Thanks to Danika Quinn and the folks at Healthradio.net.

Part 1

Part 2

Back with episode 43.  We are now recording these a few days before they post so they can be as relevant as possible so be patient if there is any lag time due to scheduling conflicts.

Here is the links that Robb mentinos regarding the Whole9 and their Whole30 “Change Your Life in 30 Days” program.

Show Topics:

1. Worried About Friend
2. Antioxidant Supplementation
3. Resources for Diabetics
4. Soy, Grains, & Dairy
5. Antihistamines
6. Supplements
7. Seafood while Pregnant
8. Losing Fat, but Not Gaining Muscle
9. PWO Nutrition
10. Eleuthero

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_43

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 43

Just wanted to let folks know I’ll be interviewed by Sean Croxton of Underground Wellness. This is a live call-in show that is airing this Wednsday, September 1st at 5pm PST. The call in number is 347-237-5608. You can find that number and show information here.

I’d love for folks to call in obviously, but I’d also like folks to post questions for Sean to ask me during the show. Just post those to the comments and if it looks interesting I’m sure Sean will give it a shot.

Check out the September edition of the Performance Menu! The PM was kind enough to feature a chapter of the Paleo Solution. If you are not a subscriber to this outstanding publication, now is a good time to jump in!

Thank you so much to the folks who attended the PSS wing-ding this weekend! Also a huge thank you to the folks at Team CrossFit Academy. They run an outstanding program that includes Olympic weightlifting, CrossFit, competitive endurance teams and a remarkable number of community outreach programs. They are true strength & conditioning professionals…this is what they do for a living and it shows in their programs.

Next stop:

Brooklyn, NY!!

Paleolithic Solution Seminar: Team CrossFit Academy!

]]> http://robbwolf.com/2010/08/29/paleolithic-solution-seminar-team-crossfit-academy-monrovia-ca/feed/ 18 http://robbwolf.com/2010/08/25/paleo-solution-video-introduction-to-the-book/ http://robbwolf.com/2010/08/25/paleo-solution-video-introduction-to-the-book/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 04:55:50 +0000 Robb Wolf http://robbwolf.com/?p=1994

Hey there!

I wanted to let folks know about my Amazon author page which will be another location to find book signing info. I’m still getting it populated with material but I’ll also have the video linked below on that page. Feel free to ship the video around, post it to your blog or if you are a T-nation reader throw darts at it! Thank you to PetersonProVideo for the great work on the video.

Back with Episode 42 or the answer to life, the universe and everything.  Enjoy!

Show Topics:

1. Intensity in the Long-Term
2. Undereating
3. Robb’s Training
4. Nutrition for Elites
5. Fasting
6. Wheat vs Barley
7. Fuel for Moutainering
8. Tyrosine
9. Long-term Training
10. More Carbs in Summer?

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_42

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 42

My friends at Elite MMA will help one lucky cave-dweller get in better shape. Here is how it works:

If you pre-order the Paleo Solution in the next four days (deadline is Friday, August 27th at 8am PST) you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a free Everlast Nevatear punching bag.

Don’t have a place in your cave or apartment to hang up a bag? Get
$100 in store credit instead.

Already pre-ordered? You’re eligible too. Folks just need to put your order number in the comments and we’ll randomly pick a winner.

Shipping is included. US only.

Your email is not displayed on my site but we will need to contact you if you want to win the bag, so I’m assuming the winner is ok with me giving Elite MMA the email address!

Are you into Paleo-shenanigans, seminars and well-coifed presenters? If so you GOTTA check out the Whole9 Workshop.  Melissa and Dallas have condensed their knowledge and experience into a beginning and advanced seminar. if you get a chance to attend do it.

Hey everybody! Just wanted to do a little update on what we have cooking for the Paleolithic Solution Seminar and the Paleo Solution book signing tour. The currently scheduled Seminars are:

Aug 28-Monrovia, CA

Sept  4-Brooklynn, NY

Sept 11-Atlanta, GA

Oct 9-Hellerup, Denmark

We will likely have 1-2 more seminars added to the list before the end of the year.

Book signings we have cooking thus far:

Sept 14-Book Release Signing in Ramsey, NJ

Sept 18-Book Release Party in NY City sponsored by John Durant and the NYC Paleo Meetup. Details to follow on this event but it will be FUN!

Sept 21- Lyon’s Books in Chico, CA

Now here is the general flow: We will wrap up the Sept 11 PSS in Atlanta and then head to Ramsey, NJ for the official book release on Sept 14. We will then bounce around the east coast doing book signings every day until the roof-top release party in Ney York on Sept 18^th. We will then fly home, spend a day or two doing laundry and playing with Keystone and then kick off the west coast signings in Chico and then work our way down California. The California chunk of the tour will last until ~ Oct 1. Then we will come home, do laundry (play with the cat) and then head to Denmark.

In all likelihood we will hit the central states, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand early in 2011. We have also had big requests/pre-orders in Japan so we will likely try to hit there at some point.

I will have book signing hours, street addresses and more details in a few days.

How can you guys help?

I’m used to being the “helper” so this is a little tough for me…but I REALLY need ya’alls help. I have some specific ideas that I will throw out later but here are a few for now:

1-Timed purchases. If you want to pre-order the book, try to make the purchase between 6-7PM PST and 6-7AM PST. This can boost the book to the top of Amazon’s ranking which drags it onto the front page. It’s like jumping into a slip-stream and it really ramps up further sales.

2-Multiple purchases. If you are buying more than 1 book (thank you for buying any)  if you buy those books in separate purchases it registers each book. If you buy 10 books in one purchase, it only registers as 1 book.

3-Media. If you have contact with local TV, newspaper or radio, help me to get on these mediums. When we release the signing schedule you can see if you are near the locations. If so, and if you have some pull with media, let me know (via the contact page) and we will do our best to get some air-time. My publisher is working on this as well but it’s far more effective if we know someone who knows someone.

Ok, more to follow! Thank you in advance for the help and support!

Paleo-Shenanigans!

Back with episode 41 – we recorded this way too early in the morning so please bear with our grogginess! Here is a link to the Raja’s Cup that we mentioned during the show.

Show Topcis:

1. Maca
2. Healthy Mass Gain
3. Skinny-Fat Ectomorph
4. Estradiol
5. Importance of Dense Protein Sources
6. Mike Mentzer / Arthur Jones
7. Maintain Healthy Testosterone Levels
8. Paleo for Figure Athletes
9. Swollen Feet / Enlarged Spleen
10. Mountain Sports

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_41

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 41

If you are in the Central US on Sunday, September 19th you MUST check out Prof. Loren Cordain’s talk at Pike’s Peak Crossfit. Paleo Shenanigans will run from 12:00-4:00pm and will cover:

1) The Origins and Evolution of the Western Diet: Health Implications for the 21st Century

2) Implementing the Paleo Diet with Contemporary Foods.

Theory, application…what more can you ask for?! Sign up here and be ready to learn about the most effective nutritional approach known, from the researcher who launched the revolution.

Folks tend to over complicate cooking. Have some good, basic ingredients on hand and keep it simple. This meal was delicious and easy as can be. I browned some grass fed ground beef in a pan with some diced green onions.  I put about 8oz of this into a bowl, toped the meat with 2 heirloom tomatoes from the farmers market and garnished the whole thing with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Total cooking time: about 7 min. Now it’s time to back squat, power clean and work some Thai boxing.

We officially hit the big 4-0! Almost halfway to a 100.  Enjoy!

Show Topics:

1. Diverticulitis
2. Birth Control
3. Fructose Intake
4. Rancid Fish Oil
5. Lean Meats?
6. Transdermal Magnesium
7. High Protein Intake
8. IF Plus Caloric Restriction
9. Blood Glucose Readings
10. Mitochondrial Redox

Show Notes: The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_40

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 40

Woot! thank you to everyone who came out for the Seminar today at CrossFit Oakland! A huge thank you to Mike, Connie, Moses, Candace and Sam from CF Oakland for hosting the event. CF Oakland is another outstanding gym with fantastic programing, coaching and culture. I always love going there.

Next stop: Team CrossFit Academy in Monrovia, CA!

Holy Cats! We will be hanging with the kids from CrossFit South Brooklyn on Saturday, Sept 4th,  from 9 am to 5pm. I LOVE this area of New York and it’s always great to see the folks at CFSB. They have an outstanding program that is constantly evolving and improving.

Sign up for the seminar here and check out the product of some of the outstanding coaching that goes on in this gym:

Dead Lift 245kg (540lbs) from Paulie T-Shirts on Vimeo.

We will be back on the road much more in the months to come. Seminars, book signings and other Paleo-Shenanigans!

If you are in New York (or there about) on Wed August 11th you need to peel your shoes off and RUN!

John Durant and Born to Run Author Christopher McDougal have organized an 8 mile run that even my endurance-adverse-self would go for. This event is barefoot running oriented, but everyone is invited to participate.

Thank you to everyone who came out last week and especially thank you to the folks at Potomac CrossFit for hosting this event. Folks came armed with a tone of questions and it was a fun day. The gluten-free beer that night certainly helped!

The book is finally DONE! It’s off to the printer and we are planning book signings, media events and a whole host of shenanigans to promote the book. I’ve historically tried to be “low sell” and just let my work ride on whatever value it brings to folks. Well…over the next several months I will be in “shameless self promotion mode”. I’m going to ask for help from all of you in various ways to help get the word out about the book. I can honestly say I am very proud of the finished product and it is better than I thought I could do. Not being cocky here, I’m honestly impressed with how it turned out, hopefully y’all are as well. We have some strategies for bumping the Paleo Solution up the standings when it is released and I’ll roll those ideas out pretty soon.

WoooHO! We are headed back to one of my favorite cities: Atlanta, GA for another Paleolithic Solution Seminar. We will be at BTB Fitness unleashing a flash-flood of pseudo-science Saturday, Sept 11 from 9 am to 5pm.

Sign up here and check out the great Piece that CNN did on one of the best gyms around:

Update: We had some technical difficulties with this episode, but they should be fixed now.  For iTunes users you will need to delete the old episode and then update your podcasts again to get the new version.

Back with episode 39.  Robb gives us some additional thoughts on his MovNat experience and we also discuss the Crossfit Games. Here is that blog post I mentioned from Dr. Eades regarding the China study. Enjoy!

Show Topics:

1. Liquid Food
2. Now Super Enzymes
3. ELISA Method
4. Studies Regarding Meat Consumption
5. Jujube
6. Impact of Cheat Days Long Term
7. Insomnia
8. Iron Absorbtion
9. ZMA
10. Post-Surgery Nutrtion
11. Xanthan Gum

Show Notes: The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_39

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 39

Here is episode 38 for your enjoyment. Here is link for the Whole30 program version 2.0 that we discussed during the episode.

Show Topics:

1. Injury Recovery
2. Quinoa / Optimal Fitness for BJJ
3. Cocoa
4. Krill Oil / Sweet Potatoes
5. Ketosis
6. Cheat Days
7. Follow-up from Christina
8. Wheatgrass Juice
9. Stomach Pain
10. Protein / Scoliosis
11. Cyclical Ketogenic Diet

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_38

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 38

Hey there, wanted to pass along the second interview by Kevin and Wes from Healthy Mind Fit Body, thanks again guys!

Also an FYI: The Arlington gig this weekend is sold out. We have several other locations for future events rolling out soon. Possibly even a combined Lalonde/Wolf gig. The world will never be the same.

And wrapping things up here is another photo from the MovNat Expansion Course. This one shows Bryan mid flight in some no-hands rock climbing. I managed this course with 2 fouls: one elbow 1 finger touch. It’s a lot steeper and longer than the photo indicates!

We got to bed late last night and were up early this morning. No breakfast but we did brew up some stout cups of Yerba Mate to clear the fog and get us ready for our final day’s challenge. We started off retesting our first day movement standards and everyone smoked their previous performance despite significant fatigue, bumps and bruises. After the retesting we spent about an hour working more self-defense concepts. This session focused on how to protect yourself if you should fall during a fight and how to safely stand back up if you should find yourself in this unfortunate situation. We practiced drills that were safe but were very demanding. After a brief break to grab water and we embarked on an hour and twenty-five minute odyssey through the forest. We jumped, climbed ran, crawled, lept and mud-bogged. I’ll be honest, elements of it were scary, painful and very hard but it was all good. I made it through because of camaraderie and coaching.

I’m not going into too much detail about this so future participants have a similar experience as I did, but I can tell you it is hard, but fun. It’s kinda funny but many people I told about this event related that it sounded a little crazy. Stomping around the woods in West Virginia, climbing trees and carrying logs to name only a few of the events. With the perspective of having finished the Expansion Course I’d have to admit these people were right in characterizing it as “crazy” but I would also say that a life without a little insanity, without a challenge that makes you seriously question if you can (or should) complete it…A life without these elements, at least occasionally is likely boring to the point of tears. I went into this event looking for more tricks to make me a better coach and athlete and I found these aplenty. I did not expect to be mentally and physically challenged in a way that I’ve never experienced. I have a feeling I will be a better person and coach because of this week.

BTW-If you are planning on the December course in Thailand, I’ll see you there.

I wanted to mention Erwan’s presentation from last night as I put up the day 3 blog post before I saw it. The topic was human metabolism and it focused on the interplay of hormones such as insulin and growth hormone in performance,  health and disease. For me it’s refreshing to arrive at an event like the Expansion Course and not only get coaching that immediately improves my performance, but to also see a presentation on a subject near to my heart (paleo nutrition) and see it presented not only accurately, but well. Even with the French accent!!

This morning started slowly. We are all pretty sore and tired but another sturdy breakfast, some green tea and mobility work got us going. We started off with more balance work that built up to jumps and lands, this time focusing on split leg jumps instead of feet together jumps. I am frankly stunned with the progress I’ve made. I started off the course unable to effectively jump and land even the shortest gaps (about 4 feet) but progressed today to the second largest gap that was about 7 feet. And I stuck about 80% of the jumps. I am excited to tinker with this when I get home and keep developing this capacity. We worked on this skill until we saw consistent form breakdown. Then we stopped. Most smart coaches realize that driving or allowing trainees to continue to “rep-out” under fatigue and form degradation is just a recipe for subpar performance and increased injury potential.

So, once we saw an obvious decrease in performance in the jumps we worked an entirely different modality, in this case more climbing. This session focused on what to do once you are on top of a bar or other structure after performing a muscle-up or similar technique. We worked some challenging positions that would bring hands and feet on top of the bar…essentially in a position to then vault off the top. It was fun but certainly challenged my unease with heights. We had a quick lunch (and a nap) and then headed to the lake for some swim practice. Now this was not technical swimming, but rather techniques in free diving and how to locate and rescue someone under water. Our deepest dive was a little over 20 feet and for the drowning victim we had to start on the rocks above the water (about 7 feet high) swim out about 50 feet, dive down and collect either Erwan or Vic from bottom of the lake at about 10 feet of depth. It was intense, practical and fun. It is remarkable how much material is covered in this course, I’ll try to do a more thorough wrap up in a few days after our final challenge tomorrow. We wrapped up the lake session by climbing to the top of an amazing look-out where we enjoyed the scene and collected wild blueberries. We just had a huge dinner and are getting ready for a presentation by Erwan on Intermittent Fasting and I might give a quick overview of medical conditions improved by paleo nutrition.

Today started…a little late. Everyone is fairly beat up from training so we slept in until about 8:30 and then fixed an epic breakfast to fuel us through the day. After breakfast we did a very low intensity warm-up/mobility session. This was performed on the grass, in the sun and it worked the aches and pains out of my limbs remarkably well. From here we practiced more climbing, focusing on hip over’s as a means of efficiently gaining access to the top of things like a limb, bar awning. I’ve tinkered with this move in the past and felt pretty strong on this but we looked at some great ways to isolate pieces of this movement to improve performance. Some folks need some explosive pull-ups, others some integrated trunk strength but everyone found a way to tinker the move to improve performance.

Then we moved to jumping. Again. If you recall from I was feeling pretty good about the jump and lands from yesterday but this was from a moderate height to a platform beneath. Today we worked on jumping from one board to another…and I was really struggling with the move. I thought from yesterday’s improvements I’d see some improvements from my day 1 performance, but it was initially not much better. Then we did something that “should” have made the move harder: Jumping from a deep squat position, heels raised on the balls of the feet. For whatever reason, when I trained this I stuck virtually every jump. Erwan suspects that the amount of Olifting and plyometrics I’ve done has set up a reflex arc that makes it hard for me to jump and then comfortably land. This makes sense and it was nice to find a way to modify the movement such that I saw immediate progress.

We then took a field trip to a river and put that jumping to work in an alive natural setting. Erwan had several locations with rocks that were further and further apart. We had a spotter in the water in case anyone came up short but it was an impressive display all the way around. After we jumped ourselves out we did some open water swimming in a very cold river! Shrinkage was not optional! We worked with some rock climbing to get out of the water which turned into finding  a few routes that lent themselves to climbing with feet only.

We stopped at a public playground on the way back to the camp and had a ton of fun putting together potential workouts on the equipment. I will be terrorizing the kids in our neighborhood as soon as I get home! We were all knackered at this point but we had one more module led by Erwan’s assistant coach, Vic. Vic is a former French commando and has an extensive martial arts and strength & conditioning background. Vic covered some basic self defense concepts and drills that were outstanding and very applicable.

Now we are cooking dinner…then I am going to bed!

To give context to a rather interesting breakthrough I had today I need to mention one of the movement screens we did first thing yesterday. In addition to hanging and squat mobility we performed a simple jump and land exercise that involved jumping from a 2”x4” piece of wood to another piece. The distance between the boards ranged from 2 to 6 feet. I had a hell of a time with this exercise yesterday. I would land squarely on the board…and bounce off. I have performed exercise like this in the past and was pretty good at this, even with a running start. Not yesterday, I sucked. I’m pretty sure this was an outgrowth of ankle injuries I’ve have and some wickedly tight hips from writing the book. Much of yesterday was spent doing, for lack of a better term, balance beam work. Walking forward, backwards, squatting, hopping, turning around, crawling on all fours…we did a ton of work. It was hard and it required an enormous amount of focus and attention and perception…in my feet (keep in mind this is all going down barefoot). Keep this in mind.

So, today we warmed up with a rapid session on the balance beam and then transitioned into a ton of macro-climbing. We looked at how to get on top of about any object. If the muscle-up was tough/impressive to you there is a whole other world of efficient climbing awaiting you. We then did a couplet of log-clean and jerks + a muscle up variant on tree branches that are 4-6 inches in diameter. Really nasty on the grip, especially given it was raining buckets on us! We rested a bit and then did another workout that built on concepts we played with regarding lifting odd objects, walking on a balance beam and jumping off an object and sticking a landing on a small surface. This is what I was struggling with yesterday, but with some coaching and I believe the proprioceptive work from yesterday, I was spot on. The wood we were jumping to was wet, and muddy. As were our feet so this was NOT an easy exercise…but my body was responding completely differently than the previous day, and this while doing a far more challenging drill. I’m impressed.

The training is challenging but it differs markedly to other systems I’ve trained in that movement quality is paramount. There is no 20% slop. Capacity is built from volume and intensity layered upon technical movement. It’s fun and safe.

We wrapped up the day by hiking down to the lake (about 4 miles), swimming and just having fun. We ran most of the way back (uphill both ways?!) and wrapped dup with an epic dinner: Ribs, yams, veggies. It was awesome. Erwan gave a presentation on Paleo Nutrition that was spot on, very impressed. The man knows his stuff. Here are a few pictures from today. Apologies for the disjointed reports as I have little time between sessions to get this out.

MovNat Day 1-Tuesday

Richard did a fantastic review of the MovNat Awakening course he attended, make sure to check it out. I’ll try to not be too redundant but the Expansion course is similar in content to the Awakening course, so this is inevitable to some degree.

We kicked the day off with a hearty breakfast (eggs, bacon (gracias a Dio!)) and a nice salad. This after a full nights sleep that I think was really needed by several of the attendees, myself included. International travelers, and wacky travel happenings left several of us with less than adequate sleep on Monday when we arrived. We have people from Australia, Canada, the UK and the US.

We had some dodgy weather with cloud-bursts intermittently so today was a little easier than it typically is but it still contained plenty of content. We were assessed via a movement screen that covered all the planes of movement. We then took a crack at various tasks using only our own technique. Erwan explained that we would cover technical details later so we could compare our proficiency after coaching. Before we covered the technique Erwan put us through a session exploring “Perception”. This information would be so valuable to coaches and trainers and the folks in their care. Using various exercises we were able to get people aware of points of contact between themselves and the environment. This applies to everything from climbing to running to lifting logs. People that I would call “natural athletes” intuitively understand these concepts but some of these drill seem like a fantastic way to help people train and improve their natural abilities. I’m pretty excited about this and will be tinkering with it a ton when I get home.

More Tomorrow.

Back with episode 37.  We actually survived an entire episode without Robb making fun of my beard!

Show Topics:

1. Paleo & OCD
2. Coconut Water
3. Apple Cinnamon & Coconut Custard
4. Feeling Light Headed & Fatigued
5. Natural Hormonal Enhancement
6. Define Your Goals
7. Ankylosing Spondylitis
8. Differences for Women
9. Infertility
10. Menopause
11. Gluten Avoidance
12. Building Layers, Peaking Phases, & Periodization

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_37

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 37

Sooo many trips to San Francisco International Airport, so few food options. At least seemingly. I have made good use of the baked 1/2 chicken in the past but I wanted something different and went for a sashimi plate. tuna, salmon, cod (I think) ginger, wasabi and pickled cucumbers. I added an avocado and it was both filling and yummy.

After a Red-Eye from San Francisco to Washington, then a short flight to Charleston West Virginia I had some time to kill before I’d be picked up for the MovNat Expansion course. Nothing occupies one’s attention like eating ribs and luckily there was a Chili’s nearby so I sat down and did some damage. You may not know this but Chili’s and Outback SteakHouse have gluten free menus. This is a real boon for me when I’m on the road as I am inevitably sleep deprived (like now) and this seems to worsen my gluten sensitivity.

So I’m seriously sleep deprived but well fed for the MovNat gig.

Just so y’all know I have archived close to 150 articles I’m planning on working into blog posts. Now that the book is nearly complete I can start working on the blog more than just the podcast.

We ARE updating the site and will have the seminars more prominently featured. I receive quite a number of emails from folks asking when the next event is so it’s obviously not easy to find in it’s current location.

]]> http://robbwolf.com/2010/07/19/the-road-forager-sushi-to-ribs/feed/ 9 http://robbwolf.com/2010/07/18/interview-healthy-mind-fit-body/ http://robbwolf.com/2010/07/18/interview-healthy-mind-fit-body/#comments Sun, 18 Jul 2010 16:07:17 +0000 Robb Wolf http://robbwolf.com/?p=1849

Howdy folks. I wanted to let you know about an interview I had at Healthy Mind, Fit Body. this is part 1, part 2 should go up later in the week. Thanks to Kevin and Wes for the great interview. Also, I’ll be at the MovNat expansion course until next Monday so the comments may not get much love for the next week.

Back with episode 36.  Here is the link that Robb mentioned regarding the nickel content of many foods. I also couldn’t resist posting the hilarious video of Tracy Anderson and Gwyneth Paltrow discussing Gwyneth’s work out regimen.

Show Topics:

1. Nickel Allergy
2. Hair Loss
3. Hot Sauce
4. A1C / Raised pulse, bp, adrenaline
5. Dairy Consumption
6. DHT
7. Saturated Fat from Animal Sources
8. What is Fitness?
9. Crossfit
10. Paleo Stomach Calming Foods / Runny Nose after Eating

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_36

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 36

Sorry for the re-post, but this is too important not to pass around. Free The Animal has an outstanding post on the misleading pile of dookie that is The China Study. Here is the original analysis that Richard is referring  to which was generated by Denise Minger.

If you recall, we funded a debate between T. Colin Campbell and Prof. Loren Cordain several years ago. Instead of addressing the topics raised in a mechanistic fashion typical of scientific debate, Campbell dismissed all of evolution in favor of a “holistic” approach to nutrition. It was odd.

Campbell’s position is indefensible from ideological positions and now we see that the science was largely cooked. This is a good day.

Protein Debate

The book editing is going great! If everything goes as planned we will ship the whole thing to the printer in about 10 days. this process has been both stressful and really rewarding. I am definitely looking forward to getting back to regular blog posts though.

I did take a break to do an interview with strength Coach Josh Henkin. Josh had some great questions and it was a fun time for me. You may not know this but our very own Andy Deas trained with Josh quite a bit when Andy still lived in Arizona. Josh is NOT the inspiration for Andy’s current beard!

Some of you might be familiar with Josh’s Sandbag training system. I had not used them until recently and really like them. We’ve started incorporating both prowlers and sandbags into classes and both the coaches and clients love/hate the additions. I’ve also found a nice way of using these tools to keep our training environment both fun and productive. For those of you not familiar with the structure at NorCal, we offer a beginners class (OnRamp), Elements, Level 1 and Level 2. We also have an Olympic weightlifting team. Most of the folks on the OL team still participate in our group fitness (crossfit-esque) classes. One of my conundrums has been “How do I keep the technical profeciency of our folks OL’ing “clean” when they see the same or similar OL movements in the general classes?” Now my concern stems from the fact that OL movements performed under fatigue are vastly different than those performed FOR OL’ing. I’m not saying one is inherently better, but if you want to get GOOD at OL’ing it’s my opinion you should avoid doing more crap reps (21, 15, 19 of cleans in a clean pull-up work out for example) than solid technical reps (10 x 1 cleans at 85% for the OL class).

It’s a simple motor learning issue:  The larger signal is what the nervous system imprints. Folks work hard in the OL class, go to the group fitness class and undue thier technical efforts when they start competing against the stop-watch and each other (this is a whole other blog post). Solution? Us implements like sand bags or dumbells which offer the same metabolic punch but are sufficiently different to not muddy the neurological waters. This combination offers a nice middle ground between keeping an eye on our folks technical proficiency, while also keeping the classes fun and interesting.

Hey folks, just wanted to let y’all know that Everyday Paleo is having some server issues that will likely take a few days to hammer out. Sarah will be back posting as soon as that’s resolved.

Back with Episode 35 for your enjoyment.

Show Topics:

1. Fermented Foods / Cheese
2. Ketosis
3. Too Much Coconut Milk?
4. Post Workout Foods
5. Fish Oil
6. MMA Athlete on Paleo
7. Intestinal Noises
8. Mass Gain & Acne
9. Fish Oil Calories
10. Mass Gain

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_35

The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_35

If you want to sacrifice a little of your life and tune into Entertainment Tonight at 7PM PST you “might” see some folks you recognize besides A-list TV stars. Possibly food geeks and football players. Depends on what hit the cutting room floor. Also, on Thursday and Friday you can pick up a copy of Life and Style Magazine with the same potential. That’s all I can say about it right now, I’ll be able to flesh things out a little later.

Update: Here is a video.

We are taking Paleo shenanigans international! We will be at Welcome Fitness in Hellerup, Denmark on Saturday, October 9th 2010 from 9am to 5pm. Sign up here and come drink some cider with us.

We are planning the book tour right now and it is unclear if this will be the beginning of a European leg of the tour, or if we will return later in the year or in 2011.

Here is Episode 34 for your enjoyment.

Show Topics:

1. Digestive Issues / Stubborn Midsection Fat / Muscle Freezing
2. Post-Binge
3. No Changes Allowed?
4. Resistant Starch Follow-Up
5. Raw Eggs
6. Insulin Injections
7. Ammonia Smelling Sweat
8. Constant Sore Throat
9. Bananas
10. Vaccinations

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_34

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 34

Here is Episode 33 – this may be the longest episode to date.  Here is the link to the post from Dr. Harris that Robb mentioned during the episode.

Show Topics:

1. Hashimoto’s Disease
2. Nut Allergies
3. Running Hot
4. Training for the Next Year
5. Pre-Workout Nutrition
6. Hepatitis B
7. Adrenal Fatigue
8. Legumes / Vegan Diet
9. Kidney Stones
10. Body Fat Measurement
11. Training A Crossfit Games Athlete

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_33

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 33

A HUGE thank you to Ehayes for this comment. It was too good not to share as it touches on the demands of shift work, heightened need for dialed nutrition, and a real need to be flexible with training. Ego driven, non-adaptive training will get anyone overtrained or injured, but the process happens much more quickly in the shift worker:

My personal experience as a Firefighter, my wife Emergency Nurse and dedicated Paleo listener, Crossfit games competitor, no kids at home yet. This is in response to the LEO and many other podcasts topics concerning shift work people.
Robb is right on the money with maintaining consistency in an otherwise chaotic schedule. My advice:
You must be more strict on Paleo than your friends.
Your training must be flexible, but the goal and program has to be more focused. Your day to day energy is never quite the same as the last.
Intermittent Fasting comes naturally when getting a call at lunch or dinner time, but never planned.
Don’t be afraid of an extra rest day. It is better than adding insult to injury.

My schedule is every other day, 24 hr shifts, after 3 worked shifts, 4 days off. That works out to sleeping at work 1/3 of my life. While at work, if I sleep, I float between 7 fire station thus sleeping in a different old creaky bed most nights. I unplug all electronics in every room because they all have the common comforts that should not exist in a bedroom; t.v., internet, radio etc….There is always a chance of being woken up, therefore the sleep is absolutely never as good as being home. Limit one cup of coffee, because the potential to drinks 10 cups on certain days is not out the question. Just an example of necessary parameters I need for consistency.

On to the point.

Paleo IS nutritional consistency. As shift work folks, it has to be tighter compliance because the symtpoms of non compliance plus bad sleep are worse.

My wife is gluten intolerant. When she worked 3am-3pm, an accidental gluten ingestion was worse than when she is on a 7am-3pm and getting 8 hours of sleep vs. 5 hrs sleep. Also, symptoms of hypothyroid were subtle, but enough to question without diagnostic tests taken. Allergies were worse and on and on. On day shift, these symptoms are not present. She can choose to work day shift, which is great, bu those who cannot need a tighter diet to maintain normalcy, in my experience. As for me, no outward signs of gluten intolerance here, but Paleo has made days after a bad shift that much more tolerable. Thanks for that.

Training
My goal- Strength is #1
You need to be able to work on your goal wherever you are. If you can’t consistently work on your goal you will not achieve it. Pick something achievable, with a defined track to get there and crush it.
CF Football Strength never miss and METCON only when I can- Strength is not always on the correct day and not always recommended loads. Loads are easily adjusted for tired days but the ROM is still there. I get PRs when I feel good. I can do strength at work or off work. The point is, goal is consistent, load is flexible and I make progress. Met Cons only when I feel good. Of course I practice gymnastics, sprints, etc… when I feel good, but they are 75% efforts. 100% efforts on rarely practiced movements equals injury.
I have tried jumping between CF Football, OPT, and others at the same time. It is a road to nowhere and for me injury. What if you feel great but its a light day or you feel bad but its a triple day. How can choose what to do? They all have different goals. It just doesn’t work. And training tired does not translate into better production while being tired at work, it leads to injury.
My rotation works on a 9 day cycle. Not a single online workout program exactly fits into my schedule. Pick one that you CAN follow, do it on the days that work for you. Stick with it for 3-6 months minimum. Make progress
In the case of Shift Work, less is more and simple is better, in my experience.

I just wanted to let folks know about a project Yael has been working on: In Your Corner. Yael has been writing on a number of topics the past…almost 6 years I have known her. She LOVES MMA, nutrition and writing and has been a HUGE help in editing my book. If you are in the MMA business I highly recommend you check out this book. I did a brief section that was included in the project.

Thanks to Kevin for the fun Interview!

Back with Episode 32 – Enjoy!  Here is the link to the study of the effects of fish oil on Warafin therapy.

We are recording these episodes a few weeks in advance to help stay ahead of Robb’s book writing commitments.  In this episode we talk about the some feedback we received about the Vitamin A debate from episode 28 and the fact that Robb was working on a written follow-up to that debate.  Robb posted his follow-up to that topic a few weeks before this episode posted – you can check it out here.

Show Topics:

1. Lack of Sleep
2. Best Way to Train for LEO
3. Lack of Menstrual Cycle
4. Dried Fruits
5. Warafin
6. Cholesterol
7. Extra Skin
8. Fish Oil Dosage
9. Traveling / Multiple Sclerosis
10. Vitamin A Debate

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_32

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 32

I’ll be attending the MovNat Expansion course July 20-24 in West Virginia. I am SERIOUSLY jazzed for this as the book will be off to the printer and I will get to be a student again.

I recently started doing BJJ again. Jits and the MovNat course are my treats to myself for working on the book and reinvesting in my learning. I do a TON of coaching but it’s vital that I keep my horizons open and continue to learn and grow. Hopefully I’ll see some of y’all at this event.

Just wanted to let folks know about the next PIAT seminar. Seminar details here and sign up here.

My wife is back to helping people grow their businesses.

Check out Tasty Paleo! Social networking and recipes.

We will be at Team CrossFit Academy on August 28th from 9am to 5pm. Paleo-shenanigans are guaranteed. Sign up here.

We will be with Minium’s band of hooligans on Saturday, August 7th from 9 am to 5pm. Sign up here.

Check It Out!

Back with episode 31 – Enjoy!

Show Topics:

1. Resistant Starch
2. Coffee
3. Hypothyroidism
4. Omega 3 & Omega 6
5. Nuts
6. Gaining Muscle Mass
7. Zero Carb
8. Melanoma
9. Canned Fish
10. Eating Before Bedtime

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_31

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 31

It Rocked.

If you are in the Arlington area July 31st and want to geek-out on paleo goodness come spend the day with us at Potomac CrossFit! The show starts at 9am and wraps up at 5pm. Sign up here.

BTW-Still not sure why but the comments are disabled on these posts. If you have questions please post on a different thread.

THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT!

This Vitamin A, D and K issue  (VA, VD, VK from here on out) has gotten heated in a few circles. My recommendations on the topic have been based in large part on Prof. Cordain’s recommendations, and his thoughts were extensions of some work indicating a potential antagonistic action of VA against VD. This has created some kind of Cod Liver Oil Vs The World kinda scenario that I think is missing the point.

Let’s back up from this a minute and consider a few things:

1-Who are you? What are YOUR needs?

This is not some kind of existentialist question but more a question of health status. Many people entering into this whole Paleo-esque lifeway find they have significant levels of inflammation. Often evidenced by pain, swelling, overweight, allergies and sometimes more significant problems. Dietary recommendations focus on pushing out pro-inflammatory, gut irritating grains, legumes and diary in favor for meats, sea food, and seasonal fruits and veggies. Ideally, a solid NUTRITONAL base is formed and folks start looking, feeling and performing better almost immediately. In an effort to speed this process supplemental fish oil is often recommended to help folks cool the fires of inflammation via increased N-3 (Omega-3) fat intake. This is particularly important for people who have been quite sick, inflamed or who are overweight. The standard western diet unfortunately over emphasizes sources of short chain N-6 (Omega-6) which are pro-inflammatory. So folks may find themselves benefitting from taking rather large doses of fish oil. Like 20-30g of EPA/DHA per day for some folks, at leas initially. That’s a lot but it’s spot on for certain situations. Now, what type of N-3 source should one use? If you are a health educator, gym owner or other person who works with the public what makes the most sense to recommend in this situation? Many folks have contacted me on this VA/VD issue who seem to be BIG fans of the Weston Price Foundation. I like WPF, but I have some points of disagreement, but in large part I like what they have going on. Most of these folks through (WPF) recommend using cod liver oil (CLO) for supplemental N-3 as well as VA/VD. Well, let’s look at one of my favorite products, Carlson’s Cod Liver Oil. Now, from the nutrition info we see that a teaspoon of CLO provides 900mg of EPA/DHA, 800IU VA, 400 IU VD. So, in my example above, of a person new to all these concepts, who is trying to get healthy and is recommended they take CLO for their N-3 needs they will be ingesting more than 20-30x that single dose of VA/VD.

At 20g it’s 18,888 IU VA.

At 30g It’s 28,333 IU VA

Obviously the VD levels are ~half those the VA, ~9,000 and 13,500 respectively. Now this LOOKS like a whopping dose of VA, and it’s not shabby. Are there any toxicity issues here? Not likely. But it’s a hell of a dose that has no feedback control, unlike getting VA from carotenoids. Although the “Upper Limit” is set at ~10,000 IU this is for AVERAGE people. The folks who are taking this much fish oil are overweight and I’d wager have a pretty large buffering capacity to deal with that extra VA. As they lose weight and get healthier they will lower their dose and thus decrease intake of VA/VD. But are YOU comfortable with recommending a borderline toxic dose of VA? Do you recommend “some CLO” and “some fish oil”? What’s YOUR easiest, best, safest recommendation here?

A few studies seem to indicate VA might be antagonistic towards VD. In response to this information Cordain, myself and some other folks have recommended that perhaps one should supplement with fish oil and VD (ideally from sunlight), and leave the VA to production from carotenoids.

Many folks have said this approach is ineffective due to a “lack of conversion of carotenoids to VA”. There are studies that indicate a wide variance in absorption/conversion of carotenoids to VA, but no mechanism is described. A little digging shows (shockingly) that deficiencies in VA and VK might be best attributed to gut irritation ala celiac. Interestingly however celiacs appear to absorb carotenoids BETTER than VA when the gut is irritated. Not just this, but a TIGHT control mechanism is in place that immediately down-regulates the conversion of carotenoids to VA upon the ingestion of carotenoids. You folks who have dismissed carotenoid conversion to VA as being “negligible” have missed the boat. We would not have a mechanism in place such as this if the system did not require tight control. Also, you folks have made the point these carotenoids “need to be associated with fat”. Considering this is coming from the WPF corners I cannot believe one of y’all have considered the input of animal fat associated carotenoids. Keep in mind this is only considering Beta carotine, there are several other carotenoids that can convert to VA, and this is only considering the MEAT, not the rendered fat which would supply larger amounts of carotenoids. In simple terms, the only problem I see with VA production is if the gut is damaged. Keep this in mind.

Chris Masterjohn has written quite a bit on the VA/VD/VK topic and seems to indicate that this whole situation is remedied when we have a BALANCE of vitamins A, D, and K! Another interesting piece to the whole picture: Vit K absorption is highly dependant on gut health (primary sources are green leafy plants), as is the fermentive production of one of the VK variants. Bad gut health=bad VA, VK.

My how things get complex!!

So, what’s the take-home on all this?

Is VA a problem with VD? Well, it depends. I’d buy the position Masterjohn puts forward that a balance is necessary for these nutrients, but the REALLY important point here is the balance becomes ever more important as the DOSAGES INCREASE. Consider this:

If we take in large amounts of these fat-soluble vitamins we are “committed” down this course of action. Right ratios, wrong ratios, this is where we are going.  Did you balance you supplements correctly? Get the right amounts of VA,VD,VK? Are you SURE? Just asking.

By contrast however you cold get your VD as such:

Conversion of cholesterol to VD via UV light exposure. When your body has enough, it makes no more.

Your VA by:

Conversion of carotenoids to VA and again, when you body ahs enough, production halts.

Your VK:

Absorption from plants, fermentation from gut bacterial. Both are dependant on a healthy gut.

Now, I may be completely wrong here. Perhaps the superior way to get all this is via cod liver oil, but here is my seriously wacky position:

If you eat the bulk of your protein from grass fed/wild caught sources, eat seasonal veggies and fruits, get some sun on your skin, keep your gut healthy (no grains and legumes, limited diary) you do not NEED any supplements. If you have not noticed I tend to be very reticent to suggest much beyond fish oil, magnesium and a few odds and ends. There ARE studies suggesting large dose antioxidants and supplements are NOT good for you, so I’m trying to make the best recommendations I can while also maintaining some kind of integrity in all this. I could make a pretty good bit of money hawking supplements but I’m hard pressed to find need for them other than in specific situations.

After 4 days of reading studies, looking at metabolic pathways and trying to make sense of stuff I honestly am not that jazzed about, I don’t know that it really matters one way or the other. If your ducks are in a row I doubt cod liver oil (vitamin A) is going to be a problem, but then again, I’m hard pressed to find a legitimate argument FOR it. Until I see convincing evidence to change this I’m going to keep recommending a minimalist approach: Grass fed meats, loads of seasonal fruits and veggies and call it good.  Y’all can do what you want! The whole thing honestly boils down to this for me:

Hey there!

I’m fanny deep working on the Vit-A/D paper but wanted to let y’all know about Mat’s upcoming seminar at CrossFit Academy of Lions this Saturday June 5th. You can see Mat live (please, please…do NOT throw you panties at the guy) or you can see him via webinar. Now, regarding the webinar, I was given 2 webinar slots and here is what I’d like to do with those. The two people who make the largest donations to the documentary movie In Search of The Perfect Human Diet will receive a webinar slot, Acknowledgement in the movie credits if your donation is of sufficient level, see the Producers Level’s on the PHD site (this is a 5o13c project and thus tax-deductible to those in the US) AND I’m donating a 30 minute phone consult to the 2 folks who make the largest donations. We can do those either by phone or Skype. The deadline for this is Friday, June 4th at 12 noon PST!! So get donating!

I’ve meant to do a post on the PHD but am just buried, it is a fantastic project, you will see Prof. Cordain and many other heavy hitters in this Paleo/Primal arena. Please spread the word and DONATE!! I will be on the road so CJ Hunt and Dhani Oks will notify the winners directly. I will try to get that info up while traveling.

Robb survived Belize just in time for me to get him spun up in the final question of this week’s episode.  We lost internet connectivity at around the 1:04 mark so I edited out a few minutes of Robb and I trying to reconnect. Enjoy!

Show Topics:

1. Arachidonic Acid
2. Blood Glucose Levels
3. Low Platelet Value / Blood Lipid Profiles
4. Cortisol Release from Coffee vs. Exercise
5. Liquified Food Sources
6. Moutaineering Nutrition
7. Nuts or Fruit? / Digestive Enzymes
8. Rosacea
9. CF Athletes

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_30

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 30

I received the following comment from Jay Jack on the topic of Paleo/Primal fueling for a 50K run:

I know this doesn’t really belong on this thread, but, I don’t know where else to put it, and I thought someone might like it. Well, this was a my experiment. I decided to do a Palro/Primal Ultra (50k on trails).
I ate dead strict Paleo (w butter and heavy cream) 100% for 3 months before the race. Prior to that it was not that strict.
I trained for this by doing Crossfitesque work (more like CF Football), in addition to my doing BJJ/Muay Thai/MMA as I own an academy.
I did only one long run (should be called a speed hike as I hike all the hills, I only run the downs, and jog the flats) per week. Kept my heart rate under 75% on all long runs. I was also in VFFS for all runs and conditioning.
I did all my training runs fasted and using only coconut water.
I built up to a 20 miler as my last training run.
Race Day: ate eggs scrambled in bacon grease. coffee with pastured heavy cream. During the race I ate only these little energy balls made from a recipe in the Thrive Diet book made of coconut oil, dates, lime juice, and I added guarana for some extra kick. Drank only coconut water and regular water. Wore VFF treks. Kept an average heart rate of 76% (1 damn % higher than I wanted). finished in 8:12 (50k). Not setting records, but I’ve never done any race before. Not a 5k, nothing. So this was a TOTAL experiment.
It is possible to do an ultra without breaking any Paleo/Primal lifestyle parameters. Just felt like proving it. Why… no idea. Just decided I wanted to. I know people might bag on it, but I thought somebody may enjoy hearing about the success of it.
Now onto some other off the wall goal.

First, I wanted to thank Jay for sharing this. My best material is generated in response to questions and commentary from you folks so I am truly grateful when you share experiences and questions. I want to look at a few items that I emphasized above (underlined).

1-One long run per week.

Now, if you look at Jay’s schedule it’s pretty damn active: sprinting, lifting, short met-cons, MMA-Jits. I’m guessing he had 3-4 “running” sessions per week with the sprint work and met-cons, but then just 1 long run.

2-Kept my heart rate under 75% on all long runs.

This is an important issue for several reasons, but the main one being SPECIFICITY. Runs of this duration are NOT sprints. Can sprint work aid these efforts? Absolutely, but you MUST train how you want to PERFORM!! I really like Richard Gibbens ideas at Power Running. Basic ideas: Lift weights, sprint and run your race distance AT YOUR RACE PACE. Running 5K’s? If you want to be good, run’em fast & hard. Running 50K’s? If you want to FINISH you better game play that scenario (run some distance, figure out your pacing) and it might be helpful to show up rested and not overtrained.

3-I built up to a 20 Miler as my last training run.

Just more of the above. Race distance, race pace. Practice the specifics of YOUR event.

4-Kept my Heart rate at 76%.

Not only did he practice for a specific output, he actually DID that! Many people scrap the plan when game day arrives due to nerves and EGO. This is particularly important as we consider the next piece.

5- I’ve never done any race before. Not a 5k, nothing. So this was a TOTAL experiment.

BALSY! But not unreasonable. He had a plan, made things reasonable and stuck to to it. Now, I’ve focussed mainly on the training element, Jay tackled this more from the fueling perspective. The big concern for most folks attempting a long endurance event is how to do it “paleo/primal”. Well, you find the most concentrated food sources you can (in this case coconut oil and dates, some coconut water). I’d likely throw in some kind of jerky just to make sure branched chain amino acids are propped up, I might also throw in some extra sodium ( just a bit of sea salt) to make sure we do not get a hypo-natremic situation.

Follow-up questions:

1-Is this the BEST way to tackle the event? I don’t know. I really like products like Cytomax, they work great. But folks have simply asked the question “can you do events like this with ancestral foods?” and the answer is clearly, Yes, paleo foods work just fine.

2-Will Paleo produce ELEEEEEET performance? Uh…it will likely help, but as Floyd Landis has hopefully made clear, Eaton, Cordain and Lindeberg will have little influence on elite athletics compared to Upjohn, Merc and Phizer. Want to be a champion? Pick your parents wisely, get a solid pharmaceutical plan and train your fanny off. Paleo nutrition may indeed improve recovery enough to make a difference in the whole picture, but I’d tend to lean towards EPO and T-Gel as possibly more important!

Ok, off to the gym, I have  some serious work to do to catch up with these guys:

Back with Episode 29.  Per Robb’s request here again is the link to the ever famous “NorCal Nutrition: Are We Crazy” post.

Have a great week!

Show Topics:

1. Length of time to heal leaky gut? / Digestive enzymes / Inert supplement ingredients
2. Leaning out
3. Adrenal fatigue – Sodium intake / Meal frequency
4. Intermittent fasting
5. Nutrition sciences
6. Hard gainers
7. Greek yogurts / Probiotics / Stomach Cramps
8. Train like the animal you are?

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_29

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 29

Check out the genius that is The Welbourn.

Here is episode 28 for  your enjoyment!

Show Topics:

1. Experience with Adrenal Fatigue
2. Cod Liver Oil
3. Carb Intake & Cortisol Levels
4. Digestive Enzymes
5. Low Carb
6. Paleo Newbie
7. Fasting & Cortisol

Show Notes: The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_28

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 28

Hey folks, I have an internet connection so I wanted to let you know my interview with Jimmy More of Living La Vida Low Carb will go up May 24th. A huge thank you to Jimmy for the great interview, it was a huge honor to be a guest on one of the best known podcasts around.

Intermittent Fasting This is a pretty solid interview with EC on the topic of IF. Some folks have asked about some of the actual metabolic changes and mechanisms involved with IF, but my site is not allowed over there, so here is a link to the Intermittent Fasting collection I did several years ago. The first piece was published in July of 2005 and lays out the science behind IF, including the potential of increased lifespan, improved nutrient partitioning (calories go to muscle, not fat) and an enhanced neuro-endocrine response to exercise. The second piece expands on the science introduced in the original work and looks at some applications of IF, I believe Kurtis Bowler is featured in this.

After more than 7 years of thinking about and tinkering with IF it seems that it’s at best a good fit for 50% of folks. Any kind of sleep deficit or excessive stress will make IF ineffectual, possibly even detrimental. If you use the search function on this site you can find more commentary on the topic.

Hey everybody,

Just wanted to thank everyone who made it to the nutrition seminar at Raw CrossFit in lovely Penetanguishene on April 24th. We had a great crowd with some awesome questions that made me tweak and improve my seminar and delivery (I’m hoping this thing is going to get better every time. I feel  kinda bad for the guinea pig crowd in Montréal). Devin and Whitney have a really nice CrossFit box in a truly spectacular corner of Ontario. The area has some of the world’s longest and nicest fresh water beaches and makes an excellent vacation spot. Trust me, you’ll have a great place to work out if you end up going.

The hospitality of the entire Glage family was simply outstanding. I could not have asked for better hosts and I thank them for taking the time to show me around the area (local restaurants, beaches and all).

My pilgrimage, which ultimately leads to the OPT CCP, will next take me to CrossFit Academy of Lions in Toronto on June 5th. The seminar will be hosted in house as well as on the web. You can sign up for the seminar or webinar here: www.crossfitacademyoflions.com .

I just wanted to let folks know I will be traveling for about 12 days. First, some time at Catalyst Athletics (we are taking about 25 trainers and clients down for some OL), the we are headed to Belize. This is mainly a “good God, I’m almost finished with the book” trip but we have some interesting things lined up. More on that when I get back. Here is a link to a weather cam on Ambergris Caye where we will be staying. If I have solid internet I will get a few posts up, if not I will have several when I get back!

Hey Y’all! Here is a link to the interview I did on Rockstar Triathlete. Thank you to Ben and Kerry for having me on the show!

Back with Episode 27 – Enjoy!

Show Topics:

1. Post Nasal Drip
2. Cortisol & Carb Intake
3. Traveling Lifestyle
4. Fish Oil Dosage
5. Acne
6. Testosterone Therapy
7. Chicken
8. Summer Mass Gain
9. Bad Breath / Ketosis / Sleep Deprivation

Show Notes: The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_27

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 27

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of posts. I’m earlobe deep in book editing and not very damn good at multi-tasking. We are making good progress, the feedback from the book big-wigs is very positive with the exception they hated our initial attempts at a cover. Looks like it will be sweet and simple, not much paleo imagery. I guess we will save that for the new website. Sorry also for this grab-bag post, normally I’d like to make each of these topics a separate piece, but that’s just not going to happen.

John Durant

Not only were the Hoboken/Broklyn PSS seminars awesome, I also got to meet John Durant. You might remember John from this NY Times piece on the Paleo concept in NY. If you ever get a chance to ask John how the style piece came about it’s awesome! This initial piece led to John going on Colbert which lead to Paleo Vs. Vegan shenanigans. VEGAN=EPIC Fail.

The cool thing about John, aside from the fact he looks like a cave-man is his keen intellect. John is a thinker and an innovator and he is at the heart of this Paleo/Primal movement. What he is bringing to the forefront is not the “diet” element of this scene, although he is well versed in the exercise and nutritional underpinning of this stuff. John is a leader in the social aspects of this emergent life-way. Since the 1960’s if you talked about sustainability, health or social conscience the only alternative to the mainstream was vegetarianism. As books like the Vegetarian Myth have illustrated, this is a failed ideology that attempts to remove us from our place in nature. John has many ideas on these topics which I’m really looking forward to. Here is a photo of John eating a “Bottle Rocket” in Brooklyn. I think this was bacon wrapped around lamb. Mineral water to wash it down. Those were DAMN yummy!

MovNat/Erwan Le Corre

After meeting John Durant he put me in contact with MovNat founder Erwan Le Corre. I’ve only been able to email Erwan a few times but I’m looking forward to attending his seminars. Erwan is another person who is taking this Paleo/Primal concept beyond “just” the health and exercise considerations. Erwan reminds me of Ido in his ability to both synthesize and create. I’m very excited to learn more from him.

Interviews!

I’ll be on Jimmy Mores “Living La Vida Low Carb” on Friday, May 14 and I’ll be on the Rockstar Triathlete Wed May 12. I’ll get links to these shows as soon as I receive them.

This week we were joined by Dallas and Melissa from Whole9.  It was a blast having them on the show and we hope to have them back in the future.  Here is the blog post from Whole9 regarding the Paleo elevator pitch that we discussed during the last question.

Show Topics:

1. Fat Consumption
2. Cinnamon
3. Stevia
4. Bloating
5. Fish Oil Cost
6. Frozen Vegetables
7. Paleo Elevator Pitch

Show Notes: The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_26_The_Who

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 26

It’s always Sunny in Seattle! Well, maybe not but this weekend was damn fun! Thank you to everyone who came out this sunday and especially thank you to Dave and Nancy of Level 4/CrossFit Seattle. You guys have been great friends for a LONG time now and I’m really looking forward to the new projects we have cooking.

Back to working on the book!

Here is episode 25 for your enjoyment.  We had a couple recording hiccups so I had to edit out a few snippets of audio, but I was able to save all the content.  And for those who requested a picture here is the legendary Keystone Gato!

Show Topics

1. How the body uses fuel
2. 70s Big
3. Muscle soreness
4. Chronic constipation
5. Former endurance junkie
6. Blood work / Benecol
7. Ulcerative Colitis
8. Sleep
9. Extreme fatigue & Low heart rate

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_25

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 25

Well, some of you know this but we lost Amanda Miller on Friday of last week. I met Amanda at the CrossFit Games last year. I remember she had a fund raiser to get out to the event, if I recall correctly. Amanda contacted me last year and told me about her condition and asked if she could attend the CF Nutrition gig I was doing at CF Marina. We got to hang out a bit that day and I started working with her, trying everything I could think of. OPT and his doc also kindly contributed ideas and time.

Amanda WORKED. She did everything suggested to her and never complained, never showed a bit of fear. I know myself pretty well, and I am a coward compared to this girl. Craven. Amanda…she knew EXACTLY what she was up against. She had no pie-in-the-sky self deception going on. She was simply NOT going to give up.

The type of Melanoma she had is nasty. It does not respond to ketosis, vit-d, or calorie restriction nor conventional therapies.

I did not find out about Amanda till this morning. it was a beautiful day in Chico and I was at the gym training. Chrissy came around the corner and I could tell she was not happy. She told me about Amanda and I was just numb. All I could do was cry. I know Amanda would call me a pussy for belly-aching and carrying on. Sorry kiddo, you were a lot stronger than me.

CrossFit Ventura had a post on Amanda, Check it out.

Back with episode 24 – The second one since I’ve given up caffeine.  Energy levels are up, but still adjusting to life without caffeine.  I also watched “The Boondock Saints 2″ prior to recording this episode which resulted in 2 hours of my life I’ll never get back.

Show Topics -

1. PWO Meals & Jits
2. Depression
3. Energy Drinks / Adrenal Fatigue
4. Nightshades
5. Gut Flora
6. Sun Warrior Protein Powder
7. PUFAs
8. Type 1 Diabetic & Level of Training
9. Mass Gain Alternatives

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_24

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 24

Robb and I thought it was about time to let someone else join our weekly psuedoscience party and what better way than by having Dallas and Melissa of Whole9 fame join us on an upcoming podcast episode.

Robb and I generally fly by the seat of our pants, but Dallas and Melissa are a bit more organized so we will be recording this episode on April 28th and it will be posted on Tuesday, May 4th.  They posted a nice write-up on their blog explaining how to improve your odds of having your question selected for the show.  If you have a specific question that you would like Dallas and Melissa’s input on please send your questions along to   andy (at) norcalsc dot com, with the subject line “Paleolithic Solution Podcast Question – Whole9 Episode One.” Cut-off for questions is Sunday, April 25th, so get your emails in before the deadline for consideration.

I really do need to Sexify my blog titles like Dr. Harris does! Ok, This needs to be a quiky but I’ve been deluged with this question of late and I want a singular place to address it. The question? “Will my kids “miss anything” nutritionally with a Paleo diet?”

Great question and this really gets right at the brass-tacks of how the paleo concept stacks up against other nutritional approaches.

Before we get to that let’s look at this issue of feeding kiddos. As a conscientious parent, one would assume you would want to feed your child the “best” you can, right? Make sure they get all the building blocks for brain development, bones, strong immune function etc. This is the concern surrounding paleo-kids on the part of parents, dietitians and physicians: Without grains, legumes and diary our children will be horribly stunted and unhealthy.

This is what we will call our Null-Hypothesis: Without Neolithic foods (breads, grains, dairy, etc.) our children will receive inadequate nutrition to live and thrive. We will likely observe diseases of deficiency in our children if this Hypothesis is true.

Now, how might we go about proving or disproving this Hypothesis?

1-We could argue. This might even be productive. I could site historical anecdotes which might be compelling, but it’s really not “proof” one way or the other.

2-I could character-assassinate anyone that disagrees with me. This is great fun to be sure, but actually moves us further away from the question at hand.

3-Quantify. We could compare and contrast different nutritional mixes and see what type of trends emerge. Perhaps there are foods that are inherently MORE nutritious for a given number of calories than other foods? Yes, indeed there are more and less nutritious foods.

Let’s look at a few papers and some charts from those papers. This first paper is:

Macronutrient Composition:
From: Origins and evolution of the western diet: Health implications for the 21st century. Am J Clin Nutr 2005;81:341-54.

Let’s look at Table 4 from that paper:

This table compares the relative nutrient density between various foods. To make this comparison we need to look at how many vitamins and minerals a given food has relative to it’s caloric content, in this case 418 kJ (about 100 Cals). The “best foods” receive a 7 ranking, the “worst” a 1 ranking. What we find is whole grains are piss-poor nutritionally as compared to veggies, fruits, lean meats and seafood.

Now let’s look at:

The nutritional characteristics of a contemporary diet based upon Paleolithic food groups. J Am Nutraceut Assoc 2002; 5:15-24

First, let’s consider Table 2 from that paper:

This lays out the days offerings for a 2,200 cal day based on lean meats, seafood, veggies, fruit and nuts. Let’s look at the specific macro-nutrient breakdown in Table 3:

A few things are worth pointing out:

1-The protein is high. No, it will not give you kidney disease, no it will not hasten osteoporosis. We can talk about those specific topics in another post.

2-It is NOT “low carb”. You could obviously modify this as per your desires, either up or down, but paleo is NOT synonymous with low carb.

3-Fiber. Oi-vey! If I had a nickel for every hand-wringing dietitian and MD who could not figure out how to get fiber without bran-muffins and oatmeal. 42g is far more then that recommended even by the fiber-conscious ADA.

4-The omega-3/omega-6 fat ratio is spot on at about 1.5 6 per 3. Kids brains need both long chain essential fats and this meal plan provides FAR more than what is possible with grains, legumes and dairy.

Finally let’s look at Table 4 from that same paper:

Kreiki! Look at that. If you consume a paleo diet it LOOKS like you are taking a nutritional supplement. Several hundred if not thousand times the RDA in various nutrients, all from food sources. The only thing “lacking” is calcium, which is based on at best misguided information, at worst outright lies on the part of the ADA/AMA with regards to appropriate calcium flux through our bodies. This article shed some light on the calcium topic.

So, let’s re-visit that Null-Hypothesis: If I eat a paleo diet (or feed it to my kids) I/they will become nutrient deficient. If you notice, We have a meal plan built from the most nutritious foods available (lean meats, seafood, veggies, fruits and nuts) and the result is a remarkably nutritious meal plan. Now, our brilliant RD’s, professors of nutrition and most physicians will SWEAR that you will die without grains, legumes and dairy…but what will happen if we REMOVE one of the favorable food categories (like lean meats) and ADD one of the unfavorable food categories (like grains)? Folks, I hope this is obvious to you, the total nutritional content of the diet goes DOWN. Pause a moment and let this sink in. You can run these numbers any way you like, more nutritious foods will ALWAYS be more nutritious. And no, there are no secret substances in grains, legumes and diary that confer health, quite the contrary, they REMOVE nutrients due to anti-nutrients found in them and because they damage the gut lining. If your gut is irritated, and grains, legumes and diary do just that, you not only face the problem of less total vitamins, minerals and antioxidants when you displace paleo foods, you also increase the risk of autoimmunity and other immune related problems.

I may start a challenge: If you can construct a more nutritious diet (nutrients per calorie) with grains, legumes and diary (that are UNFORTIFIED) I’ll pay you $5K. It would be great for effect, but it’s an un-winable bet for the poor RD’s MD’s and other folks who think grains, legumes and diairy are nutritional heavy hitters.

So, Our Null-Hypothesis turned out to be wrong: Grains, Legumes and Dairy are NOT the most nutritious foods we can feed our kids. I will look at all of this in more detail in the book.

I am not yet a parent, so I do not want to play the arm-chair expert here, so I’ll leave it up to you to actually THINK about this topic. Does it make sense to you to feed YOUR kids foods you can scientifically prove are less nutritious? Grains, legumes and diary do not stack up against lean meats, veggies, fruit and nuts. That is obvious, now it’s up to you to figure out what YOU do about it.

For a little more light reading I’ll direct you to the excellent post Dr. Eades did comparing the health of a Hunter Gatherer group and an agriculturalist group. The HG group ate large amounts of meat, fish fruit, veggies and nuts. The agriculturalists displaced these foods and began consuming large amounts of grains and legumes. Take a moment to consider these facts:

1-The Agriculturalist kids showed significant signs of malnutrition as compared to the HG’s.

2-The Agriculturalists showed significantly higher infant mortality AND early childhood death with the adoption of a grain, legume based diet.

Think rationally, draw your own conclusions. Henceforth, if someone has a question on Paleo and kids, I’m referring them to this post.

I think most of you know Ido Portal but if not you may get a  chance to train with him in person. Ido will be providing workshops in the basics of his approach to physical expression drawing from gymnastics, Capoeira, Equilibre and several other disciplines. I consider myself to be damn fortunate in calling Ido “friend”. he is one of the rare few who not only have remarkable physical and mental gifts, but he works his ass off to develop himself in every way.

Contact Ido directly to book a workshop or to obtain his current schedule.

Back with episode 23 which will forever be known as the caffeine-free episode since this was recorded on day 2 of Andy giving up caffeine.  Hopefully Andy will survive the week and be in better shape next episode.

Show Topics:

1. GERD
2. Gerson Method
3. Measure insulin spikes
4. Cod Liver Oil / Coconut Oil
5. Lysozyme / Hypoglycemic
6. Basal Metabolic Rate
7. Insulin Resistance
8. Inflamed gums
9. Cheat Meals

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_23

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 23

4 eggs over medium, bacon, mixed veggies with balsalmic and olive oil. And of course, espresso!!

CrossFit South Brooklyn was crawling with Paleo-Hooligans yesterday! I really love this area, both Hoboken and the Park Slope (South Brooklyn) areas have so much good food, coffee and cool stuff going on it makes this Cave Man’s head spin! Thank you to everyone who came out for the day. We are heading back to CFSB thsi morning to lift weights, then grab breakfast and head to Central Park!

A huge thanks to all the folks who came out today! great questions and really good energy. Tomorrow we do it again in Brooklyn!

Hey! Just wanted to let folks know we have a page rolling for Mat’s seminars. Bio and other goodies to follow.

Here is Episode 22.  This week we experimented with Robb recording from his office instead of his house and the acoustics and internet connection are definitely worse, but we thought it was worth a shot since he is usually holed up in the office working on the book.  We are going to do our best (schedules permitting) to do most of the recording with Robb at home, but travel schedules may require some changes to that approach.  We had a bit of audio trouble at 45:13 so I had to edit out about 5 minutes of Robb and I trying to talk to each other without much success, but we were able to save the content and just got rid of the junk.

Show Topics:

1. High fasting blood sugar / High cortisol
2. Coconut sugar
3. Tom Venuto’s thoughts on Paleo diet
4. Gall bladder & gluten
5. Acai + colon cleanse diet
6. Intermittent fasting
7. Protein requirements
8. Artificial sweeteners
9. Coconut milk
10. Sleeping in total darkness

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_22

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 22

Well, it was kinda anticlimactic but I finished my rough draft last week. I need to re-work a ton of material, generate charts, graphs and support material but the push for the bulk of the material to be in by April 4 was met. Big thanks again to Mat and Yael for the help and thank you to everyone for the support and interest. We are in NJ and NY this weekend! Cannot wait for that!

Just in case anyone missed this, a great interview with John Welbourn at Starting Strength.

No Animals were harmed in the growing of John’s Fu-Man-Chu.

I wanted to let people know about the upcoming Ancestral Health Symposium: The Human Ecological Niche and Modern Health. The exact date has not been set yet but it should be mid-late summer of next year. (thanks for the proof reading folks!)

The concept is to bring together prominent thinkers in the areas of evolutionary biology, paleolithic nutrition and related topics. When I first heard about the event I immediately made a note in my “to do” list to book travel to the event. Then, shockingly, I was asked to present at the event. It’s tough to put into word how excited I am for this event. Many of the presenters are literally my heroes and hold more influence in my life than any politician, rock-star or movie personality. What can I say, I’m a geek!

So I will post updates as they become available but I wanted to give folks an early heads-up.

Book Update!

I’m making pretty solid progress on the book, Mat and Yael have provided amazing feedback on their edits. We are still tinkering with cover art but that will all fall into place. We should have pre-orders on amazon before too long and still looking for an early September for a release.

Blog/Podcast/New Site/Advanced topics course

I’m in the preliminary stages of a new site that will include forums, much more media and content. Video-blogs, podcast, education. It should be pretty cool and will help a lot of people get a handle on both the conceptual material and how to actually live along these paleo lines. After the book is finished my top priority it finalizing the curriculum for the advanced topics course that will be offered through Prof. Cordain. Mat will likely play the primary role in that material. This should be 3rd party accredited “out of the box” and as I’ve mentioned, should count for both CEU’s and Uni credits. Pseudo-science and Uni-credits! What could be better?

I just wanted to thank everyone for the continued support and encouragement on the book and other projects. I am amazingly fortunate to do what I do every day.

Back with episode 21.  We had some internet connection problems at the 52 minute mark which caused some audio issues for about 37 seconds.  I kept that section in the podcast because the episode seemed to flow better when I left it in.

Here are the links to posts that we discussed on Kurt Harris’ PaNu blog about plants and the Kitavans.  Here is the link to our good friend Sarah’s blog Everday Paleo where she documents how she feeds her family.  Finally here is the video of some fun with planche progressions.

Show Topics:

1. Staffan Lindeberg
2. Liquid food PWO / DHA
3. Raw foods
4. Resveratrol supplement / Artificial Sweeteners
5. Night leg cramps
6. Low carb Paleo
7. Paleo, kids, and Ketosis
8. Bad breath
9. Carb intake & cortisol levels & muscle development
10. AstroGirl transcribed part of the episode.

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_21

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 21

Another big day in podcast land – we have successful survived 20 episodes and Robb is still using the same jokes!  Perhaps the book release will give him some new material.

Here is the link to the Robb Wolf / Whole9 Fish Oil Calculator that we discussed during the show.

Show Topics

1. PCBs in Fish Oil
2. Unwanted weight gain and Paleo
3. Obliterative Bronchiolitis
4. Summer bulk up
5. Satiety
6. Testosterone replacement therapy
7. Leaning out
8. Cheat Meals / PCB issues / Type 1 diabetic / Paleo & kids

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_20

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 20

Back with episode 19.  Here is the bloodwork that we discussed during the podcast.  Here is the link to the abstract of the A1C paper that Robb has mentioned several times.

Show Topics:

1. Bloodwork
2. Low Carb Diet
3. Insulin & Aging
4. Osteopenia
5. Insulin & Leptin

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_19

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 19

Just letting folks know we will be hanging with Dave & Nancy of Level 4-CrossFit Seattle on Sunday, May 2 from 9am to 5pm (click here to sign up). I lived in Seattle for almost 6 years and it’s always great to get back there for a visit.

The comments section for “Events” is still not working so if you have a comment on this event please put that on another post.

Hey y’all. I wanted to share a brief outline of the next BBS and mention an important feature that will be offered at this gig. Here is a brief outline for the event:

Robb Wolf:
Nutrition tweaks for:
1-Performance (Crossfit, power athletics and beyond)
2-Body composition shifts: Fat loss, muscle gain.
3-Matching nutrition to changes in training.
Also offering free personal nutrition consult with one lucky attendee!

Michael Rutherford:
History and Elements of MEBB (Max Effort Black Box)
Prevention of ACL injuries in Female Athletes and Anterior Core Progression Plan.

James Fitzgerald:
Pain, intensity, and higher levels of thinking. Personal experience in training, business systems, and facility operations and how these key factors contribute to forward progress.
Also, One free online consult for one lucky attendee

Nicki Violetti:
On ramp programs and introducing the new client to your box.

Aimee Anaya & Greg Everett:
Hands on Coaching clinic of the Olympic Lifts. Also offering book and DVD give aways, as well as Personal video analysis for one lucky participant.

Dutch Lowy:
Identifying and addressing weaknesses in an Athlete. Also, giving one free programming consult to one lucky attendee.

So, a pretty action packed weekend all and all but I wanted to highlight one offering that I think is particularly valuable: Forecasting. Not the weather (just poke your head out your window for that) and not markets (Buy low! Sell high!)  but your ability to forecast how a change in your business will affect your bottom line. A significant part of forecasting or modeling your business is having a very tight understanding OF your business. What are your operating expenses? How are you paying your employees? Do you still think those people coahing classes for you are “independent contractors”…wink, wink, nod, nod? What if you want to change your pricing structure because it seems “cool”? Well, you can do it the hard way: Enact the change, see what happens. Or you can use a model of your business to game play something which initially might seem snazzy, but would actually BANKRUPT you. Check out this post from Nicki’s Blog. I’m going to pull out one section of that post:

I recently had a CrossFit affiliate contact me for feedback on a new pricing structure for their box.  It sounded like a pretty good concept and the reasoning behind it (some pricing incentives based on how long a client was a member) seemed logical.  The word doc I received to review the new model showed the yearly revenue per client to be the same as this affiliate’s current pricing structure.  At first blush it seemed like a totally reasonable model.  Alas the shortcomings of the simple word doc!

Truth is in the numbers, and a word doc doesn’t show everything we need to see when evaluating a significant change to one’s business model.  Yearly revenue was the same for the first year only!  When I projected the model out 3 years I found that the box would be profitable only during months 5-10 and would never be profitable again….in fact the model clearly showed the affiliate would be bleeding an increasing amount of money each month of operation!

We did stuff like this all the time in our gym. We learned the hard way…but many people are not learning these lessons fast enough to keep their doors open. Nicki has received about 30 emails from CrossFit Affiliate alone who would have closed their doors had they not enacted the OnRamp Program and some stratified skill levels to their classes. These are simple concepts you see in most successful service oriented businesses. Similarly, successful businesses are able to forecast potential changes to get at least an idea if it’s a smart or a dumb idea.

If you run a fitness related business you might find my wife’s presentation on how to use XL in your forecasting useful. Or you can just sit back and enjoy the pseudo-science!

Back with episode 18 and every day that passes we are creeping ever closer to Robb actually finishing his book!

Show Topics:

1. Cheat meals
2. Crohns disease
3. Eboost & FRS
4. Meal frequency
5. Cured of peanut allergies
6. Sauces / Alcohol
7. Pancreatitis
8. Gout
9. Gestational Diabetes

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_18

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 18

I  try to put original material on this blog but I thought this interview with Keith Thomas over at Conditioning Research was too important to pass up. Why? Well…there was a time when there were not dozens (hundreds? thousands?) of paleo/primal oriented blogs and websites. When I came onto the paleo concept, around 1998-1999, there was Art Devany’s old UC Irvine site, paleodiet.com and a few odds and ends. The Eades Protein Power: Lifeplan was a few years in the future as was Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival. Much of Loren Cordain’s best work was yet to be written…it’s trite to say, but it was a different time.

Prof. Devany’s original UCI site and his essay were AMAZING. His message of brevity, intensity and variability in training coupled with a nutrient dense paleo diet was (and is) truly remarkable. Art had quite a book that was “just around the corner” and a pretty solid following…but then he was flamed one time too many times and he pretty much told everyone to go pound sand. Folks were hungry for more Evolutionary Fitness but there was none to be had. Enter Keith Thomas. Keith started his site, Evfit.com to “keep the flame alive” until Prof. Devany finished his book, but it quickly went to places the original Evolutionary Fitness never explored. Ecology and many social issues that are central to being human but are often overlooked with the focus on fitness and nutrition. Keith has updated the site and his thinking over the past few years and it is a treasure trove of information and deep thinking.

I’ll pat myself on the back a little and point out that it was our Performance Menu interview with Prof. Devany that brought him back and lit a fire under him to start his very popular website. I hope to hell I manage to beat Art to publication of my book!

The Pseudo-Science was thicker than a Catalyst Athletics lifters fanny! Thank you to Freddy “I’ll have that beer” Camacho for hosting the event at OneWorld and everyone who came out for the day.

He’s Young, strong, good looking and can draw out the synthesis of cholesterol starting with a carbon atom, and not omitting the Squalene intermediate!! Mat Lalonde is offering Nutrition Seminars and here are a few he has one the books:

Capital Strength & Conditioning in Ottawa on Sunday, March 14 from 9am-4pm.

Crossfit Plateau on Friday, March 12 from 5pm till closing time. This event will be a bit shorter and slightly less technical than Mat’s usual offerings as it ill be in FRENCH!!! The following day, March 13 Mat is offering his full-meal-deal, in English! this is from 9am to 5PM.

We are still working on the details of advanced topic seminars with Prof. Cordain which will include university credits…stay tuned.

Hey everyone! The Paleo Gourmet food line is ready to ship! With a  Caveat:

At present shipping coasts are reasonable to the western states (CA, WA, OR, NV, AZ, UT). The rest of y’all will need to wait just a little while longer. Keep in mind we ship in orders of 10-14 units per box to minimize the use of shipping containers and costs.

I like all the meals but I have to admit I like the meatballs+spaghetti squash the best. If you give the meals a shot please let me know if you like them. We have tinkered and field-tested these recipes for over 6 months and a I feel like they are pretty damn good but ultimately that will be up to y’all.

Back with episode 17. Robb and I were relatively calm this week which I think led to a really solid show.  I’m starting to think the audio sounds pretty good so please give feedback on how it sounds to you.  We are still working on the supplement and intro to Paleo show, but had to delay those just a bit to give Robb some time to work on finishing his book.

Show Topics:

1. Fruit intake
2. Degenerative bone disorder
3. Health/longevity vs sport/performance
4. Hypersinsulinemia & growth
5. Mass gain
6. Exhausted
7. Ulcerative colitis
8. Dogs & Paleo diet
9. Butter & cream
10. Constipation
11. Vegan Athletes

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_17

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 17

Hey everyone! I’m actually making pretty damn good progress on the book but I have set a personal deadline of April 4 for the damn thing. In an effort to focus I will not be responding to email other than consults which Chrissy usually books. I will also just be ok’ing comments and not responding to them. this absolutely KILLS me as this is the fun stuff surrounding the blog but it’s gotta happen if I’m going to get that book finished. keep posting and sending questions and we will hit those in the podcasts. I also have about 5 partially written blogposts I will string out over the coming weeks.

Back with episode 16 – I was a little cranky this week due to taking a beating at the hands at Kelly Starrett so please bear wth me.  Here is the link to the famous “Are We Crazy” blog post that Robb and I discussed.

Topics:

1. Biosignature
2. Fire academy and additional workouts
3. Paleo impact on non-insulin dependent diabetics
4. Green Drinks
5. Paleo for new moms and babies
6. Paleo diet trial on tv

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_16

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 16

We’ve added a second day on the East Coast with our good friends at CrossFit South Brooklyn on Sunday, April 11. The Hoboken, NJ gig is almost sold out so we decided to give this second day a shot. You can sign up for South Brooklyn here.

Keep in mind that the event widget disables comments in the posts. We should have that figured out soon, but if you have a comment on this or another event we will schedule plase put that in a seperate thread.

Check out the Seminar page for suggested pre-seminar reading.

Back with episode 15 – this the episode where Robb Wolf shares too much information (as per usual).  Audio levels seem pretty solid, but clearly I still need to move the mike further away from my mouth.

Here is the paper regarding meat vs. meat plus dairy that Robb referenced.

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition – Cordain etc.

Here is the Willie Albert Crossfit Total workout and here is the link to news piece on Art DeVany

Show Topics:

1. China Study Revisited
2. Caffeine / Green Tea / Sweeteners
3. Nutrition for CA WOD
4. Paleo & Elite Athletes
5. Wine
6. Banana vs. Whole Wheat Bread
7. Protein Amounts & IF
8. Hair Loss
9. Menopause
10. 48 Hour Fasts?
11. Vit D & Magnesium

Show Notes – The_Paleolithic_Solution_Episode_15

The Paleolithic Solution – Episode 15

Hey there! I wanted to let y’all know about Whole 9 Workshops offered by Dallas Hartwig and Melissa Urban.

As I’ve progressed through this seminar gig over the past few years I have noticed a few things:

1-Many people would like a second day of nutrition lecture related to advanced material. That is in the works, I mention that briefly in the PSS Podcast#15 due out this coming Tuesday.

2-Many people NEED more help getting their food dialed in. Although I spend a significant part of my day on how to customize one’s chow for any occasion, some folks just want a little more help and attention, similar to the fact some folks want to learn a little more of the technical details. Melissa and Dallas present a solid day focussed on how to make your food fit YOUR needs. Not only are Dallas and Melissa solid on the technical side of nutrition,  but they really focus on the how to. The folks who are attending the PSS in Hoboken should consider checking out the Whole 9 seminar at CrossFi Albany on April 24th.

I will not be able to attend one of these events for a while, if anyone attending is game for a write-up for the blog that would be awesome!

Just wanted to let folks know we have an East Coast Paleolithic Solution Seminar set for Saturday, April 10 from 9am-5pm at CrossFit Hoboken!

We are hammering out the details for 2010 and I should have a separate page on the site describing the events. Part of what we are trying to figure out right now is when the book will be finished, and then when it will be in stores. I will be on the road for about 3 weeks straight promoting the book so I need to plan all this stuff with that schedule in mind. We have also received over 600 requests to host the PSS which is both amazing and overwhelming. What makes the most sense is working our way through the folks who requested this first, then rotating from West Coast, Central, East Coast, likely one seminar per month. Every 4th to 5th seminar we will go international with the top spots thus far being the UK, Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand. We also have our eyes on Central America and the Philipines (¡Se Habla Espanol!).

I wanted to extend a very heartfelt thank you for all the interest and support. Once the book is finished I will be writing much more consistently for the blog.

Update:

We have installed a widget that generates the Upcoming Events column you see to the right of the blog. That kicks-ass with the exception that it disables comments for a given post. We should have that figured out sometime soon, but for now just put comments for a given event in another day’s comments. Sorry for the inconvenience but we should have some nice site updates rolling out soon.

Pseudo-Science!!