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Topics:
1. Diane got engaged! [2:41]
2. #Paleotour updates [5:47]
3. Diane and Liz seminar updates. [8:32]
4. Excerpt from Eat the Yolks [15:09]
5. Your top 5 pointers for newbies to real food living and the paleo lifestyle [16:12]
6. Tips for getting back on the wagon, and why we fall off in the first place [26:07]
7. Super foods and raw liver [33:21]
8. Brewer’s yeast [41:03]
9. Exercise without additional stress [44:05]
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Liz Wolfe: Hey everyone! Welcome to episode 121 of the Balanced Bites podcast. It’s me, Liz. I sound like I’m hanging upside down in one of those weird old school chiropractic back stretchers or whatever Barney Fife stuck himself into in a closet. But it shall pass. Diane is over there, and we’re here for episode 121.
Diane Sanfilippo: Wohoo!
Liz Wolfe: Wohoo! A little shout out to our sponsors. Paleo Treats. Get 15% off when you enter the code BALANCEDBITES, one word, at checkout. Pete’s Paleo, bringing fine dining to your cave. Pete’s Paleo is now offering our listeners a free pound of insanely good bacon with the purchase of any meal plan. That offer is valid through, I’m not sure. We’ll have to check.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} It’s good now, it’s good indefinitely until we get a different offer.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: And finally, Chameleon Cold-Brew. Code for them is still BALANCEDBITES. Chameleon Cold-Brew is, last time I called it caffeinated angel tears…
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: I’m trying to think of something, I think that’s about as good as it gets, really.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s umami for my morning. I don’t know, I’m making things up.
Liz Wolfe: Oh, wow!
Diane Sanfilippo: I know. I was commenting on umami, don’t know whose thread it was. I think it was like, Cliff Harski, or someone, who I met at MovNat a couple of years ago. He was just asking about fish sauce, like, what is it and what does it do.
Liz Wolfe: Cause that’s what paleo people do in polite conversation.
Diane Sanfilippo: Talk about their sauce?
Liz Wolfe: They ask about fish sauce.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Yeah. Anyway, and fish sauce is umami, so I’ve got umami on the brain.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Very good.
Diane Sanfilippo: Alright.
1. Diane got engaged! [2:41]
Liz Wolfe: So, can we talk about your new jewelry?
Diane Sanfilippo: I was like, what do you mean? {laughs} I didn’t even understand that for a second. We can.
Liz Wolfe: Well, it’s not from bauble bar.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s not.
Liz Wolfe: If anybody watches copious amounts of reality television, they’ll know what we’re talking about.
Diane Sanfilippo: Courtney Loves Dallas.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Everybody needs a Torrie.
Diane Sanfilippo: I need to catch up, I don’t really know the characters that well. I plan on catching up.
Liz Wolfe: They’re not characters, Diane, They are real people.
Diane Sanfilippo: I know. {laughs} and they’re your friends!
Liz Wolfe: And they’re my friends! {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Um, in this hotel room, when I have some down time, I’m going to actually turn on the television and maybe just lay here and watch it. We’ll see what happens.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, my new jewelry. I got engaged! What!
Liz Wolfe: Oh my God!
Diane Sanfilippo: Crazy.
Liz Wolfe: To the same guy you were dating, right?
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeeess.
Liz Wolfe: Yeesss.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, New Years’ Eve, got engaged, and actually the only person I called was my mom because, so, you know to any of my close girlfriends, yourself included, I didn’t call anyone because our friends were coming over for a New Years’ party, literally like, just a couple of minutes after, and so I called my mom and pretty much probably; I don’t know if I texted a few people, I’m sure I texted Hayley, because she was the one who found the ring that we eventually picked out {laughs}. But of course, she found my future husband, and the ring {laughs} so, I’ll enlist her services for anything else I need. Yeah, so that was kind of it, and then changed my status on Facebook basically was the…
Liz Wolfe: Because it’s not real until you do that.
Diane Sanfilippo: It was just one of those things where neither of us actually said anything about being single or in a relationship at all, like, before we even met each other, neither of us had anything up there, and we just didn’t want to put it out there, and I don’t know. We’re just semi private but public people so we just kind of wanted to keep things on the DL slightly, I guess, or just not for random consumption. So anyway. I was excited to change to my status to engaged {laughs} just felt, I don’t know, it felt good.
Liz Wolfe: Well, congratulations friend. I hope he knows he’s bought the cow.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Wait, I think that’s an insult. What?
Liz Wolfe: Oh it is?
Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t know.
Liz Wolfe: I don’t know either, but you’re a jersey… you’re the best kind of cow.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} A Jersey cow!
Liz Wolfe: You’re an A2, A2, really high butterfat, free range, pastured grass-fed cow.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Ok, I’ll make sure he listens to this.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, for anyone who caught a glimpse of the picture of the ring that I posted, it is indeed not a diamond, so if anyone is like {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Whoa! What’s happening over there.
Liz Wolfe: It’s a mood ring.
Diane Sanfilippo: Not a diamond. It’s basically just a mood ring, yeah, so it will change colors whenever you see it.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s also not pink. It’s like a pale purple. Really pretty sparkly stone.
Liz Wolfe: Beautiful.
Diane Sanfilippo: So there you go.
Liz Wolfe: Yay!
2. #Paleotour updates [5:47]
Diane Sanfilippo: That’s the update on that. What else do I need to tell you about? Uh, currently in a hotel room in San Francisco. Starting the paleo tour, #paleotour, {laughs} on Thursday here in San Francisco, Bill and Hayley will be here joining me for this whole tour out here on the west coast, and we are hitting San Francisco on Thursday, LA on Saturday, San Diego on Sunday. Courtland will be next week, I think Tuesday. That event is actually, we’ve maxed out the capacity on the event space that we have for that event, so, if you RSVPd and cannot make it, please cancel your RSVP so that we can let some other people get spots at the event. And then, we’ll be in Seattle on, I believe it’s Wednesday the 15th. So, you can check out the sidebar on BalancedBites.com for a link to RSVP for any of those events. And then stay tuned for details on a tour at the end of February for about a week in Texas. And, I believe Liz, you will probably be joining us in at least one city there, is this?
Liz Wolfe: This is the plan. By the way, I can’t not say this. I can’t not say this. People came that like, did not RSVP.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing} All of the haters that we get about our banter, or, you know, valley girl talk, just cracks me up because first of all, I don’t know why they are still listening, and second of all, whenever we say something that is particularly, perhaps just drives the knife in {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: To the people it makes me laugh. “People came who like totally did not RSVP!”
Liz Wolfe: We can totally party with the hatians!
Diane Sanfilippo: It does not say RSVP…
Liz Wolfe: On the statue of liberty!
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} I forgot that quote. Will you be in Texas? We’re not… none of us have booked any flights yet, so let’s not have our Texas people get too excited, but no I’m kidding we’re definitely going to be down in Texas at the end of February.
Liz Wolfe: I will be there somewhere. It comes out on the 25th.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: That’s what we’re on track for right now, for it to ship the 25th, so.
Diane Sanfilippo: My guess is that we will be either in Houston or Austin on the 25th, but stay tuned. We’ll post more #paleotour updates.
Liz Wolfe: Maybe we should have a party.
Diane Sanfilippo: We should definitely have a party. What?
Liz Wolfe: I mean a book release party. For me.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, let’s plan a party!
Liz Wolfe: Ok.
Diane Sanfilippo: Alright.
Liz Wolfe: Do you think people will come to my party?
Diane Sanfilippo: People will definitely come to the party. At least, myself, Bill, and Hayley, so.
Liz Wolfe: Perfect.
Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t know. Yeah, we should definitely do that. Good thing we thought of that, on the air.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Light bulb. What else. Where else are we going to be?
3. Diane and Liz seminar updates. [8:32]
Diane Sanfilippo: We’re going to be in Philly.
Liz Wolfe: Yup.
Diane Sanfilippo: January 25th. So just a couple of weeks away, if you are listening to this the week it releases, you’ve got just a couple of days to get a ticket for a $20 discount, so the price goes up within two weeks. So definitely check that out. And I’m pretty sure that’s our last live full day seminar for the foreseeable future.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: I know we sort of said that last year when we were in DC, which was actually kind of true, because the last time we both talked together was almost a year ago.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: How is that even possible? {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: I know, stop it, I don’t know.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s so crazy, but I taught last weekend with Scott, and it was really a great event, and looking forward to just kind of digging back in and teaching with you for a day, but you want to tell folks why we haven’t booked an entire seminar tour schedule for this year?
Liz Wolfe: Because you’re pregnant?
Diane Sanfilippo: No.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: That’s not funny. #goats?
Liz Wolfe: Pretty much, it’s pretty much. We’re like really digging our heels in here. We’re getting some pigs, we’re getting large black hogs, which is a heritage breed of pig. We’re, I mean, we’re doing the homestead thing, and that’s what I’m going to have to commit to to make things work, especially after traveling quite a bit, as I’m planning to do when the book releases. I really do want to spend some time with the lovely people who are buying it, and do at least a mini book tour, but after that, once spring rolls around, it’s going to be homestead mania. Goat, pig, and chicken mania out here. So, that’s what’s on our plate.
Diane Sanfilippo: Awesome. Have we? {laughs} We might as well tell them. So, you and I are actually recording… I think this is all pretty much happening at the end of this month.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: Recording a version of our seminar that will be available to everyone online. I’m really excited because it’s just impossible to get everywhere, and we’ve got so many people who are just like dying to attend the seminar, and you know, I think we’ve come up with a really cool format to allow people to basically get the information, to have a little bit of, you know, fun with what we’re teaching, and actually it’s probably even more comprehensive or going to be more comprehensive because they can get, you know, a video file and some PDFs and even more information than you could just get kind of sitting there. And I think, you know, we’ll come up with a way to get some Q&A going so you can get your questions answered when you go through the event and all that, but stay tuned for more details on that. It will all be out early this year.
Liz Wolfe: Very good. I gotta say, too, this is also, the traveling got to me in a pretty short amount of time stress-wise, and you’ve been doing it for a lot longer than I have, so I think it’s also a matter of taking care of ourselves while still trying to provide what we want to provide people in the long-term. So, I’m super excited.
Diane Sanfilippo: That’s huge. And for me, it’s like, not the travel… it was definitely stressful for me, but it was more stressful just on, not really on my personal life in a particular way, but just that, like I was touching down at home for a couple of days here and there, you know, and never able to really just get my home in order.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: Which I think is really important, you know.
Liz Wolfe: Yes.
Diane Sanfilippo: And like my house, there’s still… like there’s still stuff from remnants of my moving into the place last March that, just stuff I haven’t been able to handle because, you know, working on the book and all these things that became a priority and then if we were to just book a whole nother even schedule. You know, I think we go through phases where, of course, sometimes there’s stress in hard work and all of that, and I think the reality is that we agree that we want to practice what we preach.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: And really take care of ourselves, because we can’t continue to do this work if we don’t, at least kind of cycle the fact that there is some stress and then follow it up with more recovery time and down time, so. It’s not even really down time. We’re going to be working hard, it’s just at least going to be in one time zone {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Exactly.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: Speaking of being healthy, I’m clearly not healthy right now. I’m drinking warm water, with a lemon, and I’m not feeling so good. I’ll try to mute it if I’m going to cough or not cough, but we just went on a trip to Breckenridge, which apparently it’s ok to call it Breck, which is something that I just thought was unbearably douchey when I first heard someone call it Breck, but I guess that’s ok.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: They actually do that there.
Diane Sanfilippo: People calling San Francisco “San-Fran”, nobody who lives here calls it that. Like, nobody calls it that.
Liz Wolfe: Well, and see that’s how I felt about it, but I guess it’s ok.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: But, anyway, I did one day of snowboarding on the bunny slope. Not even the bunny slope, like the baby bunny slope. And, my marriage is still intact, anybody that was wondering.
Diane Sanfilippo: I saw that!
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. My husband was going to teach me to snowboard. Literally, the second I clipped in, or whatever the words are, I was like crying inside my snow goggles, and I was like, this isn’t going to work! I don’t want to do this! I was done. I was done, but then he made me take a lesson, and I took a lesson, and it was lovely, and kind of fun, and my marriage is intact, and it was all very good. So, of course, though, I never got a chance to adjust to the altitude because we were only there for about 2 days, and then we went straight to, never eat soggy waffles, western Kansas at a still high elevation, extremely, extremely dry air, and I don’t know. I just must have brought all the snot back with me from Breckenridge. But we were there for New Years’, where I drank snork juice. Do you know what that is?
Diane Sanfilippo: I have no idea what that is.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} It’s ok. I kind of invented it. It’s apple cider, or it’s hard cider with a shot of grape vodka. Not grape-flavored vodka, but vodka made from grapes. That was my drink.
Diane Sanfilippo: That sounds like it would be my drink, too. This is why we’re friends, obviously.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah! See, you don’t even taste the vodka though, that’s what’s fun about it.
Diane Sanfilippo: That’s perfect.
Liz Wolfe: And also what’s really, really dangerous about it, so.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: That’s basically the last week and a half of my life. And there you go.
Diane Sanfilippo: Alrighty.
Liz Wolfe: That’s my news.
4. Excerpt from Eat the Yolks [15:09]
Diane Sanfilippo: I think, do you want to share a little snippet from Eat the Yolks before we answer a whole bunch of questions here?
Liz Wolfe: Yes. People seem to like that. I’ll do a little line from my book. Ok, I shared this line a couple of days back, I believe, and people really, really liked it, and it’s one of the things I keep coming back to, one of the reasons I wrote this book. Alright. “The only thing more infuriating than finding out that we’ve been lied to is finding out that we’ve been eating those lies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, day in and day out for decades. How could this have happened?” And I’ll just keep it short. That will be it for today. End scene.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh. I was like, ready to keep listening.
Liz Wolfe: I know. I know, I just don’t want to read that much of the book with this nasal voice that I have going on right now.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, ok. Fair. That’s fair.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, fair.
Diane Sanfilippo: Alright.
Liz Wolfe: That’s what the book really is about. How could this have happened, and what are the lies.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: Cool.
Diane Sanfilippo: Awesome.
5. Your top 5 pointers for newbies to real food living and the paleo lifestyle [16:12]
Liz Wolfe: Alright. Next up. Alright, so this first question, what are your top 5 pointers for newbies to real food living and the paleo lifestyle?
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok, so I’ll give my 5 if you want to add to this or elaborate or give anything different that you’ve got on your mind, let me know. But I get asked this question a lot, or even a top 3 from journalists who are calling me for interviews, and you know, they just want to pick out some really quick tips. So, my tips are really about how to actually, you know, put this stuff into place in your home. So, my first tip is to make an oil change. I think the easiest thing to kind of get people to swap out, just as a lateral shift are the types of cooking fats that they are using. So, use my blog post or use my guide in the book or use any of those resources to help folks around you, or yourself obviously, to make an oil change. And so, you know, this is really more for just personal, for you know, if you are ready to make a change. It’s getting rid of vegetable oils: Canola, corn, soybean oil, and getting some healthier options in there like coconut oil, butter, lard, all of that good stuff. So my second one would be, and this actually my order of importance, at least, sort of. Anyway, the second one would be to just kind of clear your cupboards, pantry, fridge of all the frankenfood, fake food, edible food-like substances. Anything that you notice has a brightly colored package that probably you’ve been buying for the last 10, 20, 30 or more years just because you’ve always bought that brand. A really good example of this would be Hellmann’s mayonnaise or Heinz ketchup. Swap them out. Make some lateral shifts. So, get the organic ketchup. Yes, it does usually have some kind of sugar in it. You could make the ketchup from the Sugar Detox book, but I think just making those lateral shifts is really helpful. There are some healthy mayonnaise options. There is one that is in the back of The 21-Day Sugar Detox as well, it’s from Wilderness Family Naturals. Or you can make your own, and it does last for several days, so you can do that. And, you know, swapping things like soy sauce for coconut aminos, etc. So, that’s my second tip. The third one is to get some equipment in your kitchen. So whether that means knives and cutting boards if you haven’t been cooking much, or other tools like a julienne peeler or a spiralizer that will help you make noodles out of zucchini and things like that so that you can go and look at all these recipes for paleo friendly foods and you’ll have what you need to make them. I think a bunch of the cookbooks out there, I know Make it Paleo, I’m pretty sure Against All Grain, some of the others have lists of tools and equipment. My books don’t happen to have that, but I would definitely look at those lists. And I’m sure people also have this on their website. If you look under the shop page on BalancedBites.com, in my Amazon shop, I do have a bunch of kitchen appliances and gadgets and all that, so you can check that out. Slow cooker, if you want to get a pressure cooker, all that. I don’t have a pressure cooker. I think containers are really helpful too, because if you are going to start cooking more, you want to make sure you have containers for keeping them. Any jars for liquids, if you open a can of coconut milk and need to store it, so equip your kitchen is number 3. Number 4, to scope out local restaurants that might have clean food options, and also grocery stores. You may find that there are small organic grocers that you’ve never looked for, or never found before, but perhaps if you look on coconut secret, where they sell coconut aminos, you can find a list of stores. This is actually one way that I found out about a couple of different organic grocers in cities I’ve been traveling to, where I just look for certain products, and then when you find a listing of where those products are sold, you can really open your eyes to where some different stores are. So, you know, again if you’ve been shopping at one big box sort of grocer for a long time, you may not even know that there are others around. There might even be some “health food stores” or “natural food stores” that sell a lot of supplements, but they may actually also have a lot of real food as well, so just keep your eye out for all that and kind of reestablish where you are shopping and where you are dining out, as well. And then my last tip is to find a tribe, or create one. Whether that means it’s your partner or your spouse or family members who can kind of start doing this with you, whether it’s a friend, if it’s not going to be somebody who you live with or in your own family. Or perhaps you go to a Crossfit gym or other type of gym where people are really into, obviously, fitness so nutrition really goes hand in hand with that. Most people who are looking to do some kind of fitness routine, they will be open to a cleaner eating, real food way of eating, and perhaps you can kind of enlist a buddy or a friend who will go a long for the ride with you. That’s my list. Are you muted, Liz?
Liz Wolfe: No, I’m back.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok.
Liz Wolfe: I only have one tip. Actually, I have a pre-tip. My tip is sit there and talk about how hard it is, and don’t ever do anything.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: I’m just kidding. But, here are my tips.
Diane Sanfilippo: That was like, that was like a very not-Liz thing to say.
Liz Wolfe: I know. I’m dealing with some people right now.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think it’s… Oh, ok.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} But really, I mean.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s the goats.
Liz Wolfe: It’s the goats. They are being really difficult. It’s just, we’ve all… all of us that have come, you know, so far and however long we’ve been doing this, we’ve all dealt with that, or somebody who feels like it’s impossible. Or it’s too hard, or it’s too expensive, or it’s too whatever. And it’s kind of an offshoot, I think, of an all or nothing mentality, which for some people that works, but for most people, it’s just like you are saying; do a couple of things as you are able to do them. I love what you said about the fats, the frankenfats.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Cut out transfats. Start reading labels. If there is soybean oil, canola oil, cottonseed oil, or partially hydrogenated anything, or hydrogenated anything for that matter, or fractionated oil, that’s a frankenfat and don’t buy that thing with that frankenfat in it. Also, P.S. I like what you said about the cutting board, because I just learned that you’re not supposed to use the counter as your cutting board.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: And I learned because I realized…
Diane Sanfilippo: You’re joking. Please tell me you’re joking.
Liz Wolfe: Well, I mean, I kind of knew that, but I was always like “what’s the big deal?” and then I realized that this cat that we’re house-sitting basically lives on the countertops when we’re sleeping.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oooh, goodness.
Liz Wolfe: Ugh. It’s terrible. The cat, man, this cat. It’s gotta go.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: It’s gotta go. So, let me bring this circle back around here to my top 5, which would be: be patient, be patient, don’t just follow rules, learn as you can, buy Practical Paleo, and be patient.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: I should probably say buy my book too.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. But I think the point about learning and don’t just follow rules is so huge because, you know it’s super common that the first, especially the first month that you’re trying to go paleo, you’re trying to follow a set of rules, and you’re asking people do this with the Sugar Detox as well, which I get it, the Sugar Detox is more specific as a program for 3 weeks, so it’s not a lifestyle. I can kind of empathize more with folks who are on that program who are asking is this approved or not question, you know, where as when we teach people about eating real food and going paleo, it’s giving them the foundational information how food works in the body. Why we “believe” what we already believe about food and how to unbelieve that, you know.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: And how to think independently so that then you can make the right choices for you, because even the whole paleo thing.. like, neither of us eats what somebody might consider to be strict paleo…
Liz Wolfe: Nu-uh.
Diane Sanfilippo: 100% of the time. It’s just not practical for us, and we don’t have… you know, celiac disease, I mean, I don’t pick up gluten to eat it, but there are plenty of other things that I have eaten that are not considered “paleo” and I think that’s part of the learning process. You and I have always said when we teach seminars we don’t want to be somebody’s guru. I mean, it makes me a little stressed when people tell me that Practical Paleo is their bible. I think that their just, you know, kind of joking around, but I’m like, look, this is not meant to be the word on anything. It’s just meant to be a tool and something that you can refer to and guide you in your learning process about, you know, what might be a better choice of something to eat, but it doesn’t mean that that is the end all be all. So I think that is such an important point is to learn the whys of what you are doing along the way so that you can continue to make educated choices and not constantly be like, is this paleo? Is this paleo? I mean, it’s a funny joke, right, if we’re like, is this paleo? And we pick up something that is obviously not paleo
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: But, I think at some point, if you recognize yourself kind of just asking people for a verdict, you know, a yes/no ruling on a food for the rest of your life, I think that’s a little too harsh. I think if it’s for a purpose of a reset, that’s one thing, but. Anyway.
6. Tips for getting back on the wagon, and why we fall off in the first place [26:07]
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Well, to that point, our question number 2 is, can you give some tips for getting back on the bandwagon and explain perhaps why we fall off. And my opinion on this is, it shouldn’t be surprising that sometimes we are confused or feeling like we are on or off whatever this wagon is. I mean, you probably know, Diane, already how I feel about wagons. I feel like we build ourselves wagons so that we can fall off of them.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Really, we all should just be walking.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: But, really when we’re doing something new, practice makes perfect. You just have to keep pushing forward to get it to a place where you feel really good and you feel like you are in a rhythm. So, just evaluate your choices, what you’re putting into your mouth, and perhaps some folks need to identify emotional triggers. Some people just need to identify time honored traditions that they are doing for no other reason than they’ve done it for as long as they can remember and they are going to continue to do it. It’s just giving some thought to your food. And this, I think, goes back to not following rules but really learning, because back when I was just following a list of rules, I think I would have had that on-wagon/off-wagon mentality, but now feeling like I have a really good grasp of some of the science and the history and the common sense, I feel like my decisions are well informed, and I never really feel like on-wagon/off-wagon. I just feel like this is my choice now, I understand that choice and the implications of it.
Diane Sanfilippo: Right. Yeah, I think that’s a really strong point, and you know, it’s one of the things that I think, you know, The 21-Day Sugar Detox as a tool within sort of the paleo construct, or not even because you don’t have to be paleo to follow that program. I like it because it teaches people, you know, how to realize that they are eating a lot of sugar or sweeteners.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: Or refined foods, but I’m not trying to create something that you’re supposed to live for forever, you know what I mean?
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think it’s helpful, and I don’t want people to be extreme about it, I don’t want them to limit more than I outline in the book, you know, like I think that’s something that people start to take to an extreme. And I’m totally with you on this, you know, we build a wagon and then we kind of make ourselves fall of it, but I think part of, you know, part of this question is about sort of resolutions as well, like why is it that we make a New Years’ resolution, right, I mean it is still sort of the beginning of the year.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: You know, why do we make a statement about what we want to do or how we want to eat or whatever it is, and then kind of not do it. And I think there’s a couple of things that can happen. I think one is that sometimes we really just don’t make that promise or commitment to ourselves as much as we thought we might. Like, we say we want to do something, but then we’re not holding ourselves accountable to it, and you know…
Liz Wolfe: Just to doing it! Just to, you know, not trying for 5 minutes and then quitting because it’s not easy that first 5 minutes.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. And we’re not talking; what I’m saying here is not even like, you know, a commitment or not to being super strict about anything.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s just a matter of, like the way I’m looking at this is, I think there are a lot of people, we’ve seen this in the questions, they go paleo and they may go off of paleo, which for me, I don’t ever consider myself to not eat paleo, even if I eat rice from the Thai restaurant, like, I still consider what I do to be mostly a paleo diet because what I’m doing is just not eating junky, refined, processed, factory foods.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: You know, like that’s kind of I think the bigger thing. And I think that, at some point over the years when you learn more and more, you can’t help but make those better decisions and have more respect for what you are putting into your body, and you also learn that, half a cup of rice isn’t what’s hurting people.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: You know, and yes, there are some people for whom that isn’t something they can digest, and I get that, but you know, for the vast majority of people who, perhaps are otherwise healthy, even though we say rice isn’t paleo, we don’t consider if you eat, you know, half a cup of rice to be you falling off the wagon, and so I think part of it is just that mental construct as you’ve said. It’s that we create that rigidity that makes us feel like a failure or unsuccessful, and I don’t like that mindset. And I think the other thing is, like you said, people are just constantly sort of hemming and hawing about the excuses, like it’s too this or it’s too that, or whatever is kind of on their mind, and I think that if that’s the place where you’re at, you’re just never going to make a decision while you have that mindset. You have to change the way you think about things in order to change what you’re doing, and I just think it requires that shift. That mental shift of like, ok, maybe this costs more than what I did before. There’s a reason for it. Maybe it doesn’t cost more, maybe you just think it’s going to cost more.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: You know what I mean? So I think a lot of that is their barriers and their excuses and walls that we put up as reasons why we can’t do things. Even, you know, you and I have talked about when we’re dealing with stressful time or book stress for example, which, for both of us in the last couple of years is a type of stress we’ve never been accustomed to before.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s different from any other kind of stress, and I think it’s one thing if I wanted to say, you know, I want to eat as if I’m on The 21-Day Sugar Detox while I’m working on that program, because that seems like a good idea, right? I’m writing recipes for it, that’s what I’m cooking, but the reality is, the additional stress of more restrictions on food during that time is not a good idea. I don’t recommend it to other people. I wouldn’t recommend it to somebody else who says I’m going through a really stressful time, do you think I should do it or not, I would say no.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: You know, I would say let this be the only thing that you’re kind of needing to deal with or focus on, so I think that’s another one of the issues, is that people are making these really rigid rules for themselves, but they have so many other things that they are dealing with that it’s like, kind of go easy on yourself. I don’t know, I just kind of went off on a total tangent there. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Standard.
Diane Sanfilippo: Class-ic D.
Liz Wolfe: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: Class-ic.
Liz Wolfe: Claassic pig. Alright.
Diane Sanfilippo: Nobody understands our jokes, and if they do, I love ya, but if you don’t, I’m sorry.
Liz Wolfe: They’re amazing.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s like, Liz and I on the road, especially when we drive together, which is hysterical but Liz drives like a grandma {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: {laughing} I do.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m sorry, but you do. You really do. And, I really don’t, but I’m just the better navigator when it’s the two of us.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, that just makes me laugh. Anyway. We just crack ourselves up with
Liz Wolfe: Silliness.
Diane Sanfilippo: Pop culture references. Ok.
7. Super foods and raw liver [33:21]
Liz Wolfe: So this next question is, “last year it was all fermented cod liver oil and sardines. What new stuff are you guys loving right now?” And I like this question, Diane, because we talked about, you know, the basics of what’s making people unhealthy is crappy processed fats and, like I’ll talk about in my book crappy crop oils and crop products, industrial agriculture and just junk, right? So, that’s the big problem and then as you start to move the pieces together of eating real food, I think there’s also a few things that, even if you stray a little bit, or you’re feeling like you’re making choices, maybe over the holidays, that you wouldn’t make otherwise, there are a few, we call them super foods, concentrated sources of nutrition, that I pretty much always include, you know, no matter what I’m basing my diet around at the time. I’m all about, I’ll have the sardines at least twice a week, and my fermented cod liver oil, and those are things that I just kind of always keep in there. I think you can really give yourself some nutritional insurance with a couple of those super foods.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, the sardines were definitely more your thing before.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: But I’ve gotten way more into them. I have a couple of tins with me in my suitcase, just in case I need them. But, I really love just the wild sardines. I do like the way they taste better if they’ve been in oil, the olive oil, although I’m not sure the source of the oil, so sometimes what I’ll do if I get them in spring water is I’ll strain them and then just basically drown them in the Kasandrinos olive oil and let them sit over night in that.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: In the fridge, and then I kind of let them come to room temperature before I eat them, and then I put my hot sauce and salt, and I’ve just have been really enjoying that a lot more lately so, kudos to you because I’m also getting my CoQ10 and some calcium and all that good stuff besides the omega-3s.
Liz Wolfe: Nice.
Diane Sanfilippo: The other thing I’ve been into, which is kind of random, I don’t, it’s not really a super food, but I can’t eat strawberries, and it’s not seasonal anyway to eat them, but it’s kind of a bummer, because I definitely grew up with strawberries as one of my favorite fruits, but I’m allergic to them now, and I have been completely in love with the organic frozen cherries at Whole Foods. They were out of stock for a while, and they came back in maybe a month or two ago and I’ve been pretty happy about that. So, I really like them, I just think it’s nice to get different colored foods in, and it’s a nice rich, obviously dark red color.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: And we’re getting different types of antioxidants and phytonutrients from different colored foods, so. I really have been enjoying my frozen cherries. Thrilling, I know.
Liz Wolfe: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Well, as if I could get any worse than sardines, I’m really into…
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh gosh. I’m nervous.
Liz Wolfe: I know. I’m really into raw liver. {laughs} I wasn’t going to tell anybody.
Diane Sanfilippo: We can’t be friends anymore.
Liz Wolfe: I know.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s officially over.
Liz Wolfe: It’s so weird. It’s frozen.
Diane Sanfilippo: Are you freezing it? Ok. Are you just…
Liz Wolfe: Well, ok. So there’s all this lore around raw liver. Right? And I can justify this all day long, but basically the lore around raw liver is that it has some kind of energetic, energy properties that… oh my gosh, I kind of wish I didn’t say that. So weird.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} You can’t take it back. It’s already out there.
Liz Wolfe: It’s on the podcast recording. It’s there forever. But I like, you know me, I like to try weird things and just see what happens.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think you’re eating raw liver just because you don’t cook.
Liz Wolfe: No! I’ve been cooking.
Diane Sanfilippo: Although, you have been cooking a lot lately
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: I know.
Liz Wolfe: I’ve been putting up recipes and everything. I made a really good recipe last night, but this raw liver thing…
Diane Sanfilippo: You made that last night, and it was on your blog today? That’s how fast your blogging? I’m done. I have to quit.
Liz Wolfe: Would you say. Ok, what time did we start talking today. 5 p.m. I’ve been up since 6 a.m. and that whole time I was probably editing one picture, so. That’s a lot of hours working on one blog.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok. Alright.
Liz Wolfe: Toots.
Diane Sanfilippo: {whispers} Toots.
Liz Wolfe: But it was really good. But this raw liver thing, there’s the little bit of lore about it out there, and there’s actually one study actually on the effects of raw liver on rats and it’s all very interesting, and I completely trust my source of raw liver. It’s been frozen for a month in the deep freeze, and I basically just saw off chunks of it and put it in the blender with some raw milk and a couple of egg yolks from my chickens and I go for it. And it’s pretty remarkable. Like, it’s legit. There is definitely something to raw liver.
Diane Sanfilippo: Are you making baby formula?
Liz Wolfe: Well, that’s one… well, no. But there’s a bunch of other…
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m like, is there something else I need to know here?
Liz Wolfe: But you do. You use liver for the homemade baby formula.
Diane Sanfilippo: I know. That’s why I’m asking.
Liz Wolfe: But I just, I’ve been hearing about all these amazing things about raw liver, and I just kind of thought I’d try it. So I tried it, and {laughs} insane amounts of energy. It’s incredible.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Like, it’s actually almost like a natural 5-hour energy, which is something that eventually I’ll write about. But I know, I’ve alienated everyone at this point.
Diane Sanfilippo: Didn’t I, I talked about this before. No, when I first made pate years ago after not having liver for a long time, I literally was like *BING*
Liz Wolfe: Yeah!
Diane Sanfilippo: Like, my eyes were open.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: I was like, why am I buzzing. What’s happening? Like, I was way amped up on B vitamins.
Liz Wolfe: Totally!
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: So I’m into it.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok, do you have any ideas for the folks who can’t do raw milk? I like that you’re blending it in there, that sounds like a good idea.
Liz Wolfe: It’s almost like a shot, too, by the way. So it’s
Diane Sanfilippo: Just a little bit.
Liz Wolfe: Just a little bit. And I’ve made it with some coconut milk before.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok, I could try that.
Liz Wolfe: And you could put it, you could pop in some…
Diane Sanfilippo: How much of the liver? Do you have a recipe? {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Probably about 2 tablespoons, 3 tablespoons. But my husband and I split it. So, like in the morning we do a little… and you know what’s funny, I kind of foisted this upon him
Diane Sanfilippo: I bet.
Liz Wolfe: Without his knowledge. It was for about a week I was doing it, and I was like, alright, I’ve got to find out if this is placebo, because I was so, you know, aware of what I was “supposed to feel” with this stuff.
Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} I gave it to him unbeknownst to him there was raw liver in the thing, and all day long, he was like “I feel amazing!”
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: And he’s got a really stressful job, and you know, I’m trying to support him in every way I can, but it’s stressful, and he noticed something, and he had no idea what was going on. So.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} So you basically like drugged your husband with raw liver.
Liz Wolfe: Pretty much. Diane, if that’s not why you’re getting married, I don’t know how to talk to you.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: I just don’t know.
Diane Sanfilippo: I hope Scott doesn’t listen to this one when I sneak liver into his… He’s definitely not excited at the prospect of liver.
Liz Wolfe: It’s quick.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’ve gotten him to take the fermented cod liver oil, and he can just handle it, but… I want to try blending it up into just a little shot like that.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. It’s easy.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m going to do it. Alright.
Liz Wolfe: Do a little coconut milk or something, and throw in some of those cherries so you don’t have to think about why the beverage is pink {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: For anybody who thinks this is strange, go watch My Strange Addiction on TLC, and none of this will ever seem strange.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Don’t draw that parallel right now.
Diane Sanfilippo: Because they had a woman on who was, I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.
Liz Wolfe: No.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m going to have to keep going.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Alright, we have more questions.
Liz Wolfe: We have to keep going.
Diane Sanfilippo: We have good ones.
8. Brewer’s yeast [41:03]
Liz Wolfe: Diana wants to know if Liz has found a new brand of brewer’s yeast that is paleo friendly yet? I have not. There was one person that reached out to me about, oh gosh I can’t remember what the brand was, maybe it was Blue Bonnet or something like that. The reason I liked Lewis Lab’s brewer’s yeast was because they were sourcing their brewer’s yeast, and brewer’s yeast is just an inert source of the B-vitamin complex, it’s really high in chromium. Not like hexavalent chromium like Erin Brockovich type chromium. But, chromium is known as glucose tolerance factor, and it can be really helpful for people with acne or people that have blood sugar control issues that lead to acne, and so that was one of my super foods for the Skintervention Guide, and it’s just something that I like. I like whole food complexes, and B-vitamins and chromium work together, so that’s why I like this brewer’s yeast, and the Lewis Labs was sourcing it from a non-GMO sugar beet, and most brewer’s yeast is a byproduct of the beer brewing process, so this was from a non-GMO sugar beet, no, you know, gluten cross-contamination or anything like that and very high in chromium. Unfortunately, the place that they had sourced it from is shutting down. So, to my knowledge, there is going to be no more of this Lewis Labs brewer’s yeast. They are going to make another sort of brewer’s yeast, but I believe wherever they are sourcing it from is not a region that has chromium rich soil, and that’s pretty crucial, because where do plants get their nutrients from? From nutrient-rich soil.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: So, they’ve said it will not be as high in chromium, which is unfortunate. So, at this point, I don’t know, I haven’t found anything yet. Like we were just talking about, though, liver is a great source of B-vitamins! Yay!
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. I mean, and the other thing is too, I think, I think, I forget what my, I was going to say, I have another note on that, but the nutritional yeast versus brewer’s yeast, like I know some people are using this stuff to kind of make food taste cheesy.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: And I don’t think the brewer’s yeast really does that, I just think it’s more to get the sort of super food factor in. So, anyway.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, I’ve never actually tried nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast is, the characteristic of brewer’s yeast is that it’s higher in chromium than nutritional yeast. So, I’ve actually never tried nutritional yeast. Cheesy?
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, it’s basically like vegan cheese.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: So if you ever get kale chips, or anything like that that has a cheesy taste, it’s because of nutritional yeast.
Liz Wolfe: Come on.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh yeah. My nutrition school was pretty into it. Anything that was like, plant based. Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: Plant strong!
Diane Sanfilippo: Well, something like that.
Liz Wolfe: Let’s do one more question. One more?
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok. Sure.
9. Exercise without additional stress [44:05]
Liz Wolfe: Ashley asks, “exercise. How much is enough without putting too much stress on your body and creating further hormonal imbalances, like excess cortisol.”
Diane Sanfilippo: Uh, so I’m going to tackle this one from the perspective of, assuming she means she is feeling perhaps fatigued or is dealing with hormonal imbalances already, perhaps PCOS or some other issue, maybe there’s some infertility or irregular periods. So, this is kind of, it’s highly variable, so that’s kind of my first caveat, that I can’t give you one number of, you know, here’s how much for how long at this intensity that’s going to be right for everyone, because you just have to meter and monitor yourself to some degree. But, one of the things that I strongly took into consideration when I was dealing with a lot of stress but wanted to go to the gym to get some movement in, and also for the community factor of my gym. I actually kind of talked to Robb Wolf about it, because it was, again, book stress and this is like, sounds like a horrible pitch for anyone who wants to write a book, but it’s stressful, as I’ve said 100 million times by now, and it’s just… it’s a mental stress that becomes a physical stress at some point, and I was getting hurt a lot at the gym, through nobody’s fault but my own, just because of the stress. So, just lifting heavier weight overhead was too much for me. So, I kind of knew the answer, but I was asking him for some guidance on it, and his take to me was to not do anything that would make my face grimace, so, you know, when you get that high level of exertion, whether it’s a very heavy lift or you’re, you know, breathing heavily in a cardio type of activity or you know high intensity Crossfit type of thing and you need to take a breather, you have to stop, you can’t maintain that level, that’s probably too much. So, my percentage that I usually throw out there is kind of around like 70%, so if you’re lifting, keeping it to around 70% of what you could really do, so let’s just say, easy numbers, if your back squat max would have been 100, that you really stick to just about 70 pounds, and you’re not doing more than somewhere in the 1 to 3 rep range, so you’re kind of keeping your heart rate down more. It’s not pushing that upper limit. You’re not straining yourself, and you’re basically kind of slowly moving, perhaps lifting some weights, but just not going too crazy. If you’re doing anything that is a little bit more aerobic, that you keep the intensity lower. So, you know, walking is great for everybody, even faster walking. I wouldn’t be prolonging any sort of moderate to intense activity. If you are doing a workout that’s something that is Crossfit style, you know, I know it really depends a lot on your gym, and I kind of know myself well enough, and my coaches know that I know myself well enough that I’ll do the workout, and sometimes it’s just going to take me longer, or I’ll use less weight than I really could use because I just don’t want to push myself that hard. If you’re dealing with a situation like this, then you need to really meter yourself. I think, for most people, exercise is perhaps abused and it’s something that we need to earn the privilege to do at any sort of intensity other than walking or very moderate lifting of any sort of weights that would be more than something like household that you would just lift up. So, I think we just need to keep in mind that if we’re feeling very stressed and anxious, activity is great. You know, I’m not saying sit around and don’t move, but remember that when you’re pushing your stress levels with emotional, mental, you know, anguish or stress that’s not physical, it actually can manifest in a physical way, and then putting the additional physical stress of exercise on top of that is just sort of adding insult to injury, so just kind of remember that you are adding stress with all of this stuff, so you have to make sure that your capacity for stress, you know, that you have a little bit of room there and you are not then pushing too hard when you go to do it, and if you’re feeling exhausted for, you know, a day or two after some kind of exercise, that was too much. So, that was kind of the long answer there.
Liz Wolfe: I liked it.
Diane Sanfilippo: That’s it? Are we wrapped up?
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, I think that’s it. I think we’re rounding out at least about 50-60 minutes, so that’s it for today.
Diane Sanfilippo: Alrighty.
Liz Wolfe: Alrighty. So, thanks for listening everybody. You can find Diane at http://balancedbites.com/. You can find me, Liz, at http://cavegirleats.com/. We will be back next week. Thanks for listening.
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Cheers!
Diane & Liz