Lectins

As I mentioned in the About Me section, I'm highly sensitive to lectins. In fact, much of Loren Cordain's latest work has been in highlighting the danger of this particular toxin in the formation of autoimmune disease -- a very scary thought. Lectins are present in many foods, but are found at toxic levels in the following:

Grains (wheat, rye, barley, malt)

Legumes (soy, peanuts, beans)

Nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant)

You can find an extensive scholarly discussion here.

And a video of Loren Cordain himself discussing both the background of the paleo diet and the science behind the dangers of lectins (this is part 1 of 7, you can link to the rest from Youtube):

Clouds and Vitamin D

As I pulled the splinter from my chest this morning, I wondered if the rainy cloud cover in yesterday's workout meant that I didn't get my daily dose of vitamin D. I did the workout shirtless, hence the splinter from no-arm Turkish Getups with a log on my chest, Fifth-Ape style. Luckily, I found this article in the NY Times that says clouds reduce UVB, the radiation needed to make vitamin D, by about half, which means that I got plenty.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/science/15qna.html

Alcohol: the Best Choices

There are only a few things about most alcoholic drinks that are bad for you: the alcohol, the sugar, the gluten. Therefore, avoiding or minimizing these things is what leads to the best choices. After much trial and error, here's what I've found to be the healthiest.

Sangria. Everyone knows that a little red wine is good for you. Well, if you add fruit and skip the brandy, it's even better.

Wine spritzer. These are great for hot summer days, when you want to drink a lot of fluid. Just add a lot of soda water/seltzer/club soda to wine (red or white), good amount of lemon, a splash of pomegranate juice, all over ice, and you've got yourself a drink.

Norcal margarita. A Norcal man myself, I have a great deal of affection for this invention by none other than Robb Wolf. It's just 100% agave tequila, plenty of fresh squeezed lime, and splash of soda water, but it's scientifically formulated to keep your blood leaning alkaline and to blunt the insulin response.

Gluten-free beer. Hard to find, but it's out there and doesn't taste bad at all. Brands include St. Peter's, Bard's, and Red Bridge.

P.S. I built that wine rack myself, all paleo. Literally carried that log out of the woods. Fits into the 'hobby' part of my exercise pyramid :)

Work Vs. Play: Purposeful Movement in the Neolithic

I'm making an effort to remove the word 'workout' from my vocabulary. I dismiss it not because of the blatant etymology ('work'), but because the word is symptomatic of an unnatural paradigm, a man-made way of thinking about fitness.

Let's begin with the evolutionary role of exercise. Relocating, hunting, gathering, fighting, and building shelter were all forms of necessary work in the paleolithic. Our species likely performed rituals and played, but raw physical labor was the bulk of exercise. It was stressful, dangerous, and most important: vital to survival.

We may crave vigorous exercise for the very reason that it was part of our ancestry, but that's another matter, because those activities are no longer vital to our survival. We now live in modern times. Farmers hunt and gather for us and specialists build our houses. These paleolithic activities have been replaced with our own man-made professional specializations that arose with the development of civilization. Thus, there is no need to mimic the stress or danger of intense physical exercise. We have the opportunity instead to replace aspects of work with the ample benefits of play.

I grant that vigorous exercise has a place in a healthy fitness pyramid, but some contemporary fitness enthusiasts push too hard. They stress their bodies, their minds, and ultimately their spirits by succumbing to unnatural motivators: hyper-hierarchy, elitism, and the excesses of competition.

Why explore natural movement or natural diet without pursuing natural purpose for that movement?

I was a Division I athlete at the college level, rowing for Santa Clara University. By all means, we engaged in high-level training two and sometimes three times per day. I fought hard with my body to overcome barriers, win personal records, and get the edge over the competition. I want to be clear that I understand the drive to excel, the thrill of victory, and the pride of accomplishment. But these things come at a terrible price.

During my period of competition, I developed a back and shoulder problem that persists to this day. I slept little due to early wakeup times and worried constantly about my performance. Our boat lost more than it won, as will always be the case when multiple competitors means only one winner. That period of my life stands as a time when I was unhealthy, unhappy, and blind to my long-term needs.

Not long after competition, I developed an autoimmune disease that requires constant management of inflammatory response. It's unrelated to competition, but it's what affirmed the validity of the paleo diet (almost overnight), the discovery of which was the beginning of my transformation into a happy, healthy human being.

A Better Food Pyramid

Some of the food pyramids I've seen include marginal foods and confuse the essential elements of the diet. Here's my take on the heart of the paleo diet:

*This pyramid represents volume, not calories. The bulk of calories comes from animal sources.

I certainly eat outside of this pyramid from time to time, but this is the model of perfection that I strive for and that helps me stay true to the core food categories. A few notes:

Fresh is best. Homegrown > Local Farm > Grocery > Canned

Raw maximizes nutrient delivery. Many foods lose nutrient value when cooked, and many foods that require cooking are starchy, which negatively affects insulin response over time.

Grass-fed AND grass-finished. It's important to clarify this with your local farmer, as grain-finished meat compromises its nutrient profile for 'better' flavor.

Focus on food quality. Being new to North Carolina, I'm taking time to learn the local farms and their methods before selecting where my meat comes from.

Hopefully this pyramid will be a helpful interpretation that is easier to understand.

Play-based Fitness Pyramid

I've seen a few fitness pyramids out there that attempt to either represent the work done by our paleolithic ancestors or to alter the paleo model to reach peak 'weight loss' (more later on why weight loss is the worst idea in health). But I suggest a better pyramid that takes into account natural complex movement, strength training, and play.

Unlike the others, this one touts profound psychological and neurological benefits for the average person who wants to maximize happiness and escape unhealthy competition and elitism. Soon, I'll cover the detriments of high-intensity training, but here's what I strive for:

There are a few things worth noting in this pyramid:

Exercise is group-based. Social dynamics mean real and lasting value for the health and happiness of the individual. We are social creatures, after all.

Exercise is mostly non-competitive, and playfully so. Competition is healthy, but not when people become obsessed with winning to the point of stress, or when they start thinking hierarchically about their abilities or worth in the social context.

Fitness is productive individually, cooperative socially. Working on a hobby requires healthy movement and leads to measurable success when the project is complete. Likewise, cooperating with others in a team, rather than competing, is fun and stress-free. Persistence hunting is an anthropological example of healthy, non-competitive teamwork in the paleolithic.

Ultimately, this pyramid is preferable to others because fun is a whole lot more sustainable. It emphasizes play and cooperation over work intensity and competition. In a state of natural play, like working on a hobby or dancing, the individual will instinctively reach comfortable limits of output without affecting health or happiness. In fact, play advances health and happiness on a psychobiological level.

Sleep like a Cavebaby

It's important to think of health as a synergy of elements. All the different aspects of health (diet, exercise, stress, etc.) work together in order to maintain optimal health and happiness. But the most important of all is sleep, and here's why:

Sleep is recharging. When you sleep, the body enters an advanced state of repair across certain biological levels. That means not just muscle repair, but also hormonal regulation and other vital processes that are hindered if the quality and quantity of sleep is disturbed, such as from toxins in the diet or noise from the neighbor or light from the window. So how can we sleep paleo? Here are some key points:

Wake with the sun. In nature, our paleolithic ancestors slept at night and rose when bright. There's a body of evidence that light sensors on our body trigger hormonal regulation throughout the day.

Pitch black. That means blackout curtains or better. Even artificial light will confuse the delicate rhythms of hormonal regulation.

Cool as a cave. A hot night will interrupt REM cycles and dehydrate you. Too cold won't work either.

Perfect silence. When I buy a home, I plan to soundproof the bedroom from noisy neighbors. If REM sleep is interrupted, you have to start all over with Stage I sleep again.

Eat right. Toxins of all sorts may be adversely affecting the quality of your sleep so avoid them all: gluten, dairy, lectins, alcohol, sugar, salt.

Be hydrated, but not too hydrated. Basically this means drinking water after dinner, but not right before bedtime. This is to avoid waking mid-sleep to pee.

Sleep a lot. Eight hours should be the bare minimum. Our ancestors were likely in a state of sleep-rest the entire night.

The issue of bedding will depend on the type of sleeper and will have to be trial and error. If you like firm, go for it. If not, then go ahead with plush. It makes sense that cavemen would have taken some time to procure a comfortable spot in the wild.

There are some 'natural' supplements out there, but the only one that caught my interest was magnesium (by a friend's recommendation). I've only taken it for a few days, but so far I've had great sleep. Plus, the bottle is cheap ($7 for a year's supply). Hope this helps!

How the Colbert Report Saved My Life

After a year's worth of doctor visits, a thousand dollars down the drain, and unnecessary and invasive testing, I was feeling worse than ever, in such pain and discomfort that I could not bring myself to exercise or sleep, which further worsened the problem. Doctors of all sorts advised me to eat plenty of fiber, naming whole grain breads and beans as the best sources. Now I can only laugh about it.

I didn't know at the time, but I'm highly sensitive to the gluten in whole grain breads and the lectins in certain plants like tomatoes and beans.

I had all but given up hope when I heard John Durant of Hunter-gatherer.com pitch the paleo diet on the Colbert Report. He compared us to animals in the zoo and explained how they thrive on their natural diet. Humans are animals too, he argued, and should therefore eat their natural diet. I was sold immediately and did some follow up research to get the details before starting. It made perfect evolutionary sense.

So I chose the strictest form of the paleo diet: no grains, no legumes, no dairy, no nightshades, no alcohol, low lectins, no processed food. In two days, I was a new man. The pain and discomfort was gone for the first time since I could remember. I woke with renewed vitality, yearning to get outside and play.

I see the discovery of this philosophy as nothing short of personal salvation, and I owe much to the many voices who have developed the philosophy into what it is now. My determination to advance the boundaries of the paleolithic philosophy are rooted in my own story of misguided science and the wrongs of conventional wisdom. I only hope that I can help others find true health and happiness the natural way.