PaleoJay Podcast #51 Your Family is your most important Tribe!

Listen NOW!  Just scroll on down to the player....

Otherwise, just wait til tomorrow, and iTunes will have it! BUT if you are subscribed, you have it NOW on your iPhone, Android, or other player of choice- so, the moral is: Subscribe to PaleoJay!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/paleojay/id570584047

NEW CABIN ROOF!!

I just got back, this morning from a whirlwind connection with my familial tribe.  93 yr. old father, year born unknown mother, and assorted brothers, nieces and nephews...the connections are diverse, and definitely not of the daily variety, but they are all- family!

I had gone down to Illinois to help my brother clear out an overgrown woods at his new house and acreage with my new chainsaw. (My old one was just worn out, having done more in its 10 year life than ever should have been expected of it!)  My new, 20” bar chain saw wasn’t cheap, but I will say it was a Stihl...

Anyway, as we worked, clearing the logs and fallen trees from a creek in the back of his property that had been overgrown and neglected for about 30 years, we were doing what has been done by man since time immemorial- working together, as a tribe, accomplishing real physical work that really needed to get done.  And as we worked, other relations all showed up, and then, it was time for a celebration of sorts-  we drove over the river and through the woods, to grandpa and grandma’s we’d go!

It was fun to connect with my little nieces and nephews, not to mention my little brothers, when we all got there.  It’s funny how many old memories are rekindled, how many shared laughs from the past are in our minds, as if experienced only yesterday!
One nephew wanted to see Grandma and Grandpa’s old photo albums, and really laughed when he saw old photos of his dad as a kid, and of me when my hair wasn’t white as the snows of Mt. Olympus!

Now, traveling can be exciting and diverting, but it can also make it hard to remain paleo, even if you have convinced SOME of your family to also “get on board”.  Food is the hardest part:  the best solution is to, as I did, pack a generous lunchbox full of
Paleo Smoothie!  A proper, paleo type of smoothie, as I outline in detail on www.paleojay.com, and in my two ebooks Paleo Quick Start and Perfectly Paleo Exercise , which are both available anywhere online that books are sold, like Amazon, the iBookstore, BarnesandNoble.com, and of course at paleojay.com.
I say a proper smoothie because, a real smoothie is made by you, at home in your Vitamix blender, not purchased at a Smoothie Bar, or bottled by a manufacturer!  The reason for this caveat?  The smoothie you make yourself is the very healthiest, most nutrient dense nutrition possible for your body to consume.  The other, “bought ‘en” version are loaded with useless sugars, too much fruit, not enough fiber, and concentrate totally on taste, and hardly any at all on nutrient density!

Each morsel you consume should go to further your body’s ability to repair, regenerate, and revitalize itself!  Anything else just drags you down.

So, I packed canning jar after canning jar of Paleo Smoothie in my giant lunch box, along with a cold pack..
 Next, put in ample amounts of snacks, like almonds mixed with dark chocolate chips, celery with almond butter on it, an apple, macadamia nuts, well- any nut but a peanut, which is a legume!  If you have been paleo for any length of time, you know what to pack!
I always include a couple of tins of sardines.  If you are really hungry, nothing is better for you than these little fish, since you are consuming the whole carcass- the bones, the organs (like the liver!)- this is really one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet.
And so, you get the idea- it is way easier to prepare, and not be misled by temptations when you are perfectly full already.  It also saves you a lot of money!

Another way to cope is by just intermittently fasting  or IF.  This is simply compressing you “eating window” into a smaller block of time, i.e. rather than 3-6 meals (and snacks!)  per day, just eating two, or even one meal a day, and fasting or skipping one meal.  Most Paleo Gurus recommend skipping breakfast, perhaps having some Paleo coffee, which is just fat mixed in your coffee, to give you a ketogenic head start to the day.  I like coconut oil and heavy whipped cream, topped with cinnamon and cloves, but that’s just me- you may prefer Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof coffee, which is MCT oil and grass fed  butter mixed in your coffee, or Mark Sisson’s Primal Egg Coffee
Primal egg coffee
which is, you guessed it, eggs in your coffee!

Me, I guess I’m just not a true Paleo Guru- I like to skip supper instead, and so, after my morning Paleo Coffee of coconut milk and cream, which I like to sip as  I work out ala Perfectly Paleo Exercise, and also as I drive to work after a big breakfast.  I include my Paleo Smoothie in my breakfast, and also throughout my work day in my big lunch box, packed in wide mouth canning jars, and made fresh in the morning in my big Vitamix blender.

A also pack a big lunch, often a big salad, topped with meat or seafood, hard-boiled eggs, lots of greens, sometimes anchovies, avocado, and real olive oil based dressing- YUM!

Oh, as far as the coffee goes, I think coconut oil and cream are enough- I put a slab of butter right in the smoothie, along with a couple of raw pastured eggs!  All bases covered; well, isn’t that what a Paleo Smoothie is all about??

Supper time rolls around, but I am not hungry for supper, most nights!  One less meal to plan, and clean up from, and steal time from your hobbies and projects and music and neighborhood tribal connections...

But, when I travel, sometimes I do it the Paleo Guru way- Coffee with fat in it in the morning, big lunch and/or smoothie later in the day, and dinner that evening- I mean, if I’m just traveling in the AM, why stop for a meal?  Get there, then eat AND socialize!
Then you can be a really good tribal member!  Hurrah Paleo Peep!

Also, you may be tempted to pack or buy enroute Paleo Products- bars, potions, all kinds of convenience products.  Although OK occasionally, it is much better to just eat real food, all of the time!

My brother packed me, instead of sandwiches for the return journey, swiss cheese and salami rolls!  They were so good when driving, and quite satisfying and nutritious...

And, the day I drove down, I had a smoothie in the morning in the car, and then a bowl of chili that evening- so, that day, I skipped lunch!

There are so many ways to tackle I F, you can mix and match them, but I stand with my favorite:  Skip Supper!

The other problem when traveling and visiting is sleep!  This one is huge, and the hardest one of all to cope with, I think.  Strange beds, people interacting constantly...
And did you know that people with inadequate sleep, or those that work shift work jobs, increase their cancer risk by 5 times!?

The best rule is to just get to bed as early as you can!  Then, you can get up before everyone else, ideally, and even go for a walk, meditate, or even do a little visualized resistance, or at least your daily warmup for your joints and muscles before you are distracted by the activities of the day.

So, go ahead and connect with your TRIBE!  Eat well and ancestrally, teach them all by your example and level of fitness.  Help out with projects!  And then, head home knowing that your tribe is all around you, in spirit if not in fact, and that in every real respect they are really, truly a part of you.

Then, if you are like me, your ever-faithful PaleoJay, you will head home, but stop at your family cabin to... do more chain sawing!  yikes!!  A big storm had dropped a giant tree on our cabin, punching a hole in the roof, and necessitating a new, green metal roof replacement!  Glad about that metal part...

Lots and LOTS of logs and branches to cut and stack, and drag and pile...  Another long afternoon, this time by myself.  But, in my mind, the whole tribe was there,enjoying the grounds as they will in the future, benefiting from my labors.

That makes it all more than worthwhile!

PJ