What’s Happening: Food Up Close

What’s Happening: Food Up Close

It’s true that Paleo isn’t just about the food. Even if we start with diet, most of us eventually end up exploring a whole new world of workouts beyond the treadmill, homemade toothpaste, and standing desks. But sometimes it is useful to go back to basics and take a good hard look at what we’re eating – and this week, some great new reading material does just that:

• Soy Lecithin sounds like it should be a no-brainer for the “not Paleo” stamp, but it actually gets a tentative approval from Chris Kresser, mostly because we eat such tiny amounts of it that it barely matters.

• Coconut sugar, on the other hand, sounds like it ought to be Paleo, but unfortunately it’s basically regular sugar in disguise. Just because it’s made from a coconut doesn’t mean it’s healthy!

• Gluten definitely doesn’t get a pass, but this Nerd Fitness article on “What the H*** is Gluten” is a perfect introductory link to send to a confused friend or family member.

So…do your cupboards pass the test? No sneaky sugar-imposters? No hidden gluten? Pat yourself on the back and take a look at the rest of this week’s news:

• The Paleo story about obesity tends to start with the Agricultural Revolution. But in The 4 Billion Year Old Story of Obesity, Scientific American blogger Patrick Mustain gives us an overview that goes all the way back to the emergence of life itself. His question: how can we possibly ask human beings to “diet” in the modern food environment, when dieting goes against millions of years of self-preservation mechanisms that are literally hardwired into our DNA?

• Mark Sisson wants you to rethink stress: instead of getting stressed about being stressed, try to see it as a positive experience. Not the most obvious stress-management technique, but it may actually help you feel less overwhelmed.

• Paleo runners, check out this podcast on running and the Perfect Health Diet at PaleoRunner. Whether you’re training for a 5k or a marathon, you want to make sure you’re fueling properly!

• If you ever wondered why sleeping is so important, check out this article from Evolutionary Psychiatry explaining why sleep deprivation is a little bit like leaving all the dishes in the sink and letting the trash can overflow…in your brain.

• Dr. Briffa defends the honor of butter against its pseudo-healthy competitors.

• Part II in an excellent series on diet and autoimmune disease at Robb Wolf’s blog explores the gut lining: what makes it happy and why you care about keeping it that way.

• An interview with evolutionary biology professor Daniel Liberman covers what evolution has to say about diet, environmentalism, and public policy: a very interesting extension of the Paleo idea to a new area.

If you could make one law based on Paleo principles, what would it be? Let us know on Facebook or Google+!