The Paleo Diet


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From wikipedia:

Centered on commonly available modern foods, the "contemporary" Paleolithic diet consists mainly of fish, grass-fed pasture raised meats, vegetables, fruit, fungi, roots, and nuts, and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, refined salt, refined sugar, and processed oils.

Not sure how this contradicts the WoW. Maybe by getting rid of the 'staff of life'?
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Paleo is a good principle. It's basically going back to the original diet of people before the mass-production age.

I don't know why you would think it goes against the WoW. Is it because it is meat-friendly? Paleo principle includes eating foods according to its season which is a basic WoW tenet.

Like anything else, Paleo requires common sense. For example, Paleo is friendly to bacon. But, of course, if you eat a boatload of bacon, it is bad.

I follow Paleo principles but I'm not a strict Paleo dieter. We do the grass-fed beef stuff, the organic, chemical-free fruits and veggies from the local farm, etc.

Edited by anatess
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I think I sense something of a contradiction because grains do seem to be condemned. Now that I'm thinking about it, that's not necessarily a contradiction.

Grains goes against the Paleo principle because it entered man's diet after the "invention" of agriculture. The hunter-gatherers did not eat grains. Rather, the birds eat the grains and the hunter-gatherer eat the bird.

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Grains goes against the Paleo principle because it entered man's diet after the "invention" of agriculture. The hunter-gatherers did not eat grains. Rather, the birds eat the grains and the hunter-gatherer eat the bird.

But I don't agree that grains are necessarily unhealthy.

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But I don't agree that grains are necessarily unhealthy.

It is not the "natural" diet of man. It is an "acquired" diet. Basically, man's genetics was formed much longer than when man decided to eat grains. Grains, therefore, is structurally or chemically different than what our genetics was designed to eat.

One can't really quantify the effect of grains and other non-natural diets on man. But, we do know that Biblically, man used to live much longer. Why that is, is a mystery. We do know that grains contain a high level of carbs and insulin. But we also know that grains are cheap.

I am a dog enthusiast. If you look at dog teeth, you will wonder why we feed our dogs a corn-based or grain-based diet. Dog teeth is genetically designed to rip and tear muscle and crunch bone. It is not designed to graze on plant matter (have you seen a dog try to eat grass? It's hilarious to watch). But a dog is an omnivore - obviously. But naturally, dogs do not eat plant matter from the ground. Dogs eat partially digested plant matter that is found inside the stomach and intestines of prey. So, if you research the ideal dog diet, it is the structural and chemical composition of live prey - very high animal protein, very low plant carbs, with plants partially digested. Yet, you can look at all the dog food found in the grocery store and NOT A SINGLE ONE of them is structurally and chemically appropriate for a dog. Now, this leads you to wonder if the reason why our beloved Fido only has a lifespan of 12-15 years is because we feed them something that their bodies are not designed to eat. Maybe, if we bring Fido back to the natural prey diet, his progeny might start to clean up the gene pool so much so that Fido's breed will start to live 10 years longer...

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I understand that what we grow and harvest out of the ground today, bears little resemblence to what was growing out of the ground a millenia or ten ago, whether we ate it or not. But yeah, if adherence to a diet means you have to believe that all grains are a "non-natural" element of a person's diet, you'll lose me as a potential adherent.

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I understand that what we grow and harvest out of the ground today, bears little resemblence to what was growing out of the ground a millenia or ten ago, whether we ate it or not. But yeah, if adherence to a diet means you have to believe that all grains are a "non-natural" element of a person's diet, you'll lose me as a potential adherent.

And that's why I'm not a strict Paleo follower. Any diet that goes to extremes is always not good. But, the principle is sound and is very sensible with just slight modifications.

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I understand that what we grow and harvest out of the ground today, bears little resemblence to what was growing out of the ground a millenia or ten ago, whether we ate it or not.

Which is a good thing considering if all the plant varieties on the planet magically reverted to the wild type of pre-agriculture there would be a lot of starvation going around.

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First I would like to see how someone arrived at the conclusion that our ancestors didn't eat grains, is there some evidence of this or are they just assuming we (our ancestors) never ate seeds?. Second our ancestors ate whatever happened to be nearby, that doesn't necessitate that they were genetically *designed* to eat that, it's just what was available. Excepting specific medical conditions whole grains are rather nutritional and healthy.

I just don't buy it!

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There is an entire branch of archaeology that specializes in looking through old poop and finding out what foods it was created by.

But I don't know any of them, and I don't know what their arguments are, and if they've been faithfully represented or hijacked or taken out of context by the paleodiet folks.

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There is an entire branch of archaeology that specializes in looking through old poop and finding out what foods it was created by.

But I don't know any of them, and I don't know what their arguments are, and if they've been faithfully represented or hijacked or taken out of context by the paleodiet folks.

How would you identify the excrement of a copraphage?

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See, you've discovered why I don't know any of them or their arguments. They talk about stuff like that all the time.

Yes, it is quite amazing how we have books and books and books about Dinosaurs and their diets... I mean, all you got is some giant pieces of bones.

Here's Grains History 101:

Evolutionary Discordance of Grains/Legumes in the Human Diet

And here's Paleo Grains 101:

http://everydaypaleo.com/2012/07/01/whats-the-deal-with-grains/

You can believe it, or not. It's up to you.

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I'll check out the links, I'm actually curious about it. My current understanding is that grains where the first plant to be domesticated and it doesn't follow logically in my mind that early humans wouldn't domesticate a plant that they weren't already using.

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I'll check out the links, I'm actually curious about it. My current understanding is that grains where the first plant to be domesticated and it doesn't follow logically in my mind that early humans wouldn't domesticate a plant that they weren't already using.

It's transitioning from the paleolithic natural diet that requires a nomadic lifestyle to a non-natural agricultural diet that allows for man to stay put.

Edited by anatess
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  • 2 months later...

The Paleo diet has some really good features going in it's favor, however it is far from the ideal diet for health or even weight-loss... and certain versions of it are indeed somewhat in opposition to the word of wisdom. The best thing about the paleo diet is that it gets adherents to clean up their diet; no more processed flours and sugar, chemical laden food-like substances etc. Many people feel fantastic eating this way simply because of the avoidance of non-foods. However, they could feel equally well enjoying grains alongside the other foods proscribed for their use by the paleo mantra.

 

Paleo gurus will try to impress people with all manner of pseudo-science to extol the health benefits and create a make-believe history of people eating this way, and they will also turn around and contradict themselves without even realizing it. For instance Loren Cordain, a founding promoter of the paleo movement, bashes eating grains and uses the thought process that before agriculture standing armies could not exist because of lack of nourishment... hardly a good cause to avoid them. Further the idea is largely promoted based on the theory of evolution stating that prehistoric man ate this way (unproven speculation) and that although we have evolved since then, we have not evolved to eat a different diet... again contradicting themselves at least partially (did we evolve or didn't we?). Interestingly enough modern researchers have shown that across the world all kinds of cultural diets have effectively sustained man through-out the ages and we can adapt extremely quickly to different diets. This is because a much greater amount of our digestion is completed by our internal bacteria than previously thought and the bacterial populations change rapidly in response to the food that is available to them. So within a matter of weeks some one could effectively alter their digestive processes to be set up for ideally assimilating a meat laden Atkins-like diet to effectively breaking down a fiber heavy raw vegan diet, or vice versa (hardly millions of years of evolution).

 

Now as a member of the church I buy into the idea of creation over evolution in the first place, so admittedly I am biased. The bible teaches that agriculture existed as early as Cain who was a farmer. Adam was told that by the sweat of his brow he would eat his bread. So in the world history that I believe there never was a period of neanderthals thumping wild beasts to devour and scraping up bits and pieces of plant food to fill in gaps. Daniel (and friends) in the bible ate pulses (legumes) instead of the kings meat and were healthier than the others. The most common rendition of the paleo diet that I personally hear being talked about is a repackaged take on the atkins diet but cleverly marketed with false history and having the organic only theme added in. This is in direct contrast to the word of wisdom which tells us grains (wheat in particular) are to be the staff of life, and meat eaten sparingly (and preferably not at all). Other interesting points to consider include the fact that diets that restrict carbohydrates do lead to faster weight-loss initially, but at one year out they are no more effective than low fat (meat) diets or diets simply using moderation in all things. Further while a diet such as the atkins or paleo diet can help control the progression of modern diseases like diabetes and heart disease, a diet low in animal products and high in grains such as the Ornish diet or the diet recommended by Neal Barnard where the new four food group would be fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes actually can reverse heart disease and diabetes and it is clinically proven by real science instead of simply promoted by self-proclaimed gurus. At the end of the day eating the paleo diet is probably healthier than the average western diet, but it is not ideal nor is it necessary. Moderation in all things is a great approach. Minimizing or eliminating junk-food is a fantastic idea, sort of a temporal version of cleaning up our lives. Replacing the junk-food with living foods like fruits and vegetables is even better. I would be very cautious to follow any dietary advice that is extremist and in opposition to the diet God has given his people.

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  • 2 months later...
Guest Alton
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this workout is for stomach area, arms and even involve your back and shoulder area, Falls are alternative to developing chest area and arms muscle tissue....

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  • 2 months later...

I've tried the Paleo diet and I can say that it's one of the few diet plans that actually worked for me.

Definitely helped in getting rid of the hunger pangs. After a week on the Paleo diet, I wasn't craving for sugary treats anymore. Although it did mess up my cholesterol levels a bit.

:)

Edited by leonasmith77
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