If you have decided it is time to lose your extra weight, the first step is to create a plan for success. TIP! Just keep moving more in order to get to and.
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Monday, March 31, 2014
Weight Loss Made Easy – Phen375 Results
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Kid Snippets: “Weight Loss Infomercial” (Imagined by Kids)
New Kid Snippets videos every MONDAY. If movies were written by our children… We asked a couple kids to try to sell some weight loss shakes. This is what they came up with.
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Top 11 Spring Cleani
Top 11 Spring Cleaning Products You Must Avoid | www.thepaleomama.com
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The post Top 11 Spring Cleani appeared first on The Fat Loss Factor Program 2.0.
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home-color-palette-p
home-color-palette-pantone-design-wine-sunshine-navy-indigo_02
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pantone-home-wild-or
pantone-home-wild-orchid-design-wine-sunshine
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The goodness of this
The goodness of this pork roast recipe starts with a paprika rub and ends with a honey-and-lime glaze: http://ift.tt/Pct1Yc
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Best Carbs for Weight Loss – Shape Magazine
You can still eat carbs on a diet—just choose the right ones for satiety, weight loss, and health benefits.
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The Skinny Way | Total Nutrition Miami | Supplements, Weight Loss …
Triple Weight Loss Supplement. Q: How does The Skinny Way work? A. The Skinny Way Success System is designed around the 3 Core Principles of Weight Loss & Weight Management. Q: What are the 3 Core Principles?
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Weight Loss | Clarissa's Blog
People are asking me to write about weight loss. I feel reluctant because I don’t know how to make such a post not boring but if readers want it, then here it is. After gestational diabetes, people often develop Type II diabetes.
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BreakTime BreakDown 31MAR2014 – Bacon For Weight Loss
BreakTime BreakDown 31MAR2014 – Bacon For Weight Loss.
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A fresh filling of f
A fresh filling of fish, crabmeat, spices, and fresh produce — including cabbage, mango, and avocado — offers lots of flavor without a lot of calories: http://ift.tt/1kl73fi
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Best Carbs for Weight Loss – Shape Magazine
You can still eat carbs on a diet—just choose the right ones for satiety, weight loss, and health benefits.
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Weight loss resistance is real – KevinMD.com
Weight, per se, is not a choice. Addressing the variable challenge of weight management with insight, understanding and compassion certainly is.
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Testimonial: I Almost Gave Up
Testimonial written by: Brian
I take no pleasure in talking about myself. I’m the least interesting of subjects. I write this story only in the hopes it may help or encourage one person. It might be a story a younger person could share with their parents to motivate them to not give up. I wanted to give up so many times.
At the age of 48, in 2002 (see picture) I was 3 years post SAH (subarachnoid hemorrhage from a ruptured brain aneurysm). My weight had ballooned to 245. I was fat, depressed, lethargic and physically unable to enjoy the activities of life that had once brought so much pleasure. I suffered constant migraine headaches. The doctors told me they would be permanent, a left over gift from the brain injury and prescribed more drugs.
I decided at the age of 50 to do something about my weight. I followed the FDA recommendations on eating (read ‘food pyramid’). I tried to exercise. I ate what the accepted body of nutritionists approved. Low fat, high fiber, limited meat and even more limited red meat. I lost some weight but could never break that 225# barrier. My headaches persisted, as did my depression. I was on anti-depressants and a host of headache related medicine.
The doctors told me I should be happy I was still alive.
I wasn’t happy and I didn’t feel very much alive.
When I had to buy a pair of size 40 jeans (I’m 5’10”) I reasoned this is what happens to middle-aged men. Our metabolism slows and we get fat. It seemed the same was happening to most everyone I knew. With all of the other things I was enduring, maybe I should stop complaining, surrender and stick to my high-fiber diet.
When one of our sons announced his engagement, I didn’t want to show up to the wedding as the ‘fatty from the mountains’. Since they were both so fit, I asked him what would be the best exercise piece of equipment to buy? Whatever I need to spend, just tell me. Instead he recommended a book: The Paleo Solution by a guy named Robb Wolf. He asked me to read it, put it into practice for 30 days and see how I felt. Would I give it a try?
I had my doubts especially since I am not an evolutionist, but read it I did. It was well reasoned and thorough. I read it twice. I went to Robb’s web site and read some more. It made rational sense and seemed an educated response to the accepted body of knowledge. It impressed me as worth a try.
It’s true I wasn’t happy about giving up my ‘healthy’ Muselix in the morning. I didn’t think I could survive without eating bread, the staff of life. But, I sure wasn’t happy with the status quo. It was worth a try.
I gave it 30 days and started feeling better. Another 30 days-my headaches started diminishing. Another 30 days-my pants were too big. Another 30 days and another until the weight was coming off, the headaches were almost gone, my energy levels were back and I didn’t show up to the wedding as the ‘fatty from the mountains’.
My wife, daughter, 4 sons and their wives have been a constant source of encouragement and never gave up on me. Now at age 60 eating Paleo, I look and feel younger than when I was 48. I’m cross-fitting (doing ‘The Open’ in the Master’s division), I play hockey every week in the adult winter league, I’m back to hunting and hiking as I did in my prime, my headaches are completely gone, I’m off all medication including the anti-depressants and pain meds. I’m down to 180 pounds and in the best shape of my life. You tell me in which picture I look the happiest. At 48 or at 60?
Brian at age 48, before paleo.
Brian at age 60, after paleo.
I can’t explain to people all of the science. When people ask, I just show them the 2 pictures and recommend they read Robb’s book. I’m still not an evolutionist, but it doesn’t conflict with the wisdom of the balanced Paleo lifestyle Robb so intelligently explains.
Thank you Robb, you have blessed me. Blessings to you.
-Brian
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How Your Lifestyle Changes Your Genetic Make-up
<a href=”http://guide2diethttp://ift.tt/1jQi1xn class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-8850” alt=”178966380” src=”http://guide2diethttp://ift.tt/1jQi1xp; width=”400″ height=”225″ data-id=”8850″ title=”How Your Lifestyle Changes Your Genetic Make up” />Can what you eat and how you act affect the way your genes work? The answer to this question is a resounding (and perhaps surprising) YES!
A recent study that looked at the effects of a diet, exercise, and stress-reduction program on subjects after one year indicated that not only were there positive changes in risk factors for chronic diseases but their diet also affected how their genes were expressed.
The Study
The research looked at the effects of a strict cardiovascular risk-reduction program in 63 high-risk subjects who were matched with 63 people in … Read More
This article How Your Lifestyle Changes Your Genetic Make-up originally published at Foods4BetterHealth by Dr. K.J. McLaughlin.
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A celebration…100 pound weight loss! – At The Picket Fence
Sharing my weight loss update and celebrating a 100 pound weight loss!
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Rob Kardashian Shares Gym Workout Picture Amid Weight Loss …
Rob Kardashian posted a picture while working out at the gym amid his weight loss struggle on Friday, March 28 — see the photo.
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Sunday, March 30, 2014
Track your weight loss in Numbers | iCreate
Lose weight and get fit by tracking your weight loss in a Numbers spreadsheet.
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Johnny Was Santa Mon
Johnny Was Santa Monica Place Team
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Best Paleo Cookbook For Beginners
Best Paleo Cookbook for Beginners
Many people are looking to give the Paleo diet a try. There is so much to gain and so little…
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Best Paleo Cookbook For Beginners
Best Paleo Cookbook for Beginners
Many people are looking to give the Paleo diet a try. There is so much to gain and so little…
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The Forest Feast veg
The Forest Feast vegetarian recipes
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#AlanaZimmer by #Liz
#AlanaZimmer by #LizCollins for #HarpersBazaarUK March 2014 #editorial #inspiration #print #pattern #maxi #dress #fashion #style
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Saturday, March 29, 2014
Top 5 Things to Look for in a Weight Loss Program | Black Weight …
Don’t know what weight loss plan or diet to use? Need help picking out the right weight loss book? I’ve got tips for you.
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Jodie's 26.7kg Weight Loss Update With Lose Baby Weight
See Jodie’s 26.7kg Weight Loss Update With Lose Baby Weight which help mums to lose baby weight in a healthy and safe way and is safe in breastfeeding safe |
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Dominique lost 32 pounds | Black Weight Loss Success
Weight Loss Story of the Day: Dominque lost 32 pounds. If you’ve been dealing with weight loss issues since your childhood and teen years, I think you will really connect with what she has shared about her journey:.
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Top 5 Things to Look for in a Weight Loss Program | Black Weight …
Don’t know what weight loss plan or diet to use? Need help picking out the right weight loss book? I’ve got tips for you.
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Oh My WOD! lol love
Oh My WOD! lol love it
Source: pin1
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From Introvert to Extrovert: My Story of Paleo and Personality Change
By Guest
It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!
Is it heretical in a sense to dare say that one’s personality could change to such an extent that one can shift from introvert to extrovert? Did I simply fall prey to the American ideal of extraversion which judges and belittles introverts? Am I simply an introvert who learned to put on a strong extroverted front for the world? These doubts run through my mind all the time when I experience myself these days as discontinuous from the person I was before finding paleo. My story is different than the majority of, still inspiring, people who have lost weight and made great progress towards many physical ailments. My story is physical too, but much more psychological. It begs the inquiry of how much the personality can change once the body and nervous system are functioning optimally.
As I grew into late childhood and early adolescence, I became extremely socially anxious and introverted. I remember simply not feeling right much of the time on top of this growing social anxiety. I remember some amorphous gut problems improved when I ceased drinking milk in second grade because my father had done the same at the time. But this did little to curb an extreme introversion and anxiety that grew and grew until I felt completely enfolded inside myself, as if there was a wall between myself and others in conversation. I talked in a very monotone fashion, giving people one word answers or grunts. I made my teachers insane by seeming to be a brilliant thinker but doing as little as possible to pass each class and never studying. I seriously did not care about grades. School didn’t seem to address the fact that I didn’t feel right. To sum up my adolescence, it was difficult and unrewarding.
When I hit young adulthood I began to open out of the shell I felt I was in and attempted everything I could to counter my personality. I went far away to college, partied and had a brief period of heavy drinking and other things. All of which only made things worse. Then I worked for the emergency services as an EMT and then a paramedic. This was extremely difficult, as I had to learn to pry myself with force outside of my inner world to be of service to the outer world, but I persevered and little by little began to become that “external person” that I always wished I could be.
Now I have heard of many introverted types who seemed to be more at peace with themselves and eventually find their niche in life that fits their personality. This was never me. I never felt like myself. There was always this sense that I had this dormant vitality that I was after but could never get at. It tormented me throughout my 20s that I could not find the energy and vitality for life that I felt was my birthright.
Two other developments occurred in my young adulthood. First, I became interested in weightlifting, fitness and nutrition. It’s too much to get into but I towed the line of lower fat, especially super low saturated and anything animal fats since I was about 18 to 28. I have always been skinny with a lean and pretty ripped body of which I was never happy with because I wanted more mass. In quick summation, I am forever grateful for the ancestral health fitness paradigm for changing the way a truly fit and healthy male is seen, as opposed to the unrealistically large bodybuilder ideal. I have been cured of a poisonous body image brought on by the mainstream gym culture.
The second thing I found was an interest in self-help and psychology. I ate up everything I could on ways of changing oneself. In 2007 I had an interesting peak experience which led me toward the meditative and contemplative world as well as the psychological. I researched and practiced everything I could on eastern and western approaches to change. I had many shifts and changes, but to my dismay my health began to take a downward turn in my early to mid 20s.
I began experiencing these debilitating “fatigue spells” as I would describe them. It was like being hit by a tsunami of a brain fog and feeling like I was drowning underwater for up to a third of my day at times. It truly felt like being poisoned. My mind couldn’t function, even when I was working with patients in emergency situations. I felt severely anxious, and it felt like my personality would contract inwards and I had no resources to deal with anyone or anything. Everything felt like an irritation. I played with health a little bit, but not enough. I was eating nothing but lean meats, veggies, whole grains and the like. My fats consisted of peanut butter, mayonnaise, and canola oil. I felt bloated and fatigued after just about every meal.
By the end of this, I went to see a gastroenterologist who said that I may have had intestinal overgrowth and wanted to scope me. PPIs did absolutely nothing.
Just before this, I had a partner on the ambulance who put on Fatheads at random on Netflix. Like so many others I was floored by the lipid hypothesis and went on a saturated fats binge, before ever beginning paleo at all.
Many people have noted feeling more energy and a sense of well-being on whole foods diets, but it hit me like a sledgehammer. I felt this heat go through my entire body. I became what would be called in psyche jargon: “subclinically hypomanic.” I was up for several days without feeling tired. It felt like every nerve in my body was firing at maximum. Every excitatory neurotransmitter seemed to be potentiated: serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine and so on. This occurred just before a trip to Maui. On my flight back I bought Robb’s book and later Sisson’s and slowly became fully paleo. I didn’t do a 30 day. I slowly worked into it over a summer. The more I cut out wheat, dairy (I’ve never liked dairy anyways), and legumes the more I felt this immense sense of energy and vitality. I also need to note that I worked on fixing my sleep and I shifted my exercise routine to be more along the lines of Mark Sisson’s recommendations.
This was 2.5 years ago and all I can say is that I feel that my nervous system has been reborn since that time. The first thing I noticed was a need to move all the time. I have always been fidgety but it became difficult to sit in one place. I was in grad school at the time and used to imagine hunting with a spear while sitting in lectures. I think that this level of energy was so new that I did not know what to do with it or how to express it.
I wanted to engage and socialize with everyone. Although extremely independent, something I have mistaken for introversion, I truly began to become more and more energized by engagement and challenge. My mind was sharpened and I became outspoken and had to learn how to temper myself to be more likeable.
THIS WAS MY MISISNG VITALITY!! This was what I was always looking for! I recall these days that before this change, I simply did not have the resources to develop and deal with the stresses of adolescent life. There were many emotional and psychological issues I had on top of this, but I’m very curious to know how I could have handled other issues if I had developed with a functioning gut and nervous system.
I can now explore what made me think I was fundamentally an introvert, or in adulthood: an ambivert. When I have gone too far off paleo, such as when having much sugar, wheat, or dairy, I feel this inner sense of contracting inwards. I feel depressed and don’t want to deal with others or the world. I just want to sit at home and watch Netflix. It’s like a state of dysphoria that comes over me, and it is accompanied 100% of the time by my gut being bloated and that familiar and dreaded brain fog.
When I’m fully functioning I’m like a big ADHD kid. The average person cannot keep up with me. My mind is quick but scattered, but can focus when I need to. I’m now generally fun loving and optimistic.
The last part of my story involves how I had to shift away from my older self to this new version of me in process. I had built up many self-images of myself over the years which had to come down completely. Some things have been a struggle, as I chose a new career path several years before this change based on my old self and now I have to scramble to find something that truly works for this version of me. There were limiting ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that I had to see through. There were things I was doing and not doing that I have had to take a long look at. It is as if I am slowly learning who I truly am and have never truly been myself. How can we truly be the person our genetics and existential situation predispose us to be if our entire system is poisoned, limited? I’ve been driving a car with the parking brake on for 28 years and suddenly it has been taken off. Part of me feels only 2.5 years old and is thus a seed that is slowly germinating as I realize who I am truly meant to be.
Dave
Like This Blog Post? Dig Deeper with Primal Blueprint Books and Learn How You Can Reprogram Your Genes to Become Leaner, Stronger and Healthier
Source: Marks Daily Apple
The post From Introvert to Extrovert: My Story of Paleo and Personality Change appeared first on The Fat Loss Factor Program 2.0.
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A world without fore
A world without forests. http://ift.tt/1awGWMU
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Cheronisi lost 80 pounds | Black Weight Loss Success
Cheronisi lost 80 pounds. Find our how she did it on our blog.
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Finish. That is your
Finish. That is your goal. In the near future you will step up to the bar and start the clock, knowing full well how much pain and suffering you will endure before the clock stops. You could take the easy way out and just not start. Just take a zero. But that’s not who you are. Not this time. Scale it, show up early, tap out – do whatever you need to do. This is it folks. The Open 2014 is about to wrap. Don’t let it go without a fight. #Crossfit #crossfitgames #crossfitopen #fitness
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Friday, March 28, 2014
{Holiday Recipe} Gra
{Holiday Recipe} Grain-Free Pecan Pie Bars | http://ift.tt/1hHD0LU
Source: pin1
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FDA Analysis Prompts Recall Of Several Weight Loss Products …
Sibutramine, phenolphthalein or a combination of both, was found in select weight loss products from New Life Nutritional Center and Pure Edge Nutrition.
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Top 3 Reasons Why I
Top 3 Reasons Why I Eat The Yolks. Contrary to modern popular belief, egg yolks are actually nutritional powerhouses! The most nutritious part of the egg. I always eat the yolks. realfoodrn.com
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Emma Uber ***Prin
Emma Uber ***Prints now available***Flowerbed is now available as a beautiful fine art Giclée print on paper and canvas. The original art…
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Introducing Bacon and Gravy Flavored Weight Loss Shakes
J&D’s Foods is pleased to announce the launch of ‘BaconTrim’ and ‘GravyTrim’ plus a new gravy flavored seasoning called ‘It’s All Gravy!’
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Courtnea T lost 30 pounds | Black Weight Loss Success
Weight Loss Story of the Day: Courtnea T lost 30 pounds and found a weight loss plan that works for her.
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Top your salad with
Top your salad with tender, seasoned chicken shreds for a healthy take on eating Chinese: http://ift.tt/1rK9Vrr
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Thursday, March 27, 2014
What Can Yoga Add to Your Weight Loss Journey? – Our Blog …
It’s easy to get stuck in a traditional sense of what constitutes “exercise” when we’re navigating a weight loss journey. We want to make our time and effort count. We don’t want to settle for “less than” in our fitness endeavors.
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The Best Key Lime Pi
The Best Key Lime Pie You’ll Ever Eat. | http://ift.tt/1gF3J0x #paleo #vegan #raw
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makeup artist Porsch
makeup artist Porsche Cooper
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Best Paleo Cookbook For Beginners
Best Paleo Cookbook for Beginners
Many people are looking to give the Paleo diet a try. There is so much to gain and so little…
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Best Paleo Cookbook For Beginners
Best Paleo Cookbook for Beginners
Many people are looking to give the Paleo diet a try. There is so much to gain and so little…
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DIY all-natural whit
DIY all-natural whitening and remineralizing toothpaste
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Cultivating Health During Crisis
By Mark Sisson
So often we associate the two together – health and crisis. You can’t blame us really. The headlines brim with the concept weekly. Newscasts run their stock video of obese or frail forms walking down a city street. I have something else in mind here, however – inspired by some friends and readers who I’ve talked to lately. Their stories run a gamut of scenarios from cancer diagnoses to divorce, personal loss to geographic moves to name just a few. The underlying commonality of them all, of course, is major life challenge and/or transition. Upheaval of this magnitude has a way of knocking us out of our orbits. Emotionally disoriented and fatigued, we can feel out of sync, stuck in an oddly passive or at least awkward pattern. Life can feel like it’s happening around us. Even our routines can feel foreign as we navigate days with an unusual detachment. So often we talk about crisis as something solved outside ourselves. We turn ourselves over to a team of physicians and specialists in a health crisis. In times of loss or transition, we access resources, including – again – professionals. While I wholeheartedly believe in availing oneself of every benefit possible, I think something else critical gets lost in shuffle. How do we care for ourselves during crisis?
If you stopped people on the street and asked them, for example, what would get them through a divorce, you’d get a lot of references to Ben & Jerry’s. If you asked about how they would take care of themselves if they lost a loved one, I think you’d get a lot of blank stares. (Do any of us really know before it happens?) If it was a question of job loss or unexpected relocation, I think a lot of people would poo-poo it altogether. Get over it and get back on the horse kind of thing. That’s fine and well until you consider, for example, that research has linked job loss with a surge in serious physical and mental health risk. According to one study, losing your job can put a person at an over 80% higher risk of serious, stress-related conditions like heart disease, diabetes or arthritis. The fact is, from a physiological and psychological perspective, transition often equals trauma, regardless of how our intellects would like to see it.
Reflecting on the aforementioned stories of friends and readers, I’ve been thinking lately about what it means to cultivate health in the face of acute stress. So often we talk about the impact of everyday, run-of-the-mill stress and calmly assure folks that sitting in traffic activates the same hormonal response that legitimate evolutionary challenges elicited. Even on a low grade level, these effects layer themselves over time and wreak major havoc over the long term. We need to learn to “manage” those everyday influences and learn to put it all in perspective. But what about living with the real deal – the undeniable pain of losing a spouse, of watching a child go through cancer treatment, of seeing your whole life and the lives of your children upended by divorce? Where’s the guidance beyond the pat “time heals all wounds” suggestion? What would Grok and his kin do during their own variations of these events?
The resources that people I talked to found were of the most vague nature possible. “Eat a balanced diet, exercise daily and talk to your doctor if symptoms of depression worsen or persist beyond a few weeks.” I know I have my surly side, but is that even worth the paper it’s printed on? Is it just me imagining Grok picking up a rock and hurling it at the person who would say this? While we don’t live with the same communal narratives or customary rituals that may have governed crises and transition in traditional society, we can be thoughtful about what our basic needs and responses are in these scenarios and make choices that address the elementally – primally – human character. I hope those of you who have been through these situations and can suggest relevant groups, books, web communities/sites, and personal tips will offer them in the comment section, but let me lay out a some primally inspired thoughts on caring for yourself and cultivating health in the face of acute stress. Some points will speak more to medical issues and others to personal crisis. In both cases, modern “efficiency” thinking can lose sight of what is inherently human.
Follow the basics – but retool them as necessary.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the basic principles of primal health. The fact is, they matter at least tenfold when you’re undergoing intensive, long-term stress. Crisis can suck us into a powerful undertow of fatigue and inertia. The same routine might not be possible, but in that case revise your fitness efforts instead of relinquish them outright. Keep up with low-level movement, and find something more relaxing like at home body weight exercises if the gym becomes too overwhelming. When it comes to diet, avoid the sugar-serotonin trap. Stay the course with a Primal eating plan, but simplify it as need be. If there are only a handful of things you can make yourself eat, do those. Incorporate a natural fat- and protein-rich shake, and keep up with (or upgrade) a nutritional supplement if you’re not able to eat as diverse a diet. Likewise, try to avoid muffling the physiological messages your body wants to send with the likes of caffeine, alcohol, etc. Emotional stress, for example, takes a physical toll and will tire you out. Medical treatments can do the same. When we buy into the message that we should be able to fulfill all of our normal responsibilities while processing our current crisis, we’re setting ourselves up for a bigger malfunction down the road. Forget the enticement to load up on caffeine to make it through each day. Go easy on medications that encourage skating over deeper issues that should be addressed or that offer a false sense of physical ability or ease. I’m not suggesting making yourself suffer needlessly or refusing anything that can genuinely help move through a difficult time, but I think artificial means allow us to deny our needs in many cases – needs that will eventually catch up with us, be it ample sleep or psychological processing.
Counter the medicalized sensation.
I’ve known a lot of people who have gone through invasive or otherwise grueling procedures and treatments only to say the hardest thing to shake wasn’t the physical effects but the mental sensation of being a medical specimen. It’s not the fault of any physician or specialist per se. Everyone is doing his/her job, which tends to be pretty technically focused in the modern medical arena. We can in many respects be grateful for their expertise. That said, these people’s experiences are fully legitimate responses. The “medicalized” feeling, as one friend put it, was the most traumatic part of her illness. What effectively counters this varies for everyone, but recognizing it (if it’s part of your experience) is a step. While Grok may not have had any deft surgeons on hand, there is something to the myths and healing cultures of traditional societies that preserve a psychic “intactness.” I’m not suggesting anyone forgo modern medical know-how to go chase down a medicine man, but understanding that standard medical practice isn’t going to meet all your needs at this time can be freeing. Take advantage of support groups, relevant readings/writing, art or music therapy (sometimes offered at hospitals) and the support of a therapist.
Give yourself the gift of a retreat.
Let’s face it. When you’re sick or grieving, sometimes others’ constant checking in (as generous-hearted as it is) can wear on you. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to get away. A friend of mine took an especially long retreat after her mother died many years ago. It was the biggest help to her and the catalyst for healing, as she puts it. Don’t think about what others in your life will think or how much they’ll worry. As long as there’s no medical reason you shouldn’t, give yourself the time away to reflect in peace on your experience or to escape it entirely. The point isn’t so much where you go but that you have the time to yourself and use it intentionally for your well-being. Furthermore, don’t stop at one. Make it a regular part of your routine even if it can only be for a day at a time.
Spend as much time in nature as possible.
The psychological as well as physiological benefits of nature speak for themselves, but they may have deeper impact when we’re most vulnerable. The mental and physical pain involved in crises can keep us locked into ourselves and our stories. Giving yourself time in wilderness outside of the realm of human distraction puts you in the center of something that can dwarf your experience. For many people, this offers the ultimate – and sometimes only – substantial release.
Prioritize sensory experience.
Following emotionally traumatic events or experiences, some people experience issues with sensory integration. They may be hypersensitive to sensory stimulation like noise, bright lights or crowds. Others experience a “flatness” that can feel impenetrable. Consider investing in pleasant sensory experience with everything from time in water (e.g. hot baths, swimming/floating) or a sauna, massage and other therapeutic body work/spa treatment, music, and hours in calm, visually pleasing environments.
Consider meditation or other centering and restorative practices.
Crisis – whether it’s our direct experience or being a primary caretaker for one who’s in crisis (e.g. parent of a child with life-threatening or other serious condition, caretaker to a spouse with significant illness or disability) so easily co-opts our minds and can overtake our thinking every waking moment. Meditative practices help us counter this surge. Yet, we have to embrace times when we can detach from the experience. Even in the midst of crisis, we’re still living an overarching life and not a single event. While we often can’t find much comfort in the thought of the future, being in a particular moment exactly as it is can be freeing. Maybe it’s sitting (or breathing) with and accepting the dark feelings sometimes, but it can also be asking yourself “Is the worst happening right now in this moment?” You’re not having surgery in every moment. You’re not in a court of law in the present moment. When we can make the choice to come back to what is happening at this particular moment in time (even if it’s a few minutes), we can get out of the traumatized feeling and into sensory reality again. The more time we spend there, the more sanity and healing – inward and outward – we’ll find.
Thanks for reading today, everyone. I’ll be interested in reading the thoughts you have on cultivating well-being during acutely stressful times. Share your experiences and thoughts. Have a great week, everybody.
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U Weight Loss Clinics – Egg Salad with Spinach
Ingredients: 2 large Hard boiled eggs 1 tsp Fat-free mayonnaise 1 tsp Dijon mustard 2 tbsp Celery, diced 2 oz Low-fat cheddar cheese, shredded 2 cups Spinach, chopped 1/2 cup Cucumber, chopped 2 slices Tomato
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Salisbury Steak from
Salisbury Steak from The Ancestral Table
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Post Weight Loss Skin Removal: Reconstructive vs Cosmetic …
One thing that a lot of people who lose weight, significant weight anyway, worry about is excess skin. I mean when you shed half your body weight which is quite possible I’ll be doing you’re bound to be left of a reminder of it.
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Our simple Asian-ins
Our simple Asian-inspired kabobs are delicious served with a homemade mint-yogurt dip: http://ift.tt/1duXgEC
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Trouble-free Meal Plans for Weight Loss – Lose Weight Really Fast
A teen who is obese has a lot of body fat. This increases the risk of heart disease & diabetes. Trouble-free Meal Plans for Weight Loss will burn fat.
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Why You Need To Stop
Why You Need To Stop Counting Calories Right Now
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Jicama Crackers-A Wheat Free Snack Alternative | www.thepaleomama.com
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33 meticulous cleaning tricks for the OCD person, @Erin B Cureton!
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To Die For Chocolate
To Die For Chocolate Chip Cookies (Grain-Free) – Life Made Full www.lifemadefull.com
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Just a bit of bacon
Just a bit of bacon goes a long way to adding rich, salty flavor to these risotto-stuffed peppers: http://ift.tt/1jNXepK
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Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Update: Shanta lost 112 pounds | Black Weight Loss Success
We featured Shanta’s weight loss story back in October 2012 when she was down 60 pounds. She has now lost an additional 52 pounds for a total of 112 pounds GONE! We are so proud of her. Check out her update:.
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Bogus Pills Found In Bottles Of Weight-Loss Drug In 7 States | KCUR
The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline warned consumers that some lots of alli, its over-the-counter weight loss drug, appear to have been tampered.
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“The jump is so frig
“The jump is so frightening between where I am and where I want to be… because of all I may become I will close my eyes and leap!” ~ Mary Anne Radmacher
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House Tour: A Backya
House Tour: A Backyard Yurt
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The Benefits of Hima
The Benefits of Himalayan Pink Salt Lamps
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This traditional muf
This traditional muffin recipe is a blank canvas for all kinds of fun flavors, including lemon-poppy seed, blueberry, cheese, and oatmeal variations: http://ift.tt/1p836O9
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Paleohacks Paleo Cookbook Review
A Paleo Recipe Book Review. Is Paleohacks Cookbook the best Paleo Cookbook?
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Best Paleo Cookbook For Beginners
Best Paleo Cookbook for Beginners
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LI weight loss surgeon charged with Medicare fraud | Long Island …
Prosecutors charged Dr. Syed Imran Ahmed with allegedly committing health care fraud in connection with millions of dollars in Medicare billings.
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Top this oatmeal rec
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Weight-Loss Surgery Might Help Mild Knee Pain – Health News and …
TUESDAY, March 18, 2014 (HealthDay News) — Weight-loss surgery reduces knee pain in obese people, and the results are similar to those seen in patients who have a knee replacement, according to a small new study.
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The Definitive Guide to Resistant Starch
By Mark Sisson
A few years back, I briefly covered a throwaway Yahoo! article about how “carbs will make you lose weight” because so many readers had emailed about it. It turned out that the “carbs” in the article were resistant starch, a type of carbohydrate that our digestive enzymes cannot break down. I’ll admit now, with regret, that I didn’t look as deeply into the matter as I might have. I didn’t dismiss resistant starch, but I did downplay its importance, characterizing it as “just another type of prebiotic” – important but not necessary so long as you were eating other fermentable fibers. While technically true, we’re fast learning that resistant starch may be a special type of prebiotic with a special place in the human diet.
Before I go any further, though, a series of hat tips to Richard Nikoley, Tatertot Tim, and Dr. BG, whose early and ongoing research into the benefits, real-world implications, and clinical applications of resistant starch have proved to be a real asset for the ancestral health community. Oh, and I even hear tell that they’re writing a book on the subject. Interesting…
In subsequent Dear Mark articles, I’ve since given resistant starch a closer, more substantial look, and today I’m going to give it the definitive guide treatment.
What Is Resistant Starch?
When you think about “starch,” what comes to mind?
Glucose. Carbs. Elevated blood sugar. Insulin spikes. Glycogen repletion. Basically, we think about starch that we (meaning our host cells) can digest, absorb, and metabolize as glucose (for better or worse).
Officially, resistant starch is “the sum of starch and products of starch degradation not absorbed in the small intestine of healthy individuals.” Instead of being cleaved in twain by our enzymes and absorbed as glucose, resistant starch (RS) travels unscathed through the small intestine into the colon, where colonic gut flora metabolize it into short chain fatty acids. Thus, it’s resistant to digestion by the host.
There are four types of resistant starch:
RS Type 1 – Starch bound by indigestible plant cell walls; found in beans, grains, and seeds.
RS Type 2 – Starch that is intrinsically indigestible in the raw state due to its high amylose content; found in potatoes, bananas, plantains, type 2 RS becomes accessible upon heating.
RS Type 3 – Retrograded starch; when some starches have been cooked, cooling them (fridge or freezer) changes the structure and makes it more resistant to digestion; found in cooked and cooled potatoes, grains, and beans.
RS Type 4 – Industrial resistant starch; type 4 RS doesn’t occur naturally and has been chemically modified; commonly found in “hi-maize resistant starch.”
It’s almost certain that different RS types have somewhat different effects on our gut flora, but the specifics have yet to be fully elucidated. In general, RS (of any type) acts fairly similarly across the various types.
Where Do We Get It?
We can get RS from food. The richest food sources are raw potatoes, green bananas, plantains, cooked-and-cooled potatoes, cooked-and-cooled-rice, parboiled rice, and cooked-and-cooled legumes.
We can get RS from supplementary isolated starch sources. The best sources are raw potato starch, plantain flour, green banana flour, and cassava/tapioca starch. Raw (not sprouted) mung beans are a good source of RS, so mung bean starch (commonly available in Asian grocers) will probably work, too.
The most reliable way to get lots of RS, fast, is with raw potato starch. There are about 8 grams of RS in a tablespoon of the most popular brand: Bob’s Red Mill Unmodified Potato Starch. It’s also available at Whole Foods.
For an exhaustive compendium of RS sources, check out this PDF from Free the Animal.
What Does It Do for Us?
Like any other organism, gut bacteria require sustenance. They need to eat, and certain food sources are better than others. In essence, RS is top-shelf food for your gut bugs. That’s the basic – and most important – function of RS.
What Are the Health Benefits of Consuming RS?
What does the research say?
Preferentially feeds “good” bacteria responsible for butyrate production. It even promotes greater butyrate production than other prebiotics. Since the resident gut flora produce the butyrate, and everyone has different levels of the different flora, the degree of butyrate production varies according to the individual, but resistant starch consistently results in lots of butyrate across nearly every subject who consumes it. Butyrate is crucial because it’s the prime energy source of our colonic cells (almost as if they’re designed for steady exposure to butyrate!), and it may be responsible for most of the other RS-related benefits.
Improves insulin sensitivity. Sure enough, it improves insulin sensitivity, even in people with metabolic syndrome.
Improves the integrity and function of the gut. Resistant starch basically increases colonic hypertrophy, making it more robust and improving its functionality. It also inhibits endotoxin from getting into circulation and reduces leaky gut, which could have positive ramifications on allergies and autoimmune conditions.
Lowers the blood glucose response to food. One reason some people avoid even minimal amounts of carbohydrate is the blood glucose response; theirs is too high. Resistant starch lowers the postprandial blood glucose spike. This reduction may also extend to subsequent meals.
Reduces fasting blood sugar. This is one of the most commonly mentioned benefits of RS, and the research seems to back it up.
Increases satiety. In a recent human study, a large dose of resistant starch increased satiety and decreased subsequent food intake.
May preferentially bind to and expel “bad” bacteria. This is only preliminary, but there’s evidence that resistant starch may actually treat small intestinal bacterial overgrowth by “flushing” the pathogenic bacteria out in the feces. It’s also been found to be an effective treatment for cholera when added to the rehydration formula given to patients; the cholera bacteria attach themselves to the RS granules almost immediately for expulsion.
Enhances magnesium absorption. Probably because it improves gut function and integrity, resistant starch increases dietary magnesium absorption.
What do user anecdotes say?
Improves body composition. I’ve heard reports of lowered body fat and increased lean mass after supplementing with or increasing dietary intake of RS. Seeing as how RS consumption promotes increased fat oxidation after meals, this appears to be possible or even likely.
Improves thyroid function. Many RS supplementers have noted increases in body temperature, a rough indicator of thyroid function.
Improves sleep, conferring the ability to hold and direct (in real time) private viewings of vivid movie-esque dreams throughout the night. I’ve noticed this too and suspect it has something to do with increased GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) from the increased butyrate. Another possibility is that resistant starch is feeding serotonin-producing gut bacteria, and the serotonin is being converted to melatonin when darkness falls.
Increases mental calm. Many people report feeling very “zen” after increasing RS intake, with reductions in anxiety and perceived stress. The latest science indicates that our gut flora can impact our brain, and specific probiotics are being explored as anti-anxiety agents, so these reports may very well have some merit.
Are There Any Downsides?
For all the success stories, the message boards are also rife with negative reactions to RS. They take it, maybe too much to start, and get gas, bloating, cramping, diarrhea or constipation, a sense of “blockage,” headaches, and even heartburn. I think RS supplementation may be a good measuring stick for the health of your gut. Folks with good gut function tend to respond positively, while people with compromised guts respond poorly. The gas, bloating, cramps and everything else are indicators that your gut needs work. But it’s not the “fault” of resistant starch, per se.
What to do if you’re one of the unlucky ones? You’ve got a few options:
You could skip it altogether. I think this is unwise, personally, because the role of fermentable fibers, including RS, in the evolution of the human gut biome/immune system has been monumental and frankly irreplaceable. There’s a lot of potential there and we’d be remiss to ignore it.
You could incorporate probiotics. You need the guys that eat the RS to get the benefits of consuming RS. And sure, you have gut flora – we all do, for the most part, except after colonic sterilization before a colonoscopy or a massive round of antibiotics, maybe – but you don’t have the right kinds. Probiotics, especially the soil-based ones (the kind we’d be exposed to if we worked outside, got our hands dirty, and generally lived a human existence closer to that of our ancient ancestors), really seem to mesh well with resistant starch.
You should reduce the dose. Some people can jump in with a full 20-30 grams of RS and have no issues. Others need to ramp things up more gradually. Start with a teaspoon of your refined RS source, or even half a teaspoon, and get acclimated to that before you increase the dose.
You could eat your RS in food form. Potato starch and other supplementary forms of RS are great because they’re easy and reliable, but it’s also a fairly novel way to consume RS. You might be better off eating half a green banana instead of a tablespoon of potato starch.
My Experience
The first time I tried potato starch, I got a lot of gas. Not the end of the world, and I realize gas is a natural product of fermentation, just unpleasant. It died down after a few days, but it was only after I added in some of my Primal Flora probiotic that I started seeing the oft-cited benefits: better sleep, vivid dreams, a more “even keel.”
Now, I do potato starch intermittently. I’m very suspicious of eating anything on a daily basis. I tend to cycle foods, supplements, exercises, everything. Gas production goes up every time I re-start the potato starch, but not unpleasantly so and it subsides relatively quickly, especially when I take the probiotics.
So there’s a learning curve to RS. It’s not a cure all, but neither is anything else. It’s merely an important, arguably necessary piece of a very large, very complex puzzle.
Resistant starch is vitally important for gut (and thus overall) health, but it’s not the only thing we need. It’s likely that other forms of fermentable fiber (prebiotics) act synergistically with RS.
Hey, it’s almost like eating actual food with its broad and varied range of bioactive compounds, polyphenols, fibers, resistant starches, vitamins, and minerals tends to have the best effects on our gut biome! You can certainly enhance the picture with isolated refined resistant starches and fibers like unmodified potato starch, but they can’t replace what our bodies really expect: the food.
Let me know what you think, and I hope you find this guide useful.
What’s your experience been with resistant starch? Good, bad, neutral? Let’s hear all about it!
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Balanced Life – 10 Quick Weight Loss Tips | Nourish The Planet
Losing weight don’t need drugs or surgery, you could easily lose weight if you watch your diet and lead a healthy lifestyle. Some great weight loss tips without.
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Academic-Capital: Three Rules to Eating for Weight loss
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Why Squatting Is So Important (plus Tips on How to Do It Right)
By Mark Sisson
Just as we should eat the foods our bodies were designed to eat, we should move our bodies the way they were meant to move and impose the stressors they were meant to bear. That means squatting, and squatting often. Our hips flex, knees bend, and ankles dorsiflex so that we can rest comfortably in a squat position.
Okay, but isn’t the squat a bit outdated? Why not just use a chair?
You’ve probably heard how modern processed foods use refined sugar, salt, and seed oils to hijack our natural desires for fruits, animal fat, and animal meat. They exploit our wiring and provide hyper-stimulation to our senses, prompting massive overconsumption; some refer to this as “Food Reward.” In a similar vein, chairs hijack our anthropometry, which was designed for squatting. Just look at yourself in a chair:
- Your knees are flexed – same as in a squat.
- Your hip is in flexion – same as in a squat.
- Your spine is neutral (unless you’re slumping, which many of us do) – same as in a squat.
Chair sitting is attractive and easy because it doesn’t challenge the way our joints work. It doesn’t place us in unnatural positions. It’s easy to slip into. It hews to our anthropometry. It provides support, so we don’t even have to do or lift anything or worry about engaging our glutes.
I call it “Repose Reward,” and it’s obviously a concerted effort by the chair industry (Big Sit) to keep us dependent on their evil, addictive products! (Please understand I’m mostly kidding.)
The good side of all this is that if you can sit in a chair with your feet flat on the ground, you can (with some work) squat. It might be hard, because your muscles will actually have to work to maintain the load, and it might take some finagling since some of your joints will feel a little tight, but the position is possible. You just have to learn to support the load.
That’s one big reason to squat – it helps counteract all that sitting we do and lets us tap into a very Primal, very essential mode of repose. But there are many other reasons to squat, too. Let’s explore:
Squatting makes you stronger.
Pound for pound, squatting is the best bang for your buck strength exercise, hitting many different muscle groups along the way. The obvious ones targeted are the prime movers – the quads, hamstrings, and glutes – but the trunk musculature must stabilize the torso and maintain a neutral spine, all while supporting the load and acting as a fleshy lever. All in all, the squat is a complicated movement that forces the body’s parts to work and grow stronger together as a single unit.
Squatting makes you faster.
Tons of studies confirm that the stronger your squat, the faster you can run. It’s probably not just a “people who are strong and can squat a lot tend to also be faster” kind of thing because research shows that adding weight to an athlete’s squat during the season directly translates to faster sprint speeds.
Squatting makes you jump higher.
It’s no surprise that training your body to stand up tall from a squatting position with extra weight on your back would also improve your ability to keep going past merely standing, also known as jumping. And even though you wouldn’t jump from a deep squat position in real life, training the deep squat (full range of motion) position improves the vertical leap more than regular squatting.
Squatting improves bone mineral density in all age groups.
A recent study found that supervised (by an experienced trainer) weighted squats can help postmenopausal women with osteoporosis or osteopenia improve their bone mineral density in the spine and neck by 2.9% and 4.9%, respectively (in addition to boosting their strength levels by over 150%). That’s huge. Now, imagine the strength of a lifetime squatter’s bones.
Squatting is even beneficial for endurance athletes.
Many endurance enthusiasts have the idea that squatting and other forms of resistance training will make them “bulky” and slow them down, but this simply isn’t the case. When they include resistance training in their regimen, marathoners improve their running economy. And even though their quads do plenty of work on the bike already, endurance cyclists improve their efficiency on the bike when they include heavy “hip flexion” strength training in their program. Reviews of resistance training in endurance runners and road cyclists confirm these results. Another benefit: every endurance athlete benefits from a stronger core.
Things to think about when squatting:
Squat however’s comfortable for you. You should definitely try to improve your positioning, but you shouldn’t force your body into positions it simply isn’t prepared to reach just so you can attain the “ideal squat.” That might mean you squat with a narrow stance. Or a wider stance. Or maybe your toes are pointing straight forward. Maybe they’re externally rotated a bit. However, if your feet are rotated outward, make sure your arches don’t collapse.
Focus on range of motion, rather than load. Provided you can maintain good technique (don’t sacrifice your form just to get low), squatting deeper with a lighter load is better for the knees, producing greater muscular and tendon adaptations, than squatting more shallowly with a heavier load. In fact, squatting deep with good technique can actually protect your lower extremities from injury.
Avoid knee wraps to boost the amount of weight you can handle, unless you’re a competing powerlifter for whom every extra pound on the bar counts. A recent study suggests that wearing them changes the mechanics of the back squat, alters the targeted musculature, and compromises the integrity of the knee joint.
Single leg squat variations work well. Even though online lifting message boards make it sound impossible to get strong without squatting, single leg squat variations like split squats and lunges are effective replacements that target the same lower body muscles and even result in similarly systemic hormonal responses. One of my employees with a history of knee issues can do fairly heavy lunges of all sorts without any problem, but weighted squats are iffy. I on the other hand never really had an issue with squats, while lunges sometimes gave me problems. It all varies. Do what works.
Body weight squats are good enough, too. Weighted squats will get you strong, no doubt, but it’s not the only way. A recent study out of Japan found that an eight-week program of 100 body weight squats (or “body mass squats,” as they say in the study) each day increased lean mass, vertical jump, and knee muscle strength while lowering body fat in teenage boys. Body weight squats are also incredibly energy intensive, far more than previously assumed, making them a great tool for metabolic conditioning.
Squatting doesn’t have to be exercise. These days, I think of the squat as more of a mobility promoter than anything. In fact, if you can relax in the squat position and use it as a position of repose on a daily basis, your weighted squat performance will improve. Most of the research cited in this post refers to squat exercises, but that’s about all there is in the literature.
Remember that squatting can take many forms. It’s not just young ripped dudes lifting heavy and leaving chalky slap prints on each other’s backs. Squatting is:
- Holding onto a post or a doorframe in front of you for support as you squat.
- Standing up from a chair.
- Lowering yourself to the toilet – instead of doing a semi-controlled fall.
- Doing three sets of 5 reps at twice bodyweight.
- Squatting down to examine an interesting bug on the ground.
- Laboriously working your way down into a full squat, grimacing all the while as you push out on your inner thighs to make way for your lumbering body.
- Grandpa doing quarter squats while holding grandma’s hand for support.
It all counts. It all helps. It’s all (variations on) a squat.
At this point in my life, I don’t even do weighted free weight squats, except for some air squats with a weight vest on. I don’t back squat or front squat. I sit in the Grok squat as much as I can, just to stay loose and mobile, but for lower body strength work with the minimum amount of risk I like the leg press and the hack squat machine. So don’t think this post is about squatting a lot of weight. Or any weight. For the vast majority of the squatting world, squatting is a way to pick stuff off the floor, wait for the train, go to the bathroom, or catch up with their friends. For them – and for you, should you choose to pursue the squat – squatting is a basic act of humanity, of movement, of utility. To squat is to be.
Thanks for reading, everyone. Now go squat!
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Source: Marks Daily Apple
The post Why Squatting Is So Important (plus Tips on How to Do It Right) appeared first on The Fat Loss Factor Program 2.0.
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