From Phillyburbs.com:

Sunday morning, when the hubby and I were lying in bed, happily contemplating how we just scored a bonus point apiece in our Wrightstown Health & Fitness Paleo Challenge — for adequate sleep; what did you think I meant? — an infomercial came on TV.

Shocking, right? No, and neither is the fact it was for a weight loss program. What’s interesting is, this program, called “Food Lovers” because Infomercial Rule No. 1 is you have to sound stupid and gimmicky, is very similar to the Zone diet we’re doing right now.

Meaning, it’s based on keeping a certain ratio of carbohydrate to protein to fat in your meals. Zone mandates that 40 percent of calories should come from carbs, 30 percent from protein and 30 from fat, which ostensibly will keep your body “in the zone,” or, at its fat-burning, energy-producing and athletic-performing best.

At WHF, we added Paleo to the mix, meaning the food we eat in those 40-30-30 Zone proportions is the kind that sustained our hunter-gatherer ancestors. That would be meat, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, water and tequila. (My ancestors were lushes. I looked it up.)

Read the rest here.

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Paleo Diet For Beginners

From The Sydney Morning Herald:

Unleash your primal energy through an all-natural prehistoric diet.

About 18 years ago, I started competing in fitness figure competitions and needed to lower my body fat. I had about 22 per cent body fat and needed to reach 16 per cent.

My trainer told me to cut out grains and starches, including bread, pasta and rice, as well as refined sugars. My eating plan consisted of fish, chicken and other meat, eggs, salad, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds. This was my first experience of the Palaeolithic or ”caveman” diet, which is based on the premise ”if the cavemen didn’t eat it, you shouldn’t, either”.

After overdosing on protein at first, I focused on a plant-based fresh-vegetable diet that included 65 grams of animal-based protein a day. I felt strong and full of energy, and never hungry. I leaned up ready for my competition and placed second. Since then, I’ve based the way I eat (and cook) on the paleo lifestyle.

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From the New York Daily News:

Could Paleolithic man hold the key to today’s nutrition problems?

A growing number of adherents to the so-called “caveman” diet contend that a return to the hunter-gatherer foods of the Stone Age — heavy on meats, devoid of most grains — could alleviate problems like obesity, type 2 diabetes and many coronary problems.

The Paleo diet movement is backed by some academics and fitness gurus and has gained some praise in medical research in the US and elsewhere even though it goes against recommendations of most mainstream nutritionists and government guidelines.

Loren Cordain, a professor of health and exercise science at Colorado State University, said he believes millions in the United States and elsewhere are following the Paleo diet movement, based on sales of books such as his own and Internet trends.

“It was an obscure idea 10 years ago and in the last two to three years it has become known worldwide,” Cordain, one the leading academics backing the Paleo diet, told AFP.

“There are at least a half-dozen books on the best seller list that are promoting this,” he added.

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Rock out with your Grok out!

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From BlogCritics.org:

As a former fatso, almost all of the meals I ate came from a restaurant.  It didn’t matter if the restaurant was fast food or fine dining, I probably ate there.  There is no doubt that eating like this was a major contributor to my weight gain.  During week four of my Paleo Diet experiment, I had family stay with me and we were going to be making plenty of day trips.  This meant that I would be eating most of my meals in restaurants.  I was very concerned that I was going to have trouble following Paleo Diet principles.

Through the first three weeks of my experiment, I was able to be Paleo Diet compliant by spending one hour each week menu planning for lunch and dinner.  Unfortunately, family being family, I wasn’t able to plan any activities let alone a menu until my guests arrived.  I felt that I was setting myself up for failure.  Having to eat several restaurant meals was going to make it hard enough to follow Paleo principles.  The lack of menu planning was going to make it that much harder.

Once I accepted my fate that I had limited control over where I was going to eat, I decided that I would control what I ate.  I would simply put the Paleo principles into action when ordering and all would be good.  In reality, this was a little tougher than I thought.

Read more: http://blogcritics.org/tastes/article/my-paleo-diet-experience-fighting-the/#ixzz1UYEArIPk

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Paleo Cereal

After a great game of tennis yesterday, I went back to my friend’s house were he proceeded to demolish a bowl of cereal. As I watched this take place, it occured to me that I haven’t had a bowl of cereal in probably six months at least. Maybe it’s because it was hot and that bowl filled with cold milk looked delicious; or maybe I was just yearning for days gone by when I could kill a box of Fruit Loops in one day. Whatever it was, my mission for today was to create a bowl of paleo cereal.

The ingredients:

• Raw pecans
• Organic blueberries
• Organic strawberries
• Almond milk
• Cinnamon

Is it 100% paleo? Well you can probably argue about the almond milk; but it’s pretty damn close.

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Great infographic demonstrating the effects sitting has on our lives. From MedicalCodingandBilling.org:

Via: Medical Billing And Coding

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Paleo grilling

Agree or disagree?

From the Chicago Tribune:

Would adopting the diet our caveman ancestors supposedly ate allow modern-day Americans live longer, healthier lives?

Proponents of the Paleo diet (for Paleolithic) say that meals packed with fresh fruits and vegetables and heavy doses of lean (preferably wild) meat, fish and seafood will “swiftly improve your disease symptoms” if you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease.

Not allowed are dairy, grains and legumes (beans, peas and lentils) because these were a late entry to the human palate, appearing about 12,000 years ago, and aren’t foods to which we’re “genetically adapted.”

While the diet has fans — the recently released “Paleo Diet Cookbook” is fourth in a series of books written or co-written by Dr. Loren Cordain, a Colorado State University professor — dietitians argue that eliminating entire food groups is a mistake.

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Paleo People Granola

A new entry in the portable paleo-friendly snack category is the wonderful lineup of granola-like treats offered by Paleo People. Made from a base of paleo-friendly fare like nuts, seeds and fruit, Paleo People’s granola snacks are a great way to stay paleo on the go.

What is particularly nice about the products is the variety of available flavors. Flavors include:

• Apple Crisp
• Banana Nut Crunch
• Cacao Nut
• Cappuccino Crunch

From an aesthetic point, Paleo People has done a great job with their packaging, using bright easily distinguishable colors for each flavor. If I have one criticism of the granola, it would be that the protein content –roughly 3 grams per serving– could be a little higher.  That aside, all the flavors are really good. It is hard to pick a favorite from the four, but with a spear to my head, I would probably pick the Cappuccino Crunch.

As we all know it can be tough to find something paleo-friendly during the day when you are away from home. Paleo People’s granola packs are super easy to throw in your bag and take with you anywhere.  Also, as mentioned on the Paleo People website, the granola is very versatile. I’ve had it as part of my workout protein shakes, with some greek yogurt and on its own.

So if you’re looking for a convenient paleo-friendly snack take a look at Paleo People’s granola. Best of all, if you can’t decide which flavor your want, get the variety pack.

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From ABC News:

By JOHN BERMAN and SARAH HODD

March 2, 2011

You don’t have to carry a club or wear a bearskin to live like a caveman. To keep fit, a number of people have adopted the “Paleo” lifestyle — eating and exercising like our ancestors from the Paleolithic era.

Art De Vany, 73, is often called the “grandfather” of the Paleo movement. For De Vany, a workout includes pulling his Range Rover in his driveway.

He compared it to “hauling heavy bison out of a pit.”

“If you think about it, you’re using every single muscle in your body. You’re not going to hurt yourself by overdoing repetitions,” he said. “It’s easy for me.”

De Vany, the author of “The New Evolution Diet,” also eats like a caveman by consuming meat, seafood, vegetables and fruit, but no grains or processed food. He adopted the caveman or Paleo diet some 30 years ago in an effort to improve the health of his family.

The human species during the Paleolithic age, he said, “was probably the epitome of the expression of the human genotype. (They had) large, powerful brains — they gave us all that we have in our world.”

Read the rest here.

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