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Category Archives: Legumes
British Dietetic Association (BDA) Against Adopting The Paleo Diet
It now seems that barely a day goes by without some individual or group attacking the Paleo Diet. The reason for this is certainly up for debate but because the diet eliminates grains, legumes and dairy, it should not be surprising that it is going to come under fire from companies and corporations that stand to lose financially the more popular and successful the Paleo Diet becomes. One might not expect, however, for organizations that, in their own words, “use the most up to date public health and scientific research on food, health and disease, which they translate into practical…
Weighing In on The Paleo Diet
Professor Syd, please weigh in some more. A response to the BBC online Capital “Syd weighs in” article by @SydFinkelstein If you have not yet read it, the BBC’s Capital, recently featured an article by Professor Sydney Finkelstein recommending against following the “fad” Paleo Diet. The original title, “Eat like a caveman. Manage like one, too?” has since changed to “Mythbusting: Fads we’ve got all wrong.” However, regardless of the title change, like most articles critical of the Paleo Diet, it lacks substance and support. I have previously rebutted a more detailed critique of the Paleo Diet without further dialogue…
Vegetarian and Vegan Diets: Nutritional Disasters Part 3
Did you miss Vegetarian and Vegan Diets: Nutritional Disasters Part 1 or Part 2? Read Part 1 HERE Read Part 2 HERE Vegetarian Diets: Other Nutritional Shortcomings You don’t have to look any further than the ADA’s Position Statement28 or the USDA’s recommendations on vegetarian diets142 to discover additional nutrient shortcomings caused by plant based diets. The ADA matter of factly mentions that “…key nutrients for vegetarians include protein, n-3 fatty acids, iron, zinc, iodine, calcium, and vitamins D and B12..“28 The USDA notes that “…vegetarians may need to focus on…iron, calcium, zinc, and vitamin B12.”142 These subtle admissions of…
Vegetarian and Vegan Diets: Nutritional Disasters Part 2
Did you miss Vegetarian and Vegan Diets: Nutritional Disasters Part 1? Read it HERE Vegetarian Diets and Homocysteine Vitamin B12 deficiencies caused by vegetarian or vegan diets are just as devastating to adults as they are to infants and pregnant women. Vitamins technically are defined as “organic catalysts” – meaning that without their presence in our diets, our metabolic machinery slows, or is sufficiently damaged to eventually cause illness and disease. One of the most destructive changes in our bodies caused by vitamin B12 deficiency is the appearance of a toxic substance in our bloodstream known as homocysteine. Without sufficient…
Mexican Cuisine, Intestinal Permeability and the Paleo Diet
In the U.S., Mexican cuisine has become enormously popular in the past 30 years. A recent USA Today poll1 listed the 15 “Best” Tex-Mex chain restaurants in the U.S. as follows: It has certainly been argued that fast American “Mexican” food is a far cry from the authentic cuisine actually found in the 31 Mexican federal states. Genuine Mexican cooking clearly is not uniform from one area or State of the country to the next. The foods of northern Mexican States differ from those in the south which in turn vary from coastal regions. Distinctive cuisines have arisen in Oaxaca,…
Is Mesquite Bean Flour Arguably Paleo?
Photo by Robb Hannawacker, while working for Joshua Tree National Park, via Wikimedia Commons Mesquite is a different subfamily of the “legumes” the Mimosoideae not the fabaceae, and the food part derived from mesquite is not the seed, but rather the pulpy part of the pod wall. Ethnobotanist Richard Felger claimed indigenous populations could obtain their 50g of protein per day from birds, lizards, snakes etc., but preferred the energy for their bodies, provided by the flour milled from the mesquite pods, not seeds. Using a stone gyratory crusher, they would grind off the pulpy mesocarp, moisten the high sugar…
Alfalfa Sprouts & Autoimmune Disease
As the Paleo Diet concept increasingly gains traction worldwide, it has spawned an explosion of copy cat books over the past 3-4 years. Look no further than Amazon.com to literally see the hundreds of diet and cookbooks that manage to shoehorn the word “Paleo” into their titles. In a way, all of these books are a good thing because they tend to get more and more people involved in a lifetime way of eating that may improve health and well being, while reducing the risk for chronic diseases. The downside of this situation is that many authors are poorly informed and frequently…
Getting Real About Paleo: Quantifying Hunter Gatherer Food Choices
I suspect that many of you may not know that in December of 2013, I retired from Colorado State University (CSU) after 32 years of service that began in the fall semester of 1981 when I was a rookie professor, straight out of graduate school. At that early point in my career, the Paleo Diet concept was virtually unknown to the world, and for me this life changing idea would still lie six full years in the future. I remember the moment distinctly in the spring of 1987 when “I got it.” I was thumbing through the CSU student newspaper…
Ancestral Fire Production: Implications for Contemporary Paleo Diets
In our world, fire is such a basic element that we almost never give it a second thought. You click upon your gas powered kitchen range and instantly a circular blue flame emerges to fry your eggs, boil your water or steam your veggies. Your summertime barbecue or campfire is lit without a second thought from the cheap butane lighter you bought from the convenience store. If you happen to be a cigarette or pot smoker – who amongst you worries about ignition for your habit – the problem is not fire starting itself, but rather paying for or obtaining…
Going Nuts: All the Bolts
Do you find yourself having difficulty shedding weight on your Paleo regime? Or perhaps you’re still experiencing GI distress or frequent breakouts even though you’ve cut out the gluten, the dairy and the legumes. Too many nuts, or the wrong type of nuts could be causing the problem. Nuts can indeed be a part of the Paleo Diet when eaten in moderation: “in moderation” being the key takeaway message. Since nuts are high in inflammatory Omega-6 and low in anti-inflammatory Omega-3, they should be regarding more as a garnish than a regular, go-to source of dietary fat. The fats we…
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