Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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Yeah, yeah, I know that paleolithic fruits were, in general, less sweet, and about the dangers of excessive fructose, etc.

So, I eat a healthy paleo diet, and am not deficient in any vitamins or anything. I eat a ton of varied veggies and usually three pieces of fruit a week or so. I normally do not have/have never kind if issue with ED, binge eating, emotional eating, etc. But tonight (and about once every other month, so not very frequently) I will have a bite of fruit and some kind of animalistic urge comes out full force, and I just know it will be a 'fruit day.' I trust my cravings/hunger signals and this happens so rarely that I usually just give in and alliw myself to indulge guilt-free. (I am a healthy weight, no metabolic disorders or other health concerns. Usually around 40-60 g carbs a day.)

Today I had no desire to eat meat (very abnormal for me) or veggies (also abnormal), but I did have three bananas, a cup of blackberries, some blueberries, an apple, and a pear. The only other food I ate was coffee/cream and a cup of goat milk kefir with the blackberries.

When this happens to me, I generally feel fine afterword and I never have weird cravings or anything the next day.

Does this happen to anyone else? Do you (non-bingers) ever have an unplanned, unexplained, animalistic fruit-day?

Is it just the instinct of a cave lady stumbling into a fruit grove and indulging fully, or what?I

flag	asked May 9 2012 at 2:45 MissBrenna 575●1●9

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"Is it just the instinct of a cave lady stumbling into a fruit grove and indulging fully, or what?" That's exactly what I was thinking, lol. Every time I buy a carton of blackberries and end up eating the whole thing in one sitting, I just think to myself, "Well, I guess I stumbled upon a big blackberry patch today." Definitely covers that "gathering" part of it. :) – sabretoothandclaw May 9 2012 at 4:36

I'm not a big fruit eater, but I had a delicious orange the other day and have been craving fruit ever since! Had berries, 1/2 banana and half orange for breakfast today. Also, my mom has told me before that when she was growing up in Germany, it was common to do an "all-fruit day" once a week. – Jules K May 9 2012 at 14:30

Sunny Beaches · Answer 1 · 2012-05-09 03:25:03Z UTC

I think it's important to differentiate a "binge" and "overindulgence". I think it's find to have random overindulgence of fruits every once in a while. Your body likes randomness.

How did you feel during this time period? I associate my "binges" with a lot of emotional turmoil, uncontrollable eating to the point of physical pain, no hunger signals driving it, and a lot of anxiety because it's a large amount. I think it's a problem anytime that a "binge" happens. How long did it take you to eat that fruit? Did you eat it throughout the day, or did you eat all of that in the span, of say, an hour? I think knowing how you eat, and not just what you eat is important.

On the other hand, eating more fruit than normal if it's in season...I don't see a problem with that. If you ate the fruit without feeling like you were absent-minded, I think it's nothing to be too concerned about. Maybe you just needed the carbs and your body was trying to tell you that. A lot of people here do carb cycling or eat in season so I think that this kind of behavior can fit into a paleo lifestyle just fine.

Kasra · Answer 2 · 2012-05-09 04:35:50Z UTC

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I believe we have evolved to binge on oreos every now and then.

answered May 9 2012 at 4:35

Kasra
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JRAC · Answer 3 · 2012-05-09 08:35:14Z UTC

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Paleolithic fruit was just as sweet as modern tropical fruits; don't fall for the apple fallacy.

answered May 9 2012 at 8:35

JRAC
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rawfoodsos.com/2011/05/31/wild-and-ancient-fruit – Violet May 9 2012 at 9:03

Hey, thanks for the link. I am constantly reading the argument on here that modern fruits are just modified bags of sugar from anti-fruit-ists... So I do feel a little better now! Interesting, anyway. – MissBrenna May 9 2012 at 15:06

:plans trip to Africa: – MissBrenna May 9 2012 at 15:12

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Take me with you. :-) – JRAC May 9 2012 at 17:28

Kelly B · Answer 4 · 2012-05-09 14:39:58Z UTC

I think we did evolve to binge on fruit when available (late summer, when trying to fatten up in advance of the lean times). The unfortunate first-world issue with modern life is, it's ALWAYS available. If you eat seasonally, more or less, I think this would be a pretty natural pattern.

foreveryoung · Answer 5 · 2012-05-09 03:10:37Z UTC

Not a binge eater and have no history of it.
I cycle my carbs, and about once a month on a re-feed day I'll just eat fruit. It's really satisfying and energizing, and I don't have any rebound effects from all the sugar the next day. I would imagine if I at that many carbs from cake or cookies or some other junk food I would feel horrible, but not at all when I eat fruit.

So, it is slightly different than your fruit days because I kind of schedule mine into my macros. However, I don't think a high fruit diet is harmful. An only fruit and veg diet probably is, but I think a high fruit diet supplemented with some animal protein and a fair amount of leafy greens is actually probably close to ideal. DurrianRider could probably take over the world if he cut his fruit consumption down by 1/3, and replaced the remainder with vegetables, animal proteins, and nuts.

DanielleO812 · Answer 6 · 2012-05-09 14:21:26Z UTC

Definitely. Lately I have been binging on smoothies with WAY TOO MANY frozen bananas and frozen strawberries + almond butter + water + coconut. I just can't stop pouring the stuff in there and when it's all blended up, it's enough to serve 4 people.

And I eat all of it.

And then I feel sick.

And then I do it again next week.

Can't stop.... thinking I may need an intervention with this stuff. (It's the inner SAD sugar addict in me trying to come out in a "paleo" fashion.) No bueno, friends.

Did we evolve to binge on fruit every now and then?

6 Answers