Eats
Here are some basic nutrition guidelines that should keep you on the right track when eating out, shopping, planning and preparing meals.
What is Paleo?
The Paleo Diet is a nutrition system founded on the concept that humans are very well suited to eating certain kinds of foods and not very well suited to others. This is based on human history and the kinds of things people would eat for thousands of years. Only in very recent times have we had access to things like grains and refined sugars, and our bodies don't do a great job of digesting these foods. Paleo nutrition consists of things you could find in nature. You don't find pasta in nature. You find fish and eggs and fowl, nuts and small berries and veggies. If you can stick to this basic principle you will find it extremely easy to manage your weight and body composition. You may also avoid some long term health problems like high blood pressure and heart disease by avoiding processed foods that cause inflammation in body tissues that leads to blocked arteries and other problems. We're built for Paleo. Don't argue with nature.
http://thepaleodiet.com/
Intermittent Fasting? Like . . . not Eating?
Yes, for a while. Another element of the Paleo concept is that humans aren't built to be grazers. Dispite the extremely popular health club trend of pushing people to eat small meals every 2 hours all day long, that's NEVER been the way humans ate their food. It may work well if you're a figure competitor and you live and work in a gym and carry tupperware around with you 24/7, but who really has the time, patience, and will power for that kind of lifestyle? Eating every 2 hours and keeping that up year round means you have OCD or an eating disorder or a LOT of time on your hands. More importantly, it's not how we were designed to eat. For 99% of human history, we hunted and gathered food all day and had one big communal meal in the evening. From this tradition we get the concept of intermittent fasting (IF). Our bodies are much more efficient at digesting food and converting energy when meals are LESS frequent and timed around workouts. Without getting too complex, something as simple as skipping breakfast, a light lunch, and then a big, post-workout dinner can significantly improve your body composition and energy levels.
http://www.leangains.com/
What is Glycemic Index?
NutraSystem and other popular dieting systems base their models on the glycemic index, which is simply a rating of the sugar content of different foods. By avoiding foods with high glycemic scores we can reduce or prevent insulin spikes and excess stored fat that results from the way our bodies process sweets. Storing fat is great when you're a caveman trying to survive the winter; not so great when you're trying to look good naked in 2013. The problem is that even though society has changed with the times, our digestive system still thinks it's 5,000 B.C. and automatically store any of the once rare sweets we find as fat. Simply put, the glycemic index is a guide for avoiding sugar. Avoiding sugar (and salt) is the easiest way to get lean and keep a clean diet.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newswe..._100_foods.htm
Why Grass-Fed?
One of the new trends in nutrition is a move to organic produce, free-range chicken, line-caught fish, and grass-fed beef. But why? Your food's food matters. If a fish is raised in a fish farm, it never gets the micro-nutrients that a fish from the ocean will. It is also exposed to concentrated levels of mercury and other toxins due to confined and sometimes unsanitary living conditions. The same is true of livestock (chickens, pigs, cows). Cattle that spend the last few months of their lives being "fattened-up" in feed lots undergo some pretty serious changes in body composition. They put on incredible amounts of weight. They live in disgusting conditions and are pumped full of anti-biotics and hormones to avoid illness. They also live off of corn instead of wild grasses, which alters the chemistry in their bodies. Milk, butter, and even protien powder that comes from these cows is also tainted and even concentrated to dangerous levels. Studies have shown high levels of toxic metals like led, cadmium, and arsenic in protein powders like Muscle Milk and others. Grass-fed cows, while slightly smaller, are free of all these issues. The meat is leaner and has good Omega fatty acids like fish. The dairy (milk, butter) and protein powders that comes from grass-fed cows is superior as well. It is becoming easier to find grass-fed products as their value becomes more evident and demand increases.
http://www.eatwild.com/products/oklahoma.html
Can I cheat?
No. Why would you even ask? But you can bend the rules. For example: the ban on grains does not extend to rice; white rice in particular. Even though we try to avoid processed foods, and white rice is the most highly processed rice there is, in this one example it actually works in our favor. Here's why: grains contain natural pesticides to prevent insecets from eating their leaves and seeds. Phitin and Lectin are two of the most common. They also contain Gluten, which we've all heard about. While these compounds are dangerous and even deadly to many insects, they are also aggrevating to us and cause digestive problems, inflammation, and leave us feeling groggy. Over time the consistent presence of grain-induced inflammation can lead to serious arterial issues, chronic weight gain, and other health problems. About 1% of the population is allergic to gluten and cannot eat grains at all, but the truth is that 100% of the population is mildly allergic to gluten and should not eat grains at all. The relationship between grain-heavy diets and obesity and heart disease is clear. However, with our friend white rice, the graining and milling process removes Phitin and Lectin from the grain, and rice is technically glueten-free. So, if you have to cheat, cheat smart. Quinoa and white rice are better alternatives to traditional grains.
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.co...de-dishes.html
http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/gl...-Free-Rice.htm
What's the Plan?
Do I expect you to go out and eat like a caveman? No. That's disgusting. But I would like you to remember that for a very, very, very long time that's how we ate and our bodies are designed to work that way. By thinking about the issue in terms of our history and biology, the rules make more sense and we begin to understand why certain foods cause problems for us and why avoiding them is important both now, for our fitness and vanity, and long term, for our health and longevity. So, what does that look like?
Shopping smart, avoiding the center aisles, avoiding packaged foods that don't expire within a week or two, avoiding processed foods, grains, and high-glycemic index items. Choosing superior alternatives when possible, such as grass-fed beef and dairy, ocean-caught fish, free-range chicken, etc.
At home, being more curious and serious about nutrition. Follow-up on these links and find links of your own. Learn more about intermittent fasting, about gluten, about Stevia, about insulin, about legumes, and about how the body works.
Be prepared for the week. Plan meals in advance and get ready to make friends with the grill. Find creative ways to add variety to the routine through baking, boiling, steaming, grilling, and other methods of preperation. Find spices and garnishes and side dishes that add flavor and fun to the diet.
I can write you out a plan and you can follow it, for a while, eventually lose it, and ask me to re-send it to you in 6 months of a year, or you can take it upon yourself to understand the basic concepts of nutrition and how to apply it to your life and you'll be able to write your own plan any time you want for the rest of your life.
My Favorites:
Ocean-caught Salmon
Grass-fed Beef (+ milk and butter)
Organic Pork or Chicken
Cage-free/Free-range Eggs
Game Meet (deer, elk, boar, turkey, bass)
White Rice
Quinoa
Blueberries
Blackberries
Greek Yogurt
Cahsews
Almonds
Macadamia Nuts
Hazlenuts
Sweet Potatoes
Bell Peppers
Celery
Tomatoes
Avacados
Mushrooms
Squash
Onions
Spinach (salad)
Cinnamon
Stevia
Thyme
Garlic
Green Tea
Mix-and-match, get creative, find things to add to the list.
Last edited by Baphomet3; 01-15-2013 at 08:58 AM.
I thought of you when I saw a recent US News article where 25 "experts" ranked 28 popular diets based on short-term weight loss, long-term weightloss, diabetes control, heart disease control, etc.
The Paleo diet was ranked the worst of the 28 diets.
http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/best-overall-diets
I would love to sit down with these "experts" and hear their reasoning. I suspect it would be a painful conversation.
All my daydreams are disasters
One of the issues was that a lot of people claimed the Paleo diet cut out salt almost entirely which is very bad. However the traditional Paleo diet doesn't cut out salt.Originally Posted by jamesod
We're all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn't. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.
“No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand.”
One of the issues for who?
All my daydreams are disasters
If you read the review section of the link you sent, you'll see that almost all the complaints are related to bull**** biased criteria, and how easy it is to follow. They aren't analyzing what the Paleo diet is for... long-term healthy living, healthy fat-loss with muscle gain.
They rate the diet low for short and long term weight loss, but the Paleo diet isn't a weight-loss diet. Most followers of it don't lose a ton of weight but they do drastically decrease their BMI.
They rate the diet low for how "hard" they claim it is to follow. There are alternatives for everything you "used" to eat in the diet, it is just considered hard because you are forced to do most of the work yourself with prepping the food. You can easily prep food far ahead of time though. Should ease of following a diet make it a "bad" diet?
They rate it low for diabetics, but is that a fair ranking if we are just looking at general health? There is a reason diabetic diets are a group unto themselves.
They rate it low for heath health, but as I mentioned before, however they were reviewing what I call the "neo-Paleo" diet which attempts to cut out salt in its entirety, which is very bad for heart health and why people on the "neo-Paleo" diet have an increased rate of heart-related health issues. However the traditional diet doesn't cut out salt (rightfully show since primitive man loved salt licks), and they haven't shown an increase but rather a decrease in heart-related health issues.
They rate it low for safety... under the reasoning that they cut out food groups like dairy and grains. Yet science has shown for a long time now and we still don't process dairy and grain products right. They want to rate it like that to fall in line with the "balanced food groups" yet University nutrition classes have been teaching for years that the traditional "food groups" should have been changed ages ago.
They rate it low for nutrition... for two big reasons... #1 that is cuts out two food groups (that science has shown we shouldn't consume much of in the first place). #2 is that followers won't get enough vitamins and should take multivitamins (something that recently have been shown to not be beneficial for most people). However a nutritional analysis of the average Paleo-diet shows that they actually take in much more vitamins than the average diet, and more than most other diets. Because of the amount of fish in the diet, they also have among the highest rate of B-Vitamins, something that most people are actually lacking.
This "review" used criteria designed to promote specific diets (possibly diets that are financially promoted by some of these reviewers?). I'd like to see them use a criteria focused on overall health, and assuming people actually followed the diet.
Last edited by Jackel585; 01-08-2013 at 03:29 PM.
We're all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn't. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing.
“No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand.”
I've followed IF for a couple of weeks. I stopped when i got injured & thought losing weight for comp i wouldn't be able to compete in would be dumb. really hard for the 1st couple of days. you need at least imo, a good month or more to get well adjusted.
Everybody know my gamey. Everytimey. I go for knockouty or submission.
Thank you for my fuzz.
What the f*ck does any of that have to do with your original statement that "One of the issues was that a lot of people" opposed Paleo because of an issue with too little sodium?
There is nothing in the reviews or comments where the "experts" had any issues with the sodium intake under a Paleo diet. And they were not reviewing a diet where you cut out all sodium. Look at the menu, which shows Paleo has having 700+mg of sodium a day.They rate it low for heath health, but as I mentioned before, however they were reviewing what I call the "neo-Paleo" diet which attempts to cut out salt in its entirety, which is very bad for heart health and why people on the "neo-Paleo" diet have an increased rate of heart-related health issues. However the traditional diet doesn't cut out salt (rightfully show since primitive man loved salt licks), and they haven't shown an increase but rather a decrease in heart-related health issues.
Could this, by chance, be another example of you talking out of your ass?
Last edited by jamesod; 01-08-2013 at 04:15 PM.
All my daydreams are disasters
I've tryed eating clean and drinking a gallon of water a day for a couple of months a while back and still felt the same I always do, run down and tired. I never believed the hype of your diet making you feel SOOOOO much more energized and alive, I think it is crap. I just cut back on my sodas, no more Monster energy drinks, slowly kicking my habit. I know our bodies may have been designed to eat this way but is it not unheard of that our bodies may have slightly changed over the umptenth thousand years humans have been alive?
.............
Floyd, at once you acknowledge that inputs effect your outputs, but then dismiss a fairly developed argument.
Paleo diet is not like eating like a cave man, who was probably constantly starving. Its about recognizing evolutionary functions of the body.
Grains and Milk are awesome if you're a dirty peasant, or starving hunter, but for peeps who lift heavy, and have digestive issues with lactose (most peeps), or inflammation from hearty grains can adopt certain principles of Paleo diet to great success.
Paleo diet makes you drastically taller?
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