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Paleo Diet 101: How and why you should eat like a Caveman
- Thread starter Dash27
- Start date
Why do you think agriculture was adopted? There had to be a reason, right?
I think the theory behind paleo dieting is kinda naive, but whatever floats your boat. It's the crazy anthropological pop-science that accompanies paleo that droves me up a wall.
i like the version of this diet that doesn't exclude cheeses.
it seems like people just take the concept of paleo too far and that restriction is more for technical reasons.
it seems like people just take the concept of paleo too far and that restriction is more for technical reasons.
way more
Member
And that's why I'm so skeptical. Each new diet that claims to be "the one" are like people who predict the end of the world. That said, it's not a bad looking diet, I'm just not sure it should be sold as some back-to-nature, one-with-the-earth, romantic naturalism diet.
you want any brontosaurus on that pizza? or maybe some stegosaurus sausage
CornBurrito
Member
Food surpluses. Even if grains and such lowered life expectancy, they provided significant advantage to societies as they grew in number.
Agricultural societies would outperform any hunter-gatherer/paleo society for sure. Going paleo in an agricultural society is basically a luxury.
Anyway I remember reading about the decrease in life expectancy in Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Source: http://www.ditext.com/diamond/mistake.html
Of course the source in my opinion is overly hostile to agriculture. I disagree with Diamond that agriculture was a mistake. Without those food surpluses we would not be where we were today. I think Diamond is guilty of over-idolizing hunter gatherers as egalitarian utopias.
Except for the fact that our body doesn't perfectly apply to the law of thermodynamics. It's not as simple as Calories in, Calories Out. Otherwise the law would be applicable across the board without question, and as Low-Carb dieters show, weight can be lost and kept off by disregarding calories almost entirely, and instead, focusing on keeping carbohydrate consumption to a minimum.
Define healthy food. I think that's where you get all the disagreement.
What I have found agreement on though is eating whole unprocessed foods. Paleo, forks over knives, Michael Pollan books... all disagree on things but where they do agree is on the unrefined foods and limiting sugar.
Energy in and energy out is a given, the issue is in the details of the best way to achieve that outcome in a healthy way.
blame space
Banned
how come is bread is so bad for me it was the biggest on the food pyramid?
I think dairy is perfectly fine so long as its full fat
Because the food pyramid was created by a senator and his panel that didnt know jack shit about diet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vr-c8GeT34
Because the food pyramid was created by a senator and his panel that didnt know jack shit about diet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vr-c8GeT34
People who survived were probably stronger during our caveman stage. But with grains and a more abundant food source, more people survived into adulthood, fewer babies had to be abandoned because there wasnt enough food to go around...etc... They lived longer cause they had to fight to survive. We may have had a lower life expectancy, but we had more people surviving into their child bearing years.
Just look at lions and co, the alpha male gets to eat first, the the others, then the babies. Children are the first to be sacrificed when food becomes scarce. Because you can always try for more later when the rain comes again and the herds are bigger. Most species do not fight to the death for their children.
Just look at lions and co, the alpha male gets to eat first, the the others, then the babies. Children are the first to be sacrificed when food becomes scarce. Because you can always try for more later when the rain comes again and the herds are bigger. Most species do not fight to the death for their children.
Onion_Relish
Member
Is there a reason why I'm following dietary advice about a time when the age being referenced had little access to the food being recommended and the people had notoriously short life expectancy? Stop being a pig disgusting oaf and eating processed food and you will be ok. People have been eating grains for thousands of years, why would we stop now. I don't mean to sound aggressive but I'm sick of dieting and the myriad ways people recommend you a dieting plan. Dieting is not as important as your diet.
Links? Sources? Studies?
Well, that's because you're confusing their intent. They're not meant as a diet, they're meant as a lifestyle change, ie. from this day forward you eat like this till the day you die.
CornBurrito
Member
Life expectancy dropped from 26 to 19 with the rise of agriculture. That said, agriculture has allowed us to have societies with life expectancies in the 70s and 80s.
Population densities of hunter-gatherers are rarely over on person per ten square miles, while farmers average 100 times that.
http://www.ditext.com/diamond/mistake.html
Though I really don't buy the conclusion that grains are some SUPER EVIL that will insta-kill you and make you obese no matter what you do .
Pop On Arrival
Banned
didn't cavemen die at like 31 years old or something? Fuck that shit!
Meus Renaissance
Member
What are these? Ingredients and instructions would be much obliged
I tried the Paleo died for a few weeks, and whilst I enjoyed the food, I found it to be quite expensive when eating salads outside (when you're at work or school). Healthy food is generally priced at a premium when compared to fast food
D
Deleted member 81567
Unconfirmed Member
I wanna lose 100 pounds in a week, will the paleo diet accommodate to my needs?
Onion_Relish
Member
More health advice from people who aren't doctors, let me jump right on that. Also ill buy his book while I'm at it!
blame space
Banned
this is going to be like every other reply
I think governments should do more to make healthy foods cheaper and tax crappy foods as well. Its cheaper and easier to eat rubbish, so people do.
Subscribed! I've had trouble finding a diet plan that works for me. I tried going veg for a while but avoiding meat was a huge challenge for me, maybe someday I can get to that stage but for now I think I should focus on eliminating the two bigger evils as far as health is concerned: sugar and wheat. And Paleo is a good plan for those.
I've been mostly Paleo over the last 5 days after reading about it here on GAF and plan to increase my Paleo 'compliance' in the coming week. I think 80 - 90% should be easy for me. Some days probably 100%.
Today I've had a cage-free scramble for breakfast and some grilled veggies with cheese and a bit of fruit for lunch. Dinner probably some salad and half of a baked salmon fillet I prepped.
I'm a huge coffee drinker and I just tried my first cup of "bulletproof" coffee (peets beans ground at home, brewed via pour over method, low-salt organic grass-fed butter [could not find salt free, it's on my list though] and some coconut oil). it's going to take some adjusting but the coconut flavor was rather nice.
I tend to be on a lower fat diet though, and today i've eaten quite a bit more fat than i'm used to. I can definitely feel a difference... not sure my body likes this. But we'll see how it goes over the next week.
I've been mostly Paleo over the last 5 days after reading about it here on GAF and plan to increase my Paleo 'compliance' in the coming week. I think 80 - 90% should be easy for me. Some days probably 100%.
Today I've had a cage-free scramble for breakfast and some grilled veggies with cheese and a bit of fruit for lunch. Dinner probably some salad and half of a baked salmon fillet I prepped.
I'm a huge coffee drinker and I just tried my first cup of "bulletproof" coffee (peets beans ground at home, brewed via pour over method, low-salt organic grass-fed butter [could not find salt free, it's on my list though] and some coconut oil). it's going to take some adjusting but the coconut flavor was rather nice.
I tend to be on a lower fat diet though, and today i've eaten quite a bit more fat than i'm used to. I can definitely feel a difference... not sure my body likes this. But we'll see how it goes over the next week.
It is good to be a skeptic. But ignoring the framing of a paleo diet as a holistic, natural, near-mystical healing force, can you really argue against "avoid processed carbs, and eat whole, natural foods"? It's easy to rally against a new "fad diet" in the name of reasoned moderation, but be careful to not reduce it to its negatives when there is so much good in it.
I try not to get caught up in the religious zeal of paleo's most ardent disciples (that's really what they can seem like sometimes... Conquerors, crusaders), if only to retain a healthy distance from the emotional attachment to what is, in essence, a personal lifestyle choice.
That was thoroughly unconvincing. Many scary sounding buzzwords, not many applicable arguments.
triplestation
Member
i just googled spaghetti, fried rice and sandwich dude
they are my favorite easy to make foods
T
Transhuman
Unconfirmed Member
Excretion is easier from a crouched position, but I doubt anyone on this diet takes their dumps crouched over a log like a caveman.
way more
Member
For the most part I can't argue with it because it is so simple. It's really the place it comes from than it's actual recommendations and the idea that the principal of the diet can lead lead to bad advice.
This Sand-wich intrigues me, is it some ethnic food?
CornBurrito
Member
Again, when agriculture first began farmers had a life expectancy of 19 compared to 26 for hunter-gatherers.
triplestation
Member
Barkley's Justice
Member
deli turkey is processed yo
Is that an asparagus dumpling
i eat this once or twice a week mmmmmmmmmmmmmm
whats the paleo version of this
Onion_Relish
Member
Chive, the best kind of dumplings. Pork, chive and ginger in my dumpling plz. 我爱饺子
lawlohwhat
Banned
He's also completely ignoring the influence of genetic tendencies. Different kinds of food affect my body in vastly different ways. A lot of us have to very closely monitor the stuff that we eat lest we quickly put on unhealthy amounts of weight.
triplestation
Member
my man
I get that. Keeping yourself away from the impassioned is usually a good thing, especially in a place like GAF, where like-minded voices can start to create a self-validating feedback loop. But, like you said earlier: it's a pretty good looking diet! I don't know how much you've read about it, but it might be worth looking into more if you have the time. You seem savvy enough to pick out what's bogus (and with dietary lifestyles, there will always be some of that mixed in).
What's the rational behind not eating grains, legumes (especially peanuts) and dairy? This diet is a bit to strict for me, I wouldn't be able to jump right into it.
Also you know when they say to eat more fat. Is that mostly from nuts, oils, and, stuff like avocados or does the fat in meat suffice? Like if I were to eat a meal consisting of some chicken breasts and broccoli would that contain enough fat?
Also you know when they say to eat more fat. Is that mostly from nuts, oils, and, stuff like avocados or does the fat in meat suffice? Like if I were to eat a meal consisting of some chicken breasts and broccoli would that contain enough fat?
The rational is that the human genome has adapted to foods most during the paleolithic era because it spanned such a long time.
I think paleo's elimination of dairy is completely unnecessary because there is little evidence that dairy harms people without lactose intolerance. Likewise for grains like rice, though I get wheat which is suspect.
But overall you cannot go wrong with the diet. It's basically a diet that strictly says eat very healthy foods and avoid all processed food.
Psychological Intellect
Banned
Ill try it, what about processed nuts?
blame space
Banned
listen i'll do this shit but you liberal assholes aren't taking cheese and nuts from me.
Well, ive noticed that my digestive health is much better after ive cut grains. I guess i was a bit gluten intolerant. Basically, I do not get bloated, my stomach never gets upset, and my shit never leaves shit stains (no-wipers)
And youd probably need more fat than that, but you could easily get it from eating eggs (ultimate food) or full fat greek yogurt (dairy good)
But yea, basically just eat full fat stuff, fatter cuts of meat, cook in butter. use butter, and other stuff and youll be good.
Im honestly not super strict about it. Basically i just follow two rules. No grain and no sugar. Doing that, ive never felt better and lost weight while eating a ton of food. I used to always get colds. Those are gone now too (probably due to my insulin not spiking constantly from sugar and carbs)
Dark Stalkers
Member
that primal diet in the op allows both, bro