Ahhh, sorry to be so literal and serious. Long, literal and serious day at the ole office and hard to shake off. But to answer the question, if I look like Nigella Lawson at 51, I think I just may have to trade in my husband and become a cougar. Who wouldn't want a piece of me?
To repeat what Dallas and Melissa at the Whole9 say it is time to throw away your scale. It lies to you all the time and makes you irrationally attached to a number instead of how you look and feel. From my friend who is an RKC and huge into paleo (this not a picture of her just a link she posted on her wall):
The problems, in a nutshell, are that yoga is seen as a panacea for just about everything and a great many of the leaders in the community have drank the Kool-Aid. Unlike every other sport on the planet, though, few are willing to admit that injuries are common and that the practice can be dangerous. The Cons: - There is no sanctioning body with yoga whatsoever. If someone calls themselves a Registered Yoga Therapist, that means nothing. There is no committee or standard test or anything. It means they could have taken an 80 hour teaching course, or an 800 hour teaching course. - Yoga, when practiced faithfully, actually lowers your metabolism and is NOT an effective workout/cardio exercise. Even Power Yoga or Vinyasa Flow. - Forms that stress holding poses for a long time can cause serious damage. Headstand Pose, for example. Shoulder Stand has been directly linked to strokes. Certain poses should be approached with caution or omitted altogether. The Pros: - Prolonged practice has been shown to be beneficial to virtually every kind of medical condition, from torn rotator cuffs to depression. - There are, in fact, good yoga teachers out there. Some are geniuses. - Iyengar Yoga has a pretty strict teacher training and rigorous testing methods. A lot of the innovations to make poses safer come out of the Iyengar camp. - Although yoga is not itself a workout - despite whatever articles Yoga Journal publishes and however many television shows proclaim otherwise - when supplemented with lifting and running (or your workout of choice) it is a FANTASTIC addition to your physical care. Yoga's benefits seem to be in making your brain feel good, so just make sure you don't push yourself past your limits.
One of my favorite things about paleo is that it is pushing me in the kitchen. I did homemade apple sauce tonight that I sweetened with a bit of coconut milk at the end and put it on a huge pork chop with some steamed broccoli.
Fuck yes. Before I started the paleo diet I had become so lazy about cooking. I was eating out 8-10 meals per week and when I did do anything in the kitchen I was usually just throwing something in the microwave. Not only is it healthier, I'm enjoying the food much more. Glazed salmon on Monday. Chicken curry on Tuesday. Sirloin steak on Wednesday. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. You can't do the paleo diet without cooking so it gave me the motivation I needed. It's helped my appetite considerably as well. I used to not get real hungry until 3 in the afternoon, then I'd have a big meal and snack throughout most of the night. You know, pretty much the reverse of what you're supposed to do. I haven't added grains in my diet yet just because it hasn't been necessary. I eat steak and fish with almost every meal and nuts have been a great filler fallback for finishing off meals and snacking. I'm still not entirely sold on why grains are that bad for you though. The problem with the whole 'diseases of society' thing is that a lot of people had diets that consisted almost entirely of grains. No shit that was unhealthy. The hardest part about the diet has been what to drink. I can only have so much water and blended fruit, I need variety. Since I'm an alcoholic anyway I might just have to bite the bullet here.
Something to study up on - the food you're eating and your blood sugar and insulin spikes after eating it. You want to minimize spikes in your insulin.
After seeing the paleo talk on here and figuring that the last time I took this place's advice it worked out great (never going back to million-blade Gillette razors), I looked into it a bit and - I don't think I got this from here but I'm not going back through the thread to check - found a really informative website with this very interesting article (WITH CITATIONS! IT'S LIKE A WHOLE NEW INTERNET I'VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE) that sheds some light on why grains may not be great for us. Although I'm not 100%, as I haven't gone through it or the associated journal article with a fine-tooth comb, it seems legit and more importantly, I can't think of any reason why not to try giving up grain for a bit and see how it works out. Bread has been my snack food for as long as I can remember, and I can't imagine going without won't help me drop a bit of weight. Goddamn I'm gonna miss Publix subs though. I'm definitely easing into this - still eating Greek yogurt regularly because it's way better for breakfast than sauerkraut, and I'll probably never go all out and give up beer (unless Terrapin or Bells starts making it gluten-free, I guess), but I was wondering what you all think of the more nebulous parts of the diet. This guy seems to think that potatoes and other "nightshades" are totally legit, and even says some dairy is ok. I know there's no "official paleo diet" like with Atkins or whatever, but what's you guys' general consensus on the questionable stuff?
Question about breakfast: I usually make a quiche (paleo recipe) or a fritatta on Sundays and divide it into five. So, breakfast usually consists of a slice of fritatta (say 1.25 eggs + whatever veggies + small bit of olive oil), and an orange. I bring it with me to work, as I do with my lunch and a snack. I'm convinced I'm not eating enough in the mornings. Any idea what I can add to ^ that, that is easily packed in a lunch and doesn't need any prep in the mornings? I'm not so hot on getting up early enough to cook or eat breakfast before I leave. EDIT: Like others have said, I think you have to find what works for you. Moderate amounts of whole dairy don't seem to bother me (1c Greek yogurt/day, maybe a glass of milk but usually not). Also rice is suiting me well. I think the biggies are to remove processed foods, cut the processed sugar out and for Christ's sake, keep the wheat/gluten away. My $0.02.
The article you linked to was written by Dr. Loren Cordain who runs The Paleo Diet website. The problem is that it picks and chooses passages from his published paper Cereal grains: humanity’s double edged sword and molds them to fit their own view on the subject. Technically it's everything that he himself wrote, but there are some omissions from the original work that detract from the full message he tries to convey. (If you'd like to find all of his published works go here. Be advised that these are all research papers published in peer review journals, so they may not be too exciting to the average person.) Robb Wolf has a pretty simple outlook on the whole aspect of people hesitant about making such a drastic change in their nutritional lifestyle that's more poignant than anything I can come up with. Try it for 30 days and see how you look, feel and perform. Worst case, you try for 30 days, realize it doesn't work for you, then go back to whatever it is you're doing now. As far as easing into it, you have to do what works best for you. Not everyone can just jump into this cold turkey and succeed. The key point is to get yourself to a better place by not eating processed grains, sugars, fresh seasonal vegetables and grass fed meats. Maybe you're the type of person that can start out by just cutting out sugars and grains only for a time and then slowly working towards moving things like dairy and certain nightshades out of your diet. The biggest thing about the whole dairy issue is the abundance of people who have adverse reactions towards it in many aspects of their life including lactose intolerance, the development of insulin resistance and other autoimmune diseases. Dr. Cordain just did a whole post about milk and it's drawbacks in the diet here. Potatoes and other nightshades are in a similar boat where they've been shown to cause gut irritation and other issues as well, just not quite on the same level as dairy items. The bottom line, though, is to try it and see what works for you. If having some potatoes and a glass of milk with your meal doesn't seem to bother you, then by all means, continue on. But you won't know how you're going to react unless you take it out of your diet first.
Have you ever considered making a smoothie to go along with your breakfast? I make one in the morning to go along with my bacon and eggs and it only takes a few minutes with a blender. I don't have exact measurements, but I usually throw in some ice, a couple handfuls of frozen mixed berries, half a can of coconut milk, a couple spoonfuls of almond butter and then a small splash of pure vanilla extract to help cut the nutty taste. If you're getting organic free range eggs, you could easily throw one of those in there as well for some added protein and fat to help with the satiety.
I have to assume there's a word missing from that first paragraph - isn't the whole point to eat fresh seasonal vegetables and grass-fed meats? My biggest issue is that there doesn't even seem to be consensus in the paleo community, to whatever extent that exists, as to whether dairy/nightshades/potatoes are totally cool or not. For example, this sent me here then here, the second of which is sort of a rebuttal of Cordain's views on dairy, and then to this, about potatoes and other starches. And I guess this guy isn't calling himself a "paleo guru" or anything (and also not referring to his book that you can buy right now in every other answer, which Cordain seems to like to do - or citing sources, which Cordain also likes to do), but I guess it's troubling that so many people with so many letters after their names can't agree on something as simple as what people have been capable of eating for millions of years. Also, I get the idea of "try it for 30 days and see what happens," and to begin with neither potatoes or milk are things I consume with any regularity (couldn't even say the last time I drank milk, and I'm happy to cut cheese, which I love, out), but why cut something that I know full well is beneficial (Greek yogurt, specifically, for its probiotic POWAH - although not 100% proven they seem to be pretty good for people - and low sugar/carbs which a number of these guys seem to think is okay) out of my diet if there's no real reason to believe it's having adverse effects to begin with? I get that some people are lactose intolerant, but I know from 23 years of experience that I'm not... Is it just one of those things where going full-on no dairy or potatoes or tomatoes is gonna give me more street cred? Or is it that these things have been adversely affecting me this whole time and I've just thought I felt okay eating them because I'm used to the negative aftereffects? Not trying to be a dick, just seems like there's enough disagreement among the experts that it's worth asking questions. Also fuck yeah do I love parentheses
Because my wife is used to a "sweet" breakfast (typically peanut butter toast with honey or greek yogurt and honey), we have started with fruit smoothies for her and she is liking them. She's going blueberry based for the antioxidants, half a banana, coconut milk, water, one free range egg, and some spinach (yes spinach.) She was putting vanilla extract in until I actually read the label (still working with her on checking labels) and saw that they add sugar to it. We found it was still sweet and delicious without the extract, but we might buy some whole vanilla beans at the farmer's market this weekend and start using that. On Monday she forgot the egg and she said that she noticed she got hungrier much sooner, though I think the fat in the coconut milk is helping greatly with getting her to lunch where there is a big fatty protein on her plate.
From listening to Robb Wolf's podcast, the main problem is that systemic inflammation causes pretty much every bad thing we get from cancers to arthritis to Alzheimer's. Grains, ESPECIALLY wheat, are the most pro-inflammatory foods in our diet. That's why a lot of people will have corn or rice once a week or so but avoid anything with gluten like the plague. Coconut water and coconut milk are both pretty badass, just make sure you read the ingredients on the coconut water if you go that route. There's a lot of "good, better, best" in paleo. The ideal situation is only eating local, organic, seasonal produce and grass fed meat. But that's not realistic for most people, so having non-grass fed meat and non-seasonal produce while not the best situation is FAR better than turning towards grains instead. Sorry if I sound like a broken record, but I go grass fed for the fattier cuts and ground beef because that's where the money is, but I won't go out of my way for grass fed chicken breast (though I won't be buying it at a chain grocery store either). Also I'll get stuff like NY strips once every week or two from the local market when it's on sale, not grass fed, but not factory farm shit either. Yeah, it's frustrating, unfortunately we just don't have enough information to give some of these foods the green light or say no way. But I like the fact that most of the guys aren't so zealous about a lot of these things and are willing to reverse their position in light of new information instead of firmly holding onto bad logic. The main thing though is to not get caught up in the culture of eating paleo. Focus on eating a diet that's optimal for your performance, wallet and social life. Just start with the foods we were meant to eat (meat, vegetables and fruit) avoid the things we shouldn't eat (grains and most legumes) and once you'e established a baseline play around with the stuff in the grey area (dairy, nightshades etc...). Personally I haven't taken night shades out of my diet, because even if I do react poorly to them, fuck that, I need a reason to get out of bed in the morning and you can pry my spicy food from my cold dead hands.
Yes, that first paragraph was worded incorrectly, sorry if it caused any confusion. Just to kind of echo what Frank said, there's a very wide berth of how to interpret the whole concept of the paleo diet based on whomever's opinion you feel like agreeing with at that moment. You just have to decide how intensely you want to buy into things. That being said, I tend to put more stock into those people that are willing to change and adapt their opinion based on new research and discoveries as opposed to those that take a more stalwart approach towards certain areas such as nightshades or dairy. I myself still have a big glass of milk with my dinner and eat some nightshades (primarily tomatoes and peppers) and I don't seem to have any adverse effects from them. At the most basic level, your primary concern should be with just removing processed grains and sugars from your body as those are the two biggest things that are going to help out in an overall sense of well being. Beyond that, it's up to you to try and see if you can go without dairy for a few weeks, see if it makes a difference at all, and if not, then by all means, keep eating your greek yogurt (if you're just in it for the probiotics, you could try drinking some kombucha or try eating some kimchi instead). I almost broke down and wept openly when it was brought to my attention that Frank's Red Hot falls under the acceptable paleo foods umbrella since there's no sugar or preservatives in it.
For the people earlier in the thread asking for cliff notes, thought that this was a pretty simplistic, sort of funny how-to guide:
Just picked up Primal Body, Primal Mind at the book store. Obviously, I haven't read through the whole thing yet, but off the top of my head: - Author Nora T. Gedgaudas's credentials are a bit light/suspect; however, when it comes to nutrition the most advanced MDs sometimes have no clue, so who's to say if it's even a requirement to have respectable letters after your name. - Not so well organized, textually speaking. - FANTASTIC lists of books, suggested reading, websites, etc. I find it odd that Mark Sisson is never linked/mentioned, though. - I also find it odd that none of the reviews, comments or forwards are written by any of the big-shot, well known Paleo people. She has a great summary. I'm going to shamelessly plagiarize it and hope that no one sues my for copyright infringement. In the book, she has a paragraph or two expanding each. Paleo Guide 1. Become very conscious of food and beverage choices. Read labels thoroughly. 2. The closer you can come to eliminating all forms of starch and sugar (incl. grains, bread, pasta, rice, maple syrup, potatoes, alcohol, honey, etc.) the better. She advocates cold turkey and suggests that weaning off of stuff only prolongs the misery and makes it tougher on your body. 3. Eliminate margarine, vegetable shortening and any commercial brands of cooking oil immediately. (Emphasis hers) 4. Substitute Celtic or Himalayan sea salt for table salt. 5. Get rid of all sodas, sports beverages and juices. Drink only filtered water. 6. Avoid fast food restaurants. 7. Begin shopping in more natural, organic, biodynamic-oriented stores and farmers markets. 8. Begin supplementing with Omega-3 oils. She recommends one standard dose (capsule) for ever 10-15lbs body weight, broken into two servings. 9. Include 1 or 2 tbsp of high-grade Cod Liver Oil daily. 10. Supplement with a quality vitamin or mineral complex daily. 11. Become physically active, doing something you enjoy. 12. Explore and read the references and suggested readings in her appendices. 13. If food allergies or sensitivities are suspected, spend no less than two weeks - a few months eliminating a suspected food from the diet. 14. Become aware of the pervasive influence of EMF pollution. 15. A minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep per day, consistently. 16. Drink lots of water (preferably filtered/purified). 17. Practice stress reduction and detoxification daily. 18. Create or find a health & nutritional support group. 19. Try, ideally, to incorporate at least 50% of your diet as combined animal-source and vegetable-source foods that are raw or minimally cultured/cooked.
Incidentally, is anyone interested in doing one of these hardcore Paloe 30-day challenges with me? Seeing what happens when you go cold turkey on everything?
I would possibly be up for that, but I need to have a couple of weeks to get ready (after that damn half marathon). Only thing that I don't think that I can give up completely is caffeine/coffee/tea (I don't see them on the list, so maybe OK). And hopefully heavy whipping cream, but from what I have seen that is debatable anyway. But I'll give up the booze and cheese and yogurt. I think those are my biggest "cheats" right now.
Nice. I like the idea of starting on a round date anyway, like the first of the month or something. This would be so like me to start something like this two days before my birthday.
You are only like 5 days behind me if you start tomorrow. Secondly, I am going nuts for coconut milk so I would like some recipe suggestions (that are Whole30 approved so no paleo desserts . . . yet).