What is the Paleo/Primal/PaNu/Archevore Lifestyle?

TheGlen
TheGlen Posts: 242 Member
edited October 3 in Food and Nutrition
OK; so my wife and I have moved towards the paleo lifestyle recently (in the last month or so), and find we are asked almost daily "what is" and the "why" regarding our new eating habits.

We've read a lot of web sites, books, watched videos and concluded what I would consider a fairly substantial personal study before deciding to do this, and so we have a pretty extensive response when people ask us. The problem is, people don't want an extensive response and I don't want to come across as a preacher or make people feel like their decision to not join this lifestyle is wrong.

My question to other Paleo/Primal/PaNu/Archevore followers is:

What is your two-ten line response to people when they ask what it is, and why you do it? Do you have a standard response, or web site you send them to?

We've looked, and there are just too many resources to list or give to people without making them feel overwhelmed.

With Thanksgiving coming up, I've already told my Mom that she doesn't need to worry about making stuffing or stocking up on milk for us at the upcoming family dinner (two things that I used to consume copious amounts of at these dinners). I know that this will probably lead to everyone asking questions, and I'd like to see how other people usually respond.

Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • hyenagirl
    hyenagirl Posts: 206 Member
    I tell people it's the diet man kind ate before we started growing grains and going all agriculture. I then tell them at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History there's an exhibit that shows the evolution of man over millennia. At first the average height of a woman was 5' 6", once we brought grains into the mix we shrunk down almost a foot and our life spans got docked due to disease (before hand mortality was based on being eaten and major injuries).
  • kristilovescake
    kristilovescake Posts: 669 Member
    I'm looking forward to seeing the responses because I've been curious about what it is. I tried a quick google search the first time I heard of it and quickly closed the webpage after seeing a short novel.
  • RTricia
    RTricia Posts: 720
    I don't know but I've never eaten so much meat and coconut in my entire life.
  • TheGlen
    TheGlen Posts: 242 Member
    I'm looking forward to seeing the responses because I've been curious about what it is. I tried a quick google search the first time I heard of it and quickly closed the webpage after seeing a short novel.

    This has been my challenge so far. There's so much information that people are overwhelmed or lose interest very quickly. I'm going to take everyone's input to try to come up with one short, concise response that gives people the gist of it (and then have additional resources ready if they want to research it further). Then I'll probably post it on my blog and just direct everyone there.
  • whatevany
    whatevany Posts: 109 Member
    A co-worker summed it up like this, if you were trapped in the woods what would you eat? Of course that doesn't always work in our modern society but you get the idea :-)
  • justbeingmerox
    justbeingmerox Posts: 3 Member
    I just tell people that nutritional scientific research has discovered that different people have different metabolic needs where food is concerned. I happen to need meat to fuel my body properly and I personally do not get along well with most grains. For the most optimal health that I can possibly achieve, I follow a diet that most people are not willing to do. That's all I say. Usually the people that know me or the ones that get to know me and see how much energy I have, how happy I am all the time, how much weight I've lost, etc... they want more details and it is then that I start filling in the basics of how I eat and what it does to heal my body. Just to be clear, I am not currently doing the paleo diet but I do eat quite alternatively to mainstream eating and I get lots of questions about it. :) Hope that helps.
  • jamk1446
    jamk1446 Posts: 5,577 Member
    http://chriskresser.com/perfecthealth

    I think this is where I would start by sending people. It sums up the why and anyone who is interested can click on the links for the 9 steps.

    My short answer is the paleo approach is looking toward our evolutionary past to help us find our optimal diet today. And as I have problems with gluten and too much dairy, this approach makes sense for me.
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