You can’t beat that smile, how gorgeous!
10 months ago
April 15, 2011
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
“Tiny Brooke”- A song written for the 7th addition to my Kritter Klan, Brooke Ellen Schoelle.
10 months ago
April 14, 2011
This is what I’m after…that smile…that feeling.
10 months ago
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
For those of you expecting a sweet song, sorry, as I present to you “Bad Timing”. Welcome back to my Irritable Bowel HELL! For the last 4 weeks I thought I had contracted a parasite from eating scallops in Stamford. Well guess what, the 8 containers of stool I filled all came back negative, which means, I think I have stressed myself into the worst IBS flare up of the past decade. What does that mean?? I am pissed off at the world (except for my beautiful girlfriend Bobbi-MULU!).
So in another words, I love you all, but I don’t want to be around you.
Much more music to come over the next few days. In an effort to join the media masses, I tried to (again) create a facebook page, and of course found out that there might not be a media player embedded into the music pages anymore. I tried myspace against the begging of others, and the same deal. So this will be my outlet for the time being.
10 months ago
August 27, 2010
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
“Waiting”- written and performed by bowel master Kevin Kurz, audio mastered by Brad Schoelle at Throckmorton Studios, Long Island.
1 year agoWelcome Back, Mr. Bowels
Well hello my fellow bowel blog readers, it has certainly been a while. My last post was over a year ago, and there is much anticipation and pressure for this come back post, I don’t know if I can handle it, but I’ll give it a try.
I guess I just haven’t been too inspired to write blogs, as I’ve been trying to focus more of my extracurricular time on Crossfit (we’ll get to that), music, and science. What sounds like a good idea would be to briefly recap the major events, situations, and happenings, that have occurred over the past year, that have played a significant role in my life, and the life of my insides.
During the summer of 2009 I embarked on a journey into the world of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, in which a person uses a set of personal skills to track his thoughts and actions, in order to uncover and trace anxieties and stresses which can initiate certain IBS symptoms. I continued this therapy with great success for many months, and symptoms were relieved to a great extent. As I have mentioned several times before, IBS is a no fun rollercoaster, one that doesn’t seem to have an end in sight, the only thing one can hope for is opportunities to learn from it, thus creating one’s own therapy and coping strategies to deal with it, day after day. Do you have any idea what it’s been like to worry about my daily bathroom stops for the last 10 years? It wreaks havoc on a person’s mind and body, making them feel discouraged and hopeless that there is no solution or treatment to this chronic battle of a scientifically unexplainable mind and gut dysfunction. BUT, as I strongly believe, attitude is life, and with positive attitude comes the means to fight the uphill battles of adversity, which in this case is a set of fleshy coils that refuse to cooperate and live in harmony with the rest of my body, and more importantly my brain. Now tell me, fleshy coils, why is that so darn difficult? Anyways, wow, this feels good.
So, I continued throughout the fall and winter in the peaks and valleys until I found myself engulfed in a new type of exercise routine called Crossfit. If anyone likes to exercise, and is tired of the boring routine of global gyms with tricep and back machines that keep you stationary while you complete the same rep over and over, check out www.crossfit.com for the answer to your problems. In brief, CrossFit is a strength and conditioning fitness methodology that promotes broad and general overall physical fitness. CrossFit combines weightlifting, sprinting, and gymnastics. CrossFit says that proficiency is required in each of ten fitness domains: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy. It defines fitness as increased work capacity across all these domains and says its program achieves this by provoking neurologic and hormonal adaptations across all metabolic pathways. Since October 2009, I have been a member and huge supporter of Hybrid Athletics (www.hybridathletics.net), a strongman associated crossfit gym, and it has changed my life.
Engaging in crossfit workouts multiple times a week lead me to dive into the Zone Diet. What is the Zone? Simply put, it’s the metabolic state in which the body works at peak efficiency. In this program, food is used to maintain a favorable hormonal balance, especially among insulin, glucagon and the super hormones called eicosanoids. Eating fat does not make you fat. It’s your body’s response to excess carbohydrates in your diet that makes you fat. Your body has a limited capacity to store excess carbohydrates, but it can easily convert those excess carbs into excess body fat. The “Fattening of America”, ring any bells?
Food can be good or bad. The ratio of macronutrients- in the meals you eat is the key to permanent weight loss and optimal health. Unless you understand the rules that control the powerful biochemical responses generated by food, you will never reach the Zone. The Zone is, in every meal and every snack, 40% Carbs, 30% Protein, 30% Fat.
I won’t continue to bore you with nutritional info and reasons why most Americans are fat, but I tell you the truth, this diet works. Once I started on such a clean regiment of food, including reducing the intake of sugars, processed foods, and some grains, my IBS symptoms, along with body fat started to disappear. It has been quite an experience learning about how the body metabolizes and uses food for different functions, and I suggest you read up on it if you are looking to lose weight or just get on a new path to feeling better overall.
I’ve been on the diet for about 8 months now, I cheat every now and then, and currently I’m experimenting with adding the Paleo aspect, which I will get into another time.
In short, the summer of 2010 was a great one. As I sit here and complete this post, it’s my first weekend staying in Connecticut all summer. Many trips to Montauk were had; I highly recommend you get out there the first chance you get. It’s a laid back surf and fishing town, without the pretentiousness of the Hamptons.
I’m not going to lie, my mind has been pretty damn crazy with everything going on these last few months, and not until a few weeks ago, when I slowed things down, re-opened my notebook, sat back and took a deep breath….ahhhhhhh, did I start to feel better. What do you know, this week, I feel pretty good.
More to come.
Gotta plug the new demo. I wouldn’t call this a demo for professional purposes as it’s near 7 minutes, but it sounds good and I am proud of it.
Enjoy the final weekends of summer.
1 year ago
June 15, 2009
Success is mine! (in evil Stewie Griffin voice)
Learning to breathe…the right way.
This week’s post will be one FULL of medical information about a process so significant, yet so elementary, I do not know why there wasn’t a greater emphasis on it during our early childhood.
In just one week, I have incredible news. In just week, after exercises in heavy breathing, meditation, thought/stress/anxiety tracking, and problem-solving, I have reduced the majority of my symptoms more than 75%. I have not changed my diet at all. Now, I don’t want to jump the gun and say, “I AM HEALED”, as it has only been a week, but I am feeling real good. Was this entire disorder a mental manifestation? Who knows, but what I do know is that a little bit of self-help goes a long way.
Chest Breathing vs. Diaphragmatic Breathing. (Note: Much of this information taken from the book, Controlling IBS: The Drug Free Way)
Chest breathing stimulates a network of nerves that controls your heart, stomach and intestines. An important job of this part of the nervous system is to regulate digestion and the muscle contractions that eliminate solid waste. So when you breathe from your chest, it activates the parts of your nervous system that produce many uncomfortable sensations experienced during periods of stress. Chest breathing also supplies the muscles with more oxygen to fuel the cells in the body, preparing you to fight or flee.
When psychological stress activates the fight-or-flight response, problems arise: Because you aren’t fleeing or fighting, there’s no outlet for the surge of physical tension, so activation the fight-or-flight response during a stressful situation is a bit like pressing one foot on the accelerator and the other on the brake at the same time. Your body, like your car, revs up. Revving up your body like this can disrupt the delicate balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide that your body needs to stay on an even keel.
Chest breathing also makes it hard to draw air into the lowest part of the lungs, where there’s a concentration of small blood vessels that carry oxygen to the cells. With these blood vessels on the sidelines, chest breathing can make you feel tense and out of breath.
Doesn’t the above description seem like the absolute worst way to breathe? YES.
Now, on to the right way to breathe, the diaphragmatic way. I say breathe yourself to a new life.
Background-most people have an idea of how this works. Diaphragmatic breathing relies on a dome-shaped muscle beneath the ribs called the diaphragm. When you breathe in, the diaphragm moves down and the lungs expand with air, drawing in oxygen. As you breathe out, the diaphragm moves up, and the lungs contract, expelling air.
Diaphragmatic breathing activates the part of the nervous system that puts a brake on the fight-or-flight response. It’s impossible to be physically relaxed and stressed at the same time, so that controlling your breathing patterns you override the physical part of stress that can aggravate bowel symptoms. With diaphragmatic breathing, there’s a good mix of oxygen coming into the lungs and carbon dioxide coming out, and the fight-or-flight system comes to a screeching halt. Diaphragmatic breathing also releases the body’s own painkillers (called endorphins), so you’ll feel more comfortable.
Did you guys just read that? Our body releases its own painkillers…what??? AWESOME!!! I don’t think I have to go into further explanation about the importance, or rather large significance that the correct way of breathing offers all of us; it just makes so much sense. When I spoke of heavy breathing earlier, I mean something as simple as taking just 10 minutes out of your busy day, finding some privacy, getting comfortable in a chair or if possible, lying down, and doing the following:
1. Close your eyes.
2. Count one as you breathe in, and say relax as you breathe out.
3. As you breathe in, your belly should push out; as your breathe out, draw your belly in. Keep your chest still throughout.
4. Focus your attention on the number or relaxing word without letting other thoughts cross your mind. (Thoughts will obviously constantly pop into and out of your mind, and when they do, just gently push them away and get back to the practice).
5. Maintain a comfortable rate of breathing that is even and smooth.
6. Count up to 10 and repeat.
7. Practice two to three times daily for at least 10 minutes.
Slow deep breathing like this is very good for you, lowering your blood pressure and heart rate, increasing the supply of blood and oxygen to the heart and brain, and resetting the balance of brain and body. These physical changes in turn produce a variety of positive psychological effects such as reduced worry and anxiety, as well as improvements in your emotional well-being.
There are many other types of methods and strategies to use, this was one of the easiest. In this crazy world we live in, we all need to take a step back from life, and take a few deep breathes. Trust me, it does work, and it does wonders for your mental health, and in turn for me, it does wonders to my physical health as well.
2 years ago
June 12, 2009
Thanks Ma!
Some moms like to send food
Others send clothes of all types
JTLs’ mom sends Vineyard Vines
My mom sends me Baby Wipes.
Ladies and Germs, I am pleased to report a significant change over the past week. A full report on the importance and significance of diaphragmatic breathing is expected to be released on Sunday.
2 years ago
June 3, 2009
The Costa Rican Paradise- My bowels agree.
I returned 2 days ago from quite possibly the greatest trip I have taken thus far in my 27 years of living. Myself, and 17 other men embarked on a journey to Jaco Beach, Costa Rica, for the bachelor party of my best friend, JCR, where we stayed at the above Casa Ponte. Just look above, is that not a picture of paradise? If you don’t think so, email me and tell me your idea of paradise, we’ll compare and I bet I’ll come up on top. To ensure privacy, I am not disclosing details of our trip, but instead I will disclose a quick detail of what my bowels thought of this trip. This 4 day party was another point of evidence that shows that no matter what I ingest into my body, if my mind is in a comfortable place, I will feel good, and my gut will feel good. As I said, not getting into details, but of the 4 days I was down in CR, I frequented the bathroom just twice, and had a pleasurable experience both times. It wasn’t until I was waiting for 3 hours at Miami International for our midnight flight to New York, that my bowels did a 180 and made me run to the bathroom (Yes, I do “Carry On” baby wipes).
If you’re interested in a wet ‘n’ wild vacation, Jaco Beach is filled with surfing, fishing, zip lining, Imperial, ladies, Imperial, and more ladies. It is a beautiful place that offers much to do, and our guide couldn’t have offered a bunch of guys a better experience. Here is a link to his website, www.hookedoncostarica.com. His name is Capt. Josh Foster, and what he did for us was unimaginable.
Now, on to fixing this irritable colon. Much to my surprise, I received a comment a week ago from the author of the book I mentioned in my last post. I spent two hours last night writing up Excel spreadsheets, ranging from Daily Stress/Thought, Relaxation Training, to a Decatastrophizing worksheet- I can’t wait to dive into that one. I figure it will take at least a week for my gut to return to “some” mode of normality, especially since the change from a liquid to a solid food diet is a drastic one, so I plan on beginning this new therapy on Monday- no ifs, ends or buts. For now, I am in a detox and recovery stage. Stay tuned…
2 years ago
May 8, 2009
CONFESSIONS FROM THE JOHN
Friday, May 8th- This past week has been one of discouragement, anger and sadness, but also one filled with the potential of hope. I must have ate over 20 bananas this week, and I went to bad last night with straight up hunger pains. I now prepare for the weekend, and a debaucherous night on the town filled with boxing and steaks. Everyone enjoy their weekends, and LETS GO METS!!!
2 years ago