Project UNITED

Health, fitness, wellbeing.

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A man and some painkillers - Project UNITED

A man and some painkillers http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/10/18/a-man-and-some-painkillers/

I was at a not-for-profit networking function a few weeks ago to see what other people were up to and to see if I could steal any great ideas for Project UNITED. I met a man who was part of a project for getting young adults off painkillers. As usual, rather than gently engaging in conversation, I started hammering him with questions. Unusually, this gentleman didn’t find an excuse to leave, he stayed and answered everything I asked. After I had heard some of his answers, I told him about Project UNITED and asked if I could write about his experience. He was happy to oblige, though as his family and employer weren’t across the whole story, he asked to remain nameless for now. This was what he shared.

We might have a problem…

I actually ended up in front of a psychologist, three in fact, because after trying to clean myself up for two years, I had run out of plans. I played team sports, was pretty social, kept myself occupied when I was at home, and had a really good job with a finance company. I had a long term partner, and everything on paper looked fine, or at least satisfactory. But for some reason I would find myself at a pharmacy or in front of a GP every week or so asking for a box of whatever because of some fake pain I pretended to have. In hindsight what was most alarming was that it had reached the point where I was asking for specific painkillers from my GP and they would just write the script. Occasionally they would raise the issue of how quickly I was using them but I’d lie about losing them or my partner taking them, and I’d leave the GP’s office with another script.

Occasionally my girlfriend would see me downing a handful of pills and ask me why I was taking so many. I’d tell her it was because I’d hurt my knee or hip or ankle at touch footy. It was believable because I was always coming home with skin missing or an injury of some degree, but they never required half a box of codeine based painkillers at a time. Now that she’d seen me do it a couple of times, I started to do it more subtly – in the car or shower or whatever. 

How it started

The first question that most people ask is how it started. For me it was innocuous – I had a legitimate injury a few years ago and someone recommended I take some Nurofen Plus. I took a pile of them and the pain went away. Next time I hurt myself, same again. That evolved into taking them whenever I was stressed or irritated and then almost as a reward in certain circumstances. Then I learnt about the likes Panadein Forte and Tramadol and it escalated from there. The best analogy I can think of is to compare it to the social use of alcohol. A lot of people will have a drink or two a few nights each week, and then maybe a bigger session on the weekend or if they go out. It was the same for me, but because it didn’t effect my driving or cognitive function too much, I could take them through the day.

Tipping point

The tipping point came one night when I’d realised I’d taken a whole packet of 40 in the space of about 8 hours (I think the daily maximum is about six). I had done it before but this was the first time when I thought about potentially not waking up. I called the drug info helpline or whatever it was called, and spoke to a lady who freaked out and told me I should go to the hospital. She thought I might die. In hindsight I thought this was quite funny but could imagine how awful a role it must be to be on the other end of those phone calls. I didn’t go to the hospital. I sat up until about 2.00am to make sure I was going to be okay, and then went to bed. The next morning I made a joke to my girlfriend that I had woken up – bonus. She didn’t completely know what I meant, or at least I don’t think she did.

I had clean runs of months – two or three months at a time but inevitably something would reel me back in – maybe a really crappy week at work, or perhaps I felt like celebrating, or maybe I had genuinely injured myself. But somehow at some point I would end up sneaking around my house with a handful of pills.

The feeling of being an “addict” really only hit me when I drove around my area trying to find a pharmacy that would sell me what I wanted. Earlier in the year, the TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration) implemented a system which records the supply of over-the-counter codeine medication across NSW and QLD, so basically every pharmacy knew when I last bought something. Because of this I was refused a purchase at about five different pharmacies before someone told me why. It was humiliating.

At one point when a pharmacist warned me of the potential for a dependency on certain painkillers, I actually challenged him and said, “So what? What if I am someone who takes these recreationally? What are you going to do for me? What happens now?” He just said that he’d recommend me to go see my GP. I understood his duty of care and limited capabilities, but if I was to see my doctor, I’d end up asking for a prescription for something stronger.

I read about an NRL player (Jaral Yow Yeh – Brisbane Broncos) and a musician (Matthew Colwell – 360) who both came out and told their stories about getting caught up in something similar. It was pleasing to know it was bigger than me, but didn’t necessarily help.

The night I called the drug info line, I spent about four hours after that phone call Googling the side effects of overdosing on codeine, ibuprofen, and paracetamol. One of the side effects was the potential for rupturing a kidney. At that stage I had some soreness in one of my glutes which I thought was a result of some running drills, but having read that, I was convinced I had blown a kidney. I saw my third GP in a week (couldn’t go back to the same ones that I was getting prescriptions from) and told him the whole story. He told me that my kidneys were probably fine, but that if I keep it up, they wouldn’t be. He put me in contact with a lady who specialised in managing addictions. The first thing she told me was that the majority of her patients were all like me – youngish, professional, independent, educated, but somehow found themselves with a painkiller habit. The idea of the typical “junkie” was less likely to be needle-and-illicit-drug based, and more likely prescription based. For some reason, this made me feel a little better.

Cleaning up

The first week or so after a binge is pretty bad. According to some of the doctors I have spoken to, heroin addicts who try to detox cold turkey can actually die from withdrawals. Their bodies just go into shutdown. The painkiller comedown isn’t that bad, but it is pretty awful. For a start, your body goes a bit haywire – you can’t sleep, but if you do fall asleep, you feel like you could sleep for days. You seem to be peeing all day, and every minor bodily issue you have will play up – everything feels sore. There’s a dull headache that never leaves, and your self-control goes out the window particularly for bad foods. Your motivation goes, you have no energy or drive, and everything feels like an effort. It’s really bloody unpleasant.

And of course, in those situations, what would make it better? More pills.

Bigger issues?

In the back of my mind, I wonder if I may have some other issues – anxiety issues or something like that. I have been reluctant to talk about that sort of thing because everyone I know seems to be on antidepressants and I didn’t want to be another one. But now I have started to come to terms with what I am doing and I acknowledge that it is probably worse, so I suppose it is a case of choosing the lessor of two evils. But equally, it is hard to know if the painkiller thing has exacerbated the issues or not. You’d probably have to assume they have.

What now?

I have basically come to the conclusion that, worst case scenario, anti-depressants are probably better than taking too many painkillers, so my first objective is to get away from pain killers completely and if I still have issues with anxiety or whatever, than I will deal with that at that point. In all likelihood, a lot of the issues with managing stress and tension are probably connected to the painkiller reliance so hopefully once that is addressed, I can manage those other issues more productively. At this point it is hard to make too many decisions until I can clearly determine whether it is out of my system or not. I don’t want to run from one thing straight into another. At this point I am just getting used to talking about it and making sure I keep checking in with my GP to stay on course. So far so good. 

For the record, the gentleman who told me this story was wearing a pair of dress pants, a business shirt and tie, a standard pair of glasses, had a neat haircut, and looked in good physical condition. His body language was confident, welcoming, and quite positive. In other words, he looked really normal. He still works in finance as an executive with the firm he is at, and if I had to guess his age, I’d say he was in his early 30’s. I did ask him at the end why he told me that story and so thoroughly – I hammered him with questions and he didn’t resist. He said that he didn’t want to, but that he had tried for three years to break the cycle and tried to keep it to himself and sort it out, but kept failing. So he decided he would do everything differently this time to try to clean himself up, including telling that story to anyone who asked. I could tell he was embarrassed, or perhaps felt guilty, or at very least, uneasy, but he never avoided my questions. He spoke with frustration mainly, that the story was even being told, and being told by him about him. I suspect I wasn’t the first person he had spoken to, but each time he told that story, the reality of it hit him a little harder.

I must admit that I didn’t know how to leave that situation so I meekly asked him if there was anything I could do. Without missing a beat he asked me if I had an Aspirin. I suspected that this probably surmised the sort of person he was – a regular dude with a sense of humour and pretty good life who found himself in a shitty situation. He wasn’t blaming anyone or feeling any self-pity, just frustrated that it was him, and working on getting himself right. I don’t know how many people find themselves in this situation but I hope they have an exit strategy too.

Good luck ol’ mate. I hope you get out.

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7 Day Barcode Ban: The outcome - Project UNITED

7 Day Barcode Ban: The outcome http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/10/13/7-day-barcode-ban-outcome/

This was way harder than I expected. Seven days of meals without using any ingredients that were packaged or had a barcode on them certainly identified how convenient my eating habits had become.

[To skip to the crux of the experience, click here – dot points]

The first observation was how much preparation was required for each meal. The process of getting hungry and then eating something straight away has become a habit for me, so to actually plan ahead for every meal was a chore to begin with. I also established that without the aid of additives (oils, packaged spices, sauces etc), I’m really not that good at cooking.

Olive oils, salts, spices in jars, flavoured sauces etc were all out. All meals could only be made through a combination of fruit and vegetables acquired from the nearby farmer’s market, and organic, unpackaged rolled oats acquired from the health food store nearby. The wifey and I have been vegetarians for a while now so only using vegetables was not new, but cutting out loads of other awesome stuff was.

No oil or cooking lube

A few of the meals consisted of baked or pan-fried vegetables which proved to be tricky without olive oil or butter (or greasiness of some kind), and inevitably ended with burnt food and ruined pans. Baking paper solved that problem to some degree, but some meals still ended up scorched. Achieving a crispy finish on anything was beyond me (unless we dried the life out of it in the oven).

No painkillers to save the day

Wifey’s mum calls sauces and spices “painkillers” because usually if something tastes a bit wrong, you just smash it with sauce or spices. This was also not an option, so everything we made had to rely on the actual ingredients rather than any boosters. The produce we had was fresh and tasted wonderful, but somehow when I tried to combine them, I ended up with a bowl of skuz (I guess kind of like if you have a palette of beautiful colours and mix them all together you end up with a shitty brown colour).

I also butchered a couple of meals by using too many fresh herbs. Being used to dry herbs which aren’t very powerful, I overdid the fresh herbs a lot.

Fruit fruit is magic

Supermarket plastic perfect sprayed shiny fruit is usually a disappointment and fruit suffers because of it. Actual fruit fruit that hasn’t been sprayed, handled, massaged, and beautified is mind-blowing. It is hard to articulate how satisfying eating a couple of locally grown fresh strawberries or a wedge of pineapple can be.

Eating isn’t about food

For a long time, eating and meals haven’t been about the food, or at least, not about the nutrition. Eating these days is an event, three times a day. Everyone is having smoothies for breakfast, and they will tell you all about it. Or they will have breakfast at the trendy café down the road. Oh, you haven’t been there? We go there all the time. The owners know our orders. We love it. You should go.

At an absolute minimum, most meals these days need to look pretty, or Instagramable. Or they need to be ready to go now, or they need to be cheap. At some point food choices went from being what will sustain us and provide us with energy, to being a form of entertainment, or something that is ready immediately, or something that doesn’t cost me a lot of money (or all of the above). If the greatest tasting health food snack of all time doesn’t have a fascinating label, no one will ever know what it tastes like.

It makes sense why raw foodies/vegans/dietary hardcores may talk about it a lot

I came to the conclusion that to keep this up, one would need to be truly passionate about it. Not just casually interested in being fit and healthy, but truly motivated to nurture one’s body – a passion. And like any passion, people enjoy talking about them – sports we play, our kids, our jobs, our car, well-priced stylish clothing range etc.

Weight loss and training

I consider myself to be in reasonably decent physical condition – I mean I can knock out 30 flutter-kick toes-to-bar’s like I just don’t care, so I wasn’t looking to lose weight and certainly didn’t consider myself to have a weight problem. However, despite doing my best to eat enough throughout the challenge, I lost about 4kg. But I also think that this is misleading for two reasons:

I was hungry a lot so the weight loss likely came through a reduction in food in general rather than simply eating better; and

By removing the delicious weird foods, I would guess that issues such as inflammation of various areas, and water/liquid retention from too much or not enough of certain things were probably reduced in some degree as well.

In terms of physical training, I don’t think I suffered any reductions in performance or any ill effects at all. In fact, some of the movements we practise (handstand push-ups, pull-ups, one legged squats etc) seemed a little easier, perhaps simply because I was a lighter.

Overall health and general feeling

I hate the term “detox” because it is terribly misused a lot, but that’s what this felt like. I was pretty moody for the first few days and my sleeping and bathroom habits were unpredictable. I was also moderately miserable knowing that there were zero fun-foods on the horizon. But by the end I was experiencing an odd feeling of “clean” that I haven’t felt before. I don’t want to overstate that, it’s not like I found God, but waking up each morning knowing that the day before I had provided nothing but fresh fruit and veges to my body was pleasing, almost like I had banished any nutritional excuses for not being on top of my game.

The outcome

I don’t think the 7 Day Barcode Ban has been a terribly healthy challenge for me, mainly because I don’t know what mix of veges I should be eating and when. But as I mentioned above, I do feel “cleaner” (which is probably a softer term for “healthier” anyway) so that is pleasing. I am going to try to stick with this a little longer and see what happens. If I can sort out how to cook nice things, I think it may actually be something that I can benefit from.

Critical findings

When you start to become aware of barcodes, you realise how many things are barcoded. This is bad because when most plant matter is picked it won’t last a week. But barcoded vegies can be picked, distributed, bagged or packaged, and then redistributed and then sit on a shelf for a few days before we get to them. What is being used to keep these things looking so fresh and lively?

Not using fillers (potato/sweet potato and eggs) all the time takes a lot of creativity.

It was difficult as it was to cut out processed foods (pastas, milks), rice, legumes etc but it was the little things that really made it hard. Not using olive oil, salt, pepper, any spices in a jar, stock, etc was frustrating. Relying on the flavours of the vegetables rather than boosting them with something foreign was tricky.

So much preparation. It is not horrifically inconvenient, but there are times when I will decide on a meal exactly at the moment that I am ready to gnaw on my own arm which will usually result in something convenient (rice, breads, wraps etc). But this vege caper is none-too-immediate, so you need to anticipate your hunger.

It is very difficult to find recipes that are additive free – most recipe sites I visited are click-bait destinations rather than useful sources of information. Having looked through numerous sites listing “vegetable only” or “no additive” recipes, inevitably they use oils, alternate-flours, ground-up-something, something extract etc.

Herb use is fraught with danger. I butchered a couple of meals by applying dry herb quantities of fresh herbs. Fresh herbs are much stronger than dry herbs which resulted in some wildly overpowering herbiness.

Whilst not the intention, the microwave wasn’t used at all for the week. Nothing we made needed it.

Real fruit direct from the source without chemicals is unbelievable and actually prevents the cravings that may arise for sweets.

For the sake of seven days, it is certainly worth a go. If you have any kind of form in the kitchen, you will probably have a much better time than I did. But well worth a go if you are considering giving your diet a shake-up.

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A ban on barcodes - Project UNITED

A ban on barcodes http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/10/04/a-ban-on-barcodes/

Hi team, welcome to October.

Having watched our fair share of food/health/industry related documentaries, the most recent being Food Choices, the common thread is that a plant-based whole-foods diet is favoured as the most environmentally sustainable, and best for ideal human health. Aggressive debates aside, it seemed to us that the logical progression from being an observer was to become a participant. Whilst the Project UNITED household has been a vegetarian household for about five years, we (well, me. I’m pretty sure Mrs UNITED will shake her head and leave the room) have decided to accept the challenge and eat barcode-free for seven days. This means that everything we (me) will eat for a seven day period will be combinations of foods that are free of packaging – basically produce I can get from Mt Gravatt Markets (fruit, vegetables, herbs, and grains if I can find any that aren’t packaged). A couple of notable terms and exceptions:

Given that there is not a lot of seasonal hunting in Brisbane these days, animal products are out. We have our own chooks though, so eggs are allowed.

If I can’t find open-source legit oats anywhere, I may have to acquire a bag of oats from somewhere, but rest assured they will be hectically overpriced, organic, certified, superfood grade oats.

Coffee. I consider my first cup of coffee in the morning as a gift, one of those small pleasures we as human-beings often take for granted. So coffee stays, but as per point 2 above, I will track down some offensively overpriced, organic, fair-trade, sustainable beans.

I have never been one to think too long about a plan, so let’s start tomorrow (October 5th, 2016). I will post updates via Facebook and Insty. Should be a breeze…

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Rio Olympics 2016: A collection of mind-blowing insights - Project UNITED

Rio Olympics 2016: A collection of mind-blowing insights http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/08/23/rio-olympics-2016-collection-mind-blowing-insights/

Unless you have been hiding underneath a low-set bed, you will have been exposed to the almost suffocating coverage of the 2016 Olympics (not to mention the raft of upcoming reality shows on the host broadcasting network). At Project UNITED, we love sports and we love observing things, so here are some observations we made of the collection of sports at the Olympics (and various themes).

There is no denying that the purity of the Olympics is pretty well shot

Apart from Coca Cola and McDonald’s owning the major food and beverage rights for the event (makes sense – junk food and death beverages), every participant was smeared in their nominated brands, either independently or as part of a team endorsement strategy. Nike had a good run with the entire USA team, Puma with Bolt, and Swiss… well, they didn’t fare so well (the Campbell sisters, the ladies basketball team etc). Even the Seven Network’s coverage was overwhelmingly endorsed with more advertisements than live play, and the audacity to charge a premium price for additional channels on their app was not lost on the public.

The AOC is either very optimistic or terribly misinformed

A couple of days ago, Chef De Mission Kitty Chiller stated that she had privately listed 20 – 21 events that Australia could win at Rio. Her rationale then led her to believe 75% of that was very likely, or 15 gold medals. We won eight which represents a 40% conversion of her forecast.

Further, the AOC officially forecast Australia to win 13 gold medals and went as far as listing the likely candidates. Of this list, only two won gold (Women’s 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay, and Kim Crow – Women’s Single Sculls). Oddly, the ladies Rugby Seven’s team (who won gold) and Cate Campbell (who did not), who were both raging hot favourites leading into the games were not featured in the AOC’s list.

Our best players are the ones we know nothing about

Chloe Esposito is better than Lego. By now you have likely Googled the heck out of “Modern Pentathlon” and discovered it’s probably the best event of all time – swimming, sword-fighting, running, guns, and riding a horse. Fun fact: the horse used for show-jumping is allocated to each competitor 20 minutes before each event. Yes, for real.

Add to this list Catherine Skinner (Women’s Trap Shooting) and Tom Burton (Sailing – Men’s Laser) and the best stories of the games have come from a place that most of us didn’t know existed.

We seem to have a victim complex

Apart from the ladies Rugby Seven’s team, we had a pretty off time of it in team sports at the Olympics. For the first time in 30 years (according to a TV presenter), Australia did not win a medal in a team sport outside of the Rugby Seven’s which was played for the first time at these Olympics. But quite clearly the problem wasn’t us. It was them.

According to officials, our media, or members of each team, the referees at Rio cost us success in men’s basketball, ladies basketball, ladies water polo, and ladies soccer. That’s a lot of shithouse refereeing. Oh, and there may have been a current in the pool that targeted our swimmers.

Why is Caster Semenya still “controversial”?

South African female athlete Caster Semenya is still a controversial figure in World athletics. If you don’t know her story, check it out here. But to summarise, due to some genetic anomaly she has heightened levels of testosterone in her system which some claim provide her with an unfair advantage over “regular” women. Labron James is 2+ metres tall. That’s unfair. Usain Bolt has the longest stride of any sprinter in history. That’s unfair. Ethiopians live and train at high-altitude. That’s unfair. I want to be a slim female actress. That’s unfair.

What’s really unfair is getting hammered for being alive and being good at something.

The walking events confuse me

I certainly respect the speed at which walkers walk and can only imagine how fit they are and how much training they do. But I can’t get past the juxtaposition of an event where the objective is to go as fast as you can, but not too fast.

Being given a leadership role does not create a leader

A few days before the closing of the Olympics, two of our swimmers hit the town and broke the rules. One (Josh Palmer) went well left and ended up robbed and delusional in Copacabana, the other (Emma McKeon) got stranded and stayed with friends away from the Olympic village but failed to advise team management of her circumstances. Team management rubbed them both out of the closing ceremony for breaking team protocol.

The next day, the SocMePapa (social media paparazzi) blew up and Kitty Chiller reneged on her original stance and allowed Emma McKeon to participate in the closing ceremony (not Palmer though. He wasn’t coming back from his episode). On the surface, this may seem just. But consider this: pre-event, safety and security assessments would have been discussed at length. Even before any athlete arrived in Rio, body parts washed up on a Rio beach, there were police protests, there were Zika virus fears, corruption claims and Government upheaval. Fair to say the environment was precarious. Accordingly, the Australian Olympic Committee must have had intelligence and recommendations on how they should manage the safety of the team and the brand of the Australian Olympic Team. They would have had a definitive list of requirements and expectations of each athlete and team, and I can only imagine how many times each team and individual was drilled on what was expected of them. If by chance one of our athletes ended up kidnapped, harmed, or worse, what happens then? If only we had some kind of team safety protocol. Hence why a code of conduct or team protocol was implemented in the first place. In that context, to have sanctions for breaking the rules is more than fair and completely understandable. But as history will tell us, our leadership values are only as strong as the social media pressure they may be exposed to.

They have lost their meaning, and costs around $330m

I will confess that I was experiencing a moderate amount of enjoyment from the Rio games until I saw this mock-ad on Gruen. That ruined it. I then started looking into the purpose of the Olympics and how much it costs.

According to the official IOC website, “the goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised without discrimination of any kind, in a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.” That sounds fair, except:

Russia was facing a blanket ban for systemised national doping programs, but this was later revoked by the IOC with each sporting body left to make their own determinations. Evidently, Russia still finished fourth overall. The Russian Paralympians though do face a blanket ban.

There was ongoing commentary from Australian and American swimmers calling out dopers in protest of an alleged lack of action from governing body FINA.

Communities in Rio were driven out of their homes to accommodate the Olympics.

The Rio games are likely to divide the social classes within Rio further.

The “amateur” guidelines for the Olympics was shelved in 1990 but weird rules still remain. To compete in men’s soccer for example, each team must comprise of members 23 years old and younger apart from three members. The ladies teams can be of any age. Boxing has only just relaxed their amateur rules for Rio meaning Floyd Mayweather Jr could fight for a gold medal if he had wanted to.

At $330m across four years, are there better programs to use that funding on?

It didn’t matter if the Olympics were great, we were always going to be disappointed

For some reason, bad news is easy. It is easy to write, easy to report, and is easily shared. “Did you hear about that bad thing that happened to that person on that occasion?” “I know, wasn’t it bad!?”

Why is that?

As a sports fan in general, the themes that spring immediately to mind are disappointing cricketers, idiot rugby league players, racist AFL fans, and disappointing Rugby results. Kyrgios is a jerk, Mundine is a loud mouth, and Jarryd Hayne is big head.

What is going on here? Is it truly a case of shitty news being more emotionally engaging than nice news? Is it more profitable and discussable (conversationable?) to spread irritating stories than decent ones? No, I don’t think so.

I think the issue comes back to opinion. For some reason, the weight of irrelevant opinion hangs large on our own interpretation of events. Would Cate Campbell’s fifth in the 100m freestyle final be as diabolically shambolic if we had have simply observed it and moved on instead of being inundated with 11 million interpretations of how horrific it was? If we weren’t swarmed with the “letdown” that was the Boomers final series, would we have actually felt letdown? Perhaps what is truly disappointing is not how the results fall, but how they are consumed and then regurgitated upon us.

Greatness isn’t achieved. It just is.

Two quick points to make:

It turns out there is a sportsmanship award that the IOC can hand out at their discretion should it be called for. It was called for at Rio. Two ladies competing in a 5000m heat, New Zealander Nikki Hamblin and American Abbey D’Agostino got tangled up and fell to the ground on the final lap. Hamblin rose to her feet to continue but D’Agostino remained on the ground in pain with a torn ACL. Having taken a few steps forward and realising her colleague was still on the ground, Hamblin picked D’Agostino up off the ground and they completed the race together.

Authenticity is rare, particularly in the public sphere. To be a champion athlete and an authentic human-being at the same time is borderline overwhelming. Anna Meares has it in buckets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAYgjgpfQmc

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What if we had to qualify for free healthcare? - Project UNITED

What if we had to qualify for free healthcare? http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/07/04/what-if-we-had-to-qualify-for-free-healthcare/

With the voting element of the Federal Election having calmly and peacefully (lols) passed us by over the weekend, a few of the policies came up in conversation which manifested into the concept for this blog post.

To avoid the risk of losing any of our 11 subscribers, we won’t get into opinions or preferences, but I did hear one proposition which I thought made some sense in relation to the public healthcare system.

Having free (or basically free) education and healthcare is a pretty great thing. Sure, textbooks and uniforms cost money, and sometimes queues at the hospital are long, but compared to a lot of alternatives, it’s a pretty good scenario. But with regards to healthcare in particular, there are some cases where as human-beings, we make questionable decisions but place the responsibility of the solution on others. We certainly all need help sometimes, but sometimes we are our own worst enemies and being facilitated by services such as free healthcare may not provide our communities with any long term solution. So what if free healthcare was provided on the basis that we actually had to demonstrate some level of responsible living?

In other words, to qualify for free healthcare, what if we had to participate in X number of hours of exercise each week, must limit our alcohol and soft-drink/fast food intake to a predetermined level, and be non-smokers (and probably also avoid consuming illegal narcotics, except at music festivals. Just kidding.) Implementation would obviously be complex, but some level of responsibility would be placed back on us as a community to live in a manner that promotes good health rather than smashing ourselves and expecting the system to fix us.

I know that the theory is very black and white and there are 51 shades of grey to the hypothetical, but perhaps as the health system comes under greater pressure from a growing population, it is worth considering.

Of course, if you are European soccer player wealthy, then you can freely Charlie Sheen it up and become the private healthcare system’s problem and disregard the above.

There are going to be cases where members of our community have various afflictions or addictions that are the basis of elements out of their control, and we need to take of care of them, without a doubt. But if we actively and purposefully choose to ignore health and wellbeing advice and repeatedly and willingly damage ourselves, should we expect a free health service to take responsibility for us when we refuse to do so ourselves?

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Flu shot frenzy: are they worth a shot? - Project UNITED

Flu shot frenzy: are they worth a shot? http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/05/26/flu-shot-frenzy-are-they-worth-a-shot/

A more appropriate title would have been “Everything I could find out about flu shots based on secondary research”…

Not so spectacular…

As the cold weather rolls in, flu shot wounds are quickly becoming the latest must-have upper-arm accessory. Walk into any pharmacy and more than likely you will be able to pay a few dollars for the privilege before sitting quietly for 10 minutes to ensure you don’t burst into flames, and then depart feeling invincible and flu-proof. But with mass-hysteria usually comes a dash of proof, and a flood of hype (Exhibit A: PowerBalance Bands).

According to the International Medical Council on Vaccination, the former Chief Vaccine Officer at the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) stated in 2013 that “There is no evidence that any influenza vaccine thus far developed is effective in preventing or mitigating any attack of influenza.” In fact, one study conducted on children in 2012 (I’m guessing they signed waivers) suggested that the flu shot may cause other non-influenza respiratory virus infections by immobilising the bodies immune system temporarily.

Further, in 2013 the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy out of the University of Minnesota found that flu vaccine effectiveness may be as low as 56% (lower in over 65’s), and those figures are non conclusive given how many variables are at play in those who remain healthy.

In 2014, the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) claimed the flu vaccine was 70-90% effective. In 2016, they scaled that back to “about 50-60%”.

Other fun flu shot facts:

Selected virus strains are grown in live hen’s eggs before being extracted, purified, killed, broken down into components and then mixed to create the vaccine (for this reason, those with egg allergies and vegans may want to seek advice before having the shot).

Whilst the vaccine basically entails injecting the host with a strain of the flu, it is usually only minimal – enough for the immune system to build resilience.

The 2016 “super vaccine” shot is so called because quadrivalent, or four-strain vaccine includes an additional “B” strain known as the “Brisbane strain”, alongside the Phuket (B), Hong Kong (A) and California (A) strains. Strains are named for the locations in which they were first isolated (totally not making this up).

The flu shot won’t help with allergies, so you will still need to get rid of your cat.

There’s no certainty that the “super vaccine” will actually be effective against the influenza strains that you may be exposed to.

[Source: http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/flu-vaccines-what-you-need-to-know-20160411-go3p9a.html]

So no, probably not worth it

If you are someone who is predictably wiped out each flu season, then yes, it may be worth considering, but even so, there is no assurance that it will work. What is also worth noting is that it is difficult to predict how the vaccine will respond to other medications that you may be taking.

The best defense against the flu (and everything in general) is good health and a strong immune system. Load up on green veggies, try to steer clear of processed foods, and foods high in evil fats, drink a sensible amount of water, and continue to read high quality independent blogs written by unusual blokes who aren’t sure if they have an audience or are writing for themselves. The flu shot may only cost a few dollars, but the findings suggest that unless you are hyper-prone to influenza, you are better off spending your money on broccoli and quality sports apparel.

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The difference between communication and message exchange - Project UNITED

The difference between communication and message exchange http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/05/25/the-difference-between-communication-and-message-exchange/

I must confess to being one of those emailer’s that starts most emails with a greeting of some description and some manner of corresponding well-wishes, e.g. “Hi wife, I hope you have enjoyed our time together as a married couple”, before getting into the crux of the message (which usually ends with “…it was like that when I found it”). In a professional environment though, I have been part of many discussions about how to best communicate with colleagues, and on numerous occasions been advised that not only are pleasantries unnecessary, but are inefficient as the “hello, hope you are well”, and “goodbye” elements of the message are irrelevant and take up time that don’t contribute to the message.

Having recently discovered the soul-cleansing capabilities of online classifieds portal Gumtree, which in part comes with the requirement of texting or emailing someone you don’t know, I have come to realise that the standard for Gumtree communications is similar to the advice I was offered above: “Hi, is your [item] still available? Thanks.” There is no, “I hope you are having a nice day”, or, “I was thrilled to have found your ad because I have been looking for [said item] for [time frame].” Social media is very similar. Greetings, pleasantries, and farewells don’t exist.

But so what and who cares?

Harvard University conducted a 75 year study that looked at what it takes in order to live a happy and fulfilling life. Known as the Grant Study, it studied (and continues to study) 268 physically and mentally healthy Harvard University male students from the classes of 1939–1944 to identify the predictors of healthy aging. George Vaillant, Director of the study for more than 30 years found that strong relationships and connections were critical in a happy healthy life, and concluded that “warmth of relationships throughout life have the greatest positive impact on life satisfaction“. In other words, the more genuine our connections and relationships are with our community, our friends and family, and our environment (wildlife, flora), the more fulfilling and joyful our existence will be. “Connecting” rather than “being in the same space as” leads to a greater level of satisfaction in one’s life.

What does that have to do with corporate emails and Gumtree?

Relationships and connections are largely based on communication and proximity. The more continuous or regular the communication, and the greater the face-to-face frequency, the easier and more thorough the connection will be. That’s not to say that every relationship needs to last for ever – everyone has had an engagement with someone at a footy game, or at a store, or a neighbor that may have only lasted five minutes but made you feel nice in some way – perhaps you learnt something new, perhaps you engaged in compatible banter, or perhaps you just had a good laugh. It may not have lasted long but you came out of it in front.

And finally, the point

We can’t pick and choose where our valuable connections come from, and by choosing to “exchange messages” rather than “communicating” we severely restrict the playing field from where a connection may be found. The point is that we know communication is important for the development and maintenance of relationships and engagement, and our own welfare also depends on it, but the issue is what we now classify as communication when in fact it is anything but. In a lot of cases we aren’t communicating at all, merely exchanging messages.

One of the purest organic creations that human-beings have developed is the art of conversation. Over the course of forever, we have refined and modified how we engage with each other on a face-to-face basis. This protocol is based on what actually works for us as human-beings. We built it and continue to evolve it.

We typically begin with a greeting, some high-level questions or observations (how’s work, nice day, do you watch Game of Thrones), and then depending on how the conversation develops, we may get into some topics of a more precise nature. We sign off these engagements with a farewell or departure message. Some folks may refer to the high-level material as “small talk” but it is effectively a warm-up for the main event – you wouldn’t bust into a max-effort sprint without at least a couple of stretches or a light jog in preparation.

As human-beings, we are quick to discard anything that no longer serves a purpose to us – encyclopedias, pay-phones, carrying cash, our tonsils – all discarded because they no longer aid our lives. But communication continues to be a critical tool in how our lives develop and can be critical in how enjoyable our lives are. Career success, relationship success, and community influence all rely on one’s ability to converse engagingly and genuinely.

Who’s influencing who?

No doubt you have had a “conversation” with someone who ignores the typical conversation protocols and jumps straight to the point: [Silence, and then…] “I need that report at 2pm”, or “Can you move your car”, or “The sports team played well” or “Can you help me with…” Immediately you find yourself feeling either defensive, aggressive, confused, or apathetic to the request. It’s not because you are overly sensitive, it’s that we have become accustomed to conversation protocol rather than “copping” a message. Messages have no context or mood and as such we process them as best we can as raw data. But in the end, we are not machines that mindlessly do what we are told, and raw data does not build relationships.

So what does Gumtree and corporate email have to do with this terribly hard to follow post?

Habit. Human-beings love habit. Habits are our version of autopilot – they take little effort, we are very efficient at them, and can repeat them over and over with minimal deviation. By engaging in message exchange rather than communication, we risk message exchange becoming our primary form of interaction. Like most habits, it can spill over into other areas of our lives – how we communicate with family, friends, and future relationships. Message exchange gets the point across, but the convention of communication has been stripped of the characteristics that allow human beings to connect. The message will be relayed but the consequence is that connections will fail to develop and possibly distance the likelihood of a connection developing at all.

Fundamentally, as human beings, we want a joyful existence and as Harvard University discovered, that may be as straight forward as putting our efforts into creating connections with those around us rather than putting the priority on the message itself.

[project-united]

6 foods we miss most as vego's - Project UNITED

6 foods we miss most as vego's http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/05/20/6-foods-we-miss-most-as-a-vegos/

Mrs UNITED and I are vegetarians and have been for about five years. We aren’t ranty painful vegetarians, just a regular, highly attractive couple that don’t eat meat. It has been pointed out that as a vegetarian CrossFit athlete myself who cuts his own hair, it is a miracle that I have any friends at all, but for the record, I am very happy with the one I have. Hello Matthew.

There is no doubt that vego’s miss out on some kickass foods, and based on our last five years of meatlessness, here are our six most regretful sacrifices:

1. Burgers

Whilst we don’t do an immense amount of fast-food, on the odd occasion, we do enjoy a stroll down to burger town. There are many well-above-average vego-burger options out there, but the ol’ Sunday arvo burger-at-the-beach isn’t quite the same when it’s made of chickpeas and quinoa.

2. Jelly lollies

Research is a b*tch because sometimes you learn things you wish you didn’t know, like how most jelly products are based on gelatin. Gelatin is an additive sourced from collagen obtained from various animal by-products. The process of how it is sourced is next-level and a great read for the kids.

3. BBQ’s in general

“Head around for the footy. We can have some beers and fire up the BBQ”. The look of disappointment on the cooks face when you arrive for said BBQ with vege-only kebabs or homemade chickpea rissoles could bring down a theme park.

4. Christmas lunch

The first year of going meatless, we spent Christmas with my family. I didn’t tell my parents that we had gone meatless because knowing my mother, she would have created a regular enormous feast for everyone else, and then created a meatless enormous feast just for us. Rather than put mum in the position of feeling obliged to create alternatives for us (you know telling her not to worry about it would never work), I figured that if we had to eat nothing but tomatoes and spinach on Christmas day, it would be a better option than knowing that mum had spent twice as long building Christmas. So that’s what we did. We realised we should have been better prepared when we discovered that even the mashed potatoes and coleslaw had bacon in them.

5. A decent steak

We never ate a lot of steak as it was, mainly because we never knew how to cook it properly and figured it was cheaper to chew on one of our old shoes. But if we ever went out for a meal, particularly to an establishment with a reputation for providing quality cuts of beef, then we would usually indulge. We still go to steak restaurants, but are resigned to ordering the risotto and daiquiris.

6. Most cheeses

We were okay with eating cheeses for the most part until we found out about rennet. Rennet (another one for the kids) is an enzyme extracted from the stomach of calves (by “extracted” we mean their stomachs are frozen, milled, and soaked into a solution to extract the enzyme). There are a number of mainstream cheese manufacturers that use a non-animal rennet alternative, but many a cheese still contains the traditional enzyme.

But that’s us. What about you? What would you miss the most if you ever chose to go meatless? Or if you have gone meatless, what do you miss most? Hot-dogs? Bacon? Bunnings’ sausage sizzles? Getting invited out for dinner? Friends? Let us know in the comments and the best answer will receive a UNITED shirt or singlet.

[project-united]

Experimental: egg lasagne - Project UNITED

Experimental: egg lasagne http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/04/28/experimental-egg-lasagne/

I thought I had created egg lasagne until the internet told me otherwise. But no one does it this way (probably)…

Prep time: 30 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 75 mins Makes a big lasagne

I must admit I didn’t have a great egg lasagne plan, just thought it might be worth a crack…

Egg lasagne ingredients

Lasagne sheets (we went with freshies because we weren’t confident that dry lasagne sheets would soften)

12 eggs

2 cups of spinach, chopped

1 cup of mushrooms, chopped

3 regular tomatoes, diced

10 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

2 cups of mozzarella cheese

1 chili, chopped

Basil pesto

Cracked black pepper

Worcestershire sauce

Olive oil

Will this actually work out?

You know it.

In a large fry pan on maximum heat, add some olive oil and throw in the eggs. You can whisk them beforehand if you like, but we didn’t.

Keep stiring the eggs as they cook to prevent ruining everything.

When the eggs are almost at an edible scrambled-eggs consistency, add in the mushrooms, spinach, and some cracked black pepper. Stir through, and take off the heat.

In another fry pan, and at a moderate heat, add some olive oil, the tomatoes, the sun-dried tomatoes, the pesto, the Worcestershire sauce, and the chili. Heat and stir until you reach a darkish red, consistent but-not-to-thick, tomatoey slush.

You can layer your lasagne however you like, but we did it like this:

Lasagne sheets

Egg mix

Tomato mix

Repeat three times

Add cheese

Place in the oven on 180C for about 45 minutes or until you can smell the cheese burning.

This was a recipe based on a vision rather than reading about it and giving it ago. The UNITED chooks have been laying like mad so it made sense to eggsperiment (#champagnecomedy) with a recipe. For the record, it turned out ace. Didn’t see that coming.

[project-united]

Top #5 breakfast venues in Brisbane - Project UNITED

Top #5 breakfast venues in Brisbane http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/04/27/top-5-breakfast-venues-in-brisbane/

…for vegetarians in Brisbane’s inner South East. Yes that is very specific.

Intro and caveats

Over the course of the last two and a half years or so, Mrs UNITED and I (yes that’s right, I’m married, sorry ladies) have journeyed across the inner South Eastern suburbs of Brisbane doing breakfast on most Friday mornings at any new and exciting establishments that we can find (I’ll be the one wearing at UNITED shirt, not because I am peddling my own brand, but because I don’t really have any other clothes). We aren’t “foodies”, so we certainly don’t have any credibility when it comes to “judging” food, but over this time period, there have been several establishments which continue to draw us back for one reason or another which we think is compelling enough to make them blog post worthy.

It is worth noting that these venues are not breakfast or vego specific, but they do have great vegetarian breakfast options. In no particular order, here are our top five:

In A Pickle

2 Martha St, Camp Hill QLD 4152

Facebook page

There are two reasons why we love In A Pickle: the food is next-level, and the people who run the show are human beings. Every time we have had breakfast here and regardless of the menu item (of which there are heaps), the food has been noise worthy (but we don’t actually make any noises because in public that would be odd) and generously portioned. The people who run the business come across like neighbours you might have if you lived in a small coastal town – pleasant and genuine, and always welcoming, and without that weird self-inflicted city franticity.

Consider trying: the breakfast wrap (egg, tomato, avocado, spinach, and a world beating pickle/mayo combination) with a side of haloumi.

Lucky Duck Cafe & Bar

15 Gladstone Rd, Highgate Hill QLD 4101

Facebook page

Lucky’s basically takes a core set of ingredients and manipulates them in various ways to create a huge range of breakfast options. The food is always fresh and delicious, but what makes Lucky’s such a cracking venue is how engaged the Lucky’s team is with the patrons – they know everyone by name, they seem to know what everyone is up to, and they are genuinely polite all the time. It is worth heading in just to observe how many people come through the venue and how each one is known by the Lucky’s team. It is engaging but not in a manufactured way. They are just nice.

Consider trying: Posto Posto (sour dough, avocado, haloumi, chopped tomato and garlic) with eggs.

Little Sista

148 Chatsworth Rd, Greenslopes QLD 4151

Facebook page

These guys are only about 12 months old but they do a cracking breakfast. Apart from the regular standard options, they also do a range of cold pressed juices, and sweet breakfast options, like breakfast brownies (though only occasionally which is probably for the best).

Consider trying: the Little Sista Breakfast – you choose from a list of options (including corn, feta, and chives fritters!) to build your own epic breakfast.

Deedot Coffee House

973 Logan Rd, Holland Park West QLD 4121

Facebook page

Deedot probably isn’t the most different or unusual cafe in town, but they have a long list of options, the food is always fresh and delicious, and the Deedot team are always friendly. The seating arrangements are quite tight which we liked because it feels really communally engaging, but perhaps if you like to throw your arms around like an inflatable whacky waving balloon man, avoid prime time.

Consider trying: the vegetarian Deedot breakfast – poached eggs, sourdough, spinach, haloumi, avocado, herbed roma tomatoes, garlic mushrooms, and tomato relish.

Foxy Bean

896 Stanley St E, Woolloongabba QLD 4169

Facebook page

Foxy Bean has been around for a while, but having revamped their menu, this place is regularly part of our rotation. Their breakfast range is comprehensive and includes the regular favourites, but also includes a few different options for those seeking something less common. The private bar/function area out the back is a nice spot to start the day and is peaceful despite being on Stanley street. Not that this played a role in our selection, but the ladies from the QLD Firebirds are there quite frequently too.

Consider trying: the Zucchini and feta fritters with minted yoghurt, and poached eggs.

As mentioned up the top, these venues do more than just vego breakfasts, but if you are looking for somewhere to go for a meatless start to the day, any of these five will rock your world. If you have discovered others, be sure to comment or send us messages via mental telepathy.

[project-united]

This is the greatest smoothie of all time - Project UNITED

This is the greatest smoothie of all time http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/04/22/this-is-the-greatest-smoothie-of-all-time/

It is impossible for something to be objectively the “best ever”, because it would need to be statically superior in every way to everything else in its class, and be able to be measured against different contexts, environments, and scenarios. But this smoothie is the best ever, without doubt.

For breakfast, a snack, a treat, or to celebrate being tops, this smoothie is the Swiss-army knife of smoothies – the Swiss-army smoothie if you will.

Prep time: 2 mins Cook time: 1 mins Total time: 3 mins Makes about 600mls

Ingredients

For a change, we are actually going to suggest precise volumes of ingredients, and recommend not making too many mods. If you make too many modifications, you might break the greatest smoothie of all time. Nobody wants that.

500ml of almond milk

One medium sized banana (18 – 22cm long)

One tbsp of no-added-anything smooth peanut butter

10mls of legit maple syrup

15g of chocolate protein powder (we used a vegan powder but regular baby cow formula powder should work okay)

70g of raw oats

Six ice cubes

Making the greatest smoothie of all time

Up until this smoothie, Voltron was the greatest example of how the sum of individual parts can form something significantly more remarkable then the collective value of each individual part. Up until this smoothie.

We feel compelled to mention that we used a “nutrition extractor“/single-serve blender in the creation of this masterpiece. We have not field tested the ingredients of the greatest smoothie of all time in a regular blender but it should not make a difference.

Add the milk

Add everything else except the ice

Add the ice

Blitz for about two minutes or more to ensure the oats and ice are smashed up good and proper

Dez out and drink the greatest smoothie of all time. You are welcome.

If by chance you don’t find this to be the greatest smoothie of all time, refer to this page.

[project-united]

UNITED: What we are up to - Project UNITED

UNITED: What we are up to http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/04/20/united-what-we-are-up-to/

Early on in the piece, we mentioned that the purpose of Project UNITED was to provide information and education to our community on the importance and significance of good health and active lifestyles. Apart from doing so through various genius informational blog posts, our mid-term plan is to host a few seminars and expos for our community covering off on key elements of good health – mental welfare, physical well-being, engaging in communities, nutritious eating habits, being a healthy influence, etc. At this stage, we hope to host our first event in October 2016. Yes – OMG, YOLO, and WTF all wrapped up in one strange internet-culture acronym package.

Whilst the overall layout is still being determined, we are on schedule which is equal parts exciting and equal parts horrifying! We have been fortunate enough to have partnered up with a few other businesses that have embraced Project UNITED and utilised our merchandise services in order to build their own businesses. The likes of CrossFit Woolloongabba, Staunch Top Team, Pure Will, PEAK Sports and Spine Centre, Base Camp, and Lucky Duck Cafe & Bar have all been tremendously supportive of our cause and we couldn’t be more grateful (it also explains our hiatus between February and March where we were working furiously on some new products and services for these supporters!)

As we get closer to our first event, we will release further details of the venue, guests, and schedules, so keep an eye on our Facebook, Twitter, and G+ pages, or sign up to our convenient and completely non-intrusive newsletter to stay on top of our updates.

[project-united]

Black bean and sun-dried tomato pasta bake - Project UNITED

Black bean and sun-dried tomato pasta bake http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/04/18/black-bean-and-sundried-tomato-pasta-bake/

Apart from the cheese (and the pasta if you are anti pasta), the black bean sun-dried tomato pasta bake is a ripping healthy robust performer, particularly with winter on its way.

Prep time: 30 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 60 mins Makes enough to feed six people who eat polite quantities, or four people who eat regular human quantities. 

Ingredients

500g of pasta, your choice (long pasta probably won’t work very well though).

500g of black beans. Note that a lot of the supermarket brand beans come in smart@ss sizes such as 437g and 525g. Anything between 400g and 500g will be fine.

50g of spinach (which is about a good handful), chopped.

10 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped.

One red onion, diced.

One red chili, chopped.

30ml Tabasco sauce.

30ml olive oil.

30ml soy sauce.

One cup of grated mozzarella.

Make it

If you have ended up with dried black beans (which require soaking), order pizza, and make this another night because the soaking process alone takes about an hour, so you are already behind. If you have pre-soaked beans though, carry on.

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

Cook your pasta until it is soft and at a consistency that suits your tastes.

Whilst the pasta is cooking, in a small fry-pan, cook off the onion, and then add in the chili and sun-dried tomatoes at the end. This will add a slight heated/cooked flavour to them, but avoid cooking them off completely because this will scorch the flavours.

For the next bit, we found it easiest to add all of the ingredients, besides the cheese, to a container with a lid and shake the thing like mad until the ingredients were distributed somewhat consistently. This includes the pasta, the sauces and oil.

Transfer the shaken pasta mix into a square baking dish. Choosing a circular or rectangular dish will make absolutely no difference, but square ones just seem to make sense to us.

Sprinkle the cheese over the top and bake for about 30 minutes (or until the cheese reaches a melted consistency that you like).

A simple, healthy (ish), quick meal option for those who want quality foods but don’t have cooking show resources. If you happen to choose dried black beans and need to soak them, consider saving the water and giving this a go. Enjoy.

[project-united]

Experimental - black bean cold brew - Project UNITED

Experimental - black bean cold brew http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/04/15/experimental-black-bean-cold-brew/

We at Project UNITED are massive on research and learning and knowledge and education. For trues. But occasionally things arise that you just have to shrug off and get stuck into and see what happens, and perhaps investigate the likely outcomes/consequences after the fact. Black bean cold brew was one such case.

How black bean cold brew came to pass

Simple: the wife (who I commonly refer to as “sorry, Honey”) and I discovered a top-shelf pasta recipe which involves the use of black beans (the recipe will be published on Monday). The other night, let’s call it Thursday, during a food-prep session, I decided I’d try to blitz-soak the black beans in the microwave to save having to wait 50 minutes for the beans to soften on the stove. Evidently it didn’t work, but what resulted was a bowl of purple-black bean powered liquid (and a pile of hard beans), not unlike the alien street drug in John Dies at the End.

Given the superfood regular good food powers of black beans, it made complete and utter sense to save the liquid, refrigerate it, and then drink it later enjoying the concentrated benefits of black bean goodness. So that’s we I did.

Taste and texture

I’m not going to lie, I had to do some psychological mobility before downing-the-hatch, but I gulped it down and stood still for a minute in case something went awry. It didn’t. Apart from the kind-of husky, gritty texture, it was not the worst liquid I had ever consumed (Musashi Growling Dog by a mile). It tasted bland and was certainly no party-in-your-mouth, but it wasn’t unbearable. If there was any evidence to suggest that it actually provided any health benefits, it may be worth a fix on the odd occasion. So from that point, I looked into the benefits/consequences of my latest irrational life choice to see if I was on to something or simply engaging in a blog-worthy experiment.

Wadaya say, internet?

After an hour or so of Googling “Dear google, hope you are well, I was wondering if there are any benefits or risks of drinking the water that was used to unsuccessfully soak black beans. Thanks Google”, (because Google will remember this courteous approach next time you find yourself Googling for inappropriate content, or Keanu Reeves films, or inappropriate Keanu Reeves films, which is all of them), I had discovered that I may have been the first person in the World to do this. Some may say “pioneer” but I am happy enough with “Excuse me sir, why is your head so large?”

Whilst I wasn’t able to find anything that specifically referenced the benefits or consequences of drinking bean-juice, there were some anecdotal references to reusing bean water for future cooking (here and here). Apart from it conserving water usage, it could (maybe) infuse whatever you were cooking with additional minerals, but also possibly a dark tarnish. So whilst there was no evidence of anything “bad”, there was no references of Ellen screaming SUPERFOOD! either.

Is it worth it?

Let me work it.

But no, probably not. It’s not detrimental to your cause, but probably just not necessary if you have a balanced diet. However, with that being said, if you do use a lot of water to boil or steam vegetables, consider saving the liquids to reuse (assuming they will be reused within 24 hours odd and can be kept in the refrigerator) in future recipes. It is a great way to conserve water usage and may also dose up your meal with additional vitamins and minerals.

Also note, black bean fluid stains like a b*tch! Sorry, Honey.

[project-united]

Know your illegal performance enhancing drugs - Project UNITED

Know your illegal performance enhancing drugs http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/03/23/know-your-illegal-performance-enhancing-drugs/

In the last few weeks there have been a couple of high profile athletes who have found themselves embroiled in performance enhancing drug (PED) scandals. Maria Sharapova was served first, then only this week, Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne, Australia’s newest boxing champion had his career threatened by allegedly returning a positive drug test. Both of these cases were on the back of the Essendon doping saga and the Cronulla Sharks (alleged) peptide program. Given the frequency and high-profile nature of these cases, we thought we’d take a look at some of the more commonly used (or mentioned) performance enhancing drugs and how they work.

Anabolic steroids

In 1988, Canadian 100m sprinter Ben Johnson won an Olympic gold medal and set a new world record for the event. Three days later he was stripped of both achievements and sent home for failing a drug test. Johnson tested positive to stanozolol, an anabolic steroid that claims to strip body fat but retain lean muscle mass.

Anabolic steroids are manufactured variations of testosterone. Whilst there are a number of different types of anabolic steroids, their general purpose is to aid muscle growth and reduce recovery time.

When we lift things that are heavier than we usually lift, micro-tears occur in our muscle fibres. Our body responds by repairing the tear and forming larger cells to create a stronger fibre (known as muscular hypertrophy). This repeated process is how we build muscle. Anabolic steroids can create larger fibres (and therefore larger muscles) than could be possible naturally, as well as reducing the time it takes us to recover from each training session by minimising muscle breakdown and fatigue.

EPO

EPO, or Erythropoietin, is a hormone produced by our kidneys to increase the production of red blood cells which transports oxygen from our lungs to our muscles, and carbon dioxide from our muscles to our lungs to be exhaled (known as Erythropoiesis). By increasing this process through the use of synthetic EPO (sometimes referred to as blood doping), more oxygen reaches our muscles leading to a higher level of sustained endurance and performance. The most notorious case of EPO doping was by former Tour De France cyclist Lance Armstrong who was claimed to have been involved in the most sophisticated doping scheme in sport.

Diuretics

Diuretics are often used as short-term weight-loss supplements in sports where meeting a certain weight range is required (boxing, MMA etc). Diuretics increase the flow of urine in the body and help to decrease how much water the body retains.

Diuretics can also be used as masking agents for other performance enhancing drugs. Diuretics help to flush out the traces of a performance-enhancing drug in a person’s urine before testing and can dilute the urine so that the presence of a banned substance may be untraceable.

Shane Warne tested positive to a diuretic in 2003 whilst Australia’s newest boxing champion, Lucas Browne, is currently embroiled in a drug scandal allegedly testing positive to a diuretic leading up to his world title fight earlier this month.

Beta blockers

Beta blockers are a cardiac medication intended to slow ones heartbeat and relieve stress by reducing the force with which the heart contracts, and reduces blood vessel contraction in the heart, brain and throughout the body in general.

Beta blockers also reduce the affects of adrenaline, leading to a calmer, more stabilised user. Whilst beta blockers may be used for heart attack sufferers or anxiety sufferers, some athletes may illegally use beta blockers as a way of controlling their adrenaline and heart rate in circumstances where a steady hand or mind is required.

Whilst not as high profile as some of the cases above, in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a South Korean air pistol shooter was sent home and stripped of his medals for testing positive to propranolol. Apart from treating anxiety and high blood pressure, propranolol can also be used to treat tremors and performance anxiety.

Peptides

Peptides are basically small protein molecules in the body. Made from amino acids, peptides are necessary for our bodies to work efficiently. As we age and go through various stages in our lives, (various diets, stress, and physical changes) essential amino acid and peptide production slow down.

From an athletic standpoint, supplementing peptides (i.e. consuming manufactured peptides) can provide numerous advantages by triggering an increase in human growth hormone levels. This process can aid muscle development and bone growth, and recovery by increasing testosterone levels – a similar effect to anabolic steroids.

Testing for peptides is difficult as there is no foreign or unusual substances in the human body. Whilst a high human growth hormone level may suggest peptide use, it is possible that other regular worldly factors may be the cause (within reason).

Most notably, the Essendon Australian Rules Football team were caught up in a mass-usage peptide case leading to the suspension of more than 30 players. Their case was discovered as part of a criminal investigation rather than anyone actually failing a drug test.

Illegal PEDs takeaway

Given the wealth and fame associated with athletic success, illegal performance enhancing drugs are unfortunately part of the sporting landscape. Perhaps irresponsibly, we haven’t delved into the consequences of taking illegal PEDs which include links with cancer and chronic heart disease. But as a bare minimum, the above may provide some insight into why a select few athletes may choose to go down the path of illegal performance enhancing drugs.

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The addict athlete - Project UNITED

The addict athlete http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/03/21/the-addict-athlete/

Years ago, approximately 30 P.A. (Pre Addiction), times were much simpler. Fathers, or father figures got up each morning and went off to their day jobs, jobs that they probably did because they had to, not because they wanted to. Mortgages needed paying, groceries needed funding, and perhaps a holiday or new car needed saving for. Mothers perhaps also worked in a necessity job, and most likely took the major share in taking care of the children. The children didn’t do much, but the next 30 years or so would be all about them…

0 to 3 years

Pretty much just pooing, spewing, and crying.

3 to 8 years

Mum and dad never got it. You couldn’t put all of the Transformers in the same box. They were lifelong mortal enemies whose story would be butchered in future blockbuster films. Forcing them to bunk up together was just madness and serve no purpose other than corrupting the other toys. G.I. Joe’s would start questioning their relationship with Cobra, and He-man and She-ra would become vulnerable in hypothesising of future relationships with Skeletor. The fabric of the hero/villain story line was something that mum and dad never understood. They were competitors, and just “getting along” wasn’t an option. They were made to compete, and someone had to win.

8 to 13 years

Having defeated the Decepticons every day for five consecutive years, it was time to start some battles with some more worthy adversaries – friends. Most games of backyard cricket ended harmoniously enough, but the footy games that began as tag, then walking hold, then walking tackle, then hit your friend with a brick, rarely ended peacefully. In hindsight, this was a very tolerant age. Winning became a thing and it was nice. Losing was horrible. Maybe this was why the Decepticons always looked so miserable, because they kept losing all the time. Perhaps if the Autobots had let them win from time to time the Decepticons would have calmed down and everyone would have gotten along. “Let them win?” Lol. Winning was too satisfying to let someone win.

13 to 17 years

Having turned 13, we faced our first serious life choice – are we going to be the kid who picks on other kids, or, are we going to be the kid that gets picked on, or, are we going to be one of those left-field kids that the other kids aren’t sure whether they like or fear? We didn’t realise at the time the consequences of each choice – those who pick on other kids earn guilt, those who are picked on earn scars, and the left-field kids earn billions.

17 to 22 years

Having survived the previous four years, we had made it to the promise land – a beautiful bounty of so many things we aren’t supposed to do, but everybody does – various drugs and cigarettes, alcohol, and non-discriminatory intercourse. Those senior to us would suggest we should not do those things… with a cigarette hanging from their mouth and a stubby or glass of wine in one hand. We were “winning”: cashing in on everything that was available to us. Sure, we didn’t have to do it, but what a waste of rights if we didn’t. These years were far from the sensible years, so if we did anything, it had to be a deluge, and it had to be repeated.

23 to 26 years

Something weird was happening, like a second puberty. All of our bits had already “sprouted”, but suddenly our brain, which had been dormant through most of the previous quarter-century, had started to trigger bizarre thought patterns – education, career, and health. You wouldn’t dare tell your friends (you pensioner!), not without blitzing yourself on one of the above-mentioned indulgences first.

26 to 35 years, and beyond

Having come to the conclusion that a diet of entry-level drugs, alcohol, and loads and loads of nameless sexual encounters (well, perhaps rare and occasional, and in some cases, fictional) weren’t the pattern of someone who lives a long, prosperous, positive life, habits began to change. Longer-term partners were sought, the best-friend drug-dealer became a past associate who was never really known that well, and the friendships that had developed through a pattern of bad habits suddenly seemed thin at best. The instinct to compete (whether against others, or ourselves), and addictive behaviors were well and truly set, but the time had come to move on from substances and indulge in substance. The addict athlete was taking shape.

Autobots, backyard sports, and drugs by another name

Addictions seem to be predisposed in us. Maybe they are just elaborate habits, but they feel like addictions. Blame marketing and the media, blame social pressure, blame whatever you like, but it seems to be part of being human. From the need as a youngster collecting Transformers, G.I. Joe’s, Barbies, marbles, insects, stamps or mobile apps, to the slightly older child who becomes a sweets junkie, to that of a teenager who takes up smoking, drinking, playing sports, or playing up, to later teens who perhaps develop more destructive addictions – illegal substances or over-the-counter concoctions, we addict. Addict athletes are addicts that have the presence of mind to feed the addiction something positive.

Addict athletes

Addict athletes are athletes who participate emphatically and habitually. They will do it a lot, they will love it, and it will be a top priority in their lives. This is the new addiction – the toys are gone, the substances are gone (or reduced), and the junkie-like behaviour is now quenched by a particular sport or fitness habit. Cycling, triathlon, rowing, CrossFit, going to the gym in general, tennis, extreme sports, soccer. Each participant who commits to more than two or three sessions a week will be a little bit different to the rest. Perhaps not better, but different.

Those who oppose or criticise this behaviour will likely do so because they don’t completely understand the addict (which is fine), or they feed their addiction with something else without knowing – food, wine, or frustration.

It really doesn’t matter how or why you got here, but you did and it was a good choice. Those nearby may not share the same story, but don’t be surprised if they have their own version of what being an addict is. Either way, you are both here now and you’re a better you for choosing to be here.

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Lentil and veggie pie/stew - Project UNITED

Lentil and veggie pie/stew http://www.projectunited.com.au/2016/03/18/lentil-and-veggie-piestew/

We have spoken fondly of lentils previously mainly because they are extremely nutrient rich, and also very versatile. This lentil and veggie pie/stew is an absolute ripper anytime, but particularly as the evenings start to cool.

Prep time: 30 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 60 mins Makes an average pie size (?)

Ingredients

400g of lentils

1 onion, finely chopped

1 large carrot, finely chopped

1 chili, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tbsp sundried tomato pesto

1 cup (250ml) crushed tomatoes, drained as much as possible

1 cup (250ml) of  vegetable stock

Olive oil

The pie/stew part

2 sheets of shortcrust pastry (optional – taste increases, health value decreases)

1 sheet of puff pastry (optional – taste increases, health value decreases)

If you choose not to use pastry, you end up with a cracking lentil stew. If you choose pastry, voilà! Pie town.

Process

Depending on the type of lentils you have acquired, you may need to rinse or soak them first. Canned lentils typically won’t need soaking, but some dried lentils may do.

 Add some olive oil to a large fry pan and add carrots and onions until they soften.

 Add the chili’s, give a quick stir, and then add in the crushed tomatoes.

 Add garlic and pesto and mix through.

Lastly add the lentils, mix through, and allow to simmer until the mixture is of pie-consistency (i.e. not runny)

If you are using pastry, layer your baking dish with shortcrust pastry whilst the lentil mix simmers and pre-heat the oven to 180C.

Once the lentil mix is ready, add to the pastry-layered baking tray and cover with puff pastry.

Once you have nailed this recipe, top it with cauliflower mash (which tastes much nicer then it sounds) for a (reasonably) healthy variation of shepherds pie.

The lentil and veggie pie/stew is an easy to make winter special full of good things (minus the pastry). It is nutritious, will take any herbs or spices you throw at it, and for anyone looking to reduce their meat intake but still looking for a filling meal, this recipe is a keeper.