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7 Reasons and Ways to Love Butternut Squash
Apparently, Native Americans used bury their dead along with Butternut Squash in order to provide nourishment to the deceased on their final journey.
I don’t think that happens too often any more, but if you’re not very familiar with butternut squash, I’d encourage you to work on changing that.
In Paleo-land, sweet potatoes are hugely popular, and I completely understand why. I love sweet potatoes, after all. But if you want a bit of variety from your starchy tubers, one excellent choice is butternut squash.
When Louise and I roast veggies, butternut squash is usually one of the first veggies we choose. It’s sweet (but not too sweet) and subtly complex.
In addition, Butternut Squash is versatile and can be prepared many ways, and it’s relatively inexpensive.
However, there are many other reasons that butternut squash is an amazing addition to a healthy diet—its nutrient profile is well-rounded, for instance.
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Is Kefir Paleo?
As recently as 3 years ago, I had zero idea what kefir was.
You may or may not be in the same boat, but I couldn’t even pronounce the word. (If you’re wondering, it’s pronounced kuh-FEER.)
What is Kefir?
Kefir is a type of carbonated dairy product that has been around for a very long time.
Evidence shows that people have been fermenting drinks for thousands of years (around 5000 BC for the Babylonians), and kefir is one such drink.
Heralded around Europe and Asia for its healing properties in centuries past, kefir can be made from the milk of any ruminant (any animal that does not completely chew the vegetation that it eats, including goats, cows, sheep, and other milk-producing animals).
Can Anti-Depressants Cause or Trigger Leaky Gut?
I recently got asked this question by a reader:
Can Anti-Depressants Cause or Trigger Leaky Gut?
My response was that I’ve never heard of or seen any studies on anti-depressants causing or triggering leaky gut.
That doesn’t mean it’s not possible, but I don’t have any reason to believe that it would be the case.
6 Things You MUST Know About Bacon
Meat Candy.
You can stuff bacon into practically any food and end up with a more delicious version of that food. From chocolate to skewered chicken, bacon makes almost everything better (bacon jam, anyone?).
And yet, you’ve probably heard for most of your life that bacon is a heart attack waiting to happen. Luckily, we now know that’s just not true.
But the real question…
Is Bacon Actually Healthy?
Is Canola Oil Paleo?
If food were a game of hide and seek, canola oil would be just about the worst player ever.
Canola oil is absolutely everywhere you look. From mayonnaise to nuts to cooked vegetables – canola oil is in just about every food you can imagine. [We found this new mayo that uses avocado oil instead of canola oil – it’s sold here.]
Canola oil is a bit of a unique substance. We know that sunflower oil comes from sunflower seeds and olive oil from olives, so naturally, canola oil comes from canola seeds, right? As it turns out, there is no such thing as a canola seed. Canola oil is made from rapeseed (a very bright, yellow flower), and its name comes from a hybrid of the phrase “Canada oil.” It used to be called LEAR (Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed).
Is Canola Oil Healthy
Many mainstream scientists tout the benefits of canola oil for lowering the risk for heart disease. They often point to its 2:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids, which is a fairly good ratio.
However, that’s a bit misleading.
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Cholesterol is Your Best Friend Forever
About 10 years ago, in Japan, a group of researchers decided to examine the relationship between blood cholesterol and life expectancy in the elderly.
So they went out and found just over 200 elderly folks, all over 85 years old. They ran a bunch of blood tests and then followed them for the next 10 years.
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The Alligator Pear – or How to Love an Avocado
Fun fact: The avocado was at one time called an “alligator pear” for its dark, rough skin.
Another fun fact: Later, sailors began using the creamy insides of the avocado as a kind of topping on biscuits called “midshipman’s butter.”
Regardless of what you choose to call it, there’s no doubt that the avocado is an awesome addition to any meal.
So What is an Avocado?
It seems like a silly question, right? But it’s an interesting one, nonetheless.
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5 Ways to Deal With A Sweet Tooth On A Paleo Diet
This is a guest post from our friend Joel Runyon, who runs ImpossibleHQ.com. You can find the original article here.
Sugar.
You can’t escape it.
Even after you cut out the usual culprits – desserts, candy, and simple carbohydrates – there are still plenty of places sugars manage to sneak into.
It’s simply everywhere.
A good Paleo diet cuts out most processed foods and sugars, which sounds fairly straightforward, but when you realize how prevalent sugar is in different types of food, it’s not always easy – especially if you have a penchant for it. After all, sugar has some of the addictive properties of crack.
The question that comes up a lot is:
Is Deli Meat Paleo?
When it comes to convenience, it’s tough to beat deli meat.
Ham, turkey, salami, prosciutto, roast beef, and dozens of other options are sold in almost every grocery store, and they require no preparation whatsoever to eat.
Traditionally, lunches and sandwiches rely heavily on such cold cuts, but there are a ton of popular news articles that paint these meats as incredibly unhealthy.
Are Deli Meats Healthy?
There are a lot of reasons bandied about as to why deli meats may be unhealthy. I’ll quickly look at them one-by-one:
Paleo Dining on the Road for Beginners
This is a guest post by David Siler.
“I’m going to starve if I have to go 10 hours without meat!”
My wife and I, with our granddaughter were getting ready to drive to Oregon from central California, to visit family. My wife was putting some fruit and veggies in a small ice chest for our trip. That was fine for them, but I just don’t feel like I’ve eaten unless I’ve had some protein, preferably a nice, juicy, piece of meat!
As it turns out, my fears were unfounded.
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Are Artificial Sweeteners Paleo?
Let’s face it—sweet things taste good.
Really good.
And that’s no surprise; primal humans often found that sweet things like fruits were packed with vitamins and minerals that gave them the energy to survive. In addition, sweet usually meant “safe” when it came to food in the wild.
Because of this, people are somewhat hard-wired to enjoy a sweet treat.
Nowadays, the Western diet is jam packed with sugar in every food you can think of. The difference, though, is that where there’s sugar now, there’s not necessarily nourishment (nor is most processed food safe if you take a long-term view).
But what about artificial sweeteners? No or very few calories, so what’s the harm, right?
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Blood Sugar, Insulin Resistance, & Pre- and Pro-Biotics
Partially because probiotics have become such a large industry, there’s a lot of debate over whether or not probiotics are effective. And the debate isn’t surprising.
Nobody has all the answers, but more studies are beginning to shed light on these issues.
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2 Easy Paleo Tricks for Busy, Single Individuals
Here are my best suggestions:
1. Buy frozen veggies. They’re more nutritious anyway (since they’re picked at their ripest and flash-frozen, rather than picked before being ripe and trucked in). That way, you can keep a lot in your freezer, and they thaw out very fast.
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Is Soy Paleo?
Soy scares me more than a little.
Not because it’s unhealthy or anything – that’s a given.
It scares me because it’s used to make fake versions of almost everything.
Cheese, milk, noodles, shrimp. It’s just weird.
Is Soy Healthy?
Going out on a limb here, but I’m probably going to upset some vegans…
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Why Your Husband is Losing Fat Faster Than You
Unfortunately, fat loss is a bit variable from one person to another, and quite often, women struggle with fat loss more than men.
Part of that is evolutionary, since it was always more important for women to hang on to fat for childbirth.
All of that is just to say that it’s often easier for men (but not always – my wife loses fat much more easily than I do).
Generally, I tell people a few things:
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