40 thoughts on “The Paleo Rodeo”

  3. The part I find amusing is the research involving wine and beer. Apparently, wine is better for you than the fresh grapes were.

    But we’re simultaneously lectured on how “fresher is always better!” Sorry, we didn’t evolve to require fresh fruit every single day. Even in California it would be tricky to find wild fruit 365 days a year.

  4. I’ve always thought that trying to figure out what Cro Mag ate would be a smarter way to zero in on a diet measured to fit what we’ve evolved into.

    And Cro-Mag certainly didn’t eat granola.

    Cro-mag had a lot more exercise than I’m getting though, so I agree with you, Rand, that one cannot rule that out. A link on that Paleo page is one that informs you of all the hidden sugars in prepared foods. Over the last 6 months I’ve learned about this and eliminated as much sugar as possible. It’s all over the place. And dietary info on the package has to be read carefully. It might list sugars as 0 grams on the chart but the ingredients list can still contain one of the many synonyms for what are essentially sugars.

    I’ve read one should limit their daily intake of sugar to 16 grams. And a Slim Fast shake has 18 grams.

    from their list of 50:

    1. Barley malt
    2. Beet sugar
    3. Brown sugar
    4. Buttered syrup
    5. Cane juice crystals
    6. Cane sugar
    7. Caramel
    8. Corn syrup
    9. Corn syrup solids
    10. Confectioner’s sugar
    11. Carob syrup
    12. Castor sugar
    13. Date sugar
    14. Demerara sugar
    15. Dextran
    16. Dextrose
    17. Diastatic malt
    18. Diatase
    19. Ethyl maltol

  7. I’ve always thought that trying to figure out what Cro Mag ate would be a smarter way to zero in on a diet measured to fit what we’ve evolved into.

    “Cro Mag” also evolved into living short brutish lives, just saying.

  9. I admit I eat too much sugar but my BP is terrific. I exercize and take fish oil, resveratrol and CoQ10 amongst other things.

    Funny thing, since I started lifting and taking whey protein, my BP went down about 5 additional points.

  10. ““Cro Mag” also evolved into living short brutish lives, just saying.”

    Not from their diet.

    The diet of our ancestors was tuned to maximize performance at the expense of longevity. No point in having a slow and long lived metabolism if you did not live long enough to use it. Evolution would be continually balancing such a trade off and adapting to real world longevity.

    Pygmies come to mind, so many things killing them that they have evolved to mature at a much younger age (hence their short stature). I am not sure how this influences their diet, but I expect it does.

    I am not saying that a more primitive diet is not a good thing, however choosing diets (and general behaviors) of the long lived might be a better approach – assuming longevity and not performance is your objective.

  11. I had a bad reaction to ACE inhibitors, so to control my BP I take dark chocolate. And it works. What with that, the beer and the wine it’s a tough regimen, but I manage to keep it up for my health’s sake.

  12. I exercize and take fish oil, resveratrol and CoQ10 amongst other things. Funny thing, since I started lifting and taking whey protein, my BP went down about 5 additional points.

    Full ditto (except the CoQ10). A scoop of that EAS powder in the morning seems to have a strong effect on reducing those mid-morning honey-bun cravings.

  13. The tough part of this Paleo deal is the fish – around here (coastal Massachusetts), you simply cannot get away from some bad stuff being in your fresh caught fish. There’s a big list of fish that pregnant women and young children simply ought not eat. All the fresh water fish you catch have mercury in them. Farm raised fish don’t have that but evidently not good for you anyways.

    Paul Hsieh Says:

    “Diana has posted a nice set of basic principles for starting to eat “paleo” at:
    http://www.modernpaleo.com/principles.html

    Just working on the first 3-4 will get most people 80% of the way to a healthier diet. (And weight loss and improved blood pressure and generally feeling more energetic, etc.)”

    I do the first 4 and my weight is stable but not dropping. However I violate 5 and 6 and eat some cheese every day. So that would have to go.

    It’s interesting that in #5 she says fermented soy might be ok. I heard some health food people on the radio the other day ( Dr, Mercola) say that non-fermented soy is ok but avoid fermented soy like the plague. I decided to avoid both. But I miss the teriyaki/worcester sauce flavor.

    I do one of those horse pill multivitamins, C, D3, and Potassium.

  15. “I had a bad reaction to ACE inhibitors”

    I learned on PBS Nova that ACE inhibitors are based on snake venom. The other thing to consider is that there are a host of other blood pressure control medicines working on other pathways.

  16. The diet of our ancestors was tuned to maximize performance at the expense of longevity.

    Wrong. Homo sapiens is the longest lived of any large primate. As a social creature with language the elder members of the tribe are valuable as the holder and teacher of knowledge.

    Short life expectancy is an average; one skewed by high mortality in childhood. That doesn’t mean that no cave man made it to 70. Many did. Four score and ten has been our lot for epochs.

    Pygmies come to mind, so many things killing them that they have evolved to mature at a much younger age (hence their short stature).

    Also wrong. Pygmies evolve in a calorie poor environment, not a danger rich one. The Masai live on the savannah with lions, and the Sikhs with Indian tigers – and these are not small people. The Pygmies are small because they cannot gather enough calories to support a larger lean body mass.

    You really ought to know about this stuff if you’re going to opine on it.

    —

    I’m not going to poo-poo paleo practitioners. I was one once. It’s fine. Not necessary for health or fitness, but fine.

    Why is paleo not necessary? Widespread metabolic disorder has only been a problem in the 20th century. In 1900 the American diabetes rate was 0.0028%. Heart attacks (and heart disease) would not make their appearance in the medical literature until 1912. A fellow who was obese (probably because of a severe thyroid condition) in the late 19th century was so strange that he was hired by a circus. Today he’s blend in at Wal*Mart, about half the size of the whale-o-sauruses in their powered wheelchairs.

    You don’t need to go back 100,000 years for health. 100 will do. Roughly, the following things have been invented recently-

    1. White flour (1857). Invented to extend shelf life, it’s lacking in fiber and nutrition. Empty calories. Avoid this most days. But whole oat groats, brown rice, even wheat berries (bought un-milled) are fine. If you want to mill your own flour at home, bread is fine too.

    2. Vegetable oils (1911). These were invented earlier, but the process that made them cheap and widely available was invented in 1911. They remained unpopular until the Depression and WWII rationing forced people to switch. I cannot emphasize enough how bad these are for you. They’re the #1 cause of diabetes, heart disease and metabolic disorder generally.

    3. High Fructose Corn Syrup (1957). Awful stuff. 800% worse than regular table sugar, which is bad enough. For sweeteners, when you want them, use molasses, honey or real maple syrup. The occasional bit of white sugar won’t kill you, but HFCS is just bad. It’s also a major cause of blood pressure problems.

    Avoid those three things, and get plenty of fiber, starchy carbs, animal sourced proteins and fat, coconut oil, and lots of vitamin and mineral rich fruits and veggies and you’ll be fine.

    Side note: A somewhat bizarre belief among most paleo types though is that paleo = low-carb. Nothing could be further from the truth. Humans have been cooking root vegetables (yams, potatoes, etc.) for at least 500,000 years. This is supported by modern humans; no matter how bad the person’s digestion (gluten intolerance, etc.), anyone can handle potatoes. We’ve also been eating seeds and grains too; long enough for us to have evolution adaptation. We have more phytase (the enzyme that breaks down phytic acid, in wheat and such) in our saliva than any other large primate.

    So don’t be a tater hater.

  17. I’m off of paleo right now, but intend to get back on the horse by the end of March. I love this diet. My disability causes me a lot of pain when the seasons change cold to hot and again, hot to cold. I try to do paleo especially during those weeks.

    After the first 3 days of damned near insatiable hunger and the non-stop meat and veggie gorging, I sleep better, I feel better, my R/A and fibromyalgia aren’t as bad. The best ‘side affect’ however is the weight loss. And after that 3 days I eat less and don’t need to eat as much to be satiated food wise.

    Even when I’m not eating caveman style, I watch what I eat, and like most of us, my weight yo yo’s. On the paleo plan, I lose weight consistently. And I have WAY more energy.

    Most of my professional medical types talk a bunch’a smack about this thing. But I do NOT let their ‘professional’ knowledge or opinions deter ME from paleo eating after I know it made me feel. I was told, “…ALL that meat, eggs, low carb stuff, fresh veggies, raw veggies, blah, blah it’s all a money making fad, and it’s just not good for you, it’ll drive your triglycerides through the roof…”

    2 years ago, I had ALL my blood work done before starting paleo. After a month, my good cholesterol was up, the bad kind was down, my blood sugar was down a few points (it was good anyway the first time but better IS always better IMHO!) and my uric acid level is lowered. Scoffers can scoff, nay sayers can say nay, but I know that paleo works for me.

    The WORST that can happen is that you get sick of eating meats, salads, fruits and vegetables without the usual garlic bread, the croutons and the huge baked potato slathered with whip cream and the sugar.

  18. Pygmies evolve in a calorie poor environment, not a danger rich one. The Masai live on the savannah with lions, and the Sikhs with Indian tigers – and these are not small people. The Pygmies are small because they cannot gather enough calories to support a larger lean body mass.

    There has been a little more research in this area of late. Much shorter life expectancy and earlier maturity now seem to have been the driving factors, although why the various pygmy cultures had shorter life expectancies is I think yet to be determined. Likely the reasons were varied and many (not just calorie based as Jared Diamond suggested – the Massai for example have similarly unstable food supplies to central African pygmies).

  19. I certainly don’t stay on top of pygmy research. I’d be interested in a link or paper if you have one. The theory of “much danger, reproduce soon” doesn’t seem to click with me because they only have a 1-2 year advantage, but I’m open to new ideas.

    bmcusick at that gmail place.

  20. Der Schtumpy,

    You can have the potatoes. Humans have been eating potatoes for hundreds of thousands of years. And they don’t cause obesity or bad blood work. Slather with butter, add a bit of sea salt, and Mmmm, mmm, my favorite.

  22. I’m not an expert on nutrition (or pygmies), and I’m not on any special diet. But after decades of living on fast food and TV dinners, last summer I finally decided to learn how to cook. While there are a gajillion cookbooks on the market, the one I ended up buying was The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.

    It met my needs because it assumes no prior knowledge, yet manages to not be condescending. It has sections describing various kinds of cooking equipment and lists of ingredients to always have on hand. It has recipes for almost every kind of food imaginable, including basics like hard-boiled eggs and baked potatoes. And it comes in a ring binder so I can take out the page with the recipe I’m working on instead of trying to prop open the whole book on the kitchen counter.

    This is tangentially relevant to the topic at hand, because the recipes I’ve been making tend to be good old-fashioned meals with plenty of meat and potatoes and real butter. I’ve made meatloaf, beef stew, and pan-braised chicken with various sauces. I use potatoes in the stew, and also home fries and baked. (I like my baked potato with unsalted butter and fresh-ground pepper.) I’ve also learned to make a couple of varieties of rice pilaf. I’ve been eating either potatoes or rice almost every day.

    Many of the recipes use butter when cooking in a frying pan on the stovetop, but some call for vegetable oil. So I was a bit alarmed by Brock’s earlier comment. I do agree with high fructose corn syrup being bad; not from any scientific knowledge on my part but because of the mighty coincidental timing of the obesity epidemic occurring with its ubiquitous appearance in every kind of processed food. I think I consume very little of that nowadays.

    A couple of years ago, before I started cooking, I had a blood test which showed that my triglycerides had gone through the roof. The doctor put me on Tricor, which I’m still taking. I’ve also added fish oil capsules. Subsequent tests have been normal. My last blood test was last fall, when I had just begun cooking. It will be interesting to see the results on my next one this fall.

    —

    P.S.: Does anyone know why Instapundit linked to a 2009 post by Rand about manual typewriters? I was all set to comment on that thread when I noted the lack of a comment box. Then I noticed the date.

  23. Brock,

    I assume when you refer to vegetable oils you would include peanut, rapeseed (canola), and grapeseed, not just soy or corn oils. The Modernist Cuisine guys did research that indicated that they were not any healthier than butter or lard, but how are they worse? Also, how would you do high-heat applications (searing, deep-frying)? Maybe clarified butter would be OK for searing, but it would be hard to get enough volume for deep-frying.

  24. Southern Fried Chicken, for instance, predates the general use of vegetable oils. It would be deep fried in lard. Then you filter the lard through cheesecloth and let it resolidify.

  25. Potatoes, but no French Fries. Because they’re French. Er, because of the vegetable oil.

    I buy frozen french fries and bake ’em in the toaster oven.

    What paleo-veggies would be good for home gardening?

    This subject reminds me of my concept of the Ultimate Artificial Meal: Spam and Velveeta on white bread, Koolaid, Jello for dessert.

    (Is there any difference between Koolaid and Jello besides texture?)

  26. I certainly don’t stay on top of pygmy research. I’d be interested in a link or paper if you have one. The theory of “much danger, reproduce soon” doesn’t seem to click with me because they only have a 1-2 year advantage, but I’m open to new ideas.

    I can not remember where I originally read about this but here is one article:
    http://www.physorg.com/news117456722.html

    Average life expectancies of just 16-24 are suggested, though what causes this is not quite so clear – which seems strange to me (I realize my original comment may have been misinterpreted as suggesting predation). Presumably it would not be that difficult to find out why they die so young. Child birth, disease and violence might have been significant factors.

    But back to the original point. In generations past average life expectancies were much shorter and it would be extremely unlikely that evolution did not adapt to that, including with respect to diet. Pygmies, after all, do demonstrate high level adaption to shorter life expectancies.

    I expect primitive diets were in many ways far superior to modern diets (probably not in quantity, quality or consistency), however a diet best suited to a short brutish life is not necessarily one best suited to a long sedentary one. Evolution would have optimized diet for a short brutish life. A good example might be our current excessive cravings for calories (Polynesians are particularly prone to this – there would seem to be a genetic link inferring evolution selecting for this).

  27. Reading the linked article didn’t do MY blood pressure any good. Load of crackpot nonsense, if you ask me. The “natural fallacy” in action.

  28. Humans have been eating potatoes for hundreds of thousands of years.

    Wrong. Despite Tolkien’s whimsies, potatoes are a New World plant. Whilst the ancestors of Westerm Hemisphere Indians may well have committed genocide, exterminating older populations in the Americas, their own lineage goes back a couple myriads of years at best.

  29. Akatsukami:

    In an earlier comment, Brock said:
    Humans have been cooking root vegetables (yams, potatoes, etc.) for at least 500,000 years.

    That’s probably more accurate than his later comment about “eating potatoes for hundreds of thousands of years”.

    I don’t pay a lot of attention to the various theories about nutrition. It seems that for every claim that a food is healthful, there is a counterclaim that it’s deadly. The whole field is more contentious than global warming.

    I remember learning about the “four food groups” when I was in school. Later the government replaced that with the “food pyramid”. It seems to me that that’s about the time we started hearing about the obesity epidemic. Coincidence? I don’t know, but I have my suspicions.

    I think our best bet is to try to eat a varied diet and hope for the best. A little bit of everything and not too much of anything.

    There is probably also a genetic component with metabolism. You could take two people, feed them the exact same diet, and one would have normal blood pressure and cholesterol while the other would be off the scale.

  30. Akatsukami,

    What rickl said. Root vegetables generally, not potatoes specifically. They have those in Africa too. Sorry for not being perfectly accurate in that respect.

    Alan Henderson,

    Nearly anything you can grow in your backyard will be good for you. As long as it’s food, and not poison ivy or something.

    David,

    I do indeed mean peanut, rapeseed (canola), and grapeseed, not just soy or corn oils. They’re all lousy because they’re all primarily omega-6 PUFA. Highly inflammatory. I cook at high heats using clarified butter and coconut oil. I don’t deep fry, but that’s a matter of personal preference. You can buy lard, coconut oil or duck fat by the 5-gallon bucket online if you were of a mind too. Coconut oil will stay good at room temperature for months too, because its 93% SFA content will protect it from oxidation.

    Butter, coconut oil and tallow are really good for you. Eat as much as you want.

    rickl,

    Thanks for the cookbook link. It looks like a good one. I know someone who needs it too, so this is a timely thing. Thanks again.

    Also, you are correct about different people reacting differently to the same diet. It’s less genetic though than epigentic, a sort of inheritance that comes from your parents but isn’t a gene in your DNA. Sort of a big topic. But definitely the case, yes.

  31. Brock,

    Butter contains 3:1 omega-6:omega-3, lard is 9:1, coconut oil appears to contain no omega-3 at all.

    Canola contains 2:1 omega-6:omega-3 (11% of the total oil content is omega-3).

    If your argument is based on relative omega-6 content you’ll have to re-think it. I’ll acknowledge that the total omega-6 content is somewhat higher, though. On the other hand, I grew up with fields of canola in my backyard so by the “nearly anything you can grow in your backyard is good for you” argument , obviously canola is good for me 😉

  32. rickl Says:

    “I don’t pay a lot of attention to the various theories about nutrition. It seems that for every claim that a food is healthful, there is a counterclaim that it’s deadly. The whole field is more contentious than global warming.”

    You said it. I remember the big “load up on Vitamin E for anti-oxidants” craze a few years back. I didn’t do anything about it. A couple of years after the idea swept the nation I asked my doctor if he thought I should do that too. He laughed and said it’s been totally rejected.

    That’s why I remarked on various opinions on soy products (brewed vs non-brewed). You can get 17 opinions on anything.

    I also agree that the same diet on two different people might have different results. I know people who are genetically pre-disposed to hi- cholesterol and have to take drugs no matter how good their diet and exercise is.

    What I DO know, though is what diet makes me feel good, less bloated, and what will make me lose weight. All I have to do is follow it 😉

  33. If your argument is based on relative omega-6 content you’ll have to re-think it.

    Lucky for me that’s not the entirety my argument. Absolute levels of all PUFAs (9, 6 and 3) matter too. Canola is 90% PUFA, while coconut oil is 93% SFA.

    By the way, you can grow canola in your back yard, but you can’t make the oil in your kitchen. That was the other (unstated) half of my argument that anything grown in a back yard garden is good for you; it assumes a normal, home kitchen. So don’t get cute.

  34. I thought this post was going to be about breeding new mammoths and eohippuses (eohippi?) from old DNA found in glaciers and then training them to be in a special Ice Age Rodeo. *is disappointed*

  37. A couple facts to consider before rushing to judgment condemning processed food for obesity:

    – Obesity was known in centuries past, confined to those with the financial means to overeat and avoid physical labor.

    – Coincident with the introduction of processed foods was a great increase in abundance and a shift away from physical labor to make a living.

  38. As far as dietary and eating approaches are concerned, lately I’ve started adopting some of the precepts of the Nourishing Traditions type of diet, which is attempting to emulate many elements of pre-industrial food ways. It’s got a lot of similarities to the paleo diet, but it doesn’t eschew all grains, instead it emphasizes that grains be soaked, sprouted or fermented (sourdough) to reduce the phytic acid and to increase other nutrients. Likewise, it says that legumes should be soaked and cooked slowly, and nuts and seeds should be soaked and dehydrated. Likewise, it recommends avoiding most modern nut and seed oils and prefers instead the use of olive oil, coconut oil, butter, and other animal fats from pastured animals.

    Since there has been much discussion of coconut oil above, I was wondering what type of coconut oil is considered the best to get? I bought some “virgin coconut oil” recently, but noted that refined coconut oil is better for higher temperatures. Are there any disadvantages to buying the refined variety to use for cooking? Or am I better off sticking with the virgin coconut oil and using it only for baking or for cooking things at medium heat?

  40. lately I’ve started adopting some of the precepts of the Nourishing Traditions type of diet

    I love that book so much. Seriously great. I think Sally goes a little overboard worrying about phytic acid (it is an anti-nutrient, but I’m not aware of any studies that suggest it actually causes vitamin deficiencies). But that’s a nit pick.

    Since there has been much discussion of coconut oil above, I was wondering what type of coconut oil is considered the best to get? I bought some “virgin coconut oil” recently, but noted that refined coconut oil is better for higher temperatures. Are there any disadvantages to buying the refined variety to use for cooking?

    I’m not aware of any downside to using the refined version. It’s just filtered for the flavenoids that “taste like coconut.” The refined oil is a much more neutral flavor, but still very unprocessed by any reasonable standard. That’s what I use in my kitchen, for flavor reasons.

Comments are closed.