PMR Episode 35 · 2019-02-21 · Paleo, but that you might want to add to your Paleo diet. So...

Podcast Episode 35

2014

{Music}

Host: Welcome to PMR, Paleo Magazine Radio, where we bring you Paleo

nutrition, exercise and lifestyle perspectives, from both the experts and the

every day. PMR is brought to you by Paleo Magazine, the first and only print

magazine dedicated to the Paleo lifestyle and is hosted by Tony Federico.

Tony Federico: Hello, everyone. I’m Tony Federico and I’ll be your host on this journey of

modern-day primal living. Today’s episode, we’re going to be talking with

Clifton Harski. Clifton is one of the original Mov Nat coaches. He’s

somebody who’s been around the ancestral health scene for quite some time.

He’s currently a director of training at Fitwall, which is an innovative new, fun

and effective exercise system.

He’s going to be somebody who’s going to be a contributor to Paleo Magazine

Radio in the future, so we wanted to bring him onto the show, give you all an

opportunity to learn who he is. Unfortunately, you really can’t get the full

experience unless you work with him in person. The man truly does

appreciate a deep V-neck and he can certainly rock some leggings. He’s really

a great guy, so I’m happy to have him on the show and happy to have him

involved in Paleo Magazine Radio.

And then, in the second part of today’s episode, it’s our Paleo Boot Camp

Week Three. So we’re going to be addressing some tweaks, some

modifications, some optimizations, some things that might not be exactly

Paleo MagazinePodcast Episode 35

2014

Paleo, but that you might want to add to your Paleo diet. So we’re going to

really address making the Paleo diet your own.

I hope you enjoy this episode, Paleo Magazine Radio starts now.

{Music}

Tony Federico: And so I’m here with Clifton Harski. Clifton is a former Mov Nat trainer.

He’s a Fitwall coach. He’s an all-round cool and fit guy. Clifton, welcome to

the show.

Clifton Harski: Thanks for having me, sir.

Tony Federico: So, let’s just talk a little bit about your background. For those of you who

don’t know, Clifton’s been affiliated with Paleo Magazine. He’s written

articles for us for a long time now, so he’s a good friend of Paleo Magazine.

We want to actually bring him on and get him more involved with the podcast,

but we’re taking a day to just talk a little bit about his background and how he

ended up getting in such good shape. You want to go ahead and just kind of

break it down for us?

Clifton Harski: Yes, absolutely. I was fortunate enough to have good genetics. No…

Tony Federico: It’s all in the genes.

Clifton Harski: It’s all in the genes. I grew up playing sports, all sorts of sports, primarily

basketball. Ended up playing some collegiate basketball and in college, my

major was kinesiology, so exercise science. And the reason that was my

major was the way the body worked always just kind of – it just intrigued me


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and made me kind of incredulous as to what it could accomplish and so, I

studied it.

And as I was in college, I was training a number of people. Started with my

own small-scale, you know, little boot camp, outdoors, nice in San Diego and

then, from there, you mentioned, I worked for Mov Nat. I read about Erwan

Le Corre in Men’s Health magazine, probably like 2009 and the next summer,

someone that was working with me mentioned that his strength conditioning

coach, Steve Maxwell, had gone and trained with Erwan Le Corre in the

woods of West Virginia. I went home. There was one spot left. I went and

luckily, I hit it off with Erwan. Turns out he and I had the same birthday.

Tony Federico: Oh, there you go and so, he was actually the instructor for this workshop.

Clifton Harski: He was and then, Vic was his assistant—and Vic being still working with Mov

Nat—and we struck a cord. I took up a conversation with Erwan about how I

might be of help to growing Mov Nat and was fortunate enough that it worked

out. And in 2011, I took over the domestic, one-day workshops for Mov Nat

and taught over 80 different workshops in a year and a half.

Tony Federico: Wow. So talk to us a little bit about that. For anyone who never attended a

Mov Nat workshop, they’re kind of held in parks and various outdoor spaces,

gyms, etcetera, but it’s all over the country, so you were traveling a lot.

Clifton Harski: I was. I taught a different workshop every Saturday and Sunday for about 14

months. In the middle, I spent six weeks in the woods of West Virginia

teaching week-long workshops, just like the one I attended and it was

spectacular. The program, Mov Nat itself, is awesome. Erwan’s come up

with a really good program. The focus on natural movement and exploring all


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of the different ways that the human body can actually move the way that it

would have to if it was not in the artificial environment such as a 24-hour

fitness, but actually like living and having to perform day-to-day tasks was

very, very intriguing to me. And I really got into how that can improve

somebody’s athleticism and just their health from day-to-day.

Tony Federico: What kind of stuff did you see, just in terms of, you know, any follow-up you

might have had with workshop attendees? Just some of the benefits that

people experienced from putting these types of things into practice?

Clifton Harski: I think the most tangible benefits was the pure enjoyment of movement itself.

So many people look at the gym almost as a chore. You know, it’s like, “Oh, I

have to go to the gym today and do cardio, or I have to go and do the

weights,” and they don’t look forward to it and that’s unfortunate. And what

Mov Nat is for a lot of people is the option that they enjoy.

And even at the workshops I’ve taught, Mov Nat, Kettlebell, BA training,

Fitwall, Animal Flow, whatever it is that I’m teaching, I usually end with that

the best form of exercise that anybody can do is the type that they enjoy. And

so that’s what I’m always focused on helping somebody find is the type that

they enjoy because at the end-of-the-day, if you don’t enjoy it, you aren’t

going to do it and so it doesn’t really matter how good it is for you because

you’ll stop doing it.

Tony Federico: Right, just because it might be technically the most “perfect” whatever that

might mean, if someone’s not consistently applying it, they’re not going to get

results.

Clifton Harski: Exactly.


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Tony Federico: So, what are some of the things that you just kind of learned through that

whole experience? Since you already had an exercise science degree, you

were already training people, going through that 14 months of real intensive

Mov Nat instruction, what did you pick up personally?

Clifton Harski: From a selfish standpoint, it was just the ability to coach better. You know,

that was over 1,200 people that I saw and the ability to quickly figure out who

can do what safely and get them moving at the edge of their own capacity

without going past it was what I picked up the best. So, now I can really look

at somebody and see them move in a variety of contexts and understand

what’s a good idea for them to do and what’s not a good idea for them to do.

And then, just from a learning of, you know, how many different people and

all the different wants that people want from their exercise. Some people, it’s

purely aesthetic and they’re wondering. It’s like, “Hey. Is Mov Nat the best

option for me aesthetically? Is CrossFit the best option for me aesthetically?”

And then, learning and listening to, you know, over those 1,200 people, that

different people have different success with different programs.

And it’s that individuality of response to a stimuli that it’s going to be kind of

a self-journey for everybody to figure out where they – you know, some

people, their legs grow with high-rep squats. Some grow with triples.

Tony Federico: Yes, absolutely, and you know, obviously we talk a lot about that with regards

to diet. You know, we can talk about the Paleo diet, but when it comes down

to it, everyone has to figure out what their own Paleo diet is. You know, we

have to undergo this process of self-exploration, self-experimentation and so,

you saw that pretty directly with regards to the fitness component.


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Clifton Harski: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I know I would say in the workshops, you know,

there’s no perfect workout. There’s only the perfect for you at the given time

and you wouldn’t have 300 different options of fitness if they didn’t work for

some people sometimes, you know? But clearly people have had results with

each of these items. Otherwise, I can’t imagine that they would ever stick

around much.

Tony Federico: Yes. I mean, pretty much any fitness program, you know, you could generate

before-and-after pictures and kind of showcase the successes because like you

said, there’s going to be people who are successful.

Clifton Harski: Yes, absolutely. I mean, if you Zumba your ass off five days a week and eat

well, you’re going to see positive gains and maybe it won’t be as good as like

a well-structured strength conditioning program with Zumba on the side, but

again, you know, you might not go to your health program strength

conditioning session.

Tony Federico: That’s true. So, you went through the pretty rigorous, direct training of

individuals, of working with tons of people in different places. What was the

most, I guess, exciting place that you got a chance to visit? What was the,

kind of coolest experience along the way?

Clifton Harski: I would say – well, the first Ancestral Health Symposium, I actually taught 90

people out on the lawn at UCLA and I suppose you might say that was

probably the best because that’s actually where I met my wife. I just married

her last week.

Tony Federico: Well, congratulations, man.


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Clifton Harski: Thanks.

Tony Federico: But she’s also a former Mov Nat trainer as well, correct?

Clifton Harski: That is correct. I remember seeing her move and she moved stronger and

better than almost anybody that I had seen.

Tony Federico: That’s very sweet, man. That’s exactly what you noticed, wasn’t it?

Clifton Harski: That and her posterior chain. Yes, so to follow-up with her. We needed a

female coach for Mov Nat and then, she came aboard and I suppose the rest is

history. And in that year and a half, I mean, that was awesome, teaching in

New York City Grand Central Park. You know, I taught four workshops there

and those were all really crazy and fun. I taught some where it was literally

snowing and raining and everybody’s in rain jackets and people were still

trying to go barefoot. And I’m like, “Put your shoes on, man. It’s not worth

losing a toe.” Losing a toe is not Paleo. Come on.

Tony Federico: No. Well, maybe it is, but we don’t need to go full Paleo.

Clifton Harski: Yes, exactly.

Tony Federico: After you kind of got through that experience of doing the Mov Nat stuff, you

transitioned, I believe, just kind of from what I’ve seen, you know—we’re

Facebook friends and all that good stuff—you went back into doing your own

thing for a period of time, correct? You started, I think, it was Be Able

training?


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Clifton Harski: Yes. So, I got really beat up with all the air miles and I sustained a knee injury

and a shoulder injury and with those injuries, what I ended up needing to do

was go home and rehab them. So, while I did that, what I decided to do was

start my own company and it was BA training. So, BA stood for Be Able and

then, Be Athletic and then, finally Bad Ass, and that’s the way that I think that

people need to approach how they train. First, you earn the ability to do stuff.

You be able. Then, you layer on some intensity and some more challenging

type movements and that’s be athletic. And then, when you’re done, that’s

when you start doing turkish get ups with people and that’s bad ass.

Tony Federico: Yes, man. So, just kind of talk us through a couple of examples, I guess you

could you say, of what would be some of these foundational movements?

What’s that layer of training that just gets somebody functional in the first

place, to be able?

Clifton Harski: So, the beautiful part is there’s so many different schools of thoughts that have

come to this same conclusions; that everybody should have a squat, a hip

hinge, a lunge movement, a rotational movement and an upper-body push and

a couple of pulls. And so, when I layered that together, I was like, all right.

The foundational squat is just a goblet squat. Foundational hinge is a bilateral

dead lift. A foundational lunge is a reverse lunge. A foundational rotation

would probably be some sort of medicine ball, throw against a wall and then,

the push would be a push-up and the pull would be a horizontal row.

So, once people earned a level of, “Hey, I’m good at this. I’m very

competent,” then you start taking just the, for example, on the squat, you take

that goblet squat from a two-headed hold and you hold it in a single rack

position, which then, when you’re descending and ascending, you have a


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slight anti-rotation, anti-lateral flexion component, which increases the

athletic demands and you can actually do that without even increasing the

weight. So, that’s how I would change people’s training and layer in more

athletic demands, but not inundate them with like, “Hey, here’s a lot more

volume,” or, “Here’s a lot more weight.”

Tony Federico: Right. Just kind of increase some dimensionality, you know, increase some of

the forces that are acting on their body; subtly, progressively, like you said,

layering that on without slamming them with something that they’ve never

been exposed to.

Clifton Harski: Exactly. There’s got to be a controlled template for how you move somebody

along and that was a big piece of what I was doing there and that’s what I

continue to do now here where I’m at now, which is Fitwall. Now, in

conjunction with Fitwall—so I’m our national head coach—I write all of our

programs and I’m even our DJ, actually, which is pretty cool, but…

Tony Federico: Yes, you’ve got to have a DJ.

Clifton Harski: Got to have a DJ. In addition to that, I still travel and certify Kettlebell

instructors for a company called Kettlebell Athletics, which works with

Equinox and I also work with Mike Fitch over at Animal Flow.

Tony Federico: Very cool, man. Yes, he’s a pretty awesome dude. I’ve seen some of his stuff

on YouTube. His tutorial actually helped me get my first muscle up.

Clifton Harski: Yes, dude. He’s rad. I’m stoked to be working with him.


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Tony Federico: Yes, so talk a little bit about Fitwall. For people who’ve never heard of it and

never seen it, what is a Fitwall? What do you do in a Fitwall class?

Clifton Harski: So, the Fitwall, it’s a body weight training system and that’s where there’s a

little bit of miscommunication sometimes. There’s so much nonsense in the

fitness sphere that when somebody introduces a new device or a new machine,

everybody thinks that they’re promising that machine is the answer to all their

life’s questions. Well, what we say is, “This is Fitwall. It’s not a machine.

You are the machine.”

The only thing that moves in Fitwall is the human and the Fitwall just allows

for a very unique set of movements that are performed while suspending your

own body weight against the wall. So, think. You can do some squats. You

can do loads and a bunch of other types of things while you’re on there. It

also serves to attach straps and resistant bands, too, so that I can get a line of

opposition on loaded movements in any way that I can design.

So, in our sessions, it’s a 40-minute session. It’s got every single piece of

what I talked about before: a squat, a hip hinge, a single leg, a push, a pull, a

rotate and power. And that’s the way we go with it. It’s pretty d--n [expletive]

cool. And, you know, Paleo – it’s funny because to me, it’s ironic. The Paleo

scene is very, very big in the quantified self scene, which is, you know, very

tech-driven, which is a bit of irony.

Tony Federico: Yes, I mean, it’s definitely paradoxical and granted, we’re talking to each

other via the Internet, so there’s a little bit of that in there.

Clifton Harski: Yes, and I’m not one to get caught up with the names and titles. Like, “Hey.

It’s a great template to work off of,” and so many people have had their health


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benefitted, that anyone that makes fun of somebody or says like, “Oh, Paleo is

a silly name,” it’s like, “Well, guy. Don’t take it so seriously.” Like it’s a

template and it’s a good label. So, you know, in the Fitwall, we measure in

every workout, your intensity, your recovery and your movement.

So, we have an accelerometer that you wear and it counts your reps on certain

movements. We track your recovery in given one-minute recovery blocks and

we track your exertions, or intensity that you’re working at with your max

heart rate. And we store all that data in your profile and so, over time, we can

tell you are you improving your recovery ability? Are you improving your

ability to get to a high heart rate faster or slower?

We can use the intercessions, so like if you have a crappy recovery one day,

the machine, the iPad tech will tell you, “Hey, Tony. Today you’re not

recovering well. You need to take it easy today.” And each month, I introduce

three new workouts. We run the same workout for two days in a row and

then, rotate through the other two workouts and repeat. So, if you came 12

times in a month, you’d do each workout four times and each time that you do

it, you get better. You can do more repetitions. You get fitter.

Tony Federico: So, you might disagree, I guess you could say, with this idea that every

workout should be different?

Clifton Harski: Yes. The idea of muscle confusion is confusing to me because you’re

developing very little in the way of neuromuscular adaptations and efficiency.

A lot of strength gained is that efficiency, so, you know, if I can make sure to

improve somebody’s strength and efficiency, they can do more reps and then,

they can effect greater change with their body aesthetically.


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Tony Federico: Yes, absolutely. I mean, if you look at professional athletes, their goal is to

basically do the exact same thing the exact same way every time and that’s

how they develop that world-class talent that we see.

Clifton Harski: Absolutely.

Tony Federico: You know, maybe Peyton Manning was mixing it up a little bit too much,

although we don’t need to get into that in the course of the day if there’s any

Broncos’ fans out there. So, let’s get a little bit into what you’re going to be

doing here as far as the Paleo Magazine Radio podcast is concerned. We can

just chat a little bit about it. Your own fitness philosophy, we did discuss

some of it. Could you sum it up? Could you give us like your elevator pitch

for exercise, for fitness in general?

Clifton Harski: More movement, more often and to support that, that’s why I say do what you

enjoy. You’re going to do more of it, so the more you do, the more results

you’re going to have.

Tony Federico: Awesome, man. So, for everyone who is out there listening, what’s the best

way for them to get in contact with you, whether it’s, you know, social media

or websites or email?

Clifton Harski: On Twitter, I’m @CliftonHarski. That’s @ C-L-I-F-T-O-N-H-A-R-S-K-I.

They can hit me up on my email. It’s [email protected]. And I’m

excited to take whatever questions we get and discuss, you know, types of

training modalities and anything we get into. I’m pumped.

Tony Federico: Yes, absolutely, man, and I definitely encourage people who are out there

listening, hit us up with those questions. You know our Twitter. I’m


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mailto:[email protected]


TonyFedFitness@twitter. com. You got Clifton’s, as well. That’s one of the

things that we want to address is the questions that you guys have, the things

that you might be thinking about. If it’s some fitness problem that’s got you

stuck, Clifton’s your guy. He’s going to help get you moving more often.

Clifton, thanks for coming on the show, man.

Clifton Harski: Tony, thank you. I look forward to our future discussions.

{Music}

Tony Federico: Hey, everybody. Welcome to Week Three of the Paleo Boot Camp. Today’s

subject is going to be self-experimentation and Paleo customization. So,

really the question here is why isn’t the standard Paleo diet that we outlined in

Week One, why might that not be enough? Well, I think that the Paleo diet

offers a superior template for healthy eating. When you strip away all the

processed foods, the fake, food-like substances and chemical-laden junk,

you’re going to wake up your senses. You’re going to really allow your body

to start healing and you’re going to open up to an entire world of culinary

experiences that you never would have even thought of before.

Starting your Paleo journey by eating this way, by eating only fruits,

vegetables, nuts and seeds and clean animal products, I think that’s the best

possible reset button that you can punch. This is going to allow you to start

with that clean slate and really for the first time, start feeling what’s going on

in your body.

However, just because this is an optimal starting point, that doesn’t mean that

it’s optimal forever. For a variety of reasons, whether it’s maybe you’re

experiencing some unusually stressful events in life, maybe you’re an athlete


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who’s competing and maybe even just your own personal disposition. There

are certain tweaks, additions and modifications to the standard Paleo diet that

might be necessary, or might even just be worth experimenting with, not to

say that you’re going to stick with them forever.

So, the Week Three goal is to align Paleo principles with your unique situation

in order to create a sustainable lifestyle and that’s really the key thing. So,

one tweak, one modification, a lot of people avoid starches, potatoes and

things like that when they’re first starting off on the Paleo diet and that’s fine.

I do think that that’s a good choice initially. But safe starch, this is something

that Paul Jaminet of The Perfect Health Diet really kind of brought into

awareness within the Paleo community and I recommend you read his book if

you want to dive into this more.

But just because Paleo is generally lower-carb than the standard American diet

doesn’t mean that it’s a caveman version of Atkins. It doesn’t mean that we

should avoid these safe starches. Prehistoric peoples, modern hunter-gatherers

and many traditional cultures really base their diet around starchy foods that

have been traditionally prepared and we don’t see them suffering the kind of

diseases of civilization that we, in America, do.

So, prepared simply, just by boiling or baking things like potatoes, plantains—

which is just like a starchy banana—cassava, which sometimes is referred to

as yuca, or tapioca, and even white rice. These things can be valuable

additions to your diet. They might not necessarily be “Paleo” especially rice,

obviously. It’s a grain, but that pure starch is just going to convert to glucose

in your body. If you’re metabolically sound, if you’re not suffering from

some sort of blood sugar abnormalities or anything like that, no reason why

you can’t experiment with adding a little safe starch into your diet.


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And even if you are, there’s a whole new branch of research opening up into

resistant starches, so that same potato when it’s hot, when it cools down, a

portion of the starch in there converts into form that behaves more like a fiber

and doesn’t seem to have the same blood sugar-spiking effect that you would

see in a traditional starchy food.

So, experimenting with starches, experimenting with resistant starches, you

can visit Richard Nickoley’s website, Free the Animal, if you want to dive into

resistant starch. These are things that you might want to try out. See how you

feel. See how your body responds and if your overall sense of wellbeing, if

your health is improved, go for it and if it’s not and you’re feeling like it’s

throwing you off, cut it back out. No harm, no foul.

The next thing that you may consider adding into your Paleo lifestyle is dairy.

So, again, your Paleo really cuts out all dairy, but I think the biggest issue is

with the conventional dairy. It’s bad milk. It’s coming from sick cows, but if

we’re looking at grass-fed dairy, if we’re looking at things like yogurt or kefir,

this is stuff that has a lot of probiotics in it. It’s got a lot of good gut bacteria

in it. This is something that you may want to experiment with. Dairy that is

low in lactose, things like cream, butter, it’s also low in casein, which is milk

protein. Those are things that might actually be tolerated well by people with

milk sensitivities.

And it may just be a factor of cow’s milk, so you might want experiment with

sheep’s milk or goat’s milk dairy products such as cheese and things of that

nature. See how you tolerate those. See if you feel better. See if you feel like

that’s something that adds something to your nutrient profile, something that

adds something to your overall wellbeing.


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You know, a body builder or an athlete may also want to incorporate whey

protein and whey is something that’s been very studied. It’s something that

has proven muscle-building benefits. You may want to incorporate that into

your Paleo diet. Just avoid anything that has ingredients other than 100%

whey. You can find whey from grass-fed cows. Is that really necessary?

Maybe not. From an ethical standpoint, from an environmental standpoint, I

think it’s a better choice, but as long as you’re getting 100% whey and you

look at the nutrient label and there’s nothing else on there, you’re getting

something that nutritionally sound and generally well-tolerated.

And then another thing. Treats and cheats. So, you know, maybe you’ve

added some safe starch. Maybe you add some dairy, but what about those

moments where a treat is called for? Maybe it’s your child’s birthday party.

It’s an anniversary. It’s a holiday. My advice is to make these events special

by limiting them just to special occasions.

So, just getting through a week of work, that’s not necessarily a special

occasion. Just getting through a day, that’s not a special occasion. So, a daily

treat is no longer a treat. That’s just a habit now. That’s something that’s

going to be impacting your health in a negative way because you’re taking in

more sugar than you need to. You’re taking in just more refined and

processed foods in general.

So, for those special occasions that are unavoidable and you really just want to

kind of embrace the occasion, the first option is to do a Paleo switch. You

know, replace that normal treat, whether it’s a cupcake or a cookie or

something like that with a Paleofied version. There’s a million recipes out

there from donuts to cupcakes that are made from gluten-free and grain-free


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ingredients. These are going to be generally better-for-you ingredients. They

might not want to be things you want to eat every day, but you know, it’s

something that’s not going to completely derail your efforts and it’s probably

going to taste pretty good anyway.

If this doesn’t work, maybe just go for the gluten-free angle. There’s a lot of

gluten-free products out there that are pretty tasty. You know, if you’re going

out to dinner, for example, there’s stuff that’s gluten-free. Just it’s not

specifically made gluten-free. It just is. You know, a glass of red wine with

your dinner if you haven’t been drinking alcohol.

You know, if you’re going to a Mexican restaurant, having some of the tortilla

chips, you know, or having some rice along with your food, some cheese or

what-have-you. You know, it’s still gluten-free. It’s not purely Paleo. It’s not

something that you might want to do every single day, but you’re going out.

You’re enjoying yourself and it’s a special occasion, so why not?

But, when all else fails and if a glutening is inevitable, you know, it’s

something where you just can’t avoid it, or maybe you don’t want to avoid it, I

say go for it, but keep both eyes wide open. Allow yourself to enjoy the treat.

Allow yourself to feel what’s going on. I would suspect that you might find

that even though you thought it was going to be really good, it might not

actually be anything special.

You know, it might just make you feel sick afterwards. It might not feel like

it’s settling in your stomach very well, or it might be the most amazing thing

possible and take that for what it is and move on. But, you know, I think

sometimes the best way to kind of overcome some of these psychological


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sticking points is to allow yourself to experience something and then, just

keep moving. So, if you have the treat, have it and then, move on.

Going beyond food switches and talking a little bit about when you eat, so not

what you’re eating, but when you’re eating, intermittent fasting is something

that people often self-experiment with. They may have heard about it. You

know, there’s numerous websites that tout the benefits of intermittent fasting.

It’s something that’s in alignment with our ancestral environment where food

wasn’t always abundant. There’s times of scarcity, so it makes sense on that

level and you might really want intermittent fasting to work for you.

The only issue is it doesn’t really seem to work for everybody. So, if you’re

not familiar with intermittent fasting, the basic idea is that you eat all of your

food for the day within an abbreviated window. So, instead of your normal

routine of breakfast around 7:00 or 8:00, lunch around 1:00 and dinner at

6:00, with intermittent fasting, you might have breakfast at noon, lunch at

3:00 and dinner at 6:00. So, you’re compressing your eating into a smaller

window.

And what that does is it gives you a longer period of time where you’re not

eating that’s allowing your body to kind of go through some processes that are

probably quite healthful. There’s cellular turnover that’s generated when

you’re not eating all the time. You’re mobilizing fatty acids, so you’re up-

regulating those enzymes. So, there’s a lot of stuff that is probably positive

about intermittent fasting.

And maybe the way to go about it is to just let it happen spontaneously. So, if

you don’t feel like eating, don’t feel like you have to force yourself to eat. So,

if you don’t feel like eating breakfast one day, or if you don’t feel like eating


2014

lunch one day, or if you don’t feel like really eating a whole lot at all that day,

don’t feel like you have to eat. Trust your body and trust your hunger.

I personally dabbled with IF and I feel like it can definitely work, but it seems

to be an additional stressor, so I think that if you have a lot of stress in your

life in general, going back to our Week Two where we were talking about

sleep and stress and these things, if you don’t have all that stuff dialed in, if

you don’t have – you know, Week One, so we have our Paleo diet dialed in.

Week Two, stress, sleep, those things. If you have all those pieces in place,

maybe intermittent fasting is something you might want to check out.

But, if you’re still struggling with your sleep, if you’re still struggling with

your stress, I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t try to really go on a hardcore

intermittent fasting routine. It seems to be a bad situation when you combine

stress and then, starvation, which is what it is. It’s just kind of planned

starvation, which like I said, can be beneficial in some cases, but not so much

in others.

Some of the obstacles to these three things, you know, incorporating some

non-Paleo foods, having a treat or a cheat, or a playing with your meal

frequency, I think a big thing that comes up with people is the sense that

maybe they’ve failed at Paleo. So, for example, you go out to eat and you

have some cake and you feel bad and you go home and you find that bag of

Oreos that you didn’t throw away, even though we talked about it in Week

One, you eat a whole bunch of them and you fall asleep and you feel really

guilty or you feel really terrible.

Here’s the thing. Paleo is not a religion. It’s not a contest. There’s no Paleo

god that’s going to smite you if you eat a piece of cheese or Oreos late at


2014

night. It’s this is really all about you. It’s about what do you want out of life

and you haven’t lost because you ate some sugar. You haven’t failed because

you went out to eat and ordered some stuff that you didn’t plan on eating.

I think the best thing to do is allow those experiences, when they happen, to

just roll right off your back. You know, you’re not going out intentionally and

saying, “Hey, I’m going to cheat and then I’m going to be okay with it, and

then, I can just be okay all the time with cheating.” That’s not the point. The

point is that, you know, this is all about making Paleo work for you. It’s all

about creating a lifestyle and if you’re 90% Paleo 100 % of the time, that’s a

heck of a lot better than being 100% Paleo for a week and then, zero percent

Paleo for the other 50, you know, one weeks in the year.

So, the point is create a sustainable lifestyle change. This is something that

will require that you manage the ups and downs in life without giving up hope

whenever there’s a down, because there’s always going to be a down and

without getting so worked up when you’re up that you forget that inevitably

there’s going to be another down. So, it’s about smoothing those things out.

Smoothing out those – the roller coaster, learning how to be moderate.

You know, I hear a lot of people say, “I don’t know moderation. I’m either in

or I’m out. I’m extreme.” You’ve taught yourself to be that way. And I think

it’s easier to accept what you’ve been doing rather than to challenge yourself

to do something differently, so I’m going to challenge you to do something

differently in the context of experimentation of Paleo customization. Find out

your best version of Paleo.

All right. So, next week, we’re going to be talking about the power of

connections. See you then.


2014

{Music}

Host: If you would like to share your story on PMR, please visit our Facebook page

at Facebook.com/paleomagazine. For full transcripts of the show, as well as

exclusive online content, go to our web page, PaleoMagOnline.com. You can

also talk to us on Twitter at #PMRadio.

{Music}

THE END


2014

PMR Episode 35 · 2019-02-21 · Paleo, but that you might want to add to your Paleo diet. So...

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Transcript of PMR Episode 35 · 2019-02-21 · Paleo, but that you might want to add to your Paleo diet. So...