I'm surprised that I can't find any reference to the 'Paleo' diet / lifestyle! So I'm creating this thread.

Ok, about me. 45 year old married father. I was an active member of this forum a few years ago when I lost 50 pounds. I used a 'healthy balanced diet', and sometimes (when I could be bothered) calorie counted with Fitday. I was a loud exponent of lifestyle change over slimming diet. I certainly didn't approve of low carb diets. I reached my lowest weight of 63 kg. At 5ft 8", that was a wee bit too light - and I clearly needed to increase muscle mass.

So what happened?

Well I have successfully kept up the healthy lifestyle, with lots of regular exercise and healthy eating. However, my focus on strength training encouraged me to eat excessive calories in the name of bulking. I was consuming lots of cottage cheese, milk, oats, and anything protein. I kept a good diet with lots of wholegrains, plants, etc - but cheating has definitely increased. I had a shock 6 weeks ago when I saw on the scales that my weight had risen to 74.5 kg! Although I have been very slowly increasing muscle, a look in the mirror in the wrong clothes - the fat was returning!

I started to cut six weeks ago, and I have so far lost 6 kg. However, nearly four weeks ago, I started a new experiment - the Paleo Lifestyle!

What is Paleo? Well, the arguments are simple. Hunter/gatherers from the distant past (the Palaeolithic), right up to present, appear to avoid those modern diseases - obesity, cardio diseases, degenerative diseases, diabetes, etc. The reason suggested is that it is because they are living the lifestyle that humans evolved to live - and that includes eating a natural pre-agricultural diet! Sure, they have an lower average lifespan - but that s because they do not have modern health care and are subject to injuries, accidents, infections, etc.

It is pretty impossible to live a genuine hunter-gatherer lifestyle living in a modern western world, unless you have the chance to gather wild foods, hunt your own meat, etc. So the Paleo diet is based on foods that we can buy! However, it excludes 1) modern processed high salt, high suger, high transfat foods AND 2) many foods that arrived with agriculture since 10,000 BC that have become a staple diet for many. The argument is that we didn't evolve to eat these foods.

What is allowed?

Most vegetables
Fruits
Most nuts
Lean cuts of (preferably organic pasture fed) meat
wild game meat
offal
fish
shellfish
eggs
ev olive oil

What is NOT allowed

Most processed foods (which include the following!)
transfats, highly processed oils/fats, hydrogenated oils
margarines, spreads
sugar
artificial sweeteners - glucose or fructose syrup

and here is the big NOT ALLOWEDS:

Any cereals, grains i.e. bread, biscuits, cake, oats, wheat, rice, corn etc
Dairy - no cheese, milk, yoghurt etc.
Potato!
Beans, lentils, pulses.
Peanuts, cashews

It isn't just a diet - it is a lifestyle that includes exercise! Higher levels of activity are encouraged including some cardio and sprinting, but especially strength training using heavy compound lifts. Some practitioners advocate an increase in general activities such as gardening, DIY, walking etc. Others are keen on the fitness programs popularised by Crossfit.com

I'll post more in this thread later.

Nice to see you back toothy - how's the pup doing?

I'm all for getting rid of processed foods out of the diet...

but what's the purpose of getting rid of whole grains and legumes?

He's been joined by a new pup - a spotty little dalmatian that recalls to the name of Belle! I still run, bike, n' hike with them. I ran two canicross races (cross country running tied to a dog) this winter with Wolfy - another goal achieved Hope that you are keeping fine?

Oh the legumes thing ... well, I don't agree with everything in the diet, but I'm sort of following that part as a guideline. Allegedly it is because beans and legumes in their natural raw state contain toxins.

I don't agree with all of the dogma, and there is a lot of debate within Paleos concerning saturated fats etc. Within the community I do see those 'low carb dieters' using it as an excuse to eat bacon and burgers. For me, I use it as a route to eating even more plants, and also to appreciate good fish, meat etc. Although 'carbs' in the form of bread, candy, baked foods etc are disallowed - you can top up on carbohydrates through lots of fresh plants.

I'm on a learning curve at the moment Mal - got lots to post on the subject as usual. However, I will say that I don't take it utterly seriously - I do cheat!

Ok, I've read up on some of the arguments for giving up legumes. The main Paleo argument is that they contain toxins that are reduced by cooking, but not eliminated. Apparently legumes (also grains and beans) are high in lectins, protease inhibitors, and phytates.

I found a non-paleo, medical source that raises questions about dietary lectins in beans here.

Phylates apparently (I say apparently, because I'm not a doctor or nutrionist) inhibit mineral absorption. Protease inhibitors apparently may interfere with the breakdown of proteins.

The Paleo argument is that we didn't evolve to eat seeds. Seeds such as grains, legumes and beans often contain toxins that we don't have the ability to cope with (unlike seed eating birds that have evolved on that diet).

Many Paleos don't eat grains, cereals, beans, legumes, potatoes, corn, or dairy products.

How do I stand? I'm being open minded. As an experiment I am avoiding most of those foods. I still eat healthy, and I am consuming more greens, veg, fruit, berries etc than most people - and with all the fish, I'm certainly getting my omega 3!

Criticisms of the Paleo Diet? I'll post more on those later - I want to consider both sides of the argument. However in short critics point out:

• Hunter-gatherers have short lifespans and this may be a factor why they don't develop degenerative diseases.
• Vegetarians argue that the Paleo diet is high in saturated fat and food cholestrol.
• Grains and dairy have been around much of the World 6,000 to 10,000 years, long enough for people to evolve - e.g. most of us are now lactose tolerant.
• The Paleo diet is elitist - it isn't sustainable for the entire world population that depend on rice, millet, and cereals.
• It is too extreme - a fad diet rather than a long term lifestyle diet?

However, there are counter arguments to these criticisms - but more for another day....

Hello there, welcome back to the forum .

I would think this diet would really help to take off weight in the short term (longer if you can actually go through life on those foods). However, the theory that people didn't gain weight when they were hunter/gatherers because they ate this diet, as opposed to them by their nature being nomadic peoples that didn't sit on their ass all day watching TV and pushing papers at a desk job. I mean, people ate potatoes in Ireland yet they still starved. And I've never heard of peasants in the fields in the middle ages being obese. No, they worked their asses off and ate very little, albeit I suspect lots of breads and cheap grains and less meats, and they stayed thin no doubt.

Do I think you can lose more weight on the same calories eating low carb, yes. But I still disagree with the premise behind this paleo diet.

Hi Blancita

Thanks for the comments. First of all, I have to say, that I don't belong to the low carb school of thought so much as in favour of calorie management. As I said above (and I listed some criticisms), I am personally skeptical of some of the arguments put forward in support of the Paleo Diet.

However, I do want to eat a cleaner diet, and by avoiding grains, potatoes, etc, I find that I eat more greens, berries, nuts, tomatoes, and so on - and thats good! I also find that I think more carefully about my meat and fish - how was it produced, was it grain fed, etc. I might not be able to stick to the diet plan long term, although browsing through the Paleo and crossfit community, I'm impressed by the amount of people who do seem to keep it going long term.

By the way - the Irish starved not because of potatoes, but because the potato crops failed due to Blight! Peasants in the Medieval open fields were often poorly nourished and had short lifespans. Hunter-gatherers in contrast appear not only not to suffer obesity, but to avoid numerous diseases that are associated with western modern lifestyles:

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/71/3/665.pdf

The Wikipedia entry for the Paleolithic Diet includes both supportive AND critical content, and might be worth someone assessing.

P.s I'm only on my 4th week into the plan. I am losing weight, but avoiding all of the junk food and eating lots of clean food - I must be consuming less calories!

Take care!

Good luck and keep us posted!

i've looked into this diet a bit, but much harder for me to live by because i don't eat land animal meat (i eat fish and eggs though) I'm just curious why you choose to try the paleo diet if you lost weight successfully on a more balanced approach?

Another good point!

I don't yet know if I will pursue this long term, but at the moment it is teaching me more about food. Maybe because 1) I regained some of the fat on a healthy balanced meal (ok albeit too many calories) 2) I always want to improve my fitness further 3) curiosity.

I'm learning more about people and diet - what we really need. I'm learning more about meat. I'm presently reading Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Meat Book.
Reading through it so far, I feel so stupid how little that I understood about something as simple as meat.

I've got lots to learn yet.

have you heard of mercola's no-grain diet? it;s sort of a healthier atkins style diet..and similar to a paleo type.