Podcast Episode #165: Amenorrhea, Adult Acne and High Intensity Workouts

Topics: 

1. What’s new for you from Liz & Diane [4:57] 2. Shout Out: Nom Nom Paleo and Robb Wolf [12:35] 3. This week in the Paleosphere:  8 Positive Outcomes of the Paleo Diet [14:17] 4. Listener Questions:
My period did a vanishing act! [22:39] Adult acne while on paleo [30:52] Sparkling water on 21DSD [38:02] Transition help into higher intensity workouts [40:58] 5. An interview from our sponsor, Vital Choice’s Randy Hartnell [48:42] 6. Liz’s fertility tip: folic acid versus folate [51:11] 7. Diane’s Kitchen tip: Saving the zest [54:02] 8. This week’s hashtag details: #BoneBrothMyWay [56:38] [smart_track_player url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/balancedbites/BB_Podcast_165_Final.mp3″ color=”00aeef” title=”#165: Amenorrhea, Adult Acne & High Intensity Workouts ” artist=”Diane Sanfilippo & Liz Wolfe ” ]

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Links:

Live Like a Caveman with the Paleo Lifestyle With Robb Wolf and Nom Nom Paleo

Subscribe to Real Food Liz! Subscribe to Dianesanfilippo.com 

Click here to listen online

The episodes are currently available in iTunes, Stitcher & Blog Talk Radio. 

Show sponsors:

Liz Wolfe: Hey everyone! Welcome to episode number 165 of the Balanced Bites podcast! One hundred sixty five.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Are you kidding me?

Diane Sanfilippo: It’s amazing.

Liz Wolfe: I feel like I’ve sang this, sung this, singed this before, but, I’m not going to sing it, but that song five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes.

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, yeah.

Liz Wolfe: We measure our friendship in podcasts.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} We do.

Liz Wolfe: {singing} How do you measure, measure friendship! How about podcasts!

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: Ok, done with that.

Diane Sanfilippo: That was amazing. Maybe Scott can auto tune that on the podcast {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughing} Add a little T-Pain, like little John. Ok.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing} Oh my gosh. Well, I just think it’s funny because, in Chicago, Skokie, where we were. I don’t know where we were.

Liz Wolfe: Skokes?

Diane Sanfilippo: Skokes? {laughs} is that what they call it?

Liz Wolfe: I don’t know.

Diane Sanfilippo: I was like, ok. So this is Liz, and I was like, do the thing. Do the podcast thing. {laughs} And you’re like, Hey everyone!

Liz Wolfe: Hey everyone! And I totally got it. It’s so true, that’s the worst catch phrase ever.

Diane Sanfilippo: No, it’s how you say it. It’s not just like, hey everyone! It’s, hey everyone!

Liz Wolfe: I know.

Diane Sanfilippo: That was a really fun event.

Liz Wolfe: That was really fun.

Diane Sanfilippo: Super fun. Alright, well before we talk about that kind of stuff, you want to talk about our sponsors?

Liz Wolfe: Sponsors. Yes. This episode is sponsored by Vital Choice, your best choice for sustainably harvested wild seafood from Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. Wild Alaskan salmon is our planet’s richest source of healing omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, and the powerful antioxidant astaxanthin. Get the best of the wild delivered right to your door. Shop Vitalchoice.com, and start making healthier choices today. They’re offering our listeners 15% off any order using code BALANCEDBITES, and they always offer free shipping on orders over 99 bones, and you can take advantage of that, as well. Like I’ve said many, many times, I order their sardines and I’ve actually ordered their astaxanthin before when I’m getting my body ready for summer, because that helps your sunburn resistance. I love their caviar.

Diane Sanfilippo: Mmm.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, there are a couple of other things that are just my favorite.

Diane Sanfilippo: Wild salmon is definitely my favorite.

Liz Wolfe: I just, for some reason, I stopped eating salmon when I started eating sardines. Because I’ve never been that much of a seafood person, so I just kind of stick with my staples. But, if I was going to eat salmon it would definitely be from Vital Choice.

Diane Sanfilippo: Love it.

Liz Wolfe: Love it. Alright, so next sponsor, Pete’s Paleo. The 21-Day Sugar Detox is great for your body in so many ways, so basically Pete’s Paleo is sponsoring the Balanced Bites podcast by talking about the 21-Day Sugar Detox.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Well, they’re psyched about their meal plans.

Liz Wolfe: I know!

Diane Sanfilippo: They want people to just not be worried about getting on a Sugar Detox, because if you’re not sure what to eat, they’ve got you covered.

Liz Wolfe: Talk about serving the community. Well, everybody knows I’m obsessed with the Servolds.

Diane Sanfilippo: We love them.

Liz Wolfe: And their little daughter. We love them.

Diane Sanfilippo: Lois. What’s up Lois! {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: They really do. They go out of their way to serve the community, and I love them. Alright. 21-Day Sugar Detox, great for your body, but it can be difficult in just as many. Pete’s Paleo makes delicious, seasonal, ready to eat meals that strictly follows the 21DSD program. They’re shipped directly to your door, ready to go. Let Pete’s Paleo help you with your 21DSD success. And don’t forget their bacon is also 21DSD approved, and sugar-free. They’re offering some coupon codes; 5OFF21DSD, 5 like the number, OFF like the word, 21 like the number, DSD like the acronym.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughing} That’s the coupon code for $5 off 21DSD meals, and 5OFFPETESPALEO is a coupon code for $5 off regular Pete’s Paleo meals.

Diane Sanfilippo: If you forget any of those, or you’re driving, or doing dishes, or for some reason can’t write them down, they’re always on the podcast show notes over at my website, or Liz’s. So you can always grab those coupons from there.

What’s new for you from Liz & Diane [4:57]

Liz Wolfe: So, what’s up Diane? What’s new with you girl?

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Well, I’m home, in New Jersey, at this moment.

Liz Wolfe: Wait, wait. Tell the story about the mall.

Diane Sanfilippo: What? {Laughing}

Liz Wolfe: The story about the mall. This is the most important news item of the day! Where we were in Chicago.

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh! {laughs} Who was it, somebody, was it the sisters who shot us an email after the event that we were at the Old Orchard mall in Illinois, and apparently that’s where they filmed the whole watering hole scene in Mean Girls, right?

Liz Wolfe: Oh my god.

Diane Sanfilippo: In the mall?

Liz Wolfe: Apparently.

Diane Sanfilippo: Like, the whole outbreak of the wild people acting as animals. I don’t know. Yeah. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: I have no idea.

Diane Sanfilippo: I think so. I think that’s the case. Well, I’m only well versed in New Jersey malls, and movies like Mall Rats, which actually that movie was playing while I was in San Francisco recently, and I forced Scott to watch it, and I was basically quoting the entire thing the whole time. He’s like, well you’ve seen this a few times.

Liz Wolfe: {laughing}

Diane Sanfilippo: I’m like, I’m from New Jersey, it’s pretty much a rite of passage. All Kevin Smith movies. So, speaking of malls, or places I’m going. I don’t really know, that’s a terrible segue.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Good transition.

Diane Sanfilippo: Upcoming events, I just wanted to give you guys a rundown, because we’ve added a couple of events. So, I’m not quite sure, I’m pretty sure this episode will episode before November 14th, which is a Friday. We’re going to be up in Warwick, New York. Cute, cute, cute little bookshop, called Ye Old Warwick Bookshop. Liz, you would love this place, their totally adorable.

Liz Wolfe: That just sounds adorable.

Diane Sanfilippo: I love it. I’ve been there before. It’s going to be a cool event. It’s going to be really small, so if you’re interested in coming, you’ll be able to get all your questions answered. We’ll be hanging out, chatting, all that good stuff. Then, on the 16th, which is Sunday, we’re going to be in Framingham, which is in the Boston area. And, I’ll miss you in Framingham, Liz, I know.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: It’s like your life’s mission to just hang out in Framingham.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Center of all nutrition study craziness.

Liz Wolfe: Whatcha drinking there, friend?

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh. Just some coffee. {laughs} Uh, let’s see. The 18th we’ll be down in Cherry Hill, so you’re old stomping ground, Liz. That’s a newly added event, so if you’re in the Cherry Hill, Philly area definitely come join us there at Barnes and Noble at 7 o'clock. I think that’s a Tuesday. Then we’re headed back to the west coast to the Sacramento area on November 20th. Los Angeles area on November 21st, and San Diego on November 22nd.

I’ll probably update you guys on the next leg of the tour a little bit later, but you can check it out. Seattle, Portland, Denver, Rochester, and I think Houston, as well. So, if any of those are near you, come join us. That is it for the tour for this year. We won’t be adding any more dates, we literally have no more days left available, and no more frequent flyer miles to use up or bucks to spend on flights, so that will be it. So I’m excited though, it’s going to be really fun. And the last leg of the tour, our friend Brittany Angell’s book will be out, so she’ll be coming on that leg of the tour to Seattle, Portland, all that kind of good stuff. I’m psyched about that. It will be really fun.

Liz Wolfe: Listen. Listen. This is not, we are so grateful. Obviously, I’m not going on this leg of the tour. But anytime anybody comes out to see us from any distance, whether it’s next door or states away, we are incredibly grateful. I think somebody flew in to Denver when we were there.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: I think from Kansas City.

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh yeah!

Liz Wolfe: To see us both together, and somebody drove in from Detroit to Skokie, I believe, to see us. We appreciate that so much. Thank you. Please don’t hop on these threads and say, when are you coming here? When are coming there? We literally go everywhere we possibly can without completely destroying our bodies, and our home lives, and all of that. So, I don’t want to seem ungrateful at all, but there’s only so much one person can do. And it’s not that we don’t want to come see you.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Please, we’ve flown 8 hours before, spent days in airports to see folks.

Diane Sanfilippo: I know.

Liz Wolfe: If you can make the time to drive down, take half a day and do it, please do it. Don’t wait for us to come to within 15 minutes from you, because it just might not happen.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. It’s so heartbreaking, especially also the day after an event, someone’s like, oh I didn’t know!

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: Or {laughs} I’m like, I just flew across the country, come see me! I want to see everybody. I love it. I know I’ve said this a few times and in a few places. There’s just something about that face to face contact. Being able to have a quick conversation with someone, get a hug, get a picture, and just looking people in the eye.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: And having an exchange where someone can tell you, I found your book at this point, here’s what happened in my life. You know, we’re behind the computer, we’re not even in person with each other most of the time. So even when you and I get together, it’s like, it’s really fun for us.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: But the events, I almost cry a million times at the events {laughs} because it just brings everything to reality about what we’re doing from behind the internet, you know, and writing books, or doing the podcast or whatever it is. It just kind of reminds us why we do what we do, and not just what we’re doing here on the show, for example. But, when we do travel and, you know, inevitable folks will RSVP to an event and just not be able to make it sometimes.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: It happens. We’re not beating anyone up for it. But I’ve had some events where lots of folks RSVP and lots of folks show up, and some events where a lot of folks RSVP, and a much smaller percentage show up, and that’s the kind of situation where if that’s going on.

Liz Wolfe: Are you losing your pop filter or something?

Diane Sanfilippo: No am I? Am I popping?

Liz Wolfe: I don’t know, you keep making noise.

Diane Sanfilippo: I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s happening. Maybe my mike is wrong today.

Liz Wolfe: It might just be your mouth running.

Diane Sanfilippo: Oooohhh.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: Well I was just going to say, I think when we do make the effort to get to all these different places and lots of folks RSVP and then not lots of folks show up, it’s kind of sad for us.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: It’s like, and I want to go everywhere, but when folks wonder why we go back to Portland all the time, or different places in Texas, or San Francisco, etc, it’s because people really show up. And I’m saying all this to encourage you to show up if you RSVP, and if you want to cancel, that’s totally cool. But a lot of the planning that we do ends up looping back to the places where people really showed up. I just want to give that shout out again to our folks in Skokie. That event was just phenomenal.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: And the store there, that Barnes and Noble at Old Orchard, I mean, go shop there. Those people were amazing. I love them.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. They were great. Super, super grateful for everybody that makes the effort to come out.

Diane Sanfilippo: We love it.

Liz Wolfe: It’s awesome. And we want to get to everybody, we really do. It’s just not always possible for various reasons. We love you, no matter what.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Love you {sobbing} I love you so much!

Diane Sanfilippo: She doesn’t even go here!

Liz Wolfe: {laughing}

Shout Out: Nom Nom Paleo and Robb Wolf [12:35]

Diane Sanfilippo: Alright, so shout out this week. I’m going to shout out to; shoot, I lost the link. I’m the worst at the internet some days. Well, I’m going to give a shout out to Nom Nom Paleo, and our good friend Robb Wolf from RobbWolf.com. They were featured on CBS this morning, a segment all about paleo, and we will link to it. It’s called Live Like a Caveman with the Paleo Lifestyle. And it was actually an overall super positive piece that they did, just a little bit of the kind of typical, all this red meat, and, caveman only lived to 30. {laughs} But at this point, I think it’s pretty easy to just roll our eyes at that stuff and let it go.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: But I thought they did a really lovely job of depicting Michelle and Henry’s family, and I thought that was cool because we know them personally, and I thought the piece was super accurate to who they are and their conviction and their motivation around the lifestyle, so I wanted to give them a shout out. I don’t know how else to shout this one out, but I just wanted to say hey and give a shout out to our friend Ruby who came to see us on tour.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: And, I hope to see… actually I did already see a picture of her Halloween costume. She was Flo, the insurance agent from Progressive.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} That’s so awesome.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} And she was super awesome, and I just wanted to give her a shout out, I don’t know if she listens to the podcast. I think she does, right? Did they say she listens to the podcast?

Liz Wolfe: I can’t remember.

Diane Sanfilippo: She’s a wee one. She’s a kid, so just wanted to say hey to Ruby.

Liz Wolfe: Hey Ruby! Thanks for coming.

This week in the Paleosphere:  Article 8 Positive Outcomes of the Paleo Diet [14:17]

Liz Wolfe: Alright, so my turn. This isn’t as positive as the shout out for Nom Nom and Robb Wolf. This is this week in the Real Food/Paleosphere article, 8 positive outcomes of the paleo diet. It is deceptively not positive in much of the article itself, and I’ve just got to say it smacks of indignance. The lady that wrote this clearly was asked to write something about the paleo diet because, as she acknowledges in the article, it is one of the top Googled diets and blah, blah, blah, although she never fails to point out, it’s also ranked as one of the worst diets in {laughs} I don’t know, some other report.

So, she’s not a fan of the paleo diet, and she says that from the beginning. She says, “Let me get this out of the way right now; I’m not a fan of the paleo diet. I don’t support this restrictive, meat-heavy diet that bans so many nutritious foods, such as dairy, grains, and beans. It landed at the bottom of the list in US News Best Diets rankings, scoring only 2 out of 5 stars.” {laughs}

And then she says, “While health professionals,” health professionals; while real people that know stuff about food.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: “may scoff at this primal eating plan (also known as the caveman diet), paleo followers,” who clearly she’s setting up that we’re not experts, “are so passionate about this lifestyle that they can't help but proselytize.” I bet she spelled proselytize correctly the first time, too.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: Like, I can nail pterodactyl every single time, she probably nailed proselytize. “I've never seen such devotion to a diet. For nonbelievers (like myself), there's often a concerted effort to attack the doubters. When did eating turn into a religion?” {laughing}

And then from there, now that she's got her protests out of the way, she lists all the positive aspects of the paleo diet. One of which, if I may say, I believe is number 4.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: Is, it’s now ok. What does it say, It’s now ok to eat the yolks. I try and stay off the internet.

Diane Sanfilippo: Permission to eat the yolks.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. {laughs} Permission…I didn’t even get a shout out, yo!

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Permission to eat the yolks! I wrote that book! Dang. Dang dude. It’s just funny to me that she calls it restrictive, and grains, beans and dairy are out, and then she sits there and says, now we can eat fat, now we can eat yolks, and now we can eat whatever else, so she’s basically saying it opens up all kinds of new great foods. But it eliminates marginally nutritious food.

Diane Sanfilippo: It eliminates stuff I’m addicted to and want to eat so I don’t like it.

Liz Wolfe: Exactly.

Diane Sanfilippo: Is basically what ends up happening {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: I mean, this article is almost hilarious.

Diane Sanfilippo: Ugh.

Liz Wolfe: I see there’s something like 570 comments. I will not, will not get involved in the comment sections.

Diane Sanfilippo: No.

Liz Wolfe: Honestly, I know what happened. She was asked to write this article for Yahoo health, she didn’t want to but she had to. {laughs} So she basically said all the bad things before she said any of the good things.

Because at this point, like we talked about, or like you talked about with Nom Nom and Robb’s coverage, and I’ve been on the news around here probably4 or 5 times talking about my book. It’s becoming overwhelmingly positive. People have fewer crappy things to say about it, because they’re actually doing their research, and finding out what we’re all about. And I think that maybe this is rankling this person a little bit {laughs}.

Diane Sanfilippo: Well, and in this article too, she says, “Sure, some paleo followers interpret the restrictions differently and allow for some of these foods,” she’s kind of talking about dairy as one of her big ones that she’s really upset that we can’t have. “Why have so many arbitrary rules?” She asks. “Why spend time trying to determine if a food is truly paleo or not?”

I mean, the thing that bugs me about articles like this is that they’re never written with any real insight into how those of us who teach this stuff interpret it. That whole insight is always missing. So, this question, why have so many arbitrary rules, well they’re not arbitrary. It’s because we watch people eating certain foods who are not feeling healthy, and are pretty sick, in fact, a lot of the times, and they get rid of these foods and they feel a lot better.

And then, Why spend time trying to determine if it’s paleo or not? We don’t. That’s not what we do. So that whole argument, is it paleo, is it not paleo. It’s really, that stuff is what happens when you're on the surface, you’re just scratching the surface of what paleo even is. Maybe you heard about it in the gym. Folks at my gym, they joke all the time. Is this paleo? Is this paleo? Sometimes I’m like, wait, do you guys say that when I’m not around? They’re like, oh yeah, we do this all the time.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: And they’re just kind of joking around about it, you know. It’s not a dogmatic thing. It’s not a black and white, is it ok, is it not ok. But in terms of calling the rules arbitrary, there are so many things around that. You and I have talked on the show before about rules, and how largely we’re not big rule makers or followers, and at the same time, I recognize in my own research of having a program where there are sort of rules that people are following, but there’s also some flexibility, interestingly enough, that a lot of people who need to find health a better way of eating that works for them, they want rules. They want a guideline. They want to be told, here’s what to eat, here’s what to avoid, here’s why. Go ahead and see how this works for you.

Unfortunately, the rules we’ve been given don’t work. The rules we’ve been given our whole lives, or lack of rules, none of that works. So why have these rules? Well, people are sick ,and they want to find a better way to eat. This whole paleo thing is really not just about the Crossfit community anymore, it’s not about just weight loss or aesthetics, as it maybe was not that long ago.

I definitely give credit to Robb Wolf for, really early on talk about the potential to help with autoimmunity, and what we’ve seen in this whole community of what’s going on, whether it’s folks with digestive problems, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, kind of this intersection of SCD and GAPS and different ways of eating that really help with digestive distress, but also just the huge, huge, huge issue around autoimmunity and how young people are becoming diagnosed with it. You know, in their 20s, and I see it in a lot more women than men, and that could just be because our audience is more women than men.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: But, that’s not something to kind of just blow off. So to me that’s way more important than this being some diet that somebody thinks might be crazy or too restrictive. I just don’t care about what that person thinks about how restrictive it is. I care that somebody gets off most of their medication, if they can’t get off of all of it, you know, or that they’re feeling a lot better. That they are able to absorb what they’re eating, and their immune system calms the heck down, because watching people pop prescriptions from a super young age that then they’re told that they’re going to have to take for forever. That’s just not worth it.

So we really want to make sure that we put this stuff out there. These articles, I mean, how many times can we roll our eyes at these articles, you know?

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Well, Diane.

Diane Sanfilippo: A lot of times!

Liz Wolfe: You know that real health professionals scoff at the primal eating plan.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: So if we’re scoffing at her article, about scoffing at the primal eating plan.

Diane Sanfilippo: I’ve seen these dieticians. I’ve seen in the hospitals and, {laughs} my dad was once sent away with an eating plan after his gallbladder was removed, and I think he laughed at not only the dietician that was there, and this is not to say that all dieticians are this way, but he was like, seriously? She sent me out with this list of food that was totally absurd, and I don’t know who they’re qualifying as these real health professionals.

Liz Wolfe: It’s just such a subtle dig. I mean, I kind of like how she did this article, it’s kind of how I would talk to somebody that was ticking me off. Like, well, I mean you’re a believer so you’re passionate. I’ve never seen such devotion. But health professionals scoff.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Scoff is a good one. I also like the word chortle.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: Chortle is a good one. Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh boy.

Liz Wolfe: Silly, silly Janet Helm for US News and World Report. Alright.

Listener Questions:
My period did a vanishing act! [22:39]

Liz Wolfe: Onto questions, I guess.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Sometimes we get to questions. Alright, this first one is from Julia. My period did a vanishing act; help! “Hi guys! I have a question for you that I couldn’t find the exact answer to from any of your other podcasts or blog posts. It has to do with my menstruation, or lack thereof. I’m 23 and nowhere close to wanting to make any babies any time soon, but I know I’ll want to at some point, and I’m alarmed by my vanishing period. I went on a strict elimination diet for 30 days in January to figure out what was making me so sick every day. Sure enough, with a few tests from my gastroenterologist, it was celiac disease.

After gobbling up everything I could from Chris Kresser, Robb Wolf, Mark Sisson, Weston A. Price foundation and both of you, I could go on, I quickly adopted a full paleo lifestyle and have been thrilled with the results. Energy, clear skin, and 30 pounds of weight loss to name a few.

However, in the past 4 months or so as the weight has continued to drop steadily, my period began to get lighter and lighter until it just stopped. I’m 5’4” and right about 120 pounds, give or take, at 24% body fat. I’m not actively trying to lose weight, but I go to the gym 3-4 times a week and eat pretty clean about 100% of the time, and fat continues to come off. I do not weigh or measure food, count calories, or adhere to any zoning. I just eat real food, especially as many super foods as I can, and stop when I’m full.

So my question is, it seems with my celiac disease, I was holding on to a significant amount of weight. Now that I’ve gotten healthy and it has come off, should I be concerned about the lack of menstruation? I used to eat so much processed junk, it makes my head spin. So reverting back to that is not an option. How should I get my period back? I thought 24% body fat would be enough to keep myself healthy and fertile. Thanks for your podcast guys, I can’t get enough of it, or your blogs, books, Skintervention Guide, etc. You’ve both been such a wonderful guide to this amazing community.

Diane, I’m about to start crossfitting for the first time, and Liz you’ve inspired me to homestead as much as I can in my tiny apartment in Richmond. It’s not a lot, but I’m doing as much as I can. Thanks again, and I hope to hear from y’all.”

Let me see if any of this additional info is good. “Breakfast examples; eggs, veggies, sauerkraut, sweet potato after a morning workout with grass-fed butter and coconut oil, bone broth, herbal tea, local bacon and sausage, frequently from polyface farms local to where I live.” That’s awesome.

“Lunch/Dinner examples: Sardines, grass fed beef, veggies, wild caught fish. I try and incorporate what vegetables are in season and local, and I’m also about to venture into the world of organ meats, wish me luck. Snacks: nuts, raw grass-fed milk, kombucha, Larabars and dried fruit if traveling. Some fruit in season.

Supplements: Fermented cod liver oil, iron supplements after my gastroenterologist saw the disturbingly low nutrient profile from my blood work with my celiac diagnosis.” That’s about what we need to know. 7-8 hours a night of sleep, exercise 3-4 times a week, mostly weight training with some cardio. Birth control, used to be on the pill. Switched to Mirena IUD last September, best decision ever.” Ok.

Diane Sanfilippo: Huh. Ok.

Liz Wolfe: This is very interesting, because usually we say, I mean this very well could be, even with the nutrient density of the food kind of unintentional under eating, but there are some other things it could be, too.

Diane Sanfilippo: My very first inclination here is that she lost a lot of weight pretty quickly, and I’ve seen this happen before. Whether it’s under eating as it may be, even when you feel like you’re eating plenty, if your body is not showing you signs that it’s well nourished, which losing your period is one of them, I think just the shock of losing as much weight as you’ve lost in just a few months, that is really, really quick to lose that much weight, especially for such a small frame. At 5’4”; you know, I’m 5’4” also, so realizing it probably took me, when I was at my heaviest, I think I was at about 165 pounds, and it probably took me almost a year to really lose weight down to, I don’t know, maybe I was 130-135. That slow and steady pace really didn’t cause that kind of stress. I think of all things, I think it’s just the stress of losing that much weight so quickly. That’s probably it.

It may also be some under eating, and I would definitely caution her, if she’s going to start crossfitting, to make sure she’s upping what she’s eating, especially kind of post workout and really fueling for that activity. I wouldn’t worry too much about exactly what the body fat percentage says. “I thought this would be enough to keep me healthy and fertile.” Well, for you it may not. Or maybe it is. Maybe the body fat percentage isn’t the issue, it’s just the shock to your system of whatever’s going on. That kind of change can absolutely affect your period. Not only can you lose your period for it, but you can have much more painful periods if you're stressed. Just different ways that it affects overall your hormone balance.

Liz Wolfe: I’m wondering if, where this coincides with the switch to the Mirena IUD. I mean, I feel like IUD’s have their own problems. I’ve talked about it before, but I did have my IUD removed quite some time ago, probably last winter. I used the Paragard, which I loved for a time. But then, just kind of realized it was probably causing some inflammation that I was not aware of at the time. So, of course, everybody knows that I’m a fan of condoms. Well, not a fan, but you know what I’m saying. But I do think that anytime birth control is in the picture it’s worth looking at and maybe kind of lining up what’s going on with the switch in birth control or whatever. Because there is no perfect hormonal birth control, and there is certainly no perfect IUD method of birth control. So, yeah. That’s not super specific.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. And I would say too, if that’s not the first place she wants to look, if she wants to give it a couple of months, because I’ve seen this happen too with somebody who maybe stopped training. I think I talked about it a while ago on the show. Someone who stopped training. She was probably, I think she was about 18 years old, someone I knew. And got back into training, and when she started up, just went nuts. Sometimes twice a day, when she would train it was super intense after several months of not training at all, and so she dropped a ton of body fat really quickly, and did it by something that was kind of stressful for her body.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: You just never know what change you make, like how stressful that will be for you. Because even if somebody else does exactly the same thing, loses exactly the same amount of weight, and it doesn’t affect them the same way; we all just have a really different constitution. And same thing happened, this woman also lost her period. For me, I was like, you need to take that as a sign that something that you’re doing is too stressful. Whether it’s too much training, or too much training without enough food. Or if it is, in this case, that she lost weight really quickly, just doing things to kind of calm her system and really support it, and make sure that she’s getting enough nutrition in over time, and also just kind of nurturing, reducing the stress overall in her life. Because that’s one of the stressors that we don’t think of as a stressor. Losing weight really quickly.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: Seems only like a positive thing; exercise seems like only a positive thing. But anything in too much intensity or too long of a duration can be a negative stressor.

Liz Wolfe: Amen.

Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.

Liz Wolfe: You nailed it.

Diane Sanfilippo: Let us know. What’s her name? Julia. Let us know what happens.

Adult acne while on paleo [30:52]

Liz Wolfe: Alright. This one is from Jesse, adult acne out of the blue. “First of all, love the show. I look forward to listening to your podcast every week, and I especially love the goofy humor. I’m a 35-year-old male who has been primal/paleo since January of this year. Overall, I love it, I’ve lost weight, and lost the general bloating/crappy feeling associated with carbs. However, I’ve started to get zits. It’s gotten progressively worse, to the point now when I would say I officially have acne. The nice big red ones.

I’ve never had acne my entire life, including my teen years. Now, suddenly at 35, when starting paleo, my face began to break out. I’ve developed an obsessive routine, or so says my wife. I wash twice daily with a chemical cleanser, and also apply a gel which contains salicylic acid, and that seems to hold it in check, not make it better. If I skip a day of the routine, within a few days my face is noticeably worse. I really love the way I eat now, and don’t want to go the prescription drug route. Do you have any tips for me? Thanks!”

My tips for Jesse would be, if you haven’t already, to grab my Skintervention Guide. Because, in this Skintervention Guide, I talk about digestive support. And I think, Diane you and I have talked about this before, how when you switch, whether it’s a dramatic switch or kind of an easy transition into a new way of eating, you’re eating foods and asking your body to process foods that maybe it wasn’t used to. And that can manipulate how your digestive function works.

Suppressed digestive function, which a lot of people have coming from a Standard American Diet that doesn’t demand much of the digestive capacities. When your digestion is kind of suppressed, you can have a lot of trouble like this. Beyond that, you’re also asking a lot of your gut flora. You’re basically asking your gut flora to handle food that it’s not used to handling. And your gut flora reflects your environment, the food that you’ve been eating, and a whole host of other stuff that maybe you wouldn’t expect.

So, the first place I want people to go, especially if they’re dealing with a skin problem, which is basically an internal problem manifested externally, is to look at supporting digestion. We are going to talk about this quite a bit; I just finished up the digestion module for our Balanced Bites online workshop, which is going to be really good, but what you need to look at is not just taking some supplements to support your digestion, but also just eating in the right frame of mind, chewing your food really, really well, and eating foods that support your goals as much as possible.

So, switching to paleo is great, it’s one thing, but the other thing I talk about in Skintervention Guide is the types of superfoods that you can use to heal your skin from the inside out. So I just think this is a case for the Skintervention Guide. What do you think, Diane?

Diane Sanfilippo: Really funny, is I was jotting down some notes of stuff that I wanted to talk about that, I was like, ok if she doesn’t mention this, I’m going to say this {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: And literally, I would write something down and a second later, you would say it. I was like, great! But I actually, same exact thing. Whatever is happening on your skin, it’s definitely a reflection of what’s going on with your digestion. The other element, which kind of ties back to what we were just talking about in the previous question is the stress element of digestion. So when you mentioned your mindset around when you eat, getting into rest and digest mode, making sure that you chew your food really well, all of that will support natural hydrochloric acid production. So you were saying, it’s not like immediately take supplements it’s, the first step is make sure you are in that restful state so that you can allow your body to naturally secrete enough hydrochloric acid to breakdown and digest the food.

I think that how stressed people are is such a huge factor that we just don’t think about a lot, and we forget how much that can affect our digestion. The number one way that affects our digestion is at that very first critical step. So if you’re not kind of calmed down. And this is one of the things that I like about if you sit and say grace or just kind of sit quietly before your meal, and really get yourself into that rest and digest mode as opposed to fight or flight mode. If you don’t do that, you’re constantly eating on the go or you’re just in a hurry, or whatever the case may be, that very first step in that important cascade of digestion is impaired. So we can’t expect the rest of the whole chain to work well.

I know the way that Liz covers this from our workshop that, as she mentioned, will be online, have information also in Practical Paleo on this that you can grab now. If you already have the book, reread the digestion section of the book, because I go through it literally step by step as far as what’s happening each step of the way, and you just have to start at the beginning and kind of go from there.

I think kind of the one other thing you were mentioning about super foods, Liz, and this probably is kind of an after he figures out how to calm it down, but I think I’ve noticed for me that switching from cooking primarily with coconut oil, which I used to just have next to the stove, and I had to stop using butter because I think for me the dairy proteins in the butter weren’t working for a while, but I was using ghee primarily. It was right next to the stove, I was kind of just scooping it and using it all the time. I think that’s really helped my skin a lot, too. I’ve noticed that keratosis pilaris, which sometimes on my arms might flare up now and then. Which we know as generally a lack of vitamin A, or an imbalance between vitamin A and vitamin D in the system, getting more of that vitamin A from the grass fed butter of the ghee has, I think, really helped. It’s not like, do this for a week and it changes. It’s something I’ve noticed over months and months of changing my primary cooking fat to be ghee.

So just something to kind of throw in there in terms of nutritionally. I think a lot of times, people think about super foods, and they’re like, well I eat sardines once a week. And it’s really more about dose and duration and what your consistent with doing, and kind of letting that evolve and support your system over time. Because just doing it now and then doesn’t really have the same effect. But definitely, I think getting that digestion supported.

The other thing, I don’t know if we have more notes on what exactly Jesse is eating, but if going paleo meant that you switched from eating lots of grains, and beans, and refined foods, to whole foods that included, or does include lots of nuts and seeds, I would pull the nuts and seeds out. I definitely find that for a lot of people, all of a sudden we kind of start to overdo that. For me, I absolutely will get breakouts if I’m eating nuts and seeds, especially in any sort of quantity more than just a little bit here and there. At least of the nuts that I’m not allergic to. But cashews even, for example, will give me some breakouts. So I think that’s something also just to consider. I don’t think it’s the main reason for this type of acne, but I think it can absolutely provoke it, and if you’re not digesting those things well, it’s going to provoke that kind of response.

Liz Wolfe: Very good.

Diane Sanfilippo: That is all.

Sparkling water on 21DSD [38:02]

Liz Wolfe: Alright, this is a short one.

Diane Sanfilippo: Ok.

Liz Wolfe: What’s the scoop with sparkling/soda water? Carlie says, “this is probably a long shot because I know you’re a busy woman.” We’re never too busy for you, Carlie! “But what are your thoughts on the drink, La Croix? It states that there are no calories, no artificial sweeteners, and sodium free. Ingredients are carbonate water and natural flavor. I’m doing the 21DSD, and I just wanted something a little different versus unsweet tea and water. Is this sparkling water ok to drink while doing the 21DSD?

Diane Sanfilippo: How did you pronounce it? I thought it was La Croix?

Liz Wolfe: I don’t know! I’m not French!

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} I have no idea! I don’t speak French. Is it French?

Liz Wolfe: Croissant.

Diane Sanfilippo: So, I feel like I’ve answered this one on the podcast before, too, but maybe not. I think for the 21DSD, it’s fine. We’ve had this issue before where we’ve had paleo friendly products that lists something as natural flavors, and we kind of ask them the question, what are those natural flavors, because we know that natural flavors can mean a lot of things.

Liz Wolfe: Beaver butt.

Diane Sanfilippo: Beaver butt! {laughs} Apparently beaver anal glands has a distinct taste like strawberries, so a lot of food companies use an extract from that to strawberry flavor things.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t actually know that I think that’s; I don’t really care that we get something from an animal.

Liz Wolfe: I don’t care.

Diane Sanfilippo: That’s weird. I just think, if you thought you were getting strawberry {laughs} and you’re not, that’s the problem.

Liz Wolfe: {laughing}

Diane Sanfilippo: Anywhoo.

Liz Wolfe: But the good news is, if you’re allergic to strawberries, now you have an alternative.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing} Which I am!

Liz Wolfe: You are!

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, I could go eat my strawberry pop tarts again, they’re not actually made from real strawberries!

Liz Wolfe: Perfect.

Diane Sanfilippo: Problem solved. So I think for the 21DSD this stuff is probably fine. I’m on their website, and it says that the flavors are essence oils extracted from the fruits. I mean, I don’t know, I’m not a food scientist. I think it’s probably fine. I think if you start drinking this stuff and you notice anything weird going on; if you get any headaches or anything like that, there may be something else strange going on, but it seems like it’s legit. You want to call the company and just kind of ask them more about it, that’s cool, but it looks alright to me. I’m not that into this kind of thing, so I don’t get all geeked out on researching it. I didn’t call the company myself, but I don’t know. I would just squeeze some lemon in my sparkling water and call it a day. That’s kind of my, I would just do that. But go for it. Drink the water.

I’m pretty sure on the 21DSD group page, we now have private group pages on Facebook because a lot of folks didn’t want to comment on the regular page because then, the way Facebook works, everyone and your mother now sees your comment about the Sugar Detox that you're on, so we have this private group, and I know that they ask about this type of thing a lot. So I think go for it. And have fun.

Transition help into higher intensity workouts [40:58]

Liz Wolfe: Alright. The next question is from Lindsey. Transition help; new to paleo, and trying new workouts. Lindsey says, “I’ve recently switched to a paleo diet after trying a variety of other diets to help treat Hashimoto’s. Six years ago, I had my thyroid removed, so I feel like I’m always struggling with energy levels, both from anemia and hypothyroidism.

On top of that, the nerve to my larynx was damaged during surgery and is now paralyzed on one side. I’d like to start some more high-intensity workouts, but struggle with breathing. I can speed walk and jog slow without getting too out of breath. What would you suggest to build muscle, since high-intensity workouts leave me breathless, literally? Thanks for any help you can offer.

Additional info: have only been on paleo for a week or so, but already feel more stabilized with my energy levels and sugar swings. I eat tons of fruits and vegs, lots of nuts for snacks, and try to eat fish, chicken, or beef for lunch and/or dinner. I seem to be hungry a lot, so I’m snacking on homemade coconut snacks quite a bit. I do lots of walking with 3 kids and a big dog, I’m constantly walking them to school, and then off for an hour-long walk with the dog. I’ve tried to incorporate more strength training, but again, struggle with getting out of breath easily. At first I get embarrassed that I’m so loud, then I just get dizzy from lack of oxygen. I try to take vitamin B complex, chelated iron, and vitamin C, which help with my energy levels tremendously, but that’s all right now. Any help you can give to get more energy and feel more vitalized would be greatly appreciated.”

So I don’t know about you, Diane, but when I read this, I was like, don’t do high-intensity interval training {laughs} please.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: I just don’t see, I know people kind of look at it as the holy grail of exercise and building muscle and whatnot, but it’s really, it’s not. You can low and slow. You can go slow and heavy. And the other thing, if you’re doing well with speed walking and walking, just rock the walk man. What walking can do for your body is incredible. Because it’s using every single capacity you have working together to create a more fit body.

If you listen to the podcast that I did with Katy Bowman, or both of the podcasts that I did with Katy Bowman, who is a movement expert, she talks about, and she talks about this on her blog too, KatySays.com. She talks about how walking doesn’t, and this not walking on a treadmill, this is walking outside. It doesn’t just invigorate you, It’s not just a light exercise, or as I used to think, a lame exercise or not count as exercise.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: You’re looking to the horizon, which is balancing the way your brain interacts with your body, and the messages that it’s sending. It’s really a phenomenal way to go. And if you can speed walk, that’s great too, but what I would have you look at is what Katy Bowman says about loading. Walking with loads, and how you; there’s a million different things you can add to your walks that would help you build muscle, strength, endurance, vitality, energy, all that stuff. If you're suffering from a lack of oxygen, that’s not good for you. So that exercise that you’re hoping to do is probably not going to help based on your unique situation.

So, it’s one thing to get short of breath. It’s an entirely other thing to have a damaged, what was it, larynx?

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: And not be able to breathe. So, really just rock the walking. Figure out different ways that you can add to that routine, and make it focused on strength and on training your cells. Because really, one of the things that I’ve learned from Katy is that a lot of what we do doesn’t necessarily have the same affect that we think it does.

Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.

Liz Wolfe: So, weight training is great. It’s an awesome thing to do. But it can’t replace walking, or movement, or anything like that. So grab her book, Move Your DNA, and see what you get out of that.

Diane Sanfilippo: I love that, I think the way Katy talks about movement is kind of the way we talk about real food, because people want to dissect it and have this nutritionism approach, where they’re like, well it’s this many carbs, or this much protein, or even, it’s this much vitamin A or whatever it is, reducing it to something that’s been studied to have a very specific outcome. And I think the way that she approaches movement is so much more holistic in the sense that, you just cannot replicate the benefits of walking, or walking with a load, or walking outside in any way the same way you can’t replicate the synergies that happen in a real, whole food, by taking supplements. I don’t know, I just feel like it’s such a strong comparison, the way that she talks about movement, and you just cannot replace these natural movements. You can’t exchange walking outside on regular, on the earth, for walking on a treadmill. It’s not exactly the same.

Even if there’s a situation where, just like we talk about with supplements, for example, if you’re not getting enough of something in your diet, we might say to supplement for a little while, but always to look for it in real whole food. Same thing, from my perspective, like walking on a treadmill. It doesn’t mean it’s not, I personally am not going to say throw it away entirely if somebody is in a situation where that’s the best they can do at the time, or it’s the dead of winter somewhere. I think it’s probably better than not moving at all, but it’s not the same. And so I think to your point, too, undervaluing how effective of a means just movement and health inducing movement walking can be is fantastic.

The other thing I wanted to talk about was, I don’t know where Lindsey is. I don’t have her original question, or if it did have her location on it. I don’t know if you can look back through at all.

Liz Wolfe: Didn’t see it.

Diane Sanfilippo: I just wanted to recommend Paul Chek’s book, How to Eat, Move, and be Healthy. I think it’s a fantastic book for anybody who, and I think, I don’t know if I recommended it in Practical Paleo. I think I did, because a lot of the way I created the content in Practical Paleo was inspired by the way he created his book, because it was very much like a workbook. Very much a, take this assessment, find out where you need to work on elements of nutrition, lifestyle, and movement, and then here’s his recommendations. And what he puts in the book is a lot of stuff that you can do at home, or you can go onto ChekInstitute.com and find a practitioner. Because they are very, very, very well versed in working with people with really different types of movement limitations, different types of health challenges, and will help you get an effective workout without stressing the areas of your system that you don’t want to stress. I think that’s super important, and it’s really important to know that we just don’t all need to train the same way to have a positive healthy outcome.

So if you can find a Chek practitioner in your area, you can definitely look into that and have some help. Maybe you have help for a little while, and then do it on your own. Or you can check out Paul Chek’s book, How to Eat, Move, and be Healthy. I think it’s a really fantastic resource. I think he’s only got a couple of pieces of equipment you might need, like a physioball, one of those balls that you can sit on that’s blown up. Maybe one or two other things. Really effective workouts in there, too, that will keep you energized without over taxing your system.

Liz Wolfe: I like it.

An interview from our sponsor, Vital Choice’s Randy Hartnell [48:42]

Diane Sanfilippo: I recently sat down with Randy Hartnell, the president of Vital Choice, to have him answer some of the most frequently asked questions we get about seafood. Here’s a portion of my interview with Randy.

Diane Sanfilippo: Ok Randy, so last time we talked a little bit about how people who eat the most seafood are the healthiest. Can you tell us a little bit more about some of the studies you’ve seen?

Randy Hartnell: Yes. There are two major studies. One that took place in the UK, called the ALSPAC study, or Avon Longitudinal Study of Children and Parents. Basically, they enrolled about 14,500 pregnant women and their offspring. This was back in the early 90s, so they’ve got massive amounts of data, they’ve been watching these kids grow up. The hypothesis when they began, was the mom’s with the highest mercury levels, therefore at the most fish would have kids with the most developmental problems.

Well, everybody was shocked to find out, when they really started looking at it, that it was just the opposite. The mom’s that ate the most fish, and in some cases had higher blood mercury levels, which were not dangerously high, but they were elevated. Those mom’s had kids who had the best developmental outcomes. They had higher IQs, better scores on social testing, across a whole range of different tests. The kids born to moms that had the most seafood in the diet was the best, and there was no upper end to the benefit.

Conversely, the women that ate the least amount of fish, or avoided fish altogether, had children with the most developmental problems. Once again, that’s the ALSPAC study, and your listeners can Google that and find out more details. But the end result of that; it’s kind of a long story, but the end result of that study was the FDA and EPA just recently came out and changed their recommendation to pregnant and nursing women to eat more seafood.

Diane Sanfilippo: Fantastic! Well, that’s definitely what we recommend, so it sounds like it’s backed up by solid science, and we’re happy to continue recommending that.

Randy Hartnell: Great. Yeah, that’s been replicated in other studies, as well.

Diane Sanfilippo: Fantastic.

Liz’s fertility tip of the week: folic acid versus folate [51:11]

Liz Wolfe: OK, so we’re back to wrap up this episode. What’s next on the agenda?

Diane Sanfilippo: How about we get a fertility tip from you, Ms. Liz?

Liz Wolfe: Ok.

Diane Sanfilippo: What can you tell us this week?

Liz Wolfe: This week I can tell you that, alright. One of the things that you will be encouraged to do if you are trying to get pregnant, or are pregnant, is to get plenty of folic acid. Unfortunately, folic acid is not the form of folate that we want to be eating. Folic acid is basically a synthetic precursor to folate; what we really want is folate, which can be found in green vegetables, dark, dark leafy greens, and the very best source of folate you can possibly eat as a whole food is chicken livers. Chicken liver is incredibly high in folate. There’s no other liver that can touch it.

The good news about chicken livers is that they’re incredibly mild. You can almost sauté them up, and they taste kind of just like regular chicken. Sauté them up with some butter, and some onions, and some mushrooms. It’s super yummy. I’ve used them in my liver smoothies many times. So if you’re thinking about getting pregnant, or you are pregnant, think about incorporating chicken livers in one way or another, whether that’s to grind some into your chili, or sauté some up, put some in your smoothie, whatever, because they are an absolutely amazing source of folate. And also a really great source of instant energy for B vitamins, all kinds of good stuff. So if you can incorporate chicken livers, absolutely do it a couple of times a week.

I ordered a ton from Slanker’s grass fed meats, I believe they’re based out of Texas. The difficulty is, a lot of times chicken livers are hard to find, they’re kind of a precious commodity. So, stock up on a couple of pounds, and drop them in where you can.

Diane Sanfilippo: Awesome. I have chicken liver pate recipe, I think it’s on my website, over at BalancedBites.com.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: And in Practical Paleo, and there’s one in Mediterranean Paleo Cooking. So, if people have Mediterranean Paleo Cooking, there’s a bunch of awesome offal recipes.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: I know the pate has a little Mediterranean flavor twist, so if people are into the pate thing and want to try that out. I think the chili idea is a really good one too, or even a little bit into your ground meat for meatballs. It really gets kind of hidden. You don’t even really taste it.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: For the people who find that it has a strong taste. But I can find chicken livers pretty easily around here. I can definitely find organic ones, they look pretty good, for folks who are looking for them. Always look for them to be pretty dark red, versus light and kind of pink. They definitely should be darker in color.

Diane’s Kitchen tip: Saving the zest [54:02]

Liz Wolfe: OK, it’s time for Diane’s kitchen tip. What’s up today?

Diane Sanfilippo: Alright, so my tip this week, and it’s kind of for myself, too, because I want to remember to do this so I’m going to say it on the podcast. It’s about zest. We’re heading into the winter, and lots of fruits are no longer in season, but I’m a huge lemon fan. So I will consistently buy bags and bags of lemons. I think they last kind of a while in the fridge, so I just always want to have them on hand. I think they’re fantastic flavor to add to a lot of different recipes. So I have lots of lemons around, but oranges are definitely one of the fruits that’s around during the winter. Limes are a little bit tougher to get a hold of.

But, what I want to encourage you to do is, before you go to cut your orange or lemon or whatever in half, and take some of the just from it or even to eat it, would be to zest it. You can just use a little microplane zester. I have a couple of them around the house, and one of my favorites is from Oxo. They have one that I think is literally an inch or an inch and a quarter thick, and it’s maybe, I don’t know, 8-10 inches long. It’s a really strong zester, so you don’t have to push that hard. You just want to get the colored portion off of the citrus; you don’t really need to dig into that white pithy portion. But you want to get that colored portion off. And primarily, I’m talking about organic fruit, so you’re not getting tons of pesticide or herbicide residue on the fruit. And then just kind of set it aside.

So whether you're going to throw it in a recipe, mix it into some salad dressing that you’re making, or you can actually just start to dry it out. I have a recipe in Practical Paleo for a lemon salt, and in the recipe I do have you dry out the zest in the oven, which you can totally do that if maybe one day you're using lots of oranges, for example, maybe for recipes for the holidays. But if you just want to kind of have a running little batch of zest that you allow to dry out on the countertop that may work just as well, and just let it dry out and then maybe blend it with some salt or just throw it into recipes.

Zest is really good in smoothies. If you make a blueberry or a strawberry smoothie, you can throw lemon zest in there. Orange zest works really well in something that might be more like a chocolate or a vanilla flavor. Lime zest you can definitely throw into something like a coconut or a vanilla type of smoothie. And it’s a really great way to get some extra nutrition really packed with flavor, and to not waste part of that citrus that you’ve just spent your precious dollars on.

This week’s hashtag details: #BoneBrothMyWay [56:38]

Diane Sanfilippo: Alright. Listener feedback, I think Liz and Diana skipped it last week.

Liz Wolfe: Oh yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: So we’re going to maybe double up.

Liz Wolfe: Way too confusing which week we’re on, couldn’t handle it.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} No worries. Glad to hear you and Diana had a great time last week while I was probably, I don’t even know where I was while you guys were recording, so thank you to Diana Rogers for helping out last week. Let’s see, so we’ve got two hashtags to follow-up on this week. I think the first one was #coffeemyway.

Liz Wolfe: Yep.

Diane Sanfilippo: Correct. We have a couple of folks that we picked out here. Let’s see, one of my favorites, this is totally because I thought it was really cute that she made this little food photography set up with some broken coffee beans in the front of the picture, and I just kind of appreciated that she did that. Her name is Katie Stevenson. Stevensonkatie5 on Instagram. So that was our first one, so good job Katie.

Liz Wolfe: Good job.

Diane Sanfilippo: Good job.

Liz Wolfe: I’m going to call you Katty.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing} So the other one was, well I don’t know what her name is, but her account is dmrobillard. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: I don’t know, you’re the one that knows French.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Not even a little bit. Well, she’s got some decorative gourds in the photo.

Liz Wolfe: Ornamental gourds!

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: I love ornamental gourds so much! Especially the warty ones, with the ones with warts all over them.

Diane Sanfilippo: She’s got some with warts in the picture.

Liz Wolfe: Oh!

Diane Sanfilippo: But she hashtagged it #nontoxic #psltogo #coffeemyway #sorrystarbucks #decorativegourdsforever, balanced bites. Also kind of an artistic photo there, so I don’t know, I kind of appreciate that dorking out on these artistic photos. And then, why don’t you, do you want to grab the #BBRealitySelfie since we’re calling out two of these this week. Do you want to grab them, or are you a little confused about using this whole system.

Liz Wolfe: I’m a little confused about it, but yeah, if you want to chat me that link I can pull it up there.

Diane Sanfilippo: Alright, I’m going to send you some links. I think I have three here.

Liz Wolfe: Ok, got that one. Alright, for #BBRealitySelfie, which I loved, I loved the one from field_intentionally_left_blank is the cutest picture of, I’m guessing it’s the mama. They’re in the car #donttextanddrive #parkednotdriving, but she just has this adorable smile on her face, and her two kids in the backseat are being crazy and it’s just adorable. I’m sure it epitomizes some part of parenthood.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: But, everybody go checkout the hashtag. It’s super cute. And let’s see, we had another one, didn’t we?

Diane Sanfilippo: I think we had two other ones, because there were just so many good ones that we had to call them out. I have one here, kellyo01, Kelly O’Reilly. I love this one, because this is totally how I look when I’m listening to podcasts, where she’s got her iPod on and her earphones in and she’s cooking food, and that’s me except I’m usually washing dishes. So I thought that was really cool, so there’s a little shout out for Kelly. And the last one was

Liz Wolfe: Dannimcgann.

Diane Sanfilippo: Is that our dental hygienist? {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: With the mask and the scary glasses on {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: Dental hygiene reality #BBRealitySelfie.

Diane Sanfilippo: I want to know if she’s listening while she’s cleaning people’s teeth; in which case, does she start laughing just in the middle of this whole thing.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: Do they know what’s going on? I’m just a little curious about that.

Liz Wolfe: I don’t know if our specification was you have to actually be listening, but I think people definitely didn’t waste any time in snapping one when they were listening.

Diane Sanfilippo: It wasn’t a #whileIlisten. Which I love those too, you guys can keep sending those in, because we keep looking at them, and they’re hilarious!

Liz Wolfe: I love them. Yeah, these are not specific, just because I have a new one doesn’t mean you have to stop using the old one. Just make sure you use the hashtag and then tag us.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: So it doesn’t get lost. Because eventually, we will stop checking the hashtag, so you’ve got to tag us too.

Diane Sanfilippo: Alright. What’s a new hashtag for the next couple of weeks here?

Liz Wolfe: Well, we thought in honor of those brothers and sisters who are unable to participate in coffee my way.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Due to not drinking caffeine or perhaps trying to overcome an addiction to delicious, delicious coffee, we’re going to do bone broth my way. We’d like to see people drinking their bone broth.

Diane Sanfilippo: Or just eating it. Maybe it’s in a recipe; you don’t have to just drink it.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Add it to your recipe. Maybe you could do a little bone broth foot soak? Don’t do that.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} That seems like a horrible waste of bone broth.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, it really does. #BoneBrothMyWay, so that’s our new hashtag.

Liz Wolfe: Alright, well that’s it for this week. You can find Diane at http://dianesanfilippo.com, and join me, Liz, at http://realfoodliz.com/. Join our email lists for free goodies you don’t find anywhere else on our websites. While you’re on the internet, leave us an iTunes review, we’d greatly appreciate it. We’ll talk to you next week.