> If you don't need to lose weight I wouldn't recommend it, because frankly it's hard to eat enough paleo food to maintain weight while physically active.
It's really not hard to get plenty of calories -- those calories are just more likely to come from fat. Make sure you get enough protein (~1g/lb bodyweight), eat lots of veggies, then fill up on fat sources -- coconut oil, animal fats, nuts, olive oil, etc.
Worth checking out anyway. It's certainly changed the way I approach nutrition, even if I haven't bought into the paleo thing wholesale.
>I think it's a blood sugar effect -- all the food I eat is low in GI so I'm not getting the blood sugar spikes I used to.
Definitely agree here. I've noticed a definite shift in appetite since I've made a point of limiting my intake of high GI foods.
[1] - http://www.paleonu.com/
Would you mind expanding on which parts you find to be bullshit? I can't find any reasons in your current post.
> I don't buy the logic behind exclusion of beans
The logic behind not eating legumes (and dairy) is the same as the logic behind not eating grains: the adult human digestive tract is not capable of fully digesting these (e.g. the protein lectin in grains), causing gut irritation and ultimately causing autoimmunity and inflammation.
> When I've lost enough I think I'll reintroduce grains
Absolutely do! Only then is any nutritional experiment, Paleo or otherwise, complete. I would wager you will feel worse after reintroducing grains, but I would love to hear your results first hand.
The logic behind not eating legumes (and dairy) is the same as the logic behind not eating grains: the adult human digestive tract is not capable of fully digesting these (e.g. the protein lectin in grains), causing gut irritation and ultimately causing autoimmunity and inflammation.
which as far as I know aren't sufficiently grounded in fact... they sound suspiciously post-hoc.
Absolutely do! Only then is any nutritional experiment, Paleo or otherwise, complete. I would wager you will feel worse after reintroducing grains, but I would love to hear your results first hand.
Well actually I did go back on grains and sugars the other week because I was in Japan. I didn't really notice much change to my well-being, except that I felt hungry and constantly craved sweet stuff. If there were other effects I can't deconvolve them from jetlag.
1. Eating wheat seems to cause floaters in my eyes - but only processed wheat. I can eat all sorts of grains from the bulk bin and feel great. Eye doctors have told me they are natural but it got bad enough to make it hard to use a computer. Now I only remember them when I eat something like pizza or bread.
2. A friend from Switzerland won't eat flour in this country. She can't stand the smell (rancid) and grinds her own. She also keeps it in the freezer. It doesn't cause me trouble either.
3. My teeth have never felt cleaner. If I have processed flour or sugar, I actually feel the acid and can't brush them "clean". I've always wondered by natives have good teeth without brushing and modern humans have cavities.
4. I read that wheat has a long history of chemical processing (to get rid of the smut fungus). It makes me wonder if there is a correlation between pesticides/processing and food allergies. (My mom used to say that peanuts have the most pesticides in the US.)
(Similarly, after eating anything in a bun now, I immediately notice how every tight spot in my teeth is suddenly caked with residue.)
I went into it extremely skeptical of almost all the claims, but what I did buy was the claim that you feel a lot more full after eating a meal of meat and vegetables than you do after a meal rich in grains and potatoes. So I tried it, and lo and behold I find it quite easy to eat as much as I feel like of all the allowed foods and still consume only ~2000 calories a day.
I also find that I no longer have any craving for anything sweeter than fruit, whereas I used to be able to talk myself into milkshakes and brownies with excessive frequency. I think it's a blood sugar effect -- all the food I eat is low in GI so I'm not getting the blood sugar spikes I used to. This effect might be specific to me personally, though.
The fact that the diet supposedly replicates what our distant ancestors ate is important only in that it at least guarantees that you're eating a subset of foods that are nutritionally sufficient.
Other side effects? None that I've noticed, neither good nor bad. It's possible I've felt a little bit more tired, but I can't be sure... and in any case that's not unexpected if you're maintaining a 500-calorie-a-day deficit.
I should also mention that I'm not quite strict paleo because I eat moderate amounts of dairy -- I'll be damned if I'm giving up milk in my coffee. Speaking of which, I'll be damned if I'm gonna give up coffee, which is also non-paleo. And I'm not one to panic if a salad happens to have croutons, or my fish happens to be crumbed. But breads, potatoes, sugar and beans/legumes are out (I don't buy the logic behind exclusion of beans, but I never really liked beans anyway).
In conclusion, it's not a miracle and it's not nearly as amazing as its most far-out proponents claim, but if you need to lose some weight it's worth trying out for a couple of weeks to see what happens (maybe your body chemistry is different to mine, so it might not work for you). If you don't need to lose weight I wouldn't recommend it, because frankly it's hard to eat enough paleo food to maintain weight while physically active. When I've lost enough I think I'll reintroduce grains at breakfast and maybe lunch but keep the paleo dinners.