Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #56 Recovering from Illness with essential oils, maximum nutrition, and REST

pqtd 56 Recovering from Illness with Essential Oils and Rest

 

As usual, I am doing this podcast from my own personal experience coupled along with research.  I awoke ill yesterday, on Wednesday February 25, with a bad (and worsening) sore throat, and a deep cough settled down in my chest!  I virtually never get sick, but it has been exceptionally cold here in Wisconsin, and I have been running around outside and inside stores, where I must have picked up a bug of some sort.

 

Yes, even Mr. PaleoJay is not immune to getting sick or injured- none of us are, no matter how much we improve our our bodily terrain or avoid bad situations.  And so, it is important to know just what to do when we do get sick! 

 

When I realized I was sick yesterday, I got up and went downstairs,  and prepared a paleo green smoothie since the ball canning jars I had filled earlier in the week were used up.  ( I like to stock my fridge with a few days supply of the healthiest form of nutrition I can devise!)  

 

Step 1 in recuperation: maximize nutrition, so the body can rebuild the damages and repair the defenses!

 

Next, I repaired to the living room with my smoothie and a cup of hot green tea in hand!  Wrapping myself in a sleeping bag that I love to sit beneath on winter days, I turned on Netflix and streamed away on my latest show- Spartacus!  I tried to stay as warm and relaxes as possible... then, remembering my essential oil diffuser, I went and got that, loaded it with water along with Frankincense and Lavender oils, and set it right beside my  easy chair, and again wrapped myself in my sleeping bag.

 

And that is how I spent my morning- Watching television, then dozing for awhile, then reading my iphone, then dozing... and so it went on.  

 

If you know me at all, you know this is not my morning routine!  Normally, every single morning I start with a workout, and then I get going on stuff- writing, reading, updating, researching!  Walking, cooking, shoveling snow- just lots of movement and action.  I thrive on the feeling of accomplishment, as I believe most of us do.  But not this sick morning- the best accomplishment I could achieve would be to get WELL!

 

And so, that is largely how my day went- with purposeful rest, only the best in nutrition (I had little appetite), and finally going back to bed again, at a very early hour.  I set the diffuser with a fresh load of essential oils at my bedside, and went to sleep...

 

And by this morning, although the infection had resided deep in my chest, and I was developing a wracking cough at bedtime-

 

By the morning, after about 11 hours of off again, on again sleep-

 

My sickness had become a cold!  And now, it is 4 PM of that day, Thursday, and what had threatened to take me down for at least a week has subsided into just a stuffed up nose.  

 

And so, I apologize for missing the podcast yesterday!  But, here it is today, only one day late, and I am largely sickness free-

 

Makes me feel like singing Everything is Awesome!  

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Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #55 The Clampetts were Paleo when Paleo wasn't Cool!

pqtd 55 The Clampetts were Paleo when Paleo wasn’t cool

 

I am old enough to fondly remember the Beverly Hillbillies!  An immensely popular show starting in 1960, when real hillbilly types of characters still existed in America, the show’s premise was that of a man, Jed Clampett, finds oil on his land “back in the hills”.  He sells if for 25 million dollars, which was even way more back in 1960 than it is now.  His kin folk convince him to move out to Beverly Hills, California, where they have “swimmin’ pools- movie stars!”  It’s a clever premise, and as I said, incredibly popular throughout the entire decade.

 

You might want to catch some of the old reruns, because you might pick up some “paleo tips”!  Granny is always cooking up some “vittles”, like possum stew with greens, and you know that the Clampetts certainly ate “nose to tail”!  Ellie May and Jethro were both amazingly fit and strong, presumably from eating such a wonderful natural diet, and from extremely active lifestyles.  Even Granny stayed fit and active, cooking and cleaning and washing, and even had the first “treadmill chair” in the Clampett truck- a rocking chair she’d rock as they all drove!

 

By contrast, the banker- Mr. Drysdale, and his wife are quite poorly adjusted, and Jane Hathaway, Mr. Drysdale’s secretary, is positively emaciated- three very neolithic, agriculture dependent people if ever there were any!  So are most of the folks you see from Beverly Hills- hyper civilized and largely phony, their so-called sophistication is shown to be hollow over and over by the authentic, early Paleo types of people that are the Clampetts!

 

So- men, get yourself a dirty, practical hat like Jed- the brim works as well as blue blocking glasses!  Go around bare foot like Jethro and Ellie (paleo yet again!), and do lots of physical work- hunt wild game, cook over wood fired pots in the open air, and wash your clothes by hand in the cement pond- Now, you are Hillbilly Paleo!  And, since many people don’t like the term “Paleolithic” about the ancestral diet and lifestyle, now you have another term to describe yourself and the way you live and eat:

 

“Me?  I guess I’m just a Hillbilly!!”

 

There- that’s much more socially acceptable!

 

Ya’ll come back now, y’hear?

 

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Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #54 Exercise is in your MIND

I’ll say it again, I have often enough- exercise is all about the MIND, not the exercise equipment!  The more high tech, the fancier the weight lifting apparatus; generally the less it facilitates the all important mind-muscle connection.

This last is the most important thing to achieve in developing your body!  Notice, I do not say how to lift the most weight- this is irrelevant.  What we want to do, if you think about it, is to move your body in a manner that develops you and your body to the ultimate degree possible.  NOT just “how much you can lift”, all of which is determined largely by your joint and tendon attachments, and your various limb lengths relative to your torso…

 

What you want is to develop your own body (and mind!) to the best, natural, strong, fit and flexible, athletic and symmetrical physique you can attain- the best possible YOU!

 

Lifting heavy weights will not do this- you will be led to progressive and irreversible injury, with ruined joints, weak ligaments and tendons, and lifelong pain!

 

Running long distances won’t do it- you will have ruined joints, low muscle mass, and a “skinny fat” body that at first can only run, but after a while, can’t even do that!

 

Crossfit, Olympic lifting, long distance running- they all are, long term, dead ends.

 

I think conventional bodybuilding is also a dead end of pain, given that nowadays heavy weights are a given, but I recently heard an interview of Arnold Schwarzenegger by Tim Ferriss that was like a tonic to me.  Arnold said that he eventually realized that, when he trained best, it was like a meditation.  He flexed his biceps, and completely connected with his mind, flexing just by imagining lifting a weight- the weight was superfluous!  By flexing, whatever muscle group he chose, and really imagining it, and making it as hard as he wanted, the stress on the muscle was ideal, and it would grow!

 

This is virtual resistance training, and the best first step in building your body.  Next, add in self resistance training, where one limb opposes another by pressing against it, and now you develop your tendon and ligament strength along with your muscle strength- this is key to develop raw strength and power along with the ability to sustain it without injury.

 

If you use heavy barbells, for instance, to build bulky, blocky muscles- these muscles will quickly outstrip the strength of their “connectors” in the tendons and ligaments, and you are setting yourself up to have your rotator cuff, and your knee joints to rupture and tear. This is no joke!  Besides you winding up with heavy, saggy pecs from heavy bench presses (not a very masculine image, is it?) and a protruding abdomen and fat butt from heavy squats- you can also look forward to injured joints and torn tendons and ligaments from a misbalance between tendon and muscle relative strength.  

 

There IS an easier, and better way!

 

Perfectly Paleo Exercise.  I mean natural, virtual resistance exercise (ala Arnold), followed by self resisted exercise, and then body weight exercise and simple stretching, all done in your living room or in your basement or garage.  Add in a once per week session using a pull up bar and/or gymnastic rings, and you will build the perfect, lifelong, functional and completely healthy and natural physique that is each of our birthrights!  

 

And all without any injuries, expenses, commuting, or just plain PAIN that comes from things like Crossfit or other Big Gym Box experiences.  Do it yourself, at home, with your tribe, in your own cave or meadow.  It’s really not complicated, just like real health is not complicated- we don’t need medicines, we don’t need surgeries, we don’t need endless drugs and procedures!!  

 

We need good, real, God made foods like grass fed meat and dairy- real organic veggies and fruits, real fatted calf fats like- the fatted calf!  Pastured dairy! Organ meats! A “tribe” to connect with- a belief in something greater than ourselves, OR ANY ONE GOVERNMENT!  Land to work- a garden- a space to get our hands dirty and do REAL WORK!  Not sitting in a cubicle, or driving around to meetings, or talking on the phone conferences… real work.

 

Our evolutionary heritage demands all of the above.  There is no escape, no one else can do it for you.  It’s simple, and it’s all do-able IN YOUR MIND.

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Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #53 Essential Oils and- ESSENTIAL!

pqtd 53  Essential oils are... ESSENTIAL!

 

Something you are probably not doing along with your ancestral lifestyle of natural exercise and real, God made food diet is using natural medicines.   I’m talking about essential oils, and if you don’t know about them, or think they are some crazy hippy thing- well, they’re not!

 

I would recommend you purchase some quality ones, and keep them in your medicine cabinet for naturally treating yourself and your family!  Here are some of the very best to have on hand and use regularly:

 

Tea tree oil-  this is a great antiseptic!  I love it in my diffuser, which is a device that puts water vapor into the air mixed with essential oils.  For me, this is the very best way to get the best of all that essential oil has to offer.  You will never sleep better than when you put say, tea tree oil and peppermint essential oils together in  your diffuser.  Just put a few drops of one or more essential oil in the water in your diffuser- steam comes out slowly, infused with the oils scent and medicinal properties, and will lull you to sleep while getting the medicinal values of the oils into your body through  your inhalations.  And it smells great!

 

Lavender oil is another I recommend, along with lemon, frankincense, (pretend a wise man gave it to you)peppermint and oregano.  There are other wonderful oils, but these are all a great place to start, and kind of cover all the bases.  

 

Many oils help with mental states as well- lavender and lemon oils are “mood lifters” and can combat depression and even headaches.  Peppermint is another disinfectant and antiseptic oil, and is wonderful for dental care.  I currently brush my teeth with a combination of peppermint and tea tree oil- I believe that this, along with “oil pulling” coconut oil daily while I shower in the morning is an ideal dental health regimen.

 

Frankincense was discovered in King Tut’s tomb from around 7000 years ago, and so it has stood the test of time!  It is another all purpose oil, valuable both in rejuvenation of the skin, and of the mind!  Oregano oil is an oil that is extremely strong, so use it in small quantities at a time.  It is very antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal- this is not the same oregano you put in your food.  In face, all of these oils are super concentrated, since they are made up of many, many portions of leaves or sap or flowers (whichever part is used to make up that particular oil), and then distilled down into a concentrated essence of that oil!  They are all so very potent for that reason.

 

I got a Deneve oil diffuser from Amazon, and I love it!  But whichever diffuser you buy, get one!  Also, get a selection of oils, and start incorporating them into your Paleo lifestyle- you will very glad you did!

 

At www.PaleoJay.com I will include a couple of videos, one about the Deneve oil diffuser, and another by Dr. Josh Axe about his 5 top essential oils.  I leave you with the audio to Dr. Axe’s video until next Wednesday.

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Paleo Quick tip of the Day #52 Paleo versus Autoimmune Disease

pqtd 52 Paleo for Autoimmune Disease

 

I'm going to blow Jay's cover.

He has an extra-curricular delivery route you don't know about —

an email cyber-route.

And it's changed my life.

More precisely, I should say — it's saved my life.

How so?

My doctor told me 5 years ago I had Parkinson's Disease; he said I had, maybe, 3 more years of mobility and good quality of life. 

I shared this alarming prognosis with Jay. And, true to Jay's selfless and enthusiastic character, he took a deep dive into his Paleo nutritional knowledge-base and through the years gifted me with a regular stream of emails germane to fighting Parkinson's with Paleo-based nutritional science. Thanks to Jay's Paleo-centric nutritional advice, I walk, hop, skip, run, jump, and play as well as I did 5 years ago — effectively slowing down the progression of PD symptoms! Paleo Jay — as important a member of my PD healthcare team as my Neurologist and PD-specific exercise program.

Congratulations on your USPS retirement, Jay! 

The content you delivered via the USPS and content you continue to deliver through your Paleo Jay blog, amazing smoothie recipes, and podcasts makes a palpable difference in people's lives.

You may be retiring from the USPS — but I know you'll never retire from delivering the many gifts of your character and talents to others.

Thank you, dear friend!

 

 

 

 

 

At my retirement party, my daughter Holly read the above testimonial from a wonderful friend, a friend who found out she had Parkinson’s and also found out about the Paleo diet at about the same time- 

 

That, at least, is fortuitous, since they are definitely the yin and the yang to each other- one has the ability to minimize the other- Paleo versus Parkinson’s!  From the results my friend has had, due chiefly to her hard work and perseverance to the Paleo lifestyle of ancestral diet of God made food and real, Perfectly Paleo Exercise (including a rebounder!), she has preserved her health and life beyond the expectations of any medical doctors she consulted!

 

When we “go Paleo”, some think it’s just about vanity- to be a size 4, or to be really strong and ripped- but trust me: I’m 62, my friend is younger, but the older (and wiser!) you get- it’s all about health!

 

True, looks and health usually go hand in hand- but real health is your most precious possession by far.  Don’t be one of those misguided souls that “spend their health gaining wealth”, by working endless hours, staying up half the night, not sleeping, and burning the candle at both ends with bad diet, no time for exercise, and no time to relax with your family and other tribe members...

Because then you will be one of those who later in life: “spend their wealth to try to regain their health”.  Follow the example of my friend, and eat and live for health.  

 

Oh, I have one more thing to thank my friend for, beyond her kind words-

She, along with another great friend of mine, designed my very logo, the inimitable 

PALEOJAY’S SMOOTHIE CAFE!

YOU KNOW- THE ONE YOU SEE ON WWW.PALEOJAY.COM

 

 

 

On the occasion of Jay's retirement celebration

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Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #51 How to stay Paleo

How to stay Paleo- eat a ton of veggies-All the rest is window dressing!  

 

I know, this sounds like a vegan post, which I most definitely am not.  But, I stand by it.  

 

If you start your day with a Paleo Green smoothie, loaded with veggies and fruits, pre and probiotics, lots of good fat and God made protein like free range eggs, your battle is more than half won- drink a couple of good sized glasses over the day, and you are already on track.  

 

For one thing, you are quite full, and not vulnerable to be tempted by bad fake food.  For another “once begun- half done” - the old truism is very true.  Once you have started off on the right foot, it is much, much easier to continue- have a salad with some olive oil and vinegar, topped with meat and hard boiled eggs for lunch, some nuts mid-afternoon, and then (this is my ultimate deal sealer) grill a big juicy steak!  (I always try to grill bacon as well, which I can heat in the morning with a few eggs- yum!)

 

The point is to always have lots of really good foods on hand- ready to heat and eat, or just eat- then, temptation is easy to resist.

 

Another thing- even though I live in a pretty rural area (which I love!), even here we now have several places where we can get things like sushi, and Vietnamese spring rolls.  You can just pick them up, and you are set for a nutritious, paleolithic meal instantly! 

 

A good outdoor grill is a wonderful Paleo tool!  I just got a new, Weber charcoal grill (charcoal is vastly superior to gas- use hardwood charcoal and you are in for wonderful foods).  My old grill is still functional; I set it back by our “tiny pub” in the woods out back for parties and gatherings... it was from the 1970’s, so your investment lasts a long, long time!

 

Anyway, once or twice a week I shop for meats and veggies, and load up that grill!  Then, after an hour or so enjoying myself out by the grill, I have good, God made Paleo food for days, just heat and eat.  Microwavable veggies are a perfect companion- I like to heat up butter at the same time as I do the veggies to top them off!  Sometimes I am happy to just heat up two boxes of veggies, with butter, and that is my meal!

 

I think a real problem that folks have with staying Paleo is when they try to go too low carb.  There definitely are advantages to going low carb, but low carb is not the same as no carb.  Especially if you have a spouse that isn’t really on board with the paleo diet, win them over by loading them up with LOTS of veggies (with butter and sea salt!), and also by having occasional sweet potato fries and loaded baked potatoes with sour cream, and even more butter! These “safe starches” will not hurt your health, especially if you work out they can even help you get healthier!

 

There is a place for really low carb; mostly for therapeutic uses as in the ketogenic diet- if you have an autoimmune disease, obesity, or conditions such as epilepsy, autism, alzheimer’s, chrone’s disease, or diabetes- then  a very, very low carb diet may be perfectly appropriate, even medicinal!

 

But for basically healthy, well folks: some safe starches will not impede your health, and may even enhance it!  Have some fried rice with that beef and broccoli- just keep it in moderation!

 

The last thing I’d do to keep on keepin’ paleo? 

 

Listen to paleo podcasts.  PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe is one, and my other is Paleo Quick tip of the Day, both on iTunes and Stitcher.  But Robb Wolf’s the Paleo Solution is invaluable, as is Chris Kresser’s Revolution Health Radio.  Latest in Paleo is another, as is Superhuman Radio with Carl Lenore... the advantage of listening to podcasts is that they reinforce, in a very personal, just me-to-you kind of informality, just what you are trying to do, why you are trying to do it, and just how really important it is to you in your life.  

 

Oh- wait- one more thing!  

 

STAY AWAY FROM MEDICAL DOCTORS, AND THEIR 

RECOMMENDATIONS!

 

 

This last is super important- medical clinics, hospitals, and the American Medical Association (along with their “trainers”- the pharmaceutical drug manufacturers, the FDA, and Monsanto itself) are totally invested in selling you as much bad, man engineered fake foods that destroy your health, and then selling you as many drugs as they can that mask the symptoms of your ruined health. 

 

This is no illusion- follow the dollars!   There is so much money to be made if people are lured into eating processed foods in the selling of the foods that cause disease....

 

But there is even MORE money in selling the drugs to treat the diseases they cause!

 

Medical Doctors have pretty much been turned into drug pushers.  And most commercials on TV are also drug pusher commercials!! 

 

So- one more thing- avoid commercial TV!!

 

And it goes without saying: avoid drugs!  Legal, illegal, it doesn’t matter- and you know what?  Illegal drugs are probably less harmful!!

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Conan and the Gods of the North

Here it is: a Christmas present for all of you, featuring one of my favorite characters of all time- Conan the Barbarian!  

I feel it is fitting, since Conan is a barbarian, which is one step up from a hunter gatherer, and probably the ideal human condition dietarily, and in many other ways as well, since a barbarian lives on the fringes of civilization and so can pick and choose which parts of civilization are good, and discard the rest!

I hope you like it; it's my first effort in this genre.

 

BarbarianJay Bowers of Barbarian Quick Tip of the Day

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