Paleo lifestyle... Have you tried it? How did you feel?

The Paleo diet has it's pluses and minus, as do most "diets," and the evidence actually supports that it is effective, at least in the short term. Some other posters have astutely mentioned the issues with adherence, and those issues are also clearly supported by published evidence. From a personal perspective, I used to be very tight on what was essentially a Paleo-type of diet (although I included some dairy), and it was very effective in getting lean, but I hit what seemed like a performance plateau with development of size and strength. Diets like Paleo, Atkins, Keto, etc., all have plenty of books and testimonials that discuss issues like chronic inflammation/immunologic issues from gluten, "carb" addiction as a neurologic issue etc., and there are actually some good studies to support some of these findings, but the bottom line - while these issues certainly may play a role in the obesity epidemic, there is not enough evidence to say that the success of these programs in dieters is more based on these issues rather than simply the creation of a caloric deficit based on removal of entire classes of foods. I tend to tell people there are two easy ways to look at diet - you can do something like the Paleo Diet if you don't want to track calories, because the deprivation by its already very restrictive nature will help you lose weight, or you can use a more "flexible dieting approach" where you track your macros and calories, and allow yourself a little more room to eat with greater variety. From a performance perspective, I have had greater results with a flexible approach to bulking and cutting, but that is just my own anecdotal story.

Ultimately, I think there is sometimes value in starting with something like the Paleo Diet because it's actually pretty easy, and you don't need to worry about tracking calories, etc., but I would HIGHLY recommend at least considering learning more about flexible dieting concurrently. That way while you're dropping pounds on a Paleo plan, you'll also have the tools to successfully transition to a broader variety of foods without regressing back to gaining weight, which seems to be the case with a lot of people. It's a little easier for some people who have a lot of weight to lose to start with something like Paleo, and as they lose weight and gain confidence and motivation, they find themselves much more willing to track calories and macros because they are actually seeing success in the mirror and on the scale.

Anyway, good luck in whatever way you choose to go! I'm always just happy to see people on here taking the first step to better fitness. Once you've decided to make a change, regardless of how you choose to go, you're headed in the right direction!

Mike Sracic, MD
www.ironcookclean.com

Ultimately, I think there is sometimes value in starting with something like the Paleo Diet because it's actually pretty easy, and you don't need to worry about tracking calories, etc., but I would HIGHLY recommend at least considering learning more about flexible dieting concurrently. That way while you're dropping pounds on a Paleo plan, you'll also have the tools to successfully transition to a broader variety of foods without regressing back to gaining weight, which seems to be the case with a lot of people. It's a little easier for some people who have a lot of weight to lose to start with something like Paleo, and as they lose weight and gain confidence and motivation, they find themselves much more willing to track calories and macros because they are actually seeing success in the mirror and on the scale.

I've always encouraged people doing paleo/keto/etc. to still track their macros/calories, at least once they're past the initial few weeks of the diet. If you have to weigh/measure everything to track your carb intake already, where's the harm in following a few other macros like protein and calories. As you said, that lets people easily transition to a different macronutrient composition without really altering their daily routine. Great post btw.

I love doing the Primal/paleo thing. It feels so . . . earthy.

It saves me money as I buy almost no processed foods, just protein, tons of veggies, nuts/seeds, and a little dairy.

It's so easy because I eat a very simple menu, nothing fancy.

If you don't like baking and fancy recipes, this is for you.

If you think you need stuff that looks and tastes like processed food, then it's probably going to take up a lot of your time and money.

The way to really look at this lifestyle is to ask, what did my ancestors eat? Did they really add coconut oil and butter to their coffee or eat gluten free noodles? Not likely. So just keep it simple, basic, healthy, and you'll do fine.

This I don't understand, because eating paleo/ primal is so much more expensive and time consuming than how I eat now. I literally was spending more money on just me, eating primal, than what was being spent on my husband and three kids, for all their food combined. Nuts and seeds are really expensive, meat is pricey (especially if you follow the 'rules' and get grass fed, locally raised etc), organic (again, those rules) vegetables and fruit are pretty much double in cost etc etc. And eggs-1.89 for conventional eggs vs. $5 for 'free range' local eggs?!

And the time involved in making all my meals from scratch, from home was absolutely ridiculous. It's great that you found something that you like, but I honestly don't know how anyone can say this way of eating is cheaper and less time consuming :huh:

We also save money in our household eating this way.

Every week I spend $22.00 on a Coop share of fruits and vegetables. We have access to raw dairy from the Amish that live in our area (raw milk, raw cream, raw milk cheese, butter), grass fed meats, free range poultry and eggs and heritage certified pork.

We spend about $100-150 / month on meats, eggs and raw dairy products. About $80-100 on fresh fruits and vegetables. So in total for the month, we spend $180 - 250 a month for 2 adults in my household.

As far as being convenient for meals at home. Sunday is prep day. Crock pots, stock pot going with meats, throw a chicken and / or a roast in the oven. Wash and cut up fruits and vegetables and put in baggies so they are ready to go for snacking, eating, etc. We also boil a dozen eggs for snacks.

Try the paleo group. You'll find a lot of people there who can tell you their experiences.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/54-primal-paleo-support-group

This. I'd love to talk about my experience and success with a ketogenic version of a Paleo lifestyle. But not here. I'm done with people telling my how "bad" (omg cutting out whole food groups!) or "restrictive" (cuz eating ribeye steaks, side pork, and vegetables soaked in delicious fats, etc is so terrible) my lifestyle is when I absolutely LOVE, it makes me healthy (we've been lied to), and I lose weight effortlessly. Whatever.


PS. It is cheaper to eat this way, and I can explain how. (I've kept track of my spending for years.)

ill take the steak, pork fat, AND the bread, dairy etc...and I will have no problem comparing my results to yours any day of the week...

and I am sure that our paleo brethren were munching down on ribeyes, side pork, vegetables soaked in fat, etc while they were sitting around the cave grunting at each other...sounds legit.

Comparing my results with yours? See that's the BS I'm talking about. You are a man. I'm a woman. Do you know my health situation, my life experience, etc? What's yours? Wow, you definitely have bigger muscles than me- what am I doing wrong?!!!

PS. Stop with the caveman bs. I do model my diet somewhat after my Inuit neighbours, which was as high as 90% fat, but I'm also stuck accessing the same stuff as you. So caribou, muskox, char are pretty biologically appropriate and I eat them as much as I can get but I'll eat other animals too, and vegetables that my ancestors never knew existed. Why am I still talking... what a waste of time. Bye.

isn't that what Paleo is? Eat like Paleoithic Man - AKA cavemen ....?????

Only in gifs. It's basically consuming whole foods with a long list of restriction put on certain foods based on research that shows a collision with more modern food interventions. The basic problem as I see it, is it's taken to the extreme and not all of the factors that have contributed to diseases of civilization should be solely placed on the food supply. Basically it's the old adage of context and dosage which is generally neglected in most if not all dieting theories. imo

I love doing the Primal/paleo thing. It feels so . . . earthy.

It saves me money as I buy almost no processed foods, just protein, tons of veggies, nuts/seeds, and a little dairy.

It's so easy because I eat a very simple menu, nothing fancy.

If you don't like baking and fancy recipes, this is for you.

If you think you need stuff that looks and tastes like processed food, then it's probably going to take up a lot of your time and money.

The way to really look at this lifestyle is to ask, what did my ancestors eat? Did they really add coconut oil and butter to their coffee or eat gluten free noodles? Not likely. So just keep it simple, basic, healthy, and you'll do fine.

This I don't understand, because eating paleo/ primal is so much more expensive and time consuming than how I eat now. I literally was spending more money on just me, eating primal, than what was being spent on my husband and three kids, for all their food combined. Nuts and seeds are really expensive, meat is pricey (especially if you follow the 'rules' and get grass fed, locally raised etc), organic (again, those rules) vegetables and fruit are pretty much double in cost etc etc. And eggs-1.89 for conventional eggs vs. $5 for 'free range' local eggs?!

And the time involved in making all my meals from scratch, from home was absolutely ridiculous. It's great that you found something that you like, but I honestly don't know how anyone can say this way of eating is cheaper and less time consuming :huh:

We also save money in our household eating this way.

Every week I spend $22.00 on a Coop share of fruits and vegetables. We have access to raw dairy from the Amish that live in our area (raw milk, raw cream, raw milk cheese, butter), grass fed meats, free range poultry and eggs and heritage certified pork.

We spend about $100-150 / month on meats, eggs and raw dairy products. About $80-100 on fresh fruits and vegetables. So in total for the month, we spend $180 - 250 a month for 2 adults in my household.

As far as being convenient for meals at home. Sunday is prep day. Crock pots, stock pot going with meats, throw a chicken and / or a roast in the oven. Wash and cut up fruits and vegetables and put in baggies so they are ready to go for snacking, eating, etc. We also boil a dozen eggs for snacks.

A big part will come down to what's available in someone's area, and while you may be able to get good deals like this (very jealous by the way ), I wasn't able to, even though I live in a farming community. Going to the local farms by us is great, but dang do they charge premium prices for their stuff :grumble: The CSA was $100 a month and did not include everything I needed. So then I'd head to the farmers market and spend another $15-25 a week to supplement it (mostly fruit and then those $5 eggs). This did not include any meat or dairy, which meant I had to head to another local farm, where beef, chicken, and pork was raised right there on the farm, and sold for very steep prices. A whole chicken was $20, a pound of ground beef $6 etc etc.

My family of five's grocery budget is $90 a week, and that includes things like toilet paper, dish soap, shampoo, stuff for three packed lunches, 5 days a week for my kids etc. I ended up fudging our budget to pay for eating the way I was, and after a while I had to step back and go 'wth am I doing'?! I couldn't keep justifying it and that was one of the reasons I ended up quitting.

that's great that you have had good luck with weight loss but what about biomarkers? isn't it a lot of meat? (that's what I have heard)

It shouldn't be a "lot of meat". It should be a lot of veggies & healthy fats with a moderate amount of meat.

Try the paleo group. You'll find a lot of people there who can tell you their experiences.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/54-primal-paleo-support-group

This. I'd love to talk about my experience and success with a ketogenic version of a Paleo lifestyle. But not here. I'm done with people telling my how "bad" (omg cutting out whole food groups!) or "restrictive" (cuz eating ribeye steaks, side pork, and vegetables soaked in delicious fats, etc is so terrible) my lifestyle is when I absolutely LOVE, it makes me healthy (we've been lied to), and I lose weight effortlessly. Whatever.


PS. It is cheaper to eat this way, and I can explain how. (I've kept track of my spending for years.)

ill take the steak, pork fat, AND the bread, dairy etc...and I will have no problem comparing my results to yours any day of the week...

and I am sure that our paleo brethren were munching down on ribeyes, side pork, vegetables soaked in fat, etc while they were sitting around the cave grunting at each other...sounds legit.

Comparing my results with yours? See that's the BS I'm talking about. You are a man. I'm a woman. Do you know my health situation, my life experience, etc? What's yours? Wow, you definitely have bigger muscles than me- what am I doing wrong?!!!

PS. Stop with the caveman bs. I do model my diet somewhat after my Inuit neighbours, which was as high as 90% fat, but I'm also stuck accessing the same stuff as you. So caribou, muskox, char are pretty biologically appropriate and I eat them as much as I can get but I'll eat other animals too, and vegetables that my ancestors never knew existed. Why am I still talking... what a waste of time. Bye.

isn't that what Paleo is? Eat like Paleoithic Man - AKA cavemen ....?????

Only in gifs. It's basically consuming whole foods with a long list of restriction put on certain foods based on research that shows a collision with more modern food interventions. The basic problem as I see it, is it's taken to the extreme and not all of the factors that have contributed to diseases of civilization should be solely placed on the food supply. Basically it's the old adage of context and dosage which is generally neglected in most if not all dieting theories. imo

but it is supposed to based on how humans supposedly ate like 10,000 years ago or whatever, correct?

And this, my friends, is why I hate the word "paleo". Of course, I love it because it's very handy when googling recipes and researching "the paleo diet" really helped me out 2 years and 30+ pounds ago when I was sick & fat and desperate for change, but to think that I am really going to "eat like a caveman", while cute, is utterly ridiculous. So... I like to call it the "real food diet", or the "this is how I eat because it helps me maintain my health and weight".

It is an unnecessarily strict diet and unnecessarily strict diets often interfere with diet adherence.

this

Please tell me how it is "unnecessarily strict". I eat a wider variety of foods now than I ever did before "going paleo"

What did you eat before, twinkies and donuts? Not that there's anything wrong with that . . .

Seriously though, this isn't exactly difficult to figure out with diet that has a list full of things that "humans aren't supposed to eat" based on pseudoscience.

Nah, I hate donuts. Always have. I did like twinkies at one time though... :happy: I have found that by not filling my plate up with things like breads & pastas, I've opened up to way more vegetables, tastier (and healthier) fat options and just gotten more creative in the kitchen overall. Anyone can boil pasta or open a can of ravioli, but to take some fresh veggies and a fresh cut of meat and create a tasty meal takes a little thought/effort, which in turn means a more enjoyable meal, IMO.

Are you still confused about the meaning of "unnecessarily strict?" If eating loads of veggies helps with satiety, more power to you, but to take the extra leap and say "one must not eat breads and pasta" is not necessary. And, if your idea of pasta is canned ravioli, then I am truly sorry.

It is an unnecessarily strict diet and unnecessarily strict diets often interfere with diet adherence.

this

Please tell me how it is "unnecessarily strict". I eat a wider variety of foods now than I ever did before "going paleo"

What did you eat before, twinkies and donuts? Not that there's anything wrong with that . . .

Seriously though, this isn't exactly difficult to figure out with diet that has a list full of things that "humans aren't supposed to eat" based on pseudoscience.

Nah, I hate donuts. Always have. I did like twinkies at one time though... :happy: I have found that by not filling my plate up with things like breads & pastas, I've opened up to way more vegetables, tastier (and healthier) fat options and just gotten more creative in the kitchen overall. Anyone can boil pasta or open a can of ravioli, but to take some fresh veggies and a fresh cut of meat and create a tasty meal takes a little thought/effort, which in turn means a more enjoyable meal, IMO.

Are you still confused about the meaning of "unnecessarily strict?" If eating loads of veggies helps with satiety, more power to you, but to take the extra leap and say "one must not eat breads and pasta" is not necessary. And, if your idea of pasta is canned ravioli, then I am truly sorry.

I don't care who eats bread & pasta, but let's face it, the majority of Americans (and probably other countries too) probably get too many calories from bread, pasta & sugar and not enough from vegetables. A lot of people still believe that "low-fat, no-fat" foods are better for them than coconut butter and fresh eggs. If you can tolerate pasta & bread and it you enjoy some dishes with them, that's fantastic, but it shouldn't be what makes up the majority of your meals, should it?

*edited for spelling

It is an unnecessarily strict diet and unnecessarily strict diets often interfere with diet adherence.

this

Please tell me how it is "unnecessarily strict". I eat a wider variety of foods now than I ever did before "going paleo"

What did you eat before, twinkies and donuts? Not that there's anything wrong with that . . .

Seriously though, this isn't exactly difficult to figure out with diet that has a list full of things that "humans aren't supposed to eat" based on pseudoscience.

Nah, I hate donuts. Always have. I did like twinkies at one time though... :happy: I have found that by not filling my plate up with things like breads & pastas, I've opened up to way more vegetables, tastier (and healthier) fat options and just gotten more creative in the kitchen overall. Anyone can boil pasta or open a can of ravioli, but to take some fresh veggies and a fresh cut of meat and create a tasty meal takes a little thought/effort, which in turn means a more enjoyable meal, IMO.

Are you still confused about the meaning of "unnecessarily strict?" If eating loads of veggies helps with satiety, more power to you, but to take the extra leap and say "one must not eat breads and pasta" is not necessary. And, if your idea of pasta is canned ravioli, then I am truly sorry.

I don't care who eats bread & pasta, but let's face it, the majority of Americans (and probably other countries too) probably get too many calories from bread, pasta & sugar and not enough from vegetables. A lot of people still believe that "low-fat, no-fat" foods are better for them than coconut butter and fresh eggs. If you can tolerate pasta & bread and it you enjoy some dishes with them, that's fantastic, but it shouldn't be what makes up the majority of your meals, should it?

*edited for spelling

If you are now saying that breads and pasta should not make up the majority of the average diet at the expense of necessary fats and protein, but that they may be eaten in moderation, then that's not paleo, and I would not disagree. But paleo isn't about moderation. It is about elimination of these foods.

I refuse it to call if "paleo or primal" as you get people going "did cavemen eat "peanut butter" or "ribeyes"? As I told my dr, I feel best when I'm not eating grains and sugar and when I am eating a lot more fat.

As for cost, if you are buying both SAD and paleo food then your food bill with double. I get meat and eggs from a butcher (all pastured), is it certified no, do I care, no. I eat more frozen and fresh veggies than most of the vegatarians I know. I grow my own veggies and go to farmers markets. In the winter, I buy cheap things from organic bins and conventional the rest of the time (let's face it a convention pepper is healthier than a "insert heaviely processed food" anyday).

I eat 60% fat, 25 to 30% protein and the rest carbs. My blood test HAVE NEVER BEEN BETTER. My tryglicerides were over 300 3 year ago, after a year of mostly paleo they were 70. My HDL were in the thirties and they were over 60. My total cholestrol was under 200.

The surprise benefits are :
my skins glows and is so soft
my hair is shiny
my depression gone
my constant neck pain gone
my sinusitis gone
I sleep less but deeper
I love life
weight loss
all sugar craving are gone
appetite control
no mood swings from hunger

It is not easy to stick to, I have fallen off but I have always gone back as the restrictions are worth the zest for life I get in return.

With that being said, would I recommend this way of eating for anyone that is just looking for weight loss. No. I wouldn't. It is hard at first. It can be a pain. But if you are looking for health and willing to have the side effect of weight loss, yes I would recommend it.

I have ended up on what amounts to being pretty close to a paleo diet but not because I thought it would help me lose weight. I have fibromyalgia and have spent the last few years working through eliminating foods that I react to and by the time I was done, paleo. I do sometimes feel deprived but I also feel my best physically eating this way. And I'm even stricter than straight paleo because I can't do night shades either. Potatoes, corn and gluten are my biggest triggers and result in me barely being able to crawl out of bed. I can tolerate small amounts of dairy but It's a lactose issue with it so I do pay the price but in a different way.

It's a pain in the butt sometimes. Eating anywhere but home is difficult and there are very few "convenience" foods available to me if I want something besides fruit. Costco's rotisserie chicken has been a lifesaver for me on nights I don't want to cook. My idea of fast food any more is the chicken with some salad supplies. I sure eat healthier though!

If you think it will magically make you lose weight, it might depending on how you've been eating before going paleo but it will likely be because you were eating stuff that didn't satisfy you as much and now you're satiated. One thing I can say about it is all the vegetables, meat, eggs and fruit do make it hard to reach calorie goals some days. But since I do need to lose weight it's okay for me. Thankfully I can do sweet potatoes or I'd have a heck of a time getting carbs!