In the Shadow of His Wings

Paleo Man- the song!

Work Out Like a 4 Year Old podcast on PaleoJays Smoothie Cafe

Most people work out all wrong!  They get in their car, and drive to a gym to exercise.  Or, if they have wised up over time- they skip all of that, and have a home gym setup at home, in their garage or basement.  That is fine, and what I have done for many years; the idea of driving to a gym and working out is fine in high school or college, and is how I exercised throughout my early 20’s.  It’s a good way to learn…

Then, you work out on a regular schedule in your home gym.  Weights in the basement, with a sturdy power rack are great.  You can get big and strong in this manner, which is great in your youth!  But as you age, what is the best way to stay fit?

Well, I maintain that working out in your living room or TV room if you have one is ideal!  Not only for you, but for your 4 year old grandson as well, and he can show you how:

Approach your workout like pure play, for that is what it ideally is.  All you really need is a space in front of the television, a yoga mat (to protect your carpet and cushion you a bit), a rebounder, and an Exergenie (ideally)  for isometrics.  I also recommend the Perfect Pushup, but get the pro or heavy duty model- high volume pushups will wear out a standard model quickly, while my heavy duty model has lasted more than a decade with no signs of wearing out!  The other thing I like to have is an ab roller, which is a wonderful exercise, but this is optional- straight-legged setups are just as good- I just like to do both.

When my 4 year old grandson is over, as he has been lately a lot, and we can’t go outside because it is so cold, I turn on the TV for him, and just observe.  He sets down my rebounder, and starts- jumping!  

If the TV is on for an hour, he jumps the whole time!  Sometimes, he may run into an adjacent room to get a toy to hold while jumping (Batman is a favorite), or to crouch down by his giant Batman cave toy, but he quickly resumes his jumping again.  I notice that when the action is exciting- (fast cartoon chase scenes and the like)- he jumps much higher and faster!  He gauges his intensity by how he feels at the moment in time, and this is the essence of intuitional training.  His endurance is off the charts!  I feel he should avoid strength training until he is at least 40 pounds or so…

He doesn’t do it for health, or because he should. He just does it naturally, out of joyful movement that is part of our humanness.  It feels good, and so he does it with gusto!  

We should do the same.  Now that I am in my 60’s, I have no desire to be big.  Strong is something else, something we should all aspire to improve, always!  Maintenance of musculature is one of the most important aspects of health, lifelong- but especially as we age.  So, isometrics are ideal, as they vastly increase strength, without huge additions of bulk!  No, just lean, corded muscle (and tendon improvements as well), that shapes and is the engine of your body.

I have a book I wrote a few years back that outlines my workouts, called Perfectly Paleo Exercise.  The ebook version is better, and cheaper, but the gist is here- I do virtual resistance exercise first, (after turning on the TV of course), and flex my muscles throughout their entire range of motion. Here is my basic outline right here, on YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI65LRENdKo

This is the perfect core series of exercises for anyone, for all time!  Years ago they were called Tiger Moves, which I think is king of hokey- I like Virtual Exercise better.  But whatever- this type of weightless exercise, where the resistance is generated by you, yourself within the muscle is the safest, most productive way to maintain and improve all aspects of muscular fitness!  So start with that…

Then, get on the floor mat, and start stretching.  Start off with a long Asian squat, where you squat deeply with bare feet flat on the mat, and just relax in that position- this is the most beneficial, needed stretch that Westerners can do.  It takes the load off of your back, and is the basic ‘resting posture’ of human beings that don’t have chairs, worldwide.  Then, lie down on your back and stretch, get on all fours and stretch and move, and wind up in a back bridge if you can do so- I have daily for many years, and find it to be a total body stretch, and isometric hold that is invaluable!

Then, just as my grandson runs off to grab his Batman toy, I go to the wicker basket I keep all my minimal exercise gear in and grab my Exergenie.  Mine is an old one from the 1960’s that I got on Ebay years ago, and it is wonderful for isometrics- but, you can use a long strap just as effectively for the same purpose.  There is a product called the forearm forklift that works perfectly for this, although it is meant to move furniture without straining your back.  It is two nylon straps with built in handles, and it is great for isometrics, and also for moving heavy furniture!

Use your Exergenie or nylon straps to do presses, and curls, upright rows, bent rows, deadlifts and squats, and shoulder extensions.  I like to do 3 isometric stops for a hold of about 5 seconds at the beginning, middle, and end of each movement.  Very intense, really as intense as you’d like, depending on the TV action at the moment, and very effective for maximum strength!  Really, in 10 minutes you can cover the whole body very well indeed.

Then, I grab my rebounder just like my grandson, and start in to bouncing away!  This is wonderful for your lymph system, and also your cardio.  I like to do two more sets of Virtual resistance on the rebounder as I bounce, and find it to be wonderful for balance as well.  

You may want to wind up with manually resisted neck exercises, and bouncing while seated on the rebounder for a wonderful ab workout.  

I really can’t imagine waking up, and not doing this first thing every day, as I have for years.  Instantly energizing, and it covers all the bases.  Of course, I also do sets of pushups, straight legged situps, and ab wheels two times a week, then I usually omit the last rebounder sets.  And, I still go down to my basement gym a couple of times per week, mainly to do pushups on my gymnastic rings, pull-ups and ab curls, pistol squats with the rings, and isometrics on the power rack…

But that’s just me.  Those last are optional, just because I have my gym, and like using it.  All you really need are a mat, a TV, and a couple of straps.  And a rebounder, for total fitness and health!  For your whole life long.

And, a batman toy for the grandson!

Mike Mew - Why conventional medicine does not want to hear this message ...

Your Vegetables Want You Dead! Podcast

I know: sad but true!  Even broccoli, and to a greater extent the holy spinach wants to kill you and yours.  Because they, just like any animal, want to survive.  And, if you eat them, put them in salads, load your smoothie with them, or butter the grains that also want to kill you and eat them as toast- they will have their revenge!

You may have heard this said before, but it seems we all forget it- animals have teeth and claws (to fight for survival) or else are fleet of foot (to flee from predators.  But the lowly vegetable, rooted in place- how is he supposed to survive in an evolutionary, Darwinian landscape where any random creature can just walk up and eat them??

Chemical warfare!

Spinach is loaded with oxalates, an anti-nutrient that binds up the many beneficial nutrients within it so they cannot be used by a human animal.  The oxalates can cause numerous bad things, particularly if you have a permeable intestine which, interestingly, can be caused by oxalates.  This ‘leaky gut’ can allow all kinds of things to pass right through the gut lining to attack the very tissues of the body, causing things like IBS, joint pain, headaches, fatigue- the list goes on and on.  

Gluten and lectins are two more ‘chemical plant warfare’ agents that can mess with your digestion, depriving you of much needed nutrients, while making you susceptible to things like autoimmune disease!  This is why grains and beans are to be largely avoided, although when they are fermented (as in real sour dough bread from a starter- not simply flavored with vinegar) they can be beneficial.  This is why soy beans, fermented into natto or miso can be very potents activators of health indeed!

There are many more anti-nutrients, and paradoxically, many can also be beneficial- but only if eaten in very limited amounts!  Some are found in nightshades like tomatoes or peppers (solanine), but these can be great foods if you are not sensitive to them- but many are. 

I personally thought I was doing a great nutritional thing by eating beet greens in my smoothie for weeks, and I wound up with kidney stones!  Very painful, and to be avoided at all costs.  I found an herb that dissolved them, chanca piedra- but I spent a very painful time waiting for the herbal tincture to arrive via Amazon.

My bottom line advice?  All vegetables should be treated with caution, and paid attention to when consuming over time to see how they effect you.  Meat and seafood tend to have no side-effects when eaten, since they are a collection of nutrients, with no chemical side-effects to persuade you to leave them alone- they try to escape you in the hunt- that is their defense.  But those sneaky plants- they take revenge via poison!

Grains and seeds, like wheat, corn and barley are best avoided for the most part. Most people are OK with small amounts of corn, and as said before sour dough breads, particularly when sprouted and fermented are much better for you.  I find rye is the most symptom free for me, when sprouted and made in to sour dough.  But standard breads, buns, pastries, cakes and cookies are all bad- kind of a gateway to autoimmune disease, heart disease, and obesity and diabetes.  Just avoid standard grain products altogether.  

And you should confine your smoothies to cruciferous veggies like cauliflower and broccoli, but make sure both are organic, along with lettuce greens which are pretty much domesticated and rid of anti-nutrients.  Fill your smoothie with raw organic eggs, spirulina powder, whole fat kefir, ginger root, and berries and citrus.  Natto powder is also a wonderful addition, along with turmeric powder as well.

And for the rest of your diet?  Well, a big salad is fine, with a protein atop, and a real dressing with NO soy, canola, or other poison vegetable oil or dressing!  (This is very important)!  But, the main focus of your diet should be on animal protein.  MEAT and SEAFOOD.  

Something with a smiling (or snarling) face that was killed and cooked!

It was good for our forebears, who hunted the mammoth, and it is just as good for us!  Plants are just sneaky…

Paleo Smoothie State of the Art! podcast on PJSC

OK.  Smoothies get a bad rap from paleo circles; always have.  Undeservedly, at least for the most part.  Carnivore is cool, and I will admit it has a place, as does Keto.  Both, in my mind, have a therapeutic use, meaning that in certain conditions and with certain autoimmune problems, they might be the perfect fit.

But, for a lifelong diet- no.  You want a diet heavy in plants, loaded with micronutrients, and above all- ancestral.  The easiest way to to that nowadays, with our depleted soils and nutrient lessened standard vegetables, is with a smoothie.  A drink made in a high speed blender (Vitamin is still the very best), where the nutrients within are thoroughly blended (chewed) by the machine to gain the maximum nutrient value from each stalk and leaf.  To me, this is so obvious as to not even be arguable!

For many years, I have followed the paleo or ancestral diet by this method- it seemed to me initially, upon reading about the paleo diet, that this would be the ideal way to achieve it in the modern world.  And it has worked out for me and mine admirably.

I make a smoothie on a roughly weekly basis, consisting of kefir, green tea, raw eggs, cinnamon and other spices, turmeric and ginger root.  I then add in broccoli and cauliflower (and carrot) in the ubiquitous ‘California Mix’ frozen veggie mix, along with citrus (grapefruit is a fave, since it enhances absorbability), or lemon and orange, along with mixed frozen berries and perhaps a cored apple or a handful of cranberries.  In other words, all the 30 or so food groups…

I mix this up, and put it into canning jars for my week or so, breakfast or breakfast adjunct daily.  Incredibly healthy, non matter what some naysayers might say!  A mainstay, really, to health and vibrancy.

But live and learn, as they say: I have determined that two additions are in order:  Spirulina and Natto.  

Now, spirulina is an algae, a blue-green sort that is, basically: pond scum.  The Aztecs cultivated it, long ago in South America, and it nourished them for hundreds of years.  I researched all of the algaes, and spirulina wins, hands down for assimilability (it breaks down quickly for digestion), and for its complete protein content, and high concentrations of Vitamin B12, chelated minerals, natural plant rhamnose sugars, enzymes and trace elements.  Tons of magnesium and other minerals as well.

Let it suffice to say that I compared, kelp and chlorella as well, and Spirulina wins hands down!  Put in a couple of teaspoons in your paleo smoothie…

The other is NATTO!  This is a traditional Japanese dish, made of fermented soybeans.  (Yum!)  Not.

Now, normally, I never eat soybeans.  Those in the US are GMO, estrogenic, and disgusting.  Avoid soy almost always!  

But, when it comes to getting vitamin K2 into your diet, fermented Japanese (non GMO) soybeans are wonderful!  They are the most concentrated form of vitamin K2 that you can find.  By far!  

K2 is so crucial, since it regulates the calcium in your body, and makes sure that it does not go into your blood vessels and heart (this causes heart disease largely) but instead where it should go, into your bones and teeth!  Almost everyone is deficient in it in America and Europe, since we have strayed so far from our ancestral diet.  Salami, egg yolks, pastured butter, and organ meats have it, but we have left those wonderful foods behind, thanks to our horrible sick care system!  (Low fat, vegetable oil, no red meat awful advice of fake science).

Now, no one eats natto.  Why?  It is the slimiest, foulest, most rancid food on the planet!  At least for those of us who never acquired a taste.  Like Limburger cheese for other cultures…

Oh- it is also loaded with omega 3 fats, and did I say that it is more effective than statins to keep your arteries clear?  Japanese have the longest life spans in the world- you need this food in your diet!  

But it tastes like death…  

Just get Natto powder, and put it in your smoothie!  Really, it is that simple: put in a teaspoon or two, and you are golden, a healthy Japanese sage, just a smoothie away!  

Sometimes, real health and wellness is just a sprinkle in a smoothie away!

You Have a Duty