By experimenting with eating paleo in the past 16 months off and on I have learned a ton about my individual nutritional needs and how to develop healthier eating habits.
There is an insane amount of information out there about what we should eat to be "healthy" - it's a bit overwhelming. With some much information where do you begin? In January of 2010 I started eating paleo and have since read lots of information about that diet, to be more specific I tend to follow Mark Sisson's Primal diet, which is a version of paleo. In the past 4 months or so I have been taking in even more information about eating in order to make some of my own decisions about what I need instead of just following a strict diet. I watched Forks over Knives, based on the China Study and advocates a vegetarian diet with no animal products which claims to stop and in some cases reverse cancer, coronary heart disease, and diabetes. Sounds good, right? But no meat? Confusing. I also watched Food Inc., which is a documentary film that exposes the dangers of industrialized, processed food. That seems like a no-brainer to me: highly processed food is bad, don't eat stuff like Twinkies, the industrial food corporations are evil - makes sense. I have also been reading Eating for Optimum health by Andrew Weil, M.D. which is a good read, albeit a bit scientific at times. I can better understand it now that I have been taking Anatomy & Physiology. Weil, in general advocates for a vegetable and grain based diet with occasional animal protein. For instance he thinks the optimum diet should include only 10-20% of calories from protein. What is the right thing to do?? I don't intend this to a discussion on the merits of various food and diet theories instead I want to talk about 2 foods that I have learned more about that I am increasing specifically into my diet. This is one point on which I have found common principles between what Weil says and what paleo/primal advocates, yeah! some possible agreement between the many nutrition camps instead of contradiction.
Reading Weil has helped me understand Omega 3 fatty acids better and how important they are, which is related to the importance of eating meat that is not raised on grains but grass as paleo/primal diet champions. Turns out that there are not a ton of foods that contain omega 3's but there are lots that contain omega 6's, especially with highly processed foods. Both omega 6 and omega 3 are needed by the body. They help convert food into energy, move and regulate oxygen around the body, used by cell membranes and for synthesis of hormones basic to life (of note, they help in healing response). Weil believes that many people are deficient in omega 3's. To be more specific he believes that the modern diet creates an unhealthy ratio of omega 6's to omega 3's.
Even if LNA, an omega-3 is present in the diet, a high omega-6 to omega-3 ration blocks production of the inhibitory progstaglandins. It is certain that the modern Western diet is seriously deficient in omega-3 EFAs. Moreover, the diet now provides a great excess of omega-6 EFAs, mainly in polyunsaturated vegetable oils and products made from them, creating an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio vastly different from what most people enjoyed in the past. Widespread use of polyunsaturated vegetable oils is a dietary change that came with the twentieth century. So is the modern practice of eating meat from animals raised on grains devoid of omega-3 EFAs instead of grasses containing them. Therefore it is more than possible that the epidemic of coronary heart disease and fatal heart attacks took place in the twentieth century correlates not so much with any excess in what people were consuming, but rather with deficiencies of protective factors that in the past neutralized the harmful effects of eating a lot of saturated fat and high-glycemic-index carbohydrates. - Andrew Weil, M.D.
By 'people of the past' does he mean cavemen and women? I think so, because before the modern industrial farm, animals did not eat grain, they ate grass and in the case of fish, they at algae. These grasses and algaes are the sole reason why the animal proteins contain omega 3's. Grain fed cows, pigs, chickens and fish do not contain omega 3's because they do not eat grass/algae. Many people think that salmon alone is a source of omega 3's but it is actually only wild salmon. (Some farmed salmon in addition to being raised on grain may be given access to dietary sources of omega-3s but unlikely). If you eat meat, it is essential that you eat meat that is not grain fed for this reason. I know it is expensive and in some cases difficult to obtain. Which is why I am choosing to diversify my animal protein in-take with incorporating wild salmon if I can find it, as an alternative to other animal proteins.
If you are not excited about eating animal protein, walnuts and their oil are great dietary sources of omega-3s. With any kind of nuts and oil be sure to store them appropriately so they do not become rancid. Dark leafy greens also contain omega-3s but not as abundant as wild salmon or walnuts. Oddly the plant purslane contains a surprisingly high amount of omega-3s, but I don't have any experience with eating it, apparently it is easy to grow and added to fresh salsas in Mexico. Flax oil and seeds are great omega-3 sources as well.
Bottom line: we need to eat foods with omega 3's more. How much more, I don't have a clue but beginning to be aware of it is a start.
