How to Design a Weight Training Program

Think about your goals

The very first step in designing a great weight training program is to think about your goals, because your program will be based around these goals. For example, if my goal is to get toned I would probably focus more on higher rep ranges of 12-15 reps as opposed to the lower rep range of 8-10 reps.

Do you want to get stronger, excel in your sport, lose weight, get toned? Your program needs to reflect these goals.

Decide how frequently you want to weight train per week

A great workout program is going to incorporate cardio, weight, and flexibility training. In this article we’re focused specifically on weight training. So make sure when you’re deciding how many days you want to weight train per week, you leave time in your schedule for flexibility and cardio training.

My magic number is four. I weight train on mondays, tuesdays, thursdays, and fridays. Wednesday is typically a cardio day and I reserve the weekend for cardio, flexibility, and rest.

I suggest weight training anywhere from two to five days a week, five being the very max. Anything more than five days brings into question the ability of your body to recover from your weight training workouts.

Assign groups of muscles to your weight training days

Implement basic compound exercises into your weight training program

After you’ve assigned groups of muscles to your weight training days, it’s time to start adding some exercises into your weight training program.

Every great weight training program is built around basic compound exercises. A basic compound exercise is going to place greater intensity on multiple muscles at the same time and involves the movement of two or more joints. In layman’s terms, these exercises give you the most bang for your buck. I compare compound exercises to the structural components in your house: foundation, support beams, etc.

Auxiliary exercises on the other hand supplement supplement basic exercises and typically focus on only one muscle or joint movement.

Your next step in designing a weight training program is to add auxiliary exercises. Remember, auxiliary exercises are meant to supplement basic exercises and focus on training one muscle.

Choose your volume of training

I personally wouldn’t suggest going below six reps for any exercise. I’ve done this many times and it greatly increases your chance of injury because you’re typically lifting much heavier weights in this rep range. At the other end, I wouldn’t venture above 16 or 17 reps.

Again, these are general guidelines. You can change things around to what works for you. I typically perform exercises in the 8-10 rep range.

As far as number of sets, my recommendation is to perform 2-4 sets per exercise. After four sets you probably want to move onto another exercise. Sometimes I will do five or so sets for a basic compound exercise, but I don’t do that all of the time. My typical number is three sets per exercise.

In regards to rest time, you’re going to have to experiment. Obviously shorter rest times between exercises and sets is going to increase the intensity factor of your weight training program. Since I do the four day split, I generally like to superset exercises for the two muscle groups I’m working.

And lastly, choose a weight that you can perform the exercise with near-perfect form and come close to failure at the end of your chosen rep range. For example, if I’m doing bicep curls and my rep range is 8-10, I want to choose a weight that is going to bring me close to failure around eight or nine reps while still executing the exercise with near-perfect form.

I don’t suggest training to failure. I’ve done it before, and I believe it does more harm than good. Training to near-failure is what I found to be the sweet spot.
Congratulations!

You just designed a solid and effective weight training program that you can go out and use today!

The Health Benefits of Consuming Organ Meats

The consumption of organ meats has fallen out of favor in the West, which may be a mixed blessing. Liver, kidney, heart and other animal organs from organically raised, grass-fed animals are some of the most nutrient-rich foods you can eat.
Unfortunately, that’s not how most food animals are raised these days. In today’s world of high calorie/high carbohydrate but low nutrient foods, most people would benefit greatly from adding these superfoods back into their diet.
However, I advise against eating organ meats from animals raised in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). The diets, veterinary drugs and living conditions of such animals are not likely to result in healthy organs, so be sure to find out where the organs came from, should you decide to pick some up at your local grocer.
Many traditional cultures and their medicine men—including Native Americans—believe that eating the organs from a healthy animal supports the organs of the eater.
For example, a traditional way of treating a person with a weak heart was to feed the person the heart of a healthy animal. Similarly, eating the brains of a healthy animal was believed to support clear thinking, and animal kidneys were fed to people suffering from urinary maladies.
There are countless reports about the success of these types of traditional practices. We can thank Dr. Weston A. Price for an enormous body of research about the health benefits of traditional diets.¹

The 'Isaac Newton of Nutrition'

Dr. Weston A. Price² was a Cleveland dentist who has been called the “Isaac Newton of Nutrition.” Dr. Price traveled all over the world studying the dietary practices of healthy people from traditional cultures.
What he found was that nearly every culture placed a high value on consuming animals in their entirety, making use of the organs, blood, bones, and everything else—a far cry from Western culinary snobbery, which pretty much limits animal foods to muscle tissue and nothing else.
Traditional preparations involve a good deal of work in terms of cleaning, trimming, soaking, pounding and so on because membranes, blood vessels and other inedible parts must be removed from animal organs before they can be consumed, requiring significant time and labor. Why did they bother with all of this work?
They knew that eating these organs would support the natural functioning of their bodies. And they were right—the nutritional benefits of organ meats are now being confirmed by modern science.
Organ meat is a nutritional powerhouse, loaded with vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other compounds vital to your health. Liver in particular is packed with nutrients, which is why predatory animals eat it first and why it has been so highly prized throughout history.
Unfortunately, organ meats have been unfairly demonized in the West thanks to some persistent dietary myths, including beliefs that animal fat and cholesterol are bad for your health. Nothing could be farther from the truth!
Dr. Price, who studied this extensively, found that native cultures who maintained traditional diets—whole foods from plants and animals—had excellent teeth and were free of the chronic diseases plaguing society today. They experienced very little cancer, heart disease, diabetes, mental illness, or even birth defects.³ But why? What accounts for such drastic health differences?

Traditional versus Contemporary Diets

When Dr. Price analyzed and compared the nutrient value of foods eaten by traditional versus modern cultures, he found that a traditional diet provided at least four times the water-soluble vitamins, calcium and other minerals, and at least 10 times the fat-soluble vitamins, such as A and D.
These fat-soluble vitamins are present only in animal fats—butter, lard, egg yolks, fish oils, and foods with fat-rich cellular membranes such as liver and other organ meats. Of course, these are the foods now shunned by Westerners as unhealthful. Is it any wonder that adopting a modern diet spells disaster for your health?

The Offal Truth

The consumable parts of an animal that are not skeletal muscle are called offal, which literally means “off fall,” or the pieces that fall off a carcass when it’s butchered. This includes the heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, pancreas and all other abdominal organs, as well as the tails, feet, brains, tongue, and yes, even the testicles.⁴
In the US, the term “organ meats” is more commonly used, and when these parts come from birds, they are usually referred to as giblets.⁵ Sweetbreads refer to the thymus gland or pancreas of a young cow, lamb or pig.
In nature, most animals go straight for the organs of their prey, saving the muscle meats for later. This is because animals instinctively know that organ meats are the densest source of nutrition. In fact, organs are the superfoods of the animal kingdom. This is why “glandulars,”⁶ supplements made from dried tissues of animal organs and glands, pack some powerful therapeutic punches when taken under the guidance of a skilled medical practitioner.

Organ Meats: The Superfoods of the Animal World

Organ meats offer a rich mélange of nutrients your body needs for optimal function, in concentrations hard to find anywhere else. The most significant ones are outlined in the following table.⁷

High quality protein	B complex, including B12 and folate (folic acid)	Minerals, including a highly bioavailable form of iron
Fats (especially omega-3 fats8)	Choline (another B vitamin, important for cell membranes, brain and nerve function, heart health, and prevention of birth defects)9	Trace minerals such as copper, zinc and chromium
Cholesterol10	CoQ10 (essential for energy production and cardiac function; potent antioxidant; animal hearts offer the highest levels of coQ10)	Vitamin D
Vitamin E (circulation, tissue repair, healing, deactivation of free radicals, slowing aging)	Pre-formed vitamin A (retinol)	An unidentified “anti-fatigue factor”
Purines11 (nitrogen containing compounds serving as precursors to DNA and RNA)	Vitamin K2	Amino acids

The Discovery of “Fat-Soluble Activators”

One of Dr. Price’s most significant contributions to nutrition science was the concept of fat-soluble activators, which serve as potent catalysts for mineral absorption. Without them, minerals cannot by used by your body, no matter how plentiful they may be in your diet. Dr. Price was quite ahead of his time—modern research has since validated most of his findings.
Dr. Price identified three primary fat-soluble activators: vitamins A and D, and one he called “Activator X,” because he didn’t know exactly what it was, only that it was present in certain fatty parts of animals (especially the organ meats) that fed on young green growing plants or microorganisms, as well as in oily fish and shellfish. This powerful nutrient is now believed to be vitamin K2, a nutrient that is far more important than most people realize.^{12, 13}
Vitamin D, is required for mineral metabolism, healthy bones, optimal nervous system function, muscle tone, reproductive health, insulin production, and protection from depression¹⁴ and every type of chronic illness, from cancer to heart disease. Vitamin D’s list of benefits keeps growing with each passing year. However, it’s important to realize that these nutrients are dependent on the animal having been raised and fed in a natural manner. As stated by the Weston A. Price Foundation:¹⁵

“The vital roles of these fat-soluble vitamins and the high levels found in the diets of healthy traditional peoples confirm the importance of pasture-feeding livestock. If domestic animals are not consuming green grass, vitamins A and K will be largely missing from their fat, organ meats, butterfat and egg yolks; if the animals are not raised in the sunlight, vitamin D will be largely missing from these foods.”

Vitamin A Myth-Busting

Impressively abundant in organ meats from pastured animals, Vitamin A is a catalyst for multiple biochemical processes. Vitamin A is vital for prevention of birth defects, prevention of infection, hormone production, optimal thyroid function, good digestion, good vision, and healthy bones and blood. Without it, your body cannot utilize protein, minerals and water-soluble vitamins. Vitamin A is also an antioxidant that helps protect you from pollutants, free radicals, and cancer.
Contrary to what many vegetarians believe, the type of vitamin A obtained from plants (carotene) is much different than the animal-derived form. Carotenes from vibrantly colored fruits and vegetable are  a great antioxidant and can be converted into true vitamin A in your upper intestine, but many people are unable to convert it, especially if their diets contain insufficient fat.
Dr. Price discovered that the diets of traditional peoples contained at least 10 times more vitamin A from animal sources than found in the American diet of his day. That difference may be even starker now, as his research was done decades ago.
When people began taking synthetic vitamin A supplements, we began to see vitamin A toxicity. But this does not happen with natural vitamin A from real, whole foods. Therefore, the advice to refrain from organ meats during pregnancy is unfounded. It is best to obtain your vitamin A from natural sources like yellow butter, egg yolks, and organ meats.
Please realize that antibiotics, laxatives, fat substitutes and cholesterol-lowering drugs interfere with vitamin-A absorption. Another common myth is that organ meats cause gout. This is a warped, oversimplified misinterpretation of the biochemical processes that lead to gout.¹⁶ Gout results from a buildup of uric acid, which is more a function of insulin resistance related to overconsumption of refined carbohydrates and sugar. Uric acid is a byproduct of your body’s metabolism of dietary sugar—especially fructose.
Excess dietary protein with insufficient dietary fat may also raise your risk for gout. This is why lean meats should not be consumed without adding a healthful fat, and the leaner organ meats (such as the heart and liver) are no exception. The one nutrient most protective against gout is vitamin A, because it helps protect your kidneys—healthy kidneys prevent the buildup of uric acid by excreting it in your urine. Therefore, organ meats actually protect you from gout, rather than cause it.

Liver—Nature’s Most Concentrated Source of Vitamin A

Liver is the most commonly consumed organ meat in the US—and for good reason: it’s one of the most nutrient-dense foods in existence. Liver is held sacred by many African tribes, and practically every cuisine has liver specialties. It simply contains more nutrients, gram for gram, than any other food:¹⁷

• Liver is nature’s most concentrated source of vitamin A (retinol)
• It contains an abundant, highly usable form of iron
• Three ounces of beef liver contains almost three times as much choline as one egg
• Liver is one of the best sources of copper, folic acid, cholesterol, and purines
• It also contains a mysterious “anti-fatigue factor,” making it a favorite among athletes

The liver is often described as an organ that “filters” your blood of toxins, which may seem concerning in terms of eating it. In reality, laboratory analysis has proven that liver is actually completely safe for consumption and has no higher concentration of toxins than the rest of the body. This is due to the fact that your liver is not really a “filter,” but more of a chemical processing plant, rendering toxins inert and shuttling them out of your body. If your liver contains large amounts of toxins, so do you! And the same goes for the animals you consume. What this means is, the cleaner the animal whose organs you are consuming, the cleaner your food will be, whether it’s a steak or an organ.¹⁸

IMPORTANT: Know Where Your Meat Comes From

In another article¹⁹ written by a meat processor, Bob Martin explains the differences between products derived from grain-fed animals versus from grass-fed animals. He reports that many grain-finished livers are “condemned,” whereas this does not happen with grass-finished livers. He is very straight in his recommendation to avoid meat and organs coming from animals that are grain-fed or grain-finished, such as those produced by CAFOs.
As stated earlier, it is safest to restrict all of your meats to pastured, or at the very least, grass-finished animals. In the wake of mad cow disease, it is particularly important to consume animals raised on pasture and fed a biologically appropriate diet, which virtually eliminates their risk of mad cow disease, as well as many other dangerous contaminants.²⁰

Recipes and Other Offal Resources

If you haven’t been eating organ meats lately, perhaps you abandoned them because they were thrust upon you as a child, or maybe you’ve never been able to get past their appearance. They look like entrails because they ARE entrails, which are difficult to disguise. You just may have to get over it... for the sake of your health!  Fortunately, organ meats don’t have to be the tough, dried out, overcooked liver-and-onions of yesteryear that were more like shoe leather than meat.
Finding good organ meat recipes can be somewhat of a challenge, as they are more of a niche specialty today—but they are out there. In order to make your journey a bit easier, I’ve assimilated a list of resources to perhaps inspire you into trying some new things. The following are merely a starting point—I’m sure you can find others. Paleo recipe websites often have interesting and unique organ meat recipes, and there are an abundance of those. Happy hunting!

• An article called “The Liver Files” on the Weston Price website has great nutrition information about liver, as well as liver recipes from around the world17
• Sally Fallon gives a big thumbs up to a cookbook devoted to organ meats, The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating, by Fergus Henderson.²¹
• Chris Kresser’s article “How to Eat More Organ Meats” contains nutritional information as well as links to a number of recipes, by organ type.²²
• Chef Chris Cosentino’s website Offal Good is completely devoted to “everything offal” and is an interesting read, including recipes, videos, and offal photos NOT for the faint of heart—but perfect for the culinarily curious! (Chef Cosentino is featured in the video at the top of this article.)
• Huffington Post offers a few select recipes for offal food.²³
• Food & Wine gives some tips for “Nose to Tail Cooking.”
• For the nutritional composition of organ meats, I found a couple of resources. The Self Nutrition Data site is a good resource for comparing nutrient levels of many foods, including organ meats. And an online publication called “Nutritional Composition of Red Meat” from the University of Wollongong (Australia) has charts with all sorts of nutritional data for red meats, including organ meats and wild game.

6 Little Known Facts about Weight Training

Weight training is such a complex topic. There is just SO much information out there. It can be especially overwhelming for beginners searching for information.

So today I want to break it down into simple terms and cover 6 little known facts about weight training.

1. It’s not a competition

Sometimes one of the biggest obstacles in the way of beginners is the intimidation factor at the gym. You look around and you see people who are in much better shape than you and they look like they know what they’re doing. It can send you running the other direction very quickly.

I encourage you to forget about everyone else at the gym. Unless you’re into bodybuilding competitions, weight training is simply not a competition. The only competition you need to worry about is the person standing in the mirror.

Also, I suggest you don’t go crazy trying to compete with your friends to see who can lift the heaviest weight. Lift the heaviest weight you can with good form. Just because the guy across the gym can lift twice as much weight as you doesn’t mean you need to lift that amount of weight too. Do what’s good for you and leave it at that.

2. You won’t get very far without good nutrition

I truly believe that having good nutrition is more important than weight training itself. If you’re not eating enough of the right foods or too many of the bad foods you’re shortchanging your gains.

3. It’s a marathon, not a sprint

Weight training is something that takes consistent effort over a long period of time to see results. The reality is, it takes 2-6 months of consistent effort to notice any significant changes. And even longer to fine-tune your body and get it exactly where you want it. Minor changes will begin to occur within weeks, but significant changes take much longer.

4. Injuries are real

Be aware that weight training injuries are real and they do happen. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help or a spot if you think you need it.

5. It’s a lifestyle


Weight training is no different. It’s a lifestyle. The weight training lifestyle means going to the gym or working out at home on a consistent basis, focusing on meeting your nutritional needs, and getting quality rest.

Train. Eat. Rest. Repeat.

6. Muscles don’t grow without progressive overload

The fact of the matter is that muscles don’t grow without progressive overload. Muscles are constantly adapting and changing to meet the demands we place on them. Going to the gym and lifting the same weights with the same intensity day in and day out will eventually stall you in your tracks.

How do you get around this issue?

Change up your exercises

Decrease the amount of rest time between sets/exercises

Increase the amount of weight you are lifting

Increase the number of sets and/or reps in your daily workout.

Breathing During Exercise

Mouth Breathing During Exercise May Increase Your Risk for Asthma and Cardiac Problems

By Dr. Mercola

One of the most basic requirements for an effective exercise session is good oxygenation of your muscles and organs. You can actually control how well your tissues are being oxygenated by how you breathe.
But if you’re like most people, you take your breathing for granted. After all, it’s so automatic! You may not realize that there is an optimal way to breathe to increase body oxygenation and improve your health. There is a chance you may be doing it the wrong way without even realizing it.
While breathing is a fundamentally natural function of human beings, it can be negatively infl uenced by many factors of modern living such as stress, sitting at a desk all day, and excessive talking. In fact, about 80 percent of the Western population breathes incorrectly.
Mouth and nose breathing differ dramatically in terms of the depth of your breath, how the air is “prepared,” and the effects they produce in your body. The first step to attaining optimal breathing is to breathe through your nose, not through your mouth.
Nasal breathing has a number of physiological advantages for your health AND your fitness. The amount of benefit you derive from your exercise efforts is largely controlled by your breathing habits, which affect your performance, endurance, post-exercise energy levels, and even your ability to metabolize fat.¹
Most people overbreathe – in other words, they chronically hyperventilate. Typical characteristics of overbreathing include mouth breathing, upper chest breathing, sighing, noticeable breathing during rest, and taking large breaths prior to talking. Overbreathing during exercise can have a number of harmful consequences. The way to prevent this is to “retrain” your nose to do the job it was designed to do, which is what this article will cover.

Your Nose: The Most Underused Organ in Your Body

Your mouth was designed for eating, not breathing. Likewise, your nose and sinuses were designed to optimize breathing in ways that may surprise you. Your upper airways are designed to “pretreat” the air you breathe as it enters your body.
When you breathe through your mouth, many of the things that are supposed to happen don’t, because the air bypasses this part of your respiratory system before it enters your lungs. When you take in air through your nose, the following beneficial processes occur:

• Air is warmed and humidified before it hits your lungs.²
• The cilia, or tiny hairs, lining your nose trap pathogens, dust, and other foreign particles, acting as a pre-filter before the air reaches your lungs.
• Nerves in your nasal passages (which connect to your hypothalamus) sense everything about your breathing and use that information to regulate it.
• Nitric oxide (NO) is made by your nose and sinus mucous membranes, so when you breathe through your nose, you carry a small amount of this gas into your lungs.^{3, 4} NO is a potent bronchodilator and vasodilator, so it helps lower your blood pressure and significantly increases your lungs’ oxygen-absorbing capacity.^{5, 6, 7} NO also kills bacteria, viruses and other germs, so nose breathing helps keeps you from getting sick.

When you breathe through your mouth, NONE of these functions can take place. Mouth breathing is analogous to expecting your body to make use of food by bypassing your stomach – it would be missing some critical steps in the digestive process, and the end result would not be good.

Mouth Breathing Elevates Your Heart Rate and Blood Pressure

Mouth breathing, which will tend to make you hyperventilate, is a common response to strenuous exercise. You may intuitively think that sucking in a large volume of air through your mouth would improve your oxygenation by sheer volume. But this isn’t the case – it actually decreases the oxygenation of your tissues. Mouth breathing results in diminished levels of carbon dioxide in your body because it is blown off so rapidly through your mouth.
Your body needs a balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide for optimal function. Carbon dioxide is not just a waste product but has actual biological roles, one of which is assisting with oxygen utilization. When your carbon dioxide level is too low, changes in your blood pH make your hemoglobin less able to release oxygen to your cells (the Bohr effect).^{8, 9}
Mouth breathing can elevate your heart rate and blood pressure, sometimes resulting in fatigue and dizziness. ^{10, 11} When you exercise, you may feel relief from breathlessness at first by quickly sucking in air through your mouth, but over time your performance and endurance will be affected.
The elasticity of your lungs also depends on nasal resistance, which you only get from nasalbreathing due to the smaller diameter of your nasal passages.¹² Poor breathing is even associated with poor posture. So, breathing through your nose helps maintain your health in a number of important ways.

Mouth Breathing Worsens Asthma

Most people chronically “overbreathe,” which just means breathing more than you need to. When you overbreathe, you are depleting your carbon dioxide reserves. The odds are that if you are breathing through your mouth during the day, you are also doing so at night, which can lead to several health problems like dehydration, snoring and sleep apnea.^{13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18}
Mouth breathing plays a critical role in bronchial asthma, especially exercise-induced asthma. In a study published in the American Review of Respiratory Disease,¹⁹ young asthma patients had virtually no exercise-induced asthma after exercising while breathing through their noses. However, they experienced moderate bronchial constriction after exercising while mouth breathing. Other studies have shown similar findings.6 In addition to asthma, mouth breathing is associated with several other health problems:

• Your child’s face may develop abnormally. Children who breathe through their mouths tend to develop longer faces with altered jaw structures.^{20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25}
• Greater loss of moisture, which dries out your saliva and contributes to poor oral hygiene; dehydration causes your airways to constrict and makes nose breathing even more difficult, creating a vicious cycle.
• Reduced oxygen delivery to your heart, brain and other tissues due to constricted arterial blood flow.²⁶
• Crooked teeth, poor concentration, allergies, poor sports performance and ADHD have also been linked with mouth breathing.²⁷

One of the primary problems causing people to mouth breathe is rhinitis and chronic nasal congestion, which is quite common. Rhinitis has been shown to be associated with disrupted sleep,²⁸ fatigue,²⁹ moodiness, snoring and sleep apnea.³⁰ So the trick, then, to minimize these problems is to breathe more lightly, and this happens automatically when you shift from breathing through your mouth to your nose. Remember, the deeper and more quickly you breathe, the more constricted your blood vessels will be, which means less oxygen will be delivered to your tissues.³¹ Breathing through the nose slows down and regularizes breathing, improves your oxygenation, and has a calming effect because it activates your parasympathetic nervous system.^{32, 33}

The Tarahumara Runners

We can learn a great deal from the Tarahumara Indian tribe of Mexico, known for running up to 62 miles a day on rocky terrain, into their 60s. What’s their secret? Among other things, studies have shown that the Tarahumara breathe in only through their noses, although some use a technique of exhaling through a partially open mouth. Part of their advantage is that their bodies are exceptionally good at optimizing carbon dioxide and nitric oxide levels – similar to the effects of altitude training.³⁴ The Tarahumara are a great example of what’s possible simply by optimizing your breath. If you’re a mouth breather, don’t despair! Read on to learn how you can shift your breathing back to the organ that does it best – your nose.

The Buteyko Breathing Method

There are simple techniques you can learn to gradually transition yourself back into nose breathing. Even if you’re not planning to run like the Tarahumara, there are plenty of good reasons to make this part of your greater health plan. I have become a fan of the Buteyko breathing method, named after the Russian physician who developed it back in the 1950s. Patrick McKeown, featured in the video interview above, is now one of the world’s top Buteyko trainers and has essentially taken over the movement since Dr. Buteyko’s passing a decade ago.
Since my excitement was renewed about the Buteyko breathing method several months ago, I am now successfully able to complete all of my Peak Fitness Exercises with my mouth closed, even when my heart rate is well above my calculated maximum of 162. I thought this would be impossible for me to achieve, but with persistence and gradually increasing the time into the exercise I was nasal breathing, after a few weeks I was able to do it. It is a challenge as air hunger hurts, but, like most things in life, it does get easier with practice.

The Basic Buteyko Self-Test

Dr. Buteyko developed a simple self-test for estimating your carbon dioxide levels. He found that the level of carbon dioxide in your lungs correlates to your ability to hold your breath after normal exhalation. You can use a stopwatch or simply count the number of seconds to yourself. Here is the process:

1. Sit straight without crossing your legs and breathe comfortably and steadily.
2. Take a small, silent breath in and out through your nose. After exhaling, pinch your nose to keep air from entering.
3. Start your stopwatch and hold your breath until you feel the first definite desire to breathe.
4. When you feel the first urge to breathe, resume breathing and note the time. The urge to breathe may come in the form of involuntary movements of your breathing muscles, or your tummy may jerk or your throat may contract.
5. Your inhalation should be calm and controlled, through your nose. If you feel like you must take a big breath, then you held your breath too long.

The time you just measured is called the “control pause,” and it reflects the tolerance of your body to carbon dioxide. The good news is that you will feel better and improve your exercise endurance with each five-second increase in your CP. Short control pause times correlate with low tolerance to CO2 and chronically depleted CO2 levels. Here are the criteria for evaluating your control pause (CP):

• CP 40 to 60 seconds: Indicates a normal, healthy breathing pattern and excellent physical endurance
• CP 20 to 40 seconds: Indicates mild breathing impairment, moderate tolerance to physical exercise and potential for health problems in the future (most folks fall into this category)
• CP 10 to 20 seconds: Indicates significant breathing impairment and poor tolerance to physical exercise; nasal breath training and lifestyle modifications are recommended (potential areas are poor diet, overweight, excess stress, excess alcohol, etc.)
• CP under 10 seconds: Serious breathing impairment, very poor exercise tolerance and chronic health problems; Dr. Buteyko recommends consulting a Buteyko practitioner for assistance

How to Practice Buteyko Breathing Daily

The first step to increase your CP is to learn how to unblock your nose with the following breath hold exercise. While this exercise is a perfectly safe exercise for the vast majority of people, if you have any cardiac problems, high blood pressure, are pregnant, have type 1 diabetes, panic attacks or any serious health concern, then please do not hold your breath beyond the first urges to breathe. The following exercise is very effective for decongesting your nose in just a few minutes:

• Sit up straight.
• Take a small breath in through your nose, if possible, and a small breath out. If your nose is quite blocked, take a tiny breath in through the corner of your mouth.
• Pinch your nose with your fingers and hold your breath. Keep your mouth closed.
• Gently nod your head or sway your body until you feel that you cannot hold your breath any longer. (Hold your nose until you feel a strong desire to breathe.)
• When you need to breathe in, let go of your nose and breathe gently through it, in and out, with your mouth closed.
• Calm your breathing as soon as possible.

Simply repeat the above exercise several times in succession, waiting about 30 to 60 seconds in between rounds. And do the exercise on a regular basis. If you have nasal congestion, you will likely experience decongestion after six rounds or even less. The fastest way to increase your CP is by learning to be mindful of your breathing, noticing whenever you are mouth breathing so you can stop yourself from doing it. Keep the following in mind as you go about your day:

• Always keep your mouth closed for breathing, even during exertion (exercise will be covered in the next section)
• Even when you breathe through your nose, try to breathe more lightly than you normally do; you should not be able to see your breathing in your chest or abdomen
• Control your breathing all of the time, especially in stressful situations

Overbreathing During Exertion Can Have Deadly Consequences

Breathing correctly during exercise is extremely important. How you breathe at rest typically translates to how you breathe when you exercise. Overbreathing during exertion causes your CO2 levels to drop, which reduces blood flow to your heart and increases your risk for cardiac arrhythmias – which can be dangerous.^{35, 36, 37, 38}
Patrick explains how most athletes experiencing sudden cardiac arrest during exertion don’t fit the model of what you would normally expect, in terms of heart disease risk – they seem to be doing everything right. However, in his experience, like the rest of us, they often breathe too deeply and quickly which is a risk factor by itself. Hyperventilation may play a significant role in some of those unexpected cardiac events in otherwise healthy athletes. It could also be the reason why extreme endurance exercise has been found to have more risks than benefits for your heart.

How to Incorporate Buteyko Breathing While Exercising

Even if you are not an endurance athlete, it is extremely important that you control your breathing when you exercise. You should be exercising only to the extent that you can continue breathing through your nose the vast majority of the time. If this means backing off on intensity, then that’s what you need to do, realizing that it’s only temporary until your body begins to adjust to your slightly increased CO2 levels.
This will happen fairly quickly. You just have to get used to “air hunger” (an admittedly uncomfortable feeling of mild suffocation), and realize it’s normal and safe. Remember, the shorter your CP, the more easily you’ll get breathless. If your CP is less than 20 seconds, NEVER have your mouth open during exercise, as your breathing is too unstable. This is particularly important if you have asthma.
To increase your CP from 20 to 40, physical exercise is necessary. You might begin by simply walking with one nostril occluded. Then, as your CP increases begin incorporating jogging, cycling, swimming, weight lifting or anything else to build up an air shortage. The rule of thumb is to not push yourself to the point where you are unable to maintain nasal breathing. If you feel the need to open your mouth, then slow down and recover. This helps your body to gradually develop a tolerance for increased CO2 – and if you persevere, this will happen quickly.
Part of the Buteyko Method involves breath hold exercises designed to simulate the effects of high altitude training. When the human body is exposed to situations in which there are reduced oxygen levels – such as the experience of high altitude, or by holding the breath – adaptations take place that force the body to increase oxygenation of the blood. The kidneys increase production of EPO and the spleen releases red blood cells into circulation.^{39, 40, 41, 42}
These effects combine to improve the oxygen-carrying capacity of your blood, in addition to the CO2 and NO opening up your blood vessels. All of these physiological improvements are like putting your circulatory system “on steroids” – without the steroids!

Additional Information and Resources

Getting oxygen to your cells is every bit as important as eating the right foods or drinking fresh, pure water. Breathing is usually taken for granted, in spite of being our most fundamental human need. Now you have the tools for addressing this important but underappreciated aspect of your health

Vitamin D

One of the Simplest Solutions to Wide-Ranging Health Problems

By Dr. Mercola

Vitamin D deficiency is a pandemic in the United States, but many Americans, including physicians, are not aware that they may be lacking this important nutrient. 
Despite its name, vitamin D is not a regular vitamin. It's actually a steroid hormone that you get primarily from either sun exposure or supplementation, and its ability to influence genetic expression that produces many of its wide-ranging health benefits.
Researchers have pointed out that increasing levels of vitamin D3 among the general population could prevent chronic diseases that claim nearly one million lives throughout the world each year. Incidence of several types of cancer could also be slashed in half.
Vitamin D also fights infections, including colds and the flu, as it regulates the expression of genes that influence your immune system to attack and destroy bacteria and viruses.
In this interview, one of the leading vitamin D researchers, Dr. Michael Holick, expounds on these and many other health benefits of vitamin D. He’s both an MD and a PhD, and wrote the book, The Vitamin D Solution.
Since the early 2000’s, scientific investigations into the effects of vitamin D have ballooned. By the end of 2012, there were nearly 34,000 of them. Dr. Holick is one of those who has really helped advance our understanding of the massive importance of vitamin D—far beyond its influence on bone metabolism.

“I’ve been doing vitamin D research for more than 40 years,” he says. “As a graduate student for my master’s degree, I was responsible for identifying the major circulating form of vitamin D, 25-hydroxyvitamin D that doctors typically measure now for vitamin D status in their patients. For my Ph.D.,

I identified the active form of vitamin D [1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D] while working at Dr. DeLuca’s laboratory.”

Are You Vitamin D Deficient?

Before the year 2000, very few doctors ever considered the possibility that you might be vitamin D deficient. But as the technology to measure vitamin D became inexpensive and widely available, more and more studies were done, and it became increasingly clear that vitamin D deficiency was absolutely rampant. For example:

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 32 percent of children and adults throughout the US were vitamin D deficient
• The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that 50 percent of children aged one to five years old, and 70 percent of children between the ages of six to 11, are deficient or insufficient in vitamin D
• Researchers such as Dr. Holick estimate that 50 percent of the general population is at risk of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency

I’ve often said that when it comes to vitamin D, you don’t want to be in the “average” or “normal” range, you want to be in the “optimal” range. The reason for this is that as the years have gone by, researchers have progressively moved that range upward.
At present, based on the evaluation of healthy populations that get plenty of natural sun exposure, the optimal range for general health appears to be somewhere between 50 and 70 ng/ml.  For treatment of chronic disease such as cancer, recommendations go even a bit higher than that.  As Dr. Holick explains:

“The Institute of Medicine, including the Endocrine Society, recommends at least 20 for bone health. But there’s this area between about 21 and 30 that we consider to be an insufficient level. Most experts agree that if you’re above 30 nanograms per milliliter, this is a healthy level.

Because of its variability in the assay, the recommendation from the Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guidelines that looked at all the literature and made recommendations for prevention and treatment of vitamin D deficiency for doctors is 40 to 60 nanograms per milliliter...

GrassrootsHealth has also been looking at this issue and also recommends 40 to 60 nanograms per milliliter as the ideal level.”

... A study was done in Maasai warriors who are outside every day. That really gives us an insight where we should all be with our blood levels of 25-hydroxy D. They were found to be around 50 nanograms per milliliter.”

Sources

Sunshine—The Best Way to Optimize Your Vitamin D Levels

I firmly believe that appropriate sun exposure is the best way to optimize your vitamin D levels. In fact, I personally have not taken a vitamin D supplement for three or four years, yet my levels are in the 70 ng/ml range.  If you can’t get enough sunshine, then a safe tanning bed would be your next best option. What makes for a safe tanning bed? Most tanning equipment use magnetic ballasts to generate light. These magnetic ballasts are well known sources of EMF fields that can contribute to cancer. If you hear a loud buzzing noise while in a tanning bed, it has a magnetic ballast system. I strongly recommend you avoid these types of beds and restrict your use of tanning beds to those that use electronic ballasts.
Dr. Holick recommends protecting your face when using a tanning bed, and to only go in for half the time recommended for tanning. Make sure the tanning bed you’re using is putting out UVB radiation. There are some on the market that only put out UVA, as this is what creates a tan. UVA rays are also the ones responsible for skin damage, however, and they do NOT make your skin produce vitamin D. Beds tend to vary between three to 10 percent UVB, and the higher the percentage of UVB, the better. There are also beds that make UVB only. They’re not as popular since they won’t make you tan, but if you’re only doing it solely for the health benefits, then a UVB tanning bed is certainly an option.

 “I think that you’re right,” Dr. Holick says. “We had shown many years ago that during the winter time, if you live above Atlanta, Georgia, you basically cannot make any vitamin D in your skin from about November through March. Obviously, you need to either take a supplement or use a tanning bed or an ultraviolet light that will produce vitamin D...  

I typically recommend, if you’re going to go out into the sun, expose your arms, legs, abdomen and back, two to three times a week for about half the time it would take to get a mild sunburn... [W]hen you make vitamin D in your skin, it lasts two to three times longer in your body.

You also make additional photoproducts in your skin. There’s some evidence that suggests that maybe these photoproducts have some unique biologic properties in the skin. Because we do know that sensible sun exposure decreases risk for malignant melanoma, and it could be that some of these photoproducts are helping in that process. Beta-endorphin is certainly made in the skin during exposure to sunlight. That’s probably the reason why people feel better when they’re exposed to sunlight.”

Want Safer Sun Exposure? There’s an App for That!

Dr. Hollick  helped consult for a company that developed a smartphone app called DMinder, available on www.dminder.info. Based on your local weather conditions (reported from the weather service) and other individual parameters such as your skin tone and age, it tells you how much UV radiation you’re getting, and how many units of vitamin D you’re making. It will also tell you when to get out of the sun, to protect yourself from sunburn.
Beware that you CANNOT make any vitamin D when you’re exposed to sunlight through glass since glass filters out most of the UVB that stimulates vitamin D production. All you’re mostly getting are UVA rays, which penetrate deeply into your skin, causing wrinkling, and increasing your risk of skin damage and skin cancer.  Also beware that UVA radiation is harsher in the morning, and late afternoon. So, contrary to popular advice, which was more tailored to tanning than optimizing your vitamin D stores, you’ll want to avoid early morning and afternoon sun. According to Dr. Holick, you cannot make vitamin D until about 10:00 in the morning until about 3:00 in the afternoon.
Another important nugget that many people may not appreciate is to take into account daylight saving time. When you’re in daylight saving time, the peak sun exposure is not noon – it’s 1:00 pm. So if you want to get your maximum sun exposure, go out around 1:00.

Dosing Recommendations if You Need to Take a Vitamin D Supplement

If your circumstances don’t allow you to access the sun or a safe tanning bed, then you really only have one option if you want to raise your vitamin D, and that is to take a vitamin D supplement. Here too recommendations vary, and there are no hard and fast rules. While Dr. Holick disagrees with my recommendation to regularly test your levels in order to assess proper dosage due to the cost involved, I feel this really is your best bet. You want to make sure you’re staying within the therapeutic range of 50-70 ng/ml year-round, so regardless of general guidelines, you may need to increase or decrease your dosage based on your personal requirements.
The Society Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee recommends the following dosages. Keep in mind that these guidelines are thought to allow most people to reach a vitamin D level of 30 ng/ml, which many still consider suboptimal for disease prevention.

• Neonates: 400 to 1,000 IU’s per day
• Children one year of age and above: 600 to 1,000 IU’s per day
• Adults: 1,500 to 2,000 IU’s per day

GrassrootsHealth offers a helpful chart showing the average adult dose required to reach healthy vitamin D levels based upon your measured starting point. Many experts agree that 35 IU's of vitamin D per pound of body weight could be used as an estimate for your ideal dose.

“I treat my patients, on average, with 3,000 units of vitamin D a day,” Dr. Holick says. “It’s been very effective. I’ve published a paper that over a six-year period of time, most of my patients on a 3,000-unit equivalent a day has between 40 and 60 nanograms per milliliter and there is no toxicity.

If you’re obese, you need two to three times more vitamin D... But for my patients who are at a normal weight, usually 3,000 to 4,000 units a day is adequate to maintain a healthy blood level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. I personally take 3,000 units a day. My blood level, on average, is about 55 nanograms per milliliter.”

According to Dr. Holick, it makes no difference if you take your vitamin D daily or weekly, or even monthly. Personally, I’d recommend taking it daily. That way, if you miss a day or two, it’s not quite as bad as missing an entire week. That said, it is fat soluble, so a lot of it enters your body fat and is slowly released from there. So if you miss a day, you can take double the dose the next day.

If you Opt for Oral Vitamin D, Remember Vitamin K2

It’s important to remember that if you’re taking high dose vitamin D supplements, you also need to take vitamin K2. The biological role of vitamin K2 is to help move calcium into the proper areas in your body, such as your bones and teeth. It also helps remove calcium from areas where it shouldn’t be, such as in your arteries and soft tissues.
Vitamin K2 deficiency is actually what produces the symptoms of vitamin D toxicity, which includes inappropriate calcification that can lead to hardening of your arteries. The reason for this is because when you take vitamin D, your body creates more vitamin K2-dependent proteins that move calcium around in your body. Without vitamin K2, those proteins remain inactivated, so the benefits of those proteins remain unrealized. So remember, if you take supplemental vitamin D, you're creating an increased demand for K2. Together, these two nutrients help strengthen your bones and improve your heart health.

Vitamin D is Critical for Health, Beginning in Utero and Onward

From my perspective, vitamin D deficiency appears to have the greatest impact on cancer rates. At present, the US cancer mortality rate is equivalent to eight to 10 airplanes crashing each and every single day. Optimizing vitamin D rates across the general population could reduce that by about 50 percent. And it’s virtually free—at least if you opt for sun exposure.
As mentioned by Dr. Holick, one of the Nurses’ Health Studies showed that nurses who had the highest blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, averaging about 50 ng/ml, reduced their risk of developing breast cancer by as much as 50 percent. Similarly, a Canadian study done by Dr. Knight showed that women who reported having the most sun exposure as a teenager and young adult had almost a 70 percent reduced risk of developing breast cancer.  It’s just insane not to take advantage of this prevention strategy.

“I agree 100 percent,” Dr. Holick says. “I usually recommend that vitamin D is critically important from birth until death. Just to give you a couple of examples: during pregnancy, we’re now realizing that vitamin D deficiency is a major issue for the developing fetus. Pre-eclampsia, the most serious complication of pregnancy, is associated with vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is critically important for muscle function, which, of course, is important for birthing action. We showed a 400 percent reduced risk of women requiring a C-section if they simply were vitamin D sufficient at the time they gave birth.

We’re now beginning to realize that in-utero vitamin D deficiency is more likely that the young children are going to have asthma and wheezing disorders. We’re also now realizing that children who are vitamin D deficient are more likely to develop type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis later in life, rheumatoid arthritis, and Crohn’s disease.

Studies have shown that if you improve your vitamin D status, it reduces risk of colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, and a whole host of other deadly cancers by 30 to 50 percent. You’re correct. Cancer is a big deal. You need to realize that vitamin D is playing a very important role in helping to maintain cell growth and to help fight cancer when a cancer cell is developing in your body.”

Other Health Areas Where Optimizing Vitamin D Levels Could Save Both Lives and Dollars

In addition to the health benefits already mentioned above, optimizing your vitamin D levels can help protect against:

• Cardiovascular disease. Vitamin D is very important for reducing hypertension, atherosclerotic heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. According to Dr. Holick, one study showed that vitamin D deficiency increased the risk of heart attack by 50 percent. What’s worse, if you have a heart attack and you’re vitamin D deficient, your risk of dying from that heart attack creeps up to 100 percent!  
• Autoimmune diseases. Vitamin D is a potent immune modulator, making it very important for the prevention of autoimmune diseases, like MS and inflammatory bowel disease.  
• Infections, including influenza. It also helps you fight infections of all kinds. A study done in Japan, for example, showed that schoolchildren taking 1,200 units of vitamin D per day during the winter time reduced their risk of getting influenza A infection by about 40 percent. I believe it’s far more prudent, safer, less expensive, and most importantly, far more effective to optimize your vitamin D levels than to get vaccinated against the flu. According to Dr. Holick:

“I think you’re right. We know that the immune cells use vitamin D and that they activate vitamin D. There’s good evidence that it will help kill tuberculosis bacteria, for example, if you have adequate vitamin D on board... We think that the immune system is primed with vitamin D in order to help fight infections.”


• DNA repair and metabolic processes. One of Dr. Holick’s studies showed that healthy volunteers taking 2,000 IU’s of vitamin D per day for a few months upregulated 291 different genes that control up to 80 different metabolic processes; from improving DNA repair to having effect on autoxidation (oxidation that occurs in the presence of oxygen and /or UV radiation, which has implications for aging and cancer, for example), boosting the immune system, and many other biological processes.

Tired and Achy? You May Simply Be Vitamin D Deficient...

Feeling tired and achy is a frequent wintertime complaint. According to Dr. Holick, many who see their doctor for such signs end up being misdiagnosed as having fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome.

“Many of these symptoms are classic signs of vitamin D deficiency osteomalacia, which is different from the vitamin D deficiency that causes osteoporosis in adults,” he says. “What’s happening is that the vitamin D deficiency causes a defect in putting calcium into the collagen matrix into your skeleton. As a result, you have throbbing, aching bone pain.”

The remedy is a combination of vitamin D and calcium, which go hand in hand when it comes to bone health. Ideally, you’d want to get your calcium from your diet. If not, Dr. Holick recommends taking about 500 milligrams (mg) twice per day with your meals (for a total of 1,000 mg/day). Magnesium is another important element and should be taken in equal amounts. According to Dr. Holick, elderly muscle weakness is another classic symptom associated with vitamin D deficiency.

“Many of my patients do incredibly well by just simply correcting their calcium and vitamin D deficiency,” he says.

The Dangers of Speaking Out in Defense of Sun Exposure...

Dermatologists in particular are some of the most ardent promoters of the myth that sun exposure causes deadly skin cancer. Speaking out in a professional capacity against this idea can cost you. In 2004, Dr. Holick published the book, The UV Advantage, in which he encouraged readers to get some sensible sun exposure. At the time, he was a professor of dermatology because of the work he’d been doing with active vitamin D for the treatment of psoriasis. In fact, he’d received the American Skin Association’s Psoriasis Research Achievement Award—a rather prestigious award.

“As a result, I was in the department of dermatology, continuing to do psoriasis research,” he says. “But once I began recommending sensible sun exposure for vitamin D, which is counter to what the American Academy of Dermatology’s message was, I was asked to step down as professor of dermatology back in 2004... The American Academy of Dermatology still recommends: you should never be exposed to one direct ray of sunlight for your entire life.”

There are signs of change, however. In Australia, a study was done on dermatologists. In the summer time, 87 percent were found to be vitamin D deficient. More than 40 percent of the general population in Australia is also vitamin D deficient. As a result, the Australian College of Dermatologists, as well as the Cancer Council for Australia, modified their recommendations to include getting some sensible sun exposure to raise your vitamin D to healthier levels.

Sun Exposure is a Health Promoting Basic

The more time goes on, the more obvious it has become, to me, that reverting back to simple basic strategies that our ancestors applied is really foundational to staying healthy. When it comes to sun exposure and cancer, no one can rationally argue that our ancestors weren’t universally exposed to sunshine. They didn’t hide from the sun. They’re continuously exposed to it. Surely our genetics and our biochemistry are optimized to have that as part of improving our health!

 “There are two pieces of information that I think are worthwhile noting,” Dr. Holick says. “Yes, most non-melanoma skin cancers occur on excessively exposed areas like your face or the top of your hands. But most [deadly] melanomas occur on the least sun-exposed areas.

Occupational sun exposure decreases your risk for melanoma. Even though everybody always talks about deadly melanoma and relates it to sun exposure, you have to really put this all into perspective... [This] is why I recommend exposing your arms, legs, abdomen, and back rather than your face, because it’s the least sun-exposed in terms of long-term. You’re less likely to develop even a non-melanoma skin cancer.”

Shielding your face from the sun will also help keep it looking youthful longer, as UVA’s do tend to cause wrinkling and other skin damage.  Your face, which is the most important cosmetic component of your body, is a relatively small surface area, so shielding it while exposing large portions of your body instead, is not going to make a big difference in terms of vitamin D production.
I personally use a cap that puts a shade around my eyes and my nose. I do that just to protect my skin, because the skin is very thin on your face and highly sensitive to the photoaging effects of UVA. I rarely ever use sun screen and virtually never get sunburnt. But I also take astaxanthin regularly which serves as an internal sunscreen. Dr. Holick agrees, saying:

“There’s no question about it. If you put a sunscreen on with a sun protection factor of 30, it reduces your ability to make vitamin D in your skin by about 95 to 98 percent. But I always recommend sun protection on your face. Often, a broad-brimmed hat is by far even a better way of doing it rather than having to put a chemical on your face. But it’s certainly important to protect your face.”

More information

Dr. Holick’s book, The Vitamin D Solution, which was published in 2010, provides a broad overview of all the health benefits of vitamin D. It also answers many common questions raised by patients, such as, “Will taking a vitamin D supplement worsen my kidney stones?” (The answer: No, it won’t.)

Bone Broth

One of Your Most Healing Diet Staples

According to an old South American proverb, "good broth will resurrect the dead." While that’s undoubtedly an exaggeration, it speaks to the value placed on this wholesome food, going back through the annals of time.
The featured article by Dr. Amy Myers¹ lists 10 health benefits of bone broth. Sally Fallon with the Weston A. Price Foundation² has previously published information about this healing food as well.
First and foremost, homemade bone broth is excellent for speeding healing and recuperation from illness. You’ve undoubtedly heard the old adage that chicken soup will help cure a cold, and there’s scientific support for such a statement.
For starters, chicken contains a natural amino acid called cysteine, which can thin the mucus in your lungs and make it less sticky so you can expel it more easily. Processed, canned soups will not work as well as the homemade version made from slow-cooked bone broth.
For best results, you really need to make up a fresh batch yourself (or ask a friend or family member to do so). If combating a cold, make the soup hot and spicy with plenty of pepper. The spices will trigger a sudden release of watery fluids in your mouth, throat, and lungs, which will help thin down the respiratory mucus so it's easier to expel.
But the benefits of broth don’t end there. As explained by Sally Fallon:³

“Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulfur and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons--stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain.”

The Healing Influence of Broth on Your Gut

In later years, medical scientists have discovered that your health is in large part dependent on the health of your intestinal tract. Many of our modern diseases appear to be rooted in an unbalanced mix of microorganisms in your digestive system, courtesy of an inappropriate and unbalanced diet that is too high in sugars and too low in healthful fats and beneficial bacteria.
Bone broth is excellent for “healing and sealing” your gut, to use Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride term. Dr. Campbell’s GAPS Nutritional Protocol, described in her book, Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS), centers around the concept of “healing and sealing” your gut through your diet.
Broth or “stock” plays an important role as it’s easily digestible, helps heal the lining of your gut, and contains valuable nutrients. Abnormalities in your immune system are a common outcome of GAPS, and such immune abnormalities can then allow for the development of virtually any degenerative disease...

The Healing Benefits of Bone Broth

As the featured article states, there are many reasons for incorporating good-old-fashioned bone broth into your diet. The following health benefits attest to its status as “good medicine.”

Helps heal and seal your gut, and promotes healthy digestion: The gelatin found in bone broth is a hydrophilic colloid. It attracts and holds liquids, including digestive juices, thereby supporting proper digestion.	Inhibits infection caused by cold and flu viruses, etc.: A study4 published over a decade ago found that chicken soup indeed has medicinal qualities, significantly mitigating infection
Reduces joint pain and inflammation, courtesy of chondroitin sulphates, glucosamine, and other compounds extracted from the boiled down cartilage	Fights inflammation: Amino acids such as glycine, proline, and arginine all have anti-inflammatory effects. Arginine, for example, has been found to be particularly beneficial for the treatment of sepsis5 (whole-body inflammation). Glycine also has calming effects, which may help you sleep better
Promotes strong, healthy bones: As mentioned above, bone broth contains high amounts of calcium, magnesium, and other nutrients that play an important role in healthy bone formation	Promotes healthy hair and nail growth, thanks to the gelatin in the broth

Making your own bone broth is extremely cost effective, as you can make use of left over carcass bones that would otherwise be thrown away. And while the thought of making your own broth may seem intimidating at first, it’s actually quite easy. It can also save you money by reducing your need for dietary supplements. As mentioned above, bone broth provides you with a variety of important nutrients—such as calcium, magnesium, chondroitin, glucosamine, and arginine—that you may otherwise be spending a good deal of money on in the form of supplements.

Easy Chicken Broth Recipe

Both featured articles include a sample recipe for homemade chicken broth. The following recipe was provided by Sally Fallon, writing for the Weston A. Price Foundation.⁶ Her article also contains a recipe for beef and fish broth. (You could also use turkey, duck, or lamb, following the same basic directions.) For Dr. Myers’ chicken broth recipe, please see the original article.⁷
Perhaps the most important caveat when making broth, whether you’re using chicken or beef, is to make sure they’re from organically-raised, pastured or grass-fed animals. As noted by Fallon, chickens raised in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) tend to produce stock that doesn’t gel, and this gelatin has long been valued for its therapeutic properties.⁸ As explained by Fallon:

“Gelatin was universally acclaimed as a most nutritious foodstuff particularly by the French, who were seeking ways to feed their armies and vast numbers of homeless in Paris and other cities. Although gelatin is not a complete protein, containing only the amino acids arginine and glycine in large amounts, it acts as a protein sparer, helping the poor stretch a few morsels of meat into a complete meal.”

Besides that, CAFO animals are fed an unnatural diet that is not beneficial for their intestinal makeup, and they’re also given a variety of veterinary drugs and growth promoters. You don’t want any of these potentially harmful additives in your broth, so make sure to start off with an organically-raised product.

Ingredients for homemade chicken broth⁹

1 whole free-range chicken or 2 to 3 pounds of bony chicken parts, such as necks, backs, breastbones, and wings
Gizzards from one chicken (optional)
2-4 chicken feet (optional)
4 quarts cold filtered water
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
1 bunch parsley

Please note the addition of vinegar. Not only are fats are ideally combined with acids like vinegar, but when it comes to making broth, the vinegar helps leech all those valuable minerals from the bones into the stockpot water, which is ultimately what you’ll be eating. The goal is to extract as many minerals as possible out of the bones into the broth water. Bragg’s raw apple cider vinegar is a good choice as it’s unfiltered and unpasteurized.

Cooking Directions

There are lots of different ways to make bone broth, and there really isn’t a wrong way. You can find different variations online. Here, I’ll offer some basic directions. If you’re starting out with a whole chicken, you’ll of course have plenty of meat as well, which can be added back into the broth later with extra herbs and spices to make a chicken soup. I also use it on my salad.

1. Fill up a large stockpot (or large crockpot) with pure, filtered water. (A crockpot is recommended for safety reasons if you have to leave home while it’s cooking.)
2. Add vinegar and all vegetables except parsley to the water.
3. Place the whole chicken or chicken carcass into the pot.
4. Bring to a boil, and remove any scum that rises to the top.
5. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and let simmer.
6. If cooking a whole chicken, the meat should start separating from the bone after about 2 hours. Simply remove the chicken from the pot and separate the meat from the bones. Place the carcass back into the pot and continue simmering the bones for another 12-24 hours and follow with step 8 and 9.
7. If cooking bones only, simply let them simmer for about 24 hours.
8. Fallon suggests adding the fresh parsley about 10 minutes before finishing the stock, as this will add healthy mineral ions to your broth.
9. Remove remaining bones from the broth with a slotted spoon and strain the rest through a strainer to remove any bone fragments.

Bone Broth—A Medicinal ‘Soul Food’

Simmering bones over low heat for an entire day will create one of the most nutritious and healing foods there is. You can use this broth for soups, stews, or drink it straight. The broth can also be frozen for future use. Keep in mind that the "skin" that forms on the top is the best part. It contains valuable nutrients, such as sulfur, along with healthful fats, so just stir it back into the broth.
Bone broth used to be a dietary staple, as were fermented foods, and the elimination of these foods from our modern diet is largely to blame for our increasingly poor health, and the need for dietary supplements.
Both broth and fermented foods, such as fermented veggies, are simple and inexpensive to make at home, and both also allow you to make use of a wide variety of leftovers. When you add all the benefits together, it’s hard to imagine a food that will give you more bang for your buck.