Paleo Quick Tip Of The Day

I have been experimenting with Xylitol for a while now, and while this low calorie sweetener is almost exactly like sugar when substituted for it, the results of it on the body are amazingly different!   For one: sugar is deadly to oral health!  Sugar in your mouth is tantamount to oral suicide, since sugar feeds the bad bacteria that causes tooth decay, and also results long term into periodontal disease, destroying your gums, which are the literal foundation that secures your teeth.  Xylitol actually increases the health of your teeth, since it ‘fools’ the bad bacteria into thinking that- “hey- here is wonderful sugar- let’s eat!”; but, when these bad bacteria consume this xylitol, they then suddenly realize that there is no sustenance here- it is a fake out!  And so, they starve and die, leaving your oral cavity undamaged!!    The same thing happens in the nasal cavity, it turns out!  I have been experimenting with xylitol recently, and have bought a product called Xclear, which is simply saline solution m

All of us here are aspiring or existing Paleo People- or at least we should be!  We want to get in touch with nature, and live our lives in harmony with the natural world of health and wellness, eating real foods that are healthy and nutritious, and eliminating fake food like substances pushed upon us by the mainstream, like grains, sugars, and processed foods and sugary crap.   That is all a given.  We also want to spend time daily in a natural setting, sleep in a totally dark and relatively noise-free setting (like with crickets chirping, and only the moon and stars faintly visible overhead), and we want to vigorously yet naturally exercise on a daily basis.  We want relatively stress free jobs, and a community of like-minded folks that we enjoy seeing often around the streets and area in which we live.  Even to have people who look at the spiritual side of life is very important to us, since all of life is seamless, really, and everything should mesh if we hope to raise our family successfully, and to bond

Blood pressure, most importantly the notion of high blood pressure, is a long-running pool of misinformation and bad treatment.  The measurement of taking the blood pressure originated in 1905, and has not changed since then!  It was actually discovered in the 1880’s, but the final measuring system was finalized in 1905-   Hardly cutting edge science and medicine!    But the medical system has stuck with it all this time, and only tries to mask the symptoms of the high blood pressure with drugs, never trying to cure the underlying cause or causes.  The thought is that the high blood pressure is what is doing damage to arteries and the heart, when it is actually when there are abnormalities within the heart, arteries or kidneys that the body compensates- by increasing the blood pressure to better serve the circulatory system!   High or Low blood pressure is not in and of itself inherently bad or good: it is just a snapshot in time of how your blood pressure is at that moment of the day.  If you lift heavy weig

Now I know- all you hear about lately is Keto this and Keto that; not nearly as much paleo as was the case a few years ago!  That’s typical- people are rather faddish, all following the latest trend, and abandoning something else- even if it was working wonderfully for them!    But, far more commonly, they jump on the next bandwagon, before ever really committing to, and following the last one they were planning to adopt!  But, just to be on the record, for most folks The Paleo Diet, (often with slight adaptations like adding in pastured dairy, some legumes and potatoes) is the way to go.  I believe the ketogenic diet has huge potential for some folks- primarily those who already have autoimmune disease, and/or are otherwise severely damaged, health wise.  For them, keto living can be very therapeutic.  But, for the rest of us, an ongoing commitment to a paleo lifestyle, eschewing bread and grains, severely limiting sugar, and keeping the carbs on the low end overall is the way to go.  It is the way to achiev

This is the true iteration of this endless plea, and is one that actually makes sense!  Black Lives Matter means very little indeed.  But Black Nights Matter- well, this is important stuff.   If you are sleeping in a room with windows that let light into your bedroom, you probably have no idea that this is one of the most pernicious things that you can do to your health.  For hundreds of millions of years, our ancestors have had light only within the window provided by nature- from dawn til dusk!    But now, mostly within the past few decades, and increasingly since we started staring at screens, computer, phone, and tablet- all emitting tons of blue light- with is the light that is supposed to jar us awake in the morning- we are subjected to this stimulus not only in what is supposed to be waking hours- but late into the night as well!   Many people have taken this still further, setting their TV’s on timers, so they fall asleep to the blue light emitter that is tv, as their body is attempting to fall asleep

I am getting a little confused by the paleo community all seemingly running like lemmings into the land of Ketosis!  As if, all of a sudden, the goal of ancestral living is to just get to ketosis, stay in ketosis, and glory in ketosis…   Getting into a ketogenic state is important- it is one tool in our paleo health toolbox.  I don’t deny this.  But to go on and on and on about KETO, and never mention the other essential parts of healthy ancestral living, well, it’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face.  It’s like when, early on, all that was talked about seemed to be crossfit.  Just like the Keto craze, this made Crossfit the centerpiece of paleo exercise (it never was for me), and the extremes people started to take it became dangerous.  It just became a form of organized overtraining, and a sure way to get injured, and burn out ultimately.   Ketosis is a therapeutic tool, primarily, and should be used sometimes, but that is all.  Some may need to use it more extensively, since they are more damage

Let’s say you want to be healthy- a healthy, paleo type of a person!  You clean up your diet, substituting good fats and pastured proteins for your processed carbs and sugary stuff.  You start to exercise, and use body weight movements instead of machines and weights, and start walking and sprinting barefoot instead of jogging long, slow distances in heavily cushioned running shoes.    If you are doing these things, I guarantee you are now far more fit and healthy than before- congratulations!  If you also meditate or pray on a daily basis, and drink a paleo green smoothie as well; why, you are not only healthy, you are (or are becoming) one of the most healthy and fit people on the planet!  Congratulations!!   Now, you can just watch televisions endlessly in your free time, or perhaps crochet and start concentrating on your collection of Hummel figurines…   Well, NO.  Your total lifestyle needs to be in sync; that is, to be a lifestyle that makes sense, a way of living that embodies the real values of a pers

That’s prunes- that of course is what a dried plum is!  And recent studies have shown that prunes have amazing health benefits, and also taste really good.   But the big news is that you can actually reverse osteoporosis within your bones by consuming prunes.  It has been thought that once the bones lose minerals, they cannot be regained.  Thus, people as they age, in particular women, but in men was well, gradually lose bone structure.  This sets you up for weak, easily breakable bones, and steadily weakening teeth as well.  Lose mineral structure in your spine, and you are looking at a lot of pain and disability- fall and break a hip; why many people never recover from that and become bedridden as a result.    The prune (it has been rebranded as a ‘dried plum’ for marketing purposes), has a unique chemical property that can actually reverse this bone loss, so you body can lay down bone minerals that have already been lost!  This is huge, and alone makes including prunes in your diet on a regular basis a ver

I mainly plan to talk about actual balance- the balance so crucial to the human body.  But when I think about it, it is so obvious that balance as a notion is so important in every single aspect of our lives!  But let’s talk about the physical type of balance first.   I have been thinking quite a bit about this issue of balance lately, because I have been seeing so many instances of people, my age and younger, (not to mention older!) who are obviously having major balance issues.  Think of elderly people, who can only walk by listing from side to side, always being close to a wall or a chair to grab for support.  This is not something that needs to happen, but something that happens because these folks have not exercised properly as they aged.  Of course, most don’t exercise at all, and this is nothing but what I call becoming a voluntary cripple.  It is easily preventable.   First, exercise your balance every single day!  Yes, that’s right- just as you should be doing natural, Perfectly Paleo Exercise every

Now is the time when most folks are exercising.  And I do mean now- for the first week or two of the New Year.  I drive by local gyms, it seems there are endless versions all over my little community, all of whose parking lots are full.  For now.   I always wonder, ‘if there are all of these gyms, almost everywhere, and all of these people belong and go on a regular basis- why do I rarely see a fit looking person?’   It is a legitimate question to ask, but unfortunately I already think that I know the answers:   First off, these people are going to commercial gyms.  They have to drive there, change clothes, shower, change back, and then drive home.  This is a major time commitment, right off the bat- also, usually a major financial committment.  Secondly, they are working out on lackluster exercise equipment, result producing-wise.  Treadmills, ellipticals, resistance machines, free weights- they are all not much bang for the time spent kinds of tools.  These are the kind of exercise equipment that, to get an

  NSAIDS- Non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.   You can get them over the counter, and there are others that you need a prescription for, but the bottom line is this: the short-term pain relief they offer comes at a huge price: the high risk of ruining your health!   I have posted an infographic from mercola.com that details the many problems with taking these drugs at www.paleojay.com.  The sad thing is that there is a quite natural alternative to these synthetic, damaging drugs.  White Willow bark is the original form of aspirin, and it is literally derived from the bark of the willow tree.  It takes longer to be effective when you take it, but then when it does take effect, after being safely absorbed within your gut rather than destroying parts of it to be instantly absorbed, it remains in your system- safely- for much longer.  I can see no reason not to substitute this inexpensive, natural, readily available pain reliever to that of any and all of the damaging NSAID drugs!   The damage to your preciou

Sometimes I think I get a little ‘out there’ on things, and I’m afraid this is one of those times.  I truly believe that nurturing your creative self, that part of you that does more than just work for a living, and then, when all the work is done, both at home and at your workplace, you just seek entertainment.   Now, I am not averse to entertainment itself, not at all.  I’ve played in, and even organized musical bands and choruses in my time, and love to play guitar and sing.  Where would I be without an audience?  I watch many movies, most on Netflix and Amazon prime- while I exercise, as I often recommend.  I listen to the radio, and love to listen to music as well.  I even love podcasts, which are great to listen to while driving, or heavy hand walking (or now, with the snow, ski pole walking) around the woods here in my yard.  In fact, I’ll go so far as to say I love entertainment, and love to be entertained!  Who doesn’t?   But my point is, if you only live to work and then to be entertained, where doe

Here is the thing about isometrics: almost everyone dismisses them!   There is no rhyme or reason about it.  My feeling is that no one has actually looked at the research, or ever experimented with this form of exercise- I mean, how can it be that pushing hard against an immovable resistance for a matter of seconds can:   Lower blood pressure, dramatically! Strengthen that muscle in a huge way, even throughout the muscle, not just in that particular angle! Be done so fast, and so relatively painlessly!   Well, isometrics CAN do that, and it is just a shame that the benefits have been shoved aside.    I believe that this is because conventional isotonic weight training- in paleo parlance ‘lifting heavy things’- has the “advantage” of building bulky types of muscle.  Big, chubby muscles that everyone can see, and say “Hey- have you been lifting weights??”    If you have a fragile ego, like I did when I was 14 or so, to hear this is very gratifying.  And so, people tend to double down on the weight lifting!    M

Much is made in paleo circles of the importance of engaging in a “tribe”, whether it be family, neighborhood, church family, or even a stone-age tribe, should you happen to have one.  (And I don’t mean old Flintstone episodes)!  In fact, I am one of those espousing the essential nature of having a tribe.  It really is a necessary thing, for both physical and mental health.   BUT, the yin to the yang of that idea is that each of us, whether we realize it or not, needs solitude.  And I don’t mean just being alone to go on Facebook, or to shop on Ebay- I mean being completely alone, with not telephone, cell phone browsing, computer surfing, or television watching- I mean just YOU.  I want to say “no electronics”, but that’s not right either- electric lights and such are fine; after all, how can you read otherwise in the dark, unless you are like Abe Lincoln by the fireplace light?   Constantly interacting with others is NOT OK- it is a sign of dependence, and is not healthy if done to excess.  Humans need to hav

Once again, as we should be getting used to in modern medicine: they have gotten it all wrong! We have been told for decades and decades, at least since the early 1970’s, that high salt consumption is the worst thing ever, and it will kill us, giving us high blood pressure, and also heart disease after that.  Salt is bad bad bad, and we should do our best to consume as little salt as possible!   Wrong, wrong, wrong.  Just as we were told that eating fat will not only make us fat, but it will clog our arteries and kill us sooner rather than later!  The solution?  Just as with salt- eat as little fat as possible, and what you do eat, should be vegetable oils, since they aren’t saturated.    Again, wrong, wrong, wrong!  Just as good, God-made fats are essential to human health and life, so to is salt.  And perhaps salt is even more important, since we evolved in the ocean originally- all creatures on this earth did, and our very blood is laden with salt, just as is the ocean.  If we don’t take in salt on a daily

One of the most productive and efficient ways to work out is using something called aerobic isometrics.  It actually sounds contradictory, for after all isn’t isometric exercise working against an immovable object for time?  And isn’t aerobics moving the body at a steady state for a longer period of time?   Yes and yes.  But they actually come together very well, and when done this way they are an incredibly good, and safe way to really get fit!  And a real fitness, that combines the cardio system and the strength building of the muscles together very effectively!    Let’s try it first in the classic pull-up or chin-up.  Either use a low hanging bar or tree branch- (hey- you’re paleo, aren’t you caveman?)- or else place a stool that lets you extend your arms fully, while standing on your stool (or stump).  Anyway, the idea is that you support your weight on your legs, but then you put more and more weight on your hands and arms.  Slowly squat down, giving just enough help from your legs to go up and down in a

A growing trend has begun troubling me in the paleo sphere- concentrating on minutae.  Little things, in other words.    Instead of just focussing on the large issues in what is wrong in health and fitness these days, most of the paleo “in crowd” seem to be trying to distinguish themselves by choosing some small niche in the field, and going on and on about how important that one small thing is!  I realize most folks that talk and write about paleo nutrition and wellness are trying to make a living from it, I get that.  But by stressing that most people need this exclusive test, or that one; while they might be carving out a lucrative niche for themselves, the are obscuring the important, vital overall message that everyone needs to hear, not just Paleo aficionados who study this stuff to death.    While I might fall into that latter category, I am different in that I am not trying to make a living in the paleo field, or even to make a name for myself and become a recognized “expert”.  I do have an e-book on

Maybe you haven’t heard of sulphurophane.  Maybe you have.  But you need to know that it comes from cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli and cauliflower, as well as all of the greens that most folks don’t eat anymore!  Turnip greens, collards, cabbage and kale, brussels sprouts and surprisingly horseradish, which I love!   The thing is this: our ancestral relations all ate tons of such greens, plucked from the ground as they went about their day.  Tons!  On top of that, they did not eat sugar, and starchy flour products for the bulk of their calories; no, the bulk of their calories came from TONS of greens, along with meat and fat.  Come to think of it, they must have known about the paleo diet…   My point is this- my recommendation for anyone to become healthy, strong, vital and happy is to do the same as they did.  Eat tons (or at least lots) of greens on a daily basis, along with meat and other good protein sources, along with plenty of real fat.  The main things to avoid are vegetable oils, processed foo

K2 is the forgotten vitamin.  

One thing you should definitely have in your paleolithic arsenal is apple cider vinegar, or ACV!  It is inexpensive, in fact, you can make your own, and also widely available  in stores.  The flagship brand is Bragg’s Apple Cider vinegar, but lately other brands have appeared on the market.  Just make sure you get the unfiltered ACV, not the standard clear version- you want it cloudy on the bottom of the bottle!   I have been recommending you consume ACV daily, in your Paleo Green Smoothie as outlined in my books, and also at www.paleojay.com  In fact, Hippocrates himself recommended ACV back in ancient Greece over 2000 years ago!  It is wonderful for digestion, fighting candida, (which is yeast overgrowth in the body), and even lowers blood pressure as well as helping normalized blood sugar for those with diabetes or pre-diabetes.  Also, it is a wonderful probiotic, since it is loaded with beneficial microbes. It does more than this as well, but today I want to focus on using it on your skin, something that