Our Paleo Thanksgiving Revisited!

Thanksgiving Dinner!

As it’s a week before the big Turkey Day 2012, I wanted to share our Thanksgiving post from last year. I hadn’t really started posting recipes regularly so some of you may have missed it. Since we will be traveling to Illinois to see my family this year I won’t be cooking, but I hope you give some of these recipes a try as they were fantastic. I’ve left my original content here and added a few new comments (in italics) and pictures to some of the recipes.

This is Dr. Carrie. Dr. Court usually writes these posts but I thought it might be interesting to switch it up. Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving I thought it might be fun to share our menu. Normally, I don’t get the opportunity to cook on the holidays as we usually travel to be with either my family or his, but this year we decided not to go anywhere. As some of you know we eat mostly meat, eggs, vegetables and low glycemic fruit which means we try not to eat a lot of grains, sugar or processed food. I guess you could say we eat a Paleolithic diet which he has posted about in the past (see Why Eat a Paleolithic Diet?). We aren’t strictly Paleo as we do include some dairy in the form of cheese, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese and for me cream in my coffee.

Now, I grew up in a fantastic Midwestern, Standard American Diet family and it is sacrilege to not have pumpkin pie and stuffing to go with your marshmallow sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey, cranberry sauce from a can and green bean casserole. So, you can see my conundrum when it comes to preparing my own Thanksgiving dinner. Do I make the traditional dinner and call it a cheat day? But then what do we do with all of those leftovers? I mean we’re only 2 people. Or do I stick to my principles and make a “healthy” meal that’s just meat and veggies and have some fruit for dessert? Boring….that’s what we eat every day! (This year I do plan to make the Brussel Sprouts and Bacon to take to my big family dinner…they’re so good they’ll never suspect it came from a Paleo cookbook!)

I did what every American does…I Googled it! I wanted to see if there were recipes for Paleo versions of traditional Thanksgiving fare. Thanks to the Crossfitters who endorse the Paleo diet there are now tons of recipes online. I was amazed at what I found including an entire Paleo menu. I am not ashamed to admit that I am using most of the recipes from the first website I came across but how could I pass up Mushroom Butter Roasted Turkey, Beef Celery, Walnut and Apple Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce and Pumpkin Pie! If you want to see the complete menu, visit PaleoDiet Lifestyle.

After one click I had most of my menu complete. I still needed a yam recipe. I turned to my favorite Paleo recipe source EverydayPaleo.com. If you receive our email newsletter, you’ve heard me rave about Sarah Fragoso’s book Everyday Paleo. I love her recipes. They are super easy and sooooo tasty! I found a recipe for Paleo Holiday Yams right away. Of course that’s not the only recipe of hers I’m using. I made one from the book called Brussel Sprouts ‘n’ Bacon a few weeks ago and wanted to have it again. I also really wanted to try a recipe she calls “meat candy” aka Sausage Stuffed Dates for an appetizer. (I made these already. I tried to resist but they kept calling my name…they are AMAZING!)

Here is our complete Thanksgiving menu (pics below):

Appetizer:

• Sausage Stuffed Dates

Dinner:

• Mushroom Butter Roasted Turkey
• Beef, Celery, Walnut and Apple Stuffing
• Paleo Holiday Yams
• Brussel Sprouts ‘n’ Bacon
• Cranberry Sauce

Dessert:

• Pumpkin Pie with coconut milk ice cream!

We’ll let you know how it all turns out. So far, so good! The Sausage Stuffed Dates are a winner but I haven’t tried anything else. I have to save something for tomorrow. We have a lot of food to eat so it’s a good thing we’re going to Turkey Torcher at KDR Fitness tomorrow morning. (I’m bummed to miss the Turkey Torcher this year. It was a blast last year and a great way to kick of Thanksgiving Day! I think there are only 2 spots left but you should contact KDR Fitness if you are local and interested in participating.)

Your family might appreciate one of these recipes at your next holiday dinner! I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving Dinner be it Paleo or Traditional.

In the spirit of the season we are so Thankful for each and every one of our blog readers and patients. Your questions, comments and feedback are always appreciated and welcomed.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Sausage Stuffed Dates

I’ve made these little gems a number of time since last Thanksgiving. They’ve become a requested appetizer for get togethers! This was the large version but you can also make a smaller one bite version that’s just as addictive! (Sausage isn’t something that we recommend you eat a lot of as it typically has a lot of preservatives, but it’s fine to have once in a while especially if you buy an organic, preservative free version.)

Mushroom Butter Roasted Turkey

While the mushrooms on this turkey turned out a little crispy it tasted fantastic! I think I left it uncovered a bit too long.

Beef, Celery, Walnut and Apple Stuffing

This stuffing was so good that I’d make it as a meal! I’m glad I revisited this post so that I can do that! The texture is close to regular stuffing but a little different. Now in my family they usually make dressing, so the texture is quite different from that but it has all the right flavors!

Paleo Holiday Yams

These were yummy and reminded me of traditional holiday yams. With on a 1/4 cup of maple syrup they were sweet! You could probably just drizzle a little on there or leave it off entirely if you wanted.

Brussel Sprouts ‘n’ Bacon

I’ve also made these a number of times since last year! They’re tasty! I’m making them for my family for Thanksgiving this year.

(P.S. I’m also making my family Paleo Breakfast Bread and Chunky Apple Muffins to have at my baby shower…don’t tell! I don’t think they ever know they taste so good!)

Cranberry Sauce

Some how I forgot to take a picture of the cranberry sauce. It was good but of all the things I made last year I would tweak this recipe a bit. It was really tart. I would maybe take the maple syrup out of the yams and add it to the Cranberry Sauce.

Paleo Pumpkin Pie

Oh, now this was a hard one. I love pumpkin pie! My family loves my pumpkin pies and my grandfather used to request my pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving. Now that’s a big deal because my grandmother was an amazing cook! So, when it came to pumpkin pie it was hard to decide if I’d try something new or stick to the traditional. I ended up trying something new and was not disappointed! It was really good. It’s a little different but all the flavor that I love was there!

I encourage you to give one or all of these recipes a try for your Thanksgiving Dinner next week.  I think you and your family will be pleasantly surprised at how delicious they are and how great you feel when you’re not loaded down with all that bread and sugar. I know we felt great last year!

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

I saw this on pinterest.com and knew that I had to try it. Who doesn’t love pizza? However, we all know that it’s not very good for us. First of all, the crust is made from wheat which we try to limit as it’s very pro-inflammatory and can be the cause of major food sensitivities for millions of people. There is often not enough protein on a slice nor are there enough vegetables.  As you know, we recommend eating protein and veggies and/or fruit at each meal about every 3 (+/- a half hour) hours. That makes pizza a treat to be eaten during one of our “cheat” meals. The problem for me is that when I have a “cheat” meal I tend to feel bloated and gross for a few days after which isn’t fun. When I saw this I thought it could be the answer to my problem.

It was! It tastes soooo good! It gives you all the flavor of pizza without all the bad stuff. Plus, I get to control the quality and quantity of toppings that I put on it. Personally, I love a pizza loaded with meat and veggies but that’s hard to come by at most pizza places never mind that you never know where their ingredients have come from. A bonus is that this isn’t hard to make. Seriously…not hard at all!

It would be a great recipe to make with kids as it’s healthy and fascinating to see how cauliflower becomes crust! They could make their own individual pies with the toppings of their choice. The recipe makes more than enough for multiple batches.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Cauliflower Pizza Crust – original recipe from Eat. Drink. Smile.

1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 tsp garlic salt
olive oil (optional)

pizza sauce, shredded cheese and your choice of toppings*

To “Rice” the Cauliflower:
Take 1 large head of fresh cauliflower, remove stems and leaves, and chop the florets into chunks. Add to food processor and pulse until it looks like grain. Do not over-do pulse or you will purée it. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can grate the whole head with a cheese grater). Place the riced cauliflower into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 8 minutes (some microwaves are more powerful than others, so you may need to reduce this cooking time). There is no need to add water, as the natural moisture in the cauliflower is enough to cook itself.

Note from Eat. Drink. Smile. for those that don’ t have a microwave:

You can steam the florets on the stove before ricing them. The texture/consistency won’t be the same (It will be more like a purée) but it still works fine once you mix all the ingredients together! I know because I’ve tried it that way too!

One large head should produce approximately 3 cups of riced cauliflower. The remainder can be used to make additional pizza crusts immediately, or can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.

To Make the Pizza Crust:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Use a leftover butter wrapper to grease the cookie sheet. (When I get out a new stick of butter I freeze the wrappers for occasions such as this.)

In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup cauliflower, egg and mozzarella. Add oregano, crushed garlic and garlic salt, stir. Transfer to the cookie sheet, and using your hands, pat out into a 9″ round. Optional: Brush olive oil over top of mixture to help with browning. (The mixture should be about a half-inch thick. Mine was a little thin and burned at the edges.)

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven. To the crust, add sauce, toppings and cheese. Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted (approximately 3-4 minutes).

Enjoy!

*Note that toppings need to be precooked since you are only broiling for a few minutes. For our pizza I used roasted chicken leftover, tomatoes, basil, green onions, olives, and pizza cheese. I also used an organic pizza sauce. The options are really only limited to your imagination.

Berry Good Cobbler

I have a favorite cookbook that I use all the time. You’ve heard me talk about it before. It’s called Everyday Paleo by Sarah Fragoso. I’ve only had it for a year and it’s already dog-eared, water marked and stained. It has great recipes that I don’t feel guilty eating because they’re paleo and the bonus is that they taste fantastic. I have many favorites from this cook book but today I want to share the Berry Cobbler recipe. With the unofficial start to summer last weekend it’s time to break out dishes like this. For us here in the Northeast, strawberry season is just around the corner to be followed by all the other delicious berries. Having grown up in the Midwest in a family and community of bakers I sometimes miss delectable desserts like cobbler but not anymore. With this delicious recipe I feel like I’m indulging in a very guilty pleasure. I hope you enjoy it. You could also make this with blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, a mixture of berries, peaches or apples or frozen berries like I did since fresh aren’t yet in season. Here is a link to her blog with the recipe.

 

Berry Good Cobbler

3 cups fresh or frozen blackberries (I used 1 package of frozen organic blackberries and 1 package of frozen mixed berries which was slightly more than 3 cups) (or other fruit of your choice)

1 egg

1 ½ cups almond meal

2 Tbsp coconut oil

2 Tbsp cinnamon

Drizzle of raw organic honey or maple syrup

Unsweetened coconut milk

 

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees

Pour the blackberries into a pie pan.

In small bowl, mix together the egg, almond meal, and coconut oil and shake in the cinnamon. Stir well until the mixture starts to crumble. If you wish, drizzle a bit of raw organic honey on top of the blackberries.

By hand, evenly crumble the almond meal mixture on top of the blackberries and bake in your preheated oven for 35 minutes.

Serve in bowls with cold coconut milk poured over the top.

You should check out the book.

Fresh Avocado Tomato Salad

I love backyard BBQ’s! The problem is that not everyone we know eats the way we do so when we’re invited to a cookout I try to bring a dish that everyone will love but that’s not loaded with carbohydrates. This salad is always a hit! It’s so fresh and so tasty that it can be eaten by itself like we do or used as a dip for all the chips that will be lying around the party. Another great thing about this dish is that it only takes a moment to whip up so you don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen on a beautiful day.

 

Fresh Avocado Tomato Salad

For a large batch to take to a party you’ll need:

5 ripe avocados, pit/skin removed and chopped into large bite size pieces (You don’t want them too hard and you don’t want them mushy)

1-2 cups of organic cherry tomatoes sliced in half

½- ¼ of a red onion, finely diced

1 cup of fresh cilantro, chopped

1 lime cut in half (if you roll the lime under your hand for 30 seconds or so before cutting it in half you’ll release more of the juice)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional 1 jalapeño, finely diced

 

Place avocado, tomatoes, onion, cilantro and jalapeño if using into a bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper and mix all ingredients. Squeeze both halves of the lime into the bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Mix together. It can be eaten right away but if you allow it to sit for a few hours before serving it enhances the flavor.

 

It’s easy and tastes like summer! I hope you enjoy it with your friends and family this weekend!

 

Portabella Hummus Melts

Oh, Pinterest, I do adore thee.

It can suck up my time faster than almost anything else on the planet, besides a good book, but occasionally I actually make something I’ve pinned to my board. That’s how this yummy side dish came to us. Even more exciting is that it’s a combination of 2 pins! Separately, I had pinned a link to “Best Hummus Recipe” and to these Hummus Melts. The Hummus Melts were originally on a toasted English muffin but when I saw the picture, I thought, “I bet those would be good on portabella caps!” And so here we are!

Last night I set out to make these. It was a tad ambitious considering we got home from the gym late. (I did however, dead lift 240lbs! Check out the picture on our Facebook page!) Despite the late start it all came together pretty quickly with a little help from Dr. Court AKA Grill Chef! The hummus is super easy to make and really does taste better than anything you buy in the store. These little melts are delicious. I do hope you give them a try and let me know what you think.

Portabella Hummus Melts

Make Hummus using this recipe and set aside. (I didn’t add the Tabasco sauce as Dr. Court’s stomach can’t handle it but it was wonderful without.)

After the hummus is made:

Clean out stem and gills of 4-6 large Portabella mushroom caps

Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper

Grill for 5-10 minutes or just until they are starting to get soft

In the mean time:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

And then:

Sauté 1/4 white onion, finely diced with 2 tsp garlic (about 2-3 cloves finely diced) and about 6 large handfuls of chopped organic spinach (1 large bag chopped or ½ of large Olivia’s Organics box) in butter or coconut oil and a dash of salt and pepper.

Once the mushrooms are soft, place them on a baking sheet. Dump out any juice that has accumulated in the cap. Spread ~1-2 Tbsp of hummus on them. Divide the spinach, onion and garlic mixture among the mushrooms and place on top of the hummus. Top with ~1 Tbsp of mozzarella cheese. Place under broiler until cheese is browned and bubbly.

Voila!

Enjoy with some organic, uncured bacon wrapped around grass-fed organic filet mignon or other healthy protein!

Cabbage and Beef Bake

I like casseroles. I’ll admit it. They are easy to make, usually have all our protein and veggies in one dish and we usually have leftovers. You can’t beat it!

About 2 years ago my friend, Stacy sent me this recipe which was one that her grandmother used to make. As she said, “it’s an oldie but a goodie!” I made it the original* way several times until we realized that Dr. Court’s digestive system can’t handle spicy food. At first, I was really disappointed because this is one of my favorites but then I started playing around with it. I have made it so many ways based on what we had in the freezer and pantry. I’ve made it with turkey burger, added shallots, used tomato sauce instead of tomato paste but the following version is what we have decided we like best. You’ll notice that this recipe contains rice. While we don’t normally eat much rice or grain we do have some once in a while.

Cabbage and Beef Bake

1 lb of ground beef (organic, grass-fed if possible**)

1 medium onion, diced

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and diced

4-5 cups of shredded cabbage

1 can tomato paste

1 can of diced tomatoes

1/2 – 1 can water

3 Tbsp of wild rice

1 pkg of frozen spinach or fresh spinach chopped

1 tsp of garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a large skillet brown the burger with onions and garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

While the meat is browning use a food processor or a knife to chop up 4-5 cups of cabbage (about 1/2 of a large head of cabbage). Place the cabbage in a 9″ x 13″ baking dish and lightly salt and pepper the cabbage.

Once the burger is done add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, water, garlic powder, rice and spinach and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes.

Spoon the beef mixture over the cabbage. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour. Enjoy!

*Original Recipe:
Preheat oven to 325.  Brown 1 lb ground chuck, 1 chopped onion in 1 Tbsp. oil.  When browned, add in 1 can tomato soup, 1 soup can of water, 1 can drained rotel tomatoes, 4 Tbsp uncooked long grain rice, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a lightly greased casserole dish, place 4-5 cups of shredded cabbage and then spoon beef mixture over cabbage. Cover tightly with foil and bake x 1 hour.

** There are a number of CSA’s available locally which allow you to buy beef in bulk making it more affordable. For more information please contact the office. To find a farm near you check out: westonaprice.org.

Fresh Veggie and Herb Scramble

One of the things we hear most often in the office is,”What can I eat for breakfast?” To which we usually reply, “Why eggs, of course.” For more information eggs check out this post: The Myth of Eggs and Cholesterol.

Once a patient starts eating eggs the next question asked is, “How can you eat eggs EVERY day?” They say they get so sick of them. And I agree when I eat a couple of plain scrambled eggs or fried eggs. But since I started making these eggs I actually wake up excited to eat breakfast. I’d eat them for every meal if I could. I LOVE them! They have so much flavor and so much variety that I’m never tired of them.

We also often hear that people don’t have time to make a good breakfast in the morning. If that applies to you, I urge you to make a large egg casserole using the same ingredients found in the Veggie and Herb Scramble. We do this as well and it makes getting a nutritious and satisfying breakfast very easy.

 

Fresh Veggie and Herb Scramble

Onions (red, white, green)

Mushrooms (any variety)

Cherry Tomatoes (or any variety)

Sun-dried Tomatoes

Spinach (or Kale, Broccoli, Asparagus etc.)

Fresh Basil (or Rosemary, Thyme, Parsley, Cilantro, whatever I have on hand)

Feta Cheese (or Parmesan, Cheddar, Swiss, Goat,  Mozzarella, Gouda…you get the idea)

Eggs

Butter

Salt and Pepper

Garlic Powder

Red Pepper Flakes (optional)

 

Heat up a little butter in a small saute pan.

Add the veggies and fresh herbs to the pan….I know it looks like a lot of veggies but it will cook down! (It’s approximately 2 cups of chopped veggies.)

Add salt and pepper to taste along with some red pepper flakes and a dusting of garlic powder.

Saute until veggies have softened.

Crack eggs into the pan and mix with veggies. (Generally, Dr. Court has 3 eggs and I use 2 but it depends on your nutritional needs.)

Cook eggs through then add approximately a 1/4 c. of cheese.

Once the cheese is melted, transfer to a plate and ENJOY!

Serves 1. You can make a larger batch for your whole family.

 

I have given you the  Go-To list of veggies I use almost every day, however I try to switch it up through out the week. The thing that makes these so good is that you can use whatever you have available. We have used leftover roasted veggies (even roasted root veggies like sweet potato, turnip and beets), sauteed veggies with chicken or beef, leftover Sun-dried Tomato, Olive and Artichoke topping (one of my personal favorites, however link doesn’t tell you to add 1 can drained artichoke hearts but the recipe in her book does), leftover black beans from a Mexican restaurant…you name it.

Give it a try and let me know your favorite combination!

 

Thai Inspired Tuna Salad

Hello from Dr. Carrie!

We are introducing a new category on the Vreeland Clinic’s Blog….Recipes. I love food and as the person in our household who does the grocery shopping and cooking I want to make meals that both taste good and are healthy. Now, if you are a regular reader you know that for us “healthy” means eating protein, lots of vegetables and low glycemic fruit, good fats, and keeping the processed food and grain based carbohydrates to a minimum. Often, I find a recipe that calls for a grain or sugar which I omit or substitute something else. You’ll find those recipes with my edits in this section.

Additionally, one of the biggest obstacles for someone who is starting a program with us and changing their diet is figuring out what to cook. For those accustomed to a Standard American Diet it can be a little overwhelming and my hope is that this section of the blog will be a great resource for them. I also hope that it is a resource for those who’ve been on the program for years. I know I always love trying new things!

Here’s our first recipe:

I had a brainstorm the other day standing in line at the deli counter of one of our local grocery stores. The store had prepared Thai Tuna Burgers. They looked delicious and most of the ingredients were in line with our eating plan but they of course contained bread crumbs or something to bind them together. I realized I could use those flavors in our tuna salad. We eat a lot of tuna salad as it’s a great protein source and has anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids. Here is my creation. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. I know we’ll be adding it to the tuna salad rotation.

 

Thai Tuna Salad

3 cans of tuna, drained

¼ of a red onion, diced

¼ c. cashews, chopped (I used roasted because it’s what I had on hand)

½ c. fresh cilantro, finely chopped

2 hard-boiled eggs, diced

½ of a lime

~1 c. of mayo (use less if you like your tuna salad drier and more if you don’t)

Combine tuna, onion, cashews, cilantro and hard-boiled eggs in a bowel. Squeeze the lime over the mixture. Add mayo and mix. Enjoy with some raw veggies or over a bed of mixed greens!

Feel free to add some red pepper flakes to spice it up a little.

Do you have a favorite tuna salad recipe? If so, feel free to share it with us!

The Choice is Your’s

Finally, we’re back with another blog! After a busy July and almost a month without a computer with some major hard drive issues, I am happy to be back writing about health and happiness!

I recently read an article written by Dr. Dean Ornish.  He is an integrative medical doctor that preaches lifestyle changes to solve some of health care’s biggest issues.  Although he and I disagree on the correct diet, we whole-heartedly agree that our medical system can be fixed with a new approach to how we live our lives.

I’d like to highlight one thing that he mentioned regarding heart disease and coronary angioplasty and coronary bypass procedures.  The procedures are performed when patients have blockages in the coronary artery system. This system is what provides blood and oxygen to the heart muscle itself.  Obviously, this is an important job!

In his article Dr. Ornish states that “In 2006, according to the American Heart Association, 1.3 million coronary angioplasty procedures were performed at an average cost of $48,399 each, or more than $60 billion; and 448,000 coronary bypass operations were performed at a cost of $99,743 each, or more than $44 billion.”

He goes on to say that in the vast majority of cases the above listed procedures do not prolong life. Yes, that’s right.  You read that correctly.  These procedures cost Americans over $100 billion per year and are very risky to say the least yet their benefit is suspect.  That doesn’t make sense does it?

Most of these procedures could be avoided if people would change their lifestyle and adopt one that incorporated a healthy diet and exercise.

Make no mistake about it – in the vast majority of cases angioplasty and bypass surgery are choices.  You may choose to experience the joy of these surgeries by eating a poor diet, not exercising and smoking.  Should you make that choice just know that the likelihood that you may need one of these two surgeries one day is high.

Or you may make the choice to live a healthy lifestyle by eating a low glycemic diet, exercising and staying away from cigarettes.  This lifestyle has side effects so beware! Side effects include abundant energy, lower rates of depression, lower rates of cancer and an overall vitality not achieved by most!

Why eat a Paleolithic diet

Paleolithic humans.

Diet crazes come and go. A quick search of the internet and you’ll see a bunch of them.  There’s the all-cookie diet, the one day diet, the three day diet, the Hollywood diet, the lemonade diet, the cabbage soup diet and many more.  The point is, most of them are not based on anything scientific other than the fact that significantly lowering calories generally results in weight loss.  While that might be true, it does not mean it’s healthy.

The diet that I routinely recommend to my patients is the paleolithic diet.  This is not a ‘diet’ in the way that most people think about a diet.  This is not designed specifically as a way to lose weight.  However, if you are overweight eating this way will likely help you lose weight.

I like to use the word ‘diet’ by its most simple definition – food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health. Think of the word diet simply as the type of food you put in your mouth.  Don’t think of diet as something people do when they want to lose weight.

A paleolithic diet incorporates certain types of foods and restricts others. From a scientific and evolutionary standpoint the paleolithic diet makes perfect sense. The paleolithic diet focuses on meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, roots, and nuts, and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils

The paleolithic era in human history began about 2.5 million years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture.  Over that period human beings evolved with a very specific diet. Up until 10,000 years ago humans were hunter gatherers.  They moved with the herds of animals and ate a diet high in animal protein and vegetables and fruit.  Grains were nonexistent in their diets because the farming techniques did not exist to grow and process grain.

So what does this have to do with you? Our genetic code has changed very little (if at all) since the end of the paleolithic era, yet our diets have changed substantially. Our bodies were designed to process meats, vegetables and fruits in high amounts.  They were not designed to process grains in high amounts.

Current dietary recommendations in which people ‘should get 6-10 servings of whole grains per day’ is in direct conflict with how we’ve evolved over the last 2 million plus years. Diets high in grain products lead to many health concerns including high triglycerides in the blood and diabetes.

You must consider what our ancestors consumed and how that drove natural selection.  Prehistoric humans at a diet consisting of lots of protein, fruits and vegetables and virtually no grain.  This drove evolution and genes were selected or deleted from the genetic code based on this type of diet and what traits were most advantageous for survival.  The ability to process high amounts of carbohydrate is not an ability that was likely to be selected and passed from offspring to offspring because it was not essential.

Today, unfortunately, we have a food guide pyramid that flies in the face of evolution and recommends too much carbohydrate and not enough protein and fat.

My rules for my patients are simple:

1. Eat lots and lots of vegetables.
2. Eat lots and lots of low glycemic fruits (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, apples, pears, etc.)
3. Eat as many nuts and seeds as you want.
4. Keep dairy products to a small part of the diet, but yogurt and/or cottage cheese daily is okay. If you choose to consume milk make it raw milk.
5. Salt your food to taste, but do not eat processed foods as they are extremely high in salt.
6. Have protein at every meal – eggs, steak, pork, fish, chicken, turkey, buffalo, alligator, ostrich, whatever – it’s all good.
7. Eat regularly – eat every 3 hours. Remember, even if you’re not exercising your brain requires tons of energy and in a constant supply.  Your brain consumes energy at a rate that is equal to that of the energy used by a human leg muscle running a marathon!
8. Exercise! The importance of regular exercise cannot be over stated.  Our ancestors moved constantly! You must move!

If you follow these rules, you will have a healthy life free of the diseases of modern civilization such as diabetes and heart disease.  You might just lose a little weight as well!