Paleo diet, crazy or worth it?

It is horrible for your health. You will likely lose weight, but you will have a plethora of health problems if you choose this long term. I know there are people who swear by it, but there are plenty of long term studies that find it is not a good long term solution.

It only works if you wear animal skins and use a flint tipped spear to hunt your meat.....

you also must discuss your hunting techniques over a broadband internet connection

That makes sense.
I read this post a while ago... her take is you can be vegetarian and Primal. But it's harder to be vegetarian and Paleo (no dairy) and very hard to be Vegan and Paleo. You'd end up eating a lot of your protein from nuts, which would make it very high cal and lots of phytates. It's interesting to read the comments on her post from people who are vegetarian/Paleo or vegan/Paleo. It can be done, but it seems with some tradeoffs.

http://www.paleoplan.com/2012/06-28/can-a-vegetarian-or-vegan-be-paleo/

Look at a list of the foods you wont be allowed to eat. beans, etc. now ask yourself if you can handle that long term.

If you can, go for it.

i read this list of no-go foods and laughed. my main proteins in about half my meals are on the ban list. beans, nuts, cheese-im a vegetarian and that would leave me eating very little.

I would never last either! I'm also a vegetarian (20+ years) and there's no way I could give up beans, nuts or cheese!!!! I'd starve!!:laugh:

I agree. While there are some Paleo vegetarians, it is VERY DIFFICULT. I would not recommend Paleo for someone who want to remain a vegetarian.

Sometimes I border on a Paleo Vegetarian with my eating. I don't find it difficult at all.

However, I could not a vegan Paleo - that would be very hard to do and I do like meat. I just like vegetables and fruits more.

I eat a lot of fat from coconut on those days and my protein comes from Hemp hearts and then eat loads of vegetables, nuts and some fruit. Home made yogurt is also a good protein source.

Wait, didn't you say you eat raw meat??? Hardly what I'd call vegetarian...

I never said I was a vegetarian. I stated that I SOMETIMES border on vegetarian. Which means I do enjoy some vegetarian days.

I eat plenty of protein, fat and vegetables. Read what I wrote.

It is horrible for your health. You will likely lose weight, but you will have a plethora of health problems if you choose this long term. I know there are people who swear by it, but there are plenty of long term studies that find it is not a good long term solution.

It is horrible for your health. You will likely lose weight, but you will have a plethora of health problems if you choose this long term. I know there are people who swear by it, but there are plenty of long term studies that find it is not a good long term solution.

total bullshirt

There *are* studies though that show increasing protein in the diet is the best route for long-term weight loss, and that the amount of carbs and fats are irrelevant, so long as protein is high and you're in a caloric deficit.

Hang on, before any more arguing, May I suggest you both step shirtless into this pit of mud...

Hang on, before any more arguing, May I suggest you both step shirtless into this pit of mud...

Teehee *sleazy*:happy:


Abbsy Baabsy, Im not suggesting this IS the reason that you had problems, but its the reason I think a lot do. People will NOT eat enough when trying to do paleo/primal. I tried following Tim Ferris's 4 hour body a while back, and was just so tired and lacking energy, so I went back to grains and my energy went up. I just wasnt eating enough to fuel myself and my workouts. When I decided to try paleo I made a conscious effort to eat more food, especially calorie dense foods like nuts and avocados. Ive never had energy problems so far, and actually have more energy (dont get mid afternoon slump anymore). Im not suggesting you try it again, or anything, but I do think a lot of people dont necessarily fuel themselves correctly, and that becomes an issue.

I am not sure if the above study is the same one, but it basically makes the same point. What I was remembering was cited in NROLFW, so I will look at the book again to get the citation. It might be the same one, but I didn't file away the citation in my brain.

I think it was the 2003 Harvard study. I would have to look it up again. I could be remembering wrong. It was basically saying that the groups that did high protein did the best at losing/maintaining. Some had more carbs and some had more fat. But the conclusion was that it is best to do *at least* 25% protein. While fats/carbs can play a larger role with body recomp when near maintenance levels, they are irrelevant in terms of fat oxidation when in a caloric deficit.

Edit: Actually, I think it was moderate protein, but the point was where protein should be between 25-30%

How long was the study, what were the different groups, and what was the margin of difference between the groups?

Context The role of diet composition in response to overeating and energy dissipation in humans is unclear.

Objective To evaluate the effects of overconsumption of low, normal, and high protein diets on weight gain, energy expenditure, and body composition.

Design, Setting, and Participants A single-blind, randomized controlled trial of 25 US healthy, weight-stable male and female volunteers, aged 18 to 35 years with a body mass index between 19 and 30. The first participant was admitted to the inpatient metabolic unit in June 2005 and the last in October 2007.

Intervention After consuming a weight-stabilizing diet for 13 to 25 days, participants were randomized to diets containing 5% of energy from protein (low protein), 15% (normal protein), or 25% (high protein), which they were overfed during the last 8 weeks of their 10- to 12-week stay in the inpatient metabolic unit. Compared with energy intake during the weight stabilization period, the protein diets provided approximately 40% more energy intake, which corresponds to 954 kcal/d (95% CI, 884-1022 kcal/d).

Main Outcome Measures Body composition was measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry biweekly, resting energy expenditure was measured weekly by ventilated hood, and total energy expenditure by doubly labeled water prior to the overeating and weight stabilization periods and at weeks 7 to 8.

Results Overeating produced significantly less weight gain in the low protein diet group (3.16 kg; 95% CI, 1.88-4.44 kg) compared with the normal protein diet group (6.05 kg; 95% CI, 4.84-7.26 kg) or the high protein diet group (6.51 kg; 95% CI, 5.23-7.79 kg) (P = .002). Body fat increased similarly in all 3 protein diet groups and represented 50% to more than 90% of the excess stored calories. Resting energy expenditure, total energy expenditure, and body protein did not increase during overfeeding with the low protein diet. In contrast, resting energy expenditure (normal protein diet: 160 kcal/d [95% CI, 102-218 kcal/d]; high protein diet: 227 kcal/d [95% CI, 165-289 kcal/d]) and body protein (lean body mass) (normal protein diet: 2.87 kg [95% CI, 2.11-3.62 kg]; high protein diet: 3.18 kg [95% CI, 2.37-3.98 kg]) increased significantly with the normal and high protein diets.

Conclusions Among persons living in a controlled setting, calories alone account for the increase in fat; protein affected energy expenditure and storage of lean body mass, but not body fat storage.