Who Are Your Paleo Diet Heroes?

Heroes come in many shapes and sizes. When it comes to paleo, who are yours? Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Who are your paleo diet heroes?

I was pondering this question recently after someone asked me how I “discovered” paleo.  Perhaps surprisingly, I realized that I had found my way via 1990s low-fat fitness star Susan Powter, who recommended the work of the herbalist Susun Weed, who led me to the work of Sally Fallon and the Weston A Price Foundation, and from there I found my way to paleo.

Here are a few of the people who stand out in my own paleo pantheon. It’s interesting that many of them probably wouldn’t describe themselves as “paleo” – but nonetheless, their work has enhanced my understanding and appreciation of the paleo diet:

Mark Sisson

I had noticed Mark’s book The Primal Blueprint long before I found my way to paleo, but I’m ashamed to admit I dismissed it as “just another fad diet book”.  How wrong I was!  When I eventually got round to reading it, I was impressed with the range of information he presented, and how elegantly he was able to merge sound nutritional, fitness, and lifestyle practices.  I’m also really impressed by how well he comes across in audio and video interviews – enthusiastic, informative, and inclusive.  He doesn’t scare people into turning paleo – he encourages them with top-class information.  His blog, Mark’s Daily Apple, is essential reading for anyone who cares about their health, in my opinion.

The Jaminets

After noticing some friends on Facebook raving about the book The Perfect Health Diet by Paul and Shou-Ching Jaminet, I decided to check it out.  Chock-full of information, I found their discussion on safe starches to be particularly beneficial in the context of a sound grounding in paleo eating principles.  I also really appreciate their excellent analysis of the use of supplementation on the paleo diet.  They have a lively and informative blog, too, and one that shows a pleasing level of interaction with its readership.

Weston A Price

Although more an advocate of a traditional, rather than paleo, diet, I think there can be no doubt that many of today’s modern paleo practitioners owe a great debt of gratitude to this man who so assiduously and clearly documented the detrimental effects that a modern diet of processed foods had on the health of indigenous peoples.  His observations on the critical role played by fat-soluble vitamins in human health – documented extensively in his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration – have done a great deal to help dispel the fat-phobia that has dogged conventional nutritional advice for decades.

Sally Fallon

As the founder of the Weston A Price Foundation, Sally Fallon has been the torch-bearer of Price’s nutritional philosophy in recent years.  The Foundation’s website contains an impressive array of well-researched articles and links to suppliers of paleo-friendly products.  She’s also the author – with the reknowned lipid chemist Mary Enig – of the cookbook Nourishing Traditions, which contains a huge number of recipes which are easily adapted to paleo precepts.

We’re not finished…I have more paleo diet heroes to give a shout out to!

Nancy Deville

Nancy Deville doesn’t describe herself as strictly paleo, but she’s definitely a powerful advocate for a diet of whole, real food.  Her website and blog is regularly updated with great information on her own journey to health and vitality.  At sixty years old – with the looks and energy level of someone much younger – it’s clearly working well for her.  I reviewed her excellent book Healthy Sexy Happy a while back, and I’m still recommending it to people I care about.  I particularly like the fact that her programme goes beyond simply a focus on bodily health, and incorporates a wise approach to mental and spiritual fulfilment, drawing on such rich sources as Buddhism.

Dr John Briffa

John Briffa is UK-based doctor who blogs about recent research findings in health.  He takes care to analyse the findings in such a way that enables his readers to look beyond what the media – and, sometimes, even the studies’ authors – are concluding from the findings.  He’s also the author of Waist Disposal – a great little book on weight loss which combines a basically paleo diet with a sensible approach to exercise.  It’s the book I regularly recommend to those who want an accessible, non-intimidating introduction to a paleo way of eating and living.

Zoe Harcombe

Like John Briffa, Zoe Harcombe is another UK-based personality who is helping to burst the bubble of conventional and fad dietary practices.  Her dietary approach is inspired by the work of Gary Taubes, and contains significant nods towards paleo.  Most importantly, she’s doing a great job of profiling a diet of whole, real foods in some major UK-based newspapers and magazines.  Her blog is also a great mine of information for anyone who’s confused about the right way to eat.  Check out her blog section called “The Knowledge” for some particularly enlightening information on the current obesity crisis.

Susun Weed

I have to finish by acknowleding Susun Weed, since it was my trust in her (I’d already benefited tremendously from her excellent and comprehensive information on using herbs to enhance health and wellbeing) that meant I felt confident in giving the Weston A Price Foundation approach to eating a serious go.  I felt so great, I was then able to spread by paleo wings – and I haven’t looked back since.  Thanks, Susun.

So, those are my heroes of the paleo diet.  Who are yours?  What was your journey to paleo, and who helped you along the way?

Vibrams Five Fingers Educational Site

Vibram has launched an educational series on their main site.  Link Here.  This is a great thing, educate those that think their feet aren't atrophied after years of being overly supported.

 

Excerpt: 

Create a Personal Plan for Success

Before you start running in Vibram FiveFingers®, we encourage you to read the important information in How To Get Started and Get To Know Your Feet. Once you follow our recommended program, you’ll probably notice some significant improvements in the strength and flexibility of your feet. Now you’re ready for a test session to explore the light and joyful feeling of barefoot running!

In order to make this as easy as possible, we’ve broken down the process into 4 parts:  choosing a surface, barefoot technique, measurable distances, and a sample training plan. Please remember, the information and advice we are about to share is based on scientific research, anecdotal evidence, and personal experience. There is no single training and transition program that is suitable for everyone. You should try to discover what works for your body in order to make this transition safe and successful.
One of the reasons barefoot running has become so popular is that it is synonymous with freedom and exploration. Give yourself the gift of time and patience as you explore this “new” way of running and moving. Forget about splits, time, distance and PRs for a little while and focus on running for the pure joy of connecting to your body, and your environment in a new way. Your patience will pay off in the long run as you emerge from this experience with a refreshed outlook on running.

Create a Personal Plan for Success >>

Things To Consider >>

Barefoot running >>

Training schedule >>

How Agriculture Made Our Mouths Too Small for our Teeth

I have discussions frequently with people who swear that humans were vegetarians and meat eating is a relatively new thing.  If that were the case we'd have much smaller jaws by now.  According to the article below, teeth crowding is a by product of eating more grains. 

How Agriculture Made Our Mouths Too Small for our Teeth

The rise of agriculture allowed for the development of complex societies and technologies that likely wouldn't have been possible otherwise. It also wreaked havoc on human health. And we can add a new downside to the list: our misshapen mouths.
That's the finding of University of Kent researcher Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel, who examined 295 human jaws from various museum specimens around the world. She found that, even adjusting for climate, geographic, and genetic variation, a consistent pattern emerged: people from agricultural societies have significantly smaller mouths that their counterparts in hunter-gatherer societies.
In itself, that wouldn't be such a bad thing, but the problem is that we all have exactly the same number of teeth. Von Cramon-Taubadel speculates that agricultural societies tend to produce people with smaller jaws because the ground grains and processed animal products we eat are softer than the wild plants and animals eaten by hunter-gatherers. In animal experiments, subjects fed a softer food diet developed smaller jaws than those fed tougher foods. This could well explain why dental crowding is so widespread, and why so many people end up needing to wear braces.
This isn't really a case of evolution or selection - instead, it's that generations of agricultural humans have all tended to develop similar, smaller jaws because they were all raised on the same soft diets. This would be the first clear instance in which widespread anatomical differences in humans on this sort of scale are the result of lifestyle factors, as opposed to simple genetic variation. To be sure, this doesn't represent a definitively proven link, but anyone who has ever worn braces is well within their rights to feel angry with the whole concept of agriculture right now.

Good Source on Elastic Energy Storage

The Achilles tendon is short or absent in great apes, but long in arboreal gibbons and humans^. It provides elastic energy storage in hopping, walking, and running. Computer models suggest this energy storage Achilles tendon increases top running speed by >80% reduces running costs by more than three-quarters.  It has been suggested that the "absence of a well-developed Achilles tendon in the nonhuman African apes would preclude them from effective running, both at high speeds and over extended distances."

From Evolutionary Robotic Approaches in Primate Gait Analysis (Link Here)

Abstract Understanding how primates move is particularly challenging because many of the experimentation techniques that would normally be available are unsuitable for ethical and conservation reasons. We therefore need to develop techniques that can maximize the data available from minimally intrusive experimentation. One approach for achieving this is to use evolutionary robotic techniques to build a musculoskeletal simulation and generate movement patterns that optimize some global parameter such as economy or performance, or to match existing kinematic data. If the simulation has a sufficiently high biofidelity and can match experimentally measured performance criteria then we can use it to predict aspects of locomotor mechanics that would otherwise be impossible to measure. This approach is particularly valuable when studying fossil primates because it can be based entirely on morphology and can generate movements spontaneously. A major question in human evolution is the origin of bipedal running and the role of elastic energy storage. By using an evolutionary robotics model of humanoid running we can show that elastic storage is required for efficient, high-performance running. Elasticity allows both energy recovery to minimize total energy cost and also power amplification to allow high performance. The most important elastic energy store on the human hind limb is the Achilles tendon: a feature that is at best weakly expressed among the African great apes. By running simulations both with and without this structure we can demonstrate its importance, and we suggest that identification of the presence or otherwise of this tendon—perhaps by calcaneal morphology or Sharpey’s fibers—is essential for identifying when and where in the fossil record human style running originated.

Beach Running World Championship Has Begun

 

A great trend - I hope there's a time where every beach vacation we take, we can participate in events such as this!  

 

Beach Running World Championship Has Begun

The Beach Running World Championship began at just after 7:00 AM today >Nov 19th<.  

Runners, including a barefoot division, will follow a course a course along the beach from the Cococa Beach Pier south to about the southern city limits of Cocoa Beach, then turn around and head back to the Cocoa Beach Pier for the Finish.

The race is organized by the Beach Running Association and sponsored by Ron Jon Surf Shop.

You're Doing It Wrong

Mr McDougall, instead of "there's only one way to run"

How about "there's only one way to find out how YOU run"

To the aggressive opponents of barefoot or barefoot-style running (can't imagine why/how you'd take that position) - picking apart the semantics is not a way to refute a good theory.  The point people like Christopher are trying to make is that the only way to find YOUR way is by including the intrinsic parts of your body, without treating bio-mechanical symptoms through over the counter footwear. 

From NY Times <Link here>

Christopher McDougall is an ardent proponent of barefoot running, but as the number of tendo-achilles and calf injuries related to running barefoot rises, it is clear to those of us who treat ailing runners that this is not the ideal form for everyone. Just as there are alternate styles of swimming or hitting a baseball, biomechanics shows us that runners should develop their own style to maximize performance.
DR. JAY KERNER,
Rockville Centre, N.Y.

There are new injuries.  People need education along with minimal footwear.  That's what places like this blog are for.  How can we better reach out to people doing TMTS (too much too soon) on muscles that have atrophied after a lifetime of over-support and cushioning??   Open to suggestions....

Save the Kids' Feet

I watched my niece run by my in a heavily cushioned shoe.  She's 6.5 years old and was wearing a >10oz shoe.  Doing the math, that's the same as me wearing a >3pound shoe! 

That made me decide to get minimal shoes for my 3 nieces.  As if reading my mind, I just got an email today from Soft Star Shoes advertising their latest youth shoe.  Link Here.  So my gift will be 'foot strength' :). 

Any other ancestral gift ideas?  Please share!

So You’ve Run A Marathon. But Could You Run 100 Miles?

Photo: Elaine Acosta

While there are hardcore runners out there who live to run marathons at the competitive level, most people strive to simply finish one: 26.2 miles of blood, sweat, and tears (but mostly sweat). However, did you know there’s a whole subculture of uber-athletic runners who go above and beyond those “measly” 26.2 miles? This is the world of ultra marathon running, where participants run (and run and run and run) any distance beyond the standard length of a “regular” marathon. And one of the longest supported races is the 100 mile-long Javelina Jundred, which took place this past weekend in the Sonora Desert of Arizona.
Now in its ninth year, the Javelina Jundred — pronounced with “H” sounds as in “jalapeño” — started out as a joke in 2003 when runners Geri Kilgariff and Anthony Humpage were running the Pemberton Trail in Arizona’s McDowell Mountain Regional Park: an idea to run over six loops around the desert trail to total 100 miles. That joke spiraled into a more serious idea, and before they knew it, 180 people signed up for the first “100-Mile Party Run.” Nine years later — now organized by Aravaipa Running and sanctioned by US Track and Field — it drew 384 extreme ultra-runners this past weekend, to challenge them to run 100 desert miles over the span of 30 hours straight.
Of that 384, only 173 runners finished the entire run after battling not only the fatigue of running, but nose bleeds, blisters, darkness, coyote howls, and rainstorms. As much as this “fun run” may have been appealing to these runners, it wasn’t necessarily fun the entire time, especially when you’re running solo during parts of the trail in the middle of the night and it starts pouring.

Elaine Acosta runs the Javelina Jundred by night.

“[It was fun], but it wasn’t when I was running,” said ultra-runner Elaine Acosta of New Jersey, who had gone through all of the aforementioned hardships, including the downpour in her 18th consecutive hour of running. “No, it’s awesome. That’s what I had to keep telling myself. It’s all mental.” Acosta is no stranger to ultra marathons, having run fifteen “regular” marathons, four 50k’s (31 mi.), three 50-milers, and one 56-mile race since 2007, in races around the globe from South Africa to India. Running these “measly” sub-100-mile marathons seems to be part of the proper training for the century runs; in fact, runner Hideki Kinoshita warmed up for the Javelina Jundred by running the ING New York City Marathon just the weekend before.
While Kinoshita dropped out around mile 70, others did complete the grueling endurance race, some with astonishing times: Hal Koerner was the top male runner, completing the 100-miler in 13 hours, 47 minutes; Elizabeth Howard was the top female at 15 hours, 47 minutes. Acosta completed the race in 28 hours, 42 minutes, just a little over an hour before the cutoff time. In the end it was worth it; she left the course with a “runners’ high” as she has with every ultra marathon she’s completed.
“That’s why I do it,” said Acosta. “You love it and you hate it. And whenever I cross the finish line I say I want to do it again.”
So where does an ultra marathon runner go after running 100 miles? There’s the Badwater Ultramarathon, covering 135 miles in a non-stop race from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney, CA — and in temperatures up to 130°F — which requires applicants to bring their own support team. Acosta is considering it — but not until she’s fully recovered from her first “measly” 100-mile race.

Running Shoes, More Harm Than Good