Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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hey all, anyone familiar with Nora Gedgaudus and her book "Primal Mind Primal Body."? http://www.primalbody-primalmind.com/

She is pretty kickass. However, im writing here on PaleoHacks because she points out that less protein is needed than many groks consume. Shes all about eating lots of good quality sat fat and good veggies, and good quality protein with all the fat - only that she says mostly all of that protein should be consumed prolly once a day only and only in smallish amounts at that. Just wondering what you think and if anyone on here is familiar with her. Cheers, ben.

edited Jun 5 2010 at 6:02

archaea
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asked Jun 4 2010 at 22:29

ben61820
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Bread-Eating Beelzebub · Answer 1 · 2010-06-04 23:32:48Z UTC

The problem is that she's againast carbs too. I eat very little meat compared to many paleo dieters and usually still go over her recommendations. I'd have to do more research on the reason she gives for protein restriction (mTor), but I'd be curious what an actual diet that follows her advice is like....

A salad with a cup of lard? Gallons of coconut milk? I'm not sure it's a good emulation of our ancestor's diet. mTor seems to be more about calorie restriction than anything, so I'd say intermittent fasting is a better strategy to deal with that.

pfw · Answer 2 · 2010-06-05 01:40:32Z UTC

Her protein requirements make no sense given the observed diet of many contemporary HGs. She's also predicating a diet on essentially a purely theoretical basis. Mice live longer on mTOR activity lowering diets but do humans? What other costs are associated with it?

I personally have not run across any evidence anywhere that any macronutrient needs to be carefully restricted for magic health. It seems implausible and there is no actual experimental evidence in humans to suggest any real effect, merely hypotheses based on observing caloric restriction in monkeys or mice force-feed mTOR inhibitors. I agree with Kurt Harris on this one: your dietary inputs have wide tolerances.

jm054 · Answer 3 · 2010-06-05 01:14:04Z UTC

I followed her recommendations for about 9 months. I noticed a down turn in athletic performance. Got leaner than normal as well. I decided to up my protein and carb intake. Not quite to Sisson's 1 gram per lb of body weight, but about 1 gram per pound of lean muscle mass as determined by a BIA. Noticed an almost immediate increase in muscle size. Especially in the chest region.

Nicole · Answer 4 · 2010-06-05 11:42:46Z UTC

I've heard interviews with her, and while I respect a lot of her opinions, I already know I can't eat the way she does.

When it comes down to it, she's a calorie restriction person. She appears to eat about 1,400 calories a day (effortlessly), but fat just won't do that for me.

Listen to her interviews with Jimmy Moore, and maybe it will be more clear to you what she's eating.

http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/tag/primal-body-primal-mind

Dirk · Answer 5 · 2010-06-05 21:09:37Z UTC

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It's been a while since I read her book but didn't she mention excess protein converting to glucose?

answered Jun 5 2010 at 21:09

Dirk
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I think that's only in a cortisol-induced state. I've personally have noticed a loss of muscle during stressful times (finals, etc). But then again, that could just be the lack of sleep, or a combination of both. However, I'm learning sleep and stress effect each other more than I've previously thought. So it wouldn't be completely off to throw them in together. – henrydrn May 4 2011 at 1:49

Glenn · Answer 6 · 2010-06-05 01:03:39Z UTC

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I agree, Melissa. Paleo diet, but minimal meat!? Can't see how that would work.

answered Jun 5 2010 at 1:03

Glenn
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River Rance · Answer 7 · 2010-06-05 12:26:53Z UTC

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What? Something she just decided? Where is the science for her comments? Didn't primal man have a life span of about 30-years?

answered Jun 5 2010 at 12:26

River Rance
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"Didn't primal man have a life span of about 30-years?"<----Probably true if you count all the murders and the infant mortality. Art DeVany talks about this in his lecture series. He believes that Primal man and the hunter/gatherer populations maintained a high physiological overheard during their life. When the end of their life draws near, they just die. He wants to avoid an extended decline into poor health. – jm054 Jun 5 2010 at 14:20

The Industrial Age added 25 - 30 years to all our lives: we no longer have to work ourselves to death and suffer in the cold. – Dirk Jun 5 2010 at 21:11

"The Industrial Age added 25 - 30 years to all our lives: we no longer have to work ourselves to death and suffer in the cold"<---Are you referring to people from the Northern climates specifically? – jm054 Jun 5 2010 at 21:17

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This is a statistical question. Each individual paleo man did not die at 30; that may have been the average. When you eliminate non-health factors (injury, child mortality, etc) this becomes much more complicated. HG societies actually don't do that bad: anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/gurven/papers/… – pfw Jun 5 2010 at 23:21

Dr Price's studies included hunter-gatherer cultures, and he found many elderly people, though they were old and had grey hair they were still fit and valued members of the tribes; ie not sick and retired. – DePaw Aug 2 at 17:47

Nora Gedgaudus' points on less protein needed than many of us consume

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