Arthritis and the Paleo Diet
Unlike many other diets, the Paleo diet is renowned for the fact that it not only encourages weight loss but it can also help with a number of illnesses. One of such illnesses is arthritis which is caused by the inflammation of joints and is particularly common in females. Arthritis can occur in any part of the body and contrary to popular belief; it is not just a health problem which affects old people. Arthritis can occur at any time and any age and it can have a huge effect on a person’s standard of life. The illness causes a lot of swelling and pain throughout the body which can make everyday tasks a huge upheaval.
It is thought that a person’s diet can influence their likelihood of developing arthritis at any stage of their life and there are specific food groups which can actually encourage inflammation of the joints, leading to arthritis over time. The most common foods which are said to enhance the likelihood of arthritis are wheat and grains as they contain a protein called lectin, which is not easy to digest and thus can encourage inflammation.
As the Paleo diet completely discourages the consumption of wheat and grains it is thought that it can be hugely important in preventing arthritis and reducing the effects for those who already have the condition. The foods which we know are popular as part of the Paleo diet, including fresh fish and vegetables are anti-inflammatory which means they can reduce the risk of suffering from arthritis. A high intake of Omega-3 in the diet is the perfect way to maintain a good standard of health and this is the reason it is so widely encouraged with the Paleo diet. These food groups are easier to digest which makes them a much healthier option when it comes to taking care of our bodies.
There are many people who will turn to anti-inflammatory tablets as a means of combating the symptoms of arthritis, rather than looking more closely at diet and how this can have an effect on the condition. There is a common misconception that grains are important as a means of increasing fibre intake, but in fact this isn't really the case. Vegetables which are non-starchy and fresh fruit actually contain much more fibre than what you would find in grains, so skipping these from your diet will not have any adverse effects on the body and overall health.
Grains also have a lack of essential vitamins, including A, C and B12, so there is no reason why they have to be part of any healthy diet. The key foods on the Paleo diet such as vegetables, meat and fruit have these in abundance so are a much healthier choice when it comes to looking after your diet.
In order to take good care of the body from the inside to the outside and setting it up for a long and healthy life, the diet we choose to follow is vitally important. As we all know, there are lots of diets which are constantly introduced but many of these focus entirely on lowering weight as opposed to keeping us healthy. There are many diets which will help us lose weight very quickly but these can actually be very detrimental to health. The Paleo diet on the other hand can offer a way to enhance our quality of life which is what makes it so popular and the reason why the popularity continues to grow.
Arthritis can be hugely dilapidating and can even be so severe that it can prevent people from carrying out normal day to day tasks and being able to work. The Paleo diet is the ideal way to introduce the right food groups in order to help prevent this illness or significantly reduce the effects of it. It is not a quick fix though, it takes a lot of dedication and following it to the letter – and the longer this is done, the easier it becomes. The incorporation of exercise together with the Paleo diet can provide a quicker way of combating arthritis and preventing the stiffness of the disease which can cause major health issues.
If you suffer from arthritis I’d love to hear how Paleo has helped and how much difference it has made. Surely following a real food, Paleo diet is a much safer health option than consuming tablets, which are only really a temporary resolution.
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13 Paleo Uses For Coconut Aminos
Long before I went Paleo, I used Soy Sauce in almost all of my cooking, thinking that not only did it taste good – but that I was adding a super health food to my diet. Now, I've replaced Soy Sauce with Coconut Aminos in all of my cooking.
What’s So Wrong With Soy?
As I researched I formed the opinion that rather than being healthy, Soy is actually quite the opposite. As a legume, Soy contains Lectins, which turn your Leptin sensitivity haywire, confusing your hunger and energy signals. The high levels of Phytates in soy are also undesirable, since they bind to minerals, ensuring that they are unavailable for your body to absorb.
Soy has a high Goitrogen content. Goitrogen interfers with the Thyroid, so can lead to Hypothyroidism. My biggest concern with Soy however, is the plant estrogens it contains (isoflavones) – which have the effect of raising estrogen and decreasing testosterone. Think man boobs and all sorts of undesirable effects through unbalanced hormone levels.
Avoiding Soy…
Fortunately, it is easy to avoid Soy products. Firstly, I find that by using so many different ingredients in my cooking, it is so much tastier that I don’t need to add any extra flavour. Just by changing the herbs and spices I use, I can completely change the taste of a recipe anyway.
But – for those occasions when nothing else will do, I have found Coconut Aminos to be a great alternative to Soy.
What Is Coconut Aminos?
Coconut Aminos is essentially the sap of a coconut tree, or the juice from coconut blossoms. The tree is tapped to collect the aminos, which is then dried in the sun to evaporate, or can be fermented. The sap from the tapped tree will continue to produce sap for years to come.
The aminos is loaded with amino acids (apparently 14 times more than soy sauce) and packed with minerals and vitamins.
13 Things You Can Do With Coconut Aminos
- Marinate a steak in coconut aminos, garlic, coconut oil, salt and pepper for a few hours before cooking
- Make Paleo Sushi using nori wraps, cauliflower rice and fish, and serve with coconut aminos as a dipping sauce
- Use for making beef jerky
- Add to Paleo chilli for a deep flavour
- In fact, try it in any tomato based dishes to cut the acidity of the tomatoes, make the dish a darker colour and replace the need to add salt
- Marinate chicken in it before adding to a stir fry
- Use in fermented foods like Kimchi
- Perfect for Asian inspired dishes like Nasi Goreng
- Use in soups and stews instead of adding salt
- Add to the baking tray when roasting a chicken to brown the skin when basting the bird.
- Mix coconut aminos, balsamic vinegar, mustard, oive oil and a squeeze of lemon to make a delicious salad dressing
- Add to sweet potato chips with olive oil and coriander before baking in the oven.
- Slice and de-seed and avocado, pierce with a fork, then pour on balsamic vinegar and allow to soak in. Then fill the hole up with coconut aminos and eat with a spoon.
Where Can You Get Coconut Aminos?
If you’ve not tried it before, you can often find Coconut Aminos at your local health food shop. Alternatively, a few places online stock it. I get mine from iherb (who offer $10 discount for first time customers), as I order most of my herbs, spices and supplements from there in bulk.
What do you use Coconut Aminos for? Share your suggestions below.
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Can You Get Enough Calcium On A Paleo Diet?
If you've told anyone you follow a Paleo diet, one of the typical responses you’ve probably got back, is bound to be “but how can you get enough Calcium?”
As part of any healthy lifestyle it is essential to have a decent amount of calcium in the diet, as it is involved in so many crucial functions. Calcium is known to strengthen the bones and teeth and can help to reduce the risk of suffering from osteoporosis, which causes brittle bones and can be very detrimental in the quality of life for sufferers. It is also thought the mineral can help to prevent cardiovascular disease and other illnesses which can cause a lot of problems in later life.
In order to really get the benefits from calcium, it is important to incorporate it with other nutrients and vitamins, as they work in conjunction with each other to produce the most effective results. Vitamins such as C and D3 help the body to absorb calcium so that the benefits are maximised. If these vitamins are not present in the diet, it won’t be absorbed sufficiently, which means the calcium won’t offer the benefits you would expect from it.
We don’t all require the same intake of calcium; there are factors which affect the level of calcium we should consume in our diet. Children require a lower level than adults and women are usually required to take in more calcium than men. Pregnant women should also try to take in a higher level of calcium as it will be beneficial for both mother and baby.
We know that calcium is essential for the body, but we have been led to believe that we need a lot more in our diet than what we actually need. It is also a misconception that the only way we can get the calcium we need is through the consumption of dairy products and in particular milk, which is not the case. There are many other foods which provide a good quantity of calcium and more than enough to ensure we have an adequate amount in our bodies. It can also be detrimental if we consume too much calcium, as it inhibits the absorption of magnesium. Magnesium is important for a healthy body and a lack of this can have an adverse effect on the body.
As a strict Paleo diet excludes dairy, many people wrongly assume eating this way will result in a Calcium deficiency. However, this simply is not the case. Not only are there some far better sources than milk – when the processed foods are removed from your diet your calcium requirements are actually lower. In fact, it is not calcium intake that is important, rather calcium balance. Processed things such as soft drinks actually use calcium in their digestion – effectively leeching calcium from your body. If you eat a lot of these types of foods, your calcium requirements are clearly going to be a lot higher. When you eat a natural Paleo diet – real food – your requirements are going to be a lot less.
Good Paleo Calcium Sources
There are lots of foods other than dairy products which many people just don’t associate with calcium. These foods act as a good source of calcium and provide us with other health benefits, including providing an adequate amounts of essential vitamins and other minerals.
Leafy green vegetables are a great calcium sources, as are high quantity of fish, such as salmon and mackerel. These can also offer a substantial amount of the mineral, as well as providing us with vitamins and antioxidants which are the perfect way of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Walnuts and hazelnuts are other foods which act as a good source of calcium. It is important not to eat too many of these though due to the Omega 3/6 ratio, so sticking to a low quantity will achieve the desired result. Eggs are also a way of ensuring calcium is present in the body and in particular egg yolks are a good source. It is a good idea to take note of the calcium levels of the foods you are eating, so you know whether you are taking in too much or too little.
Do you eat dairy? Where do you get most of your calcium from? Share in the comments below!
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How to Make Paleo Kimchi
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CoQ10 & The Paleo Diet
Yet another possible deficiency is Co Enzyme Q10 (CoQ10), even on a strict Paleo diet.
What is CoQ10?
It actually assists with mitochondrial electron transfer and stress reactions that happen biochemically within the body. You cannot have too much Co Enzyme Q10, as it is great for providing better nutrient density to the mitochondria to help us make and burn more energy. It also helps increase our exercise ability and stamina.
Exercising helps increase the oxidation that occurs from our stress hormones with most exercise hermetic when things are in balance and running smoothly. If we are suffering from a co Enzyme Q10 deficiency caused by statins, Neolithic diseases or from just generally being unfit and out of shape there is a need to increase the dietary intake of Co Enzyme Q10 to optimise health.
CoQ10 comes in two forms, Ubiquinone and Ubiquinol, with one being an oxidised form and the other a reduced form – you can tell which is which by the price! Ubiquinol is three times more expensive because it is much harder to make the reduced optimal form. Ubiquinol contains two hydroxyl groups rather than just one; this allows it to bond much better with water molecules making it more readily absorbable by the mitochondria in our cells to help with energy production.
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Ubiquinol is also the biologically superior form of Co Enzyme Q10 because it is an electron donor; this makes it a very effective neutraliser of free radicals. It is the only form of Co Enzyme Q10 that looks for lipid peroxyl radicals that can cause damage to the polyunsaturated fatty acids present in your cell membranes. When you are eating a Paleo diet this is a wonderful benefit as depletion of cellular Co Enzyme Q10 can’t support basic cellular functions. A Paleo diet together with a higher activity level requires optimal cellular and mitochondrial functions.
At the 5th Annual International CoQ10 symposium that was held in Kobe, Japan findings were released that showed the superiority of ubiquinal when given to a group of seriously ill patients with advanced stage cardiac disorders. If this can help those who are close to death with severe heart failure it is a critical component for any person looking to change their life by adopting a new healthy living plan or diet.
The study revealed that those clinically ill patients who had already suffered from heart failure easily absorbed ubiquinol CoE10 into their blood stream showing excellent improvements in all heath parameters. Another key factor that was announced was those with Hasimoto’s or other autoimmune diseases really need to only use the ubiquinol as they are unable to covert ubiquinone into ubiquinol due to their low B12 and B6 levels. They also need higher doses of ubiquinol more often.
Do you supplement with CoQ10? Please share your experiences in the comments below.
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Estrogen & The Paleo Diet
When people mention estrogen they are more often than not referring to estradiol which is the major form of oestrogen in both men and pre-menopausal women. Today we will talk about estradiol which is the hormone that has the most wide-ranging effects on both woman and men.
What is estrogen?
It’s actually a catch-all type term for a number of chemicals with similar functions and shapes such as estradiol (E2) or estrone (E3). During a females reproductive years her estradiol levels are higher than other estrogens. During menopause however these estradiol levels decrease with the bulk of the woman’s estrogen content coming from E3 and E1. This is important as it is the E2 that the woman’s ovaries pump out and this is what has the biggest effect on her reproducing years – sending fat stores to the hips and thighs rather than to the abdomen. It is the decrease in E2 during menopause that leads to an increase of abdominal fat.
Estrogen is also responsible for maturing the female sex organs and the growth of the uterus. In males while testosterone is responsible for the male reproductive organs estrogens inhibits the death of cells in sperm cells.
Estrogen actually inhibits growth and has been used effectively to stop girls growing too tall. It is also a major part of bone development for males and females and can lead to poor done density as women age as they become unable to produce normal amounts of estrogen. Estrogen replacement therapy usually assists and rectifies the bone density problem.
Women suffering from clinical depression have been found to produce less estrogen – but more testosterone, than normal with estrogen replacement therapy helping their condition. Men who suffer from depression actually produce far more estrogen than normal. Women also have an increase in function of their atherosclerotic arteries which could help explain the increase in heart conditions in pre-menopausal women.
Estrogen has reduced the formation of amyloidal plaque that occurs in the brain of Alzheimer patients. In as many as 80% of breast cancer cases estrogen receptor sites rely on estrogen for fuel, with a rather common treatment for this type of breast cancer being to suppress the production of estrogen. Research has shown that males who received high levels of estrogen whilst in the womb are at greater risk of developing prostate and testicular cancer as adults.
Estrogen is very useful and can reduce strength and lean muscle mass while still promoting body fat accumulation with estrogen-dominant males often being obese and under-muscled. It is the large dose of estrogen that throws off the delicate hormonal balance and cause problems. While stunting a Childs growth might sound negative when you first hear about it, unchecked growth can have terrible consequences for the Child's health.
Both males and females need and produce estrogen for a reason as it has some very important uses within the human body. The problems lie in the unnatural amounts of the hormone within the body . Estrogen is essential for both women and men but imbalances – especially in post-menopausal women and in men can lead to muscle loss and fat gain.
Have you had your levels tested? If you've had an imbalance, please share your experience in the comments below – you never know who you might help out!
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Manganese & The Paleo Diet
How are your Manganese levels? Does following a Paleo diet guarantee optimal micro nutrient levels? This week I'm focusing on manganese – and most importantly, how to make sure your levels are sufficient.
What actually is Manganese?
Did you see the word and thought I had spelt magnesium incorrectly? It is actually a trace mineral that regulates dozens of enzymatic reactions within the body. It is a crucial mineral.
If you are lacking in manganese some of the symptoms of deficiency include low thyroxine – or Thyroid Hormone T4 – as manganese is important for the production of T4.
Asthma is another area with links to deficiency of this trace mineral. There are links between low manganese levels in children and childhood asthma. Similarly there is a link between low dietary manganese intake and the incidents of asthma in adults.
Low HDL also has links to deficiency of manganese. Women who eat a low manganese diet will find their HDL drops dramatically.
Joint pain and osteoporosis can also be impacted. Bone density doesn't come down to just magnesium and calcium alone, with manganese also playing a significant part in overall bone health.
What causes low manganese levels?
Having too much iron in your system can result in low levels. While this isn't the cause of a deficiency for those who suffer from iron retention, or who absorb too much iron, manganese can reduce the absorption of dietary iron. Those who are on a Paleo diet (or following the Primal Blueprint) eating iron rich meat on a regular basis may be getting less manganese in their system than they need – especially if they are not eating most of the richest source of the minerals. Obviously if you do not eat enough manganese rich foods you’re not going to have enough manganese. If your diet consists mostly of beef and you don’t eat many nuts, shell-fish or berries, you may find you are not getting enough manganese in your diet.
As with all minerals, if they aren't in the soil, they don't get into the food chain. This means it is crucial to ensure your meat comes from animals who have been reared with a proper diet – and fed on grass, from soil with good mineral levels. Grain fed animals won't have had access to the same levels of minerals as their grass-fed equivalents. It's really important to know and understand where your food comes from.
Where can you get more manganese into your body?
Nuts are a great source of manganese with hazelnuts being the richest source and almonds having the lowest manganese source. Other nuts including macadamia’s pine nuts, walnuts and pecans are also good sources of manganese. Shell-fish such as mussels, clams and oysters are good sources, with mussels having the highest content of manganese. As always, it comes down to having a very varied diet, sourcing food from the highest quality sources wherever possible.
Ever thought about your manganese levels? Do you eat enough natural food sources? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
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How to Make Paleo Tomato Ketchup
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How To Recover From An Un Paleo Christmas
How's your Paleo diet going this Christmas?
Did you keep it Paleo, or did all the SAD traditional food get the better of you this Christmas?
No matter what your intentions or plans, at this time of year it can be easy to get swept along with family and friends – and find yourself eating all the foods you'd normally avoid. Be it tradition, peer pressure or a one off – at this time of year above all others – it's easy to fall off the Paleo wagon.
So what now if your Paleo diet has gone by the wayside?
How does it make you feel? Chances are a rare gluten exposure will make you feel far worse than it would have before you went gluten-free. Once you get gluten out of your system, a one off exposure often seems to have a far bigger impact that it did when you regularly ate gluten-laced food. If you're used to a relatively low carb diet a sudden influx of sugar can leave you feeling moody, tired and lacking in energy – and above all crave another sugar hit. A vicious circle you don't want to get into!
Perhaps you're thinking that as you've been eating un-Paleo, you might as well continue until the weekend? Or New Year? Or until those cakes and chocolates the neighbours brought have finished?
But the best course of action is to get straight back onto your Paleo diet. If you can't bear to throw away the remaining non-Paleo food – give it away to your non-Paleo friends or neighbours! Remove the temptation.
Bone broths are a great nourishing way to get back into a good dietary routine – particularly if you've had a bad reaction to a gluten exposure.
How was your Christmas? Did you keep it Paleo? I'd love to hear your comments below.
