This post is for all of those people out there getting false information and missing the big picture. I know Tumblr makes it easy for you to ask questions to people who *seem* experienced with Paleo. The little ask box is quick and almost guarantees a response from those who relish in the ego-boost it brings. But guess what?! You can ask questions over at www.robbwolf.com too, and he responds, AND he’s an actual research biochemist!

Please, I beg of you, if you have questions about Paleo, sit down and read the literature. Dr. Cordain, Robb Wolf, Art De Vany. THESE are the experts. Not the person preaching that something is/isn’t Paleo because it wasn’t eaten by our paleolithic ancestors. These people are missing the big picture. The picture of health, the picture of a healed gut. The actual science behind all of this! The reason why you should or should not be eating something. Even Robb Wolf says you need to play around with this stuff a little.

The people out there acting like experts with no real nutritional/scientific background are going to keep others from discovering this great way of living. This is NOT a contest to see who can be more Paleo than the next. This is about becoming the healthiest YOU that you can be. Please ignore the lunatic fringe.

Read the words of Dr. Cordain and Robb Wolf and Enjoy!

US News “Best” Diets

Today we say goodbye to a long-standing Paleo foe, and welcome a new, more curvy one. Today, the federal government makes a lateral movement towards the same ol’ crappy eating. Today, they will still be touting a diet sure to keep you inflamed and a little bit sickly (probably not sick enough to raise too many red flags though!). Today they will still claim whole grains to be heart-healthy, despite any scientific proof…Today, we welcome YOU food plate as our new adversary, may the fight be fair and please, keep your grains to yourself!

So long food pyramid, hello plate

Hey, he’s a caveman…kind of paleo, right?

Just read this article and bask in the sweet verbal beat-down coming from Robb Wolf. I can literally feel his anger emanating from my computer screen.

Sh*t Fox New Says

I don’t have anything to add because well, Robb said it all so much more eloquently than I ever could.

To a shocking world of desperation.

I happened to just stroll through weight loss blogs recently to see if/how the Paleo diet is catching on for some people on Tumblr and wow. 

What comes up is a scary and twisted world where people hate themselves and their bodies. A world where there are no shortages of starving teens, pre-teens and adults. Calories counted, sometimes both in and out of the body. Eating disorders are given non-threatening names, hoping to be hidden from prying eyes (though it doesn’t take but a minute or so to crack the code). Girls are surviving on the minimum amount of food a body can and there is little doubt that they must constantly feel irritable, dizzy and tired. Their diets have little to no nutritional value, consisting of random items touted as beneficial to weight loss with no truth behind it. This is a world of desperation all around us.

This is, by no means, referring to people blogging their journey of weight loss through healthy means, these are people with very real psychological problems that food (or lack their of) will never fix. These are souls clinging to anything that can let them feel in control of their lives. Some part of their lives feel so helplessly spinning out of control, that they turn the pain inward. These girls remember everything a parent ever said to them in disgust. They repeat these words back to themselves when they feel hungry, reminding themselves of the end goal: hip-bones. 

They post pictures of professional models as inspiration. They see that finish line as not just a different body but a different life. A life where the opposite sex pays attention and the staring that they now perceive as hateful will one day be lustful. Because to them, a life as a skinny person has no pain, all will be right once they have a perfect outward appearance, as if that even exists.

Now don’t get me wrong. I was a teenage girl once, but even I was blind to the scope of this. But what about the parents and teachers? Do they see it? And this isn’t just teenagers, what about the adults? These people are struggling with so much inner conflict someone has to notice…right? 

This blog I started is, and will always be, about eating a Paleo diet but I never expected to stumble across all of this in the process. I am tagging this post with choice words in hopes that someone who is floating out there adrift in a sea of confusion and pain may have their eyes opened for them. There is a place where you can eat (lots!) and be healthy and feel good about yourself. Life as a “skinny” person (I’d rather use the word “fit”) isn’t perfect.The problems you feel inside don’t go away once you hit your goal weight. You still pay bills, you will still endure heart break in some form, chances are you’ll find yourself feeling lonely more than you’d like. Life doesn’t start happening when you reach that goal weight. It’s here, it’s happening and we ALL have our own struggles, really! 

So if you are truly struggling to lose weight and, in turn, using the starvation method, here is a secret: it doesn’t work! Your body goes into a mode where it clings to any food you eat and stores it for fuel. Think of a squirrel storing nuts for the winter.

To lose weight and change your body, you need to eat the right foods that makes you feel awesome and allows your body to function. Healthy meat, fats (yes!) vegetables and seeds are great, grain in any form is bad. The Paleo diet includes fruit and nuts, but because of how your body reacts to them, they are not recommended for anyone with the desire to lean out (which boggles my mind when I see that most starvation diets consist mostly on fruit and nuts!).

But here is the real secret:You will never get out of this vicious cycle of self loathing until you admit your own self worth and allow yourself to love youself. Just as you are. Right now.

FDA Probes Link Between Food Dyes, Kid’s Behavior.

I am sure everyone by now has seen this little article on the news. And hopefully, if you are a Paleo eater, you see the real message lurking behind this.

Basically the study on food dye and resulting behavior is inconclusive. Why? because we are still feeding the same grain-based foods that trigger that sugar spike in kids, just without the dye. In the article above a mother talks about how she took away the manufactured oatmeal and replaced it with a more “natural” substitute:

“On the advice of friends, Christine decided to start by cutting out foods with artificial coloring, but Dawnielle didn’t really go for it. She missed her favorite oatmeal with little red-colored dinosaurs in it. Christine tried a substitute. “You know, I made the oatmeal with blueberries and soymilk and thought you would be happy with it,” she says to Dawnielle.

“I was not. That was not a good replacement,” Dawnielle says, laughing.

But it was tough back then. After a year of trying various diets — from eliminating food dyes to eliminating dairy — her children’s behavior never really changed, Christine says.

She finally took them to a pediatrician, who diagnosed them with ADHD and prescribed medication. The difference was stunning, Christine says.

“Suddenly, my world came back together and I could do stuff,” Dawnielle says. She went from being the class clown to being the class example.”

Didn’t work, big shocker there. It’s still oatmeal! So it looks like she tried a few other elimination diets, but sadly missed the one that she needed to focus on. And the even sadder conclusion was to give her child ADHD medication to allow her to focus. Maybe her little mind would have been more calm and attentive if her diet wasn’t toying with her blood sugar all the time.

They can study their little heart out on all of these random factors in food/nutrition, but unfortunately it may be a while until one of these studies steps back, and looks at the big picture instead of trying to single out Red Dye No. 40.

Stay primal!

Alright, tumblr is enlightening me to the steps other people take to eat and feel better. Way to go people! But, I also see some disheartening behaviors…

Some are focusing too much on their mistakes. Others are going so far as to not call it Paleo because they “know” a cheat day is in their future (Pssst! You control your future!). Some are using the term “primal” to mean more “paleo light”…

Look, paleo isn’t a badge you get to wear (though you can buy a “bacon is rad. gluten is bad” shirt!) You don’t learn a secret handshake when you go 30 days without a cheat meal. I swear! Your prize is feeling and looking better.

This isn’t like training for a marathon. You don’t train to finally do it one day. You just put down the bread and pick up the meat. Simple really. Sometimes sugar sneaks in, sometimes it’s legumes. You move onward with the next meal and just keep at it. 

It all reminds me of The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Milan. When a dog has an issue with an outside force, whether it be other dogs or skateboards, he takes the dog on a walk. Leash firmly in hand, he sets up the distraction off to the side. He walks with a calm, assertive energy, leading the very confused dog right by the object. A quick correction is made if the dog reacts and then they both keep walking. He does this again. And again. And again. He does this until the distraction is no longer a distraction. It’ll essentially elicit no reaction from the dog. They glide right by the object, eyes forward, focused on the task of just walking.

I think too many people out there are letting the “bad foods” become a distraction to the task at hand (being healthy). You hold the power to just walk right past a temptation. If you happen to “cheat”, grab the leash, correct yourself and move forward.

So tell me, are you paying too much attention to your distractions?

Paleojess@gmail.com

Alright, there is a website I used to read religiously, but over the last few months I feel like the writers are just trying to give me reasons to not be loyal. I’ll spare you my beef with their increasingly contradictory ways and just give you this post:

Olivia Munn Doesn’t Trust A Girl Who Refuses An Ice Cream Sundae

Really now?! 

Can we stop guilting people that want to eat to feel good? I have refused many sweets in my life and I know what it feels like to be staring back at someone who thinks I just kicked their puppy when really, I just refused their cookies. I promise it does not make me less trustworthy!

I think people, especially women,  already have so much working against them when it comes to trying to be healthy. We practically come out of the womb with an unhealthy body image! Do we really need to add a female guilt trip on top of that?

Let’s allow all people their chance to live healthy lives free of psychological sabotage! 

PaleoJess@gmail.com

Side note: Yes, I do realize she was probably imbibing on this show (it’s like a prerequisite with those two!) I don’t have an issue with hersaying it, but I do have a problem with a female-centric website pushing this idea further down our throats.

That proper nutrition can improve your mood?

Vegetarian throws airline meal at flight attendant

Just sayin’