PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe

PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe
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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #16 The BEST Paleo exercise of ALL!

The Asian Squat!  So called because it is still used frequently in Asia, as well as in most of the undeveloped world, is the single best thing you can do for your flexibility, and the health of your BACK!

It seems like not a big deal, but just as we have ruined the health of our feet by overuse of shoes, and never letting our feet develop and function as they were designed to do… so also have we ruined the natural function and health of our backs, legs, and calves by overusing chairs.

This really is the single most important “exercise” you can do for your bodily health, and it’s not really an EXERCISE at all- it is a form of resting… at least it will be once you master it, by doing it on a regular basis.

The way I do it, is when I do my Perfectly Paleo Exercises in the early morning; between sets of pushups, or straight legged sit-ups, or whatever else I am doing- I squat down, barefooted as I am as I exercise, and just hold it.  I rest my hands on my thighs, and just relax into this health promoting and flexibility enhancing squat position.

Now, I’ve been doing this for years, but I remember when I started I could not do it at all!  I rose up on my toes like most Westerners, and my center of balance was way off towards the front, rather than centered over my flattened feet… you just need to practice, as in most things!  If you can’t do it at all, stand in a doorframe, and go as low as you can into a squat, supporting yourself with your hands on the sides of the frame.  Or else put a board under your heels.  There are lots of ways to work into it, but the important thing is to work into it. It really won’t take that long; maybe a couple of weeks of daily practice- and the benefits are incredible!  When you are in the Asian Squat, you are stretching your whole lower body, and simultaneously rejuvenating your spine and lower back in the most natural manner possible!

You know how a cat stretches, when it gets up from lying down? Stretching its back, and extending it’s legs out in front?  Well, this is the Human version- squatting down to the lowest position, with flat feet!

It seems like a small thing, this full on, Asian Squat… but it is not.

Just this one thing, when you master it, will do more for the health of your entire body and spine than any chiropractor ever could!

Not to say anything against chiropractors, of which there are many fine ones, but doing things for yourself, by yourself, is better than anything that can be done for you.   This is just a fact of life, and carries over into any and all endeavors- we are our own best doctors!

And teachers, and counselors, and cooks, and gardeners, and determiners of our own lives!!

Self reliance is the best medicine, and the best advice EVER.

So, get down into an Asian squat.  Relax into it, feel the stretch, even rock back and forth a bit to relish it… Now, you are your own chiropractor!!
J

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Paleo Quick Tip of the Daqy #15- Chill out with Magnesium, and become a Paleo Sunshine Vitamin D Superman!

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #15- Chill out with Magnesium, and become a Paleo Sunshine Vitamin D Superman!

PQTD #15  Chill out with Magnesium, and become a Paleo Vitamin D Sunshine Superman!


I’m sure you can tell, just by hearing the above, that Vitamin D, the “sunshine Vitamin”, since that is how we naturally synthesize it, is not only necessary for health, it is is critical!!  But magnesium, the mineral, is just as critical, and works in synergy with Vitamin D to our benefit.

Everyone in the modern world is indoctrinated with the belief that, yes- calcium is needed for bone health!  But, if you are eating a paleo type of diet, such as is recommended in Paleo Quick Tip of the Day, with a big green Paleo smoothie or two per day, full of raw leafy whole greens, and also consume a big salad most days, along with Greek yogurt and kefir in your smoothie- you have plenty of calcium!

You also have some magnesium, but even you, Paleo person, are probably short of magnesium.

The reason is that, nowadays, our soil is so depleted of nutrients through chemical fertilizer bases over-farming, that most of the magnesium that used to be in our soils is...GONE!

Now when little PaleoJay was growing up, 60 years ago, our soil was still chock full of the very necessary nutrient... but NOT NOW.  Just as we have introduced the perverse fluoride poison into our water, we have eliminated most of our sources of magnesium- and, ironically, fluoride binds with magnesium, and drains it from our bodies!!
Talk about a double insult!

What to do?

Continue with all the steps you’ve taken thus far, like eating a real, God made food, veggie rich, Paleo Smoothie per day whipped up in your Vitamix blender...sleep well, 8 hours per night... exercise as outlined in previous Paleo Quick Tips of the Day...

AND supplement with Vitamin D3 and Magnesium!

I am not one who would be big into supplements- but these TWO are critical!

Unless you spend at least 15 minutes per day in a bathing suit, at high noon, outside in the sunshine- get some Vitamin D Liquid!    A couple of drops per day, in your smoothie or right on your tongue will do it- it’s cheap, tasteless, and very, very effective!

I like Liquid Vitamin D3 by Seeking Health, 2000 IU per drop!  On Amazon, and very economical indeed!

And you also need Magnesium- the product Natural Calm, also on Amazon, is amazing, inexpensive, and easily available on... Amazon!  Also from many other vendors...  And Magnesium Oil, available from Ancient Minerals, also on Amazon, is another easy way to supplement- just spray the liquid onto your skin, after your shower- it soaks right in, and loads you up with magnesium, easily.




But just why do you need these two incredible supplements?  Well, if you have high blood pressure, difficulty sleeping, depression, anxiety, rheumatoid arthritis- the list goes on and on- you are probably magnesium and/or Vitamin D deficient.  They work together, eliminating, in many cases, migraine headaches, and diabetes...  and also, especially in the case of Vitamin D- CANCER.

It has recently been released that darker skinned peoples, especially, in the Northern hemisphere are MUCH more, at least 30% more likely to die of ALL types of cancer that fairer skinned individuals- specifically because they produce less Vitamin D from their skin.  But lighter skinned people are at nearly as much risk, because we have all become so sun averse- we are all afraid of skin cancer!


Ironically, however, Vitamin D, usually derived from the sun itself, is the most protective vitamin, along with magnesium to prevent skin cancer!!

I know, this is quite a truth bomb to absorb- but, if you get out in the sun, eat lots of green veggies, and supplement even MORE with Vitamin D and Magnesium-

YOU WILL BE WAY, WAY HEALTHIER!

As usual, it seems, conventional medical advice is ...WRONG!

Check out this episode!

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #14- Play, but do REAL WORK FIRST!

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #14 Play, but do REAL WORK FIRST!


One big thing brought up in the Paleo world lately is the importance of PLAY!

I would never argue with this: PLAY is what mammals, including human animals, DO.  It is part and parcel of our makeup; the interplay between members of a tribe of men, or a pack of dogs for that matter- this has huge importance to the development of interrelations of the various members of those groups, their mental and physical health, and also the layers of dominance.  All really, really important stuff indeed!

But, let’s put it into context:  Today you worked out, using virtual resistance, pushups, other body-weight moves like straight legged situps, hindu squats, gymnastic rings training (You own the eBook Perfectly Paleo Exercise, of course!), so you know just what to do!

And then, you went to work- probably a desk job- and now you’re home!  You feel good, you feel energized; after all, you slept a good 8 and 1/2 hours last night, had a big glass of Paleo Green Smoothie along with your eggs this morning, a big salad for lunch topped with grass fed beef-

You feel pretty darn good!  

So, should you just go out and play frisbee with your friends and family??  Or golf?  Cards??? (Does anyone even play anymore?)  Board games?? VIDEO GAMES??

Well, you sure could!  You’ve earned the right... but, have you ever considered that you might be better served, as would the world at large...

IF YOU DID SOME REAL WORK FIRST??

Now don’t go crazy and get your back up!  I know you’ve already worked an 8 hour day or longer, plus worked out in the early AM...

But really, have you done any real work??

Real work is physical in the real sense of the word: Moving, carrying, lifting - hard, physical, manual labor.

It is really becoming a concern that many, many folks in this modern, digital age, have really...  never done any real, manual, hard, physical WORK- NEVER!!

Real, physical work, not just typing on a keyboard or talking on a telephone, is what we are really programmed to do!  It’s the Yang to the Ying of meditation and physical culture- we create a calm, centered, rational mind and healthy body to.... work!

I don’t mean an assembly line of fake work- I mean accomplishing real tasks, and feeling great about it!





Last Saturday evening, I had spent the whole evening cutting wood, and moving it.  Exhausting, tough labor- but very rewarding when accomplished!  The next day, I moved it all where it needed to go- pushed the brush piles off the beaten path for the deer to shelter in (the tractor did this for me, mostly!)  Luckily, I got it all done, but then had batter trouble with the tractor...

Just now,  on Tuesday evening during this incredibly cold Winter that absolutely PROVES that we should be much more worried about a NEW ICE AGE than we should about a politically motivated global warming scare, I got my old Ford F100 pickup started and had to rescue my John Deere with a dead battery...

And you know what?

I feel a heck of a lot more satisfied with doing all of that than if I had just skied, then paddle boarded, and then played ultimate frisbee followed up with tennis!

Not that there’s anything wrong with any of that fluffy stuff!  It’s fine, as long as we first ground and center ourselves around real work.

And, after you do real work, you know what you will really feel like doing?

MAYBE a little play, like toss your kids or grandkids around, or play a board game, or play some music on your guitar and sing, or play cards...

But I think ultimate frisbee, paddle boarding, snowboarding, and kayaking will not beckon to you at ALL-

You’ll just be to tired, and also, just too... content!

Check out this episode!

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #13 Garden, forage, fish and hunt!

Garden, Forage, Fish and Hunt!

As we have seen in our 12 previous, weekly episodes of PQTD, food and nutrition are the mainspring of the Paleo Diet and lifestyle!  What we eat and drink; i.e. what we put into our bodies has more of an effect on how we look and feel, and our resistance to modern diseases of degeneration, than anything else!  In other words, if we have our nutrition nailed down and in order, we are 90% of the way there...

PALE

PALEOJAY HUNTING A DANGEROUS ANIMAL!
And you, my friend, if you have been following along in our step-by-step approach to adopting the Paleo way of life on Paleo Quick Tip of the Day, the changes you have seen have been life-changing.  You probably have lost significant body fat, and noticed even a loss in the bloated look to your face, and neck!   This is one of the most obvious changes I see in almost everyone- they literally change their face to a younger, leaner, and far more healthy look.  Lack of refined carbs and sugars cuts down the inflammation in the body to a much lower level, and it shows in the lack of inflammation in your face.  Look around- these days, it is rare to see someone over the age of 25 that is not starting already to get that round, inflamed, reddish countenance that at one time was reserved for old, rotund men and women... Santa and Mrs. Claus, for instance!  But, with the horrible food consumed in America and the West these days, even kids are starting to look like that.  Diabetes and all...

But, that is all behind you now!  We can always improve, and add more tweaks to our Paleolithic arsenal of health, and today I want you to start gardening, foraging, fishing and hunting!

In my neck of the woods (it is literally a neck of the woods!), all of these are still givens.
But, even if you live in a city, you can adapt the principles of these activities to improve your health and diet:

Square Foot Gardening is a wonderful book, and a wonderful concept of raising gardens in small, 4 X 4 containers, in a weed free soil mix of vermiculite, compost, and peat moss.  You can garden anywhere with one or more of these small boxes, and it is so efficient that I have converted my formerly large garden into a fenced in area of square foot raise garden beds!

You can forage by using dandelion greens in your smoothie, and in salads.  Nuts, morel mushrooms, and other wild plants and berries are available to gather; and, even if there are none where you live, forage at the store, at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods!  Pride yourself on seeking out the healthiest, most nutrient dense foods you can find for sale.  Try new things- grass fed beef liver, topped with hollandaise sauce is wonderful- try other organ meats, packed with nutrition- if you can’t really fish, fish the supermarket aisles, for wild caught salmon, other fish and lobster, and hunt for all the healthiest meats you can find- pastured beef and pork, free range chickens and pastured eggs.  Forage for spices like turmeric powder for your smoothies, cinnamon and kelp and spirulina... you get the idea!

Turn your shopping life into an adventure in healthy eating!  The Paleo type of diet is perfectly congruous with the finest cuisines in the world- by substituting grains with rice, the French cuisine is a perfect match with paleo, as is Asian cuisine, and the fine cuisine of Italy- The best of every culture was once largely “Paleo” in nature, and only by our continual industrialization and adulteration of great food into “food like substances” have we turned our many once wonderful, healthful diets into hormone and corn syrup laced monstrosities!

Get back to basics- be like your ancestors, wherever they were from!  And get healthy and stay that way!

Great, great, great, great, great Grandma and Grandpa will be proud!!

J


Check out this episode!Q

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #12 Intermittent Fasting

By now, on your 12th week into this Paleo thing, you are probably startling both yourself, and your friends and family!  That is quite often the case- but remember, this is a lifestyle change, not a DIET, per se, that you do for a while, and then just…stop!  Not at all- this is a gradual transformation, going back to and ancestral way of eating and living; a sustainable way of living, eating, moving, and relating to both ourselves and others that will not only transform your body, but also your mind and spirit- resulting in the best possible YOU!!

That is no exaggeration or hyperbole, either- just fact!  So, let’s get onto our next addition to healthy Paleo living- IF- short for intermittent fasting!

I know, it doesn’t sound new or exciting- FASTING! ?  Not eating?  Yuck…

But all I am really suggesting is to compress, or shorten your eating window!  Instead of eating all day long, and then getting up and starting right away to EAT again- I way try- putting a break in it, making your fasts a little longer.   Why?

Because when you stop eating, you give your body a break- digesting foods is a major, intensive effort for the body.  If you give it a break of a few hours even, it can go into “cleanup mode”, or autophagy.    In this mode, your body can start to get rid of junk, like pre-cancerous cells, or bacteria, viruses, and “damaged”cells, that without autophagy ever happening tend to clog up and inhibit the functions of the vital, real cells in the body.  Think of it as the Drano of the body…

But, of course, it is much more than that!  Now that you have become a Fat Burner (more on that next podcast) your body has stopped just being a Sugar Burner, and can use body fat efficiently as fuel.  This is liberating, since now you don’t even really NEED regular meals to feel, and function, optimally!  So, when you IF or Intermittently Fast, your body can simultaneously burn fat, and given the proper stimulus from your Virtual Resistance Exercises and pushups at this point, build muscle at the same time!  Quite a deal!

As usual, I have a somewhat different take than most Paleolithic Gurus, (sorry about that P.G.’S), but my idea is this: instead of skipping breakfast, and then eating two meals, one at about 1PM and the next at 6 or so…

Skip Supper!

Especially for working people, people who don’t arise at around 9 or so, meditate, and then research about their next blog or podcast until 11 at their standing desk, then make some plans about their next photo-shoot before finally eating…  NO!

For the real world, SKIP SUPPER!  Get up early- real early- I get up at 4:30 most working days.  Make some coffee if you’d like, I like mine in the Aerobie Press, with coconut oil in it, while I am also making my Green Paleo Smoothie… and then exercise in your living room or wherever you like to do Virtual Resistance exercises, which is the ultimate Perfectly Paleo Exercise, and finish off with some calisthenics and stretching.  All this is made completely painless and FUN by doing it in front of the TV, especially now that streaming Netflix is available…

Next, shower and dress- you will be feeling great,  and probably ravenous as well- this is good!    Make a giant, paleo type of breakfast of eggs, meat, more coffee laced with coconut oil (call it Paleo Coffee!), and a Big glass of Paleo Green Smoothie!

Trust me, you will feel energized, relaxed, and ready to meet a day of work!  Especially because- the real, hard, physical part of your day is already over!!

Everything else, even if you have a physical type of job as I do…

 Will just seem easy, almost like coasting… especially since you don’t even have to plan, make, or clean up after supper!

Make sure you also have packed a big, giant salad, topped with meat or seafood for your lunch, along with a canister (I use a canning jar) in your lunchbox!  Throw in some almonds, or cashews, and maybe a tin of sardines…  Make sure you’re plenty full of wonderful, nutrient dense paleo-types of food!

Then, come home, interact with family and neighbors, play guitar on the porch like Andy Griffith in Mayberry, work in your garden, call Aunt Bee on the phone, hike around the yard, cut wood, have FUN!


LORDY- YOU ARE INTERMITTANT FASTING!!

Burning fat, building muscle, destroying cancer cells and more-

All just by not eating for a few hours!!

Whee Doggies!

And if, on a Sunday or day off you want to do IF the “regular”, Paleo-approved way… just skip breakfast!  Eat after church!!

But on a normal, working man’s day, just…

Skip supper!!

J