I've very excited to be a nominee in the Best Australian Blogs 2012 competition! I seem to be the only Paleo/ Primal blog in the competition, so it would be great to get into the final, so more people find out what this Paleo thing is all about!
If you feel inclined to vote, I'm on the fifth page as “The Paleo Network” and I'd love your support!
Note: This is an old post – the next weekend has not yet been finalised, but please sign up to my newsletter if you are interested in the next event!
JUST ANNOUNCED! Limited number of seminar only tickets for the Paleo Weekend; $145 for Saturday/ $95 Sunday or $195 both days!
I'm very excited to announce the first Paleo weekend in the Southern Hemisphere will be held on 12th & 13th May, 2012 on the beautiful Cockatoo Island, in Sydney Harbour.
Whether you've been living a Paleo lifestyle for a while, have been interested but are yet to dip your toes in – or are looking for a way to finally improve your health and fitness – this is the weekend for you! To secure your place, buy your ticket today!
We've finally started to have a few sunny days – the perfect time to get the barbecue out and try out some Paleo Barbecue Recipes!
There were a few recipes I’d wanted to try in Mark Sisson’s cookbook, The Primal Blueprint Cookbook, which had been waiting for some sunshine. I amended the recipes according to which ingredients I could get – and what I already had in my kitchen.
I managed to get hold of some turkey (I don’t know why it’s not more popular in Australia?), an essential ingredient in the Turkey Kebabs I wanted to make. I also made Green Chili Burgers, based on a recipe in the book. Sadly mine were made with regular beef and not bison as the recipe suggests (another type of meat I've not seen in Australia).
It doesn't get much simpler! I simply added the ingredients (except the oil) to the food processor and blended until everything was well mixed in. I then formed the meat into kebabs on wooden skewers and coated with a little olive oil.
The kebabs were then barbecued until cooked thoroughly.
I put everything except the eggs in the food processor and blended well. I then formed the meat into burger shapes and cooked thoroughly on the barbecue. Whilst the burgers were cooking I fried the eggs and served them on top of the burgers.
Along with the meat, I made a simple salad to complete the meal.
With it being this easy to make burgers and kebabs, I don’t know why anyone would buy them ready-made!
What are your favourite barbecue recipes?
On Saturday I went across to Melbourne for a series of lectures on Sugar, Paleo and related topics given by a fantastic line-up of presenters.
Dr Rod Tayler organised the event and gave the first lecture, which was quite an eye opener into how much sugar the average Australian actually eats. It’s quite frightening to think how much sugar most people mindlessly consume – something we have no real requirement for.
Dr Ken Sikaris gave a fantastic talk about fructose metabolism, which I wish had been recorded. He was a fantastic speaker and I learnt so much from his talk. I really think he should speak at the Ancestral Health Symposium on Fructose this year! I knew that fruit isn’t the wonder food that conventional wisdom would have you believe, but Dr Sikaris explain exactly why – and exactly what happens to the fructose. I really hope the Paleo community get to hear more from Dr Sikaris.
Dr Anastasia Boulais was up next and gave a great talk about making the right food choices with a framework to guide this process. This was a great talk, as I think a lot of people think it’s too hard to eat a Paleo diet – and that it’s an all or nothing approach – which just isn’t the case.
I really enjoyed Jamie Scott ‘s lecture about what Paleo is – and isn’t. It was great that he also spoke about the lifestyle factors – not just what we eat, as the whole lifestyle is important, not just nutrition in isolation.
David Gillespie was next. I read David’s book “Sweet Poison” when it first came out and found it so well written, that it became one of those books I regularly lend to interested friends and families. It was really good to meet the man himself and to hear his talk. David spoke about his background as a lawyer, and how he came to give up sugar – his talk linked in very well to those before and built up a compelling case. I’m looking forward to getting started on his new book “Big Fat Lies”.
Meeting David Gillespie
After the break, another familiar face took to the stage. I’d met Dr Ted Arnold in LA at the Ancestral Health Symposium last year (there were a few of us from this part of the World at the AHS!). He spoke about where we’ve come from and looked at the ever changing (but not in the right direction) nutritional advice and food pyramids.
We then heard a completely different angle from Alice Hucker, who spoke about the psychological barriers to healthy eating. I think this is such an important topic, yet one that doesn’t get discussed very often. I’d have like to have heard more on this topic.
Finally we heard from Dr Michael Axtens and his positive experience with changing his diet
I was so impressed to see so many people at the lecture – I bet just a couple of years ago filling the room would not have been possible. There was a great mix of people, from those already following some sort of Paleo/ ancestral/ low-carb/ no-sugar eating plan, to those very interested in making positive changes to their diet and health.
A significant number of those in the audience were doctors, medical professionals and dieticians. I spoke to one dietician who had been told about the event by a client and was very interested in learning as much as she could. It’s so encouraging to see more and more of these people showing an interest in a Paleo approach.
It was so pleasing to appreciate the huge wealth of knowledge and expertise we have in Australia and New Zealand – I think we can definitely give the American Paleo folk a run for their money! I can’t wait for more home-grown Paleo events!
Note: This is an old post – the next weekend has not yet been finalised, but please sign up to my newsletter if you are interested in the next event!
I'm very excited to announce the first Paleo Weekend in the Southern Hemisphere will be held on 12th & 13th May, 2012 on the beautiful Cockatoo Island, in Sydney Harbour.
Whether you’ve been living a Paleo lifestyle for a while, have been interested but are yet to dip your toes in – or are looking for a way to finally improve your health and fitness – this is the weekend for you!
I’ve got together some of the leading experts from this side of the World (including Jamie Scott, Dr Anastasia Boulais, Julianne Taylor and Dr Ron Ehrlich), to talk about all aspects of health, nutrition & fitness and to demonstrate and teach techniques to participants. The Paleo Weekend will be held on 12th & 13th of May 2012, on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour – an absolutely fantastic venue! The weekend will be fully catered with an amazing Paleo menu. There is also the exclusive option for a limited number of attendees to sleep on the island overnight, in pre-erected luxury tents (it doesn’t get much more Primal than that!).
Attendees will: –
Sessions Include: –
Cookery Demonstration; learn how to cook quick and easy Paleo meals at home
Barefoot running technique
Early morning Yoga overlooking the harbour
Fitness techniques – learn how to improve your technique and fitness – details to be announced
Paleo Nutrition lectures – on a variety of topics to be announced soon
Paleo Health lectures – on a variety of topics to be announced soon
Learn how to achieve improved health results & how to get on the fast track to peak sporting performance, by opening the door to your mind
Ticket prices are currently on sale at an early bird discounted rate until 31st March.
Numbers are strictly limited due to the island licensing – so book yours today to avoid missing out!
Read more about the Paleo Weekend
I can't wait to hear your thoughts about this exciting event!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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 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.
This would be another great talk for those new to this lifestyle to listen to. I’m looking forward to her book coming out.
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!
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!
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…
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.
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.
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!
Very interesting talk looking at the stress modern man is under versus the stress the Paleolithic man would have experienced.
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.
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?
I've had Julie and Charles Mayfield’s “Paleo Comfort Foods” cookbook for some time. Despite reading it from cover to cover, I had not actually got round to cooking from it, until earlier this week.
I was limited for time, but wanted to make a Paleo friendly appetizer/ hors d'œuvre to take along to a Primal dinner I was going. The bacon wrapped dates recipe looked perfect. I usually try to steer away from dried fruit as it is so high in sugar, but in serving something like this before dinner each person only has two or three, so the sugar impact is minimised.
These are so many different variants of this meat wrapped dish – angels on horseback (oysters wrapped in bacon), devils on horseback (prunes of figs wrapped in bacon) and even the British favourite pigs in blankets – cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon. The version in Paleo Comfort Foods is very simple, using just dates, bacon and almonds inside.
I quite simply pitted the dates, replacing the stone with a couple of raw almonds. I then cut some organic bacon to size and wrapped it around the date, holding it in place with a cocktail stick (actually, several cocktail sticks!). I put these in the oven to crisp the bacon, turning a couple of times.
I find Australian bacon seems to contain a lot less fat than American bacon (I'm always surprised American’s get enough bacon grease left over to be able to use it for other things). This makes it harder to mould the bacon around the date, but using more cocktail sticks did the job!
I also made the Carrot & Fennel salad (again!) from the Everyday Paleo Cookbook, which is fast becoming a favourite! Why have a boring salad, when you can have something a bit different?
I love to take time cooking, but sometimes it’s nice to have Paleo dishes that can be made quickly and simply.
My Paleo Comfort Foods book is full of paper markers on all of the recipes I intend to try – hopefully I'll get a chance to try some of the sauces – Mayonnaise, Ketchup, Gravy and Barbecue sauce this weekend – handy recipes to have up my sleeve as they can go with so many meals. I'm also interested in the Paleo bread recipe – I wonder whether this would be a good alternative to offer to those friends who find bread to hard to give up?
Have you tried any of the recipes from Paleo Comfort Foods yet? Which is your favourite cookbook?
I've been really enjoying the Paleo Summit this week! There's still a couple of days left of this free online event, and some great speakers to come – I'm especially looking forward to hearing Dallas & Melissa from Whole9 talking about Paleo for Vegetarians – and Dr. Catherine Shanahan comparing the Paleo diet to prescription drugs!
My favourite presentations so far have been Denice Minger, Nora Gedgaudas and Mark Sisson – but unfortunately I've been really busy this week and haven't had a chance to catch them all in time. I'm especially annoyed I missed Dr. Jack Kruse as I've been really interested in reading his ideas on Leptin, so had high expectations for his talk.
Anyway, if you haven't already, there's still time to register and catch the last few days. It's free to register and the videos stay online for 24 hours.
If like me you've had a busy week and have missed some or all of the summit, you can upgrade and download audio files, transcripts and videos which you can enjoy at your leisure. I plan to listen to the 23 audio files on my way to work, that should provide several weeks of great listening!
Have you been listening? Which have been your favourite presentations of the Paleo Summit so far?
An Elevator Pitch is a very brief summary, which describes something briefly and with few words.
When people ask me what Paleo is and why I eat the way I do, I could talk for hours – it's hard to summarise something I'm so passionate about in just a few sentences. But that's precisely what I challenged myself to do in this video – this is my Paleo Elevator Pitch!
I'd love to see your video responses on YouTube – and what your Paleo Elevator Pitch would be in the comments below….
Those lucky Americans seem to have some sort of Paleo/ Primal/ Low Carb event in the United States almost every month. The Ancestral Health Symposium, The Paleo FX, PrimalCon and even a Low Carb Cruise. What about us down here in Australia and New Zealand?
If you were feeling left out, you needn't any more – Paleo is coming to Australia, soon!
I can’t wait to let you in on this! I'm going to share the details (and a special discount code) with those who've signed up to my newsletter, before I announce the details here…
I wish I could say more, but all will soon be revealed!
Are you in?
