Paleo Quick Tip Of The Day

Send us a textSometimes we lose sight of reality, and go down blind alleys in pursuit of health and fitness.  The Olympic Games springs to mind, as they are on right now.  As do professional sports of all kinds- they are a form of specialization, and the public idolizes sports heroes as archetypes of fitness and health!   Nothing could be further from the truth.  Specializing in any sport, to the point where you are competitive on a world wide, or even a national level, will compromise and damage your health to a huge degree!  Did you know that NFL players build their health in the off season, and then destroy their bodies and health over the playing season, by playing their sport?  Oh, and the average lifespan of a professional football player?  Mid 50’s.    Hey, I would already be dead!  Now, I know there is a lot of money and glory involved in being a pro football player, but my point is that health and fitness are not a part of it.  The point is, if you specialize in a particular sport, be it running, swi

Send us a textLike in many things, we have all been brainwashed over the past few decades, brainwashed into   1. Eating a low fat, high carb, high grain and sugar based diet 2. Signing off on our precious health to medical clinics and doctors   These two things will do more harm to your health than good, and are symptomatic of the evil that has been done to our society.   I hope you know by now, from listening to this podcast and others about Paleo and Ancestral health, that a low fat, grain and sugar based diet is slow suicide.  This way of eating, coupled with an idea that more movement and activity and less calories will somehow save you from modern diseases, is delusional.  You need real foods: God made foods- fats, pastured meats and dairy, seafood like sardines, and tons of vegetables with a few fruits thrown in will build your health from the inside out!   Keep it up, and you won’t need medical doctors and clinics, and actually, as in days of old, you should avoid them like the plague whenever you can.

Send us a textI am an old adopter of the Superslow exercise protocol, as advanced years ago by Ken Hutchins.  This was a 10 seconds up on an exercise (or positive motion), and 5 seconds down (negative).  Of course, this was in my olden days of training with weights, back in the early 1980’s…  I did make rather amazing progress using this protocol, but the bad effects of training with heavy weights were still apparent- I had blocky, chunky kinds of muscle, with a big butt from heavy squats and deadlifts, a chronically sore back from overloading the bar for those heavy squats, and a protruding gut, again from the squats and deadlifts.  In addition, my shoulders were in pretty constant inflammation from heavy bench pressing, as were my elbows.   I switched to body weight exercise, which I term Perfectly Paleo Exercise, and rejuvenated myself in my 50’s.  I do high rep pushups, which actually put the shoulders through a full, natural range of motion, unlike the bench press.  I do virtual resistance, as I have des

Send us a textI have had a very, very busy few days, and thus need to apologize to you, my paleolithic friend, for not getting my weekly PQTD podcast done in time! Usually, it’s every Wednesday. But, here it is at last, and better late than never, aye? Firstly, my excuses: I have been off to our families’ vacation log cabin, deep in the woods of Wisconsin. A truly unique and lovely place, rustic, cool, and peaceful. My brother, who at 63 is one year my junior, has bought the house and land just next door- his land adjoins that of the family cabin land, and this is perfect! We had met there to do work on his land, which included cutting tons of brush, dead trees, weed trees needing removal, mowing and trimming, and more. We spent one solid day doing all of this, and getting both properties into good order, at least so far as the land goes. (If you have never done it, it is amazing how much physical work in involved in keeping up even a rather small parcel of wooded or country land!! Trees are always falling, b

Send us a textBoy, will I ruffle some feathers with this one!  Well, that’s fine: I have never been either politically correct, or a moderate “flip-flopper” like so many…   I watched the Democratic Party Convention for awhile last night, and it was… horrendous.  There was NO American flag, but a Syrian one and rainbow flags all in evidence.  It turns out that the Dems have abandoned actual working people, and have become a party of privileged elites, with  welfare and illegal immigrant votes to prop it all up.  I waited and waited to hear what Bernie Sanders would say, since he had been conned by Hillary and the rest of the elite, ruling democrats to believe that he and his supporters had a chance at getting the presidential nomination.  I waited, and all the rest of us waited, and waited… the elite Dems purposely waited until about 11 PM central time to put him on, and so I, and all the rest of Paleo People (not to mention the stoned Bernie supporters and all people who actually had to go to work the next da

Send us a textOne of the biggest deterrents to someone actually doing the exercise that their body is crying out for is this: they think they need to join a gym (expensive and intimidating to the uninitiated), and then of course they have to find the time to get there.  Driving over, getting into your special workout clothes, waiting in lines to use fancy machines or heavy weights on supports and on benches covered with the previous users sweat… and music you may hate is often blaring at you, and lines of folks peddle away on bicycle trainers, going nowhere, watching TV…   Doesn’t sound too appealing, does it?  And so, unsurprisingly, most people simply give it all up, and say “I just walk!” when the subject of exercise comes up.  While walking is fine, most people just walk really fast for exercise (this is silly and unproductive- walking is not meant to be rushed!), and then drive the rest of the time when they are not on their 1/2 hour really fast, dorky looking walk through the mall or the neighborhood.  

Send us a textWestern medicine today, although wonderful in crisis situations of acute trauma, is woefully bad when it comes to managing actual health, and in preventing disease!  In going regularly to an MD and getting numerous screenings and tests, you are doing nothing that will actually preserve your health- you will just be tested with numerous expensive procedures that tell very little about your actual health and wellness.  You will also undoubtedly be prescribed numerous prescription drugs, like statins, antidepressants, and high blood pressure medications whether they are really called for or not.   You need to become your own health care provider, in fact- your own doctor!  No one knows the real state of your health better than you yourself, and only you can develop the habits of good, paleo-type of daily nutrition, the stress relief of regular exercise and the rejuvenation of a good nightly sleep.  Those three things: proper ancestral diet, regular ancestral body weight types of exercise, and a goo

Send us a textWhat the heck?  What do I mean by telling you to “get down on the floor?!”   Just that- you cannot be flexible and fit, with your mobility intact, unless you get down on the floor (or ground) each day, to stretch, to sit, and to just exist!   We are not meant to exist in the sitting position, with occasional standing and walking only- we are meant, in fact we are designed through long evolution to be able to negotiate multiple terrains, and to do so without shoes, without eyeglasses, and without chairs.  The old adage to “use it or lose it” never rang more true in history.   I have seen many older people, and by far the majority lose the majority of their flexibility, mobility, and balance by their 50’s- and from there on out, it goes down at an alarming degree, until they are ultimately almost bed-bound.  Many are confined to walkers, and can only get out of their chairs by using “lift chairs” that electrically lift them into a standing position with no muscular activity of their own!   The key

Send us a textThis may sound kind of strange, but truly- WHERE you live is crucially important! To your health, to your psyche, and to the health and wellness of your entire family. It really is that important. Nowadays, if you live in a big city, you are virtually guaranteed that your air is polluted, you are unsafe from criminal predators, and you are isolated from the fields and forests, the prairies and savannas that we are evolved to live within. You are instantly non-paleo! You might fix your diet, many big city folks do, eating lots of leafy greens, full fat pastured dairy and meats, real oils made from coconut and olive and no horrid vegetable oils like canola or soy… You might work out ata-out curtains that eliminate the constant artificial light that disturbs your circadian rhythms… Congratulations! You are doing as well as you can, within that unnatural, unpaleo environment! But, it’s a “good-better-best” scenario- you are merely “good”. You are still subject to a terrible crime epidemic that has t

Send us a textI know- this seems like a small, inconsequential thing- going barefoot??  What is the big deal with that? Well, like most things Paleo or ancestral, the big deal is that we just stopped doing basic things!  And have for a long time! Most non-Paleo folks never, ever make bone broth- taking bones to slow cook in water to make broth, and extract all the nutrients… (and incidentally collagen, and everything else that we haven’t even identified yet that heals our leaky guts, gives us vital, focused nutrition, and, incidentally, doesn’t waste food!)  Bone broth also helps with digestion, helps our skin, hair and nails, and helps to prevent osteoarthritis, among other benefits.  The point here is that making bone broth used to be just “common sense”.  As was going barefoot- just common sense! Now, if you don’t know it, most podiatrists, or “foot doctors”, recommend never going barefoot.  They say it is damaging, and will lead to foot pain- we need that elevated heel, and ample cushioning, or our feet w

Send us a textI am convinced that modern Americans’ being obsessed with speed, the need to get things done and accomplished as fast as possible is out of control!  Virtually all of us have too much going on, all the time.  We say we don’t have time eat right, don’t have time to exercise, don’t even have time to do our jobs properly, with full concentration.  And this is in spite of rushing through our days, from dawn to dusk- commuting to work as fast as we can, not sleeping enough (because we have lots to do the night before!), no time to prepare healthy meals, and so on and on it goes.  No time to meditate, no time to feel grateful for what we have, no time for play, NO TIME! This is self-delusion.  If your employer is forcing you to rush needlessly, your results will suffer, and your company will eventually fail, or at least do poorly.  Find another job.  Do it slowly, deliberately, or else just take your time, explain yourself, and take the heat.  You are in the right, know that at least! Medical Doctors

Send us a textLast Wednesday we talked about Paleo Basics 1, which is just to give up gluten, mainly in the form of wheat!  I hope you have done it this past week, and that you already notice a difference.  The positive effects come on quite quickly, and continue the longer you maintain a gluten free lifestyle.  Weight loss, an ending to a “bloated feeling” and a distended stomach are usually the first to happen.  In my case, years ago I got migraine headaches.  They were awful, they started in my late 40’s, and they got progressively worse and more frequent.  Then, when I gave up wheat, the disappeared completely.  It wasn’t a gradual thing, they just stopped, and I have never had a headache since, of any kind!  Of course, that alone was worth it, but there have been many additional positive effects: much better skin, clear and no dryness, much more definition both of face and body, shinier hair; the list goes on and on.  All from just giving up one thing- wheat. Now, as phase two of Paleo living, I’m asking

Send us a textIt struck me today that anyone contemplating the paleo diet and lifestyle really only needs to concentrate on a few basic things.  They are simple, easily understood, and not complicated at all:   1. Cut out gluten- this is really key!  Just this one thing, hard as it is for most folks to even contemplate, will do more for your health positively than anything else.  Really! Once you eliminate this one overwhelming staple of the modern S.A.D. diet, so many things are accomplished!  At one stroke, you can begin to heal your intestinal wall, which is undoubtedly leaking into your bloodstream things that you have not digested, and triggering autoimmune responses, which if they are not troublesome now, will be in due time.  Things like bad skin, psoriasis, joint pain, migraine headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, and just plain bloating and brain fog.  After this phase, you progress to acid reflux, inability to sleep, and creeping obesity.  Insulin resistance is next, along with diabetes.  All the ot

Send us a textI’m sure you’ve all heard the adage to “exercise 3 times per week”, because your body needs rest days to rebuild.  Although this may be true for abusive exercise systems using heavy barbells and dumbbells, a ‘going to failure’ mentality backed by a substandard diet…but not for those of us who practice Perfectly Paleo Exercise! This is the type of natural exercise that uses your own body as resistance, as in virtual resistance, isometrics, calisthenics, self-resisted exercises where one limb resists the movement of another, and body weight movements done either on gymnastic rings, pushup handles, or from bars.  In this type of exercise, daily exercise is not only possible, but vastly preferable, since our bodies have been designed for daily movement and exercise!  If we couple this movement with good sleep and a healthy diet, why then our body is well able to recuperate, and even thrive on such a schedule.  My schedule?  I work out first thing, every morning, first thing upon arising.  I think th

Send us a text"Many People wonder how a single exercise without movement could produce results comparable or even superior to an exercise with movement.....Only one or two seconds are required to take a curl from thigh level to chin height. The hardest part of the curl is not the start or finish, but instead the middle of the curl,where leverage causes the greatest effort. Yet the muscles are in that position for only a fraction of a second. With isometric contraction, the muscles would be exerting full force in this position for up to 12 seconds, so theoretically, one effort here could build as much strength as more than a dozen repetitions performed in the conventional fashion."   "Bruce Lee. The Art Of Expressing the Human body."   This quote should bring us all pause.  The immortal Bruce Lee, saying that one repetition performed isometrically can do as much as 12 reps of conventional strength training!  And do you know what- he’s right!  In my opinion, the core of every single exercise

Send us a textDid you know that orchestra conductors are the longest lived profession? Neither did I until recently, but it makes perfect sense to me. Number 1 is the exercise involved- Exercise? Yes, indeed. Moving both arms, while flexing the torso isometrically as you move those moderately tensed arms- why, this is Perfectly Paleo Exercise in action! I just finished my one weekly basement workout, in which I work on the gymnastic rings, doing pushups, pull-ups, dips and pistol squats, usually rather intensively. Every morning on the other days of the week I spend a more relaxing 45 minutes to an hour, tensing my muscles in virtual resistance exercise, where I flex as I move my limbs through their full range of motion. Like an orchestra conductor, but more intensely, and using every muscle in my body from toe to head. I usually watch Netflix while I do so, and it is the highlight of my day! But again, today I did my very intense workout (while listening to a podcast), and then went out in the rain and sprin

Send us a textReally!  I love my iPhone as much as anybody, in fact I was quite an early adopter, seeing the potential in such a technology for greater learning.  As I walked my route (I was a mailman for 38 years), to listen to podcasts actually changed the very nature of the job- I could now turn my long daily walk into a number of university types of lectures.  From Robb Wolfe’s Paleo Solution, to Jimmy Moore’s Livin La Vida Low Carb, and many others, I now had the opportunity to re-brainwash myself, or better said- to UN-brainwash myself from the high carb, low fat lie that has been with us since the 1960’s! It worked, and it worked so well that now I have two podcasts of my own- PaleoJays Smoothie Cafe and Paleo Quick Tip of the Day, to which now of course you are either listening or reading on www.paleojay.com   I have always been excited, and passionately so, to spread the word!  It is a true word to spread, and our very health and well being are at stake, as we are now the fattest and sickest people t

Send us a textThis might seem like a rather strange subject for aPaleo Quick Tip of the Day, but nevertheless, it is a crucialtopic.  To be abalanced paleolithic or ancestral type of person, creating thingsis a big part of being successful.  Men and women are born with aneed to explore and develop their talents, to nurture them alongand create; if you don’t do so, you are setting yourself up forunhappiness. If you have never seen the magnificent cave paintingsof cave dwellers, you should take a look online!  The elaborate, detailedpaintings of animals of that era are so well done, so lovinglycrafted, as to almost look real.  Think of the effort expendedin doing this artistic labor, and realize that these paleolithicpeople had a compulsion to create, just as we do. All through history, from Egypt and the pyramidsthrough ancient Greece and Rome, beautiful statues and paintingswere produced constantly.  Surely their music waswonderful as well, although we have never actually heard itourselves, they enjoyed it ve

Send us a textRecently, I built a time machine!  It was amazing, that first time I fired it up- the rainbows of lights that surrounded me in my little contraption as I spun away through time, into the past.  The walls of my machine were vibrating rapidly, and a strange music of deep, resonant chords seemed to go right through me- and then, with a thud, I landed.I had gone into the past, as planned.  I looked out upon a scene at once strange and familiar: in front of me was a typical street in an American town, but it was subtly different from what it had been in my time.  I could see a glass telephone booth around the corner, for I had fortuitously landed in an alley between two large brick buildings. Leaving my machine, I covered it with large sheets of plywood that were strewn through the alley, disguising it.  Then I walked up to the telephone booth in the street ahead. Old, antique-looking street lamps flickered on overhead, as it was early evening.  A man was talking on the telephone in the booth, wearin

Send us a textOne of the most ignored facets of paleo living and even nutrition is our skin!  Not only is our skin the largest organ of our body by far, it is also a great indicator of whether or not we are healthy on the inside of our bodies.Most of us have abused our skin for decades: putting all sorts of lotions, creams, petroleum-based oils and dyes on it in the forms of soap and shampoo, dishwashing liquid and other artificial chemicals such as makeup in the case of women.  Did you know that all of these chemicals pass right through your skin into your body?  Well, they do, and they are all toxins that your body has to deal with as chemical invaders. Check out your labels; not just for your skin, but for household cleaning products as well.  These products, besides being expensive, are very toxic to your body, and to your precious gut micro biome!  You can have a perfect paleo type of diet, and undermine all of your efforts by allowing these products to touch your body, or even to be inhaled.What should