Primal diet - Pros and Cons? page 8

[Neckhammer]

I've just finished watching that video on the previous page... holy crap! I'm never eating another coconut cream bar ever again. I wish I'd watched that video 10 or 15 years ago.

Should be required viewing.

[Paleobird]

The Pros and Cons from my POV

Pros:

Better seizure control on less medication
Five years and counting without a cancer recurrence
Knees that don't hurt anymore because there are 65 fewer pounds coming down on them
Wearing a size 6 instead of a 16
Eating what I want and like which is meat, fat and veggies
(I am not afraid of carbs I just don't prefer carbs and don't have a sweet tooth)
Being able to go all day long without eating with steady energy
Clear open sinuses all the time
Never getting sick even when exposed to bugs
Healthy skin that doesn't need moisturizer
Excellent sleep
"Permission" to turn in my gym membership and stop useless overtraining.
Now I focus on the exercise I actually like to do like hiking, surfing, etc.
Looking better at 50 than I did at 40

Cons:

It's expensive to change sizes so many times. All that shopping!
Wasting time in stupid internet squabbles

[Derpamix]

Pros:

Paleobird

Cons:

Vibrams(seriously, WHY)

[zoebird]

because vibrams are comfortable, duh. I definitely need to get some huaraches now that summer is here. I can't find anything without a heel here. :P

---

Pros:

less effort and angst around foods
less gastric discomfort (didn't even know this would go away)
less body fat without any real effort
super good food!
ridiculously healthy kid
lovely skin/hair/nails/teeth
happiness

Cons:

people pushing you that you need to eat carbs when, in fact, you eat carbs.

people asserting that your diet is too strict and therefore you are an extremist trying to 'force" your diet on people (when you haven't tried to force anything on anyone)

people telling you that it's "now time to give up your strict diet because you are skinny enough" (which is so weird IMO).

[MouthDR]

Unrefined raw sugar is made from the juice from the sugar cane plant and has trace minerals and nutrients present. Refined sugar is devoid of all nutrients. Doesn't matter, I would recommend pure refined white sugar anyway. Since it doesn't contain iron and is incredibly pure. I thought by refined sugar you meant something else entirely.

I don't tell people to drink coke, but there is nothing wrong with it. You have a diet soda thread on the first page.

A pro is that I easily got into the best shape of my life. Currently at roughly 8-9% body fat, with the most muscle mass and strength I've ever had. Looking to get to my goal of 220 lbs at 7% BF. I follow paleo (not primal) and relatively low carb. But I think to get over that lean mass threshold, I need to do a carb back-loading thing. Will try it shortly once I figure out the number of calories I need to target. Somewhere around 4000+ I suspect.

Another pro is my health and well being. Feel like a champ and am never tired any longer. Sleep is million times better as is everything else. Psoriasis and dry ski is gone. Acne (not much anyway) has stopped.

Con is trying to explain to the ignorant why I do, what it is, I do. Especially at family gatherings and social events with colleagues and such. But I've stopped. I simply tell them I eat "no junk food" and leave it at that.

[canuck416]

I started this in another thread before I saw your post but I think it applies to your situation. I believe what we think is Paleo might be off somewhat. The Paleo approach attempts to simulate our ancestral diets as much as possible. As we all know the human genome has hardly changed since the emergence of behaviourally-modern humans in East Africa 50,000 to 100,000 years ago; genetically, man remains adapted for the foods consumed then. The best available estimates suggest that those ancestors obtained about 35% of their dietary energy from fats, 35% from carbohydrates and 30% from protein. Saturated fats contributed approximately 7.5% total energy and harmful trans-fatty acids contributed negligible amounts. Polyunsaturated fat intake was high, with omega 6: omeg 3 approaching 2:1 (v. 10:1 today). Cholesterol consumption was substantial, perhaps 480 mg/d. Carbohydrate came from uncultivated fruits and vegetables, approximately 50% energy intake as compared with the present level of 16% energy intake for Americans. High fruit and vegetable intake and minimal grain and dairy consumption made ancestral diets base-yielding, unlike today’s acid-producing pattern. Honey comprised 2–3% energy intake as compared with the 15% added sugars contribute currently. Fibre consumption was high, perhaps 100 g/d, but phytate content was minimal. Vitamin, mineral and (probably) phytochemical intake was typically 1.5 to eight times that of today .There have been few subsequent genetic changes despite the agricultural and industrial innovations of recent millennia. Hence, I believe optimal human nutrition in the present should reprise the essentials of what it was for the earliest behaviorally-modern ancestors. It seems to me that perhaps most Paleo followers may be cosuming too high a ratio of fats and proteins and not enough carbs.

Here is a good research paper on the topic - http://www.gregdavis.ca/share/paleo-...yd%20Eaton.pdf

[bloodorchid]

pros: food's pretty good

cons: food is becoming religion here

[zoebird]

where?

[BestBetter]

This is somewhat difficult for me to answer, so in segments:

Cutting out gluten and dairy six years ago (but not being paleo) made MS flares mild and fewer, lost a few lbs, acne disappeared.

A couple of years ago, going low-carb and low-fat paleo (Cordain's version) and later adding a ton of fat and switching to high fat paleo (Mark Sisson's version), the issues that started while being low fat, and continued to worsen with high fat:

CONS: progress in the gym was completely stalled for 1 year
had the worse, most crippling IBS attacks of my life
gained about 10-12 lbs (mostly fat) in my lower body
hair started falling out in HANDFULS in the shower
was cold all the time, body temperature got steadily lower until I was practically a corpse
my low average blood pressure dropped too low and started giving me problems
debilitating fatigue
reduced quality sleep
depression, unstable mood, anxiety attacks

Pros: I actually can't think of any. I have not had any flares in 2.5 years, but I've had 'forbidden' food items since then with no problem, so I don't it's due to my diet. For me, I think the flares have more to do with stress and other issues in my life, but there's no way to know 100%

Switched to high-carb, low-fat Perfect Health Diet WITH some Ray Peat tweaks (organic sugar cane, more gelatin and less muscle meat, pregnenalone supplementation) AND used cold thermogenesis:

Pros: my body comp has been slowly shifting to where I want it
significantly more energy and therefore I able able to be active again
I make progress in the gym on a regular basis (I increase the weight on something every week)
depression disappeared, my mood is awesome, anxiety attacks decreased
my body temperature is steadily improving, I'm rarely cold anymore, and I generally feel like my body is warm and toasty
my hair isn't falling out in handfuls anymore. It's still thin, but it seems like there is new growth, so I'll have to wait to see how that improves
my blood pressure is back to low average, I'm not having orthostatic hypotension everytime I stand up anymore
since ditching most of the vegetables I was eating on paleo/primal, and making some other changes, my IBS is gone
my desire to binge eat completely disappeared

No improvment: sleep quality. My sleep is very inconsistent. Some nights it's great, some nights I wake up every hour. However, I no longer experience complete insomnia, where I can't fall asleep at all and am awake the whole night, which was somewhat frequent on low-carb/high fat. Not sure if there is a connection to diet on this one.

[Paleobird]

And later adding a ton of fat and switching to high fat paleo (Mark Sisson's version), the issues that started while being low fat, and continued to worsen with high fat:

Where in the PB does Mark ever advocate eating a ton of fat? If you took the plan to that extreme and it didn't work for you, cool. Lesson learned. That is not for you. I agree. But don't try to blame that on Mark. His approach is really very moderate. It's all the hacks, tweaks, etc. of the forum that are extreme.