FastPaleo is coming soon to your iPhone!! Last week, I submitted the FastPaleo iPhone app to Apple. The approval process usually takes 1-2 weeks, so while I can’t give an exact date, I can tell you that the app will be available on iTunes very soon.
It will be available for $0.99—the lowest price point possible on iTunes—and I would like to take a second to tell you what I plan to do with the money from the sales. The first is to continue to make the FastPaleo site a great paleo-primal recipe sharing site (it will ALWAYS be free). I have run the site on my own time and pocket money (a lot of it, lol) since we launched a little more than a year ago. Simply put, sales from the app will give me more time to make it better for you. I have a lot of ideas on how to do that that I’m really looking forward to making happen.
Also, 5% of all sales will go toward the foundation of a new non-profit I am launching, “JunkFreeKids.” JunkFreeKids will be dedicated to providing free healthy eating information, talks, and kids cooking workshops. As many of you know, I volunteer as a Big with Big Brothers Big Sisters, and have helped my Little and his family with healthy eating by cooking meals with them. This is both a passion of mine and something families desperately need. The 5% will go toward the building of the JunkFreeKids website and other requirements to launch the non-profit.
And, oh yeah, you get a SUUUUPER-DUUUUPER slick app!!
With the FastPaleo app, you’ll be able to:
Browse more than 1,200 beautiful, mouth-watering recipes in 19 categories, all with gorgeous full-color pics! You’ll never be stuck at the grocery store without knowing what to make for dinner again!
Have access to a constant flow of brand new recipes as our database grows!
Be able to search recipes in detail, by recipe title, dairy/non-dairy, category, recipe author, and by multiple ingredients, so you can find a recipe to make with exactly what you have!
Organize your recipes into multiple categories: Favorites, Want to Try, Made This, and Recommendations!
Click Random to check out a list of random recipes when you’re not sure what you want!
Share recipes on Facebook, Twitter and email!
Comment and keep notes on individual recipes!
Snap a pic of your dish, and upload your recipe right from your iPhone!
Add ingredients to a shopping list right within the app!
Not be bothered by ads—the whole app is ad-free!
So stay tuned for the launch, and help support FastPaleo and JunkFreeKids!!!
Written on April 23rd, 2012 by The Shirtless Chef.
As some of you may know, I’m a Big with Big Brothers Big Sisters, and sometimes I like to get together with my Lil and his real-life little brother and their mom and cook healthy meals together. It’s a fun way to introduce them to healthy and fun eating and get them used to cooking from a young age
We decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to review Eat Like a Dinosaur, the paleo kids cookbook written by Stacy Toth and Matthew McCarry. Sitting down and looking at all of the great recipes together was a great place to start. I could help the kids understand each recipe, and also pick out a menu that was both fun and well-balanced, i.e., “if we’re going to have the Chocolate Chip Cookies, we need to also do something with vegetables, lol.” Reading with kids is always great, and Eat Like a Dinosaur makes it easy—it is bright and colorful, the recipes all have fun names, and the copy is easy-to-read, no kitchenese
We decided on Fool’s Gold Chicken Nuggets, Deviled Bacony Eggs, Apple Bacon Slaw, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, and, of course, Chocolate Chip Cookies. The trick I’ve found is to find something that is both fun and kids are familiar with, and then make it healthy—this is pretty much the whole idea of ELaD, so it worked out perfectly.
I did prep some of the more “adult-supervision-required” kinda stuff myself: boiling the hard-boiled eggs, mincing the stuff for the slaw on the mandolin, but the other great thing was that there were lots of ways the kids could help. We set up a prep line for the cookies, nuggets, and eggs, with each of us working a station. It was a great way to get the kids familiar with kitchen work and for me to explain why we did things in certain ways, like with the nuggets, one person did the oil and the other did the breading so no breading got in the oil and not tons of oil got in the breading. No better way to learn than by doing
It worked out great! I was able to supervise, and we got everything cooked and on the table in around an hour. Most everything was gone by the time we were done eating, and the kids said they loved it! The eggs in particular were gone in no time
ELaD makes a real contribution to helping kids eat healthy in a number of ways. The presentation of the cookbook is kid-friendly and reading it together is easy. The recipes are things that kids actually love to eat. And, they are set up in a way that kids can really get involved in the cooking process. For me, all of this is where the rubber really meets the road in the paleo movement. Theory requires application, and the application of paleo theory is cooking and eating, which this book really makes easy. What’s more, in making that cooking and eating both approachable and fun from a young age, it gives kids real tools and knowledge to build good habits early on in life. That’s a lot of paleo win, in my book
Hey there FastPaleo peeps! Kristin here, and I have a brief announcement to make. After much consideration, I have decided to leave FastPaleo LLC. This was a very difficult decision to make because I love being part of a great paleo support tool that so many of you find so useful, but this is one of those times that I need to do what’s best for me. But never fear, your recipes will still be here! James will keep the paleo recipe sharing engine going without me.
Don’t think this means I’m going to disappear into thin air. You can subscribe to my personal page on Facebook (Kristin Jekielek, the one and only), or Like my other Paleo pages: PaleoGoGo and the upcoming Paleo Trail. My email is kristin @ urbanstoneage.com.
David Csonka of Naturally Engineered is hosting the 2nd annual Paleo Community Survey, and we need YOU to participate! David created this survey as a way for the paleo community to collectively share their paleo experiences while allowing everyone to see the aggregate results of who’s in this community. The 2011 Survey results can be viewed here. Isn’t that some awesome info to have??
I’d like to point out that this is a 100% FREE service being provided to the paleo community. Obtaining this kind of information usually costs a lot of $$$. David puts in the work voluntarily, and the willingness of the paleo community to share and participate is really what makes this possible.
There were 6,000+ respondents last year…I know we can beat that this year. Fill out the survey and share it with all your paleo friends!!
You even get something for filling out the survey. In fact, there are a couple somethings! After taking the survey, you’ll be taken to a page that contains a code for 15% off an order with U.S. Wellness Meats AND a code for a free download of one issue of Paleo Magazine.
I already took the survey, and it takes less than 10 minutes. Don’t put it off! Respond today!
You can make ANY recipe from any of their sites for this contest. To help you pick a recipe to make, you can easily review everything they’ve uploaded to FastPaleo on their author pages. They may have additional recipes on their blogs that haven’t been uploaded here, but it should give you a good idea of what they have to offer. There are a LOT.
Written on February 1st, 2012 by Kristin Jekielek.
With over 1,000 recipes shared, it’s time to highlight those crowd-favorites you can make to keep it paleo for Super Bowl Sunday. This recipe round up has a little bit of everything. Check out all the recipes here:
There are crock pot recipes if you want to keep it simple, grilled meats & veg, desserts, and lots of bacon-wrapped everything. There are a bunch of rib recipes, and of course there’s primal chili. We’ll keep adding to this list as we get closer to the big day. Upload your recipe today and we’ll get it added to this page if it’s a great party food!
Written on January 21st, 2012 by The Shirtless Chef.
How can our perceptions of our own bodies be healthy? How can they be unhealthy? Which body images that appear in the media are encouraging and motivating? Which ones present unrealistic, unhealthy or even totally fake standards of “beauty?” These are difficult questions, with fine lines.
Take pictures of people who do CrossFit in the midst sweat-sloshing, pulse-pounding WODs. Usually very fit, usually from hard work and good eating, always working hard. Most people find these images nothing but positive. Below are two pictures of my friend Jacob doing a handstand and double-under at CrossFit Love in Philly.
Fighters love to see pictures of themselves and their teammates in action. The pictures capture the moments of the realization of months of hard work, beautiful human bodies captured in the aesthetic perfection of extreme motion and emotion. In my opinion, these images are pure artwork. Below is a picture of my friend and teammate Molly body kicking her opponent in her last fight.
Almost nobody would argue these images are negative, objectifying, or unrealistic. They depict people doing what they love to do, which is undeniably positive. They are engaged in sports in which happen to produce beautiful bodies, but those “objects” are not the point, the sport is, so they are not being “objectified.” What is happening is not staged or photographically altered with respect to the participants’ bodies, so in that sense it is very “real.”
Now let’s look at some images which I would say are on the other end of the spectrum, one the far extreme, and one a bit short of that.
The first is of Faith Hill, the left image pre-Photoshop, the right post-. The changes are drastic. Part of her back and shoulder is removed, her torso is sharply tapered, and the width of her arm is nearly halved. What remains is an image that is at best only partly real.
The next image if of Kim Kardashian. The changes are less drastic, but they are there. Her thighs are smoothed and slightly thinned. Her arm is tapered, although not as drastically, and some fly-aways are removed from her forehead.
In addition to being altered, the other difference from those of my friends is that these are obviously staged photos. The only activity they are engaged in is that of attempting to look attractive for the camera. And clearly, the purpose of these images is to be aesthetically pleasing – or perhaps, more accurately, to sell magazines.
I believe that, while to a different extent, these are the type of images that can be negative in creating more than an unrealistic, but a literally unreal sense of beauty for which people can indeed create an unhealthy affinity.
So I am going to propose that two factors we can use to judge body image in the media: 1) to what extent they are “purely aesthetic” and 2) to what extent they are “real.”
Now let’s look at another image, this one of the U.S. Women’s National Team goalie Hope Solo, who was rejected from Dancing With the Stars because she was told she was “too muscular.”
As this image appears ESPN “The Body Issue,” we can certainly say that it is purely aesthetic. While it depicts her appearing to be in the midst of an agility drill common in soccer warm-ups, it is clearly not taking place on a soccer field; she appears to be wearing some amount of eye make-up, and, in case you weren’t aware, soccer players typically wear uniforms.
But there is important nuance in what kind of aesthetic is portrayed: she appears active, strong, capable, and beautiful at the same time, not like a mere wallflower.
What we are looking at also appears to be the real body of an athlete. Powerful legs and tapered calves, defined serratus and cleaved pectoral muscles, real triceps and sinewy forearms, glowing healthy skin.
In my opinion, this photo takes the real, beautiful body of a woman athlete and, while staged, presents it in an aesthetic that accentuates that strength and athleticism, while being very beautiful. What you see is a body she has earned through hard work, and I don’t see anything wrong with admiring, or aspiring to an image like this.
Now let’s look at some images which are a bit more tricky.
This is a photo of Helmut Strebl, 44-year-old fitness model, which appears on the website simplyshredded.com. The photo is certainly purely aesthetic. He is flexed out on his black leather couch in his black tighties simply for us to look at.
Now, think about to what extent the image is “real.” Are those his own muscles? Absolutely. Does his stomach look like an anatomy diagram? Yes it does. Does the gray scale add to the perceived definition. It does. Is dehydration and sodium depletion part of the prep required to make one’s muscle tissue appear this sinewy? I would imagine so. Tricky.
Let’s take another “borderline” image, Zuzana from Bodkyrock.tv.
So let’s ask our first question, to what extent is this purely aesthetic? Well, at first glance, it may just look like she is sticking her ass in the air. But, I would say she is actually in the middle of a dive-bomber push-up, an extremely functional exercise. But that doesn’t change the fact that, well, she is still sticking her ass in the air.
That is where I would say the cleverness, or dubiousness, depending on your opinion, of Bodyrock.tv lies. The routines offered on the site are all super legit. And at the same time, everything, including the pics, thumbnails, and exercise routines (“Kissable Abs Workout”) are presented with a strong sexual undertone. Is it exercise? Yes. Is it porn? Probably, also, yes.
So there is a mix of functionality and aesthetics. But is her body “real?” Depending on what chat forum you read, at least the large majority of it is. Is it “realistic?” I think that depends. If you are a fitness model who is paid (a lot) to work out and likely has a good genetic base, maybe. If you are working a corporate job and getting in a healthy amount of regular exercise to stay fit and feel good, you may never “realistically” get this lean, and that is just fine.
Now let’s look at a couple which are even more tricky. The fitness internet is full of pictures of extremely fit-looking people combined with motivational maxims to help us get off our butts and to the gym.
The first contains a message which I would say is positive: “Your stomach shouldn’t be a waste basket.” But it comes from a blog with a name that encourages a goal that I don’t necessarily think is: “Help Me Get Thin.” I would say that this image is also purely aesthetic – boob-grabbing is not a sport. The photograph is obviously staged. Whether the photo is “real” in the sense that her body is digitally edited, I can’t be sure.
The below also has a good message: “Stop competing with others and start competing with yourself.” The photo is interesting though in that it is staged exercise. Medicine ball pushup are of course a real exercise. But is she really doing one now? Probably not. She looks like she’s posing for a picture meant to appear like she is doing a medicine ball push-up.
So what do you think? Does that make it “purely aesthetic?” Or is it ok because it’s portraying fitness? I would say in terms of “realness,” this is the body of someone dedicated to fitness and the health of their body. Is that something people should aspire to? Personally, I think the answer is “yes.”
There are only a few hard conclusions we can draw from looking at all of these photos. The first is that we cannot achieve bodies that aren’t real. Aspiring to photo-shopped skeletonized magazine cover “girls” is unhealthy. I would say these are negative and unhealthy.
I think this gets to a broader and very important point: we have become so unhealthy as a society that many of us don’t know what healthy bodies look like. You’ll never look like the girl on the magazine cover, because even she doesn’t look like the girl on the magazine cover. Moreover, you shouldn’t try to, because it’s not real.
At the same time, people need to know that a lean, muscular body is a perfectly attainable fitness goal for most, and it is in fact how human beings are meant to look.
That is why I included pics of my friends. They are real people. And they look like this is real life. I know because I see them. They eat right, and work out.
Here is a before and after pic of me. I’m just like you. I just decided to start filling my body with good stuff instead of crap and stop sitting at a bar and get up and go to a gym. Fitness and health are real, realistic and should be normal.
Past that, we have to understand that how we perceive images of bodies in the media, whether we are inspired or offended by them, is up to us. What I believe is important here is two things. First, we must educate ourselves to know what healthy human bodies look like and how to properly achieve them.
Obesity, while I suppose it can be a lifestyle choice, is neither healthy nor the intended physiological state of the human body. Neither is emaciation. At the same time, many of the images of “fitness” you will see depict people whose job it is to be fit. Know that you can reach a healthy weight and be fit, healthy and happy without having a 12-pack and 3% body fat, and that that isn’t necessarily what people are meant to look like either.
If fitness models are showing off their boobs or package while flexing a body so leaned out that you can see their individual muscle fibers, and you find yourself offended, consider why. Certainly they have the right to do so in a free society. If you are upset you don’t look like them, ask yourself if you really should be.
One great thing about the paleo community is the overwhelming healthy self-satisfaction people find through the lifestyle.
Some people find a paleo lifestyle that allows them to add muscle mass through hard weight training. Some people find that maintaining 80/20 and getting in 3 workouts a week lets them feel good and keep up with their kids. Some people, like me, use paleo as a tool to better themselves at a sport. Some people enjoy analyzing the different nutrients they consume and how their bodies respond. This gets to the only remaining hard conclusion, you can only have a healthy perception of others’ body images once you have identified with your own health and fitness.
I don’t want a big muscular body. Just not my thing. I don’t find it attractive and it doesn’t work for my sport. Does that mean I am offended by pictures guys who are bigger and more muscular than me? That’s silly. We both have established a base of good health, we just have different ways of enjoying it.
I think too many times, people are offended by images of sexy, fit people because they haven’t educated themselves and done the work to realize that it is possible. Here is a case in point which I believe embodies that. The first is a picture of fitness model Jamie Eason and three sheep. The picture was posted to a public Facebook fan page with the question “How many sheep do you see?” Following is the thread of responses. Is the pic meant to look sexy? Duh. Is that allowed? Sure. Is it her real body? Yes. Should everyone aspire to the body of a professional fitness model? Not necessarily. Is calling someone a “whore” a nice thing? Of course not. But should we feel sympathy for someone who could be acting out frustration over not having the knowledge to become healthy? I think absolutely. Does the fact that the comment occurs on a fitness page suggest that this is likely the case? Yes.
At the same time, is the person being offended also being bombarded by equally fake and unattainable “cover girl” body images, which we should be upset about. They likely are. But at the end of the day, isn’t everything on the internet and all media pretty much fair game? Yessiree, unless you believe in censorship. There really is little right and wrong. There is only yourself, and how you create and perceive that self.
That is why I really feel like the best images we can post are ones of ourselves and the results we have achieved, as well as openly sharing how we got there.
If I am looking to better my health and I see my friends or internet buddies posting awesome after pics and being happy and encouraging about how they got there, I will either be a hater or be inspired. And, I have found that even lots of the haters eventually get inspired. I will see that everyone’s motivations and results are slightly different. But — they are all undeniably getting healthy and happy, and I challenge anyone to argue that that isn’t the body image we all really want.
Written on January 17th, 2012 by Kristin Jekielek.
This blog post is written by Kristin.
Olive oil is one of those rare foods where just about everyone on the planet can agree on its health benefits. It has antioxidants, healthy monounsaturated fats, and a variety of phytonutrients, among other benefits. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) comes in superior for its health promoting benefits, and provides richer, deeper flavors than the standard stuff. There’s no doubt that high-quality olive oil can and should be part of your healthy diet.
I recently had the joy of sampling the Kasandrinos Extra Virgin Olive Oils from Anthony Kasandrinos. I tried the Phileos Organic EVOO and the Kotinos EVOO. I’m impressed by the dedication to purity. Both oils are made from only the Koroneiki olive, which are picked and pressed within 24 hours. Most brands available in the US mix olives from all over to produce a lower-quality oil for the less-discerning American market. Kasandrinos oils are also guaranteed to contain at most 0.3% acidity, even though the standard for the “Extra Virgin” label is to be at most 0.8%.
The Phileos variety is certified organic and packs more flavor into each beautiful drop. It’s very earthy with a pungent flavor that will get you in the back of your throat if you go heavy on it. It has a greenish-gold hue, and makes an excellent finishing oil. By finishing oil, I mean it’s a great way to add more fat and flavor to a cooked meal by drizzling over top of your entree & sides. It’s robust enough to maintain its flavor over beef, chicken, or a meaty fish. For salads, I like it simply with a drop of good vinegar and some salt to let the oil’s taste shine through.
Left: Phileos, Right: Kotinos
The Kotinos variety is more of a golden yellow with a milder flavor, although still deep. I prefer using this oil for making salad dressings because its milder flavor lends itself well to fresh herbs, mustard, and light vinegars, depending on which dressing I mix up.
Even though the Kotinos oil hasn’t be certified organic, the olive trees haven’t been sprayed or treated. According to Anthony, “Olive trees are actually very hardy trees that live for hundreds of years. They do not require much more than the sun, Mediterranean breeze and water. Chemicals and pesticides are not generally used on olive trees.”
If you want to be 100% certain that your olives were organically grown and processed, then opt for the organic-certified Phileos. Otherwise, the Kotinos is an equally healthy option.
Extra Virgin olive oils should always be reserved for cold uses (salads or finishing a cooked dish) instead of for cooking because heat degrades the beneficial elements that you’re paying extra for. A standard olive oil is a good choice for cooking, but stable saturated fats like ghee and coconut oil are better options.
The Kasandrino’s company is a family affair. Anthony’s uncle has imported olive oil for the past 10 years, and Anthony is taking the family business into the 21st century by making it available for purchase online. He has been passionate about olive oil his entire life. “My family has had olive farms in Greece for a few generations. It is a staple in EVERY kitchen in Greece. To me, it is something that has always been a part of my life, along with most Greeks.”
Written on December 30th, 2011 by The Shirtless Chef.
Announcing the U.S. Wellness Meats and FastPaleo New Year’s Beef Recipe Contest!! Beef recipe with the most <likes> wins $150 in U.S. Wellness Meats gift certificates!!!
From Monday January 2 – Sunday January 8, FastPaleo.com and U.S. Wellness Meats are holding a New Year’s Beef Recipe Contest. To enter, simply do the following:
1 Sign up for the U.S. Wellness Meats newsletter here! 2 <Like> the U.S. Wellness Meats Facebook page here! 3 Register for FastPaleo.com here! (top right of the page, also gets you a FREE smoothie guide) 4 <Like> the FastPaleo.com Facebook page here! 5 Upload AS MANY OF YOUR BEEF RECIPES AS YOU WANT to FastPaleo.com here from Jan 2 – Jan 8! Each upload is an entry in the contest. The only requirement is the recipe be primal/paleo and feature beef. 6 All recipes will be posted on FastPaleo.com and the FastPaleo.com Facebook page. <Like> and encourage your friends to <like> your recipes both on the Facebook widget on the website and on the FastPaleo.com Facebook page.
The recipe with the most TOTAL <likes> will be announced on Monday, January 9th and the winner will receive $150 in U.S. Wellness Meats gift certificates!!!
Written on December 21st, 2011 by Kristin Jekielek.
This is the second post in a two-part series on sweeteners by Kristin. The first post can be foundhere and contains some essential information on what sugars are and how they’re use by the body. Please read it before proceeding.
Last time we left off with an overview of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and why it’s bad for us. Remembering that, let’s delve into some common paleo and non-paleo sweeteners.
Tetris sugar cubes! Look but don't eat.
White Sugar
As mentioned above, white sugar is primarily sucrose, which is glucose stuck together with fructose. As naturally follows, it is 50% fructose and 50% glucose. While the corn industry claims that this makes it almost the same as HFCS, a key difference is that nearly all of these molecules are bonded as sucrose. This means the body has to first break down sucrose into individual molecules before any of it can be absorbed. There is a slower trickle of sugars into the blood stream, giving the body more time to deal with the influx. Your liver still has to metabolize every molecule of fructose, but the immediate demand is lessened. This makes it a slightly less harmful choice than HFCS.
Agave Nectar
There is a lot of conflicting advice about agave nectar. Some hail it as an ideal “natural” sweetener while others avoid it like the plague. The fact is that it is generally a poorer choice than even HFCS. Depending on the brand and other factors, agave nectar contains anywhere from 56 – 97% fructose, much of which is free fructose. This is why agave nectar is low-glycemic and touted as beneficial for diabetics, but we can’t ignore the effects of all that free fructose, which are beneficial for no one. For this reason, I rank agave nectar as the worst sweetener in this list.
Honey
Unfortunately, honey is primarily free fructose and glucose, too. It’s about 38% fructose and 31% glucose with water making up the majority of the rest. While it does contain trace amounts of vitamins and minerals, the key word here is trace. Even if you ate 100g of honey (~1/4 pound), you’d get only about 1% of your daily recommended allowance of any nutrient. This is not enough to offset the damage free fructose does. Ounce for ounce, though, it does provide fewer sugars than agave, HFCS, or white sugar.
Maple Syrup
First off, only ever use 100% pure maple syrup. Anything else is full of HFCS, preservatives, flavorings, and colorants that we should not consume. I couldn’t find exact numbers for maple syrup, but it is claimed to be primarily sucrose with very little free fructose or glucose. It also contains higher levels of some nutrients than honey and can actually provide significant amounts of manganese and zinc in a moderate serving. It’s biggest drawback is the strong, distinctive flavor that makes it unsuitable for some recipes.
Palm or Coconut Sugar
Did you know white sugar generally comes from plant sources? Sugar cane and sugar beets are the primary crops. Sourcing a sweetener from a plant does not make it “better” for you. This applies to palm and coconut sugars (which are actually different names for the same sweetener we’ll call coconut palm sugar). There have been claims that it is a low-GI sweetener, but I haven’t been able to locate any detailed studies that support this claim. In fact, it doesn’t make logical sense because the sucrose content is very similar to white sugar. It’s about 75% sucrose with small amounts of free fructose and glucose (3-9% each). It’s roughly the equivalent of table sugar in this regard, although with trace amounts of nutrients. But you already know how I feel about trace amounts. If you wouldn’t consume white sugar, then you shouldn’t be ok with consuming coconut palm sugar. This applies to raw cane sugar, as well.
Stevia
Sure, stevia is derived from a plant, but we already know that sweeteners from plants are not necessarily “better” for you. The biggest problem with stevia is that it’s a non-caloric sweetener (it contains zero calories). Dieters have rejoiced thinking this means they can again indulge in sweet treats without guilt! But just hold on for one garsh darn second. Any time your body tastes something sweet, it automatically assumes that is has carbohydrate calories with it because this is how sweet things occur in all other natural food sources.
Your body reacts accordingly with the same hormonal response as if you were eating white sugar. What is this response? Well, it modulates levels of insulin, for one. When insulin is released to combat anticipated rising blood sugar, extra glucose in the blood is stored as body fat. You thinking you’re being smarter than your body with non-calorie sweeteners, but you’re really stabbing yourself in the back. You’re just making it harder to kick the sugar cravings once and for all by perpetuating the cycle.
However, stevia is still a preferred sweetener over one with free fructose in it. Stevia extract is so powerfully sweet that it must be cut with fillers. For this reason, avoid any stevia liquids or white powders because these are all highly purified (read: processed). The ideal form is the stuff that’s still green because it’s simply dried & powdered leaves – it’s not extract, so no fillers are needed.
Xylitol
This is actually a sugar alcohol, as opposed to a true sugar, and so is metabolized using different pathways. It’s also a highly processed, refined industrial product made from corn. It can aggravate IBS and other intestinal problems. In addition, it continues to trigger the body’s hormonal response to sugars and sustains sugar cravings.
Erythritol
This is actually a sugar alcohol, as opposed to a true sugar, and it primarily passes through the body un-metabolized. Many common foods contain small amounts of erythritol naturally, so it has been shown to be safe for human consumption in small doses. It’s produced by fermenting a sugar source using a specific type of yeast, but it is still a highly processed industrial food product. Check out this manufacturing process Cargill published. In addition, it continues to trigger the body’s hormonal response to sugars and sustains sugar cravings.
Coconut Nectar
I haven’t seen coconut nectar in very many recipes, but I’m covering this one by request. After some research, I simply wasn’t able to locate any established facts around this sweetener. I’m skeptical of this sweetener until I find something that verifies the claims that it is only 1.5% fructose because of the hype that tends to rise around new “natural” sweeteners (example – agave nectar or stevia). I can’t say how it impacts your body, so I’ll personally be avoiding this sweetener and sticking to ones where I know the effects.
In general, avoid any sweeteners as part of your daily diet. For those special occasions when you’re going to treat yourself, stick to minimally processed sweeteners like raw honey, green powdered stevia, and 100% pure maple syrup. After that, avoid large doses of free fructose and go for white sugar, coconut palm sugar, xylitol, and erythritol. At all costs, avoid HFCS and agave nectar because of the large doses of free fructose they contain.
What sweeteners do you use? Did this article change your mind on sweeteners? What will you continue to use and why?
Written on December 16th, 2011 by Kristin Jekielek.
This is the first post in a two-part series on sweeteners by Kristin.
Awhile back I wrote about aspartame, but it’s high time I do a post on more sweeteners. Whether they’re “natural” or not, added sweeteners are not paleo. It’s true that honey is a “more paleo” option than High Fructose Corn Syrup, but it should still be considered a treat/cheat when consumed. Before you get up in arms and start shouting “but honey has nutrients in it!”, I will discuss the merits and drawbacks of several sweeteners I frequently see in paleo recipes in the second part of this series. It’s your choice whether to consume these and in what frequency, but you should know the implications of those choices, whether they be positive, negative, or neutral.
First we need to understand the basics of sugars and how they’re used by the body. Then I’ll discuss High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) as a baseline sugar since we can all agree it’s “bad”.
There are two primary sugars utilized by the body for energy: glucose and fructose. We used to get these sugars from two primary food types: starches and sweet fruits. Starches (preferred carbohydrates) are made of multiple glucose molecules bonded together. Sucrose, which is the primary sugar in fruit and white sugar, is one glucose and one fructose molecule bonded together. During digestion these bonds are broken down and single molecules of glucose and fructose are absorbed through the intestinal walls.
Glucose is the preferred fuel source, and it’s actually the only sugar that can be used for energy by brain and blood cells. It’s essential for life. In fact, your body will create glucose from stored fat if you don’t consume enough of it.
Fructose is not essential. You could live your entire life never consuming a gram of fructose and your body would never create it. However, your body does have ways of utilizing fructose for energy and storing it for later use, even if they aren’t optimal for health. All fructose consumed must be metabolized by the liver before it can be utilized as energy or stored for later. This process uses up essential stored nutrients and taxes the liver. If your liver is busy metabolizing fructose, it has less time for detoxing your body or regulating other processes. High levels of fructose consumption have been linked to obesity, diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty-liver disease, and depletion of nutrient stores.
HFCS More recently, HFCS has been introduced into the American diet as a new source of carbohydrates. As the name implies, HFCS contains a larger percentage of fructose than white sugar. It’s 55% fructose and 45% glucose. The important distinction to be made is that these are all free molecules. They are not bonded together as starches or sucrose. This means that they do not need to be digested and are immediately absorbed into the blood stream from the intestines. This results in a faster, more drastic change in blood sugar. It also means that your liver has a lot of fructose to deal with right now. It also means your body has a lot of glucose to deal with right now, which results in insulin spikes and fat storage if there isn’t a large, immediate demand for energy. The large quantity of free molecules is what makes HFCS so unhealthy to consume.
Next time I’ll discuss several common paleo and non-paleo sweeteners like white sugar, agave, and honey. What other sweeteners do you commonly use?
Written on November 23rd, 2011 by The Shirtless Chef.
The reasons diets fail are as numerous as there are failed diets: no fat and instead “heart-healthy” whole grains, not enough calories, no red meat, no carbs, no real food as you have nutritionally deficient frozen food food sent right to your door for ridiculous prices, no solid food as you drink powdered snake oil “supplements” which sit in plastic packs for months on end and you are fooled into buying by clever infomercials or faux-fitness pyramid schemes with scary fitness people screaming about torching fat, or, no food at all as you “cleanse” yourself to malnutrition or sickness with harmful “detox” protocols.
And while there may be many different “symptoms” of our mass dieting psychosis, that psychosis can be diagnosed neatly in one disheartening word: deprivation.
Think about it. Every single failed diet is about what you can’t have. I can’t eat this much; I can’t eat that kind of food; I can’t have this unless I exercise this much; everyone else is having this but I can’t because I’m on a diet. There are specific reasons why different failed diets indeed fail, but they are all guided by a mindset of disempowerment.
This is sad, particularly for people who make honest efforts at what they believe will work, but a constant focus on what you can’t do is doomed to failure — it’s depressing and psychologically unhealthy, and you have to deal with that while suffering with a diet that is bad for your body in the first place.
I always giggle on the inside when people ask me what I can eat on the “paleo diet.” Anyone who has lived the lifestyle has encountered this: “Well I just don’t know what you eat anymore!” “Are you going to be able to find something to eat if we go out?” Paleo peeps will know that the answer is pretty simple. First, there’s is plenty to eat. Second, choosing things to eat what will make me healthy and sexy and not fat and sick is not deprivation, it’s empowerment.
And if you think about it in terms of eating “food” (tough concept I know), who is eating “more,” the person that orders pasta and bread made of nutritionally void and potentially harmful hybridized wheat and topped with long-frozen or canned tomato sauce made with high-fructose corn syrup, or the person who orders salmon with greens instead of rice and a side of fruit salad?
In terms of real food, paleo allows you to eat much more, everything in fact if you think of “food” in the true sense of what we have evolved to eat: you know, crazy stuff like meat, fruits, vegetables, eggs, nuts…And the only reason strict calorie counting is ever necessary is that you are eating the wrong foods in the first place: namely processed sugar and grains.
I made a joke on a “your ecards” we posted on the fan page recently:
Of all the times I look forward to eating paleo, Thanksgiving is near the top of my list
So I ask you which is more empowering, choosing to eat delicious, wholesome foods that will make you feel and look good without obsessing over every last calorie or “point,” or instead eating things that will harm your body while worrying about not eating too many of them, because they will also make you fat? Crazy talk, right? Well that’s why I said “mass dieting psychosis,” and that’s why 70% of Americans are fat.
While I will say that I don’t really struggle with food cravings, this is also why cheating doesn’t make sense to me. Right now I’m eating things that taste good, make me feel good, and make my body look good. So instead I am going to eat something that won’t even taste that much better, will probably make me feel like crap, won’t make me any fitter, and might give me acne, cold sores, heartburn or indigestion? Maybe I’m weird, but there’s just nothing tempting about that to me, particularly when there are so many paleo-ized treat options that are just as good or better than the junk.
This is what is so great about paleo and what makes it a healthy, happy lifestyle and not a “diet:” it’s all about empowerment and what you can have.
And what you can have is not limited to all of the wonderful foods and recipes available to you, but what more you can get out of life with the wonderful base of physical and mental health paleo provides. I’ve done more and been happier in every area of my life since being empowered by the paleo lifestyle: my business, running FastPaleo.com, publishing a book, reaching new levels in Muay Thai, having a great, healthy relationship with my girlfriend, being able to be nicer to people in general.
Empowerment not disempowerment, happiness not depression, success not failure — paleo cures you of the sickness of can’t, to the health of can.
Written on November 16th, 2011 by Kristin Jekielek.
Attention all CrossFit Affiliates and paleo/primal bloggers! FastPaleo has a brand new feature we want you to use — MyFastPaleo!!!
FastPaleo.com was created as a paleo recipe sharing site, allowing anyone to freely upload their own paleo recipes to share with other paleo-ers — a free resource for the entire paleo community. We have been really happy with the response we have seen, with close to 1,000 recipes uploaded in our first six months. Now we want to allow everyone to share even more, by offering user-controlled FastPaleo.com subdomains, in other words your own personalized FastPaleo.com page, MyFastPaleo!
These subdomains are a totally free space where you can share and feature the recipes from the people at your box, or directly upload your own paleo recipes right to FastPaleo.com! When you sign up for a MyFastPaleo subdomain, you get the same FastPaleo layout, but the only recipes you see are those of people you add to your community! It’s a great way to create personalized support for your gym’s 30 Day Paleo Challenge with recipes that you approve of, or the perfect way to showcase your own amazing cooking skills!
To take advantage of this FREE offer, simply sign up as a member of FastPaleo and choose the option for “Sign me up AND give me a page.” You will be taken through the subdomain sign-up process where you get to choose your own URL athttp://yourname.fastpaleo.com. Once your page is verified, you can start uploading recipes immediately! As the admin of your own site, you can ensure the privacy of your members and be in charge of which recipes to post and when.
Existing members can create a page by following this link: http://yourname.fastpaleo.com. You’ll see instructions on how to create your own page there. We have a sample MyFastPaleo subdomain set up for you to check out – you’ll see it as soon as your create your own page. You’ll receive a PDF in your email that tells you how to manage your page, add users, approve recipes, add your own logo, and more! We want you to make this your space.
To be clear, you can already view all of your recipe uploads to FastPaleo.com at www.fastpaleo.com/author/username (that’s whatever username you log into the site with). You can also find this page by locating a recipe you uploaded and then clicking on the link in your name just above the recipe photo. The subdomains are just a great new way for you to showcase specific recipes with select groups of people!
All recipes uploaded under your MyFastPaleo subdomain will also appear in the FastPaleo feed on the main page, so you get to share with the entire FastPaleo community at the same time! This enriches the FastPaleo community with continuous new recipes while keeping the personal community you foster at your gym or blog.
We hope you enjoy this new feature, and we would love to get your feedback. We want to make this a great tool for everyone to use! You can always email us direct as kristin@fastpaleo.com orjames@fastpaleo.com.
Written on October 18th, 2011 by Kristin Jekielek.
Mark Sisson has asked for the help of the paleosphere in getting his new book onto the NYT Bestsellers List. Read on to learn about the book and how you can help! The links in this post all direct to Amazon and are affiliate links.
Before we dive in, I’d like to We’ve got a special announcement today. Mark Sisson, author of The Primal Blueprint, has a brand new book out called The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation. It’s a practical, action-oriented guide for how to eat, exercise and live Primally – a step-by-step, “cut to the chase” resource to make a smooth and quick transition into a Primal lifestyle. In it he tells you exactly what to do every day for 21 days to take control of your health for the rest of your life. Mark explains what this new book is all about, what’s in it and who it’s forhere.
Mark is looking to score this book on the New York Times best-seller list to gain exposure for the Primal Blueprint message, so he’s put together a loaded special offer. Basically, you order 1 or more copies between October 18 and 24, email your receipt to a special email address and Mark kicks you back a bunch of freebies. It’s a win-win. You get a great book for less than 15 bucks, and a bunch of free gifts, and you and Mark both get to help take the Primal movement mainstream. Check out the details of Mark’s special offer below and pick up a copy of the book today.
What Do I Win for Helping Put This Book on the NYT Best-Seller List?
Order 1 Copy and You Get:
1. Access to the exclusive, password-protected ebook – “Primal Living in the REAL World”: Hundreds of Primal enthusiasts share their challenges, solutions and practical tips for how they get – and stay – Primal. It’s like having the advice of 300 coaches. In it you’ll read hundreds of answers to these and numerous other questions: What is the first thing a person should do to kick start their Primal life? What do you think is the most important thing one should understand as they attempt to go Primal? What was the biggest hurdle you experienced when going Primal and how did you overcome it? And of course, the most important one, What do you usually eat for breakfast?
2. Access to the exclusive, password-protected audio interview – “21-Day Total Body Transformation”: Download a 60 minute, free-wheeling Q&A podcast in which Mark discusses the 8 Key Concepts that everyone needs to know to go Primal. Among many other topics covered, Mark discusses why your body prefers burning fat over carbohydrates and how you can use this knowledge to become a fat-burning beast instead of a sugar burner. Also, listen to Mark riff on why grains are totally unnecessary and why 80 percent of your body composition is determined by how you eat.
3. $10 Gift Certificate to PrimalBlueprint.com: Spend it like cash and order whatever you want, perhaps a cookbook to go with the 21-Day Transformation book? This means for a net 5 bucks you can grab a copy of Mark’s new book today.
Order 3 (Or More) Copies and You Get:
1. All the aforementioned benefits – the $10 Gift Certificate, the exclusive eBook and podcast, plus…
2. Audio recording of the original Primal Blueprint (released in 2009) - Listen to The Primal Blueprint on your phone or MP3 player with this abridged, digital (MP3) audio book voiced by Mark. This is the book that started it all and retails for $26.99. Grab 3 or more copies of the the 21-Day Total Body Transformation and you’ll get it for free.
3. Plus an additional $10 Gift Certificate to PrimalBlueprint.com, bringing the total to $20.
Order 8 (Or More) Copies and Help Change The World!
Oh, and do your holiday shopping early. One common frustration from Primal enthusiasts is how to get friends and loved ones on board. This book is the perfect calling card to introduce someone to the Primal Blueprint. Why not reduce the hassle of holiday shopping and give each of your deserving friends and loved ones the gift of life transformation?
Buy 8 or more books through mainstream channels and Mark will send you 50 percent of your order quantity in bonus books! Buy eight and Mark will send you four more. Buy 80 and he’ll send you 40 more – seriously…and he’ll autograph each one of the free books! And, of course, you’ll get all the aforementioned freebies.
100 copies – Personal Touch: Private 30-minute consultation over the telephone with Mark. Yes, you also get the 50 free signed books!
1,000 copies – Executive Decision: Mark will fly out to your location and spend the day helping get your employees Primal!
How Do I Win?
1. Order your book(s) online or at your local bookstore before midnight Monday, Oct 24.
2. Email your receipt to the appropriate email address:
If you purchase 1-2 copies email your receipt to 1book@primalblueprint.com
If you purchase 3-7 copies email your receipt to 3books@primalblueprint.com
If you purchase 8 or more copies email the confirmation that your order has shipped to 8books@primalblueprint.com
To reiterate, for 8 or more books, please email Mark the confirmation that your order has shipped (not your initial email receipt) to the appropriate email address above. Also, please include your shipping address so Mark knows where to ship your free books. Please allow 30 days for processing and shipping of your free books. Mark’s going to have a lot of books to sign!
Low-techies can fax receipt copy to 310-317-4424.
3. You will receive your e-gift certificate, eBook download instructions, podcast download instructions, and all other freebies by reply email. (Please be patient. The Worker Bees will be reviewing receipts and sending you instructions on how to access all of your freebies within 24 hours.)
If you have any questions about ordering, or this promotion, please call 888-774-6259 (or 310-317-4414).
Fine Print:
Unfortunately, Kindle and other digital books don’t count toward the NY Times best-seller list, nor this promotion.
Books purchased in physical locations (e.g. a brick-and-mortar Barnes & Noble) count, too. Just scan and email your receipt to the appropriate email address above, or fax it to 310-317-4424.
This offer only applies to book orders placed in the United States.
Written on September 29th, 2011 by Kristin Jekielek.
This post comes to you from Kristin. Read the article to learn about a special offer exclusively for FastPaleo peeps!
When I first heard about the Wodbook from Sport-Journals.com, I knew it was something I had to check out. I’m always on the lookout for easier, more impactful ways to track data. When I found out they also offered a Fuelbook for tracking a Paleo diet, I just had to check it out, too.
The Wodbook is made specifically for CrossFit WOD tracking, just as the name implies. However, it doesn’t just help you track your WODs. At $14.99, it also contains pages of detailed, CrossFit-specific information you’re sure to refer back to, like
Movement Standards, with visual guides
Girl & Hero WODs
CrossFit Game Workouts
Bodyweight Only WODs, for those times when you can’t make it to a gym
The Wendler 531 training program
Strength Standards, by bodyweight & male/female
Max Lift Weight % charts, to help you figure out what weight 80% of your max is
Each book provides space to track 140 WOD’s. If you’re training really hard and getting in 5 WOD’s/week (which is nuts), then one book could track over 6 months worth of workouts. That’s a lot of data! The workout pages let you track not just your workout, but they enable you to highlight days that you achieved a PR (personal record). You can also track your nutrition adherence for that day to help correlate diet to exercise performance. The Wodbook even provides pages to track your PR’s by lift and by WOD. The only way this CrossFit WOD tracker could be improved is if it entered data for you.
Now onto the Fuelbook. This ultra-slender journal lets you track over 3 months worth of eating habits, with space for 6 meals/snacks every day, for only $7.99. Each meal/snack enables you to track what you ate as a Carbohydrate, Fat, or Protein component of your meal; this would be useful if you follow Zone portions. I don’t personally use it because I’m comfortable with listening to my body cues on when/how much to eat of each.
It lets you do more than just track food, though. You can track your mood throughout the day using their emotive smiley faces. Plus there’s a section to track your supplements at every meal, if you’re into that sort of thing. Personally, I love this feature because it helps me keep track of the various meds/supps I’m on for hypothyroidism.
I love that calorie counting isn’t part of the Fuelbook. Many people get hung up and burned out on the time and effort it takes to accurately track calories. As many Paleo-ers learn, calories just don’t matter that much when you’re making the right choices. The back of the book even contains general Paleo guidelines that you can take with you. However, I wish that the Fuelbook provided a convenient way to track cheat meals. Creating a system of accountability would enable people to be more honest with themselves and encourage positive changes in habits.
These are both great products at very reasonable price points for the amount of use you can get out of each one. They are both well designed tools crafted to support the CrossFit & Paleo lifestyles.
Also, I’m really excited to offer everyone in our FastPaleo.com community a special offer from Sport-Journals.com: by using this special code, you get $1 off any order! Discount Code: “4fastpaleo!” (the exclamation point is part of the code). The Wodbook and the Fuelbook are available exclusively atwww.sport-journals.com. Head on over right now to get your journals and use the discount code!
FastPaleo.com does not profit from the sale of any Sport Journals products. This is simply an honest review of products that you may be interested in.
Written on September 24th, 2011 by Kristin Jekielek.
Kristin here! Last Saturday I had the opportunity to get a great Paleo refresher from Diane of Balanced Bites at CrossFit Center City. I’m sure many of you already frequent Diane’s blog for solid advice on nutrition and some recipes, and if you don’t already you certainly should start. Also in attendance were Leigh of Paleo at Penn and Stacy of Paleo Parents – two more awesome ladies whose blogs I enjoy and were a pleasure to meet.
Diane at CrossFit
Diane is a Certified Nutrition Consultant and C.H.E.K. Holistic Lifestyle Coach who speaks from experience. She was once a victim of conventional wisdom and the whole grain/low-fat myth, just like so many of us. She shares her previous struggles with Registered Dietitians, how she discovered Paleo, and the results of her constant self-experimentation.
Diane’s Paleo Nutrition Seminars are a perfect stepping stone for those already on a Paleo journey. Instead of telling you why Paleo is the cat’s meow and what to eat/avoid, she discusses the issues caused by grains, sugar, and industrial seed oils. Unless you can explicitly explain how dietary factors contribute to the following problems and how eating Paleo alleviates them, you could use some schooling from Diane:
Physiology & Hormone Regulation
Stress
Inflammation
Blood Sugar Regulation
Digestive Function
From the beginning, Diane stresses the importance of enabling others to make their own choices. I found myself repeatedly nodding my head in agreement because I share her belief that people need to understand why they do things a certain way. It enables the critical thinking necessary to make positive decisions, and she does a great job of explaining the details in simple terms. Like pushing a chick out of the nest, Diane gives attendees the knowledge to go be Paleo on their own.
Seminar Attendees
My favorite part of the day was the big Fat discussion. Diane brought in just a little bit of science to demonstrate how fats differ from one another in order to show that our bodies can tell the difference. She breaks it down well and makes it a very visual explanation as to why stable saturated fats are better than easily oxidized unsaturated fats for cooking. She even provided a handy dandy table that ranks fats for cooking use, and another chart for which fats to use for hot vs cold applications.
There’s a lot more to the seminar, though, as that was only the beginning of a lengthy Fat discussion. Many detailed topics were discussed throughout the 8 hour seminar, and the information was well organized. Although the group activities weren’t structured enough, the overarching message was always reviewed as a group.
I would recommend signing up for a Balanced Bites Paleo Nutrition Seminar next time there’s one in your area. It’s a great follow-up to a 30-day challenge to educate people on why they suddenly feel fantastic, or even the most seasoned Paleo pros are sure to learn a few new facts. It took me a week to digest all of the detailed information she provided, and I’ll be referring back to the handouts often.
If you’re brand new to Paleo, it would benefit you to peruse the Balanced Bites Resources page before attending a session. She doesn’t try to convince you to go Paleo or repeat the basics during a seminar, so come prepared.
Written on September 14th, 2011 by The Shirtless Chef.
– By FastPaleo.com guest writer Isaac Glendening and John Edwin, CSCS
Ah YES! The common excuse most folks are quick to employ when discussing their training habits or lack thereof, and I’m going to give you a solution…a knowledge bomb that needs to be dropped…
Let’s say the average person’s main goal is to lose weight, which is fairly easy to assume considering the U.S.’s rising obesity rate in all age groups, and address that large cohort primarily here. Don’t worry skinny dudes looking to “bulk up,” I’ll get to you as well.
As much as I’m not into their marketing scheme, there are a ridiculous amount of “fitness facilities” cropping up all over who are offering no contracts and a monthly membership as low as $10/mo. Sure, with some of them you get what you pay for in terms of cleanliness and available equipment, fair enough. You also have to look past their free “pizza night” and “muffin breakfasts” as well as their claims to give away millions of tootsie rolls.
I’m not even making this shit up. So OK, take a breath, and sign up with mind enough to avoid these temptations and get to the point when you’re at said gym…DO WORK. Hmmm…You may be thinking you want to spend that money on cigarettes, alcohol or buy a lottery ticket when you pick up your morning coffee. OK, if that 10 clams is too much wampum for you, you don’t have to fork it over…
We have an even BETTER alternative, and it’s free. Yep, you’re getting a free, lifetime membership to an exclusive gym with a few catches. You even get to be creative and not have to work around the schedule of a gym’s hours of operation.
Your battleground is anywhere and everywhere and will take a little creativity…plus a few optional gadgets; the most essential being a watch. I bet you have a watch or a timer. In fact, I best most people don’t realize that their phones (smart ones or even my dumb, cheap-o one) have some of these tools built in and there are some fantastic and super cheap apps available.
Look to these guys for a bit of inspiration and creativity:
For weight loss, look to do plyometric exercises in the form of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). I won’t go into great detail as to what plyometric movements are as I’m sure you have the internet in front of you right now and can easily look up a few. The four basic movements are push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups and squats.
Doing variations on these four basic movements without the use of any machines will dramatically call other muscle groups to work in order to stabilize your body. In other words, you will engage your core more in order to keep good form and increase your balance overall. Not too shabby, right? Everyone wants to have sweet abs and not fall over if they trip in the street, right?
So here are two basic examples of an HIIT circuit that will help whip you into shape:
Let’s set our timer to 5 minutes and work on a 40/20sec split for each part of the circuit. You’re going to work for 40sec of each minute on one motion doing as many repetitions as you can and then the remaining 20sec do jumping jacks at high pace (active recovery). I understand that pull-up bars don’t grow on trees…but trees with branches that support your weight do the trick! Do bent rows with a log or lift up a park bench. Just be careful and test your surroundings first.
Warm-up:
3min — jog for 20sec and sprint all-out for 20seconds until time is done
Circuit 1 — 5 minutes of each on a 40/20sec split
1) Burpees
2) Push-ups
3) Jump squats
4) Pull-ups
5) Full-range sit-ups
Rest no more than 2min between each and repeat 4+ times or mix it up by alternating with doing the next circuit
Circuit 2 — as many sets you can do:
5 push-ups
5 sit-ups
5 jump squats
5 jumping jacks
When/if you fatigue, take no more than 10sec rest and pick up where you left off in the chain and remember to slow your breathing down in this time.
Those are just two, super basic circuits anyone can do at just about any time. Even if you can’t do one of them for whatever reason, let’s say your hotel room has a low ceiling, you can modify these motions to fit. Also consider the recent trend in Adventure Races such as the Tough Mudder, analyze the scheme of their courses and perhaps apply the concept of an obstacle course/routine to make the challenge to yourself more interesting. You may even want to sign up for one and use that as a motivator to kick your game up a bit.
How about we add one more long, adventuresome circuit with that “obstacle course” idea in mind:
40 seconds working on each movement and 20 seconds to jog/sprint/crawl to the next
1) Mountain climbers
2) Ab Jackknifes
3) Deck Squats
4) Monkey bars (yep, the real deal)
5) Walking Lunges
1) Bear crawls
2) Leap frogs
3) Sumo/plie squats
4) Single leg jump squats (20 seconds per leg)
5) Static core aka low bridge
For those looking to gain mass, one way to do it is pick two of these exercises, do them alone or in series together and s-l-o-w-l-y. For example, do a push-up and count 5 seconds down and 10 seconds coming up. That’s about 15sec for a single-rep and will stimulate muscle growth. Time yourself for 10reps, make note of that time and cut it in half to find your rest time between sets. So if it takes you 2min to complete 10 reps, try to rest less than a minute and start over.
I’m not a big fan of split-body workouts, mainly because nothing you do naturally truly isolates any one muscle group like resistance machines in your local gym or some of the exercises used in standard bodybuilder regimens.
If you have an impressive 1rep max bench press but can’t run up a couple flights of steps without getting out of breath, how healthy are you? Again, the point here is that you don’t need a traditional gym space or loads of gear to achieve your goals…or the standard gym-rat mentality!
Here are a few items I do recommend to add to your modest batman arsenal to help. Most cost less than $10.
-Jump rope
-Pair of work or gardening gloves
-Strong, short towel or rope (for pulling motions)
-Split/round timer
(I rock a Gymboss one, but it was a whopping $20 and has served me well)
Dollar Stores, 5Below, and the like have these types of items at very reasonable prices.
There are loads of resources online that will arm you with variations on these motions. One I highly recommend is www.bodyrock.tv. While it may seem like exercise porn, and it kind of is, the trainer has some super-legit circuits she posts and fairly solid advice and…it’s FREE! She rarely uses many props for resistance, and the ones she does use can be modified with a little creativity which she often suggests as well.
Regardless of our various personal desires with self-image, the generally accepted goal is to have a balanced, healthy body.
“You should not have any special fondness for a particular weapon, or anything else, for that matter. Too much is the same as not enough. Without imitating anyone else, you should have as much weaponry as suits you.” — Miyamoto Musashi
Look at each of these motions as a weapon, each is a skill to be honed. Look for variety and try not to gravitate towards one because you may like having a big chest or cut abs. Add more tools, more movements to your toolbox and put them in a planned rotation.
I find the appearance of supposedly “fit” people with big guts or over-developed chests, shoulders and back but have a weak core to be almost sad. I can bet you, even if you do have access to a gym and employ these movements I’ve prescribed here in a logical pattern, you will find yourself closer to greater muscular balance and perhaps be less injury-prone as a result.
Most of us using this forum subscribe to the notion of doing things the way our ancestors did. Most of us don’t hunt every day for our meals or work a 12-hour day on a farm but we do know the kinds of movements these two lifestyles employ. Even with your more standard “cardio” exercises such as running, there is more than one direction besides simply “moving forward.”
Sprinting, climbing, pushing, pulling, jumping…these should ALL be verbs that can be used to describe your daily activity.
Written on September 3rd, 2011 by Kristin Jekielek.
A few weeks ago, a FastPaleo friend asked if almond cheese was paleo. I understand the thought process: almonds are paleo, so foods made from almonds are paleo. Unfortunately, modern food science has a way of mutating even the paleo-est foods into highly processed junk.
I happened to see almond cheese for sale in a grocery store recently, and I just had to check to it out.
Looks wholesome enough, no? Now let’s take a look at the ingredients.
Crushed organic almonds and filtered water are a great start, but please keep reading. The very unpaleo culprits are: casein, canola oil, natural flavorings, brown rice flour, sodium & calcium phosphates, citric acid, and carrageenan. I’m not going to destruct each of these components in the post. I’ll leave it to the reader to do an internet search to understand the source and creation of each ingredient, but I don’t think it adds to the message of this post.
The message is: some food manufacturers are very, very sneaky. Or maybe they’re just uninformed with the best intentions. Either way….Don’t trust your health to a food label! Take control of the situation by analyzing each product and using your best judgment. If you wouldn’t use it in your own kitchen, then it isn’t acceptable in a packaged food.
Now let me point something out here. I’d guess that many people would turn to almond cheese in order to avoid dairy. But the THIRD ingredient is CASEIN, which comes from MILK!!! WTF almond cheese creators? If you’re ok with eating dairy, then what is the possible application for almond cheese, which is just trying to replicate the wonderful qualities of melty milk-derived cheese? My brain is starting to hurt, so I’m going to move on.
This caution applies to all packaged foods you come across, but coconut products are ones that really throw paleo people for a loop. Most coconut milks come with additives, and some more than others; so proceed with extreme caution when sourcing a quality coconut milk. Same goes for coconut ice cream, coconut cream, and any coconut based “health” food. Whenever you’re trying out a new packaged food “product”….always remember to look before you leap! (And it probably isn’t paleo if it comes in a package anyway!)
Written on September 1st, 2011 by The Shirtless Chef.
The feeling after stepping out of a ring is like no other.
Almost like right after sex, but more intense — you are pulsing with rushing blood, adrenaline and elation, and there is a feeling of satisfaction and satiety from the huge dump of hormones. You can literally feel the pheromonal toughness pouring out of you, and others can feel it too. The look of admiration in the eyes of those gazing on a fighter fresh out of the ring is like no other — deeply rooted, instinctual, “primal.”
20 Seconds of My Last Muay Thai Fight
That is how I felt after this fight, and it is like no other feeling in the world.
I don’t think I need to spend much time forming an argument for the fact that violence is part of human evolution. Everyone knows people evolved killing animals for food. Whether negative or positive, human conflict is obvious historical fact. Violence is human nature, or at least part of it.
Taking this as fact, the question becomes how, if at all, can including violence in our lives be positive?
Everyone has aggressive tendencies. This is not to say that everyone wants to beat people up. It means that aggression is an evolved part of our being. And the reality is that we cannot go around beating people up — this is of course, illegal.
What can we do as outlets for aggression? We can take our aggression out on others by being emotionally abusive and hurtful. Think about the last time you made a snotty remark to someone. The root of this was aggression. You needed to hurt someone else to feel good.
We can take our aggression out on ourselves by becoming self-destructive, for example in the form of alcohol and drug abuse. I did this for many years. There can be pent up aggression which is relieved through destructive means than don’t necessarily involve physical violence.
Or, if we truly lack self-control, we literally take out our aggression on others through physical abuse or even assault. These actions are as much a reality as they are unjustified. I’ve never done this, but know people who have.
We try very hard to overthink, Orientalize and romanticize the calm and centered nature of martial artists, as if through the practice of their arts they have unlocked a mystical calming source of energy through their practice — enter the mistaken Western understanding of “chi” and “ki.”
The reality is simple. What you are looking at is people without pent up aggression. They are calm, emotionally stable and nonviolent *because* they have a controlled, intense and artistic environment through which to vent the aggression and violent nature every member of the human species naturally has within them.
With My Camp Brothers
This is also why I think there is such a tough guy mentality surrounding weightlifting, much more so than martial arts. “Tough,” “beastly,” “savage” — these are all words you see all over the internet and at gyms describing people lifting weights.
People falsely believe they are exercising aggression and becoming “tougher” through weightlifting, but this is an unhealthy misconception. “Tough” and “strong” aren’t the same things. While weight training is undeniably one of the best forms of exercise, one cannot be in conflict with inanimate objects, no matter how heavy they are. Weights don’t hit back.
What happens instead is that this can actually become a source of even greater unvented aggression. The stronger and healthier people become through weightlifting, the more their aggressive tendencies are increased. Without an outlet, this aggression manifests itself into the “meathead” mentality prevalent at all too many gyms.
This is why I think there is a strong objective argument that martial arts are simply the best form of exercise in existence. The high level of fitness dedicated practice and competition requires sculpts beautiful, lean physiques in functional, balanced proportion — what many might describe as perfect bodies.
Blood and Muscles
At the same time, you are learning something beautiful, rich with history and tradition, and very functional. Taking the art that I have chosen to pursue, Muay Thai, there is a long past history of it being used by the Thai people to protect their country from invasion, a deep connection with Buddhist philosophy and ceremony, and strong association with Thai folklore.
Take the story of the Nai Khanomtom, Muay Thai’s great hero:
“At the time of the fall of the ancient Siam capital of Ayutthaya in 1767, the invading Burmese troops rounded up thousands of Thais and took them to Burma as prisoners. Among them were a large number of Thai kickboxers, who were taken to the city of Ava.
“In 1774, in the Burmese city of Rangoon, the Burmese King Hsinbyushin (known in Thai as ‘King Mangra’) decided to organize a seven-day, seven-night religious festival in honor of Buddha’s relics. The festivities included many forms of entertainment, such as the costume plays called likay, comedies and farces, and sword-fighting matches.
“At one point, King Hsinbyushin wanted to see how muay boran would compare to the Burmese art Lethwei. Nai Khanomtom was selected to fight against the Burmese champion. The boxing ring was set up in front of the throne and Nai Khanomtom did a traditional Wai Kru pre-fight dance, to pay his respects to his teachers and ancestors, as well as the spectators, dancing around his opponent.
“This amazed and perplexed the Burmese people, who thought it was black magic. When the fight began, Nai Khanomtom charged out, using punches, kicks, elbows, and knees to pummel his opponent until he collapsed.
“However the Burmese referee said the Burmese champion was too distracted by the dance, and declared the knockout invalid. The King then asked if Nai Khanomtom would fight nine other Burmese champions to prove himself. He agreed and fought them all, one after the other with no rest periods in between. His last opponent was a great kickboxing teacher from Rakhine. Nai Khanomtom mangled him by his kicks and no one else dared to challenge him.
“King Mangra was so impressed that he allegedly remarked, ‘Every part of the Thai is blessed with venom. Even with his bare hands, he can fell nine or ten opponents. But his Lord was incompetent and lost the country to the enemy. If he would have been any good, there was no way the City of Ayutthaya would ever have fallen.’”
Kettlebells are cool, but not that cool
My Trainer Justin Performing the Ceremonial Pre-Fight Wai-Kru
And martial arts are “functional” in different senses. Yes, if you are ever confronted with a situation in which you are physically threatened you will know how to handle yourself. All the muscles in the world won’t help you throw a punch, or know what it feels like to be threatened or hit by one.
But, much more so than that, it is the relative calm that having been repeatedly exposed to controlled violence imparts that is one of martial arts’ greatest gifts. When you’ve had people hit and choke you, everyday verbal arguments seem like nothing and can be approached with calm. Even if there is the threat of physical conflict, you know what that threat feels like and can react sensibly and with emotional control. All potentially stressful life events simply become much easier for the martial artist.
There is also an emotional calm and stability that having a controlled environment to vent aggression gives. After hitting pads and sparring, any frustration or aggression — again which I believe we *all* have as human beings — is relieved. I can approach people kindly, calmly and empathetically. I feel so calm that I can read and intuit people’s feelings much more accurately, which allows me to be a better friend and person in general.
Martial arts training also fosters humility like few other things can. Helping warm up my camp sister, Molly, for her fight in Queens, I remember clearly understanding why this was.
The warm-up area was a 10x10ft curtained off space to the side of a bar at the venue, full of around 20 fighters and their coaches and all their gear. It was literally crammed full of people preparing to beat other people up, and it was the most polite place I’ve ever been. People asked nicely to use the tiny amount of space to warm up for their fight, said “excuse me” to get by, and were generally courteous and solicitous of one another — truly egoless.
Why? Egos are bred when people have something to prove, but nowhere to prove it. It’s easy to walk around the squat rack mean-mugging like a tough guy when actually getting into a fight will get you kicked out of the gym. It’s a little different when there’s a ring right in front of you and the chance of getting knocked out and carried out on a stretcher. None of the fighters in the warm-up room were holding onto anything to prove — they were proving it.
Those who train and compete in martial arts know what it’s like to get beat up and lose. I train with some of the highest level trainers and fighters in the sport, and getting my ass kicked by them is humbling on a daily basis, which is an awesome thing to have in life.
In addition to being physically humbled, mental humility is a requirement for progress. There is a famous quote from the Zen philosopher Osho in his treatise “Zen: The Path of Paradox” — “You come to the master only in deep humbleness, because learning is possible only in humbleness. You have come to surrender, not to perform, not to manipulate, not to impress.”
In my trainer Justin’s words: “You gotta humble yourself to get to the next level.” In other words, if you think you know something, what you are really thinking is that there’s nothing for you to learn. And the moment you think this, you are done progressing. I try to apply this when I train by having no thought process when I am being instructed. I simply listen hard, acknowledge what I have heard — “Yes sir” — and try to get my body to duplicate the instructions I have been given.
Even when I trained karate as a hobby while living in Japan, there was only ever one word the students used toward the teacher, the famous “Oss” — a simple verbal acknowledgement that you have heard the instructions, accompanied by a shallow bow.
This breeds a wonderful humility and open-mindedness with which to approach the rest of life. Instead of approaching people’s statements with preconceived notions or judgement, I simply first listen, truly process what is being said, and then react as appropriate.
Humility is also bred from the knowledge that the most potentially dangerous people don’t always appear as such. With their shirts on, many of the most elite martial artists look like regular people, and you would never know they could kill you with nothing more than their hands. Walk around one day with the idea that anyone walking past you could conceivably kick the living shit out of you and feel the humility it brings.
Knowing what physical violence feels like and how to approach it, building a beautiful body, learning history and tradition, developing emotional calm, approaching life with humility — all of these are extremely desirable, extremely “human,” extremely “primal” qualities, and surrounding yourself with a group of people that posses them — people who seem almost superhuman — is amazingly nurturing.
My Muay Thai family is the most amazing group of people I have ever been blessed with. They are strong physically and emotionally, incredibly kind and charitable, talented and passionately engaged in life pursuits — basically some of the nicest, and sexiest, people you could ever meet. Real-life Jedi even
My Cool Hearts Muay Thai Family
Whether you wish compete or not, I think it’s clear I think martial arts training is indeed for everyone. There are many wonderful arts. I have found my passion in Muay Thai, but there is also Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, Krav Maga and traditional martial arts like karate and taekwondo.
Many times people find one that they like, and many times people like to train in multiple arts. The combination and practical application of different arts is what the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA), which has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years, is based on.
The one piece of advice I would give to anyone looking to try martial arts is to look at the instructor’s credentials. The level of instruction is really all that matters with any type of learning. Ideally you want someone who is or has been a good fighter or grappler and is also a good teacher, although there are people who are better teachers than they are fighters. You will then want to look at who they have trained and who at their gym they are training is competing successfully.
Whichever art you choose, if you receive good instruction and train diligently, you will be able to feel truly human in ways few other life pursuits allow — to become in tune with parts of yourself that are elemental, primal, and yes — paleo.
A couple days ago a friend sent me this article: The ‘heart attack proof’ diet?. The article is about a book written by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr., a general surgeon who stumbled across an amazing “fact” that will save Americans from heart attacks. So what is this revolutionary discovery of his? Animal protein causes heart disease. His prescription for the population is “no meat, no eggs, no dairy, no added oils”. Now I know most of you have wised up to crack pot propaganda like this, but perhaps you’re new to the paleo/primal scene or your family is hounding you about your imminent heart attack.
The myth that a diet inclusive of animal products is inherently unhealthy is not a new one, but it’s unfortunately persistent. Kind of like those weeds in your garden that keep popping up no matter how often you pull them out. This guy’s “facts” are completely dishonest and misleading. And here’s why.
First things first. Esselstyn is picking and choosing the cultures he offers up as “proof” that vegetarian diets prevent heart disease. He fails to mention the numerous hunter-gatherer and early agricultural groups that eat meat and stay heart disease free. Most notably the Native American Inuits are missing from his argument, with their diet of almost all animal flesh and virtually no heart disease. I feel that the omission of groups that *disprove* his hypothesis is enough to completely dispel this myth, but I’ll go even further to show that he’s just a guy with an agenda. Did I mention he’s a key individual in the new movie “Forks Over Knives”?
Esselstyn specifically mentions the New Guinea Highlanders, but this group of people is known to suffer from occasional protein deficiency because they primarily eat tubers. However, they are in fact recognized as very healthy on their mostly vegetarian diet. I would also like to point out that they DO in fact raise pigs and chickens for food, but they aren’t able to raise them in large enough quantities to provide a significant amount of protein. Although these animals supply only a small amount of food, the Highlanders still value them enough as a food source to continue putting in the effort to raise them.
The China Study is also mentioned in support of a vegan diet, even though it has been debunked by many people as a meaningless set of correlations. Remember, correlation does not equal causation! For example, here is Dr. Eades’ take on the China Study. (I should disclose that the author is paleo.)
This article fails to mention the type of vegetarian foods that need to be eaten to achieve and maintain health. I knew a vegetarian who ate cookies, cakes, and french fries every meal, but I think even Esselstyn would agree that this isn’t a healthy diet. Wheat gluten, sugar, and refined oils are still highly inflammatory, whether or not you eat meat with them.
Food quality is another vital component to a vegetarian/vegan diet that simply isn’t addressed in this article, although to be fair that is the journalist’s fault and not Esselstyn’s. This issue is closely related to food type, but it applies to highly processed modern “foods” vs properly soaked or fermented traditional grains. Eating tofurky with its “vital” wheat gluten and canola oil simply isn’t going to promote vitality like traditionally fermented soy can.
It’s important that I point out that vegetarian diets *can* work, if executed correctly. Eggs and dairy should play a part in the diet to provide adequate protein, and the quality and type of vegetables/fruits consumed should provide dense sources of nutrients while avoiding grains. Even if the diet is primarily based on starchy tubers, proper nutrition can and should lead to health and wellness.
In short, a vegetarian diet can promote health and vitality, but it will most likely align with the paleo interpretation of food choices. In other words, it should exclude added sugars, processed modern vegetable oils, and inflammatory grains such as wheat (unless properly soaked or fermented to deactivate the toxins and lectins).
This article doesn’t mention any of these caveats to a vegetarian diet, so I’m not sure whether the author’s book does or doesn’t. However, I find the article horribly misleading for the masses.
If you practice a vegetarian version of Paleo, I’d love to hear what works for you! ~Kristin
As many of you know, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis earlier this year. Hashi’s is an autoimmune condition where the thyroid is being attacked, and the symptoms are widely varied from person to person. As with other autoimmune disorders, conventional wisdom states that nothing can be done to stop the attack by your immune system, and that medication will only relieve symptoms at best. I simply refuse to believe that nothing can be done to correct my immune system, and I’m on a mission to treat my condition!
My conventional doctors actually tell me that “nothing” can be done to treat Hashimoto’s directly. They simply prescribe thyroid hormone pills to supplement my thyroid’s decreasing abilities, which acts to soften the symptoms I experience from Hashi’s. The long-term prospect is that my body will simply continue to attack my thyroid until one day it just up and dies, leaving me dependent on thyroid hormone meds like Synthroid for the rest of my life. No thanks, I’ll keep looking for a better outlook.
After doing a lot of my own research on the topic, I learned there are many “alternative” therapies patients have used with varying degrees of success, none of which the general practitioners or endocrinologist specialist mentioned. So here’s what I learned that the MD’s never told me:
Many autoimmune symptoms are improved on low-inflammation diets.
Guess what the major inflammation causers are…grains (esp wheat), sugar, and vegetable oils! Yep, you guessed it – going paleo/primal has helped many people to manage their autoimmune conditions.
If you have thyroid problems do NOT eat these vegetables raw: broccoli, kale, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage, mustard, kohlrabi, and turnips.
These belong to the cruciferous family of vegetables and are known as crucifers. Cooking or fermenting these vegetables greatly reduces their effect on thyroid functions, and they are then generally considered safe.
Monitor your symptoms after consuming to determine your sensitivity to the cooked versions.
Nutrient levels can have a profound effect on your body’s ability to deal with imbalanced systems, so get a full panel of blood work done to check for any nutrient imbalances or other signs of unwellness. Review this with your health care provider.
There is one nutrient in particular that I have seen reported numerous times to have improved autoimmune symptoms once brought back into a healthy range: Vitamin D. Get frequent but limited sun exposure, and look into taking a good D3 supplement, if necessary.
The immune system *may* be brought back into a balance through appropriate treatments and lifestyle changes.
In order to pursue these therapies, you must find a practitioner who specializes in these “alternative” or “holistic” approaches to thyroid health.
This is NOT an exhaustive list, and you should NOT take this as advice or recommendations to treat your own condition. Talk to your own doctor or specialist before making changes in your treatment plan to ensure that it is the right thing for you. I put this list together to inform you of steps that have helped others, but these may not apply to your individual case. Aside from the Hashimoto’s, I am in excellent health and do not have contending afflictions that may have interfered with any of these steps. Please work with a professional you trust to assess your current care.
I know there are many, many amazing women and men out there dealing with thyroid issue, but many individuals still think they’re the only ones they know with these problems. It just isn’t true. Please share what has or hasn’t worked for you in the comments!
My Muay Thai trainer often reminds us: “We all have the same 24 hours in a day.”
What’s the point? Nobody has any more or less time than anyone else to dedicate to Muay Thai. The choice to come to class on time, train consistently, and go to bed early on Friday night and train from noon to three on Saturday is exactly that, a choice.
You say to yourself: “This is more important to me than other possible uses of my time, so I decide to do it.” For me with respect to training, that decision is easy. The grim feeling at 10:30 when I wake up tired from a long week to go get beat up for three hours is always outweighed by the satisfied feeling of being beat up after training — that I am doing what is required to get better at my art.
We get more done in those three hours than any other three hours of the training week, and so I do everything possible to go, every Saturday.
Not everyone needs that level of training to feel good and happy. For me, I need a source of intensity and competition and I like to experience the things that I like to the fullest extent possible. Fight training and fighting provides that, so for me it is a priority.
But regardless of what your individual priorities in life might be, your success in them is predicated on good health, which is predicated on proper nutrition.
This logic and my trainer’s mantra inspired this status on our Facebook page:
“Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day. The choice to use some of that time to put good things in your body is exactly that — a choice. Take any day and consider the choices you have made. Then consider how many of them were more important than your health.”
Particularly in a rich country like the US, when you get down to it, often times we opt for luxury over proper nutrition.
If you are working overtime to afford a larger house when the one you have is already comfortable and grabbing fast food instead of planning dinner, it’s not that you “don’t have time,” it’s that you’re saying a bigger house is more important than what you put in your body.
If you spend hours a day on your appearance, or hours a week spending time and money on clothing instead of ensuring you go food shopping, it’s not that you “don’t have time,” it’s that you’re saying your appearance is more important than what you put in your body.
If you’re going out multiple days in the week and leaving meals to chance by eating out unplanned, it’s not that you “don’t have time,” it’s that you’re saying your social life is more important than what you put in your body.
If you are killing yourself in the gym for the 20% of body composition determined by exercise yet opting for heavily processed powdered or energy/protein-barred garbage rather than putting the real food in your body that determines the remaining 80% of success, it’s not that you “don’t have time,” it’s that you’re saying pushing through an unconsidered routine is more important than what you put in your body, or even taking time to think about it.
Which leads to another great quote, another favorite of my trainer, from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
Routine can be good if it is considered and leads to positive results. Every morning I wake up and drink water. Every day I eat good foods. Maybe I eat different ones, but I always eat good ones. Pretty much every day I move my body. Maybe I move it in slightly different ways, but I still move it.
But where routine becomes negative — what Emerson means by “the hobgoblin of little minds” — is when we fool ourselves into thinking that simply because we have *a* routine, we will see results. Where it becomes destructive is where we have the wrong one.
You can kill yourself in the gym with mindless static cardio for hours a day being consistent as hell, but if you’re still eating processed fake health foods, processed sugars and grains, at best any results you do see will be way more difficult to achieve than they need to be, at worst you can create tons of unnecessary orthopedic stress and run yourself down mentally and physically.
The alternative is to stop, educate yourself about the benefits of a paleo diet and intense exercise, and then put that knowledge into practice by making actual positive changes to your routine.
After working on FastPaleo.com for only four months, I have decided that the simple act of change is one of the biggest challenges to creating a healthy life. Correcting incorrect common knowledge about nutrition and exercise is huge also, but even when people know what to do, they can falter in making the actual changes that will make their lives better. In not doing so, they let the hobgoblins win.
I remember a great yoga class in which the teacher described habit as a negative controlling force, which had to be destroyed so new behavior could be formed, this destruction and transformation represented by the Hindu deity Shiva.
Certain times bad habits can become so deeply ingrained that it takes a destructive force to change them: we are diagnosed with diabetes and forced to change our diet; we overexercise until we tear cartilage and are forced to rest and take a more metered approach; we are overweight to the point that we cannot play with our own children and finally are compelled to lose weight.
How can we avoid being pushed to these breaking points and enable ourselves to make positive, if uncomfortable changes? Self-evaluation.
Evaluating routines can make us both more productive and happier. And it can be easy. Take any element of your life: health, work, school, hobbies, and ask yourself two simple questions: 1) “What do I really need to do to be happy or productive?” 2) “Am I really doing it?”
Don’t bullshit yourself. “The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action.” Right? At the end of the day, it only really matters what you do, not what you know.
If you’re killing yourself working overtime to afford a $40,000 car instead of a $20,000 car eating garbage and missing sleep, realize that’s silly. You’ll be much happier and get much more laid being fit and energetic in a $20,000 car anyway
If you’re going out constantly eating crap at night, drinking and going to bed late, don’t pretend to wonder about why you don’t have energy to go to the gym. Realize that there are great things to do and ways to meet people that don’t include late-night debauchery, like, say, going to the gym
Change requires courage, and even positive change is uncomfortable. But if you think you are “struggling” to be healthy, or if you are creating pretend reasons you “don’t have time” to eat properly, I challenge you to make a list of the ways you use your time every day. Look at each one, then ask yourself one simple question: “Is this more important than my health?”
–This post comes from my Muay Thai training partner, good friend, paleo poppa and FastPaleo.com guest writer Isaac Glendening. ~James
Being an active parent is far from easy, let alone being one who subscribes to a paleo lifestyle. Take the following as just my thoughts and some hints on how I manage to make it work.
For some reason it’s ok for parents to continue with various socially accepted rituals through the generations while trying something new and involving our little guys keeps us second guessing ourselves. Like the sage Bushwick Bill of the infamous Geto Boys once said, here’s what I say, “F*ck ‘em all!”
People will take their kids to a ballgame and have a few beers in front of them, but reading while your kids are around just doesn’t happen often enough in plenty of families. That’s kinda crazy when ya think about it.
My wife has been a librarian for many years, and for many of those years she was a children’s librarian. Seeing her work with kids of all backgrounds over the years, from the north Philly ghetto to more posh suburban venues, I’ve seen her instill a love of literacy in hundreds, if not thousands of budding readers.
One of her goals when working with communities is to encourage adults to read not only to their kids, but in front of their kids. With recreational reading or otherwise, parents too often keep these acts private without even realizing it. We realized a long time ago that the same goes for diet and fitness.
I do understand that some physical activities can be hard to bring your kids to. It’s kind of rough to smash a CrossFit workout or go for a 5k run with your little ones around, unless you want to add some chaos to your routine and strap them to your back like Yoda.
I train Muay Thai. It’s a friggin’ legit combat sport. My kid’s been on and around the mat since he was about two years old — he’s used to it, and some of the coolest dudes he looks up to are my pro and amateur fighter friends. So that makes it special for him, and we don’t do it so often.
I get that not everyone has that, but you can make it work for you. Most times my wife will bring him to watch us train and that works as well. Here’s a few other things I do to keep my son around and even a part of my training:
1) With a Gymboss or round timer I set up an HIIT session and every interval I let him tell me what to do. Trust me — it’s hard to gas out when your own child is yelling at you about what you have to do next — certainly a motivator to push through. We must scare folks at the local Y when my son is screaming, “KNEES DADDY, KNEES” while I hit the heavy bag.
2) Find a playground with any sort of space you can work on nearby and do plyometrics, kettlebells, skip rope, whatever, while your kid plays at a safe distance.
3) Have a “sharing day” scheduled in your week. Set up your training time so that a spouse or significant other can bring your child to safely observe what you do and vice versa.
4) Take it one step further. Save a little energy and actually play *with* your kids on the playground before or after you get your workout in. We make it a point to visit one of the absolute coolest playgrounds ever at least once a week, and I can’t tell you how many parents I see just sitting on their asses watching their kids.
Their kids will ask them to play, and still they will just sit there with a rotation of excuses on deck. I don’t have that luxury ever since my son saw me do “neat tricks” on the Olympic rings once. To be honest, I can’t do much on them, but he thinks its pretty rad and loves to show off what his daddy can do.
It makes me work harder just to impress him sometimes, and I love that he’s naturally so proud of me that he also tries to do “neat tricks” on his own.
When it comes to lifestyle, we all want our kids to have a healthy childhood without any sort of social stigma involved. It’s only natural. Here is where we have to put some of our paleo pride aside and do what’s right in general for our kids.
I’m going to say it here…ready? NO LABELS. My kid doesn’t “follow a paleo diet.” No way. I won’t force any sort of religion on him, and I will let him make choices with his life as much and as early as possible. He’s not going to be the only kid at the birthday party that doesn’t get to eat cake or have snacks with his friends.
I can admire the conviction some vegan parents I know have with their kids regarding this, but I also see a lot of their kids being subjected to, what I personally feel, is an unfair social stigma.
An easy way to do this with diet is to allow your kids to experience various foods, and casually ask them how the foods make them feel afterwards. Don’t make it seem like a test, just be cool. This has helped my son come to his own conclusions as to what will be good for him to eat and keep him going through the day. It’s also what makes him choose apples over fries when his mom-mom sneaks him out to get fast food as a treat.
Another thing we do is keep an “open pantry” policy in our home. We stock the usual kid treats and even give him a step-stool to access items in the fridge and freezer when we knew he could do so safely. For weeks he didn’t touch the cookies we had on the shelves, and our frozen peas kept mysteriously disappearing.
Apparently, the little dude likes his frozen veggies and I sort of caught him in the act and fell out laughing. A lot of parents can be insecure, especially with their first kid.
Trust me — I can sympathize on many levels. You’ll find that when your kids are able to make these decisions on their own, the pride from labeling your kids’ diet isn’t nearly as cool in front of other parents as when your son or daughter makes obviously healthy food choices in public.
Involve your children in the cooking and food prep process. Here’s another good use for that little stool I mentioned above. Have your child help you get items or help you stir. Allow your kids to be an active part of the experience and, who knows, they may have more interest in eating what they made instead of the usual tantrums of a picky eater.
Take things your child likes and make them part of the meal in terms of naming. My son happens to think swamp monsters are really cool right now (don’t look at me, blame the Cartoon Network and “Ben10”), and thus the recipe for “Pink Swamp Thing” was born.
Assuming you have gone back to the cave with your diet, that you follow a paleo or paleo-ish diet, you eat a healthy variety of fruits and veggies in front of your kids, right? RIGHT?! Nothing drives me crazier than seeing overweight parents forcing their kids to consume stuff that they don’t regularly eat or parents that fool themselves into buying into agricultural marketing hype.
The “Oh its reduced fat/sugar/whatever, my kid can eat that all day” mentality has to cease now. For the parents with that mindset, I ask you this: Has it worked for you? If it has, do you think your performance in sport or training in general could benefit from not being that way?
Plan your treats/cheats with your whole family in mind, even if the adults in your pack aren’t on the paleo tip. Most active families have to keep a fairly tight schedule and know what the week ahead holds for them, especially if both parents work.
If my son’s school is having an ice cream social, that’s our treat. I make him aware of it and we look forward to it during the week but we always emphasize moderation as much as possible. It’s easy for most parents to drink alcohol in front of their kids in moderation, so why can’t we apply that to our other indulgences?
Play! Play! Play!!! Being a part of your child’s playtime, keeping times for structured and unstructured play are super-duper important for kids. Look to nature if you need to see how important and essential play is for transferring life skills to your kids. Animals teach their children to survive, to hunt, through play.
I’m not saying throw your three-year-old in the woods and re-enact your own version of “Predator” here or anything, although my own son would probably REALLY be into that. Structured play can be based around your child’s interests and unstructured play is a bit more passive for the adult as long as other kids are around to play with!
My boy is really into “Super Mario” and “Angry Birds,” and while some would frown upon that I encourage it, and incorporate it in his outside playtime or when we make crafts. We’ll set up “Super Mario” adventures on the playground, pretending that there are stars we have to get to and…”OH NO! LOOK OUT! A KOOPAH TROOPAH! JUMP! JUMP!” We’ll toss a black or red rubber ball at floating objects in the pool and make “Angry Bird noises.”
I’ll come forth and say I was one of those parents that thought the Nintendo Wii would be great because players have to be more physically active with the games. Yeah. Bullshit. For some games maybe, but it seems to me that its not all that much more than what we had as kids.
Also, the Wiimote offers no resistance of any sort; you can’t physically climb on, crawl under or over any thing with it…no push, no pull…no good. We do let him play games on it as it is another safe form of play for him, but it’s not his only option and we encourage an equal amount of physically active play to balance it out.
From my own philosophy about being a parent, from what my own father has passed along to me, I keep it real with my son. What I do is do my best to steer him in a socially positive direction whilst safely exposing him to as many great experiences as I possibly can.
I let him fail and I let him learn from it. I let him see my own failures and am honest with him about them. We’re raising our kids here, not John Connor from “Terminator,” so chillax on the labeling and be a real human being in front of and with your kids.
In the frame of the bigger picture, most of us will suffer a job we don’t exactly love just so our kids can grow up in a safe neighborhood and get a good education. Some of us even feel guilty for taking time away from our families for the sake of our own gym time, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
We owe it to our kids to live long, healthy lives. We brought them into the world and it is our job to teach them to be better than we are, to learn from our mistakes and our triumphs.
Our hopes lie in and with our children, while our fears can often be magnified through their own experiences. I feel the best way to approach this is to have few expectations and encourage their positive behaviors and interests as much as possible.
As a parent our job is to serve as a human guide with our child’s own aspirations — to not just preach the example but to be the example
So if anyone was wondering what a broken clavicle (collar bone) looked like, check it
This happened during the course of normal training — remember “normal” does equal “hard” in Muay Thai — I got thrown in clinch sparring. I’ve been dumped literally hundreds of times before. Just happened to land right on my collar bone this time.
Clinch Sparring
Simply a matter of probability jumping up to bite me in the butt (collar bone, really) in a contact sport we train intensely every day. Sucks because I was a week out from a fight in a big show I had trained hard for, but regret is useless, so the focus now is on proactively healing and looking forward to the next fight.
For anyone who’s never snapped their collar bone before, it’s a painful one. I could feel the snapped bone poking me from the inside, nearly passed out from the pain walking into the ER, did pass out from it while inside, and had to take pain killers for the first time in more than three years, because, well, it was fair to say, I was in pain
All they really did at the ER was take an x-ray, have the orthopedic surgeon say “yup, it’s broken,” give me prescriptions for pain medicine, and give me the number for the specialist.
So there’s a good paleo point to be made right here. Like I said, I hadn’t taken pain meds in three years. Like you guys know I’ve had problems with alcoholism and drugs in the past, plus I really don’t believe they’re necessary in most cases.
Pain is part of what initiates your body’s healing process. I also feel that most people taking pain meds *routinely* should try to solve the cause of their pain, probably through a paleo lifestyle, rather than masking it with drugs. But if you have acute symptoms, i.e., you’re about to vomit from bone shards ripping into your muscular tissue when you move your arm an inch, by all means, take advantage of modern medicine — that’s exactly what it *should* be used for.
Luckily I had my buddy Isaac to take care of me at the ER and help me fill my prescriptions, so when I went home I cooked myself a steak and broccoli, popped two Percocets and an Aleve, and was able to sleep pretty well in the immobilizer all things considered.
So let’s stop here and pick things to be thankful for:
1) With the help of my friend, I was in good enough shape to make it to the ER and get treated.
2) Using my ripped beater as a makeshift sling and rolling into the ER shirtless in paleo-powered fighting shape definitely helped me get fast-tracked by the ever-so-nice nursing staff (that’s the joke part).
3) While it hurt like hell, I could make my own food, and in the words of the self-evaluation “perform [my] personal hygienic routine” with “some difficulty,” i.e., I could brush my own teeth and wipe my own butt all by my own self.
4) This may seem weird, but it was almost better it happened while training. It would’ve really sucked if I had to miss a fight because I did something dumb outside of the gym.
5) I have the best body possible to heal, and I can talk about healing in terms of paleo in a way that will help others.
6) I can still use both my hands, which means I can type, which means I can work, which is awesome because I work for myself and don’t get paid leave.
The Rothman Institute, where I saw the shoulder specialist
I have to say that I was very surprised to learn that the fracture would heal by itself. Only in extreme cases such as where the fractured bone pieces are not touching, the clavicle is significantly shortened, or the bone is penetrating the skin is surgery required, with 90% of clavicle fractures healing without surgery.
The doctor told me calcium, vitamin D and C are the most important nutrients in healing. Calcium forms bones; vitamin D promotes its absorption and vitamin C helps make collagen that is also part of bone structure, while also promoting wound healing. Here is a great article on the subject from which I got a lot of tips.
What I thought immediately was: get plenty of green veg and juice (kale juice!) for calcium, fruits with vitamin C like berries and kiwis, and get out in the sun for vitamin D.
The article makes a good point on pain pills: “When you break a bone or tear a muscle and are on pain medication, you may want to try to stop taking the pain medication as soon as possible so you do not delay healing. A study in May 1995 issue of The Journal of Orthopedic Trauma shows damaged cells in a fracture release large amount of chemicals called prostaglandins. These chemicals cause the pain and are blocked by the pain medication. However prostaglandins are also very important in the first stage of tissue repair. So decreasing the use as soon as possible is helpful to the healing process.”
So after three days, I stopped with the pain meds altogether. The pain is still present, and bad at times, but it is tolerable. I can sleep and am content in the fact that I will heal more quickly. So the point here is, once you can tolerate the pain, do so.
I’ve been drinking lots of fresh kale juice and eating broccoli for natural calcium (and tons of other stuff from the kale), having lots of kiwis and blackberries for vitamin C, and trying to get out in the sun for vitamin D.
A combination of rest and exercise promotes healing, but the exercise must be commensurate with the stage of healing and not overly risk re-injury.
Check out my range of motion
For now, that means I take the sling off in the house to get some motion. I take walks with the sling on, and I go to yoga class, of course with the sling on, and take a very conservative approach to my practice. Ok, I might have done a couple one-armed pushups last yoga class
It’s been a week since I hurt myself I definitely feel I have healed a lot, and look forward to the two-week checkup and wowing the docs with my progress. Look for the next post then!
Little bothers me more than being contrarian simply for the sake of being contrarian.
My mirth at those who do so is probably best summarized in the humor of South Park, in the eponymous line from the episode “Non-Conformist Coffee,” in which one of the goth kids tells another: “You can’t be a non-conformist if you don’t drink coffee.”
Setting aside whether coffee drinking is mainstream or hip for the moment…the irony captured so well by South Park is just what makes contrarian behavior so funny to me. You want to be “different” to get attention, but instead of letting go of self-consciousness and just being you, you pick a behavior that is easily seen as contrarian, non-conformist, or different.
What is funny is that in choosing a behavior based on the choices of others, even if these others are in a minority, what you end up with is exactly what you ostensibly are trying to avoid: conformity.
This is a bacon-brownie-lined rabbit hole all too many paleo peeps fall down, and it ends up doing a huge disservice to the paleo movement’s ability to really improve the health of society on big-time terms.
And let’s start with bacon. I am not going to try to say this better than Whole 9 did in their amazing article on the topic “The Bacon Bummer:”
“’You conventional thinkers believe bacon is unhealthy? Ha. Watch me eat a pound of it for breakfast.’ There is no easier way to position yourself as a counter-culture Paleo disciple than to eat more bacon – and then publicize it on your blog.”
Look around the paleosphere, and even after the clear revelation in the above article that bacon is pretty much nothing more than ok to have sometimes, check how many people are still “Bacon, bacon, bacon, all day bacon, bacon t-shirt, Jesus Loves Bacon, everything is better with bacon” — lots of folks.
And how is this helping to initiate a discussion with people not familiar with paleo, or even a remote idea of the concept of healthy eating? Not very well. Yes most of conventional wisdom on nutrition is wrong and thinking surrounding fatty meats is an excellent example of that.
But making it about us being right and them being wrong with the most egregious example of how is just not going to win us hearts (livers, kidneys,) and minds.
It took me a good year after my mother read the New York Times piece on paleo “The New Age Cavemen and the City,” which leads with a photo of what appears to be the sexy cast of a vampire miniseries against the backdrop of a fur-pelt-donning cave guy and dinosaur bones, and then goes on to focus on more “extreme” paleo practitioners and how they do 36-hour fasts followed by shirtless, shoeless wintertime runs and raw meat gorge sessions, to get her to listen to me again.
Not saying there is anything wrong with this. These people are awesome in my book. And I rock a pretty extreme lifestyle myself.
But extreme isn’t for everyone, certainly not my mother. What is? “A varied, omnivorous diet of quality whole foods.” That has to be our starting point.
Nothing is sexier and more convincing than seemingly effortless action. Making a huge scene about how much bacon you eat kinda isn’t.
If you eat paleo consistently, you will be fit and look good. People will wonder why, and most likely, they will ask you. When you respond, don’t take them to task. Be understated; be positive; don’t be argumentative: “Yeah, I only eat a balanced diet of whole foods and make sure I work out.” Try it.
Another fault, which I was guilty of myself on our Facebook page no more than an hour before writing this sentence, is being too in people’s faces about how extremely we exercise. I try to keep it positive, and a lot of the time sharing our tough workouts with others is a good way to stay motivated.
What I think is counterproductive though is when we breed “fitness exclusivity” and want some sort of perceived superiority or esoterica from the badassery of our workouts. I think Crossfit can be guilty of this at times, with the raft of WOD jargon, and also the tough-guy image it can seek to project.
As someone who has actually had the experience of fighting competitively, “Fight Gone Bad,” the Crossfit “Rumbles” and for that matter the “Warrior Dash” always make me wonder if people think weightlifting and running are the same as fighting. And the misogynistic humor exemplified by “beating that bitch, *insert female name of WOD*” always strikes me as a bit disturbing, particularly given the amount of women who do Crossfit.
These can be counterproductive especially given the two most overwhelmingly true generalizations about Crossfit: 1) most of the people that do it are super nice and helpful, and 2) it is an amazingly effective workout system.
I couldn’t keep up with Crossfit, Muay Thai and work, but have tried Crossfit in the past, and incorporate its principles into my strength training. Everyone was amazingly nice — genuinely good people. No meathead mentality. And everything about it as a strength training system is right: full-body rather than isolated muscular exercise, focus on anaerobic-threshold training, different routine every day to take advantage of muscle confusion, emphasis on proper rest, encouragement of correct nutrition — hint, hint, that “paleo” thing
Which are the kind of things people who need to know what good exercise is need to know. Not: “After we get done with some heavy-ass PVC-pipe sumo deadlift high-pulls, we’ll kick back and have some Michelob Ultra — shit only has like three blocks.” (See hilarious vid below)
So how do you be Paleo Cool?
1) Walk the walk — nothing speaks stronger, and sexier, than example.
2) Don’t pick paleo nerd fights or try to stand out because you are paleo, instead be humble, positive and engaging.
3) But do know your shit. Reasonable people deal in facts, and paleo works based on facts.
4) Like Mark Twain said: “Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.” If people want to belittle you or nitpick, simply let it go — it’s their loss.
5) Cook people paleo food! I have never had anyone complain about a paleo meal I have cooked them.
I have been a bit strong-worded here, and have admittedly picked on certain behaviors which many reading this may engage in.
But this is because I really believe the paleo lifestyle holds the possibility to do a tremendous amount of good in our society. So, so, so many people are overweight and sick from unhealthy lifestyles. I see it all the time and it makes me sad.
What is all the more frustrating is that the solution is so simple. We even put it together in one page.
But we have to kindly, openly, and forgivingly share this solution with others, not make it the purview of the bacon-snarfing, Fran-smashing, shirt-and-shoe-abhorring paleo nerd club. And to do so, we must be Paleo Cool
As I wrote before, I’ve been dealing with hypothyroid symptoms for the past year. Well, it turns out that my iodine deficiency has been resolved, but I continue to struggle with my thyroid due to a little something called Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Although it saps my energy, focus, and drive, I’ve been able to work out at the local CrossFit box about once a week for the past four months. It’s been very frustrating since I LOVE being a “WOD Killa”, but things are really looking up since I worked out twice this week!
But it’s really scary to go back! I’m out of shape compared to where I was 8 months ago. Workouts I used to fly through now take much longer than before, and some days my thyroid just says “nope” and leaves me in a wheezing puddle on the floor without warning. But I keep going back. I have to go back because I wantto go back. In spite of the pain and effort, I adore the accomplishment of every CrossFit WOD. But “going back” has required a recalibration of sorts…
Take yesterday for example. We worked on max effort 2-rep cleans, 5 sets. I used to come in and say silly things like “well, I hit this number last time, and that was 2 months ago, so I should be able to get 10 pounds more today.” Well, the body doesn’t quite work like that because it’s not a machine. I had to learn to tell myself that I have noidea what I’m going to accomplish today, but I’m going to give it everything I have.
Yesterday I started my first set at a light weight to gauge how I was feeling, and how my body would respond. Then I added weight in increments that were a little higher than I was comfortable with. This lets me push myself without letting me doubt myself. I put the weight on the barbell, I go in for the lift, and I just DO IT. If I make it, that’s awesome! If I don’t, at least I tried and have a new understanding of my limits.
I also get really anxious when I’m going for a new max. I tell myself silly things like “that bar is soooo heavy, what if I can’t get it up, what if I hurt myself??” and so on, until I’m so out of it mentally that I’ve set myself up for failure. But nothing was going to stop me this time!! I was so damn giddy to be able to complete my lifts! I was reminded that I LOVE weightlifting and was THRILLED to be able to work on it! I started grinning like a fool, and the anxiety just melted away. I hit the lifts with everything in me every time, and managed to get a new Personal Record at 120lbs! So I tried for more. I attempted 125, but I just didn’t have the juice that day to get the bar up for the second rep. And honestly, I feel great about the effort because I gave it my all.
So this post has two messages:
1) Whether you’re starting over or getting into fitness for the first time,find something you love to do so getting healthy and fit becomes a joy instead of a chore.
2) Be the best YOU you can be, each and every day, whatever that means for you. And be HAPPY with your accomplishment.
If you need some ideas for fun exercise (no, it’s not an oxymoron), here’s what other Fast Paleo-ers enjoy:
Class-Based or Group Exercise
- CrossFit (the most popular response!)
- Muay Thai
- Dancing
- Yoga
- Backpacking
- The horizontal mambo
Solo or Outdoor Exercise
- Walking through beautiful areas of your neighborhood (with your dog or a loved one is even nicer)
- Kettlebells (some gyms offer classes, but these are an easy and cost-effective at-home workout tool)
- Ride a bicycle
Whatever you decide to try, the most important thing is to have fun with it! Go at it with a light heart and a tenacious spirit, and you can only succeed.
Having planned cheat meals in moderation can be one of the best ways to stay paleo for lots of folks.
First you must build a body and metabolism through consistent paleo eating and exercise that is capable of handling a cheat meal. Remember, if you are “cheating” with any amount of regularity, it’s not “cheating,” it’s “unhealthy.”
I find it funny when people say things like “oh you’re exercising so much, you’ll just burn it off easy,” like the human body is a furnace into which we just dump combustibles. This seems like a simple reminder, but: your body is made up of the things you put in it.
I feel bad for people who struggle with exercise performance or to recover from nagging injuries who feel they are doing everything right — except the thing that counts the most, taking meticulous care of what they put in there bodies.
But even when we do, the desire to eat fun, comforting foods is still a reality.
There is new research that may suggest a link between stress, the release of ghrelin, one of the two hunger inducing hormones together with leptin, and the desire to indulge in comfort foods.
The study says: “Wild-type mice subjected to the stress gravitated toward a chamber where they had been trained to find pleasurable, fatty food – the mouse equivalent of ‘comfort food.’” This to me was very interesting.
From the tone of the article, there seems to be the implicit assumption that fatty, high-calorie foods are bad. We all know this is not true. Fats are good for us, and “high-calorie” “low-calorie” really doesn’t mean much: while we should be aware of our overall consumption, foods should be chosen based on their nutrients, not on their calories.
Fact: nutrition forms the large majority of well-being. However, part of our overall health is our mental health. Sometimes, to maintain our mental health, it can be helpful to eat comfort foods to relieve stress. This can actually help us to stay better committed to paleo over the long term, making cheating a *good* thing.
But what this research suggests, and what I’d like to offer in the title of this post, is the idea of “treat don’t cheat.” In our FastPaleo Facebook poll, more than 80% of peeps said they struggle with food cravings.
I’m lucky enough not to be one of them. I haven’t intentionally eaten processed sugar or really anything “non-paleo” since I started. I have no desire to. The thought of eating ice cream or pizza just doesn’t make me happy. It just makes me think I’ll get fat and feel like crap. I’d rather look good and feel great.
But what I will do is treat myself. After getting ready for one fight and being pretty diligent with fruit intake, I ate a whole quart of frozen strawberries with a cup of honey. Sometimes treating can mean just spending a bit more: going out and crushing four people’s worth of sashimi, buying some ridiculously pricey cut of beef, and eating the whole thing in one sitting by myself.
I am indulging — these foods are indeed super comforting, and in such I am acting out the behavior suggested by the comfort food research. But the beautiful thing is all of these foods are paleo — I haven’t really “cheated,” even though I have certainly indulged myself.
So what I am suggesting here is another option, another arrow in your quiver of food craving coping strategies. This will actually allow you to “cheat” more. You will feel like you are indulging yourself because you are treating and rewarding yourself, but there won’t be the guilt of a true cheat. In fact, you’ll probably feel good afterwards as what you have put in your body is actually nutritious.
And the great thing is you can still have your true cheats, plus a few extra treats with no stress. You may find, like I have, that the treats become enough, and that can be awesome, because then you can actually feel good about your fun, comfort food.
Some examples of “treats” might be:
- Buying a much nicer cut of meat than you’d normally buy, just for you
- Making your own paleo ice cream
- Going to a super nice restaurant, but keeping it paleo
- Korean BBQ
- Sashimi eating contest
- Satay stuff-yer-face
So be real with yourself. First in the sense that you have truly “behaved” with your paleo eating and exercise to be able to cheat. Second, with your mental health. Realize it’s ok to have fun with your eating, in moderation. Third, remember that you can do so without having to fall off the wagon, and sometimes, “treat don’t cheat.”
“Make everything a conscious action” is a principle I do my best to live by.
If you are simply trying to get one thing done to move on to the next thing, thinking about what you are going to do instead of what you are doing, you are in a perpetual state of rush, rather than a state of peace or contentment with the present moment.
This has helped me to enjoy life much more, and it is also a key coping strategy for my alcoholism. Rushing makes me stressed and frantic, not a good state of mind for an addict. So now I take my time.
I am early for things. I rarely over-schedule work. I realize that my body is not a machine and give it rest and balance. I try my best to let go of the collective corporate culture mindset that, after working for myself for three-plus years, still wants to tell me that I am being a degenerate if I am not trying, or at least pretending to try, to make money between the hours of 9am and 5pm.
One area in which conscious action is both most important and most difficult is deciding what to eat.
Hunger is mainly a function of the hypothalamus, one of the most basic and early evolved parts of the brain that exists in all vertebrae, which controls the instinctual behaviors known as the “Four Fs:” “fighting,” “fleeing,” “*feeding*” and… “reproduction”
We don’t have active rational control over when we grow hungry, like we do have over other life events like deciding to not work on the weekend to spend time with our families, or to make it a point to leave the office in time to get our daily fitness on.
This is what can make eating one of the most difficult things to make a conscious action. I would also imagine that there may be a good amount of individual difference here: some may be much more “disciplined” in deciding exactly what to eat even when they are super hungry than others. Some people may sadly have very little control in this area, leading to obsessive eating.
While I don’t want to over-theorize here, this is what to me makes legitimate food addictions much sadder than say alcohol or drug addictions — one can survive without alcohol and drugs, but we all have to eat. Imagine telling an alcoholic they could have only a certain amount of “healthy” types of alcohol. Impossible. But that’s exactly what those with food addictions must do.
But back to the main point. The hungrier and hungrier we get, the instinctual part of the brain begins to try to override the rational, decision making part, telling you: “Who cares about what you should eat, you’re hungry and there are cupcakes right there, go for it!” Some people may be able to “say no” more easily, some may indeed go for it, and regret it later when they are full of cupcake and their rational mind is back in control.
So, how can we fight back? Are there coping strategies we can all use to make sure we make a rational decision about what and how much we eat even when we are literally compelled by instinct not too?
Yes, an extremely good one: meditation. I know certain people are put off by anything that sounds metaphysical, so let me clearly define what I mean here by “meditation.” Simply, to make a concerted effort to take active control of our brains. What we are doing here is exactly what the original Latin, “meditari” means: “to think, contemplate, devise, ponder.”
We are just going to stop, and ask ourselves two simple questions: 1) What do I really *want* to eat? 2) How much do I really *want* to eat? That’s all. We don’t necessarily have to break out our prayer beads, light incense and chant Pali mantras, although if that helps, by all means go for it.
The idea is just to stop and give your eating active thought, not just stuff your face out of instinct. This can take as long as only 30 seconds.
But how do we remember to meditate? How do we make sure it works?
This gets to our second tool and the real way we begin to counterbalance the instinctual hunger pangs of our hypothalamus: habit. Anyone who has struggled with bad habits knows just how hard they can be to break. And anyone who has established good habits knows just how much good they can do.
Habits form in another core part of the brain, the basal ganglia, which controls voluntary motor control, learning, muscle memory, and habit formation. The more and more we take a single, conscious action, the more and more it becomes automatic and subconscious. So what we are doing through our repeated pre-meal meditation is quite literally, training our brains.
When we first begin to feel hungry, we should stop and ask ourselves the above two questions. We can leave notes for ourselves, set alarms for around the time we think we will be hungry, or implement other reminders at first to help us remember to do this. Remember, the hungrier we get, the more difficult this becomes, so the earlier the better.
Meditating consistently over time like this will begin to form a positive habit — this can take from a couple weeks to a few months. But here is what is the amazingly powerful thing that happens when this habit does form: it becomes subconscious. Just like the subconscious, instinctual part of our brain that might tell us to go for the cupcakes instead of the steak and broccoli.
So try it. Like the “Basics Build Beautiful Bods” post, this is an area where over-complication is self-defeating. All it is is, pause, think about what you really want to eat, and then eat it. It is consistency that wins. Once you build the habit, it becomes exactly that, the cupcakes might not seem like that big of a deal, and you’ll automatically go to the healthfully paleolicious alternative instead
So add a little Om to you Nomz, and your body will thank ya
I once read that those seeking weight loss can secretly harbor some unrealistic attachments to those goals. This stems from a sort of “if I just lost this last 20lbs everything will be great” mentality.
Will your debt disappear? Will men and women all of a sudden want to take you for long walks on the beach and shower you with genuine love (or at least well-cooked steaks and BJ’s)? Ridiculous, right?
And yet, I’ve spoken with others who have achieved their initial fitness goals, who are currently happy with such an accomplishment and yet feel as though there was something “more” they were struggling for…and just can’t seem to put their finger on it.
They feel as if they just defeated the Imperial Stormtroopers on Endor, there’s a celebration of massive proportions in the Ewok village, and yet they are still chillin’ with the blue ghost Jedis, weighed down by a feeling of ennui.
Make no mistake that the goal achieved in this scenario, that of weight loss (not a victory for the New Republic), is perhaps the greatest gift you can give yourself. It was EARNED. Rarely do we find truly happy, wealthy and wise people who are not physically healthy.
So if you’ve hit the mark, if you’ve passed the “manageable disease” Rubicon and survived, that’s certainly an awesome achievement and you should be proud. Mentally, you may need to make a separation of health goals and everything else in order to keep a realistic view and navigate your own microcosm with clear vision.
Oh but the scars don’t fade so easily. Those of us who have made the change from Obesity to Healthy have quite a few reminders around to sort of keep us in-check. Let’s move on to the outside factors now. We’ll always have people who we haven’t seen in some time or those who will always be shocked at how much our physical appearance has changed no matter how much we see them.
You have your supporters who will always give you positive feedback and encourage you to keep on the good path. These people seriously RULE! These are the people who are far less likely to judge you or give you grief when you’re out and you order a burger without the bun and fries.
And of course, you will have your haters. People who will say things along the lines of “yeah but I bet you have a TON of loose skin left” or “oh dude, what are you trying to do? live forever?” I’ve even heard the argument that when I was fatter I was “enjoying life more,” because I didn’t have many restrictions. Wow. I mean I guess there is *some* logic in that argument as being “free” is a desirable goal across the board.
Unfortunately that sort of “freedom” usually has many pitfalls. Those that maintain the “screw moderation” mindset usually don’t live long or live well for very long. To them it’s the “all or nothing” way that has them fit in their prime and breaking down past 40 years old.
Just as you may now carefully pick and choose your fitness activities, your meals and how you spend your time in order to maintain your ideal paleo lifestyle, you must also pick and choose what advice or “emotional inputs” you will allow.
Some things can’t be avoided, ignored or argued. Stretchmarks. I’ll tell you, as much as I honestly want to flash my abs and damn well know I’m packin’ a fit core, I just don’t feel that they are anything special because they are, as one o’ my fave haters put it, “covered in tiger stripes.”
Whether I choose to ignore that analogy or not, they are still there and it will be a long time, if ever, before they go away. In reality, I know they are truly not bad and have seen far worse. That’s in reality.
In my mind I oscillate between two schools of thought:
1. These are the scars of obesity and I’m proud to have overcome that.
2. Goddamnitwhenthefuckarethesethingsgonnafadesoi
canpostridiculouspicsuptomakemyhatersSTFUeverytimetheyseeit.
If you’re not at this point, I can assure you that the skin does “go back.” There are various creams or whatever sold to recently pregnant ladies to help. I’m not sure how much stock I put in them, but they are usually cheap enough to give a shot. Tanning has helped me.
I don’t feel as insecure with my shirt off or in tank tops anymore, and due to genetics I soak up the sun. So it was a major Bob Ross-esqe “Happy Accident” when I discovered that tanning lessened the appearance of my “stripes.”
Earlier I was talking about the inward and outward factors and the challenges they present, and it would be foolish to assume they don’t affect one another. For a long time I said to a certain bodybuilder friend of mine that for me “aesthetics are merely a happy by-product of improved health.”
I still hold that mantra in how I approach my health-related goals, but it’s also OK to want to physically look better. People usually see others with their eyes before they can get to know someone intellectually, right? Seeing oneself isn’t much different.
When I was fat, people would make fun of me, and I felt bad.
Now that I am in shape, people compliment me, and I feel good.
When I post a picture of myself shirtless on the FastPaleo Facebook page, and get 25 likes and women say things like “NICE!,” “thank you for sharing your eye candy,” “looking good,” “you are all sortsa HOT” and “hot DANG!” it makes me feel more than good, it makes me feel great.
Do I think that’s a bit vain? Yes. Do I think that’s a bad thing? Hardly.
This photo recently prompted a discussion of objectification on the Facebook page:
Personally I’ll say I think she’s smoking hot, and that it sends a great message that eating right is sexy.
When we have conversations about sexual objectification, which we seem to have A LOT in America, the only important question is: “Is anyone being hurt?” Am I being hurt by my posting a half-naked picture of myself and having women complement me? Take a guess…
Are lots of female fitness models that make great extra money by showing others also interested in fitness their beautiful bodies being hurt? I would imagine not. If there are cases where exceedingly fit and attractive people are being forced against their will to have others ogle over their fitness and attraction, while often getting paid, often well, I would certainly be surprised to hear about it.
And what do we even mean when we use the term “objectify?” Human bodies are objects. They happen to be em-bodied with beautiful souls and individual personalities, but they are at the same time, objects. And very beautiful ones. When have you ever heard of Renaissance sculptures such as Michelangelo’s David being described as objectivist, even though they are probably more so than actual photographs of real human beings in fitness magazines? Never. They are mostly described as beautiful. There is nothing wrong with admiring a beautiful body as exactly that.
Since I’ve made the commitment to paleo and fitness in the form of Muay Thai, kettlebells and yoga, every aspect of my life has improved, from work to interpersonal relationships, to general happiness to sex. And I am honest with myself: part of my motivator is to look good. Where this becomes a problem is where it gets into the true definition of “vanity” which is the idea of “excessive” pride in oneself.
And why should I or anyone else care if others think I or they are being objectified? Again, if I’m not bothered, it’s really nobody else’s business.
People will then argue that people who see images of models or fit people will develop an unhealthy obsession with body image. I will say here that these problems are serious: eating disorders, exercise anorexia, addictive exercise. But this gets to a hard truth. Look around you. Do you think we have more of a problem with people excessively caring about their physical appearance, or not caring enough?
I’ve written before about health haters, people who improperly project guilt about their own poor health and appearance on others who are fit and healthy, and honestly, I feel the entire concept of “objectification” is largely part of a collective self-consciousness about poor health and lack of fitness, on the part of those claiming objectification.
Think about it: if it were really a problem, and objectification were bad, then the people being objectified would be upset. Is this the case? Far from it. Typically those complaining about objectification are acting out some form of their own self-consciousness on fit people who are happily showing off their fitness.
And these fit people should be happy. I know I’m happy having the body I always wanted. That happiness helps me to be a way better person again in almost all aspects of my life: work, charity, FastPaleo, sex, being a good person in general. Am I a bit full of myself? Perhaps. Is it harming others? Quite the opposite — I hope.
Which is why I really believe the title of this post it true. The aesthetic results from a committed paleo and fitness-focused lifestyle are a great motivator. The more results you see, the more you strive to better yourself, and the more your overall life improves.
This only becomes a problem when it becomes obsessive to the detriment of other parts of your life, such as exercising yourself to the point of sickness or injury, the development of eating disorders, fitness taking away too much from work, and particularly if it causes you to be a bad person to others by being overly pompous about your own appearance.
To the extent that others who are less fit and healthy see you being fit and healthy and wish they were more so, I actually think this is a very good thing. We live in an extremely unhealthy society in which obesity kills more people than any other single factor. That’s nothing but sad, both as a society and for the individuals. I understand from the experience of being fat. Put simply: more people feeling self-conscious about their health, fitness and appearance is a good thing.
So take pride in your appearance. Take flexed-out bathroom pics of your sexy self after losing a bunch of weight. If feels great right? So do it! Pictures of muscles, butts, bulges and boobs really aren’t the end of the world. Obesity and other preventable diseases caused by poor health certainly could be though, and they can only be helped by more people being encouraged to be a bit, maybe even a bunch, more vain.
“Basics win fights” is something we are told often in Muay Thai training.
Even at the highest professional levels of the sport, which we are fortunate enough to see in practice and learn about from our world-class trainers, it is the techniques that everyone learns in their intro lesson that usually carry the day in the ring: a strong jab, a strong leg kick, simple combinations, a good guard.
What makes them successful is that they are executed with flawless consistency.
Even when fighters use more difficult and advanced techniques, they must be premised on the establishment of solid basics: a superman punch works better after establishing strong leg kicks; faking a switch kick and instead throwing a strong straight punch works better after you have actually landed several good switch kicks.
It is one thing to say you know a technique, or have drilled it on pads, or maybe landed it in sparring a handful of times. Actually executing it when it counts, under the pressure of someone else trying to beat you up, is what matters.
The premise of solid basics is true in lots of life pursuits. When I was studying Japanese, there were often other students who liked to memorize esoteric or strange kanji, but never learned to read the newspaper or really be able to speak. This was because they didn’t focus on the consistent application of what got the most results — the mastery of the 2,000 or so words and their kanji one needs to be functionally fluent in Japanese.
In the exact same way, “basics build beautiful bods.”
This is a huge motivator in FastPaleo.com. To me, the basics of paleo are simple.
I haven’t made any real changes to my paleo since I started a year and a half ago. But I have been diligently consistent with the basics: I’ve never eaten processed foods or sugars voluntarily, and I make sure to shop for a variety of whole foods. That and my regular exercise with Muay Thai, kettlebells and yoga has gotten me the body I wanted: lean, sinewy and abtastic
And of course I feel amazing.
A lot of the time when I hear more esoteric or nuanced discussions of paleo, such as arguments over soy sauce vs. tamari/coconut aminos or concern over excess Omega-6 in dark chicken meat, or worries about what temperature olive oil oxidizes at to form free radicals when pan frying, it makes me wonder if the people having these discussions are executing paleo basics with the consistency that would make these conversations at all relevant.
The biggest elephant in the room for me here is alcohol. People tend to view alcohol as a separate entity from diet, but if you really want the benefits of paleo, you have to think of it as a food. And when you do, you’ll see that extreme moderation to abstinence should really be one of the basics.
This is not at all a moral argument, although I will say that I do have a more compelling reason not to drink than good abs — I’m an alcoholic and I simply can’t. That being said, alcohol is a poor food source for many reasons.
First, it wrecks our hormonal systems. Particularly for men, even moderate alcohol consumption can decrease testosterone significantly, and testosterone is one of the most important hormones in maintaining lean mass. Alcohol consumption can lead to bad skin, a big concern for ladies. Alcohol is highly processed, and its calories are empty sugar-based calories. Alcohol also significantly disrupts sleep.
What part of that sounds “paleo” to you?
So before you ask yourself whether the handful of baby sugar peas in your salad is paleo, or the exact timing and nutrient balance of post-workout nutrition required to catch the anabolic window, ask yourself how many drinks you’ve had this week.
Sleep is another great example of a solid basic. Everything in your body functions better with proper sleep: concentration, emotional stability, strength, sex drive and performance. The idea that people who sleep less are tougher is silly. People who sleep less are less aware, less productive, fatter and probably worse in in the gym and in bed. Nothing about that is tough or admirable.
Consistent intense exercise is also key. Talking about the pros and cons of the Tabata Method vs. the Little Method is great, after you have gotten to the gym three times a week for a year. Otherwise simply doing the work should be your focus.
On the same token, rest is part of exercise. I am always concerned when I see people weight training almost every day. The gains in lean muscle come when your body rebuilds itself after the micro-trauma to the muscle fibers induced by weight lifting. This is why you are not really weight training without proper rest. There are plenty of forms of exercise you can do on off days from weights too: running, yoga, swimming, active stretching.
A full week’s rest every two months is again, part of training. In addition to the stress on your skeletal muscles, weight training, and any intense sport or training, places huge stress on your nervous and hormonal systems and can result in overtraining, or “training sickness” as it is known in Thai in Muay Thai training — which includes flu-like symptoms of weakness, swollen glands, joint pain and depression.
You can also cause stress injuries without sufficient rest periods. So ask yourself, do I want to be off for one week and rest comfortably, or three months near immobile after reconstructive surgery?
You have the responsibility to yourself and the success of your health and training to get proper rest. But again, activity and rest are equally important — it’s only “rest” if you’ve first “worked.”
So what are the basics exactly?
I get a lot of people asking for help with paleo and getting into shape. Helping them is one of the happiest things I get to do in my life. And honestly, the advice I give is simple:
1) Don’t eat processed foods, especially sugar, or any grains
2) Do eat a variety of meats, fruits and vegetables
3) Do exercise regularly and intensely and include rest
4) Do get a full night’s sleep
5) Do drink lots of water
6) Don’t drink much or any alcohol
That’s it. Past that there are of course nuances that can really be pursued for perfect health, like the ideal paleo diet for you body within the broader framework of paleo, and body care like chiropractic, massage and acupuncture.
But before you think about them, look at the above list, and get very, very real with yourself about how consistent you have been.
Because at the end of the day, “basics build beautiful bods.”
Hey there Paleo pals! Kristin here, and today I’m going to share a portion of my Primal life. This post is about the problems I have encountered with the diet. Even though I still stand behind the lifestyle 100%, people need to understand that certain steps need to be taken with caution and a big dose of knowing what you’re doing.
Another reason I’m writing this is because my story needs to be shared. In case anyone else out there decides to go whole-hog Primal (pun intended), then this cautionary tale needs to be heard. In fact, I owe my knowledge and recovery to CrossFitters and Primal/Paleo enthusiasts who shared their own stories with thyroid problems. Without them, I probably wouldn’t have figured out what was wrong with me. Ever.
So my big problem is this: I gave myself an iodine deficiency. That doesn’t sound so bad, right? Well, your thyroid is dependent on the stuff, so methodically removing all dietary sources of it over the course of a year and a half causes it to misbehave. Still don’t think that sounds bad? Well, your thyroid impacts all sorts of little things like metabolism and hormone regulation. Ya, quite yucky.
So how did I first come to realize I had a problem? It all started a year ago, when I mysteriously started developing exercise-induced asthma. This continued to worsen, and absolutely NONE of the multiple treatments my doctor prescribed were helping. Hundreds of dollars and months later, my “asthma” had developed to the point where I would get light-headed and start wheezing if I walked down the street too fast (and just forget about working out). I went from deadlifting 235 to being 90 years old in less than 6 months. Something was obviously very wrong. Not only this, but I was experiencing a host of other bizarre and frustrating symptoms as well: extreme fatigue, difficulty concentrating, brain fog, dry mouth, acne, change in body composition, change in hair & nail texture, depressed mood, frequently sick, sleeping a lot more than normal, zero libido, and more.
And then I stumbled across a few new blog posts. About other Paleo/Primal people. And their thyroid problems.
And everything suddenly made sense.
The first thing I did was get my iodine levels tested. I did the at-home 24 hour iodine loading and bromide tests from Hakala Labs. My results came back conclusive: I was iodine deficient. I immediately began supplementing with Iodoral, and the effects were swift and profound. EVERYTHING started to improve. However, everything I’ve found says the recovery time can be six months or more; I’m finding this to be true. I need to be patient.
So how did I do this to myself? Well, the iodine deficiency stemmed from my strict following of the Primal diet, which shocked and saddened me. After a TON of research, I realized that it’s a by-product of modern industrial food sourcing and less that of Primal itself. Iodine deficiency was a huge problem about 150 years ago, so they started adding it to table salt (iodized salt). The problem largely disappeared after that. In addition, conventionally raised animal products are commonly sources of iodine because it’s added to their feed. Since I was eschewing processed foods, eating strictly grass-fed/pastured stuff at home, and cooking 90% of my food with sea salt, I was unknowingly omitting all iodine from my diet. Fresh, wild caught ocean seafood and sea vegetables are an alternate (if inconsistent) source, but not a viable daily solution on my budget. Also, just relying on table salt for iodine will keep you from experiencing severe deficiency symptoms, but it probably won’t provide enough iodine to meet all of your body’s needs. So, iodine supplements it is.
So I got 8 vials of blood drawn a few weeks back. They tested: iodine, general vitamin/mineral levels, thyroid functionality. Iodine is confirmed low, while all other nutrients were great (yay!). However, the doc confirmed what I’ve suspected for awhile: my thyroid is out of whack. However, I explained to her my research and how I’ve been treating myself with mega-doses of iodine for 3 months. To my great surprise, she agreed to let me continue self-medicating for another month! Then I’ll get my thyroid numbers re-checked. If they improve, then what I’m doing is working and I’ll continue until my thyroid reaches normal activity (desired). If they don’t improve, my doc wants to start me on synthetic thyroid. Either way, I’m just focused on recovering and getting back to normal. I’d love to accomplish this without the use of synthetic hormones, but only time will tell. I REALLY miss CrossFit, and I just want everything else to go back to normal as well. But things are looking up!
In summary, I wish I had known these things when I started eating Primal:
1. To get ALL bloodwork done before starting the diet. This includes cholesterol, all vitamins/minerals (you’ll have to ask specifically for iodine tests), as well as thyroid functionality and anything else your doctor could recommend for a baseline health assessment. This is the only way to measure how the diet has impacted your body 6 months/1 year/10 years later. Weight loss isn’t a great indicator of overall health.
2. That switching away from conventional animal products and switching to 100% grass-fed/pastured animal products would benefit me in every way, EXCEPT FOR iodine intake.
3. That switching from table salt to sea salt actually deprives me of the most common dietary source of an essential nutrient.
4. That iodine intake is absolutely crucial, and that a significant number of people have suffered thyroid problems after accidentally omitting it through the Paleo/Primal diet.
So why on earth do I stick to the Primal diet after all this??? Well, to put it simply: the positive impacts are still so profound and absolute that even a small cheat is a loud reminder of why I eat this way. My mood, the strength of my immune system, my comfort, my focus, my performance: all are strongly impacted by what I eat, even now.
So now you know. This is only my experience, and in no way am I saying you’re doomed to the same fate. Please take this with a grain of salt.
The results from a dedicated paleo lifestyle are positive.
You enter a positive cycle of feeling and looking better — both physically in the sense of health and appearance, and mentally in increased happiness and mental stability and the outwardly positive attitude this induces. The better you look and feel, the more you realize the dedication is worth it, which renews your commitment.
Most of the time, you’re inclined to share this physical and mental happiness with your friends and family, both because you are justifiably proud of having bettered yourself, and because you wish happiness for them as well. Even if you are not so inclined, the results are self-evident — people see you being healthier and happier, and they see you making intelligent decisions that will yield positive outcomes for your health and happiness.
Unfortunately, at least 50% of the time according to our Facebook fan page poll, people’s reactions are negative. I personally have dealt with this mostly in the sense of being considered a weirdo. And honestly, I don’t care. Lots of the things I have done in life have been a little different.
The same kind of people that thought I was weird for studying Japanese in college are now jealous that I work 15 hours a week and make a comfortable income translating it. My fault I believed in and worked hard at something esoteric that paid off? Hardly. I spend almost as many hours a week at an extremely physically and mentally challenging sport in Muay Thai with next to no promise of any kind of monetary reward, ever. “That’s crazy!” “Oooh but I want a body like that…” Well, which is it?
Here’s a “weird” statement: “The only meat I’m eating is from animals I’ve killed myself.” Who would say such a thing? Mark Zuckerberg, who had enough courage in his own weirdness to create something unique that more than half a billion people now use.
I’m trying to make point that doing things differently from others is often the exact route to success. And a lot of the time, the way the majority of people do things just isn’t the best. The current paleo lifestyle movement fits perfectly into this framework.
It works. All you have to do is spend time with people that follow paleo to see so. They are happy, energetic, have fit bodies and glowing skin, and are typically motivated and thoughtful. The fact that most people don’t understand this because their thinking is based on a pandemic of nutritional misinformation changes nothing.
This might be acceptable if the health pandemic in this country were not exactly that, overwhelmingly debilitating and costly, but lots of the time their attitudes are far from open-minded, and are often critical.
This is motivated by a Facebook (remember, the crazy animal killer guy’s thing?) status of my good friend and Muay Thai training partner, Isaac, who lost 100 pounds and regained his health through dedication to paleo and exercise (see his story here: http://fastpaleo.com/how-i-lost-100lbs-with-paleo-and-exercise/):
“I love it when educated people have no self control, treat their bodies like shit and then have the nerve to criticize my health habits and lifestyle. Sorry you feel guilty for eating over 2k calories in dessert in one sitting. Not my prob. Don’t make it.”
You need to understand the type of frustration the above was motivated by. As Isaac says: “For the record I had super high blood pressure, joint issues that had me near paralyzed, may have been diabetic as my doc suspected and suffered from a severe anxiety and depressive disorder. I was beyond simply ‘obese.’”
The people who were criticizing him had seen him deal with the above, overcome it, and yet were encouraging him to make the same kind of decisions that caused him those health problems, which those people are currently struggling with themselves. This is exactly what is sounds like: crazy.
So, how do we deal with irrational criticism of our healthy lifestyles? First is to do our best to only surround ourselves with supportive people. This can be hard, and can indeed include no longer spending time with people who cannot be supportive or who are critical.
Second, we must also get comfortable and then happy with doing things differently. Yes I brought my own food with me instead of leaving my next meal to chance on this business trip. Yes I will be that person who asks for salad instead of bread with my entree even though that is not what others are doing.
Be proud you are making decisions that will benefit you, and set an example for others, regardless of what they may think. If need be, stand up at the dinner table, lift up your shirt, and flex your abs as a friendly reminder of the the soundness of your decision
Third, when we are stuck in situations where we must face criticism, we have to stand up for ourselves and deal in facts:
“Why don’t you just eat normal?”
“I’m choosing to eat what I know will make me feel and look good.”
“Don’t you ever eat anything fun?”
“This is fun to me, and it makes me happy to eat it.”
“What, are you trying to make me feel bad for eating this?”
“Of course not. I’m eating what makes me happy. How you feel about what you eat is up to you.”
Eleanor Roosevelt’s famous words “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent” are absolutely true. And why should anyone feel inferior about great health, a fit body and a positive mental outlook? For no reason, and certainly not because of others’ improperly projected guilt about their own poor health.
As the kids say, “haters gonna hate,” but that shouldn’t stop us from being “Paleo Proud”
Hey there Paleo-ers! Kristin here, and today I’m giving you lovely peoples a good dose of what’s up with a nasty little chemical called aspartame. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s an artificial sweetener that you simply shouldn’t be eating. Here’s why:
This post is 100% sugar free!
The National Institute of Health (NIH) recently announcedthat formaldehyde does indeed cause cancer. This article goes on to elaborate the common uses (and hence sources) of formaldehyde. But they fail to list a common dietary source of formaldehyde: aspartame.
Now, aspartame does not contain any formaldehyde itself. When you ingest aspartame, your body metabolizes it (breaks it down) into several components. One byproduct of this is methanol, and the further metabolization of methanol creates the chemical formaldehyde. While aspartame supporters are quick to point out that fruit juices and tomatoes contain much more methanol than aspartame, the methanol in plants is chemically bound and protected by ethanol, which is unlike the methanol from aspartame. This means that the methanol from aspartame can more readily be absorbed and metabolized. Formaldehyde has been shown to be broken down quickly inside the body; however, formaldehyde exposure has conclusively been shown to cause illness and even death.
So what contains aspartame? Well, a whole huge list of foods found in the grocery store, but I’m going to pick on one in particular: diet soda. Both Pepsi and Coke use the stuff, but there’s one way to know for sure if your diet soda contains it: look on the bottle for a warning that says “Phenylketonurics: contains phenylalanine”. This is a warning for those who are actually allergic to the amino acid phenylalanine, which is present in aspartame.
I’m picking on diet soda because I’ve encountered quite a few people who seem to think that while diet soda “isn’t Paleo”, that it’s got to be harmless since it doesn’t have any sugar, ya know? While scientists aren’t sure if formaldehyde will build up in your body over time or not, it just doesn’t seem like a risk worth taking.
Speaking of sweet things, you should watch The Bitter Truth if you haven’t already. It’s a life-changing video that explains what actually happens when you ingest sugar, and is a must-see for, well, everyone!
Occasionally I’ll post a pic of a raw-meat dish, half because I really enjoy it and half to have a bit of fun and see what kind of reaction I’ll get
The responses are usually some combination of mild disbelief at my grossness — “I can’t bring myself to do that!” and concern for the potential dangers of eating raw foods — “What about E. coli?”
These are mostly a matter of cultural conditioning. There are plenty of places in the world where people eat raw meat. As another friend said: “Love it! I used to eat that all the time when I lived in Belgium. We called it filet americain or steak tartar.” When I worked as a line cook in college, the French cooks would routinely taste the raw meat they were butchering.
Japan culturally exports an entire category of raw food in sushi. I don’t know the Japanese words for most of the food-borne illnesses we worry about in the US even after living in Japan for six years, because they aren’t a concern. I ate raw cow, chicken, fish, chicken eggs, quail eggs, horse, liver, live shrimp, etc., etc. in Japan and never got sick from any of them. The food safety concerns we have here just aren’t a part of popular consciousness.
The Japanese, and I would guess the French, don’t have mechanized agriculture like we have in the US, and eat raw food more regularly. This speaks to the possible cause of our concerns.
Take Salmonella. Most Americans think that it is a given in raw eggs and poultry. That if you are not cooking them completely through the food is inherently dangerous. That’s just not the truth. Salmonella really wasn’t a problem in the US until the 80s when commercial chicken farming began. The disease is spread to the eggs or chickens through prolonged contact with feces — in other words cage raising. Chickens and their eggs aren’t supposed to live in their own poop.
Thus the conditions for the spread of Salmonella are very much something we have created, and exist on a much smaller magnitude when chickens are raised in their natural environment, i.e. free ranging.
Take E. coli. The large majority of E. coli strands are part of normal gut flora, and act as a positive probiotic in the intestines. The virulent strain of E. coli wasn’t even known until the 80s as well, and many point to the changing nature of the gut flora of cattle (i.e. a grain-based diet) as a possible source of the mutation which caused the harmful strain. Cows aren’t supposed to eat grains — they’re supposed to eat grass. Even most people who are infected with the virulent strain, which is very few, survive with no ill effects, and the large majority of E. coli is healthy.
There needs to be more research on a specific link between agribusiness and meat-borne illnesses such as Salmonella and E. coli. But the following are facts: 1) they weren’t a real concern in the US until relatively recently, at the same time modern agribusiness techniques were introduced 2) specific unnatural and unhealthy raising conditions in the form of cage-raising in chickens and a complete dietary overhaul in cattle have been intentionally introduced.
Whether or not people want to eat raw meat is a matter of taste and of what they are used to eating. As far as safety goes, anytime you eat any raw meat there is the chance of some food-borne illness. This can be greatly reduced by buying meats from animals that are raised cleanly and humanely, but it is always there. There are some that also say that some food-borne parasites are actually beneficial for humans, so there may also be an upside.
The flip side of this is that if meats are overly cooked lots of bad things happen: proteins break down, vitamins decrease, free radicals can increase — the meat becomes less healthy. Cooking somewhat can make meat more digestible, but overcooking can really take aways what’s in it that’s good for us.
So, if you’re inclined to do so, eating raw meat is in my opinion essentially a risk-reward calculation: the increased nutritional benefits of consuming the food in its natural state versus the rare risk of food-borne illnesses, which is further reduced by buying quality meats. I will say that I only eat raw meat from humanely raised animals.
And it’s not like all I eat is raw meat. Chicken really isn’t that great raw anyway, although the Japanese do have chicken sashimi, sliced micro-thin with a vinegar-based dressing which is great. When I was a line cook, I was taught that medium-rare is ideal temp to at which to serve red meat, and from a culinary perspective of strict taste, I agree.
– The following is written by my good friend and training partner, Isaac Glendening. ~James
I’ve determined that our generation was spoiled by Nintendo. Hear me out here….in Contra we had cheat codes for unlimited lives, Mario Bros had all sorts of secret shit hidden in it to make the games go easier. Don’t even get me started on “Game Genie.” What I think that did for those of us in our mid-20′s to our 40′s is steer us wrong, because in life there are rarely any such shortcuts.
I’ve dropped over 100lbs of body fat in a relatively short time, and a lot of folks have pulled me aside and asked me on the sly, “what’s the secret?” I’ve been accused of everything from doing drugs to starving myself. The only people who haven’t questioned me are my wife and those I train with. So let me break it down for you, here’s my sort of “Contra Code” to losing weight and getting fit….diet & exercise….and lifestyle.
DIET
Go Paleo. No arguments. It works across the board. Dairy? No Dairy? Go “Primal” or “Orthodox Paleo”…it almost sounds like picking a religion. I’m currently reading Adam Farrah’s book e-book titled “The Paleo Dieter’s Missing Link” (http://practicalpaleolithic.com/paleolithic-diet-blog/paleo-dieters-missing-link) and love how he advocates a sort of trial-and-error approach to finding which works best for you. I went super strict and then tweaked it based on my body’s tolerances of various food items. Read and research as much as you need to. Dig into every facet if you feel so inclined. I’ve said it many times, but it sickens me that most people invest more time into choosing a new computer or car than what they put into their bodies and how they treat themselves. Dig into various recipe sites as well….it will make things more fun and interesting. I’ve gotten some great ideas from a few recipe resources online and in print. Check out www.fastpaleo.com for recipes, this is where I post a ton of stuff. Also, www.marksdailyapple.com is my go-to resource for all of my questions. The articles are awesome and the search engine is really helpful.
EXERCISE
Planning and prep are key in consistently eating paleo for the first few months until your lifestyle adjusts. The other half is exercise and monitoring your activity. Be honest with how much work you put in and keep that “leave nothing behind” mentality when it comes to working out. Using an interval timer and snagging workouts from various resources like Crossfit and the book Cardio Strength Training by Robert Dos Remedios has been helpful to me.
Keep in mind that I train for a combat sport, Muay Thai. Not softball or even football but a sport where my actual physical well-being is in more direct danger, which elevates certain hormone levels and causes some wonderful physiological (not to mention psychological effects); so part of what’s pushed me is not wanting to get my ass kicked (as much) and be able to keep up. Whether I compete or not, I’m always gearing up to make progress for if/when I do. It’s not for everyone, and may not be for you, so look into group exercise classes that will encourage you to push yourself harder. Look at your instructors and the people in the class. Are they fit? Are others in the class pushing themselves and motivating those around them? As my trainer always says, “you’re not going to get any better playing kickball with a bunch of 9yr olds.” The bar before you must be raised high, and you must have a desire to reach it…but here’s the trick, you have to understand that it will continue to be raised for you….and you must come to love that. Even if you train alone, lifting weights or running, you can always be better and you have to come to love that fact and let it motivate you in a positive manner. It is within yourself. As the great trainer Ross Enamait says, “Pick Your Passion”. http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/pickyourpassion.html
Groups/gyms such as Crossfit are pretty rad in that respect and the community/team dynamic can be VERY helpful. CrossfFit gyms are EVERYWHERE. IF you can’t afford a gym, check out the other resources I’ve posted here. You’re never gymless. I’ve managed to get some sick workouts in with just bodyweight exercises and a timer.
Gear up! Wear clothes that make you feel good, that you feel you look good in when you go to the gym. You’d be surprised at how much this helps. Nothing drives me more nuts than seeing folks at the gym wearing their crappy sweats and doing an equally crappy workout. Get the proper gear. Make training a specialized occasion in your day. Make Playlists for your workouts on your mp3 players and only listen to them when you train.
I believe in the power of ritual. I know on my most ass-dragging days if I run my fave gym playlist on my ipod while getting dressed in the locker room I’ll be pumped and ready to rock by the time I hit the gym floor. If I’m heading to Muay Thai training, it’s the smell of the Thai Boxer’s Liniment and the sound of the bell that gets me going. Sometimes it’s a combination of both, run a little ointment under my noise, listen to “Bring Da Ruckus” by Wu-Tang and I go from 0-120mph in no time. I AM PAVLOV’S DOG AND DAMNED PROUD OF IT!
LIFESTYLE
Obesity is not just about diet and exercise, a lot of it is about your overall lifestyle. Health issues, especially manageable health issues such as type 2 Diabetes, are rooted in everything you do. It may sound kinda harsh, but ditch your unhealthy friends. People who only get together to drink and sit on their asses watching sports most nights, hit up bars as their main source of recreation on the weekend or just eat out too much and also have weight issues need to hit the road, if only for a little bit until you get yerself in check. Who knows, you may value your time with them even more when you do see them and encourage them to be more active.
People who think that sort of lifestyle is “normal” or commonplace are only contributing to the problem. At the end o’ the day it is not normal or acceptable to be sick. Obesity is an illness. Even if one is just a little overweight (and that’s kind of relative, but let’s say above 18% body fat for shits and giggles here), that extra weight only opens us up to more disease. It’s like having an open sore on your hands….bound to collect germs, get infected and make matters worse.
Treat yourself like an athlete, even if you have no sport. I came across this mindset when I trained with the folks over at Delaware Valley CrossFit ; crosstraining with them to prepare for a National Karate Tournament a few years back. I learned that working out is a job, but one that can be enjoyable if you keep healthy goals. It should be scheduled into your week as you would any other errand and have top priority. Keep track of what you did in terms of exercise and on which day, space these things out logically and learn to be selfish with your training? Selfish? YES! BY ALL MEANS! Your health is important. Training is just as important as dinner.
People will change their plans around like mad to make sure they get to dinner with friends, they will go the extra mile just to hit up their fave lunch spot and make all sorts of sacrifices to go out for a night on the town and drinks on the weekend. Apply that sense of importance towards your training, see it as a necessity such as time with family, food, bathing…whatever it takes. Ask yourself at every meal, did I earn this? Not emotionally. I don’t give a shit how “hard” your day was. How much physical activity did you honestly do. Did you earn the right to eat the amount of calories you are about to consume in terms of how much energy you put out during the day? Be honest. It’s hard. Keep a diary of what and when you ate if that helps. I have a spreadsheet. It works.
Is it ok to cheat? That depends on a few things, I look at it like this, I plan one cheat meal in the week and one dessert. For example, Thursday will get me two slices of my fave pizza and maybe sat will be a small amount of ice cream. The next thurs will be another cheat meal I am sure to enjoy and the same with the sat dessert. I chart everything, even if i mess up a tiny bit over the week…..and adjust my cheat accordingly. At first tho, keep it to 1-and-1 and not close together. The Thursday and Saturday rule works for my schedule and took some time to figure out. I will also purposely go weeks without one or the other or both. Keep it simple, something guaranteed to satisfy or else you may feel “cheated” by your cheat and that’s a very aggravating feeling.
Yo, yo, yo paleo pals!! One topic that comes up like crazy is customizing the paleo diet and paleo recipes to fit your own preferences and tastes. Paleo peeps are always wondering how other peeps are staying paleo and looking for confirmation they’re on the right track. Following are the results of 17 questions on the paleo diet, paleo recipes and fitness, answered by you guys on the FastPaleo FB fan page. Check ‘em out!!
1) Do you consider buying high-quality foods an essential expense?
Yes: 95%
No: 5%
2) What are your nutritional goals within 30min PWO?
Rehydration, glycogen replenishment and protein recovery: 80%
Rehydration: 20%
Rehydration and glycogen replenishment: 0%
3) What’s your take on supplements?
I use select supplements: 60%
I get all my nutrients from foods: 28%
I eat bodybuilders for nourishment: 12%
4) How often do you cheat?
Weekly, I plan that jawn and fat kid it up: 56%
When I’m bummin’, if I missed my PR on Fran: 19%
Cheat? pssht, never, I get ascetic, gustatory stimulation is for the weak: 25%
5) How often do you have fruit?
Wheneva I want, I get b-a-n-a-n-a-s, bananas: 12%
I try to limit to one or a couple pieces a day: 82%
Never. I am sustained purely on the lifeforce of grass-fed cows: 6%
6) What’s your take on eating fats?
I stick with limited vegetable-based fats: 4%
I also eat animal fats in moderation: 17%
Baconnaise for breakfast, lunch and dinner: 79%
7) Are you in favor of an obesity tax?
Yes: 17%
Yes with exceptions for verified medical conditions: 28%
No: 55%
What was your diet like pre-paleo/primal?
Conventional Wisdom Healthy (low-fat and whole grains): 41%
SAD (Standard American Diet): 27%
Other: 18%
Vegan or Vegetarian: 9%
High Protein/Low Carb: 4%
10) How do you like your bacon?
Burnt to a crisp: 9%
Crispy: 60%
A bit tender: 26%
I rub hickory on the pig and bite: 5%
11) Are household disinfectants “paleo?”
Yes: 0%
No: 100%
12) Are you going to cheat and eat Easter candy this weekend? You don’t have to celebrate Easter to answer this one!
Hells naw! I nevar cheat: 50%
Duh!!!! 80/20 allowance: 38%
No! Wait, is that a Cadbury Creme Egg/Peep/Kryptonite? Maybe just this one…: 22%
13) What’s people’s reaction to you “going paleo?”
Accepting: 9%
Curious/Open-Minded: 41%
Critical: 50%
14) Do you struggle with food cravings?
Yes: 83%
No: 17%
15) How many rest days per week do you take?
1: 33%
2: 52%
3: 15%
16) Should insurance rates be lower for people who use healthcare less?
Yes: 92%
No: 8%
17) How much dairy is part of your paleo diet?
Lots: I’m on an IV from a cow utter: 0%
Little: only the finest Cambodian breast milks: 49%
None: Cavemen didn’t have access to cheesecloth: 51%
What was your diet like pre-paleo/primal?
