https://www.girlsgonestrong.com/

I love hiking and yet I haven’t always. I grew up watching TV and eating microwave meals. I was raised by a single mom who worked long hours just to make sure I could have warm clothes to wear and our heat would turn on in the winter months.

Little did I know, we lived in one of the greatest places in the world to explore on foot, the Pacific Northwest. I did not know this until four years ago.

I decided I wanted to learn more about hiking and adventuring. I looked around a little bit for some insight as to how someone like me — with zero outdoor experience, new to exercise, and kind of a nerd — would go about getting started.

I found tons of useful information, tons of not-so-useful information, and learned many lessons along the way. The more time I spent outside the more I wanted to create a hiking group in my community focused on inclusivity and body respect.

My area has no shortage of hiking groups for folks who are already comfortable being in the outdoors, fellow mountaineers, even beginners who are already athletic in other arenas.

What I wanted to start was a group for folks like me and my friends: people with little to no exercise experience, who need some support to get started and build confidence being outside. And so I did!

1. Be Safe & Be Prepared

The most important to be aware of when starting out is making sure that you are safe. With this in mind, the main things to consider are:

• Having enough food and water.
• Knowing where you’re going.

In regards to water, always bring more than you’ll need if there isn’t a water source on the trail. Dehydration is no joke and something that can be easily avoided by planning ahead.

Before heading out, read as much as you can online about the trail. Download maps, directions and any apps you might need to navigate your trip before leaving the house. Bring your smartphone fully charged too because even if you’re out of cell range, your GPS will still work! And you can take some stunning photos!

2. Dress Smart (It Doesn’t Mean Fancy)

When I started, every time I looked at pictures of people hiking, they always had super fancy gear. Being new to the whole idea of the outdoors, I thought that must be required, that there must be something really special about this stuff, and I couldn’t go out unless I had stuff that costs a lot of money.

This is not true! Over the years I’ve slowly accumulated gear that works for me, some costly, but I certainly didn’t start with anything high end.

Remember that safety is number one, followed by comfort. Depending on your climate, you may only need a few key items to be safe.

You can spend a lot of money on layers or you can just make sure you are not wearing cotton. It’s really that simple. I typically wear a synthetic base layer (think long sleeve athletic shirt), something a little thicker for a middle layer and then a coat or outer layer that will keep me dry. Boom.

3. Know That You Belong

Although it’s changing, the dominant image of outdoor culture is white, thin, cisgender, able-bodied hikers.

Just because you don’t see yourself represented in outdoor culture, doesn’t mean you don’t belong.

Many folks are part of a movement to change the way diversity is represented in outdoor culture. It still might be a while before you see someone like you represented in books and digital advertising. Don’t let that stop you!

Know that you belong wherever you are. You belong in your body, you belong on the trail and you deserve to be here.

4. Find the Right Folks

In my experience leading group hikes over the past four years, I’ve heard numerous stories of folks express their trepidation hiking with others because of a fear of being left behind or feeling intimidated by expertise or fitness level.

Hike with people who are supportive and patient, who are interested in sticking with you, or agree to convene regularly on the trail.

That said, if you enjoy time alone, don’t shy away from hiking solo. Spending your precious trail time trying to keep up with people and missing out on the beauty of the journey is a major bummer. I often hike alone with my pup for this very reason. I love the solitude and I love being able to go at my own pace and stop and enjoy the scenery anytime I want.

5. Be in Service to the Land

If you’ve spent any time at all familiarizing yourself with outdoor recreation you’ve probably heard one of the more recited guidelines for outdoor adventuring: Leave no trace.

Leave no trace is summarized in seven principles:

1. Plan ahead and prepare.
2. Stay on the trails and camp on durable surfaces.
3. Pack out your trash and pick up any other trash you find.
4. Leave everything as you find it.
5. Be careful with fire.
6. Respect wildlife.
7. Be considerate of other visitors.

These seven principles are instructions for how to respect the land. I like thinking about “being in service” rather than respect because it helps me relate to the environment like the living breathing being that it is.

I often think the land is disrespected when we forget that the outdoors isn’t an object for us to consume. It’s truly alive and constantly evolving and changing just like us. It responds to the conditions it’s under.

If it’s abused with littering and meadow stomping, it will deteriorate. If it’s respected and left the way we find it, it will have more opportunity to flourish.

Another way I’m learning it’s important to respect the land is by bringing consciousness to the indigenous peoples who live and have lived here since time immemorial. Prior to white settlement, the land we currently live on and consider our national forests or parks was a thriving and sustainable ecosystem in which indigenous people lived in reciprocity with the land.

There’s so much more to say about this but for now, I’d love to encourage you to learn about the history of the land you’re on. Read and listen to the stories of indigenous peoples. Spend a few minutes on your hike imagining what the land may have been like 200 years ago and what impact settlement has had on this precious impermanent planet.

6. Don’t Rush & Enjoy the Journey

Even though I often seek out time in nature to calm my anxiety, I still forget to slow down and take it all in. This is one of my greatest lessons of all: there’s no rush to the top.

I sometimes meet my self-criticism gremlins when hiking, especially when I’m on a popular trail on a weekend and I’m being passed constantly by other hikers. It’s not uncommon for me to encounter hikers jogging up a mountain when I am panting like a sweaty pug on spring break.

Even when my self-talk isn’t kind, the trail is always kind to me. I try to use each step as an opportunity to make friends with whatever criticism I might be enduring.

At the end of a switchback, pause and take as many loud breaths as you need. Look how far you’ve come. You can literally look down from your climb and see your progress in a very tangible way.

In our day to day, our little anxieties and troubles can feel so all-encompassing. Nature is always there to remind us how small we truly are. No matter how important you think you are, you can look anywhere and see yourself dwarfed by trees or rocks. Relish in the magic of it all.

Resources

The following smartphone apps can enhance your hiking experience:

• Alltrails
• Avena Maps
• Native Land
• Google Maps

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The post 6 Important Tips to Help You Get Started With Hiking (and Enjoy It!) appeared first on Girls Gone Strong.

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Intermittent fasting (IF) can lead to weight loss, an improved metabolism, and a lower risk of chronic disease. Find out why IF works—and when it’s a good choice for your health.

The post Intermittent Fasting: The Science Behind the Trend appeared first on Chris Kresser.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

I wanted to send an update since my last success story that you shared. But for the sake of the success stories (and first-time readers), I’ll give a little background info as well.

I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease back in 2000 at the young age of 13. For many years, I had many health-related ups and downs, and I was constantly in and out of remission. Not only did I suffer from painful gut-related issues, but I suffered from many other side-effects as well such as liver issues, extreme migraines, depression, thyroid nodules, rashes, and fragile hair and nails.

Since the day I was diagnosed, my GI doctor had me on pharmaceuticals which he would increase or change when I got flare-ups. I spent my youth in and out of doctor’s offices, hospitals, and urgent care centers getting poked at, screened and examined. I usually left in tears, hopeless, told that I would always have to be on medications.

Fast forward to the beginning of 2017 when I met my Holistic Nutritionist. She introduced me to Functional Medicine. She immediately recommended a change in diet—something NO doctor had even mentioned to me before! And she added specific supplements to my protocol, supplements in which my body was lacking and completely depleted of because my gut wasn’t absorbing nutrients.

She started me on the path of Holistic Health: eating right and natural methods to take care of my body and ailments. Within the first couple of months I started feeling better, and after 6 months I was in remission.

One of the first things I changed was my diet. I started on a Paleo/Autoimmune Protocol, and things continued getting better from there. I started doing my own research, and that’s when I discovered Mark Sisson, the Primal Blueprint and Mark’s Daily Apple!

Mark’s recipes and informative articles helped me a lot. He’s a huge inspiration to me. Not only is going Primal one of the better health decisions I’ve made, but his recipes are deliciously amazing as well. I truly enjoy being in the kitchen…something I used to dread!

Since following the Primal Lifestyle, I’ve become healthier than ever before. I stay active, eat right and nourish my body with HEALTHY choices, get outdoors, and try to maintain a positive mentality.

I’m no longer depressed, sick, or thin—in fact, I can’t even remember the last time I was “stay-at-home-in-bed” sick! I’ve been off ALL pharmaceuticals for 17 months! I have energy all day long and I’ve been able to travel abroad without any issues; this past summer I spent 1 month volunteering on an organic herbal farm in Portugal, afterwards I went to the Austrian Alps, and then flew across continents to meet my husband in Cartagena, Colombia to visit his family. I traveled all summer without a single Crohn’s flare-up or getting sick. Traveling like that is something I’d never been able to do before switching my lifestyle.

The knowledge I’ve learned—and continue to learn—helps me maintain my current health, and I’m incredibly thankful to all my health “teachers” out there, including you, Mark!

Because I’m a true believer in Holistic/Functional Health, I started a collaborative health blog called Honor Thy Gut to get the word out that holistic healing does work. I like to share uplifting stories, tips and advice that has helped me heal. I encourage my readers to add to the conversation as well! My articles are often inspired by Mark Sisson, Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr Axe, John Douillard, among many others.

Happy Healing to you all!

Larissa Nowak-Lobo

The readers featured in our success stories share their experiences in their own words. The Primal Blueprint and Keto Reset diets are not intended as medical intervention or diagnosis. Nor are they replacements for working with a qualified healthcare practitioner. It’s important to speak with your doctor before beginning any new dietary or lifestyle program, and please consult your physician before making any changes to medication or treatment protocols. Each individual’s results may vary.

The post After Six Months I Was In Remission appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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Though we can say with certainty that Finding Nemo didn’t exactly have all of the facts on the nature of toilet plumbing, and all drains, do not, in fact lead to the ocean, there are still some really weird things that have been found in toilets, even if they didn’t come up from the depths […]

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Thanks to the good folks at Paleohacks for today’s recipe.

This rich keto chili is made with two types of beef and slow cooked in bone broth for stick-to-your-ribs heartiness. This rich and simple crockpot recipe combines sirloin steak, ground bison, sweet bell peppers, and smoky ancho chiles for a recipe that is anything but ordinary. Best of all, this chili can be prepped ahead of time for a meal that reheats in a pinch throughout a busy week.

The stock for this chili is made from bone broth, or slow-simmered beef bones. When bones simmer in water overnight, they release their amino acids into the liquid, creating a liquid golden broth full of gut-healing collagen. We love this potent and flavorful bone broth recipe with leeks and rosemary, but you can also purchase plain bone broth online or in most grocery stores if you’re in a pinch.

Most of the flavor in this chili comes from dried ancho chiles. These are made from smoked poblano peppers, condensing their sweetness and adding a complexity to chili that raw pepper alone can’t match. This pepper is not spicy, making it one the whole family can enjoy. You can find dried ancho chiles in the ethnic foods aisle of most grocery stores.

Lean ground bison and tender chunks of sirloin beef are browned in a skillet before being added to the crockpot. This gives them a chance to caramelize, deepening the flavor of the chili. Both grass-fed beef and bison are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and contain more free-radical fighting antioxidants like vitamin-E than their factory-farm counterparts.

Get started by heating ghee in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes, then pour them into the crockpot. Next, turn up the heat to medium-high and add the diced steak and ground bison to the skillet to brown for seven or eight minutes. Drain and discard any fat, then pour the meat over the onions in the crockpot.

Add the ancho chiles, tomatoes, bone broth and dried herbs to the crockpot, then cover and set to low heat for six hours. Add a chopped green bell pepper to the crockpot for the last hour of cooking to help keep it crisp. Ladle the chili into bowls and garnish with freshly chopped cilantro.

Looking for more keto recipes? Check out these 23 paleo and keto-friendly snacks.

Time In the Kitchen: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 6 hours, 15 minutes

Servings: 6

Tools:

• Large skillet
• Crockpot

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 small white onion, chopped
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 lb sirloin steak, cubed
• 1 lb ground bison
• 2 medium, dried ancho chili peppers, finely chopped
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes
• 2 cups beef or bison bone broth
• 2 tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• Chopped cilantro, for serving

Instructions:

1. Heat ghee in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour the onions into the crockpot and return skillet to the stovetop.

2. Add the diced steak and ground bison to the skillet and turn the heat up to medium-high. Brown the meat for 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain and discard any fat. Pour the meat into the crockpot.

3. Add the ancho chiles, tomatoes, bone broth, cumin, oregano, paprika and sea salt to the crockpot. Cover and set to low heat for 5 hours.

4. Add the bell pepper to the crockpot and cook on low heat for one more hour.

5. Ladle the chili into bowls and garnish with cilantro.

Nutritional Info:

• Calories: 257
• Carbs: 4.7 grams
• Fat: 11 grams
• Protein: 34 grams

Thanks again to Paleohacks for today’s recipe. Have a great Sunday, everyone.

The post 2 Meat, 2 Pepper Chili appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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Do you work all day on a computer or spend more time than you should on your phone, tablet or in front of the television? We live in a digital age, and more people spend long hours in front of a screen of some sort. What is happening to our eyes and brains as a […]

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Research of the Week

“Thermally-abused” (great term) soybean oil promotes breast cancer progression.

Big moralizing gods came after the rise of civilizations.

Strong weed linked to psychosis.

Reindeer brew alcohol in their bodies to deal with cold winters.

The link between statins and type 2 diabetes is even stronger than we thought.

“Ancient monkey bone tools.” That is all.

Case study: ketogenic diet (plus exercise and time restricted eating) rescues cognition in patient with Alzheimer’s disease.

Paleo ketogenic diets for cancer: more case studies.

Military personnel who maintained strict adherence to a ketogenic diet lost weight, lost visceral fat, and improved body composition without compromising physical performance.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 321: Maria Emmerich: Host Elle Russ chats with keto nutritionist Maria Emmerich.

Health Coach Radio Episode 4: Laura Rupsis: Erin Power interviews her co-host, Laura Rupsis.

Each week, select Mark’s Daily Apple blog posts are prepared as Primal Blueprint Podcasts. Need to catch up on reading, but don’t have the time? Prefer to listen to articles while on the go? Check out the new blog post podcasts below, and subscribe to the Primal Blueprint Podcast here so you never miss an episode.

Media, Schmedia

Amazon removes some anti-vaccine books. Other tech companies are following suit. Maybe that’s a pretty safe target, but what about when they start targeting “dietary misinformation”?

The BMJ stops carrying infant formula advertisements.

Interesting Blog Posts

Why nutritional psychiatry is the future of mental health treatment.

How we’ll know AI is conscious.

The liver is not a filter.

Social Notes

How I train my abs.

Everything Else

Bhang, a traditional cannabis-infused drink popular during the Indian festival of Holi.

Some doctors are saying you should wean yourself off antidepressants very slowly—over months or years rather than weeks.

The fascinating effect soft foods had on human language.

Tucker Goodrich responds to Gary Taubes on seed oils.

Who were the Neanderthals?

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

Always glad to be included in “hot health trends.”

I’m glad to hear: Scientists come out against the abuse of statistical significance.

Concept I found interesting: A futurist’s dim view of the future smart home.

Guide I’m reading: The EWG’s 2019 guide to pesticides on produce.

I agree: We need to re-assess the impact of intensive grazing on carbon balance.

I’m flabbergasted: You mean I shouldn’t be injecting fruit smoothies into my veins?

Question I’m Asking

What’s your vision of the future—optimistic or dystopian?

Recipe Corner

• Paleo moo shu pork.
• Sriracha chicken salad.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Mar 17 – Mar 23)

• A Look at Swerve Sweetener – Should you swerve?
• Can Keto Actually Work For Hard-Training Endurance or Power/Strength Athletes?– Well, can it?

Comment of the Week

“Oh, man. Thanks for the bonus ab workout from the hilarious gummy bear link.”

– Just be careful of overtraining, whitedaisy.

The post Weekly Link Love — Edition 21 appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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Glyphosate is routinely used on crops like corn, wheat, and soy as a weed killer, but is this chemical harmless to humans? Read on to learn how glyphosate can impact your health.

The post The Impact Glyphosate Can Have on Your Health appeared first on Chris Kresser.