Nell Stephenson's Blog, page 104

A Paleo Valentine’s Dinner

About.com had a nice little summary of the history and traditions of Valentine’s Day; a few bits of trivia include:

The story of Valentine, a physician also said to be a gastronomist, who made his medicines more palatable by mixing them with herbs, spices, honey, and wine. 
Other historians believe the holiday derives from the Roman festival of Lupercalia, which was celebrated on February 15. This was a fertility celebration of the Roman god Faunus, the god of flocks and fertility, to ensure fertility and easy births by the women of the community.
Food plays a major part in the celebration of this holiday. Chocolates are a traditional favorite but other foods are also love triggers.

So there we have it: food, love, fertility…sounds like three easy things to keep in mind when planning a romantic Paleo meal!

Foods often thought of as being aphrodisiacs can fit nicely into your menu include:

Asparagus
Almonds
Avocado
Banana
Basil
Chocolate
Figs 
Garlic
Oysters

Bearing these factors in mind, I’d prepare something along the lines of:

A single Oyster
Chilled Asparagus Starter with Shaved Black Truffles (in season Dec – March, so we’re in luck!).
Arugula Salad with Avocado, Basil, Dried Figs (not in season, unfortunately)
Rare, Grass Fed Bone in Rib-Eye on Sauteed Kale with Garlic (I wouldn’t be Paleoista if I didn’t throw some kale in!)
Frozen Banana with Raw, Fair Trade, Organic Chocolate

Who ever said Paleo had to be restrictive and couldn’t be decadent has a lot to learn!

Oh, where is my head?  Wine!  Wine!  Let there be Cab!

How Has (What Should Be) Common Sense Become Headline News?

In the Times today, there was a short article discussing how fitness may lower dementia risk.  A few key comments from the piece include:

“After adjusting for age, smoking, diabetes, cholesterol and other health factors, the researchers found that compared with those in the lowest 20 percent for fitness in midlife, those in the highest 20 percent had a 36 percent reduced risk of dementia.

“Dementia is a disease with no cure and no good therapies,” said the lead author, Dr. Laura F. DeFina, the interim chief scientific officer at the Cooper Institute in Dallas. Physical activity may be “a preventive way to address dementia instead of addressing the costs of a disabled elder.”

 They emphasize that the study is observational and does not prove causation.”

OK.   Why is the fact that being active being allegedly (as per the article) associated with lowering one’s risk of dementia, or for many illnesses, for that matter, anything other than common sense?  Is anyone really surprised to read that:

1) If we are active 

and

2) If we eat real food 

and finally

3) If we avoid eating things that are not food

the outcome will be better overall health?

How is this any different from a statement such as, “researchers found that  those in the study who were able to breath the ambient air fared far better than those whose breathing was restricted by having a plastic bag over their mouths and noses”?

Seriously.

How about reallocating funding for studies like this to studies which show how damaging ingesting wheat, soy, dairy and sugar can be?  Oh, that’s right- we can’t do that… it would make the big mega-companies’ products look bad.  

Can’t do that…

The “Secret Food” of Athletes?

I was lured by the title of an article on the front cover of a magazine my husband receives as a thank you for having subscribed to some other publication he actually wanted.

In large, yellow letters, it read “The Secret Food of Athletes”.  I just had to read it.  

Unsure as to exactly what I expected, I’d have guessed I’d find something recommending the unfortunately typical stand-bys like oatmeal for breakfast or a ‘healthy’ whole grain-based sandwich.

Rather, it was more of a guideline with 8 steps on how to fine tune ‘what’s right for you’ like ‘addressing your own issues’ and ‘changing your relationship with food’.

Fair enough, I suppose… but then I saw what I was looking for.  The little side bars with synopses of what some athletes eat for their must-have fuel, including such things as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, eggs with toast and low fat ice cream.

Why that was newsworthy is beyond me.

Apart from that, how about a recommendation somewhere that an athlete might want to include loads of fresh veg and fruit to make sure they saturate their bodies with rich sources of anti oxidants and fiber?  The only mention I found was a suggestion within a paragraph to ‘get more veggies, nuts and seeds’ in your diet, as though doing so is just a small afterthought rather than something of utmost importance.

I guess as long as you’re keeping up with your PB&Js and toast, you don’t need those veggies, anyway.  Right…

Oh, the frustration!  

A Pancake Benefit to Raise Funds for Hospital. Perfect.

A headline last week in a publication in the Pacific NW stated, “

“IHOP is giving away free pancakes all day today, and all the restaurant is asking for in return is for customers to think about making a donation to Seattle Children’s Hospital. The free short stack of pancakes will be available to everybody from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Feb. 5 in honor of National Pancake Day. IHOP is hoping customers will return the favor by helping raise $3 million for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.”

Raising funds for the Children’s Hospital?  I’m all for it.   But via selling pancakes?  Really?

I recall a post I did a while back which featured an article I’d read about a fundraiser for a children’s diabetes organization, which involved buying milkshakes called “Frosties” from a fast food chain in order to raise money.

Connect the dots.

How is promoting product(s) that not only are lacking in any type of nutrition but have been linked to being causal agents in illness in order to raise money for worthy organizations a good idea?

What’s next; selling cigarettes to bring awareness to a lung cancer foundation or whisky to raise funds to an organization set up to help those with cirrhosis?

How about either using healthy, real food (if it has to be food at all) as an incentive to contribute, or things that are not food at all?  A chance to win a grand prize in a raffle, like a trip, maybe or  hey- here’s an idea, just giving for the sake of giving without needing a ‘thing’ in return?

 

 

Goodbye, Graham…

It was the last time I’d make his breakfast. 

I knew it didn’t really matter anymore, but I still gave him his AM dose of the Clavamox he’d been taking for the last week to treat the UTI he’d developed wearing diapers after the last ditch attempt to try one last thing (prednisone) to see if we could get his hind legs to be stable and support his weight any better than they’d been able to for the last year.

Graham, our 13-½ year old Weimaraner, had been diagnosed with degenerative disk disease nearly a year earlier, when his gait first began to become unsteady.

He was a lean, mean specimen of a dog for years; he’d run with us for hours on the trails and despite a myriad of injuries (some rather silly, in retrospect, like coming out of the woods with an entire toenail missing, which never grew back), he always bounced back and he, along with his sister, Daisy, were the best training partners we could have ever asked for.

When we moved from California to a remote, equestrian area near Seattle, he and Daisy made me feel safe alone in our big, glass house in the woods, any time Chris would travel.

We had our moments along the way, like the time we had an altercation over a squirrel that he killed and wanted to bring home in the car (we didn’t speak for days after that), or the time he leaned so high up on the counter top that he was able to pull the freshly prepared Thanksgiving side dishes to the edge and eat them, while I was in the shower…

 When he started to slip and lose his footing, the first thing the vet did was take an X-ray.  She remarked she’d never seen an 11-year-old Weim with no signs of arthritis (thanks to being a life long Paleo athlete, no doubt), and suggested he might benefit from some physical therapy. 

Graham began a course of three times/week rehab including, acupuncture, running on the underwater tread and some homeopathic remedies, like garlic & turmeric for their anti inflammatory properties, five blueberries with his dinner, mega doses of fish oil and vitamins E and B.

His decline over the course of the year was slow but steady, to the point that it became the norm to have to help him ambulate now and then and rather than being surprised when he’d have an accident inside, it was a surprise not to wake in the morning to a little surprise left by Graham near his bedside.

 He continued to have a voracious appetite; yet the signs that an impending, horribly challenging decision was on the horizon were becoming more and more difficult to ignore.

On Wednesday, we went out for our morning ‘walk’ (if that’s what you could still call it, given that he needed so much assistance via his little ‘help ‘em up harness’) and he only made it as far as two houses before making it quite clear he wanted to go home.

Not atypical, we turned around and I helped him onto one of his beds (yes, each of our dogs have three), assuming that later in the day, after a nap, he’d be back to his norm.  

That was not the case.

A few hours later, I picked his harness handle up to escort him out into the yard and to my horror, his hind legs were like jelly.

Panicked, I rushed to the vet and, being that she didn’t find anything alarming, advised we could go home, keep an eye on him, and bring him back first thing in the morning to get some X-rays and diagnostics to see if there was anything that could be done.

The blood panel and X-rays done the following day showed nothing and the looming dark cloud we’d been thinking was still at least a few months away burst open upon us and the sky began to cry.

The guy couldn’t walk.  At all.  He couldn’t even raise his head to eat dinner from his bed; I scooped up bites at a time and fed him from my hand.

One final visit to his physical therapy/rehab vet was in order; I needed to hear from her that it was time, that it was actually inhumane to keep him with us in this state.

Her findings in the final exam were all the proof she needed.  Not only would he be very unlikely to walk again, it would also be quite possible that he could suddenly lose the loss of all limbs.

It had been horrible enough to see him try to pedal his front legs from the side lying position he had to be stuck in, trying so hard, in vain, to lean up into a sitting position.  Although he was able to do it a couple of times, most of his effort resulted in him rubbing his paws against the floor so much they ended up bleeding.

No quality of life seemed to remain.

On his last night, we brought him up into our bedroom like in the old days when he could still get upstairs and placed him between us to sleep.

While we didn’t say so out loud, we both prayed he would just go to sleep and not wake up.  At one point, around 2 AM, his heart began pounding so hard and so arrhythmically, we both thought that was it.

He stayed with us through the night, though and there was an indescribable stillness in the air on Saturday, which made it feel like time was standing still.

We scheduled a visit with an in home vet for 4pm.  

The minutes passed by at an agonizingly slow pace.

At 3pm, I cooked him a rare filet mignon and he ate it with gusto.

His last hour was spent resting while we sat with him, stroking him and reminding him of how much we will always love him.

He died peacefully in my lap, in his own bed, surrounded by love.

Goodbye, my sweet boy.  I will always love you.

 

 

Slim Is Simple

This is a must-see.  

“Slim is Simple” is a “non-profit ancestral nutrition educational organization which provides compelling ancestral multimedia resources—free of charge—that the educational and health communities can leverage to help share the simple nutrition science our country is literally dying for. The organization is  working to get this ‘curriculum’ into schools and churches and into the public’s eye.”

I was contacted by one of the producers of the video to review it and I must say, I thought it was fantastic.  It does a great job at appealing to the masses; it’s not a ‘Paleo’ video, nor is it a vegan video or any kind of ‘diet’ video. Rather, it just tell us the facts in a simple and succinct manner and uses some great analogies to describe what we do to our bodies when we eat things that we are not meant to be eating.

Click here to watch it and spread the word.  The more we know, the healthier we’ll be.  

 

Smaller Portions Coming Soon!

I actually feel a bit embarrassed when I travel abroad and face a question posed by many: Why are your portions in the US so gigantic?

Gulp.

It wasn’t my idea.

We’ve likely all seen the documentaries which detail how small a burger and soda were in the 50s…compare that to present day.   I saw a woman at the cinema carrying a literal bucket of popcorn that was half as tall as she was.

What on earth?

And who needs a gallon of soda?

My word.

Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised to read in the Times yesterday that “restaurant chains around the country are adding more nutrition choices and shrinking portion sizes.”

Finally, a step in the right direction.   Simply put, if someone is going to eat junk, at the very least eating less of said junk is better than eating more of it.   

The article goes on to point out the trend some restaurants have been a part of wherein calories are published and/or lower calorie options are advertised. Awareness can be said to be the first part of making changes.

In particular, the single sentence in the entire piece that summed everything up, quite succinctly, no less, was the closing quote: “When the public starts saying it wants healthier options – and we are hearing that – we have an obligation to help show you what that means in our restaurant and give you choices to help you achieve that; it’s good business”, said Dr. Riggs,  CEO of the Pita Pit Franchise.

Hear that?   The simple act of not buying highly refined, sugar laden junk completely lacking in nutrition is truly the only thing we can do to send a loud and clear message.   These are businesses we’re dealing with, and the one and only thing that hurts are empty pockets.   

Let’s make them sell us what we want to buy!

Off I go to send an email to McDonald’s to ask them to start serving Paleo- friendly raw kale salad; should be on their menu in no time, right?

Finally, Some Praise for Paleo

An article in the Billings Gazette was refreshing in that it reviewed Paleo favorably… it’s about time!  

Written by an MD, who specializes in pediatric gastroenterology, no less, it does a fair job of outlining what Paleo is all about and despite its title being ever so slightly off-putting (“Going Paleo From A Standard American Diet Can Be A Tough Transition” ), it does a pretty good job of illustrating the pros, cons and closes with a recommendation to give it a try (albeit followed by a cheesy joke, pun intended), “If you are in the market to test drive a new diet, one that has some science behind it and is gaining momentum, you might want to give “The Paleo Diet” a whirl. Just be ready for the bread and cheese withdrawals!”

Can we please have more of you Paleo doctors, nurses, physician’s assistants and fellow healthcare professionals collectively putting our pens to paper (or fingers to the keyboard) and make more of an effort to get the word out to the media?

Pretty please?

 

 

 

Why Make Changes? Just Stick on a Band-Aid!

A client shared an ad with me the other day; it was for a six minute video featuring an elderly, overweight women sharing about how her diabetic nerve pain became so debilitating, she had to seek medication.  Despite the potential side effects (copied and pasted from Lyrica’s own site) below, she opted to take it and feels just dandy now.

Not once was food or exercise mentioned even for a second.

I cannot even begin to express how outrageous this is!

While it’s not clear whether this woman had Type I or Type II diabetes, I would venture to guess it’s likely the latter in which case making dietary changes and getting one’s butt in action can not only prevent this from ever happening in the first place, it can also reverse the situation and patients can become healthy enough to come off the meds under their doctor’s close supervision.

Could someone please explain why taking a pill which puts them at risk for so many serious reactions is a better route to take than going Paleo?  Even if Paleo was the radical, extreme diet that many make it out to be, wouldn’t that even be better than what could happen from taking this chemical?

Anyone?

And here’s the down and dirty from the site:

“LYRICA is not for everyone. LYRICA may cause serious, even life threatening, allergic reactions. Stop taking LYRICA and call your doctor right away if you have any signs of a serious allergic reaction. Some signs are swelling of your face, mouth, lips, gums, tongue, throat or neck, or if you have any trouble breathing, or have a rash, hives or blisters.
Drugs used to treat seizures increase the risk of suicidal thoughts or behavior. LYRICA may cause suicidal thoughts or actions in a very small number of people, about 1 in 500. Patients, family members or caregivers should call the doctor right away if they notice suicidal thoughts or actions, thoughts of self harm, or any unusual changes in mood or behavior. These changes may include new or worsening depression, anxiety, restlessness, trouble sleeping, panic attacks, anger, irritability, agitation, aggression, dangerous impulses or violence, or extreme increases in activity or talking. If you have suicidal thoughts or actions, do not stop LYRICA without first talking to your doctor.
LYRICA may cause swelling of your hands, legs and feet, which can be serious for people with heart problems. LYRICA may cause dizziness and sleepiness. You should not drive or work with machines until you know how LYRICA affects you. Also, tell your doctor right away about muscle pain or problems along with feeling sick and feverish, or any changes in your eyesight including blurry vision, or if you have any kidney problems or get dialysis.
Some of the most common side effects of LYRICA are dizziness, blurry vision, weight gain, sleepiness, trouble concentrating, swelling of your hands and feet, dry mouth, and feeling “high.” If you have diabetes, tell your doctor about any skin sores.
You may have a higher chance for swelling and hives if you are also taking angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors so tell your doctor if you are taking these medications. You may have a higher chance of swelling of your hands or feet or gaining weight if you are also taking certain diabetes medicines. Do not drink alcohol while on LYRICA. You may have a higher chance for dizziness and sleepiness if you take LYRICA with alcohol, narcotic pain medicines, or medicines for anxiety.
Before you start LYRICA, tell your doctor if you are planning to father a child, or if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breast-feeding. If you have had a drug or alcohol problem, you may be more likely to misuse LYRICA.
In studies, a specific type of blood vessel tumor was seen in mice, but not in rats. The meaning of these findings in humans is not known.
Do not stop taking LYRICA without talking to your doctor. If you stop suddenly you may have headaches, nausea, diarrhea, trouble sleeping, increased sweating, or you may feel anxious. If you have epilepsy, you may have seizures more often.”

So it’s that… or switching to a regime including meals of mixed greens, wild salmon, avocado and berries after a nice hike in the trails?

Hmmm… tough decision.

Chewy Meat?

Wondering why that ‘stew’ meat you bought turned out so chewy?  

It’s not as though you bought cheap meat, in which case you might expect it to be a little on the tough side.  After all, you made the effort to be sure it was 100% grass fed and, since you were making kabobs, you assumed the meat in the butcher case that was already cut into cubes would be the best bet, right?

Not so fast.  

‘Stew’ meat, often cut from bottom round, chuck, brisket, rib, or extra strips of odd shapes from other cuts, it meant just for that- stewing.  Cooking in a dutch oven at a lower heat for hours which will serve to tenderize it, in other words.

Not meant for kabobs which will likely be broiled or grilled for a mere matter of minutes.

Next time, keep in mind that you can’t go wrong with sirloin or tenderloin for a much more delicate and palatable texture.   Sharpen up your Santuko and spend the extra few minutes to cube it yourself.   You’ll end up with even cubes and a much more favorable end product.