The days are getting sunny and the weather is getting warmer. That means for many people a switch to escaping the indoors for outdoor activities and events.

Many times people dust off the ol' baseball mitt, pump up their soccer ball and head outside for some healthy sportsmanship and friendly competition.

 

Often times you see a weekend warrior (maybe it’s you?) going full out on the field without warming up enough and not taking their current state of fitness into consideration.

People that used to be jocks or seasoned athletes often want to begin right where they left off last year, or sometimes even 10 or 20 years ago. This is a really bad idea. This is ill-advised for a several reasons, but the biggest one that comes to mind is “de-traning”.

 

Detraining is a natural and normal event. The body prepares itself for things it needs to do, not things it doesn’t. Anything from athletic skills, balance, or even something non-physical like vocabulary skills  diminishes if it isn’t practiced often enough. What do we do to get back into top shape for long weekend game day without tearing all your muscles to pieces?  There are some simple, easy and effective steps you can take to ramp up your skills so you don’t spend the rest of your long weekend sitting out the game or even worse, taking a trip to the emergency room.

Jim Gelcer stops by the Revenge Gym cabin to chat about music, yoga, and his recent travels around the globe.

Based in Toronto Canada, Jim has an ever growing following not only in the music and media world, but in the world of Yoga as well.

 

Marie asked Jim about his renewed interest in running, how he ended up in a heavy metal band playing keyboards with Canada’s Metal Queen - Lee Aaron, and what led him to a life of yoga practice.

There are some things to keep in mind before starting any type of new activity. Todd discusses why he is apprehensive about taking regular yoga classes, even though he feels his body would benefit. Jim offers some good advice, not only for Todd but for anyone else whom maybe curious about yoga.

 

Jim merges his two passions of yoga and music in the musical form of Kirtan. Two of Jim’s tracks are featured in this episode. For the first time in a while, Todd is in charge of the audio duties this week, and he is a little rusty.

Studies show over and over again that pet ownership increases longevity. Is this really true?  Today on The Antidote Marie crashes a 3 year old’s Birthday party to find out from the parents if owning a pet truly extends their lives.

 

Special canine training from sniffing out cancer to assisting parkinson patients is becoming more widespread as people explore how to link health and Man’s best friend. 

 

Do most pet owners feed their dogs better than they feed themselves? What’s the worst thing that pets try to get away with? Can you get more dates when people see you out walking your dog?

 

Some of these questions get answered and some surprising statistics are revealed in this episode. Marie and Todd also talk about the worst pets they’ve ever owned. If you’re shopping for a pet, don’t buy anything until you listen to this episode.

You have a best friend. This best friend will love you forever. Your best friends name is Clean Pure Water.

 

Beyond the obvious of just feeling thirsty, lack of hydration can do some major damage to your system. It’s easy to forget that something so simple as drinking water is THE key to every single bodily function.

Drinking enough water solves everything from a foggy brain to improving sexual performance. How much water is enough? This amount varies for you at different times, but one thing is for sure; when your body is short on water, even major disease can come knocking at your door. What if you hate the taste of water? This episode highlights some of the most hydrating foods available to top up your water stores without lugging water bottles around all day.

 

 What are the signs of acute or chronic dehydration? What are the best foods to eat to stay hydrated? This episode gives you the answers you need, and hiights some other not-so-well-known facts about how your body uses water to make you vital, strong, sexy and happy.

Most of us go on vacation at least once in our lives. We plan where to go, what to wear, how much money to bring, and pray that the weather will be great. Some people even have a detailed itinerary of their upcoming trip. Why on earth does your diet fly out the window when you travel? Is there a way to go on vacation and stick close to your food plan so you don’t overeat, and return home with a big fat split in your pants? The first thing out of your mouth when you come back when someone asks how your vacation was shouldn’t be; “God, why did I eat so much?!”

 

There ARE ways to travel and return slimmer and stronger than when you left. Just like your vacation, it only takes a small amount of planning. 

 

Do your workouts change when you travel, or do you skip them entirely? This episode also covers ways to get your workout done quickly so that you’re not upsizing your yoga pants when you get back.

 

This episode highlights some of the wacky times that Todd and Marie had when they covered the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend this week. 

If you like to live fast, but don’t want to die young, listen to the tips and tricks in this show so you can squeal past Dead Man’s Curve without a scratch, or even a single pound gained.

We’ve all had bad days, and we’ve made bad decisions in life, but when does that culminate into something you might call an all time low?

 

These lows often feel like that there is no possible way things can get any worse. Sometimes an all time low is happening and your’e not aware of it, but your friends, family or coworkers can see it. Sometimes seeing a way out is almost impossible.

 

This week the Antidote has Toronto’s own Homepoke stop by the Revenge Gym Cabin to share his stories about hitting an all time low. This episode can bring insight to anyone who has felt similar feelings, or has gone through a very rough time. Often hitting these lows are self authored. We sometimes forget that many of the lows that we face can be minimized or avoided entirely with acquiring sound life skills and coping skills. As it turns out though, not everyone operates on going through life preparing for crises in advance. Humans in general prefer to put out fires that are already ablaze rather than taking steps to not start fires in the first place.

 

Homepoke’s story will inspire, and reminds us all that even during the darkest of dark days, if we look for hope and a way out, we will find it.

 

Click on the links below to check out the April 4th issue of Vice Magazine online where you can read more about Homepoke, and in Vice Magazine.

 

Listener discretion is advised.

A kitchen request from one of our listeners!

 

Let’s make a healthy organic pizza together. Follow along with Todd and Marie as they walk you through assembling and cooking your own super-clean pizza.

 

Here’s why your pizza will be better than any store bought pizza:

 

It will be super-fresh.

It will be organic.

The ingredients will be far less processed.

You will be using fresh, not dried herbs and spices, a cornerstone to any great dish.

It will be made with love by you! (Not some machine, or some stranger who might be having a bad day).

 

 

You can make your own dough from an array of different websites and cookbooks but one we recommend can be found at allrecipies.com. It is one of our favourites.

Fresh home made dough is best. If making your own dough is not possible that day, there are commercial doughs you can purchase from bakeries and some grocery stores. Call around in advance to avoid disappointment, as we find not all grocery stores and bakeries stock bags of dough to sell.

 

Just follow along with us in this weeks episode of The Antidote as you make your own pizza sauce from our special cooking show podcast. This pizza sauce will take about 40 minutes, so you might want to make it the night before if you want to be prepared to cook along with the podcast. If making sauce is not possible, the last resort is to purchase a glass jar of high quality organic pizza sauce. If you are lazy, grab a can of tomato paste. Just know that the flavour of your pizza will suffer.

 

The amount of ingredients below are a rough guideline. The best meals are made to your own taste preferences, so be comfortable with changing the amounts listed below to suit your taste.

 

Ingredients for one 12 inch pizza:

 

1/2 cup diced onions

One of each diced: red, orange, and yellow peppers (small size)

3 large cloves of chopped garlic

A handful of torn cilantro (you must rinse cilantro prior to using as cilantro can be quite sandy. Dry the well rinsed cilantro on a paper towel prior to chopping or tearing)

One cup of diced chicken, or one chicken breast diced (organic chicken is preferable, cook first)

1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese

 

 

Home made pizza sauce:

6 tomatoes

1/4 cup highest quality olive oil

2 anchovies

One clove minced garlic

1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon fresh basil, or dried if you can’t find fresh

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

A pinch of sugar

A pinch of sea salt

A pinch of baking soda

 

Pre cook your meat, then add it to your pizza before you cook your masterpiece in your preheated oven. If you don’t like chicken, substitute in your pre-cooked meat of choice.

 

Assembly:

Sprinkle flour on your surface before you roll out your do so it doesn’t stick to your rolling surface. You can press cornmeal around the crust to add texture and visual interest.

Roll out your dough with a floured rolling pin.

Place it carefully on your pizza cooking sheet without it folding or getting holes in the dough as holes and tears in the dough are difficult to mend and pinch together.

 

Take your home made pizza sauce and with a spoon or spatula, spread it on the dough evenly to coat the surface. Be careful not to tear the dough. A light hand is best.

Evenly sprinkle the peppers, onions, garlic, chicken, cilantro and finally goat cheese. For extra flavour try finely chopped sun dried tomatoes.

Grind some black pepper on top.

Place the pizza in a preheated oven at 450 degrees celsius (your oven may have a different heat requirement for cooking pizza) and cook the pizza until the dough and cheese begins to brown, or until the cheese of your choice is fully melted.

Have you ever followed someones advice, and by doing so, things went all wrong? 

Has there been a time you changed a decision to do something based on something someone else said, and things didn’t work out for you? 

Our values and beliefs are often adopted from someone in our close inner circle. So the question remains, how much of your own mind belongs to you?

 

How does this happen? 

There have been many people influencing us since early childhood, but at what point do we stop taking on the opinions of authority figures due to societal pressures, and start making decisions that are truly best for us? When we give our power away, we can end up with lives we don’t recognize, or even want.

In this episode, Todd and Marie cover some of the most popular ways we adopt thinking from others and call it our own. There are obvious problems when we listen to others over listening to our own inner voice, and some of these traps might surprise you.

 

Ultimately, as an adult, there are advantages to thinking for yourself, and it just takes a few tips and tricks to get started. this episode can help you get back on your own thinking feet and on your way to a more fulfilling independent life.

 

Use these tips and tricks at your own risk. After all, you are an adult and can think for yourself :)

We know that whole, unpackaged foods are generally good to eat. Has it crossed your mind that while you shop organic, free range, and grass fed, there are no guarantees that the food you choose is good for you? These foods may actually hasten your demise. Just when you thought you were doing everything right, here comes a little rain on your parade. Well not to worry Antidote listeners, Marie and Todd lay out today’s episode with some straight forward and sensible advice that maybe the umbrella you were looking for.

 

It’s a real challenge these days to decipher what actually is healthy food. Added sugars, vitamins, binders, fillers, stabilizers, thickeners, colouring, preservatives, heavy metals, refined salts, and altered fats can wind up in some of the most innocent looking products. Did you know that many of the foods you buy at the store do not have all the information on the labels? It turns out that the chemicals used in the manufacturing process of your foods are not legally required to be on the packaging! There are many more additives, anti-caking agents and solvents in your food that you don’t even know about. These chemicals can affect your body. These are not ingredients; they’re a part of the manufacturing process and can do long term damage to you. The goal of this episode is to inspire you to do some further investigation on the foods you previously may have thought were great. 

 

As the food world evolves, so should our education about it. Although this is a serious subject, Todd and Marie don’t want you to stress over making lifestyle changes. 

Intelligent, methodical, non-spastic steps can help you move towards better choices with as little worry as possible.

We know you’ve heard of people detoxing, cleansing, and fasting, but have you ever heard of people forgoing solid food and attempting to get their energy needs met from the solar powers of the Sun?

Marie and Todd review a documentary called "Eat The Sun” which is currently streaming on FMTV. If you have not heard about this film and plan on seeing it, we’re including a spoiler alert here. We discuss the film in its entirety.

 

The concept of sungazing is not new. It goes back hundreds, even thousands of years. Entire civilizations have worshipped the sun, and have called it their God. How has modern day civilization interpreted the Sun’s powers? One man named Mason goes on an interesting journey in this documentary to discover if he can gaze at the Sun for 44 minutes nonstop to achieve a fully charged body, mind, and spirit.

Although this film is informative on some levels, the film leaves Todd and Marie with more questions than answers. Listen to this episode to find out wether Mason achieves his goal.

 

Disclaimer: The Antidote and its hosts do not endorse or denounce sungazing, and does not take responsibility for anyone who chooses to stare at the Sun due to this podcast. This episode is a review of the film only. Stare at the Sun at your own risk.