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Acrylic Nails
I never thought I would be the type of woman who would resort to the regular application of acrylic nails. However, I have spent the past six years living a lifestyle which requires that my nails look perfect all the time, so I truly have no choice but to cover them in acrylic. Though I was blessed with great hair and skin, my nails are paper thin and very weak, and getting them to grow evenly without major peeling and breakage is almost impossible. Besides, I kind of enjoy going in every two weeks and getting a pampering treatment. I say pampering lightly, though, since my nail technician almost always inflicts pain on me when I go to visit her. Grooming can be torture!
For those of you who don’t know how acrylic nails are applied, here is how it’s done. A nail technician mixes a liquid with a powder and brushes the mixture onto the nails, then allows the product to harden. Over time, the acrylic material grows out with your natural nails, requiring application of more acrylic substance in the empty area between the nail bed and the existing acrylic overlay. If you want to have acrylic nails removed, the technician usually soaks your nails in nail polish remover for easy removal, but my nail technician tugs and pries them off me with so much force that I often wince from the pain.
I also get gel overlay because my nails are truly that weak. Once acrylic is applied and is fully dry, the technician brushes on the gel, then the nails are placed
under ultraviolet (UV) light for a minute or two to harden the product. Though there has been some controversy over the UV exposure, the amount of exposure is so brief that it is almost negligible. But then again, there are risks associated with the application of acrylic to the nails, such as fungal infections and damage to the nail bed from trauma. If you have ever had acrylic nails and have had your entire nail lifted off the nail bed from trauma, or a break within the nail bed, you know how wickedly painful that can be!
Despite the fact that I believe the healthiest way to care for one’s nails is to leave them completely unadorned, I am forced to go to the other extreme with the interventions mentioned above, getting my nails covered in harsh chemicals every two weeks. Some ladies will take breaks from acrylics, but sadly, I am unable to do this. Even going for one or two days without acrylic on my nails is torturous, because my thin nails don’t allow me to navigate comfortably through my day to day tasks. It is literally painful for me to go sans acrylics.
Usually I will opt for a basic French tip look, but I wish I could do something more exotic! I have to make sure my nails are practical in length and shape, and they can’t look wild or garish when I have to see patients or do a basic fitness or swimsuit photo shoot. Check out these cool nail looks which I found online:
Are Post-Workout Carbohydrates Necessary?
Please check out my latest article for Sports Nutrition Supplement Guide!
You can access the original post here:
If you have been lifting weights for a while, you have probably heard about the importance of ingesting simple carbohydrates during the critical post-workout window. The idea is that the insulin spike which occurs with carb consumption augments protein uptake and thus optimizes muscle building and repair.
However, there is a growing body of evidence which argues against this theory. One study which was published in Nutrition and Metabolism split older male subjects into two groups, one of which consumed only protein post-workout, while the other group consumed the identical amount of protein, with an added carbohydrate source in a 1 to 2 ratio. The subjects in the second group initially had an insulin spike and a greater uptake of protein into muscle tissue, but after several hours, both groups had the same uptake of protein.
Athletes who train several times a day may benefit from the faster rate of protein absorption which accompanies carbohydrate consumption during the post-workout window since they need to keep glycogen stores full for the next workout. However, the average person or athlete who only trains once per day will be able to replenish glycogen levels within a day or two, without any negative effects, as long as enough carbohydrates are consumed in the diet throughout each day. This is great news for individuals who cannot consume large amounts of simple carbohydrates, either due to diabetes or excess weight, because the overall absorption and uptake of protein is unaffected by carbohydrate intake.
Substances like whey protein induce an even bigger spike in insulin than carbs do, and the increase insulin levels from protein alone is adequate to inhibit the muscle breakdown which occurs post-lift. You might also consider employing a carb-cycle diet which consists of a low carb plan intermixed with one or two high carb days per week. The carb spike days will effectively replenish glycogen stores and keep your energy high for those intense lifting days, while the remaining lower carbohydrate days will boost growth hormone production.
REFERENCES: Hamer H, Wall B, Kiskini A, de Lange A, et al (2013) Carbohydrate co-ingestion with protein does not further augment post-prandial muscle protein accretion in older men. Nutrition & Metabolism 10:15.
IFBB Men’s Physique Pro Ranks
In my last five posts, I provided lists of all the men who earned IFBB Professional Status by competing onstage in the Men’s Physique Division in NPC events and at the IFBB North American. Here are the totals for each year:
2011: 23
2012: 49
2013: 99
2014: 110
2015: 99 *NOTE: There will be 12 more men joining this group in late November after NPC Nationals takes place.
That’s a total of 380 IFBB Men’s Physique Pros who won their status on a bodybuilding stage in the five years since the Men’s Physique Division was established. However, there are a number of IFBB Men’s Physique Pros who got their Pro Cards in Bodybuilding, then crossed over after they went pro. There are also international IFBB Men’s Physique Pros who have competed in Pro events.
The IFBB Men’s Physique Pro Ranks have grown dramatically as a result of the increase in the number of Pro Cards offered at national events. There are now twice as many cards handed out as there were in the early days of this division. However, the sheer number of competitors who funnel through national amateur events each year continues to make the designation of IFBB Men’s Physique Pro a highly desirable and honorable title to have.
IFBB Men’s Physique Pros List 2015
In keeping with the lists I compiled of all the IFBB Bikini Pros who won their cards onstage within the division, I am providing lists of all the men who won IFBB Pro Status in the Men’s Physique division since its inception in 2011. The lists which I have compiled do NOT include competitors who went pro in another division and crossed over, nor does it factor in the competitors who were awarded IFBB Pro Status through petition.
So far, 99 Men have won their IFBB Pro Cards at NPC/IFBB events in the Men’s Physique Division this year:
SCOTT DENNIS
JARED THOMPSON
BRETT KAHN
MATT RAMSEIER
JAY-T RYSAAC
JORGE GONZALEZ
UCHENNA NWOSU
GARROTT COELHO
CHRIS KAKOURAS
TONY DUONG
MICHAEL RAMIREZ
JEFFREY VIALU
ERIK DRENDEL
SHAUN STANDRIDGE
WILLIAM ANIN
BRANDEN RICHARDS
ARMANDO ARELLANO
DAVID HILL
MANUIA FRUEAN
BYRON MARKS
AHMAD DEGUZMAN
GONZALO CURBELO
IKE BANKS
BODDY NICHOLS
WILL KO
ZACHARY WELKER
ERIC MARTIN
JONATHAN ORTEGA
RANDY CANCHE
JARED FRANK
JERMICHAEL PRATT
FRANK HAMILTON
JULIO VALDES
ANDREW ARMAND
TERRENCE THOMAS
GARY TORRES
DANIEL PENA
KENNETH PARKER
JON WALL
DAVID ANDERSON
ANTONIO MITCHCELL
DAVID ROBERTS
ROBERT SHAW
GEORGE DORSEY
DARYL KING
ERICK SCHULTZ
DWAYNE PUNTER
FRANK SAME
DAVID SESSLER
GINO UBILES RUIZ
R. CAMERON GARDNER
TIM FROST
DARYL MCKEE
MATTHEW MUGFORD
HOWARD THEVENIN
MARCELINO BRADFORD
COBY LEWIS
RAYMOND AKINLOSOTOU
CAMERON JAMES
EDWARD ALVAREZ-SOTO
JOHNATHAN O’NEAL MCCURTIS
JAVON WALKER
DAVID THORPE
MICHAEL ANDERSON
JOSE DIAZ
RONSON LEE
JOSEPH GUILLORY
MATTHEW JULIAN MANALO
JEPH GABRIEL
AARON SHUMWAY
ALCIDES VERA
LAQUAN JONES
DARNELL WILLIAMS
KHALFANI QUARTEY
PHILLIP BLOW
RONALD GALLAGHER
LOUIS JOHNSON
HENRY O. JAMES
FABIO TOSCANO
CHUCK MAUCERI
IAN BUCHANAN
LOUIS-PHILIPPE FAUSTIN-DORVAL
BRANDAN FOKKEN
MICHAEL PITTMAN
ALCIDES VERA
BRIAN BARTHULE
WILLIAM MILLER
LOUIS JOHNSON
CLINT VAN DYKE
CLIFFORD LEWIS
ADON MARCUS
TY POPE
MICHAEL PITTMAN
CARLO ANTONIO
RICK CANAMAR
HARRY COOKE
TARRON HILL
SEAN CARROLL
CHRISTOPHER FREEMAN
IFBB Men’s Physique Pros List 2014
In keeping with the lists I compiled of all the IFBB Bikini Pros who won their cards onstage within the division, I am providing lists of all the men who won IFBB Pro Status in the Men’s Physique division since its inception in 2011. The lists which I have compiled do NOT include competitors who went pro in another division and crossed over, nor does it factor in the competitors who were awarded IFBB Pro Status through petition.
110 Men won their IFBB Pro Cards at NPC/IFBB events in the Men’s Physique Division in 2014:
Frankie Ortega
Tonnell Rodrigue
Daniel Garcia
Adam Schafer
Devon Lindner
Anthony Ramsey
Kyle Moore
Harold Allen
Darnell Moss
Dan St. Peter
Jake Alvarez
Courtney Mayfield
Ryan Hinton
Axel Alvarez
Dean Balabis
Steven Rogers
Jonathan Bernstein
Jean Walkins-Louis
Banner Budden
Igor Gajic
Alp Yurteri
Nicholas Dennard
Joseph Lee
Nick Adams
Matthew Masotti
Jacque Dalce
Ron DaCosta
Musin Nasir
Damon Ford
Tim R. Santiago
William Gregory
Roderick Gaines
Hercules Barthelemy
Jordan Fields
Natanael Hernandez
Michael Hughes-Lewis
Garrett White
Deverell Maxwell
Paul Rennalls
David Kampfe
Alexander Woodson
Folajaiye Dania
Andre Johnson
Arash Rahbar
James Furlow
James Hurst
Avery Cummings
Austin Current
Robert Giles
William Kitclien
Tobias Young
Patrick Fulgham
Tony Candales
Tony McLaurin
George O’Banyoun
Kelon Patterson
Neal Blassingame
Pradeep (Freddy) Naidu
Mike Saffaie
Sunny Akhigbe
Timothy Feuling
Lorenzo Orozco
Chris Griffin
AJ Cannon
David DeLa Cruz
Clint Pannell
Gerald Saragosa
Shannon Haynes
Frank Griffin
Shareef Alikhan
Jorge Merino
Paul Batrony
T.J. Murray
Yoshi Manley
Sly Hardy
Chase Savoie
Isaac Miranda
Andre Ferguson
Yi Peng
Jeremy Potvin
Joseph Gass
Darnell Ferguson
Justin Hassan
Aarin Moore
Kenneth Jones
Logan Franklin
CARLOS FERRER
KELLY SCHMIDT
JOE MOSS
BARRY THAMES
MICHAEL DOUGHERTY
ANTIONE WILLIAMS
REGIE SIMMONS
OTTO MONTGOMERY
MATT WOLD
T.A. MARTIN
HIDENOBU TANAKA
GENE AMOGUIS
TRAVIS YOUNG
CHRIS ELLIS
ERIC ABENOJA
TRACY BURR
MARCELLUS CAMPBELL
JOHNNY QUINONES
CHAD JACKSON
GARY VANROSS
ROBERT SIMPSON
DAVID RAYDAY
TIM DEGROOT
MARK WILL
IFBB Men’s Physique Pros List 2013
In keeping with the lists I compiled of all the IFBB Bikini Pros who won their cards onstage within the division, I am providing lists of all the men who won IFBB Pro Status in the Men’s Physique division since its inception in 2011. The lists which I have compiled do NOT include competitors who went pro in another division and crossed over, nor does it factor in the competitors who were awarded IFBB Pro Status through petition.
99 Men won their IFBB Pro Cards at NPC/IFBB events in the Men’s Physique Division in 2013:
Derek Lemm
Jacob Roberson
Chad Crouse
Xavisus Gayden
Aaron O Connell
Danior Delit
Reynaldo Pickwoad
Arya Saffaie
Art Ortiz
Shannon Thomas
Jason Tessler
Tony Adams
Nathan Baumbick
Geobanny Paula
Jeremy Buendia
Shawn Labega
Julian Jean
Chad Demchik
Rodney Razor
Marcus Brito
Ani Saliasi
Thomas Canepa
German Pacheco
Michael Feeks
John Nguyen
Evan Gryka
Artem Dolgin
Travales Blount
Anthony Brigman
Joshua Reid
Matt Bucur
Jeff Seid
Kameron Bailey
Jonathan Sebastian
Nicholas Desatnik
Roger Bowman
Antonio Lopez
Brian Epstein
Mario DeLuca
Paul Spann
Keith Baker
Derrick Wade
David Breaux
Michael Alton
Chad Latapie
Jim Holcomb
Joe Warren
Miguel Martinez
Ken Settlepani
Richard Tuma
Greg Jones
Michael Aylward
Brian King
Victor Clark
Reuben Gordon
Pierre Vuala
John Farrell
Eric Heidelberg
Andre Adams
Brandon Hendrickson
Austin Standage
Jermaine Ward
Matt Pattison
Josh Bowmar
Qaadir Majeed
John Arterberry
MIKE BALAN
RONALD BOYDEN
PHILLIP WILLIAMS
ROBERT ORTIZ
DERRICK YUVIENCO
EMMANUELE BANKS
GEORGE BROWN
BRIAN HAY
ANTHONY PEREZ
JACQUES LEWIS
JOE CANTU
SCOTT DO
DAVID VELAZQUEZ
CHRIS WILLIAMSON
JAKE PHIPPEN
CRAIG ALLEN
RYAN STANTON
DUANE BRICKHOUSE
JEFFREY VELAZQUEZ
CHRIS MOSHER
STEPHEN TALAMO
JASON ALAN ROBINSON
CHARLES CHESTER
JIMMY PANTE
TONY TORRES
TONE MARTIN
TONY TIRADO
STEPHEN FIORE
SPENCER OWENS
MICHAEL JOHNSON
RON KNIGHTON
BUTCH ROLLE
DEMETRIUS CLEMONS
IFBB Men’s Physique Pros List 2012
In keeping with the lists I compiled of all the IFBB Bikini Pros who won their cards onstage within the division, I am providing lists of all the men who won IFBB Pro Status in the Men’s Physique division since its inception in 2011. The lists which I have compiled do NOT include competitors who went pro in another division and crossed over, nor does it factor in the competitors who were awarded IFBB Pro Status through petition.
One of my happiest days on record was when Ian Lauer won his Pro Card. His name is in bold on this list.
49 Men won their IFBB Pro Cards at NPC/IFBB events in the Men’s Physique Division in 2012:
Michael Ferguson
Donta Tanner
David Gonzalez
Anton Antipov
Justin Busiere
Sean Marshall
William Sullivan
Jake Routt
Kevin Perod
Kevin Fabian
David Herskovitz
Brant Larose
Sheridan Hause Jr.
Sadik Hadzovic
Trevor Larson
Scott Lamb
Matt DuBois
Ryan James Fisher
Micah Seyler
Greg Romero
Michael Barnt
Michael Anderson
Sean Harley
Vincent Fiore
Stephen Mass
Russell Waheed
Tory Woodward
Collin Wasiak
Ian Lauer
Keenon LeBlanc
Jonathon Cetera
Corey Hammac
Ken Rawlins
Luke Boehm
Guy Marquardt
Michael Bevins
Shadrack Hendricks
Cory Lagasse
Andrew Giacomin
Steve Mousharbash
Trent Calavan
Jason Poston
Shane Eslahi
Adam Bankston
Chris Mercadel
Robert Grote
Joseph Adaya
Tyler Anderson
Karl Bierman
IFBB Men’s Physique Pros List 2011
In keeping with the lists I compiled of all the IFBB Bikini Pros who won their cards onstage within the division, I am providing lists of all the men who won IFBB Pro Status in the Men’s Physique division since its inception in 2011. The lists which I have compiled do NOT include competitors who went pro in another division and crossed over, nor does it factor in the competitors who were awarded IFBB Pro Status through petition.
23 Men won their IFBB Pro Cards at NPC/IFBB events in the Men’s Physique Division in 2011:
Ryan Hughes
Matt Christianer
Alex Carneiro
Steven Cook
Nick Garton
Frankly Shredded
Deniz Duygulu
Joe Herr
Anthony Scotti
Collin Humphrey
Miguel Aguilar
Michael McFall
Matthew Acton
Eddie Baird
Craig Capurso
Dean Fazzolari
Douglas Peaney
Bobby Ashhurst
Burton Hughes
Angel Cordero
Mark Anthony Wingson
Tyler Larson
Angelo Morasca
The Last Essay By Dr. Oliver Sacks
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/14/filter-fish
Filter Fish
At life’s end, rediscovering the joys of a childhood favorite
Gefilte fish is not an everyday dish; it is to be eaten mainly on the Jewish Sabbath in Orthodox households, when cooking is not allowed. When I was growing up, my mother would take off from her surgical duties early on Friday afternoon and devote her time, before the coming of Shabbat, to preparing gefilte fish and other Sabbath dishes.
Our gefilte fish was basically carp, to which pike, whitefish, and sometimes perch or mullet would be added. (The fishmonger delivered the fish alive, swimming in a pail of water.) The fish had to be skinned, boned, and fed into a grinder—we had a massive metal grinder attached to the kitchen table, and my mother would sometimes let me turn the handle. She would then mix the ground fish with raw eggs, matzo meal, and pepper and sugar. (Litvak gefilte fish, I was told, used more pepper, which is how she made it—my father was a Litvak, born in Lithuania.)
My mother would fashion the mixture into balls about two inches in diameter—two to three pounds of fish would allow a dozen or more substantial fish balls—and then poach these gently with a few slices of carrot. As the gefilte fish cooled, a jelly of an extraordinarily delicate sort coalesced, and, as a child, I had a passion for the fish balls and their rich jelly, along with the obligatory khreyn (Yiddish for horseradish).
I thought I would never taste anything like my mother’s gefilte fish again, but in my forties I found a housekeeper, Helen Jones, with a veritable genius for cooking. Helen improvised everything, nothing was by the book, and, learning my tastes, she decided to try her hand at gefilte fish.
When she arrived each Thursday morning, we would set out for the Bronx to do some shopping together, our first stop being a fish shop on Lydig Avenue run by two Sicilian brothers who were as like as twins. The fishmongers were happy to give us carp, whitefish, and pike, but I had no idea how Helen, African-American, a good, churchgoing Christian, would manage with making such a Jewish delicacy. But her powers of improvisation were formidable, and she made magnificent gefilte fish (she called it “filter fish”), which, I had to acknowledge, was as good as my mother’s. Helen refined her filter fish each time she made it, and my friends and neighbors got a taste for it, too. So did Helen’s church friends; I loved to think of her fellow-Baptists gorging on gefilte fish at their church socials.
For my fiftieth birthday, in 1983, she made a gigantic bowl of it—enough for the fifty birthday guests. Among them was Bob Silvers, the editor of The New York Review of Books, who was so enamored of Helen’s gefilte fish that he wondered if she could make it for his entire staff.
When Helen died, after seventeen years of working for me, I mourned her deeply—and I lost my taste for gefilte fish. Commercially made, bottled gefilte fish, sold in supermarkets, I found detestable compared to Helen’s ambrosia.
But now, in what are (barring a miracle) my last weeks of life—so queasy that I am averse to almost every food, with difficulty swallowing anything except liquids or jellylike solids—I have rediscovered the joys of gefilte fish. I cannot eat more than two or three ounces at a time, but an aliquot of gefilte fish every waking hour nourishes me with much needed protein. (Gefilte-fish jelly, like calf’s-foot jelly, was always valued as an invalid’s food.)
Deliveries now arrive daily from one shop or another: Murray’s on Broadway, Russ & Daughters, Sable’s, Zabar’s, Barney Greengrass, the 2nd Ave Deli—they all make their own gefilte fish, and I like it all (though none compares to my mother’s or Helen’s).
While I have conscious memories of gefilte fish from about the age of four, I suspect that I acquired my taste for it even earlier, for, with its abundant, nutritious jelly, it was often given to infants in Orthodox households as they moved from baby foods to solid food. Gefilte fish will usher me out of this life, as it ushered me into it, eighty-two years ago. ♦
dr. stacey naito's blog 