Cavewomen Don't Get Fat (4 page)

Here's a cavewoman truth: every bit of food you eat either puts your body in a fat-burning or fat-storing state. It's up to you to decide which one you prefer.

Skinny-fat
means that a woman has too much fat (especially belly fat) and not enough muscle, even though the number on her scale indicates that she's in that magical range called “thin.” In spite of her numbers looking good on the outside, she's probably suffering from the effects of a sluggish, poorly fueled metabolism on the inside, just like her overweight girlfriends.
Mon Dieu!
you think. How is this possible?

It all depends on the source and type of calories that our “skinny-fat” girl is consuming. If her diet consists of empty calories that are high in sugar and low in protein, she won't be giving her body the building blocks it needs to build lean muscle mass. This girl might look good in clothes, but ask her to sprint, lug a heavy bag, or move a bookshelf, and she won't be able to do it. And guess what else? In spite of a thin physique, she may still be jiggly and even have cellulite. The take-home lesson here is that even if you're “thin,” you still need to eat a diet that is high in fat-burning, muscle-building
calories. Otherwise you won't achieve the cavewoman fierceness we all need to embrace all that life has to offer.

Aside from shedding any unwanted fat and building lean muscle mass, the Paleo Chic diet reduces systemic inflammation (another form of metabolic corrosion) that can manifest as extra body fat, migraines, PMS, joint aches, and irritable bowel, to name a few examples. It also improves digestion, clears out our sinuses, and improves our cardiovascular health. It offers as much hormonal support to women who are in the throes of the childbearing years as it does to women entering—or beyond—menopause. And this is important, because the “symptoms” we've been led to believe are unavoidable at menopause aren't normal at all: there is no reason why any of us should suffer from hot flashes, weight gain, night sweats, vaginal dryness, or brain fog when our hormones undergo such a natural shift. These symptoms are, I believe, the result of a lifetime of loading our bodies with unhealthy carbs and foods that are not clean. This includes overly processed grains (this is the reason why gluten intolerance is on the rise in this country), too much dairy, and way, way too much sugar. Ditching these toxic “foods” from our diets will reduce not just the symptoms of menopause, but the symptoms of PMS too.

The Paleo Chic diet reduces the phytic acid in our lives. Phytic acids are the indigestible forms of phosphorous found in plants and seeds: along with being impossible to digest, they block the body's ability to absorb other, desirable nutrients that are ingested with them. Making sure that we get an adequate intake of trace minerals (such as zinc, magnesium, calcium, and iron) by cleaning up the gut and reducing phytic acid is essential to maintaining strong bones and building lean muscle. They also help regulate our hormonal fluctuations (and so affect our menstruation cycles) and are crucial for core metabolic regulation.

My Paleo Chic diet also flips the bird to “fake” fats like margarine and trans fats and instead encourages eating an appropriate amount of healthy fats (such as those found in grass-fed beef) so that your body can properly produce hormones. The Paleo Chic diet also honors and helps restore the optimal ratio of the fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6 (see
page 85
), by cutting hydrogenated oils (which are high in O-6) from your diet and instead using oils that promote vivacious health, such as fish oil, which is high in O-3.

The key to losing weight boils down to a few very simple, ancient dietary guidelines:

• Eat high-quality lean proteins such as pastured poultry, grass-fed beef, and wild fish.

• Select your fats carefully. For example, olive oil and butter are fine, but no trans fats and no hydrogenated oils.

• Naturally occurring carbohydrates include fiber- and nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables.

These are the very foods that sustained our hunting-and-gathering ancestors who ate what they could catch, pluck, or dig up. We need to step away from neocarbs, which are the overengineered results of our agricultural “progress” (enriched flour products, sugar-infused drinks and foods, genetically beefed-up grains and animal products). We need to step away from factory-generated food and move, instead, back into the bush.

Why is this so imperative? Because eating sixty pounds of grain and thirty pounds of sugar—as the typical American does each year—is making us fat, sick, and tired. We're overindulging on highly processed foods to the tune of about four and a half pounds per week. It seems pretty clear to me that the “modern” approach, at least where dietary health is concerned, has got it all wrong.

By eating lean protein, the most important macronutrient, you will support your body's chemistry in the best way possible. Protein provides slow, steady energy, helps you feel full, and keeps blood sugar levels calm—ditto your mood and your hormones. Think of protein as the calming base nutrient that supplies what your cells need most to thrive. Organic, fresh, and local sources of protein also support bone and skin. (Our bodies love both calcium and collagen.)

Protein packs a wallop, so we don't need to overindulge on the Paleo Chic diet: instead, we like to enjoy our protein with an array of colorful, local, organic produce that rounds out our nutritional needs by infusing our bodies with nutrients, vitamins, minerals, fibers, and the kinds of sugars and carbs we actually need.

On this plan, I encourage you to ditch those high-gluten foods (all types of grains, including foods made with wheat, rye, oats, spelt, and others) that are known to cause allergies, inflammation, and weight gain, and instead focus on vegetables and fruits. Color is
key, and the more natural color you bring to the plate, the healthier your diet will be.

When you become a modern-day cavewoman, you protect yourself from the toxins that are found in all types of processed foods, including pesticides, chemicals, dyes, preservatives, hormones, and other artificial ingredients. Your body will be able to focus on breaking down the healthful components of the whole foods you'll be taking in, rather than scrambling to ward off the ill effects caused by the myriad harmful ingredients that are hidden in processed foods.

I
recently saw a graphic that perfectly illustrates the metabolic differences between men and women. On one side of the page there is a light switch and the caption under it says “Man.” On the other side of the page is an image of a complex circuit board, of the kind you might find, say, inside the computer that runs the Space Shuttle. Under this image is the word “Woman.”

The female metabolic systems—more specifically, our hormones—are very much like that circuit board: sophisticated, very complex, and quite delicate. When it comes to our bodies, our hormones (as we all know) can either work for us or against us. Once any number of them—or even one, for that matter—gets out of whack, there's a domino effect, and before you know it, you just feel like crap. Left unchecked, any kind of hormonal imbalance makes losing weight, getting enough sleep, or functioning well in our jobs or our lives impossible. I would go so far as to argue that managing our hormones is the number one preventative health measure any of us can take. Your holistic physician can test these for you and suggest making healthy lifestyle changes accordingly.

I'm going to outline the three basic groups of hormones we need to be aware of:

1. insulin and cortisol: the fat-burning superstar hormones;

2. the mighty thyroid and adrenal hormones; and

3. estrogen and progesterone: the female hormones that dictate the cycles of our lives.

I've prioritized these hormones in this order, because I've found that by addressing numbers 1 and 2, number 3 rebalances as a result.

First, let's make sure we're all clear on what, exactly, hormones are. In a nutshell, they're the biochemical messengers produced in our glands that control all sorts of bodily processes, including prompting cell and bone growth, raising and lowering blood sugar levels, dictating sexual development, making reproduction possible, cuing fat burning and muscle development, regulating sleep, and orchestrating stress management. Not to mention making sure our brains function well. Understanding hormone production and balance is essential to the Paleo woman who wants to look and feel her best—at any age.

While estrogen and progesterone are the key female hormonal players, two other hormones are critical when it comes to losing weight and feeling great. The first is insulin, produced by the pancreas, which regulates blood sugar. Adequate insulin production is essential for metabolizing carbohydrates and fat, and telling the body's cells to absorb glucose from the circulation for energy. The second is cortisol, often referred to as the stress hormone because it is overproduced when our bodies are under too much stress. Cortisol is like insulin, crucial to metabolizing fat, protein, and calcium.

In order to keep these two key hormones in balance, there are two basic principles that all cavewomen must follow: eat fewer
starchy carbohydrates (in this book, simple carbs equal sugar) and minimize stress in your life. Only when you address these two big issues will your body be able to give up unwanted fat. I know, easier said than done, but that's what becoming a cavewoman is all about.

Insulin works to eliminate or store fat, depending on how much sugar needs to be moved through your system. Too much sugar in your bloodstream will be converted into fat. If you eat less sugar, the insulin your pancreas produces helps produce lean muscle rather than having to manage all that sugar; think of it as the anabolic, or muscle-building, holy grail. When you eat too much sugar, you cue your body to produce too much insulin. When you've got too much insulin coursing through your circulation you will gain weight and decrease your body's ability to burn fat.

The beauty of taking charge of your insulin levels is this: if your pancreas is able to produce insulin efficiently, you can control your insulin levels by diet alone. Those with type 2 diabetes (noninsulin-dependent) know that the frontline medical treatment is diet and that, often, with the right kind of dietary modifications, they can forego having to take medications to manage the disease.

Cortisol production also responds well to lifestyle changes, and this is where exercise and rest come into play. When we engage in physical activity—walk, run, lift weights—we elevate our cortisol levels for the right reasons as opposed to those brought on by external forms of stress. We exercise, produce just the right amounts of cortisol, then rest, and bring down those levels. This kind of healthful cycling of cortisol promotes the development of lean muscle, which is essential to losing fat.

On the flip side, if we're chronically under the gun (with work and responsibilities at home or a combination of these) we overproduce cortisol, which sends our body into a kind of shock that yells “Hey, everyone, pump your brakes!” This means that our bodies then grasp onto the fat that we're trying to shed, almost like a parent holding on to a cocktail for dear life after a long day with screaming kids.
When our systems are drenched in cortisol, we can't think straight, we don't sleep well, our eating deteriorates, and we get—or stay—fat.

The next biggest movers of female physiology are thyroid, adrenaline, and noradrenaline hormones. They're essential for producing estrogen and progesterone.

The thyroid makes and releases two hormones: triiodothyronine (T
₃
) and thyroxine (T
₄
). The thyroid's main job is to produce the right amount of thyroid hormone to regulate metabolism, heart rate, body temperature, digestion, and muscle strength. The adrenal glands make the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline (epinephrine) that allow you to respond to all kinds of stress. Both the thyroid and the adrenal glands act in conjunction with each other as guardians of the endocrine system. They are constantly responding to ever-changing conditions within the body due to their complex set of sensors. Under stress, the brain tells the adrenal glands to make cortisol, which will inhibit the conversion of T
₄
to T
₃
. If you've been under stress for years, you can be more prone to hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid). Balancing your stress, eating lots of quality proteins, sleeping from ten o'clock until six, and popping some supplements can help your body hit the reset button on your metabolism. Refer to the “Cortisol Control” protocol in chapter 11 for more information.

If your insulin and cortisol levels are high, and your thyroid and adrenal glands are dysfunctional, changing your estrogen and progesterone levels won't make a dent in getting you lean. The minute you start addressing insulin and cortisol and the adrenal-thyroid axis, the estrogen and progesterone levels will take care of themselves. If you try to change your biochemistry by starting with estrogen and progesterone management first, your efforts will be wasted. And if you don't control your stress, you're also going to be
hard pressed to get your thyroid functioning up to speed. But, if you can reduce your stress, you'll elevate your thyroid function. And that is where the magic happens.