Adam Farrah's Blog - Evolved Eating, Evolved Training, Evolved Living...

There are MANY different “Paleo” diets…

April 14, 2011 by 15 Comments

Maasai Warriors

My friend Leigh made a comment about my book, “The Paleo Dieter’s Missing Link” on Facebook yesterday that made me want to do a post on this topic. Thanks for the feedback, Leigh!

Here’s something that a lot of people don’t fully understand – there are many, MANY different Paleo diets. Sure, there’s “The Paleo Diet” book by Loren Cordain and there are plenty of “Paleo” authors, like my friend Robb Wolf. But “Paleo” can be looked at in a VERY broad way and it can include a HUGE variety of approaches. Something I worked very hard to do in my book is show the history of Paleo or “hunter-gather” diets and show how the different authors and “classic” books on the topic fit together and influence the variations you’re likely to see.

Authors and nutritional theorists have been advocating and studying hunter-gatherer or “Paleo” diets for OVER 100 YEARS! There’s a HUGE body of knowledge on this topic – if you know where to look…

Figure 1:

Figure 1 from The Paleo Dieter's Missing Link

The bottom line in Figure 1 – and what I talk about throughout my book – is that oval superimposed over the columns. Paleo proper is there in the oval and to each side there are “outlier diets” that are very similar to Paleo but deviate from the “straight” Paleo diet you’d think of when talking about Paleo. I believe this is why some people do really well on a VERY low carb Paleo diet that even excludes fruit on one end and – on the other end of the spectrum – there are some vegetarian athletes who thrive.

It’s about principles that are found in ALL healthy diets – principles I believe Paleo embodies to a LARGE degree. These “core” or “backbone” Paleo principles are then combined with some number of changes and substitutions that make up each individual diet. For one person it might be very low carb. For others – like myself – it might be higher fiber and more fruit. For YOU it might be something else entirely – but ALWAYS within that oval and with the Paleo backbone.

I feel terrible on very low carb ketogenic diets. I also feel hungry and anxious when I let my dietary protein and fat get to low. My digestion and elimination gets better when I keep my fiber higher with green smoothies and a psyllium husk supplement and it also improves when I eat yogurt and kefir.

When are vegetarians Paleo?

I’ve talked to a few vegetarians who are actually eating pretty close to Paleo. They’re basing their diet on a large amount of fresh fruits and vegetables, not eating a lot of grains, beans or processed foods and they’re eating local dairy from well-raised animals, small amounts of cheese and sneaking some fish or chicken once in a while. This lacto-ovo model (when done on a Paleo template) is VERY close to the diet some hunter-gatherer societies in Africa subsist on or subsisted on at some point.

But, milk isn’t Paleo!

Milk and dairy aren’t Paleo if you go by the standard and popular definition. But, if you look at a hunter-gatherer tribe like the Maasai in Africa, you’ll see that milk from grass fed cows makes up a portion of their diet. So, is dairy Paleo? That depends. And different dietary templates will work differently for different people…

Here’s My Pet Peeve About Dairy and Paleo…

Something that I think is really silly – and happens A LOT in the Paleo community – is people advocate a “strict Paleo” approach with NO DAIRY and then use dairy-based protein powders like whey and casein. Some of these people even drink their coffee black – and HATE it – in an effort to avoid dairy. And then they use 10 scoops of whey protein a day. SILLY! :-P These are usually the same people who give ME flak for using organic goat yogurt in my diet or eating raw cow milk kefir that I make myself from local milk.

My stance on dairy and Paleo is this: if you’re willing to use a processed and heated protein powder from industrially farmed animals, you should NOT use the powder and get the highest quality local, raw, humane and organic dairy you can find!

*Sigh*

ttys

Adam

BTW, if you want a seriously in-depth discussion of this topic and many, MANY others, check out my book, “The Paleo Dieter’s Missing Link.” It’s a HUGE resource (Over 160 pages!) and it’s had great feedback so far! Click on the link above or the book image below for more info!

The Paleo Dieter's Missing Link

 

Other Posts You'll Like:

Filed Under: Building Health, Paleolithic Diet, Paleolithic Lifestyle, The Paleo Dieter's Missing Link, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

The NorCal Margarita…

January 19, 2011 by 25 Comments

 

A NorCal Margarita using Espolon tequila

This drink recipe has become a SERIOUS favorite of mine. What’s funny is, if you’d talked to me 6 months ago, I’d have told you I didn’t drink. I’ve been going through a move and a lifestyle “reorganization” recently – a VERY positive one – but one that’s been full of stress, logistical nightmares and other wacky stuff. So, faced with the option of a clock tower and a sniper rifle or a drink or two here and there, I’ve opted for the drinks! You can thank me later :-)

I’ve been VERY sensitive to alcohol my whole life – one of the reasons I really don’t drink – but this recipe is pretty easy on my system and it’s also fairly Paleo friendly. I got the original recipe from my friend Robb Wolf’s book, The Paleo Solution, and I put a few of my own tweaks on it.

Let me know what you think of my favorite – and only – drink recipe!

ttys

Adam

Other Posts You'll Like:

Filed Under: Paleo Challenge, Paleolithic Diet, Paleolithic Lifestyle Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Healthy is the New Skinny, Too?

October 1, 2010 by 9 Comments

I want to thank my friend Linda Gill for giving me some inspiration to write this morning. She had a thread going on Facebook talking about how important it is to buy and eat local organic food. This is something I’ve been passionate about for a long time and it really got me thinking (Those of you who know me, know I do that a lot, right Jodi?).

It got me thinking about what “Strong is the New Skinny” really comes down to. I think it comes down to HEALTHY. You have to be healthy to be strong. If you’re not healthy, you might be strong for a while, but it won’t last. And, if you’re like many of the wonderful women I’ve met through the “Strong is the New Skinny” movement, women like my great friend Marsha, being strong is about more than pushing or pulling big weight. It’s about staying strong and active and healthy in the long term. And, it’s about taking care of yourself so you have plenty of energy to give to all the people around you who you care about and who you make a difference for.

Why is Local and Organic Better?

I’m not the first one to say it, but I think EVERYONE who cares about their health and their family’s health should make it a point to buy and watch the movie Food, Inc. before the end of THIS weekend. If you can SERIOUSLY watch this video and not make REAL change in your life and how you eat, I don’t think I can say anything more to motivate you. This video is SERIOUSLY important and it’s a MUST WATCH.

What’s the REAL price?

Something that drives me NUTS is the price thing. I remember Paul Chek saying, years ago in his great CD set “You Are What You Eat,” that you can go to any McDonald’s and see $75,000 cars and SUVs going through the drive thru to get $1 hamburgers. It’s insane when you think about it that way. And isn’t price the whole argument we make as coaches when selling our services? We’re not the cheapest, we’re THE BEST. My friend Merle from CrossFit USA and CrossFit Relentless has been making that argument – and succeeding greatly – for a while now.

Something else that drives me nuts is the Walmart commercials where the mom BRAGS about how she can give her family of 5 “dinner” for less than $3. Are you SERIOUSLY bragging about that? You should be ashamed! :-P

I mean, seriously! How can you skimp on the stuff that you MAKE YOU out of? Do you really want your body or your family’s bodies to be made of processed corn and cheap processed meat? YUCK!

I’m not going to go too far off on a tangent here (we all know I NEVER do that :-) ) but I think it’s also worth asking whether there’s a Spiritual impact from what you eat. Do you really think eating an animal that has led a terrible, tortured and science altered existence can be good for your higher self? How about corn from a seed that was created in a laboratory on the 22nd floor? To me, it’s scary…

And then we get to animal rights…

I’m so NOT going into this argument here, but look: We’re predators. We evolved on meat. The science is there. If you don’t believe me, there’s this thing called Google… If we MUST eat meat for our BEST health, doesn’t it make sense to eat meat from animals raised on beautiful farms and eating what they’re meant to eat and living how they’re meant to live. I love animals. You can ask my dog, five cats and two snakes. In a “perfect” world, maybe we wouldn’t eat them. But we NEED to eat them. If we’re going to eat them I think we owe it to them – and ourselves – to give them the best life we possibly can. As someone who’s saved many a kitty that ended up not living as long as it maybe should have, I believe making an animal as comfortable and happy as we can for the life it has is the best we can do sometimes.

Small is the New Big, Too…

Our economy is shifting in so many ways. It’s not a recession, it a MAJOR CHANGE in how things work. I’m not sure who coined the phrase “Small is the New Big” (Anyone care to enlighten me?), but we’re seeing a shift back to community and back to small and back to niche and back to CARING. Wouldn’t you rather support the small local farmer who CARES about what goes into the food that goes into your body and your family’s bodies? Do you think General Mills or Monsanto gives a flying crap about you or your family? Like they said in the trailer: You vote with your purchases EVERY DAY and if you demand good, real, wholesome food from our farmers they WILL deliver.

BTW, do you think it’s a coincidence that the major HUMAN pharmaceutical companies also happen to make most of the AGRICULTURAL chemicals that make us sick in the first place? That’s all I’m saying about that. You can do the math…

And, for you political types, how about GOOD FOOD instead of socialized National Health Care? What do YOU think is cheaper in the long run?

How ’bout it everyone? Buy and watch the video THIS WEEKEND and check out a local farmer’s market before they close down for the winter (if you’re in a Northern climate). Try Google. There are usually networks that promote farmer’s and farmer’s markets. Here’s one where I live: ctnofa.org.

ttys

Adam

Other Posts You'll Like:

Filed Under: Building Health, Fitness, Health, Paleolithic Diet, Paleolithic Lifestyle, Strong is the New Skinny, Women Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Raw Milk Kefir and the Paleo Diet

July 13, 2010 by 9 Comments

I’ve played around with raw cow milk and kefir before and I’ve been using goat yogurt and kefir for a while. I’ve REALLY wanted to switch to raw cow kefir though. I’ve wanted to make the switch not so much because I think cow milk is better than goat milk – I’m not so sure it is – but because I can easily get raw cow milk locally and raw goat milk is a bit harder to get around here.

So, yesterday I substituted raw cow kefir for my usual pasteurized goat yogurt in my shakes. Everything else remained exactly the same for the day. The results? Quiet stomach all day, no gas or bloat and I felt good all day. This morning I’m doing fine as well and all was good in the poop department. Overall, a very successful introduction of a food that is SUPPOSED to be very healthy for me.

Now, the question remains – Is raw cow milk or kefir Paleo? I think the strict Paleo answer is NO! But let’s take a few steps beyond that…

Advantages of incorporating raw milk and kefir into a Paleo diet:

  • Raw cow milk has high levels of digestible protein and LIVE enzymes
  • Raw grassfed cow milk has high levels of CLA
  • Kefir made with raw milk incorporates not only the probiotics from the kefir but also the good bacteria that remains in the milk because it isn’t pasteurized
  • Raw kefir is a lot more digestible than milk
  • Raw cow dairy contains a good amount of saturated animal fats and a ton of other great stuff
  • Raw cow milk from healthy animals contains a high level of Vitamin D

If you move away from the “Paleo” paradigm for a second and just think “primitive” I think you can see that cultured raw milk from grass fed cows on a local farm is about as “early” as you can get in the agricultural time-line. We’re basically talking Paleo plus a few hundred years or so. This is still very primitive and there’s a fair amount of evidence that primitive and hunter gatherer cultures have used raw dairy to good effect.

Another thing I find really cool about making my own kefir is the absolutely HEAVENLY butterfat thing that happens at the top of the jar when the cultures do their thing. That stuff is SO sweet and creamy and full of CLA and who knows what other good stuff!

Raw Cow Milk Kefir

The “making it” process is a little involved and can go wrong sometimes, but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy. Currently, I’m getting my kefir starter from Body Ecology.

Making Kefir

Really the only thing I have left to do here as far as testing is to keep using the kefir and make sure there isn’t any kind of delayed immune reaction. If I continue to do well on it, I’m going to keep eating it and see how I do. My hope is that the big doses of probiotics I get from the kefir daily will really help out my health and digestion. We’ll see what happens!

[Note: I was ORIGINALLY planning to include a bunch of references here to back up my points in this article. I haven't found the really good stuff I'm looking for so I'll update this post as I find better info.]

ttys

Adam

Other Posts You'll Like:

Filed Under: Building Health, Paleolithic Diet Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

What is a “Caveman Diet” Anyway?

July 1, 2010 by Leave a Comment

These are the questions that come to me at odd times. I was about to get into the shower when, out of nowhere, I had the thought: “Does the term ‘Caveman Diet’ really have any value or meaning? I’ve been guilty of using the term myself a few times. When you’re talking to someone who doesn’t really know what a Paleolithic or Paleo Diet is – and might not even know what “Paleolithic” means – sometimes it’s easier to just say “Caveman Diet” and leave it at that. But this got me thinking about the different diets and the names we have for them.

In some cases, there’s a marketing or branding thing going on. Dr. Loren Cordain wrote “The Paleo Diet” and that’s a brandable name. In fact, it’s trademarked. The “Paleolithic Diet” is basically the public domain version of that name. And it means the same thing. Now, in the CrossFit community, everyone just says “Paleo” and that’s that. Even people who would differentiate themselves from Cordain and “The Paleo Diet” brand will shorten Paleolithic to Paleo in conversation.

One thing I can say for sure about the term “Caveman” is that the media likes it. Probably because it’s descriptive, simple and piques curiosity. They can even incorporate a little Geico humor into article titles: “Paleolithic diet is so easy, cavemen actually did it.” I say, anything that gets the Paleo (there, I used the “slang” myself) community some good press is great. This is a real movement that’s happening and I believe the implications are going to be huge. But, the question remains: “What exactly is a caveman diet?”

With that question in mind, I decided to some digging.

The Caveman Diet

Early this year, The New York Times did a piece called: “The New Age Cavemen and The City.” It was definitely a good article (And it was in the Fashion section of all places!?!). John Durant from hunter-gatherer.com was front and center in the article. They also mentioned Cordain and Tony Budding from CrossFit got to comment too. But all through the article, the authors and the interviewees revert back to the “Paleo” term. As a side note, I checked google AdWords today and “Caveman Diet” is searched over 22,000 times a month – someone is talking about it. The New York Times article had some other interesting stuff in it including a mention of Art De Vany. I hadn’t heard of him until now and his blog looks pretty interesting. I’ll be checking that out later.

More digging didn’t really turn up much. As far as I can tell, Caveman Diet is interchangeable with Paleolithic or Paleo and no one is really trying to brand it. Or, if they are, they’re not doing it very well because I can’t find anything but Paleo references in articles that come up for “caveman diet.” I will say that newspaper articles with Jim Durant seem to include the Caveman Diet term an awful lot…

As a funny aside, WebMD has an article called “Eating Like a Caveman” and referred to Paleo eating as “The Flintstones Diet.” Some friends of mine joked once that Fruity Pebbles must be Paleo…

I see this as an exciting time. The world is changing rapidly and a great diet and lifestyle – Paleolithic – is getting a good amount of positive exposure in the press. It works for me…

I predict that, sooner or later, the Paleolithic way of eating will be widely recognized as the template for a healthy human diet and the technology we currently communicate with is going to drive that recognition. Ironic, to say the least.

ttys

Adam

Other Posts You'll Like:

Filed Under: Paleolithic Diet, Paleolithic Lifestyle Tagged With: , , , ,