Paleo for thyroid health with Elle Russ

In her book, The Paleo Thyroid Solution, Elle Russ details how paleo should be the core of your thyroid health management.  Elle Russ is a writer, actor, life/health coach, and the host of The Primal Blueprint Podcast.  She works with Mark Sisson (Mark's Daily Apple) to educate people on the benefits of paleo/primal lifestyle.

Thyroid Problem Solving Principles

• Do your own research
• Follow your gut
• Take copious notes
• Track vitals
• Seek a doctor's help
• Don't rely solely on your doctor
• Adopt a paleo/primal lifestyle

As a patient dealing with thyroid issues, it is incumbent that you partner with your doctor to manage your health.  This requires you to educate yourself.  You'll then need to maintain a journal to understand how the medicine, food, sleep and other lifestyle choices are affecting your thyroid.  As a responsible patient, you can work with your doctor to do the best for you.  If your doctor doesn't feel like a partner, find a doctor that will work with you to get the right approach for you.

Paleo Thyroid Solution Principles

• Eat plants, animals, fish and fat.
• Eliminate grains, beans and legumes.
• Limit dairy and potatoes to very occasional consumption (unless you're an athlete).
• Stay under 150 total carbohydrates per day.
• Consume probiotics.
• Get adequate sleep.
• Manage stress.
• Stick with low-intensity exercise between 55% and 75% of your maximum heart rate.
• Do a fifteen-minute sprint session every seven to ten days, but only if your hyperthyroid symptoms are gone, and you have the adrenal strength to support a sprint session.
• Supplement to optimize health.
• Only eat when you're hungry.

Paleo/primal are lifestyles, not just diets.  They look at how our ancestors likely lived and push us to model our lives after them.  Our ancestors ate whole foods, not frozen pizza.  They didn't eat nearly the amount of sugar and carbs we eat now. Movement was a big part of our ancestors lives, but not the chronic go go go we identify as exercise today.

Links:

Exasperated and desperate, Elle took control of her own health and resolved two severe bouts of hypothyroidism on her own – including an acute Reverse T3 problem. Through a devoted paleo/primal lifestyle, intensive personal experimentation, and a radically modified approach to thyroid hormone replacement therapy…Elle went from fat, foggy, and fatigued – to fit, focused, and full of life!  You can learn more about Elle at elleruss.com.

PALEO THYROID SOLUTION FREE PODCAST LINKS BELOW

Dr. Gary E. Foresman on Paleo Thyroid Solution – http://blog.primalblueprint.com/episode-131-dr-gary-e-foresman-md/#more-1413

CARA HAUN – Paleo Thyroid Solution Success Story – http://blog.primalblueprint.com/episode-130-cara-haun/#more-1408

SHER SMITH – Paleo Thyroid Solution Success Story – http://blog.primalblueprint.com/episode-129-sher-smith/#more-1402

TAYLOR COLLINS – EPIC – http://blog.primalblueprint.com/episode-123-taylor-collins/#more-1366

GABRIELLE REECE – http://blog.primalblueprint.com/episode-84-gabrielle-reece/#more-1066

ABEL JAMES – http://blog.primalblueprint.com/episode-107-abel-james/#more-1270

 

How to shop for good food

Crack the obesity code

Not a born runner but that can change with Pete Magill

Even if you're not a born runner, you'll get something special from Pete Magill, the author of Born Again Runner. As an overworked script writer, Pete found himself in the hospital when he collapsed one evening. The alcohol, drugs and smoking were killing him. He turned to running as a way to fix himself.

It wasn't all success, but he stuck with it and is not a world-class runner for his age group. In Born Again Runner, he lays out a way for you to see your version of success as a runner.

The 12 born again runner principles

1. The past is the past –  While you may have failed in the past, that is the past.
2. Walk before you run – You may not be able to run at first, but if you will gradually progress, your body will adapt.  Your nervous system adapts faster than your muscles.  You need to let all the systems adapt before you progress.
3. Keep it simple – It doesn't have to be a special day to start.  No need to make it an event, just find a safe, flat, location where you're not far from the start.
4. Shirt, shorts, shoes – No need to go out and buy a lot of expensive things.  There will be plenty of time to pick up equipment as you need it.
5. Train with the body you have – You come in your own shape, size, gender, and fitness background.  You'll need to discover a running style and program that works for you.  We are all an experiment of one.
6. It’s recovery stupid – We only get fit when we're recovering from the work we've done.  The cliche, “No pain, no gain” is wrong.
7. The only opinion that matters is your own – Don't let other people discourage you from training.  Not being a born runner doesn't mean you shouldn't go for it.
8. No rain checks unless it's raining – There are going to be days we don't want to run or can't run.  Don't run on days when it isn't good to run (excessive heat, when you're injured, or a can't miss event), but don't miss because you just don't feel like it.  It is too easy to make missing a habit and you risk losing your fitness gains.  Have a contingency plan.
9. Dieting can wait (and so can everything else) – It is already hard enough to build fitness and get proper recovery.  This is not a time to restrict your food.  Focus on one goal at a time.
10. Slower is faster – You many not be a born runner, but it is critical that you keep your ego in check.  Build slowly.  The fastest way to be a good runner is to go slowly.
11. It’s gotta be fun – If you don't enjoy your running, you won't keep doing it.  Find a friend or group to train with.  Find online runners forums to connect with other runners.
12. Know you’ll succeed – This is the most important principle.  While you may not be a born runner, you will succeed.  You know you have a plan.  You know you're doing the right things to stay injury free.  You expect to change your body through training and recovery.

Most runners will experience injuries at some time.  Pete has organized preventive exercises for each of the common running-related injuries.  An injury will keep you from running, which will impede your progress.  Avoiding injuries should always be top of mind before, during and after your runs.

Born Again Runner Links

Bornagainrunner.com

Pete Magill

The tao of running | Gary Dudney

Pathways of Qi | Matthew Sweigart

In his book, The Pathways of Qi, Matthew Sweigart has provided a deep dive into the eastern concept of Qi.  He has a very good approach to this.  This book is a very good way to become familiar with this practice.

Qi is a concept that comes from China.  It is the movement of life energy and the way it moves into the human system.  It is in alignment with the western phrase “flow.”  Matthew learned the power of Qi when he was able to fix a weak and injured ankle through a simple reflection on who, not what, was causing his pain.

The twelve regular meridians/pathways of qi.

1. Lung Line
2. Large Intestine Line
3. Stomach Line
4. Spleen Pancreas Line
5. Heart Line
6. Small Intestine Line
7. Bladder Line
8. Kidney Line
9. Pericardium Line
10. Triple Warmer Line
11. Gall Bladder Line

The three layers of health

1. Reflexive Layer – relates to body's ability to respond to the world around it.
2. Conditioned Layer – relates to our learned/trained behaviors.
3. Constitutional Layer – relates to the inherent gifts we inherited.

Any tips on finding a good practitioner

You'll typically find a qualified Qi practitioner at any disciplined martial arts studio.  Matthew also teaches Qi Gong

 

Links

matthewsweigart.com

Heart Mind Body Work

Baths for health with Paulette Sherman

In this episode, Paulette Sherman shows us how we can use baths for health and fitness.  We do this by making a bath a ritual, focused on various aspects of our lives to include stress, relationships, balance, and recovery.  Using these tools you can be more powerful and effective during the day.
These baths go beyond the general hygiene type baths.

These baths for health have a ritual including the following elements:

     – Law of attraction – Being very clear about what you want from this bath is important.

     – Ritual – A ritual bridges your inner and outer space.  It adds to the specialness of the moment.

     – Essential oils – Beyond the wonderful smell, there are some therapeutic uses for them. 

     – Crystals – Each crystal has its own energy.  The structures capture different things.  You can match the crystal to your intention.

     – Candles/colors – The candle represents the spirit of the event, matching your intention.  For example, you could use white for peace.

     – Meditation – This is about clearing your mind to avoid being distracted.  This opens you up to pay attention to the message you'll get from a bath.

     – Intention – This is the context for the bath.  This is how you can use these baths for health.

     – Visualization – Seeing what you want to attract.  Visualizing allows you to see improvement in performance by setting your mind to a believe it is achievable.  Pulling in all of your senses and emotions to visualize what you want.

     – Prayer – This goes beyond religion.  It is about calling on a higher power or your best self to be sure to hear what you need from this bath.

     – Herbal teas – These teas match the energy of your bath.

     – Journaling – This is where you can capture the things that came to you during your path.  This allows you to apply things in your life.

Three sacred baths from the book:

Paulette took some time to discuss each of the following sacred baths.  Each using the elements above and applying to the stated intention.

     – Bath of self-care (p50)

     – Return to peace bath (p102)

     – Commitment bat (p149)

I'd encourage you to get the book and use baths for more than just hygiene.  Using baths for health can be a way to heal, manage aspects of your life, and grow.  If you do a sacred bath, please let me how it went in the comments below.

Links

Sacred Bathing

Dr. Paulette Sherman

Finding mindfulness with Bruce Langford

https://40plusfitnesspodcast.com/mindfulness-based-eating-lynn-rossy/

 

Better movement and form with David Knox

In the book Body School, David Knox lays out the ways movement and form will keep our body healthy, fit and injury free.  As a life-long dancer (yoga, jazz and modern) and a martial artist (holding two black belts), David knows a thing or two about movement and form.

Six elements of movement and form

1. The general position of arms legs and torso
2. The finer alignments of the torso, limbs, hands, feet, neck and head
3. How the muscles are used
4. How breathing is involved
5. The degree to which one can recognize and release unnecessary tension
6. One's ability to perform movement in a strong, fluid, controlled manner

Treadmill pros and cons

Pros

1. Treadmills are easier on your joints.
2. Treadmills have handrails for safety.
3. Treadmills keep you out of bad weather.
4. Treadmills provide a consistent environment.
5. Treadmills provide measurement tools such as a heart rate monitor.
6. Treadmills often have tvs and magazine/book holders.

Cons

1. The treadmill does not train you to deal with real world surfaces.
2. The handrails can be abused.
3. Exposure to different weather can provide health benefits.
4. Treadmills can train you to not be aware of your environment when you walk/run outdoors.
5. The gadgets on treadmills may not really be valuable and may be inaccurate.

The five considerations on stretching

1. How often should you stretch?
2. How far should you stretch?
3. How should a good stretch feel?
4. Should stretches be held statistically for a period of time, pulsed, of constantly extended?
5. Does it matter which muscles are stretched first?

The six injury causes

1. Impact
2. Repetitive stress
3. Range of motion
4. Hyperextension
5. Resistance overload
6. Changing speed and dynamics

Links:

Facebook

email: davidknoxbs@gmail.com

You Can Run Pain Free | Brad Beer

Aging well with Dr. Mark Williams

In his book, The Art and Science of Aging Well, Dr. Mark Williams writes about the current science on aging in a way that give insight into how we should live to make sure we have the highest quality of life as we age.  He notes a statistic that is quite relevant to aging.  The death rate for humans is one per person, in other words, we all die.  It is all just a matter of how and why.

Eight myths

1. All old people are the same and they are falling apart.  We all age at different rates.  Even the organ systems age at different rates.  Because of the nature of growth and experience, as we age we become more valuable, not less.
2. Losing weight will make you live longer.  We are very weight conscious, yet severe dieting can increase your chance of death.
3. As we age we become more forgetful and senile.  It is true dementia, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's are more common when we are older, but those are disease states.  Forgetting names, walking into a room and forgetting why you're there, and losing car keys are all symptoms of being normal.
4. You can't teach an old dog new tricks.  We don't naturally lose productivity as we age.
5. There is nothing we can do about aging.  We can make choices.  Only about 30% of our longevity is genetics.  That gives us 70% of the puzzle for aging well.
6. Old people are an economic burden.  We can ensure we have systems that don't cause a larger, older population to be a burden on the young.  In fact, older people provide a lot of uncompensated productivity through volunteer activities.
7. Old people are not interested in sex.  Older couples do remain active and are happier with their sex life.
8. You're going to end up in a nursing home.  Only 3% of people end up living in a nursing home.

Cell Aging

It used to be thought that cells live forever.  This was disproved by Leonard Hayflick.  A cell can replicate approximately 50 times before they effectively die.  The only way to break out of the aging control is when the cell becomes malignant.

Cells count the number of times they can replicate.  Each time a cell replicates the end is slightly shorter.  A telomere is an end-cap that causes the cell to stop replicating and the cell dies (apoptosis).

Sugar and Aging

If our blood sugar is high, which is typically measured in blood work as A1C.  This shows advanced glycation end products (AGE), which gums up the works.  High consumption of high glycemic and processed foods age us faster.  Avoiding these kinds of foods are important for aging well.

Benefits of Exercise for Aging Well

We were made to move.  Physical exercise is a key requirement for aging well.

Proven benefits of exercise:

• Reduced risk of heart disease
• Reduced risk of sudden death
• Lowered blood pressure
• Improved mood
• Less of depression
• Weight loss and loss of fat
• Reduced risk of diabetes
• And most likely a reduced risk of cancer

How much exercise should we get?  An answer came from one of Dr. Williams' clients.  Work up a good sweat every day.

Three Keys of Aging

1. The amount we lose is surprising small due to aging itself versus other things.
2. The older we get the more important self-maintenance activities become.
3. The opportunity to improve goes up if we're not on the extreme ends of the fitness continuum.

Links:

Facebook – Mark Williams, MD

 

Cracking the Aging Code | Josh Mitteldorf

Don’t Let Your Anxiety Run Your Life | David Klemanski and Joshua Curtis

The timing of this book, Don't Let Your Anxiety Run Your Life by David Klemanski and Joshua Curtis, couldn't have been better for me.  I've been struggling with anxiety lately and needed the tools taught in this book.  I'm certain you've dealt with anxiety from time to time.  We all do.

Almost everything in life has the potential to make us feel anxious, but only if you let it!  In other words, it is entirely possible to skillfully manage your anxiety by examining the relationship you have to your fears and worries and embracing them (rather than avoiding them!) ~ From the Introduction of Don't Let Your Anxiety Run Your Life.

Anxiety goes beyond just being a negative mood state.  It is a future-oriented state, where people worry about some future event.  It can be real or perceived.

There are three diagnosable conditions in the anxiety spectrum:

1. Generalized anxiety disorder – months of worry, feeling keyed up and on edge.  Excessive worry beyond the normal level of worry.
2. Panic disorder – Physical conditions that are often related as they felt they were having a heart attack.
3. Social anxiety disorder – Anxiety about social situations.  Fear of being judged.  They often begin avoiding being in social events.

Self-diagnosis is difficult with these disorders.  It may require professional attention.  The anxiety becomes clinical when it interferes with their normal lives.

It is very common for people to avoid going the gym when anxiety over what others are thinking of them kicks in.  Avoidance sets up a negative cycle.  It is important to be exposed to the gym and not use avoidance behaviors such as not making eye contact or to isolate themselves in an empty area of the gym.  Instead, you should do the opposite and engage and face your fear.

Other tips or practices:

• Pay attention to your anxiety and your reaction to it.  The more you pay attention to it (rather than avoiding of suppressing it) the better you'll be able to chip away at those emotions.
• When you're working on using these skills you'll need to be forgiving of yourself.  These skills build over time.

Links:

Online companion website at New Harbinger Publishing

 

Start here | Eric Langshur & Nate Klemp