2) Too many carbohydrates and a high glycemic diet: When you increase your consumption of high carb foods, your appetite will naturally INCREASE and you will crave more and more carbs.  This is possibly due to an evolutionary based mechanism in which an increased number of carbohydrates in the diet signals that there is an abundance of food and it is time for the body to gain and store more fat to protect against a future food shortage (wintertime, when fruits and veggies are not in abundant supply).  Regardless of whether that theory is correct or not, if you decrease your carb consumption and increase your protein and fat consumption, your appetite will naturally decrease, allowing you to lose weight without feeling hungry.  You can keep your metabolic fire strong while decreasing your appetite by using GreenExcellent.  There are NO STIMULANTS in GreenExcellent so you won’t have to suffer from jitters, rapid heartbeat, restlessness, and other dangerous side effects of over-the-counter diet pills. 

3) Hormone Imbalances: Endocrine problems such as adrenal burnout and hypothyroidism and two of the most underdiagnosed hormone imbalances in the world.  What most people don’t realize is that gluten and other vegetable-based proteins found in grains can CAUSE an underfunctioning thyroid gland and overworked adrenal glands.  Adopting a gluten-free diet can help to normalize your hormones so you can lose weight.  Adaptogenic herbs such as black shilajit can also help tone, strengthen, and balance your thyroid and adrenals.

2. Another way to prevent Alzheimer’s is to avoid large amounts of fructose in your diet.  This means avoiding fruit juice (except for lemon or lime juice).  It is also wise to minimize your consumption of fruit to no more than one or two servings of fruit each day.  Always avoid sweeteners such as crystalline fructose and agave nectar, and of course steer clear of processed foods containing corn sugar, corn syrup, or any other variation of the term high fructose corn syrup.

3. Enjoy curry spice, turmeric, and coconut oil in your food!  These delicious culinary ingredients have all been found to benefit brain function, and populations that consume these foods regularly have almost no cases of dementia among the elderly. 

4. Do a clinically proven detoxification regimen at least two or three times per year to decrease the load of toxins in your body.  One of the suspected causes of Alzheimer’s (besides a diet high in fructose) is the presence of a large amount of toxins — including toxic metals and fluoride — that can accumulate in the brain.  Doing a cleanse such as PaleoCleanse every 4 – 6 months can decrease your toxic burden and save your brain.

• It’s not an all-meat diet!
• It’s not a colon cleanse or a laxative.
• It doesn’t contain stimulants.
• It doesn’t contain gluten, wheat, soy, or synthetic vitamins.

Now that we got that cleared up, in summary, PaleoCleanse assists your body in detoxification of environmental toxins  that can mimic hormones and disrupt thyroid function in your body and lead to weight gain, allergies, fatigue, arthritis, and other unpleasant things.  Most people substitute the PaleoCleanse shakes for one or two meals per day, and then have a healthy homemade lunch or dinner.  Others have used the PaleoCleanse shakes alongside a juice cleanse.  There are many possibilities to suit your own lifestyle  and nutritional needs.

•  Which nutrients promote optimal brain function?
• What nutrients are commonly deficient enough to impair mental performance?
• How can you get a better nights sleep without Ambien?
• What nutrients counteract aspects of aging?
• Is there an alternative to serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) antidepressants?
• What modern nutrition myths lead us to consume products that sabotage healthy brain function?
• What tests can you get from your doctor?
• What nutrients affect appetite, alertness, and tension?
• What nutrient combo will prevent hangovers 90% of the time?

For the answers to these questions and more, watch this video: http://youtu.be/-PA-buwI3q4

FLASH SALE!  Order the 21 Day Detox Cleanse, the 30 Day Weight Loss Cleanse, or the Candida Cleanse within the next 72 hours and get a $25 discount!  Click here to order: http://www.paleocleanse.net/

Sick, Fat, Nearly Dead: Wake up to the annoying beeping of an alarm clock, still feeling un-rested and sleep deprived from staying up late the night before.

Healthy, Lean, Loving Life: Wake up naturally after getting a full night’s rest.

Sick, Fat, Nearly Dead: Scrape thick white coating from tongue caused by eating a heavy meal before bed.  Stumble into the shower to deal with excessive body odor.

Healthy, Lean, and Loving Life: Go for a morning run, bike ride, or walk, and do a quick yoga routine or some push-ups before hitting the shower.

Sick, Fat, Nearly Dead: Make a pot of coffee because caffeine is needed in order to fully “wake up” and maybe have a bowel movement.

Healthy, Lean, and Loving Life: Rehydrate with a large glass of non-fluoridated water.

Sick, Fat, Nearly Dead: Spend lots of time making sure makeup, hair, nails, and undergarments are expertly applied.  Maybe no one will notice the extra 50 pounds of fat hiding underneath.

Healthy, Lean, and Loving Life: Already planned wardrobe the night before, so getting dressed only takes 5 minutes.  No girdle needed.  Minimal makeup needed.  Maybe no one will notice that toenail paint got chipped while running on the beach this morning before work.

Sick, Fat, Nearly Dead: Not feeling particularly hungry because of a heavy dinner the night before, but grab something at a gas station or fast food drive-in anyway just to “rev up the metabolism.” 

Healthy, Lean, and Loving Life: Feel hungry due to exercising and not having eaten in over 12 hours.  Have already planned (and possibly prepared) breakfast the night before. 

Sick, Fat, Nearly Dead: Eat a combination of fat and carbohydrates such as a pastry, donuts, sausage & biscuit, or pancakes, with fruit juice, milk, or non-dairy milk.

Healthy, Lean, and Loving Life: Eat a hearty breakfast with some fat and protein such as a homemade omelette with veggies, Greek-style yogurt or cottage cheese with nuts or seeds, bacon and eggs, or a homemade smoothie made with whey protein.  Drink water and get calories from solid food.

Sick, Fat, Nearly Dead: Arrive to work late because there was a line at Dunkin’ Donuts.

Healthy, Lean, and Loving Life: Arrive to work early because there was no traffic.  (Everyone else was in line at Dunkin’ Donuts.)

Sick, Fat, Nearly Dead: Don’t get much done before lunchtime because of “allergies” and a bit of lethargy from eating breakfast.

Healthy, Lean, and Loving Life: Get more done before lunch than most get done all day because you’ve had a good night’s rest, a quick burst of exercise, and a satisfying breakfast, so your body and mind work more efficiently to complete tasks.

In defense of breakfast

Recently there has been a trend towards more health & nutrition gurus telling people that perhaps breakfast isn’t so important after all.  There are plenty of studies and personal anecdotes of people who skip breakfast some or most of the time and aren’t overweight, and of course other stories of people who eat their largest meal at night without suffering any known health repercussions. 

Few people would argue that skipping breakfast and then having a healthy salad with goat cheese and walnuts for lunch, a small organic apple for a snack, and steamed heirloom vegetables (cooked in real butter) and baked wild salmon for dinner is going to cause obesity or any other serious health consequences.  But unfortunately, this is not the usual way people tend to eat when they skip breakfast!  By skipping breakfast, most people are famished by lunch, causing them to reach for a sugar and fat laden snack such as corn chips and a soda around mid-morning and fried food lacking any vegetable or micronutrient content for lunch.  By the end of the day, this lack of nutrition will cause most to feel too tired to exercise or do much of anything besides watch TV, surf the internet, or lurk on facebook posting photoshopped images of themselves.  They’ll eat a carb and fat laden comfort food before bed, and wake up the next morning with no appetite for breakfast because they’ll still have undigested food in their bellies.

It would definitely be better to skip breakfast and then eat healthy foods the rest of the day than to eat cereal, donuts, pancakes, or canned biscuits for breakfast.  But if you want a healthy start to your day that will provide a nutritional boost and also keep you going until lunch so you can stay energized for the entire day with no afternoon slump and with plenty of fuel to even fit in a tough workout after work, I would suggest eating a hearty breakfast (something nutrient-dense) — but NOT a heavy breakfast (something dense in calories, fat, and sugar).  A heavy meal will make you too lethargic and might lead to constipation over the long-term, but a hearty meal will satisfy your hunger, stimulate regular bowel function, and give you an energy boost.

Whey Protein — The Ideal Breakfast Food

Whey protein satisfies hunger better than rice protein, pea protein, egg protein, and soy protein, and it also boosts your metabolic rate for as long as 24 hours after consumption.  If you like to practice yoga or go for a run in the mornings, a smoothie made with whey protein is one of the best foods to fuel yourself with afterwards.  Steer clear of things like Vitamin water, fruit juice, date bars, oatmeal bars, Ezekiel bread (or other forms of wheat bread), and other carb/sugar-based items for breakfast or post-workout.  “Healthy” foods like these will halt HGH production, stimulate an insulin surge, and inevitably make you hungry and irritable a couple of hours later.

The amino acids found in grass-fed whey protein activate certain cellular mechanisms (including mTORC-1) that promote muscle protein synthesis, boost thyroid hormone production, and also protect against declining testosterone and HGH levels after exercise.  If you do your physical fitness practice in the mornings, the ideal time to eat breakfast is about an hour after you finish your practice.

The Components Of A Healthy Breakfast Smoothie

I have always been a breakfast eater and I’ve experimented with different breakfast items over the years.  Oatmeal or cereal, milk, and fruit for breakfast always left me feeling too hungry by mid-morning, while sausage and pancakes made me sluggish and slightly sick at my stomach.  Just drinking juice or having a nut and fruit based vegan dish for breakfast lead to decreased muscle strength and tone particularly in my upper body and abs.  A whey-protein based breakfast with a moderate amount of healthy saturated fat, on the other hand, keeps me satiated for several hours without making me feel sluggish or causing me to lose muscle tone.  Now there’s good science to back up what my body knew all along!

Here’s some ingredients that I recommend for making the perfect breakfast smoothie.

• 1 egg (pasture raised if possible — freeze in an ice cube tray to prevent food-borne illness)
• 1 tbsp raw virgin coconut oil (Artisana is my favorite raw coconut oil)
• 1 tbsp PaleoFiber (for a thicker smoothie PLUS prebiotics and probiotics)
• 1 tbsp PaleoReds or PaleoGreens
• 1 capsule CoQNol
• 1 capsule vitamin K2
• 2 scoops PaleoCleanse
• 1 scoop PaleoMeal
• 1/4 tsp pink Himalayan salt or Redmond Real Salt
• optional: 1 packet of unsweetened frozen Sabazon acai or 3/4 cup frozen berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries)
• optional: 1 tbsp cacao powder, almond butter, coconut flakes, cacao nibs, or your favorite extra ingredient
• about 2 cups of ice or cold water (amount varies depending on how thick you want your smoothie)

Blend all these ingredients together using a Vitamix or any blender that can handle ice.  I purchased a cheap blender at Target that gets the job done and is easy to clean.

Some items to avoid putting in your smoothie include:

• canned coconut milk (contains BPA which is an endocrine disruptor and obesogen)
• soy milk, rice milk, flax milk, almond milk, and other processed and ultra-high temp pasteurized beverages stored in aseptic containers (If you want almond milk, either make your own or get some delivered from a company that makes it fresh.)
• agave nectar (can lead to increased abdominal adiposity and metabolic syndrome)
• conventional bananas (loaded with sugar and laden with pesticides if not organically grown)

How to Select a High Quality Whey Protein

Since whey protein is a by-product of dairy, it’s important to make sure it’s derived from grass-fed cows that were not injected with hormones or given antibiotics on a daily basis in their feed.  It should also be minimally processed in order to preserve its natural health-promoting compounds such as immunoglobins, bovine serum albomin, lactoferins, and other key amino acids and nutrients.

Most commercial whey products are derived from pasteurized dairy and processed with heat and acid, which destroys the whey’s fragile immuno components and damages important amino acids. Many of them also contain chemical additives, detergents and artificial sweeteners, which are known for their health shattering effects. And contrary to popular belief, artificial sweeteners such as sucralose (Splenda), aspartame, and Ace-K actually hinder your ability to lose weight or maintain your ideal weight because they impair your ability to regulate your appetite naturally.

My favorite whey protein powders are PaleoMeal and PaleoCleanse — not only because they are made from grass-fed dairy and are low temperature processed (maintaining live enzymes and immunoglobulins) — but also because they’re loaded with food-based vitamins and minerals (no synthetic vitamins and minerals), lightly sweetened with stevia, mix well with no lumps (and no chalky mouthfeel), and come in several flavors that all taste great.

The Fountain of Youth

What if there was a simple, natural way to prevent loss of muscle mass and muscle function as you get older, while simultaneously also keeping your brain sharp?  Would you do it, or would you prefer to allow your muscles and brain to just shrivel up as you age while all your friends who are taking advantage of this safe and natural “remedy” keep their muscle tone, athletic abilities, and mental acuity?  Well in fact, this “fountain of youth” exists, and it’s 100% natural and safe because it’s found in small amounts in some foods. Learn more here.

Healthy Heart, Healthy Bones

Did you know that arteriosclerosis and osteoporosis are reversible with proper nutrition?  Read more about this important vitamin that drug companies are hoping you will never know about!

Throw away the wrinkle cream and use this instead.

The secret to having a healthy glow to your skin is NOT attained by investing in expensive wrinkle creams.  Truthfully, using a lot of products (even SPF potions) on your skin will only exacerbate skin problems and accelerate sun damage over the long-term. This unique beauty secret from the ocean can protect your skin from sun damage as well as reverse age spots and lines.

Did you know that the U.S. government has been issuing official warnings about the vitamin & mineral content of our food supply since 1936? The U.S. Senate Document #264, published by the 2nd session of the 74th Congress in 1936 stated the following:
“Most of us today are suffering from certain dangerous diet deficiencies which cannot be remedied until the depleted soils from which our foods come are brought [back] into proper mineral balance. Foods, fruits, vegetables and grains that are now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contain enough of certain needed minerals, are starving us – no matter how much of these foods we eat. Leading authorities state that 99% of the American people are deficient in these minerals, and that a marked deficiency in any one of the more important minerals actually results in disease. Any upset of the balance or any considerable lack of one or another element, however microscopic, causes problems and we sicken, suffer, and shorten our lives. Lacking vitamins, the system can make some use of minerals; but lacking minerals, vitamins are useless.”
In an effort to make up for the lack of nutrient content found in foods grown as monocrops on large plots of mineral-depleted soil, fortification (the addition of synthetic vitamins and minerals into processed foods like flour, bread, cereal, and milk) has become commonplace.  Synthetic iodine was added to sodium chloride (refined table salt) to prevent goiter, synthetic folic acid was added to bread and cereal to prevent cleft palate, synthetic vitamin D was added to milk and non-dairy milk substitutes like almond milk and soy milk to prevent rickets, and calcium was added to some brands of orange juice and breakfast items such as frozen waffles for the prevention of osteoporosis.
Now scientists and many nutrition experts know that these synthetic vitamins and minerals that have been added to our foods may actually be doing more harm than good.  Our bodies simply do not recognize synthetic nutrients to be able to utilize them properly; synthetic nutrients are instead viewed as foreign invaders that must be attacked.  If these foreign invaders are not appropriately digested and eliminated from the body we may be at an increased risk for developing viral and bacterial infections, Lyme’s disease, or even cancer.
Most (if not all) of the vitamin and mineral supplements sold at drug stores, discount superstores, grocery stores, and even natural foods stores are made from synthetic vitamins.  Those “organic” breakfast cereals, gluten-free breads, boxes of almond milk, coconut milk, hemp milk, etc. that are sold at premium prices in health food stores all contain synthetic vitamins as well.  So how can you be sure you’re getting the vitamins and minerals your body needs for optimal health AND avoid the side effects caused by taking in synthetic nutrients?
Fortunately there ARE vitamin and mineral supplements available that are made solely from 100% organic raw foods.  You can click here to read more about how one company that does this actually produces their supplements from real food.  To purchase vitamin and mineral supplements made from real food (and not synthetically produced in a lab), simply visit the Holistic Chinese Herbs Store or PaleoCleanse. I make it a point to only recommend top-of-the-line products that are helpful — not harmful — to your health.  That means no synthetic ingredients, no gluten, no dyes, and other “usual suspects” found on the labels of most store-bought supplement brands.

Do you use a multivitamin, herbal product, or other type of nutritional supplement?  Is it made from food-based nutrients or is it synthetically produced?  Do you purchase fortified foods?  What are your thoughts after reading this article?  Please post your comments below!

Myth #1: Increased sun exposure increases your risk for cancer.

Actually, logging more hours of fun under the sun actually decreases your risk of developing cancer.  A study conducted on 49, 261 women in Sweden found that women who spent more time sunbathing had a greatly reduced chance of developing lung cancer and breast cancer.  Numerous studies have found that increased levels of vitamin D in the blood (produced upon exposure to the sun) reduce the risk of all types of cancer.

Myth #2: Saturated fat (primarily found in red meat, cheese, and coconut) increases your risk of developing cancer.

Saturated fat has never been found to cause cancer.  However, polyunsaturated fat (found primarily in nuts, seeds, and the oils obtained from those foods), as well as monounsaturated fat (found in olive oil, macadamia nut oil, and avocados) have both been found to raise your risk for developing breast cancer.  Another interesting study found that coconut and red chilis might be protective against colon cancer.

Myth #3: Coffee is bad for your health.

Coffee lovers and caffeine fiends, rejoice!  Coffee and caffeine have both been found to possess health-promoting properties that usually outweigh any risks.  (The same cannot be said for alcohol, which is probably riskier than beneficial.)  One study found that women who drank coffee had much less incidence of stroke than women who drank little to no coffee.  Also, people who drank around 200 – 300 mg of caffeine per day in a case-controlled study did not develop Alzheimer’s Disease.  Study participants who did develop Alzheimer’s had a history of not drinking much caffeine, if at all.