The Best Nootropic Coffee

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated March 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Your life will never be the same after trying out this secret nootropic coffee recipe because afterwards you’ll never go back to a regular cup of coffee.

In the United States of America where 146 billion cups of coffee are enjoyed per year, and worldwide where that number is MUCH larger, this coffee drink might even change the world.

One reason coffee is so popular is because each cup contains ~100 mg of caffeine. Caffeine is a mild stimulant that increases alertness and focus, wards off sleep, and boosts the metabolism. Caffeine is the most widely used nootropic worldwide and coffee makes it easily to consume a physiologically and psychologically relevant dose. So how do you improve upon the world’s most widely consumed nootropic beverage?

Well in my quest to make the perfect coffee, one that’s smooth, not too bitter, packed with micronutrients, and doesn’t create any anxiety or jitter I turned to herbalism, experimenting with many different recipes, and one day I blended together the ultimate cup of joe.

This super coffee is such a health and productivity hack that I honestly shouldn’t share it with anyone, but I’m feeling magnanimous so here goes.

The Dark Mocha Rises

One of the main drawbacks of coffee is that it can sometimes cause jitteryness and anxiety, especially when multiple cups are consumed and when plenty of extra sugar is added. Instead of creating a triumphant feeling of focus and productivity, you’re left feeling worn and emotionally snappy.

Bulletproof coffee was the first to address this issue by replacing sugar with a fat like butter or coconut oil, in the process taking the paleo community by storm. The blend of fat and coffee nicely enhances alertness and focus while boosting fat metabolism, providing all day energy without any blood sugar crashes. Why stop with one improvement when we can go one step further with what I call the dark mocha.

A typical mocha combines coffee with steamed milk and chocolate, delicious. A dark mocha is different.

Instead of mixing in cream and sugar, a dark mocha starts with a cup of black coffee and mixes in 100% pure cacao along some honey and a few synergistic herbal supplements.

Pure cacao powder contains a good blend of fat, fiber, and protein which together function better than butter or coconut oil in stabilizing blood sugar and without creating an oily coffee. Cacao also has a delicious flavor and melts easily into a warm cup of coffee. Add to that some honey to cut some of the bitterness, Ceylon cinnamon for flavor and for it’s insulin sensitizing effects, and chaga mushroom and cistanche for a wealth of health and longevity benefits, and you have the ultimate cup of coffee. Here’s the recipe.

Dark Mocha Recipe:

• 1 cup (8oz) black coffee

• 1 tbsp cacao powder

• 1 tsp honey

• 1/2 tsp ceylon cinnamon

• 1/8 tsp chaga mushroom powder

• 1/8 tsp cistanche powder

Instructions:

Brew a cup of black coffee using your favorite coffee beans and pour into a shaker bottle.

Add cacao honey, cinammon, chaga, and cistanche

Blend together for 1-2 minutes until the cacao and honey are fully dissolved. Drink from the bottle or pour into a mug.

Some of the cinnamon, chaga, and cistanche will slowly settle out over time, so give the coffee the occasional swirl or stir with a spoon to keep everything suspended.

The Health Benefits of a Nootropic Coffee

It’s common knowledge that many herbals exist which are great for health and wellness, and incorporating cacao, cinnamon, chaga, and cistanche into coffee (is it a coincidence they all start with the letter C?) makes it real easy to boost the beneficial energetic and cognitive effects of coffee and one’s overall health at the same time.

No messing around with pills or brewing a pot of tea to practice herbalism, simply turn on the coffee machine, scoop the different powders into the cup, and mix. This nootropic blend is so good that it can also help curb a coffee dependency, because a second, third, or fourth cup of coffee won’t be needed to keep alertness, focus, and productivity high. To better understand why this is, let’s learn about the health benefits of each herbal ingredient in the dark mocha.

Health Benefits of Cacao

Cacao is best known for it’s voluptuous flavor and mood-boosting effects, widely considered an aphrodisiac by many. Cacao contains procyanins which are strong anti-inflammatories and have been shown to increase longevity and be neuroprotective. Cacao flavonols reduce mental fatigue and improve cognition during sustained mental effort, also reducing anxiety and depression. Cacao is also good for the heart and cardiovascular system at large and has insulin-sensitizing effects.

The balanced combination of fat, fiber, and protein in cacao also makes it an excellent addition to coffee helping to stabilize it’s more jittery effects.

Health Benefits of Ceylon Cinnamon

Ceylon cinnamon has great flavor and is a well-known anti-diabetic herbal. Cinnamon reduces blood sugar spikes, improves glucose utilization in cells, and can reduce fasting blood glucose alongside cholesterol levels.

Using Ceylon cinnamon instead of cassia cinnamon is important because ceylon cinnamon contains much lower levels of coumarin, a compound that is toxic to the liver in high doses. To receive a concerning dose of coumarin more than an ounce (28 grams) of Ceylon cinnamon would have to be consumed, which is nowhere close to the 1/2 tsp amount recommended in the dark mocha recipe above.

Health Benefits of Chaga Mushroom

Chaga Mushroom is typically found growing on birch trees and is best known for it’s immune system boosting and anti-cancer properties. Chaga mushroom fortifies the cardiovascular system, helps with digestive upset, increases work capacity, and is a potent antioxidant with gene-protecting properties. Chaga is well tolerated in large doses and therefore has a strong safety profile.

Chaga is also a general immune system enhancer which possesses anti-tumor properties. Chaga has been used for thousands of years in traditional Chinese medicine and is now used the world over.

Health Benefits of Cistanche

Cistanche is a plant found growing in arid deserts that contains a wealth of plant compounds such as glycosides, lignans, polysaccharides that boost health across the board. Cistanche fortifies the kidneys and renal system at large, increases learning and memorization ability, protects against neurodegenerative diseases, improves immunity, increases longevity, is an endocrine adaptogen (often boosting testosterone levels), and helps with chronic fatigue syndrome. Cistanche has a strong safety profile and has been used for thousands of years, first in traditional Chinese medicine and now worldwide.

Cistanche also strengthens the cardiovascular system and improves endurance, prevents bone loss, and has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in general. Cistanche is one of the ultimate herbs for increasing general longevity and vitality, and it goes great with coffee.

Note - I’ve used cistanche (at greater doses than what’s in this recipe) to boost my free testosterone levels over 50+%. Learn more about the Cistanche and Cholesterol Protocol.

The Best Super Coffee

The combination of coffee, cacao, cinnamon, chaga, and cistanche is a match made in heaven. All are dark brown and ready to please your palate, together enhancing your energy, mental cognition, and health in a way few supplements can match. If you want to make the dark mocha 100% plant-based and vegan, substitute the honey for a sweetener like agave syrup.

If you’re consuming more than 300 mg of caffeine per day, switching to a dark mocha will help in reducing daily coffee consumption simply because more cups of coffee won’t be needed. The synergistic effects of the cacao, cinnamon, chaga, and cistanche make one dark mocha all that’s needed to maintain all-day focus and cognitive performance.

Alternatively if you are struggling with your high consumption of coffee and running into negative symptoms as a results, I recommend undergoing a coffee tolerance reset in order to resensitize to the beneficial effects of coffee. Lucky for you I’ve written the complete guide below, check it out!

Nootropic Coffee Ingredients

The ingredients needed to blend together a dark mocha are sold from Mountain Rose Herbs and Nootropics Depot.

Raw Cacao Powder

Ceylon Cinnamon

Chaga Mushroom Powder

Organic Raw Cacao Powder

Mountain Rose Herbs grinds raw whole beans harvested from the tropical plant Theobroma cacao to produce their raw cacao powder. It is not roasted as is typically done.

Standard dose is 2 - 5 grams.

Organic Ceylon Cinnamon Powder

Ceylon cinnamon is true cinnamon and is preferable to use compared to cassia cinnamon because it contains dramatically lower levels of coumarin as discussed earlier.

Standard dose is 0.5 - 2 grams.

Organic Chaga Mushroom Powder

The Mountain Rose Herbs chaga powder is milled from the entire sclerotia. As a whole milled powder it contains the full spectrum of beneficial health compounds found in chaga such as beta-glucans and triterpenes.

Standard dose is 0.5 - 3 grams once daily.

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Cistanche is not available from Mountain Rose herbs and instead can be purchased from Nootropics Depot, as can a more finely milled chaga powder.

Cistanche Tubulosa Powder

The cistanche product sold by Nootropics Depot is highly standardized, containing a minimum of 50% echinacosides and 10% acetoside, overall delivering more echinacosides and acetoside per gram than most other cistanche products.

Standard dose is 200 mg once daily.

Chaga 1:1 Mushroom Extract Powder

The chaga mushroom powder sold by Nootropics Depot is very finely milled which makes it excellent for stirring directly into a drink like coffee without creating any unpleasant clumps or graininess.

Standard dose is 500 mg once daily.

Beta-Glugan (β-Glucan) minimum content: 8%

Contains Triterpenoids

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References:

1. Malcom Stuart, et al. The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism. Crescent Books, New York.

2. Latif R. Health benefits of cocoa: Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care. 2013;16(6):669-674.

3. Ranasinghe P, Pigera S, Premakumara GS, Galappaththy P, Constantine GR, Katulanda P. Medicinal properties of ‘true’ cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum): a systematic review. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2013;13(1):275.

4. Shashkina MYa, Shashkin PN, Sergeev AV. Chemical and medicobiological properties of chaga (Review). Pharm Chem J. 2006;40(10):560-568.

5. Li Z, Lin H, Gu L, Gao J, Tzeng CM. Herba cistanche (Rou cong-rong): one of the best pharmaceutical gifts of traditional chinese medicine. Front Pharmacol. 2016;7.

Disclosure: Wild Free Organic is a member of various affiliate programs and if a purchase is made through one of our affiliate links a small commission is received. This does not affect your purchase price. Visit our disclosure page for more information.

Heal Adrenal Fatigue

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated June 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Small adrenal glands are found above the kidneys which produce a variety of hormones as part of the endocrine system. A common health complaint often heard of is adrenal fatigue. Adrenal fatigue is characterized by the abnormal production of cortisol, an important stress hormone connected to the circadian rhythm and metabolism. The timing and release of cortisol is the last component of a complex pathway of hormones governed by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis). Cortisol influences other body systems to alter their energy metabolism. Cortisol production is downstream of many hormones so many variables have the potential of affecting cortisol levels, with light being one of the main causal factors.

Because of the complicated pathway that leads to cortisol production, it has been argued that adrenal fatigue is a myth and that no evidence points to adrenal insufficiency in people who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). In this article we examine the evidence for adrenal fatigue, better known as chronic fatigue syndrome, and explore natural treatment options that may help restore balance to the HPA axis.

Note - This article does not constitute as medical advice, it is presented for informational purposes only. For medical conditions please consult a medical professional.

Is Adrenal Fatigue Real?

Before a discussion of treatment options to help heal adrenal fatigue, we must first determine if it actually exists or whether the symptoms of adrenal fatigue are due to an unidentified state of disease elsewhere in the body.

Common Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue

• Poor metabolism, weight gain

• Low energy, generalized fatigue

• Difficulty waking up, unrefreshing sleep

• Impairment in short-term memory and concentration (brain fog)

• Low stress tolerance

• Overuse of stimulants

Lesser Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue

• Anxiety

• Tender lymph nodes

• Muscle and joint pain

• Sore throat

• Headache

• Low libido

Examining the symptoms, we can see that they are quite broad in scope but generally deal with the metabolism, disrupted circadian rhythms, degraded cognitive function, and tender/painful body parts. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is responsible for governing many of the systems that could exhibit the above symptoms, especially when immune dysfunction and neurochemical alterations are taken into effect.

Adrenal fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome are different terms that describe the same issue, and the causal factors for these fatigue problems aren’t strictly defined yet because the system has proven complex to understand. That said, there are a few known factors that are well associated with adrenal fatigue which will be discussed below.

Main Factors of Adrenal Fatigue

Across the many studies that have been done on those with chronic fatigue syndrome and health controls, the most commonly observed changes are (1):

1. Mild hypocortisolism (low cortisol)

2. Attenuated diurnal variation of cortisol (less cortisol variation)

3. Blunted HPA axis responsiveness

4. Enhanced negative feedback by cortisol on the production of certain hormones by the hippocampus, hypothalamus, and pituitary glands.

Women are more likely to show hypocortisolism than men, and experiencing the abnormalities above is more probable for people who are inactive and/or depressed.

Examined biologically, adrenal fatigue is characterized by low cortisol levels and blunted cortisol plasma variation across the diurnal (24 hr) cycle (which governs in large part the wake/sleep cycle and energy levels throughout the day). In addition to hypocortisolism, HPA axis responsiveness is blunted by enhanced negative feedback.

Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis (HPA Axis)

Cortisol hormone is one of the end products of the HPA axis, and cortisol also cyclically regulates the functions of the HPA axis through its actions on glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors. Glucocorticoid receptors are found in the hypothalamus and anterior pituitary gland. Mineralocorticoid receptors are found primarily in the hippocampus.

CC Sandi, C. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 5, 917–930 (2004).

Hippocampus

The hippocampus is a major component of the brain consisting of two hippocampi, one of each side of the brain. As part of the limbic system, the hippocampus is important for the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory, as well as in spatial memory used for navigation. The hippocampus is one of the first regions of the brain to suffer damage with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

Hypothalamus

The hypothalamus is part of the limbic system and regulates certain metabolic processes and activities of the autonomic nervous system. Hormones are synthesized in the hypothalamus that stimulate or inhibit the secretion of hormones from the pituitary gland. The hypothalamus controls circadian rhythms, body temperature, sleep, fatigue, thirst, hunger, and attachment behaviors.

Pituitary Gland

The pituitary gland regulates hormone activity in other endocrine glands and organs. The pituitary has an anterior and posterior lobe. Hormones produced by the anterior pituitary include growth hormone, thyroid-stimulating hormone, adrenocorticotropin hormones, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and prolactin. Hormones produced by the posterior pituitary lobe include oxytocin and vasopressin.

How Adrenal Fatigue Develops

Cortisol is one of the bodies main stress related hormones, and it is release in a diurnal cycle in response to stress and low blood-glucose levels. Cortisol increases blood sugar through gluconeogenesis and aids in the metabolism of fatty acids, proteins, and carbohydrates. Cortisol also suppresses the immune system and decreases bone formation.

When engaging in acutely stressful activities such as strength training or cardiovascular exercise, cortisol is released from the adrenal glands to increase metabolism, blunt pain, and improve performance. Social stressors at work or home can also increase cortisol production, and cognitive behavioral therapy is able to reverse some HPA axis changes associated with adrenal fatigue.

Many of the activities that benefit from the increased stimulation of cortisol by the adrenal glands are health promoting when done in moderation against the backdrop of a low-stress lifestyle. Adrenal fatigue develops when increased cortisol stimulation is abused by excessive exercise and activity, social stressors, a poor diet, abuse of psychedelics, and poor sleep. Adrenal fatigue can also result from inactivity, a factor which highlights the importance of exercising in moderation for optimal wellness. Cortisol is a feel good hormone which can ease the feeling of pain and promote feelings of euphoria. One of the ways adrenal fatigue can develop in the first place is because its overstimulation overtime can be slightly addicting, and that encourages repeat behavior.

Adrenal fatigue is commonly observed in a few subsets of people. One group has a high-stress job and also excessively works out while restricting their calories to lose weight. Adrenal fatigue is also observed in overweight individuals who are extremely inactive. Adrenal fatigue is a widespread problem that affects people from a variety of lifestyles because the HPA axis can become deregulated in a variety of ways. Women are more susceptible to developing chronic fatigue then men.

Abuse of the metabolic pathways governed by cortisol dampens the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system and overstimulates the sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system. Left unchecked, excessive cortisol stimulation overtime makes it harder to go parasympathetic, compromising the bodies recovery and healing mechanisms. Muscle and joint inflammation increases, bone strength decreases, the endocrine system is altered in function, libido lowers, and chronic stress and fatigue accumulate eventually resulting in even larger health problems if left untreated.

My Experience with Adrenal Fatigue

I first realized I was experiencing some level of adrenal fatigue after I recovered from SARS-CoV-2 early in 2020. My immune system was suppressed from an overindulgence in strength training while stress at work was increasing steadily. I was also dry-vaporizing cannabis regularly which had an effect on my metabolism and endocrine system.

While I was knocked out for 7-10 days because of the coronavirus, I realized that I had been placing too much stress on myself and on my adrenal glands, dysregulating my HPA axis. Afterwards I took a step back from lifting weights and shifted my exercise to calisthenics, walking, and yoga. A few months later I transitioned to a plant-based diet which further helped me recover from the mild chronic fatigue I had.

Now with a properly functioning HPA axis, my blood pressure is lower, my digestive system is healthy, I’m calmer and more emotionally stable, and I make better food choices. I’m more focused, no longer have any anxiety, and I enjoy restful sleep.

When plagued with chronic fatigue, it’s difficult to see how to get out of it because the energy to do anything is so low. Motivation feels ethereal, willpower is seemingly nonexistent, and depression may also be a factor. For these reasons it’s important to keep the treatment for chronic fatigue simple and to slowly build on the success first gained by various methods available.

Treatment for Adrenal Fatigue

When it come to treating adrenal fatigue, it’s suggested to start with the “low hanging fruits” that will provide quick and immediate improvements to one’s condition. Remember cortisol is a stress hormone connected to the circadian rhythm and metabolism, and by manipulating these variables fatigue can be reduced.

Diurnal cortisol variation averaged across 28 individuals. CC Whitaker, Martin et al Clinical endocrinology 2014;80554-61

Adrenal fatigue occurs when there is an accumulation of chronic stress that hasn’t been properly recovered from yet. Focusing first and foremost on restful activities will help to reduce and eliminate built-up chronic stress an inflammation while also resensitizing the HPA axis to normal function.

Prioritizing SLEEP is the first thing that should be done. Everyone receives the same 24 hours in a day, and setting aside a quality 8 hours a night for sleep is foundational to reducing and eliminating adrenal fatigue. There will be times where sleeping for the normal 7-9 hours isn’t possible, so when those variations are unavoidable, keep in mind the overall number of 56 weekly hours of sleep and catch up when possible. Catching up on sleep has the best success on the day following a shortened sleep cycle. Some simple advice is to listen to your body and to enjoy a nap if feeling tired.

Have time to REST and decompress every day. This doesn’t have to involve closing the eyes and can instead be performing some self-care, enjoying a peaceful walk through nature, or simply reading a book. When dealing with excessive muscle and joint inflammation and fatigue, Yin Yoga is great way to facilitate the recovery process while keeping energy expenditure low.

ESTABLISHING A ROUTINE and making a habit out of following a normal sleep cycle and resting when needed makes it easy to begin enabling positive incremental changes day by day without having to rely solely on motivation or willpower (which fluctuate). How each day is started determines in large part one’s physical, mental, and emotional status throughout the entire day. Simple movement, meditation, and BREATHING EXERCISES gently activate the metabolism and bring balance to the body and mind.

While making these lifestyle adjustments, the following herbs, supplements, and dietary changes can be made in tandem to facilitate the healing of chronic fatigue and the return to normal cortisol function.

Herbs for Adrenal Fatigue

There are many herbs that effect the energetic systems of the body and there are many ways the HPA axis can become dysregulated, therefore it is best to use adaptogenic herbs which help bring the systems of the body into balance irrespective of the starting conditions.

Ashwagandha for Adrenal Fatigue

Ashwagandha is a grounding and nourishing herb found in India. Popular in Aryuveda.

• Helps to cope with stress and enhances sleep

• Increases vital energy and balances hormones

• Supports overall cognitive health

Ashwagandha - from Mountain Rose Herbs

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Siberian Ginseng for Adrenal Fatigue

Siberian Ginseng is also known as eleuthero root and is native to Siberia (Asia). Eleuthero root is mildly stimulating.

• Supports the adrenals, boosts the immune system, and fights fatigue

• Reduces inflammation, improves sleep, and helps with depression

• Improves vital energy, sexual energy, and enhances digestion

Siberian Ginseng - from Mountain Rose Herbs

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Reishi Mushroom for Adrenal Fatigue

Known as the mushroom of immortality and found worldwide. Reishi is highly rejuvenating and a potent immune booster.

• Has powerful immune strengthening, antiviral, and antitumor properties

• Regulates blood sugar and lowers cholesterol by fighting free radicals

• Reduces fatigue and fights depression through its strong neuroprotective effects

Reishi mushroom can be eaten raw, brewed into a tea, tinctured, or made into a herbal broth for soup.

Reishi Mushroom - from Mountain Rose Herbs

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Chamomile Flower for Adrenal Fatigue

A gentle herb used worldwide to promote relaxation and calm.

• Relaxant, relieves stress and tension, and improves sleep

• Promotes the production of alpha brainwaves which increase sense of calm alertness

• Supports digestive health, helps with stomach ulcers, and improves regularity

Chamomile Flowers - from Mountain Rose Herbs

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Preparation: All of these herbs can be brewed into a tea individually or together in equal parts. Steep at 170 F (75 C) water for 5-15 minutes. These herbs can also be decocted into a tincture.

Supplements for Adrenal Fatigue

The herbs above can also be purchased as supplement pills for use in resolving adrenal fatigue. With a tea or tincture it’s more effective and costs less, but if the ease of use of pills is preferred that option exists.

Other supplements that are useful in healing chronic fatigue include key vitamins and minerals which are used by the endocrine and energy systems of the body.

Vitamins for Adrenal Fatigue

The main vitamins that are useful in the context of adrenal fatigue are the B vitamins, vitamin C, and vitamin D.

B vitamins help with energy metabolism, detoxification, and can have mood-elevating effects. For adrenal fatigue getting enough B vitamins through a food like nutritional yeast or by taking a B vitamin complex can help. I recommend the following vitamin B supplement.

The adrenal gland is one of the organs with the highest concentration of vitamin C in the body because it uses it in the production of all adrenal hormones including cortisol. Adrenal fatigue is marked by chronically reduced cortisol levels, and providing the body more vitamin C ensures that vitamin C is not a limiting factor in the production of normal levels of adrenal hormones. I don’t recommend vitamin C supplements because getting enough vitamin C is easy enough by eating fruits and vegetables, for example one orange contains 90% DV of vitamin C.

Vitamin D is important for the healthy functioning of the endocrine system, and most people are deficient in vitamin D. Vitamin D can be synthesized endogenously by the skin through sun exposure. Depending on skin color and the weather, bathe some or all parts of skin for 10-60 minutes to produce the vitamin D needed for 1-3 days. Limit sun exposure in order to not get sunburnt. If healthy sun exposure is not possible or problematic I recommend Nootropic Depots Vitamin D3 + K2 + C supplement.

Minerals for Adrenal Fatigue

Magnesium and boron are two important minerals which are used extensively throughout the body and supplementation with each is helpful in the context of adrenal fatigue.

Magnesium is the second most common micronutrient deficiency, and getting enough magnesium ensures the bodies hormonal systems, metabolism, and circadian rhythm function properly. Magnesium supplementation in the evening aids in relaxation and improves sleep quality. I recommend the following magnesium supplement.

Boron is a trace mineral which assists the actions of vitamin D and magnesium. Boron has also been shown to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, improving healing from tissues wounds and injuries. Boron improves the brain’s electrical activity, cognitive performance, and short-term memory for elders. Learn more about supplementing with boron.

Herbs for Adrenal Fatigue

There are two herbs that readily come to mind, chamomile and ashwagandha, that help mitigate the symptoms of adrenal fatigue and provide the body the support it requires to overcome and heal the issue.

Tea brewed from chamomile flowers has relaxing and sleep benefiting properties while also having the benefit of improving daytime functioning. Chamomile increases 8-12 Hz alpha brainwaves which provide a sense of stability and calm, and chamomile contains many flavonoids like apigenin which help the brain to repair itself and maintain proper function, important for HPA axis dysfunctions. Mountain Rose Herbs sells organic chamomile flowers which are easy to brew into a tea and can be used for a variety of other purposes.

Ashwagandha is one of the premiere herbs known for its ability to reduce the amount of stress experienced from a stressful event. For example ashwagandha taken before an endurance activity greatly lessens the depletion of cortisol from the adrenal glands in response to the stress experienced, thereby reducing the demand for nutrients like vitamin C for the production of new cortisol. Taking ashwagandha before a stressful event, whether physical, mental, or emotional will help reduce the stress burden that results from after the event which is super useful for those who already have chronic fatigue. Taking ashwagandha daily also is helpful. Mountain Rose Herbs sells organic ashwagandha root powder (recommended), ashwagandha root, ashwagandha root capsules, and ashwagandha extract.

Nootropics Depot also sells a variety of ashwagandha products that have been standardized to contain a certain minimum percentage of withanolides (the main active component of ashwagandha) and I recommend their Shoden Ashwagandha Capsules which has a minimum of 35% withanolides for those looking for a more potent ashwagandha supplement.

Diet for Adrenal Fatigue

There are two aspects of diet that are important in the context of healing adrenal fatigue, or really any health issue.

First is to eat foods that contain the micronutrients the body is currently deficient in. For the nutrients listed above, the following foods can be eaten:

• B Vitamins - Nutritional yeast, leafy greens, sunflower seeds, fish, meat, dairy, and fortified grains

• Vitamin C - Citrus fruits, parsley, rose hips, peppers, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, kale, brussels sprouts)

• Vitamin D - Fish, eggs, mushrooms (exposed to sunlight), fortified milk

• Magnesium - Pumpkin seeds, nuts, avocado, dark chocolate, beans

Second is simply to eat a healthy well-rounded diet full of unprocessed foods which contain enough fiber and protein. This means eating fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, and pulses if vegan. If vegetarian eggs and dairy can be added if easily digestible, and if a meat eater then pasture-raised meats and seafood can be further added to the diet. The main takeaway is to avoid sugary and ultra-processed foods is important to make sure cortisol secretion returns to normal because cortisol is released in response to blood glucose levels.

Adrenal Fatigue and Caffeine

Caffeine has an effect on cortisol levels. When caffeine isn’t used regularly, then caffeine will cause a robust increase in cortisol during morning, afternoon, or evening usage. When consuming caffeine on a daily basis, then morning caffeine usage doesn’t impact cortisol significantly but afternoon caffeine usage will elevate cortisol blood concentrations for up to six hours. Even if caffeine creates an afternoon cortisol increase, cortisol levels will drop to normal levels by nighttime.

Since it is the circadian rhythm and cortisol which plays a large part in the wake and sleep cycles of the body, it is important to be mindful of caffeine usage throughout the day and to limit usage of caffeine to time windows that won’t affect normal sleep, unless that is the desired goal. A good rule of thumb to follow is to not have any caffeine after 2 pm.

In the context of adrenal fatigue, it is best to not have any caffeine until the problem is well on its way to being resolved. An abuse of caffeine through heavily caffeinated drinks or excessive coffee usage often is a main factor that led to chronic fatigue syndrome in the first place. For help in quitting caffeine or in resetting a caffeine tolerance, read my caffeine guide:

Reset the Adrenal Glands

Incorporating wellness practices that promote balance into one’s lifestyle has a tremendous impact on health and wellness over the long term. Learning to evenly balance mind, body, and emotions takes time but the effort is well worth the reward. Healing occurs when the body is in a state of balance, so consider adding a morning routine that functions as a “balancing gyroscope”, bringing consistency and balance to day to day life. Establishing a grounding practice outside in nature is a great way to bioelectrically balance the various systems of the body

The human circadian rhythm is driven in large part by the cycles of light and temperature on our planet. Rising with the light and not going to sleep too long after the sun sets is the best way to stay aligned with these natural cycles. If experiencing insomnia and falling asleep is difficult, simply resting at the appropriate times when sleep normally should occur will create the habit of rest during that time window, and with consistency that habit will make falling asleep at regular hours easier.

Healing the adrenal glands and restoring normal function to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis can take a long time, sometimes months to years. One step in front of the other will lead to eventual success.

As a holistic wellness practitioner I offer coaching services, contact me to learn more.

References:

1. Papadopoulos, A., Cleare, A. Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis dysfunction in chronic fatigue syndrome. Nat Rev Endocrinol 8, 22–32 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2011.153

Medical Disclaimer: All information, content, and material of this website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider.

Disclosure: Wild Free Organic is a member of various affiliate programs and if a purchase is made through one of our affiliate links a small commission is received. This does not affect your purchase price. Visit our disclosure page for more information.

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Other Articles on Recovery

Caffeine Usage and Tolerance Reset Guide

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated June 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Other than water, coffee and tea are the most popular beverages worldwide, both of which contain caffeine. Caffeine is a neurostimulant which has a variety of effects on the brain and body, most notably caffeine increases attention, arousal, power output, and fat oxidation. Beyond the simple pleasure in enjoying a cup of tea or coffee, people use both beverages, as well as other forms of caffeine, for increasing focus, productivity, and to help stay awake. In moderation caffeine usage poses little risk to health and for most people caffeine usage is beneficial to overall wellness.

In this guide we discuss the psychological benefits of caffeine if used in moderation, what those dosages are, the symptoms that may arise with caffeine overuse, caffeine withdrawal symptoms, how to reset a caffeine tolerance, and recommendations on the best ways to consume caffeine.

How Caffeine Works

The main mechanism of action that explains caffeine’s effects throughout the body is that it blocks the effects of the naturally occurring neuromodulator adenosine.

Adenosine is one of four nucleoside building blocks to DNA and RNA, which are essential for all life. Adenosine mono-, di-, and triphosphates, also known as AMP/ADP/ATP, are organic compound that provides energy to many of the cellular processes vital to life. Adenosine causes sedation and relaxation when it acts upon its receptors.

The chemical structure of caffeine

Caffeine binds to some of the same receptors as adenosine, acting as competitive antagonists and in the process blunting the sedative effects of adenosine. Caffeine’s effect on adenosine changes the activity of neurotransmitters noradrenaline, acetylcholine, dopamine, and others. When caffeine is overused adenosine receptors alter in behavior away from normal and as such the behavior of the important aforementioned neurotransmitters is also changed.

If caffeine is being over used at dosages of >3 mg/kg bodyweight per day, then it takes several days or weeks of caffeine abstinence to return all systems back to normal. With moderate usage (<3 mg/kg) overnight abstinence from caffeine is sufficient in preventing tolerance formation in central nervous system adenosine receptors systems. If you don’t drink more than a couple cups of coffee or tea in a day, and you don’t drink any at night, then it’s unlikely that you have a caffeine tolerance.

Beneficial Effects of Caffeine

There’s the common saying that coffee makes the world go around, and it’s such a popular beverage because of it’s caffeine content of approximately 95 mg per cup of coffee. Caffeine is a mild and relatively safe stimulant that has a number of beneficial health effects. Because caffeine blocks adenosines sedative properties, caffeine is an energy boost for the brain and body. For most people, caffeine usage in moderate dosages at <300 mg/day has the following beneficial effects:

• Caffeine improves simple and choice reaction time

• Caffeine increases the speed of processing new stimuli

• Caffeine increases alertness and reduces fatigue in low arousal situations such as in the early morning, when working at night, when experiencing a cold, with sleep loss, or it can even remove the sedative effects of certain drugs

• With illnesses such as the common cold, caffeine can improve mood

• For tasks requiring sustained attention, caffeine increases alertness and vigilance when already in a normal alert state

• Caffeine eliminates the sleepiness produced by the consumption of lunch

• Caffeine usage during the day reduces the slowing of reaction times seen at the end of the day, helping maintain performance levels

• Caffeine at night maintains the performance of individuals as seen during the day

• Fatigued people show a larger performance boost from caffeine than well-rested people.

• High consumption of caffeine (2-3 cups of coffee everyday for long periods of time) is associated with better mental performance in the elderly.

• Caffeine reduces depression

• Caffeine improves fat oxidation and power output

The standard scientific definition of caffeine moderation is <300 mg per day. The beneficial effects of caffeine start at around 30 mg which is the amount found in a cup of green tea.

When doing performance tasks, the beneficial effects of caffeine are most pronounced when circadian alertness is low. Little evidence suggests there are any impairments following the consumption of normal amounts of caffeine, and while caffeine changes alertness levels, it does not noticeably increase or decrease distractibility.

The benefits of moderate caffeine usage discussed here are what the majority of people who use caffeine will experience. That said, everyone is as different on the inside as they are on the outside, and individual response to caffeine consumption can vary quite a bit among individuals.

Caffeine Sensitive Individuals and Caffeinism

If sensitive to the effects of caffeine, then potential negative side effects of caffeine usage may appear at doses below 3mg/kg bodyweight per day. For others, these symptoms may appear at doses above 3 mg/kg. The main negative symptoms of caffeine which are sometimes experienced include:

• Sleep loss

• Increased anxiety, especially if stress is encountered

• Reduced fine motor control, aka jitteriness

To feel the negative symptoms of caffeine usage, one typically has to consume amounts greater than 300 mg/day. Studies that have shown these negative effects using dosages of 6 mg/kg, 10 mg/kg, or bolus doses such as 600 mg at once.

Daily intake of caffeine in the range of 1000 mg and beyond is known as caffeinism, and at these very high intakes the associated symptoms are virtually indistinguishable from severe chronic anxiety. Anyone that suffers from anxiety is recommended to keep their caffeine intake below 300 mg/day, and if especially sensitive to the effects of caffeine, then lower than 100 mg/day is my recommendation.

How Long does it take for Caffeine to Kick In?

Peak plasma levels of caffeine occur 15-45 minutes after ingestion and begin to decrease from there. The plasma half-life of caffeine is 5-6 hours. If 100 mg of caffeine is ingested, as would be found in a cup of coffee, then caffeine blood concentrations will be highest for the first 2 hours and then decrease steadily.

Metabolism of Caffeine

Most of the beneficial effects of caffeine follow a linear dose-response relationship (that is, the more given the bigger the effect) up to about 300 mg. Beyond 300 mg the beneficial effects typically flatline or even begin to decrease again as undesirable symptoms like anxiety and jitteriness may develop.

How Caffeine and Cortisol Interact

Caffeine has an effect on cortisol levels. Cortisol is a hormone that most notably rises and falls everyday as part of the circadian rhythm. In concert with light and temperature, it’s a peak in cortisol blood concentrations that causes someone to wake up in the morning.

When caffeine isn’t used regularly, then caffeine will cause a robust increase in cortisol during morning, afternoon, or evening usage. When consuming caffeine on a daily basis, then morning caffeine usage doesn’t impact cortisol significantly but afternoon caffeine usage will elevate cortisol blood concentrations for up to six hours. Even if caffeine creates an afternoon cortisol increase, cortisol levels will drop to normal levels by nighttime.

Since it is the circadian rhythm and cortisol which plays a large part in the wake and sleep cycles of the body, it is important to be mindful of caffeine usage throughout the day and to limit usage of caffeine to time windows that won’t affect normal sleep, unless that is the desired goal. A good rule of thumb to follow is to not have any caffeine after 2 pm.

Caffeine and Sleep

The fact that caffeine reduces or removes sleepiness means that it can interfere with normal sleep. Caffeine’s interactions with normal sleep at night depend on how much is taken and when. If large amounts of caffeine are consumed shortly before bed, then for most people sleep will be disturbed.

Caffeine in these situations increases sleep latency, which is how long it takes to fall asleep, and caffeine also decreases sleep duration. The latency increasing effect of caffeine occurs in the first half of the night and reduces as caffeine is metabolized. Interestingly, people who use caffeine frequently will report less sleep disturbances than people who are infrequent users. Infrequently using caffeine makes the effects of caffeine more pronounced as less tolerance has developed, as it is with me. I am caffeine sensitive because I rarely enjoy more than 100 mg of caffeine on any given day.

Green tea is a common source of caffeine, though weaker than coffee, and it’s worth pointing out that green tea also contains an amino acid known as L-theanine. L-theanine has been shown to improve sleep quality because it helps stabilize and increase in amplitude 8-12 Hz alpha brainwaves. As the body and mind wind down at night in preparation for sleep, brainwave frequency decreases from predominately 12-30 Hz beta brainwaves to alpha brainwaves and lower. Deep sleep is characterized by strong 0-4 Hz delta brainwaves and REM sleep is characterized by strong 4-8 Hz theta brainwaves.

Green tea is a unique caffeine containing beverage because consumption of green tea in the morning or early afternoon will provide the user the same beneficial effects of caffeine that many get from coffee while simultaneously improving their sleep at night. L-theanine has also been show to reduce anxiety and to help with the jitteriness that caffeine can cause in high doses. It’s for these reasons I don’t drink coffee often and instead prefer green tea, as it’s a better nootropic compound that also improves gut health and metabolism.

Is 200 mg of Caffeine a lot?

For the average person, 200 mg of caffeine in a day, either taken at once or spread out across 2+ usages, is a moderate amount of caffeine. 200 mg of caffeine would equal about 2 cups of coffee or a few cups of tea.

For a sensitive individual, 200 mg of caffeine can be a significant amount that may cause unpleasant side effects such as anxiety and jitteriness. I’m caffeine sensitive myself, especially if I drink coffee on an empty stomach, and I know that if I have more than 100-150 mg of caffeine at once I become shaky, experience symptoms of low blood sugar, and in general feel unwell. One reason I am caffeine sensitive is because I don’t use large amounts of caffeine often. I drink green tea around 4-5 times a week but even with 3 cups of green tea throughout the day I don’t ingest more than ~100 mg of caffeine.

Since caffeine takes 15-90 minutes to reach peak blood concentrations, I recommend only having one caffeine containing beverage at a time and then waiting to see how you feel. I only recommend the usage of foods that naturally contain caffeine like coffee, tea, or yerba matte, and I advise avoiding high-dosage caffeine containing beverages that are full of sugar, artificial flavors and colors, and other chemicals of questionable nature. The research is clear that when consuming caffeine as found naturally in food products such as coffee and tea, it’s rare to experience negative side effects and most people will intuitively control their caffeine intake to maximize the positive benefits.

Caffeine Withdrawal Symptoms

Caffeine withdrawal symptoms are generally the same as those experienced by caffeine sensitive individuals. The main symptom is headache, followed by increases in anxiety and generalized fatigue. Since the adenosine receptors are recalibrating from the removal of caffeine, extra drowsiness and feelings of low energy may be experienced.

Unless a severe caffeine tolerance has developed, caffeine withdrawal is typically fairly mild and lasts a few days at most. If large amounts of caffeine (>3 mg/kg bodyweight per day) have been consumed for months without break, then caffeine withdrawal will be more severe and can be quite difficult. Most people are able to control their caffeine intake to maximize the benefits while limiting the negatives, but for those whose caffeine usage has gotten out of hand, resetting their caffeine tolerance is highly recommended for overall health reasons

How to Reset Caffeine Tolerance

Heavy habitual caffeine usage leads to an insurmountable tolerance in which more caffeine usage no longer leads to any useful effects except for it’s ability to delay sleep. To reset a caffeine tolerance, the two main methods strategies are to reduce caffeine usage slowly over time, or to completely stop caffeine usage over a period of time. Let’s examine each.

Weaning off Caffeine

The first method available for resetting a caffeine tolerance is to slowly reduce caffeine usage over the course of 2-6 weeks. If consuming 600 mg of caffeine daily, then reducing caffeine usage by 100 mg per week until reaching zero would cause little if any withdrawal symptoms. Once no caffeine is being used, staying at zero usage for a few weeks is recommended. Caffeine’s effects on adenosine receptors in the brain are not yet fully understood and it’s likely best to cycle off from caffeine from time to time in order to return to normal baseline brain activity, and this goes for all users.

While weaning off caffeine it’s also useful to narrow the consumption time window. If coffee is normally consumed anywhere from 6 am to 6 pm, narrowing these hours to 8 am to 12 pm will create less of an impact on cortisol and be beneficial for the overall circadian rhythm.

Quitting Caffeine Cold Turkey

The second method for resetting a caffeine tolerance is to stop all usage of caffeine immediately. While quitting caffeine cold turkey is the fastest method in resetting a caffeine tolerance, it’s also the most likely to produce noticeable withdrawal symptoms. Some individuals don’t do well with weaning off things slowly and though the withdrawal effects may be more severe, they may be most successful with a complete halting of all caffeine. If quitting caffeine dead stop, then a tolerance may be gone in as little as one week, though it’s typically best to stop caffeine usage for 2-6 weeks before reintroducing caffeine back into the diet in moderation.

The Importance of Ritual

Drinking coffee or tea every morning creates a daily habit, and the enjoyable ritual of brewing a steaming cup may be one of the reasons why it’s tough to break the habit of using caffeine. In this case, the ritual of brewing a cup of coffee or tea can be used to one’s advantage. If a heavy coffee drinker, brewing green tea doesn’t break the ritual but provides only about 1/3rd of the caffeine that coffee does, while also having the aforementioned heath benefits that go beyond just those of caffeine. Brewing a cup of decaf coffee also works, though it contains <10 mg caffeine per cup. Mixing regular and decaf coffee into a blend is one way to brew coffee of certain caffeine concentrations.

While rare, if dealing with a caffeine tolerance as a tea drinker, switching to a non-caffeinated peppermint tea for example is a great option. Peppermint tea is tasty and fantastic for brightening the mood while improving gut health.

The Coffee Bean Method

Another effective way of weaning off excess caffeine consumption, more specifically from coffee, is to use coffee beans.

Instead of brewing less coffee day by day, quit coffee cold turkey and have a few coffee beans available at all times. If caffeine withdrawal symptoms appear, simply eat a single coffee bean and move on. At the beginning many coffee beans may be eaten, but fairly quickly into the reset they’re only rarely or no longer needed and the caffeine tolerance is gone. To make it extra effective, eat dark chocolate covered coffee beans! The theobromine found in chocolate is similar to caffeine in effect but functions differently metabolically and won’t affect a caffeine tolerance reset.

Want a Better Coffee?

Coffee can be made better with the addition of a few herbals that support cognition and energy metabolism while have general synergistic effects on health and longevity. I call this herbal coffee blend a dark mocha, learn more about how cacao, cinnamon, chaga mushroom, and cistanche will revolutionize your relationship with coffee.

Switch from Coffee to Tea

While coffee has a bunch of wonderful health effects when consumed black and with no sugar, it’s often a vehicle for more sugar, cream, and calories to enter into the body. Coffee can also overstimulate the digestive system to hurry on up, negatively impacting normal gut motility unless constipated (which requires examination in and of itself).

Because of it’s lower caffeine content, green tea is a gentler way to enjoy the benefits of caffeine while reducing the negatives like increased anxiety and jitteriness. Additionally it’s really easy to add other herbs to green tea and create herbal tea blends that can be used for various medicinal effects. In general I recommend you check out the herb section of this website and explore the many uses and health benefits of herbs more!

I purchase my green tea from two places, Mountain Rose Herbs and Pique Tea.

Mountain Rose Herbs has a bunch of different types of green, white, black and other teas, as well as many other herbs which can also be brewed into tea. For green tea simply heat water to 170 F (75C), pour, and let steep for 5-8 minutes.

My favorite way to brew green tea is part of a vitality blend which also includes ginger root, Siberian ginseng, and Reishi mushroom. All the products from Mountain Rose Herbs are organic and are very cost-efficient.

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If convenience is the ultimate goal, then Pique Tea sells tea crystals in small packets which are incredibly easy to use and can be dissolved into hot or cold water. I like their ginger green fasting tea and matcha green fasting tea, available separately or together. Pique Tea has dozens of different teas available in their unique tea crystal packets at different quantities, and even if you primarily brew your tea using using loose ingredients like I do, having some tea crystal packets on hand comes in handy more often than you’d think. Use WILDFREEORGANIC for 5% off at checkout

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I hope you found this guide on caffeine and how to reset a caffeine tolerance useful. Overconsumption of caffeine can lead to undesirable effects and many people who overuse caffeine feel trapped because they don’t want to experience the withdrawal symptoms which can be quite unpleasant. If you know someone who is searching for guidance on how to reset a caffeine tolerance, please share with them this guide, they’ll be glad you did!

References:

1. Smith A. Effects of caffeine on human behavior. Food and Chemical Toxicology. 2002;40(9):1243-1255. 10.1016/S0278-6915(02)00096-0

2. Lovallo WR, Whitsett TL, al’Absi M, Sung BH, Vincent AS, Wilson MF. Caffeine stimulation of cortisol secretion across the waking hours in relation to caffeine intake levels. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2005;67(5):734-739. 10.1097/01.psy.0000181270.20036.06

3. Juneja L. L-theanine—a unique amino acid of green tea and its relaxation effect in humans. Trends in Food Science & Technology. 1999;10(6-7):199-204. 10.1016/S0924-2244(99)00044-8

Medical Disclaimer: All information, content, and material of this website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider.

Disclosure: Wild Free Organic is a member of various affiliate programs and if a purchase is made through one of our affiliate links a small commission is received. This does not affect your purchase price. Visit our disclosure page for more information.

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Other Articles on Performance

Five Steps to Manifestation

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated January 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Manifesting is the metaphysical practice of changing reality using the quantum power of being human. With a certain level of consciousness and conviction, frequency of attraction can be changed to your benefit and attract whatever you desire. Once basic meditation practices have been established and ritualized, then introducing affirmations and manifestation practices into your larger spiritual practice can benefit your life, from small to life-changing ways.

The material universe that dominates our reality is a dimension of reality of a certain frequency. The holographic universe theory states that all the dimensions of the universe spring from a non-local source, call it God, Source, or the Force. With the right rituals, Homo sapiens with brains, body, and voice are able to change how reality manifests from the non-local field.

Though it is possible, manifesting rarely happens on the instantaneous timescale and more often takes continuous input and time to come to fruition. The strength of the manifestation signal (warping of reality fabric) is one input in determining how quickly manifestation happens. Continuous or pulses of manifestation waves of increasing intensity (willpower) will successfully manifest many goals if done long enough to sufficiently remake reality into the same frequency being generated endogenously through manifesting meditation and rituals.

Prerequisites to manifesting are the ability to clear the mind with strong internal awareness and create focus. Your words, thoughts, and body posture all affect the final manifestation pulse wave you create, so you must be as balanced as possible. Be careful what you wish for! Being highly specific with what you want is best and if the manifestation is successful, the accuracy of the manifestation leads to greater confidence in the method actually working. Like a positive feedback loop, after initial success with manifesting, belief in the power of manifesting grows and as a result the success of manifesting increases. Make manifestation rituals a regular part of your lifestyle and as success builds it will become second nature.

Below is a five step manifesting method that I have used to manifest into my life beautiful people, a six-figure job, financial independence, and abundant love.

Establish your Vision

No manifestation will be successful if the desired outcome isn’t clearly defined. Whatever is chosen to be manifested will be manifested, so if someone wants financial independence and chooses to achieve this by focusing on manifesting a new higher paying job, then if successful they will manifest a new higher paying job, though a better job doesn’t necessarily mean financial independence. It’s important to manifest the final desired outcome, and to make that vision extremely clear in focus.

If manifesting financial independence and leaving it open in outcome, the final result of the manifestation practice might be a complete curveball like winning a lottery/sweepstakes or receiving a surprise inheritance, neither of which are job dependent. If manifesting simply abundance, a successful final outcome might be financial abundance, an abundance of friends, an abundance of resources, an abundance of effectively whatever your subconscious desired at the time since the type of abundance wasn’t consciously defined.

Be very specific in manifesting certain desires and also manifest larger waves to accompany them. With the financial independence example, this could mean defining the vision of, focusing on, and manifesting the following:

1. A successful independent business

2. Growing financial investments

3. A reduction in expenditures

Manifesting all of the above creates a complex waveform that propagates through the universe, and with enough input and belief, this wave will attract the very things and conditions that were desired.

One of the key factors in successfully manifesting anything is having absolute faith that it will happen. Having faith is often the hardest aspect of manifesting, so if just starting off being consistent in practicing manifestation rituals is very important in order to make sure the grand goal is a success. Once manifestations begin to happen, faith in the process develops and with this, future manifestations are believed to be all the more possible. The more “far-flung” the manifestation (as you see it), the more input and faith will be required to overcome internal doubts, and therefore having the confidence and self-worth in yourself that you are capable of attracting these things and are worthy of them is paramount in being successful in manifesting anything.

Create Space for Manifestation

Once a vision of what is to be manifested has been outlined, either in your head or ideally written out very clearly, it’s time to create a space for the manifestation ritual. Since it is the willpower and focus that you put into the ritual that determines how strong your manifestation is, it is vital that there are ZERO distractions in your environment.

Establish a Space

Find a space large enough to feel comfortable in that doesn’t restrict your movement. For the duration of the ritual, this should exclusively be your space unless performing a group manifestation. During a manifestation ritual you may feel called upon to stretch, dance, do some yoga, self massage, sing, or basically anything that feels good and right in the moment, so ensure that whatever space you choose can accommodate whatever may arise. Choose an area and location where you can fully express yourself in love and bliss without any outside forces present which can shame or cast judgement on you or the ritual.

Choose a Time

Find a time when your space will be quiet. Dawn is a powerful time for manifesting as most people are still asleep and the world isn’t loud and busy yet. You can envision the power of your manifestation growing like the sun rising over the horizon. Night time rituals also work well due to the world being quiet and free of noise. When I say noise I mean sound as well as thought noise and manifestation noise from others. Everyone is manifesting at all times whether they realize it or now, much of it is collective manifestation. The clearer the individual manifestation signal you can broadcast out into the universe free of outside static, the better. If far removed enough from the hustle and bustle of society, ideally in nature, then performing a manifestation ritual during the day also works. It’s always better to perform a manifestation ritual at any time rather than not perform one at all because the conditions weren’t perfect.

Remove any Distractions

During a manifestation ritual all electronics should be off and far removed from the ritual space. Poorly trained and excitable pets should be sheltered away from the ritual space for as long as is safe and needed. Appliances and anything that makes excess noise and vibrations should be off as well.

Consider your lighting

If indoors, natural lighting is best in order to stay aligned with the circadian rhythm. If early in the morning or late at night, strong daylight temperature bulbs (4500 - 6500k), which promote intense beta 12-30 Hz beta brainwaves, should be turned off. Lower frequency 8-12 Hz alpha brainwaves and 4-8 Hz theta brainwaves are more creative in nature and will propagate better through space based on electromagnetism physics, so choosing dim low-kelvin lighting sources like candles which shift brainwave patterns to alpha and theta rhythms are best. If skilled in visualizing with your third-eye gaze mental picture, then manifesting in complete darkness can be very powerful.

Utilize Energy Focus Points

Objects like crystals, runes, and water can help the manifestation processing by assisting in the process of weaving patterns of what you desire. Using material objects like crystals can help you organize your thoughts and place certain attributes into certain objects. A complex manifestation can have many parts and conditions, and it’s important to remember them all and invoke them as necessary and in the appropriate order. In effect you’re creating a visual reminder with an object and increasing the energy of the ritual space.

From right to left. TOP - Rose quartz and citrine. BOTTOM - Gebo, Fehu, Wunjo

For example, if manifesting a love relationship into your life, you could utilize rose quartz, citrine, and the elder futhark runes of Gebo, Fehu, and Wunjo. Rose quartz to symbolize love, citrine to symbolize your open heart, Gebo represents balanced harmonious relationships, Fehu represents Venus, the moon, and love, and Wunjo represented happiness and joy. Knowing the attributes of these things, or imbuing symbolism into objects makes a manifestation ritual all the more powerful. If you have objects from your life with deep meaning and powerful memories attached to them, then if appropriate using these objects in a manifestation ritual will be very powerful as you’ll pull from deeper levels of faith and belief when working with these sentimental objects. Using actual money during a financial abundance manifestation for example will help you anchor into the manifestation ritual to really visualize the wealth you wish to have.

Water is a material which holds onto and carries energy and information exceptionally well, so utilizing water during a manifestation ritual is a good thing to do. This can be a bathtub of water that you infuse with your manifestations which you then soak in. It can be a cup of tea that you infuse with your manifestations which you then drink, or it can even be your own body which is ~75% water. From personal experience I can say that hot bathtub manifestation rituals are very powerful in effect. Draw a hot bath, infuse it with the juice of a lemon, herbs, essential oils, bentonite clay or a similar clay, Epsom salt, and coconut/olive/chia/castor oil. You can add cannabis tincture to the water if you want to further increase the full body experience; add whatever you want to the water which will aid you with the manifestation. For example I add the lemon juice to cleanse the water of chlorine and to invigorate my immune system, the epsom salt recharges my magnesium levels, strengthening my bones and balancing my hormones, clay aids in detoxification of my body, and oils nourish skin and hair. You can chant your manifestations into the water as you apply these additions, and then when you soak into the tub allow yourself to feel these forces you have invoked to seep into and invigorate your body.

Breathe

With an established vision and space chosen, it’s now time to begin the ritual. Every ritual begins with calming and clearing the mind, and the best way to do this is with breath work. Close your eyes and start with long deep breaths, four seconds in and four seconds out works well here, with a slight pause at the top of the inhale and bottom of the exhale. During the initial breathwork there should be zero thinking of the manifestation and any other thoughts surrounding that, only focus on breathing. Feel your diaphragm, ribs, and chest expand and contract. Pay attention to how you feel, observe your state of mind passively and begin calming all your systems. Let out some big sighs, allowing the body to relax and enter into a parasympathetic state. Imagine a glowing white light in the center of your being and then expanding to fill your space brings clarity of thought to mind and dispels any negative thoughts and influences. If negative thoughts are popping up, it is during the breathwork portion of the ritual that you can dispel them safely. If you are unable to transcend beyond negativity then STOP the ritual, plan it for a later date, and practice yoga and meditation until those thoughtforms are worked though and passed. Proceeding with a manifestation ritual with any impurities will manifest those impurities at whatever strength given, either consciously or unconsciously.

Depending on skill and experience level, the initial breathwork can take a few minutes to thirty plus minutes. If proper space was created for the ritual, time should be of no concern, so follow your intuition for how long you need to perform the breathwork until you feel ready. Breathwork can be done standing, seated in lotus, laying down in shavasana, or in any position that is comfortable for an extended period of time. Change postures as needed, and the more open and symmetrical the body posture the better.

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Follow your Intuition

With mind clear and vision set, it is time to state the desired manifestation(s). Thinking what you want to manifest is important, visualizing what you want to manifest is very effective, and chanting or speaking what you want to manifest with confidence is the most powerful. Writing down and journaling is also an effective method which has the benefit of being archivable and can be returned to, making repeat rituals especially easy. Combine all these methods of communication for best effect. With thinking, visualizing, speaking, and journaling, you must believe what you are saying for it to come true.

let’s say you are far away from the goal of owning a house debt-free, the first time you think “I manifest into my life a house debt-free”, you might not fully believe what you are saying. This is okay, with each repetition of the statement “I manifest into my life a house debt-free”, your faith and belief that you can manifest this desire will increase. Practice makes perfect. The more confidence in your beliefs you are, and the more you can state your manifestation desires with conviction, the more effective the ritual will be.

Following a premade manifestation script will be limiting because it doesn’t account for your individual experience at that moment. Following your intuition is important, and with all the other factors in place by this point, now let your intuition guide you. If you are struggling in believing a manifestation will come true, then reflect on why that is and do whatever is necessary to work that self-limiting energy out of you. Perhaps your work that energy out by moving your body through dance or yoga, or maybe that’s taking a pillow and hitting the ground with it a few times to burn off steam. It can also be sitting in quiet reflectance with a cup of hot tea or journaling what exactly it is you are feeling. Once all self-limiting beliefs are cast out of the space, then the ritual can proceed. Going through the motions without full conviction will not result in a successful manifestation, you have to be able to feel the magnetic energy being created for what you’re manifesting. In effect you’re telling the universe that you can bear the responsibility of what you desire, be it a new home or relationship, and if you don’t actually want that responsibility somewhere in you consciously or otherwise, then you won’t receive it. The universe will only provide to you what you can responsibly take care of.

Following your intuition during the manifestation ritual may see you increase or decrease the scope of your manifestation as your discover precisely what it is you need/desire. Rome wasn’t built in a day, accept whatever teachings come your way and listen to the guidance of your higher spirit in order to manifest appropriately and responsibly. You don’t want to manifest something that will ruin your life, so be very careful and intentional in what you choose.

Reaffirm your Manifestation

With the ritual now coming to a close, reaffirm any manifestations made and spend time with each one, letting the truth and belief of it sink into your soul. Rise from the ritual having shed any bad habits and self-limiting beliefs and accept with grace the new consciousness that is you. A manifestation ritual is very much a spiritual death and rebirthing process, and to successfully manifest you must be willing to let go of your prior identity in order to step into the new consciousness that you, your higher spirit, and God created together.

Making it here (yes this article!) is a sign that you’re being guided towards these spiritual practices for a reason as planned by your higher spirit and God. Take the time to learn these practices and utilize them as often as possible. For example you can have a big manifestation ritual in the spring to help your garden grow, and anytime you enter into the garden henceforth repeat the manifestations created with the first ritual. If manifesting health and well-being, after the first manifestation ritual, you can repeat the affirmations chosen every time you eat or drink. With a meal you can say “Thank you God for this food you have provided me, may it heal and regenerate my body and grow my vital life force energy”. Pairing visualizations with mini manifestation rituals like this is very effective and it is small practices like these done consistently that are responsible for many of the miracles that occur.

Together the human mind, body, and soul have a powerful influence on the creation of reality as we know it, and with the right knowledge and practice, anyone can manifest whatever they desire into their individual reality.

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Useful Resources for Manifesting

In my manifesting practice I have found the following tools and resources especially useful.

1. The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot. As a geophysicist I am fascinated by the junction of physics and metaphysics, and the holographic universe theory provides a neat path for scientifically understanding how phenomenon like manifesting are not only possible but a latent skill everyone possesses. Michael Talbot did a great job explaining the holographic universe theory and supporting it with endless research and historical accounts. Reading this book will increase your faith in the manifestation process tenfold.

2. Green tea and Chamomile Tea. Green tea and chamomile tea both promote 8-12 Hz alpha brainwave activity and help stabilize the rhythms of the heart, making it easier to enter into a calm meditative state of mind and body. Both green tea and chamomile are very good for your health for these reasons and more are one of my favorite wellness tools that I use consistently.

3. Elder Futhark Runes. Learning the ancient runic system used by the Celts, Germanic tribes, and Norse peoples has allowed me to very easily summon certain primordial forces of nature simply by chanting the runes desired. I began my study of the runes with the books A Practical Guide to the Runes by Lisa Peschel and Runes for Beginners by Lisa Chamberlain. I bought my first set of runes painted in stone, which were good to start with in learning the symbols, and after some time studying with the beginner set I performed the full ritual of creating my own set of runes using the traditional methods. Tarot cards and other archetypical symbols have the same effect here is the runes.

4. Crystals. All the shapes and colors that crystals come in already provide a useful substrate for manifesting, and learning of their metaphysical properties only increases their usefulness in manifestation rituals. At the very least they are visually pretty and help promote a joyful happy state of mind.

5. Psychedelics. Psychedelics like THC-rich cannabis and psilocybin containing magic mushrooms change brainwave harmonic frequencies and help the user to experience reality in a different way. Seeing reality manipulate is one way to cultivate the belief that the fabric of reality is manipulatable. Psychedelics open up the energy channels of the body, so they must be used very responsibly and only in nurturing supportive environments. Do not use before the age of 25 and USE RESPONSIBLY.

Disclosure: Mountain Rose Herbs and Amazon affiliate links are used throughout the article, and Wild Free Organic makes a small commission when a purchase is made through those links. This does not affect the purchase price and the proceeds go towards the growth of Wild Free Organic. Thank you for your support.

Bioelectric Field of the Heart and Resonant Electromagnetism

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated November 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Preface - To fully understand this science and logic of this article read the text and watch the videos embedded in order they are displayed. To best understand cardiovascular health the concepts explained below are fundamentally important. Bioelectricity is at the heart of how the heart works.

The heart through its iron-rich blood pumping action creates electrical currents in the body. Magnetic fields are generated from electrical currents, and resultingly the heart has a magnetic field, observable as shown with the magnetocardiogram below.

The heart sustains life, and if the heart is damaged then the body dies very rapidly, sometimes even instantly. What this tells us is that the electrical currents created by the heart are fundamentally important for life. Without an active bioelectrical field, energy stops flowing and death occurs.

We also know the physics of resonance. You can witness it when a singer shatters a crystal glass with their voice. Another easy example to understand resonance is when there are two tuning forks separated by an octave. One is struck and begins to create sound while the other an octave separate picks up the vibrational energy emitted from the first fork and begins to hum its own note in resonance. Billion dollar skyscrapers are built with with the utmost respect for the resonance frequency of the ground they rest on, and poor engineering can end in catastrophe.

So what about the heart, or larger the bioelectrical currents of the human body. Do they have resonance?

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Frequency Resonance of the Heart

The answer is yes. The physics of waveforms and frequency is the same, whether it’s electromagnetic or sound. The magnetic field of the human body is always interacting with the magnetic fields of other objects. Closest to us and largest object is the Earth, which has a massive magnetic field. The Sun and other planets have magnetic fields of their own. So does the modern electrical grid.

Note - frequency of 1 Hz means one wavelength per second. 60 Hz would be sixty cycles per minute. 0.5 Hz is one cycle every half second.

The plot above shows magnetic field noise amplitude on the Y-axis and frequency on the X-axis. This plot was created by taking the data from a magnetometer and applying a Fourier transform to it, which split the signal into it’s constituent frequencies and relative amplitudes. The graph starts at 0.5 Hz and goes all the way to 500 Hz.

The highest amplitude signal with this plot is exactly at 60 Hz. Why? The electrical grid of the United States runs at 60 Hz. 60 Hz electromagnetic noise blankets nearly the entire county, it is ubiquitous. Only in remote unelectrified wilderness is high-amplitude 60 Hz noise not observed in the background electromagnetic radiation.

The heart generates energy with a heart beat. It contracts and relaxes, pumping blood and current throughout the body, driving all activities. When energy demands increase, heart rate increases correspondingly. The average resting heart rate is 60 beats per minute. Aha! The heart being a organ which can vary its frequency to match its energy demands, can also vary its frequency when at rest to match a strong resonant electromagnetic field. When in resonance, energy flows from one system to another, and in this way the heart can conserve energy.

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Bioelectrical Resonance Frequency for Wellness and Longevity

Considering the above, we can begin to understand that resonant electromagnetism is incredibly important when considering cardiovascular health. Animals with faster heartrates die sooner.

The adult mouse has an average heartrate of 600 beats per minute (also in resonance with 60 Hz electromagnetic noise). The average mouse also only lives for 1-2 years, a short amount of time compared to a human who on average in the healthiest countries lives to 80+. On the lower frequency end of the spectrum, whales have a heartrate of 8-10 beats per minute and can live for centuries.

Fasting heartrates are linked to poor cardiovascular outcomes, and it is generally desirable to have a slower yet stronger heartrate. The issue here is resonance.

When 60 Hz noise from the electrical grid, or even higher frequency noise from other sources like cellular radiation is dominant in the background, the human bioelectrical field will resonant at those frequencies. Heartrates go up, as do health conditions.

In the preindustrial age, the dominant background electromagnetic frequency was the Schumann Resonance, which has a fundamental frequency of 7.83 Hz. Electromagnetic radiation still existed, but it came from natural phenomenon and generally would be low amplitude compared to the electromagnetic field of the Earth.

Back to our magnetic field noise plot, we see that 60 Hz noise circled in red is in fact the highest amplitude energy captured on that day at that particular location (just a normal day in the city). Even the Earth’s strong magnetic field noise we see from 0.5 to 10 Hz (the rising slope to the left) is drastically lower by orders of magnitude. If you live in an industrialized urban area, then you are exposing yourself at all times to 60 Hz electromagnetic noise and it’s harmonics (see as the many other spikes in the data).

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Wellness and Longevity Takeaways

Without fully understanding the health implications of electromagnetic energy manipulation, humans have built civilizations on top of electrical technology. From backbone 60 Hz electricity to 5G cellular now in the GHz range (millimeter wavelengths), the background electromagnetic field is being manipulated without full conscious understanding by a few and without the agreement of the collective.

In the absence of fully understanding the effects EMFs have on health and wellness, it is best to be cautious. We need to consider the time spent each day near strong magnetic fields, and more broadly the total time spent in certain electromagnetic conditions. My recommendations are as follows:

• Spend time grounded: Take your shoes and socks off at the beach or at the park and connect your bioelectrical field to the Earth. Purchase a grounded bedsheet and sleep grounded in resonance with the Earth for 8 hours every night. Doing this immediately places 1/3rd of your time everyday in resonance with the Earth, whose electromagnetic field we have coevolved with for millions of years. Grounding reduces inflammation in the body and

  • Grounded Bed Sheet - Amazon

• Limit your screen time: Using a laptop, TV, phone, or tablet increases your EMF exposure. New 5G devices rely on directional networking, which beam 600 MHz to 300 GHz high-energy EMFs directly to you.

• Wear shungite: The mineral shungite minerals has radio shielding and radio absorbing properties to reduce the levels of electromagnetic radiation with a frequency 10–30 gHz and electric fields with a frequency of 50 Hz (1).

• Limit microwave use: When in use microwaves emit strong EMFs.

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References:

1. Mosin, O. V., and Ignat Ignatov. "The structure and composition of natural carbonaceous fullerene containing mineral shungite." International Journal of Advanced Scientific and Technical Research 6.11-12 (2013): 9-21.

How to get Rid of Parasites

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated June 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

From disturbing television shows like Monsters Inside Me to parasite warnings given to those traveling out of country, the threat of parasites looms in the public conscious, but is rarely given real serious thought. Most often, parasites are only believed to affect those living in third world countries, or our beloved cat and dog companions…the truth unfortunately is much more disturbing.

Talking about parasites that possibly live in the digestive system (or worse) isn’t a feel good topic, but it’s important because unless you know you’re free of parasites, it’s a possible pathogenic attack vector that can influence your behavior and damager your health. At the end of this article you’ll be armed with tasty foods you can add to your diet which will deter parasites and a more complex anti-parasite action plan. For anyone interested in gut health this is a topic that requires familiarization.

Unidentified hookworm on the left, and a Strongyloides sp. filariform staged larvae on the right

How Many People have Parasites?

At minimum 14% of the U.S. population has been exposed to Toxocara, and more than 60 million people in the United States are chronically infected with Toxoplasma gondii, the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis (an unfun situation). Another very common parasite affecting 3+ million people in the United States is Trichomonas, and another 300,000 people are infected with the parasite that causes Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi. These numbers totaled form a significant portion of the U.S. population, a country with “low parasite prevalence”. As most parasite infections go undiagnosed and scientific studies carried aren’t comprehensive in scope, the actual percentage of the population infected with parasites is likely much higher.

From the CDC:

A parasite is an organism that lives on or in a host and gets its food from or at the expense of its host. Parasites can cause disease in humans. Some parasitic diseases are easily treated and some are not.

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Are you Ready to Heal your Gut and Microbiome?

This article on parasite removal is packed full of useful and actionable information, and I highly encourage you to read it, but if you’re tired of reading and piecing information together from various articles to find the gut health answers you seek, then the Holistic Gut Health Guide is for you. I wrote the Holistic Gut Health Guide to best help you heal any gut and microbiome dysbiosis problems you may have by providing you the best scientific and holistic information available on the topic and then educating you on the most effective natural methods I personally used to heal the severe gut health problems I had for many years. No gut health problems are unsolvable, and I’m here to help you solve yours.

Holistic Gut Health Guide

Price: $12.95 $18.95

Information:

• 88 Pages, 12 Chapters

• Published July 2022

Together the digestive system and microbiome are the foundation of health from which everything else is dependent on. Gut health problems range from inconvenient to debilitating and are never fun to experience, and luckily healing the gut and shifting the microbiome towards greater symbiosis can be done safely and effectively using natural methods like dietary and lifestyle changes, fasting, herbalism, certain exercises, and more. The Holistic Gut Health Guide provides the information and framework you need to finally heal your gut and begin enjoying the best health of your life.

In this eBook I share what I’ve learned works for me and others I’ve helped as well as the best available science on gut health. Not everything I discuss is backed by rigorous science. Some of the information in the Holistic Gut Health Guide isn’t common knowledge yet, but considering its effectiveness I believe it will be with greater public awareness and time. Give yourself every possible advantage along your gut health journey by reading an implementing the advice shared in the Holistic Gut Health Guide.

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Helminthic Therapy

Parasites, since they feed from their host either directly or indirectly, rob the host of energy and cause fatigue, lethargy, and anemia. In most situations, having a parasite infection is a serious health concern (1). Since parasites are able to interact with their hosts in very complicated ways, in rare circumstances having a parasitic infection will alleviate the symptoms of larger health concerns.

For example a tapeworm can mitigate the effects of gross calorie overconsumption by feeding on those nutrients itself, or a parasite can feed off elevated blood sugar levels, helping to lower blood glucose to more normal parameters. Parasites have also been shown to have interesting effects for those with autoimmune issues (mostly digestive based), as the parasite unwillingly will redirect the immune response away from the body onto itself. Helminthic therapy as it’s known is being researched for therapeutic uses, but in almost all health situations being completely free of parasites is best.

Parasites can Alter Behavior

If you suspect you have a parasite infection or think you felt them moving, the feeling can be sickening. Coming to the realization that parasites live inside you will create a strong visceral reaction of wanting them out of your body. And there is good reason for this visceral reaction because parasites can kill. Parasites can also influence human behavior (2, 3), making you do things that perhaps you might not have otherwise. Parasite driven behaviors can manifest as unhinged outburst, anger, a craving for sugary foods, and other self-destructive behaviors.

What can develop is a “parasite brain”. Just like how a pathogenic microbiome releases strong neurotransmitters that cause food cravings, a desire for junk food, and fatigue, parasites can exhibit similar effects on the body and mind. Unless you have strong conscious awareness of every action you take and how you feel, parasites and the microbiome can sometimes highjack behavior as described, influencing your actions in a way that best suits their survival instead of yours.

How Parasite Infection Occurs

1. Drinking contaminated water

2. Eating uncooked or undercooked meat

3. Exposure to feces

Typically, the parasite enters the body through the digestive system, and some parasites live permanently in the digestive system. Worms are the most common digestive parasite, and these can be roundworms, tapeworms, threadworms, hookworms, and more. Amoebae and other microorganisms are also common. Tapeworms as long as 30 ft and greater have been extracted from unfortunate folks around the world, and tapeworms can live for up to 30 years, causing long-term serious health issues which are difficult to diagnose.

Parasites found in bad water include guinea worm, schistosomiasis, amebiasis, cryptosporidiosis (Crypto), and giardiasis. To avoid catching parasites from contaminated water, boil the water for 10-15 minutes or use a backpacking water filter.

Parasites from sushi are dramatically on the rise, having increased 283‐fold for Anisakis spp. from 1978 to 2015 (4). Fish farming is to blame, with heavily polluted unnatural conditions existing in most farmed fish operations worldwide. To reduce your risk of parasites from raw fish, always consume sushi, nigiri, and/or sashimi with a lot of raw ginger, and buy only wild caught or New Zealand sustainably farmed fish.

The most common parasite from pork is Taenia solium, otherwise known as the pork tapeworm, which can infect the digestive system, muscles, and brain of its host. The pork tapeworm can be contracted when eating uncooked meat, and has been fatal in thousands of cases, with victims having had their brains and muscles eaten out by the larvae. With the modern livestock industry raising pigs in deplorable conditions, it is best to avoid all pork, both for your health, and also to reduce your risk of contracting Taenia solium.

The most common parasite contracted by humans from feces is Toxoplasma gondii, which causes toxoplasmosis. Mice infected with toxoplasmosis exhibit changed behavior, actively seeking out areas smelling of cat urine (whereas normal mice avoid these areas). The full effects of Toxoplasma gondii on humans is not known, but headache, poor coordination, confusion, and seizures can occur. Most infections are asymptomatic, but if the infection becomes latent, then tissue cysts can form and persist for the lifetime of the host. These cysts and the latent infection is associated with numerous disease burdens and neural alterations.

This is not an exhaustive list of what parasites humans can get, merely a glimpse.

Where Parasites Live in the Human Body

As discussed, parasites can infect both the digestive system, which is still “outside” the tissues of the body, and also human body tissues such as muscle and brain tissue. Most commonly, parasites live in the digestive system, and are members of the microbiome. From mouth to anus, the digestive system is the path food and water travels through the body so nutrients can be absorbed for metabolism and growth. Until nutrients both from broken down food and metabolites produced by the microbiome (such as short-chain fatty acids) pass through the gut-blood barrier and into the blood stream they still exist outside the body. Weak tight junctions of the gut make it easy for microbes and parasites to slip into the nutrient-rich blood stream, causing a chronic immune response and systemic inflammation, which if left unaddressed will lead to autoimmune issues, food intolerances/allergies, and potentially life threatening diseases like IBD, Crohn’s, and Celiac disease.

If you’re wondering how to get rid of parasites in humans, the digestive system is the best place to start. There exist herbal supplements that contain herbs rich in tannins which are tough on parasites but relatively easy on the body. Synthetic anti-parasitic drugs are very strong, and unless you have a serious infection as diagnosed by a medical professional, it is better for your health and understanding of the situation to start with natural remedies. This is especially true for those who don’t have hard evidence of a parasite infection, but want a non-damaging way to investigate and potentially flush parasites out of their digestive system.

Natural anti-parasitic remedies like wormwood, clove, oregano oil, and black walnut hull are very effective at killing parasites at all their different life cycles (5), and when these herbs are combined with fasting, parasites can be expelled rapidly and the digestive system can heal fully. A full parasite removal plan is below, but first let’s diagnose the symptoms of having parasites.

How to Know if you Have Parasites?

Intestinal parasites like simple energy sources like sugar, so the first thing to do which will help dramatically with a parasite cleanse is to break a sugar addiction if you have one and remove all added sugars from the diet. Eliminating excess sugar an other empty calories has it’s own wellness benefits in addition to helping starve out parasites. If you’re struggling and eating too much sugar, the best thing to take away from this article is to master your sugar consumption. Many of the 100+ health issues common today are born out of a poor diet, bad gut health, and chronic inflammation, and without the right dietary conditions in place, no parasite removal plan will ultimately be successful.

Parasite infections can cause a slew of health issues, and these unfortunate health symptoms can also be caused by other factors. It is important when discovering your health problems and fixing them to patiently pursue all possibilities and experiment safely. With time and faith, the root causes of your health issues can be identified and the appropriate dietary, environmental, and behavioral changes can be made to return to good health and wellness.

You might have a parasite infection if you have any of the following chronic health issues:

• Anemia

• Chronic fatigue

• Muscle pain

• Constipation and gas

• Diarrhea

• Itchy anus

• Bloating and cramping

• Joint pain

• Jaw pain

• Teeth grinding (bruxism)

• Insomnia

• Hives, rashes

The more overlapping symptoms from above you have, the more important it is to uncover if your gut health is as it should be and to do what you can to improve your situation.

Natural Treatment for Parasites

As already discussed, the first step for parasites is to eliminate sugar from the diet. Added sugars, heavily processed acellular carbs (i.e. flour), and junk food must all go. Following the FoodFast Method is one way of improving diet while also incorporating fasting for maximum health benefit.

The second thing that can be done is to include anti-parasitic foods into the diet. These foods are natural and healthy, with pumpkin seeds (6), garlic (7), and dried papaya seeds (8) being especially effective. Lectin found in cucumber seeds have also shown promise for intestinal parasite therapy (9). The compounds and oils found in these four foods are anti-parasitic and anti-microbial while not being harmful to human health.

Pumpkin seeds in particular are a very nutrient-dense food which should be added to the diet regardless of parasite or not.

Cucumber, garlic, pumpkin seeds, and papaya seeds can also be eaten preventatively to ward off parasites.

The third step would be fasting; abstaining from food for a period of 24-72 hours. A 48 hour fast is excellent at resetting the digestive system, helping to heal the tissues of the gut while also shifting the microbiome to a more helpful symbiotic state. A 24-48 hour fast is easily accomplished with a little bit of preparation and common sense and will starve or seriously stress any parasites living in the intestinal tract. The stress from nutrient deprivation weakens pathogens, making the other other steps taken more effective, particularly step 4.

The fourth step is to supplement with natural anti-parasitic herbs like oregano oil, wormwood, clove, and black walnut hull, which parasites can be directly killed by. A combination of these herbs can be found in natural parasite cleansing supplements, and typically a herbal parasite cleanse is run for 14-30 days. These four herbs used together will kill adult, larvae, and eggs.

The supplement I recommend for this is SCRAM by HealthForce SuperFoods. I purchased SCRAM for my own experimentation, and I was impressed by the quality of the product. All the ingredients are TruGanic certified, which means they are third-party tested for botanical identity, pesticides, GMOs, heavy metals, microbiological activity, and gluten. Opening up the bottle, you can smell the intense aroma of the clove, and with a dosing of 10 caps a day, you’re receiving enough active ingredient to kill and drive parasites out of the body.

To condense and summarize, parasites can be removed from the body using a four step method.

Parasite Cleanse

1. Remove added sugars, acellular carbs, and junk food from the diet.

2. Incorporate anti-parasitic foods into the diet like pumpkin seeds, cucumber, garlic, and oregano.

3. Begin fasting occasionally, starting with 16 and 24 hours fasts and progressing to 48+ hour fasts as safe and appropriate. Green tea fasting is particularly effective.

4. Run a natural anti-parasitic supplement protocol involving oregano oil, wormwood, clove, and black walnut hull. I recommend using oregano oil and SCRAM.

My Experience with SCRAM

On the supplement label, it is stated that SCRAM can be used to:

“Help promote optimum microbial balance and cleansing in individuals with a healthy digestive system and intestinal tract”

When I first began using SCRAM, I was already at the very end of a years-long journey to heal my gut. For me, doing a parasite cleanse was the final item on the checklist. Even though my gut health was exceptional at the time, I wanted to explore all avenues, and using SCRAM (which could also help further balance my microbiome) was a good idea.

I purchased two bottles so I could run the parasite cleanse for longer than the typical 17 days. I ran the full SCRAM protocol of 10 pills a day for 22 days.

I never noticed any negatives from using SCRAM. Many people report experiencing a deep cleansing of their gut (diarrhea), but since my gut was healthy, it easily adapted to the anti-microbial effects of the supplement. I apparently don’t have any parasites in my digestive system, because I found no traces in my stool. What I noticed using SCRAM is that it was a great supplement for balancing the microbiome.

5-10 pills of SCRAM a day will kill off any pathogenic microorganisms causing gas or bloating, normalize intestinal motility, and firm up stools. This effect can cause slight constipation at the beginning for a couple days. Outside of using SCRAM for a dedicated parasite removal, they can also be used whenever the gut feel unbalanced and requires a little help.

I was surprised by how well packed these pills are, the herbal mixture came out fluffy and was very pleasantly aromatic. You’re getting a great value with SCRAM

A parasite cleanse involving oregano oil and a product like SCRAM is best done with a gut that is already in okay shape. While I wouldn’t say that supplementing with SCRAM was particularly stressful, any change to a digestive system already at maximum stress can cause problems. In instances like that, fasting or a liquid diet are the two things which can begin healing the gut.

SCRAM is a safe an effective supplement, but it’s step four because steps 1-3 are more important as it relates to parasite removal. If the digestive system is unhealthy or diseased due to many different factors, a parasite cleanse will not solve all the problems present and may complicate the situation. When you begin pushing back against parasites and/or a pathogenic microbiome, the microorganisms that are being selected against will be everything they can to improve their situation, from increasing junk food cravings to creating irrational mental urges and behaviors through neurotransmitter production.

Having a sound diet is the foundation of all health success, and for parasite cleansing it’s no different.

Confirming your Results

When parasites leave the body you’ll find them or pieces of them in the stool. Some parasites are too small for detection while some parasites like worms are visible to the eye in stool. Parasites found in stool can be alarming, but this is a good sign that treatment is effective. If doing everything right and no parasites are found, then there was likely no parasite infection in the first place. If you suspect that you still have parasites, then visit a medical professional for an assessment and possibly more serious treatment.

As it relates to all health matters, you have to trust your gut instincts. Best of luck!

References:

1. Alum A, Rubino JR, Ijaz MK. The global war against intestinal parasites—should we use a holistic approach? International Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2010;14(9):e732-e738.

2. Flegr J. Effects of toxoplasma on human behavior. Schizophrenia Bulletin. 2007;33(3):757-760.

3. Thornhill R, Fincher CL, Murray DR, Schaller M. Zoonotic and non-zoonotic diseases in relation to human personality and societal values: support for the parasite-stress model. Evol Psychol. 2010;8(2):147470491000800.

4. Fiorenza EA, Wendt CA, Dobkowski KA, et al. It’s a wormy world: Meta‐analysis reveals several decades of change in the global abundance of the parasitic nematodes Anisakis spp. and Pseudoterranova spp. in marine fishes and invertebrates. Glob Change Biol. 2020;26(5):2854-2866.

5. Tagboto S, Townson S. Antiparasitic properties of medicinal plants and other naturally occurring products. In: Advances in Parasitology. Vol 50. Elsevier; 2001:199-295.

6. Li T, Ito A, Chen X, et al. Usefulness of pumpkin seeds combined with areca nut extract in community-based treatment of human taeniasis in northwest Sichuan Province, China. Acta Tropica. 2012;124(2):152-157.

7. Ankri S, Mirelman D. Antimicrobial properties of allicin from garlic. Microbes and Infection. 1999;1(2):125-129.

8. Okeniyi JAO, Ogunlesi TA, Oyelami OA, Adeyemi LA. Effectiveness of dried carica papaya seeds against human intestinal parasitosis: a pilot study. Journal of Medicinal Food. 2007;10(1):194-196.

9. Mukherjee PK, Nema NK, Maity N, Sarkar BK. Phytochemical and therapeutic potential of cucumber. Fitoterapia. 2013;84:227-236.

Medical Disclaimer: All information, content, and material of this website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider.

Disclosure: Wild Free Organic is a member of various affiliate programs and if a purchase is made through one of our affiliate links a small commission is received. This does not affect your purchase price. Visit our disclosure page for more information.

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Other Articles on Gut Health

Green Tea Fasting

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated July 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Fasting and drinking green tea pair together exceptionally well. Fasting (aka not eating food) activates the protective healing state of autophagy throughout the body, increasing cellular breakdown of old and dying cell while simultaneously repairing cellular structures and creating the conditions for the growth of new healthy cells. Activating autophagy is a key step in healing from many illness and diseases.

Meanwhile green tea decreases appetite while increasing fat metabolism. Simultaneously green tea fasting burns body fat, heals the gut, resets the microbiome, and lowers inflammation throughout the body. Drinking green tea while fasting is a very effective way to synergize the health effects of both for maximum healing and restorative potential.

In this article I discuss the health benefits of fasting and green tea independently, the science of how each works, how they can be combined together for maximum effect, and my experience in performing a 48 hour green tea fast.

Table of Contents:

1. What is Fasting?

2. Health Benefits of Green Tea

3. Green Tea Amplifies Fasting

   • Green Tea for Gut Health

4. Types of Fasting

5. How to Break a Fast

6. Choosing the right Green Tea

7. My Green Tea Fasting Experience

8. Final Recommendations

9. References

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Ready to Heal Your Gut?

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Holistic Gut Health Guide eBook

Sale Price:$12.95 Original Price:$18.95

Together the digestive system and microbiome are the foundation of health from which everything else is dependent on.

The Holistic Gut Health Guide contains all the information you need to identify and understand the gastrointestinal and microbiome problems you may have while also providing you the most effective natural methods you can use to heal your gut. No gut health problems are unsolvable, give yourself every possible advantage along your gut health journey by reading an implementing the advice shared in the Holistic Gut Health Guide.

Purchase

Some of the information in the Holistic Gut Health Guide isn’t common knowledge but when implemented it is highly effective in healing the gut and shifting the microbiome towards symbiosis. Give yourself every possible advantage along your gut health journey by reading an implementing the advice shared in the Holistic Gut Health Guide.

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What is Fasting?

Fasting is abstinence from food and drinks. Most fasting is done wet, whereas dry fasting is done without even drinking water. In the absence of nutrients from food, fasting triggers a large metabolic shift, dramatically increasing fatty acid oxidation from body fat as muscle and liver glycogen becomes depleted, and after 48 to 72 hours ketones are produced to keep the brain running happily. In this catabolic zero-calorie state, fasting activates protective cellular mechanisms which safeguard lean body mass while preferentially burning visceral body fat (1). By mildly stressing the body via nutrient deprivation, fasting slows the process of aging, can heal chronic disease, and heals the digestive system (2) all because of the increased level of autophagy (3).

Autophagy is the cellular process in which unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components are removed and possibly recycled. Autophagy is always happening throughout the body, but during a fast it ramps up dramatically in scale and scope, akin to a deep spring cleaning. The protective cellular mechanisms of autophagy is one of the main reasons fasting has such powerful therapeutic effects on human metabolism, the immune system, disease, and healthspan.

Fasting can be done for various lengths of time and to different degrees of restriction. Fasting is most commonly practiced intermittently, on alternate days, or over longer durations. It is really important with fasting that adequate water is consumed everyday; 1 gallon a day being recommended. A lot of water that our body uses comes from the food we eat, so with the removal of food, if water intake is kept the same, then dehydration will occur.

While fasting only drink pure spring water or water that is filtered of all contaminates like chlorine and fluoride. Again the goal with fasting is to be extremely discretionary with the chemicals entering into the body, as every chemical has an impact on metabolism and will be used or filtered in some way.

Health Benefits of Green Tea

Green tea is a liquid beverage created from the leaves and leaf buds of Camellia sinensis, a small evergreen tree native to East Asia. Tea leaves can be processed differently to create green, black, yellow, white, oolong, and fermented teas. Green tea is made from tea leaves that haven’t undergone heavy oxidation like with black tea, and because of this the caffeine levels are lower in green tea and the polyphenol count is higher.

Freshly collected green tea leaves

Polyphenols are plant compounds that have many health benefits, and there are thousands of different types of polyphenols. In tea the dominant polyphenols are catechins, the most abundant being epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Other beneficial flavonoids such as quercetin are also present in green tea leaves. Green tea antioxidants like EGCG are anti-inflammatory and activate metabolism.

Green Tea Health Benefits:

• Green tea can reduce belly fat (4)

• Green tea can lower blood pressure (5)

• Green tea can help with acne (6)

• Green tea is good for skin (7)

• Green tea can normalize blood glucose (8)

• Green tea can improve blood cholesterol levels (9, 10)

Acutely experiencing these health benefits from tea drinking is dose dependent, requiring quite a few cups to notice. Over time with consistent green tea consumption as part of a healthy diet, these health effects will holistically manifest.

Besides consistent usage, there are other strategies that can be employed to enjoy the health benefits of green tea more potently. First, using a high quality tea is paramount. Most green tea you buy at the store is heavily oxidized and contaminated with pesticides (11) which negates many of the health benefits you’d drink the tea for. Second, drinking green tea on an empty stomach or while fasting will ensure the green tea EGCG and other catechins won’t be buffered out and can strongly exert their anti-inflammatory effects on the digestive system, liver, kidneys, and throughout the body.

For green tea fasting you’ll want to use a high quality tea free of oxidation and contamination. When fasting and precisely limiting what enters into the body, using a fresh high quality green tea is all the more important. The fresher and more potent the green tea, the stronger the appetite suppression and fat burning effects experienced.

Green Tea Amplifies Fasting

Green tea works synergistically with fasting because it helps reduce appetite, increase fat oxidation, and increases energy expenditure (12). The caffeine, L-theanine, and catechins such as EGCG found in green tea blend to create a unique effect. The caffeine and catechins stimulate the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight response), which reduces appetite while increasing thermogenesis in the body. Green tea catechins lower ghrelin (13), a hunger hormone while increasing energy expenditure by up to 4% over a 24 hour period (14). Fat oxidation is also measurably increased by pairing caffeine and green tea catechins together (15). Fasting places the body into a catabolic state of autophagy and fat burning, and green tea amplifies this effect while also making the fast easier to adhere to by reducing appetite and hunger.

Fasting is a parasympathic activity which relaxes the body, whereas green tea activates the sympathetic nervous system which is stimulatory. This apparent mismatch is brought into harmony by L-theanine, an amino acid naturally found in green tea. L-theanine noticeably reduces stress and anxiety (16) and increases relaxation via stronger alpha brain wave activity (17, 18). It is for these reasons that green tea fasting is such a powerful therapeutic technique. The L-theanine is also what makes green tea a great meditation and sleep aid.

Green Tea for Gut Health

One of the main reasons to perform a green tea fast is to improve your gut health. Fasting heals the tissues of the gut and resets the immune system located there, and green tea boosts these effects thanks to its high concentrations of polyphenols. Polyphenols strengthen tight junctions (19), diversify the microbiome (20), and function as a digestive aid (21). Green tea polyphenols are responsible for these benefits, and through these cellular effects green tea can reduce bloating, constipation, IBS, leaky gut, and other gut maladies. Drinking a peppermint green tea blend is especially effective in helping to restore normal gut function during or outside of a fast.

Fasting can be used to reset the digestive system and microbiome, and green tea will amplify the effects of this by supporting healthy gut flora like Lactobacillus spp and Bifidobacterium spp while having antimicrobial effects on microorganisms considered harmful (22). A well diversified and balanced microbiome reduces bloating, calms the digestive system, and ensures good motility (aka regular bowel movements), factors which translate to real world benefits such as better energy and more stable emotional well being.

I have a lot of experience with fasting for digestive health and detoxing, and I wanted to see if adding green tea to a longer fast would synergistically aid the fasting process by:

• Smoothing out the energy swings of fasting

• Act as an appetite suppressant

• Exerting anti-inflammatory gut healing and detoxifying effects

At the end of the article I share my experience performing a 2 day green tea fast, but before that let’s learn about the different types of fasting and how to choose a good green tea.

Types of Fasting

Many different fasting protocols exists, each having their own unique benefits. Shorter fasts are easier to complete than longer fast, and because they are shorter in duration their effect on health will be less than that of a longer fast. We’ll start with the easiest type of fast to complete, the 16 hour intermittent fast.

Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting (IF) is a 16:8 protocol where on some schedule, typically everyday, fasting is done for 16 hours followed by an 8 hour window where eating is permitted. Intermittent fasting is a good protocol for improving body composition (23) as it can make sticking with a lower calorie diet easier while simultaneously improving nutrient partitioning. If resistance training, eating in a caloric surplus while intermittently fasting will improve build muscle, keep fat accumulation low, and optimize hormones.

Green tea intermittent fasting is one way to boost the metabolism while simultaneously helping to heal the digestive system. If starting an intermittent fast at 6 pm, the addition of green tea in the morning around 8 am further boosts fat oxidation and keeps appetite low until lunch time.

24 Hour Fasting

A 24 hour fast is eight hours longer than an intermittent fast, and in my experience is best scheduled from dinner to dinner. With the last meal before the fast at 6 PM, by 6 AM the next day the fast is already halfway completed. All the benefits of IF are observed with a 24 hour fast, with the added benefit that the digestive system has more time to heal before the next meal. When food is constantly being consumed, the gut is under stress to digest. Digesting food 24/7 and keeping the immune system on high alert for pathogenic organisms constantly allows for no time to rest and repair the digestive system. A twenty four hour fast is long enough for the digestive system to heal and partially regenerate up to 20% with new epithelial cells.

A 24 hour fast is a short enough time period that anyone can easily survive it with few if any complications, but 24 hours is a long enough period of time without nutrients for microorganisms. When the microbiome needs a quick reset and balance, fasting for 24 hours is an easy way to do so, and drinking green tea throughout makes it even easier.

A 24 hour fast is also a great experiment to perform if wondering how food cravings and physiological hunger differ in their psychological effects. A microbiome used to feeding on quick digesting junk food will release neurotransmitters causing food cravings once it begins to experience starvation. Except for rare situations, the human body easily carries enough bodyfat to stay energized for 24 hours without food, and therefore physiological hunger shouldn’t be experienced during that time window, so a 24 hour fast is a good way to learn how to identify and curb food cravings.

48 Hour Fasting

A 48 hour fast is two 24 hour fasts done back to back. A 48 hour fast isn’t much harder than a 24 hour fast and the reward is worth the extra effort. After about 36 to 48 hours liver glycogen becomes completed depleted and ketosis begins. Ketosis is a metabolic state that occurs in response to low glucose availability, such as during fasting or with a very low carbohydrate diet. During ketosis, ketones are produced from fat and used as an energy source for the brain. A 48 hour fast takes you right to the edge of ketosis and will better adapt the metabolism to the use of both dietary fat and body fat for energy which is highly desirable.

Without any food, from the 24 to 48 hour mark the microbiome will experience a significant die off. Pathogenic and commensal microbes which don’t work synergistically with their human host are most affected, whereas symbiotic microorganisms survive in greater numbers during this period of nutrient depletion. Upon re-feeding with healthy food, the microbiome with bounce back quickly, now containing a greater diversity and percentage of symbiotic microorganisms. 48 hours is also a longer time for the gut to be undisturbed with digestion, and more cellular healing can take place, up to 40%.

72 Hours or Longer Fasting

Longer periods of fasting like a 72 hour fast, seven day fast, and multi-week fasts all have their own unique benefits. A 72 hour fast will take you 1+ days into ketosis and body fat will begin to be used as the primary fuel source of the body.

It’s here that I must mention what may happen once body fat becomes a primary fuel source. One reason many people accumulate excess body fat is because they are ingesting too many environmental toxins from the food they eat, the water they drink, and the air they breathe. The body already being overly stressed from other lifestyle factors decides to delay the processing of these toxins by sequestering them in body fat. Though the toxins accumulated in body fat will slowly cause chronic health problems, their immediate effects aren’t experienced. When body fat begins to be burned due to fasting, if toxins have accumulated in this body fat due to lifestyle and environmental factors, then flu-like symptoms might be experienced as the toxins are processed and expelled from the body.

Because of this, depending on your state of health, fasting for longer than 48 hours can cause you to begin experiencing the effects of eliminating accumulated toxins from your body, leaving you temporarily feeling sick. While feeling sick is never fun, this is fundamentally a good thing because when locked in body fat these toxins can cause chronic health issues over time, and when processed during fasting, autophagy helps to mitigate the acute damage toxins cause during release and expulsion. If toxins have accumulated in the body, there is no easy way around the problem, fasting being the safest way possible to eliminate them from the body. If experiencing any odd flu-like symptoms during a longer fast, heat therapy like sauna usage will help to protect the body from the toxins being expelled from the body and hasten their exit.

A seven day fast will burn a lot of body fat, and if done safely, longer fasts are an excellent way to rapidly experience body recomposition and reduce the health risks from being overweight or obese. With a seven day fast, major organs of the body like the liver will be deep into autophagy cleaning up cellular damage, and the size of these organs will actually reduce. Upon refeeding, cellular proliferation in these tissues skyrockets from the replenishment of growth factors. A 72 hour fast will also trigger stem cell regeneration of an old damaged immune system (24), which has wide implications for the treatment of immune system disorders. With long fasts it is important to be especially mindful of how you feel and implement the necessary recovery practices as needed.

After having gone though a large detoxification process, it is very important to break a fast with high quality food free of chemical contaminants like dangerous pesticides.

How to Break a Fast

The length of the fast determines how mindful you should be of your first meal after the fast. I recommend breaking a fast with a small salad (zero dressing) with a side of lightly roasted squash like zucchini These vegetables will be easy on the stomach and feeds the microbiome in a helpful way. With a 24 hour dinner to dinner fast, after this meal you can have breakfast like normal the next day, or perhaps a small snack of pumpkin seeds or walnuts later in the night.

For a 48 hour fast, break the fast with the same salad and zucchini meal, and after 1-2 hours either have another light meal, having a healthy breakfast the next morning. A 72 hour fast can be broken the same as a 48 hour fast, and fasts longer than 3 days will require 1-3 days of mindful eating to ease the gut back into digestion. After the first refeed meal, drink 24-32 oz of water to flush the digestive system with liquid again and to prevent any possible dehydration post-fast.

As touched on, food quality is paramount, especially after a fast. Use every green tea fast as a catalyst to increase the overall quality of your diet. To reduce your exposure to chemicals and low nutrient quality foods, shop for the following:

• Non-gmo and organic. Ideally biodynamically grown

• Whole and unprocessed

• Grass-fed, pasture raised (for meat and eggs)

• Not packaged in plastic

These recommendations hold true for the green tea you’ll use during a green tea fast. Since most store bought green tea is of low quality, you want to nourish your body during a fast with only the best green tea.

Choosing the right Green Tea

The biggest recommendations I can give regarding green tea usage are as follows:

• Be mindful of total caffeine intake. While green tea doesn’t contain as much caffeine as coffee (40-60 mg vs 100mg per cup), after a few cups of tea it does begin to add up. Caffeine is a stimulant and exerts changes on adenosine receptors in the brain and is best used responsibly. To learn more about caffeine read my Caffeine Usage and Tolerance Reset Guide.

• Pesticide exposure. Tea is a very popular beverage, and most tea is grown the same way much of the world’s food supply is, with mass amounts of chemical pesticides. While green tea polyphenols help heal the gut and diversify the microbiome, pesticides like glyphosate do the opposite, degrading the barriers of the gut and killing the microbiome indiscriminately. It is important for this reason to only use high-quality tea grown without pesticides, which has the added benefit of supporting growers who use regenerative organic farming practices.

• Oxidation. Depending on how tea is processed, distributed, and stored, the level of oxidation it has experienced can vary dramatically. Minced tea leaves in breathable tea bags which were exposed to variable temperatures and light end up at the store heavily oxidized. These tea products are also typically the most contaminated with pesticides too as the overall food quality standards followed are poor. Once green tea polyphenols become oxidized, they exert little to zero beneficial effects on the body.

Those usage recommendations narrow the selection of desirable green teas by a lot unfortunately. Most tea products available at a grocery store are of low quality.

Luckily there exist many different tea suppliers online who sell regenerative organic green tea free of pesticide exposure. My favorite supplier is Mountain Rose Herbs. Simply bring water to 170 F (75) and steep the green tea leaves for 5-8 minutes and enjoy a cup of perfection.

When time is short or hot water isn’t available then I recommend the use of cold-brew extracted tea crystals. Pique Tea sells green tea crystals in small convenient packets which easily dissolve into hot or cold water. Pique tea sources from regenerative organic green tea farmers throughout Asia to make their tea crystals.

Pique tea packets make sticking with a fast easier because if low energy, nausea, or a food craving hits, at home or on the go, it is very simple to mix a packet into a cup water and enjoy a flavorful zero-calorie beverage, mitigating the issue due to the unique health benefits of green tea.

Matcha Green Fasting Tea Review: 10/10

The matcha green tea has excellent flavor and can be enjoyed as soon as it is stirred in. The polyphenols in the matcha tea are very high, which is great for healing the digestive system, but big gulps can be slightly nauseating for some, so sip slowly.

Ingredients:

• Proprietary green tea blend

• Ceremonial grade matcha

• Organic peppermint

Details:

• Caffeine: 48 - 72 mg

• Antioxidants: 294 - 441 mg

• L-theanine: 27 - 40 mg

Ginger Green Fasting Tea Review: 10/10

The ginger green tea has a unique pleasant flavor thanks to the ginger and other ingredients. The ginger will soothe an upset stomach. The caffeine and L-theanine found in green tea makes it slightly energizing in a calm focused way.

Ingredients:

• Proprietary green tea blend

• Ginger, orange peel, lemon peel, licorice root, peppermint

Details:

• Caffeine: 33 - 39 mg

• Antioxidants: 218 - 327 mg

• L-theanine: 15 - 23 mg

Use the coupon code WILDFREEORGANIC for 5% off at Pique Tea.

How to Brew tea

For hot tea, bring water to 170 F and either pour over tea leaves for steeping or stir in tea crystals. An easy way to know your water is at 170 F is when small bubbles begin to form at the bottom of the kettle. At 180 F steam begins to form. Using water hotter than 170 F (75 C) is more likely to make the green tea bitter in flavor. Steep for 5-8 minutes.

My Green Tea Fasting Experience

Doing a green tea fast was surprisingly easy. The first 48 hour fast I did as a vegetarian left me a little light headed at times. At the time I wasn’t eating enough fats from sources like avocado, dairy, and olive oil, and my protein intake was lower.

At the time of this 48 hour green tea fast, I was vegetarian already for 4 months. This time with the addition of green tea to the fast I didn’t run into any of the low blood sugar level problems from before. I made sure the last meal I had before the green tea fast contained plenty of fat and fiber, which certainly was a contributing factor to how easy this two day fast was. The last meal was nutrient dense and digested nicely for a long time. The addition of drinking green tea everyday also boosted my morning and afternoon energy levels by increasing usage of body fat for energy.

When fasting for longer there is sometimes a strong desire to eat food at the end of the first day. With this green tea fast I did I noticed this desire was eliminated. The addition of green tea helped to quell my appetite while increasing fat oxidation. It is my experience that when green tea fasting you are less likely to break a fast due to food cravings than if you had been fasting without green tea consumption.

Green Tea Fasting Journal

• I started my fast at 7:30 pm after dinner. The meal you have before a fast is important in determining how your fast will play out, so it is very important to eat a healthy meal of unprocessed foods with plenty of satiating fiber and fat. My dinner was a grain bowl consisting of a bed of brown rice, black beans, quinoa, and tempeh, with roasted butternut squash, avocado, chia seeds, and a Lebanese garlic spread on top. In addition to the grain bowl I also had a small salad of homegrown kale and swiss chard drizzled with honey.

A grain and vegetable bowl is a good last meal to eat before starting a fast

• Throughout the 48 hour fast my body was digesting the meal above from start to finish, and with no new food coming in, the digestive system and microbiome is encouraged to extract as much out of the meal as possible. If you were to eat a highly processed meal with acellular carbs before a fast (like spaghetti or bread), the fast will be much more difficult as the food will be completely digested much faster. Processed foods digest much faster and will cause greater swings in energy, which can lead to food cravings and unhealthy eating behaviors.

• 14 hours into my green tea fast (9:30 am) in the morning of the next day, I experienced a bit of stomach growling but no hunger. I brewed a hot cut of matcha that quieted my stomach down and boosted my energy.

• 20 hours into my fast (3:30 pm) I had yet to experience any energy swings. I had a cup of the ginger green fasting tea at 2:30 pm and everything remained calm and focused.

• 25 hours into the fast (8:30 pm) I was getting ready for bed and did some meditation beforehand. It was very easy to slip into a calm deep meditative state, and I attribute this to the green tea fasting.

• 34.5 hours into the green tea fast (6:00 am) I woke up. L-theanine in green tea has been found to improve sleep quality, and I certainly noticed this as I slept better than normal and woke up refreshed. Once up on day two everything felt good even after not eating for over 34 hours.

• 37 hours into my fast (8:30 am) I had a cup of passion fruit green tea which was delightful and kept my energy levels stable.

• 45 hours into my fast (4:30 pm) I went for a 3 mile walk which was of no difficulty. A couple hours earlier my energy had started to dip slightly, which I attribute to transitioning away from glucose metabolism to ketosis. By the end of my walk my normal energy levels had resumed, and while I didn’t have a ketosis test on hand to confirm I was in ketosis, having fasted many times I was confident that I was beginning to transition into ketosis.

• 48 hours after starting the green tea fast I consumed my refeed meal which was a small salad, butternut squash, and some mushroom pho with rice noodles. Once food hit my palate I became really hungry and after the meal pictured below I also had a few tablespoons of cashew, almond, and walnut nut butter. This fast was the easiest and most successful fast I have done to date, and I attribute this to the addition of high quality green tea.

Here is the meal I broke the 48 hour green tea fast with. Mushroom pho, a mixed green salad, and butternut squash

• 9.5 hours after breaking the green tea fast I woke up with a slight headache, went back to sleep, and when I woke up again later the headache was still lingering. I attribute the headache to two things. First, I did not drink enough water on day 2, and after breaking my fast with a too salty bowl of mushroom pho (which is what made it sooo good), the salt dehydrated me further. I should have consumed on day two before and after the refeed meal. Second, transitioning from carbs to ketosis to carb-based metabolism all in 12 hours might have caused some energy metabolism difficulties for my brain. If I could go back I would have eliminated the carbohydrate-rich mushroom pho from the refeed meal and saved it for breakfast the next day.

• A couple of days after the fast everything was normal but digestion and sleep were much improved. I also had less cravings for heavily processed acellular carbs like gluten-free breads and noodles. Now I’m pretty content munching on nuts, seeds, and dried fruit for snacks rather than day dreaming of less healthy options.

Final Recommendations

Based on my experience with both fasting and green tea fasting, I prefer green tea fasting hands down. Drinking green tea throughout the fast made it much easier and improved my digestion and balanced my microbiome to a greater degree than fasting alone would have.

Fasting to activate autophagy and to heal the digestive system are two of the most powerful ways the body can be radically healed and transformed from a state of disease and suffering to one of radiant health. Healing the gut can take time, but with the right fasting protocol like the FoodFast Method, the process can be increased tremendously. Add in supplements like green tea, elderberry, and piperine (from black pepper) and gut health can be improved even faster.

If suffering from chronic inflammation, a weak immune system, constant digestive upset, skin conditions, brain fog, or are overweight or obese, green tea fasting is the fastest way I know of to radically transform health and heal from these maladies. After having done a 38 hour green tea fast, I can confirm it was an easy enjoyable process that improved my digestion, increased my fat metabolism, and even improved my sleep.

IMPORTANT - Please only attempt a fast if you are ready, physically and mentally, to go through a period of no food consumption. If this will be dangerous to you, please do not attempt this. All information, content, and material of this website is for informational purposes only and are not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider.

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Heal Your Gut Naturally

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Holistic Gut Health Guide eBook

Sale Price:$12.95 Original Price:$18.95

Purchase

If you read all the way here then it’s clear to me that you’re ready to do what it takes to finally restore your digestive system and gut microbiome back to healthy and optimal function.

I wrote the Holistic Gut Health Guide to help you accomplish exactly this! It contains all the information that you need to understand the gastrointestinal system, gut-brain axis, and microbiome in-depth, and the Holistic Gut Health Guide also educates you on the natural methods you can holistically use together like fasting and herbalism to transform your health from the inside out.

I’m so excited to be able to help you along your gut health and overall wellness journey with the Holistic Gut Health Guide! Please contact me with any questions you have and wishing you the best.

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References:

1. Brandhorst S, Choi IY, Wei M, et al. A periodic diet that mimics fasting promotes multi-system regeneration, enhanced cognitive performance, and healthspan. Cell Metabolism. 2015;22(1):86-99.

2. Rangan P, Choi I, Wei M, et al. Fasting-mimicking diet modulates microbiota and promotes intestinal regeneration to reduce inflammatory bowel disease pathology. Cell Reports. 2019;26(10):2704-2719.e6.

3. Mattson MP, Longo VD, Harvie M. Impact of intermittent fasting on health and disease processes. Ageing Research Reviews. 2017;39:46-58.

4. Nagao T, Meguro S, Hase T, et al. A catechin-rich beverage improves obesity and blood glucose control in patients with type 2 diabetes. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2009;17(2):310-317.

5. Bogdanski P, Suliburska J, Szulinska M, Stepien M, Pupek-Musialik D, Jablecka A. Green tea extract reduces blood pressure, inflammatory biomarkers, and oxidative stress and improves parameters associated with insulin resistance in obese, hypertensive patients. Nutrition Research. 2012;32(6):421-427.

6. Elsaie ML, Abdelhamid MF, Elsaaiee LT, Emam HM. The efficacy of topical 2% green tea lotion in mild-to-moderate acne vulgaris. J Drugs Dermatol. 2009;8(4):358-364.

7. Hsu S. Green tea and the skin. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. 2005;52(6):1049-1059.

8. Polychronopoulos E, Zeimbekis A, Kastorini C-M, et al. Effects of black and green tea consumption on blood glucose levels in non-obese elderly men and women from Mediterranean Islands (MEDIS epidemiological study). Eur J Nutr. 2008;47(1):10-16.

9. Yang TTC, Koo MWL. Chinese green tea lowers cholesterol level through an increase in fecal lipid excretion. Life Sciences. 1999;66(5):411-423.

10. Maron DJ, Lu GP, Cai NS, et al. Cholesterol-lowering effect of a theaflavin-enriched green tea extract: a randomized controlled trial. Arch Intern Med. 2003;163(12):1448.

11. Mar 08 MG-G/ M· CN· P, March 8 2014 5:00 AM ET | Last Updated:, 2014. Pesticide traces in some tea exceed allowable limits | CBC News. CBC.

12. Rains TM, Agarwal S, Maki KC. Antiobesity effects of green tea catechins: a mechanistic review. J Nutr Biochem. 2011;22(1):1-7.

13. Chen I-J, Liu C-Y, Chiu J-P, Hsu C-H. Therapeutic effect of high-dose green tea extract on weight reduction: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Clin Nutr. 2016;35(3):592-599.

14. Rudelle S, Ferruzzi MG, Cristiani I, et al. Effect of a thermogenic beverage on 24-hour energy metabolism in humans. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2007;15(2):349-355.

15. Hursel R, Viechtbauer W, Dulloo AG, et al. The effects of catechin rich teas and caffeine on energy expenditure and fat oxidation: a meta-analysis: Effects of tea and caffeine on thermogenesis. Obesity Reviews. 2011;12(7):e573-e581.

16. Williams JL, Everett JM, D’Cunha NM, et al. The effects of green tea amino acid l-theanine consumption on the ability to manage stress and anxiety levels: a systematic review. Plant Foods Hum Nutr. 2020;75(1):12-23.

17. Juneja L. L-theanine—a unique amino acid of green tea and its relaxation effect in humans. Trends in Food Science & Technology. 1999;10(6-7):199-204.

18. Mason R. 200 mg of zen: l-theanine boosts alpha waves, promotes alert relaxation. Alternative and Complementary Therapies. 2001;7(2):91-95.

19. Yang G, Bibi S, Du M, Suzuki T, Zhu M-J. Regulation of the intestinal tight junction by natural polyphenols: A mechanistic perspective. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. 2017;57(18):3830-3839.

20. Cardona F, Andrés-Lacueva C, Tulipani S, Tinahones FJ, Queipo-Ortuño MI. Benefits of polyphenols on gut microbiota and implications in human health. The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. 2013;24(8):1415-1422.

21. Williamson G. Possible effects of dietary polyphenols on sugar absorption and digestion. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2013;57(1):48-57.

22. Kubo Isao, Muroi Hisae, Himejima Masaki. Antimicrobial activity of green tea flavor components and their combination effects. J Agric Food Chem. 1992;40(2):245-248.

23. Tinsley GM, La Bounty PM. Effects of intermittent fasting on body composition and clinical health markers in humans. Nutr Rev. 2015;73(10):661-674.

24. Cheng C-W, Adams GB, Perin L, et al. Prolonged fasting reduces igf-1/pka to promote hematopoietic-stem-cell-based regeneration and reverse immunosuppression. Cell Stem Cell. 2014;14(6):810-823.

Medical Disclaimer: All information, content, and material of this website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider.

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Calisthenics and Core Workouts

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated November 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Compound barbell and dumbell exercises are a great way to build muscle and strength, but their carryover to real life movement only goes so far. It’s important to learn how to generate force against objects, and it is also important to learn how to generate force against your body. To truly gain masterful control of your body, then you need to learn calisthenics.

Calisthenics can be performed anywhere!

WFO Workout Routines

Part 1 - Full Body Workouts

Part 2 - Push & Pull Workouts

Part 3 - Leg Workouts

Part 4 - Arm Workouts

Part 5 - Calisthenics & Core Workouts ✅

Calisthenics is a exercise modality that exclusively uses body-weight exercises and movements to build muscle, increase strength, and improve fitness. The most commonly know calisthenics exercises are push-ups, pull-ups, squats, and running, which form the basis of this calisthenics and core workout. This is part 5 of the Wild Free Organic workout series, the fifth and final month!

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Calisthenics is for all Ages

We finish this five month workout series with calisthenics and core exercises to solidify the foundation of health and physical fitness that has been built. A strong core will benefit you for life in all physical endeavors, from recreational activities to sports, and body-weight exercises if done regularly will develop mastery of body movement. Calisthenics and core exercises can be scaled up and down in intensity for all different body types and ages of people, and that’s what makes them so powerful and universally appealing. Wellness icons like Jack Lalanne, the “Godfather of Fitness” knew this, and he practiced what he preached, performing impossible-seeming feats of strength and endurance his entire life. Calisthenics formed the base of Jack Lalanne’s daily fitness routine, and he shared everything he learned in his book Live Young Forever.

“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”

— Socrates

While the gym is a great place to build strength, muscle, and confidence, it is not always possible to have access to a gym or workout equipment. Life changes and your fitness routine might need to change with it.

Gymnast performing an L-sit on rings. This exercises works the stabilizers of the entire body, the core, demonstrates lower body flexibility, and shows good spinal posture.

Calisthenics is also a great exercise modality that holistically stresses the body. Not only is muscle tissue stressed to grow and strengthen, but the connective tissues (tendons, ligaments, fascia) of the joints and body are developed too. Muscle and strength development that outpaces the slow strengthening of connective tissues will eventually result in injury, and unnecessary setbacks like this are detrimental in all aspects. Strength in compound exercises like squats and deadlifts is often held back by a weak midsection that is unable to efficiently translate force through the body, and developing a strong core will benefit not only aesthetics but overall strength development and expression.

While calisthenics and core work are often viewed as detracting time and focus away from more important exercises and muscles to be built, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Consistent calisthenics and core work will enable the full development and expression of strength, both with the body and barbell, while also protecting the body from injury and improving aesthetics. It is for these reasons that body-weight exercises like pull-ups and hanging leg raises have been programmed throughout this workout series, and now these principles will be expanded upon.

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Basic Calisthenics Movements

Upper Body

• Push-ups

• Pull-ups

• Chin-ups

• Dips

• Inverted rows

• Hangs

Full Body

• Turkish get-ups

• Burpees

• Mountain climbers

Lower Body

• Squats

• Lunges

• Calf raises

• Hip bridges/thrusts

• Deadlifts

• Kickbacks

Core

• Crunches

• Planks

• Leg raises/lifts

• Oblique twists

• Supermans

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Advanced Calisthenics Exercises

Upper Body

• Muscle-ups

• Front lever

• Back lever

• Handstands

• Handstand push-ups

• Iron Cross

• Planche push-ups

• Superman push-ups

• One-arm push-ups

• Rope climbs

Full Body

• Full body isometrics

Lower Body

• Pistol squats

• Shrimp squats

• Cossack squats

• Single leg deadlifts

• Tricking

Core

• Full bridge (arch)

• Windshield wipers

• Levers (front and back)

• Human flag

• Planche

• Hollow hold

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Developing the Core

The core of the body is composed of more muscles than just the six-pack (rectus abdominus). While the abs are important, there are many other muscles and connective tissues of the core.

Main muscles of the core:

• Rectus Abdominus

• Transverse Abdominus

• Obliques

• Serratus Anterior

• Erector Spinae

• Multifidus

For well-rounded core development and strengthening, time and energy should be devoted to all the muscles above.

The muscles of the midsection wrap around the entire body in layers, front to back, and developing all these muscles will create deep core strength that go beyond 6-pack abs.

The rectus abdominus is activated with spinal flexion and extension (crunches and extensions), and the transverse abdominals sit underneath the abs, being activated when you suck in your stomach towards the spine. The obliques sit on either side of the abs and are activated with twisting motions of the midsection. For the bodybuilders, well developed obliques will help frame the abdominals to create an impressive looking six pack.

The serratus muscles are more situated in the torso, sitting above the obliques and connecting the scapula to the rib cage, but it is these connection points which makes the serratus muscles important. The scapula are very important parts of upper body, and serratus muscles connect the scapula to the midsection.

The erector spinae and multifidus muscles are the muscles of the lower back, and they function to keep the spine strong, well aligned, and stable. Over-developed abdominals but weak erector spinae muscles are common, and this unbalanced development can cause poor recruitment patterns and lead to injury. Erector spinae muscles are very well developed with deadlifts

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Core Workouts

Core Workout (A)

• 3x30 Oblique twists

• 3x25 Reverse crunches

• 2x60s Side planks

• 3x12 Bird dogs

• 5x12s Stomach vacuums

• 2x20 Shoulder taps

Core Workout (B)

• 3x30 Bicycle crunches

• 3x30s Hollow holds

• 2x60s Side planks

• 3x12 Supermans

• 5x12s Stomach vacuums

• 2x30s RKC plank

Core workouts are best done 3-7x a week, the muscles of the midsection should be activated often and all at once from front to side to back. If little rest is taken in-between sets and exercises, overall activation of the core is increased and the workouts can be done quicker. The two workouts above should take only twenty minutes or less once endurance is built.

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Calisthenics Workouts

Calisthenics Workout (A)

• 2x30 Calf raises

• 5x30 Squats

• 3x10 Single leg deadlifts

• 3x25 Reverse crunches

• 4x12 Pull-ups

• 4x20 Push-ups

• 3x12 Bird dogs

• 2x5 Turkish get-ups

Calisthenics Workout (B)

• 2x30 Calf raises

• 5x20 Wide squats

• 3x30 Hip thrusts

• 3x30s Hollow holds

• 4x12 Chin-ups

• 4x10 Dips

• 3x30s Supermans

• 2x30 Mountain climbers

These full-body calisthenics workouts use basic body-weight exercises and are well-rounded in their activation of the body. They are also great workouts to integrate with a running program. Advanced trainees might find these workouts simple, but they can be intensified by slowing down exercise tempo and increasing muscle activation.

Balance is first activated and then the body is warmed up with lower body exercises. Working upwards the front core is activated, then the torso, and then the core muscles of the spine. The workout is finished with full-body exercises like turkish get-ups or mountain climbers.

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Month 5 Workout Routine

Week 1

Monday - Full Body

5x5 Squats

4x8 Incline Press

5x10 Barbell Rows

3x20 Lateral Raises

3x20 Bicep Curls

Tuesday - Calisthenics (A)

2x30 Calf raises

5x30 Squats

3x10 Single leg deadlifts

3x25 Reverse crunches

4x12 Pull-ups

4x20 Push-ups

3x12 Bird dogs

2x5 Turkish get-ups

Wednesday - Arms

3x20 Radial Deviations

3x20 Pronators

3x30 Reverse Wrist Curls

4x10 Chin-ups

4x12 Incline Triceps Extension

3x12 Preacher Curls

3x15 Triceps Kickbacks

Thursday - Calisthenics (B)

2x30 Calf raises

5x20 Wide Squats

3x30 Hip thrusts

3x30s Hollow holds

4x12 Chin-ups

4x10 Dips

3x30s Supermans

2x30 Mountain climbers

Friday - Core (A)

3x30 Oblique twists

3x25 Reverse crunches

2x60s Side planks

3x12 Bird dogs

5x12s Stomach vacuums

2x20 Shoulder taps

Saturday & Sunday - Rest

Week 2

Monday - Full Body

5x5 Deadlifts

4x8 DB Press

5x10 Leg Press

3x20 Rear Delt Flies

3x20 Tricep Pushdowns

Wednesday - Calisthenics (A)

2x30 Calf raises

5x30 Squats

3x10 Single leg deadlifts

3x25 Reverse crunches

4x12 Pull-ups

4x20 Push-ups

3x12 Bird dogs

2x5 Turkish get-ups

Wednesday - Arms

3x20 Radial Deviations

3x20 Supinators

3x30 Wrist Curls

4x10 Close-Grip Dips

4x12 Hammer Curls

4x12 Triceps Pushdowns (supinated)

3x15 Reverse Curls

Thursday - Calisthenics (B)

2x30 Calf raises

5x20 Wide squats

3x30 Hip thrusts

3x30s Hollow holds

4x12 Chin-ups

4x10 Dips

3x30s Supermans

2x30 Mountain climbers

Friday - Core (B)

3x30 Bicycle crunches

3x30s Hollow holds

2x60s Side planks

3x12 Supermans

5x12s Stomach vacuums

2x30s RKC plank

Saturday & Sunday - Rest

With this final month, we return to 3 full body workouts per week, with one being gym based and the other two are calisthenics based. Arm workouts are scheduled once a week to continue sufficiently stimulating the arms. A final core workout on Friday activates the entire core while also reducing the workload to promote overall recovery. Month 5 is a deload month compared to months 2-4, with the muscles, connective tissues, and central nervous system given a break from the typical stress patterns of barbell and dumbbell exercises. Meanwhile control and activation of the body is improved with the calisthenics exercises and connective tissues are strengthened in different ways.

On weeks 2 and 4 increase the weight of the gym exercises by 5%. If you feel healthy and confident, about a week after the end of this five month routine, test your 1 rep max for squats, deadlifts, incline press, and barbell rows. In the week preceding testing of the 1RM’s, get a solid eight hours of sleep per night and reduce volume and reduce weight, focusing on activation.

During month five, if you really want to fortify your joints and strengthen them in preparation for another loading phase in the gym, follow our joint and connective tissue protocol.

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New Beginnings

Over the past 5 months, you’ve learned the basics of weight-lifting, periodization, recovery, and nutrition. The foundation for a holistic lifestyle has been established, as has the foundation for how to approach physical fitness with a long term and patient mindset.

From here, the routine can be repeated in the same order, or the different workouts presented in the routine can be flexibly scheduled week to week instinctively. A new workout routine, like 5/3/1 can also be started! Maybe your fitness journey takes you to running or yoga, there are many ways to physically strengthen and develop the body, and none are inherently better or worse than the other.

Whatever your next destination, don’t forget the lifestyle and fitness principles learned over the past five months and continue your productive morning routine. Keep stress low, recovery high, and progress slow and steady. That’s the recipe for success in the gym and with life!

If you followed the routine from start to finish, please share your results by commenting below or contact us directly.

Final Preparations and 5k Race Day

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You made the leap to register for a 5k and successfully completed your training plan - congratulations! You’ve won more than half the battle.

Wild Free Organic Running Series:

1. Beginners Running Guide - 3 Month Plan

2. Incorporate Strength Training into your Running Routine

3. Preparing for your First 5K

4. Final Preparations and 5K Race Day ✅

From running novice to experienced racer, you’ll learn running, strength training, and race tip from these articles written by Triathlete Sarah Alexander and Physician Carten Denne. For absolute beginners, start with the Beginners Running Guide and follow through the other articles as you prepare for your first 5k race!

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The Week of the Race

Now that race week has arrived, the days leading up to your first 5k race can bring many new questions—what kind of activity should I do to prepare for the effort? What should I eat? What should I plan to wear? Race week is all about balance. The key is doing just enough to keep your body moving, but not so much that you create fatigue or soreness.

Follow these tried-and-true tips as you plan out the week of your race, and you’ll be ready to put your best foot forward come race day!

Take a chill pill

Whether you’re trying to beat a certain time or just cross the finish line, it’s natural to experience pre-race jitters. It’s important to remember that 5K races are hugely positive and supportive community events. You will get to spend a morning challenging yourself alongside like-minded individuals, with many more on the sidelines cheering you on. If you fear you’ll finish last (we’ve all thought it!), remember that a wide range of people with varying levels of fitness race, and many people just go to walk them from start to finish.

Stay active… but not too active

Over the course of race week, your “training” is really about keeping your muscles active but still “storing up” rest so your legs are ready on race day. Remember, you’ve done the work and you’re not going to get any fitter or faster in the week before your 5K, so don’t try to “cram for the final.”

Include a couple short runs (for example, a 20min run on Monday or Tuesday, and 2x 9min jog/1min walk on Wednesday or Thursday). If you want, you can include some small pick-ups (short, snappy segments that get your legs moving faster and prepare you for the faster tempo of the race) to keep your legs fresh. But make sure that you don’t do a long or intense workout that leaves you feeling tired or sore the next day. Two days out from the race, take a day-off for total rest.

While people are split on whether or not to run the day before—it tends to be a matter of personal preference—we recommend a 10-15 minute run at a very easy pace. Consider pairing this with packet pick-up so you get out on the course. While we realize life doesn’t stop because it’s race weekend, do try to relax and stay off your feet the rest of the day so you are fresh and ready to go come race morning. Leave the lawn work, shopping, and sightseeing for after the race!

Know the course

While it’s great to get on the course in the weeks leading up to the race, if you haven’t been able to do that, no stress! Do try to run or walk/run the race course for one of your sessions on race week so you can create some landmarks and get familiar with where you’ll need to push and where you can “cruise.” Alternately, you can drive or bike the course! Whatever way you do it, getting out on the course ahead of the big day will help you know what terrain to expect.

If you’re traveling to the race and don’t have time to scope it out beforehand, you can study the course map online just so you have a sense of what to expect on race day.

Eat what (and how much) you’re familiar with. 

The week before a race is not the time to try new cuisines and fueling strategies. Some people hear about runners eating lots of carbs before a big race and they think it applies before any running race. However, you really only need extra carbs if you’re running a longer distance, like a half or full marathon.

Avoid greasy, creamy, or fatty foods that could lead to gastrointestinal issues. Otherwise, during the week leading up to race day, it is best to stick to whatever has worked best for you during your regular weekday runs. And rather than gorging on pasta the night before the race, which could upset your stomach, focus on eating well-balanced meals throughout the day, as you normally would.

Same goes for gear 

Just as race week isn’t the time to try new food or drinks, the same goes for shoes, clothing or other gear that you haven’t used on several workouts. Stick with the routine that you have established over your weeks of preparation. Nothing kills pre-race motivation like sore soles, chafing, or the start of a blister!

Get your Z’s two nights before

While it’s best to shoot for 8 hours of sleep the night before the race, pre-race jitters tend to strike for many, making this hard to achieve. This is normal and won’t hurt your race, so while you should be prepared for this and get to bed early, no need to stress if you do have trouble drifting off to dream land.

That said, prepare yourself by prioritizing sleep the “night before the night before” the race. Getting quality sleep two nights before the race and then taking it easy the day before the race will have you ready to rock on race morning.

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Day Before the Race

Performance favors the prepared

If possible, pick up your race bib, timing chip (if the race is using them), and swag bag the day before the race. This way, you won't have to worry about rushing around and waiting in line to get it the morning of the race. Plus, you're more likely to get your desired race T-shirt size!

Build on your early bib pick-up by laying out everything you will need the day before the race so you’re not scrambling in the morning and ensure you have everything you need. This includes pinning your big number to the shirt you plan to wear in the race.

Remember, the “nothing new” rule applies to what you wear on race day, as well! Use clothes and shoes that you’ve run in before with no issues of chafing or blistering. Check the weather so you don’t wear more clothing than you need. A good rule of thumb is to dress as if the weather is 15 degrees warmer than it is—that is how much you’ll warm up during your race! If it’s cool before the race, you can always wear a warmer layer while you’re waiting for the race to start and pack an extra set of fresh clothes for after the race. Many races offer a gear check where you can store your bag with extra clothes for before and after the race, or you can toss it to a friend/family member who has come to cheer you on!

Pro packing tip: in addition to your clothes and a bottle of water, include a pack of tissues or some extra toilet paper in your race bag. Nothing worse than getting to the front of the porta-potty line on race morning and finding all the toilet paper has already been used up!

Race Day

If you’re running your first 5k race, you may be filled with questions about what you’ve gotten yourself into. What do you wear? What and when should you eat? What will the check-in process be like? Have you made a huge tiny mistake? Will this actually be fun?

And you’re not alone! These are common concerns for new runners. This post provides five pro race-day tips to put your best foot forward when starting gun goes off:

Fill The Tank

You don't want to stuff yourself on race morning, but you also don't want to race on an empty stomach. Plan to eat a light meal about 2 hours before the race; this will allow time for digestion so you’re not sidelined by cramping or side stitches.

Different meals work for different runners, and it’s best to stick to the breakfast you’ve practiced in training. But as a general rule of thumb, opt for something that’s high in carbohydrates and low in fat, fiber, and protein. Here are a few tried-and-true pre-race meals: toasted bagel with peanut butter and banana; energy bar with a cup of fruit; or oatmeal with berries and nuts. My personal go-to is oatmeal with chia seeds, banana, and peanut butter—I eat this before every morning workout and on race days. If you like to prep your breakfast the night before, consider overnight oats.

Be sure to include hydration the morning of your race, whether it’s water or a light sports drink with electrolytes. That said, there’s no need to go crazy, and definitely don’t force down fluids within 30 minutes of the starting gun—only sip on something if it’s very hot out or your mouth is dry. Ideally, you’ve been staying hydrated in the days leading up to the race, so you only need to top off your fluids if your race is in the morning or drink regularly throughout the day if it’s in the evening.

Hype Yourself Up

Pump yourself up by watching a video that inspires you before you walk out the door; and listening to a powerful, motivating playlist before you walk to the starting line. Spotify has some great running playlists you can check out for some inspiration.

Arrive Early and Warm Up

There is a lot to be done on race morning, from parking, to packet pick-up (if you didn’t do it the day before), to porta-potty lines, to race warm up. Arrive at the race site 60-90 minutes prior to the start so you have plenty time to do all this without being rushed. Consider taking the time to understand where you can park and where to go for the starting line ahead of time to cut down on race-morning stress.

About 25 minutes before the race start, it’s time to get warmed up. Fifteen to twenty minutes will do the trick: start with a 10-minute easy jog, then slowly build your pace for 5 minutes. After that, consider including three 30-second pick ups at race pace. If you need leg swings or dynamic stretches to finish the process of loosening up your body, go for it!

Start Slow and then Pick up your Pace

The starting line can be crowded and nerve-wracking with so many people and different paces. Unless you happen to be an insanely fast runner, starting in the middle to back of the pack is usually best. You will start with those around your pace and you will have many more ahead of you to chase down.

Most racers give their best effort in the first mile and then run out of gas with two more miles left to go! Instead, start conservatively and build your effort to negative split your race. In other words, aim to complete the second half of the race faster than the first half. Start conservatively and build your effort throughout the run. Then kick it into high gear to finish strong. This approach will actually help you run a faster race.

Breathe and Stay Positive

On race day, it’s natural to be nervous. Let go of any comparisons and focus inwards. You’ve done the training to complete your race, and you will achieve that goal. At the starting line, take a few deep breaths and assure yourself that you have what it takes to finish your race, regardless of the time it takes.

When things get tough in the race (and rest assured that they do get tough for everyone, regardless of experience or running ability), it's common for the little voice in your head to start telling you all the reasons why you will fail or why you should slow down. Prepare a positive mantra before the race, like "I can do it" or "Fast feet to the finish line." This will distract you from the pain and keep you focused. Practice these affirmations during hard moments in your training sessions so they become automatic by race day. 

Follow these pro tips, and you will set yourself up to execute a great race! Afterwards, keep walking for at least 10 minutes to fend off stiffness and slowly bring your heart rate back to its resting state, and do some post-race recovery stretches to stretch out your legs, hips, and back. A useful stretch to do is to site into a wide squat, elbow on your knees, breathing deeply and relaxing into the squat. Do this squat for 30-120 seconds, loosen up and relax!

After stretching grab a snack, get warm, and because most races happen in the morning, you will still have a whole day ahead of you! Consider making a morning of it by planning a celebratory brunch with friends and family, and capitalize on those post-race endorphins to set new goals for your next finish line!

Wild Free Organic recommends Vivobarefoot footwear - modern footwear made with natural human physiology, minimalism, and eco-conscious in mind. Vivobarefoot has zero-drop, wide toe-box shoes that can be used from the office to the gym to the tundra, and everything in-between.

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Sarah Alexander

Since graduating from Chicago Booth with her MBA in 2015, Sarah has competed for the U.S.A. as a professional triathlete. In the process, she has become an expert in fitness and nutrition. She is passionate about helping others achieve their goals and is motivated by the perpetual challenge of defying boundaries to discover her best in athletic and professional pursuits alike.

To learn more about Sarah Alexander visit her website or follow her on Instagram @sarah_alxndr.

Arm Workouts

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated November 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Full body workouts, push & pull splits, and leg workouts are where the majority of trainees should be spending their time. These workouts stimulate the greatest amount of musculature at once and have the greatest metabolic effect. Without a direct arm day though, arms will be insufficiently trained, and their reduced development over time will set back progress and negatively limited movement patterns as exercise weight increases. To ensure symmetrical strength, size, and aesthetic development of the forearms, biceps, and triceps, we include an arm day into the WFO workout routine in month four and beyond.

WFO Workout Routines

Part 1 - Full Body Workouts

Part 2 - Push & Pull Workouts

Part 3 - Leg Workouts

Part 4 - Arm Workouts ✅

Part 5 - Calisthenics & Core Workouts

Arms can be challenging to train for their own unique reasons. Muscles and joints of the arms are used in almost every exercise to varying degrees, and due to the mechanics of exercises like the bench press and squat, often joint pain flares up in the shoulder or elbow. This can limit direct arm training, worsening the imbalance.

It can also be challenging to be motivated to do direct arm training after heavy compounds which are highly stimulating and very tiring.

We’ll strategize around those concerns with a scheduled arm day which keeps everything healthy and balanced. An arm day isn’t an excuse to shun harder training to build some guns, it’s an opportunity to balance physique development while also being an opportunity for the legs and torso of the body to rest and recover in-between hard training sessions. How workouts are scheduled, and their relative frequency to each other, determines whether training a certain way or body part is an opportunity or is a setback.

And training schedule and frequency depends on your goals:

• Want a large thick tricep horseshoe? Train triceps heavy 1x a week and light 1x a week.

• Desiring bulging biceps capable of rope climbs? Train biceps 2-3x a week.

• Entering into an arm wrestling competition with Popeye? Train forearms to a pump twice a week.

To properly train the arms and forearms with a dedicated arm day, we need to understand the physiology of the arms, the functions of the different muscles, and how you can best activate the biceps, triceps, and forearms.

Upper Arm - Biceps, Triceps, Brachialis, Brachioradialis

Biceps, brachialis, and brachioradialis muscles make up about 40% of the upper arm, and triceps the remaining 60%. Unless you are gifted with godly triceps already, it is important to prioritize the development of the triceps slightly over the biceps, as the triceps make up a bigger percentage of the upper arm. A good benchmark is to train triceps with 20% more volume than biceps.

Muscular anatomy of the arm

Triceps are a group of three muscles composed of distinct “heads”. These are the long head, medial head, and lateral head. The triceps are responsible for pushing away from the body (i.e. like in a push-up), and the unique activation of the three different tricep muscular heads depends on your anatomy and force angle you’re pushing away from your body.

The long head of the tricep is best activated in-between shoulder elevation of 0-45 and an elbow angle of 80-135. Lateral and medial heads are best activated at shoulder elevations of 90-180, and elbow angles of 60-110.

For reference (1), in the picture to the left my shoulder elevation is zero and my elbow angle is zero. Arm being directly overhead would be a shoulder elevation of 180 degrees, and forearm touching upper arm being would be a elbow angle of of 135 degrees.

Working all three heads is important for the development of symmetrical triceps that are strong at all force vectors. It is common to have an overdeveloped lateral head and underdeveloped long head. The reason why depends on daily posture habits such as shoulder rotation. Internal rotation (rotate palms in) inactivates the long head, while external rotation of the shoulder (rotate palms out) activates the long head.

The medial head of the triceps is very small and has similar shoulder and elbow activation angles as the lateral head. The medial head is activated well with tricep push-ups.

Biceps are composed of you guessed it, two distinct heads, those being the short and long heads. The short head is located on the inside of the arm closest to the body and the long head on the outside of the arm. The brachialis is located near the elbow underneath the biceps, and growing it will result in a stronger fuller bicep with a higher peak. The brachioradialis crosses the elbow joint and is an upper arm and forearm muscle.

Forearm - Wrists Flexors & Extensors, Wrist Pronators & Supinators

The forearm is composed of a variety of small wiry muscles. The wrist is a very mobile joint because our hands require extreme dexterity and endurance, and to train the forearms adequately you need to use a variety of movement patterns and rep ranges.

The forearms are made up of flexors, extensors, pronators, and supinators. When you bring your hand closer to the inside of your forearm, you active the wrist flexors. When you do the opposite movement, extending your hand out, you activate the wrist extensors. Pronation and supination is all about wrist rotation. Pronated hands means the back of your hands face upwards, and supinated means the palms of your hands are visible facing upwards. The wrist pronators and supinators as you would guess are the muscles which allow the wrist to rotate from palms down to palms up. Bar exercises can be taken with either a pronated or supinated grip, each stimulate the arms differently, from forearm muscle up through the shoulder joint, because grip determines whether your shoulder is internally or externally rotated. Training those twisting movement patterns themselves, and not just the static grip positions, makes for comprehensive forearm training.

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Arm and Forearm Movements

Triceps Long Head

• Close-grip Dip

• Cable Push-Down

• Reverse Close-Grip Flat Press

• Tricep Kickbacks

Triceps Lateral Head

• Overhead Triceps Extension

• Incline Triceps Extension

• Skull Crusher

• Close-Grip Flat Press

• JM Press

Triceps Medial Head

• Close-Grip Push-Up

• Incline Triceps Extension

Forearm Extensors

• Reverse Curl

• Reverse Wrist Curl

• Radial Deviation

Forearm Rotators

• Pronations

• Supinations

Biceps Inner & Outer Head

• Close-grip Chin-Up

• Zotterman Curl

• Preacher Curl

• Close-grip Curl

• Wide-grip Curl

• Drag Curl

• Hammer Curl

Brachialis

• Preacher Curl

• Concentration Curl

Brachioradialis

• Hammer Curl

• Reverse Curl

• Zotterman Curl

Forearm Flexors

• Wrist Curl

• Wrist Roller

• Grippers

• Grip Exercises

Note - Various implements can be used for the above exercises, such as the barbell, dumbbells, kettlebells, cables, machines, and more.

Arm workouts are the best way to build stronger and more impressive arms. Arms that are balanced with the rest of the upper body will keep exercise movement patterns healthy and stop any strength plateaus from starting.

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Arm Workouts

Arm Workout (A)

3x20 Radial Deviations

3x20 Pronators

3x30 Reverse Wrist Curls

4x5-10 Chin-ups

4x12 Incline Triceps Extension

3x12 Preacher Curls

3x15 Triceps Kickbacks

Bicep Emphasis

Arm Workout (B)

3x20 Radial Deviations

3x20 Supinators

3x30 Wrist Curls

4x5-10 Close-Grip Dips

4x12 DB Curls

4x12 Triceps Pushdowns (supinated)

3x15 Reverse Curls

Tricep Emphasis

During these two workouts, we start by activating the forearms and then move up the arms. By starting with the forearms, we ensure that they aren’t forgotten or ignored at the end of the workout, and the blood flowing to the forearms warm up the upper arms. Doing forearm exercises first will improve mind muscle connection to the upper arms through the principle of irradiation. The grip will also be more taxed during regular biceps and triceps exercises, further stimulating the forearms throughout the entire workout.

Forearm exercises don’t take long; the first three exercises can be expected to take 15 minutes total. After the forearms are activated, a compound arm exercise is programmed to get blood flowing to the upper arm, build strength, and start the mind muscle connection. It takes time to build a strong mind muscle connection, anywhere from 4-7 sets. Once a muscle is fully activated, it is important to spend another 4-7 sets fully activated to ensure an optimal muscle stimulus is created.

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Month 4 Workout Routine

For Month 4 of the WFO workout routine we shake up the exercise selections in order to stimulate new adaptations and to keep the routine from becoming too boring. Discipline matters, but if you’re not enjoying the routine, then you’re not likely to stick with it.

Week 1

Monday - Full Body

5x5 Incline Press

4x8 Front Squats

5x10 Barbell Rows

3x20 Cable Woodchops

Tuesday - Arms

3x20 Radial Deviations

3x20 Pronators

3x30 Reverse Wrist Curls

4x10 Chin-ups

4x12 Incline Triceps Extension

3x12 Preacher Curls

3x15 Triceps Kickbacks

Wednesday - Legs

5x10 Ab Wheel Rollouts

3x20 Seated Calf Raises

5x5 Squats

4x8 Hip Thrusts

5x10 Glute Ham Raise

Thursday - Pull

5x5 Barbell Rows

4x8 Behind-the-Neck Lat Pull Downs

5x10 Seated Cable Rows

3x15 Facepulls

3x10 DB Curls

Friday - Push

3x20 Dumbbell Front Raises

5x10 Incline Press

3x10 Kettlebell Press

3x15 Lateral Raises

3x10 Overhead Tricep Extensions

Saturday & Sunday - Rest

Week 2

Monday - Full Body

5x5 Deadlifts

4x8 DB Press

5x10 Leg Press

3x30 Reverse Crunches

Tuesday - Arms

3x20 Radial Deviations

3x20 Supinators

3x30 Wrist Curls

4x10 Close-Grip Dips

4x12 Hammer Curls

4x12 Triceps Pushdowns (supinated)

3x15 Reverse Curls

Wednesday - Legs

5x10 Ab Wheel Rollouts

3x20 Standing Calf Raises

5x5 Squats

4x8 Front Squats

5x10 Cossack Squats

Thursday - Pull

5x5 Barbell Rows

4x8 Behind-the-Neck Lat Pull Downs

5x10 Seated Cable Rows

3x15 Facepulls

3x10 DB Curls

Friday - Push

3x20 Rear Delt Flies

5x10 Arnold Press

3x10 Flat DB Press

3x15 Lateral Raises

3x20 Skullcrushers

Saturday & Sunday - Rest

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The schedule for month 4 is week 1, week 2, week 1, week 2. Same as month 3, increase weights by 5% on weeks 2 and 4. At this point the weights are starting to enter into the moderate range, it’ll be harder to focus solely on form and the mind muscle connection. Some amount of attention will need to be given to simply executing the reps and getting through the set. This is good, we’re coming closer to a peak, a deload is approaching where attention will shift away from heavy compound movements and instead towards core strength, body movement, stretching, and calisthenics.

Part 5 incorporates the strength gains made from parts 1-4 into functional movement patterns, grace of movement, and aesthetics. Additionally, part 5 with its emphasis on core strength and calisthenics prepare the body for the next loading phase by strengthening the connective tissues, fortifying the joints, and building a rock-solid six pack. Core strength is often the limiting factor as it relates to compound lifts like squats and deadlifts, so focusing on core strength for a time will ultimately improve strength with the barbell.

If you really want to increase the size of your arms, then take the thirty day arm challenge while running a cistanche and cholesterol protocol. Cistanche and cholesterol combined will boost your natural testosterone and build muscle while the thirty day arm challenge will add 1/4-1/2” to your arms.

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References:

1. Kholinne E, Zulkarnain RF, Sun YC, Lim S, Chun JM, Jeon IH. The different role of each head of the triceps brachii muscle in elbow extension. Acta Orthop Traumatol Turc. 2018;52(3):201-205.

Establish a Morning Routine

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated November 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Establishing a consistent routine is one of the cornerstones of a healthy lifestyle. Usually everyday routines are guided through meal timings (breakfast, lunch, dinner) or a work schedule. Often the activities people schedule their days around are stressful in nature. You don’t want to schedule a stress-first, relaxation-second schedule!

How you start the day determines in large part your physical, mental, and emotional status throughout the rest of the day. For this reason, morning routines are very important. Having a consistent morning routine provides a sense of normalcy, even during times of change such as travel, undue stress, and unique life situations. Consider a morning routine a wellness gyroscope that brings balance to your day to day life.

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Establish the Circadian Rhythm

The circadian rhythm is the 24-hour biological clock we all posses, and this rhythm controls your daily schedule for sleep and wakefulness.

One of the main reasons a consistent morning routine is recommended is it helps to establish a consistent circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm is intimately tied to the various systems of the body, such as the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, and a wandering circadian rhythm is easily disrupted further by stress and other variables. It’s been shown that the success of major surgeries is greatly influenced by the circadian rhythm. Those operated on during the day fair poorly compared to those operated on at night, during the bodies natural healing state.

The steps below help to establish a anti-fragile circadian rhythm, but there are a few steps that can be taken even before then:

Have a Consistent Bed Time

When you go to sleep, and for how long you sleep, has a huge impact on the quality of your life the following day. To help facilitate the process of establishing a rock-solid circadian rhythm, and therefore an awesome morning routine, go to bed at the same time every night. This bedtime should be respectful of the powerful influence the sun has on your circadian rhythm, and I wouldn’t recommend a bedtime any later than 10 pm. Unless you have a late-shift or night-shift job, there is really no excuse for going to sleep at a reasonable hour and treating yourself with self-love. If you stay up occasionally past 10 pm, that’s OKAY, but don’t make a habit of it.

Don’t Set an Alarm

If you have the luxury, don’t set an alarm to wake you up each morning. Face your bed East and open your blinds so when the sun rises in the morning you catch as much light as you can. The circadian rhythm is tied to the sun/moon cycle, and rising with the light is the most natural and peaceful way to wake-up.

Forget the Phone

The light we expose ourselves to each day is incredibly important. After sunset, naturally there is meant to be very little light, and the best thing you can do for your morning is to dim or turn off the artificial lights with the movements of the sun. Electronics give off primarily blue light, and blue light is particularly energizing. During the day blue light is expected and healthy, but in the morning and night, blue light can have a strong impact on the circadian rhythm, even shifting it by several hours. Blue light impacts melatonin (a hormone important in sleep) production, and the downstream effects of shifted melatonin or delayed production can completely upset the hormonal system as a whole. If you’ve ever had racing thoughts at night that prevented you from falling asleep, or made you sleep poorly, you should deeply examine your light exposure, both from electronics and the environment.

Picking up a phone first thing in the morning might help the brain to click on in that moment, but the overall effect of that habit can be devastating to normal sleep and wakefulness patterns. The solution is simple, keep the phone charging at night in a different room.

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Build your Fire

After a long nights rest, coaxing the metabolic engine to create energy is priority number 1. Movement and breath work are the prescription.

Upon waking, drink 16 - 32 oz of filtered water and prepare for some light exercise.

Stomach Vacuums (Uddiyana Bandha) are easiest to perform in the morning

This exercise could be a simple 15 minute flow routine, 30 minutes of yoga, or a full weight-training workout. Maybe you prefer to go for a walk, that’s fine too!

I prefer starting with a short flow routine followed by calisthenics and core exercises because the movements can adapt to how I feel. Whether you want to do more calisthenics, yoga, or stretching, flow training can incorporate all of those fitness modalities and are easy to modify instinctively.

Movements and exercise that establish deep consistent breathing are best, as oxygen is the fuel your body requires for all energy processes.

Breath work and movement finished, solidify your new baseline of energy with 5 - 10 minutes of meditation. Sit cross legged, breath in and out slowly, and clear your mind. To help clear your mind, you can think the words “In” and “Out” for when breathing in or out. You can also hum “aum” or focus your senses outwards. Can you feel the wind, the sun, the Earth? Listen to the sounds around you. Smell the air? Raise your level of awareness by practicing mindfulness and let any thoughts that start to materialize bounce off of your inner mental calm.

Avoid Stimulants

The first mistake many make here is to turn to a stimulant like caffeine first thing upon waking. Would you rather your energy for the day depend on an external stimulant, or your own movement and breath work for the day? Remember the goal of the morning routine is to create a calm mental and emotional state for each day, and it’s known that stimulants disturb this aspect of health and the natural circadian rhythm.

Coffee and green tea taste great, so savor them as a treat occasionally, not as a crutch.

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Feed Your Body

Whether you decide to fuel up or fast after the movement and breath work, it’s important that this decision of how to feed your body is done with your best interests in mind. Be conscious and make your own decisions.

For Fasting:

If you prefer 16:8 intermittent fasting, or you’re performing a longer duration fast for your digestive system, it is important to drink plenty of water. Since you are not consuming any food, which contains water, you’ll need to drink more water. And this means only water!

Stimulants like green tea and coffee as described are best avoided, and zero-calorie beverages wreck havoc on the digestive system, particularly the gut lining. Starting your day with a zero-calorie beverage will cause inflammation in the gut and eventually systemically.

For Fueling:

Find a nutritious breakfast that you can eat consistently everyday. I recommend eating the same breakfast everyday for the following reasons:

• Everyday your body will receive the same supply of fats, carbs, fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals.

• It will add consistency to your digestion, and establish a rhythm that your microbiome can come to expect

• Post-breakfast, your energy levels will be consistent and known. This stability allows you to start your day right.

• No more guesswork in the kitchen.

• Preparing the same breakfast everyday becomes a science, letting your mind focus on other ambitions of the day.

Find a meal that works for your dietary preferences, is easy to prepare, delicious, and well rounded nutritionally. This means developing a breakfast that includes fat, protein, starch, and fiber.

My Daily Breakfast

I look forward to my breakfast everyday even though it never changes! There is enough diversity in flavors and textures that I don’t tire of it. My breakfast is as follows:

1. Organic hashbrowns with ketchup

2. Three eggs scrambled with EVOO & sprig parsley

3. Organic strawberry, banana, lemon, and fresh squeezed OJ smoothie

4. Gluten-free everything bagel with organic cream-cheese and everything seasoning.

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Set your Intentions, Repeat your Affirmations

After a bout of movement, breath work, and a meal (or not), take 5-10 minutes to set your goals for the day and establish your affirmations. This can be done in so many ways, find what resonates with you!

You can set your goals and establish your affirmations through journaling. Keeping a log of your affirmations and aspirations is a fantastic way to develop a record of your daily goals, and looking back through past journal entries can help pierce the veil of what it is you truly desire.

Listening to your horoscope is another way to set affirmations for the day, or at least a way to bring consciousness to various topics that you might not have considered otherwise. For this I recommend Horoscope Today from Parcast. Each horoscope is only 2-3 minutes in length, but during this time my attention is drawn to my relationships with others, my career ambitions, and the larger worldly energy patterns to be mindful of.

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Pitfalls to Avoid - Reminder

When establishing a productive morning routine, there are a variety of old habits which might need to be cast aside as you undergo your evolution. Remember to avoid:

• Stimulants such as coffee

• Electronics 2 hours before bed, after waking up

• Morning junk food disguised as breakfast

• Inadequate water consumption

• Anything that disturbs your peace

Reclaim the morning as your time to clear your mind, stabilize your emotions, and set your focus. Remember it’s your life, not someone elses, be it your boss, friends, or the news. Before the world wakes up, the morning hours are yours and yours alone!

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Putting it into Practice

Now that everything has been discussed, here is an action plan you can start with and then adapt to fit your unique needs.

Daily Morning Wellness Routine

1. Wake up naturally, and limit your exposure to blue light.

2. Drink 16 - 32 oz filtered water.

3. Begin your breath-focused movement, yoga, workout routine (15-90 minutes), or walk. See below for two movement routines you can use to get started.

4. Cool down with 5-15 minutes meditation, stabilize your energy levels, and calm your mind.

5. Fuel or fast, be conscious of what you put into your body. If choosing to eat, consume a well-rounded breakfast with a focus on organic foods, protein, healthy fats, and fiber.

6. Set your intentions for the day and repeat your affirmations. For outside input to consider, listen or read your horoscope.

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Morning Movement Routine

Strength Focused

Complete this circuit three times

1. Push-ups - 25 reps

   • Form an arrow position with your arms, keep your core stable, and chest to floor.

2. RKC Plank - 30 secs

   • Squeeze your glutes, contract your core, and brace inwards.

3. Body-weight Squats - 25 reps

   • Open your hips and go deep with a stable back.

4. Glute Bridge - 25 reps

   • Squeeze the glutes at the top of the rep.

5. Mountain Climbers - 25 reps

   • Stay tight and stabilize against rotation.

Mobility Focused

Focus on the quality of the movement

1. Sun Salutation Warm-up - 5 rounds

2. Thoracic Rotation Stretch - 5 reps each side

3. 90/90 Hip Stretch - Hold 20-30 seconds

4. Hamstring Stretch - Hold for 20-30 seconds

5. Ankle Plantar Flexion Stretch - 30 seconds

6. Lizard with Rotation - 5 reps each side

7. Punter Kicks - 8 reps each side

8. Chest Stretch - Hold 20-30 seconds

9. Lat Stretch - Hold 20-30 seconds

10. Shoulder CARS - 5 reps each side

11. Windmills - 10 reps each side

Note - The beauty of a morning exercise routine is it helps maintain the physical status of the body. If you exercise exclusively during the afternoon or evenings, your fitness progress is dependent solely on those workouts. Miss a few workouts or more and progress will slip away. A morning exercise prescription, while not necessarily super intense, provides enough stimulus to maintain progress you’ve made during your more intense training sessions.

If you don’t occasionally skip your normal exercise routine, then you’ll make progress faster with the addition of the morning routine and have diversified your fitness skill set.

Leg Workouts

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated November 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

The majority of your training in the gym should be centered around full body workouts, followed by push and pull workouts (as covered in parts 1 and 2). To optimally train the body, the limbs (legs and arms) need direct attention and training. The legs especially are very important for overall health and wellness.

WFO Workout Routines

Part 1 - Full Body Workouts

Part 2 - Push & Pull Workouts

Part 3 - Leg Workouts ✅

Part 4 - Arm Workouts

Part 5 - Calisthenics & Core Workouts

To build on parts 1 and 2, we add leg workouts into the routine and adjust the rest of the routine to compensate for the increased leg volume and intensity. If you want a stronger squat, deadlift, and hip thrust, have a dedicated leg day 2x a week. If you want bigger quadriceps, front squat frequently.

Below we’ll cover the main movements used to train the legs, add a new recovery method, provide the leg workouts to be used moving forward, and will show how to flexibly incorporate leg days into a training schedule

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Importance of Leg Training and Calves

The legs can be split into three main sections, the calves, thighs, and glutes. Both the calves and thighs have different muscles front and back, and the glutes are situated behind the hips. The legs are unique in that they contain a huge amount of muscle mass compared to other parts of the body. Upper leg muscles encircle the femur, the largest and strongest bone of the body, but there are no organs in the legs like with the torso. Because the legs comprise such a large percentage of the total body mass of the body, they are very important to develop for overall health and wellness.

Strong well-developed legs are critical for many of the movement patterns we rarely reflect on like walking and standing. Legs that have more muscle will have a greater metabolic impact on the body, burning more calories and helping to stabilize blood sugar and hormone levels. Nimble legs and the inner ears determine your balance, and there is excellent data showing how easily you can get off the ground using only your legs predicts lower all-cause mortality (death from any reason). For these reasons and more it is incredibly important to be mindful of your legs and to train them frequently and intelligently.

Balancing the development of the legs is also very important. Exercises like the barbell squat activate all of the musculature of the legs, but the calves are only minimally activated. Hip hinging exercises like the deadlift are similar. The reason the calves develop sub-optimally is because the calves are best strengthened when the foot and ankle are the primary joint loaded with force during a movement, like a calf raise. With weight-training routines it is common for calves and forearms to be neglected at the expense of the upper arms, upper legs, midsection, and torso. But as we know with the connection between balance and risk of injury, equal attention needs to be given to all the muscles of the legs, no matter their relative size or aesthetic features.

Because time at the gym is limited, it’s a tough pill to swallow to train calves heavy at the expense of exercises like squats, and many people end up ignoring their calves completely as a result. To solve this, train calves at the beginning of every leg workout and use them to warm up all the muscles of the lower body. For blood to reach the calves much of it will travel past and through the upper leg, activating everything along the way. With pre-activated calf muscles, risk of injury during heavy lower body compounds like squats and deadlifts decreases, and those exercises then serve to activate and stress the calves to a greater degree.

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Muscles of the Legs

Calves

• Gastrocnemius

• Soleus

• Tibialis Anterior

Quadriceps

• Rectus Femoris

• Vastus Lateralis

• Vastus Intermedius

• Vastus Medialis

Hamstrings

• Biceps Femoris, Long Head

• Biceps Femoris, Short Head

• Semitendinosus

• Semimembranosus

Glutes

• Gluteus Maximus

• Gluteus Medius

• Gluteus Minimus

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Main movements for the Legs

Gastrocnemius

• Standing Calf Raise

Soleus

• Seated Calf Raise

Tibialis Anterior

• Reverse Calf Raise

Quadriceps

• Squat (front, back)

• One Legged Squat (pistol, shrimp)

• Cossack Squat

• Sissy Squat

• Lunge (forward, side, reverse)

• Step-Up

• Leg Press

Hamstrings

• Deadlift

• Single Leg Deadlifts

• Stiff Legged Deadlift

• Glute-Ham Raise

• Leg Curl

• Good Morning

• Squat

Glutes

• Hip Thrust

• Hip Bridge

• Squat

• Deadlift

• Lunge (wide)

• Leg Press

Note - Various implements can be used for the above exercises, such as the barbell, dumbbells, kettlebells, cables, machines, and more.

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Unique Considerations for Legs

In general, leg workouts using the movements above will train the smaller stabilizer muscles of the legs (i.e hip abductors, tiny thigh muscles) which were not covered in this article. Training the body, but especially the legs, in both the sagittal and frontal planes of motion is very important in developing a strong, healthy, and limber lower body. Moving forward and back would be sagittal, and side to side frontal.

Legs are interesting in the fact that the primary joints of the legs are very robust compared to the joints of the torso thanks to bipedalism. This allows the legs to be trained daily if desired for extended periods of time, as long as volume and intensity are intelligently managed.

If rapid lower body strength or hypertrophy development is the goal, then high frequency leg training is useful to experiment with. The legs are also special in that they hold a large amount of muscle compactly. There are no organs housed and protected in the legs. Once well developed, with movement as simple as walking, the legs are metabolically activated and can burn a tremendous amount of calories with less effort than for the torso. Even at rest the muscle mass of the legs has a large influence on ones Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). As such, strong healthy legs are a key factor in overall body composition, and increasing muscle mass in the legs can be very useful for fat loss.

For the months of full body workouts and push/pull workouts, we learned and put into practice a lot of wellness habits that exist outside the gym. Sleep, diet, water, and gut health were on the agenda. For this month, heat therapy and post workout nutrition are the new lifestyle add-ons to keep recovery high and nutritional demands met.

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Heat Therapy and Post-Workout Nutrition

Heat therapy, like using the sauna or taking a very hot bath, is one of the most powerful recovery tools you have available to you. Heat therapy activates heat shock proteins which heal cellular damage, increases metabolic rate and has cardiovascular benefits, and dramatically boosts growth hormone levels for a short while afterwards. All these effects and more aid greatly in your ability to recover from a hard training session, and if done 1-3x per week for 15-30 minutes each time, the same rate of progressive overload growth that this program has created can be maintained. Heat therapy is a stressor itself, so make sure the rest of your lifestyle is as low-stress as possible, that’s why laying the foundation in months 1 and 2 was so important. Leg training is one of the most stressful types of training out there, and if you’re not careful it is really easy to become injured.

8 oz coconut milk, 30 grams protein, 6 raw egg yolks, 3 g creatine, and cinnamon to taste.

To aid in the recovery from the increasing demands of this workout routine, post workout nutrition becomes more important. More protein will be needed by the body, as well as cellular and hormonal building blocks like cholesterol.

Drink this muscle building shake after every leg and full body workout to ensure you’re getting the macro and micronutrients your body needs to build muscle and synthesize steroidal hormones.

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Leg Workouts

Below are the leg workouts to be used for month three and beyond of the WFO workout routine.

Leg Workout (A)

3x20 Seated Calf Raises

5x5 Squats

4x8 Hip Thrusts

5x10 Glute Ham Raise

Leg Workout (B)

3x20 Standing Calf Raises

5x5 Deadlifts

4x8 Front Squats

5x10 Cossack Squats

525 lb Deadlift by Stefan Burns

While the exercises for each workout above are best suited for the rep ranges given (5x5, 4x8, 5x10), cycling the rep ranges in-between exercises will stimulate new adaptations with the same three exercises per workout. Exercises can be adapted or changed too, there is nothing wrong with that.

Be very thoughtful when changing exercises though, and don’t change exercises often, because it’s easy to begin altering all the variables for fun rather than stick to the plan that will ensure progress and the achievement of goals set. The gym is a place to train your discipline. Forget what you want to do or what’s fun, do what you need to do, and find a way to enjoy that process.

Leg Workout C below is designed for a more athletic focus, and Leg Workout D for more aesthetic driven goals:

Leg Workout (C)

3x20 Reverse Calf Raises

Hip Thrusts 5x5

Lunges 4x8

Cossack Squats 5x10

Prowler Sprints 5x30 yards

Athletic Focus

Leg Workout (D)

3x20 Reverse Calf Raises

3x30 Standing Calf Raises

5x5 Front Squats

4x12 Glute Ham Raise

5x15 Lunges (wide)

Aesthetic Focus

Combined with full body and push & pull workouts, you can start to see how adaptable these routines are. For legs, the rep and set schemes are always given lower rep range strength priority on the dedicated leg day (for example the 5x5 compound movement), with the full body workouts using the other reps ranges more typical for hypertrophy. Because of this, the full body and push + pull workouts need to be slightly altered from months 1 and 2. This isn’t a problem because the overall strategy employed here is program flexibility. After part six, you’ll have the know-how and experience to be able to dynamically build your workout routine every week from the different types of workouts presented, while still following a clear path towards progressive overload.

The two weeks of programming below are to be repeated twice over the course of part 3, which like the other parts is a month in duration. As with part 2, weights for the first week of this month will be the same as the last week of month 2. Increase weights by 5% for week 2, and by another 5% for week 4. This is the cadence that will be established, 5% increases every two weeks. When stress is low and recovery is high, this is very manageable for a long time, especially when the starting weights were in the 40-50% 1 rep max range.

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Month 3 Workout Routine

Week 1

Monday - Full Body

5x5 Hip Thrusts

4x8 Pull-Ups

5x10 Pec Deck

3x15 Hanging Leg Raises

Tuesday - Pull

One-Arm Lat Pulldowns 3x20

Barbell Rows 4x6

Chin-Ups 3x10

Facepulls 3x15

DB Curls 3x10

Wednesday - Legs

5x10 Ab Wheel Rollouts

3x20 Seated Calf Raises

5x5 Squats

4x8 Hip Thrusts

5x10 Glute Ham Raise

Thursday - Push

5x5 Incline Press

4x8 Dumbbell Incline Press

5x10 Pec Deck

3x12 Skullcrushers

Friday - Full Body

5x5 Deadlifts

4x8 DB Press

5x10 Leg Press

3x30 Reverse Crunches

Saturday & Sunday - Rest

Week 2

Monday - Full Body

5x5 Squats

4x8 Pull-Ups

5x10 Pec Deck

3x15 Hanging Leg Raises

Tuesday - Push

Dumbbell Front Raises 3x20

Bench Press 4x6

Kettlebell Press 3x10

Lateral Raises 3x15

Tricep Cable Extensions 3x10

Wednesday - Legs

5x10 Ab Wheel Rollouts

3x20 Standing Calf Raises

5x5 Deadlifts

4x8 Front Squats

5x10 Cossack Squats

Thursday - Pull

5x5 Barbell Rows

4x8 Behind-the-Neck Lat Pull Downs

5x10 One-Arm Seated Cable Rows

3x12 Hammer Curls

Friday - Full Body

5x5 Incline Press

4x8 Lunges

5x10 Pull-Ups

3x20 Cable Woodchops

Saturday & Sunday - Rest

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Follow Progressive Overload

With the routines used for month 3 of the WFO workout plan, legs are trained 3x a week, upper body 4x a week, and core 3x a week. The rest day on Wednesday was eliminated, in effect only increasing leg frequency, volume, and intensity compared to part 2. Training legs twice a week, as was done in part 2, is effective, but training legs 3x a week is where the real magic happens. Recovery practices are extra important now though. Heat therapy is introduced in part 3 because leg training is very stressful and metabolically demanding; heat therapy simply wasn’t needed until now, and the extra endogenous growth hormone production will benefit recovery and overall growth.

For part 4 we discuss arm & forearm training, how much arm size you can realistically add in a month with an arm focused routine, and how experience with this training philosophy lays the foundation for intuitive training.

Push and Pull Workouts

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated January 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Push and pull strength training routines revolve around performing all pushing exercises on one day and all pulling exercises on another. For example one day would be filled with push-ups, another day would be filled with pull-ups. A push pull workout routine can be very effective at building muscle and getting stronger for intermediate trainees. For those new to strength training, full body workouts are recommended to first be learned and mastered before graduating to more advanced training methods like split routines (push pull workouts, legs and shoulders, etc).

Full body workouts are the foundation of the Wild Free Organic 6 month workout routine, and if you intend on following this strength training routine, start with part 1 which is the one month starting phase and follow the natural progression from there.

WFO Workout Routines

Part 1 - Full Body Workouts

Part 2 - Push & Pull Workouts ✅

Part 3 - Leg Workouts

Part 4 - Arm Workouts

Part 5 - Calisthenics & Core Workouts

Full body workouts stimulate the full body all in one go, creating a powerful adaption stress response. Because of this, full body workouts form the foundation of any successful strength training and hypertrophy routine. Additionally, when life becomes hectic, full body routines offer a fall-back where workout frequency can be reduced but progress can still be made, albeit at a slower rate.

As great as full body workouts are, sometimes more volume, frequency, and intensity is needed to stimulate greater adaptations for specific body parts. When this is the situation, the best way to accomplish this for the upper body is with push and pull workouts.

The push/pull split is simple, you simply train all pushing movements in one workout, and all pulling movements in the other. Pushing movements use the chest, shoulders, and triceps, while pulling movements use the back, shoulders, and biceps. Push and pull workouts programmed around compound exercises create the greatest muscle growth stimulus, but the arms will be less stimulated than the torso. Isolation exercises added for the arms at the end of push/pull workouts helps to alleviate this imbalance, and incorporating a dedicated arm workout into a strength training routine is recommended for improving physique symmetry and strength balance. Arm workouts are discussed and incorporated into the routine during part 4, at this early stage of the progression they are not needed.

With this push pull strength training routine, legs are trained during full body workouts that happen twice a week.

Training Philosophy

If you are following a strength training routine, building muscle, increasing strength, and sculpting an aesthetic physique are likely your primary goals. When working out at a gym, the objective is to create a large adaptive stimulus in the desired parts of the body which can be successfully recovered from. The gym is a means to this end, nothing more. It is not a hangout spot, it is not a place to flex the ego. Workouts should be focused in their intention, and once completed, the focus shifts to other important wellness activities which aid in recovery and create lifestyle free of chronic stress. The less stress in daily life, the more stress can acutely apply to the body via strength training, and the greater the results will be.

Target Muscles

Main Muscles Recruiting during PUSH:

Chest

• Pectoralis Major

  • Sternal head

  • Clavicular head

Shoulders

• Anterior Deltoid

• Lateral Deltoid

Triceps Brachii

• Long head

• Medial head

• Lateral head

Main Muscles recruited during PULL:

Back

• Latissimus Dorsi

• Teres Minor

• Trapezius

• Rhomboids

Shoulders

• Posterior Deltoid

Biceps Brachii

• Short head

• Long head

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Main Movements

Main pushing movements for each muscle group:

Chest

• Push-Up

• Flat (bench) Press

• Incline Press

• Chest Fly

• Dips

Shoulders

• Handstand Push-Up

• Press

• Front Raises

• Upright Row

• Lateral Raise

Triceps

• Close-Grip Push-Up

• Close-Grip Flat Press

• Cable Push-Down

• Overhead Triceps Extension

• Skull Crusher

Main pulling movements for each muscle group:

Back

• Pull-Up

• Chin-Up

• Inverted Row

• Deadlift

• Lat Pulldown

• Bent Over Row

• Shrug

• Pullover

Shoulders

• Pull-Up

• Inverted Row

• Rear Delt Row

• Rear Delt Fly

Biceps

• Chin-Up

• Curl

• Preacher Curl

Note - Various implements can be used for the above exercises, such as the barbell, dumbbells, kettlebells, cables, machines, and more.

Push and pull workouts are the best way to build a larger, thicker, and stronger torso. An impressive upper body requires an impressive frame, and upper body compound exercises done correctly built the size and strength of frame needed to pack on serious muscle mass.

Push Workouts

The same exercises from the full body workouts of part 1 are used to create the base movements for the push and pull workouts of part 2. This exercise selection allows us to dynamically adjust the types of workouts scheduled every week to best stimulate the body while also keep progressive overload simple and allowing for routine flexibility in the face of occasional adverse circumstances.

Below are the two push workouts that will be incorporated into the weekly routine. Push workout A is more chest stimulating, and push workout C directs more attention to the shoulders and triceps.

Push Workout (A)

5x5 Incline Press

4x8 Dumbbell Incline Press

5x10 Pec Deck

Push Workout (C)

Dumbbell Front Raises 3x20

Bench Press 4x6

Kettlebell Press 3x10

Lateral Raises 3x15

Tricep Cable Extensions 3x10

What we’ll do with these workouts, the pull workouts, and the full body workouts is we’ll keep many of the same exercises but the rep ranges will be cycled. This stimulates new adaptations, creates accountability for exercise form across different weights, and will build the most aesthetic physique.

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Pull Workouts

Below are the two pull workouts that will be incorporated into the weekly routine. Pull workout B is more back stimulating, and pull workout D directs more attention to the rear deltoids and biceps.

Pull Workout (B)

5x5 Deadlifts

4x8 Behind-the-Neck Lat Pull Downs

5x10 Seated Cable Rows

Pull Workout (D)

One-Arm Lat Pulldowns 3x20

Barbell Rows 4x6

Chin-Ups 3x10

Facepulls 3x15

DB Curls 3x10

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Importance of Exercise Frequency

Frequency of muscle and nervous system is a very important factor as it determines the consistency of the adaptation stimulus.

If you follow a workout split where you only hit each muscle group (chest, back, legs, arms, shoulders) once per week, you can see how ineffective this is for stimulating constant muscle growth. Meanwhile the muscle group that is hit once per week is trained to absolute failure and beyond, causing greater muscle trauma which if improperly recovered from will lead to worsening outcomes.

Higher frequency strength training routines are better at stimulating strength and muscular adaptations, but with more frequent stimulus it is therefore even more important to reduce any unnecessary stressors that exists in life. Even though overall intensity workouts are lower as shown in the graphic above, adaptive stress from the workouts cumulatively is higher and more constant. It is for this reason that body-part split routines are attractive to many trainees, especially if they have a high stress lifestyle. It’s simply difficult to squat 3x a week if life outside the gym is chaotic and stressful.

Create a low stress environment and be diligent with recovery practices like heat therapy and overall progress made with a high frequency workout routine will be much greater and less volatile compared to less frequent higher intensity workout plans.

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WFO Workout Routine Month Two

Push and pull workouts are combined with full body workouts for the Wild Free Organic month 2 strength training routine. Each individual workout outlined among these articles is very adaptable and can be combined with each other in uniquely useful ways.

The following two week workout routine is repeated twice. There are workouts 4x per week, with rest days on Wednesday, Saturday, or Sunday.

Week 1

Monday - Full Body (A)

5x5 Squats

4x8 Pull-Ups

5x10 Pec Deck

3x15 Hanging Leg Raises

Tuesday - Pull (D)

One-Arm Lat Pulldowns 3x20

Barbell Rows 4x6

Chin-Ups 3x10

Facepulls 3x15

DB Curls 3x10

Wednesday - Rest

Thursday - Push (A)

5x5 Incline Press

4x8 Dumbbell Incline Press

5x10 Pec Deck

Friday - Full Body (C)

5x5 Deadlifts

4x8 DB Press

5x10 Leg Press

3x30 Reverse Crunches

Saturday & Sunday - Rest

Week 2

Monday - Full Body (A)

5x5 Squats

4x8 Pull-Ups

5x10 Pec Deck

3x15 Hanging Leg Raises

Tuesday - Push (C)

Dumbbell Front Raises 3x20

Bench Press 4x6

Kettlebell Press 3x10

Lateral Raises 3x15

Tricep Cable Extensions 3x10

Wednesday - Rest

Thursday - Pull (B)

5x5 Deadlifts

4x8 Behind-the-Neck Lat Pull Downs

5x10 Seated Cable Rows

Friday - Full Body (B)

5x5 Incline Press

4x8 Front Squats

5x10 Barbell Rows

3x20 Cable Woodchops

Saturday & Sunday - Rest

With this workout routine legs are trained 2x per week, chest 3x, back 3x, arms and shoulders regularly, and core 2x per week.

During the first month of full body workouts, the weight used for exercises was increased by 10% from start to finish. With month 2 the weights are still light and the emphasis is still on exercise form and muscle contractions. Use the same weight on exercises for week 1 of this month as week 4 of last month. On weeks 2, 3, and 4 increase the weight by 5%, for a total compounded weight increase of about 16%. Always round down weight increases, so for example if your percentage jump takes you from 165 to 173, load the bar with 170 lbs. Overall a couple pounds difference has a negligible impact if exercise form and maximum connectivity and contraction is the goal for each rep and set.

Note - Buy 2.5 lb change plates to make more precise weight jumps.

A routine that started with comically light weights at 40-50% of 1RM at the beginning of month 1 now uses weights by the end of month two 27.6% heavier. If you were squatting with 135 to start, now you’re squatting with 170 lbs with similar ease, form, and muscle activation. Congratulations, that’s a big achievement!

A Beginner’s Guide to Start Running

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Getting out the door is more than half the battle when it comes to starting to run. Irregular and demanding work schedules, kids, and other commitments make it difficult to commit consistent time to running. On top of that, we’ve lost count of the people who say they are frustrated, because they have constantly been disappointed with their lack of progress—running never seems to get any easier.

The key to overcoming all of these obstacles?

Facing them with a solid plan of attack!

Raceday! From experts to beginners, anyone can participate in a 5k and compete against themselves.

Wild Free Organic Running Series:

1. Beginners Running Guide - 3 Month Plan ✅

2. Incorporate Strength Training into your Running Routine

3. Preparing for your First 5K

4. Final Preparations and 5K Race Day

From running novice to experienced racer, you’ll learn running, strength training, and race tip from these articles written by Triathlete Sarah Alexander and Physician Carten Denne. For absolute beginners, start with the Beginners Running Guide and follow through the other articles as you prepare for your first 5k race!

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There are more training plans out there than we can count, but only a handful that truly seek to guide someone who has been inactive for months or years and wants to be able to run a 5k straight through. One of these is the “Couch to 5k” running plan (C25k), which has helped thousands go from a sedentary lifestyle to completing their first 5k. It provides a progression of walk-runs over nine weeks that builds up to 30 minutes of straight running. While C25k is a great program, and we love the functionality and ease of its app, there are a few critical ways in which the training program falls short:

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Weekly Strength & Mobility

Running is stressful on the body. Particularly when people are just getting started, they tend to not have the lower body strength needed for the demands of running, which makes them vulnerable to injuries like shin splints, achilles tendinitis, IT band syndrome and plantar fasciitis as a result. Staying injury free during the first few weeks of running is crucial.

Committing to 20-30 minutes of strength training 1-2x per week just as a start will do wonders to build strength and prevent injury. Further benefits of strength training include burning fat and building muscle. Improved body composition will help you run further and faster with less effort.

Incorporate strength training into your running routine to see the benefits!

For the aforementioned reasons, we include one strength/mobility session per week in the zero to 5k program below. This 7-minute strength workout is a great one and can be done at home with no equipment!

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Time, Not Distance

While the Couch to 5k plan lets the individual choose whether to run for time or distance. However, when running for distance, people often feel pressure to cover a certain distance in a certain time. For beginner runners in particular, this can lead to over-exertion and bad running from habits which can result in injury, less enjoyment, or both. Plus, having a reliable amount of time for a run session will make it easier to plan ahead and incorporate running into your schedule.

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12 Weeks for Gradual Progression

It takes time for both mind and body to adapt to running. While the Couch to 5k program says to repeat weeks if needed, it can be hard to alter a plan and can even feel like a “failure.” For that reason, we have extended the plan from nine weeks to twelve, giving runners a clean three months to prepare for their 5k. This slightly more conservative approach will decrease the chance of injury and allow for more enjoyment along the way.

There are still some weeks that might seem like a big jump, particularly the jump from wk10 to wk11, which removes walking breaks. The key on week 11 is to remember that you have built up the strength and endurance necessary to make this leap, especially since the overall volume decreases a bit. Focus on the decreased total workout time as opposed to the increase in continuous running—it’s more of a mental leap than a physical one, we promise!

Our “Make a Run For It” Beginner’s Training Plan integrates some of the great foundational aspects of C25k with the changes made above:

“Make a Run For It” Beginner’s Training Plan - Sarah Alexander

As you embark on the training program above, keep these five pro tips in mind to guide you through the peaks and valleys of running and empower you to run a 5k straight through:

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1) Plan Ahead

In terms of your macro schedule, plan your weeks in advance. Obviously things may change along the way, but having a blueprint for your week will help as you learn to integrate running into your life. It is best to space out runs with rest days in between, but what works for one person won’t work for another, so we leave the scheduling of sessions up to you. Consider M/W/F/Sa or T/Th/Sa/Su, but at the end of the day, commit to the schedule that best fits the demands of your life.

On the day to day, try to make running the first thing you do in the morning, before life has a chance to get in the way. Make running your you time. Setting the alarm 40 minutes earlier than normal might seem painful, but you can make things easier on yourself by setting out your gear and placing your shoes right next to the door the night before. Wake up, get up, and go.

“You are the master of your schedule, but no matter how well intentioned we are, something gets in the way! Give yourself the best chance of successfully completing each session by planning ahead.”

That said, some people are just not early birds. If you prefer to train after work, pack running clothes to change into right at the end of the day. Also consider setting a “workout meeting” on your calendar to hold you to your workouts. The most important thing is to be consistent from session to session and week to week.

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2) Bring an accountability partner (or many) on board

As you build the habit of running, you need to make the pain of skipping your run greater than the pain of doing it. Have somebody that trains with you, or who you tell about your training, so you can check in with them each session. Ideally, talk a friend or family member into starting the program with you so you’re both starting from the same level!

Have an accountability buddy, or run with a buddy!

In addition, consider joining a running club. Many companies, local running stores, and local communities have running clubs, which are great resources as you build your habit of running. While you have your accountability partner in place, the more people you surround yourself with who are doing the things you want to do, the better.

Not only can these resources serve as extra motivation to hit the pavement, but they can also help you become a better runner. Remember the golden rule of 5: you are the average of the five people you associate most with. So associate with faster, more experienced, healthy runners. Don’t have an in-person running community in your area? No stress, there are a lot of online running communities that can help as well. Before you know it, you will have built enough momentum that you might even become someone else’s accountability buddy!

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3) Warm up before, stretch after

Doing a dynamic warm-up can take less than 5 minutes and will help you feel better from your first minute of walking. It will also decrease your chance of injury. After your run is the time to do some light stretching. I always think of post-workout stretching to be like a glass of cool lemonade on a hot day—it’s a chance to not only restore my muscles, but also take some deep breaths and soak in the training session I just accomplished. Carving out a few extra minutes before and after each session can feel strange, but properly warming up and cooling down will without a doubt put you in a better place physically and mentally going into the next workout that week.   

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4) Keep a Running Journal

Journaling is a great way to embrace the opportunity for personal growth that comes with any running journey. Tracking your progress will also help you keep track of your progression and keep things in perspective when you’re having a hard time getting through a training week. On top of that, it’s a great way to notice how running is changing your life without having to try too hard—feeling less stressed or in a better mood? Finding changes in food cravings and appetite? Experiencing more confidence? Jot it down! It will be fun to look back on your observations at the end of the three months.

You can also use your log to track your eating if you are running for weight loss. Changing your diet will be a key component to shedding pounds in addition to increased physical activity. Keeping a log—either written or digital—will help you stick with new healthy snacks, take note of what’s working and what’s not, and monitor your energy intake/expenditure.

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5) Keep Running Fun!

When training for an event, you will inevitably face a time when you have to dig down deep to find motivation; there will be days when you don’t want to run. A good way to find that motivation on days when it’s lacking is by packing a fun outfit you’ve been wanting to wear, creating a new running playlist, or downloading that interesting new podcast you’ve been wanting to listen to!

A couple great playlists to check out on Spotify are 170-190 BPM: Hip Hop Playlist and 170-190 Rock Playlist. Not only do these playlists include some great tunes, but they all have tempos that you can run to in order to practice good cadence (strive to hold ~180 strides per minute to reduce chances of injury and improve running economy).

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Thirty Minutes and an Open Door are all it takes

As you integrate activity back into your life and embark on your running journey, keep these tips in mind, and let us know how they are working for you! Stay focused on your end goal but remember to have fun with your training and enjoy the process, as well. What’s important in this journey is that you finish what you started—that in itself is a huge accomplishment, and you will make lasting memories and change your life in the process.

Wild Free Organic recommends Vivobarefoot footwear - modern footwear made with natural human physiology, minimalism, and eco-conscious in mind. Vivobarefoot has zero-drop, wide toe-box shoes that can be used from the office to the gym to the tundra, and everything in-between.

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Sarah Alexander

Since graduating from Chicago Booth with her MBA in 2015, Sarah has competed for the U.S.A. as a professional triathlete. In the process, she has become an expert in fitness and nutrition. She is passionate about helping others achieve their goals and is motivated by the perpetual challenge of defying boundaries to discover her best in athletic and professional pursuits alike.

To learn more about Sarah Alexander visit her website or follow her on Instagram @sarah_alxndr.

Yoga will transform your life

Article by Jason Brown - Updated November 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

We all recognize that in order to condition our bodies and improve our fitness, we need to take up some sort of physical exercise. However, it is often missed that the same concept applies to our mind, and that in order to condition our thoughts, emotions, and internal experiences, we need to take up some form of inner exercise.

When I first heard of yoga, my initial impression was that it just involved middle-aged moms doing aerobics on a mat in an unnecessarily hot room. Luckily, my open-mindedness and curiosity prevailed, and I eventually discovered the many different dimensions of yoga.

On the surface, yoga may seem like an alternative version of exercising for people who prefer to stay out of the weight room, but upon closer examination, you might find that there’s more going on under the hood. While yoga certainly does provide a number of physical benefits including flexibility, core strength, and posture, keep reading to learn how yoga can transform your life beyond the physical benefits.

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Practice Mindfulness with Yoga

It is so easy to get distracted by the hundreds of stimuli that fight for our attention every single minute of the day. Whether it’s our thoughts or the physical things around us, these distractions can make it seem like your default state of mind is to bounce around from one thought to the next. It really takes a deliberate effort to be present with the moment and aware of what is right in front of us.

Most who first start practicing yoga will find themselves impatiently thinking of other things, such as wondering how much time is left until the end of the class. The more you practice, the more you learn to let go and not worry about the time, instead focusing on the movements. The reward is much greater. With the uniquely challenging activities found in yoga, to master and perfect the poses you will eventually be required to completely clear your mind. Once you start to practice losing yourself in the flow you will start to notice that you legitimately feel different when I walking out of each class.

With my personal yoga practice, I eventually realized that the potential to lose myself in the moment existed with every activity that I encountered in my day. This skill can be learned by anyone. Use yoga as a way to practice mindfulness and apply that to your daily routine in a way that resets and reorients your perspective.

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Relieve Stress with Yoga

His holiness the Dalai Lama

A mantra you might learn in your yoga practice is “let go of the things that no longer serve you.”

We hold onto so much weight, from our past experiences to little day to day stresses, and it doesn’t take a genius to realize that reliving or over-analyzing our grievances serves very little purpose.

Of course it's possible to learn from reflecting on our mistakes, but reflecting on a mistake 50 times does not teach you any lessons that can't be learned from reflecting on it once.

Yoga practice strengthens and develops the mind so it’s no longer a battle to calm your thoughts, allowing clarity of mind to develop. Just like a storm at sea, when the storm abates you can now see to the horizon.

“Let go of the things that no longer serve you”

By thinking, reciting, or chanting this phrase in or outside of your yoga or meditation practice, you can learn to actively let go of thoughts and outdated beliefs that add no value to your life. Release yourself from the bounds of your Not-Self. Once these steps are taken and mental solitude is established, be amazed by how much less stressed you are day to day.

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Learn Patience with Yoga

Ever been waiting in line and looked around to see that literally every other person in line has their head down looking at their phone? In truth, this probably occurs to you everyday! Generally speaking, most people lack the patience or ability to wait for something without distracting themselves with their phones. Yoga has the ability to teach patience, both with your mind and body. From the moment we wake up until the second we go to sleep, we are faced with thousands of opportunities to escape our own thoughts through technology, socializing, entertainment, or some form of consumption. Use the opportunity yoga provides to develop a new relationship with your thoughts so you can be both productive as well as mindful during the little down times of the day. You might find that those moments to yourself are sometimes the most enjoyable parts of your day.

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Develop Discipline with Yoga

Motivation and inspiration cannot solely be relied on to produce results in life. While it is certainly helpful to have ambition and drive, the main trait that you can rely on to make progress and achieve your goals is discipline. Inspiration and motivation are emotions. Emotions come and go, they are flux states that are dictated in large part by environmental factors.

Discipline on the other hand is a routine habit that you develop to work towards your vision no matter what mood, emotion, or feeling you’re currently experiencing. With discipline, you learn to experience emotion differently, let them wash over you and you recognize them, but stay distant and in control unless you decide to engage. Being emotional isn’t a problem, it is what makes us human, but emotions can also change your focus and disrupt your mindfulness.

If you have problems fostering discipline in your life, make a positive step forward by committing to something long term. Yoga is a great avenue for this, and over time you will learn that cultivated discipline throughout all aspects of your life can work miracles and enable you to achieve more than you ever thought before.

If you have trouble with discipline, start with your health. Wellness is a foundational element required to enjoy a blissful existence, and developing discipline by taking care of yourself and exercising your mind is a great place to start. Yoga is the scientific practice developed to cultivate this very thing.

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Enhance Focus with Yoga

Multitasking is something that has come to be celebrated as a strength and a sought after skill. What a lot of people fail to realize is that, as cool and useful as multitasking seems on the surface, the potential for productivity is far higher when we focus and concentrate our efforts on one task at a time, entering into a flow state.

Being in the flow is a mental state when everything seems to come intuitively and naturally, no matter how difficult the objective. The best athletes are celebrated for their ability to enter into flow states at those critical buzzer-beater moments.

The human brain is incapable of competently accomplishing two tasks simultaneously, and in order to be fully present and engaged in a conversation, we have to mindedly focus our efforts on the people we’re interacting with.

Learning how to focus will greatly benefit your life across the board, from work to social interactions. Without practice though it isn’t easy focusing on one thing. Being hyper focused can actually be very challenging if you don’t practice the skill, especially if you consider all the distractions of modern life.

Yoga is excellent for teaching focus as it challenges you to focus your attention on a single exercise, or breathing style, mantra, or awareness at a time. Yoga elevates your consciousness to new bounds, and the exercises in yoga often push you outside of your comfort zone to the point that you really have no choice but to cut the noise if you want to execute the pose properly.

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Ready? Take Your First Shavasana

Taking one yoga class is not going to immediately thrust you into spiritual enlightenment, but if you develop a deliberate and intentional practice, you will discover serious life benefits from yoga over time. You might even look back to that first class as the genesis moment that helped you create a new lifestyle, a new mindset, and…a new you.

A healthy mind has the potential to bring a little more calmness to your life and can do wonders for your relationships with other people. If you’re thinking about trying out a yoga class, most studios offer a 1 or 2-week free trial so you can get a sense first hand of what a yoga is like. There are so many different types of yoga so it can also be difficult to choose where to begin. For most beginners, a restorative flow is best.

Most practices include both physical and mental elements, but if you really want to hone in on the inner work and mindfulness part of yoga, I recommend seeking out a Kundalini Yoga class in your area as a good place to get started.