Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Has anyone else been noticing paleo type things popping up in completely unlikely places? I've grown used to encountering encouraging signs in locavore/farmer's market/farm-to-table and gluten free circles that the CW paradigm is slowly being questioned and eroded, but recently I've been coming across more and more in places I just wouldn't expect it, such as:

--My father asked me out of the blue if I had heard of those “crazy five finger shoes.” Evidently he had just bought some VFFs for my three young nieces and nephews because they were the “cool new thing that everyone had to have at school.”

--While wasting time at a pretty bad bookstore at the most remote mall in New England I saw a number of books ranging from “The Complete Idiots Guide to Flour-Free Eating” to “Good Calories, Bad Calories” that really surprised me.

--The normally abysmal free healthy eating publication put out by my local supermarket has been including more and more articles on fat being good (even saying all sat fat wasn't bad!) and sugar being terrible. I've noticed this trend on the cover of women's magazines and online news sites, too, albeit normally paired with standard low-fat dogma and a hundred articles about baking.

--At Thanksgiving my boyfriend's cousin was talking about his diet which turned out to be Primal Blueprint.

What are your examples of recent close encounters of a Paleo kind? Furthermore, are you optimistic that they are part of something larger or that they will disappear as quickly as they came? I go back and forth on that question.

edited Dec 4 2010 at 2:54

asked Dec 4 2010 at 2:07

amanda
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Chris · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-04 04:21:36Z UTC

While at Barnes & Noble tonight, I decided to browse through the diet and health section. The first book I noticed, prominently displayed, was something called "This is Why You're Fat" by Jackie Warner. It's the first I'd heard of it, but giving it a quick scan, it appeared to have the message mostly right, even though the marketing text toned things down (probably so it wouldn't scare people off). Looking around a bit more, I did see quite a few low carb and gluten free eating books. However, books on vegan eating and detoxing with raw (vegetarian) food were just as prominently displayed. In fact, the shelf label referred to raw food and detoxing.

I had to search the B&N website for the name of the Warner book, and I noticed that its rank is #19, while "The China Study" is #2. On the bright side, the books are there and people are apparently buying them. On the other hand, low carb was a big fad several years ago and most people seem to have gone back to their Standard American Diet.

I am asked about my FiveFingers a lot and most people want to know where to buy them and if I think they'll like them (how would I know?). I think interest is building, driven by people seeing how healthy and fit us Paleo types are and, once they get over their prejudices, wanting to be like that, too.

At a geek conference I attended back in July, there were a series of five minute presentations. In one of them, two guys got on stage to talk about how CrossFit and the Paleo diet changed their lives, curing them of the fat, lazy nerd affliction. At first I was taken aback to hear this at such a venue, but was then extremely pleased that the topic would make inroads in a population known (perhaps unfairly) for spending hours at a keyboard while eating pizza and drinking soda.

Eva · Answer 2 · 2010-12-04 03:59:16Z UTC

I was wondering if it was just me. Seems like gluten free is taking off and this is coming right after the lowcarb/Atkins thing, so many people have at least had exposure to some of the main ideas. Plus high protein and low carb has long been a tenent in weight lifting so there is just a little jump to also eating whole foods and you are most of the way to paleo. Plus there absolutely does seem to be a gathering surge against processed foods and sugar. So I think I am seeing cracks in the armor of the SAD/CARB/FIBER diet dogma. I think it may end up being a long drawn out fight though, but at least we will likely be seeing more useful research and perhaps some serious rereading of research that is already out there. Ironically, most of the lowcarb research we have now started only because mainstream was eager to prove how bad lowcarb was but of course, all their research backfired on them LOL!

Doris · Answer 3 · 2010-12-04 14:35:46Z UTC

I'm beginning to feel like a member of a secret society.Twice recently I've observed people's shopping carts in the DeKalb Farmer's Market in Decatur GA. While I was checking out a big fatty pork roast, a tall slim fellow with a cart full of veggies bought an even bigger roast than mine. Turns out he was going to cook his roast for Robb Wolff who was in town. A week later I saw a beautiful trim young lady picking out some beef jerky. She is was getting to take on her honeymoon to Hawaii. Her fiance was eating Paleo and she took it up too. Ah, she was going to the land of fresh macademia nuts served everywhere. By these signs we will know them.

W8liftinmom · Answer 4 · 2010-12-04 03:45:57Z UTC

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My hubby and I vacationed in Maine in Ocotber. Visited and stayed at the Maine Seaweed Company for a few days. The owner and his lady friend were basically paleo - Eureka! :-)

answered Dec 4 2010 at 3:45

W8liftinmom
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	really? that's exciting! i live in maine and still haven't made it there but have always wanted to. – amanda Dec 4 2010 at 18:27
	Make it a priority they are wonderful people. You'll learn a lot and not just about seaweed. – W8liftinmom Dec 4 2010 at 20:33

Scott · Answer 5 · 2010-12-04 02:26:27Z UTC

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You could be right, there may be an uptick. It could also be you are more aware. I know I experienced this on my path. the "right" things jump out at me more. The Primal Blueprint is pretty popular now, I know I've seen dozens get all excited and try it for a few weeks and go back to being SAD eaters.

answered Dec 4 2010 at 2:26

Scott
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	Yeah, the increased sensitivity thing is a good point. I guess that is why I am curious about other people's experience since it is hard to judge this stuff in a vacuum. See, I've never once encountered anyone irl who referenced the PB who wasn't coming out of Crossfit or MMA until this incident so the idea of it being popular amongst the general public is foreign to me. I've met a ton of WAPF-ers, but nobody into Paleo/Primal. – amanda Dec 4 2010 at 3:20
	Crossfit is booming now too and they follow a paleo way. I've had passing conversations with other health nuts and the basic tenant of eliminating processed foods is there in most "healthy" diets. The leap to the caveman is pretty easy. – Scott Dec 4 2010 at 3:29

andrew · Answer 6 · 2010-12-04 08:41:13Z UTC

I have realised that a couple of people I know are looking much slimmer and fitter. Asking them are they dieting, they are both eating no grains (and very little other carb). I've compared notes and told them my take on fats - butter and lard good, seed oils bad - which seemed to go down well.

Also, more articles getting the message in the press. But - the dietician who writes in the Sunday Telegraph is so pro carbs it just isn't true - and he probably favours margarine too! So passé!!! He interviews "celebs" about their eating patterns (my day on a plate) and slags off the ones who eat what I would call "correctly" and moans about celebrities following fad, low carb diets. How out of step is that?

Unexpected paleo encounters?

6 Answers