The Paleo Diet. Learning from our evolution

[Determinator]

The Paleo Diet. Learning from our evolution

ok, here's a recent Paleo meal that came out most splendid:



Grilled and sliced pork loin is piled lovingly onto a mound of coconut-oil fried julienned yams and topped with a fresh cumin/cilantro/extra virgin olive oil/garlic/lime vinaigrette. Surrounding this is a ring of mixed greens also drizzled with the same, then on the perimeter a scattering of caramelized red bell peppers and onions finished with a drizzle of champagne vinegar.

[peacenik]

The Paleo Diet. Learning from our evolution

i do not feel or claim to be morally or spiritually superior because i don't eat animal flesh or excretions, i honestly don't like them! i get creeped out by meat and milk makes me think of pus...also, i love animals and the thought of eating them makes me sad. that doesn't make me superior in any way, just a bleeding heart. :H

if i had to (in a starvation/societal collapse scenario) i'd totally hunt and eat meat.
i grew up the opposite of you det, my biological dad had a 10,000 head of cattle ranch in montana!

i do totally agree with eating less grain and more fat, and have experienced good changes after implementing those factors.
soy products are highly processed and i do not eat them (my husband does, in droves!). i do eat tempeh and edamame, though. i drink coconut milk.

anyway...to each their own!
:l

[Determinator]

The Paleo Diet. Learning from our evolution

Peace, I'm also a big softie when it comes to animals. I really adore them and would make a pretty lousy rancher I assure you. I'd be a veggie today if it worked for me, but the mood swings/depression and cravings are just horrid for me without the bio-available nutrients that only meat can provide. as a libertarian I very much support personal choice in all matters (especially diet) yet I wonder how many people are suffering because they don't realize that oral supplements aren't providing the nutrients to their brains/bodies. I guess the litmus test for this would be to verify we are happy with:

-our body fat percentage
-our sleep quality
-our mood stability
-our energy levels
-our blood lipid/triglyceride results (HDL to LDL ratio being most critical)
-our cellular inflammation (blood tests for this as well)

and that would pretty much tell us if what we are doing is working right.

[Bruunhilde]

The Paleo Diet. Learning from our evolution

Wow Dete, this is amazing stuff.

I get dizzy just reading it! I've read a hundred books that talk about these same things though, so luckily alot of it is already part of my brain, which is lucky because my little brain would just explode viewing the page otherwise. You have so much good stuff in here, and beatle posted a really good page as well, I'd like to know what you each do for supplements and a sample eating day. I did see a recipe or two, but didn't see a sample eating/supplement day. Would you share or point me to where you've already posted something like this?

There are so many things to make sure you have in your diet, I'm so disorganized, and you seem not to be (maybe you're AL free), so I thought perhaps I could cheat off of you. I know you do paleo. I just had a Jarrow protein shake with coconut milk base, tea, and will have my green drink in an hour or so (blended kale and other leafy greens). Is that a decent start to a day?

Also, I cut down on my bac (not to hijack the thread here, just stating so you'll know that I may feel better just due to that) because it had me unable to function for the past four weeks. I'm now going to refocus on the supplements and keep a low dose bac for anxiety, which it is great for.

Also, I'm giving up legumes per your link below, but is it okay for me to take psyllium husk which I love because it makes me have manageable regularity? It's all unsoluable but I do have another supplement I sometimes add which is soluable.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

B

[Determinator]

The Paleo Diet. Learning from our evolution

Bruunhile, your query on psyllium husk is beyond my current scope of knowledge but I'd say that a traditional paleo diet rich in varied sources of veggies would suffice for your need of fiber.

I'd ask that question for Robb Wolf's web cast also

[Determinator]

The Paleo Diet. Learning from our evolution

The Organic Elite Surrenders to Monsanto: What Now?
• By Ronnie Cummins
Organic Consumers Association, Jan 27, 2011
Straight to the Source


"The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well. True coexistence is a must." - Whole Foods Market, Jan. 21, 2011

In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto's Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America's organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market , Organic Valley , and Stonyfield Farm , has decided it's time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto's controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for "coexistence" with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack.

In a cleverly worded, but profoundly misleading email sent to its customers last week, Whole Foods Market, while proclaiming their support for organics and "seed purity," gave the green light to USDA bureaucrats to approve the "conditional deregulation" of Monsanto's genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant alfalfa. Beyond the regulatory euphemism of "conditional deregulation," this means that WFM and their colleagues are willing to go along with the massive planting of a chemical and energy-intensive GE perennial crop, alfalfa; guaranteed to spread its mutant genes and seeds across the nation; guaranteed t o contaminate the alfalfa fed to organic animals; guaranteed to lead to massive poisoning of farm workers and destruction of the essential soil food web by the toxic herbicide, Roundup; and guaranteed to produce Roundup-resistant superweeds that will require even more deadly herbicides such as 2,4 D to be sprayed on millions of acres of alfalfa across the U.S.

In exchange for allowing Monsanto's premeditated pollution of the alfalfa gene pool, WFM wants "compensation." In exchange for a new assault on farm workers and rural communities (a recent large-scale Swedish study found that spraying Roundup doubles farm workers' and rural residents' risk of getting cancer), WFM expects the pro-biotech USDA to begin to regulate rather than cheerlead for Monsanto. In payment for a new broad spectrum attack on the soil's crucial ability to provide nutrition for food crops and to sequester dangerous greenhouse gases (recent studies show that Roundup devastates essential soil microorganisms that provide plant nutrition and sequester climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases), WFM wants the Biotech Bully of St. Louis to agree to pay "compensation" (i.e. hush money) to farmers "for any losses related to the contamination of his crop."

In its email of Jan. 21, 2011 WFM calls for "public oversight by the USDA rather than reliance on the biotechnology industry," even though WFM knows full well that federal regulations on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) do not require pre-market safety testing, nor labeling; and that even federal judges have repeatedly ruled that so-called government "oversight" of Franken crops such as Monsanto's sugar beets and alfalfa is basically a farce. At the end of its email, WFM admits that its surrender to Monsanto is permanent: "The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well True coexistence is a must."

Why Is Organic Inc. Surrendering?

According to informed sources, the CEOs of WFM and Stonyfield are personal friends of former Iowa governor, now USDA Secretary, Tom Vilsack, and in fact made financial contributions to Vilsack's previous electoral campaigns. Vilsack was hailed as "Governor of the Year" in 2001 by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and traveled in a Monsanto corporate jet on the campaign trail. Perhaps even more fundamental to Organic Inc.'s abject surrender is the fact that the organic elite has become more and more isolated from the concerns and passions of organic consumers and locavores. The Organic Inc. CEOs are tired of activist pressure, boycotts, and petitions. Several of them have told me this to my face. They apparently believe that the battle against GMOs has been lost, and that it's time to reach for the consolation prize. The consolation prize they seek is a so-called "coexistence" between the biotech Behemoth and the organic community that will lull the public to sleep and green wash the unpleasant fact that Monsanto's unlabeled and unregulated genetically engineered crops are now spreading their toxic genes on 1/3 of U.S. (and 1/10 of global) crop land.

WFM and most of the largest organic companies have deliberately separated themselves from anti-GMO efforts and cut off all funding to campaigns working to label or ban GMOs. The so-called Non-GMO Project , funded by Whole Foods and giant wholesaler United Natural Foods (UNFI) is basically a green washing effort (although the 100% organic companies involved in this project seem to be operating in good faith) to show that certified organic foods are basically free from GMOs (we already know this since GMOs are banned in organic production), while failing to focus on so-called "natural" foods, which constitute most of WFM and UNFI's sales and are routinely contaminated with GMOs.

From their "business as usual" perspective, successful lawsuits against GMOs filed by public interest groups such as the Center for Food Safety; or noisy attacks on Monsanto by groups like the Organic Consumers Association, create bad publicity, rattle their big customers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, Costco, Supervalu, Publix and Safeway; and remind consumers that organic crops a nd foods such as corn, soybeans, and canola are slowly but surely becoming contaminated by Monsanto's GMOs.

Whole Food's Dirty Little Secret: Most of the So-Called "Natural" Processed Foods and Animal Products They Sell Are Contaminated with GMOs

The main reason, however, why Whole Foods is pleading for coexistence with Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and the rest of the biotech bullies, is that they desperately want the controversy surrounding genetically engineered foods and crops to go away. Why? Because they know, just as we do, that 2/3 of WFM's $9 billion annual sales is derived from so-called "natural" processed foods and animal products that are contaminated with GMOs. We and our allies have tested their so-called "natural" products (no doubt WFM's lab has too) containing non-organic corn and soy, and guess what: they're all contaminated with GMOs, in contrast to their certified organic products, which are basic ally free of GMOs, or else contain barely detectable trace amounts.

Approximately 2/3 of the products sold by Whole Foods Market and their main distributor, United Natural Foods (UNFI) are not certified organic, but rather are conventional (chemical-intensive and GMO-tainted) foods and products disguised as "natural."

Unprecedented wholesale and retail control of the organic marketplace by UNFI and Whole Foods, employing a business model of selling twice as much so-called "natural" food as certified organic food, coupled with the takeover of many organic companies by multinational food corporations such as Dean Foods, threatens the grow th of the organic movement.

Covering Up GMO Contamination: Perpetrating "Natural" Fraud

Many well-meaning consumers are confused about the difference between conventional products marketed as "natural," and those nutritionally/environmentally superior and climate-friendly products that are "certified organic."

Retail stores like WFM and wholesale distributors like UNFI have failed to educate their customers about the qualitative difference between natural and certified organic, conveniently glossing over the fact that nearly all of the processed "natural" foods and products they sell contain GMOs, or else come from a "natural" supply chain where animals are force-fed GMO grains in factory farms or Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs).

A troubling trend in organics today is the calculated shift on the part of certain large formerly organic brands from certified organic ingredients and products to so-called "natural" ingredients. With the exception of the "grass-fed and grass-finished" meat sector, most "natural" meat, dairy, and eggs are coming from animals reared on GMO grains and drugs, and confined, entirely, or for a good portion of their lives, in CAFOs.

Whole Foods and UNFI are maximizing their profits by selling quasi-natural products at premium organic prices. Organic consumers are increasingly left without certified organic choices while genuine organic farmers and ranchers continue to lose market share to "natural" imposters. It's no wonder that less than 1% of American farmland is certified organic, while well-intentioned but misled consumers have boosted organic and "natural" purchases to $80 billion annually-approximately 12% of all grocery store sales.

The Solution: Truth-in-Labeling Will Enable Consumers to Drive So-Called "Natural" GMO and CAFO-Tainted Foods Off the Market

There can be no such thing as "coexistence" with a reckless industry that undermines public health, destroys biodiversity, damages the environment, tortures and poisons animals, destabilizes the climate, and economically devastates the world's 1.5 billion seed-saving small farmers. There is no such thing as coexistence between GMOs and organics in the European Union. Why? Because in the EU there are almost no GMO crops under cultivation, nor GM consumer food products on supermarket shelves. And why is this? Because under EU law, all foods containing GMOs or GMO ingredients must be labeled. Consumers have the freedom to choose or not to choose GMOs; while farmers, food processors, and retailers have (at least legally) the right to lace foods with GMOs, as long as they are safety-tested and labeled. Of course the EU food industry understands that consumers, for the most part, do not want to purchase or consume GE foods. European farmers an d food companies, even junk food purveyors like McDonald's and Wal-Mart, understand quite well the concept expressed by a Monsanto executive when GMOs first came on the market: "If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it."

The biotech industry and Organic Inc. are supremely conscious of the fact that North American consumers, like their European counterparts, are wary and suspicious of GMO foods. Even without a PhD, consumers understand you don't want your food safety or environmental sustainability decisions to be made by out-of-control chemical companies like Monsanto, Dow, or Dupont - the same people who brought you toxic pesticides, Agent Orange, PCBs, and now global warming. Industry leaders are acutely aware of the fact that every single industry or government poll over the last 16 years has shown that 85-95% of American consumers want mandatory labels on GMO foods. Why? So that we can avoid buy ing them. GMO foods have absolutely no benefits for consumers or the environment, only hazards. This is why Monsanto and their friends in the Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations have prevented consumer GMO truth-in-labeling laws from getting a public discussion in Congress.

Although Congressman Dennis Kucinich (Democrat, Ohio) recently introduced a bill in Congress calling for mandatory labeling and safety testing for GMOs, don't hold your breath for Congress to take a stand for truth-in-labeling and consumers' right to know what's in their food. Especially since the 2010 Supreme Court decision in the so-called "Citizens United" case gave big corporations and billionaires the right to spend unlimited amounts of money (and remain anonymous, as they do so) to buy media coverage and elections, our chances of passing federal GMO labeling laws against the wishes of Monsanto and Food Inc. are all but non-existent. Perfectly dramatizing the "Revolving Door " between Monsanto and the Federal Government, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, formerly chief counsel for Monsanto, delivered one of the decisive votes in the Citizens United case, in effect giving Monsanto and other biotech bullies the right to buy the votes it needs in the U.S. Congress.

With big money controlling Congress and the media, we have little choice but to shift our focus and go local. We've got to concentrate our forces where our leverage and power lie, in the marketplace, at the retail level; pressuring retail food stores to voluntarily label their products; while on the legislative front we must organize a broad coalition to pass mandatory GMO (and CAFO) labeling laws, at the city, coun ty, and state levels.

The Organic Consumers Association, joined by our consumer, farmer, environmental, and labor allies, has just launched a nationwide Truth-in-Labeling campaign to stop Monsanto and the Biotech Bullies from force-feeding unlabeled GMOs to animals and humans.

Utilizing scientific data, legal precedent, and consumer power the OCA and our local coalitions will educate and mobilize at the grassroots level to pressure giant supermarket chains (Wal-Mart, Kroger, Costco, Safeway, Supervalu, and Publix) and natural food retailers such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's to voluntarily implement "truth-in-labeling" practices for GMOs and CAFO products; while simultaneously organizing a critical mass to pass mandatory local and s tate truth-in-labeling ordinances - similar to labeling laws already in effect for country of origin, irradiated food, allergens, and carcinogens. If local and state government bodies refuse to take action, wherever possible we must attempt to gather sufficient petition signatures and place these truth-in-labeling initiatives directly on the ballot in 2011 or 2012. If you're interesting in helping organize or coordinate a Millions Against Monsanto and Factory Farms Truth-in-Labeling campaign in your local community, sign up here: Volunteer for an OCA Campaign

To pressure Whole Foods Market and the nation's largest supermarket chains to voluntarily adopt truth-in-labeling practices sign here, and circulate this petition widely:Tell Your Grocer: We Want GMOs & Factory Farm Products Labeled!

And please stay tuned to Organic Bytes for the latest developments in our campaigns.br />
Power to the People! Not the Corporations!

Ronnie Cummins
Organic Consumers Association

[Ringing Cedars]

The Paleo Diet. Learning from our evolution

So what do you have to say about that Det??xo

[Bruunhilde]

The Paleo Diet. Learning from our evolution

Hey Dete,

Thanks for the link to the email to Costco etc. Sent mine!

Question: I was reading your post quote MYTH #9 and my thoughts are that while our saturated fat consumption as a population may have decreased, I don't think the overall populate is a good "sample" of our diets because it was different in the industrial age, for example, when people no longer farmed and the poor didn't get as much fat perhaps, than the rich did. In the 1500-1600's, being semi-fat was considered beautiful, look at those chubby women and men in famous Masters' paintings. I think some people were fat because they could afford it, and they didn't have to exercise (churn their own butter) because they could afford it, and the stats aren't separated out for rich and poor for any particular century including ours. One could say today, that the poor are fatter than the rich, through fast food dependence and lack of education, however, that is shifting quickly in this generation.

Perhaps due to lack of exercise but in my case, I was an exercise fanatic and never could get down to a size 4, on minimal calories a day. I now think that was due to lack of the right, natural food, I lived alot on Lean Cuisine (every lunch) and either fruit or half an english muffin (white) with margerine (back before transfats were discovered to be awful) for breakfast, and two beers for dinner and milk to calm my hungry stomach before bed. AL, lol, was my dieting tool to avoid eating more food which was alot of pasta during my veg years. No wonder the 2 hour gym workout (half weights, half hard aerobic) was so tough.

Regarding the discussion of heart disease, cancer and other disease/health problems that have historically not been caused by animal rpoducts, I think alot of the health issues in our generation (of working age people) are caused by toxicity in our environment when we were growing up and perhaps by GMO and other crap we're unable to avoid. Or example, Monster crops (Monsanto) have seeds that blow in the wind to the organic farms nearby, and cross polinate, so they contaminate even the organic farms which by the way, are being sued by Monster for stealing.... MIND BLOWING. I can only hope I've read something untrue in some of these readings.

I read angry, personal stories on baldness website and thyroid websites about people moving to the US and getting fat and bald - fluorine in their water (a toxic industrial waste product promoted to end tooth decay) and chlorine, another toxic substance, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Not to mention GMO and all the stuff in food to increase it's shelf life. I read a story about someone who brought a loaf of famous San Francisco sourdough and forgot about it in her suitcase and found it was mold free after two weeks. That's just not natural. The fish oil many of us take has formaldhyde in it as a preservative. Read your labels and get the lowest level of preservative you can, IF you can find it listed.

Our animal products are contaminated as are all other substances in our world today, meat and animal products cannot be blamed anymore than pesticides and industrial farming.

Industrial meat production is particularly cruel however, so I at least try to buy grass fed for it's kinder lifestyle for the animals that give us their lives, and for it's omega 3's. Now if we can get it labeled so we know whether it was grain finished in a feed lot or not, that would be progress! :l

Another change in the mid-century was new medicine. When babies no longer died due to infection, hypothryoidism and other diseases skyrocketed. Theory is that weaker more disease prone babies lived who would have died if not for pennicillin and many vaccines, so that's something taken out of all arguments that push meat and fat as the reason for more disease.

[Determinator]

The Paleo Diet. Learning from our evolution

Great post Bruunhilde. Out of simplicity, laziness and greed we have considerably fewer 'real' foods on market shelfs these days but it's good to see some entrepreneurs taking the lead. Here is an outfit I found that sells packaged lunch meats that are actually natural and they practice human farming:

Applegate Farms Organic Meat and Natural Meats

I've tried the turkey and the pepperoni and they are both quite good happy to say. This sort of food I'd usually never buy (I like to cook from scratch at home) but being a 'roadie' I have to find decent quality foods I can travel with.

Also a nice short introductory by Robb Wolf of Paleo Solutions for fun and inspiration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HkqBxpPBeI[/video]]YouTube - Robb Wolf - The Paleo Solution

[Bruunhilde]

The Paleo Diet. Learning from our evolution

Thanks Dete,

Can you comment on what protein powder you use and why? My Jarrow is about gone, and I went into a health store and was bamboozled by all the bodybuilder supps. The guy was trying to sell me some other protein powder, I told him I am looking for meal replacement not just protein, and he said a certain powder (don't recall brand) had both long and short (like Jarrow) term protein benefits, he said that Jarrow only lasts an hour in your body. I was thinking you might know what's going on with that theory.

He also said they don't carry Jarrow bkz it's too expensive, which tells me the stuff they have on the shelf isn't of a quality I'd probably want.

I want something like the powder form of Ensure, plus any leangains type of benefit. Any suggestions?

[Determinator]

The Paleo Diet. Learning from our evolution

Jarrow is not carried because it's more of a wholistic/naturalistic brand and you pay for the difference indeed. it's not super hyped in weight-lifting markets with fancy adds either.

here's a bunch to check out:
Protein Powders, Meal Replacement Formulas & Diet

honestly the more I learn about liquid diets (shakes etc) the less excited I am about them since they hit your bloodstream so fast and tend to spike insulin levels. that being said, if you don't need to lean-out and simply need more protein they are the handy way to go. I highly recommend checking out the Robb Wolf podcasts. entertaining and packed with great info.

[peacenik]

The Paleo Diet. Learning from our evolution

eat real food.

[Determinator]

The Paleo Diet. Learning from our evolution

exactly!. unless you really need extra protein because of some special dietary need. although if you follow paleo you should be getting tons of good protein. i used to take the shakes out of convenience but honestly, preparing really good food is damn important. and we should really make the time. and it's yummy good to see you again Peacenik!

[Bruunhilde]

The Paleo Diet. Learning from our evolution

Thanks both of you. I am supplementing with the powder because I cannot eat, I can barely make myself have an egg or quinoa or a piece of toast (dreaded gluten, but any way to get some nutrition in). I got to this place from screwing up my GI system through AL and also bac's nausea. I've backed down on both (although the AL is a constant fight) so hopefully my appetite will normalize.

This (extreme lack of appetite, not the GI distress) also happened because I've tried to cut out all the gluten and dairy and be paleo, which is very difficult for me because of all the flesh - I was a veg for 10 years for ethical reasons and find it hard to depend so much on it. So I added back in the quinoa just for some good whole food.

Thanks again for your input and advice.

[Determinator]

The Paleo Diet. Learning from our evolution

Bruunhilde, if your having GI issues then I'd strongly advise against the quinoa due to the heavy concentration of lectins/saponins it contains which are strong irritants of even a healthy human gut.

for good whole food it's veggies all the way. for comfort food try yams/sweet potatoes. you can even microwave them if you have to at work (although I'd precook them traditionally and bring as leftovers).

also L-Glutamine is VERY important to rebuild a damaged GI/gut.

Leaky Gut Syndrome Treatment - Glutamine, Glucosamine, Aloe Vera, Vitamin A