By Tommy Leung on 04/25/2011 in Fitness
There’s a lot of misunderstanding out there about the paleolithic diet. Mainly that it’s a spin on the low carb diet. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with a low carb diet. Just that critics of the paleo diet is referencing the negative, fad attribute of the low carb diet when they categorize paleo as being low carb. If paleo is a fad then it’s a 2.5 million year old one.
The Low Carb Fad?
I’m not going to get into the benefits of a low carb diet as they do exist and–much to the chagrin of vegetarian/vegan/low fat/high carb folks–they are real. When you are obese or overweight and you want to shed the pounds–sometimes to save your life–a low carb diet will do exactly that. And do it faster than any other diet protocol in existence.
The flaw in the low carb mindset stems from not seeing that your fat self is different than your lean self. Once you’ve transformed from being fat to lean, low carb is no longer the optimal diet for you. Now you can and probably should eat more carbs–preferably from whole food sources like roots and tubers.
After all, your fat self likely wasn’t very active. Didn’t go to the gym much. Physical activity was best avoided simply because being fat makes it harder to be physically active. Your new lean self is more active. Goes to the gym more often and it’s just more active because it’s easier. New you can eat more carbs.
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By Tommy Leung on 04/10/2011 in Fitness
I don’t often post about the food I eat or the food I cook. I’m not really good enough of a cook to be sharing my kitchen experiments. Before I found the paleo diet and way of life, the only things I really cooked were eggs, pasta, and ground beef.
I occasionally made ramen or Rice-a-Roni–how sad, right? Generally, I just ordered out. Things couldn’t be more different today as I cook just about every meal I eat unless I’m out with friends. I actually prefer to cook food now opposed to having it cooked for me. I can’t say I’ve hit some culinary bone in my body because I haven’t.
Cooking is enjoyable but, I’m not going to get too crazy about it. Half the time, I have no idea what I’m doing. I mix all kinds of spices together and cook foods however it seems logically plausible. Most importantly, I like to keep it simple. Hours in the kitchen will not do. I have other things to do.
Paleo has not only made me leaner and healthier than ever, it has also improved my cooking prowess. Here I’m going to share a beef stew that I concocted based on this Garlic Beef Stew by Sarah Fragoso at EverydayPaleo.
It’s largely the same thing except I got rid of the tomato paste, chicken broth, celery, and tweaked the seasoning. I also added some things so that it’s not just meat and carrots.
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By Tommy Leung on 03/28/2011 in Fitness
The Paleo diet–or Paleolithic Diet–is the diet nature intended. It is the diet that we evolved to flourish on. It is sometimes referred to as the Cave Man Diet, Stone Age Diet, or Primal Diet but, they are all conceptually the same.
The fundamental principle behind the diet is that the types of foods our paleolithic ancestors ate are the optimal foods for us today if we want a strong, healthy, and lean body.
Conceptually, this immediately feels right. Of course the diet that we evolved on is the ideal diet! It’s the only diet that has been tested and refined for over 2 million years by generations of people. The paleo diet has stood the test of time and all the natural calamities from ice ages to super droughts.
No other diet can hold a candle to the paleo diet in longevity. Not the standard American diet of processed foods and grains. Not a low-carb, Atkins type diet. Not a vegetarian diet. In a world of diets, the only diet that isn’t a fad is the paleo diet.
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By Tommy Leung on 03/20/2011 in Fitness
The first ever edition of General Musings! I’m suffering from a condition called writers block or something. There are several posts sitting in my drafts box that may one day become something but, they are currently too malformed to be seen.
I have been using Tumblr and updating that much more often. Maybe I should change course and allow myself to update with slightly smaller posts than the trend for the last couple of months. Until I sort that out or shake this writer’s block, here’s what I’ve been thinking about and experimenting with recently.
Six Pack Abs Lean
Yes, I did choose a picture of Taylor Lautner of Twilight fame. I’m not a fan of Twilight but, I can’t say Taylor Lautner’s physique wasn’t impressive after being a skinny kid in the first movie–the only part of the series I’ve seen. So as a show of respect for his enormous physical change, I’ve used a shot from the movie. In the right light early in the morning, I can pass for a slightly chubbier version of that. Anyway, carrying on. . .
In my ongoing attempt to become six-pack abs lean, I have played around with carb intake, workout frequency, workout types, various supplements, and pretty much anything that looks promising.
I’m still not six-pack abs lean but, I’ve seen my body fat fluctuate up and down depending on what I was doing. This isn’t entirely scientific since it is based entirely on observation but, science is only as good as it can be applied. These observations are all reliant on the fact that I’m on a fairly strict paleo diet and I’m already in the 12-11% body fat range. Observations may be different if the context was changed.
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By Tommy Leung on 02/21/2011 in Fitness
If you had talked to me about any kind of fasting a year ago I would have brushed you off as a crackpot spewing hippie ideas. I’m not sure why I thought it was a hippie idea but, I still have that connection in my mind–although to a lesser degree.
The lesson is that you live and learn. Well, the real lesson is that repackaging a foreign concept in a context that is comfortable and familiar makes the idea easier to swallow. Which, as a side note, is an important principle of marketing. After all, how you package and brand a product–with consideration of the current environment–can result in stellar sales or no sales at all.
So, business theories aside, I was introduced to the idea of fasting within the paleo diet context and it made sense to me. The paleo diet prompted me to learn as much as I could about human ancestry to see how the ideas fit or fell short and how I could improve upon it–it also never hurts to do research yourself instead of just believing the gurus or experts.
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