Why is everyone here so obsessed with the paleo diet?

[Brah]

To be perfectly honest I don't actually count calories myself (gasp, hypocrite!). I do however approximate calories and adjust accordingly. That said, my question has been answered. And of course, jdanger put it best.

[RaeVynn]

I spent a bit over 10 years as a vegetarian - seven of them (approximately) as a vegan.

Those were the heaviest years of my life.

Low fat/high carb/whole grain organic food packed the flab on me. My blood pressure was very high, my fibromyalgia (sorry, can't spell it today) was flaring constantly, and my hormone balance was way off (I thought I was doing the peri-menopause thing). I almost never actually slept.

I started losing weight doing CI/CO, which helped a bit, but I kept hearing about this paleo thing. I tried adjusting my vegan eating to avoid wheat, and that should some real promise. Then, when presented with information on how soy affects a lot of people, I decided that it was time to revisit eating animal protein.

I've been doing Primal for a little over a couple of months now. Paleo (whole30) for a few days.

My blood pressure absolutely plummeted. Down 40 points so far. I haven't had a "hot flash" in a few weeks. My fibro pain has dialed itself down by about 80%. I can sleep most of the night now.

Why am I "obsessed" with Paleo? Hmm...

[Mr. Decay]

I eat tons of carbs, it's just all carbs my body is happy about. I still eat bread, drink beer and eat donuts, and all sorts of other crap, I just save it for free meals or special occassions.

[aj_rock]

*Saunters on in*

*sees another Paleo vs CICO debate*

o_O

*slowly backs out*

[thatgirljj]

I can't speak for most NFers here, just for myself.

I have an inner ear disorder called Meniere's disease that can cause me to have catastrophic vertigo attacks (along with some other symptoms, and eventual hearing loss). The best non-drug, non-surgical treatment is a low sodium diet. If I follow a low sodium diet it eliminates about 80% of my attacks. Most grain based foods in the US have a LOT of salt... in fact, I've found that aside from white rice, most grains taste like crap without a lot of salt, while meats, fruits & vegetables taste awesome even without a lot of salt. So eventually my diet began drifting in a paleo direction, just trying to control my vertigo. I found there was a good name for it, and that allowed me to find recipes where I could cut the sodium to a minimum without compromising taste. And as I went more paleo, I got rid of a lot of food additives and weird chemical-y stuff which seemed to also improve my vertigo attacks, so I no longer have the severe ones that can land me in the ER. So I now take fewer meds. Less meds, less attacks = one happy girl.

Am I 100% paleo? Hell no. I'm maybe 90-10 or 80-20 depending. I'll go super strict for a little while. if I've been traveling or something and have to eat things that are full of additives and too much sodium. But I'll never give up ice cream for good, and life's too short not to enjoy a cocktail now and then. For me paleo is a way of living well for as long as I can with a nasty chronic illness.

-jj

P.S. Obviously, I don't use the paleo meme as an excuse to eat endless amounts of bacon. :-P

[The Tin Man]

*Saunters on in*

*sees another Paleo vs CICO debate*

o_O

*slowly backs out*

You missed that it's entering hug-fest mode, as many heated NF discussions do. Good call anyway, though.

[LordOfTime]

This is Nerd Fitness. When something helps us level up, we get obsessed with it, be that PR's on the deadlift, a faster mile time or a new way to think about eating that helps us stay or get healthier.

Primal's worked for me - 61lbs worth of "worked for me", really. You'll notice folks here don't tend to push it too much unless someone's already ASKED for advice on it, but when something gets results in the way that primal/paleo eating does, it tends to get around. And it has. But then so has a lot of fantastic advice on lifting, cross-fitting, running/rowing/swimming/biking, gymnastics and parkour, and a hell of a lot of really good book and tv recommendations. NFers share what makes their lives awesome: for a lot of us, the paleo or primal style of eating makes our lives awesome, simple as that.

Also, to be fair, the word "diet" is a pretty loaded word in our modern lexicon. For a lot of folks, "paleo" isn't really a diet in the sense that it's deprivation, but rather a diet in the traditional sense of the word that simply means one's way of eating. Personally I've never felt restricted since starting to eat primal seven months ago, and actually find myself having to work extra hard to consume ENOUGH calories in a day. All those delicious meats and veggies and fats are damn filling!

^this

[leadchipmunk]

P.S. Obviously, I don't use the paleo meme as an excuse to eat endless amounts of bacon. :-P

You are missing out.

You missed that it's entering hug-fest mode, as many heated NF discussions do. Good call anyway, though.

Group hug time!

[thatgirljj]

You are missing out.

Don't get me wrong, I eat my bacon (see liver thread in the Paleo forum). Just not endlessly, and I have to choose carefully to get one without a lot of additives or more sodium than it needs.

-jj

[leadchipmunk]

I'm in the same boat, bacon wise. I only eat it maybe once a month and I get side pork. The same cut of meat as bacon, but preserved or seasoned. I can't find truly paleo friendly bacon in my area.

[Waldo]

One of the benefits of the paleo diet is a control of insulin response in the body. There is a growing body of research about insulin/blood sugar and its affects on the overall health of an individual.

What Taubes conveniently forgot to mention as part of his alternate theory is that protein spikes insulin just as much as carbs do. All the ill effects of carbs on hormones apply equally to protein.

This pretty well sums it up. If you are doing CI/CO without an eye toward hormonal regulation, you're going to reach a plateau pretty quickly. Now, you may be comfortable with that plateau, but it will still be there.

Cool story bro.

I get 15% of my calories tops from Paleo Approved™ sources, plateauing has never been an issue, at this point I've pretty much covered the whole spectrum but cutting into BB comp %'s. All that matters for body comp are calories, protein, and exercise.

Plateaus are caused by eating too many or too few calories for your current body comp and exercise levels.

For long term sustainability, never having been fat as a teenager is huge help though.

[leadchipmunk]

Well, that 75% is probably a world figure, I'd guess. Most caucasians (around 90%, off the top of my head) are fine with lactose. But, lactose intolerance is so common in Asian populations (for example) that its more useful to talk about the rare lactose *tolerance*, which only about 10% of the population has. That's many thousands of years of milk consumption for most caucasians making the rare evolutionary quirk of lactose tolerance into adulthood so common that we think its normal. Most species outgrow their milk-drinking tendencies and tolerance. We're odd ducks, so desperate to keep drinking milk that we squeeze it from the breasts of other animals, for our own use.

Yes, the 75% is a global percentage, and I believe the 10% is too. I didn't feel like taking more time than necessary to re-find the figures, so I went off of what Google told me and they sounded right around what I had learned before about the intolerances. It also includes minor intolerance, such as slight discomfort and nausea, not just full blown allergic reactions.

[tigersheart]

Why do I love the paleo diet? Because I like it, and it works amazing for me. Plain and simple. I cured high blood pressure, lost over 50lbs, have almost no allergies anymore, and I like the way I feel.

Also, I am lazy, and this eating style works great for my laziness with such awesome health benefits I will never on purpose go back.

[Pat G]

*Walks out of the squat rack*

o.O

*Proceeds to eat footlong subway with double meatballs & mozarella*

Good stuff guys. +1 Charisma to all of you for working it out without resorting to fisticuffs.

[Zorch]

One thing that's a bit unfortunate in the sometimes antagonistic(though on this board it's much more civilized than average) paleo versus non-paleo discussions, is that I think there *are* aspects of paleo philosophy that are interesting to consider/investigate and useful to everyone, even if one decides a strict paleo style of eating(i.e. no grains/added sugars/dairy/legumes) isn't for them. These are things that don't always get much attention in mainstream medicine, but definitely have applicability to one's overall health.

-Gut health - the paleo community has a much larger focus on this than mainstream nutrition/medicine. As time goes by, there is an increasing body of evidence that gut health can play a role in health, and in the evolution of various diseases. And also, that the real benefit of fiber may not be in the tendency to "get things moving", but rather in its ability to feed the good bacteria in our guts, where it fermented into butyrate and other short-chain fats, which research is showing have protective effects in certain situations.

-Focus on systemic inflammation - like Gut health, many chronic diseases are known to have a component that's tied to persistent inflammation, and being mindful of the idea that one's diet can impact this is an important aspect of whole-body health

-Experimental Elimination - even if one doesn't go full paleo, the premise of testing removing a potentially problematic food(dairy, for example) from the diet and evaluating how one feels after a couple weeks is something that has extremely wide applicability, if for no other reason than the value of truly understanding how one reacts(or doesn't react) to certain foods.

I think the key to applying the above is that everyone responds slightly different to certain foods, and what is totally non-problematic for one person could be causing subtle issues for others. I think simply being cognizant of this can allow one to be more conscious of factors affecting one's health, even if one decides that strict paleo isn't for them.

[jdanger]

*Walks out of the squat rack*

o.O

*Proceeds to eat footlong subway with double meatballs & mozarella*

This is what I'm talking about. I've been known to eat entire large pizzas post squat sessions.

[Horsedog]

This is what I'm talking about. I've been known to eat entire large pizzas post squat sessions.

Sounds like my Friday nights...oh, and the obligatory wobbly pop

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AceInMySleeve]

Why do I love the paleo diet? Because I like it, and it works amazing for me. Plain and simple. I cured high blood pressure, lost over 50lbs, have almost no allergies anymore, and I like the way I feel.

Also, I am lazy, and this eating style works great for my laziness with such awesome health benefits I will never on purpose go back.

This pretty much sums up me. I started incorporating Paleo/Primal thinking into my eating habits 3 months ago, and have had success with it. My weight loss has returned (back to about 1lb a week after plateauing for awhile), I feel better, and it's easy to follow the "rules". Of course, I'm only about 80-90% paleo, with bagels, protein shakes, and some dairy being my "cheats", but it works for me.

However people want to eat is their choice, find something that works for you and stick to it. The idea of a "diet to lose weight" doesn't really make sense to me anymore, but a "what you eat to lead a healthy life" is what Paleo is to me.

[empeg9000]

For me Paleo works. I have lost 67 lbs since January. I am not a zealot about it, I have cocktails on occasion. I rarely ever eat grains though. It's worked for me because I feel full often. I eat tons of veggies and berries and I eat what ever meat I want, In fact I have to eat lots of veggies or my stomach is not happy when eating tons of protein. On nice side benefit I found is I had been a headache sufferer for most of my life. Several times a week. I have had maybe one or two since I switched to paleo. I am sure it was the grains. I just feel better over all. I do track all my calories but I do find I eat less easier because I am satiated. I just like that I am eating good healthy, natural, non-processed food. Paleo just happened to be the vehicle that helped me realize that I could get there.

[Florei]

Hi, there! I just joined yesterday, but I've gone off and on a South Beach / P90 type of diet, which I think pretty much encompasses the ideas of the Paleo diet -- in short, when people find something that is "right", it's the same thing no matter what name you give it.

I follow this diet when I'm on my game because it FEELS right. I can suck in my stomach without discomfort, I can move faster, lift heavier things, etc. because the protein-heavy portions give me tons of energy, and vegetables satisfy all my vitamin/mineral cravings. Carbs -- that is, heavily processed grain products -- feel like lead in the gut and build up flab so quickly. Eating for muscle and stamina is about so much more than calories in - calories out.

Once you understand what this kind of diet encompasses, the only real challenge is switching the types of grains/rice/flour you keep in your kitchen. It still allows for a huge variety and possibilities in the way you eat (which is great for me, 'cause I'm sort of a foodie.)

My two cents

[Guest Snake McClain]

let's see. i should be eating AT LEAST two thousand calories a day. So i can eat 2 thousand calories in twinkies (which would be about 13 rounded down) OR i could eat a dozen eggs (720 calories and lots of protein) one avacodo (around 360 calories) vegetables (typically only 20 calories per "serving")...we will say..oh 5 servings of vegatables a day. at least. so there is 100 calories. 4 ounces of chicken breasts (160 calories roughly)...see what i am getting at here. this is good solid healthy food and i'm not even at 1500 calories yet. It is providing nutrients and energy that your body DESIRES. What are those twinkies going to do? I could eat 13 twinkies a day but i'd get fat and feel like shit. OR i could eat some solid healthy food and feel awesome.

So...do you still feel that Calories in = calories out?

[Waldo]

let's see. i should be eating AT LEAST two thousand calories a day. So i can eat 2 thousand calories in twinkies (which would be about 13 rounded down) OR i could eat a dozen eggs (720 calories and lots of protein) one avacodo (around 360 calories) vegetables (typically only 20 calories per "serving")...we will say..oh 5 servings of vegatables a day. at least. so there is 100 calories. 4 ounces of chicken breasts (160 calories roughly)...see what i am getting at here. this is good solid healthy food and i'm not even at 1500 calories yet. It is providing nutrients and energy that your body DESIRES. What are those twinkies going to do? I could eat 13 twinkies a day but i'd get fat and feel like shit. OR i could eat some solid healthy food and feel awesome.

So...do you still feel that Calories in = calories out?

Honestly why do people revert to extreme examples when discussing this.

Eating only Twinkies vs. all the great, whole, natural, organic, grass fed, real, massaged, like your grandmother suggested paleo food.

Why not things like milk, cheese, oatmeal, wheat bread, rice, beans, potatoes, etc... instead of Twinkies, things that most people consider perfectly healthy foods yet that paleoists decry as poison.

Strict CI/CO is NOT "the junk food diet" FYI.

[rtalencar]

let's see. i should be eating AT LEAST two thousand calories a day. So i can eat 2 thousand calories in twinkies (which would be about 13 rounded down) OR i could eat a dozen eggs (720 calories and lots of protein) one avacodo (around 360 calories) vegetables (typically only 20 calories per "serving")...we will say..oh 5 servings of vegatables a day. at least. so there is 100 calories. 4 ounces of chicken breasts (160 calories roughly)...see what i am getting at here. this is good solid healthy food and i'm not even at 1500 calories yet. It is providing nutrients and energy that your body DESIRES. What are those twinkies going to do? I could eat 13 twinkies a day but i'd get fat and feel like shit. OR i could eat some solid healthy food and feel awesome.

So...do you still feel that Calories in = calories out?

Or you could eat all of those things you listed, hit 1500 calories and meet your nutrient requirements, and then have a bowl of ice cream or a donut or something. My diet works for me because I can still have the things I enjoy in moderation. That doesn't mean it's all I eat, but if I could never have a crumb cupcake or a junior's cheesecake or hell, sriracha, every now and again, I'd last approximately 13 seconds on my diet.

My diet is 3000 calories max, 200 grams protein min, 100 grams fat min (though I don't worry very much about the fat). It takes me anywhere from 1200 to 3000 calories to get my macros to a point where I'm happy with them. The rest I use to eat some veggies and then if I have any leftover, I have whatever I want. It works for me, I'm losing weight consistently and feel fine.

Paleo isn't worse than my diet, but it isn't better either. It's just different. 'Worse' or 'better' depends a LOT on the individuals ability to stick with it.

[jdanger]

Because food doesn't equal calories.. You guys can have this academic discussion with all the personal anecdotes (which = nothing btw) you want but it doesn't change the simple fact that everyone is different and things work differently for everyone. I know people where wheat ect is indeed poison. Telling that person not to worry and that all that matters is CICO is borderline criminal.

Biochemical Individuality by Williams. We knew this stuff as far back as the 50's but by all means. Carry on. Just don't try to apply your success to other people or pass judgement on other approaches based on your individual experience. Say what you want about "paleoists" but they are helping more people in the real world solve big health problems than "just CICO" ever could.

[OfficeGuy]

Quick question: has anyone ever successfully gained weight on Paleo? Though I like the concept of it, it seems like it would really tough to put on a few pounds following this life style. I've finally started counting calories and have enough trouble getting enough without eliminating grain/wheat/dairy from the equation.