Why Paleolithic & Primal Eating Is No Fad Diet
Deliciousness.
I mentioned in the last post that it was possible I could talk about some of the differences between paleolithic/primal eating and other “diets.” And yes, I do put “diets” in quotation marks because to me: paleolithic and primal eating is NOT a diet really, it is simply, according to the research, the way that humans are meant to eat through the science of evolutionary logic. For those who are unaware and just joining the discussion, paleolithic eating is essentially the idea that we should go back to eating the way that our ancestors did. That means no excess sugars, minimal food processing, no grains, starches, pastas, and modern food GMO craziness. It means nothing but high quality fat and protein and very little carbohydrates. In terms of food groups, we’re primarily talking about meats, vegetables, nuts, seeds, a little bit of fruit.
In fact, one look at my picture from August 2011 in comparison to around July of 2009 at the bottom of the last post should give you a very clear idea: this particular diet certainly isn’t non-effective. What is most important to note, however, is that while I have eaten this way for about two years I have done very little exercise to get the tone and fat loss that I have received. There are multiple ways to lose weight, as many people will tell you. But primal eating is not about losing weight – it is about feeding every cell in your body that stuff that your very physiological core wants.
It means letting your DNA give you the best possible you that you can possibly have.
We know, however, that there are some of those complications if you’ve been grazing on grains or other nasty elements of the Western world. If you’ve become a diabetic or had a severe genetic predisposition to becoming a type I, or if you’re hypoglycemic or developed some forms of colitis or a number of other conditions, then your health may not be in such great shape to adopt this type of a diet. The story from Robb Wolf, arguably one of the guys who has made the paleo movement drastically more popular, is that his insides were destroyed by some of the foods that society wants many people to believe is the most healthy: vegetarian and vegan diets.
Robb, according to his story, got very sick. If I have your interest piqued and you’re new to this whole thing, you may want to check out this video where he talks about it at the annual Ancestral Health Symposium (but just keep reading if you have no time for the video or if it feels a little like information overload). For the primal/paleo veterans, this may just be a kick-back type of break to enjoy.
It was only after looking into a lot of the major research as so many other of the “paleo gurus” did that he found the solutions to his problems – solutions that, as he mentions in the above video, doctors were not going to give him. He ended up bundling all of his findings onto his website and then his book, The Paleo Solution. The culprit in Robb’s problems? Grains.
When our body learns to live without grains, or excess carbohydrates for that matter, it is forced into becoming a fat burner. The basic process works very simply: your body uses three different macronutrients. Fat, protein, and carbohydrate. Carbohydrate, as commonly known, is the macronutrient that is most readily converted into energy (in the form of glucose, or sugar) more so than the other two. Protein and fat are both essentially for the body to continue functioning properly. However, and this is key: when you really get down to it, a healthy human being actually has no real need for a single gram of carbohydrate in their diet for any given day. We could easily live our entire lives consuming only fat and protein.
It took me a while to wrap my head around this fact for a long time. It took me a bit of energy (but not in the form of carbohydrate, hehe) to actually sort it all out in my mind. The body’s energy processes are absolutely amazing. As in turns out, the science says that the body could be in ‘constant ketosis’ and as long as it is getting all of the nutrients it needs, the lack of carbohydrate is not a problem. Ketosis is the condition your body enters into when it has to operate off of nothing but ketones because there are no carbohydrates to use. I’ll let you read Michael Eades explanation of ketones and ketosis if you’re interested to know more.
Imagine this sort of an analogy when it comes to paleolithic eating… it is sort of like what you would think of as a perfect type of fuel to keep an engine running. Or, if you’d like, it is just as essential for our bodies to be in their natural, peak condition physiologically without us really having to do much except continue getting up every day. There are huge advantages to exercise but when we’re talking about the body keeping away most diseases to its highest possible level of effectiveness, setting the stage for you to be able to actively and progressively gain muscle mass with ease, or for your cognitive function to be superior to how it might be while drowning yourself in sugar – all of these are perfect examples of why the food makes the most difference.
It really is the food, above all else. Even the exercise.
You are more than just what you eat. In fact, you live and die by what you eat. The quality of food you consume and the type of food is what is most important. Whether it be eating a handful of berries once in a while to create anti-angiogensis to help with keeping cancer away, consuming your carotenoids in various vegetables to aid your immune system, not worrying about consuming HDL cholesterol since you’ll lower your LDL such as when you’re taking fish oil, and many other awesome benefits. The list goes on.
So now, you can go out and tell all your friends that we actually, as Gary Taubes says, solved the obesity problem back in the 1960′s…
For the past many decades, the majority of the research has shown that we really did figure out why people gain weight a long time ago. The causal mechanism has everything to do with carbohydrates and thus insulin levels and nothing to do with saturated fat or fat in general, exercise, vegetarianism, raw foods, organic foods, and so on. Of course, it has a small bit to do with calories but that’s the brilliant thing about all of this too!
Insulin affects our hunger signals. The higher a person’s insulin, the more hungry they will typically become. My family doctor, Ted Roeser MD, mentioned to me something he had heard, a quote that goes something like “If you eat a piece of cheese, you eat a piece of cheese. If you eat a chocolate chip cookie, you eat ten.” In other words, the cheese has no carbohydrate and thus does not spike insulin while the sugary chocolate chip cookie does and then “I betcha can’t have just one!” Paleo eating ensures that you’re satiated more often and at a quicker time interval than a standard Western diet. This means you’ll automatically consume a good level of calories anyway and will not really ever have to worry about consuming that many calories. Of course, on that note, cheese is one of those things that we typically like to only take in moderation.
Cheese is, actually, calorically dense, just as a side note and our ancestors did not care much for dairy because dairy did not exist. It also probably makes more sense to talk a little bit about the idea that our ancestors may not have always had long lifespans but the more important principle to imagine is what homo sapiens and the previous versions of homo sapiens must have evolved over the past two million years to eat. It wasn’t soda, it wasn’t milk, it wasn’t candy, chips, cookies, and french fries.
I mentioned organic foods above – organic foods are really great but they’re really great for other reasons than the idea that they will keep you thin. That is, not all organic food will magically keep you thin, healthy, and non-diabetic. If there is one thing I hope readers will take away from every article I will end up writing about food in recent time it is this: carbohydrates cause your pancreas to secrete insulin and the high insulin levels push your cellular process to store energy as fat. And since you’re programming yourself to burn sugar as a high carb eater instead of programming yourself to burn fat as a low carb eater, your body will continue to store fat away for when it needs it.
Captain Obvious also says: If you never change to a low carb way of eating, then you will never program yourself to burn fat!
So when we know that this diet does stuff like keep away many different diseases in many, many cases, makes you lean, healthy, and attractive, and requires no exercise at the end of the day… why do we not do it? In the end, the time management portion of this pays for itself – you simply eat the right foods and you will not have to worry about the plethora of health problems that would or will result from your being overweight in the future. I mentioned in my last post that there are some exceptions and warning signs for those who want to dive into this (namely those type I diabetics and hypoglycemics) and maybe some other individuals with certain debilitating health conditions. Nonetheless, even making a partial shift to this is better than nothing.
No other “fad” diet can say the same things that paleo can. It simply cannot be done. Paleo has been known to lower triglycerides, bring better hormonal balance, bring the body back to its default composition in weight and shape, and many other benefits according to Mark Sisson. But hey, whether we’re talking about the guys selling this stuff to you or not, I can attest to it myself and so can countless different success stories. I hate to link to Mark’s website so much but the guy has an unbeatable collection of success stories that seem to endlessly come in week after week.
From my own personal experience, I’ve also noticed that I’ve felt drastically better than I used to. I have had the opportunity to consistently have my blood pressure measured by both my family doctor practitioner and my dentist and all the times it has measured it has shown to be nice and low, typically around 111/70, well within the desirable range. Some people (even women, bless their “souls!”) have suggested that I’m too thin. Well, at 5 foot, 11 inches and 142 pounds, my BMI (body mass index) is 19.8, also within the “normal” range. Did I start out that way? Heck no – two years ago in 2009 I weighed 170 pounds and saw my blood pressure a little bit higher.
In the end, and I seem to be telling people this a lot lately, it all comes down to your own choice! You will have to be the one to ultimately put this eating style to the test for yourself. I do not want to emotionally charge this post too much but from what information I know, the experience I’ve had that has been totally life changing, the increased attention I’ve gotten from the opposite sex (which was bad enough already! 
), and the health benefits that I notice are here and present and not going away anytime soon I feel it would be entirely immoral for me to tell you to even think about waiting to start this diet.
But it’s not a diet. Paleo eating is no fad. It is here to stay. It is science’s answer and society’s rejected hypothesis that was right all along for the past several decades. It’s the cure to a long list of bad health conditions and the definitive answer to curing the obesity epidemic, if only we listen and take action. I hope you make the decision to put this to the test and wish you all the best in your efforts to live a long, healthy, functional, cancer free, lean, thin, beautiful, happy life by applying the best science we have to date.
Annnnddd the article would not be complete without the legal stuff again: Always consult a physician before making drastic changes to your diet and exercise plan. This information has not been approved by the FDA or any other silly government regulatory organization and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Scott Lee is presenting this for educational and entertainment purposes only. There, now you know that something you get from the internet may be incorrect: investigate the evidence and the truth for yourself.
