Real Talk, Whole Life

(0:41) Welcome Hello Paleo View listeners! Stacy is coming to you from Central Oregon Sarah's mom has been following along with Stacy's travels via social media and loves the amazing family bonding they are having Stacy shared on their latest adventures and the incredible experiences she is sharing with Matt and the boys One of the things that Stacy did before leaving for her trip was to listen to a podcast on intuitive eating This is something she thought she understood in concept, but she wasn't aware that there are specific rules around the practice She wanted to share this information with Sarah so that they could discuss her concerns It is important for Stacy and Sarah to address what the concepts are that are helpful and good when listening to your body when trying to embrace a non-diet culture I.e. looking at living a sustainable life longterm, not in an on-again, off-again, diet rollercoaster Stacy and Sarah eat the way that they eat for longterm health; they focus on nourishing their body so they can be healthy However, they also understand that socially and emotionally food can drive humans There is nothing wrong with this, as long as we are aware of our longterm goals towards health We can apply this still to intuitive eating without going over the edge Sarah also didn't realize that intuitive eating was actually an anti-diet framework For Sarah, she had equated the phrases 'intuitive eating', 'mindful eating' and 'listening to your body' as all essentially the same thing She had used these phrases interchangeably to talk about a concept that is ultimately body awareness Sarah has a high degree of body awareness that was hard earned It is a practice of mental health piece that has gone along with Sarah's Paleo/AIP journey This has gotten her to a place where she really understands her body's signals Now that Sarah understands that intuitive eating is its own thing there are some things that need to be cleared up There are some very important factual details that Sarah needs to share With this particular anti-diet framework there are some things that are not right Sarah does agree with some of the points, but there are some really important scientific backed details that Sarah's needs to address But first, before we get to the discussion on intuitive eating, a word from our sponsor This week's episode is sponsored by EverlyWell EverlyWellis an at-home lab testing company that offers a variety of tests, ranging from Food Sensitivity to Metabolism, to a Thyroid Test and Vitamin D The tests are private, simple and all processed through certified labs All you have to do is head to EverlyWell.com, choose your tests, and they’ll be shipped directly to your doorstep Then, once you complete your sample collection and send it back into EverlyWell’scertified labs, they will process your sample and send you your results via EverlyWell’ssecure online platform within just 5 days EverlyWelltakes all of the guesswork out of lab testing and puts the power into your hands to complete a range of important health tests all from home To check out EverlyWell visit: https://everlywell.com/thepaleoview Use code 'ThePaleoView' for 15% off For more on Sarah's and Stacy's thoughts on EverlyWell, check out this podcast episode (13:40) Where Intuitive Eating has it Wrong Before Sarah goes on her soapbox on where intuitive eating has it extremely wrong, she wants to cover the official trademark details on what this practice actually is From their site: “Intuitive eating is a non-diet approach to health and wellness that helps you tune into your body signals, break the cycle of chronic dieting and heal your relationship with food.  From a nutrition professional perspective, intuitive eating is a framework that helps us keep nutrition interventions behavior-focused instead of restrictive or rule-focused.” “Intuitive eaters give themselves unconditional permission to eat whatever they want without feeling guilty. They rely on their internal hunger and satiety signals and trust their body to tell them when what and how much to eat. They know when they want to eat veggies and also when they feel like having dessert (and don’t feel guilty or have any regrets with either choice).” Conceptually Stacy loves the idea of intuitive eating, but the problem is that in practice this can go terribly wrong when someone is not in tune with their body On the podcast that Stacy listened, the podcast host informed a listener that lethargic and bloated aren't words that foods can make you feel These are sneaky diet culture words Foods are simply energy in, energy out They can't contribute to you feeling bloated This is where Stacy had her 'whoa whoa whoa' moment She is in full support of the belief that we need to listen to our bodies and not be on a diet rollercoaster However, foods can contribute to how your body feels Part of intuitive for Stacy is learning these things, but that is not the definition of this formal movement and program There are concepts from this that Sarah wholeheartedly believes in Behavioral modification is actually a really important aspect of successful weight loss maintenance You can't just throw someone on a diet and exercise program without addressing emotional health and behaviors associated with food and lifestyle This is absolutely part of the healing process Where Sarah completely disagrees with this practice is with this idea that food cannot have a physical consequence for people There is a ridiculously huge body of literature that proves otherwise These studies prove that food can have negative consequences on the body beyond allergies This includes things like feeding the wrong strains of bacteria in the gut and altering hormone systems One of the implications of this is that people are giving themselves permission, unconditionally, to eat whatever they want without feeling guilty This includes this group of manufactured modern "foods" that are so tasty that they trigger eating for pleasure This is a very well studied field of science Hyper-palatable foods override satiety signals and alter dopamine response to food (leading to opportunistic overeating) These are typically foods that contain carbohydrates, fat and some kind of flavor enhancer such as fat These foods are engineered to be so rewarding on a dopamine level We are unable to tell if we are full/satisfied when consuming these foods because they are designed to be hyper-palatable They make it impossible for our neurotransmitters to do their job because they override our ability to tell if we are hungry or not This is well documented in humans and in animal studies These foods drive the overeating behaviors that are unhealthy How can you behavior modify if you are continuing to give yourself unconditional permission to eat these foods that make it impossible to listen to your body and modify behavior An example of this is your dessert stomach on Thanksgiving As a consumer, if you were to say that you will intuitively eat the amount of this thing that is appropriate for you if you let go of diet culture and allow yourself to live in this moment and enjoy this food, that it would be physically impossible This food has been modified to enhance your appreciation of it so that you eat more and more and more Your body is not able to intuitively tell you that you are done For most people that comes with salty snack and desserts Hyper-palatable foods are defined as: High energy density Combination of carbohydrates and fat Flavor enhancers (salt, MSG, additives, artificial flavorings) The table that Sarah referenced:  The studyon how these addictive foods work in our body There is no amount of hyper-palatable food that is safe or won't have this effect The more of it you consume, the more you will enter into this vicious cycle of overeating behaviors, which is a precursor to obesity and binge eating disorder One of the classic properties of hyper-palatable food is a really extensive ingredient list The danger of triggering this dopamine reward center with hyper-palatable foods is that eventually the reward system becomes blunted So you need more and more of the food to get the reward Studies are showing the same changes in dopamine response in people with obesity and binge eating disorder as you see in drug addiction and alcoholism This is because of the continuous consumption of this and how this impacts your dopamine signals over time To the point where we are not listening to our bodies and we have created an addiction to these hyper-palatable foods Sarah completely agrees with the idea of addressing mental health issues and associations with food A lot of Sarah's personal journey has been about healing from a history of binge eating disorder and her very unhealthy relationship with food So much of her journey has been addressing her emotional responses with food and her behaviors around food Sarah doesn't believe that you can achieve healing while saying that you can eat anything Stacy and Sarah 100% agree that diet culture is very detrimental However, what Stacy and Sarah want people to think about longterm is where are you trying to get to with your health This is where they want to focus their choices every day  How you make a choice today should leade to the vision that you have for the future The more whole food, real food choices that you make, the more you will be able to listen to your body and respond appropriately to those signals Am I hungry right now? Or does this taste good? It is so important to understand the gray area There are so many black and white rules out there and programs that people want you to follow You think the rules are easier when you 100% know what you are allowed to do But this is not reality, it is not a longterm sustainable way to live We have got to come to terms with the idea that we are in charge of the things that make us feel our best It is not about assigning an emotional definition to a certain food What is good for you, may not be good for me It takes so much time, and this is still a journey that Stacy and her family are on as they navigate what foods work best for them (33:44) Break the Rules Mindset It is so important to not think of the way we eat as a set of rules If you define a diet based on the foods you do not eat that doesn't make the diet healthy or not What makes a diet healthy is what you put in your mouth, not what you avoid putting in your mouth This is one of the reasons why Sarah has worked so hard to create very thorough educational resources Sarah feels that in public health we are missing these kinds of resources that teach what is in foods that the body needs and what is in foods that can undermine our health It is important to get away from rules and get more into a solid foundation of health and diet education There are still universal truths Nutrient sufficiency is an important aspect for every individual Paleo and AIP are not the only frameworks to hit these nutrient goals There are multiple ways to structure a framework to work for people This is where we hit gray This requires that you understand what works for your own body by experimenting while keeping the principle of nutrient sufficiency in mind All human beings need adequate sleep on a consistent basis Humans do not thrive in a chronic stress environment We have to avoid prolonged periods of being sedentary There are a lot of different ways that we can be active It is simply about moving your body throughout the body Again, this is the gray - recognizing that there are these universal truths and that you have this amazing opportunity to really understand your body Detox your body from the things that prevent you from listening to your body Sarah's biggest criticism of intuitive eating as an anti-diet is that it makes space for these things we call food that completely undermind the principles in which they are based (39:45) When You Are Struggling to Get Results, How to Troubleshoot The first recommendation is to take a solid look at what you are eating Is there something that you are eating that might not be working for you Is there something you are not eating that your body really needs? Are you eating some nutrient dense foods? Or might you be missing a really important nutrient? You can do a three-day food journal Sarah recommends using an app like Cronometer or MyFitnessPal to take a look at the micronutrient details Also, take a look at lifestyle Are you getting enough sleep? Are you proactive in terms of stress management? Are you including activity every single day, but avoiding overtraining? Are you working on human connection? Are you getting outside into nature? There are certain underlying factors that are common that cannot be addressed with diet and lifestyle alone In these scenarios you can: Work with a functional medicine provider Doing testing with EverlyWellto really understand when, where and how a medication, supplementation, short-term intervention, or a change in diet and lifestyle would help you achieve the results you are after, where professional guidance is needed Stacy notes that this is where you have to understand that there comes a point when food may not be the reason why one struggles with weight When you feel like you are doing everything right, there are things that are happening on a deeper level that prevent you from achieving the results you are working towards The recommendations that Sarah is about to share is the opposite of where intuitive eating is going Intuitive eating is saying, look your diet isn't working for you so go ahead and eat whatever as long as you are "listening" to your body We see in alternative health communities in general where we keep eliminating more and more foods when we don't get the results we are working towards This is why there are fad diets right now that are very popular right now that have a very limited collection of foods that are going to dietary extremes These are not healthy practices and they are not scientifically valid When you take a look at the common barriers that are straightforward to test forward, and when you work with an integrative or functional medicine practitioner to help manage these things it can be relatively straightforward And looking at these pieces can make all the pieces of the puzzle fit together To determine where to start, take a look at your symptoms Do food journaling to capture these details Here are the most common barriers: Food Allergies and Intolerance IgE, IgG Possible Food Sensitivities FODMAP Sensitivity Histamine Sensitivity Sulfite Sensitivity Salicylate Sensitivity Oxalate Sensitivity Hormone Imbalances Adrenal fatigue Hypothyroidism Sex hormone imbalance Persistent Infections Parasites H. Pylori Epstein-Barr Lyme Gut Health Problems Poor digestion SIBO Severe Nutrient Deficiencies Vitamin D Any essential vitamin or mineral When one is showing signs of resistance to weight loss, people tend to then adopt a more extreme diet strategy Sarah would call the intuitive eating, antidiet still an extreme diet strategy It is like the extreme opposite of the rules-based one, but it is still getting off course in terms of how food impacts health because it is not just energy in and energy out It is human nature to be attracted to these more extreme approaches If nutrient deficiencies are the thing holding you back from health, cutting out more foods or embracing junk food and not feeling guilty about it, are not going to approach that will correct a nutrient deficiency If anything these approaches will magnify that deficiency Changing our food is not always going to be the solution This is why Sarah thinks increasing our education around health topics so that more people really understand the universal truths about diet and lifestyle, where all the gray areas are, where you have flexibility vs. the need for self-experimentation, and where to troubleshoot in a smart way Whether you embrace dietary rules or are anti-rules, neither of these paths are the solution The solution is a more thorough education for everyone (1:00:23) Closing Thoughts Working towards ideal health is an ongoing journey, that changes based on the various seasons of life Nothing is static You can be doing everything right one day and wake up the next not feeling your best That is not a personal attack on you, it is not because you did something wrong that you need to feel guilty about It's a sign and a symptom for you to say, ok let me listen, let me test, let me do these things to work towards feeling my best If you want rules, ask yourself is this going to help me feel my best For Stacy it is difficult because it is part of a community that she understands and genuinely gets it - diet culture is awful However, she is not on board with the idea of walking away entirely from the idea of health and working to personally define what that means to you Sarah reiterated that it is so important to remember that the goal isn't to get to thin, the goal is to get to healthy There was so much about intuitive eating that Sarah was hugely on board with when she was first reading up on it However, her enthusiasm hit a wall when food quality was completely disregarded Food quality DOES matter We have to nourish our bodies It is not an everything in moderation - this is not what our bodies need We can implement our dietary choices to make room for treats We don't need to feel guilty about making choices that are suboptimal  Yes, let's ditch the diet culture mentality, but it DOES matter what we put into our body Food absolutely can make us feel bloated and lethargic We are programmed to celebrate with food, to socialize with food, and bond over food To say that any emotional response that you have to food means that you have a mental health issue that needs to be addressed is wrong However, Sarah does agree with the fact that addressing our unhealthy attachments to food and our mental health issues around food is an important part of our health journey  Stacy thinks that intuitive eating is appealing to those who are desperately searing for something to feel better; who are struggling emotionally and physically  This program puts them on an unintentional roller coaster that is just as bad for them as what they were doing before You have to know your body and to find the foods that nourish your body To learn more and fine-tune your approach to healthy living, be sure to check out EverlyWell  Ultimately Stacy and Sarah want to educate you and provide you with tools that will help you live your best life Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(0:41) Welcome Welcome back! Stacy and Sarah are now recording the show bi-coastal Stacy is in Seattle and well caffeinated for this week's recording Matt and Stacy are on day 6 of their summer travel adventure Matt left Virginia and drove across the country to meet Stacy in Seattle, visiting a number of National Monuments with Cole along the way Finn and Stacy went to New York, and Wesley was with Stacy's mom It was nice to all meetup and come together on the West coast Sarah hopes the rest of the trip is smooth sailing and filled with memorable adventures Sarah is still trying to settle into summer with her family It was off to a hectic start, and the kids are starting to settle into free time They are planning to have a low key summer this year The family is working on the next level of their citizenship, so that will be taking up a bit of time Sarah wanted to take this podcast to discuss the recent updates she made to the Autoimmune Protocol She wants to use every channel she has to communicate this latest science In the grand scheme of things, these are relatively small changes, but they are important tweaks The Paleo Approach was published in January 2014, so in those 5 1/2 years there has been a lot of science published that is very relevant to understanding how diet and lifestyle impact immune function Sarah has been procrastinating finishing The Gut Microbiome book She is in this last hard grind of that project and is happy to get distracted by any other project right now The research form the last three to five years has been where Sarah has spent most of her time, which will also feed into the Gut Microbiome book as well Since last fall Sarah has been spending time doing a really thorough review of this literature Looking for new studies that she may have missed Doing targeted searches for specific topics Working to understand what is preliminary research These new revisions to the autoimmune protocol reflect the new science that adds to our understanding of these gray area foods and ultimately shifts that category a little bit (11:15) The Latest Findings There are now two clinical trials published using the AIP where the participants are given The Paleo Approach and The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook They are taken through Angie's SAD to AIP in 6 transition program and then they maintain AIP strictly for another 4 to 5 weeks depending on the study We are measuring improvements The first study was published in fall 2017 It was done on patients with active inflammatory bowel disease They transitioned to the autoimmune protocol and over those 6 weeks with what was called a 5-week maintenance phase 73% of the patients were in full clinical remission by 6 weeks So by the time they finished transitioning to the AIP they were in full clinical remission 100% of participants saw improvements in those markers of disease activity and they still all saw continuous improvements in those markers throughout the five-week maintenance phase So a really compelling study right out of the gate Just published last month in 2019 there was a very similarly designed study on women with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis They did the same gradual transition over 6-weeks, followed by a 4-week maintenance phase This study was looking at a condition that is not as straightforward to measure how active the immune attack is They were able to measure a very substantial decrease in the clinical symptom burden The average at the beginning of the study was 92 points, and after four weeks on the full AIP was down to 29 Which is basically going from this is impacting my everyday life to this is a minor nuisance This study again produced very compelling data There is a study getting off the ground right now on the impact that AIP plays on Psoriasis and Eczema, and if you are interested and able to support this kind of research, please visit: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/medical-study-on-eczema-psoriasis-and-aip#/ The more medical studies that we have that come out of PubMed and clinical trials that show improvements in health as a result of Paleo/AIP diet and lifestyle changes, the more doctors will be willing to try it with their patients or advise them on these options on how to approach their conditions This will only help others in all corners of the world gain access to the latest information on how to improve their quality of life and overall health and wellbeing The more science and research there is on these topics, the more compelling it becomes for medical professionals A study that shows 73% of participants in full clinical remission is astounding Such powerful data is coming out of these studies as we are able to now start answering the common question - "how long" (23:04) Updates to AIP As a result of these new studies, Sarah has added a gut health superfoods focus This is through all of this new research on the gut microbiome Just in the last few years, we have learned that our gut bacteria control the structure of the tight junctions between our gut cells For a long time now there have been studies showing that gut dysbiosis is potentially a precondition for every autoimmune disease Adding in this extra piece of, "yo, you can't heal your gut barrier if you don't heal your gut microbiome" They have to go hand in hand because your gut bacteria is controlling your gut barrier It makes sense to really nurture our gut microbiome through AIP AIP (the Autoimmune Protocol) is a nutrient-dense anti-inflammatory diet that eliminates all foods that are potential drivers of immune activity in autoimmune disease while focusing on flooding the body with nutrients and providing both the resources and opportunities for the body to heal itself It's basically a more specific version of Paleo, it's a little bit stricter and a little bit more systematic It involves more eliminations, but also more of a what to eat focus There is a reintroduction protocol where you test your individual tolerance to the foods that are eliminated that have a gray area status You find your individual maintenance version of AIP, while also dialing in lifestyle factors that are important inputs to how the immune system is functioning Adding this focus on gut health superfoods really recognizes the importance of restoring the gut microbiome in healing Most of the foods that are gut microbiome superfoods are also nutrient-dense foods A wide variety of vegetables and some fruit Seafood Organ meat Different families of fruits and vegetables feed different species of bacteria and they are independently beneficial It is really about trying to hit as many of those different groups of vegetables every single day That is a different way of thinking about the high vegetable consumption on AIP Some other foods that are also really important on the gut microbiome: Green and black tea Fish and shellfish Extra virgin olive oil Honey and bee products Bone Broth Fermented foods Edible insects Sarah shared feedback on how to slowly build up gut bacteria and how to slowly build up your fiber intake With gut dysbiosis, a large shift in diet can trigger symptoms The way we can get around that is by slowing down that part of the shift (38:34) The Other Changes The other changes to the Autoimmune Protocol are all in the orders of reintroduction Coffee: Regular coffee consumption has been moved from Stage 3 to Stage 1 (occasional basis) and Stage 2 (daily basis) Cocoa: Cocoa and dark chocolate (dairy-free, soy-free) has been moved from Stage 2 to Stage 1 Potatoes: These nightshade-family vegetables have been moved from Stage 4 to Stage 3 in peeled form, but remain in Stage 4 unpeeled Cashews and Pistachios: These nuts used to be in Stage 3, separated from other tree nuts and but have now moved to Stage 2 and included with other nuts and seeds Dairy: The highest-protein dairy products (like cheese, cottage cheese, milk, and isolates) have been moved from Stage 4 to Stage 3, with a clarification that these products be from grass-fed animals Legume Sprouts: Legume sprouts were not previously addressed in the reintroduction stages. They are now included in Stage 1 Chia Seeds: Chia seeds from the other pseudo grains (which remain in Stage 4) and moved them to Stage 2 with tree nuts and seeds Split Peas, Lentils, and Garbanzo Beans: These have been separated from other dried-bean legumes (which remain in Stage 4) and moved them to Stage 3 You can find all of these changes on Sarah's website here: https://www.thepaleomom.com/updates-to-the-autoimmune-protocol/ https://www.thepaleomom.com/start-here/the-autoimmune-protocol/ Sarah is working to make this information as widely available as possible, so she has created an eBookthat is the most up to date version of the Autoimmune Protocol It has all of this information in it, but it is also a very comprehensive book It is over 300 pages and it is very practical focused  The eBook also includes 4 weeks of meal plans and shopping lists, and all of the recipes that go with them This gives Sarah a way to directly communicate with the AIP community because she can upload an update to that eBook and those who own the eBook will have instant access to that update (44:29) Closing Thoughts Stacy loves that there is now science to show what AIP does to overall health It takes time for these results to come through, but we are seeing them now and are excited to share these details with listeners Even if you are an old veteran at this, maybe it will give you a reason to reach out to that person that could feel better with their own life and health if they were to make those changes too Thank you, listeners, for tuning in! Stacy and Sarah will be back again next week! Stacy has events planned in a number of locations along their journey Come meet Stacy and bring your cookbooks to get signed To get the information and RSVP, check Stacy's highlight bubble on Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(0:41) Welcome Welcome back to The Paleo View listeners! This week Stacy and Sarah are excited to welcome their guest, and good friend, and chef extraordinaire, most interesting man in Paleo, and that's not to mention all the work titles he has - Russ from The Domestic Manis here with us today Sarah noted that she is way overdue for a visit with Russ and his family Stacy is looking forward to seeing both Russ and his wife while Stacy and the family is on the road for their summer travels The experience of preparing for a cross-country road trip has been quite interesting Matt and Stacy will be starting a family podcast about it so they can travel vlog and capture the memories This week Stacy and Sarah asked Russ to join the show to share on his latest project He has been working for about four years on his self-published, latest book, The Heritage Cookbook You can get an e-copy now, or you can preorder a hard copy and automatically receive the e-copy Stacy has seen the eBook and has tested recipes from it She finds this book to be really interesting because it is not just a cookbook, it's an exploration of DNA and ancestry and how our heritage influences our culture, our health, and our food Stacy thought it would be interesting this week to explore Stacy and Russ's experiences with DNA testing and to learn a bit on what they can glean from these tests Sarah geeks out over blood tests and is chomping at the bits to cover this topic (5:56) More on Russ Russ is in the military and has been for almost twenty years now Five years into his service he had a stroke, which came out of nowhere He was hospitalized for awhile He was only 24 at the time While he recovered really quickly, he lost all the function on the left side of his body and had to re-learn how to write and walk A year after his stroke things got way worse and he ended up going back to the hospital and telling them that something was off and not feeling right From that point, he lived in a military hospital for a really long time They ended up diagnosing him with an autoimmune disease, where he has inflammation in his arteries He was put on a ton of medication to try to balance everything within his body The medication was causing all sorts of issues so Russ ended up having open heart surgery It was a really drastic surgery, but he made it out of that ok After a 6 month recovery, it all got worse again because he hadn't fixed any of the issues within his body He went right back on all of the same medications A few years after all of this, Russ found a random blog article covering Robb Wolf's book The Paleo Solution, when it has first come out This book inspired him to change his diet Sure enough, a lot of his issues began to disappear after a month Russ went back to the doctor to have his bloodwork checked, and the data showed improvements in his health Russ began blogging about his experience to hold himself accountable and to share his experience It blossomed into a bigger following than he ever expected since it was just a hobby at the time He ended up getting a book deal working with Stacy and published The Ancestral Table and then Paleo Takeout Russ had planned on publishing more books in the future and he had all these big ideas, but something happened in him where it became really important to learn more about his own family Russ's birth father was in the navy, and he met Russ's mother in San Diego when his father was stationed there They got married and had two children Russ's father was out of the picture when he was three and he was raised by his stepfather There was a level of curiosity that Russ had to explore his ancestry Especially once Russ had kids he wanted to learn more about his DNA and ultimately the traits he passed on to his kids He did DNA research to understand what the science says about his genes And then he worked to learn more about his Dad and where his genes are from Through Russ's ancestry research he learned a lot about his father and family He was able to find extended family members on Facebook and connect with them Once he had a few names he was able to do the research and find his entire paternal ancestry This inspired him to start thinking about the types of food he craves and how genes impact cravings Digging into his heritage and what likely shaped his palate from a genetics standpoint, led him to ask the question - how does this work for others This inspired his latest book, which obviously took a lot of research since it was four years in the making He is very happy with what came out of it and is proud of the final product (10:02) Q & A Stacy asked Russ what his biggest takeaway was from the research he conducted He thought there was going to be these secret foods that were fine-tuned to his genetic traits However, science is nowhere near there There are a few things available in research that shows how our ancestry impacts our digestive abilities Russ realized that the best way to find out how people thrive is to look at historical eating patterns over history So when Russ wrote The Heritage Cookbookit ended up being a food history book He looked up each of the major food groups and looked at what the origin of the food is and this is how he developed and assembled the cookbook You end up with a cookbook where you can look up your heritage and learn about the eating patterns relevant to your background and then you can go to the recipes relevant to those regions The book is nearly 800 pages long and has 300 recipes in it Sarah asked about the research process for being able to teach himself how to cook with these different methodologies Russ first figured out what our actual ancestor breakout is in the United States He then divided up the number of recipes he was going to dedicate to a specific region based on how many people are from that region He looked through history books and looked at the staple dishes for the various regions, and then had to figure out how to make these staple recipes work in a modern kitchen Russ wanted to connect people with their ancestors via these recipes, but to also keep them approachable so that people actually want to make the recipes in the book When creating this book, Russ had his wife in mind She is not an expert chef, but she is great at following a recipe He wanted to keep the recipes approachable at her level She is very particular with the way that she approaches a recipe, and Russ wrote the book with this skill level in mind If you loved Russ's first two books you are going to love how Russ has expanded culturally the same concept, especially from The Ancestral Table Stacy noted how special it is to connect with a culture, even if it is not a part of your ancestry, by reading about that culture's history in this book and then cooking those cuisines Russ shared more about his research process and the way he had to almost play detective with pieces of information that are available, and the way he had to go about testing recipes, piecing the details together It was very important to Russ to bring recipes back to life that may have been fading from use, both within a specific culture and to others who wouldn't have had a chance to try them otherwise (36:07) Experiences with Blood Testing Sarah's personal approach has almost been the flip side of the coin She has used her DNA to really understand her diet The approach that Sarah has taken has been at a micro level, and she loves the way Russ has taken a more macro approach to look at heritage data when deciding how best to eat for our health Sarah also noted how special it is to see the way this book brings back a level on interpersonal touchpoints within the family that have started to fade in the age of connectivity (i.e. learning how to prep a recipe from Grandma) Russ shared on his personal journey finding his ancestral history and visiting the places where his family was from From his research and explorations, Russ found that his DNA test and his ancestary.com results don't define who he is today Russ dedicated this book to his parents and his children Stacy's mother was adopted and up until two years ago she didn't know anything about her birth family When you are adopted you have no idea about your health history Stacy's mom used ancestary.com and 23andme She found a lot of information about her family and was able to meet many family members who were living within a close distance These interactions also allowed Stacy and her mom to understand a lot more about their health history and the kinds of cancer that are prominent within their family Russ shared more about what it meant to find out about his family's history and learning about their lives, where they died, where they are buried Connecting with family members as an adult, when you didn't know they existed your entire life is a bizarre experience to navigate Stacy touched on why some people don't want to utilize DNA and genetic testing when they would rather not know certain details surrounding their family and extended family members Sarah noted that there are ways to utilize genetic testing without opting-in to learn about genetic relatives and to not have your information listed within the database so that others can contact you It is possible to get the scientific, medically relevant details without learning about the family dynamic pieces (1:03:02) Closing Thoughts Stacy thanked Russ for joining Stacy and Sarah on this week's Paleo View episode and for sharing his story A huge thank you for also putting together this amazing body of literature To find out more on Russ, visit here: https://thedomesticman.com To learn more about his new book and to grab a copy, visit here: https://theheritagecookbook.com/ Thank you, listeners, for being here! If you have your own story about taking any of these ancestry tests, we would love to hear about them in the comments section on these blog posts or on social media Thank you, everyone, for tuning in! Stacy and Sarah will be back next week, and Stacy will be on the road! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(0:41) Welcome Welcome back listeners to The Paleo View to episode 355! We are glad you are here! This week's topic is one that Stacy asked Sarah about long ago, and it has taken her that long to do the research There are a lot of myths around this topic, so this show is more of a myth-busting discussion Be warned listeners, Stacy and Sarah may agree to disagree on various points within this discussion This show is sponsored by Butcher Box, one of The Paleo View' longtime partners on the podcast Stacy and Sarah are so glad to have them back and look forward to telling listeners more about their products You can get $15 off your first order plus free bacon by visiting https://www.butcherbox.com/thepaleoview/ The topic this week is wired bras, shapewear, and compression stockings This has been a blog post topic bubbling in Stacy's head for two years However, when Stacy started staying home and left her corporate job, she started wearing wired bras less often and made a statement regarding how she had lowered her risk of breast cancer - which wasn't a true statement, as addressed by her followers Stacy thought it was a scientific fact because it is mentioned so often that wired bras increase your risk of breast cancer Where Stacy thinks that Sarah and her will have some nuances on their discussion is on Shapewear because Stacy has personally worn body shapewear on almost a daily basis, which she found did have positive impacts Sarah found that this was a challenging topic to research To ease the research process, Sarah divided the topic of compression garments into three main areas Shapewear Bras Compression stockings From here Sarah tried to look into what research has been done on each one of these individually Tangent - corset wear and corset training can cause a lot of health issues, which has been known for a long time now This is a different thing because it is no longer a normal fashion anymore Shapewear today doesn't compare even close to the same level of compression that corsets did/do So for today's discussion, corsets are not a part of the discussion Stacy just wants to take a moment to honor Sarah's soapbox about women's appearances Stacy is living for that and is here for it There is societal normalcy that you may want to participate in when it comes to wired bras and shapewear Stacy lost a lot of weight and had a lot of sagging skin; her shapewear gave her comfort during a certain time in her journey (14:05) Research on Compression Garments There is a difference between low-pressure compression garments vs. medium compression garments High pressure would be corset training There is some science that separates out low pressure vs. medium pressure garments There are some documented effects of shapewear, specifically with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease There have been studies comparing individuals wearing compression garments on the abdomen and those who experience rapid weight gain, as the symptoms are very similar What has come out of this research is a substantial increase in acid reflux, to the point where one paper showed a higher risk of hernias in the top of the stomach So with abdominal compression, there is a doubling of  the amount of reflux and a slowing down of reflux clearing after meals This particular study looked at people who already had GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease)  They were then studying the occurrence of reflux after a meal and showing that when these individuals had abdominal compression garments on they had twice the amount of reflux events, compared to not wearing anything There have been no studies looking at healthy people without a GERD diagnosis, looking to see if they wear a compression garment if they will develop acid reflux as well It is important to say that the science does not support the statement that wearing abdominal compression garments causes reflux   If you do all of these diet and lifestyle things correct, it should mean that you don't have acid reflux Would compression wear cause acid reflux? There is no way to answer that question at this point Stacy notes that while the science might not be there (yet) that if one is wearing compression wear and is experiencing digestive issues, there may be symptoms to take personal note of Sarah noted that there are plenty of doctors who have been interviewed who have noted that they have seen increased IBS symptoms and urinary incontinence when patients wear compression garments So while the science is not there, Sarah would definitely suggest experimenting with this if you wear tight compression garments and you experience these symptoms - try a week without them, and see what happens There is another study that looked at the higher end of medium compression garments worn to control swelling and scar formation after having a tummy tuck They weren't looking at women who have had an abdominoplasty, they were looking at this type of compression garment because of one of the risks associated with this surgery - deep vein thrombosis (DVT) They were looking to see if the DVT was related not to the surgery itself but to the compression garment worn after surgery They did see a more sluggish blood flow in the femoral vein when women were wearing that compression garment It was made worse by certain body positions that slowed down blood flow There are other benefits and studies showing that if you discontinue wearing the compression garment before the scar is completely matured, that the scar can get much worse So there are other reasons for this compression garment Sarah thought this was an interesting additional thing to look at This is a much higher form of compression than what is normal for shapewear, but it does imply that there is an additional thing to think about for people with blood clotting disorders There was another study that Sarah looked at that researched similar garments being worn for postpartum hemorrhage treatment This measured blood flow in the legs and showed no change, but they were focused on arteries and not veins There are 600 studies looking at different types of compression wear on exercise performance and muscle recovery It is worth noting that there are other therapeutic uses of compression garments After plastic surgery Varicose vein management Wound healing Lymphodema Scar management None of what Stacy and Sarah are discussing today is centered on these well established medical procedures that use compression garments These are different situations There are trends and styles that mimic compression garments and let's be honest, they aren't fun (32:20) Bras and Cancer Both Stacy and Sarah have heard claims, but never dove into the research to see if this statement was supported, that bra wearing (especially wired bras) was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer It turns out that this urban legend originated from a paper from 1991 that was a fairly small study There was a nonstatistically significant trend towards increased breast cancer incidents with wired bra wearing This is where understanding what statistical significance means is really helpful There was high variability in this study, so it is really hard to make average statements because your data is all over the place This 1991 paper, with low-quality data, became an urban legend that caused people to throw out their bras based on this fear factor There was a really well-done study out of the Seattle area that looked at women with cancer and match controls It was a prospective study They looked at bra wearing habits and separated out all the different aspects of bra wearing to determine if there was any link between these aspects and breast cancer incidents They found absolutely zero links This was a 2016 study that conclusively showed that bra wearing does not increase cancer risk Sarah did find a case study of a woman who developed Mondor's disease from wearing too tight of a bra This is something that was seen with a very high level of compression There are no concerns in regards to breast health when women are wearing normal well-feeling bras We as consumers have to learn to look a little deeper (41:28) The Conclusive Science Shapewear has this whole body image part of the conversation Why are we feeling pressure to wear this stuff in the first place? But as Sarah was getting into the research on compression garments, what stood out and is very well studied is the benefits of compression stalkings in particular on athletic performance There has been a lot of studies showing a significant, although modest effect, in strength training athletes wearing compression stockings during and after working out can decrease delayed muscle soreness and improve muscle recovery Any small impact that you can have on improving muscle recovery in strength training equals bigger gains, which is something strength training athletes are all about There is also an effect on endurance athletes A lot of studies have shown that endurance athletes will also have better muscle recovery after training There is also a small improvement in performance in endurance athletes Most of that research has been done on lower body compression There is a couple of studies who have started to look at upper body compression and the results are mixed at this point, there isn't enough data These studies essentially say that by applying some compression to the muscles you are allowing for things like lactic acid build up in the muscles to flush more efficiently and you are allowing the actual repair of muscle fibers to occur more efficiently There have been a few studies that have branched out into those who are not athletes One that stood out to Sarah was looking at patients who had at least two cardiovascular disease risk factors When they were wearing compression garments they fatigued more quickly This shows that studies done on athletes aren't always applicable to us "normal people" If you are an active person with a sport, playing with compression wear is interesting However, if you don't experience these results, it shouldn't come as a surprise as these studies show results in elite athletes (47:48) Closing Thoughts Stacy thanked Sarah for always digging into the science and for being our honest voice and for holding us all accountable to the scientific truth Sarah has the rule for herself that she won't write about or recommend or create resources around something just because it worked for her Evidence led has become her guiding point when creating resources She really tries to understand the full body of scientific literature Sarah is much more interested in understanding the why's behind contradictory information and trying to form a detailed picture Instead of trying to simplify everything as right or wrong Thank you, listeners, for being here and for hanging tough! Sarah thinks Butcher Boxis the right stuff Step by step Butcher Boxlooks after your health from the farm to your plate by sending you a curated collection of high-quality meat to your door on a subscription basis Thank you Butcher Boxfor sponsoring this show! If you want to get $15 off and free bacon you can go to https://www.butcherbox.com/thepaleoview/ No coupon code required Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(0:41) Welcome Welcome back, listeners! Stacy had an emergency room visit over the weekend The doctor said it was all good news because they couldn't find anything wrong with Stacy Shortly after Stacy then came down with a stomach bug She is feeling a bit better now Stacy is excited to discuss vitamin D on this week's episode because it ties in very well with the start of summer and some of the health issues she has been dealing with as of late This is the first episode sponsored by EverlyWelland Stacy wants to take a moment to welcome and thank them for their support Stacy and Sarah will be sharing more about EverlyWellwithin this episode, but to check them out and receive 15% off your order, visit this linkand enter 'ThePaleoView' at checkout Sarah loves EverlyWellbecause they search for the labs that have the best quality of each kind of test and then they facilitate the tests through the best labs and then get the results to you very quickly They offer blood spot, salvia, and urine tests They take data very seriously and keep everything confidential Everything is processed through certified labs It is cheaper for Sarah to go through EverlyWellfor her vitamin D test than it is to go through her medical provider because of the copay fee associated with her primary doctor A lot of these tests are often not available through conventional doctors Sarah wants to note to be careful to not self diagnose based on the lab results; to instead take the results to a doctor so they can provide an official medical opinion Be sure to refer to this podcast episodefor more information on how to select a doctor when determining who best to work with when reviewing your lab results (7:31) Why is Vitamin D so important? It is estimated that as much as 75% of people living in Western countries are deficient in vitamin D This is because we grow our food indoors, our diet is deficient in vitamin D, and we spend less time outside It is incredibly challenging to get vitamin D from our diet We are not spending enough time outside to make our own vitamin D There are also a lot of things that can interfere with vitamin D synthesis (ex: if you are inflamed, if you are overweight, fructose consumption) Vitamin D deficiency is rampant, and not just in those who consume a SAD, but also in the Paleo community Once you are deficient in vitamin D there is no amount of sunbathing or fresh seafood eating that will help you restore those levels You will have to supplement once deficient Sarah doesn't typically support supplementation unless for targeted reasons after testing and under the supervision of a healthcare provider She far prefers that we get all of the nutrients that our body needs from food Vitamin D is really different from other nutrients though Stacy and Sarah discussed how very important it is to not let this topic overwhelm you but to take note that this is an important area to address in your overall health and well-being work Vitamin D is not just a vitamin, it is a hormone This is a steroid hormone like cortisol, testosterone, estrogen It has a cholesterol backbone We get a little bit from our diet, but most of it is synthesized by our skin cells from cholesterol using UVB energy from the sun to drive that formation We need UV radiation from the sun for this particular vitamin synthesis A lot of other vitamins are often used as cofactors, they are used to help facilitate some type of chemical reaction But vitamin D actually causes communication between different systems in the body It can turn on or off more than 200 different genes Diverse functions: mineral metabolism bone mineralization and growth biosynthesis of neurotrophic factors hormone regulation cell survival and division circadian rhythms immune system regulates the formation of antioxidants modulates the activity of macrophages and dendritic cells controls subpopulations of T cells (decreases Th1 cells) modulates the activity of T cells and B cells regulatory T cell function is dependent on vitamin D gut health protects mucosal barrier homeostasis deficiency exaggerates intestinal permeability caused by infection deficiency leads to shifting toward pathogenic bacteria (Helicobacter, Veillonella, and Erysipelotrichaceae) supplementation restores levels of probiotic bacteria (Lactococcus, Akkermansia) supplementation increases microbial diversity Pretty much every important function of the immune system is regulated by vitamin D Vitamin D deficiency essentially causes increased susceptibility to infection, that's why it is linked with cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, autoimmune disease, kidney diseases, osteoporosis, and all other chronic illnesses Sarah has been digging into the research on vitamin D and gut health It has been known for a very long time that vitamin D is responsible for regulating the integrity of barrier tissues within the body Vitamin D deficiency causes increased intestinal permeability, which causes leaky gut and exaggerates how leaky our gut gets in response to an infection What is really interesting to Sarah is that fairly new research is showing that the composition of our gut microbiome is sensitive to our vitamin D status So it is a new idea that our gut microbiome is shaped by our hormones Vitamin D deficiency by itself causes gut dysbiosis and there are a number of studies that show that vitamin D supplementation can restore levels of probiotic bacteria There is also evidence that supplementing can dramatically increase microbial diversity Vitamin D is basically a linchpin - if we get this one thing dialed in, we can essentially get all these other things to fall into place This is a super hormone, where vitamin D's roles are so diverse that if you can get vitamin D dialed in, it will make all the other pieces fall into place Getting enough vitamin D naturally is a huge challenge for most of us Vitamin D impacts other linchpins This is why Sarah feels that testing vitamin D levels is something that we should all do (27:08) Where do we get vitamin D from? How much vitamin D we produce in response to sun exposure depends on a lot of factors Latitude of your location Time of year Cloud coverage Time of day outside How much of your skin is exposed In ideal conditions, and with your internal health at optimal levels, you will synthesize adequate levels of vitamin D in seven minutes of sunbathing If you live farther north, it would take somewhere between thirty minutes and an hour and a half of sun exposure every single day, in the middle of the day, in the summer on a sunny day, to get enough vitamin D The time extends based on how much you are covered up The older you are, the less efficient your vitamin D synthesis is The more tan you are or the more naturally dark skin you are the less efficient you are at making vitamin D - so you need to spend even more time outside to make the same amount of vitamin D Even indoors there aren't UV wavelengths that we are getting exposed to even if we are sitting near a window or sitting in our car Given that we are spending more time indoors than ever before in human history and that there aren't even small amounts of UV radiation getting indoors that would have years ago, this is the biggest reason why we are so vitamin D deficient as a society Vitamin D is measured in IU (international units) and about 40 IUs is equivalent to one microgram Wild fish is the highest vitamin D food and pasture raised meat is second A serving size would have between 600 and 1,000 IUs of vitamin D A therapeutic dose of vitamin D from a supplement typically has between 5,000 and 50,000 IUs of vitamin D While vitamin D deficiency is rampant, it is not just a question of supplementing blindly because you don't want to overshoot the mark The functional medicine defined optimal range of vitamin D is between 50 and 70 nanograms per milliliter Sarah tries to keep her levels in that middle range, around 60 There is some research showing that between 70 and 100 nanograms per milliliter may have some therapeutic benefit in cancer and heart disease If you wanted to shoot for these kinds of levels, it would be situation dependent and only ever under medical supervision There is nothing in the human body where more is better Too much vitamin D is associated with brittle bones, too high of calcium levels, and a variety of GI issues (like nausea, vomiting, poor appetite, abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea) Elevated calcium levels can be a strain on the heart and the kidneys This is why retesting is so important Sarah recommends testing every three months to see how the changes you are making are impacting your numbers and to see what is placing you in the Goldilocks range Vitamin D is a slow mover - the vitamin D cycle in our body is about 2 months, so it takes a while to alter these levels within our body Continue to keep an eye on vitamin D levels and continue to adjust vitamin D supplementation as you are working on the lifestyle things to try to find that happy medium where you have a lifestyle that is sustainable and you are keeping your vitamin D levels in range (47:50) Closing Thoughts Stacy now understands why Sarah is encouraging Stacy to use EverlyWellto test her vitamin D levels Stacy ordered the vitamin D and inflammation test However, there is just a vitamin D test available on their siteas well Sarah is very impressed with what EverlyWellis doing and even had the chance to talk with their Medical Director about what they are doing for quality control and their model They are really about empowering the population to make testing accessible and affordable EverlyWelloffers such a huge variety of tests to help you dig deeper to troubleshoot and find the underlying factors that are holding our body back from responding to all of our good healthy choices Their mission and where this company's heart is at is so amazing So, if you are wanting to test your Vitamin D levels, be sure to visit: https://everlywell.com/thepaleoview Enter the code 'ThePaleoView' at checkout to receive 15% off your order A huge thank you to EverlyWell for sponsoring this show and for all the great work you are doing Thank you, listeners, for tuning in - we will be back again next week! Stacy's family is preparing to leave for their cross country road trip, so Sarah and Stacy will be a doing a little time warp in the next couple of weeks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(0:41) Welcome Hello listeners! Welcome to Memorial Day weekend! We have the bathing suit show for you this week! Stacy and Sarah are both seeing a ton of ads popping up, pushing summer six-pack shame Stacy is seeing a lot of people speak up about pushing back against this pressure This is a guaranteed soap box show with lots of tangents, but trust that there will be tons of science as well Stacy has witnessed the clap-back against certain influencers within Instagram Celebrities calling out other celebrities for endorsing products that are actually destructive towards your health This week Stacy and Sarah will be talking about feelings, bodies, health, all the things that summer gives us the feels for But first, a big thank you and shout out to this week's episode sponsor, Joov You know Stacy and Sarah both personally use and love their products If you are interested in learning more about their products and how Stacy and Sarah use their Joov, be sure to visit https://joovv.com/paleoview Sarah sees the beach body marketing as nothing more than predatory marketing It gets people on the yo-yo When we buy into this marketing, we end up in a cycle of poor self-worth We then put ourselves on a restrictive diet and we lose the weight we think we are supposed to lose for summer so that we can fit what society tells us we are supposed to look like And then we maintain that for a couple of months, but when fall comes we fall into a weight gain period through the holidays There are so many people this is true for We end up having this cyclical weight loss and weight gain This yo-yo dieting is actually more harmful to our health than just staying overweight Going back and forth and cycling is way more harmful than loving our bodies, focusing on health, nutrients, activity, sleep, and managing stress Wherever you are feeling uncomfortable (as it pertains to your summer experiences), Stacy and Sarah hope to help you find ways to recalibrate your thinking Ultimately the yo-yo mindest isn't just unhealthy physically, but it is also very unhealthy mentally and it puts us in a cycle of shame and negativity Years ago Stacy wrote a post about disordered eatingand when/why/how to take a look at your eating choices to avoid disordered eating behaviors People need to be careful about even yo-yoing within the Paleo template with challenges It is so hard on your body and is so hard on your emotions This will really take a toll on how you are able to enjoy your summer Stacy shared how her body shame from when she was young impacted her summers, and how her mindset shifted when she had kids She realized that she didn't want that shame mindset to impact her children and her experiences with them When you let go of these "ideals" the healthier you are mentally and the healthier you are physically because you aren't hiding during the summer - you are getting out there, living and being active It is so important to push outside of our comfort zone, know that it is going to be uncomfortable at first, but it will be so worth it (11:01) The Physical Impact of Yo-Yo Dieting Sarah wants to get into the physical side of this Why to let go of the mentality of having to look a certain way in order to have fun in the summer so that you can get away from yo-yo dieting When we are losing weight, we lose both body fat and lean muscle mass It is very challenging to design a plan to preserve muscle mass through fat loss It is not impossible, but most of the go-to ways for weight loss lead to muscle loss With most strategies, you are going to lose about a pound of muscle per pound of fat lost This is a typical body composition change while you are losing weight, especially through rapid weight loss strategies Ex: keto, low carb, severe calorie restriction, carb cycling The only way to avoid this is to eat a lot of protein and to carefully factor in the lifestyle pieces (like weight training, lots of sleep, and stress management) How much muscle you have on your body, versus how much fat you have on your body, is a better predictor of health If you have a lot of fat on your body, but you have a lot of muscle on your body as well, you don't have an increased risk of chronic health problems compared to someone who is "skinny fat" When we lose weight, especially rapidly, we are losing that important muscle mass And then when we fall off the wagon and gain that weight back it is easier to put fat back on rather than muscle There is a lot of science looking at people who have gone through multiple weight loss cycles (aka the yo-yo) and these studies show that these people over time keep increasing their body fat percentages This causes a greater increase in risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease It would have been healthier to just stay at the starting (higher) weight than to yo-yo It is really important to emphasize that there are ways to lose weight in healthy ways However, the equation boils down to focusing on the health part versus the weight part Avoid the mentality of having to look a certain way so that we sacrifice health in order to be a certain weight This is exactly what yo-yo dieting is Even at the 10/15 pound cycle level, it is gradually shifting body composition over the cycles towards one that increases the risk of chronic disease It is sacrificing health for weight Stacy is so in love with everything that Sarah said wants her to physically drop the mic The news article Stacy and Sarah discuss The graphs Stacy mentioned: Stacy shared her experience with losing a massive amount of weight multiple times and what happened when she went back to her "normal life" and how this impacted her over time More info on the study that produced the graph: 13 of the 14 Biggest Loser contestants regained the weight they lost 4 of them are heavier now than they were before the competition And nearly all of the contestants have slower metabolisms than before the competition and burn fewer calories than expected It makes it so much harder to not gain weight when your metabolism and hormones are all out of whack from having this huge loss and then regain The other thing to consider with weight loss is that you are releasing hormones that are stored in your body fat every time you lose weight Some of these can be negative as well So every time you lose weight you are putting yourself in a detox cycle with every yo-yo Let's say together as a community of friends that it is silly to subscribe to the idea that you have to look a certain way to enjoy your summer Sarah notes that the reason she included this graph in this week's show notes is because we have learned a lot from the Bigger Loser contestants in terms of why weight loss maintenance is so hard The science shows that pretty much every diet can help you lose weight It isn't actually hard to lose weight - it is hard to keep it off Statistics for years have shown that approximately 80% of people will gain the weight back over a five year period after a substantial weight loss The Biggest Loser contestants showed that this is because losing the weight so quickly tanked their metabolism Their metabolism never recovered This is likely because of the loss of lean body mass Our muscles burn a lot more calories than other parts of our body Our brains burn about 25% of our calories and our muscles burn most of the rest If we are losing muscle mass that directly impacts our basal metabolic rate The other impact here is on thyroid function Our thyroid hormones are directly controlling our metabolism There are now a variety of studies showing that rapid weight loss can reduce thyroid function There was a study published in 2017 showing that very low carb and ketogenic diets can actually cause hyperthyroidism This then requires thyroid hormone replacement Rapid weight loss has a pretty big effect on metabolism If your metabolism takes a small dip every single time you are losing weight because of the impact of thyroid function and loss of lean mass and it doesn't fully recover as you gain weight, your metabolism is slowly going down This means that you need fewer calories to lose your weight You end up chasing your deficits because you need a bigger and bigger caloric deficit in order to successfully lose weight every cycle To compound this, there is this additional effect on ghrelin Ghrelin is our hormone hunger that is the highest right before we eat It is the hormone that is responsible for us feeling hungry It is a really important hormone that feeds into a number of systems within our body There are studies that show that people who lose weight double their baseline ghrelin So when you lose weight quickly you reduce your basal metabolic rate and you increase your ghrelin so that you are hungrier You are basically creating a situation where you are setting yourself up to fail If the only focus is that you must be ripped/thin, and the focus is not on health, these are the consequences (26:33) Thinness vs. Health Sarah feels that there are a lot of myths around weight loss The focus is still on "how to trick your body" and "how to become a fat burning machine" These taglines are the wrong focus Most of us are probably healthier heavier than we think we need/want to be because having a little bit of extra stored energy is important for hormone regulation There are so many ways of measuring health that have nothing to do with the number on the scale or what size clothes we wear, and these measures are far more important Looking at hormones, insulin sensitivity, inflammation, body composition - these are all better predictors of chronic disease predictors and overall health We get in this cycle where we evaluate health based on a comparison between us and the cover of Sports Illustrated, which is not a picture of health Now we are sacrificing our health to try to achieve this misguided ideal It's far more important to focus on getting healthy to get thin instead of focusing on getting thin to get healthy The hardest thing that Sarah has had to learn in her own health journey is the words thin and healthy don't actually have the same definition Stacy brought up a great example of how this situation can go the other way when someone is sick and losing weight when they don't want to And this again does not mean that your body is not worthy of enjoying your summer experiences Stacy also noted that this year's Sports Illustrated bathing suit issue actually includes bodies of all sizes and is a huge stride in the right direction Over the last 50 to 60 years we have seen dietary guidelines focus on achieving low cardiovascular diseases factors and thinness, different than healthiness After these poor dietary guidelines have failed to achieve these goals, the conversation has gone so much more extreme, which is why these fad diets have had so much room to grow This is also why there is so much shame associated with struggling to maintain a lower body weight Step one of correcting this path that we are on as a society is redefining the conversation and the goals Defining health in terms of how we feel, our energy levels, the easy markers in our blood to measure, mood and how we handle stress, we would go a long ways towards fixing a lot of the bad information out there in terms of what the best diet practices are There are a lot of people who are not well and who wish they could put on lean muscle mass and focus on health If more of us could put ourselves in their shoes, and challenge our negative thoughts about our own weight, it would challenge what has become normal around striving for thinness This will also allow us to learn to focus on our health What am I doing and what can I be doing to focus on my health We have to learn to let go of this mentality of thinness being the ideal because the ideal is health and that looks different for everything Stacy would love to challenge everyone to really change their negative thoughts To not just turn those off, but to learn to shift those thoughts What is something positive and encouraging you can think about yourself? This will change so much about how you choose to live your life A mindset of negativity will snowball into disordered eating for most people, which feeds right into the yo-yo cycle The other thing that Stacy wants to mention is this idea of 'all bodies are swimsuit/bikini bodies' can cause some confusion and be taken too far There are so many people who then feel pressured to wear a bikini Stacy wants to encourage people to ultimately do what they feel comfortable doing, and wear what you feel comfortable wearing There is a difference between getting outside your comfort zone and loving yourself, and pushing yourself to feel uncomfortable This won't help it feel any better The 'fake it until you make it' mentality doesn't work for Sarah when it comes to body image She feels much better wearing something more flattering and modest since that is something she personally gravitates towards These are the style of clothes that make her feel pretty Find the clothing choices that make you feel beautiful (41:04) Closing Thoughts Sarah notes that these are hard concepts to challenge Even when you feel like you are doing all of the healthy things right, it is really hard to see all the diet propaganda and not second guess yourself Find a way to shut those influences off and to create a new bubble for yourself Learn to focus on the most important thing, which is honoring yourself and respecting yourself enough to make the healthy choice, not the societal pressure choice Before this week's show is wrapped up, Stacy wants Sarah to share a bit on the new Joov Go(the good entry model), what are the best uses for this? Sarah thinks that this depends on what your goals are Most of the Joovmodels have two different wavelengths that are clinically proven to benefit different systems, but the wavelengths work independently of each other The JoovGo only has the red light This wavelength is responsible for the skin health benefits (wrinkle reduction, scar reduction, skin tightening, increase in collagen) Sarah brings her JoovGo when she travels and she notices that it has a calming effect on her and help with her sleep quality while on the road She will typically do two or three 10-minute sessions, moving it around If you are looking to reduce inflammation or to manage pain, Sarah would suggest investing in the JoovMini You can build off the JoovMini, but you can't build off the JoovGo The JoovMini allows you to experience the benefits of both wavelengths Stacy notes that Joov offers a 60-day trial and free-return policy So if you want to test the JoovGo and see how it works for you, you can give it a try Sarah has a blog post on the science of Joovthat you can check out here To check it out, visit https://joovv.com/paleoview Thank you so much for listening this week! We hope that this information inspires you to have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and let go of all the stuff and just enjoy spending time with family and friends! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(0:41) Welcome Welcome back to The Paleo View listeners! And boy do we have a show for you today! This week Sarah and Stacy will be talking about sustainability While this is a topic that Sarah and Stacy talk about often as it pertains to diet and lifestyle, today's episode will focus on two specific pieces to the puzzle Why is sustainability so important What can we all do in general This episode was inspired by Earth Day and the new show Our Planet Stacy's son Finn came home from school recently with a lot of information on what resources will soon be gone, and Stacy is excited to see that this is a conversation even happening at that level So for this week's episode, we are going to get you listeners fired up so that you can walk away with some action items and feel inspired to talk to others about this as well There is no motive behind this episode, other than we want this planet to be here for our children We are going to mention a lot of different things you can do or places you can support and its because Stacy and Sarah are so very passionate about protecting the planet One of the things that Sarah did at her workshop in February was to end the entire event with a discussion on how our dietary priorities can translate into looking after the planet For this week's episode, Sarah looks forward to taking that conversation one step further and talking about our impact as human beings on the planet There are a lot of small adjustments that we can make that can have a really big impact Stacy wrote a blog post on Earth Daysharing ways in which you can not avoid damaging the environment, and ways in which you can reverse the damage as well What can you do to give back to the Earth? What can you do to help offset your carbon footprint? Sarah wants to note that Stacy and Sarah will be referring to net-zero carbon emissions, which means that ways in which we offset the carbon that we are putting out into the atmosphere This carbon is put into the atmosphere through the consumption of fossil fuels in various forms The by-product of consuming fossil fuels is the release of carbon dioxide into the air which is a greenhouse gas, which is increasing the average global temperature This has a lot of impact on things like the ice sheets, sea levels, major weather events This is creating a system where there is more energy in the atmosphere Heat is energy - so if you have more heat because of the rise in the average global temperature, you have more energy to put into something like a storm This is why we are seeing more extreme weather events Many catastrophic events can be traced back to manmade global climate change When preparing for this show, Sarah debated getting into some climate science However, she decided that it is so unequivocal - there is a consensus among climatologists that the increase in the average global temperature is driven by the greenhouse gases that humans are putting into the atmosphere It is a direct link There are multiple lines of evidence point to an explanation So we are just going to jump right into things we can do to achieve net zero carbon emissions That we both reduce our carbon footprint and also look at ways that we can remove carbon from the atmosphere We are going to hone in on real-world solutions and skip over the controversy thing because it is not a controversy (11:12) Reducing the Carbon Foot Print Sarah remembers that when she was in school they had the three R's - reduce, reuse and recycle and there are a ton of different strategies that fall under this banner that still apply today A real obvious place to start is being careful about what you throw in the trash and recycling anything that is recyclable Put a sheet on the fridge with information on what can go in your local recycle bin versus what needs to go in the trash bin If you have access to compost services or a yard where you can have a compost bin or a compost pile, these are simple steps that can help reduce how much waste you are producing that is going into landfills Know your recycling center policies - do you have to separate the items, or can they all go into one big bin? With a bit of research, you can also find local recycling centers where you can bring items that aren't picked up (ex: batteries, old electronics) When you can't hand items down (like old toys or clothes), you can drop these items off at a donation center or to a charity Be intentional and aware of what you consume that doesn't need to go into landfill or into an incinerator There is a lot of plastic waste in America that there isn't room for, which is then loaded on a barge and shipped overseas where other countries will take it and this is how plastic most often gets into the ocean Do what you can to limit your consumption of goods that requires fossil fuels to create If you set aside an area of your home, get a bucket with a lid that you put in the garage or closet, and put the items that need to go to the dump in that bucket Once it is full, simply load it in your car and next time you are driving by the dump just make a drop-off Sarah's kids love nature shows and they did watch all of the Planet Earths, all of the Blue Planets and all of the Our Planet episodes These are great educational resources to help train your family on why habit changes matter Watching Our Planet did inspire Sarah to up her recycling approach If you don't have solar power, are electric cars really helping the environment? Sarah discussed the various sources of power and the ways in which electricity are generated If you are not living in an area where coal is the main source of electricity than you are probably living in an area where an electric car will have a lower carbon footprint than a gasoline car Stacy encourages everyone to look up your recycling center's standards to make sure that you aren't adding items to your recycling bin that are going right into the dump Know your local resources, do the research and make the best choices for you Support brands that reuse plastic One of the brands that Stacy loves is Rothys- these are shoes made entirely of reused plastic Check out Certified B Corporation's websiteto see which brands are making investments in their business to offset their carbon footprint When you support these brands, you are supporting a brand that puts back into the earth Some other brands that Stacy and Sarah recommend are: Alter Eco Chocolate Seventh Generation Method G Diapers Earthbound Farms Peeled Snacks Patagonia Athleta Lunapads Klean Kanteen Beauty Counter King Arthur Flour Tropical Traditions Check out this blog postfor a full list of brands that Stacy recommends Sarah notes the flip side of this piece and encourages people to be aware of the companies that are not taking steps to support the environment, and are instead making the choice to do things at the environment's expense Sarah shared details on what is happening in the Amazon rainforest and Madagascar and how these ecosystems are being impacted by business practices in those areas What we lose when we lose species As carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere, plants take in carbon dioxide and put out oxygen So plants are the main way to sequester carbon dioxide at this time Don't let perfection be the enemy of the good, but also don't walk around with blinders on when selecting what brands you support through your dollars Give yourself permission to educate yourself on harmful practices and harmful companies, and give yourself permission to not support them and find alternatives This is where the local food movement is so critical Empower yourself to be motivated and do good, without guilt around not being perfect Allow your land to be planted and let part of your land be unmanicured There are many easy ways to locally increase the green space Even plants in your home or plants on your balcony can have an impact on the environment If everyone made a choice to do a couple of little things it would elongate how long our great great grandchildren have on this Earth and instill in them habits to take even more steps to heal the environment Stacy recommends checking out Crystal's site, Wholefed Homesteadfor ideas on how to use your land With a little bit of homework and commitment, you can make a difference Make changes that are sustainable and that set you up for success so that you don't give up (45:45) More Changes You Can Make Sarah notes that a simple place to start with change is to get reusable grocery bags and keep them in the car Purchase a reusable water bottle Keep a reusable coffee cup with you Set your thermostat a couple of degrees higher in the summer, and a couple of degrees lower in the winter Evaluate your transportation Pick up some reusable silicone or cotton bags for your produce - or skip the produce bags all together Remember don't let perfect be the enemy of good, make the best choices that you can at the time Matt and Stacy have also reduced the number of deliveries they are receiving Look for ways you can reduce packaging and frequency of deliveries There is a site where you can calculate your usageand how much you need to offset There are other things you can do to support initiatives outside of your house or your land If you are able to, you can donate trees, or water, or money towards sustainable sources of energy Check out BEF (Bonneville Environmental Foundation) And Climate Action Reserve– they review, certify and catalog offset programs It is very important to both Stacy and Sarah to instill this sustainability mindset in their children Here’s a list of resources we think are fantastic for sharing this with children of all ages: Matt and Stacy's post onArcadia Farm Campand theirwebsite UNESCO’slist of programsdevoted to teaching kids about the environment Children And The Environment: Why It’s Important To Teach Them Young There are also organizations doing great work sharing information on environmental protectionism that you can support: World Wild Life Fund Natural Resources Defense Council Friends of the Earth 350.org Environmental Defense Fund Sarah recommends doing your research and if an organization is consistent with how you want to support the planet, donate to a foundation if you can (53:56) Closing Thoughts Stacy thanked Sarah for tackling this topic with her This is something that Sarah is very passionate about and she is happy to bring this discussion to the podcast We need to live in harmony with the Earth, so it is a matter of figuring out how that harmony will work best with you Stacy hopes that today's show gave you some ideas on how you can make a difference Remember that you don't need to walk away from this show feeling guilty and like you need to do so many things Things happen over time Take time and make small steps towards big changes Feel good about every little thing you do When this podcast goes live, for just this weekend only, there is a special offer for Sarah's Essential Autoimmune Protocol Ebook Librarybeing made available It includes 32 AIP E-books including 6 of Sarah's It is the ONLY place where you can get Sarah's BRAND-NEW e-book, The Autoimmune Protocol: everything you need to jump-start your healing with the AIP today! The library is only $28 and 10% of all sales will be donated to charities working to expand and support the AIP community For more information, go here: https://www.thepaleomom.com/go/aip-library/ This resource is available for four days only - first thing Friday morning, through midnight Monday evening Thank you again, listeners, for tuning in! We will be back next week! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back, listeners! Sarah and Stacy are back to a regular recording schedule This morning America's royal baby was born This prince is half-American and that is pretty cool This week's episode is sponsored by Butcher Box Stacy loves Butcher Boxand she loves the convenience that they offer via their delivery service She also loves the variability they add to her well-stocked pork supply Stacy and Matt receive a custom box where you get a certain number of cuts based on the size of the box you select and then they can mix and match what they receive They know that the quality is good and that they are going to get what they need They haven't had to buy any meat from a grocery store since signing up for Butcher Box This has been a huge time and money saver A very substantial amount of the meat that Sarah's family eats comes from Butcher Box, but she loves their Surprise Box She has a few specific add ons that she gets with each delivery, but the main part is the surprise variety Sarah feels like her cooking is more inspired when someone else is choosing for her When Sarah makes her own meal choices, she often feels like the family is eating a lot of the same things Butcher Boxoffers a lot of flexibility and is a simple way to reduce stress by having high-quality meat delivered right to your doorstep from a trusted meat source On this week's episode, Stacy and Sarah are talking about stress and how they have reduced stress in their lives Stacy didn't at first utilize Butcher Boxand then when she did, she realized what a no-brainer resource it is You can put your subscription on hold at any time, which Matt and Stacy did when they went to Europe - you are not forced into anything Yes, it is convenient, but more importantly, the meat is so good The Paleo View listeners can give Butcher Boxa try and get $15 off your first box, plus receive free bacon No code is needed, but you have to sign up using this link to receive the perks mentioned above: https://www.butcherbox.com/thepaleoview/ (9:10) Let's Talk About Stress Baby This podcast theme was received via a social media request Years ago Stacy and Sarah did a joint presentation on this topic at AHS Stacy hit her one-month anniversary of working for herself and she has seen so many positives from a health perspective She has been getting more sleep, doing water aerobics and water therapy, she had time to connect with people in more meaningful ways All of this led to Stacy losing 10 pounds without changing anything else This was an obvious sign to Stacy that she was too stressed before and hormones were getting back into a place where they were healthier and happier As Stacy shared on this in social media people asked for Sarah and Stacy to cover the science behind how stress impacts our health Stacy hopes that listeners can walk away from this episode and implement any of these tips that feel right for you Don't listen to this episode and let your stress, stress you out more Sarah was surprised that they haven't yet done a deep dive on this topic Personally, Sarah has chronically struggled with stress It is her biggest challenge when implementing diet and lifestyle The place to start with this topic is the HPA Axis This is our flight or fight response; how our bodies detect danger and prepare to respond to it It is made up of the complex communication among three organs: The hypothalamus: The part of the brain located just above the brain stem that is responsible for a variety of activities of the autonomic nervous system, such as regulating body temperature, hunger, thirst, fatigue, sleep, and circadian rhythms The pituitary gland: A pea-shaped gland located below the hypothalamus that secretes a variety of important hormones, such as thyroid-stimulating hormone, human growth hormone, and adrenocorticotropic hormone The adrenal glands: Small, conical organs on top of the kidneys that secrete a variety of hormones, such as cortisol, epinephrine (also known as adrenaline), norepinephrine, and androgens How the HPA Axis works: The hypothalamus receives signals from the hippocampus Releases corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) Signals to the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) Signals to the adrenal glands to secrete cortisol and catecholamines (like adrenaline) Cortisol provides negative feedback to the pituitary and the hypothalamus What is true for these feedback systems, is that when they are always on, we become resistant to the signal If our adrenal glands can't keep up with the demand (i.e. HPA axis dysfunction - what use to be called adrenal fatigue) and can't produce cortisol you lose that negative feedback Some of the effects of stress are mediated by cortisol, but some of them are mediated by higher level signaling hormones So it isn't all about cortisol When this axis is turned on all the time and we are pumping out all of these hormones into our bloodstream chronically, it is the collective action of all of these hormones that cause so many problems With acute stress, essential functions for survival are prioritized - things like perception, decision making, energy, preparation for wound healing So what happens is functions that are not essential for immediate survival in that situation are not prioritized - things like digestion, reproductive function, growth, collagen and bone formation, etc. When that signal is never turned off, those nonessential functions are never prioritized The hormones that are part of the HPA axis end up controlling every function in our body Cortisol has a huge range of effects in the body, including: Controlling metabolism (thyroid function) Digestion Gut microbiome Insulin sensitivity Sex hormones Growth hormone Bone remodeling Kidney function Immune system Blood flow Center nervous system (impacting things like mood, depression, and anxiety) Chronic stress (via cortisol, cortisol resistance, CRH) causes:  Increases inflammation while reducing immune function Causes leaky gut and gut dysbiosis Reduces sleep quality, dysregulates circadian rhythms Changes to mood, depression, anxiety  Increases hunger, cravings, addiction Hinders productivity, problem-solving, and memory Causes insulin resistance and sex hormone imbalances Sarah often talks about the importance of managing stress from a productivity standpoint because stress highly impacts your ability to actually get stuff done This is the piece that hits Sarah personally The impact of chronic stress on CNS/mental health: High stress (acute or chronic) reduces performance and productivity Impairs memory retrieval Impairs memory and our ability to learn new information Induces a shift from a flexible, ‘cognitive’ form of learning towards rigid, ‘habit’-like behavior Hinders the transfer of knowledge and reduces cognitive flexibility in problem-solving Reduces collaborative capacity Deterioration in attention Reduces productivity Decreases risk aversion in men and increases it in women The immune system effect is also very problematic Chronic stress has been unequivocally shown to increase susceptibility to a variety of conditions, including autoimmune disease, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, osteoporosis, depression, infection, and cancer (31:11) Managing Stress If you can carve out some time in your day for resilience activities, you will become so much more efficient You will more than make up that time that you dedicate to resilience activities Managing stress makes you better at everything and makes you healthier too Stacy wants to take a moment to note that if you need more motivation to change your lifestyle and whatever aspect is affecting it, to dig deeper into the science and all of the many side effects of chronic stress mentioned above Take a look at any of Sarah's books and her blog for additional information There are things in your life that you can consider that you may not associate with stress that certainly impact your body's hormonal response (certain tv shows is a great example) Stress isn't just work or family dynamics It is easy for us to recognize psychological stress (deadlines, traffic, bill), but stressors often compound and physical stresses (a workout, sitting at a desk for a long time, not getting enough sleep, an injury) add to the impacts of stress When the psychological stresses feel beyond our control they are additive So if you are dealing with a deadline at work that is not a good time to be pushing it at the gym The physical stress of the workout is going to magnify the psychological stress There is a happy medium where a workout can help reduce stress, but heavy lifting or endurance training can increase your stress levels Not getting enough sleep is the most common physical stressor and this feeds into everything else Not getting enough sleep reduces our resilience to stress We are more easily stressed out over the littlest of stressors And then we have an issue actually falling asleep It is really important to recognize physical stressors on top of psychological stressors There are also chemical stressors to consider, like smoking, alcohol, drugs, allergen Sensory stressors, like loud noises or overcrowding and bright lights, also impact our stress levels It is important to recognize that all of these small things build up Where we can reduce stress if often in these small things Examples include: Be smarter about exercise Incorporate movement throughout your day Prioritize a bedtime Think about what we are putting into our bodies It is really important to think about stress in a more comprehensive way so that we can not just recognize how stress is impacting our bodies negatively, but also recognize what stress we as individuals are facing Stacy shared her personal experience with these "background stressors" and how these elements run in the background You don't think the one little straw will break the camel's back, but this is what basically happened to Stacy that created a cascade of challenges We have a hard time getting lost in the busy of life to slow down and recognize where the many sources of stress are hidden, or how important it is to prioritize a bedtime Stacy also spoke to new moms and how important it is to follow the age-old advice you are given as a sleep-deprived mother Sleep when the baby sleeps Say yes to help when it is offered Delegate the things that nag at you in the back of your mind (ex: folding the laundry) The best way that Sarah personally manages stress is to actually get stuff done She incorporates resilience activities daily, but working through her to-do list brings her a significant reduction in stress Stress impacts us all differently and how we can each best handle stress is an individual challenge to problem solves Sarah wants to note that a lot of the stress that we deal with is closely tied to how isolated we feel in our communities and how social media reduces our ability to truly connect and relationship build This has essentially removed a tool that we use to have for stress management Culturally families use to live multi-generationally within the home and help each other out, which isn't something you see these days Stacy notes how beneficial it can be to take a week and audit your stressors On a sheet of paper, take note of any time you feel that blah thing where you don't want to do something or deal with something Take a look at what can be removed, what can be delegated, what you can avoid, how you work through difficult things Stacy shared her personal example of how she handles the stress she feels around emails Sarah now creates a schedule for herself for the day, where she takes her to-do list and identifies when she is going to handle her various responsibilities Her time is batched and she is working on one task at a time She is much more efficient following this approach This has also been huge for managing work stress Sarah has also incorporated movement into her work in the form of her treadmill desk, which helps with her stress levels as well When it comes to managing stress there are two sides to the equation, reducing stress wherever we can and the other piece is increasing our resilience to stress When we build our resilience, the stressful thing doesn't have as big of a physiological response on our body There are many character traits that dictate our individual resilience to stress, but there are also things we can do to build that resilience There are three things that Sarah thinks are the most important things to do to build resilience to stress Prioritize sleep Incorporating movement and activity throughout the day, essentially living an active lifestyle Mindfulness practice, like meditation, which can look very different from one person to the next Sarah shared examples on how we can disconnect and be in our thoughts as a form of meditative practice (1:02:11) Closing Thoughts Sarah's other tip for destressing - Butcher Box Don't forget if you are interested in getting$15 off your first box, plus receive free bacon, be sure to https://www.butcherbox.com/thepaleoview/to take advantage of that offer Stacy and Sarah want to thank listeners for supporting them when they do have sponsors on this show Whenever a sponsor is featured, please know that these are brands that Stacy and Sarah love and personally use If you have any questions, please always feel free to reach out via social media or email Butcher Boxis a service that Stacy and Sarah personally love and have a feeling listeners will love too Thank you again to Butcher Boxand thank you to the listeners for tuning in Learn more about your ad choices. 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The Paleo View (TPV), Episode 350: Travel Tales (0:41) A Look Into Stacy's Europe Travels Sarah just got back from PaleoFx and hasn't even finished unpacking - her trip is really fresh in her mind Stacy has been back from her trip for a week and is mostly unpacked and caught up on laundry As Stacy mentioned last week, she had quite an adventure in Europe They were in Rome for three days, then took a cruise from Rome around to London, and then were in London for a full three days It was a lot, and Stacy was more stressed than she wanted to admit Taking your mother-in-law, your mother, and your three children on a trip has the potential to be amazing and memorable, but also kind of a nightmare Stacy worried if they planned enough, but luckily between her and Matt they were able to do a lot of prep work They also used Google and the Google Translate app to help fill in the missing pieces along their trip Stacy found no issues navigating tomato-less and gluten-free eating abroad Their adventures were quite wild, from Stacy's phone getting pick-pocketed to Finn losing his backpack to international tragedies like Notre Dame and their taxi driver in London suffering a stroke while driving them When Stacy came back last week she didn't feel ready to talk about her trip She had so much overwhelming empathy to what was happening to other people and she didn't feel comfortable about the great things they experienced when just hours before she was in a car with a man having a stroke Stacy reflected on the experience of watching their taxi driver suffer from a stroke, and how this impacted her feelings towards their trip, especially as they were coming home Matt and Stacy ended up feeling like the Griswolds by the end of the trip Even the flight home was incredibly bumpy, to the point where Stacy thought the turbulence was going to be the end of their trip When they landed Stacy felt such relief that they made it and then her town was hit by a tornado within the hour they landed This week has been very uneventful for Stacy Her back is feeling so much better, she has been Jooving, heading to water aerobics, resting and getting lots of sleep Now with a bit of distance from the trip, Stacy has a little bit more wonder about Europe and appreciation for all that she experienced with her family However, Stacy is seeing that her kids have lost a bit of touch with reality, as a recent viewing of Street Food on Netflix had Wesley asking if they could go to Thailand next  Sarah reflected on how amazing she thinks it will be for Stacy's kids to go from their Europe traveling experience to their summer camping trips, and to be able to compare and appreciate the differences between the two Stacy has shared a bit already on the blog and will continue to share about the trip and how they managed it with food intolerances specifically She wants to remind people that most people in these countries speak English and the internet is an insanely resourceful tool to help you figure things out as you go Just don't get your phone stolen Another helpful tip, when you book a cruise ship or a flight, make sure you tell them what your food restrictions are and they will accommodate you They had a suitcase dedicated to snacks, which allowed them to save a ton of money and fill in the missing meal pieces as they needed As they were recording this show, Sarah was enjoying Coronation Tea from a care package that Stacy had sent her (20:40) A Look Into Sarah's PaleoFx Trip Sarah thinks that the single best part of PaleoFx was seeing Tom again, a listener whom she met a year ago She always loves the opportunity that these events provide to meet and connect with listeners Tom and Sarah had this amazing conversation last year and developed a real connection, and he came to her book signing at this year's event and was so excited to see him again This was the best PaleoFx yet Sarah made a lot of business connections and met some really neat new companies, while also reconnecting with businesses that they already have great relationships with On Friday Sarah did a talk on the gut microbiome, and while it wasn't recorded she did bring four of her team members who helped with a recording of her presentation Sarah is editing that now and will let people know how they can watch it once it is available She was also on the State of the Paleo Union panel, which is the highest profile panel at PaleoFx and always includes Mark Sisson, Robb Wolf, Chris Kresser, Sarah and one or other two keynote people who are in attendance that year By the time this panel took place, Sarah had been talking for twelve-hours straight and lost her voice This was embarrassing for Sarah, but she was able to still deliver her feedback, even with a froggy voice This was a particularly interesting discussion this year and Robb Wolf had a funny comment that put Sarah on edge that made her ready for a debate The comment didn't end up sparking controversy, but it was a very funny moment A year ago the panel wasn't necessary heated, but there was a lot of discordances This year there was a lot more unity, which was nice for Sarah to experience On Saturday Sarah was on a gut microbiome panel with all the biggest names in this particular field of science From all the latest research Sarah has been doing in preparation for her next book on this very topic, it was cool to be on a panel that provided different angles that expanded on where her mind has been The little tangents that Sarah experienced with a fellow panel member made it an especially fun experience There were a few speaker cancellations and Sarah was asked to fill a spot, which she was easily able to tackle by using content from her recent workshop She ended up talking about the different designs of scientific studies and what their weight is Sarah also presented on what a body of scientific literature is, a little bit about statistics, what a p-value is, and got to have a bit of a conversation around these pieces This helps shed light on how scientific research is performed and what Sarah looks for as she is going through the scientific literature Sarah has been toying with the idea of how to turn this into training for people It has been really helpful for people to understand science in general because it gives people knowledge to be able to filter This was such a fun bonus talk Sarah got to give This year's PaleoFx was by far one of the most exhausting events Sarah has participated in Her voice is even still hoarse from all the talking Sarah loves this event in particular because she loves to use it to take a pulse on the community and what people are hoping to learn more about She keeps herself very accessible throughout this conference At this year's conference, it felt like there are a lot of people who entered this community through personal journies and are taking their passion for diet and lifestyle and turning it into entrepreneurial opportunities to pay it forward Sarah had a lot of conversations with people who were there for personal reasons, but are working to build something that serves the community in a way that uses their skillsets from before It was exciting to see this entrepreneurial spirit permeate everything at this year's conference Overall the event was phenomenal; Sarah came home inspired on so many levels The energy was so positive and cohesive this year It really felt like everyone understands that we are all there to serve the community, but also grow the community All of our voices are important in that Like Stacy mentioned a few episodes ago, we are not fighting over the same piece of the pie We are making a bigger pie That was very much the energy of this year's PaleoFx We are all here to help people regain their health and improve their lives, and the more we work together the more we expand that message and the more people we reach in different ways To see that energy was really phenomenal Now Sarah plans on tapping out and sleeping a lot (38:37) Listener Induced Feels Becca says, "I just finished listening to The Paleo View on botox, an amazingly informative conversation as always, even for someone like me who has never had it and wouldn't have considered it anyway. I just want to let you know how grateful I am for the work you do and to wish you all the luck in the world on your amazing poop rocket adventure. Your perspective on self-love, owning our choices, and shooting for your best life really is inspirational. Having your voice in my life has helped me work out what I really want and how I want to go about making it happen. It has provided a jumping off point for so many conversations with the people I love. I want to thank you and send you a virtual, even if it is uncomfortable, hug. P.S. I hope you had a fantastic time on the cruise and that my hometown London received you well." Stacy is bright red from reading that, and this comment gave her a super case of the feels This so perfectly highlights what Sarah about collaboration, sharing a perspective, and entrepreneurial spirit, and sharing this all with the world so that we can be our best selves Stacy wanted to acknowledge and thank Becca for sending this incredibly kind note Expanding the pie and learning to love yourself and not talking badly about yourself are things that Stacy has genuinely been working on the past few years The fact that these aspects are resonating with the listeners is so wonderful, as these are lessons that we all need Not only do we need to love our bodies from the perspective of taking care of them through all the different aspects we talk about on this show, but how we treat ourselves with kindness is also a huge piece of how we feel How we feel is how we function Thank you, Becca, for sharing this feedback and for letting Stacy know that her work is making a difference Sarah notes that these messages are empowering We don't only need to hear them, we need to be reminded of them frequently because they are so easy to forget Thank you to Becca and Tom for being our MVLs this week (42:13) Final Thoughts Stacy is so glad that Sarah had such a great time at PaleoFx and got to share the information she did Sarah workshop is now available as a virtual experience, which you can find here She will be hosting this again in 2020, February 14 through the 17 Half of the material will be switched out with new deep dives, and the foundational content will remain Next year Sarah will dig into genetics and how to use our genetic data to tinker with diet and lifestyle, and will also get into micronutrients Sarah works to give you a full education to really give attendees/listeners the full knowledge base to be able to make the best choices for you and your particular situation This kind of deep education is such a phenomenal way for Sarah to communicate Please check out the workshop; if you love this show you will love the material, even if it does lack Stacy Stacy is going through mid-life reevaluation and has no clue where she will be when Sarah's next workshop takes place Sarah noted that you can already register for the 2020 workshop here Stacy wants to thank everyone for their support between her announcement from her job change (and her sale last month) and the emotional turmoil of her trip Sarah and Stacy will be back next week with a new and exciting topic There are some really good topics in the works Learn more about your ad choices. 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In this episode, Sarah and Stacy breakdown Botox - what is it, what are the side effects, what are the adverse reactions, and what does the science tell us about the impact of this procedure. Our hosts bring this thorough scientific discussion full circle and share their personal feelings towards this procedure and how they personally handle skin health. Click here to listen in iTunes If you enjoy the show, please review it in iTunes! The Paleo View (TPV), Episode 349: Must-Know Botox Info (0:41) Intro It feels like an eternity to Sarah since she last had the chance to talk to Stacy, which it basically has been since they prerecorded the latest episodes while Stacy was traveling Stacy will share about her travels on next week's episode, but she is still processing it all The trip was wonderful, and she has shared some updates via social media, but it was a family trip with many experiences and she is determining what all she wants to share and all the feels One of the things that happened while Stacy was traveling; she got a massage and it put her back in a flair Stacy did really well up until that point, which was 10 days into the trip. And she is excited to share that the first thing she did when she got home was put her Joovv to use and has been doing red light therapy on her back since returning and feeling the benefits of her Joovv (this week's episode sponsor!) While we will cover Joovv in greater detail later in the show, if you are ready to get all the details on them now, head over to joovv.com/thepaleoview, and learn all about our favorite biohack Sarah is gearing up for Paleo Fx, she leaves tomorrow - so by the show airs she will be on a stage sticking it to the man, which is what she typically does there She often finds herself in the myth-busting role at these events, but doesn't actually like confrontation and wishes she could simply have everyone read the same scientific studies she is referring to It is way easier to be on a soapbox on Skype with Stacy than it is to be in front of a few hundred or a thousand people During Sarah's workshop in February talking about different types of scientific studies became really thematic, and how do you evaluate science and what do you look for and how do you detect pseudo-science - are topics that people would love to know more about Sarah is trying to figure out how to condense these topics for the average person, as she recognizes the need for those in the health field to have access to this information Stacy notes the importance of learning not just how to read these scientific studies, but how to use and apply the information in life without bias To be able to look at the science and let that drive justification or not as to why something is improving your health or not, which is where the topic for this week's episode came from What has been interesting for Stacy as a member of this non-toxic living community is the questions she receives around the use of Botox, among many other things, and where these injections fall in the healthy living spectrum Stacy strives to help people find healthy solutions and Botox is off her list - through even just her preliminary research she has found that it is not for her So on this week's episode, she wants to answer this question from a scientific perspective Whether or not Botox is right for someone is ultimately a personal decision, but Stacy and Sarah's aim for this episode is to talk about the science and why both Stacy and Sarah would or would not make such a decision This is not a judgment show; we want to make everyone feel comfortable when they listen to the show Today's discussion is information driven and we are letting the science speak for itself that is how Stacy and Sarah are driving their decisions If Botox was safe Stacy would go out and have it done in a heartbeat Sarah wants to note that there is a lot of pressure for social influencers to look a certain way, to appear young, healthy and vibrant is a part of the credentials Botox is a fast solution and Sarah understands the allure of it and why many are driven to use it it seems like an effective way to get the results we are looking for What Stacy has personally done, in addition to more natural solutions (infrared - Joovv), is changed who is influencing her life so that she is no longer seeing only seeing a barrage of perfection, but is instead seeing people who inspire her to be herself and be real and be natural If a listener is feeling the pressure of something, Stacy suggests looking into where that pressure is coming from and how you can reduce that pressure You may not even realize where all the pressure is coming from - but ask what can you do to control it and empower yourself to value who you are and how you look Find someone who tells you that your flaws are beautiful (20:59) And Now the Science Botulinum toxin is what Botox is Botox was a carefully considered shortening of the name of a neurotoxic protein The way that it causes botulism is by preventing the release of a neurotransmitter It causes what is called flaccid paralysis, which is paralysis by muscle relaxation It is the most lethal toxin known to man A lethal dose of botulinum toxin is as low as one or two nanograms per kilogram body weight when injected into your muscle or into your bloodstream, which is an incredibly small amount of the toxin It was studied originally in research because of this interest in the ability for it to block nerves that control muscles to cause muscle relaxation There are of course medical uses where botox does have therapeutic benefit, but that is a different evaluation all together However, it is worth noting as we talk about the undesirable side effects that the therapeutic doses tend to be even higher than the cosmetic doses and so the risk of an adverse effect is much higher in the therapeutic applications So if you are dealing with one of these situations where botox may have therapeutic benefits Sarah highly recommend having a very thorough conversation with your medical provider and really understanding what all your options are and what to look for with adverse effects There are very few scientific studies that look at the effects of Botox beyond two years and very few look at the effects of multiple injections What Stacy finds interesting is all of the rebrandings of Botox, and these products aren't different they are just marketed differently So be aware of the Botox, look at the warning labels, and do the research (27:59) Side Effects and Adverse Reactions A side effect is a minor complaint that happens on the side that basically resolves on its own Whereas an adverser effect is a major problem, potentially life-threatening that requires medical intervention Both are known to happen with Botox use These are a list of the side effects: drooping eyelids uneven eyebrows a crooked smile, which can lead to drooling asymmetry swelling bruising, discomfort and inflammation in the injection area systemic effects include: fatigue headache neck pain double vision dry eyes or excessive tearing fever and chills allergic reactions (hives, rashes, asthma, etc.) Adverse reactions include: difficulty speaking difficulty swallowing severe muscle weakness loss of bladder control vision problems Then there is a gray area of in between where some studies qualify certain reactions as adverse whereas other studies define the same reactions as side effects Like vomiting, heart function, lung function, etc.; based on how severe they are they get put on either end of the spectrum What Sarah finds kind of scary is that very few studies have looked at repeated treatments and long-term effects, especially beyond two years It is estimated that there are 5 million Botox treatments a year globally and that it is a 2 billion dollars a year business right now - and this is just looking at the cosmetic use There was one study published in 2005 that looked at participants over the course of 12 years who were using Botox for both therapeutic and cosmetic reasons The study found that during the study period there were 20 cases of adverse effects in 16 of the participants, about a 1/3 of the participants This included: difficulty swallowing, droopy eyelids, neck weakness, nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, general or marked weakness, difficulty chewing, hoarseness, swelling, difficulty speaking and heart palpitations A 2015 review of the research found that there have been very few long-term studies and the risk of adverse effects seems to really increase after the 10th or 11th injection For most people this is three to four years out of doing this regularly This hasn't been studied rigorously, despite the wide use of Botox Around 2015/2016 there was a spike in studies showing problematic effects and it started to hit the news that Botox might be as safe as we think it is There have only been a handful of studies in the past few years that build on that In the grand scheme of things though, it takes three to four years to build on these ideas and complete the research, so we are essentially waiting on these research labs to come out with their follow up papers (30:30) The Latest Findings In this timeframe, 2015/2016, there were a couple of papers that showed Botox actually travels through neurons So up until 2015, it was believed that Botox could defuse a short way through the cells Now it is known that it migrates, which explains how you could get full body weakness from a Botox injections This is the explanation for these systemic adverse effects These studies haven't hit the general body of knowledge around Botox The studies Sarah referenced: Long-term botulinum toxin efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity The 2015 findings Serious and long-term adverse events associated with the therapeutic and cosmetic use of botulinum toxin Botulinum neurotoxin type A induces TLR2-mediated inflammatory responses in macrophages A 2009 study titled, “The link between facial feedback and neural activity within central circuitries of emotion--new insights from botulinum toxin-induced denervation of frown muscles” A 2010 study titled, “Cosmetic use of botulinum toxin-A affects processing of emotional language" A 2011 study titled, “Embodied Emotion Perception” 2014 study titled, “Botulinum toxin-induced facial muscle paralysis affects amygdala responses to the perception of emotional expressions: preliminary findings from an A-B-A design" A 2014 study titled, “Altered cortical activation from the hand after facial botulinum toxin treatment” 2016 study titled, “Deeper than skin deep – The effect of botulinum toxin-A on emotion processing” In addition to the impact that Botox has on the nervous system, there is also direct immune effects, which also has some concerning implications There are only a couple of studies that look at this, but Botox is basically causing an incredibly intense inflammatory response As Sarah was researching this and feeling frustrated at the lack of long-term studies, she thought that this would have been a component that would have been needed for FDA approval Sarah hit on this entire other field of research that looks at the impact of Botox of mental and emotional health An important piece to note from the latest research is that Botox is only 80% effective, so 20% of people who get Botox (whether used for therapeutic or cosmetic use) and don't actually get the benefits of Botox There is a collection of studies showing that Botox blunts emotional responses and emotional experiences Stacy's mind has been completely blown by these findings The idea of not being able to pick up on emotional queues would devastate Stacy There are 8 to 10 studies that have looked at these emotional and mental effects, so it has been fairly thoroughly looked at and it is showing the impact that Botox has on the brain stem (47:59) Closing Thoughts on Botox On a side, Sarah highly recommends the book Brainstorm There is also the potential for side effects on memory and feeling emotions in general The idea of giving up something for the benefit of another thing, in this case, the aesthetics, and does that really make the person happy In Stacy's experience, she has never known anyone who had a cosmetic procedure that said, and now I am complete and fulfilled and everything is great Stacy often hears from people that on the other side of that change you make, that it doesn't actually solve the problem, it just highlights another for you There are so many articles out there about people who become addicted to cosmetic procedures Society has come to a point where we have lost the ability to step back and look at more than just the wrinkle, and this case, all the many other things impacted by one procedure The health consequences are very problematic for Stacy, but the inflammatory response and the mental and emotional issues that come along with it make it all the more horrifying to her Sarah thinks that its this collection of facts that make Joovv such a serendipitous sponsor for this show because when Sarah thinks about the things that would bring someone to Botox her first reaction is - well, what about all the effective, safe things you can do instead Diet and hydration, exercise all have a huge impact on skin health If you are going to invest in something to improve your appearance cosmetically, Joovv red light therapy would be a route that is highly recommended There are a ton of studies showing that the two wavelengths in Joovv help to reduce inflammation and stimulate collagen production in the skin The two wavelengths used in Joovv actually make the skin physically younger, as opposed to just making it appear younger, which is what Botox does (53:34) Infrared Sauna vs. Joovv Therapy An infrared sauna is a higher wavelength that works by increasing your core temperature and forcing you to sweat, which is a detoxification pathway Joovv actually combines two different wavelengths, an infrared wavelength and a red wavelength It can still increase your core temperature if you sit in front of it for long enough, but the addition of the red light to the infrared light is what gives it the magical formula A red light goes deeper into your skin and is the main wavelength that is increasing cellular health Sarah finds Joovv to be the best of both worlds, and has actually found that their product is the only one actually delivering therapeutic doses If you want to shop Joovv, you can go to joovv.com/thepaleoview There are different sizes and different price points, and all offer the health benefits that Stacy and Sarah discussed (59:14) Final Thoughts There are also, of course, topical treatments that people can do to treat wrinkles, but a lot of the antiaging products that are on the market actually intentionally disrupt your hormones For those of us working really hard on lifestyle factors to regulate hormones, what you don't want to be doing is slathering yourself in some sort of cream that is just going to disrupt them Be careful about the products you are using Aging is not the most fun thing in the world There is not one magical thing that fixes everything, it is the little bit of benefit that we get from each choice (diet, lifestyle, the use of biohacks like Joovv) that compounds The goal for Sarah isn't to have her skin look younger, the goal is for her skin to be younger, and that is where the diet, lifestyle, and the smart use of biohacks that have scientific validity all comes together for magic (science) awesome Stacy wants to remind everyone that they are wonderful and beautiful just as you are Accepting yourself where you are and wanting to change is so important, so if there is something you want to change, Stacy suggests finding acceptance with yourself before you go on to find that next great thing because you might find that those laugh lines aren't something you actually want to change If this is something you have done already, this is not meant to be a dig on you Stacy and Sarah's goal is to simply help you be informed and make the best decisions for your health Thank you for tuning in and having patience on this deeply scientific show Thank you Sarah for pulling together all of this research and information Don't forget that you can submit follow up questions through both Stacy and Sarah's websites or on social media We will try to compile any questions received and if Stacy and Sarah need to do a follow-up show, we will as soon as we are able Stacy wished Sarah a wonderful trip to PaleoFx When Sarah returns, Stacy looks forward to discussing both of their wonderful trips Learn more about your ad choices. 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