Garrett Smith - Solving the Paleo Equation: Stress, Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep

SOLVING ( the ) PALEO

E > q = u + a : t x i - o n

Dr. Garrett Smith

& Matt Stone

Victory Belt Publishing Inc.

Las Vegas

First Published in 2013 by Victory Belt Publishing Inc.

Copyright 2013 Garrett Smith and Matt Stone

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 13: 978-1-936608-27-0 (paperback)
978-1-628600-28-5 (ebook)

This book is for educational purposes. The publisher and author of this instructional book are not responsible in any manner whatsoever for any adverse effects arising directly or indirectly as a result of the information provided in this book. If not practiced safely and with caution, exercise can be dangerous to you and to others. It is important to consult with a professional dietitian and fitness instructor before beginning training and dieting. It is also very important to consult with a physician prior to training due to the intense and strenuous nature of the techniques in this book.

Produced in The United States

RRD 0113

SP_ver_f

d_r0

Matt Stone

I t was a cold, dark, dreary, foggy night in South Florida when my phone buzzed. A rugged voice crackled in my ear. It was Dr. Garrett Smith. No, actually Garretts voice didnt crackle at all and the weather was great. Florida for the win! I just thought all books were supposed to start out that way.

Garrett did call me (on an equally dreary and frigid night in Tucson, Arizona, Im sure) and said that he wanted to put together a book sharing the insights the two of us accumulated while working in the health, nutrition, and fitness fields. Garretts experience comes from his naturopathic medicine practice and days as a competitive power lifter; my experience stems from seven years of independent health research and extensive communication with the large online following I built up during that time.

After chatting for a while and really thinking about the kind of book we wanted to write, as well as what our expertise and personal health histories had led us to believe, we mutually decided that the books main purpose was to keep people from f%#@ing themselves up.

This book is not directed at those who sit around guzzling Mountain Dew by the keg or who hit McDonalds on their way to work every day. There are plenty of books written for them. The reader were interested in targeting is the health fanatic in pursuit of six-pack abs and a clean-as-a-whistle dietthe ones with the best of intentions and the worst results.

In todays Internet age, with thousands of studies coming out every nanosecond, gurus everywhere promising perfect health and ways to disease-proof yourself by following a few simple eating rules, and fads and trends coming in and out of vogue all the time, the casualties of modern health fanaticism are shockingly abundant. From the eighteen-year-old in the Netherlands who took his testosterone levels to near zero trying to obtain the perfect physique to my childhood buddy tearing his quadriceps muscle in an unfit CrossFit workout, Ive seen the biggest losers in the perfect health game. Garrett has seen his fair share as well.

So this book is a far cry from a motivational piece trying to inspire you to cut every last evil, gluten-filled noodle out of your diet. This is not a book full of tips for squelching your cravings for all of those pesky favorite foods of yours. This is something else entirely. This is a real-life guide to being as healthy as you can reasonably expect to be in our modern world in a way that is balanced, safe, and practical.

Why the title Solving the Paleo Equation?

There are many reasons we chose this title. For starters, there is a raging fever circulating in the world today over the Paleo dietthe idea that if we modern humans do our best to eat only the types of foods available to our ancestors tens of thousands of years ago, we too will have the supposed great health that these early hominids experienced. However, in real-world practice, this approach is extremely limited, and in order to make this equation work, many more of the fundamentals of good health need to be added.

Second, Paleo is like any diet craze, in that the more people who are invested in one narrow approach, and the more they are sold on the premise or ideology of that crazewhether its scientifically valid or notthe greater the fallout. By fallout I mean the damage thats done when people fail miserably despite firm adherence to the rules and discipline. That damage includes tons of health problems, from digestive issues to hormonal problems to loss of energy, sex drive, mood stability, and other things that make the difference between a good and a bad daily life experience.

Stated more bluntly, we see the Paleo diet as it is commonly practiced, as well as some of the exercise recommendations that typically accompany it, as one of the most common causes of health problems in health-conscious people today. Garrett and I have seen it again and again. And we have experienced it for ourselves, which is what enabled us to see outside that box and take our understanding and expertise much further.

We dont adhere to any philosophy or trend. Garrett is on the Garrett Smith diet. Im on the Matt Stone diet. Garrett goes to the gym for his GarrettFit workouts. I practice MattFit. Ultimately, all our experience, both personal and professional, has led us directly toward understanding and emphasizing proper functionfunction over philosophy. And when it comes to improving function, individuality throws all rigid rules, and even scientific breakthroughs, completely out the window.

Thus, the book you are about to read is all about balance, self-driven customization, and monitoring basic biofeedback for signs of improved function. If that concept sounds simple, then goodit is! Hopefully, like us, you will find the simplicity refreshing. We wont be supplying you with rigid and harsh rules, lists of good and bad foods, or impossible exercise routines. No need to retreat to a cave in the hills. We are minimalists; small changes translate into big results. We are all about the fundamentals: stress management, moderate exercise (outdoors when possible), deeper and more restful sleep, and a metabolism-supporting diet. Those few things will deliver 90 percent of the benefits to any health-conscious person.

Our hope is that once youve finished this book you will understand how your body works and end your addiction to finding the perfect diet and health planthat nonexistent panacea that will solve all your health problems once and for all. You dont need the Internet to tell you how to be healthy; the answers are inside you. Once you know how to listen to the cues of your body, you wont need an outside authority to tell you how to live and eat.

This is yet another reason why we chose to write this book with the ancestral health theme of the Paleo movementour evolutionary heritage is in us. Your body is the best doctor, the best nutritionist, and the best personal trainer you could ever hope for. Our bodies regulate energy intake and output. They regulate thirst and fluid balances. They regulate our need for exercise as well as our need for rest and sleep. We have all the instincts programmed in us to manage our bodies well. Unfortunately, with so many ideas about how much exercise, food, and water we need, modern humans have gotten into the increasingly bad habit of intellectually interfering with our instinctual programming. We let books and blogs and magazine articles tell us how and when to eat and exercise, or how much water or rest we need. In other words, its not about getting back in touch with your prehistoric diet, its about getting back in touch with the prehistoric