Listener Questions – Episode 68: PaleOMG Uncensored Podcast

Answering your fun questions on the podcast today!! Thank you to everyone who wrote in on instagram and left a question to answer! If I missed yours, feel free to come over to paleomg.com and I’ll be sure to answer it there!

[powerpress]

And don’t forget to snag the free bacon for all of 2018 in the ButcherBox campaign (that ends Jan 31st!)

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Episode 68 Transcription!

This is Juli Bauer from PaleOMG and you are listening to PaleOMG Uncensored.

1. Listener questions: Food [5:54]
2. Listener questions: Fitness [21:23]
3. Listener questions: Beauty [47:42]
4. Listener questions: Random [54.51]

Juli Bauer: Well howdy. Welcome to another episode of PaleOMG Uncensored. I think we’re at episode 68. Going strong. I’m only saying this because I just now thought of it, because I was just recently listening to another podcast who talked about it; and I just never talk about this. And I should ask more often. I’m going to simply ask you if you like this podcast, to rate and review and make sure to subscribe. And if you don’t like this podcast, please still leave a 5-star review.

Is that rude? Is that needy? I don’t know. I hear it’s important. And who knows how podcasts will change over time. But if you like this podcast and you listen to it weekly, or you’re just coming into it and you like it, just leave a nice review. Don’t put negativity out in the world, because negative people suck big balls! But if you feel like being positive. I’m going to stop. It’s so annoying. I shouldn’t have even started with that. Erase. Go back. No thanks.

Let’s just talk about life instead. I am gearing up to go to Crested Butte tomorrow. Which is like 4.5 hours from Denver, or so, depending on the weather. I really should check the weather. Since I’m leaving tomorrow and still haven’t packed.

But I needed to shoot some photos in the mountains, and so I just decided to make a whole trip of it, and take my sister-in-law, who helps me with photos a lot. Take her. And make a whole weekend. And then do a blog post about Crested Butte. So go do something fun in town. Go to a bunch of restaurants. Because what else do you do when you travel?

People are like; what did you do while you were in town? I ate, you dummy. What else do you do when you’re traveling? I don’t care about anything else. I care about a craft cocktail and food. Period. But we’re staying at a hotel up there. It should be fun.

So my husband and I are supposed to have a date night tonight before I leave. I leave him back at home. But I still haven’t even packed. I’ve got sh*t to do, man! Damn. Right now I have a dog on my lap. Who is on a diet.

We went to the vet just the other day, and he should be around 38 pounds, and he is 41. And the vet said she wanted him at 38. So it’s pretty devastating. Because I’m very much a one for me, one for you kind of person. I like sharing food. I like how excited he gets about food, because I feel the exact same way. But, he’s been snoring a little bit more, and that could have to do with him being slightly overweight. So he’s on a diet. It’s so sad. We cut his food down by half. And it is not a one for me one for you situation right now. That’s sad. But it’s ok, we’ll get through it together.

So anyway. Thanks so much for listening. Oh my god, I just noticed my couch cushions are upside down. How humiliating! What a mess. Anywhoo. I wanted to do another listener question episode. And if I ever talk too much at the beginning, then this podcast runs like four hours. Because I just talk so damn much. It will be like three questions, and it will be four hours long. So let’s get to it. I’ve done this how I usually do these podcasts; I’ve broken it into groups. So I have a food section, fitness, beauty, and then kind of random questions throughout.

Can we also talk about how much I love Beat Bobby Flay? It’s just playing in the background on mute right now, and I just love this show. It’s making me hungry for no reason, since I just ate crackers with prosciutto on top. Sorry, got to drink water. Sorry if you hate hearing people eat or drink. That’s what happens on this podcast. It’s just what happens.

And of course, before I get into questions, I want to talk about the Bachelor, but there’s a few questions about the Bachelor in here. So we’re going to talk about it later. And I’m sure most of you will skip through that. But it has to be talked about. If you don’t watch the Bachelor yet, dude. You’ve got to get with it. I told my husband the other night, he’s like; how was your show. He’s like, I honestly don’t care. And I’m like; why do you hate on this show so much? Literally, my sister-in-law and I sit in the basement while you sit upstairs, and we watch this show and we make fun of it. The best part is just making fun of these people!

And these are great people. It’s mostly the editing. Ok, I’m not being mean to these people and calling them ugly or something like that. But just making fun of some of the things they say. Or making fun of some of the things the production people make them say. Or edit them into saying. Sometimes, if you listen closely, and they’re not actually talking to the camera, you can totally tell where the editors have edited things together for what they want it to say. If that makes sense. So they edit multiple words together that the person has said to create a sentence. I’m not joking. You can totally tell.

1. Listener questions: Food [5:54]

But, whatever. Let’s just get into food questions to start, ok? Let’s do this. You guys have so many awesome questions this time around. I asked on Instagram, and people left questions there. There were 150 questions, so if I miss anybody’s. If I miss yours and you really want an answer, and you’re like; you’re such a b*tch, Juli. Please, come to my blog. Come to www.PaleOMG.com. You can leave the question there and I’d be happy to answer it. I’m not a b*tch. Kind of I am. Ok, I’m a b*tch. But, we can get past it together.

Ok, so food. This question is from the Paleo Runner. “Can you talk about maintaining a paleo lifestyle with additional non-paleo foods that work for you? Like white rice, peanut butter, etc. Sometimes I get obsessed with staying strictly paleo. Also, what are some of your favorite things at the moment food wise? Thanks in advance. Love your podcast!”

Thank you so much for listening. I have just found, when I’ve obsessed in the past, that’s when I’ve been most unhappy. So when I was obsessing about what I was eating, that’s when my weight. When I was not able to maintain a weight. I was going up and down, because I was stressing out so much about it. And I found that I felt better when I had some of those foods. When I had white rice in my diet. Not on a daily basis, but just sometimes when I needed it. I found that I felt better when I ate white potatoes versus sweet potatoes, and my stomach felt better when I had those.

So it’s just kind of trial and error. Same; I feel better with peanut butter versus any other nut butter. Even though it’s a legume, but whatever. I feel so much better with that. So I just listen to my body. And I think it’s so easy to get obsessed with being strictly something. Or following a certain diet within those square parameters or whatever. But I find life very boring in comparison.

So I just don’t obsess. Because I want to live a happier life, and I want to listen to my body. So that’s how I do it. And I don’t care when people are like; “That’s not paleo.” And they think that joke is sups funny. But you’re like; hey, you’re 100% not original. So that’s sups funny.

And then my favorite things food-wise right now; I’m obsessed with Kite Hill cream cheese. I’ve been using it in a ton of recipes. They have like a jalapeno chive cream cheese or something that’s out of control good. Loving Simple Mills nut-free crackers. Just because I don’t do well with almond flour. So I try not to overdo it. Let’s see, what else am I obsessed with? Butcher Box. I literally just got it in the mail so that made me think of it. I’m looking at the box at the moment. I can’t wait to unwrap it, but I’ve got to record this podcast first. Obsessed with Butcher Box.

And right now, just so you know, if you want to get a Butcher Box, if you want to get free bacon in every single one of your Butcher Box packages for the next year, just go to my blog. Go to www.PaleOMG.com. I’ll try to remember to put it in the show notes, but 100% probably won’t. But if you go to www.PaleOMG.com I have a link there, and that’s valid until the end of January. And then you’ll get free bacon. It’s nitrate free, it’s Whole30, so it’s better for you bacon, actually from pigs that should be eaten instead of whatever. I’m not going into those details. You can listen to the Butcher Box podcast about that. So those are my favorite things right now. Go to www.PaleOMG.com if you want that sweet deal.

Ok, the Glow File. I like that name. “Did doing the 21-Day Sugar Detox help you get better control of your sugar demon? You seem to be able to eat chocolate or whatever in moderation without having a “I ate one, I might as well eat 10” mentality. If it wasn’t the sugar detox, then what tips do you have for controlling sugar intake? I eat really well, dairy, grain, and gluten free, but have a really hard time not eating all the dessert.”

I just know; the sugar detox definitely helped me work on that sugar demon of; ok, I don’t have to have an entire bag of chocolate almonds. I can have just a couple. Or knowing that I cannot; actually that was a bad example, because I have to stay away from chocolate covered nuts. Almonds, walnuts, cashews, whatever that crack is. I have to stay away from it because I cannot stop. So I think it taught me what things I could have in moderation, and what things I needed to stay away from.

And I kind of know certain things I need to stay away from, like that. And I know certain chocolates are going to make me not want to crave more. So I love Hu Kitchen, Eating Evolved. And I’ve just gotten better at having those things in moderation.

What really helped me with moderation, honestly though, was me stopping obsessing. And saying I can’t have something. I can’t have it, I can’t have it, I can’t have it. Because when I did finally have it, it was f*cking on for a few days and I would just overdo everything.

So once I cut that mentality out; saying I can’t have something, I just didn’t crave it as much. And the more with sugar, for me, the more I cut it out the less I crave it. So when I start eating chocolate more often, and notice that I’m craving it when I’m not even hungry, then I know I need to cut it out. And that’s what helps me.

I just know what things I need to stay away from that I can’t stop. And that really helps me with that moderation. Because people always do that. I feel like when they’re in these yo-yo dieting of saying; I had one, I might as well have 10. And I’ve said this before on the podcast. But it’s like; oh, I just got in a car accident. I might as well get in another. It’s like; nobody f*cking thinks that way. Why would you think that way with food? You’re doing this destructive behavior and you’re making it more destructive. Having chocolate is not destructive, but eating 14 chocolate bars is destructive long-term, especially what it’s doing to your psyche. So that’s how I’ve done it, and how I’ve been able to kind of maintain it. But cutting out the sugar is the biggest thing for me. Because then I just don’t crave it as much.

Juliana. “How do you feel about things like kombucha, apple cider vinegar drinks, gut shots, and how they aid in digestion? Do you use them? If so, how often? I have also read about turmeric and tart cherry juice, among other things that aid in combating inflammation. I guess I’m just curious how factual it is that these products help.”

I’m sure they help. I don’t see as really needing these things if you are drinking adequate amounts of water and you’re eating the foods that work for your body and not creating inflammation in your body. So if you’re eating grass-fed, grass-finished, organic, humanely raised protein and you’re eating organic vegetables and the healthy fats, all those things, and drinking a lot of water. All those things aid in digestion and help reduce inflammation when you’re not eating sh*tty foods. So I feel like we need things that aid in digestion when we’re eating sh*tty foods.

So they’re great with that. I’ll have a kombucha if I maybe ate something that kind of upset my stomach. Or if I’m just super sick of drinking water. But I just see reducing information coming from food and really aiding in digestion from eating the right foods that work for your body. That’s what I believe in at the end of the day.

Lizzie Byer, “What’s your take on fasting or having certain eating hours?”

So I’ve talked about this on the podcast before. And I do not do any sort of fasting. For me, that just became a way to be more obsessed with food and to starve myself. And since I come from a background of doing that, it’s just not something that’s great for me.

So I don’t have a lot of information on that. But I know the guys from Mind Pump, if you look up their podcast. I forget how long they went; maybe a 90-hour fast or something like that. No thank you! But I bet they have great information on there. So it might be worth checking them out and seeing if they did a podcast about that.

But as for eating in certain hours, I am not big into that either. I eat when I’m hungry, I stop when I’m satisfied, and that’s that. And yeah. I’m not workout-fasted, or have to have food. I don’t do any of that. I literally just eat when I’m hungry. I like to eat three times a day, and I know when I like to eat. Which is usually 8 a.m. for breakfast, noon or 1 for lunch, and 6 or 7 for dinner. And that seems to work with my body. And sometimes I’ll have snacks, and sometimes I won’t. And that’s about it. But I don’t do certain times of the day at all.

I just had to move my computer to an awkward position to read off these questions because Jackson is pretty much sitting at my bellybutton down to my legs as much as he can. As close as he can be. He’s such a panda!

Ok. Emrilundilquist. Hmm. “Protein powder; thoughts on pea powder, egg white protein, etc. for shakes? There are so many different options that I’m avoiding dairy. Wondering what you’ve tried.”

So, I don’t really do protein powders. I do not like pea protein. I don’t really like egg white protein. I’ve seen both of those upset many people’s stomachs. So if you’re trying to go with a dairy free option, and want to get protein in, I’d just recommend collagen. You can get collagen. It’s dairy free. That’s that. I add collagen to my coffee every single morning, and not only do you get protein in there, but you also get the benefits of hair growth and nail growth. Which is the best. My favorite part, and the only reason that I stick with it every morning.

So this is C. Lee. “I follow renaissance periodization, counting macros, and have had amazing results for CrossFit. Some people have done the lurong challenge at the gym, and felt their performance was hindered due to it. Do you feel eating paleo allows you to be your strongest self?”

No. So I think if you are doing CrossFit, you should not be doing strict paleo. Especially if you’re trying to gain weight or put on muscle. I just don’t think it gives you enough energy. And I think when you’re doing CrossFit workouts, having white rice, having some of those gluten free grains is incredibly helpful. So I think it’s great in general. Paleo is awesome for someone who is even sedentary or has inflammation issues. But for CrossFit; f*cking get your extra carbohydrates in, for sure.

Rach Kenny. “You’re always whipping up quick and easy delicious looking weeknight meals using Butcher Box;” which I just talked about. “I’m curious how you defrost your meat. Do you leave it out in the friedge or on the counter to defrost it. Do you ever defrost it in the microwave in those situations where you’re short on time?”

So I just plan ahead. I just defrost usually on the countertop, because I’m in and out of the house all day. Or in the fridge if I have a few days. But the countertop is usually my go-to for defrosting stuff for dinner that night.

Allison. “I know you’ve mentioned that you don’t eat much fruit or nuts. Do you have suggestions for snacks? I’m definitely a snacker and get tired of eating raw veggies or hardboiled eggs.”

I always was a snacker until I increased my meal sizes. And now I find myself not snacking very often. And the only times I’m snacking are either if I’m bored or if I skipped a meal. So today I just didn’t have enough time for lunch. I had two appointments back to back. Couldn’t make anything. I had some jerky and half of a Larabar. And got home and still was starving, obviously, so I had some Simple Meals crackers with some Kite Hill dairy free cream cheese and some prosciutto on top. So I like kind of those types of snacks. Or I just eat a small meal. So I have chili cornbread. It’s not corn, so don’t freak the f*ck out. Chili cornbread casserole that I made and I’ve had for meals, but I could have that as a small snack. So I just think of snacks as smaller meals. So if I have leftovers that was just a small amount but I couldn’t finish it, I could have that as a snack. But those are kind of my main snacking things.

But I truly think that you don’t need a ton of snacks if you are eating large enough meals. That’s what happened for me, and I’ve noticed over time, for sure.

This last question is Kelsey Sutherland. “Why don’t you eat brown rice? I’ve always been curious. I exclusively eat white rice, but was wondering your reason?”

So brown rice upsets my stomach. Brown rice, from what I understand, still has the husk, or hull. Something like that on it. So it can just be irritating to the gut. So that’s the only reason. I just don’t eat it because it hurts my stomach. It doesn’t make me feel as good as white rice does. White rice feels like I just ate a meal. Brown rice makes me feel bloated. And personally, I’m not into the bloat. But that’s just me.

2. Listener questions: Fitness [21:23]

Ok, let’s move on to some fitness stuff. Are you ready for the fitness stuff, Jackson? Cute little man. Ok, Mel in the City. “What would you recommend for someone who is working out like a beast but losing no fat or weight whatsoever. I’m eating a lot and not over-exercising, but I’m getting bigger.”

So you just said you’re eating a lot. I don’t know what your diet looks like, so I can’t give you any sort of advice. I would work with maybe a trainer or a coach who can maybe work with you one on one. And you can keep a food diary and look at exactly what you’re eating. But you’re saying you’re eating a lot; and maybe you’re not eating the right foods. That could be it. Maybe you’re working out, but maybe not doing weight lifting, which burns more calories and ups your metabolism more than cardio.

So it could be a number of things. But working with someone who knows you and who specializes in that stuff near you I think would be a smart way to go. Because I have no idea who you are, you know? I can’t help you because I’m not there.

Monica Dull. “Can you talk a little bit about coming back from injury and how to move past being nervous about performing certain movements? Also mindset of taking it slow until you fully heal.”

So I haven’t had a ton of injuries. I hurt my shoulder while competing in CrossFit. And during that time, I took time; not much time off but I wasn’t going as many days, and I was doing a few more things like running and spinning. And then I did that because just certain workouts; I’m like, I don’t want to have to modify this.

But I just did a lot of modifications. So if there was a push jerk, and I knew I shouldn’t be doing that, I’d do other things, like a deadlift. Something different. So I didn’t have to go; my injuries weren’t bad enough that had to end up seeing a specialist or doing PT. So just keep that in mind. For me, I just took it really slow and I modified all those movements that upset my shoulder and didn’t make it feel good. I didn’t do pushups for a long time. Until those feelings went away, and it kind of was able to heal itself. And then I was able to try moves again.

I just took it really slow. At the end of the day, there’s no way to do it other than don’t be f*cking dumb. People in CrossFit all the time are so f*cking dumb and push themselves way too hard, and don’t listen to their body. And that’s why all these injuries come. And people blame it on CrossFit. No; it’s the dumb person who hurt themselves. It’s not CrossFit’s fault, it’s your own responsibility as an adult who is walking into that gym to listen to your body.

So at the end of the day, the only mindset you can create is your own mindset. Say; ok, I’m going to take time off of letting it rest. Letting it heal. Coming back into it slow. Not pushing it too much. Just being smart about it. That’s it.

Sam Marshal. “Do you miss Orange Theory? You were loving it, and I know you mentioned you had a couple of crappy coaches in a row so you left. Just wondering if you miss it, or just look at it as an opportunity to try something new.”

I haven’t missed it, at all. Orange Theory is an awesome workout, and I really loved the manager at this Orange Theory that I went to. She was amazing, I just didn’t get to go to many of her classes. And I just had too many boring coaches in a row. And the main reason I have gone to my CrossFit gym, for going on 7 years, is because of the coaching. And every time I walk into that gym, I’m reminded, every single time, how much I love that gym. That people there, the coaches, the energy. I’m always so excited, and it doesn’t even feel like I’m working out because I’m hanging out with a group of friends. And Orange Theory, I just didn’t feel like that.

So it’s given me the opportunity; I’ve joined kind of a Globo Gym. And I’ve just been doing extra butt workouts. I’m trying to lift my butt a little bit more. Which, CrossFit has not done for me. So I’m trying to shape my butt and lift it a little bit more. So it’s just given me the opportunity to try different stuff, and go outside my comfort zone and try different movements that I haven’t done before. And feel sore in places I’m never sore. So that has been fun. But I don’t miss Orange Theory so far. I just didn’t have a close group of friends or anything. I love the manager there, but other than that, it’s just kind of a class I went to and left. So I had no big ties there.

And this is Monica B. “I know you don’t do Orange Theory anymore, but I was wondering what your take is on Orange Theory. I used to do CrossFit and loved how it transformed my body, but now I’m doing Orange Theory. Would you recommend going super heavy on weights like CrossFit to obtain/maintain muscle tone?”

So what I found from Orange Theory, especially if you’re a CrossFit person. And this is just my perspective from being a competitive athlete back in the day. I f*cking went all out. So when I was in these Orange Theory classes, I was going all out. But the difference with Orange Theory and CrossFit, is CrossFit you’ll have, say 5 minutes of all out work. Or 12 minutes. And sometimes on the treadmill at Orange Theory, it’d be like 30 minutes. And I’d be pushing myself hard for 30 minutes, and I’d get to the floor and do the same thing. And to me, it was a little bit too much for the body. I don’t need to push myself that hard for that long.

And I could find myself definitely, if I did that; I was only doing it twice a week so my body could take it and recover from it. But I saw, if I was doing that multiple days a week, I think that would f*ck up my body. Not only I think it’s hard on the joints, because the treadmills. But I think you can just push it a little too far if you’re in that mindset. If you’re in that CrossFit mindset of going all out all the time.

So, that’s kind of what I saw with Orange Theory. I went too hard for too long, and it was not great for my body long-term. And definitely; if you want to maintain a CrossFit type of physique, where you have larger muscles than normal workouts that you’re getting out there, if that makes sense. And that’s kind of bigger shoulders, bigger traps. You’ll see more ab definition. I think sometimes when I see CrossFit compared to whatever other workout out there, and that’s not everybody, I’m just saying in general. Definitely going heavier in weights. And that’s why you saw that progression with CrossFit, because you were going heavier in weights.

So you have to push it in those Orange Theory classes for your weights section. And it’s just a little bit harder, too, because you’re using dumbbells instead of barbells where you’re adding on weight and you’re not doing actual strength portions in Orange Theory like we do in CrossFit. Of doing like a 3×5 back squat where you’re going, say 200 pounds on a back squat. You’re not going to do that in Orange Theory. So you’d definitely have to push those weights a little bit more and step outside what most people are doing at Orange Theory. That’s just my opinion, ok. I’m not right. It’s just my opinion.

Lisa Schoefield. “First of all, I think you’re hilarious, and I look forward to your podcast every week.” Lisa, I love you. “So you’re obviously very athletic.” You’re the best! You’re just the nicest person ever, Lisa! “And workout most days a week. But you don’t seem to talk about ab workouts. Do you ever do them, or is eating healthy and staying active what gives you the stomach I’d love to have.”

Oh my god! This is like the nicest way to butter my bread. Or fluff; I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m saying. So, ok. Here’s what I think about abs. I’ve always had a smaller waist and bigger legs. Whenever I lose weight, I lose in my waist right away. So I’ve just always had a smaller waist that shows more definition versus my legs or my butt. Those are the harder things for me to mold and shape.

But with ab workouts, I believe everything is an ab workout. Everything you do. Especially say you’re doing CrossFit. For me, in our workout yesterday, we did toes to bar, which is very ab-dominant workout. But then we did pistols, so one-legged squats. And then we did double kettlebell swings, and then burpee box jumps.

So toes to bar, obviously ab specific. You’re using your abs to get your feet to the bar. And then pistols are so incredible important for your abs. You have to keep them tight to be able to stabilize yourself and stay upright. Then double kettlebell swings, all abs. If you want to keep your back nice and tight, you have to keep your core tight. And then burpee box jumps. You don’t even think about burpees as an ab workout, but if you’re doing them correctly and you’re keeping your body active and keeping your core active throughout, your abs should burn. And my abs were burning during my burpee box jumps.

So I think everything you do starts from the core. And it’s true. Everything you do should start from your core. So everything you do is an ab movement. When you’re doing a deadlift, you tighten up your abs. When you’re doing a kipping swing into a kipping pullup or whatever, you’re tightening up your abs. If you’re just flopping around like a noodle everywhere, then you’re not activating your abs and you’re not getting that core stability.

But, to me, I think everything in CrossFit is an ab movement. So I don’t ever do ab specific workouts. I just find them worthless. Because you’re doing them the entire time. That’s just me. I think Olympic lifting; all core, all abs. So I just don’t see the point when you’re doing them all the time. But that’s coming from a person, also, who has a smaller waist. So who gives a f*ck, don’t listen to me.

But like my sister-in-law; we were in Mexico, and she’s like; can we do a workout that’s all abs. I’m like; not into it. Do your own workout. Bye. I’m doing all butt. Because I want a better butt! So that’s just my take on it. Everything in your workout should start with your abs. Start with your core.

H. Leann. “How long did it take you to start seeing results once you changed up your workouts, started scaling, modifying in CrossFit? I recently started to do the same. I no longer RX any workouts, using lighter weights. It just feels better and I enjoy moving faster.”

So, honestly, to lose the 30 pounds that I needed to lose, it took me 3 years. And that was working out less, resting more, doing less weights. It took me really 3 years to come down to the weight that my body wanted to be at and just continues to stay at at this point. So it took me 3 years to lose that 30 pounds. That’s about how long it took me to seeing results. So 10 pounds a year. Divide that by months. I don’t know; can’t do that math. Don’t care!

Bailey Carl. You just judged me for that, didn’t you? “Before CrossFit, did you workout at a regular gym by just lifting? If so, did you see different results from weight lifting versus CrossFit? Also, how do you eat intuitively when you’re wanting to put on some more muscle?”

So I did workout in a Globo Gym, and I worked out at our rec center, and lifted weights. I can see weight lifting; and I was young, too. That was college years. A little bit of high school and college years. So I just didn’t have a great program to follow or the knowledge. But I saw, when I started CrossFit, I was almost immediately hooked because of how quickly I saw results with CrossFit versus just weight training. It was like; insane how quickly I saw results compared to the years of weight lifting and waiting to see muscle tone. And CrossFit it was within months. So CrossFit I just f*cking love.

“How do you eat intuitively when you’re wanting to put on some more muscle?” That’s hard for me to say. I don’t do anything specific to put on more muscle. I just eat good sources of protein, healthy fats, some carbohydrates in there. But you can always up your fat and up your protein in there. But I don’t do anything and I’ve been able to put muscle on by just eating those round meals for me.

Meeker Wifey. “Do you do any cardio outside of your CrossFit workouts to stay more lean?”

No. I don’t do anything other than; and I’ve been posting them on Instagram so I’m guessing you’ve probably seen this, since you commented on this Instagram post. So I just do my CrossFit workouts 5 days a week, usually, unless I’m traveling. And then I’ve been doing butt workouts, like accessory workout on top of that. But that’s weight lifting or doing some sort of body weight movement. But I don’t do any other cardio.

You burn more weight lifting weights than cardio. You get a better metabolism, and you burn more calories. So no thanks! Nope. Not me.

Jen JSR. “I have two questions for you. Since listening to you, I’ve shifted my focus from 90% cardio and 10% lifting to 20% cardio and 80% lifting. AKA, sh*t ton more lifting. I can’t seem to do deadlifts without getting soreness in my back. I have my boyfriend watch my form, and he says it’s great. Am I putting too much weight on, or are my back muscles just building and getting sore from it?”

So let’s first answer this first question. If you’re getting soreness in your lower back, where the small of your back. If you’re getting pain there, cut down the weight. Go lighter in the weight until you’re able to really focus on your core and get your core to engage before you pick up the barbell. If you’re not able to engage your core first, and you’re lifting that barbell off the ground, and your butt isn’t engaging and ready to go, and your hamstrings aren’t firing, you’re going to get that in your lower back, that soreness.

I have gotten some upper back soreness from deadlifts of just holding onto the weight. Especially when you’re doing high repetitions, and your back is just really; it’s tightening up and holding tight to keep that barbell. But the small of the back, that’s when you need to cut back in weight, you need to dial in your form, and you need to do thousands of reps before you can really learn what your body is doing.

I feel like I didn’t figure out the deadlift until I was like 4 years into CrossFit. And that’s when I was able to understand; ok, this is how my core should feel. This is how my butt should feel. And that’s how I’m able to keep my form. And I don’t go any heavier where I know that form changes at all and I’m going to get that lower back soreness. If that makes sense. So hopefully that answers your question. Because I’ll get the same thing, where a coach says your form looks great. But I can feel the body breaking down just a tad. I can feel my body not firing where it’s supposed to. So that kind of just comes with time, too.

And then she says; Jen asks, “I’m coming to Denver twice in the next couple of months for work. What restaurants do you recommend for a first timer?”

Well, Jen. If you go to www.PaleOMG.com, under the travel section I have all my favorite restaurants in Denver. Boom. Go check that out.

Ok. Wellness with Alys. “CrossFit is so interesting to me, but what the hell do all those terms mean? 15-cal airdyne bike? That kind of stuff. Do they explain these things when you’re a newbie in class?” Yes. {laughs}

Ok, so there’s a million acronyms for CrossFit. And those acronyms will be on the board. And the coach always talks you through that. So first of all, if you’re starting CrossFit. And say you go to a CrossFit gym, they should have an elements program. If they don’t have an elements program, f*cking peace out of that gym. Because if you’re not learning barbell work and understanding all the movements and feeling comfortable before you go into a class that’s a sh*tty f*cking CrossFit gym. So they should have an elements program.

They’ll tell you all the acronyms, and you’ll hear all these new words, and you’ll forget them all. And you’ll keep doing them, and you’ll keep learning them. If you’re trying to just figure out what they mean online, you could just search CrossFit acronyms, and there’s a list. Many websites have all the lists and explanations for all the acronyms. So that’s an easy way to figure it out, for sure. But in class, you’re never confused because the CrossFit coach will walk you through it all. If they don’t, find a new gym.

Sav Smith. “Your CrossFit Broadway workouts are awesome, but I feel like there are so many repetitions! I workout a lot and feel like I’m in good shape, but how did you adjust in the beginning of CrossFit workouts? Also, have you noticed a difference from your glute isolated exercises?”

So, I honestly didn’t do anything different. Change any repetitions when I first started. Which I don’t recommend. I killed myself with all these movements and repetitions. But a lot of times, if we know an athlete is a beginner, and needs to change the repetitions, we change the repetitions for them. But a lot of times; say it’s an AMRAP. As many rounds as possible in a certain amount of time. And you’re just going to get through those repetitions. So maybe it’s 30 repetitions; and for one person they’ll be able to do all 30 reps in a row, and for someone else they’re going to have to split those into three sets of 10 reps. And it’s going to take them longer. And they are just not going to get as many rounds.

So that’s just kind of how it is at the beginning. But we know for certain people, when I was coaching, we would cut them down depending on their athletic level. But I didn’t do anything different in the beginning when I first started CrossFit. I did all the same repetitions as everybody else who had been doing it for a while.

And then, I have not… She asked if I have noticed anything from glute isolated movements. So I recently started creating kind of my own program of glute workouts, doing them two to three times a week. Just depending how much time I have. And I’ve just been finding fun people on the internet and finding new moves to try myself. Failing at some.

Oh my god, I tried this one girl’s movement the other day. And I was like; how is this f*cking physically possible. I don’t f*cking understand it. It was bananas. But I’ve been trying stuff. It’s only been four weeks. So physically, I don’t see any difference. On the outside. Physically on the inside, I’m able to lift more weights in certain movements.

And just the other day; meaning yesterday. I was doing pistols, one legged squats, in a workout at CrossFit. And it was much easier on one of my knees that’s a little f*cked. I’m a little bowlegged, and my knee turns in. So I have a harder time keeping my knee out on that side. I noticed that I had a much easier time because the top of my glute was able to fire and keep my knee out. Keep my hip in line. So things like that I’m able to see more. Physically outside; no. Physically inside, I’m able to see a little bit of progression. Which is cool. But I’ll keep you updated as it goes.

I am Laura Lou. “Working out while you’re sore? I typically wait 48 hours after a workout due to soreness, but sometimes I’m still a little sore after 48 hours. Is it ok to workout when you’re still sore?”

I workout when I’m sore all the time. I honestly find it nice to workout when I’m sore because it kind of gets some of that lactic acid out, and just is able to flush it out of your system. Speaking of flush, I need a drink of water.

So I don’t believe in not working out when you’re sore. I stick with a certain working out; I workout three days a week, I take a rest day. I workout two days a week, take a rest day. So I’m always working out five days a week, taking two rest days a week. And that schedule really works for me.

Like today, it’s my rest day. I’m incredibly sore. And then I’ll feel better by tomorrow, workout again. So I think it’s 100% ok to workout when you’re sore. There’s a difference between being sore and being dead to the world sore that maybe you just need to hop on the rower and get some lactic acid out that way. But I’m a big believer in working out when you’re sore. And just going lighter in your movements, taking it slow. And just not pushing it to the max like you would on other days.

Ok, C. Marita. I don’t know. “How long have you been doing the booty program.” Sorry, just talked about that. “Any changes? Please keep the videos coming. I’ve been incorporating them into my weekly workouts after CrossFit.” So I guess I just talked about that. Sorry to incorporate that question. But yeah, physically on the outside I don’t see many changes. But just seeing that progress definitely that. And my butt has been sore a lot, for sure.

Two more questions in the fitness section. Ellie Lee Kelly. “Why did you stop coaching CrossFit?”

So number one, my certification ran up. I didn’t want to recertify. It was kind of at that point of; I don’t need this as my actual job. I’m not enjoying it as much as I used to in the past. Some things changed at the gym and I just wasn’t feeling like; I didn’t want to hear some of the drama that was happening, so I had to kind of take myself out of it. I wanted to just enjoy the gym instead of see some issues behind the scenes, if that makes sense. And I think that’s anything.

Like, we want to imagine this great. I don’t know, that sounds like I’m talking sh*t about my gym and I’m not because I love my gym. But my certification was up, and it was just kind of time for me to move on. At the end of the day. And now I have more time. Even though I was only coaching one day a week, I was coaching two classes. But that would cut into my entire evening on Wednesdays. And now I have that time free to get more work done with my own job. So it was a nice transition. And I still go to my gym 5 days a week and see all the people I love the most.

Jill Ross. “Do you follow any kind of limit and/or timing on carb intake to stay lean? I workout first thing in the morning fasted. My goal is to lose some body fat while being able to get through strength training during Orange Theory workouts. Any advice?”

I do not pay attention to carbohydrate intake. Limiting it or adding it in at certain times. I don’t pay attention to that at all. I was listening to this one podcast where she was like a trainer to a ton of famous people, and she said that she gets her people to not eat heavier carbohydrates, starchy carbohydrates, at night. And so I thought about that before and just kind of started playing around with that and having my carbohydrates earlier in the day. But I don’t swear by that at all. Sometimes I want white potatoes. Or sometimes that’s all we have at the house, and we ran out of other vegetables. But yeah, I don’t do any sort of looking at that. I just eat round meals of good protein. Lots of green vegetables. Sometimes a starchy carbohydrate and healthy fats. And that’s it. That’s it!

3. Listener questions: Beauty [47:42]

OK, let’s go into beauty. I’ve only got a few beauty questions. Tandra. “I’ve noticed your hair looks better than ever! What have you been doing differently to increase hair growth and make your hair healthier, and what products are you loving lately?”

So I actually saw a few questions for this. And I’m going to do a blog post I think in like 2 weeks about hair products, what I’ve been loving lately and what I’ve been doing different with my hair. So number one, first and foremost, drink collagen. F*cking get collagen into your diet. I either use Vital Proteins or Great Lakes collagen in my coffee every single morning. You can’t taste it. My hair has grown faster than ever. And I have kind of thin, fine hair. I swear to god, I’m losing hair up top. I’m kind of freaked out. Scared.

But yeah, adding collagen. My hair has never grown, and even though it’s still fine, it’s so much thicker than it used to be. So I’ve been doing that. After I work out, I take my hair immediately down and let it air dry. So before, I’d leave it in a ponytail or a bun and it would really just damage my hair from keeping it in a bun or in a ponytail all day long. So I take it down, let it air dry. And then I only wash my hair like every 5 days, because I’m lazy as f*ck and I don’t want to wash the hair dye out, because I’m naturally blonde, and I dye my hair every 3 weeks. So the least I can wash my hair, the better and the longer my hair dye will stay in.

So I don’t use dry shampoo that much, but I use this; sh*t, what is it called? Dammit, I forgot. Living Proof hair texturizing spray. I just purchased their dry shampoo, but I haven’t used it yet. But I got the texturizing spray, and kind of use that like dry shampoo, and it almost works like that. But it gives my hair so much body, and it makes my hair smell better and be less greasy. So I’ve been using that. And those are the main two things that I’ve been kind of doing different.

And then I just recurl it sometimes in the morning. Even if I don’t wash it, I just recurl the ends just to give it a little body and make it look a little bit nicer than when I slept on it and it gets a little frizzy. So that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve just been actually taking care of myself. Just not leaving it in a stupid bun that gives me the worst cowlick. So that’s what I’ve been doing. But I’m going to share all the products I’ve been loving lately in a blog post super soon.

Lindsey Lifts Fast. “What products, other than lasers, have you found are the best for acne scars? I live in a pretty rural area, and laser treatments you do aren’t super available to me. As I’m getting older, I know I need to deal with these scars before it gets too late.”

So, I recommend; I have a post about microneedling. So you can use a little microneedle at home. And I have a video about it as well, so you can try that out. And that’s great for acne scarring. I think; I forget what it’s called, but it might be called a Dermapen. And that’s for those icepick scars. So you can use microneedling, and it’s like these little tiny needles all over your face, and it creates collagen and helps rebuild.

But then say you have deep acne icepick scars, like I do, on maybe your cheeks or something. You can buy this Dermapen, and then it’s a little circle. And you put it on your face, and it digs the needle down and just rebuilds that collagen. So you kind of; you don’t draw blood, but a little bit more than you would with the microneedle. So those two things you can do at home by yourself. Just be careful, you don’t want to damage the skin.

But yeah, there’s tons of videos online. I believe it’s called the Dermapen, and then microneedle. But you can go to my blog, www.PaleOMG.com, about the needle I use. The microneedle I use and how I use it.

Ok, Sehochiman. {laughs} Ok. “What kind of razor do you use to shave your face? Does the hair come back dark and stubbly? How often do you do it?”

I get questions about this one all the time. I get messages constantly about these face razors. And they’re the cheapest, ghetto, but awesome razors. So they’re called tinkle. I know the name is stupid as hell but I swear these are the best razors I’ve found so far. They’re called Tinkle face razors. Or they’re like eyebrow razors or whatever. But I use them all over my face.

So I get my face dermaplaned every four weeks. And that takes off the top layer of dead skin, and then it also shaves your face and gets rid of all the hair. So in between those sessions when my hair starts to grow out, I use these face razors. Your hair does not grow back dark or stubbly.

Somebody told me once that was not the case for her. Her hair grew back darker, but I have not had that issue. I’ve done dermaplane for like three years now. I’ve never had that issue. It grows back exactly the same. And I do it; I get dermaplane every four weeks, and the face razor I probably use twice in between. And I use it all over my face.

I don’t use shaving cream or anything like that. I literally use this razor. It’s not like a regular razor. But all over my face, dry. I wash my face, get everything off. Rehydrate it, because it kind of dries out your skin a little bit because it’s just taking off the dead skin. So that’s how I use it.

Kelsey Perty. “Do you use a natural deodorant?”

Yes, and I f*cking love my natural deodorant. I actually have a new natural deodorant obsession. And I’ve used this for a couple of years now. Maybe not a couple of years; like a year. But Primally Pure. I buy it online. Love their products. Bethany, who has this company, is amazing. So it’s even more fun to support such a cool company.

But she has a new charcoal deodorant that I f*cking love. And don’t worry, it doesn’t turn your armpits black. Not to worry about that. It’s kind of this greyish color. But when you put it on your armpits it’s not. So I love that, and I haven’t smelled at all. And it’s been amazing. Check that out. Primally Pure.

Elle Belle Beauty. “Who does your makeup? How is it always so perfect?” Oh my god, you are giving me far too much credit. I only do my own makeup. So whenever I do cooking videos, or whatever, outfit photos where I’m actually wearing makeup, I just do my own makeup. I think fake lashes make you look like you have your sh*t together. But yeah, I just do my own makeup. I love it.

4. Listener questions: Random [54.51]

Ok, random questions! We’re onto random ones. Sierra Brooke. “Are you still in touch or close with George from your second cookbook? Are you thinking about another cookbook?”

So I’m not in contact with George. After we did book tour together, we just kind of went our different ways. Our separate ways. And I have not talked to him in years, so I have no idea what he’s even up to. And no, I’m definitely not thinking about doing another cookbook at all. Cookbooks are just; they’re very challenging, coming up with that many recipes for a cookbook, to me is hard. For some people it’s not so hard. But I personally love; I love posting on my blog 6 to 7 times a week. And that is close to impossible when you write a book.

You not only have to put your recipes and thoughts into a cookbook, but you have to edit, and you have to photograph, and you have to do a lot of sh*t. And I personally want to keep up with my blog, because that’s what I love the most. I get to work with amazing brands. I get to come up with any content I want, whether it’s beauty related, or fitness. And it just gives me more freedom than a contract with a cookbook, you know? So no fourth cookbook in the works. Or in the future at this point. But never say never.

Beautiful Gut. “When you decided to start a blog, how did the first few months go, and what do you think was the best thing you did to become successful at it?”

So I have no idea what the first few months of starting a blog was like, because this blog was made for my friends and family who were just looking for recipes. Or people that I worked out with. And that’s what I made it for. So I don’t remember what the first few months were like. I didn’t start the blog for it to become successful. It was just to share with my friends. So I don’t know.

I think the best thing that I did for it to become “successful”; and I think that’s very in the eye of the beholder, for sure. Because there are people who have so many more followers and so many more views on their websites compared to mine. So I think it’s totally in the eye of the beholder. But I think to gain any sort of following, I think being completely myself and sharing the good and the bad.

And at the end of the day, just having my own voice and not letting people push me down for that voice I wanted to share. So just being the person I am. I think that’s what made it successful. I want to follow people because they’re unique and they’re interesting, and hopefully people have found that with me and that’s why it’s been able to grow over time.

Shelby Rebecca. “How come you never show your husband’s face? Is that his preference? Not judging. I get wanting to be private. But just wondered if there was a specific reason.”

So I’ve actually talked about this on the podcast quite a few times, probably, because it comes up on a regular basis. I just decided years ago, when I first started dating my husband, that I wanted to keep that part of my life separate. I had so many people say such mean things about me over the years, I can’t imagine if anybody ever said anything about my husband how much I would f*cking lose it inside. And I can’t attack that person. I can’t say anything that will make it better. I can’t go attack them in person.

So I just decided to keep that part of my life private. And let my husband have his own life. He didn’t marry into this relationship wanting his face to be all over social media. And doesn’t even post on social media. I think he literally posted a year ago on his Instagram. And people add him on Instagram all the time. I’m like; you creeps. It will be a paleo person’s name, so they obviously found him through who I follow, because I don’t tag him in anything. I’m like; you’re being a creep.

But yeah, I just want to keep my life private. Some people decide to share that part of their life, and I just don’t want to. I don’t think I would want to share my child’s face, either. If I ever had a child. Because they don’t get to decide what is put online, and then you’re literally deciding for them. Their face is out there for the rest of their lives. It’s like, everything is documented from their birth, and then they’re going for a job interview, and you can find a picture of them on the toilet that their mom shared on Facebook. It’s like; no thanks. I’m cool. So I just like my privacy in some ways. I share everything else, might as well keep something private.

“What kind of kitchen items, gadgets, can you not live without?” Oh, she has a few questions. So let’s start with this first one. This is BKS. “What is your favorite kitchen gadgets that you can’t live without?”

So, let’s see. Cast iron skillet. I use a cast iron skillet every single day. A nonstick skillet; I use it every single day. And what else? Those are the main things. I feel like I use those two things. Oh, and sharp knives. And I say that very lightly because I’m f*cking terrible at sharpening my knives. But an amazing company sent me a knife yesterday, and I’ve been using it ever since multiple times a day. I’m like; oh my god, this is what a sharp knife should feel like. This is how it should cut. This is f*cking awesome! So sharp knives. The best.

Then her next question; “Who is your favorite food blogger?” I have a few because they are some of my favorite people in life. And that includes Cassy from Fed and Fit, who I’ve had on the podcast multiple times. Lexi from Lexi’s Clean Kitchen, who I’ve also had on the podcast a couple of times. Vanessa from Clean Eating with a Dirty Mind. She’s been on the podcast a couple of times. Those are my top three favorite food bloggers.

Vanessa’s been posting more often. She has a full time job, so she doesn’t post all the time because she has an actual fulltime job. But Cassy and Lexi post constantly, and I just love them. Because they’re just magical little creatures. And they come up with amazing recipes.

Let’s see, this is from Ellen ID. “How has becoming so popular and recognizable influence your life in a not so stellar way? Are you usually stopped by fans while out and about? Is it obnoxious? And last but not least, when you first started PaleOMG, did you ever anticipate your brand reaching the point of popularity that it’s at?” You’re giving me far too much credit, I’m no that popular. By any means.

But when I started my blog, I had no idea. Brands; like “being a brand” was never a thing when I first started my blog. Making money off a blog, I didn’t know about when I started a blog and it wasn’t a huge thing, especially in the paleo community. So yeah, never anticipated that.

And I don’t get recognized all the time. I feel like the place I get recognized the most at and often at is at the paleo restaurant in town. Which makes sense. And I go there far too often {laughs} and spend all my money there. So yeah, not that often. But it’s been really cool. When a reader saw me in Mexico, and then a girl recognized me when I was in Costa Rica. And I’ll get it at the airport sometimes.

So it’s just crazy how big the world is, and how small the internet makes it feel. Because you see these people that you follow, and you’re like; oh my god, I know that person, but I don’t know that person. It’s just so crazy. I haven’t had any not so stellar ways whatsoever. Everyone is always super nice and cool.

Rayna Perry. “Jackson is just the cutest!” I’m poking his butt right now. “When you travel, do you leave him with friends and family, or at daycare? He seems like he would go with the flow, even though you said he is an asshole with food and other dogs. Are there any special items you leave with him while you are away?”

So usually if I’m out of town, he stays with my sister-in-law, if she’s not with us. If she’s with us on a trip, I have a friend who house sits and dog sits. So he’s either stayed with friends with my sister-in-law or this friend who house sits. And she’s awesome.

But I wouldn’t board Jackson. I think he would have a f*cking panic attack. Just because we didn’t put him in a ton of doggie daycare when he was little. It was only a couple of times. And now he just gets bad anxiety when he’s in big group dog situations. And I think he would freak out. So I always just leave him with friends or family, for sure.

And I always buy him new treats and a new toy for him to play with when I’m gone. And that’s about it.

Let’s see; Airhounsel. “How do you decide which products to sponsor, versus which ones to recommend just because you love them?”

I mean, if a company comes to me and says; like today’s blog post was with Whole Foods. And they literally gave me the easiest way to work with them. They said, “Use these paleo products and create a recipe.” And that’s exactly what I did. And I promote Whole Foods already to begin with, regularly, and I promote these products regularly. So it was a really easy fit.

And then I just like to share products with people. So if I find something that I want to talk about, I’ll share that. And if a company ever comes to me and wants to work together, and it lines up with what I believe in and what I use regularly, I’ll share that too.

So I don’t only work with companies if they’re going to pay me. That’s not how I work. I want to share what I’m using. And hopefully that builds a relationship too. There’s been many times where I’ve shared something because I love it, and then a relationship has built out of that, as well. So I just do both. And if company wants to work together, that’s even cooler, because I use them anyway. So I hope that answers the question.

Ander Beth. “How have you dealt with social anxiety? Have you ever gone to therapy?”

I’ve never gone to therapy for my social anxiety. And I feel like it comes and goes. I don’t like big crowds. I have a hard time with letting go of things. So, say we go to a baseball game in the summer. All I’m thinking about the whole time during the game is how busy it’s going to be when we leave, and how finding a cab is going to be close to impossible, and it’s going to be really expensive, and there’s going to be all these people, like drunk people pushing me, and I just get such anxiety about going to the game just because of the end of the game.

I think what helps for me is I have a husband who is so f*cking chill. He is just go with the flow, why do you worry about everything. Everything works itself out, so what’s the point in stressing out about it. So I think we balance each other out. I don’t put myself into a lot of those situations that are going to cause me stress. And I’m a home body anyways, and I’m happy to be by myself. So that helps. But, I do somethings that I know are going to make him happy and are going to give him joy and happiness to his life, knowing that I’m just not going to enjoy it as much.

But I haven’t gone to any therapy. I haven’t had any crippling social anxiety. I’m still an outgoing, social person. There are just some situations that I don’t like to be in, so I just don’t put myself in those situations. I haven’t gone to therapy for anything.

I’m thinking about going to therapy for something else. But I’ll keep you updated if I go to therapy for that situation. It’s just kind of a personal situation, so. Not like marriage stuff or anything like that. But it’s just a personal situation that I don’t fully want to talk about here. But if I do end up going to therapy about it, I’m definitely going to share that experience. So I’ll keep you updated.

Columbus to the Coast. “Whatever happened to Sergio?”

So, if you’ve been following me for a long time, I had one of my best guy friends. He was in my wedding, and he’s been written about on my blog and I talk about him a million times. Everybody thought we were dating for a long time. Nothing; he was literally just one of my best friends. And Sergio is still kicking it. He is living with his girlfriend. I bet they’re close to engagement. He is working for himself. He is a realtor now and he’s just crushing it. He’s still in Denver. We don’t see each other near as often as we used to, because we’ve just gotten older and just have f*cking priorities and we have to hang out with our spouses and we have to work all the f*cking time because we work for ourselves.

And then he texted me while I was in Cabo, and said can we hang out when you’re back. And I was too f*cking wasted to write him back, and then I forgot to write him back. Thank you for the reminder, Columbus to the Coast.

But Sergio is crushing it. Just loving life. So that’s pretty rad. He’s great.

Sandy Holder. “How long did it take you to recover from adrenal fatigue? Did you take supplements, and if so, for how long?”

So I had adrenal fatigue from overdoing it in CrossFit, undereating, over training. And it took me probably about 3 years. Like I kind of mentioned of that weight gain, of coming back down and my body really able to regulate itself. Sleep better. And feel better in general. So it took me about three years. And I did not take any supplements for that. I didn’t know enough about supplements. And I still don’t f*cking know.

If you listen to that podcast with Emily Schromm, she talks about supplements. And I feel so lost when I talk about supplements.

Treasured Tablespoons. Cute. “How did you find out you were allergic to eggs? Did you do a food allergy test? Also, do you track macros and calories, and how do you avoid eating all new recipes as you try them out? It’s so hard to not overeat while creating new recipes often.”

So, my skin was flaring back up and I was kind of talking about that, sharing it on Instagram, and someone mentioned removing eggs. I removed eggs, my skin cleared up. Whenever I eat eggs, my skin breaks out. So, that’s how I figured it out. I didn’t do any sort of test.

I do not track calories or macros. And for recipes, I feel like I don’t bake or make a ton of treats anymore, so that really helps me kind of stay on track. When I make desserts, then I find myself overeating. But when I’m just making; like I made a casserole. I made a soup the other day. I made fish today. I just find myself not overeating because I’m either going to have it for another meal later, or I just ate a meal. Or it’s just food that I don’t feel like overeating, because it’s not triggering happy endorphins, as chocolate does. So that’s kind of how I’ve done it.

Jackson’s whining now for no reason.

Lindsey Bruno. “For people getting on track or back on track, would you say to prioritize diet or exercise? Obviously, you get the best results with both, but sometimes life gets in the way.”

I first and foremost prioritize your diet. Keep your diet in check all the time. Exercise, I think, is so important. Obviously I’m very in love with exercise. But I think diet is so incredibly important first. If you’re working out and you eat sh*t, then what’s it matter? Diet is so important. So I would prioritize diet first of anything.

Jackson, come over here! Don’t whine. That’s so unattractive.

Hannah Cabba. “What is a good way to approach how important health and nutrition is to you to your significant other? I’m newly married, and I’ve been dealing with a ton of GI and stress issues from the past year. I’m focusing on nutrition right now. It’s expensive, and my husband doesn’t understand why it’s important to me. He wants me to be happy and healthy, of course, but he’s pretty stubborn and is having a hard time with that it’s so important and not just BS. I don’t want to police his diet either, but it’s so helpful to have nice support at home.”

That’s a tough one. And I’ve had questions or comments like this before, and I just don’t understand that. Because when you’re telling someone you want to eat better, and you’re telling them why certain foods are better for you, and you just want them to be healthier with you, that’s so f*cking weird to me that someone wouldn’t support that. I just don’t get that.

Because you’re not asking them to be like; hey, will you smoke cigarettes with me? Will you literally put cancer into your body for me? Please? You’re not asking them to do that. You’re not asking them to be an alcoholic. You’re literally asking them to try new foods with you and to just eat a little bit better. So you can, whatever it is; lose weight, feel better internally. Whatever it is. I don’t understand why a person wouldn’t support you and why they’d be stubborn in anyway.

And I don’t know what your certain situation is. But sitting them down and explaining that to them. This is why this is important to me. This is why I need your support. And this is kind of what’s upsetting me that you’re not giving me the support I need, or you’re being a little bit stubborn. Whatever it is, you need to explain that to the person. And if they are a good person, number one, and they want this relationship to work, they should listen to that.

I just don’t get that. When people are like; how do I get my husband to eat paleo when he always just complains. I’m like; your person complains when you put food on the table? And I’m not talking to you, Hannah Cappa. I’m just saying other comments I’ve had before. I can’t imagine if my husband ever complained about the food that I just made him and put on the table for him. If he ever f*cking complained, I’d be like; you cook dinner. Good for you; you don’t want to eat this? Don’t worry. I’ll take it back. You figure out your own dinner, you motherf*cker. No way. No way would that fly in my household, ever.

So I just don’t understand that. Cooking is such a loving thing to do for someone, and it’s such hard work, and such a time suck. And for someone to not appreciate that, I don’t understand. Especially good, clean food. For you to make delicious, clean food, and for someone to complain, I don’t get it.

Tangent. Motherf*cking tangent. But, just sitting down and explaining in a rational way. Not attacking them, but telling them why it’s important. And the issues you’re having, and why you need their help. If they love you, they will do that for you. You’re not asking them to f*cking do drugs with you. You’re asking them to eat some chicken and broccoli, for f*ck’s sake. That’s what I think. I literally don’t know your situation, so I hope that helped in some way. {laughs}

That’s so Raven Holt. Stop, I love that f*cking name so much. “As often as you workout, does your body always feel sore afterwards? Or do you reach a point where there’s no longer soreness, but you still know you had a good workout? Or is that a sign you’ve plateaued and need to up your workouts to where you feel sore again? Not sure if that sounds crazy, but I often gauge how hard a workout is on how sore I am afterwards. And I wonder how good it is for my body to be sore in the long run.”

So, I feel sore on a regular basis from CrossFit for sure, somewhere. I don’t feel as sore as I used to in the beginning, just because I’ve built muscles over time, and I don’t go as heavy as I used to. So I feel soreness. But yes, I will still have a good workout. And if I don’t feel crazy sore, I know I still worked certain muscle groups and still had a good workout. But yeah, if I’m doing butt specific workouts, and lifting heavier than I used with that, say, barbell hip thrust. And I don’t feel sore; I’m like, ok maybe I need to do something a little bit different. Because I should feel soreness from there.

So yeah, I think it’s a balance. But I think having soreness over time, I think it’s definitely good for the body. You’re creating stress in the body, and then it’s rebuilding those tissues, and that’s where you see those changes. If you’re never getting sore ever, I definitely think it’s kind of plateauing. You should be getting sore on a regular basis. And then going through this ups and downs of soreness if that makes sense.

Sarah T. Malcom. “Would love to hear your stretching routine, if you haven’t’ shared it already. I just found your blog, and you’re so effing hilarious.” You’re hilarious, Sarah!

So I am terrible at stretching. 100% awful at it. I will not act like I do it often, because I do not. I only do it if I don’t know what else to do. But usually I’m getting to the gym, I’m working out, I’m leaving the gym, I’m going to do more sh*t.

So what I have been doing. I talked about Aaptiv on the podcast before. They’ve been a previous sponsor of the podcast. So; sorry, I’m yawning. You know how it goes when I talk to myself for an hour and a half.

So Aaptiv has stretching workouts on their app. So I’ll use that to stretch sometimes, but other than that, I’m f*cking awful. Don’t listen to me, ok. Stretch, be a good person. I just don’t.

Ok, the Nourished Actor. “How do you wind down and relax? I’m a freelancer and actor and find myself constantly working. When I do relax, I tend to get bored and anxious. Any advice? What do you do to recharge and unwind?”

For me, I usually go on a trip. I know that’s not possible always, but that’s what I do to unwind. Because me, I f*cking just love my work. And I feel like if I’m sitting on the couch, I could be getting more work done. So I might as well do that. So I go on little trips here and there. Like I’m going to Crested Butte. I’m still getting work done, but I’m getting time away to just recheck. I like to watch movies. I like to go to restaurants. But I don’t do anything specific.

My time to unwind and relax is going to the gym, getting a workout in, and seeing some of the people I love to see. Going to lunch with a friend, going to coffee. Those are kind of my recharging moments. But nothing really else.

I am Grateful. That’s the name. “Super important paleo nutrition question here. When can we expect more drunk Juli on Instagram stories? That sh*t was hilarious.”

So hopefully if you listened to my Cabo podcast, you heard about my obscene Instagram stories of being f*cking hammered drunk. And the thing is I don’t drink very often. I will have one or two drinks once in a while going out, but then when I go hard, I go f*cking hard. So that kind of drunk only happens a couple of times a year. And usually I don’t understand how to use my phone, so I don’t know how I did in Mexico. But you probably won’t see her for another six or so months.

I am going to Cabo, most likely, again in April. And it is my 30th birthday in April. So maybe she’ll arrive. That messy old drunk Juli. Who knows. Man, I cannot hold my liquor.

Jen being Jen. “Most and least favorite Bachelor contestants?”

Oh my god, the Bachelor. Arie is literally a f*cking sack of potatoes. He is so boring. He’s so boring! Raw potatoes. Nobody wants a raw f*cking potato. He is so boring! It’s just so funny. You think about; say there are 10 women left on this earth, and there’s one guy. You’re going to be like; this guy is hot. Because he’s the only guy you’ve got to choose from. And that’s what all these women go through when they’re on the Bachelor. You’re like; god, this f*cking guy is magical! He’s wonderful! He’s just the greatest since apple pie. And he’s literally not. He’s a sack of potatoes.

I’ve been doing breakdowns; if you watch the Bachelor, or you just like to read recaps or whatever, I’ve been doing it every Tuesday on the blog. I’ve only recapped two; I haven’t recapped this weeks’, because I’m a week behind because I was in Cabo. So I’ve been doing recaps there.

Crystal; I can’t stand her voice. And I don’t want to hate somebody because of their voice. You can’t help your voice. But when she see’s Ari, her voice becomes an octave higher, and so much whinier. {high-pitched} She talks like this. Hi, Ari! I just feel like… {normal} And you’re like, ok. Literally, fingernails on the chalkboard. I can’t f*cking listen to you. I want to mute it. It’s that bad.

And I guess she went on Instagram stories; I listened to another podcaster who said she went on Instagram stories and said she was really sick. It’s like; girl. Holding the last letter of a word out for 10 seconds is not being sick. That’s you being annoying. Stop that voice. And she smiles constantly, and acts like everything is just perfect and great. She’s like {high-pitched} Yeah, that’s great. {normal} Ok, you are a murderer. People who act like things are great constantly are usually the people who kill their husbands.

Ok, that’s kind of taking it too far. I listen to too many true crime podcasts. But for real, I just have a couple of those people I’ve known in my life who just; they seem happy all the time, and they’re off their rocker. I know a couple of people who are literally like that, and that’s f*cking awesome. But they’re like that 24/7. This girl; nuh-huh. She is about to snap at some point, and then she’s going to snap a b*tch’s arm, because she is fit as f*ck. She has a banging bod, though. Banging bod.

Oh, and then Chelsea, not so fun. Chelsea has so much filler in her cheeks that when she smiles, she can’t actually smile, and nothing moves. It’s just too much. Too much! You’re beautiful. You don’t need that much filler. And this is coming from a person who f*cking loves Botox and f*cking doing sh*t to my face. Too much filler, though.

But, I think they’re just making her out to seem meaner than she is, and she’s not actually that mean. But ok, Beka; her name is spelled B-E-K-A. Beka. Beka! Beka! That is like how Jessie says it to Becca in Pitch Perfect. That’s how I call her; Beka every time now. And Beka is 22 years old. Arie is 36. And I’m not age hating here, because believe me; my husband and I are 7 years apart and it works great. That’s a pretty big age difference when you’re just out of college, if she went to college. Just out of college, and your brain is so squishy. Even if you’re more mature for your age, you still have so much to learn and live through. That’s just my opinion. Obviously everybody is so different.

But Beka, it’s funny because Crystal’s voice goes up an octave higher; Beka’s goes down an octave lower. So every time she talks it’s like {deep voice} “Hello, Ari. How are you doing?” {normal} And it reminds me of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, when he gets super drunk in the bar and he’s drinking all these funny drinks with all these different things in it. And he gets a cosmopolitan, and he’s like, {deep voice}, “I’m Samantha.” {normal} That’s how Beka sounds all the time. It’s f*cking hilarious. Watch that scene. Go back to her.

So those are my least favorite. Favorite; is there a favorite yet? Nobody has been super cool. Caroline; she looks like Vanessa from Nick’s season. She has huge boobs. She’s the other realtor. She seems pretty normal, I think. I want her to go far. I want her to win, honestly. I don’t know why, because I don’t know her personality.

And then; ok I literally don’t have any favorites. Oh, Seinne. Seinne has her sh*t together, because she’s an upstanding citizen who is incredibly intelligent and very worldly. Has traveled a lot of places. But I don’t want her to end up with Arie. So I’d like her to get second and then become the next Bachelorette. Because Arie is a sack of potatoes.

Anywho. Let’s see. Mayve Begal. “Dating as a social introvert; how did you manage it before, or even when you met Brian?”

So for me, I’m pretty good at faking that; I feel like. Sergio said it once. He was like; you are the most outgoing introvert I’ve ever met. So, I do not like social situations, but I like being the center of attention. It’s so weird. So I didn’t find it too hard dating. I was just like; I don’t know. I didn’t find dating too hard. It was awful and miserable, and guys sucked and everything.

But with Brian, it was pretty easy. Other than Brian is incredibly quiet, especially when we first started dating and he didn’t talk at all. That made it kind of hard to get to f*cking know him. But he’s just a quiet dude anyways. And shy. Not shy, but when it comes to dating someone. So that made it a little bit hard. But yeah, I didn’t find it too tough. I don’t know if that answers your questions. Sorry, that was a bad answer.

Evelyn. “Your engagement ring is unbelievably beautiful!” Oh my god, that’s so nice. Thank you. “Did you ever drop hints to your now husband about what style, shape, cut you preferred, or did he just wing it? I know your dad designed it. But did they wing it? I’m torn between dropping hints or letting him take the reins.”

I think; I don’t know. Everybody is going to go different. But of course, it was a little different because I had my dad. So I sent my dad a couple of pictures. And I said; dad. If this comes up. If this situation comes up, here are some ring ideas of what I like. So I was able to give him some ideas.

I think it’s cool if you can give your input of different things you like, and then they can kind of go from there and decide from there. And then you won’t know exactly what you want. But I know other women who are like; I want my ring to look like this, period. So you just have to find what works for you. But they kind of built a ring around a couple of different examples I got. So it was an original one, but based off things that I liked. Like the diamond shape and how the ring was shaped and things like that. But I think it’s fun when you can have some input into what your ring looks like in the end. But not all of it.

Cal Berkley Girl. “What rain boots do you recommend for walking in rainy weather?”

Hunter boots. I love my hunter boots for rain. The best.

Tall Like a Post. “Any tips on how to tell if your body is inflamed from overtraining and stress? I know this is probably person specific, but not sure if you remember any signs.”

So, change in appetite. Change in sleep patterns. Gaining or losing weight. Loss in sex drive. Loss in period. Losing hair or getting hair in different places; like if you never had any dark facial hair, and getting those. And believe me, those come with age, for sure. But those are the main kind of changes I saw when I was going through overtraining and that sort of thing.

Fit Forty-something. “Wondering if you ever considered a PaleOMG app. It could include workouts in details, paleo friendly restaurants, cities, cooking videos, all that.”

So, I have considered doing an app multiple different times, and even talked to someone abut doing an app. Based on talking to Michelle Tam of Nom Nom Paleo and her app, it doesn’t sound like the most fun experience. And I think it costs a lot of money to do, and to upkeep, and to get it into the app stores, and then changing with different versions. I think it’s just a lot of work. It’s almost a job in itself. And I do all of this by myself. So I can’t imagine keeping up with that, too. And as much as I would love to, it just hasn’t sounded good enough to do. So I haven’t done it.

B. Lewis. “How do you wear cute strap tees without bra straps showing?” So I wear a sticky bra. I wear this new bra with all my shirts, and it just sticks to your boobs. That being said, I have fake boobs, so they kind of stay in place. It’s not like over time, or I’ve had children and they’ve lost their plumpness or fullness or their heavy or whatever. They just do the same thing all the time. So I just wear sticky bra.

This one is from Sandra Ballaster. “Can you talk about a day in the life of Jackson?” His little butt. “Such as, does he sleep in a kennel, or when does he go to bed. What does he eat, how big is he, does he jump on the couch, you get it. What does he do all day?”

So, Jackson eats this food called Pura Vida. And I’ve changed different foods over the years. But Pura Vida has seemed the best for him with the salmon flavor kind. So he has a half cup in the morning, he has a half cup at night. Jackson sleeps in his own bed next to our bed, where he snores recently. He sleeps in that little bed. We always go on one or two walks a day. And they’ll be like 15 to an hour long. And he literally sleeps all day. So he just sleeps, or he’ll play a little bit. Or he’ll chew on a bone. I open my front door, because we have a glass door, and he can watch outside or sit in the sunlight.

Yes, he jumps on the couch. He lies between my legs. Every morning we wake up, he wakes up with me when I get up. Usually I wake up before him, or if he wakes up, I’ll say go back to bed, and he’ll go back to sleep. And then we come out to the couch. I make my coffee. I lie on the couch. He lies between my legs. And then we sit here for like an hour as I finish my blog and get work done. And yeah, he’s the best. I f*cking love this dog so much. He’s such a little pudge.

E. Hem While. “I was recently prescribed spironolactone, and was told I needed to watch my blood potassium levels. I know that a lot of food I eat are good sources of potassium. Did you have your blood potassium levels monitored?” Yes. I get them monitored every; I get a blood test every six months to a year. And I’ve never had any issues. So whenever I have a blood test, it all is good. I’ve never had any issues.

Janelle Norman. “I asked before, but I think I missed it. I’m a fellow Frenchie mama. Was Jackson ever a wild guy? If he was, when did you notice him slow down? My Milo is a little over a year and he still gets pretty crazy, especially when people are over.”

He calmed down after two years old. Definitely saw a shift in his personality. He’s not nearly as hyper. He gets hyper when this other Frenchie is around, who is; oh my god. He just farted in my face. Rad, Jackson. Rad.

So, he will get a little hyper with this dog and a little crazy, but that Frenchie is half his size, so he doesn’t get tired when Jackson does. So yeah, at two years old he definitely tired out. So some Frenchies are just more hyper. And Jackson’s just not one of those dogs.

It’s been an hour and 34 minutes. I still have not packed. It looks like it’s midnight, but it’s probably like 6 p.m. So I’ve got to get packing. Thank you guys so much for writing in all your questions. They’re so much fun to answer. I love doing these episodes of this podcast. And based on statistics, they seem to do the best. I get the most downloads on these episodes versus actually interviewing people. But I hope you guys are liking different sometimes interviews, sometimes by myself.

I don’t have anybody lined up for interviews, I still need to kind of figure that out. Who I want to talk to, and have on, but still figuring it out. But I hope you guys love these episodes as much as I do. They’re so fun. If you want some Bachelor recaps, go to www.PaleOMG.com. Since I haven’t been able to do them here. And check out my last two Tuesday posts. Because I talk about the Bachelor there. I think in my barbacoa tacos, and then my jalapeno popper chicken salad. So f*cking good.

On the blog this week, I did jalapeno popper chicken salad. I did buffalo chicken pizza. I did a post about Fab, Fit, Fun. I got my first box recently and I tell you my honest opinion about it. Loved it. Everything in it was freaking awesome. I shared a bunch of workouts on the blog. When this goes live, I’ll have a new workout outfit. Talking about kind of staying motivated. And what keeps me motivated. Yeah. I think that’s all I have for you this week.

So I’ve got to feed this little doggie. I’ve got to pack. And I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend. And I can’t wait for another episode. Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast. Only if you like it. If you don’t like it; you know, I get it. Come tell me you hate me. I get those emails constantly. It’s fine. I’m pretty good at dealing with it at this point. So hope you have a wonderful weekend. I’ll see you next time. Bye-bye for now.