Saving Money Living a Primal Lifestyle

Posted on March 29, 2013 by primalgirl

One of the complaints I hear most from people thinking about adopting a Primal or Paleo lifestyle is that it’s too expensive. Meat costs money. Coconut flour is expensive and hard to find. Organic fruits and vegetables cost more than their conventional counterparts. How do you make this type of lifestyle work on a restricted budget?

I believe that if anyone can answer this question, I can. We are a single income family with two kids. Technically, we’re below the poverty line, since my husband is enlisted in the Air Force. However, we own our own 4000 sq ft home and have two beautiful (working) cars in the driveway. I have enough handbags and shoes to wear different ones every day for six months and we eat grass fed beef, pastured eggs, organic produce, coconut oil, pastured butter and bacon on a daily basis. I shop at Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Sprouts. We have savings accounts with money in them and while the balance on our credit card is a little higher than I’d like it to be, we don’t have any debt that isn’t manageable.

How am I making it work? It seems like an impossible task, doesn’t it? I’ll tell you my secret: I’m damn good with money. And I don’t waste anything.

I received a request for a guest post from someone who wanted to share some money saving tips with you for a Paleo lifestyle (which I’ve included below) but I thought it would be fair if I shared my tips with you as well, as they’re completely different.

1. I’m realistic. Although I know the benefits of grass fed pastured meat, it’s not always available to me at a price I can afford. When my local grocery store has a “buy one get TWO free” special on meat, I buy it and put it in our deep freezer. I buy my pastured (grass fed) meat in bulk from a local farmer, and also store it in the freezer. I figure that if we eat grass fed meat some of the time and regular meat some of the time, we’re not going to up and die. Having a selection of both in the freezer means that I can rotate the good stuff with the regular stuff and still feel good about what we’re eating.

2. I get all my fat for free from my local farmer, in exchange for writing reviews on how awesome their farm and products are. (You can check out their website here, shameless promotion, cough, cough.) I get A LOT of it at one time. I render the fat down myself, strain it and put it in mason jars, which I store in the freezer. I use this fat for everything from cooking to homemade sausages to hand lotion in a pinch. You’d be amazed how many people are willing to give the fat away for free, as no one else seems to want it. (And you’d be amazed at how well it moisturizes, although it’s a bit smelly lol.)

3. I save my bacon fat. I just leave it in the pan, even overnight. It doesn’t spoil. It’s just there, deliciously waiting for me to fry my eggs in it the next morning. Organic, pastured eggs, which I’ve gotten from my farmer for about the same price as the crap conventional ones in the grocery store. If this grosses you out, think back to how your Grandma used to cook. She had a can next to the stove for her drippings and fat, didn’t she? It never went in the fridge. My dad’s family used to use these drippings to spread on bread when butter was scarce. I am too lazy to wash my cast iron pan every day, so I don’t bother with the can.

4. Any produce that has a thick skin that we’re not going to eat, I don’t bother buying organic. This includes bananas, avocados, oranges and sweet potatoes. (We don’t eat the peels of anything anymore, by the way, but that is another post for another day.)

5. I make everything myself from whole real ingredients. We don’t buy any packaged food, except for the occasional package of gluten-free rice pasta and gluten-free tamari. I make chicken broth and even make my own coconut and almond milk. Why in the hell would I pay $2.99 for a can of coconut milk that has stabilizers, artificial vitamins and preservatives in it, when I can make the same amount of coconut milk for about 35 cents? It tastes better, it’s organic, I use filtered water and I know exactly what’s in it: coconut and water. It’s not rocket science. Neither is making your own coconut butter. If you buy a jar, it’ll set you back 10 bucks. Making it yourself costs…about $2. I make my own beef jerky, because I just can’t find any gluten-free, preservative-free jerky in the store that isn’t $45. I also make my own mayonnaise. It takes less than 1 minute, thanks to an awesome tip from Orleatha Smith, which we will be sharing with you via video sometime in the next month. I can use that mayonnaise for salad dressings and sauces and I even use it to cook with (it’s just oil, vinegar and eggs after all — if your recipe calls for those ingredients, why not use mayonnaise?) It’s amazing how expensive packaged food is. Don’t pay for flashy packaging and marketing campaigns. Stop spending money to have someone else (a machine, let’s face it) make your food for you. Take back your power and save yourself some cash.

6. I don’t waste anything. When I only have a little bit of mayonnaise left in the jar, instead of washing it out I add a bit of vinegar to it and voila! Instant salad dressing. I squeeze out every. last. bit. of toothpaste from the tube before I toss it. I add water to the dish soap bottle to get the remnants out. You know those neat soap dispensers that give you foam? The ones that are ridiculously expensive? Did you know that the first ingredient in that soap is water? I buy the original bottle so I can have the aerator-thingy and when the soap is gone, I refill it with about 5 cents worth of dish soap and fill the rest up with water. I learned these tips from my mom, who really needed to stretch the budget. She learned them from her mom. We’re so wasteful as a society it makes me sick sometimes. We only need to put our garbage cans out about once a month, while our neighbor’s cans are overflowing each and every week.

7. We don’t eat out. A meal for a family of four at McDonald’s costs over $20. For $20, I can make a meal that includes things like bacon wrapped scallops, grass fed steak, organic vegetables AND fruit. We mostly drink water. I don’t spend money on juice or soda or milk or coconut water or whatever you trendy kids are drinking these days. I make my coffee myself, with pastured cream, and take it in a reusable to-go cup. I refuse to spend $5 on a cup of coffee.

8. We do things that are free. Guess how much it costs to go hiking in the mountains? Or camping? Or to the park? When they grow up, our children won’t remember the ridiculously expensive vacations we went on, or the expensive flashy toys we bought them. They will remember the time they spent with us, not the money we spent on them.

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I have more tips, but I’ll save them for another day. In the meantime, Zara Blake, a financial blogger from the UK has some money-saving tips for you:

Buy from a farmer’s market: Buy fruits and vegetables from the farmer’s market where you will get them for cheap. Visit the market at closing time when you will get the items for a cheaper price.

Dressings and salads: Make your own dressings and salads at home. Don’t spend $15 to have someone else make it for you.

Buy local foods: Always go for locally grown and seasonal foods. Exotic ones are more expensive and your body is not built to digest them regularly.

Bulk meat: Buy a whole lamb or goat with a friend. Try meat-shares for larger animals. It will come already cut up and packaged so you can store it in the freezer. Try to buy grass-fed meats rather than the grain fed ones.

Plenty of eggs: These are the best source of protein after meat and are also pretty cheap. Include plenty of eggs in your diet.

Sales: Watch out for clearance sales in different grocery and online stores. Grab them while you can and stock up.

Do some gardening: Grow all the vegetables you need and save money. Use your kitchen waste as manure and practice rain-water harvesting. If you are running tight on living space, try roof-top gardens or potted plants.

Soups: If you find your veggies becoming dry, prepare soup with them. Using homemade bone broth is a great addition to this.

Fishing: Go fishing on weekends and catch as many fish you can. Clean and fillet them and store them in the freezer.

Nuts: Buy nuts in bulk quantities as they are cheaper than prepackaged nuts in small bags. Package them yourself and store them in the freezer.

Home-food: Eat at home and don’t eat out at restaurants too much.

No wastage: When you buy meat, don’t waste what can be eaten. If you dislike a certain part, learn to cook it in a new way. Don’t buy unnecessary prepackaged items as it will make your grocery bill go up very fast.

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These money saving tips were contributed by Zara Blake, a financial blogger from UK. She has written many articles on health, nutrition and finance. Catch her on Twitter: @financeport

Slim Is Simple and Grass-Fed Beef

Posted on March 4, 2013 by primalgirl

Primal Transformation Seminars

I’ll be doing Primal Transformation Seminars in Austin, Houston, Minneapolis and Portland this spring together with Tracy and Matthew from True Nature Training, so if you’re close to one of those areas, sign up! You can find all the information you need right here. If you’d like us to hold a seminar in your area, leave a comment with the city that you live in and we’ll see what we can do.

These full-day seminars include a 2.5 hour lecture/discussion with me on the Primal way of eating and lifestyle, followed by a 3-hour training session with Tracy and Matthew. True Nature Training is based on Primal fitness and includes elements of natural movement, parkour and gymnastics. It’s perfect for beginners! Participants will receive copies of The Primal Blueprint 21-day Transformation, the 90-day Journal, a gift bag with goodies and samples from Primal Blueprint, a t-shirt from True Nature Training and the chance to win a copy of the Primal Connection, Mark Sisson’s latest book. It’s going to be an amazing day so make sure you grab your ticket soon.

Slim IS simple

I have a couple of interesting links to share with you this week. The first one comes from Jonathan Bailor from SlimIsSimple.org, a non-profit nutrition education effort. He created an amazing video that explains how this whole diet thing works and has made it incredibly easy to understand. This is a great introductory video to play for friends and family to show them how to get started. Please share it on Facebook, Twitter or anywhere else you think it could help someone.

I just found a farmer close to my new house a couple weeks ago, so this next post on the benefits of grass-fed beef is pretty timely for me. If you’re in the Phoenix area, www.farmergoose.com is a great family farm that provides beef, chicken, turkey and eggs and has plans to branch out further. They are planning on holding events like farm tours and dinners in conjunction with the Phoenix Primal Living Meetup group to help people learn how to cook and eat locally.

The following article is written by Rich Coffman from Teton Waters Ranch in Colorado. If you’ve ever had any questions about the benefits of grass-fed beef, this is a great reference.

Is grass-fed beef worth the premium price?

I have made many improvements in my nutrition over the last year. Like most health oriented people, my goal is simple: to eat the best quality food possible. This article dives into the reasons why grass-fed beef is a healthier choice that is worth the premium price.

I had heard many times that grass-fed beef is better than conventional grain-fed beef. Initially, despite being told that it was more nutritious, I was not willing to fork up and pay more. I thought to myself, “meat is meat, it all tastes delicious to me.”

When I began fine tuning which foods I put in my body to optimize my diet, I decided to take another look at grass-fed and did a little research.

Why is Grass-fed More Expensive?
Price is a big factor when considering grass-fed beef. I think it’s important to understand why grass-fed is more expensive to get a better understanding of its true quality. Is grass-fed more pricey because it is more nutrient rich?

I’ve found that grass-fed meat’s added value is derived from the extra time and space. The life of modern day, conventional grain-fed cattle is different on all fronts from grass-fed cattle. The only similarity is that they both end up on the dinner plate.

Big Beef
Conventional feedlot operations are designed to put weight on cattle as fast as possible. The cattle are fed a dense mix of grains and… other things, which packs the pounds on faster than normal pasture grazing. Grass-fed ranchers choose to let the cattle grow and put on weight naturally. After all, good things come to those who wait.

The rapid weight gain that is standard operating procedure for feedlot cattle is good for revenue, but not good for the animals’ health or quality of life. The lifespan of a feedlot cow is much shorter, with operations regularly slaughtering animals just after their first year. Factory cattle operations generate revenue based on quantity, not quality. Large volumes of cattle are the only way to make a profit. In general, the principle of quality gets shelved.

Grass-fed cattle, on the other hand, have more time and space to fatten up naturally, commonly up to an extra year. This time and care plays into the price of grass-fed beef, as the ranchers of grass-fed cattle have higher expenses in maintaining the land, paying the mortgage and taxes on their vast grasslands which are required for a healthy and vibrant herd to graze.

Better Nutrients
If you’ve ever done any research for yourself you’ve likely discovered that grass-fed is more nutritious. While there are many benefits, I’ve highlighted those that I feel are most important.

Vitamins and Minerals
Grass-fed beef is rich in vitamins and minerals, more so than feedlot beef. This has been proven by a number of studies including one by the USDA and Clemson University and published in the Journal of Animal Science in 2009. Briefly, this is what they found:

Grass-fed beef usually has up to 7 or 8 mcg/gram of Vitamin E compared to 1 to 2 mcg/gram in grain-fed beef
Grass-fed beef is higher in beta-carotene. It is also higher in riboflavin and thiamine, common B Vitamins
Grass-fed beef shows a higher content of potassium, magnesium and calcium

CLA
Grass-fed beef is an excellent protein source for Conjugated Lineolic Acid (CLA). CLA has been proven to improve the body’s immune system. The presence of CLA has also been correlated with the reduction in risk of obesity, cancer and diabetes.

Omega-3 Fats
Beef from pasture raised cattle is also rich in unbroken long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. These fats are vital for proper cholesterol levels and maintaining good blood pressure. Omega-3s are also essential for proper brain function and optimal mental and physical health.

Studies show that depending on conditions, grass-fed beef can contain between 2 and 7 times the amount of omega-3s compared to commodity beef. Grass-fed offers a better ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids as well.

Throughout history, man’s intake of omega-6 and omega-3 was naturally at a ratio of 2:1. Since the Industrial Revolution, the ratio has been skewed upwards to approximately 15:1. The consumption of grass-fed beef offers a rebalance with a better ratio of these bioactive fats.

Bacteria
When cattle eat grass and other plants (as they were meant to), their immune systems stay strong. With a stronger immune system, grass-fed cattle have less E. coli in their system compared to their grain-fed counterparts, meaning people eating grass-fed beef are less likely to cause bacterial infection from E. coli

A study at Cornell University by Francisco Diez-Gonzalez and James Russell noted that our digestive systems’ naturally occurring acids can kill E. coli from grass-fed beef far easier than beef from grain-fed cattle. Due an unnatural diet of grain, cattle for commodity beef have an abnormally high level of acidity, which E. coli become accustomed to. On occasions when that resistant E coli is passed into our body, the acid present in our system is not strong enough to kill it, increasing the likelihood for infection.

Antibiotics
There is no need for antibiotics among herds of cattle naturally grazing in open pastures. In large feedlots common with many factory farming corporations, the cattle are confined to small spaces with cattle given enough room to eat and possibly turn around. In some operations, hundreds and even thousands of cattle can be condensed to just a few acres.

Disease spreads easily in tight spaces such as this, and when conditions are unsanitary, disease can devastate a herd. To protect against the problems caused by these poor conditions, antibiotics are overused on the cattle. This overuse helps generate antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria that can cause severe illness upon consumption by humans.

It works like this: an introduced antibiotic will kill 99% of bacteria, but the strongest 1% of bacteria that remains has newly open real estate to multiply and spread to with no competition. The process is repeated–new antibiotics are introduced, killing most of the bacteria–and each time only the strongest of the strong survive. Drug resistant “super bugs” evolve out of this process.

Hormones
Many people might not know what exactly is in their beef, but if given the choice, most people would likely prefer meat free of synthetic growth hormones. Ranchers of grass-fed cattle typically do not use growth hormones because of their commitment to quality beef; many choose an all natural approach instead. While it’s not essential, you would be hard pressed to find grass-fed beef that is not proudly hormone free.

GMOs
The majority of grain feed for commercial cattle is now grown from GMO (genetically modified organism) crops. GMO food can be eaten directly or it can be consumed indirectly through eating GMO grain-fed beef. Despite their current popularity and overwhelming use, there have been no studies done on the long-term side effects of GMOs on the human body. There are many people against GMO use for many reasons, but that is another story altogether.

Research from France’s Caen University which was published in 2012 demonstrates that rats which were fed a lifetime of genetically modified corn had a dramatically higher rate of cancer and tumors, and their lives were much shorter. Because of the unknowns and research like this, it is best to avoid ingesting anything that is genetically modified.

Safe to Say
I’m thinking grass-fed beef is worthy of its price tag. Money can be saved if it’s purchased in bulk or if purchased on-site to avoid shipping expenses. In the last handful of years people have begun to wake up and understand food on a deeper level. Connections are again being drawn between the earth and the plate.

The choice was easy for me when I discovered the pitfalls of our modern day factory farms and feedlots that dominate the food industry. I support my local grass-fed beef rancher with my stomach and encourage others to do the same with theirs. From the pasture to the plate, grass-fed beef is better on all levels –- it’s a full spectrum of goodness.

Rich Coffman eats and writes from the front range of Colorado. If you would like to learn more about grass fed beef please visit Teton Waters Ranch.

Primalgirl Reads: Eat This, Not That and Rich Food, Poor Food

Posted on February 24, 2013 by primalgirl

eat-this-not-that-book One of the things that upsets me the most whenever I’m in a book store is the prominent position of stupid books like Eat This, Not That by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding. I flipped through it to see what the authors had to say and went through all five stages of grief within a one-minute period:

1. Denial: No. Noooooo. No way are you telling me that I should choose Breyer’s ice cream over Haagen-Daas. Why the hell would I want a lower fat content, added stabilizers and unpronounceable chemicals?! And you’re telling me the reason that the Dairy Queen Banana Split is healthier is because it has a freakin’ banana in it?! What about the high fructose corn syrup poured all over the top?! I can’t believe that people would fall for this!!

2. Anger: O.M.F.G. This book is going to perpetuate the obesity epidemic in this country and isn’t going to help ANYONE. It just validates people’s shitty choices and makes them feel good about ordering a chicken burger with fries and a diet soda instead of the hamburger with fries and regular soda. W.T.F.

3. Bargaining: Maybe if I put sticky notes on the front of every one of these books in every store I see them in, someone will notice. Maybe if I stand in front of the display for hours, I can talk anyone who is interested in the book out of buying it and steer them towards a copy of The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf. Maybe if I complain to the store staff, they’ll do something. Maybe if I go on a hunger strike and alert the local media, someone will pay attention.

4. Depression: Why am I bothering. This country is going to kill itself. Why should it make any difference to me if some housewife gives her kids diabetes, they’re not going to listen to me anyway. Let them all die miserable deaths after living miserable, short lives.

5. Acceptance: At least the 20 bucks they’re spending on this book will be 20 fewer dollars they spend on fast food. At least they will be making marginally better food choices. At least people are starting to actually pay attention to what they put in their mouths. At least they’ll have a fuel source when the zombie apocalypse finally happens and they need something to burn.

Suffice it to say, I do not endorse Eat This, Not That. I think it is a sensational piece of garbage that uses faulty 1980s science (think: low fat is good!) and perpetuates reliance on the industrial food complex. I think if the authors of Eat This, Not That teamed up with the “nutritionists” (ha!) on The Biggest Loser, it would be freakin’ hilarious and a fantastic advertising opportunity for Nestlé.

Enter Jayson and Mira Calton, Stage Left:

I was thrilled to receive my advanced copy of Rich Food, Poor Food: The Ultimate Grocery Purchasing System (GPS) by Jayson and Mira Calton a couple weeks ago. I think this book may be the answer to a looming problem we all have: when faced with a store full of choices, an industry intent on tricking us into choosing quantity over quality and we want real food, what the hell do we eat?

Apparently Jayson and Mira had similar reactions to Eat This, Not That as me. This is a beautifully put-together, wonderfully written book for people who want to eat real food and who are looking for the best options on the market when they do turn to pre-made stuff. It’s Paleo-friendly and wheat-free.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to learn anything but as I flipped through the pages, I found tons of information that I hadn’t been aware of. Did you know that you can ferment brown rice and beans to reduce the phytic acid content by up to 96%?! I didn’t, but Mira and Jayson did. Not only do they tell you about it, they actually give you the recipe so that you can do it yourself. It was nice to see that I had instinctively been making some of the best choices I could on my own, and not so nice to find out I had been duped in a couple of instances.

This book is empowering. With it, you can head to the grocery store knowing what products are okay to eat and which ones contain dangerous chemicals and additives. You will also have healthy alternatives that you can make yourself. The Caltons refer to specific brand names that you are likely to see in stores and tell you exactly why some are “rich” and some are “poor.” The book is divided up into Aisles (instead of Chapters) just like a grocery store and it covers most things that you would be likely to eat. After brand names are covered, there are featured recipes so that you can make things yourself and tons of information so that you can always make the right choice when you’re at the store.

In Rich Food, Poor Food Jayson and Mira also uncover industry secrets and tricks that are cleverly designed to fool us into thinking a product is healthy. They give us the skinny on dairy, meat, fish, produce, condiments, grains, baking ingredients, beverages and snacks, as well as the tools to know whether the product is right for us or not — no matter what the label says.

Rich Food, Poor Food doesn’t cover everything; it is designed to teach you how to quickly identify a “rich food” from a “poor food” on your own. This is exactly what most of us need: the power and knowledge to make our own decisions, instead of trainers and meal-plans that don’t actually teach us anything and ultimately end up making us slaves to them for all eternity.

That being said, I couldn’t think of any foods that I would actually eat that this book didn’t cover in some way. Rich Food, Poor Food is perfect for someone like me. I make most things myself — like mayonnaise, sausages and broth — but sometimes I’m too busy or tired to make everything. That’s when I’ll pick up my copy of Rich Food, Poor Food and head to the store.

Rich Food, Poor Food is the indispensible follow-up to Jayson and Mira’s 2012 bestseller Naked Calories. You can find coupons for discounts on “rich foods,” cool products such as grocery bags (with the GPS basics printed on them!) and tons more information by signing up for the Rich Foods Center on Mira and Jayson’s website at www.caltonnutrition.com. The center launches February 26, 2013!

Paleo Treats: Rations for the Driven

Posted on January 30, 2013 by primalgirl

My Standards

Sometimes people send me things to sample. Usually they’re hoping for a review — some of them ask, some of them don’t. Usually they’re hoping I’ll at least pass on a message to you, dear Reader, and help promote their company.

You can see I don’t actually post that many reviews. I try to live by the adage, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” If I don’t believe in a product or actually use it myself, I certainly don’t advertise for it. I don’t care how much money I can make, I refuse to sell out. My integrity means everything to me.

Paleo companies are popping up all over the place, as Paleo becomes the newest and greatest thing since gluten-free sliced bread. Even some Vegans are converting. I’ve received samples from companies claiming to be Paleo but when I read the ingredients on their flashy packaging, I’ve been bitterly disappointed. Not only did I not consume their products, I didn’t blog about them, either.

I have standards, you see.

Paleo Treats: Rations for the Driven

I was contacted a couple weeks ago by a representative of a company called Paleo Treats. They didn’t ask me for a review, they asked me to become an affiliate for their company. A quick look at their website piqued my interest. They clearly list all the ingredients in their products and all the ingredients were Paleo. I wrote back and asked for a sample. I didn’t want to push this stuff until I’d tried it myself. I’ve made crappy Paleo “treats” in my own kitchen and have given up trying; the pictures in my cookbooks look amazing but never turn out the way I expect them to. They taste…healthy. To be honest, this is what I expected from PaleoTreats. I was delightfully mistaken.

My package arrived the next day. There was a flyer in the box telling me to either freeze or refrigerate any of the treats I wasn’t going to eat that day. This was a refreshing change: a product that actually spoils if you leave it out too long. Sure sounds Paleo to me — after all, real food spoils.

Paleo Treat’s Brownie Bomb

I threw all the treats in the freezer, except for a Brownie Bomb, which I decided I was going to eat right then and there. Take a look at the picture and you’ll see why. The ingredients were listed as: honey, pecans, eggs, coconut oil, cacao powder, almond flour. It was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most delicious thing I’ve had since I went Primal. The texture was a combination of cake and mousse – not chewy like a traditional brownie, but perfect in all other regards, especially taste.

A entire brownie is actually two servings. Even though honey is listed as the primary ingredient, the brownie wasn’t overly sweet. I couldn’t actually stop at one serving, I ate the whole thing in one sitting. That made a total of 28 grams of sugar – about the same amount as a Snickers bar. But the difference between this and a regular candy bar was that the Brownie Bomb didn’t make me sick, depressed or break out the next day. I felt good eating it and my body liked it.

Paleo Treat’s Mac Attack

The next day, I tried the Mac Attack. It was, in a way, even better than the Brownie Bomb. Chewy coconut, combined with chocolate chunks, it tasted just like the chocolate macaroons my mom used to make, except it didn’t have 3 cups of sugar, corn syrup and sweetened coconut in it. I took it out of the freezer while I was eating my lunch and it was ready to eat by the time I finished my salad. The ingredients in the Mac Attack are: shredded coconut, egg whites, honey, cacao powder, cacao nibs, vanilla extract. That’s it. Only 12 grams of sugar for the entire cookie but you wouldn’t know it. My first thought was, I betcha I can make this on my own. My second thought was, no. I can’t. Not this good, anyway.

Paleo Treat’s Mustang Bar

The next day, I ate the Mustang Bar. OMG. How could it possibly be even better than the other treats I’d eaten?? It was. It truly was. This one is my favorite. At only 9 grams of sugar, you’d think it would be so-so, but it wasn’t. I had to force myself to slow down and enjoy every bite. The Paleo Treats website describes the Mustang Bar as follows: “Creamy buttery nutty goodness, this lil’ fella melts in your mouth from straight out of the freezer. A cross between paleo granola and a sweet snack bar, this is like paleo candy.” The Mustang Bar contains almond butter, coconut oil, walnuts, honey, almonds, raisins, pumpkin seeds, almond flour, coconut, vanilla and salt. More ingredients than the other products, but man, what a combination of flavors.

Paleo Treat’s Cocao Now

The only product I haven’t tried personally is the Cocao Now chocolate bar. It looks amazing, but it has goji berries in it. For those of you that have read my posts on Hidradenitis Suppurativa, you know that I have an autoimmune condition and need to avoid all nightshades. Goji berries are, sadly, a nightshade. The ingredients in the Cocao Now are as follows: honey, cacao butter, almonds, raisins, cacao powder, pistachios, goji berries. My annoyingly slender husband, however, doesn’t have to avoid nightshades, so I gave it to him to try. He’s the one that routinely hates all of my Paleo desserts so I wasn’t expecting much out of him. However, this is what he said:

“It’s good. I wasn’t expecting to like it, but it’s good.”

That’s high praise from him. When I asked him if he thought it tasted healthy, he said, “A little. But not as much as I was expecting. I like it.” Ah, a man of many words.

The price on the website scared me a little before I received the treats in the mail. When I saw the actual size and quality of the the treats, though, it made sense to me. First off, they’re not really all that expensive. They run from about $3.50 to $4.50 each and there are combination boxes you can buy to make things cheaper. They will keep for a really long time in your freezer. They’re made from quality ingredients that would cost you the same amount (or more) to buy and make yourself. Plus, they’re a treat. I’ve been eating them for four days in a row in order to do this review but normally, I would limit myself to one treat a week. Essentially, if I make my own coffee at home for just one day, I would save enough to justify buying a Brownie Bomb. Which goes amazingly well with coffee. Coincidence?

Paleo Treats also offers discounts. Right now they have a 5% discount across the board on any order. If you’re military or law enforcement, you can get a 10% discount. Paleo Treats also runs specials several times a year, offers a wholesale and affiliate program and is open to requests for other discounts, if you feel you need one.

The Beginnings of a Paleo Business

Co-owner Nik Hawks was really forthcoming when I asked him a few questions about the business. He started it along with Lee Selman and a friend named Dave after only a few short weeks into the Paleo diet themselves, way back in 2009. “We noticed that after eating Paleo for a week you feel pretty good, after two weeks you feel great, and at the three week mark you start to wonder, ‘Wait a second, where the heck is dessert?’” he said. ”We knew if we had a problem so did everyone else, and the three of us came up with the answer in the form of pretty damn good treats that we can ship anywhere on the planet. We’re still working on a solid mission statement, but it really revolves around the twin pillars of making desserts that are A: totally Paleo, and B: REALLY delicious, not just “healthy” delicious.”

In order to come up with their recipes, the guys had to get serious about what it was that they wanted to eat. Their answer: chocolate. “Like anything worth doing, it took a while to come up with the first two (The Cacao Now and the Mac Attack), probably anywhere from 20-50 hours each, although we don’t really keep track of time that well,” Hawk jokes. ”We made 2,000 of those in our super tiny kitchen at home.” You can read more here about their experiments and recipe testing.

“[We] decided that was enough of that, so we found a bakery in San Diego and took the Treats into actual production. We’re still with the same bakery today, almost four years later and running strong. The Brownie Bomb was our third cookie and answered the call for ‘more chocolate.’ It also helped set a trend for us continuing to make radically different desserts; what we have are not variations on a theme, i.e. six different flavors of bars, they are actually different types of desserts,” Hawks says. ”Our latest incarnation is the Mustang Bar, an almond butter bar which is the hardest to describe, the best selling, and the only Paleo Treat so far to be called a ‘Paleo-gasm’ by one of our customers.”

With only four different types of desserts available, one may think that Paleo Treats is limiting themselves, their growth and their potential customers. However, Hawks says it’s important to have quality over quantity. “With four products in four years, we’ve learned that it takes us a while to develop new Treats good enough to stand behind. We’ll probably stick with Treats and not branch out in snacks.”

The guys are currently working on a lemon bar (my personal favorite flavor) but it will take a while to get it out of the development stage and into production. In the meantime, they continue to maintain their high standards by sampling their own products daily, working closely with other Paleo companies like Steve’s Originals and promoting the Paleo lifestyle in their everyday lives.

Yes, I am a Paleo Treats affiliate and I will make a small amount of money if you click on the links on this page and make a purchase. However, I stand behind the quality of their products and think that what Paleo Treats offers can be of benefit to you and your Primal/Paleo lifestyle.

Hidradenitis Suppurativa Book/Guide

Posted on July 17, 2012 by primalgirl

Hey guys!

I’ve taken a short break from writing my book to write another book. I’m still getting overwhelming comments on my Hidradenitis Suppurativa posts, and I decided that I needed to get all the information and tips I have in one, easy to read — and easy to understand — format.

I hope to have this book finished and available on for download and purchase by the end of the month. I’ll be using a lot of the comments that you guys have posted over the last couple months but I need to know if you have any more questions about specific things that you want me to address.

So, here’s what I need:

1. Questions/comments/testimonials
2. I’m searching for potential names for the book. Some people I’ve talked to refer to their HS as “Bumps.” This is my working title, but if you have a better suggestion, please let me know!! The name is pretty important and I’m at a loss. The subtitle is definitely going to be: “A field guide for surviving — and overcoming — the painful condition Hidradenitis Suppurativa.”
3. Any pictures you have (or want to take) that you will let me use in the book. I can give you credit, or post them anonymously. They do NOT have to show your face. I will NEVER, EVER “out” you if you don’t want me to.
4. Lists of your triggers and reactions. Send it to me with the following subjects: 1. Known triggers, 2. Potential triggers, 3. Major Symptoms (Body Wide), incl. joint pain, endometriosis, 4. Specific Digestive symptoms, 5. Skin conditions, incl. rashes and acne, 6) Mood/Pain Level

You can either comment on this post, contact me directly by clicking on the “contact” tab in the upper right corner of this page. Anyone interested in sending pics, please let me know and I’ll send you my email address.

Thank you! I’m excited to have this book out for you to read and hopefully it will help you out a great deal.

Homemade Coconut Milk, Coconut Cream and Coconut Butter

Posted on June 11, 2012 by primalgirl

Coconut is amazing. You can turn it into flour, milk, oil or butter. You can drink the water. You can simply eat the coconut. You can buy it shredded or in cans. Most of us don’t think about how simple it is to make things ourselves and so we pay $14 for a jar of coconut butter or $2.50 for a can of coconut milk and resign ourselves to shelling out for it because it’s awesome.

My kids have to take milk to school to fulfill some bullshit calcium requirement and since they’re dairy free, we’ve been sending them off with coconut milk. I’ve tried watering down canned coconut milk but it tastes…canned. I had started buying coconut milk “drink” in tetra paks, but at $2 each, it was getting expensive. Plus, one look at the “vitamins” on the side revealed that all the additives were artificial – even in the Trader Joe’s brand. I read a post on The Primal Parent about the damage that those artificial vitamins can do and how to make your own almond milk (which I did, and it was amazing but I can’t send the kids off to school with any type of nut product). So, I set off to make my own coconut milk. I simply used shredded coconut instead of nuts and used the same procedure.

The result was the silkiest, smoothest most delicous coconut milk I’ve ever had. It was fragrant. With a flavor I’d never tasted before. It tasted…fresh. The first batch I made separated in the fridge and had to be brought to room temperature and re-blended in order to drink it so I set about tweaking it. The fat congealed in one big lump and floated to the top. Frequent attempts to shake it back into submission only resulted in the lump getting bigger, much like dairy butter. (In case you’re curious, the fat that separated was pure coconut cream — or more correctly, coconut butter, but we tend to think of coconut butter as something else — I’ll get to that later. We’ll just call it cream for simplicity’s sake.) It was richer and smoother than the coconut cream you buy in the store and didn’t taste like it had come from China, which is how the stuff I’ve found tends to taste. It was solid like a block of butter is when you first remove it from the fridge, but when it warmed up it had the consistency of whipping cream.

Coconut butter is like peanut butter — the flesh of the nut with the absolute shit blended out of it. It’s not technically “butter” any more than almond butter is butter, but it is beyond amazing. It’s also very expensive. Artisana sells a 16-oz jar of Coconut Butter for almost 14 bucks. Sure, it’s raw. And organic. So is the stuff you can make at home. I estimate you can make a 16-oz jar of the stuff yourself for less than three dollars, depending on how much you got your coconut for. I bought a jar before I started experimenting so that I would know what it tasted like. It tasted like an orgasm feels. There is no other way to describe it.

So how do you make these things yourself? Well, here are the recipes.

Coconut Butter

You’re going to feel like a dimwit when I tell you how easy this one is, but don’t. Please. We’ve become programmed to think that only the all-powerful food industry holds the secret to foods like mayonnaise, peanut butter and pickles, but they are incredibly easy — and way cheaper — to make at home.

Things You’ll Need:

Blender (a high powered blender like a Vitamix work the best but any old blender will do.)
Shredded Coconut (I use Bob’s Red Mill Fine Macaroon Unsweetened Coconut. You can use any brand you want, but make sure it is finely shredded and unsweetened.)

1. Put the shredded coconut in the blender and put on the lid. You’ll want to use at least a couple cups of coconut since it reduces and you’ll definitely want more than a tablespoon of finished product.

2. Turn on the blender and gradually turn it up to high.

With a Vitamix, you’ll have finished coconut butter in about 3 minutes. With a regular blender, it might take as long as 15-20 minutes, but it will eventually turn into butter. Turn off the blender and scrap down the sides if you need to once the butter starts to form. Blend to desired consistency (just taste it to figure out how smooth you want it).

That. Is. It.

Note: Don’t add any type of sweetener to your coconut butter. I know it looks like icing, but it isn’t. I tried to make “icing” by adding some agave nectar and strangely enough, it dried the coconut butter out. No amount of re-blending gave it back the wonderful consistency it had before I added the agave. It should be fine if you’re using the coconut butter in a recipe that also calls for sweetener.

Coconut Milk and Cream

You can use this exact same recipe to make cashew milk, almond milk or any-type-of-nut milk, including a wonderful blend of all your favorites. Just make sure you drain and rinse the nuts and use fresh water in your recipe. With coconut milk, you use the same water that you soak the coconut in. This is the only difference.

Things You’ll Need:

Shredded Coconut
Blender
Filtered Water
Tea towel (I use Flour Sack Towels. Love, love, love them.)
Clean glass bottle
Funnel if your bottle has a narrow mouth
Guar Gum (if you want the cream to stay emulsified in the coconut milk)
Sugar/Honey (optional)
Vanilla (optional)

You’ll have to experiment with coconut to water ratios to get the consistency that you like but here are some basics that I like:

Coconut milk to drink: 1 cup coconut, 4 cups water
Coconut milk to cook with: 2 cups coconut, 4 cups water

1. Soak coconut in filtered water for several hours or overnight. I just do this step right in my blender. Less mess, fewer dishes. Work smarter, not harder. Flip the switch a couple times during the day to mix it all up, if you feel the need.

2. When you’re ready, turn the blender on high for 2-3 minutes in a Vitamix, a little longer (say 5 minutes) in a regular blender.

3. Set up your glass bottle, funnel and tea towel.	4. Strain the coconut milk by pouring it slowly into the funnel and squeezing the excess liquid into the bottle. You can discard the leftover pulp or use it for recipes. (It’s rather tasteless at this point) Repeat until all the milk is strained.

5. When you’ve finished straining your coconut milk, you have several options. If you want it unflavored and unsweetened, or you want coconut cream you can go ahead and drink it now or put it in the fridge. Otherwise, you’re going to need to return it to the blender. This is what I do.

6. I add 1 tsp of vanilla, 1 tablespoon of regular sugar and 1/4 tsp of guar gum while the blender is on. That way the guar gum doesn’t clump. I usually mix the guar gum with the sugar and add them together. It seems to work quite well.

7. When the coconut milk is flavored/sweetened to your taste, pour it back into your glass bottle.

A note on using Guar Gum: The following pictures are of freshly made coconut milk using guar gum. Notice the separation on the left. Even though you’ve used guar gum, the coconut milk will separate several times. Just give it a little shake to remix it. The guar gum keeps the fat from clumping when you refrigerate it and will eventually keep it emulsified once the temperature has dropped. If you don’t use any, you will end up with a clump of coconut cream that will not mix back into the milk unless you bring it to room temperature and reblend it. Using Xanthan Gum makes a product thicker and is not what you want in this case, unless you want to thicken the coconut milk up. I caution against this, though. If you want thicker coconut milk, use more coconut and less water. Xanthan gum gives your finished milk a slimy feel, especially if you use too much. Be careful with the amount of Guar Gum, too. The same thing can happen. A scant 1/4 tsp in 4 cups of water is enough.

8. Your fresh coconut milk will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days. You can also freeze it, but be prepared for some separation when it thaws.

Let me know how it turns out for you! Try making some other nut milks. My favorite is cashew milk. Just make sure you soak the nuts for about 12 hours and dump the water out and rinse before beginning. Nuts contain phytic acid and other anti-nutrients you don’t necessarily want to drink.

Save yourself some time:

Once you’ve made your nut butter, leave some in the blender and add water. Blend for a minute or so and then strain. Instant nut milk! Plus you’ve used up the last bits in the blender and made cleanup easier.

Vitamin D, CBS and Pickle Mayonnaise

Posted on May 29, 2012 by primalgirl

Vitamin D and Sleep

Dr. Seth Roberts (a PhD and biohacker who presented at AHS last year) has been blogging about my Vitamin D and sleep connection for several months now and has been trying it out for himself. Seth has been trying to improve his sleep for years and definitely thinks I’m on to something. You can read about his experiments here. He’s currently writing a publication on the subject, which I can’t wait to read. He’s also been referring to the topic during some of his talks. I know some of you have tried and have had success with changing the timing of your supplementation – we believe it’s more important than previously thought and can impact the outcome.

Paleo on CBS

Paleo’s been on the news again! Dr. Kim Mulvihill at CBS San Francisco recently came to PaleoFX and interviewed some of us. There’s tons of great information, including an interview with CJ Hunt about his new movie, In Search of The Perfect Human Diet. (Spoiler alert: it turns out the perfect human diet is Paleo.) Check out the videos on CBS, or click below. I just happen to be in this one. ;)

Aired May 14, 2012: New Documentary Highlights Health Benefits of Paleo Diet
Aired May 15, 2012: Going Paleo Means Cutting Out Common Items from Diet
Aired May 16, 2012: Plenty of Options When Cooking For Caveman Diet
Aired May 17, 2012: Can the Paleo Diet Extend Your Life?
Aired May 18, 2012: Olympic Athlete Credits Paleo Diet for Healing
Aired May 21, 2012: Plastic Surgeon Prescribes Paleo Diet Instead of Liposuction

Pickle Mayonnaise

I recently went on a road trip to New Mexico to visit a friend who I haven’t seen in years. I have so much in common with this woman that we never run out of things to talk about and do together but thanks to the military we’ve been thousands of miles away from each other since 2006. Staying with her and her family really brought a point home for me – we are not meant to live alone with our immediate families, isolated in our perfect boxes. We’re supposed to have extended family and friends around us most of the time. For support with our children. For help with the cooking and cleaning. To socialize with. We shared so many ideas and tips over a one week period that I have come home with tons of new things to try, many of which I’ve already started doing. We even stumbled upon an amazing mayonnaise recipe that I’m going to share with you. If it hadn’t been for Rhonda, I never would have thought about trying this.
As a lot of you know, making your own mayonnaise is disgustingly easy. I say disgusting because it takes about 30 seconds and tastes better than anything you’ll EVER get in a store. It’s a lot cheaper too. Just like salad dressing and marinades, it uses oil and acid – the difference is, there’s a raw egg thrown in. But just like salad dressings and marinades, you can mix up the type of oil and acid you use to invent amazing new flavors.
Rhonda had recently made a batch of pickles but had forgotten to add water to some of the batch (a crucial step if you actually want to be able to eat the things without your face turning inside out). I was making mayonnaise for our trip back home and needed vinegar. She suggested using the vinegar from one of her jars of dill pickles that hadn’t been diluted so I tried it. OMFG. It was possibly the best mayonnaise I’ve ever had. It tasted like summer – for me, that’s potato salad and barbecues. Since the mayo already had a pickle flavor, we didn’t need to add pickles to our tuna or egg salad on the road which made on-the-go preparations really easy. I added a little extra salt to the batch as well so I didn’t need to deal with adding salt, either.
We came up with the idea to make the vinegar to use for future batches, which is what I’m going to do later this afternoon. All you need to do is find a pickle recipe you like, make it — but don’t add the water or the cucumbers — and pour it into a mason jar. You don’t even need to go through the canning process because vinegar won’t spoil. You could add any number of herbs to it, depending on the flavor you want. I’m going to get some fresh tarragon and try that. Having flavored vinegar will save me having to add herbs to my mayonnaise later on and gives a depth of flavor that herbs thrown in at the last minute just don’t have.

Here’s the recipe. Substitute different oils and acids for different tastes.

Basic Mayonnaise Recipe

1 egg
1 cup oil (I use extra light tasting olive oil or avocado oil)
1 1/2 tbsp acid [vinegar or citrus juice] (3/4 tbsp apple cider vinegar + 3/4 tbsp lemon juice is lovely)
1/2 tsp dried ground mustard
1/2 tsp Real Salt or sea salt (more or less to taste, but 1/2 tsp is what I like)
Optional: fresh garlic, pepper, whatever herbs you want.

Put everything into a mason jar and use a stick blender to combine. You’ll have lovely, thick mayonnaise in about 30 seconds. If you’re using a food processor, add the oil in a steady stream. If you want to make a creamy salad dressing, just add some milk to thin it out, or even some more lemon or lime juice. Using balsamic vinegar as your base in this case works nicely. It all depends on what you want to do with the finished mayonnaise. If you’re making potato salad, I really suggest making and using pickle vinegar. (Don’t use pickle juice from a store bought jar, it has been diluted and your mayo will be runny.)

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I’m still writing my book and I’m really excited about how it’s turning out. As for a guestimate of when I’ll be finished — well, with toddlers, road trips, military PCS’s and life all competing for my time and attention, it could be a while but I’m optimistic I’ll get it done by the end of this year. :)

PrimalCon and Preparing for a Road Trip When You’re Paleo

Posted on April 10, 2012 by primalgirl

I’m getting ready to leave for PrimalCon in a few hours and I am super excited. Not only will I be talking to others about how I transformed myself, I’m planning on concentrating on how I have dealt with the litany of doctors I have seen over the years – to date, I have seen about 50 doctors from four different countries for the various ailments I used to suffer from. I continue to visit the doctor occasionally, if only to test their knowledge and spread the word about things like “gliaden” and natural, nutritional interventions as opposed to pharmaceuticals – the go-to of every conventional doctor I’ve ever seen. Perhaps you get to choose the doctor you go to, but as part of the socialized, industrial machine that is military medicine, I don’t. I get to see a new one every time I go to the office. So, I do what I can to be a shit disturber. It’s just what I do.

I’m going to take the time at PrimalCon to relax. I’m bringing my guitar and plan to enjoy the company of my wonderful Primal family, eat everything in sight and eventually let the sounds of the waves crashing on the beach soothe me to sleep. This will be the only vacation I get all year and I’m going to make the most of it.

I was going to say that I’ll be tweeting and blogging from PrimalCon but I won’t. I’m not going to make that promise. Besides the issue of having an internet connection in the first place, I want to concentrate on the event itself and on having fun, playing and connecting with Primal tribe members. Even if I do have an internet connection, I think I’m going to unplug for a few days.

In the meantime, it’s tough planning for a trip. I know that there will be lots of food when I get there, but I have a 9 hour journey each way. In my SAD days, I could stop at a roadside diner or go through a drive-thru, but that is no longer an option. Being Primal or Paleo can be daunting when you’re faced with time away from home, but there are solutions. Here are some things you can do:

Bring some lemon or lime juice. If you stop at a restaurant, you can always find salt. Grab some of the little packets to take with you if you can find them. Then, you can make a refreshing sports drink (recipe here) that will keep you hydrated. I find this especially helpful if you’re going to be flying.
Make up individual bags of nuts and dried fruit – one for each day you’ll be away. I went to Trader Joe’s and bought cashews, macadamias, almonds, dried blueberries, cranberries and cherries – all my favorites. Throw in some organic dark chocolate and you’ll have a nutritious meal (and a treat!) on hand for when there aren’t any other options. If you have a vacuum sealer, it will keep them ultra-fresh but I do caution you that trying to open one of those packages while you are driving is very, very dangerous.
You can also dry some of your own fruit if you own a dehydrator. Organic Kiwi sliced very thin with the skin still on and dried is one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.
If you have the time, make some beef jerky. If you don’t, there are amazing Paleo options available on the Internet if you plan a little in advance. The only two I have tried personally are Steve’s Original Paleo Kits and Tanka Bars. I prefer the Tanka Bars and here’s why:

Bring a jar of coconut oil. If all else fails, a spoonful or two will tide you over until your next meal. Coconut oil is also great to rinse out your mouth if you don’t have a toothbrush handy. A few people I’ve talked to use it instead of mouthwash and toothpaste. It’s antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and tastes great. You can add it to coffee (best with a blender though), put it on veggies at a restaurant instead of the hydrogenated imitation “butter” most places offer these days or use it as a natural, moisturizing sun screen for your skin. Be careful opening the jar if you’re in a warm environment, though. Look to see if it’s melted first.
For veggies, there are great kale chips available at most supermarkets. As long as you’re eating them with some beef jerky, you don’t have to worry about the fact that they’re “vegan.” ;) I make my own. My dehydrator is probably the most useful appliance I own these days.
Intermittent Fasting. Always an option and sometimes the best choice.

There are lots of options available to the Paleo traveller, if you do a little planning and preparation ahead of time. Most of us have to do that on a daily basis anyway, so traveling isn’t really a big deal when you think about it.

What do YOU like to bring on trips with you? Any tips or advice for the Paleo traveller?

Dear Primalgirl: Paleo’s Gonna Kill Ya

Posted on April 2, 2012 by primalgirl

Okay, maybe I’m being a little mellow dramatic with the title of this post but when Ancel Keys is brought up, I get a little pissed off. I received this comment the other day on a post I did a while back called Can Going Paleo Give You Celiac Disease? The comment was just too long and complicated for me to write a simple rebuttal underneath. Instead, I decided to turn it into a post. I will address each point in black text so it is easier to distinguish who is “talking.” In case you don’t feel like reading the original post, I concluded that going Paleo hadn’t given me any new diseases or syndromes; instead the removal of particular foods from my diet caused me to be highly-aware of the immediate problems they created when reintroduced.

Written by Scotty from www.mycollegenutrition.com:

I Highly Disagree, it’s totally possible to get an Autoimmune disease from any dietary restriction, Low carb paleo included. (by the way clay color poop is associated with problems in the pancreas). http://theskinnywhitebuddha.blogspot.com/2011/11/celiac-disease-diabetes-of-intesines.html

Clay colored poop can be associated with pancreatic or liver problems. This is why I immediately had the doctor run a panel for me, to make sure I was okay in those areas. I was. When I stopped eating wheat, my poop returned to normal after three days. Clay colored poop is also associated with Celiac Disease.

“It is interesting that the obese man or woman can be placed on a diet as low as 600, or even 400, calories without loss of body nitrogen or other ill effects and without depression of the basal metabolic rate. In these respects obese persons and persons of normal weight differ strikingly in their response to a low intake of calories.”

~ Ancel Keys the Study of Human Starvation

Whoaaaaaa Nelly. Wait. You’re quoting Ancel Keys?!?!? Really? OMG. Okay, let’s deal with this one:
Ancel Keys is the genius behind the low-fat hypothesis that has ravaged the Western world and several generations. He cherry picked his data to support what he believed and intentionally left out data that would prove him wrong. Fortunately, he has since been proved wrong and his data has been shown to be manipulated. If you don’t believe that, I would ask you to take a good look around and ask yourself how the Key’s low-fat and cholesterol hypothesis is working for the general public. I can’t take any of his arguments seriously, I’m sorry. By quoting him several times, you have unfortunately invalidated your argument with me and (I’m sure) most of my readers. Please find some data from a reputable, current source and we’ll debate. Leangains has a great write up on Ancel Keys, as does Denise Minger at www.rawfoodsos.com.

Seriously, why have you quoted this particular paragraph? Low carb doesn’t mean low calorie. Paleo does not mean low carb. We still get plenty of carbs, but from healthy sources such as vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds and tubers. We don’t starve ourselves. We eat when we’re hungry.

Put an already lean person on a calorie restricted diet and problems will ensue, but not in the obese because it takes longer for those problems to show up (I suspect because they have more fat to burn and lean tissue before they start running on fumes). A low carb diet can decrease secretory IGA and elevate Proteins to inflammatory markers like soy, gluten, eggs.

I am not on a calorie restricted diet, nor a low carb one. The Paleo lifestyle is as varied as the people who follow it. Some people eat very low carb (VLC) because they need to for specific reasons (epilepsy for one), other people eat very high carb depending on their needs. Suffice it to say, none of us are running on fumes. I’m sorry you have gotten the wrong idea about the Paleo lifestyle. Again, where have you gotten this data from? Can you show me the study that definitively proves low carb diets elevate proteins to inflammatory markers? (…NOT a study by Keys, please.)

“There is reason to believe that the epithelial lining of the gastrointestinal tract becomes more permeable to microorganisms in severe under-nutrition. The morphological changes in the intestinal tract would strongly suggest this.”

~Ancel Keys; The Biology of Human Starvation

I am not severely under-nourished. I was before I went Paleo. The phytates and lectins in the grains and legumes I was eating were binding to essential minerals in the foods I was consuming and causing a cascade of problems. I think a problem (besides the fact that you’re quoting Ancel Keys again) is that his book is called “The Biology of Human Starvation.” I don’t starve myself. I eat A LOT.

“The marked decreases in pulse rate and basal metabolism may be regarded as critical indicators of a lowering of speed in the automatic functions of the body…”

A lowered pulse rate can also be an indication of improved cardiovascular health. It makes sense that if a person is starving that the body would slow down non-essential functions. But again, I’m not starving. Far from it. And if I were, my body would be able to call on its fat reserves to burn for fuel. This is a complex evolutionary system designed to keep us alive during famine.

It can also be noted that a high Fat diet can destroy your glucose tolerance leading to thyroid imbalance which then may lead to digestive problems:
“Because of the high fat diet of the Eskimos, Heinbecker studied their glucose tolerance curves both before and after 82 hours of fasting. The basal blood sugar during the starvation decreased from 110-120 mg. per 100 cc. to about 80 mg. The glucose tolerances after the ingestion of about 2 gm. of glucose per kg. of body weight were normal in the control period. After 3.5 days of starvation the glucose tolerance showed blood sugar levels close to 300 mg. per 100cc. These returned only very slowly to normal.”

~ Ancel Keys; the Biology of Human Starvation

Sorry, but this quote doesn’t even reference your point, let alone prove it. Again, Keys selectively picked his information to tell the story that he wanted to tell. By adopting a high-fat diet, I personally overcame insulin resistance, pre-diabetes and hypoglycemia. However, once again Keys is talking about STARVATION. I don’t fast for 82 hours. I don’t know anyone who does if they don’t have to. It makes sense that when someone fasts for that long that their bodies would make glucose via gluconeogenesis or other pathways in order to fuel their brains. Again, we are complex systems based on millions of years of evolution. We are designed to be able to withstand short periods of famine. Who cares if your blood glucose is elevated during fasting? It’s not going to give you diabetes, in fact it would be beneficial. It would give you enough energy to go out and hunt/gather some food, eat it and continue to live. Of course blood glucose returned to normal afterwards. Of course it was “slowly.” Their bodies were smarter than they were, making sure the famine was truly over before announcing ‘Mission Accomplished.’ So tell me again, how does a high-fat diet destroy glucose tolerance, leading to thyroid imbalance and digestive problems?

Reduced Metabolic rate from Industrialized food (Overly processed, lack of vitamins) > Famine response is triggered > Low Thyroid> Lowered Secretory IGA > increased immune response to proteins > “leaky gut”.

So don’t eat industrialized food? Ok. I won’t. And I don’t. Are we saying the same thing here, or what? I’m not sure what your point is. Are you against Paleo, low carb or industrialized foods?

Celiac disease is really just a blanket term for all digestive problems, seeing as removing gluten doesn’t always solve the problem. IBS, IBD, Ulcerate Cholietis, Chrones, etc

Tell this to someone who is suffering from Crohn’s Disease. (Reid, can you hop on this?!) Celiac Disease is caused by gluten. If the complete removal of gluten from the diet does not result in a lessening of symptoms or complete remission, then perhaps the person didn’t have Celiac to begin with or is still getting “dosed” without knowing it. It can take half a year to see remission of symptoms after gluten has been removed. [Editors Note: According to Dr. Tim Gerstmar of Aspire Natural Health, sometimes complete removal of gluten from the diet doesn't solve the problem. In this matter, I will concede that you are right. Are these cases that are extremely far-gone? Thankfully this was not my case, but I was in the beginning stages.] Testing processes for Celiac are far from perfect. My doctor told me I have an 80% chance of having inaccurate test results come back. Celiac Disease is not a blanket term for all digestive problems, IBS is.

Dieting in general is a stress on the body, Paleo included. You could have had a gluten “sensitivity” (such a garbage term) before that is now exacerbated by a diet that is deficient and sub optimal for the current environmental conditions and Epigentic changes that said individual was conditioned for.

Again, I am not on a diet. I have been following a Primal/Paleo lifestyle for almost three years and during that time have seen the complete remission of all the problems I was suffering from during my pre-Paleo days. I agree that dieting puts a stress on our bodies, which is why I have NEVER ONCE DIETED IN MY ENTIRE LIFE – with the exception of in 1999, when I was placed on a calorie-restricted diet of 1600 calories a day under a doctor’s supervision. There was no importance placed on food quality or groups, it was simply a matter of calories in/calories out. Along with exercising vigorously for 5-6 days per week, I managed to lose ONE EFFING POUND over a 2-3 month period. Yes, it caused stress on my body and also on my mind. Keeping track of every single thing I put in my mouth caused me to think about food constantly. I had to starve myself if I overindulged earlier in the day, I had to weigh and measure everything and it was a horrible, horrible experience. I love the freedom that the Paleo lifestyle gives me. As long as I don’t eat grains, legumes and sugar, I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want, to satiety. I am healthy, vibrant and strong. I no longer have ANY medical or mental health issues. I don’t take any medication. I don’t have to buy products marketed towards “improving health.” That is my own personal experience. I will never, ever go back. I believe that my body is conditioned to eat Paleo foods, since it does so freakin’ well on a Paleo lifestyle. It was not conditioned to eat Neolithic foods. The proof is obvious if you look at my before and after pictures and listen to the diseases/syndromes/conditions that I was living with before but no longer have. Please tell me what nutrients and minerals my Paleo diet is deficient in. I can’t think of any, nor do I have the markers of any deficiencies.

The Mark Sisson way of eating can come with consequences: http://180degreehealth.com/2011/06/paleo-fail

Just my take on the subject…

Thank you, Scott. And this is just *my* take on the subject. Everyone is different. Everyone will have a slightly different path and results. Saying that “eating this way can come with consequences” is a loaded statement. The “consequences” for me have been vibrant physical health and strength, coupled with stable mental health and the body I have always dreamed of.

By the way, the Paleo-Fail post you linked to above is hilarious. The guy is trying to sell an e-book. Not everyone will have luck following a VLC Paleo diet longterm and will need to tweak their diet to suit their own individual needs. I have been following a Paleo lifestyle for three years and have found that I need to increase my carb intake from time to time, depending on the season, my activity level and my goals. I don’t need an ebook to tell me when it’s time to eat, I listen to my body.

I look forward to your reply as well as any medical studies or literature you are basing your opinion on, with the exception of anything by Ancel Keys.

School Lunches, the USDA and a Review of Eat Like a Dinosaur

Posted on March 30, 2012 by primalgirl

Click here to jump right to my review of Eat Like a Dinosaur: Recipe & Guidebook for Gluten-free Kids by Paleo Parents Matt and Stacy.

Before I get to my review, I need to vent about a couple things. We’ve had a base wide power outage this morning so I am experiencing a rare treat: people who normally meet elsewhere in private on base are having to go to Starbucks, the only place within 10 miles that has electricity.

This is what I am witnessing:

a base doctor, studying radiology and drinking diet Mountain Dew. I am itching to ask him if he knows the effects of the brominated vegetable oil he is drinking, but I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t care.
a pharmaceutical rep pushing a new drug on a hospital administrator. He even has fancy new toys for the doctors, stethoscopes and models of joints and bones. I’m not sure how that makes the drugs work better, or makes them safer, but they sure will look cool in the doctor’s office.
a nurse apologizing for showing emotion when faced with men returning from war without their limbs. She said she will “work on it.” In my experience, military doctors and hospital staff have even less emotion than civilian doctors. I was told by a nurse not to cry when I was in the ER, as it would result in them not helping me. Cause I’m crying. If I was hurt bad enough, I wouldn’t be able to cry. I guess.

I just want to stand up and scream. After being surrounded by Paleo physicians, naturopaths and success stories at PaleoFX, I am once again in the land of Big Government. Make no mistake, the United States Armed Forces is tightly pinned under the thumb of the pharmaceutical industry, the USDA and the FDA. Everything it does must fall directly in line with the guidelines imposed by those (and other) government agencies.

Play it again, Uncle Sam

This whole issue with ObamaCare and the government making us eat broccoli that’s all over FoxNews right now makes me want to pee myself laughing. The government already tells the military what to eat. I wish they would mandate the eating of broccoli. Like I said, the military has to follow the guidelines imposed by the USDA. That includes the food our troops eat overseas AND school lunches for our children. I have scanned in a copy of the 6-week menu served to the toddlers at the Child Development Center (the CDC ironically enough, although I lovingly call it the Center for Disease Creation). Here goes. Brace yourself. (Note the date in the lower left corner of each page. This was when this particular menu was approved. These menus have been in effect at this facility for almost three years. I tried to contact the person who had approved them and was told that she no longer works there. But her menus still exist. God, the lunch ladies must be tired of making this crap over and over.)

In case you can’t make them out, the pictures at the top of each menu are all of things my children don’t eat – (L to R) potatoes, spaghetti, crackers, pizza, sandwich – and wheat makes up the majority of the menu. After two weeks on this diet, my level-headed, patient, loving toddlers were a screaming, biting, tantrum-throwing mess, covered in psoriasis from head to toe. We couldn’t handle them at all. We tried to bring in foods to substitute the wheat and dairy but were told that we weren’t allowed to, in case another child had an allergy. So, we went to the doctors. We had him write up an official diagnosis of wheat and dairy allergy, so that our children became “special needs” cases. Then, we got into the habit of packing ALL their food ourselves. (Note: even though our kids have these “allergies,” it doesn’t stop the school from serving wheat and dairy in front of them.)

We had to come up with all sorts of creative substitutions, since the teachers told us it would be best if the kids were eating foods similar to those the other children were eating. The only catch was that we couldn’t send them to school with any nuts and that we had to loosely follow the USDA guidelines – 6-11 servings of “grains,” shitloads of “dairy” and something green or red that can pass for a “vegetable.” We spent weeks coming up with chicken nugget recipes, tomato-free Sloppy Joe imitations, wheat-free, nut-free cookies and breads and interesting breakfasts. We did that for about two months, then we couldn’t take it anymore. We don’t eat Sloppy Joes at home, not even Paleo ones, so I felt it was an incredible waste of time trying to imitate the SAD diet the USDA imposes. So, we just started sending them off to school with Paleo food. Instead of cupcakes, our kids got a date. The teachers can’t believe our kids reactions when they give them their date. They will ignore the candy, cookies, cake or whatever gluten-filled crap the other kids are eating and act as if though they were given a million bucks instead of something that looks like wrinkly tree poop. The teachers have even told me that they themselves have tried the kids lunches and that our children eat “the best out of every one at this school.” There are hundreds of kids, teachers and staff. We don’t feed our kids that well for lunch. You should see what they eat for dinner. ;)

Eat Like A Dinosaur

Which leads me to my review of Eat Like a Dinosaur by the Paleo Parents, Matt and Stacy. I’ve been pretty much going at this on my own as most gluten-free kids cookbooks don’t work for me. Too many recipes contain nightshades. Or nuts. Honestly, I wasn’t planning on buying this book. I was given a copy at PaleoFX and flipped through it on the plane.

The difference between this book and others I’ve read is that it is written by actual parents with young kids. Those of you that don’t have young kids do not understand how difficult it is to please them. Toddlers have the palates of, well, toddlers. Even though our kids have been mostly Primal since birth, they still want to eat simple foods. They ask for things like bagels, cake and hot dogs, since that’s what the other kids eat. They won’t touch bok choy, often spit out their steak and need a freakin’ dip for everything.

At first glance, I thought that this book had far too many desserts, snacks and treats. It was easy to judge from an adult perspective. However, when I took a closer look and thought about it from a mom’s point of view, I realized that Matt and Stacy have included recipes that their kids will actually eat. Kids want to eat crap. It is up to us as parents to disguise healthy food as “crap” so the kids think they are getting away with something, while at the same time providing top-notch nutrition and setting our children up for success later in life.

The first recipe I made was the “Anytime Cookies.” They are sweetened with a banana and an apple and that’s it. There aren’t even any eggs in them. They didn’t turn out anything like the pictures or the descriptions, but they held together. My husband said, “they taste like they’re good for me.” The kids didn’t care. To them, it was a cookie and they were eating it for dinner. To me (since I knew what was in it), it was a perfectly acceptable meal, along with some ham, olives, pickles and kale chips.

There are lots of tips for getting kids to help in this book and most of the recipes will appeal to both kids and parents. There are colorful pictures and great examples of Paleo lunches. (Hey Matt and Stacy, where did you get those great lunch boxes? I need a couple!) There are sauces, dips, creative drinks and lots of recipes I plan on making. The language used appeals to children, especially little boys who want nothing more than to actually be a dinosaur and eat dinosaur food. This book also contains a storybook, which my children love to read. In fact, it’s been difficult to actually use the book to cook anything – my kids keep stealing it so they can read “The Dinosaur Story” and I have to hunt through their toy boxes for it.

Unfortunately, a lot of these recipes use nuts so I can’t make them for the kid’s lunches. We can have them for dinner, though and on weekends. There are a few that use tomato (the hardest thing to substitute and a real kid favorite) that I wish didn’t, but I can hardly blame Matt and Stacy for including them. If my kids could eat tomatoes, they would be having Paleo Ketchup every day.

I think this is a great book for parents trying to raise Paleo kids. It’s colorful, creative and a great first edition from a couple of people that you should really keep on your radar. I would like to see an autoimmune Paleo cookbook from these two. If they don’t write one, perhaps I will. Adding the autoimmune component in is a real pain in the ass when it comes to options. But overall, I think Eat Like a Dinosaur is a great addition to your Paleo kitchen if you are cooking for children. Pick up your copy today!

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Yes, I am a Paleo Treats affiliate and I will make a small amount of money if you click on the links on this page and make a purchase. However, I stand behind the quality of their products and think that what Paleo Treats offers can be of benefit to you and your Primal/Paleo lifestyle.

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