Paleo Diet Questions...

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  • jb6968
    jb6968 Posts: 10
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  • Jude_V
    Jude_V Posts: 72 Member
    Do a little research on how carbohydrates affect you insulin and what happens to the insulin you don't use up in exercise. That will give you a starting place for why people might adopt this method of eating...

    I'm not on a paleo diet and don't necessarily advocate it - but I do see that, predominantly, we evolved to be hunter gatherers - i.e. we ate meat from the hunt and berries, fruit and vegetables that grew around our environment. Most of our food today is filled with grains that have been processed, and sugars that have been refined....ready made food is filled with this stuff (along with 'bad' fats) to make us crave it and want more of it....we are now fat :) Our bodies haven't evolved to the point where we can metabolise all the fat, sugar and carbs that we eat, and so we have obesity epidemics...

    There are instances of societies (Japan and the Mediterranean) where they do incorporate grains into their diets, and their societies are healthy, so it's not a case of Carbs = grains = bad diet. But, if you look at those diets they are filled with - in the case of the Mediterranean diet - 'healthy' fats, huge amounts of vegetables and less refined or processed grains. In the case of Japan, lots of fish (a source of omega 3) and they, actually, eat very small portions in comparison to us in the west. As they are introduced to MacDonalds and KFC they are beginning to adopt our diet and, as a result, they are getting fatter :(

    I think the paleo diet is an effort to get back to a more natural way of eating...and isn't, necessarily being adopted by people trying to lose weight (primarily) it just so happens that cutting carbs, almost always results in weight lose and insulin stabilisation...
  • Jude_V
    Jude_V Posts: 72 Member
    Well...I see you deleted your question....how rude!!!!

    Wish I'd quoted you, now....
  • Cr01502
    Cr01502 Posts: 3,614 Member
    Hey . . . . what'd I miss?
  • skinnytayy
    skinnytayy Posts: 459
    Personally I believe it to be true. I follow the Primal diet which allows dairy but the concept is still basically the same. I read people's experiences for probably months before I ever tried it. I know of many many people who seen their cholesterol levels, triglycerides, etc. drop dramatically. There is also a fair amount of research to back many of the claims that caveman had virtually no trace of the diseases that are so common these days. I'll try to find the links to some studies I've read lately here in a bit when I have some extra time to search. However a good site to read in the meantime is marksdailyapple.com. He is a pure genius in my eyes & I believe he has research posted on his site.

    The way I see it is this ... Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables is healthy. Its a known fact that nuts, avocado, dairy fat, etc. is healthy as well. Meats are healthy. Yes there are studies that claim red meat is bad in large amounts but the thing is, studies get misinterpreted a lot and many "red meats are bad" studies have errors in that the participants eat all kinds of b.s. that isn't mentioned amongst other things. But even if you believe red meat in large amounts is bad, you don't have to eat it everyday. I certainly don't. Its a known fact that anything artificial, overly processed, or filled with chemicals is clearly not healthy. & Lastly, its a known fact that you can obtain fiber and other nutrients found in bread from other sources so the whole "well you need bread/grains to be healthy" argument is totally invalid. The thing with bread is it IS overly processed. Its nowhere near close to its natural state. Is it possible that "cavemen" ate wheat if/when it was available? Sure, I imagine they would have. Beggers can't be choosers but it was more then likely on a pretty rare occasion, in its natural state, and not a significant part of their diet. So even without research on the paleo diet itself, the main concepts of eating paleo/primal are true.

    While you're at it, check out countries/cultures that don't base their diets around grains. Look how healthy they are.

    BTW, you have to figure that the life expectancy was much shorter for them mostly because they didn't have shelter from mother nature, wild animals, etc. like we do these days. Our life expectancy would be hella short too if we got chased by wolves, bears, etc. and had no safe place to go. =)

    Last thing, I'll recommend the paleo/primal diet to anyone. It's did wonders for me. I sleep better, have more energy, acne disappeared, gallbladder quit acting up, migraines disappeared, digestive issues are completely gone, etc. This isn't to say I don't have "cheats" though. I don't deny myself of anything and I'd never consider not eating regular pizza, ice cream, a quiznos sub, etc. again. Its not realistic for me though some do it.
  • Jude_V
    Jude_V Posts: 72 Member
    Hey . . . . what'd I miss?

    jb6968 asked about a paleo diet and quoted a USNews article that suggested not enough research showed it helped with weight loss or heart disease.

    I'm summarising from memory but he/she surmised that our ancestors lived shorter and less healthy lives and therefore how could it be a good diet to follow....

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