Nell Stephenson's Blog, page 87

Paleo Chocolate?

An occasional piece of raw, dark chocolate can be something to enjoy while keeping Paleo, but this doesn’t mean we should take license to pop into the grocery store and gobble down a poor quality, low cacao content, high sugar candy bar.

Cacao comes from the dried seeds of a South American evergreen tree and is used to make cocoa, chocolate and cocoa butter.

Raw Cacao offers several health benefits:

Rich source of iron, dietary fiber, calcium, zinc, potassium and antioxidants
Promotes the release of neurotransmitters, including serotonin, which helps to boost mood and relieve PMS symptoms
Stimulates the secretion of endorphins
Contains phenylethylamine, another mood booster
The antioxidant flavonoids promote cardiovascular health and help improve circulation, regular heartbeat and blood pressure.
Good source of manganese to help oxygenate the blood.
Rich source of magnesium, which helps in balancing brain chemistry
High sulfur, which builds strong nails and hair and clear skin

This is raw cacao, though.  Eating a Snickers bar for its health benefits is really pushing it.  

So how do we choose a good type that will fit within Paleo parameters?

Scan the ingredient label and make sure there are no hidden ingredients.  In particular, many chocolate companies use soy lecithin as an emulsifier which helps to create a smooth mouth feel.
Also make sure there is little to (ideally) no added sugar.  Personally, I prefer the 100% raw cacao with no sugar, but try not to go any less than 85% dark as you wean yourself into the type with no sweetness added at all.
In addition, look for fair trade and organic.  Unless  you happen to live in South America where getting local cacao is an option, you’re getting into an area where there is going to be a bit of an impact from the carbon footprint of transporting the goods.  Make sure you’re supporting a sustainable company that treats its employees and the environment properly, rather than one which robs the people of their wares and leaves destruction in its path without a care for anything other than profit.

Some good resources include:

Santa Barbara Chocolate Company’s 100% Chocolate Certified gluten free, no sugar added and made of Rainforest Alliance Certified Ingredients, UTZ Certified & Vegan Friendly Chocolate GMO FREE 
Fair Trade USA Lists companies and their products.  Fair Trade connects farmers to credit and teaches sustainable farming.  *Note that you will still need to read the ingredient panel of anything on the site to make sure it fits the Paleo guidelines.  For example, Ben & Jerry’s is listed as a company that practices fair trade…. but that hardly means that their ice cream fits into the no-dairy tenet of Paleo!
Sunspire 100% cacao unsweetened bar

This is certainly not an exhaustive list, and I invite anyone to post recommendations for others they may have found so that others can learn about them as well.

As much as I wish I could give the go ahead to the interesting flavor profiles offered by Vogue (contains soy lecithin) or the easy to find convenience of Green & Black’s (milk), it’s worth seeking out the top quality options that are as close to completely Paleo as possible.

How often is acceptable?

You do the math.  The idea is to keep it for the occasional treat; use it to have a decadent nibble with a glass of red wine at your anniversary or melted to make Paleoista truffles during the holidays…not to have as part of a high glycemic concoction you make with dates, honey, coconut flour and grass fed ghee (still don’t get how this last one is sneaking its way into the Paleosphere) and eat every day as a snack.

Just had to throw in a little reminder there!

 

Staying True to Paleo Does Not Equal Orthorexia

There have been a few occasions in which blog readers, twitter followers or the public at large have made comments from ‘people who are completely Paleo are too rigid‘ to ‘anyone who never eats grain, dairy or legumes must clearly suffer from orthorexia and it’s a real problem‘.

Just two days ago in the Seattle Times, there was an article entitled ‘When Healthy Eating Becomes An Obsession” followed by...Orthorexia, or the unhealthy obsession with eating healthy food, can lead to diets so strict that they interfere with everyday life and, ironically, deprive the orthorexic eater of essential nutrients.

Understood…and agreed, even, but we have to separate the scenario where someone has an actual eating disorder and someone does not, but has simply identified certain foods as making them feel ill and consequently avoiding those.   It’s unfair and inaccurate to group the two together.

The article gives an example of a woman who identifies herself as someone who fell into the orthorexia category.  

In her words, she “developed orthorexia nine years ago as a 21-year-old bodybuilder. She was restricting certain foods, counting calories obsessively, making sure she got a certain amount of protein. When she was under stress, she coped by tightening her control on food.”

The last part, to me, is the distinguishing factor.  She used control over food to deal with stress. Again, understood, and hats off to her for recognizing this behavior.

It continues along with “The downside is that when control cracks and a forbidden food is eaten, feelings of failure, guilt and self-hatred often follow. The woman tried to stop her food obsessions by trading bodybuilding for CrossFit, only to run into trouble when she entered a paleo diet challenge.  She stated that every time she ate something that wasn’t paleo, she would just beat myself up and finally said, ‘I just can’t do this any more’ and  sought treatment two years ago. While she still struggles, she says she’s generally better today.”

Beating yourself up because you have guilt or failure emotions from not eating Paleo foods and then pledging to never eat them again simply to feel in control of something is far different than purposefully and thoughtfully avoiding non Paleo foods because you’ve already found out the hard way that when you eat sugar/grains/beans/dairy you feel awful and as such, opt to not eat those foods.

Further, comparing True Paleo to an ‘ultra restrictive diet that leaves people with compromised nutrition’ is a concept so asinine it’s not even worth commenting on any further. 

 The woman featured in the piece, ends with saying, “It’s really a judgmental kind of elitist denial you’re in; you dismiss what everyone else says, thinking ‘What do they know … look at how they eat.’ ”

Again, another example of what one might think if they’re in the throes of an issue that goes far beyond what they’re actually eating.  Eating disorders are not simply about not eating food, or eating too much food.   There is a huge emotional component and, as we can see from the testimony of someone who actually had a disordered approach to what she ate, there are many feelings attached to it, and clearly, not just towards oneself.

If you are completely following the True Paleo approach to living, and you’re feeling great, please don’t let anyone make you think there is something wrong with you.

Even if there were something that needed addressing, would eating a piece of cake and some ice cream simply to prove that if you wanted to eat non Paleo foods, you could despite how sick you might feel really help?

I doubt it.

Doctors Prescribing Real Food- It’s About Time!

A great piece on NPR’s blog, The Salt, was a breath of fresh air.   “NYC Doctors Are Now Prescribing Fruits And Veggies” is the title of the article that reviews a “new program in New York City has doctors prescribing fruits and vegetables to obese or overweight patients.”

It continues along to describe how “The Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program  made its debut last Tuesday and aims to give at-risk families greater access to healthy foods. Under the program, obese or overweight patients can be prescribed Health Bucks redeemable for produce at local farmers markets.  Health Bucks are a part of the city’s GrowNYC initiative to make locally grown produce available to low-income New Yorkers. The vouchers are accepted at more than 140 New York City farmers markets.”

This is exactly the type of program we are in desperate need of; addressing both the severe lack of many doctors to address the root cause of many health issues (what patients are putting into their bodies…and I hesitate to call that stuff ‘food’) as well as the upside down system we have in place which makes it easy and cheap to get horrible junk food and difficult and expensive to procure fresh veggies, fruits and naturally raised meats for millions of people in our country living within limited means.

“The prescription program was started by Wholesome Wave, a nonprofit that connects low-income people with local, farm fresh foods. In 2011, the group piloted the program at sites in Massachusetts, Maine, California and Rhode Island. It has now expanded to seven states.“

Let’s work together to demand this program be implemented in all fifty of our states!   Doctors, nurses, hospital administrators who recognize the value of programs like this: please do your part, too, in making this an integral part of our healthcare system!

There is hope and we can make huge changes if we work together toward the common goal of achieving better health for everyone as our collective goal.

Action!

Shape Magazine, You’ve Got It All Wrong

This is really killing me.  I read, with great pains, an article on a recent post on Shape Magazine’s site.  

Entitled “10 Easy Paleo Diet Recipes“, there is a collection of recipes that are so far off the mark, it made me cringe.

Let’s start with the fact that they included some of the following ingredients that are not remotely Paleo:

Salt
Ghee
Cured olives
Canned tomato paste
Mozzarella cheese

While there are a couple of recipes that look Paleo, such as Steak with Mashed Cauliflower, the focus is clearly on taking standard American diet food by-products and replacing their ingredients with formerly-Paleo derivatives, still resulting in a high-glycemic, processed, refined ‘sweets and treats’ that are not what the Paleo Diet is all about, including:

Pumpkin Bread
Chocolate Sunflower Butter Cups
Hazlenut Caveman Brownies
Pumpkin Pecan Pancakes

I’ve said it before and I will continue to wax poetic about this.  Far too many people are going to read this article, think that these recipes and meant to be eaten every day, begin eating them often and not see any healthy improvements or weight loss.  They will not understand that Paleo means eating fresh, local veggies at every meal, with some wild protein and fat.   They will then, after not having the results they wanted, tell others that Paleo does not work.

This is a huge problem!

We have to be vocal about this and whenever we see the misrepresentation of Paleo, we’ve got to call people on it.  Writing a letter to the editor or sending an email to a blog which posts ‘paleo’ recipes that aren’t Paleo are just a couple of examples of how we can do this together.

This is not to be confused with the concept that we can all choose to eat however we want.   Many people tell me that they ‘feel fine when they eat dairy’ or ‘don’t have any stomach issues when they eat gluten’.   That’s fine.  I’m not interested in trying to coerce anyone into giving up foods they don’t want to.

The issue is simple that this does not mean that ‘non Paleo foods that do not seem to cause an immediate reaction to any particular individual are therefore suddenly Paleo”.

Please.  

If you eat fresh veggies, bison and blueberries, but you also put grass fed ghee on top or enjoy dipping your sashimi in soy sauce, it’s not Paleo.  Just isn’t.

Call it something else. 

 

Too Hot To Cook?

I grew up in New York in an 1887 Victorian Home.   Why is it necessary to mention the type of house my parents bought?   Because in 1887, there was no air conditioning and my Dad, being the traditionalist he is opted to leave the house as much true to its roots as possible.   Translation:  in the summertime, inside of the house would be baking hot.  Sure, we had fans but when it’s 90 degrees and humid, hot air blowing around is far from comfortable.

On those hazy summer days, the last thing anyone would want to do is to add more heat to the house by turning on the oven.  Sure,  you could fire up the grill and have a cook out but sometimes your body is just so hot you don’t even want to eat or drink anything that’s not cold.

If you’ve got leftovers in the fridge, they can make for an easy meal on the fly with zero prep, which also happens to be quite cold.

However, you can also make your meal with the theme being ‘no cook’, regardless of if you’re creating a breakfast, lunch, snack or dinner for yourself.

Some easy to make ideas include:

For breakfast, make a protein veggie smoothie.  Use water or chilled herbal tea as your liquid base, then throw in some kale leaves, some blueberries, two fresh raw eggs (if you have access to a safe source; or use pasteurized liquid egg whites) half an ripe avocado, and a dash each of turmeric, ginger and cinnamon.  Whiz in the blender with some ice and top with a dash of nutmeg.    Stick in a straw (and add an umbrella, too!) and enjoy on the go.
At lunch time, create a chilled soup.   Cucumber slices, avocado, some of that pastured chicken broth you make and keep on hand (because you do that by now, right?:), a little spinach and some dried kelp thrown in the food processor and then topped with some fresh dill, served with some wild salmon sashimi is a perfectly Paleo, balanced lunch that’ll be sure to keep you cool.
When dinner time rolls around, go for a cold salad with protein.   A bed of arugula, shredded radicchio and red onion with a nice portion of grass fed carpaccio or steak tartare and some extra virgin olive oil drizzled on top will hit the spot and leave you feeling satisfied and balanced but not overly stuffed.
Lettuce Wraps make a great snack in the morning or afternoon.   Wash and spin dry Bibb Lettuce and fill with layers of avocado, shredded swiss chard, thinly sliced peach and whatever protein you have leftover in the fridge.

Keep cool and Stay Paleo!

Cherries Are Here!

Yes, I get excited about seeing the arrival of certain fruits or veggies at particular times each year.  

I should qualify that and say ‘arrival of local varieties of certain fruits and veggies each year’ because the unfortunate truth is that I could actually get the fruit that’s the star of this post at any time during the year here in Los Angeles…it just would not be local, or organic or fresh, so why bother?

Cherries are an example of a fruit that falls within the category of ‘must buy organic’.  Given it’s delicate constitution and lack of an outer peel (as opposed to a banana, for example), it’s not something I’d personally feel comfortable eating in a conventional form.

According to the National Cherry Growers and Industries Foundation, fresh cherries are considered to be a significant source of anthocyanins, potent antioxidants, in the human diet.  In addition, they provide:

Potassium  -A diet high in potassium and calcium, and low in sodium and alcohol, is a reasonable and safe approach to promote blood pressure control.  (Go figure- that describes Paleo to a tee!)
Quercetin  -Acts as a free radical scavenger 
Protection from certain Cancers and  Cardiovascular disease 
Prevention of Diabetes- Sweet cherries have an estimated glycemic index of 22, making them a good choice for  part of a healthy, balanced Paleo meal or snack
Reduction or elimination of Inflammation -phytochemicals in cherries have been shown to inhibit enzymes responsible for inflammatory response

Enjoy them chopped on top of a salad made of arugula, grilled pastured chicken and avocado, or pureed into a marinade for game meats.

Or, just grab a handful and enjoy them in all their simplicity!

Rethinking, Not Replacing

Perhaps this is where it all starts; the idea that we simply need to replace commonly found food items in our meals with something similar to them, rather than rethinking the entire approach to eating.

Let’s take bread as an example.

For many, it’s a mainstay at all meals of the day; whole wheat toast with breakfast, focaccia with lunch, a mini bagel as part of a snack and a dinner roll before the last meal of the day.

What, in nature, that needs no processing, is like bread, and therefore something we can use as part of our Paleo lifestyle?

Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.

“Well, what about the “Paleo” Breads, Bagels, Wraps etc.?”

They’re not Paleo.

The gist of the Paleo diet is to create an alkaline, unrefined, anti inflammatory way of eating to help our bodies become healthy.  We do this by making every single meal feature lots of fresh veggies, some wild protein and some healthy fat and maybe some fresh fruit.

We do not do this by replacing the traditional, commonly found, ‘Standard American Foods” which make us sick, fat and tired with slightly less offensive versions of highly refined, used-to-be-Paleo ingredients (like coconut flour).

That approach completely defeats the purpose and is not the ideal way to approach Paleo living.

Instead, throw the entire model of  what a typical meal or snack may be (according to what we were taught was a healthy manner of eating) out the window and start from scratch.

For every single meal,  start with a plate of fresh, local vegetables, organic if possible.  Add some wild protein and some natural fat (avocado or extra virgin olive oil or unrefined coconut oil).

That’s the formula that reflects the True Paleo approach, which allows your body to become less inflamed, more alkaline, less likely to function on a roller coaster of insulin spikes and crashes throughout the day and to be healthier overall.

Yes, I write about this a lot and yes, I am aware I may come across as being dogmatic, but my intentions are clear:

I want to help people get healthy and change the way America eats.

Presenting anything other than what Paleo really is does nothing but create a huge disservice to many people who might benefit from eating in a truly Paleo manner but who are not actually able to try the real deal because the information has become too convoluted.

Oh, if only the use of the word “Paleo” had some sort of prerequisite qualification.

I’ve already trademarked the word “Paleoista”…hmm….

 

 

 

And Onto the Bandwagon Jumps Robeks

Robeks is now offering three smoothies that one might misconstrue as being a great Paleo option.    

To clarify, it is not Robeks that is calling their newest concoctions Paleo but the idea that we can pop into one of these popular juice franchises and have a smoothie in lieu of a meal made of arugula, wild salmon and avocado, as though the two were interchangeable, is missing the point.

Their almond milk and date smoothies, “all of which can be made dairy-free for 50¢” include, according to their site:

Strawberry Splendor, which features tender strawberries, nutty almond milk, non-fat frozen yogurt, and chewy dates
Bountiful Berry, with ripe blueberries
Pleasant Peach, with ripe peaches

Let’s break it down.

First of all, while this may be a step up from a milkshake (maybe), it’s still going to pack a whollop of a blood sugar spike and subsequent crash.  Dates and all dried fruit are extremely high in sugar and are to be eaten only in extreme moderation, if at all.
Next, almond milk, unless it is made in house of just almonds, is highly unlikely to be Paleo. Most commercially available brands have stabilizers added (guar gum, xanthan gum or carageenan gum- derived from beans, corn and seaweed, respectively, all very highly processed, full of anti nutrients and linked to causing bloating, gas, constipation and/or diarrhea), as well as added sugars and even other non Paleo ‘milks’ made from rice or soy.   Beyond that, all nuts are only meant to be eaten in moderation, as a garnish, due to their high Omega 6 content and low to null Omega 3 content.
Non fat frozen yogurt?   Not much to be said here, other than the glaringly obvious – dairy is not paleo.

On the flip side, Robeks does offer vegetable juices, which, if made from all veggies and consumed with some wild protein and natural fat, could potentially work as a Paleo meal,  but don’t make a habit out of it as juicing removes all the vital fiber we need from our veggies.

Final verdict?  Pass.  Play it safe and make your smoothies at home with your blender (even if you don’t have a Vitamix) by using the whole veggie(s) blended in with water or chilled herbal tea and either some avocado or coconut oil along with some protein- like an egg blended in, or some leftover sliced turkey on the side- and make your own, Truly Paleo smoothie.

You’ll know exactly what you’re getting, you’ll be able to create the proper macronutrient ratio to avoid an unhealthy blood sugar surge and you’ll save on cost!

 

Vegan is Not A Type of Paleo

Come on now.  How far are we going to take this?   While there are similarities between the two, as I pointed out in a recent post, both are plant based, however, the similarities stop there.

There is simply no such thing as a hybrid of the two approaches to eating.

A key component of True Paleo is wild animal proteins, which comprise at least thirty percent of the overall macro nutrient ratio, and are obviously not part of a vegan style of eating.    Vegans do not eat any meat.

On the flip side, a key component of a vegan approach is plant sourced proteins, many of which come from legumes and some grains, which are not part of the Paleo diet.    Anyone following the True Paleo approach does not eat any legumes or grains.

With all the growing hype around not-so-Paleo foods being presented as Paleo, which are often still high in sugar, refined, processed and inflammatory and thus, completely the antithesis of what real Paleo is, it is at least clear to see why many are trying to jump on the band wagon and sell products to people to make the transition less drastic- there is a market for it.   

If one reads The Paleo Diet and feels daunted by the idea of never having pancakes or bread or ice cream again and then learn about the misconception that they can actually eat Paleo versions of all of the above, they’re definitely going to be more inclined to try it.  

That does not make those foods Paleo and I strongly oppose including them as a regular part of a Paleo regime as it completely misses the boat; however, one can see that from the vendor’s standpoint, it would make sense to brand something as Paleo that is not really Paleo would be a potentially lucrative move.  

Look at the gigantic audience that would be catered to!  Think about how many are addicted to sugar and refined foods that would become immediate repeat customers if they thought their new versions of cakes, brownies and pancakes were actually good for them!

That’s their rationale, and I understand the motivation.

What I don’t understand is why anyone who is vegan would want to call themselves Paleo?  Or vice versa?

When I was vegan, there was nothing further than something I’d want to identify with than a meat eater.  So what gives?

I’d be quite curious to hear your feedback if this is something you’re into!

Paleo Living Included in Beauty Regime

Finally!

Friday’s Wall Street Journal featured an article on the “Texan Beauty Maven”, Sunday Riley, in which she lists her top beauty secrets.  

There, amongst the usual recommendations like using sunscreen, getting massage and exercising, was a mention of the Paleo diet being part of a beauty regime.

To some, that might sound vain, but I don’t feel that way.

My view is that this acknowledgement, that what we are putting in our bodies plays an integral role in how clear our skin is, how shiny our hair is, how strong our nails are and how our the whites of our eyes are actually white and clear, just to list a few of the outward signs of what is going on internally is instrumental in helping people bridge the disconnect between what goes in and what effects it has on the body.

I can’t even begin to count the number of people I’ve crossed paths with who’ve had countless prescriptions for acne, rosacea, eczema and all sorts of other skin conditions, some of which helped a little,  but not without serious side effects, yet barely any were asked by their doctors about what they were eating.

It is not normal to have acne, not for teens or people of any age.   It may appear that it is, because so many people have it, but that doesn’t mean it’s a healthy and mandatory part of puberty or pregnancy or stress, or any of the other periods in life where break outs seem more common.

It’s what we eat that creates the skin to erupt after skewing with our insulin levels, then causing a series of hormonal reactions, including an elevated level of male hormones which stimulate excess oil production.

From a beauty stand point, I enjoyed the entire article as I always find it fun to learn the latest make up techniques to make my eyes pop  greener or create the perfect smoky eye…but even if you’re someone who couldn’t care less about that component of a ‘beauty regime’ or has a more natural, sans-makeup approach, just letting it register that True Paleo living really does allow the body to become the picture of health is something we can all agree upon!