How to Make a Paleo Thanksgiving Meal from Everyday Paleo

http://everydaypaleo.com/2010/11/15/thanksgiving-recipes-and-everyday-paleo-pumpkin-pie-cooking-demo/

So Since the Holidays are coming up you may want to start thinking about how you can make this holiday a little more Paleo.  I love looking at the Everday Paleo blog!  She has put together an entire Paleo Thanksgiving meal.  For all of you at CF Anaerobic members that have been doing the Fall Detox Challenge, I highly suggest that you not go overboard on Thanksgiving after eating so cleanly for 3 weeks.  You will not be feeling so great, and may just want to camp out near the bathroom!! :)

Pumpkin Chili

Since it is cold out I decided to make my own version of Pumpkin Chili.  I figured it would be warm and comforting in this brisk fall weather that recently appeared.  I am the queen of throwing random things together so I tried this last night in the crockpot and it turned out well I think.  It was super easy I cooked over night on low because that is all I had time for. 

Ingredients
1 Pkg Organic Trader Joe's Extra Lean Ground Turkey
1  Pkg Trader Joe's Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage(take casing off, and slice into pieces)
1 14oz Can Fire Roasted Tomatoes
1 14oz Can diced Tomatoes
1 14oz Organic Pumpkin
1 Jar Fire Roasted Red and yellow Pepper chopped (drain juice)
1 Diced Sweet yellow onion
1 Tbs Cumin
1 Tbs Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 Tsp Garam Marsala
less than Tbs Garlic Powder 
less than Tbs Chili Powder
Sea Salt to taste
For Spicy Flavor add Cayenne Red Pepper


Directions

In Crock Pot combine all ingredients and cook for 4-6 hours or cook on low overnight as I did. 

WEEK 2 Paleo Detox......Hang In there!

Okay so you survived the first week of the detox.  Or should I say some of you survived just barely, some fell off the wagon, and some feel completely better and are realizing why Paleo is great.  If you really did cut out most all of your sugar you should notice that your body is not craving as many carbs.  It should have switched to craving fats a bit more.  My sweet tooth is gone!!!  Let me just tell you that before 11:30 today I ate more fat than most people eat in 1 day.  I felt slightly disgusted with myself even LOL!!

I know that this week you can start to add fruit and sweet potatoes back in every other day, but I advise you to take it easy.  You should still be getting most of your carbohydrates from Veggies.  If you are sick of eating a particular kind of vegetable, try something new this week.  Someone juiced a few different types of veggies for me with half an apple to try and it was a small piece of HEAVEN!!!  I just crammed like 3-4 blocks of carbs in one drink.  In fact in almost inspired me to go on a craze of juicing everything.

 Some Survival Pointers

1. You should start to feel better this week by adding back in more dense carbs.  If you are struggling after workouts might I suggest eating a sweet potato or drinking a coconut water.  Both are known to help with Recovery.
2. If you still have a sweet tooth fool yourself with sweeter things like, MeeNut Butter, Cooking in Coconut Oil, macadamia nuts, pecans, coconut butter, cashew butter etc.
3. Drink a ton of water.  It is easy to not drink water but when hydrated your body works better and also makes you feel less hungry.  Add a splash of lemon, orange, or mint to naturally flavor your water. 
4. Make sure you are balancing your meals and snacks to try to include a fat, protein, and carb.   Or at least a fat and a protein.  
5. Prepare!!! It is easier to make the right choice if you have stuff on hand easy to grab.  The biggest excuse I get is I didn't have access to eat paleo so I cheated.  That is BS!!
6. If you need to eat out pretty much any restaurants can be made Paleo. Example would be Chipotle Salad Bowl with no rice no beans, add meat veggies, salsa, and guacamole.  Can also always order a grilled piece of Protein anywhere and add a side of veggies.  In'N'Out you you can order a protein style patty which is better than not eating.  

Keep Up the Good Work Guys!!!!



  

Importance of fat!

 Article From the Link below.

 http://www.mcvitamins.com/essential%20fatty%20acids.htm

What are the Essential Fatty Acids:

There are twenty different needed fatty acids in your body, but they are all made from two: linoleic acid and linolenic acid. These two fatty acids are essential. You must get them from the foods you eat because your body cannot manufacture them. Thus, essential fatty acids are the building blocks for all the other fats in your body.

Essential fatty acids are necessary to make cell membranes and for many of the important hormones and other chemical messengers that tell your body what to do.

Another name for linoleic fatty acid family is omega-6 fatty acids  The linolenic fatty acids are often called omega-3 fatty acids.  The names come from the way the molecules are strung together.

Omega-3 and Omega-6 essential fatty acids are especially important for making prostaglandins in your body. Prostaglandins are hormone-like substances that regulate many activities in your body including inflammation, pain, and swelling (some cause swelling and others relieve it). They also play a role in controlling your blood pressure, your heart, your kidneys, your digestive system, and body temperature. They are important for allergic reactions, blood clotting and making other hormones.

Fatty acids are also natural blood thinners; they can prevent blood clots, which can lead to heart attack and stroke. Essential fatty acids contain natural anti-inflammatory compounds that can relive the symptoms of arthritis and autoimmune diseases. In addition, a diet low in essential fatty acids could result in skin problems, such as dandruff, eczema, splitting nails and dull brittle hair.

Fatty acids influence the structure of the cells lining the intestinal tract, as well as the "villi" through which absorption of nutrients takes place. They increase the thickness and surface area of the digestive-absorptive cells that line the inside of our intestine. This results in more effective digestion, better absorption of nutrients, less absorption of allergens, and better health.

More importantly, numerous studies have shown that compounds found in essential fatty acids can block tumor formation in animals, and test tube studies have documented that omega-3 fatty acids can inhibit the growth of human breast cancer cells.

Your brain is actually 60 percent fat - and DHA (an Omega-3 essential fatty acid) is the most abundant fat in your brain. It's also the most abundant fat in breast milk, since babies need it to nourish their growing brains and eye development. This Omega-3 fat seems to be important mostly for connecting brain cells to each other and making sure the transmission of brain signals get through right. It is also found in high concentration in the retina of the eye.

Low levels of this Omega-3 fatty acid have been linked to an increase in dementia, mood changes, memory loss, and visual problems. In a Swedish study, elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease were found to have lower levels of this than healthy older people. Studies done at Purdue University showed that children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder had lower levels of these essential fatty acids.

 

The Unbalanced Essential Fatty Acids:

Omega-3 essential fatty acid is essential to human health but is lacking in most Western diets. The balance of Omega-6 essential fatty acid and Omega-3 essential fatty acid should be four or five Omega 6 to each Omega-3 for a good balance. We get ample amounts of Omega-6 in the typical Western diet. The ratio in this diet is between 10 and 20 to 1 in favor of Omega 6, far too high in Omega-6. This unbalance encourages overproduction of some prostaglandins (hormone like substances your body makes that control many activities in your body). The imbalance causes many health problems by getting you body hormones and chemicals out of whack.

How much do you need?

There are no recommended daily Allowance (RDAs) for essential fatty acids. Each person requires different amounts.

What effects how much we need:

The requirement for men may be higher than that for women.

Conditions of stress or disease modify the Essential Fatty Acid requirement.

It is believed that we eat so many bad fats and not enough good fats in the typical Western diet of processed foods that we create an unbalance. (See article Good & Bad Fats) The imbalance causes many health problems. So how much bad fats you eat determines how much of the essential fatty acids you need to eat. Bad fats and other substances in the food supply increase the essential fatty acid requirements.

As mentioned earlier, the needed balance of the Essential Fatty Acids is 5 (five) Omega-6 to 1 (one) Omega-3. This is the Omega-6 to Omega-3 balance.

But, what is needed to counteract all the negative effects of eating the normal Western diet is about 1:2. For every one portion of Omega-6 you eat, you will need 2 portions of Omega-3

An optimum amount of essential fatty acid has been suggested as 3 to 6% of our daily calorie intake.

Each of us must find out optimum level by careful observation and experimentation. Your exact optimum level is something you must determine for yourself through practical experience.

One personal way to check is how dry your skin feels. Skin that obtains sufficient Omega 3 feels soft and velvety to touch. Skin that is too dry needs more Essential Fatty acid rich oil. In cold weather, skin dries and requires more Omega 3 oil than in warm weather.


Sources of Essential Fatty Acids (Omega-3 and Omega-6):

Omega-6 is amply supplied in the typical Western diet.

Good sources of Omega-3 essential fatty acids in food are nuts, soybean, canola oil, walnut oil, flaxseed oil.. Fish, especially cold water fish such as salmon, bluefish, herring, tuna, cod, flounder, mackerel and shrimp are also good sources.

The downside of flaxseed oil has been that it is not easy to use. It is notoriously unstable and, unless it is properly processed, can turn rancid very quickly.

It has also been known to give you gas, diarrhea and heartburn. 

Omega Supplements:

Flaxseed Oil:   The use of flaxseed does give you essential fatty acids, however, it works much slower as the body has to convert it to the fatty acids.  You should also take it for a month and then take 2 weeks off as it does tend to build up in the body.    
Benefits of Flaxseed oil is it is a rich source of lignans, a type of fiber that is changed by "friendly bacteria" in the gut into compounds that fight against cancer.

Omega-3 fatty acids contain a natural anti-inflammatory agent that can help relieve the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, allergies, and other inflammatory diseases. Natural healers routinely prescribe flaxseed oil for those conditions with great success.

Omega-3 fatty acids offer important protection against heart disease as shown by hundreds of studies. Omega-3 fatty acids can lower high cholesterol and high blood pressure, reduce elevated blood triglyceride levels, and prevent blood clots. Corrects lipid abnormalities that could increase the risk of heart disease. Omega-3 fatty acids can lower blood levels of the protein homocysteine. Elevated levels of homocysteine are believed to be a major risk factor for heart disease.

Body builders claim that Omega-3 Fatty acids can increase their stamina and help them recover more quickly from workouts. Flaxseed oil contains a natural antioxidant, which could explain why it helps tired muscles recover more quickly. In addition, its anti-inflammatory effect can also help reduce muscle soreness.

For Those who do not believe me about Fat.....Please read below!!!!

    So I have been getting complaints all week of low energy and moodiness, headaches, dizziness, etc.  I have been looking at food journals left and right and there is a common factor in all of these incidences.  Little to no fat at all!  I want you to just think for a second, most of you have been eating a diet based around carbs and sugar.  Your body was used to burning that as energy and fuel.  What I have observed is that most people were taking in most of their carbs from fruit and not vegetables.  I  hate to break it to you although fruit is great it is still sugar, it still spikes your insulin levels and triggers a hormonal response.  When I tell you to pull all that out to rid your body of sugar to start over your body is still looking or something to burn as fuel.  You can not eat enough vegetables to get the carbs you need to fuel your body.  This is where the importance of fat comes in, you will need to replace the carbs you took out from fruit, dairy, grains etc from FAT!!  FAT WILL NOT MAKE YOU FAT!! Say that to yourself over and over and get out of that mindset.  It is Carbs and sugar that make you fat!!  Your body needs fat to function, it helps your body's major systems function properly, including the brain.  So that fuzzy feeling you are experiencing is coming from a lack of fat.  Fat also increases satiety so you will feel less hungry. Things Like Nuts, Nut butters, oils should be your best friend this week!!

  Please take a glance at the article I posted below from the below link. 



 http://paleodietlifestyle.com/the-importance-of-fat/

The Importance Of Fat

Most vegetarians will argue with you that most mammals eat a vegetarian diet and fare fairly well. They will tell you that gorillas can lift 10 times their weight on a diet composed almost entirely of plants while even the strongest among us can only lift 3 times their weight. What they haven’t figured out though is that the gorilla’s anatomy is much different than ours and also that gorillas, like all other mammals, really eat a high fat diet.
You see, the reason why gorillas and herbivores have such big guts is that that use it to ferment fiber and cellulose to produce short-chain fatty acids. Therefore, even though herbivores eat a diet high in carbohydrate from plant matter, these carbohydrates get fermented in their gut by bacteria to produce fatty acids. This is why the natural diet of mammals is a high-fat diet. They have very specialized guts, often have more than one stomach and have to eat almost continuously for this complex fermentation system to work.
If you start feeding gorillas a high fruit diet instead of their normal diet of shoots and leaves, they’ll get the same blood sugar problems we get and can even develop diabetes. High blood sugar isn’t only dangerous for us.
Factory farmed cattle gets fed a diet of corn and soy instead of their natural diet of fermentable grasses. This bad diet makes them fat and sick, just like us eating a high carbohydrate diet.

Fat through history

Throughout history of human kind, we faced a glaciation period where we had to eat a diet composed exclusively of animal products. We can correlate the time when our brains started getting bigger with the time our diet was almost exclusively composed of animals. As another proof that meat was so important for us at this period, we have all the cave paintings of animals, often with men hunting them. Fossilized excrements have also been found with traces of bones and egg shells, but no seeds. This is important because seeds don’t get digested and always end up in the stools when eaten and this means that we probably didn’t eat any plant-matter at that time.
The only way we where able to develop such big brains that take up to 25% of our total available energy is by getting a smaller gut. The gut and digestive system is an expensive system that requires a lot of resources to run properly. The way we where able to develop a smaller gut is by eating a more nutrient dense diet from meat and fat. The fat found in bone marrow and brain is some of the most nutrient and calorically rich source of food available on the planet. Since we developed tools to get to the precious brain and marrow, we where able to get to this amazingly rich source of food.
Cooking was also very important for getting a nutrient-dense and easily digestible diet that permitted us to further reduce the size of our gut.
Having a high saturated fat and cooked meat as the basis of our diet is therefore what permitted us to need less and less gut size and develop the huge brain we enjoy today.
Today, studies have demonstrated that our brains are getting smaller. A study even showed that vegetarians lost 5% of their brain size over a five your period. That is a huge change!
Meat-eating animals and cultures eating a traditional diet will instinctively go for the fatty parts of an animal first. We often had to go to great length and extend a tremendous amount of energy to hunt down and get to the fatty brain and marrow of animals. The return had to be worth the investment.

Saturated fat, a critical component of life

Is it any wonder that the fat that composes our own bone marrow and most of our brain, saturated fat, should also be the fat that we consume? Saturated fat has been demonized mainly because most sources are also high in cholesterol. Surprise, cholesterol in one of the most important constituent of life, every cells need it, the brain contains large amounts and cholesterol is the precursor to all sex hormones. In fact, a high saturated fat intake has been shown to reduce what we call the bad cholesterol, small particle LDL, and to raise what’s called the good cholesterol, HDL. LDL and HDL are not cholesterol, they are transport lipoproteins, but the whole lingo is understood upside down.
Most sources of natural saturated fat like butter, lard and tallow contain high amounts of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Those vitamins need the presence of fat to be absorbed and are primordial for the absorption and proper utilization of other vitamins and minerals.
Furthermore, the airspaces in the lungs are coated with lung surfactant composed entirely of saturated fat. When the consumption of saturated fat is too low, the composition of this lung surfactant is compromised and the lung’s airspaces can collapse. This is arguably one of the main reasons why children have so much asthma problems today.
Some sources of medium-chain fatty acids like coconut oil and butter also have potent antimicrobial properties.
Saturated fat also helps the liver flush out any fat accumulation in the liver. A fatty liver is really bad news and is normally caused by excess alcohol and fructose consumption.

Conclusion

I hope this article effectively showed you how intrinsically fat is related to our evolution as well as its many functions in our own bodies. Saturated animal fat should therefore be the main constituent of your diet.

Easy Pesto Chicken

Pesto Marinade

1 cup fresh basil
1 tsp lemon juice
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup Pine nuts
1 tbs walnut oil
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs flaxseed oil
1 tsp salt

1. In a food processor blend all the ingredients for marinade.
2. On a plate spread marinade over the chicken.  Make sure to get a thick coat on the chicken.  Then cut into strips.
3. I cooked with a lil bit of bacon grease to give a little bit more flavor.  It turned out really well!
4. In a large pan use about a tbs of bacon greese and put chicken in pan cook a little hotter than medium heat until chicken no longer pink.  
5. I sprinkled some bacon pieces over  top of chicken to give a little something extra.  Serve with veggies, and Enjoy!