Is Paleo All or Nothing? page 3

[dirk41]

If you starting Paleo I would suggest going all or nothing Paleo (something like a Whole30 program). After at least a month, then see how much better you feel. At this point then follow Mark's 80/20 rule and you should be fine.

[shep68]

I don't really care if somebody goes 80/20 or 100% right out of the gate like I did. You make your own choices and see the results (or lack of) for yourself. I would tend to think if you're 80/20 you're better off than before, but I've never seen a side by side comparison of blood work either so I'm only guessing. The reason I dove in all the way was because I am serious about losing weight and want to get off the pills and be a more healthy human being. I also figured that 80/20 would just be prolonging the cravings and "agony" of deprivation. As it turned out it didn't take long to kick my dependence on grains/legumes/etc, and I started feeling better rather quickly and have already dropped one pill. Just recently I decided to eat half a donut and the ill affects were immediate: stomach churning and a quick dash to the head. Pretty much cured my desire to 'cheat'. As for differing meal plans w/in a family others have already said it: everyone eats the main meat dish and you replace rice/corn/beans/breads/whatever for a helping of veggies. Easy to accomplish. We do it every night in my house. And if it's a pizza only night once a month then have a slice or two...stomach permitting...it ain't gonna kill you if surrounded by primal eating the rest of the month. I haven't had a slice in 3 or 4 months, but I don't begrudge anybody who does.

[bostonwolf]

I lean more towards the Slow Carb diet (which is essentially Paleo with beans) but try to manage my diet so as to stay on the fat burning curve. It really isn't that hard.

I will usually allow myself a cheat meal per week, sometimes a cheat day. I've lost about 10 lbs so far and expect that the steady fat loss will continue as I ramp up more exercise.

As others have said, I've also found that while I originally looked forward to that cheat day, now I'm usually satisfied with one meal (had some pizza tonight) and look forward to that next Paleo meal to get the fat burning going again.

Part of the Slow Carb diet is a pig-out day, which is supposed to help reset your hormones to they don't get too used to burning ketones. Not sure how much I agree with that, but I found that usually two days after I had a pig out day I was back to my weight the morning before the pigout.

[Blungld]

I really appreciate all the responses here. I am glad to hear that some others have my same questions--and that I had some misconceptions. I did think that Primal was low carb--but I see now that it is more the elimination of specific carbs and the level of other carb sources is simply weight maintenance.

Thanks.