Paleo Quick Tip Of The Day

First of all- my FIRST commercial break EVER in over 11 years on this podcast of ancestral, paleo health and ever evolving into more and more.  http://www.jessthornton.orgThis is my author link, which is another career path of mine.  Fantasy adventure stories mostly, but with strong political and health views throughout.  Audio versions are now available for most- links to purchase books are on the website, as are links to free samples.  Also, all of my books, both audio, ebook, and print are available at your library.  If not, just ask- and your librarian will provide!  And now, on with the podcast...We live in stressful times!  But, you don’t need me to tell you that. Truth is: all times have their own variety of stress. Fighting wars is stressful, but even in times such as this, with our relative prosperity, stress is built into our daily lives.I had planned today purposely to be a ‘fun day’.  I was going to plan and plant my garden! I gave the plot a final tilling, and then raked it all smooth.  It was th

It turns out that actual knowledge is now Politically Incorrect!  Sad but true.  I remember back in the 1960’s (yes, I am old enough- 68- to remember those days well), when to be liberal, a college student say, wearing flowers and patched jeans, meant that protests were about free speech!  While no hippy, I recognized the intellectual honesty and freedom of that notion of freedom of speech, and I concurred completely.  They talked about the Vietnam war at the time, which Lyndon Johnson had escalated greatly, and which was politically unwinnable.  The leftist hippies were right- get us out of Vietnam.Equal rights for minorities was another cause of the left, and also for very many on the right.  Those on the right were the same ones (Republicans) that had freed the slaves- they just wanted total equality, or justice.  The Democrats wanted them free so they could buy their votes- Johnson famously did this by starting his “Great Society”, which just means Welfare.  And so, for this reason and this reason alone,

Pure truth- and a song!

Never Let a Good Crisis go to Waste!  That is the quote that has been used by so many on the Left for bad ideas and policies, but we can also use it positively, in our favor as ancestral living people.  Most of us in what are called ‘non-essential’ jobs (as if any real work is ‘non-essential’, really) are now staying at home, only venturing forth for necessities.  Although this is really painful for most of us (we are social beings after all), we can use this time in our favor!  Instead of just watching stupid binges of Netflix bad series, we can set ourselves real, life changing challenges.  Master cooking- it really is an essential life skill, especially in regards to your health.  It’s just the right time of year to master grilling on a charcoal grill, and if you are like me, simply cooking outdoors will add a whole new realm of enjoyment in your life.  A Weber grill is wonderful, and all you really need in my opinion.  Fancier grills and smokers might impress your city and suburbanite status conscious sor

A plague had entered the land.  Thousands were dying, and thousands upon thousands more would follow, unless it could be stopped.  The wise doctors struggled to find a cure, but for now the only thing that would slow the wild spreading of the disease was for people to stay apart, to not allow the spreading of the virulent virus that rushed from person to person, spreading quick and sure death!But by staying at home, and apart, commerce perforce ended within the country, and the specter of hunger and privation haunted the previously prosperous nation.  But the determined leader of the land, a man with swirling hair of red-gold, put together a decree that would give money, and therefore bread and safety to every resident that were forbidden to work for the overall good of the land.  The wise men and women of the Senate concurred, putting their stamp of approval on the wonderful idea.But there was another group of people, a group that tried to govern the people not by supporting their president, but by attemptin

I spent today enjoying my social distancing!  I got up early (as usual), and watched the morning news.  Stock market way down, but stabilizing.  I enjoy watching Maria Bartiroma (anyone else notice that she looks exactly like the young Sophia Loren?), and getting the gist of the events facing our nation.  As I watched, I was exercising as I always do.  My thoughts clarify if I am flexing and sculpting my body methodically as I watch.  Disciplined thoughts flow from a disciplined body, I have found.  I did pushups today for high reps, feet up on the couch, which is always my intensest workout, done twice per week, along with my usual stretching and isometrics.  No rebounding today, as I had a busy day planned.It is maple syrup time, where I tap a number of maple trees here, and cook down the syrup.  There is labor involved, as I haul numerous 5 gallon buckets full of sap to the cooker, but it is pleasant to me, as it is all outdoors, and today was a beautiful sunny, 40 degree or so day!  It was a day to finish

In health and wellness, much is made of building the muscles, and even ligaments and tendons of the body stronger and more healthy.  This can be done by exercising correctly, ala Perfectly Paleo Exercise, where the body is briefly taxed near to its limits using isometrics, virtual resistance where the musculature is taxed by generating its own resistance. Isometrics, and calisthenics such as high rep or slow cadence pushups, pull-ups, sit-ups, etc.All of this is wonderful stuff, and goes along perfectly with a paleo type of diet- a diet that is in harmony with our evolutionary past, which is the case with our exercise regimen, which also duplicates how our body was meant to be used to stay functional and vital!But the missing part of our evolutionary health that is often ignored is that of our face- tongue, oral cavity, and teeth! What determines not only our health, but what we look like.There is a Dr. Mews, Michael Mews to be exact from England, who along with his father has tackled this in detail.  They ha

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

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 th

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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 wor

Sad but true!  I want for you to go out into nature each and every day that you can, to immerse yourself into that environment from which we evolved, and to which we are ultimately best suited.  To go out into the woods, to enjoy the solitude, and breeze ruffling your hair, while you traverse the natural ground as humans have done for millenia uncounted- this is to restore, to recharge both our minds, bodies and spirits.  It is a kind of ‘reboot’ of our modern, hectic lives back into our natural, true selves.But, I would never recommend you thrust yourself into a dangerous jungle, if you are not familiar with it, and if you are unequipped to deal with the life threatening peril that lurks within.  This would be the height of folly, unless you were carrying effective weaponry, and had a mission to accomplish that necessitated such a venture.Sadly now, however, the very bastions of Western culture and civilization, the large cities of America and Europe, have devolved into jungles where your safety is not only

Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.” – Marcus AureliusIn the Western tradition of civilization, the chief hallmark is that of individual autonomy, meaning each free individual within that most successful of all tribes can speak their mind freely, and live as they see fit for themselves and their families!  Throughout the vast majority of history, from culture after culture, tribe after tribe- the norm has been a KING.  An elite person, surrounded by other elites he has chosen, that rule over everyone else.  Endless gradations of slaves, that do as they are told.  Privileged slaves, who have trappings of wealth, above another level of slaves, and so on, down the line…But ultimately, in this ancestral world order of humankind, the vast majority have been simply slaves that did as they were told- or else!Western civilization, in counterpoint, has been quite different from this.  Since ancient Greece, to Rome, and then through the middle ages up to the American revolution, the thrust has

I don’t really mean to be provocative, but I must state the obvious: the awe in which many hold medical doctors is ridiculous.  I see it constantly: doctors, and the medical clinics and hospitals that employ them, are so special and so necessary- Science brought to our lives!Nonsense.  Most medical professionals know a very tiny amount about health.   What they do know about is disease, and that is what they focus on.  And what they do, when you come in to be examined, is basically run over a checklist that they tick off:How old is the patient?  50 or greater?  Let me see:Statins  High blood pressure medications   Probably a stent, next appointment…And so it goes.  Just a checklist, written by the pharmaceutical companies, nothing more.  This is what medicine has come to.  Don’t cure the disease, just treat the symptoms, and sell drugs.  Really!Doc, I have a pain in my knees when I kneel down in my garden.  What should I do?Doctor-  “Knee replacement would be my advice!”   “And my hip hurts too!”  - Hip repla

We live nowadays in a highly complex, interdependant Western civilization.  This means that every person within that complex TRIBE needs to pull their own weight, and MORE!Only by such action have we built this amazing edifice where machinery works, where our huge cities used to work (more on that later), and science and progress continues onward, unabated.  It is by adult men, primarily, realizing that their purpose in life is to work hard to assist others, and to stop those other men who do not do so.  Those parasites who are a threat and a drain, rather than an asset.We have reached a point in our Western civilization, laboriously reared up by our European ancestors over thousands of years, where many of our own people, and unfortunately many many more not of our own people, who have been imported, scream on and on about rights!  Of course, rights are important, like free speech and freedom of autonomy and action, and the rights to bear arms.But now, the shrill cadence screaming they want rights are mainly

In other words, don’t go down the same path as ancient Rome.  Rome, which lasted roughly 1000 years, spent the first 500 as a republic of small landholders, who also took time off from their farms and shops to defend the country.  They had a strong aversion to kings and other sorts of authoritarian rulers and governments, and pioneered the form of republicanism.  This republic was a very efficient and effective government, and one which nourished freedom of speech and the individual.  Free men are much better as wariors, since they are fighting for themselves, and their own country; and not as mercenaries or hired guns with nothing at stake for themselves.  Freedom also results in a free, working capitalism, in which the citizens provide for themselves, and get to keep what they produce for the most part.  Taxes are minimal, and all are expected to provide for themselves and their families.  Minimal government is ideal for freedom in all aspects: free speech in encouraged, small direct representatives (like t

I know- this sounds like an extremely unlikely focus for a paleo podcast: you know, eating and living in accordance with our genetic programming, living ancestrally in the manner (as much as possible) in which we evolved.  But bear with me…Aside from eating ancestrally (no grains, or at least very little and properly prepared ones like with sour dough ala Weston A. Price), adequate pastured meats, eggs, and dairy along with plenty of vegetables and some fruits like berries or citrus, and sweetening with raw honey and maple syrup- we also need to live according to ancestral principals.  Ancient, paleolithic peoples lived in tribes.  Such a grouping of people is the healthiest, most natural way for humans to not only survive, but to thrive!  We always focus on the survival, and mostly the health related bits of the paleo lifestyle.  Like, what can we do to maximize our healthiness and fitness- Perfectly Paleo Exercise, utilizing things like virtual resistance, stretching, walking and running barefoot, and livin

You should address each and every part of your body on a daily, or at least near-daily basis!  For me, each day when I arise, I go through a brief limbering session right away, in the bathroom before going downstairs- rotating all of my joints, and gradually awakening with deep breathing and simple mobility movements.  (I hesitate to call them ‘exercises’, since they are simple, easy, and enjoyable, taking a maximum of 2-3 minutes total).Next, downstairs, I brew my coffee, feed the cats, and go into my workout area.  (The Living Room!)  I start the TV, and my workout at the same time, only pausing to sip my organic brew…  it is the very best, most satisfying part of my day!  It not only grounds me, it gradually energizes me in that early morning hour or so that I devote to both myself, my sanity, and my overall health.You can either look up exercise at www.paleojay.com, or get my book Perfectly Paleo Exercise to understand everything that I do.  Or email me: I’ll be glad to let you know what to do- it is my m

Now I don’t mean that all doctors are snake oil peddlers, showing up on your Main street with bottles of white lightning mixed with cocaine like they did in the old days… but, in many cases, not only are their many prescriptions often worthless, many are downright harmful.  Just as were those of those snake oil salesmen doctors in the 1800’s!  Now, Clark Stanley was an archetypal medicine man of the old Western era, and his oil was sold far and wide throughout the U.S. Now, the original ‘snake oil’ was a real remedy from the fat of a Chinese water snake that figured large in Chinese medicine.  But the wild west alternative was usually liquor, turpentine, and chili peppers mixed with mineral oil.  Yum!  But oftentimes is also had opium also mixed in, and with the combination of the liquor, I’m sure it did make the drinker feel temporarily- well, if not better, well at least he was so dizzy he didn’t feel his aches and pains as acutely for a while.Fast forward to today, and although doctors give the illusion of