Make Paleo your drug

It's not easy.  It's a huge life change.  Maybe the biggest one you will have made in a very long time.  But I PROMISE you it is worth it.  You're going to have loads of cravings.  You have to be strong.  You can't give in.  There are billions of testimonials out there about Paleo saving lives and reversing disease.  Don't you want to be able to share your own story?  Our  doctors and the pharmaceutical industry want us on their drugs to put some dollars in their pockets.  Drugs only mask symptoms but food can reverse and cure what ails you.  You have a choice.  The drugs WILL kill eventually.  They are not natural.  Our bodies are strong and can fight illness if we give it the proper fuel.  The most-used drugs in America are, primarily, used to treat conditions that can be better treated without drugs.  

While uncontrolled high blood pressure is a very serious health concern that can lead to heart disease and increases your risk of having a stroke, it's important to understand that natural approaches are very effective for this condition.

Following a healthy nutrition plan and limiting fructose along with exercising and implementing effective stress reduction techniques will normalize blood pressure in most people.

You'll also want to be sure your vitamin D levels are optimized, as vitamin D is a negative inhibitor of your body's renin-angiotensin system (RAS), which regulates blood pressure. If you're vitamin D deficient, it can cause inappropriate activation of your RAS, which may lead to hypertension.

The first thing you need to do is remove all grains and sugars, particularly fructose, from your diet until both your weight and your blood pressure have normalized. Eating sug­ars and grains -- in­cluding any type of bread, pasta, corn, potatoes, or rice -- will cause your insulin levels, and your blood pressure, to remain elevated.

It's simple. Avoid all that is processed.

"If a product does not naturally occur in nature or has to be chemically processed, it is NOT natural and cannot be called all natural even by a major stretch of the imagination."

"Stick with organic foods as-much-as-possible (which are healthier for you anyhow) and avoid all processed foods. It's really not even about the money; it's about your health."

False labeling

Here's a bit of what we've been eating this week:

Boston butt and garlic...

Boston butt became pulled pork bbq with carrot souffle

Taco salad with homemade buffalo sauce

"green juice"

Noatmeal with coconut and berries

Balsamic chicken and red onion

AND just last night we met up with a lady who works with Candy's Cats and adopted this little guy :)  His name is Nimbus and he's a little over 3 months old.  Humphrey is slowly learning to accept him...

It's Not Me- It's YOU

I just came across this article on whole9life's site that sounded all too familiar.  Or, "hit home" and they say.  I find it challenging and somewhat difficult to enjoy an evening out with friends or even lunch break at work as there is always someone making negative comments about my eating and drinking choices.  

During lunch one day at work I had a friend comment on my paleo packed meal from home as he chowed on his cheesesteak sub with a side of fried cheese sticks and a giant cookie for dessert.  He had asked what my purpose was for eating paleo and after giving a brief explanation of wanting a healthy lifestyle he said: "I have a purpose too and it's to ENJOY life."  Obviously my idea of enjoying life is very different from this person's.  I'd rather live a long, HEALTHY life free of hospital bills and medications than to feel the brief high of a sugar cookie or a carb-loaded lunch.

I have learned I can't speak of paleo without receiving negativity.  People don't seem to want to give me the time of day.  I do want to preach and push and show the world how much paleo can improve the way they look and feel and that it's not just a fad but I am always biting my tongue.  

Here's the article I can relate so well with.  Enjoy.

It's not me, It's YOU

Vegetarianism=hazardous

I can still be found reading this morning.  More of The Paleo Answer.  I started at the beginning last night and have just arrived at the chapter on vegetarianism. 

I assume many of you (if there were people actually reading this) have numerous friends and/or acquaintances who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet. I certainly do.  Heck, there was a time when I chose vegetarianism and surely believed it to be THE way to eat.  The healthiest choice.  Now, I definitely don't think it is a healthy way of living but who am I to convince the world otherwise?  

Loren Cordain on the other hand, now he's a bit more qualified.

VEGETARIANISM

"Any lifelong dietary plan that requires nutrient supplementation on a regular basis makes no sense from an evolutionary perspective."

"One of the most destructive changes in our bodies caused by vitamin B12 deficiency is the appearance of a toxic substance in our bloodstream known as homocysteine.  Without sufficient dietary sources of vitamin B12, a chemical reaction within our bodies is impaired and causes blood concentrations of homocysteine to rise."

"Because vegetarian diets cause vitamin B12 levels in the bloodstream to plummet, which in turn makes homocysteine levels rise dangerously, you might expect to find high rates of cardiovascular disease in strict lifelong vegetarians."

"Phytate is not a good thing because it prevents the absorption of essential minerals.  Whole grains and legumes are rich sources of phytate, and our bodies have great difficulty extracting certain minerals from these foods because they are tightly bound to phytate.  ...phytate in whole grains impairs calcium absorption and may adversely affect bone health; phytate also binds zinc, interfering with its assimilation and incorporation into our cells.  To this list, you can add iron and magnesium."

"Because vegetarian diets are virtually impossible to follow without including lots of whole grains, beans, soy, and legumes, they are inherently high in phytate.  This is why it is difficult or impossible for vegetarians and vegans to maintain adequate body stores of calcium, zinc, and iron."

There you go.  And I still am only about half way through the chapter.  

Library De Paleo- in the making. And some grain bashing.

I want to own every paleo book out there.  This seemed achievable when Evan and I first began our switch to paleo lifestyles but now we are lagging behind as more and more books are being published and more and more people jump on the paleo bandwagon.  But, this is definitely a GOOD thing.

I have read:

The Paleo Answer

The Paleo Solution

Primal Body Primal Mind

Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival

Plus have several paleo cookbooks.

And I follow numerous paleo-minded blogs.

Still on my WANT list:

Well Fed

Practical Paleo

Paleo Slow Cooking

It Starts With Food

Deep Nutrition

Ancient Bodies, Modern Lives

ETC...  

You see, it's tough keeping up but I'm so thankful for so many good reads and the abundance of information available.  I still have much to learn and will forever be expanding my knowledge for both personal and public use.

Not only have I enjoyed the initial cover to cover reading of my paleo books but they make excellent reference tools when asked questions on whole grains or autoimmune diseases or anything paleo related.  Obviously.

Today I pulled Loren Cordain's The Paleo Answer from the shelf and skipped ahead to the chapter "Grains are antinutritious."

Just to clarify, here are some excerpts :)

Fiber: "Although whole grains have four times more fiber than refined grains do, they are lightweights when compared to either fresh fruits or veggies.  Furthermore, the insoluble fiber found in every whole grain except oats does not have a blood cholesterol-lowering effect as does soluble fiber present in fresh fruits and vegetables."

Phytate: "It may seem as if whole grains are a great source of calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc.  Not true.  All whole grains contain an antinutrient called phytate or phytic acid, which binds these minerals and makes them unavailable for absorption in our gastrointestinal tracts.  ...the more whole grains you eat, the more likely you will become deficient in these minerals"

"Excessive whole-grain consumption adversely effects skeletal health by impairing vitamin D and calcium metabolism.  The more whole grains you include in your diet, the less calcium will be available to build and maintain a healthy skeleton."

It's a choice.

Evan and I have been struggling recently (big surprise) in our life goal or quest to consume strictly paleo foods.  Last night we sat in front of the computer to listen to some Robb Wolf podcasts and then watched a food documentary to give ourselves the slap in the face we needed.  It's on!


This was the film we found on Netflix: Food Matters

"Good health makes a lot of sense.  But it doesn't make a lot of dollars."

"It's a choice.  You don't have to be sick."

"If everybody ate lots and lots of fresh, organic food that was minimally processed I think we'd have an epidemic of health.  I think the stock market would tremble. The drug industry is a half trillion dollar a year worldwide conglomerate.  Almost 300 billion dollars just in North America.  This is really really big business.  What would happen if everybody were well?"

It's so frustrating for me to watch documentaries like this one.  It would be SO EASY to make ourselves, our entire world, healthy but basically because of money we are sick and fat.  We are killing ourselves.  With the help of our medical doctors and pharmaceutical drugs, we are killing ourselves.  I won't be a part of this.  I know the truth and I will do what I can to let others know as well.   It's Less Complicated Than You Think

Please Mr. Postman look and see if there's a letter in your bag for me

You know what's cruel?  The mailman leaving us this note and there not really being any sort of parcel/package/large envelope/box of any size waiting in the office.  

Let down.

I wish we had this guy for a mailman.  I realize he's made of clay and is only a mailman on television and that he couldn't really be our mailman but, I can dream.  And I dream of this guy as our mailman.

Our real life mailman looks more like this.  He talks to himself while stuffing mailboxes and seems to injure himself often.  He's a bit kooky.  

Hopefully our missing parcel doesn't really exist because I'd hate to think that the kooky mailman could be a thief!

Here's what I've digested today.  

Veggie scramble with turkey bacon

spices, onion, grass-fed beef

grass-fed beef burgers

bacon AND burger

bacon burger and sweet potato fries

iced americano