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“The Clean Foods Paradox”

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(Cliff notes available at bottom of article)

As I mentioned in my first post, one of my personal prerequisites for starting a fitness blog is having something new to contribute. I also mentioned a bit of a background in nutrition research. For this post, I was to discuss what I call “The Clean Foods Paradox,” a paradox I picked up on while involved with my first research project.

The project involved having subjects follow the guidelines that many Paleo dieters follow (food choices were restricted to meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, eggs, and nuts, with no cereal grains, dairy, or legumes allowed). I will hold off on discussing the details of that project until our data finds a home in a peer-reviewed journal. I will, however, discuss the aforementioned “paradox” that I stumbled upon, since it does not divulge any details pertinent to our hypothesis or conclusions. If you really want a sneak peak at our data, come check out my poster at the ACSM Annual Meeting this year.

What is “Clean”?

Before going forward, let’s establish a working definition for “clean.” The term itself is rather ambiguous and open to interpretation, but we all know the foods that are commonly considered clean. They’re the bodybuilding staples: Brown rice, sweet potatoes, oats, chicken breast, fish, vegetables (especially broccoli and asparagus), and so on. They tend to be foods with high micronutrient density and relatively low energy density. The carbohydrate sources tend to be complex, low on the glycemic index (which I believe to be unnecessary), and high in fiber. Refined carbohydrates and simple sugars are largely avoided by “clean eaters.” Paleo takes this loose definition a step further, eliminating all dairy, cereal grains, and legumes.

The subjects in our study were exclusively consuming “Paleo-approved” foods, which tended to be packed with micronutrients. Virtually all sources of “empty” calories were off limits. This is where the paradox part comes into play. As I entered their dietary information into nutrition analysis software, I noticed a rather counterintuitive trend: These subjects, eating a diet almost exclusively composed of micronutrient-dense foods, were coming far short of the RDI for a number of micronutrients. How could this be?

Inclusion dieting vs. Exclusion Dieting

If you stop by any bodybuilding-related forum or Facebook group, a war is raging on: “Clean” dieting vs. IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros). A quick Google search will reveal thousands of forum arguments on the topic, but I’ll summarize it for any outsiders who are unfamiliar. The old-school, “clean” dieters advocate strictly sticking with clean foods (particularly the bodybuilding staple foods listed above). The IIFYM crowd advocates a more flexible approach, allowing virtually any foods that fit within one’s target macronutrient intakes for the day.

I feel as if there are two ways to approach dieting— as you might have guessed from the bolded heading above, they are inclusion dieting and exclusion dieting. These approaches are characterized by distinctly different mindsets.

The inclusion dieter approaches food selection with the following mindset: “I will include food X in my diet, because it provides me with nutrients Y and Z.”

The exclusion dieter approaches food selection with a markedly different mindset: “I will exclude food X from my diet, because it hurts my dieting by providing Y and Z.”

(Note: One issue with the exclusion approach is its poor chances of long-term adherence. It forces you to decide that as long as you are dieting, you will avoid whatever “junk” foods you tend to crave (everybody has at least one— some, myself included, have several). As soon as you “break” and decide to satisfy that craving, you are officially off of your diet, which may cause you to take a long-term break from dieting, or may lower your confidence in your own ability to successfully diet in the future)

Bringing it all together

In my opinion, the Paleo diet, and diets focused on “clean” food sources in general, are inherently flawed. While there is certainly nothing wrong with the food sources they promote, their primary shortcoming is that they are predicated on exclusion dieting. Rather than selecting food choices that contribute the nutrients they need, these dieters focus more on avoiding things they perceive to be “bad.” The result is often superfluous intakes of some micronutrients, along with deficient intakes of others. This explains “The Clean Foods Paradox,” and why our subjects were eating micronutrient-dense foods all day and still falling short of recommended intakes for certain nutrients.

Having said that, I’m not letting the IIFYM crowd off the hook without some criticism. The idea was originally to allow some flexibility in the choice of food sources, giving the dieter the freedom to choose foods that fit their preferences for taste and convenience. This should increase the dieter’s self-efficacy, along with increasing the chances of long-term diet adherence. Unfortunately, it sometimes seems as if IIFYM has become a competition in which dieters try to fit as much ice cream and pop tarts into their diet as possible, often at the expense of fruits and vegetables (and the beneficial micronutrients and phytochemicals that come with them).

Conclusion

So what is the best way to diet? As is the case with most things in life, I believe moderation is key. When it comes to body composition, the most important factor of the diet (by far) is daily macronutrient intakes. My personal belief is that one should aim to satisfy their daily macronutrient targets (and their target for fiber intake) by choosing an overwhelming majority of micronutrient-dense foods, including plenty of fruits and vegetables. Although I take a multivitamin as a bit of “insurance,” I personally aim to achieve the RDI of all micronutrients from my whole food sources.

While the majority of foods should be nutrient-dense, I also believe there is nothing wrong with including other foods that would typically be considered “junk food,” as long as micronutrient needs are met and the foods fit within your macronutrient targets for the day. Incorporating such foods in this context will not disrupt your diet in any way, and taking such an approach provides a much higher chance for long-term diet adherence.

So the take home point is to set appropriate macronutrient targets and use whatever foods you want to hit those targets, as long as daily micronutrient and fiber needs are met. For most people, satisfying these micronutrient and fiber requirements will demand that the majority of food choices will be “cleaner” food sources by default. Once micronutrient and fiber needs are met, knock yourselves out with the elaborate (and very impressive) ice cream and pastry-laden concoctions. And share the recipe.

Cliff Notes:

• Eating “clean” or Paleo foods does not necessarily predispose someone to deficient micronutrient intakes. However, sticking to these micronutrient-dense foods does not automatically ensure adequate intakes of all micronutrients (i.e., you may have a surplus of some, with a deficiency in others).

• A very small percentage of IIFYM dieters do not focus enough attention on their micronutrient and fiber intakes. Although this is only a small percentage, I feel it is worth mentioning. The vast majority of well-informed IIFYMers are sure to hit their micronutrient and fiber targets every single day.

• All dieters, regardless of their “style” of dieting (Paleo, “Clean,” IIFYM, and so on), should be sure to hit their daily targets for macronutrients, micronutrients, and fiber. If you choose to hit these targets with only “clean” foods or Paleo foods, that is completely acceptable, but not entirely necessary.

• The promotion of inclusion dieting should encourage dieters to seek out foods that provide the nutrients they need, rather than demonizing certain foods or food groups. I believe this is a more psychologically healthy relationship with food, and it promotes more dietary flexibility while providing a greater chance for long-term adherence and success.

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The Alkaline diet vs the 5:2 diet

Nutrition, Training

By Kate Hilpern

The Alkaline diet

What is it?

Although she hardly looks like someone in need of losing weight, Victoria Beckham is the latest star to try the most recent version of this diet, the Honestly Healthy Alkaline Programme, which involves eating mainly alkaline foods in order to keep the body’s pH between 7.35 and 7.45. Other celebrity fans include Gwnyth Paltrow (her again) and Kirsten Dunst. The Alkaline diet doesn’t just claim to help you lose weight – many websites advocating it claim it can heal a wide range of ailments including arthritis, diabetes and cancer, as well as slowing the ageing process. Authors of Honestly Healthy, nutritional therapist Vicki Edgson and organic chef Natasha Corrett, say that the diet can improve energy levels and memory and help prevent headaches, bloating, heart disease, muscle pain and insomnia.

Where does it come from?

Back in the 19th century, the French biologist Claude Bernard discovered that changing the diet of rabbits from herbivore (mainly plant) to carnivore (mainly meat) turned their urine from more alkaline to more acid. Excited by his discovery, subsequent scientists built on his findings, which eventually led to a bunch of loosely related diets (other names include the alkaline ash diet and the acid alkaline diet), whose popularity has recently taken off after the celebrity take-up.

What’s the theory?

Our blood is slightly alkaline, with a normal pH level of between 7.35 and 7.45. The theory behind the alkaline diet is that our diet should reflect this pH level (as it did in hunter-gatherer days when we ate fewer acid-producing foods such as grains, fish, meat, poultry, dairy and salt).

Proponents of alkaline diets believe a diet high in acid-producing foods disrupts this balance and promotes the loss of essential minerals such as potassium, magnesium, calcium and sodium as the body tries to restore equilibrium. This imbalance is thought to make people prone to illness and gaining weight. The ultimate aim is to eat 70 per cent alkaline foods and 30 per cent acid foods, meaning you can still have a little of the “bad” stuff such pasta and rice, although things can get slightly complicated. The way you cook your vegetables, for example, can have an impact. Raw spinach is alkaline, but when you cook it, it becomes acidic.

What do the experts say?

“The theory of the alkaline diet is that eating certain foods can help maintain the body’s ideal pH balance to improve overall health. But the body maintains its pH balance regardless of diet,” says British Dietetic Association spokesperson, Rick Miller.

What’s more, while there is evidence that alkaline diets may help prevent the formation of calcium kidney stones, osteoporosis, and age-related muscle wasting, there isn’t any proof that an acid-producing diet is the foundation of chronic illness.

Mind you, says Miller, you’re unlikely to do yourself any harm. “The diet’s premise is to increase alkalizing foods (such as fruit and vegetables) and reduce your intake of acid foods (such as meat, salt, and refined grains). Well, that’s pretty much what we consider as healthy eating anyway and if you’re overweight, of course it will probably help you shift some pounds.”

How punishing is it?

Fans of this diet say the fact that it’s un-faddy makes it easier. “It doesn’t cut out food groups or involve counting calories, which is probably why it’s the first diet I’ve ever got on with,” says Alison Heldon, 24.

But most people agree that the fact that the regime warns against any “very acid-forming” foods, such as starchy grains and vegetables – such as pasta, wheat and beans – all dairy products, meat, fish and shellfish, means it’s challenging. You can also forget about indulging in coffee, tea, sugar, fizzy drinks including soda and tonic water and alcohol. “I defy anyone with a normal family life to sustain it in the long term – I think I did well to last six weeks,” says Suzanne O’Shea, 33. Monitoring your pH levels isn’t very glamorous either – you have to test your urine.

The 5:2 diet

What is it?

Intermittent fasting, basically. So you eat normally for five days and severely restrict your calories for the other two – 600 calories for men and 500 for women. It’s up to the dieter how they divide them up – so you might, for example, have scrambled eggs with ham and a black coffee for breakfast (300 calories) and a lunch or dinner of grilled fish or meat with vegetables (300 calories). The rest of the time, you eat what you want.

Where does it come from?

The diet virtually became an overnight sensation after featuring in a BBC2 Horizon documentary last summer by health journalist Dr Michael Mosley. After just five weeks, Mosley lost nearly a stone, reduced his body fat by about 25 per cent and improved his blood-sugar and cholesterol levels. A book, The 5:2 Diet Book, has become a bestseller. Advocates of the diet also claim it can help us live longer and decrease the risk of cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston and Jennifer Lopez are said to have tried it.

What’s the theory?

The rationale behind it centres on the effects of fasting on levels of a hormone called IGF-1 (Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1). Although the hormone is essential in early life, when rapid new cell growth is advantageous, high levels in adulthood increase your risk of cell divisions such as those found in cancer. Restricting the calories you consume, so the theory goes, lowers blood levels of IGF-1, protecting you against some major diseases. Mosley fell upon the particular success of cutting back for two days a week virtually by default. Having tried various patterns of intermittent fasting, he eventually discovered that severely restricting food for two days a week was both achievable and had the best results. The sheer simplicity of the diet has no doubt had a hand in its phenomenal success.

What do the experts say?

Despite the claims that it helps people lose weight, increases their lifespans, improves cognitive function and protects against conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s, the general medical consensus is that there isn’t actually any firm evidence.

“Yes, there’s some work on the effects of intermittent fasting on ageing and cognitive decline, but almost all these studies involve rodents, not humans, and the work on preventing diseases took place in laboratory conditions, with no guarantee of successful real-world outcomes,” says British Dietetic Association spokesperson, Rick Miller.

He warns that if you’re only eating a quarter of the calories you need, you may suffer low blood-sugar, as well as digestive problems, and that unless dieters increase their water consumption on their restricted days, they could suffer from constipation.

“I used to eat like the 5:2 diet in my teens and early 20s and it was called bulimia,” says Zoë Harcombe, author of The Obesity Epidemic book, who is concerned that this diet carries a huge risk of encouraging disordered eating in people who are prone to it.

Sarah Schenker, spokesperson for the Nutrition Society, agrees: “The reality is that the 5:2 diet is how a lot of people manage their weight naturally. You eat all you want on the weekend, then have a day or two when you cut right down – and it does work for people. Also, there’s something to be said for giving our systems a rest, particularly if we eat a lot of sugar and carbohydrates. So I don’t think it’s a fad and I’m certainly not dismissive, although I think we need to do more research.”

Some experts believe that on the eating days, there’s a risk of over-indulging and putting on weight, although a study by the University of Illinois found that people only eat about 100-110 per cent of the calories they needed. It’s quite hard to fully make up for the lack of food on the restricted days.

How punishing is it?

People report that the diet is both easy and hard. On the fasting days, it’s hard not to give into snacks, but the rest of the time, you can eat what you want so there’s no guilt. “On the restricted days, I have very little energy, which can affect my work, and I’m usually quite irritable by the evening, but then I just remind myself that I can eat what I want tomorrow and that cheers me up,” says Susan Kemp, 34.

Others report that it’s not sustainable. “I lost 8lb in just over two weeks and I did manage to keep it off for a few months, but if you think about it, the restricted days are just slightly shy of 30 per cent of your week. Who wants to be starving for 30 per cent of their life?” says Alan Mitchell, 40.

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Shocking blood sugar test results on whole grain bread

Nutrition

By Mike Geary

I’ve been doing more reading of the fascinating book, Wheat Belly, by Dr. William Davis, and I found an interesting passage that I wanted to share with you…

Dr. Davis basically did actual blood sugar tests on himself before and after consuming a modern whole grain wheat bread vs the type of ancient wheat that existed in the wild and began to be used as a crop between 5000-10,000 years ago — einkorn wheat. The results I’ll discuss below are shocking.

Einkorn wheat is the ancient type of wheat that existed and was eaten for several thousand years before modern agricultural scientists began doing hundreds of hybridizations of wheat over the last 50 years.

These hybridizations were done to increase crop yield and other characteristics of wheat with no testing or consideration for whether these hybridizations affected our health at all, or how our body digests and processes this biochemically different wheat.

Dr. Davis states, “…despite dramatic changes in the genetic makeup of wheat and other crops, no animal or human safety testing was conducted on the new genetic strains that were created.”

After more details on the biochemical changes in modern wheat, he continues, “Wheat gluten proteins, in particular, undergo considerable structural change with hybridization. In one hybridization experiment, 14 new gluten proteins were identified in the offspring that were not present in either parent wheat plant.”

It’s no wonder that us modern day humans have so much prevalence of wheat and gluten intolerance as the source of so many digestive problems… we’ve had a mere 50 years for the human digestive system to try to adapt to these new foreign gluten proteins that were never present in the ancient human diet.

Now for the blood sugar tests that Dr. Davis conducted…

In order to make a bread out of einkorn wheat, Dr Davis actually had to obtain the grain from another country. It’s not easy to find. He then ground the ancient einkorn type wheat into flour and made a loaf of bread out of it.

He then used modern day organic whole grain wheat and ground that into a flour and baked a loaf of bread exactly the same as the ancient einkorn wheat bread.

Then, on two separate days, he conducted blood sugar testing on himself from a fasted state, testing the ancient einkorn wheat bread on day 1 and testing the modern day whole wheat bread on day 2. Check out the shocking results:

Day 1:
Fasting blood sugar: 84 mg/dl
Blood sugar after consuming 4 oz. ancient einkorn wheat bread: 110 mg/dl

That would be a fairly normal response to the amount of ingested carbs. However, look at the shocking blood sugar spike caused by modern day whole wheat…

Day 2:
Fasting blood sugar: 84 mg/dl
Blood sugar after consuming 4 oz. modern day wheat bread: 167 mg/dl

Now you can see actual results showing that modern day wheat, after 100’s of hybridizations and changes to its nutritional biochemistry, is a far cry from ancient wheat that was eaten over 5000 years ago by our ancestors.

If you remember from a few of my articles in recent weeks, the higher your blood sugar goes more frequently, the more advanced glycation end products (AGEs) that your body produces, and the faster your body ages (your organs, skin, etc) including how old you LOOK. You can read item #7 on this article to see how eating too much wheat has the unique ability to age you faster (not good!)

One thing I try to do personally is to follow a fairly low-carb (paleolithic style) nutrition plan most days of the week (except for 1 cheat day) … This means a focus on proteins, healthy fats, and fibrous veggies and a purposeful lack of grain-based foods and sugary foods as much as possible.

Another trick I use whenever I do eat a higher carb meal is to use certain herbs and spices before my meal or mixed in my meal to help control blood sugar response. Cinnamon and cayenne are two noteworthy spices that can help to control your blood sugar response from a meal.

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These 4 Foods Accelerate AGING(beware!)

Nutrition

by Mike Geary

Do you eat these harmful foods that AGE you faster? Some are even deceptively marketed to you as “healthy” by giant food corporations. Avoid or minimize these and look 5-10 years YOUNGER than your real age.
Due to biochemical reactions in your body that occur with every type of food you eat on a daily basis, some foods age you FASTER than your real age, while other foods help to FIGHT aging.

Eat the wrong foods regularly, and you can look and feel 10 or more years OLDER than your real age (not fun!) … but eat the right foods, and over time, you can start to look 5-10 years YOUNGER than your real age.

Three of the processes that go on inside your body that have a MAJOR impact on your rate of aging are called “glycation”, “inflammation”, and “oxidation”. When we talk about aging, we’re not just talking about wrinkles on your skin or how thick your hair is… we’re also talking about factors that you can’t see, such as how well your organs function, and whether your joints are degrading.

Yes, I’m sure you’ll agree this is much more important than just how you look on the surface (although we’ll show you how to improve BOTH!)

So let’s dig right in and I’ll show you how your rate of aging can be directly related to the foods you might eat every day, and how to protect yourself…

Food #1 that ages you faster: Wheat (yes, even “whole wheat”)

Before I tell you why wheat can actually speed up the aging process in your body, let’s clarify some simple biochemistry in your body…

This deals with “glycation” in your body, and substances called Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs). These nasty little compounds called AGEs speed up the aging process in your body including damage over time to your organs, your joints, and of course, wrinkled skin.

So with that said, what is one of the biggest factors that increase production of AGEs inside your body? This may surprise you, but high blood sugar levels over time dramatically increase age-accelerating AGEs in your body. This is why type 2 diabetics many times appear that they have not aged well and look older than their real age. But this age-increasing effect is not just limited to diabetics. It can affect everyone.

So, let’s get back to how “whole wheat” relates to this…

Here is a little-known fact that’s often covered up by the massive marketing campaigns by giant food companies that want you to believe that “whole wheat” is healthy for you… but the fact is that wheat contains a very unique type of carbohydrate (not found in other foods) called Amylopectin-A, which has been found in some tests to spike your blood sugar higher than even pure table sugar.

In fact, amylopectin-A (from wheat) raises your blood sugar more than almost any other carbohydrate source on earth based on blood sugar response testing.

This means that wheat-based foods such as breads, bagels, cereals, muffins, and other baked goods often cause much higher blood sugar levels than most other carbohydrate sources. As you know now, the higher your average blood sugar levels are over time, the more AGEs are formed inside your body, which makes you age FASTER.

You’ve probably heard about the potential health-damaging effects of gluten (also found in wheat) in the news recently, but this blood sugar aspect we just covered is not talked about that often, and is yet another reason to reduce or eliminate wheat-based foods in your diet. Your body will thank you by aging slower and looking YOUNGER!

In fact, my own dad, who is in his mid 60’s now, just removed 95% of the wheat from his diet about 3 months ago (aside from a little bit on 1 cheat day per week), and he’s noticed that his chronic joint pain has completely disappeared! Not only that, he also commented that he’s finally lost those “love handles” on his sides that have been plaguing him his entire adult life…All by reducing his wheat intake!

Another problem with wheat-based foods and aging…

As it turns out, baked wheat products contain carcinogenic chemicals called acrylamides that form in the browned portion of breads, cereals, muffins, etc. These carcinogenic acrylamides have been linked in studies to possible increased risk of cancer and accelerated aging. Note that acrylamides are also found in high levels in other browned carbohydrate sources such as french fries or any other browned starchy foods.

Don’t worry though… There’s a trick that you can use to protect yourself from these carcinogenic acrylamides, and it has to do with eating the RIGHT foods that COUNTERACT damage from these nasty chemicals. I’ll show you how to find the EXACT foods that protect your body on the next page!
Food #2 that ages you faster: Corn-based foods — corn syrup, corn cereal, corn chips, corn oil

This is quite a variety of stuff that you might eat every day… we’re talking corn chips, corn cereals, corn oil, and also the biggest health-damaging villain that gets most of the media attention, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

We already talked in detail in the last section about wheat regarding the blood sugar process and it’s relation to age-accelerating formation of nasty “AGEs” in your body.

Well, corn-based starchy foods such as corn cereals, corn chips, etc also have a big impact on blood sugar levels and therefore can increase AGEs in your body and accelerate aging.

But here’s another nail in the coffin for corn… it turns out that scientists have found out that the fructose in HFCS causes 10x more formation of AGEs in your body than glucose! Yes, that’s right… that means the HFCS you consume daily in sweetened drinks, and most other processed foods (yes, even salad dressings and ketchup) contribute to faster aging in your body… as if you needed yet another reason to avoid or minimize HFCS!

We’re not done yet with corn… it gets even worse…

Another major issue with corn-based foods and corn oils is that these foods contribute excessive amounts of omega-6 fatty acids to your diet, which causes an imbalance in your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio and leads to inflammation and oxidation within your body.

Once again… another example of corn-based foods aging you FASTER.

My advice: Avoid or reduce corn-based foods like corn chips and corn cereal as much as possible. These aren’t as bad as wheat in relation to blood sugar, and they don’t contain gut-damaging gluten like wheat does, but they are still bad for you. When it comes to corn syrup or corn oil, avoid as much as you can if you want to stay lean and young looking.

Food #3 that ages you faster: Sugar, sugary foods, certain starchy foods
Again, we get back to the relationship between your average blood sugar levels and blood sugar spikes over time, and how that can increase those age-accelerating compounds called AGEs in your body.

Sugar is an obvious one to avoid. You’ve heard how bad it is for you 1000 times before for many other reasons, including your waistline and developing type 2 diabetes. But now you also understand the aging effect of sugar.

Instead of sugar, consider using a natural non-caloric sweetener like Stevia in your daily coffee, tea, in baking, or other sweetening needs. This dramatically helps you control your blood sugar response and thereby help slow aging.

So this also means to think twice about sugary desserts, sugary cereals, candy, and other sweets that are contributing to aging you faster.

My personal trick to satisfy my sweet tooth is to only have 1-2 squares of dark chocolate after dinner instead of a normal full dessert that most people choose. You only get about 2 grams of sugar in 1-2 squares of dark chocolate as opposed to 40-80 grams of age-accelerating sugar in a typical cake, ice cream, or brownie type of dessert.

Keep in mind that some starchy foods like white rice, oatmeal, and white potatoes can also have significant impacts on your blood sugar and thereby can increase formation of AGEs in your body. These foods are best kept in smaller portions if you decide to eat them, and balanced with healthy fats and protein to slow the blood sugar response.

Food #4 that ages you faster: Soybean oil, canola oil, or other “vegetable oils”
I know these have been marketed to you over the years by giant food companies as “healthy”, but if you understand a little biochemistry about how these highly-processed oils react inside your body, you would quickly see how false that is.

First, anything labeled soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, vegetable oil, or cottonseed oil (these are in a LOT of processed foods you probably eat) most times have undergone a refining process under extremely high heat and use of chemical solvents such as hexane.

This leaves you with an oil where the polyunsaturated fats have undergone a lot of oxidation and are therefore VERY inflammatory inside your body, producing free radicals, damaging your cell membranes, contributing to faster aging, heart disease, and other possible health problems.

If you want to avoid the health-damaging effects of soybean, canola, corn and other “vegetable oils”, make sure to avoid them as much as you can, and instead opt for truly healthy oils and fats such as extra-virgin olive oil, avocado oil, virgin coconut oil (a healthy source of MCT fats), and grass-fed butter (a great source of healthy CLA fats).

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Is eating “Paleo” the best way

Nutrition

by Mike Geary’s

The hottest thing in nutrition over the last few years is the “Paleo” style of eating (aka, Paleolithic nutrition). In some ways, it’s a simple concept, and it’s common sense… eat a similar hunter-gatherer diet like our ancestors did for over 1.9 Million years, and since this is the diet that the human digestive system is most adapted to during 99% of our existence, good health will follow, and getting a lean body becomes easier.

Some paleo authors though forbid even tiny amounts of grains and dairy in their recommendations, while other mainstream health authors and experts just aren’t convinced yet (or haven’t been explained the science yet) that whole grains can possibly be bad for you in any way.

My thought on this is that not all grains are necessarily bad for you, but some are a LOT worse than others… this is where I see “paleo” nutrition in a slightly different light than some very strict Paleo authors that advise to 100% eliminate ALL grains. I don’t quite see it that way.

A couple things that I keep in mind in terms of deciding on the healthiest paleolithic nutrition plan:

1. For people that are extremely active such as long distance bikers, runners, and athletes that do intense activity for several hours per day, the extra calories from starch that grains give can be useful. The extra calories and carbs from grains can also be useful to those looking to build muscle mass.

However, there’s no reason at all that these types of people can’t fuel their carb needs with potatoes, sweet potatoes, fruit, squash, quinoa, and other non-grain carb sources, and still get the calories and carbs they need without getting all of the gluten and other problematic anti-nutrients that are in many popular grains.

2. Some grains are worse than others. For example, rice and oats still have anti-nutrients, but have a lot less anti-nutrients than wheat does. Rice and oats also don’t contain gluten (unless they contain traces from processing machines that also processed wheat or barley), and as you know, chronic gluten intake can irritate the gut and cause internal inflammation in a large majority of us, even if we’re not Celiac.

This means that rice and oats are more “neutral” than wheat is, and if you’re extremely active and burn boatloads of calories with hours of exercise each day, then rice and oats can be a reasonable source of calories, although still not necessarily the “best” carb source per se.

However, if you’re an average person that exercises a couple days a week, and not daily for hours each day, there’s really no need for the extra calories and carbs that even “neutral” grains provide.

3. It’s important to know that grains are NOT “essential” to the human diet in any way. After all, before agriculture started approx 10,000 years ago, grains were just a very tiny % of the human diet, dating back almost 2 Million years.

Currently, it’s estimated that the average modern day person obtains 67% of their total calories come from only 3 foods — wheat, corn, and soy and their derivatives.

However, ancient paleolithic humans most likely only consumed about 1 or 2% of their total calories from wild grains that they could have gathered. Mass produced grains to make bread, baked goods, and pasta that are modern day staples simply didn’t exist back then.

This means that for 99% of human existence, humans only ate grains in a very tiny fraction of their total calories, and for the last 1% of human existence, we now eat 67% of our total calories from wheat, corn, and soy alone (although technically, soy is not a grain…it’s a legume, but soy has it’s own health issues as well).

Ancient paleolithic humans were very active hunting and gathering each day (and probably fighting off predators too in most locations!), yet somehow us humans managed to “fuel our bodies” for almost 2 Million years without the need for large amounts of grains like modern day athletes resort to as the go-to carb source.

Although I’m not personally a competing athlete in anything, I’m a very active skier, mountain biker, hiker, and weight lifter. But I don’t fuel my body on grains, and I don’t necessarily fuel my body on primarily carbohydrates either. And I feel amazing every single day!

I tend to prefer to fuel my body primarily from healthy fats like avocados, nuts, egg yolks, seeds, olive oil, coconut oil, and grass-fed butter and cream. But I still also fuel my body with small to moderate amounts of carbs each day from eating loads of veggies, raw honey in my morning or afternoon tea, maybe a few potatoes or sweet potatoes each week, squash, and one or two pieces of fruit a day. This type of plan replicates the ancient paleolithic hunter-gatherer diet much more closely than these modern plans loaded with grains at every meal.

I’m sure we’ll talk more about this topic in upcoming newsletters, but let’s look at the big picture here…

The way I see it is that you can probably find a lot of examples of people you know that eat a lot of grains and yet remain lean, and seemingly healthy. This doesn’t mean that gluten and other anti-nutrients they are consuming daily aren’t causing at least some form of moderate internal inflammation, blood sugar problems, or minor digestive problems though in many of these grain-eaters.

I personally don’t avoid grains altogether, but I would say that I only eat grains about 1 day per week, and I try to get variety when I do instead of only one type of grain, so that I’m not always consuming the same types of anti-nutrients which might affect specific minerals from being absorbed in the body. This can lead to some mineral deficiency with over-consumption of certain grains too often.

With all of this said, I think the nutrition community is starting to become more acutely aware of some of the health problems of eating too much grains, specifically modern-day hybridized wheat and GM corn (which is 90% of the corn products in the store).

Is eating “Paleo” the best way Read More »