SHOCKING!!! Health Screening Vegetarian to Paleo Comparison

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  • auroranflash
    auroranflash Posts: 3,569 Member
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    Glad you found a way of eating that works for you and you've had success with it.

    It comes down to adherence. If it's working for you and your lifestyle and you're seeing the results you want, go with it.
  • auria17
    auria17 Posts: 94 Member
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    Hi,

    Paleo isn't for everyone and frankly if everyone went Paleo we would have hugh trouble on our hands. I switched to it around June, I do an 80% Paleo 20% non- paleo as I still eat rice sometimes, and will have some cheese and dairy.

    I feel great! I used to have a lot of stomach issues before, got tested didn't have any real problem, but my digestion was never the best. This way of eating helps a lot for that. I haven't had a hugh change in weight or body fat, but I feel like my body looks better especially in my stomach area. I think if I stick with it my abs will show more.

    I was also worried about the numbers tho so thanks for posting your + results.
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
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    Re: your height - it may be simply because your posture is better these days / less curvature of the spine (or measurement error of course!)

    I think your results are superb. Do I think they are all diet related? No. Do I think your diet has helped? Most definitely. Do I think the lipid hypothesis of CHD and the vilification of cholesterol / saturated fat is a complete crock?

    Yes, yes I do.
  • andreanicole686
    andreanicole686 Posts: 406 Member
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    I like what you said. If it works for you then great! Everyone should see what works best for their body. Glad your seeing such good progress!
  • fugaj01
    fugaj01 Posts: 171 Member
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    I had a very similar experience. and had not lost much weight yet (and i had alot to lose 90 lbs), but my numbers for all my markers were greatly improved, like yours. with only 1.5 months of eating primal/paleo. Dont get me wrong, i love eating primal and keep that to about 90% of my eating habits. Though I wonder if just reducing carbs and highly refined/processed foods will acheive similar results without being stric paleo.
  • hungryshay
    hungryshay Posts: 40 Member
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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 heard about this diet the other day and wanted to try it. Sadly there are no Girl Scouts in my area. What time of year do they start selling again? Do you think Oreo's would be a good substitute?

    ;)
  • flobeedoodle
    flobeedoodle Posts: 176 Member
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    WOW is all I can say!!! Changing from a Vegetarian diet to a Paleo diet CLEARLY changed ALL my paramenters (except glucose, see * above) in the positive direction!

    I am really happy for you that you are happy with your health and diet. However, with a sample size of 1 it is not possible to have any sort of control condition to determine if there is even a correlation between the dietary habits and the test results, let alone to infer causality.
  • WhoTheHellIsBen
    WhoTheHellIsBen Posts: 1,238 Member
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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 am intrigued by your thin mint diet and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

    My 25lb dog eats one a night too, I told the vet this after he told me how perfect and healthy my dog was, the look on his face was priceless
  • zonah
    zonah Posts: 216 Member
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    I'm most impressed that you've gained a quarter inch in height at 24/25! :)


    Yes this is strange usually you don't grow after 18 yrs. I had a friend that grew an inch in 21st year.



    Congrats on your success though.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    There are always fat vegetarians and unhealthy vegetarians along with fat and unhealthy meat eaters. You were also overweight for your last test. Doesn't mean being vegetarian is automatically unhealthy or not as healthy as the paleo diet. And meat, cheese and fat in moderation is fine but too many people over eat all three and are very unhealthy.

    Exactly.
  • VitaBailey
    VitaBailey Posts: 271 Member
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    to clarify a few points...



    3)This is as close to a scientific experiment as I can possibly do. I switched my diet right after my 2011 screening and held all other variables constant as best as possible. As a biochemistry and genetics undergraduate and an engineer by trade, I understand how studies go. Yes there is the "causation and correlation" issue which is addressed by changing one parameter and monitoring the results. I'm pretty convinced.

    Your background actually makes it harder for me to get how you came to these conclusions. However, I am happy for you and wish you continued good health.
  • gingerveg
    gingerveg Posts: 748 Member
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    I'm glad for you that you are getting healthier. But if people are really interested in the health benefits of going low carb as an omni versus vegetarian, let me point you to research done on 100,000 people that show being a low carb vegetarian is way healthier in the long run than any other option. Hey if you want to eat meat, eat meat but lets try to be unbiased in looking at the benefits and consequences. I'm not saying this is not the best way for you (there are always aberrations) but it is still anecdotal. When looking for answers is is always best to look at the large numbers.

    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/
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    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.
  • tismyhardbody
    tismyhardbody Posts: 100 Member
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    Hi,

    Paleo isn't for everyone and frankly if everyone went Paleo we would have hugh trouble on our hands. I switched to it around June, I do an 80% Paleo 20% non- paleo as I still eat rice sometimes, and will have some cheese and dairy.

    I feel great! I used to have a lot of stomach issues before, got tested didn't have any real problem, but my digestion was never the best. This way of eating helps a lot for that. I haven't had a hugh change in weight or body fat, but I feel like my body looks better especially in my stomach area. I think if I stick with it my abs will show more.

    I was also worried about the numbers tho so thanks for posting your + results.

    what 'huge trouble' would we have on our hands??
  • Bonny619
    Bonny619 Posts: 311 Member
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    When you were a vegetarian the biggest components of your diet were gluten and dairy?
  • BaconMD
    BaconMD Posts: 1,165 Member
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    When you were a vegetarian the biggest components of your diet were gluten and dairy?
    Grilled cheese sandwiches rock! :D
  • Bonny619
    Bonny619 Posts: 311 Member
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    Yes, they do! lol
  • luvmypwds
    luvmypwds Posts: 81
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    to clarify a few points...

    1) when I was a vegetarian I ate lots of fruits, veggies, whole grains, and minimized fried stuff and processed items. I wasn't one of those french fry and ice cream vegetarians. You can see everything I ate since summer of 2009 in my food diary.

    2) For the exercise part of this equation: last year I spent half of the year training for marathons and the second half of the year strength training. Since then, I've increased the intensity of training but the premises of everything I did exercise wise is very similar to last year. Though, my HRM says I burned far more calories in 2011 than 2012 (running vs. lifting--clearly).

    3)This is as close to a scientific experiment as I can possibly do. I switched my diet right after my 2011 screening and held all other variables constant as best as possible. As a biochemistry and genetics undergraduate and an engineer by trade, I understand how studies go. Yes there is the "causation and correlation" issue which is addressed by changing one parameter and monitoring the results. I'm pretty convinced.

    4) I only lost 4 lbs since last year...I dont think that has as much of an impact on my other biometrics as eating a better diet does.

    5) I'm not saying vegetarian is bad, its just not best for ME given the fact that I have a gluten and dairy allergy and those were the main components of my diet back then. This is also why I switched diets---i figured out my food was actually making me ILL.

    6) I am confused about growing 1/4" though...maybe my hair is poofier than last year...

    7) Lastly, this is not a diet, how I eat is a lifestyle. I'm not saying its for everyone, but it works for me.

    Sorry you felt the need to defend your post. But you did a good job doing so. There will always be sour grapes. Don't heed them. You're doing wonderul!
  • beckajw
    beckajw Posts: 1,738 Member
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    I'm most impressed that you've gained a quarter inch in height at 24/25! :)


    Yes this is strange usually you don't grow after 18 yrs. I had a friend that grew an inch in 21st year.



    Congrats on your success though.

    I'm not paleo, but I have seen other paleo's report the same thing (that they grew after becoming paleo).
  • beckajw
    beckajw Posts: 1,738 Member
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    Interesting. But I'm a vegetarian and other than BMI (which I'm pretty sure was a BC issue), my numbers are better than yours.

    Uh, who cares? She's talking about herself. She is making good progress. If you want to talk about yourself, you can start a new post.

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