I went to school for 10 years to study geology, worked in oil & gas for several internships and then ~6 years full-time before becoming an independent geologic consultant – and finally a health coach. My background in geology & evolutionary biology informs my approach as a health coach, and I now help people to lose weight and gain health using only the laws of nature.

That’s me up there – attempting to figure out lacustrine microbial carbonates in the Green River Basin. 

And I have some insight to your current situation. Let me see if I can channel it.

You are a geoscientist. A geoscientist who has been displaced from your natural environment.

You may have a parent who introduced you to geology, in which case, you actually started your undergraduate career in geology – I think you are in the minority. The rest of us had no idea that you could be a geologist – until we discovered intro to Geology in college.

And it was magic when you found geology. It just seemed right. I mean, studying the Earth to understand how it formed, how it moves, what’s on the inside, how alive it is… it is intuitive in some way, it appeals to your innate curiosity AND your creative side. It’s so applied – there are so many moving pieces – it’s all connected. It brings you AWE. The ah-ha moments never stop.

AND – there are field trips.

You graduated from undergrad and were coached to go to grad school in order to make a living doing geoscience, doing the thing you love most. And that was fine with you, because you’re a professional student, and you’d get to spend 2-6 years (or more) playing around with friends (& rocks) before you head out into the real world.

Here’s what grad school was like:

• You participated in more great field trips. Amazing how you traveled so much on so little.
• You had countless beers to celebrate the week’s end at ‘colloquium’ or ‘seminar’ or ‘in the library’ or ‘at the office’.
• You were part of a pack of students who were on a bowling league, or ultimate team, or who watched ‘must see TV’ night together, or [insert your social routine here].
• Your $1K/mo salary didn’t seem like a problem – financial aid rocks.
• Camping was the solution to getting life done.
• You enjoyed attending conferences – and challenged yourself to see how many free meals you could schmooze.
• You learned that one of the hardest things to do in life is to get your graduate committee together in one room.
• You honed your skills, focused your efforts, and developed your niche.
• You learned if you were industry-bound or academia-bound or public-service-bound.
• Somewhere along the way – you nailed down your first job.

In the end – you racked up 2-3 degrees in the pursuit of geoscience. You had community, you had nature, and looking back, you somehow survived on less than minimum wage.

Your first job may have actually started before that final degree was awarded… just to make life interesting. But whatever that job was, it was moving forward, it was some serious cash, and it marked an important transition in your life toward responsible adulthood.

Whew. Took you a long long time to get there… but you did it. AND you had fun on the way.

Now you’re there. You’ve got this job that actually uses the skills that you honed. You are interpreting the Earth everyday. Your day may now look like this (my day did):

• Commute (my commute was at least 30 minutes – up to 1.5 hours each way).
• Search for parking (this was a routine part of my day).
• Walk in and ride the elevator up, maybe way up.
• Use your security badge to get into the door.
• Sit down at your desk.
• Have a meeting or two to bust up your productivity.
• Lunch time – head downstairs to survey the options, or sit right there at your desk.
• +/- hit the gym.
• Head back to your desk.
• Meeting or two to bust up your productivity.
• You might monitor the traffic online to make the most informed decision about when to commute home.
• Commute home.
• Repeat.

Your new environment is an office space, your new tools are a dual-headed monitor and a mouse and a server that is always at or near capacity with the exponential growth of the datasets that you challenge it with. You spend your time learning (mocking?) the new motivational jargon, making ergonomics appointments to mitigate the true dangers of your job, and fighting for the opportunity to reconnect with the rocks by participating in field trips – while the powers that be are pushing the safer – virtual field trip option. Or maybe you’re facing uncertainty in your job, driven by budget cuts or the price of oil… that’s stressful.

But wait, there’s something pretty major missing.

The actual Earth.

And this is probably taking a pretty big toll on your health. I know you, and while you got into this Earth stuff for a passion and a curiosity that may still be satisfied on a daily basis – you used to benefit from this field of geology even more – like the fresh air, like the movement, like the vitamin D, like the serious grounding in nature. 

And because I’ve been through all of this too – I’d like to present you with some solutions that you can integrate into your life today – to help you shift your office life & environment toward one that is more health-promoting – one that is closer to your human nature.

I call it ‘5 Tips To Re-Wild the Office Geoscientist’.

And to make you feel at home, I’ll also summarize it into a one-pager.

Go ahead, follow this link… and begin your journey of re-wilding.

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Have you ever been to the beach? Have you noticed that when you’re out walking on the beach or wading in the ocean that you feel amazing? Maybe it’s because you’re outside inhaling some fresh air or getting some much needed vitamin D, maybe it’s because you’re on vacation and you suddenly don’t have a care in the world. Your daily stressors are gone. Or MAYBE, for the first time in years, you’re actually touching the Earth.

My guest today tells me that the way we live our lives today – we might as well be walking around on stilts, we’re completely disconnected from the Earth, and it’s negatively affecting our health. Martin Zucker is the co-author of a book called “Earthing: the most important health discovery ever!”

Martin and I review what Earthing is, how it’s rooted in ancestral health, chat about what makes us so disconnected from the Earth today, about how we can go about re-connecting ourselves to the Earth, about why we would even want to do that, and about how long it takes to reap the benefits of Earthing.

Bottom line is this: you might be able to decrease pain & inflammation, regulate your hormones, and improve the quality of your sleep simply by touching the Earth.

I’ve invited Martin to be back with us next week to discuss some of the real science behind Earthing…

 

Martin’s Bio:

Martin Zucker has written extensively on natural healing, fitness, and alternative medicine for more than thirty-five years. He has co-authored or ghostwritten more than a dozen books during that time. His latest is Earthing:The Most Important Health Discovery Ever! (Basic Health Publications, 2014, second edition), co-authored with Clinton Ober and cardiologist Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D. His previous books include Move Yourself and Reverse Heart Disease Now (both from John Wiley & Sons, 2008, 2006), Natural Hormone Balance for Women (Pocket Books, 2002), The Miracle of MSM (Berkley Trade, 1999), Preventing Arthritis (Berkley Trade, 2002), and The Veterinarians’ Guide to Natural Remedies for Dogs/Cats (Three Rivers Press, 2000).

Zucker has written hundreds of magazine articles on a wide variety of health topics and contributed to Smithsonian, Readers Digest, Los Angeles Times, Cook’s Magazine, Vegetarian Times, Muscle & Fitness, Men’s Fitness, and The National Enquirer. He is a former Associated Press foreign correspondent who worked in Europe and the Middle East.

You can subscribe to The Roots of Health at WebTalkRadio.net and also on iTunes.

Sure did. I had a job as an exploration geologist. It was a fantabulous job – it was science + art + curiosity + adventure + community all wrapped up behind the secure doors of the West Houston high-rise.

Ironically – and unlike most of the oils in the grocery store – the oil that I was exploring for – was 100% natural and organic.

Let me share some amazing intel with you – about the so-called Heart Healthy oils that we’re sold.

They aren’t really heart-healthy. At least, they’re not proven to be. AND unfortunately – most of them aren’t natural and organic either. In fact, the majority of these oils that we consume, are from genetically modified crops.

If you’re on my list – you’ve seen this fine video… which is pretty incredible. Notice how canola oil is processed and bleached and de-odorized. Awesome. (If you’re not on my list – you can hop on it here)

[And holy crap – I just realized that in this video she says “…which North American farmers have been growing for about 30 years.” >>> This fails my traditional foods test straight off the bat.]

One of the best things that you can do for your health today – is to identify where ‘vegetable oils’ are in your life – and work to reduce and/or eliminate them. There is no requirement for vegetable oil in a human diet as far as I know – and we CAN opt out of this giant unplanned human experiment that are in.

In short – I avoid them because they are thermally unstable (they readily oxidize with heat/light) and they are very high in omega-6 fats relative to omega-3 fats (which is unnatural).

The main places that you’ll find them are in marinades and dressings, processed foods, and restaurant foods.

Personally – I opt for butter to cook with, and dress my salads with poached eggs or sauerkraut/fermented veggies or guacamole or homemade cole slaw or just salt & pepper.

As always – if you’d like some support in your quest to gain health… shoot me a line, I’d like nothing more than to help.

Cheers!

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There’s nothing like a warm bubble bath to relax you, maybe in a tub surrounded by vanilla-scented candles… And once you’re done, for sure you’ll want to moisturize before you lounge around in your super soft & fluffy bath robe. This sort of self-care is encouraged by health & wellness professionals everywhere. I should know, I sanction this activity. But are the bubbles and fragrances and lotions and fabric softeners that make this scenario so luxurious doing your body more harm than good?

Here to help us answer this question is Bonnie Penner – a woman on a mission to educate us about the dangers of xenoestrogens in our lives and to provide solutions for us so that we can keep our self-care routine safe & truly health promoting.

Bonnie and I discuss what xenoestrogens are, how you can identify them in your life, and what you can do to replace them so that you can live xenoestrogen free. We talk about BPA (#7 plastics) & Phthlates (#3 plastics) to introduce the idea of xenoestrogens – and go on to define the BS FACTS – an acronym to help you remember the ‘7 Deadly Estro-Sins’ (Bubbles, Scents, Fire Retardants, Antibacterial Products, Cans, Three’s & Seven’s, & SPF).

Bonnie has agreed to join me again to talk about her personal story and the biological impact of xenoestrogens, as well as for a show discussing the ways to detox from xenoestrogen exposure. I’m looking forward to having her back on the show! Stay tuned!

Bonnie’s Bio

Bonnie Penner is the founder of Zero Xeno. She is a public speaker who has a passion for spreading the word about the dangers of xenoestrogens – chemicals that mimic estrogen and wreak havoc on normal hormone balance. Along with this message, she has been formulating xenoestrogen-free products for over 25 years. Penner is known as ‘The Xenoestrogen Expert’ and began ‘The Zero Xeno Movement!’ ‘The Zero Xeno Movement’ aims to raise awareness about harmful xenoestrogens found in products the average person uses every day. Individuals who join this Movement are becoming aware of what xenoestrogens are, where they are hidden and how to avoid them.

Zero Xeno is proud to be a 100% Canadian owned company based in Kelowna, BC Canada. They manufacture a variety of xenoestrogen-free products. Their retail products include organic Kombucha shampoo, hair conditioner, body washes and other personal care products made from food grade ingredients. Additionally, they produce organic baby care products, household cleaners and a line of fermented beverages to help to detoxify xenoestrogens from your body.

You can subscribe to The Roots of Health at WebTalkRadio.net and also on iTunes.

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Human beings adapt to their environment. In fact in nature, the process of adaptation enables the fitness and survival of a species. Human beings have successfully adapted to their environment for the past few hundred to few million years (depending on where you interpret the first human species) to populate the Earth.

And we have populated the Earth. But would you say that the adaptations that we face today are enabling the fitness and survival of our species going forward? A great example of what happens to human beings outside of their natural environment is to consider what happens to astronauts when they are sent into space. We can measure what happens to their bodies, bones, muscles etc. in the absence of gravity. It’s pretty remarkable how fast their body begins to adapt to their new environment. Without gravity to force them to support their own body weight, calcium begins to leach from their bones and their muscles begin to atrophy in a matter of days.

Let’s learn from this modern experiment – and seek to understand the disconnect between our ancestral environment and our modern environment.

On today’s show, I outline 5 areas where there have been major changes between our ancestral environment and the environment that we face today. I also begin to offer ideas on how to align your modern life more closely with the environment that successfully shaped our species – for the purpose of your own health gain today.

For a free 40-page Beginner’s Guide to Ancestral Health – head on over to my website – forwardhealthcoach.com – to sign up for my newsletter…

You can also find me on Facebook (From This Day Forward Health Coach and The Roots of Health) and on Twitter.

I look forward to connecting with you!

You can subscribe to The Roots of Health at WebTalkRadio.net and also on iTunes.

 

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What would you think if I told you that you could feed yourself a nutritious, seasonal, whole foods diet with no carbon footprint… for free? Maybe you’d think that I’d lost my mind, I do that sometimes, but I assure you – that my mind is with me today. Once upon a time, before the advent of grocery stores and before we decided that manmade foods were somehow safer than the greens found in nature… human food was exactly that.

My goal by the end of this show is to get you to go outside – pluck something that you’ve always considered a weed, and eat it.

My guest today is going to up my odds at reaching that goal. Sam Thayer, is an author, a forager, and an internationally recognized authority on edible wild plants.

Sam and I talk about the opportunity that you have to forage, the benefits of foraging, and some of the most common wild greens (he bets most of them are within steps of your home). We talk about major objections to foraging, including being poisoned, modern pesticide and herbicide use, and worry about destroying nature. And – now that you’ll be convinced to start – Sam tells us the best way to go about it and discusses some great resources for you.

Our Earth really is covered with an incredible diversity of wild foods that are nutritious, sustainable, safe to eat, & free. Learn about them one at a time, and head outside to forage.

Here are a few plants that should be right outside your door:

1) Purslane

 

2) Sow Thistle

 

3) Amaranth

 

4) Lambs-Quarters

 

5) Shepherds Purse

 

6) Wild Violets

 

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I wrote something for you.

I call it a ‘Beginner’s Guide to Ancestral Health‘.

It’s a 40-page guide that outlines 5 fundamental requirements of human health…

My approach is this: Our bodies and our health are literally shaped by our environment. We adapt to our environment… our bodies are amazing that way. If you’re interested in changing your health and your body – you might consider changing it’s environment.

Historically, our environment – which is made up of our surroundings and the choices that we have within those surroundings – was vastly different than it is today. Our environment used to force us to interact with it in a pretty physical way – just to get the stuff of life done.  Our environment used to challenge our immune system and enable human interaction. Our environment used to provide a seasonally diverse, whole foods diet.

Today – our environment is pretty crazy.

Our surroundings allow us to remain in positions that are unnatural to us – and we’re adapting to those positions (see: joint pain, back pain, foot pain).

Our surroundings bring food to us, so that we no longer have to walk to find it… and we’re adapting to that (see: poor circulation, obesity).

Our surroundings are even virtual today – we no longer have to physically interact with other humans (see: loneliness, depression, poor eyesight).

Our surroundings enable us to work – at all hours of the night (see: wonky hormones, fatigue).

Our sterile surroundings enable low diversity in our microbiota (see: decreased immunity, disease).

Our economy enables a vast array of low diversity engineered foods that our bodies don’t know how to assimilate… and that has made forced us into the largest, poorly constrained scientific study of all time (see: food science, GMO’s, leaky guts, autoimmunity)

But there is something that each and every one of us can do. And that is this: consider your surroundings, your opportunities and choices, and alter them in a way that – once upon a time – supported the successful evolution of the human species.

Check out my Beginner’s Guide to Ancestral Health for some more ideas about this… and take control of your health by playing with an ancestral approach to health.

Click on the image above to receive it today.

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I have a question for you today. What is it that you do 3-6 times a day that provides information to your body? You eat. You make choices about what foods you put into your body. Eating food provides your body with the raw materials that it needs to run the chemistry of life. Pretty cool, right?

Yet you may not connect the foods you eat day in and day out, to your current state of health, or to your odds of suffering from some chronic illness in the future. Have you ever considered that your diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, or autoimmune disease, or fatigue might be some how related to the foods that you routinely eat? And if so, how do you sift and winnow through all of the food choices that we have available to us today?

Maybe to make sense of food, and your body’s relationship with food, you need a perspective or an approach to help you make food choices. Maybe your choices would be easier if you had some insight as to why certain things that you may be eating on a daily basis may be causing you more harm than good – at least in your current state of health.

That was part of the aim of Dr. Sarah Ballantyne (aka The Paleo Mom) when she wrote her incredible book, “The Paleo Approach”.   My plan today is to chat with Sarah about Food, what foods provide the building blocks for your body, and what foods could be getting in the way of your own optimal health.

Sarah and I talk about what your plate might look like using a Paleo Approach, about the abundance of nutrient dense whole foods available to you, about the reasons why you might resist this sort of approach, and the idea of tailoring this approach to meet your needs no matter where your starting point is. We also dive into the reasons behind why the Paleo Approach eliminates grains (even whole grains), legumes, seed oils, refined sugar, and conventional dairy from your diet.

 

Sarah’s Bio:

Sarah Ballantyne, Ph.D. (a.k.a. The Paleo Mom) is the blogger behind the award-winning www.ThePaleoMom.com; cohost of the syndicated top-rated The Paleo View Podcast; and New York Times bestselling author of The Paleo Approach and The Paleo Approach Cookbook.

Sarah earned her doctorate degree in medical biophysics at the age of 26. She spent the next four years doing research on innate immunity and inflammation before becoming a stay-at-home mom. After her second daughter was born, she began to experiment with the Paleo lifestyle. It had an amazing effect on her health, including contributing to her 120-pound weight loss! Over time, she healed herself of a long laundry list of physical complaints including: Irritable Bowel Syndrome, acid reflux, migraines, anxiety, asthma, allergies, psoriasis and an autoimmune skin condition called lichen planus. Sarah successfully transitioned her originally skeptic husband and two spirited young daughters to a paleo diet and lifestyle. Her passion for providing straightforward explanations of the science behind the paleo diet and its modifications, plus her love of food and cooking and her dedication to her family form the foundations of her blog, her podcast and her books. You can also find Sarah on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

You can subscribe to The Roots of Health at WebTalkRadio.net and also on iTunes.

 

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Do you feel dull, depressed, living life under a set of rules that don’t really exist? Are you annoyed by frivolity? Are you trapped in a state of ‘but-we’ve-always-done-it-that-way’? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you might just have a raging case of Adultitis.

My guest today spends his time creating awareness around this very illness while helping adults (and tragically, some kids) escape the clutches of this terrible disease. Jason Kotecki is the chief creative guy at an organization called Escape Adulthood, whose mission is to annihilate Adultitis, by advocating a lifestyle based on the secrets of childhood while helping people to live better stories with less stress and more fun.

Jason and I talk about The Cure Adultitis Institute, how you can diagnose your own degree of adultitis, what happened in our lives to infect us with this disease, what could happen to you if you live undiagnosed, what exactly are these ‘rules that don’t exist’, what are the secrets of childhood, and how can we begin to combat adultitis in our lives.

This child-like perspective is inside all of us – just waiting to get out. Go ahead, have a Jell-O Cook-off, or bake an ugly cake – on purpose… you don’t know what you’re missing.

You’d probably benefit if you stop taking yourself so seriously, you’re stressing yourself out and sapping joy out of your life.

Pre-order Jason’s book, Penguins Can’t Fly +39 Other Rules That Don’t Exist here.

You can subscribe to The Roots of Health at WebTalkRadio.net and also on iTunes.

 

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We all have stuff, stuff in our garage, stuff in our basement, in our closets, it’s taking up space in our home. We may not even see the ‘stuff’ that’s right in plain sight and we may not even know what is in those boxes in the attic or the basement, at least I don’t. I really don’t.

We are probably immune to the condition of our own home. And that’s both a bummer and an opportunity, because our home environment is a metaphor for our own lives.

My guest today is Jane Antonovich, an organizational expert, Feng Shui Apprentice, with a Masters in teaching who helps people conquer their clutter – and live with greater energy, optimism, productivity, health and wealth. She has the unique ability to help her clients recognize and honor their own energy to help them create a home environment that promotes their health and facilitates their growth.

Jane and I talk about why we hold on to the things that we do, we talk about what this clutter is actually costing us, how your home energy drains your own energy bank account, and the first steps that you can take to de-clutter your home environment.

Visit Jane’s website to sign up for “Tackle Your Clutter ToolKit” and to subscribe to her weekly newsletter with stories and tips to motivate and inspire.

Jane’s Bio:

Jane Antonovich is an Organizational Expert, Feng Shui Apprentice and Master Teacher who helps people conquer their clutter – and live with greater energy, optimism, productivity, health and wealth. 

With her surprisingly playful mix of soul and style, Jane empowers smart, driven humans to transform their spaces, and uplevel their lives — so they can live with overflowing purpose, passion and gusto!

Jane has been working with people in their spaces for 15 years and is here to paint a very dramatic picture of how our homes affect our lives as she shines a light on this very powerful connection.

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