Robb Wolf's Paleo Budget Shopping Guide

If just received a review copy of Robb Wolf's new ebook - a Paleo Budget Shopping Guide - and have been quickly skimming through it.  I like it.

Target

The book is aimed clearly at addressing one key complaint - "I can't afford it!".   People may be convinced that a paleo diet is wise and could solve  their health and performance issues, but it just seems like it would be beyond their wallet.  It is very much a book for this century when many have forgotten how to buy and cook real food.


You can afford it!

Robb sees this very much as an excuse - often it is about making time to shop and cook - and explains how you can improve your diet to adopt a Paleo template without going bankrupt. 

Cook, Plan, Save, Shop and Prepare

Across the ebook's 6 chapters, Robb deals with these key principles.

• Learn to cook - there are preparation methods that make things cheap and easy, like a pressure cooker or slow cooker.
• Plan your meals - a bit of planning will stop waste and allow you to pull together the maximum meal from minimum resources.
• Money Saving tricks - Robb outlines a few ideas on saving money on your shopping - buying in bulk for example and getting ingredients not products so that you are not paying someone else to do the preparation.
• Budget Shopping Priorities - the tweaks....if you can afford organic and grass-fed , what should you go for?
  
• Kitchen tricks - final ideas and hacks for saving time and money in the kitchen...freezing and cooking in bulk for example.

Not just for Paleo 

 Yes this is aimed at paleo adopters.....but I am convinced that there are lessons here that would help any of us...whatever your diet.  If you want to eat real food but are worried about affording it then this book will point you in the right direction.

The Voice

If you listen to Robb's podcasts you will recognise his voice in the writing - it is playful, witty and accessible.  Highly recommended!

Click on the images above or below to buy your copy.

Powerlifting documentary

If you have a couple of hours, this documentary is worth watching.



hat tip to Marc

Another excuse to drink red wine

What excuse do I need?

A compound found in red wine, grapes and other fruits, and similar in structure to resveratrol, is able to block cellular processes that allow fat cells to develop, opening a door to a potential method to control obesity, according to a Purdue University study.

It is an interesting mechanism here:

Kim found that piceatannol binds to insulin receptors of immature fat cells in the first stage of adipogenesis, blocking insulin's ability to control cell cycles and activate genes that carry out further stages of fat cell formation. Piceatannol essentially blocks the pathways necessary for immature fat cells to mature and grow.

The Limits to Performance

I went to an event last night at the Edinburgh Science Festival.  It was a fascinating lecture by 4 of the UK's (world's?) top exercise scientists.

The lecture was called How far, how fast how high?

What are the genetic, physiological, biochemical and psychological limits to the human body? Former UK Athletics Performance Director, Professor Dave Collins, joins sports scientists Dr Yannis Pitsiladis and Professor Andy Jones, and nutritionist Professor Ron Maughan to discuss the physiologic, genetic, psychosocial and economic determinants of success, and the limits to performance. Citius, Altius, Fortius is the Olympic motto, but how far, how fast and how high can we actually go?

All of the talks were excellent:

• Dave Colins spoke about the psychology of winning - all things being equal, elite athletes are those who believe that they are the best.   He gave a fascinating report of a study he had done on powerlifters.  He told them they were getting steroids when in fact they were on a placebo.  They all got significantly stronger.  He really stressed that believing that you are on the right training system and that you will succeed is vitally important.  Yes talent and ability are fundamental but the winners are those that believe in themselves and their approach.  I've been thinking a lot about this area recently and the whole idea of the placebo.  Really interesting and under-appreciated.  
• Andy Jones  talked about the physiology of champions.  He had worked with Paula Radcliffe and spoke about the unique nature of her body.  She is basically in the very top percentiles of the distribution.  Her VO2 max, velocity at VO2 max etc are all off te charts.  In testing her he was able to predict her times and indeed her world record times at various distances.  This stressed the importance of talent, of ability....but he also mentioned that a key thing with Paula was her ability to hurt herself, to push herself.  Again it is mental.
• Yannis Pitsiladis talked about genetics.  He had looked at the DNA of the top runners in the world, all Africans.  Sprinters tend to be West African and middle / long distance runners tend to be East African (Ethiopian/Kenyan etc).  He had looked at certain candidate genes and also done GWAS but had  not identified any real genes that were responsible.  It was all pointing towards epigenetics,  environmental factors that activate the genes.
• Ron Maughan talked about nutrition, but he key focus was that nutrition is really bottom of the pile - talent, trainability, training, psychology, social support etc are all much more important.  He also stressed that much of the key science is actually very old - he referred to papers from 1919 by Bainbridge.

It has long been recognized that the main seat of fatigue after muscular exercise is in the central nervous system. Mosso long ago stated that “nervous fatigue is the preponderating phenomenon and muscular fatigue is also at the bottom of the nervous system”. There appear, however, to be two types of fatigue, one arising entirely within the central nervous system, the other in which fatigue of the muscles themselves is superadded to that of the nervous system.

•  This idea really reminded me of the ideas of Marcora

Anyway, a really interesting evening.

Negativity is NOT an option!

Oh, wait.

I received a comment on another blog post mentioning Jeffrey M Friedman's commentary Modern science versus the stigma of obesity. I took offence to the following passage:-

"This simplistic notion is at odds with substantial scientific evidence illuminating a precise and powerful biologic system that maintains body weight within a relatively narrow range."

To say that I disagree with the above passage is an understatement of epic proportions. If this is the case, how can Extreme weight loss without surgery happen? This woman went from 265kg (583lb) to 97kg (213lb).

With the right diet, huge amounts of weight & body-fat can be lost and kept off. Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fat Loss solution is a PSMF (Protein-Sparing Modified Fast) that can produce huge weight & body-fat loss. See The Protein-Sparing Modified Fast (PSMF).

Up with this negativity I will not put!

Survival of the fittest....and that paleo guy

Back last summer sometime I was contacted by the editor of an on-line magazine Interesting Times who asked me to write something for him.  At the time I was busy with work and couldn't put the time into writing.  Plus I didn't think I had what he was looking for.....but I knew a man who did!  I pointed him towards Jamie Scott - New Zealand's That Paleo Guy - and sue enough Jamie wrote a superb piece detailing how his training, diet and lifestyle had enabled him to survive the Christchurch earthquakes of last year.

I'd just about forgotten about the piece but I got an email today with a link to download the magazine.

I have not read the rest of it, but Jamie's piece  - Survival of the Fittest …and most skillful? - is brilliant.  Check it out!

News: Vegetarian diet is bad for the thyroid

I spotted this poster outside a newsagent today and it prompted me to buy the paper:

The story is here and basically is telling us that thyroid problems are increasing because:

• More people are cutting RED meat from their diet
• People are eating more soy

 The latest official figures show that NHS Scotland spent £8 million treating thyroid conditions in 2011 compared with just £2.2 million in 2001. Over the same decade, the number of prescriptions for thyroid problems soared from 1.2 million to 2.2 million.

Experts believe a lack of iron from reduced red meat consumption and large amounts of soya in some vegetarian meals has contributed to the increase of more than 300 per cent in Scotland’s thyroid drug bill.

The poster really made me stop - it is so rare to see vegetarian diets identified as UNhealthy.