Nell Stephenson's Blog, page 105

Paleo Takes the Blame…Inappropriately

Let’s face it.  Paleo is still greatly misunderstood by the masses, and those masses, unfortunately, tend to include doctors, nurses, dietitians and many other ‘healthcare’ providers.

Why else would it be commonplace for people of all ages, in varying degrees of health or illness, to be told that their ‘radical diet’ may be to blame in as a causal component of their maladies, rather than the panacea it truly can be?

Drives me nuts.

One client shared that after years of taking his hypertension meds and asking his doctor whether he’d ever be able to stop if he were to change his diet, he was told time and time again that it wouldn’t likely make that much of an impact.   Up to his eyeballs with frustration, he read about Paleo, began eating that way, lost about fifty pounds, asked for a reevaluation with the same physician and was able to taper off the Vasotec.   The physician would not admit that the change in eating habits (hello, Paleo) might have had anything to do with it.

Another client who had dropped those last ten pounds and become quite lean, which helped with her marathoning, was told she was too light by her doctor and it was suggested she should have some cereal or ice cream each night before bed because she was ‘too lean’.   She felt fantastic, slept well, trained and raced phenomenally and had a pristine blood panel at her physical.  Nonetheless, simply because she appeared lean and toned, she was treated as though there was something wrong not only with her, but her uber-restricitve diet (big misconception).

Interesting to note, by the way, that in both instances, my clients informed me that their doctors were rather on the overweight side.   I don’t know about that.   I wouldn’t go to a dentist with rotten teeth, so I’m not keen on the idea of an obese doctor giving me eating tips.

Just saying.

May sound harsh but it’s the cold, hard truth.

Paleo is not radical, it is healthy, it is balanced and it can be responsible for marvelous health improvements when followed properly.  If followed incorrectly, sure, we can go wrong, but then it’s not really Paleo in the first place!

Need help?  E me to book your consult today!

Snacks After Practice

Yesterday I hit the local track for a speed set in the late morning.  I knew there would be kids playing pee wee football in the middle, but I wasn’t sure of the timing of when they’d be playing, taking a break or finishing up.

Apparently, I got there just as they were wrapping up, which was nice in the sense that I didn’t have to worry about being hit by a flying missile in the form of a ball, but also a bit eye opening in terms of the glimpse into what they’re eating after their practice and games.

I saw one small herd of children running to the sidelines to partake of what their moms had brought:  an array of several types of cookies, apple juice and orange juice and bagels with jelly.  They tore into the cookies first, like there was no tomorrow and shortly thereafter began running laps while screaming with their mouths full,  hands grasping onto more cookies to eat after they were done with the current round.

Can you say sugar high?

Wow. 

What’s going to happen when they come down?

And… ever heard of an apple, some water and some sliced turkey?

Type II Diabetes, here we come!

Superbowl Sunday: Can You Keep Paleo?

The big game is almost here and I can’t wait!  OK, I’m telling a lie.  I admit it; when it comes to one of the most popular sports in the country, I’m clueless.

Despite two college ex-boyfriends who were very into football, being an alum of USC and having read Football for Dummies, the cold, hard truth is that I have no idea what’s going on.

However, one thing I’m far from clueless on is how to Paleo-ize the game day fare.

Of course, I get it- you’re hardly going to sell the guys or gals who are coming over to watch the game on the idea of eating raw kale, water with cucumber and boiled chicken breast with lemon as the event unfolds.  I’m not even suggesting you have to keep it completely Paleo but what you can do is make it as Paleo as possible and then leave room for guests to contribute what they choose.  That way, at least you have options.

As the host, you can control everything you prepare and serve.   Given that your guests are likely going to bring pizza, hot wings, chips, dips and beer, there’s really no need for you to provide more of the same.
Just like any other day of the year, keep the food inviting on many levels-present it well, use herbs, spices, seasoning in order to make it taste delicious and use this day as a perfect example of an opportunity to show how good Paleo really can be.  In fact, depending on your audience, you could even go so far as to opt not to announce that it’s Paleo, if you have skeptics in tow.
Some easy options include crudites plates with homemade guacamole and/ or salsa, free range chicken and grass fed beef skewers, fresh fruit with a bit of raw nuts and, although I feel a bit sacrilegious about it, I supposed you could even include some kale chips (I’m just a purist when it comes to kale and prefer to have it raw!).
Serve red wine rather than margaritas and beer, but offer plenty of water, too.  My current favorite is Badoit sparkling as the bubbles seem smaller and gentler compared to some other sparkling mineral waters on the market.

Enjoy the day, eat your to your Paleo heart’s content and don’t worry about eating too many wings or too much pizza, because if you have all the foods above in their proxy, you can opt not to eat any of the junk in the first place.

How nice to wake up Monday morning with no hangover (neither from alcohol nor the non Paleo foods), head out for your normal Monday morning workout and get into the office bright and early with a chipper smile, while your co workers down cup after cup of java to address their pounding headaches.

No… go team!  Right, who’s playing again?

Olive Oil Infusion

Often, when new to Paleo, people might turn their nose up at the idea of no traditional dressings for salads.   Ranch, Bleu Cheese, Creamy Italian and Russian are far from Paleo with ingredients including cream, cheese, soybean or peanut oil and along with a very high sodium and/or sugar content.

What’s left?   Olive oil and for some acid, to replace vinegar, citrus fruits.

Sound boring?

Perhaps, you haven’t experienced really, truly good olive oil.

I had the opportunity to give a recent Paleoista lecture at an Olive Oil Tasting Room in Orange County and even though I was already a fan of olive oils from Spain, Italy, Greece and California, I was able to expand my palate even more and enjoy some seriously decadent olive oil at Oliver’s in San Clemente.

From cold pressed, extra virgin olive oils infused with basil or garlic to a grassy varietal with a peppery finish from Italy, it was a taste-bud satisfying experienced that just also happened to be oh-so-Paleo.

Check out their oils here for more; your body will thank you and you won’t even remember the days when you used to douse your leaves in cream based dressings!

Salud!

Move to Free Your Body

We’ve all been there.  Running along and then… a twinge in the calf or a tweak in the hamstring stops us dead in our tracks.

Time to call it quits…or is it?

Not necessarily.

Sometimes it might be a mild reminder that we’re not running in balance, that our gait is not symmetrical or that we’re wearing the wrong shoes or are running on a poor surface.

So how do we know whether to throw in the towel or continue along?

I don’t feel there is one correct answer.  Of course, I’m not suggesting you continue along on a marathon training run after stepping off a curb, rolling your ankle and finding that every step makes you wince in pain.  Rather, just trying to get the message out that the more we tune into our own bodies and pay attention to what our norms are (and aren’t), the better off we’ll be.

I’m an advocate of having regular bodywork and, if need be and if budget allows, even having a team of experts to work on you is fantastic.  I’m fortunate enough to have found an amazing masseur who I see every week, religiously, as well as a talented A.R.T. Practitioner (who is covered by insurance, incidentally, which is quite nice) as needed.   

In the case of injury, having a good PT on hand is integral as well, but ultimately, only you know how you feel and only you can make the decision to train… or not.

I experienced my very first injury two years ago; a Grade II strain of my semimembranosus.  Prior to that, if I ever had a random tweak or twinge, I’d ignore it.  I believe I must have thought I was invincible.   After not being able to run my home marathon (LA) a mere ten days later, a two-week pity party and a frighteningly emotionally challenging time coming back to running, I found myself overly cautious for a while. 

I became irrational and wondered if I’d ever be able to run fast again, or if I’d be forced (by myself) to become a recreational rather than competitive runner.

Ultimately, it just took some time (ok, and a little bit of sport psychology) to get over it, but what I was left with was a more intelligent approach to my training and a better understanding of what is a little bit of tightness that will actually work itself out during the workout, versus a pending injury which I need to sort out with my PT right away.

Know yourself, know your body, know your mind and you’ll be golden!

Oh, and, of course, eat Paleo so your body thrives and flourishes with all the training!

Broccoli, Broccoli and…Broccoli

Along the same lines as the post I wrote the other day about cooking a bone-in, skin on turkey breast at home, then eating it over the course of the next couple days and freezing the reminder, the same principle can be applied to veggies.

Let’s take a familiar veggie that, at the very least, most people have heard of and/or eaten at some point (I know, I know, not everyone participates in the consumption of kale, romanesco and escarole on a regular basis, much to my dismay):  broccoli.

Step one, day one:  Wash, cut florets off, chop stems.   Save stems for next day; steam florets.  Eat some florets with some protein and some fat.

Step two, day two:  Steam steams until soft, place in food processor along with some of the steaming water, some fresh garlic, a squeeze of lemon juice and a dash of olive oil:  Voila- pureed broccoli soup.   Eat some soup with some protein.

Step three, day three:  Place remainder of soup  in food processor.  Add a handful of raw walnuts, some fresh basil and a roasted red bell pepper or two in order to create a dip perfect to go along with a tray of crudites.

The same veggies, three different preparations, and not the slightest hint of ‘eating leftovers’.

Use this approach with any protein and any veg and wait  until you see the number of permutations you come up with!   Who ever said leftovers had to be tired and boring?

Taco Bell, The Superbowl and a Problem with Vegetables?

Have you ever eaten at Taco Bell?  I  have.  It was in college and against my better judgement, I went in an ordered some type of bean burrito.  This was about a decade before I was Paleo, and I rarely ate fast food, but a group of friends and I, all on our mediocre student budgets, opted to go in and grab a bite to eat.

Oh, my word.  Aside from the fact that I don’t believe what I ate was actually food (and a recent google search for the following ingredient list confirms that point), I experienced the most horrible GI distress for a good week afterward.

No wonder, given that what I’d ingested contained:

Cheese Cheddar (Milk Pasteurized Cultured, Salt, Enzyme(s), Annatto Color, Anti-Caking Agents) , Tortilla(s) (Wheat Flour Bleached Enriched [Flour, May contain : Barley Malted Flour, Niacin, Iron Reduced, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Folic Acid (Vitamin aB)] , Water, Corn Ground treated with, Lime, Vegetable(s) Oil [May contain one or more of : Cottonseed Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean(s) Oil, Citric Acid, May contain : TBHQ Contains 2% or less of the Following: (] , Salt, Fumaric Acid, Calcium Propionate, Potassium Sorbate) , Bean(s) (Bean(s) Pinto, Soy Oil [Shortening Trans Fat Free, with TBHQ and, Citric Acid] , Salt) , Beef Seasoned (Beef, Water, Seasoning [Oat(s) Product Isolated, Salt, Pepper(s) Chili, Onion(s) Powder, Tomato(es) Powder, Oat(s), Soy Lecithin, Sugar, Spice(s), Maltodextrin, Soybean(s) Oil, Garlic Powder, Yeast Extract Autolyzed, Citric Acid, Caramel Color, Cocoa Powder Processed with Alkali, Silicon Dioxide, Flavor(s) Natural, Yeast, Corn Starch Modified, Flavor(s) Natural Smoke] , Salt, Sodium Phosphate) , Red Sauce (Corn Starch Modified, Maltodextrin, Paprika, Salt, Tomato(es) Powder, Onion(s) Powder, Spice(s), Garlic Powder, Yeast Extract [Gluten] , Paprika Extractives color(s), Xanthan Gum, Malic Acid, Caramel Color, Potassium Chloride, Ascorbic Acid, Citric Acid, Trehalose, Flavor(s) Natural, Contains less than 22% of Silicon Dioxide) , Sour Cream Reduced Fat (Cream, Milk, Corn Starch Modified, Milk Non-Fat Dry, Maltodextrin, Carrageenan, Locust Bean Gum, Lactic Acid, Gelatin, Guar Gum, Mono and Diglycerides, Citric Acid, Sodium Phosphate, Vitamin A, Potassium Sorbate, Flavor(s) Natural & Artificial) , Lettuce Iceberg, Onion(s) (May contain one or more of : Onion(s) White Or, Onion(s) Yellow) , Tomato(es)

Forget about the fact that it’s not Paleo, regardless of how one might opt to eat, I don’t feel there’s ever a reason to eat something with that many ingredients!

However, it’s obviously not a concern for most, since Taco Bell seems to be flourishing and has recently released, then pulled back, an ad which said that “ bringing a vegetable tray to a party is “like punting on fourth and one.” It said that people secretly hate guests who bring vegetables to parties.”

According to abcnews.com:  

Taco Bell is pulling a TV ad after receiving complaints that it discouraged people from eating vegetables.  The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a health advocacy group, this weekend urged people to tweet their complaints about the ad and the chain quickly made the decision to pull it.  We didn’t want anyone to misinterpret the intent of the ad,” says Rob Poetsch, a Taco Bell spokesman.  The Center for Science in the Public Interest thanked Taco Bell for its speedy response.

Wonder what the Taco Bell spokesperson meant by not wanting anyone to misinterpret the intent of the ad.  What was the intent, then?  Did Taco Bell secretly hope that viewers would not by the featured 12-pack of tacos in favor of a tray of crudites?

There is room at any Superbowl party for some veg.  I  know, I’d be nuts if I expected all the die-hard football fans to ditch all their chips, dips and beer for raw kale, but there’s no reason not to have at least one clean and healthy option, too!

Is Sliced “Deli” Turkey Paleo?

Maybe, but probably not.

There are a few brands I’ve come across that are truly, clean.  For example, Heidi’s Hens is one brand I’ve seen at Whole Foods that is a ‘family -run, organic sustainable ranch’ producing sliced turkey with an ingredient label that reads : turkey.  

Brilliant!

Unfortunately, they’re the anomaly and more often than not, most ‘deli turkey’ will contain a wide range of mild to severely noxious additives, colors, fillers and products to increase shelf life.

Here’s an idea:  roast your own turkey, slice it, freeze what you won’t use over the course of a couple of days and, in the process, save money!  Packaged deli turkey, in my local market, ranges from about $6 – $ 7 for three 2-ounce servings (please note, this is what the company considers a serving, not what I’d suggest!  Two ounces of protein is rather tiny!), while a bone-in, skin-on turkey breast is roughly $4.99/ pound.  

You do the math!

An easy part of your hour in the kitchen (as described in Paleoista), it’s a no-brainer way to make Paleo more cost effective, and to ensure you’re not getting any fillers in the process!

 

Paleo Parents, Paleo Kids

“Paleo is OK for me as an adult, but I’m not sure that I’m comfortable restricting what my kids eat. If they don’t eat all the children specific foods on the market, won’t they potentially be eating a diet  lacking in many of the vital nutrition they need to grow properly?”

This question which was posed to me recently by a blog reader, made me think he must not really  understand the principles of Paleo.   Of course, there are plenty of skeptics but if someone believes in it enough to follow the Paleo diet for themselves, why wouldn’t they also want their kids to eat this way, too?

If the Paleo diet is followed properly, it’s by far the most natural way we can eat.  It’s balanced, fresh, local, organic when possible, natural and not remotely refined or processed in any way, shape or form.

More Paleo moms and dads are finding that their kids are not only thriving both physically and academically, they also tend to have less behavioral issues than their peers who regularly partake in those awful ‘kids’ snacks, cereals and whatever else one might find in a box with a cartoon character in the aisles of the local mega store.

If you want to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth, check out several of the Paleo parenting, baby and kids’ sites.

Bottom line- Paleo is great for all humans and since babies and kids are humans, too, why would their diet need to include inflammatory, acid-forming foods any more than ours?

 

Foods, Beverage Companies and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

You’ll never guess.  AND (the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, formerly known as the ADA or American Dietetic Association) has financial backing from the companies shown in the image above.

That’s right!  The very organization that we rely on for administering nutrition and health advice is endorsed by the likes of General Mills, Kellogg’s, the Dairy Board and Coca Cola, just to name a few.

Is there any wonder why we continue to be told that these things are great, healthy options?

What a disgrace.

Just today I had yet another conversation with a student who is nearly done with her degree in dietetics and has come to wonder about the ethics of what her internship will entail.

I, too, felt the same dilemma when I began a program to complete an advanced degree in nutrition and learned I’d have to counsel diabetic patients in the hospital and suggest that they follow the guidelines of the food pyramid that were in place at the time.

I simply couldn’t do it and withdrew.

The mere idea of giving advice which I feel is such a blatant lie was something I couldn’t ethically do.

Certainly, I do not intend for this piece to imply that there are not any RDs out there who are getting the Paleo word out; in fact I know of several who are doing an amazing job at that very task.  In addition, you’re never going to go wrong by having more education; the tricky task is to try and find a program that at least is somewhat open minded in their teaching.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the program could begin to change and anyone who wants to become a “licensed Paleo practitioner” (how lovely does that sound?!)?

For now, however, we need to become our own advocates and always look into where the advice is really coming from.

Think about some of the companies listed above that are funding AND.  Then, factor that in the next time you have a hearty bowl of flakes for breakfast, along with some fat free dairy, which will do a great job to spike your insulin levels.  Do this every day and you can help Kellogg’s and GM along with the dairy board with their profits.  Then, after a lifetime of doing this every day, and following the rest of the inane recommendations from AND, you can develop Type II Diabetes, and then you can help Novo Nordisk with their profits because then you’ll need some meds for the disease you created.

It’s a win win situation for the big monster companies, and a big loss for you, your family and all of us in terms of our health as an entire society which continues to get sicker and sicker.

Do your own research and think about what makes common sense to eat.  A bowl of flakes or some fruit and some farm fresh eggs?  A plate of pasta with cheese sauce from a box or a crisp salad with wild salmon.

Just.

Eat.

Food.

Check out a great article by Marion Nestle for more…