Anyone Tried Paleo, Primal or Neanderthin Diet

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Altarian
Altarian Posts: 230 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Was in my local Barn and Nobles and saw a display with book on these three diets. What i want to know is has anyone on here tried then? They sound.... interesting to say the least but want to hear from people who have actually tried them. If they helped or are just another one of the latest fad diets.

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  • Firefox7275
    Firefox7275 Posts: 2,040 Member
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    It's worth running a search, there are new threads on one or the other most days.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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    No diet is required to lose weight. However, those diet plans (read diet as nutritional intake not a weight loss program) aren't focused on losing weight but eating healthier. Lots of people have lost weight using them though. It's also a very specific idea of what is and is not healthy. A lot of the food restrictions seem to be based on newer science. Personally, I'm not sure if that means it's better science or if people have found ways to massage the data.

    Personally I did a lot of reading on paleo and primal. I decided to stop buying and using most grain products at home (going out to eat is a different story). However, I don't really want to give up things like black beans, chick peas, and peanut butter. As someone else mentioned, there are several paleo/primal groups on MFP (the general threads are very anti paleo and people tend to mock it as a fad diet).

    I would do research and decide if it's something you want to do for yourself. If you don't want to invest in a book, I'd start with Mark's Daily Apple (www.marksdailyapple.com) which is all about primal eating and the primal lifestyle. Keep in mind that if you don't think you can eat that way for the rest of your life, then it's probably not worth it to switch. And again, it isn't a weight loss program and it definitely is not required to lose weight.
  • Addictedtosuccess
    Addictedtosuccess Posts: 29
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    My cousin is doing it. She says she feels like a new person. Its all meats and fruits and nothing processed. She has lost 50lbs.
  • busywaterbending
    busywaterbending Posts: 844 Member
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    paleo wol here. been VLC for over a year and am at the healthiest I've ever been. Blood tests and complete hormone workups twice a year and my gastroenterologist is stumped. Dude can't believe a diet of less than 50 g. carbs a day has me healthier than any other patient he treats.

    cured me of hypoglycemia and never going back to any other way of eating ever again. Nutrient dense and EFA healthy foods is the way to go.
  • sasu27
    sasu27 Posts: 51
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    I have tried eating paleo several times, but every time I give up because I either lose no weight or I gain. I have read and been told by a doctor that when you eat this way, you can just "eat all you want" if it's paleo. The thing is though, it's not a magical combination of foods that suddenly makes it ok to eat more calories than you require in a day. So, I am doing it again because I feel awesome when I do it, but this time I am counting calories, because I do believe in the end no matter what you do you have to take in less calories.
  • djdube525
    djdube525 Posts: 69 Member
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    I can't comment on those specifically... If interested in something else, have you looked at the Dash Diet? Very highly regarded among physicians... Mediterranean Diet is also good... Both are not too dissimilar to paleo type diets, except for stressing more on fruits, veggies, beans, etc as opposed to those that have a little more emphasis on meats.


    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dash-diet/HI00047
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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    paleo wol here. been VLC for over a year and am at the healthiest I've ever been. Blood tests and complete hormone workups twice a year and my gastroenterologist is stumped. Dude can't believe a diet of less than 50 g. carbs a day has me healthier than any other patient he treats.

    cured me of hypoglycemia and never going back to any other way of eating ever again. Nutrient dense and EFA healthy foods is the way to go.

    This is another point. Some people following paleo/primal are keto and very low carbs (<50g per day). Others eat between 150-200g carbs per day (but most carbs come from veggies and some fruit). Most of my research has been through Mark's Daily Apple, and he says to pick a carb level that works for you (if you do keto, he suggests a refeed day every week I think to act kind of as a reset where you eat higher carb). I don't know if the other people/books suggest particular carb levels or not.
  • sasu27
    sasu27 Posts: 51
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    This is another point. Some people following paleo/primal are keto and very low carbs (<50g per day). Others eat between 150-200g carbs per day (but most carbs come from veggies and some fruit). Most of my research has been through Mark's Daily Apple, and he says to pick a carb level that works for you (if you do keto, he suggests a refeed day every week I think to act kind of as a reset where you eat higher carb). I don't know if the other people/books suggest particular carb levels or not.

    Another good point. I am someone who can still eat a lot of carbs on a paleo diet, but I have done it with others that still have to maintain a VLC way of eating. This is an that Mark's Daily Apple has about carbs: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-primal-carbohydrate-continuum/#axzz2HDekvmnA

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