Primal Diet / Paleo Nutrition

[kittenpants]

Okay, so I thought the primal diet thing was a little kooky. I didn't know much about it, and it seemed like a bland, boring, limited diet (ooh, look, ignorance!).

Then adammaker started posting about it. And anything adammaker is looking at is definitely worth a second look.

So I read the stuff at Kurt G. Harris' blog (thanks to adammaker for the link). It was

Comments

[thegreencall]

My partner and I have been doing the modified paleo diet (I eat nuts and kept dairy). I feel a lot better and have experienced slow overall weightloss. However, I have been adding muscle mass so the scale isn't the best measure.

I still "cheat" every now and then. At the same time, I've started to avoid some carbs because I don't like how I feel when eating a lot of carbs. As a person who likes his baked goods, this a big change and not one motivated by guilt or "what I should eat" - just a natural consquence of liking how a feel. And it doesn't feel like a diet as much as a "lifestyle change" to me, which is also good. I'm a fan!

[zylch]

Hrm. I picked up the book, on the similar theory that if two people with as much medical/science background as Adammaker and Royal_Spice were reading it, it couldn't be all hooey.

On the one hand, I don't have the necessary background to judge the medical science. On the other hand, I find myself looking at his archaeology and anthropology (since I'm reading it concurrently with Evolution of the Human Diet: The Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable (Oxford)) and wanting to yell "You can't know that! The evidence validates but does not prove that hypothesis!" And it's not like he's quoting the leading lights of anthro. Eg Jared Diamond is a popular author who raises very good questions and proposes some ideas that definitely merit further research/validation. But there are such better sources out there on hominin and hominid diets, not to mention early agriculture and horticulture. Using Diamond is just silly

[kittenpants]

Do you mean Mark Sisson's book? The Primal Blueprint?

I haven't read it. Reading his blog sometimes makes me raise an eyebrow.

[zylch]

Yes, the Primal Blueprint book. I seem to have momentarily misplaced it, but I'm sure it's around here somewhere. Meantime, I'm perfectly happy reading an analysis of Olduwan FLK Zinj zooarchaeological assemblages and the arguments for and against hominin butchery, differential scavenging and transport, exploitation of marrow-rich epiphyses, and whether the acquisition of meat was acting as a selective force in context.

(On the one hand, I admit that I said this in part because I wanted to feel smart after a rough day. On the other hand, it ain't braggin' if it's true, and sometimes I raise *both* eyebrows at his blog. "My dog goes for the marrow first!" Yes, and there are loads of peer-reviewed studies of carnivore consumption patterns that I'm going to trust over anecdotal evidence, particularly since I think their study conditions of wild carnivores probably more closely mimics the paleo environment than does your tame dog eating an uncontested meal in safety.)

[womanofsalt]

fantastic! I have been pouring over this very idea with another friend of mine (along with other whole foods concepts) and we've decided to launch this weekend. Please post recipes!

[demonspawnmom]

Where do you get ghee in Nebraska?

[kittenpants]

It's pretty easy to make at home. Just heat the butter until the solids settle out.

[stregalunae]

agrnmn and I have been trying to figure out some sort of diet-thing... perhaps I can work out a semi-modified version of this so that the pickier of the kids will eat too... hmmm... from a ovo-lacto-veggie to this?? How loud am I allowed to laugh? I have wondered about wheat for a while though, and with all my inflammation issues it could make sense (especially his arguments for auto-immune and diabetes - both of which are in my immediate family and I've had brushes with one...)