Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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Whats the threshold for PUFA? I keep seeing percentages (3-6%) of calories per day, but has anybody calculated it down to grams per day? That seems way easier to keep track of.

flag	asked Mar 14 2012 at 7:18 Murph 510●2●9

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Grams of PUFA = Calories per day * 3-6% / 9. For example, 2500 calories at 6% PUFA is 16 grams. – Matt Mar 14 2012 at 12:41

Eric · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-14 07:48:21Z UTC

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In the Perfect Health Diet Omega 6 is calculated to 2 grams as the safe range. I shoot for 3 grams of each per day from whole food sources.

answered Mar 14 2012 at 7:48

Eric
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2 grams of n-6 a day seems really hard to do. That's like three eggs and you're done eating for the day. I went and calculated it out myself (2500 kcal) and in order to reach that 3% range I'd have to eat less than 8 grams a day. That's doable I guess. Doesn't leave much room for avocado, olive-oil, pork-belly, any kind of nut or seed, etc. – Murph Mar 14 2012 at 10:11

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Seems excessively low to me, but then I don't buy into the PHD. – Matt Mar 14 2012 at 12:41

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Restricting that much is probably unnecessary. 9 grams = 89 calories from omega 6 = 3.5% on a 2500 calorie diet. I try to average under 9 grams. – Jay Mar 14 2012 at 14:01

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2 grams would mean you can't eat fish...Unless you're peatarian thats pretty low... – Korion Mar 14 2012 at 14:30

Jan · Answer 2 · 2012-03-14 13:24:27Z UTC

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I made fish my staple meat and stopped worrying about omega 6s. Its what my anchestors ate nearly everyday, so i figured why should i do any less :)

answered Mar 14 2012 at 13:24

Jan
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Only extra omega 6s i consume come from avocados or brazil nuts. So i guess i am pretty safe there. – Jan Mar 14 2012 at 18:32

Mazer · Answer 3 · 2012-03-14 12:06:22Z UTC

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I honestly just don't worry about it too much. Eat a wide variety of fats, and if you're truly worried, get your inflammation levels tested (CRP, etc).

answered Mar 14 2012 at 12:06

Mazer
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You and most people don't worry about it too much. That does not mean it is not worth worrying about. – Jay Mar 14 2012 at 13:56

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I certainly try to keep PUFAs in an overall balance, but calculating grams and percentages is a little too fiddly for me. – Mazer Mar 14 2012 at 14:46

Matt · Answer 4 · 2012-03-14 12:48:27Z UTC

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If you're cutting highly-refined seed oils from your diet, you'd be hard-pressed to overdo PUFAs, in my opinion. If you're worried about the 3-6% mark, think of it this way: you'd have to eat 50% of your calories as lard or avocados (both approximately 10% PUFA by calories) to hit 5%. You're also not consuming damaged PUFAs on a paleo diet since most of our PUFAs aren't damaged in whole food form and many come along with natural antioxidants that provide some level of protection.

Paleolithic folks were eating more than grass-fed beef with minimal PUFAs, that's for sure.

answered Mar 14 2012 at 12:48

Matt
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Wrong; it's very easy to go over the 3/4% of calories if you are not very careful. – Jay Mar 14 2012 at 13:57

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If you choose an artificially low number, sure you can easily out eat that. 3% of a 2500 calorie diet is 6 tbsp of lard, 3.33 whole avocados, 27 slices of bacon, 9 ounces of salmon. I'm unconvinced that higher PUFA consumption (whole foods, unrefined) has negative health consequences. Move that ceiling to 6% and you're getting further and further from realistically reaching it with paleo foods. – Matt Mar 14 2012 at 15:03

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By my own numbers, if I eat pasture raised eggs, butter, ruminant meat, and wild caught salmon with some vegetable/fruit/rice/potato filler, I am at 3-4% PUFA. Add in anything else (poultry, pork, fish oil supplements, nuts, any restaurant meal, etc) and you are over that mark. I don't worry about being in the 4-5% range vs. 3-4%, but it is quite easy go past the target range. – BaleoNub Mar 14 2012 at 16:32

Also, from what I've seen, the better ratio of omegas you have, but more PUFA you can fit in without issue. (Somebody posted a convoluted graph to this effect a while back.) – Matt Mar 14 2012 at 18:28

How many grams of PUFA per day?

4 Answers