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Just name anything Paleo-related that you can no longer tolerate without your BP going up?

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35

If I have to hear somebody refer to "healthy fats" one more time, I'll scream. I swear. Usually they're referring to canola oil or peanut butter -- and it's always an anorexic amount, like a scant teaspoon -- but by gum, they're getting in their "healthy fats" today!

Or if somebody boasts about eating hummus or quinoa "for the protein"...! FFS, mate. Eat a damn'd steak already. Every time I read/hear of such an instance, a tiny, cold part of my heart wrenches and wishes oozing buttne on them.

Oh, and if one more person botches the use of lose/loose, I'm sure I'll snap. I just know it.

That is all. /steps off soapbox

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I thought I was the only one gouging my eyes out with lose/loose. Glad to know I'm not alone. – StephNY Jun 26 2011 at 4:17
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If you loose weight then your clothes become lose :) – Matt Jun 26 2011 at 19:20
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Just another big LOOSER! – Curmujeon Jun 26 2011 at 23:29
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I HATE the lose/loose thing! I have a tiny brain aneurism every time I see it. – MyDogRick Mar 25 2012 at 2:44
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  1. Misuse of punctuation, such as "biggest Paleo"
  2. Questions that aren't fleshed out
  3. Answers that aren't fleshed out
  4. Stating probable/possible opinion as absolute truth
  5. The general lack of books authored by Kurt Harris or Stephan Guyenet
  6. The general lack of posts by PersonMan (recently corrected)
  7. Demonizing small amounts of fructose
  8. Rants against overweight/fat people
  9. Diminishing marginal returns on paleo knowledge
  10. Duplicate questions
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As always K, funny while being accurate, thorough, and to the point. No effin around here. – ben61820 Jun 26 2011 at 1:49
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#5 is the absolute truth. i really think stephan's on to something in his most recent series. – luckybastard Jun 26 2011 at 2:01
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luckyb-- Yeah, I like how Stephan's food reward bit is broken down into easily digestible pieces. But most of all, I like picking through the comments--a couple paleohackers (including David Moss and maybe Stabby) have some interesting comments in there. – Kamal Jun 26 2011 at 3:01
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Are you talking to me? Yeah 2 boyz. Prolly I'll date their friends once they get in High School. – none Jun 26 2011 at 3:46
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From what I gather, you just cut the ending off of the word. jelly = jealous. obvi = obvious. cordy = loren cordain. – Kamal Jun 26 2011 at 4:27
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People saying "but I could never give up bread" when they ask me what I eat.

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That's a good one. It's not that great. I should start responding, "And I will never give up my sausage, bacon and pecans dipped in honey. – BAMBAM Jun 26 2011 at 0:01
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That kid of comment always annoys me too. I feel the need to correct them (like I would my kids), and say " No, you CAN. You just don't want to." :-) – themommybug Jun 26 2011 at 0:03
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Hah! People say the same thing when they find out about my insulin shots. "But I could never give myself shots!" Well, when you have a choice between shots or death, you'll choose shots. And when you have a choice between bread or keeping your toes, you (hopefully) choose your toes. – GeishaGirl Jun 28 2011 at 0:02
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Far and away the biggest three things for me are:

The near constant equating of what works for people coming from a metabolically damaged, unhealthy, perhaps overweight background with what is "healthy" for the rest of us. That is where the paleo=lowcarb thing came from.

The fear of insulin. (we have it for a reason)

The thought that you need seriously huge fat-intake to be healthy.

One more: the overly strong fear of cortisol. Workouts over one hour are avoided because of a fear of cortisol. Who cares! Short temporary rises in cortisol are fine. It's only chronically raised levels from society and our schedules is the problem.

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Yeah, time to smash paleo=lowcarb once and for all! Or just chip away at it slowly. – Kamal Jun 26 2011 at 2:48
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Dude - we need to have a discussion about the difference between a diet used to therapeutically get someone back on track and one used to keep healthy people healthy. Is it just me or are the long-time low carbers looking not so great? +1 – none Jun 26 2011 at 3:44
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yeah, unfortunately, and i can kind of understand why since ditching a large chunk of weight is life-changing and very likely to convince one that that is THE way to live, a lot of people like Jimmy at LLVLCarb and all just kind of get to a sticking point and by that point they’ve endured LC for so long that it becomes very difficult for them to understand that the carbohydrate doesn’t make them fat. It’s their metabolism that made them fat. Once healed, or at least semi-repaired, they should probably incorporate carbs back in, but of course USE them with weight training, etc. There’s no easy – ben61820 Jun 26 2011 at 13:08
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Yeah, the stuff I've read about long-term VLC's effect on thyroid function and other aspects of metabolism is really not encouraging. I also don't understand the use of a few outliers (the Inuit come to mind) to justify claiming that LC/VLC is the best way for all human beings. Whatever happened to "tolerated is not optimal"? – Olivia Jun 26 2011 at 18:27
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The paleo=lowcarb thing most certainly did not come from the former/current obese who have found success with the paleo diet. It's the popular association that "no bread" = "Adkins diet". Blame the popularity of Adkins/South Beach/Zone on the association that paleo is "just another low carb fad diet". – Joshua Jun 27 2011 at 1:13
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  • Refusal to acknowledge that calories matter for some people, dousing everything in fat won't usually lead to weight loss, etc.
  • Blind rejection of absolutely anything remotely mainstream as "flawed CW" and of all mainstream medicine and science; alignment with woo like homeopathy. "It's mainstream so it must be wrong" is not a sound argument.
  • Tearing apart articles/studies that suggest low-carb isn't healthy, or even that grains can have health benefits, ripping on the scientists and saying they're unbelievably stupid and can't they see how wrong they are...all the while uncritically accepting studies that support Paleo.
  • Cardio fear leading people to limit their activity. A few hours of running a week will not kill you.
  • "I've been paleo for 2 days and I haven't lost any weight! What am I doing wrong?"
  • The bacon obsession. Yes, I'm a killjoy, whatever.
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hahah. I'm a science student and my family is full of physicians, so the "those pointy-headed scientists and doctors, what do they know about health, I can disprove them with 5 minutes of study abstract reading and some personal anecdotes" stuff does get on my nerves. – Olivia Jun 26 2011 at 2:37
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when I tell people what I eat (eggs, meat, etc...) and they say "aren't you worried about your cholesterol?"... freaking annoying!

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Acknowledged non-paleos coming over and eating my grass-fed organic raw milk cheese when there is a perfectly good block of Kraft crap cheese in the fridge for them.

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  • Healthy fats
  • Lean meats
  • 'everything in moderation'
  • calories in/calories out

and as much as I love Robb Wolf, the terms paleo- 'schtick', 'gig', and 'deal'

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Everthing in moderation. What a bullish@t argument, loved Greg everetts response to that on robbs podcast (think it was #80) – Minnie The Minx Jun 26 2011 at 4:05
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If we're talking pet peeves about Paleohacks it's people who don't know the difference between 'loose' and 'lose' - drives me nuts!!! Stop writing about all the weight you have to loose - loose is an adjective not a verb!! You want your clothes to be loose not your body. It doesn't take two minutes to proof read your post. Sorry I'm an English teacher - its my job to notice these things. Thank you for giving me a chance to say this.

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Poor grammar makes me [sic]. :-) – Andrea Mar 23 2012 at 16:23
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The USDA. Try raising a kid in any type of daycare or public school system without them shoving the USDA guidelines down your throat! I showed up with a doctor's note saying my kid is allergic to all grains, beans and soy and they told me "that's ridiculous" and continued to feed my kid the "recommended daily intake" of grains. That's at least one serving per meal including snacks. So instead of a baby getting breastmilk, he gets 4 saltines. Instead of beef and broccoli for lunch (which he LOVES) he gets a slice of bread with KRAFT 2% milk PROCESSED cheese. It's not even real cheese! ARRRRRRG! I get some satisfaction when he chooses to nurse instead of eating what they provide, and I definitely smile when he NEVER eats the fruit.

The worst part is how FAT the people are who are telling me what is healthy for my child. Because they are subject matter experts, and I - a misled, obsessed with breastfeeding, and obviously delusional mother -have no freaking clue what is best for my own child. The end.

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I am honestly offended by this. There isn't a law against feeding someone else child something that he is allergic too or even against the wishes of the parent? – Denis Mar 23 2012 at 11:54
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Articles/websites/people saying paleo is bad because it's low-carb. Or because you need a "balanced" diet.

(P.S. I have nothing against low-carb. I also dislike people dissing low-carb unless they're really familiar with it...)

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People who are paleo and think they are better then everyone else.....aka the paleo elitists.

People who are over training even though they know better, but just want to brag about all the training they do.

People who use the word brang or "axed" and using the wrong there, they're and their :)

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People not understanding Paleo and lecturing you on what you should be eating instead ... telling you how "weird you are" because of what you eat, yet always curious and asking "what's for lunch today?"

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Magical thinking. Rampant. Self-diagnosis. Rampant. Fake illnesses, mostly self-diagnosed and placebo healed with magical thinking and quackery. Rampant.

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people assuming they know things they have no idea about the context of the arguments...like

  • heard fructose was bad so the never touch it and run away from the watermelon in fear.

  • heard avoid carbs so they load up on butter when they dont put into context the difference between industrial carbs and primal carbs. STOP assuming you are insulin resistant with a fatty liver because the shitty carbs you ate before primal made you that way so even trying out REAL carbs

  • heard leptin controls stuff so they now have the answer to their obesity

  • hearing the next big thing in nutrition or paleo and NOT UNDERSTANDING that everything is connected. for example, fructose is ONLY BAD if you eat a caloric surplus...THATS THE ONLY TIME. guess what, fat is bad if your eating a caloric surplus too. yes, that means salmon in the context of a caloric surplus means the omega 3 will automatically get stored as fat. fat is always stored first in a surplus

  • 99% of paleo is centeredin your brain. not your food or your exercise. it is all interconntected

people self diagnosing themselves with shit they dont have, especially hypothyroidism or other common 'symptoms' thrown around. there are symptoms for everything. just because you have symptoms of a low thyroid does NOT MEAN you have a DISEASE OF THE THYROID, i guarantee youre malnourished and eating the wrong food, or living a lifestyle your unwilling to change and look at from the outside

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I know there are hypochondriacs running around out there, but figuring out what's going on with your own body is often the only way to get to testing you need to find out whether you really are hypothyroid. I know I was eating the wrong food, and that did cause a thyroid condition that needed medication for a few years. Started eating the "right" food for me, took the meds so my brain would function while I healed, and now no more thyroid condition. So, I'm agreeing with you, I just think we need to give people the benefit of the doubt when they think their thyroid isn't working. – Happy Now Jul 10 2011 at 1:07
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people treating small but interesting studies, epidemiological studies with murkiness between causation and correlation and untested but seemingly plausible hypothesis as absolute truths instead of things to consider but not totally base decisions on. This has more to do with some elements of the community that frustrate me rather than "paleo" itself.

run on sentences are also a pet peeve :-) paleo pet peeve? i don't know but definitely a peeve . lot of self-hatred over here hah.

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The look my mother-in-law gave me the other day when I said "no, thank you" when she offered me watermelon. She looked at me like I had just swallowed a pill that was guaranteed to give me cancer or a heart attack.

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But watermelon is delicious. – Ryan H Jun 28 2011 at 1:04
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The demonization of white potatoes.

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Trying to convince me that if I run a marathon that I will immediatly fall over from 8000 different types of cancer...

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6

I came over here looking for a recommendation on % dietary protein, and found some useful info. But I do have two pet peeves to add:

1-Fish oil. Since fish were not prominent in the prehistoric diet, it seems at the very least ironic that fish oil capsules are so prominent in the modern paleo diet. The Jetsons meet the Flintstones?

2-Zeal. Were cavepersons zealous in trying to convert non-cavepersons to their diet? Concealment of dietary information seems more likely as a survival strategy rather than advertisement.

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Uh, fish were very common in the prehistoric diet for those who lived on islands and coasts. – Cave Tomboy Jun 27 2011 at 13:33
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Or anyone near any kind of stream/lake/river. – GeishaGirl Jun 28 2011 at 0:08
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I can accept crustaceans and mollusks as common coastal paleo foods, but I thought that fishing was a Neolithic activity dating back about 40,000 years. – thhq Jun 28 2011 at 23:18
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Having to defend myself when friends and family push fruit on me, exclaiming how unhealthy any diet without fruit is.

The expense of crossfit gyms

How none of my meat sellers had any friggin soup bones at the farmers market today.

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This might seem petty, but the word is "probably" NOT "prolly". It kills me every time!

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it's prolly the latter – Kamal Jun 26 2011 at 3:22
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PS G - I just read your profile and it looks like you are a smarty pants - I like SPs. Are you by any chance interested in showing your torso? – none Jun 26 2011 at 3:59
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I love me the weird stuff g-money! – none Jun 26 2011 at 12:37
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uhoh...I'll come clean: i am a repeat offender. I use prolly a lot. darn. its only for convenience. And now that i think about it it is kind of odd because other than that I do strive (when on my laptop and not my iPhone of course) to be grammatically correct, and just concise in what I add. I'll shoot for probably in the future, prolly. – ben61820 Jun 26 2011 at 13:02
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i've always thought ben61820's use of "prolly" charming. I like his take on most issues and when I glance at an answer and see "prolly" I check further to see what ben61820 has to say. – Doris Jun 26 2011 at 13:42
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My pet peeve is my mother rolling her eyes at me when I say "I eat a Paleo diet". Diet is the word for the food and drink that a person or animal regularly consumes. It doesn't mean it's a fad. It doesn't mean that I'm obsessing about what I eat. It simply means that the foods that I eat can be described as Paleolithic and some research suggests that my body can digest it better than other refined or modified foods. And I feel better when I eat it!

I hate the word "diet" for the misconceptions it can cause.

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5

I have A LOT of pet peeves, mainly because I'm pretty misanthropic (does paleo cure that?). My newest pet peeve, though, is more with regards to being gluten free than paleo.

I have Hashimoto's, so I am very strict about gluten free (even outside of my attempt to be super-strict autoimmune protocol until my blood work in May). I have to travel a lot due to my husband's job, so I am highly dependent on restaurant food. Generally, I will search Yelp for gluten free restaurants in the area I am traveling to as I figure if they already are comfortable with gluten free they will work with me to meet my other dietary restrictions.

Anyway, the new pet peeve is people who "try to stay off gluten during the week" and sometimes "take one for the team" and try the bread and/or flour-laden dessert. In my opinion, this gives the impression that being gluten free is optional and I worry that if too many restaurants hear people make these sorts of statements they will either A) refuse to accommodate gluten and other sensitivities on request or B) Say that they will, but then not actually do it, causing some people to become very ill.

If you only do gluten free part time, that's your choice. But don't publicize it or make a big deal out of being gluten free and then eat the damn bread.

/end rant

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4

i can hardly tolerate obsession with coconuts (esp. coconut oil, milk) in the paleo community

i can hardly tolerate obsession with fat in the paleo community: dietary fat (esp. purposefully added fats: smothering a steak in tons of butter) is where the calories are - and you don't need that many of them / fat is what you generally would like to lose, right?

i can hardly tolerate the general obsession with food - be it paleo or not - eating [paleo] 3 times a day - is that a joke?

i can hardly understand the idea of 'bulking up' when people write something like: "i can't put on weight, help me!" - why such persons do not realize that they can look quite muscular / ripped if they lose all the fat they are covered with

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"So, you're never going to eat bread again?"

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People being over interested/fascinated with what I eat. Picture the scene(at work) Minnie gets out her lunch, colleague "what's that your eating" Minnie "sweet potato, etc" then colleague usually wrinkles up nose or goes "oh".

Stop commenting on my food! Just cause I don't eat effing sandwiches.

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Redundancy is a peeve of mine.

For example the phrase: "biggest pet peeve" - totally redundant.

And in the questions here - same old, same old.

And my meals lately. Getting pretty dang repetitive. Meat and eggs and greens. I'm not feeling inspired to spend time doctoring things up, the margin of sensory-improvement doesn't warrant the effort, I reckon. I'm missing/mourning the variety of foods I used to eat.

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Is that a challenge Kamal? I bet I could come up with a kick ass Paleo care package. – sherpamelissa Jun 26 2011 at 3:08
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Well, I haven't been a SAD eater for a very long while, I was a vegetarian (gasp). I ate food out of bowls a lot. Grains. Quinoa. Don't laugh! I miss veggie tacos and tabouli and indian food and caprese salad. – g. Jun 26 2011 at 3:09
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Paleo care package? hrmph. Beef Jerky and vitamin D capsules? – g. Jun 26 2011 at 3:10
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paleocarepackage.com...send your loved ones comfort food that won't slowly kill them. – Kamal Jun 26 2011 at 3:22
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Grenadine, I was a vegetarian for a long time, and I also miss each one of those things you mentioned. Sigh. – VandyGear03 Jun 26 2011 at 18:34
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My Pet Peeve (and I've only been Paleo for a little over a week), is the stupid comments/questions people give/ask, such as:

  • Well if you're so "Paleo" then why do you....(drive a car, use a hairbrush, use a computer, etc, etc, etc."

  • "You're eating "that!?!"

  • "Why don't you eat normal food?"

  • "Aren't you worried about heart disease (from the fat) and cholesterol (from the protein)?"

  • When they ask, "What about when you have children, will you make them eat the same way?" When I reply "Yes, I will try hard and encourage a Paleo lifestyle", they give me a look like I will be the worst mother in the entire world, and as if I am causing them pain and suffering.

I could go on and on.

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People who aren't paleo: when they turn their nose up at my diet when I describe it to them, then the next day they're all "wow you eat soooo many vegetables! you so healthy!".

People who are paleo: sometimes a tendency to tar all conventional medicine with the same paint brush, and fall for a little woo and quackery every once in a while. Also, ALL fat-blaming fat-judging and fat-stereotyping makes me want to hit my head against the wall. It happens here a LOT and make me grit my teeth HARD.

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