Paleo Magazine Aug/Sept issue at newsstands

After 20 plus years in the computer software industry, I decided to pursue my passion for cooking with the launch of Cindy's Table, a personal chef and catering business based in the Greater Hartford, CT area.

Soon after my first introduction to Paleo, my doctor recommended I take medication to manage my high cholesterol. I refused and committed to the Paleo diet for 6 months to see if my cholesterol levels would respond. I was determined to try it, despite my doctor's objections and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Cindy Anshutz
Paleo Magazine

Success Story: After 20 years on a plant-based diet

I started the Paleo diet about two years ago because the low-fat vegetarian thing that I’d been for twenty years just wasn’t working. Within three weeks, I’d lost three dress sizes (not so many pounds, but who’s counting), and my muscle tone had visibly improved. But the most amazing change was in my personality and health. It was as if someone had lifted a dark veil from my head. I sleep less but better, wake up happy, and look forward to my daily challenges. My hair loss and skin problems have vanished. My teeth are stronger, and my gums don’t bleed. My thyroid (which I claimed was enlarged, but doctors disagreed) has gone back to its normal size. I could go on and on.

Suzanne

The Paleo Answer

Success story: Loose weight and spend less time in the gym

The Vancouver Sun has a reasonable article on the Paleo diet. The usual concerns such as kidney stones and osteoporosis are answered by considering acid / base balance. (Also, more on osteoporosis & the Paleolithic diet here.)

The experience of Rahmin Khan, presented below, alludes to an important point: what you eat is more important than how much you exercise. Yes, I know, the first law of thermodynamics (conservation of energy): the maintain a stable weight, calories in must equal calories out. The problem is: low quality foods are less effective in satisfying hunger and one has to eat more to feel full. The most powerful weight loss tool  is making the right food choices. 

The author describes the experience of Rahim Khan and his wife:

Warehouse manager Rahim Khan of Langley started on the paleodiet just before his 27th birthday. He weighed 250 pounds, heavy for his 5-foot-11 frame.

“Less than a year later I hit my optimal weight of 173 pounds,”said Khan, who lost weight even as he cut back on his workouts. “I used to be in the gym three or four days a week and sometimes for two hours, now it’s 30 minutes and I’m out.”

Khan, his wife Liz and their three children all follow the paleodiet at home. Exceptions have to be made when the kids visit their grandparents, Khan laughed.

“I was skeptical at first,” said Liz, who admits feeling sick and lethargic for the first two weeks after the change. “But I feel so much better now, I didn’t even know how lousy I felt before.”

Paleo diet success: "no drugs, good numbers"

I recently received this brief e-mail from a friend regarding his parents response to the Paleo diet:

Both active for their age, my dad will be riding the Courage Classic with me, mom in step aerobics (both 64 yrs old). Both high cholesterol, their whole life.  Mom about to go on doc recommended drugs. I brought the Paleo Diet, from your discussion with me a couple years back, to them. Two years later, no drugs, good numbers. Their PCP was blown away. They are hooked. 

How much meat in the diet?

A friend recently e-mailed me about the recent NPR report by Allison Aubrey: We Evolved To Eat Meat, But How Much Is Too Much?. I responded with a few quotes from Dr. Cordain's most recent book The Paleo Answer: 

In a 2010 meta analysis, scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health reported that red meat consumption was not associated with either heart disease or type 2 diabetes, whereas eating processed meats resulted in 42 percent greater risk for heart disease and 19% greater risk for type 2 diabetes.

If you are faithful to the basic principles of the Paleo Diet, consumption of saturated fats within the range of 10-15% of your daily calories will not increase your risk of heart disease.

Remarkably, computerized dietary analyses from our laboratory show that despite their high meat content, modern-day Paleo diets actually contain lower quantities of saturated fats than are found in the typical U.S. diet.

Stay away from saturated fats in processed foods. These artificial concoctions carry the baggage of refined grains, sugars, vegetable oils, trans fats, dairy, salt, preservatives, and additives that are definitely not good for our bodies. The saturated fats you consume from grass-fed beef, poultry, pork, eggs, fish and seafood will not promote heart disease, cancer, or any chronic health problems.

Also, here is a real life case to consider:

Joseph finally quit grains to lower his bad cholesterol

Milk and exercise-induced asthma

iStockphotoIn his most recent book, The Paleo Answer, Dr. Loren Cordain, takes a deeper dive into the mechanisms through which the typical Western diet contributes to illness. On the relationship between milk and exercise-induced asthma, Dr. Cordain writes:

If the gut becomes leaky, which it invariably does on a typical Western diet, beta casomorphin-7 in milk can enter our blood stream and travel to our chests, where it stimulates production from MUC5AC glands located in our lungs and respiratory tracts. A final piece of this puzzle is that beta-casamorphin-7 is much more likely to trigger mucous production if the lungs and the respiratory tract are inflamed by asthma. Many people’s exercise-induced asthma symptoms disappear on the Paleo Diet.

He then presents a case reported by a personal trainer:

I am a trainer, and I work with very overweight woman, Jenny, who recently started my boot camp. She weighs 360 pounds at present. Until recently, she also suffered from exercise-induced asthma. For the first week of boot camp, she could ot get through a class without her inhaler. Although I admired her dedication, it was painful and a bit scary to watch.

Then I put her on the Paleo Diet. This week, after doing this for a little less than two weeks, she no longer needs her inhaler. Miraculous!

Jenny’s also doing great on the diet – she’s not hungry at all, so I know the weight will be coming off soon as well. 

Success story: Jennifer avoids gastroplasty

Happily, I am no longer considering gastric bypass surgery. All of my hard work has paid off with a 100 pound loss. In fact, based on my current health and body fat percentage, I no longer qualify for bypass surgery.  In the future, I know that there will be obstacles, but I also know that I will continue to lose. The goal is to shed 60 more pounds. Losing 100 pounds has been the hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done. Along the way, there have been celebrations and tears, but I’ve never regretted the cookie I didn’t eat.

Robb Wolf

A primal success story

As I got closer to college, and gained and lost, and gained it all back plus more, I got more discouraged. I needed to lose 40 lbs, then 50 – my parents got more concerned. Bribery: promises of money, of new clothes, of the choice to attend the private university I had fallen in love with on my visit there – they were all dangled before me. And oh, by God, I tried. When conventional methods failed, I tried to make myself throw up – and am now thankful for the fact that it didn’t work.

Mark's Daily Apple

Stephanie's Paleo success story

I toyed around with Paleo-esque ways for the first two months of the year, but it wasn't until March that I completely cut out things such as dried fruit (which still contain sugar) and let go of my passion for nuts, as I really wanted to benefit most from the Paleo diet for fat loss. As soon as I cut out gluten, dairy and legumes it was incredible how quickly my situation changed. Definitely the first two weeks were hard but the drive of knowing you are doing something great for your health is what kept me going. I was making a choice to be my best. What initially started out to be a 30-day challenge, was soon after extended, and I haven't turned back since.

Paleo Works

Another Paleo success story

Now, sometime in my youth I decided that I couldn’t eat animals. I didn’t want to harm them in any way. Yes, I was a card-carrying member of PETA.  I ate every type of fake meat out there, lived on bread and yogurts – oh, and my staple: graham crackers with peanut butter.

The food test results (were) shocking for my meat-free ears.

Robb Wolf

Related Posts
Paleo diet helps young woman overcome anorexia
Health and happiness often go together

Paleo for a special needs family

It took years to get our bodies into this dysregulated state, and it will take many years to fully recover. In the meantime, we have learned to patiently tend to our health. Following a Paleo lifestyle means keping our stress down, eating clean foods, eliminating grains & dairy, sleeping adequately, exercising appropriately, and keeping the focus on our health. The experience described above easily could have broken any marriage and family apart. Thankfully, we were able to use it to bond us together and created the peaceful and loving family we have always wanted.

PeaceLovePaleo

Paleo diet helps young woman overcome anorexia

I know this is not a typical success story, but I feel that my mental success is equally as important as my physical success. I am finally looking forward to movies, meeting new people, completing my school work, and playing with my 17 month old. I now eat to live instead of living to eat/binge by myself.

Mark's Daily Apple