baking

8 ways to tell if someone is going to fall off the Paleo bandwagon big time...
09/22/2010 - 13:46

And I ain't talking a baked potato here. I'm talking cupcake/fried crap/PUFA/sugar binge time. I know about this from experience unfortunately, but also from seeing plenty of people go down the road to a paleo diet that's unsustainable. Here are the warning signs:

  1. Overemphasis on weight-loss. Paleo is not a crash diet! It's an overall health strategy and you may need time to get nourished before you lose weight. I find that some paleos who are obsessed with weight restrict calories excessively and fast despite hunger. These people are grumpy, edgy, and hungry. The mere sight of a cookie will cause their resolve to crumble.
  2. A politically correct "mostly plants" paleo diet is another great way to fall off the bandwagon. Insulin-spiking fruit and low-fat low-calorie salads are a malnourishing combination guaranteed to make Hardee's fries look like the best food on Earth.
  3. Candy cigarettes. "Paleo" versions of your favorite unhealthy foods almond-flour cupcakes are likely to make you feel heavy and cause binging behavior. That's if they even taste good...more likely you'll waste $$ making soggy and unappetizing brown lumps with $30 bags of "flour." Occasionally I have some raw gluten-free "cracker" nonsense and feel like a brick has been dropped in my stomach for several hours.
  4. Faileo dieting. Faileo dieters like the idea of a paleo diet, but aren't quite sold on the idea of fat being good. They just can't bear to add some bacon to their salad. Watch out, these faileo dieters tend to be in a foul mood and complain about their diet a lot. They may appear catatonic, but can be revived by pouring coconut oil or lard into their skiness boneless chicken breasts while they aren't watching. Seriously though, eat some freakin fat!
  5. Over-perfectionism. Seeing that the dining hall buffet doesn't have grass-fed meat, this paleo gives up and opts for hummus and pita bread. At least it's kinda healthy right? Sorry, but conventional beef and lamb aren't that unhealthy. They aren't my first choice, but they have better fatty profiles than pastured chicken, actually. And unlike factory-farmed chicken or pork, these animal DO spend some time on pasture. It's only for the last part of their lives that they are fattened on feedlots. I think grass-fed beef is worth it, but in situations where getting it is impossible, like at a hospital or school cafeteria, opt for imperfect paleo over giving up.
  6. Underperfectionism. Yes, this can be a problem too. Don't be the dude that does paleo with corn-syrup drenched General Tso's chicken, gluten-battered Kentucky Fried Chicken, and sugar-sauced commercial BBQ. Sugar= not paleo, even if it's on meat.
  7. Self-consciousness. Yes, you can order a burger without a bun. Nobody cares.  When I realized this it was awesome and it's allowed me to eat way more meals out than I would if I took the menu at face value.
  8. Truly frightening cheats. If you have a cheat meal, cheat responsibly. Have a good taco made with a corn tortilla, a good dark chocolate bar, or some cheese grits with butter. A cheat meal is not a good excuse for a fried gum-drop topped cupcake.

Comment?: 23
Phytic Acid: taking off the paleo blinders
02/02/2010 - 11:46

Nuts are delicious...they aren't a grain, they are full of fat, low-carb, they are "paleo" what is there not to love? 

Apparently, lots. I addressed their imbalance of fats in a previous post and how they probably aren't paleo, but today an article on Cheeseslave about dental health got me interested in more:

In the interview, Rami told me that peanuts are as bad as soybeans when it comes to phytic acid content. He said that nuts are extremely high in phytic acid. He said that he thinks peanut butter that has not been soaked and sprouted is a “garbage food”. Rami told me that seeds are the absolute worst. Even worse than soy or peanuts. Sesame seeds have double or triple the phytic acid that soy has.

Let's look at the data:

How can paleo dieters bash grains and legumes for antinutrients when they are eating just as many in the form of nuts and seeds? It makes me wonder... which is really a better choice: a "paleo" pancake made from almond butter or a traditionally fermented idli? The idli probably has less phytic acid, that's for sure.

Since phytic acid robs the body of minerals, I think I will avoid it best I can. If I think about it carefully, since I am eating expensive meat...when I eat phytic acid it is robbing me of money!

The paleo diet can blind people by forcing them to argue about the history of food rather than its objective properties. But nuts lose either way. The only evidence of large-scale consumption of nuts comes from mesolithic and neolithic societies. They were between agrarian and foragers, as they still consumed wild foods, but they also engaged in activities that boasted nut production. As I was reminded in a recent permaculture workshop I took (you can view the slideshow from it here), agroforestry is still a form of agriculture.

Comment?: 11
The Seedy Side of Paleo
01/30/2010 - 19:04

 

woman will be happy when I spend all day gathering 1000 tiny seeds to make tahini with instead of clubbing a deer

 While nuts are well-accepted as paleolithic foods, seeds are little more contentious. Technically nuts ARE seeds, but botanics aside, what we think of as nuts are big enough that gathering a decent amount of calories from them in the wild is feasible. The same can't be said for seeds- most are tiny and it can take a long time to harvest enough to make anything out of. I learned this harvesting pigweed seeds. I was hoping to get enough of this amaranth relative to make porridge with, but I ended up with only enough to garnish a piece of fish. 

What about their place in a modern paleo diet? After all, we eat plenty of things that would have been tough to gather. For me, the problem with seeds is that if you eat large amounts of them you will be eating nutrients in ratios and amounts that are not appropriate for us evolutionarily. Furthermore, the polyunsaturated fats in them go rancid easily. While some might find hemp useful, I think it's a bad food, at least in the US because you cannot buy it whole and how long has that hemp powder been sitting on the shelf? Probably long enough to render some of those nice omega-3 fatty acids rotten. Flax is a popular ingredient in "paleo" baked goods, but ground and shoved in the oven, the fats can't be good. 

Furthermore, if you eat lots of seeds with the exception of flax, the ratio of omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 fatty acids is likely to tip towards the latter, which is probably not a good thing. 

Several sources of information suggest that human beings evolved on a diet with a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFA) of approximately 1 whereas in Western diets the ratio is 15/1-16.7/1. Western diets are deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, and have excessive amounts of omega-6 fatty acids compared with the diet on which human beings evolved and their genetic patterns were established. Excessive amounts of omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and a very high omega-6/omega-3 ratio, as is found in today's Western diets, promote the pathogenesis of many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and inflammatory and autoimmune disease

Furthermore, the conversion of any omega-3 from plants in your diet is hampered. The omega-3 fatty acids present in plants, alpha linolenic acid, is not immediately usable in the body. In order to be used, it must be converted to Docosahexaenoic acid. The enzymes that do this conversion are called Holman's enzymes. Unfortunately, they are also responsible for converting omega-6 fatty acids (mostly linoleic acid) to arachidonic acid. Lots of omega-6 means that there is not enough of Holman's enzymes to do the job. This is discussed in Susan Allport's book The Queen of Fats

Data for the US indicate that Americans consume between 11 and 16 grams of linoleic acid per day during the years 1989 and 91 and about 1 to 2 grams of alpha linolenic acid. At that ratio, only about 15 percent of the alpha linolenic acid is converted to DHA and eicosapentaenoic acid. At lower ratios, the conservation rate is much higher. The best conversion occurs at a ratio of 2.3:1

For paleo dieters who eat seafood, this shouldn't be a huge problem, but if not, it can be an issue. 

Let's also talk about phytic acid, an anti-nutrient present in many seeds, can reduce mineral absorption. There are a couple of other issues, like some estrogenic compounds in flax.

So that's why, in the Paleo Foods section of the site, I classify seeds as Not Paleo, but give the pros and cons. Some tahini sauce on your kale probably isn't as bad as some whole bran bread, but I would recommend keeping their consumption low. Use them as if you had to gather them yourself. 

Comment?: 3
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