Day 42: Probiotics

What are pro-biotics, and what role do they play in the body? 

Let’s back up a second before talking about probiotics and talk about gut flora.  Inside our digestive tract we have somewhere around 100 trillion bacteria happily living in us.  We’re like a giant high-rise building, and the bacteria are our tenants.  About 7 lbs of “you” is really bacteria that live in your intestines, from your mouth to the other end. Our understanding of gut flora has advanced by quantum leaps in the past decade or so but we’re still just scratching the tip of the iceberg here.  We now know that our gut flora helps us properly digest our food, protects us from pathogens (harmful microorganisms), helps us detoxify harmful compounds, produces vitamins and other nutrients, keeps our guts healthy, and balances our immune systems.

Probiotics are a culture of “good” bacteria.  Most often when we say the word probiotics we are talking about a supplement (a pill or powder) of beneficial bacteria, but we also use the word probiotics when talking about fermented foods.

Does a Paleo diet typically reduce the need for probiotics? Does healing the gut help restore a healthy balance of gut flora and fauna?

 

Gut health and gut flora are a very chicken and egg type of thing.  Bad gut flora causes poor gut health.  Poor gut health causes poor gut flora.  Depending on how severe the dysfunction, sometimes we have to address both in order to get things working properly, sometimes not. There are a variety of reasons that a gut can be messed up.  If the main reason is food-based (i.e., if the person is having food reactions), then a program like the Whole30® is superb for helping. However, a generally Paleo lifestyle (which includes such thing as adequate sleep, appropriate exercise, and stress management) along with healthy whole foods would reduce the need for probiotics.

Day 41: 2-Year Anniversary Celebration!!!

2-Year Anniversary Party!

The Exercise Coach invites you to come celebrate our 2-year anniversary of being in the valley!

Where: 8320 N. Hayden Road, Suite C114, Scottsdale, AZ 85258 
When: Saturday, May 30, 2015 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm
What: Music and refreshments, raffle and giveaways, take a tour of our newest studio and "test drive" of our proprietary high-tech equipment


Make sure you stop by and join in on our celebration! 

Day 40: Muscle Quality and Brain Health

Muscle Quality and Brain Health

Is it inevitable?  Is it just bad luck or bad genes?  Is it an accepted form of aging; the memory loss, the confusion, the loss of independence?
The greatest health fear we face is no longer heart disease or cancer but Alzheimer’s disease.  Nearly 1 in 3 people now list Alzheimer’s as a bigger fear than even death itself.  What’s more is that over half of those surveyed between the ages of 30-50 listed dementia as the thing they feared the most for their parents.  The question becomes, what are we going to do about it?

Understanding Dementia and Alzheimer’s

So is that it then?  “Incurable and Progressive!”

Chances are if you are reading this now you believe in doing something for your health.  Whether you are acting preventively or proactively, many of us have no intention of accepting this fate.  What’s more, evidence has been emerging for the last couple of years that there are things we CAN do to protect ourselves from the cognitive decline as well as active steps we can take right now if some of the symptoms have already started taking root.

First off, there is a strong association between type II diabetes and dementia. The association is so much so, that Alzheimer’s is now being called Type III diabetes.  If you have diabetes your risk for Alzheimer’s doubles.  The exact triggering mechanism between diabetes and Alzheimer’s has not been conclusively proven yet but we know that both conditions share chronically high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and high levels of cellular inflammation.  On the bright side, these are the exact things that our Right Intensity Training™ and Metabolic Comeback™ address.  For more in-depth discussion, check out our previous posts on blood sugar and inflammation.

By reducing blood sugar, insulin resistance, and inflammation, we are slowing or preventing the destruction of our brain cells.  This is crucial in allowing our body to go from defend and protect, to heal and improve. Neurologist, Dr. David Perlmutter, has written an outstanding book, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs and Sugar, that is a must read to fully understand the link between blood sugar and inflammation and cognitive decline.  In the book, Dr. Perlmutter looks specifically at gluten as being a major trigger for dementia and Alzheimer’s.

The next crucial step is to stimulate the production of more neurons through a process called neurogenesis as well as protect the delicate neurological pathways that already exist.  Exercise has been shown to do both.  One of the significant by-products of Right Intensity Training™ is brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This protein promotes the survival of nerve cells (neurons) by playing a role in the growth, maturation, and maintenance of these cells.  This is a huge benefit to our type of training, and research bears this out.*

Digging Deeper

Our brain needs energy to function at its highest level.  How we supply that energy goes a long way in determining the health of our brain and there are three ways for us to provide that necessary fuel.

1) Consume glucose – This is generally done through carbohydrate consumption.  We know that excess carbs creates blood sugar spikes and can lead to type II diabetes, a major indicator for people with dementia, so this may not be the best solution.

2) Consume enough fat with few enough carbs that our body will convert the fat into ketones, the brain’s preferred energy source.  (It’s worth noting that coconut oil, one of our preferred super foods, can be converted into ketones without our body going into ketosis.  The dramatic effects coconut oil have continued to lead to more and more research being done and its significant health benefits.

3) Lactate – The by-product of anaerobic metabolism, the sometimes (if not all the time) uncomfortable burning sensation we feel in our muscles during high effort exercise is emerging as a major source of brain fuel and may even be preferred over glucose.**  This just checks one more box as to why Right Intensity Training™ is so beneficial and helpful in our fight to preserve our brain cells!

While there are still many unknowns as to some other causes of the loss of mental function, in dementia, there is a significant association with those who are diabetic and have cellular inflammation.  We do know that somehow brain cells aren’t functioning properly, they are dying, and the neural pathways in our brain aren’t regenerating.

There are lots of great reasons and benefits to take advantage of the entire Metabolic Comeback™ program we have at The Exercise Coach®, but we are hard-pressed to find a better one than improving brain health.  That’s exactly what we are talking about here.  What we can do to preserve and stimulate brain cell growth and reparation in our brains starts with improving muscle quality.   Thomas Edison once said, “The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around”.  Is there any better reason to continue to engage in our 20 minute workouts?

Day 33-39: Is It Time for Your System Restore? ( LET THE COUNT DOWN BEGIN!!! )

( Let the count down begin! 5 days left to a brand new you. You can do this. Stay the course and keep eating clean! )

 

 Is It Time for Your System Restore?

Blue Screen of Death, Anyone?

Just like your computer, phone, and nearly every other gadget in your life, you come with a factory setting: the way you are programmed to operate and all the software this requires.  Let’s say that your basic factory-set operation requires you to eat only certain foods; move relatively frequently—at times fast, and at other times, under a degree of heavy load; recharge (sleep) for a certain period of time; keep synchronicity with the sun; to keep stressors intermittent; and to socialise regularly and in-person.

These all become your basic operating parameters.  Not set in concrete—you can operate outside of those basic parameters for brief periods.  But generally, these settings detail how you were intended to operate, honed over generations of testing.

What if, then, you begin to operate outside of your design specifications?  You begin to add all manner of novel food-like substances into your system. You limit movement or cease it altogether. You inadequately recharge your system. You desynchronise your internal clock. You stress the system chronically.  You spend more time online than outside in the real world.

Such a violation of your normal modes of operation would surely void your warranty.
In the computer world, it is a well-known fact that when you run multiple programmes on your system (particularly those which might be more novel, bug-ridden, or come from a third-party), some ‘conflicts’ or mismatches begin to occur.  The system can run slow or even crash—blue screen of death, anyone?

 

Your System Restore Point

Now, if you only recently loaded just one new programme, the fix for any conflicts or mismatches will be as simple as removing the offender. But what if you have multiple programmes causing multiple conflicts? Your food programme is conflicting your sleep programme.  Your sleep programme is conflicting your movement programme.  Your stress programme is conflicting your sleep, food, and movement programmes.  And now your sleep programme is conflicting your food programme, causing a horrible negative feedback loop.  Your system is sluggish, overloaded, stressed, and unstable, and it can no longer do what it was supposed to do (and used to do) out of the box.

One possible way of fixing such a scenario is to uninstall all of the problematic programmes and wind the system back to a point in time when it was functioning normally—in other words, perform a ‘system restore’ back to a known point in time when few, if any, conflicts existed.

In humans, this ‘system restore point’ is exactly the basis of the paleo/primal/ancestral movements.
 These movements, grounded in evolutionary biology, all assume that our best ‘system restore point’ is the one just before we started to make problematic changes to how we operate—a restore point made about 10,000-12,000 years ago at the end of the Paleolithic time period.

This system restore requires that we eat the foods which best approximate those of our ‘factory setting’—our ancestral past. The same holds true for our movement and sleep patterns, our daily synchronisation with light and dark cycles, and appropriate seasonal rhythms. It requires us to find ways to manage our stress toward a more intermittent ‘load – unload’ pattern and to socialise with a real face rather than a Facebook.

While this system restore can take many forms—the underlying purpose is the same: to reset your system as best we can and as closely as possible with your factory setting. The success of this strategy, and the time it will take to have an effect, will often come down to just how committed an individual is to taking all of the individual programmes (food, movement, sleep, etc.) back to those basic settings, and removing all of the novel and potentially problematic programmes (modern food-like substances, movement restrictions, sleep disruptors, etc.).

 

Why You Can’t Hack Your Life

What is often missed in this system restore strategy is that some of the things which may have been causing conflicts can actually be reintroduced and tested once the system has been fully reset and stabilised. If you can’t imagine life without ever eating your most favourite legume, then the system restore process would require you to remove this food in the first instance, give your system time to settle back in to its reset point, and then add it back to test its compatibility with your system. If after a system restore you can successfully eat legumes without any problem, they can become part of your life again. If, however, there becomes a ‘compatibility’ issue with this food, you may need to reconsider their place in your diet, or accept that your system won’t run optimally if you leave them in.

Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Then why aren’t we all successfully restoring our systems after a long vacation, a stressful time period, or at any point when we realize our system is crashing? Too often we see people refuse to push the reset button in the naive hope they can instead find a ‘hack’—a shortcut around all of their lifestyle mismatch issues. (For the record, this doesn’t work long-term, and often makes things even worse.) Additionally, we see the fear and false belief that people can never go back to their favourite things ever again—even if these things prove to be 100% compatible with their system (like coffee).  Still others become stuck in ‘system restore mode,’ too afraid to step beyond their restore point and test new things. (“I can’t eat that—it’s not Paleo!”)

Remember, a system restore is just a starting point—a place you know works well, a place from which you can confidently tweak and add on and modify your programmes to your liking. You’re not stuck with factory settings forever, nor should you want to be! There are so many programmes that will work well with your basic operating system, adding fun and excitement and happiness to your overall quality of life.  So use the common guidelines of returning to eating real food whilst removing fake foods, moving every day whilst sitting less, getting adequate sleep by going to bed earlier (and so on) to restore yourself back to your factory setting. This will provide you with the best platform and opportunity from which to test the compatibility of new programmes in your life—and avoid your own personal blue screen of death.

Day 32: Eating Local

We thought we would share an interesting article on eating local!

Five Easy Ways to Eat Local

As I was starting to get more into Paleo, one of the glaring inconsistencies was the heavy reliance on foods that are only available because of a global food system. Surely, it would have made zero sense for humans to rely on a foods from around the world to get sufficient nutrients for optimal health.

How would you get them all in one place?

Besides that, it was becoming clear very quickly that the principles behind eating grass-fed meat applied equally to vegetables, namely, only eat what was grown and fed in the way it was meant to be. Eating Ecuadorian bananas in the dead of a New England winter was just as messed up as eating cornfed cows or soyfed chickens. Local, seasonal eating was the obvious answer.

Why Eat Local

Local, seasonal vegetables have a much higher nutrient density than supermarket veggies shipped across the country. They aren’t bred just for durability and shelf-life, so you see a huge variety of strange and colorful items, a literal cornucopia of exotic minerals, nutrients, vitamins, and tastes. Small farmers often meet organic standards, even if they’re not officially certified. They do a hard job with meager financial rewards, so they generally farm out of love and take good care of their animals and land.

So you know you’re getting the best possible food in terms of health, and it’s really nice to get your meats and poultry from someone who understands why it’s important to you to know what the animals were fed before they feed you. And for me, the enjoyment I get out of my local food makes it worth the effort. The taste and flavors are mind-blowing (tomatoes that actually contribute to a salad!) and I feel even better now than I did while eating Paleo before going local.
The hardest part was figuring out where and how to get all my food; you can’t just stop at the supermarket. For those of you interested in searching out local, sustainable food in your community, read on for some how-to advice on making the transition.

Hunting and Gathering

Eating locally is a little like being a hunter-gatherer: you have to learn your food landscape, time your hunt just right, and get comfortable with improvising.

1. Farmers Markets. The most straightforward way to get your food is to visit your local farmers market. Check out localharvest.com for a nationwide listing. You can often find grassfed meats, eggs,  handmade salsas, and grassfed dairy (if you’re into that sort of thing). Occasionally, you’ll even find seafood if you live near a coast. However, markets are usually the most expensive option.
Once you find a farm you like at the market, you can usually arrange to get food from them directly if they are close enough or do direct-shipping. This ends up being cheaper, but adds a bit of hassle and is usually limited to meat and eggs.

2. CSAs. Many vegetable farms do CSAs instead (community supported agriculture). Because of the economics of small farming, it is difficult to coordinate planting with market demand, so farmers offer crop shares, which you buy before the planting starts. The farmer is assured of buyers, and you are guaranteed fresh, local vegetables delivered to a collection point or your doorstep every week. CSA shares are cheaper than shopping at the farmers’ market, and you get a lot of food (and a wide variety of offerings) with your deliveries. I usually have trouble finishing my share by week’s end.

3. Cowpool. For meats, you have two reliable options if you can’t find meat at your market. The first is to join a buying club, or cowshare, like this one. These clubs pool funds to purchase animals, and then ‘hire’ a farmer to raise and slaughter those animals. The economics of this arrangement allow you to get a section of a grassfed cow for sometimes as low as $4/lb, paying a set price for various cuts ranging from low- to high-grade.

4. Delivery services. If you’re lucky enough to live in certain states, you can also get reasonably priced, local meats from a farm-to-consumer delivery service, like Graze (Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York), Spud (West Coast), or Greenling (Austin, TX). These services aggregate the products of select small farms, with very high quality standards, and deliver to your doorstep on a weekly schedule.

5. Mix and match. The best solution will be a combination of these – maybe a CSA or delivery service for staples, with occasional trips to the market for fresh vegetables, and a cowshare for your years’ supply of meat. (A freezer is a necessary investment if you want to really leverage the economics of local eating).

Navigating the Obstacles

I know what you’re thinking: “It was hard enough getting over all that bread and pasta, and now you want me to only eat things I can find within 200 miles, and in season?!” So let’s be realistic about your foray into local, sustainable eating.

1. Not everything can be local. First of all, you won’t get everything locally. Some things (like oils, nuts, chocolate, coffee and other delicious things you shouldn’t be eating much of anyway) can be considered specialties. You probably won’t find these items locally, so accept that you’re going to have to make some accommodations.

2. Start with meat and veggies. Staples, such as meat and vegetables, put a higher burden on the food system, and they make up the bulk of your calories, so if you make those local (which is luckily much easier), you’ll be making huge progress, and a solid contribution to your local economy.

3. Eat seasonal. You’ll have to get used to missing berries in the spring and fall, and gorging on them in summer. Squash is out of season in the spring and summer, but you’ll get lots of succulent leafy greens to make up for it. When the fall comes around, you’ll be ready for the deep, satisfying flavor of the gourds, when their unique nutrient profile is most needed by the body (like any animal, we too have seasons when certain foods serve us better than others). Whole9’s Seasonal Produce Guide can help you set appropriate expectations.

4. Get creative with fats. The biggest problem for Paleo-types will be finding local fats and oils. Local olives and coconuts are rare. You can ask your local meat farmer if they can spare you the lard or tallow from their butchering process, or you can settle for buying your cooking oils at the grocery store as usual. Nut farms are limited to the South and California. You could mail-order nuts from small farms; it’s not local, but it still supports sustainable farming, and you’ll get fresher, more nutritious nuts and seeds than anything you’ve ever tasted before. (You’ll be amazed at the difference: check out pastureraised.net if you want to go this route).

Ready to start?

The best way to start eating locally is replacing some foods with local ones. Vegetables are the easiest option. Start in the summer, and get to know your farmers at the market. Browse local health food stores and co-ops, and talk to the owners and vendors. And check the labels before buying produce in your normal grocery store, avoiding items imported from other countries. Once you’re comfortable with the sourcing options, try branching out to meats (often, via the same sources as above), and then specialty items.Before you know it, you’ll look down at your dinner plate and realize you know exactly where everything on it came from. It’s a good feeling. And once you get a taste for local, you won’t ever want to go back.

Day 31: Homemade Mayo Recipe

The Secret to Homemade Mayo? Patience.

Neither the ingredients nor the technique for homemade mayo are unusual or difficult – but mixing up a batch does demand, at least for me, an extraordinary amount of patience. The payoff is worth it: light, silky, flavorful, healthy mayo you can use in salads or on top of grilled meat.

 The magic of mayo is that it’s an emulsion: the oil and egg+lemon juice create a colloid (hello, fifth grade science!). You don’t need to understand all the science, but there are a few things to keep in mind if you want to be successful. I’ve had many, many mayo FAILs*… here’s what I learned to make it just about perfect every time.

1. Your ingredients must all be at room temperature; the egg, oil, and lemon juice want to mingle in a cozy embrace. UPDATE (June 7, 2010): I just made a fresh batch and I cannot stress this whole “room temperature” thing enough. I let my egg and lemon juice sit on the counter top for about 4 hours before starting the blender process, and my mayo came out perfectly, dreamily creamy (see photo below).

2. Take your time. And then go slower than that.

3. Look at the expiration date on your eggs. Add about a week. Write that date on the lid of your storage container so you know when to toss your mayo (if it lasts that long).

4. Do not use expensive, fancy extra-virgin olive oil; the olive flavor is overpowering. I use the grocery store brand “light tasting” olive oil. It barely tastes like olives which is not so good for green salads, but is awesome for mayo. (You might try Filippo Berio or Bertoli.)

Homemade Olive Oil Mayo

Ingredients:
1 egg
2 tablespoons lemon juice @ room temp
1/2 teaspoon dry unsweetened mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 1 cup light-tasting olive oil (Not extra virgin. Try Filippo Berio or Bertoli.)

Directions: 1. Place the egg and lemon juice in a blender or food processor. Let them come to room temperature together, about 30-60 minutes. Add the dry mustard, salt, and  1/4 cup of the oil. Whirl until well mixed – about 20 to 30 seconds.

THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART!
2. The only remaining job is to incorporate the remaining 1 cup oil into the mixture. To do this, you must pour very slowly… the skinniest drizzle you can manage and still have movement in the oil. This takes about three minutes or so. Think about three minutes during a WOD; it’s a fairly long time. Breathe. Relax. Drizzle slowly.

If you’re using a blender, you’ll hear the pitch change as the liquid starts to form the emulsion. Eventually, the substance inside the blender will start to look like regular mayonnaise, only far more beautiful. Do not lose your nerve and consider dumping! Continue to drizzle.
If your ingredients were all at room temperature and you were patient, you will be rewarded!
NOTE: If you have a stick blender, you can simply place all ingredients in a blending jar, then whirl with your stick blender for about 30 seconds. Voila! Mayo is done.

What To Do If You Experience a Mayo FAIL

If something goes kafluey, the emulsion will “break” and you’ll be left with a jar filled with a quasi-emulsion with the consistency of, say, commercial salad dressing. DO NOT DESPAIR! It can be saved. Pour the liquid into a storage container and place it in the coldest part of your fridge. Wait a few hours (again, with the patience!), then stir vigorously. It will be slightly less thick and creamy than the full emulsion, but still delicious and useful for salads: egg salad, tuna salad, cucumber salad, etc. It will not, however, be spreadable – but we don’t care about that anyway because who among us is still eating sandwiches?!

True story: The mayo in my fridge right now is this “compromise” mayo, and I’ve eaten tuna salad made with it for three days running. At my parents last weekend, I made a batch that was PERFECT: fluffy, silky, spreadable (although we did not spread it anywhere). This stuff is amazingly delicious drizzled (fail) or dolloped (perfect) onto grilled meat.

Here’s the cucumber salad my mom taught me how to make: cucumbers, a splash of vinegar, homemade mayo, onions, parsley, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. (Find the recipe in Well Fed: Paleo Recipes For People Who Love To Eat.)

Day 30: Things You Can Do Instead of Watching TV

Things You Can Do Instead of Watching TV

Take back those hours this month and do something productive, fun, enriching or restorative. Like what? Glad you asked.

Improve Your Training Performance

• Stretch
• Perform self-myofascial release
• Go for a recovery walk/bike/swim/paddle/row
• Do some skill work
• Get a massage
• Take an ice bath
• Connect with your trainer and other gym-goers
• Lay out your short-term and long-term training goals
• Get acupuncture

Improve Your Sleep

• Go to bed earlier
• Read a book
• Take a hot bath
• Have sex
• Develop a pre-bed routine
• Prepare clothes/food/work for the morning
• Buy and install black-out curtains
• Read Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival

Improve Your Nutrition

• Prep and cook food for the week
• Try a new recipe
• Visit a local farm or market
• Clean out your pantry
• Take a cooking class
• Prepare a new vegetable
• Read a cookbook
• Make a weekly meal plan
• Find a new nutrition book
• Host a dinner party

Improve Your Family Time

• Call or visit a family member
• Play a board game or cards
• Read a book together
• Go outside and play
• Cook dinner together
• Help your kids with their homework
• Take a family walk after dinner
• Plan a family trip or vacation
• Have a date night with your significant other
• Work on a puzzle
• Do a craft project
• Write a letter or send a card
• Organize family photos
• Plan a party or an event

Improve Your Household

• Train your dog
• Finish that project that’s been half done for 6 months
• Clean something
• Organize something
• Start a garden
• Mow the lawn
• Plant a tree or flowers
• Have a yard sale
• Start a compost pile
• Wash your car
• Send stuff to Goodwill
• Get your oil changed
• Do laundry
• Go through stacks of papers and mail

Improve Your Fun and Play

• Pick up a new sport
• Go rock climbing
• Learn to swim
• Go for a bike ride
• Have a picnic
• Play boccee
• Play ball with your kids
• Have a block party
• Throw a frisbee
• Go for a hike
• Nap in the grass
• Go to a local baseball game
• Shoot some baskets

Improve YOU

• Take an adult education class
• Get a pedicure
• Plan your dream house
• Volunteer
• Learn to knit
• Write something
• Take an art class
• Browse your local bookstore
• Get involved with your neighborhood
• Get involved in local politics
• Finish your will
• Join a book club
• Meet with a financial advisor
• Organize your business receipts
• Take yourself out for dinner
• Go to the dentist
• Test drive a car you can’t afford

What Will YOU Do?

Day 29: Never Too Old to Eat Good Food

Good Food: It’s Not Just For Kids Anymore

An informal survey of 6,000 paleo followers found the majority were in their 20′s and 30′s with a mere 3% over age 60. Well, folks, this has got to change. Bad eating contributes to a “who’s who” of diseases common in us older folks. Arthritis, obesity, osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and Alzheimer’s can be directly related to diet.

The Proof Is In The Bone Broth (and Kale, and…)

Here are 10 ways a Paleo diet can keep you healthy as you approach midlife and beyond. 

1. Getting older invariably means (voluntarily) eating less. (I can’t eat as much as I used and believe me, sometimes I try!) Eating nutritionally dense food is the best way to meet your body’s nutritional requirements and prevent loss of muscle mass and strength.

2. Digestion often gets worse with age which means fewer nutrients are absorbed. Fermented unpasteurized sauerkraut, kimchi, and kefir improve digestion by restoring proper intestinal flora. Avoiding processed foods that contribute to digestive tract inflammation is another important step in improving absorption of nutrients.

3. You’ve probably known seniors with a huge sweet tooth. These folks haven’t lost their willpower – their sense of taste and smell has diminished! This can be caused or exacerbated by zinc deficiency. Red meat and shellfish are excellent sources of zinc. Since grain products decrease zinc absorption (and are lower nutrient foods in general), avoiding them also helps.

4. Vitamin B12 deficiencies are rampant due both to poor diet and poor absorption. Symptoms include fatigue, easy bruising, unexplained weight loss, and digestive tract distress. Eating plenty of high-quality (ideally naturally-fed) meat ensures you’ll get enough B12. Salmon, lamb, shrimp and beef are all good sources of vitamin B12.

5. The risk of insulin resistance and diabetes increases with age. 25% of all adults over 65 have diabetes. Minimizing processed carbohydrates and eating plenty of protein and fat (and nutritious veggies!) helps to balance blood sugar levels.

6. One of the best ways to fight aging is to reduce chronic inflammation. It’s the underlying cause of
 7 of the top 10 leading causes of death. The good balance of fatty acids in wild salmon and grass-fed meat fights inflammation, and eating lots of richly-colored vegetables provides anti-inflammatory phytonutrients. So does trading in “vegetable oil” and canola oil for coconut oil, avocado and butter from grass-fed cows.

7. Bone broth is great for reducing the pain of arthritis. Chicken cartilage was found to beat glucosamine and chondroitin supplements for reducing both pain and stiffness.

8. Keeping osteoporosis at bay doesn’t mean drinking a lot of milk. Leafy green vegetables and bone broth provides all the vitamins and minerals needed for strong bones. Include some weight-bearing exercise to ensure your bones continue to stay strong instead of losing strength as you age.

 9. There is little point in having a healthy body if your brain is degenerating. One of the worst things for your brain is excessive carbohydrate consumption. Some researchers believe that Alzheimer’s is a  form of insulin resistance of the brain and are even calling it “type 3 diabetes”. So choosing more nutrient-dense foods and relying far less on sugar and refined carbohydrate sources like bread, pasta and rice helps keep your brain in tip-top shape.

10. Your brain is largely made up of fat. Cholesterol is an essential component of every brain cell. Eating plenty of meat and butter can help keep your cholesterol levels up. Huh? Turns out low cholesterol levels have been found to increase the risk of suicide, depression, and dementia. Conversely, the risk of dementia is reduced by 70% in those with high cholesterol. You read that right — high cholesterol reduces risk of dementia.

Jazz artist Eubie Blake famously said on his 92nd birthday, “If I’d known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.” It’s never too late to start taking better care of yourself. Take the first step by eating a diet based on nutrient-dense, unprocessed foods like meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables, fruit, and naturally-occurring fats starting today.

Day 28: Determine Your Own Success!!

People who regard themselves as highly efficacious act, think, and feel differently from those who perceive themselves as inefficacious. They produce their own future, rather than simply foretell it. -Albert Bandura

Yes You Can

Are you finding it hard to resist adding a few Splenda to your morning coffee? Do the sugar demons still call to you as your drive past the gelato shop on the way home from work? Does the evening just not feel the same without a little red wine to wind things down? That’s understandable — temptation is everywhere, and even experienced healthy eaters fall back into old patterns now and again.

There is a term in the health-behavior-change world called self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is your belief in your ability to succeed in specific situations. Don’t confuse self-efficacy with self-esteem–where self-esteem is about feeling good about yourself, self-efficacy is about your own belief in your ability to effect change on your circumstances and behaviors. To put it plainly, in order to complete all 45 days of your 45 Day challenge with no slips or cheats, you need to BELIEVE that you can complete all 45 days of your challenge with no slips or cheats.

Self-Efficacy

During your 45 Day challenge it is likely that you have certain goals you want to accomplish, behaviors you want to change, and tasks you want to achieve. Putting these plans into action is going to require strong self-efficacy.

People with a strong sense of self-efficacy have several things in common:

First, they see challenges as difficult undertakings that can be overcome. For example, let’s say you are hosting Book Club this month. Usually Book Club is an excuse to get together with friends, drink, eat finger food, and mingle. This situation is rife with temptations that could set you back or get you off track. But instead of lamenting over the fact that you won’t get to indulge in tasty but nutrient-poor appetizers, you choose to see this as an opportunity to find creative ways to introduce delicious new recipes into your Good Food recipe repertoire.

Next, people with greater self-efficacy purposely develop a deeper interest in the healthy activities in which they choose to participate. Or maybe you decide to read up on everything you can get your hands on that has to do with eating healthy, nutritious food. You might even want to start your own blog documenting your experience from start to finish. It is also incredibly helpful to put yourself in situations where you witness others’ success since this can increase your own belief in your ability to be successful.

People with strong self-efficacy form a solid commitment to their chosen actions. They set themselves up for success from day one. They surround themselves with people and situations that only increase their chance of positive outcomes. Guess what? YOU already have strong self-efficacy because you not only decided to take on the challenge in the first place, but you are back here on the  blog, reading this post, and continuing to educate yourself. This action in and of itself shows your commitment to your health today, tomorrow, and for the rest of your life.

Finally, people with strong self-efficacy recuperate quickly from setbacks and disappointments. This is also known as resiliency. People who are resilient bounce-back from hard times more quickly and easily. They roll with the punches and find creative ways to problem solve. Resilience won’t make that tempting cupcake your wife just ordered during your coffee outing disappear, but it can give you the ability to see past it and better handle the situation.

Start strengthening your self-efficacy today. Right this minute. Start seeing obstacles as opportunities.  Increase your interest in all things Whole30. Commit right now to be successful. And practice bouncing back. Because consciously strengthening your self-efficacy can make all the difference.

Day 26: Approvied Whole 30 Products

We hope you are finding success as you do your grocery shopping. Reading labels can be time-consuming and sometimes frustrating. Below is a list of Whole30 approved products that can be found at Whole Foods.

Broths - Imagine brand is approved; Another great option is to make your own. There are a number of recipes online. Here is a great chicken stock recipe - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-stock/

Coconut oil - Choose unrefined. Spectrum or Dr. Bronner's are both unrefined. Organic isn't important here.

Coconut milk (canned) - Found in the Asian section of the grocery store. 365 Brand at Whole Foods, Thai Kitchen and Native Forest are approved brands (remember to get the full fat version - NO Light or Reduced Fat); The only ingredients should be coconut, water and optionally guar gum.
Ghee/Clarified Butter - Can be found at both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. Trader Joe's will have their own brand name label on their product. Sprouts may also have it.

Olive Oil - Buy cold-pressed, extra virgin

Deli Meats - Always look for a preservative and nitrate-free meat. Applegate Farms makes a Slow Cooked Ham and Organic Roast Beef that are Whole30 approved. These should be eaten sparingly.

Almond Meal/Flour - Bob's Red Mill can be found at Whole Foods. Trader Joe's has a less expensive one under their name brand (almost 1/2 the price)

Fish - Wild-caught is always a best choice, if possible. 

Coconut Flakes - A handful of these are an easy fat to go with a meal or snack. Let's Do Organic is a good brand and can be found at Whole Foods on the baking aisle. When looking at other brands, make sure there are not preservatives like sulfites and no added sugar.

Day 25: Green Smoothie!

Green smoothies: The perfect way to incorporate raw greens and other healthy veggies into your daily diet 

 

A favorite Exercise Coach recipe includes: 1 cored apple, ½ cup sliced and unpeeled cucumber, ½ of a banana, ¼ cup sliced lemon (rind included!), 1 cup frozen mango chunks, ½ cup broccoli slaw mix, ¼ cup sliced carrots, and a cup of spinach (packed). Add a cup of water and crushed ice and it’s time to let the Vitamix do its thing! Remember, you are not peeling anything here! That fiber is very nutritious. 
 
We also recommend adding a scoop of vanilla Coach Fuel™ to make this a green protein smoothie.  And, it never hurts to add a teaspoon of Vitamin C powder for that extra dose of antioxidants during cold and flu season.

If you don’t have a Vitamix or if you prefer a machine that is budget-friendly – we recommend the Nutri-Bullet, a powerful personal blender that pulverizes your favorite fruits and veggies and costs only about $100. Check it out!

What are you waiting for?  You’ll be amazed at how quickly your body will crave the nutrients and love the increased energy.  And, it’s really fun being a mad scientist every morning.

Day 24: Mid-Point of Challenge!!!

Congratulations Contestants on making it to the mid-point of our 45 Day Transformation Contest! We are excited about the progress you are all making!

Also, a reminder that we will have a voluntary weigh-in this week.

Keep up the Great Work!

Your Team of Coaches!

Day 23: Banishing Your Dessert Demons

The long-standing habits associated with the concept of “dessert” are some of the hardest to break, because in many cases, they’re as old as we are. The kicker is that it takes only a few days for your brain to develop a craving, and a pattern, with sweet foods.

Dr. David A. Kessler, author of The End of Overeating, referenced one study in which people were given a high-sugar, high-fat snack for five consecutive mornings. For days afterward, they wanted something sweet at about that same time each morning… despite the fact that they had never previously snacked at that time. In just five days, desire had already taken hold. Now imagine 20 or 30 years of “Eat all your vegetables or you won’t get dessert.” No wonder we don’t feel satisfied until we’ve had our sweet stuff after meals!

Banishing Your Dessert Demons

Your safest strategy for successfully banishing all of your sugar cravings is to try to break the habit of idea of dessert altogether. Slip a small amount of sweet stuff (which is usually fruit-based) in with the rest of your protein and veggies, instead of saving it for after your meal. Follow the Whole30 meal planning template, making sure your fruit consumption isn’t taking over your plate.

Make sure your meals include plenty of healthy fats – fat’s satiety signal to your brain may help you quell some of those dessert longings. Swap out dessert after a meal for a new tradition, like a cup of hot herbal tea (my personal favorite).

And when all else (including willpower) fails, go ahead and eat the fruit for "dessert", but understand it’s not your body sending you a “hunger” signal, it’s just your brain responding to conditioning.

Day 22: Keep It Up!

So you've been following this plan for weeks now. For some of you, you are in a groove and feeling great. For others,the magic still just doesn't seem to be happening. Do you feel more sloth than jackrabbit? First, depending on your past dietary and exercise habits, it might take you more than a month to go through the complete adaptive process and to let your body "heal" from all of those inflammatory foods you used to eat. You can't expect to completely undo decades of poor dietary and exercise habits in just 45 days. Be patient and persistent, as it might take more time before things start to really hum.

However, run through this checklist first: 

1. Is your food quality truly 100% clean? Those small but regular diversions (just one cookie here, that on-the-run sandwich there and that one glass of wine or beer when your really needed it) is enough to impede progress, so take a good, long, honest look at your recent habits and see if your food quality has slipped more than you care to admit.
2. Are you eating three (or more) meals a day? The meal planning template is built around 3-ish meals, so don't cheat yourself out of valuable nutrients by eating too little or too infrequently. This especially means don't miss breakfast, and don't forget your post workout meal.
3. Are you adding plenty of good fat to each meal? Healthy fats are a necessary part of every meal so don't skip this part or cut back on your added fat.

Keep up the good work, and make modifications, as needed. You can do this!

Day 21: Apples, bananas and oranges... Oh my!

Fruit is often a go-to for a healthy choice for many. We do, however, want to caution you against over-eating fruit. We don't want fruit pushing vegetables off of your plate just because it's more fun to eat. In addition, too much fruit can keep those sugar cravings alive in an unhealthy way.

Start with one or two servings a day (berries are a best choice). If you are relying on fruit as a healthier replacement for your candy habit, stop and think every time you reach for something sweet. We don't want you feeding sugar to your brain, even if it is "natural" sugar from fruit.

If you are including fruit in your diet, lunchtime is the best time to do so.

Why no fruit with breakfast?

If you are trying to manage sugar cravings, energy slumps or hunger throughout the day, giving yourself the sweet stuff first thing in the morning is a mistake. Focus on protein, healthy fat and low-sugar vegetables (like spinach, peppers, onions, etc.) to start your morning off right.

Consider consuming the following 15-30 minutes before exercise for energy: bananas, oranges, apples, grapes, seasonal berries, mangos, pineapple and other fruits.

Day 20: Probiotics

What are probiotics, and what role do they play in the body? 

Let’s back up a second before talking about probiotics and talk about gut flora.  Inside our digestive tract we have somewhere around 100 trillion bacteria happily living in us.  We’re like a giant high-rise building, and the bacteria are our tenants.  About 7 lbs of “you” is really bacteria that live in your intestines, from your mouth to the other end. Our understanding of gut flora has advanced by quantum leaps in the past decade or so but we’re still just scratching the tip of the iceberg here. 

We now know that our gut flora helps us properly digest our food, protects us from pathogens (harmful microorganisms), helps us detoxify harmful compounds, produces vitamins and other nutrients, keeps our guts healthy, and balances our immune systems.

Probiotics are a culture of “good” bacteria.  Most often when we say the word probiotics we are talking about a supplement (a pill or powder) of beneficial bacteria, but we also use the word probiotics when talking about fermented foods.

 

Gut health and gut flora are a very chicken and egg type of thing.  Bad gut flora causes poor gut health.  Poor gut health causes poor gut flora.  Depending on how severe the dysfunction, sometimes we have to address both in order to get things working properly, sometimes not. There are a variety of reasons that a gut can be messed up.  If the main reason is food-based (i.e., if the person is having food reactions), then a program like the Whole30® is superb for helping. However, a generally Paleo lifestyle (which includes such things as adequate sleep, appropriate exercise, and stress management) along with healthy whole foods would reduce the need for probiotics. 

Day 19: Paleo diet food substitutions

Here is a link to an article outlining 27 great food substitutions which will help you stay 100% on track!


http://paleogrubs.com/paleo-diet-food-substitutions

Day 18: Paleo for the vegetarian or vegan

Below is a link to a very useful paleo shopping list for vegans and vegetarians!

http://whole30.com/downloads/whole30-veg-shopping-list.pdf

Day 17: High Protein Food Options

Examples Of High Protein Foods

 

Beef

•Hamburger patty, 4 oz – 28 grams
•Steak, 6 oz – 42 grams
•Most cuts of beef – 7 grams per oz

Chicken

•Chicken breast, 3.5 oz - 30 grams
•Chicken thigh – 10 grams
•Drumstick – 11 grams
•Wing – 6 grams
•Chicken meat, cooked, 4 oz – 35 grams

Fish 

•Fish fillets or steaks, 3.5 oz cooked - 22 grams 

•Tuna, 6 oz can - 40 grams  

Pork 

•Pork chop - 22 grams 

•Pork tenderloin, 4 oz – 29 grams 

•Ham, 3 oz  – 19 grams 

•Ground pork, 1 oz raw – 5 grams; 3 oz cooked – 22 grams 

•Bacon, 1 slice – 3 grams 

•Canadian-style bacon, slice – 5 grams  

Eggs 

•Egg, large - 6 grams 

Protein Powder 

•Whey 21-25 g per serving 

•Pea or Dairy Free 17 g per serving

 Nuts and Seeds 

•Almonds, ¼ cup – 8 grams  

•Cashews, ¼ cup – 5 grams 

•Pecans, ¼ cup – 2.5 grams 

•Sunflower seeds, ¼ cup – 6 grams 

•Pumpkin seeds, ¼ cup – 8 grams 

•Flax seeds – ¼ cup – 8 grams

Day 16: Want a healty snack!? Here are some recipes to try!

Here are some tasty snack and treat recipes that are 100% on plan - so treat yourself!

http://paleogrubs.com/gluten-free-carrot-cake-bites

http://paleogrubs.com/lime-energy-bite-recipe

http://www.goodshomedesign.com/3-ingredients-energy-bars-recipe/ 

Day 15: Let's start the day off with a delicious breakfast recipe!

Sample Recipe: Beef, Kale, & Mushroom Breakfast Bake

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1/4 of a small onion
• 4 oz of grass-fed ground beef or other meat of choice
• Olive oil, for sautéing
• 2-3 cups of chopped kale
• 3/4 cup of diced bell peppers
• 1/4 cup of chopped scallions
• 1 cup of chopped baby bella mushrooms
• 7 eggs
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• Salt & pepper

Preparation:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Over medium-high heat, saute your onions until soft, then add in your beef until it’s browned. Drain the excess oil, then set the meat mixture aside in a medium bowl.
3. Turn the temperature down to medium, wipe out your skillet, then cook your kale in a little olive oil. Once it’s finished cooking down, set that aside with the meat.
4. In the same pan, add a little more olive oil, then drop in your bell peppers. Once those look a bit softened, add your scallions and mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms look about done, maybe 4-5 minutes.
5. Transfer that to the to the meat and kale and mix it all up.
6. In a separate bowl, crack open your eggs and whisk until blended. Then pour the eggs into the cooked stuff. Blend well.
7. Stir in your seasonings. Pick whatever spices you want. Then transfer the whole shebang into a greased glass casserole dish.
8. Bake for 45 minutes or until the eggs are no longer gooey.
9. Enjoy!

Nutrition (serving size - 140g)

• Calories: 157
• Total Fat: 8.9g
• Saturated Fat: 2.4g
• Cholesterol: 208mg
• Sodium: 101mg
• Total Carbohydrates: 6.2 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1.4g
• Sugars: 1.5g
• Protein: 14g