Paleo Quick Tip of the Day 34- Fat is Our Friend

Good Fats

PQTD #34  The One Paleo Food You Don’t Eat Nearly Enough of... FAT

The one thing that almost no one, including paleo lifestyle folks eats enough of is indeed FAT! Good, satisfying, God made fat, as in kill and eat the fatted calf, and cook it in cream and coconut oil!

I have just finished Jimmy Moore’s latest book Keto Clarity, and I must say that, although I am quite paleolithic in my diet, even I do not eat enough fat!  I eat a lot by normal standards, but not up to 80% of my diet by any means...  And, to get to a ketogenic (or fat burning) state where the body and brain is running on ketones, which are the human bodies perfect fuel- fat needs to make up at least 50% or so of the diet!

I mean real fat, as I said above: NOT crisco, margarine, vegetable oils, cool whip, or any other MAN made fake fat or food.  I mean heavy whipping cream, pastured butter, coconut oil, avocados, eggs (especially the yolks) full fat cream cheese, sour cream, bacon and cream cheese!  These foods, along with green leafy and cruciferous veggies and a small amount of protein from your grass fed beef, seafood, pork and chicken become the ketones that your body needs to run best on.  AND, once you get the process underway by eating enough fats to kick start your switch over to a fat burning ancestral human instead of a SAD sugar burning modern American, why then your body can supplement the process by easily accessing and burning your OWN fat stores!  Now this is a big win win.

Of course, we are also talking about limiting carbs here dramatically- but it is quite easy to do so, once you are getting enough fat, because you are never hungry - fat is that satiating.

The health benefits of a ketogenic diet are amazing- for brain health, depression, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, headaches- it’s almost as if you name it, burning ketones from fat is the cure!  Not to mention the obvious, that the more fat you eat, the more fat your body loses...counterintuitive, but completely true nonetheless.

So, make yourself a big meal of , oh, 4 pastured eggs scrambled with sour cream, a few bacon strips, paleo coffee with a teaspoon or so of coconut oil dissolved in it and topped with whipped cream...still hungry?  Oh, I forgot your daily Paleo smoothie- along with all the veggies, kefir, eggs, berries and all the rest you are also going to add in a big slab of Kerrygold butter and an avocado...

Sip that along with your little breakfast, and I absolutely guarantee you won’t be hungry for a long, long time- you won’t want of need a snack, and your body will start to get the idea that hey- Fat is our friend!  We don’t need it on our bellies and thighs because we can get it from our food anytime we want!

Check out this episode!

Keto Clarity- a book about the Ketogenic diet by Jimmy Moore

Just a quick recommendation:

Keto Clarity, by the reknowned Jimmy Moore of Livin La Vida Low Carb podcast fame, is a book that YOU SHOULD READ!

And digest, and absorb, and above all: Apply!

Whether your complaint is relatively minor, like being overweight, headaches, or creeping diabesity...

Or major, as in Parkinson's, Epilepsy, or Cancer...

Your solution might well lie within these pages!

Here is the description and synopsis of this book, so you know what to expect:

Leading health blogger Jimmy Moore and researcher and internist Dr. Eric C. Westman join forces again to explain the powerful therapeutic effects of a ketogenic diet—one that combines a customized carbohydrate restriction, moderation of protein intake, and real food-based fats—which is emerging in the scientific literature as a means for improving a wide range of diseases, from Type 2 diabetes to Alzheimer’s and more. Simply eating a low-carb diet alone isn’t enough, and Moore and Westman tell you why.

Have you looked at a low-carb diet simply as a means to lose weight? What if you learned that combining a low-carb nutritional approach with a high fat intake produces a powerful therapeutic effect on a wide variety of health conditions that most people think requires medication to control? That’s what Keto Clarity is all about. Jimmy Moore, the world’s leading low-carb diet blogger and podcaster, has reunited with his Cholesterol Clarity coauthor Dr. Eric C. Westman, a practicing internist and low-carb diet researcher, to bring you the crystal-clear information you need to understand what a ketogenic diet is all about and why it may be the missing element in your pursuit of optimal health. This book includes exclusive interviews from twenty of the world’s foremost authorities from various fields bringing their depth of expertise and experience using this nutritional approach. Moore and Westman clearly explain why ketosis is normal, how this nutritional approach is being used therapeutically by many medical professionals, a step-by-step guide to help you produce more ketones and track your progress, real life success stories of people using a ketogenic diet, and more. The solid evidence for nutritional ketosis in dealing with many of the chronic health problems of our day is presented, including: epilepsy, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), heartburn (GERD), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The good evidence for ketogenic diets is also shared in dealing with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), Parkinson’s Disease, dementia, mental illness, schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, narcolepsy, and sleep disorders. Plus, you’ll get the details on the emerging science that is showing great promise in treating cancer, autism, migraines, chronic pain, brain injury, stroke, kidney disease and so much more. Keto Clarity is your definitive guide to the benefits of a low-carb, high-fat diet. Full details on Jimmy Moore’s yearlong n=1 scientific experiment of nutritional ketosis, in which he used sophisticated blood testing technology to track and monitor his production of ketones and blood sugar to achieve rather remarkable effects on his weight and health, is also presented as well as food shopping lists, 25+ low-carb, high-fat recipes, and a 21-day meal plan to get you going on your ketogenic lifestyle change. Keto Clarity gives you a whole new perspective on the work that the late, great Dr. Robert C. Atkins started in earnest with his promotion of the low-carb approach beginning in the 1960s. That revolution continues boldly in this book designed to shift your paradigm on diet and health forever!



AND SO, WHY WOULDN'T YOU WANT TO READ THIS BOOK?  

Jimmy breaks it all down, neatly, and in a highly applicable manner!

Keto Clarity

PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe Podcast #79- Time Magazine admits that Fat is Good!

PaleoJay’s Smoothie Cafe #79- Time Magazine Admits that the War on Fat was WRONG!

Yes, that’s right- even the mainstream media conduit of Time magazine has come our with their latest cover story that— FAT IS NOT BAD!  (Gasp!)

For those of us in Paleoland, this might seem like a no-brainer, like a “duh” moment, but consider this:  90% PLUS of the general population, INCLUDING M.D.’s and other health professionals like NUTRITIONISTS would NOT AGREE!!

This is actually quite shocking, since all of the latest science supports the idea that FAT is NOT bad to eat, and that

Sugars and refined carbohydrates are the real cause of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and ALL of the host of modern day degenerative disease and illness!!

Actually, that last sentence should be inscribed on a mountaintop, and illuminated night and day like the HOLLYWOOD sign in… well, Hollywood!

The cause is that crucial: the health, and the health care system itself in the USA is breaking down.  This is because of the adoption of the low fat hypothesis, spearheaded by Ancel Keyes in the 1960’s, that led us down a path of bad research, cherry-picking of data, and a false conclusion!

Ironically, Time Magazine itself trumpeted this “triumph”, back in 1961!!

Since then, when Ancel Keyes FALSIFIED his data from a study, and convinced the McGovern commission to back him…

WE HAVE GONE FROM A FIT, HEALTHY SOCIETY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE-

TO A LAND OF FAT, SICK, UNHEALTHY PEOPLE, UNFIT TO CARRY ON THE LAND OF THE FREE!!

Sorry to be so extreme, but this is an extreme CRISIS!

We are looking at 53 years of LIES, FAKE Science, and Mis-information!  This is a travesty, and it MUST be righted, to save us all!

Don't eat fat! Instead...

“But Jay, but Jay!” I hear you crying- “How can we feed the world with good, pure, God-made food if we don’t have tons and tons of grains?”

Thanks for asking, Grasshopper!  The truth of the matter is that: our future is IN OUR PAST!

Small, local, family farms are the BEST way to ensure ample GOOD REAL food for EVERYONE!

Back in the wake of the bad science of Ancel Keyes, the idea of “progress” was to GET BIG OR GET OUT in farming- this was in 1971- Earl Butz was the latest incarnation of Ancel Keyes, and the US Department of Agriculture went from supporting small family farms, to being the agent of their destruction- GET BIG OR GET OUT!  REALLY??

EAT THESE!!

Yes, that’s really how it went!  Thomas Jefferson is probably STILL spinning in his grave over that one!

And, from those two really bad decisions and conclusions, our family farms, the source of all of our food, and the economy of thousands of small farming communities,

HAS BEEN DECIMATED!!

Small family farms have DISAPPEARED- destroyed by Federal Government incentives to grow GRAIN crops that were not needed, at the expense of wholesome, nutritious crops like vegetables, fruits, and small and large animals and eggs…

The DIVERSITY of these small farms has been wiped-out, since competition from giant, corporate owned CAFO or confined animal feeding operations has been subsidized by the Federal Government by them offering grain subsidies to operations that grow GRAINS, and even subsidies to giant farms that DON’T GROW GRAINS (SO THE PRICE IS ARTIFICIALLY HIGHER!)…

What do we need to escape this catastrophe?

Simple- like in most of life!  Less; MUCH less GOVERNMENT!

Free markets- NO grain subsidies, i.e. taxpayer money going to pay giant corporate farmers to grow grain that no one needs or should even eat!

This ONE simple thing would give the incentive to farmers to grow real, God-made, nutritious foods; foods like broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, lentils, lettuce, raspberries, spinach, avocados, strawberries- the list goes on and on and on-

AND NOT GRAINS!!
How much would that change the world?

Suddenly, Young people could MAKE A LIVING FARMING ON A SMALL SCALE!
They could raise real, nutritious, God-made foods, and raise cattle and chickens and eggs and pastured pork and raw milk and butter and cream…

JUST LIKE IN THE OLD DAYS, WHEN WE WERE ALL HEALTHY AND FIT!!

And so, in a post-grain, subsidized Government-run misinformed micromanagement of farming, things would naturally revert to sanity:

REAL FOOD WOULD RESURGE!
VEGGIES AND GOOD DAIRY FATS, (UNPASTEURIZED) WOULD BE PRIZED, AND TAKE OVER THE MARKET!

PASTURED ANIMALS WOULD PROVIDE GOOD PROTEIN, AFTER LIVING GOOD LIVES IN NATURE, EATING GRASS LIKE THEY WERE INTENDED BY GOD AND NATURE RATHER THAN GRAINS THAT DESTROYED THEIR INTESTINES AND MADE THEM SICK!

CHICKENS WOULD RUN AROUND ON PASTURE, EATING BUGS AND WORMS AND EVERYTHING ELSE THAT GOD INTENDED THEM TO EAT- NOT A “VEGETARIAN DIET” IN A CONFINED ANIMAL FEEDING OPERATION/TORTURE CHAMBER!

And family farms, I mean family farms like those depicted in the Wizard of Oz movie from the 1939 Movie Musical would return in all their glory-

Young people could actually provide a life on the farm!

How cool is that??

We could actually go back to the future- but, this would be a future as presaged by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms; utilizing MODERN technology to replicate a primeval, natural, God-made landscape-

Things like electric fencing, and “chicken  tractors”, where chickens are allowed to “roam” after herbivores like their ancestors, but confined in a moving vehicle to replicate the ancient pattern, but in control…

Technology could easily be our friend in this, rather than our enemy…

But Government policy and control IS, and will continue to be our undoing-

UNLESS we let technology help us as INDIVIDUALS, and ELIMINATE the Governmental Control that is just SCREWING everything up- both health-wise, and environmental-wise…

Let’s just go back to the future- back to the founding fathers!

Limited BIG Government.

LOCAL Government raised ABOVE BIG Government!!

Common sense over Ancel Keyes Fake Science.  Local Markets over the FDA!!  REAL FOOD OVER PROCESSED FAKE FOOD LIKE SUBSTANCES!!!

J

PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe podcast #65 Shorten your eating window, and Have a Green, Paleo smoothie- EVERY DAY! AND, listen to simple, basic, calming folk style music to get back in touch with your inner you...

I did an experiment the other day, actually- yesterday!  Although I prepared a MORE than adequate lunch to bring to work, including not just ONE, but THREE quarts of the incredibly nutritious Paleo Smoothie (including resistant starch, gelatin, and TONS of green veggies, kefir, and everything else that Ponce De Leon used to dream about to rejuvenate his life via the “fountain of youth”... I decided to eat, instead- nothing!

Well, I did have a big cup of what I call Paleo Coffee- organic coffee made in my Aerobie coffee press, which you can find on my list of recommended Amazon products at www.paleojay.com.  It is similar to Bulletproof coffee, as touted by Dave Asprey of www.Bulletproofexecutive.com, but it only contains coconut oil, and whipped cream...

I prefer to put my pastured Kerrygold or Organic Valley butter in my Paleo Smoothie!

But anyway, that is all that I had in the morning, after my Perfectly Paleo workout in front of the TV.  I wanted to see how long it would be until I got hungry, since I normally have a BIG breakfast, including a big green Paleo smoothie, several eggs, and of course, my coconut and whipped cream laden coffee!  And, as per usual, I usually don’t have supper, confining my meals to breakfast and lunch.  Then, I fast until the next day, unlike most paleo folk, who skip breakfast.  That can also be a good strategy, to shorten your “window of eating”, but I believe skipping SUPPER is usually the better idea.

But, regardless, I did NOT get hungry!

As Gomer Pyle, one of my favorite character from old television would have said:

“Surprise, surprise, surprise!!”

I just never got hungry!  It was 9, 10, 11, 12... finally, although I still didn’t feel hungry at all, at around 2 PM, I decided I should eat.  This means I hadn’t eaten at all since about 1:00 the previous day...

I had a tin of sardines... some herring and onions in a cream sauce- delicious!...and I was very full!  So, I left, and had an 8 ounce jar of Paleo smoothie later, not because I was hungry, but because I wanted to MAX OUT MY NUTRITION, just like I maxed out my workout that morning in front of the television!

I think the moral of the story is this:

We live in a world of depleted soil- it is recognized now that foods grown in our present day soil have much less in the way of nutrients than they did even 50 years ago, much less 100.  When our ancestors came to America, the soil was built up to unbelievable levels of fertility- buffalo had roamed and fertilized that plains for eons!  The topsoil was dozens of feet thick with a rich, fertile loam; teeming with life and minerals- earthworms were in their glory, leaving rich castings of nutrients for plants to assimilate...

Fast forward to today, 60 some years after World War 2-

Our soil, especially in the AG BELT of Central Illinois, and Iowa (the corn and soybean belt: Aka “AG LAND”) has been decimated.

That topsoil I spoke of earlier?  It has been reduced to a mere growing medium...

An inert medium (like sand or peat moss) that can support agricultural life, if nutrients are ADDED IN- like nitrogen and potassium, via fossil fuel fertilizers...

But, without those added DRUGS...  this soil is just about cooked!

We have largely, and continue to, destroy our birthright- the fertility of our very land.

Wait- and then- what is the MORAL of this story, again?

If you want to MAX out your nutrition, you will have to eat MORE vegetables than people did in the past!  Our crops don’t have the nutrients anymore that Fonzies did; much less Gomer, or Matt Dillon!  And SO, we have to...  Use LOTS of veggies in a Big Green, Paleo Smoothie to MAX our nutrition to the levels that were easily achieved in the times before the last 50 years!

THIS is why a Vitamix is your best friend, my friend!  Using this simple tool, you not only get the 2 servings of vegetables that you needed 60 years ago- you get 10 or more servings of RAW veggies, that EXCEED the nutrients you would have gotten in the old days, since they are so ground up and BIO-AVAILABLE!  Meaning, of course, that your body can actually USE the nutrients in the food.

This is the #1 way to improve your health, in my opinion, and in that of many others in the Paleo community-

HAVE A BIG, GREEN SMOOTHIE EVERY DAY!!


So simple, and yet... so easy!  Just get a Vitamix to “get ‘er done!”

And the other moral?

We don’t need to eat so darn much!!
I mean so many times throughout the day!  If you eat according to the Paleolithic template, meaning hey- you’ve killed a mammoth!  Hurrah!  Let’s eat a lot of (grass fed) meat, lots of (grass fed) organ meats and fat and marrow and brains...(sorry to be graphic, but this IS the PALEO template!)...

You will NOT be hungry for AGES!!

This is just the way it works!  If you are NOT used to eating at McDonald’s, and dosing yourself with bread products (sugar) and sugar products (soda) every hour or so during every waking moment...  you are not broken- you are NOT a “sugar burner”!  A Paleolithic person did not HAVE this option- they were, by default- FAT BURNERS!

So, when they had nothing to eat (NO MC DONALD’S OR CRISPY CREME), they just...

DIDN’T EAT.

For hours... or days... or even WEEKS!

And it didn’t hurt them a BIT.  Because they could live off of their FAT, which YOU, and I...

BOTH HAVE IN SPADES!

The only difference is, their bodies were ADAPTED to it!  They could go without food for long periods of time, since their bodies were TRAINED to use fat for fuel- their bodies did not EXPECT constant streams of SUGAR to be available.

And so, our paleo ancestors (meaning from 50 years ago, really!) could just go on, and on, until they killed another mastodon... NO PROBLEM!

The lesson here?  Eat in brief windows-

Breakfast and lunch? Then a fast until morning?  This works best for me, providing the breakfast and lunch are FULL of Nutrient Density like a Paleo Smoothie, loaded with veggies and ALL that your body could possibly need or want!  Also plenty of good FAT like coconut milk and oil to SATE your appetite so you don’t even think about food!

OR, lunch and supper?  This is another option, and one I use occasionally when I have a day off.

OR... JUST SUPPER?  This is actually quite do-able, if you want to be like the ancient Spartans, and follow the “Warrior Diet” program.  It is quite, uh, SPARTAN, but, if  you want to go this very simple, and yet very productive route- IT WILL WORK VERY VERY WELL!!

Your call, given your goals.  For me, at 61 years old?

Just breakfast and lunch. Easy Peasy!

Lastly, I want to recommend that you listen to simple, rootsy, basic, calming “folk-style” music to get you back to basics!

By this I mean music that is without special effects, synthesizers- all the accoutrements that have taken over modern popular music, to it’s detriment!

I was driving home tonight from work, in the dark, and was listening to our good friend and neighbor John Smith, an acclaimed folk artist on Pandora.  Although I have his songs on mp3’s, Pandora shuffles in similar basic, unaffected, folk music types of performers, and this is really cool!

Many younger folks have never heard music, EVER, that is just- simple, real music!

I mean like one person, their guitar, and a voice!  Or maybe just a VOICE!

And I think that, in a tribal sense, this is very important.  Listen to REAL, basic music!

I don’t care that it’s electrified- that’s fine- I like that quite a bit!  Mine surely is, mostly!

But try to keep it as real as possible.  Listen to www.johnsmith.com
 
This is simple, and real.

Think Hank Williams.

J

Paleo Gadgets you MUST HAVE! and, Eat LOTS of Nutrient dense foods to lose fat!

Paleo Jay’s Smoothie Cafe #13

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Paleo Food Prep Gadgets

Fill up with Nutrient Dense Foods to Lose Fat


Today, let’s talk about Paleo Food Gadgets, like the inimitable Vitamix-
Best way to incorporate whole raw foods into your diet
Maximum absorbability
Huge variety of antioxidants, spices and herbs- all in one convenient, tasty package!

Crock Pots!  Crock pots are the best and easiest way to COOK your food, slowly and delectably, breaking down all the fibers and cell walls of your ingredients- rather like a “slow cooking Vitamix”, but much slower, and hotter- but with a lot of the same results.
Use one daily, for bone broth it is unsurpassed.
Breaks down collagen in bones, releases marrow; best thing for our own bones are the nutrients from the bones of other animals.

http://aerobie.com/products/aeropress.htm
The Aerobie Aeropress!

If you drink coffee, (and I recommend you do!) get this gadget!  It makes the BEST coffee you’ve ever had, period, and it does so easily.  It is also quite cheap to buy!  But also get the stainless steel coffee filter http://prima-coffee.com/able/disk-fine

The paper filters that come with it are fine, but they also tend to “shift” when making multiple cups from one load of coffee ( I like to make 3 cups per day from one loading- I add more water from my teapot after each cup, and, using the stainless steel filter, the filter never “shifts” and lets in coffee grounds, like the paper ones did!

I make “Bullet Proof” coffee, sort of- I just use a good organic coffee, and dissolve coconut oil in the cup by pouring the coffee on top, and then top with real whipped cream, cinnamon and cloves...  very, very healthy, inexpensive (bullet proof brand coffee is $18.75 for a 3/4 pound bag), and, I prefer to put my pastured butter in my Paleo smoothie rather than in my coffee, and whipped cream and coconut oil have a vastly superior taste, and double the bang for your buck to boot of good fat!

My other gadget?  A dehydrator!  You can easily make jerky, and kale chips.

Oh- a Weber grill!  I grilled today, and it is 12 degrees outside.  Grass fed beef roast, pastured bratwurst, and sausages...

My last point is this: fill up with as much nutrient dense foods as you can!  Don’t even think of “eating less” to lose fat- that whole mindset is completely wrong.

If you start out with a nutrient super dense Paleo smoothie in the morning, along with eggs and pastured bacon, have some more smoothie mid AM, have a huge, meat or seafood topped salad with mixed greens and real oil and vinegar dressing (no soy!), have almonds and dark chocolate for a snack, some more Paleo smoothis mid-afternoon-

I swear you will be so stuffed you will NOT be tempted by any junk foods, like bread or pasta or candy or cake or cookies etc.   You will just be TOO FULL!

You may wind up like me, and usually just skip supper...

BECAUSE YOU ARE JUST TOO DARN FULL!!

That’s great; you are now “intermittantly fasting”, which has numerous benefits of its own!

Go to bed early, and wake up HUNGRY- you have a lot of food to eat:
A Paleo Smoothie, eggs and bacon, coffee with coconut oil and whipped cream...

Got it?  Stay FULL, and you will LOSE FAT and be HEALTHY!

I PROMISE!!

J

Paleo Jays Smoothie Cafe!

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Your Paleo New Year’s Resolution!   

Eat a high fat low carb diet-  

Paleo Jay’s Smoothie Cafe!

Higher Volume, Lower rep pushups

As you all know, the New Year is fast approaching... How can you ensure that it won’t be  the “unlucky” 2013 that the number implies?  By making it your goal to build your health in the coming year, rather than to just gradually let it slide further and further into the S.A.D.  Standard American Diet with all of the accompanying diseases and metabolic syndrome that we have come to associate with aging in the modern world...

Totally unnecessary!  Of course, aging is inevitable, but what we consider the inevitable SYMPTOMS of aging are by and large NOT predetermined!  

It’s mostly our... DIET!  Not our lack of exercise- although I am an avid exerciser, although only for brief and intense sessions, it is diet alone that can make or break us, health-wise.  Every piece of MODIFIED grain, in particular, that we put into our bodies, wreaks utter HAVOC within us- opening us up to autoimmune diseases of all types, wherein our OWN BODIES attack themselves, spiking our insulin and forcing our bodies to accumulate FAT cells and become more and more diabetic... vegetable or otherwise named industrial seed oils like canola (rape seed) oil, margarine (a horrible FAKE fat!), crisco and their ilk are akin to pouring hydrochloric acid into our intestines.  Is is really worth the insipid taste of breakfast cereal or pasta or a slice of bread, all of which really only taste good at all with LOTS of BUTTER slathered on, to slide into this pattern of sickness and ill health?  

NO!!

What can I do, Jay, what can I do?  

Well, you can saunter on down to Paleo Jay’s Smoothie Cafe and, for sheer inspiration, get yourself.... A PALEO JAY SMOOTHIE CAFE SMOOTHIE GLASS!  Pour your daily Paleo Smoothie into this puppy, and you can’t help but feel inspired!  Wear your Paleo Jay Smoothie Cafe t-shirt, and you’ll be DYING to do set after set of pushups! 

Already pining for the long, leisurely yet compelling round of golf coming your way this summer?  Paleo Jay’s Smoothie Cafe GOLF BALLS are ready to order!  And the list goes on and on: PJSC water bottles... Calendar... Baseball jersey.... YOGA MAT!!

All you could ever want, forever!  Just go to www.paleojay.com, and click on the Paleo Jay’s Smoothie Cafe icon to the right, and GO TO TOWN!  

The other thing you can do, after you have the aforementioned inspiration, is to CUT THOSE DAMAGING GRAINS from your diet!  Really, that is Job #1- don’t DO anything, just STOP eating that utter crap!  We all do it mainly from habit; from a lifetime of brainwashing about “healthy whole grains’ (grains, nutritionally, are almost vacant of nutrients compared to REAL, GOD -MADE foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, and naturally raised, grass fed beef and wild seafood).  Eat pretty much ALL YOU WANT of these REAL foods- just avoid the processed, fake, MAN-MADE foods that will ROB you of your health and push you, inevitably, into completely avoidable disease, sickness, and “diabesity”.  Trust me, you will seem almost to have found the fountain of youth, if you cut the grains from your diet, and also...

EAT MORE GOOD FAT!  

Yup, contrary to everything you’ve heard since the cradle, GOOD FAT is the second most important thing to get more of.  if you’ve grown up in the US or other modern Western country in the past 50 years or so, you are grossly good fat deprived!  Your brain is made of fat, it is dependent on fat to properly operate, and your body is completely messed up when not given enough!  This lack of fat in the modern diet leads to depression, dry skin, constant hunger, and a constant nagging vitamin deficiency.  

Fat from grass fed beef, coconut oil, pastured butter and raw grass fed cream- these are just great for your health!  Pay no attention to those “many” men and women behind the curtain, speaking into a loudspeaker with the voice of doom in the persona of, for instance, “Dr. OZ, the Great and Powerful”!!  They are really a group of ignorant little people, hiding behind their Big Ag granted titles, spouting the nonsense they’ve been taught, for the purpose of selling...HARMFUL, GRAIN-BASED PRODUCTS, in the guise of healthy foods, and then selling in addition Big Pharma’s many DRUGS to treat the diseases they have caused!  

So, again, go to www.paleojay.com, click on the Tropical Traditions banner, and order some coconut oil!  Drink  it in your Paleo smoothie (at the Cafe), swish it in your mouth during your morning shower for dental health, dissolve it in your morning coffee for medium chain tryglicerides ,i.e. good fat!, and slather it on your skin for moisturizing and shaving!  IGNORE that man behind the curtain- eat real food and real fat!

One more thing- when you do pushups, or really any bodyweight exercise, try this:

If you can do, say, 30 pushups in a set to near failure... just do 15!  I like to do a set with wide grip (using the perfect pushup device, usually, with my legs elevated on a chair or couch), then medium, then narrow grip....  Just do the 15, another 15, and another 15...

Rest a bit, then repeat... over and over and over- for as long as you like!

You will find that you will be able to do a LOT of repetitions, with a minimum amount of strain, and a LARGE amount of gain using this method!  This really puts a lot of oxygenated blood into the muscles, and is a FANTASTIC workout!  It also leaves you feeling energized, rather than drained, as doing sets to near failure would.  One other thing- it leaves you with a glow of SUCCESS, since you easily make your set each time, and never have to STRAIN.  So, give it a try- I guarantee you will like it!

PJ

Introducing the Paleo Jay's Smoothie Cafe!

Here is is... (drumroll!) -  Paleo Jay's Smoothie Cafe!  One click and you are off to the land of PaleoJay, where green Paleo smoothies rule, and clothing, golf balls, aprons, drinking glasses and more are emblazoned with the Paleo Jay brand above, proclaiming to all the world your allegiance to good, healthy, natural ancestral eating and lifestyle!

What could be better than that??

Not a whole lot, to tell the truth!  

So, whenever you have a hankering for some great, inspirational Paleo products that proclaim to all the world your love of good health and nutritional living, not to mention the American Way!, travel on over to Paleo Jay's Smoothie Cafe- it's always just a click away, to Paleo Jay...

And, later today, I plan to do my podcast, so stay tuned!  Perhaps order a special Paleo Smoothie drinking glass to use each morning whilst you wait!

PJ

The Paleo Podcast you Should Be Listening to...

Besides my own PaleoJay Paleo Quick tips podcast of course!

While I try to be a "listener's digest" type of podcast, condensing things down for your average person to assimilate, Jimmy is the grand-daddy of Low Carb/Paleo podcasting:

If it comes up in the Paleo World, he will cover it!

His guest list is like a "who's who" of Paleo luminaries... and he is such an excellent interviewer that he will get those folks to make plain their vast knowledge of their particular subject in understandable English!  This one podcast is, in my opinion, indispensable to anyone interested in embarking, or continuing on, a carbohydrate restricted, Paleo or Ancestral type of diet.

To get a good overview of the subject, and to entice you into subscribing via iTunes, I recommend you listen to the following "last podcast of the year" for Jimmy:

Jimmy Moore's Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show #633

Then, just subscribe!

And, in the meantime, while you wait for the next podcast (Jimmy needs some time off!), go ahead and listen to the 632 podcasts that are already available!  Your own  PaleoJay has heard each and every one, and that is only of this particular podcast of Jimmy's! (He has two more)!

Jimmy has "walked the walk", having shed 180 pounds of fat from his heretofore 410 pound frame...

You have a lot of great listening before you, my friends!

J

Easy "Bulletproof" Paleo Coffee- On the Cheap!

"Bulletproof/Paleo" Coffee, with coconut flour brownie...
And PLENTY of real whipped cream!!

I know, it's not the best picture, but it is still worth 1,000 words!  Every morning, I make a cup of this wonderful coffee, inspired by the impressive of Dave Asprey of the Bulletproof Executive.  I have a little different "take" on the way I do this, but Dave inspired me to start making my coffee "bulletproof", so hats off to him...

The Bulletproof version starts with coffee (Dave sells his own no toxin coffee, at a price- Bulletproof Coffee natch)!  Then, he adds pastured butter, coconut or MCT oil, and blends it with a hand-held blender... I've tried it, and it's pretty good!

The butter is a nice, healthy touch, but I prefer my butter in my Paleo Smoothie, which I'm already blending up in my Vitamix- I add the coconut oil, (or MCT oil if you have some handy), and top with real whipped cream, cinnamon and cloves!  It is really, really good, and loaded with healthy fats and beneficial spices as well.

My secret "weapon" is the Aeropress!

The Aeropress is a deceptively simple little item that, easily and quickly, (and with instant cleanup), takes any sort of coffee and make a wonderful tasting cup!  Most "micro-toxins" in coffee, I believe, are exacerbated by "steeping" the coffee in your standard drip coffee maker... this makes the coffee bitter, and concentrates the toxins in the cup as it ever-so-slowly drips out.

With the Aeropress, (which sells for a princely $26.00 or so!), hot water is added, the plunger is pressed down, and voila- the best coffee you've ever tasted!  REALLY!  Here's how it works:

Honestly, it really is that simple!

So, save the wonderful Kerrygold or other grass fed butter for the Smoothie- it really adds creaminess there, in addition to the coconut milk and coconut oil...

But do add the coconut oil, whipped cream, cinnamon and cloves to your coffee!

Paleo Coffee and a Paleo Smoothie!  Does life get any better?

OR EASIER??

J

And, since the caffeine is so much lower with the brief immersion of the coffee grounds in this brew, I can promise you that you won't feel (or look!) like:

THIS!

Be a Paleo Pirate!

In the words of Steve Jobs:

"Wouldn't you rather be a pirate than join the navy?"

I know I would!  

Who wants to march in lockstep, doing what everyone else is doing, the the 1950's man in the grey flannel suit?  Virtually no one wants to think of themselves in that way.

We all want to be out there, carving out our destiny!  

Well, if you adopt the paleo diet and lifestyle, you are doing just that!

Almost no one understands that eating real food, especially good, natural, God-made FATS is incredibly healthy!  The fat soluble vitamins contained in pastured butter and coconut oil; i.e. fat is key to preserving your health, and ironically your leanness as well!

You probably already know this, if you are a Paleo person...

But why not go all the way, and become-

A PALEO PIRATE!!

Don't hide your light under a bushel- put lots of real whipped cream in your coffee!    Put pastured butter in your paleo smoothie- flaunt it!  I do, I put in butter (Kerrygold Irish butter is available widely), coconut oil, palm oil- you can even add butter or coconut oil to your morning coffee, along with your whipped cream! BE A PIRATE!  Don't be afraid of the S.A.D. Standard American Diet low fat NAVY PEOPLE!!  They are LOSERS!!

YOU are a PIRATE!!  

Carve out your voyage:  Be defiant- do what you know to be right, nutritionally and physically.  

1. Eat lots of good FATS!  Remember that fat does not become fat on your body- BAD, PROCESSED CARBS become FAT on you body!

2. Do NOT eat "healthy whole grains"!  These do become actual body fat in the worst sense of the word.

3. Do NOT engage in "chronic cardio", or endless sessions of "aerobic style, low intensity, long slow distance types of exercise".  They do nothing except wear down your joints- calorie burning, or, more importantly fat burning is almost nonexistent.  

4.  DO strength training!  Briefly and intensely is perfect!  

5. Do NOT use weights!!  Here is the ultimate piratical notion personified!!!  Almost NO ONE agrees with this, but I am here to tell you- 

You Don't Need Weights!!

Really...  you don't need free weights, you don't need machines, you don't need a gym membership...  I believe that weight lifting is in the same camp as chronic cardio, a recipe to destroy joints, and destroy health long term!  Yikes!  Did I really say that??

To maximize your body's potential, all you need is... drum roll....

YOUR OWN BODY!

Perfectly Paleo Exercise indeed!  Bodyweight exercise, self-resisted exercise, and, the ultimate lynchpin to all of these:

Visualized resistance exercise

Actually, that alone is all that you really require for optimum fitness and body composition, along with proper, paleo diet...

I know, it all sounds crazy- eat fat to lose fat... exercise less, without equipment to optimize your lean body potential...

But it is all true!  

Be a Pirate, Matey!

Ignore the Navy and the mainstream-

DO WHAT YOU KNOW IS RIGHT

AND BE A 

PALEO PIRATE!!

Arrggghhh!

J

Sugarholics!

Just listen to Jack LaLanne, from way back in the straight-talking 1950's...

This guy, way back then STUDENTS, knew more than ALL of the USDA, the FDA, and the architects of the FOOD PYRAMID in 2012 could ever HOPE to know!

It's really kind of simple when you look at it through the no-nonsense lens of a guy like Jack:

Sugar is a bad, evil DRUG!  DON'T EAT IT!!  IT TASTES REALLY, REALLY GOOD BECAUSE IT IS A DRUG.

The really scary thing is that WHEAT and other grain-based carbs are just about as bad, since they are immediately converted to sugar in the body.  If you saw the effects that sugar had on your body immediately, within say 20 minutes- no one would ever consume it!

The only problem is that it takes maybe 10-20 years for a young person to see how it destroys them; makes them fat, unattractive, sick, and diabetic.  

"If only I could go back..."

Well, actually you can!

Wherever you are now in health- your body is dying for you to:

Cut sugar!

Cut GRAINS!!

Pack the MAXIMUM nutrition into EVERY morsel you ingest!!!

Do that, and your body, which is far wiser than you are, can return you to health posthaste!

Just do it!

J

High Fat Low Carb Diet is the same as a Paleo Diet!

It's true!  HFLC (High Fat Low Carb), or LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) are the same exact thing!


But did you also know that the  Paleo Diet is also the same as High Fat Low Carb or Low Carb High Fat??


PD = LCHF or HFLC!!


How's that for a formula?

Anyway, here is some LCHF, HFLC, or PD info:
This video will explain just about ALL you need to know-

Do you want to eat real food (as much as you like) and improve your health and weight? It may sound too good to be true, but LCHF is a method that has been used for 150 years. Now modern science proves that it works.

There is no weighing your food, no counting, no bizarre “meal replacements”, no pills. There is just real food and common sense. And by the way, all the advice here is 100 percent free.

Contents

Introduction
Dietary advice
Theory
Tips and recipes
Cook books and more

Introduction
LCHF (Low Carb, High Fat) means you eat less carbohydrates with a higher proportion of fat. The most important point is to minimize your intake of sugar and starches. That way you can eat other delicious foods until you are satisfied – and still lose weight.

A number of recent high quality scientific studies show that LCHF makes it easier to lose weight and control your blood sugar. And that may just be the beginning.

The basics
Eat: meat, fish, eggs, vegetables growing above ground and natural fats (like butter).
Avoid: sugar and starchy foods (like bread, pasta, rice and potatoes).
Eat when you’re hungry until you are satisfied. It’s that simple. You do not need to count calories or weigh your food. And just forget about industrially produced low fat products.



Real food. Add some good fat (like butter).

There are good scientific reasons why LCHF works. When you avoid sugar and starches your blood sugar stabilizes and the levels of the fat storing hormone insulin drops. This increases your fat burning and make you feel more satiated.

Note for diabetics
Avoiding the carbohydrates that raise your blood sugar decreases your need for medication to lower it. Taking the same dose of insulin as before might result in hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). You will need to test your blood sugar frequently in the beginning and adapt (lower) your medication. This should ideally be done with the assistance of a knowledgeable physician. If you are healthy or a diabetic treated by diet alone or just with Metformin there is no risk of hypoglycemia.


Dietary advice
Eat all you like
Meat: Any type. Beef, pork, game meat, chicken. The fat on the meat is good as well as skin on the chicken. Try to choose organic or grass fed meat if you can.
Fish and shellfish: All kinds. Fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel or herring are great. Avoid breading.
Eggs: All kinds. Boiled, fried, omelettes. Preferably organic eggs.
Natural fat, fat sauces: Using butter and cream when you cook can make your food taste better and make you more satiated. Béarnaise, Hollandaise, read on the packages or make it yourself. Coconut fat, olive oil and canola oil are also good options.
Vegetables growing above ground: All kinds of cabbage, such as cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts. Asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, olives, spinach, mushrooms, cucumber, lettuce, avocado, onions, peppers, tomatoes and more.
Dairy products: Always select high fat options. Real butter, cream (40% fat), sour cream, fat cheese. Turkish yogurt. Be careful with regular milk and skim milk as it contains a lot of milk sugar. Avoid flavored, sugary and low fat products.
Nuts: Good to eat instead of candy in front of the television (preferably in moderation).
Berries: Okay in moderation, if you are not a super strict /-sensitive. Good with whipped cream.
Maximum 5 grams of carbohydrate (excluding fiber) per 100 g of food is a basic tip for beginners.



Avoid if you can
Sugar: The worst. Soft drinks, candy, juice, sports drinks, chocolate, cakes, buns, pastries, ice cream, breakfast cereals. Preferably avoid sweeteners as well.
Starch: Bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, french fries, potato chips, porridge, muesli and so on. »Wholemeal products” are just less bad. Moderate amounts of root vegetables may be OK if you’re not too strict with the carbohydrates.
Margarine: Industrially imitated butter with unnaturally high content of omega-6 fat. Has no health benefits, tastes bad. Statistically linked to asthma, allergies and other inflammatory diseases.
Beer: Liquid bread. Full of malt sugar, unfortunately.
Fruit: Very sweet, plenty of sugar. Eat once in a while, treat it as a natural form of candy.
Once in a while
You decide when the time is right. Your weight loss may slow down a bit

Alcohol: Dry wine (regular red wine or dry white), whisky, brandy, vodka, drinks without sugar.
Dark chocolate: Above 70 % cocoa, preferably just a little.
Drink most days
Water
Coffee: Try it with full fat cream
Tea



The theory of LCHF
What are you designed to eat?
Humans evolved during millions of years as hunter-gatherers, without large amounts of carbohydrate. We ate the food that is available to us in nature by hunting, fishing and gathering all edible foods we could find. That did not include pure starch in the form of bread, pasta, rice or potatoes. We have only eaten such food for 5 – 10 000 years, since the beginning of agriculture. Just a limited adaptation of our genes can take place in such a relatively short time.

With the industrial revolution, 100 – 200 years ago, we got factories that could manufacture large amounts of pure sugar and white flour. Rapidly digested pure carbohydrates. There has been no time to genetically adapt to that food.

In the 80s the fear of fat gripped the western world. The low fat products appeared everywhere. If you eat less fat you need to eat more carbohydrates to feel full. At this time the worst epidemic of obesity and diabetes in history started. The most fatphobic country in the world, the USA, has been hit the hardest and is now the fattest major country in the world.

Today it is clear that the fear of real food with natural fat contents has been a mistake.

The problem of sugar and starch
All digestible carbohydrates are broken down to simple sugars in the intestines. The sugar is absorbed into the blood, raising the blood glucose. This increases the production of the hormone insulin. And insulin is our fat storing hormone.

Insulin is produced in the pancreas (pictured to the right). In large amounts insulin prevents fat burning and stores surplus nutrients in the fat cells. After some time (a few hours or less) this may result in a shortage of nutrients in the blood, creating feelings of hunger and cravings for something sweet. Usually at that point people eat some more. That starts the process again, a vicious cycle leading to weight gain.

A low intake of carbohydrates gives you a lower and more stable blood glucose, and lower amounts of insulin. This increases the release of fat from your fat stores and increases the fat burning. This usually gives fat loss, especially around the tummy in abdominally obese individuals.

Weight loss without hunger
LCHF makes it easier for the body to use its fat stores, as their release is no longer blocked by high insulin levels. This may be a reason why intake of fat gives a longer feeling of satiety than carbohydrates. Caloric intake usually drops in studies when the participants eat all they want on a low carb diet.

So, no counting or weighing of the food is required. You can forget about the calories and trust your feelings of hunger and satiety. Most people don’t need to count or weigh their food any more than they need to count their breathing. If you don´t believe it, just try a couple of weeks and see for yourself.

Health as a bonus
No animals in nature need the assistance of nutritional expertise or calorie charts to eat. And still, as long as they eat the food they are designed to eat they stay at a normal weight and they avoid caries, diabetes and heart disease. Why would humans be an exception? Why would you be an exception?

In scientific studies not only is the weight improved on a low carb diet – the blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol profile (HDL, triglycerides) is also improved. A calm stomach and less cravings for sweet food is also common experiences.

Initial side effects
If you stop eating sugar and starch cold turkey (recommended) you may experience some side effects as your body gets used to it. For most people it is relatively mild and just lasts a few days. Also there are ways to minimize it.

Common during the first week:

Headache
Tiredness
Dizziness
Heart palpitations
Irritability
The side effects rapidly subside as your body adapts and your fat burning increases. They can be minimized by drinking some extra fluid and temporarily increasing your salt intake somewhat. A good way can be some broth every few hours. Alternatively drink a few extra glasses of water and put some more salt on your food.

The reason is that carbohydrate rich foods may increase the water retention in your body. When you stop eating that food you will lose excess water through your kidneys. That may give dehydration and lack of salt in the first week before the body has had time to adapt.

Some prefer to decrease the intake of carbohydrates slowly, over a few weeks, to minimize side effects. But for most it is wise to take away most sugar and starch right away. A few extra pounds of fluids lost on the scale in the first days is great for the motivation.

How low to go?
The less carbohydrate you eat the more pronounced the effect on your weight and blood sugar will be. I recommend following the dietary advice as strict as you can. When you are happy with your weight and health you may gradually try eating more liberally (if you want to).

High Fat, Low Carb Diet!

Here is a F.A.Q. from Peter Attiia of War on Insulin!

He was an excellent guest on Jimmy Moore's podcast- Jimmy Moore's Livin La Vida Low Carb!
Check it out!

Oh- here is what he actually eats; I think you'll find that it is exactly what I eat myself...


even his breakfast "fat shake" is similar (but far less all-inclusive) to the Paleo Smoothie-




Breakfast: “Fat shake” (In a blender: 8 oz heavy whipping cream, 8 oz sugar-free almond milk; 25 gm sugar-free hydrolyzed whey protein, 2-3 frozen strawberries)





I enjoyed his FAQ so much, I put it right here:

1. How important is exercise to losing weight?
2. How important is exercise to being healthy?
3. Do we need carbohydrates for energy?
4. If exercise isn’t important to losing weight, why then are all the contestants on The Biggest Loser losing so much weight?
5. Does eating fat make us fat? Is eating fat unhealthy?
6. How important is counting calories to losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight?
7. Why do most health “experts” today advocate a low fat diet?
8. What is insulin resistance?
9. Are obese people overweight because they are too lazy to exercise and eat too much?
10. How does cancer figure into what we eat?
11. Why are the obese likely to get diabetes?
12. What role does sugar play on obesity and on overall health?
13. Can you build muscle by eating fat?
14. How do you make that ice cream you keep talking about?

How important is exercise to losing weight?
It seems intuitively obvious that it should be important, but experimental trials of diet vs. diet plus exercise invariably show that the exercise makes effectively no difference on weight loss.
The world is full of overweight and obese people who work at physically demanding jobs — hard-working laborers, for instance, who exercise regularly and are even devoted to it and remain just as obese or overweight as ever.  I know, personally, many folks (including myself) who have gained significant weight, despite hours of rigorous daily exercise.
This isn’t controversial, by the way.  It’s this research that led the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association in their last physical activity guidelines (2007) to make this statement: “It is reasonable to assume that persons with relatively high daily energy expenditures would be less likely to gain weight over time, compared with those who have low energy expenditures. So far, data to support this hypothesis are not particularly compelling.” (And one of the co-authors of this ACSM/AHA report is an exercise physiologist who described himself as “short, fat and bald” when he started running 30 years ago, and since then has run 85,000 miles, or the equivalent of more than three times around the globe at the Equator, while only becoming “short, fatter and balder,” in his own words.)
How important is exercise to being healthy?
No one doubts that healthy people tend to be physically active people. The question is whether or not you can take unhealthy people and make them healthy merely by exercising them and without any meaningful change in diet. The answer is probably not.
Exercise is important for a number of reasons, but weight management and controlling disease risk are not on the list, at least according to the best available evidence.
Exercise “matters” for at least 5 reasons in my humble opinion: endorphin production (you “feel” better), social interactions, improving competitive skills, increasing endurance and strength, and (perhaps) injury prevention as we age. (Although exercise, of course, also causes injuries if not done correctly.)
Do we need carbohydrates for energy?
This is actually the wrong question.  If the question is, “Do we need to eat carbohydrates for energy?” the answer is, no.  The conventional wisdom is that we need a minimum of 120 to 130 grams of carbohydrates (glucose) per day to fuel our brains, and we need copious glycogen (the storage form of carbohydrates) for endurance activities. This is just a misconception of what is not controversial science.  Our body can fuel both our brains and hours and hours of endurance activities from protein and the breakdown products of fats. If you’re really interested in understanding this, you may find the fourth installment of my personal journey interesting.
If exercise isn’t important to losing weight, why are all the contestants on The Biggest Loser losing so much weight?
They’re forcing themselves to endure a condition – extreme starvation caused by both diet and exercise–that is physiologically impossible to endure for more than a short period of time.  Anyone can lose weight by starving themselves (even thin people, obviously); the problem with this is, how do you stop the weight from coming back when the starvation can no longer be endured?
Their extreme starvation is also carbohydrate starvation, so they are consuming far less carbohydrates than previously and the draconian exercise routine is increasing the effect of this carb-restriction.
The relevant questions are (1) How sustainable is this weight loss? (The answer is, it’s just not.), (2) How does it impact overall health (e.g., disease prevention)?, (3) Most important, is it possible that these contestants would have lost just as much weight by going on a very carb-restricted diet but without the starvation and exercise?  Stay tuned on this one.
Does eating fat make us fat? Is eating fat unhealthy?
Again, it seems obvious and this has been the conventional wisdom for fifty years. But experiments over the last decade have demonstrated that people who eat as much as they want of fatty-foods, even foods rich in saturated fat like butter and lard and eggs, lose weight and improve their heart disease risk factors. And this happens even when the comparison group is people eating American Heart Association calorie-restricted, low fat diets.
How important is counting calories to losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight?
In the short-term, anyone can create a huge calorie deficit (i.e., starve themselves) and lose weight. That’s obvious. One fundamental assumption of virtually every successful diet book is that there is some magical mix of nutrients in a diet that allow you to eat more, or even as much as ever, and still lose weight.  The conventional wisdom is this is quackery.
The question is (or should be), “How important is calorie counting for long-term, sustainable, weight loss?”  The answer to this question is: not important at all.  In fact, it’s easy to demonstrate (using 8th grade mathematics) that in order to gain 40 pounds in 20 years – to go from lean in your 20′s to obese in your 40′s, as many people do – all you have to do is stick 18 extra calories a day in your fat tissue that you don’t burn. That’s the equivalent of a single bite of food too many over the course of a day and you’ll become obese.
In fact, long-term weight management is not driven by calorie counting, but rather by changing the way our body treats the food we eat (i.e., burning fat versus storing fat).  As you’ll hear me say often, obesity is a disorder of inappropriately accumulating fat, not a disorder of eating too many calories.
Why do most health “experts” today advocate a low fat diet?
It’s one of the great tragedies of the modern era and it speaks to the pitfalls of policy makers having little understanding of science.  I don’t know the stats today, but in early 2010, before the last midterm election cycle, only 6 or 7 members of Congress (100 Senators and 435 members of the House) had a background in science.  Whether this is any better today I don’t know, but the fact remains, policy makers are not trained to slog through the morass of information and misinformation out there on this topic.  That said, we are slowly witnessing a change, at least among certain authorities.  Leading health authorities no longer advocate a low-fat diet (as was evidenced by a recent editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine by Walter Willett and David Ludwig of Harvard challenging the science base of the U.S.D.A. Dietary Guidelines). What’s still conventional wisdom, however, is the idea that we should moderate our saturated fat intake. In the past year alone, three recent reviews by unbiased researchers have concluded that the evidence against saturated fats is simply not sufficient to support a recommendation that we eat less of them.
As John Tierney of the New York Times has explained, most health “experts” today advocate a low fat diet or a low saturated fat diet because that’s the conventional wisdom — what everyone else advises — and they never bothered to look into the evidence themselves to see (1) How we came to believe that this might be beneficial, and (2) What the evidence really shows.
What is insulin resistance?
Effectively, insulin resistance (IR) is a progressive condition whereby the body’s cells become more and more resistant to the hormone insulin. As a result, the pancreas has to secrete more and more insulin just to keep blood sugar within a normal range. Insulin resistance is now considered the condition that leads to type 2 diabetes (the kind we get as we get older and fatter), as well as obesity, heart disease and now cancer and perhaps Alzheimer’s disease as well.
Are obese people overweight because they are too lazy to exercise and eat too much?
No, though we are certainly taught this in every aspect of our lives (from so-called “conventional wisdom” to medical education).
People are obese because their fat tissue is wired hormonally to accumulate too much fat.  This is not the same as “overeating” or “under moving.”
Overweight people eat too much relative to how much they move (i.e., expend calories) because of constantly elevated insulin levels.
The cause and effect is no different than explaining why pregnant women gain weight or why children grow.
How does cancer figure into what we eat?
The conventional wisdom of the past half dozen years is that the cancer process is driven by elevated levels of two hormones in particular – insulin and insulin-like growth factor. This is evidenced by a whole host of studies showing an increased risk of cancer in obese and diabetic patients and patients who are only insulin resistant but not yet obese and/or diabetic.  Furthermore, most major drug companies have drugs in various stages of their pipelines targeting insulin-like growth factor as a treatment for cancer.
Because our insulin levels rise with insulin resistance, as we’ve discussed, the question then becomes what causes insulin resistance. The conventional wisdom there, once again, is that insulin resistance is caused by eating too much (especially too much fat) and sedentary behavior. The unconventional wisdom is that insulin resistance is caused by the nutrient composition of our diet – in other words, the amount of carbohydrates, the kinds of carbohydrates and maybe the fat content as well.
Why are the obese likely to get diabetes?
Both obesity and type-2 diabetes are disorders of insulin resistance. And as we get resistant to insulin we have to pump out more insulin from our pancreas to manage our blood sugar levels. Eventually, the pancreas can’t keep up with the demand and the result is excessively high blood sugar and the diagnosis of type-2 diabetes.  So the obese are likely to get diabetes because they’re like to be insulin resistant.
What role does sugar play on obesity and on overall health?
The conventional wisdom is that sugar is no more harmful, calorie per calorie, than any other nutrient in the diet. And yet virtually every diet, even low-fat diets, restrict sugar consumption considerably. (And by sugar, I mean both the white powdered stuff, sucrose, that we put in our coffee and tea, and the ubiquitous high fructose corn syrup in all juices and processed foods.)
Fifty years of biochemistry, though, suggests that sugar is the ultimate cause of insulin resistance (because of the metabolic load it puts on the liver) and so perhaps the ultimate cause of obesity, diabetes and the diseases that associate with them, including cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
Can you build muscle by eating fat?
Provided you consume a normal amount of protein, yes, you can build muscle by eating fat.  Even the Inuit (who consumed more than 90% of their calories from fat) still consumed enough protein to maintain muscle mass necessary for a physically demanding lifestyle.
As a general rule, consuming 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per kg of body weight is more than adequate to build muscle.
How do you make that ice cream you keep talking about?
We’re still working on the nuances, but the current version is composed of 3.5 cups of whole fat (i.e., heavy, 35% fat) cream, 1 cup of zero sugar almond milk, 1 tbsp vanilla extract, 2 tbsp almond extract, 3 tbsp ground espresso powder, and 2 tbsp xylitol. This makes enough to feed about 8 normal people, or me in one sitting.
You’ll need an ice cream maker, obviously, to mix it at freezing temperatures.

J

Take a Pill? Or, take a Paleo "Pill"!

As I write these words, I am downloading a slide show with an accompanying song that I threw together.
Don't worry- the slide show is about 1 minute, as is the song...  the intent is to show that there is an alternative to taking drugs to treat the ills brought about by our modern, processed diet:

Mainly, by returning to a real foods diet of meats, natural fats, vegetables and fruits!

(What a concept!)

I know, it sounds insane, just eating foods as they have come forever through nature, as God created them for us...  crazy!  I mean, of course we know that we can do better- just load foods up with as much refined sugar, grain "fillers" (which come out as the same as sugar, but with gut deteriorating compounds built in), throw in some high fructose corn syrup guaranteed to ruin our livers, and hey-

Diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer, and all the other diseases of modern civilization are all there for us everyone!!

There is an alternative to taking massive doses of drugs that have side effects that are, in many cases, worse than the disease they are supposedly taken to prevent.

Most of our modern drugs and pills are there to somehow correct our nearly complete, modern addiction to sugar and starch!  For instance, as Jill Escher, author of "Farewell, Club Perma-chub"puts it:

"Diabetes is simply sugar and starch poisoning"  

Jill Escher blog

She is 100% right!

And, if diabetes patients were simply told that, how many would wake up and cut back their sugars and starches??  Quite a few, I believe...

And, if people were simply told by their Doctor, whom they believe is really looking at restoring their health, and not just prescribing drugs that he has been told to prescribe... if they were told that eating good fats and protein for breakfast would be the perfect antidote to their sugar-and-grain addiction- 

What huge health ends would THAT not achieve ??

At any rate, here is my song/slideshow:

When I was a youngster

I ate all that there was

I didn't need to worry- I ate it- just because

I’m gonna eat my fill 

if it makes me ill

I’ll just take a pill 

Now I’ve gotten older

My health is not so great

I’m feeling kind of slow

My blood work- I just hate

I’m gonna eat my fill

if it makes me ill

I’ll just take a pill

I know that bread is poison

Sugar makes me sick

I like to eat fast food alot

And I don’t care a lick

I’m gonna eat my fill

if it makes me ill

I’ll just take a pill

J