Let's talk about...the Paleo Diet

Resalyn

ACG67 - Love the chart, that is awesome. Made me LOL a couple times.....

I've been following this thread off and on for a few days, trying to catch up when I have nothing better to do, which isn't as often as I would like. There is a lot of great information from both sides here. I guess my question is why do there even need to be "sides?" The Paleo think their way is best, the non-Paleos think differently - why doesn't everyone just realize that everyone is entitled to their opinion, beliefs.....whatever? "Why can't we all just get along?" (whined plaintively)

I just don't understand the "show me the proof" mentality. I have gone the Paleo route off and on for years. I could care less what anyone else does, or what anyone else thinks of my way of eating. I know subjectively what works for me, and I know subjectively that I feel better when avoiding grains. Does that mean it will work for you? Maybe, maybe not. If someone asks about it, I usually direct them to various books or websites so they can do their OWN research and make their OWN choices.

I do resent the many negative references to the "rabid Paleo people" (ok, paraphrased a little bit) - that is a generalization, and it just isn't true in many cases - mine included. Live and let live.....

LorinaLynn

I eat Paleo style. I have no problems with it.

I just eat a lot of extra stuff that isn't Paleo, too.

Resalyn

I eat Paleo style. I have no problems with it.

I just eat a lot of extra stuff that isn't Paleo, too.

Ditto! I just had a banana with 1 tbsp peanut butter. Some think PB is the debbil. I say the debbil tastes good, LOL.....

momof8munchkins

ACG67 - Love the chart, that is awesome. Made me LOL a couple times.....

I've been following this thread off and on for a few days, trying to catch up when I have nothing better to do, which isn't as often as I would like. There is a lot of great information from both sides here. I guess my question is why do there even need to be "sides?" The Paleo think their way is best, the non-Paleos think differently - why doesn't everyone just realize that everyone is entitled to their opinion, beliefs.....whatever? "Why can't we all just get along?" (whined plaintively)

I just don't understand the "show me the proof" mentality. I have gone the Paleo route off and on for years. I could care less what anyone else does, or what anyone else thinks of my way of eating. I know subjectively what works for me, and I know subjectively that I feel better when avoiding grains. Does that mean it will work for you? Maybe, maybe not. If someone asks about it, I usually direct them to various books or websites so they can do their OWN research and make their OWN choices.

I do resent the many negative references to the "rabid Paleo people" (ok, paraphrased a little bit) - that is a generalization, and it just isn't true in many cases - mine included. Live and let live.....

Agreed!

RonSwanson66

In my Paleo Facebook group

Paleoman had facebook?

momof8munchkins

I find it humorous that the narrow minded Paleo people (not all of them, just the narrow minded ones) love to talk about how the Paleo diet is superior, and go on and on about this ONE diet, like there was only one type of diet eaten by humans during the Paleolithic Era. There were probably hundreds of thousands of different "paleo diets," based on geographic location, time of year, specific period of the Era, etc. How do you decide which one was the best? It's not like the Paleolithic spans over 2.5 million years or anything...

The dirty secret is that the Paleo diet is just a diet made up by some guy, and it's all marketing.

It's not a bad diet, but it's Got nothing to do with Paleo anything.

The Paleo lifestyle is a fancy way of saying Eat clean, natural foods - that is all. There are probably not 2 people that eat exactly alike.........

In my Paleo Facebook group there is a woman that only eats raw ruminant meats, eggs and starches such as sweet potatoes. She is pretty anal about her eating. This is what works for her. Even though pictures of her meals with raw hamburger and a baked sweet potato do not look apetitizing to me.

There are others that do a lot of baking and re-creating traditional muffins, cookies, cakes, etc in a so-called Paleo manner.

There are some in my group that eat NO grains whatsoever. There are others that eat white rice as it has been deemed a "safe" starch..

Some people include a lot of dairy, some just a bit and then there are others that eat no dairy at all.

I eat pretty boring and simple, but it works for me. I stick to eating fats (mostly coconut oil and grass fed butter), eggs, grass fed beef, pastured pork, very little chicken and I do eat a lot of green vegetables. I eat minimal fruit and nuts. I also have some raw, local honey - which many say is not Paleo, but I find it hard to believe that they didn't find honey from time to time.


Paleo isn't a set plan...............it is more of a template for people to experiment and find what works for their bodies. The meal plans vary greatly from person to person.

Thank you!.. This is a lot of what I was going to say but figured those that are against this way of eating already have their minds made up , so why bother.. they have a pre-conceived notion that Paleo is all meat, extremely low carbs , deprivation-never again getting to eat food you like and living on boring meals- only if you let it be!

ArroganceInStep

ACG67 - Love the chart, that is awesome. Made me LOL a couple times.....

I've been following this thread off and on for a few days, trying to catch up when I have nothing better to do, which isn't as often as I would like. There is a lot of great information from both sides here. I guess my question is why do there even need to be "sides?" The Paleo think their way is best, the non-Paleos think differently - why doesn't everyone just realize that everyone is entitled to their opinion, beliefs.....whatever? "Why can't we all just get along?" (whined plaintively)

I just don't understand the "show me the proof" mentality. I have gone the Paleo route off and on for years. I could care less what anyone else does, or what anyone else thinks of my way of eating. I know subjectively what works for me, and I know subjectively that I feel better when avoiding grains. Does that mean it will work for you? Maybe, maybe not. If someone asks about it, I usually direct them to various books or websites so they can do their OWN research and make their OWN choices.

I do resent the many negative references to the "rabid Paleo people" (ok, paraphrased a little bit) - that is a generalization, and it just isn't true in many cases - mine included. Live and let live.....

My doctor wrote the book 'the Perfect 10 diet'. It's pretty hardcore, only whole natural foods, careful of free radicals, etc etc etc. I read it, and found he did have some decent points. I try to follow some aspects of the diet, but am not as strict as he is (it's just not practical in my lifestyle). As of right now I'm not convinced that Paleo is better for me than a 'non-Paleo' diet that gets comparable nutrients. If I were to see studies that proved me wrong in this regard, I would take more steps to align my diet with the Paleo paradigm (to Nature's comment of eating clean, natural foods...I already try to do that to some extent, I just think I would try to do that even more so), as I did with the Perfect 10 diet.

I think seeing those studies BEFORE changing a diet you've had success in can be important. Ultimately you do need to try things yourself, but it's nice to see some evidence supporting it initially. I'm open-minded and have changed small details of how I lift weights to try to improve my form, but you had better show me some DAMN good studies before I add shake weights to my routine (note: I'm not saying Paleo is anything like shake weights, I just find the concept hilarious and wanted to reference it...deal with it).

tigersword

I find it humorous that the narrow minded Paleo people (not all of them, just the narrow minded ones) love to talk about how the Paleo diet is superior, and go on and on about this ONE diet, like there was only one type of diet eaten by humans during the Paleolithic Era. There were probably hundreds of thousands of different "paleo diets," based on geographic location, time of year, specific period of the Era, etc. How do you decide which one was the best? It's not like the Paleolithic spans over 2.5 million years or anything...

The dirty secret is that the Paleo diet is just a diet made up by some guy, and it's all marketing.

It's not a bad diet, but it's Got nothing to do with Paleo anything.

The Paleo lifestyle is a fancy way of saying Eat clean, natural foods - that is all. There are probably not 2 people that eat exactly alike.........

In my Paleo Facebook group there is a woman that only eats raw ruminant meats, eggs and starches such as sweet potatoes. She is pretty anal about her eating. This is what works for her. Even though pictures of her meals with raw hamburger and a baked sweet potato do not look apetitizing to me.

There are others that do a lot of baking and re-creating traditional muffins, cookies, cakes, etc in a so-called Paleo manner.

There are some in my group that eat NO grains whatsoever. There are others that eat white rice as it has been deemed a "safe" starch..

Some people include a lot of dairy, some just a bit and then there are others that eat no dairy at all.

I eat pretty boring and simple, but it works for me. I stick to eating fats (mostly coconut oil and grass fed butter), eggs, grass fed beef, pastured pork, very little chicken and I do eat a lot of green vegetables. I eat minimal fruit and nuts. I also have some raw, local honey - which many say is not Paleo, but I find it hard to believe that they didn't find honey from time to time.


Paleo isn't a set plan...............it is more of a template for people to experiment and find what works for their bodies. The meal plans vary greatly from person to person.

That's exactly my point.

AbiNichole

TLDR... but I skimmed it. Interesting stuff. OP- I commend you for taking the time and energy to research this fully.

Everyone knows that diets are always perpetuated by personal anecdotes, popular opinion, and money/ advertising.

That being said I offer this advice to everyone-
1.) Take everything with a grain of salt when it comes to new fade diets.
2.) Research them for yourself and use your own judgement. Don't blindly follow ANYTHING
3.) Lighten up! Don't let diets and research become your life. Trail and error man. Live a little. :flowerforyou:

freerange

And that was what this post was about, what backing does the claim that the Paleo diet is the diet for optimal health actually have? Obviously when you say mind and body, the Paleo diet does nothing for reading comprehension.

Who is the one that had their mind already made up? You want to believe that fat loss is greater on low carb diets so you just ignored my rebuttal to your assertion that there are "some" studies that do in fact show that.

DId not ignore, just discounted it. I know what has worked for me, I know what has worked for others. I know which studies I trust. I know there is a study where a guy ate nothing but twinkies and lost weight, to me and many others it's not about losing weight, it's about health.

freerange

This from someone that is just "looking for answers" LOL now do I really need to go back and read the original post? I think not, I had you pegged from the start, that is why my first post was, yawn.

tigersword

And that was what this post was about, what backing does the claim that the Paleo diet is the diet for optimal health actually have? Obviously when you say mind and body, the Paleo diet does nothing for reading comprehension.

Who is the one that had their mind already made up? You want to believe that fat loss is greater on low carb diets so you just ignored my rebuttal to your assertion that there are "some" studies that do in fact show that.

DId not ignore, just discounted it. I know what has worked for me, I know what has worked for others. I know which studies I trust. I know there is a study where a guy ate nothing but twinkies and lost weight, to me and many others it's not about losing weight, it's about health.

So you just choose to ignore that the Twinkie Diet guy's health improved? All of his health numbers improved just like every diet that has been studied.

freerange

Thousands of people that live paleo, compared to the BILLIONS that don't and are healthy. Yeah, you might want to rethink that argument.

Really billions? So since there is only 300 mil (rounded) in america, where are all these Billions of healthy people. China? Hardly, India? Nope, just where are these healthy people. America is in a health crisis, thanks to the FDA "approved" diet, most of the third world is dying, because of the grain based "relief" food they eat.

And just how many humans lived and died up until some 10k years ago, I think history is on my side. But thanks for playing

freerange

And that was what this post was about, what backing does the claim that the Paleo diet is the diet for optimal health actually have? Obviously when you say mind and body, the Paleo diet does nothing for reading comprehension.

Who is the one that had their mind already made up? You want to believe that fat loss is greater on low carb diets so you just ignored my rebuttal to your assertion that there are "some" studies that do in fact show that.

DId not ignore, just discounted it. I know what has worked for me, I know what has worked for others. I know which studies I trust. I know there is a study where a guy ate nothing but twinkies and lost weight, to me and many others it's not about losing weight, it's about health.

So you just choose to ignore that the Twinkie Diet guy's health improved? All of his health numbers improved just like every diet that has been studied.

GO ahead and believe it's a healthy diet, in fact just go ahead and make that your diet for the next 10 years, and get back to me on how that works for you. LOL

Acg67

And that was what this post was about, what backing does the claim that the Paleo diet is the diet for optimal health actually have? Obviously when you say mind and body, the Paleo diet does nothing for reading comprehension.

Who is the one that had their mind already made up? You want to believe that fat loss is greater on low carb diets so you just ignored my rebuttal to your assertion that there are "some" studies that do in fact show that.

DId not ignore, just discounted it. I know what has worked for me, I know what has worked for others. I know which studies I trust. I know there is a study where a guy ate nothing but twinkies and lost weight, to me and many others it's not about losing weight, it's about health.

So discount things that disagree with your personal experiences? Funny you should call others narrow minded.

freerange

You're the one who is very narrow minded.

If you don't want to listen to the THOUSANDS of people who have changed their diet to more closely relate to the "paleo" diet, that is on you, if you are so marrow minded that you have to have a study done for years, by FDA approved method, have fun. We will enjoy optimal health, of both mind and body, while you search out the latest "study"

Once again, how is eating Paleo any better than a traditional diet?

And I don't care about how others "changed" their diets. I changed my diet too, but I am not touting that a high carb and a high protein intake will save the world.
[/quote]

SO finding something that works and sticking to it is narrow minded these days? So you must assume I came out of the womb and decided Paleo is best and I will not try anything else. Great deduction there Watson. You must assume I have never read anything and have only took advice from one person. I really appreciate your evaluation of me, next time I have trouble deciding how to act, I will give you a call so you can tell me how to behave LOL.

freerange

And I don't care about how others "changed" their diets. I changed my diet too, but I am not touting that a high carb and a high protein intake will save the world.

Thats good, because it's that exact diet that is killing the world.

tigersword

You really love building straw man arguments, don't you? Don't you even see how you saying that it works for you so it must be the best, studies and actual science be damned, is hypocritical? Considering you're going out of your way to tell everyone who is successful and healthy on a different diet that they are wrong? I never said anything about the Twinkie Diet being long term, I said his health markers improved, just like anyone losing 30 pounds on ANY style of diet.

And again, which Paleo diet are you referring to when you refer to the people who lived and died to put history on your side? There were hundreds of thousands of diet variations over the paleolithic time period, based on the exact period, geographic location, and technological level of the people in question. So, exactly which one supports your theory, so we can reject the other thousands that probably don't support your viewpoint?

freerange

So what did you have for breakfast, lunch, and what did you eat with your meat for dinner? I'm telling you right her and now, without even knowing your diet at the time, IT WAS NOT THE MEAT YOU ATE THAT MADE YOU GAIN 30 pounds, period.

If I actually cared what you thought, I would prove my point by eating enough meat that I gained weight, which I can definitely do. Meat isn't the only thing that contributed to my weight gain, yes, but it was one component. Overeating is what made me gain weight, and I can do that on a Paleo diet too, regardless of what you might think.

But you would not answer a simple question, what did you eat other than meat?

callmeBAM

I'm still perplexed why people want to follow a "diet" whose practitioners barely ever survived into their 30's. . . . . .

Jesus died in his 30's.