Podcast #4: Alex Leaf Exposes Shortcomings in the Paleo Narrative
Last week I published Everything You Believe About What Paleoman Ate Is Way Wrong. That post was based on some research identified by Alex Leaf in: Eat first, share later: the foraging habits of Hadza hunter-gatherers. After the interview portion of that, we delve into what Alex’s nutritional recommendations are, which might surprise you.
You can read both of those posts for any background you wish to get. Otherwise, just dive in. The listening options are iTunes, Soundcoud, and YouTube.
Alex is a certified nutritionist and proprietor of Leaf Nutrition. He also contributes to Examine.com.
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Good discussion. Thanks.
5-13 hours a day out of camp. Easily 1000 kcal/day of activity. In my experience high glycemic carbs become irresistible for this. I can see now why they target honey.
The Round Up. Never seen wild cow milking before, and not very productive. Tribal bareback relays either. This is Cordain’s Paleo world through Colorado filters. Having a horse is as essential to this life as kayaks are to Inuit. Both are essential Neolithic tools.
Had a good ribeye there.
When Mr Leaf was asked to give a generalized diet he might recommend for someone, I thought his advice to get your fats from a whole food source, was good. I thought his mention of making protein the focus of his diet, kind of placed him with most Americanized ‘nutrition experts’. Really, Americans or any other non third world peoples are suffering from lack of protein?? Maybe lack of fiber and a whole foods, plant based diet. But what do I know – I don’t have a Masters degree in anything.
Well, in context, it’s a recommendation.
I am wondering how they eat when at (home?camp?). I would imagine it’d be even less meat? So, right now it looks like they have an overall protein intake of about 24% while foraging/hunting. And in reality, it’s probably much less than that. So I’m curious as to why Leaf’s takeaway is that most calories should come from meat.
Anyway, I’m sure the paleo community’s response will be, “More Baobab”.
Ray Peat. Perhaps not so extreme after all. My view of him has progressed from being an alternative cherry-picker of studies to a complete genius.
Great oversimplification but –
He seems to like: sugar (fruit), dairy, eggs, meat, saturated fat, ice cream, potato, raw carrot, coffee, aspirin, pregnenolone, DHEA, progesterone, optimising thyroid function.
He does not like: PUFA’s, grains, beans, non-tuber starches, nuts, fiber(!), estrogen, serotonin.
About time I RayPeat my paleo experiment. Starting blood tests complete, off to buy honey and OJ!
If he has a blind spot, I think it’s fiber, gut health.
I’ve been doing a bean burrito fest last week. Most calories coming from no-fat refried beans, just a sprinkle of a Mex grated cheese blend, wrapped in organic, unenriched spelt tortillas (which, damn, are better than traditional wheat flour). Some OJ, whole milk, and Mex Coke rounding things out…with an egg and a bit of meat. Feels great. Digestion very surprisingly fantastic.
Going to continue it for a while, adding in some oysters, sardines, and potatoes.