Paleo 101: How and why you should eat like a Caveman

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Burnesto

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Do you need to do sweet workouts like this to maximize the paleo?

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R

Rune_sl

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I think the real key to all these fad diets is the underlying truth that the modern American diet (high fat, high carb, high protein) is just so god damn awful for long-term health that changing it in any way is an improvement.

You can find healthy cultures eating high proportions of any 2 of the 3, but our modern diet is just a clear recipe for metabolic syndrome.
 
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MrBelding_sl

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A real "caveman" probably would have eaten a much greater variety of stuff: organ meats, blood, insects, other small non-farm animals, pre-agriculture vegetables, etc... this mostly looks like a no-carb type diet.
 
Gorestabb

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I saw an ad once, pretty sure it was legit, on Saturday Night Live for a diet called the "Stop eating so goddam much diet". I think that would be more successful than this one.
 
Aychamo BanBan

Aychamo BanBan

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Celestein_sl said:
TBH I don't know many keto people who end up eating tons of processed shit. Most ketoers I've met online and in person don't like Atkins either, we essentially follow the same diet as Paleo, just without the somewhat dogmatic "no processed foods" thing. If I'm out on the road, I'll get a greasy burger for convenience and not feel bad about it.

The biggest benefit of eating styles like keto or paleo is imho not even in the diet itself, it's the fact that it's completely impractical to to stick to them if you can't cook. Granted it's technically possible to stay in keto eating fast food everyday(and lose weight, LDL, etc ala Fat Head), but I've never met anyone who actually does that, if they do they're outliers.

I end up baking everyday(using almond, coconut, flax, etc),making eggs, making giant salads with 14 different veggies(and just extra oil), I spend a lot of time experimenting with "deserts". My GF even has been doing it for last several months after she realized that once you remove the sugar from chocolate, it's very low-carb and healthy for you, so I make a small batch of home-made dark chocolate every-day.

We still eat fruits, just in moderation(I typically eat 30 blueberries, 5 strawberries, some blackberries, and sometimes a banana in a given day, berries are actually pretty low carb for their volume, but still have a ton of flavor). Most ketoers put a *strong* emphasis on veggies...you have to...if you eat all that fat with no fiber...that shit will cut coming out, we just avoid potatoes and focus more on green veggies.(I eat a metric fuck-ton of spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, escaflowe, collared greens, cabbage, etc)

My point being that to be successful at these, you're forced to interact with your food, there are no prepackaged low-carb meals in a box/bag/whatever(least none at the places I shop...). That awareness of what you're eating is the ultimate prize you obtain imho, cause even if you stop, you still carry all that knowledge with you.
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Coconut oil? You know, sometimes it's really tragic watching people make mistakes at every turn. Coconut oil is high in saturated fat, it's probably one of the worst oils you could use. Sigh. I know you're going to post an uninformed reply telling me that saturated fat isn't bad, and you're going to quote a YouTube video, a horrible panned book, or a website of someone promoting "keto" or "paleo" diets. Just save your time, go do another WOD and brag about your 6 minute workout on the CrossFit forums.
 
S

supertouch_sl

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saturated fat isn't bad for you. there's also more to health than simple caloric restriction. most people can probably lose weight consuming nothing but soda but no one on this planet would agree that's healthy.
 
Dashel

Dashel

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aychamo_aycono_sl said:
Coconut oil? You know, sometimes it's really tragic watching people make mistakes at every turn. Coconut oil is high in saturated fat, it's probably one of the worst oils you could use. Sigh. I know you're going to post an uninformed reply telling me that saturated fat isn't bad, and you're going to quote a YouTube video, a horrible panned book, or a website of someone promoting "keto" or "paleo" diets. Just save your time, go do another WOD and brag about your 6 minute workout on the CrossFit forums.
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I have no strong opinion on coconut oil but you'd be wise to be a bit less dogmatic on anything related to nutrition. You'll hear certain things are bad for you and good for you in cycles. Eggs, milk, carbs, fats. The famous US food pyramid which promoted grains as the foundation of a healthy diet. Trans fats were once pushed by the same people who claimed coconut oil was the devil. The Center for Science in the Public Interest were responsible for making fast food chains like McDonalds switch from beef tallow to trans fats. Unfortunately I cant find their article anymore.

You can also read this which discusses why you're so afraid of coconut oil and why that information is at best overblown and at worst completely wrong:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/di...anted=all&_r=0

? According to Thomas Brenna, a professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell University who has extensively reviewed the literature on coconut oil, a considerable part of its stigma can be traced to one major factor.

? "Most of the studies involving coconut oil were done with partially hydrogenated coconut oil, which researchers used because they needed to raise the cholesterol levels of their rabbits in order to collect certain data," Dr. Brenna said. "Virgin coconut oil, which has not been chemically treated, is a different thing in terms of a health risk perspective. And maybe it isn't so bad for you after all."

? Partial hydrogenation creates dreaded trans fats. It also destroys many of the good essential fatty acids, antioxidants and other positive components present in virgin coconut oil. And while it's true that most of the fats in virgin coconut oil are saturated, opinions are changing on whether saturated fats are the arterial villains they were made out to be. "I think we in the nutrition field are beginning to say that saturated fats are not so bad, and the evidence that said they were is not so strong," Dr. Brenna said.
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BrutulTM

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Dashel_sl said:
Sugar is one of the big things I'm sure paleo gets right. Once you take a look at how much sugar we eat it's no wonder most people get fat. That's the issue with grains too though, refined grains like bagels, cereal and most breads give a big insulin spike and leave you hungry a short time after.
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This guy said that the thing that all the diets that work (paleo, atkins, south beach, etc.) have in common is that they are low in sugar, high in fiber. He also said something about whole grain bread being pretty worthless because grinding the grain ruins the effect of the fiber or something along those lines (didn't totally follow that).

He also said that High Fructose Corn Syrup is effectively the chemical equivalent to cane sugar, but the reason that it has led to the recent spike in obesity is that it is extremely cheap and since we are born reacting positively to things that taste sweet, the food industry has learned that anything that they put that stuff into will sell better with very little added cost, and naturally that is good for their bottom line so they put it in everything.
 
chaos

chaos

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He's probably right about HFCS. The grain and fiber things I don't know nearly enough about.

The overall "no processed foods" part of this seems good and what I am already trying to do. I'm not sure I am on board with cutting any major components out of my diet just yet until I see some hard science on this.
 
Deathwing

Deathwing

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I thought the dangerous part to HFCS is that it doesn't trigger the hormone that tells you to stop eating like normal sugars would. With how much we tinker with our foods(and especially how much more we're going to need to), I don't think it's smart to rely solely on your body when to stop eating.

What do people consider processed foods? There's obvious ones like frozen dinners. Or ones that are just loaded with chemicals(and I'm not outright implying that itself is bad). But what's the boundary for that? I've heard people lump white sugar under processed foods, which always makes me laugh because the "processing" of sugar just removes stuff(there might be an anti caking additive). I've even gotten homogenized milk, which is just a softball considering the processing used to homogenize milk is purely mechanical.
 
BrutulTM

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I don't really understand any of this stuff, but I thought the guy was really interesting and I trust Science Friday not to put somebody on that is just a crank selling a fad diet. He seemed to have a lot of science backing him up. I definitely recommend the 30 minute podcast and I'm thinking about getting the book but I'm afraid that I won't get around to reading it.
 
chaos

chaos

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People talk so much shit about HFCS that it is really difficult to tell fact from fiction. According to my biology professor the difference between HFCS and sucrose is that sucrose is like 55/45 glucose/fructose and HFCS is reversed. The numbers are probably off but it was something like that. If the argument is that fructose itself causes negative effects when not found in the company of fiber and whatever, I guess that would mean HFCS is bad for you. I really don't know. But I avoid it anyway.Look at the ingredients, they literally put that shit in everything you buy at the store.

I consider processed foods to be anything preprepared, like those ready to eat meats they sell, most frozen foods barring the frozen veggies, sodas, almost anything with corn syrup as an additive, box dinners, anything like that. It is really a case by case thing. Like, all the Yoplait yogurt, I wouldn't eat that shit. But they have some yogurts, even fruit yogurts, that seem to have good ingredients. Frozen veggies are fine for eating, but they have some frozen veggies in "sauce" that has god knows what in it, that stuff is right out. I'll eat some fried chicken, but that Tyson chicken patty stuff? No way.
 
T

The Ancient_sl

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Better not eat apples then, they are fucking loaded with the stuff! I know you aren't really arguing the point I'm making, but the argument that HFCS is bad is unfounded, it's not some mystical drug. The fact that it's in fucking everything in fairly large amounts? Yeah that's a problem.
 
Dashel

Dashel

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From what I've read HFCS is basically sugar, maybe a bit worse. It's not good for you in large quantities in the same way sugar isnt good for you. I think it was over hyped. So now they put giant NO HFCS! on labels and just swap in sugar, leading people to think they're being healthy.
 
BrutulTM

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Deathwing_sl said:
http://www.everydayhealth.com/diet-n...feel-full.aspx

I'm obviously not a doctor, so take the information as you may. It definitely requires more research.

I didn't mean to imply that what Brutul said is wrong. I meant to add something more to HFCS's dubious nature.
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He says this isn't true in the interview but my memory is not good enough to explain it cogently. Either way, both HFCS and cane/beet sugar are bad for you in large quantities.

He said that you shouldn't look at food labels because if it has a label you shouldn't be eating it. That is obviously a bit of hyperbole, but the fact that most prepared foods are high in sugar and low in fiber is a good reason to avoid them.
 
C

Captain Suave

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Here's a video of a lecture by the "Science Friday Guy". I'm by no means an expert in this field, but as a statistically-minded guy with a pretty good bullshit detector this passes the sniff test. Anecdotally, when I changed my diet a few years ago and moved to "real" foods (stuff that grows on trees or you need knives/fire to prepare) I lost 30 lbs and my cardiovascular indicators went from problematic to totally normal within a few months. This guy's theories are totally in line with my personal experience. I feel great now and there's no way I would ever go back to eating processed foods the way I used to. I do really miss breakfast cereal, though...

 
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