Thinking about quitting paleo - PaleoHacks.com

Thinking about quitting paleo

2012-07-24T18:32:06Z

I can honestly say that I don't feel any better than I did before, I have been about 6 weeks no grains, legumes dairy, eating plenty of fats and proteins with moderate veggies. I felt good before and I feel good now. The only difference has been a decent amount of leaning out. I went from about 6'1 - 187 8-9%bf to 182ish 7-8%. All of my lifts have also gone up THE SAME AS THEY WOULD on SAD diet..

I still ate quite healthy according to SAD before. Didn't drink pop, no candy, no white anything.

Everybody else here says they feel so much better now but I don't notice a difference.. any thoughts??

Answer by RaiseFitness for Thinking about quitting paleo

2012-07-24T18:36:16Z

First off, if you already ate fairly healthy before, you are much less likely to feel an immediate difference. Some benefits takes years to notice. But given that you leaned out some in 6 weeks has to count for something. Were you "leaning out" on SAD before going paleo? Also, were your lifts going up at the same rate before? What were you looking for as a benefit, if you feel good, look leaner, and are stronger?

Answer by Matt for Thinking about quitting paleo

2012-07-24T18:37:01Z

A huge part of feeling better on paleo is gut health. If you have a healthy gut to start, there's going to be relatively little improvement in your short-term overall well-being. Allergies/sensitivies also fit this, naturally if you don't have allergies or sensitivities, then you're not going to see the drastic improvement that others do.

It's a healthy diet overall, perhaps too restrictive if you're healthy (congrats on that!) Put down the paleo koolaid and eat some neolithic foods once in a while, you'll be fine.

Answer by ben61820 for Thinking about quitting paleo

2012-07-24T18:54:51Z

You're starting at a good place. I was similar. I never felt any better than before. I came from a WAP background with no issues. If you're good and healthy I'd say eat anything. I think the true sign of good health is having the metabolism to eat anything and thrive, like humans across the globe have done for thousands of years.

Answer by David Moss for Thinking about quitting paleo

2012-07-24T19:19:52Z

I don't feel any different on paleo as opposed to non-paleo. The only dietary difference for me comes from going low carb. Actually, tbf, my digestion is a bit better than when I was eating gallons of wheat germ, wheat bran and flax seed (this was most of my diet for a while), but nothing too radical. That said I'm young and active and I expect the benefits/harms of diet to be long term, for the most part.

That said, I think being paleo is a no-brainer. Whole animal foods and vegetables are good. You can go high starch or high fat as you like. Not eating lots of fructose, vegetable oil, PUFA, gluten grains seems uncontroversially positive. Obviously there may be ambiguity about how commendable it would be for you to include/exclude borderline foods like whole dairy and legumes, but we already knew that anyway.

Answer by john_e_turner_ii for Thinking about quitting paleo

2012-07-24T19:27:07Z

You cannot quit. No one quits Paleo. The only way out of Paleo is in a body bag. Be careful what you post in here. They are watching you. Whatever you do, do not go back to SAD or CW diet. They will find out, and then they will find you....

Answer by Michael for Thinking about quitting paleo

2012-07-24T19:32:59Z

If you get that autoimmune condition (or mystery rash, or GIRD, or obesity or whatever) in twenty years, you can switch to paleo then. Paleo helps these things, but often the damage is not entirely reversible and you'll have to be very compliant to remain in decent health. At that point you may find yourself wishing you had been paleo -- maybe not 100%, but pretty compliant. You have to make the decision for yourself, but I can say I wish that I had been lucky enough to know about paleo twenty years ago.

Answer by VB for Thinking about quitting paleo

2012-07-24T19:41:32Z

You don't have to eat Paleo - you can quit it any time. Nobody is forcing you. Some people have to eat Paleo for health reasons. You obviously don't. Lucky you.

However, if you ever get sick or anything, you can always resort to Paleo or at least Weston Price.

Answer by Amy B. for Thinking about quitting paleo

2012-07-24T19:52:13Z

I agree with the people who've already said it's no sweat. The way you were eating before was so far ahead of most that switching to Paleo wasn't that big a shock to your system, so you didn't get that "WOW" kind of change some people experience when--for the first time in their lives--they're eating healthfully.

That being said, it's kinda too late now, but it might have been beneficial to get some blood work done before and after, to see if maybe there were positive changes you couldn't see in the mirror or even feel inside. (People who have a heart attack at 50 years old don't realize the stage was set for it 30 years earlier when they were downing Big Gulps and Hot Pockets at 20 years old, and "felt fine.")

You could still do it -- get blood work done now, then reintroduce whatever foods you miss, and get tested again in 2 months. (But again, since your diet was pretty good anyway, your #s might not change that much. Only a suggestion, because it would be a way to get objective information.)

Answer by Cheryl for Thinking about quitting paleo

2012-07-25T01:01:38Z

I hate a very "healthy SAD" diet before becoming Paleo. I thought I was so healthy and my blood work was fine. My allergies and chemical sensitivities got worse and worse - chalk it up to what I now know is leaky gut. Paleo heals that. If you don't have it, good for you! There's no reason to eat strict Paleo if you can tolerate not eating that way. My husband can eat whatever he likes (he never suffered from leaky gut or any allergies, etc. - very, very healthy) but he sticks with strict Paleo (plus full fat dairy) because he noticed that his energy level and athletic performance jumped up when he started Paleo. That's enough reason for many people to do it. But good for you if you don't have to. Lucky! :)

Answer by Rob for Thinking about quitting paleo

2012-07-25T01:35:58Z

I actually felt pretty crap for the first 1-2 months, I mark this down to my body adjusting to the new macronutrient ratios,probably a bit of detoxification and my own adjustment of the diet until I found what felt best. After that initial period I started to feel alright, it wasn't anything mind blowing, but I had a little better energy levels, I dropped off a bit of unwanted weight and wasn't getting as hungry as often. I call all that pretty significant, even if the actual feeling of being healthy was subtle.

Now I find my body can manage a little bit of abuse here and there. I dont care if I eat a slive of bread once in a while, have two scoops of ice cream with a fat glob of chocolate topping for desert at a dinner party, it's a one off thing.

So if you are finding paleo a difficult lifestyle, why not make your own hybrid diet. You now have better knowledge of what is good for you. So go ahead and eat grains and processed foods occasionally, just as you probably ate a guilty piece of bacon occasionally when you were eating a 'healthy SAD diet'. You don't need to give up on paleo completely.

Answer by Julie for Thinking about quitting paleo

2012-07-25T04:14:17Z

How old are you? Heck, I could eat anything when I was in my twenties and thirties and didn't think anything was a problem. I felt fine. Now, in my fifties I am paying for all those years of not trying to be optimum and it is hard. If you live clean now, you may move gracefully and healthfully into your later years. I wish I had...

Answer by James for Thinking about quitting paleo

2012-07-26T10:55:40Z

Robb wolf, mark sisson and Art de vany are all going to show up front door and administer you with 25 simultaneous backslide lashings with a pair of vibhram 5 fingers. Try not to sweat it or take it personal, it's just the standard protocol for all who abandon paleo.

Answer by The Quilt for Thinking about quitting paleo

2012-07-26T12:57:23Z

Durward have strong resolve. Not everyone gets better with the modern version of the paleo template. It takes courage to say what you have said.

Read this: It may begin to explain to you why Paleo is just not enough from some of us.

http://jackkruse.com/brain-gut-5-paradigm-drifts-paradigm-shifts-epi-paleo/

Answer by meta for Thinking about quitting paleo

2012-07-26T14:24:21Z

By the sounds of it you were on a reasonable diet before (avoiding white stuff, soft drinks and candy) and you are also active.

It may be that your

genotype,

epigenotype,

enterotype (gut bacteria)

protects you from the effects that long term Western diet consumption has on the metabolism of most people.

I should point out I've met people with amazing metabolisms that appear completely unaffected by ad libitum consumption of all sorts of junk. However, this is becoming very rare these days.

You've not mentioned your age and this plays a significant role.

In any case, consider that by practicing paleo or a paleo style diet you're making your evidently already good health even better - and that's a good thing for the long term.

From a scientific perspective - should you decide to go back on your pre-paleo diet - it would be interesting to get your perspective once you've been on that diet for 6 weeks also.