What can I eat????
With all the conflicting information, misinformation, and disinformation out there regarding nutrition, to someone who is just starting out on changing their diet to lose weight or get healthy, it can make their head spin! 
Vegan is a huge craze right now, especially with the movie “Forks Over Knives” that just came out. (I haven’t seen it yet, but I intend to “stomach” it and view it sometime soon).
The movies and books promoting the vegan diet are usually well-intentioned. And, they even provide a place for those eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) to go and get healthier. Going from eating lots of sugar, and getting the bulk of your calories from grains and processed foods, to a plant-based diet is no doubt a step up in health.
But is it possible to get even healthier?
Of course!
The vegan diet is so restrictive, that you pretty much have to eat grains to survive. And grains, especially wheat, as we know are the cause of so many problems including “wheat belly” and other nasty maladies!
So then what? Well, as we have discussed on the Healthy Mind Fit Body podcast, the healthiest diet will be one consisting of a variety of meats, veggies, fruit, some nuts and seeds, and some dairy if you are able to tolerate it.
It’s really not that complicated. And, this “diet”, whether you want to call it paleo, primal, or low carb, actually allows for a whole lot of tasty foods and interesting variety!
I hear a lot of people who truly want to know what is best, and REALLY want to get to their perfect weight, get confused at what is “good” and what isn’t. There are a few points that are really important to grasp no matter where you are in your journey, to make sure to make the positive changes permanent:
1. If you have followed the USRDA or the S.A.D., you are addicted to sugar. You must lose that addiction! This doesn’t have to be as hard as it may sound, or even that you can never have the taste of sugar on your lips again. As you replace you sugars with healthy fats, you will start to miss sugar less and less.
2. If you have transitioned to veganism, you may have to get over your fear of meat. Meat has certainly been demonized from many angles, particularly after the now-debunked China Study came out a few years ago. However, ancestrally speaking, it’s what we as humans were meant to digest. And, this idea that you will get sick if you transition from a vegan diet to one with meat is also a myth! You may have a transitionary period where things aren’t perfect for a while, but this would also happen if you were quitting sugar. Hardly a bad thing!
3. Get interested in vegetables. There are so many of them. You don’t have to be boring.
4. Find what works for you. Get the general gist of paleo/primal/low carb, but don’t become religious about it. If you think something isn’t working for you, remove it from your diet for a month. See what changes happened.
A lot of this will be trial and error. You will learn what works for you.
Do you have any good paleo/primal/low carb recipes you can share for the newbies?
Getting Anything You Want
September 22, 2011 by Kevin
Filed under Uncategorized
I just got a book in the mail from Amazon that I ordered called “Getting Anything You Want” by Derek Sivers. I read a few pages last night and so far I’ve picked up on a few things. It’s mainly focused on business, and how he has been able to create a business in a less-traditional way, one in which he unintentionally built a business based on a hobby and sold it later for $22 million!
How he did this is by basically throwing out the old rules, and learning from all his mistakes as he went along, instead of analyzing everything to death and never getting out of the starting gates.
What is it that you’ve been wanting?
80 – Entering The Zone with Dr. Barry Sears, part 2
(duration 26:13)
In the second half of our interview with Barry Sears, PhD, we begin by discussing the nature of “anti-nutrients,” such as lectins and phytates found primarily in grains and legumes; best to steer clear of them, at least as staples. Everything you eat will have a hormonal and inflammatory consequence. Regarding consumption of omega 3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA), adjust based on your level of inflammation–as evidenced by your arachidonic acid to EPA ratio (SIP, or Silent Inflammation Profile)–which will typically mean consuming between 6 and 10 grams of omega 3s per day. Saturated fats aren’t really the villain that the mainstream “experts” have claimed they are; omega 6 fatty acids are more inflammatory. Having a consistent balance of macronutrients is key, consuming more fat (“high octane fuel”), adequate protein, and fewer carbs than typical. Antioxidant supplements tend not to have much empirical support, although polyphenols (found in fruits and veggies) have important health benefits. It’s vital to reduce your intake of refined carbohydrates (flour and sugar or high fructose corn syrup-based products) as well as omega 6 fatty acids, while increasing your intake of omega 3s. And of course calorie restriction tends to increase longevity as well. It’s never too late to get in the zone; you’re only one meal away, after all.
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Items mentioned in this episode:
Why doctors don’t like to talk about antioxidants. – By Kent Sepkowitz – Slate Magazine
http://www.slate.com/id/2300578/pagenum/all/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphenol_antioxidant
http://zonediet.com/
http://zoneliving.com
http://zonehealth.com
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Politics, Religion, and Nutrition
In our recent interview of Dr. Barry Sears, he brought up something that we have also mentioned on the podcast a few times. 
If you want to get a debate going and even tempers flaring, just bring up one of the topics in the 3rd rail of discussion: politics, religion, or nutrition.
Some people will say to avoid discussions of politics and religion in mixed company. But not many mention nutrition in that category.
I contend that nutrition is the most potentially inflammatory topic of the three!
Here’s why:
1. Most people eat 3 times a day. So, everyone is an expert in nutrition! Even if they eat breakfast at Starbucks, lunch at McDonalds, and dinner at Taco Bell every day. Science be damned, don’t take away my mocha frappachinos, French fries and 7 layer burritos (do those still exist?)!
2. Politics and religion can easily be avoided. Most gatherings involve a meal. Church is only once a week for most religious people. Politics is a little trickier, because it’s talked about on TV 24×7, so you’d think our individual worlds revolved around it! But the truth is, despite all the rhetoric about Democracy, as citizens we have very little control of what our so-called leaders may decide for us. So everyone may have an opinion, but once you realize that all these opinions don’t amount to a hill of beans (or beef?) at a luncheon, it becomes advantageous to move on in the discussion- or take it “off line”.
3. Nutrition is not off limits! It’s completely acceptable to launch into a discussion on food while at a gathering where there is a lot of food eating going on. Typically, I will be prompted to give my opinion because of my part in Healthy Mind Fit Body. However, I’m not a fan of the topic. Not many will be convinced of anything, no matter what one’s credentials are. And I’m sure there are those who will think “What do a couple of goofballs on a podcast who talk about donuts all the time know about eating?” I take solace in realizing that even bio-chemists who spend their lives with this stuff face the same wrath at their dinner parties!
4. The general consensus is, it’s fun to eat poorly! Some events I have been to remind me of my 8th grade. I had always been taught to get good grades, and I was generally in classes with smart kids. But 8th was high school for me, and suddenly it was COOL to get BAD grades! Being the contrarian that I am, I did the bare minimum and ended up on top of the bell curve with mostly A’s that year. So, not much has changed. I’ve been accused of being a carb nazi and even trying to ruin people’s fun because of the things I eat at parties or get togethers. But the funny thing is, I don’t preach- the mere idea of eating what I want to eat often times doesn’t sit well with people. So, in the general consensus case, actual talking doesn’t even have to happen before people get offended!
What has your experience been with the triad of inflammatory topics? Put in your comments below!
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79 – Entering The Zone with Dr. Barry Sears, part 1
(duration 31:15)
This is the first half of our interview with Barry Sears, PhD, in which we discuss the nature of eicosanoids and in particular arachidonic acid in relation to metabolic health and overall health. Excessive carbohydrate consumption (which is terribly easy to do in our culture) coupled with excess omega 6 fatty acid consumption (and minimal omega 3 fatty acid consumption) tend to lead to chronic inflammation and disease states. The ratio of (long chain) arachidonic acid to (long chain) eicosapentaenoic should be around 1 to 2, but in most individuals it’s much higher, which is due primarily to unhealthy diets—diets not fashioned for our genes. Massive changes in our nutrient intake from our Paleolithic origins can deleteriously affect our levels of hormones, especially the hormones that control the inflammation process. Even if you’re thin, it’s still important to eat foods (and macronutrient ratios) that don’t contribute to insulin resistance and lipotoxicity.
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Click here to get your free audio download of the 3 Pillars Of Achieving Your Perfect Weight Using The Mind/Body Connection, as well as our succinct newsletter.
Items mentioned in this episode:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eicosanoid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_resistance
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