I’m not going to go into a long thing about why microwaves are bad for you. I’ve been without one for over a year and this is how I manage…easily.

1. What about microwavable dinners?

I don’t buy microwavable meals, they are full of processed chemicals, expensive, and overly salty anyway. If you like prepared food, try making a ton of leftovers over the weekend for the week. If you don’t want to cook check out the salad and sushi bar instead.

2. How do you heat your food when you are not at home?

That’s easy, you bring food that doesn’t need to be heated such as salads, granola bars, veggies and dips, sushi, pasta salads, sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, pizza, and asian leftovers all taste good cold, just to name a few. Yes, all these food can be made paleo, but it will definitely take some cooking skills.

3. How do you heat your food at home?

I normally heat it over a small nonstick skillet or pan. There is usually one dish to clean, but that’s not much. I also put foil over a cookie sheet and heat up the food for 10 minutes in the oven. Then there is no cleanup when you toss away the foil. If you have the space, you can always invest in a toaster oven, but if you have an oven then a toaster oven seems redundant.

4. How do you make popcorn?

You just add a little olive oil to a skillet and throw in the kernals. Make sure the lid is on and watch it pop. We’ve tried it with coconut oil, and it doesn’t work. If you’re paleo, popcorn is technically a whole grain and you shouldn’t be eating it anyway.

6.  How do you defrost food?

Food defrosts best in the fridge, although it takes some time. You can also leave it out on the counter, or if you are in a rush, run hot water over it.

7. What about heating beverages?

This too can be done over the stove or look into getting an electric kettle. I would avoid this gadget unless you are tea obsessed and usually away from kitchen.

I started going to psychotherapy sessions at the recommendation of my physical therapists. At physical therapy, they guided me through some visualizations and breath work exercises, which can be helpful for those with an over active nervous system. These type of exercises are continued at my psychotherapy sessions, where I also get traditional counseling that addresses many of my fears and anger issues regarding my nerve pain. It’s been studied that individuals with chronic pain are likely to experience symptoms of depression as well (1).

Tension and stress that are held in the body can easily manifest as painful symptoms. One way of relieving that stress, without creating more, is to have a safe environment where you can vocalize your worries. I procrastinated paying for therapy for the longest time, and choose it work out my problems with my friends and family. Not only was this a drain on my relationships, but it can also caused additional stress when my friends and family were unable to handle or understand what I was going through. I eventually went to Dina Bernat-Kunin, LCSW. (Disclaimer: This is not a paid promotion, I’m merely providing one of the many resources I use to improve my health)

In conclusion, I’ve personally benefited from the whole body approach. You all know how important nutrition is to my healing process, but it is only one part of the puzzle. Having chronic pain definitely requires mental fortitude, which is why getting a professional to help you be stronger mentally can be just as helpful for your recovery as getting a physical therapist to help with your physical strength.

1. Ohayon MM, Shatzberg AF. Using chronic pain to predict depressive morbidity in the general population. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2003;60:39–47. [PubMed]

One of the reasons, I love paleo recipes are the healthy use of fats. Tallow is one of my favorite fats because it’s saturated, so it’s stable enough for cooking. Plus, it’s rendered from beef, and since I regularly buy grass fed knuckle bones aka soup bones at my farmer’s market for bone broth, I consider this fat a nutritious freebie! I use a lot of coconut oil for cooking, so this is a great substitute that helps me reduce the cost of food. When I make bone broth, I usually just scoop the fat when it solidifies at the top of the broth in the refrigerator. The fat does keep the broth fresher longer, so don’t scoop it out unless you are going to use the broth right away. Once you scoop it out, save it in a glass container. You can use it just like that, or you can put the container with the fat in a saucepan with some water, and put the heat on the lowest possible setting. The steam will melt the fat, and when it solidifies, it will be one whole mass instead of smaller uglier pieces.

Besides being an awesome cooking oil, tallow is one of few sources of Vitamin K2. Other sources include natto (fermented soybeans), goose liver, certain cheeses, and animal fat such as egg yolk, butter and lard from grass-fed animals. Vitamin K2 is a common vitamin deficiency that usually manifests as osteoporosis, alzheimer’s disease, arterial plaques (aka heart disease), wrinkles and dental cavities. So basically, the health problems associated with old age. If you supplement with K2, it’s not cheap. I bought mine from Carlson Labs, and for 180 capsules it was around $50.

Our ancestors regularly cooked with animal fat. If you check out old recipe books, they aren’t afraid to use lard on their list of ingredients. Turns out grandma’s traditions became tradition for a reason. Confused about whether you should be taking calcium for your bones? Studies have shown that increased calcium supplementation can increase the risk of heart disease, especially in women. What K2 does, is it helps put the calcium in the right place. Instead of the arteries where it increases the risk of heart disease, with K2 the calcium goes to your bones and your teeth.

So now you may be sold on lard, but to get the full benefits of K2 it needs to be from grass fed animals. According to Dr. Kate Rheaume-Bleue, author of Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox, you’re animals need to consume choropllyl from leafy greens to get K1. The animals then convert K1 to K2 for you, where it’s stored in their fat until you consume it. Tallow also contains Vitamin D, which is important for hormonal health. Check out my article on 6 Tips to Help Balance Your Hormones Naturally on Answers.com if you want more information on balancing your hormones.

If you haven’t checked out the first part, I highly recommend it.

You know you’re a health nut

… when your heavy purse feels like it has bricks but it’s just a bag of apples.

… when you’re forced out to dinner you adjust the restaurant’s menu.

… when you wipe down your airplane seats with sanitizer wipes (it works!)

… when your family gets a grocery list for your special food before you visit.

… when you bond with your brother over his latest juicer.

… when all your food tastes like coconut oil.

… when your instagram is filled with food pictures.

… when you take home locally sourced offal in your luggage.

… when it takes at least thirty minutes to explain your diet.

… when your pinterest looks like tastespotting for diabetics.

… when your own health jokes leave everyone else confused.

• Michael Marsh, MD, DSC, FRCP, “Godfather” of Celiac Morphology
• Mark Houston, MD, MS, ABAARM, FACP, FAHA, FASH, Assoc. Clinical Prof. of Medicine at Vanderbilt University
• Cynthia Kupper, RD, Executive Director of the Gluten Intolerance Group
• David Perlmutter, MD, FACN, ABIHM, President, Perlmutter Health Center

• Alessio Fasano, MD, Chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition at Mass General Hospital for Children
• Rodney Ford, MD, MB, BS, FRACP, Pediatric Gastroenterologist & Food Allergy Expert
• Liz Lipski, PhD, CCN, CHN, Owner of Innovative Healing, Inc.

• Aristo Vojdani, PhD, MSc, MT, CEO, ImmunoScience Laboratories
  
• Mark Hyman, MD, Chairman of the Institute for Functional Medicine
• Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD, MMedSci, Creator of the GAPS Diet
• Erica Kasuli, MS, RD, CDN, Director of Nutrition at Amen Clinics

• Marios Hadjivassiliou, MD, Educational Associate, Association for Historical Dialogue & Research
• JJ Virgin, CNS, CHFS, Best-selling author of “The Virgin Diet”
• Tom Malterre, MS, CN, Co-owner of Whole Life Nutrition

• Daniel Amen, MD, Author of “The Amen Solution”
• Andrew Keech, PhD, DSc, Author of “Peptide Immunotherapy: Colostrum a Physician’s Reference Guide”
• Nora Gedgaudas, CNS, CNT, Author of “Primal Body, Primal Mind”
• Peter Osborne, DC, CNCB, Founder of GlutenFreeSociety.org

• Loren Cordain, PhD, “Godfather” of the Paleo Diet
• Jeffrey Smith, Founder, Institute of Responsible Technology
• Deanna Minich, PhD, FACN, CNS, Nutrition & Health Expert
• Sayer Ji, Founder of GreenMedInfo.com

• William Davis, MD, Best-selling author of “Wheat Belly”
• Jaqui Karr, CSN, CVD, Nutritionist & Lifestyle Expert
• Dave Asprey, Writer of The Bulletproof Exec Blog
• Suzy Cohen, RPh, “America’s Pharmacist”

• Umberto Volta, MD, Director of Coeliac Disease Simple Unit, St.Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, University of Bologna, Italy
• Yehuda Shoenfeld, MD, FRCP, Head of Zabludowicz Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Sheba Medical Center
• Tom O’Bryan, DC, CCN, DABCN, Founder of theDr.com & The Gluten Summit

Recently, I’ve set up a Monthly Newsletter that will contain links to my blog posts for the past month, as well as giving my subscribers a heads up for promotions and online events for the upcoming month. Since I personally hate receiving a ton of email, I thought one newsletter per month will not clog up everyone’s inbox. I’m also currently working on a free ebook for my subscribers called Easy Blended Vegetable Soups. I have always been crazy about soup, but for awhile now, I have been obsessed with blended vegetable soups. These recipes are are quick to prepare and clean up, and a great way to alkalize and satisfy your body. If you are trying to lose weight, these recipes will help you easily get more vegetables into your diet. Thank you to everyone who has subscribed already! I really appreciate your support. To subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter you can enter your email into the sidebar where it says Our Monthly Newsletter, or click here to be redirected to a signup form.