Happy Monday, All!
Welcome to the unofficial start of Spring! I know that I’m jumping the gun just a wee little (the official start being next Sunday), however, the clocks have changed – the days are getting longer – the temperatures are slowly climbing – and the Dutch bulbs are starting to bloom. It’s that perfect time of the year to jump outside for a few solid hours of yard work to be chased back inside when the chill comes on to get a few solid hours of de-cluttering and cleaning done. And while we’re here – may I suggest one final purge of the pantry and freezer? All this cleaning and organizing is as good for your mental health as your physical health.
Thanks to the concerted efforts of many members of our group we are growing in size weekly! I owe you all my deepest gratitude for your continued support and dedication. With many of our emails being passed on as well as portions cut, pasted, and referred to – we are making a difference in many more people than are simply on the list. Without you, however, none of this is possible. I am humbled by these actions. Please continue to feel free to pass these along to anyone you think may be interested! Over the next two weeks I would like to double our membership size. So my challenge to you is to find at least one person to add to the list. You can ask them to join or just spring it on them (J) – your choice. Forward me a name, email, and brief intro to who they are, where they live, and what they do. Can we hit 50 members by the end of the month? I believe we can!
Let’s welcome Larry – our newest member! Larry comes to us by way of the Capital folks out in Racine. He’s been actively bringing his health and nutrition in-line over the past few months and is excited to join in our collective journey’s! Welcome!
Last week our meeting had to move rather abruptly to the Tech Center due to our normal meeting room being in use. I apologize for not knowing this in advance. As such, we had a small group and decided to move our conversation on Inflammation (this includes such topics as arthritis, aches, and hair loss) to Tuesday. We also now have the ability to teleconference our meetings so we will give that a try tomorrow. Look for a following email that has the information on how to join that!
Today I would like to take a moment to get some hard science information into your hands. We all still struggle a bit with grain consumption and its true place in the evolution of our nutritional being. Don Matesz has a terrific article outlining the consumption of grains by Neanderthals. The teaser is below – the article is attached. Chime in with your thoughts!
Nutrition Tip of the Day: Just give up. Yes, you read that right. Give up. Well – find something worthwhile to give up anyway. For many in our area, last week started the tradition of Lent. For many this means making a type of resolution of giving up something. Smoking? Check. Alcohol? Check. Bread? Well…
Here’s a thought – complaining.
We’re all practiced at giving up a food article for 30 days. If nothing more than to find out how it affects us. You’ve cut out the grains right? How about the dairy? Maybe now the nightshades after last week’s post? Today I challenge you to do one thing that will make you happier and make people around you like you more. Quit complaining. Dale Carnegie is famous for his revolutionary book “How to Win Friends & Influence People.” In his book, he lists out his Ten Golden Rules. Number 1? Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain.
Or as Gretchen Rubin puts it in her book “The Happiness Project” – There is only love.
Yes, there are people around us who are difficult to handle. They make problems for everyone around them. People complain about them time and time and time and time again… Know one of those people? Perhaps you are one of those people? Let’s think about this for a moment. Did you ever get to make a full assessment of that person before hearing negative remarks? Probably not. Then the more you heard – the less you probably liked working with them. That’s not really fair – nor is it probably accurate! There are many people demonized before others even get to meet them. In my own experience this is true. I have several friends who are good people. I have never had any issues with them and they appear to treat others fairly. However, I hear from others about all these bad things. They criticize – condemn – and complain to me about these good people I know. I get questioned how I can be their friend or how I can work with so-and-so or a litany of other accusations of such. Really, in the end, I find that it is because I choose not to talk negative about these people that I end up with a positive viewpoint of the situation. It’s not easy and I do find myself falling into the gossip trap at times, but let us choose – for 30 days – to not criticize, condemn, or complain about the people around us. Walk away when others are doing that. And see how much happier we are and easier it is to be around others.
Do you have an experience like this to share? Reply all or comment!
Workout of the Day: Warm-up: 2 rounds of 15 reps – Jumping Jacks, Shoulder Stretch, Push-ups, Walking Lunge, Samson Stretch, Squat (hold bottom!) Work-out: 20 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of 30 squats, 30 side lunges (15 ea side), 15 push-ups (elevated if possible).
And because I love you all so much (and bacon is so yummy) check out this super recipe from the Keatley’s over at Health-Bent.com.
Bacon Wrapped Sweet Potato Fries with Chipotle Lime Dip
To giving up – and not complaining about it.
Mike.
http://donmatesz.blogspot.com/2010/12/grain-consumption-by-neanderthals.html
Grain Consumption By Neanderthals
The recent PNAS publication of "Microfossils in calculus demonstrate consumption of plants and cooked foods in Neanderthal diets" by Amanda Henry, Alison Brooks, and Dolores Piperno
has created some stir in the paleo diet community and of course among paleo diet opponents. The abstract of this article:
The nature and causes of the disappearance of Neanderthals and their apparent replacement by modern humans are subjects of considerable debate. Many researchers have proposed biologically or technologically mediated dietary differences between the two groups as one of the fundamental causes of Neanderthal disappearance. Some scenarios have focused on the apparent lack of plant foods in Neanderthal diets. Here we report direct evidence for Neanderthal consumption of a variety of plant foods, in the form of phytoliths and starch grains recovered from dental calculus of Neanderthal skeletons from Shanidar Cave, Iraq, and Spy Cave, Belgium. Some of the plants are typical of recent modern human diets, including date palms (Phoenix spp.), legumes, and grass seeds (Triticeae), whereas others are known to be edible but are not heavily used today. Many of the grass seed starches showed damage that is a distinctive marker of cooking. Our results indicate that in both warm eastern Mediterranean and cold northwestern European climates, and across their latitudinal range, Neanderthals made use of the diverse plant foods available in their local environment and transformed them into more easily digestible foodstuffs in part through cooking them, suggesting an overall sophistication in Neanderthal dietary regimes.
It seems that whenever any evidence arises for grain consumption by prehistory hominins in the Upper Paleolithic age, someone asserts or wonders if this constitutes evidence (no matter how slim) that, contrary to the widely accepted paleo principle, humans have adapted to eating grains. But before I get to that, let me comment on a part of this abstract.
No comments:
Post a Comment