WHERE DO I FIND HIGH QUALITY FOOD? One of the hallmarks of Total Body Reboot is its focus on health and micronutrient density. I get a lot of people who -- after reading over stage one -- ask me, is this like Atkins?
No, it s not like Atkins. Unlike Atkins, Total Body Reboot emphasizes source quality and nutrient density. Atkins cares only about macronutrient (carbs, fat, protein) ratios. They ll feed you chemicals and Franken foods that are low carb and as long as you re losing weight they ll hold two thumbs up. But that s NOT a recipe for health OR long-term success. Do I have to buy grass-fed and organic and stuff to succeed with Total Body Reboot? I understand that if you re just being introduced to all of these new ways of thinking about food, it s daunting to have to worry about GMOs, organic vs non-organic, grass-fed vs grain-fed, and so on. To be clear, Total Body Reboot will lead you to success with your weight loss goals even if you completely ignore the quality of the food you re eating. You ll lose weight, shed inches, and get the body you always dreamed of having. What you will NOT get is healthier. And you may eventually derail yourself because you won t feel great, you won t perform well, and you ll end up falling apart. I want you to lose weight and look great naked, but I also want all of your health markers to improve. And I want you to learn how to create a
permanently sustainable lifestyle, which isn t possible without worrying about quality. You can start out not caring about quality -- I get where you re coming from because I was the same way when I started. But, at some point during the program I m going to have to pull you around to thinking about nutrient density, low toxicity, and anti-inflammation or we re going to fail big time in the long run. Why are we worrying about source quality again? We re worrying about source quality because we re worrying about nutrient density (consuming the most nutrients in each bite of food), low toxicity (avoiding poisonous things), and inflammation (avoiding things that promote inflammation). We re also worrying about immune strength, gut health, not getting cancer, and achieving peak performance. You might not care about dying from cancer, but if you care AT ALL about peak performance, then you re a fool not to worry about source quality. Capiche?
Ok, I get it. Where can I find these high quality foods you keep talking about? First, let s clarify what we re looking for. Grass Fed (and preferably finished) Beef The old adage was, you are what you eat. In today s economic environment, that s no longer a working model. Now, you are what you eat, ate. What did the cow eat? How was it treated? Those are the important questions now If you re eating beef from a cow that s been fed soy and corn, given hormones and antibiotics, and locked in a stressful and dirty environment its entire life, that beef is not healthy. If you re eating beef that s roamed in a clean field and ate fresh grass but was finished on grains and slaughtered humanely, that s a better option. If you re eating beef that s roamed in a clean field and ate fresh grass until its final days and was slaughtered humanely, that s a much healthier option. If you re eating beef that s roamed in a clean field and ate fresh non-gmo grass until its final days and was slaughtered humanely, that s the best option.
Beef that eats grass from birth to death and is slaughtered humanely has a nutrient profile far different from beef that ate soy and corn and got pumped full of antibiotics. For one, the Omega fatty acid ratios are far different (an important marker of overall health and low-inflammation). The amount of CLA (Conjugated linoleic acids) is different. And do you think having hormones, antibiotics, and loads of cortisol (from a stressful slaughter) coursing through a cow s body makes for good meat? Not a chance. Tip: Grass-fed doesn t necessarily mean grass-finished. While grass-fed is good, grass-finished is even better. pastured meat & eggs No, not pasteurized. Pastured is code word for raised on pasture. It doesn t always mean that the animal your eating was raised humanely outside, but if you trust the source then it does. What kinds of things need to be pastured? Primarily chicken and their eggs. Pastured eggs and chicken are far healthier than their soy and corn fed brethren. If your chicken and eggs read, vegetarian fed, you can be pretty sure you re buying crap food.
Chickens aren t vegetarians, so why would it be healthy for them to be vegetarian fed? It s all marketing. You want chickens that ate whatever they could get their beaks on -- bugs, worms, and so on. You want chickens that got a ton of sunlight. You are what you eat, ate. And how what you re eating was treated is important too. Wild-Caught Fish You seriously want to eat fish that s been raised in a 5000 gallon pond with 10,000 other fish that the farmer tossed some soy pellets to every day? Disgusting. I was in the store the other day checking out what I could find and they had farm raised salmon and the package actually said, artificially colored pink. And we wonder why we re obese and dying of preventable diseases? This isn t rocket surgery people. Get fish and shellfish that s caught in the wild (you know that place where animals live?). If you get salmon, look for Alaskan salmon. If it came from a farm, chuck it.
organic, non-gmo plants When I tell you that focusing on low toxicity and anti-inflammatory properties is important, do chemicals and genetic modification strike you as the epitome of health? You think that shit is healthy? He s wearing a mask just to spray it! Sure, the agricultural industry pays people A LOT (read: astronomical amount) of money to testify that pesticides don t harm people. In fact, they can pay people all of that money and still make a nice profit because of how much those pesticides reduce their supply costs. Their incentive to lie to you is overwhelming. Take their word at your own risk.
If you care about your health, buy non-gmo and organic produce to avoid the nasties. Why is it so hard to get good quality food? Ready to be pissed off? The food industry has purposefully made it difficult for you to find and consume healthy food. They want you to get fat and sick because they can make more money off of you that way. (Note: if they killed you, they d lose a customer -- they only want you sick so they can bank off you twice with their contacts in Big Pharma). I m not anti-capitalist either. The problem here is the government s involvement in the whole thing. We won t get too much into it, but most of what s killing us is made more profitable by government contracts and subsidies, not Capitalist greed. Makes sense. So how do I escape the death funnel? Ok, we re over 1300 words in this thing and I like to keep it less than that for these quick guides, so I ll spill the beans. Farmers Cooperatives I m a member of a co-op in the city next to the one I live in. I can get pastured eggs and chicken, grass fed and finished beef, and seasonal organic, non-gmo veggies cheap and easy. To find a co-op near you, check out localharvest.org
Name Brand Stores You d be surprised at what you can find in some of the natural stores and even the name brand stores. You have to be careful though because even the natural stores carry conventional products. Trader Joes often has grass fed beef (and butter) and wild caught fish. They also have pastured chicken and eggs. Good stuff. They sell a lot of conventional too, so watch out. Whole Foods is full of conventional products but you ll be able to score some grass-fed butter there along with a big selection of organic produce. Kroger and Publix have started carrying grass-fed ground beef and free range chicken (this can be marketing sometimes though on the chicken -- more on that in future guides). The Publix near my house also carries grass-fed butter. Shop Online The internet has everything. Finding produce is not typically a problem, but finding meat is. Here s my favorite resource for the meat online: U.S. Wellness Meats is a great source for all things beef, lamb, poultry, tallow, lard, bones, broth, dairy, pork, rabbit, seafood, and so on. It s a bit pricey but it s the highest quality. Good luck. If you develop any secrets for getting this done, let me in on them!