Video: Standing Cat Cow
My trainer, Josh Hostetler, talks us through the Standing Cat Cow. When you may experience significant lower back pain and cannot get on all fours on the ground, this standing version is a great option!
Book: Primal Blueprint; Healthy Sauces, Dressings and Toppings
Image Source: https://i.thriftbooks.com/api/imagehandler/DA68434DB7D868982AABB6907CA4F455E493DF26.jpeg
I have used this book for about a decade, but it is still worth sharing with all of you!
Primal Blueprint: Healthy Sauces, Dressings & Toppings by Mark Sisson offers a collection of flavorful, nutrient-packed recipes that transform simple dishes into something special. With no gluten, grains, added sugars, or unhealthy fats, these sauces range from everyday staples like ketchup to creative twists like avocado-lime dressing; helping you eat clean without sacrificing taste.
Dr. Jockers (a former classmate of mine in chiropractic school) also has an excellent article that details the best fats and oils to use, which to avoid, and why! He highlights oils like olive, avocado, coconut, and ghee as the healthiest options for cooking, while cautioning against processed seed oils that promote inflammation.
Research Article: Single Leg Balance and Aging
Image source: https://sdmntprcentralus.oaiusercontent.com
Age-Related Changes in Gait, Balance, and Strength Parameters: A Cross-sectional Study
PLOS One, October 23rd, 2024; Vol. 19; No 10; e0310764
Important highlights from the article:
- “For all balance tests, participants were instructed to look straight ahead with arms on their sides. For one-leg standing trial, individuals were instructed to keep eyes open.”
- “Adequate muscle strength, efficient gait, and good balance, which decline with age, are crucial contributors to independence and well-being.”
- “The duration of unipedal balance showed the most significant change per decade, while strength measures exhibited the lowest amount of change per decade (grip strength and/ or knee strength).”
- “Unipedal stance time was found to be the most affected by age compared to other contributing factors.”
- “Importantly, the current study identified the duration a person can maintain balance on the non-dominant left as the factor with the highest rate of decline.”
- “The duration an individual, whether male or female, can maintain balance on one leg emerges as the most reliable determinant of aging, surpassing strength, gait, and other balance parameters.”
In case you are curious about how long you might want to be able to balance on one leg, here is another group’s recommendation for standards with breakdown by age. Also, keep in mind you can stand with one leg up any way that you choose – you could hold it up in front of you, behind you, or like the picture above. It does not matter.
- “18-39 years old: Aim for at least 43 seconds, with some individuals able to hold for a minute or more.”
- “40-49 years old: Around 40 seconds is a good target.”
- “50-59 years old: Expect to hold for around 37 seconds.”
- “60-69 years old: A good hold would be around 27 seconds.”
- “70-79 years old: Expect to hold for about 18 seconds.”
- “80-99 around six seconds is a reasonable target.”
Podcast: How to Change Your Habits: Why They Form and How to Build or Break Them | Charles Duhigg
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This podcast features Charles Duhigg. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author known for distilling complex neuroscience and psychology into practical strategies for behavior change, performance, and decision-making.
In this episode, Charles explores the neuroscience behind habit formation, including how cue-routine-reward loops drive nearly half of our daily actions and why positive reinforcement is far more effective than punishment.
He explains how institutions like the military and Alcoholics Anonymous engineer environments to change behavior at scale, as well as discussing the limits of willpower and how to preserve it by shaping context.
The conversation also covers the real timeline of habit formation, how to teach better habits to kids, the role of failure and self-compassion in lasting change, and the power of social accountability.
Charles further discusses how cognitive routines enhance productivity and creativity, how to gamify long-term goals through immediate rewards, why identity and purpose are often the strongest forces behind sustainable behavior change, and the potential of AI to power habit change.
Recipe of the Month: Blueberry Protein Gummies
Image Source: https://whatgreatgrandmaate.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Paleo-Blueberry-Sour-Gummies-3.jpg
These Paleo blueberry sour gummies blend fruit, lemon juice, honey and gelatin for a tangy, gut-friendly treat. Adding gelatin packs this snack with more protein and makes for great lunch snack for at or after school. My kids ask me to help make this recipe often!
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