I forgot to say in this episode: no WIG next weekend due to Christmas celebration.

One of my biggest pet peeves is hearing people talking about how they can’t afford organic produce, natural remedies, etc., and then how they love their new iPhone, how much they’re spending on Christmas gifts this year, and so on. They will search for “the truth about honey and cinnamon” and other old wives’ tales, but drink their diet sodas all day long.

In this week’s episode of the “Weird Is Great” podcast, I force you to rethink your priorities. If you really don’t want to get cancer or Parkinson’s or any number of other degenerative diseases when you get older – or, if you are suffering from one now and you really want to recover from it – making extremely healthy choices is going to have to be your number one priority.

Welcome back to another episode of the “Weird Is Great” podcast! Today I won’t be focusing on one particular topic. I will camp around our homestead update for a few minutes, but the bulk of this show is going to be “The Crunchy Coach Tells All.”

What will I be telling about?

• The joy of buckwheat pillows
• Craigslist for sorrow and profit
• Fair trade, organic cotton underwear (ah, the luxury!)
• And a little more.

I begin, though, with a bit about our Oklahoma land. I get transparent with the mixed emotions about this last trip, and give you some good news (at least for me!) about the earthbag house process.

Tune in!

There are a lot of claims out there as to what constitutes a healthy diet. Some say unpasteurized milk products are dangerous; others say they are not only safe to consume, but extremely healthy. Some say meat is bad for you; others say you need it daily if you don’t want to risk nutritional deficiencies.

The more extreme groups claim either that your diet should consist of only plant food, or that your diet should consist of only raw meat.

In last week’s episode of the “Weird Is Great” podcast, I explained four of the most popular eating lifestyles around today: traditional foods, Paleo, vegan, and vegetarianism (non-vegan). I also hinted at where I believe each one has credence, and where each one falls short.

In this week’s episode, you get the Crunchy Coach’s full opinion of what healthy eating really looks like. Join the show today as we discuss:

• what is glycation, and why learning about it freaked me out for a few days;
• why I won’t get on board with veganism (and yes, I have tried it out);
• why I won’t get completely on board with the Paleo diet;
• the terrible misuse of the phrase “all things in moderation” and how it really should be applied when it comes to your eating habits;
• and other fun stuff you don’t want to miss.

The book by John Robbins: Healthy at 100: The Scientifically Proven Secrets of the World’s Healthiest and Longest-Lived Peoples

What is the truth about grains? Are they good or bad?

Who’s right, the pro-meat Paleos or the anti-meat vegans?

Weston A. Price supposedly found that people with healthy teeth ate a lot of animal products. But John Robbins’ research leads him to believe that the longest-lived people eat meat only on occasion, and dairy (not pasteurized!) only once or twice daily, if at all.

Am I the only one who has spent years and read dozens of books trying to sort out the confusion?

This week’s episode of the “Weird Is Great” podcast is the first part of two that will deal with these and related dietary questions. I save my “Crunchy Coach Tells All” segment for next week, choosing instead to take my time to analyze the claims of the contradictory so-called nutritional “experts”.

In Part One, I explain the following eating lifestyles:

• traditional foods,
• Paleo,
• vegan, and
• vegetarian.

If you’re a parent, you know how stressful the job can be. Especially if you have what they call a “strong-willed” child. It’s even more difficult when siblings come along.

But as you will hear in today’s episode of “Weird Is Great,” your whole family – including you – can experience a lot less stress and a lot more happiness, and therefore a lot better health, when you choose the Positive Discipline route.

Is there an eco-friendly laundry solution that really gets things clean? Tune in to hear my journey, as well as my opinion on the subject. This episode includes a surprising admission and confession from The Crunchy Coach.

In this episode I share several natural and effective ways to both prevent and treat colds and flus. You can buy Be Young Essential Oils here.

Do you live in a green house? Wish that you did?

Me, too! And Jerry, Benjamin and I will eventually. So to find out what truly constitutes “green”, I’ve done a lot of digging in the area of alternative building during the past year or so. This Weird Is Great episode is a culmination of my findings and conclusions.

The most startling conclusion of all: a large percentage of so-called “green” houses aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

Tune in to this week’s podcast episode as we discuss:

• the eco-green house that not only takes forever to build, but stinks;
• the startling truth about the cost of earth-bermed houses;
• the myth of straw bales;
• a highly insulated alternative that is anything but green;
• why cobb houses’ best features are their craftiness;
• the dirty truth about earthbag houses; and
• perhaps the greenest house of all…that most Americans would refuse to live in.

Okay, so I don’t exactly reveal every single personal detail of my life in this episode. But I do begin a new segment for the Weird Is Great podcast entitled, “The Crunchy Coach Tells All.” And in the main section I explain why I live the lifestyle that I do.

So, why do I live the way I do? I’ve been accused of being extreme, strange, and – yes – weird because I am strict about what passes into my mouth and am religious about exercising and avoiding toxins wherever possible.

But the fact is, research into the lives of the people who live well past the age of 100 and die free of disease prove that if you want optimum health and a longer life, you have to make choices completely different than what you see in mainstream culture.

Tune in to this week’s episode and you will hear:

• why I am suddenly able to provide you with a longer show (and I hope that’s a good thing! );
• the direction I am headed with my online business;
• the surprising reason why the Crunchy Coach is so particular about her healthy living lifestyle;
• why people who consume processed foods are the “extreme” ones;
• the lie of the 30 minutes/3 days per week exercise routine;
• the shocking truth about how the Crunchy Coach is feeling about gardening in October 2011;
• and more!

Do you need to take nutritional supplements? Or is eating a healthy, whole-food diet enough?

I used to believe that eating an extremely healthy diet was enough. Now, I know better. Join me in today’s podcast episode as we discuss:

• the right kind of supplements and the wrong kind of supplements;
• what I supplement with and why;
• possible consequences of not supplementing; and
• how to know what kind of supplements you need.