Is Paleo nothing more than Atkins Diet reborn ???? page 5

[Scott F]

No it wasn't 80% fat. I already posted up above about Johnson and who he was that includes a link to a discussion with Dr Mercola about Johnson new book. Everything in the book is/has been submitted to peer review. Johnson is a kidney specialist and is chief of the division of renal health and hypertension at the University of Colorado. My talking about Johnson is related to something another poster mentioned. Here's the youtube interview between Mercola and Johnson

[Scott F]

the 80% belief for the Inuit diet you are referring to comes Vilhjalmur Stefansson and his friend K. Andersen. They were actic explorers who did a personal experiment. At the end of a year their blood looked milky and their cholesterol reached 800 mg/dl. Johnson sources everything in this book from medical journals....including this. "This is higher in fat content [the 80% diet experiment] then the typcial Eskimo diet which is closer to 50 percent fat. 35-36"

[oxide]

Low carb is optimal for some people, but for some of us it is a complete failure. Don't assume everyone needs to eat the same way you do. I lose fat more successfully with moderate carbs, as do others around here. Not all of us have metabolic issues or other health conditions that make vlc necessary or even preferable.

I may have missed this in a post somewhere, but roughly how many grams of carbs are best for you? It's tough to battle over low carb if we have different definitions of "low."

For reference, I'm a petite woman who just re-started exercising, and I think of "regular" primal (for me) as ~85 grams carbs. For a he-man like Bennet, I think of "regular" as ~120. IMO anything up to about ~150 is primal okay. It's hard to go any higher without cheating into SAD anyway.

[Owly]

I'm an active, reasonably lean and muscular woman, 5'8" and 150 pounds (give or take depending on cycle). I'm in the 100 to 150g range most days. My large, very active, very muscular and lean partner who works a very physical job will often get up to the 200g+ level, but he is working 10+ hours and lifting or running on top of that, so that's in the context of eating 4500 to 6000 calories a day.

[Owly]

And I should have been clearer. Almost any primal eater will be low carb in SAD terms. I am talking about vlc as one might see in this community, the sub-50g or so level.

[BennettC]

About 60 grams a day for me, I could eat more if I wanted to

[jsa23]

Sure seems to me the whole Paleo movement is nothing more than Atkins Diet reborn again...?? Unless I'm missing something?? Atkins preached high protien with hefty healthy fats and low to no carbs. So why is Paleo better or more advanced than Atkins?? Just wondering - thanks

No. Paleo = eat whole, minimally-processed foods. Atkins = minimize carb intake. While paleo is generally lower-carb than the average American diet, it doesn't have to be low-carb. Atkins is low-carb by definition - but doesn't really have any rules about food quality as one stays within their carb budget.

Unfortunately, there *ARE* some people that are basically Atkins/low-carb advocates who care little for Paleo, that are attempting to leverage the paleo movement to promote their own agenda - this sometimes leads to things like the irrational "CARBS ARE POISON" crowd, rather than the more rational focus on real, nutritious, healthy foods that Paleo should be about. By all means debates about how to improve one's health should be encouraged, but the low-carb or bust attitude that some have is counterproductive.

Note: low-carb has its place and I'm not going to bash it - but paleo is NOT strictly low-carb, and we shouldn't be bashing people that opt to eat sweet potatoes and bananas on a paleo diet. Eat real food, be healthy, be happy.

[Forgotmylastusername]

Primal is low carb for some and not as low carb for others ...depends on your goals. Atkins didn't focus on the right fats like primal does, as I recall. When I did Atkins years and years ago I didn't know that vegetable oils were bad for you. Atkins does have a lot of processed foods, but from what I've heard those came about after the death of Mr. Atkins.

Robert atkins was a huge fan of processed artificial foods. His nutritional company was started in the late 80's and made all sorts of low-carb junk food. It's a myth that all the processed foods only came after his death.

[Moochy]

Sure seems to me the whole Paleo movement is nothing more than Atkins Diet reborn again...?? Unless I'm missing something?? Atkins preached high protien with hefty healthy fats and low to no carbs. So why is Paleo better or more advanced than Atkins?? Just wondering - thanks

Does anyone actually read the book before they post their opinion?

[Bosnic]

Why is there a negative stigma around the Atkins diet? You ask "Is it like Atkins??" as if that would tarnish the paleo diet.