Welcome to The Paleo Diet Blog!

The Paleo Diet--the world’s healthiest diet--is based on the simple understanding that the best human diet is the one to which we are best genetically adapted. It is supported by documented scientific evidence and by real-life improvements, even triumphs, of people winning their personal health battles.

The Paleo Diet is based upon the life work of Dr. Loren Cordain. Dr. Cordain is widely acknowledged as a leading expert on the diet of our Paleolithic ancestors. In numerous publications in the world's best scientific journals, he has documented the dramatic health benefits of eating a diet consistent with human genetic evolution and our ancestral, Paleolithic diet. Learn how a diet based on lean meats, seafood, fresh fruits, and fresh vegetables can lead to ideal body weight, optimum health, and peak athletic performance.

This concept represents the "unified field theory" of nutrition that has until now been lacking. The discipline of human nutrition previously had no orienting paradigm to guide research and inquiry, and as such was an immature science. In contrast, cosmology has the big bang theory, which orients all thought regarding the origins of the universe, and geology has continental drift and plate tectonics, which universally guide research into the origins of earth's land mass. In biology, the fundamental, guiding principle is Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection, which provides a template for the creation of life on earth.

It has only been in the last two decades that a few enlightened scientists have realized that this principle also represents the basic biological principle which determines the nutritional requirements of any organism - including humans. Our genes were shaped by our ancestors' environment, including our nutrtional requirements. Because what we eat today is so far removed from the diet of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, a discordance exists between our genes and our diet, and this factor represents the underlying reason why we are so sick and overweight as a society.

Dr. Cordain has authored three pioneering books that provide specific applications of The Paleo Diet for general health and nutrition, specifically for athletes, and for curing acne.

The Paleo Diet provides the background and basis for the optimally healthful diet. It has been highly praised by researchers, scientists, and readers from all over the world.

The Paleo Diet for Athletes, written by Dr. Loren Cordain and world-class fitness trainer Joe Friel, provides detailed information on how endurance athletes can improve performance, recovery, and health by eating a slightly modified version of the Paleo Diet.

The Dietary Cure for Acne represents the first real cure--not a treatment--a real solution to this pervasive skin disease. It is a natural acne diet program, based on recent research.

We also offer numerous programs designed to help people address particular nutritional and health needs. These programs can enable you to achieve your health goals whether you seek to:

• permanently free yourself from acne
• improve your athletic performance
• enjoy a longer, healthier, more active life
• lose weight without dieting and exercise,
• reduce or eliminate your risk of diseases, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and the vast majority of all chronic degenerative diseases that affect humanity

For more information about our team and our products please visit our Paleo Diet web site as well as our Dietary Cure for Acne web site.

You may post comments and questions at the end of most blog posts. Scroll down to the end of a post, type your comments in the text area under the title Post a Comment, and click the Post Comment button.

Audio Interviews with Dr. Cordain

Dear Readers,

A collection of audio interviews with Dr. Cordain (MP3 format), including his March 30, 2010 guest appearance on Seattle's The Soul's Edge radio program, have been published on our web site. Visit our web site to download the recordings.

Paleo Diet Q & A - Whey Protein

Q: Could you please provide some details on the benefits/detriments of whey protein supplementation? I am a weight trainer/powerlifter and supplement with whey protein, which is currently touted as the best/most health-conscious choice there is. I have read in your newsletter about the inflammatory aspects of dairy products - is whey protein included in this? Is it better or worse than other dairy products?

Many people interested in the Paleo Diet who are also into strength training and fitness would be interested in your thoughts on this. Any pointers re: inflammation and supplementation of protein would be very well received. Thank you, in advance.

Best regards,
Karl

A: Dear Karl,

Unfortunately, at this point, most of the research has focused on the beneficial effects of whey. It basically revolves around whey's high BCAA content, its use as a post-workout recovery drink ingredient, and its capacity – due to cysteine – to increase Glutathione, a powerful endogenous antioxidant enzyme.

Nevertheless, we believe that whey protein can have some potential adverse effects, because it greatly elevates insulinemia - although it can be therapeutic for diabetics in the short term. We suspect that whey protein could be detrimental long term, as hyperinsulinemia can down-regulate the insulin receptor and lead to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance underlies the Metabolic Syndrome, and is implicated in various other diseases, such as Acne, Alzheimer, various cancers, Coronary Heart Disease, Myopia, PCOS, etc.).

But to be completely sure, we would need intervention studies with whey protein with a relatively long duration in people genetically prone to insulin resistance, or who are in fact insulin resistant.

Also, there is the matter of hormones in milk: estrogens, DHT precursors, Insulin, IGF-1 and the hormone Betacellulin (BTC), which Dr. Cordain has discussed in a previous edition of this newsletter. These are some of the possible mechanisms for which there is repeated epidemiological evidence associating milk consumption with some cancers - especially Prostate Cancer.

We know that these hormones are present in milk and - in the case of BTC - it is present in whey too. Nevertheless, the real content of all these hormones in commercial milk-derived products is an open question that deserves proper and urgent study. So while we don’t know for sure, and since and we have alternatives, I would follow the old saying: do no harm!

Finally, if you have an auto-immune disease or allergy to Beta Lacto Globulin (protein that exists in bovine milk, but nonexistent in human milk) I would stay away from whey. Whey contains not only Beta Lacto Globulin, but also Bovine Serum Albumin. Some peptides from this protein have structural homology with peptides from our own tissues, and BSA has been implicated in Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Type 1 Diabetes.

In conclusion, I would follow the evolutionary template until all these issues are resolved. which states that recently introduced foods may have potential adverse effects to humans, especially long term. Non-human milk was only introduced in the human diet ~10,000 years ago. Therefore, given the potential health hazards of milk that science is revealing, I would use another protein source. Lean meat and seafood are very good sources of BCAA. If you want a protein drink immediately after strength training to speed recovery and increase muscle mass, I would suggest ~9 grams of essential amino acids, along with a banana.

I hope this helps.

Cordially,
Pedro Bastos

Editor's note: the following blog posts also discuss whey protein:

• Q: I started the program and I was wondering if Whey Protein or protein powder in general is against the diet?


• Q: I like drinking protein shakes in the morning, but I noticed some of the protein sources in my protein shake are made from milk or dairy products. Is there an alternative that is available in the market place?


• Q: I am just trying to figure out your feelings and thoughts on protein powders.

Additional reading: Hyperinsulinemic diseases: more than just Syndrome X.

Paleo Links

Dear Readers,

In addition to our paleo nutrition links on the right-hand side of the blog (scroll down if not visible), here are useful links for fitness, Paleo Diet, and paleo nutrition-related web sites and blogs.

• Nell Stephenson Fitness and Nutrition
• Robb Wolf - Intermittent Fasting, Fitness, & Paleolithic Nutrition
  
• Hunter-Gatherer - Health and human nature from an evolutionary perspective
  

Sample Menus for Endurance Athletes

Dear Readers,

Nell Stephenson, Fitness & Nutritional Professional, Ironman Triathlete, and contributor to our newsletter was recently contacted by Details magazine to write up sample menus for endurance athletes: one for a workout day, the other for an off-day from training.

You will find other paleo-friendly menu ideas on Nell's blog.

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Endurance Athlete Sample Menu for Two-a-Day Workout

5:30 AM
Pre-workout Breakfast Smoothie- 8oz brewed, chilled, natural decaf green tea with a banana, egg white protein powder, almond butter whizzed in the blender with some baked yam on the side.

6:30 AM
3-hour bike ride on the trainer-carbohydrate gel taken every 25 minutes.

9:30 AM
Immediate Post-workout recovery drink- HOME BREW (recipe in The Paleo Diet for Athletes) – cantaloupe, egg white protein powder and glucose. Drink plenty of water- keep hydrating.

10:00 AM
Raisins (to restore body alkalinity, continue to help the body recover post workout, and prepare for the session later in the day).

11:30 or 12:00 PM
Grilled Chicken breast, flash-sautéed asparagus, drizzled with flax seed oil and an apple

3:00 PM
Natural unsweetened applesauce with chopped egg whites (to prepare for 2nd workout of the day-shift from the usual Paleolithic macronutrient ratio to the pre-workout focus on carbohydrates).

4:30 PM
Sixty-minute track workout-hard, fast intervals; carbohydrate gel taken immediately post as recovery.

5:45 PM
Banana (high glycemic fruit choice to, again, aid in recovery)

6:30 PM
Poached wild salmon on a bed of steamed kale, mixed green salad, avocado & sliced strawberries, a squeeze of fresh lime juice and a splash of cold-pressed extra virgin oil; sliced oranges on top.

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Endurance Athlete Sample Menu for Off-Day from Training

6:00 AM Breakfast
Poached Cod (or Barramundi) on bed of sautéed spinach (with garlic & olive oil), fresh blueberries and strawberries.

9:00 AM
Steamed broccoli, drizzled with cold pressed flax seed oil, sliced orange and chopped egg whites.

Lunch
Mixed green organic salad, with olive oil and lime wedge, served with grilled chicken, avocado and grapes.

Afternoon Meal
Sliced lean turkey breast used as a wrap, with Mache lettuce, raw almond butter and sliced pear inside.

Dinner
Kangaroo Kebabs-lean meat, skewered with red onion & yellow bell peppers, marinated over night in olive oil, lemon juice & your favorite herbs, then grilled or broiled. Serve with grilled green onion and a fresh spinach salad with tomato, walnut oil & a lime wedge.

Snack
Cinnamon dusted sliced apples-slice an apple, toss in lemon juice to prevent browning/oxidation, then sprinkle cinnamon on top. Enjoy with a cup of herbal or green decaf tea!

Autographed Copies of The Paleo Diet for Athletes Now Available

Dear Readers,

Dr. Cordain's hard cover edition of The Paleo Diet for Athletes (available exclusively from our web store) may now be purchased as an autographed edition signed by Dr. Cordain! Please visit our web store to obtain your copy.

Paleo Diet Q & A - 11.25.09

Dear Readers,

We hope you find the daily Q & A from the Paleo Diet community useful and insightful in your efforts to meet your health and nutritional requirements.

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Q: I've read your books The Paleo Diet and The Paleo Diet for Athletes, and I find them very interesting. I am a 22 year old full time athlete from Norway, and my goal is to compete in the World Championship in Cross country skiing in 2011. Last year I got to represent Norway in the U23 WC in France, and now I put all of my energy in taking new steps towards my goals every day!

But.. I have a problem, that doesn't seem to go away. And it frustrates me!

After a lot of stomach trouble as a junior (18-19 years old), I've been focusing a lot on what to eat, and after reading your books, I think I've found the answer.

The doctors told me back then that I had an inflammation in my rectum (about 4 years ago). They gave me some medication and told me that it would go away, and it did. For a while... When it came back it got gradually worse, and I was pretty depressed at the moment. (My athletic performance wasn't very good either.) I became aware of what different foods do to your body, and a long story short, I cut out dairy products, wheat and rye. (I also started taking NDS probiotic.) Now I am mutch better, but not completely well. Sometimes I'm good, and sometimes I have symptoms again. And it wears me out!

Therefore I want to follow the guidelines of the Paleo Diet, given that I probably have a chronic inflammatory condition, and see if I can take out the rat once and for all! I hope you can be so kind to give me answers to a few questions that I have:

• You say in your book that lectins from grains, dairy and legumes may be a "villain" in my situation. When I train a lot, I need to get some protein in step 3 (food system in The Paleo Diet for Athletes). Now I have soy protein powder and pea protein powder. Is there lectins in these products? And do you know of any other products to replace them?
• When I train alot, I need a satisfying amount of carbohydrates. Is it ok to use potatoes and white rice (and starch/syrup)?
• Is corn ok? And corn products (starch and syrup)? I read something about avoiding corn in the book.
• I've cut out normal table salt, and replaced it with Himalaya salt (I'm told it contains more minerals). Should I also cut that out?
• I have been making bread from amaranth, quinoa and other naturally gluten-free flours. Do these products also contain lectins, or other bad sources?
• And at last: Would it be necessary to completely avoid grains, dairy and legumes if I want to get rid of this plague? Or can I sometimes, for example with friends, enjoy a pizza or a beer?

PS: Are there anything else I should be aware of?

A: Thanks for your interest in the Paleo Diet and I wish you well in your quest to compete in the World Cross Country Skiing championship.

Diet can have an impact upon athletic performance, and in my book, The Paleo Diet for Athletes, we show how a 1-2% performance difference can make or break whether or not an athlete places in a race. Gastrointestinal problems certainly can adversely affect performance,and as you have outlined in your case, a number of foods and food groups may promote GI upset. We do not recommend that dairy, grains or legumes be consumed by normals as well as athletes because of the numerous potential adverse health effects that these foods may elicit -- including GI inflammation and distress.

Whole grains and legumes contain not only lectins, but also saponins which adversely affect human gastrointestinal physiology as well as that in animal models. In my book, The Paleo Diet for Athletes, we recommend that in order for you to get sufficient carbohydrates in your diet you replace grains with high glycemic fruits including bananas, raisins, dates, dried fruit, and fresh fruits. Yams and sweet potatoes are also a good source of vegetable high glycemic load carbs. White potatoes can be problematic as they contain high concentrations of saponins which may exacerbate GI tract problems. Of all grains, rice seems to be the least problematic in terms of interacting with the immune system and GI function. Do I recommend it? Try it & see how you feel -- same advice for all dietary suggestions -- listen to your body -- it is the final judge. Corn and corn products also have been shown to adversely affect human GI tract function & you may want to experiment with eliminating these products. Endurance athletes in training may need additional sources of dietary salt to prevent hyponatremia (low blood salt) -- see my book for recommendations. Amaranth and Quinoa may contain high concentrations of saponins which as I pointed out with potatoes have the potential to adversely affect GI tract function by increasing intestinal permeability. These grains are also net acid yielding -- root foods like sweet potatoes or yams are better choices as are bananas and other fresh fruits and fruit juices. Food supplements containing soy or legumes should be avoided as they contain high concentrations of both saponins and lectins, which have been demonstrated in human and animal models to increase intestinal permeability, which concomitantly increases low level gut inflammation.

Yes, go out with your friends and enjoy a pizza and beer occasionally. It will do your spirit well. Life is also about fun and enjoyment. But know that when these foods become staples, your health may suffer. I suggest red wine and smoked salmon rather than beer and pizza. SALUD!!

Dr. Cordain

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Q: I recognize that I feel much better on small amounts of lean meats with lots of veggies and some fruit.......but I become very constipated on this........how can I correct this and stay on the Paleo Diet?

A: It is quite strange to suffer from constipation eating a lot of veggies as they are the biggest fiber source. However, you can help your gut health with some supplements until constipation improves:

• Probiotics: between 6-9 billion bacteria/day during one month, then cut down to 4-5 billion.
• Prebiotics: 4-6 grams a day during one month (if you do not improve with 4 grams increase up to 6 grams). Then cut down to 2 grams a day.
• Coconut oil (a good source of Medium Chain Fatty Acids): a tablespoon per day.
• Drink 1.5 liter of water a day.