ExRx.net

Well it seems like everywhere you turn there are contrary ideas, studies, and info regarding the Paleo lifestyle. One of the biggest confusing aspects of it is the pretty extensive list of "unhealthy" or "non-paleo" foods. I have read that grains are bad for you because of gluten, lectin, and phytates. A website i was reading up on in regards to paleo said that gluten causes gut inflamation because of gliadin triggering an immune response in our bodies to release antigliadin. This makes the antigliadin "fight" the gliadin and any time there is an immune response, there is inflimmation. Next i read from the same website, "Lectins are other toxins present in all grains that cause their load of problems. First, they damage the gut lining and a damaged gut lining is an inflamed gut lining that will have difficulty absorbing nutrients. This also leads the way to colon cancer. Lectins also causes leptin resistance, which means that your hunger signal is suppressed and that you’ll be hungry even when your body has had more than enough calories.." And finally phytates bind to a lot of the nutrients in grains and makes them less bio-available, so your body just ends up passing them. Paleo sounds science backed at first glance, but is it really unhealthy to eat grains, dairy, beans, and legumes? That seams very counter-intuitave.

HealthyJay,

I am a fan of paleo, but some of the sciency sounding stuff is really untested theories. Of course these theories are based on real world observations but just understand that a lot of this is unproven. There are no incentives to undertake the necessary testing since there is no profit in it. It may be some time before all the truth is confirmed.

However, there is enough anecdotal evidence for me that I use this as the way to eat myself. I know my health improves eating this way and I have seen the health improve of many other people.

I have also seen some recommendations revised or reversed. It is a work in progress and we are collectively refining it.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

are you talking about the 100% paleo diet or the newer paleo diets, which include something like brown rice and milk foods? i think the basic paleo diet is not good, cause it excludes so many good protein sources.

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"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali

There is no uniformity to paleo. Everyone has there own view of what is good or not. For example, brown rice. I don't know of any that include brown rice since the bran includes gut binding lectins. However some allow white rice since it's a relatively innocuous starch. People that are insulin resistant may want to avoid it due to the high GI. Dairy is usually excluded although in populations that are not generally lactose intolerant, like Europeans, full fat dairy is sometimes allowed.

Paleo generally includes a lot of protein so excluding some marginal sources is typically not a concern.

By the way, I recognize that your way of eating is different and you have issues with animal based foods. I respect that and I'm not trying to debate my way vs your way.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

i think i remembered wikipedia wrong on the rice and milk thing, it's not included in any paleo diet. i just wouldn't exclude milk products from my diet unless i would be a vegan. what are the biggest issues with milk products?

i'm by the way a carnivore, so i don't have issues with eating animals.

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"his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see" - muhammad ali

Sorry, I was probably thinking of someone else.

There are a few problems with milk:

Most problematic is lactose. Many people including many Asians and Africans, are lactose intolerant since they lack the lactase enzyme. It's fairly easy to find lactose free milk as a result, so that's easy to get around.

Some people are sensitive to casein, the main protein in milk and cheese. This is harder to get around but it probably affects fewer people. The risk is that people are affected without knowing about it. Allergies are easily recognized but non allergic reactions can theoretically include obesity due to addiction to opiates contained in the protein, and can react with brain chemistry.

There is some speculation that some breeds of cattle produce a mutated casein that may cause disease in humans including heart disease. Most North American breeds would be included.

There are issues with milk quality due to farming practices involving hormones and antibiotics in the milk. This problem appears to be worse in the US.

There is debate over the negative effects of pasteurization, and to a lesser extent, homogenization. That's why you see raw milk being argued for.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

Thanks TimD,

I am starting to realize just how varied the paleo lifestyle can be. It really depends on each person's digestive makeup. I guess the only real way to see if cutting dairy and / or gluten would have any positive effects is to cut one at a time out of my diet completely and see if i notice any difference. I am a baker by trade and love bread! So it all depends on if the benefits for me personally would outweigh the harms. Thanks everybody!

That was Stuward you were replying to. The words "Thanks TimD" in his signature are a tribute to a member of this forum who died about a year ago. If he were still around, you would benefit from his ability to reduce problems to their essence. He'd probably weigh in on this. I'm not sure what he'd say, but it be interesting and helpful.

And, I should warn you. There are people on this forum, this very forum, who think that baking is somehow unmanly. Watch out for them. They are sly and slimy.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Haha thanks Jungledoc,

Wish i could have talked to TimD, he sounds like an awesome guy filled with knowledge.

And as for the anti-bakers, All it takes is to shake the hand of a baker to see just how strong they are... Working with breads makes you have the kind of "crush a man's head with your bare hands" kinda arm and hand strength. Haha and if you are a single baker (not married like i happily am), girls LOVE a guy who can bake and cook. Who is better than someone who can make sweet stuff anytime they feel like it! Haha

NOW tell me bakers are unmanly... :) (and being a rugby player doesn't hurt anything either)

oh dear, you must be horribly conflicted.

There's an example right there.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Yea there will always be haters and jealousy... I'll let Oscar decide for himself which one he is :)

How he'll be horribly conflicted.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan