Adriana Harlan

Article / Updated 10-15-2020

Coconut flour and almond flour are two of the most commonly used flours in Paleo and grain-free baking. Both these flours produce soft and tender baked goods, and each has its own unique delicious taste. Baking with coconut or almond flour is very easy and both are great substitutes for wheat and refined white flours. Coconut flour also can be used as a substitute for almond flour in a recipe. Coconut flour can replace almond or wheat flours in any recipe. However, when making substitutions, the properties of each of these flours have to be taken into consideration. Coconut flour is particularly absorbent and sucks up a lot of moisture. Replacing coconut flour for almond flour (or grain flours) requires that you adjust the amount of liquid and eggs added. A good starting point is to substitute 1 cup of almond flour with 1/4 cup (1 ounce) of coconut flour. You will also need to add 1 egg for every 1/4 cup of coconut flour used in addition to the eggs called for in the original recipe. Doubling the amount of liquid in the original recipe may also be necessary, but it’s best to add the same amount the recipe calls for first and then add more as needed. If your mixture seems too dry, add more liquid until you get the right consistency, or if your batter is too wet, add more coconut flour one teaspoon at a time until you get the right consistency. Another way of substituting coconut flour for almond or wheat flours in a recipe that doesn’t require using a large number of eggs is by adding a starch such as arrowroot or tapioca to your recipe. The starch gives baked goods made with coconut flour elasticity and structure. You can use a combination of half coconut flour and half starch, plus a few eggs and enough liquid to make tender Paleo baked goods. For instance, substitute 2 cups of almond flour with 1/2 cup coconut flour and 1/2 cup tapioca starch, 3 eggs, and 1/2 cup coconut milk as a base for your recipes. Trust your instincts and start experimenting. Begin by making existing recipes made with coconut flour until you get a good feel for how the flour behaves; then substitute the almond flour in a recipe using your own combinations and proportions of coconut flour, starch, eggs, and liquids. Coconut flour may seem difficult to work with at first, but you can adjust the recipe as you go, and soon you’ll get the hang of baking with it.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-27-2016

The Paleo lifestyle is a great way to feel better. What you eat makes all the difference for how you feel — and how you perform when you work out or do everyday things like rake the leaves or clean the house. In these articles, you find some tips for amping up your Paleo diet smarts, for you and for your kids.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-27-2016

Unlike fad diets, Paleo is a lifestyle based on eating wholefoods and avoiding modern, processed, and refined foods. The diet is far from boring and repetitive; it focuses on eating a wide variety of meats, seafood, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, nuts, and seeds, as well as nutrient-dense traditional foods such as organ meats, bone broths, and fermented foods.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

You may have trouble convincing your kids to try some of the veggie side dishes that are common on a Paleo diet. Getting some kids to eat healthy can be a chore. Have you ever had a meal with a kid who examines his plate as if he were the lead investigator of a crime scene? Texture is important to kids, but so is presentation. Kids are visual when it comes to food. When your brain sees something colorful and yummy, you get a desire for that food and immediately begin to release enzymes, which help in breaking down your food. You may be able to get your kids to eat something just by cutting the food into the shape of a heart or adding a smiley face. Here are some other tools to make food look fun and appealing: Cookie cutters: Pick some shapes your kids like and use them on any foods you can. Keep a bunch on hand. Ladle: Use a ladle to put food in mounds to look like mountains. You can use different sizes for different effects. Food for faces: Use whatever foods you can, like raisins, olives, baby carrots, or apple slices, to add eyes, noses, and mouths or other designs on foods. Make it funny for bonus kid points. Lunchbox beauty: Make packed lunches look as attractive as possible (and keep everything separate for finicky types) by using lunch boxes with compartments. Fun plates and cups: Invest in plates or cups in shapes or colors that your kids find fun and adventurous to eat from.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

You can gain strength, power, and aesthetics with Paleo fitness— vastly superior to that of 
the average individual indentured at the big-box gym — quickly, safely, and inexpensively through a choice selection of primal bodyweight exercises. Paleo fitness demands that you unplug, disconnect, and go low-tech to reap high yield. In fact, the primal exercises requiring little to no equipment often produce the biggest results and need no warming up to. You’re probably familiar with many of the exercises that make up a Paleo fitness regimen. But are you sure you know how to do them correctly? Check out more than 20 videos demonstrating proper Paleo positions and correct forms to see how common exercises are performed.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Primal superfoods that are part of the Paleo diet are multitaskers that heal the gut, decrease inflammation, and flood your cells with nutrients that are often lacking. In fact, superfoods help heal you on the deepest possible level, from the inside out, which is why many people turn to a Paleo lifestyle in the first place. This healing helps boost your immunity and your energy levels and helps you perform your best. Cage-free, organic eggs: Cage-free, organic eggs are filled with vitamins and minerals, including biotin and choline. Biotin turns what you eat into energy, while choline moves cholesterol through your bloodstream. Fermented foods: Because your gut has so much to do with your overall health and performance, fermented vegetables can be a great part of your food choices. Fermentation uses beneficial bacteria that are great for gut health. Try kimchi or sauerkraut, or ferment some beets or carrots. Full-fat coconut milk: Paleo athletes love full-fat coconut milk because it’s high in saturated fatty acids and medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), which are both easily burned as fuel by the body. Buying full fat is important because the lighter versions are simply the full-fat version watered down. Grass-fed meats: Grass-fed beef, bison, lamb and goats have less total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories. They also have more vitamin E, beta carotene, vitamin C, and a number of health-promoting fats, including omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA. Homemade bone broths: Bone broths are flavorful liquids made from boiling animal bones for an extended period of time, often with vegetables or herbs, and then straining out the solids. The resulting broth is rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and amino acids. Meat jerky: After you work out, many times you’re looking to refuel immediately with a snack, and meat jerky is a great choice, as long as you’re sure to purchase meat jerky from the healthiest source you can. Look for free-range, no antibiotics or added hormones, no nitrates, MSG, soy, gluten,
or added sugar. Organ meats: Organ meats, like kidney, liver, and heart, have a high concentration of fat-soluble vitamins and are one of the best sources of vitamin D. Organ meats also have essential fatty acids, which are great for your brain and the membrane that lines your cell walls. Organic berries: Organic berries are low in fructose (which you want to keep on the low side to avoid blood sugar spikes) and high in antioxidants and nutrition, making berries a favorite Paleo fruit. Sweet potatoes: Sweet potatoes take the lead as the number-one recovery food for the Paleo athlete. They give your body the energy you need to refuel and recover. Unrefined coconut oil: Suitable for high-heat cooking and a good replacement for butter, unrefined coconut oil has antibacterial, anti-aging and anti-inflammatory properties that boost your immunity for better performance.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Traveling can be stressful, and that stress is compounded when you’re worried about what which Paleo treat you’re going to eat after you arrive. However, there are ways you can make your trip Paleo, or at least Paleo-ish. Packing these foods for your trip can make a big difference: Avocados Sugar- and additive-free beef jerky Bottled water Coconut flakes Cooked chicken slices Cut-up veggies Fresh-cut fruit Hard-boiled eggs Nuts Paleo-approved deli meats Sea salt Single serving packets of nut butter

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Complexes are a series of exercises in Paleo fitness you perform successively — flowing from exercise to exercise with little to no rest in between. Complexes are different from circuit training because you typically perform them with a single modality, such as a barbell, dumbbells, a sandbag, your own body weight, or a set of kettlebells. Complex design is a delicate art. It must be constructed in such a way that it allows you to cycle through various muscle groups and energy systems. This way, the system as a whole may be kept under a prolonged period of stress, and no one muscle group is fatigued to the point of failure. Like most other forms of metabolic conditioning, complexes combine moderate to heavy strength efforts with elevated cardiovascular stress. Complexes keep the kidneys, the heart, and the lungs working hard while stressing various muscle groups and doing so in a super time-efficient manner — very rarely will a complex take more than three minutes to complete. To keep the body adapting, you’ll do some complexes for time and some for reps. You’ll do some heavy complexes and some light. You’ll do some long complexes and some short. When you get into primal programs, you’ll quickly see that there’s no shortage of complexes to choose from to keep your metabolic conditioning varied and exciting. Complexes are best performed with either your own body weight or with kettlebells because they both allow for “flow.” Dumbbells are clunky and sometimes hard to handle with the ballistic movements, such as swings, cleans, and snatches, and barbells are far too large, impossible to swing between the legs, and bring with them the added inconvenience of having to load and unload weight plates. However, you can do complex work with barbells or dumbbells. Although barbell complexes are possible and can be quite effective, you shouldn’t start out with them. The barbell is a large instrument and commands respect. Poor form with a barbell isn’t as easily forgiven as poor form with your own body weight — and the punishments are far more severe. Start with basic bodyweight complexes Think for a moment what a bodyweight complex may look like. A complex combines strength and cardiovascular efforts, taxing multiple muscle groups and various energy systems. And a complex combines two or more exercises into a series. Start by taking a minimalistic approach: What two exercises can you combine to form a bodyweight complex? The answer is limitless. Some combinations may be more worthwhile than others, for sure, but the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. A simple pairing of push-ups and pull-ups is a fantastic “starter” complex. Although not the most strenuous complex ever devised, a pairing of five to ten push-ups with five to ten pull-ups will impose a metabolic demand, even more so when you work in the higher repetition range. Now, what if you added a set of bodyweight squats in there, making the complex five push-ups, five squats, and five pull-ups performed in a row? In this complex, you switch from upper body to lower body and then back to upper body — the prolonged stress of this complex will quickly elevate your heart rate. Could you add in another five squats after the pull-ups to round out the work ratio between upper body and lower body? Certainly! Or better yet, you could add lunges instead or any other lower body exercise. The complex then becomes five push-ups, five squats, five pull-ups, and ten lunges (five for each leg). Go ahead and give this complex a try. A taxing effort, is it not? As you can see, complexes are perhaps the ultimate conditioning tool because they allow you to perform an incredible amount of work in a very short time. When training a complex, never go to failure. If at any time your form starts to deteriorate, take a break and start up again when you can resume with good form. Take it up a notch with kettlebell complexes The best device for complex work, from the power moves to the heavy strength efforts, is the kettlebell, hands down. The kettlebell allows for “flow” — that is, seamless execution, the ability to hop from exercise to exercise without any hiccups, stumbling, or delay. The compact design of the kettlebell also allows you to swing it between your legs with great ease. Even though you can select a number of tools to get the same job done, you should always strive to choose the best tool for the job. When it comes to complexes, the kettlebell is king. However, you can adapt any complex to dumbbells or barbells if that’s all you have. Kettlebell complexes typically combine a variety of power movements, such as swings, cleans, snatches, and jerks, and grinding strength movements, such as squats, presses, lunges, and loaded carries. Because the key to metabolic conditioning is found in inefficiency — meaning, variety is your friend — you want to keep the body guessing, or keep it responding to different forms of stress.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

The purpose of the hinge is to move and produce force from the hips. This is a necessary life skill and Paleo exercise. Being able to move properly from the hips allows you to lift weight safely up off the ground without wrecking your back and maximizes your athletic abilities. The most basic, or primal, hinging pattern is the dead lift: a bending of the hips to reach down and pick something up. Conventional wisdom tells you that you shouldn’t lift with your back, but in fact you should lift from your back — as well as from the rest of your posterior chain. For example, when you watch a baby pick something up off the ground, the baby almost invariably reverts to the dead lift to do so. Very rarely will any baby pick something up from a squat because the dead lift is the natural human crane position. When the back is kept flat, the hips reach back, and the knees bend slightly, you’re in position to heave a considerable load from the floor. Perhaps the most potentially injurious way to lift any weight off the ground, especially if you’re new to weight training, is to do so with a rounded (hunched) back. When hinging, push your chest up (think “proud chest”) to maintain the natural curvature of your spine. Using your hips in the hinge An athlete’s power comes from the hips. Hinging shows you how to fully use the strength and power of your hips. Whether you aim to pick something up without wrecking your back or to jump across a creek without ruining your pants, using your hips will help you do just that. In a properly hinged position, the hips take the load, not the back. (And often, the hinge is referred to as a hip hinge.) A proper hinge ensures optimum spinal alignment and transmission of force; that is, when you hinge properly, the hips do the heavy lifting and the back is kept safe. Here’s how: Keep your back flat (never rounded or overarched). Push your hips back as far as possible. Allow your knees to bend slightly (but not so much that they come forward). The bottom of a hinge should have your legs and torso looking like the less than sign (<). Everyone’s hinge will look slightly different. As long as your shins are vertical, your back is flat, and your hips are above the knees (but below the shoulders), you’re good to go! Counting the benefits of a strong hinge Developing the hinge movement pattern is extremely important. A strong, patterned hinge makes all the heavy lifting of life easier. Literally. But there’s more to it than that. A strong hinge offers the following benefits as well: Less risk of back injury Less risk of knee injury More power and athletic ability A stronger, firmer butt A resilient, sturdy back Functional, durable hamstrings Practice your hinge as often as possible. Whether you’re picking up a pencil or 500 pounds, get those hips back and keep the back flat!

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

The squat is the most potent of all Paleo exercises; pound for pound, it burns more calories and triggers more muscular activation than any other movement. The squat is also the king of all strength-building movements, and nothing can dethrone it. Heavy squats are marvelous. They place a tremendous amount of stress on the body and flood the system with natural growth hormones (including natural human growth hormone). Another benefit of the squat less talked about but equally valuable is to help you sit down, perhaps the most common application. But it should be noted that the original intention of this movement pattern was not to sit down but to stand up. People first enter the squat as babies, from the ground (oftentimes out of a crawl) and use it to stand. So like the Turkish get-up, the squat is just as useful of a device to pick yourself up off the ground as it is to sit down onto it. Getting to the truth about squatting People often think squatting is bad for your knees. But forget about that. How you squat may be bad for your knees, but the squat itself isn’t bad for the knees. In fact, there are no bad movements, only a lack of preparation for movement. You need to strengthen the knees just like all other joints and muscles. And the only way to strengthen the knees is through movement. If you have prior knee issues, or any issues for that matter, always get clearance from your doctor before beginning any type of fitness program. Another common, somewhat silly myth is that your knees shouldn’t cross over your toes during a squat. It’s okay if your knees cross over your toes as long as they stay in line with your toes. The knee is meant to bend. In fact, it’s just about the only thing it can do, so let it do just that. Exploring the benefits of a deep squat The deep squat is an essential pattern. Ideally, you should be able to squat butt to ankles with your heels on the ground and your knees in line with your toes, all the while keeping your back relatively flat. Go ahead and give it a try! If you have the mobility, the bottom of a squat should feel like a rest position — like you could really hang out there for a while. The cave man probably spent a lot of time hanging out in the bottom of a bodyweight squat, and you might want to do the same. The more time you can accumulate in the bottom of the squat throughout the day, the better. This position loosens your hips, toughens your joints, and gets you up off the couch! As your deep squat improves, so will your lower body strength, lower body mobility, and general usefulness in society. An uninhibited squat is a strong indicator of functional movement. It requires ample mobility of the ankles, knees, and hips and stability of the pelvis. What does that mean? Well, a lot has to be working right for someone to squat deeply. It means your working equipment is somewhat in order, so you’re less likely to fall apart. Here are a few ways to work the squat into your daily routine: Answer at least ten e-mails a day from a squat. Talk on the phone from a squat. Watch TV from a squat (or, at the very least, watch the commercials from a squat). Eat one time during the day from a squat. When waiting in line, get down into a squat (let ’em stare!).