It Starts With Food is still climbing Amazon’s rankings, thanks to YOU (and our plan to change the world). Today, we’ll be announcing some special book-related events in preparation for the big release in just two weeks. We’ll have more events and interviews coming soon – these should really heat up once the book is released – but for now, here’s what we have planned.

ETA to It Starts With Food release: 13 days

Book Signings

Friday, June 8th, 5-7 PM
Monrovia (Los Angeles), CA
Team CrossFit Academy
Free open house, meet-and-greet, and book signing with Dallas & Melissa
Get your copy of It Starts With Food before the release date for $20!
To RSVP, visit http://itstartswithfoodtca.eventbrite.com
Open to the public. RSVP is encouraged, but not mandatory.

Saturday, June 16th, 1-5 PM
Salt Lake City, UT
Lululemon Trolley Square
Free meet-and-greet and book signing with Dallas & Melissa
Get your copy of It Starts With Food for $20!
To RSVP, visit http://itstartswithfoodlululemon.eventbrite.com
Open to the public. RSVP is encouraged, but not mandatory.
Saturday, July 14th, 10 AM – 12 PM
Toronto, ON, Canada
StrengthBox
Free open house, meet-and-greet, and book signing with Dallas & Melissa, featuring beverages from The Primal Grind.
Get your copy of It Starts With Food for $20!
To RSVP, visit http://itstartswithfoodstrengthbox.eventbrite.com
Open to the public. RSVP is encouraged, but not mandatory.

Scheduled Interviews

Tuesday, June 12th
Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb podcast
We’ll chat with host Jimmy Moore about the book, our Whole30 program, and more.
Scheduled to air the day It Starts With Food is released!

 
Wednesday, June 20th
The Dr. Lo Radio Show
We’ll chat with Dr. Lauren Noel about the book, our Whole30 program, and more.
Show airs LIVE on June 20th, at 6:00 p.m. PST/9:00 p.m. EST.
 

Pre-Order Your Copy Today

We hope to meet you at one of our scheduled in-person events – and if we’re not coming to your town, tune into one of our upcoming radio interviews. And as always, thank you for all of your support, and for the kind things you’ve been saying about the book on your web sites (6 million stars from Stefani Rupert, and an extremely detailed review from Jennie Harrell of Easy Paleo) and our Facebook page.

Pre-order It Starts With Food on Barnes & Noble and Amazon today!

The release of our first hardcover book, It Starts With Food, is scheduled for June 12^th – just a few weeks from today. And with all the buzz (it’s been in the top ten of Amazon’s “Hot New Releases in Nutrition” for a month now), people have been asking:

Is there a difference between It Starts With Food and the Whole30® Success Guide?

Sometimes we say, “Well, yes, as one is a downloadable PDF; and one is an honest-to-Grisham 330-page, more-than-400-references, hardcover, illustrated BOOK!” but that’s not really answering the question very well. So over the next few weeks, until It Starts With Food is released, we’ll be giving you some very special sneak peeks under the cover. Today, we’re showing you the It Starts With Food table of contents, and outlining the material included in the book.

It Starts With Food

This book – our labor of love – is not just about the Whole30; rather, it outlines our overall big-picture-start-to-finish nutritional recommendations. There is far more to life (and our program!) than just the Whole30, and It Starts With Food (ISWF) walks you through every stage. In this book, the Whole30 is not the star of this show – it’s just one chapter in a book full of life-changing information.

Download the It Starts With Food table of contents!

The first part of the book is designed to provide a more detailed background of our recommendations than you’ve read on our website or heard in our seminars. We outline our four “Good Food standards” and explain in detail how your food’s interaction with these four systems – the brain, your metabolism and hormones, the gut, and the immune system – profoundly impact your long-term habits, health, and happiness. We do dive into the science-y details in this section, but you know we use lots of analogies to make sure you, your mom, and your grandfather can easily keep up.

Once we’ve laid the groundwork for making good choices, we start talking about food! We detail the foods that should be off your plate (you know these guys), the foods you should be eating on a daily basis, and how to put these foods together into easy, delicious, satisfying meals. We give you lots of background information, but we don’t overstate the science. (We worked with Smart people like Mat Lalonde, J. Stanton and Pedro Bastos to make sure our science was tight – no hyperbole, and no hype.) These are the chapters that will help you explain why artificial sweeteners aren’t a healthy option, why you don’t eat grains, or why dairy makes you congested – and will help every reader overcome the most common newbie obstacle: “But what the heck do you eat?”

The lynchpin of these sections – the thing that holds them all together – is our Whole30® program. Here is where the reader will be asked to take our recommendations into their own hands, and see for themselves how the foods they’ve been eating have been affecting their quality of life. We outline the program in detail, including what to expect during your 30 days, and how to reintroduce some less-healthy foods in a smart fashion designed to help you increase awareness. This part includes all the material (and then some) featured in the Whole30 Success Guide.

The last sections of the book are devoted to life after your Whole30 – how to turn 30 days into life-long, sustainable habits. These sections are perhaps the most important (and the most lovingly crafted) of the whole book – because if you can’t continue your new habits for more than 30 days, what good is our program? We explain what to do when your Whole 30 is over, how to “ride your own bike,” common triggers that will, inevitably, push you off-track, and how to get back on track quickly and effortlessly. We also talk about how to share your experience with friends and family, and what to do if you find yourself having to defend your recent dietary and lifestyle changes.

This section also includes all of our tweaks for special populations. We outline specific protocols for those with health conditions like diabetes, autoimmune conditions, IBS/IBD, and food allergies; pregnant and breastfeeding women; vegetarians and vegans; active individuals (athletes and exercisers); and kids.

Finally, we present our Meal Map, created and designed by Melissa Joulwan (author of Well Fed and the founder of The Clothes Make the Girl). You’ll have to wait until next week for a sneak peek of the Meal Map – but we will say it’s the kind of meal plan you always wish you saw in a healthy eating book – the kind that will make you say, “Why didn’t I think of that?” (And the color insert photographs, taken by Mel’s husband Dave Humphreys, will have you drooling before we can say “coffee mocha steak rub.”)

The Wrap-Up

In summary, we wrote It Starts With Food to be your complete resource for a lifetime of healthy eating. We designed the material so those already in the Paleo-know can reinforce their knowledge, update their science, and better be able to explain their choices to others while introducing new people –parents, grandparents, friends and co-workers – to our program, and our life-changing results.

Pre-order It Starts With Food on Amazon and Barnes and Noble today!

In the coming weeks, we’ll be previewing more from the book, offering special giveaways for those who pre-order, and moving forward with our plan to change the world by getting ISWF on all the mainstream bestseller lists. You can help – in fact, you’ll have to, to make our bestselling dreams come true! (Why should Forks Over Knives continue to hog all the nutrition limelight, right?)

Post questions, comments, or general excitement and enthusiasm to comments – and as always, thank you for your support.

Our good friends at U.S. Wellness Meats are sponsoring an awesome prize package for fans of our new book, It Starts With Food. Pre-order the book on Barnes & Noble or Amazon today (Friday, May 25^th) and you’ll be eligible to win!

U.S. Wellness Meats: http://bit.ly/grasslandbeef

Your Whole30-worthy prize package will include:

• Four (4) packages (six pounds!) of Whole30 Approved sugar-free pork bacon
• One (1) package of all-natural pork breakfast sausage
• Two (2) packages of sugar-free grassfed beef franks (perfect for summer grilling!)
• Five (5) honey and cherry-free pemmican bars
• And free shipping (within the U.S. only)

Worth over $100, this giveaway will distract you with delicious, healthy US Wellness Meats products while you wait for your copy of It Starts With Food to arrive.  And the best news? You can enter more than once by pre-ordering more than one book in separate transactions. Holiday presents have never been this easy!

Pre-order It Starts With Food today!

Here are the rules for our U.S. Wellness Meats give-away:

• You must be a U.S. resident. (Sorry international readers!)
• Like the U.S. Wellness Meats Facebook page.
• Pre-order It Starts With Food on Barnes & Noble or Amazon.
• Forward your pre-order confirmation email to robin@whole9life.com by Friday, May 25^th, 11:59 PM PST. (Feel free to remove personal details – we just need the confirmation number from your order.) Remember, only pre-orders dated Friday, May 25^th are eligible.

One lucky winner will be chosen at random and announced on the Whole9 Facebook page (and here in comments) on Saturday, May 26^th.

Good luck to all, and thank you for your support of It Starts With Food!

Pre-release copies of our book, It Starts With Food, have arrived! We’ve got 100 books looking hot on our living room floor right now, and special review copies are arriving on East Coast Paleo bloggers’, Whole9 Nutrition Partners‘ and Whole9 Envoys‘ doorsteps as we speak. (Reviewers not on the East Coast, don’t worry… they’ll be there soon.)

Holding our actual book in our actual hands was a surreal moment, bringing to mind all the hard work that went into the project, and all of our hopes for the future. Which brings us to today’s post – and a heartfelt request for your help.

Our Wildest-Dreams Confession

We’ve got something to confess. Our wildest dream is to see It Starts With Food on the mainstream bestseller lists.

First, why should Forks Over Knives and (shudder) The China Study continue to hog all the nutrition limelight?!? We believe our nutrition program, based on a healthy balance of high-quality animal foods and copious amounts of nutrient-dense plant matter, is infinitely more healthy than any program they’re featuring on the current Top Ten lists. Paleo a fad?!? We know better – and the world needs to hear it, too.

Two, we’ll be honest… it would be totally rad to be able to say we are New York Times bestselling authors. No Paleo nutrition book has been able to do this since Robb Wolf’s groundbreaking The Paleo Solution – and if our book reaches and changes a tenth of as many lives as his, we’ll consider our efforts a smashing success.

So today, we’re sharing a few strategies for making It Starts With Food a success, and getting the message of Paleo nutrition and the life-changing results of our Whole30^® program to as many people as we can.*

*Also, you should know that it feels really weird to be asking for your help in such a direct and public fashion. But we poured our hearts and souls into this project, and hope to reach thousands of new people with our Good Food Word – and we really need your help to do that!

ETA to It Starts With Food official release: 20 days

Strategy #1: Buy the book

Pre-order via Barnes & Noble or Amazon at a reduced price (just over $17). Pre-sales via these outlets count towards the New York Times bestseller list – we suspect perhaps B&N will make more of an impact than Amazon, in fact.

If you’re buying multiple copies to give as gifts or stock your gym’s library, it’s extremely helpful if you purchase each copy in a separate transaction. Even if you buy it in a bookstore, this is the only way to make ten copies of the book count as ten and not one.

If you are considering using the book as a holiday gift, purchasing the book during the first few days of sales (June 12^th – 17^th) is the most important time. (Just think – less gift-buying hassle during the busy month of December!)

Strategy #2: Post reviews on Barnes & Noble and Amazon!

Please, please, please… write reviews for It Starts With Food on Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Your honest reviews will inspire others to read It Starts With Food like nothing else.

We’d love to see 250 reviews on each of these sites within the first week the book is out! (Which means you’ll have to read fast… but we hope the book is so good, you won’t be able to put it down.)

Strategy #3: Blog, Post to Facebook, or Tweet!

If you have a website or blog, please write a review, and link to online purchase options. (And make sure to send us your review – email melissa@whole9life.com so we can share your review with our readers, too!)

Don’t forget about Facebook or Twitter, either! When you receive your copy of the book (or find it in your local bookstore) take a photo of you with the book, and tag yourself and Whole9 in the photo. You can do the same in Twitter, tweeting @whole9life.

Our sincere gratitude and thanks.

We wrote this book for you, and could not have done it without your stories, and your support throughout the years. 

As a small token of our thanks, over the next three weeks we’ll be offering you sneak peeks of the book, and some amazing give-aways from U.S. Wellness Meats, Stronger Faster Healthier, TX Bar Organics, Pure Indian Foods, and more. Plus, we’ll be announcing book signing events in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Salt Lake City; along with podcast, print, and radio interviews we’ve got scheduled around the book release.

Thank you, thank you, thank you – from the bottom of our hearts.

Best in health,
Dallas & Melissa

Over the years we have fielded many questions about non-hormonal birth control. Today we will address this issue in a special post by Erin Handley, our new Director of Operations. Erin’s experience in reproductive health includes outreach and education with Planned Parenthood, teaching an undergraduate college course in Human Sexuality, and evaluation of a contraceptive choices tool kit for her master’s thesis. Additionally, she is co-author on several reproductive health research articles accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals.

You Have Options

If we say “birth control” what pops into your head? (Men, you might be inclined to stop reading right now, but real men read articles about birth control…just sayin’.)

Do you automatically conjure up an image of a little pink plastic compact filled with a circle of tiny pop-out pills? Or maybe a monthly shot, a flesh-colored patch, or clear flexible ring comes to mind. Most likely your notion of birth control includes some sort of hormone that, when in contact with the systems of your body, magically allows you to manage how many children you conceive and when.

But how many of you specifically think about the non-hormonal options that are out there? Did you even know that those existed, how they’re used, or if they’re even effective?

Coitus Interruptus

Let us stop right here – because we want to make something very clear from the get-go. This is NOT an anti-hormonal-birth-control rant. The following information should not be used to argue that non-hormonal birth control is better for everyone than hormonal birth control. If you take one thing away from this post, it should be that there is not one perfect birth control method that meets the needs, wants, personality, physical make-up, expectations, and goals of all people. Why the heck do you think there are SO MANY options out there anyway?

No, the purpose of the information presented here is exactly the opposite. We want you to realize that you do have options. Because if you’re not happy with your birth control method then you’re likely to stop using it, or use it sporadically or ineffectively. And if you stop using your birth control effectively and you’re still having sex, then you’re likely to get pregnant. And if you get pregnant when you’re not ready for it, then it’s within reason that you’ll have a whole lot of other things to worry about than what kind of birth control method to use. And we care about your WHOLE health here at Whole9 – including the health of your potentially pregnant body and your future beef-butter-and-kale-eating babies.

Family Planning

So, let’s say, hypothetically, that you are fully aware of all of the hormonal birth control options out there. Maybe you’re even using one right now. (They’re the most popular and most advertised contraceptive methods, so that would make sense.) But perhaps you’re in the market for something that doesn’t include the hormones estrogen or progestin. Maybe you are trying to eliminate hormones from your food and life, maybe you don’t like how the hormones make you feel, maybe you’re not good at taking a pill every day, or maybe you’ve just been using the same method for so dang long you think that trying something new might benefit you in unknown ways.

Regardless, now you’re wondering, “What are my next steps?”

Well, first – and likely most important – DO NOT stop using your current method of birth control. Prematurely stopping your contraception before you are 100% ready to switch can leave you vulnerable to an unplanned pregnancy. I can not tell you how many times I would see girls and women come in to the clinic where I worked asking for a pregnancy test merely a month or so after changing their method. Different hormonal birth control options take different amounts of time to leave your system. How quickly or slowly this happens also depends on your body type and your genetics. So, please, be mindful of the gap.

Next, peruse the table below. We have listed the non-hormonal, non-surgical birth control options currently available in the U.S., how they are used, and their effectiveness. Maybe you’ll see one you’re interested in. Research it more. Ask your health care provider about it. Think about how much time you spend researching the quality, source, and effects of the food you eat – and apply that same verve to your contraception.

Lastly, make a decision – but know that it does not have to be final. Just like with your Whole30 program, you may need to black box your birth control options. Only you can know what method is best for YOU. Just because your best friend LOVES the copper IUD does not mean it is going to be your end-all-be-all. The only way to know is to research it, try it, give it a few months or so, and then if it’s not for you, make a switch and try something new.

Your Non-Hormonal Birth Control Options

Remember, correctly using a birth control method that fits your needs can be as important to your health as eating real food. Educate yourself and be responsible for your own well-being… isn’t that why you stopped by the Whole9 in the first place?

We’ve compiled the non-hormonal, non-surgical birth control options available in the U.S. into this comparative table. We’ve also given you some additional resources at the end, to help you review which options may be appropriate for you. 

We encourage you to print this table and take it to your health care provider’s office, to help guide productive discussion if and when you are ready to pursue a non-hormonal birth control method.

Postscript: It’s Plan B, Not Plan A

In the case of an emergency, it’s nice to have back up. No method (except true abstinence) is failsafe. Condoms occasionally break, you may forget to take your pill one morning, or you find you’ve miscounted your ovulation cycle… in instances like these, you have one more option.

You may have heard of emergency contraception before - commonly known as “the morning-after pill” or PlanB – which is a dose of hormones that can be taken up to 5 days after unprotected sex. What most people don’t know is that there is also a non-hormonal emergency contraceptive option. The ParaGard copper-t IUD can be inserted into the uterus 5 days or 120 hours after unprotected sex. This method of emergency contraception may be on the expensive side, but it can be up to 99.9% effective.

Your questions, thoughts, or sharing of your own experiences are always welcome in comments.

Best in health,
Whole9 (Dallas, Melissa, Erin, and Robin.)

Today, we are thrilled to introduce you to Ann Wendel, the newest addition to the Whole9 family. You may already know Ann from her physical therapy work or blog, Prana Physical Therapy, but today she joins us as the newest addition to our growing roster of Whole9 professional consultants .

Ann will not only be contributing articles to our 9 Blog, but will also offer her specialized consulting services through the Whole9 site. Get to know Ann through her first guest post here, and review her comprehensive health and fitness consulting packages on our new personal consulting page.

In Ann’s Own Words…

I am often asked why, as a physical therapist, I am interested in nutrition. Many people find it hard to make that connection in their minds, despite the fact that they believe that what they eat affects how they feel. I think it is probably because most people associate the healthcare profession with a very narrow view of health and well-being.

Traditionally, most people find their doctors and other healthcare professionals to be part of a system that looks at injury and illness from a very myopic perspective. Our healthcare system is set up in a way that often makes collaboration between professions difficult; factors include competition for patients, lack of good electronic medical records in many practices, and a disdain for more “alternative” approaches. Patients are often forced to put together their own “team” of providers who are often out-of-network with insurance companies, which can be very expensive.

I have always been interested in holistic medicine. Even as a teenager, I read and studied many different healing modalities. Given my love of medicine and my participation in competitive sports, it was no surprise to anyone that I became a physical therapist. Over the past 20 years in my healthcare career, I have worked in many different settings, first in high school, college and pro sports as an ATC, then as a PT/ATC in inpatient and outpatient neurological rehabilitation, acute care, and outpatient orthopedics. The constants in my career have been interacting with people in pain and using all of my knowledge and skills to assist them in restoring maximum function.

My Own Experience

I have a special interest in working with people who experience chronic pain. As happens with many people, it took my own experience to propel me to study and learn more about how to best help this patient population. In 2007, I became very ill with what was later diagnosed as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. This is an autoimmune illness (AI) in which a confused immune system mounts an attack on the thyroid gland. The thyroid is a major part of the endocrine system that makes and stores hormones that help regulate the heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and the rate at which food is converted into energy. Thyroid hormones are essential for the function of every cell in the body—they help regulate growth and metabolism.

By the time I was properly diagnosed, I had gone from being a Division I college swimmer (and later triathlete and rock climber) to being unable to hike a mile. I lost handfuls of hair every day and gained 20 pounds due to my thyroid shutting down. It took months of being on the right combination of medications to begin to heal and regain some energy. It took another five years of researching, asking questions, and trial and error to begin to regain my health. Those years of experimentation led me to the Paleo diet, and the knowledge that I needed to eliminate gluten, grains, and most dairy from my diet in order to prevent muscle and joint pain, mind numbing fatigue, mood swings, energy fluctuations, and gastrointestinal issues.

After several months of my dietary shift, the majority of my inflammation was gone, my blood work showed changes in a positive direction, I began going days at a time without taking anti-inflammatory medication, and I was able to slowly begin bodyweight exercises and walking.

There is Hope

After eating this way for a year now, I can say that I am never going back to eating as I did before, and I am passionate about sharing this knowledge with as many people as possible. The media has picked up on the term “Paleo Diet” and “Caveman Diet,” portraying it as a fad diet used to lose weight and re-enact history. My mission is to sift through the emerging research to find studies to show that there is a scientific basis behind eating this way, and to educate people that this lifestyle may be useful as an adjunct to treating autoimmune illness. For me and the other 23.5 million Americans living with AI, there is hope for living a better life, based on the way we nourish and move our bodies.

These are exciting times for those who struggle with AI, as current research attempts to explain what thousands of people have found to be anecdotally true. I am excited to be on the “front lines,” joining Whole9 to spread the Good Food Word and helping my clients using all of the resources and research available to me.

Ann Wendel, PT, ATC, CMTPT

Ann holds a BS in physical education studies with a concentration in athletic training from the University of Delaware, and an MS in physical therapy from the University of Maryland. She is a Certified Athletic Trainer (ATC), a licensed physical therapist, and a Certified Myofascial Trigger Point Therapist (CMTPT). Ann has completed intensive training in Thai Yoga Therapy and Pilates teacher training. She currently runs Prana Physical Therapy in Alexandria, VA.

You can see Ann’s consulting services on the Whole9 consulting page. You can visit Ann at Prana Physical Therapy or on Twitter @PranaPT.

Today, we introduce you to Erin Handley, Whole9′s new Director of Operations. Erin has a diverse roster of responsibilities, the most important of which is helping us develop programs so that we can better spread our message of health and wellness to those who need it most. Erin’s background in public health and her personal experience with the Whole30 and Paleo nutrition perfectly suit this mission. In Erin’s own words:

The Law of Averages

I am not now, nor have I ever been, an athlete. I’m not even a mathlete.

I grew up eating Pop Tarts, burgers and fries, drinking soda, and having dessert after the majority of my dinners. I have eaten this way into my adulthood.

I am average weight. Average height. Got B’s in school…I am your completely and utterly Average Jane.

I don’t say these things as a put-down on ME. I actually love being average. It allows me to keep my finger on the pulse of what’s happening around me because the pulse that my finger is on – that’s mine.

I feel like being average allows me to understand and empathize with most of the people I know. For example, most of the people I know struggle with their weight. Most of the people I know want to eat healthier but find temptation around every damn corner. Most of the people I know have a very confusing relationship with food. Most of the people I know have some little nagging health issue that just won’t go away.

And you know what? We all want more. We want to be healthier, more vibrant, have more energy…we all want to CONSUME LIFE with both hands. We just don’t know how because there are little things that get in the way of this full-on life consumption. Each of you reading this right now can make a list the length of your arm with the minutia that takes up your day. Your week. Your year. Your life.

 My Whole30 “Failure”

About three years ago a very close friend of mine was diagnosed with aggressive Stage IV colorectal cancer. He was 33. So was I. And as people who get slapped upside the head with mortality are apt to do, I took one look at my average weight, my average pantry full of crap, my average exercise routine of nothing and decided I needed to crumple up my list of life-stopping minutia and get healthier and stronger as soon as possible.

I started researching diets and weight loss (I’m guessing I’m not the only person here who got to the Whole9 via Googling “effective weight loss programs”). And yes, I ended up on this website, reading about the Whole30® program. The Whole30 lead me to the Paleo diet, and the Paleo diet stuck. I loved it.

Here is why I loved Paleo: I started taking nutrition classes as an undergrad. So much of what I was learning didn’t make sense to me. Why were fake foods with zero fat grams so much better than real foods with some fat? Why are calories the Holy Grail of nutrition? Why, with all the diet recommendations handed down by the federal government, were we, as a society, getting fatter and fatter?

I remember throughout my undergraduate and graduate schooling watching this obesity map of the U.S.  go from blue and yellow to orange and red. I knew we were all in trouble because whatever we were doing to fight obesity, it wasn’t working. (And it wasn’t working for me either.) In addition to being a little overweight I was tired all the time, regularly bloated, and struggled daily with what to eat and why.

The Paleo diet seemed to make sense to me. Real food. Brightly colored, nutrient dense, satiating plants, meats, and fats. It was so simple. But it wasn’t necessarily easy for me right away. I knew eating this way had the potential to change me but my old habits kept getting in the way. I was eating Paleo on and off and I thought time to time about trying the Whole30. I just didn’t know if I could do it. I loved cheese. And dessert. And beer. But one day I just made the decision. And I did great! I wasn’t getting any of the headaches that some people have in the first few days. My sugar cravings went away immediately. I loved the food. I felt amazing. And two weeks in I even decided to take the Whole30 on the road. My husband and I took a camping trip to Capitol Reef and I stocked our cooler full of Whole30-friendly foods. We were having a great time hiking around during the day and eating our meat and veggie tin foil dinners by the campfire at night.

And then I got a phone call (which is no small feat in the middle of the desert). My friend with cancer was in the ICU. It didn’t look good. We rushed back to Salt Lake and I spent the majority of the next three or four days in the hospital. My friend was dying and the Whole30, understandably, went out the window.

However, I realized that my relationship with food had actually started to change during that first Whole30 attempt. Fifteen days of eating good foods until I was full, not counting calories or fat, and feeling amazing did more for me than 20 years of chronic dieting. I remember many days before I started eating Paleo that I would literally end up in tears about food. The way I was supposed to be eating according to the experts was so confusing, time-consuming, and ineffective. But Paleo and the Whole30? It worked. It was intuitive. And I got healthier fast.

It took a year and a half for me to attempt another Whole30. That was January of this year, and I made it the entire 30 days.

Shifting the Paradigm

Committing to eating real food (vegetables, fruits, meats, nuts, seeds, and good fat) changed my life in more ways than I could have imagined and my guess is that if you’re reading this it may have changed yours, too…or it will. But what about the rest of those folks out there that are still struggling to find a solution to their crappy food relationship, their autoimmune disease, or their ever-increasing waistline? What about people in those states on the obesity map that went from blue to yellow to orange to red all in the matter of a decade? The majority of the population is still caught up in the vicious loop of “a calorie is a calorie” and “fat makes you fat” – how do we spread the Good Food Word to them?

There are many barriers out there that might keep the majority of the population from integrating the Paleo diet into their life. Money, time, and lack of accurate and palatable information are a few contributing factors. But, as a society, we can’t afford not to shift our paradigm about the food we are putting into our bodies.

The goal of Whole9 is to get our message to as many people as possible. As your Average Jane and the new Director of Operations for Whole9 I am committed to tapping into the pulse of other Average Janes and Joes and increasing the exposure of our programming to the folks who need it the most. Because if the Whole30 and Paleo nutrition can change MY relationship with food, help YOU lose that stubborn 10 pounds, and eliminate YOUR CHILD’S behavior issues, then chances are it can help many others, too.

About Erin Handley, MS

Erin is Whole9′s new Director of Operations. She has a Masters degree in Health Promotion and Education from the University of Utah and has worked in the public health field for the past eight years. Most recently she was the Assistant Director for a non-profit organization that mobilized high-risk communities around important health issues, including obesity and nutrition. She is also a professional photographer, specializing in capturing athletic events and athletes in action.

You can connect with Erin via email (erin@whole9life.com) and Facebook (http://facebook.com/erin.handley.5).

We’ve been working on this post for a while, but Life got in the way. (Alternate story: Dallas is better at starting projects than finishing them.)  Nonetheless, we’d like to talk about recovery. No, not economic recovery—though that would be lovely—but physiological recovery from the stressors placed upon us by our modern physical world.

Rest vs. Recovery

These two words, “rest” and “recovery,” have distinctly different meanings when applied to health, fitness or athletic contexts. Recovery can encompass many different behaviors and strategies, but it is fundamentally different than just resting.

Rest is simply the absence of effort or movement—the absence of exertion. Think taking a day off from exercise or sport, napping, chilling on the couch, rotting your brain with Jersey Shore or Lost reruns, and going to bed nice and early so you get adequate sleep. All of that is fine and good, but resting is only one small part of true recovery.

Recovery is the restorative process by which you regain a state of “normalcy”; healthy and in balance. (If your “normal” is not “healthy,” perhaps you should spend some time considering that.) Recovery is far more than just taking a day off from training. Genuine recovery includes adequate rest, but also must include the engaged, deliberate execution of a cogent plan to offset the (physical and psychological) cost of your training.

In his 2010 All Banged Up post, Dallas wrote:

“I see more sub-acute and chronic injuries resulting from inadequate recovery from exercise (especially with high-intensity programs), than resulting from an acute or traumatic incident. The primary fault lies with inadequate or improper recovery from exercise, not the type or intensity of exercise. (To put it another way, it’s not that you’re hurting yourself doing pull-ups – more often than not, it’s because you’re not properly recovering from those pull-ups.) I believe that a high-intensity exercise program is both effective and sustainable life-long only when combined with good nutrition and recovery practices.”

Merely taking a day or two off from exercise when you’re feeling overtrained (or All Banged Up) is, to put it bluntly, the slacker’s version of “recovery.” One of the many things that has been underscored during our training with Rob MacDonald of Gym Jones is that recovery requires just as much (or more!) discipline as training itself. Which means if you’re training hard, a case could be made that you should spend more time focused on recovery than you do on training itself.

Don’t have that much time in your busy, stressful life? It might mean a little less training and a little more time spent on recovery.

Still don’t think that’s really necessary? Maybe you just don’t realize how stressful your life really is.

Stress is Stress

Let’s review the biological concept of hormesis as it relates to recovery. Hormesis is an adaptive process that occurs as the result of a specific “dose” of a stimulus. In simple terms, you could summarize it as “the dose makes the poison” meets “what doesn’t kill you might make you stronger.” Hormesis describes the dose-specific response to a stimulus; whether something’s net effect is beneficial, harmful, or neutral depends on the “dose.”

Another way to put it is, “some is good, but more is not better.” Hormesis is at the core of our favorite refrain, “context matters,” and is reflected in our Whole9 Health Equation as the balance of Stress vs. Recovery. Why all the focus on stress?

During his recent Paleo(fx) presentation, Dr. Daniel Kalish said, “Psychological stress and physical stress are virtually indistinguishable in the body.” We wanted to give him a standing ovation for that. What does that mean, in terms of hormesis and our Health Equation? If you’ve got a ton of psychological stress, that costs you something. It costs you recovery capacity. It cuts into your reserves. In fact, being chronically psychologically stressed is probably more damaging than overtraining or under-sleeping, though those are obviously poor behaviors, too.

Think about your own life. Ask yourself if your “dose” of a stressor is appropriate for your context. There are lots of examples of stressors: intermittent fasting, high-intensity exercise, under-eating, cold showers or acute exposure to cold, caffeine intake, eating extremely hot peppers… the list is long.

A “stressor” isn’t necessarily a bad thing – but the application of that stressor in that dose in a context already saturated with a high stress load may be detrimental to your health.* If you’re a parent with an infant (and thus some degree of sleep deprivation/disturbance), a busy job, and some financial stress, do you think the net effect of getting out of bed at 5:00 AM five days a week to do high-intensity exercise is positive? Likely not. (If we just described your life, please… just stay in bed.)

*This is one of the reasons why we rarely recommend intermittent fasting to our consulting clients. Unsurprisingly, most of them are on the “too much” side of the stress scale, rating their daily stress at an average of 8 out of 10. These folks don’t have any “reserve” left to offset an additional stressor, which means adding IF on to their current health equation would do them more harm than good. IF may be a perfectly appropriate tool for other folks with different contexts, but it’s not for everyone.

Minimum Effective Dose

Exercise is an excellent example of hormesis in action. An appropriate “dose” of physical stress provokes a positive adaptation in your body (you get fitter), but dosing progressively larger and larger amounts of exercise can be seriously detrimental to your health.  Make no mistake – excessive training (or, perhaps stated more accurately, under-recovering) can and commonly does have serious health consequences. And what look like “reasonable” training for one person might be way more stress than a different person has the capacity to adapt to.

Clif Harski, among other Smart People we know, talks about the “minimum effective dose,” that sweet spot on the hormesis graph. This is where healthy adaptation is occurring, but you’re on the safer side of the stress curve, not revving at the redline day in and day out. In the case of exercise, doing none is pretty unhealthy, but doing too much is unhealthy too.

The real key is to find that sweet spot, where you’ll have optimal adaptation to the stressor without reaching the point of diminishing returns–or worse, when the exercise “takes” more from your health than it gives back. Like with other stressors, exercise is dose-dependent, and the appropriate dose for you depends almost entirely on you, your context, and your goals.

Are you Under-Recovered? Here are a few things to look for:

1. You used to be excited about going to the gym – not so much anymore.
2. Your performance (or lack thereof) is seriously stressing you out , and a poor workout ruins your day.
3. You’ve got chronic muscle soreness after every workout, and/or that lingering “shoulder thing” that just won’t seem to heal.
4. Your sleep pattern has become irregular.
5. Even though you’re in bed for enough hours, you never feel well-rested in the morning.
6. You need a Monster drink or three espressos to get fired up for your training sessions.
7. You crave carbohydrates (sugar!) more than you used to.
8. You’re getting sick a lot, or just can’t seem to kick that cold you picked up.
9. You’re training hard and “eating right” but that little belly just isn’t going away.
10. You’re actually gaining fat, instead of losing it.

Any of this resonate with you?

So how does all this connect back to actual recovery? In order to progress forward with health, there must be a relative balance between Stress (such as exercise) and Recovery. Otherwise, you’re writing checks your body can’t cash, eventually ending up beat down and “overdrawn.”

In case you’ve not experienced this eye-opening phenomenon firsthand, take our professional word for it: it takes a lot longer to recover from an overdrawn state than it took to get you there in the first place. Like paying off debt, it’s a prolonged and generally miserable process. We’re not trying to scare you – we’re simply sharing what we know in the hopes that it will save you some heartache. Take it or leave it.

Recovery 101

You don’t get fitter when you are training. Whether you CrossFit, or Zumba, or swing kettlebells, or run marathons… you get fitter when you are recovering from that training.

Being committed to recovery means that sometimes you don’t train hard, even if you really want to, and even if everyone else is doing it.

A commitment to recovery may mean that you take ice baths sometimes.

It means that when all you want is pizza and a beer, you choose a nutritious meal instead.

It means that you put away the computer/TV/smartphone/video game and go the heck to sleep.

It means that you spend some intimate time with your foam roller, lacrosse ball, stick, ice pack, or other self-care tool/torture device.

It means that you watch and learn from Kelly Starrett getting his supple leopard on.

It may mean that you seek out a reputable practitioner of your preferred therapeutic approach: massage, Rolfing, acupuncture, chiropractic care, naturopathic or functional medicine.

It might mean that you use your noggin’ and take a pass on a race or competition that really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of Your Life and Health.

It might even mean that you revisit your trip down Whole30 Lane.

“Aerobic” is not a dirty word.

If you’re passing on lower intensity, longer duration activity and exclusively working at a high-intensity, we think that’s a short-sighted perspective. For our clients, we recommend regularly spending at least a half-hour doing easy activity as part of your recovery practices. Riding the Airdyne, walking, swimming, or biking for 30-90 (long, slow, boring) minutes expedites recovery from hard training, improves metabolic efficiency (especially in folks on a low-ish carb, high-ish fat diet), and improves cardiovascular health.

Don’t confuse durations over a half hour with “chronic cardio” – the long duration, moderate-to-high intensity stuff that really nails you. To be clear, no one was ever harmed by a two hour hike or an easy spin on the bike with their kids. Keeping the intensity low is the key to recovery activities, and including some long, easy stuff in your routine improves health and recovery from hard training—which ultimately will improve performance in your higher-intensity sport or exercise program.

Regardless of how you choose to step your recovery up (perhaps, in part, by stepping your training down), it’s time. Summer’s activities are just around the corner, and if you play a sport, participate in outdoor pursuits, or simply like comparing your physical capacity to others (or yourself!), now is the time to invest in yourself. Now. Not tomorrow, or next week, or after a few more workouts. Now.

You owe it to your Future You not just to rest, but to recover.

We are thrilled to feature this story for two reasons. First, Summer is the first real-life example we’ve encountered of someone who has cured their autoimmune disease. That’s right – cured her autoimmune disease. Second, she did it with the help of a Paleo diet, our Whole30® program, and the tremendous coaching and guidance of Eric LeClair of Team CrossFit Academy, an esteemed Whole9 Nutrition Partner.

Read. Be inspired. And share the hopeful message of Summer’s story.

Summer’s Story

I was 19 years old when I was rushed to the hospital the spring after my freshman year of college, with 107 degree fever and severe joint pain.  Although barely conscious, I remember the night well.  My dad was uncharacteristically driving way over the speed limit and my mom was crying in the front passenger seat.  I was admitted to Emory University, put in my own wing, and within a few hours I already looked like an IV drug user with the amount of needles that had gone into my arm.  After a night in the hospital and numerous tests, my doctors had narrowed down my condition to either lupus, rheumatic fever or JRA (juvenile rheumatoid arthritis), all autoimmune diseases that are very closely connected.  Although my symptoms never 100% matched any of the three, they finally settled on JRA.

I was in bed for three months, barely having the energy to walk from my room to the bathroom.  Having lived in pain for years leading up to this point, I literally thought this was leading up to the end of my life. When I made a turn for the better, just before I was scheduled to return to college for sophomore year, my doctor agreed to let me go back with the understanding that I would do nothing but go to class and go to bed, I would not try to work out, and I would eat healthy.  So I cut out all meat and became a vegetarian.  Although functional, I felt terrible all the time.  I never had any energy and took so much Advil that I developed stomach ulcers.  My small frame had put on 30 lbs, which I just couldn’t understand since I was eating so ‘healthy.’  I eventually just found a way to live with the pain.  My doctor forewarned me that this was one of the worst cases he had ever seen, and that I could expect my hands to start deforming in my early 20s.

Born to Run…and Eat Meat

When I graduated from college, I decided to go on a road trip from Atlanta to Los Angeles.  I loved the city, and stayed.  Among it’s other perks, the atmosphere and lack of rain was much easier on my joint pain.  Before too long, I realized I had to start trying to do something physical.  My doctors had told me that I would never be able to run, but one day, a friend invited me out for a three mile run with him and I accepted.  I finished the run, went home, threw up, and immediately signed up for the LA Marathon.

As I started running more and more, my body started craving what it needed, one of those things being meat.  I went back to chicken and fish and immediately started dropping weight.  The pain that running brought with it was excruciating at first, but became a little better over time.  I went on to complete a dozen marathons before I made the switch to ultramarathons (31 miles and above) and completed my first 100 mile race before I started searching for even more answers.

That is when I landed on the doorstep of Team CrossFit Academy. My new coach, Eric LeClair, suggested I check out this thing called a ‘Paleo diet.’ Under his expert guidance every step of the way, I immediately implemented his dietary recommendations.

Within six months the pain was diminished to next to nothing.  I went on to complete a dozen more ultramarathons with improved performance, due to a significant decrease in pain. I became what I would call ‘gluten free’ (with no exception) and ‘mostly’ Paleo, because I felt my body still needed rice for more carbohydrates, and I didn’t really understand the downsides of drinking milk.  However, after attending the Whole9 Nutrition Workshop, I finally made the switch to cutting those out as well.  Immediately, my skin cleared up, telling me that obviously I had some kind of inflammatory reaction, and my energy has increased significantly.

Recently, I went in for a complete blood count and discovered my rheumatoid factor was negative, with zero indications of an autoimmune disease.

A Work in Progress

I am still a work in progress on a lot of levels, but it is because of the work that Dallas, Melissa and Eric do that not only allows me to live a life of with less pain, but could actually be the reason that I am still alive.  Every day I am grateful for the things that my coach Eric has taught me, and the guidance that I have received by programs like the Whole9 that have completely changed my life.

We could not be more proud of Summer, Eric LeClair and the entire Team CrossFit Academy team, and to have contributed to Summer’s journey. Use these buttons below to share Summer’s message of hope and determination with others suffering from autoimmune disease. To read other Whole9 inspiring testimonials, click here. As always, comments are welcome.

A special interview with Sarah Fragoso, by Whole9′s own Robin Strathdee

If you’ve spent much time in the Paleosphere, you’ve likely come across at least one arm of the Everyday Paleo empire which includes a wildly popular website and blog; a lifestyle and cookbook; the EP Life Fit fitness community; and the new children’s book Paleo Pals: Jimmy and the Carrot Rocket Ship.

Raising Paleo Kiddos

In Paleo Pals, super heroes Piper, Phoenix and Parker pay a visit to a boy named Jimmy who’s not quite sure how he feels about making the dietary shift.  The super siblings take Jimmy on an adventure – in their carrot-shaped rocket ship – and show him just how delicious real food can be. This book gives parents a tool they can use when transitioning their family to a diet of Good Food, and it captures kids attention with colorful illustrations and kid-centered recipes.

As a mom myself, I love to hear other parents tips’ and tricks for transitioning to, and maintaining, a diet of real food. And, what better mom to sit down with than Sarah?! During our Q&A, I asked what I thought potentially paleo parents would want to know. Here’s what Sarah had to say:

Robin: You’ve successfully transitioned a houseful of boys, of various ages, to the paleo lifestyle.  What would you consider the keys to your success?

Sarah: By making the transition FUN!  Try to focus on the positive, rather than making it obvious that you are taking away some familiar foods.  I encouraged my kids to help me in the kitchen, brought them with me to the farmer’s markets and grocery stores, and let them help me pick out paleo meals that we would make throughout the week.  We talked honestly about how eating paleo foods would help us all feel better and answered questions that would come up along the way.  I think modeling a positive attitude and as parents making healthy lifestyle choices that your kids can see is imperative in having a successful transition to living a paleo lifestyle.  Finally, getting rid of all the food that caused food battles was huge. My kids can pick whatever they want to eat in our house because they only have good choices. When children can choose what they want, there is no struggle – and that’s so empowering for both parents and kiddos!

Robin: How did you work to incorporate those principles into your new book, Paleo Pals?

Sarah: In Paleo Pals the superheroes take a little boy named Jimmy on a journey, showing him where real food comes from, how eating paleo can make you feel great, and how Jimmy can help prepare delicious food and be a big help to his parents!  I tried to not be too serious while getting kids excited about living a healthier lifestyle.  In reality, kids just want to have fun and play (and that’s how they learn), so the point of the story was so simply provide a fun outlet for little ones to relate to. Most literature out there for kids and nutrition is based on the food pyramid, so my hope was that kids already eating paleo would have a book that they could relate to – and for kids starting to eat paleo, they would have a reason to feel connected and excited about the changes their family might be making.

Frequently Asked Kiddo Questions

We have a lot of first (and second, and third) time Whole30‘ers who would like to involve their entire family in the switch to paleo, but they generally have a few concerns.  How would you answer these common questions from potentially paleo parents:

Robin: My kid loves pb & j sandwiches and hates vegetables. How can I be sure they’re getting enough to eat if I take away their staple foods?

Sarah: Your kid loves sandwiches and hates vegetables simply because he or she hasn’t had the opportunity to try anything different!  As parents we get so wrapped in how much our kids are eating that we forget the importance of WHAT they are eating.  When you clear out the house of gut irritating grains, dairy and legumes, your child is sure to get more nutrition gram for gram from the paleo foods he or she does like to eat!  Robb Wolf has a great article about nutrient density of paleo foods as compared to neolithic foods. If your child eats a plate of chicken, sweet potatoes roasted in coconut oil, and some broccoli or kale chips, he or she is getting way more nutrients, and will be able to better absorb those nutrients than if he or she ate a bowl of fortified sugary cereal that irritates the gut lining and inhibits nutrient absorption.

Robin: And what do I do when they throw a fit and refuse to eat what I cook?

Sarah: When your kids throw a fit and refuse to eat what you cook, IGNORE IT!!  Kids will not starve themselves. If you try to make it fun, ask your kids to get involved, focus less on the foods you are taking away and focus more on other aspects of life, you will be successful – it just doesn’t always happen overnight.  Kids, especially younger ones, are easily distracted.  Plan a fun activity to do together after dinner and keep that the focus of conversation. Sit down to dinner and do not comment on how much OR how little your child eats. The less you pay attention, the more normal your new routine will become.

Your kids WILL eat, I promise, but it’s super important to be consistent.  Do not give in to temper tantrums over food! Kids are smart – and every time you cave, this reinforces their behavior. They’ll keep up the whining because they know it works! Have only healthy foods in your house and for snacks, let them choose what they want. To this day I am amazed when I see my kids chowing down on carrots, jicama, guacamole, and beef jerky or taking big bites of cabbage and chicken.  Kids will eat real food if we are patient, consistent, and let things unravel naturally.

Robin: Just for the fun of it, could you tell us a story of a “food tantrum” one of your kids has had? 

Sarah: I’m going to be honest, my kids have never had a full blown tantrum over food POST-paleo.  Since we started paleo, I have let my kids make their own choices outside of our house, and the baby (who is now 4) has grown up eating paleo. (He has known to ask since he could talk, “Does this have gluten in it?”)  My kids used to choose the non-paleo items outside of our home, but now, for the most part stay away from the foods that they know are not good for us.  Not to say that we never have treats or go out for ice cream… but they all know to make sure whatever we eat when eating out does not have gluten and they ask for what they need and what they know makes them feel good.

My kids USED to throw more tantrums when we were not eating paleo because they would beg for ice cream when we had it in the house and would freak out when I wouldn’t let them have more of it. Now that we no longer have those food options, the tantrums over food have stopped.

Robin: What about school – how do you and your (older) kids address the differences between their school lunches and what other kids bring/what the cafeteria serves?  Do/did your kids ever struggle with feeling like the odd ones out? How do you handle the treats and food-based rewards (like candy) that come into the kids’ classrooms – do you discuss that before hand with the teacher or are your kids free to choose whether they have them or not?

Sarah: My oldest who is 16 wrote an amazing blog post about his own personal experience which you can read here.  With Jaden, my 8 year old, he packs his lunch in a cool Planet Box lunch box and he is proud of what he brings to school. In fact, he often tells me that his friends always want to try his “exotic” lunches.

Teach your children to be confident in who they are and not ashamed of the choices that they make. We do not want to raise kids who are neurotic about food, so I trust my kids to make their own choices about what they eat outside of my house just like I trust them to make other decisions. When we give our kids the confidence and ability to make their own decisions based on what we teach them at home, you’ll be amazed at the end result.  It might not happen overnight but kids, if we let them be, are naturally in tune with their bodies and will honor what does and does not feel good!  Today, the majority of the time, my kids say no to foods that give them tummy aches or that make them cranky. Jaden’s teacher this year told me how amazed she was at Jaden’s ability to evaluate what’s offered to him and decide if he wants to eat it or not.

Robin: For those parents hoping to transition older kids, how would you explain the reasoning for the switch to paleo?

Sarah: For older kids, I would be honest with them about why you are switching to paleo.  Kids are smart and they pay attention.  My kids were able to visibly notice that mom and dad were getting healthier, that mom was able to be more active, was more cheerful, no longer sick, and full of energy – and that sort of thing is contagious!  Approach this journey with joy and your kids will follow suit no matter what the age.  So much of making a successful positive change has to do with attitude and how you approach the transition.

Eating healthier is a good thing, so explain it in such a way that sheds light on all the wonderful things that you will be accomplishing together as a family. Make the focus more on overall lifestyle and not just food.  Start being more active together, exercise together, take walks, start a new hobby as a family, go hiking, watch less TV; all positive changes that create good memories and promote family bonding and make it less about “no more pasta!”

Robin: We know that making the switch to paleo is easier (and easier to maintain) if the entire family is on board.  What are some of the ways you suggest getting the entire family involved in the process?

Sarah: Focus on yourself if no one else is interested, and do not nag.  Once your significant other sees you becoming healthier, he or she will usually want to get involved too.  Suggest to the family that you want to do this thing together, but be positive about it. Create a family challenge – 30 days of eating paleo – and take a fun trip at the end of those 30 days to celebrate and plan for the next 30. Chronicle your journey together and make it a family project rather than something you all HAVE to do. Giving kids responsibilities makes them feel needed and important, so designate older kids jobs such as planning dinner one night a week or setting the table, helping to clean up, or cooking- and praise them for helping and let them know how much their help is appreciated!

Make Your Kids Paleo Pals

Thanks so much to Sarah for taking time out of her incredibly busy schedule to share her passion with us and for her commitment to furthering the idea of a real food diet within the context of a busy family.

For more from Sarah, check out the blog that started it all: EverydayPaleo.com.  If you’ve got kids in your life (or just like reading books with great pictures), you can preview and purchase Paleo Pals on Amazon.com. You can also look forward to the Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook , due out in July!