Anyone else doing the Paleo/Primal thing?

[Johnny Footstool]

Cutting calories is the key to any diet. Cutting refined carbs and sugars is a great way to do that.

[IslandRed]

Originally Posted by Johnny Footstool

Cutting calories is the key to any diet. Cutting refined carbs and sugars is a great way to do that.

Yep. Paleo, primal, less ancient throwbacks e.g. the 100-Year diet concept (don't eat anything your great-great-grandparents wouldn't recognize immediately as food), or even things like South Beach (good carbs, good fats) all seem to have the same basic principles if not the same hook -- we're stuffing ourselves with too much crap, and we can lose weight and improve overall health by simply eating the right stuff without worrying too much about portion sizes or calorie counting.

Of course, that's a lot easier said than done, being a confirmed pastaholic. Nonetheless, I'm resolved to try soon. (I knew better than to start a New Year's diet-and-exercise resolution precisely on New Year's. Too many extended football-watching couch sessions early in January, which are a land mine for this sort of thing.)

[Hoosier Red]

Originally Posted by Johnny Footstool

Cutting calories is the key to any diet. Cutting refined carbs and sugars is a great way to do that.

Agreed. I really need to change my diet as I'm at 5'9" and 240 lbs. I've really just never been able to get into a decent routine that I stay with for more than a week.

[westofyou]

http://www.westonaprice.org/traditio...uts-and-grease

The hunter-gatherer's dinner is front page news these days. Drawing from the writings of Dr. Boyd Eaton and Professor Loren Cordain, experts in the so-called Paleolithic diet, columnists and reporters are spreading the word about the health benefits of a diet rich in protein and high in fiber from a variety of plant foods 1,2. It's actually amusing to see what the modern food pundits come up with as examples of the "Paleolithic Prescription." Jean Carper offers a Stone Age Salad of mixed greens, garbanzo beans, skinless chicken breast, walnuts and fresh herbs, mixed with a dressing made of orange juice, balsamic vinegar and canola oil.3 Elizabeth Somer suggests wholewheat waffles with fat-free cream cheese, coleslaw with nonfat dressing, grilled halibut with spinach, grilled tofu and vegetables over rice, nonfat milk, canned apricots and mineral water, along with prawns and clams. Her Stone Age food pyramid includes plenty of plant foods, extra lean meat and fish, nonfat milk products, and honey and eggs in small amounts.4
Above all, the food writers tell us, avoid fats, especially saturated fats. The hunter-gatherer's diet was highly politically correct, they say, rich in polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids but relatively low in overall fat and very low in that dietary villain-saturated fat. This is the one dietary factor that health officials tell us is responsible for all the health problems that plague us-everything from cancer and heart disease to obesity and MS.

[Rojo]

Originally Posted by westofyou

http://www.westonaprice.org/traditio...uts-and-grease

I'm pretty sure that native people didn't remove the skin. They had no AMA.

[Rojo]

Originally Posted by IslandRed

Of course, that's a lot easier said than done, being a confirmed pastaholic.

It is. I'd kill for a cracker. But it's also easier "done" than most calorie counting or low fat diets which work very slowly and often leave you hungry.

Most people would look at the "very slowly" part and say that's a good thing. I don't. Most of us flawed human beings need to feel fairly measured progress and need to walk away from the table with a level of satiety an need to enjoy our meals.

Deprivation satisfies a psychological need for things to be difficult-- blame our deep-seated puritanism. The problem is that it's just not sustainable. A week of boiled haddock sends us back to Pizza Hut.

[757690]

Originally Posted by westofyou

http://www.westonaprice.org/traditio...uts-and-grease

Thanks. Nice article.

What people forget about our hunter/gatherer ancestors is that they had no idea when their next meal would be, so they loaded up on high fat foods, or carbs that turned into fat.

As anyone who has tried to lose weight, fat takes quite awhile and effort to burn off, so if you might have to go a week in between meals, you want that meal to be high in fat. You really didn't care about heart disease or high blood pressure, as you were more concerned with not starving to death. Vegetables and other low fat foods burn off too quickly, and require to be eaten on a constant basis to stave off hunger, so they weren't desired.

Presently, our bodies have not adapted to the fact that we can find food easily, whenever we want, so we still crave comfort foods that add fat to our bodies, and don't find salads to be very satisfying. However, most likely in a few generations, we will adapt and start craving broccoli over mac and cheese. I pity the future. lol

[Johnny Footstool]

I do think it's odd that people are adopting a diet from a time when the average life expectancy was in the low-30s.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by Johnny Footstool

I do think it's odd that people are adopting a diet from a time when the average life expectancy was in the low-30s.

Didn't Adam and Eve live about 900 years?

[Redsfaithful]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

Didn't Adam and Eve live about 900 years?

This is my favorite post ever on RedsZone.

[Johnny Footstool]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

Didn't Adam and Eve live about 900 years?

They were on a more sinless diet.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by Redsfaithful

This is my favorite post ever on RedsZone.

Thanks but I probably authored the worst post you've ever seen on Redszone too...

[lidspinner]

I have done the portion diet and it works like a champ...might take a bit longer to lose the weight but you dont have any of the side effects of a normal diet...like bad mood or cravings or any of that normal stuff like strangling someone for string cheese..LOL.....

basically eat most of what you normally would eat, maybe cook a bit healthier, like grill instead of fried food....but portion your food out....for breakfast, make whatever you would normally eat, make it last 3 meals....I used to eat a big breakfst at 6am....now I eat a little tiny portion at 6, then another at 730 and more of it at 9am.....I then will eat a fruit for a snack around 1030 then around lunch I will eat another very small portion of my lunch at noon....eat a bit more at 130 and finish it off around 3pm......repeat this when you get home with a fruit then supper....try to stop eating about an hour or 2 before bed.....

I lost 25lbs on my small frame just from doing this...even eating mcdonalds....I would split a double cheeseburger plain into 3 portions.....it works, you just have to stick to it and not cheat...you will be shocked at how easy it really is....

the biggest issue with this diet is when you have a supper with family or friends, like at a party or Thanksgiving.....its hard to go back to eating big meals when your stomach has adjusted to small portions....I get a sick feeling now when I eat a big meal, almost want to puke....its changed my whole way of living and I like it.

[Rojo]

Originally Posted by lidspinner

I lost 25lbs on my small frame just from doing this...even eating mcdonalds....I would split a double cheeseburger plain into 3 portions.....it works, you just have to stick to it and not cheat...you will be shocked at how easy it really is....

You left out the part where you throw yourself off the highest bridge.

A third of double cheeseburger? There's no way on God's Green Earth I could do that. Better to skip McDonald's and fix up a rack of ribs, a mess of collard greens and a big glass of Four Roses.

[lidspinner]

Originally Posted by Rojo

You left out the part where you throw yourself off the highest bridge.

A third of double cheeseburger? There's no way on God's Green Earth I could do that. Better to skip McDonald's and fix up a rack of ribs, a mess of collard greens and a big glass of Four Roses.

hahaha.....it really wasnt that hard to get going....first week was a little confusing but after that it started to get kind of easy...it was nice having energy all day and not feeling bloated after eating a monster meal.....like I said earlier, hardest part is eating that first big meal after you have been eating small meals....you will feel like a turd. I placed my daughter on this diet and she lost 7 pounds in 2 weeks and she eats like any teenager would...chips, candy bars, junk, junk, junk....you have to truly portion it out....

rack of ribs, steamed veggies and a glass of Honey Wine from Valley Vineyards sounds like a great start.