In February of 2012 at the age of 60 I decided to make a significant change in the way I was eating and exercising and embark on a Paleo journey that has completely transformed my health. For years I had followed the conventional wisdom regarding diet and exercise and had kept reasonably fit, but my weight had slowly crept up over the years along with my blood pressure. In addition I just didn’t seem to have the same amount of energy and was developing some painful arthritis in my shoulders. I initially gave in to the thinking that I was just getting older, that these things happen with the aging process and I was going to have to deal with it. But some research led me to a new approach to eating that has had a stunningly positive impact on my health.
Within 4 months I lost 48 lbs. and my blood pressure improved from 130/90 to 105/74. My body fat dropped to under 12% for the first time since I was in my 30s and I have great energy and a renewed zest for life. The arthritis I was suffering from every day in my shoulders has disappeared and surprisingly my seasonal allergies have vanished. In the gym I have made significant strength gains returning to the personal records of my 20s.
If you are contemplating joining me on the Paleo Journey you will need to set aside years of conventional wisdom indoctrination and think different. As an illustration let’s take a look at how many people typically eat breakfast and compare it to someone embracing a Paleo approach to eating.
Conventional Breakfast– You’d think a big bowl of cereal, tall glass of orange juice, a granola bar and some coffee would keep you full for more than an hour or two and provide you with plenty of energy, but it doesn’t. Many people who eat this type of breakfast end up starving by mid-morning and reach for another cup of coffee and maybe a something to eat from the office bowl of snacks.
The problem with this approach is that you’re basically eating pure sugar. There is very little fat or protein and you are trying to create lasting energy out of a fleeting, transient source of energy. Sugar burns and then you need more of it.
Paleo Breakfast – Black Coffee with steak and eggs or bacon and eggs or steak and bacon and eggs, usually with a bowl of berries
I know what you’re thinking - Man, I’d love to eat steak and eggs every morning, but my family’s got a history of heart disease and you know what they say.
I know what they say, but it’s wrong. Saturated fat is actually a benign, even healthy source of fat that’s never been conclusively linked to heart disease. It’s the most stable kind, practically impervious to the oxidative damage that’s responsible for most heart disease. As for eggs, in the vast majority of people, dietary cholesterol from eggs does not increase blood cholesterol. Heck, it even improves cholesterol in some folks, increasing “good cholesterol” more than “bad cholesterol.”
The old model of the arteries getting clogged up with cholesterol like what happens to your pipes when you dump fat down the drain is wrong. Cholesterol isn’t a monolithic entity. HDL is “good” and LDL is “bad,” but even that’s too simplistic. It’s not bad. It’s necessary for optimal health! We make important hormones like testosterone out of cholesterol, and our body uses HDL and LDL particles to deliver nutrients. In fact, when it comes to overall mortality – you know, dying and stuff – cholesterol around 180-220 looks to be ideal.
My Paleo style of diet has left me fat adapted not carb dependent; I have the metabolic flexibility to tap into my stored body fat whenever I need to. See, we store body fat because it’s a fantastic energy source. It burns clean and we can store upwards of tens of thousands of calories worth. I’m reasonably lean with fairly low body fat and I still have over 50,000 calories worth on my body. Meanwhile, I can only store about 500 grams of sugar in the form of liver and muscle glycogen. It serves its purpose to be sure, but you can’t rely on glycogen indefinitely without constant refills. That’s where your need to snack comes from. It also explains why your energy levels dip an hour or two after eating.
You may also be thinking why do I need so much protein? I mean, I’m no bodybuilder, my doctor said too much protein is bad for my kidneys, and my vegetarian buddies say it’ll destroy my bones.
Protein (especially with fat) is the most satiating macronutrient. It fills you up, especially when you eat it in the morning. As for the kidney thing, that’s been disproven. People with existing kidney issues might need to watch their protein intake, but kidney impairments aren’t caused by how much protein you eat; they’re most intimately linked to diabetes and hypertension, both of which an adequate protein intake ironically improves. The bone health claim is really silly, as protein actually works synergistically with calcium to improve bone metabolism and calcium retention.
Within 4 months I lost 48 lbs. and my blood pressure improved from 130/90 to 105/74. My body fat dropped to under 12% for the first time since I was in my 30s and I have great energy and a renewed zest for life. The arthritis I was suffering from every day in my shoulders has disappeared and surprisingly my seasonal allergies have vanished. In the gym I have made significant strength gains returning to the personal records of my 20s.
If you are contemplating joining me on the Paleo Journey you will need to set aside years of conventional wisdom indoctrination and think different. As an illustration let’s take a look at how many people typically eat breakfast and compare it to someone embracing a Paleo approach to eating.
Conventional Breakfast– You’d think a big bowl of cereal, tall glass of orange juice, a granola bar and some coffee would keep you full for more than an hour or two and provide you with plenty of energy, but it doesn’t. Many people who eat this type of breakfast end up starving by mid-morning and reach for another cup of coffee and maybe a something to eat from the office bowl of snacks.
The problem with this approach is that you’re basically eating pure sugar. There is very little fat or protein and you are trying to create lasting energy out of a fleeting, transient source of energy. Sugar burns and then you need more of it.
Paleo Breakfast – Black Coffee with steak and eggs or bacon and eggs or steak and bacon and eggs, usually with a bowl of berries
I know what you’re thinking - Man, I’d love to eat steak and eggs every morning, but my family’s got a history of heart disease and you know what they say.
I know what they say, but it’s wrong. Saturated fat is actually a benign, even healthy source of fat that’s never been conclusively linked to heart disease. It’s the most stable kind, practically impervious to the oxidative damage that’s responsible for most heart disease. As for eggs, in the vast majority of people, dietary cholesterol from eggs does not increase blood cholesterol. Heck, it even improves cholesterol in some folks, increasing “good cholesterol” more than “bad cholesterol.”
The old model of the arteries getting clogged up with cholesterol like what happens to your pipes when you dump fat down the drain is wrong. Cholesterol isn’t a monolithic entity. HDL is “good” and LDL is “bad,” but even that’s too simplistic. It’s not bad. It’s necessary for optimal health! We make important hormones like testosterone out of cholesterol, and our body uses HDL and LDL particles to deliver nutrients. In fact, when it comes to overall mortality – you know, dying and stuff – cholesterol around 180-220 looks to be ideal.
My Paleo style of diet has left me fat adapted not carb dependent; I have the metabolic flexibility to tap into my stored body fat whenever I need to. See, we store body fat because it’s a fantastic energy source. It burns clean and we can store upwards of tens of thousands of calories worth. I’m reasonably lean with fairly low body fat and I still have over 50,000 calories worth on my body. Meanwhile, I can only store about 500 grams of sugar in the form of liver and muscle glycogen. It serves its purpose to be sure, but you can’t rely on glycogen indefinitely without constant refills. That’s where your need to snack comes from. It also explains why your energy levels dip an hour or two after eating.
You may also be thinking why do I need so much protein? I mean, I’m no bodybuilder, my doctor said too much protein is bad for my kidneys, and my vegetarian buddies say it’ll destroy my bones.
Protein (especially with fat) is the most satiating macronutrient. It fills you up, especially when you eat it in the morning. As for the kidney thing, that’s been disproven. People with existing kidney issues might need to watch their protein intake, but kidney impairments aren’t caused by how much protein you eat; they’re most intimately linked to diabetes and hypertension, both of which an adequate protein intake ironically improves. The bone health claim is really silly, as protein actually works synergistically with calcium to improve bone metabolism and calcium retention.
Grains -I often get strange looks when I mention that I don’t eat bread. It’s not just bread. It’s grains in general. Think of it like this: unlike many other organisms, grains have no way to defend themselves. They can’t run. They can’t fight. They can’t hide. So they have to defend themselves with proteins like gluten, lectins, and other anti-nutrients that punch holes in your intestinal lining, allow foreign food substances into your bloodstream to cause problems, trigger your immune response, and inhibit the absorption of nutrients. You’ve probably heard of gluten, found in wheat, rye, and barley. It’s the worst of the bunch. If it isn’t degraded entirely by your gut, it can tell the junctions keeping the contents of your stomach out of your bloodstream to open up and let things pass through to the blood, where they can increase inflammation and even trigger autoimmune diseases. Some say that only people with a diagnosed gluten allergy have to worry, but there’s compelling evidence that suggests the majority of people may have sensitivities to gluten. It’s just likely underdiagnosed. Lots of people who never thought they had issues with gluten experience huge benefits when they remove it from their diet.
What about carbs? – People often say –“it seems like you’re against carbs”? It’s more that I’m against unnecessary carbs in sedentary people. When you’re sedentary, you’re usually insulin resistant with higher baseline levels of insulin. This is bad because insulin inhibits the release of fat from body fat stores. When an insulin resistant person consumes carbs, they secrete more insulin than normal, which causes greater retention and storage of fat. Athletes need more carbs because they’re burning through their glycogen stores. Plus, they can handle more because their insulin resistance is so low. You don’t need to eat grains to get your carbs you can eat fruit, vegetables, tubers like sweet potatoes and regular potatoes, roots. There are tons of healthy sources of carbs that don’t come with the anti-nutrients found in grains and legumes
What about those “healthy” vegetable oils? - Remember what I told you about saturated fat? How it’s actually healthier and more stable than other fats? Polyunsaturated fats - the kind found in soybean and other seed oils like corn oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, and safflower oils along with margarine – are the exact opposite: highly unstable when exposed to heat, oxygen, or light. So when we cook with them, we’re damaging them, if they haven’t already been damaged by being stored for months in a warm warehouse waiting to be shipped. Oxidized polyunsaturated fats can lead to oxidized LDL particles, which are a big risk factor for heart disease. Plus, our bodies take the polyunsaturated fats we eat and make inflammatory or anti-inflammatory signaling molecules that form part of the stress response. Omega-6 polyunsaturated fats found in vegetable oils are inflammatory precursors. We can offset this by eating more fatty fish, which contain the anti-inflammatory precursors known as polyunsaturated omega-3 fats. Use butter, coconut oil, olive oil, lard, tallow, African palm oil, macadamia oil, avocado oil, or ghee instead. Those are all more stable cooking fats. They’re also really, really delicious.
What about carbs? – People often say –“it seems like you’re against carbs”? It’s more that I’m against unnecessary carbs in sedentary people. When you’re sedentary, you’re usually insulin resistant with higher baseline levels of insulin. This is bad because insulin inhibits the release of fat from body fat stores. When an insulin resistant person consumes carbs, they secrete more insulin than normal, which causes greater retention and storage of fat. Athletes need more carbs because they’re burning through their glycogen stores. Plus, they can handle more because their insulin resistance is so low. You don’t need to eat grains to get your carbs you can eat fruit, vegetables, tubers like sweet potatoes and regular potatoes, roots. There are tons of healthy sources of carbs that don’t come with the anti-nutrients found in grains and legumes
What about those “healthy” vegetable oils? - Remember what I told you about saturated fat? How it’s actually healthier and more stable than other fats? Polyunsaturated fats - the kind found in soybean and other seed oils like corn oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, and safflower oils along with margarine – are the exact opposite: highly unstable when exposed to heat, oxygen, or light. So when we cook with them, we’re damaging them, if they haven’t already been damaged by being stored for months in a warm warehouse waiting to be shipped. Oxidized polyunsaturated fats can lead to oxidized LDL particles, which are a big risk factor for heart disease. Plus, our bodies take the polyunsaturated fats we eat and make inflammatory or anti-inflammatory signaling molecules that form part of the stress response. Omega-6 polyunsaturated fats found in vegetable oils are inflammatory precursors. We can offset this by eating more fatty fish, which contain the anti-inflammatory precursors known as polyunsaturated omega-3 fats. Use butter, coconut oil, olive oil, lard, tallow, African palm oil, macadamia oil, avocado oil, or ghee instead. Those are all more stable cooking fats. They’re also really, really delicious.
Exercise
The first thing to remember is that you can’t outwork a bad diet so it’s vital to get your eating habits under control first.
I spend at most four hours a week in the gym – usually much less – and haven’t run more than three miles at a time for nearly two years. I actually find it way more effective to make my short workouts shorter and more intense and my long workouts longer and easier. When I go hard, I go hard, and when I take it easy, I really take it easy, I used to be committed to what I now call chronic cardio but I’ve actually learned to enjoy the slow pace of walking and hiking. Running long distances at a highly elevated heart rate will help make you good at running but you run the risk of joint damage, oxidative stress, and elevated cortisol and although I have tremendous respect for all athletes, personally I prefer the bodies of the Olympic sprinters compared to those the marathoners.
What is Cortisol and why is too much of it a problem? - Cortisol is the premier stress hormone. It’s basically what our body makes in times of acute stress, like facing down a tiger or experiencing a famine. It increases alertness and helps us deal with the stressful situation. Unfortunately, since it’s a signal of starvation and “hard times,” it also breaks down muscle tissue for energy and increases belly fat. All good when you’re actually starving and need the energy at any cost, a disaster when your body only thinks you’re in danger because you’re stressing out over a traffic jam every day or doing too much chronic cardio.
All of this may seem too radical for some of you but I suggest you try eating a Paleo style of diet for 30 days. A great way to start is outlined here - http://whole9life.com/start.
Wishing you all the best in your journey to better health!
The first thing to remember is that you can’t outwork a bad diet so it’s vital to get your eating habits under control first.
I spend at most four hours a week in the gym – usually much less – and haven’t run more than three miles at a time for nearly two years. I actually find it way more effective to make my short workouts shorter and more intense and my long workouts longer and easier. When I go hard, I go hard, and when I take it easy, I really take it easy, I used to be committed to what I now call chronic cardio but I’ve actually learned to enjoy the slow pace of walking and hiking. Running long distances at a highly elevated heart rate will help make you good at running but you run the risk of joint damage, oxidative stress, and elevated cortisol and although I have tremendous respect for all athletes, personally I prefer the bodies of the Olympic sprinters compared to those the marathoners.
What is Cortisol and why is too much of it a problem? - Cortisol is the premier stress hormone. It’s basically what our body makes in times of acute stress, like facing down a tiger or experiencing a famine. It increases alertness and helps us deal with the stressful situation. Unfortunately, since it’s a signal of starvation and “hard times,” it also breaks down muscle tissue for energy and increases belly fat. All good when you’re actually starving and need the energy at any cost, a disaster when your body only thinks you’re in danger because you’re stressing out over a traffic jam every day or doing too much chronic cardio.
All of this may seem too radical for some of you but I suggest you try eating a Paleo style of diet for 30 days. A great way to start is outlined here - http://whole9life.com/start.
Wishing you all the best in your journey to better health!
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