Dear Reader,

Yes, I'm going on holiday, but I couldn't wait to share this recipe for cat food a quick, tasty, unconventional nutritional meal with you. So here we go.

Cat food aka how to hit your macros and supplement your Omega 3s the proper way

How to make:

• Take 1 tub of cottage cheese, tip it into a bowl,
• Tip 1 can of cod livers in own oil into the cottage cheese (you can use sardines in brine if you prefer)
• Tip one drained can of tuna steak/solid/fillet in brine (not the mushy mess called flakes/chunk/shredded)
• Season to taste: I generally use mustard and an experiment with a chopped pickled gherkin worked out well; pesto or curry paste are other things I sometimes use. Be creative!

Mix it up and enjoy!

Takes less than 5 minutes and, best of all, it hits these macros:

• Cod livers in own oil (115g can): Vitamin D cca 115 IU; Omega 3 fatty acids (primarily DHA, EPA): cca 16g; 62g of unsaturated fat; 6g protein
• Tuna in brine (steak, 195g gross weight, 150g net weight): 39g protein
• Tub of cottage cheese (200g): 10g fat; 22g protein

In one meal: 67 g of protein; Omega 3s and Vitamin D in their natural forms (eat outside in the sun for more); >100g of fat both saturated and unsaturated.

And it's very satiating.

A health journalist reached out to me after a recent email about the Forest Circadian Retreat which made my day. I love it when subscribers send me emails (wink, wink). I suggested that he could write a piece on a Circadian Lifestyle.

Then I realised that term might need some explaining. So, this is what I call Circadian Lifestyle:

Circadian = refers to Circa (around) and Diem (day) and is most commonly used in connection with Circadian Rhythms (chronobiology), today an established area of scientific research. In brief, this is how cells, tissues and endocrine systems work in a complex concert of rhythms of various lengths.

These cycles can be circadian, infradian (longer than a day, e.g. seasonal changes, or menstrual), or ultradian (shorter than a day, e.g. the REM cycle, nasal cycle, or growth hormone production)
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However, the most researched and commonly used term is Circadian, referring to the 24 hour cycle of the day. This 24 cycle is impacted by various inputs (feeding, exercise, etc), but the most important one is the 24 hour phase of light and dark that has existed on Earth since Earth has existed.

It's most strongly connected to breast cancer and colorectal cancer, but also with obesity, diabetes, Alzheimers, CVD .

Well actually, just paste “circadian rhythms”+ [your disease of choice] into your favourite search engine and you’ll see what I mean.

The most obvious shorter-term outcomes are everything to do with poor/disrupted sleep and conditions relating to sleep (apnoea, insomnia etc).

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However, my use of the term Circadian Lifestyle is broader. I can summarise it as follows:

The environment Homo Sapiens evolved in was fairly stable up until about 10.000 years ago: light/dark cycle, seasonal weather changes, local seasonal food supply, natural geomagnetic and electric fields.

Changes to that environment would normally have taken place over thousands of years (e.g. magnetic shifts, or Ice ages), allowing us to adapt.

Since the agricultural revolution, but markedly since the Industrial Revolution and exponentially accelerating since the advent of electricity, our environment is completely unrecognisable, changing at a pace we have no chance of adapting to.

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​Today:

• we spend 90% of our time indoors and fear the sun, then we shine artificial light at night, most recently blue-rich LED bulbs;
• we temper our temperature environment with A/C in the summer and heating in the winter;
• we wear rubber/nylon soles instead of conductive hides or bare feet;
• we’ve introduced thousands of chemical particles into our homes, water and air in concentrations we would never have faced;
• we’ve drowned out the Earth’s natural electric and magnetic fields with modern, artificial ones in a soup of electrosmog;
• we live in concrete, glass and steel cities and rarely connect with nature;
• we eat food that has either been deconstructed then reconstructed in a factory or is mismatched to our location and season;
• we live in constant fight or flight from psychological stress (relationships, work, marketing) or chemical and photo stress (e.g. LEDs raise blood sugar and cortisol);
• we are addicted to constant dopamine stimulation from social media or sugar and refined starches (and of course narcotics, nicotine and alcohol).

Lifespan has stalled and health span is falling (the number of years we live in good health).
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So, a Circadian Lifestyle is one where we build an environment that our cells are more attuned to.

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​The Forest Circadian Retreat is an opportunity for an immersive experience in that environment and an educational opportunity, providing a chance to then gradually adapt one’s own home environment and lifestyle.
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How did I do?

2 spaces left on the Forest Circadian Retreat in October. Hit Reply if you want to know more.

​Click here for the Info brochure.

(I recorded the dawn bird chorus at the Forest Circadian Retreat)

Take care,

Roderick

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​MidlifeMetabolicHealth.com​ ​Robot clicks here​

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