PALEO JAY Smoothie Cafe

That’s right, my mother and father are celebrating two events in one tomorrow- both their 65th wedding anniversary, and the birthday of my father turning 96! I know in this day and age, both milestones are very, very, very rarely attained!  I remember, a few years ago, I was visiting in Illinois in Chicago for an event along with 4 of my brothers.  A black man of middle years asked me “are you all a rock band?”  I guess my hair, and a couple of my brothers was a little on the longish side… “No,” I said, “we are all brothers!” Without missing a beat, he asked incredulously, “All from the same Daddy??” I assured him we were, and as we walked away, I saw him shaking his head in disbelief. I say this to point out how rare it is, in this day and age for: 1. A couple to stay together for 65 years 2. This same couple to live in good health to the ages of 96 and 90, respectively 3. To have raised 8 children, all of whom are healthy, happy, and graduated from college and working- (except for mois, paleoJay, since I am retired, 64, and only working part time at jobs I love! 4. To still be living at home, in the two story house they have lived in since 1960, when yours truly, their eldest son, was in 4th grade! Of course, to me this is a big deal!  But what does it mean to you, oh Paleo aficionado?  Well, aside from your massive allegiance to PaleoJay.com, it means that you should try to live as they have lived.   How is this?  Simple, really-  1. My dad walked, and still walks, everywhere.  He used to take the train into the city for many years, either walking or riding his bicycle to the train station about a mile away.  Then, he would walk to his office, another mile or so away.  He used to be amazed at his friends, who would be dropped off at the train station by their wives, and then take a taxi to their office!  He really didn’t like it, and like his son PaleoJay, he would try to get them to follow his lead into better habits.   Oh, even now, he always parks as far as he can from the entrance to any store he visits.  Always! 2. Although not paleo, (no one was back in his day), he always knew that “bready” things were bad.  He never tried to eliminate them, but he always knew to minimize the bread, whether pasta, dough, or whatever.  Also, remember that for most of his life, grains were the ancient grains of the Bible- the “waving fields of tall wheat”, not the squat, hideous altered high-gluten grains of today.  My mother felt the same way, and ate the same way. 3. My parents always ate lots of fruits and vegetables, and woke early.  They didn’t stay up late watching television like so many of my parent’s friends, and they always had a vegetable garden.  Also, they never put chemicals on their lawn like so many started doing in the 1970’s. 4. They always walked around barefoot in the yard, and encouraged us to do likewise!  I think part of this was to save on the cost of shoes, but heck- they did it too!  And we all spent most of our free time in the yard.  We played games, whiffleball and kickball, we built a monorail, we had a rope to climb- that was where we all hung out- all eight of us!  And also, we were the home that our friends wanted to come visit- it was fun. 5. Other neighbors of my parent’s age started moving when their kids (usually one or two at most) moved out from home to go to college.  They moved into ranch houses or, (worse in my dad’s and my opinion), into “retirement communities”, where they were entertained and protected from

If you are any kind of long term listener to PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe, you know one of my constant drumbeat-of-a-recommendation is for Green Paleo Smoothies! I know that just by adding the discipline of drinking a single 8-16 oz glass (or canning jar) full each and every day, you will increase your health and wellness dramatically!  It’s true- the nutrient density that you gain from just such a simple addition to your diet is amazing- more that what you’ll gain from the rest of your days actual solid food eating, for one.  Also, since green vegetable consumption is automatically hugely increased, which loads us up with antioxidants, magnesium, and virtually everything else that modern civilized folks are chronically deficient in!   Also, by substituting such a wonderful, paleo and ancestral meal as a green smoothie as breakfast, you displace another meal that would be undoubtedly much worse, like cereal, toast, or pancakes that spike your blood sugar and insulin response, rather than drinking the most incredibly healthy thing you can put into your body- a Paleo Green Smoothie! And now, I am going to tell you how to make your daily smoothie much MORE nutritious!  And for FREE!! Weeds are the answer!   Now, I’m not being a smart aleck hear.  Well, maybe a little- but the point is this: certain weeds, perennial weeds like dandelions, broadleaf plantain, purslane, and lamb’s quarters are all not only as nutritious as something like kale- they are way, way MORE nutritious by far. Start with dandelion- you know what it looks like already, no problem.  Gather a few plants, leaves are easiest to use, but the entire plant (including the root), is edible and wonderfully nutritious.  Just start with the leaves. I store them in container in the freezer, and each time I make a smoothie I add a handful or so.  (Free, remember?)  You really can’t taste them at all in a smoothie, at least the PaleoJay Green Smoothie at www.paleojay.com and in the pages of PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe, the book.   The nutrient composition of all of these wild plants are far, far beyond that of cultivated vegetables of any type; for instance dandelion has 4 times the beta carotene of broccoli!  And all of the nutrients are that magnified, as wild plants have not been hybridized and genetically modified for taste and storage superiority- they are as vital and wild as Conan the Plant Barbarian!  Think of wild plants as the exact opposite of GMO’s! Broadleaf plantain is at least as common and available as dandelion, and almost as identifiable.  I gather up handfuls, and store them right beside my dandelions.  Lamb’s quarters are the most common weed in my garden, and when I think how much time I wasted pulling them out from between my lettuce plants, I could shoot myself!  Just cut them right into your lettuce as you are cutting your lettuce for salads!  They are far, far, far more nutritious than the lettuce and other greens you put into your salad, and actually taste quite good as well.   Lamb’s quarters grow quite large, and even if you don’t have a garden they are everywhere!  The large leaves are better in smoothies, since they are not so mild tasting, but the nutrition is still just as good. Purslane is probably the most strangely nutritious of all since it is very high in Omega 3 fats!  Very unusual for a plant… also, it is loaded with other nutrient benefits, and grows almost everywhere, even in cities.  Have a container for this one in your freezer as well! As you can see, it is quite easy to get smoothie ingredients in your yard, a

I thought I would phrase todays thoughts in “paleo terms”.  Leaky gut- we all know what that means, right?  If not, here is what it is: when the walls of our small intestine become so damaged, so leaky through constant insult in the form of gluten and gliadin, that the “borders” of our digestion can no longer protect us from invaders. Invaders, in this case, consist of rogue food particles, bacteria- anything, really, that slips through our bodies intestinal wall defenses!  These foreign particles can cause a world of damage, since they cause our immune defenses to go crazy trying to defend us from this constant stream of invaders.   In fact, our immune system gears up too strongly in the face of such massive threat, and becomes confused, even attacking the tissues of your own body.  This is what results in all auto-immune diseases, which are the very diseases now killing modern Westerners, while subjecting them first to an ever increasing disease plagued life.  Obesity, diabesity, diabetes, autism, rheumatoid arthritis- the list goes on and on.  If you have a chronic disease, it is most likely one of these autoimmune variety.  Eventually, the insult is enough to result in one of the big three killers: heart disease, cancer, or iatrogenesis (death by doctor)! Luckily, you and I both know how to prevent all of this supposedly inevitable outcome:  we eat a paleo type of diet, with no wheat, and very little (if any) grains at all.  (This preserves our gut lining!).  We fortify the “terrain” of our body with nutrient dense foods, meaning loads of green veggies, some fruit, herbs and spices like ginger and turmeric, pastured meats and, if we can tolerate them- pastured dairy products.  We drink a Paleo green smoothie on a daily basis, assuring maximum nutritional support for our body, and we sleep 8 hours per night, exercise in the PerfectlyPaleo, non-damaging fashion, cultivate our “tribe” of family and friends, and try to minimize stress in our lives. Common sense really, right?  Well, what works for our bodies also is what works in the body politic of nations… Right now we have a nightmare situation, both in the US and western europe, where illegal immigrants of largely hostile intent are “migrating” through the “leaky gut” of our non -existent borders, or the nations “Gut Walls” if you will.  These hostile ‘immigrants” are the gluten and gliadin of our nation, slipping through not only unimpeded, but actually being welcomed into the country their religion instructs them to undermine and destroy. It really is that extreme; the violence and destruction that has already happened would have been inconceivable even 10 years ago, and now it is commonplace. I blame part of our acceptance of this situation on our ignorance of history- what kids are taught Roman history anymore?  Heck, they’re not even being taught American history anymore, except to point out how evil we always were!  What a bunch of crap. Let me tell you this: from without the borders of the Roman empire, many of my ancestors of that era, the Germans, began to move into Roman territory.  At first, the Romans allowed them to do so… eventually, this small tide turned into a flood of “immigrants”, but that is the wrong word really- they were invaders!  They brought their own culture, their own gods, and wanted it everywhere, including Rome!  And once the invaders had breached the border defenses, Rome lacked the military strength to expel them.   I hope you know what happened then… If not, here it is:  The Roman state was invaded, and gradually was destroyed from within, not only from the invading immigrants, but also because of the deep corruption and self-interest of her rulers.   Sound familiar to modern day America and Western Europe?  Real

Let’s talk about an essential ancestral life skill that I have never heard addressed:  How should you approach exercise mentally?  It really is a crucial skill that paleolithic peoples never even had to think about, just as they never had to think about what foods to eat (all foods were paleo back then), or how to exercise, (exercise, natural exercise, Perfectly Paleo Exercise, whatever you call it was just part of life!); so it was that your mind-state as you went through an early, ancestral lifestyle was also automatic. Just what the heck am I talking about?  Just this: when you exercise, you must not be thinking about your job, or what you want to do this weekend, or anything at all, really-  You should be completely and utterly focused on the moment! You should be thinking into the muscles being worked, feeling them contract and work beneath your skin.  Intensify the contraction, I.e. make it harder simply by willing it so!  This really does work- using this method, you can make lifting a 5 lb. dumbbell as hard as lifting a 50 pound dumbbell, or more, simply by flexing harder and more intensely, and by “putting on the brakes” internally by thinking into the muscle and willing it so. Focus your total energy into each and every rep, each isometric contraction, and into each exercise in turn.  This is like moving meditation.  If you’ve ever meditated, (I do it pretty much daily, and recommend you do as well), you sit with your eyes shut, and concentrate on one thing only.  (I use the number “1”, repeated over and over and over.  Every time your attention starts to wander, you just pull it gently back to that mantra of “1” again.   At first, it seems quite difficult!  We are so programmed in modern life to try and multi-task constantly, to get more done, and more, and more!  But after awhile, it gets much easier, and carries over into how you approach life in general.   So too does this “moving meditation” approach to exercise not only improve your exercise performance, and especially exercise results- it starts to carry over into all of life.  Your ability to concentrate improves along with your physique, as does your mental acuity and ability. Now, I don’t mean to say that you shouldn’t listen to podcasts while you exercise, or even watch tv while you do so.  I do often!  Just so the bulk of your attention is focused on the exercise, it is fine to have music playing, or someone talking or interviewing, or even watching a gripping movie or news program on TV.  In fact, I feel that an additional distraction or focus while exercising is additional insurance against your attention wandering to your problems, your boss, your kids problems, insurance salesmen… you get it, right?   Your workout is sacred, just as you should be totally in the moment while in church, or meditating, so should your workout time be spent in the moment. You do need to spend time planning, not worrying, and this time too should be spent totally in the moment as well!  Then, you can plan, anticipate contingencies, decide what you will do if various scenarios occur, and then you can relax.  By staying in the moment, once again you have set yourself up of success.  You will not be distracted, because you have your plans in place- if something bad happens, you will simply deal with it, in the moment.  Whether it is something physical, or emotional, or intellectual to deal with, you will have developed the capacity to solve it. Because you have turned your life into what it is meant to be: A Moving Meditation

One of the most common chemicals spread on the lawns of America is Roundup, made by Monsanto.  The active ingredient is glyphosate, which we have been told is completely safe for humans for years now. It’s NOT!  The exact method by which glyphosate hurts is becoming clear, as we increasingly find out the immense importance of the human gut micro biome.  The little bugs that live in our guts actually determine our mood, whether we are fat or thin, and even provide us with essential nutrients for life!  No one knew this back in 1970, when Monsanto came up with the chemical compound.  So far as they knew, it was safe, or so they said. It may be safe for human cells, at least in the short term, but not for our crucial gut bacteria, without which we cannot survive.  Glyphosate has also been linked with killing our essential honey bees that pollinate crops, along with butterflies and other creatures that share the earth with us. But the main reason to avoid it entirely, as now most of the nations of the world are uniting in banning it (except for the United States, of course), is again the damage to the human gut micro biome.  Autoimmune diseases are now rampant, and becoming worse over time- these have been shown to be caused by a leaky gut, or intestinal permeability, which is in turn caused by a damaged gut micro biome- caused by glyphosate.   This can set us up for type 1 diabetes, diverticulitis, arthritis, and all the other plagues of modern civilization. Roundup or some other brand of glyphosate is used on pretty much all standard corn and soy crops in the US.  Monsanto also sells Roundup resistant varieties of corn and soy seeds, so that the crops are more immune to the chemical, and more can be used!  This means more and more Roundup is being used on our food crops. Just another reason for those of us of the Paleo persuasion to avoid grains and soy!  But it also gets into our drinking water, especially if you live near to big agribusiness operations of chemical farming. The most irksome thing to me is the usage by homeowners on their lawns!  To get rid of dandelions, which are actually quite a pretty and very healthy to eat flower, most homeowners are more than willing to pour poison all over their lawns and gardens!  It makes me feel sick, and I’m sure it is making the folks that do it sick as well, but really physically sick, since they walk on it, sit on it, and let their children play on this chemical nightmare. My suggestion?  Mow your lawn.  Hoe your garden.  Avoid grains.  And please, tell you neighbors that you would appreciate their lawns much more it they were more diverse, with yellow flowers, creeping charlie, burdock, and all of the other wonderful plants that make up Nature, and that so many of us have been brainwashed by the media and advertising to try to kill!

1.    Make natural or minimally processed foods the basis of your diet 2.    Use oils, fats, salt, and sugar in small amounts when seasoning and cooking natural or minimally processed foods and to create culinary preparations 3.    Limit consumption of processed foods 4.    Avoid consumption of ultra-processed products 5.    Eat regularly and carefully in appropriate environments and, whenever possible, in company 6.    Shop in places that offer a variety of natural or minimally processed foods 7.    Develop, exercise and share culinary skills 8.    Plan your time to make food and eating important in your life 9.    Out of home, prefer places that serve freshly made meals 10.   Be wary of food advertising and marketing Those are the Brazilian food guidelines.  Simple, understandable, supported by current science, not outdated, 1970’s science as is our “Food Plate” nonsense.  Anyone  following such commonsense advice would do very well dietary-wise, even if they did include grains, since if your eliminated processed foods, and ate real foods, prepared in the home, you would be more the one half of the way there! But let me add a few more guidelines to this already inspired direction: 11. Eliminate grains, especially wheat- Use other grains sparsely  12. Use natural fat like butter, olive oil, coconut oil, and animal fats instead of any sort of vegetable, or industrial seed oil 13. Avoid artificial sweeteners from chemicals like Sunett, Sweet One, Aspartame, Saccharin, and Sucralose   14. Use Natural Sweeteners like sugar, honey, molasses, and maple syrup sparingly 15. Sugar alcohols like Erythritol and Xylitol are preferable I know, grasshopper: that seems confusing, a little… it also seems a bit- daunting!  Everyone seems to have the knee jerk reflex- “I can’t give up bread!” And pasta, and packaged breakfast cereals, etc. etc. etc…. But you can, and in my opinion, admittedly from someone who has done it for many years, is that you can, and rather easily too!  You just resolve to: 1. Make most of your meals at home- this alone will save you big money! 2. Only use real foods in the preparation- this means no processed bread rolls or oils, only REAL FOODS like meat, seafood, real fats, fruits and vegetables! 3. You need to plan ahead.  Have your fridge loaded with good foods- throw out your flour, your processed crap- ONLY have good stuff in your house!  Have lots of mixed nuts, jerky, cut up celery and almond butter (no peanut butter, or at least very little)- and, for those emergencies when you might be tempted- have a couple of gluten free frozen pizzas on hand!  I love to “upgrade” these little numbers with shredded cheese, tomatoes, onions, garlic, ham, and whatever else I have on hand- turn a nutritional nightmare into a nutritional goldmine when you are tempted! 4. My parting advice?  Golden words from PaleoJay?  Get a stock of really good sardines.  And some gluten free crackers.  AND some almond butter!  If you chow down on a bunch of this, you will be NOT hungry in short order, since they are so filling, and so good for you.  Herring is good as well; I love it in little glass jars… 5. Bottom line?  Drink a green, paleo smoothie each and every day- nothing else gives you total nutrition like that, nothing!  Just do it.  Once you get in a schedule of drinking a really great, nutritional powerhouse on a daily basis, you are not troubled by deficiencies that cause cravings that eventually make you fat and sick- you are immune.  You are Paleo- a golden ch

A lot of us tend to be type A’s, paleo people are not immune to this!  And, it’s not all bad; I mean we type A’s are driven to achieve, and this can be quite useful.  I can’t even imagine not wanting to exercise, but then I have done so daily for more years than I would care to count.   As for eating a proper, healthful, paleo type of diet- it is a desire to achieve that gives us the impetus to start living that goal of a really good diet.  And so it goes- by being driven in some sense, we accomplish very useful and important things in life.  But, it is easy to become a slave to achieving, just as it is easy to become a slave to sloth and idleness: once you start as a welfare person, either through a trust fund of else the government, the idea of actually working at anything seems utterly impossible to even start. You have to learn to live in the moment.  Every minute of every day is not meant to be spent in “busy-ness”, an endless spinning of our wheels.  The really important times of life, the times that you will always cherish in memory, are those moments when you are literally in the moment, totally immersed in your life as it happens.  Often, this state comes to us easiest when we appear to be doing nothing: just relaxing with family and friends, sitting around a campfire or on our front porch, or just walking through the woods.  These moments are what really make up our lives! Sure, when we are working really hard at something, whether it is doing a hard set of pull-ups, or sprinting barefoot across a grassy field in sets, we are very satisfied when we are done.  We have really accomplished something!  Our bodies are flooded with endorphins, are muscles are strengthened, body fat burned.  Great! But, the real enjoyment of living comes afterwards, when we are totally relaxed, showered, and maybe heading outside to fire up the grill for some grass fed steak and baked sweet potato.  When we go for a slow saunter down the road with our dog and spouse in the evening, and we are just being there, in the moment. It’s really not when we save up for a big vacation, go on a cruise, or buy that new car.  Those are fine, and can be worthy goals, depending on what you like, but it just is not the real stuff of life!   Life is simple.  Life is just being, enjoying the ability to move, to laugh, to feel the sun on our skin and cold water on our tongue.  And, life is all about people and relationships, family, friends, fellow church members and neighborhood folks- your tribe, if you will. So go out and achieve!  Accomplish goals, big and small, write that novel, paint that picture.  Change the oil in your truck, mow your yard.  Work out, and eat a wonderful, clean, paleo diet, without junk food!  But remember that, at the end of the day, it is simply in living your life, and savoring it by being in the moment.  As Marcus Aurelius said long, long ago: It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.

Hiking with poles.  Doesn’t sound too earth shaking, does it?  But, as you know if you are a regular visitor to www.paleojay.com or listener to either PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe or Paleo Quick Tip of the Day,  I pretty much go into my woods for a hike every afternoon.  Usually I take my “heavy hands” with me, meaning I pump small dumb bells in my arms as I go.  Believe me, if you have never tried this method of working out (which I combine with “forest bathing” by getting out into nature as I go) you really should!  It works your entire body, rather than just your legs, since as you pump your arms in curls, or side lateral raises you are engaging the upper half of your body at least as hard as the lower half.   I really like to mimic cross country skiing with the dumb bells (usually 8 lbs in each hand), swinging the weights from high to the back as if I was poling myself on my skis.  (It’s actually more taxing than skiing, and thus more productive exercise-wise).  I do duck walks with the weights to really hit the quads, and other moves that I have made up over time.  Try it!  If you can find the book Heavy Hands by Leonard Schwartz, get it- he pioneered this form of exercise back in the 1980’s, and he explains it eloquently. But, back to hiking with poles!  I have a slight shoulder injury I sustained while cutting and moving wood, and so I have been substituting hiking with ski poles.  I really lean into the upper body, and so the upper body gets a fantastic workout as I walk, just as it does with the heavy hand weights. But it is easier on the shoulder joint right now for me with the poles.  Also, we have had snow the past couple of days (hurrah Wisconsin!), and my hilly land is quite slippery with a little snow- the poles keep you upright easily, and spread the load over four limbs (like a cat) rather than just two. I was out this past summer in Montana, in the wonderful Glacier National Park.  I recommend you visit it at some point, it is spectacular!  Anyway, there are a number of employees of the park that monitor wildlife, and watch for forest fires.  They spend their days wandering the huge park, through the woods and up steep mountainsides.  They all hike with ski poles, and look to be very fit indeed!  They get the adjustable kind, that collapse really small when they want to get on the bus that takes them back down, or back up again.   I have poles like that, and they are handy as can be.  In fact, I don’t like to hike without them!   So there you go.  A simple little trick that will double your hiking ability instantly, and also double it’s effectiveness as exercise!  But above all, just get out into nature, however you enjoy it.  We are creatures of nature, even though we tend to forget it, and if we separate ourselves from the natural world we are pretty much locking ourselves into man-made cages.  Let yourself out on a daily basis, for at least a little while- your body and mind will thank you.

Oh boy, will this be contentious- NOT to “lift heavy things”, one of the Paleo/Primal cornerstones of healthy living!  It’s almost as if I said “Don’t eat grass fed beef”, or “Eat wheat!”  I know you’ve heard it, over and over and over again- “Lift Heavy Things”, probably immediately followed by “avoid chronic cardio”.   Well, I do want you to avoid chronic cardio, which is doing endless running, biking, aerobics (wait- does anyone do that anymore!!?), spinning, even walking for hours and hours each day… That is excessive, and accomplishes very little in terms of strength or health.  It just generates cortisol, the stress hormone, and puts your body into the fight or flight alert mode that we want to avoid.  And it destroys your joints!!  And of course- do NOT eat Wheat!!  (But do eat grass fed meat, particularly organ meats). But, to reiterate: do not lift heavy things.  Why do I say this?  Because lifting really heavy things, at the limit of your strength, destroys your joints just as surely as chronic cardio, perhaps even more so.  I know, strength training is essential; I would never disagree with that- I train daily, and at almost 64 it is more necessary than ever.   BUT I DON’T LIFT HEAVY THINGS! This is the bottom line to me:  "A person who "lifts" weights tries to make a heavy weight feel light, while a person who "trains" with weights tries to make a light weight feel heavy."  Truer words were never spoken, although you might need to read that a few times until it sinks in.   The ideal way to train for strength, health, and overall fitness is to use a weight only to help your concentration enough so that you can adequately stress the muscle!  If you have the concentration, you can do this with a 2 lb. dumbbell- you just flex enough by sensing the resistance of the muscles involved and making the resistance harder yourself.  Instead of “hitting the gas pedal” and making the muscles work super hard to lift a really heavy weight, you “put on the brakes” within the muscles, intentionally making the lifting harder.   Here is a quote from Arnold Schwarzenegger, who certainly knows what it is to lift heavy things:   “Well, my favorite exercises I’m not able to do today, because of joint problems. For instance, the basic squat. I would love to be able to squat again, but in order to protect my knees I do mostly the Lifecycle and bicycling and the elliptical, but no more squats. The knees are like a tire. When the tires last up to 30,000 miles, you have to decide how you want to use them. Do you want to use them up in one year, or do you want to use them over a period of 10 years? It’s the same thing with joints. So, I decided 10 years ago, when I started to feel the wear and tear and was feeling pain in my joints, that now I should adjust my training and do more high reps with less resistance.”   Frank Zane recently said something very similar, but even more telling: Many people have asked me over the years what I would do differently if I had the chance to go back to my early years of training in the late 60's and early ’70's? In those days, I did what was necessary for me to win. This included training with heavy weights: a precursor for injury.  So if I could do it over again, I’d train with lighter weights, higher reps, no sets below 10 reps, with negatives slower than positives, and avoid injury. If I had done that, my physique wouldn’t have been quite as bulky, but with more definition and with less pain.   This says it all- One of the greatest physiques of all time, and he says LIGHTER weights would have been preferable... Take this as a wake up call.  I trained for years, quite heavy, but drew back around the age of 50 or so, because of increasing joint problems.  Just in time!  I have rehabbed my shoulders, my knees, and my elbows; largely by practicing isometrics, self-resisted exercise along with calisthenics and “virtual” resistance, or self-generated resistance within the muscle itself.  All of

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. Marcus Tullius Cicero This may seem a somewhat strange subject to bring up here on PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe, but it really is not.  Gratitude is indeed, as Cicero stated, the parent of all other virtues!   We are by nature avaricious; we want this, we want that, endlessly.  Especially in the modern era, it seems our material wants are insatiable; our real needs have been met in the modern westernized world for so long that we have trouble even distinguishing “needs” from “wants”.   I just got back from a long weekend at my parent’s house in suburban Chicago, and if ever someone had reason to express gratitude it is me- both of my parents are alive and well, living together in their house of 65 years together!  I realize this is a remarkable situation, since we all gathered, all 8 of their children (of which I am the eldest) at their house, to celebrate my mother’s 90th birthday!  My father is 95…   Their health is excellent, and they both go upstairs to their bedroom each night because, as my dad says, “Stairs are healthy!”  I believe he has proved his point over the years.  I am so grateful for my parents’ continued good health, and that very state of mind, that of being grateful, increases my own sense of well being, and that of others as well when I express my gratitude. If you express your gratitude on a daily basis, you will greatly increase your own sense of well-being and happiness.  It is impossible to sincerely express gratitude and feel angry and sad at the same time- the state of being grateful makes it impossible to also hang on to negative emotions and energy.   Even the ancients, like Cicero quoted before, had this figured out- although he undoubtedly expressed his gratitude “to the gods” of his day, the benefits of his expressing this gratitude were just as real as if these gods had existed.  It is the feeling and expressing of gratitude that is important, not so much as to just who you are expressing it to.  If you express and feel gratitude only to yourself for what you have, you will benefit just as much. So, be like me and Cicero- express your gratitude daily.  Out loud, to yourself, to your cat- it doesn’t really matter (although if you are thankful for a certain person or for what they have done for you it is wonderful to tell them that).  Just be thankful that you have nutritious food, a healthy body and mind, wonderful weather and friends, and the opportunity to get good sleep and exercise.  Each day we have a new blank slate upon which we can start our healthy life journal anew- this alone is a wonderful gift for which we should be grateful.   I went out earlier today, and it is almost 60 degrees here, sunny and gorgeous out!  I plan to exercise with my heavy hand dumbbells as I walk through the woods later, and plan to grill out barbecued baby back ribs today as well.  I’ll do my podcast for you after that, and then plan to write a little in my latest novel.  I have a book I’m reading for after that, and lots of new pictures to look at of my little 6 month old grandson-  I am so grateful for all that I have!  I’m sure you have just as much to be grateful for if you just think about it.  So do it- think about all that you have to be grateful for!   Then, thank the gods!

You know, I remember how exhausting it is to have a newborn child, even though it’s been a long time.  I remember vicariously now through my daughter, since now I am a grandfather!   Those little children take all we have in their early years, especially that first one.  It’s tough to get through, physically and emotionally intact, but it is the most important time in your (and their) young lives!  And so, what to do to remain fit and sane under the stress of sleep deprivation, no time, and lack of exercise? I think the first thing to understand is to maximize sleep.  I know this is the hardest thing of all to get hold of, but it is also the most crucial- if you don’t get enough sleep, it is WORSE for you than not getting enough exercise and substandard nutrition put together.  I am not kidding here: lack of sleep will make you insulin resistant, primed for fat gain and depression, and put you on the downhill slide faster than anything else.   When your baby sleeps- you sleep!  Get all that you can, it will help your mood, and if you are happy your baby will only benefit as well.   And if your baby is asleep and you are awake?  NOW you can fit in a little exercise!   Rebounders are ideal- just bounce away as your baby snoozes; you will be right there, energized and ready once the little tyke cries his awake signal.  And you can even watch television as you bounce, catching up on the real world news as your lymphatic system is put into overdrive, flushing out the waste products.  Nothing is better for this than rebounding! Another great “tool” is a kettle bell- they are cheap, they are becoming ubiquitous (Target and Walmart are awash with kettle bells now)- but, they are also incredibly effective for a total body workout.  The only real exercise in my mind for you to do with them is Kettle bell Swings:  Just swing them back between your legs, bending the knees, and then swinging them forwards.  Repeat, 30 - 50 reps is ideal.  Think of it as a total body exercise, that hits everything, but especially the legs, lower back, butt, hips, abs, and upper back- hey, sound good, new moms?? You will ONLY hear this from me, the redoubtable PaleoJay, but isometrics are ideal for new moms, and actually for anyone!  They are the least time sensitive exercise there is, there is no chance of injury, and they have more “bang for the buck” than any other type of exercise!  Here is how to do them: Standing, gradually flex your calves, then your thighs, your butt, and so on up your body, until you are doing a “most muscular” pose in a bodybuilding contest!  Really- hold that pose for maybe 10 seconds.   Relax, and then repeat.  3 times is ideal.  This one exercise, done daily, will do more for your total physique, and also your blood pressure and circulatory system than anything else.  And you can do it anywhere, and no one will even know you are doing it if, say, you are gassing up your car, flexing away in front of the pump… If you do it several times daily, you are really accomplishing something great for your body. Of course, pushups, all sorts of floor stretches, and pull-ups are great.  Just don’t expect too much of yourself, since the baby comes first- you will have more time later to sprint barefoot, and do pushups on your gymnastic rings! Squeeze in some exercise, you’ll feel SO much better.  SLEEP a LOT!  And, above all, maximize your (and your baby’s) nutrition- cut out GRAINS, vegetable oils, and almost all SUGAR!   Those are the biggies.  Most of what is the “enemy” in our modern day is self inflicted-  Low Fat! High Carb! Pharmaceutical Drugs! I know, you’ve been told over and over and over that all of these are great, and you should follow them… Don’t.  They are all negative, bad, and self serving prescriptions.   Eat plenty of good, God and Nature made fats, like coconut milk, pastured dairy, pastured meats and eggs!  Get out in the sunshine (no sunscreen chemicals!), just don’t get burned.  Get fresh air on a daily b

The current craze in urban circles is with “soups versus juicing”.  I know, because I had a good friend send me an article from the NY Times, a publication for which I generally have scant respect, but I know how highly regarded it is in elite circles.  I believe this unjustified regard is a holdover from the days when it was a wonderful publication, representing the best of a great city, the New York of 1940 and before.   Those days are long, long gone, regrettably!  New York and other major American cities have largely become “snake pits” of extreme liberal dogma, with rampant crime and opinions based nowhere in reality- I liken it to the decadent ideas of ancient Rome shortly before the fall, or the court of France under Louis the 14, just before the French revolution.  Imperial, top-down government given full sway, incredibly corrupt, and with no real concern about the people they were supposed to serve… We know what happened there, and we know what will happen now- the fall of modern top down government is long overdue, and inevitable.  I hope you protect yourself, and move to a more rural area, just as they did in ancient Rome before the fall; at least those who could. The catalyst to this was an article about how people in NYC are switching to soups from green smoothies, since the smoothies have too much fruit and thus sugar, and soups do not.  This is actually a great idea, overall, since most juices DO tend to have too much fruit, which all too many folks consider super healthy- but, I’m here to say, too much fruit is just too much sugar.  Fruit should always be kept at the minimum in smoothies; primarily berries and citrus.  Bananas are too high for most insulin resistant modern people to handle, as are large quantities of most other fruits. If you use BEETS for flavoring, not only won’t you have a green smoothie, (which kids find unappealing), you will have a red smoothie!  And if you use red berries like raspberries and strawberries, even more so!   Beets and carrots are both sweet, so use them in lieu of fruits for a tasty smoothie.  (Although, I hear some folks can’t abide the taste of beets- why then, just use carrots and berries, but I pity you!). My main point here, I believe, is to tell you to not “throw the baby out with the bath water”!  Green (and RED) smoothies are just as good as they ever were!  Don’t let the trendy be the enemy of the good.  Don’t abandon the wonderful nutrition of smoothies, just because the NY Times says “soups are more trendy”!   Avail yourself of BOTH.  Homemade, bone broth based soups are wonderful, health transforming foods, no doubt about it!  They have been largely abandoned by “modern” cooks, in favor of canned products, with nowhere near the nutrition of long simmered crockpots full of bones, collagen, vegetables and meat.   Go ye back in time Pilgrim, and revive the ancient art of soups made from bone broth- so I have been preaching for a long while! But, while you are back in the PAST; do NOT forget the wonders of the modern age, which includes blenders like the Vitamix, blenders that can pulverize and render unto you the total nutrition of the humble green vegetable, and the berry, and mix it together with all of the ingredients of the Paleo Smoothie, green OR red, that make it the most magical nutrition source since the fountain of youth. Use them both.  Soups are the best of the OLD WORLD.  Smoothies are the best of the NEW.   Don’t abandon the gun for the sword, or vice versa- both are valuable!

We are at a watershed moment in America, both in terms of our country and it’s precarious position (which is what most people are fixated on, besides their own bank accounts and the precariousness there!), but even more importantly in terms of the very health of our people. These same people are comforted, liking to say the “We have the best health system in the world!”   But, they are wrong- we have the best disease system in the world.  Our medical clinics have made a lucrative science out of managing disease, not curing it.  You can go to any medical clinic in this country, and they will treat the symptoms of your disease, and make no attempt to actually find the cause.  If you are very lucky, you will be given a 5 minute lecture telling you to “eat right, and exercise”, but there will be no particulars just how you are supposed to do that, and that will be the end of it, along with your latest prescription. 50% of all American adults has one or more chronic health conditions, and 25% have two or more.  Heart disease and cancer are the big two causes of death, and no medical center is really trying to cure them. Just manage the symptoms! In functional medicine, there are just a few pathologies that underlie ALL chronic disease: 1. A messed up gut, with a poor micro biome 2. Insufficient nutrition, from modern processed food crap food 3. Heavy metal and pesticide toxicity 4. Undetected underlying infection, from dental bacteria, and tick borne infections  5. Chronic system inflammation, which causes a breakdown in the immune system The thing a functional medical clinic will do is to deal with those pathologies, no matter what your modern disease.  They all stem from the same root causes:  1. Poor diet, without nearly enough natural, nutrient rich foods, poor lifestyle, with lots of stress and little to no proper exercise 2. Exposure to environmental toxins both by our city processed chemical and pesticide laden water, to non-organic fruits and vegetables, also loaded with pesticides, and glyphosate from our “immaculate” lawns and farm fields 3. Conventional medicines total disregard of these factors, making diagnosis and a real cure impossible For now, you have to do it yourself!  Try to eat really, really well- a Paleo Smoothie each day is a wonderful start!  Oh, I can’t call it a Green Smoothie anymore, since now my favorite variation is RED- I add in a beet!  Vastly amped up nutrition, and I can tell you that beets in your smoothie will lower your blood pressure- guaranteed! Besides eating well, you need to exercise in a natural, paleo manner, and attempt to lower your exposure to toxic chemicals as much as possible, by installing a vitamin C shower filter to block chlorasamines and chorine from being inhaled as you shower, and filtering your water if it is city water.  Do not use commercial toothpastes, makeup, lotions, shampoos or soaps; they are none of them natural anymore, and are slowly poisoning you.  And do NOT use Roundup or similar glyphosate poisons on your lawn- it is pure, unadulterated poison infecting both you, and especially your children. There is, however, a glimmer of hope for modern medical clinics: the Cleveland Clinic had launched a Center for Functional Medicine, run by Dr. Mark Hyman, who is a functional medical doctor of the highest order!  So, there is hope glimmering in the future.  Think how much insurance companies would save long term, if they spent more on testing and diagnosing a disease upfront, rather than spending thousands and thousands over the long-term managing just the symptoms? And, for another glimpse of hope, you can always get my new real, actual, paperback book from Amazon.com called PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe!  Here is the link to click on: http://www.amazon.com/PaleoJays-Smoothie-Cafe-Natural-Fitness/dp/1515034283/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8qid=1453589266sr=8-2keywords=paleojay%27s+smoothie+cafe There is, of course, still the ebook version as well, but the pa

Oftentimes I feel that the whole Paleo movement is just about repackaging timeless, age-old ideas into a modern format.  So much of the ancestral health movement is just that- ancestral!  This means time-tested, real world health solutions to real world problems.   The irony is that so many of what we think of as intractable problems with our health and diet have been dealt with and solved for centuries!  We have just come to the point where we don’t think we need to look to the past for answers, we just need to look to our medical professionals instead, since they already know the answers to everything health related… They don’t!  By and large our current “medical professionals” have thrown out the baby with the bath water- they have willy-nilly discarded the wisdom of the past, by and large, and replaced it with drug therapy.  This means treating the symptoms of a disease (dry mouth, stomach pain, joint pain, IBS, etc. etc. etc.), with a drug.  There is not even an attempt anymore to try to identify the cause, and actually cure the disease at its source! Many, many diseases and conditions have been found to be cured completely by proper, paleo nutrition, meaning replacing modern processed and altered foods with traditional, nature and God made foods that humankind has been eating for millennia!  But somehow, we have reached the point where such simple, common sense solutions as eliminating altered grains such as wheat, cutting way back on sugar (which was consumed very sparingly thought our history), and actually eating and prizing dietary fats (which were highly prized throughout most of our successful evolution), these ideas have been denigrated!  We simply need to get back to basics- back to the future!  EAT as our ancestors ate! (High fat, very low carb- carbs were hard to come by throughout most of history)!   MOVE as our ancestors moved!  NOT lifting super heavy, joint destroying weights regularly, or running very long distances, (which also destroys joints and muscle)- simply by walking around a lot.  Like our great grandparents did- walking into town.  To the post office, the grocery store, the barber or hairdresser.  To the hardware store, to buy nails to construct a shed yourself, and maybe some cement to mix and pour (yourself!) in a wheelbarrow, and lay down for the floor… YOU GET THE IDEA!?  We were always meant to “do for ourselves”, and that does not mean building a giant 401K or IRA by being a business tycoon, and then expecting “others” to do everything for us that now we don’t need to do for ourselves, since we are too “above it”.  That’s not how life works! If you DO become a big Richie Rich, and can hire everyone to cater to your every whim- that is when you start to die.   Movement is life.  Real work and striving is life!  If you reach the point where you just sit while you are catered to, you might as well be in a nursing home… you are no longer a vital, valued human being, with skills and the ability to work for the “tribe”.  In paleolithic human terms, you are already dead. And, even though you have gained millions, perhaps, you would have been far better served by spending your life doing what you could for yourself, exercising daily in a perfectly paleo and sustainable way to preserve your joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments, and maintaining your flexibility, strength and endurance to what it was when you were a young man or woman! If you had only eaten real foods, and lived as humans are evolved to live, maybe you would not have wound up in a hospital bed at an early age, and been forced to spend all of the money you had accumulated instead of actually living a real, natural, paleo life… Indeed, health is the new wealth!  WITHOUT your health, and the ability to actually enjoy and experience true life, movement, and happiness-Wealth is absolutely meaningless.

pqtd 100 Keep it Real!As we approach the new year, let’s not make a million resolutions and then fall short by March or so trying for all of those goals. Instead, make one simple resolution that, if faithfully kept, will gradually and inevitably bring us closer to all of those other ones- you know, the ones where you will lose fat weight, exercise regularly, accomplish more both at work and at home, etc. etc. etcetera!This year, resolve simply to accomplish something real, each and every day!That doesn’t sound too onerous, does it?  It’s actually kind of open-ended, in that what you accomplish each day does not have to include all of your many resolutions.  What I mean is, let’s say your first real accomplishment could be simply listing everything you hope to get done by next January!  Be realistic, but also put down everything you would really like to get done.  Want to get fit?  Write down a one day program to get you started, perhaps starting with setting a reasonable bed time; one which ensures that you will get up 45 minutes early, but still gives you a good 8-9 hours of sleep before getting up.  This one accomplishment, on day one, already sets up two incredibly powerful giant steps towards your goal: not only are you getting up early to exercise, you are also making sure you get a solid night of sleep! Win-win!You might also jot down a good home exercise program you intend to follow the next day, including pushups, sit ups, floor stretches, and isometrics.  Perfectly Paleo Exercise, my e-book on exercise, and my newest book PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe, which is an e-book now and soon to be available on paperback can help here, but of course instruction is widely available on this topic on line and in print.  www.paleojay.com has lots and lots of exercise ideas on it!After a few days of this real exercise and sleeping accomplishment, you will start to feel better and better. (Ample sleep and exercise will do that for you!)   Don’t kill yourself in the exercise part, especially at first- you are not exercising to look good for one day; you are exercising for yourself, for a lifetime!  Slow and steady…See?  You have already accomplished what 9 out of 10 people resolve to do, and don’t.  And I’m sure you have other resolutions, but these two will help dramatically with those as well.  A well rested, not groggy but positively vibrant you will head off to work, ready to accomplish there as well!  Once you are moving ahead, in anything important like this, you begin to want to accomplish more “real” things- here are some suggestions, but feel free to insert your own ideas:  Organize your bedroom closet, clean up your garage, clean up your diet, clean out your kitchen of all non-paleo garbage foods, plant a vegetable garden, connect with a local farmer or rancher for pastured meat and eggs, join Thrive market for quality foods, soaps, supplements and cleaning supplies; I’m sure you get the idea!Just do one at a time.  One day, you may decide to add in meditation, as I did.  Just sit quietly in a comfortable chair, close your eyes, and concentrate on one thing.  If your attention wanders, gently bring it back to that.  I just say “one” to myself, over and over.  10 to 15 minutes is ideal, but start with 2 or 3.  Another day, you can clean out your bedroom closet- trust me, this one accomplishment will inspire you, on other days, to do more “tidying”, it is that satisfying and liberating!It all comes back to just doing something real every day.  You will still have time to do other things, but will feel so much better, and accomplish so much more, by first doing some real thing that you have decided on.  Accomplishments feed on themselves, achieving one thing makes you want to accomplish one more, and one more after that… and you are on your way to a great year!