PALEO: pros, cons and whatever else you may think?

It sure is a shame that so many people here are solely interested in picking apart and trying to discredit something that other people find success with.

'You lost weight, cured what you thought were chronic ailments, and are completely happy with this lifestyle? NO U R WRONG EAT UR POPTARTS FFS'

...it'd be impossible to actually know for sure since the sudden rise in them suggests...

There is no "sudden rise", so there is no suggestion.

...there seems to be an increasing number of people discovering they are grain sensitive in some way...

No, there aren't.

Feel free to share the studies demonstrating otherwise.

Not a study because I don't have time to go finding your research for you,

But you have plenty of time to post you opinions interminably while presenting nothing of substance to back it up. Maybe you should go find research for your own sake?

I don't have to justify my life and time management for you, but here's a question for you - if you were genuinely interested in these things, why aren't you going and doing the research for your own sake? I've done this research before (obviously haven't bookmarked it all because I haven't felt the need to) so why would I waste my time just to prove a point on an internet forum instead of doing something that's actually worthwhile to my life, like keeping up with my law school work? As I've repeatedly said, if people were genuinely interested they'd look it up for themselves, while the people like you will continue to sit around on your high horse and feel superior despite your own hypocrisy. No one has yet shown any studies to contravene the things I've said either, might I point out.

If the only thing you can say against me is that I'm too busy to hand-feed you the research instead of letting you discover things for yourself, I'm perfectly fine with that.

I have done the reasearch. None of what you've claimed has merit. You are also confused about how this works. The person making the claim bears the burden of proof. So basically, put up or shut up. Stop trying to play it off. Either you have it or you don't. Simple really and doesn't require lengthy and rambling posts.

...it'd be impossible to actually know for sure since the sudden rise in them suggests...

There is no "sudden rise", so there is no suggestion.

...there seems to be an increasing number of people discovering they are grain sensitive in some way...

No, there aren't.

Feel free to share the studies demonstrating otherwise.

Not a study because I don't have time to go finding your research for you,

But you have plenty of time to post you opinions interminably while presenting nothing of substance to back it up. Maybe you should go find research for your own sake?

I don't have to justify my life and time management for you, but here's a question for you - if you were genuinely interested in these things, why aren't you going and doing the research for your own sake? I've done this research before (obviously haven't bookmarked it all because I haven't felt the need to) so why would I waste my time just to prove a point on an internet forum instead of doing something that's actually worthwhile to my life, like keeping up with my law school work? As I've repeatedly said, if people were genuinely interested they'd look it up for themselves, while the people like you will continue to sit around on your high horse and feel superior despite your own hypocrisy. No one has yet shown any studies to contravene the things I've said either, might I point out.

If the only thing you can say against me is that I'm too busy to hand-feed you the research instead of letting you discover things for yourself, I'm perfectly fine with that.

I have done the reasearch. None of what you've claimed has merit. You are also confused about how this works. The person making the claim beats the burden of proof. So basically, put up or shut up. Stop trying to play it off. Either you have it or you don't. Simple really and doesn't require lengthy and rambling posts.

i wonder if paleojoe will understand why i told her to leave

It sure is a shame that so many people here are solely interested in picking apart and trying to discredit something that other people find success with.

'You lost weight, cured what you thought were chronic ailments, and are completely happy with this lifestyle? NO U R WRONG EAT UR POPTARTS FFS'

Nobody said that. Ever.

I know, its a parody.

Or a straw man.

I missed round 1

i'm in favour of it. I did it properly for a few months and felt amazing. Dropped weight really easy, full of energy, didn't miss normal foods at all. But I've been off it for a while - moving house meant I just didn't have the kitchen time needed. Still trying to make good choices and I haven't gained any weight back. But I definitely feel better eating paleo. I'm still keeping up some parts that have become a habit, like my morning coffee made on almond milk.

paleo did not lead to your weight loss...eating in a caloric deficit did ...

If paleo made you lose weight, then why did you not gain it all back when you stopped paleo?

It sure is a shame that so many people here are solely interested in picking apart and trying to discredit something that other people find success with.

'You lost weight, cured what you thought were chronic ailments, and are completely happy with this lifestyle? NO U R WRONG EAT UR POPTARTS FFS'

Nobody said that. Ever.

I know, its a parody.

Or a straw man.

nope, because this happened:

I missed round 1

i'm in favour of it. I did it properly for a few months and felt amazing. Dropped weight really easy, full of energy, didn't miss normal foods at all. But I've been off it for a while - moving house meant I just didn't have the kitchen time needed. Still trying to make good choices and I haven't gained any weight back. But I definitely feel better eating paleo. I'm still keeping up some parts that have become a habit, like my morning coffee made on almond milk.

paleo did not lead to your weight loss...eating in a caloric deficit did ...

If paleo made you lose weight, then why did you not gain it all back when you stopped paleo?

I'm not sure your last sentence really describes the Paleo diet. And while I am happy that you found something that works for you, I think your post would be more correct if it started with "I do believe its better for me". If it was really best for everyone, why in the world would you not be feeding your children a Paleo diet?

It sure is a shame that so many people here are solely interested in picking apart and trying to discredit something that other people find success with.

'You lost weight, cured what you thought were chronic ailments, and are completely happy with this lifestyle? NO U R WRONG EAT UR POPTARTS FFS'

Nobody said that. Ever.

I know, its a parody.

Or a straw man.

nope, because this happened:

I missed round 1

i'm in favour of it. I did it properly for a few months and felt amazing. Dropped weight really easy, full of energy, didn't miss normal foods at all. But I've been off it for a while - moving house meant I just didn't have the kitchen time needed. Still trying to make good choices and I haven't gained any weight back. But I definitely feel better eating paleo. I'm still keeping up some parts that have become a habit, like my morning coffee made on almond milk.

paleo did not lead to your weight loss...eating in a caloric deficit did ...

If paleo made you lose weight, then why did you not gain it all back when you stopped paleo?

...it'd be impossible to actually know for sure since the sudden rise in them suggests...

There is no "sudden rise", so there is no suggestion.

...there seems to be an increasing number of people discovering they are grain sensitive in some way...

No, there aren't.

Feel free to share the studies demonstrating otherwise.

Not a study because I don't have time to go finding your research for you, but this discusses some studies so if you're actually interested you'll go read those:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57483789-10391704/

Again, since my only point is that more people today believe they're grain sensitive than, say, 25 years ago, I'm not really sure why you're bothering to argue the point that is basically common knowledge at this point. The huge rise in gluten-free products for example is a pretty good indication that this is becoming more of a priority for people because more people are realizing they're sensitive (and some are just jumping on the fad food bandwagon as well)

I read the article and it somewhat agrees with you. More people today believe they are gluten (not grain) sensitive today than 60 years ago (the comparison is with the 1950's). And more people actually do have celiac disease now than in the 1950's (many undiagnosed). BUT, more people think they have it and don't, than actually have it. It's the popular ailment to have right now.

But it's still < 1% of the US population that is allergic to gluten. More people are allergic to tree nuts than gluten. About 3 times as many people are allergic to shellfish as gluten. This does not make shellfish or tree nuts an "unhealthy food" for anyone without the allergy.

The problem with gluten (and soy) allergies are not that they are more common, it's that gluten and soy are so much harder to avoid since both are widely used as food additives.

I'm not sure your last sentence really describes the Paleo diet. And while I am happy that you found something that works for you, I think your post would be more correct if it started with "I do believe its better for me". If it was really best for everyone, why in the world would you not be feeding your children a Paleo diet?

This is pretty much where I fall in context of a paleo diet. I have no studies to back it up but for me, I just feel better when I stick to a paleo template. Like any other diet it's there for anyone who wants to try it... for whatever reason they want to try it.

Agreed Paleojoe, and I don't think children need to follow anything other than eating healthy...(unless they have food senstivities like my daughter has to dairy) Children are growing at a rapid rate (especially their brains) and require so much more in their diet. As adults we have totally different requirements for food compared to a growing child.

I totally agree that children need to eat heatlhy. But that brings me back to the question of why the Paleo Diet excludes healthy foods.

It sure is a shame that so many people here are solely interested in picking apart and trying to discredit something that other people find success with.

'You lost weight, cured what you thought were chronic ailments, and are completely happy with this lifestyle? NO U R WRONG EAT UR POPTARTS FFS'

Nobody said that. Ever.

I know, its a parody.

Or a straw man.

nope, because this happened:

I missed round 1

i'm in favour of it. I did it properly for a few months and felt amazing. Dropped weight really easy, full of energy, didn't miss normal foods at all. But I've been off it for a while - moving house meant I just didn't have the kitchen time needed. Still trying to make good choices and I haven't gained any weight back. But I definitely feel better eating paleo. I'm still keeping up some parts that have become a habit, like my morning coffee made on almond milk.

paleo did not lead to your weight loss...eating in a caloric deficit did ...

If paleo made you lose weight, then why did you not gain it all back when you stopped paleo?

So because someone told you the truth they're telling you to eat pop tarts? Cognitive dissonance much?

no, but you see it in pretty much every 'healthy food' thread. The argument that there is no such thing as healthy food, people x and y eat piles of poptarts and still lose weight, etc etc. For some reason poptarts and pizza are the go-to examples. Now, because that guy flat out told me that eating paleo has nothing to do with weight loss, we can see that he is in the cals in/cals out camp. So I refered to poptarts, banking on the likelihood of that guy & other people here making those sort of comments in the past.



Also, I find it really interesting (or maybe frustrating) how you guys ignore everything you don't have an argument against. The majority of my first post was ignored and only the weight loss was mentioned (to argue against). You quote it and say 'because he told you the truth' - again, ignoring the rest of my post and focusing solely on the weight loss aspect. Nobody responded to my subsequent story about how I was 3x more successful eating paleo than everything in moderation. But a couple of you have to jump in and try to discredit a post that was clearly an exaggerated parody of commonly held opinions.

AND while I'm at it, not once have I said that you don't need a caloric deficit. I do not disagree with that. But there is more to health than weightloss. And for lots of people, there are better ways to lose weight than eating 1500 calories of icecream and pizza every day.

I'm not sure which "first post" your talking about but if you mean the one where you, your partner and some friends "feel better" eating paleo, that is what would be called anecdotal evidence. If that's how you want to eat, go right ahead. But that does not make an evidence based case for any health or metabolic superiority for the "paleo diet". Who knows, could just be placebo effect.

As far as discrediting you, no one really needs to do that. With statements like the one bolded above and the poptarts one, you are doing quite a good job of that yourself.

Nobody responded to my subsequent story about how I was 3x more successful eating paleo than everything in moderation.

Then be happy you found a path that works for you!

I'm not sure which "first post" your talking about but if you mean the one where you, your partner and some friends "feel better" eating paleo, that is what would be called anecdotal evidence. If that's how you want to eat, go right ahead. But that does not make an evidence based case for any health or metabolic superiority for the "paleo diet". Who knows, could just be placebo effect.

As far as discrediting you, no one really needs to do that. With statements like the one bolded above and the poptarts one, you are doing quite a good job of that yourself.

Cool. I don't believe I have attempted to use my own experience as universal evidence, or told anyone they should do things my way. Just said that it works for me & I like it. I've then had people like yourself tell me that I'm wrong and pick fights about it. I could maybe understand this if I were endangering my health in any way, but I don't understand your motivation.

Regarding your second point.. If there is no such thing as healthy or unhealthy food, I don't see how I have discredited myself. I'm sure most people here would say that you would still lose weight eating 1500 cals of icecream every day. Sure its an extreme example, but one I have seen used on this forum numerous times.

I have no quibble with the fact that you want to eat "paleo" and you believe you feel better doing it. If that works for you, go right ahead, as I've already said. There is no health risk to eating paleo, but, I believe there is no healthy benefit either. There has also not been any factual evidence presented that it does. FTR, I have tried it, studied it, researched it and came to the conclusion that it is restrictive with no attendant benefit. I didn't lose weight any better and I didn't "feel" any better.

Where I do have a problem with your posts is that you infer the comparison of eating "paleo" as the only other alternative to eating poptarts or 1500 calories a day of pizza and ice cream. That is a logical fallacy called excluding the middle. You compare what you are doing to something so ridiculous that by comparison, what you are doing looks clearly superior.

Well, news flash: no one is recommending a diet of all pop tarts, pizza and ice cream for optimum health. That is just a bunch of useless hyperbole. What many have said is, if you've met you macro nutrient goals for the day with a varied and healthy diet of mostly whole foods and you have calories left, eat whatever you want, including poptarts, ice cream or whatever. (I'm leaving pizza out because, depending on what is part of the pizza, it can be just fine for nutrition and health).

That whole distorted, hyperbolic line of reasoning is what diminishes your credibility and brought my comments. As far as how you want to eat and that it works for you, power to you.