Paleo Diet

Chief_Rocka

LOL

Great contribution. Did you think that witty retort up yourself, or did you have a crack-team of writers on stand-by?

It's more of a involuntary response when someone makes a variation of the "carbs make you fat/insulin is the debil" argument. I thought we had dispensed with such nonsense in the 90's.

Bob314159

My opinion that its a lot of nonsense intended to sell books - but fairly harmless and its additive and junk food free. It might help some people with food intolerances, but for most people it cuts out too many foods.

I use one of the recipe books sometimes, cause the recipes are good to eat and my kids like them.

jennaworksout

our ancestors didnt eat any of the food we eat today, regardless if you are paleo or not. Everything has been selectivly bred over the last thousands of years to be bigger, taste better and last longer in storage.


That is a terrible argument for a diet if you ask me.

agreed!!!

myofibril

Zero carb diet. OMG! My question is how much are people paying for these book that make such wild claims?!?

It's not a wild claim.

There is no strict physiological need for dietary carbohydrates in terms of survival. The same is mostly true of fats except for a small number of EFAs. The only thing your body absolutely needs through dietary intake is protein.

Having said that I personally consume a lot of carbs mostly because a) I like eating them b) I have no real intolerance to them and c) I am very active.

ponos

The people I know that have used a paleo-type diet successfully reduced their carbs and increased protein and fats. They didn't stop eating carbs though!!!! It goes like this:

When you are having a dinner, you put a scoop of mashed potatoes on your plate, one serving of the roast or chicken or whatever meat is available, a dollop of carrots, and a slice of bread (or roll) with a pat of butter and some jam. This could be a perfectly fine meal but a lot of people overdo portion sizes and their meat is not really the size of a deck of cards and their mashed potato scoop is not 1 cup. Anyway, that sort of meal has a lot of carbs (potatoes, carrots, bread, jam) compared to protein or fat.

If someone following the paleo diet were to be offered the same meal, they would add a very small dollop of mashed potatoes (maybe 1/4 cup-ish), add a pat of butter or two, put a very generous serving (or two) of the meat especially if it is fatty, and a few carrots, but no bread.

So, same meal and there are carbs included but the proportion of carbs to fats and proteins is smaller. I don't follow a paleo diet but I do prefer protein and fat whenever I can. I mean, paleo propaganda does include some really great foods (avocado, nuts, meat, coconut)! But you have to learn for yourself so I hope you find something that works for you and you can stick with

sjohnny

If someone following the paleo diet were to be offered the same meal, they would add a very small dollop of mashed potatoes (maybe 1/4 cup-ish), add a pat of butter or two, put a very generous serving (or two) of the meat especially if it is fatty, and a few carrots, but no bread.

Then they would not be following the paleo diet. Apparently white potatoes and butter were the things that killed off the cavemen.

jennaworksout

The people I know that have used a paleo-type diet successfully reduced their carbs and increased protein and fats. They didn't stop eating carbs though!!!! It goes like this:

When you are having a dinner, you put a scoop of mashed potatoes on your plate, one serving of the roast or chicken or whatever meat is available, a dollop of carrots, and a slice of bread (or roll) with a pat of butter and some jam. This could be a perfectly fine meal but a lot of people overdo portion sizes and their meat is not really the size of a deck of cards and their mashed potato scoop is not 1 cup. Anyway, that sort of meal has a lot of carbs (potatoes, carrots, bread, jam) compared to protein or fat.

If someone following the paleo diet were to be offered the same meal, they would add a very small dollop of mashed potatoes (maybe 1/4 cup-ish), add a pat of butter or two, put a very generous serving (or two) of the meat especially if it is fatty, and a few carrots, but no bread.



So, same meal and there are carbs included but the proportion of carbs to fats and proteins is smaller. I don't follow a paleo diet but I do prefer protein and fat whenever I can. I mean, paleo propaganda does include some really great foods (avocado, nuts, meat, coconut)! But you have to learn for yourself so I hope you find something that works for you and you can stick with

Paleo do not eat white potatoes , I am paleo and would eat the meat and some carrots if offered this.

annams76

Holy crap this is a lot of info for me to process. I am not looking for something super restrictive & I LOVE my carbs. I just not sure how to change my diet to achieve results. I know it needs to change and keep hearing about this diet. Thank you everyone for all the information.

myofibril

Holy crap this is a lot of info for me to process. I am not looking for something super restrictive & I LOVE my carbs. I just not sure how to change my diet to achieve results. I know it needs to change and keep hearing about this diet. Thank you everyone for all the information.

In my opinion I think you should just get used to eating at a calorie deficit however that feels comfortable to you and eating whatever you would like to eat, rather than what you think you should eat.

You can then experiment with adding and taking things out of your diet to see how that makes you feel and how your body reacts.

Obviously if you feel comfortable with a diet high in lean meat, fruit and veg right off the bat then do that but it's not an absolute requirement.

Dieting does not have to equate with punishing yourself if you catch my drift.

craigineson

It's more of a involuntary response when someone makes a variation of the "carbs make you fat/insulin is the debil" argument. I thought we had dispensed with such nonsense in the 90's.

Well, yes... The way that a lot of people eat these days, I would say insulin is a problem. Chronically high insulin causes water and salt retention which drives hypertension. Triglycerides, which are strongly associated with heart disease, are elevated on high-carbohydrate eating (and this is due to carbohydrates providing the glycerol to make triglycerides so that insulin can "fix" then into the fat cells). Insulin itself and the accompanying ups-and-downs of blood sugar are associated with the whole spectrum of "diseases of modern civilization", including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc. It has its positive functions, but not in excess.

I would consider it settled, but I wouldn't consider it non-sense. If you don't want to grow (muscle or fat), then carbohydrates aren't necessary. They're not a maintenance macronutrient, they're a growth macro (which interestingly explains their role in the development of tumours...)

Zero carb diet. OMG! My question is how much are people paying for these book that make such wild claims?!?

I never said the diets were zero carb - I said that the essential requirement for carbohydrates is 0g per day. What that means is that humans do not need a single gram of carbohydrates to survive. However, if we went for an extended period of time without protein or fat, we'd get very unhealthy as they are essential.

I would actually advocate the approach made by Dr. Wulfgang Lutz in his work "Life without bread" which states that 6-Bread-Units per day is ideal for fat loss and human nutrition. That translates at about 72g of net carbohydrates per day, giving some flexibility in meal planning.

To answer your question: The original "low carb" diet was advocated by William Banting back in the 1700s. He was prescribed a diet by a London doctor by the name of Dr. William Harvey which emphasised that dietary carbohydrates were the cause of his rotund-belly. He wrote about his experience after losing substantial weight, his "Letters on Corpulence", and it was sold for a low cost, or given away for free. Any profits derived from sales were donated to hospitals and charities. The text is still available, for free, today and the diet is still very relevant to human health. Google it.

Actually, eating grains as part of an balanced, healthy diet is a no-brainer, unless you have some sort of medical condition. And dairy is awesome and healthy. This is what people mean when they say paleo folks claim it's the "one true way." To claim that *humans in general* should not eat grains or dairy or legumes is just silly. So silly, in fact, that it makes people laugh out loud when they hear it. *SOME* humans have intolerances/allergies to certain foods. But let's not make wild claims like, "Sacrificing refined products, grains, and dairy just seemed like a no-brainer."

This is why you find people who aren't on paleo making comments in these types of threads. Too many people tell too many lies. So don't eat bread or cheese of peanuts if you don't want to, or if a medical condition prevents it. But don't make false claims that are nothing but scare tactics to get people to buy books.

Damn, you've caught me... I'm clearly trying to tell you all about my positive experience to lead you up to the crescendo of selling you a book!

Look, I'm presenting my experience here - that's all. It's not the one true way, it's it's a way. I'm not saying what you're doing is wrong, but it's undeniable (for example) that grains contain defence mechanisms, like phytates, which harm human health. They cause nutrient absorption issues and are just nasty.

Dairy causes uncharacteristically high insulin spikes which is odd considering its macro-nutrient breakdown. This is disruptive to fat loss. At the end of the day, when conducting my research and from my experience, it seemed like a no-brainer to cut these out. If it didn't seem like a no-brainer to you, then carry on.

The OP asked about paleo. I gave her an answer. That simple.

jennaworksout

Holy crap this is a lot of info for me to process. I am not looking for something super restrictive & I LOVE my carbs. I just not sure how to change my diet to achieve results. I know it needs to change and keep hearing about this diet. Thank you everyone for all the information.

In my opinion I think you should just get used to eating at a calorie deficit however that feels comfortable to you and eating whatever you would like to eat, rather than what you think you should eat.

You can then experiment with adding and taking things out of your diet to see how that makes you feel and how your body reacts.

Obviously if you feel comfortable with a diet high in lean meat, fruit and veg right off the bat then do that but it's not an absolute requirement.

Dieting does not have to equate with punishing yourself if you catch my drift.

Yeah sounds like it may not be for you if you love your carbs, I am not a huge carb fan so it work for me

bcattoes

Holy crap this is a lot of info for me to process. I am not looking for something super restrictive & I LOVE my carbs. I just not sure how to change my diet to achieve results. I know it needs to change and keep hearing about this diet. Thank you everyone for all the information.

Read this site: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/

It is evidence based advice from the experts in nutrition. Eating healthy is really easy and does need to be super restrictive. You just need to make simple changes like less added sugar, whole grains instead of white, lots of veggies, more unsaturated fat than saturated, lean meats, fish and poultry. No need for gimics if you eat smart.

bcattoes

but it's undeniable (for example) that grains contain defence mechanisms, like phytates, which harm human health. They cause nutrient absorption issues and are just nasty.

That's statement is actually very deniable and easily disproved by the shear number of healthy people who eat grains.

craigineson

That's statement is actually very deniable and easily disproved by the shear number of healthy people who eat grains.

I don't consider that statement "denied" in any way by your comments.
Grains contain phytates. Phytates cause nutrient absorption issues. Unless you and the "shear number of healthy people" are monitoring the bio-availability of nutrients to your body at all times (you're not), you can't just dismiss the fact that phytate containing grains cause nutrient absorption issues with reference to people being healthy. Without grains, I'd probably say that people who are already healthy could be healthier.

Chief_Rocka

Well, yes... The way that a lot of people eat these days, I would say insulin is a problem. Chronically high insulin causes water and salt retention which drives hypertension. Triglycerides, which are strongly associated with heart disease, are elevated on high-carbohydrate eating (and this is due to carbohydrates providing the glycerol to make triglycerides so that insulin can "fix" then into the fat cells). Insulin itself and the accompanying ups-and-downs of blood sugar are associated with the whole spectrum of "diseases of modern civilization", including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc. It has its positive functions, but not in excess.

To blame insulin specifically is silly. The issue is overeating/inactivity generally.

Bakkasan

Haters gonna hate

jharb2

fruits and vegetables are not zero carbs

bcattoes

That's statement is actually very deniable and easily disproved by the shear number of healthy people who eat grains.

I don't consider that statement "denied" in any way by your comments.
Grains contain phytates. Phytates cause nutrient absorption issues. Unless you and the "shear number of healthy people" are monitoring the bio-availability of nutrients to your body at all times (you're not), you can't just dismiss the fact that phytate containing grains cause nutrient absorption issues with reference to people being healthy. Without grains, I'd probably say that people who are already healthy could be healthier.

Your statement was "which harm human health". There are millions, possibly billions of people who eat whole grains regularly whose health has not been harmed, therefore the statement is false.

It is not necessary to monitor the bio-availability of nutrients to your body at all times to know if you have a nutrient deficiency.

Healthy mean free of disease, ailment or injury. If one is free of these things, how would one become more free of them?

denise33027

Like anything else, do your own research and do what is best for you. Obviously some people here are very against this way of eating. For me, I have never felt better.

Bakkasan

Just take a trip to pubmed, there are a LOT of studies.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed