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In my recent debate on the Joe Rogan Experience with Dr. Joel Kahn, I touched briefly on the carnivore diet. I’m a huge believer that meat is an essential part of a healthy diet, but eating an all-meat diet is an entirely different subject, and I think we need to be very careful about assuming that an intervention that works well in the short term will also be safe and effective in the long term.

In this article, I’ll discuss the diets of ancestral populations, how the carnivore diet affects the body, my concerns about the potential consequences of such a restrictive diet in the long term, and alternative dietary approaches that might offer the same benefits without having to go pure carnivore.

Are you considering going carnivore? The all-meat diet is trending, but completely dropping plant-based food off your plate could have a significant impact on your health. Check out this article for a breakdown on the strengths and weaknesses of the carnivore diet. #chriskresser

What Is the Carnivore Diet?

The carnivore diet is pretty straightforward: eat only animal foods and stay away from all plant foods. This means that you are primarily getting your energy from protein and fat and are consuming close to zero carbohydrates.

Many people who have adopted the carnivore diet report faster weight loss, improved mental clarity, healthier digestion, and even improved athletic performance. I certainly don’t doubt the anecdotal reports of people that have found remarkable relief from debilitating chronic health problems with this diet. For many of these people, nothing else they had tried worked.

Were Any Ancestral Populations Carnivores?

Let’s start with a brief look at the diets of some supposedly “carnivorous” ancestral populations. Indeed, many ancestral groups thrived on large quantities of animal products. However, every single one of these groups also took advantage of plant foods when they were available:

• The nomads of Mongolia nourished themselves on meat and dairy products, but also gained nutrients from their consumption of wild onions and garlic, tubers and roots, seeds, and berries. (1)
• Gaucho Brazilians consumed mostly beef, but they supplemented their diet with yerba mate, an herbal infusion rich in vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. (2)
• The Maasai, Rendille, and Samburu from East Africa primarily ate meat, milk, and blood. Young men almost exclusively ate these animal products but also occasionally consumed herbs and tree barks. Women and older men consumed fruit, tubers, and honey. (3)
• The Russian Arctic Chukotka subsisted on fish, caribou, and marine animals but always ate them with local roots, leafy greens, berries, or seaweed. (4)
• The Sioux of South Dakota ate great amounts of buffalo meat, but they also ate wild fruit, nuts, and seeds that they found as they followed the buffalo herds. (5)
• The Canadian Inuit lived primarily on walrus, whale meat, seal, and fish, but they also went to great lengths to forage wild berries, lichens, and sea vegetables. They even fermented some of these plant foods as a way of preserving them. (6)

Five Reasons Why the Carnivore Diet Works

When any diet, drug, or other intervention “works,” it’s important to try to understand the mechanism behind it. In the case of the carnivore diet, there are several reasons that might explain the benefits people report.

1. The Carnivore Diet Can Restrict Calories and Mimics Fasting

Ever felt stuffed after you ate a huge steak? Protein is very satiating, meaning it fills you up and sends signals to your brain that you’ve consumed enough food. It’s no surprise that people report not feeling very hungry and start eating less frequently when they adopt an all-meat diet.

Food habituation may also play a role here. When you eat the same thing day after day, your brain doesn’t get as much reward value from food, so you start to eat less food overall—even if the food is usually something you find rewarding, like a big juicy steak.

The ultimate result is unintentional caloric restriction. Caloric restriction sets off a number of changes. When caloric intake drops, the concentration of insulin, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), and growth hormone are significantly reduced. This condition triggers autophagy, which literally means “self-eating”—an internal process of cleaning up old cells and repairing damaged ones. Autophagy is also induced during fasting.

This may be why caloric restriction is so effective at reducing inflammation and alleviating symptoms of autoimmune disease. (7) Of course, caloric restriction also results in weight loss. These are arguably the two primary reasons that people seem to be drawn to the carnivore way of eating, but these effects might also be achieved through simple caloric restriction.

2. The Carnivore Diet Is a Low-Residue Diet

“Residue” is essentially undigested food that makes up stool. A low-residue diet is a diet that limits high-fiber foods like whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables. It is often prescribed for people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) to alleviate symptoms like diarrhea, bloating, gas, and abdominal pain. (8)

Meat is made primarily of protein and fat, which are absorbed high up in the GI tract, leaving little residue leftover to irritate or inflame the gut. In other words, an all-meat diet is effectively a very low-residue diet and gives the gut a rest.

3. The Carnivore Diet Is Often Ketogenic

If you’re eating large amounts of meat but are only eating once or twice a day and adding extra fat to the meat, your diet is likely ketogenic. A ketogenic diet is a high-fat, moderate-protein diet, with:

• 60 to 70 percent of energy from fat
• 20 to 30 percent of energy from protein
• 5 to 10 percent of energy from carbohydrates

While the carnivore diet has no such macronutrient ratios, it’s likely that some of the benefits that come with eating meat alone are due to the body being in a state of ketosis.

Ketogenic diets have been shown to be helpful for a wide variety of conditions, including multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s. (9, 10)

4. The Carnivore Diet Changes the Gut Microbiota

Switching to an all-meat diet can also rapidly alter the gut microbiota. A 2014 study found that putting healthy human volunteers on an animal-based diet resulted in significant changes to the gut microbiota in less than 48 hours. (11) The animal-based diet increased the abundance of bile-tolerant organisms and decreased the levels of microbes known to metabolize different plant fibers.

The gut microbiota has been linked to virtually every chronic inflammatory disease that has been studied, so it’s no surprise that an intervention that drastically changes the gut microbiota could have significant implications for health. (12)

The Biggest Potential Problem with This Diet: Nutrient Deficiencies

The short answer is that we really don’t know, since there are no long-term studies that have tracked large groups of individuals on carnivore diets for any significant length of time. One of my chief concerns about it is that it lacks several nutrients that are crucial for health.

There are four micronutrients that are especially difficult to obtain on a meat-only diet. Based on a typical carnivore diet and the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) established by the Institute of Medicine, these include:

• Vitamin C: An antioxidant that boosts immune cell function and is important for stimulating collagen synthesis
• Vitamin E: An antioxidant that prevents the oxidation of lipids and lipoproteins
• Vitamin K2: A fat-soluble vitamin that reduces the calcification of blood vessels
• Calcium: A mineral required for healthy bones, muscle contraction, and nerve transmission

If dairy is included in the diet, this will cover vitamin K2 and calcium. However, if you don’t like organ meats, the number of potential micronutrient deficiencies increases significantly. In that case, you can add to the list:

• Vitamin A: A fat-soluble vitamin important for proper vision and maintaining immune defenses
• Folate: A B vitamin important for cell growth, metabolism, and methylation
• Manganese: A trace mineral needed for the proper function of the nervous system, collagen formation, and protection against oxidative stress
• Magnesium: A mineral that supports more than 300 biochemical reactions, including energy production, DNA repair, and muscle contraction

It’s also important to note that vitamin C is extremely heat sensitive, so only fresh or very gently cooked organ meats will have appreciable amounts.

Many carnivore dieters claim that the nutrient requirements for the general population simply don’t apply to them. Anecdotally, I know of several individuals who have consumed a carnivore diet for three or more years without any overt signs of nutrient deficiencies.

Still, we’re lacking data. Currently, the DRIs are the best we have to go off of, and I don’t think we have enough evidence to unequivocally say that this diet has no risk of producing nutrient deficiencies in the general population.

Should We Be Aiming Higher Than the Daily Recommended Intake?

Even if the carnivore diet were sufficient to prevent outright deficiency, we should also consider metabolic reserve. Metabolic reserve is the capacity of cells, tissues, and organ systems to withstand repeated changes to physiological needs. In other words, it’s having enough nutrients “in the bank” to be able to deal with a major stressor, injury, or environmental exposure. (13) So if an all-meat dieter manages to meet a recommended nutrient intake, it still may not be enough for optimal health.

Other Reasons an All-Meat Diet May Not Be Healthy

It Lacks Beneficial Phytonutrients

Phytonutrients are chemicals that are produced by plants to protect against environmental threats, such as attacks from insects and disease. They can also have major benefits for our health. Curcumin, beta-carotene, quercetin, and resveratrol are all examples of common phytonutrients.

Some proponents of the carnivore diet suggest that phytonutrients are toxic to humans, and that it’s best to eliminate them completely from our diet. However, many of these “toxins” act as acute stressors that actually make us stronger through a process called hormesis.

Much like resistance training is an acute stressor that leads our muscles to adapt and get stronger, exposure to small amounts of phytonutrients is a hormetic stressor that activates several different pathways in the body, ultimately serving to reduce inflammation, enhance immunity, improve cellular communication, repair DNA damage, and even detoxify potential carcinogens. (14, 15)

It Might Affect Hormones, Fertility, and Thyroid Function

We have zero long-term data about how an all-meat diet impacts hormones, thyroid function, and fertility. I have written before about why carbohydrates are particularly important for female fertility and why very-low-carb diets may not be the best choice during pregnancy.

Carbohydrates are particularly important for supporting thyroid function since insulin stimulates the conversion of inactive thyroid hormone T4 to active T3. In fact, traditional cultures that ate largely animal products and had little access to plant foods often went to great lengths to support fertility, including eating the thyroid glands of the animals they hunted. (16)

My guess is that most modern “carnivores” are not consuming the thyroid glands of animals and are therefore at risk for suboptimal thyroid function and (at least temporary) infertility.

It Could Overtax Your Liver (If You’re Eating Lean Meat)

When you don’t eat sufficient carbohydrates and fat, your liver can make glucose from protein via a process called gluconeogenesis. This process creates nitrogen waste, which must be converted to urea and disposed of through the kidneys.

While this is a normal process that occurs in every human being, there is a limit to how much protein the liver can cope with safely. More than 35 to 40 percent of total calories as protein can overwhelm the urea cycle, leading to nausea, diarrhea, wasting, and, potentially, death. For pregnant women, this threshold may be as low as 25 percent of total calories. (17)

Interestingly, anthropological evidence suggests that hunters throughout history avoided consuming excess protein, even discarding animals low in fat when food was scarce. (18)

In short: When eating meat, it’s important to have a good amount of healthy fats or quality carbohydrates as well.

Is the Carnivore Diet the Ideal Human Diet?

In the last section, I outlined several potential concerns with the carnivore diet. But this leads me to another important question: even if the carnivore diet is safe, is it really the best diet for optimal health?

While you might be able to get away with a vegetarian or carnivorous diet for a short while, the evidence suggests that the ideal diet includes both animal and plant foods. Dr. Sarah Ballantyne broke this down in part three of her series “The Diet We’re Meant to Eat: How Much Meat versus Veggies.”

Five Alternatives to the Carnivore Diet

Here are some options that might provide the same therapeutic benefits that the carnivore diet can offer—but without as much potential risk.

1. A Low-Carb Paleo Diet

Some people trying a carnivore diet are going straight from the Standard American Diet to pure carnivore. Oftentimes, a low-carbohydrate Paleo template might provide some of the same benefits, including weight loss, improved insulin sensitivity, and an alleviation in autoimmune symptoms. (19, 20, 21)

2. A Fasting Mimicking Diet

A fasting mimicking diet can reverse type 1 and type 2 diabetes, alleviate age-dependent impairments in cognitive performance, and protect against cancer and aging in mice. (22, 23, 24) In humans, the fasting mimicking diet was found to significantly reduce body weight, improve cardiovascular risk markers, lower inflammation, and potentially improve symptoms of multiple sclerosis. (25, 26)

3. Periodic Prolonged Fasting

Undergoing a 72-hour fasting once every few months could also achieve many of the benefits boasted by the carnivore diet. Prolonged fasting causes organs to shrink and then be rejuvenated as damaged cells are cleared out and stem cell pathways are activated. (27)

4. A Ketogenic Diet

The ketogenic diet has been very well studied and has documented benefits for epilepsy, neurodegenerative disease, and autoimmune disease. Ketones themselves are potent anti-inflammatories. (28, 29)

5. Addressing Gut Pathologies

If a healthy lifestyle coupled with the dietary approaches above is insufficient to control your symptoms, consider working with a Functional Medicine practitioner who is knowledgeable about gut health. If you’re thinking about becoming a strict carnivore because you’re experiencing adverse reactions to even very small amounts of plant foods, that’s likely a sign of an underlying gut infection that should be addressed.

Share this with friends and family who might be considering an all-meat diet, and be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

The post The Carnivore Diet: Is It Really Healthy? appeared first on Chris Kresser.

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For over 40 years, mammography screening (which is essentially an X-ray of the breasts) has been used almost exclusively as the primary form of breast cancer detection in women.  In recent years, however, numerous studies have brought this practice into question and mammography has become a hotly debated topic. What does the science say? While […]

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Thanks for giving Jessica Gouthro from Paleohacks such a warm reception last week. I’m glad you found her “13 Ways To Move More At Work” useful. She’s joining us again today to offer tips for those who are looking to ease joint pain. Enjoy!

It sounds counterintuitive, but it’s true: one of the best ways to ease joint pain is to exercise!

Whether you’re feeling aches and pains in your elbows or your lower back and hips, the key to managing and preventing joint and muscle pain is to exercise in the right way. If you have existing pain or joint discomfort, then you need to keep your workouts low-impact, but that doesn’t have to mean easy or ineffective.

You can keep reduce impact and lower your risk of injury by performing exercises that place less stress on the joints.

Some of the most popular low-impact workout options include:

• Cycling
• Swimming
• Elliptical cardio
• Incline walking
• Controlled light-resistance weight training
• Stretching and yoga

Aside from keeping your workouts low-impact, you can also start doing simple exercises to ease discomfort in specific parts of your body, like these 13 stretches for lower back pain or these 13 feel-good hip openers.

Try all 10 of the following exercises to relieve different forms of joint pain. You’ll need a chair, a small hand towel, a light dumbbell, and a resistance band for some of these moves. Remember your favorites and include them in your workouts anytime you feel discomfort in your joints.

1) “Wring the Towel” Wrist Stretch | 10 reps

Roll up a small towel and grab the ends with both hands.

Hold your arms out in front of you with palms facing down.

Slowly and with control, pretend you are wringing water out of the towel. Tilt one wrist up and the other wrist down at the same time, then alternate sides.

Continue wringing the towel in both directions for 10 full reps.

2) Dumbbell Wrist Curl | 10 reps per side

Sit on a chair or bench. Hold a light dumbbell in one hand and rest your elbow on your knee.

Keeping your arm still, exhale to flex your forearm and bend your wrist towards you to curl the dumbbell up.

Inhale to relax your wrist back to the starting position. .

Repeat for 10 slow and controlled reps, focusing on full range of motion with your wrist. Then switch sides.

3) Elbow Compression with Small Towel | 3 reps per side

Hold your arm out long. Roll up a small towel and place it right over your elbow.

Make a fist and curl your arm towards you, bending your elbow all the way closed on the towel. Aim to reach your knuckles to your shoulder.

Use your other hand to gently press inward on the back of your wrist to increase the compression. Breathe deeply as you hold for five seconds, then switch sides.

Complete three reps per side.

4) Narrow Grip Wall Press Tricep Extension | 10 reps

Place your palms flat on the wall at your chest height.

Step back a few feet so your body is at a slight angle. Ensure that your palms are flush against the wall.

Bend your elbows to lower your body towards the wall, keeping your elbows pointing straight down.

Stop when your elbows are about 3 inches from the wall and press back to straighten arms, flexing your elbows all the way.

Continue for 10 reps.

Tip: For a greater challenge, you can try this exercise with palms on a bench.

5) Hip and Low Back Compression Stretch | 3 reps per side

Lay flat on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the ground.

Lift one knee towards your chest, using your hands to pull it in towards you. Actively work to ground your hips.

Take five deep breaths, then switch and do the same on the other side.

Continue alternating sides to complete three reps per side.

6) Pelvic Tilt | 10 reps

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.

Hinge at the hips and place your palms on your knees.

Lift your sitting bones and tilt your pelvis forward to create an arch in your lower back and stretch your hamstrings. Keep your neck in neutral and shoulders relaxed. Hold for a few breaths.

Next, round your lower spine and tuck your pelvis under to form a round shape. Hold for a few breaths.

Alternate between tilting forward and back for 10 reps, holding each pose as long as you like to relieve the pain and pressure in your low back and hips.

7) Single Leg Toe Touch | 10 reps per side

Stand on one foot and look down towards the ground to get balanced.

Hinge at the hips as you raise your back leg behind you, reaching your fingers toward the toes of the standing leg. Get as parallel to the ground as you can.

Slowly rise back up with control.

Repeat 10 reps on one side, then switch to the other side.

8) Glute Kicks | 10 reps

Kneel down on all fours and flex your right foot. Keep your left foot relaxed.

Lift your right leg up to form a straight line from your right knee to shoulders, with your right foot facing the ceiling.

Hold at the top for three seconds while engaging your glutes, then relax your knee back to the ground.

Repeat on the same side for 10 reps, then switch to the other side.

9) Resistance Band Knee Extension with a Chair | 10 reps per side

Loop a resistance band around one leg of a chair, and place the other end of the band behind one of your knees.

Grab the seat of the chair with your hands. Then step back until you feel a good amount of tension on the band.

Your banded leg should be directly below your hips.

Straighten your leg fully, resisting the tension on the band.

Then relax the knee. Keep your foot flat on the ground the entire time.

Repeat for 10 reps, then switch legs.

10) Isometric Quad Flex | 6 reps per side

Sit on the ground and place a rolled up bath towel under your right knee.

Place your hands on the ground behind you for support and sit up tall.

Flex your right leg to lift your heel off the ground. You should feel all the muscles surrounding your knee fire up.

Hold this flex for five full seconds, then relax.

Repeat six times on this side, then switch to the left leg.

Tip: For a challenge, increase the number of reps or increase each hold to eight seconds.

Revisit these helpful exercises anytime you feel joint pain or discomfort. As always, be smart about working through an injury. If your body is telling you to rest, do it. When the time is right, apply these gentle exercises to help you get stronger and feel better.

Thanks again to Jessica Gouthro for these tips and to Brad Gouthro for demonstrating them. Questions or comments about exercises or treatment for joint pain? Share them below, and thanks for stopping by.

The post 10 Moves To Help Ease Joint Pain appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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I remember it like it was yesterday: I was 18 weeks into my first pregnancy. A little slower, but still bound and determined to run through all of it.

As I headed out on my first mile towards the Potomac River trails — I live in the DC Metro area — I had to stop every few minutes because of intense urinary urgency and excruciating pressure in the front of my pelvis. I had peed before I left but it didn’t make a difference, subsiding a little when I stopped running, but starting back up immediately with a run (I use the term running lightly — it was more like a loping waddle).

I reached a small parking lot along the river and sat down on a rock. I called my husband, and through the tears told him I was done running. He needed to come retrieve me as I couldn’t go any further or get back home. There was no way I could keep running anymore. I was defeated.

What had I done wrong? Why could other pregnant women seemingly prance through pregnancy and this rock was where my dreams would end?

(For my second pregnancy, I would love to tell you I put my big girl panties and ran entirely through with a devout sense of determination, due to my significant preparation, except that I don’t think I ever even ran during my second pregnancy — there’s something about the fatigue that comes with chasing after a never-sleeping 2-year-old boy that makes the joys of independent exercise a figment of one’s imagination.)

I still can’t go past that rock along the Potomac River without thinking of the day when my pregnancy running dream abruptly ended. I know the decision I made for my own training was what was right for me considering what I knew about my body and what I felt.

Many of you might be saying, “Well that’s not my story or my client’s story!”

To that, my response is, you might be right. You might also be wrong. As with everything I’ve learned about how women make our way through pregnancy, the answer is always “it depends.”

What the Research Says

I generally like to turn to the existing research, but here I’ll candidly admit that it’s not particularly helpful in guiding exercise programming during pregnancy. Why? Because it would be completely unethical to do a study on the premise that a specific intervention done in the context of that study will harm the baby.

Therefore, while there is a good amount of literature looking at high-intensity exercise (vs. high impact) and pregnancy in the context of health of the mother, delivery mode and health of the baby, most of this is retrospective research, like the recently published article in the CrossFit Journal about CrossFit training during pregnancy.¹

Here are some examples that look specifically at high-impact exercise:

• “Women who exercise regularly and engage in high-impact exercises before the first pregnancy may have a reduced risk of pelvic girdle pain in pregnancy.” — British Journal of Sports Medicine²
• “Compared with non-exercisers, regular exercise and high-impact exercises during pregnancy are associated with reduced risk of having an acute Cesarean delivery in first-time mothers.” — American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology³
• “Skydiving is not recommended during pregnancy.” — Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine⁴

What this tells us is that:

• If you do high-impact exercise prior to pregnancy, you might have less pelvic pain during
• If it’s your first pregnancy, movement can reduce your risk of having to go straight to a C-section. (All bets are off after the first kid!)
• Don’t jump out of a plane when pregnant. (The good news is that there is a recommended lesser-risk alternative to skydiving: wind tunnel training. Totally sounds like a scaled activity!)

What This Means for Trainers and Coaches

Research aside, how do we choose to jump or not to jump? To go for impact or not? There are typically a few categories of pregnant clients:

• Moms-to-be who don’t want to do high-impact at all, and find brisk walking to be enough.
• Women who start to do high-impact early on, and then (like my own experience) find that their body is giving them signs to stop.
• Women who can perform most activities asymptomatically throughout their pregnancy, with or without scaling.

The question remains: where to we step in to regulate when the body isn’t showing signs of distress with high-impact activities? Do we have evidence to suggest that continuing high-impact during pregnancy will ultimately result in pelvic floor dysfunction or diastasis recti postpartum?

The answer is a cautious and thoughtful “No, but…” No, we don’t have the concrete evidence, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be making educated, common-sense decisions during this impactful time (pun intended).

What we do know is that pressure control is important in pregnancy. With extra weight comes extra pressure (think outward on the belly and downward on the pelvic floor), and how our bodies manage that pressure can impact our muscle function after pregnancy. We also know that breath-holding increases intra-abdominal pressure, and that high-impact exercise requires above-average pressure management strategies.

Here’s some recommendations on how to provide better guidance to our moms-to-be with high-impact exercise:

Always Ask and Look

A wise 4-year-old once told me, “If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.”

Take the time to ask your client the following:

• Are you having leakage of any fluid during or after exercise?
• Do you have pressure in your pelvis, pubic bone or tailbone?
• Are you noticing any protrusion of organs outside your body? (This could be a sign of herniation or prolapse).

While it’s important to ask your client about what they’re experiencing, it’s also crucial to use your own powers of observation:

• Is there excessive doming or coning in the abdominals when your client is performing certain movements?
• Is breath-holding a primary strategy to during effort in exercise?
• Does their movement change to show signs of discomfort or favoring a body part?

Scale as Required

There is no reward for pushing beyond a client’s physiological capabilities, no matter what their Instagram says. Some women are simply more genetically predisposed in the biology department than others.

Genetically, some bodies and tissue types can withstand greater challenges and some bodies succumb to the influences of pregnancy hormones and weight gain. Some women may have enough training and movement background to be able to continue training with less scaling than others.

You may want to remind your client that there’s nothing inherently “wrong” with scaling movements, and that it’s not a sign of failure or of weakness.

Choose Teamwork

Teamwork with your client and their pregnancy team is vital. It’s imperative to have an open dialogue about your client’s expectations for movement in pregnancy as well as what they’re experiencing with each progressive week (or prior pregnancy history).

It’s also important to be well-versed in scaled movement options that are considerate of the challenges of progressing pregnancy as well as knowing when to refer to pelvic health experts for medical management in problem areas! It’s incredibly helpful to have resources who support your mutual goals!

You can find a pelvic physical therapist by using some of the resources listed below. Be sure to talk with them ahead of time to ensure a good fit for you and your client’s movement needs!

As movement experts, we’re best when we work with our clients using our knowledge and resources to help them make the best choice during their pregnancy experience.

Resources

To find a pelvic health physical therapist in your area, search one of the following websites.

• Australian Physiotherapy Association
• Canadian Physiotherapy Association
• Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (UK)
• Physiotherapy New Zealand
• Section on Women’s Health, American Physical Therapy Association

If nothing comes up in your area, a general Internet search using one of the following terms: pelvic health, pelvic floor, women’s health physical therapist, or women’s health physiotherapist and the name of the city will provide some leads. In the U.S. use the term physical therapist. Outside of the U.S., use the term physiotherapist.

References

1. Perkins C, Dewalt H, CrossFit Training During Pregnancy and Motherhood: A New Scientific Frontier, The CrossFit Journal, November 17, 2017. https://journal.crossfit.com/article/crossfit-training-during-pregnancy-and-motherhood
2. Owe KM, Bielland EK, Stuge B, et al. Exercise level before pregnancy and engaging in high-impact sports reduce the risk of pelvic girdle pain: a population-based cohort study of 39184 women. Br J Sports Med. 2016. Jul;50(13)817-22. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26435533
3. Owe KM, Nystad W, Stigum H, Vangen S, Bo K. Exercise during pregnancy and risk of cesarean delivery in nulliparous women: a large population-based cohort study. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2016 Dec; 215(6):791.e1-791.3.13. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27555317
4. Ebner F, Wockel A, Janni W, Paterson H. Parachuting and pregnancy: what do we know about pregnant skydivers and the risks they are taking? Clin J Sport Med. 2014 Nov;24(6):468-73. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24637924

The post Should Pregnant Clients Do High-Impact Exercise? appeared first on Girls Gone Strong.

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I’d like you to step outside the box and take a look at life through a different set of lenses. This article is meant to pertain to the fitness lifestyle, but it also has carryover into the application of everyday life. Understanding how to not take life so seriously and manifest whatever your dreams and desires are is a crucial part of the human experience, yet many of us don’t know how to make these things become our reality. 

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At the beginning of each year, I am super busy with writing personalized plans for people who want to start the year off fresh with goals they want to achieve. They are feeling excited and positive for the changes ahead.

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On November of 2017 I sent a story to Mark’s Daily Apple. A brief story of my life at the time and how I got there. I’ve re-read that letter a couple of times and I’ve thought maybe I should have waited or I should have said more, so I thought maybe an update from then to now would be helpful.

My primal story started as a diet and exercise program, I needed to get back into shape so I hit the gym, or in my case hit the treadmill in my garage, and went on a diet. I did what everyone else does when they want to lose weight and “get healthy.” If you read my original story and look at the pictures, I figured it out. I lost 60 pounds total and improved my numbers to a point my doctor was amazed at my results. I completed the Primal Health Coach course, and Mom loved to hear about what I was learning.

Everything was great, well almost everything. My mom’s health was declining fast, she was slowly losing her battle with cancer. My sisters and I started staying weekends with her to spend as much time as possible with her, we would drink wine, and talk about the past and laugh about all the crazy things we did. My brother-in-law would come down about once a month and bring steaks, and we would grill over a grate in the fireplace and drink beer and wine and laugh. Mom couldn’t really eat that much anymore, but we had a lot of fun.

I started going to visit every day after work, and I’d grab a bag of chips and a case of beer to have when I got there, a candy bar or two for the way there. Eventually mom needed 24-hour care so she moved in with my sister in Michigan, but I still went every day to take care of the house. In April my mom lost her battle with cancer. My sisters and I would get together as much as we could to get the house ready to sell, and finalize the estate. I was there everyday—as the executor I felt I had to keep things moving and get everything done. I would buy beer and snacks and a bottle of whisky for when I was there….

I thought it was important to share that story because it’s real. During that time I gained 10 pounds, my cholesterol was high again and my sugar was elevated. Luckily for me I know how to correct all those issues and have. I failed where everyone on a diet fails—when the diet stops. The part I missed was the rest of life. Diet is important but even a perfect diet will fail without stress management. My stress management was alcohol, my comfort zone, and we all know your body burns alcohol first. I got off track and used my life problems as an excuse. Sometimes even a coach needs some coaching. This has kind of been a failure story instead of a success story, but I’m still writing.

I’ve taken what I learned from the Primal Health Coach Institute, and have started to develop my own brand, “Primal Hippie.” I started a very easy to read blog “primalhippie.net.” I blog a lot about stress from daily life and ideas how to manage that stress. I’ve taken the laid back, have fun attitude and mixed it with some nutrition advice and tried to aim it towards the younger generation because it’s easier to prevent disease than to cure it.

It’s very obvious to me that the trend towards living a holistic healthy life is happening, the amount of available, affordable, organic foods is on the rise. The merging of major food giants with small health-minded companies is another great step—great work Mark. There is even some common ground being found with the paleo/vegan world. This trend is still very personal to me. Since my first post, four more friends of mine have been diagnosed with cancer, one is currently non-responsive. I hear a lot about all the advances in medicine, and yet here we are. It’s time to educate the young people, and make healthy foods the norm not the exception.

Thanks Mark for all your passion and effort and giving me the chance to share my story, Grok on!

Bradley Nickell

PrimalHippie.net

The readers featured in our success stories share their experiences in their own words. The Primal Blueprint and Keto Reset diets are not intended as medical intervention or diagnosis. Nor are they replacements for working with a qualified healthcare practitioner. It’s important to speak with your doctor before beginning any new dietary or lifestyle program, and please consult your physician before making any changes to medication or treatment protocols. Each individual’s results may vary.

The post Even a Perfect Diet Will Fail Without Stress Management appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

http://chriskresser.com/

Following an ancestral lifestyle involves more than your diet and exercise regimen—it means matching your habits to our Paleo ancestors as closely as possible.

And, for much of human history, we lived in tight-knit, family-based kin groups. We kept contact with each other regularly, we worked together, and we relied on each other to survive. We are, after all, social creatures. When we feel connected, we thrive, and when we feel alone, we don’t.

Our personal relationships affect our health. Keep reading to find out how, and get four tips on cultivating more close connections in your life.

Humans didn’t evolve as solitary, disconnected creatures. We’re social, and we need close, personal relationships to thrive. Check out this article to find out how your relationships can impact your health, and get tips on cultivating more connection. #paleo #chriskresser

How Your Relationships Affect Your Health

Lonely people have higher blood pressure, higher heart rates, and more atherosclerosis than people who have a good social support system. (2) They also show greater incidences of: (3)

• Insomnia
• Inflammation
• Infectious disease
• Stress
• Depression
• Cancer

Having a social support network, on the other hand, improves endocrine, immune, cardiovascular, and mental health and increases longevity. (4) People who are more integrated in society also show lower serum levels of inflammatory proteins. (5)

Social support—or lack thereof—is a greater predictor of overall survival than: (6)

• Physical activity
• Body mass index
• Hypertension
• Exposure to air pollution
• Alcohol consumption
• Smoking (up to 15 cigarettes per day!)

What’s more, the quality of your relationships matters. The positive health effects seem to fall away in negative relationships, which can actually increase your risk of death. (7)

It’s not fully understood how relationships affect health so dramatically. It could be that having access to emotional support from close friends and family helps to buffer the impact chronic stress can have on our lives. Or, perhaps that feeling of connectedness changes our mood and behavior for the better, which carries a host of physiological benefits. Either way, if you want to enjoy the health benefits close relationships can bring, you likely need to step outside of the modern lifestyle.

The Modern Lifestyle Is a Recipe for Disconnection

Even though technology has the power to connect us, even across the globe, we feel more isolated than ever. In fact, over the past 20 years, the number of Americans who say they don’t have a close confidant has increased threefold. (8) Many of us relocate frequently from place to place, we marry later in life—if at all—and we may raise our children and grow older far away from our own parents and siblings, in communities where we don’t always get to know our neighbors. Added to all that, we spend most of our waking hours working or glued to a screen, not socializing.

Compare that to a day in the life of one of our ancestors. They would’ve lived within an extended-family tribal group, not by themselves or in a single-family home. Their days would’ve involved a lot of relaxing, significant time interacting with other people, and some mild activity, like gathering food or building a shelter. They’d experience stressful events, too—maybe a hunt, or an attack from a predator—but that would probably be followed by another opportunity to relax, socialize, and interact with their tight-knit community.

When stress triggers your fight-or-flight response, it activates your sympathetic nervous system. Your blood rushes to your muscles, lungs, and other vital areas, and you get a rush of energy and hormones designed to help you deal with whatever threat is facing you. By contrast, the rest-and-digest response activates the parasympathetic system, which has the opposite effect on your body:

• It slows your respiration and heart rate down
• Your blood pressure falls
• Your blood flow to your skin, reproductive organs, and digestive tract picks up
• Your stress hormones drop

Without that balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic response, that opportunity to rest and digest with our friends and loved ones, our bodies remain in a constant state of fight-or-flight readiness, and we experience the damaging effects of chronic stress. Connecting with people, and taking the time to rest and digest, can help you enter a parasympathetic state and manage that stress before it gets out of control.

Four Ways to Connect With People

Strong social connections can have as much impact on your physical health and longevity as your diet, exercise routine, and sleep habits. If you’re not as close to people as you would like to be, here are four ways to encourage intimacy and really connect with others.

1. Emphasize Touch

Touch is our most fundamental way of interacting with the world around us, but many of us are starved for it.

Dr. Tiffany Field, director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine and author of several books on this topic, writes that “touch hunger” is becoming an increasingly worse problem in our modern society. Emails, phone calls, text messages, and likes on social media just can’t compete with the extensive benefits of physical touch. Touch has the capacity to influence how we feel about our surroundings and the people around us, it creates bonds between couples, it communicates emotions, and it strengthens our relationships. (9)

Why does touch have such an impact on us? It releases oxytocin.

Oxytocin, also known as “the love hormone,” is associated with decreased stress, as well as feelings of trust, sexual desire, and a sense of bondedness among partners. (10, 11, 12, 13)

Low levels of oxytocin are connected with social isolation, as well as: (14)

• Cardiovascular disease
• Psychiatric issues
• Overall decreased quality of life

People who feel strongly connected with their partners, on the other hand, have higher levels of oxytocin. (15) Hugs, massage, and warm, physical contact have been shown to increase oxytocin levels, as well as lower blood pressure, reduce heart rate, and decrease the levels of hormones associated with stress. (16, 17, 18)

If you’re feeling starved for touch, try:

• Hugging your friends, your family, and your acquaintances
• Booking a massage or taking a class and practicing with a partner
• Having sex—aside from being pleasurable, sex releases more oxytocin than any other activity (19)
• Taking a partner yoga class
• Dancing

Any activity that brings you in skin-to-skin contact with another person can release oxytocin and help you feel the beneficial effects of touch. Even a friendly handshake increases a sense of connectedness.

2. Build Intimate Relationships

While any positive personal connection is likely to bring you benefits, relationships that encourage deep feelings of trust, intimacy, and belonging have the greatest potential to better your health. (20) Relationships that provide “emotional support” are associated with lower blood pressure, as well as lower levels of inflammatory proteins and stress hormones. (21, 22, 23)

It’s important to note that negative relationships don’t offer these benefits. Hostile married couples tend to show higher levels of inflammatory proteins and, as I mentioned, higher risk of death overall. (24, 25)

If you’re lacking an intimate, emotionally supportive relationship, try:

• Practicing honesty, openness, and vulnerability when you interact with people—that’s the best way to build trust
• Putting yourself out there by surrounding yourself with people who share your values
• Joining a networking group that meets face to face
• Strengthening an existing relationship by scheduling a set time for intimacy with your partner, whether it’s a romantic dinner, a massage session, or a short walk together

If you’re currently in a relationship that’s struggling, I recommend seeking professional help from a marriage counselor or therapist. Negative relationships will hurt your health, not help it, and it’s worth it to try to get back to a place of mutual trust, understanding, and closeness. If, after you’ve sought help from a therapist, your relationship still feels toxic and harmful, don’t be a martyr. A separation or divorce, while frightening, could save your sanity—and, ultimately, your life.

3. Consider a Pet

Animal companions have been a part of the human experience for thousands of years. In fact, archaeological evidence shows that the domestication process that has brought us the modern dog may have already been in the works as long as 33,000 years ago. (26)

While there were utilitarian reasons that our ancestors domesticated animals—dogs make adept hunters and guardians, while cats offer effective pest control—there is, perhaps, a greater motivation behind it: as humans, we need to give and receive affection.

Animal companions are great at filling that role. Pets have the power to encourage us to exercise, they tend to lower our anxiety levels, and they provide us with unconditional love and companionship. Those benefits aren’t limited by the type of pet you choose, either—even watching fish in an aquarium can offer relaxation. (27)

Before you choose a furry—or scaly, or feathery—companion, consider these tips:

• Find a pet that matches your lifestyle. A large, high-energy dog may fit right in with an active family, while a cat might be a better option for an apartment dweller. Look at your circumstances and consider your preferences to determine what type of pet could work for you.
• Be willing to put the time and training in. Every pet requires care and attention. A healthy, well-trained companion is a source of joy—but an unruly pet could cause stress and frustration.
• Make time to play. Regular playtime connects you with your pet—and carries a variety of benefits for you too.
• Consider volunteering at a local animal shelter. If the time isn’t right for a pet, volunteering at a shelter can give you the chance to interact with animals and support a worthwhile cause.

4. Volunteer for a Cause You Believe In

Speaking of volunteering, it’s a great way to build relationships with like-minded people who care about the same things you do. Research also supports the idea that helping others can bring you feelings of satisfaction and happiness and improve your self-esteem. (28) People who give social support regularly have longer lives than those who don’t, and they’re less likely to suffer from a chronic disease. (29)

As many of you can probably attest, giving to others can make you feel a sense of purpose, which makes life more meaningful.

Ready to start giving? Be sure to:

• Look for a cause that aligns with your values, whether it’s secular or faith-based
• Do it in person so you can get all the benefits of interacting with others face to face
• Don’t overextend yourself, or you could risk adding to your stress levels

How Connection Helped Me Regain My Health

I’ve struggled with chronic illness. I fought for years to get my health back. During that time, I felt discouraged, exhausted, and completely demoralized. I had tried everything—diets, supplements, and specialists—but nothing worked. I lost the energy to try yet another diet or supplement. I was at the end of my rope.

So, with nothing else to try, I did something radical: I focused almost entirely on cultivating personal connections and pleasure. I let my supplements and diet plans take a backseat as I practiced massage, took acting classes, scheduled regular visits with friends, danced, and volunteered as a meditation teacher at a county jail.

I felt like a completely different person after just a few months. Not only was I happier, calmer, and more relaxed, but my digestion got better, I gained back around 10 pounds I’d lost during my illness, and I slept better than I had in a long time. I stopped feeling so alienated and alone. I felt vital and healthy again.

Now’s your chance to connect with your fellow readers. Have you been able to build warm, fulfilling relationships? What helped you, and what advice do you have for others? Comment below and let us know!

The post How Relationships Affect Health—And How to Feel More Connected appeared first on Chris Kresser.

http://www.thealternativedaily.com/

We are just barely into 2019, and already there have been numerous food recalls. Our food industry is volatile, and it is imperative that consumers stay plugged into the news of recalls when they happen to avoid sickness and even death. Why do food recalls happen? Food can be recalled due to any number of […]

Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss

Recently, I made the transition to a bike commuting lifestyle. While I had often professed a desire to bike to work more often, the modest inconvenience of this deviation usually prompted me to drive. By removing the option for car convenience, I now always bike and am truly happier for it.

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