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[From Ari Armstrong’s blog:] Largely due to the influence of Diana Hsieh, who recently started the Modern Paleo blog, and the book Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes, my wife and I have switched to a largely “paleo” type of diet. The results, as indicated by our recent blood work, are positive.

Basically the diet means that we have cut out most grains, sugars, and vegetable fats. Largely the diet consists of trading off carbs for healthier fats. We’re not as strict in our diet as some are; I still eat an occasional slice of sprouted bread or a bowl of beans. However, most days I don’t eat any grains, and my intake of processed sugar is low. I have a soda or glass of juice maybe once a month. I buy chocolate of between 60 and 100 percent purity (which contains much less or no sugar).

I just …

Recently, I received free samples of “That’s It” fruit bars. They’re just dried fruit — no sugar, no preservatives, no nothing, except two kinds of fruit per bar. They’re really quite delicious, and they make a good on-the-go snack. If anything, they’re a bit too easy to eat. (I’m not anti-fruit, but I try to limit my fruit intake, particularly dried fruit.) If you can’t find these bars in your local store, you can buy online.

Modern Paleo…

Another article has come out attempting to discredit the Paleo diet, this time in The Atlantic. If you can get all the way through it without your blood pressure and cortisol rising, you’re have more patience than I do.

Let’s address some of the shoddy scholarship.

Life Expectancy

The author credits agriculture for increases in lifespan. Is this true? I became very interested in the issue of lifespan over a year ago and set out to look at US longevity figures myself (US National Center for Health Statistics. National Vital Statistics Reports, Births: Fina Data for 2004).

Here are some life expectancy figures to chew on.

paleolithic: 30
1900: 47.3
1915: 54.5
1940: 62.9
2002: 77.3

 

Infant mortality has dropped like a stone. Between 1915 and 2002, 6 of the 22.8 years of gain in life expectancy are due to reduction in infant mortality alone. Undoubtedly, …

• My paleo buddy Richard Nikoley of Free the Animal was recently interviewed by Jimmy Moore. I’ve not yet had a chance to listen to it, but I’m eager to do so. Go check it out!
• Dr. Eades hit the ball out of the park with Dining Out and Bad Fats. It starts with a funny story of restaurant disaster — and ends with an alarming look at what you’re ingesting when you dine out. It’s bad enough that canola oil — with that delectable “antifoaming agent” — is standard for salad dressings and light frying. That’s a good dose of pro-inflammatory omega-6 polyunsaturated fats, plus some artificial trans fats. Even worse is the partially hydrogenated canola oil used for deep fat frying. With that, you get omega-6s oxidized by the high heat, as well as a whopping dose of artificial trans fats.Before we switched to a paleo diet, Paul and

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This week’s “Paleo Question of the Week” was suggested by a reader. It is:

If you’re over 70, how has paleo worked for you? (Or, if an older relative or friend of yours eats paleo, how has it worked for them?)

We want to hear your answer in the comments! You’re also welcome to post a comment or question on any other paleo-related topic.

If you’d like to submit a question for an upcoming question of the week, please e-mail me.

Modern Paleo…

This week’s “Paleo Question of the Week” is:

Is your spouse or lover paleo? Why or why not?

We want to hear your answer in the comments! You’re also welcome to post a comment or question on any other paleo-related topic.

If you’d like to submit a question for an upcoming question of the week, please e-mail me.

Modern Paleo…

A few weeks ago, I posted the following notes on chocolate and dairy to OEvolve. As some of them might be of interest, here they are, with some editing:

• To make unsweetened chocolate milk, just add pure cocoa powder to milk. (You might need to whisk or blend it, as it might not dissolve easily.) That’s how I make my hot cocoa — with just milk and cocoa powder. I find that the milk is sweet enough for me. (In years past, hot cocoa was just a delivery device for marshmallows. Ugh.)
• The flourless chocolate cake I made for Thanksgiving — using the Cook’s Illustrated recipe — was fantastic. I used a pound-bar of 70% dark chocolate from Trader Joe’s (obtained when I was in California). Other than that, the cake contains only 1/2 pound of butter and eight eggs. You can also add 1/4 cup of liquor or strong

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Many moons ago, Jimmy Moore e-mailed me to ask me my opinion on whether a Christian could follow a paleo low-carb diet. Jimmy is a Christian, but his post included the opinions of many heathens, including me. (That was posted in November, and I’m just really late in posting about it here.) Here’s what I wrote in response:

I suppose that I’d say two things:

First, I don’t think that the Bible should be looked to — even by Christians — for dietary advice. That’s clearly not its purpose. It’s not a divine cookbook (except in some few laws). Its claims and metaphors about food reflect the habits of the primitive agricultural societies in and for which it was written.

Second, the Bible contains much worse things than bread-eating, such as stoning blasphemers, demands of death for gays, near-sacrifice of children, drunken incest, genocide, slavery, etc. Those things — not

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In case you’d not noticed… Modern Paleo is the home of three specialized e-mail lists. They are not for debate, but instead for friendly discussion and sharing of useful information. These lists are not moderated, but members who violate the very basic rules will be subject to moderation, if not unsubscribed.

• • PaleoBloggers: PaleoBloggers is an informal private mailing list for bloggers who adhere to and advocate a broadly paleo approach to diet, fitness, medicine, and supplementation. Its basic purpose is to facilitate communication about matters of mutual interest — such as blogworthy links, the paleo carnival, upcoming events, posts of interest, and best blogging practices. Its broader purpose is to help paleo bloggers more effectively advocate and promote the paleo approach. Click here for more information.

 

• • PaleoThyroid: PaleoThyroid is an informal private mailing list for adherents of a broadly paleo diet with diagnosed or suspected thyroid disease.

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Welcome to the just-launched web site and blog Modern Paleo! I’m Diana Hsieh. (Hi!) Let me introduce you to Modern Paleo…

What will you find on Modern Paleo?

Modern Paleo offers writings and other resources by Objectivists on the principles and practices of nutrition, fitness, and health most conducive to human flourishing.

Here are the highlights:

• This Modern Paleo Blog contains writings on those topics by people who seek the best that modern life has to offer, informed by a broadly paleo approach. It is managed by Christian W., and its contributors are paleo-eating Objectivists. (Christian will introduce himself in the next few days.)
• Modern Paleo hosts three e-mail lists: PaleoBloggers, SousVide, and PaleoThyroid. The first two lists have associated blog carnivals, to help paleo and sous vide bloggers promote their work.
• I’ve written a fairly detailed list of core paleo principles, each with a slew of links for additional

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