Sometimes people ask me what benefits I get from my “extreme” lifestyle. Here is some evidence that this lifestyle really works.
All my life I have been very susceptible to any contagious disease that gets near me. If the guy in the cubicle next to me gets a cold, so do I. If my kids get a cold, so do I. Not only do I get a cold, I get a long drawn-out miserable cold that potentially progresses to bronchitis. Sometimes these colds would last a month. Over the last 1.5 years as I have been improving my lifestyle, my immunity has gotten stronger. I won’t lie. I still get colds just as often as I used to, but they are a shadow of what they once were. Instead of a 2-3 week really stuffy and miserable cold, I now have colds that last 1-2 days and are relatively mild.
I used to have significant digestive problems. I regularly had heartburn and would probably have been considered constipated. Now I only get heartburn if I eat poorly for multiple consecutive days. Bowel movements are regular and easy.
I lift weights twice per week. I have been able to put on more muscle weight than ever before. In the past I would work extremely hard with little or no gains.
So what exactly do I do to achieve this?
- choose organic foods whenever it is economical
- eat only pasture raised beef, chicken, and pork, and occasional wild-caught fish
- eat pasture raised eggs
- eat only healthy traditional fats like butter, lard, coconut oil, and olive oil
- eat whole grains only, fermented or sprouted
- eat legumes soaked for 12-24 hours, rinsed, and cooked for 2-4 hrs.
- drink at least one glass of whole raw pasture raised milk daily
- eat whole raw cheese
- eat plenty of fruits and vegetables (mostly cooked vegetables)
- eat occasional roasted or brine soaked nuts
- use only whole sweeteners like maple syrup, sucanat, or raw unfiltered honey
- swallow 1 teaspoon of cod liver oil daily
- regularly make rich soup stock from chicken bones
- occasionally eat lacto-fermented foods (e.g. yogurt, brine pickles, home-brewed ginger beer)
- use unrefined mineral-rich celtic sea salt
- don’t eat processed foods (e.g. white sugar, white flour, corn syrup, MSG, splenda, fruit juice, etc.)
- cheat occasionally
- take echinacea tea when I feel a cold coming on or when people around me have colds
- do a high intensity weight lifting workout twice per week
- do taijiquan for 20 minutes each morning
- have a 20-minute massage twice monthly
Goals I have for continued improvement:
- add liver and increase sea-food intake
- increase intake of lacto-fermented foods
- eliminate tea and coffee
- reduce calorie intake to lose 5-10 pounds of fat
- be able to bench press 150lbs for 8 reps (I have 40lbs to go) (UPDATE: this is with dumbells. I tried benching with barbells last night and was able to do 130lbs at 6 reps. This is the strongest I have ever been)
