Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #38- Sleep is more important than exercise AND nutrition!

PQTD #38  Sleep is MORE important than exercise AND nutrition!

 

Can this really be true?  How can a little thing like sleep be so important, even more important than real, paleo type nutrition and actual perfectly paleo exercise??  What’s such a big deal about sleeping, which to most modern folks seems kind of like not being a hard-charging, drive-ahead sort of man or woman, and instead being a kind of... laid back loser, a hippie without a cause!

 

Au contraire my frenchophile friend!  Here is what a lack of sleep can, and will do to you:

 

Hamper your memory and learning ability

Cause you to gain fat weight

Makes you more accident prone

Affects your mood, and makes you depressed

Increases hypertension, stress hormone, and heart problems

Hampers your immune function, making you more prone to all diseases, including cancer and diabetes

 

Kind of a scary list, isn’t it?  And most people today in the modern world are not just mildly sleep deprived- MOST people are severely sleep deprived, and are really destroying their health, just as they would by eating processed, and fast food meals, twinkies, and washing it all down with soda pop!  At least that won’t KILL them in a few days- did you know that just a few days without sleep can result in DEATH?  And chronic sleep deprivation kills brain cells, and recent animal research suggests that these particular brain cells are never regained- we are just permanently made dumber.

 

All of this from just trying to prove what hard charging, dynamic, run rings around our competitors types we really are, by forcing ourselves to study, or work, or party hard all night, or stay up on the computer, or watching television, or all of the above...

 

Instead of getting ahead, we are merely making ourselves fatter, sicker, and dumber than our competition!  

 

Think about it- we can live a really, really long time without food, or good ancestral style nutrition even, particularly if we are keto adapted, i.e. have become fat burners rather than sugar burners!  Even the leanest of us has weeks and weeks worth of fat on our bodies.  Even water can be lived without for a few days.  Without exercise we can live for many, many years- go to Wal-Mart and look at all of the living non-exercisers...

 

But Sleep is a different story. It is absolutely critical for not only our health, but our very survival!  And if you are striving for peak health, as I hope you are as a Paleo Quick Tip of the Dayer, it is absolutely crucial.

 

It is also simple, very enjoyable, completely free, and can’t be overdone, like exercise easily can be, as well as eating food can be.  It doesn’t sound that sexy as adding a chinup, or learning a handstand, but it is not only every bit as important as those goals would be, it is MORE important! 

 

And so, look closely at my picture on your smartphone as I’m talking to you... gaze into my eyes... you are getting sle-e-e-e-e-py....

Check out this episode!

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day 37 Save your teeth and skin naturally- with coconut oil!

pqtd 37 Save your Teeth and Skin Naturally- with Coconut Oil

 

Coconut oil is so good for you, internally, that to go for even a day without ingesting at least some coconut oil seems terrible to me- kind of like the old “a day without sunshine” quote! I mean, talk about a good, God made type of fat- one that nourishes every cell in your body by supplying them with lauric acid, for instance.  Lauric acid can help lower your cholesterol and blood pressure, keeps your arteries flexible and atherosclerosis free. Coconut oil is also a metabolism booster- I know when I first started adding coconut milk and oil to my Paleo smoothie, I immediately lost over 5 pounds I didn’t even know I had to lose- really!  It was all visceral fat, meaning around my internal organs, so it really didn’t show, but that is the most dangerous kind of fat for your health.  Thanks, coconut oil!

 

But, did you know that the external benefits of coconut oil are just as profound?

 

I always recommend having a jar of good, expeller pressed coconut oil in both the kitchen- and the bathroom. The one in the bathroom is a skin lotion par exellance!  If you whip it with a blender, and maybe put in a few drops of an herbal oil like peppermint or lavender, it will be airy,light and creamy- just put some on your hands when you get out of the shower, and coat your skin from face down to your toes!  NOTHING is better for your skin than this natural, coconut oil cream...AND the lauric acid and many other beneficial components of the oil will absorb into your bloodstream, right through your skin! (Makes you kind of leery of petroleum, chemical based skin lotions, doesn’t it?  It should- THEY are absorbed through your skin in the same way.)

 

Also, to shave with coconut oil is the best lubricant you can find- healthy and moisturizing, without feeling greasy in the slightest.  And, you can and should just leave the remainder on after shaving- men and women both! Coconut oil is both antifungal, and antibacterial...

 

It’s also great as a hair conditioner- just rub it into your hair and scalp, and leave in for a few hours, then shampoo.  Your hair will be soft, moisturized, and revitalized!

 

What about the TEETH?  Well, the antibacterial effect of a mouthful of coconut oil is amazing, not to mention that it de-acidifies your mouth, teeth and gums- this acidity is what really harms our teeth, encouraging the growth of harmful bacteria that erode our teeth and gums.  You can even brush your teeth with coconut oil... but, the very best thing you can do for your oral health period- I believe this even is more important than brushing or flossing- is coconut oil pulling!

 

Just take about a tablespoonful before you shower, and put it in your mouth.  Swish it around, or “pull” it through your teeth and around your mouth for the length of your shower, and shaving, and the rest of your morning routine- then, last thing before you leave the bathroom to get dressed- spit out the oil into the toilet.

 

That oil you just spit out is holding all of the bacteria, acidity, and just plain pollution that has accumulated inside your mouth. So now, you mouth, teeth, gums and entire oral cavity are rejuvenated, pristine, and on the way to perfect health.  

 

And if you then take some more coconut oil in by way of your daily Paleo Smoothie, so is the rest of you on that same journey!

 

Check out this episode!

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day 36 The PUSHUP is the ULTIMATE exercise!

We all know about the pushup- a simple, boring means of exercise from grade school gym class- we all want to do spinning classes, Olympic lifts, Powerlifting and Pilates!!

 

Well, I’m here to tell you that, unfortunately for marketing, (the same marketing that tells you that saturated fat is bad, high cholesterol needs lots of drugs to “solve” it, and that whole grains are wonderful)- that the same marketing has been done to pervert EXERCISE!

 

Real Food is perfect food- God made foods are ideal for us and our health!  Duh!!

 

Grass fed meat, butter, free range eggs and pork, wild caught seafood, organic local veggies- ALL are vastly better for us than CAFO animals and eggs, pesticide riddled produce, and dairy that has been “processed” under extreme heat and deprived of its nutrients and enzymes...

 

BUT, REAL EXERCISE is in the same category!

 

The PUSHUP is the ULTIMATE EXERCISE!  

 

Let me say that again: the pushup is the ULTIMATE EXERCISE!!

 

Better than p90X, better than Olympic, Power, or bodybuilding- better than spin classes, rock climbing, or Pilates- nothing is better for your health, physique, or your overall sound mind in a sound body than the simple PUSHUP!

 

Glad I got that out of my system.

 

Just like real food, the message has been lost because... there is nothing to sell!

 

Here is the real deal: just do pushups, twice per week!

 

This is like sprinting, with your upper body (your WHOLE upper body!)   And the benefits are legion.  Your rib cage and ALL of the muscles of your upper body, abs, and lower back all benefit.  Your cardio and “wind” improve as much as if you were on some stupid cardio machine.  AND your musculature develops in a totally natural and symetrical way, unlike weight lifting, which really does stimulate unnatural bulk and blockiness of the physique...

 

 

And so, for your fitness foundation, I, PaleoJay recommend:  

 

Twice per week, do a pushup workout!  Men AND women.

 

I do mine in front of the television... this is optional!  

 

First, I do a set of virtual, dynamic, or self resisted exercises, which are basically a set of flexing my muscles, much as a bodybuilder would do, for repetitions...  I cover all the muscles in the body, deliberately and completely focused.  It feels great, and is the same thing that the ancient Greeks and Romans did to develop the physiques of the statues we still admire today.

 

THEN, on either Wednesday or Thursday, I do pushups:

 

I do have a set of Perfect Pushups, which I think are wonderful since you can both go deeper into the movement, and also since they rotate to make it safe for the elbows and shoulders.  But, you can do it without just fine!

 

Do one set of pushups with your arms at shoulder, or medium width.  If you can do 5; do 5- then next time, do 6...

 

Next, do one set at a wider grip- whatever you can do, but do NOT go to failure- just whatever you can manage to do that leaves a little effort “still in the tank”.

 

then, do a set with a NARROW grip- about 12 inches from palm to palm...  this set will be less reps!

 

Repeat

I like to do my pushups with my legs raised on the back of a couch, or other support, but whatever works for you at your current level is wonderful!  It’s just gradual progression...

 

One note: for women especially, but anyone deconditioned:

 

If you can’t do pushups, (as many can’t nowadays)- just do negative pushups!

 

If you need to, leave your knees on the floor... 

 

But, you can also do negative pushups, which are the BOMB!

 

For a negative pushup, you just get into the top position of the pushup, and then just slowly lower yourself into the bottom position!  Repeat...

 

This simple strategy duplicates all of the results of a standard pushup- really!  

 

I like to do this 2X per week- this gives ample recovery, and will quite simply do more for your body than hours and hours of the commonly marketed exercise systems (like crossfit, P90X, Olympic and Powerlifting) and all the other marketed and over-hyped exercise protocols I’ve heard about and seen advertised on informercials and misinformation on the internet; unfortunately even on Paleo Exercise podcasts...

 

I’m sorry this podcast is longer than I wanted, but I thought this information was incredibly important.  EXERCISE is being made WAY overcomplicated!

 

The ancient Greeks, or Hellenes as they called themselves, were the start of so many things! The founders of modern medicine, the ideal of a sound mind in a sound body, the very notion of an ideal human form!!

 

AND WHAT THEY DID WAS PUSHUPS!

 

So go ahead- be an exercise Hippocrates!  Do pushups!

 

Twice per week!!

 

Check out this episode!

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day 34- Fat is Our Friend

PQTD #34  The One Paleo Food You Don’t Eat Nearly Enough of... FAT

 

The one thing that almost no one, including paleo lifestyle folks eats enough of is indeed FAT! Good, satisfying, God made fat, as in kill and eat the fatted calf, and cook it in cream and coconut oil!

 

I have just finished Jimmy Moore’s latest book Keto Clarity, and I must say that, although I am quite paleolithic in my diet, even I do not eat enough fat!  I eat a lot by normal standards, but not up to 80% of my diet by any means...  And, to get to a ketogenic (or fat burning) state where the body and brain is running on ketones, which are the human bodies perfect fuel- fat needs to make up at least 50% or so of the diet!

 

I mean real fat, as I said above: NOT crisco, margarine, vegetable oils, cool whip, or any other MAN made fake fat or food.  I mean heavy whipping cream, pastured butter, coconut oil, avocados, eggs (especially the yolks) full fat cream cheese, sour cream, bacon and cream cheese!  These foods, along with green leafy and cruciferous veggies and a small amount of protein from your grass fed beef, seafood, pork and chicken become the ketones that your body needs to run best on.  AND, once you get the process underway by eating enough fats to kick start your switch over to a fat burning ancestral human instead of a SAD sugar burning modern American, why then your body can supplement the process by easily accessing and burning your OWN fat stores!  Now this is a big win win.

 

Of course, we are also talking about limiting carbs here dramatically- but it is quite easy to do so, once you are getting enough fat, because you are never hungry - fat is that satiating.

 

The health benefits of a ketogenic diet are amazing- for brain health, depression, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, headaches- it’s almost as if you name it, burning ketones from fat is the cure!  Not to mention the obvious, that the more fat you eat, the more fat your body loses...counterintuitive, but completely true nonetheless.

 

So, make yourself a big meal of , oh, 4 pastured eggs scrambled with sour cream, a few bacon strips, paleo coffee with a teaspoon or so of coconut oil dissolved in it and topped with whipped cream...still hungry?  Oh, I forgot your daily Paleo smoothie- along with all the veggies, kefir, eggs, berries and all the rest you are also going to add in a big slab of Kerrygold butter and an avocado...

 

Sip that along with your little breakfast, and I absolutely guarantee you won’t be hungry for a long, long time- you won’t want of need a snack, and your body will start to get the idea that hey- Fat is our friend!  We don’t need it on our bellies and thighs because we can get it from our food anytime we want!  

Check out this episode!

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day 33- Microwaving your Food is... GOOD!

Microwaving your food is...GOOD!

I'm sure that many of you have read articles about the evils of microwaved foods...

 

 

I know I have, and so I endeavored to come to the bottom of the issue.  And the bottom is- (drumroll)-

 

Microwaving your food and beverages is not only SAFE-

 

 

It preserves nutrient value BETTER than most other forms of cooking!

 

So there.  

 

 

Here is an article on the blog of Paul Jaminet of the The Perfect Health Diet.  

 

He goes into detail on the latest, and older studies of microwaves and their effect on food.  I think the main problem is that we ALL, me included, have an innate distrust of what we perceive as processed foods.  And rightfully so!  Industrially processed and FAST foods are indeed largely unhealthy, and pernicious not only in how they affect our health, but also in how they effect our home lives by supplanting family meals, meal preparation, and just a wholesome life centered around the home and the kitchen.

 

BUT, and this is important, sometimes we need to look at the whole picture: 

 

Sure, Aunt Bea didn't use a microwave, since it was not yet invented! 

 

 BUT, she WOULD have, and not skipped a beat in Mayberry, since it would simply have been another invention that would have made her daily meal preparation so much easier and efficient- for instance, if there had been one in the courthouse, Andy and Barney could have heated their meals there- Aunt Bea wouldn't need to bring them down from the house...

 

 

Mayberry aside, we don't want to be Paleo LUDDITES- people who fear technology, and shun it as entirely EVIL.  All technology is not necessarily evil at all, and microwaving our food, and iPhones, and computers, all seem to fall into this camp of USEFUL TECHNOLOGY.  

 

Such technology should be prized, not feared!

 

Here is another quick read about microwave cooking from the Harvard school.  

 

If you're not convinced yet, well then go ahead and give up microwaves!  It won't hurt you to do so...

 

But it sure won't help you, or your health, at ALL!

 

J

Check out this episode!

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day 32 Be your own Coach, Teacher, Doctor and GURU!

PQTD #32  Be your own coach- teacher-doctor- and GURU!

 

Yes, that’s right paleo grasshopper- YOU need to to MAN or WOMAN up to be the best you you can be! This is key for being healthy, sane and happy- to be a realized individual that can deal with life in a non-scripted, healthy way.  

 

Most people are simply addicted to the modern life experiment. This is the life most live nowadays: 

 

addicted to television- cell phones- SCREENS of all sorts!

addicted to processed carbs

deathly afraid of fats!

ALSO deathly afraid of dirt and things that are hard!!

 

If this is you, then I am the guru for you... for I am the guru that will insist that YOU be your OWN guru!

 

Don’t listen to infomercial gurus like P90X and all the clones, including Crossfit and other canned workout boxes that tell you exactly what to do, and when, and what to eat, and when, ad nauseum.  Think for yourself!

 

Try to do things for yourself- grow a garden, however small.  Shop at farmer’s markets- go out on a limb and make connections with the growers!  Talk to ranchers, or butchers that market good quality pastured meats and dairy- be gregarious, even if it is not in your nature!  Trust me, it soon will be... and it is so worth it to get good quality food that will vastly improve your health!

 

DO NOT go to medical doctors- I know, this will be controversial, but it is common sense and a no-brainer, really.  Unless you are in a horrible accident, like a car wreck where you are seriously broken, medical doctors know almost NOTHING about health- they only know about disease, and how to mask the symptoms!  That is the truth- the medical establishment can do wonders if you are horribly broken, but after they put you back together... your own BODY is the only thing that can heal you, and YOU are the only one that can restore, and reBUILD your HEALTH!  Pay no attention to those men and women behind the “white coat” curtain...

 

Try to have LOTS of hobbies- reading is great, especially about health and fitness in an ancestral manner... history is great for learning how people of the past lived, ate, slept and worshipped- we learn through stories and metaphors, primarily: so fiction is every bit (and probably MORE) important for our well being than non fiction!

 

This is kind of an all encompassing, general type of podcast, but heartfelt for all of that- here are my takeaway points for you, your marching orders if you will:

 

Do NOT turn on the TV, UNLESS you are either exercising, stretching, or at least just SITTING on the floor!  Be Asian- squat, or just sit on the floor when relaxing- sitting on a chair or couch is just letting your body become a mass of jelly...

 

Only eat carbs in small amounts, and ONLY in the form of SAFE STARCHES, like white rice, white or sweet potato (without the skin and its antinutrients), or in the form of green carbs in unlimited amounts. 

 

AND DO NOT EAT PROCESSED CARBS- AT ALL! EVER!! JUST DON’T DO IT!!

Your grandparents didn’t, their parents didn’t, folks from the middle ages didn’t, ancient times didn’t, and neither did paleolithic peoples- and they had NONE of our diseases!

 

Eat LOTS and LOTS of real, God Made saturated fats!  These are the fats, like that from the (Pastured!) fatted calf that are vitally important for our health- what our ancestors all prized for their goodness and health promoting properties- and what our hormones and actually our very CELLS are made of- EAT FAT!  Whole eggs with cream cheese, tons of veggies with tons of pastured butter, pastured bacon with all of the fat left in the pan to fry eggs, cook a duck and save the fat for later- (that’s what I’m doing right after I finish writing this podcast!)- 

 

DIRT IS GOOD! I don’t mean filth- filth is man made- things like broken glass, spilled chemicals- well, like a modern agribusiness growing field for GMO corn or soy!  That is filth...  

    

     I mean SOIL- living, breathing soil; loaded with microorganisms and earthworms- those microorganisms are our partners in life- they are within us, and creating a wonderful microbiome that we ingest, that is and always has been a part of us.  Grow your garden- get your hands dirty!  Walk around barefoot!  Be like your ancestors- be healthy, natural, happy, and NOT dependent on 

Big medicine

Big government

Big entertainment

 

to keep you happy and healthy- depend on YOURSELF, your family and your friends and your neighbors!  IT IS THAT EASY, NATURAL, AND COMMON SENSE!

Check out this episode!

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #31 Eat Fat to be Healthy, Slim, and HAPPY!

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #32  EAT FAT to be Slim, Healthy, and HAPPY

 

 

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain- Eating saturated fat is GOOD for you!  How good?  Well, good enough to:

 

reduce your body fat 

increase your muscle mass

increase your satiety; i.e. you won’t be hungry!

make you more “sane” by vastly reducing depression, anxiety, and feelings of anxiousness

increase your bone density

reduce your risk of cancer

improve your skin, eye, and dental health

 

All of the aforementioned are wonderful reasons to include MORE saturated fat in your diet!  By saturated fat I mean things like the lard and tallow from wild caught or pastured animals- pastured bacon grease is wonderful stuff- have you ever fried your (pastured eggs) in bacon grease?  Really, really yummy- and incredibly good for you, too.

 

Pastured butter like Kerry Gold or Organic Valley is great as well, as is my favorite, coconut oil!  I put coconut milk in my smoothie, and coconut oil in my coffee on a daily basis.  I also put it on my skin as a body cream from head to toe, shave with it as a shaving cream, and swish it in my mouth while I shower to “oil pull” and kill mouth bacteria and reduce the acidity in my mouth...  I love coconut oil!

 

You are probably thinking to yourself that:

 

“This PaleoJay character sounds like a complete lunatic!”  

 

Maybe you’re right, gut remember that you, and all of us have been brainwashed for over 50 years by the BIG FAT LIE!  That is the lie originally propagated by Ancel Keyes back in the 1960’s, and then spread through misinformed governmental, agricultural, and pharmaceutical interests for all of those decades.  Now, ALL of the recent science supports the importance and healthfulness of those saturated fats that have been vilified for so long... but, if you have said the wrong thing for all of those years, well, it’s not too easy to say that you’ve been WRONG!

 

And so, human tendency is to keep on keepin’ on, as long as you can...

 

But now, YOU my friend, YOU know better!  Eat lots and lots of saturated fat- it is truly good, and necessary for your health and well being.

 

But, you also have to know the other side of the coin- what you REALLY should have been concentrating on eliminating for all of these years- the things that have really been the things that have made us, overall, the fattest, sickest, and unhappiest generation in American history:

 

1.Vegetable oils- corn, canola, crisco, margarine, peanut- all of those trans-fats that would never actually be found in nature as oils

Processed carbohydrates and gluten- all of those food like substances made by man, not in Nature as made by God.  In fact, if you include these bad carbohydrates in quantity along with good saturated fats, it will be a perfect storm of unhealthiness- so restrict the carbs, and replace them with good fats!  Don’t try to include both- it won’t work, it won’t help, and it will probably make matters worse.

Sugars- this means all sugars, like cane sugar, agave sugar which is WORSE than cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup, chemical sweeteners like Aspartame- they are all horrible for you.  Keep them at a minimum- including FRUIT!  Yes, small amounts of fruit is fine; I put some berries and citrus in my daily Paleo Smoothie- but the ratio of fruit to vegetable and kefir, eggs, spices, other ingredients is a fraction of the total.  Sweeteners are inflammatory, and inflammation is the indirect cause of virtually ALL modern diseases!  Restrict them.

 

And so, now you know the rest of the story: 

 

Real God made fat is really, really good, and Fake man made fat is really, really, really

 

BAD.

 

Check out this episode!