THRIVE Market - Where Healthy Eating and Living Thrive!

4:53 PM Joshua 2 Comments



"AT THRIVE MARKET, WE'RE ON A MISSION TO MAKE HEALTHY LIVING AVAILABLE TO ALL AMERICAN FAMILIES."

Check out our first order from Thrive Market! Amazon finally has a competitor in our book - one with awesome discounted pricing on the whole food nutrition we love!

THRIVEmarket.com

Thrive also has categories for different food preferences: including Paleo, Gluten Free and even Raw Vegan (can't we all just get along?). As long as your order is over $49, shipping is free and there's an additional 15% off your orders (on top of the standard 30-50% off) for the first month... after that, you have to decide if it's worth it to sign up for a Costco/Sam's Club type membership to continue ordering...


For our first order, we went all out and put Thrive to the test:

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Danny's Giant Ginger Cookies | Paleo & Gluten Free

3:05 PM Shaina 0 Comments


Original Recipe | Mary Leota Taylor & Danny DeCiryan • Photography & Text | ShainaDeCiryan.com • From Experivida.com | December 18th, 2014

The evolution of our family's favorite holiday cookie

This recipe originated from my grandma Mary Leota, who wrote down the following version of her famous ginger cookie recipe in November 1998. My dad Danny has been experimenting with gluten free baking for the past 15 years, and has deliciously adapted grandma's recipe to be gluten free! A few winters ago he spilled extra cloves in it, and it was a hit! Cloves are a very nutrient dense spice, and contain eugenols which have anti-inflammatory properties.

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Jeff's Jungle Part I: Stargazing & Campfires

3:45 PM Shaina 2 Comments



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Origins | Documentary World Premiere of Pedram Shojai, Dave Asprey, Sara Gottfried, Mark Sisson and many more amazing thinkers!

4:04 PM Shaina 0 Comments

"So many people are either unaware of the mounting damage to our health from the destruction of the environment or feel guilty that they aren’t doing better. Origins shines a much-needed spotlight on the root cause of our health crisis and, most importantly, empowers us with simple ways we can make a real difference. Bravo!"
Sara Gottfried, M.D. - Harvard-Trained Physician and NY Times Bestselling Author of The Hormone Cure
If you're like us, you're on a path to improving your health & happiness. As we ring in 2015, many people will try to make changes for the next year. No matter what stage of life you're in- we can all benefit from learning better food and nutrition choices, living more harmoniously in our home and work environments, have healthier brains by eating the fats that protect our nerve cell fibers, and seek balance with the technology that is here to stay in our society. 

The Origins film speaks to all of these things.. and amazingly enough- it's free to watch...

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Dahm for Baum Kickstarter: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz- a Graphic Novel by Evan Dahm

9:20 AM Shaina 0 Comments

If you've ever taken an art history course, you have probably heard about the Medici family. For those of you who aren't in the know, the Medici dynasty was a very powerful family in Florence, Italy, who rose to power as financiers and politicians. Their love of art caused them to sponsor an incredible amount of starving artists throughout the 14th-18th centuries. By supporting these artists, they were able to create a prolific amount of art and cultural advances, which we now call the 'Italian Renaissance'.  Now that, you've definitely heard of. Nowadays, in 2014, we creative folk are doing a bit better, but unless we sell our souls to advertising devils, it's still as hard as ever to support yourself full time as an artist.
This is why I love Kickstarter.com . It's like a modern version of the Medici family, except it allows each of us would-be Medicis to sponsor artists like Evan Dahm through crowdfunding. 

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Post Workout Nutrition: Self Experimentation Redux

11:35 AM Joshua 0 Comments

To optimize my Post Workout (PWO) nutrition I've been continually experimenting with a few things (a continuation from my original post!)... it's a little bit of a departure from purely eating "real food", although I look at my PWO stack as a supplement and still eat a huge re-feed meal (real food) of grass-fed beef/salmon/eggs and sweet potatoes. This is also still a trial and error process, I'm experimenting with the various nutrient stacks to find what really works and doesn't for me. I'd recommend you do the same if you're interested in a little biohacking! 

I'd personally stay away from the "Extreme Power Protein" type mixes out there, it's much better to make your own and know exactly what goes into it. I'll update this post as I discover new things, and add anything from the suggestions/discussions in the future!

Research strongly shows that glucose helps with the body's absorption of nutrients after intense exercise, effectively "shuttling" the nutrients into the muscle tissue. Therefore, I think it's essential for a PWO stack to include a moderate (<20g, dose depends on intensity/duration) amount of natural sugars (roughly 70% glucose, 30% fructose optimal absorption) to aid in delivering any nutrients you have in your stack to the tissue/muscle where it's most needed, functioning similar to a targeted delivery system.

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Genetic Testing with 23AndMe | Experividaing our Health & Ancestry

12:34 PM Shaina 1 Comments

The genealogy results are quite interesting!
We've both Tested our DNA! We both used 23andme to analyze our DNA, and give us insights into our health & genealogical background. If you'd like to learn more about it, check out 23andme.com . And please considering using our referral link! :)

Sadly, the FDA stopped 23andme from releasing health analysis to their clients. One reason is that they are afraid people don't understand percentage risks (i.e. Results like: John Doe has genetic markers that put him at a 10% risk for thyroid cancer. Test reliability: 3/5 stars.) The Washington Post wrote an interesting article about it, and the title says it all: "Should the FDA stop you from scaring yourself with a 23AndMe DNA test?"

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'Food is not just calories, it's information' | Experivida Podcast of the Week: Fructose Dangers with Dr.Mark Hyman

9:42 PM Shaina 0 Comments


Our health podcast of the day was from The Bulletproof Executive Dave Asprey and his guest Dr. Mark Hyman. Dr. Hyman has published 8 NY best selling health books, he is one of the top experts in Functional Medicine in the world, and he biked 25 miles before filming this podcast. He's definitely enjoying his Experivida!

We've been avoiding eating certain fruits and sugars lately because of the negative impact fructose has on the body. We only eat sweeter foods at night, and try to choose fruits that are low in fructose like blueberries, raspberries, and açai. This podcast is a great discussion behind what fructose actually does to the body, and raises some excellent points.

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50 Shades of Green | NY New Media Artist Plants Ideas

4:37 PM Shaina 2 Comments





People have been grafting trees for over 4000 years from ancient China and Egypt, but it remains a difficult and highly volatile process. 

 Grafting is still an extremely common practice, and most of the tree fruits we enjoy eating come from grafted trees- hardy root stocks at the base, with a sweeter, carefully selected variety on top. 
Over the past millennia, we've been cultivating & selecting a mystifying variety of fruits and vegetables- each with their own genetically unique taste, blossoms and growing hardiness. There are also many species of native fruits which yield incredible fruits- like the Chickasaw plum that is growing in my backyard, a hardy native Floridian fruit tree, commonly found in open grasslands like Payne's Prairie. however because of the social trend towards mono-agriculture and GMO, many of these varieties are slowly being forgotten. If you want to plant something other than a Macintosh, Fuji or Granny Smith apple, you've got to look for heirloom varieties. Sadly, the same is true for nearly every fruit, veg & plant species..

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The Glacial Lakes of Michigan | A Michigan Summer Sunset

2:58 PM Shaina 0 Comments



Through a gauntlet of most fearsome waves from the freshwater sea, we visited a lighthouse. We didn't know if we would get there in time to catch the sun before it dipped beneath the largest freshwater sea I have ever seen- Lake Michigan. 

Thanks for this awesome journey, Joshua, and happy birthday! :)


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Local Adventures | Florida Keys Camping

1:39 AM Shaina 1 Comments

 Local Adventures | The Florida Keys


In our usual style, our trip to the keys started with a whim.

"We should drive down to the keys sometime."

Until one day, we got in the car and went from our local scrub forests 
to the one lane highway between the sea and the sky.




Here is what we saw.




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The 5 Delights of Cinnamon Butter Tea

7:09 PM Shaina 2 Comments





























I've always been in love with the art of tea.
Once upon a time I lived in a faraway island at the bottom of the earth. This island, being of a rather British persuasion, was full tea drinkers. Before I knew it, I went from being an occasional tea drinker, to becoming a full blown 4-or-more-cups-of-piping-hot-bliss-a-day tea drinker. Perhaps it was the local culture sinking into my bones mixed just so with my disdain for coffee. Or the chilly, wet winters spent working outdoors , and working in two cozy bookshops that drew out my inner tea lover. Either way- each cup of tea became a lovely portal into the lives of the characters in my favorite books, and the artists, inventors, scientists, philosophers and intellectuals I admire. It's one of the most delicious habits I've ever picked up- and just the sort of habit I want to keep.
When tea becomes ritual, it takes its place at the heart of our ability to see greatness in small things. Where is beauty to be found? In great things that, like everything else, are doomed to die, or in small things that aspire to nothing, yet know how to set a jewel of infinity in a single moment? ― Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Which is why I felt rather saddened when one day I woke up and realized my taste for tea was quite lost.

Like a l e a f   i n   t  h  e    w   i   n   d .

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The Methylation Cycle: How I'm optimizing my body from the genes up! (Part I)

5:31 PM Shaina 0 Comments


Countless cycles control the ebb and flow of our lives, from the tiny biochemical action/ reactions of our bodies to the expansive cycles of the astronomical world. Some are easier to see than others, like the weather cycle around us- we can smell the rich, earthiness of approaching rain, and it's hard not to sense a sky full of heavy clouds that are spawning lightning and thunder around you. But most cycles that we rely on exist outside the scale of our human perception. We can only see and study them with the help of our lovely optical friends- the microscopes, telescopes & cameras that expand and share our vision. I got inspired to check out my Methylation Cycle after hearing Dave Asprey & Chris Kresser talk about it in the Bulletproof Executive's Podcast #22: Beyond the Paleo.

Why I'm excited about Epigenetics, Nutrigenomics and the Methylation Cycle.

It's hard to imagine the fact that every second of our lives the Methylation Cycle is happening a billion times doing its best to regulate the most important biochemical cycles in our bodies. The Methylation cycle is like a pathway formed by our genes that literally leads our bodies towards good health or illness. Each of us has a unique genetic makeup that affects our Methylation cycle's ability to produce and balance our:
  1. Mood & Energy
  2. Immunity to colds, flu & disease
  3. Epigenetic Expression & Stability - determining which of your genes will be activated and help you reach your DNA reach its potential
  4. Detoxing our bodies & controlling inflammation 
  5. Allergies- from food allergies to seasonal allergies
  6. Disease resistance to: Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease, Autism, Chronic Fatigue, Alzheimers, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, etc.

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Great Reads: Books on optimizing our Brain, Body & Health through Nutrition

3:41 PM Joshua 0 Comments





We'd like to share this collection of our favorite books that have helped us on our journey to improve our nutrition & overall health. Whether you're just starting to learn about shifting to a higher fat diet with lots of fresh veggies and meats, or you'd like to refine and improve your nutritional routine, these books are a great resource that will help you discover the optimal diet for YOU, because we're all a little different but there are some fundamental nutritional "Pillars" we all share... This is an exciting age of burgeoning new technologies - many of which relate to whole foods - which is why it's so crucial that we become critical and think about what we put in our bodies. You are what you eat, literally and figuratively. When it comes to nutrition, one of the best ways to move forward is to understand the foundations set by our ancestors.

We'd like to hear your thoughts on texts that have inspired you, so leave anything we missed in the comments. We've added descriptions of each book to help you decide which one to start with and which ones might interest you the most!


1) Deep Nutrition: Why your Genes need Traditional Food  //  Catherine Shanahan
Inspired by her frustrations suffering repeated sports injuries, Shanahan went on a search for the perfect diet to heal herself through nutrition. She expands upon the research of Weston A. Price, by looking into traditional cultural diets throughout the world from Ancient Egypt, Japan, France and the Maasai of East Africa. She didn't find one perfect diet. Instead she noticed a pattern- all of their diets featured foods that fit into 4 pillars of world cuisine. This book goes into a burgeoning new field called epigenetics, which looks at how our genetic DNA is expressed through the foods we eat, and program our bodies for our optimal beauty, brains & health. Some of my favorite highlights she discussed are how our nutrition affects our physical appearance, how birth order & maternal nutrition affects children and the reasons for why adding butter & coconut oil into our diet not only tastes great, but helps improve our brain function.



2) The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet  //  Robb Wolf
The Paleo Solution
Robb Wolf studied under Loren Cordain (#9 The Paleo Diet) so they have very similar views on health and nutrition, but differ in a couple key areas. Originally, Cordain was against all saturated fats and recommended limiting their intake while Wolf has always pushed for consumption of good saturated fats. Cordain has since changed his stance, and recommends some sat. fats (olive oil, avocados and coconut oil). The reason I put this book first is because it's so easy to read. Wolf mixes humor with stories and even adds in his own life experiences to help the reader understand how our food directly affects our health and body. I also liked the detailed discussion of all the nutrients and the step by step walk through of how inflammation in our system ultimately leads to many of the problems of modern society. All in all, I think this is a good first book to read... It's a good intro to all the topics covered in the other books, and goes into enough detail for most people (check the reference list at the end of the book) while not losing everyone else with too much scientific language.


3) Nutrition and Physical Degeneration  //  Weston A. Price
This book is old (originally written in the 1930's) but the research still stands as one of the best sources of information on "hunter gatherer" type diets we have today. This research can never be duplicated, as many of the societies studied have been westernized and their traditional ways of living forgotten. Price's detailed investigations into these traditional diets, and the striking pictures he took of the natives before and after Westernization leave no doubt about what causes the "diseases of civilization". Refined grains, sugars and oils were the cause of all manner of physical degeneration in these primitive societies. I think this book had the greatest impact on me because these were studies done on living people at the time, not scientific "guesses" on what our ancestors ate. For me, this made it much more real, and the pictures just drive the point home even further. If you're interested in a historical background on healthy diets and a very well researched book with many nutritional suggestions I would strongly suggest picking up this book, you won't be disappointed and it may be one of the most important books you ever read...


4) The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals  //  Michael Pollan

There's more to good nutrition than just food groups on a pyramid... meat isn't meat, and sometimes it matters more where and how a food was produced than the food choice itself! This is a great book that dives deep into the socioeconomic and political forces that affect our food, and the resulting impact on our health and nutrition. When profit is #1 in our society, health takes a back seat... but there's hope, Polyface Farms and Joel Salatin are showing that health, sustainability and profit can coexist when managed correctly. Joel has his own book, Folks, This Ain't Normal: A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World which is a great read as well. I like his no-nonsense approach to life, living and farming... it's refreshing, in a world filled with giant mega-monocrop farmopolies and factory concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). But back to Pollan, there's a lot to like in this book, and I'd be surprised if you didn't learn a lot about the process of how our food makes it from the farm to our plate, and why that matters.


This book is very similar to the Paleo Solution, but I think it has a more mature tone that might appeal more to an older crowd. Wolf is more in your face, like a personal trainer whipping you into shape, while Sisson is a little more laid back. Both books have very similar ideas, and I really like how Sisson lays out the book with his "10 Primal Blueprint Laws". Programming your genes for optimal expression is an interesting idea, and I like his approach a lot. Sisson also has an amazing (actually 2 now) cookbook called The Primal Blueprint Cookbook (imagine that, right). Full color photos and easy to follow directions on all the recipes make this one of my favorite cookbooks. He also has a great website called Mark's Daily Apple that I check almost every day. It's one of the best blogs out there and I learn something new all the time. If I'm as fit as Sisson at 55 I'll be happy!

It was hard to decide between Grain Brain and Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health by William Davis, but in the end I liked the greater breadth of Grain Brain while also covering the same basic material on wheat and the effects of gluten in general. Plus, with a focus specifically on the brain and the effect of carbs and sugar as well, this was my choice to cover these topics... "smart genes" is Perlmutter's way of describing epigenetics and their role on gene expression, something that Shanahan discussed in depth (Deep Nutrition #1). We are nothing without our brain... our thoughts, our memories, our life... I think sometimes we forget that everything we "are" is contained within that 8-12 lb mass balancing on our shoulders. Luckily, the lifestyle and nutrition that's best for our brain is also optimal for our body. Happy brain, happy body, happy long life!


7) The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance  //  Jeff S. Volek
If you're an athlete and have ever "Hit the Wall", which I imagine has happened to everyone at some point, then there might be a few insights here worth incorporating into your own nutritional program... I've never had any luck with the standard gels and sugar shots most athletes wolf down in an ever frantic fight to avoid the crash while operating at the anaerobic threshold for prolonged periods of time. I'm usually on the losing end of that battle, and the inevitable fall isn't pretty, ha. Luckily there's another way, one fueled mainly by ketones instead of glucose, and can provide +20x or more (typical body stores +40,000 kcals ketones vs. 2,000 kcals glucose) calories to fuel endurance related physical activity! On top of this energy storage advantage, there's also something called Super Starch (highly branched long chain carbohydrate) that allows you to metabolize glucose and feed your muscles without raising insulin and inhibiting the production of ketones in the blood. This is the best of both worlds, ketones for endurance and glucose to push through those sprints above the anaerobic threshold (hills, killer headwind, the last mile, etc.). If you're looking for that extra edge, check it out.


8) The New Evolution Diet: What Our Paleolithic Ancestors Can Teach Us about Weight Loss, Fitness, and Aging // Arthur De Vany
This book just came out and I actually haven't had time to read all the way through it, but I did get to listen to a podcast with De Vany and I agreed with pretty much everything he said. I think he's a very well spoken guy, and at 73 he's in better shape than 90% of the US population (probably more). De Vany is known as the "Grandfather of the Paleo Diet", he's been doing it for more than 3 decades! I don't think there's anyone that illustrates the health benefits of a primal diet better than him... 8% body fat, deadlifts 400 lbs and hasn't been sick in 30 years! At 73 years old!!! Amazing... Simply amazing. This book is kind of a combination of The Paleo Solution and The Primal Blueprint, a good mix of the two. There's a little bit about inflammation, a little bit about optimal gene expression and a little bit about intermittent fasting (IF) all mixed together. I like his style, I like his message, and I like his book.


9) The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Foods You Were Designed to Eat // Loren Cordain
This was the first book I ever read on the Paleo Diet. I have to say, at first I thought it was complete bull. There was no way I could possibly give up my morning cereal and oatmeal... and what would I do without my bread, my pasta, my pancakes...? So, I actually didn't read much past the first couple chapters and then put it away... for probably 2 years! I just picked it up this year and finally finished it. The book is really  good and lays the foundation for how to live primally. The revised edition includes updated research on saturated fats and a few other things, and includes a useful section on Paleo foods, kind of a mini cookbook. I wouldn't recommend starting with this book, but check it out if you are looking for more information.



We'd love to hear about your experience with these books, and any highlights or breakthrough moments you had while reading them that have helped evolve your understanding of your own health!

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Welcome to Experivida.com | Let the adventure begin!

8:42 PM Shaina 0 Comments


Like yourself, we want to be happier, smarter & healthier, and to try to have a positive impact on the world around us. We do this by experimenting with our nutrition, health & exercise choices, enjoy our the local natural beauty around us, travel to explore & appreciate other cultures, and be mindful about our choices as consumers to promote companies that are making positive social & environmental choices with their business practices.  This is our journey of experimenting & experiencing our lives through biohacking, trailrunning, foraging, teadrinking & adventuring.
We're pretty excited about what we discover with our daily experiments, and want to extend the conversation beyond ourselves to our friends, families, and to you, dear reader! Journeys are always better when shared, and we'd also love it if you share your insights, adventures, life experiments + experiences with us.

Welcome to our Experivida.


Here's what we're passionate about:

 

1. Nutrition

We'll be sharing the foods & supplements we choose to eat, the science behind why we eat them, and photo recipes of our favorite meals. Nutrition we can't live without: Coconut oil (tea + cooking), Rubinstein's Red Salmon, Space Girl Organic veggies, our berry post-workout mix, and Joshua's double fermented kombucha.

2. Fitness

We both grew up playing sports like soccer, and running, but we've never felt as fit as we are now.  Strength, flexibility & endurance are our main focus, and we'll be sharing insights into workouts & recovery nutrition. We mostly focus on weightlifting, running, stretching & yoga, but also love rock climbing, kayaking and hiking. 
Shaina's favorite workout: Trail running as the sun sets 
Joshua's favorite workout: Dead-lifts

3. Health

We want to promote healthy selves, and a healthy planet! We've each been experimenting with ways to be healthier over the years, by doing crazy stuff like sending our saliva off to California for genetic analysis by 23andme.com. We'll be journaling our experiences with what works and what doesn't, and sharing our favorite resources for the science behind epigenetics, nutrigenomics, biohacking, reducing toxins in our homes, meditation & relaxation and all the ways we are trying to optimizing our health.

4. Lifestyle

We are sunworshippers, nomads, we love spending time in the water, engaging in creative projects, admiring fun & clever design, listening to great music & watching films, playing with cameras, and we're huge fans of supporting companies that are socially & environmentally ethical.  We'll be sharing our favorite social entrepeneurship & crowdfunding projects on kickstarter.com, like these awesome looking & awesome to look through SunGods sunglasses that Joshua helped fund.

5. Adventures

Traveling. Exploring. Adventuring. We can't get enough of it! We'll be sharing photo stories & highlights from our adventures in Florida, the US, and around the world. 
Joshua's favorite FL, US & World Adventure: The Florida Keys, San Francisco, Prague & Vienna. 
Shaina's favorite FL, US & World Adventure: Payne's Prairie Wilderness, SE Alaska & Bali

6. Local Florida

This is all about finding things we love about living in Central Florida & the Space Coast. Florida is an incredibly fertile part of the US for farming & gardening. The organic scene is gaining momentum- with new & expanding Farmer's Markets, Organic stores & Eateries that value fresh & local foods popping up all over Downtown Orlando, Winter Park, Sanford & Melbourne. Florida also has an incredible natural environment, and many State & Local Parks we love to explore and share about. Shaina's favorite local spot: East End Market in Winter Park. Joshua's favorite weekend hangout: The Melbourne Farmer's Market on Thursdays

Here's to a fun, new year of Experivida!






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