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What I Learned From Dr. Eades

What I learned from Dr. Eades: the importance of a clear message.

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Why Paleo?

Why Paleo? One word: results.

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The Super 7

Add The Super 7 Paleo Fast Eats to your repertoire and you'll always have something good to eat.

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Youthful Vitality

Reclaim your youthful vitality! The Paleo diet will help you feel young and energetic.

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Better Paleo Pictures

Want to take better pictures of your Paleo food? Here's how I dramatically improved the photos for my website.

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Sisson Speaks

Mark Sisson speaks to a group of Paleo/Primal eaters in NYC about the metabolic paradigm shift.

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The Allure of Plant-Based Meals

It seems everywhere I look these days there's mention of plant-based meals. Books, magazines and restaurants are jumping on the plant-based bandwagon.

I understand the excitement. "Plant-based" sounds really appealing. Plants are so clean and refreshing. They're colorful, crunchy, wet, bitter, sweet, delicious, and a whole bunch of other things. They're even photogenic!

Eating plants makes us feel pure.

There's also the part about non-violence. Oh, beautiful non-violence! Surely we're not hurting any innocent creatures by eating plants. A soy patty topped with arugula is the type of food nice people eat. Right?

Before we throw our grass-fed burgers out the window, let's keep one thing in mind: we're part of a food chain. We've been eating other animals for millions of years and our bodies have evolved as primarily meat eaters. So now what? Can we deny our savage ways and take a new route?

The answer is yes...and no.

We can eat plants and animals just like our hunter-gatherer ancestors did, which will keep our bodies happy and healthy. We can be kind in countless ways, mostly by how we grow and buy our food. Every time you buy grass-fed meat, wild-caught fish and organic produce, you make a difference because you cast a vote. By supporting food growers who care deeply about the quality of their products and the animals they raise, you can have the best of both worlds: kindness and health.

Here are some resources:

Eat Wild

American Grassfed Association

Local Harvest

Paleo For Breakfast

Are you wondering what to eat for breakfast when you're eating Paleo? In this video I'll show you my 3 favorite breakfasts. Paleo for breakfast will get your day started right.

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The Placebo Effect Gets No Respect

Yesterday, while perusing the reviews for the Power Balance Wristband on Amazon, I noticed several mentions of the placebo effect. Some people seem to think that if a product works only because you think it will, it's a waste of money. But isn't the result what we're looking for? Does it matter how we get there?

The power of the placebo effect should not be underestimated. In fact, if more products were successful in creating a placebo effect, we could minimize unwanted side effects and reduce costs. If our minds can do the work for us, what's the problem?

Did you know your thoughts and feelings affect every cell in your body? When you believe something to be true, your cells believe it too. Bruce H. Lipton, PhD, author of The Biology of Belief and The Wisdom of Your Cells says, "Cellular technology is far more sophisticated than anything humans have been able to come up with."

I'm willing to give the Power Balance Wristband a try because I'm open to getting results from either the wristband's technology or the placebo effect. The truth is, if I notice some kind of change, like improved balance, I won't know the real reason for it. If it's all in my head, I'm okay with that.

One Amazon reviewer said, "Don't ask me how it works. I haven't a clue and after being an engineer for over 20 years, that bothered me. However, I have found that sometimes things work even if we don't understand the mechanism."

I ended up ordering a Power Balance Wristband for myself and a few for family members. If one of us experiences an improvement, it's worth it. As one newly-pain-free Amazon reviewer wrote, "Placebo effect or not, the thing works for me."

Just heard from Tom Venuto

You've probably heard of Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle. I just got an e-mail from the author, Tom Venuto, about the Burn the Fat Inner Circle and something occurred to me: I've been hearing from Tom for 8 years! Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle was the first e-book I ever bought! I think that's a cool distinction, considering all the e-books I have now.

Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle is considered by many to be the bible of fat burning. I certainly learned a lot from reading it and I recommend it to anyone who wants a better understanding of why nutrition is so important. I have done sports nutrition certifications that didn't teach me nearly as much as Tom's book.

I'm happy Tom has had so much success with Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle and I look forward to getting his updates for many years to come.

When Naps Go Bad

One of the best parts about the Paleo lifestyle is sleep. There's nothing like a solid night's sleep to give you a new lease on life, balance hormones and make you leaner. I'm a big fan of naps, too. I usually take a nap between day and night activities to get a second wind. I truly believe that if everyone took a quick nap in the afternoon, we'd all be a lot happier and healthier.

You may have noticed I said "quick nap." A quick nap is refreshing and invigorating. A quick nap puts a spring in your step and sets you up mentally for the tasks ahead. But some naps aren't quick. Some naps are long. Too long.

Sometimes naps go bad.

Yesterday, I was exhausted and took the granddaddy of all naps: the 3-hour power nap. This type of nap is usually reserved for newborns, but I went for it anyway.

As you can imagine, my 3-hour nap felt fabulous and messed up EVERYTHING. I had an insane amount of energy at 10:00, and 11:00, and midnight. Needless to say, getting to sleep for the night was challenging. I finally dropped off with the help of delta waves.

A 3-hour nap is great when you're on vacation in the Caribbean and one of those afternoon rain storms blows through, but when you're home, in the middle of the week, naps are best kept to around 45 minutes.

I have this great book called Take a Nap! Change Your Life. It has a "Nap Wheel" on the front cover which tells you how much REM, slow-wave and stage 2 sleep you're getting with your nap, depending on what time you woke up in the morning. My 3-hour power nap was pure stage-2 goodness, which jacked up my alertness and motor skills. I probably could have done a high-wire act. Instead, I did yoga.

Today's nap will be a power nap, too. The short kind.

3.31.11

Paleo Success

College student Leigh Garcia is a true Paleo success story. In this interview she explains how eating Paleo has changed her life, why she started her Paleo blog and her favorite Paleo recipe. Be inspired!

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Food For Thought

How do you know if a food is good for you? Would you eat rocks if someone told you they were healthy? It sounds crazy, but let's take a closer look. It's food for thought.

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Paleo Magic

What's Paleo Magic? It's what happens when you cut the grains and starches out of your diet.

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Shrimp and Guacamole

As an appetizer or main dish, Shrimp and Guacamole is great for Paleo eaters.

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Punk Rock Fruit Salad

Punk Rock Fruit Salad doesn't play by the rules.

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Sleeping Naked

When I told my husband, Scott, that I was going to write about how I sleep naked, he said, "Well, actually, you sleep in lipgloss and headphones."

This is true.

But nothing else, because I'm comfortable in my own skin. I want you to be comfortable in your own skin too. When you're comfortable in your own skin, you own the world. You're amazing, fabulous and dynamite all rolled into one.

Nothing can stop you when you love your thighs.

This all starts in the kitchen, eating real food. That's how you get lean. A Paleo diet of meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit and nuts can give you the body you were meant to be in. You'll know you're there when you want to get moving, treat yourself right, eat great food and yes, sleep naked.

2.28.11

Top Nine Paleo Staples

If you had to choose your top nine Paleo staples, what would they be?

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Math-Free Paleo

Math is cool, but math and eating don't work well together. Math-free Paleo makes eating easier and more fun.

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Gary Taubes is not Lady Gaga

2.14.11

I can just imagine Gary Taubes at a party. He wouldn't be the guy in the middle of the room charming the pants off the ladies and laughing at his own jokes; he would be the guy in the corner with a group of people huddled around him, devouring every word he says. Gary's a really smart guy. When he talks, people listen.

And more people should listen.

The information contained inside Gary Taubes' head could save millions of people from the ravages of obesity and all its spin-offs (type-2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer, just to name a few). Luckily for all of us, Gary writes books. Good Calories, Bad Calories is one of my all-time favorites. A while back, I recommended it to a bunch of people who didn't bother to buy it, probably because it's too heavy to lift. Now I'm recommending Gary's lighter, more digestible book Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It. This book should be required reading in high schools. Have the kids read it and go home and say, "Mom, it's not the eggs cooked in butter, it's the toast! IT'S THE TOAST!"

Maybe if Gary were the guy in the middle of the party wearing a meat dress or a sequined vest (or better yet, O.R. scrubs), he might command the attention he deserves. His message might get across to more people. If he could yodel or do something more EXCITING than just talking about boring ol' hormones, people would pay attention. I bet juggling knives would do it!

It's true, Gary Taubes is not in the entertainment biz. He doesn't have a schtick. He's too busy coming up with answers that could solve a lot of our health problems. Actually, what he's saying isn't new. He's pointing out that belief systems have consequences and that if you are fat, it's time to change what you believe.

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