low gluten cakes paleo primal celiac gluten free-min

Low Gluten Cakes

Well this was a new one for me.  I walked past a Gloria Jean’s coffee shop today and noticed this sign for a “Low Gluten” Hazelnut Chocolate Torte.

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From what I've read about Gluten, it really is an all or nothing protein. Nora Gedgaudas spoke a lot about Gluten in her recent seminar, particularly about how gluten takes months to leave the body.  Going 100% gluten-free seems to be the only way to avoid the negative effects gluten can have.  Of course going strictly 100% gluten-free is also the only way to identify whether gluten has a negative impact.   The significant numbers of people who are intolerant will be effected even by a cross contamination – so “low gluten” just isn't going to do it!

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“Low-fat”, “low-calorie”, “low-carb”, “low-cholesterol”; “low” seems to be the word signalling a healthy product.  I can almost guarantee anything with the word low in the title isn't Paleo.

I’ll have to keep a look-out for “Low Trans Fat” cakes, I'm sure they’ll be good!

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Gluten Free in WA expo Coeliac western australia

Gluten Free in WA

Gluten Free seems to be becoming an increasingly popular way to eat – which can only be a great thing.  Gluten appears to not be tolerated well by a significant number of people – far more than realise they have an issue with it.




A Paleo diet is gluten-free, so would seem to be the ideal solution for Coeliacs.  I was disappointed by the complete lack of Paleo food at the Sydney Gluten-free expo – everything was processed and contained grains and legumes.

Another Gluten Free expo has been announced for 17th & 18th March 2012, in Perth, WA.  Hopefully this one will be a bit more Paleo friendly?

Gluten Free in WA expo Coeliac western australia

HIIT High Intensity Interval Training paleo diet primal fitness crossfit tabata exercise-min

HIIT

As I've mentioned before, I've been a regular at the gym for a couple of years now.  My workouts are primarily HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), which seemed to be unanimously agreed to be the best training method at both the AHS and Nora Gedgaudas’s recent seminar.

HIIT is designed to incorporate bursts of high intensity sprints with recovery intervals.  The sprint sections are typically 60 seconds or so, enough to use every last bit of stored energy in the muscles.  This is very different to “chronic cardio”, where hours can be spent in the gym mindlessly pounding the treadmill.  HIIT improves endurance, fitness, lean muscle mass and oxygen consumption (including after the workout, resulting in fat burning for hours after the workout).  Injury from over training is also a lot less likely with HIIT.

During the last two months of so, I've upped the number of HIIT sessions to three and am amazed at the difference in my fitness and strength.  I can’t wait to see how much fitter I’ll be in a few months time.  Before Paleo I went through phases of chronic cardio and never achieved anything like the results I am enjoying today.

I've been reading lots of differing viewpoints about eating post work-out, and am currently trying the not eating post workout approach.  The idea here is that after using up all of your stored energy your body has to use body fat – and as soon as you eat it will stop that process and start using the food as fuel.

I've read how our bodies are capable of so much more than our minds believe.  I've therefore been asking a lot of fit people how they deal with the mental aspect to training.  There seem to be a few approaches, such as only focusing on the next five reps (instead of the whole set), complete distraction by focusing on music for instance, or focusing on the end goal.  I'm going to try a few different approaches myself to see if changing my thinking can enhance my performance.

What kind of workouts do you do?  I’d be really interested to hear how you approach the mind aspect of your workouts too.

HIIT High Intensity Interval Training paleo diet primal fitness crossfit tabata exercise-min

Avocado Fresh-min

Avocado

I just saw this packaged Avocado in the supermarket, with added Thickner (401) and Vegetable Gum (415)

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I must be missing something, is it really that hard to peel and slice an avocado yourself?

Paleo pizza recipe grain-free

Paleo Pizza

I had some grain loving friends coming round for dinner at short notice, so I wanted to make something that didn't look Paleo at first glance – and also used things I already had.  Pizza seemed like a good choice, as it seems like such a non-Paleo food!  Of course, my pizza used almond meal instead of flour and good quality grass fed meat.

This was the first time I've tried a Paleo pizza and I'll probably experiment with the crust a little next time, perhaps adding coconut flour.  I'm wondering if I could even make it on sliced eggplant and do away with a traditional base altogether?

Paleo Pizza
Recipe type: Dinner
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
For the base:
  • 300g Almond meal
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 tablespoons of coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, oregano, basil & salt
For the sauce:
  • Tin organic diced tomatoes
  • Tin tomato paste
  • 1 crushed garlic clove
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
For the topping:
  • Onion
  • Capsicum
  • Mushrooms
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Beef
  • Kangaroo Steak
  • Coconut Oil
Instructions
  1. I preheated the over to 180 degrees.
  2. I put the crust ingredients in a bowl and mixed them together with a wooden spoon until a ball emerged.
  3. I then greased a baking tray with coconut oil and pressed out the dough trying to cover as much of the tray as possible, whilst keeping the dough relatively even.
  4. I put the base in the oven for 15 minutes until it started to turn crispy.
  5. I put the sauce ingredients in a pan and simmered for about 15 minutes. I then used my blender to achieve a "sauce" consistency
  6. I sliced, then browned the meat in a pan of coconut oil before setting it aside.
  7. I then fried the vegetables in coconut oil for a few minutes.
  8. Once everything was ready I spread the sauce on the crust and added to meat and vegetables.
  9. It was then returned to the oven for another 20 minutes, cut and served!

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It was very well received – as demonstrated by no leftovers – and prompted lots of questions about paleo!  It's nice to make things like this that show how broad paleo food can be.  A nice occasional treat!

Have you tried a paleo pizza?  I'd love to hear how you made yours?
Paleo pizza recipe grain-free

Weston A Price Foundation Conference New Zealand Australia Events Sally Fallon auckland sydney-min

Weston A Price in New Zealand

Apparently Sally Fallon Morell and Geoffrey Morell will be coming to New Zealand next year on a speaking tour with the Weston A Price foundation (WAPF).  Details are still to be announced and it will be between the 24th March and 6th April 2012.




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The Weston A Price Foundation approach is not the same as Paleo.  Dairy as well as grains are not discouraged.  Grains are soaked or sprouted prior to eating to remove some (but not all) of the toxins.  I'm certainly not interested in adding grains to my diet, but I am interested in learning more from the WAPF about things like fermented vegetables and organ meats, which I think could be a really beneficial addition to my diet.

I think a WAPF approach is a huge improvement on a typical Western Diet, and probably a good transition into Paleo.  In fact, a lot of Paleo people I have met started off with a WAPF approach before they discovered Paleo.

It should be a very interesting event to attend – and nice to have something like this in our part of the world.  I'll post the details when they are announced.

What do you think about a WAPF approach?

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Everyday Paleo

I was really pleased to receive a few new Paleo books last week – I've got quite a lot of reading to do! I thought I'd start with Everyday Paleo, which, as a longterm reader of Sarah Fragoso's blog, I've been looking forward to.

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I hadn't realised how inclusive this book was going to be – it covers everything, including what the idea of Paleo is and how you can start from scratch.  One of my favourite topics sleep is also covered, as well as stress.  There is also a big section about fitness (understandable, given that the author is a trainer) and a lot of recipes.

There is a big family and children focus with the book too, which I'm sure would be a great help for families looking to make the move to Paleo.  There is lots of advice on introducing Paleo to children and even Paleo lunchbox suggestions.

The recipe ingredients look like they will convert quite well to Australian availability – but I'll be trying a few out myself later this week.   I'm particularly looking forward to cooking up the Albondigas Soup and the Meaty Pumpkin Souffle.

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Making Flight Food Paleo

I’ve just booked my flights back to the UK for a long awaited Christmas visiting my family.  Australia couldn’t be much further from the UK, which means almost 24 hours of flying each way.  One of the things I hate the most about flying is the very limited Paleo food options.  Often airports limit what you can take through security and onto the plane – which makes it very hard to guarantee good Paleo options. Why can't they make Flight Food Paleo?

I usually fly with Qantas, which offers the following meal options:

  • Diabetic: High in complex carbohydrate and dietary fibre; low in fat; no added sugar; low salt.
  • Fruit Platter: Consists of fresh, tinned and dried fruits.
  • Gluten Intolerance: Do not contain wheat, rye, oats, barley or malt or any milk or milk products.
  • Hindu: Do not contain beef, beef derivatives, veal or pork. Meals may contain fish or lamb.
  • Kosher Meal: Prepared to comply with Jewish dietary laws.
  • Moslem (Halal): Do not contain pork, or pork by-products. All meats come from ritually slaughtered animals.
  • Vegetarian (Asian Indian Style): Contain egg and diary products and are suitable for Hindu vegetarians.
  • Vegetarian (Lacto Ovo): Do not contain meat, fish or seafood but may contain dairy products such as milk, butter, cheese and eggs or foods containing these.
  • Vegetarian (Oriental): Contain vegetables, fruit, rice noodles and can contain nuts.
  • Vegetarian (Strict Indian): Do not contain any eggs, dairy or bulbous vegetables and are suitable for Hindu vegetarians.
  • Vegan: Contain fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and pulses and do not contain any animal products such as meat, poultry, seafood, eggs milk or honey.

On my last two international flights (to PrimalCon and the AHS), I’ve tried different approaches, in the hope that I could stumble upon the best Paleo friendly meal option.

In my option, Diabetic people should follow a Paleo approach, to stabilise their blood sugar levels, so when I went to PrimalCon in April, I ordered a Diabetic meal.  I don’t understand why this is a low-fat, but hoped it would come with some good meat and some alternatives to the processed, sugar filled snacks that often go alongside plane meals.  Some of the actual meals weren’t too bad, for instance a breakfast of eggs, tomatoes mushrooms and spinach and a main meal of chicken, broccoli, carrots and white rice.  Some of the food however, left a lot to be desired.  Rice crackers served with a soy based spread (whilst everyone else on the plane got proper butter) and a breakfast of cereal and soy milk (remember, this is aimed at diabetics).

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In August when I went to the Ancestral Health Symposium, I thought I’d try my luck with a gluten free meal.  My Paleo diet is completely gluten free, so somewhat optimistically I’d hoped for a good equivalent here.  I actually found the gluten free option considerably worse than the Diabetic option.  As I noticed at the gluten free expo, gluten free seems to be a huge industry of franken-foods.  Gluten is omitted – but replaced with lots of processed ingredients I don’t want to consume.  They still serve biscuits, deserts and other junk food, it’s just had the gluten removed.  Not Paleo.

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On the way back, I therefore changed my meal preference and went with the standard option, which was actually much better.  Yes, there was a lot I wouldn’t eat, but most of the food was closer to “whole” food.  Butter was butter and I was lucky to have an option of a “meat and veg” style meal, instead of a pasta based meal.

So for this trip, I think I’m also going to try my luck with the standard option.  It appears I can bring small amounts of packaged food onto the flight, so I plan to try my luck and bring some jerky, raw nuts and avocados.  These foods, along with any reasonable looking meat and vegetables I can salvage from the plane food should be plenty to keep me going.  There’s also the very Paleo option of a coinciding intermittent fasting, should my food get confiscated at security!

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a Paleo meal option of organic, grass fed meat and not a processed product in sight?  Perhaps one day…

I’d love to hear your plane food hacks.  How do you keep it Paleo during a long flight?

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Sleeping on the Floor?

The more I learn and think about evolutionary health, the more links I find with every aspect of my life.

Since I went from more of a Primal diet, to a strict Paleo diet, my previous sleep problems appear to have completely vanished.  I'm now tired in the evenings, fall asleep quickly without even noticing, sleep soundly all night – and wake up before my alarm.  This change in sleep has made it very clear what an essential role sleep plays to overall health and well-being.  I'm quite convinced that even with a perfect Paleo diet and a great fitness regime, without good sleep it would be impossible to attain optimal health.

This has got me thinking about where and how I sleep.  I suspect like you, I sleep on a bed with a big mattress and pillows.  This must be very far removed from how our ancestors slept for millions of years!

I've found some great resources on sleeping that suggest the body is under strain being upright all day, and therefore needs the resistance of a hard service to enable gravity to help realign and reshape the body.  This makes a lot of sense.  Even a relatively hard mattress won’t have enough resistance to enable your bones to realign – where as the ground clearly would.  It makes sense that when sunk into a mattress the lungs are not in the same position and have a reduced area – resulting in less oxygen, which is crucial, especially in enabling the body to relax and repair overnight.

I also wonder about the effect on the body’s temperature regulation, of sleeping on a mattress and under covers.  Is this another detrimental effect of sleeping on a mattress?

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Every time I've been camping and have slept with just a thin foam layer between myself and the ground, I have had a fantastic sleep – but I’ve also woken up very stiff and sore the next morning.  Perhaps the discomfort is due to being used to a soft mattress and will reduce after a few days?  Perhaps a bit of discomfort is not a bad thing?  As with camping, I also slept very well when I travelled to Japan sleeping on hard futons on the floor; again this was not comfortable, but resulted in very rejuvenating sleeps.

Sleep posture also appears to be an important factor to consider, something I've not given much thought to in the past.

I'm therefore planning to conduct a sleep experiment, of at least a week, where I will sleep on the floor each night.  I can then compare how I feel each morning, how well rested I am and how my fitness is affected (for example, if it would promote better posture and alignment, I’d expect this to show in my gym sessions).

Have you ever slept on the floor in the interests of your health, or is this a step too far?  I’d love to hear your comments on all things sleep related!

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Another Nail in the Coffin for Soft Drinks?

It’s good to see yet another study on the detrimental effects of Soft Drinks.  This time a study from the University of Oklahoma compared two groups of women over a five year period.  One group in the 4,000 strong study consumed two or more sugary soft drinks, whilst the other group drank one or less.  The participants had their weight, waist size, cholesterol & triglyceride levels measured and compared over the course of the study.  The study concludes that woman drinking two or more soft drinks a day are at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

What's so bad about soft drinks fizzy coke paleo not healthy-min

The study indicates that whilst the woman’s weight didn't necessarily increase on this soft drink regime, their risk of developing high triglycerides increased four-fold – therefore bodily fat doesn't appear to be the sole reason for the risk.

An observational study like this has far too many variables, yet it is still useful, especially if it leads to further (ideally clinical) studies.  It’s also useful if it makes those who consume soft drinks question their nutrition.   I think it likely a woman who consumes several soft drinks a day isn't likely to be following a healthy Paleo diet in every other aspect of her nutrition.  This makes it impossible to attribute the declining health of that group to their soft drink consumption alone.  I also have trouble with the category of “one of less” soft drinks, as I’d consider one soft drink a day to be very high use – especially where those drinks contain High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)!  I look forward to the full peer reviewed study which may address some of these points.

I think a lot of slim people consider themselves healthy and have an attitude that they can “get away” with a poor diet, including drinking regular soft drinks.  This study goes some way to challenge those views, and perhaps might help make people realise even though they may feel healthy today, they may be storing up problems for their future health.  I just hope studies like this don’t lead to diverted consumption of diet soft drinks, which in my opinion are often even more harmful.

What’s wrong with drinking water?

What do you think of observational studies like this?  Do you think they will they one day start to change nutrition en masse?