From the outside looking in

lin47 · Post by **lin47** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 9:24 pm

At the gym today, I heard someone who is eating Paleo say that it is a "lifestyle change" (She has been on it for a couple of months now). Now, I know I've been there and said that with almost any diet you can name, but listening to it from my perspective of being on NoS, I was skeptical. I know it's popular to call the newest diet du jour a "lifestyle change," but we all know that in the vast majority of cases, it really isn't because it's hard to maintain any change that puts one out of the eating norm of the society in which one lives. I mean, I think it would be very difficult to go an entire lifetime abstaining from all dairy products and grains (as is the case with Paleo). I love the sanity of NoS---no special foods to buy, no worrying about the menu when I go out to eat ("Will there be anything I can eat?"), no special preparations----just simplicity.

The older I get, the more I appreciate the KISS concept ("Keep it simple, stupid") in all areas of my life, including eating.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Sun Mar 01, 2015 8:34 pm

Paleo is so huge but it boggles my mind. I wonder how many people are actually implementing it and sticking with it. I can't believe how many people I come across touting its benefits but talking about the chocolate chip cookies they had last weekend-- NOT paleo cookies. Hey, people, either it's satisfying and makes you feel life is better or it isn't. It's been around long enough now that there should be data on whether it has any more staying power than any other regimes. I'd bet if it does, it's still rather small. The research so far has shown that a few years in, very few people stick to Atkins or any of the related programs. Even the ones who have lost and maintained have incorporated carbs back in. The good news is that their health improvements remain, but they still represent a tiny minority.

I know of one woman on another site who has had a lot of success, but it seems to me she spends a lot of her life being very careful to avoid temptation. She does not feel she could have ANY ability to eat grains or sugar moderately. She claims she feels very satisfied by the diet, but it sounds like she is almost 100% responsible for preparing everything she eats. I guess I'm not miserable enough for that. I still like the convenience of some fast food and find many restaurants delightful.

And most research shows that sticking to any program will "work." People do lose weight. Surprise! However, adherence to any program is usually low. Dropouts occur often and early. And recidivism is rampant.

I'm pretty sure overall that dieting (either calorie limit or food type limits) in general is still a mostly doomed practice. The casualties are much greater in percentage than the successes, if you simply look at the stats. You can even find obesity researchers who say that it should be given up as a practice. This doesn't mean that they wouldn't recommend that people work on eating better quality food, less processed food, and exercise moderately because these behaviors have been shown to improve health markers even without weight loss. They even sometimes lead to weight loss, but not always. They should be the first line of defense.

Maybe people should have to show that they used No S for a year before they could qualify to try Paleo or calorie counting! They would have to show they used habitcal, got a buddy online, and listened to relevant podcasts. They would not be allowed to look at any promotion of alternatives, nor at any media images of people- only at real bodies in real life. At the end of a year, they could decide if they wanted to give it another year, throw in the towel, or surrender to a "diet." I'd bet good money that the results would outdo what's been going on for the last 150 years of attempts to change the body.

That's a long way of saying, hear, hear, lin47!