Paleo diet, crazy or worth it?

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  • msiamjan
    msiamjan Posts: 326 Member
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    I am willing to believe that people feel great following a paleo diet. If that is too daunting, another thing to try is just cutting all refined sugar from your diet. I did it once for an entire year and it had a lot of beneficial effects. I think the "caveman" concept is a little funny--I'm pretty sure they died fairly young. Also, they spent their days chasing and hunting food, not sitting at a computer. But, eating fresh wholesome foods sounds like a good idea in general.

    Oh, and yes, I'm eating some sugar now--I'm weak and it tastes so good . . . .
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
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    Peanuts can not be consumed in their natural state. You can not dig up a peanut and pop it in your mouth and eat it like you can say almonds. You can eat RAW almonds.

    Also, many Paleo people eat RAW dairy. This means they consume raw cheese, raw milk, butter made from raw cream, etc. Like milk a cow raw dairy.

    That is what Paleo is. Eating for health and nutrition and eating foods that can be eaten in their natural state as well as cooked.

    So you can eat meat in its natural state (uncooked)?

    ^^^ :laugh:

    I am a fan of raw dairy. But I am also a fan of roasted almonds. They taste nasty when they are raw. Honestly, I believe that *most* food tastes better when it's heated/grilled/toasted/roasted, etc. Raw food diets were big in the 90s. The owner of our local herb store is still into it.

    And why is it ok to eat a food once it's cooked, but only if that food could potentially be eaten raw? That makes no sense.

    Because the food is natural and unadulterated. Unlike processed, packaged, frozen, etc. That is NOT FOOD. It is processed junk that means nothing but to make humans sick.

    I don't eat roasted almonds. The oil that is used to roast them is rancid and causes inflammation and upsets the Omega 3 to Omega 6 balance that is crucial to ward off inflammation and keep good health.

    Yes, I eat RAW meat. Raw liver, raw steak, etc.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    Yes, I eat RAW meat. Raw liver, raw steak, etc.

    That is pretty bad-*kitten*. Disgusting, but still, bad-*kitten*.
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
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    oven roasted almonds (no oils used) are awesome
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
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    Peanuts can not be consumed in their natural state. You can not dig up a peanut and pop it in your mouth and eat it like you can say almonds. You can eat RAW almonds.

    Also, many Paleo people eat RAW dairy. This means they consume raw cheese, raw milk, butter made from raw cream, etc. Like milk a cow raw dairy.

    That is what Paleo is. Eating for health and nutrition and eating foods that can be eaten in their natural state as well as cooked.

    So you can eat meat in its natural state (uncooked)?

    ^^^ :laugh:

    I am a fan of raw dairy. But I am also a fan of roasted almonds. They taste nasty when they are raw. Honestly, I believe that *most* food tastes better when it's heated/grilled/toasted/roasted, etc. Raw food diets were big in the 90s. The owner of our local herb store is still into it.

    And why is it ok to eat a food once it's cooked, but only if that food could potentially be eaten raw? That makes no sense.
    [/quote]

    I don't think Paleo eliminates peanuts because you can't eat them raw. Here's some reasons which come from the Mark's Daily Apple blog. Any time you wonder why Paleo/Primal eliminates a food, you'll find the answer on his site. His answers always focus on the science, and if the science isn't fully definitive, he'll say that. I just picked a few items to reproduce below, but you can read the full post at: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-bad-is-peanut-butter-really/#axzz29UEuSDiJ

    "Why should we avoid it? What’s not to like about peanut butter? I’m not even going to discuss the soybean oil and sugar-laden garbage that passes for peanut butter, because my readers definitely aren’t asking about that stuff. They’re doing natural butter with peanuts (and salt) as likely the only ingredient.

    It generally contains aflatoxins.

    Aflatoxins are naturally occurring fungal toxins, or mycotoxins, produced by certain members of Aspergillus, a type of fungus found pretty much everywhere throughout the world. Aspergillus tends to colonize any monosaccharide and polysaccharide it comes across, as long as the conditions are right, but peanuts are particularly susceptible. Most crops are colonized after harvest and during storage, but since Aspergillus is found in the soil (among other places) and peanuts grow underground, peanut colonization often occurs well before harvest. The result is that peanuts are among the most contaminated crops, along with corn and cottonseed.

    Aflatoxin, being a toxin, is metabolized by the liver. Large enough doses of aflatoxin are a liver carcinogen in high doses (it’s actually what T. Colin Campbell used to induce liver cancer in mice during his China Study crusade to indict animal protein). Early exposure and elevated bloods level of aflatoxin are associated with stunted growth in children.

    Interestingly, it seems that the peanut butter-making process dramatically reduces the aflatoxin content of the initial peanuts, by around 89% (PDF). In the study, roasting at 160 degrees C reduced aflatoxin by 51%. Blanching, or skin removal, reduced it by 27%. Finally, grinding the peanuts into butter removed another 11% of the aflatoxin, probably because of the heat (not the actual grinding). So if you’re going to eat peanuts, stick with a good butter.

    Peanut oil has favorable effects on standard lipid panels. LDL drops, total drops, total:HDL ratio drops. The jury is out on how much that all matters, but eating peanut oil will probably make your cardiologist happy. Awesome, right? Maybe, but peanut fat appears to be uniquely atherogenic despite the lipid effects. For decades, it’s been used by scientists to induce atherosclerosis in cholesterol-fed rats, rabbits, and primates. Some researchers think that peanut lectins, present in the oil, are the cause of the atherogenicity. Reduction of the lectin content of peanut oil, through “vigorous washing,” also reduces the atherosclerosis it causes (although not completely).

    You know what else reduces the peanut lectin content? Not eating any peanut butter.

    It’s a little too tasty.

    There’s something about the combination of fat, salt, protein, and smooth scoopability of peanut butter that promotes overeating. I wasn’t able to bring up any concrete studies on the pro-bingeing effects of peanut butter in humans (though if you run a Google search for “peanut butter addiction,” you’ll get a bevy of testimonials from all sorts of people claiming to be addicted to the stuff), I believe it. And I bet obesity researchers who typically work with rodents would believe it, too, since peanut butter is often used in these studies as a high-reward, obesogenic comfort food that rats and mice will readily and consistently overeat.

    Ultimately, to feverishly scoop in a ravenous frenzy or not to feverishly scoop in a ravenous frenzy is a choice you have to make. I wouldn’t recommend eating peanut butter very regularly, and I know I won’t for the reasons mentioned above, but that doesn’t mean you have to follow suit. The inclusion – or exclusion – of peanut butter (or peanuts in general) will not make or break your Primal cred. There are a lot of things you want to have under control before obsessing over peanut butter, like grains, omega-6 oils, sleep, exercise, play, daily low level activity level, quality of meat, etc. You get those under control and then start thinking about some peanut butter as a treat every now and then, if ever.

    As I see it, the easy answer is to just not eat it, because I don’t see anything at which it particularly excels (besides inducing people to eat the entire jar in a single sitting). You can get your polyphenols and your minerals from fruits and vegetables, your monounsaturated fat from meat, olive oil, mac nuts, and avocados, and your smooth pulverized salty nutty fix from almond butter, mac nut butter, coconut butter, or any other nut butter – without the peanut lectin, the weirdly atherogenic fat, the aflatoxin load, or the insatiable desire to eat more and more and more until it’s all gone and your forearm is sticky."

    I love Mark. And his abs.
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
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    I don't do Paleo, but I'm pretty sure it's not a "fad diet".
    My sister in law and her husband started on this diet. She has lost a lot of weight in the month she has been on it. I personally don’t think it’s good to go on a diet. I believe diets are to short term. I believe it’s better to change your outlook on food and listen to your body. I don’t think fad diets work in the long run.

    I pretty sure that the term "fad" describes it appropriately. It's the latest thing in dieting and will not stand the test of time. It's much better than some of these silly single-food diets and such, but indeed, it is a fad.

    A natural diet based on animals and plants "didn't stand the test of time". Really? You win the award for the most brilliant comment ever. :noway:

    You are not exactly describing "paleo" when you say a natural diet based on plants and animals. Don't peanuts come from plants? Does cheese and milk come from animals?

    You are completely looking over the point.

    Peanuts can not be consumed in their natural state. You can not dig up a peanut and pop it in your mouth and eat it like you can say almonds. You can eat RAW almonds.

    Also, many Paleo people eat RAW dairy. This means they consume raw cheese, raw milk, butter made from raw cream, etc. Like milk a cow raw dairy.

    That is what Paleo is. Eating for health and nutrition and eating foods that can be eaten in their natural state as well as cooked.

    So you can eat meat in its natural state (uncooked)?

    Yep, I sure do from time to time. Becoming more often actually.

    I love raw beef liver, hamburger and steaks.
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
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    Yes, peanuts are toxic from fungus and such. BUT, another reason to not eat them is the fact that they can not be eaten raw.

    Peanuts can not be consumed in their natural state. You can not dig up a peanut and pop it in your mouth and eat it like you can say almonds. You can eat RAW almonds.

    Also, many Paleo people eat RAW dairy. This means they consume raw cheese, raw milk, butter made from raw cream, etc. Like milk a cow raw dairy.

    That is what Paleo is. Eating for health and nutrition and eating foods that can be eaten in their natural state as well as cooked.

    So you can eat meat in its natural state (uncooked)?

    ^^^ :laugh:

    I am a fan of raw dairy. But I am also a fan of roasted almonds. They taste nasty when they are raw. Honestly, I believe that *most* food tastes better when it's heated/grilled/toasted/roasted, etc. Raw food diets were big in the 90s. The owner of our local herb store is still into it.

    And why is it ok to eat a food once it's cooked, but only if that food could potentially be eaten raw? That makes no sense.

    I don't think Paleo eliminates peanuts because you can't eat them raw. Here's some reasons which come from the Mark's Daily Apple blog. Any time you wonder why Paleo/Primal eliminates a food, you'll find the answer on his site. His answers always focus on the science, and if the science isn't fully definitive, he'll say that. I just picked a few items to reproduce below, but you can read the full post at: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-bad-is-peanut-butter-really/#axzz29UEuSDiJ

    "Why should we avoid it? What’s not to like about peanut butter? I’m not even going to discuss the soybean oil and sugar-laden garbage that passes for peanut butter, because my readers definitely aren’t asking about that stuff. They’re doing natural butter with peanuts (and salt) as likely the only ingredient.

    It generally contains aflatoxins.

    Aflatoxins are naturally occurring fungal toxins, or mycotoxins, produced by certain members of Aspergillus, a type of fungus found pretty much everywhere throughout the world. Aspergillus tends to colonize any monosaccharide and polysaccharide it comes across, as long as the conditions are right, but peanuts are particularly susceptible. Most crops are colonized after harvest and during storage, but since Aspergillus is found in the soil (among other places) and peanuts grow underground, peanut colonization often occurs well before harvest. The result is that peanuts are among the most contaminated crops, along with corn and cottonseed.

    Aflatoxin, being a toxin, is metabolized by the liver. Large enough doses of aflatoxin are a liver carcinogen in high doses (it’s actually what T. Colin Campbell used to induce liver cancer in mice during his China Study crusade to indict animal protein). Early exposure and elevated bloods level of aflatoxin are associated with stunted growth in children.

    Interestingly, it seems that the peanut butter-making process dramatically reduces the aflatoxin content of the initial peanuts, by around 89% (PDF). In the study, roasting at 160 degrees C reduced aflatoxin by 51%. Blanching, or skin removal, reduced it by 27%. Finally, grinding the peanuts into butter removed another 11% of the aflatoxin, probably because of the heat (not the actual grinding). So if you’re going to eat peanuts, stick with a good butter.

    Peanut oil has favorable effects on standard lipid panels. LDL drops, total drops, total:HDL ratio drops. The jury is out on how much that all matters, but eating peanut oil will probably make your cardiologist happy. Awesome, right? Maybe, but peanut fat appears to be uniquely atherogenic despite the lipid effects. For decades, it’s been used by scientists to induce atherosclerosis in cholesterol-fed rats, rabbits, and primates. Some researchers think that peanut lectins, present in the oil, are the cause of the atherogenicity. Reduction of the lectin content of peanut oil, through “vigorous washing,” also reduces the atherosclerosis it causes (although not completely).

    You know what else reduces the peanut lectin content? Not eating any peanut butter.

    It’s a little too tasty.

    There’s something about the combination of fat, salt, protein, and smooth scoopability of peanut butter that promotes overeating. I wasn’t able to bring up any concrete studies on the pro-bingeing effects of peanut butter in humans (though if you run a Google search for “peanut butter addiction,” you’ll get a bevy of testimonials from all sorts of people claiming to be addicted to the stuff), I believe it. And I bet obesity researchers who typically work with rodents would believe it, too, since peanut butter is often used in these studies as a high-reward, obesogenic comfort food that rats and mice will readily and consistently overeat.

    Ultimately, to feverishly scoop in a ravenous frenzy or not to feverishly scoop in a ravenous frenzy is a choice you have to make. I wouldn’t recommend eating peanut butter very regularly, and I know I won’t for the reasons mentioned above, but that doesn’t mean you have to follow suit. The inclusion – or exclusion – of peanut butter (or peanuts in general) will not make or break your Primal cred. There are a lot of things you want to have under control before obsessing over peanut butter, like grains, omega-6 oils, sleep, exercise, play, daily low level activity level, quality of meat, etc. You get those under control and then start thinking about some peanut butter as a treat every now and then, if ever.

    As I see it, the easy answer is to just not eat it, because I don’t see anything at which it particularly excels (besides inducing people to eat the entire jar in a single sitting). You can get your polyphenols and your minerals from fruits and vegetables, your monounsaturated fat from meat, olive oil, mac nuts, and avocados, and your smooth pulverized salty nutty fix from almond butter, mac nut butter, coconut butter, or any other nut butter – without the peanut lectin, the weirdly atherogenic fat, the aflatoxin load, or the insatiable desire to eat more and more and more until it’s all gone and your forearm is sticky."

    I love Mark. And his abs.
    [/quote]
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    oven roasted almonds (no oils used) are awesome

    Definitely agree with that! :drinker:
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
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    Why no legumes on Paleo?

    http://www.marksdailyapple.com/beans-legumes-carbs/#axzz29UHXf8ZL

    Yes, you have to cook them otherwise they cause intestinal distress. Plus the whole lectin thing. Plus they're high in carbs, and I'd rather get my carbs from more nutrient-dense veggies.

    I avoid them in a Mexican restaurant because they're full of salt and bad fats. I don't tend to make them at home, because... why should I? I have plenty of other cooking to do, I don't need to worry about soaking something for 24 hours first, and mushy beans from a BPA-laden can... I can do without.

    I would happily eat a small bowl of home-made lentils every once in a while, if someone else made them for me. But it's not like I'm craving beans... ever. So if they're not that great for me, and I don't really love them, it's easy to just forget about them.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    Peanuts can not be consumed in their natural state. You can not dig up a peanut and pop it in your mouth and eat it like you can say almonds. You can eat RAW almonds.

    Also, many Paleo people eat RAW dairy. This means they consume raw cheese, raw milk, butter made from raw cream, etc. Like milk a cow raw dairy.

    That is what Paleo is. Eating for health and nutrition and eating foods that can be eaten in their natural state as well as cooked.

    So you can eat meat in its natural state (uncooked)?

    ^^^ :laugh:

    I am a fan of raw dairy. But I am also a fan of roasted almonds. They taste nasty when they are raw. Honestly, I believe that *most* food tastes better when it's heated/grilled/toasted/roasted, etc. Raw food diets were big in the 90s. The owner of our local herb store is still into it.

    And why is it ok to eat a food once it's cooked, but only if that food could potentially be eaten raw? That makes no sense.

    I don't think Paleo eliminates peanuts because you can't eat them raw. Here's some reasons which come from the Mark's Daily Apple blog. Any time you wonder why Paleo/Primal eliminates a food, you'll find the answer on his site. His answers always focus on the science, and if the science isn't fully definitive, he'll say that. I just picked a few items to reproduce below, but you can read the full post at: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-bad-is-peanut-butter-really/#axzz29UEuSDiJ

    {snip}

    Just for the record, I have already read the articles about peanuts and peanut butter because of my RL paleo friends. I have, in fact, incorporated more peanut butter into my diet than ever. I used to only eat it once or twice a week, but now I eat it daily.

    I also researched peanuts and peanut butter back in high school when I was studying one of my heroes, George Washington Carver. It is this type of non-definitive, cherry-picking rhetoric that makes me call paleo a "fad." It is the new raw food diet, but with a twist and a new marketing scheme. George Washington Carver spent his entire life studying peanuts and their health benefits. And he never sold a book about his research, but rather gave his knowledge freely.

    http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventors/a/GWC.htm

    He was an agricultural chemist, a very difficult feat to achieve in his time period, considering his skin color, and founded a college where he refused to take a high salary. Fascinating man; fascinating life. He discovered hundreds of uses for peanuts, in addition to other agricultural products.

    He lived to be nearly 80 years old and ate peanuts every day. They are no miracle food, but neither are they toxic, unless you are allergic.
  • michikade
    michikade Posts: 313 Member
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    I wouldn't say I was necessarily doing "paleo" because there aren't really any foods i specifically cut except for processed foods, but for a while I only ate foods I could get within walking distance of my front door (geographically local foods, I mean). The flavor and quality of the foods and only eating foods In season was awesome!

    I spent a lot of time in farmers markets, but price wise it wasn't so different than shopping in a grocery store (except for meats, which were more by quite a bit), but I loved it so much I think I'm going to start again in the spring. (In my region, I'm not the biggest fan of late fall and winter foods).

    It takes a little creativity to cook around what you can find in season, but if you enjoy cooking or have time to do so, it can be a fun challenge! I also discovered a few foods last summer that I had never had but really enjoyed.

    To me, it's not about following a specific plan. It's about eating real food, and eating to live, not living to eat. That's my diet plan.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    {{Peanut butter}}

    The only peanut form I don't like is boiled. People love those down here, but I find them icky.

    I eat peanut butter pretty much every day, with my dark chocolate. Yum.
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
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    Now, to the OP...

    It is pretty hard to convert kids to eating Paleo. Of course, sugary carby things taste amazing. That's why so many of us overeat them, and kids wanting those things is no different. My kids would choose bagels, mac and cheese, pizza, and sweets over any other food I offered them. They're 4 and 3. And human.

    But as a mom, I know that a diet that primarily consists of those things is not good for them in the short-term or long-term. And I want them to know that, too. I have chosen to eat this way myself, and because I have, I have put much healthier foods in front of my kids (and non-paleo hubby). They know that "Mommy eats like a caveman". My oldest son is paying very close attention to what I eat, and he is making better choices. He knows which foods are "caveman foods" and which foods are "sometimes foods".

    I feel better knowing that the veggies my boys get come from organic local farms. I feel better knowing that the beef they eat came from a grass-fed cow that was raised only a few miles away. The eggs they eat come from local pastured hens. That's Paleo, and it's part of what sets Paleo apart from "diets" like Atkins or other so-called "fad" diets. For the OP's friend, I think any parent who is able to do provide healthy alternatives to packaged crap, whether they call it Paleo or not, is doing something right.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    {{Peanut butter}}

    The only peanut form I don't like is boiled. People love those down here, but I find them icky.

    I eat peanut butter pretty much every day, with my dark chocolate. Yum.

    I have never tried them boiled. But yes, peanut butter and chocolate is the best treat ever. I also like sprinkling peanuts on my ice cream with melted peanut butter. Yum!
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    {{Peanut butter}}

    The only peanut form I don't like is boiled. People love those down here, but I find them icky.

    I eat peanut butter pretty much every day, with my dark chocolate. Yum.

    I have never tried them boiled. But yes, peanut butter and chocolate is the best treat ever. I also like sprinkling peanuts on my ice cream with melted peanut butter. Yum!

    I LOVE melted peanut butter with Hershey's hot fudge (not syrup!!!) over chocolate ice cream. Best thing ever. And if that's what's going to kill me, I'll die happy.

    Boiled peanuts is a Southern thing. Or at least a Georgia and north Florida thing.
  • ericalyn73
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    Tried it. Hated it. Not realistic for MY way of life. I need more freedom in my diet. May work for others.
  • Akimajuktuq
    Akimajuktuq Posts: 3,037 Member
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    I don't do Paleo, but I'm pretty sure it's not a "fad diet".
    My sister in law and her husband started on this diet. She has lost a lot of weight in the month she has been on it. I personally don’t think it’s good to go on a diet. I believe diets are to short term. I believe it’s better to change your outlook on food and listen to your body. I don’t think fad diets work in the long run.

    I pretty sure that the term "fad" describes it appropriately. It's the latest thing in dieting and will not stand the test of time. It's much better than some of these silly single-food diets and such, but indeed, it is a fad.

    A natural diet based on animals and plants "didn't stand the test of time". Really? You win the award for the most brilliant comment ever. :noway:

    You are not exactly describing "paleo" when you say a natural diet based on plants and animals. Don't peanuts come from plants? Does cheese and milk come from animals?

    You are completely looking over the point.

    Peanuts can not be consumed in their natural state. You can not dig up a peanut and pop it in your mouth and eat it like you can say almonds. You can eat RAW almonds.

    Also, many Paleo people eat RAW dairy. This means they consume raw cheese, raw milk, butter made from raw cream, etc. Like milk a cow raw dairy.

    That is what Paleo is. Eating for health and nutrition and eating foods that can be eaten in their natural state as well as cooked.

    So you can eat meat in its natural state (uncooked)?

    YES!!! With wild meat, I eat it raw quite regularly, so do my Inuit family and friends! Raw meat is the ideal form for best nutrition, however, i'm not talking factory farmed livestock here. First, the meat must be from a healthy animal and then it depends on how it is handled before it gets to your plate. The more it's handled (processed) the more likely it is to be contaminated. I think we've seen proof of that in the many recalls lately, and it's not just meat but produce too.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    Peanuts can not be consumed in their natural state. You can not dig up a peanut and pop it in your mouth and eat it like you can say almonds. You can eat RAW almonds.

    Also, many Paleo people eat RAW dairy. This means they consume raw cheese, raw milk, butter made from raw cream, etc. Like milk a cow raw dairy.

    That is what Paleo is. Eating for health and nutrition and eating foods that can be eaten in their natural state as well as cooked.

    So you can eat meat in its natural state (uncooked)?

    ^^^ :laugh:

    I am a fan of raw dairy. But I am also a fan of roasted almonds. They taste nasty when they are raw. Honestly, I believe that *most* food tastes better when it's heated/grilled/toasted/roasted, etc. Raw food diets were big in the 90s. The owner of our local herb store is still into it.

    And why is it ok to eat a food once it's cooked, but only if that food could potentially be eaten raw? That makes no sense.

    I don't think Paleo eliminates peanuts because you can't eat them raw. Here's some reasons which come from the Mark's Daily Apple blog. Any time you wonder why Paleo/Primal eliminates a food, you'll find the answer on his site. His answers always focus on the science, and if the science isn't fully definitive, he'll say that. I just picked a few items to reproduce below, but you can read the full post at: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-bad-is-peanut-butter-really/#axzz29UEuSDiJ

    "Why should we avoid it? What’s not to like about peanut butter? I’m not even going to discuss the soybean oil and sugar-laden garbage that passes for peanut butter, because my readers definitely aren’t asking about that stuff. They’re doing natural butter with peanuts (and salt) as likely the only ingredient.

    It generally contains aflatoxins.

    Aflatoxins are naturally occurring fungal toxins, or mycotoxins, produced by certain members of Aspergillus, a type of fungus found pretty much everywhere throughout the world. Aspergillus tends to colonize any monosaccharide and polysaccharide it comes across, as long as the conditions are right, but peanuts are particularly susceptible. Most crops are colonized after harvest and during storage, but since Aspergillus is found in the soil (among other places) and peanuts grow underground, peanut colonization often occurs well before harvest. The result is that peanuts are among the most contaminated crops, along with corn and cottonseed.

    Aflatoxin, being a toxin, is metabolized by the liver. Large enough doses of aflatoxin are a liver carcinogen in high doses (it’s actually what T. Colin Campbell used to induce liver cancer in mice during his China Study crusade to indict animal protein). Early exposure and elevated bloods level of aflatoxin are associated with stunted growth in children.

    Interestingly, it seems that the peanut butter-making process dramatically reduces the aflatoxin content of the initial peanuts, by around 89% (PDF). In the study, roasting at 160 degrees C reduced aflatoxin by 51%. Blanching, or skin removal, reduced it by 27%. Finally, grinding the peanuts into butter removed another 11% of the aflatoxin, probably because of the heat (not the actual grinding). So if you’re going to eat peanuts, stick with a good butter.

    Peanut oil has favorable effects on standard lipid panels. LDL drops, total drops, total:HDL ratio drops. The jury is out on how much that all matters, but eating peanut oil will probably make your cardiologist happy. Awesome, right? Maybe, but peanut fat appears to be uniquely atherogenic despite the lipid effects. For decades, it’s been used by scientists to induce atherosclerosis in cholesterol-fed rats, rabbits, and primates. Some researchers think that peanut lectins, present in the oil, are the cause of the atherogenicity. Reduction of the lectin content of peanut oil, through “vigorous washing,” also reduces the atherosclerosis it causes (although not completely).

    You know what else reduces the peanut lectin content? Not eating any peanut butter.

    It’s a little too tasty.

    There’s something about the combination of fat, salt, protein, and smooth scoopability of peanut butter that promotes overeating. I wasn’t able to bring up any concrete studies on the pro-bingeing effects of peanut butter in humans (though if you run a Google search for “peanut butter addiction,” you’ll get a bevy of testimonials from all sorts of people claiming to be addicted to the stuff), I believe it. And I bet obesity researchers who typically work with rodents would believe it, too, since peanut butter is often used in these studies as a high-reward, obesogenic comfort food that rats and mice will readily and consistently overeat.

    Ultimately, to feverishly scoop in a ravenous frenzy or not to feverishly scoop in a ravenous frenzy is a choice you have to make. I wouldn’t recommend eating peanut butter very regularly, and I know I won’t for the reasons mentioned above, but that doesn’t mean you have to follow suit. The inclusion – or exclusion – of peanut butter (or peanuts in general) will not make or break your Primal cred. There are a lot of things you want to have under control before obsessing over peanut butter, like grains, omega-6 oils, sleep, exercise, play, daily low level activity level, quality of meat, etc. You get those under control and then start thinking about some peanut butter as a treat every now and then, if ever.

    As I see it, the easy answer is to just not eat it, because I don’t see anything at which it particularly excels (besides inducing people to eat the entire jar in a single sitting). You can get your polyphenols and your minerals from fruits and vegetables, your monounsaturated fat from meat, olive oil, mac nuts, and avocados, and your smooth pulverized salty nutty fix from almond butter, mac nut butter, coconut butter, or any other nut butter – without the peanut lectin, the weirdly atherogenic fat, the aflatoxin load, or the insatiable desire to eat more and more and more until it’s all gone and your forearm is sticky."

    I love Mark. And his abs.
    [/quote]

    So, lots of scientific mumbo jumbo about contaminants that are toxic in exorbitant amounts without siting any actual studies or evidence to back up the suggested notion that anywhere near these amounts exist in the amount of peanuts or peanut butter that the average person would eat. Then saying it doesn't really matter as most of the toxins are negated during processing. Then ending with the real reason you shouldn't eat peanut butter is that I can't eat it without binging. Is that about it?

    Does he site even one actual nutrition scientist that agrees that peanuts or peanut butter is unhealthy?
  • swiftfox82
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    my doctor put me on it with no dairy because I have digestion problems and I have hashimoto's disease which gave me a hypothyroid. I must say that it has been the easiest most successful diet I have ever been on. Take it one step at a time and don't be so strict all the time with it and it will make you feel good. I think everyone needs to try it out seriously and see how it makes them feel. Getting healthy isn't just about losing weight but I really got over my weight loss platue with the paleo.

    I really can't believe how well this diet works when I have tried so hard with just counting calories and "eating right". I have learned that what the gov tells you is healthy for your heart really is bad for it. I was on the diet very strictly for a month and my heart rate and blood pressure got much healthier than before I started the diet, and I could tell the difference when I would work out. i did not feel faint when running like I use too and it was much easier to build muscle.

    If someone like me with all the medical conditions I have can feel so good on it and become a fit person than I think it can benefit just about anyone.
  • bostonwolf
    bostonwolf Posts: 3,038 Member
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    I go more Primal (marksdailyapple.com) than Paleo but definitely tweak it a bit. I will occassionally eat peanuts and dont' have a real issue with beans either.

    Simply eliminating processed carbs does two things. One, it drastically reduces the amount of calories you are eating. Two, it increases the amount of protein you consume, which for me at least kills my appetite for long stretches of time.

    I'm down about 15lbs from my max and feel like this diet gives me much steadier, consistent energy. After having a bowl of chili for lunch I do not feel lethargic or tired like I would after a sandwich and a bag of chips.

    The toughest part of the diet for most people is getting enough fat to compensate for the lost carbs. We've all been conditioned for so long that fat is evil and eating it will make you fat. This simply isn't true. Once you accept that Primal is a much easier way to eat.

    And note that it is not a diet, it's a lifestyle. It's not something you do temporarily, it's a permanent change in the way you eat.

    Good luck!