PALEO (Cavemen) Eaters...
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ya know, I was looking on my expenses for the month. I realized i was easily dropping several dollars here and there for coffee shops, junk food, and lunch. I figured if I can cut those costs, i can put them into more quality food at home with plenty of leftovers. I started growing my own herbs and plan on growing my own spinach soon.0
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Been eating this way since March 2011. I do not live in a cave. I wear clothes I buy in a store. I shop in a grocery store and at the local farmers market. Eating foods that are consistent with a paleo template does not preclude modern shelter, clothing, sourcing food from someone else, or seeing a physician if necessary. Personally I find it easy to eat like this. It's other people who have a problem with it.0
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Sounds like I am in the minority here, but my wife and I have been on the primal blueprint for about 10 months now. We love it. I feel so much better without all of the processed junk in my system anymore, and I get plenty of nutrition and energy. Do we still have some processed foods every once in a while? Yes. But we stay primal more than 90% of the time. It is totally sustainable for the long haul. Grocery prices are definitely higher and I do spend more time cooking, but that's the price you pay to be healthier. Its all about choices and your priorities. If you can kick your old eating habits, the rewards are awesome. I have lost 102 pounds since starting, along with numerous other benefits I never even expected. That's just my 2 cents. Good luck!0
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It breaks down to a glorified low carb diet if you think about. The majority of your carbs come from complex carbs, the only simple carbs are fruit. Its just not sustainable. The food just doesn't supply enough energy. Cross fitters on this must load up on caffeine and pre-workout energy supplements to have enough energy to make it through a workout. I tried it and my energy levels were out of wack.
Which is stupid because cavemen didn't have caffeine or supplements. Sounds like typical crossfit logic though.0 -
I tried hunting and scavenging for a while. Neighbors complained about me bludgeoning pigeons and stealing their tomatoes. So I had to stop.
ya...u a funny boy
can't describe the actual protocol so make up lame jokes about something you don't really understand
good job
A little sensitive about your pseudoscience? What exactly is it that I don't understand? That perhaps eliminating whole food groups from one's diet such as dairy, legumes and grains without some solid research is a bit over the top? Or that, this clearly looks like another half-baked fad diet that may very well cause more harm than good? Please enlighten me oh holy one.0 -
half-baked fad diet that may very well cause more harm than good? Please enlighten me oh holy one.
if you think it may cause harm...no sense in talking
have fun0 -
half-baked fad diet that may very well cause more harm than good? Please enlighten me oh holy one.
if you think it may cause harm...no sense in talking
have fun
Yawn. Okey dokey then . . . back to reality.0 -
A little sensitive about your pseudoscience? What exactly is it that I don't understand? That perhaps eliminating whole food groups from one's diet such as dairy, legumes and grains without some solid research is a bit over the top? Or that, this clearly looks like another half-baked fad diet that may very well cause more harm than good? Please enlighten me oh holy one.
Just to clarify: my understanding of the paleo way of eating is (1) meat/poultry/seafood, and (2) plants (vegetables, fruit, etc.). While it doesn't include specific plants (grasses like wheat, corn, oats, etc., and legumes like beans, peanuts, etc), it DOES include pretty much every other plant. Bagels, poptarts, cereal etc. is a made up food group--the products of one plant family which would be inedible without processing. As recently as 200 years ago, these would not be considered a 'food group'; they were filler for the main event: meat & vegetables. Calling these a food group is like calling hamburger a food group. I have no problem not eating a food group that considers a cereal with 38gr of sugar per serving to be acceptable. This is better than a poached egg?0 -
A little sensitive about your pseudoscience? What exactly is it that I don't understand? That perhaps eliminating whole food groups from one's diet such as dairy, legumes and grains without some solid research is a bit over the top? Or that, this clearly looks like another half-baked fad diet that may very well cause more harm than good? Please enlighten me oh holy one.
Just to clarify: my understanding of the paleo way of eating is (1) meat/poultry/seafood, and (2) plants (vegetables, fruit, etc.). While it doesn't include specific plants (grasses like wheat, corn, oats, etc., and legumes like beans, peanuts, etc), it DOES include pretty much every other plant. Bagels, poptarts, cereal etc. is a made up food group--the products of one plant family which would be inedible without processing. As recently as 200 years ago, these would not be considered a 'food group'; they were filler for the main event: meat & vegetables. Calling these a food group is like calling hamburger a food group. I have no problem not eating a food group that considers a cereal with 38gr of sugar per serving to be acceptable. This is better than a poached egg?
And why would the egg be so much better than the 38g of carbs that the hamburger have ? Eggs have a lot of cholesterol. if you have trouble metabolizing cholesterol, egg could very well be one of the worst thing for you...
And anyways, why is carbs so bad ? May I remind all of you that the primary fuel of your body are those carbs ? People tend to mix up a lot of things here...0 -
A little sensitive about your pseudoscience? What exactly is it that I don't understand? That perhaps eliminating whole food groups from one's diet such as dairy, legumes and grains without some solid research is a bit over the top? Or that, this clearly looks like another half-baked fad diet that may very well cause more harm than good? Please enlighten me oh holy one.
Just to clarify: my understanding of the paleo way of eating is (1) meat/poultry/seafood, and (2) plants (vegetables, fruit, etc.). While it doesn't include specific plants (grasses like wheat, corn, oats, etc., and legumes like beans, peanuts, etc), it DOES include pretty much every other plant. Bagels, poptarts, cereal etc. is a made up food group--the products of one plant family which would be inedible without processing. As recently as 200 years ago, these would not be considered a 'food group'; they were filler for the main event: meat & vegetables. Calling these a food group is like calling hamburger a food group. I have no problem not eating a food group that considers a cereal with 38gr of sugar per serving to be acceptable. This is better than a poached egg?
Just clarify further then, its Paleo or pop tarts? And the grains available to modern humans are "bagels, poptarts and [sugar] cereals"? I believe I addressed "dairy, legumes and grains". Probably best to avoid the straw man arguments.0 -
So many of the wonder-stories about 'paleo' suffer from the logical fallacy 'afterwards, therefore because of' (post hoc ergo propter hoc): "I lost 50 pounds doing paleo and I feel great!" "I had TypeII diabetes but paleo cured me!".
Losing 50 pounds via any method would more than likely have had the same effect on wellbeing, and switching to any type of improved diet with less sugar and refined carbohydrate would help with TypeII diabetes. Paleo may have been a means to that end (It was sufficient), but it is not the only way to achieve such goals (it is not necessary).
OP - if you want to try it, I see no reason it would be detrimental. But simply making an effort to eat more whole, unprocessed foods and maintain a modest caloric deficit would be as effective for weightloss, and probably more sustainable.
Also, a true 'paleolithic' diet is closer to VLCD with very minimal meat consumption. Probably less than 500 cals on many days (OMG! Starvation MODE!!!). Don't fall the pseudoscientific BS about it representing any kind of ancestral diet.0 -
I agree and disagree with the above. Here are two reasons why I think Paleo is potentially dangerous:
(1) It perpetuates a myth that some foods are so bad for you that they need to be cut out of everyone's diet entirely. I disagree with this even with things like pizza and ice cream because it puts people in the very difficult position of trying to live a life free of foods that they strongly desire. Creating a "love/hate" relationship with food is part of what causes many people to become overweight or to develop an ED in the first place. The role of a good diet is to give people a recipe that they can realistically and consistently follow for the rest of their lives. Remember, this isn't the first fad diet to come along and be dispelled. Any of you remember Fit for Life, the low fat craze, Atkins?
(2) Yet, with Paleo its not only high sugar and high fat foods with little nutritional value (for the record pizza and ice cream have some solid nutritional components) that are to be cut out, but things like legumes, dairy and even whole grains. Each of these have plenty of research to support their use as part of a healthy and well balanced diet. The Paleo counter is a pseudoscientific argument that these weren't part of our evolutionary diet - any even Paleo theorists don't agree on what should be cut out. When anthropological community starts taking the Paleo claims seriously, it may perhaps warrant further investigation but even assuming that "cave men" ate this diet it wouldn't necessarily make it the healthiest diet. If you do take one of the above nutritional components out of your diet then, they will need to be replaced with something that fills the gap. Take milk for example. It is a source of calcium and (if skim) very lean protein. If someone is lactose intolerant then or otherwise allergic, then they must remove it for those medical reasons. But what about the large number of people who are not? Why make it harder on them if there isn't significant research supporting the theory?
If you are a paleo enthusiast and are able to create a consistently balanced diet, then more power to you, but don't be surprised that there are many of us who just cannot take the core claims seriously. My apologies for the snarky start in my earlier posts, but there are many of us who are very healthy and yet clearly do not eat this way.0 -
How much education do you have on the history of food? Cereal grains and breads have been main components of meals for several thousand years, not just "filler for the main event." There were hundreds of thousands of people who very rarely ate meat, because meat was unavailable (not every society was hunter centric, many became agrarian, and farming animals for meat was not that common, as the resources to make it viable were just not available.) Meat was a relatively rare treat. People mostly survived on breads, dairy, nuts, seeds, and vegetables (fruits were also exceedingly rare in most climates.)
A little sensitive about your pseudoscience? What exactly is it that I don't understand? That perhaps eliminating whole food groups from one's diet such as dairy, legumes and grains without some solid research is a bit over the top? Or that, this clearly looks like another half-baked fad diet that may very well cause more harm than good? Please enlighten me oh holy one.
Just to clarify: my understanding of the paleo way of eating is (1) meat/poultry/seafood, and (2) plants (vegetables, fruit, etc.). While it doesn't include specific plants (grasses like wheat, corn, oats, etc., and legumes like beans, peanuts, etc), it DOES include pretty much every other plant. Bagels, poptarts, cereal etc. is a made up food group--the products of one plant family which would be inedible without processing. As recently as 200 years ago, these would not be considered a 'food group'; they were filler for the main event: meat & vegetables. Calling these a food group is like calling hamburger a food group. I have no problem not eating a food group that considers a cereal with 38gr of sugar per serving to be acceptable. This is better than a poached egg?
In the Middle Ages, meals were served on breads, not plates. Without the things that the paleo diet cuts out, humans would not have made it beyond then, for the most part.0 -
Without the things that the paleo diet cuts out, humans would not have made it beyond then, for the most part.
total hogwash0 -
As an animal behaviourist the first thing we are told to do if animals are having any kind of health or behavioural issues in captivity is to look at how they live in naturally and then see if their captive lifestyle is depriving them of the diet or natural behaviours they would express.
I dont care hoe far people think we have come, evolutionarily we are still almost exactly the same as our cavemen ancestors and for me it makes the most sense to try and incorporate their diet and lifestyle into our modern one to limit modem day ailments. I mean we havnt evolved to have 24 hour supermarkets and fast food places, and the western world not only have an obesity crisis but we also suffer from more mental illness such as depression and stress. Personally I feel these are linked, but obviously thats just my opinion.
That being said I still havnt figured out how to live paleo, considering I'm a vegan for environmentally ethical reasons. I do however stay away from grains and carbs and anything processed. For me I notice I feel more sluggish, sick and get joint pain when I live off a diet with so called "normal" amounts of carbs in, even if they are whole wheat.
But everyone is different. For example what feels natural to me and makes me feel fantastic on a day to day basis (eating low carb) makes my boyfriend feel sick, dizzy and cranky. Yeah loads of people say its "withdrawal from carbs" or whatever and you have to push through it, but if its not working for you whats the point. Like everyone has said if you cant live the rest of your life without bread and your going to gorge on it as soon as you have lost the weight you want to its pointless following such an extream diet for any amount of time.
If it interests you I say try it out for a little while, only you can know if it will make you feel and how good it is at fitting in with your lifestyle and your health goals. If you try it out for a month and dont like it you have only lost out on four weeks, and you can give up at any time so there really isnt any harm in trying something new out is there?
Good luck in whatever you decide to do0 -
How much education do you have on the history of food? Cereal grains and breads have been main components of meals for several thousand years, not just "filler for the main event." There were hundreds of thousands of people who very rarely ate meat, because meat was unavailable (not every society was hunter centric, many became agrarian, and farming animals for meat was not that common, as the resources to make it viable were just not available.) Meat was a relatively rare treat. People mostly survived on breads, dairy, nuts, seeds, and vegetables (fruits were also exceedingly rare in most climates.)
A little sensitive about your pseudoscience? What exactly is it that I don't understand? That perhaps eliminating whole food groups from one's diet such as dairy, legumes and grains without some solid research is a bit over the top? Or that, this clearly looks like another half-baked fad diet that may very well cause more harm than good? Please enlighten me oh holy one.
Just to clarify: my understanding of the paleo way of eating is (1) meat/poultry/seafood, and (2) plants (vegetables, fruit, etc.). While it doesn't include specific plants (grasses like wheat, corn, oats, etc., and legumes like beans, peanuts, etc), it DOES include pretty much every other plant. Bagels, poptarts, cereal etc. is a made up food group--the products of one plant family which would be inedible without processing. As recently as 200 years ago, these would not be considered a 'food group'; they were filler for the main event: meat & vegetables. Calling these a food group is like calling hamburger a food group. I have no problem not eating a food group that considers a cereal with 38gr of sugar per serving to be acceptable. This is better than a poached egg?
In the Middle Ages, meals were served on breads, not plates. Without the things that the paleo diet cuts out, humans would not have made it beyond then, for the most part.
LOL. when did the middle ages become part of the Paleolithic era? Oh, and the food in the middle ages you refer to... The same around the world, or only in the English castles of your imagination?0 -
I agree and disagree with the above. Here are two reasons why I think Paleo is potentially dangerous:
(1) It perpetuates a myth that some foods are so bad for you that they need to be cut out of everyone's diet entirely. I disagree with this even with things like pizza and ice cream because it puts people in the very difficult position of trying to live a life free of foods that they strongly desire. Creating a "love/hate" relationship with food is part of what causes many people to become overweight or to develop an ED in the first place. The role of a good diet is to give people a recipe that they can realistically and consistently follow for the rest of their lives. Remember, this isn't the first fad diet to come along and be dispelled. Any of you remember Fit for Life, the low fat craze, Atkins?
(2) Yet, with Paleo its not only high sugar and high fat foods with little nutritional value (for the record pizza and ice cream have some solid nutritional components) that are to be cut out, but things like legumes, dairy and even whole grains. Each of these have plenty of research to support their use as part of a healthy and well balanced diet. The Paleo counter is a pseudoscientific argument that these weren't part of our evolutionary diet - any even Paleo theorists don't agree on what should be cut out. When anthropological community starts taking the Paleo claims seriously, it may perhaps warrant further investigation but even assuming that "cave men" ate this diet it wouldn't necessarily make it the healthiest diet. If you do take one of the above nutritional components out of your diet then, they will need to be replaced with something that fills the gap. Take milk for example. It is a source of calcium and (if skim) very lean protein. If someone is lactose intolerant then or otherwise allergic, then they must remove it for those medical reasons. But what about the large number of people who are not? Why make it harder on them if there isn't significant research supporting the theory?
If you are a paleo enthusiast and are able to create a consistently balanced diet, then more power to you, but don't be surprised that there are many of us who just cannot take the core claims seriously. My apologies for the snarky start in my earlier posts, but there are many of us who are very healthy and yet clearly do not eat this way.
Thanks for the thoughtful post. I don't think most Paleo eaters believe that eating Paleo is the only way to be healthy for everyone. At least I don't. Most come to it after trying other diets, find it works for them, and are surprised at how much better they feel. I think that's why some become so vocal about it. They may have spent years trying other diets and failing, for whatever reasons. Very often that's because some of the foods they were eating we're making them sick due to intolerances or allergies. Since Paleo eliminates the common culprits, they feel better on it. And when people start to feel better after decades of feeling like crap, they can sometimes get pretty passionate about sharing their story, and get defensive when told they shouldn't eat that way anymore.
What you say above tells them that what makes them feel great and is helping them achieve their goals, is dangerous. Understandably, that isn't appreciated. Does that make sense?
I do believe that most who stick with it eat a very balanced diet. The mistake you are making is assuming that eating Paleo means never making exceptions. Never treating. As with any diet, that's part of making it sustainable. You have read many posts on this thread from people sharing how they have made it work for them. Can you eat Paleo and enjoy a slice of pizza? Yes. Ice cream? Yes. Those foods are not the most healthy for our bodies, but if you are eating healthy most of the time, there's space to view them as a treat, just like any other diet out there.
I'm fortunate that I'm only mildly sensitive to gluten (discovered AFTER eliminating it) and mildly lactose intolerant. But I never really suffered I'll effects from them, so I'm not one of the people that has seen a huge difference in my health from Paleo, aside from weight loss. What I like is the structure of the diet.There are many, many people who find it hard to moderate eating. I'm one of them. I find it easier to think "I don't eat that anymore". Then, on special occasions, treating myself to it in a conscious way.
There are clear reasons backed by data to explain why each particular food is on the "no" list. Some people find that data compelling. Others don't. That's ok. Do the benefits of fiber and vitamins In legumes outweigh the negatives of phytates for you? Great. Don't eliminate them. I don't really care about phytates. But I'd rather give the space on my plate and in my calorie budget to veggies that have more fiber and vitamins. To me, that makes sense. Will I freak out if an errant bean hits my plate? No. Are you persuaded to avoid peanuts because of the lectins and aflatoxins? To me, it's a no-brainer to sub in almond butter. No biggie.
Anyway... This is a diet like any other. It helps some people, others not. If eating healthy veggies, meat, fruit, nuts, natural sugars and seeds is a fad, then it's a good fad in my mind, and I'll follow it.0 -
Two things:
1: If paleo/primal wasn't sustainable, I'd be dead. I've been doing it coming on three years.
2: Anyone who thinks meat was not consumed in large amounts by humans and we are, therefore, not adapted to eating large amounts, follow these instructions: Google "what do eskimos eat"0 -
As an animal behaviourist the first thing we are told to do if animals are having any kind of health or behavioural issues in captivity is to look at how they live in naturally and then see if their captive lifestyle is depriving them of the diet or natural behaviours they would express.
I dont care hoe far people think we have come, evolutionarily we are still almost exactly the same as our cavemen ancestors and for me it makes the most sense to try and incorporate their diet and lifestyle into our modern one to limit modem day ailments. I mean we havnt evolved to have 24 hour supermarkets and fast food places, and the western world not only have an obesity crisis but we also suffer from more mental illness such as depression and stress. Personally I feel these are linked, but obviously thats just my opinion.
That being said I still havnt figured out how to live paleo, considering I'm a vegan for environmentally ethical reasons. I do however stay away from grains and carbs and anything processed. For me I notice I feel more sluggish, sick and get joint pain when I live off a diet with so called "normal" amounts of carbs in, even if they are whole wheat.
But everyone is different. For example what feels natural to me and makes me feel fantastic on a day to day basis (eating low carb) makes my boyfriend feel sick, dizzy and cranky. Yeah loads of people say its "withdrawal from carbs" or whatever and you have to push through it, but if its not working for you whats the point. Like everyone has said if you cant live the rest of your life without bread and your going to gorge on it as soon as you have lost the weight you want to its pointless following such an extream diet for any amount of time.
If it interests you I say try it out for a little while, only you can know if it will make you feel and how good it is at fitting in with your lifestyle and your health goals. If you try it out for a month and dont like it you have only lost out on four weeks, and you can give up at any time so there really isnt any harm in trying something new out is there?
Good luck in whatever you decide to do
Awesome post. I agree that those that live a natural vegan way of life and the Paleo way of life have far more in common than most people think and your post exhibits that.
I firmly believe that vegans can also be Paleo and that is you. The vegans I speak of are those that don't eat grains and live as close to nature as possible. :flowerforyou:0 -
Two things:
1: If paleo/primal wasn't sustainable, I'd be dead. I've been doing it coming on three years.
2: Anyone who thinks meat was not consumed in large amounts by humans and we are, therefore, not adapted to eating large amounts, follow these instructions: Google "what do eskimos eat"
Ah so we all evolved from Eskimos? Here's a better thing to google;
Eaton et al. Paleolithic nutrition revisited: A twelve-year retrospective on its nature and implications. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1997) 51, 207±216As an animal behaviourist the first thing we are told to do if animals are having any kind of health or behavioural issues in captivity is to look at how they live in naturally and then see if their captive lifestyle is depriving them of the diet or natural behaviours they would express.
I dont care hoe far people think we have come, evolutionarily we are still almost exactly the same as our cavemen ancestors and for me it makes the most sense to try and incorporate their diet and lifestyle into our modern one to limit modem day ailments. I mean we havnt evolved to have 24 hour supermarkets and fast food places, and the western world not only have an obesity crisis but we also suffer from more mental illness such as depression and stress. Personally I feel these are linked, but obviously thats just my opinion.
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/01/dog-domestication-tied-to-starch.html0
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