The Great Oxymoron: "Healthy" Processed Foods

If you watch TV (or internet ads, for that matter), you know that there are a ton of products being advertised that claim to be healthy. They are all "naturally flavored" and "contain real fruit" and "are now made with antioxidants" and "are a good source of fiber"... but do those claims make the products healthy?

The answer, of course, is NO. In the words of a recent article from the Journal of the World Public Health Nutrition Association, "There is no such thing as healthy ultra-processed foods. By their very nature they are unhealthy... [and] may well accelerate the deterioration of public goods and public health." Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma, suggested in this New York Times Magazine article to "avoid even those food products that come bearing health claims... [and] especially avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than five in number-- or that contain high-fructose corn syrup."

Let's look at some of these "healthy" products now.

Kellogg's Smorz cereal claims to be a "good source of Vitamin D." Unless you're eating this product in the sun, I don't know how they can possibly advertise this. Here's the ingredient list:

CORN FLOUR, MARSHMALLOW BITS (SUGAR, CORN SYRUP, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, DEXTROSE, GELATIN, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, SODIUM HEXAMETAPHOSPHATE, RED #40, YELLOW,#5, YELLOW #6, BLUE #1), SUGAR, CHOCOLATEY COATING (SUGAR, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, NONFAT MILK, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, SOY LECITHIN, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR), WHOLE OAT FLOUR, FRUCTOSE, WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, WHEAT FLOUR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, PALM OIL, SALT, CARAMEL COLOR, COLOR ADDED, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, NIACINAMIDE, REDUCED IRON, ZINC OXIDE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), BHT (PRESERVATIVE), RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), VITAMIN A PALMITATE, FOLIC ACID, VITAMIN D, VITAMIN B12.

How that is healthy is beyond me (more than five ingredients, contains HFCS, has ingredients I've never heard of and can't pronounce)... yet I'm sure parents will buy it for their kids because of the huge claim on the top of the box.

Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars (Cherry) claims that it's "a good source of fiber," has "more of the whole grains your body needs," and is "made with real fruit." Huh. First of all, your body doesn't need whole grains; if it did, I would've been dead a year and a half ago. In the words of Mark Sisson, author of The Primal Blueprint, "there is absolutely no reason to eat grains." (Click here for the article.) Second of all, I didn't know "real fruit" is made with a million ingredients. Check it out:

WHOLE GRAIN OATS, ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, SOYBEAN OIL (WITH TBHQ AND CITRIC ACID FOR FRESHNESS), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SOLUBLE CORN FIBER, SUGAR, CALCIUM CARBONATE, WHEY, WHEAT BRAN, SALT, CELLULOSE, POTASSIUM BICARBONATE, PROPYLENE GLYCOL, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, SOY LECITHIN, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, WHEAT GLUTEN, CORNSTARCH, NIACINAMIDE, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, CARRAGEENAN, ZINC OXIDE, REDUCED IRON, GUAR GUM, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), FOLIC ACID. FILLING: HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, CHERRY PUREE CONCENTRATE, GLYCERIN, SUGAR, WATER, SODIUM ALGINATE, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MALIC ACID, CITRIC ACID, METHYLCELLULOSE, DICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, CARAMEL COLOR, RED #40.

Oh yes, this product is soooooo healthy. I didn't know "real fruit" had high-fructose corn syrup. I guess I learn something new every day! (Kellogg's FiberPlus Antioxidant Bars have similar ingredient lists-- but OMG, they have antioxidants! Must be healthy!)

Speaking of cherry-flavored things and antioxidants, the most ridiculous "healthy" product is Diet Cherry 7Up Antioxidant which is "a delicious way to cherry pick your antioxidant" "without the calories of the original." There are so many things wrong with this-- just because something is diet, 0 carb, 0 calorie, and has "antioxidants" does not make it okay to drink. Ever.

Filtered carbonated water and contains 2% or less of each of the following: citric acid, natural flavors, potassium benzoate (protects flavor), aspartame, potassium citrate, acesulfame potassium, vitamin E acetate, Red 40.

In fact, studies have shown that aspartame (Nutrasweet) and acesulfame-K (Sunnette), the artificial sweeteners used in diet soda, contain many toxins and cause many health problems including cancer, seizures, tumors, and neuropsychotic disorders (source). According to Primal Body, Primal Mind, they "can increase insulin and leptin levels in people who consume them and thus contribute to obesity." In fact, another popular artificial sweetener used in "diet" products, sucralose (Splenda), "originally started out in an attempt to create an insecticide." Why put that in your body!? No matter what supposed antioxidants a product has, read the ingredients and run far, far away if it has any of these artificial sweeteners... or if it's a soda in general. Check out this awesome infographic on the harmful effects of soda: Harmful Soft Drinks.

My favorite claim is "naturally flavored." General Mills's Oats & Chocolate Chewy Fiber Bar, for example, has this one (along with the "35% daily value of fiber" one too). I guess only in the modern, ultra-processed foods world does this ingredients list mean "naturally flavored":

Chicory Root Extract, Semisweet Chocolate Chips (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, natural flavor), Whole Grain Oats, High Maltose Corn Syrup, Rice Flour, Barley Flakes, Sugar, Canola Oil, Glycerin, Maltodextrin, Honey, Tricalcium Phosphate, Palm Kernal Oil, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Nonfat Milk, Fructose, Malt Extract, Cocoa Processed with Alkali, Baking Soda, Caramel Color, Natural Flavor. Mixed Tocopherols Added to Retain Freshness.

Don't you just love chemicals as part of a balanced meal?

I know a lot of us count carbs, but be wary of low-carb bars, shakes, and food products. They may be low in carbs, sure, but that doesn't make them healthy-- the same way slapping any of the aforementioned health claims make those products healthy. Let's take Atkins Advantage bars, for example-- they're only 2 or 3 net carbs and claim to be "great" or "smart" nutrition... but they contain a million and a half ingredients and artificial sweeteners. I used to live on them in my Atkins days, but I feel so much better now that I avoid that fake stuff.

What I'm trying to get across here is eat real food. Have you ever looked at an ingredient list on a head of lettuce, an apple, or a piece of chicken? No? Well, I haven't either, and you know why? Because real foods don't have ingredient lists.... and they certainly don't make health claims either. While I understand the convenience of these ultra-processed "foods," take the extra few minutes and make your own crunch bars or breakfast bars.

Your health will thank you.

Quote of the Day:

"Eat food. Though in our current state of confusion, this is much easier said than done. So try this: Don't eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." -Michael Pollan

Book Recommendations from a Paleo Bookworm

Many things have changed in my life over the last few years: new school, new city, new friends, new body, new passions (i.e. nutrition/Paleo)... But one thing has remained constant throughout my entire life: my love of reading. I am such a bookworm-- if I'm not reading Paleo blogs online, chances are you can find me reading a book... and lately my books of choice have been about nutrition or evolutionary anthropology. A big question for newcomers to the Paleo lifestyle is, "What should I read?," so I'd like to dedicate this blog to my favorite books on evolutionary and modern anthropology/nutrition, the Paleo/Primal lifestyle, evolutionary fitness, and cooking... and alert you to some new books coming out within the next few months.

Evolutionary and Modern Anthropology/Nutrition:

-Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston Price. Price, a dentist, studied indigenous tribes all throughout the world and concluded based on their teeth that the Western diet (i.e. sugar, processed crap) has caused dental and other health problems. This is a must-read, and Price's legacy lives on through the Weston A. Price Foundation.

-The Jungle Effect by Daphne Miller. Taking inspiration from Price, Miller examined indigenous diets and found them to be leaps and bounds healthier than the Western diet.

-In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. Perhaps best-known for the "7 Rules for Eating," this book examines the food issues in Western society and reminds us to shop the perimeter of the supermarket and to not eat anything our great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. (The Omnivore's Dilemma, also by Pollan, is another great read.)

-Good Calories, Bad Calories and Why We Get Fat (And What to Do About It) by Gary Taubes. Both books pretty much have the same message, but WWGF is for people (like me) who don't really understand the hardcore scientific details behind the research in GCBC. Taubes is quite Paleo in his approach (he was even at the Ancestral Health Symposium last weekend!), and both books are extremely well-researched and absolutely worth reading.

-Change Your Body, Change the World: Reflections on Health and the Human Predicament by Frank Forencich. This book explains how we've become unhealthy because we're stressed out, stay indoors, and have forgotten how to play. He uses such brilliant metaphors to get his points across, and really makes you examine your lifestyle and those of the people around you.

-African Exodus: The Origins of Modern Humanity by Christopher Stringer and Robin McKie. Really fascinating book about our origins in Africa: we all evolved from the humans that left the continent about 100,000 years ago and migrated all over the world. (This is also a Robb Wolf-recommended book!)

Paleo/Primal/Evolutionary Nutrition:

-The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain. This is the original Paleo diet book-- Cordain came out with this over a decade ago and it's still one of the most well-researched and informative books out there (Cordain is also Robb Wolf's mentor!). This was also my first book on the Paleo lifestyle, and I highly recommend it to everyone.

-The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf. If you know anything about Robb Wolf, you know that he's one smart and funny guy. This book, like his site and podcasts, is highly informative, hilarious, and very accessible to readers without scientific background. A must-read!

-The New Evolution Diet by Art DeVany. This book is well-written, informative, detailed, and is more than just a diet or fitness book: it's a book about making a lifestyle change and living the way evolution and nature have intended. DeVany also just rocks-- check him out in this video!

-The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson. Move frequently at a slow pace. Lift heavy things. Sprint. Follow the Primal Blueprint Food Pyramid. Sisson provides his unique take on evolutionary nutrition and fitness, and this is definitely worth reading!

-Primal Body, Primal Mind by Nora T. Gedgaudas. I don't know why this book isn't talked about more, because it is phenomenal. I referenced it a lot a few blog posts ago, and I still can't talk enough about how much I think everyone should read this. Gedgaudas provides a plethora of information and research that isn't in the other Paleo/Primal books, and her writing style is very clear and easy to understand. PBPM is almost entirely nutrition-based, and is probably the best crash-course in Paleo nutrition out there.

Evolutionary Fitness:

-Exuberant Animal: The Power of Health, Play, and Joyful Movement by Frank Forencich. Although many of the Paleo/Primal books talk about evolutionary fitness, this book is dedicated completely to it. We are animals! Go outside in nature and play! I also love Forencich's writing style: humorous, informative, and easy to read.

-Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. I'm not much of a runner, but this is one of my all-time favorite books. This true account of McDougall's search for the Tarahumara, a tribe in Mexico that runs hundreds of miles injury-free in huaraches, explains how running shoes have messed up the feet and that we're better off going barefoot. The stories he tells are so fascinating that you will not want to put this book down (well, okay, you might... but just to go outside and run barefoot!).

Paleo/Primal Cookbooks:

-Everyday Paleo by Sarah Fragoso. New to Paleo? Trying to raise a Paleo family? This one's for you! Featuring information on everyday Paleo living, home fitness, school lunch ideas for your kids, and a ton of mouth-watering recipes, this is a must-have.

-Primal Blueprint: Quick & Easy Meals by Mark Sisson. Quick, easy, Primal, and delicious-- an absolute must for anyone following this lifestyle! Not only are his meals fantastic, but he also provides the nutritional breakdown for each of his meals as well. (The breakfast dishes in PB: Q&E are my favorite part of this book!)

-The Paleo Diet Cookbook by Loren Cordain. A great collection of Paleo meals for all types of occasions-- I've made a bunch of his chicken dishes, and they were all really great!

Coming Soon:

-Paleo Comfort Foods by Julie & Charles Mayfield. I love the message on their site: "Food is life, and is a very fun part of our life, and as much as we love to cook for our friends and families, we love being able to share these recipes with you." And Robb Wolf wrote the foreword! (Release: September 2011)

-Make It Paleo by Bill Staley and Hayley Mason of The Food Lovers Primal Palate, one of my favorite sites for recipes. I am so excited for this-- their recipes (and food photography) are incredible, and Mark Sisson wrote the foreword. Congrats, Bill and Hayley-- this is going to be fantastic! (Release: October 2011)

-The Primal Connection by Mark Sisson. This book will, according to Sisson's site, "explore how and why our modern lives have created such conflict with our hunter-gatherer brains and what specific actions we can take to realign ourselves with the hard-wired expectations of those 10,000 year-old genes." (Release: June 2012)

This is great:

Quote of the Day:

"If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run, then yours is the Earth and everything that's in it." -Rudyard Kipling, "If"

Paleo Baked Goods/Desserts

I've recently become hooked on making Paleo-friendly baked goods. After going more than a year without any cookies, brownies, or bread (and I was a complete grain-addict pre-Paleo), I realized that there are plenty of ways to Paleo-ify your desserts so you can avoid the grains and other processed garbage used in baking.

Here are some tips on how to do it:

-Instead of regular flour, use almond or coconut flour. Flax meal is also great!

-Instead of sugar, use stevia. Agave and honey can also be used in some recipes, but they're high in sugar, so beware of that. (If you need either one to gel other ingredients together, try coconut oil instead.)

-Instead of milk chocolate, use unsweetened dark chocolate.

-Coconut oil and almond butter are your new best friends.

-Instead of regular milk, use coconut or almond milk.

-If you need to make a crust for a pie, use crushed nuts, seeds, or flax.

There are plenty of resources online for Paleo-friendly baking. Here are a few of my favorites:

-Elana's Pantry. Though not a Paleo site, Elana's baking is gluten-free, and many of her dessert recipes are completely Paleokay! Her brownies are fantastic-- you'd never be able to tell that all of the ingredients are real food.

-White Lion Baking Company. If you're not a baker but want to try Paleo baked goods anyway, this is the place for you! With the slogan "We make 'healthy' taste great," this online company makes everything from cupcakes to muffins to celebration cakes, and everything is low-carb, grain-free, and gluten-free-- and they even cite Cordain, Wolf, and Taubes in the "Why Grain-Free?" section! I just received my order from them today, and their food is really delicious! (And I decided that I'm ordering my wedding cake from them if/when I get married.)

-Civilized Caveman Cooking Creations. This is a great recipe site in general, but the desserts look amazing. You can find recipes for baked goods like blueberry coconut chocolate chip scones, strawberry almond brownies, and blackberry banana muffins. Yum!

-Fast Paleo. Like CCCC, it's a recipe site with an awesome baked goods section, submitted by people from all over the internet.

-The Food Lovers' Primal Palate. This is one of my absolute favorite sites-- the recipes are amazing, and the pictures of the food are spectacular. Their dessert recipes include things like chiffon pumpkin pie, carrot cake, and even gingerbread men!

-The various Paleo and Primal cookbooks. Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint: Quick & Easy Meals (and the free reader-created cookbooks you get from joining his e-mail list), Sarah Fragoso's Everyday Paleo, Sebastien Noel's The Paleo Recipe Book, and all of the others have Paleo/Primal dessert recipes that are simple, delicious, and nutritious. They're all worth checking out!

Paleo baked goods/desserts are a blessing and a curse, however. On one hand, they're the healthy versions of unhealthy foods, and we can enjoy some of our favorite treats from our pre-Paleo days without the health problems involved. On the other hand, they might reawaken your sweet tooth or cause some major carb cravings or binging. I didn't indulge in them until after more than a year of Paleo, so I knew I wouldn't end up eating a box of oreos or a pint of ice cream if I had something chocolatey... however, I couldn't stop eating my first tray of Paleo brownies, and they just made me crave-- and eat-- more dark chocolate. My advice to you is to be very careful to have these in moderation, and avoid them completely if you're new to Paleo/just getting over carb cravings. Adjust to the Paleo lifestyle first, then slowly add these back in-- they can be addicting!

New to Paleo? Check this out:

It's the Paleo CheatSheet!

Do you watch Expedition Impossible?:

This show (Thursdays at 9-EST on ABC) is awesome. Teams of three have to race across the deserts, mountains, and rivers of Morocco while solving puzzles in order to stay on the show-- I don't watch much TV, but this show is so cool. So why am I talking about it here? One of the teams, the Modern Gypsies, is Paleo... and has consistently been one of the best teams! Check out these interviews with them with Robb Wolf and Mark Sisson.

Quote of the Day:

"Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie." -Jim Davis

Recipe: CocoNUT-Flax Chicken

If you miss breaded chicken, then this is the recipe for you! Instead of using bread crumbs or cornflakes (or any other gluten-heavy grain), try grinding up nuts and mixing them with ground flax and shredded coconut for a delicious Paleo "breading."

Ingredients:

-flax seed, ground

-almonds

-pecans

-unsweetened shredded coconut

-4 chicken cutlets

-2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Grind nuts until a thin flour is formed, then combine on a plate (or in a bowl) with flax and shredded coconut and mix well.

2. Crack two eggs on a plate and add water to make an egg wash. Dip the chicken breast into the egg wash, then place it in the nut/flax/coconut flour and coat well. Place on greased pan.

3. Cook for 20 minutes (10 on each side) until slightly brown. Serve alone or with greens and enjoy!

Quote of the Day:

"Good health and good sense are two of life's greatest blessings." -Publilius Syrus

(This post is featured in Primal Cave #12.)

Recipe: No-Bake CocoNUT Cookies

Ingredients (makes 12)

-1/2 cup walnuts

-1/2 cup pecans

-1/2 cup almonds

-1/2 cup flax seeds

-1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

-1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

-1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

-8 oz raw almond butter

-4 tablespoons coconut oil

1. Grind the nuts, seeds, and coconut flakes in a food processor (or by hand) until a thin flour is formed.

2. In a large bowl, combined the nuts/seeds/flakes with the cocoa powder, almond butter, and coconut oil. Mix well.

3. Scoop out about a tablespoon of mixture and set on tray. (Optional: sprinkle coconut flakes or cocoa powder over each "cookie".) Refrigerate until firm.

Quote of the Day:

"Watch what you eat, get off the couch and start being inconvenient. Eat real food, practice functional movement and stand up for environmental preservation, sustainable agriculture, peace and social justice." -Frank Forencich, Change Your Body, Change the World

(This blog is featured in Primal Cave #11.)

Recipe: Dark Chocolate Chia Mousse Cake

Many people have probably only heard of chia seeds in the context of those Chia Pet commercials; however, these seeds had been eaten by the Mayan and Aztec civilizations for thousands of years! While there has been some debate about whether they're considered Paleo or not (Cordain says "further human trials" should be done, Sisson says "you can certainly give chia a shot," and Gedgaudas calls them a "great source of mucilaginous fiber" and recommends them in one of her recipes), I figured I'd "give them a shot" with a recipe I modified and Paleo-ified from The Chia Company. The chia seeds give the cake a very interesting texture, and it's definitely worth trying. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

-7 oz. unsweetened 100% dark chocolate

-1/2 cup butter

-5 large eggs, separated

-2 cups assorted nuts and/or seeds (I used almonds, walnuts, pecans, and sunflower seeds)

-1 cup and 2 tbsp. Stevia

-1/2 cup and 1 tbsp chia seeds

-coconut flakes or other toppings (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9-inch springform pan with coconut oil, then line it with a sheet of wax paper. Soak chia seeds in 1 cup of water for 15 minutes. Grind nuts well.

2. Melt butter and dark chocolate in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water and let cool.

3. Beat egg whites and 1/3 cup of Stevia until soft peaks form. Beat the remaining Stevia and egg yolks in a large bowl.

4. Pour melted chocolate over egg yolks and fold. Next, fold in the chia seeds and ground nuts. Finally, fold in the egg whites.

5. Pour mixture into pan and bake for 50 minutes. Let cool, then top it with unsweetened coconut flakes, melted dark chocolate, homemade whipped cream, or anything else... get creative and enjoy!

Quote of the Day:

"A healthy body is a guest chamber for the soul; a sick body is a prison." -Sir Francis Bacon

Processed Foods and Words of Wisdom from 'Primal Body, Primal Mind'

My summer job is as a camp counselor; I work with first- and second-grade girls outdoors all day, doing things like swimming, playing sports, looking at nature, and just hanging out in the sun. I'd say it's one of the most Paleo-friendly jobs out there: playing, soaking up Vitamin D, socializing, staying active.

It saddens me so much, however, when it comes time for lunch and these girls' parents send them with complete and total crap. Their lunches are all loaded with white bread, sugar, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), processed snack foods, bagels, juice boxes, Lunchables, soda... The list goes on. I just finished reading Primal Body, Primal Mind by Nora T. Gedgaudas*, and there's an entire chapter devoted to HFCS alone: it has been linked to "diabetes, heart disease, cancer, obesity, gout, weakened immune system, cirrhosis of the liver, osteoporosis, elevated cholesterol levels, anemia, mineral deficiency." It's no wonder that little kids are sick all the time--ingesting chemicals like this one (which is in pretty much every processed food) will make you sick. As Gedgaudas recommends, "Avoid high fructose corn syrup like the plague that it is, and beware of cheap processed, foods" because "it is among the most dangerous and damaging food additives ever created."

Further, "the consumption of high-glycemic foods, which cause a rapid rise in blood sugar, can trigger many behavioral, learning, and mood problems," with gluten being one of the biggest culprits. My girls are generally pretty good, but I notice that some kids in other groups act up a lot, and I can't help but wonder if their behaviors would change if their parents stopped sending them to camp with PB&J on white bread, a CapriSun, and a bag of chips** (plus money to buy candy or slushies at the camp's snack bar... UGH).

(So funny story: I take fish oil pills at lunch, and the girls ask me every day what they are. Yesterday, one of my campers asked, "Are those jelly beans?" and I just laughed. They're pretty much the farthest things from jelly beans out there!)

*Note: Buy this book. It was absolutely fascinating and provided so much interesting (and sometimes scary) information that everyone should know about-- it'll be one of the best $11.46 you've ever spent.

**Note 2: A study recently said that potato chips are the worst culprit for weight gain. Don't eat them... and don't let your kids eat them either!

Speaking of HFCS and disgusting processed foods, check out Slate's Ingredients Quiz, in which you match the ingredient list given with the processed food. I only got TWO out of eleven correct-- the lists were so long and contained so many things/chemicals I'd never heard of that it was nearly impossible to guess correctly! I was actually horrified after taking this quiz, and I can't believe that I used to eat some of these foods-- disgusting! Don't put that harmful stuff in your body!

Here's another (frightening) tidbit from Gedgaudas's book on this subject: "The researchers who developed sucralose, also known as Splenda, originally started out in an attempt to create an insecticide." Moral of the story: read all of your labels carefully, be wary of artificial sweeteners and ALL chemicals (especially HFCS), and "Remember: If it comes out of a test tube, it's not food." And in the words of health/fitness guru Jack LaLanne, "If man made it, hate it."

In more disgusting food news, the fast food chains Sonic and Burger King will now be offering beer and wine. Just great: so now customers can wash down crap with high-calorie beers (made from gluten-containing grains) and wine. How wonderful.

It's July 4th weekend, which means barbecues and parties for most people, so please try and make good food decisions-- eat your hamburger without the bun (nothing wrong with grabbing the lettuce and making yourself a nice hamburger salad!), avoid the chips and desserts, and drink lots of water! While temptation will most likely be lurking around every corner, don't put crap into your body! Your body deserves real food; your health relies on it!

Paleo at Penn now has a Facebook page! A big thank you to all of you who have "liked" it already-- you guys grok!

Happy Canada Day to my Canadian readers, happy 4th of July to all of you here in the U.S., and happy any other holiday/have a good weekend to everyone else! Grok on!

I love cavemen comics:

Quote of the Day:

"Taking control of your health is the single most foundational means of taking control of your own future. Without our health and clarity of mind, we have nothing." -Nora T. Gedgaudas, Primal Body, Primal Mind