The Health Benefits of Consuming Organ Meats

by | Feb 6, 2014 | High Protein Diet, Low carb | 0 comments

2014-02-06_1149The consumption of organ meats has fallen out of favor in the West, which may be a mixed blessing. Liver, kidney, heart and other animal organs from organically raised, grass-fed animals are some of the most nutrient-rich foods you can eat.

Unfortunately, that’s not how most food animals are raised these days. In today’s world of high calorie/high carbohydrate but low nutrient foods, most people would benefit greatly from adding these superfoods back into their diet.

However, I advise against eating organ meats from animals raised in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). The diets, veterinary drugs and living conditions of such animals are not likely to result in healthy organs, so be sure to find out where the organs came from, should you decide to pick some up at your local grocer.

Many traditional cultures and their medicine men—including Native Americans—believe that eating the organs from a healthy animal supports the organs of the eater.

For example, a traditional way of treating a person with a weak heart was to feed the person the heart of a healthy animal. Similarly, eating the brains of a healthy animal was believed to support clear thinking, and animal kidneys were fed to people suffering from urinary maladies.

There are countless reports about the success of these types of traditional practices. We can thank Dr. Weston A. Price for an enormous body of research about the health benefits of traditional diets.

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Low Carb Mag February Edition

by | Feb 5, 2014 | Exercise, General Health, Low carb diet | 0 comments

2014-02-05_1105There’s a whole lot of great stuff in this month’s edition of Low Carb Mag.

John Moore is coming in with a good look at offal – from that much maligned and unpopular section of the meat counter. You know the bit I’m talking about… It’s normally right down the end where the lights are bad and just next to the produce that’s just about going out of date and is priced marked down for a quick sale.

But while that may be its popular reputation in some parts of the country – out in the sticks, kidneys, liver, brains and tripe to name just a few are still cooked the way grandma used to cook them and eaten with relish. Not only because it’s jolly tasty but also it’s really good for us.

For many low carbers the vegetable and salad selection that they serve up from time to time can be, well to put it bluntly – boring!

Well to help put an end to some of that boredom – we’ve got a couple of articles this month on sprouted vegetables which add a whole new range of taste, textures and colors to your meal.

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Benefits Of Probiotics: Why Eating Yogurt Can Help You lose Weight

by | Feb 4, 2014 | Vitamins & Supplements, Weight Loss | 0 comments

Yogurt A new study claims that the regular consumption of probiotics could help accelerate weight loss in women.

Published jointly out of food and yogurt giant Nestlé and Université Laval in Quebec, the research suggests that obese women who add probiotics to their diet plan — most commonly found in yogurt — could lose twice as much weight as those who don’t.

Based on the premise that the intestinal flora of obese people differs from thin people — likely due to a diet high in fat and low in fibre — scientists set out to see if the consumption of “good bacteria” could help reset the balance of gut microbiota.

To test out their theory, researchers recruited 125 overweight men and women who were put on a 12-week weight loss diet, followed by another 12-week maintenance program. During the 24-week period, half the participants were instructed to take two pills of probiotics daily, while the other half received a placebo.

After the first period, women who took probiotics lost an average of 4.4 kg (about 10 lbs) while their placebo counterparts lost 2.6 kg (about 6 lbs).

By the end of the 24-week period, women in the probiotic group had continued to lose weight for a total of 5.2 kg per person (about 11 lbs), while the placebo group remained stable.

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How to Really Stand Up (Straight)

by | Jan 31, 2014 | How Your Body Works | 0 comments

Stand If you’re watching the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards, the Oscars, or other award shows this season, you may notice how so many of the celebrities walk onto the stage and announce the contestants with such good posture. For most people, that poised walk doesn’t come naturally. Working with actors frequently, I teach them the importance of this upright stance and how to achieve it with ease instead of stiffness.

Whether actors or not, we all have occasions when we want to present our best, confident selves. For an actor, it is stepping onto the stage. For everybody else, it may be walking into a party or into that important job interview.

So, how can you have such a powerful and upright stance? How does an actor pull it off? What is the actor’s secret?

First, let’s look at what NOT to do.

The typical response to “stand up straight” is:

1. Lift up the front of your chest, 2. Pull your chin up as you pull the back of your head down a little, and 3. Pull your shoulder blades together.

Try it. Feels familiar, right? And how long do you stay in this held-up “straight” position? It’s probably not more than a few minutes before you’re back down to a slump or leaning on one leg. It feels like too much effort to stand up this way.

When we look closely, we see that these three steps have the opposite effect of standing straighter and taller.

Let’s break it down and look at what you actually did:

1. Lifting up the front of your chest looks good in front, but what happens in your back? The lifting is usually done by pulling down or compressing the muscles in your back. From my observations, lifting up the front of your chest actually shortens your spine instead of lengthening it.

2. Pulling the back of your head down by lifting your chin up has a similar effect. The weight of your head (around ten pounds) is actually going down in the back, compressing your spine even more, and actually positioning you less in the upright direction.

3. Pulling your shoulder blades together narrows and compresses your spine even more and thereby prevents it from lengthening.

Pulling your whole upper body in this manner often causes you to pull yourself off the balance of your feet and therefore lose your grounding and support. Pulling your chest up, head back, and shoulders in takes a lot of work and does not give the sustainable results you are looking.

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Is Happiness a Choice?

by | Jan 30, 2014 | General Health | 0 comments

Happy So far, over 2.5 million people have seen the post, over 25,000 have shared it and the comments just keep coming. What’s up? The cartoon says: “Every single day you make a choice.” It features a guy sitting on one side of the bus looking out the window at doom and gloom, and his expression matches this dark perspective; another passenger on the opposite side of the same bus is looking out the window focusing on sunny skies, and his outlook is sunny too. Is happiness a choice? The question has sparked a wildfire of comments.

Support for “happiness is a choice”
Those who feel that happiness is a choice are deeply committed to that viewpoint. Many comments suggest that although we can’t control our circumstances, we can influence how we respond to them. “It’s not what happens to us, but the way we respond to what happens. Happiness is definitely a choice.” Do you agree?

Support for “happiness is not a choice”
The other perspective sees things entirely differently. “How can you say that every single day you make a choice when those suffering from depression have no choice — it’s bio-chemical.” And, “What about the death of a loved one — doesn’t this society even give you permission to feel your feelings?” Or, “There’s so much pressure to appear ‘together’ that it can leave no room for authenticity.” How do you feel about that?

The grey area
The truth is, this issue is complex — there are shades of grey. People think of happiness many ways. Some would argue that you are born happy… or not. That’s your lot in life. Some would suggest that it not just a state: Happiness is a skill set that can be taught. I’m firmly on this latter side and the science supports my own experience, that with certain practices, such as gratitude, happiness levels can increase significantly.

At Project Happiness, the non-profit I founded to teach kids practical tools for a happier and more meaningful life, we don’t try to force people to look through rose-colored glasses or drink the happy Kool-Aid. Rather, it is about building awareness for the importance ofpreventative wellness practices, and teaching skills to access more happiness as well as to better manage real challenges… both part of life. It’s about using scientifically proven strategies to develop emotional resilience within yourself, rather than looking to outside circumstances. It’s about learning how to identify and build on your strengths and regulate emotions.

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