What is the REAL paleo diet?

To bring this back to Paleo, the point is that Paleo eliminates processed foods from the diet. The philosophy is that you can either eat foods that make you more healthy, or less healthy. Eating processed foods often makes people less healthy, because they tend to be less nutritious per cal than whole foods, and people tend to overeat them. Eating whole foods (and well-sourced meat is healthy in my book), is more satiating and nourishing, and tends to minimize over-eating.

Many people also really hate the fact that Paleo eliminates so many things. No grains, most legumes, soy, added sugars or artificial sweeteners. There's that ever-present "calories in, calories out" crowd, and "as long as it fits within your macros" crowd. But for me personally, I recognize that those things I eliminated are not only not very nutritious, but they are the very things that I tended to overeat on a SAD diet. I find it much easier to eliminate than to moderate those things. When I try to moderate those foods, eventually they drive up my cravings. If I eliminate them, I don't crave them. I am much more in control of my eating now, rather than my food controlling me.


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What I really love about Paleos is their willingness to make up stuff as they go along and totally ignore real science. This has been the hallmark of Paleo since it first reared its ugly head a few years ago.

First, man has been eating processed grains for at least 100,000 years:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2009/12/17/humans-feasting-on-grains-for-at-least-100000-years/

Second, I have not seen a study that says processed foods, per se make anyone unhealthy. However there are literally HUNDREDS of studies that show that eating meat can cause chronic illness, just one small example:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/mar/12/red-meat-death-heart-cancer

Please answer this question: Why do Paleos ignore real science and make stuff up. What you said above actually applies to you:

"Many people also really hate the fact that Paleo eliminates so many things"

What you hate is that the things you like are shown to be harmful. Meat eaters just will not give up their addition, which by the way is fine by me, just so long as we don't get some nonsense like Obamacare where I have to pay for your bypass operation or chemotherapy.

This is intended tongue in cheek.......

Can I throw in the mix that the cavemen and neanderthals rarely lived beyond the age of 30...so their diet wasn't all that good!!


martyxx:flowerforyou:

Nondigestible Carbohydrates and Mineral Bioavailability
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/129/7/1434S.full

Insulin-Like Activity of Concanavalin A and Wheat Germ Agglutinin—Direct Interactions with Insulin Receptors
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC433288/

Leptin predicts a worsening of the features of the metabolic syndrome independently of obesity.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16129731


I read one of these three studies("insulin like activity.....") , and the authors refused to speculate as to what the study means. Perhaps you could tell me what you think it means and why?

This is intended tongue in cheek.......

Can I throw in the mix that the cavemen and neanderthals rarely lived beyond the age of 30...so their diet wasn't all that good!!


martyxx:flowerforyou:

You may have meant it as tongue and cheek, but it is actually a good point. Really, no one knows WHAT the caveman diet really was, other than some characteristics like extremely high fiber (100g per day) and on top of that, no one really knows how GOOD the diet was since most of them did not live to be 40.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet ThaT WHAT THIS ARTICLE says . exactly shorter life span and what not. This article has the history and everything else. I hate fish so it wouldnt work for me

This is intended tongue in cheek.......

Can I throw in the mix that the cavemen and neanderthals rarely lived beyond the age of 30...so their diet wasn't all that good!!


martyxx:flowerforyou:

Yes. But, did they die of something that diet could have prevented? Or did they die of an infection that today is easily treatable, or by being trapped under a rock or tree in a time before equipment to move heavy objects existed. Were they killed by an animal or a rival human? Did they freeze or die of heat exhaustion or drown or other weather related calamaties? More than just diet has changed since that time after all.

This is intended tongue in cheek.......

Can I throw in the mix that the cavemen and neanderthals rarely lived beyond the age of 30...so their diet wasn't all that good!!


martyxx:flowerforyou:

Yes. But, did they die of something that diet could have prevented? Or did they die of an infection that today is easily treatable, or by being trapped under a rock or tree in a time before equipment to move heavy objects existed. Were they killed by an animal or a rival human? Did they freeze or die of heat exhaustion or drown or other weather related calamaties? More than just diet has changed since that time after all.

Of course. But nonetheless, they died. When they died at 40, there is no way to know how healthy they would have been at 80.

This is intended tongue in cheek.......

Can I throw in the mix that the cavemen and neanderthals rarely lived beyond the age of 30...so their diet wasn't all that good!!


martyxx:flowerforyou:

Yes. But, did they die of something that diet could have prevented? Or did they die of an infection that today is easily treatable, or by being trapped under a rock or tree in a time before equipment to move heavy objects existed. Were they killed by an animal or a rival human? Did they freeze or die of heat exhaustion or drown or other weather related calamaties? More than just diet has changed since that time after all.

Diet cannot prevent death.

I never suggested it could. But it can prevent diseases that cause early death.