I’m not sold. I’m doing research. So far Zone seems to fit me best. I did find this link though…check it out and see what you think.
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Workout of the Day
Mile run, etc.
Hang Squat Snatch: 53-58(2)-58-63(1)
Mile Run: 7:35 (last time running a mile, we did 3 with 2 min rest between trials. 8:55 / 9:22 / 8:51)
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Food of the Day
1/7/10
2 Eggs
1/2 Grapefruit
Almonds (15?)
Coffee1 oz cheese
Lara Bar2 Fish Tacos (corn tortillas, cabbage)
Little bit of chips /beans4 strawberries
Chicken Breast & cucumber salad
1 oz cheese
Soy Wasabi dressing1 So Delicious Sandwich (addicted!)
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14 Comments
Martha,
I will say this: until today, I have also been a zone advocate and paleo skeptic. I also never really bought into the whole gluten-free thing. After today though, I am more than willing to admit that I might have been dead wrong and that a paleo/gluten-free approach may have more benefits as far as health, body comp, and performance for many more people than I previously thought…
ps…
as far as your link, beans are neither a good source of protein nor are they a very source of nutrients. they are however, a great source for antinutrients
I was also a Paleo skeptic but the more research I do the more I like it and I’ve actually been giving it a go for the past couple weeks and my body loves it. So I broke down and bought the book and just started reading it last night. Now with that being said I don’t think any one diet is perfect or right for everyone and in the end you have to find what works for you and what makes you happy
So, for a lazy non-cook…you guys think it is do-able? I just can’t see myself tracking down all the odd ingredients that seem to be required. Maybe it’s time to get non-lazy?
CJ…I would love to hear all about it. And, beans are least of my diet issues. I rarely eat them.
I’ve been curious about the Paleo diet for a few months. The biggest disagreement I have with it is the quality of meats permitted, i.e., pork, shellfish, and other dirty creatures. But it seems like most diets ignore this too. Overall it’s much better than SAD tho. From what I’ve gathered grains and beans aren’t as horrible as people make them out to be when they are prepared correctly. But who has time for all the soaking and sprouting even if it does make them more digestible and nutritious. I also think dairy is very good for you…when it’s raw.
Especially raw fermented dairy like kefir!!! I know yum. Some people just are not comfortable with raw dairy or like me it’s too much $$$$. I once bought raw colostrum….no joke. It tasted like puke. Seriously.
I personally think the Paleo diet would be the easiest for those who like simple and don’t like to cook. I mean the cavemen didn’t have cupboards full of spices or fancy ingredients. At least you don’t have to go out and kill it! You could totally do it!
Jenn…What is SAD?
I have a hard time believe my ancestors ate lean beef when they ate beef. Maybe I’ll try for a month mostly dirty water with potatoes and for a treat a little cabbage and bread. And a one week fast to simulate winter.
Seriously though, I’m a quarter of the way through In Defense of Food and it seems pretty sensible. I’d be curious to hear the health and fitness fanatics thoughts on it. I’ll let you have it in a couple weeks if you would like.
Standard American Diet
Not that I know much about any of these dietary theories (and paleo is certainly not tempting me to learn more), but I wouldn’t find it too hard to believe that beef was “historically” leaner, depending on what you mean by “history”, “ancestors”, etc.
My initial impression (based on the “no dairy” thing) was the target was pre-history era, non-farmed cows, where people are coming out of their caves and chasing and killing animals that happen to be roaming by.
It wouldn’t surprise me too much if a herd of cows living on their own means consumed a lot less food than the ones we raise (and feed) in farms today for the purpose of producing meat. Seems like that would tend to make them more “lean” than what we have now, but I’m certainly no cow expert.
My assumption was that in ages past when just subsisting required a lot of muscle-labor and the needed calories to perform that labor were scarce that energy rich fat from animals would be very valuable. Nowadays we avoid fat and have animals that are engineered to be as lean as they can get them but I bet back then they would be very happy to eat all the fat they could get.
Anyway, I was thinking in terms of hundreds and thousands of years not tens of thousands. Now I see this is is like the feast-of-the-noble-savage diet. That sets off my hippie phobia since my understanding of pre-civilized life is more consistent with what Hobbes claimed. That it was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” I’d guess they didn’t eat all the well either. I could be wrong.
I do get the evolutionary biology reasoning behind this diet but that also brings up some concerns which I confirmed as valid by perusing the wikipedia entry. The concern is there seems to be a non-trivial amount of disagreement over what palaeolithic humans ate. Which makes sense to me since it was a long long time ago and evidence is probably pretty spotty and mostly less than conclusive. I also would expect that after hundreds of generations of agrarianism, mankind would have adapted just as the palaeolithics adapted to theirs.
I’m just guessing but to a seriously lesser extent so are the experts with their conflicting opinions. My healthy eating opinions are currently under formation so they are not that strong. That is, relative to some of my other opinions like how McDonald’s is way better than Carl’s and Wendy’s. However, I personally would not put any extra effort sticking to this diet or let it prevent me from eating food I enjoy. That is unless I could get empirically verifiable health and fitness benefits then I might do it and in the end when I’m 103 years old I can blame my cancer or heart disease on it.
My fraud detector shows medium.
I burnt over 50 calories typing this comment.
I might have some religious objections as well but I’d have to think about that.
Most accomplish nothing because they over think and over analyze everything.
Paleo=Meats, Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts, and Seeds.
It ain’t rocket science.
Good Grief…that’s a genetic trait of many of my family members.
The over analysis part.
Discussing the details or various aspects of the paleo diet is well within the scope of the topic of this post (“So, you want to eat Paleo?”) as well as Martha’s suggestion to “check it out and see what you think.”
The purpose of blog comments is to respond to the subject raised in the post. All the comments so far have been appropriate to that topic.
No one is suggesting it’s “rocket science” or that the plain description of the diet (as portrayed by the linked page) is confusing.
The question being discussed is whether it makes sense or not to commit to the diet, considering its significant drawbacks, and the primary issue is the truth (or lack thereof) behind the theories or principles that the diet is based on.
It’s extremely restrictive, and would therefore be very difficult for most people to stick to (much less be happy with) for any extended period of time, so any potential upside should have to be very good to make it a compelling option.
Are there lots of healthy people who practice this diet? I don’t know, but I’d give the benefit of doubt that there are. The problem is there are lots of healthy people who practice other more widely balanced (and more appealing, easier to stick to) diets as well, so the fundamental question as to whether the benefits overwhelm the drawbacks remains.
I don’t think anyone should go off in a mad rush to “accomplish something” and just embrace the first thing that’s suggested to them because they don’t want to “over think” or “over analyze” it. Hopefully no one here actually considers that a great way to approach health and fitness decisions.
OK, upon further reflection, I realize that response may have been a bit strong.
To temper it, I’ll admit that it since I (and probably Nate, but I can only speak for myself) was never honestly considering trying the paleo diet, it could be considered a bit disingenuous of me to jump into a conversation discussing its merits.
It’s also a good point that no amount of debating any diet will actually accomplish the goals of a diet, so words without action (eventually) are pretty empty.
In the end, I still basically feel the same way about the paleo diet, but I probably could have said it better.
In summary, like Nate said, the foundations strike me as a bit flimsy, but even if they didn’t, I don’t think I could seriously consider doing it (or recommending it to others), since it seems too difficult to do for a long period of time, and its overall healthfulness may be questionable.