An improved Paleo diet

"If it doesn't swim, run or fly, or is green and grows on the ground, don't eat it."

Many readers will be familiar with this definition of the Paleo diet. You may also be familiar with Jack Lalanne's simple description, "If it's made by humans, don't eat it. These definitions summarize the practical application of the "traditional" caveman diet quite well.

My nutritional approach has been quite accurately described as a "Paleo meets sports nutrition" hybrid, but let's start with the Paleo side of this diet first. The practical application strategy above is simple, but it's a useful endeavor to dive a little deeper into this form of nutrition and learn some of the details about why the "eat what your ancestors ate" philosophy can be so effective.

Otherwise, after a day of exposure to internet health ads and endless amounts of misinformation, you might well come back and ask "but wait, aren't fruit juices, wheat bread, low-fat mayonnaise and fiber-enriched breakfast cereals good for us?"

No, they're not, unless you're Tony the Tiger and sponsored by Kellogs.

Paleo in a nutshell

Diets based on animal products are superior to plant-based diets

Animal protein is considered to be of higher quality than grain or vegetable protein because it contains all the essential amino acids, it contains them in greater quantities in combination with essential fatty acids and it contains them in the correct proportions and ratios that Mother Nature intended for us. The last is the key point.

Essential fatty acids and essential amino acids are named for a reason. If we weren't designed to eat animal protein, then our bodies wouldn't need these essential nutrients for normal metabolic and endocrine function. Rather, they would be optional and we would have a need for essential cellulose and soy paste.

Take a look at what is contained in just 120 grams of sockeye salmon

• 24 g protein including all amino acids
• 2 g saturated fat
• 5 g monounsaturated fats
• 1500 mg omega-3 fatty acids
• 425 mg omega-6 fatty acids

Nature is and remains simply unbeatable.

A diet rich in vegetables is healthy, but that doesn't make a vegetarian diet the healthiest diet. While vegetarians try to get the essential nutrients they could get from animal foods through all the food combining, they can still end up with a diet that is a metabolic disaster: inadequate protein intake, incomplete amino acid profile, an imbalance of essential fatty acids, too much sugar and refined flour, too many carbohydrates combined with too much dietary fat, too many phytoestrogen compounds from soy products... and I could go on and on.

And if vegetarianism is so damn great, why is such a large percentage of vegetarians overweight and/or unhealthy looking?

Surely most readers won't be pining to follow a vegetarian diet, but now that you have a logical argument for those crazy relatives and friends who religiously swear that vegetarian-based diets are the healthiest dietary approach on the planet and that eating meat will kill you.

Eliminate sugar/concentrated fructose sources from your diet

If I had my choice, I would give fructose the world championship belt as the worst compound in the modern diet. If you did nothing but eliminate sugar and high fructose corn syrup from your diet, you'd probably end up with a decent body composition. But this junk is everywhere and in everything.

According to numerous studies, fructose is the main culprit in table sugar that is responsible for the development of insulin resistance - yes, fructose and not the poor glucose or starch compounds that are unfairly lumped into the same category by the "all carbs are evil" campaign.

An article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition took a closer look at fructose metabolism. The report indicated that fructose is preferentially metabolized to fat in the liver compared to glucose. In animal models, fructose produced the following reactions: Insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, high insulin levels, high triglyceride levels and hypertension.

Eliminate trans fats

If fructose is the "champion of the worst modern foods", then trans fats are the undisputed number one challenger. These compounds are essential vegetable oils that have had a hydrogen atom added to their structure through a process called hydrogenation. This makes these oils firmer in structure and extends their shelf life - both great things if you're a manufacturer of processed snacks.

However, this chemical change is also what makes trans fats so problematic if you're a health enthusiast. Because trans fats are basically unnatural, mutated fats, they raise total cholesterol levels and levels of bad LDL cholesterol, increase levels of C-reactive proteins, lower levels of good HDL cholesterol, and therefore are a primary risk factor for coronary artery disease.

And for the "I just want to get hard and defined" group? Well, trans fats have been shown to inhibit glucose breakdown, promote insulin resistance and induce abdominal obesity (1).

So if you see trans fats or hydrogenated vegetable oils, you should do what Iron Maiden sings, "Run to the hills, run for your lives."

Improve your omega-6: omega-3 ratio

The optimal omega-6 to omega-3 ratio for good health is between 1:1 and 4:1. This is the ratio that probably existed before modern food processing, when the majority of dietary fats came from wild animal meat and fish.

With the addition of highly processed vegetable oils as one of the cornerstones of the diet, the average American's dietary profile has reached a ratio of 10-15:1, with values as high as 40:1. This unnaturally high ratio can lead to body-wide inflammation, exacerbate autoimmune diseases and increase the risk of heart disease and certain cancers.

At the same time that the amount of vegetable oils and processed foods has increased, the average omega-3 intake has decreased. Meat from wild animals and fish are naturally rich in omega-3 fatty acids, but these foods have been replaced in most people's diets by domesticated, corn- and grain-fed versions that are richer in omega-6 fatty acids.

Omega-3 fatty acids have anti-inflammatory properties, improve insulin sensitivity, reduce triglyceride levels in the blood, dilate blood vessels and reduce overall risk factors for disease.

I realize this needs some credence, but it's not the natural saturated or monounsaturated fats in animal flesh that are killing us, it's the abnormally high amounts of omega-6 fatty acids from vegetable oils (including the trans-fat varieties).

Think about it - natural fats that our species grew up with vs. modern fats that we process. I'm in Vegas, I'm putting money on the natural fats - despite the poor odds influenced by the dominant, yet archaic, so-called health authorities.

The problem is that medical advice and the modern diet curriculum is heavily influenced by the food industry. That's why you usually hear that saturated fats from animals are bad and polyunsaturated fats from vegetable oils are good. It's a joke, but a joke at our expense. Eat animals and not processed oils.

Eliminate gluten-containing foods, grains and legumes

Most of the problems associated with grains have nothing to do with the starch content of the grain. Glucose is one of our oldest evolutionary sources of energy. Unless you've made yourself insulin resistant by being fat, eating too much fructose, consuming too many omega-6 fatty acids, not eating enough omega-3 fatty acids, or not doing consistent strength training, your body can do just fine with glucose polymers from starch. In a properly functioning, active and athletic body, your body stores normal amounts of glucose as muscle glycogen.

The main problem with modern cereal products are the compounds that are included in addition to the starch itself. Gluten, for example, is not a carbohydrate but a protein found in grains such as wheat, barley and rye and is a highly problematic food for many people.

We don't all suffer from a full-blown gluten allergy, also known as coeliac disease - a debilitating condition linked to the consumption of wheat/gluten in which the immune system attacks and destroys cells of the gut - but many of us may suffer from gluten sensitivity. A new study even questions whether eating wheat is safe for anyone (2).

Unfortunately, the term "gluten-free" has become a marketing tool with pharisaical, holistic crowds, but eliminating gluten from the diet can be a beneficial step for overall digestive health, physical performance (reduced symptoms of lethargy) and physical appearance (reduced abdominal bloating).

My recommendation is to give up gluten for a few weeks and see how you respond. Something like this could work wonders for you, or it could do nothing at all - but you won't know until you try it.

Other detrimental compounds in modern grains are what are collectively referred to as "anti-nutrients" in the Paleo diet.

Phytic acid is the storage form of phosphorus in plants and this is typically found in the bran and seeds. Humans cannot digest phytic acid as they lack the necessary digestive enzyme called phytase.

Strike one against phytic acid is that it can cause digestive abnormalities. Strike two is that it acts as a chelator of minerals, which interferes with proper absorption of these minerals such as zinc and iron. Strike three is that the foods that contain phytic acid generally taste like cardboard and also have a similar texture. Loren Cordain once said that cereal grains are better left to the birds.

Legumes and grains also contain a compound called lectin. Lectins are sugar-binding molecules that plants have evolved to repel insects - I would say this is a good indication that these compounds are not meant to be consumed in large quantities by humans.

What are the problems associated with lectins? How about irritation and damage to the intestines, excessive secretion of mucus into the gut, reduced absorption of nutrients, diarrhea, nausea and bloating (3)?

However, you may recall that rice - technically a grain - is a foundation of my dietary recommendations. This is because rice is naturally gluten-free and phytic acid and lectin are removed in the rice mill and during cooking. What's left is a mixture of amylopectin and amylose starches - compounds your body can cope with if you don't suffer from insulin resistance.

Reduce dairy products during a diet/restriction phase

Arnold once said, "Dairy is for babies."

To be honest, dairy is such a controversial topic (among nutritionists, trainers, athletes, bodybuilders, and body development enthusiasts) and there are so many different issues to discuss (acid-base balance, insulin index, isolated milk proteins vs. dairy, wasting during bulking phases vs. avoiding during dieting phases, etc.) that this topic deserves its own article. But I don't want to leave you hanging.

I'm a fat loss guy and so are 99% of my clients over the last 10 years. Mass gain may be a different story, but my short answer is that full-fat dairy products (milk, cheese, cream, yogurt, etc.) should be eliminated from your diet during a diet and definition phase.

Paleo in practice

• Take a grass-fed cow, cut off its head and eat it - and don't feel bad about it either. That's what we're supposed to do. Our mouths have incisors for evolutionary reasons and their job is to bite meat off the bone, not marshmallows off cereal in Lucky Charms Cornflakes. Nature is brutal - and we are wild creatures. The further we move away from this and eat processed foods to compensate, the sicker and fatter we will become.
• Eliminate almost all processed foods from your diet. Most processed foods are nothing more than a random combination of the following six ingredients, none of which are good for you:

1. Sugar (and/or high fructose corn syrup)
2. Trans fats/hyped oils
3. Omega-6 rich vegetable oil
4. Wheat or flour-based starch
5. Purified salt
   6. Artificial ingredients/sweeteners

• Make low-fat animal protein the basis of your diet. A range for strength athletes is from 2 to 4.5 grams of protein per kilogram of lean body mass, depending on the rest of your diet.
• Eliminate concentrated sources of fructose from your diet. Avoid high fructose corn syrup and processed foods with fructose as a sweetener, sugar (which consists of one molecule of fructose and one molecule of glucose), fruit juices/smoothies and dried fruit. Personally, I'm not a big fan of fruit, but 1 to 2 pieces of unprocessed fruit a day shouldn't be a problem. You just shouldn't start inhaling bananas by the dozen. At a certain point, the fructose adds up.
• Eliminate trans fats and hydrogenated oils from your diet.
• Reduce your consumption of omega-6 fatty acids by eliminating vegetable oils from your diet.
• Increase omega-3 consumption by eating wild fish, grass-fed beef and fish oil capsules.
• Eliminate gluten-containing grains such as wheat, rye and barley from your diet.
• While we're at it - eliminate most other grains from your diet too, including those darn overrated whole grains (breads and cereals).
• Eliminate dairy products (milk, cream, cheese, yogurt) from your diet during a diet and definition phase. Isolated milk proteins are fine.

Don't call me the "Paleo guy"!

As you can see, I believe there are many great principles that a strength athlete, bodybuilder or figure athlete can take from a Paleo style diet, but I don't want to give you the false impression that I am a true "Paleo guy". I definitely recommend applying certain Paleo principles, but my overall recommendations are drastically different.

Starch sources like rice and potatoes are certainly not Paleo foods, but along with low-fat protein, they are the foundation of my plan for athletes as an anabolic energy source and for generating an anabolic state.

You'll never convince me that a 130-pound, obese, insulin-resistant, sedentary office worker who just wants to be able to see his penis in its original form again should eat the same diet as an 85-pound, defined, insulin-sensitive, athletic alpha male who is trying to reach his peak athletic performance or optimal body development and can't keep his penis in his pants for more than 5 minutes.

And yet you believe this if you believe in dogmatic adherence to a "one size fits all" system. That may be fine for programs aimed at the commercial masses, but seasoned strength athletes are better informed and smarter.

To me, the true value of a Paleo diet for an anaerobic athlete lies more in what it removes from the average person's plan and less in the overall structure or macronutrient ratios of the plan itself. Why? Because a 100 percent Paleo diet doesn't take into account differences in activity levels, individual metabolic factors, and differences between average and extreme goals for body development and performance.

Physician and nutrition researcher Kurt G. Harris refers to certain modern food compounds as Neolithic agents for disease, which I believe is a very accurate description. As previously mentioned, modern foods such as concentrated sugar/concentrated fructose, high omega-6 oils, trans fats and gluten have devastating effects on our body systems, body composition and risk factors for disease. Eliminating these compounds from the diet is a worthwhile step toward better health for everyone - whether they are overweight, lean, physically inactive, athletes, office workers, iron warriors, nuns, porn stars, or people somewhere in between.

But, to quote Kurt G. Harris again, glucose is a necessary internal energy source and metabolic product, as well as a food and a building block of foods that have the longest evolutionary history of any food consumed by mammals.

(Are you confused now? Stay with me. Remember you're in good hands - I'm half Japanese, which is why I'm all about efficiency).

Glucose is one of the oldest evolutionary sources of energy and a healthy body knows how to process and use glucose and an active athlete should be treated differently to a sick diabetic.

Due to a lack of nutritional and physiological knowledge and a tendency to always go to extremes, categorize and demonize cultural trends (think back to the low-fat era, during which healthy fish oils, essential fatty acids and natural monounsaturated fats were lumped into the same category as trans fats and hydrogenated oils) and simple ignorance, several valuable body development and performance enhancing foods - starchy carbohydrates that don't contain fructose or gluten - were washed away with the Paleo maelstrom.

I don't recommend a Paleo-only diet any more than I recommend a diet consisting purely of sports foods - I recommend a well-researched and well-informed mix.

I want you to understand why I think glucose polymers can be beneficial while concentrated sources of fructose can be disastrous, why saturated fats from natural animal sources can be better than polyunsaturated fats from processed plant sources, and why pure amylopectin starches can be less problematic than starches that contain gluten or lectins and why.

Typical transformations of fat guys

Let's examine a typical scenario and why all carbohydrates have been lumped into one category and demonized.

A fat guy follows a typical American diet - 50% sugar, tons of trans fats, omega-6 fatty acids and gluten. When he eats healthy, it's usually a white bread sandwich with low-fat mayonnaise and cheese. Our fat guy is tired of being fat and sick and feeling crappy all the time and is finally motivated enough to make some changes. Somehow he stumbles across paleo/caveman diet recommendations.

He puts the plan into action, loses a ton of weight, gets healthier, etc - all in all, he does a good job. Amazing. But now he has an almost religious affection for this "system". He can't see anything else outside of this system - not even scientifically studied and anecdotally proven principles. All carbohydrates, regardless of their source, are the enemy. Pure glucose polymers from rice and potatoes are no different from sugar or gluten-containing wheat. Finally, he lost a ton of weight on the low-carb/paleo diet.

What our fat guy doesn't realize is that commercialized diet plans and "systems" fail to address the subtleties of why dietary recommendations for fat, physically inactive people should be different from dietary recommendations for active athletes for the following reasons:

• Programs that are intended to be a commercial success must present a plan that is the same for everyone. These "works for everyone, everywhere" systems dramatically expand the potential market.
• The average reader will not or cannot understand the detailed science necessary to individualize plans.
• Many guinea pigs and authors don't know or don't care what goes on in the real training world.

But deep down, our fat guy still knows he's not exactly where he wants to be. He's a lot better off than he used to be, but he's still soft, he still lacks shape and definition, and he may still have that layer of belly fat. He knows he wants to make progress, but he's stuck in a system - a system that could very well be hindering his progress.

Regardless of this, he is now in a completely different place. He's no longer a fat guy, he's an active athletic guy and targeted sports nutrition principles could be relevant and beneficial to him now. Losing weight and consistent strength training has dramatically improved his insulin sensitivity. A few carbs could help him build muscle, get leaner, boost metabolism, increase thyroid hormone release/leptin levels, improve free testosterone to cortisol ratio, improve his body and even lose fat.

But he still has the psychology of a fat guy. He's afraid of fat - he suffers from this "I don't want to go back to being a fat guy by eating carbs" fear.

Hey I know this from personal experience. While researching this stuff, I followed these plans myself. I've followed the typical American diet, the strict Paleo diet, my current dietary recommendations and everything in between. I've also lived the practical side of this and the most important lesson is this: You can't get caught up in a formalized, "one system fits all" system if you expect to find what works best for you, your current athletic state, and your current goals.

References

1. Kavanagh et al, Trans fat diet induces abdominal obesity and changes in insulin sensitivity in monkeys. Obesity 2007 Jul;15(7):1675-84.
2. Bernardo D et al, Is gliadin really safe for non-coeliac individuals? Production of interleukin 15 in biopsy culture from non-coeliac individuals challenged with gliadin peptides. Gut 56 (6): 889-90.
3. Miyake K et al, Lectin-Based Food Poisoning: A New Mechanism of Protein Toxicity. PLoS ONE 2 (1): e687.

By Nate Miyaki | 03/25/11

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/paleo-nutrition-improved