Last weekend I attended The Cooking For Well-Being Conference, a Weekend of Traditional Cooking Techniques.  Monica Corrado, certified nutritionist and chef taught the course.  The class was centered around the research from Weston A. Price and Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions – The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and Diet Dictocrats.

Weston Price was an American dentist who traveled the globe in the 1930′s. Price studied cultures that were healthy, thriving and free from modern day diseases.  His research shows their diets and food preparation techniques had these things in common:

Healthy Diets-

1. Eat whole, natural foods.
2. Eat only foods that will spoil, but eat them before they do.
3. Eat naturally-raised meat including fish, seafood, poultry, beef, lamb, game, organ meats and eggs.
4. Eat whole, naturally-produced milk products from pasture-fed cows, preferably raw and/or fermented, such as whole yogurt, cultured butter, whole cheeses and fresh and sour cream.
5. Use only traditional fats and oils including butter and other animal fats, extra virgin olive oil, expeller expressed sesame and flax oil and the tropical oils-coconut and palm.
6. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, preferably organic, in salads and soups, or lightly steamed.
7. Use whole grains and nuts that have been prepared by soaking, sprouting or sour leavening to neutralize phytic acid and other anti-nutrients.
8. Include enzyme-enhanced lacto-fermented vegetables, fruits, beverages and condiments in your diet on a regular basis.
9. Prepare homemade meat stocks from the bones of chicken, beef, lamb or fish and use liberally in soups and sauces.

Unhealthy Diets-

1. Do not eat commercially processed foods such as cookies, cakes, crackers, TV dinners, soft drinks, packaged sauce mixes, etc. Read labels!
2. Avoid all refined sweeteners such as sugar, dextrose, glucose, high fructose corn syrup and fruit juices.
3. Avoid white flour, white flour products and white rice.
4. Avoid all hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats and oils.
5. Avoid all refined liquid vegetable oils made from soy, corn, safflower, canola or cottonseed.
6. Do not use polyunsaturated oils for cooking, sauteing or baking.
7. Avoid foods fried in polyunsaturated oils or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
8. Do not practice veganism. Animal products provide vital nutrients not found in plant foods.
9. Avoid products containing protein powders as they usually contain carcinogens formed during processing; and consumption of protein without the co-factors occurring in nature can lead to deficiencies, especially of vitamin A.
10. Avoid processed, pasteurized milk; do not consume ultra-pasteurized milk products, low-fat milk, skim milk, powdered milk or imitation milk products.
11. Avoid factory-farmed eggs, meats and fish.
12. Avoid highly processed luncheon meats and sausage.
13. Avoid rancid and improperly prepared seeds, nuts and grains found in granola, quick rise breads and extruded breakfast cereals, as they block mineral absorption and cause intestinal distress.
14. Avoid canned, sprayed, waxed and irradiated fruits and vegetables. Avoid genetically modified foods (found in most soy, canola and corn products).
15. Avoid artificial food additives, especially MSG, hydrolyzed vegetable protein and aspartame, which are neurotoxin. Most soups, sauce and broth mixes and most commercial condiments contain MSG, even if not indicated on the label.

Today the Weston A. Price Foundation continues to provide valuable resources to the public.  They have monthly meet-up groups all around the country where people learn and share about local organic farms, grass-fed meat, raw milk resources, and so much more!

They also offer cooking and healthy eating classes throughout the year.  On July 15th I attended my first Weston A. Price Cooking For Well-Being Conference in Broomfield, Colorado and I loved it.  I highly recommend attending a Weston A. Price conference for an in-depth understanding of why grass fed meat, traditional fats, pastured eggs and dairy, nutrient dense fruits, vegetables, non GMO foods, pure water, and wild seafood are so important to prepare and eat with your family on a regular basis.

On Friday night our course instructor, Monica opened the conference with a two-hour lecture called,

What Is Real Food? And Why Does It Matter?

Then on Saturday and Sunday we learned how to cook the Weston A. Price recommendations since we’ve lost many of the traditional cooking techniques which maximize digestion, absorption & nutrient availability

Traditional Fermentation Techniques:  Lacto-Fermented Vegetables, Condiments and Beverage

• Aids digestion.
• If you eat, drink lacto-fermented foods and beverages, you can skip that probiotic pill every day

We made:

Salt solo sauerkraut, salt brine sauerkraut, salt and whey brine sauerkraut and fruit kvass (fermented fruit beverage) with berries, apple (core included), grated ginger, whey from kefir, water and salt.

All recipes can be found in the Nourishing Traditions Cookbook.

Nutrient Dense Stock

• Stock is an original super food. Rich in valuable minerals. Athletes, pregnant woman, nursing women, growing children should all drink stock!
• Check out US Wellness Meats for grass fed, meat and bones.

The Beiler Broth was my favorite. Recommended for energy, overall health, fasting.  This combination of vegetables is ideal for restoring acid/alkaline and sodium/potasium balance to the organs and glands. Especially the adrenal glands.  Beiler Broth is highly recommended for anyone under stress.

I just completed a 30 Day Paleo Challenge.  I started it on June 17th and finished on July 18th.

My results?

I lost 13.5 pounds and 4 inches!

This is me on Memorial Day 2011 in the Bolder Boulder 10K Race.  I do not like this picture of me, but I’m posting it because it’s the only recent picture I had of myself  in workout clothes.

Fast forward to Monday July 18th, and this time I have lost the slouch, the sweatshirt and the 13.5 pounds.  And I feel much better than I did one month ago.

Paleo Diet Challenge In A Nut Shell:

I know, I know, you’re thinking,  ”This is I.M.P.O.S.S.I.B.L.E. there is NO WAY I could ever do this.”

That’s cool, I have no special interest in you eating this way or not eating this way.

But I want to tell you why I feel I was successful in such a short amount of time and why I think you’d be pleasantly surprised if you committed to your own 30-day Paleo Challenge.  30 days is nothing in the big picture of things.  If you hate it, then stop after the 30 days and never eat that way again, but you really have nothing to lose (except weight) and:

a.)  This isn’t as hard as it first appears.

b.)  You will look and feel so much better.

How I Approached My 30 Day Challenge

1.  I made a decision that I was going to do it- I stuck to it and I did not “cheat”, ever.  I made up my mind and my focus was laser sharp for 30 days.  Honestly people, making a decision to follow-thru and not quit is 60% of your success.

Now, let me say this.  It took me awhile before I decided to fully commit to this challenge.  It wasn’t that I was going through McDonalds drive-thru, I was just depleted.  I was weighed down and bloated with emotions that I wasn’t digesting and eliminating.  I reached for some comfort in food in order to replace the sweetness and calm that I wasn’t finding in my life.  It doesn’t work, I know that.  But the Bhakti Chai, corn tortilla enchiladas, blue chips and hummus, red wine, gluten-free cookies, and Justin’s chocolate peanut butter cups comforted me temporarily.  I needed that, and I’m not ashamed to say that.  I didn’t beat myself up then and I don’t beat myself up now.  It’s simply the place I was in and it had nothing to do with my lack of nutritional understanding.

I’m telling you this because if you’re in a starch and sugar rut right now, it may be exactly what you need to do.  So keep doing it!  I’m totally serious.  Give yourself a break and eat the cookie.  That’s what I did!

The research shows, and I agree, that when you stop berating yourself about what you ate, or didn’t eat, and how you think you look, you will be less likely to abuse yourself with food and chronic dieting.

However…

So on June 17th I decided it was time for me to change things up.  I needed a challenge because I had felt stagnate for too long.

2.  I Chose Paleo over anything else – I’ve studied and eaten Paleo  70%-80% of the time for years (I’m gluten-free) and I know it is biochemically sound, so I committed myself to a strict Paleo regime.  Here’s what I ate (and didn’t eat).

I didn’t eat processed foods

I didn’t eat grains or legumes- This includes soy, rice, corn, wheat, and any grain product like pasta, breads, or cereal as well as legumes (beans) and white potatoes.

I didn’t eat dairy- This includes milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, cottage cheese, sour cream, cream cheese.

I didn’t eat sugars- This includes all refined, processed and artificial sugars.  I didn’t drink soda (diet or regular) and I eliminated all alcohol.

I didn’t eat processed vegetable oils –  Soybean, peanut, cottonseed oils.

I did eat real foods

I did increase healthy fats – Coconut oil, pastured butter, avocado, fish and nut oils.

I did eat an abundance of colorful vegetables (50% of every meal if possible) and fruit when desired - beet tops, kale, collard greens, zucchini, spinach, berries, watermelon, pineapple, apples, etc

I did eat protein – beef, bison, chicken, turkey, fish, lamb, eggs

Here is a sample of my typical meals:

Breakfast

• Eggs, nitrate-free bacon, sometimes blueberries, often zucchini, spinach or whatever vegetable I had on hand to mix into my eggs.
• Tuna salad or egg salad on some leafy greens
• Salmon and veggies (left-over from the night before)
• Roasted chicken and veggies (left over from the night before)
• Smoothie – Whey Protein Powder (I use Jay Robb, chocolate because it’s one of the cleanest retail protein powders available) collard greens, beet tops, blackberries, ground flax seeds (2 tablespoons), water. Throw it all in the blender.  Liquify.  Drink!

Lunch

• Any protein, veggie left-overs I had from the night before.

• I’m often eating out at lunch so these are some of my go-to-fast-food-picks.

*Wahoo’s Fish Tacos - Grilled white fish and grilled veggies only $4.00 which I think is a great deal.

*Lark Burger – All natural Angus burger wrapped in lettuce with a side salad.

*Mad Greens – Any salad with chicken or steak (I like the Ty Cobb or Edgar Allen Poe Salads).

*Jimmy John’s  Unwich - Roast beef, turkey and tomato wrapped in lettuce.

*The Cup (my favorite Boulder coffee shop) – I order my regular turkey, avocado, tomato and lettuce club and then remove the gluten-free bread that I normally eat.  If I’m there for breakfast I have eggs, ham and avocado, they call it their Paleo option, imagine that

Dinner

• Every Day Paleo Cookbook – I use this a lot!  The author is a 30-something mom who only prepares protein and vegetable meals for her family.  The fact that her 3 growing boys love all the meals in this cookbook is a huge testament to her recipes.  Here’s a quick video about this cookbook.  One of my favorite recipes is the curry meatballs, I use bison meat.   Sarah, also has a fantastic podcast, she answers readers questions about anything and everything Paleo.

• Primal Blue Print Cookbook – More great protein, vegetable based recipes!  And Mark Sisson has one of the best websites about primal (same thing as Paleo) eating.

• Last night (Day 29 of my challenge) I grilled shrimp with curry powder, sauteed zucchini in coconut oil and had fresh pineapple for dinner.  This is a typical dinner for me, I tend to cook more fish at home.

• If I’m traveling or eating out with friends for dinner, I choose beef, grilled chicken or fish with a side of grilled/steamed veggies and a salad.

Social Occasions

• 4th of July – My friends and family annual picnic included a taco bar this year.  I ate the pulled pork, grilled chicken, pico de gallo, fresh avocado, lettuce, tomato, watermelon and berries.
• Italian Restaurant – I went out to eat with my sister and her boyfriend at one of their favorite pizza spots.  I ordered a grilled steak salad.
• Business Happy Hour – Most people were drinking beer, wine and eating tortilla chips. I ordered shrimp cocktail and drank water.
• Grace Potter Concert - I met friends before the concert for a drink.  They had beers and I had water.  I ate dinner at home before I left.
• Girls Bunco Group – There are always bowls of candy on the tables as we rotate through our dice game.  I usually eat some candy at Bunco, this month I didn’t eat any.

Not one person asked me why I skipped the taco shell/tortillas/candy or why I ordered shrimp instead of eating chips and just drank water.  I didn’t talk about it either, we honestly had more interesting things to talk about then people’s food selections.

Moral of the story, the less of a production you make about what you’re eating (to yourself or others) the less of an issue it is. I told maybe 3 people that I was doing The Paleo Challenge this month.  I went on with my life and rarely mentioned it.

Do not make this difficult.  You can pretty much ALWAYS find protein, vegetables and water options wherever you go.  Drop the OMG-What-Will-I-Eat-If-I-Can’t-Eat-Bread/Sugar drama and enjoy your nourishing social interactions and relationships while you nourish yourself with real, whole, nutrient rich foods.

Easy Peasy!

Snacks

I don’t snack per se.  I always ate 3 meals (I never skipped a meal) and I often eat 4 or 5 meals a day. I don’t count calories, I never have.  If I’m hungry I eat a meal, i.e. some left over egg salad and steamed broccoli that is in my refrigerator.  In a pinch I’ll have a Larabar (dates, nuts, fruit) but I try to avoid that and just eat a combination of a lean protein, healthy fat and colorful vegetables whenever I’m hungry.

3.  I did power (hot) yoga 3-4 times a week – I know a lot of people have negative connotations toward yoga for various reasons, and believe me, I get it!  I rolled up my yoga mat four years ago and didn’t step foot into a yoga studio for a long time.  But, there are many different styles of yoga and I have slowly come back.  The other thing is, I am the least flexible person in the world.  Truly I am!  But I find I really enjoy the flow sequence of Baptiste Power Yoga and Vinasaya classes. I feel great (mentally and physically) afterwards.

I also walked a 3-mile path in the hills of South Denver a couple times a week, but I felt like I really wanted yoga to be my primary source of exercise during this 30-day challenge.

Why?

Jada Teta, Naturopathic Doctor and personal trainer says, “You can either eat your way to gaining weight or stress yourself there.”  I think I did a lot of the later.

I needed to start moving some of those “issues out of my tissues” by sweating, twisting, stretching and bending my body.  Yoga classes were a perfect outlet for me.  Moving stagnate emotional energy out of your body through yoga or any exercise that resonates with you will always help the scale go down!

4.  I took Carnitine- I lost an average of 3.3 pounds per week.  I believe I lost 2 pounds each week because I ate Paleo based meals and I had a consistent yoga practice.  I believe I lost the other 1.3 pounds each week from Carnitine.  I love Carnitine!  I don’t know why more people don’t know about it and why more nutritionists don’t recommend it?

What is Carnitine? *It is sometimes thought of as an amino acid but it is actually very similar to choline, which is a B-vitamin.

What Carnitine is not – It is not a stimulate or diet drug.  It is naturally found in animal products, especially red meat.  However, unless you are eating pounds of (grass-fed) red meat every day (I’m certainly not doing that) you probably aren’t getting enough Carnitine.

What does Carnitine do? – *Carnitine supports weight loss.  It picks up fat and puts it in the part of the cell that burns if off without any side effects.  Scientific evidence shows that increased levels of Carnitine lead to increased fat burning.  Carnitine also helps increase metabolic rate while maintaining levels of muscle tissue.  This is crucial because muscle tissue is where you do most of your fat burning.  Carnitine is also useful for eliminating cravings and increasing the amount of energy you have for exercise, both of which are very helpful for those who want to lose weight.

My lean muscle to fat ratio is good right now. My body fat dropped to 16%.  I’m thrilled that I actually lost fat pounds and not muscle pounds during this 30 day period.  I attribute that to Carnitine.

Other Benefits - *Increases energy levels, lowers cholesterol and triglycerides, promotes heart health, promotes healthy circulation, promotes liver health.

Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?

Not only is it true but it is totally legit.  It’s a B-vitamin that you’re getting every time you eat a burger or steak (one of the many reasons to eat your beef, huh?)  Robert Crayhon, one of my nutrition mentors, and a man truly ahead of his time in the nutrition field, wrote The Carnitine Miracle in 2001, I highly recommend educating yourself on this nutrient, especially if you want to enhance weight loss.

Where Can You Get Carnitine? – I use Designs for Health (DFH) liquid Carnitine.  1 teaspoon equals 2500 mg.  I took it in the mornings with breakfast and then went to yoga.

DFH is a pharmaceutical grade, nutraceutical company that only sells to functional medicine medical doctors, acupuncturists, nutritionists, osteopaths, naturopaths, etc.  So you have to find a nutritionally oriented practitioner who carries liquid Carnitine.  I would not recommend buying capsules from places like Costco.  You need a high quality, high amount (2 grams), pure, trustworthy source.

Finally, don’t take Carnitine and then sit around and eat pop-tarts and drink diet soda, have you seen the recent studies on diet soda and weight gain? If you take it while you eat a crappy diet you probably won’t see any benefit, and liquid Carnitine is not cheap.  So don’t waste your time or money with Carnitine of you’re not dedicated to actively changing your diet.

*Source=DFH

5.  I drank a lot of water - I drank a minimum of 80 ounces of water every day and some days I’d drink 120 ounces (almost a gallon).

Don’t whine about this.  Drinking water is a crucial yet easy step in this whole process.  Just do it!

If you truly want to lose fat and avoid plateaus in your fat-loss process you HAVE to drink copious amounts of water. (80-100 ounces a day is probably a good range for most adults to drink over the course of a day.)

But there are two parts to this.

1.  Eliminate all soda (diet and regular),  juice, alcohol, chai, sweetened coffee, sweetened tea, and any artificially sweetened or “naturally” flavored water look a likes!

2.  Only drink fresh pure water, and drink it every day.  There’s probably a good argument for adding some pure electrolytes, trace minerals, or a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt to your water too, but we can talk about that later.

For the past 30 days all I drank was water.  Every once in awhile I would make one cup of herbal spice tea. I brewed 1 tea bag in the evening and drank a cup of tea before bed. That’s it. Taking my coveted Bhakti Chai and red wine out of my diet made a big difference.  They both add up to a lot of sugar over a 30 day time period.  Excess sugar (especially in drinks) = excess pounds.

Booyah!  I think that is officially the longest post I’ve ever written.

Now What?

I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing, no big changes.  I’m thrilled with how my body transformed in 4 short weeks.  And more importantly, I feel great.  I function so much better when I eat protein, vegetables, healthy fats (90% of the time) and eliminate grains and sugars.  So I’m sticking to it!  Does this mean I’ll never eat a chocolate peanut butter cup again?  Of course not.  But they are “treats” and not part of my every day coping mechanism right now. I will add a new dimension into my exercise routine, but I’ll blog about that later.

In the meantime, If you want help developing your own 30 Day Challenge, or you want to use Carnitine, electrolytes, and tweak your current routine, I can take a look your recent blood panels and any metabolic disturbances that might be tripping you up like thyroid issues, food intolerance, or cravings that sabotage you.  It doesn’t have to be that way, believe me, you can make some sustainable changes.

You now know my recent story and how I’ll use this to enhance my current consulting practice. I also continue to use my clinical nutrition experience from the last decade.  If you know me personally, you know that I’ll never take a “purist” or “guru” approach with you. My friend Connie wrote a blog post about what it’s like to mingle with me at a party on a Saturday night. This sums up how I try to approach all my patients and clients.

I work with people in person, over the phone or via Skype.  I will support you when you need it (because more than likely I’ve been there too) and I’ll hold your feet to the fire and keep you accountable (since I just finished holding my own feet to the fire, I’m reinvigorated with new tips and resources). Each session is $70.  Contact: jolene@healthydiscoveries.com

Resources

Frequently Asked Questions About The Paleo Diet

Nutritional Analysis of Paleo Foods vs. Whole Grains

The Paleo Solution – by Robb Wolf

The Paleo Diet – Loren Cordain

The Paleo Diet For Athletes - Loren Cordain

On Sunday night I went to the Grace Potter Concert at the Ogden Theatre in Denver.  This was the third time I’ve seen her perform in the last 12 months.  I’m a huge fan.

If you don’t know who she is you might recognize this song.  I recorded 54 seconds of her performing Paris Oh, La, La on my iPhone.  This is the song that launched her into mainstream radio and prime time talk show appearances.

I can’t claim that Grace is a Healthy Discovery, although she might be, who knows?  She always delivers a dynamic, high energy show where she sings and dances like the rock star that she is for 2+ hours.  My alter ego loves to “take the stage” through public speaking.  So it fascinates me to watch, observe and learn from others who can command a stage and work a room with their voice; be it singing or speaking.

Speaking of voice, while we waited for Grace to take the stage my friend Brett said; “When are you going to start writing again?”

“I don’t know” I said.  ”I miss it, I really do, but I don’t know how to focus my writing voice these days?”

Brett is my favorite I-actually-know-him-in-real-life writer. He cranks out stuff like this, and this and I love his humor and ability to share his life through writing, yet his business and blog are totally separate.

I’m wondering how much I should separate?

So here is my question to you, dear reader.  It’s actually the question that I’ve struggled with for some time and the reason why I’ve temporarily lost my writing voice.

1.  Should I have two blogs?  One blog that is strictly Healthy Discoveries (connecting you to healthy people, places, events, things, products, ideas and books) and the other blog is more about me and my life which may not always be connected to health topics, i.e. a Grace Potter concert?

2.  Or do you like when it all blends together?

I want to start writing again (whether it’s one blog or two blogs, it doesn’t matter to me) but I don’t want to alienate, lose people who subscribed for nutrition, healthy lifestyle tips and then I wander off every now and then and write about something like a concert, travel or any other random thing that might be going on with me.

Please leave your comment below.  You can also comment on the Healthy Discoveries FaceBook page, Twitter, or email me jolene@healthydiscoveries.com.  Thank you so much, I appreciate your opinion.

And thanks Brett for prodding me to write again. It feels good. I really do miss writing!

Finally, for Brett’s hilarious (because it is all true) re-cap of our night (that had nothing to do with Healthy Discoveries or nutrition) click here.