For those of you who want to lose weight fast, but in a safe and
effective way, the Palaeolithic Diet has a lot going for it. The
book, by Dr Loren Cordain explains that the human genome has
changed very little in the last 40 thousand years, and that we
are essentially Stone Age people living in a modern world. He
further states that we really should be easting a diet based on
that of our ancestors, and not the carbohydrate packed, refined
and processed foods we currently consume.
Wheat for example, has only been eaten in its cultivated form
for around 10 thousand years, since the first farms sprung up in
the Middle East. Humans have not adapted to consume these
products and they do little for our general health and fitness,
and in many cases, do us significant harm, in terms of obesity
and related illnesses.
The Paleo Diet advocates a diet rich in lean protein, fresh
vegetable, nuts, and fruit, similar to the diet our ancient
ancestors would have eaten on a daily basis. The great thing
about the diet is that it does allow 'cheat meals', perhaps one
a week if you are needing to lose significant amounts of weight,
and up to 2 or 3 if you are just in weight maintenance mode.
The diet does not include grains, pulses, or dairy, but having
been on it for a few months; I really grew to enjoy it. I ate a
lot of stir fries, salads, sea foods, and lean meats. Once one
gets into the swing of things, it really is a delightfully
effective diet. The extra protein satiates your appetite
wonderfully, so you are never hungry. The gradual, but
consistent weight loss is very rewarding, and you should be able
to reach a lean, athletic weight in a matter of a few months.
And all this without the awful tedium and hunger pangs of
traditional diets. Give it a try; you'll be pleased you did.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Is Saturated Fat Evil, or Not So Bad After All?
The myths, lies, and misconceptions about saturated fat and your health.
by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
I've written many times in the last couple years about the mistaken beliefs in society about saturated fat and the false perception in the media AND with MOST health professionals that saturated fat is bad for you.
If you've seen in some of my articles, I've even showed you why saturated fat can even be GOOD for you in some cases, despite every health/fitness professional in the world just accepting the false belief that it's bad for you.
Note - I'm NOT saying that an "Atkins style" diet is good for you! Atkins is NOT a healthy or balanced way to eat! Atkins typically promotes processed meats full of nitrates, nitrites, excess salt, and imbalanced omega-6 to omega-3 ratios (since most grocery store meats are grain fed and not raised in a healthy manner). Also, Atkins plans typically have a lack of many other important food groups, nutrients, and antioxidants.
Rather, what you'll see in this article, is that saturated fat is a perfectly natural part of the human diet and has been for eternity... it is NOT the evil demon it has been made out to be!
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to FINALLY see a big name publisher have some guts to publish an article about why everyone in the world may be wrong about their beliefs about saturated fat.
I picked up a new issue of Men's Health magazine over the weekend, and they have a huge 6-page article in there about the faulty research in the past about saturated fat, and some new emerging research that is showing why it may actually be more good for you than you would believe.
I've got to give them credit... the article was VERY well researched and put together beautifully to summarize where the studies in the past have gone wrong, and why recent studies are showing that everyone may have been wrong for the last 5 decades about saturated fat.
I'd highly suggest you read the entire article if you can. If not, I'm going to try to give you a quick summary of the findings here since it was a long article...
The "Fact" that saturated fat is bad for your health has never been proven by legitimate studies
First of all, did you realize that although doctors, nutritionists, fitness professionals, and the media all have told you that it's a FACT that saturated fats are bad for you, this "FACT" has actually never been proven!
It's actually not a "fact" at all. It was a hypothesis! This goes all the way back to a flawed research study from the 1950's where a guy named Ancel Keys published a paper that laid the blame on dietary fat intake for the increasing heart disease phenomenon.
However, there were major flaws to his study. For one, in his conclusions he only used data from a small portion of the countries where data was available on fat consumption vs heart disease death rate. When researches have gone back in and looked at the data from all of the countries, there actually was no link between fat consumption and heart disease deaths. So his conclusions were actually false.
Second, his blaming of fat intake for heart disease was only one factor that was considered. There was no consideration of other factors such as smoking rates, stress factors, sugar intake, exercise frequency, or other lifestyle factors.
Basically, his conclusions which blamed heart disease deaths on fat intake were really just a shot in the dark about what a possible cause may have been, even though all of those other factors I just mentioned, plus many others, may be the bigger cause.
Unfortunately, Keys study has been cited for over 5 decades now as "fact" that saturated fat is bad for you. As you can see, there certainly is nothing factual about it.
Since that time, numerous other studies have been conducted trying to link saturated fat intake to heart disease. The majority of these studies have failed to correlate ANY risk at all from saturated fat. A couple of them made feeble attempts at linking saturated fat to heart disease, however, it was later shown that in those studies, the data was flawed as well.
Another issue with flawed studies is that many studies have lumped artificial trans fat intake together with saturated fat intake, and mistakenly laid the blame on saturated fat despite the overwhelming evidence that artificial trans fat is the REAL health risk. This is a HUGE mistake as there is a vast difference in how your body processes nasty artificially created trans fats vs the perfectly natural saturated fats that have been part of the human diet since the beginning of man.
Do we actually have evidence that saturated fat may actually be good for you instead?
Well, let's consider a few examples...
Did you know that there are several well known tribes in Africa... the Masai, Samburu, and Fulani tribes... where their diet consists mostly of raw (unpasteurized) whole milk, tons of red meat, and cows blood? The typical members of these tribes eat 5x the average amount of saturated fat compared to overweight, disease-ridden Americans.
Despite their very high saturated fat intake, they display extremely low body fat levels, and heart disease to natives of the tribe is virtually non-existant.
Now most critics of this example will say that it must be related to superior genetics... however this is false, as when they studied tribesman who had moved out of their native lands and started eating more modern day diets, their blood chemistry skyrocketed with heart disease risk factors.
This is true of certain pacific island countries inhabitants as well. Several studies have shown that certain pacific island nations had VERY high intakes of total fat as well as saturated fat from tropical fats such as palm, coconut, and cocoa. Tropical plants in general have naturally higher levels of saturated fats in their tissues due to the warmer climate.
Despite super-high intakes of saturated fat, these island natives were typically very lean and heart disease was virtually non-existant. However, when researchers followed up with islanders that had moved away from their native island and adopted a typical western diet, the heart disease risk factors were through the roof. Hmm, once again, another example of people that started eating LESS saturated fat and more processed western foods and INCREASED their heart disease factors.
In fact, did you know that although saturated fat intake does increase your LDL bad cholesterol, it actually increases your HDL good cholesterol even further, hence improving your overall cholesterol ratio, which has been proven to be more important that just total cholesterol level (actually total cholesterol is an almost useless number... inflammation is the REAL problem, but that's a whole different topic).
Another fact worth noting in favor of saturated fat...
Saturated fat is comprised of various different types... the 3 most common types are stearic acid, palmitic acid, and lauric acid.
Stearic acid is found in animal fat and cocoa in higher levels. Research continues to show that stearic acid has no negative impacts on heart disease risks. If anything, it's either neutral or beneficial. In fact, your liver breaks down stearic acid into a monounsaturated fat called oleic acid, which is the same type of fat that makes up most of heart-healthy olive oil. Bet you didn't know that!
Lauric acid is beneficial as well. Not only has it been shown to increase your HDL good cholesterol levels significantly, but it is also lacking in most Americans diet and has even been shown to have some powerful immune-boosting effects potentially. It is even being studied currently in HIV/AIDS research to help improve immune function in patients.
Tropical oils such as coconut and palm are the best sources of the healthy saturated fat - lauric acid.
Palmitic acid is the other main component of saturated fat and has also been shown to increase HDL good cholesterol to the same, if not greater extent than LDL bad cholesterol, thereby making it either neutral or beneficial, but certainly not bad for you.
So, if all of these researchers have tried so hard over the years to point the finger at saturated fat, but have continued to fail to show a correlation between saturated fat and heart disease risk, what are the REAL culprits for heart disease?
Well, here are the REAL causes of heart disease risk:
- Trans fats (artificially hydrogenated oils)... see my previous Trans Fats article here for a full explanation
- Heavily refined vegetable oils such as soy, cottonseed, corn oil, etc. (inflammatory inside the body, and typically throw the omega-6/omega-3 balance out of whack...remember, inflammation is the REAL cause of heart disease, NOT dietary saturated fat or cholesterol). Read more about healthy cooking oils vs unhealthy cooking oil
- Too much refined sugar in the diet (including high fructose corn syrup)
- Too much refined carbohydrates such as white bread, low fiber cereals, etc
- Smoking
- Stressful lifestyle
- Lack of exercise
- Other lifestyle factors
So why does it seem that so many attempts over the years have tried to lay the blame on saturated fat... do you think it might have anything to do with the muli-billion dollar vegetable oil industry, which has taken over for cooking oils for what used to be mostly animal fats and tropical oils in decades past...
hmm... do multi-billion dollar industries really have an influence on the way data is portrayed to the public? Of course they do! And don't even get me started on the cholesterol meds industry! Again, I digress.
I hope this article has opened your eyes about the truth about saturated fat and how you've been misled over the years.
The true FACT is that saturated fat is a neutral substance in your body, and even beneficial at times, not a deadly risk factor for disease. The REAL risk factors are what I listed above.
Friday, January 29, 2010
The Paleo Cookbook - The Ultimate Resource for the Paleo Diet
By: Joseph Allan
More people everyday are adopting what is called the Paleolithic
or Paleo Diet. This is due to its simplicity and, more
importantly, its dramatic effect on a person's health. The Paleo
Diet is NOT a fad diet but a diet that reflects the natural
eating habits of our distant ancestors and current
hunter-gatherer groups.
Research shows that primitive cultures from the past were
healthier than we are today. They were stronger and leaner than
we are. Their eating focused on meat, fish, fruits, vegetables,
nuts and berries. Those foods are what we are genetically
designed to consume. Looking at it in terms of proteins,
carbohydrates, and fats, their daily intake was about 33% of
each. Today, about 50% of our intake is carbohydrates while only
15% is protein. That's right - it really is all about the carbs!
Our ancestors did NOT eat grains and dairy and, of course, they
did not have processed foods to tempt them. It is believed by
many scientists and cultures around the world that those foods
are causing us to be fat, less healthy, and more susceptible to
disease. The problem for us is that it is so easy to overeat
processed carbs. Have you ever eaten a whole container of ice
cream or a whole bag of chips? Try overeating fresh broccoli or
baked chicken breast... not quite as easy.
The Paleo Cookbook, written by Nikki Young, is really the only
comprehensive cookbook that truly does a wonderful job
presenting many Paleo diet recipes. It is the best Paleo
cookbook hands down! It consists of two cookbooks and over
two-hundred recipes. What is especially powerful about the Paleo
Cookbook is that is also serves as a gluten-free cookbook, a
dairy-free cookbook, and a preservative-free cookbook.
Let's be honest. At first glance, the foods available to the
Paleo Diet seem boring and tasteless. But, they really don't
have to be and that's what the Paleo Cookbook so effectively
accomplishes. It is chock full of a wide variety of tasty
recipes for appetizers, soups, salads, snacks, entrees, and even
desserts!
If you are looking for a optimizing your health, getting
stronger, losing weight and maximizing your energy levels, the
Paleo
Cookbook is exactly what you need.
What you just learned about The Paleo Cookbook is just the
beginning. To get the full story and all the details, check us
out at the Paleo Cookbook site today.
About the author:
Joseph Allan The
Paleo Cookbook Get it today!
More people everyday are adopting what is called the Paleolithic
or Paleo Diet. This is due to its simplicity and, more
importantly, its dramatic effect on a person's health. The Paleo
Diet is NOT a fad diet but a diet that reflects the natural
eating habits of our distant ancestors and current
hunter-gatherer groups.
Research shows that primitive cultures from the past were
healthier than we are today. They were stronger and leaner than
we are. Their eating focused on meat, fish, fruits, vegetables,
nuts and berries. Those foods are what we are genetically
designed to consume. Looking at it in terms of proteins,
carbohydrates, and fats, their daily intake was about 33% of
each. Today, about 50% of our intake is carbohydrates while only
15% is protein. That's right - it really is all about the carbs!
Our ancestors did NOT eat grains and dairy and, of course, they
did not have processed foods to tempt them. It is believed by
many scientists and cultures around the world that those foods
are causing us to be fat, less healthy, and more susceptible to
disease. The problem for us is that it is so easy to overeat
processed carbs. Have you ever eaten a whole container of ice
cream or a whole bag of chips? Try overeating fresh broccoli or
baked chicken breast... not quite as easy.
The Paleo Cookbook, written by Nikki Young, is really the only
comprehensive cookbook that truly does a wonderful job
presenting many Paleo diet recipes. It is the best Paleo
cookbook hands down! It consists of two cookbooks and over
two-hundred recipes. What is especially powerful about the Paleo
Cookbook is that is also serves as a gluten-free cookbook, a
dairy-free cookbook, and a preservative-free cookbook.
Let's be honest. At first glance, the foods available to the
Paleo Diet seem boring and tasteless. But, they really don't
have to be and that's what the Paleo Cookbook so effectively
accomplishes. It is chock full of a wide variety of tasty
recipes for appetizers, soups, salads, snacks, entrees, and even
desserts!
If you are looking for a optimizing your health, getting
stronger, losing weight and maximizing your energy levels, the
Paleo
Cookbook is exactly what you need.
What you just learned about The Paleo Cookbook is just the
beginning. To get the full story and all the details, check us
out at the Paleo Cookbook site today.
About the author:
Joseph Allan The
Paleo Cookbook Get it today!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
The Paleo Cookbook Provides a Simple Path to Paleo Diet Success
By: Joseph Allan
Research indicates that primitive cultures from our past were
healthier than we are today. In general, they were stronger,
leaner, and less susceptible to disease. They exclusively ate
the foods readily available to them: meat, fish, fruits,
vegetables, nuts and berries. The Paleo Cookbook and its recipes
focus on those foods which bodies were genetically designed to
consume.
In terms of protein, carbohydrates, and fat, the Paleo Diet is
divided by about one-third each. Today, our eating habits
consist of about 50% carbohydrates and only 15% protein. Like
most diets in the last 20 years, carbs are certainly the pivot
point. Notice that grains and dairy and, of course, processed
foods are NOT on the list of foods our distant ancestors ate.
Scientists and cultures around the world believe that those
foods are the reason we have an obesity problem (at least in the
western culture).
The Paleo Cookbook, written by Nikki Young, is really the only
cookbook that truly does a compresensive job supporting the
Paleo diet with so many different recipes. It actually is a set
of two cookbooks with over two-hundred recipes. Because of the
composition of the Paleo Diet, the Paleo Cookbook also serves as
a gluten-free cookbook, a dairy-free cookbook, and a
preservative-free cookbook.
At first, you might think the Paleo Diet offers nothing but
boring and tasteless meals. On the contrary, it is loaded with a
wide variety of delicious recipes for appetizers, snacks,
entrees, and even desserts!
If you are into the Paleo Diet for getting stronger, losing
weight and maximizing your energy levels, then the
Cookbook is a fundamental resource you can't go without.
About the author:
Joseph Allan The
Paleo Cookbook Get it today!
Research indicates that primitive cultures from our past were
healthier than we are today. In general, they were stronger,
leaner, and less susceptible to disease. They exclusively ate
the foods readily available to them: meat, fish, fruits,
vegetables, nuts and berries. The Paleo Cookbook and its recipes
focus on those foods which bodies were genetically designed to
consume.
In terms of protein, carbohydrates, and fat, the Paleo Diet is
divided by about one-third each. Today, our eating habits
consist of about 50% carbohydrates and only 15% protein. Like
most diets in the last 20 years, carbs are certainly the pivot
point. Notice that grains and dairy and, of course, processed
foods are NOT on the list of foods our distant ancestors ate.
Scientists and cultures around the world believe that those
foods are the reason we have an obesity problem (at least in the
western culture).
The Paleo Cookbook, written by Nikki Young, is really the only
cookbook that truly does a compresensive job supporting the
Paleo diet with so many different recipes. It actually is a set
of two cookbooks with over two-hundred recipes. Because of the
composition of the Paleo Diet, the Paleo Cookbook also serves as
a gluten-free cookbook, a dairy-free cookbook, and a
preservative-free cookbook.
At first, you might think the Paleo Diet offers nothing but
boring and tasteless meals. On the contrary, it is loaded with a
wide variety of delicious recipes for appetizers, snacks,
entrees, and even desserts!
If you are into the Paleo Diet for getting stronger, losing
weight and maximizing your energy levels, then the
Cookbook is a fundamental resource you can't go without.
About the author:
Joseph Allan The
Paleo Cookbook Get it today!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Healthy Snacks From the Paleo Diet
By: Maire Brody
If you are not familiar with the paleo diet, also known as the
paleolithic, caveman or Stone Age diet, it is based on how
humans ate before the Agricultural Revolution. It's a
recreation, as much as possible in the modern world, of the
hunter-gatherer's diet.
When it comes to looking for healthy snacks, and snacks that are
not fattening, there is no better place to look than the paleo
diet, which rules out many junk foods typical of most snacks,
such as refined sugar and grains. There are even no potatoes
allowed in the paleo diet, so you can forget about potato chips!
In fact, even if you don't strictly follow the paleo diet, you
may want to seriously consider adopting it for your snack
regimen. It can really make a big improvement in your eating
habits, energy levels throughout the day and caloric intake.
Let's look at some of the paleo-friendly snacks we can start
consuming as substitutes for the less healthy ones we are so
used to.
Fresh Fruit -it is no mystery that fruit is healthy, but many
people seldom eat it. Incidentally, fresh fruit is better in
most cases than juice because even unsweetened fruit juice is
highly concentrated and you may be getting more sugar and
calories than you realize. With fresh fruit, you will tend to
consume it in moderation. Of course, there is also the fact that
when you eat whole foods you get the entire nutritional content
of that food instead of just part of it. Remember, cavemen did
not have juicers!
Salad & Vegetables- greens always make a healthy snack. You can
mix up any kind of salad and veggie combination you like. Just
watch what kind of dressing you use, for these often contain
lots of sugar, sodium and calories. It's best to use oil and
vinegar or all natural dressings. Try making tahini dressing.
This is easily made from tahini paste (which is crushed sesame
seeds), water and either lemon juice or vinegar. You can also
add sea salt and garlic to taste.
Dried Nuts & Fruits - also sold as trail mix. Try to get organic
dried fruit and nuts, though any all natural mix is good. Okay,
maybe cavemen did not eat trail mix either, but this is still a
healthy way to consume these nutritious foods. Nuts are very
high in protein and healthy fats. Peanuts are the least healthy
of nuts, so try to stick to other nuts such as almonds, walnuts
and cashews.
Chip Alternatives- you can now find healthy snacks that are
alternatives to things like potato chips and pretzels. These are
usually vegetable based chips. Sea veggie chips can be quite
tasty and have many essential minerals. There are also chips
made from fruits such as banana, plantain and mango.
These are just a few healthy snack ideas that are consistent
with a paleo diet. For more ideas, check out the
Diet Cookbooks.
About the author:
Maire writes on many topics, from cultural issues to health and
weight loss.
Find out how you can prepare many healthy and delicious meals
with the
If you are not familiar with the paleo diet, also known as the
paleolithic, caveman or Stone Age diet, it is based on how
humans ate before the Agricultural Revolution. It's a
recreation, as much as possible in the modern world, of the
hunter-gatherer's diet.
When it comes to looking for healthy snacks, and snacks that are
not fattening, there is no better place to look than the paleo
diet, which rules out many junk foods typical of most snacks,
such as refined sugar and grains. There are even no potatoes
allowed in the paleo diet, so you can forget about potato chips!
In fact, even if you don't strictly follow the paleo diet, you
may want to seriously consider adopting it for your snack
regimen. It can really make a big improvement in your eating
habits, energy levels throughout the day and caloric intake.
Let's look at some of the paleo-friendly snacks we can start
consuming as substitutes for the less healthy ones we are so
used to.
Fresh Fruit -it is no mystery that fruit is healthy, but many
people seldom eat it. Incidentally, fresh fruit is better in
most cases than juice because even unsweetened fruit juice is
highly concentrated and you may be getting more sugar and
calories than you realize. With fresh fruit, you will tend to
consume it in moderation. Of course, there is also the fact that
when you eat whole foods you get the entire nutritional content
of that food instead of just part of it. Remember, cavemen did
not have juicers!
Salad & Vegetables- greens always make a healthy snack. You can
mix up any kind of salad and veggie combination you like. Just
watch what kind of dressing you use, for these often contain
lots of sugar, sodium and calories. It's best to use oil and
vinegar or all natural dressings. Try making tahini dressing.
This is easily made from tahini paste (which is crushed sesame
seeds), water and either lemon juice or vinegar. You can also
add sea salt and garlic to taste.
Dried Nuts & Fruits - also sold as trail mix. Try to get organic
dried fruit and nuts, though any all natural mix is good. Okay,
maybe cavemen did not eat trail mix either, but this is still a
healthy way to consume these nutritious foods. Nuts are very
high in protein and healthy fats. Peanuts are the least healthy
of nuts, so try to stick to other nuts such as almonds, walnuts
and cashews.
Chip Alternatives- you can now find healthy snacks that are
alternatives to things like potato chips and pretzels. These are
usually vegetable based chips. Sea veggie chips can be quite
tasty and have many essential minerals. There are also chips
made from fruits such as banana, plantain and mango.
These are just a few healthy snack ideas that are consistent
with a paleo diet. For more ideas, check out the
Diet Cookbooks.
About the author:
Maire writes on many topics, from cultural issues to health and
weight loss.
Find out how you can prepare many healthy and delicious meals
with the
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Paleo Diet -Caveman Diet
By: Gail Mercedes
The Paleolithic people were nomadic people. During the
Paleolithic Period foods were eaten raw. They did not eat grains
or dairy products. Many grain were inedible raw. Additionally,
beans and potatoes were inedible. Grains, beans and potatoes
contain toxins eaten raw. Milk was not consumed during the
Paleolithic period because animal had not been domesticated. The
only sweetener was natural honey. For millions of years humans
ate meat, fish, poultry, vegetables, fruit, seeds, roots and
leaves of different plants. Some studies indicated the the
Paleolithic diet was one-half animal foods and the remainder
fruits, vegetables and nuts. Around 10,000 years ago, there was
a world changing discovery. The discovery was fire. Man
discovered cooking. Cooking these foods killed the toxins making
them edible. Cooking issued in the New Stone Age or the
Neolithic Period. In the beginning food was either roasted or
toasted. Roasting was limited to meats, nuts and a few grains.
After the Paleolithic period was the Neolithic period. The
Neolithic period ushered in agriculture and pottery. People were
able to stay and live in one place. People grew their own
grains. Pottery made cooking easier and foods could be
transported. Note, the Paleolithic people ate raw natural foods.
Cooking enabled man to increase their diet by making inedible
foods edible. Modern society has introduced processed foods and
additives. Additives and processed foods have their advantages
but it is well documented the negative health affects that
additives and preservatives has on our daily lives. The modern
Paleo Diet is back to nature and encourages the eating habits of
our ancestors. A leaner, healthier dairy free, casein free,
gluten free and preservatives free diet. The Paleolithic Diet
(abbreviated The Paleo Diet) Caveman Diet
The Paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet) is recommended for
those that require a Gluten Free or Dairy Free diet. The Paleo
Diet is referred to as the Stone Age, Caveman or Hunter-Gatherer
diet. For million of years humans ate meat, fish, poultry,
vegetables, fruit, seeds, roots and leaves of different plants.
The modern Paleo diet contains foods originally eaten in man's
evolution. Paleo diet consists of fresh fruits, vegetables,
nuts, seeds, fish, poultry and lean meat. The modern Paleo diet
is gluten free, dairy free and preservative-free nutrition that
will improve and maintain optimal health. Over processed laden
foods are now linked to causing many diseases we are faced in
society today. Healthy and natural foods are the ultimate secret
to optimal health, losing weight and staying lean.
Discover How To Create Healthy And Tasty Meals In Your Own
Kitchen! The Paleo Diet is a natural and simple way of eating.
Enjoy the benefits of this wheat free, gluten free, dairy free,
casein free and preservative free recipes diet.
Paleo Recipes Cookbooks For a collection of famous
restaurant copycat recipes
Secrets
About the author:
Famous restaurant copycat recipes and The Paleo Diet.
The Paleolithic people were nomadic people. During the
Paleolithic Period foods were eaten raw. They did not eat grains
or dairy products. Many grain were inedible raw. Additionally,
beans and potatoes were inedible. Grains, beans and potatoes
contain toxins eaten raw. Milk was not consumed during the
Paleolithic period because animal had not been domesticated. The
only sweetener was natural honey. For millions of years humans
ate meat, fish, poultry, vegetables, fruit, seeds, roots and
leaves of different plants. Some studies indicated the the
Paleolithic diet was one-half animal foods and the remainder
fruits, vegetables and nuts. Around 10,000 years ago, there was
a world changing discovery. The discovery was fire. Man
discovered cooking. Cooking these foods killed the toxins making
them edible. Cooking issued in the New Stone Age or the
Neolithic Period. In the beginning food was either roasted or
toasted. Roasting was limited to meats, nuts and a few grains.
After the Paleolithic period was the Neolithic period. The
Neolithic period ushered in agriculture and pottery. People were
able to stay and live in one place. People grew their own
grains. Pottery made cooking easier and foods could be
transported. Note, the Paleolithic people ate raw natural foods.
Cooking enabled man to increase their diet by making inedible
foods edible. Modern society has introduced processed foods and
additives. Additives and processed foods have their advantages
but it is well documented the negative health affects that
additives and preservatives has on our daily lives. The modern
Paleo Diet is back to nature and encourages the eating habits of
our ancestors. A leaner, healthier dairy free, casein free,
gluten free and preservatives free diet. The Paleolithic Diet
(abbreviated The Paleo Diet) Caveman Diet
The Paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet) is recommended for
those that require a Gluten Free or Dairy Free diet. The Paleo
Diet is referred to as the Stone Age, Caveman or Hunter-Gatherer
diet. For million of years humans ate meat, fish, poultry,
vegetables, fruit, seeds, roots and leaves of different plants.
The modern Paleo diet contains foods originally eaten in man's
evolution. Paleo diet consists of fresh fruits, vegetables,
nuts, seeds, fish, poultry and lean meat. The modern Paleo diet
is gluten free, dairy free and preservative-free nutrition that
will improve and maintain optimal health. Over processed laden
foods are now linked to causing many diseases we are faced in
society today. Healthy and natural foods are the ultimate secret
to optimal health, losing weight and staying lean.
Discover How To Create Healthy And Tasty Meals In Your Own
Kitchen! The Paleo Diet is a natural and simple way of eating.
Enjoy the benefits of this wheat free, gluten free, dairy free,
casein free and preservative free recipes diet.
Paleo Recipes Cookbooks For a collection of famous
restaurant copycat recipes
Secrets
About the author:
Famous restaurant copycat recipes and The Paleo Diet.
Paleo Cookbook is a Valuable Tool For Weight Training
By: Joseph Allan
The Paleo Diet is growing in popularity and many are now finding
that it is an effective diet for weight training. The Paleo
Cookbook the the weightlifter's best tool for maximizing the
benefits of the Paleo Diet.
To build muscle, you must eat relatively large amounts of
protein. Weightlifters know that protein is the fundamental
component of muscle. The Paleo Diet is considered a "low carb"
diet, so special consideration has to be made to allow for
enough carbohydrates provide energy for muscle-building
activities. Nonetheless, you still need to keep your carb intake
relatively low - at about 1/3 of your overall consumption. This
means you need to follow a diet higher in fat and protein -
again about 1/3 of your overall consumption each. That is what
the Paleo Diet is and what the Paleo Cookbook offers.
Eating this way will increase your metabolism and boost your
your energy levels. Not only will excess carbs prevent you from
getting as lean as you'd like, but also they cause your energy
level to crash. Foods to stay away from include grains, legumes,
and dairy. In particular, you should avoid the following foods:
bread, pasta, noodles, string beans, kidney beans, lentils,
peanuts, cashews, peas, potatoes, milk, butter, cream, sugar,
and salt.
You can and should eat these foods: meat, chicken, fish, eggs,
fruit, vegetables, walnuts, brazil nuts, macadamia, almonds,
strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. You should try even
harder to eat these less common, but very healthy, foods:
carrots, turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, liver and kidneys.
If you need an easy way to stay on the Paleo Diet and maximize
its effectiveness on your health and muscle-building, then make
the Paleo Cookbook your top-shelf resource for success.
Click here to learn more about the
Cookbook.
About the author:
Joseph Allan The
Paleo Cookbook Get it today!
The Paleo Diet is growing in popularity and many are now finding
that it is an effective diet for weight training. The Paleo
Cookbook the the weightlifter's best tool for maximizing the
benefits of the Paleo Diet.
To build muscle, you must eat relatively large amounts of
protein. Weightlifters know that protein is the fundamental
component of muscle. The Paleo Diet is considered a "low carb"
diet, so special consideration has to be made to allow for
enough carbohydrates provide energy for muscle-building
activities. Nonetheless, you still need to keep your carb intake
relatively low - at about 1/3 of your overall consumption. This
means you need to follow a diet higher in fat and protein -
again about 1/3 of your overall consumption each. That is what
the Paleo Diet is and what the Paleo Cookbook offers.
Eating this way will increase your metabolism and boost your
your energy levels. Not only will excess carbs prevent you from
getting as lean as you'd like, but also they cause your energy
level to crash. Foods to stay away from include grains, legumes,
and dairy. In particular, you should avoid the following foods:
bread, pasta, noodles, string beans, kidney beans, lentils,
peanuts, cashews, peas, potatoes, milk, butter, cream, sugar,
and salt.
You can and should eat these foods: meat, chicken, fish, eggs,
fruit, vegetables, walnuts, brazil nuts, macadamia, almonds,
strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. You should try even
harder to eat these less common, but very healthy, foods:
carrots, turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, liver and kidneys.
If you need an easy way to stay on the Paleo Diet and maximize
its effectiveness on your health and muscle-building, then make
the Paleo Cookbook your top-shelf resource for success.
Click here to learn more about the
Cookbook.
About the author:
Joseph Allan The
Paleo Cookbook Get it today!
Paleo Diet: A Caveman Diet For Modern Times
Author: Maire Brody
Article:
Many people have heard of the paleo diet without really knowing
what it is. Also called the paleolithic, caveman or Stone Age
diet, it is, as the names suggest, a way of eating based on the
lifestyle of our long-ago ancestors. More specifically, the
paleo diet seeks to recreate the eating habits of before the
Agricultural Revolution, which was roughly 10,000 years ago.
Of course, such a diet is inevitably doing to be inexact. If you
think about it, you may wonder if even the smartest scientists
actually know with certainty what people ate that long ago.
There is some evidence, but also much speculation. For example,
we know that humans were mainly hunter-gatherers, but we don't
always know precisely what they hunted and gathered. Another
problem is that humans have evolved in different ways depending
on their native climates and other factors. Paleolithic humans
living near the Arctic Circle would have eaten very different
kinds of foods than those living in Hawaii.
Despite these apparent difficulties, the paleo diet is still a
surprisingly coherent and sensible one. This is largely due to
the fact that our modern, institutionalized food production
system has become so dependent on processed and artificial foods
that simply to return to a simpler time is automatically going
to be a big improvement! In other words, to return to the
previous example, you'd do a lot better eating like a typical
Eskimo or Hawaiian native (or South American native, African,
early European, etc.) than following the typical modern junk
food diet. So while experts may quibble about just what is and
isn't allowed in the paleo diet, if you would just try following
the basic guidelines, you would be eating much more nutritiously.
What are the basics of the paleo diet? Essentially, eat natural
meat, fish and eggs; dairy is more controversial, but a little
organic dairy is fine. When it comes to animal products, they
should be organic or grass (not corn) fed. These animal products
cover the "hunter" part of the equation. For the "gatherer"
half, we have nuts, fruits and vegetables. Vegetables, however,
do not include many relatively recent additions to the human
diet, such as potatoes. Refined sugar is also not allowed.
Perhaps the most radical aspect of this system is that it
excludes all grains. This means no bread, pasta or rice, which
are the staples of so many modern diets.
You may have noticed that the paleo diet does not conform to
many modern ideas about eating a low fat, even vegetarian diet.
In this way it is more in line with the findings of Weston
Price, another controversial researcher who also studied many
traditional people and found that some of them are perfectly
healthy while still eating high fat foods (though natural, not
the factory farmed kind we have in developed societies). In
fact, many of these "primitive" people have virtually none of
the degenerative diseases, such as heart disease, cancer and
diabetes that plague so many societies today. While Weston
Price's findings are not exactly the same as the paleo diet, the
two overlap in many areas.
Many people like the idea of trying the paleo diet, but wonder
what they are going to eat if they can't have bread, sugar or
pasta. It does require an open mind and a willingness to try a
new lifestyle. There are a couple of ways to approach this. You
could try it for a month and see how you feel. If you feel more
energetic and maybe lose some weight, as many people do, you
might want to continue with it.
There is something else to keep in mind with this or any diet:
if you can stick to a good diet 75% or so of the time, you will
gain most of the benefits that it has to offer. In other words,
if you adopt the paleo diet, you don't have to swear to never
again eat a portion of french toast, a slice of pizza or a bowl
of your favorite pasta. The point is that you can use something
like the paleo diet as a guiding principle. Then again, if you
are more of an "all or nothing" type person, and find you really
like it, then you can follow it 100% and gain all of the
benefits!
The paleo diet is something that, once you seriously study it,
makes intuitive sense. The fact is, despite the "advances" of
modern life, many things such as food production are designed to
cheaply produce high volumes of products. In other words, the
focus is on quantity, not quality. Put still another way, if you
eat like a normal modern person, you are essentially eating an
institutionalized diet. The paleo diet is one authentic way to
choose something better for you and your family.
About the author:
Wondering what delicious meals you can make with the
Check out this short
diet video.
Article:
Many people have heard of the paleo diet without really knowing
what it is. Also called the paleolithic, caveman or Stone Age
diet, it is, as the names suggest, a way of eating based on the
lifestyle of our long-ago ancestors. More specifically, the
paleo diet seeks to recreate the eating habits of before the
Agricultural Revolution, which was roughly 10,000 years ago.
Of course, such a diet is inevitably doing to be inexact. If you
think about it, you may wonder if even the smartest scientists
actually know with certainty what people ate that long ago.
There is some evidence, but also much speculation. For example,
we know that humans were mainly hunter-gatherers, but we don't
always know precisely what they hunted and gathered. Another
problem is that humans have evolved in different ways depending
on their native climates and other factors. Paleolithic humans
living near the Arctic Circle would have eaten very different
kinds of foods than those living in Hawaii.
Despite these apparent difficulties, the paleo diet is still a
surprisingly coherent and sensible one. This is largely due to
the fact that our modern, institutionalized food production
system has become so dependent on processed and artificial foods
that simply to return to a simpler time is automatically going
to be a big improvement! In other words, to return to the
previous example, you'd do a lot better eating like a typical
Eskimo or Hawaiian native (or South American native, African,
early European, etc.) than following the typical modern junk
food diet. So while experts may quibble about just what is and
isn't allowed in the paleo diet, if you would just try following
the basic guidelines, you would be eating much more nutritiously.
What are the basics of the paleo diet? Essentially, eat natural
meat, fish and eggs; dairy is more controversial, but a little
organic dairy is fine. When it comes to animal products, they
should be organic or grass (not corn) fed. These animal products
cover the "hunter" part of the equation. For the "gatherer"
half, we have nuts, fruits and vegetables. Vegetables, however,
do not include many relatively recent additions to the human
diet, such as potatoes. Refined sugar is also not allowed.
Perhaps the most radical aspect of this system is that it
excludes all grains. This means no bread, pasta or rice, which
are the staples of so many modern diets.
You may have noticed that the paleo diet does not conform to
many modern ideas about eating a low fat, even vegetarian diet.
In this way it is more in line with the findings of Weston
Price, another controversial researcher who also studied many
traditional people and found that some of them are perfectly
healthy while still eating high fat foods (though natural, not
the factory farmed kind we have in developed societies). In
fact, many of these "primitive" people have virtually none of
the degenerative diseases, such as heart disease, cancer and
diabetes that plague so many societies today. While Weston
Price's findings are not exactly the same as the paleo diet, the
two overlap in many areas.
Many people like the idea of trying the paleo diet, but wonder
what they are going to eat if they can't have bread, sugar or
pasta. It does require an open mind and a willingness to try a
new lifestyle. There are a couple of ways to approach this. You
could try it for a month and see how you feel. If you feel more
energetic and maybe lose some weight, as many people do, you
might want to continue with it.
There is something else to keep in mind with this or any diet:
if you can stick to a good diet 75% or so of the time, you will
gain most of the benefits that it has to offer. In other words,
if you adopt the paleo diet, you don't have to swear to never
again eat a portion of french toast, a slice of pizza or a bowl
of your favorite pasta. The point is that you can use something
like the paleo diet as a guiding principle. Then again, if you
are more of an "all or nothing" type person, and find you really
like it, then you can follow it 100% and gain all of the
benefits!
The paleo diet is something that, once you seriously study it,
makes intuitive sense. The fact is, despite the "advances" of
modern life, many things such as food production are designed to
cheaply produce high volumes of products. In other words, the
focus is on quantity, not quality. Put still another way, if you
eat like a normal modern person, you are essentially eating an
institutionalized diet. The paleo diet is one authentic way to
choose something better for you and your family.
About the author:
Wondering what delicious meals you can make with the
Check out this short
diet video.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Crossfit Nutrition - The Paleo Diet and How it Can Benefit You
Crossfit Nutrition - The Paleo Diet and How it Can Benefit You
By Mandi Frattalone
The Paleolithic diet, a.k.a., the Paleo diet is a diet that is based off of the hunter-gatherer concept. Way back when there was no agriculture, Cavemen ate the buffalo they hunted; and they ate the berries they gathered. There was no alcohol, no sugar, and no grains.
Today, we have absolutely every type of food available to us... and right when we want it. Making food so close within our fingertips at moments notice, the quality of food we eat has gone down significantly. For instance, chickens and cows are given growth hormones so that they grow faster, to be slaughtered faster, all to be sold that much faster; they are kept in cages, unable to roam around limiting proper muscle development and unable to eat the foods they would naturally eat. In the end, quality is compromised for quantity. That is definitely not the kind of chicken cavemen ate.
I am not encouraging you to go hunting in your backyard hoping a deer will come walking by, I'm asking you to rethink what the diet of the human species should be. Prepackaged, processed food with additives is probably not what we were designed to eat. We have adapted to these foreign substances, but the adaptation is what may be the source of degenerative diseases (Jonsson T, et al.BMC Endocrine Disorders 2005 5:10).
The Paleo diet consists of the following:
• Meat
• Vegetables
• Nuts and seeds
• Some fruit
• Little Starch
The Paleo diet specifically EXCLUDES the following:
• Sugar
• Grains
• Vinegar
• Beans and Legumes (including peanuts)
• Soy
• Alcohol
• Dairy
The 'No' list is very long. However, it's for a very good reason. Staying away from dense carbohydrates, i.e. grains, beans, legumes, and dairy will help keep your insulin level even with your glucagon level, a very important ratio to maintain. Secondly, gluten, soy, dairy, and sugar have various harmful effects to your body. Here is just a short list:
• Sugar suppresses your immune system for hours
• A high carbohydrate diet is the very cause of 'Syndrome X' and diseases of affluence
• Gluten damages your intestinal lining (yes, even if you don't have Celiac's disease)
• The soy molecule mimics the estrogen molecule and can function in the same manner
• Dairy contains harmful hormones and chemicals that wreck havoc on your liver.
• Alcohol kills brain cells and is dehydrating
The Paleo diet works wonders if you want to lose weight and get healthy. People report having increased energy, weight loss and increased power in their workouts.
The benefits of eating the Paleo diet:
• Decreased risk for cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, arthritis, acne, gastrointestinal disease, autoimmune disease, and more.
• Ideal performance
• Ideal body weight
• Optimum health
CrossFit pushes two types of diets: the Paleo diet and the Zone diet. Personally, I like Paleo better because of the associated health benefits. The purpose of eating is to provide our bodies with energy so that our cells can go to work and keep us alive; so that we can exercise; so that we can hunt and gather more food. Although eating is and should be a pleasurable experience, let's not forget why we need to eat in the first place. The paleo diet provides your body with very dense nutrition, as opposed to foods that have little nutrition and are high in calories. Remember, anything in excess, whether it be a carbohydrate, a protein or a fat, your body respectively turns it into glucose, amino acids, or fatty acids and it will either use it right away or it will STORE it. Eating nutrient dense food minimizes having to eat excess foods that are absent of nutrition to make up for the missing nutrients. The Zone diet, although great for losing or gaining weight, weigh loss or weight gain is NOT the only thing to consider. Eating for your health and your performance will increase your longevity- you will live a happier healthier and longer life eating foods that your body was designed to process-not foods that are processed.
By Mandi Frattalone, LMT,
CrossFit Trainer Level 1, Nutrition Counselor, Graduate of University of Florida, Food Science and Human Nutrition, 2008
Mandi Frattalone is an expert nutrition counselor and can be reached at info@gatorcrossfit.com
Article Source: Crossfit Nutrition - The Paleo Diet and How it Can Benefit You
By Mandi Frattalone
The Paleolithic diet, a.k.a., the Paleo diet is a diet that is based off of the hunter-gatherer concept. Way back when there was no agriculture, Cavemen ate the buffalo they hunted; and they ate the berries they gathered. There was no alcohol, no sugar, and no grains.
Today, we have absolutely every type of food available to us... and right when we want it. Making food so close within our fingertips at moments notice, the quality of food we eat has gone down significantly. For instance, chickens and cows are given growth hormones so that they grow faster, to be slaughtered faster, all to be sold that much faster; they are kept in cages, unable to roam around limiting proper muscle development and unable to eat the foods they would naturally eat. In the end, quality is compromised for quantity. That is definitely not the kind of chicken cavemen ate.
I am not encouraging you to go hunting in your backyard hoping a deer will come walking by, I'm asking you to rethink what the diet of the human species should be. Prepackaged, processed food with additives is probably not what we were designed to eat. We have adapted to these foreign substances, but the adaptation is what may be the source of degenerative diseases (Jonsson T, et al.BMC Endocrine Disorders 2005 5:10).
The Paleo diet consists of the following:
• Meat
• Vegetables
• Nuts and seeds
• Some fruit
• Little Starch
The Paleo diet specifically EXCLUDES the following:
• Sugar
• Grains
• Vinegar
• Beans and Legumes (including peanuts)
• Soy
• Alcohol
• Dairy
The 'No' list is very long. However, it's for a very good reason. Staying away from dense carbohydrates, i.e. grains, beans, legumes, and dairy will help keep your insulin level even with your glucagon level, a very important ratio to maintain. Secondly, gluten, soy, dairy, and sugar have various harmful effects to your body. Here is just a short list:
• Sugar suppresses your immune system for hours
• A high carbohydrate diet is the very cause of 'Syndrome X' and diseases of affluence
• Gluten damages your intestinal lining (yes, even if you don't have Celiac's disease)
• The soy molecule mimics the estrogen molecule and can function in the same manner
• Dairy contains harmful hormones and chemicals that wreck havoc on your liver.
• Alcohol kills brain cells and is dehydrating
The Paleo diet works wonders if you want to lose weight and get healthy. People report having increased energy, weight loss and increased power in their workouts.
The benefits of eating the Paleo diet:
• Decreased risk for cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, arthritis, acne, gastrointestinal disease, autoimmune disease, and more.
• Ideal performance
• Ideal body weight
• Optimum health
CrossFit pushes two types of diets: the Paleo diet and the Zone diet. Personally, I like Paleo better because of the associated health benefits. The purpose of eating is to provide our bodies with energy so that our cells can go to work and keep us alive; so that we can exercise; so that we can hunt and gather more food. Although eating is and should be a pleasurable experience, let's not forget why we need to eat in the first place. The paleo diet provides your body with very dense nutrition, as opposed to foods that have little nutrition and are high in calories. Remember, anything in excess, whether it be a carbohydrate, a protein or a fat, your body respectively turns it into glucose, amino acids, or fatty acids and it will either use it right away or it will STORE it. Eating nutrient dense food minimizes having to eat excess foods that are absent of nutrition to make up for the missing nutrients. The Zone diet, although great for losing or gaining weight, weigh loss or weight gain is NOT the only thing to consider. Eating for your health and your performance will increase your longevity- you will live a happier healthier and longer life eating foods that your body was designed to process-not foods that are processed.
By Mandi Frattalone, LMT,
CrossFit Trainer Level 1, Nutrition Counselor, Graduate of University of Florida, Food Science and Human Nutrition, 2008
Mandi Frattalone is an expert nutrition counselor and can be reached at info@gatorcrossfit.com
Article Source: Crossfit Nutrition - The Paleo Diet and How it Can Benefit You
Paleo Diet Beats Mediterranean Diet For Controlling Blood Sugar
Paleo Diet Beats Mediterranean Diet For Controlling Blood Sugar
By Tracy Bradley
Science Daily reported on the results of a brief Swedish study that found a paleo-type diet beats the much-lauded Mediterranean-type diet when it comes to controlling blood sugar. 29 participants, each with glucose intolerance and coronary heart disease (and some with type 2 diabetes), were split into two groups and instructed to follow either a paleo diet, with no grains or dairy, or a Mediterranean diet with lots of whole grains and low-fat dairy (why always low-fat dairy? The Mediterranean diet, the real one that actual people in the Mediterranean eat, isn't founded on skimmed milk and low-fat cheese). After three months, the paleo eaters had normal blood glucose, and a much lower blood sugar response to dietary carbohydrates. They also lost more inches around the waist.
I think it's great that somebody, finally, did a formal study involving a paleo diet. I hope there are more to come. I do, however, take issue with a few things. First, the paleo eaters were advised to eat lean meat. There's some controversy in the paleo world about how much fat would have been in our natural diets: Cordain thinks lean meat is the way to go, while others note that although game meat is in fact leaner than feedlot meat raised on grains, traditional hunters relied on fat, sought it out, and knew that a lack of fat eventually resulted in "rabbit starvation".
Second, the article states that "substances in grains and dairy products have been shown to interfere with the metabolism of carbohydrates and fat in various studies." Uh, guys? When you're talking diabetes and heart disease, carbohydrates themselves are the problem. There are substances in grains and dairy products - namely gluten and casein - that cause a whole crapload of additional problems (would you like some rheumatoid arthritis with your coronary?) I'm not sure what they were getting at with this statement. I'm not sure they were sure. In fact, I'm sure they weren't sure. Surely.
Finally, the paleo eaters had a marked improvement in insulin response to carbohydrates - meaning, their blood sugar didn't skyrocket anymore when they ate carbs. I am waiting for someone to interpret this as "Three months on the paleo diet, and I can eat cookies without shooting up!" or some such nonsense. When you're eating natural foods, like meat, natural fats, veggies, nuts etc, your blood sugar stays stable. You don't get the hunger spikes and energy crashes. If you're diabetic, or want to avoid becoming so, paleo eating can be great for you provided you keep it lower carb...so you go easy on the high-sugar fruits, for example. Berries are better than bananas. Keeping the diet low carb will keep blood sugar stable, and diabetes controlled or at bay (and you get the added bonus of shedding body fat and staying slim).
Overall, I'm thrilled that the caveman WOE (way of eating) finally made news. PaleoSlim shakes and NeanderBars should be just around the corner. *shudder*
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tracy_Bradley
http://EzineArticles.com/?Paleo-Diet-Beats-Mediterranean-Diet-For-Controlling-Blood-Sugar&id=2760751
Diet From the Stone Age
By: Floyd Adan
It's pretty crazy to think that the healthiest diet for humans
may have been the one we followed before the development of
agriculture. But there's a growing number of people who believe
in this type of diet and feel their very best when eating a diet
free of grains and dairy. During the Paleolithic Era, all people
were hunter-gatherers, animals were hunted and plant foods were
gathered and up until about 10,000 years ago, no society existed
that farmed animals or grew crops.
Also, no one ate milk products or drank milk after they were
weaned off mother's milk back then. Today, many nutritionists
think that the Paleolithic people ate a diet that was higher in
protein compared to the typical, present-day, Western diet, up
to twice as high as that of the average person in the West
today. Interesting when you consider the fact that the base of
our food pyramid today is grains. But you should know that the
animals hunted back then were 'game' animals, and likely low in
fat, making the protein much healthier. The Stone-agers probably
ate a lot of fish and other seafood like oysters and mussels,
crustacea such as prawns, caught by people who lived near the
sea, rivers or lakes, also low in saturated fat.
Also, Paleolithic people ate much larger quantities of fruits
and vegetables and mostly root vegetables. Naturally, if you try
to follow such a diet today, it would be wise to avoid the
obvious sugar, dairy products (although some suggest that
low-fat dairy products are needed for calcium), and grains, as
well as potatoes, beans, soy beans and lentils. The resulting
diet would be high-protein, medium-fat, low/medium-carbohydrate,
high-fiber, rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
A diet for everyone? Certainly not, as it would be quite a
financial expense for most to start buying and cooking game meat
instead of the cheaper cow beef. Though perhaps healthier, such
a diet unfortunately could not sustain our world filled today
with billions. But it may be an answer to the chronic diseases
of the wealthy Westerners.
About the author:
Looking to lose weight? Seeking to improve your nutrition?
Visit onemorediet.com
for a whole bunch of healthy dieting and nutrition tips.
It's pretty crazy to think that the healthiest diet for humans
may have been the one we followed before the development of
agriculture. But there's a growing number of people who believe
in this type of diet and feel their very best when eating a diet
free of grains and dairy. During the Paleolithic Era, all people
were hunter-gatherers, animals were hunted and plant foods were
gathered and up until about 10,000 years ago, no society existed
that farmed animals or grew crops.
Also, no one ate milk products or drank milk after they were
weaned off mother's milk back then. Today, many nutritionists
think that the Paleolithic people ate a diet that was higher in
protein compared to the typical, present-day, Western diet, up
to twice as high as that of the average person in the West
today. Interesting when you consider the fact that the base of
our food pyramid today is grains. But you should know that the
animals hunted back then were 'game' animals, and likely low in
fat, making the protein much healthier. The Stone-agers probably
ate a lot of fish and other seafood like oysters and mussels,
crustacea such as prawns, caught by people who lived near the
sea, rivers or lakes, also low in saturated fat.
Also, Paleolithic people ate much larger quantities of fruits
and vegetables and mostly root vegetables. Naturally, if you try
to follow such a diet today, it would be wise to avoid the
obvious sugar, dairy products (although some suggest that
low-fat dairy products are needed for calcium), and grains, as
well as potatoes, beans, soy beans and lentils. The resulting
diet would be high-protein, medium-fat, low/medium-carbohydrate,
high-fiber, rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
A diet for everyone? Certainly not, as it would be quite a
financial expense for most to start buying and cooking game meat
instead of the cheaper cow beef. Though perhaps healthier, such
a diet unfortunately could not sustain our world filled today
with billions. But it may be an answer to the chronic diseases
of the wealthy Westerners.
About the author:
Looking to lose weight? Seeking to improve your nutrition?
Visit onemorediet.com
for a whole bunch of healthy dieting and nutrition tips.
Meat: To Eat or Not to Eat?
By: Brian Brookshire
Nothing generates more controversy in nutrition than meat
consumption. Is it safe to eat? Is it immoral to eat? There are
seemingly more questions than answers.
Health experts in the 50s and 60s declared that red meat was bad
because it was high in saturated fat, which was linked to heart
disease and other health ailments. In recent times, high
protein, low carb fad diets such as the Atkins diet have
reversed this claim, calling for as much meat consumption as
your heart desires. And on yet another tack, vegetarians
disapprove of meat consumption on moral grounds.
All of these conflicting views leave us not knowing what to
believe. Should we stick to meat and potatoes like Mom taught
us? Should we do the "right" thing and begrudgingly give up our
beef for tofu burgers?
In answering these questions, it behooves us to consider how the
human body was actually designed to fuel itself. A relatively
recent, yet growing contingent of scientists and health experts
have started promoting The Paleo Diet, otherwise known as
The Stone Age Diet. This new body of work takes the view
that millions of years of evolution have shaped our dietary
needs, and that we can gain a better understanding of what those
dietary needs are by studying the diets of our ancestors.
From cave paintings of the wild bulls and boars that are the
ancestors of modern cows and pigs to the hunting to extinction
of the woolly mammoth, along with a good heap of archeological
and anthropological evidence, it is quite clear that our
ancestors ate meat. Lots of meat. In fact, human evolution has
developed an intimate relationship with meat consumption. It is
widely believed that a dietary shift to high volumes of nutrient
dense animal proteins is what fueled growth of the human brain
to over three times the size of our more distant
ancestors--which in turn gave rise to art, civilization,
technology, and many of the aspects of modern life that we
consider distinctly human.
Wait a second. Cavemen?! Meat consumption causing the rise of
civilization?! Woolly mammoths?!
It's very easy to dismiss The Paleo Diet because of how
different it is from everything else we have heard. And there
was probably a little bit more at work in the rise of human
civilization than a few steaks.
However, the undeniable fact remains--our ancestors ate meat,
and for millions of years. Our bodies are designed to fuel
themselves on meat. We live in a modern world of offices
lunches, fast food, and fad diets, but we have the dietary needs
of a paleolithic hunter-gatherer. Not only is it okay to eat
meat from a health perspective, but the evidence suggests that
we should probably be eating meat on a regular basis.
About the author:
Visit Brian's blog for more
ergonomic tips. Brian is passionate about achieving health
and happiness through diet and ergonomics tailored towards the
body's natural design. He also owns and operates
www.BodyCorrectLiving.com, an ergonomics store focused on
ergonomic chairs
and other ergonomic products.
Nothing generates more controversy in nutrition than meat
consumption. Is it safe to eat? Is it immoral to eat? There are
seemingly more questions than answers.
Health experts in the 50s and 60s declared that red meat was bad
because it was high in saturated fat, which was linked to heart
disease and other health ailments. In recent times, high
protein, low carb fad diets such as the Atkins diet have
reversed this claim, calling for as much meat consumption as
your heart desires. And on yet another tack, vegetarians
disapprove of meat consumption on moral grounds.
All of these conflicting views leave us not knowing what to
believe. Should we stick to meat and potatoes like Mom taught
us? Should we do the "right" thing and begrudgingly give up our
beef for tofu burgers?
In answering these questions, it behooves us to consider how the
human body was actually designed to fuel itself. A relatively
recent, yet growing contingent of scientists and health experts
have started promoting The Paleo Diet, otherwise known as
The Stone Age Diet. This new body of work takes the view
that millions of years of evolution have shaped our dietary
needs, and that we can gain a better understanding of what those
dietary needs are by studying the diets of our ancestors.
From cave paintings of the wild bulls and boars that are the
ancestors of modern cows and pigs to the hunting to extinction
of the woolly mammoth, along with a good heap of archeological
and anthropological evidence, it is quite clear that our
ancestors ate meat. Lots of meat. In fact, human evolution has
developed an intimate relationship with meat consumption. It is
widely believed that a dietary shift to high volumes of nutrient
dense animal proteins is what fueled growth of the human brain
to over three times the size of our more distant
ancestors--which in turn gave rise to art, civilization,
technology, and many of the aspects of modern life that we
consider distinctly human.
Wait a second. Cavemen?! Meat consumption causing the rise of
civilization?! Woolly mammoths?!
It's very easy to dismiss The Paleo Diet because of how
different it is from everything else we have heard. And there
was probably a little bit more at work in the rise of human
civilization than a few steaks.
However, the undeniable fact remains--our ancestors ate meat,
and for millions of years. Our bodies are designed to fuel
themselves on meat. We live in a modern world of offices
lunches, fast food, and fad diets, but we have the dietary needs
of a paleolithic hunter-gatherer. Not only is it okay to eat
meat from a health perspective, but the evidence suggests that
we should probably be eating meat on a regular basis.
About the author:
Visit Brian's blog for more
ergonomic tips. Brian is passionate about achieving health
and happiness through diet and ergonomics tailored towards the
body's natural design. He also owns and operates
www.BodyCorrectLiving.com, an ergonomics store focused on
ergonomic chairs
and other ergonomic products.
Caveman Cuisine
By: Sandra Prior
If we're really good and eat well, exercise, take life easy...
how long can we expect to live for? Life expectancy has
increased rapidly over the generations and societies such as the
Abkhasians in Georgia and the Hunzas in northern Pakistan hold
the best records for the longest life span. The age of 100 is
not unusual (and certainly no cause for Royal acknowledgement)
and the only clues we have to this great life span is that they
live in hilly high altitudes, walk a lot and have a diet high in
vegetables, grains and low in meat.
However, it was a French lady, Jeanne Louise Calment, who holds
the record for making it to 122. And although she was born in
the late 1800s and lived through the two biggest conflicts
mankind has ever known, it is likely that this lady's lifestyle
was quite different from the above-mentioned mountain societies.
So what is the link?
Looking at mankind's diet over the centuries is fascinating.
Consider the caveman's diet during the Paleolithic era - an
epoch that began 2.6 million years ago and accounts for 99% of
human history so far. The breakdown is thought to have been:
Carbohydrates: 45% Protein: 34% Fat: 21%.
Interestingly this combination is quite a popular and successful
balance amongst bodybuilders trying to lean up. It works by
increasing anabolic (muscle building) hormones in the body and
naturally maximizes the body's production of testosterone,
growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1). The diet
lasts about seven days, is quite manipulative and probably
mimics quite realistically the timing of supplies and meat
hunted and gathered by the caveman... before the flies beat them
to it.
The diet starts with a few days of eating high levels of fat and
protein and low levels of carbs. The understanding is that this
balance sparks an increase in blood serum levels of the
above-mentioned hormones and the body undergoes a metabolic
shift and will primarily be burning fat for fuel. Sounds good
doesn't it? The latter two days are spent loading up on
carbohydrates to fill out the muscle, giving good volume and
sheen to the condition: an aesthetic bonus that was possibly
overlooked by the hunter gatherer himself.
Some believe that the diet of cavemen is the optimum one,
covering all the dietary components and is coded for our genes.
The Early Medieval Period (400-1300AD) brought a different
balance of nutritional intake. Due to an increase in farming,
grains were more available and the percentages are believed to
have been: Carbohydrates: 75% Protein: 12% Fat: 13%.
Today's suggested ideal dietary balance (according to the
Institute for Optimum Nutrition after a 24-year research
program) is pretty close to the medieval farmer's choices
(despite our larger fat allowance). The recommendations are:
Carbohydrates: 60% Protein: 15% Fat: 25%.
No mention of sugar then? Sugar has a big role in our eating
today and is blamed for weight gain, diabetes and heart disease
not to mention spoiling our appetite for more nutritious
substances. It has no place in our biological make-up of
64%water, 22% protein and the rest as fat, minerals and vitamins
- yet we still find a way of welcoming it into our daily intake.
Take a look at modern man's dietary balance. It makes no excuses
for a high dose of sugar and three times as much fat as medieval
man: these figures may well be taking in the eating habits of a
few large Americans but nonetheless they average at:
Carbohydrates: 28% Protein: 12% Fat: 40% Sugar: 20%.
Can it really be the case that mankind 2.6 million years ago
right the way through to the end of the Middle Ages (1500 AD)
had worked out a better system of food consumption than we have
today? It certainly appears that way.
The more you examine dietary changes and life expectancy over
the centuries, the more baffling it becomes. The introduction of
grains in Medieval times provided more available carbohydrates
but is this a good thing? Its vulnerability in being close to
the ground means nature wants to ward off its predators with
toxic proteins. I believe in eating raw foods packed with live
enzymes but it isn't as clear cut as that: according to
nutritionists many grains, especially if uncooked, are full of
enzyme blockers and lectins.
Lectins are thought to be able to crack our biological code and
be fundamental in disease and changing DNA. This means that
flour, rice, potatoes, lentils and beans aren't as innocuous as
we thought. Although the Medieval times were closer than our
current society to what is now considered the ideal diet,
disease was rampant, medical knowledge poor and treatment
hit-and-miss. As a result average life expectancy was only 20
years.
Protein is derived from the word protos, which means first and
protein is considered the base to all living cells. No one ate
more protein than the caveman (or the bodybuilder) and his life
expectancy was an immature 16 years (though fending off 400 kg
Smilodons with sticks and stones might have had something to do
with that).
The conclusion trips up a little. We may well ponder the
benefits of indigenous and ancient cuisines but despite all our
dietary pitfalls we are living much longer. In 400AD life
expectancy was 35 years. By 1900 it had risen to 47 years. The
biggest leap started in 1930 when it was 59 years. By 1975 it
had advanced to about 71 years, and in 1989 it had increased to
74 years for men and 78 years for women. Speculatively, by the
year 2020 it might be 100 years. Jeanne Louise Calment managed
it and hinted at a maximum potential age to be 120. Let's hope
so as 78 seems a little too short.
So still no definite answers. It just illustrates that what we
believe to be essential for a long healthy life may not hold the
key. Sanitation, medical attention and improved living
conditions are hugely responsible, as are our genetics. Yet even
if weakness or disease is encoded in our genes, it still need
never be the death of you unless it is triggered by poor
self-care.... if you know what that is. Ask Mother Nature,
she'll know.
About the author:
Sandra Prior runs her own bodybuilding website at
target="blank">http://bodybuild.rr.nu.
If we're really good and eat well, exercise, take life easy...
how long can we expect to live for? Life expectancy has
increased rapidly over the generations and societies such as the
Abkhasians in Georgia and the Hunzas in northern Pakistan hold
the best records for the longest life span. The age of 100 is
not unusual (and certainly no cause for Royal acknowledgement)
and the only clues we have to this great life span is that they
live in hilly high altitudes, walk a lot and have a diet high in
vegetables, grains and low in meat.
However, it was a French lady, Jeanne Louise Calment, who holds
the record for making it to 122. And although she was born in
the late 1800s and lived through the two biggest conflicts
mankind has ever known, it is likely that this lady's lifestyle
was quite different from the above-mentioned mountain societies.
So what is the link?
Looking at mankind's diet over the centuries is fascinating.
Consider the caveman's diet during the Paleolithic era - an
epoch that began 2.6 million years ago and accounts for 99% of
human history so far. The breakdown is thought to have been:
Carbohydrates: 45% Protein: 34% Fat: 21%.
Interestingly this combination is quite a popular and successful
balance amongst bodybuilders trying to lean up. It works by
increasing anabolic (muscle building) hormones in the body and
naturally maximizes the body's production of testosterone,
growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1). The diet
lasts about seven days, is quite manipulative and probably
mimics quite realistically the timing of supplies and meat
hunted and gathered by the caveman... before the flies beat them
to it.
The diet starts with a few days of eating high levels of fat and
protein and low levels of carbs. The understanding is that this
balance sparks an increase in blood serum levels of the
above-mentioned hormones and the body undergoes a metabolic
shift and will primarily be burning fat for fuel. Sounds good
doesn't it? The latter two days are spent loading up on
carbohydrates to fill out the muscle, giving good volume and
sheen to the condition: an aesthetic bonus that was possibly
overlooked by the hunter gatherer himself.
Some believe that the diet of cavemen is the optimum one,
covering all the dietary components and is coded for our genes.
The Early Medieval Period (400-1300AD) brought a different
balance of nutritional intake. Due to an increase in farming,
grains were more available and the percentages are believed to
have been: Carbohydrates: 75% Protein: 12% Fat: 13%.
Today's suggested ideal dietary balance (according to the
Institute for Optimum Nutrition after a 24-year research
program) is pretty close to the medieval farmer's choices
(despite our larger fat allowance). The recommendations are:
Carbohydrates: 60% Protein: 15% Fat: 25%.
No mention of sugar then? Sugar has a big role in our eating
today and is blamed for weight gain, diabetes and heart disease
not to mention spoiling our appetite for more nutritious
substances. It has no place in our biological make-up of
64%water, 22% protein and the rest as fat, minerals and vitamins
- yet we still find a way of welcoming it into our daily intake.
Take a look at modern man's dietary balance. It makes no excuses
for a high dose of sugar and three times as much fat as medieval
man: these figures may well be taking in the eating habits of a
few large Americans but nonetheless they average at:
Carbohydrates: 28% Protein: 12% Fat: 40% Sugar: 20%.
Can it really be the case that mankind 2.6 million years ago
right the way through to the end of the Middle Ages (1500 AD)
had worked out a better system of food consumption than we have
today? It certainly appears that way.
The more you examine dietary changes and life expectancy over
the centuries, the more baffling it becomes. The introduction of
grains in Medieval times provided more available carbohydrates
but is this a good thing? Its vulnerability in being close to
the ground means nature wants to ward off its predators with
toxic proteins. I believe in eating raw foods packed with live
enzymes but it isn't as clear cut as that: according to
nutritionists many grains, especially if uncooked, are full of
enzyme blockers and lectins.
Lectins are thought to be able to crack our biological code and
be fundamental in disease and changing DNA. This means that
flour, rice, potatoes, lentils and beans aren't as innocuous as
we thought. Although the Medieval times were closer than our
current society to what is now considered the ideal diet,
disease was rampant, medical knowledge poor and treatment
hit-and-miss. As a result average life expectancy was only 20
years.
Protein is derived from the word protos, which means first and
protein is considered the base to all living cells. No one ate
more protein than the caveman (or the bodybuilder) and his life
expectancy was an immature 16 years (though fending off 400 kg
Smilodons with sticks and stones might have had something to do
with that).
The conclusion trips up a little. We may well ponder the
benefits of indigenous and ancient cuisines but despite all our
dietary pitfalls we are living much longer. In 400AD life
expectancy was 35 years. By 1900 it had risen to 47 years. The
biggest leap started in 1930 when it was 59 years. By 1975 it
had advanced to about 71 years, and in 1989 it had increased to
74 years for men and 78 years for women. Speculatively, by the
year 2020 it might be 100 years. Jeanne Louise Calment managed
it and hinted at a maximum potential age to be 120. Let's hope
so as 78 seems a little too short.
So still no definite answers. It just illustrates that what we
believe to be essential for a long healthy life may not hold the
key. Sanitation, medical attention and improved living
conditions are hugely responsible, as are our genetics. Yet even
if weakness or disease is encoded in our genes, it still need
never be the death of you unless it is triggered by poor
self-care.... if you know what that is. Ask Mother Nature,
she'll know.
About the author:
Sandra Prior runs her own bodybuilding website at
target="blank">http://bodybuild.rr.nu.
Paleolithic Diet - A Stone Age Diet That Works
You must have seen several movies on cavemen, remember the movie
"A night at the museum?" Ever wondered how they have been so
lean.
There are more than 84 tribes in this world who are hunter
gatherers. These kinds of people have the perfect body; they are
stronger and are faster just like a leopard. They have no eye
sight problem and have the best teeth. Problems like Diabetes,
hypertension, heart diseases, and cancer are Greek and Latin to
them.
The simple reason being a secret diet something that has changed
from, as put by Dr. Ben Balzar, the first humans 2 million years
ago, and their predecessors up to 7 million years ago.
Read on as you have a bag of surprises waiting for you.
As mentioned earlier this diet of the caveman was known as the
"Paleolithic Diet". This era was known as the Paleolithic or the
Stone Age. There have been terms such as "Stone Age Diet", "Cave
Man Diet" or the "Hunter-Gatherer Diet", which have been used.
There are many who romanticize it and call it the diet from the
"Garden of Eden".
Understanding the Paleolithic Diet is as easy as it is to
understand a high school math problem. It is said that the
Paleolithic Diet unmatched qualities It represents a combination
of all the features of other dietary theories, by eliminating
the bad ones from the lot and making it simple to understand and
follow.
Almost all the important components are covered, like fats,
proteins, carbohydrates, fibrous fruits etc. You can have lean
proteins, nuts, and fibrous carbs, reduce processed products and
starch.
Did you know that the caveman had no modes of entertainment? He
had to find food, which could be all sorts of wild meat,
freshwater or saltwater fish or a variety of greens. There was
no fast food that was available then. His only exercise was to
hunt animals which involved a lot of running, probably lifting
boulders and lighting fire. The caveman used no spices, or fatty
syrups like white sauce or corn syrup. He did not even have
shops around to buy preservatives or chemical products. His diet
included nuts, seeds, vegetable, some herbs, fruits, meat and
fish.
The diet completely bans the usage of potatoes or carb foods.
The use of rice or potatoes is forbidden when it comes to the
Paleolithic diets. Try oatmeal in the mornings instead of sugar,
or wheat flour food. You can have naturally sweetened potatoes,
like the sweet potatoes, which are neither processed by man or
machine. In today life, there is too much fat in the food, and
in turn lead it to problems like obesity and all sorts of
diseases. No grain or no starch food is much wise a choice.
It's better to have natural foods. Fruits, Veggies and other
such things which are not made by man, but come naturally. The
more the processed food in the house, the more damage it causes.
Then why even try and damage your life with your own hands?
About the author:
Chris McCombs is an
Anaheim Personal Trainer. He owns a company Positively Fit
Personal Training with specialty in fat loss and muscle toning.
"A night at the museum?" Ever wondered how they have been so
lean.
There are more than 84 tribes in this world who are hunter
gatherers. These kinds of people have the perfect body; they are
stronger and are faster just like a leopard. They have no eye
sight problem and have the best teeth. Problems like Diabetes,
hypertension, heart diseases, and cancer are Greek and Latin to
them.
The simple reason being a secret diet something that has changed
from, as put by Dr. Ben Balzar, the first humans 2 million years
ago, and their predecessors up to 7 million years ago.
Read on as you have a bag of surprises waiting for you.
As mentioned earlier this diet of the caveman was known as the
"Paleolithic Diet". This era was known as the Paleolithic or the
Stone Age. There have been terms such as "Stone Age Diet", "Cave
Man Diet" or the "Hunter-Gatherer Diet", which have been used.
There are many who romanticize it and call it the diet from the
"Garden of Eden".
Understanding the Paleolithic Diet is as easy as it is to
understand a high school math problem. It is said that the
Paleolithic Diet unmatched qualities It represents a combination
of all the features of other dietary theories, by eliminating
the bad ones from the lot and making it simple to understand and
follow.
Almost all the important components are covered, like fats,
proteins, carbohydrates, fibrous fruits etc. You can have lean
proteins, nuts, and fibrous carbs, reduce processed products and
starch.
Did you know that the caveman had no modes of entertainment? He
had to find food, which could be all sorts of wild meat,
freshwater or saltwater fish or a variety of greens. There was
no fast food that was available then. His only exercise was to
hunt animals which involved a lot of running, probably lifting
boulders and lighting fire. The caveman used no spices, or fatty
syrups like white sauce or corn syrup. He did not even have
shops around to buy preservatives or chemical products. His diet
included nuts, seeds, vegetable, some herbs, fruits, meat and
fish.
The diet completely bans the usage of potatoes or carb foods.
The use of rice or potatoes is forbidden when it comes to the
Paleolithic diets. Try oatmeal in the mornings instead of sugar,
or wheat flour food. You can have naturally sweetened potatoes,
like the sweet potatoes, which are neither processed by man or
machine. In today life, there is too much fat in the food, and
in turn lead it to problems like obesity and all sorts of
diseases. No grain or no starch food is much wise a choice.
It's better to have natural foods. Fruits, Veggies and other
such things which are not made by man, but come naturally. The
more the processed food in the house, the more damage it causes.
Then why even try and damage your life with your own hands?
About the author:
Chris McCombs is an
Anaheim Personal Trainer. He owns a company Positively Fit
Personal Training with specialty in fat loss and muscle toning.
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