Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Eat like a Caveman - Izzy's school speech

Thought you guys might like this ;) Paleo from a 10 year olds perspective. Leave her a comment? She'd love that!


Some crazy things have been happening in my family lately. One day, a few weeks ago, my Dad came home from the gym and told us he wanted to eat like a Caveman. At first we thought he was nuts, but it did sound kind of interesting so we said okay! Today I’m going to tell you why our family has changed the way we eat.

First, we should talk about why my dad even wants to eat like a caveman. It’s pretty simple. He really wants Abs. A six pack of muscle right here (point). I’m serious. I think it’s called a mid-life crisis, or at least that’s what mum calls it.

I think because Dad was training so much he started thinking about food too.  A lot of fitness experts believe that if you don’t put the right food into your body then it won’t matter how hard you train because you’ll never be as strong, fit or healthy as you could be. Food is our fuel, just like Petrol is to Cars.

That’s when Dad started talking to cavemen. Apparently there’s a lot of them out there. Ok, they’re not real cavemen. They don’t actually live in caves, carry clubs or grunt at each other but they do try to eat what a Caveman would have eaten. It’s called the Paleo diet.

Lots of diseases like Obesity and Diabetes didn’t exist in the caveman days. Could Cavemen have been smarter about knowing what foods their bodies could run best on? Human bodies haven’t really changed in a million years but the food we put in them has!

Lets go back in time to when the first people walked the earth. These early humans were Hunter-Gatherers and they had to be strong and fit to survive. They hunted animals for meat and ate whatever vegetables, berries and nuts they could find. There were no Chocolate bars or McDonalds. They didn’t even have bread.
Mum did lots of research and decided it was worth giving Paleo a try. One day I came home from School and the cupboard was empty! When I looked for a snack there was nothing but fruit and nuts! No chips, no biscuits, no lollies! How would I survive? Could you?

I have to admit, it’s not been so bad. We try to eat Paleo about 80% of the time and still have our favourite treats occasionally. Mum makes us delicious breakfasts of eggs, bacon, avocado and tomato. No more Wheat Bix for me! I’ve been full till morning tea and I feel like I have more energy. For lunch, I get nuts and carrot sticks to munch on, some fruit, sometimes home baking, and some protein. At dinner time we have tons of different vegetables and some meat or fish. I like trying new foods, it’s more interesting than eating the same thing all the time.

Now it’s not just Dad but a whole family of little cave people!  We don’t have grains, sugar, or vegetable oils and we are trying not to eat food that has been processed in a factory. By the time it’s gone through all those machines it’s not really food anymore. We try to only eat whole foods that come from New Zealand and haven’t had anything added to them. It’s called clean eating. It’s better for your body and better for the planet too.

So maybe you should try eating like a caveman. If I can do it, so can you!




11 comments:

  1. Thats awesome! I especially liked paragraph 2 - made me laugh :) good job!

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  2. WOW...now we will all want to be caveman. It sounds so good.Well done Isabella, you have put the story across so well , it was so interesting to read.

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  3. So well written Izzy! Now everyone can understand it! :) What a star!

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  4. Thanks girls, she loves that you've left her a comment! Will let you know if she makes it through to the next round.

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  5. Izzy that is fantastic! Though I think Dave can only claim to a quarter life crisis he is much too young for a mid-life crisis! You deserve to make it through to the next round, and lets hope the message of less McDonalds and packaged food gets through to others xx

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  6. Great job, Izzy! I read this all the way from the U.S., and I am VERY impressed by your writing and your great attitude about Paleo :)

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  7. I LOVE this story Izzy !! What you are trying to tell us is SOooo important, I think we can ALL learn so much from you. The Caveman never ate food that was sprayed in man-made pesticide's and other nasty chemicals designed to KILL bugs, imagine what that could be doing to us as well. I hope YOU get to share this story with as many people as you can .. Good luck xx

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  8. Izzy!!!! This is TOTALLY amazing!!!!!! Not only is this brilliantly written, and very funny, but also really well researched! I couldn't have said all of those facts better myself! I bet you win the competition - and you should becomea paleo for kids advocate! Huge hugs for a fantastic effort! Whoop! Go Izzy!!!

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  9. After reading this, I think I might try this diet now.

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  10. Hi Izzy, from England. Jo sent me your link and I've just read this. It's so good to see something sensibly written by someone so young. We changed our diet last year due to a worringly high cholestrol result and now eat things with low sat fats, mainly fish, chicken, turkey, nuts, good oils etc. and we've really seen a change not only in our weight but also in how we feel, lots more energy, even go to the gym 3 times per week now!!! Well done for bringing this to peoples attention. Best wishes for the competition. Dawn.

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  11. Very cool and a good little read :)!

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