Religion is in our DNA podcast

 

It’s strange: as paleo people, we believe that our diet evolved along with us, making us what we are.  For instance, there has never, ever, been a vegetarian or vegan tribe or culture. Humans have always eaten animal products, some more than others, but ALL rely on the amazing nutrition in animal derived foods.  Eating animals and products taken from animals made us what we are- you can’t take animals out of our evolution and arrive at modern humans.

This is widely accepted amongst those who believe in an ancestral diet and lifestyle.  But, though most of us see ourselves as grounded in science in our beliefs, many of us at the same time deny the truth, or meaning of religion in our lives!  We denigrate the idea of a god, or of any universal laws outside of man’s own laws.  Many believe that science has displaced the idea of God, gods, or even religion itself.

But just because there has never been a culture that didn’t eat animals- there has never been a culture without religion.  Never.  Even the Neanderthals had burials of their dead, with flowers heaped on the departed.  There is something deep within us that requires us to believe in a spiritual world, a place beyond the mortal sphere in which we reside today.  And so it has always been!

To live without a notion of a spiritual realm, a place of higher goodness and ultimate laws and reason, is akin to eating processed foods developed in the past 50 years or so, and thinking that we now know better than nature itself, and can replace wild game, vegetables, fruits and nuts with chemically made ‘Beyond Burgers’ and do just as well, health wise.  

This is completely delusional!  To live on fast food, processed grains and vegetable seed oils is disastrous for our physical health and well-being, and is a fast track to auto-immune diseases and even mental health.  We all know this as followers of various renditions of the Paleo Diet, and we all experience first hand the amazing benefits of red meat, seafood, pastured dairy and fermented vegetables.  The Paleo Diet is nothing short of life changing!

But what about religion?  Aren’t we beyond that now, since after all we know there are no supernatural beings on Mt. Olympus, and doesn’t Heaven seem, well, unscientific?  

Well, only if you also believe that eating natural animal products and seafood is ‘unscientific’, and that a low fat, soy based diet of lab grown food-like substances slathered in chemically extracted seed oils is the epitome of true science and all-knowing enlightenment…  

We evolved eating and living a certain way- in Nature, in a circadian cycle with the sun of light and darkness, sleep and waking.  Ancestral types of foodstuffs,  cooked by fire and thus made bio-available with maximum nutrients.  In tribes of similar humans, working together for survival, and with good health as pretty much a birthright.  

The tribe had a center though, it always did, and that center was religion.  It is as much a part of us as our need for protein and fat- we need a higher plane to relate to, something above and beyond our daily lives.  

This was true all over the world- whether one god or many, whether Socrates’ daemon (literally a ‘divine something’) that warned him of right and wrong, or the many Hindu gods or those of the Egyptians or Babylonians.   It’s true, there are always some who do not believe in a particular god or gods, but there is always something that is worshipped.  Always.  

Just because, right now, certain groups (Communists spring to mind) that vehemently deny and denigrate any sort of religion- this only confirms that they are very wrong.

Mankind can, at certain times and places, put himself as ‘above and beyond needing to believe in a higher power than himself’.  He can even believe it, just as he believes that heaven can exist here upon earth, and if we just elect the right people, Utopia can be here forever!  

You can believe it, you can convince yourself that Science is God, and mankind is ALL, we just need to be modern and believe in ourselves…

But you’ll be wrong.  The need for religion, a higher power, is there.  It is in our very DNA.

PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe Podcast #82- YOU are your OWN DOCTOR!!

PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe podcast #82- YOU are you OWN Doctor!

It’s true- YOU are your own doctor- your own healer! Especially in today’s world, with the internet, there is absolutely no excuse for YOU not be in total touch with your own health challenges.

You have the internet waiting and ready to answer questions about your health problems-  you have podcasts like PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe, Paleo Quick Tip of the Day, and many others as well to answer your questions, give you insights as to the how and why of the ancestral lifestyle- Blogs like www.paleojay.com, www.mark’sdailyapple.com, robbwolf.com, www.livinlavidalowcarb.com, thepaleodiet.com, and many others- take advantage of these!

Podcasts are ideal, because you can do other things

My new garden gate- made while listening to podcasts!

 while you learn and are entertained all at once- things like driving could be a time sink; but, fill them with podcasts of value, and you are going to the university while you drive!  Same with mowing, washing dishes, chores- it makes it fun and very, very profitable for your health at the same time!  My favorite app for podcasts is Downcast- the free Podcast app from Apple is fine, and so is Stitcher.  Hey- give me a recommendation on iTunes or Stitcher, and it will really help other people to find me, and let me help them, like I am hopefully helping YOU.  Paleo is starting to take over on the health front, and rightfully so, because it is the real deal- it works- not just for a month, or a year, or five years- FOR A LIFETIME IT WORKS!

You are on the cusp of a revolution my friend.  Doesn’t it feel great to be a Paleo Pioneer??  A role model for your friends and family?  Well, if you are “going Paleo”- YOU ARE!

You are also, as I said above: Your own Doctor!

If you go to a medical doctor, realize that he is just a hired consultant; nothing more.  DOCTOR doesn’t even MEAN healer- it means teacher.

And modern medical Doctors can only teach you about disease- and they can only treat the symptoms, not the causes of most modern degenerative diseases that are destroying our health in the modern world- and they can only treat these symptoms with drugs, drugs that are LOADED with bad side-effects- side effects that are often worse than the disease itself.

So, take charge.  Be your own doctor!  How?  Well, grasshopper:

Eat an ancestral diet.  Eliminate grains- they have very little nutrition anyway; especially whole grains!  Whole grains, of wheat, brown rice, wild rice, are loaded with anti-nutrients, i.e. POISONS designed to keep mammals like US from eating them.  They are also by and large purely sugar in terms of our glycemic response and triggering an insulin surge- avoid them.

Eat grass fed meat, pastured dairy- especially fatty dairy like cream, butter, full fat Greek yogurt, kefir.

LOTS of seafood like sardines, wild caught salmon and other fish as well, shrimp, oysters and anchovies.

TONS of veggies!  This is the hardest part- our ancestors basically chewed on vegetables ALL DAY LONG whenever they could- the varieties available in the past were small and tough, but our ancestors knew their importance in health and survival.  The best way to get them into your diet in abundance in the modern world is to VITAMIX them into a smoothie each and every day!  Easy, effective, convenient, and the very healthiest thing you can do for you and your family, bar none- get a Vitamix!  Make Paleo Smoothies!

Get a Vitamix with Free Shipping! ANY Vitamix!

And, this may surprise you, but eat WHITE RICE, white potato (NO SKIN!), and sweet potatoes... originally most Paleo gurus were ultra-low carb, and anti-potato, but nowadays the consensus for most is that including 15-30% of these SAFE STARCHES into your diet is not only not bad, but very beneficial to your health!  This is still far less carbs, and WAY safer carbs than are consumed on the SAD diet; but these safe starches also keep down fungus in your system which is encouraged by either a very LOW or a very HIGH carb diet.  Also, resistant starches that you do not digest yourself when you consume them, like reheated rice and white potato feed your gut microbes instead, which is VERY beneficial to your health indeed- our gut microbes do incredible things in terms of regulating our mood, sleep, and overall health and digestion.

One more tip is to eat LESS OFTEN.  Try to fast, or not eat for about 16 hours or so most days- this allows for autophagy, which is a term for “routine maintenance” of your body, by your body!

If you are constantly digesting, your poor body can’t take care of “little things” like killing cancer cells, consuming damaged mitochondria, and otherwise doing housekeeping of your bodies cells to keep them healthy and vital!  A short break from eating, which is natural, and what our bodies expect and have been made to take advantage of is one of the most healthy, and life-extending things we can do...

So, skip either breakfast like most paleo people do; or supper, like me!

I like to have a BIG Paleo breakfast, with eggs, and salsa, and a big Paleo Smoothie, and pastured bacon and/or sausage most mornings...

A big, giant salad topped with meat or seafood, or heated pastured beef or pork or shrimp and veggies atop some reheated white rice for lunch, and then ANOTHER big Paleo Smoothie late afternoon- and then I’m DONE!
Stuffed and happy- ready to be busy, or relax, read, or play music, or whatever I want with friends and family til an early bedtime...

OR, on days off I often take the standard Intermittant fasting approach and Skip Breakfast; having coffee with a little coconut oil in it, topped with whipped cream, cinnamon and cloves (usually while I exercise in the living room in front of the TV doing Perfectly Paleo Exercise), and don’t eat until maybe 11 or 12:00... either way works, and really frees up time to do productive things rather than just EATING!  It’s kind of like autophagy for your life as well as for your body- by not digesting, your body gets a break, and by not having to prepare, eat, and clean up YOU get a break!
Win Win!

So, that is how to build up your bodies TERRAIN- your natural health, so that your own immune system can keep you healthy, and disease free!

A healthy terrain, or body, means that you won’t need a doctor, or anyone else, to restore your health, since you are doing it yourself, naturally, like humans have done for thousands and thousands of years, successfully!  It’s all about good, nutritious, healthy God made food, LOTS of sleep, lots of God made vegetables and rice and potatoes, lots of animal protein and collagen and fats as provided for us by God (remember the Fatted Calf!)-

And staying active, and flexible, and strong, and vital and lean by doing our Perfectly Paleo Exercises on a daily basis, pleasurably and naturally, whilst sipping our coffee or green or white tea, loaded with anti-oxidants, and enjoying the early morning air in our lungs while we watch a great Netflix movie- reveling in the fact that we have a healthy TERRAIN- we are very, very healthy indeed, and have no need of a symptoms treating MD at all...

Since we have become our own doctor!

PaleoJay podcast #59 Add an Avocado a Day, to the Smoothie from Paleo Jay! A response to Thomas Hobbes... Also, add a good Paleo FIRE, and bond with an Animal!! And hey- beans aren’t THAT BAD!!

OK, I am really sold on the idea of ketogenic diets, meaning eat a high fat, low carb diet as a prescription for curing a LOT of problems.  If you have an auto-immune disease, meaning a disease where your body is attacking itself, like celiac disease (intolerance to gluten- which is just about ALL of us!), irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, arthritis, and EVERY disease that ends with ITIS- a ketogenic diet will really help all of these, and more!!

There are so many problems with our current, modern, processed Western diet that I can’t even start:  So, let’s just start over, shall we??  Reboot yourself!

If you don’t want to have a  “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short life” , to quote Thomas Hobbes, a 17th century philosopher of sorts who was a monarchist- he wanted us all to live under monarchies!- we were supposed, (according to Thomas Hobbes) to succumb to authority... and live in civilization.

“Au Contraire! “ says the Wisconsin Philosoper PaleoJay.

The solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short life that he was talking about was actually what was available to the average civilized person of Hobbe’s own era, which was 17th century Britain!

Hunter Gatherers, barbarians, and Paleo folks actually lived vital, long lives on average, once you took newborn mortality out of the equation...

Child mortality was VERY high in the old days- BUT, if you survived birthing, you would probably live 70-100 years, and in a very healthy state, barring death by wounds, animals eating you, or accidents.

Nowadays, however, modern people live solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short lives, shortened by Diabesity: diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and all the other “itis” diseases of civilization- All caused by our modern, processed, poor, nasty, brutish diet!!

What to do??

Well, for long time readers and listeners to PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe-

Just sidle up to a stool at the Cafe- and ORDER A TALL, COOL, PALEO SMOOTHIE!


That will take care of most of your modern ills... really!

That and eliminating grains, sugar and processed foods from your diet!

I know, it sounds crazy simple, but it really is that easy!!

AND- there has been a HUGE change to the Paleo Smoothie:

ADD IN AN AVOCADO!!

Go ahead, read my recipe for the Paleo Smoothie at Paleojay.com, or on my ebooks Paleo Quick Start and Perfectly Paleo Exercise...  and then just add in:

One AVOCADO, PEELED!

Put that in your Vitamix and blend it!

The thing is; you want a LOT of good, healthy FAT in your diet- you really, really do!  It is the key to being Ketogenic, which means triggering your body to burn FAT as fuel, rather than sugars and carbs...

Coconut milk and oil are GREAT- Avocado is the missing ingredient!

But Jay- how do I use an avocado in the Paleo Smoothie??

Good question, Mr. Hobbes:  Just cut the avocado lengthwise.  Take out the giant pit (the avocado is actually a FRUIT, Mr. Hobbes, just like YOU, you dummy!)-

Then, scoop out the insides with a spoon, and drop into your waiting Vitamix!!

That Vitamix will turn the veggies, avocado, raw pastured eggs, kefir, spices, berries, and everything else you have put into it into a nectar of the Gods:

The fount of life, if you will: ALL THE NUTRITION YOU CAN HANDLE, AND THAT WILL INSURE MAXIMUM HEALTH, WELLNESS, AND FITNESS!!

They say to never overpromise, and I assure you: I am not!

More FAT will make you LESS fat!  YES!!  It’s all too true...

Drink a Paleo Smoothie like this, each day- and you will be satisfied, healthy, and loaded with nutrients that your body has been craving forever!

Enough on that, Thomas Hobbes!  I have another point or two for you:

You know, beans ain’t that bad!  AND, go sit by a fire, and bond with an animal!

Yes, it’s true: the Paleo Canon has dictated that BEANS, aka LEGUMES are EVIL...

But, it turns out that, properly prepared, they are NOT.  They’re not that great, but they are also... not that BAD.  If they have been soaked for 12 hours in water, leaching off the toxins, they are, well alright in a pinch!

But they are NOT like wheat gluten!  Kind of innocuous, really.  So, if you want a few beans in your chili- go crazy my friend Tom!

Same goes for cashews- a legume- wow, are they tasty!  And, it turns out, not bad at all- go ahead, Mr. Thomas Hobbes- eat them- your life will be no less short or more nasty!  Just don’t go crazy; use moderation, you 17th century dude!

Just do NOT eat peanuts- they really are pretty darn bad- loaded with aflatoxins, which are a particularly nasty mold that is just about inevitable in this particular legume of the peanut... just avoid peanuts, entirely- go for almond butter, which tastes at LEAST as good, instead!

So, have some beans in you chili (once in a while, if properly prepared...);

And eat some cashews- YES!!

But, do it in front of a fire, preferably along with some FURRY ANIMALS!!

I think that the idea of a campfire is completely, viscerally... PALEO!

It’s also something that a Britisher like you, THOMAS HOBBES would find very appealing!!  For how many millennia do you think that our ancestors sat around campfires, under the stars, and gazed into the flames?   And, as they sat, you know they told stories, sang songs, and petted their furry friends as they drank fermented beverages and ate dried jerky...


Pets, like dogs and cats, were the camp followers of ancient days!  And so, if you want a totally fulfilled, Paleo life: here is what you need:

A life without grains, processed foods and sugars!

A life with LOTS of NUTRIENTS: Either a Paleo Smoothie, along with grass fed meats and dairy and fermented foods...

OR

BOTH OF THE ABOVE!

Sorry, Thomas my boy: I set that up!  But, for you, I would recommend:

Just get a cat or two, maybe a dog as well... Get a little London apartment with a fireplace (they all have them in your day!), and get a grate to roast meat on in the fireplace- I know, for you, the Paleo Smoothie is  problematic- so, just get a lot of veggies at the market in town, meats (I know they will ALL be grass fed!!), and throw the bread at Will Shakespeare’s head...

Pet your cats.  Throw stuff for your dogs to chase...

And then, just chill out!  Look into history- google it if you will!

Maximum nutrition ALWAYS trumps Maximum MEDICINE!

As Hippocrates, the founder of modern medicine says:

“Primum non nocerum. (First do no harm)”
― Hippocrates
THIS is the dictum that modern doctors should take to heart:  Do no HARM!

If this was taken to heart, STATIN DRUGS would be off the MAP!!!


Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.

The ultimate statement of true medicine!  FOOD is your MEDICINE!!

Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease.
What a reinforcement of the Terrain Theory of Disease??

A healthy person will be IMMUNE to most diseases; an unhealthy terrain in an unhealthy person will not!!

Walking is man's best medicine.

I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion. With purity and with holiness I will pass my life and practice my Art.


I think that Hippocrates was WAY ahead of his time, and really really ahead of Thomas Hobbes, who lived just about 2 Thousand years later, and was less advanced in his thinking!!

I guess Hippocrates was just way, way more...

hip!

Sorry, couldn’t resist!

J

Let food be thy medicine- transform yourself!

Late afternoon snack today!  It is true that eating Paleo does not mean "deprivation" in any sense of the word...                                

“Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.” 

This is a quote from Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine.  All physicians take the "Hippocratic Oath" upon becoming doctors, and that makes it all the more remarkable that they do not recommend changing your diet to cure illness!  What Doctors do now, they just basically consult a chart, conveniently provided by their drug company providers, to find exactly which drug to prescribe for which complaint!  Hard to believe, but true- medical doctors have become simple drug pushers for the big pharmaceutical companies!  

There is really no longer an effort to cure the disease.  Just treat the symptoms... and then deal with the many side-effects... with additional drugs!

I say get off the medical "roller coaster"!  Eat real foods.  Do real paleo-type exercise movements.  Ditch the Damn Grains!!  It really is that simple, it's just hard to fight back against all the propaganda, marketing, and the "granny pushers"! (These last are our beloved grandmothers and maiden aunts, who, well meaning, insist we eat the birthday cake, the cookies, the pies, etc. that they made (or just bought!) for us!  This can be a trigger that sends us back into "big food addiction", and all we can think about the next day is ...whatever it is they gave us!  

Thanks, Granny pusher!!

Anyway, the best thing to do with Granny pushers is to just explain that we can't eat grains, we have a medical condition- celiac would do...

Here is another picture I'd like to show you, from Shauna Young's excellent website, pirate medicine from Shauna Young and check out the vaccine diagram that comes up- 

Modern Medicine is NOTHING like the medical establishment that we grew up with in the 1940's and '50's (or even the 60's and 70's...)

It has morphed into a giant, profit/centered Behemoth, intent only on massive, continual profits, at the expense of all of our health!  And no, I am not exaggerating.  

If you are at all interested in saving your health, and the health of your families and friends, I suggest you go to this blog, which I referenced in my last blog  Change yourself completely in 365 days, day by day, along with Gary!  That's not what he calls his blog- but that's what it can do for you!

This is a blog, where Gary, a 55 year old 233 pound man with diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high triglycerides cures himself of all of these afflictions, just by following Hippocrate's original prescription, and ignoring everything his Doctor says, he turns to real, Paleo-types of foods and cures all of these conditions within a year.

And he has great results from the very first week!!  His progress is incremental, and continual.

Not to spoil the ending, but by day 365, one short year later, he is 160 pounds, healthy as a horse, and free of all disease.  All by firing his Doctor and becoming knowledgable and responsible about his own health!

SOMETHING WE ALL SHOULD DO, IMHO!
J

Misled and Ill fed- implementing the paleo diet in spite of a lifetime of "misinformation"

Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food

- Hippocrates, the founder of Western, scientific-based medicine

It is overwhelming for many "newbies" to paleo to have trouble determining just how to switch over to a grain-free, low sugar, nutrient dense type of ancestral diet!  And rightfully so; it is hard to turn off a lifetime of mistaken and misleading brainwashing, and turn on a way of eating that will truly nourish our bodies and minds.

I truly feel that this is the very beginning of the end for the Goliath of Big Food, Big Pharma, and big Medicine!

This Goliath, that has, in self-interest or else in complete ignorance and delusion destroyed the health of the Western world, is gradually, and more-and-more coming into confrontation with the David of the Paleo Diet- that David  that is now quite small, armed only with a tiny "sling", which is the internet, but the same little David that has the ultimate, long-range ability to bring down the incredible Goliath of our economy, which collectively (Big Pharmaceuticals, Big Food (GRAIN) cartels, and conventional Medicine)!


And bring our health, nutrition, food and wellness back down to a local, grassroots, manageable level.

How to achieve good health, banish disease and feel really good, all without prescription drugs, processed foods, and huge medical bills?

Dr. Terry Wahls has an interesting answer for all of us:

http://www.terrywahls.com

What she espouses is basically the Paleo Diet!

Go thou and do likewise-

Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food!