# Paleolithic diet



## deathbyorca (Nov 22, 2014)

Zoof said:


> National Geographic did an interesting article on "ancestral" diets in their October issue this year: The Evolution of Diet - National Geographic Apologies, I haven't read all the replies in depth, but here's what I think anyway. I think that the Paleo diet as a whole has been hyped beyond what it is. I have seen various people benefit greatly from it, I have seen various people stumble when they tried to use it as a weight-loss type of diet. I see a lot of people saying 'I'm totally paleo"when in reality they are just cutting back on carbs and dairy. I think that if you really want to go ancestral, the paleo diet should restrict the portion size and frequency of meat on the meal plan. Most hunter-gatherers did not have daily access to meat. From my understanding there is still quite a bit of meat on the weekly meal plan in paleo. Personally I think the NG article makes a very interesting point: the closer you stick to your ancestral eating habits, the healthier you will be but this doesn't necessarily mean you have to 'be paleo'. Every body is a complex system with unique DNA and what keeps one person healthy might be detrimental to another. To me, the major positive things about paleo are that it promotes cooking from scratch, it promotes finding healthy produce and meat from clean sources and that is invaluable in this era of mass-production and an industrialised farming sector. If anything, it's going to educate people about where their food comes from and re-learn how to use base products instead of relying on processed foods. Whatever works for you, works for you. That's great. But I personally think that the idea that 'eating a paleo diet equals eating like our ancestors equals is the best' is incorrect. And that's generally the vibe I get from people who swear by it.



This is Fantastic! My only comment to this and to what every one is saying about Paleo being a fad is just this... some people need the fad. Some people need to encouragement and the P L A C E B O effect. It's like you said, if it works it works.


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## JoetheBull (Apr 29, 2010)

I am making a second attempt of going strict paleo for 30 days soon. I am taking it a bit slowly this time. Been over a month since I have had a soda and it's been almost two weeks(could be more) since I had a candy bar (used to eat two king size bars/bags a day). Lately been trying to keep my general sugar intake below 50 grams with exception of sugar from vegetables and also stopped eating bread and pasta (as a half blooded Italian that kind of sucks lol). Soon ice cream and and then lastly pizza are soon next. I think most of the sugar withdraw is about gone and the caffeine withdraw didn't really last that long. 

Lately with just those changes, things seems to be going well. I have had a crappy diet to begin with. Pizza and soda were probably my two favorite things to consume. I also have a fatty liver, so I am mainly doing this as an experiment to see if my general health improves and if it helps with the my blood work that indicates the liver damage. If I lose some of my weight that would be awesome also. The hardest part is trying and cooking new foods. Just recently I added kale to my salads. Still need to make an experimental meat loaf with grass feed meat, onions, and green/red bell peppers. Which can also be used as burgers. 

Well I'll see were it goes and I am still doing a lot of reading on the paleo diet subject. I also listen to various video of people talking about trying to gather and sort out a lot of the information. Apparently there are people who hijack the diet which does make it seem more like a fad. Most people it seems to understand the fact that there is no one size fits all diet and that after the 30 days you should test out how foods you want to bring back into your diet effect you after eating them. If you feel fine, then you may have the adaptation that allow you to consume that food without too much of a negative effect.


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## Death Persuades (Feb 17, 2012)

Remcy said:


> Tried it, doesn't work for me. My body runs much better on starchy carbs than fats. It taught me something though, as my mind was crystal clear when my brain was using ketones for fuel.


I used to think that ketogenic diets were shit, and even harmful, but I have read from more than one person that it helped them mentally as well, such as clearer thinking, less intrusive thoughts, better mood, etc. I don't really have the means to be on such a diet, or at least I don't think so, unless I can live off of whole milk and eggs and a few veggies and fruits for a while. 

Would anybody here advise a mainly milk and egg diet, with some added veggies and fruit, plus a vitamin supplement?


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## Vanitas (Dec 13, 2009)

Red Panda said:


> Legumes are very healthy, all population studies show those who eat them are healthier. Cooking beans relieves them from their anti-nutrients.
> Paleo in general is a fad, it's based on nonsense notions that paleo people did not eat grains and legumes which is just silly. They ate them, they just didn't know how to cultivate them yet. They also, likely did not consume meat every day, as hunting was difficult. They would eat anything they could forage in warmer months, having a mainly plant - based diet and hunted in winter when plants were not as available. They probably had an intermittent pattern of eating like most animals. Not to mention that their diets where vastly different depending where they lived. So, a modern person cannot, by any means have a paleo diet.
> You can see more about it here, from an expert:
> 
> ...


And here is debunking of a debunking. 

I'm still somewhat on the fence about paleolithic diet. I agree on the part that grains are not (that) _necessary_, as in paleo diet promotes a very high nutrient density way of eating, but haven't decided yet about how exactly eating grains cornered humanity to unhealthy state. 

Aside from possibly keeping them (falsely) full (of sugary calories and bulk) while starving them of necessary/high quality nutrients, and the malnutrition effects compound. Maybe it _is_ that simple?


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## Pupazzo (Apr 12, 2015)

paleo is bs, if you don't have a normal balanced diet and switching to paleo it's normal to see improvements. with paleo is "easier" to keep the balance and quality of macros (even a calories deficit). BUT if you learn to balance all the macros with a normal diet it's the same and probably cheaper.


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## FlaviaGemina (May 3, 2012)

I'm in two minds about this, because all the diets were you cut out one food group completely sound unscientific and unhealthy.

I used to be a vegetarian (I did eat dairy products and eggs), but now I'm just so fed up with it because my husband and me eat meals based on carbohydrates _every_ f-ing day of the weak. I don't mean unhealthy meals like pizza etc. We eat wholegrain pasta with organic vegetables and salad on the side in the evening. During the day we eat sandwiches every f-ing day of the week (whole grain or German bread, so again it's not too unhealthy).

But I've been telling my husband forever that I can't stand it and I want something simple, but also more variety. I can't stand all the sauces and stuff. I just want the veg to be raw if it's something you can eat raw or just boiled without any cream-based, salty sauces. 
The other day we came across this paleo cooking book and the recipes just look amazing and exactly like the type of food I want: lots of colourful veg and fruit, nice meet and fish, some spices/ lemon juice and none of this complicated stuff like sauces where everything is mashed together.

We go swimming every Sunday (3,000 metres) and every time we go, I get this incredibly craving for roast chicken, fish or steak and all my husband has got for me is another sandwich and then pasta in the evening. It literally makes me sooo angry and we argue about this every Sunday because I drag him to the store 5 minutes before it closes and impulse-buy the first random bit of meat I can get hold of. I literally got insane with hunger for something proper to eat.

At the same time, I wouldn't want to eat meat or fish more than once a week, because I don't think it's healthy and I don't think there's anything wrong with beans. But honestly, we go swimming twice a week (2,000 and 3,000 metres) and I don't think you can build up muscle if all you eat is pasta, pasta, pasta, bread, bread, bread .....


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## FlaviaGemina (May 3, 2012)

Vanitas said:


> Aside from possibly keeping them (falsely) full (of sugary calories and bulk) while starving them of necessary/high quality nutrients, and the malnutrition effects compound. Maybe it _is_ that simple?


Yes, I think that probably sums up the main argument.


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