Nell Stephenson's Blog, page 41

What’s is Psyllium Seed Husk and Is It Paleo?

“Psyllium seed husks, also known as ispaghula, isabgol, or psyllium, are portions of the seeds of the plant Plantago ovata, (genus Plantago), a native of India and Pakistan. They are hygroscopic, which allows them to expand and become mucilaginous…” defines Wikipedia.

(Gotta love that last part…”become mucilaginous”; just what I want to hear when I think about cooking!)

Recently, a friend asked my opinion on using this food in baking (she’d found a recipe calling for it to be used as a thickener) and whether or not it was Paleo.

Mark Sisson does a great job analyzing it on his site when he explains:

“Psyllium fiber comes two different ways, with each having a different effect on your bowels and their movements. Psyllium husk, which is the popular type of pysllium fiber found in most supplements, comes from the exterior of the psyllium seed and is almost entirely insoluble fiber. Your gut bacteria can’t do much with it, let alone your “own” digestive system. 

Psyllium seed powder, however, is mostly soluble fiber. That means it’s a prebiotic, fermentable fiber that can feed and support your gut flora and spur the creation of beneficial short chain fatty acids like butyrate.”

My take on thickeners, as you may well know if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, is that we don’t need to thicken things with low quality foodstuff in the first place.

Want thicker soup?  Blend in some pureed cauliflower.  Want a thicker sauce for your roast pastured chicken?   Reduce the pan jus.

And if you’re trying your hand at the ‘special occasion Paleo baking a treat’ concept, surely there are better options than good old mucilaginous psyllium.

My position is such that if it’s going to be a treat for that special occasion, I’d rather have a real treat- like my Paleoista Truffles!  Pure, decadent, raw dark chocolate.  Paleo aside, who wants a dry floury cakey concoction anyway.

And if you’re relying on taking psyllium or any ‘fibre supplement’, you may not be properly following the Paleo approach.

Don’t forget, veggies have approximately 7 – 11 times the amount of fiber found in fortified grain products, and on a True Paleo Regime, you should  be eating veggies in copious amounts each time you eat.  (I write copious because even when I suggest ‘eat lots of veggies’ it still doesn’t register).

Need help? Save your dollars on fibre supplements and book a dietary analysis instead.

Odds are that you’ve got some really common eating patterns that most have when trying out the Paleo waters initially.  It’s an easy fix- so let’s get started!

 

 

Paleo Approved Indian : Tamarind

I absolutely love Indian food.

This type of cuisine, like most others, is very easy to enjoy, while keeping in line with healthy Paleo eating.

I must say, it always strikes me as funny when a friend or client comments that they didn’t know they’d be able to enjoy Indian cuisine…or any type of cuisine for that matter.

We in American tend to butcher so many different types of worldly foods and dishes, and all too often, we’re left with the impression that the American-ized version represents the authentic one, which is usually not the case.

Case in point:  Indian food is so versatile and varies so much by region.

It is, in fact, quite easy to order lean, clean Paleo options without even needed to make too many modifications.

In NYC for the weekend, last night we checked out Tamarind in Tribeca.

On last night’s menu to share was Tandoori Chicken, Baingan Bharta (eggplants. cumin, onion, garlic, ginger, coriander, garam masala & chilis), Bindhi Masala (okra, onion, tomato, ginger, coriander, chili, turmeric & garam masala) and Lamb Skewers.

All delicious, beautifully presented, balanced and an overall highly enjoyable experience.

Check them out next time you’re in town: http://tamarindrestaurantsnyc.com

Wondering what to order for an upcoming event at a specific type of regional dining venue?    What a perfect topic of conversation for a 30′ minute consult!

Are Homeopathic Remedies Paleo?

This was a question asked recently by blog reader based in Venezuela.

Her doctor had also asked her to take coenzyme Q10, but all the capsules she could find had soy lecithin or rice flour; she wanted to know where she could find it from nature?

Let’s address the CoQ10 first, as it’s a bit more straightforward.  Yes, it is found in food.  Good sources all happen to be Paleo, too!

Proteins including grass fed beef, pastured chicken and wild fish are some of the best sources of CoQ10.

A 3-ounce serving of beef has 2.6 milligrams, and the same serving size of chicken has 1.4 milligrams.
Fish high in CoQ10 include herring, with 2.3 milligrams per 3-ounce serving, and rainbow trout, which contains 0.9 milligrams per serving.

Fruits and vegetables also rich in CoQ10.

Sulfurous vegetables broccoli and cauliflower contain 0.4 to 0.5 milligrams of CoQ10 per half-cup serving.
A medium orange has 0.3 milligrams CoQ10, and one-half cup of strawberries offers 0.1 milligrams.

Foods are always the best source of all vitamins, minerals and enzymes; following a well balanced Paleo approach should ensure you’re getting adequate amounts of everything a person in good health needs.

As far as homeopathy, let’s begin with defining it.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine states that “Homeopathic remedies are derived from substances that come from plants, minerals, or animals, such as red onion, arnica (mountain herb), crushed whole bees, white arsenic, poison ivy, belladonna (deadly nightshade), and stinging nettle. Homeopathic remedies are often formulated as sugar pellets to be placed under the tongue; they may also be in other forms, such as ointments, gels, drops, creams, and tablets. Treatments are “individualized” or tailored to each person—it is not uncommon for different people with the same condition to receive different treatments.”

Note the references to substances being made from plants, minerals or animals.

Add to that the fact that the focus tends to be on a less is more approach, providing the support for the body to heal itself from the source of the problem versus a more Western approach focused on dealing with treating the symptom.

My take, being a proponent of both a ‘Food Is Medicine’ / preventative approach is that homeopathic treatments would indeed be far more conducive of supporting a True Paleo regime compared to a Western Medicine Model.

The fact that the FDA cites that many treatments have not been approved does not hold too much weight for me personally; after all, look at some of the things they have approved for comparison!

Do, however, make sure you do your research and find a practitioner who can assess your individual situation and prescribe appropriately, rather than self-diagnosisng yourself with ‘homeopathic’ remedies you find in the bath & body section at Whole Foods.

Natural doesn’t mean no risk!

 

A Little Olive Oil, Literally: Paleo Friendly Flight Food!

Finding a piece of fresh fruit at the airport (or anything fresh, for that matter) is hard enough…let alone trying to find some fresh greens in order to provide for a balanced, in flight Paleo meal.

Preparing veggies and protein  ahead of time at home and bringing them along with you on the plane works perfectly when you’re going to your destination, but what about coming back home?

If you can find the time to make it a point to stop at even the most mundane of grocery stores, you should be able to find some greens, such as a bag of pre washed spinach and perhaps a source of protein, even some salt-free, natural deli turkey for this in-a-pinch scenario.

But what about the fat?

Enter olive oil.

But how to go about not ending up with a soggy mess?

Get yourself some teeny tiny little bottles of olive oil (click here for an example of a set, on amazon) or be super creative and use a tiny cosmetic bottle, small enough to pass through TSA and ample enough to allow you the proper portion of fat for your balanced meal.

No need to feel the need to resort to hydrogenated pretzels when you can eat fresh!

I Had A Healthy Lunch So What’s With the Afternoon Fog?

This was a question posed to me recently by a friend.  She had worked out first thing in the morning, ate a healthy breakfast, a solid lunch and had kept properly hydrated.

So what gives?

I asked her for more information and and we sorted it out pretty quickly.   Her breakfast, poached eggs, sautéed spinach with avocado and berries sounded great, as did her morning snack of an apple and some raw walnuts.

But lunch?

That was the problem.

She thought she’d made a good choice by ordering what was called a ‘California Salad’, and asking for no croutons and lemon wedges instead of bleu cheese dressing.

Good start,  but what else did the salad contain?

Mixed greens, shredded carrot, avocado, a little bit of turkey, grapes, dried cranberries and mango.

How much turkey, I asked?    She reiterated: A little.

All Paleo foods, yes, but far too much sugar in the form of grapes, dried cranberries and mango, all of which are higher on the glycemic index chart than a better fruit option, like some fresh berries.

Also, it likely didn’t contain enough protein or fat.

It is very tricky indeed, but once you get the hang of it, it gets much easier!

Wondering what a healthy day of Paleo eating actually looks like?

Check out one of my download plans now!

Why Am I So Fat…the Film

What is that?

Per the film’s website:

“A light-hearted, super-informative, eye-opening, and challenging, but with a good heart and comedy, the project should play more like a feel-good version of Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me or a less aggressive version of a Michael Moore documentary. Since our goal is to ultimately explore the options that people have for health and fitness, the scope of our documentary is pretty wide.

In the way that Food, Inc. and Freakonomics both use their information to bring things to light that you may not have known about in the modern world, both for food production and on other topics, we are using the documentary to educate people about the different options out there, the choices they can make in the modern world to stay healthy, how to get the right results for their body, and how to make a lasting change. It’s inspiring, and educational in a way that will make sense to the viewer so they can walk out of the movie feeling good about themselves, about their potential to change, and more.”

A while back, I was contacted about doing an interview as part of this very documentary that was being created.

Intrigued, I agreed right away, and the interview was conducted in my home shortly thereafter.

Some time elapsed before I heard from the producer again, as he and the small crew were busy traveling and gathering information from a wide range of experts, professionals and contributors to their project.

To my happy surprise, Tony, the producer, attended a Paleo in LA Meet Up I’d organized back in June and updated me that things were going exceedingly well; even better than he’d hoped.

And it’s even bigger than that now… but your help is needed.

The film is taking longer than expected to complete, so a Kickstarter campaign has been created to to raise the remainder of the money they need for animation and post-production costs.

Link to their Kickstarter campaign

Movie Fan Page

Please consider helping out- every amount counts to help get this incredibly informative documentary out and help educate those who need it most, and to begin to approach positive change from a preventative manner (as in- eating real food rather than packaged, processed junk) which will result in a much healthier society.

 

Wellness ‘Shots’- Are They Worth It?

Ginger, Turmeric, Cayenne & Lemon, E3 and Garlic?  Certainly not a syrupy sweet smoothie, and that’s a good thing!

But do they do anything, and are they worth the $4 price tag for a mere ounce or two?

They very well may be.

Being a fan and long time supporter of relying on food as our medicine, I do practice what I preach and on the rare occasion that I feel a scratchy throat coming on, or have an inkling of a runny nose, you can bet the farm I’ll be eating raw garlic, pounding the homemade chicken broth and swallowing at least an oyster or two (zinc!) to squash any hope that an annoying little cold or flu bug may have of moving in.

However, whether or not you need the shots may be a different story.   If $4, or somewhere along those lines, feels like a lot, you can always make your own remedy at home.

Buying a piece of raw ginger root, some raw turmeric and garlic, a lemon and some pepper is definitely not going to break the bank.

Big picture- if it’s in the budget, it’s definitely something worth partaking in to hedge off the beginnings of what might otherwise turn into getting sick.

Rest up early, add water and veggies, reduce all forms of sugar, even fruit, so as not to feed the invaders, and make your body as alkaline as possible via True Paleo Living and if it fits, add a ‘shot’ of wellness.

Or just chomp some garlic.

Stomach Ache After Drinking Coconut Milk? It May Not Be The Coconut!

One of the most common questions clients ask me is, “What can I put in a cup of coffee if I’m no longer using milk and sugar?”.

To which I usually suggest…how about buying a better coffee that doesn’t need doctoring?

Sprinkling on some cinnamon works, as does adding fresh coconut, and a very few types of homemade nut-based milks, as most commercially sold options have lots of unfavorable additives, like sugars, soy or rice milk, and stabilizers.

I wasn’t too surprised when a client recently reached out with excitement to tell me she’d found coconut milk being offered at Starbucks, which she happily partook of.

And then ended up with a stomach ache.

She couldn’t figure it out, so we began to troubleshoot.  I’d asked her, even though I was pretty sure of what the answer would be, if she’d read the label on the coconut milk offered at the coffee shop.

I had a sneaking suspicion of what it might contain, but wanted to be sure.

She hadn’t checked, so the next time I popped in, I asked to see.

Sure enough, there it was.  The likely culprit, carrageenan gum, may seem benign enough; after all, it’s ‘made from seaweed’ so it should be safe, right?

Unfortunately, no.

For many, this stabilizer (often used for the same purposes as guar and xanthan gums, which come from beans and corn, respectively) can cause GI distress in the forms of bloating, gassiness, constipation and/or diarrhea.

How about some of that with your iced-latte?

Stick to black coffee or espresso when you’re in the coffee shop, unless you happen to be in an indie-type store that may actually have fresh, homemade nut milk without additives.

When at home, of course, you can be more creative; in a pinch you can even add some naturally dried shredded coconut, such as the Let’s Do Organic brand.

For those who are Paleo, but Primal, there’s always Dave Asprey’s Bullet Proof option – which uses grass-fed butter.

For me, admittedly being a coffee-snob, I’d suggest buying the best organic, fair-trade coffee you can find, upgrading to a better grinder and espresso machine and pouring yourself the most amazing ristretto with the perfect head of crema you could ever imagine.

Rest assured, however, if you’ve had a ‘coconut milk’ coffee drink recently at one of the franchise coffee shops and ended up with stomach distress, it was very likely not the coconut, but the stabilizing gum that was added.

Drink some water to help expedite the flushing out of the toxin from your body and you should feel normal again within a few hours.

 

Book Recommendation: The Paleo Diet for Athletes. It’s Time.

The Paleo Diet for Athletes, a book I read nearly a decade ago, was the most valuable sports nutrition book I’ve ever come across.

Back then, I was new to Paleo, but had been racing Ironman for about four years and was sick and tired of, well, being sick and tired.

With Kona behind us, many triathletes going into off season now have the opportunity to test the waters with a new type of eating regime.

The revised edition, which came out in 2012, is something you’ve simply got to check out if you’re an athlete, if you’re Paleo or if you simply want some ideas for how to tailor your eating regime around your exercise routine.

Click here to order your copy today!

And once you’ve read your new book, if you feel you need some help, you can book your consult today online, or, better yet, stop by the new studio in Los Angeles and do it in person!

 

Salt, Gels, Powders and Bars

Yikes.

Doesn’t really sound like much of a menu offering, does it?  More along the lines of what you’d find in the bath section of a beauty supply shop!

I fell victim to it, too.

For years.

Even as an endurance athlete who was completely Paleo with the exception of using manufactured sugars for long distance events like Ironman, I still fell prey to the marketing of the ‘sports nutrition’ companies who led me to believe I needed salt supplements, maltodextrin, and to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate as much as possible in advance to avoid dehydration, but also to keep on top of taking electrolytes to avoid the risk of hyponaturemia, a potentially lethal condition in which the amount of sodium in the blood is lower than normal.

Far too many athletes succumb to the media’s advice and during the course of a training day or race, put everything but the kitchen sink into their bodies, then wonder why they’ve ended up with horrible GI issues and a race that’s been completely sabotaged.

This is certainly not to say that if you’re in the same boat- an endurance athlete taking gels and salts, even if you’ve already stopped the bars (which, aside from not being Paleo, simply don’t make sense during high intensity efforts.  When the body is in fight or flight, as it is during a race, so much blood is diverted away from the gut toward the skeletal muscle instead, we simply cannot digest a solid object.) and the whey and the soy, that you should go out tomorrow and do a fasted session with nothing but water.

It takes time to adapt.

But it will happen.

Your body will respond and can become fat-adapted, you’ll become more efficient at utilizing fat as a substrate over carbohydrate and if you follow a True Paleo regime, which is high in Potassium and low in Sodium, you’ll help your body that much more.

Take it slow, give it time and you can change your regime to one much more in keeping with what the truest sense of the Paleo approach would be.

For me, taking the early part of 2014 off from racing, increasing my fasted training, changing my paleo macronutrient ratio to be such that I’m consuming well over 50% of my calories from fat and not using gels has proven an invaluable lesson.

I cannot wait to see what 2015 holds in terms of performance!

Read more for yourself:  both the revised Paleo Diet for Athletes, by Dr. Loren Cordain and Joe Friel, as well as Waterlogged, by Tim Noakes are invaluable resources for any athlete interested in learning the real deal.

Both illustrate how much we get from simply eating real, unadulterated food.  And moving.