5 Little-Known Health Facts And What We Can Learn From Them

1. Vitamin D is not a vitamin 

Vitamin D is a hormone produced in the body when cholesterol is converted into a secosteroid via UV exposure. Vitamin D can be assimilated through dietary sources but since it’s a hormone it sure makes sense to me that it’s better to naturally synthesize it from sunlight than to rely on supplements or fortified food to get this crucial hormone. 

Vitamin D deficiency is rife in the Western world, thanks to our indoor lifestyles and our dispersion to the more northerly and southerly latitudes. Our fear of the sun has become so extreme that it is negatively affecting our health. I wholeheartedly disagree with the latest skin-cancer scare campaign in Australia, “There’s nothing healthy about a tan”. 

Lesson: Be smart, enjoy the outdoors, get some sun early and late in the day when you don’t need sunscreen... and don’t get burnt! 

2. Peanuts are not nuts

Peanuts are legumes. They grow in the ground just below the surface and have fairly soft shells. Compare peanuts to tree nuts, which typically have strong shells and grow high above the ground out of reach of most animals. 

The fact that peanuts have relatively poor external self-defences tends to support the fact that their internal defenses are so potent and why peanuts are so allergenic. Because they aren’t protected by hard shells or elevation they have particularly strong lectins (anti-nutrients) that cause havoc to digestion and even a strong immune response in susceptible individuals. 

Lesson: Beware of peanuts. They are nothing but shady beans hiding underground posing as nuts. Eat almonds and macadamias instead.

3. Dietary cholesterol is not bad for you

For about 80% of people, dietary cholesterol does not affect their serum (blood) cholesterol. That means four out of five people could eat animal fats all day long and their cholesterol won’t go up. Furthermore, 75% of the cholesterol in our blood is actually internally produced by our liver so this whole hoo-ha about avoiding dietary cholesterol is nonsense. 

Furthermore, while high serum cholesterol has some correlation to heart disease the link is tenuous at best. It is becoming increasingly apparent that when it comes to artherosclerosis the number and size of lipoproteins (the proteins that carry the cholesterol around our bloodstream) are far more important variables than the absolute amount of cholesterol contained inside of these lipoproteins. 

That is, it is far more risky to have a lot of small, dense LDL particles charging around your arteries carrying not much cholesterol within them than a few giant, fluffy LDL particles with a bunch of cholesterol in each one. 

Not only this but cholesterol does not CAUSE artheroscleorsis, inflammation does. Blaming LDL for heart disease is like blaming firemen for fires. Yes they are always present during a fire, but they didn’t necessarily cause it!

Lesson: Eat the whole damn egg.

4. Terrestrial animals have more protein than sea animals

Gravity-bearing (land) animals have eight grams of protein per ounce of body weight. Fish have only five grams per ounce. Clearly load-bearing activity promotes lean muscle mass. 

Studies have shown that astronauts experience up to a 20 percent loss of muscle mass on spaceflights lasting just five to 11 days.

Lesson:  Lift weights! 

5. Red meat does not cause cancer

I am so sick of seeing these epidemiological studies linking meat consumption to cancer. They are so full of scientific holes, confounding variables and bias that they couldn’t hold a gallon of water for two seconds. 

Unfortunately the media love to sensationalize the latest bad research - which they don’t actually read (or understand) - with headlines such as:

“RED MEAT CONSUMPTION WORSE THAN SMOKING, DRINK-DRIVING AND BASE JUMPING… AT THE SAME TIME!!!”

Ok not quite that extreme but not far off! 

The China Study is a great example of this. This massive epidemiological study, which famously linked animal protein consumption to cancer was grossly flawed and misleading. Yet it still remains the vegan bible for many.

T. Colin Campbell couldn’t find any direct correlation between meat consumption and cancer so he threw in a confounding variable - cholesterol - to try and force some kind of correlation. Then he cherry-picked the data points that supported his hypothesis so he could sketch out a nice linear correlation in graph which more accurately resembled the Milky Way. 

Unfortunately a lot of nutrition research is misleading. Why? Because people have big egos, need the funding, and want to prove themselves right at any cost. 

Until someone shows me a controlled, double-blind, clinical trial using grass-fed meat against a vegetarian control group I will not be concerned about my meat consumption. 

Lesson: Enjoy your grass-fed beef and don’t worry about it negatively affecting your health. It’s good stuff.

As always thanks for reading. I've been told by some social media expert mates to start ramping up my Instagram with lots of half-naked pictures, recipes and workouts so if you're into that kind of thing please follow www.instagram.com/thepaleomodel 

Cheers!

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References:

http://chriskresser.com/the-diet-heart-myth-cholesterol-and-saturated-fat-are-not-the-enemy

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/64249main_ffs_factsheets_hbp_atrophy.pdf

http://www.westonaprice.org/vegetarianism-and-plant-foods/the-china-study-myth

Ask the Paleo Model: Grocery Shopping Tips

Goose - 28, New York City, new to Paleo asks:

Dear Paleo Model,

Now that I'm eating paleo style, I find that I have to be super organized for grocery runs. I head out armed with paleo recipes to make sure I only get paleo friendly foods. This is not really my style.Do you have any tips or overarching rules for remembering what's "in" and what's "out" so I don't have to keep deferring to the web and recipes?

Thank you sir.

Hi Goose! (Very paleo name by the way).

What a great question. Thank you. I understand how stressful and busy grocery shopping in Manhattan can be, with gaggles of vegan-inclined New Yorkers lining up out the door of Trader Joe's while you stand there, bewildered, having a gander at the epic fruit and nut wall. (See how I snuck in not one but two puns in that sentence?). 

I've been thinking about how to answer your question, and I think we should start with an old adage... "practice makes perfect". When you're brand new to Paleo it can be a little overwhelming with all the contradictory opinions of what constitutes a "Paleo food" and what doesn't. But don't worry because after a few months of eating this way and delving into some of the Paleo literature you'll be a pro. But let's set down some basic rules to get you started. 

Firstly, a loose definition of Paleo would be anything that flies, runs or swims; and anything that grows out of the ground that can be eaten raw. Now of course there are some exceptions to this so let's get into some more detail with these eight guidelines.

PALEO SHOPPING GUIDELINES:

1. Focus on everything in the exterior sections or walls of the supermarket (i.e. produce and meat) and ignore almost everything in the aisles (processed, packaged and multi-ingredient foods).

2. Go for any meat, seafood, poultry & eggs, fresh or frozen, so long as it is not processed (i.e. only contains one ingredient). 

3. Choose any vegetables and fruit, frozen or fresh, that can be eaten raw and that is only one ingredient. The "can be eaten raw" rule means that it is NOT a legume or a grain, which are not paleo foods. (Note that peanuts are legumes so peanut butter is out). 

4. The exceptions to the 'can be eaten raw' rule are starchy tubers and roots such as sweet potato, parsnips, turnips, taro, yuka root, plantains, etc. 

5. Some exceptions to the 'not from the aisles' rule are as follows: canned fish, raw tree nuts, coconut products (water, cream, oil, milk, dried/shredded), olive oil, vinegar, spices, sea salt,  >80% cacao dark chocolate, coffee, tea, sparking water, tinned (or preferably glass bottled) vegetables such as tomatoes, olives, etc.

6. The dairy section is out for strict Paleo although I do recommend grass-fed butter or ghee. Once you've been dairy-free for a while if you really want to you could potentially reintroduce some fermented dairy such as kefir or even raw aged cheese and see if you do well on that. Milk is out though.

7. The frozen section is good for single ingredient (preferably grass-fed) meat, (preferably wild caught) seafood, (preferably organic) veggies and berries.

8. Some packaged foods with a few ingredients are still "paleo". Make sure you carefully check the ingredients. These include things like tomato "passata" sauce, thai curry paste, fresh salsa, pesto, etc. Watch out for cheeky ingredients like dextrose, corn starch or high fructose corn syrup. 

That pretty much covers everything. I highly encourage people to go to farmers' markets to get really fresh, local produce at a good price. Due to economies of scale it's hard to find really good quality eggs and meat from a supermarket and often you can't guarantee the origin, quality or time in cold storage of supermarket produce, which all affect the nutritional value. 

Here are a couple of resources for more detailed lists of paleo friendly foods:

What Is The Paleo Diet? - Robb Wolf

Paleo Shopping List - Robb Wolf

Grocery List (Paleo style) | Caveman Strong

Primal Blueprint Shopping List | Mark's Daily Apple

Hopefully my guidelines help you a bit until you find your Paleo feet. You'll be a Paleo pro in no time. After a year in NYC I now have my own Trader Joe's strategy down. I quickly grab all the 'in the aisle' stuff and then jump in the massive line (which conveniently wraps around the exterior of the store) and then I just pull things off the shelf as I go! 

Thanks again for your question and am so glad you've found Paleo. Please spread the word (but not in a preachy way!) 

Also look out for my upcoming post, 'My Paleo Staple Foods', which coincidentally outlines the eight items I buy every time I go to the supermarket and what I use them for...

Cheers!

The Paleo Model. 

PS - I went out to buy some goose feather pillows, but I found they were so expensive I couldn't even afford the down payment!

Plate of the Day: Bacon & Eggs (on multigrain air toast)

The picture above is what I ate this morning and is a very typical bacon and eggs breakfast with no bread (aka “air toast”). 

Here are some notes:

Bacon

I usually only have one or two small slices of bacon here in the States as it is extremely fatty here. The fattiness is not a problem, per se, but because I can’t guarantee the health of the pig here and the industrial farms probably feed them a horrendous diet I err on the side of caution to avoid some potential toxins in the fat. It is however delicious and the rendered fat is perfect to cook the eggs and lightly sauté the spinach in. If I can buy bacon of the highest quality from a local farm that pasture-raises their pigs then this is not a concern.

Eggs

Where possible I only buy eggs sourced from a local farmer that lets his hens roam free and doesn't feed them grain, or even better, doesn't feed them at all - just lets them scratch around for bugs and worms. I am fortunate to have a great farmer’s market in Union Square where I can buy a dozen real farm eggs for $4. 

This is the ideal (unless of course you can have your own chickens!) but if you don’t have access to a farmer then your only other option is to buy the best quality free range eggs from the supermarket that you can afford. The 'organic' and 'free-range' labels unfortunately do not mean a whole lot in this country. Organic eggs are preferable than non-organic, however it still does not guarantee the quality of the egg or the health of the hen.

Oddly, It is possible to get barn eggs from hens that have more space and access to the outdoors than 'free range' eggs - as the definition and enforcement of the term is lax at best. The quality of eggs ranges from farm to farm and it is hard to tell the much about the hens just from the label. Price is generally a pretty good guide though. I avoid cage eggs. I don't want to eat the product of an ill, stressed out, jail-bird for both health and ethical reasons.

Today I scrambled the eggs but usually I would poach or lightly fry them. It is best to have the yolks as raw and whole as possible. When you scramble egg yolks or cook them at high temperature they can become oxidized which may affect the fatty acids and potentially make the cholesterol in eggs less beneficial. It is pretty clear these days from the research that the dietary cholesterol in eggs actually raises HDL ("good cholesterol") and lowers LDL "bad cholesterol", which renders the whole cholesterol concern over eating eggs unfounded.

Avocado

Amazing source of monounsaturated fat, fibre and nutrients. Delicious, satiating and one of those foods that no one can deny is healthy. GOOD FAT IS GOOD! Eat fat to burn fat.

Salt 'n' tomatoes

Tomatoes work well for me. I love them... provided they have salt on them! Don't use table salt. Spend a little extra on some quality sea salt, Pink Himalayan salt or other mineral-rich fancy variety. It's worth it. As a nightshade, tomatoes can be an issue for a minority of people with auto-immune issue. If this is you consider trying an uber strict auto-immune Paleo protocol which limits all nightshades. Good luck!

Spinach

It's good to get organic spinach if possible - same goes for other salad leaves, broccoli, berries, apples, and all fruits and veggies whose exterior we consume. Think of it this way, if you sprayed paint on it, could you eat it without eating the paint? i.e. Avocado, banana, coconut, nuts - YES. Strawberry, grapes, spinach - NO. If YES, it's probably not worth buying organic in most cases. If NO, buy organic if you can afford it.

A breakfast like the above would contain roughly 20-25grams of protein, 40-50 grams of fat and basically 0 carbs and around 600 calories. This is a very Paleo macro-nutrient breakdown and keeps me satisfied and with good energy levels for 4-6 hours. This meal will definitely not spike insulin in a metabolically healthy person.

I used to eat something like this every single day but these days I rarely eat breakfast, instead going for a Bulletproof Coffee. When I do have breakfast though, this is it, or on the rare occasion I’ll have a banana coconut pancake.

“Form a habit. Forge a lifestyle.” - The Paleo Model