Information – The Healthy Us

Trophology . . . What??

Posted on April 5, 2017April 5, 2017 by Sam Boyd

Trophology is the study of correct food-combining, that is, the art of knowing which foods go best with which others. Foods can be grouped according to their main constituents as follows:

Carbohydrates:
- Starches – rice, millet, pasta, corn, bread, flour, potatoes, bananas, squashes
- Sugars – cane sugar, honey, malt, syrups, fruits:
- Acid fruits – tomatoes, citrus (lemons, limes, oranges, pineapples, grapefruits), strawberries, cranberries
- Sub-acid fruits – melons, apples, pears, peaches, plums, grapes, cherries, raspberries, blackberries
- Sweet fruits – dried dates, figs, raisins, bananas, prunes, pawpaw
Proteins – nuts, seeds, pulses, beans, milk, yoghurt, cheese, fish, meat
Fats – peanuts, olives, oils, butter, cream, animal fat
Vitamins and Minerals:
- Vegetables and salads – onions, broccoli, courgettes, peas, carrots, celery, lettuce

The process of digestion has nine basic rules which describe combinations to avoid:

Carbohydrate + Carbohydrate
Carbohydrate + Acid Fruit
Carbohydrate + Protein
Carbohydrate + Sugar
Protein + Acid Fruit
Protein + Protein
Protein + Fat
Melon + any other food
Milk + any other food

Proteins are digested by the enzyme pepsin in the stomach, which only works in the presence of hydrochloric acid (HCl). (Note this is different from the acid in acid fruits, which impede protein digestion.) Different concentrated proteins require secretions of very different digestive juices, so one should only eat one kind of protein (and likewise only one starch) at a time. However, since most foods contain small amounts of protein, we ignore it in combinations, the rules for combining foods applying only to the concentrated starches, sugars, fats and proteins.

Starches, on the other hand, require an alkali medium and the amylase in saliva which contains ptyalin, an enzyme which breaks down starch into maltose. The process continues in the small intestine, where more amylase further breaks down the maltose into simple glucose, fructose and galactose. These are absorbed into the bloodstream, and taken to the liver, which dispenses the energy to whatever cells in the body need it. If there is no immediate requirement, the glucose will be converted to glycogen and stored in the liver, or into fat to be stored in adipose tissue.

So consuming proteins and starches together will result in each being impeded by the other. Similarly, the eating of sugars and acid fruits impede the action of ptyalin and pepsin, reducing the secretion of saliva, and delaying digestion. If insufficient amylase is present in the mouth (due to insufficient chewing, or too much sugar), any starches will not be digested at all in the stomach, instead clogging up the works until amylase in the small intestine can get to work on it.

Fats impede the secretion of digestive juices, and reduce the amount of pepsin and hydrochloric acid, so they should be avoided or used sparingly with protein-rich foods.

Vegetables and salads combine well with all food types.

Acid fruits clash with most things, so are best eaten on their own; melons also, a special case, which should never be combined with other foods. Sub-acid fruits are easier to mix with other types in moderation, but all fruits are digested not in the stomach but the intestine, so will just slow things down (and ferment) until they get there. This is why a purely fruit diet is so beneficial to health (especially when one is ill), there being no starches or proteins to impede the fruits which pass quickly through the stomach to the intestine.

This may all sound contrary to our ‘conventional’ habits, until one realises that the sandwich and the hamburger are modern inventions. However, consider a sliced-lemon sandwich, or melon with millet, or pineapple with almonds, or pasta with potatoes and tortillas, and see how appetising they sound; instinctively upsetting no doubt, although we think nothing of pouring lemon juice on salad to accompany (destroy) our crusty baguette. Milk is best taken alone or left alone.

In Practice…

I tried eating separate meals of proteins and carbohydrates for a while, but found it quite hard to maintain a satisfying diet this way, probably due to years of ingrained eating habits. (Having written this article I shall certainly try some more experiments now I am a bit wiser.) Studies on young children, however, show that given the choice of a wide range of foods of all kinds, at first they try a bit of everything, to find what they like.

Eventually they settled into a pattern of eating only one or two foods at a time, say lots of beetroot, or lots of fish, and ignored sweets in favour of slow-release carbohydrates such as potatoes and rice. If one thinks about our prehistoric hunter-gatherer ancestors, they would probably eat whatever food they found, be it grains or fish or a handful of nuts or fruits.

I think it is important to not get too obsessed with finding the perfect diet straight away, because our needs change throughout our lives and depend on age, climate, exercise and other factors. It takes a lot of experiential study to find what suits you and what you enjoy. Bear these trophological issues in mind, but don’t feel constrained by them. The most important thing is to eat a balanced diet which includes plenty of slow-release carbohydrates from whole-grains, protein from pulses and seeds, fibre from fresh fruit and veg, and little or no sugared or processed food. If you’re wanting to lose weight, then the ideas presented here may be helpful, but really the best way to lose weight is to get plenty of exercise and eat a healthy, balanced diet, as:

A diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables and plenty of fibre seems to help protect against bowel cancer and there is evidence that a diet containing much meat may increase the risk.

This article was lifted directly from an old article from 2004. I attempted to get in touch with the original author, but to no avail. I left the British/Canadien spellings in it. I thank Malcolm Smith for this timeless information.

Eating for Health, Not for. . .

Posted on September 6, 2016 by Sam Boyd

Something that comes up often in conversations with others is goals and accomplishments. This conversation is a good one to have with yourself, and with someone else you are being accountable to. We all know that having someone to be accountable to is a great idea and will help you accomplish your goals with your “diet” (For the record, I hate that word, dieting is a fad, lifestyle change is what we should strive for.) But for the sake of this article, we will use that horrible, terrible word as a catch-all for what you’re doing.

First, it is not reasonable to expect busy adults to actually count calories or measure out grams of protein or carbs or fats. If you have time for that, then more power to you. Most people will not take that kind of time to do that, they will want something that fits into their lives without actually disrupting their lives on such a scale. Now, that is not to say that you need to just throw caution to the wind and eat whatever you want, but it’s less stressful than you think it is. Here’s how:

Start reducing your fast carbs that do not accomplish anything. By these I mean the following, and in this order: White Bread, White Rice, Bleached Grain products (think pastas), White Potatoes, Whole Wheat Bread, Heirloom Grains, Brown Rice, Whole Grain Breads, Whole Grain products (think whole grain pastas), etc. The reason to remove these and in that order is simple. White Bread has little to no nutritional value. They fortify it during the process of making it, prior to the baking process (which basically extracts all the fortified nutrients that they add) and it has little nutritional value. Basically, if you take a small piece of white bread and chew it up, and then chew it a little longer, you will notice that it will get sweet in your mouth, there is a reason for that. It’s basically sugar. Also, if you eat white bread now, switch to wheat bread. It is not perfect and if you could greatly reduce bread in general, that would be better, but switching from a “white” grain to a colored grain is a start.
Increase the colored carbs that you don’t think about. Vegetables are carbs. That is true, but the amount of fiber in most vegetables neutralizes the carb load you experience when you eat them. For example, look at a carrot. People will scream about the amount of sugars in a carrot, forgetting that it digests so slowly due to the fiber that your insulin response can easily respond in such a way that you do not immediately store it as fat. Vegetables are also your best source of overall nutrition in your diet. If you are being encouraged to eat fewer vegetables and you are over the age of 30, you need to question this. Lettuce, spinach, kale, broccoli, celery and cauliflower are very close to calorie-even when you get down to it.
Satiety is the most important factor to a successful food plan, regardless of how complex or simple it is. If you are hungry all the time, you will stray. The importance of being able to eat without it feeling like a task is the key. You can do this by eating protein throughout the day, but more importantly, keep your stomach full and you will be happy. The easiest way to do this is to drink a lot of water. I am not saying replace your meals with water, that is crazy. But if you drink water throughout the day, your stomach will stay full and you will have better success. Eating vegetables throughout the day is also helpful. I get funny looks all the time at work for my “garden bin” that stays out at my desk for the whole night. It is a 1/2 gallon plastic container that I fill with mini-peppers, carrots, celery and whatever. I snack on it the whole night.
Most importantly there is a key thing to remember. You are going to stray. You are going to pass up someone who has a container of chocolate covered something or other and have a couple. Don’t beat yourself up about it. It is not the end of the world. Look at everything else you changed in the day. If you eat a crapload of veggies during the day, your body has already won the battle.

The important thing about what you are doing is that you are consciously trying to increase your health. Contrary to what articles say the research out there supports health over weight loss. Firstly, one leads to the other, that is a fact. If you replace McDonald’s’ with celery, you are going to lose weight. But more importantly, you are going to have a few positive changes that will occur. You will get nutrients that your body craves. You will get the fiber your body craves.

Second, nobody wants to take the time to measure things out and do complex calculations about glycemic index and glycemic load to figure out what the best thing to do is. An easy way to look at it, taking protein as the example, is this: If you are not trying to be a body builder in your spare time, you are probably taking in too many carbs and too much protein. When you look at a chicken breast that you just cooked, there you go. Not two, not three, not a small bite of another one. Just that one. When you are given a choice between the 1/2 pound burger and the 1/3 pound burger, choose the smaller one. Then don’t put bacon on it. These are the kind of things that are easy to do. Sensible even. Better yet, split it with someone else at the table that way you can get the big burger and add the bacon to it. Don’t get fries, get a salad. Don’t drink soda, better yet, drink water. You have just taken a carby-meat meal of about 1200 calories and changed it to about 450 calories and you did not suffer any kind of loss or denial of what you think you crave. My wife would kind of chuckle when we went to a steak house because I would order a steak and two house salads. What? I like salad and I did not want a potato. 4 years ago, it would have been different, but now, I crave salads. Simplify things in your “diet” and you will find that you make better food choices.

Third, I will always argue that you should be eating for health and not for any other reason. There are lots of terrible ideas out there that are there to take money and self-esteem away from people. If they are eating a food plan that subscribes to a food plan and does not subscribe to a lifestyle change, they are barking up the wrong tree. If you do not change your habits, change your ideas and change your lifestyle, you will not achieve what you are trying to achieve in your goals for your body.

As always, if you have questions or comments please comment below. If you need help with these types of choices and decisions, we run an all online class that lasts 12 weeks and starts every 2 weeks. If you need help, it’s here.

Sugar or Not-Sugar (for Health)

Posted on August 28, 2016August 28, 2016 by Sam Boyd

For the purposes of this , let’s both assume that we are talking about a situation that involves not cutting out sugar. We both agree that changing your palate to crave less sugary tastes and eliminating excess sugar from your diet will help you achieve any health, fitness or wellness goal. This is about alternatives when you feel like you cannot avoid it or have to have something sweet.

Calorie-Free Sweeteners

Stevia

Derived from the leaf of a South American shrub, this natural substance is up to 200 times as sweet as sugar. Stevia-based products like Truvia and Pure Via are made from a purified extract of the plant, called rebaudioside A (Reb A), and sugar alcohols.

Pros: It’s a natural sweetener that’s free of artificial chemicals. You also can use stevia in cooking and baking. There are few negatives to Stevia.

Cons: Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of Reb A as a sugar substitute, the whole leaf and crude extracts – sold as supplements in health food stores – have not been approved. I have to say that although it is classified as a sugar substitute, it is still a natural product that is highly refined into a substance. Use with caution until all the long-term studies are actually complete.

Pure Maple Syrup

Boiling down the sap of a maple tree creates this caramel-colored liquid. The sweetener contains about the same amount of calories as sugar – 17 per teaspoon compared with sugar’s 16.

Pros: It contains minerals the body needs, like manganese and zinc. Plus it’s pretty delightful tasting.

Cons: Its distinct flavor affects the taste of drinks, dishes and baked goods, and not always in a desired way.

Agave

This liquid sweetener comes from the cactus-like agave plant. Its nectar is processed into syrup, which contains 20 calories per teaspoon.

Pros: Agave is lower on the glycemic index than other sweeteners, which means it doesn’t make blood sugar spike as high. The syrup also has a neutral flavor that works well in drinks and dishes. And because agave is about 50 percent sweeter than sugar, you’ll need less. But…

Cons: If you’re trying to cut back on processed foods, agave may not be the way to go. With all of that process, it means that it ends up affecting the body in a stronger way than sugar can. Because of the way that fructose is processed, the amount of Agave that you take in is equivalent to more than the same amount of sugar. The low glycemic index can be eliminated by the high liver impact that processing fructose can have on the body.

Honey

Made by bees from the nectar of flowers, honey contains 21 calories per teaspoon.

Pros: Honey is sweeter and thicker than sugar, so people tend to use less of it. It’s also a natural source of antioxidants, and swapping honey for sugar may keep LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol levels from rising, according to a 2009 study in the Journal of Medicinal Food.

Cons: Honey should not be given to babies younger than 12 months because their immune systems aren’t strong enough to fend off potential contaminants in this natural product. However, when used in cooked foods, the risks of botulism and other components tend to be lessened when the honey is brought to a boiling point of cooked food. IT has a very distinct flavor that some people find very off-putting.

Now, the above ones are termed “natural” and I view them as acceptable as far as a substitute goes. However, use with caution. I am adding these next two to the list simply to show how horrible they are. These need to be avoided. If you must have something sweet using chemicals is not a good idea.

Aspartame

Found in diet drinks, sugar-free gum and those blue packets, this synthetic sweetener is sold under the brand names Equal and NutraSweet.

Pros: Introduced in 1981, aspartame is one of the most studied sweeteners on the market. Yay, for research.

Cons: Heat can break down aspartame, which creates a bitter aftertaste, so avoid cooking with it. Keep in mind that the chemical breakdown point of aspartame is right at 89 degrees. So, if you think about it, your body is a higher temperature than that, so it breaks down in the body into its component parts. Also, aspartame can trigger headaches or stomach discomfort in certain people, in some sensitive people, it can trigger an inflammatory response as well. This stuff is linked (anecdotally, not confirmed through the short-term studies, long-term studies have been inconclusive). This stuff is bad.

Sucralose

Also called Splenda, and sold in yellow packets, it’s made from a chemically tweaked version of sugar that isn’t absorbed by the body. The processed sweetener is used in a bevy of products, such as soft drinks, cereals and baked goods.

Pros: Because sucralose can withstand heat, you can use it for cooking and baking. “It doesn’t provide the same consistency or color as sugar,” says registered dietitian Bethany Thayer, director of the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. In other words, cookies will turn out thinner and paler.Splenda Sugar Blend, a mixture of sugar and sucralose, may produce better results.

Cons: Although the components in Sucralose can withstand the heat of cooking, it is also true that it can withstand the heat and processes of the body. So, conversely to Aspartame, it will not break down in the body, for anything. The substances in sucralose that can breakdown through enzymatic processes have been linked to increased boy pH and inflammation. Like aspartame, sucralose can lead to headaches, digestive issues and an increased insulin response in the body. Like Aspartame, I hate this stuff and call it bad. Don’t Use it.

So there you go. There is some information on sweetening food. Use natural if you have to sweeten things. I have a preference for honey and maple when it comes to sweeteners.

Preparation for Cleanse/Reset/Detox

Posted on April 14, 2016April 13, 2016 by Sam Boyd

[Updated 4/13/16, in the middle of the night]

It is near tax-day, so time for a cleanse.

The importance of prepping for your week cannot be overstated when you are trying to navigate a new clean eating regimen, detox or cleanse. The old saying goes that “those who fail to prepare only prepare to fail” and I can personally vouch for that moniker as truth. It is a simple statement to say but a nice mantra to take to heart.

We are starting a new cleanse on 4/25 and I am already preparing for our grocery trip. I am making lists, thinking of recipes, considering containment devices, all to plan on success in this cleanse. Cleansing and resetting your diet is a simple way to get back on track and usually forces you to question why you got off track in the first place. Typically, I know that it is time to cleanse again when I start getting some random pains in my joints and have some more exciting and noteworthy stomach rumblings. These are signs that I have started to put things back in my diet that I know I shouldn’t and have subtracted things from my diet that I should have kept. My ankle started to hurt the other day and it made me realize that I needed to take care of some things. Plus, added stress from all of our lives is usually lessened when you are eating better. That is reason enough, eh?

First: Make a list of goals that you are trying to accomplish by resetting your diet and yourself. My goals include a return to complete clean eating and a metabolism jumpstart. I am looking forward to feeling amazing all the time again. I understand that it’s annoying to my friends when I feel like this, but the best way to cope with me is to come along.

Second: Make a list of stuff that you intend to have for your meals. Nothing set in stone, unless that is your style, but at least a few ideas to help you plan your week. Some of the “Phase I” recipes on our site can help you plan or come up with ideas.

Third: Look at your list of foods that you might make and plan your grocery list off that list. For example, if you might make Sweet Potato Chili, you might want to get all the ingredients that you need for that.

Fourth: Make a list of snacks that you will want during the week. The snacks are what carry you through and are probably more important than your entrees. I eat a lot of carrots, celery and mini peppers when I am on a cleanse, so those are on my list. Incidentally, I cook with these as well, so keep that in mind. You want to make sure that you get enough to eat and to cook with or else you will find yourself in a world of hurt on Thursday and forcing yourself to eat eggplant and radish stew for two days. (I will make a delectable recipe for you if you need it).

Now, go to the store and get everything and come home. I will wait.

Okay, you have a mountain of veggies and now it is time to prep it all. Set your DVR to record your shows, because this is more important and needs to get done. I find that when I prep snacking veggies that I put everything in 2-3 bite sections. For instance, cutting celery and carrots into 4 inch pieces works best for me because I can grab one and eat it in about 11 seconds. If you want smaller pieces, do it, do you…YOLO. You want to cut enough to put into 6 1-cup servings or so per day, so keep that in mind. Look at the statements below for help:

8 – 4 inch stalks of celery is about 1 serving

8 – 4 inch pieces of carrot is about 1 serving

8 – Small radishes is about 1 serving

8 – Half-dollar size broccoli florets is about 1 serving

8 – Half-dollar size cauliflower florets is about 1 serving

8 – Mini sweet peppers is about 1 serving

1 – Red, green, or bell pepper cut into strips is about 1 serving

1 – Medium apple, orange, mango, etc is about 1 serving

30 – Blueberries is about 1 serving

10 – Strawberries is about 1 serving

1 – 1/4 cantaloupe, pineapple, small honeydew is about 1 serving.

You get the idea. You will want to prep the following for the week: 28 bags/containers of snack veggies, 7-14 bags/containers of snack fruit. This should make things easier. This is also per person. It will look like a lot, and truth be told, it is a lot, but you should be striving to eat it all in the week. Think about all the benefits to supercharging your immune system with all of these nutrient rich foods. And remember, it is only 7 days, and when you get a couple of days into it, you start to feel so awesome that it gets a ton easier. Remember to take your B-Vitamins and Multivitamin and you will be golden. The Activated-B supplement is your best friend: have a headache, take some B, feel a little tired, take some B, sky not blue enough, take some B, kids too loud, take some B. Whatever. It is depleted by stress over the course of your day, so take more if you need it. If there is too much, you pee it out. Easy.

If you have any questions, email or message us or your coach. Don’t have a coach, email or message us and we can get you hooked up. Want to be a coach, email or message us and we can get you really hooked up.

Hot or Sweet, Peppers are amazing!!

Posted on February 21, 2016February 22, 2016 by Sam Boyd

I love peppers. Specifically the mini peppers that you get at the store that are bite size. But any size pepper will do nicely, any color as well. The vibrant colors of peppers are awesome and if you ever have a chance to add them to your pictures, you should. After all, why do you think that one weird guy from Iron Chef bit into a bright orange pepper. It was vibrant and looked exotic. And as we get ready to embark in cleanse land again, I am thinking about foods that I love that make a detox easier and more appealing. But the appeal of bell peppers goes way beyond their stunning good looks.

First, peppers are low in calories! So, even if you eat one full cup (which is about 8 mini-peppers) you get just about 45 calories. Bonus: that one cup will give you more than your daily allowance of Vitamin A and C!

Second, they contain plenty of vitamin C, a super powerful antioxidant, which powers up your immune system and keeps skin youthful. The highest amount of Vitamin C in a bell pepper is concentrated in the red variety, but all peppers are loaded with it.

Third, the red bell peppers contain several phytochemicals and carotenoids, particularly beta-carotene, which lavish you with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory benefits, vision improvement (certain enzymes in bell peppers, such as lutein, protect the eyes from cataracts and macular degeneration later in life), and capsaicin. The capsaicin in bell peppers has multiple health benefits. Studies show that it reduces ‘bad’ cholesterol, controls diabetes, brings relief from pain and eases inflammation.

Fourth, if cooked for a short period on low heat, bell peppers retain most of their sweet, almost fruity flavor and flavinoid content, which is a powerful nutrient. The sulfur content (which also tends not to cook out) in bell peppers makes them play a protective role in certain types of cancers.

Fifth, The bell pepper is a good source of Vitamin E, which is known to play a key role in keeping skin and hair looking youthful. Bell peppers also contain vitamin B6, which is essential for the health of the nervous system and helps renew cells.

So make sure you really love your peppers and include them in your diet as much as you can. You will be rewarded with both taste and health.

How Much Sleep Do You Actually Need?

Posted on December 11, 2015December 8, 2015 by Sam Boyd

You know, if you are trying to workout, lose weight, and be healthy this is a huge part of the solution. A lot of people are struggling with health and the easiest solution is to sleep more. Ahhh, Sleep. I saw a post on FB the other day talking about how much each astrologic sign needs to function, and while funny and fun to think about, was clearly full of crap. I, personally, am a Gemini and it says that I routinely get either 2 hours or 12 hours. While this is only partially true, it is terrible. An easy way to denigrate your health is to sleep inconsistently for a long period of time.

Picture this basic anecdotal thought process. Keep in mind, there is no science in the next few sentences, just logic. When you are sick, you sleep more. I do, at least. I choose to think that I need that extra sleep so that my body can heal itself when I damage it, and it is telling me to take it easy on it for a few days by giving me a cough, congestion and overall crappiness (not a fever, though, if you have a fever, then you are sick. Exhaustion is not a cause of fever.) So therefore, I think that if I sleep enough each night, then I am doing that healing as I go, so I get sick less often.

Now, that unscientific thought process is not entirely off base. Your body does require a certain amount of sleep each night to allow for cell repair, electrolyte movement, calcium absorption and reabsorption, blood replenishment, clotting factor stabilization, and the list goes on. So, it makes sense that if you do not allow the body to do these things, you will get yourself in trouble.

The CDC and NIH have come up with a sort of cheater’s table for sleep that can be summarized pretty easily in two sentences. Kids need 10 hours of sleep and Adults need 7-8 hours of sleep, per night. (the table can be found here if you care) That is simple enough, right. Get 7 hours of sleep seems pretty reasonable actually.

So why can’t we do that? What is going on in our lives that makes it so that we cannot sleep enough. This is a valuable question for people to ask themselves. I know, personally, that I work a crazy schedule involving working 3 nights per week and getting up with children early in the morning the other days of the week. I switch myself back and forth from a day schedule to a night schedule every week. So, what does that do to me.

This causes periods of what is commonly known as micro sleep is a term that easily explains the period of “What? What just happened?” that occur frequently to people when they do not get enough sleep. If you have ever read 3/4 of a page in a book and realize that you don’t know what it said and cannot remember it, that is probably what it was. The common examples are driving and not remembering, dozing at a desk for about 10 seconds, then having ambient noise wake you up, and of course, playing on your phone in bed, and dozing off just long enough to have the screen go black and you have to reswipe in.

So what do we do? We get more sleep. We do our best to be in a sleepy place in a sleepy mood and ready for sleep about 7.5 hours before we HAVE to wake up in the morning. For me, when I do not work, it means that I need to go to bed at 12:00 or so every night, and to be honest, that seems perfectly fine and adult. When I work, it means that I need to be in bed by 9:30 am or so. It’s something to shoot for.

The Case for Supplementation

Posted on December 1, 2015November 30, 2015 by Sam Boyd

When people think of supplements, they think of vitamins. And rightfully so because the vitamin industry has been forcing the idea of taking a daily multivitamin down our throats for about 50 years or so. And you know what?

THEY ARE RIGHT!!!

In fact, they are righter now than they were then. Soil mineral depletion, lack of vegetables in daily diets, lack of daily fruits, and longer travel times for perishables are meaning that the food you are consuming is more bulk than it is nutritious. Think of that, it means that when you eat an apple, you are getting an apple that is thought to be rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, phytochemicals and natural sugars. It is slightly acidic and was part of the mantra “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. All of this is still true, but mostly it is about 37% true now. You read that right, apples are approximately 63% less nutritious than they were in the past. Or, maybe you could read it like the apple you eat is 1/3 of what an apple used to be. The positive part of this is that you are eating an apple and not a Ho-Ho. It’s still good for you. Let’s examine some stuff related to what I am saying.

Soil is a buildup of dead material that has built up over eons from natural life and death cycles of plants in a polyculture of ecological renewal. This means that soil is basically made up of eons upon eons of multiple species of dead plants constantly growing, seeding, dying, regrowing etc in the same area. (Quick question, does that sound like a farm to you? No, good, you are on board). Farming over the ages has made up for this because technology did not really let you mess with the ecology of a wheat field until about 50 years ago. If you grew wheat, you had one big yield for the year and then your farm was fallow over the course of the winter. You did not have access to pesticides, nitrogen fertilizers, or GMO’s. As a result of these changes, soil began to be depleted of its natural enrichments. So, multiply this by 50 years and add in modern farming, where a farmer is using accelerated growing practices and getting 3 crops of wheat out of the same farmland because of modern technology. I do not bring this up to say that what we are doing is wrong, I am not a horticultural botanist or chemist, but it is not under debate.

With a growing population and a more sedentary population in America, the food supply runs into two major issues. First, it has to travel across the world to provide people with access to things that are typically not available in their area due to seasons or climate. Second, the national advertisers glorify and edify processed foods that have little or no nutritional value, but do have the flavor profile of Awesome!! These two factors mean that we eat less vegetables and fruits daily anyway. Sure, we might grab an apple or banana in the morning, but when was the last time you snacked on 2 cups of celery stalks at your desk for a couple of hours. Nope, we eat a granola bar and drink a bottled water and pride ourselves on making good choices. Keep in mind, the best of terrible choices is not a good choice, and the worst of good choices is not a bad choice. That means that just because you pick a low-fat granola bar filled with Aspartame and HFCS with a couple of raisins in it, does not mean that you made a good choice. A better choice will always be an apple or banana or something else that did not come from a box.

This is depressing. But the good news is that Nutraceuticals (Supplements, if you will) have come a long way and are now better than ever. It is possible to get all of the fun phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals from supplementation. Taking a high quality multivitamin in the morning (especially one that’s isotonic in derivation and delivery) really does have an impact on your health. Aside from just a multivitamin, there are supplements that offer nearly pharmaceutical dosage equivalents of hard to get vitamins like D, B and K. Antioxidants and Minerals are also available in dosages that are extremely hard to find in naturally occurring foods. For example, Resveratrol, a supercharged antioxidant that comes mostly from dark grape skins (red wine) is available in a supplement that is equivalent to drinking 10 cups of wine, which is not good for you.

At the end of the day, the best thing you can do for your health is to mix the two. Eat more vegetables and fruits daily while also supplementing in your daily life. The arguments against supplementation do not ring true anymore. It is unrealistic to expect normal, everyday people to take in enough plants to make up for the deficiencies in the modern Western Diet. Supplementation is the best option to increase health. In addition, it is widely (albeit anecdotally) known that an increase in vitamins and minerals directly correlates with an accelerated metabolism and weight loss. Think about that for a minute, then call someone who knows more than you do to get their opinion about supplementation. Better yet, call a Health and Wellness coach and see what they can do to help you today.

Rice’d Cauliflower and Why Is It Awesome?

Posted on October 26, 2015November 10, 2015 by Sam Boyd

Anyone who has looked at any of our recipes, especially in the last few months, have been seeing a lot of riced cauliflower. I found myself, in our semi-paleo, mostly gluten-free cooking lives missing a couple of things that were staples only a few short years ago. To put it mildly, there are some things that quinoa cannot replace (and for me that list is long). We wanted to find something that could go with cheese, be under chili, be used in asian food, be used as a main dish if it required it…all of the things that I missed about rice. I am not saying that you should not eat rice, except white rice, don’t eat that, but whole brown rice is fine. So here is how it happened:

One night, we were cooking in our tiny kitchen and were trying to figure out what to put with some salmon that had a soy sauce and maple flavored glaze on it (trust me it’s awesome, I will post that the next time we make it). We wanted rice, but we were trying to be good, and quinoa was a bad choice here because of awfulness.

“What about using the cauliflower from the cauliflower crust pizza?”, his beautiful wife asked?

“You mean, like rice or something?”, replied the spectacular bald (by choice) man.

“Sure”, she said sweetly, with musicality not usually found in a voice.

“I don’t know, that’s kind of weird”, said the dashing handsome fellow.

Or something like that.

At any rate, we thought we had come up with something. We were wrong, and very late to the party. But, I know that we are not the only ones, simply based on the emails I have gotten about this. So here is some info.

1 cup of cauliflower rice contains: 0.6g fat (0%), 45mg sodium (1.5%), 459mg Potassium (12%), 3g Dietary Fiber (8%, again we use higher fiber standards here at THU), 3.8g protein (6% – please see my post about trace protein in vegetables), and approximately 3% of daily calcium, 100% daily Vitamin C, 6% daily Iron, 18% daily Vitamin B-6, 6% daily Magnesium, 20% daily Vitamin K, 6% daily Phosphorous, 12% daily Manganese and a Glycemic Load of 2 (a typical daily target is 100). These are all based on a traditional 2000 calorie diet, we typically use higher nutritional standards here, but this is for the normal people out there. It also helps to cut down cytokine production and reduces inflammation because of the high amount of antioxidants (Vitamin C, beta-cryptoxanthin, cinnamic acid, ferulic acid, kaempferol) and is known to be a great source of hard to pronounce phytochemicals that can provide health benefits for people who suffer from Crohn’s Disease, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, Rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis and inflammatory bowel disease.

White rice does not do any of that.

The other awesome part of cauliflower rice is that it is very friendly texture wise based on what you want. I typically do not even cook it but put it on the bottom of anything that is sauce-rich, because the heat from the sauce with warm and soften it without destroying all the benefits. If mush is your preference, then you can microwave it easily. It stir-fries nicely and in about the same amount of time that regular cooked rice does. It packs such a nutritional wallop that I feel like anything I add it to becomes healthier, which it does. Plus, you are adding a cup of nutrient rich vegetables and removing a cup of nutrient poor random carbs. It only makes sense.

Here is how I make it. Take notes, because this is complex as all get out.

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower

Recipe

Remove the big stemmy part and all of the green leaves.
Break into small enough parts to fit into a food processor.
Turn food processor on and run until there are no pieces larger than a pencil eraser.
Put into a bowl and use however

A normal head of cauliflower should make 3-4 cups of “rice”. Quick note: Cauliflower will typically keep 2-3 weeks in the not destroyed form. But it will only keep for 3-4 days once you rice it, so keep that it in mind.

Enjoy. If you have any awesome ideas that you are using it for, let me know. Also let me know what you think of this article in the comments below or on Facebook.

Why Should I go without protein for a week?

Posted on October 17, 2015October 17, 2015 by Sam Boyd

This question is a red-flag for most personal trainers, nutritionists, and general health types who claim that the proper amount of protein to eat per day is some sort of crazy equation involving body mass, body weight, basal metabolism and the ratio to starch and….hey wait, come back, I wasn’t done talking yet…

Seriously though, you will hear many people talk about a reset, detox, cleanse, or whatever. This is simply the process that some of us go through to jumpstart ourselves in our health again. The reason it is misleading is that it is nearly impossible to go without protein, and if you try, you may end up in the hospital. So, you can forego eggs, meats, beans, etc for a week and be perfectly safe. The reason, wait for it, is that there is protein in everything, in trace amounts. And in some vegetables, that trace amount can be quite the significant amount. For example, there is only 1g in 1 cup of raw spinach. However, when you make a salad with 1 cup of raw spinach, 1 medium tomato sliced, 1/4 cup broccoli, 1/4 cup of cauliflower with some balsamic vinegar, you end up with a salad that has about 6g of protein in it. That ends up being a ratio of 3g of protein per cup of vegetables that you eat. This may not sound like a lot, but it is enough. That is the important thing. You are not trying to pack on pounds of muscle during a reset, detox or cleanse. In fact, if you work out, you are doing it wrong.

The simple fact is that during a “cleanse” week for us, we are averaging about 18-25g of protein per day, or about 35% of the average that is required for a sedentary lifestyle. Look at that sentence again. When you cleanse, you are trying to reset yourself. You are super charging your body with nutrients and phytochemicals and micronutrients to jumpstart your metabolism. You are going to put about 1200 calories of vegetables and fruits (about 10 cups or so, give or take) into your body and get yourself ready to jumpstart back into fitness and health acquisition. That is why we do it. That is why we go without protein for a week.

“But how can I work out?” Easy, you don’t. During “Cleanse” week you are not working out. You are resetting. And, you are sleeping. A lot more than usual. Sleep is a much more active process than people realize. While you sleep, your body is going through a set of tasks that include: cleaning, detoxifying, mineral redistribution, rest, filtration and more. The result, is that you will end up urinating first thing in the morning and you start your day again. During a cleanse, you are giving your body all the things it needs to do all of this and more. As a result, you will need more sleep as your body is working overtime since you gave it so many resources to use. See, your body is kind of dumb in the way it works. If you give it something, it will use all of it and not stop until its gone. When you fill it with sugar, it will use all of it, including turning it into fat for later use. But all the sugar is gone, so its happy. When you fill it with vegetables and fruits, you are giving it vitamins to use, minerals to use, nutrients to use, phytochemicals to use, antioxidants to use, and so forth. These are the things that your body uses to detoxify, so that is what it will do. That is what eating clean is all about.

Why only 7 days?

Because you don’t need more than 7 days. The body is very efficient at eliminating things and repairing itself. But mainly, it is hard on your body to make it work this hard for longer than 7 days. The laws of diminishing returns also tell us that the impact goes down drastically after 7 days. People will lose weight and feel awesome a few days into the cleanse, and there is no reason positive benefit to extending it. However, keep in mind, you can cleanse about every 3 months for renewed vigor and impact in your health. Resetting is always a good idea. There more reasons to only cleanse for 7 days. There is something called Ketosis that occurs when you eliminate certain things from your diet, wholesale. For example, if you were to eat only protein with limited fats and absolutely no carbohydrates, you enter what is called a ketogenic state. I will not go into that for the sake of this post, but it is a state that can be beneficial to you if you shoot for it.

Most people don’t know what they are doing and enter into a sub-ketogenic state and this is not the same and is not really benefitting them. In fact, a sub-ketogenic state is what happens when you eat a lot of protein and just enough carbohydrates to ruin ketosis. This is great for quick weight loss when you are in your 20’s, but it is not good for overall health in the long run. Take this unscientific case study as an example: A 53 year-old woman is trying to lose 25 pounds in about 6 weeks. This is doable, safely, actually. But she chooses to eat 6 ounces of chicken and 1/2 cup of brown rice 5 times per day and work out four times per week. Does this look familiar? So, she does this and about 3-4 weeks in has lost 16-18 pounds and plateaus, and additionally she begins to be tired, maybe a little depressed and starts having to drag herself to the gym. She begins to lose motivation. So to make herself feel better she goes out with some friends and has a couple of drinks and a nice italian dinner, after all, she has earned it, right? The result, was a loss of motivation to keep going, a shift in diet back to old habits, a rapid weight change back to the original weight in a couple of weeks and an actually slower metabolism. Where did she go wrong? “Well, she should have stayed on track and not gone out blah blah blah…” WRONG! Actually she started off track by limiting her diet so much that her body had to use up so many nutritional stores that she was actually nutritionally starving herself. A protein and carb based diet like that is not enough for people over 30. She needed to greatly increase her vegetable intake to reset her body. With a healthy diet and clean eating, there is no plateau until your body has righted itself. There are stories of people who have lost hundreds of pounds just by shifting their diet a little to eating clean.

Comment below with questions, hit us up on FB with questions, email me, whatever.

Kettlebells – 5 great things

Posted on May 5, 2015May 5, 2015 by Sam Boyd

Kettlebells are basically round weight with handles. On the off-chance that you have never seen one, try to picture a large cannonball with a handle and you are pretty much picturing a kettlebell. These things actually originated in Russia hundreds of years ago but it has only been in the last 7-8 years or so that they have really started to make a splash here in the West. Let’s take a look at 5 reasons that kettlebells are so completely awesome:

1. Kettlebells are inexpensive – Now, right off the bat, anyone who has ever purchased a kettlebell will probably disagree with this statement, but when compared to expensive gym memberships or personal trainer sessions, kettlebells still come in pretty cheap over the long haul. You can pick up a 20 pound kettlebell (a good starting weight for male beginners, women should opt for one a little lighter) for about $30 or so. That one purchase can take you through a good 3-6 months of training with a kettlebell and help you get healthier while building muscle. Joining a gym, paying for a personal trainer, or buying many other types of fitness equipment is surely gonna run you quite a bit more. But if you must join a gym, they usually have them there.

2. Kettlebells are compact – Kettlebells, while they can be pretty heavy, are still fairly compact. Compare one to a treadmill or an elliptical and the kettlebell wins every time. Just keep it behind your bed, in your closet, wherever. They are small enough to store out-of-the-way when you aren’t using them.

3. Ok, now let’s get down to it. The real reason you should want to use ANY piece of equipment is because of how effective it can be with helping you get healthier. In the case of kettlebells, they do pretty well. A 2010 study conducted by the American Council on Exercise (one of the nation’s most respected authorities on health and fitness) concluded that performing snatches with a kettlebell is about equal to someone running at a 6 minute-mile pace or cross-country skiing uphill. If you only have a little bit of time and want to experience maximum results, the kettlebell can help get you there.

4. Kettlebells build muscle – Unlike most forms of cardio work that is designed to increase health, using a kettlebell actually helps you build muscle at the same time. You are lifting a weight after all and this weight is transferred to your muscles requiring them to do extra work for each movement. When working with kettlebells on a regular basis once can expect to see larger, firmer muscles as a result. Even if you only perform the swing, the most basic of kettlebell movements, you can expect to build muscles in your legs, back, shoulders, arms and even your midsection.

5. Kettlebells are pretty fun – One thing that can ensure your workout will be effective is if you enjoy doing it. Kettlebells represent a whole different kind of activity and many people (like me) think swinging these handled weights is awesome! It is a totally different type of feeling when you are swinging a kettlebell through the air. It gets your whole body involved and it does require a little coordination as your mind works to move your body correctly and your muscles begin to fire throughout the movement. It is so much more exciting than mindlessly lifting a dumbbell then putting it back down. With kettlebells, you are really engaged in the exercise the entire time and as you begin to make progress you start to learn that there are endless variations of what you can do with these things. No question about it if you find something fun you are likely to do it more often and in the case of exercise that is as effective as kettlebells are, this can lead to health increase and getting you in better shape than you have ever been before.

So, there you go. 5 great reasons you absolutely have to workout with kettlebells. If you haven’t tried them before, the list may seem a little too good to be true…if you have already tried them, then the list is probably not long enough. These things work…go ahead and grab a bell and swing away and you may just end up getting into the best shape of your life.