More weight loss February 26, 2009
Posted by Dr Dan in Uncategorized.3 comments
Only one more week to go until full posting resumes. I am down to 101.9kg now. Im going through a fairly rapid weight loss phase.
Fighting the good fight February 24, 2009
Posted by Dr Dan in Uncategorized.5 comments
No I have not fallen off the paleo bandwagon. Im still on, in fact my weight now is 102.5 kg so I am at my lowest. The lack of posts are largely to do with a grant I am writing for $300,000. Its due in a month and what this means is after I finish work I come home and spend the next 8 hrs writing the grant. After that I don’t even have enough mental energy to blow my nose net alone writing a thought provoking post. But I will endeavour from now on to write at least something every day.
My paleo has been going well. My emotional state not so well. Just feeling somewhat dark on the whole Science situation. I am writing a grant that aims at restoring native fish populations in freshwater ecosystems worldwide. Its a bit of a low carb scenario though. Everyone believes one thing despite a large amount of evidence to the contrary. Nearly all conservation scientists tend to think that the best way to restore native fish populations is by eradicating exotic fish which supposedly outcompete them. However, most native fish populations only decline in habitats that have undergone large disturbances through human impacts. These impacts make the water more turbid (dirty – so not clear). My background is in sensory biology and it makes sense to me that these fish are losing their ability to ’see’ their food and as a result die off since they starve. Interestingly, all fish that invade these ecosystems tend to rely heavily on non-visual senses and this of course fits into this picture. They don’t need to see in order to feed and so can invade these degraded and dirty ecosystems where native species have declined.
That in short is my proposal. But no one wants to fund it because its not wiping out exotics. But the point is exotics are NOT the problem turbidity is. Now does this ring any bells with our problems with carb addicts. FAT is not the problem insulin is. All the evidence suggests that but people have been brought up believing one thing and all their funding relies on that premise and so its hard to shake their beliefs (and their purse strings).
Ill keep on fighting the good fight though on both accounts. I will be posting more regularly now as I need to force myself to have breaks.
On A Personal Note February 15, 2009
Posted by Dr Dan in Uncategorized.15 comments
First off sorry for my lack of posts. As you are probably aware I have had two job interviews – one in Melbourne and one in Sydney. Both jobs are within the field of research in marine biology at Australian cities. I had the Melbourne one first and that was last friday. Then I needed to prepare for the interview in Sydney, which I did over the next few days. I then flew there did the interview and came back. Then the following few days were followed by ‘am I gonna get it anxiety’.
Sadly, I didn’t get it despite them been very impressed and I felt the interview went really well. My PhD supervisor suspects it was an internal promotion. So the last couple of days I have been feeling a bit frustrated and depressed. Its sad that I spent 10 years at university working my way through to get a PhD and now I can’t seem to get a job in the field. So Im going into self identity crisis. Been a scientist is important to me, but am I a scientist if I am not working in science? For example, is a teacher of science a scientist? Argghh. So I will continue to work in my boring minimum wage ‘a monkey could do it’ job until I find a way out.
Needless to say this week has taken its toll and I havn’t exactly paleo’d. I have most of the time but there were also plenty of carbs that I ate also. Interestingly, I weighed myself expecting a huge weight gain and I only weighed 104.4 kg. Thats not too much of a backward slide and Im pretty sure once I go pure paleo again that will drop quickly. Anyway I never intended to do a personal blog but it felt right. I needed to vent and why not to the world.
Lack of posts February 9, 2009
Posted by Dr Dan in Uncategorized.9 comments
Sorry for the lack of posts. I am off to a job interview in Sydney, Australia, and if I get it that means I can be a marine biologist for another few years. Yay. Will resume posting on wednesday (which is probably tuesday if your from the USA).
Home Is In Our Genes February 6, 2009
Posted by Dr Dan in paleo lifestyle.Tags: habitat, paleo lifestyle
5 comments
Not quite the typical post on food but still very interesting in terms of our paleolithic past. In a pioneering study by Dr Gordon Orians, a zoologist at the University of Washington, the ‘ideal’ habitat of modern day humans was diagnosed. If given a free choice, people preferred to live in a home that was perched on top of a prominence, placed close to a lake, ocean, or other body of water, and surrounded by a parklike terrain. The trees they most want to see from their homes have spreading crowns, with numerous branches projecting from the trunk close to and horizontal with the ground, and furnished profusely with small or finely divided leaves. It so happens that this archetype fits a tropical savanna of the kind prevailing in Africa where humanity evolved for several millions of years. Primitive people living there are thought to have been most secure in open terrain, where the wide vista allowed them to search for food while watching for enemies.
Is this a coincidence, this similarity between the ancient home of human beings and their modern day preference? Animals of all kinds possess an inborn habitat selection on which their survival depends. It would seem strange if humans were an exception, or if humans brief existence in agricultural and urban surroundings had erased the propensity of our genes. Consider a New York multimillionaire who, provided by wealth with a free choice of habitation, selects a penthouse overlooking Central Park, in sight of the lake if possible, and rims the terrace with potted shrubs. Is the habitat we choose written in our genes?
Calorie Restriction Makes You Smarter February 5, 2009
Posted by Dr Dan in paleo diet.Tags: calorie restriction, cognitive performance, paleo diet
5 comments
As well as extending the lifespan in a number of species, calorie restriction may also be able to boost cognitive function in elderly people. Agnes Floel at the University of Munster in Germany tested the short-term memory of 50 elderly people aged approximately 60. One third of this group were asked to eat 30 per cent fewer calories than what they would in a typical day.
After three months, those that reduced calories, scored 20% higher on a word recall test than they had before the diet. They recalled 12.5 out of 15 words compared to 10.5 pre diet. This may not sound like much but this difference is greater than that found between people under 30 and above 50. The controls obviously showed no difference. To boost, the dieters also had lower levels of glucose and insulin in their blood, which have been linked with improved brain function. Once again the mother of nutritional control, insulin, has another positive health benefit when controlled. My question is this – was it the calorie restriction or the reduction of insulin that caused these effects?
Two sites I am consistently getting a lot of hits from lately:
If there not on your blog list they should be.
Sick February 4, 2009
Posted by Dr Dan in Uncategorized.Tags: paleo diet
7 comments
Sorry for no post yesterday but I was sick with a fever. I thought to myself I can’t even remember the last time I was sick like this. But then thats the interesting point. I don’t think I have been sick since I started the Paleo Diet. Well until now.
Dynamic Phase of Weight Loss February 3, 2009
Posted by Dr Dan in weight loss.12 comments
I read this at Michael Eades and found it really interesting:
You want to hang in there (on low carb) until you get to what was called in the old medical literature the dynamic weight stage. The dynamic weight stage is when weight is changing rapidly in either an upward or downward direction. Anyone who has gained or lost a lot of weight has experienced this. You can gain rapidly once you get into this phase, but ultimately you stabilize and hit the static weight phase. It works the same going the other way. Once you get your weight loss momentum built up, you seem to lose effortlessly while in this dynamic phase. This is where you want to be. But you have to commit for a few solid weeks to get there. You can’t just diddle with it, go on a few days and off, fill up on calorie-dense, low-or-no-carb junk, say you’re doing a low-carb diet, and wonder why you aren’t losing. You’ve got to get up into the low-carb saddle and ride.
This really spoke to me. I have often found that once I have stuffed up and eaten some foods that are non-paleo, or high in carb, it takes around a few days for me to get back into weight loss mode or should I say the dynamic weight stage. But once I am there the weight really starts to drop off quickly until I stuff up again. My problem has been this. Once I hit the dynamic phase I tend to think things are going so well I CAN err a little bit. But after reading this I realise that thats when I need to be ultra strict to keep myself in that stage rather than easing off a bit!!!! Very interesting and it has given me quite a big change in perspective. What does everyone think can they also see something in this?
Food
For lunch I just had a can of tuna in olive oil and garlic. For dinner I had some silverbeet (chard) cooked in some tomato paste, garlic, onion and olive oil. I had this with some roast lamb.
Sorry its the same old stuff but Im trying to live cheap. Which reminds me read this post from the Son of Grok on ways to eat cheap on Paleo if you havn’t already.
The Omega Fatty Acids and Brain Evolution – Part II February 2, 2009
Posted by Dr Dan in Omega 3.Tags: brain evolution, Omega 3, paleo diet
7 comments
The traditional view of our paleolithic ancestors is that they were hunter-gatherers within the African savannah. However, a common theme amongst animals that inhabit the savannah is that brain size decreases relative to increases in body weight. For example, a cebus monkey of 0.9kg has 2.3% of its body weight as brain, a chimpanzee 0.5%, a gorilla 0.025% and a rhinoceros <0.01%. The rhino reaches its one tonne body weight within four years and this provides the answer to this pattern. The biosynthesis of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). a major chemical substrate for the brain, is relatively slow and would not be able to keep up with the rapid growth of larger animals.
The large savannah animals of Africa share the same fate – DHA and brain capacity declined as body size accelerated. The reason is that the African savannah is devoid of DHA and thus provides an evolutionary limiting factor. Which begs the question – how did Homo sapiens develop a large brain within the African food chain? The genus Homo doubled its cranial capacity within this ecosystem and the fossil evidence does not support a slow evolution of the brain in the Darwinian sense but rather a rapid explosion in the last 200,000 yrs.
The earliest fossil evidence for Homo sapiens is found in Africa near lakeshore environments in the East African Rift Valley. This possibly suggests that the land/water interface may have provided the DHA required for the evolution of the human brain. Further evidence comes from fossils at coastal sites in South Africa. These fossils are regarded as the earliest modern human fossils and are aged at about 160000 years old. These were found with incontrovertible evidence for the consumption of seafood dating back to the time of rapid brain development. Australopithecus spp, which are considered as the missing link, did not show much brain development and fossils were found within forest habitats.
There is almost unanimous agreement that H. sapiens evolved in Africa and then radiated out. Recently stone tools of 0.8-0.9 myr were found in Flores an island in Indonesia. It is strongly suggested that these tools were created by H. erectus not H. sapiens. Although this island would have been closer to the mainland during the Pleistocene it still would have required a sea crossing of over 20 km or 12 miles. This implies that in Indonesia H. erectus had reached the cognitive capacity to build and use watercraft.
Homo sapiens did not develop a big brain and then use it to hunt they developed a big brain first. Obtaining food from freshwater and coastal sources would have provided a rich source of DHA which would have lifted the restrictions on brain evolution due to the limited amount of DHA within the African savannah. Fish and shellfish are rich sources of this Omega 3 fatty acid and thus should be incorporated into any paleo diet. This may explain the observation of improved problem solving ability in infants fed DHA which persists beyond the period of supplementation.
Paleo Diet Hate February 1, 2009
Posted by Dr Dan in paleo diet.Tags: paleo diet
19 comments
What a day of insults! Last night I came to the firm conclusion that the carb machine is still alive and well. Im not quite sure how this happened but I ended up getting into an argument with a few of my friends about my weight loss. I think it started when I mentioned to one of them that they should consider trying paleo if they wanted to lose weight. They then said that they could see I was losing weight BUT. I tend to believe that anything said, preceding a but, is simply softening the blow for what they actually think. Well here are some points that represent the main crux of their argument from what I can recollect.
1 – That I am simply eating healthily and exercising and that is why I am losing weight.
2 – That nothing I am doing is revolutionary and that I am simply adopting common nutritional advice
So here is my argument. First of all I found it incredibly arrogant, condescending and rude for them to assume that in all of my 20 years of dieting that I have NEVER attempted to eat healthily (according to common wisdom) and exercise. I mean COME ON!!!!!! I went on weight watchers. I have tried doing it the way people think it should be done. The weight did not come off and if it did I felt incredibily hungry all the time. When I did the paleo diet the weight has come off and I have not felt nearly the same degree of hunger as I did then.
So here is my argument against the second point. This is the common nutritional advice based off the the USDA dietary recommendations.
And here is a pyramid representing a more paleo approach.
Clearly there is quite a big difference between the two! Mainly that refined carbohydrates are not represented in the paleo diet and there is more emphasis on vegetables and meats. Also my diet doesn’t seem to be too traditional because one of them mentioned that I eat such high amounts of fat. I tried to explain that fat is not the problem it is carbohydrates. That insulin spikes cause your body to store fat and that insulin is spiked by carbohydrates not fat. That when you base your eating plan off of the USDA food pyramid you get insulin spikes even when you are eating low glycemic foods. But apparently Im deluded.
The fact is I dont care if this is revolutionary or not. I care that it works. It does work. I have tried many other diets and this is the one that has made me lose the weight. I think that that in and of itself proves my point that diets high in carbs don’t work (for me). But with all the propoganda and carbohydrate promotion out there I will just have to accept that people will always be resistant to what I say and that they will come up with their own reasons as to why I am losing weight….correct or not.
Apparently it doesn’t end there. I came on to my blog to write the above post and noticed that I was getting some hits from people talking about my blog in a forum. What did I find. Sadly, people were dicussing in the forum here that my diet was rubbish because it was a paleo diet and too HIGH in carbs or plants. So as you can see I can’t win!!!! Which is a shame because I would have thought that at least they would be understanding of the paleo approach. They seem to think that eating meat is the only healthy option. My argument is this….
Clearly hunter gatherers, other than the Inuit, ate plants. I can accept that hunter gatherers would prefer meat over plant sources and in fact I have written a post about this. However, there is no denying that plants, when available, WERE consumed by hunter gatherers and that they offered a good source of vitamins and minerals! I find green leafy vegetables supply abundant nutrients that would be difficult to obtain with meat alone. A diet that incorporates these can still be low carb and successful.
I don’t know where they got the idea that Im permanently hungry? I talk about it a lot because thats my gauge of how my body is feeling. Since I have reduced my carb intake to below 50g and am eating predominantly green leafy vegetables (no fruits or starchy tubers – well not often) I am definitely not hungry. When I talk about hunger it is not comparable to what I used to feel when I was eating like the average lay person. Also, they mention the high carb aspect because when they did it they ate lots of dried fruits, nuts and starchy tubers. Well of course you are not going to lose weight if your eating lots of these foods! This isn’t an argument against paleo. Anyone who is attempting to lose weight should eliminate these from their diet. Simple. But it was nice to hear that people think that I am naive and deluded. Poor old me.
I will keep the link up because the guy that actually writes the blog seemed nice enough, he writes really well, and I like his blog a LOT and am interested in his approach. But I believe his approach does fall under the paleo umbrella. Maybe not the Loren Cordain version but it is paleo. Paleo diets are extremely diverse and I don’t see why people can’t accept that different diets can work for different people. I can certainly accept that a diet of meat alone could be healthy. It was for the Inuits!!
Here is some of the food I have been eating over the last couple of days (note: no dried fruits, nuts or other carby foods).
Pork and Chard
Lamb, mesclun salad and tomatoes
Roast Beef, Courgettes, Chard
Let me introduce you to a new paleo blog by a fellow New Zealand girl. Add it to your links. Its called Beastie Girl.
