I was really interested to discover a fantastic blog, by a nine year old British schoolgirl, Neverseconds. She’s been taking photos of her school dinners and posting them onto her blog. As someone with a passionate interest in nutrition, but no children, this is such an interesting insight. The blog obviously isn’t written from a Paleo standpoint, but it is very interesting to gauge just how far away school dinners are from (what I would deem) optimal.

For young children, good nutrition is absolutely crucial; they are growing and more importantly their brains are still developing. It’s becoming accepted that fat is extremely important in the nutrition of children; yet these lunches are clearly following the outdated low-fat “wisdom”. I find it concerning that young children eat their dinner staring at a big “LOW FAT” label, such as on the yoghurt. Even subconsciously this will lead to a long, deep held belief that fat must be avoided. As well as fat, the dinners look to be very low in protein too.

I also find the amount of refined carbohydrates concerning. After lunch the children will have grossly elevated blood sugar levels – leading to a crash probably during their next lesson. A crash in blood sugar levels isn’t conducive to concentration and alertness!

There are so many processed foods, very little looks entirely homemade (perhaps just reheated). When cooking for large numbers as in a school setting, it should be perfectly possible to cook nutritious lunches from scratch, using local produce, on a budget.

Surely good nutrition should be easy with children? They don’t have a choice and aren’t in the position to research and understand about nutrition in the same way adults are. What they eat as a child is likely to set their eating behaviours for life. It is so sad to see how these children are fed, by the very people who should be setting them up with good nutrition.

Do you have school aged children? I’d love to hear what the rules are at their schools – and what they are served. Are you able to insist your child eats Paleo at lunchtimes? How do you navigate a Paleo child and a conventional wisdom school lunch menu?

This way of eating, this lifestyle, is given so many names. You might follow a Paleo Diet or a Primal Diet – or perhaps you eat an Ancestral Diet or eat like a Caveman?

Does it matter what it’s called? And do the different terms even refer to the same way of eating?

Paleo Diet

The term “Paleo Diet” was coined by Loren Cordain and originally had a far less liberal stance on Saturated Fats. He has now updated his books on this and on the use of sweeteners, to the popular “Paleo Diet” followed by many today. Robb Wolf has also played a significant role in popularising the Paleo Diet as it is today.

As well as avoiding grains and legumes, Paleo also avoids dairy. In the Paleo community strict adherence to a Paleo diet is recommended for at least 30 days. After this period foods can slowly be re-introduced and any impact assessed to determine which foods have a detrimental effect and should be avoided in the future.

Primal Diet

The Primal BluePrint way of eating is from the book, written by Mark Sisson – and is much more than just nutrition. The plan places as much importance on movement, lifting heavy things, reducing stress, sleeping properly and getting some sunshine as it does on nutrition. Nutritionally Primal is very similar to Paleo in the avoidance of grains and legumes; dairy is where they differ. A Primal way of eating includes dairy – though it is recommended that it is raw dairy; from grass-fed Ruminants, un-pasturised and ideally fermented. Lacto-Paleo is another term used to describe eating a Paleo style diet, but with the inclusion of dairy.

The jury is still very much out on dairy. The growth hormones such as IGF-1 and the insulin response are behind the refusal of many, to include dairy in their diets. A lot of people find they don’t tolerate dairy well, which is reason enough to avoid it!

Ancestral Diet

This term can apply to any form of Paleo, but I hear this term used more amongst the scientific/ research pockets of the community.

Caveman Diet

This is the term almost exclusively used by the mainstream media when talking about any type of eating that touches on Paleo. The term “Caveman Diet” is usually accompanied by photos of cavemen, Fred Flintstone or semi-naked people eating raw meat! When people talk about a Caveman Diet, they seem to assume it’s required to act like a caveman too and don’t realise it’s about science, not reenacting cavemen! I would never refer to a Paleo or Primal way of eating in this way, but ultimately if it raises awareness amongst more people, I guess it doesn’t matter what it’s called!

There are a lot of descriptions of ways of eating that have similarities to Paleo. I think a gluten-free diet could come close (though I think many people avoid gluten, but replace it with other undesirable refined grains and processed foods). The Atkins diet is also commonly assumed to be Paleo – and whilst there are similarities, it’s very possibly to follow Atkins eating nothing but junk food; not Paleo! A Weston A Price way of eating also has many similarities.

How do you describe how you eat? Do you avoid using labels like “the Paleo diet” or “the Primal diet”?

I’ve been reading a lot about Dr Terry Wahls recently. Dr Wahls was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2000 and immediately went on a quest to learn as much as she could about the chronic neurodegenerative disease – and how she could delay what seemed to be the inevitable decline to the illness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc

 After extensive research and experimentation she started eating essentially a Paleo diet, ensuring this included nine cups of non-starchy vegetables and berries each day. This diet ensures 45 nutrients, that appear to be essential to the brain, are consumed in sufficient quantities. Of course, a standard western diet is woefully deficient in these nutrients.  Over time she reversed her MS; an amazing achievement.

It doesn’t seem to be any great surprise that a diet of natural, real food can transform many diseases. But I was surprised to see MS Australia fundraising earlier this week – by selling cupcakes! I’m sure they sell well and I realise the people they are selling them to don’t have MS. But you wouldn’t see a lung cancer charity fund raising by selling lighters. It surprises me to see so many charities fund raising by selling products that clearly don’t help with the condition.

What do you think about Dr Terry Wahls protocol and her recovery?

Ok, so obviously grains, legumes and perhaps dairy are no longer on the agenda – but what else should you give up as you embrace a healthy Paleo lifestyle?

1. Marking Every Event With Food

Birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day – it’s all become about the food! Whenever there is a celebration of any sort it is so often marked with food – and it’s very rarely grass-fed beef jerky, omega-3 enriched eggs and avocados. Instead of taking in birthday cakes to the office – how about marking your birthday with an impromptu office trip to the park or a social event?

2. Relying on Everything But Your Own Two Feet

So you’ve got a car and a bus pass? That doesn’t mean you should use them all the time. We’re supposed to walk, it’s good to walk; find a way to incorporate it into your day!

3. Trying to Please

When all of your friends eat differently, it’s easy to feel alienated in your Paleo diet. They might suggest a pizza restaurant – or cook a non Paleo dinner for you. In the short-term the easy option is to eat the food and avoid the risk of offending them. But it’s time to think long-term; this is how you want to eat; this is important to you – so be strong and stick to your principles! Who knows, they might even respect you for it.

4. Unrealistic Expectations

If you’ve come to Paleo looking to lose 15kg in two weeks, think again! Paleo is not a diet, but something to follow for life. It might take a while to achieve the results you seek, but give it time and they will come.

5. Your Doctor?

If your doctor is more interested in treating your symptoms with drugs, rather than finding out the underlying issue; perhaps it’s time to look for a new doctor?

6. The Past

Perhaps you used to struggle with making good food choices, or you used to make pancakes every weekend. Just because you used to do things, maybe now is the time to let go of the past and make some changes!

7. Fears

Whether you have an irrational fear of fat lingering from your conventional wisdom, low-fat days; or a fear of getting ill – there’s no room or purpose for that fear anymore, besides positivity is far more constructive.

8. Excuses

It’s too easy to blame a hectic travelling schedule, long working hours or bad finances for making poor nutrition and fitness choices. If you want to make it happen, you can make it happen – drop the excuses!

9. The Middle of the Grocery Store

Unless you enjoy studying packets of junk food, to see how many ingredients you can’t pronounce – it’s time to give up the middle of the supermarket. Everything you need will be on the perimeter – or better still, outside at farmers markets!

10. Avoiding Sunshine

Another phobia it’s time to let go of! Whilst it’s not good to burn, getting some sunshine and making your own Vitamin D is a good thing!

11. Your Shock Absorbing Running Shoes with Nano Technology

How did our ancestors manage without them? Have you tried running barefoot?

What have I missed from the list? What else should you let go of as you embrace a healthy Paleo lifestyle?

In the last three weeks I’ve been fortunate enough to meet and learn from two former Olympians. To become one of the best in the World at a particular discipline, they clearly know a lot about what that takes. If I can learn just some of that and apply it to my own life, perhaps I can adapt their methods and enhance my own life? I also have a particular interest in their own nutritional beliefs and practices.

Michael Stember

The first Olympian was American track & field athlete, Michael Stember, who taught a sprint class at PrimalCon last month. Being at PrimalCon he completely “gets” Paleo and everything that involves. I learnt a lot of practical running tips from him that I’ve been putting into practice – but what I found most enlightening was the psychology he applies to his sport. He made it really clear that just wanting to achieve a goal is not enough. To achieve a goal you have to dream about it and have the certainty that you are going to make it a reality.

Matt Welsh

Earlier this week I went to a talk by Australian swimmer Matt Welsh. He is an ambassador for a health fund, so I expected his message to be a blend of agendas. Matt started describing his own story and how he got into Swimming relatively late at the age of 18, but made the national team. I’m really interested in the mental aspect to training and achieving goals, which he spoke about at length.

Psychology

Matt started off on a smaller scale with his training – but he always kept in mind the big picture of the goal he wanted to achieve. This seems far more realistic than launching straight into a daunting regime – which is going to do anything but inspire. I was interested to hear how much importance he placed on being confident in races. He achieved this by “sabotaging” small local competitions (i.e. deliberately not wearing his swimming goggles), which meant that if something went wrong on the day of a big race, he’d already encountered that situation and knew how to deal with it. He removed the fear of the unknown by creating these different experiences.

I was also intrigued to hear the how much importance was placed on visualisation. The swimmers would visualise every detail of the race, as if they were actually in it. This process ensured that on race day they knew exactly what they were going to do, which ensured they stayed focused – at the optimum performance and arousal levels.

After the session (before I broke into my obligatory nutrition question), I asked Matt what he thought about when he was in the midst of a difficult training session. I’ve been asking this question of every athlete I meet, as I’ve found just changing my thoughts during a training session makes the difference between a dreadful session – and an exceptional session. Matt told me he used to let his mind wander and look at the tiles at the bottom of the pool – then one day he realised he was wasting his brain power. He switched his focus and would think about what his muscles were doing with each stroke – or when on the treadmill focus solely on a spot in the distance and not let his mind wander.

By-Product

It was interesting to hear Matt talk about how, when his focus was on swimming, he was fit and healthy. But being fit and healthy was a by-product of his swimming. He concentrated on training, technique, race strategy, nutrition, recovery and exercise to get to his swimming goals. When he retired from swimming all of a sudden good health and fitness were no longer automatic and for the first time in his life he had to make them his focus.

He stressed the importance of enjoying the exercise you do – and not just exercising because you feel you have to, rather because you enjoy the activity in its own right. Consistency is key.

Nutrition

I was very eager to hear what he had to say about nutrition; as you’ve probably gathered, this is my favourite topic. The nutrition discussion started well, as Matt stressed the importance of eating what you need, before eating what you want. If you focus on what you want you won’t have room for what you need. Sadly the nutrition section then turned into not only a teaching of conventional wisdom (food pyramids, cut out fat – you get the picture), but also a soapbox on the importance of carbohydrates (and he wasn’t talking about sweet potatoes)!

Matt had mention that he’d just started reading “Sweet Poison” by David Gillespie, so I thought it was a safe bet he’d know something about Paleo. Or Primal, or an Ancestral diet – or even a Caveman diet! I wasn’t sure what to ask to get onto the topic of nutrition, but I thought I’d ask what he thought about a Paleo diet, which is something that has been very beneficial to me, but seems very different to what he discussed. His answer made it apparent that he didn’t know much about Paleo – but had always been taught the nutritional approach he’d spoken about and he knew there were lots of studies backing up that nutritional approach.

He’d mentioned in his talk that he doesn’t think we need to know the ins and outs of nutrition (but that it’s great if you do learn). He said we all know what’s healthy and we just have to make the healthiest choice available at any given time. I found his response to my question really enlightening as I just assumed athletes would have an interest in researching nutrition and experimenting on themselves. After all, they know how essential nutrition is to their performance and recovery. Clearly this isn’t the case and often the nutrition advice handed out is taken as gospel without being questioned or experimented with. Personally, I disagree. I think everybody needs to know at least the basics on nutrition. Given that we literally are what we eat – how can we not have an interesting in understanding what we eat and what our body does with it?

Do you think people need to understand a little about nutrition? Or is it enough that they follow advice that someone else has researched?

One of the things I liked so much when I started researching about Paleo, was the ease and simplicity. The books basically tell you to eat a simple diet, of the natural foods we’ve evolved to eat. I found there really was nothing confusing or contentious. As well as reading the Paleo and Evolutionary health books – I read everything else I could find on nutrition. There is a book for every fad diet imaginable, with completely conflicting and confusing advice. Some of the diets just seem downright complicated to follow and devoid of any logic.

One of the bestselling diet books in Australia at the moment is about the “DASH Diet”, so I couldn’t resist taking a look. I’ve noticed the newer fad diets seem to be more closely resembling Paleo, so I always hold out hope that books like this will be about Paleo, but with a different name.

DASH stands for “Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension” and is aimed at those suffering from High Blood Pressure, though it also has a significant focus on weight loss. I had high hopes when I picked up the book – but it quickly became apparent that the book is based on the flawed food pyramid. The plan recommends a diet high in fruit, low-fat dairy and whole grains. It also advises avoiding processed food and limiting (not eliminating) sugar.

Menu Suggestions on the DASH diet - Insulin for Breakfast, Anyone?

While the DASH diet is based on studies, these studies only compared three different nutritional plans. Unfortunately they don’t give the specific meal plans for each of the diets in the study, just the macro nutrient profiles – and some of the micronutrient profiles. From this it’s apparent the DASH diet had 10% less fat than the other diets (taken entirely as Saturated fat), with the 10% added onto the protein and carbohydrate consumed. Without knowing exactly what they ate, this is rather meaningless. Cheap, commercial chocolate is high in saturated fat – as is butter – they clearly aren’t equal, yet this study doesn’t allow us to differentiate.

The book is full of un-Paleo recommendations such as only eating whole-grain bread, avoiding coconut oil, trimming all visible fat off meat and only eating low-fat dairy.

I’m sure someone coming from a highly processed SAD diet would (initially) see benefits on a DASH diet – but only because they had cut out processed foods, sugars and therefore reduced their carbohydrate intake. It saddens me that unwell people follow this diet in good faith – when it isn’t based on good science – and certainly doesn’t seem optimal.

What do you make of the DASH diet and the other fad diets out there?

With the month of May rapidly approaching, I feel it’s the ideal time for another “Whole30”.

What is a Whole30?

The Whole30 is another word for “strict Paleo” for a month. This is a popular approach recommended across the Paleosphere as a way to initially get into Paleo, to identify any food intolerances you may have, or just as a means to refocus. A Whole30 means eating lots of good quality meat, eggs, vegetables a little fruit, nuts and seeds. Grains, legumes, dairy and alcohol have no place on the Whole30!

Why am I Doing Another Whole30?

Whilst I have been following Paleo for a couple of years now, I’ve found I’ve recently got a bit lazy with my nutrition and have been having lots of the same meals over and over. Whilst there’s nothing specifically wrong with this, it’s not the most interesting approach, and probably isn’t meeting all of my micronutrient requirements. I’ve also been having dried fruit more often than I should (why did I have to discover medjool dates?)

I’ve been keen to try an auto-immune protocol for a while, so incorporating this into my Whole30 will work well. I often forget to my supplements, especially Vitamin D, so for this month I’m going to be religious about it – good timing on the Vitamin D as we’re seeing a lot less sun, as we approach winter here in Australia.

With an auto-immune protocol I will also be omitting Nightshades (tomatoes, capsicum and peppers – since I don’t have potatoes they won’t be a new omission for me) and nuts and seeds. Some people skip eggs too on an autoimmune protocol, but I think that’s a step too far for me. I don’t have any particular health issues I’m looking to clear up since Paleo took care of my Asthma, but I have suspicious I’d fare a lot better without Nightshades. All will become clear!

How to do a Whole30

The Whole30 is so easy to do, but it does require some organisation. If it’s your introduction into Paleo, it’s a good idea to clean out your cupboards and fridge before you start – get rid of anything that reminiscent from a SAD diet and make sure you have all of the herbs, spices and ingredients on hand for the coming month. There’s a fantastic step by step guide in the Whole30 ebook explaining how to go about this for success.

I use the Whole30 as a culinary challenge – I use it as an excuse to try lots of difference recipes. In fact, the last Whole30 was such an enjoyable experience last time as we ate a different meal every single day – something I’m very far from at the moment!

My Whole30 approach is to spend some time on Sundays working out what’s happening during the coming week. When I know what I’m doing each day, I flick through my Paleo Cookbooks and assign a meal to each day. I then go out and buy all of the ingredients I’ll need for that week (taking a lot of care to ensure everything will be as fresh as possible on the day I have planned to eat it!) and prep anything I can in advance. This time I’m going to quadruple everything I cook, to stock the freezer up with lots of different lunch options to take into work.

I’m going to track my Whole30 using Cronometer, so I can get a good assessment of where my macro and micro nutrient ratios sit over the month. This month should give me some good tools (and recipes!) to tweak my diet after the Whole30.

Fortunately my house mate is also very keen to do another Whole30 – sharing the shopping, cooking and culinary inspiration certainly makes it a lot easier!

Have you done a Whole30 yet? How did you find it? Care to join me for a Whole30 May?

On the way to LAX airport from PrimalCon, my new friend Jennifer and I stopped off in Santa Monica for coffee (Jennifer) and tea (me). We got talking to an interesting couple, who seemed keen to find out about us, as soon as they realised we had different accents to them.

They were asking what we were doing in California, to which we replied rather vaguely, telling them we’d been to a health conference. The conversation then progressed onto health and how healthy our new friends believed they were. That’s where they proudly told us they were Vegan, clearly of the popular belief that that is the ultimate in healthy lifestyles. That wasn’t really a conversation I felt like having, so didn’t delve further. However, it wasn’t long before they asked exactly what our health conference was about. Before I could say it was a Kettlebell conference (I know, gutless – but this was Vegans on their hometurf) Jennifer quickly announced we’d been to PrimalCon – and were Paleo, pretty much the opposite to Vegans. Carnivores. I filled the silence by explaining how we actually have a lot in common. We don’t eat feedlock, intensively farmed meat.  We are really careful to ensure our meat is ethical and comes from well cared for animals, in their natural environment and fed their natural diet. They seemed to accept this, before the woman started to tell us how she could never eat a cute, soft, cuddly, beautiful cow and how if she saw one she’d have to take it home so she could pat it and stroke it all day. Or something like that.

This conversation (and the book I’m currently reading “The Vegetarian Myth”) has got me thinking about the similarities and differences between being Paleo and being Vegetarian or Vegan.

Is it possible to be Vegan or Vegetarian and Paleo?

I’ve even seen increasing numbers of people on Paleo forums posing the question as to whether it is possible to follow a Paleo lifestyle as a Vegan or Vegetarian. Denice Minger has a talk about this very subject. With the absence of meat and dairy too (in the case of Vegans) this group often rely heavily on grains as a source of calories and legumes as a protein source. A shift from a grain and legume heavy diet, to a meat-free Paleo diet would be quite a transition, but theoretically possible – probably involving lots of nutritionally dense eggs. I guess it’s a lot easier for those Vegetarians who do eat fish (Pescetarians) – that would certainly make following a Paleo style diet a lot easier…

The Vegetarian/ Vegan is Healthy Myth

I don’t think it’s accurate to assume that just because someone is Vegetarian they automatically live a supremely healthy lifestyle. Whilst a lot of Vegetarians are healthy, there also seem to be a lot of “Junk Food Vegetarians”. So many processed foods have the “V” Vegetarian symbol. In fact, it would be very easy for a Vegetarian to conduct their entire diet through packets of processed foods, without a vegetable in sight. I think this is where Paleo differs. Whilst I’m sure industry will start to produce “Paleo Processed Foods”, they will never be Paleo – as the whole basis of Paleo is to eat natural, uncomplicated, whole foods.

From Vegetarian/ Vegan to Paleo?

A lot of people do seem to become Vegetarian or Vegan through concern for their health. It amazes me how many of those now following  a Paleo lifestyle used to be Vegetarian of Vegan, in fact, the 2012 Paleo Survey results show that over 38% of Paleo respondents used to follow either of those lifestyles.  I have a lot of respect for these people, as it can’t be easy to go through such a transformation. How do you start the process of telling your friends and family you now eat meat? Do you spend time as a secret meat eater before casually ordering a steak at dinner with friends?

Have you ever been Vegetarian or Vegan? Do you think Paleo is the polar opposite lifestyle?

Whenever I watch the Biggest Loser and they show the former diet of the contestants, I’m always struck by the colours of the food. Almost everything they ate is beige, brown and anaemic yellow in colour, broken up with the black of the cokes they drank (usually diet, clearly that worked) and a few fluorescent coloured sweets and cakes.

Burger buns, bread, pizza, chips, fries, crisps, popcorn, pastries, cakes, biscuits, sugary milky coffee – it’s all virtually the same colour. It seems utterly depressing eating beige foods the entire time; it must start turn your World, well, beige after a while.

Contrast that with a healthy Paleo or Primal diet where virtually every colour seems to be represented.  Certain colours are actually attributed to certain properties – for example the vibrant orange foods like Carrots and Capsicum provide Beta Carotene and dark green vegetables are rich in Vitamin K. It’s not just pretty, eating lots of different colours really is essential for a good nutrient intake.

How colourful is your diet? Could you live in a beige world?

After a 14-hour flight, five movies, no sleep and more intermittent fasting than planned (more on that in a future post) – I made it back to Sydney from PrimalCon yesterday, exhausted – but very inspired!

This was my second year at PrimalCon, so I had a better idea of what to expect this year – and even some wonderful friends from last year I was excited to see again.

Last year was my first time in California, so I assumed it was always hot and sunny there. Packing with that assumption was a big mistake! The weather completely changed on Friday, the first full day of PrimalCon, so much so that the day’s activities were moved inside – thank goodness! I must make sure I bring some warmer clothes next year, just in case.

When I first arrived at the resort, I noticed a few people in minimalist footwear who I knew must be there for PrimalCon – and people drinking energy drinks who I knew I could safely guarantee weren’t there for the same reasons!

I finally got to meet Primal Girl, Tara Grant in person at registration. We’d been in contact over email, but it’s definitely no substitute for meeting in real life. Tara was there for the whole weekend answering questions, telling her own story and giving ideas to the participants. She really is such an inspiration and looks the image of health!

Last year Barefoot Ted’s session was my introduction to barefoot running. Since then I’ve been wearing Vibrams regularly, so I learnt so much more from him this year. Ted is a great storyteller and teacher. During a break in the rain we went outside for his class. Predictably as soon as we got to the furthest point, the storm came back with a vengeance, giving us even more incentive to put what we’d learnt into practice to sprint back to the hotel as quickly as possible!

Barefoot Ted's Running Session - a Brief Pause in the Rain!

The sprint clinic with Olympian Michael Stember dovetailed perfectly with the barefoot running class, I’m really looking forward to putting everything I’ve learnt into practice and trying to make my running style look and feel as effortless as both Michael and Barefoot Ted’s.

Sprinting Drills with Michael Stember

William Vives is an expert on kettlebells and fitness and took his session in a corridor of the hotel (the rain was that heavy!) focusing on getting the techniques right. This was a great session as it’s all too easy to get distracted by speed and number of reps – and letting form suffer. I’ve been using kettlebells for a while, but learnt so much that was completely new to me in William’s class. William gave me so many fantastic tips and advice which I’m so grateful for – I feel like he’s helped to bring my fitness goals a lot closer. If only we had a William Vives in Australia!

William Vives - Kettlebell Expert!

One of the sessions I’d been looking forward to the most was Erwan Le Corre, founder of MovNat. I’d heard him speak at the AHS 2011, but his brand of teaching needs to be on the move, not behind a lectern. Unfortunately my group was the first; we were hoping for a break in the weather, but it just got worse and worse. In true Primal style, we persevered, crawling, jumping and lying on the ground. Despite the weather, it was enough to convince me to sign up for one of his 7-day courses – once I master pull-ups (Erwan says this isn’t essential, but I want to get the maximum benefit from his class). Other than the class it was fascinating watching Erwan over the weekend. He never seemed to sit – even at lunch he ate his lunch from a grok squat on his chair. He also seems to look at the world in an entirely different way – I could see him studying the ground and objects, working out how he could get across/ over/ under/ along different surfaces. He really does live and breathe MovNat!

Meeting Erwan Le Corre

Mark Sisson took a couple of sessions talking and answering all sorts of different questions. It’s really interesting to hear which topics are hot issues at the moment. Predictably Cold Thermogenesis was of interest, as Jack Kruse has recently brought to the attention of the Paleo community. Ketosis was another issue that was asked about in various guises.

Kelly Starrett was new this year and was such a pleasure to listen to – he spoke about mobility, which is so important, yet really overlooked. I’d planned to catch up with him later to find out more, but got sidetracked with all of the other things that were going on.

I’d barely even noticed Vanessa and Adam Lambert on the schedule with Olympic Lifting. This was one of the choice sessions and I was delighted to have a one-on-one session with Adam. I’ve been interested in Olympic Lifting for a while, but had never actually tried it before. It was amazing, my favourite session of the weekend! I went from being really unsure of the strange movements, to some great lifting. I want more of this! Vanessa used to train with Robb Wolf and was giving some incredible gymnastics lessons and demonstrations. Perhaps next year I’ll give that more of a try.

Chef Rachel Albert was also back from last year, only this year her Paleo cookery demonstration was from a beach house. I’d learnt so much last year, so had high expectations this time – and she didn’t disappoint. Her demonstration was full of so many tips, often really simple ideas, but things I’d just never thought of doing before! It’s great to have a chef championing Paleo cooking.

Chef Rachel's Paleo Cooking Demonstration

As you’d expect, the food was absolutely amazing. I find it so hard to get Turkey and Kale in Australia, so made the most of their abundance! On the first evening we were served a soup and my first thought was that I would obviously have to leave it – then I remembered where I was! It’s such a wonderfully refreshing change knowing that all of the food was 100% Primal, not a grain or legume in sight – and certainly nothing processed.

It’s funny meeting so many people with the same beliefs on nutrition; you’d think all of the conversation would be about being Paleo, but it’s not at all. You already know you have that common basis and so much else to discuss. There were quite a few of us from overseas this year, including a few from Europe and the UK and even another Sydneysider – who’d have thought!

I’ve come away feeling inspired with new friends and so many new tips and ideas I’m itching to put into practice. I hope to see more of you there again next year, for PrimalCon 2013!