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Monday, November 30, 2015

Tapioca flour thin Pizza Crust- the BEST EVER!

Here it is!  I have made it twice now, and I highly recommend it- after trying umpteen paleo types of pizza crusts, this is the ONE!  


I will provide the link here to Kelly Bejelly, who runs an excellent paleo recipe kind of blog called 


AND SO, there is the recipe, on her site.  I'm sure you'll agree, she is definitely worth saving...

J

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Add in the GOOD STUFF! Podcast #117 for Paleo Jay's Smoothie Cafe





I think one of the crucial parts of a healthy, Paleo type of health transforming diet that is NOT noticed by most, is the fact that, unlike the standard mainstream diets- like “Low fat High Carb”- which is the standard American Food Pyramid- the key point is to add in good, natural foods.

It is really NOT to “eliminate bad foods”!  Of course, I want you to eliminate toxic, processed foods.  Fake Foods like modern “altered/fake” wheat.  Fake Foods like soda pop!  Fake foods that are anything low fat!!  And fake foods like vegetable oils, which are chemically and industrially extracted- ALL OF THEM!

But that’s it- just take care of that, and you will start to feel better quickly, and forever.  Health conditions will start to drastically improve, and you will feel amazingly better!

But don’t stop there!  Many do; they just start getting rid of things that are obvious toxins, like donuts and breakfast cereals, and think:

“Well, I’m feeling way, way better!  I’ve lost a lot of fat weight, and my brain feels alive and well- what should I eliminate next??”

This is the mindset that develops:
“Since I improved my health so much by eliminating wheat, low fat dairy, and processed crap foods- where should I eliminate next??”

And the person goes on to eliminate

 All dairy, full fat included
Most FAT, including really good, wonderful fats like olive oil, avocado and coconut oils!
And they cling (especially women) to the misguided notions that calories need to be drastically limited!!

Those are the common, and most pernicious “denials” of the self fulfillment of maximum nutrition and healthiness.

Here is the PaleoJay prescription for maximizing your health, in a Paleo way:

Drink a Green paleo smoothie each and every day!  At least 16 ounces, which is one canning jar full.
Eat a LOT of fat!  Good fat, pastured butter, coconut oil, lots of cream in your coffee from pastured cows if you can get it.  Olive oil, fatty grass fed beef, pork, and chickens!
BONE BROTH!!
 Seafood, at least once per week, minimum!

If there is one thing important for your health, after a really nutrient dense foundational item like a Green Smoothie, it is bone broth.  Just do it!  Take the bones from your grass fed beef, chicken, or pork- put them into your slow cooker filled with good quality water, a little apple cider vinegar, and some sea salt. Simmer for about 24 hours, and then drink some, or just can it all (sans the bones!).

I mean, just ladle it into canning jars, cap with the lids, and line up in your fridge like little soldiers...

Just like I hope you have little canning jars (16 oz. seems ideal) of a Paleo Green Smoothie lined up on one side of your fridge, on the other should be these little bone broth soldiers.  They are ready and waiting, to march onward to maximizing your health and wellness!

At least a couple of times per week, heat up some bone broth in your microwave, or else use it as the base, the broth, to make soup, or another dish.  You can easily drink it plain, as a hot beverage, or you can add it to a good quality canned soup to make it super soup!

However you do it, this will do more for your body than anything else, except for your Paleo Green Smoothie, which you should have every single day as a “foundation of health”.

I like to think of it as the “nectar of the gods”!  Or else the fountain of youth!!

And if you add in bone broth??!   Well, just add some canned sardines to that as the main course...

Now, we are talking AMBROSIA!!




Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #95 Our Children are the Canaries in the Coal Mine







I’m afraid that this sad fact is the truth- our children in America, and increasingly world wide, are suffering at ever earlier ages under the scourge of autoimmune conditions.

I have been witnessing this process for years now; I have been paleo for about 10 years or so now.  I have evolved, and slowly added in more good things (like better exercise, higher quality food, better sleep and meditation), and benefited greatly!  I am now 63 years of age, and in far better shape than I was at 50: no more painful joints, knee or shoulder pain (from weight lifting, running, and an inflammatory diet).  No more migraine headaches (primarily, I found out, from gluten- when I eliminated gluten and in fact most grains altogether, I never got another headache again.  I threw away my pharmaceutical medicine...

On the other hand, most of my friends and peers, who are mostly in the 40 - 60 year age bracket, have picked up numerous diseases and conditions.  Diabetes and “diabesity”, of which the second predicts the former have happened to many, along with heart disease, gerd, acid reflux, sleep apnea and snoring, and even some cancer.  And the list goes on... 

These are the ones who do not listen to my advice.  They eat the standard American diet of pizza, fast foods, processed crap, bread and pasta.  Most try to “cut their fat intake” by switching exclusively away from butter and full fat dairy, and try to “cut calories” by drinking skim milk, and cereal for breakfast, along with “healthy whole grain toast” with margarine on top.
 
Almost all of them are on statins, against my arguments about it’s uselessness and extreme danger.  Many dose themselves almost daily with high doses of aspirin, tylenol and ibuprofen to deal with their many aches and pains.  Exercise?  They walk at the mall...

Those that have followed my lead are about as healthy as I am!  Many have reversed conditions like diabetes (type 2), skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis, and all sorts of digestive ailments.  Most don’t exercise nearly as much, but they have had wonderful results, healthwise, regardless!

But they are the older generation, on their way out.  What is troubling me now, is that all of the diseases that my middle-aged friends have are now turning up in children I have known since birth!

Type one diabetes in 13 year olds to 30 year olds.  Diverticulitis, Arthritis, hasimotos, and infertility, Hashimoto thyroiditis, type I diabetes, lupus, and vasculitis. It is starting to run rampant among young people, this taking them down by having their own immune system attacking their very own body!  Why?  And why is this new?  This stuff didn’t happen, or very, very rarely in my generation when we were young.  Now it hits younger and younger people, in more and more numbers!

When I was young, in the 1950’s, it really was like the movie Back to the Future.  Families ate at home, things like pot roast and vegetables, everyone got plenty of sleep before school, high fructose corn syrup had not been invented yet, and pesticides and herbicide use was very little.  Most meat was raised on small farms, and was pastured on grass, not corn.  There was the local “malt shop”, but this was just for high school socializing and things like sodas and milkshakes, real ones, which are a far cry from the chemical laden, crap-meat fast food in most fast food joints today! 

Fast forward to today, or even to 30 years ago: increasingly BOTH parents have to work, primarily to pay the TAXES that have escalated in this country.  Now, there is no “home maker” to make the nutritious, healthy, home cooked quality meals anymore.  The parents just rush the kids to a fast food joint, and buy them corn syrup or (worse) artificially sweetened soft drinks, fries cooked in vegetable oil, and gluten covered crap grain fed meat covered in sugar (ketchup) and mayo (vegetable crap oil)...  day after day after day after day... 
Then, when the mom does actually have time to cook, like on weekends, she buys those biscuits in tubes, and canned cheap soups, and other processed foods, throwing them together in quick recipes that make a gluten sugar bomb of a meal... over and over and over again!  And then, for a change, they order pizza!

10 to 20 years of this, and your gut lining is leaky and destroyed.  Toxins from this bad food, and actually from anywhere that get into your digestive system and have nothing to stop them- they go right into your bloodstream!

At this point, your immune system can hardly tell the difference between your own bodily cells, and all of these invaders- it goes into maximum fight response!  And it winds up attacking your own bodily parts- your digestive system is often the first to be attacked, since it is right there.  (Diverticulitis, Crohn’s disease)

But, it can go anywhere- attacking your joints (arthritis), your pancreas (Type 1 diabetes), your skin (eczema or psoriasis), or your thyroid. (Hashimoto’s disease)  It can even result in your own immune system attacking your brain.  This, I believe, could be one reason for the huge increase in autism, severe mood disorders like depression, and many other behavior problems in children today!

And so, where does that leave us? 
The state of nutrition and lifestyle in America today has reached a low ebb.  From the very hard, physical, yet nutrient richness of our great grandfathers and grandmothers we have come to this- the world of Wall.E. 

If you have never seen this Disney movie from 2008, I recommend you do.  It pretty much depicts where we are headed: Wall-E shows a future human race that is so lazy and decrepit that everyone just rides around all day in little electric carts, and drinking soft drinks from giant cups as they go all day.  Robots do everything for them, and all they do is to...barely exist!  Seemed so far-fetched just 7 years ago, and now- it seems like we are half way there!

Remember my analogy in the title of this podcast? 

Our children are our canaries in the coal mine!

If you are not aware, many years ago, coal miners would let down a basket of canaries into a coal mine shaft to determine if it was safe to breathe the air down there.  If they pulled up the basket by the rope, and the canaries were dead, or really sick, they knew they could not yet send humans down.

Our children are sick.  They are OUR CANARIES!





Check out this episode!

Thursday, November 19, 2015

If I were the Devil, Paul Harvey transcript 1965

PAUL HARVEY’S ‘IF I WERE THE DEVIL’ TRANSCRIPT

If I were the devil … If I were the Prince of Darkness, I’d want to engulf the whole world in darkness. And I’d have a third of it’s real estate, and four-fifths of its population, but I wouldn’t be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree — Thee. So I’d set about however necessary to take over the United States. I’d subvert the churches first — I’d begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: ‘Do as you please.’

“To the young, I would whisper that ‘The Bible is a myth.’ I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what’s bad is good, and what’s good is ‘square.’ And the old, I would teach to pray, after me, ‘Our Father, which art in Washington…’

“And then I’d get organized. I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting, so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting by comparison. I’d threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice versa. I’d pedal narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I’d tranquilize the rest with pills.

“If I were the devil I’d soon have families that war with themselves, churches at war with themselves, and nations at war with themselves; until each in its turn was consumed. And with promises of higher ratings I’d have mesmerizing media fanning the flames. If I were the devil I would encourage schools to refine young intellects, but neglect to discipline emotions — just let those run wild, until before you knew it, you’d have to have drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door.

“Within a decade I’d have prisons overflowing, I’d have judges promoting pornography — soon I could evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress. And in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and deify science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls, and church money. If I were the devil I’d make the symbols of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle.

“If I were the devil I’d take from those who have, and give to those wanted, until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. And what do you bet? I could get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich? I would caution against extremes and hard work, in Patriotism, in moral conduct. I would convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned, that swinging is more fun, that what you see on the TV is the way to be. And thus I could undress you in public, and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure. In other words I would just keep on doing what I'm doing....

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #94 Have your CAKE, and be Healthy and Slim Too!


It's not Either Or!

It has always been known that if you eat “bad” foods, things like candy, cake, and cookies, why then you were setting yourself up for dental disease, lots of fat on your body, and poor health in general.  Diabesity would be in your immediate future...

But did you know that, with a few judicious substitutions, you can make delicious brownies, cookies, cakes and even by candies that are not only delicious, but actually really, really healthy for you!!??

First, the good news:  just by substituting xylitol for sugar in your recipes, you will-

Improve your dental health
NOT gain weight from your desserts
Actually become super healthy by eating “treats”!

I’m not saying you can just add xylitol to crappy recipes using Pillsbury Doughboy biscuits and flour- far from it.  You still have to stick to a Paleo type of diet- no wheat, pastured dairy and meats, green smoothies on a daily basis for maximum results! 

BUT, you can add in wonderful, tasty home-baked treats indistinguishable from those that everyone else enjoys, except the ones you make will be incredibly healthy along with being delicious!

You can just use Xylitol, which looks just like sugar, and tastes just like sugar; but has 1/3 of the calories, and 70% less carbs- and, it doesn’t raise your blood sugar levels. (Ideal for diabetics, and for all the rest of us who don’t want to become diabetic)!

Erithritol is another sugar alcohol sweetener, similar to Xylitol, and both are derived from, originally, birch tree bark. And Erithritol has no calories that are absorbed!
A good solution is to use a mixture of 1/2 Erithritol, and 1/2 Xylitol... but to start, Xylitol wins hands down- it’s easy to find and purchase, and it improves dental health.

Actually, it’s kind of interesting: it was discovered in 1890, and was derived from birch bark. (Erithritol was discovered in 1848).  It is a completely natural substance that is included in small amounts in many products of nature.  Now, it is derived from non-GMO, organic corn cobs, which are chemically identical to those from birch bark sources!  You can still buy the birch variety, but there is really no justification.

Many Scandinavian, Asian and European countries use it extensively- in Finland, large quantities of Xylitol are used in chewing gum and candies provided to the Finnish children by the government, since all dental care is provided at no cost to the Finnish people-

Xylitol candy saves them money!


For whatever reason, here in the USA we went with chemical, artificial sweeteners and toxic fluoride in our drinking water. Two of many, many mistakes our government has shoved down our collective throats over the past 50 years or so...

But you and your family don’t need to follow blindly down this toxic nightmare path! 

Get some Xylitol, both of my local grocers carry it, and it’s also on Amazon.  I’m sure Thrive Market carries it as well.  Make yourself some cookies; I will post a recipe I made today at www.paleojay.com.   

Get some chewing gum made of Xylitol (PUR), and have a couple every day- your dental health will improve a LOT, since the xylitol makes the interior of your mouth a hostile environment for bad bacteria that love sugar.

If you are a new mom, chew this gum yourself, and if you are breast feeding, the benefits will transfer to your baby!  And, most research seems to suggest that the benefits of using xylitol for a year or so turn out to be...permanent. 

And then, when he or she starts “chewing” their own food- give them some xylitol candy!  Cookies, cakes and brownies!! 

Not only will they really, really like it...

But you are making them really, really healthy!!




This is a very healthy Chocolate Chip cookie recipe made with Coconut flour and Coconut Oil.
. . . . .
yield: 2 dozen cookies
active time: 14 -15 minutes
total time: 30 minutes
. . . . .
added by: Trevor
cuisine: Snack
Ingredients
1/2 cup Coconut Oil, melted
1 cup Xylitol
4 eggs (room temperature)
1/2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla
1/8 teaspoon Sea Salt
1 1/2 cups grated or shredded Unsweetened Coconut
3/4 cup unsweetened Chocolate Chips (or wafers quartered) 
1 cup sifted Coconut flour
Preparation

Melt coconut oil by putting it in the microwave for a few seconds. Make sure that the eggs are at room temperature so that the coconut oil does not solidify when mixing.

Mix together Coconut Oil, Xylitol, eggs, vanilla and salt. Stir in Coconut, chocolate chips and coconut flour. Drop batter in spoon-size mounds 1-inch apart on cookie sheet greased with coconut oil. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 C) for 14 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly and remove from cookie sheet. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.


Check out this episode!

Sunday, November 15, 2015

PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe #116 Inclined Bed Therapy cures...EVERYTHING!!



According to several researchers, traditional horizontal sleeping has been shown to prevent the ability of the body's circulatory system to function at an optimum level; thus, this sleeping position causes restricted blood flow and the inability of the lymphatic system to flush out the toxins that accumulate in the many networks of vessels throughout the body. Inclined Bed Therapy (IBT) tends to solve this problem. Introduced by Andrew K. Fletcher, Inclined Bed Therapy (IBT) involves sleeping on a bed raised at the head between 4 and 8 inches using bricks, wedges or blocks. This utilizes the force of gravity to improve the circulation of the body while asleep and taking advantage of this by allowing body cells to heal and regenerate on their own.  Circulation is maintained and improved from changes  in all fluid densities in the lymphatic system due to gravity. For this,  reports from users around the world stated that Inclined Bed Therapy can be useful in disorders such as spinal cord injury, back pain, acid reflux or GERD, sinus and respiratory disorders, sleep apnea, poor circulation, blood pressure, multiple sclerosis and diabetes.
The HEAD of the bed is to the right!




I know, it sounds absolutely incredible!  Basically the theory is that every condition of the human body, any disease or imperfection, is improved drastically by sleeping with increased circulation!

Hey, that doesn’t sound so crazy, does it?  Circulation is literally the lifeblood of the human body- improve that in a large way, and; well, the human body will improve from the increase in life-giving circulation.

Andrew Fletcher is the Englishman who introduced this form of therapy, after deducing that the circulation of the sap in trees is exactly like our own circulation- it is not only through the action of a “pump” (in our case, the heart), but it is the action of gravity and “transpiration”, which raises the fluid in trees to hundreds of vertical feet in height.

The human body works similarly- by sleeping on a flat surface, we inhibit our circulation.  The venous return of the blood is hampered by sleeping flat.

What is crazy is that sleeping with the head of the bed elevated 5-6 inches solves all of your circulation problems!

No cost, no lifestyle change- just sleep with your head elevated at a roughly 6 degree elevation!

If you have varicose veins, this is a fast, total cure.  No debate; it is!  But there are many, many other benefits:

Psoriasis, spinal cord injury, Parkinson's disease, cerebral palsy, bladder incontinence, bed wetting, insomnia, fidgety legs and limbs / Ekbom syndrome oedema, sleep disorders, night time paralysis, multiple sclerosis, ME, CFS, diabetes, varicose veins, migraine headaches, poor eye sight, pain, bowel incontinence, acid reflux, gerd, balance problems,  lethargy, poor circulation, metabolic disorders, immune deficiency, these are just some of the diseases that improve with IBT.

Ironically, standard medical practice is to elevate the foot of the bed, to make people sleep on a decline for varicose veins.  This helps at first, while the patient is lying down, but as soon as he gets up the swelling comes back!

By raising the HEAD of the bed, the natural circulation is increased hugely, and in a permanent fashion.  Actually, the thing to remember is this:

To lay totally flat in a bed is harder on your body than anything else you can do!

When you stand or change positions all day, or run, walk, or exercise, your circulation increases in a big way.  We all know this!  BUT, if you sleep in an elevated head position, your circulation during those hours is vastly improved as well.  So, if you sleep like this, which is about 1/3 of your life, your health will improve by a huge, huge margin.

OK- I have done this (you knew old Paleojay would, didn’t you grasshopper?), for several weeks.  First, I just noticed that I slept really, really well!   So did my wife, who initially was NOT on board to raise the head of the bed.  But the proof was in the pudding, as they say!

Then, I looked at my feet as I exercised each morning.  I have veins on my feet that are kind of bright blue!  Since I worked as a mailman for 38 years, and have always been a heavy exerciser, I assumed this was just extreme “foot abuse”, and since there was no pain, I never really thought a lot about it...

After about a week of IBT, THE VEINS HAD DISAPPEARED ON MY LEFT FOOT, AND ARE NOW HALF GONE ON MY RIGHT!

I had never even though about it- I just enjoyed sleeping really well, each and every night, and the fact that I didn’t really need to get up to urinate- but then, I started to put the pieces together.  All of this from just sleeping on an incline??

And here is the kicker:

NO sleep apnea.  No snoring! (Just ask my wife).  VASTLY improved quality of life, even though I was perfectly healthy beforehand (I thought), all just from sleeping on an incline!!??

It makes sense: the more upright you remain throughout life, the more you retain your faculties.  And do you know what?

In the ancient world, this was well known.  Even in the Egyptian tombs of the Pharoahs, they have measured the preserved beds of these Kings...

THEY ARE ALL ELEVATED AT THE HEAD,
EXACTLY 6 INCHES!

There is even a footrest provided, so the sleeper would not slide off of the bed.

So, my takeaway point?

SLEEP LIKE AN EGYPTIAN!



Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #93 The NEW Paleo Miracle Drug!





It is often said that there is “nothing new under the sun”.  And this is no exception- the “new paleo miracle drug” is actually as old as fire- but it is a miracle drug nonetheless!

This paleolithic elixir is bone broth.  Not just soup stock, which is when you boil bones and ideally the marrow and connective tissues as well, but bone broth, where you simmer the bones to extract the very essence of human nutrition and healing; and you extract them for at least 12 hours, and as long as 48 hours or more!

This is the key for maximum health benefits, and what separates bone broth from the mere flavoring agent of simple beef or chicken stock.

Not only will bone broth give you all of the nutrients needed to heal problems with your joints and bones (it really works miracles in that department), bone broth also heals your gut, which is so very important.  Listen- all of us have damaged, or “leaky” guts, where bad cells can slip through our digestive tracts and right into our bloodstream. 

This is where all autoimmune diseases have their start!  And these are the diseases that are killing, and hurting all of us so badly.  Name the scariest diseases you know- they are all autoimmune, in which the body starts attacking itself.  Cancer, arthritis, alzheimer’s, chron’s disease, diverticulitis, type 1 diabetes, and even heart disease is initially a form of autoimmune disease. 

And ever since we started eating massive amounts of gluten from genetically altered wheat, and adding tons of chemicals to our environment in the form of pesticides, herbicides, fluoride and chlorine, along with antibiotics in our meats and more chemicals in our toxic cleaning products... well, back when I was young, in the 1950’s, Cancer was quite rare!  As were most diseases- I never even heard of diabetes until I was grown, and it only struck old people.  Now, autism, diabetes, cancer- almost everyone winds up with one or several of these horrible diseases. 

Not to be a PollyAnna, which would be to take the name of my little sister, Polly Ann in vain, but simply taking in bone broth on a near daily basis would counter most of this insult.  Bone broth heals your gut lining- better than anything else!  Along with eating LOTS of green veggies, ideally in the form of a green smoothie, and grass fed meats and pastured dairy, bone broth will heal you, and make you immune to most of our modern enemies:

I guarantee, if you get out your slow cooker, put in some soup bones (my favorite is a Marrow Bone!), a chicken carcass, or a combination of bones from healthy animals, add a little sea salt and apple cider vinegar (just a splash, to help get the minerals out), and let it simmer for a couple of days, and then drink a cup- you are on the road to health my friend!

Healthy skin (this first is actually quick, and quite remarkable, since the skin is the mirror of the gut)- clear and healthy. 

Healthy weight- proper digestion ensures satiety, and you will not desire junk foods like sweets and pastries

Above all- a healthy gut!  This is important for the whole human body- Hippocrates himself said that all health comes from the gut!

You can either keep the slow cooker simmering away for days and days, or you can do like I do:  I simmer a couple of days, then ladle into canning jars, leaving the sick little depleted bones behind.  Put the canning jars into the fridge, and heat up whenever- I try to have a cup or so per day.  You can even whisk an egg into the cup you have heated in the microwave, and “instant egg drop soup”!  Tastes great, too...

Or, you can use them as a soup base, as I did with my PaleoJay’s chili earlier this week.  OR, you can take one 16 oz jar of bone broth, and add some new potatoes, carrots, grass fed stew meat and onions- slow cook them for about 2 and 1/2 hours- and then do like I am going to do right now:

Go eat my beef stew!

So be like me; be BAD TO THE BONE!

Check out this episode!

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Paleo Quick Tip of the Day #92 Summertime Blues!


pqtd 92 Don’t get the Summertime Blues- Train with Rings! 


I know, this time of the year is when those of us who live in the north country get the blues- the Summertime blues- since summer is over, the leaves are changing, and the weather is getting...colder! 

“Omigosh!” we say to ourselves, “I have been exercising so well outdoors, carrying my little heavy hands dumb bells and pumping them as I go, and stopping for periodic pushup intervals- it’s been great!  But what do I do when it gets really cold, and snowy??”

Well, for me, that doesn’t stop my outdoor walks with the little weights- I just put on boots, and slog through the forest trails of snow!  But, if you like to retreat more indoors in the winter months, fear not.  Here is your answer, your salvation, your holy grail:

Get a set of gymnastic rings!

I don’t care if this seems intimidating, you think you are too big and heavy to do those crazy muscle ups and skin the cat moves- trust me, this little, inexpensive ring setup will change your physique, your life overall, and especially the way you train.

I got a set a few years ago, the setup was a little over $20.  I got some hardware to hang the rings up on my basement rafters, and it is the BEST money I have ever spent on training! 

Especially if you are somewhat de-conditioned or heavy, these are a lifesaver.  You can do pushups on them at any angle you choose- if you can’t do a regular pushup on the floor, you can do them standing up, on a slight angle!  Or at any gradation in between.  Just by moving forward or back, you make the pushup exercise harder or easier. 

And, doing pushups on the rings puts your body in the most joint sparing, yet total range-of-motion position that is possible.  And, if you know me, you know that the pushup is probably the ultimate exercise for total body fitness!

But the pushup is not all, no no no!  Rings are ideal for pullups, dips, and pistol (or one-legged) squats, which are the perfect lower body exercise.  Also, for rows, pullovers, tricep presses, and flies- all done perfectly safely, and easily graduated so that anyone, of any fitness level, can do them safely and productively.

The rings are kind of like a tiny, inexpensive, incredibly versatile power rack, or “cage”. I have one of these as well, from my old ill-advised weight lifting days, and it is literally a steel cube that holds your weights, so that they can never fall on you- and also, so that you can start at any point in the lift on “pins” that support the bar at various levels.  VERY hands, indispensable really, for serious weight trainers!  Also, really big, bulky, and expensive!!

The rings are better! Yup, not just OK, but BETTER.  You can do squats on one leg, and assist yourself with your arms a little if you can’t quite do it... same with chins, and dips, rows and even curls- just experiment, and any exercise that you could do with a power rack, mountains of weights, and specialized Nautilus and other types of machines, well you can duplicate them, and even do them one step better on a simple set of rings!



Rings are also convenient, and lend themselves to impromptu mini-workouts whenever you feel like it- they are just hanging there, waiting for you!  You can instantly adjust them up for squats and wonderful ab exercises like L-sits, or lower them for pushups.  You can elevate your legs to make the pushups harder, or stand more upright to make them much easier... infinitely and instantly adjustable!

I have totally rehabbed my shoulders, damaged from years of heavy weights, by using rings.  The total range of motion, and the ability to stretch the shoulder joints by leaning forward on the rings is amazingly therapeutic. 

So grab the brass ring!  Set yourself up for a Winter’s worth of fitness and health!  I know it seems a little depressing when the leaves start to fall, but once the cold arrives, you have a new “hang out”- whether it is in your basement, or your garage, or wherever you have a high place to hang a set of rings- all kinds of mounting hardware is available, so you will get the “hang” of it eventually...

And then, you will never, ever again have the summertime blues! 

Check out this episode!

Sunday, November 1, 2015

PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe #115 podcast- Don't be Pushin Too Hard- Let it GO!


I can honestly say that nowadays, in modern America at least, we all pretty much are “PUSHIN’ TOO HARD”!

We work too many hours, at usually quite sedentary jobs, and while we work, we are constantly thinking about just what else we need to get done!  There are monetary goals, how we need to get this cleaned or taken care of on the house, car repairs and maintenance... and on top of that we are utterly consumed with our kids: are they in enough activities?  Do we need to enroll and drive them to even more, so that they are not deprived and not able to cope in this ever-more hyper competitive world??

And, on top of all that, we think we just need to do more!  More exercise, more stretching, more cardio, more money, more partying, more socializing, just more more more MORE!

Welcome to America today!

It was not always this way.  Back in the 1950’s, which so many hold in nostalgic regard nowadays, I am here to tell you that it was not this way.  The hyper-competitiveness existed, but it was mainly confined to the big cities, and the types of folks that are always around with fragile egos and big ambitions.  But back then, they were regarded with raised eyebrows, and seen for what they were:
Insecure people that needed outside validation.

Most people were content with a normal house, a regular secure income from a regular, real type of job.  Back then, ALL jobs were considered honorable- physical jobs were at LEAST as good as office work; actually, physical jobs paid HIGHER back in those days, and office work was reserved for those who could not, or WOULD not do harder work!

But this is all just leading up to now, when we are confronted with learning what is really important in life, now and forever.

It has become all about the money.  And the power.  It was not always thus; being well regarded was considered all important back in the day.  A man’s (or woman’s) word, honesty, and reputation were far more valuable than the money in his safe.  Imagine Scrooge: nowadays, he would be the PERFECT MAN.  Especially if he had perfect abs, a healthy life, and a huge mansion that he showed on TV.

But let’s get back on track, let’s talk about paleo diet and health!  How does this relate to that, PaleoJay my guru?

It is so important to back away from these hard-driving, hyper-competitive, super achieving mindset goals!  Just having this mindset can completely ruin your health,fitness and wellness, even while eating a perfect paleo diet, exercising in a perfectly paleo way, and achieving all of your monetary and other physical goals.

If you push unrelentingly to failure, you will fail!

In anything, and everything.

Push to failure in your career, your marriage and health will fail.
Push to failure in exercise, and you will be injured.
Push your kids to failure, and they will fail in life, even if they achieve what you push them at.
Push yourself really hard to be “perfect”, and you will wind up diseased, frail, and falling apart physically, and probably mentally as well.

Nothing really should be “pushed”.  We are just natural humans, and our needs and real wants are very simple.
We all need to be pretty much autonomous, and self validating, without some authority micro-managing us.

 This means minimal government, and it means minimal medical intervention.

On your own end, this means letting things slide a bit...

Don’t judge others for not keeping up to your “standards” of a perfect lawn and house- this actually means pouring glyphosate onto your lawns, thereby poisoning the water supply for all of your neighbors.

Leave your kids to their own devices- let them interact, and play with their friend in the neighborhood on their own! (Don’t insert yourself, ala “little league” and other adult organizations to fulfill your own unfulfilled ego from childhood!).

Above all, don’t try to be the:
richest
skinniest
most successful and our children are the most successful too!
most “accomplished”
and even HEALTHIEST

of your friends and associates.

If you do try this, rest assured: you won’t be.

Instead: Go back to the future!

You are George “Atlas” Mc Fly... nerd now, but you know to win that girl of your dreams, you just need to relax.



Just start doing pushups, and virtual, self resistance Perfectly Paleo exercise on a slow, steady, daily, regular basis!  Make it something to look forward to...
You clean up your diet, no drastic steps, just slow and common sense.  You start making a Green smoothie each morning, with TONS of green veggies, spices and kefir, and a little fruit.  This alone makes a huge difference both in your mental outlook, and your physical health!

You decide to “skip” your next medical checkup!  I mean, you are starting to feel great- why would you need someone less healthy and fit than you to “second guess” your health?  Because you know that no matter how healthy you are, they will just try to sell you drugs!!??

Now, you decide to get your kids on board!  You decide, along with your spouse, to just “Let them be kids!”

What a concept, in modern America!  Your “friends” will look askance at your just “letting them run wild, like free range kids”!  You will just ignore them, letting them run around on the grass, just like Opie Taylor in the old Andy Griffith Show!

YOU don’t care!  Everything is looking great!  Your wife can’t believe how healthy and “buff” you are. (neither can your friends)!  YOU can’t believe how great you feel, which after all is the ultimate barometer of health- much more than some cholesterol or other fake measurement of health- and you decide to continue on your journey of self determination and discovery!

You, George Mc Fly, now decide that YOU are the best determiner of your destiny!  Health wise!  Career wise!!  And in HOW TO RAISE YOUR FAMILY!!

You have determined to RID your life of the “Biffs” of this world!

You will vote for the minimum of government
You will take control of your own health
You will exercise on your own, self directed
You will work a real job, and take pride in real work
You will let your children and spouse do the same- NO INTERFERENCE
You will run your property, and your life, as the founding fathers intended.  Pursue your own happiness- NO INTERFERENCE
You will attempt to DESTROY interference of your rights with all of your heart, all of your mind, and all of your soul!
 And love your neighbor as yourself.


OK  George, or Georgette:  here is what I leave you with with this long-winded podcast.

Don’t PUSH yourself, or your kids, or your wife- don’t be a micro-manager!  God, I hate micro-managers...

Relax, and look at the big picture.  Sure, you want your son Marty not to be a big loser, but just let it go!

Did you ever consider, that MARTY might be way, way, way cooler than you, George??

Let him go.  Let Marty be Marty.  Let George be George. (The Pushups will really help, as will the green smoothie each day!!)

Let it go!