Paleo Kits & Steve's Original snacks- A Review
In August, I had Steve Liberati on the podcast, the creator of Paleo Kits- snack foods that follow the Paleo diet very closely. He sent me some samples and I was 
able to try them out the past couple of weeks. Here’s what I got:
Original Paleokit: Beef jerky, nuts, and berries
Grass Fed Paleokit: Grass fed beef jerky, nuts, and berries
PaleoKrunch Cereal: Grainless granola cereal made with coconut, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, and honey.
PaleoKrunch Bar: Grainless granola bar made with coconut, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, and honey.
Original Just Jerky: Just Beef Jerky!
Receiving the package of paleo snacks in the mail was excellent timing for me. As I’m trying to eat more and more paleo-ish, one of the hardest things is finding quick, easy snacks that are also healthy. Most of the bars out there are either too high in carb, or they have many chemicals that I can’t pronounce!
I’ve been really enjoying the jerky, nuts and berries. It’s an odd combo, but it has that sweet-salty taste that actually goes well together. And the plain jerky is fantastic for a quick snack when you are really after some extra protein.
The PaleoKrunch cereal has really been a treat! I haven’t eaten cereal in years and usually prepare a breakfast in the morning. But with this cereal, I’m pouring coconut milk over it and it’s good to go. I found that it works best to mix in some light coconut milk with the real thing, so that it mixes well with the contents of the cereal. This meal left me feeling satisfied and energized for hours after- as opposed to regular cereal which used to leave me hungry a short time after eating it! I still would not want to eat PaleoKrunch every day- it seems like more of a twice a week thing, but it’s great if you’re short on time in the morning.
And the bars, they are just the cereal in bar form. They taste great, my only problem with them is that they crumbled in my hands! I guess that’s what happens when they’re not loaded with preservatives!
Overall I definitely recommend Steve’s Original snacks.
Right now, you can get 10% off your order by going to http://stevesoriginal.com and using discount code ‘healthymindfit’.
Enjoy!
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Natural Movement: How to add more fun into your workouts
Over the weekend, I was in San Diego on the beach with Wes (of HMFB fame) and found myself in need of a workout, but didn’t have a lot of time. So we took a walk 
and cooked up a little fitness course. It was very simple, and fast!
There was an empty life guard tower on a mound of sand, and behind it was stairs going up to the boardwalk in two directions. There were some bars on the life guard tower. Not a lot to work with, but we made do.
1. Pull yourself over the bars and jump down the tower stairs.
2. Crawl down the mound of sand.
3. Sprint to the stairs and do a loop- up one side and down the other.
4. Sprint back to the tower, repeat.
We did 4 rounds of this, and WOW that workout packed quite a punch for both of us! The warm-down walk back to the car was well-needed.
The thing about this workout is that it is simple & fast, yet, it works all the muscle groups and energy systems. Walking, sprinting, pulling up, and crawling does a body good!
What is your favorite workout?
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Is it true that fat burns fat?
While low fat diets are slowly making their way to the pages of history (fortunately) as part of a fad that failed miserably in the attempt to collectively help people lose weight and get healthy, we are starting to hear that “eating fat burns fat on your body.” Is this true?
Yes and no.
There really is no such thing as “burning” fat. Your body doesn’t heat up like a furnace when it gets rid of unwanted fat. However, if you have been eating a more traditional high carb, low fat diet, and you are aiming to change in your diet in the effort to lose extra weight, you will have to replace the carbohydrates with something- and dietary fat is a great substitute.
We need fat in our diets to survive. Fat will keep you full far longer than carbohydrates, or even protein. Dietary fats are also the most stable form of energy. Of course, you want to avoid trans fats, like the “partially hydrogenated fat” that we’ve discussed on this blog & podcast, but drop your fear of fat and gravitate towards avocados, nuts, coconut oil, coconut milk, olive oil, meats, etc.
The French have longer life spans than the Americans, and they eat far more fat than we do, in general.
Adding more fat to your diet will not suddenly “burn” fat off your body. But if you strategically replace a good amount of the carbohydrates you currently consume with calories from fat, you will, in the long run, have a much easier time getting to the thin body you want!
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Carbo Loading, Exercise, and Low Carb Diets
“Carbo loading” is encouraged in many running groups in the week leading up to any race. I had thought this practice went out with the 80s! Unfortunately, this is a thriving attitude among different endurance sports athletes and groups.
Many people who are looking to lose weight, burn off fat, and improve their health will join groups- running groups, swimming groups, triathlon groups, etc. This is a great idea as it can lead to a higher level of motivation, as well as an improved social life!
The truth is, the best fuel to use during any endurance exercise is not sugar but fat. Yes – “carbo loading” simply means you are building up glycogen stores, which means you have sugar to use as fuel. But the more efficient you are at fat burning, you will be able to go longer (and farther). Stu Mittleman, Slow Burn, is one of the greatest distance runners of all time. He normally eats a ratio of 40-30-30 (carbs-protein-fat), but when training for an event, he increases his fat to 50 percent of his diet!
I have found this way of eating also beneficial when I occasionally train for a race. Otherwise, with a high level of carbohydrates in my diet, I end up on this roller coaster ride where I have to keep consuming more carbs to keep up my energy levels- otherwise I will crash! Does this sound healthy?
So unless you are an English Channel swimmer, and want to store some extra fat, carbo loading isn’t a useful practice- and the science is behind this.
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Hidden Poison in Your Food
Did you know there could be poison in some of your favorite processed foods? Everything from bread and crackers to chips, cookies, energy bars, and frozen pizza, and thousands of more packaged goods, are examples of foods with this hidden killer. The poison in these foods is called partially hydrogenated fat, often 
called trans-fatty acids.
Trans-fatty acids are usually made from a vegetable oil like soybean, cottonseed, corn, or rapeseed (canola). Those oils have been treated by a process called hydrogenation where it is highly processed to make it a solid at room temperature.
When margarine first came on the market, consumers were fed a brain-washing marketing scam that told them that if they replaced butter with this margarine, their risks of heart disease and cancer would be lowered. That didn’t happen – in fact, it later became evident that the chemical process used to solidify vegetable oils to make them look like a saturated fat actually caused the very illnesses they were trying to avoid!
Harmful effects of trans-fatty acids:
-cause you to burn sugar and store fat
-increase levels of LDL (low-density lipoproteins) or “bad” cholesterol
-decrease levles of HDL (high-density lipoproteins) or “good” cholesterol
-increase your perception of pain
According to the law, as of 2006, food manufacturers must list trans fats on the nutritional information labels on foods and so now consumers may be more aware of what is in their food. However, some manufacturers try to convince you that their products are “low in trans fats” by advertising as such…but keep in mind that even small amounts are harmful!
To be safe, avoid all foods containing any amount of trans-fatty acids. Most foods that sit on a shelf (baked goods, snacks, peanut butter, cookies, crackers, and candy bars) will contain hydrogenated – or partially hydrogenated – oils. Even some “healthy” diet products marketed for weight loss contain this poison!
Don’t go with the crowd and eat that stuff just because it’s there, or because everyone else is. Convenience is not more important than your health. Read those labels!
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My Natural Movement workshop with Erwan Le Corre
On Saturday, I participated in Erwan LeCorre’s MovNat workshop here in Austin, TX.
We interviewed Erwan on our podcast which was posted last week, and had a great time discussing what MovNat is and the type of exercise we did as children translated into the adult world.
Not something we attempted at the workshop!
So on Saturday, I got to experience the real thing. It was a cool (by Texas standards) morning when we got going at 7 am. We started with some basic concepts like how to effectively use your body with gravity as opposed to against gravity. We discovered throughout the 6 hour course how to utilize energy most effectively when running, climbing, carrying, and jumping. All exercises in MovNat have a practical function in nature. It was pretty much a fitness re-education for me!
I had a few revelations this day.
One is, we discussed the traditional ways in which people exercise. Erwan pointed out that there is no practical reason to do multiple “reps” of various exercises, [CORRECTION FROM ERWAN: "Actually, we do repeat moves in MovNat! Only that it is not the sole way to train/move. Series of reps are most of the time combined with other movements, to favor the ability to transition (with ease, speed and accuracy), instead of always separating movements (different series for different movements), or reps (taking a break between series of reps). Also, the types of movements that can be performed as series are much more varied that in a conventional approach of fitness. That is because is MovNat, natural movement IS the conditioning. 100% of movements that are performed are either the real, complete movement, or a segment of them, so that repeating them will condition us to ultimately perform natural movement (practical and adaptive physical action) with max efficiency."]
such as the classic 10 pushups. When in nature will you suddenly need to do multiple pushups? Or squats? With the exercise in MovNat, you don’t do things in order to build muscle, but building muscle is a result of the things you do.
After the first part of this course, my view of fitness and exercise was already changing!
The other thing I noticed is, whatever the exercise is in MovNat, it involves using your core muscles. Even though we did a lot of pulling ourselves up and jumping, my arms and legs were not sore the next day- but my abs and glutes were definitely sore!
The course was not brutally hard in terms of the amount of exercise we did throughout the day. However, the last couple of hours with the hot Texas sun beating down on me, I started to fade. While everyone else in the clinic was from Texas and at least somewhat used to exercise in 98 degree temps, the wimpy Californian boy was not! The good thing was, there was no humidity that day, so 98 felt like 98 instead of 108!
We finished up the day with a circuit of sorts, that Erwan invented, using our surroundings- which consisted of stairs and picnic tables. We had to sprint up the stairs, crawl down a few steps, jump up onto a table, and jump down. This was repeated 5 times. After we finished that, I think one of the guys in the class wanted to do more, but I was pretty satisfied with my day overall- and ready to jump in the natural springs pool right next to where we were doing the training.
The pool was cold and felt FANTASTIC! I did a couple of laps, thanked Erwan for the day, and headed home- where eating and sleeping were the order for the rest of the day.
Overall, the MovNat clinic was a physical and mental challenge that opened up my mind to creativity, and has me now wanting to do more of this. I’m already thinking of new routines for my workouts this week, and how I can go back to having FUN at each and every workout!
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Slow the Aging Process: A How-To Guide
While most commercially-available “anti-aging” products are complete scams and a huge waste of money, there are several things you can do for FREE to slow down signs of aging. Here are some 
ideas:
-Reduce your sugar intake. A high carb/sugar diet weakens your immune system and causes wrinkles. Studies have shown that high levels of sugar in the body can be just as damaging to your skin’s appearance and health as nicotine and unhealthy exposure to UV radiation.
-Take fish oils. The Omega-3 essential fatty acids found in fish oils help lower your blood pressure, improve your mood and maintain brain health. All three of those things are associated with longer, healthier lives.
-Eat your greens. Many of the nutrients in dark leafy green vegetables help slow aging and can even prevent age-related illness.
-Get safe sun exposure. Your body needs UVB exposure in order to manufacture Vitamin D. Vitamin D fights cancer, obesity, diabetes, builds bones, and is a general, all-around tonic for enhanced performance. 20 minutes a day of peak sunlight (during warm months) should do it.
-Drink green tea and reap the benefits. In addition to the benefits of anti-oxidants, studies have shown that green tea aids in fat-burning and lowers “bad” cholesterol levels.
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Is it Possible to Use Exercise to Lose Weight? Part 1
It seems wrong, somehow, to say that exercise shouldn’t be your focus when you’re trying to lose weight.
But it’s true.
There are thousands of fitness plans that tell people to exercise more and eat less in order to lose weight. The benefits of exercise are well-known (even I exercise almost on a daily basis), but is this method effective in successful weight loss and ideal weight maintenance?
Answer: no way! Sure, the people in those (in)famous before and after photos included some form of exercise in their weight loss plans, and most probably followed a restrictive calorie-counting diet with lots of exercise. That may be effective, short-term, but for the most part, these results will not last.
These diets fail because the emphasis is misplaced. Instead of increasing exercise, many people have dropped pounds of fat simply by reducing their carbohydrate consumption – no exercise involved! I’m not recommending a sedentary lifestyle by any means; it’s not healthy. But most (some say 80-85%) of your success in achieving a permanently fit body is a result of your nutrition, not how many hours a day you perform cardiovascular exercises.
The reason this works?
When you exercise, your appetite is often stimulated, and you may be tempted to overeat.
Another reason is that most fitness programs are not sustainable for most people; they simply cannot maintain an exercise-intensive and calorie-restrictive diet.
Finally, exercise can act almost as a fix for psychological addictions to food or certain types of food: for example, a brief period of exercise will often relieve you of your intense craving for chocolate.
In Part 2 we will explore these above-mentioned three aspects of fat burning and fitness plans in more detail.
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Driving is why you're fat?
Ok, here’s a cute web page showing the fittest and fattest states based on how much driving people do vs. walking, biking, or taking public 
transit: http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web/1008/driving-and-obesity-3/transparency.jpg
It’s cute, but is it true?
Well, the text at the top starts off with “It’s a simple equation. Exercise more and lose weight.”
Hold on a minute! I realize that for most of our lives we’ve been told that it’s simply the calories you consume – the calories you burn that matters. And exercise is certainly an important and even vital part of a healthy lifestyle.
But these numbers are a bit misleading. Texas (where I am currently residing), for example, gets horrible marks all around and shows a fat guy and a low rank for fitness levels. And, people are definitely car-lovers here, and there is traffic in the cities. But is this why they are fat? It could be a factor, but given that diet is 80% or more of the fit-or-fat equation, I have my doubts.
For example, there’s a motto here- “everything is bigger in Texas”, and this applies to food above all else! Just the other day I was asked if I wanted a “Texas-sized iced tea”! So this extends to other foods and drinks, and typically the ones that are not so good for our waistlines. I can imagine people are more likely to get Texas-sized Cokes and Texas-sized pizzas too, shooting their insulin levels through the roof and storing these calories as fat.
The driving and not walking definitely does not help, and spending lots of time in one’s car is not part of a healthy lifestyle. But the emphasis on graphs like these is in the wrong place. Instead, let’s take a look at the diets of these Americans and show them how they can even stay slim with a long commute if necessary.
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The Anti-Wrinkle Diet
I just saw a headline on digg.com for this Anti-Wrinkle Diet.
Here’s the premise:
“When dermatologists checked the skin and diets of 453 people from Australia, Greece, and Sweden, they found that while a healthy diet can’t erase damage done by years of unprotected sunbathing or smoking, it can help.”
I tend to agree with that. An unhealthy high carb diet can certainly accelerate the aging process.
Here’s what the diet consists of:
“Have More of These
Olive oil
Fish
Low-fat milk
Water and tea
Fruit and vegetables
Eggs
Nuts and nut butters Beans”
Not too bad, except the milk and beans may cause some gut irritation.
“Have less of these:
Butter
Red meat
Cakes and pastries
Soft drinks
Full-fat milk
Margarine
Potatoes”
Ok, I agree that cakes, pastries, soft drinks, margarine, and potatoes are good to avoid.
But butter can be okay, red meat for the most part is healthy, and if you’re going to drink milk, full fat is actually better for you than low or non fat!
The rest of the recommendations seem completely reasonable:
“1. Put more fruits and vegetables on your plate.
2. Order salmon when you’re dining out.
3. Have a cup of sugar-free cocoa.
4. Cut back on white bread and sugar.”
Absolutely.
I think “wrinkle-free” is a bit of a gimmick, but they have some of the basics down to avoid wrinkles. Generally, stick with a low carb, no grain diet, and you will be putting yourself in the “anti-aging zone”, and avoiding many of the problems that your insulin-spiked high carb friends are either running into, or will at some point run into down the road.
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