Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

5

So I went to Walmart today and saw this book sitting on the shelf. I initially burst out laughing but then picked up the book out of curiosity/my habit of checking out every diet book to criticize or see what else I could be doing.

Anywho, the author (who sounds and likely is some hollywood schmuck) proposes that you can "lose 20 pounds of fat" in six weeks by:

realizing it's okay to skip breakfast (therefore IF)
eat generally low carb (apparently below 120 g - a la Mark Sisson - BUT he says the only the amount of carbs matters, not the sources)
taking frequent cold baths (a la tim ferris slow carb diet)
light movement on an empty stomach/more movement in general (agreed)
don't eat a lot of fruit (some mumbojumbo about fructose and hunger spikes, but I think it all goes back to that low carb stuff)
eat whole foods, not smoothies and juices (yes!!)
eat MEALS not SNACKS (i think he recommends three meals a day)

So then I went on the internet and wanted to see what people were saying about it. Obviously, people were calling this horrific and anorexia-causing and claiming that it targets young women (which I think it does, but besides the point). However, I think that the author makes some valid points because I have seen some of this "advice" on MDA and even here, on paleohacks. I also incorporate some of these ideas into my daily lifestyle and have seen the benefits (more movement, occasional fasted training, occasional IF, more low carb, hunger after smoothies and fruit, eating meals etc). I do think calories in/out matters for weightloss, but who says some of these suggestions can't be part of a healthy lifestyle!? I could say their ignorance kind of bothers me, but I think that makes me sound arrogant and cultish... sigh.

I'm putting this out there to get your opinions! What do you guys think, valid points or straight up garbage (the word "diet" in these sense of "dieting" still bothers me, so I think that any book that proposes that is rubbish... I like to think of "healthy eating lifestyle that will get you to your optimal health)? Is it surprising to have this reaction from people?

flag	asked Sep 9 at 3:55 J.Po 85●6

raydawg · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-09 12:05:52Z UTC

That "mumbojumbo" about fructose is actually spot on - see Lustig's work (if you're talking about modern sources of the stuff and not what's in fruit). The sources of the carbs do matter as we know.

The rest of it seems like someone found one of the various flavors of VLC books and saw an opportunity to penetrate into a market, but got some of the points wrong, (or gave in to their editor.) Sounds like taking the science and turn it into Bro-Science... or the equivalent version for teenage girls. Did the author even say why those specific recommendations were made?

This doesn't bother me, when someone sees an opportunity, they'll take it. The day I see garbage foods with a "Paleo" label on them in the supermarket, the way we now see stamps of approval by the American (something something) Association or "Heart Healthy", then I'll be bothered.

Found the book on Amazon, the author is "Venice A. Fulton", a dude from London, and it lets you read a few pages of the intro. Starts with the usual this book is wicked cool because they tried to ban it even before it was out, your doctor doesn't want you to find out about it, so look how cool it is because they tried to ban it therefore it's baaad, oooooh... so you know it's cool, etc... :)

Not being able to read far beyond that, I think, on second thought that the author probably is aware of Paleo and Tim Ferris and just repackaged such that it would fit his target audience - the title certainly would attract that market segment.

Here's some fluff about it: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/dietandfitness/9359803/The-OMG-diet-as-silly-as-it-sounds.html - the author of this article expected some California teenager (what with all they valley gurl speak), but instead found a 30 year old Brit. So certainly fits in with the idea that he summarized what to do on a Paleo diet and aimed it at the teen market.

Here's another fluff piece on it, this one written by its author, and note the scare tactic in the title (your friends have already read it, so you're behind the curve!): http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/venice-fulton/the-book-your-skinny-friends-have-read_b_1662079.html

His twitter feed is a fucking eye sore, it's got the book's cover as the background and almost made me barf. www.twitter.com/veniceafulton so careful when you go there. Luckily, AdBlock+ came to the rescue and I blocked that image. On there I found these alarming turds:

"Soya milk is fine, although some sweetened types use fructose, and apple sugar, to make them better tasting. In that case... " so yeah, absolutely bad advice.

and this one:

@Monster_Mel @ClareFMoran Girls, for the record, I'm a vegetarian, and that's even tougher! To list what I eat would be impossible, and...

and:

Hi Blackie. Teeth brushing is fine! If you want speed, use a fluoride rinse in the morning. Strengthens tooth enamel & it's fast.

So, nope, it's not paleo, it's still conventional wisdom, maybe it's low carb, but if that's the best we can say about it, it's still pretty lame.

Janet NZ · Answer 2 · 2012-09-09 04:54:24Z UTC

2

Write a 'diet' book... make some money...

answered Sep 9 at 4:54

Janet NZ
21●1

Yup, that's the plan it seems. $$$$ – raydawg Sep 9 at 12:06

Savage Paleo · Answer 3 · 2012-09-09 05:15:35Z UTC

Weight lose is still the biggest motivation for people to "go on a diet". I would say the majority of people still don't understand that they are on a diet no matter what. The question is if it is a healthy one or not.

Sounds like this book has some decent advice on how to lose weight if that is your goal (low carb, enter ketosis). Whether you like it or not, the easiest way to market the paleo lifestyle to the masses is as a weight loss diet.

6 weeks to OMG: How to get skinnier than all your friends (or along those lines…)

3 Answers