Your Paleo Practitioner

07/26/2017

07/23/2017

02/14/2016

Sunday, 2/14/2016
Post #12
This is the twelfth of 12 postings over the last several weeks to promote a healthy diet through the holiday season. I want to thank everyone who “liked” me. I’ve enjoyed this so and I’m sad to see it end. As you may know, I’ve written a book about Paleo & Preventing Diabetes. I believe I may have found a publisher. The stronger following I have on social media, the easier it will be. Most of my postings are excerpts out of my book. So again, thank you for all your support! Please read on:
#12: Develop a Sense of Peace in Your Life
Whether you call it spirituality or not, all humans need to understand our place within nature. Create a life of inner peace through relationships and know your body/mind connection. Participate in activities which promote mindfulness like yoga, swimming or taking long walks alone. Maintain strong friendships and social ties. Practice mindfulness and allow your brain to focus on the moment and enjoy only the moment.
One of the things becoming Paleo has led me to is a deeper connection to nature. I’ve always been an outdoor person. But when you understand the human connection to our place on this planet, it’s hard not to be truly thankful for our lives as superior beings and all the privilege that confers.
Throughout human history, hunting and killing animals was a big deal. It was not a simple activity, but rather one thwart with danger and ritual. Many ancient cultures were known to ask the “Gods” for help in their efforts to have a successful hunt. In Native American cultures, the Shaman, or spiritual leader, would be called on to “bless” the hunt, which they believed would help lead to success.
As spiritual beings, humans have historically given thanks for the spirit of the hunted animals for the sacrifice of its life so the life of others may continue. Much of this is lost in modern cultures, where we buy meats in shiny plastic packages or in buckets served with mashed potatoes. In order to maintain our humanism, we must remember a basic thankful attitude for the animals who die so we may live. That is why I am so adamant about only consuming humanely treated animals.
Also remember to keep strong social ties with your families, friends and communities. It is well documented that those with the strongest social networks live longer and with less stress than the isolated. So grab a friend and walk among nature whenever you can. Treadmills are great, but get outside. Touch some dirt. Breathe fresh air. Swim in the ocean. Feel some sunshine on your skin. Listen to some bird song. Watch the northern lights … in person. Smell a wild animal. Enjoy this planet. Time is limited. (look, now you made me cry). Just get outside!

02/08/2016

Sunday, 2/7/2016
Post #11
This is the eleventh of 12 postings over the next several weeks to promote a healthy diet through the holiday season. Please read on:
#11: Avoid the Diseases of Western Civilization
Diseases of Western Civilization are basically non-communicable diseases (non-infectious) that are chronic in nature and almost completely preventable. Many people believe their diabetes or heart disease is in their genetics. That is NOT true. You may have inherited a tendency to get diabetes or heart disease as you age, but that’s it. Just a tendency. A person gets these diseases due to lifestyle choices. The western diet is one of the most prevalent causes of chronic disease.
One of the most blatant examples to support the idea that the modern, western diet is responsible for chronic diseases was during a study of Native Americans in 2010. Two tribes of the Pima Indians with identical genetics were compared. Those from Mexico had significantly lower incidence of type 2 diabetes due to eating an ancestral, Paleo style diet. However those born in the U.S. had rates of type 2 diabetes as high as over 50% on the American diet.
Prior to the 1900’s, diseases like heart attack, high blood pressure, arrhythmias, heart failure, diabetes and cancer were not seen in the general population as they are today. Although medicine was in its infancy, there are few documented records of symptoms like chest pain, followed by death. In fact, when EKG machines were first invented, a group of Harvard medical doctors couldn’t understand how it could possibly be used to help people! However, since the 1940’s, that has changed significantly.
According to the AHA, having type 2 diabetes today is considered to be a “cardiac equivalent”. That means a person with diabetes is considered to be like someone who already has had a heart attack. And women with diabetes are at a higher risk for a heart attack, even in women younger than 45 years old! In fact, many people find out they have diabetes when they go to the emergency room with chest pains (and first heart attack).
Changing behavior is never easy. Especially when our behaviors are so engrained. They are rooted in our childhood and supported by the media. But a meta-analysis of 74 medical trials of lifestyle to reduce cardiovascular risk was conducted in 2010 and published by the AHA in their “Scientific Statement”. They concluded that “behavior change strategies to promote weight loss as needed along with dietary and physical activity changes can maximize reduction in cardiovascular risk”.
And if you think you’ll just take a pill, think again. I have been in the medical field for over 20 years now. I find the sickest people are the ones who regularly see their doctor and they take the most medications. Taking a pill attempts to alter the way the human body works to compensate for poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, stress and lack of sleep. And one pill will surely lead to taking another pill, to address the side effects of the first pill. It goes on and on. Then you get heart failure. Go Paleo!!

01/31/2016

Sunday, 1/31/2016
Post #10
This is the tenth of 12 postings over the next several weeks to promote a healthy diet through the holiday season. Please read on:
#10: Move More!
This is the best part of being Paleo! A sedentary lifestyle in conjunction with the western diet is deadly. Each decade we age, our level of physical activity becomes exponentially more important. You may feel it is natural to become more sedentary as we age, but it is quite the opposite for those who understand Paleo! Even the ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates wrote “all parts of the body should be exercised and maintained to work well, be healthy and age slowly”.
I tell my patients, “the more you move, the more you CAN move. The less you move, the less you CAN move”. Our human genome has not been able to adapt to the abruptly sedentary lifestyles of our current culture associated with modernization. Cars, telephones, televisions and now computers. It may have made our lives easier (really?), but I believe it will cut many shorter.
Human DNA developed in a world very different to what we live in today. Reading the anthropological studies done over the last 100 years or so looked at natural, indigenous human cultures on the planet. It was found that they did not kill themselves with constant hunting & foraging. In fact, most members had plenty of leisure time. But their leisure was spent dancing and climbing and running and playing.
Daily exercise is known to lower inflammatory markers found in the blood like C-reactive protein. It will also decrease your LDL cholesterol and increase your HDL cholesterol. It will increase blood flow throughout your whole body, building new blood vessels. This allows more fresh oxygen and other nutrients to every part of your body.
There are three types of exercise that the human body needs to maintain perfection. A couple of times a week, participate in a long, slow, mild heart rate increase aerobic exercise like walking, swimming or leisurely cycling. A couple of times a week, do some sprint work where you increase your heart rate into the “cardiac zone” of a high level for short sprints. And, on occasion, lift something heavy. That can be your own body! Pushups, pullups, heavy furniture or gym equipment. Perhaps … your wife!
For the last several years, I’ve been doing High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). I use my treadmill and I vary the speed or incline for about a minute to increase the intensity of my walk. I do about 4-6 intervals and my whole session lasts about 30-40 minutes. The rest of the time, I simply walk and enjoy the workout.
So find something you love. Maybe its swimming (yes, me too!). Or maybe its yoga, or dancing or cycling or weight training or walking on the beach. But please don’t stop looking until you find it. Gotta go to yoga class now!

01/24/2016

Sunday, 1/24/2016
Post #9
This is the ninth of 12 postings over the next several weeks to promote a healthy diet through the holiday season. Please read on:
#9: Be Careful of Alcohol Consumption
Surprisingly this is not a post of “what not to” but of “how to enjoy”. Unfortunately, most alcohol is NOT considered Paleo because most alcohol is grain based. Even Vodka is almost always grain based (it used to be potato based, but that’s still not Paleo). Avoid all sweet mixers as these contain enormous calories. Fermented fruit is the only form of Paleo alcohol.
Humans are not the only animals on Earth to discover fermented fruit. Many other species have enjoyed a nice piece of fermented fruit at the base of a tree in the hot summer sun. Therefore, enjoy your red wine loaded with antioxidants and resveratrol compounds. White wine is really not a Paleo favorite, however fermented fruit in all its glory, technically is Paleo. That includes brandy and champagne.
According to the AHA, alcohol can be consumed in moderation. This means 1 drink for a woman and 2 drinks for a man per day. A drink is equal to one 12 oz beer, one 5 oz wine or 1 ½ serving of distilled liquor. Initially, alcohol acts like a fat, postponing the inevitable blood glucose surge which occurs many hours after consuming, but then it’s payback time.
The rule of thumb for alcohol consumption is that all alcohol, if consumed in sufficient quantity at one time (more than 1 drink) has the ability to initially lower blood glucose regardless of whether you have diabetes or not. So don’t be surprised if you are famished after you drink an alcoholic beverage in the restaurant bar as you wait for your table.
If you do imbibe more than 1 drink at a time, you are at risk for the physiologic effect of the alcohol temporarily suspending the liver from producing glucose. Since alcohol is always perceived as a poisonous toxin by the liver, it halts all other activities pertaining to digestion and glucose production in order to focus on detoxifying the alcohol consumed. This can take hours and the body doesn’t like food to sit in the stomach with no place to go for too long. Now you know why you puked your guts out after a night of over indulging!
And that “hangover” you got the next morning? That’s the result of the hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) that results 8-10 hours later along with massive dehydration. That’s when all the liver detoxifying has been done and now the blood stream is flooded with all that sugar!
Besides the dangers of intoxication, be careful of the addictive nature of alcohol. It is known to stimulate the brain reward system in much the same way as sugar, salt and fat. This is the reason that many who overconsume alcohol also overeat. Know your body and manage your health. Cheers!

01/18/2016

Sunday, 1/17/2016
Post #8
This is the eighth of 12 postings over the next several weeks to promote a healthy diet through the holiday season. Please read on:
#8: Consume Healthy Protein
Regardless of where your ancestors come from on this planet, we all hail from hunter-gatherers. I truly understand the social and ethical motivations for a “plant-based” diet. Unfortunately for my tree-huggers out there: there has never been a long term, successful, vegetarian human culture for more than a couple of generations. The truth is that humans never would have broken off from the apes 2.5 million years ago if we did not start hunting. The enormous resources needed to grow our great brains never would have been achieved on a strictly plant protein diet. That is just a fact of nature.
Predators (meat eaters) are the ones with the brains that use strategy and organized hunting in packs. Prey (plant eaters) are the reactionary, instinct driven ones who must graze all day long just to have the energy to survive.
One of the things we HAVE forgotten to do as humans is to “thank” nature for allowing us to kill to eat. This was a very important part of most ancient cultures, so historically speaking, the essence of our spirituality should be to acknowledge the sacrifice of a life for a life. Therefore, I believe we must respect the animals that die for us to live. As Paleo, we should avoid animal products obtained from corporate-owned confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and seek out ethically raised animals. Sustainable farming uses small pasture operations, usually family owned farms. This provides pasture time, grass-fed and ethically raised animal products. This should be the source of Paleo food.
Animal products have the most highly digestible protein for human needs. Far more than from vegetable sources. Only animal products contain cholesterol, but if you know anything about me and Paleo, you know serum cholesterol has LITTLE to do with coronary heart disease. Animal protein is an important source of iron, selenium, zinc, iodine, niacin, vitamin B-12, vitamin A and folic acid. Vitamins B-12 is only found in animal products and vitamin A is not well absorbed from vegetarian sources. Millions of people in third world countries have severe deficiencies in these two vitamins due to a lack of animal products in their diets.
Vegetable protein is fine, like nuts & seeds. Legumes, beans and soy are NOT Paleo, so avoid and read post #2 again. Iron is high in vegetable sources, however it is not as well absorbed from plants as it is from meat, so…sorry vegans! That’s why anemia usually ensues in strictly vegan diets.
So eat animal products from healthy, ethically raised animals. It’s what nature intended.

01/10/2016

Sunday, 1/10/2016
Post #7
This is the seventh of 12 postings over the next several weeks to promote a healthy diet through the holiday season. Please read on:
#7: Consume Healthy Fats
Many Americans have been conditioned to avoid fat in the diet. This is the result of 50 years of conditioning. Our government and trusted medical and nutritional agencies have fed us a bunch of bunk. In their desperate attempt to solve the cardiovascular, obesity and diabetes crisis of the 20th century, they jumped the gun and bought into poorly conducted and interpreted research results. They provided us with the WRONG information for health. As a result, heart disease, obesity and diabetes are now out of control.
Saturated fat is not the enemy. Highly processed and trans-fats are. Because saturated fats and trans-fats were found to be solid at room temperature, they were categorized as “same”. Nothing could be further from the truth. Trans-fats confuse your metabolism as your body doesn’t know how to process this man-made molecule (similar to post #3, right?). Avoid ALL margarines and shortenings and only use butter, olive oil, coconut/palm oils and lard. Yes! Lard. We are already seeing a comeback of palm oils in many processed cookies and crackers (read those ingredient lists). I believe it won’t be long before we see a return to lard. We were so much more healthy when we were eating lard only 100 years ago!
Cholesterol is technically not a fat and it is absolutely essential for a healthy human. It is used for the transport of lipoproteins, bile acid production and steroid hormone synthesis. Eat your cholesterol! As of 2015, the USDA acknowledges that they are to be added to your diet. Eat eggs, butter and meat. In fact, if it came from an animal, it has cholesterol. Plant fats do not. Plant fats come best from nuts, coconut, flax and green leafy vegetables. As you already know, avoid soy.
Get plenty of omega-3 healthy fats and cholesterol from grass-fed meats (beef, bison, lamb, pork) and wild caught fish. Also insist on pastured, organically raised poultry, and eggs from these hens. Look for the “Certified Humane” label on your egg carton. If it’s not there, don’t buy those eggs. To get good eggs, you must treat the girls right! Omega-3 fatty acids are among the most healthy fats and absolutely essential for a healthy human to avoid disease. Fats are satiating, moisturizing and oh so tasty. Try a teaspoon or two of Carlson’s Cod Liver Oil every day. I do!

01/03/2016

Sunday, 1/3/2016
Post #6
This is the sixth of 12 postings over the next several weeks to promote a healthy diet through the holiday season. Please read on:
#6: Eat Plenty of Non-Starchy Produce
I use the glycemic index as a tool to help people to understand how carbohydrates are processed by the body. Generally speaking, low glycemic foods, like non-starchy vegetables and fruit, don’t require much insulin to metabolize. They also don’t cause large blood sugar spikes. This includes foods like dark green leafy vegetables, squashes, string beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, cabbages, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, cucumbers, Brussels sprouts, etc. They are loaded with fiber so do as little trimming as possible. These should make up the basis of every meal, even breakfast!
Some vegetables are traditionally cooked. This is because it has been well known that foods like spinach, kale, broccoli and cauliflower are better tolerated when cooked and the plethora of vitamins and minerals are more bioavailable during digestion. Some vegetables are traditionally eaten raw, and those are generally safe and nutritious without cooking.
You want to avoid starchy vegetables like white potatoes. This includes Russet, Idaho baking, Yukon gold, red and new potatoes. This does NOT include yams and sweet potatoes, which are in a totally different genus and species. Yams and sweet potatoes are considered Paleo, but beware: They are still starches and will require more insulin to metabolize. White potatoes are in a class called “night-shade vegetables” which are not well tolerated by many people.
Some hard-core Paleo enthusiasts will avoid all night-shades, which include tomatoes, white potatoes, peppers, eggplant, to***co and gogi berries. These foods naturally contain alkaloids (solanine, ni****ne and capsaicin) which are known gut irritants to many people. They can cause bloating and inflammation in the extremely night-shade sensitive, which if ignored, will likely lead to leaky gut syndrome and all the problems that can ensue.
There is one kind of starch that is ok to eat on Paleo and that is resistant starch. This is starchy foods that are resistant to digestion until late in the process. Since the colon functions mainly to extract excess water back into the body, it cannot extract sugars. By the time resistant starches are broken down sufficiently to be sugar in the blood stream, it is in the colon. This actually is good news to feed your microbiome (probiotics in your colon). Resistant starch that is Paleo are things like unripe bananas or plaintains as well as cooked and then cooled yams or sweet potatoes.
Fruits are definitely a go for all those seeking a Paleo lifestyle. I generally endorse 2-3 portions a day. Just beware if you have diabetes: fruits are higher in sugar and can cause some blood sugar spikes, thereby requiring more insulin. Again, do as little peeling as you can with fruit to retain the high fiber contents. I’m recently obsessed with Pomegranates!

01/02/2016

I just watched a great movie "on demand" called Love Paleo. Very well done!!

01/01/2016

Just finished my 5 mile walk this glorious first of January! Couldn’t stop smiling as I wished my fellow walking Greenlawnians a Happy New Year! It was a balmy 38 degrees: Invigorating and energizing. I highly recommend starting your new year with health and happiness!

12/27/2015

Sunday, 12/27/15
Post #5
This is the fifth of 12 postings over the next several weeks to promote a healthy diet through the holiday season. Please read on:
#5: Avoid Processed Foods and Chemically Altered Oils
Processing of foods began during the Industrial Revolution in the late 1800’s. Processing is not necessarily a bad thing: cooking is a form of processing. However, most Paleo enthusiasts avoid “processed” foods like the plague. Processing is simply “changing” a food from its original form to a more appealing, palatable form and that currently means adding sugar, salt, unhealthy fats, artificial colors, flavors and preservatives. Processed foods includes things like soy, chemical additives, artificial fats/emulsifiers, GMOs, pesticides, antibiotics, steroids, hormone disruptors…the list goes on. The general rule is: if it comes from a box or a bag or a bottle or a can, avoid whenever possible. Eat from a farm, not a factory.
What I’m seeing on the internet are “Paleo food bars”. This bothers me greatly. I don’t care if it is made with 100% Paleo ingredients. True Paleo enthusiasts avoid processed foods and these food bars are manufactured in factories – the origin of food processing! This is an important point to understand. Fresh, fresh, fresh is the name of the Paleo game. Grab a handful of nuts, dried fruit and cocoa nibs in a bag and there’s your “Paleo food bar”. Just eat fresh and avoid processed foods.
When chemically altered oils successfully replaced lard, tallow, coconut/palm oils and butter in the American kitchen, heart disease soared in the general population. This was unheard of prior to 1900, but was killing a majority of Americans by the 1950’s. Today, much of the fats in the American diet are from soybean, corn and canola oils, cottonseed, sunflower, safflower, which are made solid at room temperature by partial hydrogenation (trans-fats). I consider all these to be poison. They include Crisco shortening and margarines.
Everyone believes canola oil is so healthy, however it is a polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid which is highly oxidized during metabolism. This causes free radical formation and a reduction in nitrous oxide (NO) usage, which is very bad for our arteries. This leads to them becoming stiff and inflexible. Reduced NO is also linked to atherosclerosis and blocked arteries. Canola oil is processed with hexane, a known neurotoxin.
Since the USDA banned trans-fats in commercially made food in 2015, all restaurants and food manufacturers now use soybean oil and/or canola oil. Still want fries with that?? If you read your labels carefully, food manufacturers are adding coconut/palm oils back into their recipes. You see, they never should have been replaced in the first place!!!
Stay tuned for more on this subject on week #7: Consume Healthy Fats.