Tips for Paleo diet/lifestyle

Einhard

Hi all,

I'm considering giving the Paleo diet/lifestyle a go. I'll begin with an initial test period and see how things go from there. While I've done some reading on the topic, it appears that there are lots of conflicting opinions on what exactly constitutes Paleo, so I thought I'd open a thread here to have some questions answered and to see what others have to say.

1. What's the story with butter? Dairy in general is out of course, but some sources claim butter is ok while others disagree entirely. Is there any consensus? I don't eat a whole lot anyway, and as part of Paleo only in cooking, so should I just use coconut oil or something similar instead?

2. Breads are out entirely? Yay or nay? More broadly, grains out entirely? Yay or nay?

3. What vegetables can I include? Some food lists I've seen have omitted the likes of carrots. They seem to be based primarily on vegetables which are practically all water like cucumbers. In the absence of a definitive list, are there certain vegetables which should absolutely be avoided, and some which I should strive to include?

4. What's going on with fruit? I know it's high in sugars but should I cut it out entirely? I don't eat that much of it anyway, so probably won't be a major issue. I take it that fruit juices, at least, are out?

5. Is there a quick and simple definition of the Paleo lifestyle and its exclusions which has broad consensus?

6. When cooking meat, is it ok to fry it in oil (coconut oil etc) or should I grill it all?

7. Anyone have links to Paleo recipes? I'm not gong to start baking bread or muesli bars or whatever, but I'd appreciate some pointers on relatively quick and simple recipes.

8. I've read and heard a lot about juicing as part of the Paleo experience. Is there any necessity to this? I mean, what exactly is the difference between a carrot eaten whole and a carrot mashed up? And I'm pretty sure Ug the caveman didn't have access to a blender!! :pac:

9. Lastly, going out to do a Paleo shop today, what ingredients should I most definitely have on my list. On the flip side, what should I throw out?

That's all I have for now. Any other tips, pointers, and suggestions beyond the scope of the above questions are welcome.

Thanks in advance.

PS: Just as an aside, and without wishing to appear to prescriptive, I'm not really interested in the detailed minutiae and "how many angels can fit on a pinhead" type of back and forth, forensic argument and debate. Thanks!

papu

Why are you going Paleo?

you have so many questions about it and you don't really seem to know what it is? What do you think you'll benefit from eating like someone did 200,000 years ago?

Einhard

To be honest, I don't really care what it's called- paleo, primal, whatever. The idea of stripping back on processed foods and all that comes with them appeals to me for a variety of reasons. Just doing that would go a long way towards achieving a paleo/primal lifestyle.

The motivation for going the extra mile as it were is twofold- firstly, I want to see what happens. The things I would have to cut out don't form a massive part of my diet at the moment, so it's not as if I'll be going cold turkey for a month or anything. Secondly, I have a couple of friends who followed such a diet for a month before Christmas and the results in terms of weight loss alone was astonishing. I realise that such gains can be temporary, but these two sustained them over the Christmas period while following a much less rigid diet.

As for all my questions- well, how else does one learn? It's not as if an understanding of these things is innate in us, so we have to ask questions. If I were very obese with an absolutely terrible grasp of basic nutrition and the components of a healthy diet, I'd have to ask plenty of questions too. Would your response be the same? That my ignorance somehow precludes me from even attempting the change in the first place? I'm not being snarky here, but that is basically what the second part of your post amounts to.

PS: Just to add- I do have a fairly good grasp of the Paleo diet. I don't think I could have formulated my questions without one. However, as with anything, there are divergent opinions on what constitutes Paleo, and I wanted to get some more input to round out my own knowledge.

Alf Veedersane

If you're just stripping back the processed foods, then do you need to be asking some of the questions? Not being snarky or anything but if that's the case then does it matter if you fry using coconut oil or butter?

Does it matter if you fry or grill or both?

Or what vegetables should or shouldn't be consumed?

Pretty sure Ug wasn't using coconut oil or ditching any vegetables he got his hands on

papu

Einhard wrote: »

To be honest, I don't really care what it's called- paleo, primal, whatever. The idea of stripping back on processed foods and all that comes with them appeals to me for a variety of reasons. Just doing that would go a long way towards achieving a paleo/primal lifestyle.

The motivation for going the extra mile as it were is twofold- firstly, I want to see what happens. The things I would have to cut out don't form a massive part of my diet at the moment, so it's not as if I'll be going cold turkey for a month or anything. Secondly, I have a couple of friends who followed such a diet for a month before Christmas and the results in terms of weight loss alone was astonishing. I realise that such gains can be temporary, but these two sustained them over the Christmas period while following a much less rigid diet.

As for all my questions- well, how else does one learn? It's not as if an understanding of these things is innate in us, so we have to ask questions. If I were very obese with an absolutely terrible grasp of basic nutrition and the components of a healthy diet, I'd have to ask plenty of questions too. Would your response be the same? That my ignorance somehow precludes me from even attempting the change in the first place? I'm not being snarky here, but that is basically what the second part of your post amounts to.

PS: Just to add- I do have a fairly good grasp of the Paleo diet. I don't think I could have formulated my questions without one. However, as with anything, there are divergent opinions on what constitutes Paleo, and I wanted to get some more input to round out my own knowledge.

I don't personally see whats appealing in living a paleo/primal lifestyle but to each their own.
You mentioned nothing about any of your goals in the opening post. Had you posted you were obese and knew nothing about nutrition my response would've been to read the stickies and then give some useful advise on tracking and managing you daily energy intake , as i have done in the past and this approach works for 90% of people. They see and track the crap they're eating and stop.

What happens if you do something that isn't paleo? why do you need to set yourself up to such a restricted lifestyle change? I don't see the imposing of such a huge amount of rules , and making diet choices based on other peoples divergent opinions healthy, everything in moderation, but again that's just me.

Einhard

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

If you're just stripping back the processed foods, then do you need to be asking some of the questions? Not being snarky or anything but if that's the case then does it matter if you fry using coconut oil or butter?

Does it matter if you fry or grill or both?

Or what vegetables should or shouldn't be consumed?

Pretty sure Ug wasn't using coconut oil or ditching any vegetables he got his hands on

Well, as I said stripping back the processed foods goes a long way towards the Paleo routine, but while I'm going down that road I thought I might as well go the whole hog.

In terms of the last three, it probably doesn't matter, but I thought I'd throw them out to see what people thought. I want to try the whole Paleo thing, and if coconut oil is seen as advantageous compared to butter, then I'd like to give that a go instead. It's not as if it'll be a major sacrifice choosing one over the other.

papu wrote: »

I don't personally see whats appealing in living a paleo/primal lifestyle but to each their own.

Well, me neither to be honest. But I want to give it a go. As I'll be a good way down that path just by stripping out processed foods, I figure I might as well go the extra mile. The results that my friends achieved is some extra motivation, but only a minor one in the scheme of things. If I find it doesn't work or that it's just too cumbersome, well then at least I'll have learnt something, and can base my opinion on personal experience.

You mentioned nothing about any of your goals in the opening post. Had you posted you were obese and knew nothing about nutrition my response would've been to read the stickies and then give some useful advise on tracking and managing you daily energy intake , as i have done in the past and this approach works for 90% of people. They see and track the crap they're eating and stop.

Fair enough, but the tenor of that part of your post seemed to be along the lines that if I don't know about Paleo then I shouldn't attempt it.

What happens if you do something that isn't paleo? why do you need to set yourself up to such a restricted lifestyle change?

To be honest, just living in a consistently healthy way will constitute the vast majority of the change. I'll be cutting out processed foods. I'll be cutting out alcohol. I'll be cutting out sugar in the form of minerals and sweets and junk foods. Those are massive changes in themselves. Choosing between ghee or butter or coconut oil is relatively trivial in comparison.

As to being restricted, I think the contrary. I've just been to the shop and bought ingredients for three new meal ideas I'm going to cook tonight. I'll be trying Kale and Zucchini for the first time. I see it as an opportunity to broaden my gastronomic experience, not limit it.

I know you'll say that Paleo isn't necessary for this, and you'd be correct. However, I'm making such huge changes anyway, that the relatively minor extra few doesn't actually constitute much. I'll be on a Paleo diet, and still experiencing a broader culinary spectrum than ever before. So I'm hardly restricting myself.

I don't see the imposing of such a huge amount of rules , and making diet choices based on other peoples divergent opinions healthy, everything in moderation, but again that's just me.

Fair enough, but I'm not exactly imposing a huge amount of rules on myself. No sugars, no grains, no dairy, no legumes and lentils. It's pretty simple really. I appreciate that you'll point to my questions above, but of the 9, only 5 applied to the diet itself, and they aren't so much open-ended questions asked in total ignorance, but rather seeking extra information, clarification, or simply the views of others.

Finally, I'm not basing my choices on other peoples' divergent opinions. Rather I'm making a decision based on my own readings and experience, and simply canvassing the opinions of others to see if they have anything of value to add. I do the same in most of the decisions I make in life- I take peoples' views into account to a greater or lesser extent; I don't see why that shouldn't be the case here.

Anyway, I'd rather not get into a big debate on why I'm choosing this course of action, or the merits of this as opposed to that. I started this thread for a purpose and, while you're perfectly entitled to voice your misgivings, debating them with you or anyone else wasn't it.

Alf Veedersane

With the varying opinions on what counts and what doesn't, you're better off picking one expert in the area and going with what they advise, e.g. Robb Wolf.

Here's a video on it as well.