Weight-loss unravelled.
What if I told you there’s not much to evidence to validate our crazy fixation on exercise for weight-loss? Would you sock me in the face with your sweaty boxercise mit? Would you snap my lululemon sports bra in violent disbelief?
What if I dropped an F (for fitness) bomb and posited that weight management may have more to do with hormones and inflammation than hamster-wheel, dreadmill drudgery and semi-starvation? Perhaps you may stop reading right now, breathe a rattling sigh of relief, and park yourself in front of a Biggest Loser marathon; smug, absolved of your 5am fitness first elliptical date.
Please don’t attempt any of the above. The reinforced lulu bra’s really smart on the twang. But DO hear this crazy polemic out!
Train like a caveman on crack
The general consensus on weight-loss is calories in, calories out, long, steady cardio and an avoidance of all things fatty, meaty, sweety and rich. All these assertions, bar one, are complete and utter grass-fed bollocks. (Yes, sugary sweetness has to go). There is so much more to weight management and homeostasis (bodily balance) than this puny little excuse for a wellness mantra. Like, get some complexity, conventional wisdom.
I’m feeling silly. You want me to lay it down, g-bitch style?
If you’ve got a tubby tyre and it has to go,
Shun weight-watching, fat-counting diets, yo.
There’s a whole heap more to the plump-ass pie,
Listen up, grab a steak, let’s unwrap the lie.
Insulin, leptin, inflammation fo’ real,
Dictate your success with unbridled zeal.
Y’all got a setpoint, a fatness-o-stat,
Your diet, your stress, yo sleep’s where it’s at.
Cortisol’s the enemy, let’s take him down,
Chow on fat, lose the carbs, adipose be brown.
Let’s hark on back to ancestral days,
Dem g’s be lean, lets count the ways.
You want my advice? Cut the cardio crap,
HIIT some sprints, lift some bells, bust out a rap.
Please don’t judge this bonkers confession,
Throwing down stanzas in rhyming succession.
Read on for some messed-up weight loss shiz,
The industry’s whack, sabotage the biz.
AWKWARD.
Moving on to the (dubious) content.
Let’s ask a mind-boggling question that thwarts everything we think we know about energy input and expenditure. How do lean-ass folk, without reference to calories, macronutrient ratios or weight-watcher points, maintain a constant body mass? Why don’t incremental increases in calorie consumption accumulate and cause their weight to fluctuate wildly (like my blog-posting schedule)? Perplexing. Baffling. An homage to the amazing an intricate systems of regulation and balance that govern our bodily processes, more like.
Certain macronutrients are metabolized differently for one. Fats and protein are like slow-burning logs on our metabolic fire and are used for a host of structural, hormonal and antioxidant purposes before being shunted into fat deposits as a last resort. Whereas carbohydrate, glucose, is kindling. Burn it or store it, baby.
Our unique gut flora dictates how much energy we extract from our food, and how it is utilised.
Our hormones, appetite control mechanisms and stress levels engage a continuous dialogue with our obese-o-meter.
Genes and their expression can inform fat storage, placement and body composition.
Thyroid function, fatty-acid balance and nutrient deficiencies tag along for the ride.
(Abrupt. Sentence. Overload)
The biggest, boldest and most badass idea that is floating around the (credible) health community though, is the idea of a ‘setpoint’. A predetermined status quo unique to the individual. A comfy beanbag of superfluous padding on which your bodacious behind likes sit, maintain and ferociously defend. It works both ways; ‘skinny’ people may struggle to put size on, overweight folk have trouble making lasting changes. This is summed up in Chris Kresser’s latest podcast (recommended listening). An excerpt from the transcript:
“The body has a system for maintaining a level of fat that’s appropriate for the human ecological niche, and this is called the energy homeostasis system or the homeostatic regulation of weight, and it’s this system that’s one of the main reasons it’s so hard to keep weight off once you lose it, because the homeostatic system responds to any reduction in fat. Like if you lose 20 pounds, let’s say, this homeostatic system will increase hunger, it will decrease your resting energy expenditure, so even when you’re just sitting down the number of calories that you’ll burn will be lower, and it extract more calories from the food that you eat, so your metabolic efficiency goes up. So, it has all of these mechanisms that are basically working against you when you lose weight to get you back to that body fat setpoint or what it thinks is the ideal weight for you. On the other hand, if you were to gain 10 or 15 pounds, the body responds in the opposite way. It would decrease hunger, it would increase your resting energy expenditure, so you burn more calories just sitting there, and it would extract fewer calories from the food that you eat, and by doing that your weight would also fall back down to the setpoint.” (source)
Hey, no eye-rolling. It’s not as monstrous and bewildering as meets the retina.
Right now you’re scowling at the computer screen, wondering how the hell you can compete with such metabolic certainty?
Luckily for you, despite the mutifactorial nature of weight management, most aspects can be addressed through a simple, traditional diet and a kickass exercise regime. Like most modern health afflictions, reverting to a primal-style menu, adding intelligent exercise and making a few individual tweaks will set you back on the dirt track.
Let’s summarise, seeing as i’m incapable of a coherent argument. Lists good, essays bad.
Negative-nelly problemos! (Factors influencing weight)
- Dysbiosis → New research is emerging that links imbalances in gut flora with obesity. The theory goes that overweight people may have different strains of microorganisms that both extract extra energy from our food, and also secrete toxins that cause inflammation (see below) and predispose us to certain metabolic disorders. Read more here.
- Leptin resistance → Leptin is a hormone made by fat cells that (in a neatly-package, grossly-oversimplified explanation) informs the brain of changes in energy balance (calories) and increases in fat mass. In a normal, healthy scenario, this would send the signal, ‘Hey! Your body’s too bootylicious for me, babe’ to the brain, informing your gaping jowls to shut up shop and your grubby hands to put down that last piece of paleo pie. Leptin should, in this way, regulate appetite and help us determine when enough is enough. Unfortunately, in the same way as people are becoming insulin resistant, they are also becoming insensitive to leptin. Ignoring a master hormone? You loco. How do we become leptin resistant anyway? Things such as systemic inflammation (the root of all bodily evil, so it would seem) and, uh, obesity (which came first? The love-handle or the scrambled egg?) are two standout factors. Address them and address the crux of the issue. There are also ‘leptin reset’ protocols which help you regain appetite perspective. They go roughly along the lines of “eating 50 grams of protein at breakfast everyday within 30 minutes of rising, eliminating all snacking especially past 7:30 PM, eating three meals a day, and limiting carb intake below 50 grams per day for about 6 to 8 weeks” – From Dr Jack Kruse. Google it.
- Inflammation → What the good charlotte does inflammation have to do with anything? According to Chris Kresser & Stephan Guyenet, proinflammatory cytokines can inhibit leptin signalling. Awesome! That tells us regular folk nothing. Basically, when your body is inflamed it starts to produce these aforementioned cytokines. Refined foods, sugar, improperly prepared grains all illicit this response. An imbalance in your omega 3:6 ratio will do the same, as will toxins from bad bacteria in the intestines, leaky gut and food intolerances.
- Environmental nasties → xenooestrogens (from plastic containers, drink bottles, household chemicals) can disrupt endocrine function and tox-up your body.
- Other annoying tidbits → epigenetics, gene mutations, breast feeding status, maternal birth weight, bacterial exposure during birth, the fact that EVIL MULTINATIONAL JUNK-FOOD-PEDDLERS DESIGN HYPERPALATABLE GOODIES WITH THE HELP OF TEAMS OF SCIENTISTS WHICH MAKE US SALIVATE AT THE VERY MENTION OF THEIR CATCHY, COLOURFUL NAMES! Food reward is a mammoth dilemma…too big to go into now (phattest post ever), but let’s just say that self-control is definitely not the issue when frankenfoods, manufactured to appeal to the hedonistic pleasure centres of your brain, are in the mix. Here is an amazing series if you want to know more.
(YES these are Paleo; I wouldn’t tempt you with chocolate-coated naughtiness now would I?! Check out Food Lovers Primal Palate for more orgasmic goodies)
Like, woah. Can we just stick with calories in, calories out already?
After all that, I need to let you in on something. There is one lifestyle & diet philosophy that pretty much covers all these bases, with a few individual tweaks. Ahem.
Paleo. Hunter-gatherer. Primal. PaNu. An ancestral diet. Call it what you will; when done intelligently and implemented intuitively, it’s the bomb diggity for disease prevention, wellbeing & weight regulation. Here’s what you need:
- Your own version of the ancestral diet – it could be raw-dairy included, dairy free, higher starchy-carb, low fruit, activated-nut-full or nut-free. Details, friends. Your call. Focusing on a variety of grass-fed, organic, slow-cooked, meats, organic veggies, some fruits, some nuts & seeds if tolerated (though, I don’t agree that a high PUFA diet is necessarily optimal – more on that later), cooking with heat-stable saturated fats, fermented foods, bone broths, raw dairy if you want, white rice if you want & eschewing sugar and modern agents of disease is where it’s at. This is a hugely anti-inflammatory diet. It’s satiating. It rebalances omega ratios. It’s nourishing to our gizzards. Once you heal leaky gut, allergic/autoimmune disorders and feed your friendlies (bacteria that is) you’re setting yourself up for a big, warm serve of dietary win. Check to the checkity check.
- Au naturale cooking, eating & living – as championed by the paleo movement. Avoidance of damaging chemicals, plastics, excessive caffeine and alcohol and drugskies. This will negate much of that xenooestrogen bother, toxic liver congestion, hormonal dysregulation and physiological stress! Win two for team cave-non-gender-specific-person.
- Sleep, sun, play & sexytime – ‘play’ includes exercise, but we’re lovin’ it. It’s stimulating, engaging, challenging. Mark Sisson espouses the formula ‘move heavy things a few times a week, do high intensity once or twice (sprints, cycling, whatever floats your makeshift raft) and move at a steady pace the rest of the time’ (spark up a competitive game of ultimate frisbee for extra points). High intensity interval training is one of the few exercises shown to actually stimulate the release of growth hormone and stoke the metabolic fires; efficient, effective. This kind of speedwork also helps increase your insulin sensitivity and is not pro-inflammatory, seeing as it’s a short, sharp, manageable stressor. Sounds pretty aiiight to me, and with all this rugged outdoor fun, you’ll be topping up your D, sleeping well (10pm to 6am if you please) and fostering better relationships. Game, set and match.
Links for your cranium and recent eats.
I’m strapped for time like some kind of mad mammal. Thus I present you with a post heavy in self-directed learning, surfing and lurking resources! Go forth y’all, and barefoot frolick through the expanses of the interweb!
Here are some links I’ve found particularly delicious this past week – also reading material I’ve been sticking my misshapen nose into. Get amongst it.
I came across this website that actually quantifies how many cubes of sugar there are in certain foods and drinks – a wonderful, badass, argument-winning resource for sugary skeptics out there! Check out the superfood section (Acai in particular) that illustrates the sugar content in seemingly benign, even ‘healthful’ products. Yikes.
Found this sick-core link on MDA that shows a cross-section of a sedentary oldie’s thigh, as opposed to a same-age triathlete. Check that muscle mass and bone density! Super cool. Wonder how their brain scans would look as well? Dare say similar.
This was my favourite post of the week, from my favourite blogger of the recent few days, months, evs. She shares her experience working for 2 days on Polyface farm (the very same featured in Food Inc) and describes the labour intensive, incredibly rewarding life of an ethical farmer. Particularly pertinent for me as I spent the day at a local organic butchery yesterday filming the dissection of half a cow! Dividing it up into it’s varying cuts of meat, I was amazed at the scale of anatomy (HUGE spinal chord, ribs, all the rest) and how much meat is provided from one single beast. We can use it all; fat, bones, organs, and pay the animal due respect in treating it with reverence and care. And not melding it into one huge goopy conglomerate as do some cheaper, nastier producers of processed meats tend to do. Yeesh.
Sleeping like a baby? And by that I mean, waking up frequently, clenching your fists and soiling yourself at random intervals? This is a fantasmo protocol for getting better shut-eye from a brilliant, forward-thinking local nutritionist. I’m going to keep drinking my bone broth before bed, that’s for sure.
This seems like the perfect valentines-day love-filled significant-other-winning-over recipe. Catching my dribble in a cup.
Love this blog – subscribe to the newsletter to receive frequent, life-affirming, smile-inducing updates direct to your inbox! A sah-weet resource for inspirational quotes (if you’re that way inclined) and a healthy dose of get real.
In other news, really enjoying reading Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now. Taking a deep breath and telling myself that we only ever really have the present moment has helped quell anxiety and nix obsessive compulsive worrying about inane inanities right in the rosebud.
And to top it off, a quick squiz at the eats that have been spewing out of my paleo hatch this week. Getting a little more creative in the kitchen, and dedicating more than 10 mins per dish has helped produce some sufficiently wanky eats that appear superficially impressive and are borderline edible. (Instilling confidence in my cooking prowess no doubt).
Snagged this idea from Mark’s Daily Apple. Scotch eggs! Never heard of them? Its hardboiled eggs, wrapped in a casing of mince/sausage/your choice of meaty morsel then fried & baked. Literally amazeballs.
Anything you have to OPEN to reveal a hidden ingredient is novelty enough for me!
Check it out:
And last night’s offering; salmon steaks for one – candles, placement, a romantic interlude with myself. We made awkward small talk and called it a night!
Will post how-to’s and recipes soon!
Hope you’re all kicking it primal on this fine Tuesday morning. x
Stumbling, tripping, falling? You’re making progress!
Remember when I defaced my bedroom mirrors with liquid chalk and unleashed the cosmic forces of manifestation? I’ve been at it again. A new, single mantra now adorns my expansive reflective precinct. ‘Progress – not perfection’. My flatmates think i’m fruitbat-crazy. I think I’m possessed by the spirits of cheesy motivational speakers and Oprah-approved self-help books. Whatever. It’s my blog and i’ll pep talk if I want to!
My new quote, as well as the original idea was inspired by this lovely lady, just to give credit where it’s due (feel free to ‘like’ her page for a daily dose of inspiration!). I love the simplicity of the saying because a) my brain process short sentence better. And b) I’m am an all-or-nothing thinker. Succeed or bust. Perfection, or cataclysmic defeat.
Staring down the barrel of progressssss!
This is problematic. Epically so. It defies logic, denies feedback, discourages perseverance and obliterates self-esteem. When your entire focus is fixed on achieving a perfect outcome every time, any deviation from that result registers as failure. This constant negative feedback loop that runs like a genetically modified mouse on a solar-powered wheel only pummels your self-esteem further and further into the shit-heap, because you’re continually failing to measure up. There is an ‘expectation gap’ between reality and your exalted, mythical state of perfection that can never be closed, and thus you live in a permanent state of disappointment.
Examples!
‘I will exercise like a pirate/ninja lovechild every day at 5am for one month until I fit into that spandex dress’… ‘Crud, I slept in again and FAILED. Everything is RUINED. I will never be Jillian Michaels.’
‘My diet will be 100% saintlike forever and ever amen, I have a will of iron and it will never yield. Not even to you, eye-level-in-pantry peanut butter.’ ….’So I had a teaspoon of the peanut butter because did you know it’s a legume and they’re healthy, right?! And and and then I thought some toast would go nicely under that and then I ate everything I could find with HFCS and trans fat and now I’ve FAILED and my diet is RUINED and this reinforces everything I know to be true about my own diabolical lack of willpower and grace under peanut-butter-induced pressure.’ (You’re so coherent for a raving madman!)
Or.
‘I have to get 100 in this exam, because…I just have to ok?!’…’I got 95. Yeah that’s an HD but it’s, like, an HD minus and I can never forgive myself for taking that 10 minute tea break when I should have been cramming at 12am.’
You get the maddening picture. Welcome to my brain!
But if you’re anything like me and this rings true, there are a few vital rebuttals I absolutely must make (and in doing so, give myself a kick in the ass. In a compassionate way).
1. Firstly, perfection is a goshdarn illusion. What the hell does it mean anyway? It’s a big subjective, relative, illusive term that doesn’t really tell us much of anything. One person’s perfection is another’s puh-lease! Even if we did strive to imbue our lives with the golden glow of (somehow predetermined) goodness, what then would we experience without any ‘negative’ contrast? Ying & yang, yo; you need that smidge of murky darkness to give happiness/contentment/goodness/clarity whatever you want to call it, it’s meaning and value. So a big in-yo-face to perfection – it’s so 1879.
2. (The point I got very excited about when it popped into my noggin’) ———> Doesn’t progress necessitate mistakes? Isn’t failure really feedback? Serving to guide us, re-align the compass, offer an alternative route? Perhaps if you’re in a zone of discomfort, floundering around feeling like your stuck in a big stinky mire of faildom, you’re really undergoing a period of intense learning.
When you start a new job, doesn’t it seem like every thing you do is so clunky and slow? Errors, stuff-ups, awkward mind-blanks. Your boss tells you how to cash up 5 times but it’s not until you’re closing alone, surrounded by a flurry of receipts and diminishing confidence that you blunder your way through, screw it up spectacularly, and learn the right way in the process? Or even if you’re hell bent on overhauling your diet but find you just keep sliding back into your old habits, seemingly unable to sustain the change, aren’t you really teaching yourself what does and doesn’t work?
You may be <–yay–> close to stepping boldly forward but if you dwell on the mistakes, you could remain bound by the quicksand.
This is a constant battle for me, and I’m hazarding a guess that many of you experience a similar preoccupation.
What to do? I’m trying to check myself before I use overblown, dramatic language about failure and the like. Instead, I’m going to forego judgement, separate myself from my emotional craziness, and really reflect on how far I’ve come; what has been gained; why each mess-up is a small, barefoot shuffle forwards.
Anyone care to share their tips for overcoming this paralyzing conundrum? Can you relate?
To top it off, here are some wonderful quotes about success/failure from old, dead gurus who know cool shit. (What a eulogy).
Peace, happiness and fantastic failure to you all x
Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.
Truman Capote
I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games; 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
Michael Jordan
Good people are good because they’ve come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know.
William Saroyan
If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.
Thomas J. Watson
I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
Thomas Alva Edison
Don’t be afraid of the bone broth!
‘Go home and make a bone broth!’ I say to people with all manner ailments, deficiencies, spazzy guts. They’ve come into the store with a wonky knee, searching for glucosamine, fish oil, some bizarro toad extract that was spruiked last night on A Current Affair. Supplements have their place (yadda ya, diplomatic statement about the role of targeted nutrients…), but why ignore a traditional, tasty, whole-body tonic that you can make at home for around 4 bucks? Bone broth is certainly an underdog superfood. It’s our unfortunate looking hero, all battered and lumpy, sporting last-years latex and a patchwork cape. It ain’t glamorous. In fact, its hacked up, cast-off, grisle-laden bits o beast. Broiled. Stewed. Leeched of goodness. No ORAC value in sight. It wasn’t transported in the ruck-sack of a Peruvian llama to find it’s way to you, at $70 a pop. But damn, if it isn’t the most nutrient rich elixir in the world then my name isn’t Bruce. (Hey Bruce, quit stealing my bit!)
When I utter the bi-syllabic duo, ‘Bone. Broth.’ folks cock their head quizzically.
What in the name of Acai berry are you on about? Do you mean a stock? Yes. But not of the masterfood variety (MSGfood more like).
Little do they know (myself included, circa 3 months ago), that a generation or two ago most country folk, farming households and families doing it tough would have a big soup stock constantly on the stovetop. Bones are cheap, and having stock on hand to use as a base for casseroles, broths and gravies was both economical and superbly nutritious.
But whyyyyyyyyyyy should you take it upon yourself to brew up a big bag of body parts? (especially after I’ve painted it in such a delicious light!)
I’ll sell it to you; punchy salesman-like.
Minerals. The whole bloody spectrum. Marrow. Immune support. Glutamine. Collagen. Yes, the kind that makes our cheekbones plump like a self-important pigeon.
Bone is a highly mineralized tissue, it has to be.
When you stew it with an acid medium (apple cider vinegar works a treat), it starts to release all manner of goodies such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulphate and fluoride – in forms your body knows (and relishes!).
Add on top of that all the fat and ligaments and connective tissue. This is where the collagen (containing proline & glycine) comes from that is so sensationally healing, benefits the cells of the gut wall (supplying glycosaminoglycans for the nerd-inclined) and will give you lips like Angelina. Like, ew.
It will help people with indigestion by stimulating proper gastric acid secretion, soothing ulcers, and benefiting cellulite on account of the building blocks supplied for healthy connective tissue. CELLULITE! … HELPS! WITH! You heard right, bone broth can potentially smooth over the ripply bits. Shove that in your pot and steam it.
Ok. Now you’re on board, I’ll hold your hand through the process. If you’re anything like me, new things are sometimes difficult to execute. My legs walk the same way to the grocer, my hands reach for the familiar cut of meat, my wallet has the exact amount of change for the bus ride home. No deviations. No scary new recipes, or foreign bits of cow.
But bubbling a broth is a paleo rite of passage…! Man/woman/chicken-up and shimmy on down to your nearest organic butcher. Organic is a must with meat. Grass-fed. Like, what bovines are meant to eat. How novel. Organic meat and bones are essential due to the high fat content – toxins and nastiness are stored there, and there’s no point creating a big slurry of hormones and unhappy cow hock now is there? Also, most importantly, organic grass-fed beings are allowed to roam about on pastured land, being the best beasts they can be without being subjected to the indescribable torture of factory farming. Yes, they still die to feed us, but once day a maggot will eat my eyeball and that will be ok too. (Post on ethics of meat-eating is in the works).
Back to the butcher. Ask the kind and bloodied assistant if they have bones to sell. Beef, lamb, chicken, we’ll take ‘em all. Mine are usually around $4 for a kilo or two. Can do.
Bring them home, squeal at the in-you-faceness of it all. (Making my first broth after 2 years of plant food was confronting, and involved a lot of delicate, nose-holding, pot-prancing, eyeball-screwing shenanigans. Now it’s old hat).
You will need a big mother pot. Something non-toxic, if you please. I have a lovely stainless steel one from a friend, but ceramic, copper (lined with stainless steel) and cast iron are brillo.
Some people roast the bones in the oven prior to boiling to give a better flavour. I just whack them in the pot like a simpleton. I fill the whole thing up with water (filtered if you’ve got it), add 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and bring it to the boil. (For extra flavour, add roasted garlic, carrot, celery, onion, turmeric, bay leaves, peppercorns. You know the drill).
When it’s boiling, some scum will rise to the top which I usually, haphazardly, skim off. Then I turn the whole thing down onto the lowest of low, put a lid on it, and leave tha’ shit alone. You can boil it anywhere from 12-72 hours(chicken bones are less) – I tend to turn it off and on when I need to go to work and such, and pick off the bits of tender cooked meat at random intervals for snacking. Once it cools, a thick slab of fat will form on the top. Don’t be afraid, this is excellent cooking fodder – it’s called tallow. So you can either drink the broth as it’s cooking (a cup before bed with some Himalayan sea salt and pepper is an AMAZING sleep tonic), or wait til its completely done, store in jars or containers and refrigerate or freeze. I normally leave the solidified fat on til I’m ready to use it; it helps keep it fresh. Then I scoop it off and heat up the broth in a small saucepan, pour into a mug and season to taste. Fresh herbs on top are especially yummy.
Just don’t freeze in glass jars ok? I made that mistake. They will bust and you’ll have a well-nourished but sticky, messy freezer!
There you have it. Less scared? Feel up for the challenge?
Once you’ve got one on the go, you’ll wonder why you waited so long to have to big frothy animal carcass bouncing around on your stove top. Try and drink a cup a day, or before each meal if you’ve got tummy troubles. Persist, keep at it, and get that bone broth glow!
Over and out x
La vie spontané; kicking life in the balls.
Holidays are swell and all, but they can leave you feeling flat. Without purpose or direction, guided learning, une raison d’être – work, school, workin’ yo thang on the corner… we can sometimes slip into what I like to call sadsackishness. That frustrating, ever-perplexing conundrum of too-much-time, too-little-motivation. Sometimes, you just need a good kick in the nether regions.
I’ve been guilty of this woeful state more than once over the christmas break; work for the man, anticipate freedom, have a day off, fall in a heap. Unless I make an executive effort to achieve something each day, with a list (or equally as nanna-ish plan of attack) I am prone to laying like a limpet and adhering, mollusc-like, to the fridge, pantry, computer screen, beach-towel like an apathetic amoeba. (What a bloody simile!)
Alright, alright, i’m hamming up the laziness factor. But you get what I mean, yes? We all need some challenges to keep our supple, spongy minds turning over. A dash of executive effort never hurt anybody, and I have just the cheesy challenge for you! And me. Wahooo I love a feel-good post!
This idea is inspired by an incredibly vivacious, chic french wo-man I happen to know, who was speaking to me the other night about a set of ‘crazy, far-out’ activities her and some friends set about doing. Just for kicks. To exit their comfort zone and make themselves squirm, in that merry, spontaneous way that pays dividends, both in self-confidence and life-affirming fun. And y’all know I love to meditate on the ways we can bolster self-esteem and grow as happy chappy little health nuggets.
The idea isn’t new, but it’s worth a revisit.
It’s doing crazy shit for a laugh. But also to challenge those pesky social constraints and limitations we place on ourselves day-to-day.
Her examples were; dancing at a bus stop, by yourself, to a whole song on your ipod. Busting out. Ignoring the looks. Also, paying a stranger a genuine, sincere, beautiful compliment out of the blue. (I like this one, and have done it before. It totally makes someone’s day! The catch; no ulterior motives and cringe-worthy cliches. Raw and honest, if you please).
Seizing every opportunity to be a dick. Hold on for sweet life!
So I set about making a little listicle of a bunch of things I could do to not only make others chuckle (with pity!), but also test the boundaries of my shame and conduct some good old fashioned public humiliation. Even small things that could serve to punctuate the repetition of routine are included. Good for the ego eh?!
Would love to hear if you have done something similar, and if you care to join in on the silliness!
Cheeseball list of spontaneous acts
- Give a stranger a sincere, elaborate compliment.
- Get on local radio.
- Get on a bus you don’t usually catch, go five stops, and find your way home (inadvisable in some gronk-worthy ghettos. Take yo piece).
- Lay down on the floor of a store and stay there until someone asks if you’re ok.
- Leave an anonymous note to a stranger (try a post-it in a toilet or at a bus-stop).
- Pull up a chair and sit with someone random at a cafe. Converse. Find out their greatest fear and their biggest passion.
- Sleep at the other end of the bed.
- Learn a magic trick and perform it for someone in the street.
- Have a conversation with a homeless person (again, not to cast any aspersions, but don’t go seeking out a mugging).
- Go out really late on a school night. Dance.
- Get up early and watch the sunrise.
- Make eye contact with a stranger and don’t look away until they do.
- dance at a bus stop to an entire song on your iPod.
- Ask a stranger a ridiculous question.
- Throw or give away something of value to you.
- Give someone a gift for no reason.
- Wear no makeup for a day (easy for some, harder for others).
- Volunteer at a nursing home and chat to some wise old ducks.
Who’s with me!?
Not you, crickets.
I’ll report back with the score. I’m getting sweaty, hairy palms just thinking about it!
Aussie Paleo; Gnawing on our national emblem.
Greetings Head-Planters!
That thing about my life being stuffed full as a christmas tofurkey? It still applies. Blogging, as much as it’s my silly, wordy, pun-filled outlet, has taken a backseat to real-life human interaction. Skewed priorities? I agree.
I thought I would stop by to swing a couple of characteristically vague and modifiable recipes your way, however. These have featured heavily the last few days as I’ve been staying up North with family. This puritanical, organic, grass-fed hippie has had to descend from her clean-eating high-cloud and devise some impromptu meals. Kinda worth it though to spend time with the sweet little sibs; how could you resist this face?! Even if it does demand sugar at 2 minute intervals and smell of strawberry sodium-lauryl sulfate (how can they put this crud into kids products?! I need to naturopathise this household, stat).
We found a secret fairy garden and chased away the goblins. As you do.
So, to minimise the dietary damage, I have a few little traveling tips for the stoic health-food fancier.
- If you need meat, try to source things like Kangaroo (for the Aussie’s), because it is ‘organic’ and ‘wild caught’ by nature. They are also hunted by trained riflemen who are under strict regulation by the RSPCA. Otherwise, ask at a local butcher if they have grass-fed/finished meat options, or something from a small local farm. Even at fish-mongers you can request ocean-caught fillets as opposed to nasty farmed fishy friends. Be discerning and look to other protein sources if you’re suspect of the meaty offerings – I don’t ever want to compromise and support the sale of unhappy, exploited and nutritionally suspect meat. It ain’t worth it. I ate farmed fish once; had nightmares that evening about inhabiting the body of the tuna and being eaten alive by greedy restauranteurs. Karmic signage? Enough said.
- Most supermarkets have über expensive organic egg options now – suck it up and pay the $10 to know that you’re getting legitimate free-range, pasture-raised eggs, not pseudo-organic, window-in-the-barn-loophole, sad-sack eggs.
- Focus on veggies (even if not organic), tubers (sweet potatoes, potatoes), meats, eggs and avocados. You can peel and wash them thoroughly to mitigate toxic badness, and even soak and activate your own nuts to use as snacks.
- Be self-sufficient and do your own dietary thang without stressing your host! Compromise where possible, and try to recognise that not everyone’s priorities are in the same zone. Offering to make food for others will win you friends and prove that healthy, wholesome food also tastes like love – contrary to popular belief.
What did I scrounge up then, on my stay?
Let’s just say it was patriotic. And bouncy. Kanga hopped right onto my plate and became my new favorite meat! Soz Skippy.
Cajun-Roo Salad
A warm, tasty salad that is full o’ Aussie-Paleo goodness.
1 kangaroo fillet
1/2 avocado, cut into chunks
baby cos lettuce, shredded
1 grated beetroot, raw
1 grated carrot
1/2 red capsicum, diced
chopped sprouts (I used broccoli)
large handful of chopped coriander
sea salt & pepper, to taste
turmeric (fresh grated is best, otherwise use the powder)
1 clove fresh garlic, minced
cajun seasoning, to coat (look for one just with herbs, no numbers please!)
extra-virgin olive oil (to dress the salad & for cooking – I don’t normally like to use it for frying but it was that or Canola oil! Butter or coconut oil would be a better choice)
1/2 lemon, squeezed
- Shred cos, grate veggies, dice avocado, add sprouts and toss in a large bowl with the juice of the lemon, and a generous glug of olive oil.
- Heat a frying pan to medium, throw in minced garlic, roo fillet and sprinkle over turmeric and cajun seasoning.
- Cook on each side for 3-4 minutes (use a lid to keep in the heat for extra juicy tenderness).
- Remove from pan, allow to rest for a couple of mins on the board. Slice into thin strips and place on salad.
- Season with salt & cracked pepper.
- Voila! Roo-fest.
What about breakfast, you say? Omelets are always fool-proof. Whisk up 3 eggs, add in chopped asparagus, broccoli, capsicum and onion. Cook. Top with smushed avocado, chilli, fresh greens, tomato & coriander.
Or, if you want to get fancy-feast, try a bountiful bowl of eggy-fishy glory.
Veg-centric breakfast bowl
chopped florets of broccoli (as much as you can handle; go hard)
chopped spears of asparagus
red capsicum, diced
1/2 avocado, diced
big handful of coriander, chopped
1/2 tin of sustainably caught tuna in olive oil (I like the Fish4Eva brand)
2 soft-boiled eggs
olive oil & lemon to dress
sea salt & cracked pepper
- Soft boil your eggs (time 3 minutes from when it reaches a rolling boil, then remove from heat and run under cold water to make peeling easier)
- Steam veggies lightly (broc & asparagus)
- Place in a bowl, top with avocado, capsicum, coriander & tuna. Place peeled eggs artfully on the side.
- Douse the whole thing in olive oil, lemon juice, cracked pepper and sea salt (seeded mustard would be DELICIOUS on top as well, if you have it on hand).
- Mix, gorge.
Heading back to reality tomorrow, so stay tuned for more incredibly late blog posts and ridiculously simple recipes. Who knows what i’ll be cooking up next week?! Endangered hairy-nosed-wombat, i’m looking at you.
What are you best tips for eating while traveling?
The best habit I ever cultivated.
Howdy!
Long time no spam! I’ve been running around like a deranged wildebeest trying to cram 50 thousand things into my tiny existence. At times like these my life seems so plump and full of colour, variety and interest; there’s no time to do anything but simply be. Work, train, college, ride, run, throw myself into the ocean, eat amongst friends; the usual summertime antics. After a while however, the reclusive bearded hermit in me raises a wrinkly hand and yells, ‘STOP! No more! Down time required!’, and I honour that by slinking online, stalking blogs, refreshing facebook and eating a big cup of cacao in the comfort of my computer chair. And occasionally stopping by this nutty little corner of the internet.
That there is my long-winded HELLO! Plus a deftly disguised apology for being M.I.A.
One thing I have been finding time for however, is eating at the dinner table.
You know, that thing you used to do as a kid. With family. And a placemat.
How often do you make the time to do it now? Never? Rarely? Only when the coffee table is so cluttered with junk mail, board games and wine bottles that you’re forced to eat elsewhere? All you students out there, i’m looking at you.
So why have I proclaimed that this may just be the best habit I’ve ever cultivated? Surely sitting to eat at a raised wooden surface can’t be totally life-changing…? Can it?
Yes, it can. Let me ‘splain.
- The end of mindless eating – If you’re anything like me, sometimes relaxing equates to shoving food in your gob, repeatedly, in front of a screen. Or a book. Or anywhere where your attention is diverted and food is just a tasty form of procrastination. I would get SO MAD at myself for returning to the pantry time after time when working on the computer to procure snacks. After I’d eaten dinner at my desk, there was no end-point to the meal; no separation between dinner and dessert and second dessert and fifth. This was because i’d cemented a rather irksome association between desk and food. Computer and food. TV and food. I knew I was passively eating, but resistance was hard, if not impossible. My brain was wired to override logic and demand treats while relaxing. After weeks of butting up against a wall, trying to overcome this habit through sheer, unbridled willpower, I realised the solution may lie elsewhere. What if I checked the habit further upstream? Nipped it at the source? Screw trying to eat less, just place a condition on it. ‘Go for your life and gorge, but only at the dining table!’. Immediately a new association was made. The table was for feasting; it was the place of nourishment. Once the plates were cleared and the placemat folded away, that was it. The end of dinner. The full-stop I so badly needed to halt the night’s culinary proceedings. Still peckish? Have a snack! At the table. At the goddamn table! The same goes for breakfast and lunch; eat them at your designated eating area. Once you move on to facebook stalking and mindless internet perusal, it’s herbal tea time, or nothing.
- Better digestion – Digesting is a funny business. It requires a sequence, thought and preparation. It’s not a simple in>out equation, rather a chain of extremely important events that determine whether you absorb what you’re eating, or simply excrete it, undigested. Your body needs to know what’s coming through the gates; this is why cooking and preparing your meal all assists in the process. The visual stimulus of what you’re creating starts a chain of digestive processes and secretions in the stomach, such as the release of hydrochloric acid and enzymes. Then, when you sit down to chow, your gut is ready and waiting to assimilate what’s on offer. Being seated and focusing your attention on the task at hand also allows you to chew more thoroughly, until liquified. If we fail to do this, our tum will be struggling like a trooper to break down big chunks of whatever it is we’re shovelling in. Ultimately, these undigested particles will pass through into the small intestine and cause all kinds of nasty reactions like bloating & gas, due to the fact they got through security. Not cool. So take a moment to think about your insides next time you’re about to spring a big bucket o’ food on them; chances are if you’re eating with attention elsewhere, or walking to the bus-stop smushing toast in your face, your body is not going to be in the zone and you won’t digest.
- Practising mindfulness and gratitude – Similar to the above point, it’s important to direct our attention to nourishment. Recognise and give thanks for what we’re taking in; it’s becoming part of our cells after all. To throw a typically hippie argument into the mix, it’s nice to be grateful for the amazing set of circumstances that have culminated in the delicious morsel in front us, whatever it may be. Especially if it’s an animal, I like to appreciate that it has given it’s little critter life to be on my plate and provide me with life-giving goodness. It’s certainly a disservice to that expired animal if you’re sucking it’s ribs whilst zoned out in front of True Blood. Although it could be worse; you could be watching The Kardashians.
Peace and lamb chops to you all x
Monday Brain Meal; the learning process and dousing the ego.
It’s a habit of mine to be overzealous. To come across an idea which excites me, picking it up in it’s shiny sparkly newness and sprinting with it into the sunset.
I forget to apply critical thinking; wave off the wisdom of others. This idea and only this idea is the best thing ever and ever amen. Easily led? Blinkered? Perhaps.
When I was vego, it was the holy grail of dietary choices. Raw vegan? Nutritional Nirvana. I was ensconced in a cosy little world of political and edible correctness, and didn’t care for critique.
The more my health evolution twists and turns and forks however, the more I realise that having an open mind and a certain degree of separation from emotion is key. Change is inevitable, as are dietary, fitness and health phases that wax and wane and transmute. But by allowing ourselves to be open, flexible and receptive, we set the scene for greater wisdom and understanding.
I realised this today as I sat in class, learning about a topic that goes against every single gingery hair on my bod; calorie-counting, rationed-out portion sizes, low-fat, no-fat, cholesterol-free and meal replacement. As naturopaths, we don’t tend to focus on the quantity, rather the quality of our food choices. My lecturer however, voiced her ideas about weight-loss and management that to me, seemed a little outdated. Bunk, even.
I was squirming uncomfortably as we discussed a reasonable egg quota per day (just one? You have to be joking!), and how to set dietary guidelines for obese clients. My expression must have been one of incredulous arrogance, because my teacher suddenly put me on the spot; asking how I would feel if I weighed double what I do now, and simply wanted a fool-proof meal plan and quantifiable targets laid out before me. The scenario, as well as her pointed exposure of my ego really shook me.
An experienced naturopath imparting her wisdom could surely teach me a thing or three. It wasn’t whether what she was saying was factually ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, but more the lesson within; remain open, take advice graciously and critique it objectively, douse your ego.
At the moment, i’m pretty enamoured with a modified version of the Paleo diet. I’m eating lots of fresh organic produce, happy local eggs, bone broths, homemade sprouts, fresh herbs and spices, fat from coconuts, avocados & olive oil, and yes, grass-fed & finished meat. The evidence, to me, stacks up. As do the results. But I want to keep my ears open, my enthusiasm in check. I want to acknowledge and assimilate the advice of others, and respect everyone’s unique place in their own health journey. Including my own.
Have you ever dived head first in, blindly? How can we keep our egos in line?
Now, if you’re still with me, onto the fun Monday links!
- Championing the small-scale, organic-farming cause. Why are we taking so long to catch on?
- My friend alerted me to this one – yet another ‘miracle’ anti-ageing substance that is being distilled into pill form. We are so utterly fixated with popping a health pill; missing the point don’t you think?
- Did you know that there are 10 times the amount of microorganisms living inside our bodies than human cells? Kind of a mind melt. Here is an awesome guide to our internal ecosystem!
- Further to the amazing role of bacteria within, this article links obesity and diabetes with a possible gut flora imbalance. Astounding!
- Want abs of steel? This is a sweet online resource for all your home-workout needs.
- This article infuriated me. I’ll spare you the rant and leave you to deconstruct.
Thought for the day: “As we express out gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy
Some skincare for the layyyyydayyzz.
I thought i’d take a moment today to alert you a most recent beauty find that is proving pretty skin-sational. For the laydiez. Or the modern, dapper young gentleman with an interest in epithelial preservation. I’ll pay that.
Usually, I champion the inner beauty cause - eat better, move better, think better, feel better, look better. But most of us still want to apply, scrub or pat something onto our cheeks at night; no worries! Just make it natural. We are what we absorb after all (and I sure as heck don’t fancy soaking up whatever crazy paint-thinners they put in proactiv/clearasil/3rd-degree-skin-peeling-burn-salve).
It’s hard to find good quality, ethical, organic and local products that tick all the boxes and actually work, not make you look like a hideous swamp monster.
I also suffer from ongoing skin troubles, mostly aggravated by coming off the pill about 9 months ago. Yeesh, now there’s a story. (Put it in the bloggie bank.) Products that don’t make my skin go ga-ga are therefore a priority!
So even though I focus on nutritional/herbal/supplemental skin support for the most part, I’ve realised what a big difference your beauty routine can have on the health of your face-hole. And i’ve found a super product that you may be interested in too! (If this is coming across like an infomercial, I apologise. It’s just an amazing brand that I wanted to plug out of excitement – not for any other, sleazy marketing purpose! Sleazy, yes. Paid marketing, no.)
Readers, meet Grown Organics, a delightful, natural, organic, AUSSIE skin care range that is delicious to use. And has seriously made me feel like a new wo-man.
You can buy an awesome ‘kit’ with the cleanser, moisturiser, toner and serum for around $60 – my gorgeous Mum gave me one as a gift, and it’s the perfect way to try the whole Grown she-bang without having to buy full-sized bottles of each.
My skin is combination, with a tendency to oiliness in the T-zone then irritating desertification everywhere else. As I mentioned, post-pill acne annoyingness is also at play – so I can tell you that this range did in no way make that situation worse! In fact, its so beautiful and nourishing that my skin hoovered it up into it’s pores and asked for more!
If you are frustrated and looking for natural skincare alternatives, there are a few I can suggest:
- Bee Yummy Skinfood – very natural with the healing properties of honey. Used it for quite a while a year or two ago and really liked it.
- Hemp Hemp Hooray - this is the product I was using before switching to Grown. Really loved it, and admire their business philosophy and attention to detail. Safe for acne/sensitive skin.
- Lavera – haven’t personally used, but comes highly recommended.
- Weleda – gorgeous products. Little bit exey.
Tell me, any natural beauty tips? Anything worked brilliantly/failed miserably for you?
How and why to enjoy a savoury breakfast!
Morning friends!
Today I wanted to share a quick post about a habit I’ve adopted in recent times; something so far-out and freaky that I’ve hesitated to proclaim it publicly due to fears of mass-revolt, drive-by’s and the like.
Savoury breakfast.
Yes, a breakfast that resembles what we’ve come to know as lunch or dinner. A breakfast with vegetables, proteins, fats, cracked pepper. Sometimes even salad.
Afraid?
I was.
But let me take a moment to compel you to branch out from the sweetened oatmeal, fruit-laden smoothie and god forbid, the box of camouflaged candy (otherwise known as cereal).
Why should you go against all modern convention and eat a decidedly dinner-like a.m meal?
- Aside from any nutritional benefit, it is a fantastic trick if you’re struggling to break old habits (whatever they may be) to switch things up. Do something different. Engage a new part of your brain that has been lying dormant, growing fungus. Many self-development gurus regularly tout the benefits of inverting your usual routine and starting your day backwards; part your hair on the other side; brush your teeth with the opposite hand (or foot, if you’re special). When you do something your brain doesn’t expect, it sparks creativity and facilitates a fresh approach. Sarah Wilson wrote an article about ‘doing the opposite’ here. Eating a savoury breakfast may be just the wacky habit you need to cultivate in order to re-shift your focus; tilt the compass.
- Feel fuller for longer. A savoury breakfast such as eggs, salad, avocado and lentils has sticking power. When I think about those poor souls who gnaw on a dry piece of toast with Vegemite and call it breakfast, my heart breaks a little. Eat something tasty! Nourishing! Satisfying! I fall asleep dreaming of that first morning meal – let’s not make it an underwhelming event! Having a breakfast which focuses on proteins and fats as opposed to sugar and carbs is incredibly grounding and stabilising; you can likely make it til lunch without the need to get your snack on.
- Protein and fat regulate blood sugar levels. This is pretty much my last point, but it deserves it’s own little star. Your body has to work quite hard to digest proteins; cleaving them into their own individual amino acids and using them for growth and repair. Add some fat and you barely spike insulin, which means less extreme fluctuations in blood sugar levels. In relevant-speak, you are less cranky, don’t have the ‘empty-gut-need-to-inject-sugar-immediately!’ feeling, and don’t mess with mechanisms in your body which should not be subjected to a constant see-saw of high’s and low’s.
- Savoury morning eats kill sweet cravings later on. The way you start your day is typically how you finish. Productive in the morning? It’s likely to carry through the rest of your waking hours. Start your day with sugar? You are setting yourself up for blood-sugar disregulation and the intense need to replicate that supreme experience of sweet. If you do take up the brekky challenge (and i’m hoping you will!), i’m confident you’ll find you’re not reaching for sweets nearly so much throughout the day. After all, sugar is more addictive than heroin. Fact!
- This is the way people used to eat! Before the ‘invention’ of boxed breakfast cereal (you can read a fantastic article about how that monstrosity came into being here) folks used to sit down to a plate of savoury fare. Meat, veggies, organ meats. Sounds intense. Maybe it is to our soft little bellies. That’s just the way things were! Cereal is a hugely recent invention, combining the addictive, sellable qualities of sugar with cheap grains and dubious processing techniques, calling it a ‘foodstuff’ and convincing us it’s our only morning choice. What do we think about that? Sounds like nasty corporate twaddle to me.
How you feeling? Think you could try it without heaving?
Here are some idea’s to get you started:
- Soft-boil 2 eggs (must be free-range/pasture-fed, organic!). In a separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup sprouted lentils, 1/2 avocado, 1 small tomato, diced, handful of coriander, cumin, lemon, pepper and celtic sea salt. Mix. Eat. Love.
- Use left-over grilled chicken and slice over sprouted lentils/buckwheat, grated carrot, beetroot and lettuce. Top with organic seeded mustard, olive oil and cracked pepper. Simple, amazing.
- 3 soft-boiled eggs, salad, garlic, lemon and mustard/tahini.
- 2 or 3 egg omelette with grated veg, asparagus and broccoli topped with chopped tomato and tahini.
- Organic chorizo, sprouted lentils and cooked veg & salsa.
Go here for some more awesome ideas!
Let me know what you think & how you go x
