Thursday, March 03, 2005
The Paleolithic Diet
In the stream of low-carbohydrate diets, there have been four main groups. The first is the very low-carbohydrate diets. These are in books by Atkins, Protein Power, and others. The idea is to go into ketosis due to nearly no carbs to burn. The problem is that they are hard to stay on. Criticism also comes form the questionable health effects of ketosis, inadequate produce and its benefits and the high level of saturated fats.
The second group is the milder forms per Schwarzbein, Jay Robb, Sugar Busters and so on. He ketosis is avoided and they are easier to follow. Healthy fruits and vegetables are also encouraged.
The third is the Zone and its clones. Talk about hard to follow. What a rigid pain in the ass. The 40-30-30 thing is difficult to follow. Five meals a day is tough too. Our culture eats big meals fairly often. I suppose taking a laptop and a cooler everywhere is the solution.
Fourth and final is the Paleolithic diet. This is based on what we evolved eating. For millions of years we ate a certain diet and only in the past twelve thousand years or less have we changed from this, a short period of time in evolutionary scale. For many of us Europeans, this may be two thousand years or less. We evolved to thrive on this diet. Any variation from it is at our own risk.
The diet is essentially three things. First drink only water. Second, eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. The rule is if you can't pick and eat it as is, it isn't included. Berries and lettuce are good. Skip potatoes, yams, corn and other starchy plants. Finally eat meat of any animal. Beef, chicken, fish, shrimp,... Pretty simple. It gets more involved and different authors have their own take on it. My best references are "The Paleo Diet" by Cordain and "Neanderthin" by Audette. They differ on points, but are well-researched and excellent starting points.
The benefits are many. It has not been given a real double-blind test, but that would be fascinating. Good measures of a study would be blood lipids, blood sugar, glycosolated hemoglobin, serum insulin, body weight, body fat percentage, blood pressure, bone density, visual acuity, reaction time, treadmill tests, muscular strength and skin thickness. Ideal would be to put it head to head with a control no change US diet, Atkins, AHA and Mediterranean diets.
I have seen plenty of reader anecdotes in many places supporting this diet. It certainly makes scientific sense. Doctors have documented clinical cases showing improvements too. My own personal experience was a two month period where I lost twenty pounds of fat with no adverse effects in two months, following a half-assed version with a little grain and lots of cheese. Not to mention weekly chips and beer on weekends. I'm slowly moving this paleo way since the first of the year. And I mean slowly. So far have nixed sugars, trans fats, caffeine and alcohol step-by-step. And injuries have limited exercise some. Yet I feel much better and have lsot 12# already.
The second group is the milder forms per Schwarzbein, Jay Robb, Sugar Busters and so on. He ketosis is avoided and they are easier to follow. Healthy fruits and vegetables are also encouraged.
The third is the Zone and its clones. Talk about hard to follow. What a rigid pain in the ass. The 40-30-30 thing is difficult to follow. Five meals a day is tough too. Our culture eats big meals fairly often. I suppose taking a laptop and a cooler everywhere is the solution.
Fourth and final is the Paleolithic diet. This is based on what we evolved eating. For millions of years we ate a certain diet and only in the past twelve thousand years or less have we changed from this, a short period of time in evolutionary scale. For many of us Europeans, this may be two thousand years or less. We evolved to thrive on this diet. Any variation from it is at our own risk.
The diet is essentially three things. First drink only water. Second, eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. The rule is if you can't pick and eat it as is, it isn't included. Berries and lettuce are good. Skip potatoes, yams, corn and other starchy plants. Finally eat meat of any animal. Beef, chicken, fish, shrimp,... Pretty simple. It gets more involved and different authors have their own take on it. My best references are "The Paleo Diet" by Cordain and "Neanderthin" by Audette. They differ on points, but are well-researched and excellent starting points.
The benefits are many. It has not been given a real double-blind test, but that would be fascinating. Good measures of a study would be blood lipids, blood sugar, glycosolated hemoglobin, serum insulin, body weight, body fat percentage, blood pressure, bone density, visual acuity, reaction time, treadmill tests, muscular strength and skin thickness. Ideal would be to put it head to head with a control no change US diet, Atkins, AHA and Mediterranean diets.
I have seen plenty of reader anecdotes in many places supporting this diet. It certainly makes scientific sense. Doctors have documented clinical cases showing improvements too. My own personal experience was a two month period where I lost twenty pounds of fat with no adverse effects in two months, following a half-assed version with a little grain and lots of cheese. Not to mention weekly chips and beer on weekends. I'm slowly moving this paleo way since the first of the year. And I mean slowly. So far have nixed sugars, trans fats, caffeine and alcohol step-by-step. And injuries have limited exercise some. Yet I feel much better and have lsot 12# already.
