Posted Dec 28, 2011
The contents of Mike and Ashley Bledsoe’s refrigerator would make a vegetarian swoon.
The Cordova couple polish off 10 pounds of meat and five dozen eggs each week.
It’s part of a high-protein diet, to which the couple feel they largely owe their trim and muscular physiques.
While people searching for better health are increasingly turning to vegetarian and vegan diets, there is a group of health hunters taking a more primal route.
Followers of the Paleo Diet and lifestyle, also known as the Caveman Diet, strive to recreate not only the diet, but also the physical routine and sleep patterns of their Paleolithic ancestors.
The idea behind the trend is that foods alien to our bodies have wreaked havoc on our systems, introducing diseases unknown to our ancestors, such as obesity, diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
Eating like a caveman, means depending on freshly killed animals and readily available vegetation.
That means no dairy, grains, legumes, processed food or refined sugars.
Instead, the proponents consume unlimited quantities of lean meat, as well as seafood, eggs, fruit, vegetables, seeds and nuts.
“I’m only going to call it Paleo if it’s as close to natural as possible,” said Mike Bledsoe, 30, who went
paleo two years ago.
Emphasizing high-quality food, Paleo followers search out fresh produce and meat, he said.
Trainer and co-owner of Faction Strength & Conditioning, home of CrossFit Memphis in Cordova, Bledsoe has a local farm make regular deliveries of vegetables and grass-fed beef to the gym.
With his encouragement, nearly all of the gym’s 135 members follow the diet to some degree, he said.
It’s created a tribe of Paleo fanatics, with members swapping recipes and throwing around nicknames like “Grok.”
CrossFit gyms across the country have been among the biggest converters of people to the Paleo lifestyle.
The CrossFit workout fits well with what many envision as the caveman’s routine — climbing, jumping, running and lifting weights.
“There’s no machines, there’s no unnatural movements that go on,” Bledsoe said.
Paleo extremists will run barefoot, lifting large objects found in the wilderness.
Bledsoe simply opts for minimally padded sneakers and sticks to an indoor workout.
The intensity at which Paleo followers practice the lifestyle varies widely.
Some believe the human body wasn’t meant to ingest cooked food and so they eat a completely raw diet. Some give blood regularly to mimic blood loss that might have occurred while hunting their dinner.
Like many people who go Paleo, Ashley Bledsoe, 29, says she’s seen a lengthy list of health improvements.
“My skin looks better, my hair grows better,” she said.
Most significantly, Bledsoe’s digestive problems that would leave her in agony after a meal have evaporated, she said.
Paleo critics, however, worry about the long-term effects of cutting out entire food groups.
“I guess cavemen didn’t live long enough to acquire osteoporosis,” said Marian Levy, associate professor at the University of Memphis and director of the master of public health program.
“For people living into their 60s and 70s, they need calcium for osteoporosis and food high in fiber and low in fat to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease,” she said.
A heavy protein diet can also put stress on the kidneys, she said.
Michael McGoldrick, 25, a manufacturing sales representative, who participates in CrossFit competitions, is considered a dedicated Paleo among his caveman comrades.
With the pectorals of a silverback gorilla, McGoldrick’s competitions include lifting more than 250 pounds.
To live out his primal side, the Cordova resident will steal away to his father’s log cabin in Arkansas, where he swims in the river and runs up hills, lugging heavy stones and logs.
“At first I wanted to look better, and that moved into I wanted to feel better,” McGoldrick said.
He had experimented with The Zone Diet, but got burned out calculating his food portions, he said.
“I liked not having to measure my food and just eating until I was full,” he said.
Much as caveman are believed to have waited long stretches between eating large meals, every so often, McGoldrick will do a five-day fast, when he drinks only a concoction of palm tree juice.
McGoldrick has been satisfied with the improvements he’s seen in his body, but its the shift in mood that has kept him hooked.
“I’m balanced. I don’t get that crash in the afternoon,” he said. “I sleep better and I wake up more refreshed.”
Books and blogs by paleo gurus, like Robb Wolf and Dr. Loren Cordain, have been key in teaching modern-day paleos how to take on the caveman lifestyle.
Tyler Wainright, an East Memphis resident and manager at Medtronic, has been chronicling his journey into the Stone Age-lifestyle over the past few months on his blog PaleoMemphis.tumblr.com.
The father of two young girls, Wainright, 34, started noticing a little pudge around the middle, when he decided to make a big lifestyle switch.
With a family history of weight gain, heart disease and cancer, he began researching diets.
“It fits my lifestyle,” said Wainright, who loves that he can still eat bacon.
Unlike the intense Crossfit workout, he’s been doing light running and walking, he said.
Since the summer, Wainright has lost 20 pounds and 10 percent of his body fat, he said.
But 21st century living doesn’t always lend itself to the caveman’s ways.
To simulate the sun, lights should be dimmed 90 minutes before bedtime, Bledsoe said, and you should get roughly nine hours of sleep without sunlight or a blinking alarm clock.
“We try to, but modern life gets in the way,” he said.
And many Paleos have their moments of weakness.
“One to two hours a week I cut loose. I drink beer, I eat pizza,” Bledsoe said.
He often feels something similar to a hangover afterward, he said, but it only reinvigorates him to get back to clean living.
Bledsoe envisions pulling together a documentary paralleling the life of the caveman with modern-day man. Where the caveman’s life was threatened by hungry animals and foul weather, today’s human is being killed off by processed food, he said.
On the other hand, McGoldrick doesn’t spend time philosophizing over Paleolithic ancestors.
“I’m an extremely religious person, so I don’t know if I believe that,” Goldrick said. “What I do believe is how It makes me feel.”
Paleo Diet resources
Robb Wolf: robbwolf.com
Dr. Loren Cordain: thepaleodiet.com
Tyler Wainright, Memphis blogger:
paleomemphis.tumblr.com
Faction Strength & Conditioning, Home of CrossFit Memphis: 7740 Trinity Rd, Cordova, (901) 246-9451, factionsc.com.
©2011 The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.)
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