Paleo

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Some of my friends have been talking about doing a 30 day Paleo Challenge starting the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas. But I dont know to much about the diet and I am afraid of giving up dairy? I heard once your body has trouble processing it, after not having it for awhile..do you know if that is true? And whats your take on Paleo?

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  • Aakani
    Aakani Posts: 17 Member
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    My sister has been on Paleo for a month or two now, and it seems to be working quite well for her. The main draw is to switch to more natural things and get away from processed foods. If you are interested in trying it, you should probably start cutting out the processed foods now and try swapping some grains (since wheat isn't in paleo) for protein.

    What my sister has been doing is living by Paleo most of the time. Yeah, we still have family gatherings and she gets a slice of pie, too. You don't have to necessarily cut out dairy 100%, maybe just limit it to lower amounts.
  • jennaworksout
    jennaworksout Posts: 1,739 Member
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    i'm on day 24 of paleo, first 2 weeks were rough, fatigue and dizzyness which is to be expected when changing to this diet, but after that I feel great now!!! your body needs to adjust to the diet change, no sugar, etc....I haven't felt bloated ever, ( and i was bloated everyday before, my stomach never felt right ) now I feel really good everyday!!! ...I think I am going to stick with Paleo for life. Alot of work and prep for cooking , but I think its worth it to feel this good.
  • neverstray
    neverstray Posts: 3,845 Member
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    I am seriously not a fan. I think it's silly, but I wil try not to get all negative about it in this thread. I would just say that you should maybe do a search and read all the info that has been posted about it in the past 6 months. It will be a long novel, so prepare. I'm against the diet. But, don't let me stop you. Lots of people are doing it and enjoying it. I am just providing my perspective, not getting in a battle about the positives and negatives with anyone.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
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    I just think it's arbitrary.
    No one knows what our ancestors ate (well some anthropologists have the best idea), and depending where they lived it differed. I'm damn sure that we tried to improve it, and our longetivity.
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
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    All you need to know, with links to everything.
    http://www.fitbomb.com/p/why-i-eat-paleo.html
  • corneredbycorn
    corneredbycorn Posts: 267 Member
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    I was doing paleo and I felt great while on it, but it wasn't sustainable for me. Of my top 10 favorite foods, I think like 8 of them are not paleo friendly. I still try to keep my carbs below 100, preferably around 50, and I have my fat intake set to 40% and don't care if it goes over. I still feel good, but now I don't feel so guilty eating chicken noodle soup, toast, or pasta (in fact, my husband is getting me a pasta roller/cutter for Christmas, that's seriously how much I love pasta).
  • slkehl
    slkehl Posts: 3,801 Member
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    This time of year would be the worst to start paleo! No alcohol to survive the dreaded holiday parties!
  • OneTwentyFive
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    I'm currently doing the 30 day paleo challenge and giving up dairy is what kept me away from it for years. I NEED milk in my coffee, and I live for cheese, but... but amazingly it's been okay. I've gone 100% strict, which I believe is easier than; "absolutely not" vs. "well... maybe... just one"

    But yes, sadly it's true, most bodies will soon start hating on dairy if hasn't eaten it in a while (or so the people at my crossfit say). But I guess it's not that bad of a thing if my body doesn't like dairy (ie. I can only have 1 slice of pizza instead of 5). I blog over at 125.msn.ca and will definitely be cheating with dairy on the 1st day off the challenge (my bday!) and I'll be sure to write a post about how I feel when I do - sick vs fine :)

    Oh, and 125.msn.ca/tagged/paleo will give you lots more info on how the challenge is going for me :)
  • Cerebrus189
    Cerebrus189 Posts: 315 Member
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    I've done Paleo now for almost a year and you can start with baby steps if you're intimidated by jumping in with both feet. I did Primal(Paleo plus whole fat, raw dairy) for a long time because I couldn't do without the dairy. I can tell you what it has done for me. I started Paleo to lose weight initially and give myself a healthy attitude towards food, especially sugar. What I didn't know is that grains are a trigger that set off my autoimmune disease (Hashimoto's) when I was 19. There must be a genetic disposition for it, plus a trigger. There is strong scientific evidence regarding inflammation, damaged gut flora and autoimmune disease.

    Within a week of dropping grains, I lost 7 lbs and my joint pain significantly decreased. The second and third week, I lost another 5 lbs each week and the third week I lost 3 and have been consistently losing as I get closer to my ultimate goal of 140. By the third week, my joint pain and fatigue was severely diminished. I continued on my journey and figured out the remainder of my joint pain as a result of nightshades and coffee, both of which can imitate gluten proteins. Basically what I found out is that I'm gluten sensitive and when I ingest it, my ankle joints hurt for up to a week.

    Other positive things that happened:

    -44 lbs lost total with only a few days a week of working out
    -Bloat, gas and intestinal distress is gone
    -Discovered the cause of my allergies and sinus issues (dairy)
    -Strong immune system resulting in only being sick once in the course of a year, with a much shorter duration
    -Reduction of ADHD symptoms in my children with their transition, and a confirmation from their teachers that diet has helped
    -Fantastic cholesterol results (my trigs and LDL don't even read on the machines)
    -Reduced thyroid medication twice

    So yeah, I'm a bit bias towards Paleo.