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Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #125 WHERE to live is a Paleo Decision!


This may sound kind of strange, but truly- WHERE you live is crucially important! To your health, to your psyche, and to the health and wellness of your entire family. It really is that important.
Nowadays, if you live in a big city, you are virtually guaranteed that your air is polluted, you are unsafe from criminal predators, and you are isolated from the fields and forests, the prairies and savannas that we are evolved to live within. You are instantly non-paleo!
You might fix your diet, many big city folks do, eating lots of leafy greens, full fat pastured dairy and meats, real oils made from coconut and olive and no horrid vegetable oils like canola or soy…
You might work out ata-out curtains that eliminate the constant artificial light that disturbs your circadian rhythms…

Congratulations! You are doing as well as you can, within that unnatural, unpaleo environment!

But, it’s a “good-better-best” scenario- you are merely “good”. You are still subject to a terrible crime epidemic that has taken over our large, and even some not-so-large cities. You still have an awful public school system in virtually ALL large cities, one that subjects children to violence and bullying, and offers pitiful instruction on subjects largely dealing with political correctness, and little else.
The very air you breathe is toxic, as is the public water system water, which is increasingly loaded with chlorine, fluoride, and a plethora of bad things that will kill your gut microbes, and damage your health in a huge way.
“Oh, but I live in a suburb, outside of the big city!” you retort. Well, this is not much better, my friend…
Although the school system will be vastly better, (and the police protection and government), it comes with a huge price. NOW, you need money-money-money in ever increasing amounts, because to live in the suburbs has become incredibly expensive. Incredibly expensive!
And why is this? Because people will pay any amount to keep themselves and their families safe from the predators that have taken over our inner cities. Anything. And this has led to suburbs that are like, if not literally “gated communities”, are pretty much in actuality the same thing.
And, in the suburbs, you have to do everything “by the rules”, which means having a perfect, carpet-like lawn, which is nowadays drenched in glyphosate via Roundup, leaving a toxic mess for your children to play on! And the pressure to compete, even in grade school- dance classes, gymnastic classes, soccer and tennis and swimming and- the list goes on and on. There is no way for kids to just hang out, be kids on their own, playing with sticks and balls, running around in nature- especially because, for kids in the city or the suburbs- there is no nature anymore! It’s all paved, or organized fields with adult coaches, or concrete.
And the suburbs have the same rotten treated water, the same congestion only a little less, but a huge, endless demand for money to live there! This is the worst- everything in life starts to look like a dollar sign. “I need more money, more more more!” Enough is never enough, because you always need more. This stress alone is enough to disqualify the suburbs as a paleo place!

“But PaleoJay, PaleoJay,” you say. “What shall I do?”

I shall tell thee, grasshopper- get thee to a small community! Rural is best, and actually just outside a small, well-chosen community lies the most wholesome environment for you and your family. There you can have well water, which will be free of chemical treatments. Wonderful, uncontaminated air to breathe, and a lack of congestion and crime!
If you can, buy an acre or more, so you have the room to walk about barefoot on your land, knowing it is free of chemical treatments. Now you can grow a garden, with healthful, organic vegetables! Another bonus!
In more rural areas, your taxes and living expenses will be much lower. This reduces stress dramatically, often allowing one spouse to stay home and actually raise the children, without the necessity for both to work.
One usually has to work to support the family, the other has to work to pay the taxes that support our current welfare state! This is what it has come down to, unfortunately.
So, for your health, and for the health of your family, and ultimately of the nation- go small!

Don’t live in Detroit, or the future Detroits that are developing around the nation. (There are a bunch! Chicago springs to mind!)
Move to a place, a small town or rural area around a small, vital city, where people actually go daily to work for a living. Get a small homestead, a few acres if you can, and work the land to raise a garden, chickens, whatever. Your kids will benefit just from the experience, and will develop into people you will be proud of, clean-cut and self sufficient; kids that won’t need to follow the latest fad, or get tattoos and piercings and listen to Rap Crap to be “cool”.
There really are many places in our country, mainly in the Midwest, but all over, that are conducive to a natural, paleo, ancestral, wonderful healthful lifestyle! You just need to “make the move”, which is difficult, but oh so worthwhile!

Just choose your place, and make the move!


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Wednesday, June 22, 2016

PQTD #124 Barefootin'


I know- this seems like a small, inconsequential thing- going barefoot??  What is the big deal with that?

Well, like most things Paleo or ancestral, the big deal is that we just stopped doing basic things!  And have for a long time!

Most non-Paleo folks never, ever make bone broth- taking bones to slow cook in water to make broth, and extract all the nutrients… (and incidentally collagen, and everything else that we haven’t even identified yet that heals our leaky guts, gives us vital, focused nutrition, and, incidentally, doesn’t waste food!)  Bone broth also helps with digestion, helps our skin, hair and nails, and helps to prevent osteoarthritis, among other benefits. 

The point here is that making bone broth used to be just “common sense”.  As was going barefoot- just common sense! Now, if you don’t know it, most podiatrists, or “foot doctors”, recommend never going barefoot.  They say it is damaging, and will lead to foot pain- we need that elevated heel, and ample cushioning, or our feet will fall apart in pain!

B.S.  Our bodies have functioned very well indeed for millennia before foot doctors tread the earth in their Birkenstocks, and our feet are highly evolved “tension bridges” of elaborate tendons, bones and ligaments that are very sophisticated, and can adapt very well to what our bodies need on their own.  They didn’t evolve to need, or want shoes!

Strangely enough, cushioned running shoes did not become available until the 1970’s!  This is when the “running boom” started; also the low-fat high carb and sugar diet was recommended. 

All of these are unmitigated DISASTERS, and have left us with people of my age (50’s and 60’s), with permanently damaged joints, from their feet to their hips and back, and a leaky gut from all the wheat and carbs and sugar they were encouraged to consume!

 

NOW, we all KNOW to eat a high fat, low carb, wheatless diet with minimal sugars and maximum nutrition, or nutrient density. 

 

But, have you learned to “walk like a man” and go barefoot?  Even just standing barefoot, on the earth or grass, gives you earthing benefits, which means you are grounded with the earth (as we were all throughout history), and it equalizes your electrical energy with the earth.  (You are finally GROUNDED to Mother Earth!) 

 

This is not a small thing.  Just by being periodically grounded, inflammation in your body is lowered dramatically, leading to vastly improved sleep, less or eliminated snoring, and relief of muscle tension and headache, among many other benefits. 

And so, just standing barefoot for brief periods is hugely beneficial.  What about walking and running?

I do virtually ALL of my running barefoot, as I do my walking, at least in the warmer months.  When you walk barefoot, or with minimalist footwear, the multi-faceted suspension bridge that is your foot, legs, knees, hips and back works in synergy, like a fine-tuned machine.  Nothing gets out of “tune”, or stresses the alignment of your body- it all works together, strengthening what is weak, and adding flexibility to what is stiff. 

Add in cushioned, squishy, high-heeled shoes?  Everything is instantly out of sync, screwed up, you are like a gazelle walking on a thick mattress!  You didn’t evolve for this, and you can hardly stand, much less excel in movement.

 

You don’t need to jump in feet first and barefoot sprint, do back flips, and go crazy doing handstands… Just start going barefoot, for brief periods.  In the house, for sure- socks are fine, but do NOT wear shoes in the house.  Walk around your back yard, or the park, barefoot!  (What a concept!)

The irony is that walking around in our native state has become “strange”!  It’s not.  It’s as if if your vision is perfect, you really should be wearing glasses!  No, and actually wearing glasses makes your vision weaker over time, just as wearing shoes makes your feet weaker over time- but more on this on a future podcast! 

So, here is the bottom line, PaleoJay prescription for vastly better health, simply by not wearing shoes:

 

Spend all of your indoor time, either in socks or simply barefoot- (it’s really the same difference)!

 

Spend at least a few minutes outdoors totally barefoot, at least when it is warm enough.

 

Walk barefoot around your yard for amazing strengthening, stretching, and conditioning of your body from the feet to the lower back.  Plantar fasciitis will disappear simply from this, as will most knee, hip and lower back pains!

 

Invest in minimalist footwear.  I use the Xero shoes, which are simply a piece of rubber beneath your foot and the ground to protect your foot from glass, rough surfaces, and other damaging objects.  Otherwise, your foot performs exactly as it would when barefoot, and preserves the proper alignment of your body from the ground up.  And, if you occasionally just grab a tree, or touch the ground with your hand, you will be “grounded”, for that benefit.  ( It doesn’t take long)

 

In colder weather, I wear moccasins, ones that have no elevated heel, and no cushioning.  They are kind of like socks for the outdoors!  They work wonderfully for walking around, and keep my feet and lower extremities “fit and toned”. 

 

And in WINTER?  Well, here is Wisconsin, I give in!  I wear Sorel boots, I walk around in my woods with thick pac-boots, or on my cross country skis or snowshoes, and don’t worry about it.  But inside the house?

 

I pad about in stockinged feet, upstairs.  When I work out in the living room, I am always barefoot, and this is every single day!  And when I do my basement, hard charging, intense workouts, usually once per week, I wear my Xeroshoes!   My basement is rough concrete and dirt, so barefoot is not appropriate, and the Xero’s are wonderful in such an environment.  Even squatting, and pistol-style squatting is so much more natural and beneficial when done in a barefoot style with no raised heel or cushioning underfoot!

 

So- GO BAREFOOTIN’!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #123 Slow Down and LIVE!


I am convinced that modern Americans’ being obsessed with speed, the need to get things done and accomplished as fast as possible is out of control! 

Virtually all of us have too much going on, all the time.  We say we don’t have time eat right, don’t have time to exercise, don’t even have time to do our jobs properly, with full concentration.  And this is in spite of rushing through our days, from dawn to dusk- commuting to work as fast as we can, not sleeping enough (because we have lots to do the night before!), no time to prepare healthy meals, and so on and on it goes.  No time to meditate, no time to feel grateful for what we have, no time for play, NO TIME!

This is self-delusion.  If your employer is forcing you to rush needlessly, your results will suffer, and your company will eventually fail, or at least do poorly.  Find another job.  Do it slowly, deliberately, or else just take your time, explain yourself, and take the heat.  You are in the right, know that at least!

Medical Doctors in residency are abused overall- forced to do without sleep, working 100 plus hours per week, and make tons of mistakes because of it.  And this is sanctioned by the AMA, this abusive treatment.  The future Doctors suffer, and so do the patients they treat.  So, our supposed “healers” wind up being some of the worst offenders of one of the basic tenets of healthy living- adequate sleep.

My advice?  JUST SLOW DOWN.  The only time I allow myself to rush now is when I am performing barefoot sprinting in the yard.  This is a deliberate, controlled stress that actually builds my strength and stamina, not deplete it.  It is short, and doesn’t last that long, and it is followed by intense relaxation.

The most likely causes of death are, in order: heart disease, cancer, iatrogenesis- which is a term for death by doctor.  This is dying because of an MD making a wrong diagnosis, a mistaken procedure, or simply caused by following his prescription drug advice!  Often, the “death by doctor” is aggravated by the doctor’s chronic sleep deprivation!

The fourth most likely cause of death?  Transportation deaths, usually car crash deaths.  The number one cause here is a tie: alcohol use while driving, and driving while sleep deprived!  Actually, being sleep deprived impairs your driving ability just as much as being drunk.

It is interesting that our expressways are loaded with folks in a huge hurry to get where they are going, at all times.  Even going on vacation, they rush there, and then sit around, exhausted from the mad rush and stress of driving at high speeds with danger all around.

Myself?  I have learned the pleasure of enjoying the journey, not the destination alone.  I take two lane roads across more rural areas, enjoying the drive, the scenery, the many opportunities to stop without danger.  (Expressways are most dangerous when you need to get off.) 

As the author of Blue Highways, William Least Heat Moon has put it: “On two-lane roads, life happens at the edge of the road, for almost every mile.”  And usually, the journey is less in terms of miles traveled, and is often as fast as, or nearly as fast, as taking a high stress tollway with cars careening at breakneck speeds, and giant semi-trucks that could crush your car with a slight wandering of the drivers attention.   Where I dreaded long interstate trips, I really enjoy leisurely, “blue highway” adventures in travel!

 

So stop the mad rush to nowhere, now!  Take the time to do things well and thoroughly.  Meditate, exercise, prepare wonderful paleo meals.  Make a daily green paleo smoothie to maximize nutrition.  Sleep a full 8 hours of more per night!    Remember, just because “everyone else” loves to drive as fast as they can on expressways all the time, seeing nothing, they are not paleo people, like you and I! 

They also don’t sleep enough, eat processed, fast food “meals”, rush through life without really experiencing it, don’t exercise, and are riddled with all of the diseases of modern civilization.  Just go through life at a human pace, a paleo pace- now, you are really living!

 


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Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #122 Paleo Basics 2


Last Wednesday we talked about Paleo Basics 1, which is just to give up gluten, mainly in the form of wheat!  I hope you have done it this past week, and that you already notice a difference.  The positive effects come on quite quickly, and continue the longer you maintain a gluten free lifestyle.  Weight loss, an ending to a “bloated feeling” and a distended stomach are usually the first to happen. 

In my case, years ago I got migraine headaches.  They were awful, they started in my late 40’s, and they got progressively worse and more frequent.  Then, when I gave up wheat, the disappeared completely.  It wasn’t a gradual thing, they just stopped, and I have never had a headache since, of any kind! 

Of course, that alone was worth it, but there have been many additional positive effects: much better skin, clear and no dryness, much more definition both of face and body, shinier hair; the list goes on and on.  All from just giving up one thing- wheat.

Now, as phase two of Paleo living, I’m asking you not to give anything up, but to add things IN!  Nutrient Dense foods are foods that are loaded with the vitamins and enzymes and just everything your body needs to thrive and be super healthy.  And the very best way to achieve that is with a Green Paleo Smoothie!

My paperback book, which also is available in Kindle, has my complete smoothie recipe, which I recommend you, like me, drink a jar or glass of each and every day.  You will need a good blender; the Vitamix I have is great, but even a Nutri-bullet or one like that is OK.  The Vitamix is perfect for blending up a large quantity though, and then you can store them in canning jars in the fridge, ready for the next few days of top notch super nutrition.

That is really the foundation of your nutrition, since you can put all the greens, kefir, avocado, lemon, berries, apple cider vinegar, and all the rest into one convenient, tasty beverage.  Then, just have a big salad for lunch, put on some tuna mixed with salmon salad, or beef, or chicken, and make yourself a great dressing!  The reason I say to make your own, is that there are almost NO commercial salad dressings you can find that don’t use vegetable oils, which are really bad for you, and are more accurately called industrial seed oils because of the intense chemical processing they undergo to make oils out of hard seeds.  Not natural at all, and almost all Omega 6 fats. 

To make your own is really easy, and they taste so much better.  Here is a link to a few recipes that I’ve used:

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/11-easy-and-healthy-mason-jar-salad-dressing-recipes.html

 

Most use olive oil instead of awful soybean or canola oil; I particularly like the Apple Cider Vinegar dressing, which is 1 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, with onion powder, mustard powder, garlic, thyme, basil, and sea salt.  Just put it all in a jar, shake, and it’s done.  Enough for quite a few tasty salads, and all very, very nutritious!

 

After your morning smoothie, and your lunchtime salad, just grill out some good grass fed steaks, some ribs, and sometimes a baked potato with sour cream, grass fed butter, and sea salt.  Snacks can be mixed nuts and cans of sardines, with an occasional (daily, for me!) piece of dark chocolate.  Cooked veggies are also great with your dinner, and loaded with nutrients as well.

 

This is not a diet per se, or a starvation type of meal plan at all!  It is crucial to get enough nutrients, not to deprive yourself of quality foods.  You do cut the wheat, and thereby all of the processed just snack foods at the same time, since they are mostly made of wheat, and processed corn and vegetable oils.  But everything else is about adding in as much quality nutritional foods as you can!  The OPPOSITE of what we think of as a diet.  With top quality nutrition, your body can heal, build, and optimize your physical, and mental self!


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Thursday, June 2, 2016

pqtd 121 Paleo Basics #1


It struck me today that anyone contemplating the paleo diet and lifestyle really only needs to concentrate on a few basic things.  They are simple, easily understood, and not complicated at all:

 

1. Cut out gluten- this is really key!  Just this one thing, hard as it is for most folks to even contemplate, will do more for your health positively than anything else.  Really!

Once you eliminate this one overwhelming staple of the modern S.A.D. diet, so many things are accomplished!  At one stroke, you can begin to heal your intestinal wall, which is undoubtedly leaking into your bloodstream things that you have not digested, and triggering autoimmune responses, which if they are not troublesome now, will be in due time.  Things like bad skin, psoriasis, joint pain, migraine headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, and just plain bloating and brain fog.  After this phase, you progress to acid reflux, inability to sleep, and creeping obesity.  Insulin resistance is next, along with diabetes.  All the other autoimmune diseases that are killing us all are next, and you don’t need me to list all the horrors that are out there; horrors that are largely preventable!

JUST GIVE  UP GLUTEN!

Hard, I know, but vital- don’t eat bread, cereals, pasta, buns, cakes, pancakes, etc.- you know what I’m talking about!  Once you do it for awhile, trust me, it’s not hard at all.  You will never be hungry, and on the plus side you can eat wonderful things instead- things like steaks, hamburger, all kinds of meat, butter, cream, unlimited veggies, fruits topped with cream! 

Also, with simple substitutions, you can still enjoy otherwise verboten items:  gluten free pizza, gluten free cookies, spinach pasta with Alfredo sauce, all kinds of wonderful things!  Occasional corn chips made from GMO free corn are fine for most folks, as is non-GMO popcorn (I get the Amish variety), loaded with butter and sea salt. 

In fact, the last time I went to the movies, (seniors get free popcorn on Tuesdays here!), I brought a little glass container of grass fed butter that I had microwaved just before I left to melt.  I also added sea salt!  When I got to the theater, I got my free popcorn (uncontaminated with disgusting vegetable aka industrial seed oil fake butter), and poured it on top.  Wonderful!!

The other side benefits of giving up gluten?  You will lose body fat, quickly!  Carbs like wheat instantly turn into sugar, right in your mouth.  Give them up, and you are on an instant low sugar diet without even trying!  In addition, your dental health will improve dramatically.  The wheat products just feed the bacteria you do not want in your mouth, decaying your teeth and setting up colonies of infection in your gums.  Really, the oral benefits are enough that if this was the only benefit you got from giving up wheat, it would be well worth it!

 

In addition, by giving up wheat, you free up your diet for much more nutrient density, that is much more nutritious foods can be eaten, now that you are not stuffing yourself with empty, actually damaging crap fake foods like those made from wheat.

 

I think that’s enough to digest for now, paleoista.  Just give up wheat, starting now, until next Wednesday.  Then, I will tell you more, grasshopper.  In Paleo Basics 2!

If you want everything easily laid out, just go to www.paleojay.com and click on my paperback book, PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe link.  Everything is laid out in a highly accessible format therein, and is easy to digest.  And check out my new CD PaleoJay Plays On!  while you are there.  Cutting gluten heals the body, but music heals the soul! 

Until next week, or rather until next Sunday when the PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe podcast comes out- 

 

Good Day!


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