Monday, March 26, 2012 at 09:05PM found via Climate Progress
(I delayed The Ancestral Health Resources post, as mentioned here, until later this week in order to focus on the flurry of environmental news.)
Monday, March 26, 2012 at 03:28PM If you, or someone you know, have become obese, you may have received "friendly" advice that it is all about will power. Somehow, if you just will it, you can loose weight. After all, the problem is with you. You are either eating too much, or not exercising enough. You will likely also hear the same message from your doctor. Our food producers love this answer. Hey, if you are obese, it is not their fault. It's the lack of willpower.
As the chart above suggests, many of us must have lost our willpower in the late 1970's. That's when obesity started going up.
Although willpower is a factor in many human activities, this view of obesity simply does not ring true. The increase in the average weight of the population since the late '70s is not due to lack of willpower. It is due to the increased availability, and marking, of increasingly low-quality food and its effect on the brain.
Thus, the solution is not more willpower, although it always helps. The solution is knowledge. The more we understand that low-quality food is becoming the overwhelming component of the typical modern diet, and, the more we understand this diet increases the likelihood of chronic diseases, the more we recognize we must make our own nutritional decisions instead allowing our culture to lead us astray.
But, how do we begin? Especially when there are so many, often contradictory, diets being recommended. We can start by trying to reproduce the diet of our ancestors. After all, those living before agriculture and animal husbandry were often taller and healthier than we are. As best as can be determined, they did not suffer from the modern chronic preventable diseases that the CDC reports currently accounts for about ¾ of healthcare spending - hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution can’t be discarded without consequences.
Its time to learn about ancestral human nutrition on our own: not an easy task. Fortunately, there are many guides to help us along the way. For those new to the ancestral diet, the next post will provide links to resources to help you get started. For those already enjoying its benefits, there is still more to learn.
Addendum: Ancestral Health Resources coming later this week.
Obesity, Paleo diet, weight loss, willpower in Obesity Sunday, March 25, 2012 at 06:28PM The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, aka Trash Island:
RETHINK is just one way to trim the island:
Does anyone know the annual growth rate of Trash Island?
Sunday, March 25, 2012 at 12:02AM 
Hungry for a bowl of white rice? Instead, switch from white rice (one of the lowest quality foods) to blueberries (one of the highest).
This Sunday we look at some recent nutritional wins and losses.
Wins: The Paleo diet
On March 16, Reuters reported:
Eating more blueberries, apples and pears may be linked to lower risk of diabetes, according to a new U.S. study.
The study revealed, “blueberry-lovers had a 23 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with those who ate no blueberries.” Consuming apples and pears was also associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. Medical professor Dr. Loren Greene, not part of the study, noted:
While fruit sugar raises blood glucose levels rapidly, other substances in fruit such as fibers and pectin may have diabetes-related benefits.
The study abstract is located here.
Take care of your health: Add some blueberries, apples, and pears to your diet in place of processed foods or the lowest quality foods you think you consume.
Losses: The typical modern diet
According to an article in the March 16 MyHealthNewsDaily, Harvard School of Public Health researchers in Boston reviewed “four previous studies examining the link between eating white rice and the risk of Type 2 diabetes.” The results suggest:
Eating white rice regularly may raise your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
The researchers found “the more white rice eaten, the higher the risk of Type 2 diabetes.” The risk of developing diabetes increased by “11 percent with each increased daily serving of white rice."
Professor Bruce Neal of the University of Sydney in Australia, not part of the study, cautions that the findings do not prove cause-and-effect between white rice and diabetes. The study reveals an association between the two. While Neal notes, “more work is needed to substantiate the idea that white rice increases the chances of getting Type 2 diabetes,” he also adds:
... diet-related ill health is now widely believed to be the leading cause of chronic diseases around the world.
If future studies reveal a cause-and-effect relation between consumption of white rice and Type 2 diabetes, what could be the mechanism?
The researchers said that rice has a high glycemic index, which means the body rapidly converts the carbohydrates in rice into glucose. The glycemic index of white rice is about 64, on a 100-point scale. (From comparison, ice cream has a glycemic index of 61, and orange juice rates a 50, according to data from Harvard.)
The study's conclusion:
Higher consumption of white rice is associated with a significantly increased risk of type 2 diabetes, especially in Asian (Chinese and Japanese) populations.
Take home advice: Switch the lowest quality foods in your diet with the highest. Ditch the white rice and add blueberries, apples and pears, or any of the many healthful foods from the original human diet. Try some of the recipes below.
Paleo diet recipes
Living Paleo
Paleo diet, apples, blueberries, diabetes type 2, pears in Sunday Paleo Friday, March 23, 2012 at 08:27PM You are not “beach-ready” just because your body shape looks good. You are “beach ready” when you can run, swim, and carry someone out of the water to rescue them from drowning.
Fitness, beach ready in Quotes Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 10:37PM The traditional energy industry in Germany is stressing about solar power. According to Clean Technica:
On this sunny day in Germany [Tuesday, March 20], PV solar will once again provide about 8% of the total German electricity demand of the day. As I write this, PV solar generates about 16 GW of electricity, approximately 25% of the entire German electricity demand at noon. Hard coal & gas generate less than 10 GW combined….
Solar power is working for Germany and the traditional energy industries know it:
Since those coal, gas, oil and uranium trading corporations (E.On, RWE, BASF, Vattenfall, RAG…) are quite influential and powerful, they are working very hard to kill solar now, before it kills them….
CleanTechnica, Germany, coal, electricity, gas, solar power in Energy Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 08:00PM Chronic inflammation rears its ugly head. This time, as inflamed, deformed cells circulating in the bloodstream at the beginning of a heart attack. According to Science News:
In people experiencing the opening throes of a heart attack, cells from the inner lining of blood vessels — called endothelial cells — get set adrift in the bloodstream.
Cardiologist and study investigator Dr. Eric Topol observes:
These are sick cells that have been subjected to profound inflammation. (emphasis added)
Cardiologist Christopher Boos, not involved in the study, calls this new finding “a fascinating insight,” but notes it is “very much in the exploratory phase.”
According to the researchers, the number of these inflamed circulating endothelial cells per unit, know as the cell count, “may serve as a promising clinical measure for the prediction of atherosclerotic plaque rupture events.”
You can access the abstract in Science Translational Medicine here. Learn more about the dangers of chronic inflammation in the posts below:
Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 08:29PM Concerned about keeping plastic bottles out of landfills and the oceans. Time to shop diffent (yes, I know, "differently"). According to Bloomberg Businessweek Rethink Frabrics is doing just that:
It’s a problem that Rethink Fabrics, the Seattle-based manufacturer of Brooklyn’s recycled bottle T-shirts, is trying to work out. By spinning the bottles into a type of polyester, Rethink and companies such as Patagonia (which sells recycled polyester fleece) move plastic from landfills into closets.
Learn more about Rethink Fabrics here.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 10:18PM I thought it must be true until I found out what it cost.
Senator James Inhofe
Chair of the Senate Environment Committee
on his impression of climate change
via Climate Progress
Monday, March 19, 2012 at 09:56PM 
Interested in Paleo nutrition but finding it tricky to do on your own? Need some personal guidance, even if you are located far away? You may want to consider Paleo nutrition coaching by Jolene Park:
Jolene will review and evaluate your current diet, health concerns. She will suggest ways to improve or create your own health and weight loss plan. She offers meal ideas, along with possible supplement, exercise and lifestyle modifications.
Learn more at Healthy Discoveries.
Sunday, March 18, 2012 at 01:31AM Hidden sugar in children's diet
It’s should be no surprise that the typical diet consumed by American children contains hidden sugar and soda is suspected to be the major culprit. Now evidence shows that most of the sugar our kids eat is in processed foods, although soda is not far behind:
The data from the National Center for Health Statistics, released Wednesday, show 59% of added-sugar calories come from foods and 41% from beverages. But soft drinks are still the biggest single source of added sugars in children's diets.
Let’s jump to a study on Alzheimer’s disease published last year - another in the growing list of studies showing that Paleo nutrition beats typical nutrition hands down:
In this paper, we highlight how an excess of dietary carbohydrates, particularly fructose, alongside a relative deficiency in dietary fats and cholesterol, may lead to the development of Alzheimer's disease.
If soda is still a part of your or your children’s diet, take a look at 5 additional reasons to ditch soda published by NMSBC.
Red meat consumption in the news
It been a big news week for red meat. Researchers of a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found an association between red meat consumption and “total, CVD (cerebrovascular disease), and cancer mortality.” In a guest post on Mark’s Daily Apple, “study-dismantler” Denise Minger provides a detailed critique of the study and finds it to be:
… garden-variety observational study, not an actual experiment where people change something specific they’re doing and thus make it possible to determine cause and effect.
Notice that one of the foods listed under “unprocessed red meat”—and likely a major contributor to that category—is hamburger, the stuff fast-food dreams are made of. Although this study tracked whole grain intake, it didn’t track refined grain intake, so we know right away we can’t totally account for the white-flour buns wrapped around those burgers (or many of the other barely-qualifying-as-food components of a McDonald’s meal). And unless these cohorts were chock full of folks who deliberately sought out decent organic meat, it’s also worth noting that the unprocessed ground beef they were eating probably contained that delightful ammonia-treated pink slime that’s had conventional meat consumers in an uproar lately.
Now, here's the real surprise and disappointment of the study. Minger points out that “… all of the diet data came from a series of food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) that the study participants filled out once every four years.” Yes, you read it correctly: every four years! Minger observes: “most folks can barely remember what they ate yesterday, much less what they’ve eaten over the past month or even the past year.” Minger continues:
…researchers found that a single daily serving of unprocessed red meat was associated with a 13% increased risk of death from all causes, while a single serving of processed red meat—the equivalent of one hotdog—was associated with a 20% increased risk.
Let’s put this into prespective. Someone you know is overweight, most likely from eating plenty of refined carbohydrates and processed foods. They are now going to forgo an occasional steak and will likely stick with refined carbs. Let’s look at the risks of this approach.
In a study of 8,534 identical and fraternal twins, those overweight in middle-age were 70% more likely to have Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia. According to the study:
...just being overweight—with a BMI of 25 or above—in middle age might also significantly increase the odds that a person develops dementia later in life.
We are not talking 13%. We’re talking 70%.
Introduction to Paleo nutrition
Jack Challem, author and personal nutrition coach, has written a concise and sensible review on the basics of Paleo nutrition. Here is the introduction to his article:
The idea that modern-day people might benefit from ancient eating habits has been debated for decades. But it wasn’t until 1985 that the potential benefits of the Paleolithic diet gained scientific legitimacy with an article in the New England Journal of Medicine. The lead author, S. Boyd Eaton, M.D., of Emory University, made the argument that human genes coevolved with their nutritional milieu over many thousands of years, with our genes and biochemistry becoming dependent on the nutrients in fresh, whole foods. Loren Cordain, Ph.D., of Colorado State University, has also popularized the ancient diet with his book, The Paleo Diet, and numerous scientific articles.
Georgia Pellegrini hunts for food
Already on a modern approximation of the Paleolithic diet and ready to hunt for your own food? Grist has an interview with Georgia Pellegrini, the author of Girl Hunter: Revolutionizing the Way We Eat, One Hunt at a Time. Among Georgia’s responses:
People tell me, “I don’t think I could do it.” The good news is that you don’t have to. But if you want to feel what it is to be human again, you should hunt, even if just once. Because that understanding, I believe, will propel a shift in how we view and interact with this world we eat in. And the kind of food we demand, as omnivores, will never be the same.
[Since I started hunting], I decided that if I was going to be a meat eater, I really wanted to internalize what it means to be an omnivore. And I really do, it’s emotional, spiritual, intense. And I’ve become a more conscious eater, a more awake human being.
Grass-fed beef
Most of us are not ready, or inclined, to hunt for our own food. (Can you imagine if we all tried!) However, we do want greater access to grass-fed beef. Frank Stronach is pursuing the goal of “turning grass-fed beef back into a mass-market product.” According to the recent article in Grist:
Stronach is buying up land outside of Ocala, Fla., at a furious pace — 70,000 acres and counting. His plan: to create a massive ranch with “30,000 cattle, a 61,000-sq.-foot abattoir that would slaughter up to 300 cows a day, and a biomass power plant that would extract methane from manure.
In addition to selling beef from his Adena Springs ranch to grocery stores in Florida, “Stronach hopes to expand the business across the United States and Canada.” Grist observes:
Grass-fed is promoted as a more humane way of raising beef because it’s centered in pastures, not in feedlots. It also offers more protein than corn-fed beef, although its environmental benefits are still up for debate.
Beacon Food Forest in Seattle
If you live in a community with farmers markets or urban gardens, you can easily find locally grown food. Seattle is taking things a step further and developing a “food forest.” In Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood, on “seven sloping acres of hillside in Jefferson Park,” developers are planning “the nation's largest free and open edible landscape.” Among its features, Beacon Food Forest will include:
… an entire acre will feature large chestnuts and walnuts in the overstory, full-sized fruit trees like big apples and mulberries in the understory, and berry shrubs, climbing vines, herbaceous plants, and vegetables closer to the ground.
… an edible arboretum full of exotic looking persimmons, mulberries, Asian pears, and Chinese haws will surround a sheltered classroom for community workshops.
Making better selections at the grocery store
Of course, most of us still purchase much of our food in stores. Sarah Fragoso of Everyday Paleo provides advice on Recommended Food Suppliers and Brands:
I get quite a few emails and Facebook questions regarding things like, “Where do I find grass fed meat in my area?” or, “What brand of coconut oil or coconut milk do you recommend?” To save me some time answering each question individually, hopefully this post will answer a bunch of your questions all at once and fill in some gaps for a few of you new to this whole paleo thing.
Ready to cook?
You’ve procured your food - whether hunted, or from a ranch, urban farm, food forest, or nearby store - and are ready to cook. You’re in luck. Hayley Mason and Bill Staley, authors of the blog The Food Lovers Primal Palate, have just launched a new Paleo recipe site – The Food Lovers Kitchen.
This website is one big step towards providing you with a highly functional and interactive Paleo website. We’ve built some great features into this website to make it more useful and functional for day to day use.
We’ve built The Food Lovers Kitchen to incorporate all the features you’ve come to love about The Food Lovers Primal Palate over the last two years. We’ll still be blogging here on the new site, with new recipes each week.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 06:11AM MSNBC has a quick article on the 5 great reasons to kick your soda habit. Add these to the list of reasons fir changing to the Paleo diet:
Soda, quit soda, soda consumption in Books , Nutrition