Tag Archives: organic

Food and nutrition labels

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Happy Monday students,

Four week ago I discussed generic health advice and how it’s a one-size-fits-all health advice crap sandwich. You know, the kind of advice that says we should consume a specific amount of calories each day, that we must weigh a specific amount in relation to our height, that we must drink a specific (copious) amount of water each day, or that we need to avoid or consume specific foods all to be “healthy.” Today’s post stems off of that – off of the blind advice we’re told on a daily basis by health professionals – by highlighting some of the marketing campaigns said professionals swear by. And I cannot help to wonder if they really know what they’re talking about: Have they done their research? Research as in not just Google-ing a few articles that all support the same claim. Research as in understanding the physiology of the body, it’s mechanisms, and how it acts or reacts. Research as in understanding the food, it’s properties, and how it acts or reacts within the body.

  • Improves digestion
  • Boosts metabolism
  • Supports immune system
  • Detoxifies
  • Heart healthy
  • Lowers cholesterol
  • Improved mental clarity
  • Increased sexual stamina

The first marketing campaign that comes to mind is “Cheerio’s can lower cholesterol in two weeks.” Does anyone know what that actually means? Does anyone actually understand the mechanism by which Cheerios – a cereal made out of genetically modified oats and corn, and synthetic vitamins – can lower cholesterol? Do most people understand what cholesterol is and its purpose in the body? Do people most people understand how food affects cholesterol levels? Or are most people on the level that high cholesterol is bad, low cholesterol is good, and to avoid food with cholesterol because too much is bad? Oh, then there’s my favorite campaign, “part of a heart-healthy diet.” What the HELL does heart-healthy mean?! System of systems. One food does not benefit only one part of the body. System. Of. Systems.

I would really like to see the studies that allude to such claims. I would really like to see all of the stipulations that go into a claim, too, because of a little thing called subjectivity: Who was the study done on? Male? Female? Child? Animal? What age? Other current health factors? Exercise program? Genetic factors? General diet? And, probably the biggest factor, who funded the study?

I want to open some perspectives on what we become numb to and sheepishly believe. Before you go reading food labels as scripture and devouring every last morsel to boost, support, lower, or improve something within your physical self, take a moment to gain perspective with your all-encompassing non-physical self as to who is making the decisions here… your better judgement or the company’s fancy label. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve overheard two women of college age in a local coffee shop conversing about beauty products and superfoods, exclaiming how said factors can do wonders for the skin and metabolism and yadda, yadda, yadda. Ok, maybe I’ve heard it only twice BUT THOSE TWO TIMES were significant enough to stick and make me think… I can’t tell if they actually know what they’re talking about or if they’re really good at memorizing labels.

 

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Recommendation: The metabolic blueprint cookbook

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Today, I’m plugging a newly-released Cookbook, which its recipes are largely based off of the dietary recommendations of Dr. Ray Peat. This is a different kind of cookbook because it also provides physiological explanations as to why specific recipes, foods and their respective nutrients are beneficial to/work synergistically with the body. The book is part of East West Healing’s Metabolic Blueprint Program. The program offers enthusiasts a basic platform to (whole)isitically understand the body, the metabolism, the metabolic mechanisms/reactions, and their relation to healthy/unhealthy biological activities.

Here are some words about the cookbook…

The Metabolic Blueprint Cookbook is one of a kind, must-read – 100+ page packed with factual information – from the basics on macro nutrients to defining what foods were designed for human consumption, to understanding how foods can heal your metabolism. More than ever before, people around the world are becoming increasingly health-minded – conscientious of the foods they eat and focusing on establishing a proper dietary regimen. However, nutritional myths currently flood the information super highway.

“The industrialization of food has degraded the actual materials that are available, but it’s still possible, with a cookbook such as this, to have a healthful, varied and enjoyable diet.”

-Ray Peat PhD.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

  1. The Basics: Understanding Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats, Coconut Oil, Gelatin, Salt, Calcium, Dairy and Food List
  2. Staple recipes: Coconut mayonnaise, roasted garlic, homemade sweetened condensed milk….and much more!
  3. Gelatin/Jello/Custard recipes
  4. Drinks, Shakes and Smoothy recipes
  5. Egg recipes
  6. Vegetables/Salads/Snack recipes
  7. Marrows and Broth recipes
  8. Shellfish/Fish recipes
  9. Meat recipes
  10. Deserts and Treat recipes
  11. Home-made Ice Cream recipes
If you are intrigued by the research/work of Ray Peat, Broda Barnes, Hans Selye, Gilbert Ling, Francis Pottenger, Weston Price, Josh Rubin, Chris Dillon, Danny Roddy, and Matt Stone, then this cookbook is right up your alley.

If you’d like to discuss this perspective along with other health-related insights, please contact me for a FREE Conversation.

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Sunday wrap up july 15th

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Miss any posts this week?

Check out the blog archives for all posts!

 

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Eating on-the-go and dining out tips

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  • Pack snacks and drinks – Your body needs energy/calories to work efficiently. In my traveling experiences, sleep was hard to come by and I was on-the-go from the time I woke up until I went to sleep. Providing the body with a constant [external] source of energy so it doesn’t have to tap into its own reserves is very important and very pro-metabolic (well, this pertains to any situation). Fruit, dried fruit, cheese, carbonated water, orange juice, coconut water, milk, cane-sugar soda, and carrots all make great, nutritious, and easy grab-n-go snacks to keep yourself energized and hydrated. Keep a small cooler and/or a small bag in your car or to carry around.
  • Make grocery store runs or pit-stops – These babies will always have fresh food and produce, and will always be much cheaper than any eatery or convenience store. Check out eatwild.com and livingharvest.com for a list of nearby organics.
  • Use Google Maps to your advantage – Whenever you get to a new city or area, whip out your Google Maps and search a few of the following key words to weigh your options: Organic, Co-op, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Grocery, Market, or Produce. 
  • Ask for food to be prepped in butter – Many restaurants use crappy/spoiled vegetable oils to cook their foods, but they most likely have a stash of butter lying around somewhere. Using butter will ensure than you’re not exposed to trans fats or any rancid oils because butter has a high saturated fat content, which is highly stable to heat and pressure.
  • Ask for food to not be heated in a microwave – Microwaves pretty much kills off any nutritional value the food once yielded and can create carcinogens within the food. This is no bueno. Food can be heated on the stove top or, if you want to get nuts, just ask for it cold. Side dishes tend to be prepped in a microwave so keep that in mind.
  • Look at the menu before you go out - If you know where you’re going to eat, save some time and alleviate some pressure by checking out the menu online to get a sense of what you’d like to order/eat. Ever go to a restaurant and are the last to order because you don’t know what you want, then you order for the sake of ordering and end up not getting what you really wanted because you felt rushed? It happens and planning ahead can negate any “poor food” choices.
  • Don’t go overboard – It’s hard to be perfect when you’re dining out or traveling. And even if you are “perfect,” how the hell is that an enjoyable life? Enjoy the fruits, but also put them into perspective with your overall goals, wants, needs, and happiness.

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Lita Lee’s diet do’s and don’ts

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Today’s post highlights Lita Lee’s diet recommendations from her free monthly newsletter along with my perspectives in plain text…

Avoid

  • Synthetic vitamins, minerals and isolated substances. Agree. Most of the vitamins added to our foods are impure, shipped-from-overseas, made-in-a-lab, laced-with-metals, I-guess-you-can-call-them vitamins. Purchase non-fortified or non-”added to” foods/drinks.
  • Junk foods, refined foods, fast foods, and fake foods, especially fake sugars (NutraSweet, Splenda or Sucralose, Sacharin, etc.). Agree. All sweeteners are chemicals and toxins to the body. People think they’re “healthier” by avoiding sugar and opting for sugar-free, but they’re just making their body work harder and burdening it more. The body can use sugar – no matter what the source – but it has a shitty time digesting or utilizing fake foods.
  • PUFA (all omega-3 and -6 oils) – all oils that are liquid at room temperature (such as flaxseed, fish oils, borage, Canola, and all seed, nut and bean oils, etc.). Avoid all foods containing PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids) such as most bread, most cereals, vegetable juices, etc. When you suck the juice from a vegetable, you get various amounts of toxic PUFA with no protection from the mother fiber. Agree. Polyunsaturated fats are highly toxic and unstable on a molecular level. These can convert into trans fats and are found EVERYWHERE in our food supply – even “healthy” foods contain toxic PUFAs. Avoid omega-6 as much as you can. Omega-3′s are healthy, but should not be heated as they are unstable molecules under pressure. To protect yourself in an PUFA meal – add some saturated fat (animal fat, butter, dairy, coconut oil) to the meal to slow down the oxidation (rancidity, inflammation) of the fat molecules within the body. 
  • Farmed fish and argibusiness animals – all are fed soy, chemicals and drugs. Agree. They are fed unnatural diets, which completely compromises their immune system, so since they’re sick 24/7 they must be administered antibiotics and other steroids to keep them “healthy.” Humans experience this wild reality, too, ya know. 
  • Deli meats containing by-products of the meat industry. Agree. A lot of deli meats are the scraps and leftovers pressed into a slab of meat. Then they’re dressed in nitrates, artificial flavorings, and nutritionally-void salt. No bueno.
  • Avoid or use rarely: all gluten and high PUFA (omega-6 and -6 oils) foods which include seeds, nuts, nut butters, beans (except green), wheat, rye, barley. Raw seeds and nuts are even more toxic than roasted seeds and nuts because they contain protease inhibitors which stress the kidneys. Sprouted seeds contain various amount of cyanide. Eating 100 grams of alfalfa sprouts can be lethal. Agree. Gluten can “burn” through the mucosa intestinal lining and create holes within the digestive organs. Most nuts and seeds contain a high PUFA content and they also yield anti-digestive properties (this is a natural defense mechanism to ward off animals from eating the crops prior to harvest – the same goes for grains, too!). The alfalfa thing is wild – I’ve never heard of it but damn if that’s true. Death by alfalfa!
  • Raw cruciferous vegetables – they must be cooked to destroy the thyroid inhibitors (goitergens). These include broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, collard greens, Chinese broccoli, kohlrabi, bok choy, turnip root and greens, and rutabaga. Fermenting cruciferous vegetables does not destroy goitergens. Not all good things are necessarily “good” and in the case of cruiciferous vegetables… raw isn’t too good. I wouldn’t avoid this all together, but just make sure they’re thoroughly cooked before consumption if you want to keep your metabolic rate in tip top shape (hint: metabolism and thyroid function are bros). 

Seek

  • Organic whole foods as best you can. Whole milk. The whole egg. The whole grain. Agree. I get that organic is “expensive” but you are investing in yourself. People will spend so much on clothes, cars, toys, houses, etc. but they consider the fuel that keeps them alive to not be a worthy investment if a gallon of milk is 6-8 bucks. Those who are not-so-well-off – do the best that you can.
  • Organic, pastured, grass fed, soy-free animal protein. Most chickens, turkey and pork are fed soy (in the US) even if they are labeled organic and free range. Same with eggs. Agree. Eggs are tricky. “Vegetarian fed” eggs are still fed grains and soy, and not a chicken’s natural diet of insects and worms. So you do your best with what you know. If organics aren’t around, try local to minimize the transport time and possible greater toxin exposure.
  • Organic oats, rice, and corn are good. Also, heirloom grains are good (spelt, quinoa, kamut, amaranth, etc.). Make sure the heirloom breads contain no PUFA. Agree and disagree. Some people can’t do grains at all for many reason: their digestive system can be compromised from years of irritation and inflammation, they can have a food intolerance, a food allergy, and their digestive system simply may not be able to handle the grain. Always soak and wash rice thoroughly prior to consumption. Make sure your corn is non-GMO because 86%+ of the U.S. corn (26% world-wide) is an unregulated, government-backed science experiment. 
  • Carrots, beets, onions, cucumbers, squash and eggplant. Agree. Root vegetables are naturally anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-parasitic because they must protect themselves while growing in the earth. This protective quality translates when they are digested within the body and can help balance intestinal bacteria. Carrots should be eaten raw and consumed on a daily basis as they’re extremely protective against pathogens and increased estrogen hormones produced within the intestinal tract from stress. 
  • Fresh salad greens (except for head lettuce). Yes and no. I’m not too well-versed on greens aside from their vitamin content. I’ve heard that raw greens are high in PUFAs so they should be avoided for that reason but they’re also high in vitamins/minerals and when cooked down in water it can be consumed as a natural “vitamin water.”
  • Fruits and potatoes are the only two foods that do not contain PUFA. Fruit juices are high in salicylates so it’s like drinking organic aspirin (very anti-inflammatory). Potatoes are the best vegan source of protein and have an excellent protein efficiency ratio. Agree. Sing it, sister.
  • Use only coconut oil in you rcooking. This is the healthiest fat you can eat and very prothyroid. Butter and olive oil are healthy, too, but not for cooking. Choosing/consuming the right cooking oil is the key to avoiding rancid (trans) fats and limiting an inflammatory response. Coconut oil is 98% saturated fat and is extremely stable at high temperatures and pressures. It is the go-to cooking oil for everything and anything. Try it and love it. Butter has a tendency to burn and it also is not a pure saturated fat; its unsaturated fats are prone to spoiling, too. Olive oil is definitely all it’s cracked up to be… just not when it’s heated. Use it topically and keep it in a dark bottle in a dark, cool place. 
  • Non-iodized white sea salt and coconut water. Avoid colored salts. The color is either dirt or toxins. For example, pink or orange color in Himalayan sea salt is toxic inorganic iron. Agree aaaand I’m still understanding iron’s role within the body. Salt isn’t unhealthy, but its source and processing play a big role. From what I gather, iron can be highly toxic in excess. The body has an extremely hard time of eliminating excess iron because it doesn’t have a true mechanism to get rid of the stuff. There are some tricky diet approaches to get iron out, but the best approach is to avoid iron-rich foods all together, one of those being a deep sea salt [that's colored or moist].
  • Organic dairy products, raw if possible: whole milk, kefir, yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese. Agree and disagree. I love me some dairy, especially milk and cheese. The yogurt recommendation gets me because it’s lactic acid content, which is an inflammatory/stress response from cells, can do more harm than good (especially in an compromised metabolism or digestive system). If people are eating dairy to provide the gut with good bacteria… what about the concept of just balancing the bacteria that’s naturally in there now? If you think that you have more bad than good bacteria, then take a look at the diet. Treat the cause with a diet and lifestyle shift, not the symptoms with a band-aid.
  • Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) from lanolin is one vitamin I recommend for everyone. Agree. Vitamin D is huge for immune health and is a synergist for calcium.
  • Turmeric (from New Chapter) is an important herb I also recommend. I’m not well-versed in Turmeric but I am familiar with its ability to aid in digestion.

Pro-thyroid Diet

  • 4 oz (25 grams) organic animal protein 3x/day, fruits 3x/day, fresh fruit juices 3x/day, carrots daily, white sea salt on all foods and in juices, coconut oil as your main oil and Great Lakes Gelatin as the best protein powder. NOTE: this is the adult amount and would be less for a child. This is a pretty standard and generic recommendation. Three meals may not be ideal for those on a broken metabolism, which will require someone to eat more frequently so their blood sugar doesn’t drop and create a stress hormone response. A high amount of animal flesh protein can actually be anti-metabolic and highly inflammatory, which isn’t what anyone wants and isn’t available in small orders. Great Lakes Gelatin is an extremely pure and beneficial protein, but it’s expensive. Carrots should be raw and consumed in between breakfast and lunch to aid with digestion and detoxification for the remainder of the day into the next.
  • Eat ripe fruits (except grapefruit) and drink fruit juices (except apple or grapefruit juices) daily. In a ripe fruit (bananas, pears, peaches, nectarines, etc.), the starch is converted into healthy sugars. Agree. Fruit is your friend. Grapefruit juice can contain a high amount of phytoestrogens, which are nay bueno when the goal is to increase metabolic rate and efficiency.
  • White sea salt (not commercial salt) is very important and should be consumed on all foods and in fruit juices. Agree. Salt your juices. It sounds wild but it works synergistically with the sugar and mineral content. A small pinch of salt will do just fine.
  • Drink organic coffee (not decaf) with milk, cream or 1/2 & 1/2. Green, black, and white teas absorb lots of fluoride from water, air, and soil – I don’t recommend them. Agree. Most decaf coffees are treated with formaldehyde to strip the caffeine content. If you’re a tea-lover, make sure you’re drinking it with pure water: get yourself a good filtering system or purchase glass-bottled water and heat it up on the stove as needed.
  • Do not drink water from plastic bottles. Not only do they contain endocrine disruptors, but many brands are tap water plus added synthetic vitamins/minerals and tons of plastic bottles are contaminating our oceans and killing our marine life. Avoid RO and distilled water – it’s dead and destructured. Agree. It’s wild what most companies try to sell as “healthy” water when it’s really just science.
  • Carbonated water is good for you if it doesn’t contain fluoride. My favorite brands include Perrier and Pellegrino, both of which come in glass bottles. Agree. The CO2 (carbon dioxide) provides the body with energy on a cellular level – it’s an energy-antagonist! On top of that, most carbonated waters are mineral waters so there isn’t a need to add salt! Good stuff.
  • Use an ion exchange filter to remove fluoride and all the other impurities from your sink and your shower. I recommend Tim Hickey of Friends of Water. Agree. And I recommend Tyent. I had access to one for a while. It was awesome.

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Fluoride is terrible

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Don’t believe all of the government bullshit. Here are some of the dangers and extremely unhealthy qualities of fluoride via…

  1. Fluoridation is a violation of the individual’s right to informed consent to medication.
  2. Fluoride is not an essential nutrient. No biological process in animals or humans has been shown to depend on it. On the contrary, it is known that fluoride can interfere with many important biological processes and vital cellular constituents, such as enzymes and G-proteins. This makes fluoride potentially toxic even at low doses.
  3. Children in fluoridated countries are greatly over-exposed to fluoride. When fluoridation began in 1940s, 10% of children were expected to develop dental fluorosis (damage to the enamel involving discoloration and/or mottling) in its very mild form. Today, the prevalence in fluoridated countries is much higher—41% of all American children aged 12-15 are now impacted with some form of dental fluorosis (CDC, 2010), with over 10% in categories (mild, moderate and severe) that may need expensive treatment.
  4. The chemicals used to fluoridate water supplies are largely hazardous by-products of the fertilizer industry. These chemicals cannot be disposed of into the sea by international law, and have never been required to undergo randomized clinical trials for safety or effectiveness by any regulatory agency in the world. The U.S. FDA classifies fluoride as an “unapproved drug.”
  5. There is mounting evidence that swallowing fluoride causes harm. Fluoride has been found to damage soft tissues (brain, kidneys, and endocrine system), as well as teeth (dental fluorosis) and bones (skeletal fluorosis). There are now 24 studies that show a relationship between fairly modest exposure to fluoride and reduced IQ in children. Two of these studies suggest that the threshold for damage may be reached at fluoride levels similar to those used in water fluoridation.
  6. Swallowing fluoride provides little or no benefit to the teeth. Even promoters of fluoridation agree that fluoride works topically (on the outer surface of the teeth), and not via some internal biological mechanism (CDC, 1999). A recent U.S. study found no relationship between the amount of fluoride a child ingested and level of tooth decay (Warren et al., 2009). Topical treatment in the form of fluoridated toothpaste is universally available, so it is a mistake to swallow fluoride and expose all the tissues of the body to its harmful effects.
  7. Human breast milk is very low in fluoride. Breast milk averages only 0.007 ppm F (NRC, 2006). Even in areas with high fluoride levels, nursing children receive only a small fraction of the mother’s fluoride intake, ensuring that the sensitive brains and bodies of breast-fed infants are protected from the developmental effects of this toxin. In contrast, a bottle-fed baby in a fluoridated area (0.7-1.2 ppm F) gets up to 200 times more fluoride than a breast-fed baby, resulting in an increased risk of dental fluorosis and other adverse effects.
  8. Once fluoride is added to water, there is no way to control who gets the drug or how much is ingested. No medical follow-up or monitoring of fluoride levels in citizens’ urine or bones is being carried-out by health agencies and so no record is being kept of adverse effects or daily or accumulated exposures.
  9. Certain subgroups are particularly affected by fluoridation. People vary considerably in their sensitivity to any toxic substance, including fluoride. Infants, the elderly, diabetics, those with poor nutrition (e.g. low calcium and low iodine), and those with kidney disease are especially vulnerable to specific adverse effects of fluoride. Black and Mexican-Americans have a higher prevalence of the more severe forms of dental fluorosis (see Table 23, CDC, 2005).
  10. Fluoridation discriminates against those with low incomes. People on low incomes are least able to afford avoidance measures (reverse osmosis or bottled water), or treatment of dental fluorosis (see Point 3) and other fluoride-related ailments (see Point 5).

More information can be found here, here, here, here, here, and is your water fluoridated?

Some tips to avoid fluoridated water

  • Buy yourself an ion exchange filter or a reverse osmosis filter. There’s a good and bad with both, but I feel that ion exchange filters are more versatile as they provide an opportunity to shift the water’s pH for various living purposes, are more reliable to filter, and are less [water] wasteful in comparison. IEF’s can be somewhat costly, but they’re worth the investment because they remove a great deal of pathogens, bacteria, heavy metals (fluoride), and chemicals, which contaminate many public water systems. Reverse Osmosis filters completely strip the water of everything it yields, which is good because you’re not getting the crap, but bad because it screws with the water’s molecular structure and also strips any nutrient-value it once yielded. I recommend RO’s as a decent house-filtering system but not-so-much for drinking water. Either way, do your research and always add a pinch high-quality salt to any water post-filter to provide yourself with trace minerals and the key factors in hydration.
  • Avoid tap water all together, purchase glass-bottled water or find yourself a filtered water dispenser to fill by-the-gallon jugs such as the one’s provided at whole foods.
  • Purchase non-fluoride-and-non-crap toothpaste.
  • Keep in mind that dining, eating, or drinking out may expose you to non-filtered fluoridated water: restaurant water, coffee, tea, lemonade, sodas, soups, oatmeal, etc.

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The no-detox-diet approach to detox

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A friend recently asked me about Detox Pads and if they’re legit or not. I’ve heard of them through my sporadic late-night-half-asleep-trying-to-fall-back-asleep infomercial viewing parties, but I couldn’t tell you a damn thing about them until I embarked on a Google session. Just as I suspected – crap! I don’t think they’re crap because they don’t work or they’re a waste of money or because there are better-spent detox mechanisms. No. They’re crap because that’s not how the freaking detoxification system is meant to function!

There are TONS of detoxes that claim to work: detox diets (only 1 day, no 2 days, no 3 days, no 5 days, no 7 days, no 14 days, no only 30 days to detoxify possible years upon years worth of toxin exposure!), detox liquids, detox pills, detox powders, detox machines, detox baths, detox exercises, detox retreats, detox this, and detox that. Some of these platforms may yield results, some may do nothing, and some could make matters worse without a good idea of why there’s a need to detox in the first place. The bottom line is: a true detox occurs when the body is operating at a high metabolic rate, is at a 98 F or slight above temperature, is digesting, assimilating, and excreting properly, and is balancing hormones accordingly. 

Question: Does anyone really know how the detoxification system works? Because the last time I checked, the detoxification system is one of the most intricate and intelligent systems on this planet and it knows damn well what it is doing. It knows how to detoxify in a pro-metabolic environment, but it also knows how to keep itself sustained in a highly toxic, anti-metabolic, and/or an over-burdened not-so-ideal living environment that prevents it from fully doing its job in a timely and effective manner. Ya with me?

A detoxification system that cannot fully/properly/efficiently/effectively detoxify is a SYMPTOM to a greater cause. The detox system isn’t the problem, it can be found within an imbalance, unawareness, irresponsibility, or neglect of the following:

  • Daily caloric intake - Eating enough daily calories to sustain your body’s daily needs to operate daily, function daily, and perform daily human body activities… daily (the detox organs need energy, too, ya know!)
  • Hydration - Consuming enough water, salt, potassium, magnesium, and sugar which provide cellular energy, nutrient delivery, and flush the body of [cellular] waste
  • Environmental toxins - Avoiding plastics, BPA, phytoestrogens, gases, smoke, mercury [fillings] [fish], lead, arsenic, all fluoride, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, inhalation or skin exposure to various chemical-based sprays, lotions, or applicants (household sprays, cosmetics, deodorants, sunscreen, perfume, etc.)
  • Digestive and immune health - Maintaining a balanced ratio of good:bad intestinal bacteria. Maintaining an acidic stomach pH to prevent pathogens, fungi, parasites, and harmful bacteria from entering the body. Consuming a diet high in fat-soluble vitamins to build immunity. Increasing dietary saturated fats while decreasing pro-inflammatory polyunsaturated fats/omega-6. Limiting food allergens and irritants such as lecithin, carrageenan, added gums, added cultures, added [synthetic] vitamins, unfermented [gmo] soy, [gmo] wheat, gluten, and [gmo] corn (hfcs, maltodextrin, dextrose).

Maintaining metabolic health through pro-metabolic diet and lifestyle choices while simultaneously limiting one’s exposure to anti-metabolic circumstances is crucial in maintaining not only detoxification system health, but overall the-body-is-a-system-of-systems health! 

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Sunday wrap up july 8th

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Miss any posts this week?

 

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Unhealthy symptoms and causes

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Originally, I started this post geared towards headache-prevention and my thoughts as to what could be its various causes. For some reason I always get the headache question from my friends – hey, I’ve had a headache all day and I don’t know why so I figured to ask you - and most of the time it just requires a small effort on their end to reflect, gain perspective, and put the pieces together themselves. Headaches (amongst other dis-eases) are always the symptom to a greater cause: they just don’t happen, there’s a reason why they occur and it’s good to pay attention because your body is trying to tell you something important. So, as I got more involved with writing I realized that my perspectives and suggestions are really geared towards all types of “symptoms” – headaches, stomach aches, sleeplessness, restless leg, fatigue, swelling, muscle spasms, constipation, weight gain, muscle loss, dizziness, fainting, brain fog, forgetfulness, etc. – and that a universal post would make more sense.

Of course, it’s better to take the steps to prevent symptoms before they occur (awareness, priorities, responsibility), but sometimes it takes the experience of discomfort to help put comfort into perspective and how it can be achieved. Below are a few simple thoughts as to what could be causing various “dis-eases”…

  • Hydration is usually my first thought: What/how much have you had to drink today/in the past few days? Were you dehydrated a few days ago and never caught up? How frequently do you urinate? What color was your urine? Dark yellow urine = dehydrated. Clear urine = over-hydration. Light yellow = hydrated. Do you consume Salt regularly or do you limit its intake? Dietary Salt can provide potassium and magnesium; all three are big factors in hydration and cellular function (add salt to drinks or food). Epsom Salt baths can also provide hydration through skin absorption (just make sure they’re not overwhelmingly hot and long because that situation can create a stress hormone reaction, encourage hypoglycemia and use up all stored sugar = light headed, dizzy, faintness, shaky hands, muscle atrophy, cortisol/adrenaline rush).
  • Nutrition is next: What/how much have you eaten today or in the past few days? Are you eating proper meals or just picking on things? I come across many people who don’t eat breakfast or will “forget” to eat dinner the previous night or may go a whole day without eating because they were “busy.” My thought: What fuel does the body to be busy, to operate, to expend and create energy? Food! Make time or get into the habit of putting it on your daily schedule. Yeah, it’s important to eat the right food, in the right ratio and at the right time but for energy’s sake just make sure that you’re providing yourself with some calories.
  • Sleep: How much have you slept in the past few days? Did you experience a restful night’s sleep or was it tossing, turning, and waking up intermittently? Ok, so sleeping is one thing, sleeping enough is another, sleeping at the right times is next, and sleeping well ties it all together. Hydration and nutrition affect sleeping patterns, too: dehydration or malnourishment (not enough caloric energy) can disrupt sleeping patterns because the body also needs energy to rest effectively. I’d like to see people take sleep more seriously and not just write it off as a lazy-man’s game.
  • Exercise: How much and how often do you exercise? Are you overtraining? Are you staying hydrated, nourished, and sleep enough (all energy input) to compliment your energy output? Exercise is a major stressor on the body – it breaks down muscle and depletes energy. Without a complimentary diet and lifestyle, exercise can be an extremely hindering activity in achieving health. 
  • Digestion: Are your bowel movements like clockwork? Do you go regularly (1-3x daily) and eliminate fully? Are they healthy BM’s? Do you experience bloating, gas, fatigue, or mood swings after eating certain foods? It is important to eat right. It is even more important that you are able to digest, utilize, and eliminate food properly. What good does food do if the body cannot even absorb it or if it becomes “stuck” within the intestinal tract? You are what you eat. You are what you digest and absorb. You are what you don’t eliminate. 
  • Posture: Do you sit up straight? Do you look down when you walk? Are you shoulders rounded? Is your spine straight? Does your neck align with your back to align with your pelvis? Do you wear restricting clothing that doesn’t allow for proper movement or circulation? Posture is important for all bodily functions: breathing, thinking, drinking, eating, digestion, eliminating, moving, and sleeping. Any sort of imbalance or “kink” can throw one or more things off and can cause the body to find other round-about ways to function.
  • Mental/Emotional Stressors: What’s on your mind lately? Do you have work, school, family, social, relationship, or self-image on your mind? Are you happy? The mind-body connection is real and it’s an important factor. Non-physical stress can very well lead to physical dis-ease.

So, those are some of my thoughts without going too in depth or in great detail as to what may be the “simple” causes to many of life’s unhealthy symptoms. Bring some awareness into your thoughts simply by taking perspective and reflecting on the symptoms to find the underlying cause. We all know why our body may be out of balance, in pain, tired, aching, or sore. It is a matter of looking within to find the answer from self.

The answer is within the question.

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12 totally awesome exercise tips!

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  1. Increase sugar consumption - Sugar (carbohydrate) is the body’s primary fuel source. To limit sugar is like limiting gas for your car. Unfortunately (yet fortunately), the body can find ways around limited sugar intake and will MacGuyver other means to produce energy, which usually result in cut homeostasis corners and hormone imbalances. Every single cell and every single bacterial organism in your body uses sugar as their go-to food. There are over 50 trillion cells in the human body and bacterial cells outnumber those cells 10 to 1. Say you were the Ruler of a village and you decided to completely cut off the people’s food supply… what do you think will happen? They’ll find ways to get by in the interim, but you better believe that those people will eventually revolt the hell out of you and bring you down to Chinatown. Sugar is rapidly consumed/used/converted/burned by the body in a state of stress (exercise, dietary, allergens, intolerances, emotional unhappiness, sleep patterns, etc.) and, with that in mind, sugar (and salt!) is extremely therapeutic for the Adrenal Glands (which produce/regulate the stress hormone Cortisol). So, without an ample supply (stored and consumed) of therapy the body becomes very susceptible to stress. Note that all sugars/carbohydrates are not created equal and they all do not assimilate in the body in the same manner.
  2. Increase salt consumption – Say you’re excessively dehydrated to the point where you have to go to the hospital. What do they hook you up to? A saline-solution IV a.k.a. a SALT DRIP. Salt is bad for us? Well, that depends on the type of salt, but, in-general, it’s an essential nutrient. A good-sourced Salt naturally contains potassium and magnesium; all-three-of-which are factors in hydration and cellular energy. Then there are commercial salts that commonly contain anti-caking agents, which can cause those funs things like high blood pressure, water retention, swelling, and other salt-related dis-eases.
  3. Limit water consumption - It’s very possible to dehydrate through over-hydration. I do believe it’s necessary to drink an individualized amount of fluids, but water isn’t really that nutritious… at least the average bottles that do not contain trace minerals are not nutritious (and can be antagonistic). Too much water can actually flush the body of essential nutrients. The cells can only hold so much water, nutrients, and waste. An over-saturated state will cause the cells to release some essentials and non-essentials. A good indicator of over-hydration (essentially dehydration) is clear pee because we all know that drinking dehydrating alcohol makes our pee clear. So, what do you drink? Sugar-based liquids such as Orange Juice or Coconut Water will do the trick as they contain sugar, potassium, and magnesium… add some salt and you’re good to go! DON’T FEAR SUGAR.
  4. Eat/drink before, during, and after a work out - I find it interesting that some people limit their nutrient/caloric intake around work outs (and even throughout the day) thinking that consuming calories will prevent the body from burning them or that calories will make them fat or that calories will negate any work out they just did. The body needs energy to produce energy and, just like in the first point, the body will cut corners to make things work in a nutrient/calorie-deficient state. Be sure to give yourself enough energy surrounding (especially after!!!) and during your work out. Don’t be afraid to consume calories because the body needs a means to burn them.
  5. Leave/end a work out with energy - What good will it do if you absolutely kill yourself in a work out? I’m being serious. The no pain, no gain feel the burn mentality is out-dated and defunct. Over-training is very detrimental to progress and all-things-homeostasis. Under-training, however, isn’t bad – in fact, it’s much more beneficial to under-train than to over-train. Exercise is a marathon, not a sprint. Take your time, pace yourself, keep it simple and to the point.
  6. Rest harder than you exercise - Sleeping and having an adequate amount of off-days are essential to a good nutrition and exercise program. The body rests, recovers, regenerates, and literally rebuilds itself at night. Cutting sleep and/or working out excessively (in my book: consecutive days without rest days in a week) will turn progress into regress and send stress hormones through the roof, thus completely negating anything “good” you are providing the body (i.e. weight gain, increased estrogen, cortisol, adrenaline, and serotonin, inflammation, anxiety, anger, irritability, mental fogginess, and the list really can go on for days). If you’re tired, listen to your body and rest… you’ll benefit much more than running on stress hormones.
  7. Stretch before and after - Most exercises encourage very contraction-specific movements and with all of that contracting there should be a balance of elongating. If you don’t like stretching around your work outs then set up designated stretch days that fall on your rest days.
  8. Take cold showers - Sounds wild but cold showers can actually increase anabolic hormones (testosterone, progesterone, pregnenolone, etc.). Guys will notice (aside from shrinkage) that whenever they go into a cold pool that they get “turned on” and girls can experience the same affect in their own right. From a chinese-medicine POV, cold provides the body with a dose of Yin energy (cool, calm, female) while exercise is predominantly a Yang energy (hot, fiery, male). It doesn’t have to be a long shower – just finish up your usual hot shower with a cold-as-cold-can-be-handled blast for 1-5 minutes.
  9. Change it up - The body is very adaptive. It’s smart. It learns repetition rather quickly, i.e. how to perform movements, resistance, and tension exercises so it can do them more efficiently and effectively the next time around. This adaptation happens about every 2-6 weeks, depending on the person and type of exercise. Learn how your body adapts and change it up accordingly to keep from hitting a progress plateau.
  10. Wear flat shoes - We’re really not meant to wear shoes. Shoes teach the body how not to walk, how not to balance itself, how to rely on external support rather than self-sufficiency. Try to find the flattest shoes you can that support your arch-height. Personally, I enjoy a pair of chuck taylors for weight lifting and running. I have a rather flat foot so they support my arch accordingly. There’s a lot of hype about the five-fingers. I’ve never tried them, but I hear great things once the body adjusts. I suggest that you do your own field research for yourself. As for shape-ups, air-pockets, ankle-support, or anything that’s extra-cushioned… no. Note: Foot or ankle issues are symptoms to a kinetic-chain cause (the cause could very well lie within the knees or hips, which produce a ripple effect if they are not balanced properly).
  11. Use exercise as a tool, not a foundation - I’m going to burn this off in the gym is not an efficient nor enjoyable way of living. Exercise is meant to compliment a healthy diet and lifestyle, not try to make up for it or, essentially, negate any choices that were made prior to or to reason a work out. Exercise as a foundation is an outward-in mentality – it’s thinking that a mental choice can be fixed with a physical choice. You live in your body, your body doesn’t live in you. Make choices accordingly and take some responsibility!
  12. Use nutrition as a foundation, not a tool - Nutrition is the true foundation for health. The body uses the nutrients its provided to make new blood cells, new skin cells, new tissue cells, new organs, new eyes, new chemical reactions, new hormones, etc. every single day. The body can definitely make chicken salad out of chicken shit and we intuitively know that (just gotta listen to that intuition!). Build and establish health within all inner realms (spiritually, mentally, emotionally) to reap its benefits on the outer (physically).

jdperryhealth.com
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jdperryhealth@gmail.com