Paleo/Primal way of eating = finally the truth revealed?

I have tried Primal eating but it proved to be pretty impossible for me to eat that way as I couldn't change the way my kids and husband ate.

It can be hard when your spouse doesn't jon in, mine will not either, so I just make sure I fix, or she fixes something we can both have. Like last night I grilled hamburgers, I ate mine without a bun, and the other night I grilled ribs, I had spinach as a side and she had cheesey potatoes.

As long as the main dish is something you can both eat, you can mix and match the sides to fit your diet and his.

I have tried Primal eating but it proved to be pretty impossible for me to eat that way as I couldn't change the way my kids and husband ate.

It can be hard when your spouse doesn't jon in, mine will not either, so I just make sure I fix, or she fixes something we can both have. Like last night I grilled hamburgers, I ate mine without a bun, and the other night I grilled ribs, I had spinach as a side and she had cheesey potatoes.

As long as the main dish is something you can both eat, you can mix and match the sides to fit your diet and his.

This is what I do with my kids (my husband and I eat Paleo too). I add brown rice or potatoes or whole wheat pasta with their chicken, fish, steak, whatever we're having and then everyone eats veggies as well. I don't see what is so difficult about that.

It drives me crazy when people think this is anything like Atkins LOL. It pains me to see people argue against it. How can you argue eating all natural and unprocessed crap (and yes, wheat products are ALL processed) - I'm not saying its gonna kill you, but it isn't helping! And I never feel lathargic, tired, etc.. you should see the crazy intense workouts I do every day in Crossfit! I'll tell you what, on those Sundays when I do go off Paleo eating (like, my pizza days) I am a piece of CRAP in the gym the next day...so sluggish...so that is a complete farce. When people ask me why I do it (the usual "you don't have to lose weight thing) I tell them to try it for 30 days and get back to me, I'll bet they feel better! Don't knock it until you try it.

And, there is no Ketosis with Primal/Paleo. Maybe in vague sense, but not where Atkins puts you.

I don't think there is a single "truth" to how people should eat. The human body is amazingly complex and adaptable, so unless you're a high performance athlete, there is a wide range of macros that work for most people (the split between fat/carbs/protein). Regardless of the specifics, if someone tries to eat a fairly well balanced diet with 15-30% protein (some people go a little higher), 20-30% fat and 45-60% carbs (some people go a little lower), and try to get most of those calories from foods that are in or very close to their original forms (minimize the processed foods you eat), then they can be healthy.

I don't buy into any of these restrictive food plans because while I may agree with elements in each of them, I find the combination of restrictions unnecessary and overly-extreme. For example, I agree with the Paleo ideas that eating fat (even animal fat) is not bad for you, getting enough protein, eating foods in unprocessed form and that we should avoid processed sugars but I don't agree with the idea that you should have to cut out all starches and legumes. Perhaps some people's bodies are "picky" or have food allergies and need something a little different (ex - very few/no grains, no gluten, no dairy, etc.) but most people don't need to do anything extreme to be healthy and feel good.

Ditto...down to the last word.

Agree, we are complex, and it is important just to find what works for you (and avoinding the gimmicks etc).

My only "problem" with what they call the Primal Diet (and I am only going on a limited knowledge here so this is only my humble opinion) is that our genes have changed in a number of ways since the "Primal times" to deal with the variety of circumstances mankind has had to encounter, so we are not really the "same" as then (there is much research on genetic mutations that have allowed populations to deal with differing food types).

Also in "primal times" humans would have eaten "all the animal" (skin excluded), and I do not see these diets (again caveat of I have not read widely on this) encouraging the eating liver, kidney, brains, stomach (even stomach contents) of animals etc etc etc, which have a range of nutrients.

I think that such distant ancestors would have eaten a wide variety of animals (from rats, mice, birds, insects, grubs, reptiles, large and small herbivores... in fact almost anything with a face they could catch as food was scarce) - modern humans do not. Our meat diet comes from a limited stock of genetically non-diverse stock.

Now this is just my opinion and thoughts (and I have a small bias being a vegan - not for moral reasons just for health reasons, based on the China Study discussing the extensive research and impact of excessive consumption of animal protein on cancer).

To add to this, the topic of exact ratios of animal to plant material consumed by our ancestors is still rather controversial. Originally it was thought that hunting and animal foods contributed in part to the evolution of our larger brains but more recently, evidence suggest that other food sources such as plant tubers may have had just as much impact.

What we do know is that humans have adapted to various plant to animal ratios. Traditional Inuit diets consisted of an extreme 90% animal material where as many societies have existed as exclusively vegetarian and have a much lower 5-10% of their diet being derived from animal products and now a days vegans can live healthily enough with 0%. Modern hunter gathers, who presumably live a lifestyle most in line with our ancestors, show an incredible diversity in the ratio of animal to plant material in their diets.

If a paleo/primal diet seems to be working for you, that's fine, but it's by no means definitive that humans ought to eat like this.

I have tried Primal eating but it proved to be pretty impossible for me to eat that way as I couldn't change the way my kids and husband ate.

It can be hard when your spouse doesn't jon in, mine will not either, so I just make sure I fix, or she fixes something we can both have. Like last night I grilled hamburgers, I ate mine without a bun, and the other night I grilled ribs, I had spinach as a side and she had cheesey potatoes.

As long as the main dish is something you can both eat, you can mix and match the sides to fit your diet and his.