Paleo diet

Simple Paleo: Chinois Chicken Salad

Chinois Chicken.jpg

By Suzanne 

Dinning out is often challenging to persons adhering to Paleolithic nutrition.  I was delighted to order a Chinois Chicken Salad (pictured above) at a local burger joint, Lil H Burger in Denver, Colorado.  If you have an opportunity to visit this restaurant simply request the wontons be held from your salad and order the dressing on the side.  The salad was so tasty I omitted the dressing completely. 

Following is my attempt to recreate this gem at home beginning with the grilled boneless chicken breast. 

The chicken breast is the centerpiece of this simple salad and careful selection and preparation of the meat is essential to serving a delicious meal.  Cook's Illustrated reports that the typical American consumes approximately 84 pounds of chicken per year and the majority of sales in stores are for boneless chicken breasts.  In taste-tests Cook's Illustrated (2012) recommends the Bell & Evan's air chilled boneless, skinless chicken breasts for overall quality, taste, and texture.  I purchased the local Whole Foods organic skinless chicken breasts with an animal welfare rating of 2.  When purchasing prepackaged chicken breasts check the ingredient list and be aware that "injected" or "enhanced" chicken breasts may dilute the taste of the chicken with sodium, broth, and water. 

The breasts for this salad are lightly salted and peppered prior to cooking.  I use a Panini pan to grill chicken breasts; however, the chicken breasts may also be gently sautéed in olive oil in a conventional pan or prepared on the grill with internal temperature of the breasts reaching 160 degrees.  I encourage you to use your favored method of preparation.  After cooking allow the breasts to rest 10 minutes after cooking and prior to serving on the salad.  

Salad-serves 4

  • 1 5 ounce container organic baby romaine greens, rinsed
  • 1 cup organic green cabbage- shredded coarsely
  • 2 organic granny smith apples thinly sliced (16 slices per apple)
  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 1 tsp. sesame seeds (optional)
  • 4 grilled chicken breasts sliced with a diagonal cut (this technique is called “fanning”)

Mustard vinaigrette

  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
  • 1 turn of celtic sea salt from salt mill (large pinch)
  • 1 tsp. organic french thyme (dried)

Combine ingredients for vinaigrette in mini food processor and mix for 15 seconds.  Allow to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes prior to serving.  I served this dressing on the side to allow for individual choice and preference regarding the amount of dressing per salad.  The remaining dressing may be refrigerated for up to one week.

In a large mixing bowl combine romaine and shredded cabbage mixing gently, refrigerate prior to serving.  Slice apples approximately 10 minutes prior to assembling the salad to prevent browning of fruit.  Set cranberries and sesame seeds to the side en mise. 

Prepare four plates.  Distribute salad greens evenly on plates into four servings.  Sprinkle cranberries and sesame seeds (optional) evenly over salad.  Apply apple slices in circular pattern.  Complete the salad with individual sliced chicken breasts placed on the greens.  Serve and Enjoy with mustard vinaigrette served on the side.

Substitutions
I received positive comments from my family about this salad- most especially the chicken breast reaffirming my philosophy that product quality is crucial to successful cooking.  One possible substitution is kiwi and walnuts for the apples and sesame seeds.  The basic recipe is a simple palette for your special touch. Enjoy!

Initially published 9/5/12

Donny’s advice on Paleo dinning with friends

   Credit: PaleononPaleo.com

   Credit: PaleononPaleo.com

Donny, an undergraduate student at Ohio State University, lost 40 lbs after 6 months on the Paleo diet. She experienced many other benefits as well, including, “unblemished skin, healthier hair and nails, endless energy… and a great night’s sleep every single night.” Like most college students, she enjoys a good dinner party or a night out. However, she found it hard to adhere to the Paleo diet when dining with friends. Her advice as reported in PaleoNonPaleo:

“1. Don’t let your new choices affect your social life. Don’t decline dinner party invitations, just offer to bring something to the party that you know you’ll be able to eat.

2. My friends and I used to spend an exorbitant amount of money going out for nights on the town including dinner and drinks. Now, at my suggestion, we spend a lot more of those nights cooking dinner together at one of our apartments and then watching a movie or sitting around a table playing a board game. It’s really brought us closer, and we all agree that we have a lot more fun now.

3. If you’re dining out, outline the basics for your waiter. Most restaurants are a lot more accommodating than you think that they are, and will happily cook your food in olive oil and avoid feeding you gluten. On that same note, a lot of restaurants have gluten-free menus that aren’t advertised. I can usually find lots of paleo options (or options that can be made paleo) on those.”

Read about Donny at PaleoNonPaleo.

Find more Success Stories here. 

Anne-Marie: Year 1 beyond Crohn’s Disease

Anne-Marie’s Crohn’s disease was making her fade away. At 5’8”, her weight went from thin 105 pounds to dangerous 73 as her disease failed to respond to treatment. Writing her story for Mark’s Daily Apple, she continues:

“My doctor told me there was one last drug he wanted to prescribe, and if it didn’t work the next step would be surgery to remove the damaged part of my gut. He prescribed a powerful immune-suppressor called Humira. ”

And later - 

“During our engagement, my husband heard Mark give an interview on a podcast that convinced him to buy The Primal Blueprint. He had changed his whole lifestyle after reading it, and when I was finally discharged from the hospital, I went completely Primal. It wasn’t an easy process. The eczema and psoriasis seemed to intensify at first, but I was vigilant and kept following the Primal guidelines. About six months later, when a paperwork mix-up on the part of my insurance lead to my Humira shipment being delayed, I was sure a flare was right around the corner. But that temporary delay turned into a week without my injection, then a month, and now a year.”

Paleo Meals to Go

“We are happy to announce that finally, there is a place you can purchase freeze-dried meals that adhere to the general principles of the Paleo Diet! Sometimes a snack just isn’t enough and you need a solid meal, whether you are backpacking in the wilderness, camping, competing in ultra marathons, undertaking an epic adventure, participating in extreme events, traveling, or anytime you do not have access to fresh foods and your own kitchen. Paleo Meals To Go are a great option! ”

Learn more: Paleo Meals to Go

Initially skeptical, Pamela finds a new understanding of human biology

Mark’s Daily Apple is a leading & insightful resource on evolutionary health. If you are new to the site, the menu selection Success Stories is a good place to start. Here are a few snippets of Pamela’s success story:

“Unfortunately, I still kept up my vegetarian ways by day, which led to one of the worst summers of my life. Depression and anxiety were my constant companions. Psychosis would not be too strong a word. And, I was still fat. My diet was, admittedly, atrocious. I remember eating cinnamon rolls, brownies, dipped ice cream, and frozen pizza all summer, with a few iceberg lettuce salads tossed in for good measure.” 

“Around that time, I began writing for LIVESTRONG on health and fitness. I continued to toe the line of conventional wisdom on healthy whole grains and calorie restriction. I even explored veganism and created a vegan food blog.”

“In the course of the job, I began exploring the paleo diet. I was skeptical. Didn’t cavemen die before their 30th birthday? In an effort to confirm that this was all just a fad—that was certainly the opinion of nearly every other health publication—I sent an email to UCLA’s evolutionary biology department and requested an interview. They directed me to Aaron Blaisdell PhD, founder of the Ancestral Health Society.”

“The interview forever altered my perspective and led me down a new path of understanding human biology.”

Read more: Skeptical Journalist Turned Primal Advocate

100-calorie pack of Oreos vs. 100 calories of avocado

100 Calori Pack of Oreo (Image: Nabisco) vs. ½ of an avocado (Image: PaleoTerran)

100 Calori Pack of Oreo (Image: Nabisco) vs. ½ of an avocado (Image: PaleoTerran)

For years we have been taught the calorie myth - a calorie is a calorie no matter where it comes from. While in terms of energy a calorie is a calorie, the type of food the calories come from can make a huge difference on physiological impact.  Thus the concept of the calorie myth: a calorie may not be a calorie nutritionally. In a recent JAMA commentary, Dr. David Ludwig, head of the Obesity Prevention Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, compares the impact of two very different foods: 

“The longstanding low-fat diet dogma and the concomitant calorie myth has caused many frustrated people to blame overeating and sloth for their inability to lose weight, and this is wrong, said Ludwig.

Eating refined carbs, such as a 100-calorie pack of Oreos, produces a huge surge of insulin that signals your fat cells to store calories. In contrast, eating 100 calories of avocado won’t produce the same insulin charge. You’ll also feel fuller, longer, after eating the avocado, while the Oreos will make your blood sugar spike and rapidly crash, causing you to feel ravenous in short order.”

According to Dr. Bill Lagakos, author of The poor, misunderstood calorie:

“The calories in food are not the same as those expended by the body. Carb-rich foods are easily over-eaten, producing a positive energy balance. The accompanying elevations in insulin cause net fat storage. Maybe all calories are calories, but not all calories are equally obesogenic.”

Success Stories: Jack Osbourne on the Paleo diet

Michael Buckner/Getty Images

Michael Buckner/Getty Images

"Jack, 28, has also credited the Paleo diet for his stunning 70-pound weight loss. The 5-foot-10 Jack, who has struggled with weight his entire life, slimmed down from 260 pounds to 190 pounds following the gluten-free eating plan. He said the Paleo diet helps him stay thin without experiencing chronic hunger and pro-inflammatory blood sugar spikes."

Source
Jack Osbourne does Paleo to manage MS: Ketogenic diet aided Sharon's weight loss

Related posts

80 Paleo recipes with ground beef from Rubies & Radishes

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"Ground beef is a great way to include grass-fed beef in your diet. It’s nutritious and affordable. Grass-fed beef is higher in Omega-3s than it’s grain-fed counterparts. It is also one of the best dietary sources of Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). CLA is thought to protect against heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Plus, it tastes amazing! You can read more about the benefits of grass-fed beef here. – "

See more at Rubies & Radishes

Caveman Cafeteria: Home-delivered Paleo meals

Want Paleo meals delivered right to your home? Want to arrange a Paleo catered wedding or event? Try the new Caveman Cafeteria:

"Colorado clients can subscribe for the 6-meal weekly plan or the full 10-meal per week monthly plan, which is delivered twice weekly. Monthly clients may choose from our Denver Metro Area free pickup locations from Boulder to Littleton to save the shipping costs. See map below for a list of locations and pickup times."
"Out of state clients can enjoy our 6-meal weekly service, which is delivered fresh (NEVER frozen) each Wednesday to cure your Crockpot Fatigue! We also have three portion size options to choose from. Medium works for most women, large for most men & XL plans are available for those with a big appetite. You can always change the portion size later if needed."

The Morphing of PaleoTerran

Image: John Oró

Image: John Oró

PaleoTerran was launched in 2010 to cover human health, ancestral nutrition, and the "health" of our planet. From time to time the blog presented other material such as images of our cosmos (examples here and here) and items on "flow" (here & here).

Since the number of Paleo sites has blossomed over the past few years and the state of the environment is also well covered, slowly, PaleoTerran will widen its scope and the site will morph to cover a wider variety of content. It is said websites should focus on one or two topics for a specific audience. That doesn't reflect my interests. I hope you will engage in a wider journey. 

Abstract: What's your diet?

"Population-based studies have consistently shown that our diet has an influence on health. Therefore, the aim of our study was to analyze differences between different dietary habit groups in terms of health-related variables. The sample used for this cross-sectional study was taken from the Austrian Health Interview Survey AT-HIS 2006/07. In a first step, subjects were matched according to their age, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES). After matching, the total number of subjects included in the analysis was 1320 (N=330 for each form of diet – vegetarian, carnivorous diet rich in fruits and vegetables, carnivorous diet less rich in meat, and carnivorous diet rich in meat). Analyses of variance were conducted controlling for lifestyle factors in the following domains: health (self-assessed health, impairment, number of chronic conditions, vascular risk), health care (medical treatment, vaccinations, preventive check-ups), and quality of life. In addition, differences concerning the presence of 18 chronic conditions were analyzed by means of Chi-square tests. Overall, 76.4% of all subjects were female. 40.0% of the individuals were younger than 30 years, 35.4% between 30 and 49 years, and 24.0% older than 50 years. 30.3% of the subjects had a low SES, 48.8% a middle one, and 20.9% had a high SES. Our results revealed that a vegetarian diet is related to a lower BMI and less frequent alcohol consumption. Moreover, our results showed that a vegetarian diet is associated with poorer health (higher incidences of cancer, allergies, and mental health disorders), a higher need for health care, and poorer quality of life. Therefore, public health programs are needed in order to reduce the health risk due to nutritional factors." (bold added)

Reference: Nutrition and Health – The Association between Eating Behavior and Various Health Parameters: A Matched Sample Study

See also: Here We Go Again: Vegetarian Diets and Mental Health by Emily Deans, MD

Hu kitchen: A new Paleo restaurant in New York City

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"The jury is in on the shortcomings of the Western diet and the benefits of pre-industrial food; reams have been written about the pressing need to change the way we eat. The moment is ripe. People are hungry to get started, yet no one is doing much about it. The space is still dominated by the same two players. On one side, there are the cynical profiteers of the food industry who have hijacked words like "healthy" and "natural" so they can stick them on the labels of their latest lab creations. On the other side, there are the rigid, alienating food fascists who insist that everything we eat should taste as unpleasant as possible. That doesn’t work for us. We have a different idea - unequivocally delicious food that also happens to be unprocessed and good for you. Is that even possible?"

Learn more: Hu kitchen

Seahawks vs. Broncos: Paleo vs. Standard Diet?

After watching the Seattle Seahawks painfully dominate the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII, I was struck by the explosive nature of the Seahawks. They applied constant pressure on Manning and seemed to burst out of nowhere to quickly surround nearly every Bronco that ran or caught the ball. Puzzled, I wondered about each team’s diet. A quick, non-scientific search led to the following (emphasis added):

Seattle Seahawks

In an article published in the Seattle Times on January 8, Tan Vinh discusses the Seattle Seahawks’ diet with team chef Mac McNabb. The diet appears to be mostly Paleo:

“eggs, … 60 dozen a week … whipped eggs for omelets”

“burrito …” “Gourmet, luxurious stuff”

“tortilla stuffed with organic veggies, organic sausage and free-range eggs”

“egg-white omelet, this time with chicken sausage, mushroom, onion and cheddar, topped with a dollop of salsa”

“smoked a 24-pound turkey, made gallons of smoothies, baked organic blueberry scones and endless trays of bacon and organic chorizo”

“team goes through 50 pounds of fish and 60 pounds of beef every week”

“fresh-fruit buffet”

“salmon entrée”

“all organic and premium meat — grass-fed beef, free-range chicken — and few if any genetically modified foods”

“salmon teriyaki, smoked briskets and what may be the most decadent gumbo in the city, brimming with medallion-size scallops, cod, salmon, mussels, clams — all fresh or wild caught — along with andouille sausage”

“turkey burgers”

“pistachio-crusted Ono fish”

“Hawaiian BBQ”

“chicken from Popeyes, which the team gets on Friday when lunch is catered”

“beverage aisle of a convenience store with rows of water, V-8 juices and yogurts”

“Snacks are jerkys and granola bars stacked in plastic bins labeled “buffalo,” “turkey” and “honey sunflower seeds.”

“No sodas or junk food, but there are fresh-baked cookies on Thursdays.”

“No deep-fried food made in the kitchen. Even French fries are baked.”

“For post-practice, when McNabb puts out a pasta station, many players will shun a carb-loaded meal for something lighter.”

Vinh concludes:

“The days of seeing players like former defensive tackle Chad Eaton eat three, 22-ounce porterhouse steaks in one sitting are few and far between.”

“Take safety Kam Chancellor. At a recent breakfast, sporting a red Air Jordan hoodie and headphones, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound defender strolled in at 7:30, skipping the eggs and bacon for a bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar.”

“And quarterback Wilson had the most sensible (though maybe not the most appetizing) breakfast of the bunch. He grabbed a modest bowl of steel-cut oats, the portion size more fitting for a runway model. He then took a bowl of grapes and headed to the film room instead of mingling with teammates. He circled back later to request one fried duck egg.”

Denver Broncos

On the DenverBroncos.com site Stuart Zaas talks with linebacker Von Miller “about the importance of nutrition.” In the article team Nutritionist Brian Snyder provides an overview of the Broncos diet. With its carbohydrate focus, it is more representative of the standard modern diet:

“Typically, at the hotel I usually don’t vary the menu up too much because guys like consistency. We usually have a pretty good variety of pastas, proteins, cornbread, starches – it’s very carbohydrate focused with lean sources of protein and then at the stadium I have my normal snack table full of Gatorade bars. Guys like their routine. During the week I’ll change up the menu quite a bit but pregame I try to keep it consistent.”

Sources

Pamela: Cutting out grains & dairy

"It took me a few weeks to wrap my brain around the concept of preparing meals without any grains.  I started cutting back, and then one day decided it was time to eliminate them.  I took it ONE decision/meal at a time, and that was two years ago.  About 6 months later I also cut out dairy and other cross-reactive foods. In addition to the paleo dietary recommendations, I avoid nightshades due to my autoimmunity and follow(ed) recommendations from GAPS (bone broth, probiotics, etc.)."

Source:  Paleo Success Story: I Look and Feel Ten Years Younger!

Pamela before. Image: PaleoNonPaleo

Pamela before. Image: PaleoNonPaleo