I would like to give you some links to other blogs and websites all about eating Paleo:

We have Everyday Paleo run by Sarah Fragoso

The Paleo Diet – Dr. Loren Cordain’s paleo diet website, his newsletter is worth subscribing to.

Robb Wolf – is the Paleo guy [...]]]> Here we go with the spring edition of the Paleo Challenge.

I would like to give you some links to other blogs and websites all about eating Paleo:

We have Everyday Paleo run by Sarah Fragoso

The Paleo Diet – Dr. Loren Cordain’s paleo diet website, his newsletter is worth subscribing to.

Robb Wolf – is the Paleo guy go check his web site for useful info.

Drs. Micheal and Mary Eades – This husband and wife combo are the authors of the Protein Power Life Plan, a massive bestseller which espouses the myriad benefits of a low carb diet. Both have blogs which do a superb job of explaining the complexities of nutrition and human metabolism to the lay person.

Mark Sisson – A former marathon runner and triathlete (he finished 4th one year in the Hawaii Ironman) Sisson preaches a primal lifestyle – and if you check out some of his pics, you will see that he practices what he preaches. The web site is a great resource with tons of quality content.

That would be a nice place to start for inspiration

Enjoy!

In 30 days of challenge 11 [...]]]> Looking outside and seeing these gorgeous spring days makes you realize that bikini days are not far. So before we go onto our spring Paleo Challenge I want to give you an idea of how well all our challengers did on the winter edition. Here are some of the numbers.

In 30 days of challenge 11 challengers lost in average 2 kg (of mostly fat),  2.75cm around the chest, 3cm around the waist and 3cm around the hips.

And our winners were Lisa D and Elliot! Congratulations to both of you!

Do you want to see how well you do this time? Join us on a new 30 days Challenge to get all the benefits of eating healthy and feeling great with the Paleo Lifestyle.

Elliot

Cauliflower is low in fat, high in dietary fiber, folate, water [...]]]> Here is a great recipe for a dish that we usually prefer eating with a bowl of rice. To stay Paleo all the way I offer you Cauli-rice! It is steamed and then grated cauliflower. It’s that easy to get the best of both worlds.

Cauliflower is low in fat, high in dietary fiber, folate, water and vitamin C, possessing a very high nutritional value. Cauliflower shares with broccoli and cabbage several phytochemicals which may be beneficial to human health, including sulforaphane, a compound released when cauliflower is chopped or chewed which may protect against cancer. Boiling reduces the levels of these compounds, with losses of 20–30% after five minutes, 40–50% after ten minutes, and 75% after thirty minutes. However, other preparation methods such as steaming, microwaving and stir frying had no significant effect on the compounds.

Cauliflower is a source of indole-3-carbinol, a chemical which boosts DNA repair in cells and appears to block the growth of cancer cells. The compound also appears to work as an anti-estrogen, appearing to slow or prevent the growth of tumors of the breast and prostate. Cauliflower also contains other glucosinolates besides sulfurophane, substances which may improve the liver’s ability to detoxify carcinogenic substances. A high intake of cauliflower has been found to reduce the risk of aggressive prostate cancer. Cauliflower is also a good source of carotenoids.

Wikipedia

How to make it:

• If you want to make a large quantity, cook it in advance, take 2 big cauliflower heads steam them in a steaming pan or a steam oven for 10 min
• cut out the florets and either grate them or put them through the food processor with the grating element.
• add olive oil and some sea salt and serve warm
• To make the prawns get some olive oil on the pan, fry 3 cloves of garlic with a tea spoon of paprika, then add the prawns
• Cut the avocado in cubes
• Put it all on the plate and enjoy!

Cauli-rice

“Hi Olga! Is there an ice tea that’s okay to drink? I bought a bottle of Ice Tea Zero, but it says it has sucralose in it.  Is there a safe kind? Thanks!”

I would [...]]]> I get a few questions that I would like to share with you about what to eat or drink. Here’s an example:

“Hi Olga! Is there an ice tea that’s okay to drink? I bought a bottle of Ice Tea Zero, but it says it has sucralose in it.  Is there a safe kind? Thanks!”

I would recommend to drink water or cold herbal tea (just don’t forget to read the labels some of them may contain sugar). We try not to get any calories from our drinks. Avoid those that contain sucralose, aspartame, stevia etc.

The reason is first of all that you will get an insulin response (the hormone that makes you fatter!) just by tasting something sweet and secondly is that after an hour or two the body will demand more of the sweet stuff. That way you’ll still be trapped in that insulin cycle. The best you can go is to make the tea yourself and then you’ll know exactly what’s in it. The problem with the modern way of eating is that we can’t even taste real food because we keep adding sugar or salt to everything.

It’s time to visit a tea shop and get nice herbal tea, green or black that has an actual flavour. Same for coffee, why add milk or sugar other than for altering the taste of an already bad coffee.

Here’s a good place to get your coffee from: Has Bean They are in UK but they deliver in Switzerland and they roast it when you order, seal it and ship it straight away. So you get a freshly roasted coffee. If you prefer Tea try Le Thé in Gland above the train station.

As for alcoholic drinks no more than 1 glass of wine for example with your food. Stay away from beer (wheat, barley based) for the time of the Paleo Challenge at least. Alcohol is all sugar and no nutrition so limit intake.

Food for thought.

It’s a 4 week period during which you are going to experience the way of eating of our ancestors that were walking the earth 500 thousand years ago. The way they ate was the one of hunter-gatherers and this diet has been built into our genes.

What is the Paleo Challenge?

It’s a 4 week period during which you are going to experience the way of eating of our ancestors that were walking the earth 500 thousand years ago. The way they ate was the one of hunter-gatherers and this diet has been built into our genes.

The point is to get as close to the hunter-gatherer diet as possible in our world with such a vast variety of products that fill the shelves of the supermarkets. The good news is that we are going to spend as little time around those shelves as possible. You’ll have to set yourselves in a hunting-gathering mode and judge with the guidelines provided here to retrace this way of living. We can achieve this by choosing to buy fruits and vegetables in season and locally grown or frozen. As for the meat try and get wild, free-range and lean.

What to expect?

By restoring the food types that we are genetically programmed to eat we will loose wight and restore our health and well-being. Although the challenge lasts only 4 weeks we can start to grasp the full effect of this way of eating after 2-3 weeks. The effects should be good mood, mental clarity throughout the day, fat loss, no fatigue through the day, intestinal regulation, no bloating, increased performance and increased health. And this is just for 4 weeks.

What to eat?

LEAN MEATS, FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES, GOOD FATS, SEEDS AND NUTS.

Protein

Protein must be included at every meal. Try and vary to get the best variety of vitamins, minerals, fat and protein sources out there. It’s good if you manage to get wild, grass fed or free-range. If not chose lean cuts and trim off all visible fat. During cooking you can improve the Omega3 ratio of the meat or fish by rubbing olive oil on it before putting it on the pan or roasting it.

Regarding the quantity try and eat a portion the same size as the palm of your hand of meat, a third more for fish.

Here are a few examples:

Lean beef (trimmed of visible fat)

• lean pieces of beef
• minced meat < 8% fat
• lean veal
• and other lean cuts
• lean pork (trimmed of visible fat)
• pork loin
• pork chops
• and other lean cuts

Lean poultry (white meat, skin removed)

• chicken breast
• turkey breast
• partrige
• pheasant
• wild duck

Eggs

• chicken free-range if possible
• duck
• goose

Other meats

• rabbit
• bison
• caribou
• elk
• goose
• kangaroo
• venison
• ostrich
• wild boar

Fish

• salmon
• tuna
• trout
• turbot
• bass
• cod
• mackerel
• perch
• and many others

Shellfish

• shrimp
• mussels
• oysters
• scallops
• crab
• lobster
• and others

Fruits & Vegetables

All you can find, go for variety and mix and match. Better in season, if not possible frozen is a good alternative. Wash them thoroughly to minimize pesticides. Try and skip the long travelled ones because they are usually picked very early and matured with carbonic gas. Fill your plate with greens and other colorful vegetables and have a fruit or two for desert.

Nuts, Seeds and Oils

Good source of good fats to be used in limited quantities: not more than a handful for a meal or snack.

• walnuts
• macademia nuts
• almonds
• cashews
• hazelnuts
• pecans
• pine nuts
• pistachios
• pumpkin seeds
• sesame seeds
• sunflower seeds

Examples of good oils to use:

• olive, canola, flaxseed, walnuts, avocado oils, mustard seed oil, – in moderation 4 tablespoons or less a day.

Other foods to use in moderation (especially if weight loss if desired)

• condiments containing salt, commercially treated foods such as pickeled goods, marinated products, smoked
• Drinks: coffee, tea, wine (1 glass)
• Paleo sweets: dried fruits, nuts mixed with dried and fresh fruits. (trail mixes).

What not to eat?

NO DAIRY, NO CEREALS, NE LEGUMES, NO SUGARS, NO SALT, NO PROCESSED FOODS.

In essence we’ll be avoiding:

• all processed foods because they are almost all containing sugar, salt, some starch (wheat, potatoes, corn, rice), unhealthy fats and oils, dairy. Ex: Ketchup contains corn, sugar and salt as well as all the processed commercial sauces. Just read the labels and you’ll see.
• cereal grains: barley, oats, corn, quinoa, amaranth, rice, rye, millet, wheat, wild rice.
• dairy products, cheese, cream, ice cream, yoghurt, milk, margarine, butter,
• vegetable oils such as sunflower oil, hazelnut oil, peanut oil, grapeseed oil, corn oil are all too high in Omega 6 with little to no Omega 3, therefore not interesting in the Paleo sense.
• starchy tubers like potatoes.
• legumes: all beans like black eyed peas (except in your ears, of course. Go Fergie!), green beans, peas, lentils and peanuts are legumes so no go for Paleo.
• salt containing foods: all commercial salad dressings and condiments (except herbs and particular spices), salami, salted nuts, sausage, except home made.
• soft drinks and fruit juice because high in sugar and lacking in fiber. Go for home made smoothies (fruits/veg blended with a bit of water).
• sweets, candy and chocolate (I’m really sorry about that one!)

What about supplements?

With a Paleo way of eating you will receive all the daily recommended vitamins and minerals. Nevertheless, since we’re in winter and some extra vitamin C will help you fight the viruses, as well as the vitamin D that is important and  we don’t get enough of  in the day due to reduced daily sun exposure in winter. We recommend that you take an all inclusive vitamin supplement.

Fish oil

Omega3 fish oil plays a vital role in our diet, not only for building the structure of nerves, supporting brain messengers and building the brain itself, but also for fat loss and muscle maintenance.

Omega3 fish oil consists of long-chain fatty acids EPA (Eicosapentanoic acid) and DHA (docosohexanoic acid).

We need to supplement in Omega3’s because it’s deficient in our foods. In the past nearly every animal, being herbivores, would feed on grass and plant based foods, keeping their Omega3’s nice and high. Nowadays though, the majority of animal products we purchase have been grain fed (cheaper for farmers) and this unfortunately has a negative effect on the animals’ fatty acid profile, the Omega6 increases, and the Omega3’s decrease. So what once was a ratio of 2:1 – 3:1 Omega6 to Omega3, it is now a ratio of 20:1 – 30:1.