The premise of the paleo diet and many other emerging (possibly re-emerging) diet styles, from ‘primal’ through the various iterations of ‘real-food’ eating that are now commonplace, is that genetically we haven’t changed much since the time of the earliest humans. Research has shown that: “From a genetic standpoint, humans living today are Stone Age hunter-gatherers displaced through time to a world that differs from that for which our genetic constitution was selected”.¹ Of course, more moderate forms of these diets take into account that we have experienced some pretty big changes as a result of the agrarian shift towards cultivated grains and domesticated animals (like the ability of most people of European extraction to digest lactose). Overall, these diets can be grouped together under a general heading of ‘ancestral-type’ diets.

The ‘modern’ paleo diet seeks to emulate traditional hunter-gatherer diets by eliminating foods that are that were not present (in large amounts) in the diets of most hunter-gatherers. There are many variations on the paleo theme and most people now follow some iteration of paleo that could differ from the original template. For example, many now would classify their diet as ‘primal’—a style of nutrition that is quite diverse and typically like paleo, but with the addition of some dairy, occasional sprouted legumes, and even occasional grains. The following describes common paleo guidelnes.

What to eat:

• Free range, organic meat, eggs and fish
• Nuts and seeds
• Fibrous vegetables
• Root vegetables: sweet potatoes, yams, etc.
• Berries and fruit
• Virgin nut and fruit oils: olive, macadamia, coconut

What to avoid:

• Factory farmed meats, battery eggs
• Grains and legumes
• Seed oils
• Dairy

Did Paleolithic Man Really Eat Like That?

Critics of the paleo diet point to the lack of consistency in hunter-gatherer diets. In other words, there is no solitary hunter-gatherer diet. For example, analysis of 229 hunter-gatherer diets from around the world found a high variance in carbohydrate intake (approximately 3%-50% of daily calories). However, the authors noted that carbohydrate intake in almost all hunter-gatherer populations is lower than that currently recommended for health,² and it’s fair to say that all hunter gatherer populations have an absence of refined and processed foods. It’s also interesting to note that many critics of real-food based diets like paleo are advocates for the Mediterranean diet, and yet there is no ‘one’ Mediterranean diet either. It is more important to look at either diet (because they are both great) not as rigid prescriptions of certain foods for all people, but instead a compendium of available foods from which to choose.

How do you determine what works for you?

Hunter-Gatherers Were ‘Healthier’

Hunter-gatherer populations such as the Inuit, Australian Aboriginals, Hadza, and others that have been studied were indeed, until the introduction of modern diet and lifestyle, robustly healthy and with a significant absence of the metabolic disorders of obesity and diabetes that plague the modern, western world.^{3, 4, 5, 6} They couldn’t be said to have had it easy though, with higher mortality rates from communicable diseases, war, homicide, and medical complications, especially during childbirth. But the most pertinent point to note is that the diseases that are the biggest affecters of quality and length of life in the modern world (the non-communicable diseases of lifestyle) appeared with lower prevalence for these people. Overall, it is now accepted that at the time of the invention and rapid uptake of agriculture around 10,000 years ago, people’s height decreased and health suffered.⁷

Paleo or Ancestral-Type Diets Are Safe

There has been a remarkable amount of negative attention paid to the ‘real-food’ food movement. This seems at odds with a pragmatic overview of nutrition, in which any diet that prioritises more nutrient-dense, whole, unprocessed foods should be considered a good one. The evidence does suggest that overwhelmingly ancestral-type diets are safe, and they may provide considerable benefits for weight-management, cardio-metabolic health, and for satiety and hunger-reduction. The relatively few trials that have been performed on the paleo diet thus far show compelling benefits for satiety (when compared to ‘best-practice’ dietary guidelines,⁸ best-practice diabetic meal plan,⁹ and the Mediterranean Diet¹⁰), cardiometabolic risk indicators,^{11, 12} and fat-loss,^{13, 14} with no adverse effects reported.

Much of the criticism of paleo diets springs from the assumption that it is low in carbohydrates and that this might negatively affect thyroid status (which in itself is contentious) or cause other hormone irregularities However, the paleo diet isn’t by nature low in carbohydrates as it can (depending on how it’s applied) include appreciable carbohydrate from sweet potato, yams, vegetables, berries, and some fruit, which would be more than adequate for most people who benefit from moderate or even higher carbohydrate loads.

So, there’s no good reasons to believe that a paleo or other ancestral-type diet would negatively affect health. However, a severely carb-restricted paleo diet could possibly affect hormone levels for some. Carbohydrate restriction can increase cortisol levels (one of our major stress hormones), although this hasn’t been noted in the existing work on the paleo diet, and reduce levels of the sex hormones (especially testosterone). This cortisol to free testosterone ratio is a key marker of fatigue syndromes. It is important to note that some of these distortions may occur in the transition phase to a lower carbohydrate diet and may not last if one becomes sufficiently ‘fat adapted’ and are also likely to be related to the genetic and ethnic predisposition of an individual to either a low or higher-carb diet.

Do What Works for You

If paleo is working for you, there’s no compelling safety reason to stop. If you practice a different form of ancestral or primal diet and that is working, same goes, stick with the programme soldier and keep on getting those results. At the end of the day, we are seeing that there is significant variation between individual responses to differing diets. One of the absolute keys to success is figuring out what works for you, and what is the easiest to stick to. If you can’t stick to diet consistently for a long period, its use is going to be incredibly limited.

Find out what type of nutrition is right for you:

Simplicity Rules: Start Your Diet with Natural Food

Direct your athletes:

The Lost Art of Handwritten Programming

References:

1. Eaton SB, Konner M, Shostak M. Stone agers in the fast lane: Chronic degenerative diseases in evolutionary perspective. The American Journal of Medicine. 1988;84(4):739-49.

2. Ströhle A, Hahn A. Diets of modern hunter-gatherers vary substantially in their carbohydrate content depending on ecoenvironments: results from an ethnographic analysis. Nutrition Research.31(6):429-35.

3. Sinclair HM. The Diet of Canadian Indians and Eskimos. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 1953;12(01):69-82.

4. O’Dea K. Westernisation, insulin resistance and diabetes in Australian aborigines. Med J Aust. 1991;155(4):258-64.

5. O’Keefe JJH, Cordain L, Harris WH, Moe RM, Vogel R. Optimal low-density lipoprotein is 50 to 70 mg/dlLower is better and physiologically normal. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2004;43(11):2142-6.

6. O’Dea K. Westernization and non-insulin-dependent diabetes in Australian Aborigines. Ethn Dis. 1991;1(2):171-87.

7. Mummert A, Esche E, Robinson J, Armelagos GJ. Stature and robusticity during the agricultural transition: evidence from the bioarchaeological record. Economics and human biology. 2011;9(3):284-301.

8. Bligh HF, Godsland IF, Frost G, Hunter KJ, Murray P, MacAulay K, et al. Plant-rich mixed meals based on Palaeolithic diet principles have a dramatic impact on incretin, peptide YY and satiety response, but show little effect on glucose and insulin homeostasis: an acute-effects randomised study. The British journal of nutrition. 2015;113:574-84.

9. Jönsson T, Granfeldt Y, Lindeberg S, Hallberg A-C. Subjective satiety and other experiences of a Paleolithic diet compared to a diabetes diet in patients with type 2 diabetes. Nutrition Journal. 2013;12:105.

10. Jönsson T, Granfeldt Y, Erlanson-Albertsson C, Ahren B, Lindeberg S. A paleolithic diet is more satiating per calorie than a mediterranean-like diet in individuals with ischemic heart disease. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2010;7:85.

11. Masharani U, Sherchan P, Schloetter M, Stratford S, Xiao A, Sebastian A, et al. Metabolic and physiologic effects from consuming a hunter-gatherer (Paleolithic)-type diet in type 2 diabetes. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2015.

12. Frassetto LA, Schloetter M, Mietus-Synder M, Morris RC, Jr., Sebastian A. Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2009;63(8):947-55.

13. Mellberg C, Sandberg S, Ryberg M, Eriksson M, Brage S, Larsson C, et al. Long-term effects of a Palaeolithic-type diet in obese postmenopausal women: a 2-year randomized trial. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2014;68(3):350-7.

14. Ryberg M, Sandberg S, Mellberg C, Stegle O, Lindahl B, Larsson C, et al. A Palaeolithic-type diet causes strong tissue-specific effects on ectopic fat deposition in obese postmenopausal women. Journal of Internal Medicine. 2013;274(1):67-76.

The post How Safe Is Your Primal Diet? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

BCAAs are supposed to help prevent muscle from being used as fuel during intense exercise, and help mitigate muscle soreness. I read the research some years ago, and decided to try it. If you’ve ever taken unflavored BCAA powder, it tastes like a skunk smells. Instead, I chose a pill form. A hippo would have trouble swallowing those things. They were huge.

My then girlfriend (now wife), got in the car and we drove to the gym. At a stoplight, I asked her to open the jar and give me a few of those BCAA pills. I was going to work out and stay in an anabolic state. I tried to swallow the first one, but it lodged in my throat and I started choking. I threw up all over myself, turned the car around, and went to get ice cream instead. Best workout of my life.

The Underwhelming BCAAs

Pill-swallowing problems aside, branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) are a good example of a supplement that over-promises and under-delivers. A recent study¹ showed no difference between BCAAs and carbohydrate supplementation in terms of muscle soreness and performance between heavy squat workouts. The study had its limitations, but it showed no positive impact from BCAAs, despite being funded by a company that sells them.

One shortcoming of the study was that it didn’t equally match the carbohydrate content or calories for each group. In other words, the higher calorie content of the carbohydrate group may have helped its results compared to the BCAA supplement. While far from a perfect study, it showed a real world example of taking the supplement. If BCAAs lived up to all the hype, the results would have jumped off the screen regardless of being equally matched to carbohydrate.

Studies like this one really drive home the fact that unless your workouts are on point, sleep is optimal, and overall food intake is of the right amount and quality, 1% won’t matter. BCAAs are just one example of many that could possibly make a difference for the highest level of athletes, but less so for the rest of us. Often a supplement will have a great result in a study so it blows up the market. It is wise to give it some time and further study to see if a larger pool of data confirms this. Most of the time, it won’t hold a candle to regular food.

Look at Your Whole Routine Instead

I understand the emotional decision to believe in something that will work instantly. It takes courage to take an objective look at the realities of your current routine. Most times, you’ll find that the fundamentals can use some work before you need to worry about supplementation.

Look at your training:

3 Guiding Principles for Every Athlete

Look at your coaching:

Move Well First: A New Path for Coaching Fitness

Reference:

1. Kephart, Wesley C., Petey W. Mumford, Anna E. Mccloskey, A. Maleah Holland, Joshua J. Shake, C. Brooks Mobley, Adam E. Jagodinsky, Wendi H. Weimar, Gretchen D. Oliver, Kaelin C. Young, Jordan R. Moon, and Michael D. Roberts. “Post-exercise Branched Chain Amino Acid Supplementation Does Not Affect Recovery Markers following Three Consecutive High Intensity Resistance Training Bouts Compared to Carbohydrate Supplementation.” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 13, no. 1 (2016). Accessed September 17, 2016. doi:10.1186/s12970-016-0142-y.

Headline photo credit: J Perez Imagery

The post Do BCAAs Live Up to the Hype? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

New research published in the scientific journal of the The Obesity Society has interrogated the effects of portion control in a study examining the effect of prepackaged, portion-controlled meals on overall weight loss.

Is our portion control leading to poor weight control? (Photo: Shutterstock)

Pre-Packaged Portions for Dietary Intervention

The study assigned 183 study participants to three groups: one that was prescribed two pre-packaged meals per day, one that was prescribed two higher-protein (>25%) pre-packaged meals per day, and a control group who were allowed to select their own meals. All participants met with a dietitian for counselling to determine personal weight-loss goals, received physical activity recommendations, and learned dietary behavioural strategies.

After three months, 74% of the study’s participants eating the prepackaged foods had achieved weight loss of 5%, compared to only 53% in the control group. The groups that consumed the prepackaged meals also expressed greater confidence in their ability to follow a meal plan long-term.

The results of the study showed a meal plan of portion-controlled, prepackaged, frozen meals for lunch and dinner promoted greater weight loss than a self-selected diet. Even better, the subjects with portioned meals reported feeling more motivated and confident to proceed with a lower calorie-intake to facilitate fat loss. As Martin Binks, spokesperson for The Obesity Society commented:

“Reduction in energy intake is a key factor to weight loss, but it can be difficult for most individuals with overweight or obesity to put into practice. This type of strategy is a step toward implementing effective, evidence-based solutions to obesity.”

With the obesity crisis in the West mounting at an alarming rate, it’s true that we need solutions, and fast ones. According the World Health Organization, obesity is one of, if not the major risk factor for the most deadly non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and some cancers.

Issues and Limitations

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Whilst it’s true reduction in energy intake is a key factor to weight loss and overweight populations tend to struggle to stick to a weight loss plan, this study has its limitations.

• The article’s abstract provides a disclosure that Nestlé USA supported the study. This should raise an eyebrow in anyone who can see the conflict of interest between a mass producer of processed foods and an ‘impartial” clinical research team studying the incidence and treatment of obesity.

• The specifics of each subjects’ food intake appears inconsistent. Participants were encouraged to track their food with smartphone apps, but this capture method was not standardized across the study, introducing an overwhelming number of variables into the sample such as finite macronutrient breakdowns, food timing, and food quality – all of which could have affected the participants rate of weight loss.

• The specifics of each subjects’ energy balance is too generalized. The research team point out that more weight loss was observed in those assigned to pre-packaged foods overall, but all the participants reported higher activity levels, and it’s unclear how these activity levels were measured. If one subject was trying to walk for 10 minutes a day and another was trying out a CrossFit class but both simply reported being “more physically active,” a clear uncontrolled variable is at work amongst the data.

• The pre-packaged foods and nutritional counselling were provided without charge to the study’s participants. With no cooking or food preparation involved and my grocery bill drastically reduced, I’d be pretty motivated, too.

Nothing Beats the Holistic Approach

The obesity situation in the West isn’t just a crisis: it’s an epidemic. Though the spike in obesity incidence from the mid-1990s to now has slowed, it’s still trending upward, and more children are becoming overweight at a younger age. With millions of lives at stake, the temptation to chalk it up to one culprit – in this case, portion control – is overwhelming.

But this is the mistake we’ve made in the past, and one we need to avoid doing again. The vilification of dietary fat has borne a generation addicted to sugar, and if we’re not careful, the vilification of sugar will bear a generation that is overly fearful of dietary carbohydrate. The scientific community needs studies like the portion control study to contribute to the wider discourse on obesity and its treatment, but their findings should always be taken with a pinch of salt. (Which, incidentally, is another dietary compound under fire that we can’t live without).

We should continue to push an attack on obesity that accounts for every major contributing factor, with sensible dietary intervention that covers all of our bases. Portion control wins out in this case, but nothing will supercede the holistic approach of nutrient dense food, macronutrient awareness, and physical activity to fight the onslaught of obesity in our time.

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