Friday, 29 September 2023
MY 100 ULTRAS CHALLENGE - 2023 PROGRAMME
Thursday, 28 September 2023
PASSING ON BREADMAKING SKILLS - BREAD IN A FRYING PAN
Walking around Taunton the other day, I was stopped by a woman who said, "Excuse me, are you Paul Youd? " She turned out to be a student I'd known about 20 years ago - and she told me that I'd inspired her to get into teaching breadmaking! She'd taken the City and Guilds Teaching Adults course and had been teaching bread making classes for about 10 years. Needless to say I was thrilled to hear this.
Then, this morning, I heard that world famous violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter was considering retiring. But she said that, tucked away in her head are something like 60 symphonies, plus countless other classical works - and she'd like to pass on all that musical knowledge in retirement.
This struck a chord with me! I taught breadmaking from 1993 until 2020, and I've got countless bread recipes and methods tucked away in my head. Which I'd like to pass on - by means of this post, and also the numerous other recipes that are on this blog. And if I could inspire someone to begin teaching breadmaking - that would be awesome!
Given the present-day cost of living crisis, I've given up using the oven to bake my bread - instead I bake my bread in a large, dry frying pan, which I cover, creating a sort of Dutch oven. I also keep back a portion of dough in the fridge, which I then add to my next batch, so it's sort of sourdough-ish. On occasion, if I'm organised and have the time, I won't use any dried yeast, but generally I use half a teaspoon of dried yeast to hurry the process along.
500g breadmaking flour - I use Doves organic wholemeal flour
1/2 teaspoon salt ( instead of the usual 1 tsp - this is a tasty flour which doesn't need all that much salt)
![]() |
Freshly shaped - cover and leave all day |
![]() |
11 hours later - ready to be baked |
![]() |
A dough scraper/cutter - very useful for transferring the rolls into the frying pan |
![]() |
Freshly baked |
Wednesday, 19 April 2023
A WHOLE FOOD PLANT-BASED (VEGAN) DIET AND CANCER
21st April 2023
Just in - turkey tail mushrooms prove effective against some cancers.
Why is there such a huge disparity in prostate cancer rates? For instance the incidence of clinically malignant prostate cancer is highest in African-Americans—some 30-fold greater than in Japanese men, and 120 times greater than seen in Chinese men in Shanghai. The reason has to do with lifestyle.
When I began intermittent fasting (something else I would recommend for optimum health), I did so because it was shown to reduce the level of IGF-1 (insulin growth factor 1) in the body: IGF-1 being a marker of cancer risk (the more IGF-1, the more risk of cancer growth). It turns out that a WFPB diet also lowers IGF-1. Cow’s milk, being designed to produce a 600lb calf in very short order, is packed with IGF-1. (It’s also, because cows are made to produce milk whilst pregnant, full of oestrogen and other unwanted hormones).
At the last count, I have four friends and family members suffering from cancer. Here I've tried to gather in one place, all the info I can find on the subject.
Dr Michael Greger, who runs NutritionFacts.org, has many short videos on how diet influences cancer.
Cancer and a WFPB diet. (Whenever I look at one of Dr Greger's videos, it's always worth checking out the comments section, there is a wealth of info in there - plus some inspirational stories!)
Fasting and cancer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CxMsqpzhT4&t=13s
Protect your prostate from cancer
Effects of a low-fat, high-fiber diet and exercise program on breast cancer risk factors in vivo and tumor cell growth and apoptosis in vitro.
https://www.pcrm.org/health-topics/cancer
Stunning results from the largest diet/nutrition study ever: Cornell University:
A healthy diet will slow and/or stop most cancers: Why not?
“Study finds vegan blood is 8 times more effective at killing cancer cells.”
I didn’t know just what study to link that sentence to, but if you put that into a search engine, you get loads of results.
Finally, there’s help available here, from someone who has been through it:
Monday, 20 March 2023
PRESS UP CHALLENGES: 1 MILLION IN 10 YEARS - AND 100 IN A MINUTE
Sunday 1th March 2023 One more milestone reached, today - I've now completed 600,000 press ups - in just under five and a half years! Just 400,000 to go - and I've four and a half years in which to get them. I averaged 11,800 press ups a month over the past year, at this rate I'll finish my challenge sometime in my 89th year. |
Tuesday, 14 February 2023
SOME OF THE MANY BENEFITS OF FASTING - FIGHTS COVID, CANCER, AGING, AND MORE
(I have previously posted about intermittent fasting here and here. What follows is general - pretty comprehensive it seems to me - info about the benefits of fasting.)
[This person fasted when they caught covid] and it was gone completely in a couple days, absolutely nothing. [Study of one] Some of the many benefits of doing occasional extended fasting: Blood clotting is reduced and blood clots and arterial plaque are reabsorbed into the body. Blood pressure is quickly and dramatically lowered.
Fribrosis/scarring is reversed over time and telomeres are lengthened, which also helps with lung fibrosis.
Fasting increases nitric oxide.
Fasting stimulates phagocytosis, the ingestion of bacteria, plaques and viruses by the immune system. It will also remove any 'foreign material' that is not supposed to be there.
After 72 hours or more fasted, your body recycles large numbers of immune bodies and creates new ones, rejuvenating your entire immune system.
Vitamin D plasma levels are increased, and vitamin D in turn increases autophagy.
Fasting increases anti-aging Yamanaka factors!
Fasts from 36-96 h actually INCREASE metabolic rate due to norepinephrine release!
Weight loss from fasting only loses10% lean tissue and 90% fat compared to the typical 25% lean tissue and 75% fat lost when calorically restricting for long periods. The hunger hormone ghrelin lowers with extended fasting and rises from dieting.
Blood sugar and insulin are lowered, allowing white blood cells to move more freely throughout the body and do their job. Ideal blood sugar is around 80. Some viruses activate glycolosis (the release of sugar in the body) and clinically it has been shown that decreasing glucose metabolism in the body weakens the influenza virus.
Thymus is regenerated, which suppresses aging and renews the immune system.
When you move out of MTOR your body shuts down the building blocks of the cell which are used to produce organelles and proteins. This means the mechanisms needed by viruses to replicate are by and large unavailable when you are in a deeply fasted state.
What breaks a fast? Anything with protein or carbohydrates in it will break a fast, though if the amount is tiny you will go back into ketosis very quickly. Most teas and herbs are OK. Most supplements and meds will either break ketosis directly or contain a filler that will. Many medications are dangerous to take while fasting so you may have to talk to your dr. about discontinuing them during a fast.
Fasts of several days will not affect short term female fertility and may increase long term fertility, especially in women with PCOS.
Does fasting lower testosterone? No, it raises it when the fast is broken by increasing lutenizing hormone and helps build muscle by increasing insulin sensitivity!
The hormone Leptin is an immunomodulator that keeps the body from attacking itself and obesity causes leptin resistance. Fasting very quickly reduces leptin resistance and leptin levels and one day of fasting can cut your leptin levels in half and gets your immune system working properly again!
Does the body preferentially prefer glucose as a fuel? No, your body always runs mainly on fat except for brief periods of very intense exercise. Your brain also prefers to burn ketones at a rate of around 2.5 to 1 when they are available in equal quantity to glucose.
Fasting stimulates the AMPK complex and activates autophagy. Autophagy (literally self eating) will cause cells to recycle foreign matter such as viruses and kill cancerous and senescent cells. AMPK does many helpful things in the body including activating the body's antioxidant defenses.
Deep ketosis virtually eliminates chronic inflammation in the body. This can offset the life threatening symptoms of viral pneumonia which effectively kills you through inflammation. This also creates BHB ketones in your body, which also help your immune system and anti-oxidative system, especially in the brain. Ketones also provide an additional energy source during infection, which is critical when trying to fight off a bug. In fact you can have as much as three times the total energy available in your blood when you are in deep ketosis, or even more.
It increases mitochondrial function and repairs mitichondrial DNA, leading to improved ATP production and oxygen efficiency and thereby making cells better able to fight off infection. Increased mitochondrial function also has the added benefit of increasing your metabolism and cancer prevention!
When you fast, this stimulates apoptosis in senescent or genetically damaged cells. This kills these cells off completely. Senescent cells are responsible for the effects of aging and are the root cause of the development of cancer. If it were possible to destroy them all it would completely stop aging and cancer. That is not possible but fasting can help limit these effects by killing off many of the affected cells and limiting the future effects of aging.
Fasting also releases BDNF and NGF in the blood which stimulates new nerve and brain cell growth, helping a great deal with diseases like MS, peripheral neuropathy and Alzheimers.
In fact, the biochemical regulator of BDNF production is beta-hydroxybutyrate, which is the same ketone the body produces to nourish the brain while fasting.
Fasting also increases telomere length, negating some of the effects of aging at a cellular level.
A fasting mimicking diet for 3-5 days in a row also provides many of the same benefits as water fasting. FMD usually has 200-800 calories, under 18 g of protein and under 18 g of carb.
Exogenous ketones can aid with fasting, making it easier in healthy people and allowing some people with specific issues to fast in spite of them without worrying as much about hypoglycemia.
Children, pregnant or nursing women should not fast for periods longer than 16 hours. People with pancreatic tumors or certain forms of hypoglycemia generally cannot fast at all. Type 1 diabetics can also fast but it is more complicated and should be approached with caution as it could lead to ketoacidosis. Those with Addison's disease may also be unable to fast without liberal use of exogenous ketones, depending on severity. If you experience extreme symptoms of some kind, especially dizziness then simply break the fast and seek advice.
Resources:
https://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/fulltext/S1097-2765(18)30605-1?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1097276518306051%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04375657
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7714088/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31877297/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23707514/
https://clinical.diabetesjournals.org/content/36/3/217
https://europepmc.org/article/MED/22402737?javascript_support=no
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2265.2005.02288.x
https://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/05/16/study-shows-how-fasting-for-3-days-can-regenerate-your-entire-immune-system/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29727683/
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2001176
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23408502/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27569118/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21410865/
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0005272806000223
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1413655/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2815756/
http://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/abstract/S1550-4131(15)00224-7
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/25712
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1779438/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6859089/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23876457
https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1537&context=edissertations
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(19)30849-9
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25686106
https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/abundance-of-fructose-not-good-for-the-liver-heart
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20102774/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10232622
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/81/1/69/4607679
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25909219/
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa012908
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15522942/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6407435/
https://www.arcjournals.org/pdfs/ijrsb/v3-i11/7.pdf
https://www.amjmedsci.org/article/S0002-9629%2815%2900027-0/fulltext
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20921964/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6141719/
https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1096/fasebj.2019.33.1_supplement.819.10
https://www.biorxiv.org/node/93305.full
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7093158/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28235195/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24905167
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10859646
https://n.neurology.org/content/88/16_Supplement/P3.090
https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/research-intermittent-fasting-shows-health-benefits
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-10-treatment-pulmonary-fibrosis-focus-telomeres.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3017674/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1931312809002832
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5895342/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6526871/
This list compiled over years of research by the user known as Pottenger's Human on youtube but feel free to copy and paste this anywhere you like, no accreditation needed!
My channel which will always contain an updated version of this list of fasting benefits on the community tab. I also have playlists on fasting and health topics.
Monday, 27 September 2021
MY SECOND ULTRA, A VIRTUAL 50K OVER THE CHILTERNS.
Sunday 3rd October 2021
And so it begins...7.55am - just 50k to go!
Well, we did it! The three of us - GS Alfie, son Ben, and myself - set off at 7.55 yesterday morning, and arrived back at 7.25 yesterday evening. So 11 hours 30; actual walking time was 9.38. We had 3 pitstops, one in a rural cafe, one at a local shop in one of the villages we walked though, and the main one, just after the halfway point, back at my son's house, where we changed into some dry clothing.
Conditions were OK - it was a bit chilly early on, around 10C, and it was overcast - pretty good really.
12.44 - it had been raining for over 2 hours at this point and the previously very dry trails were beginning to show puddles here and there.
But it didn't stay that way! The forecast said to expect rain about 11am, but it began to rain about 10 - nothing heavy, but it was steady. The forecast I had seen showed green patches of rain over the Chilterns throughout the day - with the green turning to purple, which indicated heavier rain, for most of it. And so it proved. As soon as it began to rain I donned my poncho - hoping to keep my rucksack dry, and that worked, after a fashion. The rain steadily grew heavier, in line with the forecast. It wasn't comfortable, but there was nothing for it but to plough on. I have a mantra I bring out on these occasions, gleaned from one of the Rich Roll podcasts - "Being comfortable with being uncomfortable."
One of the joys of that first couple of hours was that we had wonderful views of loads of Red Kites, soaring and swooping around us - sometimes just overhead. When the main diet here in the SW is the odd buzzard, this was a treat indeed!
I learned a few things about endurance events, and myself, yesterday. One of them was that once it had been raining steadily for a longish period - say over an hour - rain became the norm, and it no longer bothered us. We all agreed on this. Another was that once my feet were wet - and this was inevitable, since the puddles eventually became too big to avoid - some time after the squelching had gone, my feet began to feel warm and dry again. They weren't, of course, but they felt OK. This was more noticeable with my Asics road trainers than with my Inov8 trail shoes. I had started off wearing my trail shoes, went to change socks at the halfway point, but didn't want to put dry socks into wet shoes - so I rather stupidly put on my dry trainers - which became soaked within 10 minutes of getting back on track!
14.32 - by now we'd got used to the rain, and just accepted it.
Knowing that vegan food would possibly be hard to find on the route, I had brought with me a couple of Gregg's vegan sausage rolls, and 4 pre-cooked Richmond meat-free sausages, plus, as a treat, a dozen dates stuffed with marzipan. I planned on having one of these every hour. In the event I had more than enough, and came home with 5 of the dates still uneaten. Not being a fan of hydrating with water, I took along a 1ltr flask with black coffee, and again, I still had half a mug left.
My son had the difficult task of guiding us around the route he had chosen, using a combination of his iPhone and Garmin watch. The rain was so persistent and heavy that he had trouble accessing the phone at times. But he kept us on track for the whole 50k - with about 75% trails and 25% roadwork.
I have to pay tribute to Alfie, who suffered a groin strain when he slipped early on - and he developed the odd blister But he never complained, and just got on with it. I saw a quote from Bob Unsworth, on The Ultra Challenge Club FB page, which I've relayed to Alfie: "Doing it without the adrenaline buzz of an event makes it that much more impressive.”
We did 48k in daylight - just the final 2 in darkness where we needed our head torches. In fact, as the light dwindled, so did the rain, finally. Just as we arrived home! Bloody typical! 😃😃
I can't begin to convey the feeling of satisfaction - along with some euphoria - that we all felt, as we finished. It had been a wonderful day, with some real highs, and one or two - very short in duration - lows, it must be said. But the opportunity to test ourselves, in our loved ones company, was something really special. A day I will savour for a long time - an occasion to remember, indeed!
A huge thanks to my supporters - the animals at Pear Tree Farm Sanctuary will also thank you. There's still time to donate - you'll find a link a little further down this blog.
These are the reason I'm fundraising - these guys will get to live out their whole lives in peace and freedom. Surrounded by nothing but love! But it costs money for feed, vets bills, etc. So any pennies you can spare will be hugely appreciated - and put to good use!
I'll post their names, as soon as I find out from Bex at Pear Tree farm. |
One last thought about my ultra adventures - and my ambition is to do 50 of these before my 100th birthday - or three a year: We can all do more than we think we can! In fact, we can all do much more than we think we can!
(As a treat for reading this far, I give you my chocolate cake recipe, down the side of this post - you'll be glad you did! An 8" cake, with only 5 ingredients and costing around 40p! What's not to like?)
Monday 27th September 2021
I've been holding off posting this update, since my son was unable to arrange childcare for the Chiltern 50 ultra and we were casting around for something to take its place. So, we've had to go to plan B. We still intend to do a 50k - but this time a Virtual one - and plumped for the Virtual Challenge Trek to Kilimanjaro - 50k exactly, over the Chilterns - this coming weekend. And we're to be joined by my grandson, Alfie! But my fundraiser for Pear Tree Farm Sanctuary (link below)is still ongoing - I'm hoping to run it until the week ending 10th October.
My training is going well - walking about 70+km a week, ATM. And, whisper it quietly, I actually did some run/walk this morning, only for about a mile, but it's a start!
22nd August 2021
There's no doubt about it, at least in my experience, ultra marathons are addictive! My friend Alex, who also did the South West Coast 2 Coast last month - his first ultra - is now actively planning to do 10 ultras throughout 2022! And my son, Ben, who also did the ultra with me, took less than a week afterwards to start looking at his next ultra - the Chiltern 50. Then I started thinking about it, and decided - just yesterday - that I would like to do it with him.
Fundraising: When I did my 100k challenge last year, Dean Farm Sanctuary was the beneficiary; For the SWC2C challenge, Viva! benefited. I figure these two charities represent two sides of the same coin. So this time I'm going for another sanctuary - Pear Tree Farm Animal Sanctuary.
The ultra takes place on the 25th of September, so we have 5 weeks to prepare. I thought long and hard about funding it - it costs £130 to self-fund, but only £10 if I was to fund-raise for a charity. This would require me to raise £395 - over 5 weeks I thought this would be doable. But the problem with that is that half of the money has to be with the charity 3 weeks before the ultra.
So I've got 2 weeks to raise £200.
Please donate if you are able to - but if you're a bit short this month, I would appreciate it if you would share this among your friends. :)
Here's my Facebook fundraiser.
And I'm just about to start a fundraiser with Wonderful.org, recommended by Money Saving Expert, they take no commission - every penny goes to the charity - for those not on Facebook.
Monday, 6 September 2021
FUNDRAISER 2 - A NEW CHALLENGE: An Ultra Marathon
Tuesday 27th July 2021
Well, I did it! Or at least I completed 70km out of the full 102km. I'll come on to why I had to drop out in a moment, but I want to start at the beginning. But first, I should like to thank everyone who donated to Viva! both on Just Giving, and on Facebook Donate. I finished up raising around £1700 which is absolutely amazing! Thank you, each and everyone of you!😍😍
Here's an article that I wrote an article for the Vegan Runners Newsletter, about the whole adventure - and it was an adventure, it was a complete blast!
Sunday, 5 September 2021
A WEEK'S MENU FOR A VEGAN
Breakfast:
Tuesday, 27 July 2021
HEALTHY - and I mean healthy and guilt free — flapjacks:
200g chopped dates
200g banana
200g rolled oats
50g peanut butter
Turn oven on to 180C/350F
Soften the dates with the water - I microwave them for 2 minutes.
Add the banana and mix into a paste - I used a hand-held blender for this
Add the oatmeal and the peanut butter - I get mine from our zero waste shop, just pure peanuts
Mix together into a stiff, but very sticky, dough, using a table knife
Place the dough onto a baking paper lined oven tray and press down evenly to your chosen thickness - 5mm or 1/4”. Wet your knife or spoon, whatever you’re using for this.
Place in the oven for 20 minutes, then turn the temp down to 150C/300F for a further 15 minutes.
TBH, I was trying to get them to crisp up a little at this stage, but they still remained a bit soggy - but with a chewy texture.
I also did some in the frying pan over a very low heat. Place spoonfuls of the mixture around the pan, press them flat with the back of a wet spoon. Turn over after 5 minutes. Keep turning over until you think they’re done.
Enjoy!
Think I’ll add some cocoa powder next time. And you could add sultanas/seeds to this, no problem. I reckon a pocketful of these would keep you going for a few hours, at least!
23/7/21 - for my latest version, which I took on the ultra, I added:
1 dsp cocoa powder
125g sultanas
Thursday, 27 May 2021
CASUAL OUTREACH CONVERSATIONS
One of the guys, who'd seen me coming, had a load of spare change to give me, so another £2.80 goes into the pot.
![]() |
T |