paleo (stone age) diet?

[billwagnon]

Last week the doctor put me on blood pressure medicine and after 4 pills I was under 120/80.

He said my weight was just calories - and told me to keep a log of everything I eat and bring it in when I go back next week.

He suggested a DASH diet, then I started looking at the paleo deal of eating what my body is genetically designed for (basically pre-agrarian food and eating habits).

Is anyone here using this? The websites about it are persuasive but I'm looking for the whole story.

http://www.earth360.com/diet_paleodiet_balzer.html

For millions of years, humans and their relatives have eaten meat, fish, fowl and the leaves, roots and fruits of many plants. One big obstacle to getting more calories from the environment is the fact that many plants are inedible. Grains, beans and potatoes are full of energy but all are inedible in the raw state as they contain many toxins. There is no doubt about that- please don’t try to eat them raw, they can make you very sick.

[masraum]

I think the key is more about getting rid of all of the heavily processed crap and crap that never goes bad and crap that's frozen and heated to eat.

fortunately, with the advent of fire, you don't have to eat potato's and beans raw.

[Jims5543]

Eat whole food, shop around the outside of the grocery store for the majority of the food you will eat.

Prepare all your own food and count your calories eating 5 small well balanced meals a day and your overall health will improve.

[Tobra]

Along with diet, drink more water, you will be better hydrated and eat less.

Exercise, better in AM, will raise metabolism for the day. You will sleep better too. Don't short yourself on sleep, it is important to your health.

[HardDrive]

Perhaps logging everything you eat is meaningful. Seem like just a big exercise is shame if you ask me. You probably already know you eat to much, so whats the ****** point?

Tobra's advice is good.

I've lost 15 pounds in the past year.

1) Prepare your own food. Be involved with what you are eating. It doesn't have to be a big deal. More work? Sure. But you also will end up eating much better (and I would argue tastier) food.

2) IGNORE advice that tells you not to snack. This is the one of the worst pieces of dietary advice ever invented. Avoiding snacks causes you blood sugar to crash after a while. You go into your next meal with you body starving for calories, and you eat way more. You gorge yourself.

Does that mean you can snack on crap? No, of course not. Eat dry roasted peanuts, or corn chips with some salsa. Your blood sugar won't crash, and the salt will make you drink more water.

3) If your health permits it, add some caffeine to you diet. Don't do anything that effects your sleep. But there is no question that caffeine reduces appetite. Green/Black tea, coffee.

4) Cut down on alcohol, eliminate non diet softdrinks. Sports drinks have calories as well. A small bottle of Gator Aid has 130 calories. Just because you happen to be exercising when you drink the stuff does no mean the calories don't add up!

I hope it helps.

[tabs]

MD told me to lose weight in April of 07....I lost 50 pounds in 5 months. I have maintained this weight since September of 07, with a loss of a coupla pounds more. The only excercise I get is walking to and from the Buffet Line..

How did I do it...on a Buffet Diet....or that is what I like to call it anyway. I do indulge in a Buffet about once every week and a half on average. and I do pack it in....

The main secret is to CUT THE CARBS to under 100 grams a day. Not as hard as you think it is...

That means NO rice, pasta, bread, cereal, SUGAR or potatoes.... I have substituted LOW CARB Bread and Tortillias for Breads... I watch the amount of Beans...

SUGAR IS A KILLER... Splenda is your ally...

I CHECK THE LABEL on everything I eat so that I can see what it costs me to eat.

I have been using 1% Milk, Low Fat Mayo (Best Foods), Reduced CAl Sour Cream for ages now anyway...

I eat all the Veggies, Salad, Meat, Fish, Cheese and Eggs that I want.

Also raw nuts...Almonds are great for a snack, or a piece of cheese...

I do not watch the FAT content....I went from 215 Cholesteral to 133 in a years time.

This HAS WORKED FOR ME.. It is YOUR LIFE we are talking about here...so either you do it or.....

[TheMentat]

Originally Posted by masraum

I think the key is more about getting rid of all of the heavily processed crap and crap that never goes bad and crap that's frozen and heated to eat.

fortunately, with the advent of fire, you don't have to eat potato's and beans raw.

Right on! I don't think you need to go all the way back to the paleolithic era to find good food... 60 or so years ought to do it!

[tabs]

I have not watched the Calories at all...just the Carbs...

Tobra is right drink H20 to keep hydrated....

[craigster59]

Someone once told me that everything you need to eat to stay healthy can be found on the perimeter aisles of the store, everything else on the inside aisles is processed cr*p.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by craigster59

Someone once told me that everything you need to eat to stay healthy can be found on the perimeter aisles of the store, everything else on the inside aisles is processed cr*p.

WHAT THE FK>>>>>

The perimeter is where they put all the cr@p....

I am amazed at the absolute ***** that they pass off as food in the grocery stores...it is all designed to kill ya...

You have to look at the labels very carefully...to see what the Sugar and/or Carb content is in those packages you consume. You will be surprised....

CARBS are OK if your running a Marathon or in the Tour De France....then you need Carbs for their slow burn...sustained burn characteristics...but if your more or less normal then Carbs in the long run are very destructive.

I do suscribe to the Cave Man...Hunt Gatherer diet....Nuts, Berrys, Meat, Fish, Fowl Leafy Veggies...

Civilized diet is one where cultivated argiculture is introduced into the diet...Breads, Grains, refined Sugars. Those go against mans genetics...

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by billwagnon

Last week the doctor put me on blood pressure medicine and after 4 pills I was under 120/80.

He said my weight was just calories - and told me to keep a log of everything I eat and bring it in when I go back next week.

He suggested a DASH diet, then I started looking at the paleo deal of eating what my body is genetically designed for (basically pre-agrarian food and eating habits).

Is anyone here using this? The websites about it are persuasive but I'm looking for the whole story.

http://www.earth360.com/diet_paleodiet_balzer.html

If you go on this diet, I assume you will also hunt and gather it yourself, and eat it all raw. And hey, living past 30 is so over rated...

Go for it!

[cashflyer]

It's been around since the 1st century, and mechanization made it more available (as a luxury) around the 16th century. Around the 18th century, it was becoming affordable to the masses. In the 19th and 20th century, it started to show up in everything.

IMO, availability of refined sugar is one of the leading causes of weight problems and diabetes in Americans.

[Porsche_monkey]

Originally Posted by billwagnon

He said my weight was just calories...

As opposed to???

[Tobra]

You should eliminate ALL soft drinks, not just the diet ones. That schit is freakin' poison

[Seric]

Can I do this and still drink beer? I can go without pizza and burgers, but man...

[billwagnon]

As opposed to???

as opposed to being caused by sleep apnea, high blood pressure, metabolic changes etc.

The general idea is that the human body was designed to survive for a million years on a very wide variety of foods, but only in the last 10,000 with agriculture we have added A LOT of grain and other previously non-edible foods and our genes have not caught up to that. No one proposed hunting it yourself but I think I always fall into the "gotta have 3 meals or STARVE!" idea, and perhaps my body wasn't designed for that constant a stream of food.

There is also the idea of Evolutionary Fitness - workouts which mimic what the proto-humans did would have the most benefit (such as lots of walking, and outrageous bursts of energy).

http://www.arthurdevany.com/2005/09/twins.html

It sounds like Tabs is doing the caveman thing and it is working.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by Seric

Can I do this and still drink beer? I can go without pizza and burgers, but man...

BECKS LIGHT BABY...3.9 Grams of Carb per beer...

[tabs]

Time for a Buffet second one this week plus a hugh Prime Rib with Huge.

[masraum]

2 things, we eat too much crap

and we eat too much

[Rick Lee]

I need to lose some weight. It's starting to bother me. Now that I work from home, I also make lunch and breakfast every day, which has started saving me around $50 a week. But because I'm never far from my computer now, I tend to be in even more of hurry than when I went out to lunch in DC every day. I always eat Kraft or Velveeta shells or mac and cheese. Breakfast during the week is always Grape Nuts with 2% milke and a spoonful of sugar. I think I'm gonna switch to egg beater omelettes for lunch now and try Sweet-n-Low on my cereal.