Ready for your 30 days to becoming a Primitive Diva Challenge….?

Ready to get a little WILD with a lifestyle program that focuses on the nourishment of your body with REAL food, building strength naturally (in NATURE not in a GYM), Avoiding the ugly side of Beauty (Toxic Chemicals) and getting plenty of Vitamin S (Sleep, Sun, Soil and Stressbusters). Kick off those high heels girls, grab some grass fed beef jerky and read on…..

What is a Primitive lifestyle/diet…?

Primitive, Primal, Paleolithic or Paleo are terms that describe an effort to get back to foods of our ancestral history. This is THE Original diet of our Hunter and Gatherer ancestors and is actually the “anti-fad” of most nutrition programs ever explored. The basic premise is that we spent about 2,000,000 years hunting meat, foraging for leafy greens, vegetables, fruits, nuts/seeds and very little else. In contrast, the foods of agriculture – grains and dairy – only showed up about 10,000 years ago. Ask yourself this…”where did we go wrong?”. It is imperative that we get back to basics before the diseases of modern living took hold of our population. So embracing your inner cavewoman is a way to obtain great health, weight loss ,energy and strength gain and even hormonal harmony.
If you do the math, we have been exposed to grain foods for all of 0.5% of our existence. Essentially, we’ve had NO time to adapt and evolve with these new foods. Further, within the last 100 years pesticides and chemicals have entered our food supply in high proportions and food has become highly processed. An average diet in America contains virtually NOTHING our bodies actually recognize as food. This is one reason we are experiencing a staggering increase of illness, cancer, heart disease, chronic inflammation and auto-immune diseases. These are not seen in any population of Hunter/Gatherer societies until they are exposed to a modern diet of processed foods, sugars and grains.

So, the basic premise is that feeding your body a whole food-based, organic diet, like it is designed for and intended to eat, is going to result in the highest health and performance possible. Our bodies are not going to run best on grains, sugars, man-made engineered frankenfoods and poorly raised toxic meats.

Because of the many health benefits of living more natural and Primitive, this is more of a movement and a lifestyle than it is a “diet.” It involves sleeping, eating and fitness patterns that attempt to recreate the patterns we evolved on. It is also important for you to look at your skin care regime (toxic chemicals)~your skin is the largest organ of your body~ IF you want optimal health, it starts with what you put on it daily. We will also discuss the importance of clean water along with warnings to avoid our biggest modern day household hazard--plastic/BPA and avoiding too much techno-stress. All of the suggestions fit very nicely with brief, intense and infrequent anaerobic exercise because that is the pattern of activity we would have had during evolution. Things like sprinting away from a predator, chasing prey, carrying heavy things and fighting. I will share many ideas and concepts with you in my weekly “work-out without walls” segments. In the meantime….Move, Sprint, Stretch, Crawl and Jump your way to improved fitness.

Primitive Nutrition (Primitive/Paleo/Primal)

Meat – Free-range, Pastured, Organic and fed its appropriate/intended diet (cows eat grass, not grain for example)

Fish - Wild caught

Vegetables – As much as you can eat, organic and a high percentage raw

Fruit - Organic and limit to 2-3 servings per day

Nuts and Seeds – Nuts and seeds are allowed in moderation- due to high omega-6 fats and some inflammatory factors. If you eat nuts and seeds eat them raw as opposed to roasted in vegetable oil. Limit to 1 serving (1oz) per day *Walnuts and Macadamias are your best choice(s) Note: Peanuts are a legume, like beans and are excluded from the diet.

Potatoes – White potatoes are out because they are a “new” food. However, you may consume 1 serving (fits into the palm of your hand) Sweet Potatoes or Yams, particularly after workouts due to the carbo/sugar load.

Grains – ALL grains are out ….these are ALL products of modern Agriculture. This includes wheat, rice, corn, quinoa, etc.

Dairy – During the 30 day challenge- I suggest eliminating ALL sources of dairy. Some paleo advocates strictly oppose it’s inclusion and others are huge advocates of Raw dairy from grassfed cows (Weston A Price followers). There are also others that recommend goat dairy rather than cow due to its less allergenic proteins ,lower lactose). Personally, I eat RAW goat cheese, yogurt, and kefir and do very well on it. In general, cultured dairy (yogurt, kefir) is more digestible and less allergenic than the plain milk product. Obviously, whey protein is out on two counts: 1) it’s from milk 2) it’s highly processed. IF you are going to consume cheese, RAW Goat is best. And you can substitute any milk intake with Coconut Milk (Unsweetened)

Supplements – I am not big on supplements. The reasoning is that our bodies are hugely powerful and intelligent when given good food, low stress, sleep and a proper lifestyle. There are many natural ways to get your pro-biotic’s . Omega-3’s, Vitamin C , etc… in Whole food form. I will share many articles, food choices and recipes during the challenge – so, save your money for high quality foods that truly and fully nourish your body. If you are dealing with any deficiencies, I suggest therapeutic juicing over supplements, as an addition to your lifestyle.

Ladies, ready to become a Primitive Diva. Join the tribe on Facebook (link on right) . I will offer several product/book giveaways to those of you who bring the most new friends to the tribe. Sharing many Primitve Diva recipes, photo’s, workouts, beauty tips and videos to help with the challenge, starting March 1st, 2011. I encourage you to keep a journal and take before and after photo’s to see the AMAZING transformation of your best Cavegirl selves. Feel free to twitter questions to me @primitivediva. At the end of our premier 30 day challenge, we will have a launch party in Houston, Texas to unveil the Primitive Diva logo and to celebrate our vibrant health. So start shopping for that special cavegirl dress and don’t worry about the shoes….its ALL about rocking the pedicure , right?

Dangerous Grains......!

Most of you know that I promote the avoidance of ALL processed grains for optimal health. My philosophy stems from a very primitive belief that modern disease and illness is partly associated with the modern agricultural trend. A movement that has steered us away from healthy meats,fats and produce towards a cheap, easily grown modified filler....ceral grains! I recently stumbled upon a great book during my own writing research and I wanted to share a review with you. Dangerous Grains is about the numerous health hazards of gluten grains. It's co-written by James Braly, an M.D. who specializes in food allergies, and Ron Hoggan, a celiac sufferer who has researched and written widely on the subject.

Celiac disease is a degeneration of the intestinal lining caused by exposure to gluten. Gluten sensitivity is a broader term that encompasses any of the numerous symptoms that can occur throughout the body when susceptible people eat gluten. The term gluten sensitivity includes celiac disease. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, its close relatives (kamut, spelt, triticale), barley and rye. Wheat is the most concentrated source.

Dangerous Grains is a good overview of the mountain of data on celiac disease and gluten sensitivity that few people outside the field are familiar with. For example, did you know:
An estimated one percent of the U.S. population suffers from celiac disease.
Approximately 12 percent of the US population suffers from gluten sensitivity.
Gluten can damage nearly any part of the body, including the brain, the digestive tract, the skin and the pancreas. Sometimes gastrointestinal symptoms are absent.

Both celiac and other forms of gluten sensitivity increase the risk of a large number of diseases, such as type 1 diabetes and cancer, often dramatically.
The majority of people with gluten sensitivity are not diagnosed.
Most doctors don't realize how common gluten sensitivity is, so they rarely test for it.

Celiac disease and other symptoms of gluten sensitivity are easily reversed by avoiding gluten.
Twelve percent of Americans have gluten sensitivity! That's an enormous disease burden coming from a single type of food. I suspect the true incidence may actually be higher. There are preliminary data suggesting that most people may mount an immune response to gluten that does not require antibodies (through the innate immune system). This type of gluten sensitivity would be overlooked by the typical antibody tests, but could still result in damage.

Dangerous Grains also discusses the opioid-like peptides released from gluten during digestion. Opioids are powerful drugs, such as heroin and morphine, that were originally derived from the poppy seed pod. They are strong suppressors of the immune system and quite addictive. There are no data that conclusively prove the opioid-like peptides in gluten cause immune suppression or addiction to wheat, but there are some interesting coincidences and anecdotes. Celiac patients are at an increased risk of cancer, particularly digestive tract cancer, which suggests that the immune system is compromised. Heroin addicts are also at increased risk of cancer. Furthermore, celiac patients often suffer from abnormal food cravings. From my reading, I believe that wheat causes excessive eating, perhaps through a drug-like mechanism, and many people report withdrawal-like symptoms and cravings after eliminating wheat.

I have many clients who have benefited greatly from removing gluten (if not all grains) from their diets. ANYONE who has digestive problems, from gas to acid reflux, or any other mysterious health problem,such as joint pain, arthritis, brain fog and generalized fatigue, owes it to themselves to try a gluten-free diet for a month. Gluten consumption has increased quite a bit in the U.S. in the last 30 years, mostly due to an increase in the consumption of processed wheat snacks. I believe it's partly to blame for our declining health. Wheat has more gluten than any other grain. Avoiding wheat and all other processed grains is the foundation of my health philosophy.

Another notable change that Sally Fallon (Weston Price Foundation and Author, Nourishing Traditions)and others have pointed out is that today's bread isn't made the same way our grandparents made it. Quick-rise yeast allows bread to be fermented for as little as 3 hours, whereas it was formerly fermented for 8 hours or more. This allowed the gluten to be partially broken down by the microorganisms in the dough. Some gluten-sensitive people report that they can eat well-fermented sourdough wheat bread without symptoms. I think these ideas are plausible, but they remain suspect to me at this point. Until research shows that gluten-sensitive people can do well eating sourdough wheat bread in the long term, I'll be avoiding it along with EVERY other processed grain.

I'm not aware of any truly healthy traditional culture that eats wheat as a staple. As a matter of fact, white wheat flour has left a trail of destruction around the globe wherever it has gone. Hundreds, if not thousands of cultures throughout the world have lost their robust good health upon abandoning their traditional and primitive foods in favor of white flour and sugar. The medical and anthropological literature are heavily weighted with these statistics.

So, I suggest that you add this your library of well written books....but save a space on your shelf for Primitive Diva.....coming Spring/summer 2011!

Becoming Primitive....

In my research for the Primitive DIVA book, I have spent countless hours reading blogs, books, magazines and research around Natural Health, Wellness, the promotion of living a more Green primitive lifestyle and all things related to sustainable living. One thing became very predictable in most of the authors message(s).
Doom and gloom, and lots of negative and fear based writing.

In the past several years I have intentionally limited my exposure to serious environmental issues in the media. Mainly because as a super sensitive empathetic person, I could not deal with all the negative information without having the solution to share. It seems that having the knowledge is one thing, but the power comes in knowing how to make concrete steps towards leading a more natural life, not just being bombarded with all the realistic understanding of chemical and industrial hazards that are out there.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I do consider it imperative that we need to be aware of any danger associated with knowing where our food comes from, be able to know what to look for in your household cleaners, skin care products along with being mindful of the impact we leave on this beautiful blue/green globe of ours…. However, The challenge is balance. Knowing what to DO about it, practical steps towards better living. This reflects in my own Primitive Diva philosophy that will be explained in more detail in the book.
For instance, knowing which foods are the best to eat organically really helps me prioritize choices in the grocery store. I am continually quoted as answering questions during a nutrition consult with “Well, in a PERFECT world, we would choose…..” Guess what? We do not live in a perfect world! Realistically, I cannot optimally sustain my health and that of my family IF I refuse to consume anything else but local, organically grown foods that I have personally confirmed their individual farming practices. The Diva side of me lives in the real world with busy’ness and stressful family activities and schedules. So finding my way to being primitive has empowered me with information and practical advice of long lost traditional wisdom to share.

I have devoted much time over the past 20 years studying data in both nutritional clinical /science (the Future) and nutritional anthropology (the Past). The two directions have allowed me a much deeper understanding of natures intended nutritional guidelines. My own nutritional experiences (success’s and failures) have ranged from RAW vegan, Macro-biotic, Yeast Free, Gluten Free, Low Fat, Low Carb to Raw Paleothic… Whatever the diet dictocrats were promoting as the lastest and greatest. You name it and there is a book selling it.---and people hoping for a magic bullet, buying it! All in trying to understand our physical makeup and what allows the body to heal itself---“let food be thy medicine”, right? I have a sincere passion to understand the how and why’s of our traditional pillars of health wisdom. With the ludicrous statements and theories that I have seen, read or heard from the gurus through the years— and a strong mistrust of anything to do with corporately founded/funded science (Big Pharma, Big Agra, Food Scientist, the AMA, the FDA, the USDA or any other government or corporate agency) I began a very important evolutionary quest to get past the hype, confusion and political posturing of our food industry that surrounds our experts in dietary/nutrition arena. I searched for facts that could be evidenced through several generations. I discovered my most profound truth for health and wellness by looking back---by looking at generations of our ancestors. Societies who thrived by hunting wild animals and fish and gathered wild fruits and vegetables. We commonly refer to their lifestyle today as “hunter-gatherer”. I have studied research material of the world’sPioneers of nutrition, leading evolutionary biologist, paleontologists, geneticist, nutritional anthropologist and researchers devoted to the historical study of the human body and health.
Through the professional research support and education from these experts I have embraced the learning of forgotten food preparations and traditions of generations before us. Methods that seemed to have been tossed away with each new technological advance, preservative and flavor/color enhancer. What people have eaten and more importantly how they prepared it has helped humans for many ages of time be free of diseases- such as diabetes, cancer, hypothyroidism, heart disease, auto-immune diseases ,dental disease obesity and many other serious health problems. Their diets not only influenced their health but for a large extent---determined it! History reveals that the healthiest people in the world were/are the most primitive people as well! Our ancestors rarely died from diet or lifestyle related illnesses that kill most modern people before their time. Our ancestors foraged for wild game, fresh caught fish from the sea or inlands, wild berries, nuts and plant foods. They had more active lifestyles in every day physical demands. They did not have health clubs and gyms.
While I readily admit that we cannot go back to the old ways of our primitive ancestors completely, we can learn from their wisdom and make our bodies strong, healthy and disease resistant. So, over the next few months I will share some principles for maintaining optimal health in a very primitive way.

Lets explore the definition of the original hunter gatherer primitive diet:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The modern dietary regimen known as the Paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet), also popularly referred to as the caveman diet, Stone Age diet and hunter-gatherer diet, is a nutritional plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various human species habitually consumed during the Paleolithic—a period of about 2.5 million years duration that ended around 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture. In common usage, such terms as the "Paleolithic diet" also refer to the actual ancestral human diet. Centered on commonly available modern foods, the "contemporary" Paleolithic diet consists mainly of meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, roots, and nuts; and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils.

First popularized in the mid 1970s by a gastroenterologist named Walter L. Voegtlin, this nutritional concept has been promoted and adapted by a number of authors and researchers in several books and academic journals. A common theme in evolutionary medicine, Paleolithic nutrition is based on the premise that modern humans are genetically adapted to the diet of their Paleolithic ancestors and that human genetics have scarcely changed since the dawn of agriculture, and therefore that an ideal diet for human health and well-being is one that resembles this ancestral diet. Proponents of this diet argue that modern human populations subsisting on traditional diets allegedly similar to those of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers are largely free of diseases of affluence, and that two small prospective studies of the Paleolithic diet in humans have shown some positive health outcomes. Supporters point to several potentially therapeutic nutritional characteristics of allegedly preagricultural diets.