so so i just started doing this paleo diet thing - feels like it should be bullshit. is it?

I'm interested in some of the studies insofar as they might give me ideas about ways of eating I could try, and see if they feel good for ME. I'm just not interested in trying to perfectly (or even imperfectly) reflect them in the way I eat. Especially not in cutting anything out.

I'm trying to learn to cook fancy-ish. Eating better because I did something cool beats listening to people argue about legumes, and I've wound up cutting way back on processed foods anyway.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/fashion/the-paleo-lifestyle-the-way-way-way-back.html?rref=homepage&module=Ribbon&version=origin®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Home%20Page&pgtype=article

Paleo, more than just food, its a lifestyle

Ms. Tam, a confessed television addict, decided to cut out all electronic devices after 8 p.m. If she has to check her iPhone, she wears amber goggles to block the blue-spectrum light that she believes interferes with her circadian rhythms. Next, she turned her bedroom into the equivalent of a Lascaux cave, removing all clocks (her two young sons serve as her morning alarm, she said) and installing blackout window inserts.

....

For those who spend their day rearing children, the primal impulse has made major inroads into parenting, too. Websites like The Primal Parent extol corn-syrup-free trick-or-treating, baby slings for “attachment parenting” and placenta-eating for new mothers.

Unstructured play, in particular, has become a cherished concept among Paleo-minded parents like Ms. Phelps, the Oregon devotee, who argued that “play is the method by which all mammals learn.”

There's some threads of truth woven throughout all of that, it's just taken to a crazy level of scrupulosity/obsession/control for control's own sake. Play IS the best way to learn, slings DO build parent/child body rhythms through scent and heartbeat and the swaying and vestibular stimulation of walking and moving. People who have trouble sleeping should think about light and stimulation, whatever.

Where it turns crazy is in the idea that you can perfect yourself and your living conditions? Like when the pursuit of some perfect or move evolved state takes precedence over...everything else?

I agree

And the desire to simplify stuff that isn't simple. More play = better. 'Play' = the same thing for all kids. 'Learning' is always best done the same way, regardless of what it is we're talking about learning. If a child rarely got into any kind of play, you'd be rightly worried - but some kids are little fantasists doing pretend play every minute and wanting adults to join in, and others are more into stuff like figuring out how things work by taking them to bits or helping 'sweep the floor'. (I'm using fraternal twins of my acquaintance as my inspiration here). A lot of researchers claim play is directly crucial to children’s healthy development, others think it's one of many routes to healthy development, or that it comes about as a result of other factors that drive development.

High Maintenance, 'Qasim' very very relevant here
http://vimeo.com/79948720

But Paleos tend to look the other way on vodka (particularly potato vodka, which is free from all associations with gluten) and 100 percent agave tequila (hey, it’s cactus).

Pinterest, in fact, is brimming with Paleo cocktail recipes, like the Paleo Strawberry Daiquiri, courtesy of Paleo Girl’s Kitchen. It is made with organic strawberries, ice, fresh-squeezed orange juice, rum and honey.

An ex started doing this two years ago. She's not rigid, but follows the basics religiously (no bread, no pasta, no beans, hardly any potatoes). You can't find a more skeptical person like me when it comes to this stuff, but she has lost 30lbs and is looking more healthy than I've ever seen her before. It's quite remarkable. She tried loads of diets before and it always failed. This, she says, isn't even really dieting, as in not depriving yourself of things. But her transformation is truly remarkable.

I'm basically on this damn diet out of necessity and I'm not going to lie, there are upsides. But if those foods didn't cause me pain and suffering? I'd eat a fucking pizza once in a while.

Some of the less caveman-obsessed paleo people are starting to come around on some bullshit like 'no legumes.' That's the part of (aside from feeding into questionable intolerance/allergen paranoia - not even gluten so much as nightshades) paleo that never made any sense to me - whatever perceived negatives there are of legumes are cancelled out by cooking the damn things.

paleo parenting? isn't low infant mortality sort of not paleo

the person who runs this blog just followed me on twitter randomly and... i dunno, wau

http://drbganimalpharm.blogspot.co.uk/

I am sitting in a cafe that sells, and facilitates loud conversations about, bulletproof coffee. I'm not sure how I'm going to get along in this neighbourhood.

I don't know about that blogger. An obsession with the exact proportions of various species of bacteria in one's gut as a profound indicator of one's health or lack thereof seems a bit ott.

i read a story on bulletproof coffee on a local news blog and the comments section is making me think there is substantial overlap w/anti-vaccine loons among the bulletproof crowd.

there's definitely a narcissistic crossfit/paleo/antivax nexus out there that reminds me of the "save our precious bodily fluids" guy in dr. strangelove

in knoxville tennessee there is a new "paleo cafe" a 10-minute drive from my parents' place on an unpromising stretch of highway, home to failed thrift stores, a long-standing subway franchise, a CVS and a megachurch. this cafe serves surprisingly good food but shares a wall with a crossfit/lifting situation, so as you're waiting for your avocado and egg served on an almond flour waffle you hear what sounds like a datsun being dropped from a two-story building every 3 or 4 minutes, it's utterly unnerving. "you get used to it" says the waitress. "RRRRAAAAGGGH" says someone from the other side of the wall. "the water's reverse osmosis," she says. "ok."

is this guy nuts or

https://twitter.com/johndurant/status/618795070569852928

scroll down for mentions of erections, tim ferriss

ha. i have a mild but very persistent skin problem (and taking probiotics has tended to help a lot) so im very tempted to try this! it's expensive though.

huh! what a thing

it's funny though i think a lot of stuff like this is basically a work around to actually, you know, eating and living in a healthy manner.

(and, surely, not being overly exposed to antibiotics)

Just use baking soda ftw.

microbiome stuff and the human body is pretty fascinating and seems to open the door to a whole new way of understanding health and nutrition, but it's gonna be the wild west out there with the hucksterism.

the guy who started aobiome is the same guy who started a big ALS research non-profit after his brother died from it

i mean

https://twitter.com/johndurant/status/618855099654373376

oh wait i *think* that's a joke

Mr. Jaq and I were in on the initial AOBiome deliveries - it worked well for us as a no soap/no shampoo kind of thing, but didn't really help his eczema.