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The SexyBack Summit

If you enjoyed the Paleo Summit, or last year's Real Food Summit, you’ll be excited to hear about this year’s summit. This year, it’s all about natural sexual health, with Sean Croxton’s FREE SexyBack Summit!

SexyBack Summit

Instead of solving problems with pills, the SexyBack summit is going to explore natural ways of solving sexual health related issues. For women, issues like PMS, frequent UTIs, yeast infections, fertility, or even a non-existent libido will be addresses – and for men low testosterone, high estrogen, E.D. and a dwindling sex drive will be explored. Balancing hormones, nutrition and fitness are all going to be covered. As people are reluctant to talk about a lot of these issues, they don’t seek help and let these issues remain needlessly. Well, not anymore!

If you missed out on last year’s presentations, here’s how the summit works… Sean has put together 24 presentations (videos you can watch at home, with slideshows). The talks are hosted by all different experts, including by Chris Kresser, Dr. Sara Gottfried, Paul Check, Jane Bennett, Dave Asprey, Alisa Vitti, Elliot Hulse and Dr. Jen Landa. From the first day of the summit on the 19th of May, until the last day on the 26th of May, there will be three to four new videos everyday. The videos are free for you to watch for 24 hours, before they’re replaced with the next days scheduled videos. So you can watch the entire event – and all 24 presentations – completely free of charge!

If you want to reserve your free spot on the SexyBack summit, just click here to register! You’ll also get access to some (free) advanced videos that are showing now.

Real food summit online paleo primal event underground wellness

Announcing The Real Food Summit

After the fantastic Paleo Summit a few months ago, Sean Croxton is about to launch another health conference – the Real Food Summit. This is aimed at anyone interested in real, whole food and is free to attend.

There are so many great speakers I’m really looking forward to learning from, including:

Chris Kresser talking about the importance of fish and seafood
Paul Check on how eating whole foods impacts your mind, body, and soul
Jeffrey Smith on genetically modified foods
Mark McAfee talking about how raw milk can heal a broken immune system
Chris Masterjohn on the nutritional wisdom of Weston A. Price

There are a total of 27 video presentations that will be free to watch during the nine-day summit, by different speakers on many different topics. The Real Food Summit starts in a few days time, on Sunday 8th July (AKA Monday 9th July for those of us in Australia).

Pre-register here if you’re interested in attending the free event – and as an extra bonus everyone who pre-registers will receive a presentation by real food farmer and activist Joel Salatin called “Real Food Defined”

I think this will be a great summit to attend for those already into Paleo, but also to share with those friends and family interested in Paleo, but not quite ready to change their diets…

Have you signed-up to the Real Food Summit yet?

Real food summit online paleo primal event underground wellness

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Paleo Summit – Review

I’ve finally got through listening to all of the Paleo Summit audio files.  I’ve mainly been listening to them on my way to and from work, so I now need to go through the transcripts (or listen again with a pen and paper to hand) as there have been so many book recommendations and interesting points I should have made a note of.

This is my quick review of the presentations in the summit.

Sarah Fragoso – Author, Everyday Paleo; Paleo, Kids, and the Family.

Despite not having children, I really enjoyed Sarah’s talk, in fact I wish all families making a move over to a healthy lifestyle would be able to listen to her.  She’s very realistic and everything she talks about is very accessible – as she’s been through the transtition to Paleo herself (with amazing results), with her own family.

Dr. Jack Kruse MD – Neurosurgeon; Leptin Circadian Cycles

I’ve been following Dr. Kruse’s blog for some time now and have been fascinated by his Leptin Reset.  I sometimes find his blog quite hard to read (I often have to make notes and reword it, to make sense of it), so was interested to learn how his ideas would be conveyed by spoken word, rather than text.  I thought he was a great speaker and that his ideas came across really well in his presentation.  He spoke a lot about inflammation, which is something I’m really interested in.  Dr. Jack Kruse seems to be on the bill at lots of Paleo events this year and I’m looking forward to hearing more!

Paleo Summit

Denise Minger – Author, Death by Food Pyramid; How to Win an Argument with a Vegetarian

After reading Denise’s critique of the China Study, I was looking forward to hearing her talk at the Ancestral Health Symposium last year – only for her presentation to clash with Mark Sisson’s!  I was so pleased to hear her as part of this summit.  She has a very different role in the Paleo-sphere, with her amazing ability to evaluate studies showing how what the media reports is often not what the data really shows.  He talk covered a lot of Vegan/ Vegetarian studies and the issue of confounding variables and was one of my favourites from the summit.  I’d love to invite her to (Paleo) dinner with some vegetarian friends!  I can’t wait to hear more of Denise Minger.

Jimmy Moore – Podcaster, The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show; How To Break Out Of The Grips Of Morbid Obesity And Embrace Healthy Living For Life

Whilst I listen to Jimmy’s podcasts regularly, it was nice to hear him as the interviewee for a change.  I think Jimmy is a great speaker and I enjoyed hearing his transition from more of an Atkins low-carb approach, to a Paleo low-carb approach.  I don’t think Paleo is, or should be a low-carb for everyone approach, but it was interesting to hear Jimmy Moore’s take all the same.

Keith Norris – Trainer, Efficient Exercise; Health versus Performance

I met Keith at the Ancestral Health Symposium, but hadn’t heard him present before, so had high expectations of this talk.  It was interesting to hear about the difference between health and performance – and how so many athletes are actually not healthy.

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Dr. Catherine Shanahan MD – Author, Deep Nutrition; The Paleo Diet vs. Top-Selling Drugs — Who Wins?

I think this was my favourite presentation.  Very pertinent too as I know a few people who have been prescribed some of the specific drugs discussed in the talk.  If only all doctors had this much knowledge and this approach with their patients.  I'd love to hear Dr. Cate Shanahan talk again, hopefully she'll be talking at more Paleo events in the future. 

Mark Sisson – Author, The Primal Blueprint; Ancestral Living Defined

I think Mark Sisson is a great communicator and is responsible for introducing Paleo/ Primal to so many people.  I enjoyed his talk – this is another one I’d want people new to Paleo to listen to early on in their journey.

Erwan Le Corre – Founder, MovNat; MovNat: Moving Naturally

I saw Erwan’s talk at the Ancestral Health Symposium and was looking forward to hearing his accent again!  An interesting talk, but I think his topic is best demonstrated, rather than talked about – to that end I’m really looking forward to having a MovNat session with him at PrimalCon in April!

 Nora Gedgaudas – Author, Primal Body-Primal Mind; Safe Starches: To Eat or Not to Eat?

I’m a huge Nora Gedgaudas fan after hearing her at the Ancestral Health Symposium and again when she toured Australia last year with Nourishing Australia.  She is such a good speaker, with a great skill in making the science understandable and accessible.  I was glad the issue of safe starches was tackled in the summit, as there seems to have been a huge shift in the Paleo-sphere on the issue, with Paul Jaminet taking an opposing view.  I’m still somewhat on the fence regarding safe starches; self experimentation is needed I think.

Paul Jaminet, Ph.D. – Author, Perfect Health Diet; The Evolutionary Evidence for the Optimal Human Diet

Paul Jaminet is so logical, rational and fantastic to listen to.  I found his talk so interesting and valuable – this is one of the talks I need to listen to again, with a pen in my hand.

Diane Sanfilippo – Author, Practical Paleo; Practical Paleo Implementation

This would be another great talk for those new to this lifestyle to listen to.  I’m looking forward to her book coming out.

Chris Kresser – Integrative Medicine Practitioner; An Update on Cholesterol

I always enjoy Chris Kresser’s appearances on Robb Wolfs the Paleo Solution podcasts, so I knew I’d enjoy his talk.  This was a hugely interesting talk about Cholesterol that I wish CW doctors would listen to!

Mat Lalonde, Ph.D. – Research Biochemist, Harvard University; Invalid Inferences: An Organic Chemist’s Perspective on Paleo

I got to hear Mat speak at the AHS, I really like his style and approach.  It was also interesting to hear how Mat actually eats himself!

Dallas & Melissa Hartwig – Health Educators, Whole9 Life; Paleo for Vegetarians

The Whole30 founders put out such good information (I was really pleased to get a free copy of their Whole30 success guide when I downloaded the Summit files) – it was interesting to hear another perspective on vegetarianism, which is often seen as the polar opposite to Paleo.  I might have to play this one to my vegetarian friends…

Dr. Thomas O’Bryan – Gluten Sensitivity Expert; The Musculoskeletal Connection to Autoimmunity Disease

This was another highlight, not only did he explain gluten and auto immune responses he spoke at length about exactly what an allergy is, compared to sensitivites.  I learn a lot from this talk and found Dr Thomas O'Bryan to be an excellent speaker who was very skilled at getting his message accross.

Matt Stone – Independent Health Researcher; Matt Stone Debunks The Paleo Diet

I'm glad the summit included a different perspective on Paleo, but this is a talk I won ‘t be in a hurry to listen to again.  I found all of his ideas completely anecdotal – there didn't seem to be any science or studies to support his argument.  He didn't seem to be debunking Paleo per say, but more low-carb – or people dogmatically refusing to change their macro-nutrient ratios.  I just don't think it works like that.  I'd be super interested to hear what you thought of Matt Stone's talk in the comments below.

Amy Kubal, RD – Registered and Licensed Dietitian; Paleo for Endurance Athletes

I'm really glad this was included.  The more into fitness I get, the more I hear people talking about how you can't do Paleo and endurance sport – well Amy clearly shows otherwise, having won a marathon on Paleo herself!  I wish all athletes would listen to this!

Reed Davis – Founder, Functional Diagnostic Nutrition; Stress, Hormones, and Paleolithic Man

Very interesting talk looking at the stress modern man is under versus the stress the Paleolithic man would have experienced.

Paul Chek – Founder, C.H.E.K. Institute; Living Primal: Instinct Before Intellect

There were some interesting points raised in this talk about getting back to the basics, but wonder if some people might find the start a little difficult to get into.

Dr. Allison Siebecker – Naturopathic Doctor; Paleo Digestive Troubleshooting

This was a very interesting talk that I learnt a great deal from.  So many people seem to have digestive issues, which Dr Siebecker talked about at great length.  Anyone with any form of digestions issues needs to listen to this presentation!

Dr. Daniel Chong – Naturopathic Doctor; Earthing as an Essential Nutrient

I've been hearing more and more about earthing, so was interested to hear this talk.  This probably isn't one I'd recommend to someone skeptical of the Paleo lifestyle, but it made so much sense to me!

Stephanie Greunke, RD – Registered Dietitian; Ditch the D Word!

Perhaps this would be a useful perspective to someone new to this way of life, but I didn't learn anything new from this talk.  I'm not bothered whether you call it a diet, a nutrition plan or a regime – the name makes no difference to how I eat!

Dean Dwyer – Blogger, Beyond Primal; The Inner Game of Paleo

I'm glad someone like Dean was included in this summit.  Dean was overweight and did a lot of research, finding a sustainable way to live – and getting to the right weight.  A lot of people in the Paleosphere came into it without needing to lose weight, so it's good to hear from someone who is an example of how it can be done.

If you missed the presentations the upgrade is still available with all of the files.
Paleo Summit Order Now

Have you made your way through the presentations yet?  Which ones did you like (and dislike?) – and who would you like to hear next time?

PrimalCon

7,497 Miles to PrimalCon

One of the highlights of 2011 so far was the weekend I went to PrimalCon 2011 in California in April.  I enjoyed it so much, that I booked my ticket for the 2012 event as soon as the tickets went on sale this morning.

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Sunset at PrimalCon

I hadn't realised quite how far America was from Australia when I booked this year.  I went at quite short notice and used my air miles, so didn't pay too much attention to minor details like flight times.  I was trying to minimise time off work, so I left Australia on the Friday and flew back on the Sunday night.  This was a big mistake!  I now know very well that Los Angeles is a very long 14 hour 7,497 mile flight from Sydney.  To make matters worse, as I used my air miles, I was assigned a very impressive route of Sydney to Brisbane, a night in Brisbane, a flight from Brisbane to Melbourne, then finally I got on my international flight at Melbourne!

It was all for the best however, as I met a wonderful new friend on the flight to LA, who was also attending PrimalCon (with just two people going from Australia, what were the chances of us being on the same flight?)

I'm planning to make PrimalCon 2012 into a much more sensible length America trip, especially as it falls the weekend after Easter.

I made some lifelong Primal friends in April, in fact, I spent a wonderful week in Texas with two of my PrimalCon friends, and met up with some others at the AHS in August.  I'm really looking forward to catching up with them and making some more Primal friends.

Over the whole weekend, the food was incredible.  So much was local Californian produce and it was great to have things like Kale and Turkey, which I find so difficult to find here in Australia (if you know of any good sources here, please let me know in the comments!)

One of my highlights from the weekend was the running workshop with Barefoot Ted.   I learnt so much from him and my running style has changed forever.  In fact, it was his workshop that inspired me to buy my Vibrams!  I'm thrilled to see Barefoot Ted is back again for next year’s event – hopefully I can refine my technique further still.
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Erwan Le Corre is a new presenter for the 2012 event.  I really enjoyed his talk and demonstration on MovNat at the AHS this year, and to have the opportunity to have a small group workshop with the guy who does this is incredibly exciting!

I just received my latest Amazon book order of Exuberant Animal by Frank Forencich yesterday – so couldn't believe it when I read Frank Forencich is also a presenter at PrimalCon!  I’d better get started on his book…

Hopefully we'll be able to get Mark Sisson over to Australia/ New Zealand in the near future, but in the meantime…  anyone else coming to PrimalCon with me?