Paleo diet - fad or phenom?

[andygates]

Thoughts?  Experiences?  Especially with respect to cycling?

[Chris S]

Not enough calories for endurance maybe?

Paleo folk didn't ride Audax...

[longers]

I'd not heard of it before and found The Paleo Diet for Athletes on Amazon.

Unless you've got it already it might be of some help. I'd not heard of Joe Friel either but it says he's a triathlon and cycling coach.

[ScumOfTheRoad]

There was an article on the paleo diet in Cycling Weekly recently. I guess you saw it though!

[Regulator]

Well the NHS classes it as a 'fad diet', as do the American authorities.

So I'd say 'fad' not phenom.

[Ian H]

My own take is that anything classed as a diet, unless specifically medically sanctioned, is to be viewed with extreme suspicion.

[andygates]

You're misreading the word.  Modern casual usage has conflated "way of eating" with "zomg must be size zero".  In theory this is the former, not the latter.

Didn't Porkins of this parish go all paleo?

[border-rider]

Looks interesting, but as Reg points out there's not really any reliable hard data to support it.  That doesn't mean it's no good.  Or indeed that it's any good...

[Rich753]

Paleo diet might be extremely useful for coeliacs.

There is an alternative theory.

paleo diet is predicated on ancient man as a hunter-gatherer with limited access to technology.  However an alternative theory suggests that man had access to fire, and hence cooking, much much earlier than the paleo diet allows. And further that this access to fire  was one of the more critical elements in enabling man to survive as a species.

Point being that once you can cook stuff, all sorts of previously unattractive options start to be possible food -  including potatoes, meat that has started to go off, grain (which is essentially grass seed and in a raw state nutritionally useless to man). And this access to a wider variety of foodstuffs gave man a significant advantage in the battle for survival.

[Ian H]

You're misreading the word...

I just recall the last time I went into a bookshop for an ordinary cookbook and could find nothing that wasn't a diet book. I found it profoundly depressing.

[hellymedic]

The ability to farm, cook and store food (rather than survive as hunter-gatherers) also facilitated the emergence of learning, literacy and culture.
You can't get your kids to sit and listen if all day every day is spent getting food.

[andygates]

Paleo doesn't preclude cooking.

The counter to Rich's counter is that while spuds are newly-accessible calories, that doesn't make them optimal. 

The gotcha would be to find some subsistence tribe that lived only on spuds.

Hmm, aren't there tribes who live solely on sago?

[Ian H]

Paleo doesn't preclude cooking.

The counter to Rich's counter is that while spuds are newly-accessible calories, that doesn't make them optimal. 

The gotcha would be to find some subsistence tribe that lived only on spuds.

Hmm, aren't there tribes who live solely on sago?

There'll be human beings everywhere who manage to exist on what they can forage, find or afford.

[cometworm]

Assuming you make allowances for endurance sports (as friel does in paleo for athletes) I've found it works extremely well. It's not a super-restrictive diet the way "fad" diets are, it basically just says to replace grains with vegetables and fruit. I'm three stone lighter and much healthier as a result, without following it religiously.

If you think about it, a "diet" that prescribes lean meat, fresh fruit and vegetables is bound to be healthy.

[The Mechanic]

The gotcha would be to find some subsistence tribe that lived only on spuds.

I am sure I read an article in The Spectator that intimated there were a number of such tribes in Liverpool.  However, they did cook the spuds, mostly in lashings if fat in a deep pan with a strange kind of basket in it....

[Rich753]

Is following a paleo diet going to make you generally healthier and extend your healthy life-span rather than a "normal" western diet - almost certainly.

Is the theory on which it is based sound - I suspect not. 

And AG is correct PD doesn't preclude cooking, but IIUC does stipulate that in general foods that need to be cooked to be digestible, non-poisonous or otherwise useful are off-limits.  Grain being the obvious example, but also potatoes, which can be poisonous if eaten raw.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Sprouting?

[Rich753]

Good question.

I suspect yes, but don't know.

[clifftaylor]

If any of you think I'm going to live in a cave in this weather, you're horribly mistaken - although it would burn of a shitload of calories.
 

[Rich753]

More on the theory that it was cooking that made us (humans) clever.  Horizon programme last night now on iPlayer for your delectation ...

BBC iPlayer - Horizon: 2009-2010: Did Cooking Make Us Human?

[Manotea]

I'd not heard of it before and found The Paleo Diet for Athletes on Amazon.

Unless you've got it already it might be of some help. I'd not heard of Joe Friel either but it says he's a triathlon and cycling coach.

"As a nutritional therapist, I have major concerns over diets that exclude certain food groups. This book however addresses many issues that I have had with other programmes. Well thought out for the endurance trainer. Anyone working out for less than 2 hours a day need not apply. "

Interesting review...

[Jakob]

One of my friends is a part time instructor here:
Crossfit Westside

She's also the captain of the Canadian Kendo Team and is the fittest person in the world (Or something close to it at least).
She swears by the Paleo diet and was previously on the zone diet. (http://www.crossfitwestside.typepad.com/CFJZone.pdf) which is similar in concept. (It doesn't avoid grains, et al, merely strongly discourages it)

[andygates]

The guy with stumps ... 

[Jakob]

Kinda on topic:

I had a meeting with our (CF gym) nutritionist yesterday, where we talked about both the Paleo and Zone diet.
I made it clear that I was not going to do the full Paleo, as you're never going to take my bagels away from me, nor take the rice away from my wife.

Instead, I pointed out that the Zone diet looked far more realistic and she actually made it even easier, by saying that I did really only had to control (weigh) the amount carbs and could eat as much meat & veg as I wanted.

Also always having ready carb-free snacks available was the best way of dealing with hunger-attacks, so cooking up a big batch of chicken, so that you always had some meat ready in the fridge, was the best way to avoid grabbing the bread/rice.
If you combine that with some celery, carrots & broccoli, it's a quite easy and tasty snack/small meal.

Final suggestion was to do it strict for 4 weeks. Spend a week or so planning & preparing, pick a fixed date and then start.
After the first 4 weeks, so can start making personal modifications and also make allowances for going out, etc.

We're going camping next week, so once we get back, I think it's time to start.

[Bledlow]

The gotcha would be to find some subsistence tribe that lived only on spuds.

Used to be millions of people living off several dozen weird & wonderful varieties of spud, guinea-pigs, & a few seasonal fruit & veg. Some people still do.

Nobody ever lived off nothing but sago. You'd start suffering from deficiency diseases pretty quickly if you tried.