In the mainstream cultural patterns of the developed world, stress and sleep deprivation are so ubiquitous that they’re practically default. At worst, they’re considered unavoidable; at best, they’re seen as signs of productivity and drive: who doesn’t admire the guy dedicated enough to stay in the office until 2am to meet a surprise deadline?
That guy is killing himself – literally. The vicious...
Paleo exercise is based on the same principle as the Paleo diet: do what you’re designed to do. In this sense, Paleo exercise can be as radical a departure from standard American practice as the Paleo diet: “exercise” means incorporating movement into your whole life, not just starting your day with an hour at the gym. Essentially, exercise should complement your healthy diet in strengthening and...
Most people in the developed world spread their food intake out over the whole day – breakfast, lunch, dinner, and maybe a snack or two in between. But humans evolved and thrived on an irregular meal schedule well before grocery stores and modern food preservation made “three squares a day” possible. And far from being unhealthy, skipping an occasional meal or two has several benefits for health and...
You may have just embarked on your Paleo journey and find it a never ending challenge to transition from your old lifestyle to your new. You could also be a veteran to the diet, but still find yourself picking away at a fresh loaf of bread, or nibbling on some sweats. Or, even worse, you’re feeling like you’re doing everything right, yet you fail to see the results in weight loss, increased...
I’ve talked about how grains in general are a poor choice for your health, but gluten containing grains like wheat, barley and rye require special attention because they can be particularly damaging to your health. All grains, including other non-gluten containing grains like oats and corn, are bad because they contain gut irritating lectins and mineral binding phytates, but you’ll learn here...
The dangers of grain and legume consumption and of excess fructose consumption has been discussed on this website, but another common toxin in Western diets needs more attention: PUFAs (Polyunsaturated fats). I see that a lot of people are confused about which fats are the good ones and which are the bad ones. This article will clear the confusion and will also show that limiting PUFA consumption is...
Chocolate, coffee and alcohol are indulgences that are often enjoyed by people on a Paleo diet, but a lot of people wonder if those food choices are “Paleo” or not. In the true sense of whether our paleolithic ancestors enjoyed them, the answer is almost always no, but the real question we should ask ourselves is whether they are healthy when consumed in moderation.
In this article, I’ll...
There are misconceptions and unproven facts about what’s healthy or not that circulate in the paleo diet community and that lead people to mistakes, confusion or frustration when it comes to eating the healthiest diet possible.
The quasi-omnipresence of some of those myths and misconceptions has become so strong that some bloggers now feel bad about being associated with the paleo diet community and...
It’s common knowledge in the paleo diet circles that sugar, especially the sugar fructose, should be limited and that it can cause a multitude of problems like those categorized under the metabolic syndrome umbrella term. Unlike other major unhealthy foods and non-foods (eg.: grains, soy, vegetable oils), sugar is also in foods that are natural and healthy like fruits and vegetables. This can make it...
Nuts and seeds are a very popular snack among Paleo eaters and some people end up consuming quite a few of them. After all, they’re an easy and handy snack to bring to work or on hikes and most of them are loaded with nutrients. We know however that the fact that most nuts and seeds were available to our ancestors is not enough in itself to justify a frequent consumption. We need to look further into...
While most people in the Paleo diet circles agree on the basic premises, some questions are oftentimes the subject of much debate. The question about the optimal amount and ratio of protein, carbohydrate and fat that we should consume is one of them.
I think that many authors fall short in their recommendations and make mistakes that lead people to have wrong ideas about an optimal nutrition.
Trying to...
Accurately mimicking our ancestors is impossible and unnecessary and some authors in the paleo / primal / whole food blogosphere have raised concerns about using the term Paleo to describe the concept as some people are led to believe that we should try to accurately mimic our ancestor’s diet. This can lead to mistakes, unnecessary dogma or an unhealthy patronizing attitude. A lot of people now...
Those who’ve jumped on board of the Paleo diet lifestyle often know very well just how wrong are the current popular ideas against saturated fat and cholesterol consumption. Some probably wonder though as to how and why something that seems so obvious can be ignored by the major governing bodies and the medical establishment. Such propagation of bogus science can only happen in the presence of strong...
The products of the coconut, especially coconut oil, are often greatly enjoyed by Paleo diet folks and often end up being the main source of calories for many people starting on a paleo diet. After all, most will find it easier to simply buy a big jar of coconut oil than source grass-fed tallow that they then have to render themselves. Some will also shy away from butter fat because of the negative...
Warning: This article is long and dry, but should prove very useful for people suffering from hard to treat gut flora problems, bowel diseases or autoimmune diseases that started with a gut flora disruption.
The goal of this article is to tackle gut and gut flora problems and what to do about it. Granted, following a Paleo diet will often provide great relief and maybe even cure whatever ailment you’re...
Some will argue that butter is not Paleo and was not consumed by our ancestors of the Paleolithic. While there is truth to that, when consuming pure butter fat with the proteins and sugars removed by making clarified butter (ghee), we obtain a highly saturated fat that’s not much different from other sources of healthy animal saturated fat. An argument can also be made for the fact that butter has...
Now that you know that cholesterol in food (dietary cholesterol) is not a bad thing, you might be interested to learn about the benefits of eating egg yolks versus egg whites. In fact, other than for some extra proteins, egg whites are pretty much useless and can even cause problems for some people with digestive conditions or autoimmune diseases and you’ll see why later.
Our society’s bias...
This article is written so you can properly understand why eating a high saturated fat diet won’t make you fat and why counting calories and trying to burn more calories than you consume is a recipe for disaster. Elevated stress, fatigue, frustration and ultimately weight gain are the results of medium to long term calorie-restriction and/or excess cardio training.
You’ll see why a calorie...
Most vegetarians will argue with you that most mammals eat a vegetarian diet and fare fairly well. They will tell you that gorillas can lift 10 times their weight on a diet composed almost entirely of plants while even the strongest among us can only lift 3 times their weight. What they haven’t figured out though is that the gorilla’s anatomy is much different than ours and also that gorillas,...
It is my understanding that, over time, the truth always prevails. Like when we finally learned and accepted that the earth was round, one day it will be common knowledge that saturated fats are good while grains, vegetables oil and excess carbohydrates are bad. Only the future though will tell us how much time, sweat and uphill battle it will take for the main institutions to accept these...
This is yet another subject where everybody has an opinion that’s slightly different. If you come with the conventional wisdom mindset, you probably think that a good multivitamin is a good insurance no matter how healthy you already are or how well you eat.
I think the picture is a bit more complex than that. First of all, most multivitamins are very poorly absorbed and literally becomes money that...
This article is geared towards people who want to try out the Paleo diet and who just want to quickly know what they should and shouldn’t do.
No background science here or lengthy explanations, only 15 easy rules to follow to kick start your Paleo journey. It’s up to you to decide to what extent you want to follow those rules, but if you follow them 100% you can be assured that you are eating...
It goes without saying that diet is far from the only thing that drastically changed in our modern times in contrast to our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Although diet is the major variable when it comes to health, there certainly is room left for other lifestyle factors to be tweaked in favor of better, simple and healthier ways.
Wearing shoes is one such thing that seems so natural and second nature, but...
Eating the best food for your health doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. In fact, you’ll understand after this article why I think the better you go for your health, the cheaper it gets.
The good news is that with some commitment and preparation, your food bill can be lower than your average food bill on a regular western diet. This article is written with a poor college student in mind...
It can be therapeutic to just sit down, relax and watch a good movie or documentary. It’s even more interesting though when it’s about a subject that touches us as close as our health and the present food industry.
I’ll present here a quick review and commentary of the documentaries that ring true to us, Paleo eaters, while not necessarily bringing about the exact paleo principles.
We...
If you follow what the government and food industry tells you like a broken record, you probably still believe that soy at least as some health benefits and that it’s a good idea to consume at least some. After all, what could be bad about the innocent soy milk or tasteless tofu?
Everything is wrong about it and we’ve been fed a bunch of lies. You have to consider the fact that all that you...
Having multiple cavities, crooked teeth or having to rely on dentists to remove teeth that take up too much space is not the natural state of being.
How could this be? Are we the only species on earth that needs specialists to keep our teeth in order? How did we do it before dentists, we suffered endlessly perhaps. I don’t think so!
After all, mammals in nature seem to have no problems with their...
As you probably know, we’ve been eating grains, refined or whole, only since the beginning of agriculture some 10 000 years ago. The problem is that our genes where formed about 2 million years ago and haven’t changed much since then, nor did our digestive systems. Eating structurally and chemically different foods is therefore more often than not asking for problems. Grains are miles away...
Like saturated fat, carbohydrates and grains, most of us get it all wrong when it gets to cholesterol.
We’re told to limit our consumption of butter, lard, red meat and eggs, or worse, to go on statins to reduce our blood cholesterol levels, but yet, our ancestors seem to have thrived on those foods without the predicted heart problems.
Seeing the opportunity, the pharmacology industry did a really...
If you subscribe to today’s conventional wisdom, you probably think that being healthy and fit requires a lifelong dedication to strenuous exercise, calorie counting and restrictions.
This couldn’t be further from the truth and if you try to lose weight battling against your body’s mechanisms and genetics I wish you good luck on your life of hardship and deception.
People tell me all...
