Day #4 Thursday

Jill

Warm up

2 minutes double unders

Hand walks

Toes to rings

Skill

Split jerk

WOD

10 minutes to find your 1 rep max split jerk

Then…

Tabata burpees

Day #3 Wednesday

Warm up

Lateral jumps

Broad jumps

Dynamic walk

Skill

Squat clean

WOD

3 rounds of:

8 squat cleans

12 burpees

16 ring push ups

Paleo, Paleo, Paleo...

INTRODUCTION

I love dining out at restaurants with friends, but nowadays, things can get a little awkward when my wife and I place our orders. Our dining companions' eyebrows inevitably shoot up when we ask for our food sans bread, pasta, rice, polenta or beans. The questions are always the same. “Are you on Atkins or something?” “Trying to lose weight?” “You don't even eat whole grains?” “What the hell is the matter with you?”

Well, here exactly is the matter with me: I EAT PALEO. You know -- kind of like a caveman.

I'm sure this sounds bizarre to folks who aren’t on the Paleo bandwagon (or haven’t even heard of it). Still, the last thing I want to do is to lecture my friends about nutritional science and evolutionary history while we're all trying to eat. (I’ll do it if pressed, but it’s kind of gross when I talk with my mouth full.)

So to avoid proselytizing over the dinner table, I'm offering up this explanation of the Paleo diet -- and why I'm on it -- in (what I hope is) an easy-to-read Q&A format. But caveat lector: There’s a lot to cover, and over 200 linked resources to click through (if you so choose). Take bathroom breaks as needed.

Ready? Let’s go.

To make this “Paleo Primer” more navigable, I’ve split it into seven parts. You can jump around by clicking the links below, but I recommend reading these sections in order (it’ll make a helluva lot more sense!):

Part 1: What is the Paleo Diet?
Part 2: What's Wrong with How We Eat?
Part 3: You Aren’t What You Eat (So Eat Some Fat)
Part 4: Why I Eat Paleo 
Part 5: Mythbusting 
Part 6: Foods to Avoid & Why 
Part 7: Transitioning to Paleo 

PART 1: WHAT TO EAT AND WHY

Let's start with the basics:

Q: What foods can you eat on a Paleo diet? And what can’t you eat?

A: I do my best to stick to whole, unprocessed foods: meat, eggs, seafood, non-starchy vegetables -- and some (but not a ton of) fruit, nuts and seeds. I try to avoid eating things with sugar, grains (yes, whole grains, too), legumes (and not just because of their fart-inducing properties), and polyunsaturated fats. In short, I eat anything that can be hunted or gathered, and try to avoid stuff that’s processed, cultivated, or sealed in colorful packaging labeled "HEART-HEALTHY!" or "LOW-FAT!" (Really. I’ll explain later.)

My favorite description of the Paleo approach can be found on the Whole9 site:

I eat “real” food -- fresh, natural food like meat, vegetables and fruit. I choose foods that are nutrient dense, with lots of naturally-occurring vitamins and minerals, over foods that have more calories but less nutrition. And food quality is important -- I’m careful about where my meat comes from, and buy produce locally and organically as often as possible.

It’s not a low calorie “diet” -- I eat as much as I need to maintain strength, energy and a healthy weight. In fact, my diet is probably much higher in fat than you’d imagine. Fat isn’t the enemy -- it’s a great energy source when it comes from high quality foods like avocado, coconut and nuts. And I’m not trying to do a “low carb” thing, but since I’m eating vegetables and fruits instead of bread, cereal and pasta, it just happens to work out that way.

Eating like this is good for maintaining a healthy metabolism, and reducing inflammation within the body. It’s been doing great things for my energy levels, body composition and performance in the gym. It also helps to minimize my risk for a whole host of lifestyle diseases and conditions, like diabetes, heart attack and stroke.

Day #2 Tuesday

Warm up

Pose running technique

Hold pose
Change of support

Lunge
Partner reinforce pulling with partner
Partner falling drill
Hip driver
-Run 400m-

Skill

Running

WOD

Bottom to bottom Tabata squats

Run 1 mile

Day #1 Monday Benchmark workout

Burgner warm up

Shrug
Elbows high and out
Muscle snatch
Drop to bottom of the squat
OHS
Snatch balance

Skill

Squat snatch

WOD

Squat snatch
1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Did you say PALEO?

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 it has caused jaw-dropping transformations in many people, including Saint and Staci.

I’m talking about the Paleo Diet.

Cue the Baltimora!

(warning: this is the LONGEST post I’ve ever written on Nerd Fitness at over 4,000 words).

Oh lord, another “diet.” I know, it sounds like a fad/marketing ploy, but it’s actually quite legit.  You see, tens of thousands of years ago, before Nike, Cap’n Crunch, pasta, and Heathy Choice meals, our ancient ancestors survived and thrived as hunter-gatherers.  Although it’s been a really long time, our genetics haven’t changed that much since then.

The average Homo Sapien back then: was tall, muscular, agile, athletic, and incredible versatile.

Today’s “average” Homo Sapien: overweight, out of shape, dying from a myriad of preventable diseases, stressed out, unhappy, and sleep deprived.

So what the hell happened? Agriculture!  A few thousand years ago humans discovered farming, the agricultural revolution took off, and we changed from hunter-gathers into farmers.  We settled down, formed societies, and the human race progressed into what we are today.

The problem is, our bodies never adjusted properly to eat all of the grains that we were now farming.  Robb Wolf (who I’ll talk about shortly) has a great analogy on why we haven’t adapted.  Think of a 100-yard football field.  The first 99.5 yards are how long Homo-Sapiens spent as hunter-gathers – they became REALLY good at it during that time, and over thousands of generations our bodies adapted to that lifestyle.  That last half-yard represents our species after the agricultural revolution, where our diet has shifted (but our genetics haven’t).

So, instead of loading up on lean meats, vegetables and seasonal fruits, we’ve become a species “dependent” upon grains – bread, pasta, rice, corn, and so on.  Our government continues to recommend 6-11 servings of grains a day, and the people of our country continue to get fatter and fatter by the day.

66% of us are overweight, 33% are considered obese, and those numbers are onlygetting worse.

Clearly something’s not right.  The Paleo Diet is an effort to go back to eating how we’re biologically designed to eat, before the agricultural revolution, allowing us to tap into our genetic potential and start living healthier immediately.

Note: I am not a doctor, registered dietitian, or a food scientist.  The words below are a summary of what I’ve read from half a dozen books and hundreds of websites, studies, and articles on the subject, put into my own words to simplify things as much as possible.  The articles and books I’ve read have hundreds of scientific sources that they use, so I’ll leave those sources to them.

Back in the day, grains weren’t part of our diet.  We ate what we could hunt or find – meats, fish, nuts, leafy greens, regional veggies, some tubers and roots, occasional berries or seasonal fruits, and seeds that other animals hadn’t decimated.  Grains came around extremely late in our development cycle and have been causing problems ever since.

As Mark from Mark’s Daily Apple (a website that I visit daily and whole-heartedly recommend) points out in his “definitive guide to grains” article, grains cause kind of a funky response in our system.  Grains are composed of carbohydrates, and those carbs are turned into glucose (a type of sugar) in our system to be used for energy and various other tasks to help our body function – any glucose that isn’t used as energy is stored as fat.

Rather than me explain that part with thousands of words, just watch this three-minute video which I’ve referenced many times – “Why You Got Fat“

Bogdan vs HANNIBAL!

The Paleo Diet Works!

The Paleo Diet Works!

Paleo eating plus smart exercise and lifestyle adjustments will help you lose fat and get healthy. It's Easy!

What Is The Paleo Diet?

The Paleo diet is the healthiest way you can eat because it is the ONLY nutritional approach that works with your genetics to help you stay lean, strong and energetic! Research in biology, biochemistry, Ophthalmology, Dermatology and many other disciplines indicate it is our modern diet, full of refined foods, trans fats and sugar, that is at the root of degenerative diseases such as obesity, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, depression and infertility.

Okay To Eat	Avoid
Fruits	Dairy
Vegetables	Grains
Lean Meats	Processed Food & Sugars
Seafood	Legumes
Nuts & Seeds	Starches
Healthy Fats	Alcohol

Building A Healthy Paleo Diet

Lean proteins

Lean proteins support strong muscles, healthy bones and optimal immune function. Protein also makes you feel satisfied between meals.

Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that have been shown to decrease the likelihood of developing a number of degenerative diseases including cancer, diabetes and neurological decline.

Healthy fats from nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil, fish oil and grass-fed meat

Scientific research and epidemiological studies show that diets rich in Monounsaturated and Omega-3 fats dramatically reduce the instances of obesity, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and cognitive decline.

Saturated fat has been demonized by our health authorities and media. What is the basis for this position on Saturated fat? Are current recommendations for VERY low saturated fat intake justified? How much saturated fat (and what types), if any should one eat? Without a historical and scientific perspective this questions can be nearly impossible to answer. In this paper Prof. Cordain looks at the amounts and types of saturated fats found in the ancestral diet: Saturated fat consumption in ancestral human diets: implications for contemporary intakes.

One of the greatest deviations away from our ancestral diet is the amounts and types of fat found in modern grain feed animals vs. the amounts and types of fats found in grass fed or wild meat, fowl and fish. What we observe is wild meat is remarkably lean, and has relatively low amounts of saturated fats, while supplying significant amounts of beneficial omega-3 fats such as EPA and DHA. In this paper Prof. Cordain and his team analyze the complete fatty acid profile from several species of wild deer and elk. The take home message is that free range meat is far healthier than conventional meat: Fatty acid analysis of wild ruminant tissues: Evolutionary implications for reducing diet-related chronic disease.

Image courtesy of The Food Lovers' Primal Palate - http://www.primal-palate.com

Health Benefits

For most people the fact the Paleo diet delivers the best results is enough. Improved blood lipids, weight loss and reduced pain from autoimmunity is proof enough.  Many people however are not satisfied with blindly following any recommendations, be they nutrition or exercise related. Some folks like to know WHY they are doing something. Fortunately, the Paleo diet has stood not only the test of time, but also the rigors of scientific scrutiny.

With a very simple shift we not only remove the foods that are at odds with our health (grains, legumes, and dairy) but we also increase our intake of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Here is a great paper from Professor Loren Cordain exploring how to build a modern Paleo diet: The nutritional characteristics of a contemporary diet based upon Paleolithic food groups. This paper also offers significant insight as to the amounts and ratios of protein, carbohydrate and fat in the ancestral diet.

Come on! Our Ancestors lived short, brutal lives! This is all bunk, right?

The Paleo concept is new for most people and this newness can spark many questions. We like people to not only read about and educate themselves on this topic but also to “get in and do it.” Experience is perhaps the best teacher and often cuts through any confusion surrounding this way of eating. Now, all that considered, there are still some common counter arguments to the Paleo diet that happen with sufficient frequency that a whole paper was written on it. Enjoy: Evolutionary Health Promotion. A consideration of common counter-arguments.

Does it work for diabetes?

A great question to ask is “Does the Paleo diet work”? Here we have a head to head comparison between the Paleo diet and Mediterranean diet in insulin resistant Type 2 Diabetics. The results? The Paleo diet group REVERSED the signs and symptoms of insulin resistant, Type 2 diabetes. The Mediterranean diet showed little if any improvements. It is worth noting that the Mediterranean diet is generally held up by our government as “the diet to emulate” despite better alternatives. You can find an abstract and the complete paper here.

Cardio Vascular Disease

According to the CDC, cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the United States. Interestingly however, our Paleolithic ancestors and contemporarily studied hunter-gatherers showed virtually no heart attack or stroke while eating ancestral diets. The references below will explore these facts to better help you understand the heart-healthy benefits of a Paleo diet.

Autoimmunity

Autoimmunity is a process in which our bodies own immune system attacks “us.” Normally the immune system protects us from bacterial, viral, and parasitic infections. The immune system identifies a foreign invader, attacks it, and ideally clears the infection. A good analogy for autoimmunity is the case of tissue rejection after organ donation. If someone requires a new heart, lung kidney or liver due to disease or injury, a donor organ may be an option. The first step in this process is trying to find a tissue “match”. All of us have molecules in our tissues that our immune system uses to recognize self from non-self. If a donated organ is not close enough to the recipient in tissue type the immune system will attack and destroy the organ. In autoimmunity, a similar process occurs in that an individuals own tissue is confused as something foreign and the immune system attacks this “mislabeled” tissue. Common forms of autoimmunity include Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, and Vitiligo to name only a tiny fraction of autoimmune diseases. Elements of autoimmunity are likely at play in conditions as seemingly unrelated as Schizophrenia, infertility, and various forms of cancer.

Interestingly, all of these seemingly unrelated diseases share a common cause: damage to the intestinal lining which allows large, undigested food particles to make their way into the body. This is called “leaky gut and the autoimmune response”. Here is a 7-part video series by Prof. Loren Cordain describing the etiology of Multiple Sclerosis. And please watch this TED talk by Dr. Terry Wahls, MD as she describes how she reversed her Multiple Sclerosis with a paleo diet. If you have an autoimmune disease you might consider trying the autoimmune protocol of the paleo diet. If you do, please tell us about your experience.

The Paleo Diet: Is It Right For You?

The Paleolithic or Paleo Diet 

is based on eating foods that our caveman ancestors ate.

In the past 10,000 years our genome has not changed much. However, our diet has and with the addition of processed foods, grains, sugars and dairy products, we have created such diseases as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, auto immune disorders, osteoporosis and heart disease.

The Paleo diet is similar to the way hunter-gatherers ate and encourages the consumption of natural foods in order to achieve great health, vital energy, a lean physique and a long, active life. The Paleo diet includes meat, game meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs, vegetables, green leafy vegetables, root vegetables, winter and squashes, fruits, seeds and nuts, mushrooms, fresh and dried herbs and spices.

There is no doubt that the food we eat has an affect on our health. There are many studies that conclude that certain foods are hazardous to our health. Since the beginning of the agricultural revolution, a large percentage of the foods common to the Standard American Diet are alien to our digestion, incomprehensible to our metabolism and wreak havoc on our overall health.

Is the Paleo diet for everyone? I believe it is an excellent place to begin and expand from on an individual basis. With the exclusion of all grains, it may not provide the energy requirements for athletes. However, the majority of the population eats far too many servings of grain products per day and is not active, therefore would do well to reduce the quantity and choose only whole grains (preferably alternatives to wheat). I also believe that there are certain benefits to the legume family (which is excluded in the Paleo diet). All dairy is excluded in the Paleo diet. Although I am not a proponent of cow's milk, I believe certain products are acceptable such as organic yogurt or goat's milk products. I agree whole heartedly that the exclusion of sugar and sugar products would do a world of good to everyone.

Certainly the Paleo diet offers advantages to everyone's health as it excludes trans fats, hydrogenated fats, processed foods, refined carbohydrates, sugar, coffee, and soda. It offers foods that are in their most natural state; when the source/origin of the food being eaten is recognizable, it is always a good thing. In other works, when food is eaten in its whole, live, fresh, raw state, the body can utilize all the nutrients from the food. Obviously, meats should not be eaten in the raw state, but fruits and vegetables, seeds and nuts should all be consumed that way to enhance the vitamin and mineral components.When our bodies are provided with proper nutrition, they can function optimally.

The eating and lifestyle habits of our healthy ancestors provide us with a good framework; it is up to us to study their ways, evaluate the benefits or drawbacks and experiment on an individual basis in order to determine what is best for each person.

Paleo Foods

Exactly which items do and do not fit into the Paleodiet food list is not always an easy answer to follow.  In its purest form, the theory of the Paleodiet states that if your ancestors didn't eat it - you shouldn't either.  The list below represents the strict application of the theory.

On the other hand, some foods that our ancestors did not eat are known to be very nutritious.  For example beans are a great source of numerous nutrients and dairy products can be a great source of calcium and protein.  Some experts urge that a slightly less strict, slightly more modest form of the Paleodiet should be followed for optimal health.  It is up to you as an individual to choose first if you should - and then how to - implement the Paleodiet in your own life. 

Go on to read about Disagreements

Below is a list of foods that are encouraged or discouraged in the Paleo diet.  This list was obtained from the book Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain (Wiley and Sons, New York 2002 pages 104-112).

Encouraged Foods Lean Meats  Lean beef (trimmed of visible fat) Flank steak Top sirloin steak Extra-lean hamburger (no more than 7% fat, extra fat drained off) London broil Chuck steak Lean veal Any other lean cut Lean pork (trimmed of visible fat) Pork loin Pork chops Any other lean cut Lean poultry (white meat, skin removed) Chicken breast Turkey breast Game hen breasts Eggs (limit to six a week) Chicken (go for the enriched omega 3 variety) Duck Goose Other meats Rabbit meat (any cut) Goat meat (any cut) Organ meats Beef, lamb, pork, and chicken livers Beef, pork, and lamb tongues Beef, lamb, and pork marrow Beef, lamb, and pork “sweetbreads” Game meat Alligator Bear Bison (buffalo) Caribou Elk Emu Goose Kangaroo Muscovy duck New Zealand cervena deer Ostrich Pheasant Quail Rattlesnake Reindeer Squab Turtle Venison Wild boar Wild turkey Fish Bass Bluefish Cod Drum Eel Flatfish Grouper Haddock Halibut Herring Mackerel Monkfish Mullet Northern pike Orange roughy Perch Red snapper Rockfish Salmon Scrod Shark Striped bass Sunfish Tilapia Trout Tuna Turbot Walleye Any other commercially available fish Shellfish Abalone Clams Crab Crayfish Lobster Mussels Oysters Scallops Shrimp Fruit Apple Apricot Avocado Banana Blackberries Blueberries Boysenberries Cantaloupe Carambola Cassava melon Cherimoya Cherries Cranberries Figs Gooseberries Grapefruit Grapes Guava Honeydew melon Kiwi Lemon Lime Lychee Mango Nectarine Orange Papaya Passion fruit Peaches Pears Persimmon Pineapple Plums Pomegranate Raspberries Rhubarb Star fruit Strawberries Tangerine Watermelon All other fruits Vegetables Artichoke Asparagus Beet greens Beets Bell peppers Broccoli Brussels sprouts Cabbage Carrots Cauliflower Celery Collards Cucumber Dandelion Eggplant Endive Green onions Kale Kohlrabi Lettuce Mushrooms Mustard greens Onions Parsley Parsnip Peppers (all kinds) Pumpkin Purslane Radish Rutabaga Seaweed Spinach Squash (all kinds) Swiss chard Tomatillos Tomato (actually a fruit, but most people think of it as a vegetable) Turnip greens Turnips Watercress

Encouraged Foods Nuts and Seeds Almonds Brazil nuts Cashews Chestnuts Hazelnuts (filberts) Macadamia nuts Pecans Pine nuts Pistachios (unsalted) Pumpkin seeds Sesame seeds Sunflower seeds Walnuts Foods To Be Eaten In Moderation Oils Olive, avocado, walnut, flaxseed, and canola oils (use in moderation—4 tablespoons or less a day when weight loss is of primary importance) Beverages Diet sodas (These often contain artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and saccharine, which may be harmful; you’re better off drinking bottled and mineral waters.) Coffee Tea Wine (two 4-ounce glasses; Note: Don’t buy “cooking wine,” which is loaded with salt.) Beer (one 12-ounce serving) Spirits (4 ounces) Paleo Sweets Dried fruits (no more than 2 ounces a day, particularly if you are trying to lose weight) Nuts mixed with dried and fresh fruits (no more than 4 ounces of nuts and 2 ounces of dried fruit a day, particularly if you are trying to lose weight) Foods You Should Avoid Dairy Foods All processed foods made with any dairy products Butter Cheese Cream Dairy spreads Frozen yogurt Ice cream Ice milk Low-fat milk Nonfat dairy creamer Powdered milk Skim milk Whole milk Yogurt Cereal Grains Barley (barley soup, barley bread, and all processed foods made with barley) Corn (corn on the cob, corn tortillas, corn chips, corn starch, corn syrup) Millet Oats (steel-cut oats, rolled oats, and all processed foods made with oats) Rice (brown rice, white rice, top ramen, rice noodles, bas mati rice, rice cakes, Rice flour (all processed foods made with rice) Rye (rye bread, rye crackers, and all processed foods made with rye) Sorghum Wheat (bread, rolls, muffins, noodles, crackers, cookies, cake, doughnuts, pancakes, waffles, pasta, spaghetti, lasagna, wheat tortillas, pizza, pita bread, flat bread, and all processed foods made with wheat or wheat flour) Wild rice Cereal Grainlike Seeds Amaranth Buckwheat Quinoa Legumes All beans (adzuki beans, black beans, broad beans, fava beans, field beans, garbanzo beans, horse beans, kidney beans, lima beans, mung beans, navy beans, pinto beans, red beans, string beans, white beans) Black-eyed peas Chickpeas Lentils Peas Miso Peanut butter Peanuts Snowpeas Sugar snap peas Soybeans and all soybean products, including tofu Starchy Vegetables Starchy tubers Cassava root Manioc Potatoes and all potato products (French fries, potato chips, etc.) Sweet potatoes Tapioca pudding Yams Salt-Containing Foods Almost all commercial salad dressings and condiments Bacon Cheese Deli meats Frankfurters Ham Hot dogs Ketchup Olives Pickled foods Pork rinds Processed meats Salami Salted nuts Salted spices Sausages Smoked, dried, and salted fish and meat Virtually all canned meats and fish (unless they are unsalted or unless you soak and drain them) Fatty Meats Bacon Beef ribs Chicken and turkey legs Chicken and turkey skin Chicken and turkey thighs and wings• Fatty beef roasts Fatty cuts of beef Fatty ground beef Fatty pork chops Fatty pork roasts Lamb chops Lamb roasts Leg of lamb Pork ribs Pork sausage T—bone steaks Soft Drinks and Fruit Juices All sugary soft drinks Canned, bottled, and freshly squeezed fruit drinks (which lack the fiber of fresh fruit and have a much higher glvcemic index) Sweets Candy Honey Sugars