As some of you know from my Facebook page, I attended Jason Seib and Sarah Fragoso’s Everyday Paleo workshop this past Saturday. It was my second time attending, but this time it was at Jason’s gym, Clackamas Physical Conditioning, about 25 minutes from my house. Last time, I drove four hours to attend their workshop in Grant’s Pass, Oregon and it was well worth it.
Anyway, there were about 100 or so people in attendance, including Cain Credicott of Paleo Magazine, Tammy Credicott of The Healthy GF Life and author of Paleo Indulgences, Ute of Grokette’s Primal Musings and FastPaleo.com, the founders of Fatworks and more! It was such a great crowd! I was humbled to have a few people come up to me and ask if I was Paleo in PDX, and then proceed to introduce themselves. It was kind of strange, but neat at the same time.
Great crowd! (Photo credit: Everyday Paleo).
The infamous, Deb Hunter, helping Sarah. (Photo credit: Grokette’s Primal Musings).
You know what really made me feel special though? Being invited to the cool kids party after the workshop. Jason invited me over to his house for dinner that evening to hang with him, his family, the Fragoso’s, Tammy and Cain, and possibly some others. I had to about pinch myself thinking about the awesome offer. Holy sh*t, I felt honored and like a really flippin’ cool lady. Sadly, I could not attend because Jesse and I had plans at 4 p.m. to meet our friend who’s officiating our wedding, and I really didn’t want to cancel with the wedding only 4-ish weeks away (and considering the fact that we hadn’t even discussed anything with him yet). If I would’ve known beforehand and not the day of (thanks, Jason), I could have planned for it, but it was too short notice. So, it’ll have to happen another time and I’m confident that something of the sorts will. Still though, isn’t that pretty rad?!
Preach it, Jason! (Photo credit: Grokette’s Primal Musings).
Anyway, back to the actual workshop. It was so engaging, even a second time around. I learned new things and took completely different notes than I did before. The questions and discussion always change, of course, based on the audience. This particular audience asked a lot of questions! Jason was as science-y, thorough and funny as ever, and Sarah was down to earth, vibrant and spoke from the heart. They really complement one another well and make a great team. Here are some of my takeaways this time around:
- When you intervene on original diets, disease interferes. We changed the rules with the introduction of agriculture and processed foods, which is why we have the pronounced rise of modern illness today.
- In a study with over 5,000 Swedish men (I believe it was just men), 74% had undiagnosed celiac disease. Just get it out of your diet, people! Don’t even bother with a test that may or may not even tell you that you have it!
- People are not stuck with autoimmune conditions the rest of their lives (unless a rare, chronic issue), despite what they think or are told. The question that needs to be asked is, “what caused it?” It comes back to systemic inflammation, leaky gut syndrome and celiac disease. There was even a woman in attendance who had been diagnosed with MS and was bound to a WHEELCHAIR! Well, guess what? She switched to a paleo lifestyle and is no longer debilitated, and can walk and move freely! Chill-worthy, right? The proof is in the pudding, folks. This is not the first instance of this I’ve heard either. There is another prime example in Jason’s wonderful book, The Paleo Coach, which I recommend buying if you haven’t already.
- Jason shared a quote from Nora Gedgaudas that is so spot on, “Science isn’t the last word, it’s the latest word.”
- 50 percent or more of people that die of heart disease have LOW cholesterol.
- There is a strong correlation between calcium supplementation and heart attack.
- Eliminating vegetable oils (canola, safflower, sunflower, corn, cottonseed, etc.) from your diet makes it HARDER to get skin cancer.
I see my head! I’m the blonde hair on the far left. (Photo credit: The Healthy GF Life).
- Chia seeds should be treated like grain. (Lucky for me, I already avoid these puppies. They’re SCD-illegal. Isn’t it basically bird seed anyway?).
- A few years ago, an Iowa State professor was fired for saying that cows eat grass! Corn is the answer they were looking for since Iowa grows tons of it.
- If and when you do indulge in booze, drink earlier, so it’s out of your bloodstream before you go to bed.
- There is not a single study showing that people who are on statins live any longer than those not on statins. And, in people who have had a heart attack or have advanced heart disease, studies show that they might live 13 days longer than they would have otherwise. 13 days longer…is it worth all the terrible health risks? Did you know that people at Jason’s gym are not even allowed to be on statins to workout there because of all the risks? You actually have to sign off that you’re not on statins.
- When you yo yo diet, you lose WEIGHT and gain FAT. You don’t want to lose weight, folks because that includes precious muscle mass.
- “Paleo treats,” as a staple are like candy cigarettes.
- STOP doing lots of cardio! Six 20-second row sprint intervals have the same EPOC (Excess Post Oxygen Consumption) as 30-minutes of steady state cardio at 80% VO2max, but without the cortisol and prolonged stress. Do you know what excess cortisol and stress equals? Increased fat storage! (This is not new to me, but I like the study Jason mentioned, especially since I understand the terminology, thanks to exercise science).
- “This isn’t a diet, it’s a perspective and perspective will set you free.” – Jason Seib
**Read about my first time attending Sarah and Jason’s workshop here.**
This is awesome! Thanks for the recap. I’m so glad so many were blessed to attend and learn so much from Jason and Sarah. I can’t wait to meet Jason and learn as much as I can this Saturday!
Thanks, Ashley! I’m excited for Saturday and glad you’ll have the opportunity to meet Jason and listen to him speak. He’s great 🙂
Excellent recap, Alisa! It was great to see you there!
Thanks, Holly! It was great to see you again too 🙂
Thanks for the recap! I especially like #14. I have a lot of weight to lose, and with 3 small kids, there never seems to be enough time. This gives me hope that I CAN lose and increase my health with more intense exercise for shorter periods of time.
Thanks for reading it @teresadreams! Yes, met cons do not need to be long — honestly, about 5 minutes will cut it. I wouldn’t recommend doing it everyday though because it’s just not necessary. Some heavy lifting along with walking and mobility is key! Sessions can be just 30 minutes long. More is not always better.
Wow, wish I could have been there! I never knew that about chia seeds… why should they be treated like a grain? (I have a bag in my house right now I’ve been using… eek!). Also, just wondering if you could tell me what study was sited about the sprints? I also know all that already but being a sports medicine major like to read up on all the studies 🙂
I’d have to ask Jason for the specific name of the study, but you could go on his Facebook page (Jason Seib) and ask him. He didn’t give us the actual name, but mentioned it was a great study. This guy has literally 30,000+ studies on his computer and is an avid reader and studier!
Chia should be treated the same as grain because they act the same way in the gut as grain. It has gut damaging properties and not only that, it’s mucinous. Chia seed really isn’t anything special or worth eating, in my opinion, anyway.
Hmm interesting. I never knew that about chia (learn something new everyday, right?). I’ll have to look into that some more!
That is a lot of studies! Thank you, I’ll see if I can get ahold of that article.
I promise he’ll be happy to share it with you if you ask.
Here’s the study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22710610
Jason cites it in this Everyday Paleo article: http://everydaypaleo.com/sprint-for-your-life/ as well as on page 215 of his book.
Thank you!!!!
Awesome! Thank you 🙂
Do they come to the east coast too?
I know they’ve gone to Georgia before and are looking to come to the East Coast more.
Sounds so fascinating!! Love learning all this jazz!
I know, me too!
I was one of the ones who came up to you and asked you if you were Paleo in PDX. 🙂 I learned about your blog through the Cultured Caveman Facebook page and appreciate the resources you link to. Your story inspires me as well.
Yes, I remember you, Davinna! You looked really familiar for some reason too. Thanks for coming up and introducing yourself to me. It was so nice to meet you! Thanks for your kind words 🙂
Forgot to mention – wonderful summary of the workshop! It helped to cement so many of those teachings in my head. I need start taking better notes!
I’m always an avid note taker at these things! I’m glad it helped.
This is where Jason got his candy cigarette example (in case you were wondering): http://www.archevore.com/panu-weblog/2010/1/13/smoking-candy-cigarettes.html
It was good to see you and hope you had a great time!
Sweet, thanks for sharing, Jeromie! It was great seeing you too 🙂
Loved this recap Alisa! It’s great to be able to get this kind of information via your blog 🙂 I used to have chia seeds all the time and then started reading about how they might not be the best so I stopped using them. I know a lot of people with egg intolerances use chia seeds in place of eggs in baking (mixed with water to create a binder like eggs). Good to know giving them up is the right way to go 🙂
I also really love #13 and as time goes on I agree with it more and more. I just feel like a lot of paleo blogs focus so much on those things! Also #15 is resonating with me more and more as I’m reading Jason’s book… slowly since I want to absorb it as well as I can 🙂
And ummm being invited to hang with all those awesome people…. how exciting! Shame you couldn’t go but next time 🙂
Thanks for another great post!
Thanks, Naz! I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’ve only heard of people using ground flax as an egg replacer, but I can see how chia would work the same way. They both get thick and gooey, hence the mucinous factor.
Yep, there’ll be time for another cool party and next time, I’m determined not to miss it!
Do you use complete chia seeds or grind them up first?
I don’t know because I don’t eat chia seeds or use them for egg replacer. I’d guess that they don’t have to be ground since they get gooey when mixed with liquid. If you tolerate eggs, I’d just recommend using eggs.
A few thoughts: there is a strong positive correlation between heart attacks and calcium supplementation? Any chance you recorded the source for that fact? I’ve always wondered about chia seeds but have never eaten them as they just…SEEM too much like grains! Glad to get some more motivation to avoid seed oils (they really sneak in).
I didn’t catch the specific name of the study, but I could get it from Jason (or heck, you can even ask him on his FB page — he’s always wiling to share good studies and information). Yeah, I never eat chia…it seems kinda like birdseed in my opinion anyway.
In this “Women, Weights and Bone Density” article Jason wrote: http://everydaypaleo.com/women-weights-and-bone-density/ he cites this meta-analysis about the link between calcium supplementation and cardiovascular events: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21505219
I learned about this source from Paul Jaminet that correlates calcium supplementation with increased risk of myocardial infarction: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20671013?dopt=AbstractPlus
Davinna, you are awesome! Thanks for sharing!