More Links and Recipes for your Paleo Challenge

  We are going to stick to Robb Wolf's guidelines for the thirty day Paleo Challenge, although super-strict Paleo People The Whole9 have changed their guidelines to include clarified butter, ghee.  This is their original Dairy Manifesto.  

I'm not sure I buy all that, especially for raw, unpasteurized, organic milk.  Milk has many good properties to recommend it; it has everything needed to build a big, dumb animal.  Whole milk is a perfect Zone food, with balanced ratios of fat, carbs, and protein.  It is well known among strength athletes that milk stimulates growth with  powerful anabolic properties; HGH and IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor 1).  Plus, it is a liquid food which allows one to consume it quickly without feeling as full, thus one can consume more calories.  After your Paleo Challenge, if you are going to try it make sure to introduce it gradually, as you need to build up that lactase enzyme to break down the sugars.    Also, the proteins in milk may be allergenic, especially if you have other gut issues.   Skim milk, however is a broken food.  They took out all the satisfying yummy fat in order to sell it back to us when we go on a bender and eat a half gallon of ice cream out of desperate longing for some creamy comfort.
 
The Whole9 have interesting rules for their "reset" program.  I think Kurt Harris's take on it is more nuanced and intellectual.  He doesn't have people start cold turkey with a "reset" but encourages gradual changes.  This may be more sustainable over the long haul.  Really, how much can you get away with in this hedonistic world?

Recipes from one of the Whole9's health ambassadors.  There may be some ghee in these recipes.   Our lovely Paleo recipe book in the gym is available for borrowing, but it allows some cheese and cream which is not suitable for this month of pure Paleo, but may be fine for you later.

The flock lays a variety of eggs

Can you tell which egg is the organic, free range grocery store egg and which comes from our foraging, left-over fed chickens?

Breakfast

 

Can children eat gluten-free at camp?

My oldest daughter went off to summer camp for the first time this year.  I was proud of her, but worried about her, too.  Would she be happy with strangers?  Would they feed her?  She had fun, even though they made her hike!  She did find gluten-free stuff to eat, even though it was Rice Crispies or a tub of cream cheese without the bagel.  It was a good thing we packed her a survival kit of kippers and jerky, because she would have gone hungry some days without them.

Hello Again

It's time to start blogging again!  I have so many interesting links that they fill up TwinFreaks blog and overflow into this blog.   I'll put up my reading list someday, but for now, here are the things I've been reading lately.  Coach D's blog, of course.    I've discovered Twitter and I am getting all this fabulous reading material.  Jimmy Moore, the Livin La Vida Low Carb podcast guy has a bunch of interesting stuff, for instance.   That Paleo Guy, Jaime Scott from ChristChurch NZ is a rather well educated blogger who is very interesting (post-graduate diplomas in sport & exercise medicine and in nutritional medicine).  Dr. William Davis is not a Paleo proponent , but he has a new book out I want to read called Wheat Belly -- he dishes the dirt on some good reasons not to eat oatmeal and other non-gluten grains.

Is it Spring Yet?

The bench press.

Carbs as Narcotics, Notice that artificial sweeteners are MORE addicting than real sugars, possibly because the body never gets the hit of carbs it gears up for.

Got a good Paleo recipe?  Make a blog and put up a recipe with a photo, and you can share it with the world.

Why most research is probably wrong.

Protect your birthright.   Especially written for Christians, but if the rest of you can get through the scripture you will read some good stuff.

An awesome graphic about CrossFit strategy.

According to Melissa at Whole9, it can take four months or more to recover from coffee.  I dropped coffee last month and I feel pretty good already, but maybe I will see more changes over time.  I was surprised to see that I could live without it, but I feel much better in the morning now.

Larga Vista Ranch

30-Day Paleo Challenge

So I'm finally doing it again!  Finally going to get serious about eating Paleo and take a break from eating chocolate and sweet stevia in coffee all day long!  A couple of buddies are doing it with me, so I'm not on my own here, thank the-deity-of-your-choice-or-non-theistic-life-principle.  And a few other friends are doing some cool stuff with their food -- really cleaning up their act and dropping out some crappy junk.    I just keep reminding myself: fighting cancer is hard, quitting heroin or alcohol is hard, skipping my coffee with cream Is Not Hard!  Actually, I feel pretty good, and I love eating steak and eggs for breakfast and pork chops with kale and yams fried in bacon fat for dinner.  I would like to not feel addicted to chocolate...  maybe one day.
http://whole9life.com/2010/12/whole30-2011/

Why to avoid wheat.

A vegan saves her life and gets death threats.

A freezer full of yummy pork.

Tuesday

Some BPA-free canned foods.  BPA has been known to be a problem for a decade, but people are only now really starting to object.  BPA is also in most receipts - if you handle receipts all day consider a barrier cream or gloves, especially if you are a woman thinking about having children.  More info from a neutral source.  More about the studies that show BPA passes through skin.

Fun with kettlebells.  A coordinated Russian display of skill - the best part is at the end.

A diversion. With robots. 

A New Year

It's time to start thinking about another Paleo challenge.  I need some company in my misery if I am going to give up cream and stevia in my coffee again.  This January might be the perfect opportunity for us to band together and log our food intakes.  No sugar, legumes, grains, or dairy.  (Or beer!)  Just meat, good fat, vegetables, some fruit, some starch. Try it for a month and see how you look, feel, and perform.  It can make a big difference.  Just logging your food is very interesting and makes a big difference.  Even if you are not ready to go REALLY paleo, you can take a good hard look at food quality and quantity.


Not ready to go whole hog? Try giving up just gluten.  


There are going to be age group divisions to qualify for the CrossFit regionals this year:  "four age divisions (45-50, 50-55, 55-60, 60+)".  Read more.