Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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So what's a person to eat these days? Cause the more we "learn" about food, the more one realizes that all foods are trying to kill you.

Meat has lots of iron which is toxic to men and post-menopausal females
Certain meats and seafoods are high in gout-causing purines
Grains are loaded with allergenic proteins and various anti-nutrients
Nightshades aggravate auto-immune issues
Fruits are low in anti-nutrients and allergens, but contain the toxin fructose
According to Ray Peat, even vegetables are trying to kill us!
Dairy raises levels of cancer promoting IGF-1
Loren Cordain assure us that even taters have toxins best avoided
Fish is listed as one of the most allergenic foods and contains lectins

Should one simply live on omega-3 eggs and coconut oil?

Does anyone find that the more they learn about diet, the more orthorexic they become?

flag	asked Mar 11 2012 at 13:06 Mystery Man X 1,065●2●9

2

Welcome to my world. – ROB Mar 11 2012 at 16:52

1

Also eggs have avidin, and coconut oil is high in myristic acid.:) – ROB Mar 11 2012 at 16:55

Sean Abbott · Answer 1 · 2012-03-11 15:12:41Z UTC

I think it's important to keep in mind that orthorexia is a pop-psychology term, like workaholism, it's not an actually medical condition. Should one avoid being a workaholic? Yes, of course. Are there times when working very hard is important, yes. These things have to be taken in context. If one gets too obsessed with food then they might need to take a step back and put things into perspective. Don't miss the forest for the trees.

There is an optimum amount of stress that makes one healthy, known as hormesis. Exercise is classic hormesis. It is catabolic, causing damage that is repaired by the body, making it stronger. But too much of it is also bad (overtraining). Since we've been ingesting anti-toxins for millions of years we are probably optimized for a certain hormetic level of them so don't sweat trying to avoid them altogether, they actually can make you healthier. The important thing is to avoid the nasty ones like gluten, the ones we haven't had much time to adapt to.

Karen · Answer 2 · 2012-03-11 13:57:30Z UTC

Yes, we are all going to DIE. (eventually)

On avoiding orthorexia (seriously over amateur diagnosed IMO by those who are dislike a particular way of eating)

“Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” Voltaire

And a bit more: Eat a wide variety of evolutionarily appropriate food, avoid those that cause you as an individual difficulty and read up on hormesis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormesis

Bread-Eating Beelzebub · Answer 3 · 2012-03-11 15:18:22Z UTC

I hear the mortality rate for the paleo diet is 100%. Also, that omega-3 can be quite toxic (Ray Peat says that). Maybe you should try breatharianism?

Of course food is trying to kill you. If it didn't there would be no food chain, no evolution. We would not exist. I feel like there is way too much focus in the paleo community on just running away from problems by avoiding food, rather than building up our body's ample defense and detoxification systems, which have been honed to resilience for millions of years before being brought low by modern crap foods.

David Rourke · Answer 4 · 2012-03-11 15:08:01Z UTC

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Humans evolved to eat food and manage its toxicity. Staying within an evolutionary paradigm of eating allows us to consume high nutrient, low toxicity foods without having bad things happen.

answered Mar 11 2012 at 15:08

David Rourke
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Matt · Answer 5 · 2012-03-11 23:03:37Z UTC

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Personally I find that the more I learn about diet the more I realise that focusing on individual components of food, either beneficial or harmful, leads to all kinds of confusion.

The following foods all contain potentially problematic compounds, at least for some people. They all also contain essential nutrients and can be part of a healthy diet.

Meats
Grains
Nightshades
Fruits
Vegetables
Dairy
Potatoes
Fish
Eggs
Coconut oil

All foods are a trade-off between benefit and harm. The more you eat of any one single food the more likely it will cause problems.

For example if you live only on sweet potatoes then you may find serious problems. If they form a part of an overall mixed diet problems are very unlikely.

answered Mar 11 2012 at 23:03

Matt
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	How do you explain the Kitavans, who eat a lot of sweet potato? I just don't get the variety concept...is it really necessary? People have thrived on very limited foods with very little problems. – ROB Mar 11 2012 at 23:27
	Not trying to be confrontational...although it kind of reads like that :) – ROB Mar 11 2012 at 23:27
	"More likey" not "will cause" problems :) The Kitavans eat quite a variety of foods with their root vegetables including yam, sweet potato, taro and cassava. – Matt Mar 11 2012 at 23:31
	A few groups in Papua New Guinea did depend very largely on sweet potatoes and suffered from a very nasty disease because of it. – Matt Mar 11 2012 at 23:33
	I listened to an NPR segment on longevity this AM. It was mentioned that US lifetime has increased by about 40 years in the last century. Most of this is from the usual suspects: reduced infant mortality, better sanitation, etc. The big orthorexia concerns listed above don't figure in. To move significantly beyond where we are now some promising routes are eating a rationed low calorie diet or unlocking the genetics of Japanese women and supercentenarians. So eat your bacon and be happy. – thhq Mar 11 2012 at 23:48

Suz - Paleo Oz · Answer 6 · 2012-03-11 14:03:31Z UTC

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There's always fasting!

answered Mar 11 2012 at 14:03

Suz - Paleo Oz
4,716●2●6●26

Poisson · Answer 7 · 2012-03-11 15:31:24Z UTC

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You are underestimating the protective power of foods. Yes, red meat has iron but if you take it with milk or coffee, the iron is absorbed less.

As to things like fructose, yes there are apparent problems but also advantages at moderate dose (eg., some level of uric acid is good).

answered Mar 11 2012 at 15:31

Poisson
285●2●7

	Agree to a certain extent. Tannins in tea also help one to not absorb too much iron from red meat, as long as it is drunk WITH the meal. I have a doctor for a PT clients who is the director of medical for the local blood bank. He tells me that MANY folks have excessively high iron levels. But most young females have LOW iron. – Mystery Man X Mar 11 2012 at 19:11
	Ray Peat, whom you cited, argued low iron is not bad as we believe. So for the case of iron, I'm not sure but you might even want to use tannings/coffee/calcium etc every time you eat read meat. – Poisson Mar 11 2012 at 20:27

thhq · Answer 8 · 2012-03-11 21:11:55Z UTC

This is not an issue if you give up reading diet books for cookbooks. And trade in that orthorexia for some good orthotics while you're at it.

Orthorexia might extend your life by 15 seconds, but life is not as enjoyable if you carry a voluntary mental illness. Getting some exercise could add 15 years and dissipate your brain fog.

Must go. Elwood Dowd and Harvey are out for a walk.

dee · Answer 9 · 2012-03-11 22:38:07Z UTC

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your post made me think of this. it cracks me up every time. just to add a little levity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Re6pZri8Gw

answered Mar 11 2012 at 22:38

dee
59●2

Morrigan · Answer 10 · 2013-01-08 14:19:54Z UTC

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I've reached the conclusion that carrots are the only safe food that there is, even low-carbers and Ray Peat approves of it!

answered Jan 8 at 14:19

Morrigan
137●3

	Too much beta-carotene turns yr skin orange! D: – Pecan Jan 8 at 16:06
	lol...paleohacks.com/questions/117340/… – Caveboy Jan 8 at 16:59
	B*lls, I knew there was something with carrots to, I change to white rice, very few people seem to have problems with this food – Morrigan Jan 29 at 19:10

Pecan · Answer 11 · 2013-01-08 16:42:13Z UTC

As long as we are living and breathing, we’re constantly being bombarded with toxins. Is life therefore a toxic agent of disease? It's not humanly possible to have a 100% perfect diet. We just have to accept that most everything we eat, much like, everything we do, isn’t perfect but some choices are better than others. Health is a gradient, not a binary :)

I took some great advice from this raw food vlogger, esp 2:40 onwards and 4:00 onwards: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oetYU0y8rA

Are All Foods Toxic Agents of Disease, Mayhem and Death?

11 Answers