Learn about Primal



Primal Diet in a Nutshell

Whether it's called Primal, Paleo, Caveman Diet, or whatever,

the focus is on eating Real Food for the rest of your Life

and avoiding the bad stuff that contributes to disease. 

 

 

 

Eat:  

• pasture-raised beef, pork, lamb and other animals
• pastured chicken and eggs 
• wild fish
• all kinds of vegetables and fruits grown without pesticides and locally  if possible
• olive and coconut oils, and butter from grass-fed cows
• nuts (not peanuts)
• pure water (at least filter tap water to remove chlorine)

Avoid:

• all sugars and artificial sweeteners
• all grains (wheat, corn, rice, etc)
• all beans
• starchy vegetables like white potatoes (sweet potatoes are ok)
• all food in a box with chemicals added
• soft-drinks, including diet drinks
• vegetable oils such as canola, sunflower, soy
• all unfermented soy products
• most dairy

The Primal/Paleo Lifestyle isn't complicated-- it is based on the hunter/gather way of life. Of course, we can't just back up 10,000 years or move to the bush. So the closest we can get is to try to eat real food (using for our model what the hunter/gathers ate) and move around a lot like people did before there were machines to do everything for us:  (walk a lot, lift heavy things, sprint, squat), get rest, enjoy the outdoors.

Before food scientists started creating our "food products" in  corporate labs, people were eating the kinds of food that have been eaten for centuries. They didn't count calories or balance omega 3s with omega 6s, or worry about the antibiotics they ingested when they ate feed-lot beef and factory-grown chickens.  They also didn't suffer from modern diseases like cancer, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. (Before you respond with Yeah, but cavemen lived short, brutish lives, read this.)

Logically, it makes sense to get back to real food; the problem is 1. finding "real" food and 2. overcoming the faulty information we've been told over and over ("avoid fats" being one piece of bad information. Even now, as I cut a chunk of butter to melt in the skillet for an omelet, I have to overcome the thought that "butter is bad" and "eggs are bad".)

We need to re-learn the old way of eating real food, and unlearn much of what the food scientists and government officials have preached in the last 60 years or so.

Learn to Eat Real Food: Ask yourself if people in the 1800s would have eaten the food you are about to eat. If the food was grown and eaten in the 1800s it stands a better chance of being real food. However, this doesn't explain why the primal diet avoids grain. Wheat, as an example, has been so modified in the last 100 years it isn't the same as what our great-grandparents ate, but anthropologists tell us that ancient societies that ate grain were less healthy than hunger-gather societies. (Much more about this is in Primal Blueprint, Why We Get Fat, and Wheat Belly, and the blogs listed below.)

If you can, shop at a farmer's market for local foods. You might even find fresh eggs there. A lot of small farms are not "certified" organic; that might not mean that they don't use healthy practices, but local is probably better than organic from the grocery store. 

Unlearn Faulty Information: the books and blogs below are a good place to start if you'd like to read about the problems that have arisen by letting the government, food scientists, and 'health experts' tell us what to eat. You've probably noticed there's always some new study reporting on what to eat that refutes a previous study; eggs are bad/eggs are ok after all; margarine is better than butter/margarine is bad and butter is back; soy is healthy/soy is toxic; sugar causes hyperactivity/sugar is fine for kids; avoid all fat/some fat is good and necessary for brain development. Examples like this abound.

Do you wonder if a lot of these so-called authorities don't really know what they are talking about?Read about the McGovern Study in the 70s, (listen to a video clip here); here's a piece of the McGovern committe meeting with scientists (7/26/77): 

Dr Robert Olson St Louis University: I pleaded in my report and I will repeat orally here for more research on the problem before we make announcements to the American public.
McGovern: Well I would only argue that senators don't have the luxury that a research scientist does of waiting until every last shred of evidence is in.

The McGovern report was written by a young staff member who happened to be a vegetarian and had no background in medicine or health reseach. The committee recommended a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet for everyone.

 

Why have we listened to a bunch of senators telling us what we should eat?

When a scientist's pet theory fails tests, and he says, "the theory is still good, the test was just faulty" or he ignores some data and publishes only the data that fits  his theory, understand his problem:  if his theory fails, he will lose face and a lot of grant money. (See Modern Nutrition Policy is Based on Lies and Bad Science.)

Learn More  

If you are just investigating the Primal/Paleo lifestyle, check out these links to the books and blogs I find most informative and useful; the Individual Articles section contains information that is particularly worth reading.  Look at the success stories first and you will get motivated to live this way too.

Success Stories

I've collected inspiring stories of individuals who have improved their health with a primal/paleo diet and lifestyle. These are mostly from Mark's Daily Apple.

Books to Read

There are a lot of books questioning the truth of "conventional diet wisdom" and "government diet recommendations" but these are some of the best:

Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson

Weight loss is largely about insulin; moderate your production by eliminating sugar and grains, and you will lose the excess body fat you desire even while eating delicious, satisfying foods. Plus you will improve your energy level, reduce inflammation, and eliminate disease risk. Eating meat, eggs, and a generally high-fat diet not only is healthy but is the key to effortless weight loss, a healthy immune system, and boundless energy. Slowing down your typical cardiovascular workouts, and incorporating brief, intense strength sessions and occasional all-out sprints can produce fitness benefits far superior to workouts that are longer and more grueling-and can eliminate the risk of burnout.  from the description on Amazon.

Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes

Gary Taubes explains the flaws in traditional weight loss teaching that the government and nutritional establishment has been pushing for over 40 years. During that same time, our population as a whole has managed to drop it’s overall fat and calorie intake, yet increase the rate of diabetes, obesity, heart attack, and stroke! Basically, low fat, high carbohydrate diets aren’t working!!…in fact, they are killing us. Many of us have experienced the benefits of Paleo eating, but may not really understand why it works. Take the time and educate yourself as to why it works, and why carbs are truly the cause of most of society’s obesity and chronic disease problems. READ THIS BOOK! review by PaleolithicMD 

The Whole Soy Story by Kaayla Daniel

...tells the truth about soy that scientists know but that the soy industry has tried to suppress. Soy is not a health food, does not prevent disease and has not even been proven safe. Epidemiological, clinical and laboratory studies link soy to malnutrition, digestive problems, thyroid  dysfunction, cognitive decline, reproductive disorders, even heart disease and cancer. from the description on Amazon.

Wheat Belly by Dr William Davis

After witnessing over 2,000 patients regain their health after giving up wheat, Davis reached the disturbing conclusion that wheat is the single largest contributor to the nationwide obesity epidemic—and its elimination is key to dramatic weight loss and optimal health. In Wheat Belly, Davis exposes the harmful effects of what is actually a product of genetic tinkering and agribusiness being sold to the American public as “wheat.” from the description on Amazon.
 

The Hundred-Year Lie by Randall Fitzgerald

"How to Protect Yourself from the Chemicals that are Destroying Your Health"  Not a primal diet book exactly, but it's important to know what chemicals are in food and household products and how they react with each other in your body. Pretty scary stuff when you read that the typical American has 700 synthetic chemicals in his body -- so if you want to be healthy, you need to get rid of them.
 

Blogs about the Primal Lifestyle

I discover a new paleo/primal blog almost every day. As more and more people start living this way, they want to share their excitement and success with family and friends (which is just what I am doing). Here are a few really good blogs:

Mark's Daily Apple - by the author of Primal Blueprint. This is the website that got me started, and it's the one I read the most. Recipes, success stories, and research into diet and lifestyle. 

Wheat Belly Blog - by the author of the book with the same title. He focuses on wheat obviously, but it will encourage you to give up wheat which is a good place to start if you don't jump right into giving up all grains.

Authority Nutrition - written by a medical student in Iceland. He searches out scientific studies for nutritional truth and explains it clearly.

Individual Articles

These are not all about the Primal diet but they do point out why our modern diet is making us so unhealthy and fat.

What's Wrong with Bread?

Against The Grain: How Wheat Wrecks Your Health

Biggest Lies of Mainstream Nutrition

Why the Campaign to Stop America's Obesity Crisis Keeps Failing by Gary Taubes

Why Beans May Not Be the Healthiest Option 

Hypoglycemia Conquered

Why is Diet Soda Bad for You? 

Forget Cholesterol, Inflammation's the Real Enemy

Alzheimer's and Coconut Oil suggests that the increase in Alzheimer's disease is a result of the low-fat diet over the last 40 years and says coconut oil can help reverse AD.

How I Keep My Skin Clear - beautiful skin starts from the inside.

Videos

These take some time to watch but will be worth your while.

Sugar: The Bitter Truth   1 1/2 hours long Dr Robert Lustig's video on sugar will open your eyes to the danger of eating sugar.

Nourishing Traditions Diets a 2 hour presentation by Sally Fallon of the Weston Price Foundation. She shows the difference in facial structure and teeth health in cultures that ate their traditional diets and those who switched to the modern western diet as it came into their communities.  If you can, at least watch the first hour. It is so important for young couples to eat a healthy diet before they have children!

Food Inc. 1 1/2 hours  The documentary looks inside America's food corporations and production. long.   

Hungry for Change in 7 parts, interesting info on our way of eating, why we are fat, how marketing affects what we buy, how processed food is unhealthy. (I don't necessarily recommend the products or methods the "experts" that are interviewed are selling elsewhere.)

Please note: I’m passing along information that I think is useful, some of which has been helpful to me personally.  I’m not offering health care, and I’m not qualified to do so. If you are considering a dietary, exercise, or other lifestyle change, it’s a good idea to check in with a doctor or other health professional for support.