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Sunday, July 30, 2017

Socialism is NOT Paleo podcast!



If you are like me, you have a strong urge to sequester yourself away, living as full and healthy of a life as I can.  Working on my land, my few acres upon which there is always something that needs doing!  I’ve had numerous large trees come down this year, and some I’ve cut up- others are waiting, waiting for me to have the time to cut them, move them, stack them, and stack and/or burn the brush.  
I’ve had trouble with my old 1962 Ford pickup that needed taking care of, and well, you get the idea- I’m sure your own life is just as beset with complications that demand your immediate attention.  But the king of them all for me is our latest- a kitchen remodel!  Oh my gosh, you haven’t lived until you have washed dishes in a tub outside with your garden hose for over 6 weeks, and had no stove or sink at all.  (At least downstairs- the upstairs remodel was last year)!
And now, we have a wonderful, super-functional new kitchen.  Just have to get all of the furniture out of the dining room and the garage, and back inside, and finish off the downstairs bath…
Here is my point.  My paramount goal is to live peacefully in my rural setting, tending a large garden, seeing my neighbors and grandchild regularly, and cooking, reading, exercising, playing music, and writing.  It seems as if that would be easy to attain, especially now that I am officially retired.
It’s not.  Life really does happen- emergencies of all sorts, deaths and births, joys and tragedies- they are so much a part of the fabric of life that sometimes we forget- we don’t really have an option to just become a sort of happy recluse, indulging our own interests.  We are part of our tribe, and as much as we individualistic Westerners want to believe otherwise- the tribe takes precedence.  It is our duty to care for and help our family and friends, our sacred obligation, really.
But don’t think this means that we are required to take care of outsiders- the indolent, illegal immigrants, those that refuse to try, that expect to be supported as a right, whether native or foreign born!  These should be viewed as either hostile invaders in the first case, or bad seeds to be weeded out in the other.  A vital “tribe” can only thrive with ‘all hands rowing the boat’.  
Sorry- that was my brief rant on how some think that to be compassionate or accepting we need to support any sort of cultural rot that is shoved at us.  We don’t, and we should be ever vigilant about such stuff, forced upon us by a Big Government, whether it be Rome or any other more modern, socialist sort of tyranny.  I personally believe that we have escaped such a socialist tyranny with the last election, but just as in our personal lives: we are never “home free”.  There is always more to do!
My point is this: try to not bemoan your lot, (as I sometimes do, until I stop myself), thinking ‘Why can’t I just be left alone?  I have so much to do, so much that I want to do, and so and so needs this, and I really should help this person’- and on and on.   We all need to just stop, and think ‘I am here to live my life, and to do the best job that I can.  I am needed here, and that is enough.’
Easy to say, and hard to do.  Especially as we are surrounded by movie actors, politicians, business people, and all sorts of celebrities that do precisely the opposite:  they are self-centered to an extreme, and partly because of this, they have become rich, famous, celebrated, and powerful!  It is tempting to copy them, to be more and more centered on self; working aggressively and always for our own advantage above all!  Why not, right- it’s worked for them?!

Because it is not right.  It is not good.  And ultimately, historically and evolutionarily: It is not Tribal!   
If members of ancient tribes had acted in this way, our kind would have died out long ago.  Just as we need to eat in an evolutionary way, eschewing modern processed foods in favor of real foods, vegetables and fruits and pastured meats and dairy, wild seafood- to be healthy and in tune with nature and our bodies-
We need to act in an evolutionary, tribal sort of way.  Doing what is right.  Right for the tribe, and our family.  It’s how we evolved, and for a good reason-  a selfish tribes person was ultimately ostracized, for the good of the tribe.  It was not to be vengeful, or mean- it was just necessary.
The evolutionary principle is obvious.  We all need to be good.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Get Healthy with Bone Broth


There is one simple, tasty addition to your life that is the closest thing to a cure-all that I can name- bone broth!  Bone broth is simply the bones, the marrow, cooked down for at least 12 hours into a miraculous, life-sustaining liquid.  A tasty liquid, that contains so many health benefits it is hard to believe.

I think the primary benefit is its gut healing ability.  Virtually everyone in the developed world has a damaged gut lining!  Gluten and gliadin (from wheat) GMO products, processed foods, fast food, NSAID medications like aspirin and tylenol, ibuprofen and the like, stress itself, along with a lack of enough good, restful sleep all result in a permeable gut lining.  Such a damaged lining exposes you to 

ALL AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES!

ALL OF THEM

Do I really need to list them all?  Let’s just toss out a few- type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer’s, and even cancer are all basically autoimmune diseases, where cells in the body are attacking other cells in the body.  All can be traced back, ultimately, to a permeable, or leaky gut, where “invaders” can pass right into the body through the leaking “holes” in the gut lining.

That is really enough, right there- but the benefits go beyond even that- joint pain is relieved by the injection of the glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate that are contained in bone broth- why would you buy expensive supplements to do the same thing?  Also, bone broth is a better protein supplement than any you can buy, and much more assimilable.  

Bone broth will also improve your sleep, supply hard-to-find nutrients that will also improve eye health, vastly improve skin and hair health, (your hair will probably become thicker and shinier within a couple of weeks of use), and even improve your mood, digestion, and protect you against depression and mood swings!  

You probably are wondering- “How can I get this miracle into my life?”  At least you should be!  Well, it is really easy, and inexpensive too…

Just get a big pot, (a crock pot is ideal), and after you have prepared a pastured chicken for dinner, take all of the bones and connective tissues (the feet and neck and organs too if you have them!), and simmer them for at least 12 hours.  Put in a splash of apple cider vinegar to help break down the minerals in the bones, and some sea salt, and you are done- just strain out the bones in a colander or strainer, and put into canning jars.  Or else, just leave in the pot, and ladle out a cup of so throughout the day to sip on.  

Here’s the thing- I know many of your eyes are glazing over about now!  “(I hate to cook, I don’t have pots, or canning jars, or a crock pot- I never even use my oven!)”
Sadly, this is the current sad state of the cooking/health world.  If this is you, don’t despair!  Do two things:

1. Buy a good, organic bone broth in a box that you can easily heat in your microwave.  (Pacific Brand is excellent, and widely available).
2. Begin to learn to cook.  Not only is it incredibly important for your overall health- knowing how to cook is as important, perhaps more so, than learning to exercise, stretch, and otherwise care for your body!

I’ve been without a kitchen for a couple of months, as we remodeled our ancient farmhouse kitchen into a modern farmhouse kitchen, one with very usable, state of the art appliances, range, and space.  In the interim, I learned about how good, organic bone broths are available now, so making your own is not required.  This is a wonderful state of affairs for health!   I’ve also read good things about Kettle and Fire bone broth, if Pacific is not in stores near you.

If you have listened to me for any length of time, you know I am kind of a broken record about things health-wise.  Here is my broken record, repeating endlessly:
“Have a green paleo smoothie each day”, “Do Perfectly Paleo Exercise Daily”, “Walk and run barefoot, or with Xero Shoes, outdoors in Nature as often as you can”,  and now “Drink a cup or two of bone broth, every day!”  

I don’t know if this is you or not, but another one is this: “Learn to cook! Especially to grill, if you are like me!”  None of this stuff is hard, in fact, each thing I listed is one of the high points of my day!  What is hard??  

Remodeling a kitchen!


Sunday, July 23, 2017

I woke up this morning with Paleo- On my Mind!

I know- you’ve woken up, and thought: “Perhaps a Paleolithic Lifestyle would change my life?  Because now I am:
1. weak
2. fat
3. diseased

Well, you can be a diesel engine-  Or, a Paleo Diesel, if you prefer; a Conan-esque, super efficient person who can handle any obstacle or disease, just by your well-tuned metabolism and lifestyle!  It truly is your choice…

What you need to do, is eschew, or give up what the evil rulers of our time are ordering you to do!  They want you to:

1. Eat low fat, only vegetable oils please!  
2. Move More- Eat Less- this means walking, jogging, mall walking, aerobic dance classes: all sorts of wimpy, stupid flailings of your limbs that accomplish almost nothing, but make you feel virtuous.  And then, you go on a “low calorie” type of diet, that results in you being malnourished.  But still fat.

I hope you know by now, if you have listened to me or any other Paleo podcasts at all, that this is B.S.  And no, despite the accuracy of it, I don’t mean Barbara Streisand.  

I want you to eat a full-fat, lower carb sort of diet- without fast foods, processed foods; and super low in sugar and super high in vegetables and and low glycemic fruits, like citrus and berries.  Sprouts and spices- mainly in green Paleo Smoothies, as outlined in Perfectly Paleo Exercise and at www.paleojay.com  

You know, it is literally true that, if you give up the processed foods, and high carb Barbara Streisand- oh, I mean B.S., sleep a good 8 hours per night, and exercise ala Perfectly Paleo Exercise on a daily, or near daily basis, you will sidestep most of the diseases and infirmities of modern times.

What exactly does this mean?  Well, it means that:

1. You will not become diabetic, or its precursor- diabesity. 
2. You won’t become an old, obese person who is heading for Alzheimer’s!
3. You will build your tendons and ligaments, rather than let them decline, as they do in almost all conventional exercise approaches.  You will learn about the importance of isometrics, self-resisted, and above all Virtual Resistance, where the body resists itself as it moves through a range of motion, working not only the muscles, but the all-important tendons and ligaments that actually support the musculature!

If you do what I prescribe in Perfectly Paleo Exercise, following the diet of a green, paleo smoothie daily, and do the exercises as prescribed as well, you will turn yourself into a Paleo Diesel!

I came up with this term as I was doing things out on my land with my diesel tractor.  If you have never spent time amongst tractors, you wouldn’t know that diesel engined tractors are far more efficient than the typical gasoline tractors.  Diesels run on a really basic, unrefined form of petroleum - kind of like a SAD American diet, albeit for tractors!

They are basically PALEO TRACTORS!

They use unprocessed Petroleum, and are far stronger in pulling, and any other test of tractor strength!  
They have TORQUE- which is a measure of pulling, or raw strength capacity!

But, if you are more into “fluff”; little disco-dancing types of tractors- well- get a GASOLINE, aka processed foods glucose-fueled kind of tractor!

That is like a weightlifter type of tractor, a  Cross-fit Tractor” if you will:  but what you want is a Physical Culturist, a Paleolithic type of Tractor-body- one that is into the long haul, one that cannot only pull, and lift, and excel in the short-term- but one that will last  a long, long, productive time!

Well, that’s what I want.  I hope that’s what you want as well- a strong, fit, ailment-free body that takes you through your old years with grace, without hospital visits, or any infirmities that preclude you playing with your grandchildren!  

I am already there, spending time with my first grandchild, with NO health concerns, which I realize now is endemic amongst my 65 year old peers!  

To quote Pee Wee Herman- “Why won’t they listen to me?”  



I don’t know!!

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Health Lessons from my Father


Yesterday we put my father to rest, his ashes buried on the grounds of the vacation cabin my family has shared for almost 30 years.  We put an inscribed rock up to mark the spot, and had a wonderful memorial service, with everyone present to speak on what a wonderful influence our father had been on us all.

His life of almost 97 years was celebrated again and again, both through poems, testimonials, and music especially- since my father, Philip H. Bowers aka “Big Band Phil” was a lifelong musician and trombonist.  I did a couple of songs for him, as did my sister Polly, with which we all sang along.

The point of this all?  Health is all about good family relations, good, real food, music and poetry!  Of course, exercise is important as well, but there was almost too much of that going on, what with fallen tree removal, brush burning, and even when I carried the giant engraved boulder into the grave site!

 

We miss our dad, that is for sure.  But, with a life of nearly 97 years; really- how can sad you be about such a long, successful, happy life! 

I remember my dad, when his health finally really started to fail, and I went down to help out- he said to me, as I helped him walk into the bathroom:  “I always told the truth, I never swore, and I paid my debts- and my mother even told me I was a good baby!”  (I got a laugh out of that last, but I suppose it’s true…)  He was wondering why he was experiencing pain, since he was not used to such, even at that advanced age.

 

Here is my takeaway, that I think might be of interest to you:

 

Don’t eat grains, and don’t eat processed foods.  My parents never allowed “pop” into the house, and this is when everyone else did, back in the 1950’s and 60’s.  Never. 

 

They did actually eat bread and low-fat dairy, but this was when everyone bought into this big lie- since they adopted it so late, it hardly affected them at all.  My little siblings, well, I am their worst nightmare now, prosleltyzing to them night and day.  They probably haven’t eliminated grains, but they are definitely minimizing them!

 

Sleep a lot: my parents always made sure we were in bed by 8:30 each night- and this is when I was in high school, and subject to peer ridicule.  I hated it then, but like it now!

 

Stay together with your family, and your wife!  What a novel concept, but as important now as it ever was.  My parents were together for 67 years, and supported their 8 kids through thick and thin- they sent us all through college!  My siblings and I are probably closer now than we were growing up, and I, as the eldest, am now 65.

 

Embrace your creative side!  Our “right brain” is every bit, and probably more important than our left brain.  Ignore this creative, intuitive side of your brain to your own peril!  Paint, do woodworking, cook, sing, dance, and write- your real, ancestral human side needs to come out to make you a fully realized human being!  Your bankbook should definitely not be what defines you completely!

 

Live in nature, and embrace the religious side of humanity!  My mother is the most devote person I have ever known.  My father, although not part of a standard faith, despite being raised Methodist, always told us all to “Embrace the golden rule- “do unto others”.  Never lie.  Never swear.  (He never did either).

 

This will rub many the wrong way, but it is as true today as it ever was regardless:  “Do not rely on government for anything.  Do for yourself!  Reliance on anyone else is Slavery!”  They both reiterated this over and over again, even though they grew up in 1930’s depression era America.  Big Government is always ready to “help”, which they told us was simply “enslavement”.  They were 100% right!  Government is always ready to take what you have created, and “share it”, meaning to take it- giving a tiny fraction to those who will not work, and keeping the lion’s share for themselves, meaning the ruling elite!

 

My father also did isometric exercise, along with pushups, every day of his life!  Go thou and do likewise. 

 

Do these things, and you too can have a wonderful, long, fruitful and productive life.  Honor God and humanity and Nature itself by doing the right thing as best you can.  Ignore perversions like transgenderism, phony appeals to race, and just treat all about you as equal tribespeople, all of whom should be treating you in a like manner. 

 

If they don’t act in this manner?  They are illegal, attacking hostile tribes of one sort or another, and should be dealt with.  Exclude them from your tribe- they will destroy your way of life.  Do not attack them, unless they attack you- make sure they live in their own “land”, a land of socialism, and other perversions.

 

Then, they will reap what they sow, and will fail amongst their own mistaken choices: do not support them, and they shall fall on their own. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Check out this episode!

Friday, July 14, 2017

When NOT to Work Out!

A really big lesson that needs to be learned about health, fitness, and wellness is to not work out sometimes!

I know, for me this was a hard, hard lesson to learn, and actually internalize.  If you are motivated to change your diet to a paleo path, eliminating grains and vegetable oil, and replacing them with good meats and seafood and a green smoothie loaded with veggies and coconut milk, spices, green tea and berries- why, then you are highly motivated indeed.  Just like me!

And diet is definitely the number one thing most folks need to change.  There is no reason to go “by halves” here- clean up your diet- it is all positive!  No downside whatsoever.

But, here is the thing: exercise is different.  The big thing is this- everyone thinks that more is better!  

It’s not.  It seems as if it is at first, when you make great gains in musculature, endurance, and everything else.  
“Let’s just keep this going forever,” you think, “ I will exercise myself into a superman or woman!!”  You envision yourself getting bigger, leaner, and stronger forever, and eventually wearing a cape or carrying a golden lasso…

It doesn’t work that way.  At least not in the real world.  

Especially as you age.  And although I am now 65, I don’t mean that you have to be that old to change your exercise protocol- even if your are 30- well, you are no longer 20!  

The better your diet, actually, the less you NEED to exercise!  Diet is by far the most important element of fitness and health, and although I personally exercise every single day if I can- diet trumps exercise!  Exercise simply stimulates the body to use the good nutrients you have eaten, and takes advantage of the good rest and sleep you have had to utilize these nutrients to build your body into the healthy, wonderful shape that you want.

The takeaway here is this: if you feel you have to exercise every day, no matter what-

You don’t.  

Relax.  Chill out.  If your diet is good, if your home life is largely stress free (no one’s is, entirely!), and you have slept a good eight plus hours per night for a while-

Exercise is a good “plus” for you!  Do it, and go at it Perfectly Paleo Exercise style: hard, intense, and briefly.  This will stimulate muscular building, and also cardio improvements- but don’t forget stretching.  Stretching is almost as important as building muscle and endurance, and as you get older, it is even more important!  

Get on the floor, squat down for time, and STRETCH every day of your life.  And the older you are, do it more and more, not less and less as most do!  

And while you are young: don’t think you have to exercise to failure.  (EVER)  Don’t think you have to exercise every single day, although if life lets you, why do it, because it feels good and natural.  

But, if you are writing a list for your daily chores, DO write this: 

1. Exercise 1st thing, unless you really can’t- then don’t, and don’t worry about it
2.  Eat Paleo, meaning real food
3.  Rest well, avoid stress, and cultivate your “tribe”, facilitating family relationships
4. Get to bed early, so you can wake up and exercise without conflict from more important things


THIS is Perfectly Paleo Exercise in a nutshell!

Sunday, July 9, 2017

Heroic Tales ebook bundle

My latest effort, a bundle of ebooks in one inexpensive package is now available for pre-order!

Heroic Tales

Readable on Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, and Barnes and Noble, this is a collection of LOTS of books, all in one place.

It is available on pre-order now, and will be published on July 17!

19 heroic tales in all, from novels to short stories...

Get this package, and you could be set for reading for the rest of the summer!  You might have as much fun reading it as I did "curating" it, as I put it all together!

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Superslow-





If you have been listening to this podcast for any length of time, you know that I vastly prefer bodyweight, isometrics, and especially virtual resistance training over any other type!

I do like heavy hands, where you walk along (preferable barefoot or in Xero type shoes on God’s green earth), grounding yourself electrically as you go, pumping small weights in your hands as you go, which exercises you panaerobically, meaning you are working as much of your musculature and your heart and lungs as you go.  This is a great adjunct to the aforementioned  training types, and can give you a total body workout in as little as 10-15 minutes.  It’s intense

I do not like heavy weight lifting, or long slow distance types of running.  I think they are dangerous long term, and result in injuries that will dog you into your old age- things like busted-up joints, torn muscles and injured tendons and ligaments that take a long, long time to heal.

And I like super slow training, which is a system arrived at years ago by Ken Hutchins.  In this form of training, you move very slowly as you do each exercise.  Very slowly!  Ken always recommended 10 seconds up, and 10 down.  He normally used special machines with very low resistance within the mechanism, and his results were very impressive indeed.

I have done it, off and on, for years, and I recommend you add it into your training mix.  Only I recommend using it exclusively with body weight exercises, not with weights at all!

Pushups are perfect for this regimen:  Start with a standard pushup.  Let’s say you do sets of 30- do a pushup really, really slowly- it doesn’t have to be 10 seconds necessarily, but that will work wonderfully.  Start with 5 up, 5 down; if you are new to this that will be plenty slow enough!

If you can do 30 at a time, I’ll bet 5 pushups done super slow will be more than enough!  It is that grueling, and that effective.  You can try it with chin-ups or pull-ups, but if you can do one real super slow pull-up you are really, really strong!

So, what are the advantages to super slow?  Well, it is incredibly time efficient- if you are pressed for time to get in a workout, two sets of super slow pushups will do just about all you need for your upper body.  Really!  Add in one set of one pull-up, and if you can also do a super slow set of pistol squats, balancing yourself with a free hand grasping your gymnastic rings, and top it off with a super slow set of leg raises to parallel- well, you’ve accomplished an amazing workout in less than 15 minutes, probably more like 10 minutes!

So, do I always work out in this fashion?  No.  For one, it does not pump the muscles with oxygenated blood as does a high rep set.  And two- it is so grueling, psychologically, that on a regular basis I find that such training will just burn you out- you will find yourself dreading training!

But, don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.  On an occasional, or perhaps on just one exercise per session, it is fantastic- really hits the muscle fibers deeply.  Especially if you are short on time, and really want a great workout, super slow is a great tool. 

Bottom line?  Super Slow is…super!








Check out this episode!