#this whole blog has just been a long con to get more people to download obsidian

[space-writes]

why i write in obsidian.md (and why you should try it!)

hey, hi, have I mentioned my notes app? let me tell you about my notes app! I’ve been writing in obsidian for over a year now, for fanfic and original fiction/worldbuilding (and dungeons and dragons, and life organisation, and a myriad of other things) and so far I’ve gotten at least three people to also start using it, and I am in fact on an endless quest to get more people to try it.

obsidian.md how do i love thee, let me list the ways:

It’s offline. you are not beholden to the whims of wifi!

Did i mention it’s free? it’s free!

you can pay to support the devs, or to access the sync service, but honestly I just use a free file sync service to move things between my desktop/laptop.

It’s super lightweight at its core. you can (and I do) run it with a bunch of plugins and customisation, but at it’s base it’s just text, in simple files. plaintext. readable by anything. your writing is not trapped in proprietary file formats.

HOWEVER you can in fact customise every aspect of it and if you like Making Your Notes Cute I cannot recommend it enough as a Way To Procrastinate Actually Writing

Crucially, you can link your notes. This is phenomenal for not only worldbuilding, but planning, research, outlining and connecting characters and events. You just make a note, type in square brackets, and boom. linked notes. You can make yourself a little writing wikipedia with approximately 0 effort.

I have separate vaults (Instances, pretty much. Big overarching folders with separate sets of content) for my Valloroth project, my day-to-day notes/fanfic, and my D&D game. They’re aesthetically very different, which is so so so great for getting in the right headspace for the work I’m doing.

OH and we have obsidian canvas now! which is a simple mind-mapping feature where you can make and connect note cards, which can also be notes in your vault. I haven’t had a chance to do timelines with it yet, but it’ll be fun for that. I have made relationship charts with it, and it was great for that. If you like visually laying out boxes of information and connecting them into a pepe silvia board of plot, canvas is incredible

this is a pointcrawl map I made for my D&D game. Those red words in the boxes? links to the locations in the city the players were exploring. phenomenal

do you like split screen? you can have multiple notes open at once in horizontal and vertical configurations, and you can also open multiple tabs in each split window. it’s SO great for research and outlining, when you need like ten documents open at once to move between

finally, there are so many addons to COMPLETELY CUSTOMISE your Writing Setup. styling for tags. kanban boards. LINKABLE MAPS. ways to label scenes with metadata and pull just so many different tables/lists of story information. AND SO MANY MORE. I’m gonna do a whole post of my favourite writing plugins at some point so i can yell about them

the only downsides are that it’s somewhat clunky still to export things out of obsidian—I copy my fics into googledocs for my beta, and I have a plugin to make exporting to html easier to post on ao3, but it’s still kinda fiddly. Also, if you want a program that Has Everything and Just Works, this is…not that. you can build a lot of really useful writing specific features, but you do have to build them. it’s a sandbox, so if you don’t like sandbox-style programs, this may not work for you.

that being said, I do think everyone should try it and play with it and love it like I do and convince all their friends to start using it like i did. come play with obsidian with me! it’s fun! there’s a great community in the official discord that’s very active, plus an ever-growing collection of resources, particularly on youtube (highly reccommend Danny Hatcher’s videos as a jumping in point, they’re super accessible imo)

anyway, come try obsidian!

#obsidian md #obsidian.md #writeblr #writing program #writing #writing process #notes app #space has thoughts #writing apps #writing tools #writer things #writing setup #this whole blog has just been a long con to get more people to download obsidian #notes app (beloved)

[irkenheretic]

(How I Learned) How To Read Irken: A Guide

(Pictured: Us....) (From @zimgay​ ‘s lovely animatic!)

Okay, I’m finally making this post. 

If you’ve been following me for a while, you might have caught on that I can read Irken. When I started, I was completely confused over wether or not I was teaching myself correctly, how long it’d take, et cetera. But I’ve finally hashed it out for myself, and I thought:

Why not make a guide for anyone else who wants to learn but has no idea where to start? 

So that’s what I’m doing. Some disclaimers, though:

- This is what worked for me. It may or may not work for you, I’m not sure. I think it’s a pretty good method, though.

- Reading Irken and Writing Irken are two different skillsets. I’m gonna show you how to do both, but don’t worry if you’re better at one than the other. 

- This will probably take a while of daily (or near-daily) practice to learn. It’s not impossible, it’s not super challenging, but it’s not super easy, especially if you have memory problems like I do. (For context: I started in September. But I also have a really shitty memory so, like. It might take less time for you.)

Okay! Let’s do this!

First off, you’d probably do well downloading the Irken font for practice purposes. Messing around with it and typing in it is fun, and can help!

You’ll also need a notebook. It’s not required, but having it all in one place is super convenient. (And, if it’s tiny enough, you can carry it around whenever, and also have it on hand to whip out at cons.)

The first thing I did was write each individual letter over and over and over again. This is what’s at the start of my notebook, and writing the letters over and over helped me remember which were which. I also had to focus pretty hard on what letter this actually was, this is tedious as hell but it’s not something you can do mindlessly.

(Pictured: Normal levels of interest in a show.)

This is what my notebook looks like. Don’t worry about those simplified versions of the letters yet, but you’re gonna wanna leave room for them. Don’t worry about learning simplified/handwritten until later, it helps recognition if you really have to focus on actually drawing the letters, at first.

(And yes, I know my pen is really smudgy. And that my H’s suck.)

After this, three letter words are your friend. Pick just, common three letter words you know, and write them down a lot. I have just, the Irken for “THE” written in the margins of my class notebooks a TON. Once you feel like you can remember that word well, go onto another 3 letter word with a different set of letters. Recognition = good, so pick something you like, use all the time. 

While I was doing this, I tried to string together Irken letters I knew into like, coherent phrases. I was very bad at this at first. Acronyms are your friend here, lmao. (I don’t think I can count the number of times I’ve written ‘u r a qt pie’ in my notebooks.) It doesn’t matter what you write, just that it makes coherent sense. 

There are gonna be some uncommon letters that are gonna be hard to practice, like W and Z, off the top of my head. For Z, that was easy. I just wrote ZIM over and over and over. For W... I used UWU. You laugh now, but the absurdity of it cements that I will always recognize those two letters. 

Four letter words are also good. (Please, absolutely write “FUCK” over and over in order to remember letters. I encourage it.)

There is also the absolute cuntwaffles. Y’know how in English, b, p, d, g, all look kinda the same? Yeah, Irken has that too. 

(Pictured: Head hurting juice.)

The I and Z don’t look that similar now, but good luck without a translation guide. By this point, you should have memorized a good chunk of the Irken alphabet, and be able to recognize some others when you see them. If you’ve been writing common three- or four-letter words, it’s likely you’ve been using letters very common in the English language. Which brings us to our next stage, and the actual fun part: 

READING! 

You’re gonna want a translation guide on hand in these early stages, you will need it. The main goal of this stage is to read anything in Irken you can get your hands on- but start small! Fanart with Irken in it was a godsend to me. It’s not that long, so it’s not overwhelming. I did need to look up some letters at the beginning, and I read really slowly, but that’ll change quickly if you keep up with it! The specific fanarts I used are:

@inimoose​ ‘s The Last Irken comic, specifically chapter one: part one, and chapter two: part two have a lot of Irken. But I’d recommend reading the whole comic; it’s good!

@paketdimensioncomic​ ‘s page of lore for their comic! Spoilers, though. Again, I’d recommend reading through the whole comic, because it’s just that good. 

@xryn-art​ ‘s Linguistic Au’s first comic has a good chunk of Irken! The other comics do have some, but it’s all translated. Still good practice, though, if you wanna... read them......... ;) ;) ;) 

Yes, this segment was partially a way for me to plug my favorite fan-artists, (or at least the ones that use Irken,) sue me. It’s my guide and I make the rules here.

(I am very sorry if I bothered any of you by @’ing you.)

But just some sources isn’t enough, so I introduce you to browser fonts. And changing yours to Irken. 

It will not effect everything in your browser, and it can be toggled on and off, so don’t worry. If you really want, you can download a separate browser to change the font of, and leave your normal one be. It’d be convenient if you could, since having your browser font be Irken is inconvenient if you need to use Wikipedia, like, ever. 

Here’s a guide for that, for Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Internet Explorer for some reason. You’ll see four options to change, I just changed all of them. Not every page is going to have Irken on it, though. For me, Wikipedia is all in Irken, and so is TV Tropes. And some Tumblr blogs (PAKet Dimension’s is one, just in case you need a reason to go back there ;)) But it might be different for you. 

Whatever it is, now you have a nice way to practice. I read Wikipedia articles on stuff I already knew about (so I wasn’t completely lost and could figure out what letters I didn’t know were from context clues,) but not a page I’ve read before in recent memory- you might just be recalling what the page said, instead of actually reading it.

And about the absolute cuntwaffle letters: yes, this will help you in recognizing which are which. Seeing the letters in context is always going to be much more helpful than just, a bunch of meaningless squiggles floating in the void.

At this point, I personally am much better at reading than writing Irken. It’s one thing to know a letter when you see it, and another to recall it and write it down from memory. Right now, I’m trying to write song lyrics and dumb little phrases in Irken, to improve my writing skills. Again, nothing too long, don’t overwhelm yourself. This sounds stupid, but Vines are good. When I don’t remember a letter, I just leave it blank and look it up after I’m done. 

Another thing that helps is having a friend to practice with, or someone to just give you Irken phrases for you to translate. 

Once you’re around this stage, you can try to learn simplified/handwritten Irken. You can also try to learn it before this, I started it around when I started reading fanart for practice, it’s up to you. This guide is a good starting point, but you don’t have to follow it exactly. This is your handwriting, do what feels natural for you!

(Also, don’t even worry about speedwrite Irken. That has no place in this holy land and frankly I am scared of it.)

And that’s... pretty much it! Most of the process is just... practicing a lot. 

If this post does well, I might make a server for people who wanna learn Irken to practice together and stuff. It all depends if anyone even wants to learn Irken. 

EDIT: Well, guess what I ended up making just the next day. Here’s the post for the server, and please read the joining rules.

Also, if you wanna learn Irken numbers, here you go. But start with letters first, worry about numbers later. These are never used, aren’t even in the Irken font, and three of them look a lot like those cuntwaffle Irken letters. 

Anyway I just really hope this guide helps someone out. If you do use it, tell me! And have fun learning Irken!! It really is just, a blast to do honestly.

#invader zim #invader zim irken #zadr #(for the animatic and one of the comics) #HHHHHUUUUUU IM NERVOUS TO POST THIS #ok. ok ok ok ok ok here goes. h. #live from conventia #if this is a godsend for even one (1) guy with a hyperfixation then i have done my job well

[qsdblogging]

10 More TV Shows You Need To See

This is the second installment of my recommendations of shows for you to add to your own lists. I watch a lot of television and I’ve got, what I consider to be at least, a wide variety of shows under my favorites. 

If you haven’t seen the first list, you don’t need to unless you want to see another list of ten shows you may want to check out if you’re looking for anything new to watch.

Warning, though, some of these don’t end the best way and may end up more as a disappointment. I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

I. Warehouse 13.

Pete and Myka, U.S Secret Service Agents, are deployed to South Dakota’s Warehouse 13 with a new assignment from an authority above and outside the government. 

Intrigued?

With the Warehouse comes assignments regarding objects that hold some sort of abilities that can cause people to do wild and crazy things. It’s their job to find the artifacts (as they all hold significance to history) and bring them back to the Warehouse for safe keeping.

Things get wild and some serious topics get handled, but the show isn’t alone. It’s connected to another on this list, Eureka. More on that when you get to Eureka.

Some familiar faces are Eddie McClintock who played a part in Bones, one episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Joanne Kelly who played a role in The Dresden Files television series, Allison Scagliotti who played roles in Stitchers, The Vampire Diaries, and Drake & Josh, Aaron Ashmore (twin brother to Shawn Ashmore, who has been in the X-Men movies alongside appearing in The Boys, and voicing Conrad in Man of Medan) from Killjoys, Lost Girl, and Smallville, and Jamie Murray from Castelvania, Gotham, The Originals, Once Upon a Time, Defiance, and Dexter.

I highly recommend, especially because the dynamic of the characters is really interesting and covers a lot. 

II. Eureka.

As mentioned above, this is connected to Warehouse 13. But only in the last two seasons of this show are the two connected. 

Eureka is a town full of geniuses and advanced technology that the government funds, and when a new sheriff comes to town, he’s exposed to all the daily occurrences the locals get up to. And maybe a couple instances of time travel that may or may not have to do with the connection.

The town is full of faces you may recognize. Colin Ferguson who has roles in Haven, The Vampire Diaries, and Maytag commercials, Erica Cerra who has roles in The 100, Supernatural, Deadly Class, and the first Percy Jackson film, Felicia Day who has roles in The Magicians, Supernatural, Con Man, The Guild, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Trevor Jackson who has roles in Grown-ish, and a couple Disney productions.

It’s a huge science fiction show and if you’re into that, give it a watch.

III. Alphas.

Now, like the two above is, Alphas is a science fiction packed drama. And it’s rumored to be connected, like be in the same universe, as Warehouse 13 and Eureka. It’s never been confirmed, but there is one character (same name and job) that plays a part in both Alphas and Warehouse 13, which is the stem for the theory. (Plus, some other ideas floating around). 

But Alphas focuses on a team that investigates people with supernatural abilities while they, themselves, have abilities. These powered people are referred to as Alphas, due to their nature.

Unfortunately, this show ends on a cliffhanger in its second season.

Yet, I still recommend giving it a shot because it truly is an interesting show and it’s got some people you may recognize. 

IV. Haven.

If you’re a fan of Stephen King’s “Colorado Kid”, you’ll most likely enjoy this show since it’s loosely based off of it. 

Set in the coastal town of Haven, Maine, FBI Agent Audrey Parker comes to town to find that the residents have dormant curses, or rather troubles, that can be triggered at any given moment. She, along with the Sheriff and the town’s black sheep, must deal with the troubles’ deadly effects. And a few things may be revealed about herself too along the way.

It’s pretty interesting and I enjoyed it quite a lot when I first watched it. I’m not the biggest fan of Stephen King, and the connection seems to barely be there, but I wouldn’t know given my dislike for King. 

I highly recommend giving Haven a shot, however, especially if you’re a crime and fantasy fan. 

V. Lost Girl.

Lost Girl focuses on the gorgeous and charismatic Bo, a supernatural being called a succubus who feeds on the energy of humans, sometimes with fatal results. Refusing to embrace her supernatural clan system and its rigid hierarchy, Bo is a renegade who takes up the fight for the underdog while searching for the truth of her own mysterious origins. (Taken from IMDB). 

Plus, there a lesbian romance or two. 

Now, the show itself is pretty strong holding in its own storyline and lore, but the last season does get a bit rocky feeling. It could’ve been better, and it definitely feels a little rushed, but it wasn’t too bad of an ending. However, it’s not a show that got cancelled before it could wrap things up and it leaves things pretty open-ended.

In my books, that’s a point. I highly recommend this is if you’re a fan of fantasy.

VI. Almost Human.

Unfortunately, this is one of the ones in the list that only has one season (that seems to be out of order and frankly I’m not entirely sure of the order myself, so rely on googling it yourself and hopefully you find the right order) and was cancelled not long after airing. 

BUT, it’s a good watch. It’s set in the distant future, where cops are assigned an android partner to protect and serve. Things get pretty wild and I’m quite sure there are some bombs involved at some point, but there’s a bonus to all the madness of Almost Human.

Minka Kelly and Karl Urban. Two incredibly beautiful human beings.

I highly recommend bingeing this single season show. 

VII. American Gods.

This shows feels very confusing. But it’s still a good watch. 

It centers on a recently released ex-con named Shadow Moon. He runs into a man full of mystery named Wednesday (and you’ll later come to find out who he really is, or you may already know given your knowledge on the book of the same name or just how well you know mythology) who seems to know more than Shadow about his own life and past. 

There are Gods, mischief, and a lot of crazy shit in this show. So far it’s on it’s third season as far as I know (I have to rewatch the first two before I pick it back up).

You should give it a shot, but I won’t blame you if you feel way too confused about the whole thing.

VIII. The Boys.

Now, there’s a lot of controversy regarding this Amazon Original Series, but honestly, I think everyone should at least give it a chance. I know a lot of Tumblr users were put off on trying to due to the advertisements on the site. 

If you don’t know what this series is about, it follows a group of vigilantes set on taking down the corrupt superheroes that are abusing their powers and status.

It covers a lot of ground. Murder, sabotage, terrorism, capitalism, and a lot more. Feminism and sexual harassment occur, but there are warning before each episode for what you may see in the contents.

Some familiar faces include Karl Urban, who’s known for his roles in Thor: Ragnarok, the newer Star Trek movies, Almost Human, Lord of the Rings, and more, Erin Moriarty from Jessica Jones, Laz Alonso from The Mysteries of Laura, Chace Crawford from Gossip Girl and The Covenant, and Jensen Ackles from Supernatural has been confirmed to be joining the cast for its third season.

The Boys is currently on it’s second season, being released on a weekly schedule. So, if you like superheroes and graphic content, this show might be it for you.

IX. Chuck.

Chuck is the result of when a twenty-eight year old computer geek inadvertently downloads critical government secrets into his brain, the C.I.A. and the N.S.A. assign two agents to protect him and exploit the knowledge, turning Chuck Bartowski’s life upside down. (Taken from IMDB).

This is one of the shows I cannot recommend enough to people. It’s the right mixture of action and comedy, plus a little romance. Spies, love, and murder, oh my! What more could you want? 

Plus, Zachery Levi plays Chuck. If you don’t know him by name, you probably would recognize him from some of his roles with the most recent being in Shazam!, Fandral in the second and third Thor films, voicing Eugene Fitzherbert (or Flynn Rider) in Tangled, and Heroes: Reborn. 

If Zachery Levi playing a lovable computer geek turned spy doesn’t interest you, maybe some more familiar faces will. 

Yvonne Strahovski from The Handmaid’s Tale, The Astronaut Wives Club, acting as Daenerys in a Princess Rap Battle on Youtube, and Dexter. Adam Baldwin from Firefly/Serenity, Bones, Angel, The Last Ship, and Independence Day. Brandon Routh who plays Ray Palmer from the DC Shows. Matt Bomer from Doom Patrol, American Horror Story, White Collar, Magic Mike, and True Calling.

X. Deadly Class.

Unfortunately, I have a truly bad streak with new shows. Deadly Class, like others that have been mentioned in these lists of mine, got cancelled and on a cliffhanger no less. However, that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying the action-packed coming-of-age story set in the 1980s. 

Following a new recruit for a high school training assassins, things get pretty wild when you pair death and teenagers. 

#deadlyclass #watchlist #tvshows #chuck #eureka #americangods #alphas #theboys #almosthuman #lostgirl #haven #warehouse13 #qsdblogging #qsdbloggingpopculture #qsdpopculture #findingqsd

[cherry3point14]

Stranger Than Fanfiction: Ch 3

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Dean x Reader Warnings: Meta baby. Pure meta. Word count: 2,100. Chapter Summary: Your google search turns up something unexpected. A/N: No author in this one for... reasons. Also this one is kind of short and lame. A means to an end if you will, but trust me, Ch 4 is a doozy. P.S it’s nearly 3am so Chapter 4 will be up when I wake up, ya dig.

Ao3 if you prefer

It’s almost funny how dramatic the voice in your head wants to be about those suited criminals and yet it doesn’t care to elaborate on anything important. Like, say, your imminent death. The mention of it was so casual, calm, but a couple of weirdos want to pretend to be insurance adjusters and suddenly it’s all pretty prose and run-on sentences. Flowery language about broad-shouldered men in roaring muscle cars that are going to change your life. She’d kept going while you’d interviewed Maggie Hall. She’d harped on and on about how you couldn’t stop thinking about them.

Of course, you couldn’t stop thinking about them, she wouldn’t shut up about them.

After an entire monologue about the way the paper felt in your hands and could never be replaced by computers—purists are the worst—you finally get to leave. That's when you get some respite. You’re walking out into the late afternoon sun and thanking Maggie for her time and it's bliss. Maggie's story sounds a little off, after years doing this you have this gut instinct for when you should investigate further. Funnily enough, you have drama in your life that you’ll submit a valid claim anyway. Just so you can get this cursed case out of your hair. You might even hurry it through the system before the thing has the chance to kill you.

You’re still not sure how a case could kill you. You’re a pencil pusher at best and the interview with Maggie is an excellent example of the majority of your fieldwork, obviously excluding the criminals at the start. Unless your demise is death by papercut.

For now, you’ve given up trying to fathom out the voice you’re hearing, especially since she's chosen to once again go radio silent. If she won’t say anything useful, like say how not to die, then you were going to have to figure out how to skip ahead on your own. Since she kept talking about the imposters you’d met that day, they seemed to be an excellent place to start.

CNK 80Q3. Ohio plates. That's as much as you know without google.

That evening you set yourself up in the same way you would to work from home. There's a desk in the corner of your dining room with a chair that offers enough lumbar support for the longest of research sessions. Although it’s your personal laptop and there’s not normally a large glass of wine sitting next to you when work.

After it powers on you’re assaulted by the usual pop-ups; windows you forgot to close last time and your emails. Procrastinating is not a new routine, and you’re on a mission, so they all get minimized instead of closed completely. Then you open a new browser window and a stark google homepage stares back at you. A hopeful new beginning.

CNK 80Q3. You’re genuinely surprised that she hasn’t started talking again to describe the change in the air as you type in the plate number. Or some drivel about the way your fingers emphasize each letter and number. It’s all there happening anyway, making the moment foreboding, but your narrator doesn’t seem care.

The first row of results are images. Weirdly its images of the license plate itself. That doesn't strike you as odd at first glance and then you think about it a little more. Why are there so many pictures of this particular license plate? Who is running around taking these pictures? You're pretty sure if you typed in your own plate number there would be no pictures of it. And then you see some shopping results where you can actually buy the plate. While the online shops might explain the images, it only really poses more questions. Why are so many people buying that license plate? What’s so special about it?

You take a sip of your wine before you scroll further, savoring the taste as well as the way it relaxes your shoulders. You don't own any 'fun' novelty coasters that say it but you're inclined to agree with the statement you've heard before. Wine really does make everything better.

You’re not yet into the murky depths of page 2 but you’re far enough down the page now to make it past the sponsored results. These links come thick and fast from websites that all seem to have one word in common. Supernatural.

Then you see your salvation. A page called Supernaturalwiki—the link is simply titled: Impala—and you stop scrolling, a grateful sound slipping past your lips as you do. Wiki, you know that word. Like Wikipedia. Wikipedia has references and moderators', clear and concise explanations. This was the easy way out you were looking for.

That’s what you hope as you click on the link anyway. Your naivety lasts all of twenty seconds before the page loads. With its stock image of a 1967 Chevrolet Impala, and a quote about it being the most important object in the universe.

Or it's the most important object in some books at least.

Further clicking and longer sips of wine reveal it’s a series of books called Supernatural—with the title of the wiki you should have seen that coming. These were story after story of ghosts and demons and angels? There are pages that describe monsters, urban legends, and two men. Sam and Dean Winchester. They each have dedicated pages with their whole lives mapped out.

Sam and Dean are fictional brothers and apparently the heroes. Each of their respective profiles begins with an illustrated image from book covers, and then a series of quotes that contradict those pictures. Then their lives are intricately detailed, or should you say they are chronologically recorded according to each book. You would read their histories in full if it wasn't for how tiny the scroll bar is, indicating that these profile pages are ridiculously long.

You sit back in your chair and take a deep breath in the hopes of it being soothing. Or answering all your questions. It does neither. You have no answers and more stress.

This went beyond two men pretending to do your job now. Those guys were driving around in a car with fictional license plates. What was this? Some weirdly immersive cosplay? Was that something Sam and Dean did in the books?

Even so, those two guys weren’t roleplaying at comic con, they were actually in that woman's home. If you hadn't arrived they could have done anything. They could be doing anything now.

There's a ding from the kitchen which means the frozen meal you’d thrown in the oven is ready. Not that you stop thinking about this while you go and grab it because the more you think the less sense everything makes. Like why is a narrator who, until now, was obsessed with those guys, so very silent all of a sudden?

Back at your desk with hot food, you head back to google to see if you can buy these books anywhere because knowledge is power. Unfortunately, not even Amazon has copies. It’s only when you add the term “ebook” to your search do you find a Tumblr blog with links to download all the files, split into two categories. Published and unpublished. There are a lot of Supernatural books and from the looks of it there’s an equal amount of drama over how the unpublished ones got out.

You start downloading them without consciously making a decision to read them. Downloading kind of happens because your macaroni cheese is too hot for your mouth to handle yet, and your hands still need something to do. Besides you didn’t necessarily need to read all of them, if they were truly terrible you’d delete the files. No harm, no foul. But if this was the only way to get answers then you and your kindle were going to be pretty busy this weekend.

“Morning Laura.” Nobody likes Mondays, yet you have a little bounce in your step having made your usual green tea, got dressed, and driven to work in complete and utter silence. In fact, you’d heard nothing all weekend. The caveat was that, yes, you’d spent all weekend reading those books.

You liked reading and without discrimination. Trashy romance novels at the airport? You betcha. Fantasy books thicker than your mattress? Sure thing, order a pizza. But a mystery? Well, those were your favorite. Of course, the detective needed some sort of sketchy backstory and there had to be a fishy amount of red herrings. Most importantly there had to be something to solve. It was an elevation of your day to day life and you always get sucked in. In your job, you try to solve the most benign mysteries; people faking insurance claims. More often than not there isn’t even a mystery to solve, someone really did slip and break something. So, a mystery that grabs you out of nowhere is like a promotion for you, a challenge.

That had been how those Supernatural books had dragged you in. Ghosts and ghouls you could take or leave, you might have stopped reading if that’s all there was. Then this Carver Edlund went and put in that damn side plot about their missing father. It was too enticing, addicting. From the cryptic disappearance to the indecipherable journal of clues. John Winchester would be the death of you.

Or case 24-01 would be. The jury was still out on that.

And now it’s Monday. You’ve heard nothing more from the voice in your head—it may have been a low-level case of carbon monoxide poisoning—and the boys are so close to figuring everything out you can taste it. Technically they know John is alive by now, you finished Shadow some point yesterday afternoon and felt yourself choke up at the emotional goodbye with a father they just got back. But they still have no clue what he's up to, which is a hideous funhouse mirror reflection of your own life. Hopefully, by the time they figure out John’s game plan, you'll have your life figured out too. And fingers crossed figuring everything out will involve staying alive as well.

“You look like you’re feeling better this morning.” Laura is her perky self, always a little too happy for this side of 9am.

Oh right, you went home sick on Friday. You should remember things like that. “I think it was a bug or something I ate maybe.”

“Sure, sure. One of those convenient Friday bugs.” She winks at you.

If she accused you of that say, last week, you’d have laughed it off given that's a thing everyone has in common; trying to skip out on work. So, that's what you try to do this side of the weekend. You push out something that hopefully resembles a regular person's laugh like you’re in on the joke. You have to fake it because you’re still thinking about Providence. The book you’d finished that morning instead of watching the news. You’re still wondering if Sam is starting to move on after Jessica. 

Needless to say, you understand now. The many fan blogs and the artwork you’d glanced at before you started reading. All those things that you’d disregarded as an unhealthy fascination for a bunch of books. Now you’re one of them, obsessed. Walking into the office with your kindle tucked in your bag and Salvation just begging to be read.

This goes beyond finding John. That plot got its hooks in you but you’ve known John was alive since Home and you’re still reading. You could also blame this on your general love of reading except it goes beyond that too. Honestly, it’s hard to pick one thing. They’re really great books. Sam and Dean have such turbulent lives but they still have each other. They’re snarky, lost, angry, and caring. They’re both so different but the sibling relationship is so real. And the stories go beyond a new monster every book, there are these huge interesting story arcs that you couldn't stop reading if you tried. John Winchester had been the first example of these addictive plot points, but not the only one.

“Y/N?”

You snap your head up, “sorry, sorry.”

“I was only saying you’re going to be here all day then, lunch?”

Even though Laura must see the decision on your face she still pretends to hope until you start speaking. “Actually I have a lot to catch up on so I’ll probably be working through. Tomorrow?”

She smiles brightly and nods, “sure thing.”

As bad as you feel about lying to Laura she has presented you an opportunity. Everyone thinks you were sick on Friday. They even think you're behind on your work and they don’t know you’ve already conducted the initial interview. Which makes your decision to sit at your desk and prop your kindle up next to your screen even easier. Nobody would notice the difference between you concentrating or reading. If you skip lunch you might be able to get to Bloodlust out of the way too.

Continue to Chapter 4.

5eva tags: @divadinag @darthdeziewok @fluentinfiction @witch-of-letters @supernatural-teamfreewillpage @magnitude101999 @alexwinchester23  Dean babes: @thewinchesterchronicles @akshi8278​ @bloodydaydreamer StrangerThanFiction tags: @jaylarkson

#dean x reader #supernatural fanfiction #spn x reader #dean winchester x reader #spn fanfiction #supernatural #spn #spn fanfic #supernatural fanfic #dean winchester #dean winchester x you #dean x you #dean x y/n #dean dean the soft lil bean #honestly this isn't a strong chapter and I kind of hate it but I need it to get to the last part because GUYS #I actually wrote a fucking outline for this #can someone please be proud of me #like you don't need to read this just be proud of me #anyway it all comes together in the end and just EUGH chapter 4 is way better just stay with me till chapter 4 #LITERAlly the next chapter #also I am tired so if this is poorly edited as well as poorly written then I am sorr #y

[moltenhair]

In the event that tumblr ignores the feedback about their beta as they have with everything else and they make that awful update a reality... I came up with my own solution for roleplaying and communicating with my friends outside tumblr without having to retreat fully to discord. It was made specifically for ROLEPLAYING.  Since there are really no places where RPers are both welcome and catered to. All other social platforms are accessible to fandom groups but not as much to Roleplaying. Which is getting harder and harder on Tumblr with every update.  So this site is for US.

 It may be renamed in the future but for now it’s been affectionately dubbed

                                          “BETAESCAPE”

It’s a site members can join to share photos, write short or long posts, reply to other folks, like posts and do all the basic social media functions. It’s a meat and potatoes platform that gives the members a functional website without having to subject themselves to having to move to facebook or twitter or going discord-only.

Pros:

It functions as intended

You can write "Quick posts” with no formatting and no character limit (that I’ve discovered) or you can write “articles” with as much formatting as you want.

Nested/threaded replies that you can add basic formatting to! And you can add pictures to your replies as well. 

Members get a profile where you can have an avatar, a header and can write a brief bio/rules/muse list/whatever you like.

You can post pictures, videos and even attach FILES!

You can blacklist! And very easily! Instructions are provided on the moderator blog for how to do this. 

You can instant message other members. Which includes being able to send files over IMs.

You can tag other members in posts with the @ function

It’s FREE TO JOIN. Some premium functions may cost money and may be lost without donations but creating an account (or multiple) will NEVER cost you a cent.

THERE’S AN APP! Just download the MIGHTY NETWORKS app through your app store and find “betaescape” to access all functions from your mobile device. 

Cons:

It is unfortunately not what tumblr used to be. There is no “reblogging” to add comments. You cannot “share” a post at all. Tumblr had a very unique posting system that not many other sites have had and is difficult to recreate. This functions a bit more like Twitter but with the option to make bigger posts. (But if you like or reply to a post it will show up on your activity for your followers to see. So there will be a means to track your replies)

It’s VERY simplistic. No frills. It’s free and made by someone who is NOT a coder. 

The premium features will run out without donations to help keep it running. I’m one person behind this whole thing and I have my own bills and expenses to pay for. 

Image quick posts only allow one image at a time. You can post as many images as you like in an “article” but there are no “photoset” options. But that part of tumblr still works just fine for content creators who make edits. It’s the writing part that this site is intended for.

If you want to blacklist a topic, it must be a topic made by the HOST (me). Unfortunately it’s impossible to give members access to create their own ‘topics’. But if you want a topic to blacklist something, you can message me on that site and ask that I create a topic for people to use so you can blacklist. The standard tagging system isn’t what works on this site. 

Premium features for members:

Squads- Members can create a “squad” for themselves and their friends. Squads can be public or private. So if you want to Roleplay with a select group of people, without the whole world seeing, you can have that privacy.

Polls- Ask any question and get your responses in a variety of ways

Events- Schedule events for your followers to attend. Online meetings, group chats, live streams, even face to face meetings if you want to schedule convention meet-ups.

These features are available free  for 11 more days as of the creation of this post. (1/19/2020) then the free trial runs out and they will be lost. If members would like to keep these premium features, donations will help towards doing so. The link to donate is on the site landing page. But, again, donations are not required to create your account. Just if you want the extra added features. 

Also if I get enough donations, the site can officially have its own domain name! Which it currently does not have.

I know a lot of people want to migrate to Pillowfort but currently they are still asking for money before people can make their account. And I know not everyone has the means to drop a minimum of $5 just to make an account on a currently incomplete site that... After testing doesn’t provide the environment needed for roleplay. No shade toward Pillowfort, it’s going to be a wonderful site someday and what they are doing is no small task... It’s just not what I’m looking for.

#my site #betaescape

[tipsmate-blog1]

Guide - How to remove a Virus from WordPress

Beginner's Guide to Removing a Virus from a Hacked WordPress Site

A sad reality about website management is that sometimes these could be hacked.

It has all happened to us that our WordPress site was hacked a few times in the past, and we know exactly how stressful this can be. Not to mention the impact it has on your work and readers. In recent years, we have helped hundreds of users recover hacked WordPress sites, including several well-known companies. In this article, we will share a step-by-step guide to remove viruses from your compromised WordPress site.

Fix your hacked WordPress site

Some things to know before you start

First of all, regardless of the platform you use, WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Magento etc., know that any site can be hacked!

When your WordPress site is hacked, you can lose, search engine rankings, expose your readers and customers to viruses, destroy your reputation due to redirects to porn sites or other tacky websites and even worse, lose the data of the whole site.

If your website is corporate, security should be one of your top priorities.

That's why it's essential to have a good WordPress hosting company. Surely a Managed Host would be much better for making you sleep soundly.

Make sure you always have a good WordPress backup solution available such as BackupBuddy .

Last but probably also the most important, having a robust firewall for web applications like Sucuri . For example, we use their services on our websites.

All the above information is great if you haven't been hacked yet , but chances are that if you are reading this article, it is too late to add the precautions we mentioned above. So before doing anything, try to stay as calm as possible.

Let's take a look at the step-by-step guide on how to remove a Virus from your compromised WordPress site.

Step 0 - Get it done by a professional

Security is a serious matter, and if you are not comfortable with codes and servers, it is almost always better to consult an expert in WordPress Consulting .

Why consult an expert?

Because hackers hide their scripts in multiple locations, allowing viruses to return over and over again.

Although we will show you how to find and remove them later in this article, there are those who need certainty, and want to have the peace of mind of knowing that an expert has properly cleaned their website, and it is a good way to think about it if the your website supports your business.

Security experts usually cost € 100 to € 250 an hour, which is expensive for a small business or young entrepreneur.

However, for readers of the WPB-assistance Blog, we offer € 199 for cleaning up your website from Virus and Malware and in addition we can include a monitoring service for a whole year.

Now this may sound like self promotion, but it's actually an honest recommendation. We know very well how many technical implications there are on WordPress and many more flock to the world of WordPress security and web spaces so we recommend you read this guide and also get an expert to intervene.

So use them if you appreciate your time, are not tech savvy, or just want peace of mind.

For all DIY people, follow the steps below to clean up your compromised WordPress site.

Step 1. Identify the hack

When dealing with a virus on the website, you are very stressed out. The first thing to do is to try to stay calm and write a list of everything you know about virusl.

Below is a list of things to check:

·         Can you access your WordPress admin panel?

·         Is your WordPress site redirected to another website?

·         Does your WordPress site contain illegitimate links?

·         Does Google mark your website as unsafe?

Write down everything in the list because this will help you while talking to your hosting company or even while following the steps below to fix your site.

In addition, it is essential that you change your passwords before you start cleaning. You'll have to change your passwords, even when you're done cleaning the virus.

Step 2. Check with the hosting company

The best hosting providers are very useful in these situations. They have an experienced staff that takes care of this kind of thing on a daily basis and they know their hosting environment, which means they can guide you better. Start by contacting your web host and follow their instructions.

 Sometimes the virus may have affected even more of your site, especially if you are on shared hosting. Your hosting provider may also be able to provide you with more information about the type of virus, such as how it originated, or where the backdoor is hiding, etc.

You may also be lucky and the host may clean up the virus for you.

Step 3. Restore from backup

If you have backups for your WordPress site, then it may be best to restore a backup from an earlier point in time when the site was hacked. If you can do it, this can be worth gold.

However, if you have a blog where you post daily content, you risk losing blog posts, new comments, etc. In these cases, evaluate the pros and cons.

In the worst case, if you don't have a backup or if the website has been compromised for a long time and you don't want to lose the content, you can manually remove the virus.

Step 4. Scan for and remove malware

View your WordPress site and remove any inactive WordPress themes and plugins. Most often, this is where hackers hide their backdoors.

The term Backdoor refers to a method of ignoring standard authentication and obtaining the ability to remotely access the server without being detected. Most smarter hackers upload the backdoor as their first action. This allows them to recover access even after you have found and removed the virus.

Once you're done, go ahead and scan your website for viruses.

You should install the following free plug-ins on your website: Sucuri WordPress Auditing and Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) .

When you set them up, the Sucuri scanner will scan the integrity status of all files in the WordPress core. In other words, it shows you where the virus is hiding.

The most common places where viruses nestle are plug-in themes and directories, upload directories, wp-config.php, wp-include directory, and .htaccess files.

If the theme's authenticity controller finds a suspicious or malicious code in your themes, it will show a details button next to the theme with the reference to the infected theme file. It will also show you the malicious code it has found.

Here you have two options for fixing the virus. You can manually remove the code or you can replace that file with the original file.

For example, if they have modified the WordPress core files, you can upload the WordPress files again by extracting them from a new download or you can replace all the files in the WordPress core.

 The same goes for theme files. Download a new copy and replace the damaged files with new ones. Remember to do this only if you have not made changes to the WordPress theme codes otherwise you will lose those changes.

Repeat this step also for plugins if interested.

You will also need to make sure that the plugin's theme and folder match the original ones. Sometimes hackers add additional files that look like the original plugins in the name and it is easy to ignore them, such as: hell0.php, Adm1n.php, etc.

We have a detailed guide on how to find a backdoor on WordPress and remove it.

Keep repeating this step until the hack is gone.

Step 5. Check user permissions

Search the WordPress users section to make sure that only you and your trusted team members have administrator access to the site.

If you see a suspicious user ... delete it!

Read our beginner's guide to WordPress user roles.

Step 6. Change your secret keys

Since version 3.1 came out, WordPress generates a set of security keys that encrypts your passwords. Now if a user has stolen your password, d is still logged on the site, he will remain logged because his cookies are valid. To disable cookies, you need to create a new set of secret keys. You need to generate a new security key and add it to your wp-config.php file.

Step 7. Change your passwords again

Yes it's true, you changed the passwords in step 1. Now do it again!

You need to update your WordPress password, cPanel / FTP / MySQL password, and practically wherever you have used passwords.

We strongly recommend that you use a strong password. Read our article on the best way to manage passwords. If there are many users on your site, it is better to push them to reset their password.

Go ahead - Strengthen the security of your WordPress site

Improve WordPress security

 It goes without saying that no more secure thing than a good backup solution. If you don't have one, we encourage you to do something to back up your site every day.

Other than that, here are some other things you can do to better protect your site from viruses - this list is not in order and you should do as many things as possible!

Website firewall configuration and monitoring system - Sucuri is the provider we use because, in most cases, they block attacks before they reach your server.

Switch to Managed WordPress Hosting - Most WordPress hosting companies do everything they can to keep your site secure. We recommend WP-Hosting.it .

Disable theme editor and plugins : it's a best practice. [Here's how to disable editing files in WordPress.]

Limit login attempts in WordPress - We recently discussed its importance and you should read how to limit login attempts in WordPress.

Password Protect your Admin Directory - Add an additional level of password to the WordPress administrative area. See how to add Htpasswd to the WordPress administrator.

Disable PHP execution in certain directories - Adds additional layer of security - Here's how to disable PHP execution via .htaccess.

And whatever you do, always keep your core, WordPress plugins and themes up to date!

Remember Google announced that it has added an algorithm change that affects hacked sites that do spam. So be sure to keep your site protected.

We hope this guide has helped you fix your compromised WordPress site. If you still have problems, consult a WordPress expert .

[slarty1]

WRITTEN JOURNAL # 31

July 5th 2017

I forgot to date the last entry.  I'll have to fix that with an edit. That reminds me...sometime I'll have to edit all my videos on YouTube.  For the description of your video to tag correctly you have to separate with commas, which I was only able to discover when I got a computer.

Well...I waited too long before writing this entry.  I can't remember what I did clear back on the 2nd.  I'm lucky if I can remember what I did today.  I still think era 3 is a good idea.  Both my cousin Mike, and Lisa have put a like on my Facebook page for my Tumblr activity recently, and it seems to coincide with era 3.

I still have no Obamaphone, but I did get a letter in the mail congratulating me that I was approved for 1.  It said to expect the phone in 10 days, so I do.  I don't remember which day I got it.

Today would have been the day I went back to Free Geek if that guy hadn't come along.  That my computer has a 32 bit architecture may be causing me grief.  I eventually downloaded iTunes (yesterday), but it doesn't seem to do anything.  Part of that may be because I had to download an older version of iTunes due to my 32 bit architecture.  I have given up trying to get my music on my SD card and only my SD card.  It seems to be something that the phone simply does not allow. My phone usually registers in the USB port now, but there's no telling why.  I have successfully transferred my phones music to my computer, but to play my tunes I have to highlight all the files and right click open with Banshee media player each time I turn my computer on.  I'd like to have Banshee know I want to play those files without me going thru that process, but I don't yet know how. I think it was the day before yesterday, that I told MWR who still didn't think you could comment on my blog, that all you had to do was click on the thing that looks like a comic voice box to comment. I've as yet seen no reply to the email wherein I told him that.  I think I should get someone else to comment on my blog so that he knows he's wrong.  I'm almost certain comments are enabled on my blog.

I did in fact take a shower and wash my clothes the day before yesterday.  Scott was @ STP where I wash my clothes, and I told him I now have a computer and asked whether I could just put the albums on my Nano myself.  He said he didn't see why not.  He set up an appointment for me for the following day (July 4th _yesterday) @ 2:00pm, there @ STP.

While I was @ STP washing my clothes I shot video of a visually intriguing top that happened to be lying around in the laundry room. I think I may have spent the rest of the day @ the library.  I took my clothes home and put them away 1st.  I may have relaxed @ home, and done some more things, but I don't remember.

I did in fact go shopping the day before yesterday, too.  I had to psych myself up @ home 1st to go shopping.  The library closes @ 8:00pm on Mondays, so it was getting pretty late by the time I got going.  I think it was already dark, so I guess it must have been sometime after 10:00pm.  I took a few pictures on the way to Safeway.

I bought:

1)  4 cans of Nalley Hot Chili.  The label says “Con Carne With Beans”.  I'm pretty sure con carne means with beans.  They were on sale if you bought 4.  I've already eaten 2.  1 while writing this entry. I ate them both from the can.  I've promised myself that I'll eat @ least 1 cooked, @ least nuked, if not cooked on the stove.

2)  A jar of Signature kitchens Dill Pickle “Slicers” (long cut pickles).  I love dill pickles, and I hate sweet pickles.

3)  A box of Wheaties.

4)  4 avocados.  They were on sale if you bought 4.

5)  Some mushrooms.

6)  A jar of Value corner Mayonnaise.

7)  A jug of milk

8)  4 2 liter bottles of Coca-Cola.  99 cents each if you bought 4 or more.

9)  A huge sack of Signature kitchens Fine Granulated Sugar.  I'm running out of sugar.  Now I won't have to buy sugar for like ever. I bought the largest size the store carried.

10)  2 12 packs of Lucerne Dairy Farms Vanilla Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches.  They were buy 1 get 1 free.

11)  A loaf of dark rye bread.  I used most of it for burger buns, and have no more of it.

And that I think covers it.  I had a hell of a time getting that all home, what with the 4 2 liter bottles of Coke, the jug of milk, and the huge sack of sugar.  I think it was something like 11:30 when I got home.  So thats why I didn't write this entry then; and yet I think I may have stayed up until about 2:00am to 2:30am.

I don't remember when I woke up yesterday morning, but I had some activity I was doing which had the secondary effect of killing time before my meeting with Scott.  I still got done with whatever it was a bit before 1:00pm ( I now remember that it was making burgers.  The burgers I made had pepperochinis and mushrooms cooked into it, and were cooked in a layer of BBQ sauce.  They were on dark rye bread, with avocado, ketchup, Grey Poupon, and mayonnaise.  I used up all my burger for this too.)  I was running very low on smokes.  

So I showed up @ STP around 1:00pm.  While smoking a cigarette, I suddenly noticed Scott smoking 1.  As soon as I was done with my smoke,  I walked across the street to where Scott was, and said I was ready to get started as soon as he was.

He asked me if I had iTunes.  I told him I did not, and that it was difficult to get iTunes on a Linux machine.  He was under the impression that because it was an Intel machine, it should be easy. I had to firmly correct him about that.  

He said anyway I would need to have iTunes installed to put the songs I had on my computer on the Nano.  I thought he could just use the Nano as a disk drive and put the songs on that way, and maybe he could, but he denied it.

So the meeting was short.  I think I then went home, but I don't recall why.  I think it was that I needed to get my doubled up bags of cans to see if I could get enough money to get some cigarettes.  I figured if I could then great, and if not, then I would @ least have enough to go to Starbucks (I'd just be smoking rollies).

So I eventually got around to going to Whole Foods.  On the way there, who should appear, but Scott.  I hit him with another work around I'd thought of.  He could get the songs from off my phone.  He said his computer didn't have a USB port, which made 0 sense.  

I said I had a micro-USB to USB converter cord, but he came up with some reason that wouldn't work.  Theres nothing much I could do or say @ that point, but I'm getting quite tired of what seems to me to be Scott's BS.

When I got to Whole Foods the machine was up.  I think I got $2.60 for my efforts.  Added to the dollar and a few cents I had that did not make $4.05, but before I resolved to go to Starbucks, I realized I  could use the WI-Fi @ Whole Foods.  

The WI-Fi @ Whole foods is pretty iffy, but it was worth a shot. Whole Foods has a cafeteria where you can buy a pop or whatever on food stamps, and use their WI-Fi, so if that option worked it was well  worth it.  Saves using cash.

It seemed to be working OK.  It was there and during that time that I finally got a version of iTunes unpacked installed or whatever, on my computer.  The version wine (a Linux program for installing Windows programs) put on my computer doesn't do much of anything, tho, so congratulations would be premature.

After about 2 hours I rediscovered that the WI-Fi @ Whole foods quits after about 2 hours.  I eventually got around to trying my phone for more time, but the cafeteria was closing, by that time.  But I got a lot done, so no big deal.

I took a picture of my burgers for MWR.  My plan for celebrating the 4th was to go out to Beaverton to a place I knew where you can view several fireworks displays @ 1ce (thats what I cooked all those burgers for), but it was getting late and I was concerned that I wouldn't get a bus home on time even without that.

So I went to Pioneer Square.  I don't remember how I got there.  I think I went part of the way on the Max; but when I got there,  I decided to go sit outside the Starbucks, and upload my stuff, and see if MWR had anything else to say.  Thats what I did.

By the time I got thru with that, it was getting close to dark, so with a sigh, I decided to give the trip to Beaverton a miss.  I decided to check out the show @ Waterfront Park instead.  My phones power was down to 30 some odd percent.

So I took the Max down to 1st.  The park was very crowded. I got food out of the trash, several cans, and some videos of peoples amateur fireworks before the professional show began.  There were lots of boats on the Willamette for the 4th, so I also shot those, the whole time concerned about my phone's low juice.

 I then shot 8 videos of the professional display.  The longest is 5 minutes 52 seconds, and the shortest is 29 seconds.  I'm disappointed with that.  The videos aren't as high quality as real life and I missed a lot of the real thing, looking @ the view on my camera.

I then shot 3 videos of the aftermath.  2 of them are of people playing guitar.  1 of those is 2 people playing guitar, with 1 singing of his love for marijuana.  The 3rd is a 6 second video of a man lying in a pool of blood.  Cops on the scene said he fell.

It's 6 seconds because thats when my phone ran completely out of juice.  I'm lucky it automatically saved those 6 seconds before dying.  2 ambulances eventually came for him I think, but if I'm right about that, I don't know what the 2nd ambulance was for.

Some time around then, while walking home (the max was crowded to the limit) I found a huge doubled up bag of cans with a sign on them saying “free cans”, so I put the cans I had in it (I had already had to switch from my backpack to my doubled up sacks) and continued on, leaving my bags there.  With the 2 collections together the bag was so full, cans and bottles were falling out the top of the bags.

About half a block to a block away I suddenly saw that the bags were leaking quite a lot.  That would not do; so I took the cans back to where I found them, and put them 1 by 1 back into my doubled up bags.

It was getting close to my curfew, but I got the liquid out of all the bottles and cans.  2 or 3 were almost full.

I ended up getting home at about 12:40.  I think it took me until about 2:00am to 2:30am to get to sleep 1ce again.

I didn't wake up today until about 11:30am.  I think I relaxed, smoked, and played some Nethack to prepare myself for turning in my giant overflowing doubled up bags of cans and bottles.  Before I turned them in I went to Caron Kepic's building to see if she had made good on her commitment to bring me in a bag of cans.

She hadn't.  Fine.  I don't know what I'd do with all those cans and bottles anyway considering what I already had.  I called, and got her voice mail, and told her as much.  After I got back it was eventually getting to be about  2:00pm, so I resolved to do my labor in the heat of the day.

@ whole Foods I turned in my limit of $14.40 worth of cans and bottles (Oregon law demands a limit of 144 cans and or bottles per day per store).  I then sat and had a rolly, and decided and committed to turning in the rest at Fred Meyers, or if that looked like too much of a wait, @ Trader Joe's.

The Fred Meyers machines were pretty packed so I made my way to Trader Joe's.  There I turned in almost my limit there, so now I know the approximate capacity of my bags.  I got $13.80.  I then took the 20 to my new smoke shop and finally got some store bought smokes, and went home.

I started this entry @ about 7:00pm, and the time is now 1:17am.  I have $28.29.  I'm in affluence.

[emmanuelb55-blog]

Photo editing software for edit pictures

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Leaning into the Illusion of Control to Smash Business Goals

A few years ago, I spilled an extra large cup of way-too-hot tea directly on my skin. I had second- and third-degree burns, plus lasting pain even after my skin had healed. Ghost pain, apparently. My doctor recommended the same medicine amputees are prescribed for phantom limb pain. I turned it down, went on with my life and eventually the pain completely went away.

That took years, though, and I never knew if I’d made the right decision. Had I been prescribed any other medicine, I wouldn’t have asked about how it worked, so why did I care how a placebo worked as long as it did? Turns out, I did myself a solid. The illusion of control has pros and cons, but there’s a good chance it would have left me with the false perception of control and no real drive to find holistic cures.

Placebo Buttons

There are buttons that we push in life that don’t actually work. Literal buttons, not emotional buttons (though those don’t always work, either). Crosswalk buttons only work some of the time, while U.S. elevators have non-working “close door” buttons across the board. The button is functioning as a button should – you can push it – but it’s not actually doing the thing you think it’s doing. It’s a placebo button.

That doesn’t mean they don’t serve a purpose, though. They give us the illusion of control. Sometimes that’s a good thing; other times, it’s not.

According to a CNN interview with Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer – the woman responsible for the illusion of control concept – placebos are psychologically beneficial. “Taking some action leads people to feel a sense of control over a situation, and that feels good, rather than just being a passive bystander.” Put even more simply, Langer said, “Doing something typically feels better than doing nothing.”

The Illusion of Control

The illusion of control is beneficial when we’re in a situation where we’d otherwise be doing nothing. It can even help us focus on the present. The crosswalk button forces us to pay attention to the traffic. In situations like these, the output is minimal – it takes nothing to press a button. Usually, you get something in return (the illusion of control feeling), but even if you don’t, you haven’t sacrificed anything. The illusion of control may also ward off dangerous emotional responses, like depression, if perceiving that we have control (even when we don’t) helps us deal with an uncontrollable event.

In the business world, the illusion of control certainly has its place. Training modules put employees in real-world situations to see how they’d respond. When work is slow, employers may give employees busywork to keep them engaged – it could be detrimental for an employee to think their job doesn’t matter, even for a day. At home, I may follow an inefficient process because I don’t have time to update it – doing something is better than nothing.

These are exceptions, though. For true professional growth, you have to give up the illusion of control.

The Downside of the Illusion of Control

We can’t talk about the illusion of control without also discussing how feeling like we are in control of everything can be a handicap. The illusion of control can veer into dangerous territory when we start believing we have control over situations that are actually out of our hands – that we can create the outcome we want if we just work hard enough.

How the Illusion of Control Negatively Impacts Business

When a business leader incorrectly feels like they’re in control, they don’t make decisions that are best for their company. Cost and effort can be underestimated, while profits and other positive outcomes may be overestimated. In the end, you end up with a project that flopped and resources that were wasted. As a professional, you don’t want to look back on a situation and realize you were flexing control you didn’t actually have. If you’d focused on what you could influence, maybe the outcome would’ve been better.

Here’s how businesses create the illusion of control without realizing the damage they’re doing:

Closely tracking data that isn’t aligned with company goals, or making all decisions based on the numbers alone. This doesn’t leave room for instinct, creativity or risk, all things that could have even better results if tested.

Performing low-priority tasks that take too much time and don’t deliver great results simply because “this is the way we’ve always done things.” There’s an unproven belief that changing processes will throw the business into upheaval when really it could free up a lot of time and energy.

Perhaps the most obvious expression of the illusion of control is micro-management. When a manager feels that their way is best, they try to control everything an employee does. The manager feels they have control over outcomes by being strict; they also believe they can control their employees, which they can’t.

Determining Your Element of Control

In order to figure out if you have any amount of control in a situation, start by examining it:

What aspects do you have total control over?

Where do you have partial control?

Where is it totally out of your hands?

Can you influence the areas that are not within your control in order to get some of that control back?

Here’s an example:

The Situation: You’re having communication challenges with a co-worker. She’s misconstruing what you say to her and complaining to your boss about it. Every time you think you’ve remedied the situation, her complaints start all over again.

You have total control over what you say to your co-worker and your boss, and the methods of delivery (in-person vs. email).

You have some control over how often you communicate with your co-worker. You can’t dictate when they speak to you, but you can limit how often you contact them.

There’s an illusion of control about how your co-worker perceives what you say or what she relays to your boss.

Influence the situation and regain some control by CC’ing your boss on your next several conversations so that she gets the full view of the situation instead of just one side. She may then be able to remedy the situation from a new perspective.

Taking accountability for your actions and asking yourself, “What can I do here? How can I make this better?” is great. However, for the sake of giving up the illusion of control – and giving yourself a break – understanding the things you don’t have control over may be more impactful.

Flexibility and Letting Go

The illusion of control becomes problematic when we feel like we have control over something that we don’t and then have to deal with an outcome we didn’t want. We can get angry and blame ourselves for doing something wrong. The higher the stakes and the more disappointing the outcome, the stronger that blame.

(It also works the other way – it can be detrimental if you think you had control over something you didn’t, and then the outcome is great and you take all the credit. Either way, you’re limiting your potential for growth.)

Instead of asking yourself where you went wrong, ask yourself (1) if you put in as much effort as you could have and (2) if you took all of the steps that were within your control. If you answered “no” to one of those questions, start boiling it down – what aspects of the project didn’t work out that you feel responsible for? Then ask yourself those questions again.

For example, let’s say you put a lot of effort into designing a mobile app. It launched and nobody cared about it, and your company eventually pulled it because they thought it was worse if it sat there without downloads or reviews.

You can’t just look at the mobile app as a whole – the whole mobile app didn’t fail; something about it failed. Maybe it failed because the company doesn’t understand its audience or a competitor’s app launched the day before. Or, maybe it was your design. Whatever the answer is, arm yourself with knowledge you can grow from instead of a wistful or harmful assumption that XYZ was in your control.

The Triumph of Failure

Look, businesses and experts fail all the time – we just don’t hear about them. If everyone knew about a product or service that failed, it probably wouldn’t have been as big a failure with that much attention on it. Apple created a computer called Lisa. But you’ve never heard of the Apple Lisa. Because it failed.

I don’t subscribe to the idea that successful professionals should learn everything the hard way. There’s a lot to be said for learning from others and preventing problems. However, failure is inevitable, and when it happens it can be turned into a lot of wonderful things: pressure to evolve, a mirror that reflects your weaknesses or a bitter taste of what you don’t want.

By convincing yourself of control you don’t have, you’re limiting your ability to make the better, more impactful decisions your business needs. You’re also robbing yourself of seeing things as they unequivocally are. When you look at the reality of a situation, you’ll be able to tell what is within your power – the choices you can make and where to invest your energy.

Ready to take back some control? Check out our article on finishing what you start.

The post Leaning into the Illusion of Control to Smash Business Goals appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

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The Paleo Diet vs. Keto Diet: 3 Lessons Learned

What’s that? You wanna know how the popular Keto Diet compares to the Paleo Diet?

Oh Paleo, you were so 2014. Right there with “Let it Go” and the Ice Bucket Challenge.

I kid, I kid. I do want to build a snowman.

The question “how does Keto compare to Paleo” will dive into some interesting concepts, worth discussing. There’s the normal answer, you’ll read on every other site out there. We’ll talk about that too, to cover our bases, just in case you’re unfamiliar with either diet. Knowledge is power and an overview of Keto and Paleo will be helpful for the remainder of the article.

However, here at Nerd Fitness, we keeps it real.

So I’ll give you the honest, “real” answer on how Keto and Paleo compare. And no, it’s not just eating Brussel sprouts (although it’s not-not eating Brussel sprouts). You’re smart, and I think you can handle some real talk on the benefits of Keto and Paleo.

So strap in and get ready for the following:

The textbook, basic answer on how Paleo and Keto compare

The Nerd Fitness straight talk on Keto vs. Paleo

What you can learn from both diets to Level Up your eating strategy

WHAT’S THE PALEO DIET?

The “Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet” is to Nerd Fitness what The Lord of the Rings is to Elijah Wood. While far from the first article I ever wrote, our post on Paleo became SUPER popular and is perhaps what Nerd Fitness is best known for.

If you’ve never heard the term “Paleo” until today, go check out that article and get caught up. It is long tho, sort of like the Extended Editions. So I’ll give you a quick recap in case you don’t have much time, or need a general refresher.

The Paleo Diet, in theory, is a way of eating that attempts to mimic how our ancestors would have eaten hundreds of thousands of years ago. The gist is that agriculture is a recent phenomenon in the story of humans. Eating as our ancestors did before this current chapter is more in line with how we evolved, which has health benefits. By ignoring the agricultural revolution, Paleo attempts to align ourselves with a more primal and primitive eating pattern. It’s why people joke about cavemen and all that when discussing Paleo.  

Which I am not above.

What did our genetic ancestors eat, prior to agriculture?

In the Paleo Diet, you eat the following:

Meat. Paleo recommends grass-fed meat whenever possible, which is more in line with how animals exist in nature.

Fowl. Chicken, duck, hen, turkey…things with wings that (try to) fly.

Fish. Things you catch with a hook or spear.

Eggs. Things that come from birds.

Vegetables. YES.

Oils. Olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil – the less refined the better.

Fruits. Apples, oranges, berries, etc. Although because of their high sugar content (fructose), the Paleo community will recommend limiting these to a few servings a day. I have a somewhat more lenient stance.

Nuts. Almonds, macadamias, and cashews are quite common on a Paleo Diet.

Tubers. Foods like sweet potatoes and yams.

That’s a list comprised of REAL food, which I discuss heavily in our Guide to Healthy Eating. In my opinion, REAL food is the key to a successful eating strategy. That’s why  I’m a fan of Paleo and/or Paleo-ish.

What’s missing from that list of approved food above?

Grains

Dairy

Legumes

Processed things (junk food)

Again, the thought is we didn’t evolve eating massive amounts of these foods, so they should be avoided or limited. Granted, with the exception of the last bullet (junk food), this might be overkill. Personally, I eat a little bit of rice regularly, but we’ll talk more about that later.

Okay, that’s the super quick, textbook answer to “What is the Paleo Diet.” If you want more info, make sure to download the PDF of our Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet. If you enter your email below, we’ll route it to you.

Get the FREE eBook! The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Paleo!

Discover if Paleo is for you

The one simple trick to know if your food is Paleo-friendly

Easy Paleo recipes for beginners to get you started

I identify as a:

Woman

Man

Next up!

WHAT’S THE KETO DIET?

In fitness trends, if the Paleo Diet is old and busted, the Keto Diet is the new hotness.

This isn’t the first time we’ve brought up the Keto Diet on this site. If you’re interested in eating low-carb, you should check out our HUMONGOUS article on the subject.

Plus, there are GIFs of a Ninja Turtle and an ACTUAL turtle in there!

What’s that? You don’t like turtles? What about otters?

There are otters in there too! Alright, enough “cute animal” bribes.

For the sake of keeping this article as one resource, let’s chat about Keto.

To understand the Keto Diet, you need to understand that your body can burn both ketones and glucose for energy. Your body obtains and makes glucose, a simple sugar, from most of the food you eat.

That’s one way to fuel yourself.

The other is ketones. Your body can produce ketones from dietary fat, as well as your own fat reserves. The strategy behind the Keto Diet is to limit carbohydrates (which turns to glucose) to such a point that your body is forced to rely on ketones for sustenance. This could include your own fat stores.

That’s why the Keto Diet is all the rage these days because tons of folks want to burn through their stored fat.

To get into this state of ketosis, where your body is relying on fat for fuel, you need to calculate your macronutrient ratio intake. You’ll drastically reduce carbs (5-10% of total diet), eat a moderate amount of protein (15-30%), and round out the rest with tons of healthy fat (60-75%).

You may be asking yourself, “That’s all well and good Steve, but what do I actually eat on a Keto Diet? No one looks at food and says ‘that’s 60% fat.’”

Great point. Here are your low-carb food groups:

Meat. Red meat (like steak), pork products (sausage and bacon and ham), and white meat (like chicken and turkey).

Fish. High-fat fish like tuna and salmon are the go-to for Keto.

Eggs and dairy. White, yellowish, fats and protein for the win.

Healthy fats. Nuts, seeds, and avocados should be your staples. Although the later, avocados, contains decent carbs. Be careful.

Dressings and oils. Greek dressing, Caesar dressing (check the ingredients first!), ranch, aioli. When you need an oil, stick to extra-virgin olive oil, avocado oil, or coconut oil.

Veggies. Prioritize the less starchy, green ones like spinach, kale, broccoli, and cauliflower (ok, it’s white).

Meatless proteins. Tempeh, tofu, and seitan can take the place of meats in a vegetarian or vegan Keto Diet. Gotta get that protein from somewhere, right?

The above list consists of foods low in carbohydrates, key if you want to drive your body into ketosis.

Alright, that’s the short and gist of the Keto Diet.

Now, it should be noted that not everyone does well on a low-carb high-fat diet. For example, me! I’ve found that I perform and feel better when eating whole, unprocessed carbohydrates. It’s why I eat a little bit of rice… which isn’t Paleo or Keto! The horror.

Speaking of Paleo vs Keto…

WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ON “PALEO VS KETO?”

The textbook answer on “Paleo vs Keto” will take a Venn diagram like look at both diets. Showing which foods are both low in carbs, and something our great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother would have eaten.

Is that enough “greats” to get us to the Paleolithic era? Probably.

Such a Venn diagram would look like this, as demonstrated by Paleohacks.

That’s a textbook graph if I’ve ever seen one. But Venn diagrams are nifty, and an easy way for us to visualize concepts.

For example, we can quickly see that Paleo and Keto overlap on:

High-quality meats. Both diets encourage protein coming from high-quality meat sources.

Lots of non-starchy vegetables. Whether Keto or Paleo, both include nutrient-dense vegetables like spinach, asparagus, and Brussel sprouts.

Plenty of healthy fats. What do coconut oil, avocado oil, and olive oil all have in common? They’re all part of both an ancestral and low-carb way of eating.  

Of course, not all parts of the circles overlap. Such is the nature of a Venn diagram.

For Paleo, you cut out most dairy, because it’s a more modern dietary food group that causes some people problems. This differs from Keto, where you rely on yogurt and cheeses for fat intake.

For Keto, you cut out fruit and starchy vegetables (potatoes) because the high carb content is an easy way to knock you out of ketosis. This differs from Paleo because fruits and potatoes are whole foods that have been eaten for thousands of generations.

Is there anything stopping you from trying both diets? Nope!

When you combine both strategies, for a Keto-Paleo Diet, you’re left eating low-carb foods that our ancestors had access to.

It should be noted, there are some studies proclaiming the benefits of a paleolithic ketogenic diet.[1] Which is logical, because there are studies galore on the benefits of Paleo and Keto, independent of each other.

However, both diets are SUPER restrictive, which is why a lot of folks have trouble maintaining the lifestyle of Paleo or Keto. The adherence rate for either diet is terrible. Both our posts on Paleo and Keto stress this point as an overall con of either diet. When you COMBINE these two very restrictive ways of eating, you could end up creating a nightmare scenario of food limitations.

Alright, you can pack up your bags. Our official answer comparing the Paleo and Keto Diet is over. The lesson is technically finished. Don’t forget to turn in next week’s assignment at the start of class.

Shhh…

Okay, they’ve taken off. Now lean in close. We’re turning off the PowerPoint presentation. It’s time for Professor Steve to give you the after-hours honest truth on Paleo vs. Keto.

THE REAL TALK ON “KETO VS PALEO?”

The reason Keto and Paleo can often work for people centers on the idea of “Mental Models.”

It’s a concept I’ve graciously borrowed from my friend Shane over at Farnam Street Blog. A Mental Model provides a framework for how we understand the world. A way for us to interpret facts and make sense of what we are experiencing.

Shane describes three different Mental Models for looking at the same data:

“When a botanist looks at a forest they may focus on the ecosystem, an environmentalist sees the impact of climate change, a forestry engineer the state of the tree growth, a business person the value of the land. None are wrong, but neither are any of them able to describe the full scope of the forest.”

Bringing it back to nutrition, Paleo and Keto both provide us with a model for understanding food.

“That Twinkie is something that came from a factory, that my ancestors would never have touched. It’s unhealthy for me,” says the Paleo follower.

“That Twinkie is pumped full of sugar and processed carbs, that’ll kick me right out of ketosis. It’s unhealthy for me,” says the Keto follower.

Two different ways to come to the same conclusion: a Twinkie probably isn’t the healthiest thing you can eat.

We are in a food landscape that almost seems designed to make us sick and fat. Full of candy, soda, and junk food. Food that is easy to overeat, and when you eat too much consistently for weeks/months/years, you end up overweight and staying overweight.

So think of Paleo and Keto as blueprints designed to help you avoid these calorie dense and addictive foods. That’s why they can work for people.

By eliminating large swaths of food groups, especially those that have tons of calories, insulin-spiking sugar, and no nutritional satiating value, you’re more likely than not to eat a caloric deficit consistently. Which can indeed lead to weight loss.

For some evidence of REAL food containing way fewer calories than processed junk, check out this post from wiseGEEK. They do a great job of demonstrating the caloric density of different foods.

That’s why a Mental Model centered on REAL food is the true benefit and overlap of Keto and Paleo, because focusing on REAL food is the easiest way to obtain and maintain a caloric deficit.  

A plan, or Mental Model, to navigate these food choices will be critical for healthy eating. A clear “yes” or “no” for every meal choice you’ll encounter.

It doesn’t matter if cavemen ate grains, or if the metabolic state of ketosis is desirable. That’s not the true advantage of either diet.

Said again: the reason Keto and Paleo can be great for people is that it provides them with rules on exactly what to eat.

Is this plate of chicken and broccoli something a caveman could eat? Yep!

Is this plate of fish and asparagus low in carbohydrates? You betcha!

Eating plenty of vegetables and high-quality meat is great. Most health professionals would agree. However, a Mental Model on how to go about this can help make food choices automatic, like a robot.

And robots rule.

I want to create such an autopilot for you. A system you can depend on to navigate all the meal decisions you will face.

Let’s find you a Mental Model. Something both reliable and sustainable.

Paleo and Keto are two ways to go about this. But if you’ve tried one, the other, or both and found them too restrictive, don’t give up! There’s more than one way to skin a cat.

I don’t give a sh*t if your Mental Model is low-carb, or if Neanderthals ate that way. There are many different strategies for how to eat. Pick one that works for you and try it out! Adjust and learn as you go. A lot of them will work if you’re consistent, as long as it’s not some “crash diet” designed as a quick fix.

Small, sustainable changes for the win.

If you want help developing a Mental Model, we offer two ways to get you there. If you can hold yourself accountable, the Nerd Fitness Academy will teach you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about a proper relationship with food. You can follow many like-minded nerds and set yourself on a path through our self-guided course.

If you want an accountability buddy, we got you there too! We offer a 1-on-1 private coaching program that can do just that. We’ll work with you to find a Mental Model that works perfect for your situation, and provide direction and accountability until these changes become normal and routine. If you want guidance from a trained professional, schedule a call by clicking on the image below and see if we’re a good fit for each other!

DEVELOP A “MENTAL MODEL” TO LEVEL UP YOUR LIFE

We talk a lot about life as a real-life RFG here at Nerd Fitness. Completing quests and goals to gain experience points so you can take it to the next level in life.

That’s where the “Level Up Your Life” tagline comes from. Almost as if you yourself were a character to be upgraded.

And YES, that DOES also happen to also be the name of my best selling book, available online and in bookstores nationwide, thank you for noticing!

There are all sorts of ways to go about leveling up. Things like lifting weights, sleeping better and, playing with friends will advance you in the game of life, leading to castles raided, dragons slain, and fireworks enjoyed.

If you want to advance onto the next level, one sure fire way to do it would be a Mental Model on how to eat. Paleo and Keto are both great options that have helped a lot of people learn better dietary habits for life improvement.

As I said above though, they are far from the only options. You can go vegan, try the Slow Carb Diet, experiment with intermittent fasting, or act like a Mediterranean.

Or do what I do and invent your own.

With a Mental Model on nutrition under your belt, you can consider your life leveled up.

Then we can worry about equipping you with a flaming sword.

-Steve

PS: For those who were expecting some kind of epic showdown between Paleo and Keto, a battle between two popular diets, here’s a gif for you:

PSS:..

http://bit.ly/2AeuY0a

#The Paleo Diet vs. Keto Diet: 3 Lessons Learned

[johnclapperne]

The Paleo Diet vs. Keto Diet: 3 Lessons Learned

What’s that? You wanna know how the popular Keto Diet compares to the Paleo Diet?

Oh Paleo, you were so 2014. Right there with “Let it Go” and the Ice Bucket Challenge.

I kid, I kid. I do want to build a snowman.

The question “how does Keto compare to Paleo” will dive into some interesting concepts, worth discussing. There’s the normal answer, you’ll read on every other site out there. We’ll talk about that too, to cover our bases, just in case you’re unfamiliar with either diet. Knowledge is power and an overview of Keto and Paleo will be helpful for the remainder of the article.

However, here at Nerd Fitness, we keeps it real.

So I’ll give you the honest, “real” answer on how Keto and Paleo compare. And no, it’s not just eating Brussel sprouts (although it’s not-not eating Brussel sprouts). You’re smart, and I think you can handle some real talk on the benefits of Keto and Paleo.

So strap in and get ready for the following:

The textbook, basic answer on how Paleo and Keto compare

The Nerd Fitness straight talk on Keto vs. Paleo

What you can learn from both diets to Level Up your eating strategy

WHAT’S THE PALEO DIET?

The “Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet” is to Nerd Fitness what The Lord of the Rings is to Elijah Wood. While far from the first article I ever wrote, our post on Paleo became SUPER popular and is perhaps what Nerd Fitness is best known for.

If you’ve never heard the term “Paleo” until today, go check out that article and get caught up. It is long tho, sort of like the Extended Editions. So I’ll give you a quick recap in case you don’t have much time, or need a general refresher.

The Paleo Diet, in theory, is a way of eating that attempts to mimic how our ancestors would have eaten hundreds of thousands of years ago. The gist is that agriculture is a recent phenomenon in the story of humans. Eating as our ancestors did before this current chapter is more in line with how we evolved, which has health benefits. By ignoring the agricultural revolution, Paleo attempts to align ourselves with a more primal and primitive eating pattern. It’s why people joke about cavemen and all that when discussing Paleo.  

Which I am not above.

What did our genetic ancestors eat, prior to agriculture?

In the Paleo Diet, you eat the following:

Meat. Paleo recommends grass-fed meat whenever possible, which is more in line with how animals exist in nature.

Fowl. Chicken, duck, hen, turkey…things with wings that (try to) fly.

Fish. Things you catch with a hook or spear.

Eggs. Things that come from birds.

Vegetables. YES.

Oils. Olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil – the less refined the better.

Fruits. Apples, oranges, berries, etc. Although because of their high sugar content (fructose), the Paleo community will recommend limiting these to a few servings a day. I have a somewhat more lenient stance.

Nuts. Almonds, macadamias, and cashews are quite common on a Paleo Diet.

Tubers. Foods like sweet potatoes and yams.

That’s a list comprised of REAL food, which I discuss heavily in our Guide to Healthy Eating. In my opinion, REAL food is the key to a successful eating strategy. That’s why  I’m a fan of Paleo and/or Paleo-ish.

What’s missing from that list of approved food above?

Grains

Dairy

Legumes

Processed things (junk food)

Again, the thought is we didn’t evolve eating massive amounts of these foods, so they should be avoided or limited. Granted, with the exception of the last bullet (junk food), this might be overkill. Personally, I eat a little bit of rice regularly, but we’ll talk more about that later.

Okay, that’s the super quick, textbook answer to “What is the Paleo Diet.” If you want more info, make sure to download the PDF of our Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet. If you enter your email below, we’ll route it to you.

Get the FREE eBook! The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Paleo!

Discover if Paleo is for you

The one simple trick to know if your food is Paleo-friendly

Easy Paleo recipes for beginners to get you started

I identify as a:

Woman

Man

Next up!

WHAT’S THE KETO DIET?

In fitness trends, if the Paleo Diet is old and busted, the Keto Diet is the new hotness.

This isn’t the first time we’ve brought up the Keto Diet on this site. If you’re interested in eating low-carb, you should check out our HUMONGOUS article on the subject.

Plus, there are GIFs of a Ninja Turtle and an ACTUAL turtle in there!

What’s that? You don’t like turtles? What about otters?

There are otters in there too! Alright, enough “cute animal” bribes.

For the sake of keeping this article as one resource, let’s chat about Keto.

To understand the Keto Diet, you need to understand that your body can burn both ketones and glucose for energy. Your body obtains and makes glucose, a simple sugar, from most of the food you eat.

That’s one way to fuel yourself.

The other is ketones. Your body can produce ketones from dietary fat, as well as your own fat reserves. The strategy behind the Keto Diet is to limit carbohydrates (which turns to glucose) to such a point that your body is forced to rely on ketones for sustenance. This could include your own fat stores.

That’s why the Keto Diet is all the rage these days because tons of folks want to burn through their stored fat.

To get into this state of ketosis, where your body is relying on fat for fuel, you need to calculate your macronutrient ratio intake. You’ll drastically reduce carbs (5-10% of total diet), eat a moderate amount of protein (15-30%), and round out the rest with tons of healthy fat (60-75%).

You may be asking yourself, “That’s all well and good Steve, but what do I actually eat on a Keto Diet? No one looks at food and says ‘that’s 60% fat.’”

Great point. Here are your low-carb food groups:

Meat. Red meat (like steak), pork products (sausage and bacon and ham), and white meat (like chicken and turkey).

Fish. High-fat fish like tuna and salmon are the go-to for Keto.

Eggs and dairy. White, yellowish, fats and protein for the win.

Healthy fats. Nuts, seeds, and avocados should be your staples. Although the later, avocados, contains decent carbs. Be careful.

Dressings and oils. Greek dressing, Caesar dressing (check the ingredients first!), ranch, aioli. When you need an oil, stick to extra-virgin olive oil, avocado oil, or coconut oil.

Veggies. Prioritize the less starchy, green ones like spinach, kale, broccoli, and cauliflower (ok, it’s white).

Meatless proteins. Tempeh, tofu, and seitan can take the place of meats in a vegetarian or vegan Keto Diet. Gotta get that protein from somewhere, right?

The above list consists of foods low in carbohydrates, key if you want to drive your body into ketosis.

Alright, that’s the short and gist of the Keto Diet.

Now, it should be noted that not everyone does well on a low-carb high-fat diet. For example, me! I’ve found that I perform and feel better when eating whole, unprocessed carbohydrates. It’s why I eat a little bit of rice… which isn’t Paleo or Keto! The horror.

Speaking of Paleo vs Keto…

WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ON “PALEO VS KETO?”

The textbook answer on “Paleo vs Keto” will take a Venn diagram like look at both diets. Showing which foods are both low in carbs, and something our great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother would have eaten.

Is that enough “greats” to get us to the Paleolithic era? Probably.

Such a Venn diagram would look like this, as demonstrated by Paleohacks.

That’s a textbook graph if I’ve ever seen one. But Venn diagrams are nifty, and an easy way for us to visualize concepts.

For example, we can quickly see that Paleo and Keto overlap on:

High-quality meats. Both diets encourage protein coming from high-quality meat sources.

Lots of non-starchy vegetables. Whether Keto or Paleo, both include nutrient-dense vegetables like spinach, asparagus, and Brussel sprouts.

Plenty of healthy fats. What do coconut oil, avocado oil, and olive oil all have in common? They’re all part of both an ancestral and low-carb way of eating.  

Of course, not all parts of the circles overlap. Such is the nature of a Venn diagram.

For Paleo, you cut out most dairy, because it’s a more modern dietary food group that causes some people problems. This differs from Keto, where you rely on yogurt and cheeses for fat intake.

For Keto, you cut out fruit and starchy vegetables (potatoes) because the high carb content is an easy way to knock you out of ketosis. This differs from Paleo because fruits and potatoes are whole foods that have been eaten for thousands of generations.

Is there anything stopping you from trying both diets? Nope!

When you combine both strategies, for a Keto-Paleo Diet, you’re left eating low-carb foods that our ancestors had access to.

It should be noted, there are some studies proclaiming the benefits of a paleolithic ketogenic diet.[1] Which is logical, because there are studies galore on the benefits of Paleo and Keto, independent of each other.

However, both diets are SUPER restrictive, which is why a lot of folks have trouble maintaining the lifestyle of Paleo or Keto. The adherence rate for either diet is terrible. Both our posts on Paleo and Keto stress this point as an overall con of either diet. When you COMBINE these two very restrictive ways of eating, you could end up creating a nightmare scenario of food limitations.

Alright, you can pack up your bags. Our official answer comparing the Paleo and Keto Diet is over. The lesson is technically finished. Don’t forget to turn in next week’s assignment at the start of class.

Shhh…

Okay, they’ve taken off. Now lean in close. We’re turning off the PowerPoint presentation. It’s time for Professor Steve to give you the after-hours honest truth on Paleo vs. Keto.

THE REAL TALK ON “KETO VS PALEO?”

The reason Keto and Paleo can often work for people centers on the idea of “Mental Models.”

It’s a concept I’ve graciously borrowed from my friend Shane over at Farnam Street Blog. A Mental Model provides a framework for how we understand the world. A way for us to interpret facts and make sense of what we are experiencing.

Shane describes three different Mental Models for looking at the same data:

“When a botanist looks at a forest they may focus on the ecosystem, an environmentalist sees the impact of climate change, a forestry engineer the state of the tree growth, a business person the value of the land. None are wrong, but neither are any of them able to describe the full scope of the forest.”

Bringing it back to nutrition, Paleo and Keto both provide us with a model for understanding food.

“That Twinkie is something that came from a factory, that my ancestors would never have touched. It’s unhealthy for me,” says the Paleo follower.

“That Twinkie is pumped full of sugar and processed carbs, that’ll kick me right out of ketosis. It’s unhealthy for me,” says the Keto follower.

Two different ways to come to the same conclusion: a Twinkie probably isn’t the healthiest thing you can eat.

We are in a food landscape that almost seems designed to make us sick and fat. Full of candy, soda, and junk food. Food that is easy to overeat, and when you eat too much consistently for weeks/months/years, you end up overweight and staying overweight.

So think of Paleo and Keto as blueprints designed to help you avoid these calorie dense and addictive foods. That’s why they can work for people.

By eliminating large swaths of food groups, especially those that have tons of calories, insulin-spiking sugar, and no nutritional satiating value, you’re more likely than not to eat a caloric deficit consistently. Which can indeed lead to weight loss.

For some evidence of REAL food containing way fewer calories than processed junk, check out this post from wiseGEEK. They do a great job of demonstrating the caloric density of different foods.

That’s why a Mental Model centered on REAL food is the true benefit and overlap of Keto and Paleo, because focusing on REAL food is the easiest way to obtain and maintain a caloric deficit.  

A plan, or Mental Model, to navigate these food choices will be critical for healthy eating. A clear “yes” or “no” for every meal choice you’ll encounter.

It doesn’t matter if cavemen ate grains, or if the metabolic state of ketosis is desirable. That’s not the true advantage of either diet.

Said again: the reason Keto and Paleo can be great for people is that it provides them with rules on exactly what to eat.

Is this plate of chicken and broccoli something a caveman could eat? Yep!

Is this plate of fish and asparagus low in carbohydrates? You betcha!

Eating plenty of vegetables and high-quality meat is great. Most health professionals would agree. However, a Mental Model on how to go about this can help make food choices automatic, like a robot.

And robots rule.

I want to create such an autopilot for you. A system you can depend on to navigate all the meal decisions you will face.

Let’s find you a Mental Model. Something both reliable and sustainable.

Paleo and Keto are two ways to go about this. But if you’ve tried one, the other, or both and found them too restrictive, don’t give up! There’s more than one way to skin a cat.

I don’t give a sh*t if your Mental Model is low-carb, or if Neanderthals ate that way. There are many different strategies for how to eat. Pick one that works for you and try it out! Adjust and learn as you go. A lot of them will work if you’re consistent, as long as it’s not some “crash diet” designed as a quick fix.

Small, sustainable changes for the win.

If you want help developing a Mental Model, we offer two ways to get you there. If you can hold yourself accountable, the Nerd Fitness Academy will teach you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about a proper relationship with food. You can follow many like-minded nerds and set yourself on a path through our self-guided course.

If you want an accountability buddy, we got you there too! We offer a 1-on-1 private coaching program that can do just that. We’ll work with you to find a Mental Model that works perfect for your situation, and provide direction and accountability until these changes become normal and routine. If you want guidance from a trained professional, schedule a call by clicking on the image below and see if we’re a good fit for each other!

DEVELOP A “MENTAL MODEL” TO LEVEL UP YOUR LIFE

We talk a lot about life as a real-life RFG here at Nerd Fitness. Completing quests and goals to gain experience points so you can take it to the next level in life.

That’s where the “Level Up Your Life” tagline comes from. Almost as if you yourself were a character to be upgraded.

And YES, that DOES also happen to also be the name of my best selling book, available online and in bookstores nationwide, thank you for noticing!

There are all sorts of ways to go about leveling up. Things like lifting weights, sleeping better and, playing with friends will advance you in the game of life, leading to castles raided, dragons slain, and fireworks enjoyed.

If you want to advance onto the next level, one sure fire way to do it would be a Mental Model on how to eat. Paleo and Keto are both great options that have helped a lot of people learn better dietary habits for life improvement.

As I said above though, they are far from the only options. You can go vegan, try the Slow Carb Diet, experiment with intermittent fasting, or act like a Mediterranean.

Or do what I do and invent your own.

With a Mental Model on nutrition under your belt, you can consider your life leveled up.

Then we can worry about equipping you with a flaming sword.

-Steve

PS: For those who were expecting some kind of epic showdown between Paleo and Keto, a battle between two popular diets, here’s a gif for you:

PSS:..

http://bit.ly/2AeuY0a

#The Paleo Diet vs. Keto Diet: 3 Lessons Learned

[neilmillerne]

The Paleo Diet vs. Keto Diet: 3 Lessons Learned

What’s that? You wanna know how the popular Keto Diet compares to the Paleo Diet?

Oh Paleo, you were so 2014. Right there with “Let it Go” and the Ice Bucket Challenge.

I kid, I kid. I do want to build a snowman.

The question “how does Keto compare to Paleo” will dive into some interesting concepts, worth discussing. There’s the normal answer, you’ll read on every other site out there. We’ll talk about that too, to cover our bases, just in case you’re unfamiliar with either diet. Knowledge is power and an overview of Keto and Paleo will be helpful for the remainder of the article.

However, here at Nerd Fitness, we keeps it real.

So I’ll give you the honest, “real” answer on how Keto and Paleo compare. And no, it’s not just eating Brussel sprouts (although it’s not-not eating Brussel sprouts). You’re smart, and I think you can handle some real talk on the benefits of Keto and Paleo.

So strap in and get ready for the following:

The textbook, basic answer on how Paleo and Keto compare

The Nerd Fitness straight talk on Keto vs. Paleo

What you can learn from both diets to Level Up your eating strategy

WHAT’S THE PALEO DIET?

The “Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet” is to Nerd Fitness what The Lord of the Rings is to Elijah Wood. While far from the first article I ever wrote, our post on Paleo became SUPER popular and is perhaps what Nerd Fitness is best known for.

If you’ve never heard the term “Paleo” until today, go check out that article and get caught up. It is long tho, sort of like the Extended Editions. So I’ll give you a quick recap in case you don’t have much time, or need a general refresher.

The Paleo Diet, in theory, is a way of eating that attempts to mimic how our ancestors would have eaten hundreds of thousands of years ago. The gist is that agriculture is a recent phenomenon in the story of humans. Eating as our ancestors did before this current chapter is more in line with how we evolved, which has health benefits. By ignoring the agricultural revolution, Paleo attempts to align ourselves with a more primal and primitive eating pattern. It’s why people joke about cavemen and all that when discussing Paleo.  

Which I am not above.

What did our genetic ancestors eat, prior to agriculture?

In the Paleo Diet, you eat the following:

Meat. Paleo recommends grass-fed meat whenever possible, which is more in line with how animals exist in nature.

Fowl. Chicken, duck, hen, turkey…things with wings that (try to) fly.

Fish. Things you catch with a hook or spear.

Eggs. Things that come from birds.

Vegetables. YES.

Oils. Olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil – the less refined the better.

Fruits. Apples, oranges, berries, etc. Although because of their high sugar content (fructose), the Paleo community will recommend limiting these to a few servings a day. I have a somewhat more lenient stance.

Nuts. Almonds, macadamias, and cashews are quite common on a Paleo Diet.

Tubers. Foods like sweet potatoes and yams.

That’s a list comprised of REAL food, which I discuss heavily in our Guide to Healthy Eating. In my opinion, REAL food is the key to a successful eating strategy. That’s why  I’m a fan of Paleo and/or Paleo-ish.

What’s missing from that list of approved food above?

Grains

Dairy

Legumes

Processed things (junk food)

Again, the thought is we didn’t evolve eating massive amounts of these foods, so they should be avoided or limited. Granted, with the exception of the last bullet (junk food), this might be overkill. Personally, I eat a little bit of rice regularly, but we’ll talk more about that later.

Okay, that’s the super quick, textbook answer to “What is the Paleo Diet.” If you want more info, make sure to download the PDF of our Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet. If you enter your email below, we’ll route it to you.

Get the FREE eBook! The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Paleo!

Discover if Paleo is for you

The one simple trick to know if your food is Paleo-friendly

Easy Paleo recipes for beginners to get you started

I identify as a:

Woman

Man

Next up!

WHAT’S THE KETO DIET?

In fitness trends, if the Paleo Diet is old and busted, the Keto Diet is the new hotness.

This isn’t the first time we’ve brought up the Keto Diet on this site. If you’re interested in eating low-carb, you should check out our HUMONGOUS article on the subject.

Plus, there are GIFs of a Ninja Turtle and an ACTUAL turtle in there!

What’s that? You don’t like turtles? What about otters?

There are otters in there too! Alright, enough “cute animal” bribes.

For the sake of keeping this article as one resource, let’s chat about Keto.

To understand the Keto Diet, you need to understand that your body can burn both ketones and glucose for energy. Your body obtains and makes glucose, a simple sugar, from most of the food you eat.

That’s one way to fuel yourself.

The other is ketones. Your body can produce ketones from dietary fat, as well as your own fat reserves. The strategy behind the Keto Diet is to limit carbohydrates (which turns to glucose) to such a point that your body is forced to rely on ketones for sustenance. This could include your own fat stores.

That’s why the Keto Diet is all the rage these days because tons of folks want to burn through their stored fat.

To get into this state of ketosis, where your body is relying on fat for fuel, you need to calculate your macronutrient ratio intake. You’ll drastically reduce carbs (5-10% of total diet), eat a moderate amount of protein (15-30%), and round out the rest with tons of healthy fat (60-75%).

You may be asking yourself, “That’s all well and good Steve, but what do I actually eat on a Keto Diet? No one looks at food and says ‘that’s 60% fat.’”

Great point. Here are your low-carb food groups:

Meat. Red meat (like steak), pork products (sausage and bacon and ham), and white meat (like chicken and turkey).

Fish. High-fat fish like tuna and salmon are the go-to for Keto.

Eggs and dairy. White, yellowish, fats and protein for the win.

Healthy fats. Nuts, seeds, and avocados should be your staples. Although the later, avocados, contains decent carbs. Be careful.

Dressings and oils. Greek dressing, Caesar dressing (check the ingredients first!), ranch, aioli. When you need an oil, stick to extra-virgin olive oil, avocado oil, or coconut oil.

Veggies. Prioritize the less starchy, green ones like spinach, kale, broccoli, and cauliflower (ok, it’s white).

Meatless proteins. Tempeh, tofu, and seitan can take the place of meats in a vegetarian or vegan Keto Diet. Gotta get that protein from somewhere, right?

The above list consists of foods low in carbohydrates, key if you want to drive your body into ketosis.

Alright, that’s the short and gist of the Keto Diet.

Now, it should be noted that not everyone does well on a low-carb high-fat diet. For example, me! I’ve found that I perform and feel better when eating whole, unprocessed carbohydrates. It’s why I eat a little bit of rice… which isn’t Paleo or Keto! The horror.

Speaking of Paleo vs Keto…

WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ON “PALEO VS KETO?”

The textbook answer on “Paleo vs Keto” will take a Venn diagram like look at both diets. Showing which foods are both low in carbs, and something our great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother would have eaten.

Is that enough “greats” to get us to the Paleolithic era? Probably.

Such a Venn diagram would look like this, as demonstrated by Paleohacks.

That’s a textbook graph if I’ve ever seen one. But Venn diagrams are nifty, and an easy way for us to visualize concepts.

For example, we can quickly see that Paleo and Keto overlap on:

High-quality meats. Both diets encourage protein coming from high-quality meat sources.

Lots of non-starchy vegetables. Whether Keto or Paleo, both include nutrient-dense vegetables like spinach, asparagus, and Brussel sprouts.

Plenty of healthy fats. What do coconut oil, avocado oil, and olive oil all have in common? They’re all part of both an ancestral and low-carb way of eating.  

Of course, not all parts of the circles overlap. Such is the nature of a Venn diagram.

For Paleo, you cut out most dairy, because it’s a more modern dietary food group that causes some people problems. This differs from Keto, where you rely on yogurt and cheeses for fat intake.

For Keto, you cut out fruit and starchy vegetables (potatoes) because the high carb content is an easy way to knock you out of ketosis. This differs from Paleo because fruits and potatoes are whole foods that have been eaten for thousands of generations.

Is there anything stopping you from trying both diets? Nope!

When you combine both strategies, for a Keto-Paleo Diet, you’re left eating low-carb foods that our ancestors had access to.

It should be noted, there are some studies proclaiming the benefits of a paleolithic ketogenic diet.[1] Which is logical, because there are studies galore on the benefits of Paleo and Keto, independent of each other.

However, both diets are SUPER restrictive, which is why a lot of folks have trouble maintaining the lifestyle of Paleo or Keto. The adherence rate for either diet is terrible. Both our posts on Paleo and Keto stress this point as an overall con of either diet. When you COMBINE these two very restrictive ways of eating, you could end up creating a nightmare scenario of food limitations.

Alright, you can pack up your bags. Our official answer comparing the Paleo and Keto Diet is over. The lesson is technically finished. Don’t forget to turn in next week’s assignment at the start of class.

Shhh…

Okay, they’ve taken off. Now lean in close. We’re turning off the PowerPoint presentation. It’s time for Professor Steve to give you the after-hours honest truth on Paleo vs. Keto.

THE REAL TALK ON “KETO VS PALEO?”

The reason Keto and Paleo can often work for people centers on the idea of “Mental Models.”

It’s a concept I’ve graciously borrowed from my friend Shane over at Farnam Street Blog. A Mental Model provides a framework for how we understand the world. A way for us to interpret facts and make sense of what we are experiencing.

Shane describes three different Mental Models for looking at the same data:

“When a botanist looks at a forest they may focus on the ecosystem, an environmentalist sees the impact of climate change, a forestry engineer the state of the tree growth, a business person the value of the land. None are wrong, but neither are any of them able to describe the full scope of the forest.”

Bringing it back to nutrition, Paleo and Keto both provide us with a model for understanding food.

“That Twinkie is something that came from a factory, that my ancestors would never have touched. It’s unhealthy for me,” says the Paleo follower.

“That Twinkie is pumped full of sugar and processed carbs, that’ll kick me right out of ketosis. It’s unhealthy for me,” says the Keto follower.

Two different ways to come to the same conclusion: a Twinkie probably isn’t the healthiest thing you can eat.

We are in a food landscape that almost seems designed to make us sick and fat. Full of candy, soda, and junk food. Food that is easy to overeat, and when you eat too much consistently for weeks/months/years, you end up overweight and staying overweight.

So think of Paleo and Keto as blueprints designed to help you avoid these calorie dense and addictive foods. That’s why they can work for people.

By eliminating large swaths of food groups, especially those that have tons of calories, insulin-spiking sugar, and no nutritional satiating value, you’re more likely than not to eat a caloric deficit consistently. Which can indeed lead to weight loss.

For some evidence of REAL food containing way fewer calories than processed junk, check out this post from wiseGEEK. They do a great job of demonstrating the caloric density of different foods.

That’s why a Mental Model centered on REAL food is the true benefit and overlap of Keto and Paleo, because focusing on REAL food is the easiest way to obtain and maintain a caloric deficit.  

A plan, or Mental Model, to navigate these food choices will be critical for healthy eating. A clear “yes” or “no” for every meal choice you’ll encounter.

It doesn’t matter if cavemen ate grains, or if the metabolic state of ketosis is desirable. That’s not the true advantage of either diet.

Said again: the reason Keto and Paleo can be great for people is that it provides them with rules on exactly what to eat.

Is this plate of chicken and broccoli something a caveman could eat? Yep!

Is this plate of fish and asparagus low in carbohydrates? You betcha!

Eating plenty of vegetables and high-quality meat is great. Most health professionals would agree. However, a Mental Model on how to go about this can help make food choices automatic, like a robot.

And robots rule.

I want to create such an autopilot for you. A system you can depend on to navigate all the meal decisions you will face.

Let’s find you a Mental Model. Something both reliable and sustainable.

Paleo and Keto are two ways to go about this. But if you’ve tried one, the other, or both and found them too restrictive, don’t give up! There’s more than one way to skin a cat.

I don’t give a sh*t if your Mental Model is low-carb, or if Neanderthals ate that way. There are many different strategies for how to eat. Pick one that works for you and try it out! Adjust and learn as you go. A lot of them will work if you’re consistent, as long as it’s not some “crash diet” designed as a quick fix.

Small, sustainable changes for the win.

If you want help developing a Mental Model, we offer two ways to get you there. If you can hold yourself accountable, the Nerd Fitness Academy will teach you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about a proper relationship with food. You can follow many like-minded nerds and set yourself on a path through our self-guided course.

If you want an accountability buddy, we got you there too! We offer a 1-on-1 private coaching program that can do just that. We’ll work with you to find a Mental Model that works perfect for your situation, and provide direction and accountability until these changes become normal and routine. If you want guidance from a trained professional, schedule a call by clicking on the image below and see if we’re a good fit for each other!

DEVELOP A “MENTAL MODEL” TO LEVEL UP YOUR LIFE

We talk a lot about life as a real-life RFG here at Nerd Fitness. Completing quests and goals to gain experience points so you can take it to the next level in life.

That’s where the “Level Up Your Life” tagline comes from. Almost as if you yourself were a character to be upgraded.

And YES, that DOES also happen to also be the name of my best selling book, available online and in bookstores nationwide, thank you for noticing!

There are all sorts of ways to go about leveling up. Things like lifting weights, sleeping better and, playing with friends will advance you in the game of life, leading to castles raided, dragons slain, and fireworks enjoyed.

If you want to advance onto the next level, one sure fire way to do it would be a Mental Model on how to eat. Paleo and Keto are both great options that have helped a lot of people learn better dietary habits for life improvement.

As I said above though, they are far from the only options. You can go vegan, try the Slow Carb Diet, experiment with intermittent fasting, or act like a Mediterranean.

Or do what I do and invent your own.

With a Mental Model on nutrition under your belt, you can consider your life leveled up.

Then we can worry about equipping you with a flaming sword.

-Steve

PS: For those who were expecting some kind of epic showdown between Paleo and Keto, a battle between two popular diets, here’s a gif for you:

PSS:..

http://bit.ly/2AeuY0a

#The Paleo Diet vs. Keto Diet: 3 Lessons Learned

[ruthellisneda]

The Paleo Diet vs. Keto Diet: 3 Lessons Learned

What’s that? You wanna know how the popular Keto Diet compares to the Paleo Diet?

Oh Paleo, you were so 2014. Right there with “Let it Go” and the Ice Bucket Challenge.

I kid, I kid. I do want to build a snowman.

The question “how does Keto compare to Paleo” will dive into some interesting concepts, worth discussing. There’s the normal answer, you’ll read on every other site out there. We’ll talk about that too, to cover our bases, just in case you’re unfamiliar with either diet. Knowledge is power and an overview of Keto and Paleo will be helpful for the remainder of the article.

However, here at Nerd Fitness, we keeps it real.

So I’ll give you the honest, “real” answer on how Keto and Paleo compare. And no, it’s not just eating Brussel sprouts (although it’s not-not eating Brussel sprouts). You’re smart, and I think you can handle some real talk on the benefits of Keto and Paleo.

So strap in and get ready for the following:

The textbook, basic answer on how Paleo and Keto compare

The Nerd Fitness straight talk on Keto vs. Paleo

What you can learn from both diets to Level Up your eating strategy

WHAT’S THE PALEO DIET?

The “Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet” is to Nerd Fitness what The Lord of the Rings is to Elijah Wood. While far from the first article I ever wrote, our post on Paleo became SUPER popular and is perhaps what Nerd Fitness is best known for.

If you’ve never heard the term “Paleo” until today, go check out that article and get caught up. It is long tho, sort of like the Extended Editions. So I’ll give you a quick recap in case you don’t have much time, or need a general refresher.

The Paleo Diet, in theory, is a way of eating that attempts to mimic how our ancestors would have eaten hundreds of thousands of years ago. The gist is that agriculture is a recent phenomenon in the story of humans. Eating as our ancestors did before this current chapter is more in line with how we evolved, which has health benefits. By ignoring the agricultural revolution, Paleo attempts to align ourselves with a more primal and primitive eating pattern. It’s why people joke about cavemen and all that when discussing Paleo.  

Which I am not above.

What did our genetic ancestors eat, prior to agriculture?

In the Paleo Diet, you eat the following:

Meat. Paleo recommends grass-fed meat whenever possible, which is more in line with how animals exist in nature.

Fowl. Chicken, duck, hen, turkey…things with wings that (try to) fly.

Fish. Things you catch with a hook or spear.

Eggs. Things that come from birds.

Vegetables. YES.

Oils. Olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil – the less refined the better.

Fruits. Apples, oranges, berries, etc. Although because of their high sugar content (fructose), the Paleo community will recommend limiting these to a few servings a day. I have a somewhat more lenient stance.

Nuts. Almonds, macadamias, and cashews are quite common on a Paleo Diet.

Tubers. Foods like sweet potatoes and yams.

That’s a list comprised of REAL food, which I discuss heavily in our Guide to Healthy Eating. In my opinion, REAL food is the key to a successful eating strategy. That’s why  I’m a fan of Paleo and/or Paleo-ish.

What’s missing from that list of approved food above?

Grains

Dairy

Legumes

Processed things (junk food)

Again, the thought is we didn’t evolve eating massive amounts of these foods, so they should be avoided or limited. Granted, with the exception of the last bullet (junk food), this might be overkill. Personally, I eat a little bit of rice regularly, but we’ll talk more about that later.

Okay, that’s the super quick, textbook answer to “What is the Paleo Diet.” If you want more info, make sure to download the PDF of our Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet. If you enter your email below, we’ll route it to you.

Get the FREE eBook! The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Paleo!

Discover if Paleo is for you

The one simple trick to know if your food is Paleo-friendly

Easy Paleo recipes for beginners to get you started

I identify as a:

Woman

Man

Next up!

WHAT’S THE KETO DIET?

In fitness trends, if the Paleo Diet is old and busted, the Keto Diet is the new hotness.

This isn’t the first time we’ve brought up the Keto Diet on this site. If you’re interested in eating low-carb, you should check out our HUMONGOUS article on the subject.

Plus, there are GIFs of a Ninja Turtle and an ACTUAL turtle in there!

What’s that? You don’t like turtles? What about otters?

There are otters in there too! Alright, enough “cute animal” bribes.

For the sake of keeping this article as one resource, let’s chat about Keto.

To understand the Keto Diet, you need to understand that your body can burn both ketones and glucose for energy. Your body obtains and makes glucose, a simple sugar, from most of the food you eat.

That’s one way to fuel yourself.

The other is ketones. Your body can produce ketones from dietary fat, as well as your own fat reserves. The strategy behind the Keto Diet is to limit carbohydrates (which turns to glucose) to such a point that your body is forced to rely on ketones for sustenance. This could include your own fat stores.

That’s why the Keto Diet is all the rage these days because tons of folks want to burn through their stored fat.

To get into this state of ketosis, where your body is relying on fat for fuel, you need to calculate your macronutrient ratio intake. You’ll drastically reduce carbs (5-10% of total diet), eat a moderate amount of protein (15-30%), and round out the rest with tons of healthy fat (60-75%).

You may be asking yourself, “That’s all well and good Steve, but what do I actually eat on a Keto Diet? No one looks at food and says ‘that’s 60% fat.’”

Great point. Here are your low-carb food groups:

Meat. Red meat (like steak), pork products (sausage and bacon and ham), and white meat (like chicken and turkey).

Fish. High-fat fish like tuna and salmon are the go-to for Keto.

Eggs and dairy. White, yellowish, fats and protein for the win.

Healthy fats. Nuts, seeds, and avocados should be your staples. Although the later, avocados, contains decent carbs. Be careful.

Dressings and oils. Greek dressing, Caesar dressing (check the ingredients first!), ranch, aioli. When you need an oil, stick to extra-virgin olive oil, avocado oil, or coconut oil.

Veggies. Prioritize the less starchy, green ones like spinach, kale, broccoli, and cauliflower (ok, it’s white).

Meatless proteins. Tempeh, tofu, and seitan can take the place of meats in a vegetarian or vegan Keto Diet. Gotta get that protein from somewhere, right?

The above list consists of foods low in carbohydrates, key if you want to drive your body into ketosis.

Alright, that’s the short and gist of the Keto Diet.

Now, it should be noted that not everyone does well on a low-carb high-fat diet. For example, me! I’ve found that I perform and feel better when eating whole, unprocessed carbohydrates. It’s why I eat a little bit of rice… which isn’t Paleo or Keto! The horror.

Speaking of Paleo vs Keto…

WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ON “PALEO VS KETO?”

The textbook answer on “Paleo vs Keto” will take a Venn diagram like look at both diets. Showing which foods are both low in carbs, and something our great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother would have eaten.

Is that enough “greats” to get us to the Paleolithic era? Probably.

Such a Venn diagram would look like this, as demonstrated by Paleohacks.

That’s a textbook graph if I’ve ever seen one. But Venn diagrams are nifty, and an easy way for us to visualize concepts.

For example, we can quickly see that Paleo and Keto overlap on:

High-quality meats. Both diets encourage protein coming from high-quality meat sources.

Lots of non-starchy vegetables. Whether Keto or Paleo, both include nutrient-dense vegetables like spinach, asparagus, and Brussel sprouts.

Plenty of healthy fats. What do coconut oil, avocado oil, and olive oil all have in common? They’re all part of both an ancestral and low-carb way of eating.  

Of course, not all parts of the circles overlap. Such is the nature of a Venn diagram.

For Paleo, you cut out most dairy, because it’s a more modern dietary food group that causes some people problems. This differs from Keto, where you rely on yogurt and cheeses for fat intake.

For Keto, you cut out fruit and starchy vegetables (potatoes) because the high carb content is an easy way to knock you out of ketosis. This differs from Paleo because fruits and potatoes are whole foods that have been eaten for thousands of generations.

Is there anything stopping you from trying both diets? Nope!

When you combine both strategies, for a Keto-Paleo Diet, you’re left eating low-carb foods that our ancestors had access to.

It should be noted, there are some studies proclaiming the benefits of a paleolithic ketogenic diet.[1] Which is logical, because there are studies galore on the benefits of Paleo and Keto, independent of each other.

However, both diets are SUPER restrictive, which is why a lot of folks have trouble maintaining the lifestyle of Paleo or Keto. The adherence rate for either diet is terrible. Both our posts on Paleo and Keto stress this point as an overall con of either diet. When you COMBINE these two very restrictive ways of eating, you could end up creating a nightmare scenario of food limitations.

Alright, you can pack up your bags. Our official answer comparing the Paleo and Keto Diet is over. The lesson is technically finished. Don’t forget to turn in next week’s assignment at the start of class.

Shhh…

Okay, they’ve taken off. Now lean in close. We’re turning off the PowerPoint presentation. It’s time for Professor Steve to give you the after-hours honest truth on Paleo vs. Keto.

THE REAL TALK ON “KETO VS PALEO?”

The reason Keto and Paleo can often work for people centers on the idea of “Mental Models.”

It’s a concept I’ve graciously borrowed from my friend Shane over at Farnam Street Blog. A Mental Model provides a framework for how we understand the world. A way for us to interpret facts and make sense of what we are experiencing.

Shane describes three different Mental Models for looking at the same data:

“When a botanist looks at a forest they may focus on the ecosystem, an environmentalist sees the impact of climate change, a forestry engineer the state of the tree growth, a business person the value of the land. None are wrong, but neither are any of them able to describe the full scope of the forest.”

Bringing it back to nutrition, Paleo and Keto both provide us with a model for understanding food.

“That Twinkie is something that came from a factory, that my ancestors would never have touched. It’s unhealthy for me,” says the Paleo follower.

“That Twinkie is pumped full of sugar and processed carbs, that’ll kick me right out of ketosis. It’s unhealthy for me,” says the Keto follower.

Two different ways to come to the same conclusion: a Twinkie probably isn’t the healthiest thing you can eat.

We are in a food landscape that almost seems designed to make us sick and fat. Full of candy, soda, and junk food. Food that is easy to overeat, and when you eat too much consistently for weeks/months/years, you end up overweight and staying overweight.

So think of Paleo and Keto as blueprints designed to help you avoid these calorie dense and addictive foods. That’s why they can work for people.

By eliminating large swaths of food groups, especially those that have tons of calories, insulin-spiking sugar, and no nutritional satiating value, you’re more likely than not to eat a caloric deficit consistently. Which can indeed lead to weight loss.

For some evidence of REAL food containing way fewer calories than processed junk, check out this post from wiseGEEK. They do a great job of demonstrating the caloric density of different foods.

That’s why a Mental Model centered on REAL food is the true benefit and overlap of Keto and Paleo, because focusing on REAL food is the easiest way to obtain and maintain a caloric deficit.  

A plan, or Mental Model, to navigate these food choices will be critical for healthy eating. A clear “yes” or “no” for every meal choice you’ll encounter.

It doesn’t matter if cavemen ate grains, or if the metabolic state of ketosis is desirable. That’s not the true advantage of either diet.

Said again: the reason Keto and Paleo can be great for people is that it provides them with rules on exactly what to eat.

Is this plate of chicken and broccoli something a caveman could eat? Yep!

Is this plate of fish and asparagus low in carbohydrates? You betcha!

Eating plenty of vegetables and high-quality meat is great. Most health professionals would agree. However, a Mental Model on how to go about this can help make food choices automatic, like a robot.

And robots rule.

I want to create such an autopilot for you. A system you can depend on to navigate all the meal decisions you will face.

Let’s find you a Mental Model. Something both reliable and sustainable.

Paleo and Keto are two ways to go about this. But if you’ve tried one, the other, or both and found them too restrictive, don’t give up! There’s more than one way to skin a cat.

I don’t give a sh*t if your Mental Model is low-carb, or if Neanderthals ate that way. There are many different strategies for how to eat. Pick one that works for you and try it out! Adjust and learn as you go. A lot of them will work if you’re consistent, as long as it’s not some “crash diet” designed as a quick fix.

Small, sustainable changes for the win.

If you want help developing a Mental Model, we offer two ways to get you there. If you can hold yourself accountable, the Nerd Fitness Academy will teach you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about a proper relationship with food. You can follow many like-minded nerds and set yourself on a path through our self-guided course.

If you want an accountability buddy, we got you there too! We offer a 1-on-1 private coaching program that can do just that. We’ll work with you to find a Mental Model that works perfect for your situation, and provide direction and accountability until these changes become normal and routine. If you want guidance from a trained professional, schedule a call by clicking on the image below and see if we’re a good fit for each other!

DEVELOP A “MENTAL MODEL” TO LEVEL UP YOUR LIFE

We talk a lot about life as a real-life RFG here at Nerd Fitness. Completing quests and goals to gain experience points so you can take it to the next level in life.

That’s where the “Level Up Your Life” tagline comes from. Almost as if you yourself were a character to be upgraded.

And YES, that DOES also happen to also be the name of my best selling book, available online and in bookstores nationwide, thank you for noticing!

There are all sorts of ways to go about leveling up. Things like lifting weights, sleeping better and, playing with friends will advance you in the game of life, leading to castles raided, dragons slain, and fireworks enjoyed.

If you want to advance onto the next level, one sure fire way to do it would be a Mental Model on how to eat. Paleo and Keto are both great options that have helped a lot of people learn better dietary habits for life improvement.

As I said above though, they are far from the only options. You can go vegan, try the Slow Carb Diet, experiment with intermittent fasting, or act like a Mediterranean.

Or do what I do and invent your own.

With a Mental Model on nutrition under your belt, you can consider your life leveled up.

Then we can worry about equipping you with a flaming sword.

-Steve

PS: For those who were expecting some kind of epic showdown between Paleo and Keto, a battle between two popular diets, here’s a gif for you:

PSS:..

http://bit.ly/2AeuY0a

#The Paleo Diet vs. Keto Diet: 3 Lessons Learned

[joshuabradleyn]

The Paleo Diet vs. Keto Diet: 3 Lessons Learned

What’s that? You wanna know how the popular Keto Diet compares to the Paleo Diet?

Oh Paleo, you were so 2014. Right there with “Let it Go” and the Ice Bucket Challenge.

I kid, I kid. I do want to build a snowman.

The question “how does Keto compare to Paleo” will dive into some interesting concepts, worth discussing. There’s the normal answer, you’ll read on every other site out there. We’ll talk about that too, to cover our bases, just in case you’re unfamiliar with either diet. Knowledge is power and an overview of Keto and Paleo will be helpful for the remainder of the article.

However, here at Nerd Fitness, we keeps it real.

So I’ll give you the honest, “real” answer on how Keto and Paleo compare. And no, it’s not just eating Brussel sprouts (although it’s not-not eating Brussel sprouts). You’re smart, and I think you can handle some real talk on the benefits of Keto and Paleo.

So strap in and get ready for the following:

The textbook, basic answer on how Paleo and Keto compare

The Nerd Fitness straight talk on Keto vs. Paleo

What you can learn from both diets to Level Up your eating strategy

WHAT’S THE PALEO DIET?

The “Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet” is to Nerd Fitness what The Lord of the Rings is to Elijah Wood. While far from the first article I ever wrote, our post on Paleo became SUPER popular and is perhaps what Nerd Fitness is best known for.

If you’ve never heard the term “Paleo” until today, go check out that article and get caught up. It is long tho, sort of like the Extended Editions. So I’ll give you a quick recap in case you don’t have much time, or need a general refresher.

The Paleo Diet, in theory, is a way of eating that attempts to mimic how our ancestors would have eaten hundreds of thousands of years ago. The gist is that agriculture is a recent phenomenon in the story of humans. Eating as our ancestors did before this current chapter is more in line with how we evolved, which has health benefits. By ignoring the agricultural revolution, Paleo attempts to align ourselves with a more primal and primitive eating pattern. It’s why people joke about cavemen and all that when discussing Paleo.  

Which I am not above.

What did our genetic ancestors eat, prior to agriculture?

In the Paleo Diet, you eat the following:

Meat. Paleo recommends grass-fed meat whenever possible, which is more in line with how animals exist in nature.

Fowl. Chicken, duck, hen, turkey…things with wings that (try to) fly.

Fish. Things you catch with a hook or spear.

Eggs. Things that come from birds.

Vegetables. YES.

Oils. Olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil – the less refined the better.

Fruits. Apples, oranges, berries, etc. Although because of their high sugar content (fructose), the Paleo community will recommend limiting these to a few servings a day. I have a somewhat more lenient stance.

Nuts. Almonds, macadamias, and cashews are quite common on a Paleo Diet.

Tubers. Foods like sweet potatoes and yams.

That’s a list comprised of REAL food, which I discuss heavily in our Guide to Healthy Eating. In my opinion, REAL food is the key to a successful eating strategy. That’s why  I’m a fan of Paleo and/or Paleo-ish.

What’s missing from that list of approved food above?

Grains

Dairy

Legumes

Processed things (junk food)

Again, the thought is we didn’t evolve eating massive amounts of these foods, so they should be avoided or limited. Granted, with the exception of the last bullet (junk food), this might be overkill. Personally, I eat a little bit of rice regularly, but we’ll talk more about that later.

Okay, that’s the super quick, textbook answer to “What is the Paleo Diet.” If you want more info, make sure to download the PDF of our Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet. If you enter your email below, we’ll route it to you.

Get the FREE eBook! The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Paleo!

Discover if Paleo is for you

The one simple trick to know if your food is Paleo-friendly

Easy Paleo recipes for beginners to get you started

I identify as a:

Woman

Man

Next up!

WHAT’S THE KETO DIET?

In fitness trends, if the Paleo Diet is old and busted, the Keto Diet is the new hotness.

This isn’t the first time we’ve brought up the Keto Diet on this site. If you’re interested in eating low-carb, you should check out our HUMONGOUS article on the subject.

Plus, there are GIFs of a Ninja Turtle and an ACTUAL turtle in there!

What’s that? You don’t like turtles? What about otters?

There are otters in there too! Alright, enough “cute animal” bribes.

For the sake of keeping this article as one resource, let’s chat about Keto.

To understand the Keto Diet, you need to understand that your body can burn both ketones and glucose for energy. Your body obtains and makes glucose, a simple sugar, from most of the food you eat.

That’s one way to fuel yourself.

The other is ketones. Your body can produce ketones from dietary fat, as well as your own fat reserves. The strategy behind the Keto Diet is to limit carbohydrates (which turns to glucose) to such a point that your body is forced to rely on ketones for sustenance. This could include your own fat stores.

That’s why the Keto Diet is all the rage these days because tons of folks want to burn through their stored fat.

To get into this state of ketosis, where your body is relying on fat for fuel, you need to calculate your macronutrient ratio intake. You’ll drastically reduce carbs (5-10% of total diet), eat a moderate amount of protein (15-30%), and round out the rest with tons of healthy fat (60-75%).

You may be asking yourself, “That’s all well and good Steve, but what do I actually eat on a Keto Diet? No one looks at food and says ‘that’s 60% fat.’”

Great point. Here are your low-carb food groups:

Meat. Red meat (like steak), pork products (sausage and bacon and ham), and white meat (like chicken and turkey).

Fish. High-fat fish like tuna and salmon are the go-to for Keto.

Eggs and dairy. White, yellowish, fats and protein for the win.

Healthy fats. Nuts, seeds, and avocados should be your staples. Although the later, avocados, contains decent carbs. Be careful.

Dressings and oils. Greek dressing, Caesar dressing (check the ingredients first!), ranch, aioli. When you need an oil, stick to extra-virgin olive oil, avocado oil, or coconut oil.

Veggies. Prioritize the less starchy, green ones like spinach, kale, broccoli, and cauliflower (ok, it’s white).

Meatless proteins. Tempeh, tofu, and seitan can take the place of meats in a vegetarian or vegan Keto Diet. Gotta get that protein from somewhere, right?

The above list consists of foods low in carbohydrates, key if you want to drive your body into ketosis.

Alright, that’s the short and gist of the Keto Diet.

Now, it should be noted that not everyone does well on a low-carb high-fat diet. For example, me! I’ve found that I perform and feel better when eating whole, unprocessed carbohydrates. It’s why I eat a little bit of rice… which isn’t Paleo or Keto! The horror.

Speaking of Paleo vs Keto…

WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ON “PALEO VS KETO?”

The textbook answer on “Paleo vs Keto” will take a Venn diagram like look at both diets. Showing which foods are both low in carbs, and something our great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother would have eaten.

Is that enough “greats” to get us to the Paleolithic era? Probably.

Such a Venn diagram would look like this, as demonstrated by Paleohacks.

That’s a textbook graph if I’ve ever seen one. But Venn diagrams are nifty, and an easy way for us to visualize concepts.

For example, we can quickly see that Paleo and Keto overlap on:

High-quality meats. Both diets encourage protein coming from high-quality meat sources.

Lots of non-starchy vegetables. Whether Keto or Paleo, both include nutrient-dense vegetables like spinach, asparagus, and Brussel sprouts.

Plenty of healthy fats. What do coconut oil, avocado oil, and olive oil all have in common? They’re all part of both an ancestral and low-carb way of eating.  

Of course, not all parts of the circles overlap. Such is the nature of a Venn diagram.

For Paleo, you cut out most dairy, because it’s a more modern dietary food group that causes some people problems. This differs from Keto, where you rely on yogurt and cheeses for fat intake.

For Keto, you cut out fruit and starchy vegetables (potatoes) because the high carb content is an easy way to knock you out of ketosis. This differs from Paleo because fruits and potatoes are whole foods that have been eaten for thousands of generations.

Is there anything stopping you from trying both diets? Nope!

When you combine both strategies, for a Keto-Paleo Diet, you’re left eating low-carb foods that our ancestors had access to.

It should be noted, there are some studies proclaiming the benefits of a paleolithic ketogenic diet.[1] Which is logical, because there are studies galore on the benefits of Paleo and Keto, independent of each other.

However, both diets are SUPER restrictive, which is why a lot of folks have trouble maintaining the lifestyle of Paleo or Keto. The adherence rate for either diet is terrible. Both our posts on Paleo and Keto stress this point as an overall con of either diet. When you COMBINE these two very restrictive ways of eating, you could end up creating a nightmare scenario of food limitations.

Alright, you can pack up your bags. Our official answer comparing the Paleo and Keto Diet is over. The lesson is technically finished. Don’t forget to turn in next week’s assignment at the start of class.

Shhh…

Okay, they’ve taken off. Now lean in close. We’re turning off the PowerPoint presentation. It’s time for Professor Steve to give you the after-hours honest truth on Paleo vs. Keto.

THE REAL TALK ON “KETO VS PALEO?”

The reason Keto and Paleo can often work for people centers on the idea of “Mental Models.”

It’s a concept I’ve graciously borrowed from my friend Shane over at Farnam Street Blog. A Mental Model provides a framework for how we understand the world. A way for us to interpret facts and make sense of what we are experiencing.

Shane describes three different Mental Models for looking at the same data:

“When a botanist looks at a forest they may focus on the ecosystem, an environmentalist sees the impact of climate change, a forestry engineer the state of the tree growth, a business person the value of the land. None are wrong, but neither are any of them able to describe the full scope of the forest.”

Bringing it back to nutrition, Paleo and Keto both provide us with a model for understanding food.

“That Twinkie is something that came from a factory, that my ancestors would never have touched. It’s unhealthy for me,” says the Paleo follower.

“That Twinkie is pumped full of sugar and processed carbs, that’ll kick me right out of ketosis. It’s unhealthy for me,” says the Keto follower.

Two different ways to come to the same conclusion: a Twinkie probably isn’t the healthiest thing you can eat.

We are in a food landscape that almost seems designed to make us sick and fat. Full of candy, soda, and junk food. Food that is easy to overeat, and when you eat too much consistently for weeks/months/years, you end up overweight and staying overweight.

So think of Paleo and Keto as blueprints designed to help you avoid these calorie dense and addictive foods. That’s why they can work for people.

By eliminating large swaths of food groups, especially those that have tons of calories, insulin-spiking sugar, and no nutritional satiating value, you’re more likely than not to eat a caloric deficit consistently. Which can indeed lead to weight loss.

For some evidence of REAL food containing way fewer calories than processed junk, check out this post from wiseGEEK. They do a great job of demonstrating the caloric density of different foods.

That’s why a Mental Model centered on REAL food is the true benefit and overlap of Keto and Paleo, because focusing on REAL food is the easiest way to obtain and maintain a caloric deficit.  

A plan, or Mental Model, to navigate these food choices will be critical for healthy eating. A clear “yes” or “no” for every meal choice you’ll encounter.

It doesn’t matter if cavemen ate grains, or if the metabolic state of ketosis is desirable. That’s not the true advantage of either diet.

Said again: the reason Keto and Paleo can be great for people is that it provides them with rules on exactly what to eat.

Is this plate of chicken and broccoli something a caveman could eat? Yep!

Is this plate of fish and asparagus low in carbohydrates? You betcha!

Eating plenty of vegetables and high-quality meat is great. Most health professionals would agree. However, a Mental Model on how to go about this can help make food choices automatic, like a robot.

And robots rule.

I want to create such an autopilot for you. A system you can depend on to navigate all the meal decisions you will face.

Let’s find you a Mental Model. Something both reliable and sustainable.

Paleo and Keto are two ways to go about this. But if you’ve tried one, the other, or both and found them too restrictive, don’t give up! There’s more than one way to skin a cat.

I don’t give a sh*t if your Mental Model is low-carb, or if Neanderthals ate that way. There are many different strategies for how to eat. Pick one that works for you and try it out! Adjust and learn as you go. A lot of them will work if you’re consistent, as long as it’s not some “crash diet” designed as a quick fix.

Small, sustainable changes for the win.

If you want help developing a Mental Model, we offer two ways to get you there. If you can hold yourself accountable, the Nerd Fitness Academy will teach you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about a proper relationship with food. You can follow many like-minded nerds and set yourself on a path through our self-guided course.

If you want an accountability buddy, we got you there too! We offer a 1-on-1 private coaching program that can do just that. We’ll work with you to find a Mental Model that works perfect for your situation, and provide direction and accountability until these changes become normal and routine. If you want guidance from a trained professional, schedule a call by clicking on the image below and see if we’re a good fit for each other!

DEVELOP A “MENTAL MODEL” TO LEVEL UP YOUR LIFE

We talk a lot about life as a real-life RFG here at Nerd Fitness. Completing quests and goals to gain experience points so you can take it to the next level in life.

That’s where the “Level Up Your Life” tagline comes from. Almost as if you yourself were a character to be upgraded.

And YES, that DOES also happen to also be the name of my best selling book, available online and in bookstores nationwide, thank you for noticing!

There are all sorts of ways to go about leveling up. Things like lifting weights, sleeping better and, playing with friends will advance you in the game of life, leading to castles raided, dragons slain, and fireworks enjoyed.

If you want to advance onto the next level, one sure fire way to do it would be a Mental Model on how to eat. Paleo and Keto are both great options that have helped a lot of people learn better dietary habits for life improvement.

As I said above though, they are far from the only options. You can go vegan, try the Slow Carb Diet, experiment with intermittent fasting, or act like a Mediterranean.

Or do what I do and invent your own.

With a Mental Model on nutrition under your belt, you can consider your life leveled up.

Then we can worry about equipping you with a flaming sword.

-Steve

PS: For those who were expecting some kind of epic showdown between Paleo and Keto, a battle between two popular diets, here’s a gif for you:

PSS:..

http://bit.ly/2AeuY0a

#The Paleo Diet vs. Keto Diet: 3 Lessons Learned

[almajonesnjna]

The Paleo Diet vs. Keto Diet: 3 Lessons Learned

What’s that? You wanna know how the popular Keto Diet compares to the Paleo Diet?

Oh Paleo, you were so 2014. Right there with “Let it Go” and the Ice Bucket Challenge.

I kid, I kid. I do want to build a snowman.

The question “how does Keto compare to Paleo” will dive into some interesting concepts, worth discussing. There’s the normal answer, you’ll read on every other site out there. We’ll talk about that too, to cover our bases, just in case you’re unfamiliar with either diet. Knowledge is power and an overview of Keto and Paleo will be helpful for the remainder of the article.

However, here at Nerd Fitness, we keeps it real.

So I’ll give you the honest, “real” answer on how Keto and Paleo compare. And no, it’s not just eating Brussel sprouts (although it’s not-not eating Brussel sprouts). You’re smart, and I think you can handle some real talk on the benefits of Keto and Paleo.

So strap in and get ready for the following:

The textbook, basic answer on how Paleo and Keto compare

The Nerd Fitness straight talk on Keto vs. Paleo

What you can learn from both diets to Level Up your eating strategy

WHAT’S THE PALEO DIET?

The “Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet” is to Nerd Fitness what The Lord of the Rings is to Elijah Wood. While far from the first article I ever wrote, our post on Paleo became SUPER popular and is perhaps what Nerd Fitness is best known for.

If you’ve never heard the term “Paleo” until today, go check out that article and get caught up. It is long tho, sort of like the Extended Editions. So I’ll give you a quick recap in case you don’t have much time, or need a general refresher.

The Paleo Diet, in theory, is a way of eating that attempts to mimic how our ancestors would have eaten hundreds of thousands of years ago. The gist is that agriculture is a recent phenomenon in the story of humans. Eating as our ancestors did before this current chapter is more in line with how we evolved, which has health benefits. By ignoring the agricultural revolution, Paleo attempts to align ourselves with a more primal and primitive eating pattern. It’s why people joke about cavemen and all that when discussing Paleo.  

Which I am not above.

What did our genetic ancestors eat, prior to agriculture?

In the Paleo Diet, you eat the following:

Meat. Paleo recommends grass-fed meat whenever possible, which is more in line with how animals exist in nature.

Fowl. Chicken, duck, hen, turkey…things with wings that (try to) fly.

Fish. Things you catch with a hook or spear.

Eggs. Things that come from birds.

Vegetables. YES.

Oils. Olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil – the less refined the better.

Fruits. Apples, oranges, berries, etc. Although because of their high sugar content (fructose), the Paleo community will recommend limiting these to a few servings a day. I have a somewhat more lenient stance.

Nuts. Almonds, macadamias, and cashews are quite common on a Paleo Diet.

Tubers. Foods like sweet potatoes and yams.

That’s a list comprised of REAL food, which I discuss heavily in our Guide to Healthy Eating. In my opinion, REAL food is the key to a successful eating strategy. That’s why  I’m a fan of Paleo and/or Paleo-ish.

What’s missing from that list of approved food above?

Grains

Dairy

Legumes

Processed things (junk food)

Again, the thought is we didn’t evolve eating massive amounts of these foods, so they should be avoided or limited. Granted, with the exception of the last bullet (junk food), this might be overkill. Personally, I eat a little bit of rice regularly, but we’ll talk more about that later.

Okay, that’s the super quick, textbook answer to “What is the Paleo Diet.” If you want more info, make sure to download the PDF of our Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet. If you enter your email below, we’ll route it to you.

Get the FREE eBook! The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Paleo!

Discover if Paleo is for you

The one simple trick to know if your food is Paleo-friendly

Easy Paleo recipes for beginners to get you started

I identify as a:

Woman

Man

Next up!

WHAT’S THE KETO DIET?

In fitness trends, if the Paleo Diet is old and busted, the Keto Diet is the new hotness.

This isn’t the first time we’ve brought up the Keto Diet on this site. If you’re interested in eating low-carb, you should check out our HUMONGOUS article on the subject.

Plus, there are GIFs of a Ninja Turtle and an ACTUAL turtle in there!

What’s that? You don’t like turtles? What about otters?

There are otters in there too! Alright, enough “cute animal” bribes.

For the sake of keeping this article as one resource, let’s chat about Keto.

To understand the Keto Diet, you need to understand that your body can burn both ketones and glucose for energy. Your body obtains and makes glucose, a simple sugar, from most of the food you eat.

That’s one way to fuel yourself.

The other is ketones. Your body can produce ketones from dietary fat, as well as your own fat reserves. The strategy behind the Keto Diet is to limit carbohydrates (which turns to glucose) to such a point that your body is forced to rely on ketones for sustenance. This could include your own fat stores.

That’s why the Keto Diet is all the rage these days because tons of folks want to burn through their stored fat.

To get into this state of ketosis, where your body is relying on fat for fuel, you need to calculate your macronutrient ratio intake. You’ll drastically reduce carbs (5-10% of total diet), eat a moderate amount of protein (15-30%), and round out the rest with tons of healthy fat (60-75%).

You may be asking yourself, “That’s all well and good Steve, but what do I actually eat on a Keto Diet? No one looks at food and says ‘that’s 60% fat.’”

Great point. Here are your low-carb food groups:

Meat. Red meat (like steak), pork products (sausage and bacon and ham), and white meat (like chicken and turkey).

Fish. High-fat fish like tuna and salmon are the go-to for Keto.

Eggs and dairy. White, yellowish, fats and protein for the win.

Healthy fats. Nuts, seeds, and avocados should be your staples. Although the later, avocados, contains decent carbs. Be careful.

Dressings and oils. Greek dressing, Caesar dressing (check the ingredients first!), ranch, aioli. When you need an oil, stick to extra-virgin olive oil, avocado oil, or coconut oil.

Veggies. Prioritize the less starchy, green ones like spinach, kale, broccoli, and cauliflower (ok, it’s white).

Meatless proteins. Tempeh, tofu, and seitan can take the place of meats in a vegetarian or vegan Keto Diet. Gotta get that protein from somewhere, right?

The above list consists of foods low in carbohydrates, key if you want to drive your body into ketosis.

Alright, that’s the short and gist of the Keto Diet.

Now, it should be noted that not everyone does well on a low-carb high-fat diet. For example, me! I’ve found that I perform and feel better when eating whole, unprocessed carbohydrates. It’s why I eat a little bit of rice… which isn’t Paleo or Keto! The horror.

Speaking of Paleo vs Keto…

WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ON “PALEO VS KETO?”

The textbook answer on “Paleo vs Keto” will take a Venn diagram like look at both diets. Showing which foods are both low in carbs, and something our great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother would have eaten.

Is that enough “greats” to get us to the Paleolithic era? Probably.

Such a Venn diagram would look like this, as demonstrated by Paleohacks.

That’s a textbook graph if I’ve ever seen one. But Venn diagrams are nifty, and an easy way for us to visualize concepts.

For example, we can quickly see that Paleo and Keto overlap on:

High-quality meats. Both diets encourage protein coming from high-quality meat sources.

Lots of non-starchy vegetables. Whether Keto or Paleo, both include nutrient-dense vegetables like spinach, asparagus, and Brussel sprouts.

Plenty of healthy fats. What do coconut oil, avocado oil, and olive oil all have in common? They’re all part of both an ancestral and low-carb way of eating.  

Of course, not all parts of the circles overlap. Such is the nature of a Venn diagram.

For Paleo, you cut out most dairy, because it’s a more modern dietary food group that causes some people problems. This differs from Keto, where you rely on yogurt and cheeses for fat intake.

For Keto, you cut out fruit and starchy vegetables (potatoes) because the high carb content is an easy way to knock you out of ketosis. This differs from Paleo because fruits and potatoes are whole foods that have been eaten for thousands of generations.

Is there anything stopping you from trying both diets? Nope!

When you combine both strategies, for a Keto-Paleo Diet, you’re left eating low-carb foods that our ancestors had access to.

It should be noted, there are some studies proclaiming the benefits of a paleolithic ketogenic diet.[1] Which is logical, because there are studies galore on the benefits of Paleo and Keto, independent of each other.

However, both diets are SUPER restrictive, which is why a lot of folks have trouble maintaining the lifestyle of Paleo or Keto. The adherence rate for either diet is terrible. Both our posts on Paleo and Keto stress this point as an overall con of either diet. When you COMBINE these two very restrictive ways of eating, you could end up creating a nightmare scenario of food limitations.

Alright, you can pack up your bags. Our official answer comparing the Paleo and Keto Diet is over. The lesson is technically finished. Don’t forget to turn in next week’s assignment at the start of class.

Shhh…

Okay, they’ve taken off. Now lean in close. We’re turning off the PowerPoint presentation. It’s time for Professor Steve to give you the after-hours honest truth on Paleo vs. Keto.

THE REAL TALK ON “KETO VS PALEO?”

The reason Keto and Paleo can often work for people centers on the idea of “Mental Models.”

It’s a concept I’ve graciously borrowed from my friend Shane over at Farnam Street Blog. A Mental Model provides a framework for how we understand the world. A way for us to interpret facts and make sense of what we are experiencing.

Shane describes three different Mental Models for looking at the same data:

“When a botanist looks at a forest they may focus on the ecosystem, an environmentalist sees the impact of climate change, a forestry engineer the state of the tree growth, a business person the value of the land. None are wrong, but neither are any of them able to describe the full scope of the forest.”

Bringing it back to nutrition, Paleo and Keto both provide us with a model for understanding food.

“That Twinkie is something that came from a factory, that my ancestors would never have touched. It’s unhealthy for me,” says the Paleo follower.

“That Twinkie is pumped full of sugar and processed carbs, that’ll kick me right out of ketosis. It’s unhealthy for me,” says the Keto follower.

Two different ways to come to the same conclusion: a Twinkie probably isn’t the healthiest thing you can eat.

We are in a food landscape that almost seems designed to make us sick and fat. Full of candy, soda, and junk food. Food that is easy to overeat, and when you eat too much consistently for weeks/months/years, you end up overweight and staying overweight.

So think of Paleo and Keto as blueprints designed to help you avoid these calorie dense and addictive foods. That’s why they can work for people.

By eliminating large swaths of food groups, especially those that have tons of calories, insulin-spiking sugar, and no nutritional satiating value, you’re more likely than not to eat a caloric deficit consistently. Which can indeed lead to weight loss.

For some evidence of REAL food containing way fewer calories than processed junk, check out this post from wiseGEEK. They do a great job of demonstrating the caloric density of different foods.

That’s why a Mental Model centered on REAL food is the true benefit and overlap of Keto and Paleo, because focusing on REAL food is the easiest way to obtain and maintain a caloric deficit.  

A plan, or Mental Model, to navigate these food choices will be critical for healthy eating. A clear “yes” or “no” for every meal choice you’ll encounter.

It doesn’t matter if cavemen ate grains, or if the metabolic state of ketosis is desirable. That’s not the true advantage of either diet.

Said again: the reason Keto and Paleo can be great for people is that it provides them with rules on exactly what to eat.

Is this plate of chicken and broccoli something a caveman could eat? Yep!

Is this plate of fish and asparagus low in carbohydrates? You betcha!

Eating plenty of vegetables and high-quality meat is great. Most health professionals would agree. However, a Mental Model on how to go about this can help make food choices automatic, like a robot.

And robots rule.

I want to create such an autopilot for you. A system you can depend on to navigate all the meal decisions you will face.

Let’s find you a Mental Model. Something both reliable and sustainable.

Paleo and Keto are two ways to go about this. But if you’ve tried one, the other, or both and found them too restrictive, don’t give up! There’s more than one way to skin a cat.

I don’t give a sh*t if your Mental Model is low-carb, or if Neanderthals ate that way. There are many different strategies for how to eat. Pick one that works for you and try it out! Adjust and learn as you go. A lot of them will work if you’re consistent, as long as it’s not some “crash diet” designed as a quick fix.

Small, sustainable changes for the win.

If you want help developing a Mental Model, we offer two ways to get you there. If you can hold yourself accountable, the Nerd Fitness Academy will teach you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about a proper relationship with food. You can follow many like-minded nerds and set yourself on a path through our self-guided course.

If you want an accountability buddy, we got you there too! We offer a 1-on-1 private coaching program that can do just that. We’ll work with you to find a Mental Model that works perfect for your situation, and provide direction and accountability until these changes become normal and routine. If you want guidance from a trained professional, schedule a call by clicking on the image below and see if we’re a good fit for each other!

DEVELOP A “MENTAL MODEL” TO LEVEL UP YOUR LIFE

We talk a lot about life as a real-life RFG here at Nerd Fitness. Completing quests and goals to gain experience points so you can take it to the next level in life.

That’s where the “Level Up Your Life” tagline comes from. Almost as if you yourself were a character to be upgraded.

And YES, that DOES also happen to also be the name of my best selling book, available online and in bookstores nationwide, thank you for noticing!

There are all sorts of ways to go about leveling up. Things like lifting weights, sleeping better and, playing with friends will advance you in the game of life, leading to castles raided, dragons slain, and fireworks enjoyed.

If you want to advance onto the next level, one sure fire way to do it would be a Mental Model on how to eat. Paleo and Keto are both great options that have helped a lot of people learn better dietary habits for life improvement.

As I said above though, they are far from the only options. You can go vegan, try the Slow Carb Diet, experiment with intermittent fasting, or act like a Mediterranean.

Or do what I do and invent your own.

With a Mental Model on nutrition under your belt, you can consider your life leveled up.

Then we can worry about equipping you with a flaming sword.

-Steve

PS: For those who were expecting some kind of epic showdown between Paleo and Keto, a battle between two popular diets, here’s a gif for you:

PSS:..

http://bit.ly/2AeuY0a

#The Paleo Diet vs. Keto Diet: 3 Lessons Learned

[lindafrancois]

The Paleo Diet vs. Keto Diet: 3 Lessons Learned

What’s that? You wanna know how the popular Keto Diet compares to the Paleo Diet?

Oh Paleo, you were so 2014. Right there with “Let it Go” and the Ice Bucket Challenge.

I kid, I kid. I do want to build a snowman.

The question “how does Keto compare to Paleo” will dive into some interesting concepts, worth discussing. There’s the normal answer, you’ll read on every other site out there. We’ll talk about that too, to cover our bases, just in case you’re unfamiliar with either diet. Knowledge is power and an overview of Keto and Paleo will be helpful for the remainder of the article.

However, here at Nerd Fitness, we keeps it real.

So I’ll give you the honest, “real” answer on how Keto and Paleo compare. And no, it’s not just eating Brussel sprouts (although it’s not-not eating Brussel sprouts). You’re smart, and I think you can handle some real talk on the benefits of Keto and Paleo.

So strap in and get ready for the following:

The textbook, basic answer on how Paleo and Keto compare

The Nerd Fitness straight talk on Keto vs. Paleo

What you can learn from both diets to Level Up your eating strategy

WHAT’S THE PALEO DIET?

The “Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet” is to Nerd Fitness what The Lord of the Rings is to Elijah Wood. While far from the first article I ever wrote, our post on Paleo became SUPER popular and is perhaps what Nerd Fitness is best known for.

If you’ve never heard the term “Paleo” until today, go check out that article and get caught up. It is long tho, sort of like the Extended Editions. So I’ll give you a quick recap in case you don’t have much time, or need a general refresher.

The Paleo Diet, in theory, is a way of eating that attempts to mimic how our ancestors would have eaten hundreds of thousands of years ago. The gist is that agriculture is a recent phenomenon in the story of humans. Eating as our ancestors did before this current chapter is more in line with how we evolved, which has health benefits. By ignoring the agricultural revolution, Paleo attempts to align ourselves with a more primal and primitive eating pattern. It’s why people joke about cavemen and all that when discussing Paleo.  

Which I am not above.

What did our genetic ancestors eat, prior to agriculture?

In the Paleo Diet, you eat the following:

Meat. Paleo recommends grass-fed meat whenever possible, which is more in line with how animals exist in nature.

Fowl. Chicken, duck, hen, turkey…things with wings that (try to) fly.

Fish. Things you catch with a hook or spear.

Eggs. Things that come from birds.

Vegetables. YES.

Oils. Olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil – the less refined the better.

Fruits. Apples, oranges, berries, etc. Although because of their high sugar content (fructose), the Paleo community will recommend limiting these to a few servings a day. I have a somewhat more lenient stance.

Nuts. Almonds, macadamias, and cashews are quite common on a Paleo Diet.

Tubers. Foods like sweet potatoes and yams.

That’s a list comprised of REAL food, which I discuss heavily in our Guide to Healthy Eating. In my opinion, REAL food is the key to a successful eating strategy. That’s why  I’m a fan of Paleo and/or Paleo-ish.

What’s missing from that list of approved food above?

Grains

Dairy

Legumes

Processed things (junk food)

Again, the thought is we didn’t evolve eating massive amounts of these foods, so they should be avoided or limited. Granted, with the exception of the last bullet (junk food), this might be overkill. Personally, I eat a little bit of rice regularly, but we’ll talk more about that later.

Okay, that’s the super quick, textbook answer to “What is the Paleo Diet.” If you want more info, make sure to download the PDF of our Beginner’s Guide to the Paleo Diet. If you enter your email below, we’ll route it to you.

Get the FREE eBook! The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Paleo!

Discover if Paleo is for you

The one simple trick to know if your food is Paleo-friendly

Easy Paleo recipes for beginners to get you started

I identify as a:

Woman

Man

Next up!

WHAT’S THE KETO DIET?

In fitness trends, if the Paleo Diet is old and busted, the Keto Diet is the new hotness.

This isn’t the first time we’ve brought up the Keto Diet on this site. If you’re interested in eating low-carb, you should check out our HUMONGOUS article on the subject.

Plus, there are GIFs of a Ninja Turtle and an ACTUAL turtle in there!

What’s that? You don’t like turtles? What about otters?

There are otters in there too! Alright, enough “cute animal” bribes.

For the sake of keeping this article as one resource, let’s chat about Keto.

To understand the Keto Diet, you need to understand that your body can burn both ketones and glucose for energy. Your body obtains and makes glucose, a simple sugar, from most of the food you eat.

That’s one way to fuel yourself.

The other is ketones. Your body can produce ketones from dietary fat, as well as your own fat reserves. The strategy behind the Keto Diet is to limit carbohydrates (which turns to glucose) to such a point that your body is forced to rely on ketones for sustenance. This could include your own fat stores.

That’s why the Keto Diet is all the rage these days because tons of folks want to burn through their stored fat.

To get into this state of ketosis, where your body is relying on fat for fuel, you need to calculate your macronutrient ratio intake. You’ll drastically reduce carbs (5-10% of total diet), eat a moderate amount of protein (15-30%), and round out the rest with tons of healthy fat (60-75%).

You may be asking yourself, “That’s all well and good Steve, but what do I actually eat on a Keto Diet? No one looks at food and says ‘that’s 60% fat.’”

Great point. Here are your low-carb food groups:

Meat. Red meat (like steak), pork products (sausage and bacon and ham), and white meat (like chicken and turkey).

Fish. High-fat fish like tuna and salmon are the go-to for Keto.

Eggs and dairy. White, yellowish, fats and protein for the win.

Healthy fats. Nuts, seeds, and avocados should be your staples. Although the later, avocados, contains decent carbs. Be careful.

Dressings and oils. Greek dressing, Caesar dressing (check the ingredients first!), ranch, aioli. When you need an oil, stick to extra-virgin olive oil, avocado oil, or coconut oil.

Veggies. Prioritize the less starchy, green ones like spinach, kale, broccoli, and cauliflower (ok, it’s white).

Meatless proteins. Tempeh, tofu, and seitan can take the place of meats in a vegetarian or vegan Keto Diet. Gotta get that protein from somewhere, right?

The above list consists of foods low in carbohydrates, key if you want to drive your body into ketosis.

Alright, that’s the short and gist of the Keto Diet.

Now, it should be noted that not everyone does well on a low-carb high-fat diet. For example, me! I’ve found that I perform and feel better when eating whole, unprocessed carbohydrates. It’s why I eat a little bit of rice… which isn’t Paleo or Keto! The horror.

Speaking of Paleo vs Keto…

WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ON “PALEO VS KETO?”

The textbook answer on “Paleo vs Keto” will take a Venn diagram like look at both diets. Showing which foods are both low in carbs, and something our great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother would have eaten.

Is that enough “greats” to get us to the Paleolithic era? Probably.

Such a Venn diagram would look like this, as demonstrated by Paleohacks.

That’s a textbook graph if I’ve ever seen one. But Venn diagrams are nifty, and an easy way for us to visualize concepts.

For example, we can quickly see that Paleo and Keto overlap on:

High-quality meats. Both diets encourage protein coming from high-quality meat sources.

Lots of non-starchy vegetables. Whether Keto or Paleo, both include nutrient-dense vegetables like spinach, asparagus, and Brussel sprouts.

Plenty of healthy fats. What do coconut oil, avocado oil, and olive oil all have in common? They’re all part of both an ancestral and low-carb way of eating.  

Of course, not all parts of the circles overlap. Such is the nature of a Venn diagram.

For Paleo, you cut out most dairy, because it’s a more modern dietary food group that causes some people problems. This differs from Keto, where you rely on yogurt and cheeses for fat intake.

For Keto, you cut out fruit and starchy vegetables (potatoes) because the high carb content is an easy way to knock you out of ketosis. This differs from Paleo because fruits and potatoes are whole foods that have been eaten for thousands of generations.

Is there anything stopping you from trying both diets? Nope!

When you combine both strategies, for a Keto-Paleo Diet, you’re left eating low-carb foods that our ancestors had access to.

It should be noted, there are some studies proclaiming the benefits of a paleolithic ketogenic diet.[1] Which is logical, because there are studies galore on the benefits of Paleo and Keto, independent of each other.

However, both diets are SUPER restrictive, which is why a lot of folks have trouble maintaining the lifestyle of Paleo or Keto. The adherence rate for either diet is terrible. Both our posts on Paleo and Keto stress this point as an overall con of either diet. When you COMBINE these two very restrictive ways of eating, you could end up creating a nightmare scenario of food limitations.

Alright, you can pack up your bags. Our official answer comparing the Paleo and Keto Diet is over. The lesson is technically finished. Don’t forget to turn in next week’s assignment at the start of class.

Shhh…

Okay, they’ve taken off. Now lean in close. We’re turning off the PowerPoint presentation. It’s time for Professor Steve to give you the after-hours honest truth on Paleo vs. Keto.

THE REAL TALK ON “KETO VS PALEO?”

The reason Keto and Paleo can often work for people centers on the idea of “Mental Models.”

It’s a concept I’ve graciously borrowed from my friend Shane over at Farnam Street Blog. A Mental Model provides a framework for how we understand the world. A way for us to interpret facts and make sense of what we are experiencing.

Shane describes three different Mental Models for looking at the same data:

“When a botanist looks at a forest they may focus on the ecosystem, an environmentalist sees the impact of climate change, a forestry engineer the state of the tree growth, a business person the value of the land. None are wrong, but neither are any of them able to describe the full scope of the forest.”

Bringing it back to nutrition, Paleo and Keto both provide us with a model for understanding food.

“That Twinkie is something that came from a factory, that my ancestors would never have touched. It’s unhealthy for me,” says the Paleo follower.

“That Twinkie is pumped full of sugar and processed carbs, that’ll kick me right out of ketosis. It’s unhealthy for me,” says the Keto follower.

Two different ways to come to the same conclusion: a Twinkie probably isn’t the healthiest thing you can eat.

We are in a food landscape that almost seems designed to make us sick and fat. Full of candy, soda, and junk food. Food that is easy to overeat, and when you eat too much consistently for weeks/months/years, you end up overweight and staying overweight.

So think of Paleo and Keto as blueprints designed to help you avoid these calorie dense and addictive foods. That’s why they can work for people.

By eliminating large swaths of food groups, especially those that have tons of calories, insulin-spiking sugar, and no nutritional satiating value, you’re more likely than not to eat a caloric deficit consistently. Which can indeed lead to weight loss.

For some evidence of REAL food containing way fewer calories than processed junk, check out this post from wiseGEEK. They do a great job of demonstrating the caloric density of different foods.

That’s why a Mental Model centered on REAL food is the true benefit and overlap of Keto and Paleo, because focusing on REAL food is the easiest way to obtain and maintain a caloric deficit.  

A plan, or Mental Model, to navigate these food choices will be critical for healthy eating. A clear “yes” or “no” for every meal choice you’ll encounter.

It doesn’t matter if cavemen ate grains, or if the metabolic state of ketosis is desirable. That’s not the true advantage of either diet.

Said again: the reason Keto and Paleo can be great for people is that it provides them with rules on exactly what to eat.

Is this plate of chicken and broccoli something a caveman could eat? Yep!

Is this plate of fish and asparagus low in carbohydrates? You betcha!

Eating plenty of vegetables and high-quality meat is great. Most health professionals would agree. However, a Mental Model on how to go about this can help make food choices automatic, like a robot.

And robots rule.

I want to create such an autopilot for you. A system you can depend on to navigate all the meal decisions you will face.

Let’s find you a Mental Model. Something both reliable and sustainable.

Paleo and Keto are two ways to go about this. But if you’ve tried one, the other, or both and found them too restrictive, don’t give up! There’s more than one way to skin a cat.

I don’t give a sh*t if your Mental Model is low-carb, or if Neanderthals ate that way. There are many different strategies for how to eat. Pick one that works for you and try it out! Adjust and learn as you go. A lot of them will work if you’re consistent, as long as it’s not some “crash diet” designed as a quick fix.

Small, sustainable changes for the win.

If you want help developing a Mental Model, we offer two ways to get you there. If you can hold yourself accountable, the Nerd Fitness Academy will teach you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about a proper relationship with food. You can follow many like-minded nerds and set yourself on a path through our self-guided course.

If you want an accountability buddy, we got you there too! We offer a 1-on-1 private coaching program that can do just that. We’ll work with you to find a Mental Model that works perfect for your situation, and provide direction and accountability until these changes become normal and routine. If you want guidance from a trained professional, schedule a call by clicking on the image below and see if we’re a good fit for each other!

DEVELOP A “MENTAL MODEL” TO LEVEL UP YOUR LIFE

We talk a lot about life as a real-life RFG here at Nerd Fitness. Completing quests and goals to gain experience points so you can take it to the next level in life.

That’s where the “Level Up Your Life” tagline comes from. Almost as if you yourself were a character to be upgraded.

And YES, that DOES also happen to also be the name of my best selling book, available online and in bookstores nationwide, thank you for noticing!

There are all sorts of ways to go about leveling up. Things like lifting weights, sleeping better and, playing with friends will advance you in the game of life, leading to castles raided, dragons slain, and fireworks enjoyed.

If you want to advance onto the next level, one sure fire way to do it would be a Mental Model on how to eat. Paleo and Keto are both great options that have helped a lot of people learn better dietary habits for life improvement.

As I said above though, they are far from the only options. You can go vegan, try the Slow Carb Diet, experiment with intermittent fasting, or act like a Mediterranean.

Or do what I do and invent your own.

With a Mental Model on nutrition under your belt, you can consider your life leveled up.

Then we can worry about equipping you with a flaming sword.

-Steve

PS: For those who were expecting some kind of epic showdown between Paleo and Keto, a battle between two popular diets, here’s a gif for you:

PSS: I’ll end this article by again reminding you of the Nerd Fitness Coaching Program. We work with busy people like you to structure a complete life overhaul: handcrafted workout routines, accountability, mindset changes, and nutritional strategies.

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All photo citations can be found in this footnote right here.[2]

Footnotes    ( returns to text)

There’s an interesting study on a keto-paleo diet helping keep magnesium levels high. As well as the keto-paleo helping to treat Crohn’s disease and epilepsy.

A pirate party, Three Little Cavemen, BBQ Chicken, Boxing a gentleman’s sport, Eustace Collert, Gandalf

The Paleo Diet vs. Keto Diet: 3 Lessons Learned published first on https://dietariouspage.tumblr.com/