Paleo Diet?
jess_purple412
Posts: 8
The caveman diet, I heard its SUPER difficult to keep with but has any one had success? I have hit a plateau and cant seem to lose weight, thought maybe changing the way i eat could help jumpstart my metabolism any suggestions or advice?
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Replies
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All the nutritionists at Lifetime fitness swear by it. I'm trying to cut carbs with lack of nutrition too. It's hard!! I have lost 6 pounds since Jan 1 this way!0
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I have been following the paleo/primal way of eating for over a year now and I will never go back. I was severely obese when I started and I have since lost 100 pounds. At first it was daunting giving up things like sugar and grains but now I don't miss that stuff at all. If i'm craving bread or cookies then I will make it, I just tweak the recipe to make it paleo. Even if I hadn't lost weight on paleo I would never go back to anything else because paleo isn't about weight loss for me, its about cutting out processed chemical laden foods and eating naturally. I would definitely recommend you give it a try.0
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I have been following the paleo/primal way of eating for over a year now and I will never go back. I was severely obese when I started and I have since lost 100 pounds. At first it was daunting giving up things like sugar and grains but now I don't miss that stuff at all. If i'm craving bread or cookies then I will make it, I just tweak the recipe to make it paleo. Even if I hadn't lost weight on paleo I would never go back to anything else because paleo isn't about weight loss for me, its about cutting out processed chemical laden foods and eating naturally. I would definitely recommend you give it a try.
Rethink the definition of a chemical... everything is made of them...
OP, it's a good way to figure out if you have any intolerances to food, but it works on the same premise as any diet, calorie deficit produces weightloss. If you can adhere to it, good for you, but it's not necessary to do a highly restrictive diet to find success and if you already have an unhealthy relationship with food it can sometimes worsen it. There's no magic behind it and there's plenty of people you'll find on this site doing "paleo" and "primal" and doing them half assedly, like paleo-fying existing food... the reason for eating that way isn't to cram the SAD into a pimal/paleo mold.
My suggestion, meet your macro nutrition goals, specifically protein and fat minimums, and enjoy some treats in moderation while staying within your calorie goal.0 -
Also, OP, you've lost 65lbs... why would you change what you're doing? That's an incredible success.0
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Good luck finding woolly mammoth and woolly rhino. The "paleo" diet of internet gurus doesn't resemble the diet of any palaeolithic people.
Palaeolithic people were lean because they had to exert themselves to catch or find food before eating it. Many of them walked or ran for miles to get food, plus fighting with animals before humans invented long range weapons. And carrying food back to wherever home was (which could have been a cave but often wasn't).
It's also wasn't designed as a fat loss diet, but one for people who have issues with food allergies and intolerances. Whether or not you lose weight is simply about eating at a calorie deficit. If weight loss has stopped, then your no longer have a deficit. You don't need to cut out all the foods that the paleo diet says to cut out to create a deficit. For many people, the "paleo" diet will create a deficit for them, for others it won't (you can still overeat on all the "paleo" diet approved foods and gain weight). There are much easier ways to create a deficit though, such as counting calories and weighing and measuring your food carefully, or even just eating smaller portion sizes of calorie dense food (less accurate, but it works for a lot of people). That way you can eat all the foods the paleo diet disapproves of and still lose weight (do make sure you're getting all the nutrients your body needs though, for good health and good body composition). But if you're allergic or intolerant to wheat, dairy and legumes, then the "paleo" diet will be really good for you. (although palaeolithic people ate grains and legumes, and modern people who are descended from dairy farming/herding populations have evolved the ability to digest lactose)
If you want to emulate the health-promoting aspects of a palaeolithic lifestyle though, I'd suggest lifting heavy weights and going running: http://cavepeopleandstuff.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/palaeolithic-workouts/0 -
A friend just told me to download Paleo Central ..it's a .99 cent app! She lost 20lbs in one month with exercise of course! It's hard! I'm doing it this month if u want to friend me...maybe we can share recipes! I hear its hard...it's lo carb and no dairy or even complex carbs0
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A friend just told me to download Paleo Central ..it's a .99 cent app! She lost 20lbs in one month with exercise of course! It's hard! I'm doing it this month if u want to friend me...maybe we can share recipes! I hear its hard...it's lo carb and no dairy or even complex carbs
Paleo doesn't have to be low carb, its really up to the individuals needs. I have met people who eat over 300 grams of carbs on paleo a day. I actually consider myself primal because I consume dairy (cream,cheese,butter) on a daily basis. When it comes to refined sugars,grains,legumes or just generally processed crap, I don't touch it.0 -
I have been following the paleo/primal way of eating for over a year now and I will never go back. I was severely obese when I started and I have since lost 100 pounds. At first it was daunting giving up things like sugar and grains but now I don't miss that stuff at all. If i'm craving bread or cookies then I will make it, I just tweak the recipe to make it paleo. Even if I hadn't lost weight on paleo I would never go back to anything else because paleo isn't about weight loss for me, its about cutting out processed chemical laden foods and eating naturally. I would definitely recommend you give it a try.
Rethink the definition of a chemical... everything is made of them...
OP, it's a good way to figure out if you have any intolerances to food, but it works on the same premise as any diet, calorie deficit produces weightloss. If you can adhere to it, good for you, but it's not necessary to do a highly restrictive diet to find success and if you already have an unhealthy relationship with food it can sometimes worsen it. There's no magic behind it and there's plenty of people you'll find on this site doing "paleo" and "primal" and doing them half assedly, like paleo-fying existing food... the reason for eating that way isn't to cram the SAD into a pimal/paleo mold.
My suggestion, meet your macro nutrition goals, specifically protein and fat minimums, and enjoy some treats in moderation while staying within your calorie goal.
Chemicals that appear naturally in whole foods have been around for hundreds and thousands of years in the human diet. The 'chemical laden foods' people refer to have chemicals that have only been around for a relatively short time and could possibly have unintended long-term or cumulative effects on our bodies.
I agree with you that when it comes to weight loss, it still comes down to calories in/calories out. Paleo is not a magical bullet in this regard. However, if people follow it and make sensible choices they can not only lose weight but find themselves with more energy, better performance in the gym, and solving digestive issues (if any existed). I've found that many days it is hard for me to reach my calorie goal eating paleo foods, usually because they're very satisfying and filling.
OP, do a lot of research. Don't just download an app and call it a day. There are tons of interpretations of paleo, with more and more research coming out. Find something that works for you. Some people find starting with something strict like the Whole30 challenge works best. Some find that making the majority of your meals paleo, with the others as low in grains as possible works well to start with.0 -
A friend just told me to download Paleo Central ..it's a .99 cent app! She lost 20lbs in one month with exercise of course! It's hard! I'm doing it this month if u want to friend me...maybe we can share recipes! I hear its hard...it's lo carb and no dairy or even complex carbs
Not quite. Get your carbs from vegetables and fruit. On days with exercise, sweet potatoes are a great source of carbs. Avoid sugar, grains, white potatoes, legumes, and processed foods. I cut out dairy when I first started, but began introducing it back in after awhile to see how well I tolerated it.0 -
any diet works as long as it is done in moderation.
I crossfit so I'm not against paleo but I don't follow it.
I'm not a caveman and there's tons of food around. If I was a caveman following a paleo diet, should I also club women in the head and show them how much I 'love ' them?
It's just foolish lol.0 -
Are you allowed to use a stove, microwave, or any other cooking technology that did not exist during the caveman days?0
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Also a friend of mine that crossfit eats dairy, cheese, pizza, bread wtv all day
and he's healthier and fitter than any crossfiter at my gym.
But then he also works out 4 hours/day.
So there you go. You don't have to cut anything out of your diet.
Eat everything in moderation.0 -
Are you allowed to use a stove, microwave, or any other cooking technology that did not exist during the caveman days?
Cavemen were half our sizes too with much more body hair.
Their teeth were sharper and they were more efficient at breaking down raw food that we have difficulty with now.
Unless 'evolution' never existed and earth is 5000 years old,
our bodies have evolved and adapted to the current food products and diet out there.0 -
Actually "cavemen" as you say were more robust, and taller. Our heads for example are 10% smaller, hence the wisdom tooth problem today. Oh, and believe it or not our brain is also smaller.Are you allowed to use a stove, microwave, or any other cooking technology that did not exist during the caveman days?
Cavemen were half our sizes too with much more body hair.
Their teeth were sharper and they were more efficient at breaking down raw food that we have difficulty with now.
Unless 'evolution' never existed and earth is 5000 years old,
our bodies have evolved and adapted to the current food products and diet out there.0 -
The caveman diet, I heard its SUPER difficult to keep with but has any one had success? I have hit a plateau and cant seem to lose weight, thought maybe changing the way i eat could help jumpstart my metabolism any suggestions or advice?
Any diet will help you lose weight as long as you are in a negative energy balance. One aspect of paleo that I like is the focus on nutrient dense foods. Paleo is not magic though, you still need to track your calories and eat at a deficit.0 -
Are you allowed to use a stove, microwave, or any other cooking technology that did not exist during the caveman days?
Cavemen were half our sizes too with much more body hair.
Their teeth were sharper and they were more efficient at breaking down raw food that we have difficulty with now.
Unless 'evolution' never existed and earth is 5000 years old,
our bodies have evolved and adapted to the current food products and diet out there.
:noway: do you even palaeoanthropology?0 -
The caveman diet, I heard its SUPER difficult to keep with but has any one had success? I have hit a plateau and cant seem to lose weight, thought maybe changing the way i eat could help jumpstart my metabolism any suggestions or advice?
You are likely going to find quite a few people who will tell you how terrible it is or too hard or too restrictive but the simple truth is that it really just depends on what you like to eat and what you think you can stick to. I would say give it a try and if you like it, great. If not, no biggie.
You can learn more by joining this group:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/54-primal-paleo-support-group0 -
Actually "cavemen" as you say were more robust, and taller. Our heads for example are 10% smaller, hence the wisdom tooth problem today. Oh, and believe it or not our brain is also smaller.Are you allowed to use a stove, microwave, or any other cooking technology that did not exist during the caveman days?
Cavemen were half our sizes too with much more body hair.
Their teeth were sharper and they were more efficient at breaking down raw food that we have difficulty with now.
Unless 'evolution' never existed and earth is 5000 years old,
our bodies have evolved and adapted to the current food products and diet out there.
Yeah, our brain is smaller because our mentaility of eating food today as changed. Back then, food intake was 75% fat intake. Today, its 75% carb intake.
And you wonder why everyone is getting diabetes and cancer.
I've lost over 100lbs eating on the Ketogenic lifestyle. Its stricter/more primal than Paleo.0 -
Are you allowed to use a stove, microwave, or any other cooking technology that did not exist during the caveman days?
I've always thought that.............. if you use metal to prepare or eat it, it's not paleo
you have to catch it and butcher it with stone tools and cook it on an open fire without using metal (e.g. grills) or it's not paleo. You can find flat stones and heat them in the fire, and use them like a hot plate. Or wrap food in bark to stop it burning. Those are palaeolithic cooking methods. Fire was used in the middle and upper palaeolithic eras. Lower palaeolithic food preparation involved smashing animal bones with stone tools to extract stuff like brains and bone marrow.0 -
Generalisation0
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Actually "cavemen" as you say were more robust, and taller. Our heads for example are 10% smaller, hence the wisdom tooth problem today. Oh, and believe it or not our brain is also smaller.Are you allowed to use a stove, microwave, or any other cooking technology that did not exist during the caveman days?
Cavemen were half our sizes too with much more body hair.
Their teeth were sharper and they were more efficient at breaking down raw food that we have difficulty with now.
Unless 'evolution' never existed and earth is 5000 years old,
our bodies have evolved and adapted to the current food products and diet out there.
Yeah, our brain is smaller because our mentaility of eating food today as changed. Back then, food intake was 75% fat intake. Today, its 75% carb intake.
And you wonder why everyone is getting diabetes and cancer.
I've lost over 100lbs eating on the Ketogenic lifestyle. Its stricter/more primal than Paleo.
:noway: does anyone here even palaeoanthropology
neanderthals had bigger brains than Homo sapiens. We're not directly descended from neanderthals, although many modern humans have some neanderthal DNA from interbreeding.
Homo sapiens had smaller brains than neanderthals LONG LONG before anyone ate a modern diet. Homo sapiens has never evolved brains quite as big as the neanderthal brain (on average, but there is an overlap between both species in terms of variation). However, we did develop a higher level of technology, and this is thought to be due to some difference in brain wiring, rather than simply evolving a bigger brain. The size of the Homo sapiens brain is currently the same as it was 60,000 years ago which was in the upper palaeolithic era, so modern diets have not caused any decrease in brain size, because no such decrease even exists. In fact I think even middle palaoelithic HOmo sapiens had similar sized brains to modern humans.
"caveman" is not a scientific term, so it's impossible to say if "caveman" had bigger brains than modern humans, but as most people use "caveman" and "neanderthal" interchangably, then yes, neanderthals had bigger brains than modern humans.
Neanderthals got cancer too: http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.00645390 -
These threads are like a train wreck. I always know it's going to end poorly, but I always feel I have to come look.
I've been eating Primal-ish for almost 4 years now. I love it and at home, I find it's easy to follow. When you're out, I find it's a little tougher. To me the biggest advantage is curbing my hunger. When I eat carb-heavy, I find I'm always hungry. Yes, at the end of the day calories in/out matter, but I find staying within my limits with real food is much easier, and it's been observed, that your body may output more energy on low-carb (only one study that I'm aware of, so take that with a grain of salt).
There is a Primal/Paleo group I'd recommend going to if you're really interested in speaking to people who've done it.
There are a few who feel almost religious about eating Paleo (the difference it makes can be pretty drastic) and those who don't adhere to it get annoyed by hearing about it and try to turn it into a joke. (ie. good luck finding wooly mammoth meat). Others get defensive when people tell them the whole grains they base their diet on really aren't all that good for you.
In the end, to me, eating a diet focused on vegetables makes sense. I don't think anyone's claiming this is exactly how our ancestors ate, but it's much closer to it than drinking diet cokes, sugar-laden cereal, and pasta.
This isn't a crash diet you do for a month or two. If you want to be successful with it, you have to significnatly curb your habits.0 -
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These threads are like a train wreck. I always know it's going to end poorly, but I always feel I have to come look.
I've been eating Primal-ish for almost 4 years now. I love it and at home, I find it's easy to follow. When you're out, I find it's a little tougher. To me the biggest advantage is curbing my hunger. When I eat carb-heavy, I find I'm always hungry.
There is a Primal/Paleo group I'd recommend going to if you're really interested in speaking to people who've done it.
There are a few who feel almost religious about eating Paleo (the difference it makes can be pretty drastic) and those who don't adhere to it get annoyed by hearing about it and try to turn it into a joke. (ie. good luck finding wooly mammoth meat). Others get defensive when people tell them the whole grains they base their diet on really aren't all that good for you.
In the end, to me, eating a diet focused on vegetables makes sense. I don't think anyone's claiming this is exactly how our ancestors ate, but it's much closer to it than drinking diet cokes, sugar-laden cereal, and pasta.
This isn't a crash diet you do for a month or two. If you want to be successful with it, you have to significnatly curb your habits.
Why do you abuse the word "paleo" then if you admit it's not really like how palaeolithic people ate? That's my main issue with the diet. There's enough myths about human evolution to dispel from creationists, without having to battle against internet "gurus" telling people to "eat like cavemen" when it's based on nothing but myths and misinformation about human evolution and palaoelithic people? Really, it's tiresome. Give the diet another name.
I also have an issue with the unnecessarily restrictive nature of the diet, but if people like eating that way and find it sustainable in the long term and aren't feeling guilty for eating "non-approved" foods on occasion then I don't really have a problem. Each to their own.0 -
Paleo I think is more of a lifestyle than a diet.
Keep in mind weight loss is calories in vs calories out. Wether you eat grains or not, follow the paleo way or eat soup and cabbage all day, at the end of the day if you are at a deficit the weight will drop.
IMO (and I do say IMO) there is no need to eliminate a food group unless for a medical reason.
People that lost weight on paleo lost it because they are eating at a deficit. Nothing more nothing less.
Just my 2 cents.0 -
What about insects, annelids, roots, tubers, and carrion?Meat, nuts and berries? I'm in.
No ice cream? Oh, nevermind. I'm out.0 -
What about insects, annelids, roots, tubers, and carrion?Meat, nuts and berries? I'm in.
No ice cream? Oh, nevermind. I'm out.
That would be a much more authentic palaoelithic diet. And don't forget edible fungus.0 -
These threads are like a train wreck. I always know it's going to end poorly, but I always feel I have to come look.
I've been eating Primal-ish for almost 4 years now. I love it and at home, I find it's easy to follow. When you're out, I find it's a little tougher. To me the biggest advantage is curbing my hunger. When I eat carb-heavy, I find I'm always hungry. Yes, at the end of the day calories in/out matter, but I find staying within my limits with real food is much easier, and it's been observed, that your body may output more energy on low-carb (only one study that I'm aware of, so take that with a grain of salt).
There is a Primal/Paleo group I'd recommend going to if you're really interested in speaking to people who've done it.
There are a few who feel almost religious about eating Paleo (the difference it makes can be pretty drastic) and those who don't adhere to it get annoyed by hearing about it and try to turn it into a joke. (ie. good luck finding wooly mammoth meat). Others get defensive when people tell them the whole grains they base their diet on really aren't all that good for you.
In the end, to me, eating a diet focused on vegetables makes sense. I don't think anyone's claiming this is exactly how our ancestors ate, but it's much closer to it than drinking diet cokes, sugar-laden cereal, and pasta.
This isn't a crash diet you do for a month or two. If you want to be successful with it, you have to significnatly curb your habits.
This!0 -
These threads are like a train wreck. I always know it's going to end poorly, but I always feel I have to come look.
I've been eating Primal-ish for almost 4 years now. I love it and at home, I find it's easy to follow. When you're out, I find it's a little tougher. To me the biggest advantage is curbing my hunger. When I eat carb-heavy, I find I'm always hungry. Yes, at the end of the day calories in/out matter, but I find staying within my limits with real food is much easier, and it's been observed, that your body may output more energy on low-carb (only one study that I'm aware of, so take that with a grain of salt).
There is a Primal/Paleo group I'd recommend going to if you're really interested in speaking to people who've done it.
There are a few who feel almost religious about eating Paleo (the difference it makes can be pretty drastic) and those who don't adhere to it get annoyed by hearing about it and try to turn it into a joke. (ie. good luck finding wooly mammoth meat). Others get defensive when people tell them the whole grains they base their diet on really aren't all that good for you.
In the end, to me, eating a diet focused on vegetables makes sense. I don't think anyone's claiming this is exactly how our ancestors ate, but it's much closer to it than drinking diet cokes, sugar-laden cereal, and pasta.
This isn't a crash diet you do for a month or two. If you want to be successful with it, you have to significnatly curb your habits.
:drinker:0 -
I have been following the paleo/primal way of eating for over a year now and I will never go back. I was severely obese when I started and I have since lost 100 pounds. At first it was daunting giving up things like sugar and grains but now I don't miss that stuff at all. If i'm craving bread or cookies then I will make it, I just tweak the recipe to make it paleo. Even if I hadn't lost weight on paleo I would never go back to anything else because paleo isn't about weight loss for me, its about cutting out processed chemical laden foods and eating naturally. I would definitely recommend you give it a try.
Rethink the definition of a chemical... everything is made of them...
OP, it's a good way to figure out if you have any intolerances to food, but it works on the same premise as any diet, calorie deficit produces weightloss. If you can adhere to it, good for you, but it's not necessary to do a highly restrictive diet to find success and if you already have an unhealthy relationship with food it can sometimes worsen it. There's no magic behind it and there's plenty of people you'll find on this site doing "paleo" and "primal" and doing them half assedly, like paleo-fying existing food... the reason for eating that way isn't to cram the SAD into a pimal/paleo mold.
My suggestion, meet your macro nutrition goals, specifically protein and fat minimums, and enjoy some treats in moderation while staying within your calorie goal.
There someone goes from the "eat everything in moderation" bandwagon trying to tell someone that they need to eat treats and such....................Not everyone wants to eat that crap that was made in a factory.
Why do you care how someone else is eating?0
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