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).

image credit to www.ocregister.com

Paleo experts “weigh-in” on the Twinkie Snack Diet conducted by Kansas State University nutrition professor Mark Haub:

The Whole Health Source:  The Twinkie Diet for Fat Loss

Harder. Better.  Faster.  Stronger:   The Prof. Mark Haub Nonsense

Primal Wisdom:  The Twinkie Diet: A Paleo Dieter Perspective 

 

Nell Stephenson crossing the finish line at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii

See “Paleo Promo…“

Well said Nell!  This is exactly why my family surprised me with this website last year.   I’m a zealot when it comes to spreading Paleo Nutrition.  Why?  Because I know from personal experience that it works (and is still working):

Robb Wolf:  Paleo Nutrtion Guru

Large, Fluffy and Buoyant Can Be A Good Thing!

Check out Nell Stephenson’s Paleo Nutrition and Fitness website and blog for helpful information on going paleo.

In addition to holding a BS in Exercise Science and working closely with Dr. Cordain, Nell is also a Ironman Triathlete.  She offers Training and Paleo Nutrition plans on her website for Ironman athletes, endurance athletes, children, brides, and folks looking to lose weight and optimize their health.

I also highly recommend The Paleo Diet Cookbook which she recently co-authored with Dr. Cordain!

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Cheryl Polack and Dr. Loren Cordain at the IHMC Ocala Lecture Series

Dr. Loren Cordain of the Paleo Diet recently presented his lecture on “Origins and Evolution of The Western Diet:  Health Implications for the 21st Century” at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition here in my small hometown town of Ocala.  I’ve become a paleo groupie, having first followed Dr. Cordain all the way out to California to hear him speak at the Paleo Brands Seminar and later having hunted him down in Orlando to hear two additional Paleo Diet lectures.  My obsession has more to do with fact than fad.

Fads fade with time, but this has not been the case with the Paleo Diet.  As Dr. Cordain states in his revised edition of the Paleo Diet, the popularity of Paleo Diet has exploded since it was originally published in 2002.  Why?  It has a lot to do with “the masses” following Robb Wolf’s Paleo recommendations as the “once upon a time” nutrition guru of CrossFit.  Dr. Cordain also states in his new book that “electronic interconnectedness” has exploded in the last decade making information that is relevant to our lives easily accessible through emails, websites, and blogs.  But the main reason the Paleo Diet has grown in popularity within Crossfit and the electronic community is because it actually works.

Not only will you lose weight, but you will also prevent (and reverse) future disease.    Future diseases that are mistakenly believed to be an inevitable part of the aging process:   getting heavier – the proverbial “spare tire around the middle”, abnormal blood sugar levels leading to Diabetes II, abnormal blood lipids leading to high triglycerides, cholesterol and LDL, increased risk for cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.  It doesn’t have to be this way, folks.  I’ve not only read the research myself, but I have also applied the paleo principles in my own life with very positive results:

Robb Wolf:  Paleo Guru

Large, Fluffy and Buoyant Can Be A Good Thing!

Being healthy and losing weight is not about counting calories or measuring food.  As Dr. Cordain lectured this Thursday evening,  it’s about eating in accordance with our evolutionary ancestral diet.  We evolved for millions of years on a diet of nutritious minimally-processed wild plants and animals.  Since the onset of the agriculture revolution some 15,000 years ago, we have increasingly displaced this nutritious diet with highly-processed, refined foods.   Researchers are now beginning to recognize a  strong correlation exists between our modern diet (the highly coveted  USDA Food Pyramid), metabolic syndrome,  and autoimmune disease.   What we typically eat on a daily basis is making us very sick.  Scary.

How do you stay healthy?  Not by counting calories, but by avoiding all varieties of grains (wheat, corn, rice, etc), grain-fed meats, legumes (including soy and peanuts), dairy products, refined sugars, refined vegetable oils, salt and processed foods.   What’s left?  A diet of natural foods: lean meats that are grass-fed, wild-caught fish, vegetables,  fruits and the “good fats”.  It’s that easy.  This is how you can take control of your own life and prevent (and in most cases reverse) chronic inflammation,  metabolic derangement, acne, acid reflux, asthma,  etc.  You can also prevent hundreds of auto-immune diseases that may develop over time due to  Leaky Gut Syndrome (see “Got Leaky Gut?”).  Leaky Gut Syndrome has been implicated in auto-immune disease and is believed to be caused by grain, legume, dairy and nightshade vegetable consumption.

Miss the lecture?

• The Abstract

• The Slides

• The Lecture: (from CrossFit Football Certification at CrossFit Denver)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

How to implement the Paleo Diet in your life

• My long-winded version

• My short version

Official Paleo Diet Resources

• The Paleo Diet Website and Blog (sign up to receive Dr. Cordain’s free Paleo Newsletter)

• The Paleo Diet Revised Edition (my review)

• The Paleo Diet Cookbook

• The Paleo Diet for Athletes

• Direct-Ms.org Lecture Series with Dr. Cordain:   The Paleo Diet and Multiple Sclerosis (7 Parts)

Special thanks to Dr. Ken Ford of the IHMC and the many sponsors involved in bringing Dr. Cordain to Ocala so that others may benefit from his work.  It was wonderful to have an opportunity to express our gratitude for the personal successes we have each experienced by applying his life’s research in our own lives.

Chef Al Rosas of Rosas Farm and Dr. Cordain

Erin Rosas adding the finishing touches to a beautiful table!

In additional, a heartfelt thank you to Al and Erin Rosa of Rosas Farm for creating a truly enchanting gourmet paleo event in their home following the lecture.  Based on our experience with them that evening, with much anticipation I’m hoping they will soon publish a gourmet paleo cookbook so that we may all re-create Al’s paleo gourmet magic in our own homes!  In the meantime, please visit the Rosas Country Market which is well stocked with organic and completely grass-fed beef, pork, poultry, eggs and wild-caught sea food.  They also offer their own line of organic seasonings and the best organic barbecue sauce I have ever tasted (and the only one I’ve ever seen that does not list “corn syrup” on the label)!

Dr. Cordain, Dr. Montes, Cheryl Polack, and Dr. Wartels arriving in the Rosas Home

An evening of incredible food and great conversation!

Came across this fun and informative Paleo Diet article posted on Nerd Fitness.  I had to have the “fat is not bad” conversation with LA  yesterday as she began her private paleo adventure.  Having blogged about this issue in the past, I thought  Nerd Fitness did an excellent job summing this and the Paleo Diet up in one post.  Enjoy!

Nerd Fitness:  The Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet

I hate counting calories.

I don’t like keeping track of how much I’ve eaten, I don’t like obsessing over how many grams of a particular nutrient I’ve eaten, and I don’t like worrying that I ate too much/little and the end of the day.  Not only do I hate counting calories, but I know that calories are really only half of the battle, as they’re not all created equal – 400 calories of Doritos do NOT affect your body in the same way as 400 calories of high-quality vegetables and chicken.

Fortunately, if you can expand your horizons and remove certain types of food from your diet, you can stop worrying about counting calories FOREVER (sorry,  the Count – ah ah ah).  About fifteen months ago, I stumbled across a particular type of eating that doesn’t require counting a single calorie AND allows you to eat as much as you want (I’m serious – I explain later).  Oh, and it will help you lose weight, build muscle, and get in the best shape of your life.

I know, that sounds like an ad for some really shady supplement or diet book that you’d see on TV at 4 AM.

Putting aside the marketing mumbo-jumbo, it’s a diet – it’s actually a lifestyle, but we’ll stick with diet for now – that actually works.  How do I know?  Because I’ve been following this type of diet for the past month, and despite my best efforts to force feed myself as often as possible to gain weight, I’ve actually managed to lose a few pounds.

I’m talking about the Paleo Diet….(read on)

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Just when I think I’m up to date,  Robb Wolf and Andy Deas post yet another episode of the The Paleolithic Solution.     I’m currently listening to Episode 38, but already behind as they have recorded and posted Episode 39.  For me, the “last podcast” is ever elusive, but in all honesty that’s actually a good thing.  Besides presenting an incredible amount of applicable paleo “pseudo science” each week, these two guys are also very funny.   I look forward to walking my dogs and laughing out loud in the middle of the street.  Although the bio-chemistry of nutrition and fitness can be tedious and boring, Robb and Andy actually make the learning process fun. To quote one of their classic podcast comments -  “It should be more like a birthday party than physics class” .

In Episode 26 of The Paleolithic Solution Robb and Andy were joined by Melissa Urban and Dallas Hartwig of the Whole9.    Melissa and Dallas are on top of their game when it comes to nutrition, health and fitness (check out their Whole9 blog).  During this interview Melissa shared her “fresh, natural foods your great grandmother would recognize” elevator “Paleo Pitch”.  She responds with this “Paleo Pitch” when asked “what do you eat”?  Robb comments that Melissa’s  elevator pitch would need to be  in a very tall building, like a [skyscraper] in Dubai.  It may be a little long because she does do a very good job of explaining what one would eat when following The Paleo Diet.

The Whole9 Nutrition Paleo Pitch

Melissa and Dallas also have also developed the “Whole30″ and “Whole30 Version 2.0″, a program that will “change your life in 30 days” (links provided below).    Melissa and Dallas give you all of the information and tools you’ll need to get started eating “paleo”.    The testimonials have been incredible with many Continue reading

I awoke this morning surprised to find an article on The Paleo Diet in my small hometown Sunday newspaper.  It would be nice to see The Paleo diet go a little more mainstream. Imagine the number of folks that stand to benefit significant improvements in overall health from following a diet of grass-fed meat, veggies, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starches, no grains, and no sugar.  Improvements in over all bio-markers of health that I know occur from my own personal experiences (see my blog post “Robb Wolf:  Paleo Nutrition Guru” and “Large, Fluffy and Buoyant Can Be A Good Thing!” )!

More “Paleo Diet” articles showing up in common places:

• Article From the Sacramento Bee featured in today’s Ocala Health and Fitness Section:  “With the Paleo Diet, prehistoric food no longer thing of the past“

• 2010 May/June issue of Psychology Today feature story on The Paleo Diet:  “The Way We Were - Our bodies are best adapted to what our Paleolithic ancestors ate and that’s food for our brains as well.”

• From the Washington Post in January 2010:  “Paleolithic diet is so easy, cavemen actually did it”

• The New York Times January 2010 article:  The New Age Cavemen and the City

• The Huffington Post February 2010 article: Is It Healthier To Eat Like A Caveman?

• 2010 April issue of Woman’s World Magazine features The Paleo Diet success story of Eva La Rue from CSI Miami

Government Food Pyramid making us sicker?  Today’s modern diet is mostly made up of processed foods – whole wheat bread, brown rice, cereals, granola bars,  etc.   Little do folks realize that these type of foods, especially the ones listed as “low fat” can increase your risk of heart disease (see recent blog post titled “Processed Carbs – Not Dietary Fat – Increase Your Risk of Type II Diabetes, Heart Disease and Obesity”).

Do your research -  fat is not the problem!  Refined carbs, not dietary fat contribute to overall greater metabolic damage (elevated blood pressure, Obesity, Type II Diabetes, blood fat disorders, etc).  An Editorial published in the April issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition titled “Are Refined Carbohydrates Worse Than Saturated Fat?“discusses the importance of reducing refined carbs in your diet instead of fat.

Ancel Keys- where it all began and where it all went wrong!

Found a follow-up article to my previous post on Total Cholesterol not being a good indicator of Cardio Vascular Disease (CVD).

For years, we have been led to believe that dietary fat is evil.  Walk down any grocery store aisle and observe shelves stocked with low-fat products or count the numerous health related books that recommend a low-fat diet.  You’ll even witness physicians, nutritionists and even personal trainers advising their clients to reduce dietary fat to improve over-all health.  Little did we know that these low-fat recommendations were actually making us sick!

Slowly, but surely, mainstream America is beginning to recognizing the role refined carbs, not dietary fat, plays in increasing your risk of many diseases – Type II Diabetes, CVD and obesity.

Follow the link below to read the Scientific American recent report on:

Carbs against Cardio: More Evidence that Refined Carbohydrates, not Fats, Threaten the Heart

“…Now a spate of new research, including a meta-analysis of nearly two dozen studies, suggests a reason why: investigators may have picked the wrong culprit. Processed carbohydrates, which many Americans eat today in place of fat, may increase the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease more than fat does—a finding that has serious implications for new dietary guidelines expected this year…”

I guess it’s the word “diet” in the “Paleo Diet” that concerns most parents.  Diets are often associated with deprivation and unhealthy eating habits.  But this is NOT the case when eating “paleo”.  It’s a diet that’s been around for years – millions of years to be more exact.  It’s a diet that mimics the way our ancestors evolved to eat over time.   It wasn’t until the onset of the agricultural revolution and the introduction of grains some 15 – 20,000 years ago that we began to see evidence of the new “diseases of civilization“.

So, what about your kids on the Paleo Diet? Robb Wolf takes a look at the nutritional breakdown of the Paleo Diet in a recent blog post.  If you don’t have time to read it,  I can sum up it up with a quick quote :

“Kreiki! Look at that. If you consume a Paleo Diet it LOOKS like you are taking a nutritional supplement.”

Kids, Paleo and Nutrient Density