Nell Stephenson's Blog, page 28

Eat Chocolate. Prevent Heart Disease.

But before you head to the low-bar ‘chocolates’ found at the check out area of nearly every store (even those not selling ‘food’..but that’s another story…), keep in mind that there’s a huge difference between those and the real deal:  raw, dark chocolate.

That’s the one that can help prevent against heart disease and cancer…and you’re not going to get that from eating a Snickers Bar.

Three studies of note which focused on this topic include:

Michelle Roberts, Cocoa nutrient for ‘lethal ills’ (BBC NEWS: 2007/03/11)
Mark J. Payne, W. Jeffrey Hurst, Kenneth B. Miller, Craig Rank, and David A. Stuart, Impact of Fermentation, Drying, Roasting, and Dutch Processing on Epicatechin and Catechin Content of Cacao Beans and Cocoa Ingredients (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2010 58 (19), 10518-10527)
Bayard V, Chamorro F, Motta J, Hollenberg NK. Does Flavanol Intake Influence Mortality from Nitric Oxide-Dependent Processes? Ischemic Heart Disease, Stroke, Diabetes Mellitus, and Cancer in Panama. (Int J Med Sci 2007; 4(1):53-58.)

Some important findings:

A flavonoid in chocolate, epicatechin, seems to lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes by relaxing blood vessels and improving blood flow.
Roasting and alkalizing lowers these excellent nutrients;  there is a noticeable loss of epicatechin when heated above 158 °F.  Why roast?   Consumer demand; raw chocolate tends to have a slightly bitter flavor which, unfortunately isn’t what most sweet-toothed shoppers are interested in.
An interesting study done by researchers from Harvard Medical School found that Kuna Indians living on the islands drink chocolate as a staple part of their daily diet and have lower rates of heart disease and cancer compared to other people living on the mainland in Panama who don’t drink nearly as much chocolate and have higher rates of these diseases.

Need a good recommendation?  One of my faves is the Xochipilli 100% bar.  Alternatively, I’ve found raw, 100% ‘baking’ chocolate in the aisle at Whole Foods- fair trade, nothing added… that’ll do!

Eat Fat. Protect Your Heart.

Yes, you read that correctly. Eating fat can help protect your heart and keep it going strong for the long haul.

But before you try to convince yourself that this is an all-inclusive, as in ‘all fat’, hold on just a sec.

We’re talking about good fat, of course.  The type you’ll get when you eat olive oil, avocados, wild salmon and the like…not so much the type you’d get if you were to partake in deep fried yam chips or grass-fed butter-laden Paleo-ish treats.

Even doctors of the Western Medicine persuasion agree that ‘good fats’ are ‘cardioprotective’.

When followed properly, the fats eaten in a True Paleo regime are half monounsatured and one-quarter each saturated and polyunsaturated.

And as discussed in last weeks posts on nuts, the oh-so-important ratio of Omega 3:6 is critical in keeping this  balance intact.   Omega 3s help thin the blood, prevent fatal heartbeat irregularities and help to lower blood triglycerides (The Paleo Diet, Revised Edition, by Dr. Loren Cordain, PhD, 2011 p 31)

No need to weigh out how many grams of avocado slices you’ll eat, nor use the tablespoons to measure your cold pressed extra virgin olive oil (with the exception when one is new to this eating approach, only insofar as it’s a good way to get familiar with what portions look like with regard to the other macros).

Rather, just focus on getting your good fats from a variety of sources and create a balance in that manner.

Eat avocado every day. And olive oil. And eat wild salmon often.

On the flip side, eat raw nuts less often.

Approaching the regime in this manner can create a feeling of less ‘restriction’ and more variety with endless options, which is key if you’re planning on doing this indefinitely.

Bring on the guacamole! (And crudites, of course, rather than crappy corn chips!)

Eating the foods found in the naturally anti-inflammatory Paleo approach

Eat Meat. Grass Fed Meat. It’s Good for You. It’s Good for Your Heart.

A few months ago when I was giving a lecture on healthy eating (or as it’s otherwise known, Paleo eating), an elderly, very fit gentleman in the audience who’d seemed very intrigued by the topic, approached me after the Q&A.

He appeared to have a bit of a smirk on his face so I was curious as to what he’d be asking me about.

It turned out he wanted to clarify he’d heard something I’d said correctly.  “Did you say that eating a steak is actually good for me?”, he asked.   I replied that yes, eating grass fed beef is an exceptionally healthy protein choice, with the words “100 % grass-fed” being the key to remember.

He nearly jumped up and down with glee as he explained he and his wife (also lovely and fit at age 72, it turned out) had avoided all red meat for years, with the occasional one or two ‘splurges’ each year as per the advice they’d received from their family physician.

Both worked out five days per week, slept very well, had excellent cholesterol levels, normal blood pressure and other than the occasional ache or pain (more often than not from overdoing one of the long hikes they took regularly), they were in absolutely perfect health.

Yet they were warned to stay away from ‘red meat’ as it would likely put them at risk for heart disease and a whole host of other illnesses.

Please.

First of all, categorizing all meat under one heading, both grass fed along with good old corn fed is no different than classifying wild salmon and bacon under the same list of good protein sources.

Second of all, grass fed meat is not something to be eaten rarely, it’s something to be eaten in a balanced type frequency just as you’d balance out all other protein sources as well as produce.

Finally, grass fed meat is actually an excellent food to choose for heart health.

Have a look at these health benefits compiled on the website I highly recommend, EatWild.Com:

Eating moderate amounts of grass-fed meat for only 4 weeks will give you healthier levels of essential fats, according to a 2011 study in the British Journal of Nutrition, 2011 (Red meat from animals offered a grass diet increases plasma and platelet N-3 PUFA in healthy consumers. Volume 105, pages 80-89.)

Healthy volunteers who ate grass-fed meat increased their blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids and decreased their level of pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids. These changes are linked with a lower risk of a host of disorders, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, depression, and inflammatory disease.
Volunteers who consumed conventional, grain-fed meat ended up with lower levels of omega-3s and higher levels of omega-6s than they had at the beginning of the study, suggesting that eating conventional meat had been detrimental to their health.

Grass-fed beef is better for human health than grain-fed beef in ten different ways, according to the most comprehensive analysis to date. The 2009 study was a joint effort between the USDA and researchers at Clemson University in South Carolina (S.K. Duckett et al, Journal of Animal Science, (published online) June 2009, “Effects of winter stocker growth rate and finishing system on: III. Tissue proximate, fatty acid, vitamin and cholesterol content.”).

Compared with grain-fed beef, grass-fed beef was:

Lower in total fat
Higher in beta-carotene
Higher in vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)
Higher in the B-vitamins thiamin and riboflavin
Higher in the minerals calcium, magnesium, and potassium
Higher in total omega-3s
A healthier ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids (1.65 vs 4.84)
Higher in CLA (cis-9 trans-11), a potential cancer fighter
Higher in vaccenic acid (which can be transformed into CLA)
Lower in the saturated fats linked with heart disease

You choose your favorite cut- sometimes go lean, with filet- easily prepared with a brief sear, and other times, opt for fatty; my favorites include Rib Eye or even brisket, which makes an incredibly decadent Paleo Ropa Vieja.

Add some local, in season veggies and you’ve got yourself a meal that’s delicious and doing your heart a world of good.

 

Garlic- The Ultimate Panacea

Aside from providing an outstandingly distinct flavor to any veggie or protein dish, garlic can heal.

It’s so potent you can actually feel its effect as you chew and eat it, assuming you’re eating it raw…which you certainly should be, at least sometimes!

Rich in the compound Allicin, a pungent oily liquid with antibacterial properties, garlic helps to reduce cholesterol and blood pressure and improve blood flow.

While both fresh and processed garlic help with promoting healthy blood flow in the heart, research suggests that fresh, crushed garlic is more effective.

It never ceases to amaze me when I suggest to a client that they might eat some raw garlic to help ward off a cold, to help in their hypertension protocol or simply to eat as part of an overall healthy daily regime and their response is something focused on not wanting garlic breath, so they’d prefer to pop into the drug store…for drugs.

I’m certainly not pretending that any of us want an unpleasant odor emanating from our pores, but if it’s a choice between a healthy, real food with incredible health benefits that support our body versus a tablet made of who knows what that does just the opposite by suppressing our immune system’s response, I’ll go with the former.

Saute your veggies in it, throw some in your soup or add some to your green smoothie.

Put in your meals, including breakfast and snacks, wherever it’ll fit, just be sure to take this one to heart!

Or, whip up a Paleoista version of Bagna Cauda using a surprising stand in for the traditional butter (and it’s not coconut oil!).

An Apple A Day

That old wive’s tale is true; insomuch as an apple a day can at least help to support heart health.

Apples were associated with a lower risk of death from both coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease in the Iowa Women’s Health Study, which has been tracking 34,000-plus women for nearly 20 years and found that frequent apple eaters had the lowest risk of suffering strokes compared with non apple eaters.

Researchers suggest that the strong antioxidant flavonoid compounds found in apples including quercetin, play a key role by preventing “bad” LDL cholesterol from oxidizing and triggering a series of events that result in the buildup of plaque in arteries, as well as inhibiting inflammation.

Apples are also rich in pectin, a form of soluble fiber known to help lower cholesterol, and they provide a decent amount of vitamin C.

Finally, with the abundance of apples nearly everywhere you look, they’re quite likely one of the easiest foods to grab and go; simply pair with a handful of raw walnuts and you’ve got yourself a healthy snack to tide yourself over to the next dose of kale and salmon.

Paleo for Your Mind, Body…and Heart!

February is National Heart Month in America, so what better way to focus in on yet another benefit of healthy, Paleo living than to choose some of the healthiest foods for our tickers?

Let’s begin with a segue from last week’s posts on nuts and seeds and how the fat we obtain from them is less than ideal, one of the healthiest fats we can consume is that which we get when we enjoy a piece of wild salmon.

Wild Salmon is a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids which benefit the heart of healthy people, and those at high risk of, or who already have  cardiovascular disease.
Omega-3 fatty acids decrease risk of arrhythmias (abnormal heartbeats), which can lead to sudden death. Omega-3 fatty acids also decrease triglyceride levels, slow growth rate of atherosclerotic plaque, and lower blood pressure (slightly).

The American Heart Association recommends eating fatty fish at least two times (two 3.5 ounce servings) a week.   “At least” being the key phrase; in other words, it’s the bare minimum.

Eating it that sparingly would be akin to having a single spear of broccoli or two leaves of kale, and we all know my position on that!  (Greens are not just for garnish, my friends!).

Please make sure you go for wild salmon rather than farmed, not just for the related health issues but also for the environmental impact.

Be flexible; if you were planning a dinner featured wild salmon and only farmed is available, perhaps you might swap for another fantastic source of Omega 3s: Wild Black Cod!

 

Wrapping it Up in (Nut) Flour

Image being able to eat a decadent brownie, whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies or bake a cake for your anniversary all while following The Paleo Diet!

Wait…hold on a sec.

How is this possible?

Actually, it’s not.

At least not as something that humans should be eating regularly.

Unfortunately, far too many who are keen to benefit from all that a real Paleo approach has to offer are misled down a path of something other than Paleo…towards a Pseudo Paleo regime.

This would consist of simply working backward from the Standard American Diet and replacing ingredients or foods for something similar but perhaps gluten-free or without corn syrup which might render a final product that’s close in taste, texture and appearance to the original, but completely missing the boat on the whole point of implementing a Paleo approach.

The idea of Paleo is to mimic the food groups our ancestors had with modern day foods we can easily find in our farmer’s markets, grocery stores and our own backyards.

And what about ‘treats’?

For a special occasion, sure, go ahead and bake that almond-flour, dairy-free torte or prepare a batch of gluten-free, honey sweetened gingerbread cookies.  It’s good to have the option to do so now and then to create balance, such as for a child’s birthday party.

Just tread lightly, though, if you’re looking for that ‘crunchy’ snack to replace the wheat thins you were eating, or something to ‘thicken’ that stew you’re making.

You can easily prepare oven baked, herbed root vegetables to create crunch and implement a reduction of cooking to render a less watery end product of something you’re cooking.

Nut flours, even more so than their origins in raw nuts, tend to be inflammatory, low ranking in terms of nutrient density and overall, not something anyone needs to be consuming with any regularity.

Need a treat?

Get your Paleo groove on in the truest sense of the word and treat yourself to how amazing you’ve begun to feel!

Bye, bye, inflammation!

What About Nut and Seed Oils?

With all this talk about nuts and seeds, where do nut or seed based oils fit into the picture?

Can we douse our salads in walnut oil?  Or slather sesame-oil based tahini all over our veggies?

Not exactly.

The top two nut and seed based oils, respectively, are walnut and flax.

Use them sparingly and purchase them from organic sources and in small quantity, to prevent spending too much on something you won’t use in time, before it goes bad.
Consume them in their raw state, rather than trying to cook with them, in order to ensure maximal nutritional benefit.
Finally, don’t be afraid to be creative in the kitchen and swap out more healthful sources of fat in recipes that might call for unfavorable oils, like corn, ‘vegetable’ or even…Crisco!  Honestly, you’re better off using lard from pastured pork versus the last option, which is hardly even a food.

Don’t forget to eat some wild salmon or black cod during the day when you do consume more Omega 6s than ideal from the nut or seed oils, to make sure to achieve that ideal 3:6 ratio.

 

Oh, My Macadamia! Another High Ranking Member of the Nut Family!

Quite possibly one of the best tasting nuts (right up there with pecans), Macadamias have a better Omega 3 : 6 ratio compared to many others.

In fact, they rank just below walnuts in terms of best nuts.

And every single time I’m in Kona to race, I promise myself I’m going to check out the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut visitor’s center, but somehow I tend to get preoccupied with the big show…

Anyway, check out Dr. Cordain’s Revised Paleo Diet Book for the complete table of where your favorite nut ranks, and you may be quite surprised, but he sums it up in one sentence: “All nuts and seeds, except walnuts and possibly macadamias  have unacceptably high Omega 6 : 3 ratios”.

To reiterate, this does not mean you should never eat pecans, cashews or almonds; rather, do so in moderation and when you do, make sure that you’re also getting a whollop of a rich source of Omega 3s during that day, such as from a piece of wild salmon or black cod.

Macadamias:

Are a good source of dietary fiber
Are rich source of mono-unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) which help lower total as well as LDL (bad) cholesterol and increase HDL (good) cholesterol levels in the blood.
Are an excellent source of minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese selenium and zinc.
Are also rich in many important B-complex vitamins that are vital for metabolic functions.
Contain small amounts of vitamin-A, and vitamin E, which serve to protect cell membranes and DNA damage from harmful oxygen-free radicals.

Throw some in your smoothie, enjoy a handful with some berries, or whiz them into any concoction where you’d typically have used cashews, such as to make a homemade nut butter.

Need more ideas?  Check out my Hawaiian ‘Ranch’ recipe in Pocket Paleo Snacks!

My Absolute Favorite Nut: The Pecan

What do you think of, when you think pecans?

Pecan pie at Thanksgiving?

Butter-laden pecan brittle  atop an ice-cream sundae?

How about…just pecans?

In my opinion, they’re quite buttery on their own, without even any sort of preparation or ‘seasoning’.

Pecans contain the highest levels of antioxidants in all nuts, including vitamin E, which may help to stop oxidation of blood lipids, preventing coronary heart disease.
They’re also indicated in helping to lower your risk of cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
Finally, these  nuts also contain more than 19 vitamins and minerals, including calcium, vitamin A, folic acid and magnesium.

As with all nuts, they’re best eaten raw, or better yet, sprouted, but if you’re really missing that ‘buttery’ taste (by the way, why is it that it seems to be more difficult to procure these nuts than any other, aside from the type that are coated in sugar or ‘glazed’?), try this simple prep:

Combine raw pecans with a dollop of coconut oil and roast on a baking tray at 375 for about 15 minutes, stirring once or twice.   Remove from heat, let cool and enjoy!   Caveat: only make a small amount at a time as they’re rather decadent!

One brand I really like is Essential Living ; they offer a  raw, organic pecan from Peru!

Enjoy a handful winter, spring or summer; they’re not only for Thanksgiving!