Tag Archives: weight loss

The perfect paleo workout routine for weight loss & muscle gain

Posted on 22 April, 2017 by Will Nicolson | 1 comment

Let’s cut to the chase: you want six-pack abs, a toned yet shapely butt, and arms that don’t have jiggly bits underneath. You want to get rid of those stubborn kankles, ease the constant chafing between your thighs, and not have sore knees, hips, and back ALL the time. Heck, you might just want to fit back into that old pair of jeans you allow to lurk at the bottom of your drawers, in the hope that one day, one day, they’ll slip back on like a glove. Well, the answer is simpler than you think.

Workouts don’t need to be complicated, drawn out, unenjoyable affairs. They don’t even need to be that frequent, to get the results you want. I’ve spent the last 10 years perfecting the ultimate paleo workout routine, from what protein to consume to which exercises to perform, and it’ll have you transitioning from flab to fab in no time (guys – feel free to replace the decidedly feminine “fab” with something manly like “jab”, if it makes you more comfortable).

So without further ado, here’s quite possibly the best workout routine you’ll ever lay your eyes on.

Your pre-workout routine

First, know that your body won’t respond well to strenuous exercise if it’s tired or still recovering from a previous workout. Ensure that you haven’t done an intensive weight-bearing workout in at least the past 2 days, preferably 3. Also ensure you got enough sleep last night, as your body is already stressed in this case and you don’t want to introduce any more stress into your life with a hard workout.

Step 1: prepare a protein source

For me, this is almost always a protein shake. While many people have been led to believe that whey protein isn’t that great for your health, it’s hands-down the best protein source for workouts if you get hold of the good stuff. That means whey from grass-fed cows, that has no additives or artificial flavors, and is preferably organic. This protein powder ticks all those boxes, and it’s been my go-to protein powder for the past 4 years. If you’re completely against whey protein (just FYI, often people with dairy allergies respond well to whey protein isolate, which shouldn’t contain lactose or casein), then you can always try an organic pea protein powder. Or even just a big hunk of meat, preferably the size of your palm. Your choice! Aim for around 30 grams of protein.

Drink half the protein shake 10 minutes before the workout, and half after the workout. This allows your muscles to synthesize the protein while you work out, which means faster muscle gains and quicker muscle recovery.

Step 2: warm up

Here, we just want to get your blood flowing and your muscles limber, so you don’t do any damage during the workout. This means 2 minutes of jumping around, shaking, dancing, or doing star jumps like nobody’s watching. I hope for your sake that no-one’s watching, as you’re going to look like a complete nutcase.

Your optimum paleo workout

After you’ve knocked back half your protein smoothie (10 mins before exercising) and warmed up a little, it’s time to get down and dirty. A couple of important points to keep in mind:

Use whatever equipment you have available. I regularly work out using a 10 liter container of mineral water, as it’s a good weight for many exercises and has a handle – kind of like a rudimentary kettlebell. Nothing beats an actual kettlebell, however – I’ve found that a good starting kettlebell for ladies is 6 kg or 8 kg, and 10 kg or 12 kg for men.
Perform the reps (reps = repetitions) to failure, unless otherwise stated. This means doing as many reps as you can of a given exercise until you literally can’t do any more. This will shock your muscles as much as possible (a good thing), which means faster fat burn and greater muscle mass development. No half-arsed attempts, people!
Ensure your form is spot on! If you have to practice an exercise at a lighter weight initially, so be it – you need to do the exercise how its supposed to be done, or risk injury.
Take a 1 minute rest between each exercise – use this time to have a sip of water and write down how many reps you did! You’ll need to keep increasing these reps with each new workout, in order to grow muscle mass.

Workout #1 (day 1)

10 glute activators (essentially just hip thrusts which you can do on the ground or on a bench that help to activate your glutes, which are often dormant going into a workout)
kettlebell bicep curls (remember to keep your arms in by your sides, and you can just do one arm at a time if you only have one kettlebell)
wide-grip pull-ups – the guy in that video cracks me up, but he’s right about how to do it! (use anything around the house or gym for this – could be a lateral tree branch, a pergola, a doorframe, or a chin-up bar. If you don’t have any of these, just skip this one)
full-extension kettlebell crunches
crazy ivans using your kettlebell
slow pushups (5 seconds down/5 seconds up. You don’t have to do it on your knuckles like this guy! Keep your hands in line with your shoulders)
alternating kettlebell lunges
kettlebell deadlift (slow and steady wins the race with these bad boys!)

Workout #2 (day 3 or 4)

10 glute activators
swiss ball abs (make sure to do the full extension. Use a low pile of cushions under the small of your back if you don’t have a swiss ball)
kettlebell swings (if you only have a few minutes to spare, focus on doing this exercise! It works wonders)
side planks

Post-workout

After your exercises, take a couple of minutes to shake it off and loosen up if you feel a bit tight. I find just going for a very quick jog around the yard helps with this. Now its time to drink the rest of your protein shake and rehydrate. Drink lots of water during and after the workout – dehydration is not your friend!

Workout 1 shouldn’t take you more than 20 minutes, and workout 2 shouldn’t take you more than 15 minutes. Studies show that shorter, more intense workouts are more effective for weight loss and muscle gain than long workouts. Give yourself plenty of time to recover between workouts (I always space them at least 3 days apart, interspersed with days of mild to moderate cardio like walking, running, cycling and kayaking).

I always have my phone with me during workouts – I use it to note down how many reps I do per exercise for each workout, so that I can ensure I’m always increasing reps over time. I also use it as a timer for the side planks. You should also consider getting yourself a good exercise mat or yoga mat, to make your experience a whole lot more enjoyable. And crank those snazzy tunes! Nothing like a good workout playlist to get the blood pumping. I’m digging Spotify’s “Motivation Mix” right now.

That’s it! Easy, right? Try this routine for a month, and see how you look and feel. We’d love to hear if it kicked those kankles and busted that butt!

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Posted in Healthy Weight, Holistic Health & Personal Development, Natural Self Care, Primal Lifestyle, Uncategorized

Tagged best, exercise, muscle, paleo, primal, protein, routine, weight loss, weights, workout

Using a Paleo approach for weight loss and muscle gain

Posted on 15 February, 2017 by Will Nicolson | Leave a comment

Up until now, we’ve largely focused on using paleo, primal and ancestral teachings to clean up our diet and lifestyle. Admittedly, these are two of the 3 key pillars of true health and happiness…but what about the third? That third pillar, in case you’re wondering, is exercise, and it’s arguably the biggest element of health that people are most confused over.

Throw your conventional view of exercise out the window

Think of exercise, and your mind turns into an infomercial. State-of-the-art treadmills, high-tech ellipticals, snazzy rowers, bouncy things, multi-purpose things, ab-tightening devices and, if you’re getting a bit racy, perhaps a rack of ultra-polished dumbbells. It’s ok – my mind conjures up much the same images as well, despite the fact that I’ve completely retrained how I approach exercise. That being said, what you need to do before we progress is metaphorically (and perhaps literally, if there’s no-one directly below) throw that cheesy infomercial-style gym equipment out the window.

This equipment is designed to provide a “quick fix” in your quest for a better body. But really all it’s doing is introducing convenience into the mix: with the exception of dumbells, you don’t have to think about the exercise you’re doing. Just jump on the treadmill, tap a few buttons, and you’re free to think about all of life’s other troubles. I still do a double take when I see someone hop onto the stationary bike, pick up a magazine, and just cruise for half an hour. Those same people invariably wonder why they’re not losing weight, when they’re hardly even getting their heart rate up!

Next, stop pounding the pavement and wondering why you’ve got injuries coming out your ears and the weight refuses to budge. Repetitive movements like this put the body under extreme stress, due to repeated impact with hard surfaces and physically jarring the bones and ligaments of your legs and feet. And when the body is under stress, it holds on to all the fat it can – thinking that there are hard times ahead. Do you really want to look like a long-distance runner, anyway? They’re all stringy and unhealthy looking…typically because they are unhealthy!

Finally, stop finding excuses to NOT exercise! You literally don’t need anything to get a good workout – just a few square feet of empty floor space. Abandoning this reliance on fancy gym equipment or even a nice spot to go running will ensure you don’t ever miss a workout opportunity.

High intensity training for weight loss

High intensity interval training, or HIIT, is all the rage in the alternative fitness circles these days. And it’s with good reason – HIIT offers vast quantities of calorie destruction with just a fraction of the time (and money) investment compared to the average gym or cardio workout. It’s now a well-accepted fact that our bodies respond better to short, focused periods of exercise. A 10 to 15 minute HIIT workout does that – elevating your heart rate, jump-starting your aerobic system, and fatiguing your muscles in a concentrated time slot, which minimizes the amount of stress you’re putting your body under. Remember, less stress means more weight loss, and achieving higher intensity means more calories burned faster. It’s a win-win, really.

In my opinion, if you’re looking to kick that jiggly belly or Beyonce butt fat quickly, ditching the elliptical or long runs and adopting HIIT 2 to 3 times a week is the far better option. If you’re searching for inspiration, a good starting point is to get your hands on a proven workout program. Dr Josh Axe’s “Burstfit” program provides super-intense workouts that’ll get you sweating and probably swearing a bit as well. But it’s not for the faint of heart. Otherwise, if you’re not looking to make quite as much of an investment, this DVD series comes well reviewed and for a fraction of the price.

Heavy lifting and bodyweight for muscle gain

If you’re looking to simply stay toned and slim, a few high intensity workouts per week is probably sufficient. But if you’re looking to bulk up, develop those biceps, broaden those shoulders or chisel those abs, you’re going to have to introduce something else into your life: heavy lifting.

Lifting heavy weights, otherwise known as resistance training, is an excellent way to shock your muscles, which signals to your brain that you need an increase in muscle mass in that region in order to prevent muscle damage. The heavier the weight, the greater the mass added – in theory, anyway. But this doesn’t mean that you should jump in the deep end and start doing 80-pound dumbbell bench presses when all you’ve been doing before is 10 lb bicep curls. Start by performing a 8-10 rep set of the exercise with a given weight. If you perform that set too easily with the weight, increase the weight until it becomes difficult. If you only manage to do 7 reps with that weight, use the next lightest weight. And so on.

Next, focus on key areas for your resistance training. Don’t be fooled by those buffoons who stand in the gym doing bicep curls for what seems like hours – if they’re looking like the Hulk, it’s probably because of all the nasty protein shakes and freaky supplements they’ve been taking. You don’t want to be that guy or gal – they might look good, but they’re not healthy!

Key areas are those that work out a full range of muscles at one time – these include squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses, kettlebell swings, and maybe the odd bench press. Compound exercises with heavy weights are better than specific movements with lighter weights.

Finally, keep it short and simple. As explained above, spending too long on a workout can stress the body and curtail your results. 20 minutes max of resistance training, only 2 to 3 times per week, and ideally only 3-5 exercises per workout. It’s quality that we’re looking for, not quantity.

Getting creative with workouts is key

Two of the biggest reasons why many people fail to stick to their exercise goals are:

They get bored of their workout routine
They use lack of access to “equipment” or the gym as an excuse not to exercise

Regarding the first point, it’s super important to mix things up on a regular basis. Changing up your workout at least every 2 months, if not more regularly, will ensure your brain doesn’t get bored and, more importantly, your body doesn’t get bored of the same repetitive movements. Performing the same series of exercises week after week can cause your body to plateau, meaning your muscles become accustomed to the movements and stop growing and/or burning fat. Besides, you want to look forward to your workouts, right? Not dread them. And if you find you can let your mind wander during a workout, you need to change it up, fast.

Regarding the second reason people fail to reach their exercise goals – this is where it can get super fun! When I travel or find myself in a new place, I take great pleasure in hunting around for things that I can use to formulate a workout. People seem to think that you need to have designated exercise equipment in order to exercise. Wrong!!! So wrong. If anything, that equipment makes it too easy to perform exercises, and the whole point is to challenge your body, not take shortcuts.

Even at home, I prefer to use unconventional tools and items to pizazz up my workouts and challenge my muscles and coordination in different ways. At the moment, I’m using a 10 liter container of filtered water as a dumbbell/kettlebell replacement (10 liters = 10 kg, which is a good weight for many exercises – just make sure it has a handle!), and a yoga mat. That’s it. And between the two of them, I can do a huge range of exercises.

Here’s a few other things that you can use when you’re away from home or the gym to get a good workout:

Strong lateral branches on trees, for chin-ups, wide-grip pull-ups, leg raises (abs), or simply hanging
round, heavy rocks (these are great for things like weighted squats, swings, lunges, and deadlifts – just make sure you have your shoes on!)
open fields or parks, for sprints and bodyweight exercises
sledge hammers/log splitters – these two provide some of the best workouts on the planet. Provided you have something solid to hit (like a tyre for the sledgehammer or a log – duh! – for the axe), they work a wide range of muscles throughout your body. Ten minutes with these bad boys and you’ll be hurting! Be very mindful of your form, though, and of your own safety.

The point is, get creative – the world is your oyster when it comes to exercise! If nothing else, investing in a kettlebell is a very wise thing to do, as there’s such a wide array of exercises you can do with them and they’re easy to transport. For men, I’d recommend starting with a 20 lb kettlebell, and for women, 15 lb or less should be effective initially.

Diet can make or break a weight-loss regime

Ok, so you’ve integrated all of the above considerations into your workout routine and you’re still not getting results. What the heck is going on? If you’re not losing weight or putting on muscle as desired, look to your diet.

With regards to weight loss, probably the number one dietary roadblock is carbohydrates. Whether they come in simple sugar form, or complex form, an overload of carbs can provide excess energy that you’ll struggle to burn off, even with those high intensity workouts. Here’s a few weight-loss pointers regarding carbs:

cut your fruit intake back to one or two servings a day. Sure, they’re nutritious, but they also contain a heap of fructose that elevates your blood sugar and is easily converted into fat in your body. If you must partake in some fruity goodness, stick to low sugar-fruits like raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, lemons and the occasional orange.
abolish all processed foods – these invariably contain a truckload of sugar. That includes “gluten-free” products as well.
stick to complex carbs like sweet potato, squash, and green plantains. Don’t go overboard on these either!

Streamlining your diet for maximum muscle gain

Next, if you’re like me and struggle to put on muscle mass, you need more protein!! I can’t stress this enough. There seems to be some notion amongst many people that it’s easy to get too much protein in a given diet – newsflash: it’s not easy at all! You have to eat a LOT of protein to even come close to exceeding your daily maximum, and the truth is that most people aren’t getting enough.

According to Tim Ferriss in The 4 Hour Body (an excellent read, by the way!), you should aim for 1.25 grams of protein per pound of lean bodyweight, which means you subtract your bodyfat first. I’m 167 pounds and, last time I checked, I had a bodyfat of 14 %, so I aim to eat 143 grams of protein per day. It’s not easy, but it makes a real difference to building muscle mass. Chris Kresser largely agrees with Ferriss, and in some respects advocated even more protein. For more information on the subject, check out this article.

Ultimately, everyone can benefit from more protein in their lives. And I find one of the best ways to increase protein intake is to add in a high-quality protein powder. We’ve talked before about how awesome this grass-fed, organic whey protein powder is, but if you can’t stomach dairy then Chris Kresser recommends this hydrolyzed beef protein – arguably the best source of protein on the planet.

Top tips for success

Scrolled through all of the above but still confused? Here’s my recommendations in a nutshell.

Weight loss:

replace low-intensity cardio workouts with high intensity (HIIT) workouts, 2-3 times/week
mix up your exercise routine at least every 2 months, and get creative!
tone down on the carbs, especially simple sugars.
continue to eat a paleo-style diet

Muscle-gain:

lift heavy stuff! Ensure you factor in 2 to 3 resistance training workouts each week. Limit workouts to 3-5 exercises (e.g. squats, deadlifts, bench press, shoulder press) and less than 20 minutes in duration.
ensure at least 2 rest days between workouts to allow muscle recovery.
get lots of protein. Lots. Consider introducing a high quality protein into your diet.
stick to a paleo-style diet, but considering introducing grass-fed, organic milk for extra protein and fat.

Good luck on your quest to a better body, and let us know how you get on!

3 Surefire Ways to Take Charge of Your Sleep Naturally

Posted on 6 February, 2015 by liivih | 3 comments

When was the last time you got a good night’s sleep? Do you drag your arse out of bed every single day cursing your alarm and dreading the day ahead?

I’m here to tell you that there are 3 little- known factors that are keeping you from a restful sleep.

I’m not going to waste your valuable time telling you how important sleep is. Well OK just these 2 mind blowing facts.

Losing sleep destroys your health

1. According to this 2009 study people who expose themselves to light at night don’t produce enough melatonin for proper restful sleep. A lack of melatonin production causes us to be

not only immune suppressed, but … also at an increased risk of developing a number of different types of cancer. […] Sleep disturbances can lead to immune suppression and a shift to the predominance in cancer-stimulatory cytokines.

2. This 2010 study had one group sleeping 8.5 hours a night and the other sleeping 5.5 hours a night, while eating a healthy diet in an effort to lose weight. The results showed that:

Sleep curtailment decreased the proportion of weight lost as fat by 55% and increased the loss of fat-free body mass by 60%

Meaning that it’s 55% harder to lose fat, and 60% harder to keep your healthy lean muscle. Those are pretty shit odds!

So, in a nutshell, losing sleep makes you fat and cancerous. Ready for better sleep??

Let’s get straight to the action plan.

3 little-known factors which hugely impact how you sleep

Magnesium
According to Marek Doyle, a nutritional medicine practitioner who writes for the Huffington Post, magnesium is rarely mentioned in conventional recommendations, but it effectively cures 90% of his insomnia patients within 24 hours.

Magnesium plays a vital role in over 325 basic reactions in human biochemistry, but in regards to sleep specifically:

Magnesium is vital for the function of GABA receptors, which exist across all areas of the brain and nervous system. GABA is a calming neurotransmitter that the brain requires to switch off; without it, we remain tense, our thoughts race and we lie in bed staring at the ceiling. (source)

How do you know if you’re short of magnesium? (it’s estimated that at least 80% of us are). If you have trouble falling asleep, wake easily, or wake at odd times. Also any of the following:

If you get cramps regularly, find that fluids pass through you easily, have cold hands and feet, experience tightness in the neck and shoulders or notice twitches in small muscles (the eyelid, for example)

There’s no harm in trying it, and certainly a lot to gain. So what’s the best way to replenish your magnesium? Oral supplements are often poorly absorbed, so I recommend a magnesium bath, lotion or spray. The lotion being the easiest, fastest and least fussy.

Be aware that magnesium may sting your skin slightly at first while you are recovering from deficiency. I would recommend using it 30-60 min before bed so it has time to absorb.

Calming Essential Oils for Better Sleep (Knock yourself out naturally)

This month I am so excited to try this blend from Megan Card.

She calls it the “better than ambien” blend since she suffered from insomnia for years, having tried numerous medicinal sleep aids. She never had such effective results (without the scary side effects and addiction risk of sleep aids) until she tried this essential oil blend.

It contains the most naturally relaxing sedative oils which will help calm your thoughts and prepare your body for sleep.

Here is the recipe:
(Combine in an amber or blue glass bottle)

25 drops Serenity blend
20 drops Ylang yang
15 drops Vetiver
15 drops Marjoram

Get the best oils HERE – this is where I buy mine from.

Apply several drops of the blend to the bottom of each foot before bed. The soles have the largest pores to allow oils to safely and rapidly enter the bloodstream.

Check out more about essential oils, or grab some and get started now at this page.

Blue-blocking Lenses
So you may have heard that the blue light from TVs and devices tricks your brain into thinking it’s daytime and keeps you awake. This is absolutely true.

However the problem is that most recommendations are along the lines of don’t use your phone past 9pm or don’t watch TV two hours before bedtime, etc. I’ll be the first to admit that most of the time in our modern lifestyle this is just never going to happen. It’s just not realistic. Although I do think it’s vital to practice ‘technology cleansing’ and not be glued to our phones every moment, especially not in the bedroom, I acknowledge that turning off all tech a few hours before bedtime is a bit of an idealistic notion.

Luckily I’ve discovered a way around this.

Grab yourself some of these babies and you will be effectively blocking the blue light that inhibits your natural melatonin production. I’ve heard a number of wellness experts discuss this simple and effective technique including Dave Asprey (The Bulletproof Executive), Katie the Wellness Mama and Chris Kresser.

I’ve read that it takes 3-4 hours of no-blue-light exposure for melatonin production to kick in, so try to wear your sweet orange or yellow specs from the time the sun goes down.

Grab some for your whole family or your flatmates and be awesome silly orange-lens-wearers together. Will and I rock these every night and we find it really helps. I can literally feel my brain kicking into “rest mode” when I wear them, and switch back into “alert mode” if I take them off.

If you’re worried about them ruining your sex life, that is a valid concern (ha). Although sorry to be a smartass but I’ll just point out that not sleeping well and being tired and grumpy, and/or getting cancer, will also do that. Solution: Use beeswax candles, low-blue lightbulbs, or salt lamps as it gets closer to bedtime or on evenings when you don’t want to wear your glasses! These all emit warm-spectrum light that won’t shut down your melatonin production.

A couple of other tips:

install f.lux on your computer
light your home with salt lamps at night (they clean the air and reduce EMFs too)
get bright natural light as soon as you can upon waking in the morning to signal your brain that it’s awake time. This helps regulate your circadian clock.

What about melatonin supplements?

You might be wondering about melatonin supplements. It’s natural right, so it must be safe?

Well, according to The Sleep Solution by Emily Benfit, exogenous melatonin may make you feel sleepy, but it’s merely inducing limpness in your body where blood is restricted to the brain and heart and your general cognitive function is impaired.

Emily outlines the possible side effects of melatonin consumption:

Vasoconstriction of the brain, organs, and heart.
Shrinks and involutes the thymus gland
Shrinks sex organs
Increases heart rate and perpetuates the stress cycle
Inhibits fertility

This insight is thanks to this article from Hollywood Homestead.

What helps you get restful sleep?

Have you tried any of these techniques? Did you find success? Share your experiences below so we can all support each other!

3 Comments

Posted in Essential Oils, Primal Lifestyle, Safe Natural Remedies, Stress

Tagged anxiety, cancer, essential oils, insomnia, magnesium, natural remedy, rest, sleep, sleep apnea, weight loss

Wanting to detox and beat sugar cravings? Think about your genes.

Posted on 3 November, 2014 by liivih | Leave a comment

I’ll be the first one to put my hand up and say I feel like I’ve spent a lot of my life struggling against my body. Having a naturally stockier build, or ‘sausage body’ as I like to lovingly call it, I definitely went through a chubby phase in my tween years.

Struggling to lose weight & feel good

It’s a classic story a lot of people can probably relate to, men and women alike. Working through puberty, wanting to look good and feel attractive, all while being bombarded by all sorts of confusing, conflicting and media-hyped messages about fitness and nutrition. I remember always being told that if I exercised enough, I could eat whatever I want. However, being a bookish kid, I usually didn’t exercise much, but still wanted to eat tasty snacks. So I would feel guilty about food and always be trying to “eat less and exercise more”.

How guilt-inducing, frustrating and exhausting is the Eat Less & Exercise More approach?!

All too many people, myself included, find that that whole thing only ends with disappointment and hating your body even more. It’s high time for a better strategy.

Surprise: you’re an animal!

Here’s a thought: last time you went to the zoo and you were looking at those chimps and gorillas, did it strike you how similar they are to us? How despite all our fancy clothes and perfumed soap, we’re really just animals too?

Animals don’t sit around stressing about whether they ate too many bugs or leaves, they just know what’s right for them to eat, and how much, and they just go on enjoying life with a fit, muscular, healthy body. Shouldn’t we feel that way too? Wouldn’t that be incredibly liberating?

If we look at ourselves as the ‘humanimals’ that we are, living in our habitat, we can gain insight into what our genes are programmed to thrive on, and understand why we may seek out or crave certain foods. From that basis of simple knowledge, we can move forward eating and enjoying food care-free, while having that fit, healthy, happy body.

Understanding the ‘humanimal’ mind

You’re going to be so relieved after you read this. There is a solid scientific reason you crave, dream about, and feel drawn to all those tasty sugary naughty junky foods. Your brain is literally programmed to be able to pick them out of a crowd.

The reason is that we’ve evolved very little since we were hunter-gatherers, living off of the land and what we were lucky or clever enough to find/kill that day. Therefore if we were scanning the landscape and there is a calorie-rich food source visible (let’s say some nice sugary berries) our eyes snap right to it and we feel alarms in our brain like “FOOD! RIGHT THERE! OMG FOOD! EAT! EEEEEAT.” This is because in general the hunter-gatherer approach would be to eat more when food is available, since we don’t know if it will be available tomorrow.

Well, your brain has precious little, if anything, different from that hunting-gathering ancestor of yours. So you get precisely those same EATRIGHTNOW signals when you slap eyes on an ooey-gooey grilled cheese sandwich, or a picture of a chocolate cake. (I started drooling typing that, wow. There’s the animal brain for ya!)

Cravings are not a bad thing

We’ve been taught and guilted into feeling like whenever we crave a food, we are naughty naughty bad and we should just quell that down and control ourselves. If we give in to cravings we will just be fat and ugly forever.

Newsflash: those cravings are literally programmed into your DNA. They are your body telling you what it needs right now.

But, this message comes with a very important caveat. These days, our body’s signals can be a liiiiiittle bit confused, what with our modern flashy environment and unnatural foods and chemicals and distractions, etc. So, your body may be telling you that you “need to eat 2 burgers and an ice cream after yes definitely the ice cream”, however there is a lot at play there.

You also may crave more food after you’ve just eaten because the food may not have been very nourishing, or you may be needing water. Therefore your body sends signals to eat more because it is seeking more water or nutrients.

It doesn’t know how to tell you “I need vitamin C!” or “Feed me some omega 3’s!”, all it can say is “eat!” and hope that it can get some of what it needs from there.

Our ancient brains are overwhelmed in this modern world

Studies show that historically food would definitely not have been constantly available, and we would have been a lot more programmed to be able to survive off of fat stores. We would be easily able to switch to burning our body fat to get us through a few days of not finding much food.

The problem is nowadays we have food available constantly. Our monkey brains are programmed to pick out high-carb, sugary foods to be able to survive and get energy fast, but now we’re literally surrounded by those foods, at arm’s reach, ALL the time. And our monkey brains still want them just as bad.

Foods high in carbs and sugars convert to fat the fastest when we eat them. They are a quick easy source of energy and our bodies just love to store them away for later use. That includes a sweet potato or whole-grain cereal just as much as a cupcake or chocolate bar.

Because these foods burn the fastest, they often leave us in the lurch. We swing from “Mmm yummy i’m full that was delicious” to “OMG I am HANGRY, FEED ME NOW”, waaaay too fast.

The thing is, once you understand WHY you have cravings and get hungry way too often, it’s so easy to re-program your approach to work WITH your genes and that crazy monkey brain.

It doesn’t need to be complicated. The monkey brain is simple, and we can have it in our palm in no time. How to get there you ask? It’s all about breaking the sugar/carb addiction, and choosing more nourishing foods.

How to keep your monkey brain happy, not hangry

Eat more fat – Yes, fat! Avocados, salmon, coconut oil, grass-fed butter, full-fat milk, full-fat greek yogurt, quality cheese, eggs. It’s aaaaall good baby!
Eat good quality protein – Organically raised, happy, free-range animals and fish. Dairy and eggs from the same.
Get good sleep – Those hunger signals we were talking about before get just sooo much more confused when you are tired. The energy has to come from somewhere, and if you’re not rested, you’re going to be mighty tempted to get it from a chocolate chip muffin.
Use a proven plan – I love programs like the 21 Day Sugar Detox, which is wildly popular and gets rave reviews left right and center. It’s a fast and well-tested way to press the reset button and learn how to work WITH those genes instead of against them.
Lose the body shame! – Once you understand what you’re genetically programmed to want, you realize it’s not your fault. Using a simple program like the 21DSD teaches you to be confident in the right food choices, enjoy eating, and get on with living life! Enough said!

I hope you’ve enjoyed these guidelines on how to make your genes work for you.

If you want a well-engineered plan to take away all the mind-sweat and give you an excellent kickstart, more info on the 21 Day Sugar Detox can be found by clicking the image below! Cheers!