Paleo Diet and noS?

No Snacks, no sweets, no seconds. Except on Days that start with S. Too simple for you? Simple is why it works. Look here for questions, introductions, support, success stories.

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FarmerHal
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Paleo Diet and noS?

Post by FarmerHal » Sun Apr 12, 2009 11:53 pm

I have stumbled across the paleo diet, and have been eating this way for last week (I had 4 out of 5 green N days, yay). Anyone else try eating this way?

I am excited to see if it will truly help. A lot of what the book says makes sense... sugar and its disaterous effects, etc.

I still want to do S days though, just not go completely idiot. Today my treat is a reeces peanut butter EGG LOL
{FarmerHal} ...previously Shamrockmommy...
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wosnes
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Post by wosnes » Mon Apr 13, 2009 3:22 am

I'm aware of the Paleo diet, but I'm not following it. Or, at least I've not read a book about it and decided to follow it. Here's my story...

About 3 weeks ago there was a post on the Well blog at The New York Times (it was about a cookbook and also mentioned the study that showed red meat causes cancer and heart disease). One of the people who commented mentioned that he was interested in why some people did very well on a vegan or vegetarian diet, for instance, and others can survive on a vegetarian diet, but needed meat in their diet in order to thrive or "hum." He wondered if there might be some validity to the blood type diet (Eat Right 4 Your Type).

Another person included this as part of her comment: "Most researchers agree that our ancient diet almost certainly consisted of lean animal protein, fish and seafoods, vegetables, fruits, eggs, nuts, berries and some roots. It did not include (at least until 10,000 years ago) grains, legumes or animal milk. And, it most certainly did not include large amounts of added sugars. "

I started thinking about what I was eating when I feel the best. When I feel my best, I'm eating pretty much the ancient diet. More vegetables than meat and some legumes, but that's pretty much it. I eat very little dairy or whole grains, and I don't feel as well when I do eat them.

For years I've either avoided meat or strictly limited it and tried to increase my intake of whole grains because that's what the experts said I should do for my heart and to be healthy in general. I never felt really good doing that.

I did a little research into it and I've decided not to pursue it any further. It's one more thing that can make cooking and eating in the real world more complicated with the potential for guilt if I can't follow it for some reason. More do's and don'ts and I just don't need that.

One thing I found interesting is that ancient peoples supposedly all had Type O blood. The ancient diet and the diet for people with Type O blood are nearly identical. I have Type O blood. Both of my daughters have Type O blood and I asked them what they're eating when they feel their best, and the results were the same as I'd observed.

I will have to say that unless I eat large amounts of dairy or whole grains I don't feel terrible. I'm just aware that I don't feel as well as when I don't eat them. Just not "humming." Large amounts, particularly of dairy, can make me feel terrible. Also interesting is that I've never particularly liked dairy or whole grains and I feel better eating refined grains as opposed to whole grains.

Anyway...I've decided to stick close to the foods that make me feel great on N days and have the others, some of which aren't sweets/treats, on S days in limited amounts.
"That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do. Not that the nature of the thing itself has changed but our power to do it is increased." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"You are what you eat -- so don't be Fast, Easy, Cheap or Fake."

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BuckeyePink
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Post by BuckeyePink » Mon Apr 13, 2009 1:21 pm

Shamrock,

I have been trying out a modified eating pattern like the paleo. I call it herder-gatherer, since I use dairy in the form of cheese and homemade yogurt. This is to control my hypoglycemia. I have been sugar free (except a little splenda and stevia here and there) for three weeks. Basically the diet is supposed to help your pancreas heal by giving it a break from insulin surges. Another 6 weeks and I can add in small amounts of legumes and grains, if I feel like it.

Here is the food chart: http://www.fibromyalgiatreatment.com/Re ... HGdiet.htm
Finally giving up on Dieting!

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Mon Apr 13, 2009 3:14 pm

I'm certainly not a fan of the amounts of sugar we eat these days.

But I don't think it's necessary (or even possible) to go back tens or hundreds of thousands of years to find healthy eating patterns.

About two or three decades will do, depending on where you live.

That being said, as far as I understand it, you could easily do a "paleo"-no-s mix.

Reinhard

wosnes
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Post by wosnes » Mon Apr 13, 2009 5:33 pm

reinhard wrote: About two or three decades will do, depending on where you live.


Reinhard
My mom was born the same year as Clara in the Depression Cooking videos and she died in 1965. I'm amazed by the number of recipes I have from her that use refined, processed and manufactured foods. I would have thought that the foods I grew up with were pretty good, but I'm not so sure.
"That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do. Not that the nature of the thing itself has changed but our power to do it is increased." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"You are what you eat -- so don't be Fast, Easy, Cheap or Fake."

resident0063
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Post by resident0063 » Mon Apr 13, 2009 9:26 pm

Paleo is great in theory. However, practice can be difficult. The animals you are eating, unless they are truly organically grass fed (and therefore almost certainly prohibitively expensive), are not going to be the same as the animals eaten in ancestoral times. They have different kinds of fat, etc. Further, eating patterns are different. Was our ancestor's good health (if it existed, people didn't live long back then) due to the kinds of food eaten or their greater activity level or their low calorie count (there were certainly periods of forced fasting). Who knows? Reinhard is right, you don't have to look back far to find good eating patterns. It also matters what you don't eat (too much food of any kind is what really hurts your health) than what you do eat. Maybe you can just change rations, more vegetables and lean meats, less starch? In the end if it works for you then all the best. I tried it and didn't like it. I just would not sacrifice the no s principles going down that path. I would still stick to one plate meals and limit snacking. No reason the two can't work together.

apomerantz
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Post by apomerantz » Mon Apr 13, 2009 9:28 pm

I'm a bit torn about the concept of the paleo diet. After all, I believe that the life of cave people was rather brutal and short - - so it's not really as though the diet has withstood the test of time. On the other hand, it's all natural, non processed foods, and in this day and age, how can that be bad??

Ironically, I have my dog on the canine equivalent (called the prey model raw feeding plan) because he is so allergic to kibble (even the hypoallergenic kind). He basically only gets what his wolf ancestors get - - meat, bone, and organs. It seems to have done the trick for his allergies. We'll see how well he thrives and "hums".

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FarmerHal
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Post by FarmerHal » Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:39 am

I've decided not to go hard core paleo, to stick with noS principles but cut down on the carbs when possible. This makes much more sense. I will definitely try to get more fruits and veggies in me though.
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Thalia
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Post by Thalia » Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:56 pm

One of the things that bothers me about the paleo diet is that it promises "this is what primitive man ate, so if you ate it, you'd be all thin and rugged and caveman-y too!" (assuming that they were in fact thin and rugged). But it's overlooking the fact that:

A) They weren't eating factory-farmed, feedlot-stuffed domesticated animals.
B) They were getting a hell of a lot of exercise.
C) Whatever they were eating, they almost certainly weren't eating very much of it every day! They weren't walking down to the Sizzler and eating a pound of steak at lunchtime. They had to work for their food.

A real paleo diet would probably be very small amounts of lean jerky, a mess of roots and berries, walking 15 miles a day, and occasional gorging when you kill something big.

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