So, I started writing this rather self-righteous post about how I think it's foolish when people go to what I consider 'illogical extremes' with their diet. I tried to use a survival analogy to illustrate my point - referring to the fact that our ancestors, the mighty cavemen, didn't restrict their diets. They *couldn't* restrict their diets, in the name of survival.

As I was writing it, I started looking around for information to back up what I thought was a really great point. Instead I found some research that indicates that cavemen DID in fact eat a restricted diet - not out of choice, but because it was all they had access to. And their restricted diet may have rendered them a lot heathier than modern man.

Once I realized the research slightly contradicted my entire analogy, I thought about deleting this whole entry. Instead, I decided to shovel up a big ol' slice of humble pie and publish it anyway. Even if my original point is now somewhat moot, it's still interesting to learn about the caveman diet. 

More interestingly, this very contradictory post can actually help to illustrate a very real issue in the Wellness World: contradictions are everywhere. One person may tell you to that cardio is better for fat loss, another may tell you that weight training is. One may tell you that a vegetarian diet is the best way to keep your heart healthy, another may tout lean protein as the source of a healthy heart. It's very difficult for the average end-user to know what's true and what's hype, and it makes the whole journey down the wellness path even more winding and convoluted than it needs to be. We have to band together to wade through the muck. So that's what this convoluted, time-stamped post now represents: wellness muck-wading.

What started as a quasi-Darwinian look at nutrition soon evolved into something else entirely. 

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"If it doesn't make sense, it probably isn't true."
(Thursday, October 29, 10:12am)

Truer words were never spoken (and we have Judge Judy to thank for that gem).

Sometimes when I'm pondering an issue that affects us as a species, I think in terms of evolution.

In order for us to evolve into man, the one and only thing we needed to master was survival. To this end, man learned how to do a lot of things that probably didn't come immediately naturally to him. He learned to drink water. How did he learn to do this? Let's assume it was trial and error. Probably sometime very early in our existence, when our first single-celled ancestors emerged from the primordial soup, we lost a few generations of organisms because we were just so gosh-darned thirsty but didn't know how to satisfy our thirst. Or, for that matter, what "feeling thirsty" even meant. Eventually we learned that if we drank water, we could stave off that thirsty feeling and - as a bonus - we didn't die as much.

As we grew from plankton to monkey to man, we learned a lot of things in this way. We learned that we needed to eat. We probably expended a few generations' worth of ancestors just figuring out what plants and organisms were edible and which were poisonous - or which ones would fight back and kill us if we tried to eat them. We learned to make weapons to take down these bigger, more murderous meals. We learned that their skin and fur kept us warm when the temperature got cold. We learned to make fire to keep us even more warm and we figured out that if we cooked our meat over that fire, we lost even fewer of our kin to illness.

We figured all this stuff out. Of course. it took a really long time to get to where we are now. Now we live in a world with flying machines, smartphones and crunchy tacos INSIDE soft tacos (how do they DO that?). But it can't hurt to think back to where we came from and how we managed to get here.

Which - to sum up this neverending preamble - is why I shake my head when I hear someone say that he or she is trying some kind of new eating plan that eliminates {food item/macronutrient}.

The fundamentals of nutrition are relatively simple: the food we take in is converted and used in a very specific way in our bodies to keep us survivin'. Moreover, we've been honing the skill of survival for millions of years. In our history as a species, nutrition has played one of the biggest roles in our ability to thrive, reproduce and evolve. 

Scaling nutrition back to very simplistic terms, we have our macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates and fat. Water is sometimes tossed in there as a macronutrient too. We have the vitamins and minerals. All of these things work in the body to regulate stuff and help build the tissues and cells and things that we need to, you know, exist. I'm REALLY simplifying this...

What if I told you that I decided I was going to go on a low-calcium diet? You'd probably recoil in horror at the inevitable loss of density in my teeth and bones. You'd remember back to everything you learned in your life about how drinking milk is necessary for us to "grow up big and strong."

Or maybe I'll try a low-Vitamin C diet. Think of all the calories I'll save if I never eat another orange again! I'll look super hot in my swimsuit this year, if you can overlook the scurvy-induced bleeding gums and skin lesions.

Or, okay. Let's put this in terms that modern-day 21st-century man can understand: What if I said I was going to go on a low-protein, high-carb diet?

*stunned silence*

Somewhere in very recent history, carbohydrates have been labeled "really bad" and protein deemed "super good." Fat suffered this same fate a few years ago too, before everyone jumped on the low-carb wagon. In fact, they're all totally unique, equally-necessary macronutrients that perform important roles and tasks for the proper care and function of our bodies. Every macronutrient, vitamin and mineral is equally important, and shunning one of them makes absolutely no sense.

Our genetic code, dietarily speaking, is built upon simple, intuitive eating habits. Rather than obsessing about what to eliminate from your diet, spend less time thinking about it altogether, and let your body have a logical sampling of all the macronutrients. The building blocks of basic nutrition are not open to interpretation. We didn't get to where we are today by eliminating one or more of  our necessary dietary elements.

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Eating Crow (a Good Source of Lean Protein!)
(Thursday, October 29 2009, 11:26am)

Well now I'm a little bummed, because I just read this article about the caveman diet, which says that in fact cavemen *did* have a restricted diet, and that modern man is not equipped to consume and digest all the refined carbohydrates we've been eating since the advent of agriculture.

The article went on to indicate that some of the common diet-related diseases we see occurring more and more often as time goes on - such as obesity and Type 2 diabetes - are because, at the genetic level, our bodies have not kept up with the technological advances of agriculture and food preparation. We are not programmed to thrive on our modern diet.

Cavemen didn't have a means by which to process and refine the grains that modern man eats in such abundance today. Sugar and salt as we know them didn't exist. Even dairy was scarce or non-existent. As a result, cavepeeps probably had healthier hearts and narrower midsections than the average modern man.  

Cavemen ate only what they could kill or procure from the plants around them, so it meant a lot of lean proteins, fruits, nuts and berries. It sounds a little Atkins-ish, except that the caveman diet wasn't restricted out of some desire to look hot in a loincloth - it was simply because only certain foods were available. 

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So What have we Learned?
(Thursday, October 29 2009, 4:04pm)

I still feel confident that the best way to eat is to eat in a way that makes logical sense. But maybe it has to make sense 400,000 years ago.

400, 000 years ago, there was no white rice, no white pasta, no white bread, no sugary candy, no salt shakers on the table. Cavepersons intuitively ate the things that were available to them, things that existed naturally in their world, and they were probably healthier, nutritionally speaking, than man is today.

So we could say that we've learned that we should avoid eating refined grains... but I feel like we probably knew that already. Eliminating refined grains is NOT the same as eliminating all carbohydrates, and even the cavemen knew that. They ate lots of berries and as many whole grains as they could dredge up. If a caveman had decided to NOT eat berries, he would have been eliminating one of his vital sources of nutrients - a deeply illogical move, especially since a caveman needed to have as much energy as possible, since he spent much of his day battling sabre-toothed tigers and inventing the wheel. The caveman needed to eat all of the naturally-occurring foods available to him, and so do you. 

If someone suggests that you need to eliminate an entire macronutrient in order to be fit and healthy, tell them, "No thanks. I'm trying to keep our species alive here." 

Poor fat. Fat has such a terrible reputation. "Don't eat fat and, whatever you do, definitely don't be fat." I know so many people who have no tolerance for fat. I remember one extremely lean fitness colleague of mine saying that she was happy she had almost no breasts to speak of, because she couldn't stand to look down and see all that fat sitting there on her chest. She even made an "ew" face as she said it (never mind that she was talking to me, a girl with a healthy layer of body fat all over).

I don't know about you, but now that I'm in my 30s I am much more welcoming to fat. I think it keeps me looking luscious and healthy.

I know what you're thinking: "Did she really just describe herself as 'luscious?'" I did. And I meant it. And I like it.

So here's a shoutout to Fat - probably the most-despised macronutrient... and that's saying a lot, because there are a lot of carb-haters out there.

The Fat Manifesto

-- Fat is necessary for your body to absorb some important vitamins. If you don't eat some fat, you can scratch vitamins A, D, E and K off of your list, because your body aint gettin' any.

-- Did you know that fat is necessary in order to help waterproof the skin? Imagine how soaked you'd be if your skin wasn't 'laminated' with water resistant fat. You'd be literally soaked to the bone.

-- Fat is a crucial component of many hormones that work hard in our bodies to keep our engines purring.
 
-- As you get older, you have to sacrifice your butt to save your face. If we strive to eliminate every ounce of fat from our bodies, it shows up on our faces. Our cheeks become sallow and wrinkly. Our lips vanish. Our boobs go away. Do you really want to look like the Crypt Keeper in middle-age? Having some fat on your face keeps you looking youthful - but it does mean that you'll have to hang on to a little fat elsewhere on your body, including your butt.

-- This one's for the ladies: we're SUPPOSED to be soft. Listen, I covet a Dara Torres body as much as the next girl, but it's not realistic to be that fat-free, unless you happen to be an Olympian. Men typically like a lady with some lady lumps. 

-- Fat takes a long time to digest, so if you're eating meals that have an ideal balance of good fats, you'll feel satisfied longer.

-- Oh, another one for the women (men, shield your eyes). As much as we hate our "monthly visitor," if your fat intake and your body fat become too low, you may stop menstruating. It may seem like a blessing in disguise, but it is actually the tell-tale sign of a serious hormone imbalance and/or low energy availability (i.e. you're not eating enough of ANYTHING to keep your body functioning normally). Whenever your body ceases to function normally, a red flag should go up, but especially in this case because the seemingly awesome cessation of your period can contribute to severe bone loss.  
 
-- Fat insulates your cells and neural pathways, and are an essential energy source for the brain. If your fat intake is too low, it can affect the function of your mind, and may lead to spaciness, lack of focus and depression. Who wants to be a bummed-out hardbody?

-- You need to take in a certain amount of good cholesterol to even out the bad cholesterol in your blood. These good fats help prevent heart disease by leveling the playing field between good and bad cholesterol.

-- Some of the most delicious and indulgent food experience come at the hands of fat. Fat has a very pleasing sensation to our mouths. This is one of the reasons why fatty foods are so "addictive" - our brain registers this pleasure sensation and makes us want more, more, more. Of course, we need to keep our fat intake to a healthy range, but these deliciously pleasing fatty foods can and should be enjoyed in moderation. I don't want to live in a world where I'm not supposed to eat cheese.

Yoga is many things – restorative, peaceful, ancient… and intimidating. There are so many benefits to a yoga practice, but it can be overwhelming for a beginner. What do I wear? Where should I set up my mat? What if I can’t bend the way they want me to bend? What happens if my cell phone rings? 

Believe it or not, all those people you see strolling around with their yoga mats casually tossed over their shoulders on their way to or from a yoga class went through this exact same learning curve. Nobody told them how yoga studios work – they just mustered up their courage to try it, and figured it out as they went along.

But many of us aren’t that courageous when it comes to trying a brand new, totally foreign activity. Here are some quick tips that will have you waltzing into your first yoga class looking like a pro.

Class levels and types
The types and levels of yoga vary from studio to studio and instructor to instructor, so your best bet is to venture in to your local yoga studio and pick up a schedule, or see if they’ve got one posted online. Almost all yoga studios’ schedules will describe what each of their classes is like.

Restorative yoga – sometimes called Hatha yoga - is a great place to start if you’re brand new to yoga and feeling nervous about any physical limitations you may feel you have. These classes typically move you into poses more slowly, and you’ll spend more time enjoying each pose, working on improving your flexibility and reducing your stress.

Power yoga classes – often found under the category of Ashtanga yoga - can be an incredibly demanding muscular workout. If your studio has an Intro to Ashtanga class, give that a whirl. If not, an Ashtanga Level 1 class is pretty doable for most people – you just have to embrace the fact that much of the terminology will be new and foreign to you.

Hot yoga is a much newer branch of power yoga done in a studio where the temperature is turned up high. The resulting hot workout gets your heart pumping and your sweat flowing like almost nothing else. This sweat-fest is said to help eliminate toxins from the body, and the heat of the room may help enhance flexibility – warm muscles tend to be more bendy than cold ones. 

Studio Etiquette
In yoga studios, there is one big rule: please be quiet. Other classes may be in session when you arrive, and loud noises can disrupt the experience. Turn off your cell phone before you walk in the front doors of the studio, and try to remember to speak in a soft voice while you’re there.

Try to be on time for the start of class, and stay right until the end. Coming into and out of the studio is often disruptive to the meditative experience of a yoga class. 

Necessary Gear
Yoga is a pretty gear-light activity. A yoga mat is really all you need for the average class. These mats are just cushiony enough to keep you comfortable on the floor and just sticky enough so that your hands and feet stay firmly planted during poses.

Some classes may have you use additional equipment like blocks, bolsters and straps to help ease you into more complex poses. Many yoga studios have these items available to borrow.

As far as wardrobe is concerned, wear a comfy top and long shorts or pants, and bare feet! Don’t worry too much about the state of your pedicure – honestly, nobody is looking.
 
Yoga Vocabulary
Your instructor may intersperse some Sanskrit language into his or her class. Don’t let this trip you up – you are not expected to memorize these words. Other instructors may use English words to describe the poses. Either way, try not to let the terminology intimidate you; eventually you’ll start to learn what some of the words mean.

In addition to the poses, there are a lot of breathing (“pranayama”) and posturing (“bhanda”) terms that your instructor may toss out during practice. He or she should explain what they mean during class, but if not, just hang in there and do your thing. Eventually you will begin to catch on.

The good news is, yoga hasn’t changed much in the last few thousand years, so once you start getting the hang of it, you’re golden.

Honour the Body
There is a strong focus in yoga on “honouring the body.” This means checking in with how your body feels during your practice, and taking positions and challenges that work for you and you only. Let go of judgments and ego and just accept that your body will tell you when it wants to push hard and when it wants to rest. If your instructor ever takes the class into a pose that you really feel you’re not ready or able to try, you can absolutely choose to skip that pose.

Allow for a Big Learning Curve
There is a lot of poses in yoga, and you are never expected to know them all. Allow yourself the opportunity to learn, and give yourself a break if your instructor asks you to take a pose that you’ve never heard of before. Every single person in the room has gone through the very same learning curve you are experiencing. After four or five classes, some things should start to make a little more sense to you. Hang in there!

After the Class
The very end of a typical yoga class involves a few minutes of relaxation and meditation. Meditation is yet another daunting aspect of yoga practice, as many of us feel that we are too busy and important to shut off our minds and just sit quietly for a moment.  In fact, truly letting go of your physical, mental and emotional struggles will leave you feeling refreshed, renewed and at peace.

Some yoga studios do not allow participants to leave during the meditation, so if you are pressed for time or aren’t feeling in the mood for relaxation, be sure to pack up your mat and quickly and quietly leave at the very beginning of the mediation. You’ll know when it’s meditation time, because everyone will be lying on their backs, resting. Your yoga instructor may refer to it as “savasana” (shav-AH-sah-na), which is a Sanskrit word meaning “corpse pose.”

The instructor might guide you through the meditation, or leave you to rest quietly on your own. Some people fall fast asleep during meditation and, yes, some people even snore! It’s all good – anything goes in savasana.

After a few moments, the instructor will start to “bring you back,” waking you up from your relaxed state of mind and body.

Namaste
At the end of class, typically the instructor rand all the participants share a Namaste – or ‘thank you’ in Sanskrit. It, like everything else in yoga, is not mandatory; it’s simply a sharing of all that good energy you’ve created within yourself.

Yoga will challenge and invigorate you like almost no other workout can. The intimidation element of the yoga studio should never deter you from doing something so restorative and so positive for your body and mind.