Paleo Summit Notes and Commentary Continued

Updated 6.6.2013; reformatted 9.16.2015
As I continue to work through the content queue, what follows are brief outlines or impressions of some of the presentations at 2012 Paleo Summit hosted by Sean Croxton of Underground Wellness. I'm presenting these "facts" as they were presented. I do not in anyway vouch for the accuracy of the information presented. NOTHING presented here is to be considered an endorsement of the speaker or their program.

Most of the presenters operate a paleo based business, and had services or products to sell. There's nothing sinister in that, however, it's well worth noting and bearing in mind.

Diane Sanfilippo of Balanced Bites

Diane Sanfilippo, at least compared to Mark Sisson and some of the other presenters, sounded quite reasonable.

The gut she says is 60-70% of the immune system. Sanfilippo recommends learning the underlying science (always good advice) but goes on to say that she "sticks to the reliable bits." I'm not sure what that means, it has the faint ring of cherry picking to it. Science is seldom neat and definitive, there are always counter examples.

She says there isn't one template for paleo and everyone is different. There is no bible, rather the question for each person should be, "does it help MY health." Hence all the "n=1" experiments scattered throughout the paleo blogoshpere. Which is dandy, but does not lend itself to solid science.

Paleo, Sanfilippo says, is easy to maintain when you go out, just have protein and veggies. You need to be carfeul about sauces and avoid the breads and pastas. Left unsaid is how restrictive that really is. As someone who is lactose intolerant (and therefore avoids milk and dairy), I have found that you must be VERY careful about sauces. Even more so than gluten, lactose is everywhere in desserts as well. Sure, there's always the steamed or grilled fish/protein and steamed veggies, but that gets old pretty quickly (and I LIKE veggies).

Jack Kruse

This is case where my dithering has made writing up the notes on this presentation more or less useless. Since the paleo summit, Kruse has been revealed to be an unstable crackpot to whom it is not worth paying attention. Hence I will only note that he did present, and leave it at that.

Sarah Fragoso

Fragoso thinks it's tough to go Paleo, and certainly (given the 2013 spate of people announcing that they are quitting it) there is evidence that is the case. Adopting a 100% paleo diet means that one can't eat a traditional meal in cuisine. That's quite a dietary hairshirt to don.

Fragoso says to "make it fun," especially for the kids. Kids of paleo followers are an interesting issue. While they're young you can control what they eat, but what to do when they become teens and want to taste some of the forbidden fruit (ice cream, cookies, cake, etc)? She seems to realize this and so is "flexible."

I've made this point elsewhere, but the fact that "cheating" (because that's what it is) has to be built into the lifestyle indicates that (as a lifestyle) it is NOT sustainable.

She says not to be confrontational with people, that you "catch more flies with honey than vinegar," so to speak. Don't tell people that they are eating wrong, just do your thing. At least with that bit I can agree.

Erwan Le Corre

His brief is "natural" exercising, which does not require a gym. He lives in New Mexico, which I only mention because I love New Mexico.

His program gets people outside and challenges them to move in different ways. Apparently he also works with the Special Forces. That is all well and good, but basically I think that any movement is better than none, and best of all is movement that you will do regularly. So I'll put my 2 mph walking at my treadmill desk up against the "movna"t stuff--not because I'm in better shape (I'm definitely not) but because I know that there's no way I'd do that. But I do walk while I work. And it works for me. In the hunter-gatherer universe, I am a gatherer, walking slowly for many miles.

To be continued...

Disclaimer