Agree with RolandPlain--the hunting angle will be the number 1 key that those guys will identify with the most. This will make them appreciate how unhealthy "grocery store items" can be.

Additionally, from what I know about the redneck types as you described them, play up the Big Government angle as well...corn and wheat subsidies, pharmaceutical interests and how it is in the government's best interest for them to be unhealthy. Maybe this will help motivate them to "stick it to the man" if you know what I mean!

So nice of you to put such an effort into helping out your co-workers! These men are an integral part of our society--blue collar, raising families etc. and they are sadly under-served in the health information arena. Kudos to you!

Listen, don't stray away from grains too much. those "redneck" types will not listen. they're "meat and tater" guys. it'd be a good idea to mention the use of whole grains, and multigrains, rather than standard white pasta, and white bread, thats all processed bleached garbage. and all HIGH on the Glycemic index (aka an issue for diabetics, and cause rapid fat gain due to the storage hormone insulin). Focus in whole grains, oatmeal, and sweet potatoes. or carbs from fruit.

Soda, is a waste of calories. it is literally 28g's and up of sugar. 100ish calories of insulin spiking, fat stored SUGAR. not to mention that high fructose corn syrup is a chemical and doesn't break down in the body till it's half life has past.

Anything in a box should be avoided! processed food is what makes us sick as a culture!

You should seriously stress that game meat is the number 1 best thing in the world to eat, even the fat on it is incredibly healthy! tell them that the more they hunt and eat, the better. (they'll like this and see it as an excuse to take off of work to hunt, haha) Also I would do a break down of OMEGA 3's 6's and 9's, and which types of food contain them such as game meat, grain fed cattle, grains, fish, etc. explain the benefits and drawbacks of each type of oil. such as omega 3's fighting inflammation, and 6&9's causing it, and inflammation is normally a protective response, but SAD's contain 25 times more 6&9's than 3's therefore the body tends to OVER-inflame everything; i.e. leading to joint pain, arthitis (anything ending in itis is pain through inflammation), intestinal, arterial inflammation, high triglycerides, etc... Then break down that omega 3's from game and grass fed meat; fight inflammation, are an HDL triglyceride, thus lowering low density lipo-protein (LDL), can slightly thin blood lowering blood pressure, not to mention that 60% of the brain is made of DHA, and 90% of the eye is made of DHA as well, also every single cell wall in the body is made up of it.

Tell them that just because they can shoot insulin to regulate blood sugar doesn't mean they should use it constantly. There have been studies done where they monitored the effect of insulin on artery damage using blue dye, and when insulin was injected into the artery, it had a serious cratering effect (imagery: Imagine Bird shot from a 12 gauge onto a concrete wall). The final thought was that this could be the leading cause for needing amputation of limbs and heart disease/ heart attacks due to the rough surfaces collecting cholesterol (plaque).

So the main part is, focus on using multigrains, and lower GI index carbs, because the blue collar guys will never buy into the zero carb thing. Just get them to make better choices. Most of these guys would still rather trust lipitor to lower cholesterol rather than red yeast rice (same exact statin effect minus liver damage). GOOD LUCK!

I think maybe a kind of "listen to your grandma" approach might work. I know a lot of those guys too, and they tend to be conservative, old-fashioned in ways, like to talk about how great America "used to be." Appeal to that. Your grandma wouldn't have bought any fake crap in a box...no instant oatmeal for her! She made her own oatmeal. She made pot roasts and pork chops and brisket. She told you to eat your vegetables. She told you that starches would make you fat. She DIDN'T tell you that fat would make you fat. She used real butter, not margarine. She gave you whole milk and cream. She made everything from scratch, and grew a lot of her stuff in her own garden. And so on... I think this appeal to "back when things were better" might work with your audience. Good luck!

Hi sherpamelissa. When I present the paleo concept to people I go through the following steps:

1. Smash the 'eat less, do more' paradigm,
2. Introduce the evolutionary thinking behind 'paleo', and finally,
3. Explain broadly how to go about adopting a paleo diet.

With regard to the first point, ask the audience what they think they should do TO LOSE FAT. I am pretty sure that EVERY answer they give will be along the lines of the 'conventional wisdom':

• 'EAT LESS food,' and,
• 'DO MORE exercise'.

(You could use a whiteboard to categorise their ideas as such).

Now suggest to them the following scenario; "If we were to go out for a celebratory meal at an expensive restaurant and I told you to 'bring your appetite', what would you do to COMPEL yourselves to EAT MORE than usual?"

When I have asked this question, most of the answers I have received have fallen in to one of two categories. Most people suggest:

• Skipping a meal prior to the restaurant visit, or eating smaller portions in the meal(s) prior to the restaurant (basically 'EAT LESS')
• Go to the gym or for a walk or do some other exercise (to 'work up' an appetite). This approach is essentially 'DO MORE'

So you should see the paradox there; that the VERY thing we are told to do to LOSE WEIGHT ('eat less, do more'), is the VERY thing we'd do to COMPEL ourselves to eat more ('eat less, do more')!

This example should make things very clear to your audience.

When you see this paradox in such a stark example, the failure of the last 40 years of dietary advice becomes all too apparent.

HTHs

I agree that the "meat and potatoes" theme will go over well with your male, blue-collar audience. I would think that when most of those guys were kids, its what their mothers and grandmothers used to cook and feed them, so you might want to work that in somehow...that "paleo" is the way that their mothers and grandmothers cooked...before the corporations took over the food supply so badly. Perhaps you could make analogies to their hunting activities, in that they have to "scout out" good sources of food. Or that like if the deer at crap like twinkies all the time, that the deer would be unhealthy, too, and that the venison wouldn't taste good.

I would stick with the parts of paleo that can't be argued with easily. For instance, saying that wheat might injure them could create some argument. It's not maintstream and not what they have heard. But if you say that grains have close to no nutrients and are just empty calories, that is something you can easily back up with nutrition charts and can't be easily argued with. What is the difference between bread and cake? Not much other than cake has more sugar. Yet people have for some reason been told bread is healthy. Show them nutrition charts for healthy foods vs not healthy foods. Teach them how to input and track their nutrition for a few days. That should be an eyeopener, having them see their lack of nutrition right in front of their eyes! I wish someone had done that for me a long time ago.

Good plan on emphasizing healthfulness of wild game. A message that they want to hear is always an easier message to portray. Another positive is to emphasize that many healthy foods are also tasty, like steak and taters. Simple messages are also easier like to avoid processed. And most things that never go bad are not healthy. Even the bugs don't want that food! What does that tell you? (of course, there are a few exceptions like beef jerky)

as far as educating people goes, the first thing to know is that you'll get a lot of pushback- even from the people who have begged you to help them and those who need it the most. it's really hard chipping away a lifetime of misinformation and debunking most of what the complicit relationship of the medical and research establishment, mainstream media and pharmaceutical companies have conditioned people to believe. the best line of defense is to have yourself as a model of what it can do- the more drastic the change the better. after that, point to others that have done the same as you successfully. the more examples the better. people who i see regularly- family, coworkers, friends- watched me effortlessly lose the bodyfat that has stubbornly hung around since they've known me. i didn't preach to them or even tell them what i was doing, i just showed up at work everyday with my 1b of meat for lunch and whatever vegetable i was having that day; at work functions i'd politely decline the cake or whatever treat they were having; at family functions and holidays i'd cook my own side dishes to have with whatever meat was there; and to top it off, i worked out half as much. after the first 20, i would get comments on how good i was looking. after the second 20, i started to get curious inquiries as to how i was eating bacon, tons of fat and looking amazing. by the time 50 dropped off, i had everyone's attention and was forced to start an email list and give everyone who inquired an abridged version of a primal lifestyle(i'm lacto-paleo). i have about 30 people- including my family who i have on my list and it's doubling as a means for slowly educating them followers on the reason WHY we do the conventional-wisdom bucking things we do, and as a moral and dietary support system. since i've been through it and voraciously read about this stuff ad infinitum, it's easy to hack out the reasons someone's stalled out or have quirky little issues pop up.

one more point that has been mentioned earlier but doesn't get discussed enough in these forums. there's a certain cultural and lifestyle element that may need to be addressed to get some people to buy in. for instance, for my dad, after months of badgering the last "bribe" i made to get him to buy in was simple. he could eat all the pork he liked. that one thing has enabled him to adhere to the diet(they've been telling southern blacks to get as far away as they can from the classic hamhock and neckbone soul food for the last 40-50 years) is the fact that he can boil pig's feet, ribs and neckbones til his heart's content. is it better than eating grassfed beef? no, but it's miles ahead of a SAD. i thought when someone mentioned pushing the hunting aspect to the more rural folks, that was pretty brilliant. as is pushing CSA's and cowshares to the hipsters and indie kids in the major cities. everyone isn't a crossfitting athlete or into every nutritional study that comes out. for most people to be successful, you have to find the most painless way possible to implement as many of the primal/paleo principals into their lifestyle.

I am wondering about the results... Can you share? What were the reactions? Has anyone drastically changed his diet?

A suggestion for kicking the soda addiction is to ween slowly. I was super addicted to diet sodas; and I think a lot of the addiction was in the fizz and the sweetness, so I started by getting some great organic juice and doing 1/2 juice 1/2 soda water for a week or two, then 1/4 juice 3/4 soda water then finally soda water with a squueze of half an orange and half a lemon. Now I drink still water with the squeeze of lemon.

Cold turkey is tough as soda is like crack. When you are drinking the soda your tastebuds are accustomed to the over-sweetness of it - and it takes your 'buds some time to step down from the sweet. Now the smell of sweet soda makes me cringe.

Oh and - water is soooooo much cheaper than soda!

when coworkers ask me...I start with "eat REAL food"

For example, I tell them to eliminate (even if they have to wean themselves) from chemicals.

If you can't pronounce, grow, or hunt the ingredients, then your body can't process them either.

Most of the time this makes the most sense to people. If they don’t know what I’m talking about I use soda as an example. Most people, who aren’t in denial, would agree that it soda really isn't all that great for you. I then remind them of the "little things" they ingest throughout the day (like chemical coffee creamer, sugar substitutes, and margarine) and how those “little things” can add up quickly. You could even use the standard calories in/calories out for this. Once I have them on the hook, I move on to “big items” like frozen meals, vending machine items, pizza and explain that they should look at the ingredients there because most of the time – it is all chemicals, not food.

• A tip I often give is look at the number of ingredients there are listed on a package …if there are more than 3-5 then it is going to be mostly manmade, fake, and/or full of chemicals.

I would definitely encourage the hunting/fishing aspect of their life and tell them they are ALREADY on the right track. They should embrace and celebrate that part of their life and they could easily just cook up their kill/fresh meat and throw some veggies on the side. (dinner done!)

If you want to get slightly into the grains thing – this is what I do – I tell them it is about making the best choice you can at that time. So if you have the choice between leafy green veggies or whole wheat bread (or just regular bread if you don’t want to push too much) which is the better choice? The veggies. Why? Because, using the argument from above the veggies have LESS ingredients AND you could grow the veggies in your backyard… Bread you would have to harvest the wheat, mill it, etc. then you would STILL have to add sugar, milk, eggs, salt, fat, yeast, baking soda, and leavening agents (aka chemicals) and bake it (and most of the time the store bought breads have even MORE chemicals in them to have a longer shelf life). Some of the time people are shocked by this or they ask about getting fiber and carbs. That’s when I tell them they can get all the fiber and carbs they need from veggies and fruit.

I always go for the chemicals processed foods vs. non-chemicals non-processed foods argument. Most people don’t like to accept it, but they know it’s the truth.

My audience is about 30 men, blue collar workers, middle/middle class and lower middle class type guys. They drive pick up trucks, they hunt/fish, they like to say "Get R Done".

Right here is already an issue, you're already implying these men are stupid. I've met some very intelligent people who are "Blue Collar"!

With your implied attitude you're going to get resistance, they will pick up on this and probably refer to you in private as you think "Blue Collar" people would. When dealing with people, you'll get much further if you talk to them as equals vs. talking down to them.

At the very least, eliminate gluten.

What an amazing opportunity!

I originally arrived here by looking for the healthiest cooking oil. I used to deep fry in olive oil, and was very smug about it (I know, I know), but couldn't afford to do so any more, plus I began to hear about how olive oil goes rancid when heated. Long story short, I switched to coconut oil. A short time later, a coworker mentioned to me that he wanted to eat healthier- and the first thing out of my mouth was "use coconut oil!". He made the switch, and within a week was sleeping better, needing less sleep (his nickname had been "Sleeping Beauty"), and had so much energy to burn, he started walking to work, bought a bike, and when the weather turned foul, he got P90X to burn up his energy. He's now considering Paleo, and probably eats about 70/30 already.

All that to say, I suggest making healthy fats a focus. It's the easiest thing to change, and will give them the most immediate health benefits (taste, energy) as well as great long term benefits. I'd give a little background about how veg oil took over, and how it directly correlates to the rise in heart disease, not to mention how essential adequate food sources of cholesterol are for proper cellular function. Then tell them to not trim the fat off their venison, but if they do, to give it to you- demand increases value in the eyes of many, and you might get some free fat!.

I'd also discuss the rancidity issue of veg oils- if they're sufficiently disgusted, that alone will reduce some of the fast food consumption. And while I know that you want them off all processed food, that's not totally realistic for such a large group and only one nutrition session. It takes a long time for most to make big changes and the ones who want to know more will either seek you out or find out for themselves. So, and please don't pull out the pitchforks, I suggest mentioning to them that Kraft Mac & Cheese can in fact be made with butter. I kid you not. When I changed my fats, I kept margarine around because hubs loves Kraft M&C, and I didn't know if real butter would work. And the great thing is, using lots of healthy fats with unhealthy foods still satisfies you quicker, and so you eat less of the unhealthy foods (once your mind adjusts to the fact that your body doesn't want as much as it used to). Lots of healthy fat is actually the most painless way to reduce grain consumption.

I'd also point out that when discussing reducing soda consumption, that switching to diet is not a good idea (and add that it's also an addictive substance).

I'd also finish with an invitation for anyone who wants to know more to talk to you afterwards, and also list a few resources for more good information. Maybe Primal Blueprint, Why We Get Fat, that diabetes cure book (forget the title) and a website or two. I'd recommend Real Food, but I can't picture these guys being able to relate to a former vegetarian. On the other hand, my coworker (see above) is a mechanic, and he's the one that recommended that book to me.

I would be sure to spend a little time on soy and what it does over the long term to both men and women. There's soy products in all sorts of processed foods.

SAD wisdom???????? Lost me. I'm not a serious Paleo dogma junkie but you need to never think there is wisdom in SAD

I'd talk about the financial impact. You eat McD a couple times a week or all week that = $xx.xx, what can you do with that money?

Then I'd talk about calories/weightloss. Go to McDonalds and buy a meal listed on the board w/ soda. Get the calories and bring in the equivalent in whole food. Also, while at McDs get a couple extra meal bags and put together a visual display of how many meals from McDs = another lb to that waistline.

Then talk about te importance of eating better and excerising, afterall guys like these support their families. They need to be healthy so they can be around to take care of them and someday enjoy retirement.