Selenium and Sleep- Paleo Jay's Smoothie Cafe podcast 15

Palo Jay’s Smoothie Cafe podcast 15  click to listen and subscribe on iTunes

Selenium and Sleep

Selenium!

A mineral, Selenium is important for making many bodily processes work correctly. It seems to increase the action of antioxidants.  

We are under assault from all directions in our daily modern life- stress takes many forms!  Job stress, relationships, too MUCH working out, mercury fillings in our teeth leaching mercury poison into our system, estrogens from plastic glasses and bottles, bad diets of grains, soy and wheat in particular, sugars of all sorts...

They all take their toll!  What to do?  

Besides getting all your health house in order via proper Paleo type of diet, restorative rather than overly stressful exercise (think endless cardio and obsessive weight lifting here) and good “tribal” relationships (think family and friends) there are a few other steps we can take-

Eat a brazil nut or two each day.  The selenium in brazil nuts is concentrated, and just one or two per day will ensure that you have enough to detox the mercury that is leaching into your body; also it will increase the potency of the super food nutrition you will get from your daily Paleo Smoothie!  It seems simplistic, but sometimes simple, easy solutions are the best of all, when done regularly and along with a strong, time-tested strategy of good, ancestral health practices.

And then there is:

Sleep!

What could be more natural and important than sleep?

The answer is: almost nothing is! 

Sleep is so important, that it is one of the most potent bio-markers of health itself.  If you sleep well, and long (at least 7 & 1/2 hours per night minimum), this shows that you are a basically healthy and happy animal! 

If you have trouble sleeping... uh oh!  This is a strong indicator, in and of itself, that something is wrong:

Too much stress?  Bad diet?  Not enough, or too much exercise? (Probably too much cardio type)

Soft drinks and other crap in your diet?

All of the above can mess up your sleep, which messes up your attitude, which messes up your health and your life!

Really, in a Paleo concept, how important is sleep?

1. Good, nutrient dense nutrition.  The maximum nutrients in every morsel of food you eat.

2. Sleep! 

3. Sun exposure, clean water, good family and extended family (i.e. "Tribe") relations and life.

4. Minimal toxins in environment and food and air.

5. Exercise  (brief, intense, invigorating, and throughout a complete range of motion, including stretching and all forms of exercise short of going to failure!)

And if you don't have all of the above, exercise will only add more cortisol, the stress hormone to the mix, and spiral you further down the hole!

So there you have it!  Sleep only comes after your nutrition.  Without good nutrition, good sleep is impossible.  And without good, quality sleep, your "tribal" or personal relations in life are hugely compromised, to the point where you are so stressed out that you don't even care about crucial things like good water, sun on your skin, or minimizing the toxins in your environment!

I am now writing an iPad Paleo book, called Paleo Jay's Smoothie Cafe natch; watch for it pretty soon- but not TOO soon!  I am walking my own talk, and though I'd love to get it out NOW, and help a bunch of folks save their health, I will take my measured time, and do it in a less stressful manner... I will only say that it will be really something, with demonstration videos, to-the-point instructions and ideas, and all on the intuitive platform of the iPad!  Stay tuned!

So sleep!  Make it a priority. Sleep is more important than exercise.

Much more important!  (and a heck of a lot easier too!)

Especially this Winter time of year, it is natural for us all in Northern climes to be more sedentary and reflective, to "hunker down" in the "cave" with our "tribe", and just chill out.

Not only natural, but beneficial!

So, just do it- go to bed early- really early!  Enjoy it!  Get up early too!  Enjoy the feeling of getting up early, and feeling fully rested, because you went to bed early enough.  Do your stretches, make your Paleo Quick Start Smoothie, do your perfectly paleo, visualized resistance, self resisted, isometric and body weight exercises (No strain- no pain- just enjoy the feeling!)---

And then, start your day:

Invigorated, happy, loaded with nutrition, and, above all, completely rested!

Sustainable, LOCAL Agriculture KEY to our Survival

We have really gotten off of the straight and narrow in our modern food system!

I mean, would our grandparents have thought that Velveeta "cheese" and Margarine, i.e. congealed chemically derived vegetable oils were good and healthy???

We've been on a slippery slope for a long time, and just like a frog in a gradually heating pot of water doesn't know his peril, we are now like that frog- 

The water is near to boiling, and we still have not woken up!!

We need to totally revamp our food production system, to what it used to be.

Listen to Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms and "Yoooh- what's up Y'aaal!" Sean Croxton of Underground Wellness to get a good overview of the basic problem, and what needs to be done.

We all need to know what to eat- "Just Eat Real Foods" JERF...

But we really need to know that these REAL FOODS

WILL STILL BE 

AROUND!!!

J

Paleo Evolution- Incremental Improvement Through Ritual

Every now and then, it is a good idea to "mix it up" with your training!  I love the idea of a morning ritual, and follow a pattern on most days:

I get up, do my easy mobility movements first thing (about 2 minutes worth), then toddle on down to the kitchen.  I like to get up before anyone else, and so am completely undistracted, and focused on the good feeling of accomplishment that, when I'm done with my "morning ritual", stays with me for the rest of the day!

I start off by heating the water for my green tea and coffee on the stove.  While this water heats in the kettle, I assemble all the ingredients for my Paleo Smoothie, from kefir to green tea, and from spinach to cinnamon...Paleo Smoothie ingredient list is here, and I am always searching for variations on the theme of maximum nutrient density/health.  But, your own variations are not only possible, but desirable!  Just keep the Paleo Template in mind, and add in whatever is in season, on sale, or just sounds good to you.

It takes about 5 minutes of so to assemble my Paleo smoothie, and another minute or so to blend it... Now, I start my coffee!  I have written before about the fabulous Aeropress, and recommend you make your coffee with one of these little devices...  I dissolve a little coconut oil into the coffee; really, that makes it for me!  Also, it "jump starts" my system with a strong dose of ketones to kick-start my upcoming workout.

Then, my smoothie, coffee and tea all ready, I go into the living room and work out.  I really enjoy this part of my day, gradually moving through the visualized resistance moves I outline in my ebook Perfectly Paleo Exercise... I kind of think of this as a sort of moving meditation, although I do generally have the television on as I work out.  I almost can't watch TV anymore when I'm not exercising- it seems like a waste of time!  But, when I am exercising, especially with visualized and self resisted exercises, it is not distracting at all to do both.

But that is my daily ritual- once per week I go into my basement, and do my intense weekly workout- chins, pullups, dips, kettle bell swings, leg raises- stuff like that for 30 intense minutes- followed in warm weather by barefoot sprinting for about 10 more...

But now, see what I've added?  For several weeks now I have been doing pushups, dips, chins and more with these gymnastic rings, and they are great!  Really makes all of those exercises more intense, and used more stabilizing muscles as well.  I hang them from my old power rack from my misguided weight lifting days of years ago- it does work well for that, as well as chins and such.  Also great for isometric work!

Easy to set up, cheap, easy to move outside come summer to hang from a tree limb or swing set; what's not to love?  I heartily recommend a set of rings!  Kind of fun, too...

So, I guess the moral is this: rituals are great, and to have a daily ritual is essential.  But, it's also important to make minor changes and tweaks on a regular basis, while keeping the bulk of your routine the same.  The body and mind thrive on regularity: good, predictable sleep, highly nutritious food devoid of "anti-nutrients" like that in grains and legumes, and good "tribal" relations with friends and family.

But, just as our Paleo ancestors did- WE NEED TO EVOLVE!

J

Do things for the good of the Tribe!

Altruism is important.  For the good of the "tribe"; we are all hard-wired for that.

In our history, to care for other members of the tribe was considered essential, and so it is that we all are wired up to want to help others.

This is a good thing!!

Go with your natural inclinations here:

Try to help others- do what you can!  Share your talents and abilities; if you can cook well, offer up some "Paleo Friendly" treats to those in need.

Daughter Holly and I, in the photo above, appeared at a local nursing home in our guise as the Coulee Cats.  It is really hard to say just who benefited more from this performance-

The residents, or US!!

The next day, really all I've been thinking of is the connections we made with these elderly "tribesmembers" of our community...

One old guy was blind, but sang along with every single song he knew. (He had been a member of his church choir for 50 years!)  

 Another lady, I was told later was 96, came up to the piano and played amazingly well, and we all sang along.  ( I was told later that she never plays in the home, and it was so surprising to the staff as well that she was so accomplished!)

I learned a lot from these elderly tribespeople:

1. I need to learn the old songs that they like more!  ( I like songs from the 50's through the 60's- they thought these were too "modern"!

2. The other thing is this: they mainly just want to "tell their own stories"...  The very best thing you can do for your fellow tribespeople is to just listen!  They have lots to say, and no one ever listens to them!!

So, if you have a chance to connect with folks at a nursing home, think of it as a Paleo Experience!  YOU will benefit as much as they will, and be sure to look each one in the eye, take their hand, and LISTEN!  You'll be ever so glad that you did.

Also, if you sing for them, think I Love You Truly, or 5 Foot Two, Eyes of Blue; and skip Good Rockin' Tonight and most 1950's songs... they like things even more.... Paleolithic!!

PJ

"We toast ALL of our tribe with WATER!"

Paleo Pirate Podcast- Now UP on iTunes!

               
Hear the Paleo Pirate Song: Click below
BE A PALEO PIRATE!                    Listen on iTunes!

Argggh!!  Here be Pirate Captain PaleoJay and his mighty buccaneers, takin’ you swabbies on a doughty journey through Ancestral lands, and windin’ up with a treasure chest of good health, plenty of non-scurvy like paleo foods, and, you will end up with a nice booty to boot!

O many times I’ve dreamed
Of sailing the bounding main
I’d be a Paleo pirate
Taking sugar, corn and grain

No one in the seven seas
Could stand against our crew
We’d pillage wheat and corn
And ruin sugar too

The Frankenfoods we’d take
From the ships that we had sank
T’would sink into the briny deep
As our vegan victims walked the plank

Chorus:
O many times I’ve dreamed
Of sailing the bounding main
I’d be a Paleo pirate
And destroy all the grain

The GMO’s that we stole
They would measure in the tons
The grain merchants that we’d plunder
Would surrender to our guns

We would sail across the oceans
Across the wine dark sea
We’d pillage and we’d plunder
All the Paleo pirates and me

O many times I’ve dreamed
Of sailing the bounding main
I’d be a Paleo pirate
And destroy all the grain

Pirates can be a good “Paleo Template”, if we look at them through the right “lens”. In this case, a “spyglass”...and, often through just ONE eye! (The other is covered with an eyepatch)

Pirates knew the importance of play, as they spent much of their days in lazy carousing, often with a few bottles of rum.  They would “exercise” by fighting one another, often with cutlasses, and the loser might end up down in Davy Jone’s Locker, but at least he had a stress free existence, right up until the end!  “Yo ho ho, and all that”...

Seriously, there was no FAKE FOOD back then, so, when the Pirates found a tropical isle, they could “heave ho” and go ashore, and eat wild tropical fruits, hunt wild boar, and get great exercise digging lots of deep holes, either:
looking FOR buried treasure
Burying their OWN treasure

Either way, they built their musculature in a very natural way, and with no more sophisticated a tool than a shovel!

They had happy parrots for friends, and spent lots of time “playing” in the form of music!
Seriously, I think making and singing music with your “tribe”, whether piratical or not, is one of the best forms of play that there is!  I’ll bet some pirates even went into island caves and painted boars (and skeletons, and Jolly Rogers, and chests of gold) onto the walls- we have only to wait for the archeologists to find them!

So, go be a Paleo Pirate!  Only, be a SAFE paleo pirate, and use rubber cutlasses, cap pistols, and only walk the plank (in your bare feet, of course, or Vibrams) for balance.  Not for real!  Unless it’s just a diving board, and you are “keel-hauling”, in your imagination, a particularly irritating client or customer...

Tell No Tales!!

Captain Paleo Jay

Paleo- Just One Meal at a Time!

Lets say you are a busy person- 

NO, time to research starting a new diet, or improving upon your frenetic lifestyle...




You just want somebody to do the work for you!




EASY-




Start with your next meal!   Just eat good meats, eggs, vegetables, some fruit, a little 

whole fat dairy like cream or greek yogurt, nuts (except for peanuts, which are a legume)and good fats, like real butter, coconut oil, and the aforementioned cream!




After you finish reading the blog entry, get up and head to your local grocery store!




Better yet, find a place that sells organic produce, grassfed beef and pastured pork, and free range eggs.  You'll be pleasantly surprised at all that is available for you to eat on a Paleo or Ancestral type of diet.  Variety will not be a problem!




Start your day with coffee and real cream if you like. (Green or white tea is also an 

excellent option).  Skip the orange juice, since the cartoned version is is chemical

flavors in a a huge, grey vat of sugar water.  Eggs and bacon are a great idea for break-

fast, just as they were to our grandparents!




Have a big salad with veggies and meat or seafood for lunch, along with olive oil and vinegar dressing.  How about a grassfed steak for supper?  Add in a baked sweet 

potato with real butter and vegetable of your choice for a side, slathered in pastured,

real butter!  




Finish with a bowl of berries and real whipped cream for dessert..




Snacks?  A good quality dark chocolate is loaded with anti-oxidants, and nuts go great with chocolate!  Just make sure it is nothing packaged or processed-




Get rid of the colas and chips!  FAKE FOOD ALL!!




The closer you can get to nature and original God made foods the better!  




Shop the outer aisles at the grocery store.  Fresh or frozen is best.




Just start with this.




Then, come back here, and read another blog post to "keep the ball rolling".  Educate 

yourself little by little, and make the choice to give up the grains and sugars that raise 

your insulin, cause up and down spikes in your energy, and create long term health 

problems such as diabetes and heart disease.




We all like to stick to the "staus quo", and resist change... but, if you continue to eat the

pathetic, nutrient-poor Standard American Diet, your health will continue to decline.






You will go down the "modern" path of sickness and disease- so,




Just Do It!




Dump your old bad ways of eating, and delve into the world of top-notch nutrition.

Make your forebears proud!  They ALWAYS sought out the BEST food they could!




Vow to make yourself healthier in one year than you are today.  Write down the date, 

make yourself accountable.  Start NOW with your very next meal.  And then...




Just one meal at a time!




You will feel so much better, in such a short time, that you will never want to go back

to your old, self-destructive ways.











And please feel free to send me a comment about your new adventure!  And, while you are at it, subscribe to the feed for Paleo Jay's blog, to the right, and also to my weekly 

iTunes podcast, also to the right- both are free.




PJ

PaleoJay recommends Chris Kresser's High Cholesterol Action Plan

Let's say you've returned from the Doctor's office after a routine exam...

High Cholesterol!!!

You are going to DIE!

Take these STATIN DRUGS!!!!

Don't panic.  

Chris Kresser can take the confusion, and the deplorable scare tactics used by the medical industry these days that tries to coerce you into taking drugs-

 drugs with multiple, harmful side-effects!

There's more than a good chance that you don't need them at all!

But, how can you decipher whether or not?  

Easy- Chris Kresser's High Cholesterol Action Plan 

Don't be railroaded into taking potentially very harmful drugs if you don't have to-

Check out what Chris has to say- he has researched this subject to death, so you can follow his lead- after following the High Cholesterol Action Plan

YOU WILL KNOW FAR MORE ABOUT THE SUBJECT THAN YOUR DOCTOR!

And knowledge is power my friend!

J