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jedimaster941 · 6 years ago

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A Declaration of Lost Independence

As we get older, as we live life, like stone eroding under the power of crashing waves, our bodies break down. And as our bodies break down, we become more and more unable to do things. Sometimes not to the standard we once did, and sometimes we lose the ability completely. We lose things that bring us joy, and we lose things that bring us to life. Whether it be slowly or quickly, we all lose our independence. Aging is something, like it or not, we have all signed up for. We will get older, our bodies will break down, and we will lose our overall independence. It’s not ideal, but we understand it to be true.

For Chronically ill people, however, we can lose our independence rather suddenly, and it has absolutely nothing to do with natural aging. If someone aged 78 years has trouble walking, getting dressed, or going to the bathroom, very few would question it. But imagine you are 28 years old and you have the same difficulties. Think of how you would feel. In this article I will discuss the ways in which people with chronic illness lose their independence in the areas of physical, mental, social, and dietary, and the toll it takes on us when the things that we should be able to do becomes out of reach.

*This post features responses from chronically ill patients whom I asked…*

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Physical

Loss of physical independence is the area that most people think about when illness takes over. It is at least the most public. People see wheelchairs, walkers, canes, crutches, and handicapped placards. They are also readily aware when someone takes a little longer to stand up, when they have trouble buttoning a shirt, or their handwriting becomes illegible. If someone gets to know a disabled person well enough they may also become aware of PIK lines, feeding tubes, and colostomy bags among others.

When someone is chronically ill/disabled their bodies are the primary victim of their disease. In one way or another, our bodies are malfunctioning. As my primary care physician said to me once, “We are all getting older, you're a just doing it a lot faster”. (If anyone is curious, I did not take offense, I appreciated that he acknowledged my illness and my lack of certain abilities)

Our independence is very much directly lost in these examples. We lose the ability of climb stairs, walk short distances, wash ourselves, cook food, and one I’d like to discuss a little more, exercise.

Doctors and online experts tell us we need to exercise. I can’t disagree with that. Exercise is important to keeping what we have left tip top. However, when we can’t climb stairs, walk short distances, or wash ourselves, how do you expect us to get the the gym to do some Cross Fit? I know for me, exercise of any kind hurts and has lasting effects. Some of my readers may remember how not long ago I walked a peppy poodle for half a mile and my legs hurt for three days after. This wasn't from being out of shape, this was due of my condition. Yes, exercise, but understand sometimes it's more harm than help.

I used to be a distance runner, a golfer, and could give the best piggy back rides. Now, due to Ankylosing Spondylitis, I can’t do any of that. And believe me when I tell you, that hurts me mentally as well.

Mental

With chronic illness and disability there comes a mental toll as well. Both in the areas of cognitive ability, and depression.

First, let's touch on cognitive ability which will then (as all of these sections do) we will move on to depression.

I imagine many of my readers are already well versed in the words and terminology used in the discussion of chronic illness. However, if you are new to this world, let me share a term that I, and all of us use probably on a daily basis: “Brain Fog”.

Brain Fog is exactly what it sounds like, a thick layer of fog on your brain. You know how hard it is to see through a covering of fog? Now, imagine that fog is in your head and your brain is trying to see thoughts, feelings, and ideas through it. It’s not easy and often things are lost.

Brain fog is caused by pain and the inability to actually shut down and rest. When people go to sleep their bodies and minds go into power saver mode to recharge, refresh, and do diagnostics checks. However, what happens when you drink caffeine, or you eat a big meal before bed? Well, if you can sleep, your body has now been given other things to work on. The caffeine makes your heart work harder, and your body needs to work to digest that big meal. So what happens? You don’t wake up rested because your body never actually got any rest. The same thing happens every night for people with chronic illness, but without the caffeine and steak dinner. In my case, with Ankylosing Spondylitis, my body is always working to fight off a foreign invader known as the lining between my joints. (I guess it’s actually a domestic invader) For most of us, because of constant pain, we can never get comfortable and even when we do sleep, we aren't actually resting. This lack of true sleep causes our brains to process at a diminished rate limiting our abilities to remember, problem solve, and function.

When I go to the doctor, I bring my wife. Not because I need a supportive hand, but because I need a partner and coach to help me tell the doctor what I need to say, and then remember what the doctor tells me. There have been times I have come home from an appointment solo and either forgot what treatment we discussed or, through my fogginess, made up something completely different because I could have sworn the doctor said she wanted to try bloodletting. (Or was it Methotrexate? I can’t remember) Although I love my wife, and I will always welcome her to join me at an appointment, I'm 37 years old, I shouldn't need someone to be my brain while the doctor checks out my body. While I am not depressed about this, this loss of mental and physical independence can also lead to depression.

I used to run, and I loved running. When my health got worse I took up walking long distance. However, only a few short years later, I couldn't even walk short distances without great pain and weakness. I was 34 the last time I walked with any kind of purpose. Far too young to lose so much ability. When I see people out running, or I drive past the local health club with overly large windows, I get sad longing for my glory days. When I watch American Ninja Warrior I’m sometimes heartbroken. Believe it or not, I used to be able to do stuff like that. It’s crushing to think that somebody actually has the freedom to wake up in the morning, pop up out of bed, and then think to themselves “Well, I think I will run 10 miles, shower, go to work, spend an hour at the gym, play with my kids, and then get 8 hours of restful sleep before doing it all over again.” Here I am thinking, “I hope I can get out of bed.”

Chronic illness can take a great toll on our mental state and subsequent independence.

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Diet

With the chronic illness life, more often than not it seems, comes a list of dietary restrictions. 90% (not actual figures) of life comes from our gut. What we eat and drink. Other than breathing and IV treatments, it’s the only way anything gets into the factory known as our bodies. So, there is much stress put on us by our doctors, friends, family, TV, and the woman on the corner to eat right to better our condition. And not everyone is wrong. There are certain things that improve or worsen our condition. We will listen to the “experts” and try certain things. Excluding things like sugar, dairy, nightshades, and gluten. Or “fad diets” like Paleo, Keto, Vampire, or Atkins.* We might even try Kale! Many of us will try anything if it means we reduce our pain and get a little life back. But, the more foods we give up, the more independence we lose.

Personally this area has been my biggest struggle. Two years ago I went dairy free at the suggestion of a nutritionist, and one year ago I totally cut out sugar. And, I won’t lie, excluding both of those have been fantastic for me! I may not always notice the improvement, but if I happen to slip up on purpose of by accident, I certainly notice then. I am solid and confident in my sugar free/dairy free life, and for the most part I am happy.

However, this does not mean everything is butterflies and unicorns. I still struggle as I’m sure many many of my chronically ill brothers, sisters, and non-binary siblings do. Two examples: My birthday, and the ice cream aisle. On my birthday my co-workers wanted to know what to get me for my party. Typically the birthday treat is cupcakes and fudge. Hello sugar and milk! After much thought, I received the treat of peanuts and pickles. (And I didn't complain) However, it didn’t mean it didn't hurt. My co-workers needed to avoid yummy delicious treats because of my AS. They were supportive, but it didn’t mean I didn’t feel like a party pooper. As for the ice cream aisle, they have dairy free ice cream, and they have sugar free ice cream, but as a friendly store clerk told me, diary free & sugar free ice cream isn't ice cream. I'm out of luck there.

When it comes to dairy and sugar, I have lost my independence. People need to accommodate for me. Oftentimes meaning they might miss out on what they want. When my school does nacho day, frozen custard day, cookie day, etc for staff wellness days, I’m the only one not well. I could tell the people that sorry I can’t eat this, but that opens me up to feeling bad for making them feel bad.

Or when you need to find out if a restruant is accessible. Many would think that with all the handicapped parking spots all places would also be accessible. This is not always true. I have seen places where the "accessible" table is in a door way or up against a wall. The freedom to go to any restaurant one wants is never a guarantee.

When friends want to go out those of us with diet restrictions need to be “that guy/girl”. The one who has hard opinions on what we can eat. Ever stand behind the person at Starbucks who insists on soy milk and Stevia? Have you ever thought “Just take your coffee and drink it! You're holding up the line!” Yeah, that’s us, the ones holding up the line. Doesn't feel good.

We are jealous of those people who can eat whatever they want. Go to any restaurant, order anything off the menu, and even have dessert. This isn't about gaining weight, it's about being able to get out of bed in the morning.

Social

The next topic of how we lose our social independence ties into the three topics above and any others I have not mentioned. Humans are meant to be social. We aren't bears where we can just crawl into our cave and sleep for a few months. If any human crawled into a cave, nobody would be friends with them. Why? Because interacting is one of the standards of human life. We need other people! Sure, there are the mountain folk who go out, kill a deer, make clothing from it, light a fire and live their life in seclusion. (And there is nothing wrong with that) But, most humans need other people to cook our food, make our clothes, work on projects, drive us, and socialize purely for fun. The problem is, for many chronically ill people, getting out of the house and socializing sounds equal to climbing up and living in a mountain.

We are exhausted! Chronic illness takes a lot out of us! Every day can be a struggle to move, breathe, think, and complete other daily activities. Showering can be one of the most difficult activities for some. Doing laundry is pure hell! When most people hate it for the fact they have to do it, for me, folding makes me want to die! Seriously, I don't fully know why, but it hurts so much and takes so much out of me. After doing everything we have to do, we don’t have energy left for what we want to do.

I come home from work, my shoes come off, and I’m done! Very little is going to convince me to put my shoes back on and go out with friends when all I want to do is sleep. Because of this, many chronically ill people are forgotten. We bail on friends two or three times, and they just stop inviting us. But, then we have a good day, we are ready to accept an invite. Do we take it? No. Why? Because, we feel good now, we don’t know if we will feel good later.

Chronic illness symptoms can come in waves. We can have good days (or at least the start of a day) but then we drop. We don’t always know why we drop, but our feelings and mood are in no way guaranteed. So, we don’t risk it. It’s far better to be at home near our bed than 30 minutes away with a group of people you will need to apologize to for leaving early. Declining the invite or simple ghosting is far easier and less harmful to our psyche.

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Chronically ill patients lose all sorts of independence. We can not truly live free with AS, Fibro, EDS, POTS, Lyme, MS, ME or one of the many other chronic illnesses that totally sap us of life. We are not free do do as we like.

While others wake up and get to choose between running, biking, partying, fixing cars, eating amazing food, and/or playing with their kids. We wake up and.. well.. that's it.

In closing. If you know a person with a disability/chronic illness try to be understanding of their limitations. Don’t give them a hard time when they can't do everything you want them to. Our lives are hard enough dealing with all the independence we may have lost.

*I might have made up one of these diets

#spoonie #chronic illness #ankylosing spondylitis #chronicpain #chronic pain #lymedisease #eds #ms #fibromyalgia #freedom #independent #independence #sickness #food #depression #church #infertility #childless

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veganx2 · 6 years ago

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So I’m starting a blog...

I’m not the kind of person to turn to blogging but I’ve come to a point where I need to put pen to paper and have an outlet for my mind. I think it’s helpful and seeing as I live in London where everyone is a little lonely and too polite to share their feelings, I thought I could break from the norm.

So my name on here is veganx2 - that’s because I’m giving veganism another go. I was vegan in the past for around 2 years and I KNOW it was the healthiest way for me to be, I had good energy, my digestion was good and my face looked glowing. I’m determined to seek health like this again.

So what has my diet consisted of in the interim?

NOT GOOD STUFF. I realised that whilst I was vegan, my body was looking a little thicker and being a short girl with a naturally strong and muscular build, I became perplexed and obsessed with the fact that I was not obtaining skinny legs (I know, the most ridiculous thing to stress about). It’s even more silly because I’m Mediterranean and honestly speaking, I have the curvaceous figure that people lift weights for and get but implants for. But, that was just not what I wanted and kinda still don’t (more on that in another blog).

So, I tried to do everything in my power to combat the shape that my body created for me and somehow thought I could become a tall, slender Nordic looking being - how naive and short sighted of me. Whilst I now realise that I need to learn to love my body for what it is, I subjected it to months and months of low carb, strict paleo - even verging on the point of a keto diet.

Whilst I managed to slim down, as desired. It wreaked havoc on my mental and physical health and frankly, when I got to what I saw as my ‘goal weight’ I was just not happy.

Just to give you a few examples:

- I was anxious from all the black coffees I was drinking to try and suppress my hunger

- My eyes had constant bag under them

- My digestion, oh my goodness this was just the worst. I was super bloated after every meal, literally like a rock was in my colon. On top of that I just could not go (TMI, sorry not sorry). I’m not someone who enjoys smoking but honestly, a cigarette a day was the only way I could use the bathroom. It was like I was smoking just to poop, not even because I liked the nicotine high or anything. I was smoking in private for goodness sakes - I thought it was just so shameful as I think smoking is just so horrible, but anything for a nice flat stomach right ;)

- Generally, my brain was just having a shit time. I was constantly thinking about food, especially after I’d eaten something that I deemed as ‘unhealthy’. To put my unhealthy diet into context, I was not even eating fruit - other than berries so god forbid how bad I felt after a eating a BANANA! I also tried intermittent fasting and going against your body’s natural hunger queues is just so boring and mind consuming. I was bored of this rollercoaster ride. I wanted off! The initial fun had slipped into a mild and ever increasingly severe obsession!

I mean it was just a shitshow. I was also gluten and dairy free so that on top of ALL THE OTHER RESTRICTION made looking at a restaurant menu anxiety on a plate (I would always look at the menu, try to funnel down to the one or two menu items that fit my criteria and then google the calories in each to determine a winner - obvs the lowercal or carbs one would always win).

I have to say I was somewhat enjoying the food that I was eating (eggs, a lot of greens as well as meat and fish) but I’m sure there’s a whole level of fun with food that I just totally missed out on so maybe this really bland diet actually maybe started tasting good after a while?

Things got really bad when I started experimenting with the sugar free alternatives and diet foods...

When my body would give up on me and CRAVE something over than all this fat and protein (started from once a month and then became more like once a week but I mean duh, I was living on around 1400 cals a day, running around 50 k a week, working a 7:30am-7pm job and on top of that, depriving my body of so many nutrients) I would turn to sugar free versions of my favourite foods, be it sugar free gummies, chocolate or diet cokes. Honestly, these are just the worse, the havoc they pose on your mental health as well as that poor stomach of yours is just terrible. On top of that, I would get through at least a pack of gum a day (again, to avoid eating - again more artificial sweeteners to add to the mix) so I’m pretty sure you have a good picture of how bad I was.

Then, I just knew I just know I couldn’t keep doing this because if this was what life was, then I’m sorry I just wanted to check out. I was not doing myself ANY favours whatsoever because this constant dieting and eating these fake foods completely wrecked my metabolism causing me to gain a few kilos in water weight every time my diet would step one foot out of line, honestly (thanks diet industry, always on the look out for me to hit rock bottom and then sell me some more fake fodder).

SO, that brings me onto my veganX2 journey.

I want to do this properly this time and in my heart I KNOW this is the way I should eat, I mean who can turn around and tell me that plants are unhealthy?(well maybe someday someone will come out with a diet plan so ridiculous, oh wait, there’s the carnivore diet!).

I need to do this for my physical and mental health. I’ve been too shortsighted about my health lately thinking that I would just ‘adapt’ and get used to my strictly low carb diet. Such bullshit.

The scary thing about it though is that if you asked people whether I was a healthy person or not, they would 100% say that I was, people thought I was the picture of health. Little did they know what was going on in that head of mine!

This blog is just something for me to express my feelings and to just get something out there. Who knows I may look back on it when i’m still going strong as a vegan at aged 102! I also want to use it as a way to document how I’m feeling eating as a vegan, the ups, the downs and the endless journey of learning about myself and growing as a person.

If someone stumbles across this then fabulous, I hope it’s useful - do let me know if it is! The feeling of relating to someone is so so amazing and I crave it so would love to chat to anyone.

I’ll journal when I can and will get onto some really deep issues like my past relationships with food and with myself which I know I really briefly touched on in this post. I actually want to get super deep because who else am I going to tell these things to? I’ll also just post some opinions on things as and when they come to the surface of my mind.

Hope you come onboard and enjoy the ride ;)

#vegan #diet #journey #health & fitness #health #healing #new #eating disroders #london #general #paleo

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drlaurynlax · 6 years ago

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Important: 10 Best Paleo Protein Powders You Should Not Miss

Paleo protein powders seem like oxymoron.

After all, we all know our ancestors didn’t order Paleo protein powders on Amazon, or plug in their Ninja blender to whip up a post-workout Chunky Monkey smoothie. They got their protein from the “real deal” like deers, fish and buffalo. Paleo protein powder is more like a “pseudo-Paleo” food that falls within an 80/20 philosophy of eating (i.e. 80% of the time, eat real whole foods, 20% of the time, let life happen.

Smoothies & Paleo Protein Powders Are the New Buffalo

Nevertheless, thanks to human adaptation and the Industrial Revolution, life in modern times is a little different then “back in the day” and the protein shake or green smoothie have become dietary staples—especially for busy people on-the-go and fitness enthusiasts.

Shakes and smoothies are also great options for folks who have special dietary needs, like gut issues or who are looking to put on weight or muscle, and want an easy way to get more power packed nutrition and calories in (without feeling stuffed or bloated).

Unfortunately, the majority of protein powders out there—even “Paleo protein powders”—are stacked with tons of ingredients that negate any nutritional benefit from the protein powder itself.

The Problem with Paleo Protein Powders

Even if a protein powder label claims “high in protein,” or “Paleo-friendly,” the bigger question is: Can you absorb it?

Chances are, if the protein powder—even a “Paleo protein powder”—is filled with additives, chemicals, and anti-nutrients (like soy, rice, pea protein or peanuts), then you are NOT really getting the biggest nutrient bang for your buck.

Bloating, constipation, gas, loose watery stools and diarrhea are common side effects people experience when consuming protein powders on a regular basis—and many people don’t even question that their protein powder formula could be triggering their gut symptoms (especially if the label claims it’s a healthy “Paleo-friendly protein powder”).

Newsflash: If you’re running to the bathroom shortly after your smoothie, bloated or gassy during the day, or wondering why you’re always constipated (despite “eating healthy”)…there might be something in the “water” (i.e. your “healthy” Paleo protein powder).

How to choose the BEST protein powder for you?

Here are 5 Essentials to Look for When Choosing the BEST Paleo Protein Powder, and the 10 Best Paleo Protein Powders that meet the criteria.

5 Essentials to Look for When Choosing the BEST Paleo Protein Powder

Artificial Sweeteners While we all know that sugar https://drlauryn.com/why-is-sugar-bad-3-things-that-happen-to-your-body/ is not our BFF, sugar-free alternatives are fine, right?! Especially “natural ones” like stevia!…Not so fast.Artificial sweeteners, including Aspartame, Acesulfame, Sucralose, Erythritol (in many “Keto” products) and yes, stevia https://drlauryn.com/7-stevia-side-effects-food-advertisers-dont-tell/ are STILL synthesized chemical products (Read: Health nightmares). Artificial sweeteners https://drlauryn.com/artificial-sweeteners-really-all-that-bad/ are associated with side effects (Tandel, 2011 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3198517/) similar, if not worse, to high amounts of sugar, including blurred vision, heart palpitations and wreaking major havoc on your digestion, including diarrhea, gas, and bloating. In addition, a vast majority of “natural” stevia sold in stores and put into products is NOT the real thing, as processing and heating methods strip it of any real nutritional value it had before. So are ANY sweeteners ok?Recommended “Sweeteners” Include: Coconut water, monk fruit, fruit extracts and natural (no sweetener added) flavors (you can add fruit to a smoothie for taste. Disclaimer: some people CAN tolerate “organic” (non-GMO) stevia—however, keep in mind, it’s still highly processed.

Protein Type Your protein powder is only as good as you can absorb it.In general, Whey protein, egg white, soy protein, pea protein and rice proteins are the LEAST digestible powders sold on shelves—especially if you’re not buying a quality source of these proteins or a highly-heated and processed form. Soy, rice and peas contain “anti-nutrients” also known as phytic acid and lectins, both associated with symptoms such as gas and bloating and nutrient malabsorption. Many of these components are also GMO-derived (genetically modified organisms) with a host of non-gut-friendly side effects.As for egg white protein and whey protein, since dairy and eggs are considered some of the most “inflammatory” and cross-contaminating foods with gluten, these proteins don’t sit well with everyone. Egg whites in particular (vs. egg yolks) contain albumin—a protein highly associated with food sensitivities and allergies. Many folks experience a feeling of “egg belly” (indigestion) when they consume a concentrated dose of egg whites.

Whey is a derivative of dairy, and those with dairy and/or gluten sensitivities may find their symptoms (gastrointestinal, allergies, low immunity, skin breakouts) flare when consumed. The two most common forms of whey are whey concentrate and whey isolate .The main difference is that whey isolates are more pure than concentrate, meaning other non-protein components have been partially removed to “isolate” the whey protein and contain less lactose overall (i.e. better for lactose intolerance).

Whey ALSO comes in the form of “grass-fed” or standard whey and more and more conscious supplement companies are promoting that their “grass-fed” whey is better.

However, unlike grass-fed and grass-finished whole meats, most “grass-fed” wheys on the market are ALOT of hype, due to the high-heating and processing of many formulas. Current research does NOT support the claims that whey from grass-fed cows (or “grass-fed whey”) is better” for us or different than grain-fed at a macronutrient level simply because the heating and standard high-pasteurization process destroys the beneficial CLA and protein profiles we get from grass-fed whey in particular (Van Hekken et al, 2017 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28624284).

In other words: Don’t be fooled by fancy labels claiming “grass-fed whey,” or “grass-fed dairy” because once it’s in powdered, the grass-fed qualities don’t make a difference (unless its marked as “low pasteurized,” “raw grass-fed” and/or “cold-processed”)

Recommended Protein Types: The more “real food” protein powder options include:

Grass-fed Beef Isolate

Collagen

Bone Broth Protein

Low-Pastuerized, Cold-Processed Whey (If you tolerate dairy)

Goat’s Milk Whey (if you tolerate dairy)

Other Additives GMO’s like Malodextrin, Soy,Soy Lecthin, Xanthin Gum, Yeast, Lactic Acid, “Natural” or “Artificial” Flavorings, Corn, Sodium Citrate, Ethanol, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Amino Acids, Ascorbic Acid, Sodium Ascorbate, and “Vitamins” are not you (or your gut’s) friends. Period. Chances are if you don’t know what an ingredient really is…your body doesn’t either.

Company Transparency & Customer Service How transparent, honest and accessible is the company? Do you have questions about the processing? Do they answer it? If you’re not satisfied with the product, do they allow returns or credits? These markers influence the credibility of not only the company itself, but the products they sell. A company that believes in their product and the health claims they make, stands by it, and is adamant about providing you with not only a convenience, but quality.

Not a Meal Replacement Simply put: Protein powders are supplements—supports to enhance your nutrition and intake, but NOT replace real food. Therefore, when looking for a protein powder to supplement, or add, to your diet, keep in mind that: (1.) You CANNOT supplement your way out of a poor diet, AND (2.) protein powder is NOT real food.

10 Best Paleo Protein Powders (please number these how you would format them in WP and include a picture of each product?)

Organic Grass-fed Beef Bone Broth Powder Left Coast Performance https://amzn.to/2GIuFzq

Primal Health Paleo Protein https://amzn.to/2GoG08x

Vital Proteins Collagen Powder (like the Dark Chocolate https://amzn.to/2pUR6Xu or Vanilla https://amzn.to/2EcMlOo)

PurePaleo by Designs for Health https://amzn.to/2GpZKo9

Mt. Capra Goat Whey Protein https://amzn.to/2GrldNx

Wild Whey by Wild Foods https://amzn.to/2GL6j7W

Grass-fed Whey by Raw Organic Whey https://amzn.to/2J9RIkP

Prime Protein (Beef Isolate) by Equip Foods https://amzn.to/2pTqpDk

Pastured Eggs (yes, you can simply crack a quality egg or two into your smoothie and blend up)

Pure Paleo Protein by Amy Myers https://amzn.to/2GJbuW4

Bonus: Bone Broth (my personal favorite—a real food) by OssogoodBones https://www.ossogoodbones.com (use code “THRIVE” for $10 off)

The post Important: 10 Best Paleo Protein Powders You Should Not Miss appeared first on Meet Dr. Lauryn.

Source/Repost=> https://drlauryn.com/wellness-knowledge/best-paleo-protein-powders/ ** Dr. Lauryn Lax __Nutrition. Therapy. Functional Medicine ** https://drlauryn.com/

#Holistic #Nutrition #Therapy #Recovery #Functional #Medicine #Dr. Lauryn Lax #Dr.Lauryn

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ketoconnect · 5 years ago

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Best Keto Bread Recipe

If you’ve been looking for what is definitively the best keto bread recipe on the internet, then you’ve come to the right place. How do I know it’s the best? Well, I’ve tried just about every keto bread recipe over the past three years and decided that nothing tasted like regular bread. There’s a couple that are good, but I wanted perfection! The best part about this recipe is that it’s simple, and once you have it down, you can replicate this keto friendly bread any time you want. I’ve been making a low carb loaf every Sunday for the past few weeks and would recommend that to anyone. It’s so nice to have a loaf of bread at your disposal when you’re on a low carb diet. It almost feels like cheating. Check out this recipe and start making the best keto bread you’ve ever tried today!

A Healthy Low Carb Bread Recipe

The secret step in this recipe that takes this carb-free bread from good to great is the separation of the eggs. You’re going to want to separate the yolks and the whites. The reason for this is that we’re going to whip the egg whites until they are fluffy. We’re looking for soft peaks. This will add some volume to the otherwise dense keto bread.

Beating the egg whites is the answer to the denseness that comes with making an almond flour bread. I’ve made countless baked goods using almond flour and the main problem I’ve encountered is how dense the finished product is. The fluffy egg whites in unison with the high dosage of baking powder do a good job of getting this loaf nice and fluffy and adding some air pockets into the loaf. This makes for a better tasting bread.

Some people are fine with the popular keto cloud bread recipes out there, but we wanted something more dense and filling. By adding the almond flour to the fluffy egg mixture, you add more fat, protein, and calories making for a satiating meal. Plus, the texture and flavor is What makes this the best keto bread recipe is the fact that you can use it the same way you use regular bread. Sounds crazy right? If you search for keto bread on Pinterest, or the internet you’ll find a different recipe for everything you might want to make.

How will you eat bread again?

# French toast – Try our Keto French Toast Recipe

# Sandwiches

# Croutons

# Avocado toast

# Breakfast Sandwich

You can do it all with this keto bread recipe. You can even get crazy and throw this bread in a food processor and use it as Italian bread crumbs. The possibilities are endless.

Your Low Carb Bread Replacement Has Arrived

The best part about this bread is that it makes it so much easier to eat a low carb diet. Yes, there are some savage beasts (joking) that don’t miss bread at all and are happy to just eat bacon seven times a day, but if you’re anything like me, bread was a staple of your diet growing up and you still have a look of yearning in your eyes when they drop that bread basket in the middle of the table at family dinner. I feel your pain. This low carb bread recipe is your shoulder to cry on.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use coconut flour instead of almond flour?

There’s no need to try making this recipe using coconut flour when we’ve created this amazing coconut flour bread recipe for you. It’s a slight variation on this recipe and is the perfect coconut flour loaf for those of you with nut allergies or if you just hate almonds.

How do I get rid of the eggy taste?

There is a mild eggy taste to this bread, which we happen to love, but some people don’t like it. We’ve tested a couple of different ways to eliminate it and here is what we’ve come up with:

Stevia – It might sound crazy, but adding a few drops of stevia to this recipe is the best way to eliminate the eggy taste. Just a few drops will do! We typically use 6 drops of stevia. That amount will not make the bread sweet to the taste at all, but it will greatly reduce the eggy taste.

Yeast – Adding a tablespoon of Active Dry Yeast to this recipe can result in a more traditional bread flavor. The yeast won’t make the bread rise or anything since we’re not using sugar or gluten, but the flavor will still come through.

Butter – This might be the best way 🙂 Just add some delicious butter to the top of a slice and you will think you’re eating traditional bread!

Is the keto bread dairy-free?

This recipe calls for melted butter, but you can swap that out for whatever kind of dairy-free fat you like best. Ghee, coconut oil, or avocado oil would all be great options. Let us know if you try the swap and how your bread turns out.

Is the recipe gluten-free?

Yes! This keto bread recipe and all of our other keto recipes are gluten free. The bread is made with finely ground almond flour instead of wheat flour, which means you and your gluten-free friends can enjoy a slice.

How do I store Keto Bread?

Slicing to order is going to be your best bet from a shelf life standpoint. We pop the entire loaf in the fridge, either in a Tupperware container or a Ziploc bag and cut off slices as we eat it. It will last in the fridge for 7-10 days.

How do I get my loaf to be taller and fluffier?

The two major issues that will lead to a flat loaf is not whipping the egg whites and gently folding them in OR using almond meal instead of a finely ground almond flour. If you’ve tried everything and they don’t seem to be working for you, the next best option will be to make a larger recipe. Try making 1.5x this recipe (it’s easy to do using the servings slide bar) and you’ll have a much larger loaf.

Where to buy Keto Bread near me?

If you’re not a fan of baking but you’re a fan of eating bread, there are places to get keto friendly bread these days. If you’re lucky, you may be able to find a loaf of “Paleo Bread” in the freezer section at Whole Foods Market. This bread is going to cost you over $10 per loaf, but it is made of good ingredients and is a few grams of carbs per slice. There’s also rumors of ALDI carrying a new Zero-Carb bread, but it sells out fast and we haven’t been able to review it. Hopefully in the near future there will be more local buying options for low carb bread, but for now, those are your only options.

Where to buy Keto Bread online?

If you’re willing to order online there are a number of good options to choose from. We haven’t tried all the options available but a few of our favorites are:

# Great Low Carb Bread Company

# Thin Slim Foods

Our Best Low Carb Bread Recipes

Keto Bread Rolls

If you’re looking for a keto traditional dinner roll that tastes good then look no further. This is the softest and fluffiest keto bread recipe we have on the site. This one is also nut free!

Three Minute Keto Bread

Sometimes we just want to throw something in the microwave after a long day at work, and this is the perfect recipe for those occasions. This microwave keto bread is packed with flavor and can be cut into 5 or 6 slices and used the way you would use an english muffin. Perfect any time of the day!

Keto Bread Using Coconut Flour

This is our coconut flour bread loaf recipe. Very similar to our Best Keto Bread recipe, but we’ve eliminated the nuts and replaced it with coconut flour. The resulting bread is more soft and moist, but can be a bit more crumbly. We alternate between these recipes regularly and still can’t decide which one is our favorite.

#best keto bread recipe #Best Keto Bread #Bread Recipe #Keto Bread Recipe #ketoconnect

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the-expert-zone · 4 years ago

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Can I Eat Ice-Cream On Keto Diet?

The keto-friendly ice cream version allows you to eat your favorite ice cream and satisfy your sweet tooth. It never kicks you out of ketosis because it is low in carbs. People make keto version ice cream at home. And, there are store-bought options also available with many yummy flavors. While on the keto diet, you may need to skip your favorite desserts. But here are some recipes available of low carb alternative of those recipes. Keto ice cream is low-carb and delicious, and it comes in a range of tempting flavors.

Is Ice Cream Keto?

Many types of ice creams are not keto-friendly. There are few brands of keto ice cream out there. But if you make your own ice cream at home, you will definitely know what’s inside those ice creams. This keto-friendly ice-cream version is so creamy, rich, and barely sweet as similar to the original ice cream. You don’t need to worry about anything because it’s very easy to make your own.

Can You eat Ice Cream on Keto Diet?

You can eat ice cream on the keto diet, but you can’t eat it regularly. Make a simple keto version of ice cream at home is an easy way to eat low-carb ice cream on the keto diet. This keto-friendly ice cream is incredibly low in carbs, with just three net carbs in each serving. Moreover, this ice cream tastes unbelievably decadent and rich.

Eat ice cream made with the real stuff and sugar. So, you don’t need to buy keto ice cream with the icky protein powder aftertaste and questionable artificial sweetener components. Even you don’t need to spend many hours in making a homemade version of keto ice cream.

All you need to make ice cream is an ice-cream maker, a butter churn, and other odd equipment. You have to exactly choose what you want to eat on the keto diet. So, you don’t need to make and buy ice cream with artificial sweeteners and odd-tasting protein powders to be keto.

Many people associate keto with health. Many people swear that the keto diet is a means of losing weight, then this keto ice cream seems like a better choice if weight loss is your goal.

Keto Rules

Why is a regular ice cream not good to typically no-go with a keto diet? It’s everything you need to do with the basic rules you have to follow while on a ketogenic diet. A keto diet is an eating meal plan with low-carb, in which most of its calories have come from fat. The macronutrient ratio of the keto diet is typical looks something like this:

55% to 60% fat

30% to 35% protein

5% to 10% carbs

It means if you are eating 2,000 calories in one day, so you need to limit your intake of carbs to no more than 20 to 50 grams if you want your diet to remain keto-friendly. This ratio of macros focuses on the body’s source of energy instead of carbs. So, that puts you in the condition called ketosis.

While following a keto diet, ketosis is a goal, and the objective is to remain in that state as long as possible. Studies show that ketosis supports weight loss and help our body to burn fat more efficiently.

Can You Make Low-Carb Ice Cream Without Ice Cream Maker?

You can make your own homemade ice cream recipe without an ice cream maker if you don’t have your own. Also, you can use an ice cream maker if you want and you have.

5 Best Keto-Friendly Ice Cream Brands

The ketogenic diet is drastically involved in reducing your daily carb intake by replacing it with fat. Since everyone knows that ice cream has the highest amount of carbs, most of that part come from sugar, and it doesn’t fit into the keto diet. However, many ice cream brands of low carb ice cream are made with plant fiber and sugar alcohols that don’t get digested.

Also, they don’t contribute to your diet, so you can also make your keto ice cream at home. Here are the five best store-bought low-carb ice cream options in the market.

Rebel Butter Pecan

Rebel butter pecan is a special low-carb ice cream that is high-fat, gluten-free, low-glycemic, and keto-friendly, without added sugar. This brand has an excellent reputation for making the best keto-friendly ice creams made with high-quality ingredients. These ice creams are low carb but still so delicious and have a creamy texture and flavor.

Particularly, their varieties of ice creams have low carb content, which is calculated by the minimizing total grams of fiber and sugar alcohols in one serving from the total grams of carbs. Many people on the keto diet need to eat fewer than the 50 grams of net carbs to get the ketosis state. But few people need to reduce even more carbs. A whole pint of Rebel ice cream with 5 grams of net carbs.

Nick’s Swedish Ice Cream

Nick’s innovation is a creamy, sugar-free, and low-calorie ice cream containing 1/3 of the calories compared to the premium ice cream brands. You can eat Nick’s even if you are on a ketogenic diet. This brand’s ice cream products are designed to develop to affect your blood sugar level as little as possible.

And, because carbs can affect your blood sugar level, they always strive for their products to contain as few carbs as possible. Nick’s Swedish ice cream contains 4 to 7 net carbs in each serving.

Killer Creamery Keto Ice Cream

The killer creamery is a more delicious and healthier ice cream. They provide all the best low-carb ice cream products according to your lifestyle and diet. Products of these brands are totally made without any guilt and come with low-carb sugar alternatives.

Their ice cream contains MCT oil, just 2 to 3 net carbs, and zero added sugar. So, whenever you have a craving for sweet low carb ice cream, then simply visit the retailer near you and online shop to get your Killer creamery low-carb ice cream.

Arctic Zero Cake Batter

Arctic zero cake batter is a keto-friendly and dairy-free ice cream. This ice cream is very low in carbs and calories. Also, it is made with prebiotic fiber. This fiber can feeds the beneficial probiotic bacteria in your guts and supports healthy digestion. The fiber content in Arctic zero ice cream can help to reduce the net carb count to 5 grams per serving.

Additionally, in the cake batter, Arctic zero ice cream pint is available in different flavors such as Chocolate, Cookie shake, Salted Caramel, and other flavors. You can buy this ice cream from online shopping stores or from grocery stores.

Halo Top S’Mores

Halo top is another delicious low carb ice cream option with a high amount of protein than most other keto-friendly ice creams. This Halo Top S’Mores ice cream contains skim milk, egg, prebiotic fiber and primarily sweetened with erythritol.

It’s a type of zero-calorie sugar alcohol that doesn’t contribute to the net carbs. You can buy this Halo ice cream from online stores and also from grocery stores. Also, this brand offers some products that are made without eggs and dairy.

Ingredients for Homemade Keto Ice Cream

You need only four common ingredients to make the base of ice cream. Maybe you already have those ingredients in your house, and you don’t need to buy them. If you want to make low-carb ice cream, so you need:

Ingredients

3 tbsp Butter

4 Cups of Heavy Cream

1/3 cup of Besti Powdered Allulose

1 tbsp Vanilla Extract

¼ cup of MCT oil or Powder

1 medium Vanilla bean

Instructions

Put a large saucepan on medium heat and melt the butter in a saucepan. Add half amount of heavy cream with powdered sweetener. Bring to the boil and then reduce to the simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. Stir it occasionally, until the mixture looks thick coats the back of the spoon and volume is reduced by half. Then it will pull away from the pan if you tilt it.

Then pour the mixture into a large bowl and let it cool on room temperature. Stir it in the vanilla extract and seeds from vanilla beans if using. Whisk the MCT oil or powder if you are using it. It’s an optional step if you have an ice cream maker. But it’s highly recommended for texture if you don’t have ice cream maker.

Whisk in remaining 2 cups of heavy cream into the sweet mixture in the bowl until smooth.

To get the best results chill the mixture in the fridge for at least 4 hours or for the whole night. You can also skip this step if you want to, but the texture will be good if you chilled the batter.

You can click the LINK to start creating your 8-week plan. Simply follow the plan to achieve a successful keto diet.

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from Your Keto Plan https://ift.tt/3q32G0w

#keto diet food cook cooking

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beyondtheequatorfl · 4 years ago

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The Healthy Peanut Butter Alternative Your Kids Will Love

As a parent, the ability to throw together a quick PB&J sandwich for a hungry child is not to be underrated. As a spread, peanut butter has been a staple in homes across America for generations. On toast, as a topping for a crisp celery snack, added to smoothies, baking and more. So what are your options if your child has peanut allergies or cannot take peanut or into their school environment?

There are a huge number of peanut butter alternatives available these days, all claiming to be the perfect substitute. When selecting a peanut-free option, taste, texture and consistency tend to be the major focus. Optimally, a healthy substitute for peanut butter should mirror these aspects, but also offer added nutrition for your child.

What Are The Alternatives?

Should your child not also be allergic to tree nuts (around 30% of peanut allergy sufferers are) then your options are many.

Nut-Butters

Almond Butter - Can be made from raw or roasted almonds, in crunchy or smooth - just like peanut butter. Is high in protein and has a similar nutritional value to peanut butter. Slightly higher in fiber, but around equal in regards to calories and sugar content. Almond butter allergies are also quite common however.

Cashew Butter - Similar to almond butter in regards to texture, it is also nutritionally similar to peanut butter. However, it is lower in protein than almond or peanut butter and quite high in carbohydrates.

Pecan Butter - Pecan butter is less common than almond or cashew but is a firm favourite with many eschewing peanut butter. Making a deliciously thick, dark spread, it is high in manganese, potassium as well as vitamins A and E.

Hazelnut Butter - Usually familiar to children as a chocolate spread, such as Nutella, hazelnut butter can also be eaten unflavoured. It is incredibly high in saturated fat, meaning it is not the best option for daily consumption. It is also the lowest in vitamins and minerals when compared to other nut butter options.

Seed Butters

The overriding benefit of seed butter is that they are a 100% nut-free butter. Making them ideal for children with complex nut allergies. They are not always made in an environment that is nut-free however, so proceed with caution and always read the labels carefully.

Sunflower Seed Butter - Made from toasted sunflowers which are then ground into a smooth paste, sunflower butter has an earthy taste. Many brands add a lot of sugar to make it more palatable. Sunflower seeds are high in Vitamin E and protein as well as other essential vitamins and minerals.

Tahini/Sesame Butter - Made from toasted, blended sesame seeds, Tahini is a staple in the Eastern Mediterranean and parts of North Africa. High in saturated fat and protein, it is also a great source of magnesium and calcium. Sesame is considered one of the top nine allergens, however, so it is not suitable as an alternative for many people with allergies.

Pumpkin Seed Butter - Similar to sunflower seed butter, pumpkin seed butter has an earthy taste. It tends to be greenish in color which may make it less appealing to fussy kids. It is high in manganese and magnesium, providing 60% and 40% respectively of the recommended daily doses.

Pea And Soy Butter - Technically legumes rather than seeds, pea and soy butters are well ranked when it comes to offering a ‘nutty’ flavour and consistency similar to peanut butter. The downside is that as peanuts are also part of the legume family, they may still be unsuitable for those with a peanut allergy.

What To Look For In Peanut Butter Replacements

Kids are fickle creatures when it comes to many things, but with food it can be incredibly difficult to convince them to try something new. When choosing a peanut butter alternative for children you should consider:

Taste reigns supreme. Many brands of nut or seed butter will have added sugar and salt in an effort to make them more palatable. Avoid excessive sugar and salt, especially for kids, whenever you can.

Consistency is key, no one likes runny or gritty ‘peanut butter’. Consistency will also be the biggest giveaway to your child that this isn’t their usual spread. Tilting the jar side to side is your best way to check the consistency before purchasing.

Colour. How we perceive our food has a lot to do with how willing we are to eat it and how enjoyable we find it. Unusually coloured or darkly tinted butters may be off putting to your child.

Ultimately you may find that when making the move away from peanut butter that it takes your child some time to adjust or settle on their new favourite. Finding an allergen-free alternate that ticks all the boxes above may seem impossible, right? Enter Beyond The Equator 5 Seed Butter.

5 Seed Butter

Beyond The Equator 5 Seed Butter is free of the top 8 allergens and made in a certified nut-free environment. Its dynamic seed blend is nutritionally dense and ideal for growing bodies, it contains:

Sunflower seeds which are high in magnesium, vitamin E and protein, they can help lower blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol.

Chia Seeds that are high in omega-3 fatty acids and protein, fibre, magnesium, calcium, iron, copper, phosphorus, manganese and selenium.

Flax seeds, also high in omega-3 fatty acids and protein, can help lower blood sugar and insulin levels, aids in weight loss, improve skin health, and is rich in lignans which are shown to reduce the risk of certain cancers.

Pumpkin seeds, high in iron, calcium, B2, folate and beta-carotene, which the body metabolises into vitamin A. They also contain omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

Hemp seeds, high in protein, unsaturated fats, and fibre. It also contains zinc, iron and the B vitamins niacin, riboflavin, thiamine and folate.

It is an ideal peanut butter replacement. It is higher in protein and lower in carbohydrates than peanut butter, helping to keep little tummies fuller for longer. It has a similar texture and consistency to peanut butter, is naturally low in sugar and dairy-free. As an added bonus it is also vegan, keto, gluten free and non GMO certified.

Approved by the fussiest kids, one mom’s Amazon review speaks volumes:

“I have a 3 yr old autistic son who only eats peanut butter and yogurt. We have to be a nut free household when my stepson is over, this product was a godsend.”

Try our delicious range of 5 Seed Butters today.

from Beyond the Equator - Blog https://beyondtheequator.com/blogs/blog/the-healthy-peanut-butter-alternative-your-kids-will-love via Beyond The Equator

#Healthy Foods #Food #Beyond the Equator - Blog

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gethealthy18-blog · 5 years ago

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328: How to Live Fearlessly and Work Through Roadblocks With Rhonda Britten

New Post has been published on http://healingawerness.com/news/328-how-to-live-fearlessly-and-work-through-roadblocks-with-rhonda-britten/

328: How to Live Fearlessly and Work Through Roadblocks With Rhonda Britten

Child: Welcome to my Mommy’s podcast.

This episode is sponsored by UpSpring Baby, a company making innovative science-backed products for moms and babies. And I want to tell you about one of their products in particular because even though I’m not even currently pregnant or have tiny babies, it’s been really helpful to me. I really like their Stomach Settle nausea relief drops, which are great for any kind of stomach upset from motion sickness, which I get, and a couple of my daughters get, to morning sickness. which I thankfully do not have right now because I’m not pregnant, but any kind of bloating or digestive upset at all. I love to keep this on hand and my kids like them too. They help relieve nausea, motion sickness, gas, bloating, and any kind of digestive upset. In fact, I keep these in my car, in my kind of like emergency kit in each of my cars, and also in my purse just to have on hand because tummy aches can be a thing when out and on-the-go. Their lemon-ginger-honey flavored Stomach Settle drops contain not just one but three natural remedies for digestive upset: ginger, spearmint, and lemon. Plus, they contain vitamin B6 to help relieve occasional nausea, motion sickness, gas and bloating. Their ingredients are micronized, meaning that they provide faster-acting relief, and they have been really helpful, like I said, especially for motion sickness. They’re individually wrapped. They’re great for on-the-go, and I was able to negotiate a discount just for you. You can check this out at upspringbaby.com/pages/wellnessmama, and the code wellness10 saves you 10%.

This episode is sponsored by Beekeeper’s Naturals, which is my go-to source for all things bee-related. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re an amazing company. They make clean remedies that really work and that my whole family loves to take, no fight required. I’m sure you probably know that bees are absolutely vital to our global food system. And Beekeeper’s Naturals is on a mission to save the bees while creating products that support humans as well. They source all of their bee products sustainably and do a lot to support healthy bee colonies. All of their products, of course, are gluten-free, non-GMO, naturally-sourced, and keto-friendly. My personal favorite is their propolis spray which I use for natural immune support. I never have to fight my kids to take it because it tastes delicious and it’s my first line of defense at any sign of sniffles or cough or any time I’m traveling. I also really love their B.LXR Brain Fuel, which is a caffeine-free way to support focus and energy. I take this on days like today with podcasting when I need a little extra mental boost. As a listener of this podcast, you can save 15% on all Beekeeper’s Naturals products. Go to beekeepersnaturals.com/wellnessmama, and the code “wellnessmama” saves you 15%.

Katie: Hello and welcome to the Wellness Mama Podcast. I’m Katie from wellnessmama.com, and I think you’re really going to enjoy today’s guest as we delve into the mental and the emotional side of health. I’m here with Emmy Award winning Rhonda Britten, who is a repeat Oprah guest and has worked with thousands of people in her program of what she calls “Fearless Living.” She has one of the most amazing stories I’ve heard, both in her own personal transformation and what she went through in her life, and now in what she does to help, like I said, thousands and thousands of people. And in this episode, we go deep on how you can move through fear in your personal life, and also when it’s widespread and societal like it is right now for many people. And she gives really practical tips and starting points for how you can shift your inner voice and your inner fears, and use them to your advantage in life rather than fighting them. So without further ado, let’s learn from Rhonda.

Rhonda, welcome. Thanks for being here.

Rhonda: I am so excited to be here talking about my very favorite subject, fear.

Katie: Well, I think it’s a very timely subject right now. There’s a lot of uncertainty still going around right now and I think there couldn’t be a more pertinent time to talk about this and probably, I’m excited to hear from you and to get tips from you and I hope that it will help many people listening as well. But as background, I would love to hear a little bit of your story and how you became this voice of fearless living and helping so many thousands of people.

Rhonda: Thank you. Well, you know, it wasn’t… I think most of us who are now dedicated to supporting people, to helping people, to guiding people, to helping them move through whatever they’re moving through, right, and me specifically fearless living/fear is because I lived in fear most of my life, but I didn’t know it. And I think that’s a real key point, Katie. I think most people don’t walk around saying, “I’m afraid,” or “I’m scared.” Maybe right now they’re actually admitting it more than normal. But most of us don’t walk around saying, “I’m afraid,” or “I’m scared.” And I didn’t either.

And you know, I did, you know, a lot of different, you know, read books, took workshops, did at a whole bunch of things to change my life, but they really didn’t get me over the feeling that there’s something wrong with me. And, you know, you asked the question like, how did it really all start? Well, you know, if I really look back on where did this begin, it was when I was 14 years old. And, you know, my favorite book at the time was, ”Why am I Afraid to Tell you who I am,” which I find completely ironic that now I teach people how to not be afraid to be who they are, right?

But it was on Father’s Day. My parents were recently separating and I, you know, my father was coming over to take us to brunch, which, you know, there’s three kids, two adults, five people. We didn’t really go out to dinner or lunch or brunch ever. So this was a big special event. And my father comes in, “Come on, come on.” My sisters are in the bathroom fighting it out. I have two sisters. We lived in about an 850-square-foot house. And my mom and I start walking out with my dad, my sisters still in the bathroom fighting it out, and my dad looks at me and says, ”I’ve got to get my coat from the car.” And so he opens his trunk to grab his coat. But instead of grabbing his coat, he grabbed a gun and he started screaming at my mother, ”You made me do this. You made me do this.” And I start screaming, ”What are you doing, dad? What are you doing?” And he shoots my mother and I am frozen, right? I don’t know what to do. I’m frozen. And my father cocks the gun and points it at me. And I absolutely believe I’m next. And my father looks at me. I look at him, and like, we’re like literally eyeball to eyeball and you know, he blinks, I blink, and I’m just waiting. I’m just waiting for the bullet.

And in my mother’s literal last breath, she sees that gun in my face and screams, ”No, stop.” And my father realizing my mother’s still alive, takes that bullet intended for me and shoots my mother a second time. And that second bullet goes through my mother’s abdomen, out her back and lands in the car horn. And so for the next 20 minutes, all I heard was BEEEEP. And then my father cocks the gun again and he drops to his knees, puts the gun to his head and fires.

So in two minutes, I was the sole witness of watching my father murder my mother and commit suicide in front of me. And I don’t know how other people would respond, but basically, how I responded was…I mean, I didn’t do anything to stop my father from killing my mother. You know, I blamed myself. I didn’t grab the gun. I did nothing heroic. I didn’t kick him in the knees. I didn’t jump in front of my mother. I did no superhero stuff. I just stood there frozen saying, “Stop, stop,” right? And in that moment, I basically split in two, Katie. You know, half of me was, you know, “I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m a straight-A student. I’ll still be a straight-A student and I’ll pretend all of this didn’t happen.” And then the other part of me just had so much guilt and shame.

And, you know, when you witness your father murdering your mother, you don’t get to be happy ever again. Like I just really resigned myself that I don’t ever get to be happy. And so for the next 20 years, I tried to kill myself three times. I became an alcoholic. I got three DUIs. And you know, it was that third suicide attempt that I realized I’m not very good at killing myself and I’ve gotta figure out another way. And I remember going back to my little tiny studio apartment after that third suicide attempt, realizing, “Well, if I’m not gonna die, I better figure out how to live.”

And, you know, during those 20 years of alcoholism and nightmares and, you know, etc., etc., and suicide attempts, I did read books and I did go to workshops and I did go to therapy. I did everything one would think they should do. But like I shared earlier, there was this overwhelming feeling that there was still something really fundamentally wrong with me.

And so when I went to that little studio apartment after my third suicide attempt, I remember saying to myself, “Like, if I’m not dying, I’ve gotta figure out how to live and I’ve gotta figure this out.” And so I started making up exercises for myself. And I just wanna say this, Katie, I was not proud of myself for doing this. I thought I was so screwed up that I had to make stuff up for myself. So I was really ashamed that I had to do this. And the good news, though, those exercises started to work for me, started to shift my mindset, started to shift the way I saw the world, started to heal me, started to move me into the direction of what’s now called Fearless Living.

So what I teach today is just an extension, and of course, an expansion, because now I’ve been doing it for 25 years, of what I started that moment when had to decide, you know, “Rhonda, you can’t keep going this way. You have to make a decision and you have to decide to live. You have to decide to thrive. You have to decide to become the person you were born to be.” And that was the, you know, the germination, the first seed that started like…you know, again, it took many, many years to, you know, offer this to the public or even think I could do it. I mean, I was…it took me many years before…you know, from the moment I started creating the exercises to actually thinking that they could help anyone but me.

But that was the moment, you know. I really do think that… I do really do think that somehow this is, you know, a life’s, you know, commitment by me and my parents to move the world to see fear differently through our experience and then through my being alive and trying to figure it out for myself and me admitting that I’m afraid. Because again, for most of my life, even after that happened, I never admitted I was afraid. So when I started understanding how fear worked, everything changed for me, Katie. Everything changed. And that was the beginning of a new life, a beginning of being able to be happy, a beginning of, you know, peace of mind, a beginning of, you know, self-esteem and self-worth and self-confidence and self-acceptance and everything that I’d always yearned for.

Katie: Wow. I know every time I hear your story, it just gives me goosebumps and it’s so incredible to hear what you’ve overcome and what you faced, which is so much more than many people think they’ll ever have to face. And I think that’s so inspiring, on the one hand. Then I think another reaction you maybe get, I’m curious if you do, but is people who haven’t had to go through something as difficult as that saying, you know, “I’m not walking around with that level of having gone through something or that level of fear. So do I really need to actually address this? Like do I need fearless living if I haven’t had to face something that horrific?”

Rhonda: Yeah, I think that’s a great question, Katie. And you know, my motto is, you know, “Fear is fear is fear,” and every single person alive has fear whether they know it or not. And they do because it’s part of our neurobiology. So, whether it’s, you know, fear of rejection, fear of failure. Because, you know, we’re talking about when my father took that gun out, you know, that’s called fear of survival, fear of living. Like, you know, I’m gonna die, right? So, most of us don’t understand the difference between a physical fear and an emotional fear. And we really don’t kind of give credence to emotional fears most of us. But physical fears of, you know, being shot or, you know, rape or something horrific, you know, most of the time, for most people, knock on wood, they don’t have to experience that on a daily basis.

Their physical fear is not what they’re experiencing. But what they are experiencing most days is an emotional fear. Like, “Do I start my own business?” Well, that decision probably is being decided by fear more than we’d like to admit and more than we’re probably aware of because it sounds like a rational, practical, like, “Well, no. It’s not a good time to do that,” you know, or whether we move or whether we fall in love or whether we leave or any of the decisions that we have to make most of the time, unless we’re really clean, really clear and understand how fear works, fear is making too many of our decisions for us, again, under the guise of rationale or practical or, “It’s the best thing to do,” or again, “This is the best thing my mother would tell me to do,” etc., etc.

So, you know, I pray that nobody has to experience what I do and I pray that nobody has to experience horrific circumstances. But what I do know from the people that I’ve worked with, whether it’s a minister, whether it’s a stay-at-home mom, whether it’s a CEO, doesn’t matter, everybody has, whether they’re awake to it or not, fear because again, it’s part of our neurobiology. It’s part of the way our brain works. It’s part of the way our body works. So unless you understand it, most people get confused by it and they actually believe the signals of fear rather than believe their own true nature, you know, follow their own path.

Katie: Wow. Yeah. I think that’s such a beautiful description. And I know another objection you probably hear relatively often and certainly that I held on to and hid behind for a lot of number of years is the idea that some fear is good and that, you know, fear can keep us safe. I even hear people teach their kids that of like, you know, “You wanna be afraid of strangers and snakes and whatever it may be because that keeps you safe.” And so I’m curious, what do you say to people who try to argue, you know, why do we wanna get rid of fears, don’t we wanna hold on to them?

Rhonda: Well first of all, you can’t get rid of fear. So that’s impossible. It’s part of our neurobiology. So there’s no getting rid of fear. But there is transcending fear. There is befriending fear. There is mastering fear. But there’s no getting rid of it. So if anyone ever says to you, “Oh, get rid of this fear for good,” it’s like they’d have to give you a lobotomy, right? Like that’s not possible, right? So it is about working through your fear. Now, when you hear parents and, you know, “Watch as you cross the street,” and, you know, “Don’t eat that, that’s really bad for you,” or “You have an allergy,” or you know any of those things, that’s actually a physical survival fear.

And if I’m in an elevator and I’m feeling freaked out or get an intuitive hit that I should get out, yeah, get out. Right? And yeah, do I wanna go bungee jumping? Not so much, right? So there’s a big difference between physical fears, you know, what our parents usually tell us, right? Like, you know, watch out for traffic. Be careful, right? They wanna keep us safe. They wanna keep us alive. But where the problem comes in is because the brain doesn’t know the difference between an emotional fear and a physical fear, those same fears are kind of handed down emotionally as well. So that fear of walking across the street turns into fear of taking risks, a fear of falling in love, a fear of connecting, a fear of telling the truth, a fear of sharing a secret, a fear of being intimate, a fear of starting my own business, a fear of moving, right?

So those physical fears that we’re taught again, out of the goodness of our parents’ heart and our community’s heart, and of course we want to stay physically safe. But again, what it does is it actually translates into an emotional fear. And so those emotional fears, that fear of rejection, that fear of loss, that fear of intimacy, that fear of success, that fear of failure, that fear of being inadequate, that fear of looking stupid, the fear of fearing being lazy, the fear of, you know, being a loser, right? I could go on and on. Those fears subtly, you know, quietly, insidiously, impact our thinking. And again, this is all from our neurobiology, from our brain. It’s not something that, you know, I made up in the middle of the night and just, you know, it’s not scientific-base. It’s like, no, no, no, no. This is our neurobiology and our neurobiology, the brain, doesn’t know the difference between a physical fear and an emotional fear. The brain doesn’t know the difference between something you make up versus what’s real. So you walk into a networking meeting or you go to a party and you say, “These aren’t my people,” you I bet manufactured that, you know, and you call it intuition. But you manufactured that because of your neurobiology of fear.

So the brain doesn’t know the difference between physical and emotional, doesn’t know the difference between real and imagined. What they’re now discovering is that fear, many times, is handed down through our DNA. So some of the things that you are afraid of actually came from your great, great grandmother, right? And the other thing we know about fear is that there’s no getting rid of it, right? There’s no getting rid of it. So you wanna learn how to work with it. You wanna understand its purpose so that you no longer get stopped by it, so that you know how fear sounds versus freedom sounds. You know the difference between fear and love. You know the difference between, you know, fear of, you know, being, you know, your authentic self versus really living in the risk of being your authentic self.

Like, you know the difference so you can walk in a life that really suits you, that really is your life to live and not let fear decide for you because fear is subtle, insidious. It knows everything you know. It’s as smart as you are, educated as you are, spiritual as you are, as knowledgeable as you are. So it uses everything that you know against you. Get more spiritual, it gets more spiritual. So again, there’s a big difference between people thinking that fear is just a physical fear when really, the day-to-day living that we go through, our emotional fears are actually deciding too much of our life, not our physical fears.

Katie: So then if we can’t get rid of fear, which makes total sense, you mentioned we have to learn to work with it or to make it good for us. So walk us through what are the first steps of that? Because that seems like an overwhelming process.

Rhonda: Yeah, well it’s just easier than you think because, of course, that’s what I’ve been doing for 25 years and I know that I needed an easy process, right? Like, I couldn’t have anything complicated, right? Like, I needed ABC. In order to live it every day, I need ABC. And so I created something called the Wheel of Fear and the Wheel of Freedom. And the Wheel of Fear and Wheel of Freedom have four parts each. But I wanna focus on a couple of parts just to start getting people on the pathway.

So the Wheel of Fear has something called Fear Responses. Okay. So for instance, you know, we all kind of know what we think our problems are, right? Like most of us can like, name our problems. You know, procrastination, perfectionism, I get anxious, overwhelmed, you know. So we kind of know like, “Oh, I compare. I compete. You know, I feel guilty. I get worried.” Like, we know. “You know, I people-please. You know, I give too much. I’m just somebody who gives.” So we all probably know some of the ways that fear actually is influencing us right now. And what we do, Katie, is we call them our problems, or we call them our character flaws, or we say that they’re our character defects, or we say that’s what we’re bad about, or that’s our problem, you know, beating ourselves up, etc., making excuses, complaining, etc.

So the first thing that I want to give people relief from is those are just fear responses. So your procrastination, your perfectionism, you’re overwhelmed, you’re complaining, you’re feeling guilty, you’re worried, comparing, again, beating yourself up. All of those things are the way that our neurobiology has created a, you know, kind of a way to keep ourselves safe, from an emotional standpoint. And the way that it’s tricked us is that we think those are our problems, right? We think procrastination is our problem. And in fact, procrastination is just a symptom, a fear response to a deeper fear.

So if you can really start seeing like, “Oh, you mean my overeating isn’t because I’m lazy?” No, it’s not because you’re lazy. No, it’s actually you’re over-eating because there’s a fear driving that overeating. “Oh, you mean procrastination is not that I’m lazy?” No, it’s not. Procrastination isn’t because you’re lazy. Procrastination, again, is a fear response to a deeper, deeper fear.

So we wouldn’t complain if we didn’t have a fear. We wouldn’t get overwhelmed if we didn’t have a fear. We wouldn’t feel guilty if we didn’t have a fear. We wouldn’t worry if we didn’t have a fear. So all the things that we think are our problems, you know, 3 things, 10 things, 20 things, are actually a symptom of one thing and that is what I call the core fear, that trigger that really ignites all of those fear responses. So one of the first things, Katie, people can do is actually write down all the ways they trip themselves up, all the ways they trick themselves, all the way the problems that they think they have. So, you know, spend some time and just go, “Okay, yeah, I procrastinate. Yup. Yup. I get overwhelmed. Yup. Yup. I get anxious. Yep. I am a perfectionist. Yep. I try. I’m a control freak. Yep.” And just write them down.

Start owning that, “Okay, these are the ways that I respond when I’m in fear.” And what I want everyone to hear right now is that, you are not your wheel of fear. You are not your wheel of fear. You are not with your wheel fear. And all of those fear responses were honed and created, again, through our DNA, but also, you know, from our family, from our life experience, from, you know, who we hung out with. And the wheel of fear was formed by the time you were five. So, you know, you’re not stupid, lazy, ignorant, inadequate, etc, or worthless. You know, you’re just having a fear that you don’t know what to do with. So you’ve created a way to manage it through procrastination, overwhelm, guilt, shame, etc., etc.

So the first thing to do, Katie, is just to start writing down some of the things that you do and start really noticing and knowing that these are not character flaws, there’s nothing wrong with you. And if I could say one thing to everybody, it’s like there’s nothing wrong with you. There’s nothing wrong with you. There’s nothing wrong with you. It’s just fear. So I think that’s one of the easiest things to start doing is just starting to notice them. And then, of course, you know, I work with clients and, of course, in my book and workshops, etc., I help people identify that core fear that they have that really drives all these behaviors.

And the number one thing that people experience when they understand what their core fear is, because your core fear is probably not fear of failure. It’s probably not fear of success, probably not fear of rejection. Those are all really probably fear responses. But when you identify that core fear, what I hear from people over and over again is my life makes sense. I understand why I’ve done everything I’ve done and a level of peace of mind comes in because now you know, it’s not you. You’re not a bad person. You’re not a stupid person. You’re not a lazy person. You’re not an…you know, there’s not something wrong with you. It’s actually an individualized fear that was created by the time you were five. And so we’re just acting it out at the age of 30, 40, 50 because it’s worked on some level. It’s kept us safe on some level. And so, you know, the fear wants to do one thing and one thing only and it just wants to keep us safe. And we’ve bought into that because we don’t know any difference, right?

So again, the first thing that I would invite people to do is just start recognizing the things that they do and start labeling them different. Instead of, “These are my problems,” go, “These are my fear responses. This is how I respond when I’m afraid. These are not character flaws. I’m not bad because I do these things. These are just things that I do automatically because that’s how I’ve been trained to respond to fear. But there is a different way.”

Katie: That makes so much sense. And I experienced that myself over the last couple of years working through some past experiences. And there was this kind of profound moment of realizing that some of these things that I was so angry with myself over and that I wasn’t getting past, realizing they had protected me in a lot of ways at certain times and helped me even to become who I am now and that they were…and like basically moving from a point of, like, frustration with myself and fear about these things, to a place of gratitude that my mind and my body knew what to do to protect me and then being able to say, “But I don’t need you to keep me safe in this way anymore.”

And so I’m curious what is the next step? Like, once we’re able to identify that, I would guess there’s a tremendous amount of self-compassion that comes just from being able to realize this is not a deficiency. I’m not, you know, not good because of this.” But what’s the next step of then making that our friend and moving forward?

Rhonda: Well, there’s something called the Wheel of Fear like I mentioned, and then the Wheel of Freedom. And what I help people do is, again, like I said, identify their core fear, but more importantly, I help them identify their pathway out. You know, we hear a lot about mental models and filtering systems. And neuroscience says now that the only way to truly change your life on a core level is to change how you filter the world. Literally, change the glasses you wear. Literally, start seeing the world differently. And that’s what the Wheel of Fear and Wheel of Freedom do. You move from the Wheel of Fear filter to the Wheel of Freedom filter.

Now, I do wanna give a caveat here, Katie, that, you know, I know that people probably are walking around 80% fearless, right? Some people are 20% fearless, but there’s some areas of our life where we’re already doing this naturally. You know, we are fearless naturally, but there’s other areas of life that fear does have its way with us. So we might be fearless in career, but fearful in relationships, and all of our anxiety comes up, all of our worry comes up. Or it might be different and opposite. Like, “Oh, my God, my relationships are awesome. I’m really able to communicate and intimate, but it’s my career where I get all caught up in money and worth and oh, you know, making money and oh, what do I do?”

And some of us are great in those areas and have difficult time with self-care and play and connection, right? So I’m not implying that everybody is afraid everywhere, but I want you to, first of all, to really name the area that you do have some fear and that you do doubt yourself, that you do put yourself down, that you do compare yourself to others. I think that’s really important to start giving yourself credit for the things that you already have ”handled,” and areas that you’re like, “Okay, fear responses are totally running the show,” right?

So I help people find what’s called their essential nature of the place that they can anchor back into their true nature. So I help people shift their filtering system from the Wheel of Fear to the Wheel of Freedom. Now, you brought up a word that is called gratitude. And I love that you brought that up, Katie, because I also wanna not only talk about gratitude for a minute, but I wanna talk about something called acknowledgments. And these are two exercises that folks can do immediately that will start shifting their opinions of themselves and the opinions of the world. So, you know, Katie, you brought up gratitude and I always say people that have a difficult time with gratitude, blame the world.

So if you have a difficult time with gratitude and you have a difficult time saying like, “I’m grateful for,” then you probably are blaming the world. Now, acknowledgments, in the world of Fearless Living, which I’ll explain how to do one, is if you have a difficult time acknowledging yourself, then you blame yourself, right? So that’s the way fear has its way with you is you blame yourself. So in the world of Fearless Living, Katie gratitude, you write out, “Today I’m grateful for…” and you get really specific. And, you know, so you don’t write “Today, I’m grateful for the blue sky.” You write, “Today, I’m grateful for the way the daisies, you know, are popping up through the, you know, broken sidewalk,” right? Like you’re really specific because when you are specific with your gratitudes and acknowledgments, it creates a visceral experience.

Well, what is a visceral experience? It means it’s alive in your body and it actually starts shifting you automatically of how you see the world. It shifts your filtering system. So we don’t want this to be an intellectual exercise. We want this to be a visceral one. And how do you get visceral? Being specific, also not saying “not”. So like instead of saying, “You know, I’m really…” or I’ll use acknowledgment, “I acknowledge myself for not complaining,” uh-uh. We wanna talk in acknowledgments about what we are doing instead of what we’re not doing. So, “I acknowledged myself for not complaining,” uh-uh. That’s what you’re not doing. What are you doing instead of complaining? Oh, “I acknowledge myself for giving myself a break when it came to missing a deadline at work,” right? Like, acknowledging yourself.

So, “Today, I’m grateful for…” write it out five times a day. Be as specific as you can be. No nots, and acknowledgments are, “Today, I acknowledge myself, acknowledge myself for any shift, any awareness, any movement forward, anything at all.” So I wanna say a caveat here, Katie, that I don’t care how well somebody does something, right? I could give a crap about how well you do it and I could give a crap about if you finish it or not. Acknowledgments are only about movement forward no matter how minute, no matter how small, no matter how difficult it was. It doesn’t matter about any of those. It’s just really acknowledging yourself.

And acknowledging that movement forward, actually, is the number one confidence builder, number one way to build your confidence overnight is just starting to acknowledge yourself. Because, Katie, what I’ve recognized is that most people acknowledged themselves for like one second and then they point out like, “Well, if I would’ve started sooner,” or “Well, I could have done it better,” or “Well…” and they literally take away their movement forward by now evaluating it and judging it, how it could have been if they would have only done A, B and C.

Now, it doesn’t mean that you can’t have discernment and get better, but you first have to acknowledge where you’ve come from. So gratitudes and acknowledgments are critical tools to use to start shifting your fear responses into what we call the Wheel of Freedom, start moving you forward from fear to freedom. So do your gratitudes about the world. Gratitudes are outside of yourself. They’re about the world out there, and acknowledgments are all about you, about how you’re living in this world and how you’re moving forward. If you do five gratitudes and five acknowledgments today, I’m gonna tell you right now that within 24 hours, 36 hours, you’re gonna start seeing a different world and experiencing a different world.

So I’m not gonna tell you what not to do. I’m not gonna say, “Quit complaining,” that, for most of us, is difficult to do, right? Instead, we’re gonna talk about what we’re going to do instead of complaining, what we’re gonna do instead of beating ourselves up, what we’re gonna do instead. And we’re gonna start moving towards who we want to be, what’s our true nature, where we wanna go, rather than focusing on what we should stop doing. So we wanna start shifting that, you know, that viewpoint of self-help, personal development, spirituality, etc., from stopping to starting, to where do we wanna go versus, you know, don’t focus on what you want to stop, instead focus on replacing. Does that make sense?

Katie: It does. I think that’s probably such a powerful and paradigm shift, you know, that we…and when you can make that, I can only imagine how that will spill over into every other area of life. And I’m guessing there’s an element here. It makes me think of… I know patterns I can say I’ve fallen into in the past and that I have seen in other people, which is when people tend to fall into patterns of complaining or making excuses, which you touched on. So I’m curious both if we can recognize in ourselves that that’s a thing that we do, how we can work through that, or if that’s something that those close to us do. Is there anything we can do both to help our own mindset or to help them in those instances?

Rhonda: Well, complaining, you know, one of the great things is, you know, complaining we do for many reasons and what I’d love people to do is complain, turn complaining into venting. And, you know, most of us have heard the word venting, but in actuality, we’re actually complaining, we’re not venting. So let me tell you the difference between complaining and venting. And then I’ll give you a little language for those people in your life that are big complainers and you no longer wanna participate, what do you say to them? Right? So complaining is, “I’m committed to keeping the problem alive.” Like I’m complaining, I’m trying to get you to buy in that there’s a problem and I want to focus on the problem.

So I wanna keep talking about the problem. I wanna keep talking about my husband being this way or my boss being that way, or my coworker being this way, or my sister being this way. And I wanna complain about this and complain about that. And I want you to buy in. I want you to buy in because that’s how we feel, you know, that we’re right. That’s how we feel loved, right? That’s how we feel understood. Which brings me to a side note, Katie, is that most people wanna be understood. And what I teach my clients, what I teach my students, is most of us want to be understood, but we don’t really…we’re not really looking for understanding. What we’re really looking for is agreement.

So one of the ways that complaining works for us, is we’re really looking for agreement. We’re not looking to be understood. We don’t want…because we think, “Well, if you really understood me, you would agree with me.” But it’s like that, you know, the fear wants us to get agreement so that we’re safe because if we don’t agree, then maybe I’m not safe, right? So just FYI, you know, complaining is committed to the problem. So now what is venting? Venting is committed to the solution, i.e., “I have a lot of anger right now. I’m really frustrated right now. I’m feeling really, you know, POed right now I’m really upset about something.”

Well, we wanna move that energy because we are basically energy beings. That’s what we are. That’s what, you know, neuroscience now tells us, that our whole being, our whole neurobiology and our whole biology is actually to keep our energy in place, to keep us having energy, right? And we have to monitor our energy. And making decisions takes energy. That’s why we just make the same decisions, even though we think we’re making different ones, but they’re kind of the same. They’re still out of fear because it just saves energy.

So venting actually says, “You know what? I’m a little upset right now and I need to move this energy through me. So I’m gonna honor this feeling of upset, of anger, of whatever, by speaking it out loud to somebody I trust or, you know, yelling in the clouds or, again, however you wanna move it through you. But I’m also committed to moving through it and to find a solution.” So venting is, “I know I’m awake to being upset. I know I need to move it through me. So I’m gonna call up a good friend and say, “Hey, by the way, can I just… I’m really upset about something. Will you listen? Don’t, you know, give me advice. Don’t tell me what to do. Don’t tell me I’m right. You know, just listen because I need to move through this so I can think clearly so that I now can come up with a solution.”

So most of us are not venting to each other. We’re complaining to each other and getting…trying to get buy-in to validate our thoughts, to validate that life isn’t fair, to validate that we’re victims, that it’s not our fault, right? But instead, we wanna take that feeling and move it through us by honoring it, by saying it, writing it, speaking it, you know, going, you know, to the river and throwing things in it, whatever we wanna do to let it move through us. But knowing that we are committed to move through it so that we can be clear to make a different decision. We know this isn’t real. The fear isn’t real, per se. The anger isn’t real. Even though it feels real, we go, “I know I’m angry right now, but I know ultimately, I’m not committed to keeping my anger alive. I’m committed to moving through my anger.”

And so then we allow that to move through. And then we can have a venting partner. Again, you can call up a friend, and then when you vent, it’s like you can breathe and go, “Okay, whew, I got that. I got through that. I might have to do it a few times, but I moved through it. And now I can think clearly to make a different decision that’s based on my values, based on my wheel of freedom, based on who I really want to be, based on the decisions that really support me, that really are who I really am at my core.” Instead of being angry and doing things that we’re not proud of after we do them, right? That we’re just so angry that we lash out, that we, you know, do things that were just like, “God, I wish I didn’t do that afterwards,” right?

So that’s really important to take that complaining and turning it into venting. So we honor our feelings, we honor our feelings, but we act on our commitments. So we honor our feelings, but we act on our commitments. So that’s the thing about complaining. Move it to venting. And also, of course, then we use gratitude after that. So we go from complaining, move it into venting, and then move into gratitude.

Excuses are a little bit more difficult, Katie, than complaining because excuses feel really real, right? Like I can use, “Well, my father killed my mother as an excuse,” right? Like, “Wow, that’s why I became an alcoholic.” And everybody goes, “Well, of course, you would,” right? So excuses…complaining, we can kind of call each other out. But excuses are really based on a seed of truth that we then take into reality and actually make real even more, right? So excuses are a little bit more difficult to suss out because we have evidence for those excuses that we should be cautious, that we should…this should…this is real, right? So I think complaining, again, is easier to identify and excuses again, have that seed of truth that we have a difficult time calling ourselves out for.

So I mean that’s when we get to do the real truthful, authentic work, about the difference between, “Okay, wait a minute, I’m making an excuse. And do I want that to continue to be my reality?” Like asking ourselves, “Okay, so yes, my father killed my mother and killed himself. Got it. So did that cause a lot of pain? Yes. Did that cause self-doubt? Yes. Self-Hatred, all those… Yes it did. But do I want to keep believing that?” You actually have to decide, Katie, do you want to keep believing that or do you want to decide something different? Do you want to decide that this is, like you said a minute ago about, “Okay, this is a lesson. this is a blessing. This is a gratitude. Like, oh my God, this happened and now I get to do this with it.”

So I think excuses are more subtle and they’re more, you know, difficult to kind of call out. But I think that if we kind of embrace that there are times in our lives, all of our lives, that we are victims of our excuses, the more gentle we can be with ourselves, the more compassion we can give. And the more than we can call ourselves out and say, “You know what? This excuse no longer serves me. I’m gonna shift it. I’m gonna move into acknowledgment. I’m gonna move into different… I’m gonna see this differently. I’m gonna move past this.”

Katie: I love that.

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And to go back to something you’ve mentioned a couple of times, you’ve mentioned kind of that core fear and how they formed so early. And I know for me, one of those certainly was this feeling of like, I’m not good enough. And when I started working on that and trying to like go through all these steps and to really face that, I was confronted with a few things. But one I worried that I was partially able to be so driven and to be so productive because of that and I had seen it manifest in my life. So I worried that if that went away, I would like lose my edge or I’d lose my ability to get things done.

So I guess, two-part question, one would be, you know, is there a downside when we let go of these fears? And also, because I’ve heard this from now so many people, is there anyone of us that doesn’t face some form of that question? I kind of think like, you know, I think we have these internal questions that come up to us and it’s like, am I good enough? Am I lovable? Am I worthy of respect? You know, does everyone have that in some form?

Rhonda: Yup. Everybody does, even the Dalai Lama. Yep. Absolutely. And I love that you brought up a fear of not being good enough because that’s the generalized wheel of fear. So, you know, we help you find your specific wheel of fear that’s unique to you. But generally, if we wanna say like, you know, a generic…it’s a generic version of a wheel of fear is, you know, all of us in some way or another feel some sort of feeling of not feeling good enough on some level, right?

And then with the Wheel of Fear, we kind of personalize it and individualize it so it has more oomph and more like, “Oh God, yes, that’s it,” right? So yeah, everybody has…that’s how the Wheel of Fear works. It’s how fear works in our neurobiology. Remember, it’s about keeping us safe. So what does that mean? That means that your fear of not being good enough and whatever version that is, personalized version, is because you are now in the unknown, right? Fear only visits us when we’re in the unknown. It doesn’t come in when we’re eating Doritos on the couch watching our favorite show on Netflix, right? It doesn’t come up. It only comes up when we’re having a new thought, when we’re having a new experience, when we’re, you know, wanting to take a step forward. And again, it could be just a thought. It could be just a thought. It’s not about just taking action. Our thoughts scare the crap out of us.

So, you know that not feeling good enough, you know, says like, “Okay, see this is the unknown. We don’t know what to do.” And fear says, “I can’t guarantee your safety. I can’t keep you safe here because I don’t know what’s gonna happen,” because neuroscience has shown now, Katie, that basically, the way we’re wired is to look at the past for a template, for our present situation, okay? So we literally automatically, unconsciously, look in the past for a solution to our present problems. And that’s why it feels like we’re repeating the past even though it may look better, it may have a different name, may, you know, like, it didn’t come up for two years, but now we’re like, “Are you kidding me? It’s happening again. I thought I picked differently this time,” right? Because the brain and body only know how to look at what’s already happened, the known, to look for solutions to problem-solve.

So unless you are consciously awake and aware to start using what’s called the frontal lobe and start making a new choice, a different choice, and being able to step in the unknown, your automatic responses will always be based on the past. So, you know, that fear not being good enough, you’re thinking of opening that business or falling in love or whatever, and it goes, “Oh well, let’s do it this way.” You know, and, “Oh by the way,” it’s gonna bring up not feeling good enough. So if you’re gonna take a risk, if you’re gonna take a stretch, is what we call Stretch, Risk, or Die in Fearless Living, when we start taking Stretch, Risk, or Die, you know, that fear is going to come up because you are now in the unknown and the Wheel of Fear will be triggered anytime you’re in the unknown, unless you have a different process, unless you have a different way to look at the unknown.

But bottom line is we’re made to stay safe. Our whole being is about safety, is about keeping us alive. And remember, the brain doesn’t know the difference between an emotional risk, emotional fear, versus a physical fear. So you thinking about falling in love, or you thinking about getting married, or you thinking about opening your business or buying a house or selling a house, any of those things, if it is an unknown, fear will trigger and go, “Yes, we don’t know what to do here. We better use a past solution for the present problem,” which of course is most likely ineffective, right, for many things we wanna do.

So fear is triggered by the unknown. So I always say that freedom equals your capacity to live in the unknown. Freedom equals your capacity to live in the unknown. If you’re not capable and not willing to live in the unknown, which means the control freaks out there, which so many of us are, you know, if we’re not willing to give up control and actually step forward into the unknown, the fear has you, fear owns you, right? Fear has you. So we all have that fear of not being good enough in whatever way it shows up for us. It’s something unique. And our whole neurobiology and the way we’re wired is to look in the past for a solution to the present, which again, most likely is ineffective because we’re in a different environment, we’re in a different age, we’re, you know, in a different situation.

And so that’s why we keep feeling like we’re repeating ourselves over and over again, even though we think we’re choosing differently. But we have to be willing to step out into the unknown and become masterful living in the unknown in order to actually have the freedom that we truly desire and truly want.

Katie: That makes sense. And I think another thing that is very top-of-mind for a lot of people listening right now, they probably understand and can identify these things in their own personal lives. But then when we’re facing something that is, you know, big or out of our control or right now like with global stuff going on, or we’re facing fears of our children getting sick or our parents getting sick or these really big…you know, life-threatening disease or chronic illness or things that are bigger than just us being able to live with the fear, what are some tips for that? Because I think we’re in a place societally where there is a lot of overwhelm and anxiety and fear. And so I’d love to hear your insight on how we can work through those things that we can’t just change.

Rhonda: Yeah. So the first thing is that of course, we have to take care of ourselves from a real practical level. You know, we have to make sure that we take care of what needs to be taken care of and not stay in, like, “Why is this happening to me?” Because “Why is this happening to me?” is not helpful and it doesn’t move us forward. So, and why is it happening to you is because, you know, we may know and we may not know, right? We may not understand how it’s happening to us. But instead, it’s like, “Okay, so what are the practical applications? What are the practical things that I need to do right now to keep myself physically safe?” because the first thing that we always have to do is to keep ourselves physically safe.

So, you know, trauma work is always about, you know, if you don’t feel emotionally safe, go to the physical first and go, “Well, am I physically safe?” Look around you. Make sure, “Am I physically safe?” If you’re physically safe, then you can start addressing the emotional fears, right? So that’s the first thing is like, just physically, are you safe? You know, do you have everything you need in place? And if you don’t, great, then it’s time to problem-solve. Reach out, ask for help, which, of course, asking for help is one of the greatest gifts that we can give ourselves or another human being. And it’s one of the things that most of us don’t do.

So we have to move into a deep level of self-care, deep level of connection, deep level of seeing our own innocence, moving past all of the fears that we’ve had, about, you know, needing help or asking for help or wanting connection. Like, we gotta get back down to basics of we all have needs. I have a need, you have a need, we all have needs, and can we take care of our own needs and can we take care of the needs of the ones we love? Right? And then can we move into letting go what we’re not in control of?

So I have an exercise that I’ve done with many a client that’s called Control, no Control. And I ask clients to get a piece of paper and, you know, make two columns. What are they in control of and what are they not in control of? And start listing all the things you are in control of and listing all the things you’re not in control of. And so all the things you are in control of, what can you do to actually take charge of that? Like what are the things that you can do? And most of us focus on what we’re not in control of, which increases our anxiety, which increases our overwhelm, which increases our guilt, which increases our, etc., etc., etc., all of our fears. And we’re actually not paying attention to what we actually are in control of. So make the list, make the list of “What am I in control of and what am I not in control of?”

And then, you know, if you’re a believer of God or any spirituality, the things that are not in your control, just hand them over, right? And if you don’t have a spiritual philosophy, then you get to surrender and let go from a human perspective and go, “Okay, I can only control A, B, C, D, E, F,” because I guarantee you, you’re in more control than you think, “And the things that I’m not in control of, yes, I can ask for help, I can seek solutions, I can connect in etc.” Like these times right now are asking us to learn the skills we need to have the life that we want, regardless of the circumstances of our lives.

So this is asking us to reach out when maybe we haven’t reached out, asking for help when maybe we’ve been afraid to ask for help. Being willing to face a fear of rejection or, you know, etc., you know, caring about each other and caring about ourselves. So, you know, fear wants us to isolate, i.e., really like “I only will take care of myself and I only have two preserve myself.” But in fact, the true way to connect, the true way to survive, the true way to expand, the true way to live our destiny is with each other.

And so write that list of Control and not Control and start doing the things that you can control and be willing to…the things you can’t control, are you willing to ask for help? Are you willing to reach out? Are you willing to connect? And what are you willing to really practice letting go of that’s not up to you. It’s not gonna ever be up to you. So what can you do? I think that starts giving us our power back because our power and our helplessness and our hopelessness happens because we only focus on what we’re not in control of.

So when you start kind of grasping and labeling and owning what you can control, you start feeling a little bit more powerful. You start feeling like, “Okay, I can make a difference here. And that’s gonna move you out of that fear zone into freedom zone.”

Katie: I love that. And I think that ties into something that is a theme through a lot of writers that I admire, including you and including people like Victor Frankl who wrote ”Man’s Search for Meaning,” and many of the stoic philosophers that talk about, you know, we don’t have control over the world or what happens to us, but we do always have control over our reactions and how we respond and even how we interpret those events.

And I reread Viktor Frankl every year and it’s always such a great reminder because, you know, like you, he’s been through things much tougher than I have. And so when someone who has been through…I love the quote, you know, “Has been through the fire, comes out carrying water for the rest of us,” it’s just so inspiring. And so I think that’s a wonderful reminder and centering place to think of is that we always have that aspect of control, to choose kindness, to choose our response, to choose gratitude and to choose positivity. And I’m guessing there’s a lot of people listening who a lot of this is resonating with them or they see parts of their lives and things that you’ve said today. I know you’ve also written several books. So for someone who is just kind of delving into this for the first time, where do you recommend them starting?

Rhonda: Well, first thing that I would like them to do is, of course, if they’re ready and willing to read ”Fearless Living” or get the audiobook on audible, you know, etc., start just, you know, listening over and over again to understand how your fear works. Because I think again, I think one of the greatest gifts that “Fearless Living” gives to the world is a release of shame. You know, I know when people find their Wheel of Fear and Wheel of Freedom and really understand that it’s not them that is doing this, you know, not them that, you know, is lazy, stupid. That is not you. That is not your true nature and it’s only a fear response and you really see that that’s just fear acting out to keep you safe. And it’s not about you. The shame just dissolves and melts away.

And I don’t know about you, Katie, but you know, shame ran my life for so many decades and that shame is the thing that kept me small, stuck, and you know, afraid. And when I could melt that shame away, I started having space and breathing room to start really occupying and owning my life in a more true way and real authentic way. And so, you know, so the first thing is, yes, grab my book, listen to the book.

The other thing that I would invite you to do is I actually…and Katie, I hope this is okay, but this is moving through me right now. So I hope you’re okay with this. But I would love to gift your folks an exercise called Stretch, Risk or Die that I mentioned earlier. And is that okay if I do that, Katie? I’m sorry, I didn’t ask you beforehand. It’s just coming through me. Is that all right?

Katie: Sure.

Rhonda: So go to fearlessliving.org, fearlessliving.org/risk. So fearlessliving.org/rsk R-I-S-K and I’m gonna, I just think this mini-course right now of Stretch, Risk, or Die really starting to see how fear kind of owns your decisions and start thinking of decisions differently. There’s worksheets in there, there’s, you know, three short videos in there and you can start doing an exercise immediately to start helping yourself. And I describe it in detail. It’s called Stretch, Risk, or Die. And it’s allowing you to start moving outside your comfort zone, and start moving in the direction of freedom, to start moving into the direction of the unknown. And again, I give you tons of resources in there, tons of templates, etc. So go to fearlessliving.org/risk, R-I-S-K, and I think this exercise is going to support you immediately. It’s one of my clients’ very favorite exercises, students’, very favorite exercises.

So I’d love to gift it to you right now in this time that we’re living in to help you start noticing, “Okay, this is why I’m not taking that Stretch, Risk, or Die. Okay, got it.” And now you can. And that’s the gift that I would love to support you with is saying yes to yourself, yes to that intuition, yes to your larger vision, yes to the true nature of who you are, yes to the person you were born to be. Because I do believe that all of us do have a destiny and fear is the only thing that stops that destiny from unfoldment. And I am committed to helping you, me, the world, live their destinies and fulfill their destinies. And so I don’t want fear to run your life anymore. I want you to run your life.

Katie: I love that. And I’ll make sure that all the links to everything we’ve talked about, including your books, and including that, are in the show notes at wellnessmama.fm. And I think this is a perfect starting place for a lot of people and I know that people can find you and keep learning from you. But I appreciate your time in being here today and for all the work that you do for so, so many people.

Rhonda: Thank you, Katie. What a gift you are to the world. I’m so grateful I get to know you. Thank you.

Katie: Thank you, and thanks to all of you as always, for listening, for sharing one of your most valuable resources, your time, with both of us today. We’re so grateful that you did and I hope that you will join me again on the next episode of the ”Wellness Mama” podcast.

If you’re enjoying these interviews, would you please take two minutes to leave a rating or review on iTunes for me? Doing this helps more people to find the podcast, which means even more moms and families could benefit from the information. I really appreciate your time, and thanks as always for listening.

Source: https://wellnessmama.com/podcast/rhonda-britten/

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asraobscura-blog · 7 years ago

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puritanical pleasures and body-shaming: the problem with clean eating

I’ve mentioned in my first post on this blog that there is to anorexia a distinct sense of puritanism. Pleasure – especially pleasure that’s related to food – becomes inherently suspect within the confines of the illness. This is, of course, where and when all the weight of society’s narrow-mindedness comes down hard upon those of us who experience body dysmorphia or appearance-related anxiety.

In my case, having been overweight in the past, and having felt deep distress about it, that anxiety draws its source from that old pain: I don’t remember a time when I didn’t hate my body in some measure or other.

Nor can I remember a time, from adolescence onwards, when my appearance wasn’t judged, by myself or other, with respect to how fat or how thin I was. Society values thinness with such fervor that it projects unto twelve-year-olds unreasonable expectations of what they ought to look like, and then shames them when they inevitably fail to meet these standards – as nobody can meet them one hundred percent, least of all kids whose bodies are changing every day.

Teenagers! It makes me furious. We should be protecting them. We should be teaching them to love their bodies, to value themselves, to treat others with respect, and to never, ever grow to hate any part of themselves.

Instead we shame them – we shame bodies routinely, and they pick up on our cues, they model our seemingly innocent remarks, they study the magazines touting beach-ready bodies and new year resolutions, full of endlessly reworked ads; they absorb the beauty standards that demean those body shapes that don’t happen to be young, or slim, or white, or stacked, or photoshopped beyond recognition and humanity. Children and teenagers will absorb everything. I remember being fifteen and complaining about being fat. I was fifteen. I had better shit to worry about.

We shame bodies, and we shame food. Not satisfied with just enforcing unrealistic body/beauty standards, and dictating every aspect of our bodies from our eyebrows to our butts, society cheerfully enforces nutrition standards by introducing guilt into the bargain. You won’t see a five-year-old feel instinctively guilty for eating a cookie, any more than they will feel virtuous for eating lettuce. All the eight-year-old cares about is a) whether it tastes good, and b) whether they’re hungry. There are no moral judgements in their approach to food. Those are imposed from the outside in, not the other way around.

Despite such vague, often-repeated dictums as eat a balanced diet featuring all food groups or eat everything in moderation, society cheerfully decrees what we may or may not feel good about eating. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard statements like ‘I know I shouldn’t’ … ‘I know it’s bad for me’ … ‘I know it’s naughty’ … inevitably followed by ‘but I just can’t help wanting to eat [insert food here]’. Naughty! As though we were misbehaving schoolchildren! Those comments are infantilizing, condescending, and – worst of all – they create a relationship to food that’s steeped in guilt, shame, and fear. As though the atoms contained within the flour, sugar, and butter of a slice of cake were magically, inherently more unhealthy than those in an apple …

We learn so very early to hate ourselves. And, thanks to uncontested statements like calorie in, calorie out or you are what you eat, we also learn that we are synonymous with our food. As though our bodies and our brains, and what happens to both when we ingest food, were not infinitely more complex than those paltry platitudes and empty truths can suggest!

Instead of truly interesting ourselves in how food functions once it’s inside us – from our tastebuds to our stomachs – we use words like ‘glutton’ and ‘gorge’, like ‘stuffing ourselves’ or ‘slipping up’; we call ourselves ‘sinful’ or ‘wicked’ when we eat something ‘wrong’. We insist upon ‘willpower’ and ‘self-discipline’. We make our food choices into a stage for moral standoffs and power differences. We praise starving girls with sainthoods.

How dare we have bodies that require nourishment? How dare we have needs and desires? How dare we enjoy ourselves? How dare we eat anything at all?

No wonder, then, that so many of us turn in desperation to those special diets, those miraculous lifestyles, that so eloquently claim to solve all of our troubles. See paleo, see the Mediterranean diet, see the keto diet, see the Atkins diet, see low-carb or low-fat options, see Hygge and Lagom, see the demonization of gluten and dairy, see veganism as moral judgment. See ‘clean eating’, which neatly encapsulates the problem in one simple phrase: if you are eating clean – a term synonymous with a vague, undefined sense of purity, of shining, natural; raw, organic realness – you cannot feel guilty; you escape, just for a moment, the weight of shame associated with food. It becomes lesser, lighter. You are enlightened; you have inside knowledge; you are one of the good ones. You can breathe.

Except, of course, the guilt soon returns, but more insidiously. It functions with opposites: eat anything outside of the proscribed regimen, and suddenly you are unclean – dirty, contaminated, unnatural.

Take a look at the nutrition philosophies of people like Deliciously Ella, Tess Ward, or the Hemsley Sisters. You will see that, after they cheerfully reassure you that yes, you will still be able to eat all the things you feel so guilty about eating (cake. ice cream. pasta.), they then proceed just as cheerfully to dictate principles and commandments that eliminate entire swathes of food from what they generously allow you.

Eating only ‘raw, real, natural’ food conveniently means avoiding sugar at all costs, even though regular ol’ white sugar comes from beets, and spokespeople of clean eating sure love putting beets in their smoothies. (Deliciously Ella calls it the dreaded ‘sugar monster’ – and isn’t that an infantilizing phrase.) Likewise, avoid all fats, except a small proportion of them, such as, for some reason, coconut oil. Avoid dairy: some people are lactose-intolerant, which means there must be something secretly wrong with it. Avoid gluten: some people have celiac disease, so there must be something wrong with that, too. Soon, they promise, you won’t even want those naughty foods anymore; you will be perfectly satisfied with a bunch of crudités. You won’t feel restriction as restriction. You will be free – free from all that food that you secretly crave, but that, in a vague uncertain way, is bad.

Well you should be. Otherwise, after all, you might risk becoming (whisper, whisper) fat.

Despite their claims that they are not truly diets (because dieting itself is, in an exquisitely sadistic paradox, something shameful – it means you were not born perfect, sprung fully-formed and sublime from the foam, without flaws, or any of those nasty side effects of growing up), that is what hides beneath the clean eating philosophies. Sure, they pretend to be different – unlike the straightforward, calorie-counting, Weight Watchers-style diets, which at least don’t allege themselves to be anything else – and to prioritize health and fitness, a better, truer life, an improved approach to food; but underneath lurk claims as blunt as ‘lose a stone by following these ten simple rules’. Clean eating means you can avoid the deep-seated guilt of wanting to be other, fitter, slimmer. You are no longer ashamed: after all, you are not trying to lose weight. Rather, you are looking to enhance your well-being.

Moreover, you can occupy the privileged position of being in the know, and coincidentally of looking down upon those who have not followed in your enlightened footsteps. They are unclean, dirty, morally reprehensible: watch them consume with every apparent sign of enjoyment food that everyone knows is bad for you! Watch them give in to their baser desires! You are better than this: you exercise willpower; you are strong, powerful, healthy. You occupy a space of mental sainthood.

You’re in a cult. Call your dad.

The clean eating lifestyle gives you permission in the same breath that it takes it back. You will be able to eat as much as you like! But only these foods, and only within these specific parameters. You will learn to enjoy veggies! And little else, so you won’t have much of a choice. Don’t feel guilty if you eat out, or with friends, or if you, erm, slip up once or twice! You can always make it up later by eating nothing but stewed carrots or roasted pumpkin for a week.

Enjoy life, but watch yourself. Don’t deprive yourself, but don’t indulge. Don’t just exist – glow. Be nourished – but god forbid you eat.

And this is all before you even factor in eating disorders. To the non-disordered mind, this all sounds very attractive; to the disordered brain, it’s a hell of a drug. Of course, clean eating lifestyles and their ilk nurse an eating disorder of their very own: orthorexia, which promotes eating nothing but foods deemed healthy, organic, pure, raw, green. But to anyone suffering from anorexia or bulimia, such food philosophies can only reinforce the awful dichotomy of self-hatred and shame, the dislocated relationship we entertain with eating and not-eating.

No wonder that we find it so very difficult to get out of the hole created by malnutrition. No wonder the disorder becomes so easily leaden with puritanical judgments, armed with a vocabulary of guilt, shame, or sin – and conversely of strength, lightness, and purity. No wonder that we find it so difficult to gain weight, and struggle with dysmorphia and self-hatred, when the prevailing social narrative puts such an onus on fatness (or, indeed, anything bigger than very skinny indeed) as shameful, unhealthy, unclean, and morally wrong.

(You won’t often, if ever, see proponents of clean eating promote health at every size, or champion beauty in body shapes of all kinds. Lifestyle gurus are always slim women and athletic-looking men. Funny how that works.)

Clean eating diets are proselytizing, plain and simple – with an inflexibility and an intolerance that are disturbingly puritanical. There’s only right or wrong: virtuous or naughty, clean or unclean, inherently good for you or intrinsically unhealthy, natural or heavily processed, skinny or fat. There is no room in that system for any vision of food that truly embraces it in all its wondrous diversity, nor for the nuance and the complexity of the many ways our bodies work .

Here’s a thought: instead of limiting ourselves to eating variations on coconut protein bars and avocado pesto (a necessary note: I am not knocking coconut or avocado. They are delicious. I just wouldn’t eat nothing but them for the rest of my life), what about trying eat everything in moderation truly out for size? Let’s challenge ourselves. Let’s eat out of our comfort zones. Let’s embrace how wonderful and pleasurable food can be – without looking for truth, or wellness, or a dubious, problematic purity.

And let’s embrace our bodies, too -- our flawed, strange, perplexing, byzantine bodies.

#anorexia recovery #clean eating #body positivity

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justdictatorshipthings · 5 years ago

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New year, new you

Because my post on sustainable living tips was popular (by the standards of someone that has 200 followers and only posts once a year) I decided to do one of tips for healthy living. I suspect its a sad fact that a lot more people are concerned for losing weight this new years than the fact our environment is probably in more need of a life style change. Despite this there is still a positive here, a healthy you is more capable of dealing with the problems the world faces.

As someone that has been cooking nearly every night for years. i have been working on this idea of what i call good for bad, and bad for good. What this means, besides the fact I need to work on that title, is the following. There is good (healthy food) and then there is unhealthy food. The easiest way to cut out the bad, is to not make it not as bad. It sounds a little unoriginal but there is more to it. I will explain this using examples.

- I love fried food, who doesn’t. But its amazing that we fry the worst possible things. Fried broccoli is delicious, blanched then covered in tempura batter and friend. Rather than using nasty potatoes that have little nutritional value, try frying something healthy. Then cover it in parmesan because you only live once.

- I am lucky i enjoy fruit, but a lot of other people don’t. The best way to get it in your diet is to mix it with something healthy, like yogurt. You can make pineapple curry and stir fry. As much as i enjoy it on pizza, the hatred of it is because pizza is already bad for you, a bit of pineapple isn’t going to change that. Though my food philosophy does work in that direction also. But if you make something healthy like a stir fry, and make it easier to eat with fruit, then you are on the right track.

- Chinese food is based on the concepts of yin and yang. The idea is that anything bad has to be balanced out, to make a complete meal. You can see this in a lot of dishes. This is probably another example of good for bad, and bad for good. If you have to eat confectionery, buy the really good stuff (usually hidden in the health food section), the type of sweetner can make a big difference.

- Kitchen sink salads are the new norm. If you have a bunch of ingredients, just make them in to a salad. More often than not it works because greens are pretty neutral flavor wise. Left overs work will in this, which brings me to my next point:

- Make really big side dishes. Roasted vegetables, grilled eggplant, etc. These are great for a salad the next day. So you should always make more of them, so its easier than skipping a meal all together.

- Some people will say, intermittent fasting is also good. This can work well also provided that you are eating enough in general. Google about this if you are interested in the benefits of skipping meals every now and again. I won’t cover it here.

- Whatever works for some people, may not work for you. I have seen the Atkins diet fade away, only to come back as the keto or paleo diet. Which are the same thing. Infact keto means ketosis, which is the process your body goes through when you don’t eat enough carbohydrates, you smell terrible, that is the point. But what needs to be said here, is the inventor of this diet, Mr Atkins actually died of a heart attack. So while some people without a history of heart problems can cope well with eating large amounts of animal products, it doesn’t work for everyone. (This is the same with my diet tips!)

- Be scientific. Just because you read something in a book, as i just said it won’t work for everyone. So see what works best. These are all tips that worked for me, but not everyone will be the same.

- Drink fresh vegetable juice before you go to bed. This is the problem with western diets we eat too much and then sleep it off. What i found works best is actually drinking fresh vegetable juice. Your body performs all kinds of necessary functions while sleeping. It turns out that if given the proper energy, it can also burn fat pretty well. But if you fill up your body with fat before you sleep, it doesn’t do this so well.

- Mediterranean lifestyles. Based on that previous point, having live in Europe, i can not speak highly enough of big lunches and small sandwich based dinners. The countries that practice this are winning on the life expectancy scale. They are also going to have the oldest people alive very soon. Its just healthier even if our routines don’t allow it, to eat a lot during the day, that way you have time to work it off. Our western life styles don’t allow for this, as most people probably need a rest after eating a 3 course meal. But i really do miss the many restaurants that would offer a lunch menu, you could choose from a first and second plate, dessert and coffee for a fixed price. It was cheap, and convenient, and my sleeping routines were much better. Because then i would eat a sandwich at night which made me tired. Its also a lot easier to wake up on an empty stomach.

- The modern diet. While i could say many things about what is wrong with a modern diet, one of the things that has changed the most over the past 200 years is what people do with their time. Previously, everything we did involved physical activity. Now we are actually paid money, to sit at a desk and use our heads without moving. This requires energy, but it doesn’t burn it in the way that we have spent our entire evolutionary history doing. I believe this is actually contributing to the number of obese people. Its not just the diets, its what we do all day to. Sitting at a computer requires a lot of energy, more than moving. But its a very artificial life style. Our bodies are struggling to catch up with this trend.

- Avoid grains, this includes sugar. This is probably a very broad statement, but the more processed a grain is, the more you should avoid it. Don’t eat any flour for a week. Then eat the worst white bread you can find. See what it does to your energy? Its because most of the grains we eat these days aren’t anything like what we used to eat. Gluten free is a big thing now, because it gets people to eat healthier less manufactured grains, and this agrees with everyone, not just people who have an intolerance. Obviously if you are allergic to gluten its one thing, but for most people they feel like they have an allergy to gluten because our bodies are struggling to process this stuff, it becoming more like poison than food. I am sort of allergic to it. But i find eating healthy, organic, grains makes a big difference. Again its just as much to do with the strains we grow, the chemicals and pesticides we use, and finally the processes in which it is converted in to the products we eat that make it so bad rather than people being allergic to it.

- Preservatives. There is starting to be research now that suggests that preservatives in bread are what makes it so difficult for some people to digest. Not only does it not agree with our bodies, it turns out those preservatives get in to our fat stores. In there they preserve our fat also, making it much harder to burn. Some people are more predisposed to this than others. But i suspect this is the same with so many on the shelf products, such as condiments, confectionery, packaged foods. They all contain these same products which make it so hard to digest. I had suspected this theory since the days of trans fat, which is now banned in so many places. It was just caused by corporate greed, because it made products last longer. The catch was, that the fat, once in your system, would never leave or break down. It is part of the very growing body of evidence of what is so bad out our supermarket based diets.

- Eat seasonally. This was in my last posts, but its cheaper. The problem is supermarkets sell the same products all year round. You have to go to a farmers market or a good green grocer to have access to different seasonal goods. Honestly you save a lot of money, and you are exposed to many things you wouldn’t even see elsewhere. you will see that what is in season is usually cheaper at a supermarket, but trust me you are missing out on so much.

- Organic is better, in all cases, its not cheaper, but even just on taste alone it is worth it. The catch is, that i suspect if everyone on this planet was to eat organic, there wouldn’t be enough space on this planet to do so. So if you are lucky enough to be able to buy organic, enjoy it, its a privilege. And by organic when it matters. So if an ingredient is the center of a meal, then buy it organic. If its not, and its going to be mixed with other foods, its not worth it.

- Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but not the easiest for some.Regardless, eat something, even if its coco pops, eventually you will get used to it, and you can start moving on to healthier things. I was a big fan of smoothies, and i would find ways to make them fun, even if it meant a little bit of ice cream. I am also of the belief that protein is best enjoyed in the morning, as it wakes up your metabolism for the rest of the day. So if you really want to, bacon and eggs are actually better enjoyed in the morning.

- Go vegan, even if you lift bro. Surprisingly, up until recently the idea of a vegan body builder was unheard of, now its actually a thing. There is a benefit because, they actually have more energy, and suffer less from muscle pain the following day. This benefit actually outweighs any negatives provided that you do it the right way. Which is more the problem and why it has such a bad reputation, its possible, just so many people don’t do it the right way.

- Variety is healthy. We are always exposed to the same foods, but i really enjoy finding new varieties. Recently i bought a bunch of organic carrots from a farmers market. They were in so many colours and types. They were delicious. 100 years ago, there were almost 1000 types of potatoes farmed. Now there is about 1% of that. Its sad, because the health benefits are lost when you eat the same thing over and over again. But the different varieties, help to give you what you need while keeping it a new experience for your digestive system. This is the same for everything, breads, meats, it doesn’t matter what it is, even a good thing can be bad if you expose yourself to it for long enough.

- Its worth remembering, that we don’t eat vitamins, or anything else. If you paid attention in high school you will remember, the food we eat, actually is used as energy for bacteria in our digestive tract that creates the necessary nutrition for our bodies. So eating protein, doesn’t actually mean that protein will go in to our bodies. After all its protein from a cow for example. We still need to convert that in to a protein that our body uses. Which also requires energy. So while i’m pretty sure it can’t create vitamin c without fresh fruit or vegetables, and vitamin c tables are better than no vitamin c, its more complicated then just that.

- Building on my first point, it takes energy to eat and digest. Part of the reason fast food feels good, is because it triggers a chain reaction between our taste receptors and our brain. It actually gives us pleasure, its sort of like drinking a glass of wine. So in that sense, it is good for you, chocolate is the same, there is lots of things that fall under this category. But the food itself, gives you no energy, in fact in a lot of cases it requires more energy to process than it gives you. However, if you are to drink a green smoothie after a cheeseburger. The negative effects are almost gone, because you give your body the ability to digest this food properly. It also balances out the salt, and the sugar which is so common in fast food. If you don’t, it runs out of energy and just starts storing the fat because its to complicated. This is an over simplification, but the idea is justified.

- This same chain reaction of feel good chemicals, is part of the reason we become addicted to unhealthy foods. In terms of how your brain stores such information. Water is really healthy, but if you drink soft drink, the taste is designed to really go to work on your taste buds. So your mind will remember a bottle of coke better than it will remember water. This is how people become addicted to food, because pretty soon thirsty = coke. Because its been influenced by a product that you would have no craving for otherwise (as it will actually make you more thirsty due to the large amount of sugar). So much of the globalized food products we eat do this. The salt in chips. The sugar in sweets. The booze in beer (which when you think about it, taste wise alcohol is anything but a tasty experience) obviously there is more going on there than taste alone.

- Balance. Not just in every aspect of your life, but what we eat needs to be balanced. If you have indigestion, poor bowl movements, just about anything that causes you discomfort. We all seem to be aware that this is caused by bad eating habits. But there is probably something missing in your diet. If you get indigestion, eat a lot more greens. All of our bodily functions have these “compensators”. If you experience something, don’t just accept it as a passing thing. Actually google what can be done to compensate it. Because i am convinced these things happen for a reason. Its the start of what will eventually become a sickness, a cold or a short life expectancy, etc. If we ignore this, then eventually it will be a problem.

- Antioxidants. building on that previous point. When you are sick, i don’t believe chicken soup helps. Fresh vegetable juice, sauteed kale, this actually works. Since i started being a little more scientific about my diet, i just don’t get sick, even when sick people are around me. Your body needs energy, the right kind of energy. Plants is our biggest alley in the struggle to be healthy.

- Green is better. We can see more shades of green than any other colour. This is due to our evolutionary history, as we needed to differentiate between shades of greens to spot predators in every part of nature (trees, grass, etc). But it also an example of why greens are an importance part of our diet, because it where we spent most of evolutionary history, around plants. But colour is also important. Not in food coloring, but in the plants we eat. Different colours mean different things. So more colours the better. Eating apples is good. But eating apples in every colour is better because they all have their own benefits. While one may be better for your weight (low GI red ones), another may be better for aging slower (green granny smiths for example).

- Exercise isn’t always good for you. The stereo types of jocks being stupid are exaggerated, but there is evidence to suggest that it does deprive your mind of vital blood. Like wise a lazy life style can affect your blood flow and have the same consequence. I have been of the mind set that if you don’t enjoy exercise, you may actually fall in to this category, but there is a reason for it, so you should actually address that reason. It has a lot of health benefits, and the right exercise can release endorphins. I’m sure you've heard this all before. At the same time, it can make things like depression and social anxiety worse. In fact it can cause mental illness problems, it can destroy the effects of some medications, it can make you more aggressive, overly confident. It also has long term health problems such as bone and joint problems, permanent damage caused by injuries and other complications. So its not essential to go to the gym, but that doesn’t mean you get off that easy.

- See everything as exercise. Its that simple, especially if you fall in the category of the reward doesn’t make it worth while. Park your car further away so that you have to walk. Carry as many of the groceries as you can. Turn everything that you do in to a way to stay fit which is part of what i do. There are so many opportunities to do this. Walk faster. Don’t use a trolley. Run with your dog instead of throwing a ball. Stand while you are working on something. Do easy exercise when you have a free moment. Use the stairs. Just about anything. All sports have a so called honey moon moment. This si when you notice the most gains. However one you past this period, gains can be pretty slow. If you do it this way, you never leave the honey moon period as its always new, its always a challenge. The only catch is you won’t get the same results as going to the gym, but i would wager you are actually healthier.

- Bigger isn’t always better. You will find a lot of really big gym people would struggle with repetitive tasks. People who are big, can actually be more healthy than you are because they have to carry a lot of extra weight. There are people I know who weigh more than me, but swim a lot faster than me. There is no universal rule to what is healthy, so don’t buy in to what the media sells you.

- The best way to stay fit, for me any way, is water aerobics. Annoying that it involves getting yourself to a pool. But you can do so many types of exerciser that you can’t do any other way. You have 360 degrees of movement, so you can exercise muscles in ways you can’t out of the water. I just find its the best way to grow mass on all sides, rather than in the most common places which is what happens at the gym.

- Doctors that work in this field will tell you, your bowl movements give you all the information you need for your health. while this is a public social media post i will spare you all the details. But our society during the victorian years made anything associated with being human as “gross”. Its still not very different unless you are talking about toilet humor, which is childish but it makes an interesting point that its “ok” to ridicule something we all do. This need to see our selves as anything but animals, that human is godly when compared to animals. It has pushed us away from vital functions that actually serve the very important purpose of keeping us alive. That doesn’t mean you should shout about it from the roof tops. But remember our bodily functions keep us alive, don’t be ashamed of them. We all have them. Because this shame has actually probably done more to hurt us than to make us healthy. Don’t let society do that to you.

- This doesn’t just apply to your bodily functions, but your body as a whole. While diversity is good, it sort of makes our differences in to a commodity (the current diversity trend resembles that more than anything else). Don’t let our society do that to you either, making you become an unhealthy stereo type, because you feel your difference has no benefit to society. Accept your differences and accept others to. Its healthy, just like everything else in this post is, based on current information that is subject to change of course.

I hope 2020 brings you closer to the you that you believe yourself to be.

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mulattafury · 7 years ago

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Hey so I'm looking at starting the Keto diet. Do you have any advice for like recipes or ingredients? Like maybe a good substitute for stevia (I just don't like the taste of it)? Would honey work? Also, some favorite recipes you've tried so far? Sorry, I know that's a lot of questions ^^;

Keto Connect - Super cute couple, both of them keto, sharing recipes, tips, ingredient reviews/comparisons, and budget/meal prep advice

Headbanger’s Kitchen - awesome heavy metal guitarist makes a variety of interesting and flavorful keto recipes influenced by indian cuisine. includes some vegan stuff as well! a nice diversion from the usual stuff you see.

As far as sweeteners, a lot of people use erithrytol or stevia-erithrytol blends to sweeten things like baked goods, since erithrytol is supposedly not metabolized by your body at all so you can completely deduct the carbs from it in your net carbs. Honey is not a great alternative since a single tablespoon of honey contains 17g of sugar (according to Google, who pulls nutrition info from USDA). Not only is that p much all of your carbs for 1 day, it will almost definitely trigger an insulin response and knock you out of keto.

I guess it just depends what you’re using the sweetener for? Like, if it’s for coffee or something, just use whatever sugar substitute you want. Powdered versions of sugar alcohol often contain actual sugar (a fact that makes my mind turn inside-out with frustration) but if you’re using like one Splenda packet in a cup of coffee I don’t think that’s enough to make a huge difference. Or get the liquid sucralose or something instead of Stevia.

If you’re concerned with sweetening baked goods, I’d say use erithrytol, and something like sucralose or stevia to punch it up if needed(erithrytol is less sweet than sugar, other sugar substitutes are often sweeter than sugar). But i would also suggest avoiding a lot of baking and treats when you first start and re-introducing them once you’re adapted. Your tastes will change a lot.

Some shopping tips:

- Mission Carb Control tortillas are amazing- Chicken thighs are cheaper, better-tasting, and have more fat than chicken breasts. On Keto, all of these things are positives.- Similarly, buy the highest fat content ground beef you can. Usually it’s 27/73. Keto or not, this is a requirement to make a good burger. :D- Pork rinds are a good thing to have around as a crunchy/impulse snack when you first start, while you’re adapting.- Grab a pint of halo top ice cream for when u do get a sweet tooth, or arctic zero if you’re lactose intolerant.- coconut flour actually makes a pretty good deep-fry coating. pork rinds make a better one but much higher calorie- you’re gonna need more eggs- seriously eggs are like the perfect keto food- Look for sugar-free, gluten-free, and paleo-friendly products. There’s a lot of overlap of these diets with keto. For example, Heinz makes a reduced sugar ketchup that has like 1g carbs per tablespoon, vs 4 in regular ketchup, and I don’t notice the difference. Again, though, your tastes change. I’m super sensitive to sweet flavors now, but also I’ve been drinking diet sodas since i was a kid so the “chemical” taste of artificial sweeteners doesn’t bother me if i notice it at all, so ymmv- ketoers love to brag about how much bacon they eat but honestly the novelty of bacon every day wears off fast.- you’re not really going to eat as much meat as you might think -- only 20% of your calories should come from protein -- but still, stock up on meat when you can. portion it out into individual servings and pack it in your freezer

Some life tips:

- don’t just eat junk. this is something i struggle with. a lot of junk is “keto friendly” and if you eat that while managing to stick to your macros you WILL stay in ketosis and you WILL lose weight (if that’s your goal. it’s my goal), but you’ll feel like ASS. Make sure you’re getting in all your micronutrients as well, and especially make sure you’re getting electrolytes.- don’t get discouraged by the cost of some of the ingredients. once you’re adapted you eat a LOT less. i spend very little on groceries per week, honestly my biggest food cost is probably my diet dr pepper addiction and i’ve been considering phasing that out.- if weight loss is your goal, you still have to eat at a calorie deficit. i think this is something that a lot of people who don’t get the results they want from a LCHF diet don’t realize. If you are small, sedentary, and afab like moi, that can mean very few calories -- I eat around 1000-1300kcal a day (often fewer than 1k tbh) but for my size and activity level that’s okay.- if weight loss is not your goal, just stick to your macros and don’t worry about counting calories and you’ll be good :)- double quarter pounder, add bacon, no ketchup, no bun, add mac sauce- you can find a keto-friendly option at most restaurants, but be aware that restaurant food often has “hidden carbs” and higher sugar content than homemade versions- if you drink, be careful! your metabolism will be a lot more efficient and it’s gonna wreck your alcohol tolerance. your drinking options are gonna be pretty much limited to lite beer and neat spirits, but 1-2 drinks is all you’re gonna be able to handle most likely.- these things are gross but worth saying:- you’re gonna pee a lot, especially when you’re adapting, and especially-especially because you should be drinking a LOT of water on this diet (part of the reason it’s so important to supplement electrolytes). it’s going to smell like straight up acetone. this is normal.- you’re uh, you’re not gonna poop very much. and it’s... gonna take a while before it’s “solid” again. one of the taglines of r/keto is “never trust a keto fart,” and it’s that for a reason. this is also normal, and if you’re eating right will improve over time.- if you do choose to supplement fiber, use psyllium husk tablets and make sure to drink plenty of water. adding psyllium husk powder or oat fiber to your food is a good option as well. fiber supplements like metamucil often have added sugar, so steer clear of these- don’t cheat until after you’re well-adapted. be very strict for a couple months, then maybe consider the occasional cheat meal. if you’re like me, it will help keep you from giving up, and if you’re trying to lose weight it might actually help keep you from stalling by resetting your metabolism- like many things, if it doesn’t feel good, stop. if you’re doing it right but getting negative side effects, it might not be the right option for you and that’s okay too!

ANYWAY this post is turning into a monster so I’ll end it here with a yeast bread recipe that was a game changer for me. Good luck!

youtube

#keto #long post #diet cw///#brenda-blue-eyes

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silkloss7-blog · 5 years ago

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Low-Carb No-Noodle Lasagna with Sausage and Basil

posted by Kalyn Denny on April 1, 2019

Low-Carb No-Noodle Lasagna with Sausage and Basil was inspired by a series of grocery store finds and this lasagna was so tasty! Use Casserole Recipes to find more low-carb casseroles like this one!

Click to PIN Low-Carb No-Noodle Lasagna with Sausage and Basil!

It’s no secret that I love Low-Carb Casseroles because of the way they create leftovers for the freezer, and other people must like that too because casseroles are some of the most popular recipes on this site! But usually I wouldn’t share a new casserole recipe like this Low-Carb No-Noodle Lasagna with Sausage and Basil at this time of year, just when the weather is starting to heat up.

It was three fun grocery store finds in a row that inspired me to create this recipe, and after we worked on it a few times to get it right the final version was so tasty I just couldn’t convince myself to wait until fall to share the recipe! In fact, yesterday I pulled a container of this low-carb lasagna out of the freezer and heated it up for an amazing dinner. So please make this NOW before it gets too hot to turn on the oven and I promise you’ll be glad you tried it!

The Folios Parmesan Cheese Wraps I found at Costco were the first thing that inspired this lasagna. Normally I’m not inclined to create a recipe using a product that some people might not be able to find, but when I shared about Folios on Instagram I was so intrigued by the comments and how many people liked them. Folios are firm wraps made of cheese, about the thickness of a tortilla and they’re gluten-free and have only one carb each.

When the idea of making no-noodle lasagna and using these parmesan wraps as the “noodles” popped into my mind, I might not have done it right away except the very next time I went to the grocery store I found Rao’s Tomato Basil Sauce (affiliate link) that had half the carbs as the low-sugar sauce I’d been using. And then on that same shopping trip I discovered the store had fresh basil plants! I love fresh basil and it added so much flavor to the sauce for this low-carb lasagna!

But if you can’t find Folios Parmesan Cheese Wraps or Rao’s Sauce or don’t have fresh basil, please don’t let that stop you from making this tasty lasagna! Use a firm sliced cheese like Provolone to replace the Folios; it will probably melt a bit more but it’s still going to be delicious. Pick the lowest-carb sauce you can find if your store doesn’t carry Raos. And you can use dried basil or chopped basil in a tube for the sauce if you don’t have or don’t want to buy fresh basil. (I don’t accept money to promote products, and none of the companies mentioned in this post have any idea that I’m featuring them.)

(This is just a summary of the steps shown in the photos. Scroll down to the complete recipe for full instructions.) Preheat oven and spray casserole dish with non-stick spray. Heat oil in a large deep frying pan and saute chopped onion; then push onion over to the side and cook the ground beef and Italian sausage in the same pan.

Add the Rao’s sauce to the meat mixture and simmer until the sauce is thick. While the sauce simmers, chop basil (or use Herb Scissors like I did if you have them!)

Stir the chopped basil into the sauce. Mix the cottage cheese or ricotta, beaten eggs, 1/2 cup Parmesan, garlic powder, and dried herbs. (We tested the recipe with both cottage cheese and ricotta and we preferred the cottage cheese, but take your choice on that!)

I used a wonderful Le Creuset baking dish that I bought at Williams Sonoma with a generous gift certificate I got from my brother Dave and his wife Amy, thanks guys! Cut the Folios in half and cover the bottom of the dish. (I only needed two Folios per layer for my size dish, if your dish is a bit wider or longer you might need three.) Spread half the meat sauce over the Folios.

Then make a layer with half the cottage cheese mixture, followed by half the Mozzarella.

Make another layer each of Folios, meat sauce, cottage cheese mixture, and Mozzarella. Sprinkle the grated Parmesan over the top. Bake Low-Carb No-Noodle Lasagna with Sausage and Basil for 40-45 minutes. (We cooked the lasagna in the photo 45 minutes but I’d start to check after 35 or 40 minutes.)

Serve hot and enjoy! This freezes well and reheats beautifully in the microwave or in the oven.

Make it a Meal:

I’d serve Low-Carb No-Noodle Lasagna with Sausage and Basil with a salad like Low-Carb Caesar Salad or Kalyn’s Favorite Baby Arugula Salad for a low-carb meal!

More Low-Carb Lasagna to Love:

Grilled Zucchini Low-Carb Lasagna with Italian Sauce, Tomato, and Basil Sauce ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen Keto Chicken Lasagna Cups ~ A Spicy Perspective Low-Carb Sausage and Kale Mock Lasagna Casserole ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen Low-Carb Lasagna Stuffed Peppers ~ Recipe Girl Low-Carb Mock Lasagna Spaghetti Squash Casserole ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen Low-Carb Pesto Zucchini Lasagna Rolls ~ All Day I Dream About Food Low-Carb Sausage and Roasted Peppers Mock Lasagna Casserole ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen

Weekend Food Prep:

This recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

Low-Carb No-Noodle Lasagna with Sausage and Basil

Yield: 8 servings

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Low-Carb No-Noodle Lasagna with Sausage and Basil was inspired by three fun things I found at the grocery store, and this lasagna was so tasty!

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped small

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 pkg. (19.5 oz.) Hot Turkey Italian Sausage, use pork Italian Sausage if you prefer (see notes)

1 jar (24 oz.) low-sugar pasta sauce (see notes)

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (or use a few teaspoons of dried basil or a few tablespoons of basil from a tube if you don’t have fresh basil.)

2 cups cottage cheese or Ricotta cheese

4 eggs, beaten well

1/2 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese (probably optional, but good)

1 tsp. Italian herb blend

1 tsp. garlic powder

4 Folios Parmesan Cheese Wraps (Use firm sliced white cheese like Provolone if you don’t have Folios. You may need a total of 6 Folios to cover the dish if you use a larger, less deep dish than we had.)

2 cups grated Mozzarella cheese

additional 1/3 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese to sprinkle over the top (probably optional, but good)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F/190C and spray a deep rectangular casserole dish with non-stick spray. (See notes about the dish I used.)

Heat olive oil in a large deep frying pan over medium-high heat and saute chopped onion just until it’s starting to brown, then push onion over to the side of the pan and crumble in the ground beef and Italian sausage, squeezing the sausage out of the casings. Cook the ground beef and Italian sausage, breaking apart with the turner until it’s nicely browned and all the released liquid has evaporated.

Add the Rao’s sauce to the meat mixture (rinse out the jar with a little water if you’d like) and simmer on low until the sauce is thick, about 10 minutes.

While the sauce simmers, chop basil (or use Herb Scissors like I did if you have them!)

Stir the chopped basil into the sauce and turn off the heat.

Mix the cottage cheese or ricotta, beaten eggs, 1/2 cup Parmesan if using, garlic powder, and dried herbs.

Cut the Folios in half and cover the bottom of the dish, putting the straight edge along the edge of the dish. (I only needed two Folios per layer for my size dish but bigger casserole dishes might need three.)

Spread half the meat sauce over the Folios.

Then make a layer with half the cottage cheese mixture, followed by half the Mozzarella.

Make another layer each of Folios, meat sauce, cottage cheese mixture, and Mozzarella. Sprinkle the grated Parmesan over the top if using.

Bake Low-Carb No-Noodle Lasagna with Sausage and Basil for 40-45 minutes. (We cooked the lasagna in the photo 45 minutes but I’d start to check after 35 or 40 minutes.)

Serve hot. Leftovers can be frozen and reheated later.

Notes:

I used an amazing Le Creuset baking dish that was 7.5″ x 11.5″ x 3 inches deep; try to use a deep dish if you can but anything close to that size will work.

I used my favorite hot turkey Italian sausage for this recipe, but pork sausage would also be good!

I was excited to find Rao’s Tomato Basil Sauce (affiliate link) at my grocery store; this sauce has only about 20 carbs in a whole jar.

This recipe inspired by Folios Parmesan Cheese Wraps that I found at Costco and I experimented with Jake and Kara until we thought it was a keeper!

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions: Low-Carb No-Noodle Lasagna with Sausage and Basil is a great dish for low-carb and low-glycemic diet plans, and for any phase of the South Beach Diet. South Beach would recommend lean ground beef, low-fat turkey sausage, low-fat cottage cheese, and reduced fat cheese for this recipe.

Find More Recipes Like This One: Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Nutritional Information? If you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into this nutrition analyzer, which will calculate it for you. Or if you’re a member of Yummly, you can use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information there.

posted by Kalyn Denny on April 1, 2019

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Source: https://kalynskitchen.com/low-carb-no-noodle-lasagna-with-sausage-and-basil/

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captainlenfan · 5 years ago

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New Post has been published on http://websiteshop.network/episode-433-qa-with-robb-and-nicki-26/

Episode 433 – Q&A with Robb and Nicki #26

http://robbwolf.com/2019/06/21/episode-433-qa-with-robb-and-nicki-26/

We’re back on a roll with Episode 433, Q&A #26!

Submit your own questions for the podcast at: https://robbwolf.com/contact/submit-a-question-for-the-podcast/

If you want to see the video for this podcast, be sure to check out our YouTube channel.

Show Notes:

1. Enzymes and IBS? [3:32]

Ken says:

Talk to us about enzymes Robb. I’ve played with alot of different things over the years to help with IBS issues. For a long time I was devoted to probiotics but I never found any real consistent results with them. I took a stool test a year or so ago and discovered that literally none of the strains of probiotics I had so diligently taken (and paid for) were significantly present. Along the way anti fungals and anti parasitic medication (Dr Rx’d) helped calm the fire down below but it was enzymes that seem to seem to have made the final difference for me. Not only is the fire largely out I’ve really not had to keep up with taking enzymes like I did with probiotics. To be fair to probiotics they seem to help in the moment but I get the sense you have to take them daily which does not seem to be the case with enzymes. I should mention I know several people that have had the same experience with probiotics and enzymes. My question then is what is the mechanism at work? I get that enzymes help break down foods but why would that help with IBS symptoms and furthermore why would those symptoms be largely gone after only 6 months or so of using them but not taking them daily even?

2. Squat Pooping and Toilet Training [10:42]

Terrence says:

Hey Robb and Nicki!

Loving the new Q&A format! You have done such a great job educating the public on what to put in one end of their bodies that I want to take a moment to talk about how to get the most out of what comes out the other end!

I am a first-time dad of a now 16-month-old, so that means we’re starting to approach potty training. As we all know, the “natural, paleo way” of pooping is getting into that deep squat and letting fly. It’s so obvious to me that this is the way we’re meant to poop. I see it every morning: my little girl suddenly stops playing with her toys and drops into that ass-to-grass squat that my jiujitsu hips will never do again. By the time that thousand-yard stare creeps into her eyes, I’ve already got one hand on my SLS-free baby wipes.

Every parent has seen that, and yet every parent in this hemisphere insists on trying to get their kid going from this squat position to sitting on a porcelain platform with his/her feet dangling. The toddler naturally resists with a, “what the hell do you expect me to do from here?” look. Frustration ensues, but poop doesn’t. It seems like transitioning our toddlers from diapers to seated toilets is yet another mismatch of nature in our modern civilization.

For adults, it’s easy to make a homemade platform or buy a Squatty Potty / similar product. But what’s the plan for tots? I’ve considered setting up a kitty litter box in the bathroom. The mother-in-law is almost certainly going to lose her shit (heh heh) but maybe that’s the price of being the world’s #2 Dad!

Would love to hear your Paleo Poop Solution for how we are Wired to Shit.

-Terrence

3. Travel Eating Tips? [14:30]

Luiza says:

Got your masterclass and it was paramount for the achievement of the keto sunset. 8 weeks in, 15 lbs down and I feel amazing!

However I am quite a foodie and will be heading to Paris for 10 days in June to vacation with my brother and dad. I will be staying at a hotel and definitely don’t wanna miss out on real French croissants or pastries… I also am from Brazil and while I can tell the benefits of keto long term, I would not be able to go visit and skip out of eating fruits, which is most of my diet while I’m down there.

so question: Should I still try my best to keep up with calories/macro count while traveling and/or supplement with exogenous ketones (do they even work?) or should I not worry about it until I get back home? Am I gonna feel absolutely awful while getting back on carbs? On that note, maybe I should re-introduce carbs before I even go?

Appreciate your guidance on the issue.

4. BJJ + Recurring Staph Infections [18:39]

Sam says:

Dear Robb + Nicki,

Over the last 12 year period, I’ve made numerous attempts to train BJJ–each attempt ending in a staph infection. My first time was about 12 years ago, where I got a good year of training in. This was punctuated by a pretty bad staph infection that flared back up a few more times shortly after. 8 years later, I went for it again…this time getting a staph infection after one week of training. Most recently, I got 6 months in before getting another. As you can imagine, every doctor I’ve ever talked to thinks I just need more antibiotics, or that I have some secret colony of staph living in my nose. This approach has obviously not been successful for me. It also fails to address why I only get them while training, and never in the periods in between. While hygiene may have been to blame the first time, I was pretty careful the last two times, even if it wasn’t 100% perfect. I had a funky sleep schedule before my most recent occurrence, which I think may have contributed. Some more details for you…I’m 33, in good shape, otherwise healthy, eat well, and sleep well. I’ve always lifted weights outside of BJJ but nothing crazy in terms of volume. My question for you is: If this was happening to you, where would you start? What would you be looking at? I have considered seeing a functional medicine practitioner as I’ve wondered if there are some bigger picture immune issues at play. I appreciate any thoughts you have on this– I don’t want my BJJ career to be over so soon. Thanks!

Notes: https://www.defensesoap.com/

5. Adult Autism – Should I Go Keto? [23:51]

Alex says:

Hi Nicki and Robb,

I’m 29 and was diagnosed as on the autism spectrum just two years ago. This would have been considered as asperger’s in the past. I’ve been primarily paleo (ice cream is really good) for the better part of six years, but after running my DNA through Found My Fitness, I’m wanting to address my dietary choices from a more personalized approach, including finding the most optimal choices to address some of the occasional stressors I feel associated with being on the spectrum – anxiety, depression, and general cognitive/mood disregulation.

The most researched dietary intervention seems to be a gluten free, dairy free diet, with a few studies looking into keto. However, each study I’ve seen is only looking at kids as the subjects and typically with more severe symptoms than what I experience. Keto seems to be a promising approach, but is there any reason why this would be different for an adult? I tried keto for about a month a year ago but immediately found my cognitive performance drop. While I know my macro amounts were appropriate (used ketogains calculator), I know now that I didn’t incorporate the electrolyte component. Could this account for my initial struggles with it? Is there anything else someone on the spectrum should consider when attempting keto? Supplements, macro ratios, etc.? I’ll include more details about me below, but thank you for your time in reading question and all of your work.

Alex

29 years old

6′ 4”, 240 lbs

CrossFit 3-4x per week

Sleep 6-7 hours a night (we have a 1 year old that thinks the day begins at 3:30am)

Polymorphisms of concern from FoundMyFitness: MTHFR (which seems to be common in those on the spectrum), FTO (multiple SNPs), APEO3/4 (multiple SNPs)

Live in Minnesota where sun exposure is only frequent enough where your skin doesn’t freeze

Where you can find us:

Submit questions for the podcast: https://robbwolf.com/contact/submit-a-question-for-the-podcast/

Transcript:

Download a copy of the transcript here (PDF)

Nicki: Hey, Hubs

Robb: Welcome back, wife. What’s new? What’s exciting? We’re living in the Arctic of Reno

Nicki: I know. It’s been a really, really long, drawn-out spring going into summer. It’s cold.

Robb: The White King is dead. Winter should be ending, but it’s not.

Nicki: Winter is still here.

Robb: Yup. Did you want to fill people in on anything, or do you just want to jump in?

Nicki: If you want, sure, what we’re thinking of doing.

Robb: Sure. Well, no, you do it.

Nicki: Well, we have decided that we are going to be moving to Texas.

Robb: You gonna be oblique about where so nobody can find us? We had a crazy story. Zoe was only a couple of days old…

Nicki: I don’t know what crazy story you’re telling.

Robb: …that, when the people showed up at our front door?

Nicki: Oh. Yeah.

Robb: Yeah. So, a little bit of background, and I’m sorry, if you don’t give two shits about this, just fast forward a little. A really close friend of ours had just had this super gnarly identity theft thing go on where somebody found out that they were out of town, they forwarded their mail… It was super, super messed up-

Nicki: Yeah.

Robb: …and so we were kind of a little on edge from that.

Nicki: So, that was one week before, and then we had Zoe. She was super young. I was, like, nursing in the back room.

Robb: This was day four or five and we were completely sleep deprived, like, out of your head and you’re legitimately insane at this point.

Nicki: Uh-huh (affirmative).

Robb: And, somebody had pinged Squatchy, and they’re like, “Hey, I want to send Robb one of these exercise mobility ball things or something like that, and so Squatchy had given them our home address, and, lo and behold, somebody knocks on the door-

Nicki: (laughs)

Robb: and I show up at the door just disheveled and exhausted, and there are these people I’ve never met before with this little rubber ball. They’re like-

Nicki: They’re like, “Oh, we had a wedding to go to and so we were driving through, so we thought we would just personally deliver it.” (laughs)

Robb: And so, after that, we got a P.O. box. And, it’s not that we hide our location, but I’ve had a few, kind of wacky threats from the crazy vegans and stuff like that. We have kids and so, yeah. So, we’ll be… it’s central Texas. Yeah, we’re looking at central Texas.

Nicki: Hill country Texas.

Robb: Hill country Texas.

Nicki: But, not Austin.

Robb: But, not Austin. Yeah. All the cool kids can go there. We’re going somewhere else. So, anyway, yeah, we’re looking at moving so the podcast may be a little hit and miss. We’re trying to bank some of these-

Nicki: Yeah, but-

Robb: …so that we stay on top of that but, yeah.

Nicki: Yeah. So.

Robb: That’s our preamble on that, or our pre-ramble.

Nicki: Pre-ramble. All right. We’ll jump in then.

Robb: Okay. Cool.

Nicki: So our first question is on enzymes and IBS from Ken, and he says, “Robb, talk to us about enzymes. I’ve played with a lot of different things over the years to help with IBS issues and, for a long time, I was devoted to probiotics, but I never found any real, consistent results with them. I took a stool test a year or so ago and discovered that literally none of the strains of probiotics I had so diligently taken and paid for were significantly present. Along the way, anti-fungals and anti-parasitic medication, doctor-prescribed, helped calm the fire down below, but it was enzymes that seemed to have made the final difference for me.

Nicki: Not only is the fire largely out, I’ve really not had to keep up with taking enzymes like I did with probiotics. To be fair to probiotics, they seem to help in the moment, but I get the sense you have to take them daily, which does not seem to be the case with enzymes. I should mention I know several people that have had the same experience with probiotics and enzymes, and my question is, what is the mechanism at work? I get that enzymes help break down foods, but why would that help with IBS symptoms and, furthermore, why would those symptoms be largely gone after only six months or so of using them, but not taking them even daily?”

Robb: Yeah, it’s really interesting stuff. When I was at the UCSF conference that Akil Palanisamy puts on each year, really amazing event. Doctor Datis Kharrazian was there, and this guy is so smart. Chiro and also a Ph.D in Immunology, I think, from Harvard, so kind of… D.C., Ph.D guy, and he’s a real, legit gut health expert, and really on the… how do you fix things clinically. And, he did an amazing breakdown of this whole story, and he relies heavily on things like betaine hydrochloride, apple cider vinegar, which I have shifted to using capsules because, when I would do the apple cider vinegar shots, it was dissolving my teeth, which it has a tendency to do, and butyrate.

Robb: So, what’s going on on that in kind of a multi-factorial story is that the enzymes in improving the acid content of the stomach while you’re eating food… if you break everything down into its constituent parts, and we’re really concerned about the proteins in this story, and proteins, whether it’s from animal sources or plant sources, if they hit the gut lining as single amino acids or dipeptides, which is about the ideal scenario, there’s really not immunogenic substance, then. There’s not the problematic proteins that can irritate the gut and cause the motility issues that kind of typify IBS. And then, he recommended the butyrate because the butyrate tends to help fix the gap junction issues within the gut in kind of a primary indirect fashion.

Robb: So, when a healthy gut, assuming that an individual is eating some fermented, fermentable fiber and all that type of stuff, would get butyrate and propionate and malonate and these different short-chain fats, that improve gap junction function, and then, in theory, a healthy gut, people are robustly digesting all of their food, including the proteins, and also the carbohydrates that should be digested early in the process versus, you know, if we have poor digestion, those carbohydrates can make their way intact into later portions of the digestion, which is kind of where SIBO and all that stuff pops up.

Robb: So, that’s kind of the mechanism there, and it makes a lot of sense, and what’s interesting about that, it’s a little bit reminiscent… the gut health topic and the microbiome topic is really interesting, and I think when we’ve talked about this a couple of times before, but clearly the gut microbiome and gut health is critical. But, we don’t really know yet, I think in general, what to do about it.

Robb: About fifty percent… Most of the studies you look at, Doctor Ruscio has talked about this… a hundred people take a probiotic formula, about half of the people show improvements, half the people don’t. Some of the don’ts actually get worse. So, it’s very hit and miss in that regard, and also the probiotics generally are not intended to be repopulating the gut. They’re actually intended to kind of tune the immune system, although some work from the Sonnenberg Lab suggests that the process of putting these gut microbes from probiotics through this system actually creates a more amenable environment for you to get other organisms from the environment that should be taking up residence there, and… really interesting stuff.

Robb: But, the point being that… if we look at people who have had different forms of ileostomies, like, basically having their intestines, to varying degrees removed, these people don’t live shorter, worser lives than people with all of that real estate. And this is despite whatever injury or illness caused that scenario.

Robb: So, on the one had, clearly the gut microbiome and gut health is really important, but it seems, in my mind… my kind of take on this, is it’s really, really important to either function well or, if pathology has occurred, then we need to somehow address the pathology, because, clearly, just removing that real estate, it makes all the notion of, well, fiber is critical to health and all this stuff. It really kind of casts an interesting light on it, so, in the scenario of really augmenting frontal digestion with enzymes and potentially, again, apple cider vinegar or some other acid sources, that would appear to really fix a lot of problems because we’re breaking the food down and there isn’t the large proteins that are potentially immunogenically stimulating.

Robb: So, that’s what’s going on both on the probiotics side and, most likely, on the enzyme side. It is intriguing to me that you can get by with this with intermittent use instead of needing to be really consistent. But also, even though the IBS had gone on apparently for some significant period of time, he maybe only needs to kind of pulse that whole process. Because it is interesting, too, once the gut heals, then cholecystokinin release is more normalized, and acid secretions are more normalized. We know that H. pylori suppresses acid production, ironically, even though it’s associated with peptic ulcers, but it tends to suppress acid production in the stomach to foster a more amenable environment for the H. pylori. So, sometimes if we move out the… if we change the gut microbiome in a favorable way, then it just actually gets a little bit of a feed forward mechanism going and it just generally functions better. So, yeah.

Nicki: All right. Our next question is from Terrence on squat pooping and toilet training. Terrence says, “Hey Robb and Nicki, loving the new Q and A format. You’ve done such a great job educating the public on what to put in one end of their bodies that I want to take a moment to talk about how to get the most out of what comes out the other end.

Nicki: I’m a first-time dad of a now-sixteen-month-old, so that means we’re starting to approach potty training. As we all know, the natural Paleo way of pooping is getting into that deep squat and letting fly. So obvious to me that this is the way we’re meant to poop. I see it every morning: my little girl suddenly stops playing with her toys and drops into that ass-to-grass squat that my jiu jitsu hips will never do again. By the time that thousand-yard stare creeps into her eyes, I’ve already got one hand on my SLS-free baby wipes. (laughs)

Nicki: Every parent has seen that and yet every parent in this hemisphere insists on trying to get their kid going from this squat position to sitting on a porcelain platform with his or her feet dangling. The toddler naturally resists with a, ‘What the hell do you expect me to do from here?’ look, and frustration ensues, but poop doesn’t.

Nicki: Seems like transitioning your toddlers from diapers to seated toilets is yet another mismatch of nature in our modern civilization. For adults, it’s easy to make a homemade platform, or buy a Squatty Potty, or similar product, but what’s the plan for tots? I’ve considered setting up a kitty litter box in the bathroom. (laughs) Mother-in-law is almost certainly going to lose her shit, (laughs) but maybe that’s the price of being the World’s Number Two Dad.” (laughs)

Robb: (laughs)

Nicki: Terrence, that’s hilarious. “Would love to hear your Paleo poop solution for how we are wired to shit.”

Robb: Terrence definitely gets Best Question of the Podcast History Award.

Nicki: He gets… yeah.

Robb: I don’t know, I mean… the first thought that pops in my mind is, “This is a great product opportunity for Terrence to get in and try to address.

Nicki: You know what’s interesting is other countries have… you do squat.

Robb: Right.

Nicki: I remember traveling to Turkey when I was nineteen, and even Italy, I think, they have some toilets like this, where it’s a hole in the ground, it’s porcelain, then there’s a little spot for your feet, but you actually squat. And, it flushes, but you’re not sitting on anything.

Robb: So, yeah.

Nicki: I’m sure you can order these toilets and have them installed in your home. [laughs]

Robb: Right. Can we do that with our new house?

Nicki: We can look into it.

Robb: Look into that. Yeah, I mean, we saw this same phenomena go down, and there is pretty clear literature suggesting that pooping not in a squat… you get a little bit of, like, fecal backflow because we’re supposed to have a valsalva maneuver, and… so, yeah, this is another one of the things that… you know, it’s so interesting, some of the articles on this, is, suggests that a lot of what we characterize as kind of normal GI dysfunction is a consequence of the way that we’re pooping, but that’s just so endemic that it’s kind of a problem hidden in plain sight. The researchers generally never even ask the question, “Well, if I change my position and was in a more, you know, I guess it’s not orthopedically, like, poop-opedically aligned position that, you know, this stuff would be addressed.

Robb: But, yeah, I’ve wanted the pit toilet for a while.

Nicki: Yeah, it’s just a square, porcelain thing-

Robb: And it still flushes and does all that stuff, yeah.

Nicki: …that sits in the ground with a hole, just like a normal toilet bowl hole, with little grooves for your shoes, and you just squat, and it has a flush.

Robb: Well, let’s look into that.

Nicki: (laughs) Okay.

Robb: (laughs) Terrence, we’ll keep you posted if we find one of those in the new digs, we’ll send you info on it. But, really good question, and it’s interesting, and this is another one of these things that we get our kids started off not on the right foot with a lot of stuff. Yeah.

Nicki: All right. Let’s see. Our next question is from Luiza on falling off the wagon. She says, “I got your masterclass and it was paramount for the achievement of the keto sunset. Eight weeks in, fifteen pounds down, and I feel amazing. However, I’m quite a foodie, and will be heading to Paris for ten days in June to vacation with my brother and dad. I will be staying at a hotel and definitely don’t want to miss out on real French croissants or pastries. I also am from Brazil, and while I can tell the benefits of keto long-term, I would not be able to go visit and skip out on eating fruit, which is most of my diet while I’m down there.

Nicki: So, my question: should I still try my best to keep up with the calories and macro count while traveling, and/or supplement with exogenous ketones? Do they even work? Or, should I not worry about it until I get back home? And, am I going to feel absolutely awful while getting back on carbs? On that note, maybe I should reintroduce carbs before I go. I appreciate your guidance on the issue.”

Robb: So, maybe we’ll start from the back and then work forward. Are you going to feel awful going back on carbs? I have no idea.

Nicki: Depends on-

Robb: …it just depends, person-to-person. I don’t know, I go back and forth on this. On the one hand, I guess a really minimal tweak to what you’re doing and still being able to enjoy all that you have to experience there, try to make sure you hit your protein minimum. That just seems to be so important for not overeating, whether we’re on a low-carb or a low-fat diet. So, by hook or by crook, just make sure that you get your protein in. If you’re in Brazil, then eat all the fruit, but make sure that you’re getting plenty of protein with the fruit. When you’re eating your croissant, make sure that you don’t forgo the eggs and-

Nicki: Sausage and whatever.

Robb: …sausage and all that type of stuff. And, a little bit of portion control… I mean, the challenge, or the benefit, of keto is that we’re removing the carb-fat combo, and that’s where it becomes challenging for people to maintain normal appetite control. Again, adequate protein is really going to help with that, but… So-

Nicki: So, in Brazil, should she do protein and fruit, and skip any additional fat?

Robb: Yes.

Nicki: And in Paris, she could do protein and don’t put butter on her French croissants and pastries.

Robb: Maybe a little bit, but yeah.

Nicki: Yeah, try to-

Robb: Just don’t go crazy on it. Yeah.

Nicki: …I think there’s a lot of butter in them already-

Robb: Right.

Nicki: …when they make them, but trying to minimize the fat if she’s going to increase her carbs.

Robb: Yeah, yeah, to some degree. And, as to the exogenous ketones, exogenous ketones are great, but the point isn’t necessarily to take a ketone supplement to paper over other dietary concerns, unless we’re really tackling that from a neurodegenerative perspective, or something like that. So, I mean, I don’t really see the exogenous ketones being a huge boon in this scenario.

Robb: If you like them, some people do notice that they do get some appetite regulation by dropping in a scoop of the exogenous ketones or the MCTs. There’s one study that suggests a carb-rich breakfast plus MCTs caused people to then… and also, I’ve got to say they ate adequate protein in this, too, so it wasn’t just carbs and MCT. It was a good whack of protein, some standard carb intake, but then adding MCT in, what they noticed over time, was that these folks tended to eat fewer calories overall throughout the day.

Nicki: Hm.

Robb: And Chris Masterjohn did a nice unpacking of this, and so… That might work that similarly with the exogenous ketones. We don’t have a study on that yet. There is one reasonably well-performed study that suggests that MCT powder or MCT oil does that.

Nicki: Okay. Well, have fun, Luiza. That sounds like a really fun summer.

Robb: I wouldn’t mind that. Yeah.

Nicki: Okay. Let’s see. Our next question is from Sam on BJJ and recurring staph infections.

Nicki: “Dear Robb and Nicki, over the last twelve-year period, I’ve made numerous attempts to train BJJ, each attempt ending in a staph infection. My first time was about twelve years ago, where I got a good year of training in, which was punctuated by a pretty bad staph infection that flared back up a few more times shortly after. Eight years later, I went for it again, this time getting a staph infection after one week of training. Most recently, I got six months in before getting another. As you can imagine, every doctor I have talked to thinks I just need more antibiotics, or that I have some secret colony of staph living in my nose.

Nicki: This approach has obviously not been successful for me. It also fails to address why I only get them while training and never in the periods in between. While hygiene may have been to blame the first time, I was pretty careful the last two times, even if I wasn’t 100% perfect. I had a funky sleep schedule before my most recent occurrence, which I think may have contributed.

Nicki: Some more details for you: I’m 33, in good shape, otherwise healthy, eat well, sleep well. I’ve always lifted weights outside of BJJ, but nothing crazy in terms of volume. My question for you is, if this was happening to you, where would you start? What would you be looking at? I’ve considered seeing a functional medicine practitioner, as I’ve wondered if there are some bigger picture immune issues at play, and I appreciate any thoughts you have on this. I don’t want my BJJ career to be over so soon.”

Robb: Yeah. Gosh, where would we jump into this? Getting a functional medicine assessment wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, to see if there is something kind of off with HPTA axis, cortisol, which could be suppressing immune function… Definitely the hygiene of the gym that you’re in is a big factor. The places that we’ve gone to, they’re pretty on it. They spray the mats down in between classes, and they’re definitely on top of that. So, that maintenance is important. What is the name of the soap that Darien sells?

Nicki: Oh…

Robb: There’s, like, a-

Nicki: It’s Defense? Defense? Maybe?

Robb: Yeah, Defense Soap. Yeah.

Nicki: I’ll find it for sure and we can put a link in the show notes.

Robb: Yeah, but I think it has tea tree oil and some other antimicrobials, and a lot of people swear by that. This is also why, even though my jiu jitsu game, I’m not fabric-dependent, I’m not hanging onto the gi. I tend to wear a rash guard, and then a gi. I don’t usually wear sprats also, but you could do that. But, taking all that stuff, then you just have minimal surface area exposed.

Robb: So, yeah, I mean, the boxes to tick, see if there’s anything that could be obvious with regards to immune function and something being amiss there. Definitely lean on the facility owners to clean the mats thoroughly. I would recommend wearing a rash guard, possibly sprats and a gi-

Nicki: Wash the gi every single-

Robb: …and launder those aggressively each time.

Nicki: …yeah, every single time. If you get off the mat to go to the bathroom, put shoes on and walk.

Robb: Yeah.

Nicki: Everybody in the gym should be wearing shoes into the bathroom, on and off the mat.

Robb: Yeah, they should be bringing sandals to go in. It’s so gross when you see people sprint to the bathroom. The guy’s always in…

Nicki: Barefoot.

Robb: …barefoot, and then they come back on, and you’re like, “Listen, knucklehead…” But, those are the things. Anything else? Yeah, laundering the, your… whatever you wear thoroughly, and then the Defense Soap, maybe, post-training would be the things that I would look at.

Nicki: Can the sleep thing… I mean, if you’re super sleep-deprived and stuff-

Robb: Definitely, I mean, sleep-deprived. And, one other thought with this is, if you’re going really hard rolling, it’s like a CrossFit workout or something. People can turn these sessions into a near-death experience, which can kind of crush your immune response. And so, you may need to look at the intensity that you’re training, and it’s hard for people to do.

Robb: In the beginning, they just are battling for survival, and the only thing that you can rely on is strength and cardio and power output and everything, but that will knacker you, and it definitely impacts immune response. Yeah, it can kind of dig a hole. So, I would definitely consider, you know, how hard are you going and figure out ways of dialing that back. I would check out Henry Aiken’s Hidden Jiu Jitsu course. He has a specific module in his course when he had a gig in Bali, and he actually has a block of, like, fifteen videos that shows him rolling with the people that attended the event, and Henry just, he looks like he’s almost unconscious.

Robb: Now, granted, he’s got twenty-plus years of jiu jitsu experience, but even though I’m nowhere near where Henry is, my rolling looks way more like that than what you see in the competition videos, where people are super rigid and they’re just go-go-go… and, so, and that’s part of the reason why I’ve been able to train pretty consistently, and I try to figure out how my forty to sixty percent effort can continue to beat or make improvements on everybody else’s ninety-five percent effort. So, that would be another piece to look at.

Nicki: Okay. Let’s see, our last question today is from Alex, an adult on the autism spectrum: should I go keto?

Nicki: “Hi, Nicki and Robb. I’m twenty-nine and I was diagnosed as on the autism spectrum just two years ago. This would have been considered as Asperger’s in the past. I’ve been primarily Paleo, ice cream is really good-

Robb: (laughs)

Nicki: …for the better part of six years, but after running my DNA through FoundMyFitness, I’m wanting to address my dietary choices from a more personalized approach, including finding the most optimal choices to address some of the occasional stressors I feel associated with being on the Spectrum: anxiety, depression, and general cognitive and mood dysregulation.

Nicki: The most researched dietary intervention seems to be a gluten-free, dairy-free diet with a few studies looking into keto. However, each study I’ve seen is only looking at kids as the subjects, and typically with more severe symptoms than what I experience. Keto seems to be a promising approach, but is there any reason why this would be different for an adult?

Nicki: I tried keto for about a month a year ago, but immediately found my cognitive performance drop. While I know my macro amounts were appropriate, I used the Ketogains Calculator, I now know that I didn’t incorporate the electrolyte component. Could this account for my initial struggles with it, and is there anything else someone on the Spectrum should consider while attempting keto? Supplements, macro ratios, et cetera. I’ll include more details about me below, but thank you for your time in reading the question, and all of your work.”

Robb: And, details: age, height, weight, CrossFit-

Nicki: Mm-hmm (affirmative), sleep.

Robb: …decent sleep, and then he mentions some of his polymorphisms from the FoundMyFitness stuff. It’s interesting, there shouldn’t… if one is going to benefit from keto for a neurological situation. I don’t see that there would be any difference between kids and adults. It is, that said, it is interesting many children who go on a ketogenic diet for, say, epilepsy, they don’t need to stay on it for life. They’re able to get off of it at some point.

Nicki: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Robb: So, there is something that changes there. So, I don’t know if the flip side could apply, that maybe there was a window in childhood where this could have worked and now it’s not going to. That doesn’t really make sense to me, but it… yeah, I don’t know. But, definitely not everybody experiences cognitive improvement on a ketogenic diet. But, the lack of adequate electrolytes, in particular, sodium, is just jaw-dropping, make-or-break deal. So, if you were going to get back in and try this again, I would definitely check out LMNT, get, go… even if you just go to the drinkLMNT.com page, and then check out the How to Make Your Own Keto At Home Electrolyte Drink. One or the other, do that.

Nicki: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Robb: Start supplementing, if you do Kettle & Fire Bone Broth, put some salt in that, significant amount.

Nicki: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Robb: You really have to be on point with all that. You could also try using a little bit of MCTs or exogenous ketones in this scenario, because if we really are talking about a brain metabolism story, potentially some gut dysbiosis, those things may help in this whole process.

Robb: Additionally, on the supplements, a really rich form of DHA, EPA, DHA, but leaning heaving on the DHA, if you just eat a lot of fish. I’m wearing Wild Planet, these guys are amazing, getting fish from these guys or something similar. Sardines, mackerel, salmon-

Nicki: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Robb: …would be really beneficial, or you could supplement with a DHA-rich fish oil or krill oil formula.

Nicki: Okay.

Robb: Yeah.

Nicki: Thanks, Alex. Hubs, that was our five questions for this week.

Robb: Cool, cool. Somebody commented that they felt like we were rushed going through these, which I don’t know-

Nicki: Oh, I didn’t see that comment.

Robb: …that we’re rushed, but, yeah, it was a private message, compared to the Greg Everett days-

Nicki: Oh.

Robb: …where we would just wax on and on and on.

Nicki: You had no kids and no… (laughs)

Robb: We had no kids and, also… I try to be as thorough as I can, but also concise because people have a shortened attention span these days-

Nicki: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Robb: …and so, try not to wax on too long, but trying to strike a balance between being both thorough and concise.

Nicki: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Robb: So, there you have it.

Nicki: Yep.

Robb: Okay.

Nicki: Okay.

Robb: We’ll talk to y’all soon. Oh, thanks for the-

Nicki: No, no, no, no, no.

Robb: Oh, yeah.

Nicki: No, no, no, no, no, no. If you have questions, you can submit them, robbwolf.com contact page. What else?

Robb: Drink LMNT sponsored this podcast.

Nicki: Yep. Sponsored this LMNT

Robb: Drink Element, and even though we’re not-

Nicki: Coming into a summer, too, so, if you’re in a hot climate in particular, you’re going to want to be supplementing with electrolytes. If you’re active, and you were saying something-

Robb: And, love the Wild Planet guys. So, they’re a podcast sponsor this week, too. (laughs)

Nicki: (laughs)

Robb: They’re really amazing people. They… So, the back of this shirt says something like, “When you… would your tuna… How was your tuna caught? One line, one fish, one process.” They really are committed to sustainable fishing practices-

Nicki: Mm-hmm.

Robb: …and they’ve been beating this drum for a long time, so big shout out to the Wild Plant people. They’re wonderful folks doing some very cool work. In addition to the fish, they’re also doing some meat and chicken options-

Nicki: Oh, I didn’t know that.

Robb: …in like the vacu-seal packs and stuff like that, but they’re, like, organic and blessed by the Dalai Lama and all that stuff. But, really cool people, so, check out both of our sponsors, DrinkLMNT and also Wild Planet.

Nicki: Thanks, guys.

Robb: Take care. Buh-bye

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