← Back to All Blogs
Category Archives: HP1
Beans and Legumes: Are they Paleo?
I was delighted to learn that Dr. Oz was going to again feature The Paleo Diet with Nell Stephenson and was happy about most of what I saw except for Chris Kresser, expounding upon the health virtues of a food group, beans and legumes, that definitely are not Paleo.
Big Brains Do Not Need Carbs
Evolution. It is a complex and interesting process. Whether you agree with Jerry Coyne or not, there is much fascination with what exactly has led us to the current bodies and brains which we inhabit.
Evolution and High Protein Diets Part 1
The Evolutionary Basis for the Therapeutic Effects of High Protein Diets Series Did you miss Evolution and High Protein Diets Part 2? Click Here to Read It! Did you miss Evolution and High Protein Diets Part 3? Click Here to Read It! INTRODUCTION Although humanity has been interested in diet and health for thousands of years, the organized, scientific study of nutrition has a relatively recent past. For instance, the world’s first scientific journal devoted entirely to diet and nutrition, The Journal of Nutrition only began publication in 1928. Other well known nutrition journals have a more recent history still:…
Artificial Sweeteners: Agents of Insulin Resistance, Obesity and Disease
Introduction: Evolutionary Perspective It’s pretty clear that if we follow the example of our hunter gatherer ancestors, artificial sweeteners should not be part of contemporary Stone Age diets. In my book, The Paleo Diet Revised (2010)1 I warned against drinking artificially sweetened soft drinks and further strengthened my opposition to all artificial sweeteners in 2012 with The Paleo Answer.2 Over the past few years numerous epidemiological (population), animal, tissue and human studies have demonstrated the adverse health effects of these synthetic chemicals. A particularly powerful study just published in the October 2014 issue of Nature3 provides a convincing argument against…
Millet: A Gluten-Free Grain You Should Avoid
Over the past 5-7 years, more and more people worldwide have become aware of the Paleo Diet, which really is not a diet at all, but rather a lifelong way of eating to reduce the risk of chronic disease and maximize health and wellbeing. One of the fundamental principles of The Paleo Diet is to eliminate or drastically reduce consumption of cereal grains, whether they are refined or whole. Currently, 8 cereal grains (wheat, corn, rice, barley, sorghum, oats, rye, and millet) provide 56% of the food energy and 50% of the protein consumed on earth.3 However, from an evolutionary…
Vegetarian and Vegan Diets: Nutritional Disasters Part 1
Over the years since the publication of my first book, I have been asked time and again if there is a vegetarian version of The Paleo Diet. I’ve got to say emphatically – No! Vegetarian diets are a bit of a moving target because they come in at least three major versions. We all know in principle that vegetarians do not eat meat, poultry or fish – this is the first and foremost characteristic of vegetarian diets. Less restrictive are lacto/ovo vegetarians who limit their animal food choices to dairy products and/or eggs, whereas vegans eat plant foods exclusively. A…
Vitamin and Nutritional Supplements Increase Chronic Disease Morbidity (Incidence) and Mortality (Death)
The Nutritional Supplement Mentality When you start eating Paleo, you simply won’t require vitamin or mineral supplements.13 In fact, except for fish oil and vitamin D, if you choose to take antioxidant and/or B vitamins, you will increase your risk of cancer, heart disease and dying from all causes combined. One of my first jobs after high school was with the U.S. Forest Service on a wild fire crew in Markleville, California. During the summer of 1969 I bunked with eight other fire fighters in a rustic shack where we shared a communal kitchen and bathroom. As an 18 year…
Are Potatoes Paleo?
I have noticed in the last few years that many Paleo Dieters believe that potatoes can be regularly consumed without any adverse health effects. Part of this misinformation seems to stem from writers of blogs and others who are unfamiliar with the scientific literature regarding potatoes. So should we be eating potatoes or not?
Dairy: Milking It for All It’s Worth
The Recent Evolutionary Introduction of Milk and Dairy One of the rewarding benefits of having written a diet book that has become internationally known is the opportunity to travel the world and speak to tens of thousands of people about this engaging and life changing subject. My signature lecture, “Origins and Evolution of the Western Diet: Health Implications for the 21st Century” is based upon a scientific paper I wrote of the same name and published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutritionin 2005.24 In this lecture, I trace the chronological introductions of all the food groups and foods that…
Gluten and The Brain
With the plethora of benefits supported by scientific evidence,1 Gluten-free diets have been gaining in popularity in recent years.2 Studies range from gastrointestinal symptom improvement,3 to possible correlations with autism,4 and diabetes.5 However, there may not be a more fascinating area of gluten study than how the protein composite can be related to cognitive function.6 One study shows large changes in brain tissue, specifically, white matter, in those who are sensitive to gluten.7 Why is this an important discovery? White matter is actively involved in neurogenesis, or “the growth of new neurons.”8, 9, 10 If gluten is possibly disrupting this…
Contact Us
