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meat, recipes Permalink

Paleo-Friendly Wild Game Meatball Recipe

Gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free

 

This is the only paleo-friendly wild game meatball recipe you will ever need. Yes, you can make meatballs without eggs or bread crumbs. The onion mixture helps bind the meat together but you have to be extra gentle when browning them on the pan.

 

The secret to good food is using fresh, good quality ingredients, so don’t worry too much if you put too little or too much of anything.

 

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons organic unsalted butter
  • 1 lb of ground wild boar
  • 1 lb of ground wild venison
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 small thumb of ginger (optional)
  • 1 giant pinch of italian spices
  • Unrefined salt and pepper
  • 1 dash of red wine (optional)
  • 1 jar of tomato sauce (We like Neal’s Organic Tomato Sauce)
  • 2-3 bay leaves

 

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
  2. Melt organic unsalted butter on cast iron pan on medium high.
  3. Put aromatic mixture in blender: onion, ginger, italian spices, salt, pepper. Pulse until it turns into a paste. Put a handful of paste aside for the sauce and use the remaining for the meatballs.
  4. Mix ground boar, ground venison and aromatics together. Form balls.
  5. When pan is hot, gently brown meatballs evenly on all sides.
  6. When meatballs are evenly browned, deglaze the pan with red wine.
  7. Pour enough tomato sauce and remaining aromatic mixture to cover the meatballs.
  8. Add bay leaves.
  9. Bake in oven for 28-35 minutes, depending on the size of the meatballs.

 

You may serve this with cruciferous vegetables or your choice of gluten-free pasta and you have one healthy, hearty meal.

Enjoy!

 nutrition Permalink

Why cutting calories doesn’t work

Calorie-restricted diets don’t work if you want to lose weight permanently. Most people have tried some kind of fad diet, by cutting calories. With over 5,000 diet books to choose from, each claiming the fastest way to success, why isn’t everybody on the same program?

 

You don’t have to starve yourself, spend hours on the elliptical or punish yourself for hours at the gym. If you eat the right food and supplement the right amount of nutrients for your body, excess fat will shed off your body.

 

What cutting calories do to your body

Calorie-restricting don’t work in the long run because it disrupts hormones and enzymes. Skipping just one meal, particularly breakfast, will make it more difficult for the body to lose fat. The initial response to a skipped meal is elevation of stress hormone, cortisol, then the body releases glycogen from the liver to raise your blood sugar. The body thinks you’re in famine, constantly fighting between low and high blood sugar, stressing the body.

 

Carbohydrate Intake

Most importantly, eating too much carbohydrate for your metabolic type can also disrupt hormonal balances. Your body releases insulin to lower blood-sugar levels. Skipping meals, cutting calories or not eating the right food for your body type will cause the body to think you’re in famine, causing your body to store as much energy as possible. Exercise keeps muscles sensitive to insulin, since active muscles use sugar for energy.

 

At KX, we use Metabolic Analysis to determine 12 sites where you store your fat. Storing fat in the middle of your body indicates that you’ve become insulin resistant. This could be the result of dieting, lack of exercise, or eating too many carbohydrates for your body type. Eating the wrong food for your body will leave you tired and bloated. Our body requires vital nutrients to keep the body living. Register here to health consultation. Limited spots available.

 lifestyle Permalink

How to improve sleep

Do you suffer from nagging ailments such as neck pains, headaches, skin changes, itching, poor recovery from exercise, forgetfulness and difficulties focusing? You may not be getting enough sleep or getting to bed on time.

 

Brightly lit house, late night TV and working late into the evening will keep stress hormones high. TV and computer screen flicker on 60-120 cycles per second so the brain interpret it as morning sunlight. Since cortisol can take hours to clear from your bloodstream, this will also prevent normal release of melatonin, growth hormone and immune factors, hindering physical and psychological repair.

 

Things that will ruin your sleep

  1. Stimulants: Caffeine, cigarettes, sugar, all trigger the release of cortisol, affecting the release of melatonin to provide restful sleep.
  2. Electromagnetic pollution: Low frequency electromagnetic energies including power lines, electrical circuits in the walls, ceilings, floors, appliances, TV’s microwaves all leaks electromagnetic pollution, which can hinder your sleep.
  3. Habit: It takes about 7-21 days to change a habit for your biological clock to adapt.

 

How to improve sleep

  1. Sleep by 10:30pm. Be in sync with your circadian rhythm.
  2. Minimize exposure to bright lights. Turn off your smartphone, ipad, computer and TV.
  3. Sleep in a quiet, dark room. Ensure there is no light pollution from outside.
  4. Avoid stimulants. Avoid sugar, caffeine and cigarettes before bed.
  5. Eat the foods right for your body type. Eating the right foods lowers cortisol in your body, improving body composition and sleep.
  6. Exercise timing. Exercise in the morning or afternoon and avoid exercising 3 hours before bed.
  7. Supplement with magnesium. Magnesium helps muscles relax, assisting in sleep.

Learn about how Metabolic Analysis can help you improve your body composition and sleep here.

Follow these steps and watch your recovery, somatic pains and cognition improve. Do you have any suggestions on how to improve sleep? Please share in the comments below!

 nutrition Permalink

Is salt good or bad for you?

Salt consumption, much like carbohydrate, protein and fat consumption, is surrounded with controversy and differing opinions. It has been given a bad name and accused for increasing the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. However, most studies are done on refined salt, not natural, unprocessed counterpart. Let’s take a look at what salt does for our body.

Role of unrefined salt include:

  • Vital for extraction of excess acidity from cells of the body
  • Balance blood sugar levels
  • Absorption of food particles through intestinal tract
  • Clears lung of mucus plugs and sticky phlegm
  • Natural antihistamine
  • Can aid in prevention of muscle cramps
  • Required to build strong bones


There is a great nutritional difference between refined and natural salt.

Refined salt

Refined table salts often contain anti-caking agents, some of which are aluminum based, leading to metal toxicity. Dextrose is used by some manufacturers to prevent the salt from turning purple. Sodium siliconauminate, is associated with kidney problems and mineral malabsorption. Sodium acetate, may elevate blood pressure, kidney disturbances and water retention.

Unrefined, natural salt

Unprocessed sea salt is about 78% sodium chloride and 11% magnesium chloride, and smaller amounts of magnesium and calcium carbonate. There are many trace minerals and elements in unrefined sea salt, responsible for regulating nutritional absorption, provide electrolytes and cellular function.

  • Contains over 60 trace minerals
  • Powerful electrolytes
  • Trace elements required for proper adrenal, immune and thyroid function
  • Digestive enzyme enhancers, which help your body absorb more nutrients from the foods that you eat


Choose coloured salt (either pink, grey or black). White salt is stripped from all the nutrients and benefits.

Book an appointment to learn more about how foods and supplements can improve your body composition.

 exercise, structural balance Permalink

Suffering from knee pain?

Build a VMO.

Are you an avid runner suffering from back and knee pain? Does your knee feel “achy” walking up and down the stairs? If you do, then you probably suffer from lack of VMO (vastus medialis oblique) development. This teardrop-shaped quadricep muscle has horizontal fibres on the lower portion and is responsible for stabilizing your knee medially.

 

Causes of knee pain

Imbalance between vastus lateralis (VL) and vastus medialis oblique (VMO), may be an aetiological factor in the development of patellofemoral pain syndrome. Preferential atrophy or inhibition of the VMO may contribute to patellar instability, by permitting VL to exert a relatively greater lateral force, displacing the patella from its normal position within the knee. Other common causes include muscle imbalances in the hip and thigh, arthritis or a tight iliotibial band—a tendon that runs along the outside of your thigh.

 

 

How to build a VMO

Our favourite exercise to strengthen the VMO is the Poliquin Step Up, Petersen Step Up, and Side Step Up. Focus on activating lower medial quadrant of your thigh muscles. Perform high reps of these exercises.

 

 

Unsure where to start? Find a trainer and a therapist to help you get rid of your aches and pains here.

 nutrition, supplements Permalink

Magnesium function and deficiency

The best source of magnesium comes from leafy green vegetables. However, people who strive to eat a healthy diet can sometimes fail to consume optimal levels of magnesium due to deficiency in soils and long transport and shelf life in our grocery foods.

Magnesium deficiency

Over 80% of Canadians are magnesium deficient. Manifestations of hypomagnesemia might include tremor, agitation, muscle fasciculation, depression, cardiac arrhythmia and hypokalaemia. Early signs of magnesium deficiency include loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and weakness. As magnesium deficiency worsens, numbness, tingling, muscle contractions,  seizures, sudden changes in behaviour caused by excessive electrical activity in the brain, abnormal heartbeat and coronary spasms might occur.

Magnesium deficiency should be considered in all patients especially ones who are:

  • on prescription drugs
  • experiencing chronic pain, muscle hypertonicity or spasticity
  • experiencing insomnia
  • the elderly population
  • experiencing digestive problems

Role of magnesium

Magnesium is a cofactor in over 300 enzymatic reactions. This mineral is responsible for stabilizing enzymes and energy production. ATP is required universally for glucose utilization, synthesis of fat, proteins, nucleic acids and coenzymes, muscle contraction, relaxation and normal neurological function.

  • Glucose utilization
  • Normal neurological function
  • Synthesis of fat, protein, nucleic acids, coenzymes
  • Release of neurotransmitters
  • Muscule contraction and relaxation
  • Regulation of vascular tone, heart rhythm, bone formation

Magnesium is responsible for body composition and sports performance. Clients typically see an improvement in glucose regulation and sleep with the supplementation of magnesium. Magnesium is also responsible for insulin sensitivity, thus supporting glucose metabolism and aids in fat loss.

Source of magnesium

The best source of magnesium is in chlorophyll, found in green vegetables. Nuts and seeds are also very high in magnesium. Supplementation in magnesium is very important if you’re active, as magnesium is depleted during exercise.

We recommend a blend of magnesium in its most comprehensive bioavailable complex.

Magnesium glycinate: effective calming muscles, sleep and pain Magnesium Apartate: reduces fatigue
Magnesium malate: muscle tenderness and recovery, fibromyalgia Magnesium ascorbate: Bone health reduce damage created by excessive calcium
Magnesium Citrate: laxative Magnesium Orotate: Cardiovascular function

Table 3: Forms of magnesium.

 

Book a consultation to learn about how supplements can improve your well-being.

 chiropractic, therapy Permalink

Do you suffer from lower back pain?

Dr. Frank Nhan, Chiropractor, talks about lower back pain and how treatment along with strengthening and stretches can help.

 

The most common condition, by far, of all the musculoskeletal injuries that I see in my chiropractic practice is lower back pain. Low back pain causing sciatica can be one of the most debilitating of them all. The most common question I get from patients is usually how do I get better? Which is then followed by, how did this happen?

 

Causes of lower back pain

Many times, people will tell me all they did was bent down to pick up a pen or to put on their socks and threw out their back. How is this even possible? The cause in these cases cannot be attributed simply to just the act prior to the pain onset, but rather, this may merely be the straw that broke the camel’s back. The real culprit is usually a case of repetitive strain injury or a cumulative trauma disorders. This can be from either sitting for prolong periods, or repetitive movements or exercises with poor posture or form. To figure out what exact structures are injured, a full chiropractic examination would have to be done.

 

Chiropractic, Acupuncture and Stretching and Strengthening for Low Back Pain

At Kx Yorkville, this would include a full health history, physical examination which may include range of motion, neurological and orthopedic testing, along with functional movement screening. Chiropractors are experts in treating all different kinds of lower back pain and sciatica, or what some would describe as sharp shooting leg pain due to a pinched nerve in the back. For those seeking pain relief, effective treatments that I like to include in my treatment plans which have been scientifically proven to help include manual spinal mobilization, chiropractic adjustments, acupuncture, and specific back stretches and exercises. Stretches and exercises can either be very helpful if done properly, or very damaging if the wrong ones are performed. To find out which ones are best suited for your lower back pain, make sure you get diagnosed first, which will then dictate which back stretches and exercises would be most effective for you.

 

Dr. Frank Nhan

Hon BSc, DC, CSCS

 

Need help with your aches and pains? KX Yorkville integrates therapy and exercise to customize a treatment and training program most effective for you. Book an appointment with our therapists to see how we can help.

 exercise, program design Permalink

How to get weaker with exercise machines

Most clients have logged hours exercising on a conventional gym machine (ab crunch machines, tricep extension, shoulder presses, knee extension, abduction/ adduction machine). Looks like they get a great “pump”, but what are they really working?

 

Muscle recruitment on exercise machines

Your nervous system only activates the muscles in direct relation to demand. The machine only challenges the outer units, which are the bigger muscles designed to move your limbs, with very little activation of your stabilizer muscles.

 

Consequences of exercise machines

You will strengthen your outer units while your stabilizers remain dormant. This leads to undertrained stabilizers, and when you decide to do real life tasks, such as lifting up a box or picking up your squirming toddler, your structurally imbalanced body will fail, risking injuries.

 

Need help creating a workout program? Take advantage of our 12-Week Transformation Program promotion here.

 

Train smarter.

 exercise, structural balance Permalink

Overcoming Back Pain

Causes of Low Back Pain

The most common cause of low back pain is postural stress. Poor posture, prolonged bending in a working position, heavy lifting, standing or lying down for a long time in a suboptimal position can lead to back pain. Weakness in the core may cause spinal pain as well as increase chance of injury. 

 

Loss of integrity in lower back

Most people suffer from a flattened lower back over a long period of time causing long and weak posterior muscles and short and tight anterior muscles. Without care and training, people will eventually lose their lordosis and experience back pain.

 

Overcoming back pain

  1. Sit properly, or better yet, sit in a squat. Sit in position where your chest is open with maximal lordosis, knees above hips. Sitting in a bodyweight squat allows you decompression the spine.
  2. Recognize muscle imbalances. When a muscle becomes short and tight, the antagonist (opposite) muscle becomes long and weak. This creates structural imbalances, leading to pain.
  3. Recruit the proper muscles for specific movement. This could be a result of muscle imbalances. The short and tight muscles will compensate for the long and weak muscles, leading to excessive compression, torsion and shear in the joint. This can lead to inflammation, pain and eventually injury.

 

Most common mistake for back pain

One of the most poorly executed exercise for low back and glutes is the back extension (this includes the horizontal, 45* or on a ball). As you are at the bottom position, you should INITIATE the movement from your glutes! Not just at the top! By engaging your glutes throughout concentric, isometric, and eccentric motion while engaging the low back isometrically, you take the compression off your lumbar spine and activate your glutes. DO. NOT. EXTEND. WITH. YOUR. LOW. BACK! I cannot stress this enough!

 

Your body is brilliant at compensating for injuries. When one muscle becomes hypotonic, surrounding muscle will compensate for being hypertonic. If any of this sounds familiar to you, get a professional functional movement assessment. Performing exercises which induce pain will only make the injury worse.

 

Train smarter, not harder.

 recipes, treats Permalink

Valentine’s Day – Paleo Chocolate Nut Fudge

The Only Gluten, Dairy, Soy, Egg, Refined Sugar-Free Chocolate Nut Fudge Recipe You’ll Ever Need

It’s that time of year again where chocolate is passed around and you may crave for something sweet. You may have a hard-to-impress partner who is on a highly-restrictive-everything-free diet, or you just want better alternatives to dairy and refined sugar chocolate. Nevertheless, if you want to impress your date in under 15 minutes, use this fool-proof, Paleo-friendly recipe. You can add just about anything to nuts and chocolate and it will still be divine.

 

Ingredients

  • 6 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
  • 4 tablespoons raw cacao powder
  • 4 tablespoons almond butter
  • 1 tablespoons raw honey or maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt
  • ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
  • ½ cup walnuts, pecans or macadamia, lightly toasted with coconut oil
  • 1 tablespoon of maca (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons of hemp seeds (optional)
  • ½ teaspoon peppermint extract (optional)

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl stir together the coconut oil, cacao powder, almond butter, honey/ maple syrup, vanilla, peppermint extract and salt
  2. Heat the mixture slowly on low heat over simmering water (double boiler) for 5 to 10 minutes until all ingredients are combined
  3. Chop the nuts (I like to break with into pieces with my hands)
  4. Add the chopped pecans and shredded coconut to the melted chocolate mixture and stir together
  5. Pour in a 7×5” dish, lined with parchment paper
  6. Freeze until chocolate is set then cut into pieces. Store in airtight container in freezer.

Want more Paleo-friendly, gluten, dairy, soy, egg, refined sugar-free recipes? Opt in to our mailing list here!