Foods for a good night’s sleep (Thinkstock photos/Getty Images)
Insomnia or lack of sleep can have a terrible effect on your body besides a rough morning. We list out certain food that can help you get sound sleep.
Bananas: Researchers have found that having a banana before going to bed can help people suffering from sleep apnea by keeping their throats open and therefore reduce the risk of choking. Bananas are also excellent source of magnesium and potassium, minerals that help prevent muscle spasms or cramps during the night, making them a good bedtime snack as well especially after a heavy exercise session.
Cherries: A natural source of melatonin, researchers in the Journal of Sleep and Sleep Disorders indicate that consuming cherries before bed helped people sleep faster and easier. The fruit is a natural sleep aid.
Flax seeds: These are ideal for increasing levels of sleep regulating serotonin in the body due to high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Furthermore, omega-3 fatty acids have been proven to help reduce anxiety, depression and stress which are leading causes of insomnia.
Dairy products: Some research suggests that a deficiency of calcium in the diet can cause disturbed sleep patterns and a lack of deep sleep. Dairy products come to our rescue.
Oats: It is a good source of tryptophan. Try eating a small bowl of porridge before bed to help you get some deep sleep.
A journey in the startup of "food 2.0", or how to raise the quality of our spending. By relying on organic food or kilometer zero by MAURO MUNAFO '
When it comes to startup, thought flies immediately to computers, the
web, the virtual Silicon. But if there is one sector in Italy which can boast
the highest concentration of new online activity, and in fact should not
surprise, is what concerns food and cuisine. The grocery store, choose recipes,
sautee for friends and gather around a table are so routine actions that we
consider now unchangeable. Yet many young entrepreneurs are convinced that
there can be something to improve and that the right place to start doing it is
just our country, with its culture of good flavors. A journey in the startup of
"food 2.0" is therefore a must.
No meal could begin without having the ingredients and the first step
can only be devoted to spending. In addition to sites that allow you to send
home as chosen at the supermarket, growing attention to the organic product and
per kilometre zero, thanks to local portals like Clodsin Rome, Biokistlin Tyrol, Casina Cornalein Cuneo and Cortilia in Lombardy, which allow
you to choose and send home their local and seasonal products: from vegetables
to eggsfrom fruit to cold meats and honey.
"Alerted consumers on topics such as seasonality and quality of
what they order," explains Marco
Porcaro,
serial startupper and founder of Cortilia, "the
agricultural world is little and evil on the web and our goal is to shorten the
world's longest chain, the food, and put in direct contact with the producer
and the consumer".
Cortilia was born under the name of Geomercato in 2011 and has since
collected more than 10,000 members and 600 thousand euros of funds from
business angel and venture capitalists. We worked today a team of seven people
in their thirties, struggling with the online platform organization, logistics
and transportation in Milan and nearby towns. "We move bits, like other
technology startups, as well as Zucchini," continues Porcaro, "all
the logistics is our responsibility and we also submitted sample quality checks
and to educate small producers on how to make the best use of the internet".
Those who not only has no time for shopping, but also for ideas on what
to cook and does not want to risk out of hand, you may find interesting as
proposed by iDinner, startup of
Sardinia a few months landed even in large northern cities and soon also in
Central Italy. The iDinner product is simple: a charge for 4 dinners for a
family of 2 or 4 persons, with all ingredients (fresh seasonal) needed to follow
the recipes recommended by team nutritionist.
"We are two families with children who do not like to eat the same
things," says Andrea Masci, a founder of iDinner, "but as all parents
know, go to the supermarket with children makes you crazy and you can not
always get what you want or think about what prepare". After a long study
of details, and taking a cue from the Swedish experience (thanks to a team
member who comes from the Scandinavian country), in April 2012 iDinner opened
its doors in Cagliari and, after the summer, he landed in Milan and Turin.
"Today we make a fifty deliveries per week and our customers are mostly
people who work all day, fail to do your shopping and you are stewed of
takeout. We care to guarantee a great variety in recipes and ingredients that
we propose. All at an affordable price ".
Not too far from what was thought to be iDinner, but married at the
world of wine, is the idea behind 3Wine, veronese
startup founded by Alberto Zampini and aimed at those who love wine but you
lose between labels and quality.
"Once a month I like to organise a dinner at home with
friends," says Zampini, 33 years and returned to Italy in order to launch
his bet, "because I didn't know what to cook ever and the best wine to
pair with food I came up with the idea of 3Wine taste box". As other
companies send customers home boxes with shoes, tricks or other products, 3Wine
sends three bottles of wine chosen by experts and combined with a series of
recipes to enjoy them to the fullest.
"We try to create a culinary path, advising of simple dishes and
sending the right wine to accompany them," continues Zampini, "there
are 3 sommelier that each month choose the wines of medium-high quality around
which we created the product then we send to customers with a shopping list
with all ingredients that serve for dinner that we recommend. In this way you
can organize dinners in which discover new foods and wines ".
Groceries, wines and recipes may be useful, but there is also the other
side of the coin: eat at home than others. And on this front works NewGusto,
which promises to let us feast in other people's homes.
"The idea came from a necessity," says Antonio Ruscitti,
co-founder of NewGusto, "Christian, one of the other founders, is a good
fork and a lover of travel: but when he went to other cities or countries was
unable to try the local cuisine and not that of restaurants for tourists".
Antonio, Christian and others team components have launched NewGusto in
2011, with the aim of creating a platform to "share" their kitchen
and know each other around a table, collecting up to today over ten thousand
members from 59 countries. "We like to call ourselves a couchsurfing:
table instead of the couch though, here you are sharing a Chair in the kitchen
and then have users decide whether to divide the expenses or to pay or fewer
guests. People want to know each other and the food can be the best way to do
it ".
Whatever is happening to our food? Or to our meat, to be precise. Up
until now meat – fatty, grisly, chewy meat, glistening in tallow – has played a
central role on our plates. It has been accessible to everyone, everywhere and
has become a food cheaper, quite literally, than chips. There have always been
juicy steaks, BBQ ribs, greasy roasts and loins of lamb to keep our bellies
satiated and our waistlines bulging.
But times they are a changing and meat is growing increasingly
unfashionable as we have gained a deeper appreciation of the range of costs
associated with meat-based diets. Not only is meat a risk factor for many of
our own health problems but its production is one of the major contributors to
global environmental degradation, climate change, fresh water scarcity and loss
of biodiversity. Alongside these threats, there is also the small problem of
our burgeoning population. By 2050 there will be another 2.5 billion mouths to
feed on the planet and the traditional diet of blood and flesh will not feed
them all. But if we start to be realistic about our population growth, the
better we can focus on the challenge of feeding everyone.
So how can we feed 9 billion people on a shrinking planet? A growing
number of scientists and researchers are already taking that question
seriously. A report out
last week from
leading water specialists issued one of the starkest warnings yet about global
food supplies, saying that the world’s population “may have to switch almost
completely to a vegetarian diet over the next 40 years to avoid catastrophic
shortages”. Meals spent gorging on succulent tender steaks, all too often taken
for granted, are looking numbered then.
That almighty bastion of meat culture McDonald’s has taken heed and
spearheaded plans to open vegetarian restaurants in India. OK, Maccy D’s may
well be cheap junk food but there will always be people across the world who
eat cheap junk food and at least it will now be cheap vegetarian junk food. And
as the other fast food conglomerates follow its example, like Burger King, KFC
and Pizza Hut, people will soon be eating vegetarian rubbish everywhere without
even noticing the difference. But whether it’s a Maccy D’s veggie burger,
artificial meat grown in a lab or local seasonal vegetables – its got to be
good news.
Good news for the planet, us veteran vegetarians and of course the
animals. But not so good if you’re a diehard meat eater who can’t get by
without devouring a whole corpse at every meal. But as meals are turning more
verdant by the day and the future is vegetarian, red-blooded carnivores should
realise that it won’t be long before it’s either the lush veggie option for
dinner or going to bed on an empty stomach.
Before all you meat devourers despair perhaps you should think about
what is really in it for you. Try to look beyond the next meal to the long term
and be honest about whether a vegetarian future really is as scary as it
sounds. Following a vegetarian diet that is cholesterol-free, bursting in
cancer fighting antioxidants and low in those bad saturated fats and calories
can bring you a whole host of benefits that go way beyond animal rights.
There’s no great scary mystery about vegetarian food, it’s only delicious,
nutritious food sizzling in dividends.
Given that we are living longer, wouldn’t you prefer to enjoy those
extra years in good health with a stronger, more energetic and attractive body?
As meat becomes more scarce it will become prohibitively expensive, out pricing
the proverbial chips, so vegetarian food could well be the only affordable food
available. And if lab-reared in vitro meat tastes just as textured and
succulent as farm-reared intensive meat, there really is no good reason not to
embrace the dazzling developments of today’s technology if you can’t even taste
the difference. But it may save someone else going hungry or claw back another
species from the brink of extinction or turn climate temperature down a notch.
Does it really sound all that bad?
It can be said with considerable confidence that a vegetarian future
really could offer an answer to many of today’s uncertainties that affect us
all – economically, socially and environmentally. As it stands the future
couldn’t be gloomier. The forecasts are all the same – food instability, floods
and global hunger. Just as long as you are not one of the billion people who
are starving, right? But what if you were one of those billion and what if your
children and future generations are less fortunate?
Exploring the possibilities to rise to these challenges is the only way
we can have a chance of addressing the uncertainties. Why not take that deep
breath and consider for one moment a very real option that could present a
future that holds more promise to those to come in a world that has not been
desecrated beyond recognition? If thinking realistically about our place in the
future means contemplating a vegetarian diet, that can feed everyone and make
the world a place worth living in, it really shouldn’t be that scary.
With the availability of organic food on the rise and concerns over the dangers of pesticides, Andrea Anastasiou investigates the organic options and discovers how to go organic on a budget in the UAE
By Andrea Anastasiou, Aquarius magazine
Published: 14:05 August 6, 2012
Image Credit: Getty Images
"By turning organic, you avoid exposure to pesticides, get a great deal more essential minerals and can enjoy a safer, greener foods. You have to ask what price you put on your health."
If you are debating whether or not to make the switch from conventional food to organic, you are not alone. With the media increasingly reporting on the potential dangers of pesticides used on conventional crops and the still relatively unknown hazards of genetically modified foods, many people are opting for organic. The availability of organic food is on the rise, in the UAE and abroad, and the US Organic Trade Association’s 2011 Organic Industry Survey found that US sales of organic food and beverages grew from $1 billion in 1990 to $26.7 billion in 2010, demonstrating how consumers are increasingly turning organic. But why exactly is this happening?
The lowdown on organic
“Organic foods are produced using methods that do not involve synthetic inputs such as pesticides, chemical fertilisers or food additives,” explains Tori Leckie, PR manager for UAE-based company Ripe. “This not only makes organic much better for you, but also makes it taste much better, to. The difference in taste between, say, a Ripe tomato compared to the mass-grown non-organic supermarket variety is incredible.”
The main difference between organic and ‘conventional’ food is the way in which it is produced and processed. The use of chemical fertilisers is strictly forbidden in organic food and producers are more likely to rely on using biological diversity in the field to disrupt pests as opposed to using potentially harmful chemicals. So what does this mean for our health? It has been widely reported in the media that conventional ways of food production have potentially adverse health affects. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, some pesticides have been found to contain carcinogens, while others may affect the body’s endocrine or hormone system.
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“People are becoming increasingly aware of their diet and taking better care of themselves,” explains Tori. “By turning to organic, they avoid exposure to pesticides, get a great deal more essential minerals and can enjoy safer, greener foods. Many of the UAE’s top chefs are also turning organic now because they know first hand that the quality of their meals is only as good as the ingredients that create them.”
And for those not convinced that organic food is healthier, a brand-new study has found that when it comes to tomatoes, at least, it does pay to go the more pricey organic route. Researchers from the University of Barcelona have found the pesticide-free version of tomatoes contains higher levels of disease-fighting chemicals (polyphenols), which can halt the spread of certain cancers. Lead author Anna Vallverdú Queralt says: “Organic farming doesn’t use nitrogenous fertilisers; as a result, plants respond by activating their own defence mechanisms, increasing levels of all antioxidants.”
Savvy shoppers are also choosing to buy organic as a way of avoiding genetically modified foods. Products derived from genetically modified organisms (GMO) have caused a large amount of controversy since they were first introduced to the market in 1996, due to their potential environmental hazards and human health risks. “Choosing to use organic produce is down to two factors: health issues and taste,” says Sally Prosser, the name behind My Custard Pie (www.mycustardpie.com) –
a popular blog that was voted one of The Independent’s top-50 food websites and The National’s UAE’s best food blogs. “On the health front I am concerned that my family do not ingest agro-chemicals from fruit and vegetables, plus as GMO products are not labelled here in the UAE, I can be sure that I am not eating them by mistake.”
Sally was raised in a family where they grew most of their own vegetables, and was therefore aware of the issues involved with conventional food from an early age. “I started buying organic foods whenever I could but this hasn’t always been feasible. I wish I could have given my children organic milk when they were small but we lived in Saudi Arabia so it wasn’t possible. I have bought organic food when travelling abroad for as long as I can remember. I cooked my first free-range, organic roast chicken about ten years ago in the UK and the taste is still imprinted on my memory. Having children certainly focuses the mind around health issues,” observes Sally.
Worth the price tag?
One of the biggest concerns shoppers have when debating whether or not to make the switch to organic is the price tag that comes with it. Organic food typically costs 20 to 100 per cent more than conventional food, which is a significant amount of dirhams for those watching their monthly budgets. Some of the reasons why organic food is more expensive include the higher cost of fertiliser that is used, the high cost of covering the higher loss of crops, and better living conditions that are required for the rearing of organic livestock.
So, taking the higher cost of organic food into consideration, is it actually worth it? “You have to ask what price you put on your overall health, wellness and lifestyle,” answers Tori. “Sure you do sometimes pay more for organic but the product you are getting is far superior to its non-organic counterpart as is the quality and quantity of nutrients you will benefit from. With organic, you know what you are eating; you know it’s safe and natural. As organic becomes more and more mainstream, it no longer carries the high price tag of yesteryear. At Ripe we purposely strive to ensure our produce is affordable for all.”
Luckily, by adopting some budget-friendly tips when buying organic, you can vastly decrease the amount you spend, while still experiencing the benefits of eating more healthily. Sally suggests prioritising what you buy organically by choosing organic on foods that are normally highest in pesticides and going conventional on those with the lowest number. “Some fruit and vegetables retain more of a residue than others, for instance strawberries absorb them like a sponge,” says Sally.
The Environmental Working Group’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce* lists 15 ‘clean’ types of conventional produce that are the lowest in pesticides. These include onions, sweetcorn, pineapples, avocados, asparagus, peas, mangoes, eggplants, kiwis, cabbages, watermelons and sweet potatoes. On the other hand, the Dirty Dozen list cites apples, celery, strawberries, peaches and spinach as most ‘contaminated’ and so buying these foods organic is the best way to go if on a budget.
Tori also recommends eating seasonally, as this is always best value. “Also, avoid the costs of food miles by sourcing local organic foods, buy in bulk and flash-freeze to avoid wastage. Cook from scratch, as produce will go much further when you create your own meals. The Ripe website, www.ripeme.com, has a great recipe collection to get you going,” she says. Leckie further advises adding eggs and chicken to your must-buy organic list.
Abu Dhabi-based nutrition consultant Sarah Queen advises also investing in organic milk and yoghurt, although she admits it tends to come with a hefty price tag in the UAE. “We eat a lot of these products and non-organic milk contains antibiotics which are routinely given to cows to help with mastitis,” warns Sarah. “These antibiotics are then taken on board by our bodies, which can then affect the gut flora (the good and bad bacteria) and can subsequently lead to health problems.”
Getting started in the UAE
The availability of organic food in the UAE has increased over the last few years. Nils El Accad, founder of Organic Foods & Café, says: “Organic food is slowly becoming popular due to more products being available. The media has also played an important role, and global trends have further helped.”
From supermarkets such as Organic Foods & Café, which sells organic and biodynamic food, to the farmers’ markets now being held in Dubai, the range of choice is on the increase. Ripe is one of the latest additions to the scene; the company works with a handful of farms in the UAE, which have been chosen for their organic-farming techniques. It then sells the produce in the form of handy (and very well-priced) vegetable boxes. The company has also recently opened a Farm Shop, through which it sells organic produce.
“The choice we have now is incredible and it has happened in the last two years,” says Sally. “Yael’s [Yael Mejia – the founder of Baker and Spice] vision drove things forward, while Ripe’s growth shows that there is a huge demand, and I think they have been influential in letting farmers know what customers want. Who would have thought we’d have delicious, locally grown kale? Organic Foods & Café were the first in the market and are invaluable for ambient goods, although the mainstream supermarkets have also caught onto this for some lines. Prices have become keener with all this supply, but it would be great to see some more competition and a wider choice of meat products,” she adds.
It is understandable to feel overwhelmed by the information out there regarding organic food, but Organic Foods & Café has a free on-site nutritionist who can help. “We wanted to be able to give customers who are new to organic a free on-site resource to help them make informed decisions when shopping. When you eat organic it is important to understand what a balanced diet is and why it’s important,” says Nils.
He adds that customers who use the service can expect to discuss their diet and concerns with the nutritionist, who will then recommend certain food groups which may be missing and take the customer around the store, like a personal shopper. The nutritionist is available in all of the supermarket’s branches.
Organic food stores in the UAE:
1. The Organic Foods & Café The perfect place to visit if you are looking for somewhere healthy to eat, it offers everything from coffee and cakes, to organic cheeseburgers. They have cafés within their retail stores in both The Dubai Mall and The Greens. For more information visit www.organicfoodsandcafe.com.
2. Ripe Farm Shop This is the latest addition to the organic-food scene. Located off street 8a, Umm Suqeim 2 in Dubai, the store stocks organic locally grown vegetables, as well as dairy, meat and bread. Ripe also runs a Ripe Food & Craft market at Jones the Grocer’s Al Raha Gardens, Abu Dhabi outlet, every Thursday, 3-7pm. For more information visit www.ripeme.com.
3. Baker & Spice This Dubai Malldeli uses fresh locally grown and mainly organic ingredients in all its recipes. It has branches in Souq Al Bahar, Dukkan Al Manzil and Marina Promenade. Visit www.bakerandspiceme.com for more details.
4. Scrumptious cupcakes They make delicious cupcakes from organic free-range eggs, real butter and Swiss chocolate. See www.scrumptiousdubai.com.
5. The Farm This ‘destination’ restaurant off Emirates Road, sources fresh produce from local farms. See www.thefarmdubai.com for details.
6. Slices This is an all-organic food station in Abu Dhabi, offering wholesome dishes. Ground floor of Al Mamoura Building B. www.slices.ae.
DID YOU KNOW…? The Environmental Working Group (EWG) suggests you can lower your pesticide intake substantially by avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables and eating the least contaminated produce. The Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides produce a wallet-sized list, which can be downloaded at www.foodnews.org. Though the list was compiled in the US, it’s also relevant for use here.
WHAT TO BUY ORGANIC
Apples Celery Strawberries Peaches Spinach Peppers Yoghurt Milk Chicken Eggs
You've just won a gold medal! So why are you trying to eat it?
Emmanuel Dunand / AFP - Getty Images
Mmm, gold medal ... om nom nom. Team USA chomp on their medals after winning the women's team gymnastics final on July 31. From left to right, we have Mckayla Maroney, Kyla Ross, Alexandra Raisman, Gabrielle Douglas and Jordyn Wieber.
By Meghan Holohan
After medal-winning Olympians stand on the platform, receive their medals, and solemnly listen to the gold medal winner’s national anthem, they leave the stage and face an army of photographers. In front of the flashing lights, many winners grab their medals and take a bite.
It takes years of grueling training and competition to nab gold at the Olympics. So why do the winners immediately chomp on their hard-earned prizes?
The simple answer: Because the photographers ask them to, says David Wallechinsky, president of the International Society of Olympic Historians and author of “The Complete Book of the Olympics, via email.
While Olympic historians aren’t sure which athlete started the trend, they believe the athletes nibble their prizes to test the metal. People once bit gold coins try to make an indent; a small tooth mark in a coin assured it consisted of real gold, which is more malleable than counterfeit gold-plated lead coins.
“We know that only in 1912 the gold medals were real gold and that in all later Olympics the gold medals were made from silver with a gilt layer to show it as being gold,” explains Tony Bijkerk, secretary-general of the International Society of Olympic Historians via email. The 2012 medals contain 1.34 percent of gold, making it one of the biggest medals.
Um, how do we break this to you, Team USA? You didn't actually win gold
“Unfortunately, the gold layer sometimes had a tendency to fade over the years. Fanny Blankers-Koen, the heroine of the 1948 Olympics in London, who was a good friend of mine, once told me that she had to have her four gold medals re-gilded two times over the years.” (Blankers-Koen was a 30-year-old mother of two who medaled in running events, helping to prove women could be as athletic as men.)
Even though the medal isn’t solid gold, Bijkerk suspects that Olympians could make a mark in the medal, depending on how hard they bite. And some really sink their teeth into their prizes. At the 2010 Winter Olympics, German luger, David Moeller, who won a silver medal, broke his tooth while mugging for cameras and showing off his bite.
Psychologist Frank Farley believes that medalists bite their medals because, at this point, it’s what winning Olympians do.
“Sports all have their eccentricities,” says Farley, a professor from Temple University in Philadelphia and former president of the American Psychological Association. “If you want to be part of the winning zeitgeist, that winning culture, you participate in that winning practice.”
But he believes that medal biting is more than Olympians simply acting like winners. “It makes your medals yours,” Farley says. “It’s an emotional connection with your accomplishment.”
And even if the Olympians do indent their medals, it makes the prize individual; bite imprints are as unique as the swirls on our digits.
“The concept of the icon, something representing something else, is pretty deep in all of us. In the Olympics, they have a twist on it; it’s like imprinting [yourself] there for all of time
Nearly one third of children are obese or overweight, and junk food is to blame
Dr Liza M Thomas of the Canadian Specialist Hospital with schoolchildren from across Dubai, during an antiobesity presentation.
Dubai: Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the UAE with an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes and a host of obesity-related medical conditions.
With nearly a third of children either obese or overweight, government and local hospitals are shoring up efforts to tackle the obesity rate.
The latest anti-obesity campaign titled ‘Act Now’ was launched Monday by the Canadian Specialist Hospital (CSH).
Aimed at kids, the ongoing campaign discusses prevention, causes, health risks and solutions.
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Health authorities, medical professionals, and parents are concerned.
This week, the UAE was listed seventh on the Global Fat Scale among 177 countries, calculated using UN data on population size and estimates of global weight from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Last year’s figures from a nationwide survey of Emirati and expatriate schoolchildren by the Ministry of Health (MoH) stated that 15.5 per cent are obese, 39.2 per cent are overweight and a worrying 21 per cent had fast food three times or more a day.
“The rate hasn’t lowered. There are more than 30 per cent of UAE kids are who obese,” said Dr Liza Thomas, Specialist Internal Medicine, CSH, speaking to Gulf News.
“The statistics are alarming,” said Dr Ali Reza Eghtedari, Consultant Surgeon and Head of Laparoscopic and Obesity Speciality Clinic at CHS.
He told Gulf News that obese children, some as young as eight years old, are being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
“The harmful effects of obesity among children are evident early on. These can range from diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol.
“I know of young obese patients who have both diabetes and hypertension — fatal for the kidney. If obesity rates aren’t checked, these children will grown up to be unhealthy adults with several medical complications,” he said.
The leading cause of obesity is the availability of junk food and lack of parental involvement in making health a priority, said Dr Thomas.
She explained that parents find it more convenient to visit a fast food outlet then to prepare a healthy meal at home.
She highlighted the role of parents in preventing obesity. She said parents should be role models first. “When children watch their parents eat healthy, they will also emulate them. The learning starts at home and progresses at school and community levels.”
Gulf News also spoke to parents and children to learn of their attitudes towards their health.
Jenny Akiki, mother of Adriana, 10, and two-month-old Eva said being a good role model is the only way to convince your kid to adopt the same lifestyle.
“If my kids see me eating burgers and fries, they will surely not want the broccoli and carrots I give them.”
Akiki prepares Adriana’s meals, including her school lunch box. “I am not convinced of how healthy the school canteen food is so I prefer to cook her meals. Junk food is allowed only on rare occasions.”
Parul Soparkar, grandfather of Aanya, four, said that health is a top priority at the household, and that corrective eating behaviours have to start young. “Aanya is a fussy eater, but has to learn to eat all the food that is good for her.”
Jack Simpson, 12, and Megan Valk, 14, are both students at Dubai English Speaking School (DESS). While they lead active lives, a few of their peers need to change their current lifestyle.
Simpson said, “I have a friend who eats two to three donuts at a time, and enjoys food from fast food outlets. He is trying to lose weight now after realising that he cannot run as fast.”
Valk said, “I have a few friends who do not participate in activities outside of PE [physical education], but they are conscious about their weight. To lose weight, they tend to skip their meals at school knowing that they wouldn’t be allowed to do the same at home.”
The caveman diet: Meat-eaters love it, critics call it ‘a craze’
By Randy Shore, Vancouver SunJuly 13, 2012
Our hunter-gatherer ancestors thrived on a daily menu of whatever was at hand until the development of agriculture about 10,000 years ago.
Photograph by: Vancouver Sun , Handout
Fruits, nuts, grass and whatever grubs, insects or game you can kill with your hands or a rock.
Our hunter-gatherer ancestors thrived on a daily menu of whatever was at hand until the development of agriculture about 10,000 years ago, and a surprising number of dieters and fitness buffs are turning back their dietary clocks.
In a nutshell, the paleodiet is an attempt to approximate the caloric and nutritional intake that human beings evolved to eat, before we started to plant grain and legumes for their easy, abundant, but largely empty, calories. Or so the theory goes.
The modern menu includes grass-fed meats, fruits, cooked and raw vegetables, wild fish and unprocessed oils such as olive or avocado. Wheat, dairy and legumes, such as beans and peanuts, are not allowed because they are relatively recent additions to the human menu. Some versions forbid added salt. Most people limit or eliminate alcohol.
“It’s really popular, at least half the people at my gym are eating something like the caveman diet,” said Cassandra Kruger, a trainer at Momentum Fitness in Vancouver. “It’s in the same vein as the South Beach and Atkins diet in that they don’t include any refined carbohydrates, so no grains, no sugar, no flour and no processed foods.”
Some nutritionists warn that low-carb diets carry potential health hazards from kidney stones and low blood pressure to calcium deficiency and osteoporosis.
Ultralow carb diets induce ketosis, a state in which the body burns fat for energy. You will lose weight, but it is not without risk.
Warehouse manager Rahim Khan of Langley started on the paleodiet just before his 27th birthday. He weighed 250 pounds, heavy for his 5-foot-11 frame.
“Less than a year later I hit my optimal weight of 173 pounds,”said Khan, who lost weight even as he cut back on his workouts. “I used to be in the gym three or four days a week and sometimes for two hours, now it’s 30 minutes and I’m out.”
Khan, his wife Liz and their three children all follow the paleodiet at home. Exceptions have to be made when the kids visit their grandparents, Khan laughed.
“I was skeptical at first,” said Liz, who admits feeling sick and lethargic for the first two weeks after the change. “But I feel so much better now, I didn’t even know how lousy I felt before.”
The Khans eat grass-fed beef, pork and chicken, usually the fattiest cuts they can find. Wheat in all its forms has disappeared, along with soy and corn. Dairy is confined to butter and small amounts of aged cheese.
Fruits and vegetables make up the balance of the plate, which Rahim says he usually fills twice at supper time. When their personal workload gets heavy, the Khans will add a sweet potato with butter for extra energy.
“I like to just call it my lifestyle, it’s the most logical way to eat,” Rahim said. “What I do is based on the feedback my body gives. When I feel good I know I’m doing the right things.”
The cavemen diet is an attractive weight-management program, because it is naturally low in calories and you are generally encouraged to eat whenever you are hungry. But the paleolithic menu probably has the most traction with people who have gluten sensitivity or celiac disease.
“Just look at how many people are eliminating gluten from their diet,” Kruger said.
Indeed, gluten-free foods are among the fastest growing product classes at the grocery store. And theceliacscene.com lists dozens of restaurants across Metro Vancouver that offer gluten-free meals.
Chilliwack mom Lori Wedel made some paleolithic adjustments to her entire family’s diet to address her and her daughter Eva’s gluten sensitivity.
“When Eva was three or four we started noticing that she was having trouble with her digestion,” said Wedel, a community support worker.
Gluten sensitivity can cause symptoms including constipation, diarrhea and abdominal pain.
“We decided we needed to investigate what might be the problem and we started to do an elimination diet,” she recalled.
Eva showed no change when dairy was removed from the menu. “But when we got to gluten it was completely different and rapidly different,” she said. “Within a week we noticed big changes, some we didn’t expect.”
“We thought she was a typical four-year-old until we started changing her diet,” Wedel said. “She was a terror with concentration problems and aggression, but once we started removing gluten it changed altogether.”
Wedel’s own allergies to nuts and to seafood meant there were few processed foods in the house anyway, but even fewer when the family began to eliminate sugar, artificial colourings and gluten.
“The difference in Eva made it impossible to go back,” Wedel said. “We can’t eat another way.”
Rather than keeping abundant carbohydrates in their diet with gluten-free breads and pasta, the Wedels just eliminated bread and grain-based foods such as pasta. At $7 a loaf for gluten-free bread, it just didn’t make sense.
“We eat meat every day and a whack of vegetables, usually in a stir-fry,” she said. “We don’t follow the strict paleodiet, if we have sushi we eat the rice and sometimes we have quinoa.”
Even though the Wedels don’t consider themselves paleodieters, Eva likes to joke that she is a caveman child. Lori’s husband Will, an engineer with the City of Chilliwack, is a big fan of the hefty portions of meat, usually chicken, pork and grass-fed beef.
“For me the biggest change was just deciding that not every meal had to be like my mom taught me, meat, potatoes, grain, you don’t need those to live,” she said.
Wedel’s sister Brittany Eidsness, a registered holistic nutritionist, helped tweak the family’s menus.
When calories from wheat, rice, potatoes and refined sugar are eliminated from the diet, the ratio of fibre, vitamins, minerals and important nutrients per calorie consumed goes way up.
The exception is vitamin D, which hunter gatherers produced in great abundance because they lived outdoors and spent long hours walking and foraging.
“People have a hard time figuring out what to eat and this diet is healthy and very clear,” she said. “It removes all of the foods that cause us problems.”
Proponents of the caveman diet point out that so-called “diseases of civilization” — heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes — were not a problem to people who lived in the Paleolithic period, which ran from about 2.5 million years ago until farming took hold about 8,000 BCE.
“The paleodiet is naturally low-carb and focuses on clean protein sources like grass-fed beef, wild fish, naturally raised chicken and eggs,” said Eidsness. “Then you are going to have as many vegetables as you can possibly eat, with the possible exception of nightshade vegetables for people who are sensitive to them.”
Stricter paleodieters avoid eating members of the nightshade family, which includes peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and potatoes, in the belief that they cause loss of calcium and may trigger arthritis or autoimmune disease.
People transitioning to the caveman diet can expect a minor rebellion by their body. Many people experience lethargy, headaches and flu-like symptoms that Eidsness attributes to a withdrawal from the body’s addiction to sugar and carbohydrates.
Critics of the paleodiet trend point to a long list of incongruities, knowledge gaps about the true nature of man’s diet during the Paleolithic period.
A true paleolithic diet would probably include some wild game, tart berries, insects, roots and wild tubers, shellfish, rodents and the occasional cache of honey. But it would also vary enormously from north to south, coast to inland and continent to continent, ranging from a chimpanzee-like diet of fruits to a very fatty meat-based diet of seal and caribou consumed by Arctic peoples.
The truth is that defining a true paleolithic diet is next to impossible.
What we do know is that the abundant calories of cultivated grain gave rise to a massive human population boom and gave birth to permanent sedentary civilization, both of which roil unabated to this day.
In addition to the potential for health impacts from eating an ultra low-carb diet, a leading Canadian nutritionist warns that paleodieters often eat more meat than is healthy for them and the planet.
The environmental cost of a largely meat-based diet is probably the strongest argument against eating like a modern caveman, said David Jenkins, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto and Canada Research Chair in Nutrition and Metabolism.
“We just can’t produce enough calories in meat protein and fat to feed the world’s human population, it’s not sustainable,” Jenkins said.
Widely accepted estimates suggest it takes 16 kilos of grain to produce one kilo of beef and at least 441 gallons of water.
“The [caveman diet] craze is interesting in that it focuses on increased fibre foods, but people get bored of fibre if you can’t have it as bread or pasta or rice,” Jenkins said. “These are the starchy staples that allowed us to multiply on the face of the planet.”
Caveman diet proponents claim that eating what they believe to be the human ancestral diet will reduce their risk of disease, pointing out that Paleolithic era people were not afflicted with today’s most common ailments, many of which are associated with obesity and old age.
That idea might just hold water.
Pre-agricultural humans did live long enough to suffer from diseases of age and there is evidence arthritis was common, though obesity, heart disease and diabetes were rare or entirely absent.
Jenkins is skeptical that such dramatic alterations in our modern diet are key to better health.
“The first step in adopting a paleolithic lifestyle would be to throw away your car keys and walk everywhere,” he said. “The diet we have adopted over the past 10,000 years suits our physiology just fine if we are exercising. The problem is we put all these starchy calories in our body and then try to burn them driving everywhere in our cars.”
