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Episode-1177- Living the Paleo Life from a Female Perspective

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Ashley is a 26 mom year old mother of 2 children of her own and a loving step mother to a third.  She has been living a paleo life for approximately 4 months to correct insulin resistance due to pcos, and to live a cleaner life and healthier life over all.

She is a full time working mom with a bachelors degree in nursing, pursuing a masters.  She is also a nurse who hates, despises and scorns the overuse of medications.

Ashley joins us to discuss how to live paleo as a woman and why she chose paleo as a way of living.  We also discuss her results which include increased energy, a clear complexion and elimination of skin problems.  Loosing over 40 pounds in just 4 months, elimination of her previously required medication and more.

We also discuss how to simply get started with Paleo living, the challenges of other family members not being on board and moving your picky eating children at least in the right direction with better eating.   We also discuss how to stay on point, meal prep, snacking smart and more.

Resources for Today’s Show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

Comments

Episode-1177- Living the Paleo Life from a Female Perspective — 48 Comments

  1. Really enjoying the women’s perspective on this series, in addition to your regular guests. As a man with a wife and three daughters it is really helpful to hear their impressions of some of these topics. I have had much more success with my wife regarding backup stuff for the house when I approach it from the perspective of providing things for the near and close-by extended family, as many of the female interview guests have recommended. Thanks for putting on all these great shows.

  2. The reason people use chicken feet for a soup stock is because they provide gelatin.

    • What I do now is boil the chicken just until the meat is done, then pull the meat off to refrigerate. Then I get out the cleaver, whack up all the bones and put them back in the pot to slowly simmer the gelatin into the broth.

  3. I look forward to listening to the episode. I already caught one thing though. PCOS does not cause being fat, insulin resistance, or Type 2 Diabetes. Being fat causes PCOS, insulin resistance, and Type 2 diabetes. I am not throwing stones here. I am fighting the same battle here myself and have recently cut out the carbs. And for the record, I am also in healthcare. I just try to keep the issue honest.

  4. Paleo is fine I guess for some people. But I prefer French cooking. Sorry, I have to admit that I am a guy that loves Julia Child’s first books: Au Gratin potatoes made with heavy cream, incredible! Americans are way too uptight about their food: counting calories, how much protein, how much carb, is the omega-3/6 ratio right, blah, blah, blah. Americans would have the gall and try to substitute white potatoes with sweet potatoes in the above, or some other asinine idea. Life is way too short to not enjoy the many exquisite flavors that are out there that something like paleo would flat-out miss. I can already hear people talking about eating food that I am describing every now-and-then, but I think that is just non-sense. It is pretty simple, get more active, and eat whatever your taste buds desire. The killer in the world today is not our food; it is stress.

    And everyone do yourself a favor, throw your scale in the garbage, if the idea of ‘getting healthy’ is causing you stress, you are doing yourself no good. Getting active means merely to do a little more physical activity than the day before. You do not have to be training for an Ironman. Go for a walk around the block, then do it twice tomorrow. Your food inputs into your mouth are in the noise compared to the lack of activity and stress levels people have both physically and mentally.

    Now where is my larding needle…

    • What has drastically changed for me after almost 6 months of eating paleo is that desire that you talk about. I can see people feeling sorry for me when I forego those “sinfully good” dishes, but what they don’t realize is that I no longer salivate at the thought of them. That urge, splurge, guilt cycle is gone. Totally gone. I feel hunger, but it is just a physical sensation and not an emotional one that drives me to indulge. My creations in the kitchen are delicious. I feel no deprivation whatsoever. I count no calories or measure portions and haven’t been on a scale in years. But I did have to buy smaller clothes.

      • That is very hard to understand for many. Also when you do indulge it doesn’t really taste as good as you remember it tasting then you feel like crap.

        So people ask yourself, what else makes you want to have more and more, makes you have cravings and withdrawals when you stop consuming it, makes you really, really want to do it again and then if you break free, when you do it only makes you feel bad and isn’t as good as you remember?

        Um, think about it? Is that a perfect description of drug addiction?

        Modern food is a designed drug.

        • Congratulations, I think you graduated to something sub-human.

          I could not disagree with you more. Cathleen and Jack food is not ‘sinful’, crap, or a drug. The issue that I see with many people on any type of diet or ‘lifestyle’ shift in their eating is that they get militant, and just flat-out condescending in their opinions and lose touch of reality of what food is.

          Just the way you talk about food, and that fact that you are divorcing any emotional feeling of food from your mind. It is all mechanical and robotic as best I can tell for you. It is about all these parameters of the food (nutritional density, source, what food group, etc.). That is incredibly boring. It is not to say that paleo meals are the equivalent of cardboard in flavor; it is to point out that you are truly repressing a part of life which is food. Drugs are not life, food is. Food is so much more than energy input to make the wheels go round. It is social parameters. It is a cause for people to get together, to celebrate events both big and small, it is diving into other cultures, being the white guy in the asian supermarket, etc.

          Step one for most people is cook. Don’t eat out if you can, but do if you must. All the things you rant about is mainly from people eating out. If you cook at home, even with conventionally grown and feedlot items, you will come out ahead of The Problem with eating out, shame. The elitist foodies, that also swim in paleo, do a very good job of shaming people today much like smoking. That causes stress for people which is probably worst than the Big Mac they just ate. And unfortunately the trickle down effect of shaming is that many people start doing it that have no business doing it themselves if they actually looked in the mirror. It isn’t that a word is said, it is the glance, the uncomfortable silence in the room as someone is pulling chicken nuggets from a paper bag. Unless your vanity approaches the same measurements as Chris Sharma you have no room to be either giving advice or opinion.

          Our main issue is not food, it is the fact that almost everyone spends way too much time being sedentary. I would bet money the general health of everyone would increase if they simply started walking more. And the upside is that you don’t have to worry about doing any dishes.

          I love cooking, but I am not telling people that is the only way. You can spend time prepping raw ingredients, eat hamburger helper, or get some fried rice with orange chicken from Panda Express; but whatever you decide the best thing for all of us is to get our bodies in motion and get rid of stressors in our lives. And that might mean making a new friend and dropping an old one if they are shaming you about your food choices.

        • Scott you are the one getting emotional and militant. Paleo has a VERY SMALL list of foods that you don’t eat, in fact the list is tiny. These are foods that man didn’t eat for most of our existence.

          Yes modern food is a drug, it is designed to be such. There are mountains of evidence for it but frankly eat what you want, go ahead.

          It does amaze me though how limiting the uninformed find Paleo. There are tens of thousands of food options in the world.

          The elimination of

          white potato
          dry beans (which are actually okay in moderation by the way)
          un-sprouted grain
          and
          rice

          Isn’t limiting at all. What you call militant is simply people that did it, reporting accurately the information as to what the results are. If you think being able to choose any food you want, not count calories, etc is living boring and the elimiation of the four things mentioned above is truly limiting you either don’t get it (likely) or don’t want to get it (possible).

        • If you’re interested you can find lectures by Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology on youtube. In essence he confirms a modern diet is addictive and has been manipulated to be that way. Interesting one lecture has a short mention of the paleo diet with the statement that it has the capability of eliminating type 2 diabetes in this country.

          Jack your message is instep with the latest medical teachings.

          I am the father of two young physicians … I hear about it at every holiday.

  5. I’m with Scott, eat well and keep fit. Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking was my first book on cooking and inspired me. Growing and making your own food and lots of variety is the way to go. The more time you spend cooking with good ingredients the easier it gets.

  6. I love brown eggs and I love meat, but I also enjoy hash browns and toast with them for breakfast. What could I use in place of them?

    • You do have to get used to veggies at breakfast. About half the time I am having fruit and the other half it is veggies. I think leeks are great with eggs now. And asparagus, broccoli, avocado. Loads of things fill out the breakfast plate well.

      • Everything worth eating seems to be good in eggs (with some exceptions of course) but today after I am done recording I will fry up some fresh laid eggs, left over steak along with fresh basil and fresh lambsquarters. Paleo isn’t a diet folks it is eating good high quality food and never being hungry.

    • Cauliflower is a great potato substitute. If you start with fresh cauliflower you can put it in the blender or food process or and cook it in yummy broth for ‘rice’ to make stir fry or our favorite way, you start with frozen cauliflower and cook it until it is soft then drain it and squeeze the tar out of it. Add butter, garlic, and chives! Oh MY is that good. Toast, you get used to no having it. But you could do Paleo pancakes. Also try turnips for a cubed potato substitute. You get creative when you have to.

  7. My quip to naysayers: “if I take a cow out of the feedlot and put it back onto the best pasture grass it could have am I putting that cow on a fad diet? Every rancher knows that this feedlot, fattened cow’s weight would drop and then normalize. The cow isn’t counting calories and putting itself on an exercise routine, either to drop the weight.

    I like spaghetti squash instead of has browns.

  8. I’m not Paleo but I am very health/food conscious and I had to have my wife listen to the phrase, “If it’s not in house you can’t eat it”! She isn’t nearly as health conscious and will buy a small amount of not so healthy food but I admittedly have little self control with food. I ask her not to buy it and she just tells me I need to learn self control. To which I say I have self control I don’t put the crap in the shopping cart to begin with! So it was nice for her to hear that. Thanks!

  9. Hey! It’s Ashley. I would just like to address Dawn’s comment. Thank you for the comment. So basically insulin resistance, pcos, and weight gain are all related, like a revolving door of unhealthy problems. PCOS makes weight loss more difficult and weight gain easier which in turn leads to insulin resistance and if not remedied, type 2 diabetes. PCOS makes it difficult for the body to use and recognize insulin. The high levels of insulin then stimulate the production of androgens causing irregular periods, acne, hair growth and weight gain. So, in short all these issues are intertwined. The main thing I want to stress is that paleo fixed all these problems for me. Thank you for listening!!

    • Ashley, thanks so much for doing this show! Here’s an interesting article on PCOS and post-menopausal women. From the article: In order to keep symptoms under wraps and help promote a healthy life, a woman who is both menopausal and has PCOS needs to follow a strict exercise regimen and eat a diet that is lower in carbohydrates. Lowering carbohydrate input lowers insulin production and insulin is what fires PCOS symptoms. Low carbohydrate diets may also help to keep the weight that results from a slower metabolism after menopause in check. http://www.womens-health.co.uk/effects-of-pcos-on-post-menopausal-women.html

  10. Jack

    Loved this show. Super helpful. Just started Paleo with my wife about a week ago and love it. Losing weight and full of energy.

    I would love to see you do those chicken videos. Please! They’d be so helpful.

  12. Thanks for the show can’t wait to listen to it. Been trying to go paleo the last few weeks and was actually about to email you and suggest you do a show on palro eating and cooking.

  13. Why does paleo single-out potatoes as the only “bad” tuber?

    I’m not sure how I feel about paleo. We know that humans continued to evolve during the neolithic era (when we acquired the ability to digest milk after weaning, for example) — so the issue of what we’re naturally adapted to eat is more complicated than what the paleo folks seem to think. But I agree that the food pyramid is bunk and highly processed grain and legume products can be really bad. We also know that hunter-gatherer societies didn’t have many of the diseases we deal with today.

    What I struggle with is the idea that someone is better off eating a steak from animals raised on grains and legumes, as opposed to a smaller portion of grass-fed beef with a modest amount of whole grains on the side. Either way, you’re eating grains — only in a more concentrated form under the “paleo” diet (which is why Robb Wolf recommends eating lean meat and supplementing heavily with fish oil).

    There’s a lot that the paleo folks are doing right, but I find it hard to believe that it’s bad to include reasonable amounts of whole grains/legumes and pastured dairy in your diet.

    • Well, to be accurate it is white potato and it is because the carbohydrate of white potato makes about 1.5 cups of white potato about the same as 1/2 of a cup of pure refined sugar. There is no such thing as a “slow carb” or any such nonsense by the way. Eat a serving of white potato and your blood sugar goes up and your insulin level spikes. If you push blood insulin levels above 18 micro liters (which a single serving of potato will do) and all fat burning shuts down, period. If you loose weight with caloric restriction and an elevated insulin level above 18 micro liters you are doing so by burning muscle because chemically the body CAN’T burn any fat with insulin levels over that threshold.

      Whole grains I totally disagree with, wheat as grain is NOT human food, you would never eat it in its raw state, it is not designed to be consumed. In fact wheat has evolved to make anything that consumes it sick, seriously this is a biological defense mechanism. Eat blackberries take a crap in the woods, seeds pass though and you grow more blackberry. Blackberry is designed to be eaten because it is to the advantage of a blackberry to be consumed. Eat wheat, you destroy the seed, it is not an advantage for grass seed (which wheat is) to be eaten, think about what all grass seed is like, it is protected by a chaff that will choke the shit out of you if you try to eat it without threshing.

      You think whole grain is good for you because since you were old enough to understand language you were marketed to that it was so. This is very hard to break, it is brainwashing at the highest level by benevolent brainwashers that believe their own lies. Not only is wheat in any major quantity a toxin but modern wheat is far worse, if you insist on eating wheat at all get old varieties, if you doubt that, check out this link, http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505269_162-57505149/modern-wheat-a-perfect-chronic-poison-doctor-says

      The facts are plain to anyone that gets logical. Humans have been in the ag business for at best 10,000 years, and most of humanity for far less time then that. Hunter gathers eat largely what they can pick up and put in their mouths, spear, run off a cliff, trap or find laying dead or steal from a predator. They generally do not eat things that require a lot of preparation, when they do, do you know what such foods are considered? Survival foods.

      Yes some hunter/gatherers did harvest wild versions of grain, they figured out how to eat it. It was harvested in time of plenty and saved so they would not starve if a lean period came along. What this means is human biology has millions of years of eating this way and at VERY BEST under the most optimum conditions 10,000 of eating grains. Grain was sold to humanity so rulers could eat meat by the way.

      As for dairy, I agree with you. I find that many paleo people are also to a degree lactose intolerant, they lump dairy in where it doesn’t belong. Even Rob Wolf says dairy is bad and in the next breath talks about using butter to cook with. Dairy is an animal product, it passes my test, will you eat it in its raw natural state. Not only yes but most of us would prefer to do so.

      You can BELIEVE what you want or you can do research, if you do research you will end up largely refuting your own claims in no time at all. Start with something non paleo, if you are MSB there is a eBook that sells for 29 dollars for free in the members area, it is called The Glycation Factor by Greg Ellis PhD. If you read that and the mountains of research that went into it, you will never want to eat a diet high in carbohydrates ever again. Because when you body is glycating it is literally destroying its own cells and reducing your lifespan. There is over a century of research in that one book, I negotiated it for free for all MSB because it believe it will save lives.

      • Jack,

        You’re making a low-carb case against potatoes, which would apply to any root vegetable (as you seem to suggest). Paleo is ok with root vegetables. Even low-carb paleo folks like Robb Wolf recommend root vegetables for people when they get a lot of physical exercise. Potatoes are avoided because they’re related to some wild plant that’s toxic (like I said, it doesn’t really make sense).

        Regarding grains, they’re no different than nuts and seeds in the sense that they are destroyed by human consumption. Yet for some reason, paleo folks are ok with the anti-nutrients in nuts and seeds, but very concerned about them when they’re in grains.

        The best case against grains is historical evidence. As soon as we started eating them as the key component to our diet, we started growing shorter and getting various diseases, including some directly related to nutrient deficiencies. On the other hand, we have examples of people eating modest amounts of whole grain and being very healthy.

        Thanks for the book recommendation. I’ve heard you talk about it before and it looks like it’s worth checking out.

        • See this is the problem people decide one mans word is God on such things and it ISN’T that simple. The amount of sugar per pound of white potato is MUCH higher then for Sweet Potato but even Sweet Potato is a very much eat in moderation tuber for Paleo. Next up things like parsnips, carrot, turnips are low in total carbs, mainly because they are LOW IN TOTAL calories. Carrot juice is almost pure sugar but carrots are mostly fiber, you need a shit ton of carrots to make 8 ounces of carrot juice more then you will ever eat.

          Paleo largely does work because it is very much low carb over all.

          I find people like Wolf to focus to much on LEAN beef, etc. Fat is wonderful, the real science of paleo is what we ate for most of our existence as humans. Again read Dr. Ellis’ book which isn’t about Paleo but low carb, when you do (if you do) you will understand why Paleo works so well.

        • Oh and you are wrong about seeds and nuts vs. grain. Nuts work different then fruits, they are distributed by what eats them, while they are destroyed by consumption far more are distributed by would be eaters then actually consumed and the same is true with seeds.

          Nuts are also a lot different then most seeds, most seeds also are far more a eat in moderation then most nuts as well.

          And again my rule, would I eat it raw, meat yes, fat yes, nuts yes, seeds yes, sweet potato yes, ground nut yes, white potato no, wheat no, it really is that simple man.

        • Jack, sweet potatoes actually have slightly higher carbs than white potatoes. (There is such a thing as hi-carb paleo.) In terms of eating only foods that can be had raw, many root vegetables must be cooked (off the top of my head, taro and cassava are two) — and yet they are perfectly paleo-ok.

          We evolved to eat cooked food. Agriculture is only about 10,000 years old, but cooking goes back much farther (perhaps half a million years!). Some scientists believe it is impossible to explain how we developed such a large brain except by the increased protein and calorie absorption made possible by cooking.

          And remember, wild grains and legumes would have been cooked and eaten as well. (How else would we have known to domesticate them?) We even have archaeological evidence that wild grain was harvested in such large quantities that structures were built specifically to store it.

          Of course, we aren’t adapted to eating grain (or exclusively grain-fed animals) in the ways that modern industry and food science invented. That, I trust, we would agree on. But I remain unconvinced that grains are altogether bad.

    • We eat nuts after soaking and dehydrating them. But we do this is very low amounts because of the phylates and our absorption issues.

  14. Thanks for the show Jack

    I am going to start a Paleo diet this week and have been talking to my wife about it. She is skeptical to say the least and feels she needs her carbs. I asked her to do the 30 day challenge with me and she is thinking about it, but I don’t think she will stick to it. Should I start out doing paleo on my own and let her visually see the results or should I keep pushing the envelope and try to get her on board right away?

    I would also enjoy those chicken videos.

    • Yes do it, don’t wait for anyone when it comes to this. Don’t say I told you so, don’t rub it in, just do it.

      It is your heart, it is up to you to keep it from exploding. Results speak louder then words but if you run your beak too much you will build a wall. Do and be, ask her to come along and be at peace if she doesn’t. Sooner or later she will indeed see the results.

      I don’t get the resistance in women. You gals spend your entire lives dieting, this actually works, is easy to do, is proven, works fast, isn’t a fad, doesn’t require pills or supplements, a counselor you pay by the pound, special food, etc. It is like many women want their diets to be hard.

  15. To all those who are complaining about GAPS?Paleo, don’t eat this way then. But it has saved my life and my dd’s life. After being a competitive gymnast then a body builder I watched my health and my physical body degenerate very quickly. It started with a case of the shingles (ouch) and by the age of 25 I was unable to climb stairs, sit up without feeling faint, had acne on my whole body, was losing hair on my head but getting it on my face (I’m female), all my vitamins were dangerously low, I was losing weight uncontrollably, throwing up all the time, had severe pain all over my body, restless leg syndrome, couldn’t feel my hands or my feet most of the time and much more. By the age of 29 I had switched to a ‘healthy’ low fat whole wheat (ground it myself) organic diet and the doctors were still baffled. I was still sick. At my lowest point I visited the hospital twice the week of my 29th Birthday and spent thousands on diagnostic tests. I was 5’2″ and 90 pounds…all my muscle was gone from my former life and I thought I would die before the doctors figured it out. I was then diagnosed with fibromyalgia, bursitis, celiac, depression, restless legs, malnutrition and put on a series of medications. I then gained 40+ pounds of fat but never really got better. Last January(2012) my dd started experiencing the same issues.As if going through this myself was bad try watching your child go through the same thing. But she also had migraines and slept most of the day unable to get out of bed. Her personality changed despite being 100% gluten free we were still tired, sick, low vitamins (my iron was so low a blood transfusion was strongly suggested by my dr), clouded thinking, she was diagnosed with GERD and my Restless Legs were as bad as ever. I was also told she had to be on meds because she was losing weight at 5’4″ and 95 lbs. In January I said enough is enough and we went 100% strict GAPS/Paleo. At first we felt terrible then slowly the energy came and slowly we have improved. We were really sick so the movement to health has been slow but steady. We are both off of all medications. We no longer have stomach issues, migraines, restless legs, low vitamin levels. She has grown an inch and gained weight. I have lost 22 pounds and my iron levels are normal. All those disease names mean nothing to us anymore because we don’t feel them, all symptoms are gone. Yesterday while we were grocery shopping I found some grass fed hot dogs that had no nitrates in them and asked her if she wanted them. She said that they were to expensive and she was happy with meat, veggies, and fruit. She doesn’t cheat and I don’t either. For us it isn’t a choice, which I suppose makes it easier.

    I would also like to add that my hubby and other dd don’t eat Paleo and although it kills me (because I don’t think it is healthy) I do make them bread. I am slowly converting them to gluten free and they do eat a lot of our food. But I am not going to bring my hubby over to my side by bashing him on the head with my views. He sees the results and I see him slowly changing his diet on his own.

    To be honest my biggest concern is my preps since we can’t cheat even if times get bad. So I am focusing on that now. But I feel good enough to focus on something besides getting healthy again and trust me 8 mos ago I couldn’t have and I was terrified for my dd.

  16. Coincidentally, I just finished reading “Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It” by Gary Taube (http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307474259/ref=tmm_pap_title_0). He explains how fat and carb metabolism really work, and that excess weight isn’t just a matter of being slothful or gluttonous. It’s not a diet book, but it helps to understand why Paleo is the best way to eat and that carbs, not fat, are the problem. It kicked my hiney into getting back off carbs and after about a week and a half I can already tell the difference in the way my clothes fit. Low carb is the only way I’ve ever been able to lose weight, and it helps to have a better understanding of why that is.

  17. All you people who are saying that cooking and eating good food are more important than restricting carbs … two things. First, your genetics are probably such that your body regulates its weight naturally with the foods you are eating. Others, given the same foods, will get fat. Second, cooking and eating good food, and eating Paleo, are not mutually exclusive. There are a LOT of yummy foods that don’t involve carbs. For example, for dinner tonight we’re having an Asian shrimp salad with shredded cabbage, carrots, and cucumbers, topped with a lime/red curry dressing and garnished with cilantro. Makes me hungry just thinking about it! 🙂

    • That does sound tasty. What you may be saying about genetics may be true. I know in my family tree we do not have many health problems, and most have lived a long life before something took them out (in their 90s). I know that is no guarantee going forward, and I have never banked on it.

      My point in giving this criticism about knocking food dos-and-don’ts is that it is only one part of the equation. And I personally think it gives you the smallest amount of return on investment. If you focus on the other problems I mention (stress and physical activity). Many things about you will start to change both mentally and physically. And at that point, you will start doing different things with your food, possibly. And then, you are probably right, some people get the lottery ticket of great metabolic regulation and a natural six-pack; others, not so much, and even others get the short straw with serious health problems.

      But to tell people just start eating something that looks like ‘X’, but not address the other parts is disingenuous. The pressure to ‘eat right’ can be so overwhelming for some people based on their personalities and such, that is really does more harm than good. And the entire argument that should I or shouldn’t I be eating a nightshade (tomato) or nuts is completely counter-productive. I personally love tomato sandwiches (this is were white bread rules), and shove walnuts and cashews down my throat without blinking an eye dam near every day.

      When it comes to our health, we need to talk about ROI of each variable in our life, and figure out which ones will give us the most gains. I believe type and ways we eat our food is much lower on list than getting some drive-thru because I just spent my lunch hour bouldering with some co-workers.

      My point is simple, life is short, live it up, there are no silver bullets, and no one is getting out of here alive.

      bon appetit!

      PS – Liver cooked with bacon is awesome! And don’t forget the cookies with kids, and avoid those whole-grain fakers!

  18. Talking about feeding kids reminded me of something. It’s not perfect Paleo (because there’s Parmesan cheese in it), but I developed this recipe for chicken tenders that my kids (and husband) absolutely LOVE.

    http://claimingliberty.com/2013/03/21/low-carb-breaded-chicken-tenders/

    My kids also LOVE Larabars. In fact, the other day, my son was talking about the fact that he’d rather have a Larabar than a candy bar. I haven’t tried making any myself yet, but I’ve seen plenty of recipes. Even the pickiest kids will go for that sort of treat.

    And regarding husbands that don’t do veg — my husband used to be that way. Once I started making veg that actually TASTES good though, I got him on board. For instance, he didn’t realize how much he liked Brussels sprouts until I used plenty of real butter and a dash of house seasoning (sea salt/black pepper/onion powder/granulated garlic.) And then there are my fauxtatoes made from mashed cauli. They’re like loaded mashed potatoes but WAY better. By the time you add some cream cheese, sharp cheddar, and bacon, you’ve turned 90% of the cauli-haters into fans. Two of my husband’s co-workers said they hate cauli but actually asked him for the recipe because they liked it so much. And my neighbor who doesn’t like cauli asks me to make it too.

    Same goes for broccoli with cheese sauce (that’s nothing more than cheese/cream cheese melted together) or creamed spinach. And then there’s my hubby’s favorite (if you like jalapenos):

    http://claimingliberty.com/2011/08/12/bacon-wrapped-stuffed-jalapenos/

    It’s not always as easy when you’re trying to feed a whole family, but it certainly doesn’t have to be as complicated as some folks make it.

  19. Here’s a factoid from Taubes’ book that shows just how much we’ve been mislead … everyone knows that lard is a source of saturated fat, and lard is bad – right? But, look up lard in the FDA’s nutrient database: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/. Scroll down to the bottom for the lipid composition and you’ll see that it is 45% monounsaturated fat (the ‘good’ fat found in olive oil), and has less saturated fat than butter (39% for lard vs 63% for butter).

  20. Having heard you talk about Paleo before, I’ve thought about starting a Paleo diet but this show has convinced me to start one. What would be a good book to start off with to learn more about everything? Would that be Robb Wolf’s book or is their a better one? Thanks!

    Rich

    • Let me say I find most books are tilted from the Dogma of the writer. Wolf is great but his views on dairy I find pointless. I see no reason to avoid milk and cheese, just no low fat.

      Of what I read Rob’s is the best but honestly listen to Monday’s show and I will tell you why a book might even be a bad idea. The formula I use is so simple all books did was give me the confidence in the science so I stuck to it, I didn’t really follow any book per se.

  21. I too hope Jack will do a chicken processing video, but in the meantime, Alton Brown did this on an episode of Good Eats once and it’s pretty awesome as about 98% of his stuff is. Here it is:
    http://youtu.be/I2kF-lRhffQ?t=3m36s

    Of course, you’ll want to start from the beginning if you want to hear his chicken version of Poe’s The Raven.

  22. Yep, I’m a 54 year old female with 1/2 a thyroid. Been a little – or more overweight all my life… And Paleo is he only thing that has worked for me. It is just amazing. I can eat awesome food to my hearts delight and still lose weight!
    Thank You Robb Wolf! Oh yeah thanks to Jack to for telling the masses! LOL

  23. I sent a letter to Jack a few weeks ago about my Paleo experience and thought that you might like to see his reply to me and my original letter.

    JACK’S Answer:

    Suggestions? How about this stop worrying about losing weight you ain’t going to end up looking like one of them starving kids on TV, your body will find stasis where it wants to have it.

    Jack Spirko
    The Survival Podcast
    http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com

    To: Jack@thesurvivalpodcast.com
    Subject: question for Jack —- Paleo question

    The question: How do I stop losing weight and still stay Paleo?

    Background: My wife and I started on the Paleo diet Jan 1, 2013. I had tried the New Adkin’s diet 3 years ago and lost about 20 lbs. I quit and gained 10 lbs back in the intervening 2 years. My wife would not try the Adkin’s diet so when I returned to our “normal” diet I immediately but slowly started gaining the weight back. After listening to your podcast I became intrigued with the Paleo idea and bought a copy of Robb Wolf’s book. My wife really liked the natural food aspect more than other diets she had tried so we both started the diet at the first of this year. 3 years ago I weighed 193 lbs. After the Adkin’s diet I was at 170 lbs and then gained back to 181 lbs by this January 1st. My ultimate goal all along was to reach 165 lbs and then to try to stay in the 165 – 170 lb range. After reading Robb’s book I have wanted to stay on the paleo lifestyle long term for its other health benefits as I have Rheumatoid Arthritis.

    Present Situation: Well, after 6 months I am now at 157 lbs (I am 5’11” tall) and am continuing to loses a pound or two every month. My wife has lost a considerable amount of weight but she needs to continue losing even more. Both of us have noticed an improvement in our overall health and my cholesterol and triglycerides have dropped from high normal to middle range. Now, however, to stall my weight loss, I have started cheating and eating some bread products and occasionally refried beans and corn tortillas when we go out for Mexican food, but I know this is not really good for the anti-inflammatory benefits that I have been seeing with my RA. So my question is what can I add in to the fairly strict Paleo lifestyle that will help me hold my weight where it is without losing the other health benefits?

    I usually eat 3 fresh homegrown eggs for breakfast or a sausage patty and 2 eggs. I have a daytime job that has me walking a lot but also spending about ½ half of my time in front of a computer screen. I don’t really eat lunch but usually snack on nuts or fruit while I work on the computer. For dinner I usually have beef or lean pork in one form or another and vegetables raw or fresh cooked and melons in season or other fruit. I have never tried to skimp on any of the portions since I started going Paleo.

    I really love the results but I don’t want to look like I just came out of Somalia or Auschwitz either. My shirt size has dropped from an extra-large down to medium and my pants waist has dropped from 36” to 32”.

    Any suggestions?

    TheRancher on the forum

  24. I had lost around 50lbs on a Paleo a couple of years ago. Didn’t realize it was Paleo tho….more the Adkins thing. I learned I was allergic to gluten and that pretty much eliminated the majority of carbs. The weight FELL off. I believe it’s the initial shock of removing the carbs that caused that weight loss.

    Then I had a foot surgery and was sedentary so the weight crawled back on and I’ve had two more foot surgeries since and am now back to being 50 lbs over weight. I am just now able to do some exercise. Walking, some aerobic. My diet has not changed since losing the 50 other than after hearing about Paleo on TSP, I stick mostly to that (but like most the vacation, events, etc make it difficult to stay on track 100% I have a rule that I can have some but only a very small portion and to eat it very slowly to enjoy the taste…don’t fill up on a bad food and it’s just a rare “treat” if that’s what you want to call it).

    Being very close to 60 does play into the difficulty in losing as the metabolism is slowing down. I would like to hear more about diet for older adults if that is possible. With women our hormones are changing and there are many other factors that come into play.

    GREAT show, forwarded it on to an obese nurse I know 😉 and a friend who is just ‘stuck’ in her weight loss.

    • One thing I have noticed is that if I don’t eat a lot of fat I get more hungry and have some cravings. There is also such a thing as Paleo junk food. Watch the sweets and this includes fruit. That may also include potatoes. When you say Atkins I wonder what exactly you are eating because there is a big difference between eating Paleo and just watching your carbs like Atkins asks you to. I have lost 20 without any exercise at all and have been quite sedentary due to my health issues which include hormone problems. (almost all of which are now gone, so I will be starting to exercise once I am not digging the the garden). But, I am not 60, I am 39. I do hope your foot/feet heal so that you can move a bit. There is also something to be said for stress and your cortisol levels. Maybe the surgeries have stressed your system? Raised stress levels cause your body to hold onto fat because it is worried it will need it. There are a lot of videos and podcasts available for free that speak of stress, Paleo, and weight issues. I am headed out of town or I would try to find the links. Maybe next week when I am back or someone else can find some for you. But this may help you.

    • Well, I am 58 and I know about hormonal and metabolism changes that go with that. I don’t know what will happen after 2 years of this diet, but I am going to stick with it to find out. When I say that I am not 100% paleo, I mean that when I eat out, I know that the meats are industrial and the fats used are not ideal. I don’t knowingly eat any grains, legumes, sugar, potato. It really isn’t hard to ask for no bun and an extra vegetable instead of rice or potato. In 6 months, I can count on one hand the times I knowingly ate something forbidden( ice cream twice and beans in my chili twice.) I am only moderately active, loving my lifestyle of yard and garden work and housework. I hope the weight doesn’t creep back up. It still seems to be dropping, but I don’t weigh myself. I am afraid that if I fudge a little here and a little there, that I will slip past that tipping point and undo any good that I have done. This just feels too good to risk losing it.

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