SHOCKING!!! Health Screening Vegetarian to Paleo Comparison
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so much for wanting to possibly spark the "maybe I should consider eating real foods" notion for some people, clearly this is all about my ego.
I think it's awesome that you have found what works for you, but it is possible to eat real food without following a Paleo diet.
I never said "paleo is the ONLY way to be healthy" I just presented some numerical parameters of what has worked for ME. Never did I say "vegetarians are wrong"--i WAS a vegetarian for several years and don't think that at all. It just didn't work for ME personally.
Fair enough. But it seems a not illogical inference given your OP re: Paleo and that you think it an attempt to spark the notion. No offense was intended.0 -
My company also does the Blueprint screening. Just took it yesterday. Waiting on results to compare to last year... Weight and blood pressure has been reduced I know already!0
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Regardless of how or why your numbers changed, congrats on the progress you've made in the last year!
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Thank you to the OP for posting this topic. I too am enjoying AMAZING health benefits from eating a fat/meat/veggie based diet. A huge list of health problems have vanished and, bonus, I'm losing fat like crazy. It's amazing to me that people are posting trying to refute your personal experience. If I hear one more time that eating a diet based on healthy meat/fat and veggies is a "fad" I think I'm going to scream. Forget the names "paleo" and "primal"; it just makes sense to eat as close to what our ancestors were eating (and I don't mean 50 years ago). Since I live in an Inuit community the difference between a grain-based diet and a fat/meat based diet is so very obvious because the change is happening right now. The health differences are absolutely alarming but the government is still telling Inuit to eat bread and Crisco. (BTW most Inuit can't eat legumes, it makes them sick. I'm Caucasian and they make me sick, but legumes are supposedly healthy?!)0
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How did you figure out that you were allergic to dairy and gluten? What symptoms did you have? Also do you eat beans on paleo?0
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Good for you for comparing your numbers year to year and staying in control of your health-also, congratulations on the improvement, regardless of how slight, as others have mentioned. You are doing great things for your body by staying active and paying attention to your food choices!
As others have said...you will always have haters...people who will be negative regardless of what you have to say-just ignore their negativity. If anything...it seems that no one here on MFP can ever post anything positive without at least one person being a jerk and/or negative.
If you want to ask the OP a question about their diet or if they changed anything else in their life to get the numbers to change...FINE and great for you for being inquisitive...but there is no need to be condescending about it. Rarely do I get on the forums...maybe 4 posts in 7 months...but, this one has gotten a little ridiculous and I couldn't help but tell the OP congratulations on continuing a healthy lifestyle!! Everyone else...follow the Golden Rule, as elementary as that sounds.
This.0 -
congrats!! It's really awesome to see results like this!
and most people are missing the whole point of the post!!
You ate a ton of fat, saturated fat, and your numbers got better, not worse. Just more proof (like we need it!) that fat does not cause you to get fat, (low fat gimmiks and sales is a load of crock) and it's actually starches and sugars that cause all the bad stuff!
and I'm sure on a vegetarian diet you were eating plenty of sugar and starches.
everyone I know that switched to paleo/primal and had their numbers done had similar results to yours. amazing, eating tons of eggs, nuts, animal fats, etc is good for you!0 -
yes, how dare you introduce a real lifestyle change? Please, let me stay on my diet of Lean Cuisines, oxy pro-elite, and keeping my cals under 1200 each day while doing cardio only.so much for wanting to possibly spark the "maybe I should consider eating real foods" notion for some people, clearly this is all about my ego.
I don't think the majority of people have said she shouldn't eat paleo. They just questioned the notion that the blood data is all down to paleo. Unfortunately you always get a few people who are mean but that's a risk with any public forum. I just think the title is a little misleading but then I guess that it gets people reading and discussing it
. What if someone had great blood test improvement on the diet you mentioned of lean cuisine and cardio? It's perfectly logical that someone who needs to lose a lot of weight could do so successfully and improve their health doing so. It doesn't make ready meals good for you. 0 -
For anyone interested a study that looked at 100,000 people on a low carb diet show low carb vegetarian fare far better than any other group health-wise
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/plant-based-atkins-diet/
That video was nothing short of propaganda. Good grief.
The Pan A et al study was an epidemiological study using self reported data acquisition through food frequency questionnaires which are notoriously unreliable, not to mention they were only filled out as little as once every four years (seriously...) It has numerous confounding factors including baseline characteristics for the meat eaters with high levels of physical inactivity, diabetes, smokers (!) and alcohol consumption. A multivariate analysis was then applied which again isn't exactly reliable.
In addition, people seem to miss the fact that it was shown as meat consumption went up cholesterol went down - what is this sorcery?
You can conclude very little from that study apart from perhaps that the average vegetarians pays more attention to their diet and lifestyle than the average meat eater...0 -
That video was nothing short of propaganda. Good grief.
The Pan A et al study was an epidemiological study using self reported data acquisition through food frequency questionnaires which are notoriously unreliable, not to mention they were only filled out as little as once every four years (seriously...) It has numerous confounding factors including baseline characteristics for the meat eaters with high levels of physical inactivity, diabetes, smokers (!) and alcohol consumption. A multivariate analysis was then applied which again isn't exactly reliable.
In addition, people seem to miss the fact that it was shown as meat consumption went up cholesterol went down - what is this sorcery?
You can conclude very little from that study apart from perhaps that the average vegetarians pays more attention to their diet and lifestyle than the average meat eater...
thank goodness some people here understand science!0 -
How did you figure out that you were allergic to dairy and gluten? What symptoms did you have? Also do you eat beans on paleo?
well, for the longest time i have had "acid reflux disease" honestly, as long as I can remember. I thought everyone had heartburn all the time. Then it started to get worse and I talked to my dr who prescribed more meds. He thought I had CANCER and ran all sorts of (expensive) tests. Anyways, they didnt find anything and the meds didnt make me feel any better.I came across someone's blog about how they changed their diet to a paleo one and got rid of their acid reflux. So i figured why the heck not.
Literally TWO days into going paleo (no grains, no added sugars, real natural foods) my heartburn was GONE. I honestly didn't know what it felt like NOT to have heartburn. I also realized all my aching joints were from what I was eating and not from marathon training. I became more "Regular" and had tons of energy and no 2 pm luls or trouble sleeping. Those were my symptoms that I didn't even know I had until I changed my diet. I was literally poisoning myself as a "healthy" vegetarian eating fruit, veggies, eggs, and whole grains. If this interests you, I HIGHLY suggest reading It Starts with Food. It is the best health book I've ever read!
I have experimented with beans and I choose not to eat them because they cause me intestinal discomfort. However, every once in a while we go to this Mexican joint that has AMAZING BEANS and I will suffer with bad gas just to enjoy these--but its a rare occasion. I'm allergic to milk also but will have a starbucks every once in a while. Certain cheeses don't bother me but all deli-style cheeses do. So its kind of an experiment to figure out what works with ME and what doesnt. I used the Whole30 method to figure this all out. I'm not perfect all the time (check out Sunday's diary for example), but I feel crappy when I eat poorly and I try to do my best to give my body the best I can.0 -
That's crazy. Seriously, you sound exactly like me. I eat very clean. Lots of whole foods. At times I've gone vegan and the reflux gets worse. Definitely worth trying. I don' t like the idea of not getting enough carbs though. Do you eat fruit?0
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It's really nice having a place to go for encouragement when something positive happens. :huh:
Amen!!0 -
That's crazy. Seriously, you sound exactly like me. I eat very clean. Lots of whole foods. At times I've gone vegan and the reflux gets worse. Definitely worth trying. I don' t like the idea of not getting enough carbs though. Do you eat fruit?
yes, i eat plenty of fruit! I dont restrict carbs, I just focus my meals on eating good quality protein first and foremost then add veggies. Fruits and nuts are snacks for me. I am very active and do just fine on 50-150 g of carbs a day...your body can MAKE energy (carbs) from protein and fat sources so you dont *need* to consume lots of carbs.0 -
So your numbers went from good, to still good, and... I'm not sure I follow, all of your numbers, while having slight variations, are all in exactly the same range. A change of 3 or 4 points is really quite negligible in most of those categories, especially when the old numbers were already in the healthy range.
I don't see how this proves anything, other than the actual diet you eat is irrelevant, as you went from one extreme to the other extreme, and you remained, basically the same.
This was my thought exactly. You're still in the healthy ranges for all of your numbers, a few points here or there really aren't a big change.
If you prefer paleo to veggie than great, you've found something that works for you, but your biometric numbers and health scores are basically the same.
One of the biggest issues people have with Paleo/Primal is the amount of fat (and meat, to a somewhat lesser extent) that's in it. Everyone's first reaction is "OMG! You're going to clog your arteries and have a heart attack!" The fact that her biometric numbers have not only gotten worse, but have in fact gotten better, even when staying in a healthy range, is evidence to the contrary. And even though it wouldn't be considered scientific, perhaps enough of such reports would prompt the "real scientists" to do some actual studies.
What's funny about the "conventional wisdom" on eating saturated fat causing heart disease is that medical researchers have known that it is false---for MANY years. If we ate no cholesterol at all, our livers would still create cholesterol---it is critical for many functions in the body. Eating starch and sugar cause an increase in inflammatory cytokines and heart disease is caused by those inflammatory processes. High levels of C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation in the body) are closely linked to heart disease. Atherosclerotic plaques contain cholesterol, but THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT CHOLESTEROL CAUSES THEM. Your body actually uses cholesterol to "plaster over" the minute lesions formed by inflammation on the inner lining of the blood vessels. Chronically high blood sugar creates heart disease. That is why diabetics have a much higher rate of heart and vascular disease.
True Statements. but less money would be made if they promoted the truth!0 -
this is a great post. it's good to get some real life numbers. thank you for sharing this information. i have been going paleo and upping my meat, a bit concerned about my arteries, but your numbers give me confidence i'm making the right decision.0
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Thanks a ton! I have to eat gluten until I have my celiac test and then I think I'll give it a go :-)0
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Congrats on your good numbers. I am glad to know that you have found something that works for you. 0
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Every night before I go to bed I eat 4 girl scout thin mints and I consistantly lose about 2lbs a week, thank you thin mints!
I'm going to go shake down some girl scouts right now - I'll share my stash with ya0 -
Great job on your improvements glad you posted this! Great job and ignore the critics.0
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I'm sure losing weight didn't do anything for better results, it's all the Paleo diet
I don't think a loss of six pounds, on its own, would account for the numbers changing as much as they did. I also don't think it's as simple as "it's all the Paleo diet" -- even though you were being sarcastic, some people may actually attribute the changes purely to one diet vs. another diet, which I also don't think is really fair.
I was on Atkins and saw all my numbers improve... but I know other people who were "on Atkins" who didn't, and that was probably based on the choices they made, NOT the guidelines. Big difference there. People used to say to me all the time, "Oh, you're on Atkins? Yeah my (relationship word here) was on that. Ate cheeseburgers and bacon all day long." *eyeroll*0 -
Good for you for improving your health, although you do realize that one persons results won't represent everyone correct? Also, you are not telling us what you were eating before and what you eat now. I'd be interested in see how much the nutritional value of your food changed. For all I know you ate gobs of pizza before you went paleo. Besides it wasn't huge jumps you saw overall, just a few points here and there, it's not like you lost 50lbs or lowered your cholesterol significantly. You probably could have lowered your cholesterol further, had you actually tried. I also didn't see a time span between, it just said 2011-2012? When?0
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I have nothing against paleo, but I would like to ask a question I seldom hear addressed when people discuss paleo. It is my understanding that this planet is unable to support the current human population on a paleo style diet; if this is not currently the case, it will be within 20 years. Assuming that paleo is truly the optimal diet for humans, how do those of you who believe in the paleo diet propose we accommodate the population? Are you comfortable knowing that even with zero population growth, we will never be able to achieve a distribution of the world's resources wherein all people have access to good nutrition? Do you acknowledge that the world has too many people, and support an organized plan of population reduction, such as China's one child policy? Like I said, I have nothing against the paleo diet, but every time it comes up, I wonder how people reconcile this conflict, and if they actively support reducing the world's human population.0
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Same directional results for me too.0
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I tried the anabolic diet and couldn't stick it! But really want to go back to eat again someday next year probably. My workout schedule is just so extreme atm that I am currentl;y sticking with a 50-30-20 diet and its working as it gives me the energy I need for bootcamp etc. next year I intend on leaning more towards strength training and thhat when I will go back to the anabolic diet. well done you and I agree with it being down to diet, any professional will tell you weight loss is 60% diet. so well done you!0
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She was eating sugar and starches, AND WAS STILL PERFECTLY HEALTHY. You pretty much disproved your own statement. There's absolutely no way to know whether her slight improvements in blood work wouldn't have happened anyway, due to the fact that she already lives a healthy lifestyle.congrats!! It's really awesome to see results like this!
and most people are missing the whole point of the post!!
You ate a ton of fat, saturated fat, and your numbers got better, not worse. Just more proof (like we need it!) that fat does not cause you to get fat, (low fat gimmiks and sales is a load of crock) and it's actually starches and sugars that cause all the bad stuff!
and I'm sure on a vegetarian diet you were eating plenty of sugar and starches.
everyone I know that switched to paleo/primal and had their numbers done had similar results to yours. amazing, eating tons of eggs, nuts, animal fats, etc is good for you!0 -
Our ancestors ate a higher carb (50%,) moderate fat (30%,) moderate protein (20%) diet. Not anything like the supposed "Paleo" diet being pushed by these books lately. The Mediterranean Diet is much closer to how our ancestors ate.Thank you to the OP for posting this topic. I too am enjoying AMAZING health benefits from eating a fat/meat/veggie based diet. A huge list of health problems have vanished and, bonus, I'm losing fat like crazy. It's amazing to me that people are posting trying to refute your personal experience. If I hear one more time that eating a diet based on healthy meat/fat and veggies is a "fad" I think I'm going to scream. Forget the names "paleo" and "primal"; it just makes sense to eat as close to what our ancestors were eating (and I don't mean 50 years ago). Since I live in an Inuit community the difference between a grain-based diet and a fat/meat based diet is so very obvious because the change is happening right now. The health differences are absolutely alarming but the government is still telling Inuit to eat bread and Crisco. (BTW most Inuit can't eat legumes, it makes them sick. I'm Caucasian and they make me sick, but legumes are supposedly healthy?!)0 -
She was eating sugar and starches, AND WAS STILL PERFECTLY HEALTHY. You pretty much disproved your own statement. There's absolutely no way to know whether her slight improvements in blood work wouldn't have happened anyway, due to the fact that she already lives a healthy lifestyle.congrats!! It's really awesome to see results like this!
and most people are missing the whole point of the post!!
You ate a ton of fat, saturated fat, and your numbers got better, not worse. Just more proof (like we need it!) that fat does not cause you to get fat, (low fat gimmiks and sales is a load of crock) and it's actually starches and sugars that cause all the bad stuff!
and I'm sure on a vegetarian diet you were eating plenty of sugar and starches.
everyone I know that switched to paleo/primal and had their numbers done had similar results to yours. amazing, eating tons of eggs, nuts, animal fats, etc is good for you!
Clearly, your parents never talked to you about the dangers of science, and now it's too late. Look at you, demanding logical consistency, instead of just accepting an argument without even analyzing it. What is this world coming to when people will suggest that anecdotal evidence that actually disproves the hypothesis offered in a more or less anonymous post on the internet isn't sufficient proof to support a broad and unqualified claim?0 -
I'm sure losing weight didn't do anything for better results, it's all the Paleo diet
LOL
:flowerforyou:
I wonder why would you go from Vegetarian to Paleo... such a big change
are you the kind of person who just cannot eat "normal" jumping from one diet/lifestyle to another?
I went from 12 years vegetarian to paleo and I'm not the kind of person to jump from one lifestyle to another. i did it for compellign health reasons and feel much better for it - although I still struggle with eating meat as i don't much care for it. Cutting out all grains and most dairy has worked wonders for me.0 -
AggieCass09:
First off, you know that Starbucks can do you a Soya milk based drink? (Or they certainly did in the UK when I worked there ten years ago.)
Also; I'm not surprised your 'stats' got better if you were allergic to what you were previously eating! Your body was, it would seem to me, working at far from optimum with those symptoms!
flobeedoodle:
Diet is just one part of a lifestyle unsustainable for the entire world population.
Quite a lot of the rest of our Western-consumption life style is to. Our reliance on motor-vehicles, expensive technology generally and the like.0
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