Paleo Quick Tip Of The Day

Yesterday we put my father to rest, his ashes buried on the grounds of the vacation cabin my family has shared for almost 30 years.  We put an inscribed rock up to mark the spot, and had a wonderful memorial service, with everyone present to speak on what a wonderful influence our father had been on us all. His life of almost 97 years was celebrated again and again, both through poems, testimonials, and music especially- since my father, Philip H. Bowers aka “Big Band Phil” was a lifelong musician and trombonist.  I did a couple of songs for him, as did my sister Polly, with which we all sang along. The point of this all?  Health is all about good family relations, good, real food, music and poetry!  Of course, exercise is important as well, but there was almost too much of that going on, what with fallen tree removal, brush burning, and even when I carried the giant engraved boulder into the grave site!   We miss our dad, that is for sure.  But, with a life of nearly 97 years; really- how can sad you be abou

If you have been listening to this podcast for any length of time, you know that I vastly prefer bodyweight, isometrics, and especially virtual resistance training over any other type!   I do like heavy hands, where you walk along (preferable barefoot or in Xero type shoes on God’s green earth), grounding yourself electrically as you go, pumping small weights in your hands as you go, which exercises you panaerobically, meaning you are working as much of your musculature and your heart and lungs as you go.  This is a great adjunct to the aforementioned  training types, and can give you a total body workout in as little as 10-15 minutes.  It’s intense!    I do not like heavy weight lifting, or long slow distance types of running.  I think they are dangerous long term, and result in injuries that will dog you into your old age- things like busted-up joints, torn muscles and injured tendons and ligaments that take a long, long time to heal.   And I like super slow training, which is a system arrived at years ago

This is a difficult podcast to write and speak.  This past week I lost my father, as well as his brother, my uncle Ken!   Phil Bowers and Ken Bowers, small town Wisconsin boys who went on to accomplish great things, have gone to the Afterlife almost together- elder brother Ken died just one week before his little brother.  Ken was born in 1919, and Phil was born in 1920.  Elder brother led the way…   Both of them led stellar lives: Ken was active in WW2, becoming a Major in the US army, before retiring and moving to Florida.  Both had multiple children, although Ken’s streak was cut short since his wife died young, leaving Phil to win that particular “race”- which he won handily with 8 children!   Back when they grew up in small town Wisconsin, my father told me that “When you woke up in the morning, you just went down and loaded the wood stove!”  I’m sure this was an aside telling me how easy I had it, in the early 1950’s, where furnaces were gas fired…   Their little town had a small town dairy, and of cour

It’s not your doctor’s responsibility, it’s not up to your mother, or your husband or wife- it is simply your choice. Health really is just about that simple! YOU make the decision each night whether or not to go to bed nice and early, turning off all the lights in your bedroom and then composing yourself for sleep. YOU decide not to look at various screens in bed, which are guaranteed to disrupt your circadian clock, and mess up your sleep. Also, this messing with your sleep clock, your circadian rhythm, is cumulative- the more you stay up too late, the more you mess up your body clock with bright lights via “screens” late at night, the worse your ability to sleep will become. So, black out your bedroom, make sure it is dark and quiet all night long. Sleep is actually the first parameter of health, although you will rarely hear that this is so- it is! Probably more so than diet, actually. So do this first, ensure a good nights sleep. When you wake up in the morning, well-rested, start your day with some exer

The more I read and research about staying healthy in this our modern era, the simpler it becomes to me. There is really only one thing you need to do nutritionally to avoid degenerative diseases… Strictly limit your refined carbs and sugars! That’s it, I’m not kidding! The high blood glucose almost all Americans now live with, and the resultant spikes in insulin, over and over for years and years- well, that puts you into insulin resistance. This state is the fount of all our ills- it results eventually in metabolic syndrome, which makes our bodies prone to obesity, or more correctly diabesity, which has become the modern day plague upon the world. And diabesity will push you into all the autoimmune diseases you can think of- of course diabetes, but also arthritis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, IBS, diverticulitis, chrome’s disease- really, the list goes on and on. And no sense just listing horrible diseases that you can easily avoid, just by limiting refined carbs and sugars! Of course, to effectively limit tho

This research has been around for about 6 or 7 years now, but the information has yet to circulate widely throughout the fitness world- lifting light weights is just as effective for developing both strength and muscle size! Why is this such big news? Well, for many athletes, and just plain regular folks who want to improve their health and appearance, the advice has been to “lift heavy” for many years. This means to lift a weight at least 80% of your one-rep max in that particular lift, and do it for around 8 to 10, or even fewer reps. To exhaustion! While this method works for muscle size and strength, it also sets you up for injury- just the sheer loading of the big weights on your body can damage your joints and spine. Recent studies have repeatedly shown that much lighter weights, when also done to near exhaustion with much higher reps, (say 25 or so) are every bit as effective as those heavier weights- for both size- and strength! I have known about this for years, in fact I have figured out that tensin

Just when you think you’ve got the ancestral, paleo type of diet pretty much all figured out- another wrinkle appears! Actually, this is part of what is so really cool about paleo, it is an endless road of discovery. Your typical medical doctor thinks he has it all figured out: what he learned in medical school 30 years ago is all he needs to know… Of course, he is dead wrong, and if you follow his advice, you too will wind up not only wrong, but dead. Conventional medicine will never recommend new, cutting-edge types of things that might really help you, it is always a matter of “following the corporate, standard treatments” that haven’t worked ever, but are still recommended because, well because that is what we have been told! I have always steered clear of fish oil, instead preferring to consume fish instead. Duh. Although I do like to include a good cod liver oil in my smoothies as well. But now, it appears there is something better, dramatically better actually, and that is emu oil. This is a large, fli

As an ancestral, paleo sort of person, safeguarding our natural environment is very important to me. The fact the glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup by Monsanto is sprayed widely on our crops, and also right in our very yards and gardens disgusts me! his on your yard or garden, you are compromising the health of your own family, along with anyone else who walks on your poisoned grass. Just stop- your precious micro biome is at risk, for what? A “prettier” carpet-like lawn, with none of the actual beauty of the dandelions, plantain, and all the other “weeds” that make our lawns real nature. If you can’t stand that, move to Arizona, and spray paint your lovely concrete yard a bright green… But today, my focus is fake environmentalists. People like Al Gore, many, many “celebrities” and Hollywood stars, and many others (usually on the far left), that insist on things like wind turbines and ethanol because “it’s the right thing to do!” It’s not, not even close. Both are horrible ideas, and it is very pro

Where to live a good life is important- in fact, it is paramount.  Our ancestors knew this well: they would hunt for a good cave, or place to build their huts, where there was ample game and wild vegetables to gather.  A place where there was cover, and a sheltered area, probably around a clearing, where the tribe could build a fire.  A fire for both keeping away predators, cooking food (meat and veggies- and yes, oh lord- there were probably little tubers and grass seeds sometimes too!!).    Also, for tribal community; the bonding of the folk of the tribe, from very young to very old, both sexes…  Oh yes, community was incredibly important, both in the sense of interactive human community,  but also in the idea of a community as a place.  A place on this earth where you, a paleo person, along with your tribal compatriots, could not only protect and nurture one another, but also protect yourselves from outsiders- other tribes that may want to do you harm!   For, make no mistake- there has always been tribal c

More heresy- stop weight training? Get flabby and soft?? Well, how about stopping damaging, dangerous heavy weight lifting, and replace it with a type of strength training that is far safer, more beneficial, and will leave you with a body that is not only fit and healthy, but aesthetically pleasing as well. I mean it, friends- I have literally tons of weights in my basement, that nowadays I never touch. Well, not never, because there is one exercise that you do need to use a barbell for that is wonderful- essential actually for your back health and strength- The Jefferson Curl. I just stand on a platform, and slowly perform the lift for 10 reps, slowly and methodically, stretching out until the bar is below my raised feet. I’ll put a video up on www.paleojay.com in the show notes, so you can see it first hand. And sometimes I’ll do lateral raises with small dumbbells or plates, but I generate most of the resistance from within, by flexing deliberately as I move, superslow fashion. But that is it. And now I am

Of all the reasons to avoid a high carb and sugar diet, insulin stimulation if one of the best. After you consume carbs, or carb’s twin sugar, your pancreas floods your blood with insulin, to bring down the high sugar levels. If you do this long enough, you will overwhelm your system, and become insulin resistant. Also, there is another piece of the metabolic puzzle called leptin, which is a hormone produced by your good friends- your fat cells! When functioning well, when the fat cells are full-up, meaning you are “fat enough”, this leptin is produced by your very own fat cells to signal you to stop eating- no more food (or FAT) is needed! And so, if you eat a typical, SAD American diet of cereal and skimmed milk for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, and pizza for supper- chances are you will become both insulin and leptin resistant. It doesn’t sound like much, does it? But trust me, it really is- You will get progressively fatter and fatter- more and more insulin and leptin resistant- and most importantly- you

The big thing now is: Fake News. On the political front, this is a huge problem, as our major media has capitulated almost entirely to the liberal side, and only broadcasts and prints stories that advance their own particular left wing agenda. Facts be damned! Fortunately, now we have the internet, and we can actually fact check what is being broadcast to us. We also have Fox news, which really is “Fair and Balanced”, as they advertise, and talk radio to tell us the other side, the real news. Fake Medical and Health news is just as real of a phenomenon, and keeps most of us totally in the dark as it concerns our health and well-being! As a paleo practitioner, you are probably becoming aware of this, if you don’t know it already. Ironically, the vast majority of traditional medical doctors dismiss the paleo lifestyle and diet completely; and do so without reading the recent research on the subject, the clinical trials, or anything else- just like those who follow the New York Times follow its dictates blindly,

Waistline work is not about vanity. Although it will do more to improve your appearance than anything else you can do, the more important thing is that it will dramatically improve your health. Having a lean, ripped midsection, from all viewing angles, is a premiere indicator of a healthy body. It means you will have a healthy, vibrant spine and back, the abdominal muscles are critical to support your interior organs and digestion, and the whole supporting musculature of a well-developed ab structure is protective of hernias, and even from blows to the body. In fact, most of us do this unconsciously: we judge a person’s health and fitness mainly on their waistlines. It’s not that we do it purposely, it’s just that our subconscious mind, just as the instincts of an animal will do, can tell what is healthy and what is not. It would be crucial, this telltale sign, to tell an animal who would make a good mate, and by the same token who would make good prey- a creature that is weak and defenseless versus vibrant w

This isn’t what you’ll read on those pretty bottles of corn, soy, canola, margarine, Crisco, and other toxic vegetable oil products- but it is true nonetheless. Not only are these oils not “vegetable” in origin, like we’ve been told glibly for years, they are actually from otherwise hard, inedible seeds that have been treated with harsh chemical extraction methods to get a somewhat edible, cheap product out of what would otherwise be nothing more than a machine lubricant. (Which is what margarine originally was). Pretty much anyone, by now, especially those of a paleo persuasion, are well acquainted with the horrors of sugar and grains, especially wheat. Wheat, in particular, attacked your gut lining, setting you up for autoimmune disease by letting toxins flow from your intestine right into your bloodstream. Not to mention, the wheat you chew, in the form of bread or pasta or- well, almost everything you buy nowadays from the grocery, sticks right to your teeth, digesting the enamel and feeding the bad bact

The green smoothie cure A green smoothie, all by itself, pretty much cures everything! I know, that sounds like crazy talk, but I assure that it is true. How can this be true? Well, simply by taking a handful or so of greens, adding in a can of coconut milk, some kefir, green tea, fresh or frozen cruciferous veggies like broccoli & cauliflower, & a couple of raw eggs, a peeled lemon with a handful of berries-then blending it all together in a high speed blender like a Vitamix - why, you are packing your body with so much nutrition that you can't HELP but be healthy! And not only is it a load of nutrients that pretty much no modern person ever gets to eat- this nutrient dense drink also inevitably displaces all of the crap you might eat instead of the smoothie- the toast, the donuts, the candy and all the other stuff people nowadays eat and drink instead of real foods! You simply are completely full and satisfied, and find that you just are not thinking about, or tempted by processed foods. Then,

Habits for Health Creating habits for health is probably the very best thing you can do in life! Wow, that sounds extreme, but it is 100% true. “Once begun, half done,” as the old saying goes, is true of anything. And the truth is that, if you don’t eat right, it you don’t exercise, if you don’t sleep a solid 8 hours per night, and so on- you are not going to be healthy. And, by not being healthy, you will be destined, over time, to be unhappy as well. That’s just how life works, grasshopper… Even if you are very successful, say, in your career, and make lots of money- if you are unhealthy, and don’t have a fulfilling family life and social life, along with a well balanced spiritual life- you lose! You lose the happiness prize! The good news is that all of these pillars of a healthy, fit, happy life are all derived simply from developing good habits. And developing good habits is a pretty straightforward, and not really difficult endeavor. Step 1 is simply to figure out what good habits are essential for heal

I, your usually super healthy PaleoJay, have just recovered from a week long bout with a bad cold! It was doubly bad, since I haven’t had any kind of a cold for years now; to the best of my recollection it has been over 6 years since I had a cold that lasted longer than one day. I am just almost never sick, which I ascribe to my lifestyle and nutrition. But not this time! In fact, I am broadcasting this on a Thursday, when I always broadcast on Wednesdays- I have for years now. However, yesterday, I was pretty much without a voice. But then, last night, I finally slept the night through with no coughing, and today I feel great. It was awful, as I’m sure you can all relate. But, I’d like to interject here: I also have a new website, called http://www.jaywalkjaytalk.com This at least I could kind of do while still being sick, but I would have enjoyed it much more if I had been well… but, this site, along with its accompanying blog, is a bit different from www.paleojay.com This is more philosophical, more polit

Fasting for Fat Loss and More One rather simple and easy method for both controlling your weight and also vastly increasing your health simultaneously is with fasting! Simply by limiting your eating window to a set amount of hours per day- say 6 am to 6 pm, you will eat less, without really consciously trying. If you then eliminate snacks, & go to just three meals in that allotted time span, that is another step forward! From there, you can gradually “up the ante” by further compressing that eating window. You can either eat from 8 am to 6 pm, for a 10 hr window, or skip breakfast, & only eat from 11am to 6pm, with a 7 hour window. You can do this gradually, & it seems very natural- not a hardship at all really. What really seems like a hardship to me is the conventional thought, which recommends 6 meals per day (constant grazing) with endless snacks- talk about unnatural! For the vast majority of our evolutionary past, being without food was the norm. It is what our bodies expect as a general ru

If you want to keep your health, avoid our MD.  Keep away from DRUG oriented big business!

Now that we all have the election of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in our rear view mirrors, we can take stock of that outcome.  I think it is important to view the election through examination of a subject with which we are very familiar: that of nutrition and health.   If you are in agreement with the paleo precepts, such as those of eating a real foods, no gluten, and indeed lowish carb and grain type of diet, well then- you are in disagreement with the big Federal Agencies!  You know the food pyramid, now “My Plate”, that says to eat lots and lots of whole grains, low fat, lots of things like vegetable oil (or, more accurately industrial seed oils, and to eat little meat and seafood…   Well, if you believe this crap, like Big Government still does (they have strong commercial interests in doing so!), why then you are a Big Government Democrat, like Hillary Clinton and her ilk.  There are lots of reasons for pushing this incorrect world view:   It puts Government in charge of deciding what we should ea