Ross Walter Nutritionist and Naturopath health articles and blog

Is the paleo diet all it's cracked up to be?

24/12/2015

The Paleo diet seems to be all the rage these days, if you watch or hear the media. So is it really that good?! Or is it unhealthy, as some health and media commentators suggest?

Firstly, paleo is a really bad name for this "lifestyle". It is NOT a diet! It is a way of life, a lifestyle. Diets are too hard to stick to, restrictive in nutrients, very unhealthy, and the body will adapt and change to the lack of nutrients and actually start putting ON weight! But that's another topic...

Critics of the paleo lifestyle get carried away with the name, saying that our paleolithic ancestors were lucky if they lived for 30 years, and this shows that paleo is useless and just another dangerous fad diet.

So what really is paleo all about? The main ideas behind this lifestyle are:
1) Eat organic foods (uncontaminated by toxic pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers etc)
2) Buy or get foods locally, fresh from your own garden, or farmers markets - so you know they have not been in storage for 2 years or lacking in nutrients, and don't have a high "carbon footprint" by needing to be transported long distances
3) Eat seasonal foods - they are cheaper and fresher, again not likely to have been in storage
4) your money goes direct to farmers, not a pitiful percentage that the supermarkets pay them
5) sustainable production of foods.

That all sounds good right?! Yes!

What is confusing is that there's no one paleo diet either! There are many variations on this theme. The is also a misconception that paleo is high in protein (ie, meat), or low in carbs - which is also incorrect. Generally, however, what is true is that the foods allowed in this lifestyle include:
1) grass-fed meats
2) organic and fresh vegetables and fruits
3) eggs
4) nuts and seeds (except peanuts which are actually a legume!)
5) healthy fats and oils.

This is a "whole food" lifestyle!

Foods that are not recommended include the following:

1) grain-fed meats
2) whole grains and any grain products (breakfast cereals, breads, bakery products, pasta etc)
3) legumes (beans, lentils, soy, peanuts)
4) dairy products
5) sugar
6) potatoes
7) processed foods (and packaged foods)
8) refined vegetable oils (canola, margarine, and other nut/seed-based oils).

There are no set rules about this lifestyle, as it is flexible, and you can occasionally have other foods without feeling guilty about it! Critics of the paleo lifestyle (ie dietitians in particular) jump up and down that you can't remove a whole food group (such as grains) from their unhealthy, corrupt and industry-funded food pyramid model! With paleo, you don't miss out on any nutrients, as the lifestyle allows for substitution of common foods with healthier alternatives, such as nut milks instead of dairy, and healthier nuts and seeds instead of grains. There's nothing in grains that you can't get from other foods or food groups! Actually I don't necessarily recommend cutting all grains as some are better than others. It's mainly wheat and corn that I recommend avoiding.

There are very good reasons why paleo is a good nutrition lifestyle to follow, but it does depend on which variation you look at. Paleo can improve your health, help you to lose weight and reduce various symptoms that you may be experiencing.

The reasons for the exclusion of certain foods will take too long to explain but some are found in my blogs or articles here. More information on the paleo lifestyle will be coming in early 2016 as I am putting together a paleo seminar and workshop where you can find out more! Please let me know if you are interested in learning more about the paleo lifestyle in my upcoming seminar or workshop!

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at last, the heart foundation tick of approval is dead!

10/12/2015

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At last, as of yesterday (8th December 2015), the Heart Foundation "Tick of approval" is now dead!

This program was not acting in the interests of your health, but for their own interests and profits.
The Heart Foundation tick of approval says that products with their tick have "earned" the right to show this label, based on the amounts of salt, sugar and saturated fat in the products. In reality, they simply give the tick logo to the manufacturer for each product - provided they pay the required license fee! That's all the tick is, a license fee to have this logo printed on their product! It's just pathetic.

When I checked into the tick program many years ago, the license fee was $50,000 per product, and no testing was done. More recently, the license fee had risen to $300,000! That's a lot of profit for doing nothing!

The Heart Foundation say in their press release today that they have finished with this program because the time is right to move to a new system. In truth, they are stopping this program because of a very public recent campaign by many thousands of Australians (myself included) against this outdated, unscientific, and self-serving program. People (especially Nutritionists, who look at the actual ingredients of foods) simply didn't trust the tick program any more, and the public were becoming more educated and vocal about it.

When the Heart Foundation approved the tick to be given to a huge range of McDonalds foods in 2008, this was the start of the public turning against this charity and the tick program. Around the same time, the tick was also approved for brands of pizza, sausage rolls, meat pies and other unhealthy fast foods. This was the turning point for me too.

As scientific research improves and changes in the fields of health and nutrition, so must we also change our beliefs based on scientific evidence. For decades research has shown that saturated fat isn't the health demon that we have been led to believe. It does NOT cause or contribute to heart disease, but in fact protects the heart and reduces inflammation in the body. Trans-fat (from processed foods, fried foods and margarine), sugar and refined grain products are the causes of heart disease, as shown in research for decades.

The Heart Foundation refused to acknowledge this research and stuck to its pre-1960s beliefs. Other countries have dismantled their tick programs because they were no longer scientific or relevant, such as Canada in 2014, yet the Australian program were wanting more profits, at the expense of your health.

The public movement against the Heart Foundation and the tick program shows that we CAN make a change for the better! We CAN force companies and (hopefully) governments to stop serving their own interests for profits and to actually serve us, the PEOPLE. One dodgy program at a time, we (and the truth) WILL prevail!

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Is dairy really good for you?

2/12/2015

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If you believe the government food guidelines (laugh!), the food pyramid (a bigger laugh!) and product marketing in the media (eye roll!), then dairy products are the main answer to healthy bones, or to have calcium supplements instead!

The real truth about calcium is a lot different!

The average serving of 100ml of full cream milk contains 107mg of calcium, which, depending on your age, is only about 1/3 to 1/4 of the daily recommended intake of calcium needed.

Dairy foods are not a great source of calcium for many people who have issues with dairy - being intolerant or sensitive to lactose (ie, the natural sugar in milk) or casein (a protein in milk), due to the processing of milk, including pasteurising (heating) and homogenisation (mixing the cream/fat into a more consistent liquid.

There are further issues with dairy, due to family ancestry and ethnicity, with many people from parts of the world not normally eating or drinking dairy products. Ancestors of indigenous cultures, Asians, Pacific Islanders have never historically had dairy in their diets, and their bodies have not got sufficient enzymes to digest these foods. This trait has been passed down to the current generation. As such they are more likely to suffer intolerances to dairy or even allergies. Dairy can affect your health by causing excessive mucus secretion, gastrointestinal issues, allergies, skin problems and inflammation (ie stress) in your body).

So for doctors, dietitians, food industry marketers and others to say everyone should consume dairy foods in order to get enough calcium is ill-informed or ignorant at best, as it can be quite dangerous to health at worst.

So where else can you get calcium from for healthy bones and a healthy body?! Calcium is actually more readily found in seafood, nuts, and vegetables and sometimes in much higher amounts than in dairy! Some of the non-dairy highest sources of calcium include (per 100g) in decreasing order:

- sardines (367mg)
- salmon, canned (334mg)
- almonds (250mg) (other nuts are also fairly high in calcium)
- figs, dried (200mg)
- parsley (190mg)
- mussels (173mg)
- oysters (132mg)
- sunflower seeds (100mg) (other seeds are also fairly high in calcium)
- kale (100mg)
- bok choy (86mg)
- spinach (58mg)
- eggs (38mg)
- broccoli/broccolini (33mg)

As you can see, most green leafy vegetables are very high in calcium, as are nuts and seeds, and some seafood too! Whether you have a problem digesting dairy foods or don't like to eat dairy, there are many other options available to you for your calcium requirements!

The other major issue with getting enough calcium in your diet is that you also need other nutrients in order to be able to actually absorb and use the calcium from your food! The major one is vitamin D. Your body cannot absorb calcium for use in healthy bones and other functions without having good vitamin D levels in your body!

How do you get good vitamin D levels? From the sun! Your body makes vitamin D from direct sun exposure on your skin. Not from sunlight through glass windows, and not with sunscreen on! You need to spend enough time in the sun on a regular basis (without burning) to raise your vitamin D levels. But what about the issue with sun exposure causing skin cancer, I hear you ask?! It doesn't happen. That's a whole other topic which I have written about previously on my blog. In short, scientific research shows that sun exposure (and increasing vitamin D levels) in moderate amounts does not cause skin cancer, and actually protects you against many forms of cancer! There are other factors at play that cause skin cancer which you can read about in my other article on this topic.

I don't recommend most calcium supplements as they aren't the easily digested and absorbed types of calcium, and you still need good vitamin D levels to get any benefit. Vitamin D supplements are available too, but again, it's often not the right type of vitamin D that your body can use! This is why you need to speak to a professional (that would be me!) who can holistically look at your situation, your health, diet, lifestyle and goals, to put a personalised plan into place that will actually work for you!

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Is the paleo diet all it's cracked up to be?

at last, the heart foundation tick of approval is dead!

Is dairy really good for you?

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