Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #71 Autoimmunity and the Paleo Diet by Eileen Laird

“With autoimmune disease, the power to turn your life around rests not with your doctor, not with a pharmacist, not in a bottle of pills, but in your own hands. That’s scary, but incredibly empowering.”

—Dr. Terry Wahls

 

Autoimmune disease affects 50 million Americans, and that number is on the rise. The standard course of treatment is a lifetime of medication, which can cost as much as $2,000 a month, comes with potentially dangerous side effects, and varies widely in its effectiveness—meaning that for some people, it doesn’t work at all. Patients are left feeling terrified and out of control, with a condition that worsens over time, often involves severe pain and disability, and can even be life-threatening.

The Paleo diet offers hope. Where conventional medicine has failed to find answers, people are discovering that diet and lifestyle have a huge impact on the severity of their autoimmune symptoms. While there is no cure, it is possible to get better, and more and more people are doing this through diet and lifestyle intervention. Robyn Latimer put her lupus into remission. Dr. Terry Wahls got out of her wheelchair and now bikes to and from work. I personally stopped my rheumatoid arthritis flare-ups. Those are just three examples, but there are many others, and the testimonials are increasing all the time. There are even clinical trials showing its effectiveness.

How it works. Autoimmune disease is a case of mistaken identity: The line between self and non-self becomes blurred. Our immune system mistakes certain parts of our own bodies as foreign invaders, and in its effort to heal us, unintentionally hurts us instead. The Paleo diet works on multiple levels: calming our immune system, reducing body-wide inflammation, healing leaky gut (one of the causes of autoimmune disease) and even turning harmful genes off through the power of epigenetics. That’s a big word for something really cool: We can’t change our genes, but we have the power to affect how they express themselves. When Dr. Terry Wahls researched how food affects the body, she found that the Standard American Diet turns on 65 genes that increase inflammation, whereas the Wahls Paleo Diet turns on 72 genes that decrease inflammation. Never underestimate the power of food.

What’s the difference between the Paleo diet and the Paleo autoimmune protocol? The Paleo diet is a permanent change to the way you eat, avoiding foods that are inflammatory to the body, and eating foods that are deeply nourishing. This means avoiding grains, legumes, processed foods, refined oils and sugars. Strict Paleo also removes dairy. “Primal” is a more flexible Paleo approach that allows full-fat, grass-fed, raw dairy in moderation. Some people with autoimmune disease go into remission at this level, with no need to take it further. Others like myself continued to have inflammation, and that’s where the Paleo autoimmune protocol comes in. It’s a temporary elimination diet designed to identify common food intolerances. In addition to avoiding non-Paleo foods, you also eliminate the following for at least 30 days (eggs, dairy, nightshades, nuts and seeds). If that sounds intimidating, don’t worry—it’s not forever. It’s followed by a careful reintroduction process to test your body for tolerance to these foods, allowing you to personalize your diet for optimal health.

Healing isn’t just about the foods you avoid; it’s about choosing the right foods to eat. It’s not uncommon to just try to replace familiar foods with Paleoized versions of them. You’ll find lots of recipes on the Internet for Paleo pizza, lasagna and brownies. While it’s fine to treat ourselves once in a while, these aren’t the foods that heal. We need to give our cells the building blocks they need to repair and regenerate. What are the most nutrient-dense foods we can choose? Organ meats, seafood, fermented food, bone broth and plenty of vegetables. Also choose organic, as well as grass-fed or wild-caught meats, as your budget allows.

Lifestyle matters. Your diet may be 100 percent, but if you’re living a stressed-out life, sitting for all of your waking hours, never seeing the sun, and not getting enough sleep, you’re setting up obstacles to healing. Poor lifestyle choices can cause autoimmune flare-ups just as much as poor food choices can. The Paleo lifestyle is about reclaiming the healthfulness of ancestral living, and that includes time for relaxation, play, sleep, sunshine, fresh air and movement. These are the activities we often sacrifice, prioritizing our to-do list instead. It takes a shift in thinking, but it’s important to make healing your top priority.

Start loving yourself. After years of hearing that our bodies are attacking us, it’s easy to disconnect and see them as the enemy—but this is a false view. Autoimmunity is a miscommunication within the body, not an intentional war within, and symptoms are the body’s cry for help. Telling you to replace anger with love isn’t some soft, New Age philosophy. Studies show that negative emotions increase inflammation, so if you’ve been mad at your body for years, it’s in your best interest to start practicing forgiveness. Healing through the Paleo diet and lifestyle is a true partnership with your body, where every choice you make impacts your health, and your body communicates what it needs.

Healing takes time. We all want to be one of the overnight success stories we sometimes see online, and if we’re not, we can start to think we’re not healing at all. It’s important to remember that autoimmune disease doesn’t happen overnight (even if it felt like it did.) It takes many years for the changes to develop in our bodies that create the perfect storm for autoimmune disease to trigger. Then, we’re often sick for many more years before we’re ready to take our health into our own hands. Keep that perspective, and expect change to happen slowly—month by month, not day by day. That’s where a symptom journal comes in handy. Keep track of things like pain levels, energy levels, mental clarity, emotions, sleep quality, strength, and the things you are and aren’t capable of doing. Then mark the changes as they happen. It took a full year before my rheumatoid flare-ups went away, but I was healing that whole time. First, my flare-ups diminished in intensity, then in frequency, and eventually they went away altogether. Simultaneously, my health improved in every way, from regaining strength and energy, to sleeping better and feeling more balanced emotionally. I’ve been on a healing diet for two years now, and I’m still improving each month, feeling the remaining inflammation recede even further. Remember the classic folk tale of the tortoise and the hare: Slow and steady wins the race.

You’re not alone. There are experienced bloggers to guide you, support groups of people walking your same path, and detailed resource books, delving into the whys and hows of healing: The Paleo Approach by Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, The Wahls Protocol by Dr. Terry Wahls, the Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook by Mickey Trescott, and a guide to reintroducing foods by me. Take advantage of the global Paleo community to get the support you need.

Personalization is key. The Paleo diet and lifestyle is a template that gives us all a beginner’s map to healing. But we are unique individuals, and sometimes we need answers outside of the template. If you hit a roadblock in the healing process, don’t be afraid to ask for help. There are qualified people you can hire to help find those keys: Paleo physicians, nutritionists and health coaches.

“Autoimmune disease is an epidemic in our society. But it doesn’t have to be.”

— Dr. Sarah Ballantyne

 

 

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Paleo Quick Tip of the Day podcast #70 Old age, its cause and prevention

pqtd 70 Old Age its cause and prevention

 

Wow- what a provocative title is that!  Can old age itself actually be prevented??

 

In a way, yes! 

 

The thing is, your chronological age is just that- how many hours, seconds, minutes and years that you have been on this earth.  That is our own construct, and is completely artificial... what we should (and are!) concerned with is whether or not we are still healthy, vital, and to quote the male model characters in the film Zoolander- “We are still really, really good looking!”

 

Of course, health itself is paramount- how we feel, what we can do performance-wise, and what we are still able to accomplish in later years of age... but, appearance is important as well!  How we appear to others effects how they respond to us, and vice versa.  We all want to look our best, both now and in our later years- not young, per se, but just our best!

 

Sanford Bennett was a pioneer in this, just about 100 years ago.  In fact, he wrote a book called “Old Age its Cause and Prevention”, and it is one of those books that is seminal in its field, and is still very relevant today- I recommend it!  Published in 1912, the book shows through photographic evidence the remarkable rejuvenation of Mr. Bennett himself, who was sick, wrinkly, and bald at 50- but by the age of 72 he was healthy, strong, smooth skinned, and with a full head of hair!

 

I know, it sounds crazy, but think about it: if you work your muscles, don’t they grow stronger, larger and fuller? And what makes up the contours of your face but the muscles beneath the skin??  Work these muscles, massage these muscles and the skin atop them, and they will respond faster than you expect- because the facial muscles normally never get worked hardly at all!  

 

Sanford came up with a program for his whole body, when he was so sick at 50 years of age- he would exercise in bed each morning, from his scalp down to his toes, before he got up!  I also like to exercise in the early morning, but I also like to get up and go downstairs... perhaps Sanford only had the one room in those days?  I don’t know, but you can do the same thing in a modern context.  

 

You know I recommend daily virtual resistance, self resistance, stretching and calisthenics in the morning, in front of the tv. (Sanford didn’t have that, either- poor Sanford!)  Now what I also recommend is adding in exercises for the face, and the neck!  Self massage is also very important, so schedule in some scalp and foot massage as well into your routine- none of it takes very long at all, and will yield almost immediate results if done daily.  In fact, I know that if you do these exercises for a month, you will never abandon them again in your life- the results are that dramatic!

 

What are these exercises?  Just make faces!  Really!  FLEX the muscles of your face, and contort your face for a few seconds.  Then, massage the cheeks, rub the skin around your eyes and forehead, and repeat- I know, it sounds like I’m a lunatic (perhaps I am!), but trust me it works!  ESPECIALLY I believe this works especially well for women, who have more rounded types of faces... if even a little musculature is developed in them, the results in terms of facial beauty are dramatic!

 

Besides flexing the muscles of the face in crazy ways, self resisted neck exercises are crucial to preserve the musculature of the neck, which is probably the chief sign of youth.  Drooping jowls are an elderly thing only- they are completely preventable!

 

Just resist with the hands as you move your head back, to either side, and to the front for 5 or 6 reps, slowly.  Then, do the same with your jaw as you open and shut your mouth against resistance supplied by your hand- it only takes a minute or so...

 

And, if you can, the very best exercise for your face AND neck (and also, incidentally you spine!) is the Back Bridge!

 

Work up to it, and HOLD for time- a couple of minutes, stretching back to try to get your nose to the ground upside down is ideal, but just do what you can...

 

This single exercise is literally a spinal adjustment and a face lift each morning!  

 

I will get some photos up, and a video for you to see what I’m talking about- also, if you want to read Sanford Bennett’s original book, you can- here is the link- https://archive.org/details/oldageitscausea01benngoog

 

I always say our future is in our past, and this is the proof.  Genius ideas from 1912!  We now really know just how we can save face!

 

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Apple Cider Vinegar is a Natural!

  One very important component of a good natural diet that you are probably missing out on is…Apple Cider Vinegar!  ACV has been recommended since the time of Hippocrates, by Hippocrates, and that is high accolades indeed, since he is the founder of Western medicine!

 

Of course, the modern day practitioners of the art he founded, the AMA and the doctors under that umbrella, have strayed very far from the natural cures Hippocrates touted, since he believed health lay in our diet and lifestyle, and modern medical practitioners ignore nutrition and lifestyle almost totally, relying instead on the latest and greatest pills, potions, and surgeries.  But we know better now, don’t we?  We are, you might say:

 

“Hip to Hippocrates!”

“First DO NO HARM!”

 

“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food”

.

Walking is man's best medicine. ” 

― Hippocrates

 

“Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgment difficult.” 

― Hippocrates

 

“As to diseases, make a habit of two things — to help, or at least, to do no harm.” 

― Hippocrates

 

Now those are some quotes I’d like to hear from MY family doctor!  

 

But to get back on track, back to ACV- let me say this: not only is ACV probably one of the best probiotics you can possibly take, it has a host of other benefits; so many in fact, that I recommend you have a bottle in the bathroom, and another in the kitchen!  

 

In my daily green paleo smoothie I always include a healthy portion (several ounces) of ACV- this serves to dilute the ACV so the taste in not a problem, and also it won’t stress your tooth enamel!  Always dilute the ACV when taking internally for this reason.  Also, I use Bragg’s ACV- it’s like the Vitamix of vinegars- around the longest, and totally reliable to be the best!  Shake the bottle before using to distribute “the Mother”; I.e. The yeasty, cloudy portion that gives the “life” to the vinegar evenly.   

 

I recently got poison ivy while brush cutting at the family cabin.  What helped immensely was ACV!  I just swabbed it on the affected areas, and it took the itch right away- then, I sprinkled on baking soda (another thing you should have in your kitchen AND bathroom!), and I am totally itch free.  ACV actually draws the toxins out of your skin!

 

ACV is a great cleaner, too- but I usually use the cheap white vinegar for that.  Don’t consume white vinegar- it’s a dead product, distilled and with no food value whatsoever. But put some in a spray bottle, and it will do a better job than all of those nasty, expensive chemical cleaners that are so toxic and evil- Clean with Vinegar!  It also is a great weed killer- just spray it on a weed and you will kill it, again; without toxic chemicals.

 

ACV can cure heartburn, dandruff (just rub it on your scalp). It’s a great antibacterial and anti fungal, and is great to gargle with for a sore throat.

Rub some on your dog or cat’s fur to kill fleas!  In the ancient world they used it to cleanse wounds, so it is also great for cuts and scratches.  Rub it on your face for a skin toner and acne fighter, and put it on skin moles to get rid of them as well! 

 

ACV is truly amazing, and can change your health for the better, both inside, and on the outside of your body- naturally!

 

 

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Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #67- Paleo Diet for Beginners

Why should you adopt the Paleo Diet?  Well, let’s say this is your goal:  To get healthy, lean and very fit. To be completely disease and symptom free for your entire life without gradual deterioration, and stay happy and productive!

 

I’m sure anyone would agree that such an outcome would be wonderful! Perhaps you hardly know where to start though…

 

 

 

 

I can absolutely guarantee that if you will change the way you eat to be more in accordance with our evolutionary heritage, or the way we have adapted to the natural world, you will be MUCH healthier, MUCH leaner, and much HAPPIER than you are right now!  And I maintain that you can make these changes, and reap these fantastic results no matter how old or young you are, no matter what shape you are in now, and that these changes will happen quite rapidly as well!

 

Ready to get started?

 

 

 

 

You just have to need to want to make these changes!  Certain bad foods will need to be eliminated from your diet, and hopefully also the diets of your family members as well.  Wouldn’t it be great if not only YOU were healthy and happy for your lifetime, but if your spouse and children were as well??  It can happen, and again, it can happen relatively quickly too.

 

 

 

 

 

Most people object to doing new things because of a perception that it will “cost too much” or that it will “take too much time”.  Your new paleo lifestyle will do neither of those things, but will instead save you money by eliminating all money spent on bad, processed foods!  In addition, not driving to fast food joints but instead focusing primarily on home cooked, grilled, and slow cooked foods, you will create a family home life centered around hearth and home, as it has been throughout the vast majority of human history.  You will be going Back to the Future!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imagine yourself lean and well muscled, right up into old age!  Imagine being able to do things in your 80’s that most people can’t do in their 30’s- you can be healthy fit and happy, without degenerative disease, just be following the Paleo sort of diet- and it’s not that hard!

 

Once begun, half done as they say: so let’s get started with the ACTION PLAN!

 

 

 

 

 

 

First, I would tell you to give up wheat! 

 

This means bread, pasta, breakfast cereals, anything made from wheat.  Why?  In a word, wheat is not what it was prior to the 1970’s, when the modern form of hyper-productive, gluten loaded wheat was created in a laboratory!  This is not the wheat of the bible, or the waving fields of grain that grew in American farms for our history- this is a twisted Franken-wheat, and it will destroy, inevitably, the lining of your intestines, making you vulnerable to all the modern diseases of degeneration, while at the same time fattening you up like a grain fed farm animal!  So NO WHEAT.

 

Second, minimize sugar!  

 

Sugar is also horrible in that it spikes your blood sugar, which stimulates insulin to bring it down, which leads to more hunger for more sugar, and a repetition of the cycle, over and over, day after day!

Eventually, the one-two punch of Wheat and Sugar will deliver you into the hands of diabesity, or syndrome X, which is the precurser to all modern disease!  Interestingly, wheat also falls into the sugar category, as it turns to sugar right in your mouth!  YUCK!  And it also kind of sticks as a sugary coating on your teeth and gums… just imagine the dental horrors in your future from that.

 

I don’t expect you to totally eliminated sugar from your diet, but for the first 30 days or so you really should- then, you will get the fastest results and realize just what kind of harm it was doing to you.  A small piece of good dark chocolate is actually quite good for you- it’s loaded with anti-oxidents after all- but keep it small.

 

The rest is easy, really:  eat like people did throughout history:

Meat, fish and fowl, raised naturally in the open air and water.  Not in confined animal feeding operations which are little more than animal concentration camps, and infested with disease and bad food- bad for them and for us!  These animals are kept alive with huge amounts of antibiotics and other drugs for the brief time they are kept alive before becoming OUR food- humanely raised, pastured animals and wild game are far better sources of food for us, and for the planet.

 

LOTS of vegetables- I mean lots!  Cover your heated veggies with loads of pastured butter (Kerry Gold is one, and Organic Valley from here in Southwestern Wisconsin is another).  The very best way to get enough vegetables in your new paleo diet is to make a Paleo Green Smoothie- my recipe is on www.paleojay.com, but in truth adding a lot of veggies, fresh or frozen into a can of coconut milk in a Vitamix blender along with some kefir and some berries or other fruit will work no matter what you do!

 

Fruit is also wonderful, but you can go overboard on fruit- there is one fellow who consumes 36 bananas per day!  Don’t go this route…

 

There is plenty more about the Paleo or Ancestral lifestyle and diet; in fact so much as it evolves (the paleo movement is NOT static) and as new research comes in, it is incorporated into the ideals of that which we call Paleo!  Conventional medicine right now is all about ignoring new discoveries, and protecting the status quo of big food, big medicine, big government, and big pharma!  

 

Get started on Paleo, and you will stop yourself from being victimized by those big entities- you won’t need their pills and surgeries, because you have learned not to fatten yourself on their fake foods!

Welcome aboard the Paleo Train!

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Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #66 Exercise Each Morning, Forever

pqtd 66  Exercise each morning, every morning

 

That sounds rather severe, but it really isn’t- think of it as a really slow, easy way to “clear the cobwebs” and slowly rev up the old bodily and mental machinery.  I don’t mean to say you should bounce up out of bed and charge away to sprint, do pull ups and pushups, and then jog for an hour, followed by stretching- not at all!

 

I want you to slowly awaken after a full 8 hours plus of restful sleep, in a totally blacked out room.  Take a series of deep, costal type breaths lying on your back in bed: inhale slowly, as deeply as you can, first expanding your diaphragm down by your belly, and then slowly filling up the upper portion of your lungs completely- then slowly exhale.  Do this 5-10 times, and you will be completely awake!  Go to the bathroom, and then you can go like me downstairs into the kitchen, where I start the water boiling for my coffee and tea, and do some quick warmup motions on each set of joints- elbow, neck, knees, back, shoulders- just easily rotating the joints to get the synovial fluid going, readying them for the day.  Just like a CAT.

 

Next, I take my first cup of coffee, laced with a teaspoon or so of coconut oil, and go to the gym... my living room!  Barefoot and with minimal clothing.  You can do similarly, but a room with a tv or computer is really nice- there you can do your morning workout with a Netflix show on!

 

Spread a yoga mat on the floor, and start your exercises- for my money, virtual resistance exercises are perfect to start- they completely revitalize the body as they refresh and strengthen it.  Go methodically throughout your entire musculature.  Then, go down to the mat and stretch! Finish with a back bridge if you can, and then go to your rebounder, and bounce on that for another 10 minutes.

 

Only watch your Netflix favorite while you are exercising- this will make you eager for the next morning when you can pick up where you left off.  Trust me, once you’ve done this for awhile, you will find the perfect exercises for you, and you will relish this early morning routine.  As you progress, you can add in more exercises- for instance, twice per week I also do several hundred pushups in sets of 30-40 with different hand spacings, alternating with hindu pushups, hindu squats, and straight-legged situps.  But just twice per week maximum!

 

The daily routine, with the virtual resistance, self resisted exercise like curls with one limb resisting the other, the stretching and the rebounding can, and should, ideally be done daily- it is that gentle, and pleasant.  But don’t mistake- it is also very, very effective in strengthening every inch of your body, from your neck to your toes.

 

Done in this manner, daily exercise is restorative, nothing to dread but something to look forward to. And you will be setting yourself up from the start for what will inevitably be a happy and productive day!

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Better Living WITHOUT Chemistry!

pjsc 103  Eliminate the BAD chemicals that destroy health

 

 

One thing that I have noticed that many Paleo People seem to omit from the many changes they make in implementing an ancestral or paleo type of lifestyle is to eliminate some really bad things.  They give up grains (hard) and minimize sugars (also hard to do) in their lives, take up daily exercise and easy movement, and go to bed early to get a full 8 ours plus of sleep per night in a totally blacked-out bedroom.  They take great pains to cultivate their tribe of family, friends and church, connecting and inter-reacting on a regular basis!  They are almost THERE...

 

But they still go to the store, and buy incredibly toxic products, products of poison like chemical cleaners, personal care products like soaps and shampoos that are loaded with petroleum byproducts like sodium lauryl sulphate.  Sulfates strip the skin of its natural oils and increase penetration of the skin’s surface. They are also irritants for people with sensitive skin or eczema.  This is in almost every commercial soap or body wash and shampoo, and eliminating it made a huge difference for me!  

 

 

Fragrance. Bottom line: If the ingredient is vague, it’s probably hiding something. “Fragrance” could actually be a cocktail of chemicals and you’d never know it. The FDA doesn’t require companies to disclose the breakdown of a fragrance’s ingredients to consumers because the chemicals that produce fragrance are considered “trade secrets.” Most of the time, synthetic chemicals and cancer-causing toxins (like phthalates, used to make fragrances last longer) are hiding under that one sneaky term. Constant exposure to fragrances has been shown to negatively impact the central nervous system and can trigger allergies, migraines and asthma symptoms. 

 

Parabens. These ingredients are estrogen mimickers—meaning that once applied to the skin, they enter the bloodstream, and the body mistakes them for estrogen. When the body thinks there is an abnormally high amount of estrogen present in the bloodstream due to the presence of these hormone disrupters, it reacts in various ways: decreasing muscle mass, increasing fat deposits, causing early onset of puberty and spurring reproductive difficulties in both men and women. 

 

 

And lastly, there is Triclosan. This chemical is most often found in antibacterial soap. Recent studies have found that triclosan actually promotes the emergence and growth of bacteria resistant to antibiotic cleansers. It also creates dioxin, a carcinogen that has been found in high levels in human breast milk. Dioxins have disruptive effects on theendocrine system and negatively affect thyroid functions. And here’s a fun fact: dioxin is the primary toxic component of Agent Orange!

Think about it. If we are washing our bodies with soap that contains harmful ingredients every single day, this adds up over a lifetime to wreak havoc on our health. 

 

Since there is minimal government testing on these chemicals, it becomes up to us, as smart consumers, to make informed decisions as to what does and doesn’t go on our skin.

 

Get good quality, natural, coconut oil based or other natural fat based soaps, shampoos and body washes.  They are out there: God made products, combined in low tech ways to make honest to God products!

 

Just like you should only eat natural, God made foods, you should only use natural, God made cleaning products...

 

And don’t even THINK about throwing a little Roundup on those cracks in your sidewalk...  oh my God- the main ingredient in roundup by Monsanto is glyphosate.

 

Glyphosate affects your gut bacteria just as it does weeds in your yard. 

It causes extreme disruption of your beneficial microbes’ functions and lifecycles. This sets YOU up for autoimmune disease!  By killing your beneficial bacteria, which it tends to do preferentially, it allows your BAD, sugar-thriving bacteria to multiply, causing things like small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO, and all of the downstream results of weight gain, acid reflux, asthma, and- again- autoimmune diseases of all sorts.

 

Since this is paleo QUICK tip of the day, I will stop there...

 

But, later, we will talk about the little shop of cosmetic horrors...

 

 

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PaleoJay new avatar!

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