Tag: Raw State

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Weight Loss Exercise

How Not to Eat Bread, Potatoes and Pasta

One of the biggest obstacles when starting the Paleo diet is in knowing that you can’t eat any more bread, rice and pasta. How are you going to manage? Well there are some simple switches you can make.

Instead of feeling deprived by having to change your food choices, you should welcome this new change instead. View it as a way to get creative and discover some great new foods that you can eat.

Who doesn’t eat bread, rice, potatoes and pasta at least once or twice a week? They are a good way to add bulk to any meal and are filling as well. This is very true as all of these foods are high in carbohydrates and low in fibre. While they may fill you up they don’t add much in the way of nutritional value!

Keep in mind too the principle of the Paleo diet is to eat natural and raw fruits and vegetables. Bread is a manufactured food full of additives and preservatives and the same is true of pasta. Potatoes were not eaten by our ancestors as they did not know how to cook them. They were thought to be inedible in their raw state.

One easy substitution can be made by using spaghetti squash as noodles for pasta dishes. Spaghetti squash is easy to cook, delicious and low in calories. You should find that even your kids won’t mind eating spaghetti squash.

Instead of potatoes cook up cauliflower and then mash it. Mashed cauliflower resembles mashed potatoes but has a lighter texture. Serve it with your next roast beef and nobody may even notice the difference.

For stews and meals with sauces serve red or green sliced cabbage instead of noodles, rice or potatoes. The cabbage is high in fibre and low in fat and keeps you feeling full for a long time.

When it comes to summer time eating a burger on a bun is accepted by everyone. On the Paleo diet you will want to cut out the bun! Makes you feel like you are stripping the burger naked! But there are other ways to dress up your burger that won’t have you feeling as though you are missing out on something.

Substitute your bun for lettuce leaves and wrap your burger up in it. You are still holding your burger in something but you are making a healthier choice. Plus you are not ruining your Paleo Diet.

When it comes to eating breakfast toast seems to go with just about everything. Try eating your eggs with tomatoes, peppers and mushrooms instead. You will feel full and you may just find that you didn’t miss the toast at all!

By being a little creative you can learn to live without bread, potatoes and pasta. Your body will thank you for putting less high carb food into it and your weight loss efforts will be rewarded.

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Weight Loss Exercise

History of the Paleo Diet

The history of the Paleo Diet is also referred to as the Paleolithic Diet or Caveman Diet. This concept of eating natural, raw food is not new when it comes to diet books. Back in the 1970′s this theory was discussed by Walter Voegtlin in his book, The Stone Age Diet. His idea was similar to the popular Atkins diet of that time period.

This caveman theory was based on the fact that people were hunters and simply ate what they found in the wild. This included meats, fruits and vegetables. Animals were not domesticated at that time and so there was no milk, butter and cheese available. Only natural foods in their raw state, this is the basis of the Paleo Diet today.

The Paleo or Caveman concept was overshadowed by popular diets such as the South Beach Diet, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers and other dieting methods.

The History of the Paleo Diet

The modern history of the Paleo diet began in 2005 with a new book published by Loren Cordain’s The Paleo Diet for Athletes: A Nutritional Formula for Peak Athletic Performance. This book caught the attention of many professional athletes who began to follow the methods described. They began publicly endorsing the concepts and the Paleo Diet came to the forefront of the diet revolution.

Today the Paleo Diet is based upon what we assume cavemen ate. This is based solely upon research done by scientists. Cavemen ate any animal which they could hunt and they foraged for fruits and vegetables. These three things became the staples of their diet.

If you do any research on the Paleo diet you will find that there are different versions available. Some versions state that you must only eat grass fed animals while other versions allow you to have dairy products. One thing that you must take into account is that our farming methods have evolved over the centuries.

Humans raise their animals to be eaten not to be hunted. They are fed chemicals and nutrients to improve the quality of the meat. Milk and other foods are pasteurized so they stay fresh longer. So it can be difficult to truly eat a Paleo Diet.

However you can eat on the notion of the Paleo Diet and include whatever foods you are comfortable eating. If you want to include milk and cheese do so, but remember that they contain fat and are high in calories.

Foods that might have been available to cavemen were potatoes, hard grains and certain legumes. The reason why these foods were not eaten was because they did not know how to cook them. Most of these foods are inedible in their raw state and so were never used.

As cavemen evolved it can be assumed that these foods were added to their diet. The problem with eating foods like potatoes and grains is that they are not a food that man is accustomed to eating. In fact grains can be linked to a whole slew of health issues including digestive problems. Scientists have shown that whole grains are extremely difficult to digest and many people have sensitivities to this food group.

Looking back over history and watching how diets changed, the introduction of not just potatoes and grains, but sugars and oils have caused major health problems. As these foods became available more instances of medical concerns were seen. People began to become overweight, they started having heart attacks and strokes. Even cancer could possibly be linked to the introduction of unnatural foods into our diets.

Another consideration is that cavemen would eat different foods depending upon where in the world they lived. Certain fruits and vegetables would only be available in certain areas. So knowing exclusively what you should and should not eat on the Paleo Diet can be a little challenging.

So What Should You Eat on the Paleo Diet?

History of the Paleo Diet

How strictly you follow the Paleo Diet concept is up to you. It would be best to choose as many natural and organic raw foods as possible. If you want to add foods like potatoes and milk then do so carefully. These foods tend to have lots of carbohydrates and calories in them. It may be best to lose weight first and then slowly incorporate them back into your diet.

Health wise you can’t go wrong with eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables along with lean protein choices. You should see and feel improvements in your health very quickly.

There are many Paleo Diet books and resources available so choose one that fits into your way of thinking and stick with it. Remember if it works and you are comfortable with it then use it. You can see from the the history of the Paleo Diet that these ideas are not new but are very natural

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Weight Loss Exercise

Pine Mouth


I have never experienced this myself but just noticed that the FDA is letting people know about a metallic taste in the mouth a day or two after eating Pine nuts. I have not had this happen to me but have you?

Pine Mouth

Pine Nuts and Pine Mouth

In the past year FDA has received a number of consumer complaints regarding a bitter metallic taste associated with pine nuts. This taste, known as “pine mouth,” typically begins 12 to 48 hours after consuming pine nuts, and lasts on average between a few days and two weeks. It is exacerbated by consumption of any other food during this period and significantly decreases appetite and enjoyment of food. The symptoms decrease over time with no apparent adverse clinical side effects.

Complaints about Pine Mouth

In response to increased consumer complaints about Pine Mouth, FDA developed a detailed questionnaire, and collected and analyzed samples from some consumers submitting complaints. The Agency found that the majority of pine nuts associated with “pine mouth” were eaten in the raw state (either as snacks or as a component of salad or pesto sauce). It also found that consumers did not detect a rancid or off-taste when eating the pine nuts. Finally, FDA was able to confirm that “pine mouth” is an adverse food reaction to pine nuts that is clearly distinct from a typical food allergy.

FDA continues to analyze consumer complaints to identify the potential causes of “pine mouth” and to determine whether the severity of symptoms and likelihood of developing them is related to the amount of pine nuts consumed. FDA will continue to monitor this problem and keep the public posted regarding any new findings.

Consumers experiencing “pine mouth” may contact the FDA District Office in their area. For a list, go to the Consumer Complaint Coordinators page athttp://www.fda.gov/Safety/ReportaProblem/ConsumerComplaintCoordinators/default.htm.

I would like to hear more from people that have this effect of Pine Mouth from eating Pine Nuts let us know.

 

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