The best thing about providing nutrition education via a CrossFit Affiliate is that my days of tiptoeing around vegetarians are OVER. I was a vegetarian for a long time as I’ve written before, and I have the utmost respect for people’s personal eating choices. Each of us has profound motivations for choosing the foods we choose. I honor that in each person. However, I absolutely no longer believe that vegetarianism is more environmentally sound than eating animal foods and I absolutely no longer believe that avoiding meat is healthy. I do believe that the source and type of animal foods we eat and the way in which animals are raised and harvested is very important to our health and the ecology of our planet. My grandfather set an incredible foundation for my thinking about eating animals. He tracked, hunted, killed, butchered and cooked his own animals. He ate every bit and in a generation of men not known for their culinary skills, he was an excellent cook. He loved real butter and ate a lot of fat which I’m pretty sure protected him from all the smoking and drinking he did! In my childhood Universe, one of the things that separated kids from adults was that adults gutted and cleaned the fish and kids just got to catch them. All of you men (I’d love to meet some women this would speak to) who hunt and eat your animals do not need to be apologetic about it. It is funny how long it takes me to extract from some of you guys that you hunt, as if you will be in big trouble.
What does this have to do with you all?
The more research we do, the more evidence we uncover regarding the importance of a decent Omega-6:Omega-3 fat ratio in our diet. Among other things, these two Essential Fatty Acids are the raw materials for the pro-inflammatory prostaglandin hormones (the 6) in our body (important for tissue healing) and the anti-inflammatory prostaglandin hormones (the 3) (inflammation is good, but needs to be shut down too). Omega-6s come from nuts, seeds, vegetables and grains (all those vegetable-based oils we eat). Omega-3s come from cold-water fish, wild game, properly raised eggs, hemp seeds, chia seeds and flax seeds. Major consideration between these choices is that the 3s from animals are EPA and DHA form, absolutely ready to use in the body. The 3s in those seeds need to undergo a significant amount of metabolic conversion before they are useful AND especially flax seeds, have not been constituents of the human diet for very long AND flax is a cold-climate, very fragile food which does not translate well to our desert climate.
Recent research at Laval University in Canada gives us an insight into the importance of the O-3s for creating new muscle tissue. We know that the ability of mammals (yes, you are a mammal) to convert nutrients from food to muscle declines with age. Although we don’t understand the entire reason for this, insulin resistance is a likely piece of the puzzle. Omega-3 fats improve glucose metabolism in animals and humans which prompted researchers at Laval U. to conduct a study to determine if supplemental Omega-3 fats helped synthesize new muscle. These researchers gave one group of animals supplemental O-3s in the form of fish oil. Interestingly, the control group was given olive oil (that vegetable oil everyone says is so beneficial). The study found that the O-3 supplemented group used TWICE as many of their amino acids (proteins) to synthesize muscle compared to the control group. Another fascinating tidbit from agricultural researchers is that animals supplemented with Omega-3 fats “spontaneously eat 10% less food to achieve the same weight gain”. In other words, with adequate O-3 status the body can do the same amount of anabolic work with less energy intake. Very cool. You should think about how much more metabolically efficient the body can be if it is properly nourished.
SO, why eat Paleo? Because it improves your O-6:0-3 ratio AND improves your insulin sensitivity. Perfect. And if you are one of those skinny people trying to build muscle, get your O-3s into you. If you are really serious get your O-3s via some cod liver oil, so you keep your Vitamin A status high. You need Vitamin A to produce testosterone, to grow your muscle.
Timely post, at least for me. I have spent the last few weeks doing my own research on Omega-3 oils, mostly for their anti-inflammatory uses, as well as mental health benefits. But I had not come across any info regarding muscle synthesis. As a skinny guy who has been gaining weight more slowly than I would like, this may be just the ticket. I’ve been meaning to add more O-3s to my diet. Now I have one more reason to do so.
“THE Food List” you gave us along with our Paleo-zone challenge doesn’t include hemp seeds, chia seeds or flax seeds. Are these just extras in terms of macro-nutrients? Or is there some amount of seed we should consider a block of fat? Do these seeds contribute any other macro-nutrients (please oh please give me some kind of protein that isn’t meat or in powder form!!)?
I’ve also recently been looking a lot at Raw foods. Cooking seems like the most counter-intuitive thing ever this time of year. Raw recipes seem to include lots of nuts and sprouted grains. Where do these fit into the zone diet? Where can I turn for protein when cooking feels like such a bad idea?
You can count the seeds like you would the other seeds and nuts in the fat blocks (like sunflower seeds). They are for fat. Hemp and CHia have some protein (you can use Hemp protein powder for example). I agree that cooking is not appealing this time of year (outside over a grill helps). Raw Food is NOT SYNONYMOUS with no animal foods. Eat your fish and your beef and your lamb raw. Kibbeh, tartare, ceviche etc… Nuts are on your Zone list-under fat. 3 is 1 block. Grains are not Paleo, but sprouted is better than not. Look at the label on the sprouted grain breads-9g of Carb = 1 block, but you will have a hard time getting enough protein that way without overdoing the carbs. Raw Meat is the answer.
Jen, I really appreciate all your discussions regarding nutrition! Thank you!
I’ve copied a nice recipe for Kibbek which I love and ate a lot growing up. Speaking of which Dolma stuff with ground lamb was also a usual suspect. I know rice is not Paleo, but what about grape leaves?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/health/nutrition/14recipehealth.html
Thanks Jen for all this info. Just what I needed to read.
Gotta tell you, that was good information. In fact (and I am being 100% sincere), before I responded with this post, I walked over to my fridge, and took a big “swig” of Norwegian cod liver oil….lemon flavor of course. I have always been a huge advocate of eating healthy fats well beyond “recommended” levels, and it is when I practice what I preach that I find myself having the best workouts, the greatest improvements in body composition, and the least soreness in my joints. And vice-versa, if I fall off the wagon for a couple of weeks…crappy workouts, knees that kill, etc…hmmm, I just solved my own problem. And to silence the anti-fat critics from a health perspective, my cholesterol is well within normal, LDL’s low, HDL’s high, and my blood pressure is about 110/60 on average. In fact, the only time my bloodwork has been a concern, and subsequently when I had high blood pressure, was when I was eating a ridiculous amount of refined carbohydrates, and almost no fruits, vegetables, natural unprocessed meats, or EFA’s.
Grape leaves are absolutely Paleo and I love them stuffed with lamb, pine nuts and raisins. To be more exact on the chia seeds: 2T is 4.5g fat and only 3g protein. SO, more than a fat block and not even 1/2 a protein block. But chia are a fantastic fat source.
I simply want to say that I can barely atnd up straight after yesterdays workout. At leat I finished it!
http://www.living-foods.com/articles/chia.html
Jen, I can’t remember the brand name you told me yesterday. What was it again? I want to get some today!
Carlson’s Brand.