Mad Dawg School of Fitness » Nutrition

Book Review: Eat Like A Dinosaur by The Paleo Parents

daphne — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:24:59 +0000

Approachable. Motivational. Inspirational. Fun. Those were the words that came to mind after having gone through The Paleo Parents‘ Eat Like a Dinosaur.

This book is truly a labor of love put forth by the entire family, kids included. The basics of the story is something we’ve all heard before, about an entire family eating healthier and most importantly, together. However, Stacy and Matt take it several steps further by highlighting the changes each member of the family have gone through as a result of this change. In fact, as a couple, Stacy and Matt both lost over 200lbs in the course of 15 months! The best part of their story though (aside from how much better they feel mentally, physically, and emotionally once they cut out grains, legumes, and refined sugars), is where they write about how Paleo was able to help with each of their kids. Like how Cole (pictured below) was off the charts in terms of weight (read: overweight) and suffering from behavioral issues at school and was thisclose to getting expelled.

Or even Finian, who was suffering from eczema (boy could I sympathize with this poor young soul on this one!) and attention deficit disorder. So many of today’s health problems plaguing both adults and children alike solved with something so simple as a change in one’s diet… a change to a more ancestral diet. Of course, the biggest struggle most parents face in general is when trying to route their kids to eat healthier and making better food choices for themselves. Therefore, it is extremely important to keep the conversations open with your children about food and its effects on their health. And truly, Stacy and Matt nailed it on the head with the paragraph below when it comes to getting kids to relate to something they can actually understand:

This book has an incredible section on how to get your kids to be more conscious of the foods they eat, starting with that basic tenet of parenthood/guardianship: the health and welfare of that child(ren) is completely dependent upon you!

This seems like total common sense but I (along with many others) are often brushed off with the “oh, my child will NEVER eat that”. The points the Paleo Parents make in getting your child to consciously eat better are simple and completely doable, from getting your child involved in food (whether it’s shopping for food or actually preparing the food) to making a few concessions here and there. Overall, this first chapter was incredibly simple and easy to understand, giving even the most hesitant of parents not just the tools necessary for success but also the conviction that yes, they CAN do this! Not only is following a diet based on real food eaten by our ancestors doable, it’s adaptable and approachable without completely alienating anybody. Best of all, it’s something that can be thoroughly enjoyed by the WHOLE family!

Once you’re ready to get started in the kitchen with the little one(s), the recipes are incredibly easy to read. In the colored bar to the right of the recipe are pictures of known allergens like dairy, shellfish, and tree nuts. The allergen in the recipe is then highlighted so there’s no mistaking what’s in the actual recipe itself.

Especially for someone like me with my allergy to tree nuts, I can’t begin to tell you how valuable being able to quickly see at a glance what the recipe contains and if I should either make it or figure out how I can tweak it (like using sun butter instead of almond butter).

Another valuable bit about the recipes in this book are the little handprints on the steps in which kids can help participate in the food-making process. For example, I had the opportunity to test this recipe out last year, and my son Tyler actually got to help me with each of the handprint steps. It was the start of a fun bonding experience that gets him to run into the kitchen anytime I break out a colander or a cutting board.

Because families are constantly on the go, snacks are a must-have item. But how does a family actually prepare for having healthy snacks on hand? Have no fear, Paleo Parents have you covered with a very thorough section.

Another major hurdle to eating healthier ancestrally as a family is what to do about the special sweet treats. After all, kids get invited to birthday parties all the time. Even at school, candies and other unhealthy snacks and desserts (high fructose corn syrup! Gluten!) are passed out all the time. Stacy, being the super awesome baker that she is, was able to come up with a hefty chapter filled with sweet treats that are sure to please and are guaranteed to not make your kids feel left out at school or at parties, where cookies and cakes are the norm.

But before you think that sweet treats have wrapped up the entire book, there’s one last must-read chapter: Projects.

To help reinforce the fact that you are now eating healthier together as a family, Stacy and Matt came up with several novel ways in which everyone can show their creativity and individuality.

Though we’ve yet to do any of the food projects that’s listed, we’ve definitely gone to the Farmers’ Markets together where Tyler will happily point out the fruits and vegetables. And seriously, nothing makes me happier than seeing him eating fresh fruit from the vendors while “safeguarding” our newly gained foods.

All in all, Eat Like a Dinosaur is an incredible piece of work. It’s one that speaks clearly and simply on how to change your life for the better through food. Quite simply, it shows you how easy and approachable eating healthier together as a family can be But best of all, it shows you how kids can start making better food choices for themselves.

The Foodie Outcast?

daphne — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:36:20 +0000

I know I said that my next post was going to be on the benefits of nutrition and how it really helps with a lot of the “symptoms” of pregnancy (you know, the whole morning sickness, swelling, food aversions, etc etc etc). And with that being said, my pants are totally on fire. But I promise that my next post will be on the importance of nutrition, I swear! In the meantime, I’m going to address something that seems to come up a lot: how do I keep my family eating as cleanly as possible? The answer: I can’t and I don’t.

The reason why I can’t keep my family eating as cleanly as I’d like is purely for the sake of keeping my sanity. Believe me, as someone who NEVER follows the latest diet crazes, to come across Paleo made SO much sense to me. Probably because as a scientist, I understood the reasoning for why our bodies worked the way that they did using the materials that our bodies absolutely need. Materials like fat, because Lord knows, after so many years of staying away from the stuff, who knew that it was essential for basic things like hormone regulation? Okay, so maybe Loren Cordain and Robb Wolf. My husband (a chiropractor) had always been on my case to eat less gluten but I never listened to him, but then again, if he actually worked out the biochemical reactions and reasons as to why I should avoid it, I probably would’ve (I’m THAT kind of person). Unfortunately, just because my husband told me I should eat less gluten didn’t mean that he was ready to jump on board the Paleo wagon. In fact, while he agreed it was the healthiest way to be eating, he absolutely refused to give up a lot of the unhealthy foods.

Image courtesy of downrightgirly.com

It’s hard when you’re a small cog in the big machine known as your “Family”. Most of my husband’s family live in the South Bay while most of my dad’s side of the family live in the East Bay. There’s at least one get-together per family per month. And these family get-togethers are always centered around food. Especially on my dad’s side, where my uncles and aunts owned their own Chinese restaurant (they’re all retired now) and still enjoy cooking a lot of the same foods they used to cook at the restaurant: green onion pancakes, barbecued ribs, roast pork, soy sauce chicken, chow mein, etc. While hanging with my in-laws is a bit better when it comes to more Paleo selections, there’s always the ever present crackers and chips with the appetizers, there’s the flour in the gravy, and there’s the Asian sauces that are used for marinades and vegetables (sauces that contain gluten and high fructose corn syrup).

Image courtesy of MenuPix.com

My husband’s concern that we (or rather, I) would end up alienating ourselves from our very social families is a well-founded one. How can we eat healthier without making ourselves the outcasts of both families? In the beginning, I went the route of Whole9. Just by refusing to eat the foods that were present and letting the results speak for themselves, I would end up inspiring those around me to eat healthier and therefore BE healthier. Unfortunately, this didn’t work out. My husband and I were arguing a lot over things like common courtesy and manners on things like what my parents-in-law made for dinner one weekend and how it was rude that I didn’t eat much of anything there at all. The fact that I’d lost fat (bear in mind that I was considered to be a generally skinny person before) and that my seasonal allergies had completely gone away (or that I wasn’t going through the pains of my period anymore) wasn’t serving as much of an inspiration to anyone. Because really, how can one visually see on another person these effects? It wasn’t as if I was suffering from morbid obesity nor did I have any outwardly visible symptoms of other conditions (except for eczema, but that’s another post).

In addition to my not physically inspiring anybody to jump on board the Paleo wagon, I was myself going crazy trying to tell my in-laws and everyone else to NOT give my son any kind of gluten or “sweets”. It’s definitely hard when your parents don’t really understand English and your own fluency in your native tongue/dialect is questionable. I can tell you that I’ve pulled my hair at the countless times that my in-laws gave my son pizza from Costco or some of their sandwiches or even the stupid snacks they have laying around (like croissants, crackers, etc). I can’t begin to count the times I’ve gotten incredibly frustrated at finding out that my son’s lunch that day was just plain fried rice with an egg, without so much as any kind of vegetables or meat in there. And just like those times are innumerable, so are the times I’ve just dumped the bowl that my mother-in-law gave me to take home for my son to eat for dinner because of the simple fact that there was simply no nutritive value in that food whatsoever.

After going back and forth like this for almost a year, I thought that I had things worked out to the point where it was manageable. I had all the right foods in my pantry and in my fridge. We were bringing lots of goodies to family functions that were even Whole30-compliant! Then my husband and I moved into a bigger house in a better part of San Jose (the part where the public schools don’t have metal detectors) and with that, our house occupants also grew. We’ve always had my husband’s cousin living with us as our roommate, but with the new house, we’ve also brought on his (cousin’s) younger brother as our other roommate. And since my mother-in-law helps us with taking care of my son, she’s also moved in with us and currently stays with us Sundays through Saturdays.

We DO have a full house! (Image courtesy of ABC Family)

I encountered a lot of problems in the beginning because of the kinds of foods I was buying. Of course the meats I bought was significantly more expensive than the ones you can get at Lucky’s, Safeway, or even Ranch99. And the way I cooked sometimes earns an upraised eyebrow because it’s not the traditional way of cooking our foods (slow-cooker and roasting as opposed to plain old stir-fry). It’s definitely hard trying to stay on the clean foods straight-and-narrow when four out of five adults in the household are still into eating instant noodles, croissants and breads, and all the other stuff that aren’t healthy. I’ve even tried making it so that I could come home early enough to prepare a completely clean dinner only to find that my mother-in-law generally beats me to the punch by having all the ingredients to dinner prepared by the time I get home (which is sometimes 3 in the afternoon). But in the end, I can’t fault her or anybody else in my household because she means well and she’s just trying to help take the load off of me. I’m not kidding when I say that it’s been incredibly taxing on my mental health.

In the end, I decided that the easiest way to go is to keep as gluten-free a household as possible. I’ve made it a point to pick out some sauces (like oyster sauce) that do not contain any HFCS or gluten that my mother-in-law can cook with. To sort-of prevent her (or the cousins) from picking up bread, I buy gluten-free bread (the best one we’ve gotten thus far is from Mariposa Baking) and other baked goods from Zest Bakery. And instead of pissing off my entire household on what I don’t want myself or my son to eat, I have to relax the rules a bit and say that a little bit of white rice is okay (as is pho and vermicelli and “fun”, the broad flat rice noodle). When my mother-in-law makes that fried rice with just egg and soy sauce (which I’ve swapped out for Tamari and coconut aminos), I’ll actually recook the whole thing and add in a crapload more meat (usually Aidell’s chicken apple sausages) and vegetables. At dinnertime, I make it a point that rice stays off his plate. And of course, whenever I get the chance, I’ll be the one to make the meals, whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

With so many non-Paleo people helping me take care of my kid while I’m working, I know I’ll only drive myself totally batsh!t crazy thinking about all the stuff that he’s eating while I’m not there (ah, if only I could be a stay-at-home mom!). Preparing the foods for him ahead of time will not help because just as I’ve thrown stuff away as soon as we get home, the foods that I’ve prepared will also just sit… and sit… and sit until I have to throw it away. I have to take a page from my cousin and his wife who wrote up a really good post on what they do for their kids. Also, Stacy and Matt (of The Paleo Parents) wrote a good section in their book Eat Like a Dinosaur on how they and their kids deal with non-Paleo foods in the school and social environments. In the end, I just can’t prevent him from eating some grains and sugars here and there. Just as my husband pointed out, I can’t make myself or my son a pariah but I can definitely teach him as much as possible about what foods are healthy, what’s not, and why they make a difference.

What To Do – Or Not Do – About High Cholesterol

saulj — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:18:00 +0000

Chris Kresser will be speaking at Three Stone Hearth in Berkeley, CA – Sunday, February 26th from 3-5pm

He’ll be speaking about cholesterol and heart disease. This is an updated talk focusing on a practical framework for determining whether high cholesterol is a problem for you or not, and if it is, what to do about it.

If you can’t attend, you should check out his great series of podcasts on cholesterol with Chris Masterjohn from The Daily Lipid. They are a little long, but really good and very thorough. If you can only listen to one, try the 3rd podcast first, which goes something like this:

2:30 The role of cholesterol in heart disease
11:26 What to do – or not do – about high cholesterol
24:11 The thyroid-LDL connection and why iodine matters
29:36 Are goitrogenic foods inhibiting your thyroid function and raising your cholesterol?
46:01 The telltale sign you need more carbs

In addition, Chris Kresser will be giving an online lecture through the Paleo Summit which is free.

Nutrition Challenge Winners Announced!

susan — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:25:36 +0000

The first nutrition challenge of 2012 wrapped up on February 7th. Thanks to everyone who participated!

This year, we added the requirement of an essay for all participants, and we’ll share parts of those essays in future posts because they were so good.

Most of the participants had done some sort of nutrition challenge in the past, but several of them took their commitment to eating well to a new level this time. For example, several people completely gave up sugar, alcohol, or diet drinks for the very first time! Congratulations to all who took on this challenge – whatever your experience was, focus on what you have learned from the process. It’s not really about whether or not you did what you set out to do, but about what you learned about foods and your relationship to them or how they make you feel. There’s power in knowledge; once you have knowledge, you have choice. And having choice is empowering.

And the Winners are:

Women:

1st place: Gwyn G. – New to CrossFit classes, Gwyn gave up sugar completely for 30 days; discovered it wasn’t that hard for her to live (and feel good) without sugar.

2nd place: Gnat! (Natira) M. – Gnat took on the challenge while still in Bootcamp!

(Tie) 3rd place: Sara Atkins – Sara just started CrossFit at MDSoF in January and jumped right into the challenge – she gave up sugar and diet coke.

(Tie) 3rd place: Heather S. – Has been eating clean for quite some time, but gave up sugar for the whole challenge and learned a lot about how to deal with social situations when eating clean!

Men:

1st place: Lucas M. – Focused on recovering and supporting recovery; and learned a bunch about having meals prepared ahead of time to avoid making undesirable choices when hungry.

2nd place: Vince P. – Discovered he could eat well during the week, but found that social situations were challenging, especially on the weekends.

There were no other finishers in the men’s division to complete all requirements, so the 3rd place men’s prize is given to the tied women’s 3rd place finishers.

Congratulations to all participants; All winners, please see Susan to collect your (cash) prize!