The Paleo Diet Book

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I was perusing the bookstore yesterday and found the book detailing what I was already eating like for awhile now.

And even now, I can only half recommend it to the regular types, even though in theory it’s perfect for the desk jockeys.

I flipped through, and found a section on eggs and fat. It went on and on about how good eggs are and blah blah, but then that it was the saturated fats that were bad for us, and that eggs are a high source of fat. Even though eggs are good for us, they are a high source of fat, and “no more than 6 should be eaten per week”. It was even saying how dietary cholesterol is hardly affected by egg intake!!!

What a shitty thing to say. Me, the 235 pound male should eat no more than 6 a week, but what about 120 pound females? What the fuck? Idiotic. I was liking what I was reading for awhile. Finally something more mainstream than T-Nation.com that I can tell people about when they ask why in the shit am I eating chicken and broccoli every day for lunch. But no, I still have to say “yeah, it’s the Atkins diet I’m doing.” And put up with diabetics telling me how they heard it’s not good for you.

Write a book T-Nation, so I can just say it’s the “blah” diet.

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[quote]msd0060 wrote:
I was perusing the bookstore yesterday and found the book detailing what I was already eating like for awhile now.

And even now, I can only half recommend it to the regular types, even though in theory it’s perfect for the desk jockeys.

I flipped through, and found a section on eggs and fat. It went on and on about how good eggs are and blah blah, but then that it was the saturated fats that were bad for us, and that eggs are a high source of fat. Even though eggs are good for us, they are a high source of fat, and “no more than 6 should be eaten per week”. It was even saying how dietary cholesterol is hardly affected by egg intake!!!

What a shitty thing to say. Me, the 235 pound male should eat no more than 6 a week, but what about 120 pound females? What the fuck? Idiotic. I was liking what I was reading for awhile. Finally something more mainstream than T-Nation.com that I can tell people about when they ask why in the shit am I eating chicken and broccoli every day for lunch. But no, I still have to say “yeah, it’s the Atkins diet I’m doing.” And put up with diabetics telling me how they heard it’s not good for you.

Write a book T-Nation, so I can just say it’s the “blah” diet.[/quote]

I found this book to be an excellent resource and would highly reccomend it. I base a lot of my stratagies on things I read in this book. I am not saying it works for everyone (you have to find what works best for you) but I personally am a fan of this book.

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I loved except it still does some of the same bullshit that other diet books.

no more than 6 eggs a week because of eggs’ fat content?

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I found it interesting. I agree with you about the eggs, but at least it approaches the omega 3-6 ratios in foods. I especially like the historical aspect of agriculture (though I have no background in those studies so I have no idea of the validity of the claims). If anyone here is a history buff and can chime in on that please do.

Much of the stuff is pretty solid from my cursory knowledge but I am not so sure of the rationale behind some of it. I imagine that without our “brains” we’d eat pretty much like every other omnivorous primate: anything we could get our hands on.

To think that just because something wasn’t available to paleo man means that we don’t genetically have the ability to process it efficiently (if at all) is a stretch.

I loved the blasting of high fructose corn syrup. BTW I’m no twig eating hippie but have you looked at how many foods have HFCS at their second or third ingredient? Why the fuck do my beans have to have corn syrup in them?

The part on starchy vegetables and unsprouted grains was interesting as well.

I agree with you that it is mainly for the sedentary person and for weight control, but it does talk about exercise and how we seem to move less and less each generation.

As far as compliance the book gives you several levels of eating so you can go all “paleo” or only act caveman-like some of the time. Personally I think the hardest part would be the dairy…it says to eat none. I don’t think I could survive if I went in a time machine to prehistoric times and couldn’t have cheese. :frowning:

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The book is a really good read and has a lot of sound nutrition principles and will get most people introduced to proper nutrition.

The points I disagree about:

-It recommends canola oil for cooking because of the omega 3 content… apparently he doesn’t know that this is oxidized because canola oil is unstable in heat. Most of the omega 3 in canola oil is oxidized in the refining process anyways.

-Its stance against fats. Yes, animals were leaner back then (compared to the current grain-fed animals)… but prehistoric people’s also ate bone marrow and brains–extremely fatty organs. Without eating these (because of omega 3 content), it is said that humans would not have been able to evolve (if you believe in evolution…)

I say those points because after reading the book, I formed my diet around lean meats, veggies, and fruits… and I lost so much weight–including lots of muscle. I added saturated fats from eggs, beef, etc and feel a lot better and have gotten my weight back.

laroyal–I’m especially interested in hearing your comments on this.

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[quote]bulldogtor wrote:
The book is a really good read and has a lot of sound nutrition principles and will get most people introduced to proper nutrition.

The points I disagree about:

-It recommends canola oil for cooking because of the omega 3 content… apparently he doesn’t know that this is oxidized because canola oil is unstable in heat. Most of the omega 3 in canola oil is oxidized in the refining process anyways.

-Its stance against fats. Yes, animals were leaner back then (compared to the current grain-fed animals)… but prehistoric people’s also ate bone marrow and brains–extremely fatty organs. Without eating these (because of omega 3 content), it is said that humans would not have been able to evolve (if you believe in evolution…)

I say those points because after reading the book, I formed my diet around lean meats, veggies, and fruits… and I lost so much weight–including lots of muscle. I added saturated fats from eggs, beef, etc and feel a lot better and have gotten my weight back.

laroyal–I’m especially interested in hearing your comments on this.[/quote]

That is a very interesting post, I honestly did not consider the part about bone marrow and brains. I think to cut out all Saturated fats is a mistake but they should be limited. The biggest thing is balancing your oil intake. As a Poliquin guy my beliefs fall in line with his and here is what he says about balancing your fat intake:

When we were cavemen, we used to consume a diet that had a 1 to 1 ratio of Omega 6s to Omega 3 s. Now the typical American diet has a ratio of 50:1.
Now the deal is that when that ratio is not optimal (1:1), cancer, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, and stroke risks increase dramatically.

So what to do? Here are eight steps to re-balance your omega 6s to Omega 3s ratio:

Eliminate all foods that contain the words partially or hydrogenated fats. There are no safe levels of trans fats. That is why Canada and the U.S. are forcing companies to list the trans fat content. Unfortunately, the US law is too lax regarding the interpretation of the content of trans fats.

Eliminate all foods that contain corn, safflower, peanut, or sesame oil.
Eat more wild meats: elk, buffalo etc…
Eat only grass fed beef (e.g. TallGrass beef).
Consume 30 to 45 grams of fish oil a day. Our Paleolithic ancestors consumed 300-400 grams of Omega 3s a week. Make sure they are free of heavy metals, and solvents such as hexanes. To put your mind at ease, Poliquin Performance only stocks products containing the purest medical grade fish oils – click here to see our selection.

Eat Omega 3 fed eggs.
Eat more green leafy vegetables, and great northern beans, navy beans.
Soak flax seeds overnight, and add them to your shakes. Make sure to buy small quantities at a time and keep them in the fridge in a vacuum resealable container.

Hope that helps and thank you for the informative post. Very interesting point!

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[quote]msd0060 wrote:
I loved except it still does some of the same bullshit that other diet books.

no more than 6 eggs a week because of eggs’ fat content? [/quote]

Same here. I use that diet off & on.

I’m just about to go back “on”, I think it needs a little tweaking to be effective for muscle building.

I still use whey.

I only eat six eggs…at one sitting.

I can see his point about starchy carbs and grains, but I don’t see the point in avoiding legumes.

Peas, Beans, and Lentils is good eats.

No peanuts! Screw you.

YMMV.

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Thanks for the information laroyal. I’m definitely going to try and include more grass-fed and wild meat. Been supplementing with omega 3’s, of course, and even dropped the peanut butter after reading something by Poliquin. Dropping peanut butter was tragic, but walnuts have replaced them (high in omega 3, but in ALA form).

Positive note about the book: discusses a lot about diseases/disorders and the effects of insulin and our diet upon them. Should scare some people into rethinking how they eat.

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[quote]bulldogtor wrote:
Thanks for the information laroyal. I’m definitely going to try and include more grass-fed and wild meat. Been supplementing with omega 3’s, of course, and even dropped the peanut butter after reading something by Poliquin. Dropping peanut butter was tragic, but walnuts have replaced them (high in omega 3, but in ALA form).

Positive note about the book: discusses a lot about diseases/disorders and the effects of insulin and our diet upon them. Should scare some people into rethinking how they eat.[/quote]

Agreed! WHile the book is not without some room for improvement (if your goal is performance and physiquie) it is very imformative and a lot of the ideas from biosig have some roots in its writings.

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[quote]medevac wrote:

To think that just because something wasn’t available to paleo man means that we don’t genetically have the ability to process it efficiently (if at all) is a stretch.

([/quote]

Why would we evolve to process something that simply is not there?

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[quote]orion wrote:
medevac wrote:

To think that just because something wasn’t available to paleo man means that we don’t genetically have the ability to process it efficiently (if at all) is a stretch.

(

Why would we evolve to process something that simply is not there?

[/quote]

Because the act of digestion of shit isn’t always a huge jump evolutionary process. Sometimes it is, as in an animal that can eat a poisonous food and survive, and even use the poisons in that food for defense, while it’s closest genetic cousin would die from eating it. But it’s not always the case. For a hypothetical, let’s say that shrimp are made up of protein, minerals, and some other crap.

The book would say something along the lines of “Paleolithic man didn’t have access to nets to catch the shrimp” and therefore it would strike shrimp off the list.

Now I’ve read the book, and with most things he does not just pull the paleo logic, but goes into great detail about unsprouted seeds, legumes, etc. So he does use science to back a lot of his “don’t eat” foods and does not dismiss them outright. His take on carbs and grains is very interesting.

But some times he jumps the shark and uses the paleo-logic as a main credible point. The eggs are one example. Another is dairy.

I won’t get into the milk or not debate, but when an author dismisses diary all together (including yogurt, cottage cheese, hard cheeses, etc- and not just for the lactose intolerant) and says (I’m paraphrasing here, the book is at home) that the paleo-man couldn’t catch wild animals to milk them therefore humans can’t genetically benefit from milk proteins and fats then I find it a bit suspect.

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This is a good review of “The Paleo Diet” book:
http://westonaprice.org/bookreviews/paleodiet.html

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[quote]Kailash wrote:
This is a good review of “The Paleo Diet” book:
http://westonaprice.org/bookreviews/paleodiet.html

[/quote]

I don’t think that review is all that great. It totally by-passes the fact that the early “grains” found were not the same coated, protected seeds we grind up and bleach these days. Seriously how many times are carb tolerances and getting most of your carbs from veggies going to have to be proven time and time again to lower weight, increase insulin response, and basically be proven to definitely be the way to go? (keep in mind I am approaching this from the book and from this review’s point- to lower weight and control it, not gain).

It also unfairly speaks of the lean meats, when the author makes it a point to include organ meats and “fatty” fish when the review makes it seem as if you are only to eat chicken breasts. The book also references Inuit indians that get hardly any carbs and get most of their vitamins and minerals strictly from organ meats.

His stance in the book on adding sodium is false in that the “paleo-man” didn’t have access to it (he did depending on which group you pick to study- see my above comments on jumping the shark) but he is right on the money with not adding salt to most foods. The average accidental intake with our American diet cannot possibly end in a salt deficiency as she claims, what she wants the typical person to supplement his sodium intake? Please.

So this review sucks. She has a couple of good points (Canola oil, etc) but tries way to hard to be witty and sinks the entire book in an attempt to be clever.

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The only principle I try to subscribe to is eating the Raw Foodist lifestyle (eating food in its native state as much as possible)
So in essence this is a diet full of raw seeds, nuts, fruits, veggies, lean pasture fed meats, raw dairy (milk, eggs, etc…)and fermented products (yogurt, kefir, kombucha tea). It works for me which is the bottom line for me anyways.

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A decent book, I don’t like the word diet because often people hear the word diet and think Jenny Craig. This is just a way to eat, all the time.

The Paleo Diet for Athletes is a lot of the same info with a few modifications for more active people.

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[quote]Backlash79 wrote:
A decent book, I don’t like the word diet because often people hear the word diet and think Jenny Craig. This is just a way to eat, all the time.

The Paleo Diet for Athletes is a lot of the same info with a few modifications for more active people.
[/quote]

Didn’t even know there was such a thing…what’s the difference? Just obvious calorie increases for active people or does he get into what to eat when?

Just curious.