around 2003 I began to build the dietary framework. But my thoughts on evolutionary congruity began in the late 1980's

I started the 1st of July after 8 months of depression, allergies (hives, eczema), sinus problems and mild-moderate acne. No nuts, no fruits, no nightshades, ...

The real reason I started paleo though, was because I had been avoiding mirrors for those 8 months, because I simply didn't have the guts to look at myself anymore. I realized it was getting too extreme, and instead of picking the easy way - suicide - I decided to work for real. I was really really happy when I found out suicidal thoughts were related to diet.

I shifted from a low-carb diet to WAPF about 6 years ago, and from WAPF to a more ancestrally-oriented, cultivar-free (paleo-style) way of eating about 2 years ago. I had a lot of health problems at the time, was limited to getting around in a mobility chair, and was not looking forward to the 2nd half-century of my life.

I didn't know anyone else who was doing this, and even my companion and our offspring thought I was out of my mind -- except for my youngest child, who'd found P90X and Crossfit and thought what I was doing was "the bomb".

After 2 years, I've restored about 80% of my mobility, trimmed down by about 180 lbs, and haven't spent a SINGLE DAY of the past 1.5 years in the hospital!!! Things aren't all perfect, of course. I still have the genetic defects that started the ball rolling for me, as well as permanent damage to my heart and kidneys from chemotherapy for cancer, multiple sclerosis, and I'd developed pretty severe sensitivities, celiac disease, etc. before I headed in this direction that are unlikely to be 'fixed' by food -- so at my age, I'm unlikely to ever be a "poster Paleo"... but I'm happy, stronger than I've been in a decade, and I managed to thwart my conventional doctor's predictions of imminent demise.

In August 2011 I started the 4HB Slow-carb diet for body recomposition. Part of the diet is the off-day which allows you to eat as much carbohydrate as you like in effort to "reset" your hormone levels and metabolism which have been effected due to the very low carb intake during the week.

I started questioning the off-day as I really did not think eating 4000+ calories (mainly refined carbs) on a Saturday was actually doing me much good or could be used longterm. I spotted The Zone first and then Paleo via some CrossFit articles and then came across Robb Wolf, read his book "The Paleo Solution" and joined PaleoHacks. The Zone seemed like unnecessary trouble, and Paleo seemed to make a lot of sense. The hardest adjustment for me was increasing fat intake, but began reading "Gary Taubes - Good Calories, Bad Calories" which sparked my interest in researching the science behind it all. Still on the educational journey but understanding enough so far to make changes and to know the basics of why I should.

I feel I run better off a low carb paleo diet and generally manage to eat strict paleo five out of seven days a week; a sandwich, pastry or non-paleo restaurant meal being the exception.

I started around 6 weeks ago, specifically because I was looking for something to maybe help clear up my back acne I've randomly developed since summer (never had it before then I my life, and I'm 26!).

However, even if it does completely clear up, I'd like to think I'll stay on it, since without trying I've lost almost 12lbs, and 2" off my waist - and it hasn't even felt like a diet!

One things for certain, I'm never doing a calorie-counting diet again ;)

After my boyfriend left for his deployment, I was ready to get my butt back in shape. A friend suggested that I download Robb Wolf's The Paleo Solution and after the first chapter I was convinced that is what I needed to do for my own well being and dove right now. I started with a 30 day challenge on August 31st with no intention of continuing. I loved the results I was seeing and how amazing I was feeling so I stick with it. I am now almost 4 months since I started and feeling better than ever! I am a 6' tall female and went from 178 pounds to 166 and a size 12 pants to a size 6! It's so liberating to eat what ever real foods I want, when I am hungry, until I am full and my body is just handling the rest. While I've only lost 12 pounds on the scale, I'm down 3 whole pants sizes and have start to become so lean!

I went gluten free in April of 2011, then Primal in June, and cut all dairy for the month of September. I drift in and out of strict Paleo but only cheat on dairy and teensy bits of added sugars (in poultry marinades and super dark chocolate). I went gluten free because gluten made me feel absolutely terrible. I drifted into the ancestral eating sphere over the summer, and it all made so much sense that I simply had to go primal. Graindairylegumefreepaleo was the next logical step, and I'm the healthiest and leanest (not skinny!) I've ever been on a strict paleo diet. I don't really veer off because I feel - for lack of a better word - yucky when I do.

To answer your former questions, the definition of paleo is becoming hugely broad. People who eat white potatoes are paleo. People who eat rice are paleo. People who drink milk are paleo. People who eat fermented soy are paleo. Paleo is really now about eating ancestrally as much as your body needs and then "seeing what you can get away with".

Fall 2009 when Jimmy Moore interviewed Mark Sisson. Evolution! Why didn't I think of that?!

January 2010: I started a conventional "bodybuilder's" weight loss diet (high protein, pretty clean in general). I ran into paleo a few times that year, but always just passed it off as low-carb voodoo. I was quite successful losing weight on this diet (though I wasn't exactly lean).

January 2011: I had put on a few pounds over the holidays so I went back on my above diet. Even cleaner this time and then ran into paleo. I started cooking paleo and found that I enjoyed it as much as I did a SAD. Still skeptical of the "voodoo" I eased my way into it and eventually ended up paleo around April of this year. Had my paleo "epiphany" in June where I felt totally awesome and could tell it was the paleo voodoo. I'm continuing to lean out despite my scale weight being stable. It's great.

Everybody tells me I'll give it up soon, but I can't see doing that. I'm certainly not strict paleo, my take is that half-assed paleo gives approxmiately 90% of the results for "normal" people. Only really sick people need to do strict paleo.

I went Paleo approx 5 years ago, got tired of being bloated after eating anything and having no energy, being over weight plus my son had bad asthma & eczema both of which are pretty much gone now.

I started Paleo around the 4th of July this year, mostly out of curiosity. I've always been interested in evolutionary biology and this is the first time I'd heard of an evolution-based diet. I can't imagine going back now.

I backed in to paleo. In February 2007 I went to ADA carb exchange counting to control diabetes. This is as close as I ever came to a paleo "diet", and I've long since stopped restricting carbs. By April 2007 the diabetes symptoms were gone, and I was steadily increasing my activity to lose weight. I realized later that by increasing activity I was emulating hunt-and-gather behavior, which for me is definitive of paleo. I've continued that behavior ever since.

I started trying the Shangri-La Diet thing in 2008 because the premise was so simple. It promises appetite suppression, and when I got appetite suppression, I could think more clearly about what to eat. I did some calorie restriction. Of course, something should be said about the rise of RSS and feed readers here- I had access to all this information that I hadn't had before. I went low-carb because it worked for me before, but as I read the paleo stuff, I started to see the grains,legumes,dairy,and O6 oils as the triggers that had eventually led me back to crappy eating. I think I went fully paleo in 2009. It was a gradual adoption because I wanted to be sociable at parties, but I got tired of suffering side effects.

2010 when I saw John Durant on the Colbert Report. Had been trying to lose weight for years by calorie counting, working with registered dieticians, tried Herbal Magic and was losing more muscle mass than fat. Even having reached my goal weight I was still overweight.

Already having a keen interest and some formal education in evolution, nutrition and health science, a 'caveman diet' made perfect sense to me. I started eating gluten/grain free / high fat the next day and I have reaped many benefits since beyond amazing sustainable weightloss. Things I wouldn't have considered if i hadn't been exposed to the paleo movement: fasting, minimalist footwear, incorporating more offal, fermented foods into my diet, grassfed meat, cooking with/eating bone marrow and going on my first huntig trip. Paleo lifestyle is now one of my greatest passions. Melissa McEwen's blog HungGatherLove.com has been the single most important resource for me over the years.

I went Paleo in July of this year because i saw a link to the Whole 30 website on Facebook and got interested. I guess the reason I got into it was social media... :)

After 4 lose 50/gain 60 cycles, I had decided I would never diet again. But I was feeling so awful that I started searching for advice on ways of eating that maximize health.

I'm not positive, but I think I looked for books on my Kindle and stumbled across the Primal Blueprint. Within a few days I'd accumulated a library of bookmarks, including this site, and I joined the lifestyle in April 2011.

None of my family or friends had heard of ancestral eating when I started. They all have now, of course, but no one else has decided to make the change. My son is sickly and I wish he would try it but he's not seriously interested at this point. My grandson, who lives with me, bases his diet around meat now but he still eats cereal in the morning and has an occasional soft drink. He knows I have a bad opinion of the cereal.

I suspect the greatest expansion will occur among the young and middle-aged. My friends are wonderful but they're pretty set in their ways.

Only a matter of about half a year ago. Why? Well, I'm in college going for a bio-sci major (emphasis on chem) & took a gen-ed class that, the only thing i got out of it were 2 graphs (both indicating what burns at what duration with anaerobic vs aerobic conditions - comparing atp/glucose-glycogen/fatty acids).
I stared at these graphs for quite some time, thinking, calculating... coming up w/the cross btwn atkins/paleo for weight loss, how to maintain muscle mass & many other - to me - new & insightful ideas. This insignificant part of the class got me thinking about my whole eating-existence, the trial/errors/experiments I've done w/health/nutrition/food/etc. And led me here, conclusively. (for now)

Forks Over Knives > convinced I was going to die an early, slow, painful death > googling > Denise Minger > paleo. c:

So yeah. +1 if Dr. Esselstyn also brought you here! ;p