Older Bolder Life

Stronger | Leaner | Sharper | Longer - From Older Bolder Fitness

Fascinating Read of the Week: The Plant Paradox

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I know it’s not a new release, but I’ve spent some of my reading time this week plowing through Dr. Steven Gundry’s The Plant Paradox for the second time in a month.

Quite frankly his central premise, focused about the problematic immunogenicity of lectins (which are much more broadly represented than you might initially think in the foods we commonly consume , and not just those eating a SAD diet either), is a fascinating one, and in fact one that I’m convinced I saw hard evidence of during my practice years.

I’m intrigued enough to start plowing through the book’s scientific references and digging a bit deeper into the immunobiology and gastroenterology discussed, and my lovely wife and I very well may start an 8-week trial of his plan to minimize potentially problematic lectins and run a quick n=2 sample trial.

If anyone has spent some time personally following Gundry’s plan I’d love to chat with you…

the Older Bolder Life Vegetable Wednesday 15 August: Grilled Balsamic and Garlic Butter Mushrooms

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Talking with our compadre Chef Libby in Austin this past week, I asked her (as I love to do) what the most popular foods have been that she and her team in Austin have crafted and served in her busy catering business over the past few weeks.

She mentioned several incredibly tasty sounding items, but these Grilled Balsamic and Garlic Butter Mushrooms sounded particularly good at the time.

Libby reminded me of the simple fact that there are dozens of variations of this pretty-much effortless recipe floating around out there. She likes to add just a hint of fresh thyme to the balsamic-based marinade, and most often finishes hers with a bit of basil cut in chiffonade.

She also insisted that the garlic butter be drizzled on after the mushrooms come off the grill (or else the garlic flavor washes out a bit on the grill), and finally she offered that browning the butter and garlic deepens the flavor a bit as well.

Thanks Libby!

3 pounds smallish button mushrooms (mix and match types), halved
3 tbsp good balsamic vinegar
1 and 1/2 tbsp tamari, coconut aminos, or soy sauce
6 garlic cloves, trimmed and minced, divided into two equal parts
3 tbsp good butter
Good salt to taste

Optional:
Add 1 tsp fresh thyme to the marinade
Chiffonade flat-leaf parsley or fresh basil for a garnish

Combine the balsamic vinegar, tamari/coconut aminos/soy sauce, half the garlic, and the thyme if using in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.

Trim and halve the mushrooms, then toss them into a resealable plastic bag. Now pour the marinade mixture over the mushrooms, squish things around to make sure the mushrooms are well coated, seal tightly, and set on the counter for an hour or so (at least 30 minutes).

Fire the grill; while it’s heating up, drain the mushrooms and thread onto skewers. Also, melt the butter in a small skillet or saucepan, then add the remainder of the garlic.

Now grill the mushrooms over medium-high heat (real wood/real wood charcoal plays amazingly well here) until well marked and softened a bit; 3-5 minutes per side pending your fire.

Pull the mushrooms, drizzle with the garlic butter, and set out immediately. You family and guests will be fighting over these…

Enjoy.

Quote of the Day 14 August 2018: Excellence

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We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.

-Will Durant

I probably should have included this in yesterday’s Just Get Started reminder, but it’s been one of our favorites for a long time, and sits just to the left of my desk where I see it every time I come into the office to work.

Making the best effort you can, every day, indeed becomes a powerful habit.

Monday Motivation: The Empowering Value of Simply Getting Started

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Somewhat ironically, four times in the past three days I’ve spoken with two family members, a friend, and an acquaintance/prospective coaching client, all at their request, about some of the more approachable lifestyle and food plan changes they might implement to increase their capacity for life activities they enjoy, improve their fitness, refine their approach to food, and not surprisingly (in this day and age in America) – drop excess pounds that have accumulated over time.

Somewhat ironically again, all four shared several features in common.

For example, they’re all above what we used to call in medicine their “ideal body weight”; two within 15 or 20% of where they’d like to be, two more than 35% above their desirable weight range.

They’ve all tried various diet plans over a number of years, yo-yo’d up and down again, never finding a way of relating to food that provided the critical combination of good taste, appealing variety, broadly-based nutrient density, and sustainability over the long haul (the longest successful “diet” of the four lasted roughly five months).

They’re all fairly intellectually inquisitive (a powerful personality feature that often contributes to long term success) and familiar with current terminology and trends in both ancestral and traditional health and wellness circles; for example, all had researched nutritional ketosis but found much of the information available online to be intimidating if not confusing and at times contradictory in terms of approaches, compatible foods, etc.

They’re all for the most part fairly sedentary, three of the four working in office settings, with consistent focused movement or exercise of any sort a very low priority, save for an occasional round of golf, social tennis, and the rare weekend-warrior team sport activity.

They’ve all been motivated by someone they know or know of who has experienced a major health transformation in the past year or two. I happened to serve as the example for the two family members, the others had seen individuals in their work arenas drop significant weight (by report one inspired woman lost 104 pounds in 12 months – Atta’ girl.) and watched their attitudes and approaches to life change.

The “I’ll Do It When…” Diversion

Finally, and perhaps most impressively, each person used (more or less) the same terminology in explaining why they hadn’t set off on their own health improvement journey – the “I’ll do it when…” mantra that fosters, for many, an open-ended delay loop that can be darned difficult to close.

I’ll do it when I have more time, when it’s not so hot, when my husband/wife is more supportive, when my work schedule lets up a bit, when I feel more motivated, when I have more energy, when I feel like cooking more, and on and on and on. (You’ve heard it before, as have I, and we’ve both very probably throw a few “I’ll do it when’s” of our own out there.)

The Empowering Value of Simply Getting Started

My encouragement to each one in turn was identical – it’s time to make the choice to simply get started.

That choice to get started is fundamentally a very simple one. I reminded each one that making a choice to live a fuller, more active, more functional life by optimizing the foods they eat, their approach(es) to exercise, sleep, stress, relationships, and work simply signifies they’re willing to begin a journey to learn new approaches to old challenges, listen to their bodies, move more, and (eventually) move away from old habits that harm to new ones that heal and restore.

One of the challenges I often issue to people when they first make the decision to reshape their health is this: you don’t have to plot out the entire journey from start to finish (in fact, pending your body’s response, that pathway will likely be revised more than once along the way). You simply need to decide to approach every meal and every opportunity to move (you could of course throw in more formal workouts and exercise in the mix as well) with the intent of making the best choices you can right then.

If you make great choices today, that’s wonderful, put a notch in your metaphorical belt, and be empowered to face tomorrow. Didn’t make great choices with a meal (or meals) today? Life happens, tomorrow (or the next workout or meal) brings another set of opportunities to succeed and take a step, even if a tiny one, toward your eventual goals.

Part of what makes this health and wellness game so interesting is that tiny little successes, accumulating over time, lead to big changes.

Making good choices, like many challenging workouts, gets easier with repetition, and brings richer results with a bit of sweat and persistence. Some folks have an iron will, that, once set and striving toward a goal, pushes them down the path of eventual success, with little waver or distraction along the way (admittedly, a rarity these days). Others need a mentor or helping hand (I sure did); that’s where a successful friend or a perhaps even a coach comes into play.

Read. Explore. Ask questions. Find a mentor or coach (we can help you here at Older Bolder Fitness). Then git ‘er done.

the Older Bolder Life Salsa Sunday 12 August: Jicama Radish Salsa

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We’re always on the lookout for unusual, interesting, and tasty salsas around our camp, and this Jicama Radish Salsa fits the bill on all counts.

A few weeks ago we were dining with friends, enjoying some of the best grass-fed ribeyes we’ve eaten (BuckCreek Meats) in a long time; they served the steaks (perfectly medium-rare I must say) with this tasty salsa and a wonderful salad.

The salsa offers a crunchy texture with the jicama and radishes, the cooling, melon-like flavor note of the cucumber, with a tart citrus burst of lime, finished with a little spice and interest from the ground chile.

Wow, this one is really good.

1 medium jicama, peeled and diced small (about a cup and a half)
10 medium radishes, trimmed and diced the same size as the jicama
1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
3-4 tbsp fresh lime juice (start with 3)
3 tbsp red onion, diced small
1-2 tsp ground arbol chile (start with one)
1 tsp good salt (or more to taste)
Optional: 1/4 tsp sugar of choice

Stir everything together within an hour of serving; adjust lime juice, ground chile, and salt to taste.

Hold in the fridge if not using immediately, but don’t forget to set it out to warm slightly (room temp) 15-20 minutes before spooning over your ribeye.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Sauce and Salsa Sunday 5 August: Home Brewed Hot Sauces

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I first wrote about our fascination with home crafted hot sauces on ChiWulff (a fly fishing blog) a few years back –

First loves create powerful memories.

I remember the day that I fell in love with the grand-daddy of all hot sauces, the veritable, white-oak-barrel-aged Tabasco; I must have been all of 7 or 8 that day.

My little brother and I were ensconced at our grandfather’s beach cabin on the Gulf of Mexico in South Texas; we had just sat down to a hot lunch at the red-checkered table-clothed picnic table on the screen porch. Parents were off galavanting in Houston so we had the run of the place (at least in our minds).

Ma-Ma (maw-maw) had been slaving away for an hour over the old gas stove, frying up round steak coated in freshly crushed cracker crumbs (after a flour and egg wash of course) to a crispy golden brown just like you’re salivating over right now.

Being good children of the South back in the day, we waited until the adults were served and then were allotted our share of that day’s treasure, which included creamy mashed potatoes and garden beans.

I watched in awe as Pa-Pa slathered his steak in Tabasco; wordlessly he reached over and set the bottle down right in front of my plate.

My duty was clear.

I mimicked his hot sauce application the best I could, whacked off a mouthful of the ambrosial steak and went on to experience that first eye-popping, tongue searing burn of the hot sauce world. Surely beads of sweat broke out on my preadolescent forehead; I coughed and sputtered, my nose ran and my eyes watered.

But my fate was sealed, I was forever thereafter a lover of the Other Red Gold.

Jake (my son) and I went so far as to start collecting hot sauces years ago (he has in the neighborhood of 200), though for daily use it’s been classic Tabasco (there are seven flavors now) and Crystal.

This fall, however, we’ve stumbled across a new treasure – fresh, floral home grown hot sauce made from peppers right off the plant.

We been experimenting a bit, and while this is not a classic, full-bodied, fermented hot sauce, we’ve found that by experimenting with different combinations of peppers a mind-blowing array of flavors (and heat) is possible. (Try a simple green sauce with jalapenos alone or throw a poblano in to deepen the flavor a bit…)

Here’s a fairly basic recipe using friendly Fresno chiles to get you started…

1 and 1/4 pound stemmed fresh chiles (see above)
2 heaping tbsp. pickling salt (or kosher salt without anti-caking agents)
1 and 1/2 cups good quality distilled white vinegar (maybe just a wee bit more)

Wash and stem the chiles then combine in a food processor with the salt. Pulse until a coarse puree forms; scrape the sides as needed.

Now pour the pepper mash into a one quart lidded jar (your run of the mill caning jar is just perfect) and let the mash ferment at a cool room temperature for up to 36 hours. You’re really not actually fermenting the mash here, you’re just aging it a bit and giving the salt time to start extracting the flavors from the chile puree.

Pour in the vinegar, stir to combine well, then loosen the lid and back on the counter it goes, at a cool room temperature, for another 7-10 days. Some folks like to taste it every other day or even every day, you’ll notice the flavor deepening after 3 or 4 days.

Finally, pour the vinegar mash into your trusty blender (or back into the food processor) and puree until very smooth (be patient, this will take at least a minute). Strain through a fine mesh sieve; again this will take a bit of time. We always end up fiddling with the mash in the sieve, scraping it, squishing it and doodling until every possible drop of goodness has dripped through.

Now you’re ready to pour your creation into a bottle (or two), cap it and cool in the fridge. Our hot sauce mentor who taught us insists its good for four months though it never lasts that long.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast 3 August: Grilled Southwestern Lamb Shoulder Tacos

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This recipe fell in my lap one September afternoon last year; I was attending an outdoor cooking demonstration put on by a gifted hunting and game chef (Killer Chefs) – he was cooking an amazing looking (and tasting) dove, pan-seared in butter, garlic, and thyme, before being finished on a grill to crisp it up a bit for serving.

I was chatting with several other interested cooks (and eaters) in the crowd and ended up trading recipes for leg of lamb with one gentleman who shared about a Grilled Southwestern Spiced Lamb Shoulder Taco he had recently prepared for a gathering.

Within a week I’d made up several versions of his recipe and we ended up liking this one the best; you need plan ahead a bit as it needs overnight time in the marinade, but it’s well worth it and makes a great primal/paleo centerpiece for your next shindig.

5-6 pound bone-in leg of lamb roast (about 3-4 pounds boneless), butterflied

Marinade
1/2 cup olive oil, divided
6 cloves garlic, crushed
2-3 jalapeño peppers, stemmed, seeded, minced
2 small shallots, chopped small
5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons good salt
2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper

Taco fixin’s
Fresh corn tortillas if you’re using those now and again
Otherwise fresh lettuce leaves
A great salsa or two (consider this one or this one)
Cheese: crumbled cotija, feta, or even goat cheese
Avocado slices or dices
Freshly sliced red radishes
Maybe even uber fresh green onions sliced on the bias
Whatever the heck else goes in your tacos
Salt and pepper

Stir together the marinade ingredients, pour into a large resealable plastic bag, add the lamb shoulder, seal it up and goosh it around until the lamb is covered with liquid and spices. Throw it in the fridge overnight.

When ready to cook, fire the grill, and grill the butterflied lamb for 6-8 minutes per side (an internal temp of about 145) for medium-rare. Pull it and rest the meat for at least 10-15 minutes.

Now slice across the grain into taco-sized slices and start working on those taco masterpieces; you’ll have some great leftovers for the next few days too.

Enjoy.

My Keto Report Card 2 August 2018: Week 15

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Back on the Seventh of June I shared a quick post detailing my personal experience in a fairly diligent nutritional ketosis run; the week before I’d shared a short post explaining why I’d chosen to do the work (in retrospect, it’s been shockingly easy) to give keto a try.

Without rehashing all the why’s I laid out back then, I was interested in pushing through a weight loss stall first and foremost, though wanted to play a bit with seeing if being in NK would really improve mental clarity and my overall reserve of daily energy.

My Nutritional Keto Report Card at Week 15

For the most part, as summarized in the image to the right, overall I’m still pleased as can be with what life looks and feels like in nutritional ketosis.

My schedule hasn’t changed much; I’m still out of the sack between 530 and 6 (after 8 hours of sleep on average), still waking up without an alarm clock with the earliest light of the day. I typically still drink a cold-brewed coffee (still with a bit of cream and 10-11 grams of protein in the form of collagen powder), though due to the scorching heat during this Texas summer, almost every day I head out for a 2-3 mile walk while it’s cool.

Then it’s back to the desk for several hours of fairly intensive cognitive work, typically with very good energy and creative juices flowing, then I’m either doing a HIIT workout 3x/week, walking again or cycling again most days, with a sprint workout thrown in every 7-10 days as well.

Trying hard to eat WHEN (when hunger ensues naturally), typically lunch is somewhere between 1 and 2, with a family dinner then following (after the afternoon’s work) most often around 730 or 8.

We did make a run to Montana (to see a new grand-baby!) a few weeks ago, with a few days on the road challenging my keto compliance; interestingly my weight loss continued, though with a bit less satiety during travel and interestingly the week after.

A Closer Look at a Few Metrics

As noted 8 weeks ago, I have been tracking a fairly close estimation of my macronutrients –

Up until starting my NK run, I’d lost 100 lbs without tracking a single calorie consumed over the 15 months window we’d been eating a fairly compliant LC/MP/HF diet around our camp, though of note been in a weight loss stall for several months (Dec-Feb).

I did however, principally at first as a learning tool, and later in part due to my medical training induced affinity for objective data, track a fairly specific diary of my daily carb intake (net carbs), which from the get go were always under 100 per day, and most often under 60 gm/day.

Again, largely as a matter of intellectual curiosity, when starting my NK run, I decided to track, as closely as possible, daily intake of carbs, protein, and fat, and to calculate my total caloric intake and deficit against my estimated BMR (adjusted for activity), as well as the percentages of carb / protein / fat contributions to my total calories.

I still don’t recommend that most folks I work with track their intake as obsessively as I have been; it’s simply not necessary to make nutritional ketosis work for most. If you’re a data nut like me, go to it. Over the 15 weeks in NK thus far, the rolling averages of my intake and macronutrient accounting include –

Daily Carb Grams: 25.3 (101 calories)
Daily Protein Grams: 88.1 (352.3 calories)
Daily Fat Grams: 121.7 (1093.5 calories)

Average Total Calories per Day: 1552.5
Average Calorie Deficit per Day: –1537.3

Average Carbs as Percent of Total Calories per Day: 6.5%
Average Protein as Percent of Total Calories per Day: 22.6%
Average Fat as Percent of Total Calories per Day: 70.5%

Of note, without any conscious effort on my part, I’ve been gradually eating less per day overall over the 15 weeks (eating WHEN to satiety), with the percentage of carbs dropping over time, and fat increasing. Over the past 4 weeks, I’ve dropped carbs under 20 g/day just to make things interesting…

Weight loss during my 15 week run now totals 30.5 pounds, fairly consistent with what I noted during the first 7 weeks.

My Nutritional Ketosis Week Fifteen Bottom Line: Still Hot Damn!

All in all, I couldn’t be more pleased and feel better than I have since my late 20’s; at this point I’m guessing I might make this a 6-month run. We’ll see in a couple of months when I report again…