The primal and paleo diet? ...lifestyle?

[UnrepentantLiberal]

My basic premise is this: The Primal Blueprint is a set of simple instructions (the blueprint) that allows you to control how your genes express themselves in order to build the strongest, leanest, healthiest body possible, taking clues from evolutionary biology (that’s the primal part).

Sometimes we get so lost in the science of human biology we just can’t see the forest for the trees. We overlook the simplicity and ease with which we could all be achieving exceptional health and fitness.

Living in modern society is extremely complex. With daily mind-boggling achievements made in science, technology and medicine, and with an ever-expanding knowledge base that increasingly grows more esoteric and niche, it is no wonder that we often look for complicated scientific solutions to problems that really only require simple answers. One of the best examples is the huge – and expensive – race to identify all the new possible genetic variances (or SNPs) within the human genome that might predispose some of us to certain health conditions. Hardly a week goes by without a new announcement of the discovery of a so-called “defective” gene that increases someone or some group’s risk of being obese, of getting cancer, of developing type 2 diabetes or arthritis. The net effect of all these announcements and the sensationalized news headlines is that many of us have become accustomed to blaming our health conditions on our unlucky inheritance of these “defective” genes. As if it weren’t enough to abdicate responsibility here, we then cross our fingers and close our eyes and hope that the scientists can create pharmaceutical “answers” to our particular condition before it’s too late. In most cases a few lifestyle adjustments are all that are needed to address all but the most serious of these genetic variations. Yes, I agree that some serious genetic diseases exist which are best treated with modern, truly life-saving drugs, but for the vast majority of the minor genetic variations that exist throughout the human genome, the real deciding factor as to whether or not a particular gene will be expressed in a particular manner, if at all, comes down to what you eat, how you move, what kind of air you breathe, what you think –in other words your environment. Big Pharma (CW) doesn’t want us to believe that most of our ills can be so easily solved, and so billions of dollars are being spent to unlock the so-called secrets of the genome. Meanwhile, the real secrets – and solutions – are contained within the DNA of every single one of our cells.

The essence of the Primal Blueprint is this: Most of life is really much simpler than modern medicine and science would like to have you believe. You can have a tremendous impact on how your genes express themselves, simply by providing your cells the right environments. All you need is a basic understanding of how your body works and a simple philosophical roadmap you can use to find answers to just about any questions of health and fitness – whether it involves personal choices or lifestyle adjustments or whether medical intervention might be appropriate. With this simple strategy, you will forever be able to examine or evaluate any food choice, any form of exercise or any other behavior in the context of how it impacts your genes! Even if you decide to opt for a “bad choice”, at least you’ll know why it’s bad…

You may already have a pretty fair understanding of how the human genome evolved to exactly where it is today (or 10,000 years ago, to be more precise) based on the environmental and behavioral factors under which our ancestors lived through natural selection. Tens of thousands of anthropologists, evolutionary biologists, paleontologists, geneticists and others have worked for over 100 years to piece together a fairly detailed picture of all the elements that helped influence our development as a species. Ironically though, when we examine all of the many environmental influences and behaviors that shaped our genome, we arrive at a very simple list of general things our early ancestors did to become what and who they were and which allowed them to pass 99.9% of those genes down to us. In essence, this list is the original “Primal Blueprint” since it provided the only set of behaviors they knew –the exact behaviors that enabled then to shape their bodies into healthy, robust, happy beings.

More: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-primal-blueprint/

[geckosfeet]

1. Errr. Yea.

Where's my cheetos.


on edit: Run really fast every once in a while.

Read more: Run really fast once in a while, move around a lot at a slow pace, play and get lots of sleep. Sounds like my dogs typical day.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

2. I heard of this from a post on another website.

It sounds very goofy.

[geckosfeet]

3. Heh heh. I am a goof sometimes.

Not really a cheeto hound though. But I do meat as often as possible. Not big on insects though.

[Flipper999]

31. It's not goofy, really. I've been following Mark's site on and off for over a year now.

When I stick to eating paleo, I lose body fat pretty easily without a corresponding loss of muscle mass.

People often react the way you did when I mention my diet to them. I've learned not to share my information unless a coworker asks me point blank why I never really gain much weight (aside from the holidays). Even then, they mostly whimper when they learn that I avoid bread.

[unrepentant progress]

4. What a load of bullshit

[Dash87]

40. lol yup

[Gregorian]

5. I ran into marksdailyapple when starting my diet refinement.

It's much easier to eat properly than it seems. But it's a world of difference in how one feels. I'm still stuck in the milk and salt problem. I'm slowly weening off the majority of salt, but coffee without milk is tough.

What boggles my mind is how well people survive on diets of pepsi and chips. It's astonishing. But then they aren't utilizing their cardiovascular system. The minute they try it would be obvious how unfit they are. I'm speaking for myself now. I'm going into a next phase of physical fitness. It is tough. And without this diet there is no possible way to achieve it.

I'm intent on being the most fit 60 year old on the planet.

[cui bono]

19. Have you tried almond milk?

I've been working on getting off sugar. I got a raw brownie recipe that's fantastic and has changed my life. It satisfies my chocolate need and has no dairy or sugar. Just dates, almonds, oats and cacao.

[Gregorian]

21. No. Now I've got another good thing to try. I've just gotten into bee pollen.

It seems that of all the myriad of supplements I'm using haven't made noticeable differences. But bee pollen seems to be doing something very obvious to my body. I even had slight headaches the first week. It's like it's curing me of something.

Thanks for the info.

[JustAnotherGen]

28. Amen

Re: chips and Pepsi. Paleo is basically the starch free method that many auto immune disease folks myself included - follow.

I think microwave antibiotic steroid laden eaters are crazy "fad" eaters. But that's just me. Then they turn around and whine about being overweight, sick, and the cost of their 20 prescriptions.

Check out PaleoOMG - she's on FB and has her on blog. Her recipes are amazing.

[Gregorian]

37. Excellent. Recipes, not bombs. For a better and more fun world.

[Flipper999]

32. Even Mark (from the site) uses some creamer in his coffee, and he's pretty ripped!

I don't think a little milk will hurt you unless you have lactose intolerance.

[Gregorian]

38. Moderation. By the way, I have the same build as Mark. And I'm almost 60.

It's a long slow hard effort. But I'm doing it.

There is no good way to froth espresso with anything but milk.

[Freethinker65]

6. been paleo for a little over one month

It was suggested by an MD to deal with some autoimmune and fatigue problems. I feel great and have lost weight as a bonus.

[Humanist_Activist]

7. OK, this is stupid...

you can't control how genes express themselves, only able to control how drastic it affects your life. Also, most of these genetic predispositions we are aware of because most people now live past the age of 45.

[bluedigger]

8. I have mastered #5, and endeavor to follow 8 & 9 religiously.

The rest, not so much.

[localroger]

9. The main thing is low-carb

We really eat a lot more carbohydrates than our ancestors did before the invention of farming, and even those of us whose ancestors have been farming the longest aren't very well adapted to it. I went low-carb in 2006 when my mother was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and I got suspicious about my own poor health. The glucose meter said I was spiking after meals, and the literature said every minute your sugar is over 140 is chronically toxic. So I stopped eating anything that did that -- which basically meant I stopped eating starch and sugar, pretty much full stop.

I'm not paleo though, and now that my situation has stabilized I go off plan for the occasional dessert. As long as it's "occasional," which is how our ancestors experienced carbohydrates. There are some other good ideas in the paleo plan but some of it is also woo. It's better than a lot of alternatives though if you find it's what inspires you.

[MattBaggins]

10. The golden age that never was argument?

Should we start eating roadkill since our earliest ancestors most likely were scavengers?

How paleo do we go?
How long did these guys live?

[Honeycombe8]

11. They say eating close to the earth (plants) is the way to be healthy.

Any society that eats a lot of animal meat ends up with illnesses that the plant eating groups don't have.

Talk about simple...eating close to the earth.

I eat poultry and fish, so I don't follow that. Wish I could. Maybe one day.

As for salt and sugar, I've found that hte less I have of it, the less I want or need it.

I have no intention of giving up dairy, though. Humans have been consuming dairy for eons, with no ill effects, when in a diet mainly of plants.

[Flipper999]

33. Even the Dalai Lama doesn't eat a vegetarian diet, so I wouldn't feel bad about eating some meat.

Try to keep the poultry free range and the fish wild caught. The Omega 3 ratios in those meats are better than in factory farmed meat and fish.

You can be healthy on a vegetarian or vegan diet, but it's more challenging. You'll have to take B vitamin supplements (and possibly some other supps as well) to stay healthy.

Capitalistic factory farmed food and over consumption of carbohydrates is the reason why so many people in first world nations suffer from "diseases of affluence". Avoiding both will go a long way towards cleaning up your diet.

[Honeycombe8]

39. Read the book "The Blue Zone" and you'll see what I mean.

The groups in teh world that live the longest and healthiest are non-meat eaters. They also do and don't do other things. But when looking at something in common that all the long-lived groups do...it's that they eat no meat at all, or very rarely (like a couple of times of year for a festival).

It's also environmentally unfriendly to eat meat. It takes a lot of earth's resources to produce one pound of meat. Not to mention the cruelty, of course.

When a fish eats something, it contains bad things. Then when something eats the fish, that higher animal ingests double bad things. Then when something eats the animal that ate the fish, they get triple the bad things. Something like that.

I don't live that way, but it makes sense and is founded on observation and studies of long-lived healthy groups of people. There is only one blue zone group in the U.S. It is the Seventh Day Adventists in California somewhere. They believe the body is a temple of God...don't smoke, they exercise, they're vegetarian. They live longer than anyone else in the country. As a group. I'm sure there are exceptions.

[marlakay]

12. Saw this on Dr Oz today

and I could tell he wasn't even into it.

They even tell you to cheat 3 times a week, I think its because they know how hard it would be to eat such few things and no grains at all even healthy ones, no dairy even yogurt.

I stick by my diet which is lean meat and fish, homemade spelt bread only 1 piece at breakfast, greek yogurt, veges, fruit, one glass of wine not everyday, cook with olive oil, let me see eat nuts for snack and once in awhile have choc as a treat, dark organic.

Mostly stay away from processed crap, that's the answer.

[cui bono]

20. I stopped cooking with olive oil when I read that it has a low burn temperature

and once it gets too hot it supposedly is carcinogenic. I now cook with coconut oil. I still use olive oil on cooked veggies and with lemon juice as a salad dressing though.

[marlakay]

30. I heard that but since my new stainless pans

Cook on low seems to be ok. Costco has this great mixture of olive oil, grape seed oil and canola oil my husband uses. I tried coconut oil and didn't like the taste.

[TheCruces]

22. Dr. Oz is a product pushing sham.

As for diet, I think people should eat what makes them feel best.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

13. Thanks SO much for posting this...very interesting. nt

[nobodyspecial]

14. It's bullshit

Guess what the life expectancy of early man was? Part of the reason that he didn't see so many diseases is because he was dead before they had a chance to set it. Different tribes all lived differently in different parts of the world, so there is not only one way to do it.

Also, our food is so different than the food available at that time that there is no way you can replicate it. It also is extremely expensive and most people can't afford it, especially with the amount of organic, free range meat you need to consume.

I think most Americans eat like crap, but clean eating goes a long, long way to fix most of the issues that come from consuming overprocessed frankenfood.

[Ruby the Liberal]

15. My Doc switched me to a modified form of this a few months ago

and I feel like I am 20 again (I am in my 40s)

I am not full Paleo/Primal as I still eat dairy, starch & sugar, (daily), but pulling grains out of my diet has been an amazing transformation. There is a connection between GMO grains and auto immune (Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, fibro, chrons, MS, etc)

Mock at will, but I can attest to an amazing transformation from pain, fatigue, joint pain and bloating to how I felt half a lifetime ago as an untreated/undiagnosed auto-immune.

Not for everyone. YMMV.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

23. i believe these diets work for some people, however i don't buy the science

behind paleo (like, not all paleos had the same diet)

does that make sense?

[Ruby the Liberal]

25. Yep

Why I don't follow it as written. Its a hit or miss for everyone. If I listened to them, I'd never eat cheese again.

[longship]

16. The Longship healthy diet.

Eat food! Food is the best thing of all to eat. And get some fucking variety: meat, fish, beans and other forms of protein; veggies, mix them up, lots of variety; pasta, rice, potatoes, and other starches; just make sure that's there is room for your just desserts. (Myself, sometimes when I am hungry I eat just dessert. Yummy. )

There are no perfect diets except for possibly a diverse one.

This paleo-diet is woo-woo rubbish.

Oh! And if you are overweight, fad diets don't work. You'll need to reduce calories and exercise more, and you'll have to make that a permanent change in your life. That's a simple equation that all the fad, woo woo diets won't tell you. It's the only one that really works. It's a lifestyle change, not a diet.

It really is simple.

Paleo-diet! Bah!!

[Zorra]

17. Works for me.

But the only critters I eat are fish occasionally. No bugs. yuk.

[FirstLight]

18. hmmmmm....

sounds a lot like the south beach diet, minus the dairy. I dunno...I have done macrobiotic, partially vegetarian (could never give up butter or milk) and I have felt better for a while, but eventually the basic diet I grew up with overrides.. I WANT my food pyramid, cereals and grains included.

Well, I guess my grandparents were the most correct about this whole diet thing...moderation, movement and entertainment...not too hard, right? And my grandpa lived to be 99, and had been known to have a nip or a cigar from time to time. If I am a product of my genes, then I am golden...my family lives till 90-100 on both sides, regardless of the other factors. I may deal with my own health issues, but I am finding my own path to what works best for MY lifestyle and chemistry.

... and I do believe I'll have another beer now

[DeSwiss]

24. Seen this site?

- I've read a little there, and the veggie recipes look good! That's all I know....

http://paleodietlifestyle.com/

K&R

on edit: {Don't eat red meat}

[RebelOne]

34. I do not eat any meat except for seafood,

and the seafood recipes look great. Especially the scallops with garlic and butter. Am gonna pick up some scallops on next shopping trip. And since I am mostly vegetarian, the veggie recipes seem very good.

[LiberalElite]

26. I'm sticking with Weight Watchers eom

[mrsadm]

27. Thank you for posting an advertisement for this book.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

29. Is that what you think I was doing?

[former9thward]

35. I have been on this 'diet' for a couple decades.

Never any weight gain and I don't miss any of the processed foods I used to eat. Of course it helps to go for a run most days also.

[War Horse]

36. The paleo diet ain't that bad

A diet based on fish, grass-fed pasture meats, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts etc. is a lot better than what most people eat on a daily basis whichever way you look at it . Not crazy about the article, but points 1-10 do make sense.

The paleo diet is often linked to a certain "cult" named crossfit, though, so I guess there's that to consider

Kind of sad that all reasonable, or even semi-reasonable eating habits have to be packaged and sold as some sort of TM-ish diet, though. But I guess people need to have something very definite to follow, rather than just read up on the subject. So there will always be a market for any pre-packaged stuff.

[a la izquierda]

43. Not all crossfitters

eat Paleo. I don't. I am a vegetarian. Many trainers won't work with vegetarians. Meh.

Two of my girlfriends are dietitians. Both believe paleo is bunk.

[datasuspect]

41. i try not to eat any foods that have more than one ingredient.

[Dash87]

42. Yuck... Fad diets.

I just count calories. It's easy to do and works.