The gist of the article is that Unilever R & D has started a three year project to “identify nutritionally valuable varieties of fruits and vegetables from the past, in order to produce natural food ingredients for the future.”  The project will be focusing on five plants which the team feels has the most potential.  These are mangos, apples, onions, bananas and tea.

The article goes on to state the Unilever has been studying the Paleolithic Diet in its lab for several years.  As a result of these studies the researchers have “recently realized” that the plants that our ancestors thrived on were nutritionally different than the inbred, high yield crops that most people are currently eating.

Unilever plans to identify ancient, or heritage varieties of various plants which have a better nutritional profile than the modern varieties generally in use.  These “Paleolithic” foods will then be incorporated into Unilever products which will be sold as natural, Paleo foods.

I had really mixed reactions when I first read this article.  On one hand, it shows that the Paleo Diet is being viewed as a nutritious, healthful diet in the mainstream. The R & D teams at multinational food companies are very skilled at identifying and capitalizing on the latest food trends.  The Unilever R & D team started looking into this several years ago.  They have decided to put a lot of money into developing Paleo Processed foods.    This strikes me as the ultimate nutritional oxymoron.

It appalls me that in a year or two the multinational food companies will be marketing these Paleo Processed Foods to the masses.  They are gambling that people eating the SAD will have heard that the Paleo Diet is healthy, and will incorporate these new and improved Paleo “food” products into their family’s diet.

It’s the same sort of thing that happened when the Low Carb diet was trending and all the major food companies had low carb line extensions.  Unilever has identified an emerging food trend and hopes to capitalize on it.  I expect the other multinationals will also have Paleo offerings in their lines.

I’m concerned that when these “Paleo” products hit the grocery store shelves, they will create confusion about what the ancestral or paleo diet really is.  This low carb, paleo locavore is going to continue spreading the word that everyone should be eating real food:  unprocessed meat and vegetables, grown in close proximity to where they are eaten.

I’ve not been inspired to write anything.  I’ve been very busy with cooking, work and family things.

I developed a yummy recipe for Paleo Scalloped Sweet Potatoes with a Coconut Milk White Sauce.  I created it Sunday whilst cooking a turkey dinner.  I was too busy cooking to photograph it.

I’ll have to make it again (I don’t think TMOTH will complain) so I can properly blog it.

We were served a tasty, locally grown meal including pastured eggs, sausage and bacon.  We sat on hay bales.  The other guests at the meal were varied and interesting to speak with.

The speakers at the brunch were Tara Smith (owner of the farm) and farm activist, Joel Salatin.  Both were articulate, amusing and very passionate about their topics.  They were preaching to the choir.  Everyone there was there because they believe in the importance of having locally grown, sustainable, real food available.  If you are interested in viewing the talks, the event was videotaped and can be viewed from the Tara Firma website.

It’s an unfortunate fact that most people don’t give too much thought to what they eat.  If they did, the Standard American Diet (SAD) would be very different.  My friends and acquaintances view my dietary shift and interest in nutrition as an eccentric phase.  I am a proud low carb Paleo Locavore.  It’s not a diet or a phase.  It’s a life-style that evolved as I passed through a series of changes.

Joel Salatin mentioned in his talk that as more people begin to change their behavior, eventually a tipping point is reached and that behavior then becomes the norm.   I do my part trying to change the behavior of those around me by feeding them delicious locally grown foods, or by inviting them to join me at the Farmer’s Market.  One thing leads to another.  Eventually, bit by bit, person by person, we may reach the tipping point that makes food grown locally by family farmers a hot commodity.

It’s not easy to make a living farming.  Tara Firma Farms was started three years ago.  Tara Smith said that the farm is currently feeding more than 600 families.  This year is the first year that they are breaking even.  If we want to have locally grown, sustainable food available on an ongoing basis, we need to vote with our dollars.  We need to request locally, sustainably grown food items from our local grocers and restaurants.  We need to let the commercial establishments in our area know that we want to buy these kinds of products so that they will begin to carry them.

I have found this to be very true for me.  My journey with Paleo has truly been a life passage.  I started with the goal of weight loss, but as my journey progressed so did my goals and my life as a whole.

Dean recommends five books in his post.  These are not Paleo books.  They are books that illustrate concepts about change and growth.  In the post he outlines the way that he thinks a person can most effectively absorb and utilize the information in the books.  I plan to work my way through them.

If you are interested, here’s a link to Dean’s post.

I walked for 30 minutes.

TMOTH (The Man of the House), TBB (The Beach Babe) and I hiked for 52 minutes.

One of the things that goes along with being a locavore is the seasonality of the fruits and vegetable in one’s diet.  We roll into Spring after a winter filled with greens and root vegetables.  Two weeks ago at the Farmer’s Market Bernier Farms had some offering that heralded the arrival of Spring, particularly the asparagus.

Oh how I have missed asparagus!  Before committing to eating local, sustainably grown foods, asparagus was on my table once or twice a week.  I have almost heeded the siren call of the Mexican asparagus at Trader Joe’s more than once.

The asparagus from Bernier Farms was fresh, tender and delicious.  We have had some for the past two weeks.  I am eagerly anticipating getting some tomorrow at the Farmer’s market.  We’ll be eating asparagus at least once a week until the season ends.