Paleo diet: honest debate

I am the polar opposite. I mostly follow a vegan lifestyle. I never binge or crave anything. I eat so much grain and pastas and rice and I still lose weight. From what I understand the pales diet restricts these things. I love my high carb low fat diet! My acne has cleared up and I have more muscle toning. I understand that this transition is difficult for many people, but meat already freaked me out, I get nauseous when I smell eggs and I am lactose intolerant. The hclf vegan lifestyle was made for me!

I have been doing different degrees of Paleo eating for about 6 years. I have gone Whole 30 strict before and I have done 80/20 and here is my take:

Positive Aspects:
-I started eating way more fruits and vegetables
-I eat better quality meats
-I became a better cook
- I tried vegetables that I had never tried before
- I lost 2 dress sizes

Negative Aspects
- It is really hard to be that restrictive all the time
- Social eating becomes really hard (things like resturaunts, family gatherings, and potlucks)

You can get all your vitamins and minerals eating Paleo. In some cases, you may need to entertain eating some things you have probably never eaten before (like organ meats, canned fish with the bones, and black strap molasses).

Right now I am not really eating Paleo. I eat oatmeal, quinoa, and rice pretty regularly. I was eating dairy from cows milk before my son's doctor asked me to cut dairy out of my diet. I eat bread a couple times per week.

I don't follow paleo because I still include cheese, heavy whipping cream and butter in my diet. I do understand cutting out dairy to see if it is a problem. I did it for a year or so and found I was able to tolerate dairy with almost no lactose.

Otherwise I eat a paleo style diet with a focus on low carbs. Mainly meat with some nuts, veggies amd fruit like avocado thrown in. I never eat grains or added sugars, and I feel great eating that way.

Give it a try. My guess is that you could give it three months and that would give you a good idea if it is going to help. It won't hurt to try.

PricillaKorea wrote: »

I am the polar opposite. I mostly follow a vegan lifestyle. I never binge or crave anything. I eat so much grain and pastas and rice and I still lose weight. From what I understand the pales diet restricts these things. I love my high carb low fat diet! My acne has cleared up and I have more muscle toning. I understand that this transition is difficult for many people, but meat already freaked me out, I get nauseous when I smell eggs and I am lactose intolerant. The hclf vegan lifestyle was made for me!

Sounds like you have poor nutritional information and some food aversions.
Eating vegan does not "tone".

And fat is useful for life - please don't remove it too much. Your skin, hair, brain and hormonal balance depend on a minimal fat level.

robs_ready wrote: »

Cool, any paleo dieters out there with any success on the diet?

Yes. For me, eating at CICO was awful because I'm hypoglycemic. So low-carb, high-fat paleo worked much better for me. I wasn't restricting for "no reason" as others have said. I even saw a lot of plus ups others have neglected. I gain muscle much faster than I did before, and so my body composition has improved even beyond weight loss.

Because I eat more nutrient dense foods, my hair and nails are also stronger than on a diet with grains.

But seriously, everyone's bodies are different. Do what works for you, and ditch what doesn't. Do your experiment.

robs_ready wrote: »

I've been reading a lot about the paleo diet recently, for a number of reasons, I wish to eliminate certain food types from my diet.

From what I've read, paleo diet restricts grains and only meat can be consumed if it's fed it's natural diet.

The diet advocates lots of fruit and vegetables, limited dairy (preferable none but that's not going to happen), nuts etc...

Some concerns are raised about lacking particular minerals, and that it's a restrictive diet.

I'd be happy to hear any comments on the diet, as I plan to begin shortly.

To get back to the topic....
Things I like about Paleo:
Lots of veggies and protein, which are very filling, very nutritious, and should probably be the source of most of the calories everyone eats in a day.

Restricting trans fats and fruit juices. Trans fats are really bad for you. Juicing takes the fiber out of the fruit. Fiber is important in slowing digestion and preventing insulin spikes, and also is very filling and helps prevent hunger pangs. I'll have a little juice now and then, but it's much better to eat whole fruit.

Things I don't like about Paleo:
High fat. Fat is not filling. I can eat 1000 calories worth of Diamond Smokehouse almonds almost by accident. Fat should be low to moderate. Some is required to keep you healthy, and 20% of calories is about as low as you should go, but if you're trying to lose weight it's best to keep it at 20-25% of calories and eat more of other foods that are more filling. Saturated fats are good in moderation, but some Paleo dieters eat way too much. Also, Olive oil is fine for cooking, contrary to Paleo Doctrine.

Not counting calories. You have no idea whether you're moving toward or away from your weight goals on a meal to meal basis, if you're not at least counting calories. Ideally you're counting carbs, fat, protein, and maybe fiber, to make sure you're at least hitting your minimum targets for each. MFP makes that easy. Thanks, MFP!!!

Restricting fruits, dairy, legumes and pickles for no reason at all. Nonfat dairy is a fantastic source of protein. Fruits, legumes, and pickles are loaded with healthy carbs and fiber. Plus fruits are great portable snacks and fantastic pre-workout fuel.

Lots of pseudoscience about poly fats, historical diets, and the "evils" of carb-heavy diets. Many ancient peoples (not all) ate lots of carbs. They pretty much ate whatever they could find in their environment. Carbs fuel exercise. Low carb is ok for losing weight if you're not very active, but in my humble opinion, low-carb exercise sucks balls and most people perform far, far better in the gym with a good amount of carbs in their system. The Paleo guidelines say "Don't over-exercise." That's crap. Exercise as much as you want, and eat enough carbs to fuel your exercise properly.

Last, and possibly most important, if you're tracking your macros, you can generally eat any food that you want, at least in small quantities.

robs_ready wrote: »

Thanks for the responses guys, it's quite complicated actually.

Im doing it for a number of reasons If I'm being honest;

1.Optimal physical health, clean eating.
2.To have better skin
3.To feel less tired associated with insulin spikes or food group intolerance.
4.To aid with left over symptoms of adhd as a child, inattentiveness and sleep problems.
5.To curb appetite

May all sound a bit too much, but I want to go wirh a diet which advocates better eating and doesn't cut out meat (I can't live without meat)

It's not that I'm anti grain, I'm just trying to determine whether it agrees with me or not.

1. Optimal physical health is achieved by a good nutrient balance, physical activity, and managing any medical issues you have. You can have a bad nutrient balance on Paleo as well as on on any other diet. Paleo may help you get there, but you would need to be smart about the foods you eat. The exact same thing can be achieved with any other diet if you are smart about the foods you eat, so Paleo has no advantage there.

2. Skin is more about genetics, hormones, and again, nutrient balance. None of which is specific to Paleo.

3. Are you self-diagnosing? What if your tiredness is caused by an underlying issue? Have you tested your blood sugar after an insulin spike to know for sure that you are hypoglycemic? The only medical issues I know which have an insulin-fatigue relationship are diabetes and chronic fatigue syndrome, both of which need medical attention beyond going on a random diet. There might be other issues I'm not aware of, but I believe medical attention is the first stop for any medical issue.

There is no such thing as "food group intolerances" unless you have severe lactose intolerance, in which case you are intolerant to the whole "dairy" food group. People are intolerant to certain substances in certain foods, not to food groups. Dairy is a special case simply because that substance is present in all dairy products in different concentrations. This is simply not the case for most other food groups. A gluten intolerant person, for example, may need to eliminate wheat, barley..etc, but other grains would still be okay. Again, don't self-diagnose. If you suspect a food allergy or intolerance, you need to get that checked and confirmed.

4. There is no evidence Paleo aids with any of these issues.

5. You may or may not curb your appetite. Or you may find yourself eating less at first because of the novelty of a new diet, but then calorie creep sets in. Many people are more than capable of overeating Paleo foods. Watching your calorie intake is the key to not overeat, and experimentation is the key to finding what foods fill you up better. What if one of these foods turns out to be something Paleo does not allow? Why would you want to arbitrarily limit it in that case?

With that said, it wouldn't hurt to try. Placebo is a powerful thing, and if you end up joining the Paleo cult, the effect is even stronger. You may actually solve all your perceived health issues in addition to finding the answer to life, the universe and everything.




Joking aside. You may end up enjoying the diet and thriving on it (although I'm not sure I could say the same for you wallet). So why not try it and see for yourself.