Adam Kayce

I know why most people hate going to the gym, and it has nothing to do with exercise, exertion, or getting all sweaty and tired.

Want to know the reason? The way most people do it, it’s boring as hell.

Let me ask you this: are you strapping yourself onto the same machine as the day before, hitting the same buttons you did the day before, and doing the same workout you did the day before? And where did this workout come from?

I’ll bet you it came from one of these three sources:

• an article in a magazine,
• it’s what the person behind the desk showed you on your tour when you signed up, or
• it’s what everyone else is doing.

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I love these shoes. I love ‘em so much, I have to share them with you. And, in the same vein as recommending eye exercises to rid yourself of glasses and/or contacts, I totally recommend you get yourself a pair.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit they do look a bit odd at first…

… but they feel amazing, and you get used to them really quick.

You may have heard of Vibram Five Fingers before; they’re definitely making the rounds among the kind of people who know a good thing when they see it (heck, there’s even a site completely devoted to them!). But if you haven’t, I highly encourage you to try them. Why?
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You know I’m a die-hard coconut fan, right? I mean, I named my webdesign company Bright Coconut, I’ve won recipe contests for coconut-laden recipes, we use coconut oil in our cooking, and I honestly eat something with coconut in it each and every day, no exceptions.

So, you can imagine that I’m always on the lookout for ways to sneak coconut into all kinds of recipes… and I found one recently. It was good to start with, but a little coconut took it over the edge.

Beautiful, aren't they? Photo (and another variation) © DinnerCakes.com

“Fauxtatoes” are the name I came up with for these yummy puppies after we made them a few times, because the consistency is pretty much exactly like mashed potatoes. And, they’re the closest I’ll get to eating ‘taters, since I’m a Primal guy, through and through.

Here’s the recipe:

• 1 head o’ cauliflower, chopped however
• 32oz chicken stock
• 4-5 garlic cloves, peeled

… all in a big pot, adding water to just about cover the cauli, boil for about 15 minutes until it softens up a bit. Depending on how thick your pieces are, it may take 20-25 minutes. It’s all good, though.

Drain off the liquid, and mash it all up—if you have a hand blender, by all means use it—adding:

• a splash of coconut milk
• butter (no, you do not measure this. trust me… just add butter, and then add some more)
• salt & pepper to taste

Yum!

Now, these are tasty, with or without the coconut milk. But what kind of coconut addict would I be if I didn’t add some?

I’d love to hear what you think if you try these, especially if you play around with the spices some… I’m more than happy with how these have come out, but I’d be open to experimentation (curry? herbs de provence? ginger?)

Bon appetit!

It lies within you, thirsting.

Like a baby bird chirping desperately for its mother’s return to the nest to bring the food that will keep it alive, there is a yearning that lives within you, and it calls incessantly. It can be satiated with the smallest of moments, and it has a camel’s resistance to thirst, but if you ignore it too long, it will shrivel and die.

And as it does, color will fade from your world. Meaning will ebb away, enjoyment will wither, and you’ll sit around trying to remember a time in your life when richness existed. You’ll get dry, stiff… and when you hardly recognize the crusty you that you’ve become, you’ll chalk it up to being busy. Or being a parent. Or being a professional. Or getting older.

But it has nothing to do with any of those things.

The Urgent Call is your spirit’s need for connection. Like the migrating herds of the plains of Africa, who travel thousands of miles every year in search of life-giving food and water, your spirit has an essential drive to feel its connection to all around it. It’s the reason we seek community. It’s the reason we search for purpose and meaning in life. It’s the reason we feel better when we’re on a spiritual path, and it’s the reason that it doesn’t really matter what path that ends up being.

What matters is that you connect.
What matters is the Urgent Call gets listened to.
It doesn’t matter how your Urgent Call gets fulfilled, only that it does.
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You probably know I’m a CrossFit addict by now. It’s more fun than a cooler full of coconut milk, more effective than erosion, and anyone can do it just about anywhere. However, done on its own, with no regard to your nutrition, isn’t going to get you nearly as far or as fast as if you pay really good attention to what you’re eating and why.

Enter: Primal.

It’s not that CrossFit doesn’t have a nutritional recommendation: it does. And it’s about as simple and clear as it can get: Meat and veggies, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar. And any CrossFitter worth his/her salt is going to be able to rattle that off like a well-grooved mantra. And, at the same time, knowing what to do and actually doing it are often not the same thing at all.

I’ve read all kinds of fantastic nutritional information before, and have for years, but never have I been able to make it a lifestyle like I have since adopting the “Primal Blueprint Eating Plan” like I have with Mark Sisson, at Mark’s Daily Apple.

Primal living is, in my own words, a prescription for eating the way we’ve evolved to. Our genome has honed itself for over 2 million years, adapting to a particular style of eating that didn’t really fluctuate until about 10,000 years ago. And, since that “recent” shift, we’ve done nothing but go downhill, health-wise, except for the hygienic changes that have increased our average lifespan. It’s pretty clear if you look at how we’ve evolved to eat that it makes a lot of sense to stick close to our own internal genetic recipe. After all, you wouldn’t pour rocket fuel in your car’s gas tank, right? It’s just not designed for it.
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I was reading a post over at Fitness Fail that was talking about personal responsibility when it comes to health and exercise. Being someone who thinks about these things a lot, I had to leave a comment, and decided to come here and write about it, too.

This question was posed at the end of the article, after talking about the b.s. of the US government’s food pyramid: Do we as a whole have a responsibility to change the health recommendations to something that works?

And here is my reply:

Yes and no, imho, I think that people have their personal responsibility first, of course. And then, those that get called by the personal passion to take the truth to the FDA/whoever should totally do it.

But, not everyone who ‘gets it’ is going to have that passion. They may feel more inspired to open a CrossFit gym. Or a healthy restaurant. Or keep working at their jobs, but share happily with people who ask them, “Dude, what have you been doing?”

Changing the governmental juggernaut is a task that I believe will happen, but not through rebellion. Too much resistance that way. Instead, enough people will be lovingly loud, and change will happen from within.

Just look at Wal-Mart’s environmental initiatives. People have hated WM for years, complained, etc. – nothing. But then, the President/CEO dude gets an awakening moment about going green, and blamo – there they go.

So keep preaching it, brothers and sisters. Share your loving message, and those whose ears are open will hear it, one at a time.

And even though I may have gotten a bit kum-ba-ya there at the end, I do believe that this is how change happens. Just like Margaret Mead said:

Never doubt that a small group of commited citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

We can rail against the powers we perceive, claim unfairness, or judge the policy-makers as evil SOB’s… but if you understand the Law of Attraction, you know that this is not a good way to go about things. It’s downstream. It’s giving energy in the wrong direction.

Focus on what you want to see happen. Don’t sit on your ass complaining about how sick everyone is; if you want to see people get healthier, then work to make them healthier. Focus on health. Focus on transformation. Focus on the goodness.

Image by psoup216 on Flickr via Creative Commons license.

As I was bouncing around on Twitter the other day, I saw someone ask the question, “What do you do for your mind, body, and spirit?” It’s easy, of course, to answer that question with three answers. “Oh, I’m cleaning up my diet, I exercise a few days a week, and I meditate.” Nothing wrong with an answer like that… it means you’re looking after yourself.

But being the between-the-lines kinda guy that I am, I wanted to answer the question not with three answers, but with one. And so naturally, my answer was “CrossFit.”

Now, I never would have answered that question with any other fitness/exercise/sport that I’ve done (except maybe Nomadics), and I’ve done tons: intercollegiate rowing, yoga (bikram’s, ashtanga, hatha), triathlons, tai chi, full-contact martial arts, bodybuilding, you name it. Why?
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I’m always amazed when I talk with people who haven’t heard of EFT. Of course, before I heard of it, I hadn’t heard of it, either…

You’re going to hear more from me about EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), that’s for sure; I’m a huge fan, and my wife is a practitioner. Even my 8-year-old taps, on her own, whenever she’s nervous or feeling ill.

What is it?

It’s a method of healing that’s based on balancing the body’s energy system, and it gets its history in large part from Oriental medicine. No needles, though; you tap with your fingers on the same points acupuncturists put needles into. And it works for physical symptoms, emotional issues, belief systems, you name it.

I love it. And, I’m not the only one… as I understand the story, the same filmmakers who worked on The Secret were so impressed by EFT, they worked with EFT’s founder, Gary Craig, to create this video to introduce people to it:

You’ve got to watch it, it’s well worth the few minutes.

If you’re interested in learning more, and want to experience it yourself, give my wife a call. She’s amazing. And if you have experience with EFT, feel free to leave a comment so we can hear your experiences, too.