After my recap last week, I wanted to talk about a couple things I’m going to experiment with the next little bit: sauna use and carnivore diet. And, if you’re interested, you can just skip to the bottom and find my choice podcasts as well as my Health Journey blog series all listed for your convenience if you want to know what I’ve been up to.
Ok, so. Sauna. I’ve been hearing from a variety of longevity researchers that regular use of sauna (4-7 days a week for a duration of 20 min in a 180F temperature dry sauna) is anti inflammatory. I want to use it to boost my longevity, which you can hear about more in the video below, and hopefully improve my digestion, reduce anxiety and lower the pain during my menstruation.
I generally feel a great physical and psychological relief after I leave the sauna. I definitely hope to keep this up! I have been going this frequently for 2 weeks and generally feel less bloated even though I haven’t changed my fitness levels or the way I’ve been eating.
So, what about the carnivore diet? Have you heard of it? On the absolute extreme end, people only eat grass fed beef, salt, olive oil and drink water. On a more holistic and healthy way, an ideal ‘carnivore’ would ensure that they’re eating a plethora of organ meats because that would supply the body with the gamut of vitamins and minerals needed for the body to survive. For me, I’ve been noticing that although I am in much less chronic pain during my period, I still cannot digest.. a thing. Anything with fiber, even a supplement does not get digested.
So, for the a four day stretch every month (two days before and two days during my period) I’m going to try and just drink bone broth, eat eggs and muscle meat and see how I feel. I did this last month and I found that I had less pain, not a LOT less, but less.. none-the-less. By the way, check out my bone broth recipe here.
Anyway that’s what my body and I have been up to lately. Check out my podcast recommendations below. They’re great paired with a night of meal prepping for the week :)
Ina Garten’s roast chicken recipe. Infamous.
Podcast Recommendations
Found My Fitness - This podcast is hosted by Dr. Rhonda Patrick who, fun fact, was on an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. She really was on the show but I’m only pointing that out because she is one of the most articulate well educated nutrition and longevity scientists out there who actively publishes papers. She was one of the last people who I thought would be on that show and unfortunately the minute of her screen time doesn’t compare to her hour long interviews with top researchers on sleep, nutritional density in food and lifestyle science.
The Genius Life - Hosted by the author of the book Genius Foods, I like this podcast because he interviews a wide variety of lifestyle related experts in a casual, non-judgemental and deep way.
Robb Wolf - The Paleo Solution Podcast - I really like this guy. He speaks in a ‘no-BS’ kind of way that I like. He’s a great researcher and has created a practical approach to how one can customize their diet and lifestyle based on their own personal health goals. This is really refreshing in a world of quick fixes.
The Keto Diet Podcast - This is female-centered podcast that includes lots of discussions about body positivity in a real and refreshing way, navigating dietary changes after dealing with food addiction, fertility and hormone regulation - all under the umbrella of the Keto Diet.
The Joe Rogan Experience - The #1 podcaster in the world isn’t #1 for just any reason. His podcasts can be up to 4 hours long because, as he tends to say, he ‘goes into the weeds’ with his guests. This long form conversational podcast is #goals and he has some amazing nutrition / lifestyle scientists on. You’ll have to go through the roster but read the descriptions and check out any of his researcher guests on longevity, sleep, nutrition science!
The Splendid Table - This is a really fun food podcast that interviews people from all aspects of the food system. I often get inspired by the podcasts to try new cooking techniques, ingredients and to read new cookbooks.
Health Journey Blog Series
Check out my journey working with a Functional Medicine Doctor - the good the bad and the ugly.
Here are my top ways I incorporate more vegetable volume in my diets. I love taking advantage of the full swing of summer produce but don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen or come home to a well intentioned bunch of spinach only to have it go rotten before I get around to it.