Paleo Diet?

Meh, keep calories within limit to lose weight, no need to turn into a caveman.

Hello, I have just started reading about this diet and was curious to hear other people's opinions, successes and/or failures? The plan sounds great, but I am cautious to try it as the fat content is tremendous.

I wouldn't worry to much about fat content and as I understand it you don't need to go excessively low carb on Paleo, but you may want to ask some of the paleo folks about that as I am not one of them.

I will say that the desire to consume less processed foods is a good one, but you don't necessarily need to go Paleo to take that principle and apply it to a diet that includes moderation. I also believe that elimination of certain food items is unwarranted provided you don't have an intolerance to those food items.

But, I'll stop there since people get a bit sensitive about these things.

Agreed. I lean towards the primal blueprint as much as I can. I ideally shoot for 80% "primal approved" foods. Doesn't happen ALL the time.. but most of the time I am ok.

I couldn't do Paleo only because if I had to give up bread AND dairy.. I would go batpoo crazy.

As sidesteal said,

To clarify, I think that consuming "mostly" nutrient dense and minimally processed foods is a good principle. I don't actually think people need to divide foods into clean and/or dirty brackets and adopt an all or nothing approach.

I'm not knocking your methods just to be clear. I'm glad you've found what's working for you. I'm only clarifying your paraphrasing above.

Urgh it's a fad. There are good principals about eating unadultered meat and vegetables but seriously just find a balance of foods that make you feel good and work for you. If you can say 'no' to bread for the rest of your life then Paleo might be up your street but personally I like to make my own diet that keeps me feeling good and doesn't ban food groups.

Julian Bakery out in California is debuting the Paleo Bread this Friday, actually. There are two varieties: one made with Almond flour and the other, Coconut Flour. Everyone in the Paleo community who knows about this can't wait to start eating bread again.

http://www.facebook.com/ThePaleoBread

They already make a Zero Carb and Smart Carb bread which boasts 0 and 2 net carbs, respectively. In fact, at the Natural Grocer where I buy the stuff, the staff happily admit that those two breads by far outsell every other bread they stock. So much so they added twice the refrigerator space to stock them. But I must admit, with the Paleo bread debuting, it will be quite popular.

Love it and been doing it for 14 months or so. When acquaintances ask what i'm doing, I just tell them i'm eating clean and getting my animal protein from good sources. I've learned not to say "paleo" in mixed company.

It isn't for everybody, but I recommend trying it for a month or two to see if it works for you. If not, then move onto something else and keep researching to find what works best. My opinion is that people have different metabolic profiles based on age, gender and genetics etc.

I've started following Paleo and can tell a huge difference in the way I feel. Last year I had a Dr. diagnose me with Fibromyalgia and I chose to stay away from the medicine and try changing what I was putting into my body. I feel so much better and am loving not having the side effects of the medicine.

But normal bread is so tasty!!!! It's much better not made of cave dust!

Amen!

Paleo isn't just about losing weight, though that is a nice side effect ;o) A lot of which has to due with so many processed foods not fitting into the plan.

It's based on the idea that the agricultural revolution drastically changed how and what we eat. Our bodies, theoretically, are designed to thrive on a hunter/gatherer type diet.

Will it work for you? Maybe. A lot of people function better when they avoid gluten... but it's so hard to avoid. You won't see the benefit from avoiding gluten (or even all grains) unless you do it 100%. It takes a few weeks for your digestive system to calm down and function normally (if it was being upset by gluten in the first place). All it takes is just the tiniest exposure to gluten (something as simple as your steak being grilled on the same grill where someone had used a seasoning that contained gluten) every two weeks to keep your digestive system in turmoil. A tiny exposure like that just once every two weeks is enough to keep a gluten-sensitive digestive system in a constant state of turmoil. Which is why anyone eating gluten-free has to be ridiculously specific about how their food is prepared if they eat out. Many restaurants say something is gluten-free because there is no gluten in that specific food... but many times the food is prepared in the same space or with the same utensils as gluten-containing food. Or the seasoning will contain gluten.

If you're eating out and want to avoid gluten, be relentlessly specific. Going gluten-free is really an all or nothing proposition.

Try it for a month... if you feel better, great! If not... the worst-case scenario is you just went 30 days without some foods you like.

I've never been diagnosed with Celiacs disease or gluten sensitivity... but the difference between how I feel on a grain-free diet and on a "normal" diet is like night and day. No digestion problems. No blood pressure problems, No skin problems. My body just functions optimally on a grain-free and dairy-free diet.

Everyone is different and you have to find what works for you. Paleo works for me. I'm healthier and I sleep better and have to take far fewer medications. Many of my health problems were caused by the standard American diet. Doctors were more than willing to prescribe me all sorts of medications to fix the symptoms... but not one suggested that changing my diet would solve the problem. I like treating the problem, not the symptoms.

My recommendation is just to try it for a month and then have some meal that contains the grains and/or dairy you've been going without. Gauge how you feel. I had a meal containing pasta and cheese and felt like shards of jagged glass were making their way through my intestines. That made it really easy to give up gluten and dairy. I've never had a favorable reaction to dairy, but it's so tasty!

I do admit that it was very hard to give up cheesecake ;o)

If you want to read up on Paleo, I highly suggest The Paleo Diet Solution by Robb Wolf. He also has a website with really good info on it.

This is not true. I have no desire to eat bread of any kind again.

Everyone in the Paleo community who knows about this can't wait to start eating bread again.

But normal bread is so tasty!!!! It's much better not made of cave dust!

You should try some low carb bread before you knock it, it tastes good. I don't eat much regular bread just because I have only so many carbs I can eat in a day and spending 50 carbs on 2 pieces is a lot when your diet consists of following macros intently. I am a bodybuilder so this can be useful for folks like me or other folks with different moderate to low carb. diets.

How do cholesterol levels stay within normal levels on a Paleo diet?

And obviously I need to learn how to use quotes properly lol