Events Archives - Page 4 of 4 - The Paleo Network

Food & Health as Evolution Intended – Nora Gedgaudas

11 Comments/in Blog Posts, Events, Ex, Paleo/by PaleoGirl

Yesterday I went to Nourishing Australia’s “Food & Health as Evolution Intended” seminar. The seminar was held at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and featured five lectures by Nora Gedgaudas, and lectures by Bruce Ward on naturally grazing animals and Costa Georgiadis on the importance of where food comes from.

I’d heard Nora Gedgaudas speak at the Ancestral Health Symposium in August and really enjoyed her talk – it was just 45 minutes though, so the opportunity to hear her talk for a whole day, in my own city, was too good to miss.

I was so pleased to see such a full lecture theatre yesterday. The audience was a very varied mix of medical professionals, nutritionists, as well as people who had only recently heard about Paleo. There were also a few familiar faces from the Sydney Paleo meet-up group.

As much as I enjoyed the AHS in August, food wasn't included, and being on the UCLA campus good Paleo food wasn’t on hand. At yesterdays seminar however, the event was catered and the food was fantastic. Agape Organic Restaurant provided all of the beautiful food yesterday. Whilst the food was organic and sourced locally, it wasn’t Paleo as it included a bit of dairy, quinoa, corn chips (!) and some sweetened dressings. It was fairly easy to avoid these elements though and the good sized portion of beef and chicken at lunch was very satiating.

The seminar started with an overview of where we have come from and the food we evolved eating. The other topics covered included fats and carbohydrates; grains, the link between nutrition & mental health & primal fitness. The key messages I got from the conference concerned insulin and blood sugar. Reducing the insulin requirements – by controlling blood sugar appears to be crucial in so many aspects of our health and longevity. Gluten was also spoken about frequently – and I’m now going to be a lot more cautious to ensure I completely avoid it, especially when I’m eating out.

I really enjoy listening to Nora Gedgaudas, as she is a great speaker who has the ability to put across complex science and theories in a very accessible way.

If you’re in Australia and missed the Sydney seminar, they are going to be in Armidale on the 16^th November and the Gold Coast on the 19^th November; so it’s not too late to book!

Morning tea: Pumpkin, spinach and basil frittata, Ham, tomato and cheddar frittata. Salmon, pear, chilli, chive & quinoa tatare Corn chips Wagu & pork meatball & Cherry tomato relish

Lunch: Grass fed wagu beef, Roast chicken

Lunch: Roasted Vegetable & Honey mustard dressing salad Broccoli, daikon, carrot, zucchini, adzuki & miso sesame dressing salad Beetroot, parsley, sultana & honey yoghurt dressing Spiced poached pear & cream

Nora Gedgaudas in Australia

in Blog Posts, Events, Ex, Paleo/by PaleoGirl

I'm currently at the “Food & Health as Evolution Intended” Seminar in Sydney. Nora Gedgaudas is the main speaker and has just finished her first two lectures on “Diet and Evolution” and “Fats and Carbohydrates”. After first hearing Gedgaudas at the AHS, it's great to hear a lot more depth on these topics!

The lecture theatre is full of paleo curious Australians, the menu is provided by an organic paleo friendly restaurant – it's going to be a great day!

I'll post a full report about the day tomorrow!

Paleo Barbeque

9 Comments/in Blog Posts, Eating Out, Events, Ex, Social/by PaleoGirl

Yesterday was the Sydney Paleo meet-up group’s Paleo Barbeque. We met at beautiful Tamarama beach, where there are a couple of public barbecues, which were in hot demand yesterday! The weather couldn't have been more perfect for the barbecue, with sunshine and beautiful blue skies!

I spent yesterday morning making a few dishes from the new “Make it Paleo” cookbook, to take along to the barbecue with me.

I made the guacamole to go with some raw vegetables I cut up.

I made the barbecue sauce, which went beautifully with the organic grass fed streak I took along. This had a bit of a kick to it with the mustard and paprika and proved very popular. I’ll definitely be making this one again over the summer.

I was really excited to try the Fennel & Orange salad. The combination of the anise flavour of the fennel and the peppery flavour of the radishes made for an unusual, but very enjoyable salad.

I grated up some carrot, which I mixed with shredded coconut (I love the combination)

Finally, I roasted some seasonal vegetables which were colourful and delicious!

It was great to see such a good turn out to the barbecue – Paleo in Sydney seems to be well and truly gaining momentum. Despite a few people attending for the first time, we were an easy group to spot; as the only party at the beach without bread, crisps and junk food!

I hope we’ll be able to have a few more outdoor Paleo meet-ups this summer – it seems so much more Primal!

New paleo events in australia sydney melbourne brisbane new zealand-min

New Events In Australia

in Blog Posts, Events, Ex, TD/by PaleoGirl

Check out the newly listed events down under….

Lectures on Sleep, Sugar, Vitamin D, Allergy Workshops, Health & Fitness Expo & the Australia Beef Expo in NSW, VIC, ACT & QLD

Have you heard of any Paleo related events in your area? WA, TAS, NT, SA and New Zealand seem to be a bit under represented? Let me know below and I'll add them to the list!

Paleo Meets Vegan

in Blog Posts, Events, Ex/by PaleoGirl

There's an interesting talk at the Sydney Opera House tomorrow, as part of the Festival of Dangerous Ideas. The talk is entitles “What We Are and What We Eat”, by Jonathan Safran Foer. Foer has written a book called “Eating Animals”, and it sounds like he has a strong vegan, anti-Paleo agenda.

From what I've read, it looks like he is very concerned about cheap, factory farmed animal produce, which is a viewpoint I completely agree with. However, whilst I tackle this by sourcing very good quality, grass fed, organic meat, with a minimal degree of separation between myself an the farmer – I wonder if Foer's approach is tofu and grains?

I'm always interested in hearing and understanding differing viewpoints about diets and food sustainability, so I'm quite tempted to go along.

Must remember to take some beef jerky with me, I think they only sell sweets & crisps at the Opera House…

7,497 Miles to PrimalCon

1 Comment/in Blog Posts, Events, Ex, Primal, Social/by PaleoGirl

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.

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.

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?

The Sydney Gluten Free Expo

in Blog Posts, Events, Ex/by PaleoGirl

I went along to the Gluten Free Expo yesterday, at the Sydney Showground.

I'm not sure why now, but I expected it to be very Paleo friendly and full of Vibram clad feet. Surely going completely grain free would be the natural conclusion for those with Coeliac disease? Ditching the bread and refined carbs in favour of real, whole food?

The Gluten Free event was sponsored by Coles and the stands were almost all offering packaged, processed food. Crisps, pasta, processed meats, ready meals, breakfast cereals, cakes and sweets. They all seemed to have removed gluten and replaced it with more sugar, other grains and lots of chemicals. I studied the ingredients on every stand and managed to find one little jar of spices, that would get the Paleo seal of approval! One product!

Perhaps a Paleo stand at next year's expo beckons!

Going Gluten Free?

It's well worth trying to remove Gluten from your diet. So many people don't tollerate it well, without being full-blown Coeliac. When constantly exposed to Gluten, it's hard to even realise what impact it has on your body. It isn't until all traces of Gluten are out of your system that you can begin to understand how it affects you.

Gluten intolerance seems to be strongly correlated with inflammation issues such as IBS, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, cancer, autoimmune diseases, HD, ADD, ADHS, Autism, indigestion, stomach complaints and many other health complaints.

If you're looking to go Gluten Free, the Whole30 is a great program to use to kick this off with! I haven't ever heard of anyone regretting going Gluten Free!

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Going Gluten Free?

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