May 12
2
The Paleo Diet, A Year On
The Last Easter Feast
Lemon Chicken
Easter 2011 marked the final splurge that my girlfriend Emma and I had on the ordinary sorts of foods regularly consumed by most people throughout the Western world, as we went down to the family farm for the weekend and scoffed things like chocolate Easter eggs, eggs on toast for breakfast, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, pizza, pasta, and so many other items that have now been removed from our diet and replaced by “Paleo-friendly” foods.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, but I wanted to take this chance to look back and reflect on the past year, some of our experiences, as well as the results in our health and well-being.
Starting The Paleo Diet
The first few weeks weren’t that easy. We spent a great deal of time shopping around looking for more appropriate quality foods to eat, and in general it was a more expensive shopping bill. Add to that the extra time spent in the kitchen preparing foods to make sure we were always eating as fresh as possible, and it was all quite an effort.
Emma Making Paleo Muffins
The thing I always kept in the back of my mind was that the effort would be worth it in the long run with much better health. Early on, as we were still finding our way around what was actually involved in the Paleo diet, we were also constantly refining our food choices.
For example, we would start by searching out gluten-free flour or bread, and that ended up becoming a midway step on the way to just removing those sort of options from our Paleo diet. The added cost of gluten-free options far outweighed the benefits, and the taste was generally pretty terrible anyway!
Over the stretch during the past year, I wouldn’t say that we were 100% strict on absolutely everything we ate, but we resolved to at least get 90% of the way there. Emma has a weakness for cheese that remains to this day, and I have a sweet tooth that I rely on fruit and 70% cocoa content dark chocolate for satisfaction.
On the positive side, the excellent thing that we found with this diet is that we can eat as much as we like, and the foods taste fantastic! I have a huge appetite, and that has not changed, and by eliminating bread, pasta, rice, and other “filler” foods, you’re really only left with the good stuff. Foods like fresh seafood, lean meats, fresh fruit and vegetables, and healthy oils, as well as a generous dash of herbs and spices make for great eating.
The First Month On The Paleo Diet
After reading Robb Wolf’s book “The Paleo Solution”, he made it clear that the first month was very important to get through, and in particular the first 10 days. That marks a critical period when your body finally removes any traces of gluten completely, and it was at this point when I did notice the disappearance of the stomach gurgles, and waking up in the morning was a much more pleasant experience.
By this point we didn’t have to do quite so much research in order to find our food either, we generally tried to bypass the big supermarkets and go straight to the growers markets and butchers. We also found ways to prepare foods in advance to eat throughout the week, so instead of cooking each day we could do a big session in the kitchen on a Sunday to give us meals for the week ahead.
We also spent a good chunk of time trying out new recipes, and finding snacks to eat away from home. Going out for dinner could be a tricky experience, and also explaining our food choices to our friends presented their own challenges, but most people seemed to be very understanding and encouraging, which helped a lot.
Health Results From The Paleo Diet
I started the Paleo diet, not to lose weight, but mainly just to improve my overall feeling of health and well-being.
Having said that, after about six months it occurred to me one day that I’d lost about 8kg, which had me down to about 70kg without really even trying to. Emma had similar results, about 8kg weight loss (I can’t tell you exactly what she weighs now as I don’t know, and she probably wouldn’t want me to tell you either!), and since then we’ve held our weight pretty steady.
On top of that I’ve seen my body fat percentage reduce from about 18%, down to about 11% currently! I like to keep active, and I do exercise, but it’s been years since I last stepped foot into a gym. I would comfortably put about 80% of these weight loss results down to the food I eat in the Paleo diet.
Reconnecting With Your Inner Caveman
I can only share our results and experiences, and other people may have different experiences. But if you’re struggling with weight issues, have gluten or lactose (dairy) intolerances, or just generally feel sluggish and want more energy each day, then I’d definitely recommend trying the Paleo diet.
Do it for at least 30 days.
You can always go back to doing what you were doing previously. But if something is not working for you now, then you probably need a change. This is not just a short term quick fix change either, the Paleo diet is for a long term health lifestyle.
I will be sticking to the Paleo diet for the rest of my life.
If you want to find out more about the Paleo diet, I wrote an eBook called “Reconnecting With Your Inner Caveman”, which is available on Amazon Kindle for $2.99, as well as most other ebook stores, and I truly hope that it will open your eyes to how live a healthier lifestyle for you, your children, and all future generations for a long time to come.
Your Friendly Aussie Chef And Personal Trainer,
Mick Reade
Posted in Health by .
Apr 12
5
Interview With Mick Reade
As many of you may know, I’ve recently written a Paleo eBook titled “Reconnecting With Your Inner Caveman”. It may seem like a strange title for an eBook, but there is a good reason for it… and to find out more I was interviewed yesterday by Steve Anderson who was really intrigued to find out a lot more information about what the book is about, and why I wrote it.
You can find the full in-depth interview here – Interview With Mick Reade
If you would like to learn how to lose weight, feel better on the inside, and have more energy to pack more into each day, then go ahead and read the interview to discover how this Paleo eBook, Reconnecting With Your Inner Caveman, is essential for a healthy lifestyle, even in today’s modern society full of technology and convenience.
Reconnecting With Your Inner Caveman
Reconnecting With Your Inner Caveman is available now on Amazon Kindle, Sony, Barnes And Noble, the Apple iBooks store, and all other good eBook stores. Not only that it will be available very shortly in print, on Amazon as well.
It’s $2.99 to buy a digital copy, and is well worth it if you need to change your life and get your health back on track. Don’t just take my word for it though, you can find plenty of reviews of what other people have thought about Reconnecting With Your Inner Caveman.
It involves a clever little story taking you back to our caveman ancestors, and comparing them with the way we now live today, and it also includes some of my favourite Paleo recipes at the end so you can actually start taking action and putting your new-found knowledge into practice!
Your Friendly Aussie Chef And Personal Trainer,
Mick Reade
Posted in Health by .
Emma's Paleo Breakfast
It was only recently I discovered that there is a Paleo restaurant in Melbourne, and so of course we had to go and check it out. Having just newly arrived in Melbourne from Perth, me and my girlfriend Emma decided it would be a great idea to join up with a group of other Paleo eating fans, make some new friends, find good places to eat and shop, swap recipes, that sort of thing.
It was quite a pleasant morning when we chose to head down for brunch. A table was booked for 10 people, and aside from each other, we knew no-one else there. This made for an exciting new experience, meeting like-minded people following the Paleo lifestyle, as well as trying out a Paleo restaurant that none of us had yet to visit.
Palate is located on Greville St, just off the busy cafe culture of Chapel St in Melbourne, and walking down Greville St towards the restaurant it was strange how quiet the street was, especially compared to Chapel St where we had parked the car and worked our way past trams, traffic, and other pedestrians.
I got the feeling that we were going to be the only customers in the place.
How wrong I was…
The Buzz, The Crowd, The Atmosphere!
As Bill Lawry (cricket commentator) would say, “It’s all happening!”.
The place was buzzing, waiters were rushing around taking orders and serving coffees, and most of the tables were occupied by enthusiastic diners chatting animatedly over the noise of the relatively loud music. The place was relatively small, making for a friendly and cosy vibe inside, while a few tables were also available outside for couples.
After making our introductions and settling into our seats, we were quite keen to check out the Paleo meals available on the menu. Palate provides diners with 2 menu options, a Paleo menu as well as a regular menu for those not quite sold on the concept yet. As we were all there specifically to check out the Paleo menu the regular menu was not needed for us.
I do think it’s quite a nice idea to allow people the option to choose from either menu, as the place didn’t come across with the smug, “holier than thou” type of attitude you might expect from a restaurant that caters to such specific dietary needs.
The Paleo Menu
There were plenty of options, and as you would expect, eggs were a big feature on the menu. There was a cauliflower rice with crispy bacon, banana and cinnamon, which drew a few comments from the table. Unfortunately nobody ordered it, so I’m not sure what it’s like. Maybe next time I’ll give it a go… (and yes, there will be a next time!).
Other breakfast options included a fruit salad topped with whipped coconut cream, a mushroom, tomato, onion and spinach omelette, and a bread-free burger of roasted tomato, spinach, bacon, and grilled zucchini, between two fried eggs and served with a spoonful of guacamole. The breakfast burger was my choice, and it was a popular one as I looked around the table and watched a few others also order it.
To go along with these options was also a build-your-own-meal ability. The idea of this was to pick one out of a list of a few meats, and then add either 4 or 6 vegetable choices to make up the rest of the meal, depending how hungry you were. This was also a popular option amongst the table, as there was a huge amount of options to choose from, like lamb fillet, chilli prawn skewers, cauliflower rice, eggs, bacon, marinated mushrooms, paprika roasted pumpkin pieces, grilled asparagus, beetroot, and many more.
Our Paleo Breakfast Meals
After we ordered, we waited in anticipation for our Paleo breakfast meals and discussed our previous experiences with the paleo diet, swapped a few meal ideas, and generally there was a feeling of excitement around the table. The discussion was high tempo and non-stop, until our meals started arriving and allowed us to put our mouths to other uses.
Paleo Breakfast Burger
There were some impressive plates being put down in front of us, and the portion sizes were quite generous. The smell was amazing, and there was clearly a lot of care taken with each meal, right down to the finest detail.
Before my egg burger came out I had the expectation that the eggs would be hard fried, so that it could be picked up like a normal burger. Instead, the eggs came out perfectly cooked, with a bright yellow yolk shining up at me like a miniature sun, and it was plain to see that they were clearly from free-range chooks.
Even the skewer holding it all together was carefully placed for a beautiful end result.
In fact, all the produce was quite clearly bought from the highest quality sources, with fresh crisp vegetables, and delicately spiced. Emma ordered the lamb fillet, with marinated mushrooms, paprika spiced pumpkin, asparagus and smashed avocado, and boy did her eyes light up when it arrived! I think it ended up being the largest meal, which is quite funny for someone who doesn’t eat as much.
Luckily though, there were plenty of people willing to share the load and make sure nothing went to waste!
We washed it down with a refreshing juice, made up of apple, pineapple, watermelon and mint… and it was magnificent! The whole experience at Palate was one to remember, both for the company involved, making new friends, and also a great little restaurant to come back to for an excellent Paleo meal.
Palate Paleo Restaurant – The Verdict
I would highly recommend visiting Palate. Even if you’re not sure about Paleo, or just dipping your toe in, there is something there for everyone. I will definitely be back in the not-too-distant future, and from the comments heard around the table, I won’t be the only one!
Your Friendly Aussie Chef And Personal Trainer
Mick Reade
www.FitnessAndHealthyLifestyle.com
Posted in Uncategorized by .
Paleo fitness is a key to your overall strategy to achieve optimal health, but what exactly is paleo fitness? So far I’ve mostly discussed eating Paleo, as I believe nutrition makes up to 80% of the importance of your health (remember, you are what you eat!), but today I’d like to touch on Paleo fitness and exercise, to help you start training your inner caveman.
What Is Paleo Fitness?
Paleo Fitness Was Needed To Hunt Large Animals
We can all imagine what cavemen (and women) used to look like, lean, strong and muscular bodies, capable of running fast, lifting heavy objects, and climbing up trees and over rocks. Body fat percentage would have been extremely low, and muscles would have rippled as they moved around in their everyday Paleo Era activities.
And that’s exactly where the key to their Paleo fitness came from – their everyday activities. There was no routine, every effort was targeted towards taking care of their basic needs: food, shelter and water. Not much else mattered.
Today, we have all manner of distractions, computers, tv, radio, school, work, family, friends, social media, iphones, and all sorts of things that take up our time. Our basic needs are pretty well taken care of, and food is often an afterthought. In fact, food is now so readily available in our Western society that more people die from eating too much, than from not eating enough!
That is an amazing and scary fact!
How Did Paleo Man Live?
Let’s get back to our friend the caveman. The average caveman was the equivalent of a modern Olympic decathlete. He needed to be fast, he needed to be strong, flexible, agile, and he definitely needed to be resilient. It was a tough world, and outside the comfort of our four walls and a roof, only the strong survive.
However, you might be surprised to know that there was also plenty of time for rest and relaxation. Muscles need to recover, otherwise all the energy is drained to the point of exhaustion, and you would no longer have the ability to find more food (ie. energy).
Just like most other animals in the wild, it was extremely important for Paleo man to conserve energy. When you rely on tracking and hunting creatures for your energy supply, it’s not much good running 10 or 20km to get it… you may never get enough energy back to make up for what you just spent! And to run a marathon? Almost a death sentence right there.
There are many people today, those that may consider themselves a “gym junkie”, that may be doing themselves more harm than good by overdoing their cardio exercise routines, wearing out their bodies to the point of exhaustion, and then needing a good dose of carbs or sugars to get back the energy they just spent. In a future post I’ll go into further details about why eating more carbs is not great for your body.
Training Your Inner Caveman
Ok, so we know that to achieve Paleo fitness not to overdo it too much. So what does that leave us with as an action plan to use straight away?
Today, our Paleo fitness plan is going to be kept very simple. I’m going to make the assumption that your starting fitness point is very low, just to build up a foundation.
Building a fitness foundation is extremely important, and it doesn’t matter who you are, or how fit you are. There are professional athletes that don’t utilise this sort of information I’m about to share with you!
The Basics Of Paleo Fitness
Walk. Walk long distances.
You may only be able to do 30 minutes at first, that’s ok. Start with that, and build up a bit more each day.
There’s 3 very good reasons why walking is an excellent daily activity -
- Cardio. Yes, although it may not be the intense type of cardio exercise that comes from running, walk for an hour or two and see if your heart rate isn’t elevated throughout that time, I guarantee that it will be.
- Ligament strength. This is the basis of our joint mobility, and walking will help with both strength and flexibility. When you lift weights, your brain sends a signal to your muscles to recruit as many as it thinks it will need to perform the activity. Once muscles are recruited to perform, the ligaments are not really needed, and therefore not worked. This is one major issue that many professional athletes have… they can lift heavy weights, but it doesn’t stop them from getting ankle, knee, elbow and shoulder injuries. Only long, slow, relatively gentle activity will engage the ligaments without recruiting bigger muscles to take over.
- Our bodies are designed to move! We spend so much of our day sitting at the desk, sitting on the train or in the car stuck in traffic, or slumped on the couch in front of the tv, which then begins the onset of spinal problems. Walking will activate your core muscles and help to strengthen that spinal region.
Most people would benefit greatly from walking a lot more often, and it doesn’t matter what your fitness is like today, chances are you can at least do this. In the next post I’ll go into some more advanced Paleo fitness strategies, to really propel you towards your fitness and health goals!
Mick Reade
Aussie Health And Fitness Consultant
Posted in Fitness by .
I was going to call this Paleo cauliflower mash, but it turns out to be really more of a mush in the end. Don’t let the name fool you though, as it still tastes fantastic. Normally I wouldn’t put cauliflower and tasty in the same sentence together, but this Paleo recipe is an excellent way to eat some vitamin-rich cauliflower, and it can go on the side of any other Paleo dish you may be concocting!
Paleo Cauliflower Rice (Mush) Recipe Video
Making Healthy Vegetables Taste Delicious
Remember when you ate cauliflower as a kid, and it would just be boiled up and added with the other boiled and bland vegetables, and the only reason you actually ate it is because your mum threatened to make you go without dessert? Or if you were really lucky, it would come smothered in melted cheese or a white sauce. While that does sound delicious, those of us who eat Paleo or Primal no longer have dairy foods as an option, so it’s great to know you can still make healthy vegetables taste delicious while sticking to eating Paleo!
It’s also another excellent Paleo recipe that can be made in advance and kept aside for future meals, plus it’s really quite simple to make.
Paleo Cauliflower Rice Recipe Ingredients
1 head of fresh cauliflower, grated (or use a food processor)
4 cups (1L) of chicken stock
1 cup almond meal
Sea salt and pepper, for seasoning
How To Make Paleo Cauliflower Rice
In a large saucepan, mix together the grated cauliflower, almond meal and chicken stock over a medium heat.
Bring to the boil, then cover and reduce the heat to simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until all the liquid is absorbed.
Season with sea salt and pepper, and serve on the side of any meal you like. Enjoy!
Mick Reade
Aussie Health And Fitness Consultant
Posted in Paleo Recipes by .
Feb 12
17
What Is Paleo Eating?
Eating Paleo has sprung up recently as a growing movement, however the concept is quite old, and it’s based on the diet of the humans that inhabited the planet during the Paleolithic Era, between 2.6 million years, and about 10,000 years ago.
This was well before the advent of the Agricultural Revolution, when there were many different species of humans, such as Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, and Neanderthals. These humans competed with each other for food, and lived in small groups and social communities as active hunter-gatherers.
In a very short space of time, humans became the dominant creature on Earth, learning how to use tools and control fire, and it was our diet that was the driving force in our development by improving our brain capacity and intelligence, giving us a much greater chance of outsmarting our rivals and surviving harsh conditions in the wild.
So, What Is Paleo Eating?
Paleo Foods
Humans are omnivorous animals, that is, we can eat a variety of both plant foods and meats. This is a big key, as we can get nutrition from many sources, plenty of vitamins and minerals from fruits, berries and vegetables, as well as protein and healthy omega-3 fats from meat, seafood and nuts.
All our food was fresh and organic. There was no pesticides or chemicals around to help food grow, and there certainly wasn’t a McDonald’s or other fast food places around. We needed to hunt animals, and we needed to gather fruits, vegetables and nuts. It may sound like a lot of hard work, and it probably was at times, but we got surprisingly good at these jobs, and the rewards were incredible.
Our brain size grew, to the point where we became the most intelligent animal to ever live on Earth. Our fitness also increased, as we shed our hairy bodies it allowed us to sweat (the only animal that sweats), and therefore could track and hunt for longer periods than their prey could outrun them.
Eating Paleo Foods
It may shock you to know that our brain size has diminished since the beginning of the Agricultural Revolution. Yes, ancient man was much smarter in general than we are today! Even Neanderthals, who are generally thought of as bone-headed dimwits, actually had a brain roughly the same size as humans today.
Ten thousand years ago the last Ice Age subsided, and we began to store foods such as grains for later use. We also began to keep livestock, such as cows and sheep, and drink their milk for sustenance. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but the effect on our bodies has been dramatic, as we have not had time to evolve and adapt to these changes in diet. We see it today in the form of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, obesity, and many others that are all food related.
By eating Paleo foods, and getting back to a way of life similar to one we used to lead, we can get our health back on track. Here’s a simple list of foods to try and stick to – grass-fed meats (not grain-fed), wild-caught seafood (high in omega-3), fresh organic fruit and vegetables (avoid chemicals), berries, nuts, health fats (olive, coconut, avocado oil, for example), and even insects (yes, in some cultures people still eat insects!).
Avoid eating things like grains, dairy, transfats (man-made or unnatural fats), anything sprayed with pesticide, and pretty much anything that comes in a packet if you can help it.
The Future Of Eating Paleo
In future posts I’ll go into much more detail about what can be considered healthy Paleo foods to eat in our modern world, and also why, to give you a more informed idea of what you put into your mouth…
Mick Reade
Aussie Health And Fitness Consultant
Posted in Health by .
The Paleolithic Era
The Paleolithic Era
The Paleolithic period, or era, is a period of time beginning about 2.6 million years ago, and coming to an end around 10,000 years ago. Paleolithic is a term coined by an architect named John Lubbock, it derives from the Greek language, and literally means “old age of the stone”.
While this news may not be particularly exciting, a point I’d like to highlight is that this Paleolithic Era began at a point where humans began to use stone tools. These very early human forms were distant ancestors of homo sapiens sapiens (you, me, and every other human who currently inhabits the world), and were known as Australopithecenes.
Over a very long period of time, these human forms eventually evolved to become Neanderthals, Homo Habilis (handy man), Homo Erectus, and then eventually the Homo Sapiens form of today.
The Stone Age
Why is this important to know?
Humans began using stone tools about 2.6 million years ago, but had been steadily evolving for a long period of time before that. In fact, we have fossil evidence of hominid forms dating back 7 million years! Evolution is a very long and slow process, and YOU are a result of million years worth of genetic evolution.
The Paleolithic Diet
The humans that inhabited the world in the Paleolithic Era were hunter-gatherers, and were quite often nomadic, travelling to different parts of the lands in search of food and shelter from the elements. Life was simple, but very tough. Survival was not easy but food was often plentiful, and human intelligence continued to increase dramatically to overcome the challenges of the harsh outside world, as well as the physical limitations we had compared to other animals (yes, you may not like to admit it, but we are still animals).
The Paleolithic Era covered a large period of time, and many different species of humans. For most of that time, our use of tools and communication was limited, we did not yet have control of fire, and we did not do much fishing.
The Paleolithic Diet, or The Paleo Diet as is more commonly referred to, will focus more closely on the latter stages of the Paleolithic Era, when man did evolve to the stage of controlling fire, tools were more advanced, communication of new hunting skills was passed on through teaching the next generations, and human population expanded to cover greater regions of the earth.
The End Of The Paleolithic Era
The Paleolithic Era ended about 10,000 years ago with the beginning of the Agricultural Revolution. Humans exchanged hunting-gathering lifestyles for farming, moved from nomadic beings to settling down and growing crops of grains. Nutritionist Dr Loren Cordain has said that the Agricultural Revolution was “the worst event in human history”. We are still suffering the effects of this today.
Today has been a very quick little history lesson on our distant past, and how humans evolved through the Paleolithic Era. In future posts we will go into much more detail about the impact of the agricultural revolution, as well as more specifics about what allowed humans to dominate and conquer the world throughout the Paleolithic Era.
Hint: It mostly had to do with what we put in our mouths…
If there’s anything specific you want to learn about in upcoming posts, please let me know in the comments below.
Mick Reade
Aussie Health And Fitness Consultant
www.FitnessAndHealthyLifestyle.com
Posted in Health by .
Hello, and thanks for visiting my new blog FitnessAndHealthyLifestyle.com, where I plan to update you with all sorts of fitness and health tips. My name is Mick Reade, I’m qualified as a chef, a personal trainer, and I enjoy writing.
I have a passion for food, so although you may be here to find out how to get fit and healthy, there is absolutely no reason why we can’t also enjoy delicious food as well, and I plan to prove that to you over the coming days, weeks and months as my blog progresses.
Fitness For You
Fitness, exercise, sport, and activity in general, all have a big part to play in our overall health and well-being, not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally as well. I will be going in to depth about some of the best ways to exercise to improve your fitness levels, strength and flexibility, the major benefits that exercise can have for you, as well as dispel some common myths floating around in the general community that you may have come across.
I’ve done a great deal of research in this area recently, and the information I share with you will be based largely on how our genes have been designed from the past 2 million years of evolution. This is definitely NOT about the latest fads and trends, but powerful information and insights that you can use for a lifetime of good health (no matter how old – or young – you may be right now!).
Healthy Lifestyle For Life
I consider “diet” as quite a bad word in today’s society, as it’s associated with restricting and starving yourself of certain foods in order to lose weight. While this may be a noble quest, going on a diet usually is for your own short-term weightloss goals, and as a result is often doomed to failure as it’s too difficult to maintain for the long-term.
Therefore, I’ll be sharing plenty of tips on how you can reach your ideal weight through eating the right foods (and eating plenty of them), without feeling like you’re missing out on anything, or that you have to starve yourself.
If you are not at the weight you desire right now, and you’ve tried different “diets” before, then I’m sure you’ve heard plenty of false promises from supposed experts spouting about their latest fad or trendy diets.
Again, everything I put forward in my upcoming blog posts has been heavily researched, and is based on what our genes are designed to thrive on from the past 2 million years of human evolution (not just the rubbish options that we’ve been stuck with for the last few decades/centuries!).
But I don’t want you to just take my word for it… I’m quite happy for you to do your own research as well – in fact, I would encourage it. The more you know about the hows and whys, I believe, the more likely you are to stick to doing the right things and help you to achieve optimum health!
Introduction To Fitness And Healthy Lifestyle
So that’s my short introduction of what you can expect to find from my blog, I hope to see you come back often to discover all the fantastic ways that you can improve your own fitness and health for a much better quality of life. And I especially look forward to sharing more of my knowledge with you as we get to know each other better in the process!
Your Friendly Aussie Chef/Personal Trainer,
Mick Reade
Posted in Health by .
Discover how to improve your health for life with our weekly eNewsletter, packed with simple tips based on 2 million years of human genetic evolution!
Reconnecting With Your Inner Caveman
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