Art De Vany on Fox & Friends

Is it really that hard to pronounce the word "Paleolithic"? And is it truly necessary to crack a joke about your male co-anchor "looking at another man awfully closely"?

Whatever. Here's the video:

The Beast Weighs In

The Daily Beast just put up a review of both "Why We Get Fat" and "The New Evolution Diet." (Check it out here.)

But why is the article accompanied by a photo of the books' covers and a woman with a single piece of uncooked broccoli on her plate? I'm reading both books right now (along with a few others -- probably why I can't seem to finish any of 'em) -- and I'm fairly certain neither book advocates a raw vegetarian starvation diet. Quite the opposite, in fact.

On second thought, is she sneering at the broccoli? But that'd be weird, too. It's not like Art De Vany and Gary Taubes are anti-vegetables.

I'd have been happier with a stock photo of a woman cracking up over a bowl of salad. At least then, we could add it to this list.

Give It a Rest

At the start of a new year, it's easy to get amped up about attacking one's fitness goals, but don't overdo it.

From Art De Vany's just-released "The New Evolution Diet":

I fail to see how anyone can train 5 or 6 days a week in the gym and for hours at a time. That is factory or agricultural work, not anything human beings were evolved to do. And the paradox is that you will gain less strength and fitness if you overtrain. You will join the thousands who quit exercising out of sheer boredom. Overtraining increases your stress level, interferes with your sleep, raises your level of stress hormones, and reduces your level of growth hormones and testosterone. It leads to less muscle gain, not more, along with loss of fitness and boredom. Boredom is one way your brain stops you from harming yourself.

Chris Highcock says the same thing. Listen to them. Those guys know their stuff.

New Evolution Diet: Go or No Go?

Art De Vany's new book, "The New Evolution Diet," hits bookstores next week, but the Kindle version's already available. De Vany's one of the pioneers of the modern caveman lifestyle -- plenty of folks first learned about the Paleo eating and evolutionary fitness from his website (before much of the content was hidden away behind a paywall). De Vany continues to be a prominent leader in the Paleo community, and I'm looking forward to checking out his book. I mean, the guy's in his seventies and maintains 8% bodyfat. He's obviously doing something right.

I was a bit disheartened, however, to read on Melissa McEwen's blog that De Vany's views hew closer to the Loren Cordain "eat only what cavemen ate" approach rather than the Robb Wolf/Mat Lalonde "Paleo isn't about historical reenactment -- science is the ultimate arbiter" approach. Surprisingly, De Vany cautions against consumption of red meat, fat (but recommends canola oil rather than coconut oil) and egg yolks -- none of which jives with what I've found to be true. Of course, my conclusions are based only on personal experience, my bloodwork, and what I've gleaned from folks like Wolf and Lalonde. Perhaps De Vany's got it right. But a diet without grassfed butter, big steaks and deliciously gooey egg yolks? Thanks, but no thanks.

Still, I'm going to buy the book to decide for myself. I can't wait to dig into De Vany's sections on evolutionary fitness and exercise. And if (1) you're relatively new to Paleo, (2) you've already read Robb Wolf's book but want more, and/or (3) you've got ten bucks burning a hole in your pocket, you'll likely get some good stuff out of De Vany's book, too. Just keep an open mind about the whole saturated fat thing.

[UPDATED: De Vany's none too pleased with McEwen's post.]