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!

 

Check out this episode!

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!

Check out this episode!

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!

Check out this episode!

pqtd 120 HOW to Exercise Daily!

I’m sure you’ve all heard the adage to “exercise 3 times per week”, because your body needs rest days to rebuild.  Although this may be true for abusive exercise systems using heavy barbells and dumbbells, a ‘going to failure’ mentality backed by a substandard diet…but not for those of us who practice Perfectly Paleo Exercise!

This is the type of natural exercise that uses your own body as resistance, as in virtual resistance, isometrics, calisthenics, self-resisted exercises where one limb resists the movement of another, and body weight movements done either on gymnastic rings, pushup handles, or from bars.  In this type of exercise, daily exercise is not only possible, but vastly preferable, since our bodies have been designed for daily movement and exercise! 

If we couple this movement with good sleep and a healthy diet, why then our body is well able to recuperate, and even thrive on such a schedule.  My schedule?  I work out first thing, every morning, first thing upon arising.  I think this is the very best way for most folks to work out- you get to bed early, because you plan to get up early- that takes care of the good sleep part.  You work out first thing, so nothing can interfere over the course of a busy day- that makes sure you get it done!  I have my green paleo smoothie after I shower, along with a cup of coffee with heavy cream and a little coconut oil mixed in, along with cinnamon and cocoa powder- and so, from the start, my nutrition is pretty much assured for that day.

That’s it- 1,2,3- Feeling great, still early morning, and no worrying about getting my workout in, or when to max my nutritional density- they are all done!  Of course, I still need to eat, but a can of sardines for lunch, nuts for a snack if I want, and hopefully I can grill out (my favorite thing!), in the evening.  On busier days when there is no time to grill, I can always heat up something I have grilled on an earlier day, like Sunday, and saved in little glass jars in the fridge.  Microwave them for supper of lunch, or even have another smoothie that you made a few ball jars full of two days ago…

Often nowadays, in the late afternoon when I get home from work (I substitute teach lately as my retirement job), I head off into the woods barefoot and shirtless, swinging my little dumbbells of from 5-10 pounds in heavy hands fashion- this is rejuvenating to me, and 10-15 minutes in the woods, working hard like that, combines forest bathing with wonderful exercise for the entire body!

The key is that my exercise regimen is tiring, but easily recoverable from, since I don’t tax the joints with heavy barbells and dumbbells at awkward angles, and don’t overload the muscle to build awkward bulk.  That type of force on the body means eventual injuries, and then you can’t exercise- you often can’t even do simple movements!

So go natural!  Build your muscles, ALL of them.  Every day.  Enjoy it, feel what it’s like to be a wild animal in nature, doing what humans are meant to do, moving over the earth, hanging and pulling and stretching and flexing!  That is how to be healthy, look healthy, and actually to just enjoy life to the full.

 

 

 

Check out this episode!

pqtd 119 THE Essential Exercise

"Many People wonder how a single exercise without movement could produce results comparable or even superior to an exercise with movement.....Only one or two seconds are required to take a curl from thigh level to chin height. The hardest part of the curl is not the start or finish, but instead the middle of the curl,where leverage causes the greatest effort. Yet the muscles are in that position for only a fraction of a second. With isometric contraction, the muscles would be exerting full force in this position for up to 12 seconds, so theoretically, one effort here could build as much strength as more than a dozen repetitions performed in the conventional fashion."

 

"Bruce Lee. The Art Of Expressing the Human body."

 

This quote should bring us all pause.  The immortal Bruce Lee, saying that one repetition performed isometrically can do as much as 12 reps of conventional strength training!  And do you know what- he’s right! 

In my opinion, the core of every single exercise regimen should be doing isometrics- tense the entire body, gradually, from calfs to neck- hold this tension for 6–8 seconds, and then relax.  Repeat, 5-6 times seems ideal.  Breathe freely while you hold your “most muscular” pose, but really tense those muscles!

This will take about 1 minute, 2 at the most!  Repeat a few times during the day, and you are doing more good for your musculature than hours of lifting weights.  Really!  Isometrics done in such a manner have been documented to be wonderfully effective in lowering blood pressure, for one vital reason to do them. 

But, it also builds strength, and not just in the muscles, but in the tendons and ligaments.  It all depends on the amount of tension your give the exercise, but if you flex hard, your body will be stimulated to develop your musculature to a great degree- especially in the form of extreme definition.  Your muscles will seem to stand out markedly beneath the skin, making them very visible.

 

The next step?  Do isometrics. but do them while you are moving.  How?  Let’s say you are doing a curl.  Do it slowly, flexing hard as you curl, supplying the resistance from within.  This is moving isometrics.  Continue for, oh, seven reps.  Remember, this is all without any weights.

 

This will tax your biceps far more than a barbell or dumbbells would!  Why? Because there is no momentum, no leverage variance in the amount of effort.  As Bruce Lee alluded to above, in this case you are working to your utmost ability throughout every part of every repetition you do! 

 

The result?  Maximum results, in the minimum of time.

 

Now, just repeat this cycle of moving isometrics, or Perfectly Paleo Exercise on a daily basis.  Add in barefoot sprinting and/or walking, a paleo type of diet, ample sleep and good sun exposure, stretching, and ideally some heavy hand walking as well.  You will be so healthy and fit!

 

To really immerse yourself in the ideas, and to figure out just how exactly to implement this type of exercise into your life, go to www.paleojay.com and read, read, and read. 

 

Or, just get PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe in paperback on Amazon, or the ebook Perfectly Paleo Exercise on iTunes, or anywhere else, and be easily guided into transforming your health and exercise!  Easy Peasy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out this episode!

PQTD 118 Live Long and Prosper!

Did you know that orchestra conductors are the longest lived profession? Neither did I until recently, but it makes perfect sense to me. Number 1 is the exercise involved- Exercise? Yes, indeed. Moving both arms, while flexing the torso isometrically as you move those moderately tensed arms- why, this is Perfectly Paleo Exercise in action!
I just finished my one weekly basement workout, in which I work on the gymnastic rings, doing pushups, pull-ups, dips and pistol squats, usually rather intensively. Every morning on the other days of the week I spend a more relaxing 45 minutes to an hour, tensing my muscles in virtual resistance exercise, where I flex as I move my limbs through their full range of motion. Like an orchestra conductor, but more intensely, and using every muscle in my body from toe to head. I usually watch Netflix while I do so, and it is the highlight of my day!
But again, today I did my very intense workout (while listening to a podcast), and then went out in the rain and sprinted across my land for a couple of reps. About 40 minutes total. When I started, I didn’t really feel like it, but once I got going I felt great, as I do now- well worth it! It keeps my 64 year old body fitter now than it was when I was a 35 year old weightlifter and distance runner, and I have no aches and pains in my shoulders, feet, knees and hips as I did then! Check out my books PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe and Perfectly Paleo Exercise to see how I exercise, eat and live.
But back to long lived orchestra conductors- is it just the exercise that keeps them vital until they are in their 90’s or longer? No, it is also the music! I am a musician, (My newest CD PaleoJay Plays On is being printed now), and I can attest to the rejuvenating power of melody, or rhythms that soothe and excite. The ringing chords when my old barbershop group sang in perfect harmony, or the sounds of blending my voice with my daughter when we sing together in gospel songs.
You don’t need to be a great musician. You just need to be competent, and to enjoy it! Playing is wonderful, but listening is nearly as satisfying. Listen to wonderful music while you exercise, walk, drive, or even just sit out in nature. Music is a trigger, a catalyst. It can bring you inner peace, motivation, and just sheer joy.
Rap music, or hip hop, and heavy metal should be cautioned against, however. I don’t think it’s just my age, but I would quantify these types as aural graffiti. Just as graffiti is NOT art, but actually is anti-art, so are these types of music not music, buy anti-music. Either will shorten your life, and make it less rich and fulfilling; not the reverse. They are the “processed junk food” of the arts world.
And with that caveat aside, let me leave you with this: my parents are still fine, living together at home as always. In July I am going to visit them to celebrate my dad’s 96th birthday! My mother just turned 90 in March, and all of her 8 kids were there. They climb the stairs to their bedroom each night, since as my dad says “stairs are healthy!”
They were both professional musicians, and still listen to music daily.

Check out this episode!

PQTD 117 Shut OFF your cell phone, your tv, your computer- ALL of your screens- NOW!

Really!  I love my iPhone as much as anybody, in fact I was quite an early adopter, seeing the potential in such a technology for greater learning.  As I walked my route (I was a mailman for 38 years), to listen to podcasts actually changed the very nature of the job- I could now turn my long daily walk into a number of university types of lectures.  From Robb Wolfe’s Paleo Solution, to Jimmy Moore’s Livin La Vida Low Carb, and many others, I now had the opportunity to re-brainwash myself, or better said- to UN-brainwash myself from the high carb, low fat lie that has been with us since the 1960’s!

It worked, and it worked so well that now I have two podcasts of my own- PaleoJays Smoothie Cafe and Paleo Quick Tip of the Day, to which now of course you are either listening or reading on www.paleojay.com   I have always been excited, and passionately so, to spread the word!  It is a true word to spread, and our very health and well being are at stake, as we are now the fattest and sickest people that the world has ever known.  And the fix is SO EASY to figure out!

 

Eat meat and vegetables.  Do NOT eat wheat.  AND SHUT OFF YOUR CELL PHONE!!

 

Sounds simple, right?  And it really is, in theory.  You just have to commit, and carry through.  This means you don’t get a slice of pizza at work when everyone else does.  (Just take the topping of cheese and whatever veggies and meats are on the top, and eat them, leaving the wheat bread poison on the plate).   And, you don’t eat the donuts in the morning, or the sandwich for lunch, going with meat and veggies for lunch, and ideally eggs for breakfast.  Or, you can just have a Paleo Green Smoothie for breakfast like I do now, every day, along with coffee with whipped cream and coconut milk dissolved inside, and that IS your breakfast.  Then, a big lunch of meat and veg, maybe with some fruit for dessert, and you will be well stocked, nutrition-wise. 

Oftentimes, I will simply skip supper, since I am not hungry.  Or else, sometimes, I will just have some cheese and salami, perhaps some crackers made of nuts.  Intermittent Fasting is so easy, since you don’t have to become obsessed with preparing three square meals per day, since you usually don’t need them, or want them, and the whole thing is a PAIN!  Feel free not to eat- it won’t hurt you, and actually is a very healthful thing to do.  Your body will revel in burning up body fat instead of food, and in addition will go into autophagy, which means it is free to do “housecleaning” of a sort; consuming damaged cells (perhaps pre-cancerous) instead of using new foods that are superfluous that have been consumed.

 

But wait: this is about the cell phone turnoff, right?  Right! 

 

If you are doing all of the above; eating mainly meat and veg, and NOT eating wheat, which will sabotage all of your efforts (really, gluten is THAT damaging, even if your don’t register as full-blown CELIAC), why then you only need to periodically shut down your phone! 

 

Why? 

 

Because you smart phone is undoubtedly interfering with your ability to connect with real people.  People that are all around you- your tribe, your family, your classmates, your friends.  We all need, no, we require talking face-to-face with real people on a daily basis!  If we don’t have this, we only have a “digital facsimile” through our phones, as in texting and email, we are getting a phony connection, not a real one.  

And our brain knows the difference, just as our body knows the difference between high fructose corn syrup and raw honey!  There is a huge difference between “interacting” with someone on a screen, whether it is a TV, a computer, or a cell phone- and interacting with a real live human, face to face.  The one is fake, the other real.

 

We need human interaction like we need grass fed beef and a green smoothie- both are part of our DNA through evolution!  So join a small church.  Call on your close neighbors.  Spend time with your family, both close and extended!  Chat with your mailman!!  Human interaction is our tribal response, it is what MAKES us human.  So shut of your digital, fake connections, and look someone in the eye, and say “HELLO”! 

 

You’ll be so glad you did, and so will they! 

 

 

 

 

Check out this episode!