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Right after New Year’s I’m often too tired to deal with self improvement, but by this time I’ve managed to take stock of the past year and lay some blueprints for the next one.

From Apartment Therapy → My Home Intentions for 2016 (That Might Work for You, Too)

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It’s so incredibly satisfying to tuck into a bowl of braised beans and greens on a cold winter day. I can’t resist tender greens that soak up savory broth, creamy beans, and of course, the scattering of grated cheese that melts on top. Braises usually take a few hours, but this quick one can happen even on a busy weeknight.

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There’s a lot to love about chicken breast. The low fat content keeps it lean, nourishing, and nutritious. It’s easy to cook, and hugely versatile.

But because this meat is so lean, on its own, it lacks in the flavor department. All it needs is a boost from the outside. One of the easiest way to pile on the flavor is with a single ingredient that’s sitting in your pantry or fridge. I hope you’re ready for juicy, flavorful chicken.

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You’ve polished off the last pickle in the jar. For most of us, the next obvious step is pouring out the liquid and washing that jar so we can use it to store more bulk bin items.

Not so fast! The liquid leftover in the jar might not seem like anything special, but in fact, it’s liquid gold — and you should be saving every single drop of it. Here’s why.

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Stone milling is nothing new — it’s the way flour was made for thousands of years before electricity came onto the scene — but lately, it’s having something of a renaissance. In addition to historic stone mills still functioning around the country — some of them still run by waterpower — new mills are popping up and artisan bakeries are even installing their own mills so they can grind flour on the premises.

The result? Flour is becoming as exciting an ingredient to explore as chocolate or butter. Here’s what you should know about stone-ground flours and how they’re different from the all-purpose stuff.

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Originally posted at: http://www.nerdfitness.com/

Life is game! Join me?

Almost six years ago I wrote an article called “Real-Life Role Playing: What is your Profession?” and then turned my life into a game, tracking my life quests with pen and paper (and text). I had so much fun, but I knew it was just the start. I had a dream that one day, you’d be able to log in to Nerd Fitness, create your character and your own Epic Quest list, check off those quests as you complete them, earn XP, level up, and share this profile with your friends.

We’ve been quietly (and furiously) working behind the scenes for the past year on this feature. You can now create a full Nerd Fitness Avatar and actually turn your life into an RPG! Now that my book Level Up Your LIfe is officially out nationwide, I’m so pumped that we can make this a big part of Nerd Fitness moving forward! This character is also going to tie into a big portion of the Nerd Fitness ecosystem over the next number of years.

Speaking of Level Up Your Life, if you’ve read the book, can you please go an honest review over on Amazon? More than ever these reviews can be the difference maker for somebody who isn’t familiar with Nerd Fitness or my writing! THANK YOU!

Note: This is a crazy, awesome, evolving platform; consider this current launch a version 1.0.

How it Works

If you visit the following link: NerdFitness.com/Level-Up, you can sign up with your email address and create your Nerd Fitness character. Note: if you have already purchased Nerd Fitness Academy or Nerd Fitness Yoga, it will link this character to that account!

Everybody will start as a Rebel, but if you are interested in nerding out a bit more, you can pick which Class most lines up with your training goals:

• Warrior: strength training, powerlifting, olympic lifting, weights
• Scout: running, swimming, biking, endurance
• Adventurer: exploration, hiking, camping climbing, travel
• Ranger: cross training, metabolic conditioning, jack of all trades
• Assassin: parkour, gymnastics, bodyweight training, movement
• Monk: martial arts
• Druid: yoga, tai chi, meditation, nature

Note: This is just a fun way to classify your avatar a bit more, and you can change classes as often as you’d like depending on how you’re feeling!

Next, you can pick which hand-drawn character art (Courtesy of NF artist Darryl Jones) best describes you, write your origin story, and then create your list of quests and missions determining what kind of game you want to play!

To clarify: you’ll have TWO leveling systems tied to your NF Character:

• Your Epic Quest (EQ) level, displayed in the badge icon on the right side on your character page. This is created and maintained by you, creating your own quests and assigning point values.
• Your Nerd Fitness (NF) level, displayed to the left of the experience bar on your character page. If you have the NF Academy, the quests completed there will fill up that exp bar. If you do NOT have the NF Academy, that exp bar and your NF Level will be greyed out for the time being.

Later this year, we’ll be bringing the Nerd Fitness questing system to other NF products (like Yoga) and all free accounts, but for now that portion will remain with just the Academy as we make sure the Epic Quest system functions properly and is scalable for tens of thousands of Rebels! Thanks for your patience!

So what are you waiting for? Let’s get started! To create your character, go here:

Have some fun and mess around with it, create categories, assign experience point values, and start tracking your missions. Again, this all ties closely to my book Level Up Your Life, and should get you started down the path towards a more adventurous life!

We have a full help and FAQ page here. PLEASE READ THIS! If you’re still lost after checking that out, email us at contact@nerdfitness.com.

To answer your next question: We already have a ton of features and tweaks we want to make on this system, and we’ve already begun development on that too! We’ll reach out soon to hear how things are going and what things you’d like to us to add to the system.

If you happen to find any bugs or cracks that cause a problem with your character, please email us at contact@nerdfitness.com.

Some Example Character Pages!

Now, one of my favorite parts about this whole thing is seeing just how different everybody is playing the game of life. I wanted to share with you some examples of the characters we have created at Team Nerd Fitness. Feel free to get as creative and weird as you want!

• Steve (Assassin), Rebel Leader: Steve has an alter ego, a superhero version of himself who is capable of far greater things than anybody ever expected of him. His name? Rebel One. Steve and his alter ego are like a modern day Indiana Jones: making discoveries, helping those in need, and creating a lifetime of stories and adventures. He dutifully splits time between the two lives, cycling and transforming with each completed quest or mission.
• Staci (Warrior) heads up Rebel Operations at Nerd Fitness. Staci’s main focus fitness wise is powerlifting – so the majority of her quests are lifting related. Although recently she has been enjoying gymnastics and yoga, and has been focusing on meditation and being more mindful. Staci’s epic quest list focuses around her love for learning and trying out new things.
• Darryl (Warrior with some Monkish tendancies) is the Nerd Fitness Design Wizard. In between deadlifts he’s usually thinking of ways to make the website look cooler or  a new shirt design. If he’s not designing, drawing or lifting, he’s training to reach his next TaeKwonDo belt or making something out of wood in his garage.
• Alek (Scout) is a developer with Nerd Fitness. He spends most of his time building out features and products. If something isn’t working right on the website, it’s definitely his fault. He’s a scout because he plays competitive Ultimate Frisbee, but also begrudgingly performs strength training for more explosive power.
• Noel (Adventurer) is Nerd Fitness’s Rebel Chef and Support Wizard. Noel’s priorities include exploring the world, getting Nerd Fitness’s inboxes to zero, and enjoying a good cup of tea. Training-wise, she focuses on activities that will help her complete adventurous quests such as hiking long distances, training in kung fu, and occasionally lifting heavy things.
• Taylor (Druid) is the Chief Wordsmith at Nerd Fitness, and plans to focus his goals in 2016 around meditation and mindfulness. As part warrior and part ranger, he’ll also include some diverse fitness goals as well to keep him on his toes.
• Lauren (Rebel) brings nerd fitness events to life, like Camp NF and the Level Up Your Life book tour. As a Rebel, she is still trying to find the right path for her fitness journey, but currently focuses on body weight strength training, yoga, and meditation.
• Baker (Monk) is in charge of Product Development and Strategy at Nerd Fitness. He trains Brazilian Jiu Jitsu actively with his oldest of three daughters. His quests for 2016 include learning archery, piano, cooking, and ramping up his strength training.

Again, these are just examples. Use this platform however you want!

What’s Next For Nerd Fitness

This is a big step for the Nerd Fitness Rebellion!

I’ve seriously been dreaming about us being able to do something like this for YEARS and YEARS, and now we finally can visualize our alter egos right here on Nerd Fitness. I’m excited to see what kind of game you decide to play, and how I can help you along the way.

This is only the beginning of what we’ve got coming, and I’m so psyched you’ve decided to be a part of the journey as a member of the Rebellion! We’re currently on a book tour (3 more stops – come out and say hi!), and we have a series of updates planned for your NF Character.

After we add quests to NF Yoga and to free NF accounts, we’ll be working on our next premium program: Hint: it’ll help turn you into a real superhero that gets sh** done.

We’re going to continue creating new (and FREE!) features, articles, and content here on Nerd Fitness to help you live a better life. For those looking for their own walk-through, we’ll launch the occasional paid course and hosting live events. Basically, we’ll keep doing what we always do: help each other get healthier and happier in a supportive and fun way.

This community has been my entire life, and it’s been so much fun to watch it grow and evolve over the past seven years (!). I’ve learned a lot about how to best serve the Rebellion, and how to practice what I preach on Nerd Fitness: happiness, health, balance, and fun.

I’m excited to see what kind of Character you create, what your origin story becomes, and how your Epic Quest takes shape.

My request to you: Leave a comment with a link to your (PUBLIC) character page so I can see what kind of character you’re creating! 

If you’re on our message boards, we recommend you add your character profile link to your signature too, until we can get the message board account linked with your NF character.

-Steve and Team Nerd Fitness

PS: Speaking of leveling up your life, I wanted to give a quick shout out to my friend Ramit Sethi – he’s putting on a free mini course (registration ends tomorrow) on growing yourself in fitness, business, psychology, and relationships. I’ve learned a lot from him over the years and his free content is better than most people’s paid stuff!

PPS: One more request, just in case you forgot due to creating an awesome character above! Can you please leave an honest book review on Amazon for me? This will help others determine if this crazy idea of looking at life like a game is for them. Thanks!

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For one of the 21-Day Challenge contests last week, you guys asked dozens of questions. Today, I’m answering a bunch of them in rapid fire style including how to get kids to eat more meat and veggies, how to get adults to eat greens, whether keto can coexist with high-carb, if it’s better to eat seasonally and many, many more. Don’t expect long, drawn-out answers. I’m answering quickly and succinctly. If you have any further questions after hearing the answers, toss ’em in the comment section. There will always be more Dear Marks down the line.

Let’s get to it:

I struggle to get my kids (4yo twins) to eat meat or vegetables. The only meet I can guarantee my son will eat is bacon and pepperoni. My daughter will eat a piece of chicken occasionally. They eat fruit out the wazoo, and breakfast is always grain heavy (after 4 years primal I’m still alone in my quest for optimum health), but I can sneak in a berry “pancake” (100% egg) once or twice a week. I worry that they aren’t getting enough protein though.

My question is whether I should stress about it. I fell like the battle is not worth the reward at this time; eventually they might just follow my lead, but until then, should I be more diligent in getting them aligned primally?

Matt

Nope, it’s not worth it. In my experience, the battles will only make them battle-hardened veterans committed to rejecting the food you foist upon them.

Smoothies are your friend. Handful of greens, a raw yolk or two, some kefir or yogurt, a little fresh juice, some frozen berries, maybe even a frozen green banana (for resistant starch)? That’s a nutritious breakfast that most kids would love.

If you’re doing oatmeal in the mornings, whisk a few eggs and stir them in toward the end.

I see nothing wrong with eating good quality bacon every morning. If you buy from a local producer at a farmer’s market whose bacon is less homogenous, you can generally find cuts with more lean muscle and less fat (or vice versa) to increase the protein.

I wouldn’t eat pepperoni every day, but good stuff a couple times a week? Sure. Maybe use the bacon or pepperoni to make other dishes more appetizing. Chop it up and stick it in an egg scramble.

Whatever you do, don’t give in. If they don’t want to eat the steak, green beans, and whipped butternut squash you made for dinner, they don’t eat. They don’t get a bowl of grapes “just to get some calories.” Don’t drop everything to whip up a separate batch of bacon. Kids won’t starve themselves.

Mark,

I have been primal a while now but I was having problems shedding subcutaneous (hope I spelled that right) body fat. Recently I have switched to a very ketogenic approach restricting my daily carb intake to 30 grams or less (mostly less) a day. Question: Since I am doing this, what is your feeling on carb backloading or reloading-would it help at all. Thanks for your time buddy!

High carb intakes can work alongside ketogenic dieting, provided you time it correctly.

Here’s how I’d try it:

Low-carb/keto on rest days. Focus on protein and fat when you’re not working out.

Higher carb, with your carbs coming post-workout, on training days.

Many programs follow this basic structure. Leangains, carb backloading, cyclical keto all involve eating very low carb for most of the time and eating high carb adjacent to training sessions when insulin sensitivity is high and muscle glycogen stores are starving. This allows you to restore muscle glycogen (and not insignificantly enjoy carb-rich food from a hedonistic standpoint) without impacting ketosis much.

Whatever option you choose, you’ll need to deplete glycogen if you want to include carbs in a ketogenic diet. As long as you have a glycogen debt, any carbs you eat will go toward restoring those glycogen stores and won’t interfere with ketone production. Since you’re talking carb backloading, I’m guessing you train regularly (carb backloading is big in the strength training community). This is good. Hard training is necessary for keto and carbs to co-exist.

How often do you switch things up vs maintaining a routine? Even within this 21-day challenge, I find myself making sure I keep to a fairly regular schedule to make sure I eat healthy and get a good amount of sleep.

But I’m worried about monotony setting in where I’m less “responsive” when there are disruptions to the schedule – late night event I want to attend, etc.

The people who go out every night and wake up at noon may seem like they’re better off, like they’re handling the sleep insults better than you, but they’re really just forcing their circadian rhythms to hew to an unnatural cycle. It’ll catch up to them, even if they’re inured to the negative effects right now.

Folks who sleep better more regularly will actually bounce back from sleep insults. Every day you get to bed at a good time and wake up refreshed, you’re paying off your sleep debt. Those nights out with your pals, the dinners that stretch past 1 AM, the comedy shows, the live music, the Netflix binges are less harmful, provided they remain special occasions, against a backdrop of solid, regular sleep.

Mark,

I’ve found that going low-carb tends to spike my LDL-C from around a norm of 70 up to 120 (with a corresponding LDL-P of 1,300). The LDL-P number is concerning, but I am loathe to give up low-carb Primal. Should I be concerned?

Thanks,

Aaron

I always urge people to experiment with different macronutrient ratios if they feel something’s amiss.

So hey, use this 21-Day Challenge to try a moderate carb Primal approach. More roots, tubers, fruit. Less fat. Keep protein as constant as you can (although that’s hard, as fat generally comes attached to protein).

Whatever you do, it’s crucial to see how subjective perceptions align with objective measurements. Your LDL may “improve,” but your energy levels decrease, you start gaining body fat, and you perform poorly in the gym. Or the opposite may happen.

How do you feel right now? Are you loathe to give up low-carb Primal because it makes you feel great or because you’re wedded to it ideologically? The distinction matters.

Note that I’m not leading you either way. I myself prefer and perform best on low-carb Primal, and for most people that seems to hold true, but it’s not for everyone. Find out for yourself and be honest about what you discover.

Is it better to eat locally/seasonally or focus on getting a variety of foods? For instance, is it preferred to eat roots and tubers for the winter in the northeast rather and save leafy greens and other veggies for the spring when they are in season? Any thoughts on this would be terrific!

There are good arguments for both.

Local/seasonal eating has the potential to be:

More nutritious. When food is local, you get it shortly after harvest. When food is trucked in from the other side of the country, you’re getting it well after harvest.

Easier. Fewer options mean you make fewer decisions about what to eat.

Cheaper: Not always, though.

Focusing on variety gives you:

Wider range of nutrients. You get to pick and choose what to eat, taking the best from every region.

More choices. Some people love and thrive with choices.

You probably know my answer: take the best of both. Buy local produce whenever possible, eat frozen blueberries shipped in from Canada because they’re so good and good for you. Don’t follow the rules (they don’t actually exist), blend and break them.

So long as the overall volume and intensity level of physical effort wouldn’t put one into chronic cardio/ black hole zone, and appropriate rest is accounted for, should daily “play” be acocunted for in any specific way during the challenge?

Personally, I’m asking if it’s ok to continue with the wrestling practice schedule I had before the challenge started, in which I had been tapering effort and participation to recovery based on both intuition and HRV scores?

Keep wrestling. Physical play trumps formal workouts, at least for me. Having fun while getting a great workout is basically hitting the fitness (and life) jackpot.

And since you’re tracking your recovery using proven biomarkers and intuition? You’re way ahead of the game. Absolutely keep wrestling.

Can you please share some tips on sneaking greens into my diet? I’m willing to eat them for health’s sake, but so many greens taste very bitter to me.

There are tons of ways. A few of my favorites:

Smoothies: See the smoothie recipe I mentioned up above.

Meatballs: Mix steamed, chopped, or pureéd greens into balls of animal flesh with spices. Cook, eat, ingest green stuff without really realizing or tasting it.

Bone broth: Toward the end of making broth, throw in some greens. Even if you toss the greens, many of the nutrients will have leached into the broth.

Salad: Find a dressing you absolutely love, so much that you’d eat cardboard shavings if they were smothered in it. This one’s pretty decent. If you’re doing a hardy green like kale, give it a good dressing massage a half hour before you plan to eat. This gives the greens more time to soften and become more palatable.

Hi Mark,

I have a 8 month old, a new job, am in graduate school, and am trying to complete the 21 day challenge. As a personal addition to the challenge, I am trying to incorporate a 24-hour fast one or two days a week (dinner to dinner). I’ve had success fasting before, but stress is at an all time high these days. I’m wondering if I’m doing more harm than good by stressing my body a bit further by not feeding it, or if, by relying on my energy stores between my waist and my belly button (aka my love handles), I am actually taking some of the stress off my body. In short, does fasting help or hurt when dealing with periods of very high stress?

Thanks,

Sam

I lean toward not fasting in this situation.

However, some people deal with stress naturally by not eating. Others crave food. If you’re the type who inadvertently stops eating when you’re stressed out, fasting may work well for you. If you’re the opposite type, or you don’t really know, I’d suggest not fasting and focusing on other aspects of the challenge.

What are some easy ways to get calcium without dairy? Dairy triggers serious skin issues such as acne for me. I try to eat lots of almonds, greens, and broccoli, but I find myself full before hitting the recommended amounts of calcium. On normal days, I hit about 70% of the DV. Second question: is it possible my body is telling me that I have enough?

Canned, bone-in sardines are fantastic for calcium (and omega-3s, and protein, and ocean minerals, and lots more). I like Wild Planet best.

– If I go to bed early enough for 8 hours, I ALWAYS wake up around 3 or 4 hours later. I generally use the bathroom at this time and in a weird way, I look forward to this as a sign that I did go to bed early enough. But still, waking up early when I try to sleep is odd, right?

– I wake up after 7 hours of sleep anyways. And this time when I wake up, it’s difficult to fall back asleep because my body just feels awake at this time.

So, given my case, would 8 hours be the number to shoot for or should I just go for 7 since it seems I get 7 hours regardless?

1. This can be perfectly normal. There’s some evidence that natural human sleep is biphasic, two 3-4 hours blocks separated by an hour or so of quiet contemplation, quiet (or not) sex, reading, meditation, or whatever else people did before smartphones. So no, you’re not odd.

2. If you feel awake, you’re awake. You’re probably one of the lucky ones that only needs a good 7 hours to feel rested and complete. Embrace it.

Thanks for reading, everyone. Any followup comments or questions go right down below. Grok on!

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The Prize:

Bottle of Avocado Oil: More heat stable than olive oil and a wonderful alternative for those who don’t like the taste of coconut oil, PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Avocado Oil is perfect for searing, drizzling, sautéing, stir-frying and dressing. Use to make marinades, finish sauces, or even in lieu of butter for all your baking needs.

Jar of Avocado Oil Mayo: PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Mayo is the perfect companion for your deviled eggs, coleslaw and chicken salad needs. Every dollop is chock is full of good fats, phytonutrients, and other antioxidants, so you can use it lavishly—not sparingly—to upgrade the flavor and nutritional profile of your meal.

Bottle of Greek Vinaigrette: Using real, organic oil of oregano, organic apple cider vinegar and the freshest ingredients (avocado oil, organic red wine vinegar, black pepper and lemon) our perfectly balanced vinaigrette is a tantalizing and refreshing complement to any salad. Its lush herb flavor is balanced with a hint of sweetness, savory spices and the zest of fragrant lemon oil—the quintessential addition to roasted chicken…or drizzle some on top of your vegetable lasagna. It also pairs very well with heavier fish like mackerel or sablefish.

Bottle of Honey Mustard Vinaigrette: This succulent dressing packs in the pungency of stone ground mustard and the sweetness of organic honey, perfectly enhanced by a tangy bold touch of lemon. It pairs well with slightly bitter greens, like chicory, Belgian endive, escarole or radicchio, and is succulent enough to be used as a dipping sauce for veggies…or to flavor your favorite fish, chicken or beef dishes. Honey mustard-flavored braised short ribs, anyone?

12 PRIMAL KITCHEN™ Dark Chocolate Almond Bars: A healthy and tasty alternative to sugar-laden energy bars, Primal Kitchen’s Dark Chocolate Almond Bars boost energy with 15 grams of healthy protein (from grass-fed collagen), and just 3 grams of sugar. Indulge whenever you are on the go and your stomach is rumbling…or when your taste buds are jonesing for a treat.

The Contest:

If you were alive in the mid-1990’s, you may remember comedian Jeff Foxworthy’s empire of “You might be a redneck if…” humor. Today I’m looking for “You might be Primal if…” jokes. Think one up and leave it in the comment board.

Examples:

• You might be Primal if you’ve been banned from your local grocery store for repeatedly violating the “No shirt, no shoes, no service” policy.
• You might be Primal if you’ve never used an elevator. Ever.
• You might be Primal if you prefer your apple with worms.
• You might be Primal if you accidentally broke your neighbor’s second story window with a kettlebell.
• You might be Primal if every butcher in America can recognize you on the spot.
• You might be Primal if you measure friends, relatives, and children not by the mettle of their character, but by how far you could throw them.
• You might be Primal if you’ve started to use Tabata intervals for dish washing, shopping, shaving, and dating.
• You might be Primal if you make guests take off their shoes before leaving the house.
• You might be Primal if you measure time by the number of cows you’ve consumed since an event occurred… “When did we take that trip to Portland?” “Oh, that was about 3 cows ago.”

Eligibility:

Anyone in the world can enter, though this prize may only be available to U.S. contestants. In the case of an international winner, substitute prizes of equal value will be shipped.

The Contest End Time:

Midnight PST, tonight!

How the Winner Will Be Determined:

I’ll pick a handful of my favorites and let all of you decide the winner through a reader poll.

To track all the contests, visit the 2016 Primal Blueprint 21-Day Challenge Contest Page for daily updates.

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Warm French Lentil Salad with Bacon & Herbs

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We love lentils here at The Kitchn. They are magically easy to cook on the stove, and versatile enough to go into a wide range of cuisines. Plus, they are quick. What more could you ask for when preparing a weeknight meal? But before you limit yourself to the tried-and-true lentil recipes you know, think outside the box and try one of these 20 recipe ideas that deliver on delicious.

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Up until two months ago, I was one of those people who swore that butter was my lifeblood and that I would absolutely die without cheese. My favorite thing to cook was pulled pork in the slow cooker, and my husband had just perfected sous vide steak. Then, in an afternoon, I decided none of that was for me anymore. I didn’t find out I had an allergy to dairy, and I didn’t have any health scares to encourage me to avoid meat. No, I watched a YouTube video, and bam — I was a vegan.

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