Diet guru and P&J YL columnist Amanda Hamilton came to the Granite City this week to teach some top business executives how to be more like cavemen.
Or rather, to eat more like cavemen, as the television presenter and author introduced a menu based on the latest weight-loss craze, the paleo diet, for the select group of 20.
Dubbing it the “helicopter window diet” especially for her trip to the north-east, Ms Hamilton oversaw the creation of a dining event featuring canapes of foraged sorrel and wild mushrooms, scallops and nettles; raw gazpacho soup for an in between course, and a Middle Eastern-rose scented lamb roast for mains.
“Imagine some cave men around a fire – we try to replicate that as much as possible,” said Ms Hamilton of the menu, which featured only edibles that could be foraged in the wild or hunted – meaning no grains such as rice, wheat or corn.
The theory behind the diet is that hunter-gathers 10,000 years ago rarely got fat, or succumbed to modern malaises such as diabetes or heart disease. It wasn’t until the relatively recent invention of agriculture that humans began eating dairy and more carbohydrate-rich foods – the ancestors of dietary no-nos like cakes, pastries and refined sugar. Proponents of paleo believe our bodies have not yet evolved to eat grains, sugar or overly processed foods, leading to a range of health problems.
“It is all about helping people at this level improve their performance, but is is also about lowering risk of inflammation and cardio vascular disease that troubles senior executives running on empty,” she said.
The event was sponsored by Neil Armour, chief executive of wealth managers Eagle Orchid, who bid for the wild man culinary services of Ms Hamilton and her head chef, Libby Andrew, at a charity auction. The event was held at the event at Aberdeen’s Royal Northern and University Club.