PALEO: pros, cons and whatever else you may think?

stephlahtinen

so my crossfit box is starting a paleo challenge this month and i am really interested in trying it out. it seems pretty doable and like it makes sense, lean meats, vegetable centered, etc

so im just looking for some feedback...and success stories

i've got a 10 year class reunion coming up so i'd like to trim up as much as possible!

BrittanyLail

Following.... I'm interested in paleo as well

husseycd

Your probably going to get a lot of flack here on the main boards, but I eat mostly Paleo (actually more Primal) and I love it. To be truthful, I've just cut out grains for the most part. I came to the diet because I wanted to drop about 8 lbs and was tired of being hungry. By cutting grain, I actually lost 10 lbs, no longer have cravings, am rarely hungry, and am leaner and lighter than I was in high school.

Cutting out bread was really hard for me at first and I was definitely lightheaded and sluggish in the first week or so. Not any more though. Again, I'm not super strict or anything, but it's still been great for me. I have several friends who have had a lot of success with it too.

jonnythan

Any diet that has a name is silly.

Any diet that strictly prohibits certain foods is silly.

Any diet that does both of these is double-silly.

By all means focus your diet on lean meats and veggies. But don't listen to what other people tell you are acceptable foods and unacceptable foods. Focus on your nutrients and eat things you enjoy.

msf74

PROS:

It can work well and quickly for weight loss
No need for the hassle of calorie counting
Can help regularise cravings
Can help with digestive discomfort

CONS:

Restrictive food choice
Lack of cake
Can be expensive
Can be hard to implement into day to day life
Did I mention lack of cake?

stephlahtinen

woops! did i post in the wrong spot? ive been a member for about 18 months and never posted before...rookie mistake.

ive already cut out bread for the most part, my boyfriend is into powerlifting so we tend to go through phases of him eating 0 carbs for a few weeks and then transitioning, etc.

every time i've tried to cut out carbs entirely the first week is brutal. thats why i was thinking maybe paleo would be a bit easier and more sustainable.

stephlahtinen

yes lack of cake is going to be quite the problem i'd imagine haha

iechick

I tried it for several months and it caused some unpleasant digestive issues so I quit. But, there's no harm in doing it and seeing how it works for you

sloth3toes

Any diet that has a name is silly.

Any diet that strictly prohibits certain foods is silly.

Any diet that does both of these is double-silly.

By all means focus your diet on lean meats and veggies. But don't listen to what other people tell you are acceptable foods and unacceptable foods. Focus on your nutrients and eat things you enjoy.

Coming from a guy with a McDoubleDown for an avatar.

And I'll beat you to your reply.....

Coming from a sloth.

lauren3101

Any diet that has a name is silly.

Any diet that strictly prohibits certain foods is silly.

Any diet that does both of these is double-silly.

By all means focus your diet on lean meats and veggies. But don't listen to what other people tell you are acceptable foods and unacceptable foods. Focus on your nutrients and eat things you enjoy.

This. Paleo is definitely healthy, no doubt about it, but very restrictive. Cutting out everything you love leads to cravings, and then over-indulgence. It could also difficult to incorporate into every day life - meals out would be a pain,

Love4fitnesslove4food2

It's just unnecessary...plain and simple. I don't believe in doing anything you can't sustain long term so I wouldn't do it. I love yogurt, mozzarella cheese, and delicious things that aren't allowed so no thanks. Not for me when I can have the body I want eating what I crave (within reason)!

4legsRbetterthan2

Paleo has worked for alot of people and there are plenty of people out there who really believe in it and have been doing it for years so it is sustainable, just know to really do paleo it takes alot of dedication and alot of learning early on. I would get some paleo friends if you are serious so they can help give you tips.

msf74

yes lack of cake is going to be quite the problem i'd imagine haha

I know right.

Try it. You might like it. If you don't you can...always try...something else.

Dun dun dar!

jonnythan

Any diet that has a name is silly.

Any diet that strictly prohibits certain foods is silly.

Any diet that does both of these is double-silly.

By all means focus your diet on lean meats and veggies. But don't listen to what other people tell you are acceptable foods and unacceptable foods. Focus on your nutrients and eat things you enjoy.

Coming from a guy with a McDoubleDown for an avatar.

And I'll beat you to your reply.....

Coming from a sloth.

That's a Bacon Ranch McDouble Down, thankyouverymuchmrsloth.

cwolfman13

A diet rich in nutrient dense whole foods is where it's at IMHO...but paleo is just too ristrictive for my taste and would be completely unsustainable. I like sammiches and legumes and dairy, etc and don't consider any of those things to be "bad"...but paleo does. I just don't see the point in being so restrictive in your diet. Just get your nutrition on and your fitness on.

richardheath

Paleo is not, in itself going to help you "trim up". A calorie deficit and the crossfit will do that for you. The only way Paleo might help is if you cut your calories by cutting out grain or whatever.

Also, know that Paleo is no more "natural" than eating a twinkie-only diet. The hype surrounding "this is how we evolved to eat" is just that: hype. We evolved to eat food, period. Whatever food we could find. Plus, the foods we get nowadays are not the same as a caveman would have had access to.

http://hells-ditch.com/2012/08/archaeologists-officially-declare-collective-sigh-over-paleo-diet/

By all means, eat what you want. Just don't imagine that Paleo (or any other diet) is some magic bullet.

sloth3toes

Any diet that has a name is silly.

Any diet that strictly prohibits certain foods is silly.

Any diet that does both of these is double-silly.

By all means focus your diet on lean meats and veggies. But don't listen to what other people tell you are acceptable foods and unacceptable foods. Focus on your nutrients and eat things you enjoy.

Coming from a guy with a McDoubleDown for an avatar.

And I'll beat you to your reply.....

Coming from a sloth.

That's a Bacon Ranch McDouble Down, thankyouverymuchmrsloth.

Whoops.... sorry, I forgot, the sandwich has evolved.

MrsBingley

Pros:
Structure
Generally healthy
High protein


Cons:
In my opinion, it can promote an unhealthy relationship with food, by labeling certain foods as "bad" and essentially banning them from the diet. Often with no good reason (beans, brown rice). This kind of diet, when practiced 100% can socially isolate you. It induce feelings of guilt when "bad" foods are consumed, sometimes leading to falling off the wagon or becoming food obsessed.

Founded on bad science. Again, the diet may be generally healthy, but it is overly restrictive and the "science" behind it is bunk.

If you choose to go paleo,I would strongly recommend taking a 90/10 approach at least, to keep you balanced and sane.

And don't claim that you are actually eating like a caveman, lol.

stephlahtinen

theyre having gradients of the paleo challenge, like 25% paleo is basically eating lean meats, whole grains and no fast/boxed/instant foods and then it goes up in percentage from there as you would imagine.

my hardest thing to give up is always dairy, not milk per se but CHEESE! yogurt, etc...those are tough ones.


in other news, i love this song.
http://vevo.ly/ndabq7

MermaidTX

theyre having gradients of the paleo challenge, like 25% paleo is basically eating lean meats, whole grains and no fast/boxed/instant foods and then it goes up in percentage from there as you would imagine.

my hardest thing to give up is always dairy, not milk per se but CHEESE! yogurt, etc...those are tough ones.


in other news, i love this song.
http://vevo.ly/ndabq7

there's a Primal/Paleo support group on MFP that may be of help

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/54-primal-paleo-support-group

Batman_75

I've been considering a version of paleo for a while. But my reasoning for doing so has been less about weight loss and more about additives and gmo. Eliminating grains and dairy for me means eliminating a lot of prepackaged and processed food. While I won't be following paleo to the letter. Ill probably be doing what works for me with paleo as a general guideline. I've lost plenty of weight doing non paleo calorie counting so you don't need paleo to lose weight. But it might help with avoiding some of the frighteninggarbage most major ccompanies hide in your food. A good rule of thumb. If it has more than five ingredients, it's probably a bad idea.

Imho

ItsCasey

Paleo has worked for alot of people and there are plenty of people out there who really believe in it and have been doing it for years so it is sustainable, just know to really do paleo it takes alot of dedication and alot of learning early on. I would get some paleo friends if you are serious so they can help give you tips.

"Sustainable" is an individual concept in terms of diet. I hate how people look at these diets as "If you were hardcore enough, you could do this." Hardcore is not forcing yourself through a sheer act of will to adhere to a diet that excludes foods you like. That's foolishness. Hardcore is having the discipline to eat what you like without abandoning the basic scientific principles behind weight loss/maintenance/gain, whatever your goal may be.

If you like the general "Paleo" guidelines, and you really believe it is something you are interested in and capable of doing long-term, then knock yourself out. But I don't think it's a good idea as a "challenge" or to lose a certain amount of weight. If you're going to stop doing it at some point, why bother in the first place?

iechick

I've been considering a version of paleo for a while. But my reasoning for doing so has been less about weight loss and more about additives and gmo. Eliminating grains and dairy for me means eliminating a lot of prepackaged and processed food. While I won't be following paleo to the letter. Ill probably be doing what works for me with paleo as a general guideline. I've lost plenty of weight doing non paleo calorie counting so you don't need paleo to lose weight. But it might help with avoiding some of the frighteninggarbage most major ccompanies hide in your food. A good rule of thumb. If it has more than five ingredients, it's probably a bad idea.

Imho

Couldn't you just buy whole grains without added ingredients? The brown rice, pearl barley, oats etc that I buy all have just the one ingredient. They do come in a package, but it would be quite hard to carry 5lbs of oats in my cart without a container I don't see that as any difference than putting my produce in a bag so it doesn't get icky in the cart.

I've done it all-paleo/primal to vegetarian/vegan and through all of it I've realized there's no good reason to go to such extremes. To totally eliminate food groups is just setting ourselves up for failure and there's no sound science to back it up.

stephlahtinen

I've been considering a version of paleo for a while. But my reasoning for doing so has been less about weight loss and more about additives and gmo. Eliminating grains and dairy for me means eliminating a lot of prepackaged and processed food. While I won't be following paleo to the letter. Ill probably be doing what works for me with paleo as a general guideline. I've lost plenty of weight doing non paleo calorie counting so you don't need paleo to lose weight. But it might help with avoiding some of the frighteninggarbage most major ccompanies hide in your food. A good rule of thumb. If it has more than five ingredients, it's probably a bad idea.

Imho

ive been doing the whole eating healthy, counting calories thing for over a year now with a lot of success...i recently switched up my workout routine from just basic gym work/cardio/etc to include crossfit and a lot more weight lifting so i was thinking i would transition my diet choices as well and see how that worked for me.

tmpecus78

Any diet that has a name is silly.

Any diet that strictly prohibits certain foods is silly.

Any diet that does both of these is double-silly.

By all means focus your diet on lean meats and veggies. But don't listen to what other people tell you are acceptable foods and unacceptable foods. Focus on your nutrients and eat things you enjoy.

THIS X2

jonnythan

I've been considering a version of paleo for a while. But my reasoning for doing so has been less about weight loss and more about additives and gmo. Eliminating grains and dairy for me means eliminating a lot of prepackaged and processed food. While I won't be following paleo to the letter. Ill probably be doing what works for me with paleo as a general guideline. I've lost plenty of weight doing non paleo calorie counting so you don't need paleo to lose weight. But it might help with avoiding some of the frighteninggarbage most major ccompanies hide in your food. A good rule of thumb. If it has more than five ingredients, it's probably a bad idea.

Imho

ive been doing the whole eating healthy, counting calories thing for over a year now with a lot of success...i recently switched up my workout routine from just basic gym work/cardio/etc to include crossfit and a lot more weight lifting so i was thinking i would transition my diet choices as well and see how that worked for me.

By all means switch up your diet if you want something different. Introduce new foods and new meal ideas.

You don't need some silly restrictive diet to do this. If you think paleo sounds good, incorporate some common paleo foods into your meals, whatever those might be. But there's no reason to buy into "paleo" and skip the ice cream.

This is actually a good idea. You can look around at all the various silly diets out there and work some of their common foods into your meals. Have a big pile of paleo meat for dinner one night followed by ice cream, then have some vegan enchiladas for lunch the next day. Or whatever.

What I'm saying is if you're bored with your food take food inspiration from others. You don't need to totally buy into their "diet" to enjoy their meals.

Escape_Artist

Me and my BF both eat Paleo.

Him because he has a autoimmune skin condition and his Micro Biologist told him to remove grains and dairy products from his diet.
I because I support him.

We both hate it and unless it's for a medical condition like this case I see no reason to restrict one's diet


Weight loss happens at a calorie deficit wether you eat dairy and grains or not

NeIIaBeIIa

I find that when I do it about 90% of the time, 90% true to the "protein-veges-nuts theory" I am a much much happier, healthier person. (If I did it 100% I'd probably be even better, but I am somewhat self destructive at times :ohwell: ). Some people find that it can be socially restrictive, I've not really found that (apart from the alcohol of course, I"m OK with that a few times a week).

I know that I have gluten intolerance and major digestive and health issues if I ignore that (still do sometimes, duh). And I know that if I don't eat dairy I am similarly much happier. Won't go into details. I'm still not convinced that dairy shouldn't be just for baby cows ... isn't for me in any case (still do sometimes however, duh )

So it's a natural "food plan" for me, has been since 2003, I was doing it well before I knew someone came up with a name for it...! I think it's only a "diet" if its not your normal way of eating, and you don't intend to do it forever. I do.

Try it for at least 3 weeks and see if it works for you, good luck!

Routerninja

I like the *idea* behind paleo. Eat clean, no processed foods, but you can take a lot of those ideas and just work them into your macros. I dont like giving up dairy, but I just cut down on it. Mind you, I am at like 3k calories a day, so a LOT fits into my macros, That being said, I still do some processed stuff, and dairy. (You can pry my light string cheese and greek yogurt from my cold dead hands.) But I have made some changes like I will go to the local farmers market for organic veggies and better quality local meats.

allisonrinkel

I like the idea of Paleo, and I try for it, but it's sometimes difficult.
Paleo ppl will say it's not a diet but a lifestyle. I agree, because the idea of it is to eat like our cave-people ancestors, without the processed crap that is in most people's meal plans.
I find it hard to stick to Paleo because I love dairy and peanuts, and most people say they are not paleo.
Also, my husband is a vegetarian who is super fussy, so there is a lot of bread and pasta around for him.

agdyl

I'm Whole30 rather than Paleo, but I'll address why in the list...

Pros - I feel amazing. Not eating sugar makes me feel calmer, stop craving junk food, and I've lost weight too. My cholesterol levels and inflammation factors in my blood work improved dramatically. My skin looks better - people tell me all the time that I look like I'm glowing. Which you could attribute to just losing weight, but when I lost weight 8 or so years ago just restricting calories, I had people tell me I looked skinny, too thin, should eat more, etc. My parents were concerned for my health. This time, eating paleo/Whole30 - I regularly get told that I look "healthy", and I'm at exactly the same weight that I was at when people thought I looked overly thin and unhealthy. Go figure. I'm pretty sure that a lot of that was the first time I was restricting fat to cut calories, this time I eat loads of coconut oil and ghee and that makes a huge difference. I also found recently that I have a gluten sensitivity. My doctors always told me that my knee pain was just arthritis from lots of knee injuries - take pain killers until I can have my knees replaced when I get older. Since changing my diet - the knee pain is GONE. My knees still make crunchy noises and if I torque them in the spots where I don't have any cartilege, I can feel it - but they are not constantly swollen and hurting anymore. It's AMAZING. I can run again, and I thought I had to give that up permanently.

Cons - I think the logic behind paleo is kind of stupid. I prefer the logic behind Whole30 - which is basically that you eat things that make you healthier and don't eat things that damage your health, your hormones, or your mental state. I don't care what my ancestors ate, I care about how what I'm eating right now affects my body. Arguing about whether cavemen ate potatoes is pretty irrelevant, IMHO. I also have some facebook friends who eat Paleo and maybe it's just my perception, but it seems like they eat like nothing but bacon. And on Whole30, you can only eat bacon if it's compliant - i.e. no sugar or preservatives. Which is super hard to find and means you're probably not eating much bacon. Bacon itself is fine, but most of the store bought stuff has nasty ingredients and isn't worth eating often anyway. I'm not giving up bacon completely, but it's a rare treat and not a protein, as some people seem to think.