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

yeah i was kinda wondering where he got his info on "this is all the body needs to thrive", considering how little scientists really know about nutrition.

he does say in the comments that he thinks this could be a good SUPPLEMENT to a healthy diet. and not the entire diet. but that he wanted to test the effects of living on nothing but his cocktail just to see what it did to him. like a healthy super-size me experiment.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1fa2xs/i_spent_20yrs_and_250k_to_hack_my_own_biology_i/

Bulletproof guy did an AMA on reddit today, apparently didn't expect to be repeatedly called a charlatan.

http://hells-ditch.com/2012/08/archaeologists-officially-declare-collective-sigh-over-paleo-diet/

Marlene Zuk's Paleofantasy book is good.

still eating this way, and I still like it. I feel like I have a lot of freedom from food woes. Also, 32 lbs down.

The scientists in the article I linked say the diet is probably healthy, just the evolutionary/physiological/biological claims behind it are bunk (cavemen didn't have bread therefore we're not evolved to eat bread etc.)

love this

“Look at that British girl who lived off of chicken nuggets for almost eighteen years, ” Wenkel continued. “The fact that her body was able to utilize the meager nutritional value of those things and get her to reproductive age is an incredible feat. It shows exactly how effective our versatility has been in human development. In a strict evolutionary framework, all your body needs to do is keep you alive until you breed. After that, you’re just living on borrowed time.”

Wenkel stressed that personal health is too often confused and conflated with evolutionary fitness, a fact that has become more pronounced with the popularity of the Paleo Diet. Roddy Collins, a colleague of Wenkel’s, drove the point home: “It’s like, even my barber is suddenly an expert in evolutionary physiology. A seventeen-year-old kid at my gym give me a ten minute lecture on how my Clif Bar was poison because humans can’t metabolize soy. I’ve been studying human evolution for thirty years.”

I'm basically still doing paleo and feel good but should probably get my cholesterol checked.

so many lolz

”You really want to be paleo? Then don’t buy anything from a store. Gather and kill what you need to eat. Wild grasses and tubers, acorns, gophers, crickets- They all provide a lot of nutrition. You’ll spend a lot of energy gathering the stuff, of course, and you’re going to be hungry, but that’ll help you maintain that lean physique you’re after. And hunting down the neighbor’s cats for dinner because you’ve already eaten your way through the local squirrel population will probably give you all the exercise you’ll ever need.”

I've been doing this since early February and it's still alright with me. I have no illusions of caveman anything and actually sort of hesitate to use the word "paleo" lest anyone make assumptions - if anything I say I gave up beans, grains, dairy, and sugar for the most part.

I'll eat sushi or tacos or pizza maybe once a week at most, getting by on nuts/meat/vegetables the rest of the time just fine. I totally gave up my diet pepsi habit, and perhaps TMI but I basically never fart anymore. I drink a lot less beer and a lot more wine, and eat a whole lot of eggs.

I started at 247lbs and as of this morning was at 219.2, and I can't remember the last time I saw the scale start with those two numbers. It's pretty astounding even if it means I obseleted a lot of my wardrobe. Even if I go off the rails while travelling and drink a lot of beer and eat burgers or whatever for a couple days I still seem to keep losing weight, though I find I definitely feel shitty when I eat a lot of carbs or dairy.

i don't think this story is real

i'm googling all the names from this and i can find no hits apart from this article or quotes from it on other blogs

who is "paul d. zimmer" of hells-ditch.com anyway?

unless it's obvious to everybody else that this is fictional, idk...

hmm yeah looks like you're right

um... "In a rare display of professional consensus, an international consortium of anthropologists, archaeologists, and molecular biologists have formally released an exasperated sigh over the popularity of the so-called “Paleo Diet” during a two-day conference dedicated to the topic."

didn't give it away?

well, that could just be a snarkily written lead about a real event. but yeah the lack of results for the people quoted is a giveaway.

my cholesterol numbers are great

also my fasting glucose number used to be 100 (almost insulin resistant level) and now it's 70

I don't use the word 'paleo' either. I just say I don't eat grains or sugar. I have been having a few peanuts here and there. I know I've eaten something off plan when I get gas. Because like joygoat say I NEVER fart anymore.

A month ago I delved into the paleoanthropology literature for a discussion on another forum, and put together this viewpoint on paleo & plants (2 pages, 13 links). A bit excessive to spam ILX with it, but its an interesting field.

I wish all spam were as informative and annotated so well

"Shrink your belly with one simple trick" -- an exhaustively peer reviewed longitudinal study in belly trickery

anyone done whole30 before?

yep it's good but the no alcohol thing was the toughest part for me, otherwise the rest was no problem as i stay pretty paleo anyways

Yep, one last year between thanksgiving and Christmas which was my first go at paleo -went okay but ended in a massive wheat and sugar binge. So then tried it again mid-January. I'm planning another starting October 1 because tomorrow I'm starting a month of vacation and travel so the organized August one is not gonna work.

I was surprised how well I slept while eating whole30 style - I usually sleep okay, but felt extra rested in those months.

btw, lots of great whole30 supporting sites out there, but I relied heavily on Nom Nom Paleo and The Clothes Make the Girl (Melissa Joulwen, who wrote the Well-Fed cookbook which is really good).

I am going to have the most difficulty with no dairy, I think. I know dairy isn't paleo, but I do eat it and have (seemingly) no troubles. But my sister has hashimoto's and she wants to try Whole30 so I am going to do it with her in solidarity!

I will totally rep for coconut milk as a coffee creamer. I add about a tsp of vanilla to a can, shake it up in a pouring container and keep it in the fridge.

We also used ghee (the only dairy we had) to top grilled burgers - decadent and delicious. If you and your sister can use it, it's pretty easy to make. Just bake butter at 250 deg f in a deep open pot for a few hours, until the solids on the bottom are a caramelly brown. Then strain through a paper towel or coffee filter into jars.

Good luck to you both! I hope it's 30 days of discoveries.

is there any reason i cant just buy ghee?

Nope. It's spendy, especially if you want grass-fed, but definitely available. I just ghee up that Kerrygold butter from Costco.

(We use a lot of it, like a quart jar a week - frying eggs, on vegetables, slathered on burgers)

never got into the ghee thing. I use olive oil for most of that stuff (well not slathering on burgers).

i have been following a low carb kind of diet for the past 3 weeks and lost 20 something pounds. my energy is ok, all is well but i wonder if i should have lifted some weights to prevent burning up muscles or something like that.

low carb diets don't burn up muscles, actually. they preserve it. so you're good.

I mostly use coconut oil for cooking, but it'd be nice to try ghee. If I don't use CO, I use kerrygold.

truthfully though that 20 pounds was probably water weight. Carbs make you retain water. It'll taper off.

thanks for the info, 'mo.

We mix up the fats for cooking - coconut oil, olive oil, lard, tallow too. Ghee really adds a nice flavor.

is there any reason i cant just buy ghee?

Stunned to find this cheap at Trader Joe's, who seem to have their finger on food trends (they got into coconut oil really quick)

I did the butter coffee but then i added maple syrup because it was in my fridge

is maple syrup paleo

I dgaf about diets tho

Yes, if you're consuming sweeteners. It's lower in fructose than honey.

ghee is awesome

Bulletproof coffee (1T butter and 2 eggs a la "bulletproof") is shockingly delicious.

I bought two 64oz bottles of local grade B maple syrup this morning before leaving michigan for a total of $60, I should be set for a year.

Hail Merry raw chocolate tarts omg. But I have to quit because I was finding too many excuses to eat them.

Jaq have you ever made your own kombucha??

I've never tried it - I've never even tasted it! Is it good?

How is your whole 30 going so far?

We haven't started yet. Waiting until the 15th!

I have already cut down on the dairy, though. I have a little bit of heavy cream I am going to finish and then I'm through.

Kombucha from the store is great! Kind of vinegary. I'm interested in raw fermented foods for their gut healing properties. I might make some raw sauerkraut.

i am totally NOT eating anything similar to a paleo diet (apart from whole, natural foods) but i 100% vouch for the benefit of raw fermented foods. it's really easy and fun to make sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurts, kombucha, etc. i have a crock of miso in the basement that's been fermenting for a year and half, it's outstanding, and mindblowing that i can make my own miso and have it come out so good.

there are some incredible books by this guy sandor ellix katz that are both accessible and thorough. i started with his first book, wild fermentation, which is a little more step-by-step and recipe-based than the art of fermentation, which gives general guiding principles and encourages more experimentation. both are amazing books.