Holiday coma. No, that's not me. I have no idea who that is.

Judging by all the comments in the Paleoverse, everyone has over-indulged this holiday season and is looking forward to getting back in the Paleo groove. My holidays were great, if a bit drawn out. Because my husband was working, I had Xmas eve dinner with my in-laws at their place, then opened gifts the day-of between my husband’s shifts, then a proper dinner on Monday the 26th. We had a prime rib roast cooked to medium-rare perfection with a chanterelle mushroom/red-wine jus, buttered carrots and parsnips, creamed spinach, and some chocolate almond flour cupcakes with vanilla-bourbon whipped cream.

As for my track record, while there were indulgences, I steered clear of any major potholes. No gluten, very little refined sugar, and less alcohol than I would’ve imbibed in the past. I must be learning my lessons well. That being said, I’m looking forward to some straight-and-narrow eating.

The fact is I haven’t been feeling well for a while now. I’ve been waiting to see if I could figure some stuff out before reporting on it. The symptoms kicked in about 1 1/2 months ago, immediately after a mild intestinal bug courtesy of my toddler daughter and probably a half-dozen of her daycare buddies. Nothing has been the same since: bloating, gas, some IBS-type stuff, a few pounds of weight gain, and—get this—acne. This is the first time I’ve had these issues for a prolonged period of time since starting this WOE. The fact that these symptoms travel together, and that my husband has had some of the same issues, leads me to suspect that it may be a result of the intestinal virus. But I can’t quite make that theory make sense to me. But on the other hand, my diet has been a bit tighter due to the lessons I’d learned from my October Whole30. I’ve been consuming far less alcohol and almost no dairy, and yet still having issues. I’m not sure what to do at this point but to really buckle down now that the holidays are over and see if I can’t get this ship to turn around. I feel like if I just sit tight, things will straighten themselves out soon. I guess we’ll see.

I hope you’ll forgive the lack of substance in today’s post. I’ll make it up to you with some links in case you need some reading to rescue you from the nephews running around and shooting their new laser guns or whatever the kids are playing with these days. (Get off my lawn!)

• Recipe Shout-Out: Stovetop Pork Carnitas. Melissa “Melicious” Joulwan lives up to her nickname with this one. I’ve linked to it before, because I tried the technique for this recipe, but I’d never tried these flavors with it. OMG. Amazingness. We had lettuce wraps with it one night, and the next day it made an amazing salad with pumpkin seeds, avocado, and salsa.
• Dr. Michael Eades dug up this 8-year-old debate between Michael Fumento and Gary Taubes, wherein Fumento tries to take Taubes down. Fascinating nerd fighting. Start with Fumento’s punch here, then Taubes’s response here. I’m guessing you know with whom my loyalties lie.
• I’d like someone to please review each of Michael Rose’s 55 Theses and report back to me. Thank you. But in all seriousness, this is a dense, important, and smart blog.
• Speaking of the 55 Theses blog, I saw this talk there from Sweden’s Diet Doctor, Andreas Eenfeldt, at AHS11 in August. As much as I know the real food message is important, the statistics he gives in the first section remind me exactly what’s at stake. I dare you to watch him advance through years of American obesity statistics (from about 6:00 to about 9:30) and not feel moved to action. He’s right—it’s crazy, and we have to do something about it.

B12 is an essential vitamin with roles throughout the body. It is needed for the development and maintenance of a healthy nervous system, the production of DNA and formation of red blood cells.

A severe B12 deficiency results in anemia, which can be picked up by an ordinary blood test. But the less dramatic symptoms of a B12 deficiency may include muscle weakness, fatigue, shakiness, unsteady gait, incontinence, low blood pressure, depression and other mood disorders, and cognitive problems like poor memory.

The article talks a lot about supplementation, but then, curiously, at the end drops these tidbits:

Although a B12 deficiency can raise blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine, a risk factor for heart disease and stroke, supplements of B12 have not reduced cardiovascular risk.

And while high homocysteine levels are linked to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, lowering them with B12 supplements has not been shown to improve cognitive function.

Here’s the deal. We are human animals that evolved under certain conditions. Just as we evolved needing Vitamin D from sunlight, so did we evolve with enough natural sources of vitamin B12 in our diet because the effects are dire when we go without it. I always maintain that I won’t question someone’s ethical reason for not consuming animals, but how can anyone debate this fact on a health basis? Evidence such as this is putting the nail in the coffin of vegetarianism/veganism for health purposes.

Now go eat some liver.

We’re having an unseasonably warm September, so I haven’t quite registered the Fall recipes just yet. The slow cooker is still safely packed away and the grill cover is still off. But this article reminded me of one of my favorite tricks for a quick and deceptively glamorous meal.

Here it is, in a nutshell: Sear some meat, add liquid to pan after, pour sauce over meat, and serve.

A simple, and purely Paleo, treatment is to sauté chicken thighs on medium-high heat until done, making sure to get some nice browning. Remove them from the pan. Add a bit of chicken broth, juice and zest of one lemon, some garlic, and some rosemary. Let simmer until reduced a little and add S&P to taste. Pour over chicken and serve.

I’ll be sharing more pan sauce recipes with you as Fall and Winter get going in earnest here.

Ooh, I'll have what she's having!

Okay, lets couch our disgust for a moment and think about this. I think people had the same reaction in the 70s to the idea of “test-tube babies”. And we went through a similar situation with cloned animals in the 90s. But here’s the question: If it’s exactly like a real steak, cell for cell, what’s the big problem? What if it’s exactly the same as the best steak you ever had in your entire life and you could eat it over and over again?

Well, to quote some genius, “That ain’t right.”

My main concern is that I’m trying to defer to Nature, which is why I eat this way and I don’t use sunscreen very often. If we were meant to eat steaks grown in tubes, that is how we would have been eating them all this time. But we’re not. I worry about our short-sighted abilities to side-step Mother Nature on anything, and meat in a beaker is no exception. There is that damned Law of Unintended Consequences that rears its ugly head anytime we think we know better. If we think we can trick our bodies’ cells into recognizing this as food, I think we’re mistaken. Need I remind anyone of the trans fat debacle? We all would’ve been healthier if we’d eaten real butter instead of margarine for the past 50 years.

So what if we can successfully trick our bodies into recognizing this as food? Do we embrace it then? We might have to. At least, that would probably be an Archevore’s position. Just because our Paleolithic ancestors didn’t have access to it shouldn’t make it forbidden to us. So perhaps this post will look quite quaint in another 50 years.

The thing that really sticks in my craw? The fact that they cite environmental concerns and the coming food supply problem in that magical year of 2050. I’ve talked about this before, so forgive the repetition if you’re familiar, but my stance is we need to focus on the 7 billion people currently alive and quit worrying about hypothetical, imaginary people. We need to feed the people we have now, and we need to quit dreaming up crazy GMO grains with which to do it. To their credit, the supporters of tube-meat are trying to provide something healthier than grains for this future population.

But why haven’t they asked themselves this tough question: If we can’t feed a global population with natural, optimal foods, then what the hell are we doing?

P.S.— How much you wanna bet they couldn’t get the headline “Tube Steak” past their editor?

• As if you needed any, here‘s more evidence that grass-fed meat is very good for you.
• Here‘s an excellent takedown of the anti-salt lobby by The Scientific American.
• The New York Times discusses a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in June which determines that calories in/calories out is indeed dead and that if you don’t get your diet in order, your exercise won’t help you in the long run. I’m a little concerned about the list of foods they allegedly identified as being the main culprits in weight gain. How does one determine that exactly anyway? And why do studies always group red meat with processed meat?! But aside from that, more support for the obvious fact that our food system isn’t doing anyone any favors.

If you’re into sardines, then you already know the drill and you think I’m a ridiculously squeamish twit. But if you’re a newbie, like me, an article like this can help nudge us into including something incredibly healthy and potentially tasty into our diet.

The article gives a few tips for taming the fishy flavor that so many find objectionable: wash them thoroughly, serve them with something acidic or some dairy, and cook them quickly with a hot pan or grill. There’s a recipe for Lemon-Cured Sardines on page 3 which looks great.

Apparently the season is open and will probably only last a few weeks. So go grab some before they’re gone!

Asparagus and Mushroom Salad

Asparagus with Anchovies and Capers

Asparagus with Gremolata, Lemon, and Olive Oil

As any faithful reader knows, asparagus is one of my favorite grilling companions. Hint: you’ll see it again tomorrow. In my kitchen, it rarely gets much more than a dousing of olive oil and a sprinkle of S&P. But occasionally, it likes to get all dressed up and head out on the town.

In the same way that we evolved with certain foods, it appears that because we evolved outdoors, our eyes are more suited to that environment:

Our genes were originally selected to succeed in a very different world from the one we live in today. Humans’ brains and eyes originated long ago, when we spent most of our waking hours in the sun. The process of development takes advantage of such reliable features of the environment, which then may become necessary for normal growth.

Most of the article focuses on making sure children spend plenty of time outdoors:

Researchers suspect that bright outdoor light helps children’s developing eyes maintain the correct distance between the lens and the retina — which keeps vision in focus. Dim indoor lighting doesn’t seem to provide the same kind of feedback. As a result, when children spend too many hours inside, their eyes fail to grow correctly and the distance between the lens and retina becomes too long, causing far-away objects to look blurry.

But what they don’t say is whether heading outside is helpful in reversing nearsightedness in adults, or whether the exposure as a child leads to any long term protection. In my case, I had amazingly good vision until I turned 21. Since then, I’ve had mild nearsightedness that seems to be getting a tiny bit worse with each passing year. I barely passed my eye exam the last time I was at the DMV.

Whatever the case, more time spent outdoors is never a bad thing. Twist my arm!

I’m curious about this. The story-opener about climber Dave Hahn almost doesn’t apply because he’s been diagnosed with all-out celiac disease. What’s far more interesting to me is whether or not an athlete who doesn’t have celiac disease can actually improve performance.

There seems to be building anecdotal evidence that this is the case. In the article, mountain biker Brian Lopes claims to be riding 5-10% faster. But why?

The article points vaguely to inflammation in the body without explaining why. I would buy the argument that gluten and its contributions to inflammation could hinder recovery. And I certainly agree that wheat products produce lots of intestinal gas, it’s a trigger for me for sure.

What I humbly disagree with is this statement:

Fasano doesn’t recommend everyone go gluten free—after all, wheat is an effective fuel for athletes who can tolerate it. But since the Garmin-Cervélo team gave it up, Ketchell says that no rider has told him the diet isn’t worthwhile. “Part of that,” he says, “is that eating gluten-free foods forces you to avoid processed foods, and that just makes you healthier.”

I’m not sure wheat is an effective fuel for anybody. Even if it’s harmless for someone, it’s taking the place of far better nutrient options like meat and vegetables. And maybe in some parts of the country it’s true that gluten-free eating forces you to avoid processed foods, but around here, there are plenty of equally junky gluten-free substitutions like breads, cookies, and pasta.

I’m often confused about how and why gluten-free folks stop there. In the absence of wheat, they tend to rely heavily on other grains and carbohydrates like quinoa, legumes, potatoes, and rice. If you believe gluten is a gut irritant, why not eradicate all of them?

For one thing, I don’t know anyone who has made that claim. I have seen people say that in order to continue their running career, they had to switch gears, and barefoot running provided that change for them. It was true for me.

For another, who among us thinks that all barefoot running entails is either a fancy-schmancy pair of low-profile shoes or heading out the door barefoot? Yeah, it has nothing to do with form, right?

It has EVERYTHING to do with form. And you have to build that up slowly. P…a…i…n…f…u…l…l…y slowly. I was “lucky” to be coming off a knee injury (yes, caused by old school running) so that I could start slow and unambitious.

I haven’t seen a single resource out there suggest that people shouldn’t study good form and start out easy. Do yourself a favor and do your research before starting. I read Jason Robillard’s The Barefoot Running Book, and I can personally recommend it as a great, practical beginner’s guide.

And of course we’re still subject to injuries, but I’m guessing they’ll be different types in different places:

Earlier research has shown that high-frequency forces tend to move up the body through a person’s bones. Lower-frequency forces typically move through muscles and soft tissue. So shifting to a forefoot running style, as people do when running barefoot, may lessen your risk for a stress fracture, and up your chances of developing a muscle strain or tendinitis.

So, folks, all the old rules apply. Take care of yourself out there. But don’t let the naysayers scare you if it feels right.