Paleo Diet

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TEbert	Paleo Diet	Lead	[-]
Posts: 15 ( 3-Sep-08 20:31:40) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tags : None Has anyone ever tried or had luck with the Paleo Diet? A couple of years ago, I was researching dietary approaches to digestive disorders and started to form some pretty strong opinions about how one should eat for optimal health and disease prevention, regardless of whether or not they've currently got digestive problems. More reading led me to realize that almost all of this information was consistent with the Paleo Diet. This diet or way of eating essentially says "if it wasn't available 10,000 years ago, our bodies haven't evolved to handle it properly and we shouldn't be eating it". We should be eating meat, eggs, fruits, vegetables, and nuts and avoiding foods like grains, sugars, and processed foods. The goal isn't to lose weight. In fact, I'm almost always trying to get stronger and put on lean bodyweight. As long as I keep my calories up using lots of nuts, eggs, and meat, I seem to be able to at least maintain my bodyweight. It takes some discipline and planning and it helps to have a wife who can cook. I can't say I'm 100% compliant as some situations (lunch meetings, etc.) are difficult to work around. Has anyone else tried this approach? If so, what are your thoughts?
grffn		#1	[-]
Posts: 460 ( 3-Sep-08 21:10:39) Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	tebert I don't remember the specifics of the Paleo diet but I do recall some of it was odd and difficult to follow to the letter. I think they wanted you to eat your meat raw also,not 100% sure of that tho. I like to think that some of the advances and gained knowledge of diet over the last 10,000 years are good,not all bad. All that being said if you were to base your diet on lean meats,nuts,fruits and vegs I can't see how you could go wrong.
keith2237		#2	[-]
Posts: 90 ( 4-Sep-08 09:18:40) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I can understand most of that, but don't understand why they don't want you to eat grains. Grains have been around as long as fruits and veggies. Unless they just meant processed grains (i.e. processed flour).
grffn		#3	[-]
Posts: 460 (18-Mar-07 16:20:56) Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	their reasoning is that grains are now so de-natured that they are no longer a "good" thing. Their main stance is that MAN has ruined nature and taken the good out of most things,which there may be some truth to, but just like abbrieviated training is a staple of the average drug free trainer so is being able to easily follow an eating strategy. And theirs,like most,have some solid ideas and some not-so solid ideas.
TEbert		#4	[-]
Posts: 15 (18-Mar-57 16:20:57) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The link below is a good summary. It talks specifically about why grains, beans, and potatoes are not good for us. I'd try to summarize here, but I probably wouldn't do it much justice. Also, I've never seen anything in my reading about eating raw meat, just lots of chicken, fish, and red meat, all of it cooked. http://www.earth360.com/diet_paleodiet_balzer.html I'm certainly not 100% compliant all of the time, but I'm trying to trend my diet in this direction.
grffn		#5	[-]
Posts: 460 ( 4-Sep-08 21:17:15) Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	you know Tebert I shouldn't have made the statement about the raw meat because I really didn't have my facts straight. But I know that there were some odd ideas within that paleo theory of diet. But I do agree that the less man "fools" with food the better it is for you. Although even that statement can be debated,due to spoiling prevention and other technologies that have actually helped. We all would agree that the hormones and other chemicals they jam in meat is garbage.
TEbert		#6	[-]
Posts: 15 ( 5-Sep-08 18:29:19) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Also, my understanding is that this is not a sustainable way to eat for all of the 6+ billion people on the planet. Agriculture, bioengineering, all of that stuff is very important to keep large quantities of humans from starving to death. But if you are looking to optimize your diet, it would seem best to stick to the basics of what our bodies are meant to use for energy - meat, chicken, fish, eggs, nuts, fruits, vegetables, etc. - and sometimes beer. I personally have a history of digestive issues and have found this to greatly improve how I feel and function. And I am able to get stronger while doing it.
grffn		#7	[-]
Posts: 460 ( 5-Sep-08 19:04:02) Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	more often than not----beer LOL! What kind of digestive problems do you have if you don't mind me asking?
TEbert		#8	[-]
Posts: 15 ( 5-Sep-08 19:48:47) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Crohn's disease...So far anyway, I've found my system to be more responsive to dietary changes than to drugs - an opinion not shared by my doctor. I also like to think that the lifting has something to do with staying more robust and strong than your typical person with Crohn's. In fact, seeing others with the disease get skinny and frail is a major motivation for me to do just the opposite.
TheChaplain		#9	[-]
Posts: 23 ( 7-Sep-08 11:58:03) Paul - Spiritual Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hey guys, interesting discussion! I would agree with you guys 1000% regarding all of the crap they spray crops with, soil remediation chemicals, hormones in meat, etc. This really has ruined our diet and all we are ingesting is crap that is not nutritious. From my experience in Ukraine, where to a large extent, agricultural practices have not changed greatly over the past 100 years, food there is vastly different than here in the states. A couple of comparative observations I have made while over there: 1. People there are VERY reluctant to change their agricultural practices - this is a major stumbling block for Ukraine to join the EU. They insist on growing things the old way - slow and 100% natural and organic, the way it is supposed to be, along with letting fields lie fallow, etc. This alone makes the food there far more nutritious. 2. Because all the food is organic and nutritious, I found that I could eat far less and still get the same mileage during a hard work day. Here, I feel I need to eat a lot more (perhaps it is chemicals that make our bodies crave more food than we need???) to work the same amount that I did in Ukraine. 3. I don't necessarily buy the argument that grains and potatoes are bad for you - in Ukraine that is what 95% of the population eats EVERY DAY - Dr. Atkins would freak out if he traveled to Ukraine. I ate potatoes and grains in good quantity there, and beer is cheaper than water (I kid you not, this actually is VERY true), and yet I dropped a ton of weight. Meat is in very short supply as farmers will not engage in Western methods of meat production, which is very harmful to the animals as it is (Cows in Ukraine only give birth to one calf every 1-2 years as opposed to here in the USA where we coop up the animals into "factories" where they are constantly cranking out calves every 9 months without fail. Also, farmers cannot afford to buy the vast amounts of chemicals, hormones, antibiotics necessary to conduct large-scale meat production.) Given the fact that one only sees obesity in the very wealthy or in old people, and in addition, people there generally eat far less than your average American, I don't think eating grains/root vegetables are that harmful (this is only an opinion - I do not know what the rates of colon/digestive tract cancers and diseases occur in the general population of Ukraine). Any meat they do eat is primarily fish, chicken, or pork (particularly smoked pork products such as ham, bacon and sausages). These are my primary observations of what went on over there. Frankly, when I graduate from seminary, and I am on my own in a parish, I intend to either start my own vegetable garden or buy a share in an organic farm co-op so that way, I know my veggies and food are 100% chemical and drug free. I would rather pay a premium, either in personal time or cash, than go cheap and stuff my face with harmful crap. I am not sure if Jack LaLanne said this, but I remember him saying something like "Avoid all food that is processed, wrapped, boxed, bagged, etc. (except for the fresh farm veggies and food that you put in your own bag to take home)." The Chaplain
TEbert		#10	[-]
Posts: 15 ( 7-Sep-08 21:04:53) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Great stuff. Thanks for the insight. The more I read and think about this topic, the more it becomes obvious to me that, as Americans, we are a population that is overfed and undernourished. I personally think that there is something to the Paleo diet concept and eating this way seems to be of significant benefit for me. Of course, my system is probably more overreactive to garbage than others. Even if we forget the whole 10,000 years thing and, instead, turned back the clock to even a few decades ago and ate full meals that our mothers and grandmothers made complete with vegetables, meat, etc. - real food - we'd all be better off. We have gotten to the point where many of us eat more "products" than we eat actual food in it's natural state. Good luck with your garden and/or attempt to go organic. Like the effort you put into your workouts, whatever extra money or effort you put into good nutrition and good health will pay dividends that are worth the price.
bigcracker		#11	[-]
Posts: 105 (17-Sep-08 00:24:03) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I use the Paleo Diet as a guide. It is near impossible to be compliant 100% of the time but even the diet's author says shoot for 90%-95% compliance. Sticking with lean meats, veggies and fruit are the whole diet in a nutshell. When I stray too far from the diet I start having problems like weight gain, indigestion etc. Just stay away from grains and processed food and you are on the right track.

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