Avoid the ‘Festive 15’ on Thanksgiving with Chappaqua Mom’s ‘Paleo Diet’

By Michael Garofalo

CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. – In an age of fast food, meal replacement shakes and breakfast bars, one Chappaqua resident believes that going back to our roots is the best way to reach optimal health.

Rebecca Scanlon, CEO of The Good Dish, believes that going “primal” with a Paleolithic diet can allow even very busy people to lead healthier lifestyles, and stave off gains in body fat that many people make around holidays – weight that she calls the “festive 15.”

Many people overindulge around the holidays and eat more than 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving Day alone. The extra weight begins to come off only when people return to their normal caloric intakes. Scanlon is urging people to start the Paleo Diet Nov. 1 to “battle the bulge before it begins” with Thanksgiving around the corner.

This way of eating, as explained in Dr. Loren Cordain’s book, “The Paleo Diet,” is basically an effort to return to how our ancestors ate as hunters and gatherers. Meats, fruits and vegetables are staples of this diet, while dairy and processed grains and snacks are discarded.

“Eating ‘cave to table’ is more a lifestyle than just an eating practice,” Scanlon said.

This is where The Good Dish, a business partnership between Scanlon and her brother, Chris Moran, enters the picture. Moran is graduate of the French Culinary Institute of New York has more than 15 years of restaurant experience.

Together, this brother-sister duo offer customers a variety of plans for the delivery of fresh food via their “Positively Primal” plan. It can be customized to a five- or seven-day service, with two protein portion sizes to choose from and an option of additional snacks.

A dinner will be held at Benjamin Steakhouse in January to present Positively Primal to the public. Benjamin Steakhouse will give a $100 gift card to all of those who sign up for four weeks of Positively Primal.

Lara Ratzan, a personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise and a nutrition and wellness consultant certified by American Fitness Professionals and Associates, agrees with Scanlon that this is a lifestyle shift, not a temporary diet.

“Fitness and diet go hand in hand, and the best way to get strong and lean is to eat and work out the way nature intended,” Ratzan said. “Rather than waiting until the first day of 2014 to start a healthy eating and workout program, people should start now.”

The Paleo diet is especially popular in the CrossFit community – a segment of gym goers who work out with a variety of bodyweight exercises, barbell lifts and an array of less common implements, such as ropes and sleds. Scanlon runs and lifts at a CrossFit gym.

The Positively Primal plan can be viewed at thegooddish.com. More information about the January 2014 dinner will be available by the end of the year.

Source: http://hudsonvalleyreporter.com/business/2013/10/avoid-the-festive-15-on-thanksgiving-with-chappaqua-moms-paleo-diet/