Paleo diet?

Aphreal

Not to mention such a highly restrictive diet is insanely difficult to maintain long term.

Any highly restrictive diet is silly in my opinion. Eating less refined sugar and carbs is great but there's no need to totally eliminate them or anything else. Most of these fad diets use a nice sounding theory as their base and back that up with cherry picked "facts" from actual research, and that's the better ones. When analyzed further, the fad theories usually don't hold much water or are unnecessarily restrictive. I urge more people to spend time researching how the body's metabolism actually works and plan your eating around that.

Shawnalee0703

Not to mention such a highly restrictive diet is insanely difficult to maintain long term.

Any highly restrictive diet is silly in my opinion. Eating less refined sugar and carbs is great but there's no need to totally eliminate them or anything else. Most of these fad diets use a nice sounding theory as their base and back that up with cherry picked "facts" from actual research, and that's the better ones. When analyzed further, the fad theories usually don't hold much water or are unnecessarily restrictive. I urge more people to spend time researching how the body's metabolism actually works and plan your eating around that.

It is only difficult because of the MODERN diet.... years ago it was not difficult to maintain because it was their only option. I agree that you can't eat 100% these days and it is not easy.... but the effort is up to the consumer and no one else!

spngebobmyhero

I would say, try it for 30 days and see how you feel. It can't hurt, all it can do is help and 30 days is not very long in the grand scheme of things!

Health_Gal

It sounds too restrictive for me. I can't really see wanting to give up all the healthy grains and beans I enjoy based on a theory that has no scientific evidence behind it.

ajbeans

It sounds too restrictive for me. I can't really see wanting to give up all the healthy grains and beans I enjoy based on a theory that has no scientific evidence behind it.

Do you agree with *anything?* I only ever see you post on threads that you disagree with. Not trying to be a *kitten*, it's just something I've noticed.

Don't worry. Be happy.

BellydanceBliss

what I don't get is why would we want to eat like they did thousands of years ago when the lift expectancy was less than 40 years of age?? I just can't get past this to even bother taking the diet seriously.

I understand avoiding processed and refined foods, and to some extent wheat..

AMEN

andrejjorje

Your answer is that no heart diseases, diabetes or so many cancers have been reported by history or by scientists that did the research for times before grains, processed food and heavy dairy.


quote]
what I don't get is why would we want to eat like they did thousands of years ago when the lift expectancy was less than 40 years of age?? I just can't get past this to even bother taking the diet seriously.

I understand avoiding processed and refined foods, and to some extent wheat..
[/quote]

UponThisRock

Your answer is that no heart diseases, diabetes or so many cancers have been reported by history or by scientists that did the research for times before grains, processed food and heavy diary.

This. Everyone knows that the paleolithic woman didn't even need a yearly mammogram

tidmutt

A lot of misunderstanding on this thread. There are many variants of Paleo, Primal being one of them. Primal is the most appealing to me because it's flexible and attempts to be informed by deep science. It's like anything good, you need to read, research and put things in context. Some people skim Paleo or Primal and then don a loin cloth and jump around with a spear eating raw meat and the occasional wild berry or they dismiss it as faddish and silly. They are of course missing the point. Primal is a framework, a starting point but filtered through research, the science always wins, not the Primal/Cavemen doctrine. If this isn't your Primal/Paleo then you are doing it wrong.

These are pretty much the central principles of Primal:

- Aim for 80% Primal, this will put you far ahead of those eating the SAD and recognizes that we live in a society that surrounds itself with processed foods and we do that because it usually taste really good.
- Reduced processed foods
- Eat loads of fresh vegetables and fruit
- Eat protein high in Omega 3 (grass fed beef, fish etc.)
- Exercise regularly, but don't overdo it, train in a time effective manner
- Manage Stress
- Get lots of sleep
-Adjust to our changing understanding of what is optimal for our health

People will claim it's a "fad diet", whatever, it's only a fad diet because it's not yet mainstream. If you parse the list above though I suspect you will find that it pretty much gels with what most health authorities, dieticians, doctors etc. will tell you. The most controversial aspect of Primal is that it allows for more saturated fat. You don't HAVE to eat more saturated fat and their are low fat versions of Paleo.

You may be surprised that Primal allows for Potatoes, Rice and Dairy for those who tolerate it. Essentially, it's about being informed, taking an interest in your health and using your own n=1 as part of the equation.

It's true that there was not one single Paleo diet throughout our evolution it would have varied based on the local flora and fauna, but despite that there would have been some commonality such as we would not have consumed refined carbohydrates in the quantities that we do now, it simply was not possible . We likely consumed a very different omega6/3 ratio and we were more active. There are exceptions of course.

To those who raise the point (1) that we had a shorter life expectancy and (2) who is to say that the diet we ate prior to agriculture is optimal....

1) Why is there everyone suddenly becomes a Paleontologist? As other have mentioned, IF we had a lower life expectancy then it was quite possibly due to predation, infection etc. There is fossil evidence indicating we became sicker around the adoption of agriculture but we always have to remember the this is very dirty science. It's difficult to know anything for sure about something that happened 10K years ago. Regardless, I find it amazing that EVERYONE will just quote as fact that we lived short brutish lives back then, there are other theories suggesting we live well. Also keep in mind that much of our own growth in life expectancy comes from decreases in infant mortality which skews the statistics.

2) We don't know it's optimal, perhaps one day when we have a perfect understanding of our biological systems we will be able to create the perfect synthetic food. However, it makes sense to me that millions of years of evolution would mean our bodies would be evolved to function optimally on the diet that was available which is what Primal attempts to recreate. When I believe that our knowledge has caught up with our hubris, I'll eat the synthetic food.

To touch on one last point. People mentioned that we couldn't feed the world on Primal. That may be true, in fact, that's why we have agriculture and why we consume so much grain, it's a cheap source of calories. However, I honestly don't care, I'm not trying to change the world, just me.

Didn't mean to write a book, hopefully a few people will read and at least understand Primal/Paleo a little better.

ChristyNP75

Perspective of a cardiac nurse practitioner - MODERATION!!! Whatever works for you is great. If your beliefs are that grains are bad, then you aren't going to waiver from that. If you feel that dairy is bad, the same thing... HOWEVER, that being said, I would encourage any of these people to really do their research. Google the name Norman Bourlag. Being a farm girl, this name is very important in the farming industry. Mr. Bourlag helped to initiate genetically altered grains to help feed the world. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for helping to end famine across the world. You see, to the uninformed, it may seem that the farmer is just being greedy and wanting more yield. Yes, we always want more yield - that equals better revenue (and who wouldn't want that?) But, it is a double edged sword to have a higher yield and make money. You can either plant "traditional" grains and use TONS of chemicals to save your crop from weeds and insects that will destroy your crop, or, you can use minimal chemical and plant genetically altered seed. The WHO has put out articles (you can find them on the net) stating that with their rigorous testing, that no harm has been found in genetically altered seed. Many, many studies have been done and whereas fad diets (and I consider Paleo to be one of them) will help you lose weight, it has been found that over a period of time you will do more harm than good. It ranks right up their to someone in healthcare to the Adkins diet. And to anyone that believes that replacing your carbs with extra protein works, let me introduce you to a few people that ended up with heart attacks and kidney failure b/c they were eating too much fat/cholesterol (yes, cholesterol is in ALL meats including fish) and their kidneys could not handle trying to filter out unused protein. Eat a balanced diet with whole grains (and yes, you can find non-wheat breads and also breads that are made with completely organic wheat if that is your wish). The secret to weight loss is not really a secret. It is calories in have to be less than calories out!

tidmutt

Your answer is that no heart diseases, diabetes or so many cancers have been reported by history or by scientists that did the research for times before grains, processed food and heavy diary.

This. Everyone knows that the paleolithic woman didn't even need a yearly mammogram

Yeah they did, there was a yearly contest where all the Grok's fought for the right to mash all the Grokettes in the tribe boobies between a couple of flat rocks and then later felt for lumps. It was epic apparently.

moniquedeanne

Is brown rice ok on the paleo/primal diet?

tidmutt

Perspective of a cardiac nurse practitioner - MODERATION!!! Whatever works for you is great. If your beliefs are that grains are bad, then you aren't going to waiver from that. If you feel that dairy is bad, the same thing... HOWEVER, that being said, I would encourage any of these people to really do their research. Google the name Norman Bourlag. Being a farm girl, this name is very important in the farming industry. Mr. Bourlag helped to initiate genetically altered grains to help feed the world. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for helping to end famine across the world. You see, to the uninformed, it may seem that the farmer is just being greedy and wanting more yield. Yes, we always want more yield - that equals better revenue (and who wouldn't want that?) But, it is a double edged sword to have a higher yield and make money. You can either plant "traditional" grains and use TONS of chemicals to save your crop from weeds and insects that will destroy your crop, or, you can use minimal chemical and plant genetically altered seed. The WHO has put out articles (you can find them on the net) stating that with their rigorous testing, that no harm has been found in genetically altered seed. Many, many studies have been done and whereas fad diets (and I consider Paleo to be one of them) will help you lose weight, it has been found that over a period of time you will do more harm than good. It ranks right up their to someone in healthcare to the Adkins diet. And to anyone that believes that replacing your carbs with extra protein works, let me introduce you to a few people that ended up with heart attacks and kidney failure b/c they were eating too much fat/cholesterol (yes, cholesterol is in ALL meats including fish) and their kidneys could not handle trying to filter out unused protein. Eat a balanced diet with whole grains (and yes, you can find non-wheat breads and also breads that are made with completely organic wheat if that is your wish). The secret to weight loss is not really a secret. It is calories in have to be less than calories out!

I certainly have nothing against the farmers wanting to make a buck and we certainly need grains to feed the world. That still doesn't mean they are optimal for health.

Those patients you mentioned who had kidney problems that you blame on their high protein intake do you know they didn't have kidney problems already? I've read mucho evidence suggesting a higher protein diet causes no issues for a healthy kidney. As for cholesterol, I don't think any researcher in the field is particularly concerned about cholesterol in food, our body simply manufactures more or less based on need and intake. Of course, many still argue that fat is bad, but some argue that it's actually refined carbs that cause more issues. Or perhaps industrial oils, PUFAs that cause inflammation. Regardless, I haven't heard anyone on the cutting edge of research pointing the finger at Cholesterol in food for a looong time.

tidmutt

Is brown rice ok on the paleo/primal diet?

It's considered an occasional indulgence for the most part I think. Here is a post on it from the originator of Primal:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/is-rice-unhealthy

Please don't think I'm holding this up as the ultimate decision on rice consumption, I'm just addressing moniquedeanne question.

tidmutt

I understand that you can't have a calorie deficit and see muscle gains

This is technically false. The relatively untrained individual can build muscle on a moderate caloric deficit. The more trained the individual and the lower the body fat, the more difficult it will be.

Although I agree, I think I would qualify it the other way to be a bit clearer, sorry to nitpick. Technically, you can't really see muscle gains in a calorie deficit with a few exceptions for those who are obese or untrained.

tidmutt

Still no response to my hard-hitting question about how this diet affects one's farts. C'mon, guys. I gotta know!

Personally, I've found I fart less. Kind of disappointing to be honest...

hpsnickers1

what I don't get is why would we want to eat like they did thousands of years ago when the lift expectancy was less than 40 years of age?? I just can't get past this to even bother taking the diet seriously.

I understand avoiding processed and refined foods, and to some extent wheat..

It's average age is a comparison of the hostility of two environments. 40 years average takes into account high infant mortality. Death could come from a broken bone. They had big predators to deal with. If one was able to live a uneventful life then they lived just as long as we did (probably a little longer consider most of us succumb to some kind of chronic disease today). An average of 5 and 7 is 6 but is also an average of 10 and 2.

I know what they didn't eat.

. I did it is as pure experiment - I had reached my goal but I had done a lot of research along the way. But I got much more from Primal then I got from eating a low-calorie, low-fat, high-carb diet. I got my health and my mind back. At 41 years old I feel normal for the first time. I got my skin back. I got my digestive system back. I got my sinuses back. I got my hair back (hair was thinning out and was even receding slightly at the temple - all coming back). I got my taste buds back. I got my teeth back. I did lose some things. I loss 10 more pounds than my goal - which was only 10lbs. I lost my belly. I lost my interest in eating bland foods.

Best experiment I ever did. I think it's worth a shot to try. If it doesn't work then move on to something else.

ak_in_ak

what I don't get is why would we want to eat like they did thousands of years ago when the lift expectancy was less than 40 years of age??

^^^^THIS^^^^

there were a lot of things shortening life, not what they ate, modern medicine has extended out lives drastically! not to mention we are no longer having to protect ourselves from predators.

AlbertPooHoles

Still no response to my hard-hitting question about how this diet affects one's farts. C'mon, guys. I gotta know!

Personally, I've found I fart less. Kind of disappointing to be honest...

Boooooo!

nikolaim5

Your answer is that no heart diseases, diabetes or so many cancers have been reported by history or by scientists that did the research for times before grains, processed food and heavy diary.

I recognize that one from the paleo bible. In reality, we have very little idea of disease from that point in history. Life expectancy was so short back then that only the healthy likely survived to adulthood anyways.