The Brain Benefits of Playing an Instrument

One of my biggest inspirations was my late father, Laurence Sisson. He supported our family as a painter, primarily water color paintings of New England nature scenes. His work ethic was insane as was his creative genius. But my most salient memories of him are not those spent in the art studio watching beautiful representations of nature’s glory appear before my eyes. No, what I remember most are the evenings spent around the piano.

He was also a great jazz pianist, and often took paying work as a musician when the times demanded it. During holidays, he’d play the classics. On quiet afternoons, he’d noodle on the keys. Piano music was the backdrop of the house. And, I’m convinced, playing that piano kept his brain nimble to the very end.

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Basic Cooking Skills for Beginners

It’s easy to ignore your lack of rudimentary cooking skills when you order pizza or get takeout every night. When people switch to Primal or keto diets, they usually find themselves spending considerably more time in the kitchen. On the plus side, they’re better able to control ingredient quality and the macronutrient breakdown of their meals. For better or worse, this also forces them to confront their lack of culinary prowess.

Preparing two or three homemade meals per day can be daunting if you’re accustomed to mostly grabbing prepackaged or restaurant fare. As with any other skill, though, you learn by starting with the basics, practicing often, and building proficiency as you go. Your meals don’t have to be elaborate, your technique perfect, or your dishes artistic. They just have to taste good.

Today I’m going to nominate some skills and dishes that I think every beginner should learn. Chime in in the comments and let me know what else you would put on the list.

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Grain-Free Deep Dish Pizza

The culinary equivalent of a momma bear hug, Chicago-style deep dish pizza nests its toppings in a sturdy bowl of crust whose walls wrap protectively around the oozing, oven-sizzled ingredients that are blanketed by a chunky layer of red pizza sauce. Its comfort is thick, deep, and layered. Unlike the shoulder-tap-for-two-seconds hug delivered by a thin-crust pizza, the deep dish pizza grabs your attention on first sight with its sheer size and heft before nuzzling you in a warm embrace as you bite into its layers, fork and knife required. 

Perfect cool-temperature food, our deep dish pizza recipe includes a grain-free crust, keto-friendly toppings, and unsweetened red pizza sauce baked in a cast iron skillet. Our deep dish pizza recipe takes about an hour to prep and bake so you can have a homemade Friday night pizza and movie night ready in a reasonable amount of time.

Get the Recipe

To redeem visit primalkitchen.com and choose pasta sauces to add to your cart. Use the code 25OFFPASTA at checkout. Offer expires 12/8/2020 at midnight PST. 

Where the Science of Nutrition Meets the Art of Coaching, with Nick Shaw

Today we are welcoming Nick Shaw, one of the founders of Renaissance Periodization, to Health Coach Radio. Renaissance Periodization is a nutrition and fitness consulting organization that exists to deliver the most effective, scientifically sound, and reliable diet and training consultation to anyone who wants to use it to achieve results in body recomposition, athletic performance, and health. A former competitive powerlifter and bodybuilder, Nick has also personally coached numerous world-class athletes, including CrossFit Games champions, international medalists, Olympians, UFC fighters, professional athletes, and Navy Seals. In today’s episode, we discuss his path to starting Renaissance Periodization, when “diet breaks” or “free days” might be necessary to move clients along, the struggles that come along with growing and scaling a business, where the science of nutrition meets the art of coaching, and much more. Nick has also recently released his book Fit for Success which breaks down success into seven habits, so, naturally, we cover these seven habits throughout today’s episode. Nick is a high performance, high achieving human and we thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with him. We know you will as well.

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