This weekend I had the absolute pleasure of attending the Mat Lalonde Nutrition Seminar at Crossfit Academy of Lions. I will sum up Mat in 3 words: thorough, passionate and cool. He is a nutrition genius who knows his stuff inside and out. He is able to take what is super technical and make it relevant and translatable to non-science peep’s (like me!) – with a bit of humour and 1 cute dimple (i couldn’t resist…as Robb Wolf says, “the ladies will be throwing their panties at him”). Mat said that he would be happy if everyone walked out with 10% of the information that he gave – I hopefully took away much more than that. Here is a brief run-down of what I learned from this seminar:
Big Words: like polysaccharides, postprandial, carnitine and epidemiological. Mat said he was amazing at Scrabble and you can see why. When you have a repertoire of words like these, you would always win. Prior to the seminar my nutrition lingo was limited to things like macronutrient, insulin, glucagon and gluconeogenesis (thanks to Mr Wolf for that one)….now I’ve got way more fun words to drop! In all seriousness, I got a thorough learning of the words beyond carbs, hormones, fats which will helped me to further understand the inner mechanics of the body and what really happens when you eat that piece of cake.
Good Science vs Bad Science: When Mat said that he had to go deep into the bowels of the Havard Library to get some of his references, he is not kidding. (I picture it being like the opening scene in Ghostbusters). Mat presented a plethora of studies and scientific articles – he actually shows each study and highlights the important points – and you get an understanding of how to read these types of articles and what to look for to determine their validity and approach. One of the cool new big words I learned was Epidemological: it’s the study of factors effecting people and illnesses. It’s also a flawed way of deriving causes of obesity. Epidemological studies identify a correlation between 2 variables – we see these studies in the media all the time. For example (and I’m not joking), there was a study that came out recently that said “Children who eat 3 or more burgers a week are more likely to be obese.” What they found was a correlation, not a cause. What your average-joe might take away from this is that burgers cause obesity, which is not necessarily true. A HUGE proportion of studies released to the not-too-smart masses these days are based on correlations, bad funding (always read the fine print to see who is funding the study!) and poor scientific experimental design. Hence, we end up with recommendations like ‘eat more fiber!’ and ‘don’t eat red meat!’ I now have a better idea of how to read studies and determine whether it’s good science looking for the truth or bad science looking to support a hidden agenda.
The ins & outs of Fructose, Linoleic Acid and Saponin: We covered a great amount of detail on Fructose, Linoleic Acid and Saponin which was eye-opening because I learned a lot of new material on how the body processes these and their detrimental effects. I’m not going to go into detail on these, so i highly encourage you to research these further on your own. I will point out a couple things: Unlike Glucose, Fructose doesn’t spike your insulin. BUT when too much fructose enters the liver, the liver can’t process it all fast enough for the body to use as sugar. Instead, it starts making fats from the fructose and sending them off into the bloodstream as triglycerides. Fructose can cause damage to the body and brain via a process known as glycation which can literally age you (google AGE). In some situations (like when you’re doing athletics) fructose is good because it can fill up your liver glycogen stores. However, on an everyday basis you want to limit Fructose consumption. Mat compared chronic fructose consumption to chronic boozing showing that a similar level of damage can be done to the body and mind with prolonged usage. Linoleic acid is found in PUFA’s (polyunsaturated fats) and has elevated levels in fats such as sunflower oil, corn oil, soybean oil and canola oil – this stuff is bad! Mat compared it to free radicals entering your body and it can wreak havoc on your liver. Finally, Saponin increases gut permeability which can contribute to leaky-gut – it’s found in things like the skin of potatoes (peel those babies!), soybeans, certain nightshades and other foods.
What to eat: Mat doesn’t preach a Paleo or Primal or Caveman diet. He eats foods that your body needs based on scientific truth and evidence. It happens to align fairly close to the Paleo/Primal approach, yet is slightly different. In a nutshell, eat Meat, Fish, Fowl, Eggs, Veggies, Tubers/Roots/Bulbs (they’re mostly glucose not fructose….YEA!), Animal Fat (mmmmmm), Lard, Tallow, Ghee, Avocados and Coconut. Limit nuts, seeds and fruit – this is due to the fructose in fruit and linoleic acid in certain nuts/seeds. Berries are your best source of fruit. Cashews, macadamia nuts and a little bit of almonds are your best choices. Olive oil is OK. Cooking with coconut oil or animal fat/lard is best. Quality meat is key – choose grass-fed beef, pastured pork or chicken and wild fish (News flash: You can order grass-fed beef and other harder to find Paleo foods from Crossfit Academy of Lions in Toronto). Quality becomes even more important when you’re eating the animal fat. Slow-cook or grill your meat with a marinade rich in antioxidant spices (like rosemary). High-heat cooking promotes risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Make sure your training, sleep and stress are in-check. Vitamin D3 (4-5,000 IU in a liquid cap or liquid), Fish Oil (2-3g/day and maybe none if you’re sticking to the recommended foods including quality meat and fish), Magnesium (300mg-2g/day). I also learned that Kelp is a good source of Iodine (yay for kelp noodles!). Lastly, Mat considers Dairy a grey area with not enough scientific evidence to support it one way or the other.
There was SO MUCH MORE covered in Mat’s seminar and I’m not even scratching the surface with this post. I would highly encourage you to attend one of his seminars – he did a webinar presentation for people who wanted to attend remotely. He is truly a genius and I feel so lucky that I was able to attend and meet him this past weekend. It has enriched my knowledge of nutrition immensely and I excited to begin applying to it my life and others.
I would say that if you can’t attend one of Mat’s seminars and want some of the learnings that come out of his seminar, read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes which gives a detailed history of nutrition science and the studies that shaped the various diet movements over the past century and their flaws. Also, Primal Body Primal Mind by Nora Gedgaudas which I think gives similar food/diet recommendations as Mat (he suggested this one too) – I’ve said before that this is my favourite paleo/primal book! Mat also recommended Robb Wolf’s book that is coming out in the Fall, The Paleolithic Solution. Lastly, Mat also suggested The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson (which I also love!).
June 6, 2010 at 9:52 pm
I would have gladly posed with you for a picture if you had asked. Awesome write-up of the event and thanks again for attending.
June 7, 2010 at 11:45 am
@ Mat – I was recently rejected by my hero Slash for a picture so I’m still sensitive about asking for one! Hopefully our paths will cross again and I’ll get a legit pic with you. I’m glad you liked the write-up…hopefully i didn’t butcher any of the explanations. Thanks again for your advise, it is greatly appreciated!!
June 6, 2010 at 9:52 pm
[…] It Rocked. […]
June 6, 2010 at 11:23 pm
That was a fantastic summary of the seminar! I attended as well but left with a dizzying headache from all the info and you just summed it up and made me feel less overwhelmed by all that new knowledge. Thanks.
And yes, definitely recommend anyone in their right mind to take his seminar if they can.
June 6, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Cheers from Finland for this brief! If only I could’ve been there 🙂 I’ve read all the books mentioned (expect Robb’s yet to be published one) and been following this paleish primalish diet strictly for six months now. Or six months ago I actually ditched the remains of the dairy, otherwise I ate very similarly already. Been helpful!
Now looking for some motivation to cut down nuts a little, I don’t do them much but still daily and I suspect they’re not that good for guts… Anyway, it’s super to find people around the world who think alike, wishing you all the best,
Meri (from Helsinki)
monkeyfood.net
June 7, 2010 at 8:23 am
@Meri – My husband is 1/2 finn…..my last name is now finnish (Innanen). Glad to hear there are Paleo/Primal fans over there too!! We hope to make it over there for a vacation someday.
June 7, 2010 at 6:58 am
I always feel smarter after reading your posts, Summer. Thanks for sharing!
June 7, 2010 at 7:05 am
[…] 7, 2010 by somethingfoodrelated Leave a Comment Cosmopolitan Primal Girl has a great review of the Mat Lalonde Nutrition Seminar held recently in […]
June 7, 2010 at 8:55 am
Thanks for this great write-up! I signed-up for the webinar but I never got any info on where to go to actually watch it. Do you remember hearing about any issues with the online stream? Thanks again for the summary, I was really looking forward to watching it.
June 7, 2010 at 11:41 am
@ Mark – no, I didn’t hear of any issues with the online stream…it seemed to go OK from my perspective. you might want to contact Academy of Lions to see if they can do anything for you. That’s really unfortunate that you missed it!
June 7, 2010 at 11:43 am
I actually just got off the phone with Dhani from Academy of Lions, great guy! Really helpful!
June 7, 2010 at 7:22 pm
[…] I am so much smarter now This weekend I had the absolute pleasure of attending the Mat Lalonde Nutrition Seminar at Crossfit Academy of […] […]
June 8, 2010 at 2:23 pm
The streaming video of the webinar was too choppy for me to watch. I have a cable modem and normally don’t have any issues with downloads / streams. Just FYI.
June 8, 2010 at 6:59 pm
@ Doug – not sure where you streamed it from, but you can get it off Academy of Lions website: http://www.crossfitgyms.ca/
If that’s the link that you were using, there is one that Mat posted on Robb Wolf’s site in the comments section.
July 9, 2010 at 12:19 pm
There is a google ad right after this post for the High Fructose Corn Syrup advocacy website.
Priceless…
July 9, 2010 at 5:31 pm
@ Andrew, are you f’n serious?!?! That is so awesome. (I’m seriously disturbed that an advocacy group actually exits! It’s like some kind of food-nazi organization.)
July 25, 2010 at 1:35 pm
[…] is why I’d recommend it to people who already know their stuff: I’ve been to Mat Lalonde’s seminar and Robb Wolf’s seminar (which are both amazing) and have read a plethora of […]
February 2, 2011 at 5:15 pm
[…] REALLY? First off, every study I have seen on this lately is an epidemological study (thank you Matt Lalonde for teaching me the difference). Epidemological means there was NO cause and effect shown, rather a simple […]
February 18, 2011 at 10:49 am
Hi, I was wondering if anyone can assist me with finding the webinar on the ACADEMY OF LIONS page… I just purchased access to it via “pay pal” this morning and all i got was a reciept from pay pal with no instructions on how to get to the webinar.
HELP HELP ! LOL
February 19, 2011 at 9:55 am
@Rob – You’ll have to reach out to Dhani or one of the other guys at Academy of Lions. http://academyoflions.com/ Or you can find them on Facebook. Sorry, I can’t help!
April 4, 2011 at 1:48 pm
[…] and I learned so much more. The first half of the seminar was UBER-science-y pulling from the books of Mat Lalonde. EVERY mechanism related to digestion, gut permeability, autoimmunity, hormonal responses to […]
September 6, 2011 at 12:46 pm
[…] […]
September 6, 2011 at 12:50 pm
Tremendous post. Discovered Mat Lalonde over the weekend after trying to wrap my head around the nuances of paleo and primal for a while. Great, SMART, stuff.