnesium (Gluconate), HCL (1-2 times per week), digestive enzymes, and Maine Omega-3 fish oil are my standard.  I’ve added Chromium Picolinate and Vitamin B-Complex – most of supplementation is done at breakfast time.
  • Current Areas of Concern: Neck and shoulder pain from chiropractic exercises (pulls me back to proper alignment) & AS (pulls me forward out of alignment) battling each other, evening time crashes (tired, sore all over – feels like the flu each night), right hip / groin area hurts and makes it harder to sleep.
  • Areas of Improvement:  Exercising and most of my body keeping up with it, added more starches without an issue (hello potato!), and getting a few more hours each week for work.
  • Enbrel:  It has been 20 1/2 weeks since my last shot.
  • My lowest weight was 130 lbs. and a BMI of 18.15.

Auto-Immune Diet Daily Routine – Three to Five Months

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Included below is the Ankylosing Spondylitis / Auto-Immune Diet Daily Health Routine I created for Month Three (3) to Five (5).  For the latest version, please visit my daily routine.

My Daily Auto-Immune Diet from Month 3 – 5

Miscellaneous Components

  • Supplements, Digestive Helpers, & Raw Food + NSD / LSD (at least until 8/8/2012)
  • Chiropractor from Dec. 1st, 2011 to Jan. 31st, 2012.  Back on program Mid-April 2012.
  • Complete Blood Count (CBC) + Other Vitamin Test (Look at “Allergy Tests”) after mid-April – make sure it’s done by LabCorp.
  • Calories: Need 2220+ calories per day (Calculate BMR X Lifestyle)
  • Fat:  I need 49g – 86g of fat per day
  • Protein:  I need 70g of protein per day (1/2 my weight)
  • Since the start of the 21-day reboot, the medication I take is Enbrel (last taken Feb. 7 – Day 21 of reboot) & NSAID-based products (masks pain + inflammation) as needed including Ibuprofen & Naprosen.

Morning

Lunchtime & Afternoon:

Dinner & Evening:

Week 24 – My List of Healthy Fats and Desserts

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What I Learned in Week 24

Segway Ride

Overall: Improving in health, I’m learning my limitations but still pushing forward physically and nutritionally (read below on healthy fats & desserts).  On the left, you’ll see I went on another Segway Tour ride, feeling ready for it.  Review my health below to see how I did before & after the ride.

Last week I dipped under 130lbs. and am finding ways to add in fats and calories to my diet while eating my soluble foods (to bind things), along with exercise from the chiropractor, pool and walking.  Listed below are the good fats in my diet + some desserts I’ve made or are going to try.  If you have a suggestion on healthy fats or dessert ideas, please look at my list of food intolerance and comment below with suggestions.

My List of Healthy Fats & How I’m Using Them:

Healthy fats will allow me to slowly gain the weight I need while giving me energy throughout the day.  I can overdo this (and did this week), so each week I monitor the intake of fatty foods.

  • Avocados – Salads, toppings on meat, substitute for mayonnaise.
  • Nuts – Usually raw & by themselves.  Most common I eat are walnuts, macadamia, almonds, brazil, pecan, pumpkin & chia seeds.
  • Oils – For cooking I use coconut oil, for salad dressing I use extra virgin olive oil.
  • Fish – Salmon, sardines (skinless / boneless) are typical fatty fish I eat.  Be careful not to combine them with an avocado & EVOO as it’s too much healthy fats at one time for my body – especially if I’ve had too many nuts for the day.

Desserts and Recipes:

There are desserts that are delicious but come with a heavy health price tag.  Below are desserts with healthy fats, alternatives to sugar, delicious and quick to make.

  • Chocolate – in bar form, at least 70% Dark Chocolate & sometimes with almond butter.
  • Almond Butter with St. Dalfour Black Current Jam (no sugar cane)
Raw Donut Holes

Raw Donut Holes

Raw Donut Holes

2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
2/3 cup walnuts
1 tsp vanilla
3 tsp cinnamon or 1 of cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp of sea salt
9 dates (can substitute dried figs)

Add coconut to food processor, and process alone for 30 sec to 1 min to release oils. Add in walnuts, vanilla, cinnamon, sea salt, process until all mixed & fine. Add in dates (pit removed)  & process.  Form into balls with your hands.

Other “Raw Ball” Recipes

Raw “Cookie Dough”

  • 1/2 cup raw coconut butter
  • 1/2 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • pinch sea salt
  • 1 cup dates, pitted
  • 3 Tablespoons raw cacao nibs (you can also sub in raisins)

Combine butter & shredded coconut with vanilla extract & salt and process until smooth.  Add in dates (easier if they have been soaked for a 1/2 day) and process again until sticky & smooth.  Add in cacao nibs / raisins and pulse until evenly distributed in batch.  Roll into balls & add to refrigerator for a few hours.

Vanilla Honey Macaroons

  • 1/2 cup cashews or almonds
  • 2 1/4 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/2 c raw honey
  • 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
  • Himalayan sea salt

Process almonds / cashews until sand-like texture.  Add with coconut, raw honey & vanilla extract into a bowl and mix together.  Mixture will be sticky so wet hands as needed and roll into balls with lots of pressure (mix can fall apart easily).  Place on dehydrator and dust with salt.  Dehydrate 118 or less overnight.
NOTE:  You can refrigerate instead of dehydrate overnight but mixture won’t hold up as well.

Almond Butter Brownie Sandwiches
  • Almond Butter Raw Brownie Sandwiches (SOURCE)
1 cup pecans or walnuts
1/2 cup dates
5 tablespoons raw cacao powder
4 tablespoons shredded unsweetened coconut
(optional) 2 tablespoons honey
pinch of sea salt
almond butter (when ready to serve)
Process pecans / walnuts until they become small and crumbly.  Add in the dates and process so the mixture is sticky.  Add in the remaining ingredients and process – there should still be air between the small bits so that you will be able to press them down into your brownie pan.  Place mixture in a small dish or cake pan and press firmly with hands.  Refrigerate for a few hours and then slice them up.
When ready to serve, combine brownie pieces with with almond butter.  The original brownie recipe is too sweet, but the almond butter’s saltiness evens it out.
  • Amarettis (italian almond cookies) – Will need to test as the recipe calls for 4 egg whites & I’m food sensitive to eggs.
  • Almond milk shake – almond milk, almond butter, vanilla extract, cocoa powder, cacao nibs, some ice, and a frozen banana.
  •  If you have a suggestion on healthy fats or dessert ideas, please look at my list of food intolerance and comment below with suggestions.

My Health in Week 24

  • Overall:   Improving in health, I’m learning my limitations but still pushing forward.  On the left, you’ll see I went on another Segway Tour ride, feeling ready for it.  1 1/2 hours of sidewalk cracks, bumps, and hips / ankles getting a workout, I still felt fine but ankles were definitely swollen (but went down pretty quickly).  Made a big dinner and that evening was my downfall.  The rest of the Saturday evening & Sunday were spent with a sore body all over, swollen ankles, and limping due to hips.  Going to the pool on Sunday helped, but enough rest and then the chiropractor on Monday morning did the trick.  Feeling much better (even in the evening) on Monday compared to the weekend.  I was declining in energy on Tuesday and went to the pool, took a nap, and back to myself in the afternoon.
  • Exercise: FINALLY, I am able to start exercising on a consistent basis.  Exercises consist of:
    • Chiropractor 3X per week (send a comment if you want detailed info):  Neck warm-ups, wobble chair, adjustment, head weights for 10 minutes, traction for 20 minutes, and traction against the wall for 10 (will go up to 20 minutes)
    • Head weights 2X per day for 10 minutes each (1X in the evening if it’s a day at the chiropractor)
    • Walking as far as I can outside (currently around 10-20 minutes)
    • Pool exercises on days not at the chiropractor.  Times range from 1/2 – 1 hour and consist of exercise gloves, walking / high-stepping, push-ups and pulling legs in/out / side-to-side to strengthen core.
  • Sleep:  I am still waking up twice a night.  I go to bed at 10pm, get up around 1am (take 1 ibuprofen), then around 4am (take 1 ibuprofen, 1 probiotic, and fish oil), then finally get up at 6:30-7:30am.  The 2nd time I wake up, I usually pass out and wake up around 5am.
  • Supplements:  Probiotics, Vitamin D3, Magnesium (Gluconate), HCL (1-2 times per week), digestive enzymes, and Maine Omega-3 fish oil are my standard.  I’ve added Chromium Picolinate and Vitamin B-Complex – most of supplementation is done at breakfast time.
  • Current Areas of Concern:  Depending on the type of day (different exercises / activities) and time (evenings are the worst), my hips and ankles still act up.  Also, prolonged sitting enhances stiffness and fatigue.  Still difficult to raise my hands over my head and neck is still stiff (more on left than right).
  • Areas of Improvement:  Adding the chiropractor 3 times a week along with exercise has improved movement / flexibility.  I’m now barely able to bend over and pick up things off the floor (to me this is a BIG win).  Adding the nutrients I lacked from the Metametrix test has boosted my energy levels and reduced swelling.  Overall I’ve made some big steps this week and it’s starting to show.
  • Enbrel:  It has been 19 1/2 weeks since my last shot.
  • My lowest weight was 130 lbs. and a BMI of 18.18.