Returning To Our Roots
Healthy eating is now the largest and fastest growing sector of the $3.4 trillion global wellness industry. Between 2010 and 2014 alone, the sector grew 108%, making over $276 billion and forcing big brands to make even bigger changes. General Mills removing artificial colors and flavors from its cereals. Pepsi reformulated their signature soda in response to backlash against artificial sweeteners. McDonald’s will exclusively use cage-free eggs by 2025 and remove preservatives from Chicken McNuggets. Paleo, Whole30 and Keto diet recipes dominate Pinterest and search engines. Consumers spoke, and companies took action. However, as these diets, along with others, become more mainstream, which can we believe? More importantly, are these diets actually healthy, or just the newest fad? As kids, we all learn how to build a food pyramid. We learn foods at the top, like sugars and fats, aren’t healthy, and therefore eat them less often. At least, we’re supposed to eat them less often. We all know making healthy choices is important, even though it isn’t always easy. So, if we could improve our overall health just by adjusting our diets… shouldn’t we try? Research shows that as humans shifted from hunting and gathering to growing crops, diseases like diabetes, obesity and heart disease quickly followed. Reliable grain crops meant less diverse, usually high sugar diets, which future generations then inherited. This suggests that diet, perhaps even more than genetics, could play a significant role in determining a person’s health. The health and wellness boom, for better or worse, has birthed a new series of diets based on that same idea. The Paleo Diet Inspired by hunter-gatherer societies, Dr. Loren Cordain, Ph.D, created The Paleo Diet. By removing refined sugars, Continue reading >>
Bulletproof Vs. Paleo Vs. Low-carb And Ketogenic Diets: What’s The Difference?
I was in my 20s when I started suffering from severe fatigue and cognitive dysfunction. I was 300 pounds, sick constantly, and almost had to drop out of grad school because I couldn’t concentrate. Back then, I thought my inability to think clearly and perform at high levels was some sort of moral failing. I would beat myself up. I would work harder and stay up later, trying to catch up with my peers. I tried every diet imaginable, including raw vegan and years of falling off the low-fat bandwagon. I hit the treadmill for hours every day. Nothing worked. So I took matters into my own hands. The Bulletproof Diet was born after a decade of working with some of the world’s top health and nutrition researchers. Over a span of about 15 years, I devoured thousands of research papers and books on human nutrition. I used my body as a testing ground to determine what worked best for my biology. The result is a diet that has helped thousands of people lose fat and gain the energy and clarity they thought they’d lost forever. So, what differentiates the Bulletproof Diet from other low-carb diets? Read on to find out. For an in-depth plan on how to boost energy and increase brain function in just two weeks, get your copy of Head Strong. Bulletproof vs. Paleo: The Big Picture If you were to map out the most popular diets, you’d see a vast spectrum of practices and plans ranging from low-fat vegan to high-fat, low-carb (HFLC). This deliciously fatty end of the spectrum is where the Bulletproof Diet and the Primal, Paleo, and Atkins diets would lie. The Paleo diet eliminates processed foods and focuses on what our paleolithic ancestors ate – mostly meat, plants, nuts, and seeds. The Bulletproof Diet is similar but designed to maximize your willpower by reducing cravings and m Continue reading >>
The Ketogenic Diet 101: A Detailed Beginner’s Guide
I’m about to embark on my 3rd time starting a ketogenic diet. I see great results every time I get back to doing keto and I thought I would share this awesome article by my friends over at Authority Nutrition. This article was originally published by Authority Nutrition and is being republished on my website with permission. I couldn’t write a better article so I’m happy they allowed me to republish it for you all. I hope that you consider this way of eating, which is very much Paleo (with the optional addition of dairy), if you need to kickstart your weight loss, like I do (again)! If you would like to use a free Ketogenic meal plan, then check out these free meal plans by I Breathe I’m Hungry or snag the Ketogenic Cookbook. The ketogenic diet is a low-carb, high-fat dietthat offers many health benefits. Over 20 studies show that this type of diet can help you lose weight and improve health (1). Ketogenic diets may even have benefits against diabetes, cancer, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease (2, 3, 4, 5). This article is a detailed beginner’s guide to the ketogenic diet. It contains everything you need to know. What is a Ketogenic Diet? The ketogenic diet (often termed keto) is a very low-carb, high-fat diet that shares many similarities with the Atkins and low-carb diets. It involves drastically reducing carbohydrate intake, and replacing it with fat. The reduction in carbs puts your body into a metabolic state called ketosis. When this happens, your body becomes incredibly efficient at burning fat for energy. It also turns fat into ketones in the liver, which can supply energy for the brain (6, 7). Ketogenic diets can cause massive reductions in blood sugar and insulin levels. This, along with the increased ketones, has numerous health benefits (6, 8, 9, Continue reading >>
The Paleo Diet & Lifestyle
The Paleo and Ketogenic diets are not the same thing, though they share in common the belief that dietary fat is not the main cause of weight gain and diet-related disease. Both diets include higher-than-average amounts of fat, including animal fat, and both completely exclude sugar- and flour-laden processed foods. Because of this, paleo and keto may be considered similar eating patterns. Paleolithic dietary patterns are based on whole foods that were eaten for most of human history prior to the widespread adoption of agriculture about 10,000 years ago. The Paleo diet is not a "diet" in the traditional sense; rather, it's intended to promote a shift in eating habits for a lifetime. The basics are outlined below. EAT: Vegetables // Fruits // Nuts & Seeds // Meat, Fowl, Fish and Seafood AVOID: Sugar // Flour // Industrial seed oils // Packaged or processed food items (things that come in a box or bag in the grocery store, as they are likely to contain the items listed above) // Grains Also AVOID Legumes and Dairy IF they are problematic. Paleo is an overall approach to healthy living that is not just about diet. It includes being physically active on a regular basis, spending time in the outdoors, getting enough sleep, practicing stress-management techniques, and disconnecting from electronic devices every once in a while. To learn more about Paleo lifestyles check out Paleo Magazine. Continue reading >>
What Are The Differences Between The Ketogenic, Atkins, And Paleo Diets?
“There are a lot of similarities between Paleolithic (Paleo) and ketogenic diets (KD), particularly when compared to the now discredited ‘Standard American’ low fat, high carbohydrate diet. As a result, people may reasonably assume that all low carb diets are pretty much equal in their nutrient contents and physiological benefits. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth, and the resultant confusion has distracted us from fully understanding how best to apply carbohydrate-restriction to improve individual well-being and function. The similarities between Paleo and keto cluster around what they exclude: all grains and grain products (refined and unrefined), peas and beans, and refined sugars. In addition, the paleo diet excludes all dairy (milk, cream, and cheese), whereas the ketogenic diet allows butter, full fat cream and natural cheeses. The differences between the Paleo diet and KD are many, including: Range of foods allowed Recommended amounts of protein Amounts and sources of carbohydrates allowed or recommended Type, quality, and quantity of science supporting diet safety and efficacy Most importantly, the source and consistency of fuel to supply brain energy needs – specifically the availability of ketones at adequate levels to replace glucose as the brain’s primary fuel” “This diagram points out the similarities between ketogenic and Paleo diets, especially when compared to the now discredited low fat diets of the past. But clearly the Paleo and well-formulated ketogenic diets nonetheless are different, with little overlap in their respective compositions. Thus the major metabolic difference between Paleo and KD is encompassed in the phrase ‘nutritional ketosis’. By definition, a ‘ketogenic diet’ allows your body to be in nutritional keto Continue reading >>
Keto Vs. Paleo Diets: What's The Difference?
Both the Keto and the paleo diet share their low-carb DNA, but have been developed for vastly different purposes. Thanks to Robert Atkins, low-carb diets are incredibly popular, but two of these diets have been unfairly lumped together. The ketogenic and Paleolithic diets focus on some of the same basic principles, but differ greatly in outcome. The difference: What it Means to be Ketogenic It is important to note that historically the ketogenic diet is a tool for disease management, not weight loss. It is a common dietary intervention for conditions such as epilepsy, for example. The goal is to force the body into a state of ketosis— the process of the body burning stored fat. On this plan, you achieve ketosis through fasting, the reduction of carbohydrates and the increase of dietary fat. A 2004 study published in Experimental & Clinical Cardiology found that long-term adherence to a ketogenic diet may: Reduce body mass Lower blood LCD and glucose Increase the level of HDL or "good" cholesterol The incredible piece here is that this diet actually seems to treat epilepsy very well, but there is a catch; it's incredibly difficult to tolerate. According to WebMd, the diet prescribes that dieters to consume three calories of fat for every calorie of protein or carbohydrate. That's a lot of fat. WebMd explains: "A meal might include a small portion of chicken, a little bit of fruit, and a lot of fat, typically butter or cream. Frankly, it's a difficult diet to swallow. What is the Paleolithic Diet? The Paleo plan focuses more on eating meat under the assumption that early cave dwellers had limited access to grain and greens, and thus were "made" to eat a diet primarily composed of protein. Practitioners of this plan focus on getting energy from animal products that are h Continue reading >>
Paleo Vs Keto
Carbohydrates are a hot topic in the Paleo world. Although not strictly defined as such, the relatively low-carb nature of the Paleo diet provides a plethora of health benefits. How many carbs should your Paleo diet include for optimal health? The answer depends on many things including your gender, health status, stress level, activity level and your goals. Some find greater benefits from going very low-carb in order to create and maintain a state of ketosis. Ketosis can occur as a transient adaptation to a low-carb Paleo diet but to stay in this state for any length of time, carbs and protein need to be tightly controlled. Let’s take a closer look. The Ketogenic diet is by definition a low-carb, moderate protein, high fat diet that often needs to be very low carb to do its job of burning fat for energy and creating ketones. Protein intake is moderate in order to prevent gluconeogenesis, the process of turning non-carbohydrate substrate such as amino acids into glucose. When these conditions are met, fat rather than glucose becomes the preferred energy source and ketones are formed as a byproduct. Stored fat, dietary fat and ketones are all used in this elegant metabolic fallback system for energy production. Paleolithic people depended on ketosis for survival in times of food scarcity. Conversely, modern humans have harnessed it for weight reduction in an era of food over-abundance. The ketogenic diet has also been used therapeutically to treat medical conditions such as uncontrolled seizures in children, type 2 diabetes and obesity and there is increasing interest in the use of ketosis for neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis. The carbohydrate threshold for ketosis varies between individuals however as Jimmy Moore Continue reading >>
The Keto Diet Vs The Paleo Diet: Is Ketosis Better Than Paleo?
If you’re someone interested in improving their health or losing weight, you’ve likely heard of the ketogenic diet and the Paleo Diet at some point. It’s not uncommon for both of these dietary plans to be used in the same sentence and often lumped together as the same diet. While they do have similarities, they aren’t the same. So, what is the difference, exactly? Are they alike in many ways, or are they very different from one another? Let’s take a closer look at both plans and discuss the main differences between them to help you make a decision about which of the two best suits your needs. Most people aren’t aware the ketogenic diet was never originally developed for mainstream use like it’s implemented today. It was actually created to help people control and diminish the effects of epilepsy. There is a proven proven link between fasting and successfully mitigating the risk of seizures in those with epilepsy, and the ketogenic diet has been shown to alter the internal chemistry of the body by vastly reducing the dietary elements associated with making epilepsy worse without the individual having to fast. Today, the ketogenic diet is more popularly used in other ways: Losing body fat at a rapid rate Competing in bodybuilding contests Reducing their reliance on carbohydrates as a fuel source Keto for Fat Loss As a fat loss tool, the ketogenic diet is certainly one of the most popular nutrition programs available. The reason it has such a dramatic effect on the body for weight loss is due to the reduction of carbohydrates to such a low percentage. For most people, this shocks the system dramatically, in the short term at least, and forces it to scramble for an alternative energy source in the form of fat. Plus, carbohydrates can also lead to a great deal Continue reading >>
Dietary Showdown! Paleo Vs. Keto Vs. Atkins!
DIETARY SHOWDOWN! PALEO VS. KETO VS. ATKINS! Hey there Fit Farmers! As you know, our approach to nutrition and eating here on the farm is all about real food for the real world. Most dieting scenarios end in disaster due to the inability to keep up the restrictive measure of calories or carbs or some other ingredient involved, which is why our approach differs from most most of the mainstream nutritional plans and lifestyles. But what if your specific body chemistry actually responds really well to a particular nutritional plan? Today we’re going to talk specifically about Keto, Atkins and Paleo. Often lumped together under the heading of “low carb fad diets”, these eating methodologies actually have very significant differences. Is one superior? Is one right for your body chemistry? Can they be used as short term “boost measures” to kickstart better health, rest and weight loss? In today’s post we’ll take a deeper dive into each of these diet types and see if we can come up with some answers, so hang on tight! THE PALEO DIET The name of this diet is taken from the Paleolithic period of human development, in which cavemen first began to use stone tools and sharpened points to hunt with, and also began to control and use fire. Regardless of your views on history and anthropology, the theme of the diet is to only eat what foods were available to these ‘Paleolithic peoples’ as they roamed about hunting and gathering — primarily meat, eggs, fish, and fresh fruits and vegetables. This is done in the belief that these are the food sources that humans are best adapted to rather than the agricultural products and processed foods that came much later in our evolutionary span. Critics point out that (if you buy into the historical basis here) human digestive a Continue reading >>
Pcos + Diet: Please Stop Saying Low Carb, Keto, Or Paleo Diets Are The Best Answer For Pcos! It’s Plain Wrong!
Meet Sarah. Since the time she was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome in 2011, she has worked hard to eat healthy in order to better regulate her hormones so she could lose weight and boost her fertility. In 2014, after talking to her doctor and going through tons and tons of google searches, she found the Paleo diet which promised better hormone control. This was related to the very low carb intake. She was sold. She lost over 60 pounds in the first 6 months. However, over the course of the last few years, she found that no matter how many carbs she cut out of her diet she couldn’t lose any weight. In fact, her weight kept fluctuating the same 45 pounds. She also felt worse than ever. She had no energy and always felt like her head was fuzzy. Even more devastating to Sarah was how getting those 2 pink lines on a pregnancy test was still just a dream. Is a diet that promotes more protein and less carbohydrates the BEST for PCOS? If you do a google search for what the best diet for PCOS is, you will most likely come across the 3 biggies: Low carb/low GI, Keto, or Paleo. For more clarity, grab my PCOS diet cheat sheet by clicking here. In future posts, I will walk you through each diet specifically so you can better understand them and if they would fit into your fight against PCOS. For this article, we are going to discuss: “Is cutting out carbs the BEST way to regulate my hormones, lose weight, and boost fertility if I have PCOS?” Let’s start from the beginning. What are carbohydrates? A carbohydrate is a macronutrient found in many foods. It is essential to the overall well being of your body. It is the primary energy source for your central nervous system and working muscles. Carbs naturally occur in plant based foods such as beans, vegetables, fruit, Continue reading >>
What Are Core Differences Between The Paleo, Keto And Bulletproof Diets?
0 As it is January and it’s the start of a new Year- I’ve seen many people start new diets or ways of eating. Because I’ve been eating Paleo for over 6 years, and now have adopted eating Keto with aspects of Bulletproof- I thought I’d share what I’ve learned if you are considering making a lifestyle change or just want to shed some pounds. I would like to stress that this is a lifestyle choice- when you start digging into the “why” behind eating Paleo and keto, you realize that the modern diet is full of crap that is terrible for you. At all costs you should avoid grains and processed foods! This doesn’t mean that you can’t occasionally eat these foods (trust me, I fall off the bandwagon sometimes), but you will feel much better when you adopt this style of eating as a lifestyle versus a short term “diet”. I eat Keto about 80% of the diet and then Paleo on the weekends, etc or when I am craving a little sugar or carbs. Because I can’t control myself around sugar it is best for me to eat a diet that eliminates it (Keto) because I have a hard time eating it in moderation. Paleo, at a Glance: Based on the idea of eating how our ancestors ate. The core idea behind eating Paleo is that our bodies have not adapted to eat our current grain based diet and that we are meant to subsist mainly on (grassfed/organic) meat, fats, veggies and some fruits/starches in moderation. There is a big emphasis on quality of what you are putting in your body. There is a ton of genetically modified and processed crap in the modern diet and the principles of Paleo (and Bulletproof) stress eliminating these foods. Research also suggests that the grains in today’s modern diet are so highly processed they do way more harm than any good, and that a lot of today’s modern di Continue reading >>
Keto Vs Paleo Diet – What’s Best For Me?
The Ketogenic Diet and Paleo Diet are two of the most popular weight loss diets, and you'll find that they both have a lot in common! They both promote a diet low in carbohydrates and processed food and an increased in intake in protein, veggies, and other natural foods. Many people have tried both diets and seen great success in their weight loss efforts. But which is better? Are either of the diets more effective than the other? Most importantly, is it the diet YOU should try? Read on to find out everything you need to know about these two diets and how they stack up against each other… The purpose of restricting your intake of carbs is to create a metabolic state called ketosis. It causes the body to use fat as a source of energy instead of glucose (aka carbs) in the blood and liver. When carbs are restricted low enough, the body produces ketones which can be used as energy. A Look at the Diets Before we get into the pros and cons of each, let's take a closer look at what the diets are all about: The Paleo Diet -- The Paleo Diet is built around the belief that our Paleolithic-era ancestors ate much healthier than we did, as they consumed only food that they hunted or gathered. This means no dairy products, no grains, and certainly no refined foods! The diet is heavy on fish, meat, veggies, fruits, nuts, and seeds. The Ketogenic Diet -- The Ketogenic Diet is a diet that revolves around the "high-fat, low-carb" principle. This is intended to promote a better ketogenic (fat-burning) balance in the body. The diet is founded on the concept that the human body burns carbs as its primary energy source, but it can also burn fat. By changing up your diet, you consume foods that encourage your body to burn fat for fuel instead of carbs. This makes it easier for your body to Continue reading >>
Low Carb Diets: What’s The Difference Between Keto, Paleo, And Whole30?
I wish that my 90s teenage self could see the diet trends of today. SHE WOULD DIE. My diets back then (you know, when I didn’t NEED a diet but thought I did) were fat free. Like: totally. Today’s low-carb (often high fat diets) would have seemed like insanity. But even now it can seem crazy because there are so many low-carb-ish diets. So what’s the difference between Keto, Paleo, and Whole30? This post contains affiliate links! This means at no extra cost to use, purchases made after clicking through a link may result in a commission to me. What’s the Difference Between Keto, Paleo, and Whole30? There are a ton of other kinds of diets that are in this sort of realm, but I keep hearing about these three lately. Everyone I know seems to be trying ONE of them. In my mind, they were all sort of jumbled up. So let’s clear up the confusion between keto, paleo, and Whole30! Keto or the Ketogenic Diet This has become a big one for our family as my husband has recently became involved with Pruvit, a company selling ketones. (More on that later.) I have several friends posting UNREAL photos online of how they’ve changed since trying keto. What’s the basic premise? Ketosis is the process wherein your body is using fat for energy, not carbohydrates. This means that your body will start fueling itself by burning up your fat storage. YES! More than just a low-carb diet, it is a HIGH FAT diet. This is really different than some of the other things I’ve tried (like South Beach or when I tried Nutrisystem a few years back) because often even those mostly-low-carb diets encourage low fat and are high in lean proteins like chicken breasts. Your body produces ketones when blood sugar is in short supply. Excess proteins can even be converted to blood sugar, which is why lea Continue reading >>
The Paleo Guide To Ketosis
Ketosis is a word that gets tossed around a lot within the Paleo community – to some, it’s a magical weight-loss formula, to others, it’s a way of life, and to others it’s just asking for adrenal fatigue. But understanding what ketosis really is (not just what it does), and the physical causes and consequences of a fat-fueled metabolism can help you make an informed decision about the best diet for your particular lifestyle, ketogenic or not. Ketosis is essentially a metabolic state in which the body primarily relies on fat for energy. Biologically, the human body is a very adaptable machine that can run on a variety of different fuels, but on a carb-heavy Western diet, the primary source of energy is glucose. If glucose is available, the body will use it first, since it’s the quickest to metabolize. So on the standard American diet, your metabolism will be primarily geared towards burning carbohydrates (glucose) for fuel. In ketosis, it’s just the opposite: the body primarily relies on ketones, rather than glucose. To understand how this works, it’s important to understand that some organs in the body (especially the brain) require a base amount of glucose to keep functioning. If your brain doesn’t get any glucose, you’ll die. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that you need glucose in the diet – your body is perfectly capable of meeting its glucose needs during an extended fast, a period of famine, or a long stretch of very minimal carbohydrate intake. There are two different ways to make this happen. First, you could break down the protein in your muscles and use that as fuel for your brain and liver. This isn’t ideal from an evolutionary standpoint though – when you’re experiencing a period of food shortage, you need to be strong and fast, Continue reading >>
Ketogenic Diet: How To Do It The Right Way!
It breaks my heart to hear the stories of patients who’ve been around the block two or three times with diets that don’t work. So, I really do wish I could stop you from spinning your wheels and feeling like you’re going to end up without support, without answers, and without success. Frankly, it doesn’t have to be this way. And, that’s why I’m here now. Watch this video on the topic: Or keep reading… I’m here to share as much knowledge and advice as I can with you and steer you away from diets and plans that just don’t work. Now, I’ve been asked quite a bit lately about a pretty popular diet – the ketogenic diet. And you know, the ketogenic diet has been around for quite some time. It gained a lot of notoriety when Dr. Atkins introduced it in the early seventies. And, Atkins revealed quite a bit of truth. But, there was one issue with his plan. Atkins just didn’t know that… Most people CAN’T actually get into ketosis. You see, there’s a wrong and right way to do it. Atkins didn’t really get it right. And the Paleo diets don’t actually get it right either. Why? A Paleo diet ISN’T ketogenic. Paleo diets rely heavily on animal proteins, but those proteins are converted into sugar through gluconeogenesis. It’s just not protein you should be relying on… Instead, you have to eat FAT. That’s right, f-a-t fat. That doesn’t mean “fattening” foods like grains and sugars. I’m talking about HEALTHY fats. Here’s what the breakdown should look like. 80% of your daily calories should be fats like avocado, avocado oil, coconut oil, MCT oil, red palm oil, or extra virgin olive oil Only 10% of your daily calories should be protein-based. That’s about 20 grams of protein a day – way less than the average american eats. The last 10% Continue reading >>
