by Sean Croxton

Let’s make it rain Apples, my friends.

A few weeks ago I asked for your help in qualifying for some pretty awesome prizes, as part of Marie Forleo’s affiliate competition.

The plan was to win one of the prizes — a MacBook Air, iPad, or a $300 Apple gift card — and then run a contest of our own to give the prize away to one of you.

Unfortunately, we didn’t win.

But to show my appreciation for your incredible support, I decided to run the contest anyway!

Here’s the scoop…

Have you ever heard of Tebowing?

You know, those hilarious pics everyone and their Mama was posting online last year in full Tim Tebow prayer formation.

Maybe this will refresh your memory.

by Sean Croxton

Think about this for a second.

If you’re a man and your doctor finds that you have low levels of testosterone, what would your doc prescribe?

Probably some kind of testosterone gel or cream.

(By the way, the above prescription completely ignores the reason WHY your testosterone is low in the first place. But that’s a blog for another day.)

Or let’s say you’re a smoker who really wants to kick the habit. What would you go out and buy?

Probably a nicotine patch of some kind, right?

What these two examples have in common is that by applying a substance to the skin, it is delivered transdermally to the bloodstream in just a matter of seconds.

What we put onto our bodies gets into our bodies.

But what about the personal care products we use every day — the soaps, shampoos, deodorants, cosmetics, toothpastes, mouthwashes, and lotions?

Do their chemical contents have a similar fate, with their foaming and wetting agents, synthetic fragrances, and antifreeze-like compounds eventually pumping through our veins?

Darn right they do.

According to the Environmental Working Group, the typical consumer uses an average of nine personal care products containing 126 separate ingredients every day. At least one-third of these ingredients have been identified as causing cancer or other serious health conditions. (Fitzgerald, 23)

That’s not good.

by Sean Croxton

I admit it. I was super nervous about this interview.

It’s not often that I get to interview someone who has been awarded the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant.

I remember the first time I ever heard of Will Allen. An old personal training client told me about all the good Will was doing in Milwaukee, providing access to real food in the inner city.

Maybe a year later, I reviewed a movie called Fresh, in which Will was featured. I can vividly call him shouting, “Let’s DO this!” to a group of volunteers on his urban farm called Growing Power.

Yup, Will is a doer. He grows food where you would least expect it, using earthworm poop to maximize soil quality, food scraps and paper products for compost, hoop houses to grow crops out of season, and aquaponics to grow over a 100,000 fish indoors.

A genius, indeed.

While I was at the Grass Valley Food and Farm Conference a few weeks ago, I not only got to introduce Will to the attendees but I got to sit down with him and pick his big brain for a bit.

Definitely one of the highlights of my life.

Click below to get to know more about Will Allen. The man is amazing.

Enjoy,

Sean
Author, The Dark Side of Fat Loss

by Sean Croxton

You asked for this.

Back in October, my main man and favorite real food chef Lance Roll was my guest on UW Radio. We spoke about all things bone broth — the benefits, the science, and the preparation.

Since that show, Chef Lance has been swamped with emails from listeners asking if he ships his broth to locations outside of San Diego. Unfortunately, due to logistical issues — such as the broth thawing while en route — shipping was not an option at the time.

But I’ve got good news for you. The chef got it all figured out and is now shipping directly to your doorstep!

Last month Lance stopped by my place, where we filmed the video below showing you exactly what to do with your broth when it arrives. He also shows you a few ways to add a little extra flavor and nutrition to what he calls “the magical elixir”.

To order your own batch of broth, head over to www.thebrothery.com.

Enjoy the video! If you missed our radio broadcast, click the mini-player below the video.

Enjoy, friends.

Sean
Author, The Dark Side of Fat Loss

By Kusha Karvandi, Founder & CEO of Exerscribe.com

We’ve all been there.

A long stressful day at work, and we failed to plan our meals accordingly.

Or worse, we exert the time and energy to prepare our food, but office calamity and eponymous ‘fire-fighting’ steal the wind from our sails. So, in turn, our blood sugar turns into a turbulent roller coaster leaving us lethargic, ravenous and ultimately capitulated by comfort food.

But why do we reach for comfort food?

There are three elements which drive us toward the bad stuff: low serotonin, poor gut flora, and imbalanced hormones. And here are three tips for improving them.

Boost Serotonin

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter which is responsible for maintaining our Circadian Rhythm (natural sleep cycles), memory, and boosting mood. Our brain, just like our muscles, consumes blood sugar to function and produce serotonin. So, when blood sugar drops, so do our serotonin levels.

For the sake of efficiency, our body seeks what it knows to be the quickest source of energy to spike serotonin levels: comfort food. The reason being, comfort food is generally composed of processed, refined carbohydrates and/or simple sugars which are guaranteed to give an instant jolt in blood sugar. The problem with this is that not only does this add inches to your waistline by signaling body fat storage, but the brain also recognizes this pattern and begins to crave these substances when your blood sugar crashes.

by Sean Croxton & Dr. Sara Gottfried

THIS is interesting.

I won’t bore you with a blog post. All I’ll say is that I hope this information goes viral. More people need to know about it.

Click the video below and let the doc break it all down for you.

You can also check out the entire episode by clicking the mini-player underneath the video.

By the way, Dr. Gottfried put together a FREE hormone quiz for my female readers, listeners, and viewers.

Take it HERE –> www.hormonecurequiz.com

See you Monday!

Sean
Author, The Dark Side of Fat Loss

by Sean Croxton

Farmers need to retire, too.

After forty to fifty years of managing the soil, harvesting the crops, and raising the animals — very hard work, indeed — there comes a point when it’s time to shut it down.

Back in the day (actually, really not that long ago), farms were multi-generational. Sons and daughters were groomed to someday take over the family business.

Unfortunately, those times are no more.

Over half of our farmers are sixty years of age and older.. According to this article, the number of farmers over the age of 65 grew by nearly 22 percent between the years 2002 and 2007 alone. Furthermore, statistics from the Agricultural Department show that for every one farmer and rancher under the age of 25, there are five who are 75 and older.

For most of these aged farmers, their sons and daughters have moved on from generations-old family traditions and farmlands in pursuit of cultivating more corporate pastures. As a result, their mothers and fathers are working well past retirement age.

As farmer Joel Salatin says, “If the young people don’t get in, then the old people can’t get out.”

We need reinforcements.

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Joel, author of Folks, This Ain’t Normal!, at the Nevada County Food and Farm Conference.

Joel and I discussed how we can capture a new generation of young farmers and entrepreneurs.

Check it out!

Sean
Author, The Dark Side of Fat Loss