This weekend, we had the honor of presenting a poster at the first ever Ancestral Health Symposium (AHS), held on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles, CA. Billed as “The Woodstock of Evolutionary Medicine,” the AHS fosters collaboration among scientists, healthcare professionals and laypersons who study and communicate about health from an evolutionary perspective to develop solutions to our modern health challenges. (To read more about the AHS, check out our interview earlier this year with organizers Aaron Blaisdell and Brent Pottenger.)
Whole9’s Poster Presentation
We presented our “poster” (a brief exhibit open to all symposium attendees) during the lunch hour on Friday. Our topic, “Five Reasons Your Perfect Paleo Diet Just Isn’t Working,” was accompanied by the “solutions” to those five common errors – a glossy handout detailing the Whole9 Shopping Guide and MealSimple™ meal planning template. This was the first time we distributed this information to the general public (although we’ve been testing the material out on our Foundations of Nutrition workshop attendees for several months now).
For all of you who couldn’t make it to this year’s AHS, below is the poster we presented. Check out the most common errors we see when people try to “go Paleo” for the first time, and see if any of them resonate with you, either presently or in the past. As for the solutions… those can be found in our Whole30 Success Guide, or at any of our upcoming Foundations of Nutrition workshops (refer to our sidebar).
Whole9’s Five Reasons…
Thank You
We’d like to thank Aaron Blaisdell and Brent Pottenger for including us in this year’s event. We also need to thank FitBomb for the awesome Paleo paparazzi treatment we got all weekend (credits to him for the header photo). And if you’d like to see photos from our amazing Friday night dinner at Animal, check out NomNomPaleo, who stayed up ridiculously late on Friday night editing photos of gorgeous food.
A special shout-out to FitBomb and NomNom, Melissa Joulwan, Julie and Charles Mayfield, Clifton Harski, Erwan Le Corre, Jamie Scott, Emily Deans, Julianne Taylor, Amy Kubal, Stephanie Greunke and Omid Ashtari for hanging out with us this weekend and making our “down time” both fun and inspiring.
We’d also like to thank Kathleen Shannon (http://andkathleen.com/) for her graphic design skills, and her patience. This was the first time EVER that we’ve farmed out a graphic design project, having designed everything from our logo to web site graphics to t-shirts ourselves up until this point. Kathleen did a great job translating our style, culture and business philosophy into a gorgeous 4′ x 4′ poster, and we are so grateful.
And finally, we’d like to say THANK YOU to all of you readers who introduced themselves and chatted with us during the symposium. We loved meeting each and every one of you, and hope to see you all again next year at the AHS 2012!
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I love you guys and what y’all are doing! You are making a difference in so many people’s lives by challenging them to a different way of life- the better life!! Thank you so much for everything you do! Whole9 has been life changing for me!
I wish I was there! I will for sure be there next year. No question about it!I can not wait to watch all of the videos. Your poster will help millionis of people around the world take control of their health!
You lost me on #3 with carbs.
Sorry, but what are paleo cereals?
Thank YOU for entertaining me at the AHS and for being such great influences and inspirational leaders in this movement!
Hey folks!
I heard that you guys did great out there though things got a little testy and massively nerdy with some of the other speakers.
I did have a couple of questions though I was hoping you could answer at your convenience.
I have 3 clients right now doing the Whole30 at my box and 2 of them stated to me that (each about 2-3 weeks (maybe longer) into it) they have:
1) not had their periods
2) have ZERO sex drive
3) are having bathroom issues (nothing solid, very infrequent).
4) No gains in strength to be had
5) Not leaning out well or as well when they first started.
I forgot to mention all of them are ladies, so you dont have to worry that something super strange happened. The 3rd lady is unable to maintain a whole30 as of now but not complaining of the same issues. I know people who have done the program, myself included but this is the first time I have heard of these issues. Any suggestions??
Thank you very much for you time.
Your poster presentation is fantastic and spot on. I see these same issues over and over. I am constantly telling this same message to clients who have problems like – low energy, difficulty sleeping, poor recovery or crashing in workouts, constipation, thyroid suppression (sometimes feeling a lump in throat)
It was so great to meet you both, thanks for a fun and delicious dinner.
@ Chris – these issues are often the same ones that I see when people eat too few carbs, a good mix of starchy and non starch at meals works well for most – lots of root veggies – beetroot, yams, sweet potatoes, and starches like winter squash. My meal feels best with a big pile of raw salad veggies, at least half a cup of starchy, and about a palm of protein and a bit of fat – but limit nuts and seeds – olive, macadamia oil and coconut cream and oil I think are best. (Just my thoughts – Melissa and Dallas may have other recommendations)
Also magnesium is great and check people are not overdoing vitamin D,
@Chris: Look at the list and go through them with it. Could be they are not eating enough. Or not enough carbs.
In my opinion first thing to do with people who are not losing but eating too less is to increase their diet. Force feed them, hopefully with good food. But eating anything at all is more important than eating good food, if they are eating too less.
I have a female friend who was eating 1500kcal. I told her to eat 2000kcal (based on her weight) from paleo foods, lots of fat and some carbs. She lost 2 Kgs within a couple of weeks. Calories are not very important in the big picture.
Your poster looks great!
I bet you’ve probably already seen this, but I just watched this TED talk about restorative/sustainable seafood and thought you guys would enjoy!
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/barton_seaver_sustainable_seafood_let_s_get_smart.html
Glad I got to say howdy to you guys! I am now broke from shopping in Santa Monica, but hopefully I’ll see you in Bowie, MD! :)
Thanks for being so cool in talking with me, Dallas. Put a lot of things in the proper context for me.
Henry
@Chris
Maybe 3 weeks of Paleo has made them super-fertile and they’re both pregnant?!
The lack of libido could be down to not eating enough fat (something women tend to find harder than men at first). Fat = hormones (well, I’m sure there’s some very complicated conversions that happen, but some of it gets to make hormones in the end!). No fat = Hormone imbalance based on everything I’ve seen.