Starting to get up there in years, so I want to change my diet up. I noticed this place and did a bit of research. I will be heading there tomorrow and wondered if anybody had any suggestions on what to pick up.

Looking forward to eating healthier, let me know! Thanks

My answer

First of all, you don’t need to buy from Trader Joes if you want to eat healthy. To eat healthier means to eat more fresh veggies and fruits. Cut down on fats and sweets. (And exercise but that’s not exactly related to the question here). You don’t need Trader Joes or even Whole Foods.

What Trader Joes is not is a health food store. Check the Labels – lots of Trader Joes prepare foods are very high in sodium which you want to avoid if you’re looking to eat healthy. You have to be really careful about their fresh produce and meats – their quality controls are not always the best and you might be bringing home spoiled goods if you’re not careful.

Also, I would not say they’re known for organic foods. And, by the way, the ‘organic’ label is quickly becoming meaningless as cookies, chips and sodas are all now labeled organic. The standard for what constitutes organic varies. Anyway, a Whole Foods type thing would have a higher percentage of organic stuff.

There’s plenty at Trader Joes you need to avoid, just like at most supermarkets. Industrial food is pure poison- so, know the source of your food- and you may want be find it locally- like buying from farmers and CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farms.

What to REALLY stay clear of: The big killers are processed sugar in all forms. They do cause all kinds of health problems- lots of evidence to support heart problems diabetes and cancer. These problems love inhaling artificial laced sugar stuff. Lots of molecular level tests and studies have proven this. It used to be we received a normal amount of sugar from fruits. Now, all are foods are laced with it- and the population gets mega amounts. And, it is not always called sugar. Get your sugar from fruit in normal amounts- dump everything else.

It is amazing when I walk through a grocery store in the US – I can’t buy most of the stuff in it. It is mostly crap. It is either laced with sugar, or laced with salt. If needed, go with the low sugar. (And, no substitute sugar in all its weird forms)

My approach is to limit the bad by doing whole grains, (processed slower and easier into insulin) lots of veggies, and stay away from most carbs.- pasta and bread etc…. Limit the dairy too. You may go for unsweetened nut milk…. Also, check the cans/labels, even in the health food store, for sugar <= 1%, fats, etc…. (It is not going to taste the same, but you will feel a lot stronger and better) The sweet tooth culture is hard to break and it is addicting.

Also, buy meats without the hormones, antibiotics and make sure they are grass fed. Lots of farmers/health food stores sell this now.

If you want to go more radical, you can substitute some of the losses with:

Millet/Chia bread, Avocado, sprouts, (they are a great source of nutrition), organic beans, cold pressed olive oil, Tahini, salads, sunflower seed and oil, almonds, pumpkin seed and oil, apple cider vinegar, non sweetened almond nut milk etc….. This food group starts resembling a Mediterranean diet. I tend to call the more radical parts of this type of plan rabbit food.

But, if you introduce it through veggie juices and into your meals gradually – it is great for you. Of course, the more you introduce, the more creative you need to be with your cooking – and food shopping. And the fewer restaurants you can actually eat at. But, there are lots of ways of making it taste good.

In any event if you want to have more organic food I highly recommend either joining an organic CSA or visiting a local Health and Nutrition Canter with a good produce and meats section. You will find that it takes a lot of experimentation to find foods that you are comfortable with and that will make your diet healthier.

However there are some good things about Trader Joes. Their frozen fish and frozen veggies are really good. Most of their meats are anti-biotics free. They have good no sodium trail mix. Their wine section has some great deals. They tend to be less expensive so you can afford higher quality food. I suggest you just take your time, wander and look. The people in the store are really helpful and knowledgeable. But they won’t be as knowledgeable as you are, now that you’ve read this post.

Nevertheless, I don’t want to abandon my readers who might be looking for protein supplements they’ll need for gaining weight. If you follow the article’s advice and drink your protein when you wake up, before and after working out, and before going to bed, well you’ll be getting plenty of protein. That’s probably 100 grams of protein right there and you should be eating real food too.

In another old, but slightly less old, post, I talk about cardio and when to add protein. Basically you want carbs and protein 90 minutes prior to exercise, then you lift, then you do cardio, then you want more carbs and protein. The second one, especially, consider a shake – you want those nutrients fast. The first one too, consider a shake – you don’t want heartburn in the gym but that’s what I get if I eat big 90 minutes before I lift.

Finally, if you want to gain weight, snack. If you want to gain muscle weight snack on protein. Hard boiled eggs are great protein but not much for carbs. So if you really want to gain weight, you’re looking at protein bars. Do watch out for bars that are high in sugar but some, like Detour low sugar bars, taste alright and give you carbohydrates and protein without the sugar.

But at least with Dan Henderson, it seems legit. The state of Nevada approved testosterone replacement therapy for Henderson for his second fight with Wanderlei Silva at Pride 33. In an ESPN interview, Henderson had this to say:

“My levels were so low they were off the charts. I was always tired and getting sick a lot. I couldn’t even tell you [how to abuse it]. I’ve never gone above normal ranges. All I know is that I’m not as tired and I don’t get as sick as I used to.”

Certainly if a man suffers from low testerone, he should be encouraged to seek treatment. As Henderson said above, if you want to be energetic and not be sick all the time, you need normal levels of testosterone. The question is, how can we be fair to guys like Henderson who need hormone therapy to be haelthy in a normal way while still calling out guys who might use it for an unfair advantage?

And certainly try to prevent a fall in the first place:

1. Avoid ice and other slippery surfaces. Have bars and mats in the shower.
2. Carry things in an apron or pouch so hands are free to balance / use crutches.
3. Get something long for reaching switches and things that otherwise require a stretch to get to.
4. Try night lights to make walking in the dark a bit safer.
5. Remove obstacles that cause trips. If you have pets be careful not to trip over them.
6. Use non-slip shoes and slippers.
7. Don’t store stuff up high.

Both of my grandparents suffered broken hips as they got older. My grandmother slipped on a waxed bank floor – wax makes things slippery so avoid it whenever you can. My grandfather was living with my parents and maybe reaching to turn the TV off (he didn’t know how to use the fancy remotes). Reaching is also trouble. Even though both were in a position to get medical treatment right away, things could have been even worse if they hadn’t received treatment so quickly.

Chia Seed

These seeds are derived from the plant called salvia hispanica which is a type of sage and is in the mint family. The main property in the seeds which are important to human health is the high contents of omega 3 fatty acids. As seeds it is widely used in kitchens all over the world and has been shown to be a staple of ancient Aztecs and is still currently a staple in that region but has sprung out in other regions as well these days and has been grown commercially. When eaten raw they are able to maintain being a good source of dietary fiber as well as the Omega 3 Fatty Acids. In recent decades though Chia Seeds have been slowly earning the right to be called a super food as it has numerous health benefits.
With the qualities mentioned above it has been shown that it can aid in the balance of the body in terms of retaining fluids and electrolytes. It also has the ability to help build muscle and other tissues and this is more related to how it is able to form somewhat of a gel in the stomach and aid in the slowing down of the processing of carbohydrates which helps the body nourish itself more efficiently and aid in lessening sugar level spikes. Also more to the point of being able to build tissue and muscle, it is a great source of protein and boron which has been proven to aid in the absorption of calcium by the body.

Chia Seeds, Bowel Movements and Health Benefits

The key to how Chia can be beneficial in improving bowel movements and health for that matter is its high fiber content. Both soluble and insoluble fiber is present in chia seeds and this allows it to be more effective than other sources of fiber. Fiber helps with bowel movements by binding itself with the contents of the stomach so with ample amounts of water stool will be passed more easily and toxins that also has bounded with the fiber will be flushed away as well which in the long run will influence various health benefits like lowered cholesterol, healthier colon, alleviate constipation and even may promote weight loss as fiber also allows you to feel fuller longer.

The results are both good and bad, though for the person paying for their prescription we’ll go with bad. Plus pharmaceutical companies spent $855 million lobbying American politicians. That means the drug companies spend more than anyone else when it comes to buying votes in Washington DC.

But to say nothing good comes of it is somewhat myopic. Drug companies make lots of money in the US and therefore American drug companies lead the world when it comes to inventing new drugs.

Americans, though, are sick of paying for the lobbying and for the drug company profits and stock dividends. So they look to online pharmacies and buy the same drugs for less money. So what kind of savings are we looking at?

The most recent numbers I could find come from 2002 (and the AARP). Drugs in America were, again in 2002, 67 percent above average Canadian prices. That’s a significant difference so why pay the American price when your money will be going toward a little R&D and a lot of vote buying in Washington DC?

To that end, The People’s Chemist lab has developed several natural products. Among these is Thermo FX, which promises to promote fat loss while preserving muscle. Some of the active ingredients should sound familiar:

Zishi 30% Beta-agonist blend
Natural Salicin 25%
Guarana Extract 50%
Green Tea Extract 95% Polyphenols
Cayenne
Marshmallow Root
Yohimbe 8%

My wife and I are considering something natural like this. We noticed on our recent trip to Europe that a moderate diet and exercise can’t really help you if you’re in decent shape. And when you’re busy traveling (or working) it’s hard to find time and space and energy to exercise with real intensity for any real length of time.

So if you’re in good shape, how do you get rid of that last bit of body fat? Well you could stop eating (saves you money when traveling in Europe for sure but sometimes that European food looks too good to turn down) but then you also run into a serious risk of losing any muscle you managed to gain from your exercise efforts.

So you’re left with going to a doctor and getting shots (which my wife has tried) or a more natural over the counter type approach. I know it’s a fallacy of thinking to say natural is always better, but don’t we generally prefer natural stuff in our bodies? I mean look at the ingredients in Thermo FX – marshmallow root sounds OK. We know green tea is good. But what do we really know about hat shot the doctor wants to give us other than that it’s expensive and it’s recommended by a doctor (and listening to your doctor without understanding why is another fallacy of thinking – blindly trusting an expert even though these people are known to make mistakes).

The first issue that needs to be addressed is spinal flexion. Research by Dr. McGill shows that repeated spinal flexion is detrimental to the intervertebral discs. (1) The strategy of rolling out of bed and then bending over to touch the toes with a rounded spine to stretch your back is enough to make McGill have a coronary.

For McGill, the ability to maintain lumbar lordosis (an inward curvature of the low back) while lifting and moving reigns king. When your trainer tells you to keep an arch in your low back while pulling a deadlift, he’s telling you to maintain lordosis.

McGill has tested many NFL players who have blown-out discs, and as long as they maintain lordosis on the field, they can continue to play. That’s how important lordosis is.

Here’s a dude who explores his soul by striving for excellence and running 125 miles a week. Or he does a 150 mile race and he says when you feel bad around mile 75 you find out who you are and what you can do.