Paleo Vita

Feeding Seamus

2010-08-26T13:16:00.018-04:00

I have a pretty simple plan for feeding Seamus. Give him a large variety of foods, both that I make and buy. All these foods are just vegetables and fruit and some protein (which has been a very recent addition to his diet). None of the food has sugar, wheat, corn starch, soy or whatever added into it. Just water and real food (and sometimes citric juices to keep fruits from going brown).

As I mentioned earlier, I feed Seamus a mix of store-bought foods and home-made ones, and the ratio depends on how busy I am, whether we are travelling, etc. I generally get Gerber Organic because it is only pureed food and water, but any kind without too much processing and various additives is fine. I don’t pay attention to their “1^st Foods” “2^nd Foods” charts. I just try and get a variety and also the kinds that Seamus likes.

Seamus’s first food was bananas. He loves bananas. Now that he is a little bit older and we know he generally doesn’t have any food allergies, I try to give him mixes rather than a single kind of fruit or vegetable.

This is an interesting kind of food to check out: Plum Baby Organics has some not so common foods like mango, pumpkin, and purple carrots, and the re-sealable squeeze package is really convenient.

Making food isn’t very hard, especially fruit mixes. Most times I spend a couple of hours over the weekend once every couple of weeks making food. Baby food can be frozen for about three months. If you have a processor, just toss the chopped up bits of food in (make sure that the food is steamed or baked if it is a vegetable when you’re making purees), add some water and seasonings, and viola! Baby food. Making it yourself lets you determine the texture and know exactly what is going in it. The food is fresher this way as well. If your baby is just starting out on solids, mixing whatever food you’ve chosen with a little breast milk works really well.

I haven‘t used one, but I would resist the temptation to pay hundreds of dollars for “baby food makers”. They might add a little bit of convenience (like I said, I’m not sure, just judging from looking at them) but that is a lot of money to pay when you already have what you need to do it. Steaming/baking veggies is very easy. It may take more time in the oven, but you can be making fruit foods or doing something else at the same time. You can buy mini food choppers/processors for less than $20. I got mine from Target for $9 and it works great. I realize that time is money as well, but I don’t feel like the time difference is worth the price. I think it is just a case of companies trying to convince you that you need to buy more for your baby than you really do.

Most days I try to give him a fruit and a veggie. Some of the mixes he likes (both store bought and made by me) are:

Banana Squash

Sweet Potato w/ Nutmeg and Cinnamon

Banana Mango

Peas and Carrots

Carrots and Squash

Green Beans w/ Onion & Garlic Powder

Pineapple, Banana and Orange

Banana Pumpkin

Spinach and Green Beans and Mint

Blueberries and Apple

Baked Butternut Squash with Olive Oil, Garlic, Pepper and Nutmeg

As for protein, one of Seamus’s favorites is Greek yogurt, either on its own or mixed with any kind of fruit (especially mango). This is the brand we get (I eat it too.) It is organic, no sugar added, no artificial flavors, and it is full-fat. It’s harder to find full-fat yogurt than you think. This is very important, as babies don’t need low-fat anything. Besides the fact that Conventional Wisdom has overblown the need for cutting out or regulating fats, fats help brain tissue form. Your baby needs that. I don’t have many specialty grocery stores available to me but this is the only kind I’ve been able to find that has no sugar or flavorings and is full-fat. We buy a big container and Seamus and I share it over about two weeks.

I give him egg yolk, and more recently, scrambled eggs with cheese and salt. He also gets chicken, turkey and beef too, usually off one of our plates. (Want to feed your baby what you’re eating? Go Grok style and chew it yourself first and then give it to them if it’s not chewy enough for them!). If you want to get premade meat food, I have found that Beechnut doesn’t put wheat or soy flour in their foods.

Seamus likes flavored foods much better than bland purees. So I give him foods that are naturally flavorful (mango, Greek yogurt, etc.) or foods with seasonings, herbs and spices.

As it should be before the solid food stage, I only feed Seamus when he is hungry. I don’t try to force him to eat two ounces because the baby book says he should eat two ounces. He’ll eat what he wants and then we’re good. You don’t eat the same amount every meal or every day, do you? Don’t do it to your baby either.

This website is a gold mine of baby food recipes and information. Make sure you check it out. There is also my other post about what to feed your primal baby, or the great post from Mark’s Daily Apple about feeding babies. Good luck in your healthier baby feeding venture!

Falling off the Wagon

2010-08-20T12:47:00.000-04:00

Everybody falls off the wagon at some point. And by off the wagon I mean several consecutive days of breaking your lifestyle, not that you had cake on your birthday or ate rice at your mother-in-law's because you didn't want to offend her. It's important to get back on it, but it can be harder than it sounds once your body starts dealing with the sharp spikes and drops in blood sugar that come from not eating primally anymore.

Now an admission, as I'm trying to make this about my personal journey as well as general tips, recipes, and scientific information. I've fallen off the wagon the last month or so. I have probably fallen into a 50/50 lifestyle at best, probably 40/60 instead, with the 40 the percentage of primal eating. I also haven't been to the gym in about that much time, and I used to go twice a week. As I was on break from classes, I didn't do has much walking as I was before either. I've gained 5 pounds, and started having some of the problems that had gotten better with my eating -- digestive improvement, energy, clearer skin, sleeping better. All of them have been impacted, even though they are not as bad as they were when I wasn't eating primally at all.

I have excuses, of course. There are always excuses. We were out of town, and ate out a fair amount (and it is hard to eat primally at many, many restaurants). We all got sick. We've had a stressful month -- we're selling our house at a massive lost. In the long run, this is better -- we'll be closer to school, to life, in a position to walk and bike ride around town instead of having to drive in from 45 minutes away. We're closer to the farmer market, our dogs will have a yard with a real fence instead of an electric one, and we're cutting our costs so we can get control over our money and our debt. We can't afford where we're living now since my husband was laid off. Closer to civilization means more job options for me. It's going to be a huge (but good) life change but it's painful at the same time. Money will be tight, our credit messed up. School started again, and some nights it was easier to pick up food than to make it because I haven't gotten the new schedule under control yet. All of these are valid, but they're still just excuses. I need to fix it, because in the long run eating this way costs us more than just gained weight -- it costs us money when we buy food instead of make it. It costs us energy in the long term, which just makes the rough schedule even harder to handle. It also costs us good sleep, which makes the energy cost worst. It's time to pick up and go at it again.

It's hard to do, though. Once you start drinking cokes for the caffeine or eating at the tasty pizza joint down the street because you've had a crappy day, want good food, and don't want to cook it's hard to stop the slide. Damn sugar causes all sorts of problems.

So I'm working hard to figure out how to simplify dinner as much as possible. When we eat out we need to eat primally (but we really shouldn't be doing it much at all anyway). But we'll get back on. And a lot of things will get easier.

Primal Banana Nut Bread

2010-08-19T20:43:00.001-04:00

This was an experiment, as many of my primal recipes often are. Again, I unfortunately don't have photos because it was done on the fly one night when both my husband and I were craving grain tasting things but didn't actually want grains. This was actually quite tasty and had a good texture.

You'll Need:

2 Cups Almond Meal
3 Eggs
1 tsp Salt
~1 and 1/2 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 tsp baking soda
1 Banana (mashed)
Chopped Nuts (I used Walnuts)
Nutmeg to taste (more than you'd think, so don't be stingy)

This makes a pretty small loaf, so if you like you can probably double it for more. I just didn't want a huge loaf of failed primal bread sitting around if it didn't work. But if you have a small pan, these measurements will be good for two people. You can also probably add more banana if you like very banana-y banana bread.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Just toss it all in a bowl and mix, and then put it in a greased pan. Place it in the oven and bake it for roughly 10 to 12 minutes, but keep an eye on it and use a toothpick to judge when the center of the bread isn't sticky anymore. Once it seems baked pull it out. Voila! Banana Nut Bread with no grains. Enjoy!

Upcoming Projects

2010-08-19T20:34:00.000-04:00

So, here is an update with some projects/things going on in both my life and with the blog. My husband and I are moving soon...finally closer into the city where we both go to school, so that will give us ten hours or more a week back just from not having to make the ridiculously long drive every day!

I want to take the family to the local botanical gardens and do a picnic sometime soon, and I really want it to be a primal picnic. I'm experimenting around with things and so I'll definitely do a post whenever something comes to fruition.

Every year, my husband and I attend Dragon*Con in Atlanta, which is a gigantic sci-fi/fantasy/comic book/anything geeky con. It's one of the highlights of our year and we absolutely love it. This is the first year going while on the Primal Diet (and also while we're really short on cash and don't want to buy meals out all weekend) so I'm going to do a con review with a focus on exactly what we end up eating, how much we walk, how much we sleep, etc., along with some general commentary about the con. That is Labor Day weekend, so expect a deluge of posts about that in about two weeks.

Expect more recipes, commentary, reviews, and information in the coming weeks, just as it's been since I started a couple of weeks ago. I got a little off track when we were out of town and then all got sick but I hope to jump back on the horse. Since school has started and I'm in a writing-heavy major (Classical Culture) as well as some writing heavy classes, I hope to be on a Tuesday/Thursday post schedule, maybe with more thrown in here and there.

So that's the plan. Hopefully the picnic/Dragon*Con posts will add a "living primal in today's world live!" feeling to the blog, as well as a little personal info, which the blog has been scarce on thus far.

Happy eating and I hope you'll be along for the ride.

A Short Interlude

2010-08-14T13:51:00.000-04:00

I'll have some posts, including weekend links, up within the next day or so. Sorry about the lack of posting for the week -- the little boy is quite sick and we spent a little bit of time out of town.

Alright, back to our regularly scheduled posts soon.

Thanks.

Small Dietary Changes That Will Make Big Differences

2010-08-05T12:59:00.000-04:00

We've already had 8 Easy Ways to Be More Primal, so here is another similar post about small ways to change your life, especially if you're not completely sold on abandoning your pasta and becoming totally paleo. So here are just a couple suggestions that will help you no matter what diet or lifestyle you follow.

1. Stop Drinking Your Calories
Seriously guys. Drink water instead. Calories you drink are generally empty -- the provide little to no nutrition or sustenance for your body. They're a waste. Add in the high fructose corn syrup and caffeine you'll get in each drink, and you're headed straight for blood sugar issues. Contrary to popular belief, this doesn't just include sodas -- many drinks like Lemonade and even some fruit juices have as much or more sugar in them as a coke. If you want a little bit of flavor, put some fruit in your water, or even lemon or lime juice. You can also add a little bit of coconut milk into the water. If you have a serious soda habit, you can lose a lot of weight just by cutting it all out. This includes diet sodas, by the way. They might not have sugar, but they still have calories. Besides, I think they taste nasty (hah!).

2. Read the Labels
You'd be surprised at what is actually in the food you're buying. A majority store bought foods now may contain soy, as well as wheat products, gluten, high fructose corn syrup, and other corn products. Read the nutrition information and find out. For example, there is soy in cooked, smoked kielbasa and in chicken noodle soup; and high fructose corn syrup in Heinz Ketchup and A1 meat marinades. You wouldn't think that a meat marinade would need high fructose corn syrup, but it's in there.

3. Cut Down On Your Sugar
Ideally this will include grains as well, which metabolize into sugar. Stop eating processed foods with lots of sugar in them -- be careful of juices, marinades, salad dressings, yogurt, cereals, granola bars, etc. Many of them are touted as health foods, but include lots of added sugar. Make your own salad dressings and marinades, and avoid sweets such as cakes, cookies, and candy.

4. Eat More Veggies
Instead of filling your stomach with pasta or mashed potatoes, go for large servings of tasty vegetables. Not only are they low in calories, they're packed full of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. They'll make you feel full and satisfied while providing healthy nourishment for your body, whereas grains are pretty empty.

5. Cut Out Processed and Prepackaged Foods
Processed and Prepackaged Foods are full of junk. They are full of all the things listed in the "Read the Label" section (soy, gluten, corn products), and they have lots of salt and various preservatives in them to make them last longer. Salt is often a big issue mentioned in conventional wisdom nutrition, but the truth is that it's the prepackaged foods where most Americans are getting their salt from. Cut them out, and you don't have to worry about salt on your broccoli. On top of all of that, they're generally more expensive than just buying ingredients to make a meal yourself.

6. Eat Lean, Organic/Free Range/Grass Fed Meats and Eggs
Much of the meat found on grocery store shelves comes from grain-fed animals unless labeled otherwise. This changes the fat content of the meat. Buy lean meats if organic or grass fed is not available. Free range chickens and eggs are better as well. These aren't always available at regular stores and even if they are, their price is sometimes too much for most people, so various lean meats are acceptable alternatives. Organic meats are also free of many of the hormones and antibiotics used.

There you go. Six simple changes that should make a difference in your diet. Some will make bigger differences than others (like cutting out Drink Calories vs. eating leaner meat) but they're all good steps to take towards starting a primal diet or enhancing one you've started.

The Business of Being Born Review

2010-08-04T15:19:00.000-04:00

A little bit of shameless link plugging, but also relevant to the blog and its premise. I watched the documentary The Business of Being Born, which launched birth choice and the state of the maternity industry into the mainstream. It's a must watch for anyone who will be having a baby, including daddies-to-be, Here are my thoughts about it.

Weekly Video

2010-08-03T12:50:00.000-04:00

High-Fructose Corn Syrup Truth, Still Not Sexy, HFCS

This is a little repetitive by the end, but a pretty good starter video about HFCS.

Feeding Your Baby: Paleo Style

2010-08-02T15:41:00.002-04:00

There are many benefits to eating primally, for both children and adults, and even for infants. With childhood obesity rates having more than tripled in the last 30 years according to the CDC, there is a lot of talk of what the source of the issue is and how to fix it. There are many contributions to it, and while that is enough for a post all of its own, this fact highlights the importance of starting with a healthy lifestyle from the very beginning.

My son Seamus is fed on a baby version of the paleo diet. This is no where near as complicated as it sounds; it is actually quite simple. It can be turned into a complicated and detailed plan if so desired, which isn't a problem, but it doesn't have to be.

The basics are this. Breast milk is best. The end. Second best to your own breast milk is someone else's breast milk. Formula should only be used when other options are exhausted. Soy formula should be avoided at all costs. I will detail this at another point, but the following links will also give you the information as to why this is a bad idea:

The Shocking Effects of Soy
The Dangers of Soy
Renegade Food: Dangers of Soy
Confused About Soy? Soy Dangers Summarized
Soy Baby Blues
The Mercola.com Index with lots of information on Soy is here.

If you cannot breast feed your baby and they are allergic to cow's milk, try goat's milk formula (or even goat's milk) instead. Despite the expense, if your baby need sensitive tummy formulas, try Nutramagen or Alimentium. Unfortunately there is not a completely soy free commercial formula. All of them include soy oil or soy lethicin, which are generally considered less damaging and allergenic than soy protein, but they should still be avoided if possible.

Skip the grain cereals all together. They are bland, provide little nutrition (rice cereal ), and often cause constipation issues. There is also some research that because of iron-fortified grain cereals, babies may be getting too much iron. Breastfed babies get plenty of iron from breast milk, and if your baby needs more try feeding them an iron rich food like broccoli or sweet potato instead of cereal. This is the really primal part of it, because grains turn into sugar, which will mess with insulin levels, which in turn will affect appetite and the amount of food eaten. Grok babies would have eaten whatever their parents had eaten, with the mother chewing the food for her child before feeding it to him. Many cultures around the world do this as well -- babies in places like India often eat right off the table, spicy curries and vegetables and all. Babies can handle real food better than modern Americans seem to think.

Start off with mashed fruits and vegetables, and move onto eggs for protein after that. Then add in various meats when you believe your child can handle them. For many years pediatricians had a long list of "highly allergenic foods" including items like strawberries and eggs that should be avoided until after one year old to avoid causing food allergies. But in 2008 studies showed that this only delayed the onset or discovery of certain food allergies rather than preventing them (kind of a "duh" moment for me, the other recommendation never made much sense to me). Honey should probably still be avoided because of the risks for botulism. But everything else should be fine to try. Just like for adults, variation is key.

The best way to control what your baby is eating is to, of course, make their food yourself. This is simple and not particularly time consuming. You can spend one Saturday afternoon making and freezing baby food that will last roughly 3 months in the freezer, so you can make as much at a time as you like. But, if you want food that is easy to travel with or just to keep some around for the time you run out of homemade food, there are a couple of things you should look for. Get food that only has the fruits and vegetables in it -- no flour, no soy, pastas, preservatives, whatever. Gerber has a pretty decent line of foods where the ingredients read "GREEN BEANS, WATER," and the like. Always check nutritional information, you'd be surprised what companies slide into preprocessed foods.

I will follow up this post with an entry on how I feed Seamus specifically, with some ideas for recipes and such. You can feed your baby healthily and fill his tummy without having to stuff them full of grains. Fruits are flavorful and tasty, as vegetables with a little salt or herbs like basil or rosemary. Start your baby off right with good food and teaching them to eat a large variety of foods with complex flavors. There is absolutely no reason to regulate them to almost flavorless cereals or bland vegetables.

Links:
Wholesome Baby Food -- Some interesting baby food recipes!
The Definitive Guide to Feeding Primal Babies
Primal Mommies

Primal Empanada Mix Recipe Attempt

2010-07-31T12:04:00.001-04:00

At some point in the last several years, my husband had his first empanada at a tex-mex sort of restaurant here in Athens. We are (or were) sometimes mexican people. Not one of our most frequented types of food. So I eventually found this very tasty and not too difficult to make chicken empanada recipe from Paula Deen.

I've been brainstorming with different things to try to transform some of our favorite pre-paleo recipes into acceptable primal substitutes, and I'll share them with you over time.

This was one of my recent experimentations. It was not a particularly stunning success. I basically followed the recipe as before, but used Green Peppers, Yellow Peppers, and Red Peppers to get a mix of different colors. I also added some chopped up cauliflower and a little bit of frozen corn (yes, corn is technically a grain...my husband and I still eat it about once a week and we're slowly introducing other types of sides to replace it), and totally left out the actual empanada pastry part. Then I mixed everything up and dumped it in a casserole dish. So I basically made a big serving of the recipe filler. I left it in the oven for about 25-30 minutes over all, rather than the 15 in the recipe.

It was alright. The tastes that work well in small servings encased in a fluffy pastry aren't so great in a bigger quantity. Also, cook your cauliflower ahead of time. I didn't do this and with it mixed in with everything else it didn't cook all the way through in the time it was in the oven, and if I left it in longer the cheese and chicken would have started to burn.

So the end result wasn't bad. We ate it. But I don't think I'll do it again. No big loss, however, because that's part of experimenting. If any of you attempt it and have suggestions to make it better, let me know, because I would be very interested!

Or, even better, if you had a tasty recipe for primal empanadas or something similar, that would be great too.

Weekend Links

2010-07-31T11:50:00.000-04:00

Mostly recipes today guys, with some interesting websites and information collections.

Birth Links:
Enjoy Birth puts together a collection of information on Group B Strep, including the recent Cochrane Review that finds no evidence for antibiotics.

Health Links:
Many physicians practice defensive medicine, which means doing treatments to avoid possible lawsuits rather than basing them on evidence.

This website is interesting -- Treatment Trap. It has examples of the overuse of medicine and how you can protect yourself from it.

Recipes:
Spiced Butternut Squash Fries
Paleo Apple Muffins
Primal Enchiladas

Bison Stew

2010-07-29T13:54:00.000-04:00

This doesn't have fancy pictures to go along with it because I just made it for the first time the other night. It was pretty good, so I thought I would share it with the warning that it was an experiment and I haven't done it more than once.

What you'll need:

1 1/2 lbs of Bison Chunks
Green Beans
Green Peas (if you eat Legumes)
Celery
Minced Garlic
Chopped White Onion
Carrots
Butter (if you eat dairy) or a healthy oil
Quart of Beef Broth (as pure as you can get it, without soy or other additives)
Red Wine
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Basil
Chives
And any other appealing vegetable

This makes a pretty big pot of soup. I basically just threw all of this together the other night and used what I had.

What to Do:

Chop up all the vegetables however you like. I cut up the green beans and such pretty small, but it doesn't really matter exactly how you do it. Go ahead and put all the chopped up vegetables but the onions into a stew pot.

Salt and Pepper the Bison chunks to taste.

Melt the butter (or heat up the oil) in a large frying pan. Once it's hot, put in the chopped onions and sautee them for a moment. Then put the Bison chunks into the frying pan and sear them.

After the bison is seared, put it and the onions into the pot with your vegetables. Pour a little bit of the beef broth into the hot frying pan and swirl it around. This will help you get up all the tasty brown bits in the pan. Pour the rest of the broth into the stew pot, and then add in the broth from the frying pan. Add the herbs as well as some additional salt and pepper to the pot, and then cover it up and heat it up.

I let it go for about 20 minutes on medium-high heat, and then stirred it up and added some red wine to taste. Then I put it back on at medium low for about another 15 minutes, long enough for the vegetables to be cooked and the bison to be cooked all the way through but still tender. Then enjoy.

It's pretty simple and the bison was tender the way I did it. It was my first time making bison as well. Let me know how it turns out for you, and let me know any changes you make so I can try it again next time. I'm sure this recipe can be perfected!

Meet Seamus

2010-07-26T11:15:00.000-04:00

This is my son Seamus. He was born on January 1st, 2010, which means he's almost 7 months old now.

Part of this blog is birth and parenting in a smart, natural and primal way, so I thought I would introduce my son before I start doing excessive parenting posts. It's important to me that he gets the healthiest start possible in life, and that includes doing everything possible for a healthy pregnancy, having a vaginal birth with minimal interventions, breastfeeding him, getting plenty of interaction, and avoiding grains and sugar from the very beginning.

There will be a bi-weekly (or less than that, depending) sort of update on Seamus, focused on the food he's being fed, the products I'm using in an attempt to avoid toxic chemicals, that sort of thing. I just thought you should meet him before I started posting about him constantly :)

Weekend Links

2010-07-25T12:38:00.000-04:00

Primal/Health Links:

A thorough and cited article on the dangers of soy.

Sitting too much can affect your lifespan and outweigh the benefits of going to the gym.

High Fructose Diets can potentially contribute to high blood pressure.

Dr. Mike talks about meat, vegetarians, and lifespan

Science Links:
Scientists discover that the human sperm gene is 600 million years old.

Birth/Pregnancy Links:
Pregnant women are advised to get more Vitamin D than they are.

High blood sugar during pregnancy is linked to reduced insulin sensitivity in children.

A common flame retardant could interfere with the thyroid during pregnancy.

Modern obstetrics promote a culture of fear.

Weekly Video

2010-07-22T22:13:00.001-04:00

Most weeks I thought I would try and post an interesting video related to the various topics of the blog that is worth watching. This week's is on barefoot running. Enjoy!

Eight Easy Ways To Be More Primal

2010-07-22T17:41:00.055-04:00

Here are some short little blurbs about some relatively small ways to become more primal. Either you can cycle these into your already primal lifestyle (in fact, if you are paleo, then you probably do at least some of these already) or try them in preperation for going primal. Whatever your current lifestyle or diet, these suggestions can't hurt.

1. Walk More
Park at the back of the parking lot. Walk between stores in a strip mall. Walk up the driveway to get the mail instead of stopping at the mailbox in your car to get the mail. Use a push mower instead of a riding mower. Take the stairs rather than the elevator or ramp. Anything that gets you moving more, as our bodies are made to walk a lot. So do what you can to get extra steps in.

2. Shop On the Outside of the Store
This means follow the outer square in the grocery store; that tends to be where the fresh dairy, vegetables, and meats are. All the precooked, processed and preservative-stuffed groceries are on the inner isles. Then go into the inner areas only for what you need -- toilet paper, frozen veggies, napkins, etc. Try and make a list of what you need before hand and stick to that list. The biggest temptation for most people is at the store. If you don't buy it, it won't be there for you to eat later. Have tunnel vision while you pass cereals, candy, oatmeal -- whatever might look good at the time and head straight for whatever item is your goal.

3. Shop at the Farmer's Market
Not only can you potentially get some great deals, many of the temptations are gone! Farmer's Markets are full of healthy meats, veggies and fruits that are usually organic. Shopping at them will get you out in the sun, too, which is important because modern humans don't get enough sunshine! Depending on local grocery store prices, you can even pay less for healthier foods here.

4. Get a little Unprotected Sun
Now, this doesn't mean go bake in the sun for hours on end or get yourself burned -- but spend just a little bit of time outside soaking up some rays without sunscreen on. We don't get enough sun (Grok spent the majority of his days outside!) and this can lead to Vitamin D deficiencies.

5. Go Barefoot
The Barefoot Running movement is often talked about in mainstream news now. People claim that running barefoot changes foot and body form and this lessens repetitive stress injuries. Walking barefoot has benefits as well. So go barefoot in the house and around your yard. Try some Vibram Five Fingers. Born to Run is a popular book chronicling the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico who run barefoot if you are interested in reading more. I'll also probably do a more detailed post on this.

6. Eat When You're Hungry
Not everyone needs three big meals a day. Do you prefer a snack in the morning, a small lunch, and a large dinner? Or do you like to eat most of your calories in the middle of the day? Try following your own body for a bit, not conventional mealtimes. This is a little difficult to do when your body still has insulin problems resulting from sugars, but I find that I generally like to eat mid-morning (around 10 or 11 am), have a small snack like a peach or some pineapple around 1:00 or 2:00, and then a big dinner later in the evening. I've never done well with eating right after I get up, and I feel better when I don't make myself do it.

7. Lift and Carry Things
Stop using little carts or whatever when possible. Carry all your groceries from the store to your car if you have the hands for it. Carry your baby when you go for a walk rather than using a stroller when you can. Anything you can think of -- carry laundry baskets instead of dragging them, just any little bit you can change to carry more things of substance.

8. Take Cold Showers
This is a hard act for people (including me!). Alternatively you can just hit yourself with a blast of cold water after you take your shower. Research shows that this can have health benefits, beyond helping you wake up.

There you go! Just a couple small changes to your life that aren't too difficult.

Bacon Burgers

2010-07-20T14:29:00.002-04:00

One of the great things about eating primal is that not only is the food you make generally delicious, it's quite simple. Of course, you can get as complicated as you like, but you generally make large chunks of meat with vegetables and some fruits. So I figured for the first Paleo Vita recipe I would go ultra-simple, and pick one of the meals my husband and I usually eat once or twice a month. It's fast and tasty.

Bacon Burgers

What you Need:
Garlic Powder (or minced Garlic)
Onion Powder (or chopped onions)
Black Pepper
Kosher Salt
1 Large Egg
2 or 3 strips of Bacon
about 1 pound of lean ground beef (preferably organic and grassfed!)
Shredded Cheese (if you eat dairy)

Optional: You can add a circle slice of pineapple on top of the burgers if that sounds appealing to you.

Makes about 4 reasonably sized burgers. This amount is about perfect for my husband and I -- I eat the two smaller burgers, and him the larger ones.

What to Do:
Like I said, this is super simple.

Set your oven to broil.

Cut the bacon into small squares (alternatively, you could bake it seperately and put it on top of the burgers, but it makes a more cohesive burger to cut them into squares and mix it in)

Toss the ground beef into a bowl. Add in all the herbs to taste -- if you're new to using kosher salt, you'll need to add a little bit more to get the same level of saltiness as you would using table salt. Add in the shredded cheese and the cut-up bacon, and then add the one egg. The egg will help bind the burger together.

Mix everything together with your hands (everything gets spread out much better this way, although you can use a spoon or fork if you wish) and then form it into a patty.

Then just put it on the pan (preferably on some kind of grate so the fat and extra egg drains beneath it. It tastes less greasy this way) and broil it, maybe for about 5 minutes on each side. These are much tastier if you only cook them to medium and dry out if cooked for too long, so keep an eye on them.

Side Suggestions:

This is on my list of super fast, easy primal meals, so getting too complicated with the sides will cancel that out. My husband usually grabs an apple, and I eat cherries or pineapple with it. You can also eat raw celery, or quickly steam some broccolli or cauliflower. Anything that sounds appealing to you should be fine.

Balance is Important

2010-07-19T14:13:00.002-04:00

Some of the ideas in the Paleo community seem radical and crazy. Since this is a lifestyle blog, some experiments and ideas will appeal to you, and some will not. Some will make sense, and some will be too much of a hassle or seem silly. That is because everyone is different. Everyone has different opinions, different things that are important. And that's just fine. This blog is to share ideas and experiences to try and make life better for everyone.

Balance is important. This is a concept trilled from medical professionals to religious gurus to self-help experts. It's a simple phrase, but one that is more difficult to put into practice than it sounds.

So what does balance mean when it comes to the Primal movement? That's different for everyone, but I can make some points about what seems to be common and what I think.

There is a ratio often mentioned in the community. It's called the 80/20 Principle. Broken down it simply means following the Paelo lifestyle 80% of the time, with the general intention to do it 100% of the time. But we're not perfect. There are plenty of issues to worry about in life, why should we just add more stress and angst to our lives because we had a muffin for breakfast one morning, or you spent too much time at the dessert table at a holiday party? Eating primally is supposed to make your life better, make you feel better, not worse. Of course, it should be noted that 80/20 can easily turn into 60/40, and then 50/50...and so on. It's important not to be too harsh on yourself (especially in the beginning period, because the shift can be very harsh for some), but not to lose sight of your goals.

Some odd things will be discussed on this blog, from how far you need to go to avoid toxins in food and in modern, conventional products to when and why you should fast. Am I proposing moving away from all things modern? No. There are great benefits to modern medicine, modern products, and modern philosophies. You don't have to throw everything important to you out and go live in a hut in the woods with no contact with the modern world. Balance is important.

I love video games, movies, technology, eating out with friends. Do I have to give these up to be primal? No. I believe firmly in birth without many of the common, unnecessary interventions and that there are serious problems with our "following the average" and "cookie-cutter" patient treatment processes in the medical industry. Does this mean that you shouldn't ever go to the doctor or take their advice, or that I'll judge you because you had a c-section for something serious like placenta previa? No. Not at all. Because you need to find the balance in your life like I need to find the balance in mine. I'll do an entire post on this later, but you need to think for yourself. I don't care what you choose to do, as long as you have thought about it --- really thought about it, and have a better reason for believing what you do than "someone else told me so" or "this is the way everyone else does it". The scientific method changed the world. Let it change yours. Evidence-based medicine and living should be more important than it is.

I'm finding mine, and documenting it here. Maybe I can help you find yours too. And hopefully you can share with me (and other readers) what you discover in the comments. You could introduce all of us (even me!) to something new and worth thinking about.

*Photo from freedigitalphotos.net, taken by Carlos Porto

Weekend Links

2010-07-18T17:23:00.000-04:00

Every weekend I'll post some interesting links, divided up into different categories. Here are the first set of links, along with an explanation of the categories.

Primal Links

These are links to other blogs and research pertaining to the primal lifestyle and diet.

Without Science, There Is No Paleo Diet

An extensive analyzing (and discrediting) of the China Study at Food SoS.

Science Links

Here are interesting science links, generally about biology, genetics or evolution.

Research released in June shows that diet prior to pregnancy can effect gender in sheep.

An article on how Mediterranean style diets can change the way our genes express themselves in relation to heart disease.

Imbalances in Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids can cause obesity in offspring.

Birth Links

Interesting or important news or blog points in the birth community.

New information on the differences between bacteria in babies born vaginally vs. babies born by c-section.

Why every week of pregnancy is important, so keeping baby inside for as long as possible is best, instead of scheduling inductions or c-sections for convenience or non-medical reasons.

Paleo Recipes

Some tasty-looking offsite Primal Recipes to expand your cookbook.

Crockpot Stuffed Peppers

Cocoa and Coconut Snacks

Primal Chili Dogs

What is the Paleo/Primal Diet?

2010-07-18T03:11:00.000-04:00

It is important when reading this blog to understand the fundamentals, goals, and philosophies of the primal movement. This is a detailed post that will explain it to newcomers. If you've stumbled on this blog as a fellow member of the movement, then you can probably skip this post.

The principle of the movement is simple. Live as our ancestors did, live as cavemen did, as much as possible in the modern age. This doesn't necessarily mean giving up things like indoor plumbing or electricity (although I'm sure you could if you really want!). Much of it is centered around diet and exercise and mostly mentality.

So you eat what cavemen could eat, you move as they did, and this allows you peak fitness and health because it is what our bodies evolved to eat and do. As far as what you eat goes, it means eating as pure as possible -- unprocessed foods, foods without antibiotics and foods that eat what they are meant to eat (ie, grass-fed beef). It means eating as much of a variety as possible, and perhaps the strangest and hardest to understand, it means not eating grains. This means eating meat, nuts, fruits, and vegetables, and as many different kids as possible.

Grains were not a major part of the human diet until the Agricultural Revolution 10,000 years ago. 10,000 years is a very short period of time when considering evolution. The short of it is that despite all this time eating grains, there is an argument that we have not evolved to eat them regularly at all. This doesn't mean that they cannot sustain us, just that they are not ideal nor does eating them promote optimum health. In fact, archaeologists can tell whether a society was hunter-gatherer or agricultural based just by looking at the bones. People became shorter, weaker, and frailer when their diets consisted of mostly grain.

The biggest damage done by grains, however, is that any type of grain eventually breaks down into glucose, and this is what causes crazy insulin spikes that make appetite and blood sugar hard to control in many people. Sugar can be addictive, which anyone who has tried to stop eating grains or kick a sweet-tooth habit can tell you. But now there is interesting research also leading to this conclusion. So eating grains, beyond the issues that grains themselves can cause, constantly dumps sugar and all of its problems into your body. Some of these problems include Type II Diabetes, sugar impairing the functioning of your white blood cells, and insulin resistance. Avoiding sugars, and grains, can help with these issues and improve your overall health, as well as help those who need to lose weight.

Exercise consists of lots of walking; slow movement through the day as our ancestors would have traveled, punctuated with sprinting and lifting heavy things. Cavemen (or Grok, as the internet community likes to call him) would travel far and wide, walking all the time, gathering and hunting a great variety of food. They would have to run from predators, and lift their own weight to climb to safety, as well as carry animals and food back to the tribe for dinner.

There are some disagreements and different "flavors" of this movement, but they all follow this basic principle. Some people advocate eating raw meat, others avoiding legumes or dairy, etc. In the coming posts I'll show research and arguments for all these different views of the movement.

Of course, all of this is a choice, and a lot of it comes down to what works for you. Primal diet isn't really accurate -- it isn't something you start and then stop once you've lost the 5 lbs you want (although you could do it that way if you like). It is a lifestyle change. This doesn't mean you can never eat a piece of chocolate cake again, it just means that the majority of your meals need to change. Be informed. Know what grains, and subsequently sugar, do to your metabolism. It's not mainstream, and many people will think you weird for even trying it (but really, how much stranger than the cabbage soup diet is it?) but if it works, you'll lose weight, have higher energy, and better health. And this is what this blog is about -- how to go about it, the science and theories behind it, and how it is working for me.

Here are some other links with great information:

Definitive Guide: The Primal Blueprint

The Definitive Guide To Grains

The Definitive Guide To Sugars

The Paleo Diet Defined

Introduction

2010-07-15T14:39:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Paleo Vita (Paleo Life, in complete English). I am your host, Morgon Luvall Newquist. I am a twenty-something student in Athens, Georgia, and I have recently begun trying to live a healthier, more primal life, and this blog is here to document it and share my experiences with everyone else. I firmly believe in living life the way you want, and in using science and evidence based information to make your life better. So this blog, while some posts will be experience and emotional based, has the goal of following interesting science tidbits and studies along with the Primal life tips and such. I'll also cover birth and parenting issues (generally from a Primal point of view), genetics, evolutionary biology, sexual selection, medical issues like Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, as well as other natural living topics like home made soap.

There will be more detailed introduction posts on the Paleo Diet and Lifestyle within the next couple of days, to keep this first post from getting too long. Thanks for taking the time to stop by, and make sure to swing back around for more information about the whole paleo movement.