15 Things I’m Thankful For in 2011
November 25, 2011 | Filed Under Health, Small Talk | Leave a Comment
My life is amazing. A dream life. Doing exactly what I want to do, day in and day out. How I got here, I don’t really know. But I’m thankful.
Here are 15 specific things I’m thankful for this year: Read more
Mexican Beef Casserole
November 13, 2011 | Filed Under Health | 2 Comments
I make this dish about every two weeks and it lasts me about 4-5 meals. For me, it’s become one of those Primal staple foods because it’s quick, easy and you can make it in bulk and it reheats very well (I just reheat my portion in a skillet and in about 3 minutes it’s good to go)
Ingredients:
1.5 lbs of Ground Beef (I use grassfed)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 tbsp chilli powder
1 can of Rotel tomatoes
Salt & Pepper
Shredded Cheese
1 Block of Cream Cheese
Salsa
Preparation:
1. Brown the beef in a skillet and then add spices, garlic and Rotel tomatoes
2. In oven-safe dish, put these layers in this order: cream cheese, beef, salsa, shredded cheese
3. Bake @ 350 degrees for 20 minutes
This recipe supposedly serves 8, but I get about 4-5 meals out of it for myself.
Health & Money Tip: Home Temperature
November 13, 2011 | Filed Under Health | Leave a Comment
This tip isn’t for everyone. But it has helped me quite a bit so I’m going to share it with you.
Instead of setting the temperature of your home at 72, set it to 65 and use a combination of activity and clothing to keep your body comfortable. Not only do you save money (not my primary interest) but you create a powerful reminder that you should be active throughout the day. This is especially important for me as a guy who works from home and sits in front of his computer a lot.
Setting the temperature in your home so that you are required to be active throughout the day (or at the very least so that you have to bundle up) in order to remain comfortable is a powerful reminder to be active. Plus it involves you more deeply in your consumption and production of energy. Being mindful and intentional is a very healthy thing.
So get up. Move around. And save a little money in the process.
Nature is Carnivorous
November 7, 2011 | Filed Under Health, Small Talk | Leave a Comment
Animals kill and consume animals. It’s a fact of life. And the Earth itself not only provides life for animals but it consumes them too (through death and decomposition). Nature is carnivorous, through and through.
I do not mean this as a criticism of vegetarianism or veganism. Everyone has his or her reasons. But I really do think that a person who loves reality, who is committed to being at peace with reality as it is, will not shy away from the consumption of animals on purely ethical grounds. Perhaps taste. That is understandable. Some people simply do not like meat (though the lamb lollipops I had last night make this hard to believe:-P )
It is also understandable to not eat meat because you are not happy with the modern food supply and modern practices of raising meat.
But let me just be clear about something: modern industrial practices do not nullify the fact that human beings are part of nature and, in fact, natural meat eaters.
The best solution for the modern person is not to abandon meat and thus further your displacement from nature, but to change the way you eat meat. Raise your own animals and participate in (and appreciate) their death. Or buy your meat from a neighbor. Know where your meat comes from. Experience the harvest of an animal (this past spring I experienced the harvest of rabbits for the first time and it was a rewarding experience). For a great book on this topic read Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.
As a species, we have displaced ourselves from our natural setting. Part of realizing peace and health is restructuring our lives to be at peace with our natural constitutions as human beings.
All the science shows that every successful population of human beings to have lived prior to the agriculture revolution (i.e. the vast majority of human history) consumed meat / fish / fowl as their primary source of calories. And modern science (and personal anecdote) clearly show that meat satiates us better than any other other macronutrient. The thing is, just like everything else, doing meat the *right way* takes work. It’s a lot easier to get our calories through convenience than our own hard work. But it’s not the best way.
We are omnivorious and primarily carnivorous. Just like nature.
What I Ate This Week
November 4, 2011 | Filed Under Health | Leave a Comment
Eating paleo has turned into a joy. Not the drudgery I thought it would be. And the great thing is that you get to enjoy the serenity of not having massive insulin spikes, highs and lows, etc. Stay away from grains I tell ya. Stay away from grains!
- Crawfish & Rice (rice is cheating on paleo a little but you can cheat, it’s ok!)
- Eggplant & Sausage Parmesian (this is my favorite primal/paleo meal)
- Mexican beef casserole (ground beef, cream cheese, salsa and cheese)
- Salmon and wine
- Chicken wings
- Lots of spinach
- A few salads
- Chicken curry
- Eggs for breakfast
- Protein shakes
- Yogurt with honey, almond butter and cinnamon
- Cottage cheese with apple sauce and cinnamon
- Dark Chocolate
- Trader Joe’s Super Red Powder as a recovery drink during workouts
- A few cashews
- Coffee
- Tea
- One mug of hot cocoa to celebrate the season
How Walmart Should Pivot Into The Future
November 2, 2011 | Filed Under Economics, Health | Leave a Comment
First the basic idea put simply:
Build a “Walmart Local” brand that is in-addition-to and distinct-from the big box stores and prides itself on carrying either local products or at least products made in the United States.
Much of what “Walmart Local” should become can modeled in Trader Joe’s. Smaller scale, more wholesome, healthier, more sustainable.
Only in addition to what Trader Joe’s is doing, Walmart Local aims to sell both food and things.
Economically, this allows for three things. First, Walmart Local gets to target a slightly higher-end crowd who will pay a little more for higher quality products. Second, it allows Walmart Local to tap into most American’s general desire to support the US economy and create US jobs. And third it allows Walmart to start building a more localized distribution network to prepare for a day when it is not cost effective to ship products from across the world.
Obviously I wouldn’t expect Walmart to start investing in the third thing without the promise of the first or second. But I think there is a lot of promise in the first and second. And in tapping into this market, Walmart has the influence and power to support local farms, businesses, etc. as suppliers.
Imagine Walmart Local as the modern Trading Post and Local Grocer. I think it could work.
A Real Primal / Paleo Restaurant
October 31, 2011 | Filed Under Health | Leave a Comment
I hope this sort of thing catches on and becomes mainstream.
If McDonald’s went Paleo, there’d be a health care revolution (although their profits would probably drop and we can’t have that now can we).
Your value as a potential mate is not self-evident
October 30, 2011 | Filed Under Health | Leave a Comment
Men often make the mistake of just KNOWING that if only she gave him a chance she’d see how great he is as a potential boyfriend/spouse.
The problem is that while your own value as a potential mate may be self-evident to you, it is not self-evident to anyone else. In all of life, as social beings, we are tasked with displaying our social value. Don’t shy away from that duty. Embrace it.
Be a leader. Be driven. Be passionate. Care about something. Let people see who you are.
And of course, there’s the whole LGN (look good naked) thing too.
Health Tweaks
October 29, 2011 | Filed Under Health | Leave a Comment
Lately I’ve been tweaking a few things about how I handle my own health, optimizing the ideas of others to fit my own personal lifestyle. As a general foundation, I take the Paleo/Primal/Caveman approach: the idea is to identify and mimic the ideal conditions for our bodies (food wise and activity wise). We do this by studying the eating behaviors and habits of our ancestors as well as paying attention to how our particular bodies respond to various things.
In general, I try to eat nothing but unprocessed vegetables and animals. And I try to get some daily activity whether it’s a workout, a walk or some “play” – and I definitely challenge my body to work out intensely at least twice a week.
Here’s a list of health tweaks I’ve been making:
1. More animal fat, less nut fat.
I’m trying to eat less almond butter, and more beef to achieve long term satiation. Animal fat is less likely to be stored as fat than nut fat, but still has the satiating benefits.
2. Less bacon, more fish
I now eat bacon in the same way I eat dark chocolate. In moderation. On the other hand, I’ve upped my fish intake to three meals per week, up from just once a week. I can definitely tell a postive difference.
3. More greens
When I’m not super hungry for lunch, I’ll just sautee a whole skillet full of frozen spinach in olive oil with some salt. It helps me get a big dose of greens in, as I find that’s the most difficult thing for me to accomplish.
4. Less dairy, more eggs
For a while I had been eating cottage cheese with apple sauce and cinnamon about 3x per week for breakfast. I’ve tried cutting that back to 1x per week, seeing it as a treat, not the norm. Instead, I have over-easy eggs with salt and pepper about 5x a week and then maybe once a week I just have a protein shake.
5. More high-intensity 20 minute workouts
I tested my body for the last year to find the minimal amount of pain I had to endure to achieve a high level of functional fitness. I went too far for a few months and was doing only one or two 20 minutes workouts per week. Given that I run my business from behind a computer, I don’t always get out and get to do the slow-cardio hiking, etc. that fits the Primal/Paleo lifestyle. Especially with winter approaching. Plus, I’ve gotten into a rhythm where when I’m working out of my home, I enjoy the boost I get from a 20 minute workout. So I’ve been doing 4-5 20 minute P90X workouts per week, mostly because I’ve come to enjoy them. I believe that a fit body can handle 20 minutes of daily workout without fatigue. However, I don’t think this scales to 40 minutes, at least not for this particular body.
6. Daily Meditation/Calming
I firmly believe that meditation has health benefits in that it greatly reduces stress. Studies have shown that those who meditate regularly actually modify their nervous system and receive the calming benefits of meditation even when they are not meditating.
7. More Play
I’ve been fortunate enough to find a group of guys to play soccer with once a week and another group of guys to play basketball with each week. I’d much rather be active through play than through “working out” – on days when I’m playing, I don’t workout.
8. Less alcohol
I usually have a daily glass of wine. What I try to avoid, save for one night a week, is the night time ritual of a gin and tonic or American honey.
Two Tips For Trader Joe’s
October 28, 2011 | Filed Under Health | Leave a Comment
Trader Joe’s is my favorite place to grocery shop. But I have two suggestions for them:
1) Create a Primal/Paleo category of product lists.
Trader Joe’s labels it’s products with a bunch of labels like gluten free, vegan, vegetarian, fat free, etc. But perhaps the fastest growing food group is the one based on evolutionary science: paleo/primal. Don’t believe me? Well, one of the top 10 selling books on Amazon last week was by an author who advocates the Primal style of eating (foods that would have been available to our ancestors). Trader Joe’s already carries a great Primal selection. In fact, I shop Trader Joe’s because it offers the best pre-prepared oven-based meals that are compatible with the Paleo/Primal style of eating (yeah, crab stuffed flounder is the bomb). But it would be great if they recognized this fast growing group of eaters with a label.
2) Bring a Trader Joe’s to Chattanooga 
It’s got the population to support a store and it’s halfway between two of your other stores in Nashville and Atlanta.
