Nell Stephenson's Blog, page 77

Canned Coconut Milk: Can This Be Paleo?

Possibly, but not usually.

With the exception of a very few brands, which are often hard to come by, most canned coconut milk contain the stabilizer, guar gum, which is derived from a bean and is a potent source of anti nutrients.  For some, it also causes GI distress.  According to wikipedia, “it has almost eight times the water-thickening potency of cornstarch – only a very small quantity is needed for producing sufficient viscosity. Thus, it can be used in various multiphase formulations: as an emulsifier because it helps to prevent oil droplets from coalescing, and/or as a stabilizer because it helps to prevent solid particles from settling.“

Here’s the thing:  if you use fresh coconut water and ‘meat’ (or flesh), you don’t need to ‘thicken’ anything; you can simply vary the consistency by how much coconut water you mix with its flesh or even add more water if you want something less thick.

Not in a tropical place where you can go out and pick your own coconuts?

Not to worry; there are alternatives to the canned stuff.  

Two options are to rehydrate natural shredded coconut with water (that’s natural- as in ‘not that stuff in the baking aisle which is coated in sugar and who knows what else!) or to buy condensed coconut milk.   Two brands I’ve come across for each are Bob’s Red Mill and Let’s Do Organic, respectively.

Just one more example of how important it is to read the fine print!

Paleo Magazine’s Reader’s Favorites Cookbook

When Paleo Magazine  reached out to me and asked me to contribute a recipe to their newest cookbook, Reader’s Favorites Cookbook, I was happy to be a part.

I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of what the other authors/bloggers/chefs might be providing for their recipes, nor was I sure if it would be completely Paleo, but I even if it weren’t, all the more reason to add a simple but relish recipe to demonstrate True Paleo.

I must say, though, that I was quite happy with the final product and one of the key factors is that the distinction is made on the cover, where no one can miss it, that the cookbook contains Paleo as well as Primal and Grain-Free Recipes.

Thank you, Paleo Magazine, for doing what I wish so many of  the other companies/blogs and cookbooks that are popping up out of the woodwork and calling themselves Paleo would do- distinguish what is Paleo, what is Primal and what is simply nothing more than a gluten-free treat which might rank slightly lower on the junk scale than a candy bar.

The book begins with an informative intro, followed by some of the magazine’s own recipes, and then a myriad of others, covering all the bases and approaches from Paleo, to kind-of Paleo to Primal and so on.  

 

Click here for more and be sure to check out p 154 for a certain Paleoista who makes an appearance with one of her signature breakfasts!

Slow Cooker Paleo Hot Cocoa Oatmeal…What?

Ok, this has gone way too far.

I’ve always spoken and written openly about my stance on faux-Paleo foods and recipes and how it troubles me to no end to see the growing number of products, books and blogs that are perpetuating “non-Paleo Paleo” and the subsequent disservice they do in terms of educating the masses about what Paleo really is.

I can, however, take a step back and acknowledge how one new to Paleo might view some of these items as being Paleo, even if by a long stretch; one can see how it might appear that a ‘cake’ made with almond flour, honey, dates and raw cacao would be a good part a daily Paleo regime if they understood that those foods might be (sort of Paleo), but perhaps missed the boat on the big picture of what True Paleo is all about (which is not ‘eating slightly less offensive (gluten-free) versions of treats found on the Standard American Diet, by the way).

Today, unfortunately, I came across a recipe tagged as Paleo that brings this whole scene to an entirely new level…and not in a good way.

On my google alert for the word ‘Paleo’, was a link to a blog with a recipe for ‘Slow Cooker Paleo Hot Cocoa Oatmeal’.

I did a double take; surely my eyes had tricked me, hadn’t they?   No, that’s really what it said.  OK, then, I assumed it would be a recipe for some sort of pretend oatmeal; something akin to the way I serve spaghetti squash in lieu of its gluten-laden counterpart.

Hesitantly, I clicked to the link and landed on a site which showed the following ingredients for the recipe:

1 c. steel-cut oats
4 c. water
1/2 c. coconut milk
1 T. cocoa powder
1 t. vanilla
1/4 t. salt
1 T. coconut palm sugar
2 T. raw honey
Nuts of choice, for garnish

Excuse me?  And this is Paleo…how?

So now anyone can just add the word Paleo to any recipe, product, blog or book and it’s OK?  

This is so out of hand and such a huge shame.  

Too many companies and individuals are overlooking what True Paleo is all about- a way to eat in a manner which emulates what our ancestors ate, and, as a result, achieve optimal health- and simply jumping on a trend that may, perhaps, be a way to sell product, regardless of whether said product actually has anything to do with the True Paleo Lifestyle.

Consequently, when someone tries this skewed, not-Paleo version of Paleo and doesn’t reap the benefits they’d experience if they were following True Paleo and then proceeds to tell everyone that ‘Paleo didn’t work’, those who might benefit tremendously don’t give it a try in the first place.

Can’t there be another word that everyone can band wagon on, that won’t cause such damage?

It’s getting to the point where I sometimes want to extricate myself from where this is going.

I won’t though; I feel far too strongly that the need to continue to educate about what Paleo really is all about is something I must do.

 

The New Paleo Diet Bar

This really is newsworthy- Dr. Cordain himself has endorsed the newest of the ‘bars’ claiming to be Paleo… but this one really is!

I’ve written before about products labeling themselves as such, despite containing ingredients like pea protein, whey and rice puffs!

Paleo Diet Foods has, according to their website, “combined the finest all-natural ingredients to strike the tastiest balance without compromising nutritional value.”

I’d have to agree.  

They reached out to me and offered a sample, which I was happy to try, and pleasantly satisfied with the taste, texture and portability factor.   It’s perfect for those in-a-pinch times when you find yourself in a situation far from your normal meal of fresh veggies, wild protein and healthy fat.

Definitely recommend!

For more, check out their site.

No need to risk eating unfavorable non-Paleo ingredients in a bar you picked up in a hurry at the gas station and longer!

 

Fat Burning Pills, Powders and Potions… Really?

“I lost ten pounds in one week simply by adding ‘Brand X’ to my daily regime!“, claimed a happy customer on the website of one of the (unfortunately) popular fat-burning supplement companies.

Not only does this statement reinforce a popular misconception, that we can easily get a quick fix for weight loss, it perpetuates what can prove to be a dangerous approach to it.

Years ago, when I was first getting into the gym scene, around the time I’ve written about when my workouts were all about the Stairmaster and Nautilus selectorized equipment, I gave supplements like this a try.  I wanted to be a bit more lean, and thought they’d be a good addition to my workouts and my super health low-fat, low-calorie diet that were both so typical of the early 90s.

The brand I tried was, indeed, quite effective. Effective, that is, in driving my heart rate through the roof and making me feel a bit dizzy and yes, suppressing my appetite.  I recall taking the pills one day, feeling ‘super energized’ in a very synthetic way, and then later, feeling the strong desire to go home and go to sleep at 2pm.

There was no way I was going to continue doing something like that indefinitely… or at all.

Look, here’s the bottom line.  We have to stop looking for quick fixes.  They’re not going to work.  If you’re fifty pounds over where you should be and you got that way over the last five years, how on Earth do you suppose it’s rational to expect to shed all that weight in a month?  Or two?

Patience.  Slow but steady is the way to go.  Don’t rely on chemicals that you’re hoping will ‘speed up your metabolism’.  Yes, they’ll speed up your heart rate, but an increased heart rate does not equal a faster metabolism.

The safe and effective approach is to change what you eat, train your body to become efficient at using fat as its fuel, rather than inundating it with sugar all day long and move.  Often.

True Paleo to the rescue!   No risks; all reward.

Get a move on!

New Month, New You?

May sound like an odd thing to suggest on the first of November, when we’re about to head into what is, for many, the single most difficult time of year to keep on track with regard to fitness and healthy goals, but why not take a new approach this year?

What if, by the time one month elapses and the main event of the holiday season is a mere three or four weeks out, you were actually five pounds closer to your goal weight, rather than five pounds further away, after adopting that all too familiar ‘Oh, the heck with it attitude’ even before we get to Thanksgiving?

We’ve all heard of this Paleo challenge or that one; some hosted by your local fitness center or maybe even an office competition.  How about implementing one yourself?  You’ll create more accountability and, as a result, be far more likely to stick to it!

If you think about it in a short time of only thirty days, it’s much less daunting than telling yourself you’ll never eat ice cream again, if you’re someone who finds this dairy treat irresistible or that you’ve enjoyed pizza for the last time, since you’re going Paleo.

Of course, I do recommend that, and my hope is that like with many clients with whom I’ve worked, you come to the conclusion yourself that when you eat those foods, you don’t feel that great, and as such, choose to not eat them any longer.

Simply approaching it in a smaller piece makes it more doable and appealing.

Make today your first day of implementing 100% True Paleo.  You’ll feel better, be closer to your healthy goal weight and set a great example for those around you.  What a great, early holiday gift!

The Gluten-Free Bandwagon

According to a recent article in Ad-Age, the gluten-free industry has amassed $4.2 billion in sales so far in 2013.

Sounds like a pretty good reason to jump on, doesn’t it?

Set aside the fact that roughly 3 million Americans who are diagnosed with Celiac might have, at one time, been the sole target audience; now, consumers are simply reading the label ‘gluten-free’ and buying those products simply because they think gluten-free equals healthy.

Some recognize that ‘maybe’ there is a connection between a variety of health issues and gluten, but the majority simply see the GF label and choose that over it’s gluten-rich competitors.

While it’s quite progressive, on one hand, top consider the fact that there is much more awareness, not only of needing to be gluten-free for Celiac, but also for gluten sensitivity (which is not always something we can measure quantitatively, by the way), it’s quite the double-edged sword when we see the huge number (which continues to grow) of gluten-free “foods” which essentially are nothing more than gluten-free junk.

Cookies, cakes, breads, pastas, sauces, dips, candies… all can be labeled gluten free and none have anything remotely redeeming about them from a health standpoint and many still contain noxious ingredients that serve nothing other than to facilitate your path toward sickness.

Living on a diet of packaged, processed foods, even if they are gluten free, is missing the boat in terms of what we are meant to be eating.  Where is the veg?  The protein?  The healthy, natural fat?

Towards the end of the same article, the classic argument that wheat is actually good for us, courtesy of The Wheat Foods Council:  “Research has shown that an overly restrictive diet (such as the one proposed in Wheat Belly), can be unhealthy, not sustainable long term and can put one at risk for not getting enough fiber.”  It continues to liken people following a gluten-free diet that do not have Celiac disease to people following a kidney-disease diet who do not have kidney-disease.

Huh?

Here it is:  gluten-free is great. It’s a step in the right direction.   Guess what?  All vegetables are gluten free.  All wild proteins are as well, and, yes, so are the natural fats we can get from olive oil, avocados and coconut oil.

Please don’t kid yourself that you’re making healthy choices if you’re eating gluten free waffles at breakfast, gluten- free melted cheese sandwiches at lunch and gluten-free pasta at dinner.

No different from having an ice-cream sundae purely for Calcium.

Call a spade a spade and skip ‘em!

Is It Necessary To Have Dairy In Your Recovery Drink? No Whey!

Dear Nell,

I have really been enjoying my Paleo Lifestyle, but there is one thing I’m stuck on; my training partner told me I have to use whey protein powder for my recovery drinks after our workouts.  We’re both amateur bodybuilders (keeping it natural) and I don’t want to risk doing anything that would compromise my strength and size gains.  Do I really have to go non Paleo and use whey?  - Dennis, Las Vegas

I was so glad this topic came up, because it comes up a lot.  Do we have to go non Paleo to recover from training?

Absolutely not.

Are there advantages to using whey compared to other protein powders, such as egg or beef?

One could argue that there are; if we compare the total amino acids in milk to egg, beef and whey (in units of mg AA/ g protein), the results are:

Milk 504, Egg 512, Beef 482, Whey 513

However, just looking at the total number of amino acids is only part of the picture; the other part, which I personally think is more important, is how do you feel when you consume any of the above proteins?

Let’s set aide the fact for a second that dairy is not Paleo (and neither is whey).  Even if it were, and you knew that when you eat dairy you have any reaction to it, such as bloating, gas, skin breakouts or sinus pain, just to name a few of the many possible side effects, would you really want to eat it?

Some argue that side effects are not an issue if one only eats or drinks casein, and whey tends to contain less casein, it would therefore be a viable option.

But- it’s still not Paleo.

Take away- go for an egg or beef protein powder to make a recovery shake.  

Even better, use a real, pastured egg; try to keep the powders to the ‘in a pinch scenarios’.

Check out PaleoPro’s powder, too.  It’s really Paleo! (Plus, they offer a  discount for anyone to visits their site from mine; just enter NELL15 when you check out!)

 

Starch At Every Meal? Not Necessary.

I’ve written a lot about how my mom is the one I must give a lot of credit to, for raising me with good food values and  a holistic approach to what I chose to put in my body… or not.

She was a true hippie, through and through, and our daily fare included homemade brown bread, sprouted grains and nuts, organic veggies and fruits, bean soups and dips, some fish and meats.  No preservatives, no sugar, nothing we couldn’t identify as a food.  Not Paleo, however far healthier an approach to what we ate compared to the food pyramid (which was in effect then) or what the Standard American Diet consists of.

And…starch at every meal.

Didn’t everyone eat that way?  Regardless of the source or quality, many people did, and still do, feel that eating starch at every meal is necessary, and that veggies are more of a garnish, perhaps for lunch or dinner, but certainly not the mainstay of meals like breakfasts and even less likely at snack time.

Just like the way we need to be open minded about other principles we adopt when we go Paleo, this is another of the same; we do not, in fact, need starch at every meal.   I’d even go so far as to say that most people do not need starch at most meals!

With the exception of when one is preparing for specific types of physical activity, there’s no need to be adding even the most Paleo friendly of the starchier plants, like yams, to our meals.

I am an endurance athlete and I don’t even add yams to most meals, aside from when I’ve got a big training day or race I’m fueling for.

One of the many faux-Paleo concepts I see is the concept that we should simply replace rice, pasta or bread with Paleo-ish versions of them in every meal and snack.  

What used to be a plate of fried chicken, mashed potatoes with butter and a small portion of green beans becomes grilled chicken with yams (although some who erroneously feel dairy is Paleo will still be piling on the butter), and some will still have the green  beans (um… they’re beans).  

Better?  

Yes, but not as good as no yams, no butter, no green beans and instead- a heaping bowl of arugula with onion, avocado, broccoli florets, fresh strawberries and olive oil under a grilled, pastured chicken thigh or breast!

Try it for a week and see if you don’t notice a difference in feeling satiated  (not stuffed), more balanced energy level, clearer thinking and even a pound or two of fat loss.

Rule of thumb:  just like we explained on Dr. Oz; each meal should have 2/3 of a plate full of fresh, local veggies, a palm sized amount of wild protein and a dollop of healthy fat.  

All meals.  Yes, even breakfasts.  And snacks.  

No tricks; simple, delicious and Truly Paleo!

Paleo in New York: Williamsburg

As much time as I’ve spent in NYC, I have to admit how unfamiliar with Williamsburg I am.

Aside from running through Brooklyn as part of the NYC Marathon course (during which time, I hardly had a chance to check out all the Paleo friendly places), I’d only been there once or twice…ever!

This time, we made a point to spend some time there and it was well worth it.

I’m obviously far from an expert on the area, so I welcome anyone who is to chime in and comment!   

One of the coolest things, I found, was the Williamsburg mean of artisanal craftsmanship.  From wineries, to chocolate shops, to cafes and farm to table restaurants focused on sustainable, local agriculture and meats, it truly brings home what I feel is really the way we’re meant to be living…and eating, which happens to be Paleo.

You’ve got your choice of BBQ joints, casual cafes and more upscale places to choose from, and the ones we popped into were so accommodating and didn’t think twice before giving the ok to swap out pasta for a side of veg, or assure us everything was grain and soy-free.

Be sure to make it a point to check out this fantastic place next time you’re in New York.  You’ll be glad to have tried something new!