The western diet and lifestyle and diseases of civilization - research paper

This new Review Article explores the links between our western diet, lifestyle and the diseases of civilization. The review article is free. Below is an abstract. Click on title for the link. This is a peer reviewed article that appears in Research Reports in Clinical Cardiology.


Abstract: It is increasingly recognized that certain fundamental changes in diet and lifestyle that occurred after the Neolithic Revolution, and especially after the Industrial Revolution and the Modern Age, are too recent, on an evolutionary time scale, for the human genome to have completely adapted. This mismatch between our ancient physiology and the western diet and lifestyle underlies many so-called diseases of civilization, including coronary heart disease, obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, epithelial cell cancers, autoimmune disease, and osteoporosis, which are rare or virtually absent in hunter–gatherers and other non-westernized populations. It is therefore proposed that the adoption of diet and lifestyle that mimic the beneficial characteristics of the preagricultural environment is an effective strategy to reduce the risk of chronic degenerative diseases.


The Western Diet and Lifestyle and Diseases of Civilization

More food for thought

Interesting articles by Dr. Kurt Harris.

Getting Started 

How To Lose Weight

What I Eat

THIS is eating Paleo.

Terrible picture (I was more interested in eating), but upside is, it's a grassfed striploin with roasted yams, spinach sauteed in bacon fat and garlic, and garlic butter shrimp. 

Fried Rice

Travis LOVES rice, specifically white rice with butter and soy sauce. He can eat buckets of the stuff. I've been making "cauliflower rice", which I think is a great substitution for rice. Travis has been eating it, but not with his usual "save room for seconds of just rice, butter and soy sauce".

Anyhoo...tonight I did duck on the bbq rotisserie and decided to do chinese greens and "fried rice" with it.

Apparently it was a hit. 

Next time, there'll be a great food shot here.

Here's the recipe. Pay attention because it's really complicated.

I grated some cauliflower so that it was rice sized.

I heated up a pan and threw in some bacon fat. I could have used coconut oil, or duck fat, or in a pinch butter, or last choice, olive oil. 

I chopped up some fresh ginger - a person could use the stuff in a jar. 

I also sliced up some green onions. 

If I had wanted to go the whole nine yards, I could have whisked up an egg and fried it first, chopping it up and setting it aside. 

I threw the ginger into the pan and let it saute for a minute or so then added the "rice".  I tossed them around for a minute or so then added the green onions. 

I then added a splash of sesame oil and some gluten free soy sauce, and tossed the works around.  If I had a cooked an egg I would have tossed it in as well. 

That's it. Travis got excited about rice so it's a win! 

Pictures next time I promise.

It's been a month - whodathunkit?

Time flies and hey, it's been about a month since I went "Paleo".  Best news so far? I bought new jeans between Christmas and New Years that were frankly, "tight" because I figured - given that I'm now past 40 - that it would take MONTHS of work to get back into my favourite jeans...the jeans that got tucked into the back of my closet over a year ago.  The new jeans are too loose and the old jeans are not just "get intoable", they're comfy...as in THEY FIT.  I've dropped up a size. I've lost more than 10 pounds without ever feeling hungry...ever. I never thought I'd be so happy about buying jeans that I hope I'll never wear...
I also feel fantastic in general, have more energy, am sleeping great, and am no longer taking the daily NSAIDS or PPI's. Now I actually wish I HAD taken "before" shots. 


Originally I started this blog just to keep track of other blogs I was following, but Travis has informed me that there might be one or two other people checking it out, so I might as well embellish a little and start adding content.  As in he wants me to put up the recipe for the "fried rice" I made tonight. 


So, that's what I'll do next.

Fat Head

Looking for a fun way to explain why you're suddenly eating loads of fat and not so many carbs? Share Fat Head with your friends.

Here's a link to Tom Naughton's site.  Fat Head Movie

Time for a change

One thing led to another over the Christmas holidays this year and suddenly I find myself trying out a whole new "lifestyle". 

It started with "The Four Hour Body", which led to "Why We Get Fat" and "Good Calories Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes, and then on to a whole pile of blog hopping - many of which are listed on the side here. 

At first I thought I was just going to try going Paleo for 30 days, but I'm about 3 weeks in, I feel freakin FANTASTIC, all of my GI issues have cleared up, AND the weight has been melting off while I've been eating like a queen. 

I think I'm hooked. 

I decided to start the blog because I think I might be interested in keeping track of things and because some folks have started to ask questions and it just seemed like it would be easier to put everything in one place. 

Here's a bit of light reading and some after dinner TV.

What If It's All Been A Big Fat Lie? by Gary Taubes

A interesting talk about sugar.