Jamie Fellrath | Practical Mindfulness

So, you may be thinking: you run a Paleo-based blog yet you're taking the Paleo Challenge?  Haven't you been Paleo all along?  What's the deal, Jamie? Yes, I'm doing a Paleo Challenge.  For those of you who aren't aware of this, the Paleo Challenge is simply eating and living 100% Paleo for 30 days (and I started yesterday, technically).  John Durant's Hunter-Gatherer.com has a great overview of the process .  The idea is to get all the sugars and more importantly the desire for sugars out of your system and set up a basis for ascertaining what your body is accepting of from a dietary standpoint. As I say in my About page, I've been Paleo for about three years now.  But that hasn't been a 100% Paleo deal, and at times it's been pretty bad.  My main weakness is anything with chocolate in it - ice cream, candy, etc.  I've been MOSTLY Paleo, but as Robb Wolf says, that means you're not Paleo. I did a Paleo Challenge for three weeks or so when I...

Is it a steak? Or some sort of meat collage? That's right, you heard correctly here... there's actually a glue that is used to bind small pieces of meat together to form larger faux-cuts of steak and the like.  This video from an Australian news program tells a little bit more about it. Basically, meat glue is a substance made from Transglutaminase , an enzyme that clots blood in various animals.  It has a binding property that pulls blood particles ( or meat particles) together, creating a strong bond between the particles. The substance is being used commercially in the US (and Australia, as the video shows) to allow meat producers to bind smaller pieces of meat into larger "cuts."  However, it is illegal in the European Union. And why is that?  After all, the FDA uses a study done by the product's creator, Ajinomoto, to show that the product is safe for use.  And despite the fact that users of the product wear masks to avoid inhaling ...

Do you live in Columbus, Ohio?  Do you follow a Paleo/Primal lifestyle or are you interested in hearing more about it?  Would you like to get to know some more folks who are looking for great health? May 3, 2011, at Cup O'Joe in the Short North, the third Meetup for Paleo Living Columbus will take place.  Come on out and meet some more Paleo lifestyle folks and swap tips, recipes, websites, etc. and get some support as you strive to live healthy in an unhealthy world! More information, including info on the location, is available at the above link.

Wouldn't you love to see this man on Oprah? Here's an idea that I REALLY love: getting Robb Wolf , the author of the Paleo Solution and probably the most visible "celebrity" of the Paleo movement (and Robb, I apologize for calling you a celebrity) on what is probably the most popular and visible talk show in America: the Oprah Winfrey Show. You need to be on Facebook to do this, but just "like" this Facebook page and you've signed the petition . I have no idea how well this will work or if Oprah will pay any attention to it, but let's face it:  Paleo isn't going to fare well if it's just lumped in with the latest fad diets .  It needs a forum where the whole story can be told: how grains are the reason behind so much of the obesity and illness in the world today, the autoimmune issues, the truth behind our ancestral diet and the benefits of it, and the truth behind so many dietary myths that exist in our society.  An hour won't cover it,...

Nora Gedgaudas announced today on her blog that her fantastic book Primal Body, Primal Mind is being re-released with a new publisher and slightly new title. Get ready for Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health and a Longer Life . Nora tells us that the book will mostly be the same great material from the first edition, but... Keep in mind that this is essentially the same book you have all come to know and love, but with some wonderful new and updated information, better referencing, vastly superior editing, a new foreword by Dr. Mark Steinberg plus an additional new wonderful foreword written by Brent Pottenger (descendant of Dr. Francis Pottenger and head of the newly established Ancestral Health Society), a new cover and new photo of me, together with some notable endorsements.  I’ve had an opportunity over the last number of months to review many of your comments about my book and make some positive changes to the material and make the manner in wh...

Are reporters like this missing the point? Over the past couple of days, I've been replaying some of the videos I've seen recently where members of the media have been reviewing the various Ancestral Diets and lifestyles, and by and large they're missing the point entirely. Let's start with the Nightline piece on Paleo with Art De Vany and Robb Wolf. Sure, they talked about the weight loss, and the exercise factor, and the fact that Art looks great at 73 and is still lifting weights and lugging his Land Rover around.  But they then turned around and basically "okayed" it with a couple of conventional wisdom-based nutritionists, who gave it their blessing as long as proponents kept the fat low, etc.  Of course, the advice of such people is exactly what we're trying to avoid. And there was no mention of the main tenet of Ancestral Diets: GRAINS ARE BAD FOR YOU. We've heard no mention whatsoever of that scientifically proven fact, and that's really t...