The Problem With Paleo

[Angor]

Hey, guys! Hope everyone is having a badass day full of badassery and righteous villainy!

 

So, I've started doing the Paleo diet. I've been doing it for four days now. I have a few questions that would put my mind at ease if they were answered (or maybe I'll freak. We'll see). It's basically a list of "how bad is it"s.

 

1. 1. How bad is it to have meat that isn't exclusively grass fed? I just got a job recently, but it really doesn't pay well enough for me to comfortably buy all organic foods. It really is pretty expensive on my current pay.
2. I've told my family that I'm on the Paleo diet, so they try to be understanding and cook things that I can eat too. At the same time, I don't want to force them to change what they eat for my convenience. How bad is it if I have a small portion of rice (like 1 cup after cooked) and the food has been seasoned with about a tablespoon of granulated sugar? Will that throw off the ketosis?
3. I've done pretty well with eating the right things, in spite of the above mentioned. How bad is it if I occasionally eat something high in carbs? For example, went 3 days eating the right things, then this morning had a bagel for breakfast because was late and had to have something.

Okay, so that was two things. I thought I had more. I'm not trying to make excuses, these are just realities I have to deal with. It's a little bit of an issue because, as I mentioned, I'm not quite able to afford buying the organic stuff. I really have to keep a tight hand on my wallet because of debt, etc. So, it's financially convenient for me to eat with my family.

 

I don't know if this helps at all, but I've also reduced my portions significantly, and when I do have carbs the amount is quite small compared to what I was doing last week.

 

I want this to work, but I feel like I'm a little stuck as to how strictly I can follow the diet.

 

As I said, I'm not trying to make excuses here. I have no problem going low/no carb. TONS of tasty food I can make, but I simply can't afford it most of the time.

[El Exorcisto]

Paleo isn't by definition low or no carb. Vegetables, fruit, sweet potatoes, and depending on the Bible that you swear on, rice are all... kosher? If you are going to swear by a dogmatic approach to dieting, which is all that paleo is, then try not to handicap yourself any more than the rules already do.

 

With all that said, there's only one problem with any approach to paleo. Want to know what paleolithic, or even pre-industrial man ate a lot of? Nothing. The thing I find so problematic with any fad diet is that they never take into account that our evolution worked around times of feast and famine. Consistent food supply, let alone food choices, was unheard of until a few hundred years ago.

 

If sticking to the rules are a problem then stick to the one rule that matters in the realm of cutting weight. Eat less than you need. To the best of my knowledge there hasn't been any peer reviewed research that refutes that a caloric deficit leads to weight loss and that lower bodyfat leads to better metabolic markers.

[Angor]

Thank you, Exorcisto. Those are sound points.

[Jaymul]

 

If sticking to the rules are a problem then stick to the one rule that matters in the realm of cutting weight. Eat less than you need. To the best of my knowledge there hasn't been any peer reviewed research that refutes that a caloric deficit leads to weight loss and that lower bodyfat leads to better metabolic markers.

 

Totally, totally agree.

 

[DarK_RaideR]

I've gone paleo for a while. My main remark is take everything with a grain of salt and stick to the spirit, not the letter of it

 

- Never bought the "science" behind it with all the genetics and actually trying to eat what cavemen ate, because as Exorcisto and this video tell us, they ate whatever they could come up with, which was totally different from what we have access to.

 

- One of the reasons I got disappointed with paleo was a feeling of trying to bend the rules. No flour, but coconut flour is allowed. Eliminate milk and dairy, unless its coconut/almond/whatever milk. That's ridiculous and brings me to the final point...

 

- I strongly support the overall spirit of paleo: eat a good combination of protein/carbs/fat, go for natural and not overprocessed stuff, avoid crappy stuff with sugar because it's a pack full of calories/zero nutrients that doesn't even make you full.

 

+1 for the bottom line of maintaining a deficit if you want to lose weight.

[Eleanorsbee]

 

1. 1. How bad is it ......

 

 

Well it defines what you consider to be bad .... unless you are trying to become an advocate of the true paleo lifestyle ..... or president of the Official Paleo Fan club .... or even a board member of the Fad Diet Committee; Then in all reality crap all is going to happen to you if you eat a peanut, drink a beer eat a farmed fish, drink a protein shake or put sugar in rice.

 

Paleo is merely a tool that can help you in losing weight, or leading a healthier lifestyle ... assuming your current diet is worse than a Paleo diet.

 

Ultimately though, Arnie used to drink a beer after working out and smokes great big cigars ... I doubt cavemen did that 

 

I am assuming your goals are Loose fat ? ... get bigger muscles, get stronger, be healthier 

 

All of those can be done with regular food as long as you eat in moderation, get plenty of protein, get carbs when you need carbs, get fibre when you need fibre ..... dude even neat sugar has its uses if you need a glucose spike in order to pull of a PB on a 2000meter sprint on the rowing machine.

 

If I was you, I would do what most people on here seem to do and just do a 80:20 or 70:30 Paleo split .... so eat real food the majority of the time, but don't worry about utilising modern food if you want a chocolate milkshake after a workout 

 

Just make sure you keep to your calorie goals and get a decent amount of protein and green veg doing so 

[SpecialSundae]

When it comes down to it, weight loss is down to calorie deficit. How you get there is up to you.

 

Micronutrients in vegetables and fruits will contribute to much better health and macronutrients will help a little with body composition and a fair amount with satiety (not being hungry all the time) but you can be healthy and lose weight whilst having the occasional ice cream or bagel.

 

Take it down to the basic principles: paleo is about eating more vegetables and less junk. Focus on that. Don't stress eating non-grass-fed meats (seriously, it makes arse all difference in the scheme of things) or eating rice (as long as it fits into your calorie goals) or a bagel once in a while.

 

I post it way too often, but if you want to see them I'm happy to share my before and after pictures for proof that you can go from fat to fit without paleo. :-p

[Bullroarer Took]

I never subscribed to Paleo, I'm more of a IIFYM kinda guy.  The paleo-esque influence I have is that anthropologists posit that our accestors ate what they could get their hands on, and based on modern hunter gatherer diets this likely included maybe 100 animal species and 100s of species of plants in any given year.  What was availiable and in season got eaten.  It's probably important to note that grains are a third choice food for humans.  That means we would rather eat something else but we would eat a bit here and there.  The mono-culture (growing a crapton of one crop) of the ag revolution sort of changed that.  anyway, Eat a wide variety of whole meats, vegtables and even a bit of grain and you are probably eating pretty close to our ancestors.  And if they had an grinding stone and an oven and a butter churn you bet they woulda ate some buttered bread when they had a chance... they just wouldn't have had a chance to eat it all the time. 

[Angor]

When it comes down to it, weight loss is down to calorie deficit. How you get there is up to you.

 

Micronutrients in vegetables and fruits will contribute to much better health and macronutrients will help a little with body composition and a fair amount with satiety (not being hungry all the time) but you can be healthy and lose weight whilst having the occasional ice cream or bagel.

 

Take it down to the basic principles: paleo is about eating more vegetables and less junk. Focus on that. Don't stress eating non-grass-fed meats (seriously, it makes arse all difference in the scheme of things) or eating rice (as long as it fits into your calorie goals) or a bagel once in a while.

 

I post it way too often, but if you want to see them I'm happy to share my before and after pictures for proof that you can go from fat to fit without paleo. :-p

That WonderWoman outfit though! BaBAM! Sure, I don't have a problem with you sharing before and after pics. I want to share my after pics, but I'm not there yet. I'll post my before at the bottom. I've lost 13 lbs since taking that pic, and I'm still losing weight, which is what I want. I also want to build muscle, so working on that too.

 

But seriously, thanks, everyone for chiming in here! You have relieved me from stress and frustration! It really makes this seem easier than I was making it out to be.

 

[laughing_dog]

As an archaeologist I can confirm that the paleolithic covers the span of about 2.6 million years and nearly countless different cultures (and hominid species!) that ate countless different things. If you want a real caveman diet, try tons of shellfish! we have shell middens COMING OUT OF OUR EARS in coastal archaeology.

I mean it.

shit tons of shell middens.

they're like.. everywhere, they are so common that we actually have had to dedicate regular research JUST to figuring them out.

but probably not that tasty because ew freshwater clams.

Anyway, our diets have varied a lot over the past few hundred thousand years that Homo Sapiens have been around.These things we are ranged from "whatever the fuck I can get my hands on" (in the early early days), to a pretty regular Neolithic style diet in proto agricultural societies starting a little after 20,000 years ago. Also hunter gatherer cycles had started up well and good by then, so returning to a previously used site meant that you'd have preferentially chosen plant life.

Either way, it's a diet fad.

The key is that it makes you pay attention to what you eat, and for most people this is actually the biggest step in losing weight.

(INTERESTING SIDENOTE: while anatomically modern humans have been around for a bit over 200,000 years (and counting! we keep getting older) representations of abstract thought (i.e. artwork, using tools to create artistic adornment, etc.) have only been around 50,000 years.)

[SpecialSundae]

That WonderWoman outfit though! BaBAM! Sure, I don't have a problem with you sharing before and after pics. I want to share my after pics, but I'm not there yet. I'll post my before at the bottom. I've lost 13 lbs since taking that pic, and I'm still losing weight, which is what I want. I also want to build muscle, so working on that too.

But seriously, thanks, everyone for chiming in here! You have relieved me from stress and frustration! It really makes this seem easier than I was making it out to be.

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Strong is definitely where it's at! Weight loss in theory is simple, but not always easy.

 

[Angor]

Strong is definitely where it's at! Weight loss in theory is simple, but not always easy.

 

Um, holy shit. Good job! That's amazing!

 

Well, gives me something to look forward to!