Hospital Vending Machines Push Poison
Until ultra processed food is banned from hospitals and schools you need to stop believing the lies politicians are feeding you
My girlfriend found herself in the hospital this week having a procedure done (she’s okay). After her procedure they kicked her out of recovery to wait in the lobby. She snapped these three pictures.
The next time any politician tells you that they’re protecting you by invading another country, killing terrorists, or sending billions of dollars to fight anti democracy forces in the form of say Russia, just remember this.
If they actually cared about you, they would pass immediate and sweeping bans on processed foods and the chemicals and additives that go into them.
If they cared even a little bit about you, they would pass immediate and sweeping bans on processed foods, like Lunchables, being served for lunch in schools.
If they cared even a little bit, they would pass immediate and sweeping bans on processed foods being available in hospitals. They would not allow the drug/product/garbage that is the proven cause of most illnesses to be available in the very place where people with such illnesses go to be treated.
But they don’t care, so stop giving them credit like they do.
If it doesn’t make them money (i.e. war, pharmaceutical drugs, big food and big ag) then they don’t care. They will never ever reign in any of those industries for the precise reason that they line the pockets of every leader in this country and most countries around the world.
The next time your favorite politician tells you he’s doing something for your safety, something that usually involves stripping away a person in a foreign country’s safety, ask yourself why he/she allows poison to be sold in hospitals?
It’s time to stop believing what you hear and believing what you see.
Artificial Sweeteners II
My unflavored electrolytes taste like nothing and it’s surprising to me
My unflavored LMNT electrolytes came the other day and they taste like nothing. Which I guess shouldn’t have been surprising but it was. Based on how strong the flavored varieties were, I assumed that the unflavored would still carry something. But it’s got nothing.
It just made it even more apparent to me how powerful artificial sweeteners are. We’re talking about less than a tsp of powdered mix crammed with an overwhelming amount of flavor.
That tells me that the stevia extract they’re using, an artificial sweetener that’s purported to be natural, must be refined down to the most potent parts to achieve such an insane level of taste in such a small amount.
Which tells me, or reaffirms to me, that this shit is not good for you! It’s certainly not good for me.
I always wonder why companies have no balls when it comes to this stuff. I mean LMNT is selling electrolytes. Presumably their market is people who are active, hence why they need to replenish electrolytes, and therefore health conscious. Couldn’t they do away with the “flavor” and sell something that’s actually purely good for you, without the add garbage?
Couldn’t they just stick to selling unflavored? I know why they wouldn’t, money. But it would be nice if one day a company stood up and said, “I don’t give a fuck if our growth is slow, or we never become rich, we’re going to stick to our principles and grind it out.”
Unfortunately that never happens anymore. And I guess I’m asking too much of a company that packages sodium, potassium, and magnesium, and sells them for ~$1.50 per. It just reiterates to me the fact that everything is better when you do it yourself. And in particular when it comes to what you put into your body. Only you can control the contents. Thinking someone else, or a company for that matter, cares as much as you do is pissing into the wind.
Artificial sweeteners can’t be good for you
A completely non-scientific reason why artificial sweeteners are terrible for you
You know how I know? Because they taste so damn good. When I was buying vanilla whey protein powder, I looked forward to drinking one, sometimes two, shakes everyday. But when I switched to flavorless whey, it became more chore than enjoyment. And now a few months after switching, it’s the rare occasion that I even drink one.
For a brief period I tried to make my shakes taste better by adding pure cocoa, coffee, or even drips of honey, butt nothing compared to the Stevia leaf extract they were adding to the powder.
Recently I’ve been drinking LMNT electrolytes. I bought the chocolate variety box. Chocolate chai, mint, and raspberry. They too contain Stevia leaf extract, which once again has made a powdered drink the highlight of my day, which has also triggered me to switch to unflavored. It just can’t be good for you.
I love food. I love to eat. I eat mostly real foods in their whole natural form. Yet there is not one food that I crave the way I crave these artificial drinks. Medjool dates would be a close second but as delicious as they are they don’t evoke the same visceral obsession as artificial sweeteners. How could that be good?
Whether its Stevia, date sugar, or monkfruit sweetener, I just can’t picture a scenario where it’s benefitting your health.
So I’m sticking to real food, real flavors, and unflavored processed food. I don’t think I can go wrong.
High Fat and Fiber Savory Breakfast
Egg and oatmeal are one of my favorite food cominations.
For some reason oatmeal is also served as a sweet dish. But my favorite way to enjoy oatmeal is savory. Like in this dish. I prefer it mostly because I go for savory over sweet normally, and I also don’t think starting the day with a lot of sugar is a good idea.
Plus, in this dish you get the added benefit of protein from eggs and healthy omegas from olive oil to start your day.
Ingredients:
Oatmeal, chia, cocoa nibs, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, peanut butter, two eggs over easy 🍳, topped with salt, olive oil, and sriracha.
Who’s Really in Charge?
Click here: OneSource Health, April 21, 2024
“We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.”
Carlos Castaneda
Volunteer Appreciation Party
This past week I went to the We Don’t Waste headquarters for a Speakers Bureau training. We Don’t Waste is a Denver based non-profit that recovers food that would’ve otherwise been sent to the landfill and re-routes it to the public through free mobile food markets, and partnerships with food banks, food pantries, and shelters.
The speaker’s bureau is part of their education program. Volunteers go to schools, businesses, and households, and attend fun events like Slow Food Denver, to talk about food waste, strategies to mitigate it, it’s impact on the planet, food insecurity, and more.
One example I love is food audits that are conducted in school cafeterias, which raises awareness and educates students on ways they can help with fun strategies like share bins. Here students can exchange food they don’t want for something they do, limiting the likelihood of unwanted food going to waste.
Here are a few things I learned that really stood out to me.
It takes 1 gallon of water to produce 1 almond. Almond fields need to be completely flooded.
21 percent of our water supply is used to grow food.
“1 bad tomato can ruin the bunch.” If a retailer (i.e. grocery store) finds 1 moldy tomato on a pallet or truck full of tomatoes, they can turn the whole shipment away, relegating it to the landfill.
“Expiration dates” have nothing to do with safety
Sell By = how long the product can be displayed
Use By = last day of peak quality
Best Before = last date of peak flavor or quality
The difference between composting and a landfill is oxygen. Compost is regularly mixed allowing oxygen in. A landfill remains stagnant which produces greenhouse gases like methane and CO2.
It can take 25 years for a head of lettuce to decompose in a landfill
Carrots and celery like to be wet. If you store them in water, they could last 2 weeks before wilting and softening.
It’s an exciting company to be a part of. They’re just 15 years old and they’re doing really big and fun things that are driving change.
Cheers to your practice.
James.
Three Headlines That Prove the Point
The Doctor Will Ask About Your Gun Now
If the health epidemic and increasing rate of mortality in America are any indication of the inefficiency of our healthcare system, then perhaps asking physicians to squeeze one more task into their 10-minute office visit isn’t a good idea.
In recent years The White House has called “fire-arm injuries” an epidemic, prompting “leaders” to call on physicians to screen their patients with questions like, “Do you have access to firearms inside or outside of the home?”
In 2021 there were 115,000 non-fatal fire-arm injuries, and 48,830 gun related deaths in America. In the same year deaths from preventable diseases like heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes dwarfed those figures by a 10x multiple.
Fire-arm injuries and deaths are symptoms of an unwell society and should not be taken lightly. Which is exactly why someone with a better track record should be put in charge of this epidemic.
Sources:
The Doctor Will Ask About Your Gun Now
Fast Facts: Firearm Violence and Injury Prevention
Lunchables under fire after reports of concerning lead, sodium levels
In Metabolical, author Robert Lustig, MD, MSL puts it like this: “It’s not what’s in your food that matters, it’s what’s been done to your food.” Unless your Kraft Heinz’s Lunchables, in which case both matters.
Lunchables is a processed food snack that is marketed towards children as “healthy” because of the “protein / fat / carb ratio” it contains.
Through recent lobbying efforts Kraft Heinz was able to get Lunchables approved by the School Nutrition Association (“SNA”), making it part of the daily lunch offering for 30 million students. Essentially handing Kraft Heinz the keys to our most vulnerable and impressionable market.
In order to get approved, the SNA required Kraft Heinz to add more “protein” and “whole grains” to the Turkey, Cheddar, Cracker Stacker. Here’s the formulation:
“Ingredients: Roast White Turkey Cured - Smoke Flavor Added (White Turkey, Water, Potassium Lactate, Contains Less than 2% of Modified Cornstarch, Salt, Dextrose, Carrageenan, Sodium Phosphates, Sodium Diacetate, Potassium Salts, Sodium Ascorbate, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Sodium Nitrite, Smoke Flavor); Cheddar Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product (Milk, Water, Milkfat, Milk Protein Concentrate, Whey, Whey Protein Concentrate, Sodium Citrate, Salt, Lactic Acid, Sorbic Acid as a Preservative, Cheese Culture, Oleoresin Paprika [Color], Enzymes, Annatto [Color], with Sunflower Lecithin Added for Slice Separation); Crackers (Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Vegetable Oil Shortening Canola Oil and/or Fractionated Palm Oil, and/or Soybean Oil, and/or Palm Oil], Sugar, Contains Less than 2% of Salt, Baking Soda, Soy Lecithin, Natural Type Flavor).”
Sounds healthy, right? How many ingredients did you get through before you stopped reading?
When will we learn that companies like Kraft Heinz and Nestlé, who was recently caught adding sugar to infant formula in poor countries, shouldn’t be allowed around our children. And when will someone in a position of power do something about it?
40 percent of all food in this country gets wasted. Real whole foods like fruit, vegetables, and lean meats are being dumped into landfills every single day. If we wanted to get high quality real food into the hands of every child in this country it could be done in the blink of an eye.
The problem is the people at the highest levels couldn’t give a shit.
Sources:
Lunchables under fire after reports of concerning lead, sodium levels
Metabolical, Robert Lustig, MD, MSL
HOW LUNCHABLES ENDED UP ON SCHOOL LUNCH TRAYS
Nestlé adds sugar to infant milk sold in poorer countries, report finds
How do you create your own ‘Blue Zone’? Here are 6 tips
I just have to rant for a minute on this one because it falls into my newfound skepticism that most of the longevity, healthspan, and lifespan advice is bullshit. I still read and listen to it, but I’m following it less and less recently.
And the reason is because I learned about The Blue Zones.
For people in The Blue Zones, there is no special trick. There’s no special diet. Nobody counts macros or how much they exercised and at what intensity. No one takes supplements or vitamins or follows any special routine.
All they do is live, filling their days with things that bring them joy. Like time with friends and family. Time in the garden growing food and flowers. Maintaining a mindfulness practice, playing board games, and cooking.
To worry about prolonging your life would mean missing out on it.
That’s why recently whenever I see an article or a headline like this one, I chuckle to myself. We think that we can deduce a whole way of life down to “6 Tips,” a new supplement or drug, or a better routine, which misses the whole point.
Accept the present by letting go of the future.
Sources:
Chicken Soup for the Soul
Homemade veggie soup with chicken thighs and spices
Man, I’ve been making my own vegetable broth for a few months now and it has completely changed my soup game. Hopefully you can see from this picture just how rich that broth is. And believe me, it tastes as good as it looks. The best part is how easy it is. You can see how to do it here.
But the thing I love about making a vegetable soup, is that it is really the perfect base for any meal. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And you can add anything you want to it, like I did with chicken thighs and garbanzo beans for this dish.
Ingredients:
Baked chicken thighs, homemade vegetable soup (carrots, celery, garlic, onions, white beans, in a homemade broth), topped with olive oil, salt, and sriracha.
Misc Thoughts on Macros, Diet, Exercise and the Blue Zones
Trying to explain why my skepticism of health, life, and longevity hacks is growing.
Instead of thinking about everyday, think about your diet in terms of the week. This way if you mess up one meal in a day, you don’t beat yourself up for it. Instead you can tell yourself that you’ll make it up by staying consistent with your next meal and the one after that.
We put too much emphasis on getting every macro right that the whole project becomes overwhelming and we crash. Not every meal needs to be the exact right ratios or types of food. It’s more important that in the long term you’re successful. One wrong meal doesn’t have to spell disaster.
The same is true of exercise. We don’t need every workout to be our best. We just need to keep moving. The accumulation of movement over time is what spells change. If you’re emptying the tank at every workout, or getting so sore that it makes the next day too painful to workout, then you’re setting yourself back. Long term gains requires a lot of consistent hours.
I’m starting to fade on the idea that we need as much protein as some nutritionists and longevity experts say we do. The skepticism comes from watching and learning about people in the Blue Zones, the areas of the world where people live the longest, most active and fulfilled lives in the world.
In these parts of the world, it’s not uncommon for people to live past the age of 100, and being active into your 90’s is the norm. In all of these distinct cultures there are a number of things they do that they have in common. Like keeping close relationships and emphasizing community. Like maintaining a vegetable garden as the source of most of their food. And being active throughout their whole lives.
There’s also a lot of things they don’t do. They don’t work jobs they hate. They don’t do high intensity aerobic exercise. They don’t eat processed food. And they don’t obsess over the nutrients and macros they’re putting into their body. Protein included.
Their diets consist of a modest amount of proteins from a wide array of sources. Beans, legumes, dairy, plants, eggs, and some meat and fish.
If we want to explain part of the obesity epidemic I think we need to look at the way protein is forced on us. Eating too much protein while being inactive will lead to weight gain and other possible health issues. Because unused protein is stored as fat, and a lot of times in places you don’t want it, like the liver.
If you are a bodybuilder, a high level athlete, or extremely active, then you are the exception. But considering that 60 percent of the adult population doesn’t get the recommended amount of daily exercise (20 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise per day, 2 strength training sessions per week), than the overconsumption of protein is surely part of the issue.
The second thing I think the protein messaging does it cause overeating. Not only are we programmed to reach for protein at every meal, we’re also told hitting your daily protein goals (anywhere from 0.7 - 1.5 grams per lb of bodyweight) is hard to do in one day. Hm, I wonder why? Because it’s too much protein.
But in a subconscious effort to hit our goals we reach for calories hoping it gets us closer to the target.
During stretches when I’m really dialed into my training and my diet I can sense the difference from day to day of what my body is asking for. On days when I train hard, I can’t get enough protein and carbs. But on my rest days, it’s mainly carbs and a normal amount of protein (70 - 90 grams).
There’s a lot that’s influencing the changes we’re seeing in our health. None bigger than our outside environment, the one we cannot control. Things like the type of food that populates 90 percent of grocery stores, and the relentless marketing and messaging that’s everywhere.
Don’t worry about the nutrients and macros you’re getting. Instead focus on eating real food and spending 70 - 80 percent of your day on your feet. I think that just those two changes can offer dramatic results.
Why supporting local is difficult but necessary.
It might cost a little more time and money, but shopping local is the best.
Two recent examples.
Spell Books - “Because a good book puts a Spell on you!”
My girlfriend and I were in downtown Littleton recently when we stumbled upon Spell Books, a small locally owned bookstore. We are both avid readers and when it comes to buying a book, we both prefer the in-store experience over the online one. So, it’s exciting for us when we find a local bookstore.
I went in looking for Greg McKeown’s second book, Effortless. I read his first book, Essentialism, back in 2019 when I first left my job and began overhauling my whole way of life. Essentialism completely shifted my perspective of productivity and allocation of time, and got me to start focusing on what was essential and eliminating what wasn’t. It had a big impact on me and I was hoping Effortless would be the same.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have it in stock, but the owner offered to order it for me. She said it would arrive in 5 - 7 days.
Almost three weeks went by, and I still hadn’t heard from them. So, Jen decided to call and find out what was going on. I assumed it came in and they just forgot to notify me or had misplaced my contact information which I had written on a sticky note.
But it turns out that they didn’t forget, the book just hadn’t come in yet. Effortless was on back order from the distributor and they didn’t know when it was coming in. She offered to cancel my order so I could buy it somewhere else. On Amazon it would have been at my doorstep in a matter of days or maybe hours. I decided to continue to wait.
Last week I got an email from Spell Books notifying me that the book had come in. When we went in to pick it up it was sitting there waiting for me with the same sticky note I had written my contact information on almost four weeks prior.
Overall, choosing to buy my book locally cost time waiting and driving to the store, and probably 10 percent on the purchase price, but it was worth it.
Chicken and the Egg
I’ve been getting my chickens and eggs from a local farm. They pasture raise hogs and poultry, treat their animals humanely, and use high quality, diverse, and organic feed when needed to supplement their diet. All characteristics of small farms that you won’t see in grocery store bought meat.
When I order, I have two options. For $5 they’ll deliver my order to a locally owned retail store that’s a 30-minute drive from my home, or for $10 they deliver it to my door. Orders are placed bi-weekly. If you miss the order deadline then you wait (although they’ll make every effort to squeeze an order in), or, conceivably, you could drive the 2.5 hours (one-way) to the farm.
A couple of weeks ago I placed an order for 3 whole chickens, 1 dozen eggs and 1 package of bacon (it was on sale 😀) and paid the $10 to have it all delivered to my house. I ordered on a Sunday with a Tuesday delivery date.
Tuesday morning, I got an email letting me know that the delivery driver wasn’t available to make deliveries, so my order would be delayed to the following week. At the time I had been in the habit of slow-cooking a whole chicken every week, and I had timed my cooking schedule to align with this delivery. So, when it didn’t come I drove 5 minutes to the grocery store and picked out the best organic free range bird I could find, knowing that it was mostly lies and I’d be eating an inferior and sickly bird. But I didn’t want to wait.
The next Tuesday rolled in and with it came a huge snow storm. I knew immediately more delivery delays would be in my future. I got an email from the farm that morning informing me that the winter storm had shut down the roads out of the mountains and they wouldn’t be able to deliver.
On Thursday my order was delivered to my doorstep.
The Impact.
Since local shops and farms have been pushed out by big box retail and mega farms, it’s made buying local inaccessible and expensive when compared to the big boys. The big box stores have swallowed up all the convenient locations, and their large purchasing power has driven down their cost of goods (which allows them to undercut small business owners) and allowed them to stockpile inventory, while local shops struggle with back orders.
Our neighbor told us that when she first moved into her home more than 20 years ago, she was surrounded by ranches on every corner. Now, those same corners are occupied by a gas station, a Costco, and a parking lot. She said when Costco was first built, she was so mad that she boycotted them for 2 years. But she eventually caved when she got a coupon in the mail. She’s been shopping there ever since.
The book experience came a couple of weeks on the heels of a similar one my buddy and I had when we went into a local gaming shop looking for two board games. We were told the games were on back order from his distributor. Two days later Amazon delivered the games to my buddy’s doorstep.
Mega farms jam hundreds of thousands (sometimes millions) of animals into factories to reduce the cost of raising meat. Pasture raised chickens (like the ones I’ve been ordering) cost 100 percent more per pound to raise than a factory farmed chicken you’ll find in the grocery store ($3-$4 per pound versus $8-$11). If we can agree that pasture raising animals is the right way, then what kind of conditions must the factory farmed chickens who are half the price be living in?
In the last 20 years the only contribution to society by big business is cheap, low quality, and fast. That’s the business model for Amazon, Walmart, Costco, McDonalds, Starbucks that has allowed them to accumulate insane amounts of wealth (collectively worth almost $3 trn) and power and control nearly every market.
But cheap, low quality, and fast is the reason that our health and local economies continue to decline at a rapid rate.
Whenever a Costco opens where a ranch used to be. Whenever an Amazon warehouse stocks books to the ceiling. When McDonalds and Starbucks open in your neighborhood selling fake food and artificially sweetened beverages, it is a sign of societal decline. The long term impact of these stores is what we’re seeing play out all over the country. Millions of people suffering from chronic disease and mental health issues that are the results of poison in our food and low paying and unfulfilling jobs.
Not everyone I understand has the time, capacity, resources, or accessibility to choose local over big business. But, for those amongst us who do, then we really need to do a better job of spending our dollars appropriately.
Mid-term elections are every two years. Presidential elections every four. But everyday we can vote with our dollars. And the more we can re-direct dollars into our local economies, the more accessible and affordable we will make it for everyone.
Let us practice patience and be willing to spend a little more money to support our local farmer, grower, baker, and shop owner.
Intuition
Our intuition has been hijacked
I’ve had this belief for a while now that the comforts of modern society are disrupting our ability to listen to or even hear our intuition. And it’s for that reason that we are both sick and divided. Let me explain.
Food I think is the easiest one to understand. Food today we know is not the food we ate 100 hundred or more years ago. Maybe not even 50 years ago. And most of it isn’t even really food.
The food that many of us consume today is engineered to be extremely tasty (I won’t say delicious), palatable (easy to eat), and therefore addictive (you want to keep coming back for more). And our body doesn’t know how to handle that.
So even if we’re not hungry, we want to eat. Even if we’re trying not to have sweets, we reach for the candy. Our intuition is saying we don’t want it, but it’s been engineered so perfectly that it disrupts what our gut is telling us.
And it’s not just what food we put in our body that determines what and how much we’re going to eat. It’s the advertisements that we see all around us. It’s the grocery store filled with these manufactured foods.
When we walk into the grocery store we might know what we’re going in for, but the second we see the shelves lined with treats that all changes. All of a sudden what we need (our intuition) gets hijacked by what we want.
Social media is another easy example to understand. How many times do you open your Instagram when you’ve told yourself that you’re not going to? I know that happened to me all the time until I deleted my account for a period of time.
How often are you scrolling through your feed while thinking “what am I looking at?” Again, that used to always happen to me too.
Developers have figured out how to override that voice in your head. They’ve figured out the formula, much like the food companies, that tricks your brain into coming back for more when you know you shouldn’t. It’s the same feedback loop that drugs play off of.
This is true of the 24 hour news cycle. It’s true of streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Prime.
So for many of us the majority of our daily interactions with food and technology are getting between us and our intuition and the result is we’re out of touch with what we want and are therefore unknowingly being conformed to what they want.
That’s why when you talk to someone face to face or on the phone the conversation is a much different one than the one you have online. You can tap into what you want and most people want the same thing.
It’s the reason why when you eat real food you don’t over indulge. Your body is able to signal to you and say “hey, we’re good.”
I think for most of human civilization people have been able to listen to their intuition and now there is so much noise and poison in our environment that we’re having a tough time tapping in. If we can eliminate the noise and limit the poison I think we’ll all see a big change in our health and more people come together.
Time Restricted Eating as a Tool and Bird Flu
Click here: OneSource Health, April 14, 2024
“If there is no solution there is no problem.”
Metabolical
Photo by Pushpak Dsilva on Unsplash
A few weeks ago, I shared my thoughts on time-restricted eating (“TRE”). In that newsletter I stated that while I used to practice TRE regularly, I stopped when I learned that fasting can negatively impact testosterone levels in healthy males. Well, the last two weeks have made a liar of me.
Over the last two weeks I’ve been staying up later than usual. On top of that I’ve also been snacking on sweet treats like brownies, ice cream, and my favorite of all, medjool dates stuffed with peanut butter. If you know me well and are shocked, you can blame it on The Great British Baking Show. It’s the reason I don’t want to go to bed and it’s convinced me to eat more sweets.
I’ve been rationalizing it by telling myself if they’re homemade (like the brownies) or made locally (like the ice cream), than I’m good. 🤷♂️
Regardless, as a result I’ve been waking up without an appetite and feeling like my GI tract needs a break before having breakfast. So, to counter my late night eating I’ve gone back to TRE.
Whenever people ask me about various diets, whether they’re vegan/vegetarian, keto/low carb, or fasting/TRE, I try to advise using them more like tools than diets. In the long run, none of those diets (IMO) are sustainable. But in the short term, they can have huge benefits. And that’s what incorporating TRE for me right now is doing.
I know that this recent habit of staying up late and indulging in sweets won’t last, but while it does, I’m going to enjoy it. But I’m also going to counter the effects of it as best as I can. And right now that means fasting through the morning and getting a workout in before eating.
As an example, today I took a 1 hour kickboxing at 11 am and ate my first meal at 1 pm.
There’s going to be certain times when your lifestyle easily lends to staying balanced and on track with your health and fitness goals. And there’s going to be other times when it won’t. It’s in those latter times that you want to implore the tools you’ve learned to ride out whatever it is that’s getting in the way of your routine.
We have 5 seasons left of The Great British Baking Show. Eight episodes per season, 1 - 1.5 episodes each night, means I can expect to continue my morning fasts for about another month.
Cheers to your practice.
James.
Avian Flu in the News
Avian flu or “bird flu” was in the news again last week. If you’re anything like me, you probably read the headline, thought something along the lines of “that’s scary,” and kept it moving. At least that’s what I’ve always done in the past, but recently I’ve been trying to educate myself more on what it means.
One of the benefits of knowing your farmer is you get access to their wealth of knowledge. This week when I decided I wanted to learn more about bird flu and write about it, I emailed Aila Holley, owner of Sisu Farms where I buy my meat from, to find out what she had to say on the topic.
Perhaps the most important thing I learned was that the number of birds lost during each outbreak does not actually represent the number of birds that were infected. Rather it represents the number of chickens that came in contact with an infected bird.
“The number of birds that were' affected' [by] avian flu is really very artificial,” Aila said. “It’s not actually birds that died of the virus but rather the birds in close proximity to those that died. The way the USDA handled compensation to producers, was they would be paid for any birds that had to be ‘depopulated’ due to being housed with birds that died and tested positive. So, in reality we don’t actually know how deadly the virus is because it was not allowed to run its natural course. When producers had a bird test positive for the flu, in most cases they would kill all the birds in that barn, sometimes to the count of 100’s of thousands.”
So, when Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg producer in the country, recently reported the “culling” of almost 2 million chickens at one of their Texas facilities, we don’t actually know how many were infected nor how many actually died from the virus.
With that said, we can assume that due to the environment that factory raised chickens are forced to live in “without sunshine, fresh air, soil and grass,” and fed commodity grown grains, they really wouldn’t stand a chance. They lack access to all the resources needed to build a robust immune system, one of the reasons why antibiotics have become so prevalent in factory “farming.”
Roughly 80 percent of all antibiotics worldwide are given to factory raised animals.
As Aila put it, a robust and resilient immune system “is one of the key differences in animals raised like that vs pasture-based producers” like her.
Aila and many other pasture-based producers, like Will Harris of White Oak Pastures and Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms, agree that the virus should be allowed to run its course to take out the weak birds and breed the survivors. But that’s not something the government is intent on doing.
Instead, they’re worried about containing the problem, not solving it. Which is why the health of the birds, is left out of the conversation.
This is the fifth outbreak since 1924 and in the 100 years since chicken factories have only grown larger and more crowded. Government’s only intervention has been to require the killing of all birds in proximity to an infected one. During the 2005 outbreak “experts” also suggested that all animals, including the ones raised on pasture, should be sent indoors. A virus fighting strategy we’ve all recently had the pleasure of experiencing.
It’s also the first time in history that a virus that causes high mortality in birds was detected in cows.
The 2 million chickens slaughtered by Cal-Maine Foods only represents 3.6 percent of their total flock. Doing the math, that means they have over 50 million birds under their care. That’s a number that scared me and should scare you too.
But once I learned how big these factories are, the numbers started to make sense. In the two most recent outbreaks combined, in 2005 and 2022, nearly 200 million chickens were exterminated worldwide. 200 million chickens could feed a lot of people.
How could one company possibly care for that many lives without compromising their health and welfare? They can’t. Raising healthy animals cuts into profit margins and would require a total revamp of their systems. They’re not concerned with the health of the animal we eat, which means that they are not concerned with our health either.
The CEO of Tyson isn’t eating Tyson chicken. And the CEO of Kelloggs isn’t feeding his children cereal for dinner (even though he’s suggesting you should).
What’s the alternative? By my count there are three.
Find, Befriend, or Become a Backyard Chicken Farmer
My mom is a backyard chicken farmer. She has around 30 egg laying chickens (hens) and one rooster that keeps the order. She feeds her chickens the highest quality feed she can find, filled with appropriate amounts of quality protein and nutrients vital for egg production. In the summer she gives them special treats like frozen watermelon and strawberries. She also hangs heads of cabbage and ears of corn for the chickens to peck at and enjoy.
Recently she’s even been supplementing their food with oregano and red pepper flakes to help their digestive tract (they don’t feel the heat from the pepper, but the last dozen eggs she sent me were a little too spicy… just joking).
Their coop receives an abundant amount of sunshine and fresh air, is cleaned regularly so they aren’t walking around in their own waste, and the chickens have regular human interactions.
Find a Local Farm like Sisu Farms (search on: eatwild.com)
Sisu Farms is a family-owned farm 2 hours outside of Denver, CO. They pasture raise all their meat, which includes chickens, turkeys, cattle, and hogs (best bacon I’ve ever tasted).
I asked Aila, how they raise their birds.
“We raise our laying hens in flocks of 400-500,” she said, “and our meat birds in batches of 200-400 and then when they are on pasture each 10x12 pen has 75-100 birds in it. Turkeys are in flocks of 75-100.”
The mobile pen, which is mainly there for protection, has no floor, so the chickens can eat, peck, and scratch the ground beneath them.
“We only raise meat chickens and turkeys in the summer months when they can be on pasture. Egg hens are out when weather allows and then in deep bedding hoop-houses in the winter months.”
When egg hens are inside for the winter months, they’re given an organic and diverse array of feed to supplement their diet.
Order from a Large Farm Pasture Based Farm
White Oak Pastures, in Bluffton, Georgia, is a large-scale production farm, but they still pasture raise all of their meat (of which they have 7 or more varieties). It’s not just how they raise their animals, it’s also about how they slaughter them. This is an excerpt from Will Harris’ book, A Bold Return to Giving a Damn.
“Unlike the industrial system’s slaughterhouses, the biggest of which kill four hundred head of cattle per hour, ours handles thirty head of cattle per day, four days a week. On the fifth day, a much smaller number of hogs, or sheep and goats, move through. Our poultry plant can do about a thousand chickens a day, compared to a quarter of a million in an industrial facility.”
I know that access to local food is limited, and sometimes we have no choice. But if we do have a choice, choosing local has repercussions that reverberate through the food system and our communities. And the best way to increase accessibility is to demand it with our dollars.
Where we buy our food from matters. It matters to the animals, farmers, communities, planet, and most important of all, to our health.
Source(s):
Largest U.S. egg producer detects bird flu at Texas plant
Risk of Avian Flu Could Send Poultry Indoors
Will's Wisdom: Avian Influenza & Dairy Cattle
Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. Reports Positive Test Result for Avian Influenza at Texas Facility
Stop using antibiotics in healthy animals to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance
Breakfast: Salmon Egg Scramble, Lentils, Local Mushrooms
Locally sourced mushrooms and an egg scramble make for a delicious and filling breakfast
I finally got more than 6 hours of sleep last night and I woke up extra hungry as a result. So I put together this heavy, hearty bowl.
I got my hands on some locally grown shiitake mushrooms from a small market that opened recently near my house, Littleton Meats. They’d been sitting in my refrigerator for a couple of days so decided to cook them this morning.
My bowl consists of, by layer: lentils, tofu, broccoli, and mushrooms, with a salmon, egg, and avocado scramble on top. I finished the dish with chopped raw garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and fig balsamic vinegar.
I’ll probably be full until dinner.
My Workout Got Stale So I Changed it Up
With kickboxing, handstands, and HIIT
In the past three weeks I’ve thrown myself into the fire in an effort to change up my fitness game. Just straight strength training was getting boring so I started looking for new training modalities. I had a few in mind that I had been thinking about for months and never acted on. So over the last few weeks as my motivation to go to the gym wained, and I found myself just going through the motions of a workout, I finally decided to change things up. And this week in particular I found myself in 3 very different forms of exercise.
Handstand and mobility
Hight Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
Kickboxing
The handstand class was at a place called ApeCo Movement School. As the name suggests the studio focuses on getting back to your primal roots by focusing on movement through all planes of motion. Classes focus on things like mobility, light acrobatics, and fun things like handstands. They also emphasize building relationships and community. Each class you’re paired up with at least one other person and you help guide each other through the movements. It’s a funky class with a style that’s way out of my comfort zone.
Take this week’s warm up as an example to help explain. The whole class started by laying on the floor. We pretended the floor was covered in paint and we had to twist, turn, and roll our bodies around to make sure that every inch of us was covered in paint.
The HIIT class (called Stations) was at a new gym that opened by me called The EPOC Experience. EPOC, I found out, refers to excess-post exercise oxygen consumption, which is the measurable increase in oxygen consumption and metabolism that happens after a high intensity workout. The class consists of 5 circuits, 2 - 4 exercises per, aimed at jacking up your heart rate (think sprinting on the treadmill for 60 seconds followed by 5 burpees, repeated for 9 minutes). It’s been a long time since I’ve sustained such a high intensity effort for 60 minutes, and this class kicked my ass.
The kickboxing class was at mixed martial arts school called Easton MMA. They teach kickboxing, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Entry level people like me can start in kickboxing before moving to more advanced modalities. It’s been years since I’ve hit a bag and it felt so good to unload for an hour. If you’ve never really punched, kicked, kneed, and elbowed a punching bag before, don’t waste anymore time. Find a gym and do it. There is no better way to relieve tension and stress. There is also no better way to build confidence.
So, what’s the point?
I’m always amazed by the nuances of movement whenever I try something new, or revisit something old. Each modality requires something slightly different of your mind and body if you want to be successful. Sometimes the hard part is what you expect it to be, like at the HIIT class at EPOC. I knew walking into that class that I’d been ignoring my cardio for over a year and that this class was going to kick my ass, so I just put my head down and powered through.
But at ApeCo the hard part for me isn’t the physical and mental demands of the handstand exercises (although for sure they are not easy), it’s getting comfortable allowing my body to move freely through space while in the presence of people I don’t know, all without letting my thoughts interrupt and stop me. And at Easton I walked in wondering how I’d fare on the bag in a 60 minute kickboxing class having not hit a bag for over 5 years. But it turns out that wasn’t the difficult part. The challenge was ignoring the rug burn on my knee from glancing blows on the bag and the blister on my foot that developed early in class from pivoting and driving through punches.
I’ve been able to sustain my fitness practice for over 20 years because I’m always looking for something new to jump into when my routine gets stale and never giving into that voice that says “don’t do it.” I look for what’s going to challenge me physically, force me to learn, and make me uncomfortable. Because those are the things that keep interest. And each one of these classes check all of those boxes.
If it doesn’t challenge you it doesn’t change you.
I know that right now my cardio is not where it needs to be if I want to leave HIIT class feeling anything but dead. That if I want to excel at the movement school I need to get over my fear of being uncomfortable moving in unorthodox patterns. And that if I keep kickboxing my toes and knees will form callouses to protect me. I know that while I’m struggling right now, that all of those things will only happen if I just keep going.
I also know that I’ll be able to take pieces of what I learn from each class and incorporate them into my routine going forward, and that the endurance, callouses, and body awareness I develop will serve my practice for years to come.
Salmon Breakfast Salad
A different way to enjoy breakfast
Unfortunately breakfast has become associated with foods loaded with simple carbohydrates and sugar. But it doesn’t have to be. Once you breakaway from the addiction they cause there’s no reason why breakfast can’t be healthy, savory, and delicious.
2 handfuls of greens
1/2 chopped apple
1/4 sliced avocado
1 handful of roasted brussels sprouts
1 6 oz filet of baked wild salmon
Finished with olive oil, fig balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, and sea salt
It's Groundhog Day When it Comes to Health Studies
Click here: OneSource Health, April 7, 2024
“But teach the children, and someday they’ll vote - with their dollars, with their ballots, and with their forks.”
Robert H Lustig, MD, MSL
A Good Book and Two Studies
Every week the media writes about a new study that tells us what we already know. This week the Washington Post provided two such examples. One about the increased risk of developing dementia and another about the benefits of the ketogenic diet on mental health (both discussed below).
It gets pretty exhausting seeing the same information published each week as if it’s ground breaking. And it’s maddening that despite everything we now know, or in the case of the ketogenic diet have known since the early 1900s, nothing changes in the one place that matters. Government.
Fake food is the most widely abused drug in the world and it’s completely unregulated. Walk into any store and buy as many hohos or Doritos as you want, or Super Size your Big Mac, fries, and soda at McDonalds. Contrast that to the last time you tried to buy some weed (assuming you have 👀), where they’ll check your ID, then make you wait in a holding pen to be escorted to the back, then check your ID again before making you point out what you want from behind the counter.
And that is not a comment on personal choice. It’s confirmation of how backwards our country has become. The thing that we know is killing us remains abundant, accessible, unregulated, AND subsidized by the government, while the thing that opens our mind, gets us in touch with ourselves, and has proven healing benefits remains highly taxed, regulated, expensive, and inaccessible to most.
Cheers to your practice.
James
Photo by Khalid Boutchich on Unsplash
“It’s not what’s in the food, it’s what’s been done to the food that matters.”
I just finished Metabolical, in which Robert Lustig, MD, MSL offers this straightforward advice: feed the gut, protect the liver. It reminds me of Michael Pollan’s equally simple advice: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
How do you feed your gut and protect your liver? Eat Real Food that’s high in fiber (food for your gut aka a prebiotic) and low in sugar (excess sugar in your diet ends up as stored fat in your liver which can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease or even cancer).
88 percent of people are believed to be metabolically ill. Your metabolic health is a reflection of how well your mitochondria function, which is impacted by everything you put into your body as well as outside factors such as air pollution (as we’ll see in the dementia study below).
But the greatest impact right now is by far our food. Specifically ultra-processed fake food. So how do you know the difference between real food and fake food? Dr. Lustig provides this great breakdown to help distinguish between the two.
“Processed food is defined by seven engineering criteria:
mass produced
consistent batch to batch
consistent country to country
uses specialized ingredients from specialized companies
consists of pre-frozen macronutrients
must stay emulsified so that the fat and water do not later out
must have a long shelf life or freezer life”
Of the seven characteristics, numbers 2 and 3, consistent from batch to batch and country to country, stuck out to me the most. I think because when you realize the extent to which the ingredients must be manipulated to achieve that level of consistency, to produce millions of copies that are shelf stable enough to ship all around the world, the reality of how unnatural a process it is starts to set in.
Source(s):
Recommend reading with Food Fix, The Omnivores Dilemma, and Animal, Vegetable, Junk
A Dementia Study Confirms the Obvious
The study concluded that alcohol, air pollution, diabetes, sleep, weight, smoking, and blood pressure all play a role in the risk of developing dementia. The same factors that influence every other disease.
And while diet is given little mention throughout the article referenced, it is well documented that a diet rich in ultra-processed food and sugar plays an important role. Dr. Lustig frames it like this in Metabolical:
“Given the $290 billion annual cost of dementia in the US and that there've been 146 failed trials, it's almost laughable that we keep trying to develop a drug… New research shows that sugar consumption is associated with the development of Alzheimer's disease. It appears that fructose alters mitochondrial function in the brain, reducing energy generation, which puts the identified neuronal proteins amyloid and tau at risk for clump-ing, forming the classic neurofibrillary tangles of Alzheimer's. A processed food eating pattern has been shown to be predictive of future Alzheimer's disease, although no one has yet demonstrated that switching to Real Food lessens one's risk.”
Switching to Real Food has not yet been studied because there’s nothing to gain by demonstrating this truth. It’s a lot harder to make money selling broccoli than it is drugs. We know the answer’s but somehow we’re still looking for a solution.
Source(s):
Study finds 3 big risk factors for dementia
“High-fat keto diet may help people with serious mental illness”
Fun fact about the ketogenic diet, it was actually developed in the early 1900s by a physician looking to treat seizures in people suffering from epilepsy. The physician was looking for a way to mimic the known mental benefits of fasting, one of which was treating seizures, in a way that was sustainable long term. You can only fast for so long before you starve.
Since then it’s been used by intelligent and independently thinking psychiatrists like Chris Palmer, MD who discusses it in more detail in this podcast episode. He’s been treating his patient’s depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia for years with a strict ketogenic diet and it’s been life changing for his patients. They’ve been able to get off their drugs and experience relief that psychiatric drugs never gave them.
So the results of the clinical trial discussed in the Washington Post article shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who has been paying attention.
If you’ve ever fasted or been strictly keto, then you’ve likely felt these benefits. Mental clarity and, oddly enough because you aren’t eating, an increase in energy are chief among them. I’ve experimented with the ketogenic before for extended periods of time (3 - 24 months), and the results have always been the same for me. Huge benefits short term. Unsustainable long term.
Still, I think that keto is a good tool to keep in your toolbox. It can help you achieve short-term goals, and it’s a good way to reel yourself back in after going off the rails (like say after the holidays, or after a vacation). However, I’m convinced more and more each day that eating a Real Food balanced diet and focusing on intuitive eating (trying to dial into what your body is telling you you need) remain the best path towards a healthy and happy life.
The problem is that when you live in an environment abound with fake food and catchy marketing it’s very easy to slip into bad habits. Use diet techniques like keto, vegan, paleo, fasting, and others to reset your path.
Source(s):
High-fat keto diet may help people with serious mental illness
Cell Phone Usage and Social Media
It’s not your phone you’re trying to avoid, it’s using your phone to benefit you.
I don’t use my phone less since I stopped using all social media (with the exception of LinkedIn), I just use it for what I think is more productive means. Like the way it was originally intended to before greedy corporations sunk their teeth into it.
Last week I used my phone for an average of 4 hours and 9 minutes per day. That is a long time. I think the average person uses their phone for 5 - 6 hours per day, so I’m not far off. But, my top five most used apps last week, which is representative of most weeks, were:
Messages: 8 hours total, 1 hour 10 minutes per day
Mail: 3 hours total, 24 minutes per day
Clock: 2 hours total, 16 minutes per day (I’m always cooking so I’m always timing something)
Maps: 90 minutes total, 13 minutes per day
News: 90 minutes total, 13 minutes per day
My next five were Zoom (I had 3 video calls last week, which is 3 more than I’ve had in the last five years, so this one is an anomaly), Brave (my web browser), Notes, Spotify, Password Keeper.
I still touch my phone as much as I did before, but the difference is that by not having social media on my phone, I have to look for other things to do. And I try to make those other things productive. Like reading an article I saved. Organizing and cleaning up my inbox. Or writing something down that was on my mind.
And I think that’s maybe where people struggle. They think they’re trying to avoid their cell phones and when that doesn’t work they think they’ve failed. But really you’re trying to use your phone to be productive and having social media on your phone makes it really difficult.
It’s like keeping cookies in the house and telling yourself you’re not going to eat them. Has that ever worked? I know it doesn’t work in my house.
Breakfast: Turkey Chili
A different way to hit the craving for turkey chili
I got my hands on local ground turkey recently from Littleton Meats, and in keeping with my theme of cooking in the crock pot, I thought it’d be nice to make a turkey chili.
But all the recipes I found called for a long ingredient list, most of which I didn’t have, and a long cook time, time I also didn’t have. So I did the next best thing.
I cooked the ground turkey in a pan and then added it to vegetable soup I made a couple of days earlier. I also added some brussels sprouts cooked the night before.
Yes, this isn’t chili, but it’s the next best thing and it’s hits the same spots. In some ways I think it’s better. I have three different ingredients, soup, turkey, brussels, that I can mix and match with anything else in my kitchen.
I realized this morning that it’s not really meal prep we’re after. It’s food prep to be used to create different meals.
A Visit from Family, Time Restricted Eating, and Blood Glucose
Click here: OneSource Health, March 31, 2024
“What makes it great is the personal. How you see the world that’s different from how everyone else sees the world. Thats why you’re an artist. That’s your purpose in sharing your work with the world.”
Rick Rubin
Table of Contents
The Mike’s in the Spaulding Bowl at Copper Mountain
Last weekend my brother and his friend came to visit Jen and I in Colorado and do some skiing. I planned on sending out a newsletter last Sunday, but we were having so much fun that I couldn’t even think about pulling out my computer. Instead I spent my weekend trying to keep up with these guys as they skied non-stop from first chair Friday to last chair Sunday.
In my brother’s own words, “we were like little kids, exploring the mountain looking for fun places to play, and being excited at every turn.”
I also thought that if I was going to practice what I preached (i.e. work life balance, focusing on relationships, and disconnecting), that I should just enjoy the time with my brother, friends, and loved ones in the mountains. I’m glad I did.
There is nothing like the healing power of nature and family.
This is the 19th newsletter. When I started this project in November, I promised myself that I’d push through for at least a year. And that’s what I intend on doing, only it’ll be with a slightly different approach and on a different platform going forward.
I appreciate everyone’s support up until this point. If you wish to continue following me, I’ll be sending out information on how to do that once I get organized in the next 1 - 2 weeks. There is no obligation to sign up. I know the content is not for everyone.
With that said, this week I just have two short pieces to share that I found interesting on the topic of differing views and medias role in shaping perspective.
Thanks again.
Cheers to your practice.
James
There’ always two ways to interpret a study
If you saw a headline last week that went something like, Time-restricted eating linked to 91 per cent higher risk of cardiovascular death, then you should also read Peter Attia, MD’s article Does time-restricted eating increase the risk of cardiovascular death?.
For anyone that doesn’t know, time restricted eating (TRE) is a popular diet technique used by people to lose weight and improve their health (or so they thought). The study looked specifically at the most common TRE approach, 16:8 (fasting for 16 hours, eating for 8).
But, as Attia points out, the study, cited by the BBC and various other media sources, is riddled with flaws. Most glaring of which was the discrepancy in the size of the study groups (414 vs 11,831 participants), and the prevalence of pre-existing conditions (i.e diabetes, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease), higher body mass index (BMI), and greater likelihood to be a smoker in the TRE group.
While the BBC acknowledges that the study has not been peer reviewed, scrutinized for credibility and reliability, it didn’t stop them from using the study’s click-bait conclusion as their headline, and never clarifying inconsistencies in the methodology of the study. They only care about eyeballs.
I’ve used TRE a lot in the last decade of my life because it gave me mental clarity and made me feel better physically. I only stopped this past summer when I learned that TRE in healthy males can lower testosterone levels. Other than that all the data I’ve ever seen has been positive.
Regardless, I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle. I think too much of anything, including being too rigid (i.e. demanding your body to eat within a set window) must have negative consequences. I know I’ve found that to be the case in my own life. Whether it be relationships, work, exercise, or diet, moderation and balance always prove to be the better approach. I haven’t mastered it yet, but I try to get closer every day.
But don’t take my word for it. Read both articles. Give TRE a try, if you never have, and see what kind of results you experience.
Two Takes on Glucose and Blood Sugar Spikes
Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) have been all the rage for a couple of years now. Everyone, including the healthy, are wearing them trying to gain insight into their health. I wore one for 3 weeks in the beginning of this year.
But there are opposing views when it comes to their effectiveness. This article by the Wall Street Journal, Is Glucose the New Gluten? Inside the Blood-Sugar Health Craze, provides a positive view based on anecdotal evidence.
While EC Synkowski, drawing conclusions from a meta-analysis that reviewed CGMs ability to predict cardiovascular disease, noted in her newsletter that wearing a CGM won’t improve weight or “optimize health” (she goes into more detail in this podcast episode from 2019).
Based on my own experience, I’d have to again land somewhere in the middle. Wearing a CGM made me more mindful of my food choices. The more I saw how certain foods impacted my body the more conscious I became. The most fascinating insight I had was learning how much poor sleep quality and quantity negatively influenced my body’s ability to regulate glucose.
I think anything that provides insight into the inner functioning of your body, and how it reacts to various inputs, is a good thing. Whether that’s a blood test, sleep tracker, or wearing a CGM. All the information helps paint a picture of your health.
Big changes don’t occur overnight, rather they are the result of many small changes over a lifetime. So, if a CGM can be the catalyst for one change amongst many, then it is beneficial.
Breakfast: Vegetable Soup and Eggs Over Easy
Hearty vegetable soup and eggs over easy make a delicious way to start a day
I love having a nice vegetable soup in the refrigerator to use as the base for any dish. This morning I decided to use it for breakfast.
I pumped up the soup with a handful of boiled broccoli, chopped red onion, and spiced pumpkin seeds (which added a nice texture to every bite).
For protein, and to make it feel more like “breakfast,” I added two pasture raised eggs from Sisu Farms cooked over easy. The runny yolk brought an additional layer of flavor to the dish.
I finished the bowl with salt, fig balsamic vinegar, and olive oil that was imported from Palestine and being sold at a local store called The Local (it’s also where I was able to pick up 2 whole pasture raised chickens from Sisu Farms).
This warm tasty dish was the perfect way to start my day.
Crock Pot Chicken and Lentils
Check out this hearty and healthy bowl filled with all the nourishment your body needs.
1.5 handfuls of Crock Pot Chicken chopped up
1 ladle of cooked green lentils, mixed with chopped white onion, 1 tbsp of olive oil and 2 pinches of sea salt
Cooking Instructions. Add 3 cups of water or vegetable brother to a pot. Add 1 cup of green lentils. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for 45 minutes, covered. Taste for tenderness before removing from heat. Strain the lentils and return them to the pot.
1 handful of spicy brussels sprouts
1 handful of sautéed crimini mushrooms
Cooking Instructions. Bring a pan to medium-high heat. Add a tbsp of olive oil. Slice an 8 oz package of mushrooms into quarters (baby bellas or crimini), toss lightly with 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2 pinches of sea salt and add them to the preheated pan. Add a few splashes of water to create steam and cover. Leave undisturbed for 5 minutes, then toss, cover again, and let sit for another 3 - 5 minutes.
Notes on Health, Wasted Food, and Communication
Click here: OneSource Health, March 17, 2024
“I am a kind of flawed mirror, by no means wise or actualized, but willing to be in the endless discomfort of asking ‘Is this life?’”
Boyd Varty, The Lion Trackers Guide to Life
Three Articles and a Book I Like
A Different Perspective on Health
When I think about health, I like to think back to what our ancestors did. It’s highly unlikely that they thought about “getting in shape,” working out, lifting weights, or going for a run (unless being chased). But they were most certainly active most days, for most of the day. I imagine they were always outside getting sweaty or fighting the cold.
When it came to food, processed food wasn’t invented yet (yes, processed food is an invention), so they ate whole foods, meats, veggies, nuts, and berries. But they also indulged in foods rich in “simple carbohydrates,” sugar, and butter. Breads, pastas, and pastry are a historical part of every culture. But the difference is that they knew where their food came from, and what ingredients were in it. It was either made in their home, or by someone they knew.
There’s a growing movement to know where your food comes from. To know your farmer. But it’s not just the farmer. You should know your baker, your pasta maker, and your confectioner. If you know who’s growing or making your food, you’re way more likely to know what’s in it, and what’s not (i.e. preservatives, gums, artificial ingredients). Because when food is fresh and local, there isn’t much it needs to be good.
And for most of us, I don’t know if it’s much more complicated than that. If you can get outside every day to move and get to know the people or places that your food is coming from, health will take care of itself.
Cheers to your practice.
James.
Food Waste is Wasted Food
When I hear the term “food waste” I envision moldy produce, rotten meat, and food scraps. Even though I know that’s not what they are referring to, I can’t help but have that vision. But when I think of wasted food, I picture discarded leftovers, perfectly good produce left to rot, or food thats thrown out for being “past” it’s best by date.
For companies like We Don’t Waste, whose mission is to rescue food wasste and provide it to people suffering from food/nutrition insecurity, it means pallets full of ripe organic produce like carrots, potatoes, shallots, and broccoli. It means frozen pork shoulders and ground beef. Trays of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits, and mac n cheese. And it means loaves of fresh bread and pastries. This is “food waste” which is not at all what many of us picture.
Which is why we need to start calling it by its proper name. Wasted food.
Food gets wasted at every stage of its life cycle. Production (16.8 percent), processing (14.7 percent), and grocery stores/restaurants (20.2 percent) account for the fair share. But most of good food gets wasted at home. A staggering 48.2 percent of the 80 million tons of wasted food occurs at home! That’s an insane number, but it means we have the power to impact change, if we can shift our mindset.
When it comes to waste, the root cause is always the same. Cost and abundance. When a resource is cheap and readily available, the more likely we are to take it for granted. We can “afford” to throw out leftovers. We can “afford” to let those vegetables turn and wilt. Because we can get more. Reducing food waste comes down to a shift in mindset.
Here’s two strategies that I use to cut down on my wasted food:
How much food are you buying? We have an inclination as humans to buy food before we even need it. Only two bananas left? Better buy another bunch. We cooked all the broccoli? Let’s buy a couple of more crowns.
Don’t be afraid to run out of your favorite foods. If we’re lucky enough to be able to waste food, we also have easy access to buy more. So, running to the store is always an option. Also, letting your favorite foods run out is a good way to vary your diet and force yourself to try something new.
Ask yourself, what would I do if I had limited access to food? Would I just throw out those leftovers, or would I repurpose them? Would I toss out that last bit of food from my plate, or store it as a snack for later?
I know I’ve encountered this mindset during the pandemic or when I’ve been out backpacking (there’s only so much food you can bring with you). In those scenarios, when food is scarce, we take better care of it. We need to adopt that mindset to our everyday lives.
Why it matters: Landfills produce 1/3 of all human-driven methane and wasted food accounts for 58 percent of it. 44 million people suffer from food insecurity creating stress, poor food choices, poor health, and reduced productivity, creating a drain on our economy and the healthcare system. But with 40 percent of food going to waste it’s an unnecessary chain of events that people need not face. If we can figure out how to get more of this food into the hands of the people who need it and keep it out of the landfill, we’ll kill two birds with one stone and do a lot of good!
Sources:
A Bulk of Food Waste Happens at Home. Here’s How to Cut Your Footprint.
The Staggering Scale of Food Waste, Explained.
Understanding Your Health Markers
I think it’s normal to question what somebody tells you. Not because people are dishonest. But because people get shit wrong all the time. So why would you accept one person’s opinion, even if they are an “expert?” It’s the main reason I liked this article.
In this post by Levels Health they provide insights into the importance and optimal ranges of 12 different health metrics as told by eight highly credentialed MDs and PhDs. The advisors agree in principle that metabolic health, how well your mitochondria perform in response to the stress of living and eating, is the key to being healthy, and metabolic dysfunction, caused by an ineffective healthcare system and an environment filled with fake foods, leads to chronic disease.
But each one of them has a slightly different opinion on what is optimal when it comes to the health markers, why they’re important, and how to interpret them. I decided to take my most recent blood work and see how my results compared to their advice and see if I could learn anything new.
My main takeaway: Heart disease is the leading cause of death in America, which makes understanding these metrics of extreme importance. I also have a family history of heart disease, so it’s always my main concern. While my LDL-C and Total Cholesterol are above the optimal range, my HDL and triglycerides are in a healthy range. Most reassuring to me is that my Triglycerides-to-HDL ratio, the one marker that all the advisors on this panel agree is the best predictor of heart disease, is well within optimal ranges.
When I had my blood panel run in January and learned that my LDL and Total Cholesterol had climbed, I made several changes to my diet and lifestyle. I reduced my red meat intake from daily to 1 - 2 x per month, and began incorporating more soy, green tea, and legumes into my diet (recommendations from InsideTracker). While I don’t believe that red meat causes heart disease, my cholesterol levels have been rising ever since I reintroduced red meat into my diet a few years ago. So, I figured it’s better safe than sorry.
I’ve also focused on getting a high volume of quality sleep (inadequate sleep interferes with your body’s ability to clear cholesterol), and better stress management. Both of which have been greatly improved by reducing the amount of caffeine I consume each day. Recently I’ve also introduced high-intensity aerobic exercise into my routine that should improve my cardiorespiratory fitness, VO2 Max (I’ll be publishing a post about it this week).
Whether or not these changes will be enough to make an impact remains to be seen, but I plan on having my bloods run again in April to find out.
Why it matters: We’re living in an age of endless information, where everyone is an “expert,” and the amount of contradictory information is endless. This post gives you a range of voices to listen to, while providing clear information to take with you to your next doctor’s appointment. One of the experts, Robert Lustig, MD recently published a book Metabolical, which I’m about 1/3 of the way through. He tackles the healthcare industry head on. I’d recommend it to anyone interested in learning about metabolic health and the effects of processed foods.
Sources:
The ultimate guide to understanding your cholesterol panel and metabolic blood tests
The Reason to Exercise and Why You Don’t
Last week I shared a couple of articles about being evolutionarily prone to opposing exercise. The theory is that the human brain evolved to favor rest so that energy could be stored for finding food or fending off predators. But while food is abundantly available (to most of us), and we are the apex predator, our brains still haven’t figured out that over-eating and being sedentary is the new threat. But I wanted to add an addendum to that post.
Part of the untold reason that over 70 percent of Americans fail to get the recommended dose of weekly exercise (120 - 150 minutes of aerobic exercise and two weight training sessions) is because they don’t know how to. And who likes doing things that they are bad at? Mostly no one.
The reason we don’t do most of the things we dream of, is because we don’t know how to, which makes it uncomfortable and challenging. Take bouldering as an example, a sport I’ve dreamt of getting into for 3 years now. I would love to be out bouldering, but aside from practicing at a climbing gym, I’ve didn’t grow up doing it, I’ve never been taught, and therefore it seems like a big undertaking.
I need the right climbing shoes. I need to know where to go. Where to park. I think I need a bouldering mat. Some chalk. A climbing partner for safety? What do I do once I’m out there? Try the same boulder, or try a bunch?
But the difference between bouldering and exercise (i.e. running, weight training) is that there’s an inherit assumption that we all “know” how to do the latter. But we don’t, and therefore don’t see any progress, assume we don’t like it, and stop. But it’s not true. You were never given the tool. You never got to explore what you like or were given the opportunity to learn. And that’s the truth.
Why it matterss: Exercise has been shown to improve nearly every health outcome (even Parkinson’s disease), and reduce the risks of cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. Exercise also plays a vital role in reducing anxiety and eliminating depression. Resistance training improves balance and flexibility (key to aging), strengthens bones and joints, and reduces age related muscle loss (sarcopenia).
In short, if you’re interested in your health, exercise is a good place to start. And as the article points out, and as I alluded to above, it doesn’t have to be complicated. “Even everyday tasks like moving one’s body weight in and out of chairs, climbing stairs, or carrying heavy groceries and full laundry baskets count.” (check out: How to Make Your Life Harder to Live Longer for other recommendations)
Everyone deserves to feel their best. Forget about the disease fighting benefits and all the complicated reasons and ways that people want to convince you to exercise. The main and only reason is because you want to feel your best and exercise will help you get there. And the health results will follow in time.
Sources:
What lifting weights does to your body—and your mind
Your Brain is Built to Avoid Exercise - here’s why
Your Brain Doesn’t Want You to Exercise
Learn How to Communicate with Charles Duhigg
Some books teach you something new. Others offer a reminder of what you already know. And some do both. That was the case for Supercommunicators, by Charles Duhigg. We all know the importance of good communication, yet very few of us are ever taught how good communication is facilitated. As George Bernard Shaw said, “The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion it has taken place.”
Charles Duhigg is the author of The Power of Habit, a book I reference and recommend often as it profoundly changed my understanding of habits, their formation, and how to change them. In Supercommunicators, he takes on our inability to communicate with one another, highlights the key to good communication, the ability to connect, and emphasizes that a successful conversation starts with knowing what kind of conversation we’re having. In short, do we want to be helped, hugged, or heard?
Why it matters: I’ve found that most ill will is the result of misunderstandings, which is the result of miscommunication. We’re never really taught how to communicate, the way we’re never really taught how to run, but we’re expected to just know how to do both. When we get hurt running we automatically think running is bad, instead of questioning our gait. The same goes for communication. So often we think we know what kind of conversation we had, when we have no idea. Knowing how to communicate is especially important in today’s world of social media where things like verbal cues, which are paramount to good communication, are completely lacking. This book will provide basic tools and fundamentals to have better conversations and achieve more.
Sources:
Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, by Charles Duhigg
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and in Business, by Charles Duhigg