My Paleo Blog

The best way to go about paleo eating is to be prepared. Preparing meals ahead of time not only saves time but it also ensures we are feeding ourselves the right nutrients at the right time. It ensures we do not cheat!

I've been cooking chili with this recipe since I was in college. This was a great way for me to get a nutrient dense meal without spending too much money. I used to make it with beans but now usually omit them.

I love this chili because it's loaded with healthy protein, fat and tons of veggies. I can't think of a better way to sneak veggies into a diet than chili. 

Here's how to make it!

This Paleo dish is a great way to hide a huge portion of vegetables with Italian style chicken. The chicken and squash mix together perfectly and the nuts make for a great addition!

I got this idea last time I was at New Seasons Market. I was picking up some Wild Caught Salmon and was browsing the meat section. 

This was simply mild Italian chicken sausage with pecans, added to the squash. Since this turned our BETTER than I anticipated, next time I will add chopped onions and garlic to improve the flavor...maybe peppers too.

Here is how I made it this time!

Check out this Tequila & lime shrimp recipe I found on www.food.com. The cool thing is all the ingredients are paleo!

The recipe takes less than 20 minutes to cook and clean up, leaving plenty of time to plan your meals for tomorrow!

It happens every day in the gym. The same people doing the same pointless exercises at the gym with no results. It’s actually impressive that these people have the dedication to continue week after week.

Simply going to the gym and performing 4 sets of 10 on the bench press and 20 more sets of various chest presses will work for a rookie, however gains like this are unsustainable.

In an effort to continually grow lean muscle, it’s important to understand why (not how) muscle is built.

Fuck Men’s Health. This is the truth – plain and simple;

In an effort to get excess calories,sweet potatoes are a major staple for my diet. I like them mashed with coconut oil but when not at home, sweet potato fries are the way to go! 

Sweet potatoes are a great source of both antioxidants beta carotene and vitamin c. Beta carotene is what gives the potato it's orange color but both of these antioxidants will help fight against diseases like cancer. Sweet potatoes are also great because unlike most plants, sweet potatoes have little anti nutrients to worry about. The last thing I want after a workout is poor absorption...

Speaking of post workout, the starch found in sweet potatoes is great for post-workout nutrition. The carbs will be a great source of calories to replenish the energy lost during the workout and also fuel new muscle growth! A chicken breast with a sweet potato is a perfect post workout meal.

Don't miss this Easy Paleo Sweet Potato Fries Recipe

“We can't digest grass. So to take land that is not good enough for agriculture -- that's growing grass and nothing else, that's been doing that for 10,000 years since the buffalo -- and put a cow on it ... there's something beautiful about that, and it's just the way it was meant to be.” Michael Pollan.

As a Paleo dieter who throws around heavy weights, I can’t think of a more powerful food than grassfed beef. The news might tell you that red meat will lead to cancer and death but I’m here to show you how grassfed beef will actually fight cancer while building lean muscle!

I’m pissed. The last two times I’ve visited New Seasons Market to pick up some quality flesh (Grass Fed Beef) I have left empty-handed. I eat Paleo and depend on these organic markets to provide healthy food in an ethical way. I spend more money on quality foods because besides my conscience mind, my “body temple” is the one thing nobody can take from me while I am still breathing.

“Humanely raised, vegetarian fed and grown without the use of
antibiotics or growth hormones” is the advertisement I always see when I enter New Seasons Market for their “Country Natural Beef”.  

“We’re not hurting the land; we’re working with it” claims Connie Hatfield from CNB. Hell yes, I am down with that. But hold on a minute I came here for grass fed beef...

I am 100% for preservation and happy cows (and dogs everywhere), however are we really getting the whole picture? While I know Country Natural Beef and New Seasons Market is definitely a step in the right direction, I’m not sure we are getting the entire story here.

Our bodies are programmed to adapt to different situations. Get attacked by a lion and hormones like adrenaline are released to provide extra abilities like strength or clearer thought processing. Likewise, Inflammation is a natural, healthy immune system response to our environment we put ourselves in. Let me say it again, Inflammation is a good thing, it is a natural response to a stimulous in an attempt to protect us.

There are two types of Inflammation; Acute and Chronic.

Pretend we are running down the street and suddenly trip and brace ourselves upon falling down. Pretend we land on our wrist wrong and suddenly it begins hurting and turning red. Next we notice it is swelling -- we know something is up. This is acute inflammation. Injuries like getting hit, burned, scraped, and sore neck are all types of acute inflammation.

The redness and swelling we see is extra blood being transported to the injury to clean and fix the problem. Our bodies have natural defense systems, and this is one of them. The loss of function and pain to the injured area is to remind us that we need to give that area a rest while our body naturally fixes the problem.

Clearly, acute inflammation is not a bad thing, but rather a good thing that keeps every one of us alive. We do something stupid, our body fixes our mistake, awesome. But what happens when these sort of things happen more regularly? When inflammation becomes a regular occurance is when Chronic Inflammation occurs. Diseases such as heart disease and obesity are associated with Inflammation. First lets look at other causes for inflammation.

-Chronic Stress
-Toxic Diet (unfamiliar foods we are not adapted to digest such as sugar and other processed food)
-Low Omega 3, High Omega 6
-Leaky Gut Syndrome
-Not Enough Down Time (Recovery)
-Lack of Exercise

After looking at this list, it is easy to see why many people today are dealing with Chronic Inflammation. The two that stick out the most are toxic diet and lack of exercise. Of course chronic stress is another huge issue.

Inflammation and Disease

So it makes sense how acute inflammation works to help us and that there are factors that can lead to chronic inflammation. But how does inflammation go from helping our wounds to causing a heart attack?

Like insulin resistance, it is not completely clear what causes Chronic Inflammation, but we do know what increases our chances at getting it. Whichever factor affects chronic inflammation the most, what we do know is that inflammation turns bad when our body thinks we have an injury when we really don't.
 
Chronic Inflammation occurs when our body thinks we have a damage in a blood vessel (example) and send proteins (TNFa, NFkB, IL-6, CRP) to observe, fight, replicate, and clean the area. We get a huge roadblock in our blood vessel for no reason. This eventually can completely block the pathway leading to a heart attack. In some cases these proteins actually eat away tissue such as arthiritis.

Fat and Inflammation

The adipose tissue (fat on our body) is more than merely energy storage. Fat releases hormones such as leptin (hunger control) and cytokines (which include TNFa and IL-6). This makes sense how a toxic diet (which makes us fat) can lead to chronic inflammation. By having more fat than the body wants, our body will be releasing too many of these hormones into our blood, leading to chronic inflammation. Another reason why lean people lead healthier lives.

Foods that Cause Inflammation

-Trans Fats and Saturated Fat- hydrogenated oil found in crackers, cookies, etc
-Meat with high omega 6 content (grain fed cows) (Mcdonalds)
-Fatty Meat with Nitrates (Cheap bacon)
-Seed Oils - The term vegetable oil is a lie altogether. "vegetable oils" are actual soy, corn, canola, sasame)
***It is important to note that while saturated fat in pro-inflammatory, saturates like Unrefined Coconut Oil or Red Palm Oil are filled with anti-oxidants that are also anti-inflammatory.

Carbohydrates and Inflammation

As we know, excess glucose in the blood can lead to insulin resistance. But extra glucose in the blood (from excess carbs) also releases the two messenger proteins TNFa and IL-6 which in excess can eventurally cause a roadblock. This is another reason to limit carbohydrates until you need them with exercise or other activity.

Conclusion

At this point it is clear how these 4 messenger/fighter/cleanup proteins work to help fix our cuts and bruises, even sickness. Obviously it is less clear how these proteins affect chronic inflammation, but we are getting close. We do know that diet and life choices greatly affect our bodies natural ability to fight off disease. This is another great reason to switch to the Paleo diet.

On the Paleo Diet, trans fats are a non-issue. On the Paleo Diet, omega 6 fatty acids are reduced and omega 3 is increased. Seed oils are avoided and replaced with Omega 3 Grass Fed Butter and Unrefined Coconut Oil. Green Vegetables eaten on the Paleo Diet also are proven to be anti-inflammatory.

They call Inflammation the Silent Killer. We don't see it coming until it is too late. Now that we are learning the importance of inflammation, it is clearer than ever the importance to reduce the damage it can cause. The Paleo Diet is a great place to start.