Technology gets the best of me....AGAIN!

Ok, let’s try this again. 

I’ve learned from my mistake and will be typing out all blog entries on Word first, and copying them over.  No more lost entries!

Last week, I asked for requests regarding post topics, and you guys came up with some pretty good ones!  The most commonly asked-for topic was to detail my diet for a week.  It kind of surprised me when this was originally requested, but the more I thought about it- the more it made sense.  Learning concepts/ideas/facts/information regarding nutrition, health, exercise, etc… is often the easy part.  The harder part for most people is learning how to incorporate that new knowledge into practice. 

 

For Starters:

All meat listed below has either come from Wallace Farms or U.S. Wellness Meats, my two main sources for healthy grass-fed, free-range, sustainable meat.  All fish is wild-caught, not farm-raised.  

I’ve been lucky enough to know Nick Wallace for a few years now, and all of his products are delicious and raised in a responsible, humane, and sustainable manner.  U.S. Wellness Meats is probably the country’s largest purveyor of grass-fed, free-range, etc… meats.  They will ship anywhere in the United States, and I highly recommend checking out their site!

The eggs listed below are pastured eggs from MooGrass Farms, my local raw dairy co-op.  Depending on where you live, I could help you find a local source for these delicious and nutritious eggs.  The benefits of pastured eggs and grass-fed meats have been detailed in previous blogs, so I won’t get bogged down in that.  Needless to say, they are completely different foods compared to what you would find at a local supermarket.  

The water that I drink is alkalized, ionized Kangen™ water.  I believe this to be the best water in the world, available straight from the tap.  I may do a blog entirely on this water at some point in the near future.

The black tea that I drink (to help with hemochromatosis) is organic decaffeinated black tea from Arbor Teas, which is Fair Trade certified.  These guys sell some seriously awesome tea!

I am on currently on a supplement protocol including liver support, Omega-3 supplementation, Vitamin D, and a couple things to help my body re-program itself and hopefully eliminate the hemochromatosis.  Don’t think your genes can change?  You should check out the up and coming science of epigenetics, which is the study of environmental factors changing gene expression!  Really cool stuff! (CLICK HERE for an interesting article about this emerging science from TIME Magazine)

All fruits and vegetables are organic and either from Angelic Organics, GenesisGrowers (two local CSA’s), or Whole Foods (when I HAVE to).  I plan on moving to Door to Door Organics for the winter.

Ghee is essentially just clarified butter, and I get mine from Pure Indian Foods.  It is organic and grass-fed.  Ghee is completely tolerable by those with even the most lactose-intolerant systems, as the milk solids are removed.  The health benefits of ghee are endless, as it is even used as medicine in India.  Completely delicious and safe for dairy-free diets! I order this in bulk to help people save money, if you'd like a jar, let me know!

 

Coconut Oil is truly a miracle food.  One of the healthiest things you can ever consume, I use it every day in some manner.  The coconut oil that I believe to be the best in the world is from Tropical Traditions.  There are entire books written on the benefits of coconut oil, and it can even be used on your skin!!  Amazing stuff!

Notice I don’t use the terms “breakfast”, “lunch”, and “dinner”, but merely write times.  I don’t believe it’s necessary to have structured mealtimes.  I eat when I’m hungry.  I don’t eat when I’m not hungry.  That approach has worked for human beings for hundreds of thousands of generations, why stop now?

Day 1

7:10am- 3 eggs, mushrooms, green peppers, bacon, tomato, onion, jalapeno pepper omelet cooked in Ghee, topped with homemade hot sauce.  (mainly apple cider vinegar, Habanero peppers, and Serrano peppers)

1:30pm- Walleye (leftover) with sautéed veggies (squash, zucchini, onions, hot peppers) cooked in coconut oil.

6:30pm- Grass-fed beef burger w/ sautéed veggies. (onion, green pepper, hot peppers, tomato)

9:00pm – (Out Watching Bears Game) 6 unbreaded chicken wings with hot sauce.  {DID NOT FEEL WELL}

Day 2

7:15am- 3 slices bacon (Wallace Farms sells the greatest bacon on the planet, hands down.  It is uncured and nitrate-free, and 100% delicious.) and 1 apple.

12:45pm- Giant salad w/ grilled chicken breast (Out at business lunch), olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing.

5:50pm- Grass-fed beef pot roast with veggies & broth. (potato, onion, carrot, kohlrabi) 1 Avocado.

Day 3

7:15am- 2 Eggs w/ onions, hot pepper cooked in ghee. 3 slices bacon, 1 apple

11:30am- Leftover Turkey chili (ground turkey, spices, onion, green pepper, hot pepper, potatoes)

8:00pm- 2 Cups homemade beef stock, Appx. 10 radishes (raw), very small cup turkey chili.

Day 4

7:00am- 3 slices bacon, 1 apple, 1 cup homemade beef stock

10:30am- ½ bar Pemmican from US Wellness. (cherry and honey-free kind….basically just grass-fed beef jerky and tallow (fat))

12:00pm- 1 cup French Onion soup without croutons or cheese, mixed field green salad with apples, dried cranberries, spinach, w/ olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. (Out at business lunch)

2:30pm- ½ bar Pemmican

8:30pm- Roasted Leg of Lamb (delicious) and roasted butternut squash w/ spices and coconut oil.

Day 5

6:45am- Pork breakfast sausage (Wallace Farms) with 2 eggs cooked in ghee, 1 apple

12:30pm- Pot roast leftovers

8:00pm- Leftover turkey chili

Day 6

8:00am- Pork breakfast sausage, 2 eggs w/ diced onion & hot peppers

3:00pm- Leftover turkey chili with diced onion, hot peppers, & tomato, 1 avocado, a few pecans

Day 7

8:00am- Pork breakfast sausage, 2 eggs w/ diced onion & hot peppers, 2 slices bacon

2:00pm- Leftover leg of lamb

5:00pm- Olives, 1 piece of white fish, 1 chicken breast, and sautéed veggies from Whole Foods take-out food bar.  (Went to watch Bears game and avoided the Pizza everyone was eating by stuffing my face with olives)

So there you have it…nothing too magical or difficult.  Leftovers are my friend.  Salads with oil/vinegar and meat on them are my friend when I must eat at a restaurant.  Now, of course, the foods from the restaurant are not organic, so that isn’t optimal- but sometimes I can’t avoid situations like that.  I hope this helps shed a little light on the “how” behind the “why”.

I will be writing a full breakdown of grains (focusing attention on rice), and of so-called “health foods”, such as Lean Cuisine, Seattle Sutton’s, etc…

I also have a huge project in the works to put together a FULL DAY workshop covering the basics of healthy human nutrition, healthy cooking, sourcing food, and the six foundations of optimal health!  This will include visits and presentations from other professionals, and will be a VERY hands-on, interactive learning experience which has the potential to CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!  So keep your eyes peeled!!

As always, I’m open to any questions or feedback! 

Look for a post on the perils of grains sometime soon….definitely NOT a health food!

A Week in the Life of....

Sleep is King

Basics of a Paleo/Primal Lifestyle - Part 3 - Sleep & Rest

 This post will be short and sweet.... but very important.  We NEED quality sleep in order to be healthy.  Did you know that it takes YEARS off someone's life to work overnight shifts for an extend period of time?  Or that an overnight worker has the same cognitive function of a well-rested person with a .08 blood alcohol content? (Legally drunk in Illinois)  Not to mention, this is the time that our body builds new tissue and repairs damage, as well as re-charging our brain, nervous system, and immunity.

We are designed, genetically to sleep when the Sun sleeps, essentially.  Winter in Chicago doesn't allow for that, as it is often dark by 5pm and not light again until 7am.  I'm not saying we need to sleep for 14 hours!! (Although, we are designed to be less active and sleep more in the winter time - because food was often scarce) 

Modern society has VERY recently changed our sleep and rest patterns quite dramatically.  Just in the last 100 years, we have introduced artificial light, television, and the internet.  These things confuse our body's natural receptors and confuse our hormone production stations.  If you're up until 11pm with all the lights on, watching TV, and surfing the internet on your phone - your body has no idea that it's dark and you should be sleeping.  You may have difficulty falling asleep in this situation, and your body will be full of stress hormones (if you can fall asleep)...so you will not wake up refreshed, and the repairs/recharging will be incomplete. 

Chronically under-sleeping is a very serious detriment to our health, an experiment that we are just learning the consequences of.  Grok (our Paleolithic ancestor hero) would have started winding down his daily activities (which by evening generally consisted of lounging around and socializing) once the sun went down, and would be asleep shortly after.  If your goal is weight loss and you are having trouble, SLEEP might be what is holding you back.  Poor sleep habits = chronic stress on the body = chronic stress hormone production = increased bodyfat, lower metabolism, and a host of other problems!

When the body detects sunlight in the morning (yes, it does this while you're sleeping), it begins to change hormone production from rest/repair (sleepy) hormones to those that will wake you up, naturally.  If you are jolted awake by an alarm, while it's still dark- your body does not have the ability to make this smooth transition.  You will get a surge of stress hormones, and we all know the results of that.  (Crabby, tired, foggy, etc...)  Yes. It is natural for you to hate the alarm clock.

For my particular case, I do awaken slightly before it gets light.  I am looking into a quality sunrise-imitating alarm clock.  It will gradually begin to light up my room 30 minutes prior to the time I'd like to wake up.  At the "alarm" time, it is at full brightness and has an easy sound vs. harsh alarm.  By this time, my body is ready to wake up, due to the light, and the transition from sleep to awake is smooth and stress-free.  I would recommend this for anyone who wakes up before dawn!

Target: 8 to 9 hours of QUALITY SLEEP

Here are a few tips:

• Dim the lights in your house, or turn them off, an hour before bed.  I like to read to a somewhat dim light in bed for a while before sleeping.  If you do this, keep the material light and easy- even reading something stressful or particularly complicated will cause too much brain stimulation.  
• No TV, internet, phone, etc... an hour before bed.  Your body can't tell the difference between a stressful situation on the TV or one in real life.  You don't want to load up on stress hormones just before sleeping.  Also- the light and electromagnetic radiation put off by TV's, monitors, phones, etc... tend to disrupt sleep patterns.
• Room should be COMPLETELY dark.  I have recently unplugged my alarm clock (use my phone, which is face-down and on the dresser where I can't reach it) and purchased light-blocking drapes for the bedroom.  This prevents lights from outside (streetlights, etc...) from getting in. Your body is designed to sleep in darkness.  These drapes would be essential for anyone who must sleep during the day.
• Do NOT sleep with the TV/Radio on.  This will cause you to get horrible sleep.  
• I LOVE Young Living Essential Oils at night.  Some of my favorites are Lavender, Peace & Calming, and Frankincense.  If you're interested in learning more about essential oils, I'd be happy to talk with you about them.  
• Exercise in the morning/daytime, if you can....especially any intense exercise.  Intense exercise at night can prevent your body from achieving an optimal sleep state.

Technology Gets the Best of Me....

So I've been writing daily blog posts this week, and guess what?  

None of them actually got posted, for some reason!!  I blame this on my technological deficiencies.  Instead of releasing them all 3 at once and overwhelming you, I'll just post one per day.  Here is "Part 2" of the series which began on Monday:

Basics of a Paleo/Primal Lifestyle ~ Part 2 ~ Evolutionary Exercise

Disclaimer #1 I mean no ill-will towards my running, spinning, cardio, etc... friends.
Disclaimer #2 Everyone is different.  This is NOT an exercise prescription specifically for YOU.  I do not recommend/prescribe any exercise to clients (or anyone else, for that matter) before I have put them through proper physical assessments to determine strengths, weaknesses, imbalances, goals, etc...

Now that we have that out of the way, let's discuss movement.  Your body is designed to walk, lunge, squat, lift, bend, twist, throw, pull, push, jump, and swim.  There is no way to get around that fact.  When we are sedentary, it is bad for our health. 

Walking from the house to the car to the desk back to the car to the couch doesn't count as exercise....and has caused our species to DEVOLVE in the last 10,000 years!! Even our brains have gotten significantly smaller over the period since we began farming/agriculture.

  Does this mean that ALL exercise is good for us?  No.  It doesn't.  The human body evolved over millions of years to perform (and respond) well in certain situations.  We are not designed to endure chronic moderate to high intensity exercise for long periods of time.  Many endurance athletes (marathon runners, distance bikers, etc...) are finding out later in life that the stress they've put on their body has very serious consequences to their health.  We are NOT designed to do this type of exercise.  It puts an incredible amount of stress on many systems in the body and has a catabolic (breakdown) effect on muscle and body tissues.  This can result in serious wear & tear injuries and chronic pain. (knees, feet, ankles, back, hips, etc...) Spending hours on the treadmill are not going to improve your health, or give you the physique that you want.

The masses have been duped by a profit-driven and uneducated "fitness" industry for far too long.  Here are some suggestions, based on physiology and truths about the human body and exercise:

• Be active. Our ancestors (99% of the time that human beings have walked the Earth) walked a great deal, looking for food and traveling.  Activities such as walking, climbing, hiking, and kayaking, are all fantastic.  Park further away from the building.  Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator.  Walk the dog every day.  Even gardening and yard work are great activities!  Moving more on a regular basis will improve your health and help you lose weight, increase your energy, or whatever else you're looking to do.

• Lift Heavy Things & Use All Your Muscles.  No, I don't mean you have to look like a bodybuilder.  They are not healthy.  Many people are afraid of strength training because they don't want to "bulk up".  This is completely unfounded, as it is very difficult and takes very specific dietary and lifestyle modifications, in addition to hours of regular training, to "get big".  The benefits of strength training (when done properly) include, but are not limited to:

• Increased Insulin Sensitivity  (relates to diabetes and a host of other health problems)
• Increased Bone Density 
• Increased Metabolism
• Decreased Body Fat
• Increased Strength & Athletic Performance
• Hormone Balance & Increased Sex Drive

So what does "proper" strength training consist of?

• Big movements (squat, lunge, push, pull, bend, twist, etc...) using many muscle groups.
• High intensity, relatively short duration.  I do not recommend high intensity training for beginners or for those who do not have supervision and instruction.  There is no need to spend hours at the gym!  (Or even go to a gym, for that matter!!)

• Sprint Occasionally.  Yes, really.  Our ancestors (99% of human evolution) walked around a lot,  lifted heavy things, and every once in a while, RAN LIKE HELL!  Either to chase food, or be chased by something that wanted them as food!!  We had to have the ability to escape danger when needed, but we are not designed to run at high intensity for any significant duration of time.  Doing so triggers stress hormones in our body, which are detrimental on a number of levels.  Again, this is not for beginners or those who have not exercised in a long time. 

Crunches are not proper exercise.  Isolation training is not natural to our physiology.  (think about the guy doing bicep curls in the mirror)  Weight machines do not work stabilizer muscles and allow your core to become weak and lazy.  Grok did not have machines and was FAR more fit than we are.  

The reason that I do not recommend intense heavy lifting or sprinting for beginners is simple, our bodies are so out of whack (joint weakness, core deactivation, muscle imbalances, poor posture, improper breathing) that this type of exercise could cause significant injury, pain, and discomfort.

These are my first steps will all new clients:  (Most are beginners, but I would go through these steps regardless)

• Correct posture and muscle imbalances.  
• Teach proper form and breathing for "big movements".
• Properly activate the core.  This is essential for generating power and protecting the back.

Once someone has corrected their posture, addressed imbalances, learned proper movement form, retrained their body to breathe, and reactivated their core - they are ready for some evolutionary exercise!!

Tomorrow: Part 3! Sleep is KING!