Paleo Nutrition part 2

"We are cavemen with a cell phone" - In his fantastic book "THE PALEO SOLUTION" Robb Wolf www.robbwolf.com discusses the concept that if the 10000 year human evolution time-scale was laid out on a 100metre football field the metres from 99-100 would represent the last century of our exisence. If we further reduce this distance to the last 20cm we would be looking at the last two decades. During this 20cm our diets have changed dramatically and our rates of metabolic disease (Heart-Diabetes-Many Cancers) have increased greatly. GET BACK TO BASICS...... The human body is not designed to run on dried out, processed, smothered, altered foods. Fresh Fruit and Veg should make up 55-60% of every meal, Lean fish, meat, eggs and protein sources should account for 30-40% of our plate and good fats - avocados, nuts, olive oils etc should make up the remaining 10-15%. YOUR HEALTH EXPERIEMENT: DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR AND TRY THE PALEO DIET - drop the wheat and grains for a month, Eat only fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meat, fish and eggs + healthy fats 3-5 times a day for 30 days. Lay off the dairy products (get your calcium from lots of green vegetables and some nuts) and for the hell of it why not cut out the caffiene and all liquids other than water for a month also. Also think about supplementing with a high quality multivitamin and fish oil. You will be excited and surprised at just how good you will look and feel...... A month is a very short time in your long life - If you know you could be eating better.......youve got nothing to lose but MUCH to gain. The Paleo Diet by Dr Loren Cordain www.thepaleodiet.com and The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf www.robbwolf.com are two excellent books that are a must read for your health and that of your freinds and family.

Paleo Nutrition part 1

The western world as we know it developing and changing at a truely incredible speed. Never before have we had so much convenience in all aspects of our life. Thanks to our modern, technology based lifestyle, the need for physical exertion is at an all time low. The Internet, Motorisation, Automation, Engineering Robots, Computers, Mobile Phones, Public Transport, Electric Hand Tools, Household appliances...the list goes on... all allow us to expend very little energy on a daily basis in order to carry out our daily existence with minimal effort. The impact of this lack of physical exertion has long and deep implications towards our health and acts as a strong argument as to why daily movement and exercise is very important. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY it raises another and perhaps even more important issue......Technology is not only negitively effecting our physical fitness but it is also having dire-consequences on our diet. Has it ever occured to you that the majority of the food us - "westerners" eat these days is first usually unwrapped, opened, defrosted or microwaved? AND it is so far removed (highly refined or processed) from its original plant or animal origins that it is sometimes unrecognisable when compared to its origin? One of my favourite sayings is "we have a stone-age body living in the 21st century" ... this is so much the case in-fact that the human genome has barely changed in the last 10 thousand years. ALERT!!! In the last 20 years our staple Diet and Nutrition has experienced rapid transformation - to which our bodies cannot keep pace or adapt well to. Most people eat a breakfast that comes from a box or packet (cereal or bread), a lunch that is wrapped in refined, highly concentrated grain (more bread) and many dinners that are based around piles of starch rich, grain based refined wheat or similar products (pasta or rice). Historically, since the introduction and sharp increase in the use of these foods in our diet, it is interesting to note that there has also been a sharp rise in the now "household name" metabolic diseases - heart disease, cholesterol issues, high blood pressure, diabetes and many lifestyle related cancers. Stay tuned for part two "Paleo nutrition"