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Gary Taubes, an American science writer has a new blog.  His book Good Calories, Bad Calories is a must read for understanding how refined carbohydrates, not dietary fat cause Cardio Vascular Disease, Obesity, Hypertension, Hyperlipidemia (and a long list of other modern diseases)! I would also recommend reading an article he wrote for the New York Times in 2002 titled “What If It’s All Been a Big Fat Lie?” which challenged the popular (and unhealthy) “low-fat diet” craze.

Mr. Taubes reminds us of the importance of critically examining ALL of the controlling variables in scientific research.  So often correlations are made without recognizing exactly what variables affected the outcome.  With this in mind, Mr. Taubes examines the following questions in his most recent blog post: “Is it the total calories consumed that is the variable determining weight loss? And, by the same token, is it the calories consumed (or expended) that determines how much weight we gain?”

Continue reading to see how researchers can lead you astray by overlooking or not reporting key variables that affect reported outcomes:

Calories, fat or carbohydrates? Why diets work (when they do).

This weekend I had the honor of sharing information on The Paleo Diet at Dave and Shae Tozzo’s gym, CrossFit Zoo.  We had an excellent turnout and I was excited to see so many folks eager to improve their health, performance and body composition via paleo-nutrition-concepts.  It was especially moving to hear a surprise testimony from Jay, a law enforcement officer, who shared that he had lost over 47 pounds in 10 weeks (without exercise).  He totally reversed his blood work from that of an overweight old man to that of a fit 18 year old.  His doctor was amazed (and proud).  It was very moving to hear him speak – hoping he’ll post his story for us soon!

For those who were able to attend the “Paleo Talk”, you should now:

• Understand the Importance of Balancing Critical Hormones

• Understand Digestion and the Critical Importance of Gut Health

• Recognize and Understand the effects of Neolithic Foods

• Understand How to “Go Paleo”

•  Recognize Blood Panels that Predict Present and Long Term

As promised, so that it would  not be necessary to take copious notes during the lecture,  I’m  posting  a few  resources to jump-start your own paleo adventure.  Good luck to everyone and please keep me posted on your success!

My  Personal “Evolution” Into Paleo Nutrition

• Finding CrossFit in the Dark
• Robb Wolf:  Paleo Guru

How To Go Paleo “Now”

• Robb Wolf’s “Quick Start Guide”
• Robb Wolf’s “Food Matrix“
• Mark Sisson’s “Primal BluePrint 101″
• “The Whole 30, Version 3.11″
• “Paleo Quick Start”
• “How to Go Paleo:

Top 3 Paleo Nutrition Reads Continue reading

CrossFitters are notorious for their consumption of high dose fish oil supplementation.  Fish oil supplementation has been shown to reverse or even prevent serious damage caused by chronic inflammation:  inflammation that Time Magazine in 2004 deemed “The Silent Killer” (also see “The Anti-Inflammation Zone by Barry Sears). Based on newly published research, it now looks like “long-term high dose fish oil intake” may become “a thing of the past”.  Chris Kresser, of  The Healthy Skeptic post an excellent article discussing the latest research on fish oil supplementation.   He summarizes in this article:

• “The benefits of fish oil supplementation have been grossly overstated
• Most of the studies showing fish oil benefits are short-term, lasting less than one year
• The only fish oil study lasting more than four years showed an increase in heart disease and sudden death
• Fish oil is highly unstable and vulnerable to oxidative damage
• There’s no evidence that healthy people benefit from fish oil supplementation
• Taking several grams of fish oil per day may be hazardous to your health”

To read Chris’ article in full, see “When it comes to fish oil, more is not better “

Based on these latest findings, Robb Wolf shares his thoughts in “The Paleo Solutions” Podcast  #53.  Robb believes short term high dose fish oil intake  is good for intervention (“people who are very overweight and who have loads of inflammation”) , but high dosages of  fish oil supplementation longer than 1 to 3 months could  increase your chance of Cardio Vascular Disease  in the future.   With good sleep and by following The Paleo Diet,  one’s need for high dose fish oil dosages should quickly Continue reading