Pareto Primal

Hi

I know some paleo books talk about the 80/20 rule saying as long as you are paelo 80% of the time, you should get the benefits. That to me feels like a bit of a misapplication of the 80/20 rule. My read of the 80/20 rule as Pareto formulated it, was that 20% of the elements are responsible for 80% of the benefits.

Just as food for thought, I am wondering if anyone has thought about applying the pareto principle to the primal blueprint. In other words what is the 20% of the blueprint that gives 80% of the benefits?

In the area of diet, could it be as simple as giving up just grains and eating more protein and vegetables?

In the area of exercise, could it be as simple as just getting more activity a week by either walking for 5 hours a week or changing to a standing workstation?

What do you think?

thanks, Caprica

Great question.. in my opinion, these are the things that seem to have given me the most benefits.

1. Giving up grains and processed foods.
2. Adding Big Ass Salad in daily.
3. Moving slowly but frequently.. walking 10,000 steps per day
4. Focus on getting quality and quantity of sleep

For weightloss AND feeling great - making sure I'm eating lots of fish each week also helps.

Giving up vegetable oils, since that would require eliminating the vast majority of grain and sugar-based crap foods.

I think the crap oils and the refined carbs. Not so much for the things they cause you to eliminate, but on their own, these two things do the majority of the damage.

To me the biggest differences are giving up processed rubbish. I include most grains as processed rubbish, as well as sugar ;) (and, of course, vegetable oils fit in this category too). If you concentrate on eating REAL food that looks like food, you'll get the vast majority of benefits!

So to me, "eat real food" is the biggest difference you can make in your life! You just need the wisdom to recognise what "real" food actually is and not assume that something like bread is "real food" lol.

#1: No Grains/Soy

#2: Real saturated fats (from grass-fed sources, mostly)

#3: High quality protein

I was a vegan so I was already eating things like Big Ass Salad, and lots of dark leafy greens.

[quote]That to me feels like a bit of a misapplication of the 80/20 rule.[/quote]
I think Pareto's Principal is unrelated to the 80/20 rule of the Primal Blueprint. They both happen to involve the figure "80%", but as you said the principal is different. The PB allowance is basically that small deviations won't undermine the whole effort.

I don't think there is a critical 20% of the Primal Blueprint that will give you 80% of the results.

Too many variables.

[QUOTE=Iron Fireling;960277]To me the biggest differences are giving up processed rubbish. I include most grains as processed rubbish, as well as sugar ;) (and, of course, vegetable oils fit in this category too). If you concentrate on eating REAL food that looks like food, you'll get the vast majority of benefits!

So to me, "eat real food" is the biggest difference you can make in your life! You just need the wisdom to recognise what "real" food actually is and not assume that something like bread is "real food" lol.[/QUOTE]

Agreed.
Changing to primal for me seemed like a mere tweak at the time - eliminating grains. I was already eating real meat and veges and eggs, etc and was avoiding obvious junk such as processed products (don't want to even call them food now).

Now my diet seems normal to me, is a breeze to follow because it works and makes me feel good (and I feel bad when I deviate from it) but it looks radically different from what is probably the norm for most people.

So for me, that step of ditching grains especially wheat would be the 20% that gave the 80% return.

I like this thread for causing me to look at it this way. But I also like the principle that you haven't lost everything if you deviate by a few percentage points. I try to eat primal all the time but the 80/20 feels like a safety net for if I miss sometimes.

[QUOTE=mike_h;960322]I think Pareto's Principal is unrelated to the 80/20 rule of the Primal Blueprint. They both happen to involve the figure "80%", but as you said the principal is different. The PB allowance is basically that small deviations won't undermine the whole effort.

I don't think there is a critical 20% of the Primal Blueprint that will give you 80% of the results.[/QUOTE]I agree with Mike on this. Primal is not a tweak or a hack or a trick. It's an across the board, full spectrum lifestyle change.

Mark's 80/20 principal is about not beating yourself up if there are things in your diet or fitness that are beyond your control like dinner at the boss' house or not getting your exercise because you are traveling for work. It was never intended to be an excuse to only aim for 80% compliance. It is about aiming for 100% but not freaking out if life gets in the way sometimes. And it certainly wasn't about some 20% quick fix.