Category Archives: Healthy Weight

The perfect paleo workout routine for weight loss & muscle gain

Posted on 22 April, 2017 by | 1 comment

the best paleo primal workout for weight loss muscle gain

Let’s cut to the chase: you want six-pack abs, a toned yet shapely butt, and arms that don’t have jiggly bits underneath. You want to get rid of those stubborn kankles, ease the constant chafing between your thighs, and not have sore knees, hips, and back ALL the time. Heck, you might just want to fit back into that old pair of jeans you allow to lurk at the bottom of your drawers, in the hope that one day, one day, they’ll slip back on like a glove. Well, the answer is simpler than you think.

Workouts don’t need to be complicated, drawn out, unenjoyable affairs. They don’t even need to be that frequent, to get the results you want. I’ve spent the last 10 years perfecting the ultimate paleo workout routine, from what protein to consume to which exercises to perform, and it’ll have you transitioning from flab to fab in no time (guys – feel free to replace the decidedly feminine “fab” with something manly like “jab”, if it makes you more comfortable).

So without further ado, here’s quite possibly the best workout routine you’ll ever lay your eyes on.

Your pre-workout routine

First, know that your body won’t respond well to strenuous exercise if it’s tired or still recovering from a previous workout. Ensure that you haven’t done an intensive weight-bearing workout in at least the past 2 days, preferably 3. Also ensure you got enough sleep last night, as your body is already stressed in this case and you don’t want to introduce any more stress into your life with a hard workout.

Step 1: prepare a protein source

For me, this is almost always a protein shake. While many people have been led to believe that whey protein isn’t that great for your health, it’s hands-down the best protein source for workouts if you get hold of the good stuff. That means whey from grass-fed cows, that has no additives or artificial flavors, and is preferably organic. This protein powder ticks all those boxes, and it’s been my go-to protein powder for the past 4 years. If you’re completely against whey protein (just FYI, often people with dairy allergies respond well to whey protein isolate, which shouldn’t contain lactose or casein), then you can always try an organic pea protein powder. Or even just a big hunk of meat, preferably the size of your palm. Your choice! Aim for around 30 grams of protein.

Drink half the protein shake 10 minutes before the workout, and half after the workout. This allows your muscles to synthesize the protein while you work out, which means faster muscle gains and quicker muscle recovery.

Step 2: warm up

Here, we just want to get your blood flowing and your muscles limber, so you don’t do any damage during the workout. This means 2 minutes of jumping around, shaking, dancing, or doing star jumps like nobody’s watching. I hope for your sake that no-one’s watching, as you’re going to look like a complete nutcase.

Your optimum paleo workout

After you’ve knocked back half your protein smoothie (10 mins before exercising) and warmed up a little, it’s time to get down and dirty. A couple of important points to keep in mind:

  1. Use whatever equipment you have available. I regularly work out using a 10 liter container of mineral water, as it’s a good weight for many exercises and has a handle – kind of like a rudimentary kettlebell. Nothing beats an actual kettlebell, however – I’ve found that a good starting kettlebell for ladies is 6 kg or 8 kg, and 10 kg or 12 kg for men.
  2. Perform the reps (reps = repetitions) to failure, unless otherwise stated. This means doing as many reps as you can of a given exercise until you literally can’t do any more. This will shock your muscles as much as possible (a good thing), which means faster fat burn and greater muscle mass development. No half-arsed attempts, people!
  3. Ensure your form is spot on! If you have to practice an exercise at a lighter weight initially, so be it – you need to do the exercise how its supposed to be done, or risk injury.
  4. Take a 1 minute rest between each exercise – use this time to have a sip of water and write down how many reps you did! You’ll need to keep increasing these reps with each new workout, in order to grow muscle mass.

Workout #1 (day 1)

  • 10 glute activators (essentially just hip thrusts which you can do on the ground or on a bench that help to activate your glutes, which are often dormant going into a workout)
  • kettlebell bicep curls (remember to keep your arms in by your sides, and you can just do one arm at a time if you only have one kettlebell)
  • wide-grip pull-ups – the guy in that video cracks me up, but he’s right about how to do it! (use anything around the house or gym for this – could be a lateral tree branch, a pergola, a doorframe, or a chin-up bar. If you don’t have any of these, just skip this one)
  • full-extension kettlebell crunches
  • crazy ivans using your kettlebell
  • slow pushups (5 seconds down/5 seconds up. You don’t have to do it on your knuckles like this guy! Keep your hands in line with your shoulders)
  • alternating kettlebell lunges
  • kettlebell deadlift (slow and steady wins the race with these bad boys!)

Workout #2 (day 3 or 4)

Post-workout

After your exercises, take a couple of minutes to shake it off and loosen up if you feel a bit tight. I find just going for a very quick jog around the yard helps with this. Now its time to drink the rest of your protein shake and rehydrate. Drink lots of water during and after the workout – dehydration is not your friend!

Workout 1 shouldn’t take you more than 20 minutes, and workout 2 shouldn’t take you more than 15 minutes. Studies show that shorter, more intense workouts are more effective for weight loss and muscle gain than long workouts. Give yourself plenty of time to recover between workouts (I always space them at least 3 days apart, interspersed with days of mild to moderate cardio like walking, running, cycling and kayaking).

I always have my phone with me during workouts – I use it to note down how many reps I do per exercise for each workout, so that I can ensure I’m always increasing reps over time. I also use it as a timer for the side planks. You should also consider getting yourself a good exercise mat or yoga mat, to make your experience a whole lot more enjoyable. And crank those snazzy tunes! Nothing like a good workout playlist to get the blood pumping. I’m digging Spotify’s “Motivation Mix” right now.

That’s it! Easy, right? Try this routine for a month, and see how you look and feel. We’d love to hear if it kicked those kankles and busted that butt!

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Using a Paleo approach for weight loss and muscle gain

Posted on 15 February, 2017 by | Leave a comment

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Up until now, we’ve largely focused on using paleo, primal and ancestral teachings to clean up our diet and lifestyle. Admittedly, these are two of the 3 key pillars of true health and happiness…but what about the third? That third pillar, in case you’re wondering, is exercise, and it’s arguably the biggest element of health that people are most confused over.

Throw your conventional view of exercise out the window

Think of exercise, and your mind turns into an infomercial. State-of-the-art treadmills, high-tech ellipticals, snazzy rowers, bouncy things, multi-purpose things, ab-tightening devices and, if you’re getting a bit racy, perhaps a rack of ultra-polished dumbbells. It’s ok – my mind conjures up much the same images as well, despite the fact that I’ve completely retrained how I approach exercise. That being said, what you need to do before we progress is metaphorically (and perhaps literally, if there’s no-one directly below) throw that cheesy infomercial-style gym equipment out the window.

This equipment is designed to provide a “quick fix” in your quest for a better body. But really all it’s doing is introducing convenience into the mix: with the exception of dumbells, you don’t have to think about the exercise you’re doing. Just jump on the treadmill, tap a few buttons, and you’re free to think about all of life’s other troubles. I still do a double take when I see someone hop onto the stationary bike, pick up a magazine, and just cruise for half an hour. Those same people invariably wonder why they’re not losing weight, when they’re hardly even getting their heart rate up!

Next, stop pounding the pavement and wondering why you’ve got injuries coming out your ears and the weight refuses to budge. Repetitive movements like this put the body under extreme stress, due to repeated impact with hard surfaces and physically jarring the bones and ligaments of your legs and feet. And when the body is under stress, it holds on to all the fat it can – thinking that there are hard times ahead. Do you really want to look like a long-distance runner, anyway? They’re all stringy and unhealthy looking…typically because they are unhealthy!

Finally, stop finding excuses to NOT exercise! You literally don’t need anything to get a good workout – just a few square feet of empty floor space. Abandoning this reliance on fancy gym equipment or even a nice spot to go running will ensure you don’t ever miss a workout opportunity.

High intensity training for weight loss

High intensity interval training, or HIIT, is all the rage in the alternative fitness circles these days. And it’s with good reason – HIIT offers vast quantities of calorie destruction with just a fraction of the time (and money) investment compared to the average gym or cardio workout. It’s now a well-accepted fact that our bodies respond better to short, focused periods of exercise. A 10 to 15 minute HIIT workout does that – elevating your heart rate, jump-starting your aerobic system, and fatiguing your muscles in a concentrated time slot, which minimizes the amount of stress you’re putting your body under. Remember, less stress means more weight loss, and achieving higher intensity means more calories burned faster. It’s a win-win, really.

In my opinion, if you’re looking to kick that jiggly belly or Beyonce butt fat quickly, ditching the elliptical or long runs and adopting HIIT 2 to 3 times a week is the far better option. If you’re searching for inspiration, a good starting point is to get your hands on a proven workout program. Dr Josh Axe’s “Burstfit” program provides super-intense workouts that’ll get you sweating and probably swearing a bit as well. But it’s not for the faint of heart. Otherwise, if you’re not looking to make quite as much of an investment, this DVD series comes well reviewed and for a fraction of the price.

Heavy lifting and bodyweight for muscle gain

If you’re looking to simply stay toned and slim, a few high intensity workouts per week is probably sufficient. But if you’re looking to bulk up, develop those biceps, broaden those shoulders or chisel those abs, you’re going to have to introduce something else into your life: heavy lifting.

Lifting heavy weights, otherwise known as resistance training, is an excellent way to shock your muscles, which signals to your brain that you need an increase in muscle mass in that region in order to prevent muscle damage. The heavier the weight, the greater the mass added – in theory, anyway. But this doesn’t mean that you should jump in the deep end and start doing 80-pound dumbbell bench presses when all you’ve been doing before is 10 lb bicep curls. Start by performing a 8-10 rep set of the exercise with a given weight. If you perform that set too easily with the weight, increase the weight until it becomes difficult. If you only manage to do 7 reps with that weight, use the next lightest weight. And so on.

Next, focus on key areas for your resistance training. Don’t be fooled by those buffoons who stand in the gym doing bicep curls for what seems like hours – if they’re looking like the Hulk, it’s probably because of all the nasty protein shakes and freaky supplements they’ve been taking. You don’t want to be that guy or gal – they might look good, but they’re not healthy!

Key areas are those that work out a full range of muscles at one time – these include squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses, kettlebell swings, and maybe the odd bench press. Compound exercises with heavy weights are better than specific movements with lighter weights.

Finally, keep it short and simple. As explained above, spending too long on a workout can stress the body and curtail your results. 20 minutes max of resistance training, only 2 to 3 times per week, and ideally only 3-5 exercises per workout. It’s quality that we’re looking for, not quantity.

Getting creative with workouts is key

Two of the biggest reasons why many people fail to stick to their exercise goals are:

  1. They get bored of their workout routine
  2. They use lack of access to “equipment” or the gym as an excuse not to exercise

Regarding the first point, it’s super important to mix things up on a regular basis. Changing up your workout at least every 2 months, if not more regularly, will ensure your brain doesn’t get bored and, more importantly, your body doesn’t get bored of the same repetitive movements. Performing the same series of exercises week after week can cause your body to plateau, meaning your muscles become accustomed to the movements and stop growing and/or burning fat. Besides, you want to look forward to your workouts, right? Not dread them. And if you find you can let your mind wander during a workout, you need to change it up, fast.

Regarding the second reason people fail to reach their exercise goals – this is where it can get super fun! When I travel or find myself in a new place, I take great pleasure in hunting around for things that I can use to formulate a workout. People seem to think that you need to have designated exercise equipment in order to exercise. Wrong!!! So wrong. If anything, that equipment makes it too easy to perform exercises, and the whole point is to challenge your body, not take shortcuts.

Even at home, I prefer to use unconventional tools and items to pizazz up my workouts and challenge my muscles and coordination in different ways. At the moment, I’m using a 10 liter container of filtered water as a dumbbell/kettlebell replacement (10 liters = 10 kg, which is a good weight for many exercises – just make sure it has a handle!), and a yoga mat. That’s it. And between the two of them, I can do a huge range of exercises.

Here’s a few other things that you can use when you’re away from home or the gym to get a good workout:

  • Strong lateral branches on trees, for chin-ups, wide-grip pull-ups, leg raises (abs), or simply hanging
  • round, heavy rocks (these are great for things like weighted squats, swings, lunges, and deadlifts – just make sure you have your shoes on!)
  • open fields or parks, for sprints and bodyweight exercises
  • sledge hammers/log splitters – these two provide some of the best workouts on the planet. Provided you have something solid to hit (like a tyre for the sledgehammer or a log – duh! – for the axe), they work a wide range of muscles throughout your body. Ten minutes with these bad boys and you’ll be hurting! Be very mindful of your form, though, and of your own safety.

The point is, get creative – the world is your oyster when it comes to exercise! If nothing else, investing in a kettlebell is a very wise thing to do, as there’s such a wide array of exercises you can do with them and they’re easy to transport. For men, I’d recommend starting with a 20 lb kettlebell, and for women, 15 lb or less should be effective initially.

Diet can make or break a weight-loss regime

Ok, so you’ve integrated all of the above considerations into your workout routine and you’re still not getting results. What the heck is going on? If you’re not losing weight or putting on muscle as desired, look to your diet.

With regards to weight loss, probably the number one dietary roadblock is carbohydrates. Whether they come in simple sugar form, or complex form, an overload of carbs can provide excess energy that you’ll struggle to burn off, even with those high intensity workouts. Here’s a few weight-loss pointers regarding carbs:

  • cut your fruit intake back to one or two servings a day. Sure, they’re nutritious, but they also contain a heap of fructose that elevates your blood sugar and is easily converted into fat in your body. If you must partake in some fruity goodness, stick to low sugar-fruits like raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, lemons and the occasional orange.
  • abolish all processed foods – these invariably contain a truckload of sugar. That includes “gluten-free” products as well.
  • stick to complex carbs like sweet potato, squash, and green plantains. Don’t go overboard on these either!

Streamlining your diet for maximum muscle gain

Next, if you’re like me and struggle to put on muscle mass, you need more protein!! I can’t stress this enough. There seems to be some notion amongst many people that it’s easy to get too much protein in a given diet – newsflash: it’s not easy at all! You have to eat a LOT of protein to even come close to exceeding your daily maximum, and the truth is that most people aren’t getting enough.

According to Tim Ferriss in The 4 Hour Body (an excellent read, by the way!), you should aim for 1.25 grams of protein per pound of lean bodyweight, which means you subtract your bodyfat first. I’m 167 pounds and, last time I checked, I had a bodyfat of 14 %, so I aim to eat 143 grams of protein per day. It’s not easy, but it makes a real difference to building muscle mass. Chris Kresser largely agrees with Ferriss, and in some respects advocated even more protein. For more information on the subject, check out this article.

Ultimately, everyone can benefit from more protein in their lives. And I find one of the best ways to increase protein intake is to add in a high-quality protein powder. We’ve talked before about how awesome this grass-fed, organic whey protein powder is, but if you can’t stomach dairy then Chris Kresser recommends this hydrolyzed beef protein – arguably the best source of protein on the planet.

Top tips for success

Scrolled through all of the above but still confused? Here’s my recommendations in a nutshell.

Weight loss:

  • replace low-intensity cardio workouts with high intensity (HIIT) workouts, 2-3 times/week
  • mix up your exercise routine at least every 2 months, and get creative!
  • tone down on the carbs, especially simple sugars.
  • continue to eat a paleo-style diet

Muscle-gain:

  • lift heavy stuff! Ensure you factor in 2 to 3 resistance training workouts each week. Limit workouts to 3-5 exercises (e.g. squats, deadlifts, bench press, shoulder press) and less than 20 minutes in duration.
  • ensure at least 2 rest days between workouts to allow muscle recovery.
  • get lots of protein. Lots. Consider introducing a high quality protein into your diet.
  • stick to a paleo-style diet, but considering introducing grass-fed, organic milk for extra protein and fat.

Good luck on your quest to a better body, and let us know how you get on!

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The best probiotics for your gut health

Posted on 29 November, 2016 by | Leave a comment

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The popularity of probiotics in the past 10 years has skyrocketed. A decade ago, most people would probably have given you a bit of a weird look if you asked them whether they were supplementing with probiotics. But now, with the scientific community increasingly proving that your gut health is critical to your overall health, probiotics are a hot topic.

Now, there’s all sorts of words like “good bacteria”, “bad bacteria”, “microbiome”, and “gut flora” bandied about. They sound important, but what the heck do they actually mean? And for that matter, why do you even need to know what they mean? Can’t you just grab any old probiotic product from your supermarket or health store shelves, knock a capsule back once a day, and move on with your life?

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. There are plenty of probiotic products out there which will provide absolutely no benefit for your gut health, and others that may even do you harm. In order to get the most from your probiotic supplement, you first need to get inside your gut. Metaphorically, not literally – that would be pretty darn gross.

Why do I need to take a probiotic supplement?

Your gastrointestinal tract, henceforth referred to as your gut, is home to over 500 different species of microorganisms. This number of species is likely much higher, as scientists are still funding hundreds of new gut microflora strains every year. These microorganisms number in their billions. Billions, people!

Far from your gut being an incestuous infestation of disgusting microscopic bugs, we rely on these billions of microorganisms for our very existence. A 2012 study published in the Journal of Nutrition in Clinical Practice found that the bacteria in your gut form an intricate, living fabric of natural controls that affect body weight, energy, and nutrition. Another 2012 study, this time published in the Journal of Nature Reviews Neuroscience, noted that the gut microbiotia plays a pivotal role “in the regulation of anxiety, mood, cognition and pain.”

The take away from all these emerging studies is that the microorganisms that live in your gut are far more important than you think. They have the potential to influence almost every aspect of your health, so if things are unbalanced down there (and they probably are!), there’s no way you can ever be fully healthy.

Your gut is probably lacking in good bacteria

The reason I say that your gut microbiome (the “living community” of bacteria and yeast which resides in your gastrointestinal tract) is probably a bit sad is because modern society has it in for these useful little guys. For starters, evidence shows that a natural birth is critical for exposing newborn babies to certain beneficial bacterial strains which then go on to colonize their gut. As this article from Science Daily puts it:

Each individual’s community of gut microbes is unique and profoundly sensitive to environmental conditions, beginning at birth. Indeed, the mode of delivery during the birthing process has been shown to affect an infant’s microbial profile.

Communities of vaginal microbes change during pregnancy in preparation for birth, delivering beneficial microbes to the newborn. At the time of delivery, the vagina is dominated by a pair of bacterial species, Lactobacillus and Prevotella. In contrast, infants delivered by caesarean section typically show microbial communities associated with the skin, including Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium, and Propionibacterium. While the full implications of these distinctions are still murky, evidence suggests they may affect an infant’s subsequent development and health, particularly in terms of susceptibility to pathogens.

Essentially, if you had a cesarean birth, your gut is off to a very bad start. The next great blow to your gut health comes with antibiotics. Every time your doctor prescribed a round of antibiotics to kill of some pathogen in your body, it also killed off the good bacteria in your gut. Antibiotics are not selective, meaning they kill everything in your gut – good and bad.

Finally, there’s all sorts of other environmental toxins, prescription meds, and oral contraceptives which have been shown to take their toll on your gut health. Suffice to say that your population of beneficial bacteria is not what it should be.

Are the probiotics in fermented foods enough?

This one is a little more difficult to answer. For some people, the probiotics they receive from fermented foods may be sufficient to keep their gut happy and healthy, but only if they work hard at it. These people would need to have an already healthy gut biome, and they’d need to be eating a variety fermented foods per day. Examples of fermented foods include:

  • sauerkraut
  • kimchi
  • kombucha
  • kefir
  • kvass

All of which need to be raw and unpasteurized. These foods can be very expensive to buy, and are time consuming (but highly rewarding!) to make. Most people don’t want that kind of commitment. If you do, check out our easy DIY sauerkraut recipe.

If you’re not prepared to eat a range of different fermented foods every day, or if you have been exposed to a cesarean birth, antibiotics, or have serious digestive issues, you NEED to get your hands on a quality probiotic supplement. Here’s how.

Finding the best quality probiotic supplement

If you find the right probiotic supplement for your needs, your gut will flourish. Quality probiotic supplements provide billions of beneficial bacteria which actually re-colonize your gut and make it a happy place once more. If you’ve been suffering from digestive issues (diarrhea, constipation, stomach pain, gas, nausea, etc), you’ll likely notice the difference within a few days, if not immediately!

Cheap or poor-quality probiotics, on the other hand, use the wrong bacterial species or don’t allow those bacteria to actually take up residence in your gut. A classic example of this is acidophilus yoghurt – it might help your digestion when you eat it, but it’s effects are only temporary, simply because those bacteria aren’t designed to actually live in your gut.

Prescript-Assist Probiotic $49 on Amazon

This probiotic easily gets the thumbs-up from us, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s endorsed by Chris Kresser, a key figure in the health industry who I have a lot of respect for due to his obsession for reviewing the scientific literature and really knowing his stuff. If Chris says its good, its probably good.

Next, Prescript-Assist sources it’s beneficial bacteria from soil-based organisms – bacteria and other microorganisms which we would commonly have been exposed to before humanity developed a repulsion for getting dirt on its hands. These bacteria have been scientifically proven to live in the human gastrointestinal tract, meaning this supplement helps you to rebuild you gut population, rather than just temporarily bolstering it (as with many other probiotics).

Finally, Prescript-Assist also contains a humic/fulvic acid prebiotic which helps those good bacteria to thrive and flourish within their new home (your gut!). Essentially, it plants your seedlings, and gives them a healthy dose of organic fertilizer at the same time.

Primal Probiotics $29 through Primal Blueprint

These potent little babies pack a serious punch, and are endorsed by another of our health heroes, Mark Sisson. I like these probiotics as they’ve gone for high-potency, high-quality bacterial strains rather than just a vast number of low-return bacterial species. That’s what a lot of companies rely on to sell their probiotic product – “contains 150 billion trillion CFU’s!”, when really it’s about quality, not quantity. What’s the point in sending hundreds of billions of bacterial strains through your gut, if they don’t actually want to live there?

Primal Probiotics come with excellent reviews and plenty of information regarding their effectiveness and why they’ve selected certain strains. They’re also designed to survive the harsh environment of your stomach and make it through to your gut intact, which can’t be said for many other probiotic supplements.

Different strokes for different folks

While the above two probiotic supplements are a great start, everyone is different. With this in mind, if your body doesn’t respond well to them after the initial “adjustment” period (usually around a week), shop around and find a probiotic which is also well-respected and which suits your needs better.

Do you have a go-to probiotic supplement which you love? Tell us the difference that it’s made in your life!

 

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How to shop for the healthiest eggs

Posted on 12 August, 2016 by | Leave a comment

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Eggs. They’re small, roundish, and surprisingly mysterious. You might navigate your way swiftly and surely through all the isles of the supermarket, only to be stumped by the dilemma that these nutritional powerhouses present.

Eggs can be an amazing source of essential fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals and beneficial compounds when they come from quality sources. The problem is, it’s not always obvious what those sources are, and how to pick out the healthiest eggs from an extensive selection which, to all outward appearances, look almost identical. In this post, I’ll explore why you really need to prioritize “good” eggs over “bad” ones, and then how to go about digging out those good ones from amongst the masses.

Why you need to invest in high-quality eggs

In the paleo, primal, bulletproof, and wider health communities, eggs have developed into something of a cult following in recent years. There’s a good reason for this – they’re an inexpensive, readily available, easy-to-prepare source of healthy fats, protein, and nutrients. Few foods rival the humble egg’s nutritional capacity, but only when those eggs come from healthy, happy hens. And while this may seem a simple enough solution, the agricultural industry is slowly but surely turning egg production into the stuff of nightmares.

When it comes to buying eggs, most people make the mistake of prioritizing price over quality. I myself used to be one of those people, heading straight for the lowest-priced eggs and feeling like I just scored a financial victory as I strolled towards the checkout. After doing some research, however, I later discovered that those decisions made absolutely no sense, due to the fact that I was paying far more in health problems from eating things like inferior eggs than I could ever save by tightening my budget in the store.

While for some foods the difference in price is simply due to branding, eggs are an excellent example of how price can be an excellent indicator of quality. In general, cheaper eggs are cheaper for a reason:

  • cheaper eggs come from hens that are jammed wing-to-wing into tiny battery cages inside vast, reeking warehouses. These cages offer little to no movement, certainly not the movement required for a hen to be healthy, but this allows farmers to squeeze in far more chickens into a small space – effectively increasing their productivity per square foot of warehouse space.
  • cheaper eggs come from hens which are given the lowest-cost feed available, feed which is designed to fatten the chickens up as fast as possible (and therefore get them laying faster) but not to support the development of healthy bones and organs
  • cheaper eggs come from hens which have their wings and beaks clipped to prevent harm or cannibalism in such as tight space, are injected with growth hormones to ensure they reach their egg-laying age faster, and regularly fed antibiotics to ensure they don’t get sick or die due to the cramped conditions.

The result is warehouses which can literally pump out thousands of eggs, increasing productivity and lowering the cost of these eggs. Unfortunately, the benefits stop there. Many of the toxins and health problems of the hens are passed into their eggs, meaning they contain antibiotic and growth hormone residues, a very poor omega-3 to omega-6 ratio (making them pro-inflammatory), and high levels of environmental toxins.

Eggs which come from healthy chickens, on the other hand, are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, have bucketloads of nutrients, keep you feeling fuller for longer, and are much less likely to contain harmful environmental toxins. For this reason, a 3 or 4 dollar difference in price could mean the difference between something which can harm your health and increase your risk of disease, or something which can nurture your body and actually work to heal any ailments you might be suffering from. Anyone who is aware of this difference and still goes for the cheaper eggs clearly doesn’t value their health at all.

Finding the healthiest eggs

While price is a good starting point for sorting the quality eggs from the bad, it unfortunately isn’t a hard and fast rule. Many companies market their pricey eggs as a higher-quality product, with fancy packaging and fancier words, when really their eggs are just as bad as the cheap ones. Here’s how to know to look out for the best eggs:

  • Pasture-raised: these are the best eggs you’ll ever find. Chickens which produce these eggs live on farms that allow them to roam freely outside, eating foods of their choice (like tasty worms and bugs!) and getting plenty of sunlight. These hens are free from hormones, antibiotics, and the hardship of a life spent inside a tiny cage.
  • Free-range: not as good as pasture-raised, but still a healthy choice. Hens that produce these eggs are permitted limited access to the outdoors, and don’t get kept in cages. They can move around, but for most of their lives it’ll be inside a large open-plan warehouse rather than outside.
  • Free-run: a slightly lower quality version of free-range, and often synonymous with “cage-free”. These hens don’t have access to the outdoors, but can move around freely and are much healthier than caged hens.
  • Cage-free: pretty self explanatory really! Cage-free can include all three of the above egg-types, however if you can’t see any other labels then chances are these hens are confined to the indoors.
  • Organic: The organic label assures you that those eggs come from hens which were raised on feed without additives, animal by-products, growth hormones and antibiotics. In certain places, this also means that such hens must be given access to the outdoors, perches, dust-bathing areas and stipulated minimum space requirements. Don’t be sucked in by “organic vegetarian fed” labels – chickens need to eat worms and bugs in order to thrive, meaning “vegetarian” is not necessarily a good thing.

At the end of the day, all of the above types of eggs are better than caged eggs. Generally, the price of eggs will go up according to how the hens were raised (pasture-raised being most expensive, cage-free being least expensive). Where possible, try to find eggs which tick more than one box – i.e. free-range eggs which are also organic. Also keep in mind that “omega-3” eggs are a bit of a gimmick, and you’re far better off getting high levels of omega-3s from eggs lain by healthy chickens than by chickens who have had artificial sources of omega-3 slipped into their feed.

If you’d like to find out more, this article provides a really good analysis of the various eggs available on the market and how to determine whether they’re good or bad.

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Your Paleo guide to grocery shopping: milk and dairy

Posted on 30 July, 2016 by | Leave a comment

Thrive-Primal---shopping-guide-to-milk-and-dairy

Mention the word “dairy” to your average paleo enthusiast, and they’ll shake their heads and mutter to themselves about potential toxicity issues, food allergies, and the untrustworthiness of these types of products. And they’d be right – this subject area is a very difficult one to navigate, as dairy products are typically shrouded in mystery and have the potential to throw your clean dieting right off the rails.

In Part 3 of our food shopping series (check out our guide to fruit and vegetables here, and our guide to shopping for meat, poultry and fish here), we’ll explore how to tell if milk and other dairy-based foods are good for you, how to find high quality ingredients in your supermarket or at the farm gate, and hidden dangers you need to look out for.

Read on, to continue your training towards becoming a supermarket superstar!

Is dairy and milk paleo?

From a strict Paleo standpoint, dairy was not consumed in the Paleolithic Era (aside from human milk, that is!), and for this reason many of those who follow a regimented Paleo diet stay away from it.

But just because something wasn’t available to our ancestors doesn’t make it inherently bad. Good quality dairy is an amazing source of nutrition, designed by the animal that produced it to be loaded with saturated fats, beneficial bacteria, essential fatty acids, proteins, vitamins and minerals. As it is the first thing a newborn calf, kid (in the goat sense) or lamb drinks, it provides a vital burst of nourishment that this animal needs to survive the first phase of it’s life.

Now, while this milk was not designed for human mouths, there’s no reason why we might not gain benefit or nourishment from it. In my opinion, it’s the same as eating good quality eggs – they clearly weren’t designed for human consumption, but they’ve attained an almost godlike status amongst the Paleo community, and are celebrated for the vitamins, minerals, proteins and fats they can provide us. Milk is the same – we can benefit from the same compounds that the calf, kid or lamb would thrive on.

Where dairy gets a bad rap is with regards to lactose, casein and the potential for introducing synthetic toxins into our bodies. It’s important to note, however, that this is usually only a problem when buying regular, grain-fed, store-based milk or dairy products. These products are made from cows (and to a lesser degree, sheep and goats) which have been raised on a diet consisting almost solely of GMO corn and soy, while being confined to tiny pens inside horrific dairy factories, away from the sun. These animals are also regularly injected with hormones, to make them grow faster and produce more milk, and antibiotics, to prevent them from developing diseases due to their unhealthy living conditions.

All this nasty stuff gets into the milk, while all the good stuff (the beneficial bacteria, digestive enzymes, saturated fats) gets removed during the processes of skimming, pasteurization and homogenization. The result is a dairy product devoid of nutrients and healthy fats, which is now missing the very bacterial cultures and enzymes which make it easier for our stomachs to digest in the first place (and which would otherwise prevent us from developing lactose or casein intolerance).

Why raw milk is NOT dangerous

Unfortunately, the agricultural industry has made it ridiculously difficult to get your hands on good quality dairy. Most of the US states continue to impose a complete ban on the sale and distribution of raw milk, citing antiquated cases of people becoming sick or even dying from consumption of raw milk that was somehow contaminated. These fears are based on a system of pasteurization which was introduced back before the invention of refrigerated transport and storage, when milk or dairy products could become eventually become contaminated by harmful pathogens after sitting in a warm place for too long.

Well, as it happens, we have fast, refrigerated transport now, and cold storage, and fridges at home – so those claims about the necessity of pasteurization are completely redundant! What’s more, those stories of people getting sick from raw milk were almost always due to that milk coming from cows which were raised in undesirable conditions – like the small pens, with antibiotic-injected, hormone-enriched, grain-fed cows I talked about earlier. If the cows themselves are raised in pasture and allowed to roam free under the sun, these health concerns are even more redundant.

In actual fact, you’re far more likely to get sick from drinking regular pasteurized milk than you are from raw milk! One expert even goes so far as to state that “you are about thirty-five thousand times more likely to get sick from other foods than you are from raw milk”. So quit worrying! If, however, you still find yourself shaking in your boots at the very notion of drinking something which hasn’t been heated to smithereens, check out this article we wrote a while back.

How to buy good quality, healthy dairy products

Rather than going into too much more of a rant about the dairy industry and how it’s turning people against one of the most nutritious (not to mention delicious!) food sources available, lets get down to business. You came here to learn how to ferret through all those nasty dairy products and locate the actual good, healthy ones, and the below table should help you do just that. The table is laid out to present the most desirable sources of dairy first, then works down the list to products which you should probably just stay away from altogether. Remember – if you can’t find good quality dairy, it’s generally better to just cut your losses and eat or drink something else.

Thrive Primal how to choose the right dairy product

It turns out that making a table to show how best to prioritize your milk is a difficult task. Hopefully the above gets the point across: the highest quality milk and dairy is from humanely-treated, grass-fed cows (and sheep and goats) that have been raised on an organic farm (which implies that they’re free from hormones, antibiotics and probably GMOs). The best milk is also raw and full-fat! As you work down the table, the dairy becomes progressively less good for  you when it is no longer organic or full-fat. To provide a rough indication, I’d recommend regular (daily to 2 or 3 times a week) consumption of dairy products which are found in the green category, occasionally (no more than once a month) for those products in the orange section, and never buying those products in the red. ESPECIALLY dairy which is raw but comes from non-organic, grass-fed cows…although you’re fairly unlikely to ever come across that!

Finding good quality dairy is difficult, but not impossible

During our time living in Canada, Liivi and I became obsessed with the idea of getting our hands on a regular supply of grass-fed, raw dairy. It was very, very difficult, on account of strict Canadian laws which prohibit the sale of raw dairy products, and because 99.9% of the dairy farms there are grain-feeding. After much searching, we eventually came across this website, which got us in touch with a cooperative that provided real, organic, humane, grass-fed, RAW milk and dairy products. They products were expensive, but boy, were they good!

In the US, state governments are slowly starting to loosen up the laws, following increasing pressure from the public. Check out this interactive map to see whether your state allows the sale of raw milk in-store, or at least at the farm gate.

If you live in an area that is prohibitive to raw milk, however, don’t dismay – you can generally still get your hands on some high-quality, grass-fed dairy products, even if they’re not raw. As we travelled through the States and Canada, we would keep our eyes peeled for either the Kerrygold brand or the Anchor brand. Kerrygold comes from Ireland while Anchor comes from New Zealand, and both are produced from grass-fed cows, with no hormones and no antibiotics (I would know: I used to work for Anchor as an environmental officer!). You’ll often find Kerrygold butter or Anchor butter in your supermarket, and sometimes also Kerrygold cheese. Elsewhere in the world, you’re more than likely to stumble across a range of Anchor products, including Anchor butter and Mainland cheese. Failing that, order them on Amazon:

Another great way to get many of the benefits of grass-fed, organic cows, is from this whey protein powder which I came across after days of painstaking research. Find out more about it, here!

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Your paleo guide to grocery shopping: meat, fish and poultry

Posted on 29 July, 2016 by | Leave a comment

Thrive-Primal---shopping-guide-to-meat

Confused about how to get the most out of your meat shopping, either at your local supermarket, butcher, or down at the weekly farmer’s market? You’ve come to the right place!

It might look a little overwhelming as you stand there and eye up the towering mounds of beef, pork, lamb, chicken, fish, and various other unidentifiable meats. But with a little bit of ground work and a knowledge of how to prioritize the best meats, you’ll do just fine. Here’s the quick and dirty on what you need to know.

On the importance of fat

If you’ve just recently made the shift to paleo, chances are you’re having trouble wrapping your head around the whole fat-is-good thing, especially with regards to saturated fats. This understanding of fat plays such a foundational role in the success of the paleo, primal, and Bulletproof diets that it needs to be revisited before we go delve any further.

So, without further ado: the saturated fat and monounsaturated fat that comes from meat, be it beef, lamb, pork, chicken, duck, fish, or otherwise, is one of the best, healthiest sources of fat available to humans. This is particularly the case with animals that have been raised in healthy living conditions, or are wild caught. Keep this in mind as you peruse the meat section of your supermarket or pretend you know what you’re talking about when you instruct your butcher what cuts you want.

Saturated and monounsaturated fats are your friends, so don’t shy away from meats which look fatty – these are the best, most nutritional cuts of the entire animal, aside from the organs (more on that later). Your traditional red meats (beef, lamb, bison, venison) have the highest saturated fat content, and incidentally have the best nutritional profiles (rivaled only, perhaps, by cold water fish like wild salmon or wild sardines). Chicken and pork, on the other hand, are generally lower in saturated fat content, have a higher monounsaturated fat content, and are packed with less vitamins and minerals.

Is it important to get grass-fed, pastured, or wild?

In a word: yes. Very important. If you’re going to put your dollar to work in the supermarket, put it to work buying the best quality meats you can find: the difference between a low quality meat and a high quality one is huge.

Grass-fed meat

“Grass-fed” is a term used to describe any ruminant (cow/beef, deer/venison, lamb, bison) which has been raised all its life on a diet of grass. This is what their digestive systems have evolved to process, and they can only truly be healthy when allowed to roam freely and eat grass to their heart’s content.

Grass-fed meat is much more nutritious and has a significantly better Omega-3 to Omega-6 ratio, meaning it is less inflammatory than grain-fed meat and much better for your body. Grass-fed meat also has a significantly higher saturated fat content, which is a good thing.

Meats which display the label “grass finished” indicate that the animal has been primarily raised on grain throughout its life, then has been allowed to graze at pasture for a few weeks prior to slaughter. While this is better than a ruminant which hasn’t had any interaction with grass at all, it is nowhere near as good for you as grass-fed meat.

Pastured or free-range meat

The term “pastured” essentially has the same implications as “grass-fed” but it applies to non-ruminant land animals like pigs, chickens and ducks. If a meat displays the label “pastured” or “free-range”, it indicates that this animal has been raised in a healthy environment where it can roam freely, eat selectively and choose those foods which it gains the most benefit from. “Free-run” is slightly different to free-range, with free-run chicken or eggs coming from hens which can theoretically run free in an “open concept” barn, and are not housed in cages like conventional hens – not quite as good as free-run, but still better than your average cage-raised hen.

Even if the meat is not organic, if it is pastured or free-range it is generally fair to assume that this meat has less antibiotics, hormones, and other nasty surprises hidden in it’s depths. This is purely because such animals are healthier than their caged counterparts, and therefore need less synthetic treatments to keep them alive.

Wild-caught

“Wild-caught” can technically apply to any type of animal which occurs naturally in nature (such as venison or duck), however in most cases it refers to fish. As with the previous two categories, there’s a huge difference in quality between wild fish and farmed fish. Farmed fish are fattier, but it’s the wrong kind of fat, with a high ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s. This higher fat content in farmed fish also means that you’re getting less protein per serving than wild fish.

Possibly worse than this is the amount of toxins you’ll find in a typical fillet of farmed fish. In one of these babies, you’re likely to find high concentrations of body-harming compounds like dioxins, PCBs, fire retardants, pesticides, antibiotics, copper sulfate, and canthaxanthin (a dye associated with retinal damage used to make colorless farmed fish various shades of “wild” pink). Delicious.

Wild caught fish can contain these same toxins, but in far lower concentrations, and it’s only because of humans polluting the waters they swim in that they’re present at all. Another thing to keep in mind is the amount of destruction and pollution that these fish farms are doing to the waters in which the real, wild fish make their home.

For more information on choosing the right fish, check out this article from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

Should I try and buy organic meat?

Yes, you should certainly try. While organic meat is often hard to come buy, it’s worth seeking it out as it typically has an improved nutritional profile, but more importantly it doesn’t contain toxic residues from pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics or hormones which you’ll find in high concentrations in other, non-organic meats.

If a meat is organic, the feed it is given also needs to be organic, which means that this animal will be healthier and it’s meat is therefore of a better quality. Most of the time, organic also implies GMO-free, which is always a good thing. For more information on this, check out the section on GMOs in this article.

Which meats are best?

Originally, I had intended to put a list in this section which rated each type of commonly-stocked meat based on a range of variables and then recommended which were best. After giving it some thought, however, I came to conclusion that many others have reached – there’s no single best thing. Such a list should never exist, because there are so many different variables at play.

That being said, I do have some recommendations for what you write on your next grocery list with regards to buying meat:

Vary your meats throughout the week

While many paleo enthusiasts consider beef to be one of the best meats due to it’s high concentration of saturated fats, wide range of nutrients, and balanced fatty acid profile, you shouldn’t eat beef every single day. Doing so would put you at risk of iron toxicity, as red meats like beef and lamb have high concentrations of iron. Similar issues apply to other meats: too much chicken or pork could mean not enough saturated fats or an overload of polyunsaturated fats (the troublemaker of the fat trio), and a lack of the nutrients found in red meats. Too much fish, especially salmon or other cold water fish, could actually lower your omega 6 levels to the point where they’re unhealthy (yep, thats a thing).

The point is, vary your meats throughout the week and you’ll be getting all their benefits without getting an excess of their less desirable attributes. I have a very basic system whereby I always separate my meats by at least 2 to 3 other meats. For example, I might eat beef for dinner on Monday, then have eggs for breakfast on Tuesday, chicken for lunch, fish for dinner, a smoothie for breakfast on Wednesday, and lamb for lunch. This way, you’re enforcing a buffer period so that you don’t eat the same meat over and over, which can lead to health complications.

Eat organ meats on a regular basis

Yes, they taste pretty darn horrendous, but they’re probably one of the most nutrient-dense foods available to humans (if not THE most nutrient dense food!). This means they’re well stocked with many vitamins and minerals which you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. For this reason, they can really give your health a kickstart, by filling in any nutritional gaps you might have in your body.

Of all the organs, liver is by far the most nutritionally-dense, so you should make sure you have this at least once a week. Other organs which you’ll likely see in the supermarket include kidney, heart, and tongue (these last two technically being muscles, but lets not nit-pick) – experiment with different organs and different recipes (this article has lots of good tips), and you’re bound to find SOMETHING which you and your family can choke down without complaining too much.

Oh, and remember to go for high quality sources (grass-fed, pastured, free-range, organic, yarda yarda)

Experiment with different cuts of meat

You know when you get up to the butcher’s counter, and they ask you what cut of beef or lamb you’d like, and you start to panic because you know NOTHING about which cuts are best? Well, you don’t have to panic any more – there IS no best cut. Traditionally, people would slaughter a cow or lamb, for example, chop it up into manageable portions, and proceed to literally eat that animal from nose to tail. These people, as it happens, were a whole lot healthier than most modern day westerners.

Take a leaf from their book and embrace the “nose to tail” mantra. Try buying different cuts of meat each week, perhaps even asking the butcher if they would recommend any particular cut which is interesting or different from usual. Eating different parts of the animal means you’ll be gaining access to a range of different nutrients and fat ratios, and as I’ve said before – variation is good!

Questions? Comments?

Phew, that was a lot of writing! I seem to recall saying that this was going to be “quick and dirty” at the start of the post, but it turns out that it was more “long and arduous”. That said, if you’ve got any further questions, or have a beef (pun unintended, surprisingly!) with something I’ve said, then drop us a comment and let us know! Oh, and do check out post number 1 in this 3 part series, which explains how to shop for fruits and vegetables like a pro!

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All You Need to Know About Cooking Oils

Posted on 15 July, 2016 by | Leave a comment

thrive primal guide to paleo cooking oils

I chose the topic for this post because I have a genuine interest in what ACTUALLY constitutes a good cooking oil. There’s a lot of hearsay around the topic, with many people swearing by this or that oil, but no actual idea why it’s better than the rest. Certain people will tell me that they’ve heard a particular oil is best for high heat cooking, but when I pose questions relating to smoke point and oxidation, the response is a sort of panicked confusion and a rapid change of topic.

And let’s face it, if you’ve gone paleo, primal, or just about any diet which realizes that saturated fat is a GOOD thing, oils are your best friend in the kitchen (and elsewhere, of course!). It’s time to know their strengths and weaknesses so you can enjoy all their benefits without denaturing their nutrients or pouring carcinogenic compounds into your body.

Let’s start with the basic questions that you need to ask when choosing the right cooking oil.

What type of fat is it?

There are two types of oil you can buy on supermarket shelves: saturated and unsaturated. Saturated fats are the simplest of these two groups, and the most stable. A good way to tell whether you’re dealing with a saturated fat is knowing that they turn solid at room temperature. Commonly used saturated fats include:

  • coconut oil
  • palm kernel oil
  • butter
  • ghee
  • lard
  • chicken fat
  • tallow

Unsaturated fats are a little more complicated, and come in the form of either monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and trans unsaturated. Commonly used unsaturated fats include:

  • canola oil
  • flaxseed oil
  • soybean oil
  • nut oils
  • avocado oil
  • hemp oil
  • sunflower oil
  • olive oil

You get the idea. While every oil contains varying ratios of each kind of fat (olive oil contains 73% monounsaturated, 14% saturated, and the rest polyunsaturated, for example), generally speaking the saturated fat group contains primarily animal-based oils, plus coconut and palm kernel. The rest is primarily unsaturated.

Another useful thing to know is that saturated fats and monounsaturated fats are more resistant to heating or cooking. This is due to the fact that they have less bonds, and are therefore less susceptible to chemical reactions which occur under high heat conditions. Polyunsaturated oils, like corn, walnut or sunflower oil, have multiple bonds and so are more likely to become denatured under heat. Trans unsaturated fats (look for the word “hydrogenated” in the ingredients of a product) should just hands-down be avoided.

What is the oil’s smoke point?

An oil or fat’s smoke point is the temperature at which it starts to produce smoke. Pretty straightforward so far, right? Treat this smoke as a warning sign (Tolkien fans might like to envisage the famed Beacons of Gondor, if reality is a little to dull for their taste) – it signifies the point at which your oil is beginning to break down due to heat.

When the oil or fat reaches this point, the free glycerol groups contained within it begin to get converted into acrolein. Acrolein is one of the chemicals found in cigarette smoke, and has been classified as a carcinogen. Thus breathing in the smoke from oil when it reaches it’s smoke point may be similar to breathing in the smoke from a cigarette. Nasty.

Here’s a list of oils and their corresponding smoke point, for some light bedtime reading:

Image source: http://blog.paleohacks.com/complete-guide-cooking-oils/#

Image source: http://blog.paleohacks.com/complete-guide-cooking-oils/

The U’s in brackets next to some oils indicates that they are unrefined, while the R indicates refined. You’ll notice that the refined oils have a much higher smoke point than unrefined oils. Many paleo people may also be somewhat dismayed to see the low smoke point of butter, unrefined coconut oil and lard.

What is the oxidative stability of the oil?

While considering the smoke point of a cooking oil or fat is important, the oxidative stability of that same oil or fat is even more so. The oxidative stability of an oil refers to its ability to resist oxidation. Oxidation occurs when a fat molecule loses a hydrogen atom, allowing it to turn into a free radical.

Free radicals are highly volatile, and due to the way they interact with and attack our cells, can be seriously detrimental to our health. An increase in free radicals in your body means an increased risk of developing a wide range of diseases, and speeding up the aging process.

When oxidation occurs, an oil or fat becomes rancid. People know when an oil has become rancid due to oxidation as it tastes “off”, has a bad smell, or looks a bit weird.

Choosing the right oil for the task at hand

After reading the above, it’s possible you’re even more confused than before. Sorry about that. The point is, there’s no standalone winner when it comes to oils and fats – each has it’s own quirks, and can even vary considerably depending on whether it’s refined, unrefined, expeller pressed, cold pressed or chemical-extracted. You have to weigh up the various attributes of each and only use a given oil when it doesn’t have a high risk of oxidizing or smoking.

To help you in your quest, here’s a few pointers to keep in mind to ensure you get the best (not the worst) from your oil:

  • Temperature: no matter what the oil, the lower the cooking temperature, the better. Know your oil’s smoke point, and stay well below it.
  • Light: the sun’s wavelengths can increase the rate of oxidation. Try to buy oils which come in dark bottles (not really possible for coconut oil, but then it is fairly resistant to oxidation anyway), and store your oils in a cool dark place to increase their shelf life.
  • Re-use: try to avoid re-using your cooking oil, as each time it is cooked with it’s smoke point lowers.
  • Antioxidants: considering things like heating, air and light exposure can accelerate your oil’s rate of oxidation (rancidity), choose oils with higher levels of antioxidants. These antioxidants, found in high numbers in oils like avocado, olive, coconut and butter, actively offset the destructive damage free radicals wreak on your body. They can therefore help to neutralize the creation of free radicals during the process of oxidation.

Our top paleo-friendly cooking oil picks

With the proviso that, based on the above, there’s no clear-cut winner in the cooking oil contest, we DO have a few top picks. Here’s our thoughts:

  • Avocado oil: a good all-rounder. Has a high smoke point, particularly in the case of it’s refined form (520ºF), and is loaded with antioxidants (particularly vitamin E) so it doesn’t oxidize easily. Use for things like pan frying, grilling, roasting and in salad dressings and marinades.
  • Butter: delicious and loaded with an amazing range of nutrients when it’s from grass-fed sources, butter is unfortunately not great for cooking. It has a low smoke point, so should only be used for low heat cooking such as baking or slow-cooking. Has a short shelf-life and can become rancid quickly, so consume ASAP and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
  • Coconut oil: Once again, high in antioxidants, and very resistant to oxidation. Has a long shelf life, but should still be stored in a dark place if possible. It does have a low smoke point, however, so stick to low-heat cooking. Switching to refined coconut oil means you can cook at medium heat without creating smoke, but you lose a lot of the antioxidants so it’s a bit of a trade-off. Good for baking and smoothies!
  • Ghee: if you were disappointed at butter’s low score in the cooking department, ghee is your savior. Ghee retains much of the delicious richness of butter, has a slightly sweeter taste, and most importantly has a very high smoke point. This means it’s great for high heat cooking like pan frying or grilling, and has a long shelf life. Go for grass-fed ghee, if possible.
  • Lard and tallow: not great in terms of nutritional profile, but otherwise a great option for medium-heat cooking, due to their smoke point of around 390ºF. They’re also fairly resistant to oxidation, particularly in the case of tallow (beef fat). Really only good for cooking (it’d be a little weird to drizzle some warm lard on your garden salad).
  • Olive oil: despite claims, olive oil is still a good option for cooking, however the smoke point differs considerably between olive oil types. Extra virgin olive oil is the healthiest choice in terms of lack of refinement and therefore level of nutrients, which incidentally means it is highly resistant to oxidation. It does, however, have a low smoke point at 320ºF, making it suitable only for slow cooking or sautéing (great for salads and marinades though!). Virgin olive oil is slightly more refined and so has less nutrients and is a little more prone to oxidation. With a smoke point of 420ºF, however, it’s great for medium-heat cooking such as pan frying and roasting. Only buy olive oil in dark bottles and store them in a dark place to avoid rapid rancidification!

That’s a lot of info to take in, but I hope it helped to clear things up a little. Next time someone asks you which oil you think is best, you can bedazzle them with your oil and fat know-how.

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Why grains are causing you harm

Posted on 24 March, 2016 by | Leave a comment

grains are bad for your health

Mankind’s relationship with grains might be considered a long one, tracing back to the agricultural revolution approximately 12,000 years ago. It was at this point in our history that humans developed the means to cultivate grains, and since this point they have come to be seen as the backbone of civilization. Humans treasured grains on account of their rapid growth rates, versatility, and long storage life, and they soon became a valuable form of currency: one which could dictate the rise and fall of towns, cities, and even empires.

Today, grains continue to be seen as vital to our existence, with politicians, media, and health specialists all urging mass consumption of whole grains in order to stay healthy. The notion of grains as staple food has become so embedded in our consciousness, in fact, that it is difficult to even consider life without them. After all, how would you get your daily dose of fiber? With what would you sandwich your ham, cheese and tomato? Indeed, where would you put your pasta sauce? A life without grains seems hardly worth contemplating.

So why, then, is there such a poor correlation between grain consumption and health? Why do the heaviest grain-eating populations, America in particular, continue to get sicker and more disease ridden?

Grains, explained

Alright, alright, lets back the truck up…what the heck IS a grain, exactly?

Well, grains are the reproductive embryos of plants. Each grain is designed to ensure the establishment of a new generation of a given plant species, and must be dispersed away from the parent plant in order to ensure that it does not compete with it’s dearly beloved. To promote dispersal, most plants encourage animals to ingest the grains then poop them out somewhere else, whereby the seed contained within the grain can take hold in the poopy soil and begin to grow.

While effective, this method of dispersal presents a problem. By encouraging the animal to eat its babies, the plant risks having them destroyed by the animal’s digestive system. The plant must then design its grains to be indigestible to animals in order to ensure the survival of its species, and it is this design which is responsible for many of the chronic autoimmune diseases we see in people today.

Grains are unhealthy? That’s preposterous!

In order to discourage digestion, grains contain a potent mix of anti-nutrients and gluten. Unless you’ve had your head in the sand for the past 10 years or so, you’ve probably heard of gluten. It’s also probable that many of you have adopted a gluten-free way of life after reading about the ravages this protein can wreak upon your gut and immune system. This is certainly a step in the right direction, but unfortunately it’s not enough.

Gluten comprises most of the protein found in wheat, rye and barley. It is a compound protein which causes gut inflammation in 4 out of 5 people, and can often trigger an autoimmune response when the body develops antibodies to fight the intrusion of alien proteins in the bloodstream. Gluten contains a protein called gliadin, which is very similar to certain proteins naturally found in the tissues of organs, most notably the pancreas and thyroid. As a result, gliadin can cause your antibodies to mistakenly attack your organs and result in chronic disease, particularly hypothyroidism and diabetes.

Added to this is the highly inflammatory effect of gluten, which causes the walls of your intestines to thin and promotes the development of “leaky gut”. A leaky gut allows bacteria and toxic proteins to enter the bloodstream, and further exacerbates your gliadin-induced health problems.

In summary, gluten is a nasty little hell-raiser. So, you cast aside any wheat, barley and rye due to their glutenous evil, and turn your dietary attentions to other, “healthier” grains. The problem is, while only certain grains contain gluten, ALL grains (yes, even quinoa!) contain anti-nutrients. The most troublesome of which are lectins and phytates.

Phytates are a derivative of phytic acid, a primary source of fuel for plants. Phytates hang out in your gut and bind to important nutrients which are essential for your health, including magnesium, zinc, calcium and iron. This process can prevent your body from absorbing nutrients from food, resulting in chronic nutrient deficiency disorders.

Lectins are toxins which have been designed by plants to prevent their digestion. These proteins possess the uncanny ability to bind to, and damage, the intestinal tract, further compromising gut bacteria and contributing to leaky gut. Prolonged exposure to lectins can result in the development of leptin resistance, which can set the stage for obesity and diabetes.

The link between grains and chronic disease

Certain animals, birds in particular, have evolved to eat and even thrive on grains, and can therefore digest them without experiencing their ill-effects. Humans, however, have only been exposed to sustained grain consumption for 12,000 years or less. When considering the evolution of our species, which took place over millions of years, 12,000 years is not a long time. Certainly not long enough to have allowed our digestive systems to evolve the ability to process grains and receive benefit from them. Added to this is the increasing commercialization of grains, whereby scientists modify the genes and cultivars of grains to encourage high density yields while sacrificing nutrients and other useful compounds found in wild or heritage breeds.

As a direct result of this, modern society is riddled with chronic inflammatory conditions. These conditions are closely associated with high grain intake, and include:

• celiac disease
• dermatitis
• asthma
• thyroid disease
• dental defects
• liver disease
• epilepsy
• rheumatoid arthritis

A growing body of evidence is also beginning to suggest that grain consumption may also be responsible for certain neurological conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, autism, and schizophrenia.

The solution is simple: stay away from grains

Based on the increasing number of studies showing the damage that grains can do to our bodies, if you’re suffering from chronic pain, it’s possible that grains are the cause. Here’s an idea: stop eating them! If you can’t bring yourself to remove grains completely from your diet, soaking and sprouting them can significantly reduce the concentration of anti-nutrients and make their vitamins and minerals more digestible.

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