Check out these weekly meal prep strategies, used by Precision Nutrition’s most successful clients. And learn how they can help you save time on preparing healthy food too.
++++
Most people who come to Precision Nutrition already know what a healthy, balanced meal looks like.
The real question they have is: How do you consistently eat healthy, balanced meals in the context of real life?
You know, like “I got home late, after a long meeting, then my toddler spilled an entire bottle of olive oil on the kitchen floor!”
(Yeah, true story).
With the following meal prep strategies, we teach our clients exactly how to have healthy food ready when they need it.
The result? A fridge full of fast, healthy options to choose from, even as life continues to unfold.
If you’d like some help staying consistent with your exercise and eating plan, we’d be happy to help. In fact, we’ll soon be taking new Precision Nutrition Coaching clients.
You see, we accept new clients every 6 months, and coaching spots typically sell out in hours.
However, those motivated enough to put themselves on the presale list get to register 24 hours before everyone else. Plus, they receive a big discount at registration.
So put your name on the list below — because, as always, spots are first come, first served, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.
As we near the time of the year often dedicated to gift giving, I can’t help but think about the fact that often these well intentioned gifts eventually lead to more stress, for the giver and the receiver. In our family, we’ve chosen to give experiences instead of material gifts most of the time and the results have been amazing.
Don’t get me wrong… I love giving gifts and always enjoy finding, wrapping and giving the perfect gift to a family member or friend. As a mom, I also dread the aftermath of gifts… the paper all over the floor, the toys all over the floor, the lingering messes and the kids complaining about having to clean up their toys.
Also, as every parent has inevitably experienced at some point, the joy of material gifts fades quickly and even the most anticipated Christmas toys soon become a chore to clean up.
Are We Drowning in Too Much Stuff?
The dramatic success of the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up provides a hint that perhaps many of us feel that we simply have too much stuff (short summary of the book= throw most of it away).
Turns out, we probably do!
Think for a second about your grandparents home when you were growing up. If it was anything like mine, it was probably a small house with even smaller closets. And the closets were not that full. And they raised six kids in that house! They also didn’t need drastic storage and organizing solutions or extra storage rental units.
Fast forward to present day, when the LA Times reports that the average American home has over 300,000 items in it and there are over 50,000 storage facilities nationwide (and this is the fastest growing real estate segment!). In fact, at least 1 in 10 of us have a storage unit to store our excess stuff. Consider this:
The United States has upward of 50,000 storage facilities, more than five times the number of Starbucks. Currently, there is 7.3 square feet of self storage space for every man, woman and child in the nation. Thus, it is physically possible that every American could stand—all at the same time—under the total canopy of self storage roofing! (source)
Do we really have so much more stuff than people did just two generations ago?
Yes we do…
More Clothes
Our grandparents had an average of nine outfits, including dress clothes and work clothes.
Now, we have an average of 30, plus a lot of extra clothes that don’t qualify as an “outfit.”
The AVERAGE family spends $1,700 on clothes annually while giving or throwing away over 200 pounds of clothes per year.
More Toys
This is the part that really shocked me…
The average child in the developed world owns over 200 toys but only plays with 12 of them on average per day!
Even crazier? Only 3% of the world’s children live in the US, but they own 40+% of the world’s toys!
If it Makes You Happy…
Those staggering statistics about how much stuff we all own wouldn’t worry me if it seemed that the excess stuff improved our lives in some way or made us happier, healthier or closer to our children… but that isn’t the case. To quote Sheryl Crow:
If it makes you happy
It can’t be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad
We have and consume twice as many material goods than we collectively did 50 years ago, but statistically we are much less happy.
54% of us report being overwhelmed with clutter and 78% of us have no idea how to overcome it!
This also leads to additional stress:
Over the course of our lifetime, we will spend a total of 3,680 hours or 153 days searching for misplaced items.The research found we lose up to nine items every day—or 198,743 in a lifetime. Phones, keys, sunglasses, and paperwork top the list. (source)
Certainly, there is much more to why we are less happy than we used to be than just the excess clutter, but statistically, it is a contributor, and an easy one to address.
Why Give Experiences Not Stuff?
Many studies have shown that material possessions do not equal happiness and that experiences are much more intrinsically fulfilling that things. (Additional bonus: you don’t have to find a place to store experiences except in your heart, memory, and maybe on some pictures!)
A researcher named Thomas Gilovich at Cornell University has spent more than a decade trying to understand why experiences have the ability to contribute to happiness so much more than material purchases. Along with another researcher, Matthew Killingsworth, he recently published his research in the Journal of Psychological Science showing that experiences provide more lasting happiness than material possessions. (source)
The basic conclusion was that people tend to get less happier with material purchases over time, and more happy with experiences. They speculate that this is because we adapt to physical things, so even the nicest car or newest phone becomes commonplace after enough time, while memories tend to get fonder over time.
Our experiences are a bigger part of ourselves than our material goods,” says Gilovich. “You can really like your material stuff. You can even think that part of your identity is connected to those things, but nonetheless they remain separate from you. In contrast, your experiences really are part of you. We are the sum total of our experiences. (source)
Even negative experiences, they found, can often be remembered fondly as a funny story or bonding experience. Experiences are also a uniting factor. You are more likely to bond with someone who enjoys the same hobby/activity or has traveled to the same places that you have than with someone who has a similar possession.
The anticipation leading up to a trip, event, or experience even has the potential to provide happiness itself, making it the gift that truly keeps on giving! Happiness in the anticipation, happiness during the experience and happiness in the memories.
Beats the heck out of a pile of toys that you trip over while tucking the kids in at night!
It turns out that Aristotle had it right all those years ago: “men fancy that external goods are the cause of happiness (but) leisure of itself gives pleasure and happiness and enjoyment in life.”
Give Experiences: The Importance for Kids
As important as shared experiences are for adults, they are even more important for children and for healthy psychological development. In fact, shared family time (even in simple things like family dinner together) is drastically important for a child’s well being (much more important than the dozens of extra curricular activities we often neglect family time for).
Shared family time and experiences have been linked to:
Bonding within the family
Fewer behavioral problems in children
A stronger sense of identity
A sense of security for children
Higher rates of academic success
Lower rates of violence
Of course, these shared experiences can be as simple as time spent together during/preparing meals, while driving, or reading stories before bed, but prioritizing shared experiences as gifts helps reduce unwanted material items and fosters family bonding.
Our Rule for Gifts
You might have heard of the “4-Gift Rule” that some parents follow of:
Something they want, Something they need, Something to wear, Something to read
We follow a variation of this focused on shared experiences. Our kids typically get:
The “Need”: Experience Gifts– Each child gets at least one experience gift per year, and often we get them several more experience based gifts as well (see my full list below). Since family experiences are so important for us, we consider these gifts a need so we prioritize and budget for them.
The “Wear”: Clothes– I’ve been working on creating capsule wardrobes for my kids (post on that coming soon) and for holidays they often get one clothing item they need like a new coat or hiking boots. This may also be something fun, like dress up clothes, if they don’t need any new clothing.
The “Read”: Memory Books– We try to take the kids to the library often since they get to choose so many new books without them taking up room on the shelves, so our kids get a different kind of book as a gift. Each year, I keep a folder on my desktop for each child and throughout the year add pictures from field trips, birthdays, daily hikes, camping trips and other fun memories. At the end of the year, I compile each child’s photos into a hardcover book that I print through a photo service (like Shutterfly). This is my favorite gift to give them each year since it helps them relive and remember everything we did as a family that year, and it is a gift that they can take and show their own families one day. These books end up being the favorite gift every year (and bonus, the photo service saves them so I can reprint if one ever gets ruined!).
What About Extended Family Gifts?
Even once we decided to make the switch to experiences with our kids, it took a while to figure out how to approach the topic with extended family. We approached it in two ways:
Switching to giving experiences to family members as well
Gently explaining our reason for choosing experiences and encouraging extended family to give experiences as well
It has taken a few years, but extended family is now on board and the kids cherish the time with other family members as well. This year, one family member is taking our daughter to see the Nutcracker, and grandparents often give memberships to museums or zoos or gift certificates to go to a movie or lunch.
At the end of the day, we can’t (and shouldn’t) control what extended family chooses to give our children. Personally, I’m very grateful that our family has decided to prioritize experience type gifts as well, but even if they didn’t and decided to still give material gifts, we would welcome these and teach our children to be grateful for these gifts (as the relationship with family is more important than arguing about the gifts).
Ideas for Ways to Give Experiences
The average parent spends over $250 per child on toys and gifts each year! While experience type gifts can be a litle more expensive up-front, they end up being much cheaper in the long run. Especially when we consider that with that average, we’d spend over $1200 on gifts for our children, we don’t mind spending even a couple hundred dollars on a worthwhile memberhsip or experience that will last all year.
The move away from material gifts was a slow one for us. If you’re considering focusing more on experiences this year, here are some of my favorite ideas that our family has enjoyed over the years.
Family Gifts
Bigger memberships or vacations are often family gifts:
Museum Memberships– Check around for local museums that offer annual memberships. Many offer discounts for local residents or have programs for kids. We have found great deals on local art and history museums.
Science Center Memberships– Many cities also have a children’s museum or science center with an annual pass option. We found that it was cheaper to purchase an annual membership to a nearby science center than for our family of 7 to go one time! This is a great place to go on a rainy day and is a common destination for our Friday field trips.
Orchestra Season Tickets- Even though we don’t live in a large city, we have a local orchestra that preforms every couple of months. I called and found that season tickets for children were extremely affordable (less than $8 a show) and this is now a fun family activity that the kids look forward to.
Community Theater Tickets– If you have a local theater, take chicken to these as well. This was our big family gift last year, and we got a few season tickets. My husband and I get to go to the more grown-up performances as date nights and we alternate taking the older kids to performances that they enjoy (like Annie, Rudolph, etc.).
Tent for Camping– Sometimes a material gift can lead to an experience. This tent was a family gift a couple of years ago and we’ve used it quite a few times (I picked that one because it is really easy to set up!).
Minor League Baseball Tickets (or college, or MLB)– We all love baseball (because it is the best sport 😉 ) and season tickets to our local minor league team have been a great family outing that lasts all summer long. Really, any sports ticket (college, pro, etc.) is a great family activity.
Nature Center Tickets– Check for local nature areas or nature centers in your area and see if they offer an annual pass. We’ve found these for nature centers, a local cave and state parks.
Local Attraction Season Passes– Any other local attraction with a season pass can be a great gift. Check for other types of museums, historical sites, or local attractions.
New Family Hobbies– Take up hiking, camping, card games, a sport or other fun activity and get the necessary equipment or passes for your new hobby.
Fun Family Outing– Plan in advance a trip to a local amusement park, a family vacation or other activity. Remember, looking forward to an experience makes the experience more fun and fosters happiness on its own!
Volunteer– Truly a gift that keeps on giving. If possible with your kids ages, volunteer at a local food pantry or charity and give your kids (and yourself) the gift of helping others!
Give to Charity– Another favorite in our family- we designate about $100 in end of year contributions per child to let them decide how to give. Most often, they love choosing gifts like farm animals, fruit trees or educational supplies for those in need around the world through programs like Food for the Poor.
Gifts for Kids
Local Pottery Painting – An absolute favorite with our girls. Our local pottery place has dozens of options to paint and this has been a fun activity for the kids (and me!). Either pick out some un-painted places to paint or get a gift certificate.
Pottery Making-For older kids, some places offer pottery making lessons or classes.
Rock Climbing– Have a local rock-climbing gym? See if they offer annual passes or pick up gift certificates for a climbing outing with older kids. Bonus: it is a great way to get exercise too!
Local Jump Gym– Another fun activity that helps kids stay active. See if you have a local jump gym or indoor trampoline center and get annual passes or gift cards.
Batting Cage Membership– For a child who loves baseball, look for a local batting cage that offers year-long memberships or bulk discounts on packages. This is a great way to stay active and a fun outing with your child.
Bowling or Skate Tickets– These are getting harder to find, but if you have a local bowling alley or skating rink, ask them about family passes or gift certificates.
Every Kid in a Park– If you have a fourth grader, there is no excuse not to get this one: a free year-long pass to all the national parks with the “Every Kid In a Park” program. This pass provides access to national parks for everyone in your immediate family, not just the fourth grader, so it is a great family gift and is available to homeschoolers as well! (Here’s how to get it)
Treasure Hunt– If you are giving a material gift, make the giving itself a fun experience. Instead of wrapping up the final gift, wrap up a clue and let the child go on a treasure hunt to find the final gift (or figure out what it is and go with you to get it!) This is especially fun for a larger gift or experience!
Geo Caching– Speaking of treasure hunts, geocaching is fun, free way to go on a treasure hunt with your kids almost anywhere in the world. You can learn more about it here.
A New Skill– If your child wants to try horseback riding, sewing, painting, or other similar activity, give them classes or ways to experience and develop this new hobby or skill. To keep it low-cost, see if you can find a family member or an elderly member of your community who might enjoy passing on the skill at a lower cost.
Lunch Dates– Give gift certificates to a favorite breakfast or lunch place to a child and plan a one-on-one date with that child.
Movie Tickets– We don’t go to the movies often, but this year, our boys are getting tickets to go see Star Wars with their dad (and I’m guessing this will be a favorite gift!).
Question Book– My kids all love this Question A Day Book and it gives us a fun conversation starter each day. The “question book” is a fun pre-bedtime activity at our house.
Learning Magazine Subscription– Our kids love getting “real mail” in the mailbox and extended family members often get them subscriptions to learning magazines. They look forward to the magazine coming each month and to doing the activities (and bonus: you can recycle the magazine when they are done with it!)
Craft Bucket– One of my favorite Chrismtas gifts as a child- a basket of craft activities that lasted me a year! My aunt filled a large basket with scissors, paper, glue, string, and every other craft supply imaginable. That basket led to dozens of hours of fun for me as a kid, and now my girls sometimes get activity baskets like this with crafts we can do together.
Garden Kit– Just like crafts, gardening is a great activity to do with children. If you have a budding gardener (pun intended) on your hands, wrap up some seeds and gardening supplies and let your child help you garden all year!
Musical Instrument– A favorite gift last Christmas was a steel drum that my husband has been teaching the kids how to play (though I admit, on a couple of especially loud days I have regretted the idea!). This is the one we got, and they have loved learning to play it.
Movie Night Packages– Our children don’t watch much TV, but we do love family movie nights. To make the tradition even more fun, we wrap up a family movie DVD, and some healthy snacks in a box for each child to let them “host” the movie night.
Game Night Packages– A game night is another great family activity, and giving each child one game was a fun way to expand our collection and they love playing “their game” when we have a game night. Some favorite games are Apples to Apples, Tsuro, Uno, Sequence, and basic card games.
DIY Gifts– My kids have enjoyed getting the supplies to make homemade soap, lip balm, lotion, or other DIY items that they can use or give as gifts (bonus: they are learning new skills too!).
Gifts for Dad
Check out this post for ideas of usable practical gifts that Dads will enjoy (and that help them be healthier, sleep better, etc.). In my experience, guys are the toughest to find experience based gifts for, but here are a few ideas that my hubby has liked over the years:
Home Brewing– My hubby likes beer and I prefer when he drinks organic (or at least non-GMO) beer. A few years ago, he got into home brewing beer and it has been a fun hobby for him. I’d recommend this book to learn more about brewing, and while there are pre-made brewing kits, I’d suggest talking to a local home brew store if possible to find out what supplies and ingredients he will need.
Sports– Any sports related experiences have been a hit with my hubby. I think my biggest (and most expensive!) surprise for him ever has been to get to go to spring training for his favorite team and even get to play with some of the players, but tickets to see his favorite teams play have also been a big hit. These all tend to be more expensive, so I had to save for several years for one of these surprises, but I think it ended up being an amazing and memorable experience for him.
Outdoor Activities– This will vary a lot depending on the guy, but finding ways to support outdoor experiences he already loves is a great gift idea. This might be finding time to camp as a family, or for him to go hunting, hiking or play sports.
Scuba Certification– One year, my hubby and I gave each other scuba certifications as a gift. We got to go through the process together, and ended up with a great hobby we could enjoy (though not a great one for taking younger kids!)
Skydiving– Is your guy adventurous? Skydiving is a ton of fun and many cities have a local place you can go.
Gifts for Mom
Memes abound online about mom enjoying going to the bathroom alone, or her hobbies including eating without a child in her lap or sleeping in. These are some practical experience gift ideas that every mom will enjoy!
A Day Off– Moms work hard all year, and things seem to get even busier around the holidays. One of my favorite gifts ever was a series of “days off” that I didn’t have to cook, clean or have any household responsibilities (and it included a gift card to go out for coffee!). Even better (hint to dads)- get together and schedule a moms night out for several of your wives to go to dinner together!
Pampering– With that whole “motherhood is pretty hard work” thing, any kind of pampering is an awesome gift, and one that mom may not do unless it is a gift. Massages are my personal favorite!
Date Nights– Getting time along can be tough with kids, so some of my favorite gifts ever have been pre-planned date nights when my husband handled the arrangements, lined up a sitter and made the plans.
A Nap or Getting to Sleep in- This may be one of the toughest gifts to pull off, but one of the most appreciated. If you can figure out how to let mom sleep in for a day or take a nap, she will be grateful!
Any Family Gifts– Any of the family gifts listed above are also a great option to get for moms as they’ll enjoy the family time and the idea of an activity to do with the kids.
Gifts for Grandparents + Extended Family
Day Out with Kids– This has been a favorite for grandparents to give to the kids, but also to receive. The kids pick a fun activity they want to do with grandparents or extended family and give it to them as a gift. It might be something like going out for smoothies or playing at the park, or even a trip to the grocery store to gather ingredients and cook a meal together.
Amazon Prime– I know several extended family members who use Amazon all the time, but did not want to pay for the Prime membership. In the past, we’ve given these family members a Prime membership (click on “give the gift of prime” and enter their email address). This is partially a material gift as well, but tends to make purchases they are already making faster and easier.
Memory Book– Either make a photo book with a company like Shutterfly that showcases some favorite memories with the recipient, or let your kids make a homemade book by printing and cutting out pictures and writing captions.
Membership Add-Ons– For grandparents who live close by, you may be able to add them to any of the family memberships listed above. We added guests/grandparent options to our zoo and science center memberships as well as to many of the local attraction places. This allows them to come for free and spend time with our kids (and is a bonus for us as well, since we have extra eyes to watch and help with the kids.
Giving Experiences: The Bottom Line
Even if you’ve already purchased gifts for this year, consider adding some experiences as well or slowly transitioning to more experience based gifts over time. The family time and memories are worth so much more than gifts, and statistically, giving experiences may help reduce your stress levels and contribute to family bonding.
We still give our children at least one physical gift each year, these gifts just aren’t the focus of our giving (or our lifelong memories!). We also try to make these gifts usable, practical and educational if possible (this gift guide has some of my favorites).
Have you tried to give experiences instead of gifts in the past? What other suggestions would you add to this list?
A lot of my favorite companies are having great sales for Cyber Monday and many of them end today (12/1). Check them out and be sure to use the discount codes below for additional savings
My “grown-up Christmas Wish” is that more families will implement healthy eating throughout the next year…To help accomplish that, I’m offering a “Buy One- Give One” sale on my hardcover spiral-bound cookbooks this week. Buy one book and I’ll send you two so that you can give one away to a family member or friend. Here is the direct link to the book on Amazon or you can order it directly from me here.
My favorite pre-made cleaner Branch Basics, that can be used for anything (from oven cleaning to a gentle face wash is on 20% off today (Monday). Use the code”CYBERCLEAN” at this link to get 20% off sitewide (plus there are some bonus deals).
Free Coconut Oil:
Thrive Market has great prices on real food all the time, and they are giving away a 15-ounce jar of Coconut Oil right now to new customers (and a free jar to existing customers with a $50 purchase). They always have free shipping on orders over $49 and I order a lot of our non-perishable staples from them. Here’s how to get your free coconut oil (you just pay $1.95 shipping).
Couples Massage Course
Getting a massage is one of my favorite relaxation activities, but it can be both expensive and time consuming. This new online course teaches couples how to give each other amazing relaxation massages from the comfort of your own home, and you can save 45% off the regular cost using this link and get a free foot-massage video series too!
Free Documentary Series
Not really a Christmas gift, but there is an amazing 9-part documentary series called the Truth About Cancer that you can view at no cost (and with no email opt in)today only. This is by far one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen and it is absolutely fascinating. I’d highly recommend finding out more here and watching a few (or all) of the episodes.
MuTu Systems for Diastasis
This 12-week program designed to address diastasis recti and pelvic floor issues is 40% off today only. I’ve been looking through their “Focus” program to help address my diastasis during and after this pregnancy. Find out more and get the discount at this link.
This post is sponsored by the Paleo Recipe Generator, which features over 700 Paleo recipes personalized to meet your unique needs. Type of dish: condiment Servings: about 3/4 cup Equipment: frying pan, blender, glass jar
Ingredients:
2 to 4 serrano peppers (or more)
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 TB lemongrass, crushed and chopped
4 TB cilantro, finely chopped
1½ tsp shrimp paste*
½ tsp cumin seeds
coconut oil as needed
½ tsp coriander seeds
Directions:
In a frying pan over low heat toast cumin and coriander seeds for about 5 minutes and the let cool.
Put all ingredients in a blender except coconut oil and pulse to blend in to a paste.
If too thick add coconut oil to thin it out a bit.
Store in a glass jar, refrigerated for up to 3 to 4 months.
Enjoy!
For more recipes like this, and meal plans that can be customized just for you, check out the Paleo Recipe Generator. *Any Asian shrimp paste will do, just make sure to check the label. Sugar is often added.
from Chris Kresser http://chriskresser.com/recipe-simple-thai-green-curry-paste/
via Holistic Clients
As some of you who follow my on Instagram or Facebook might know, I wasn’t feeling my best last week, and I felt very frustrated by it. One or two of my old symptoms came back and I really struggled with them, both mentally and physically. I felt a bit out of control with life and spent a few days really upset about it. I was looking at quotes over those days and this one really inspired me…
The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. Alice Walker
It’s so true that you loose control over your life as soon as you concede to the idea that it’s out of control. So last week I decided to stop focusing on being scared and upset and instead be proactive and do what I need to do to feel better. A week later I’m feeling almost myself again, which is fantastic, and I’m so proud of myself for pushing through. I’m sure you can all relate to that feeling of fear of going back to a place that you don’t want to go, and it’s hard to push yourself to slow down and do the necessary steps to feel happy and healthy again, but it’s so worth it once you get there. So this week remember that you are in control of every aspect of your life, and if there’s any aspect that you’re particularly struggling with then do everything you can to mentally get on top of it – write to do lists, go to classes/appointments/groups, get more sleep, just do whatever you need to do and I promise you’ll feel so much better! Have a beautiful week everyone x
Get creative with your hot chocolate and add a delicious mixture of spices to make it taste like Gingerbread! It’s vegan, paleo, and gluten-free friendly. SCORE! I am currently sitting in the back seat of my parents Jeep en route to Chicago for the Thanksgiving holiday. One of the best parts about my job, is...
Over the years, I’ve had the chance to check out my fair share of vegan cookbooks. Some of them I’ve given away and some tend to collect dust on the bookshelf but then there are the ones I go back to over and over again. I wanted to share a few cookbooks I’ve found to... Read More » The post 6 Best Vegan Cookbooks to Add to Your Collection appeared first on Running on Real Food.
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
from Running on Real Food http://www.runningonrealfood.com/6-best-vegan-cookbooks-to-add-to-your-collection/
via Enlightened Marketing
Yoga pants at the grocery store? You betcha. This cute and funny video parodies our obsession with wearing our athleisure suits out to basically everywhere we go. (Activewear sounds so much fancier with British accents, doesn’t it?) Though some people think yoga pants are ruining women, there are others of us who will swear by […]
Looking for healthy Christmas cookies? This is your one stop shop for all of your favorite holiday cookie recipes lightened-up with healthy ingredients! Anyone else feel like the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is one big blur? It goes by SO FAST! I actually don’t mind December at all, weather-wise. It’s super temperate with snow...
I think it’s been a good couple of months since I posted a workout on FFF. I haven’t been coming up with my own workouts as of late because I’ve been doing most of mine sweat sessions at Pellicano Endurance Coaching and Alchemy. Let me tell you…it sure is nice to just walk into the...
Sometimes you drink too much. Other times, you drink way too much. This hangover smoothie might as well be called a hangover cure because it was designed for these moments.
Whether it was your choice in alcohol, your lack of hydration, or just that you happened to wake up with the most brutal hangover of your life, this drink mixes nutrition science with a little culinary skill to make your recovery taste (and feel) a lot better.
Stock up on these 8 ingredients, keep them handy, and your hangover recovery will be better than ever.
The Science of The Ultimate Hangover Cure
You can drink the healthy smoothie and not worry about why it works. But if you’re curious, here’s why the drink is better than your average hangover drink.
Coconut water: Hangover recovery starts with hydration. Coconut water provides more that double the electrolytes as Gatorade.ml)
Kiwi: Contains the same amount of potassium as a banana, but with less sugar.
Pear:Pears provide a good source of fiber and potassium.
Celery: It might seem bland, but celery has anti-inflammatory properties, and it’s rich in vitamin K, folate, vitamin A, potassium, and vitamin C.
Since so many of my favorite brands and companies are offering sweet Black Friday deals today, I figured I’d round them up for you to save you the all the hunting!
Most of these deals are valid Friday through Sunday. As I see things I think you might be interested in, I’ll add them to this list, so be sure to check back a couple times over the weekend.
(Keep in mind, some of these deals are time sensitive, so if you’re seeing this post in the future, it’s possible the sales aren’t valid anymore.)
A couple weeks ago, I received a reader recipe request. Let’s call him “Jason”. Jason asked if I could create a nut-free version of my Raw Pumpkin-Maple Pie with a Baked Oat Crust (found in my cookbook, page 247) because his wife can’t have cashews and pecans. Apparently, it was tormenting her not to be able to try this pie! He wants to surprise her next month with this dessert as a special thank you because “she’s the best wife and mom ever”.
He went on to write, “Angela, I have no clue where to begin and don’t want to mess this up like I usually do.”
I immediately knew that I had to step up to the (pie) plate on this one (no pressure, no pressure!) because the world needs more love. And pie. Plus, I’ve always wondered how I could make this recipe without pecans or cashews, and now I have a nice option to share with you all. I tested multiple fillings and there was a clear winner that I’m sharing below. Spoiler alert – a combo of super luxurious full-fat coconut cream and sunflower seed butter worked so well as a replacement for cashews! It tastes so awesome.
I also paired it with a new toasted sunflower seed and oat “cookie” crust that’s a wonderful, crunchy compliment to the creamy and cool pumpkin pie filling. Pie crusts should never be boring or flavourless, and I love that this one is an easy “press-in” crust.
I meant to have this recipe up on Monday, but I ended up testing this pie about 7 times this week! I can’t sleep at night unless I’ve tested all of my options. Better late than never, I say. I’d rather not rush a recipe just to get it out on time. Anyway, I made this pie as a contribution to our Thanksgiving dinner later today (we’re in the US currently), and I’m so looking forward to the spread at my mom and stepdad’s. I hope those of you celebrating have a happy, fun, and safe Thanksgiving! And if you can’t make this pie today or this weekend, I hope you’ll include it on your holiday baking list.
Well, Jason (you know who you are) I hope this works out for you. If it doesn’t, I’d prefer that you not mention my name.
I’m joking! It’ll work out. Promise.
Mini Pumpkin Pie Tarts with a Sunflower Cookie Crust (Nut-free)
This is a luxurious and creamy nut-free version of my favourite Raw Pumpkin Pie from The Oh She Glows Cookbook. After many trials, I ended up using a combination of sunflower seed butter and full-fat coconut cream to replace the cashews in the original recipe, and it worked out so well! The pie has a light coconut flavour, but it's balanced out nicely by the earthy sunflower seed butter. As a bonus, this filling doesn’t use any whole nuts or whole seeds so you don’t need a Vitamix (or other high powdered blender) to get the filling super smooth. I used 4 tart-sized (about 4-inches diametre) "freestanding" baking cups which I found at Target, but you can also use a standard muffin tin lined with paper liners (or simply greased well) to make mini tarts. I'd imagine a 7-9 inch springform cake pan would work well too. The dough is a bit difficult to shape into a traditional pie crust (with high sides) so that's why I went with a flat crust for this recipe. If you don't mind fiddly things, then by all means take a stab at the regular pie crust. Also, the paper liners are easily removed if you remove them while the pies are frozen.
Yield 8-10 servings
Freeze time 3-5 hours
Prep Time 30 Minutes
Cook time 12 Minutes
Total Time 42 Minutes
Ingredients:
For the crust:
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 3/4 cups rolled oats (use certified gluten-free if necessary)
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted*
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons smooth sunflower seed butter (pour off oil before measuring)
2-3 teaspoons water, if needed to bind dough
For the filling:
1/2 cup canned full-fat coconut cream**
1 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted*
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons sunflower seed butter
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1-2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, to taste***
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
For serving:
Coconut Whipped Cream (I used So Delicious Coco Whip here)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grab four (4-inch diameter) baking paper cups, or 12 standard muffin paper liners and set aside. You can also use a 7-9 inch springform cake pan greased and lined with a circle of parchment paper.
Add the sunflower seeds into a skillet and toast the seeds over medium heat for 5-8 minutes, until lightly golden and fragrant. Remove from heat.
For the crust: Add the toasted sunflower seeds, oats, and salt into a food processor and process until finely chopped, resembling a coarse flour. Now, add the melted oil, maple syrup, and sunflower seed butter, and process until the mixture comes together into a heavy dough. The dough should stick together when pressed between your fingers very easily. If it's still a tad too dry, add the optional water and process again until it comes together. I find that I always need 2 teaspoons of water, but it'll depend on your ingredient's moisture content.
Divide the dough equally between the liners, crumbling it all over each base. (Note: I reserved about 1/2 cup of the dough for sprinkling on the pies when serving.) Lightly wet your fingers. Starting at the centre, press the dough into the base to form a crust. If the dough starts to stick to your hands at any time, lightly wet your hands and shake off the excess water. Once the crust is all pressed in, poke the base with a fork about 2-3 times to allow the air to escape while baking. I place the 4 liners onto a baking sheet so it's easy to remove them from the oven.
Bake the crusts for around 10-12 minutes until lightly golden around the edges. Place baking sheet on a cooling rack and cool the crusts for at least 15-20 minutes, or longer if you have the time.
For the filling: Open the chilled can of coconut milk. Scoop off 1/2 cup of the white coconut cream only (not the water) and place it into a blender. (You can save the remaining contents of the can for a smoothie or other use.) Add the pumpkin puree, maple syrup, melted oil, sunflower seed butter, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice (to taste, I use 2 tsp), and salt. Blend, starting at a low speed and increasing the speed, until smooth.
Divide the filling equally among the cooled crusts. Carefully, transfer the baking sheet (or muffin tin, if making 12 mini tarts) into the freezer on a flat surface. Chill until firm, about 3-5 hours. There's no need to cover it.
After the tarts are solid, carefully remove the paper liners. Here you can transfer the pies to the fridge for a mousse-like texture, but I prefer the texture when frozen after sitting on the counter for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Serve with coconut whipped cream on top, if desired. This pie filling softens a great deal at room temperature, so it's best not to leave leftovers on the counter. Return them to the fridge or freezer for best results.
Tips:
*A note about coconut: Health Canada classifies coconut as a "seed of a fruit" and not as a tree nut, however the U.S. FDA classifies coconut as a tree nut, so as you can see there is some confusion over classification when it comes to coconut. As always, if you think you might be allergic to coconut, be sure to talk to your doctor before consuming.
If you want to minimize the light coconut flavour in this pie, you can use refined (flavourless) coconut oil here rather than virgin.
**Be sure to chill a can of full-fat coconut milk for at least 24 hours before you begin this recipe. When ready, open the can and carefully scoop out 1/2 cup of the white coconut cream making sure not to use any of the coconut water.
***I used 2 teaspoons of Whole Food's 365 Pumpkin Pie Spice since I'm currently away from home. You can also try my homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix.
from Oh She Glows http://ohsheglows.com/2015/11/26/mini-pumpkin-pie-tarts-with-a-sunflower-cookie-crust-nut-free-vegan/
via Get Free Web Hosting CLICK HERE
I try to stay home and avoid the craziness of Black Friday at our local stores. This year, that has gotten even easier as several wonderful family-owned companies are offering great sales on their products through the weekend.
I’m sitting at home doing some early Christmas shopping with a cup of hot tea in hand. Below is a list of sales from some of my favorite affiliate partners. If you are one of my family members and happen to read this, you are probably getting something from the list below for Christmas! Please note that some of the links below are affiliate or referral links for companies that I love and personally use. If you choose to purchase anything, I receive a small commission that helps keep this site running!
My favorite Black Friday (I hate that term!) deals are:
Thrive Market:
A new company that I love, Thrive Market, has great prices all the time, but they are giving away a 15-ounce jar of Coconut Oil right now to new customers (and a free jar to existing customers with a $50 purchase). They always have free shipping on orders over $49 and I order a lot of our non-perishable staples from them.
The humic and fulvic acid probiotic/prebiotic supplement I use to improve gut health and reduce mineral deficiencies is available at 50% off right now with the code wellnessmama at this link: Black mineral powder
Healthy Mouth Products
OraWellness: (natural tooth brushes and Healthy Mouth Blend) is offering a free Bass toothbrush with each bottle of Healthy Mouth Blend purchased (including multi-packs) plus free shipping (through Monday)!
My favorite cookware is 20% off from all weekend plus there are some bonus deals that are constantly changing. Please note that my normal 10% discount code will not work with this sale. Here is a link to the sale.
One of my new favorite companies that I’ll be writing about soon is Branch Basics, a completely safe all-natural cleaner I found recently and absolutely fell in love with because it can be used for anything (from oven cleaning to a gentle face wash). Their products are 15% off site wide with the code GIVETHANKS at this link.
Free Documentary Series
Not really a Christmas gift, but there is an awesome 9-part documentary called the Truth About Cancer that you can view at no cost (and with no email opt in) this weekend only. This is by far one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen and it is absolutely fascinating. I’d highly recommend finding out more here and watching a few (or all) of the episodes.
I’m sure by now many of you have heard about the recent study that came out of UCLA that looked at sleep patterns in three different hunter-gatherer groups, and the way that the media is reporting on this study suggests that despite a lot of recent evidence and claims that humans need 7 to 8 hours of sleep to function properly, which I’ve been an advocate of in my book and elsewhere, that in reality our ancestors may have only slept 5-1/2 to 6 hours a night and get even sleep than most of us in the industrialized world get today. So I wanted to invite Dan Pardi, a sleep expert that we’ve had on the show before, back to discuss this study and its implications for those of us that are living in the industrialized world.
In this episode, we cover:
What the UCLA sleep study saysImportant sleep factorsWhat the study did not tell usSleep recommendations while traveling
[smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/thehealthyskeptic/RHR_-_Yes_You_Still_Need_7-8_Hours_of_Sleepwith_Dan_Pardi.mp3" title="RHR: Yes, You Still Need 7-8 Hours of Sleep—with Dan Pardi" artist="Chris Kresser" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" ] Chris Kresser: Hey, everybody, it’s Chris Kresser. Welcome to another episode of Revolution Health Radio. I’m sure by now many of you have heard about the recent study that came out of UCLA that looked at sleep patterns in three different hunter-gatherer groups, and the way that the media is reporting on this study suggests that despite a lot of recent evidence and claims that humans need 7 to 8 hours of sleep to function properly, which I’ve been an advocate of in my book and elsewhere, that in reality our ancestors may have only slept 5-1/2 to 6 hours a night and get even sleep than most of us in the industrialized world get today. So I wanted to invite Dan Pardi, a sleep expert that we’ve had on the show before, back to discuss this study and its implications for those of us that are living in the industrialized world. Dan is an entrepreneur and researcher whose life’s work is centered on how to facilitate healthy behaviors in others. He’s the CEO of humanOS.me and DansPlan.com, health technology companies that utilize the Loop Model to Sustain Health Behaviors, which he developed to help people live a healthy lifestyle in the modern world. He does research with the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Department at Stanford and the Departments of Neurology and Endocrinology at Leiden University in the Netherlands. His current research looks at how sleep influences decision making. Dan also works with Naval Special Warfare to help the most elite fighters in the world maintain vigilant performance in both combat and noncombat conditions. You can follow him at DansPlanHealth on Twitter. OK, so without further ado, let’s talk to Dan about sleep. Dan, welcome back to the show. Pleasure to have you on again. Dan Pardi: Chris, thanks for having me back. It’s great to be here.
What the UCLA sleep study says
Chris Kresser: I invited you to come back on the show so we could talk about this new study that just came out that’s making a lot of waves in the media by Jerome Siegel, I think he was the lead author, from UCLA. And as I’m sure most people who are listening to this have heard, the way the media is approaching it typically is, “Hey, contrary to popular belief, we have a lot of people who have been saying that our ancestors got more sleep than us, maybe 8 or 9 hours a night, and this new study shows that, on the contrary, many of them actually get as much or even less sleep than we do in the West, and so we basically just need to throw out everything that we knew before about sleep and ancestral sleep patterns, and anyone who’s out there just sleeping 5-1/2 or 6 hours a night is fine because this is what these three hunter-gatherer cultures do.” What’s wrong with that picture, Dan, and way of interpreting that study, which we’ve seen over and over now in the media? Dan Pardi: Yeah, it was a huge popularity last week and for good reason. It’s a really interesting study, but it’s also easy to misinterpret. The question I get most regularly and probably the easiest question to ask is, how much sleep do you need? And it’s actually one of the hardest questions to answer because it’s dependent on several things. But I’ll talk a little bit about the details of this study. Then we can talk about its interpretation. As you mentioned, there were three hunter-gatherer groups that were analyzed, and they were analyzed through what’s called wrist actigraphy. This is a wrist-worn device that will look at movement patterns, sleep patterns, and then some new ones also look at light, so just by wearing it, it has a light meter. And what they can do is then they can look at periods where they will use that motion data to then predict, OK, were they asleep or not, maybe what type of sleep were they in, and then what were their physical activity patterns like, and then also what kind of light exposure did they get. The three groups that were studied were the Hadza, which are foragers of Northern Tanzania; the San, which are hunter-gatherers in Namibia, they’ve been in the Kalahari for tens of thousands of years; and then the Tsimane, which are semi-nomadic people out of the Andean foothills in Bolivia. So those are the three groups that were evaluated, and they were all relatively fit, and I do have some comments to make about what “fit and healthy” means. Chris Kresser: Mm-hmm. Dan Pardi: Maybe while I’m on that point I’ll just mention them. Their fit and healthy people might be healthier and fitter than our people. Fitness was actually discussed a little bit in the study, but because unhealthy people in hunter-gatherer tribes will die young, or can, then a lot of people that have health issues are not kept alive through modern medicine, which is a great thing, but there might be some population differences when we say “normal healthy subjects” in a study with hunter-gatherers and then in a study within the United States or some other developed country. Chris Kresser: Right, because previous work has shown that hunter-gatherers are typically much healthier overall than Westerners when you look at measures like body mass index and oxygen consumption and vision and bone density and things like that. Dan Pardi: Yeah, so you have to take that into consideration when we’re thinking about these terms that are used to described actually different groups. Chris Kresser: Right. Dan Pardi: Normal, healthy. It’s relative. Chris Kresser: Not to mention the vast difference in just about everything about their lives! Dan Pardi: Truly, yeah. Chris Kresser: That can be measured. Yeah. OK, so go ahead. Dan Pardi: It’s so true! Yeah. Chris Kresser: Just to throw this in, I was driving back from San Francisco just now and was listening to Science Friday recorded from last week, and they were interviewing this psychologist who studies the psychological and physiological impact of the built environment, and they actually had people take these guided walking tours through New York City in the Lower East Side, among other cities, and they had skin... Dan Pardi: Bioimpedance monitors? Chris Kresser: Yeah, bioimpedance monitors to measure the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. They had other heart rate variability monitors. They had a number of monitoring systems to see what was happening to their nervous systems as they went through these different kinds of environments. So they’d have them stand, like, in the middle of a busy intersection, not in the street, but on the center divider. They’d have them stand inside of a green-space park. They’d have them stand at the entrance of different kinds of buildings. And what they found, unsurprisingly, was that the different environments profoundly affected the nervous system. Dan Pardi: Yeah. Chris Kresser: In a dramatic way. Like, even just two or three minutes sitting on a park bench in green space dropped the sympathetic arousal by a huge amount, really unexpected, actually, even to the researchers. It just stands to reason to me that the nervous system of people in our highly manufactured built environment and industrial environment is going to be profoundly different than the nervous system of people living in these more traditional settings. Dan Pardi: I did not hear that. I’m going to go find and listen to it. But it’s also very consistent with other reports where you see things like ego depletion happening, which is basically the sapping of your willpower. That happens a lot less when you’re exposed to natural environments or in natural environments. So if you’re doing the same sort of depleting task, if you’re in a natural environment, it’ll happen less. Chris Kresser: Right. Dan Pardi: Just one more example about how... you know, our physiology evolved in a condition that’s very different than what’s normal now for many people, so yeah, that’s really, really interesting. Chris Kresser: So there’s the context, everyone. And Dan’s going to continue—after I’ve interrupted him six times!—and tell us more about this study. Dan Pardi: No, it’s a really crucial point, so thank you for mentioning it!
Important sleep factors
Yeah, so they examined their sleep duration and timing, and as you’ve probably heard me say before on your show and even in the article that I wrote, timing and duration are very key and they’re independent. Duration is easy. It’s the amount of sleep that you get over the course of a 24-hour period. Timing is when that sleep is occurring within the 24-hour period. They looked at both of these factors in relationship to natural light and ambient temperature and then also seasonal changes. That’s basically the context of the study, and in the big-picture findings is that all three of these groups showed very similar patterns, almost identical. They were all distanced by, you know, there’s a geographical difference for all of them, and the idea is that this might suggest that these people are expressing what is kind of a human, Homo sapiens sleep—the real core, natural sleep—which I think is really an interesting... I wouldn’t say “finding,” but interpretation. Chris Kresser: Right. Dan Pardi: Yeah. So what did they find? There are a lot of ways that natural sleep, we’ll call it, is discussed, and oftentimes, depending on who’s discussing it, it can be misinterpreted or, even worse, it can just be wrong in how somebody’s phrasing it. For example, hunter-gatherers would rise with the sun and go to bed when the sun would go down. We know that’s not true. Even though they might not stay up as late as we do when we have artificial light that is stimulating arousal, we also know that hunter-gatherer groups would gather around fires and tell stories and dance pretty late, so it’s not just going to bed right after the sun went down. And in this study they found that, indeed, on average these groups would go to sleep about 3-1/2 hours approximately after sunset. I thought that was pretty interesting. Chris Kresser: Yeah, me too. Dan Pardi: Yeah. Chris Kresser: What are they doing? They’re not watching TV, Dan. Dan Pardi: Yeah, they’re dancing! If you’re going to stay up past dark, you should go dancing. Chris Kresser: You’d go dance around the fire, right? Dan Pardi: Yeah. I totally support that. Chris Kresser: Mm-hmm. Dan Pardi: They also did not wake up with sunrise, but would actually wake up before it. And what was really, really interesting to me was that what correlated most strongly with the time that they would fall asleep and the time that they would wake up was actually body temperature... and ambient temperature, and how the sleep onset and sleep offset took place when there were drastic changes in ambient temperature, suggesting that as it’s dropping later in the evening, then that would be a time for energy expenditure within a human to decrease, and this initiates the sleep onset period. Chris Kresser: This is why you often hear the recommendation of sleeping in a cool room rather than a warm room. Dan Pardi: Yeah, that’s right. And another recommendation as well, which is if you’re having some trouble sleeping, sometimes taking a hot bath or getting out of a hot tub can facilitate sleep onset, the reason being that when you go into a hot bath, you will vasodilate, and so that allows more core blood to go into your periphery, and when that happens because you’re warm, your body wants to try to actually get rid of body heat. You step out of that hot environment, the heat leaves your body, and you have a drop in core body temperature, and that can make you really drowsy. Anybody that’s ever gotten out of a hot tub at night might feel drowsy and groggy, and that’s one of the reasons why, particularly if they go into a colder environment. Chris Kresser: Mm-hmm. Dan Pardi: Yeah. So that is a couple of examples about what can help. Another thing that also can help is taking a half of an aspirin, and that can lower core body temperature, and that can facilitate sleep onset. That’s again going back to temperature here. They also noticed that when people would wake up, it had to do with when temperatures were rising and not necessarily when the sun was rising. So when it was starting to get a little bit warmer, they would experience vasoconstriction, and that would then be alerting. Now let’s talk about, maybe, the sleep periods. So how long was sleep duration? This was the big kind of main point that was discussed within a lot of the popular press articles. Chris Kresser: Right. Dan Pardi: Sleep duration ranged from 5.7 hours to 7.1 hours, and that sounds pretty low, and in fact, a lot of the commentaries were that this is kind of near the low end of modern cultures, this range. But what’s really important to note is that the sleep period—so there’s sleep duration, which is how long you slept, and then there’s the sleep period, which is the time that you were actually sleeping, the period of time that you were sleeping. That was really average. That was 7 to 8-1/2 hours per night, which is what I recommend. Chris Kresser: Mm-hmm. Dan Pardi: Because what’s happening to your sleep in that period is difficult to say. There are a lot of things that are going to influence it. Sometimes you’ll sleep more, and sometimes you’ll sleep less, but you want to give your body adequate time for what I call “complete sleep,” which is allowing all of the homeostatic, physiological processes that are taking place during sleep to not be interrupted by artificial means, like an alarm clock. Chris Kresser: Yeah, and let’s be realistic about this. When most people hear the instruction to get 8 hours of sleep, they’re going to go to bed at 10 and get out of bed at 6. They’re not going to be determining how many of those 8 hours they’re actually... you know, they’re not going to go to bed at 9 and wake up at 7 so that they can get 8 hours of sleep. Most people don’t think about it that way. Dan Pardi: Right. Chris Kresser: But that’s probably what is actually happening. Very few people are going to go to bed at 10 and wake up at 6 and actually get 8 hours of sleep in that interval. Dan Pardi: That’s right. Yeah. Chris Kresser: So this study... from a practical perspective, it doesn’t change what the recommendations have been and what you’ve been saying and I’ve been telling my audience for some time now. Dan Pardi: Yeah, that’s right. An important point was brought up in the study in that let’s say you’re monitoring your sleep and you’re showing that you’re not getting 8 hours, because that’s what’s recommended, 8 hours, let’s say. And by the way—we talk about this every time—you cannot recommend, let’s say, population averages prescriptively to individuals. You can’t look at a group of a hundred people and say, “OK, well, the average was 8 hours; therefore, you need 8,” because you could need more or less. Chris Kresser: Mm-hmm. Dan Pardi: You have your own individual sleep need. Some people sleep more, some people sleep less. Chris Kresser: And we have a great article guest post by you on my blog that will help you determine how much sleep you need. I think if you search for “Chris Kresser, Dan Pardi,” that should show up. Dan Pardi: Yeah. Thanks for giving me that opportunity to write that because, like I said, it is a question I get very frequently, and it’s nice to lay out the different factors because the amount that you need can depend on different things, depending on if you’re fighting an infection, if you’ve been playing sports. Also, “How much sleep do you need—” should be followed by “—for what?” You might perform perfectly well and not have any untoward health side effects from getting a little bit less sleep, but if you’re trying to optimize cognition and information processing and memory and things like that, you might actually need to get more sleep. And the way to do that is to then test the amount of sleep that you’re getting and judge it by how well you think you’re performing, how alert you are, and how sharp you feel the next day. That’s the best way to kind of assess that, and that’s called “sleep satisfaction.” It’s how satisfied are you by the sleep that you’re getting. If you feel kind of a persistent sleepiness, you don’t feel very sharp, then maybe you need more and you should experiment with that.
What the study did not tell us
Chris Kresser: Yeah. OK. So what this study hasn’t told us—again, in contrast to what some popular media stories have suggested—is that it’s normal for humans to sleep—or to be in bed, let’s say—for 5-1/2 or 6 hours a night, which is, I think, how it’s been interpreted in some cases. Dan Pardi: Yeah. Chris Kresser: But what new information do you think it has highlighted? Or if not new, just interesting angles? The importance of temperature, maybe, in the room that has become a little bit more apparent with this study? Dan Pardi: Yeah. I didn’t fully complete my last thoughts, and that’s one of them. If you worry too much about getting 8 hours of sleep, let’s say you’re tracking it and you notice you’re in bed for 8 but you’re getting 6, don’t worry. That’s not uncommon. A lot of these findings are not actually inconsistent with sleep findings from the lab. You’ll bring somebody in the lab, they’ll be there for 8 hours, but they’ll sleep for 6 hours and 45 minutes. There’s definitely a distinction between sleep period, which is the in-bed duration, the time that you’re in bed, and then the amount of sleep that you’re getting. Those are two ways to kind of distinguish them, and they’re important. The other finding, which I thought was interesting, is they comment that light exposure did not have a big impact on sleep time. For me, that wasn’t too much of a surprise because their environment is consistent. Chris Kresser: Right. Dan Pardi: It has more of an effect on our life because our environment is very inconsistent. Our lighting environment is as if you were to take one of these groups, let’s say, the San, and you’d move them over several different time zones and you’d plop them down one night, and the next night you’d move them back, and the next night you’d move them back, and the next night you’d move them back. Chris Kresser: Right. Dan Pardi: The repetivity of that change is really what we’re inducing with the types of light that we’re getting when we are up late one night watching television and go to bed early the next. That high variability in light exposure is then going to have an effect on the timing of our circadian rhythms. Chris Kresser: I also can’t help wondering... I know for myself if I look at an iPad or something like that without my orange glasses on, blue-light-filtering glasses on, late at night, it definitely does something to me and makes it harder for me to get to sleep, and I don’t sleep as well that night. Dan Pardi: Yeah. Chris Kresser: And maybe the exposure to blue light from an electronic device that’s a couple of feet away from your eyes is different than the light/dark stimulation that they were getting in that ancestral environment. Dan Pardi: Yeah, absolutely. Every time that you half the distance of a light source to the eyes, so for example, if you’re holding an iPad out 2 feet and you cut it to 1 foot, you quadruple the intensity of the light exposure because more of those photons are going straight into the eye. And if you think about where we tend to hold our iPads or phones if we’re lying down in bed, they’re right up to our face. Chris Kresser: Yeah. Dan Pardi: And so even though they’re not emitting very strong light in terms of lux units, which is the light intensity measurement, it is intense because it is going into our eye. There was work out of Chuck Czeisler’s lab recently at Harvard, who’s kind of considered the grandfather of circadian biology—one of the—that they had a study where they were looking at e-readers in your face at night, and they found that there was a significant impact of those sorts of devices on circadian timing, so it would cause a shift. Chris Kresser: That’s so interesting. I know, like, early versions of the Kindle were non-backlit, right? Dan Pardi: Yeah. Chris Kresser: And then, I think, pretty much all Kindles that you can buy... I’m not sure about the other devices because I’m not as familiar with them, but I’m pretty sure all Kindles now are backlit. Dan Pardi: Yeah. Chris Kresser: So what should people be doing if they’re reading a Kindle at night when it’s dark? Is it better to turn down the backlighting as much as possible and use room light instead because it’s warmer light, wear blue-light-filtering glasses when they’re reading, or some combination of the above? Dan Pardi: Yeah. I’d like to add, though, that my mentor, Jamie Zeitzer, who did his PhD under Chuck Czeisler, he wrote a commentary on top of that paper that I just mentioned, and he said that while the results are true—he didn’t question the results—he did question the relativeness of the environment they kept people in. They kept people in very dim, dark environments across the day, and that would basically heighten sensitivity to light exposure at night. Chris Kresser: Ahh, interesting. Dan Pardi: Yeah. That’s a really important point. Chris Kresser: Yeah. I wonder why they did that. Dan Pardi: Well, I think a lot of times studies are designed to look at the capacity of a system, not necessarily its sensitivity. They kind of want to see if they can get an effect under the best-case scenario. Chris Kresser: Right. Dan Pardi: And if you can, then you might kind of work to see how ecologically relevant your findings can be, so you change the conditions to make them more naturalistic. That’s a pretty common way to do it. You first try to see if an effect exists at all, because if not under the best conditions, maybe it’s not worth exploring further. Chris Kresser: Right. Because one of the recommendations we often make, too, is for people to get bright light exposure during the day— Dan Pardi: That’s right. Chris Kresser: —which has some effect on regulating the rhythm, and it’s interesting to think about it from that perspective, too. If you get that exposure to brighter light, then you’re maybe less sensitive to the light you might be exposed to later in the evening when the sun is down. Dan Pardi: That’s right. That’s why I always say get at least a half an hour of bright light exposure outside during the day because that’s going to anchor your circadian rhythm, and it’s going to make you much less sensitive to light exposure that you’re experiencing at night. Chris Kresser: Mm-hmm. Dan Pardi: But a lot of people do work inside all day under much less intense indoor light environments, particularly during the winter where it’s raining and cold outside. You’re going to be inside under normal room light, so that chances that artificial light in the evening is going to cause an effect to shift your circadian rhythms is heightened. Yeah, just a good important point to make. It stresses several things: Get outside during the day when you can, at least a half an hour. If you’re going to have a break at work, go outside. If you’re going to exercise, do it wherever you can, but if you can get outside and do it, that’s great as well. There are additional benefits from circadian rhythm alignment. And then in the evening, yeah, just like we were talking about, there’s not just a spectrum of light that will affect the activity of your master clock in the brain, but it’s also light intensity. So you want to then dim all environmental lights, and then if I’m reading anything in bed, I always wear my blue-blocking glasses. It reduces the intensity a little bit, but it will also pull out all the blue light in that spectrum of light, and it’s that blue light that is the strongest at telling the brain that it is day, and that’s what we want to avoid. Chris Kresser: I just want to tell everyone that Dan has the fanciest, most stylish blue-light-blocking glasses that I’ve ever seen. Dan Pardi: Thank you. Chris Kresser: You have to look good when you’re blocking that blue light. Dan Pardi: Right?! Chris Kresser: It doesn’t matter if you’re alone by yourself in a dark room. You never know what’s going to happen. Dan Pardi: I do it for my wife, you know? Chris Kresser: It’s good, it’s good. No, as we speak, I’m actually wearing some yellow-tinted glasses. I don’t think they block out much blue light, but they’re glasses made for gamers. Dan Pardi: Yeah. Chris Kresser: I just find that they reduce my eyestrain during the day when I’m looking at the computer a lot. Dan Pardi: Yeah. Chris Kresser: So I’ll wear these intermittently. And I’m a little bit embarrassed to say this, but I have to say that I’ve been going with the BluBlockers at night. Dan Pardi: Yeah! Chris Kresser: I remember the QVC ads when we were growing up, BluBlockers, and of course, I never knew what they were until I learned more about this stuff, that they were actually blocking blue light, and I think they claim to block almost a hundred percent. I don’t know if that’s ever been verified, but I’ll tell you that I’ve tried, now, three or four different brands or types of blue-light-blocking glasses, and I find that the BluBlockers—I have their wraparounds, and they have a panel as part of the wraparound that’s orange also, so it pretty much covers the whole eye area, and I notice a big difference just a few minutes after I put them on at night. Dan Pardi: They do block a hundred percent of blue light, and the Gunnar yellow-tinted cut the blue light in about half. What’s interesting is that cutting some blue light during the day can actually make people feel more calm because, again, blue light is alerting. So some people perform better when they use some blue light blocking during the day at the office because it makes them feel more calm, and then that makes them feel more productive, which is interesting. It’s only a problem if you’re then not getting outside to get adequate daylight during the day. Chris Kresser: Right. Dan Pardi: So if you’re going to do that, you have to get outside, for sure. Chris Kresser: Yeah. I’ve made a point now when I go outside not to wear sunglasses typically, unless I’m going to be outside for a while or I’m at the beach or something like that. Even then, I’ll spend the first hour or something without sunglasses. Dan Pardi: Yeah.
Sleep recommendations while traveling
Chris Kresser: Let’s talk just briefly, since we’re finishing up here. I’m going to the UK on Saturday, and I’m gone for a couple of weeks, and Dan has helped me with my strategy for traveling because I want to try to time shift my rhythm as much as possible beforehand so I can ease the transition into this timezone which is 8 hours ahead. I have my glasses, and I have my melatonin. So tell everyone what you advise regarding melatonin for me and why. And then we didn’t talk about how I could use my glasses possibly to help with that shift, so let’s do that too, because I know a lot of people listening to this do a lot of traveling as well, across timezones. Dan Pardi: Yeah, I get it a lot, so let’s think how melatonin is usually taken supplementally. People take it before bed to induce sleep, and the effects of melatonin are pretty weak as a sleep inducer—but they’re there. Part of the effect of aiding sleep initiation is placebo. If you think it’s working, then you’re more likely to really relax and help you go to sleep, and if there’s even just a little bit of an effect and you think that you’re taking it for a specific reason, it’s going to augment the placebo effect. That’s how most people take it. Now let’s look at your case, what you’re doing. You’re going to be taking melatonin in a small dose, 0.5 mg to 1 mg, to adjust your circadian rhythm by up to 3 hours a day. That’s kind of the maximal amount that you can shift your rhythm. And you’re going to do that ahead of time, several days ahead of time, so that when you arrive in the UK, you’re not going to have to adjust 9 hours, but you might be in a place where you only have to adjust 3, 4, or 5, so you at least cut it in half or more. It depends on how much you try to adjust between now and then. Chris Kresser: Mm-hmm. Dan Pardi: I always save a little bit of adjusting for when I arrive just because it’s easier than trying to fully adjust while I’m here. Chris Kresser: Right, because then you could run the risk of disrupting your schedule where you are, right? Dan Pardi: Yeah, exactly. That just is impractical for a lot of people. So what I tend to try to do, in your case, is I look at, when is it getting dark where I’m going, and then what time is that here where I am? And at that time, here where I am, I will then start to take melatonin daily three to four days out before I leave. So that might be noon or 2 in the afternoon depending on, again, where you’re going. And you just take 0.5 mg, and then I might take 0.5 mg 4 or 5 hours later. What you’re doing when you do that is you’re not necessarily facilitating any sleepiness, but you are telling the brain, you’re starting to initiate the process of phase shifting. Chris Kresser: Mm-hmm. Dan Pardi: Now, you also want to try to go to bed earlier the first few days, the days preceding leaving, and then also get up earlier as well, so you’re already shifting before you arrive. Chris Kresser: Right. So if I wanted to accelerate that, would I consider putting on my BluBlockers a little earlier in the day as well? Dan Pardi: Yeah, absolutely. So you usually put them on in the evening to block the blue light from artificial light, but in this case, you’d put them on maybe starting at 4 in the afternoon. So you’d have some melatonin earlier than that in supplemental form, wear the BluBlockers starting at 4, and then try to go to bed early and wake up early. That’s a pretty good way to do it. Chris Kresser: So if I wanted to really take this to the next level, I could also have a bright light when I wake up in the morning. Let’s say, if I wake up before dark, I could have a light machine and get some bright light exposure in my eyes, or would just normal daylight at the normal time be enough? Dan Pardi: Yeah, you could get bright light exposure early in the morning. That’s another shifter of your circadian rhythm. It’s always a good thing to do. You’re managing light environment across the 24-hour period. Chris Kresser: Yeah. Dan Pardi: Yeah, so first thing in the morning getting bright light exposure, and actually that’s another very interesting point to the study by Jerry Siegel. They did measure light exposure, and a lot of these hunter-gatherer communities got a lot of light exposure early in the morning, first thing in the morning. Chris Kresser: Mm-hmm. Dan Pardi: Then around noon, when it was hottest, the light intensity of the exposure would dim because they would be temperature regulating under trees when it was really hot. I thought that was very fascinating as well. It could suggest another mechanism for why getting light in the morning is a good idea. Chris Kresser: Fascinating. Thanks so much for coming back on the show, Dan. I’m sure this will help a lot of people and eliminate a lot of potential misunderstanding from that recent study. Dan Pardi: Thanks for having me back on the show. Always a pleasure. Chris Kresser: Great. Take care. Dan Pardi: All right. Have a good trip to the UK, too! Chris Kresser: Thanks! I definitely will. That’s the end of this episode of Revolution Health Radio. If you appreciate the show and want to help me create a healthier and happier world, please head over to iTunes and leave us a review. They really do make a difference. If you’d like to ask a question for me to answer on a future episode, you can do that at ChrisKresser.com/PodcastQuestion. You can also leave a suggestion for someone you’d like me to interview there. If you’re on social media, you can follow me at Twitter.com/ChrisKresser or Facebook.com/ChrisKresserLAc. I post a lot of articles and research that I do throughout the week there that never makes it to the blog or podcast, so it’s a great way to stay abreast of the latest developments. Thanks so much for listening. Talk to you next time.
from Chris Kresser http://chriskresser.com/yes-you-still-need-7-8-hours-of-sleep-with-dan-pardi/
via Holistic Clients
We follow a variation of this focused on shared experiences. Our kids typically get:
Non-Toxic Cookware:
Black Mineral Powder:
My Cookbook!
Natural Mouth Care:
Getting a massage is one of my favorite relaxation activities, but it can be both expensive and time consuming. This new online course teaches couples how to give each other amazing relaxation massages from the comfort of your own home, and you can 
OraWellness: (natural tooth brushes and Healthy Mouth Blend) is offering a free Bass toothbrush with each bottle of Healthy Mouth Blend purchased (including multi-packs) plus free shipping (through Monday)!
My favorite cookware is 20% off from all weekend plus there are some bonus deals that are constantly changing. Please note that my normal 10% discount code will not work with this sale. 
These 