People have gone far enough to say that Low-carb diets, over long periods of time are nothing but detrimental to health. With that statement I can agree!

I think this is an unfortunate turn of the wheel full circle. Every-one can agree that carbs are fine for many people and that more carbs may be optimal for some people, especially those who are physically active. This has never really been in dispute, but it's good for paleo to be non-dogmatic and recognise that in some contexts humans can flourish eating higher carb levels. Nevertheless, one of the other signal contributions of paleo has been to show that you can eat high fat, lower carb diets safely (and that this might actually be useful, most especially for people seeking to lose weight). Your quote reverses the first insight of paleo and is, as a person who's been eating low carb for years, I think inaccurate. Paleo ought to undogmatically grant both things, leaving a lot of room for context and individual variation (while still making useful generalisations like: try cutting carbs for weight loss, try adding carbs if you feel tired and/or are working out).

I think there has been a switch from "Paleo to lose weight" to "Paleo for optimal health." In the "lose weight" categories, you see the lower carb, no fruit, lots of fat side of thing. But, in the "optimal health" side, you see that if everything is healthy, then there is no reason to restrict carbs to lower than normal levels.

It also recognizes that "weight" isnt really a good marker, but that lots of other factors, like gut health, food toxins, and lifestyle factors, make a difference in the health of individuals.

But, as there is no one "Paleo" diet, I dont see this as a trend in either direction.

No one ever said you couldn't eat fruit on paleo

Well, eating high carb paleo won't hurt healthy athlete as you put it. Maybe even eating SAD wouldn't hurt healthy athlete short/med term.

When I switched to paleo without restricting carbs I gained 10 kilograms in 3 months. Fruits made me ravenously hungry. I have never been a "healthy athlete" to begin with. People with metabolic syndrome can't have high or even medium carb paleo.

I switched to low-carb and started to lose weight.

If you recommend paleo diet for people with deranged insulin levels "go ahead and add some carbs" is a lousy advice.

I think theres an intersting theme coming out - metabolisms harmed by years of sad, dont often dont do well unless you have less carbs.

If you used to be a sweet tooth, maybe your liver has been overloaded with fructose, then fruit might be a no-no for awhile (still try and get your vit c of course!). And it may not work for many to simply add in some sweet potatoes unless they are already fit and active, due to slow metabolisms and insulin resistance.

I think paleo has definately come to embrance medium carbs as being potentially healthy, but Id suggest merely that this is for people who have already done their rebalancing, or where not too effected by SAD lifestyles. So it still remains individual.

So yes, some starch is paleo, yes definately fruit is most paleo (and nutrient dense), but no, they are not nessasarily, or always healthy to those coming off the damages of CW diets.

Nor is there any evidence that low carb is damaging. Why would it be, we survived the ice age right? No mass still births like when they introduced wheat in egypt at least! (There are some known, mostly minor risks, with a long term "ketogenic diet" but IMO very few low carb folks eat less than 50 grams a day long term. I avoid starch like the plague and I still never get below 50)

These I disagree with:

"Lower your fat intake to see how you perform."

This seems a bit weird to me. What exactly do you mean?

"Let loose and have a cheat day. Go out with your friends and enjoy a nice beer and some junk food."

People can eat whatever foods they like, but if its an exception, its an exception, its not the rule.

Personally, I like to think I can have fun without beer, and enjoy whole foods.

I enjoy simple tasty food (made my first stew tonight, yum!), and looking out into nature, and going for a walk. Its not painful, I love it!

If I go to a party, I WILL dance, without alcohol. I will yell into the night without alcohol or drugs. Jump around like a gorilla if given tacit social permission. I am just waiting to break the social rules ;)

For me, the drinking, drugs, junk food and sitting around all day was the painful lifestyle. It was a combination of fleeting bliss and terrible lack. It was like being in love for a minute, and pining for a day and thus being in a state of near perpetual dissatisfaction and discomfort.

I guess thats the ex-druggie, ex-drinker, ex-junk food hedonist in me talking tho...

Not wanting to end on a negative note, let me say this: This lifestyle has given me new hope, new optimism, new joy. I am not following a diet, I am following the human blueprint :)

(Okay, yes a little ranty, lol)

If it is headed in the direction that gluten free starches (rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes) and whole fruits are better had than not had, then yes, I love direction it is headed.

It is not a no sugar diet, its a low sugar diet. Just don't go out of your way to eat it. Eat fruit if you want...but it aint the fruit we evolved eating. If you can eat starch and your blood sugar and insulin and leptin remain low...you are blessed. For most here...we are trying to regain health after years of SAD or worse. Primal and Paleo focus on fat and moderate protein with low carb is the only way I know how to keep insulin/leptin/mTor low. If you have a better system...please blog it up. What Paleo and Primal does not teach us...how to have a healthy, youthful and long POST reproductive life. For that...we have no footsteps to follow. We are human guinea pigs....ahhh...guinea pigs...I wonder what that tastes like?

I believe the mind set has changed so far that people accept that there is no single track Paleo and that you need to tweak it and make it your own based on your goals.

If you want to lean out and are starting to get fit, yes sticking to low carb is an approach. If you want to gain muscle mass and strength upping the fat, protein and carbs makes sense. And if you are all inflamed and suffer from an auto immune disease cutting out eggs, dairy and again being low carb is a plan.

I agree with Chris Kresser who said that Paleo is more of a template which means that deviation is good as long as it works for you. If you can handle rice and kefir, and you are feeling good in your body, I'd say go for it. Some people I know have cheat meals while being Paleo. Genetically I am not that lucky and a stricter Paleo approach works better for me. That does not mean though that I have the moral Paleo high ground. There is a Paleo approach for everyone.

Imo "fat adapted" is a joke, something that Sisson made up for marketing purposes.

I think the whole high-carb message is a pendulum swing a little too far in the other direction. I hope to see another swing back toward the middle.

Actually, I tend to think the last two years or so are the fad. Ketogenic diets work pretty well for a variety of populations, and a paleo diet is certainly low carb, at least in relation to the SAD. I've personally tried to up my carbs since I dropped all the weight- I didn't gain any weight back, but I often made myself feel bad and now I know I've got some blood sugar issues. I feel stupid for listening to the pro-carb bloggers. In the end, my carb reload was indistinguishable from a carb binge. Peter is blogging again too. My fear is he just goes right over people's heads, especially when gets sarcastic.

From a scientific standpoint, the two approaches are complementary and in the bulk of cases, it only makes sense to use all the tools at your disposal- and that includes even calorie counting. Even if you aren't interested in losing weight, well, there is always glycation. It seems a good idea to minimize that sort of thing. The amount of carbs you can get away with varies, but the fact that it is better to eat less of them than the average American isn't in question.

Great question! I came into Paleo during this transition and saw a fair amount of the fallout, but I am anything but a traditionalist and really only care about my health. If new information comes to the fore that makes sense I will embrace it.

Fruit is a big part of my diet, and I never understood those that excluded fruit for health reasons. I personally used fruit to get over my massive sugar addiction (like eating a whole box of chocolate covered Twinkies or a plastic jar of cake frosting in one sitting). I try to always add fat to my fruit to limit my intake though, like 13% yogurt or coconut oil.

I think as long as your body fat does not trend in an upward direction have at 'er!

I think paleo risks de-differentiating (loss if specialisation) into insignificance if it does not establish certain principles, a manifesto or vision.

Clearly, it is neither useful nor possible to emulate everything a paleolithic ancestor experienced, however, neither is it effective to resort to supplementation that has little clinical evidence for benefit.

For example, at which point should whole foods and activities be supplemented? A set of guidelines would be helpful.

It's not so much that Paleo is changing it's people adapting and doing what works best for their body and lifestyle. Whether your eating little to none or a lot of fruit its whole, natural, and straight from nature which is the whole point.

It's positive, It shows you that this 'fad diet' has legs! You don't see the cabbage soup dieters having heated and emotional debates about the direction that their movement is headed in.

"If you recommend Paleo to people with deranged insulin levels telling them to go ahead and add some carbs is bad advice." ....... Hmmmmmm, lets see. Not necessarily. If paleo ing in order to get insulin sensitivity and blood sugar under control it is perfectly reasonable that after a period of time, to reintroduce carbs (simple carbs like rice/potato) as the body will handle it completely differently.

I honestly can't imagine caring that much. I know that high fat and lower carb levels are what work for me, so that's how I need to eat. But let others eat more starches and fruit if they want. I don't think that's a "change" in paleo. I think that is variation. To each his own.

When carbs are stored in a safe place like muscles, you're body is fine... It only starts going down hill when sugar is stored as fat...

Hmm. Seems I asked a question very similar to that and it was deleted by our Orwellian mods. Yes, it's good to see paleo evolve. The low carbers tried their best to co-opt it - and they're still trying - but thankfully things are moving in the other direction. AHS12 is another story... But yeah, good question. Just watch out for the PH Thought Police.

I feel like shit in high fat, moderat protein low carb. Like UTTER CRAP. Im always angry, and my energy level could be a lot better. I also take longer to recuperate after workouts -unless im imagining it!- I introduce some carbs and wala, I feel like a 100 bucks. I feel better at higher carb moderate fat and protein. Real food, different macro distribution. No wheat -gives me headaches from hell-.