You’d need to have been living under a rock to not have heard about essential oils. They’re sweeping the world by storm, and it’s fair to say that this is one health craze that isn’t a fad.
But while essential oils can be a powerful health tool in the right hands, they can also pose their own risks when used incorrectly. Because essential oils provide a super-concentrated elixir of any given therapeutic plant, you really need to do your homework before using them on yourself and your loved ones.
With this in mind, I’ve constructed a series of FAQs that will hopefully answer all the burning questions you have about essential oils. If you’re already feeling confident about them and want to take the next step, we’ve drawn up a series of easy steps to get started with doTERRA essential oils. We’ve been using these oils for years, and continue to love the crap out of them!
Section 1 – all about essential oils
You may have heard about essential oils and perhaps even used them from time to time, but have you ever thought about what an essential oil really is? Here’s the quick and dirty.
What are essential oils?
The giveaway here is “essential” – which literally means the essence of a particular thing. Essential oils are the essence of certain therapeutic plants and herbs, and embody a highly potent form of that plant. For example, when you use lavender essential oil, each drop contains all the therapeutic oils that have been extracted from the physical lavender flowers. It takes 30 pounds of lavender flowers to make one 15 ml bottle of doTERRA lavender essential oil!
How are essential oils made?
There are two main ways in which essential oils are produced: steam distillation and expression. Steam distillation is by far the most common of the two methods, and simply involves passing steam through the plant to extract it’s essential oils from protective microscopic sacs. As the steam vapor, which now carries a dilute form of essential oil, rises, it cools and condenses. The oil is then separated from the water, and the pure essential oil is ready to go. Expression, otherwise known as “cold pressing”, is often used to extract oils from citrus fruits and certain other plants. Mechanical pressure is exerted on the citrus rind to “expel” the essential oil contained within. Pretty straightforward, really!
What’s with all the fuss over essential oils?
In a world filled to bursting with artificial compounds, harmful chemicals, side-effect ridden drugs and questionable prescriptions, many people are beginning to make a shift back towards a simpler existence. Essential oils provide an excellent way of doing this, as they’re the same oils that are found in nature, conveniently concentrated and put into bottles for your use! With essential oils, you can get rid of a lot of things in and around your home that are doing you harm – things like nasty cleaning products, air fresheners, prescription meds, antibacterial creams and lotions, chemical-based shampoos and conditioners, deodorants…the list goes on. Essential oils are amazingly versatile, and provide natural solutions to many of life’s problems.
Section 2 – all about doTERRA
doTERRA is perhaps the fastest-growing essential oil company in the world. Mostly, this is due to the excellent quality of their therapeutic-grade essential oils. We’ve shopped around and tried different companies, but in our opinion doTERRA continues to produce some of the best oils we’ve come across.
Some of doTERRA’s growth, however, is due to their marketing strategy, and it’s this which confuses many people. Here’s a few things you need to know about how doTERRA works.
What kind of company is doTERRA?
doTERRA is a multi-level marketing company. What this means is that they rely on different levels of affiliates (non-company members who promote their products in exchange for a commission) to market their essential oils for them. It sounds perhaps a bit more “pyramid-schemeish” than it is – it’s simply a commission-based system. doTERRA rewards those people who successfully promote their products, but there’s nothing backhand about it! One thing that doTERRA does to ensure this is to require it’s affiliates to spend a certain amount on their oils each month – this ensures that the products affiliates promote are something that they’d be happy to use themselves, and that their knowledge of those oils is sufficient.
What is a doTERRA wellness advocate?
This is where it starts to get a little head-scratching. doTERRA offers a wholesale membership to all new customers, in which they pay an initial fee of $35 in the initial year, and $25 for every year thereafter. In return, they become a wellness advocate, which means they can purchase essential oils and other doTERRA products at wholesale (25 percent below retail) prices. So if you buy $150 worth of essential oils, you’ll only have to pay $112.50. This way, you’ve already paid off your membership fee and stand to save a whole lot more over the course of the year. If they spend a certain amount each month, this new wellness advocate also gets the chance to earn commissions under the LRP. More on that below.
What is the doTERRA LRP and how do I earn commissions?
LRP literally means “loyalty rewards program.” Anyone who is a wellness advocate can be part of the loyalty rewards program, provided they spend at least $50 per month. But to really get all of the different forms of commission under the LRP, you need to spend at least $100 per month.
Here’s all of the different forms of commissions under the doTERRA LRP:
Unilevel bonus: this is a monthly bonus that is determined by the number of wellness advocates who sign up using your “Wellness ID”. If you spend $50 PV (personal volume) on doTERRA products each month, you earn 2 percent on every amount spent each month by those signed up directly below you. If you spend $100/month, you can earn as much as 7 percent commission on ALL the wellness advocates below you (even those you don’t directly sign up). It’s super confusing, I know! All you really need to know is that the more wellness advocates you help to sign up, the larger your monthly commission will be (provided they themselves buy products each month). If you need to visualize this, I’d advise checking out this infographic and scrolling to the second page.
Retail profit: this one is fairly simple, at least. If someone buys oils through your retail page (you provide a link to the page, they save and you earn), you earn 25 percent profit on anything they buy. Considering the likes of Amazon only pays up to 7 percent commission on affiliate products, this is waaayyyy better. You get this commission whether you spend $100/month or not, and it’s paid monthly.
Fast start bonus: This commission is essentially the same as the Unilevel bonus, but only counts for the first 60 days of each enrollee’s membership. If a first level (direct) enrollee spends $100 in their first 60 days of being a wellness advocate, you earn $20 (20 percent) of that spend. If a second level enrollee (enrolled by someone directly under you) spends $100 in their first 60 days, you earn $10 (10 percent). And so on. You need to be spending $100 PV per month yourself to qualify for this bonus.
Power of 3 bonus: this is where it gets super tricky, and you’re best to check out this explanation page. Essentially, this bonus supports groups of 3 in your enrollees. If you enroll 3 wellness advocates, and you all spend at least $100 PV per month, and your collective team spend adds up to $600 (it usually does), you personally can earn $50. If each of the 3 directly under you enroll another team of 3 that also spend $100 PV/month, you’ll get $250 per month. This organizational structure can continue until you get as much as $1500 per month. This bonus requires you to think about your enrollees, talk to them, and arrange your “organization” so that the Power of 3 layout is maximized for profit.
Confused? I’m not surprised. Suffice to say that the best approach is simply to get promoting, and you’ll see the commissions start to rack up. Once you get more members enrolled, you can start thinking about approaching your signups in a more organized fashion.
How do I get paid?
This depends on where you live. If you live in the US, you can choose to either get paid by check or direct to your bank account (direct debit). If you live in Canada, payment is by check only. If you live in Australia, you can also get paid by direct debit, but if you’re like me, and live in New Zealand, you can only get paid via something called ProPay (similar to PayPal). You pay a $20 yearly fee, doTERRA transfers your earnings into your ProPay account on a weekly basis, and you can then transfer it to your bank account.
How do I sign up as a wellness advocate?
We’ve compiled a series of easy-to-follow steps for signing up with doTERRA in this article. But, if you’re like me and like to minimize effort, here’s what you need to do:
Simply sign up here with my Sponsor ID, 3182115, and choose ‘Wholesale’.
Next, decide whether you want to buy a starter kit (I bought the Home Essentials Kit, as it has a good range of oils and their excellent petal diffuser), which waives the $35 membership fee, or simply pay the $35 fee and begin buying oils at your own pace.
Contact us at inquiry@thriveprimal.com for guidance and to talk about next steps as a wellness advocate! Only if you want, of course.
Easy as that! Otherwise, if you just want to buy a few essential oils at regular prices, click here to go straight to the store.
Be sure to check out Part 2 of this two-part series here.
That’s it for now! I’ll be posting another article soon on all the different uses for essential oils…it’ll be pretty mind-blowing! If you’ve got any questions, please get in contact or leave a comment below and I’ll get to it when I can. Thanks for stopping by, folks.
Bone broth has recently taken the paleo, primal, and ancestral dieting worlds by storm, and thats no coincidence. Not only is bone broth an excellent way to make use of all those leftover bones and carcasses you’d otherwise throw out post-roast, it’s also one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet.
Bone broth benefits
If you’ve arrived at this article looking for a quick, easy recipe: you’ve come to the right place! So if you’re keen to just get stuck in and make some fine-ass broth, scroll down to the next section. But if you’d like to amp yourself up with some fun facts about why bone broth is just so darn good, lets dive right in.
As we explained in yet another ultra-informative Thrive Primal article, bone broth is a must-eat for just about anyone. It’s loaded with a wide range of essential minerals, many of which the typical Western diet is seriously lacking in. These include calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and potassium. Our friend bone broth, also known in certain circles as stock, is chocka block with glycine and proline, two amino acids which are just the bees knees for your overall health and, well…your knees!
Bone broth also contains plenty of collagen, condroitin and glucosamine, all of which you need to maintain a healthy, fully-functioning body. Put together, all of these minerals and nutrients mean bone broth is an excellent way to improve your bone and tissue healing rates, keep your skin looking young and firm, revitalize your hair and nails, keep your joints supple, heal your gut lining, and improve detoxification.
Excited yet? You should be. Well, without further ado, let’s get broth making!
How to make bone broth the paleo way
There’s two ways you can make bone broth: the slow way, and the fast way. Because the fast way requires a pressure cooker, and we haven’t yet invested in one of those, we stick to the slow way. It’s no less effective, but it just take a few hours longer.
Equipment:
Slow cooker or crock pot (they’re essentially the same thing)
large glass jar or multiple smaller jars
Instructions:
Whenever you cook up a roast, lamb chops, or any meat with bones, set the bones aside and store them in a container in your freezer.
Once the pones have piled up to about two thirds the size of your slow cooker (less is fine, too!), you’re ready to go.
Throw the bones in your slow cooker, completely cover with cold water, and set the temperature to a low heat. The mixture should remain at a simmer the whole time, and should never boil over.
Add one to two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar or white vinegar to the bone and water mixture. This helps to draw the nutrients out of the bones.
Leave the bones to do their thing, topping up water as necessary to ensure they remain submerged the whole time. We leave beef and lamb bones simmering for 18 to 24 hours to ensure all the nutrients are extracted into the water, and chicken bones for around 12 to 16 hours. The longer you cook them, the more nutrient-dense your broth will be.
After the allotted time, remove from heat, cover, and leave to cool down. Before the mixture cools completely, remove the bones from the bottom of the mixture and pour the rest into a large glass jar and keep in the fridge. It will keep for around 1 to 2 weeks – if you don’t think you’ll use it all within this timeframe, just place some of it in an appropriate container and freeze it!
Note that if you don’t have a slow-cooker or crockpot, you can also just use a large stock pot. Just make sure it’s big enough, and that it’s ok to leave simmering unattended for a long period of time.
Paleo bone broth recipe using pressure cooker
As we explained earlier, there’s a much faster way to fulfill your bone broth needs: the pressure cooker! If you’ve got one of these bad boys, you can whip out a decent batch of bone broth in 2-3 hours. Impressive!
Large glass jar or collection of smaller widemouth jars
Instructions:
Place your bones in the bottom of your pressure cooker. Make sure the bones don’t reach past the two thirds mark of the cooker, otherwise you’ll be dealing with a pressure cooker overload!
Cover with water, and add in 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar. Any old vinegar will do, really.
Set your cooker to high pressure and leave for three hours. After this time, turn off the heat and leave to depressurize naturally.
Allow the mixture to cool to just above room temperature, then strain the liquid from the bones. Store in glass mason jars in the fridge, or place in the freezer for longer term storage.
That’s it! Pretty easy, right? You can also get snazzy by doing things like roasting the bones first (to give your broth a darker, more intense flavor) or adding in vegetables like leaks and carrots. But I like to keep things nice and simple, and knock back half a cup or so of broth each day to reap the health rewards. Enjoy!
And p.s. if you’re worried about lead toxicity issues, don’t be: according to Chris Kresser, the lead found in bone broth is nothing to be worried about.
The popularity of probiotics in the past 10 years has skyrocketed. A decade ago, most people would probably have given you a bit of a weird look if you asked them whether they were supplementing with probiotics. But now, with the scientific community increasingly proving that your gut health is critical to your overall health, probiotics are a hot topic.
Now, there’s all sorts of words like “good bacteria”, “bad bacteria”, “microbiome”, and “gut flora” bandied about. They sound important, but what the heck do they actually mean? And for that matter, why do you even need to know what they mean? Can’t you just grab any old probiotic product from your supermarket or health store shelves, knock a capsule back once a day, and move on with your life?
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. There are plenty of probiotic products out there which will provide absolutely no benefit for your gut health, and others that may even do you harm. In order to get the most from your probiotic supplement, you first need to get inside your gut. Metaphorically, not literally – that would be pretty darn gross.
Why do I need to take a probiotic supplement?
Your gastrointestinal tract, henceforth referred to as your gut, is home to over 500 different species of microorganisms. This number of species is likely much higher, as scientists are still funding hundreds of new gut microflora strains every year. These microorganisms number in their billions. Billions, people!
Far from your gut being an incestuous infestation of disgusting microscopic bugs, we rely on these billions of microorganisms for our very existence. A 2012 study published in the Journal of Nutrition in Clinical Practice found that the bacteria in your gut form an intricate, living fabric of natural controls that affect body weight, energy, and nutrition. Another 2012 study, this time published in the Journal of Nature Reviews Neuroscience, noted that the gut microbiotia plays a pivotal role “in the regulation of anxiety, mood, cognition and pain.”
The take away from all these emerging studies is that the microorganisms that live in your gut are far more important than you think. They have the potential to influence almost every aspect of your health, so if things are unbalanced down there (and they probably are!), there’s no way you can ever be fully healthy.
Your gut is probably lacking in good bacteria
The reason I say that your gut microbiome (the “living community” of bacteria and yeast which resides in your gastrointestinal tract) is probably a bit sad is because modern society has it in for these useful little guys. For starters, evidence shows that a natural birth is critical for exposing newborn babies to certain beneficial bacterial strains which then go on to colonize their gut. As this article from Science Daily puts it:
Each individual’s community of gut microbes is unique and profoundly sensitive to environmental conditions, beginning at birth. Indeed, the mode of delivery during the birthing process has been shown to affect an infant’s microbial profile.
Communities of vaginal microbes change during pregnancy in preparation for birth, delivering beneficial microbes to the newborn. At the time of delivery, the vagina is dominated by a pair of bacterial species, Lactobacillus and Prevotella. In contrast, infants delivered by caesarean section typically show microbial communities associated with the skin, including Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium, and Propionibacterium. While the full implications of these distinctions are still murky, evidence suggests they may affect an infant’s subsequent development and health, particularly in terms of susceptibility to pathogens.
Essentially, if you had a cesarean birth, your gut is off to a very bad start. The next great blow to your gut health comes with antibiotics. Every time your doctor prescribed a round of antibiotics to kill of some pathogen in your body, it also killed off the good bacteria in your gut. Antibiotics are not selective, meaning they kill everything in your gut – good and bad.
Finally, there’s all sorts of other environmental toxins, prescription meds, and oral contraceptives which have been shown to take their toll on your gut health. Suffice to say that your population of beneficial bacteria is not what it should be.
Are the probiotics in fermented foods enough?
This one is a little more difficult to answer. For some people, the probiotics they receive from fermented foods may be sufficient to keep their gut happy and healthy, but only if they work hard at it. These people would need to have an already healthy gut biome, and they’d need to be eating a variety fermented foods per day. Examples of fermented foods include:
sauerkraut
kimchi
kombucha
kefir
kvass
All of which need to be raw and unpasteurized. These foods can be very expensive to buy, and are time consuming (but highly rewarding!) to make. Most people don’t want that kind of commitment. If you do, check out our easy DIY sauerkraut recipe.
If you’re not prepared to eat a range of different fermented foods every day, or if you have been exposed to a cesarean birth, antibiotics, or have serious digestive issues, you NEED to get your hands on a quality probiotic supplement. Here’s how.
Finding the best quality probiotic supplement
If you find the right probiotic supplement for your needs, your gut will flourish. Quality probiotic supplements provide billions of beneficial bacteria which actually re-colonize your gut and make it a happy place once more. If you’ve been suffering from digestive issues (diarrhea, constipation, stomach pain, gas, nausea, etc), you’ll likely notice the difference within a few days, if not immediately!
Cheap or poor-quality probiotics, on the other hand, use the wrong bacterial species or don’t allow those bacteria to actually take up residence in your gut. A classic example of this is acidophilus yoghurt – it might help your digestion when you eat it, but it’s effects are only temporary, simply because those bacteria aren’t designed to actually live in your gut.
This probiotic easily gets the thumbs-up from us, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s endorsed by Chris Kresser, a key figure in the health industry who I have a lot of respect for due to his obsession for reviewing the scientific literature and really knowing his stuff. If Chris says its good, its probably good.
Next, Prescript-Assist sources it’s beneficial bacteria from soil-based organisms – bacteria and other microorganisms which we would commonly have been exposed to before humanity developed a repulsion for getting dirt on its hands. These bacteria have been scientifically proven to live in the human gastrointestinal tract, meaning this supplement helps you to rebuild you gut population, rather than just temporarily bolstering it (as with many other probiotics).
Finally, Prescript-Assist also contains a humic/fulvic acid prebiotic which helps those good bacteria to thrive and flourish within their new home (your gut!). Essentially, it plants your seedlings, and gives them a healthy dose of organic fertilizer at the same time.
These potent little babies pack a serious punch, and are endorsed by another of our health heroes, Mark Sisson. I like these probiotics as they’ve gone for high-potency, high-quality bacterial strains rather than just a vast number of low-return bacterial species. That’s what a lot of companies rely on to sell their probiotic product – “contains 150 billion trillion CFU’s!”, when really it’s about quality, not quantity. What’s the point in sending hundreds of billions of bacterial strains through your gut, if they don’t actually want to live there?
Primal Probiotics come with excellent reviews and plenty of information regarding their effectiveness and why they’ve selected certain strains. They’re also designed to survive the harsh environment of your stomach and make it through to your gut intact, which can’t be said for many other probiotic supplements.
Different strokes for different folks
While the above two probiotic supplements are a great start, everyone is different. With this in mind, if your body doesn’t respond well to them after the initial “adjustment” period (usually around a week), shop around and find a probiotic which is also well-respected and which suits your needs better.
Do you have a go-to probiotic supplement which you love? Tell us the difference that it’s made in your life!
If you’ve been doing your research, chances are you’ve figured out that conventional deodorant and anti-perspirants are highly toxic. Yes, yes, I know what you’re thinking – where does the mayhem end? Well, it certainly doesn’t end here, as these babies typically contain a heady concoction of chemicals which can do some serious harm in your body.
Common toxins found in deodorants and antiperspirants
Just to get you all riled up, here’s a quick list of toxic compounds commonly found in your average stick or spray-can of deodorant:
Aluminum: Used to block the sweat glands and keep sweat from reaching the surface of your skin. Preliminary research suggests that these aluminum compounds can be absorbed through the skin and cause changes to estrogen receptors in breast cells. The result, according researchers, is a higher risk of breast cancer with continued use of deodorants which contain aluminum.
Parabens: Used as a preservative to stop fungus or bacteria growing on your goods. Parabens are currently in the scientific hotseat for suspicions of contributing to breast cancer, due to their estrogen-simulating effect in the body
Propylene glycol: Keeps products from drying out. This nasty stuff was originally developed as a type of antifreeze, but is now being used in many deodorants and antiperspirants. There is no shortage of studies out there showing how propylene glycol is poison to our bodies, including this 2003 study and this 2007 study. Propylene glycol can cause dermatitis, kidney damage, liver damage, eye and skin irritation, gastrointestinal irritation, nausea, headaches, and central nervous depression. Seems like a great ingredient for your deodorant, right?
Triclosan: A synthetic compound used to kill bacteria on the skin (and inside your pits!). Triclosan has been shown to cause contact dermatitis, and has also been found to disrupt thyroid function.
The list goes on. Other nasty numbers found in your deodorant or antiperspirant include TEA and DEA, artificial colors and perfumes, and talc. Suffice to say that you need to throw those sweet-smelling cancer sticks out, ASAP.
Make your own healthy deodorant with doTERRA essential oils
You could shop around for hours, even days, trying to find a mass-produced deodorant that doesn’t contain any of these harmful chemicals. And even when you did, they’d probably have something else in them which is detrimental to your health. Admittedly, there are certain products out there which are legitimately clean, like this excellent natural deodorant stick from Green Tidings, but the cost of these products can add up over time.
When it comes down to it, your best solution is to make your own deodorant. Here’s a quick, easy set of steps to do just that. If you want to make your own deodorant bar, rather than just a paste that you rub on with your hands, add in some beeswax to harden things up.
Remember, you can buy doTERRA oils for much cheaper, wholesale prices if you sign up through our Thrive Primal doTERRA portal. More more information on how to get started buying cheaper essential oils, check out this article.
Also note that the Whisper blend is marketed “for women”, but the smell is definitely kosher for both men and women. As a man, I can confirm that it smells awesome and certainly doesn’t detract from my manliness!
Natural doTERRA deodorant instructions
There’s two ways you can do this recipe: the quick way and the fancy way. In our house, most of the time we opt for the “quick way” as we’re busy little bees. Essentially, this just involves leaving a jar of coconut oil somewhere warm (outside in the sun or beside the fireplace for a few minutes) and then mixing everything together in a glass jar. We don’t always use shea butter or cacao butter, but it’s nice to add them if you have the chance as they help to moisturize your pits. The “fancy way”, which admittedly will give you a better end product, is as follows:
Combine the coconut oil, shea or cacao butter in a double boiler, or simply a large mason jar inside a saucepan filled with 1 inch of water in the bottom. If you’re making a deodorant stick, add in the beeswax as well. I like simply melting everything in the mason jar, as it saves you having to clean hardened oils off a bowl at the end.
Bring the water to a boil, stirring ingredients constantly until they’re fully melted.
Remove oil mixture from heat and immediately add in the baking soda, arrowroot, and essential oils.
Give the mixture a good stir to ensure everything is fully incorporated. You need to make sure your oils are evenly spread throughout.
If you added beeswax for a deodorant stick, allow the mixture to cool for around 10-15 minutes at room temp. Once it hardens to a thick consistency, kind of like thick honey, carefully pour/scoop the mixture into an empty deodorant tube (you can literally just scoop out the old, nasty deodorant then rinse out with hot water) and leave overnight to fully harden. It’s better to wait until your deodorant mixture is thicker, so that you can make a mound inside the stick for ease of use.
That’s it! This should keep you and your family going for at least a few weeks, and sometimes a lot longer. If you didn’t make the deodorant stick, just scoop out a little with your fingers and massage gently into your pits.
It’s important to note that this isn’t an antiperspirant, so you will still sweat. But sweating is a healthy, natural bodily process – you need to sweat! And the good news that the longer you use this natural deodorant, the less you’ll sweat. Plus your sweat won’t smell bad, so you’re welcome.
If you start to develop a rash after a few days or weeks, don’t worry – if you’ve been using conventional, toxic deodorants for a long time this can sometimes happen. Doing an armpit detox like this one once a week until the rash goes away can make a big difference.
How did it go? Do you have your own special DIY deodorant blend? Tell us all about it!
Everyone gets a parasite at least once in their life. For most people, they’ll be exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of parasites on a regular basis. That thought alone is enough to send many people running for the hills, or at least that “happy place” in their minds where parasites don’t exist.
But to assume you’re somehow immune to parasites is a poor assumption indeed. Either that, or you tell yourself that you’ve cooked your food thoroughly enough and religiously sanitized your hands to the point where there’s no chance that you could have some nasty little worms residing in your gut. Once again, big mistake.
This post comes after concluding 14 months of travel through some of the poorest countries on earth. As Liivi and I made our way down through Mexico and Central America, then immediately immersed ourselves in Southeast Asia for a couple of months to top it off, my mind was constantly considering the possibility that the next bowl of Vietnamese pho or undercooked Mexican tacos might be the one that introduced my body to an unpleasant concoction of parasitism.
Many people would respond to these suspicions by making a quick trip to the doctor for a diagnosis. That doctor may or may not perform a series of blood, urine or stool tests, but their prescription is almost always the same: a strong dose of antibiotics. And if you’ve been following our posts on Candida, you’ll know by now that antibiotics will RUIN your gut microflora and simply put you at greater risk of future parasite infections.
You could also seek out a functional medicine practitioner to get a more holistic take on your potential parasite problem, or even procure a reputable mail-order parasite testing kit, such as this Full GI Panel. The problem is, both of these alternatives are expensive, time consuming, and despite their reputability they’re often still quite unreliable in their results. Either the practitioner or the test might declare you “parasite free”, when really you’ve got a whole host of parasites that have dropped below the radar.
The way I see it, you’re much better off knowing what signs and symptoms to look out for, performing a simple parasite questionnaire, then going ahead and taking steps to expunge those uninvited parasites living in your innards. Even if you’re unsure, often embarking upon a simple at-home natural anti-parasite regime can do your body a lot of good, whether you have parasites or not. But first, lets wrap our heads around some of the more common parasites, and their usual symptoms.
Common parasites and typical symptoms
Enterobius vermicularis (pinworm)
Pinworm is a type of roundworm (nematode) with a huge geographic range. It is prevalent throughout much of the United States, along with many other parts of the world. It is estimated that around 209 million people worldwide are infected, with more than 30 percent of children throughout the world infected. In summary, there’s a very good chance you’ve got this little blighter hanging out in your large intestine.
The eggs of E. vermicularis spread to other people via fecal residue. In essence, people who go for a poo and don’t wash their hands properly are to blame. Nasty. And considering this pinworm can lay up to 15,000 eggs per night in your nether regions, it’s highly infectious.
Symptoms of pinworm include:
itching of the genitals and anus (sorry, but we had to go there)
sleep disturbance due to constant itching (particularly bad at night, when this parasite is most active)
in some cases, rapid weight loss, urinary tract infection, and appendicitis
Giardia lamblia
If you’ve ever considered taking a drink from what you thought to be a clean river, lake or stream on a particularly long hike, you’ve probably been warned off by somebody harping on about “giardia”. Hopefully you heeded their warning, because giardia is the second most common parasitic infection in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that more than 2.5 million cases of giardiasis occur annually.
Like pinworm, giardia is spread via fecal-oral contamination (put bluntly, when you get someone else’s poo particles in your mouth…tasty). Giardia is commonly water-borne because it is resistant to the chlorine in tap water, and even survives well in cold mountain streams. For this reason, it has earned the nicknames of “backpacker’s diarrhea” and “beaver fever”.
You can even get giardia from raw or undercooked foods, and animals such as sheep, cattle, dogs, rodents and beavers can pass it on and ensure it remains almost permanently in many water bodies.
Symptoms of giardia include:
diarrhea
malabsorption
indigestion
dramatic weight loss
fatigue
depression
in some cases, arthritis, particularly in the lower parts of the body
Ancylostoma duodenale, Necator americanus (hookworm)
A. duodenale is found in Europe, Africa, China, Japan, India and the Pacific Islands. N. americanus, as the name suggests, is found primarily in the Americas as well as the Caribbean and certain areas of Asia and the Pacific. These parasites used to be a real problem in America until the early 1900s, but hookworm is still widespread throughout the world.
As usual, the means by which these parasites get into your body is a rather disgusting one. Upon hatching, larvae feed on bacteria in the soil, then enter their human hosts via pores, hair follicles and even intact skin. They then travel through your circulatory system, climb into the lungs, and make their way eventually into your digestive tract. Here, they take up residence and begin the cycle all over again.
Hookworms like these generally don’t present any major problems aside from occasional gastroenteritis-like symptoms, or if the intestinal worm colony becomes too big (yuck!). The biggest concern, however, is blood loss. These worms use anticoagulant compounds that allow them to consume around quarter of a liter of blood per day. This blood loss can produce something called microcytic hypochromic anemia, which is often associated with iron deficiency. This hookworm infection may also result in “physical and mental retardation in children” – a rather frightening prospect, if you have your own little tikes to worry about.
Entamoeba histolytica
E. histolytica is the world’s second leading protozoan cause of death, close behind malaria. Of the approximately 50 million infective cases per year, an estimated 100,000 of them are fatal. That’s a pretty high mortality rate.
Infection by this parasite occurs via the fecal-oral route (ingested poo particles), typically due to poor food preparation hygiene, use of human waste for crop fertilization (more common than you might think!), and even “oral-anal sexual practices” (their words, not mine!).
Symptoms of this nasty little number include:
malaise
weight loss
severe abdominal pain
severe bloody diarrhea
fever
inflammatory bowel disease
colitis
Many of these symptoms lead health practitioners to mistakenly diagnose appendicitis, especially in children.
Aside from those listed above, there are plenty of other parasites floating about. Other common parasites found in the US include tapeworms (which can grow up to 60 feet long in the human intestine) and blood flukes (which mature in snails then burrow through human skin to infect the host).
Suitably concerned? You should be. Which isn’t to say that you should break out in a cold sweat. But a smattering of health concern occasionally is a good thing.
Before we proceed, it’s important to remember that you will never fully eradicate all parasites from your body. Our bodies have evolved to coexist with parasites, and completely removing anything which can be considered parasitic will present it’s own host of problems.
Take Candida, for example. This yeast, when it overgrows due to stress, antibiotics and excessive sugar consumption, can be very damaging to your health. However, Candida is actually a necessary component of our immune and digestive systems, and protects against heavy metal poisoning by metabolizing heavy metals and removing them from the body. Remove Candida, and you could suffer from heavy metal poisoning.
The main thing to remember is that for animals (including humans) which are healthy, parasites don’t pose a problem. It is when our bodies become weakened due to poor diets, antibiotics, drugs, stress, and so on that parasites can become stronger and take over our bodies. For these natural remedies to work, then, you need to also get your health under control.
One of the best ways to do this is to place yourself on a health protocol such as the one we’ve put together here. While the protocol is designed for getting Candida under control, it is excellent for dramatically improving your health in general. Otherwise, spend some time reading through some of our other posts here on Thrive Primal.
Black walnut
While I couldn’t track down any scientific studies relating to the parasite-preventative qualities of black walnut, there’s bucketloads of anecdotal evidence. The dried, ground hull of the Black Walnut contains a number of compounds which have been associated with parasite die-off. These compounds include organic iodine, juglandin, juglone and various other juglandic acids. Black walnut has purportedly been used for hundreds of years to expel various types of parasites, including ringworms, tapeworms, pinworms, and malaria.
Even if it hasn’t been scientifically linked to anti-parasitic effects, black walnut has received plenty of attention elsewhere in the health community. With this in mind, you should consider taking a black walnut supplement regardless!
Oregano essential oil
Unlike black walnut, oregano has received plenty of scientific review with regards to parasites, and the results are very promising. In one study, oil from Mediterranean oregano (Oreganum vulgare) was administered orally to 14 patients who had tested positive for several different internal parasites. After 6 weeks of 600 mg emulsified oregano oil daily, there was complete disappearance of all 3 different parasites in many of the patients. For the others, their parasite count diminished considerably, and those suffering from associated gastrointestinal issues also improved markedly.
In another study, the anti-parasitic effect of oregano and thyme essential oils were tested on the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, a protozoan similar to Entamoeba histolytica. Here, I’ll paraphrase, as the technical mumbo jumbo becomes rather convoluted: “extract of oregano essential oil inhibited epimastigote growth (IC50/24 h = 175 μg/ml) and also induced trypomastigote lysis (IC50/24 h = 115 μg/ml)”. The conclusion? “Oregano and thyme essential oils are effective against T cruzi”.
Garlic is a proven anti-parasitic, and from what I’ve seen it punches well above the rest. Garlic can slow or even fully eradicate more than sixty varieties of fungi and twenty types of bacteria and viruses. It owes this parasite-killing power to it’s high concentrations of both allicin and ajoene. Ajoene has been strongly associated with fungal spore die-off, while allicin is a powerful antimicrobial agent which selectively kills off parasitizing organisms in your body while leaving the beneficial bacteria well alone.
This study indicates that garlic oil “has broad-spectrum activity against Trypanosoma, Plasmodium, Giardia and Leishmania”. Another study indicates that the high concentrations of allicin found in garlic have been found to:
exhibit antibacterial activity against a wide range of harmful bacteria, including various strains of E. coli
prevent fungal activity, including Candida albicans
prevent parasitic activity, including major human intestinal parasites like Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia lamblia
exhibit strong anti-viral properties
Clearly, you need more garlic in your life. Whether thats from garlic essential oil, allicin supplements or just straight whole garlic consumption (you’d need a lot of this last option to make any real difference against parasites), is up to you.
Clove essential oil
Perhaps second only to garlic, cloves are dynamite against parasites. Cloves contain eugenol, caryophyllene, and various tannins which exhibit powerful antimicrobial properties. These compounds can enter the bloodstream and selectively dispatch microscopic parasites, along with their larvae and eggs. Cloves have been proven in the treatment of malaria, tuberculosis, cholera, scabies and a range of other parasites, viruses, bacteria and fungi.
As this research paper indicates, clove essential oil has been shown to have powerful effects on several microorganisms and parasites. These include pathogenic bacteria, herpes, various Staphylococcus strains, and even hepatitis C viruses.
Another study examined the anti-parasitic activity of clove, basil and yarrow essential oils against the common parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. While it was found that all three of the oils were effective against the parasite, clove was by far the most effective.
Finally, a 2011 lab analysis of clove essential oil found that it had strong anti-Giardia (remember that “backpacker’s diarrhea I talked about earlier?) properties. Some of the study findings are as follows:
clove essential oil, and specifically the eugenol in clove oil, have anti-Giardia activity and inhibit cell attachment
clove oil promotes cell swelling, resulting in cell membrane destruction
clove oil induces an autophagic death process in Giardia cells
clove essential oil and eugenol have no toxicity on mammalian cells (meaning there’s no nasty side-effects!).
By far, the best way to get your anti-parasitic dose of clove is via topical application of the essential oil, or ingesting it as directed.
Wormwood
Wormwood has long been recognized as an effective natural treatment for certain types of parasites. It’s anthelmintic (medicinal anti-parasitic) properties were highly valued by many ancient cultures, and it continues to be used today in many parts of the world for the same reason. It’s apparent that if something continues to be used as an anti-parasitic treatment for so long, there must be some truth to the claims. In fact, many modern farmers still use wormwood for the de-worming of horses, cows and sheep…so why not humans as well?
It’s thought that the key anti-parasitic constituents of wormwood include bitter substances like sesquiterpene lactones, and an essential oil which contains a high concentration of terpenes. One study found that an in-vitro wormwood aqueous extract demonstrated strong anti-parasitic effects on the nematode Trichostrongylus colubriformis, and that the thujone in wormwood amplified this effect.
While there appears to be less scientific research of wormwood when compared to oregano, garlic and clove, there are a number of studies illustrating the effectiveness of wormwood against malaria. This study found that wormwood extract could inhibit the growth of malaria parasites in mice, while another found that cure rates were 74 percent after 7 days of wormwood treatment in human patients with uncomplicated malaria.
You can buy wormwood as an organic extract or in pill form (apparently the extract tastes pretty nasty!). But in my opinion, if you’re going whole-hog on these parasites, you might as well get the black walnut wormwood complex and kill two birds with one stone!
Thyme essential oil
As mentioned earlier, a study which compared the anti-parasitic properties of both oregano and thyme essential oils found that, while both were effective, thyme was the most powerful of the two. Considering how much acclaim oregano essential oil has received for it’s anthelmintic properties, this is certainly saying something.
On looking into the literature further, it became apparent that thyme essential oil has received a lot of attention for its anti-parasitic application in horticulture and pest control, but very little with regards to humans. Still, considering the number of studies confirming the effectiveness of thyme oil in killing a range of parasites, it stands to reason that it would also be effective for protecting our own bodies against infection. Make sure you do your dosage research before you start chugging it back by the gallon, though!
I use doTERRA’s thyme essential oil. It’s generally more expensive than some of the other brands, but it’s much higher quality. And if I’m putting oils into my body, I need to know they’re top notch.
Fennel essential oil
According to anecdotal evidence, fennel is believed to be a strong anti-parasitic. Fennel seed essential oil is used to flush parasites and their waste from the body, and has also been historically used to treat Candida overgrowth. Scientific review of this herb with regards to parasites is sadly lacking, however.
That being said, Dr Axe seems to think fennel is worth getting your hands on. According to him, fennel essential oil can help to heal wounds, relieve digestive issues and constipation, provide a host of antioxidants, and aid in weight loss. So even if it doesn’t directly attack parasites, it will certainly help out elsewhere!
This is another purported anti-parasitic natural remedy which lacks any scientific basis. But I’m well aware that just because a product hasn’t been studied, doesn’t mean that it’s not effective. And the anecdotal evidence suggests that it certainly is effective against parasites, their eggs, and yeast overgrowths like Candida.
Diatomaceous earth is a naturally occurring substance that is high in silica, which our bodies use to create hair, nails and skin. While diatomaceous earth is beneficial to us, it’s particles are so small that they can get in between the joints and exoskeletons of parasites and literally kill them on the spot. Thus when you ingest diatomaceous earth, it flushes out all those parasites living in your digestive system, and simultaneously removes heavy metals and other toxins from your body.
The reason why I’m inclined to believe these claims is that diatomaceous earth is still widely used in the agricultural sector for pest control. Farmers and food manufacturers swear by it, and if it can kill pests on food and plants, why not in our bodies as well?
Make sure you only use food grade diatomaceous earth, and take it easy – one to two tablespoons per day is enough. Here’s a reputable food-grade diatomaceous earth product.
Main points to remember
As discussed earlier, parasites are more likely to be a problem for you if your health is lacking. Improve your health, and you’ll dramatically improve your chances of overcoming them. One of the best ways to do this is to clean up your diet, but also to get plenty of high intensity exercise (sweating helps expel toxins and removes the by-products of parasites from your body), and try to keep stress to a minimum where possible. And don’t forget to get plenty of sleep!
If you’re looking to stock up on essential oils for your parasite cleanse, you can save a lot of money by signing up to doTERRA through Thrive Primal. For more information, click here.
If you’re keen to learn more on the subject, Paul Check is one of the world’s leading experts on parasites. He’s put together a series of DVDs and other resources to help people identify their problems and find a harm-free solution. Click this link to find out more.
And finally, if you’re unsure whether you’re suffering from a parasite infection, it’s always best to consult a medical practitioner first. If you’re on other medications, it’s also good to consult your doctor to determine whether the natural remedies listed above will clash with them in any way. Remember, we’re not doctors, we’re just here to provide useful information and helpful tips!
It may sound a little ridiculous, but it’s highly likely that your shower is making you dirty. Even dirtier than before you stepped in, that is.
That’s because most showerheads are overlooked during routine household cleans (even the obligatory “Spring clean”), and are in fact an excellent place for the growth and proliferation of harmful microbes. Even if you have a filter on your shower, most are only designed to remove chlorine and inorganic compounds from your water, not nasty microscopic pathogenic invaders.
Research shows that the most common harmful microbes which inhabit your shower heads are “atypical mycobacteria” otherwise known as nontuberculosis mycobacteria. These little gremlins are naturally found in low concentrations all around us, in the water and soil (keep it cool, if you start looking around wildly people will think you’re a bit wacky), but can be suspended in the air by the process of evaporation or mist. Once in the air, these nasty little numbers can enter your lungs and start creating trouble.
Under normal conditions, our exposure to atypical mycobacteria is minimal, with their low concentrations in water and soil presenting little risk of infection. The conditions created in that innocent-seeming showerhead, however, are ideal for the colonization and rapid spread of this bacterial strain, meaning exposure levels are sharply increased and putting you at risk every single time you step into the shower. While various things around the house can harbor these pathogens, shower heads have been shown to have by far the highest concentration of these troublesome critters.
Atypical bacteria belong to the same family as those which cause tuberculosis (hence the name “nontuberculosis mycobacteria”, to differentiate them from their more dangerous cousins), and while they aren’t life-threatening, they can cause all manner of health problems. These include skin infections, lung infections, sinus problems, lymph node infection, and other negative interactions on your skin and in your bloodstream. People with a weakened or compromised immune system are particularly at risk, or those with open wounds or pre-existing skin conditions (such as dandruff or eczema).
And just because you’re healthy doesn’t mean you’re not at risk. All it takes is a bad sleep, a stressful day, a pre-existing cold or flu or too much exercise to put you in the danger zone. At this point, your immune system lacks the strength to fight these bacterial strains from entering your body through the water vapor you breathe in while showering, and you can quickly begin to show symptoms like coughing, difficulty breathing, fever, or general weakness and lethargy.
How to clean your shower head
Luckily, the solution is a simple one. Make cleaning your shower heads part of your regular cleaning routine, at least once a month but preferably every 2 weeks. You can remove the showerhead completely, sit it in a large bowl, then pour white vinegar into the bowl until the showerhead is fully submerged. Leave it there for a couple of hours, get rid of the vinegar, and reattach the showerhead. It’s that simple!
But if that wasn’t simple enough, there’s an even easier way. If you’ve got some large ziplock bags lying around, half fill one with white vinegar, secure the bag to your shower head with a sturdy rubber band, and leave in place for 2-3 hours, making sure the vinegar completely immerses the shower head. As with before, throw away the vinegar and repeat at least once a month to keep those nasty mycobacteria at bay!
Ok, so you’ve got your paleo/primal/Bulletproof eating down to a fine art, you’ve thrown out all your chemical-based household cleaners and replaced them with a simple spray bottle of white vinegar, you’ve thinned out the ranks of your cosmetics and personal care products, and you’re on the home stretch to becoming the healthiest human in a 10 mile radius. Nicely done.
But, and I hate to go picking holes in your otherwise impressive suit of health, do you have your laundry detergent sorted? Are you still using store-bought detergents? You know, the one’s filled with artificial fragrances, toxic cleaning agents, chemical stabilizers, ammonia, brighteners and phosphates? The one’s which are dousing your clothes (and therefore your skin) in a poisonous concoction of illness-inducing, disease-causing chemicals?
If the answer was “yes”, that’s a pretty big hole I just picked at, sorry to say. And don’t think that because you’re buying a purportedly “natural” or “plant-based” detergent from your local supermarket that you’ve somehow skipped the chemicals and found the real deal. Even the “healthy” store-bought detergents have their share of nasty ingredients, meaning you’re infinitely better off making your own.
This recipe is a slightly modified version of that provided by our friends over at mommypotamus.com. I know you’ve got places to go and people to see, so I’ve also fast-tracked it so you get that hole in your health suit patched up quick-smart and start living your life and being awesome again. You’re welcome.
Cut the bars of coconut oil soap into rough chunks, then add to a kitchen food processor along with the washing soda.
Blend on high until the mixture forms a fine powder. Consider placing a towel or cloth over your food processor during blending to prevent any powder from escaping.
Allow the powder inside the processor to settle, around 2-3 minutes.
Slowly pour the powder into a clean glass jar with lid.
In a top load washing machine, add 2 tablespoons of the detergent for a medium load and 3 tablespoons for a large load. If running a cold wash, consider dissolving the powder in a cup of hot water before pouring into the washing machine.
Add half a cup of white vinegar to the fabric softener receptacle, and 3-5 drops lemon essential oil in with the laundry detergent as a degreaser and natural fragrance.
This recipe was created by Liivi Hess, ThrivePrimal.com
Thoughts? Comments?
If you tried this recipe out, let us know how it went! Did you have to modify some of the ingredient amounts, or the ingredients themselves? If you’d like to mix things up a little, the folks over at morningchores.com have very conveniently gathered up 28 more DIY laundry recipes!
Ok, so you’ve read up on your paleo basics, you’re excited about the positive steps you’re about to take, and you’re rearing to go. You take a bold step inside your local supermarket, and stop abruptly, looking around with a growing sense of unease at the vast shelves of processed goods, overflowing bins of fresh produce, and quivering piles of meat, fish and poultry.
I’ve been there, and I get it. The supermarket for the paleo-conscious is like a minefield, requiring the newly-inducted to step gingerly, lest they put they foot (or in this case, hand) on a food item which appears healthy and wholesome, but is in fact riddled with pesticides and beefed-up on GMOs. Kapow! The bad-food mine goes off in your stomach, you introduce new toxins into your system, and you’re back to square one.
6 years ago, when Liivi and I first jumped on the paleo/primal/Bulletproof bandwagon, we would spend long hours in the supermarket, walking slowly up and down the aisle, examining each potential morsel of food with a metaphorical magnifying glass, and eventually coming to a slow, painstaking decision. We’d get home tired and frustrated, only to find that many of the foods we’d chosen had a sneaky bit of hydrogenated oil or an artificial ingredient that we’d failed to notice in our quest to make it to the checkout with our minds intact.
Gradually, we honed the process, to the point where today we can fly through the supermarket, invariably ignoring 90% of the foods on display, and come out the other side with foods that align with our health mandates. And now I’d like to very generously share that information with you, and save you having to go through the same excruciating process that we did back at the beginning.
This post is the first of a 3-part series which examines how to find the best, cleanest, most paleo-friendly foods at your local supermarket, regardless of how paleo-friendly that supermarket really is. If you’d like to skip ahead, here’s the links to the other articles:
Before we delve into how to pick out the healthiest, cleanest fresh produce, it’s worthwhile revisiting one of the key guiding principles of paleo: keep your sugar levels to a minimum, wherever possible.
Now, I’m not talking about removing sugar altogether from your diet: going ketogenic isn’t really my cup of tea. For one thing, sweet things are just so damn delicious, and I’m utterly unwilling to cut them completely out of my life. For another, starving your body of sugar can cause all sorts of hormonal imbalances, the most notable of which is an increase in the production of the stress hormone cortisol, which can in turn contribute to development of auto-immune diseases and annoying conditions like candida.
But, because sugar is pro-inflammatory, and can contribute to weight gain and a host of other ailments and diseases when consumed in excess, you definitely need to keep an eye on it. Fruit, as it happens, is high in fructose, a type of sugar that can spike your blood sugar levels and increase your risk of insulin resistance, which in turn can lead to diabetes.
For this reason, you should always buy far more vegetables than fruit. Vegetables have all the nutritional benefits of fruit, but without the sugar (with the exception of high-starch vegetables like potatoes), so go nuts in the vegetable department. As for fruit, I find eating between 1 and 3 portions per day is just the ticket – make sure you vary what varieties you eat on a daily and weekly basis, though.
Going organic
In a perfect world, you’d always buy organic produce. Heck, you’d buy organic everything if you could. But, unless you shop solely at an amazing farmer’s market which permits only organic meat and produce (if you know of such a place, I want to hear about it!!), that’s not really an option. Organic produce is grown and harvested without the use of pesticides, herbicides and synthetic fertilizers, meaning that it is higher in nutrients and doesn’t introduce nasty toxins into your body.
But organic produce is expensive, and it’s generally only available for limited varieties in your supermarket (if at all). For this reason, you need to prioritize what you buy organic, and what you don’t. Luckily, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has already done this for us, producing two lists called the Clean Fifteen and the Dirty Dozen which indicate which foods are better to be bought organic, and which foods are low enough in toxins etc that they can be bought non-organic without too many health concerns. The lists are as follows.
Green Fifteen (generally less prone to toxic sprays and chemical fertilizers, so ok to eat non-organic):
avocados
sweet corn (I wouldn’t advise eating this AT ALL, if you can avoid it)
pineapples
cabbage
frozen sweet peas
onions
asparagus
mangos
papayas
kiwi
eggplant
honeydew melon
grapefruit
cantaloupe
cauliflower
Dirty Dozen (generally more likely to be coated in chemicals, so better to buy organic):
strawberries
apples
nectarines
peaches
celery
grapes
cherries
spinach
tomatoes
sweet bell peppers
cherry tomatoes
cucumbers
hot peppers
kale and collard greens
If you look at the two lists, you can see a bit of a theme emerging – produce with a thick outer skin that you don’t traditionally eat, like grapefruit, onions, and avocados, is less prone to chemical treatment. Produce which is eaten whole, without anything being removed (like strawberries and apples), is more likely to be sprayed in order to keep its surface blemish-free. The same applies to leafy greens.
With this in mind, you can formulate a very rough guide to shopping for organic produce:
DO buy organic: leafy greens and any fruit and veggies without a thick outer skin (includes tomatoes and peppers)
NOT NECESSARY to buy organic: fruit and vegetables with thick, inedible skins, or skins which you remove anyway before cooking or eating. Things which grow underground, like potatoes and sweet potatoes, are generally ok to eat non-organic, but it’s often better to peel them before cooking to remove potential fungicides.
GMO produce
Generally, most foods which are organic are also GMO-free, however this isn’t always the case. According to GMO Awareness, with USDA Organic-labelled products, “at least 95 percent of content is organic by weight (excluding water and salt). The <5% remaining ingredients must consist of substances approved on the USDA’s National List. GMOs are NOT on this list, so USDA Organic products are also usually GMO-free.”
It sounds as weird to me as it does to you, but there it is. Despite that rather confusing revelation, USDA organic remains one of the best ways to buy GMO-free (or mostly GMO-free) produce. Luckily, however, we’re starting to see many products and produce with the “NON GMO Project VERIFIED” label, which tells you that your fruit or veggies are completely free of genetically modified organisms.
Which produce is best?
We all have different tastes, and I don’t want to be the one to dictate what you should and shouldn’t buy, but not all fruits and vegetables are created equal. Here’s a list of “paleo-approved” produce, adjusted slightly to allow some primal diet goodness into the mix. Things like avocados, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and pumpkin are technically fruit, but I’ve included them here as most people think of them as vegetables.
The bottom two rows are red because these vegetables are high in starches, which means that you need to moderate the amount you eat of these each day. As a rough guide, limit your consumption of starchy vegetables to a handful per day.
Within the “approved” fruit category, there are those varieties which are better than others, and these largely consist of berries. Because they have a preposterously high nutrient content and relatively low sugar content, they should always go to the top of your fruit shopping list. I have a love affair with raspberries and have often been heard to proclaim that they are the “king of fruit”. Turns out I was right! Well, more like the oligarch of fruit, but I’ll call that a win!
That’s about it! The above should provide a solid basis for you to become a produce-shopping superstar, saving you some serious time and preventing some major paleo setbacks.
If you’re really serious about taking your diet to the next level, our ebook The Paleo Guide to Beating Candida Naturally has a comprehensive, detailed section on what you should and shouldn’t eat, and even more on shopping for the right stuff. Even if you don’t have Candida (chances are, you probably do), it’s an invaluable guide.
