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Paleo: Should I Try The Paleo Diet? — 23 Comments

  1. A Paleo diet works because it keeps insulin levels low. If your blood sugar is 90 mg/dL, your body is in fat-burning mode. Anything over 110 mg/dL you have stalled your fat-burning and are now storing fat. A better way to say it is: you have 5 liters of blood circulating in your body. Your body only needs 1 tsp of sugar in those 5 liters. Anything over that and the pancreas has to work hard to sponge up the excess sugar…(having to sponge up excess sugar puts you in fat-storing mode. If you are an intense exerciser you can afford to eat “some” Carbohydrates BUT only if it’s during that 2-3 hour window after intense exercise like weight training, high intervals, or metabolic bursting. I would love to see some data on strict paleo users (90% or more paleo dieters)and and exercise energy…Thanks for a great interview…

    • Thanks for a very useful comment Carmen.

      In fact, I did indeed end up trying the Paleo diet by doing a 30-day challenge along with some of my readers (in case you want to check that out it’s here: 3 Reasons To Try The 30-Day Paleo Challenge).

      It was harder than I thought but very interesting. As with all of these diets, half the battle is education – once we understand what it is we’re putting in our bodies and what happens next, it’s far harder to abuse them.

      Thanks again for the comment,

      best wishes,
      Alan

  2. WHOA Allan,

    what a great interview. I am struggling with the legumes and grains part too and the chick peas. we love chick peas especially here in the south of France. it’s everywhere.

    I’ve also read the primal Blueprint by Mr. Suisson.

    I wish i could completely convert over and make it a way of eating but it’s hard to with the family who all love baguettes and pasta. And my asian side is addicted to rice.

    But we have managed to cut back on all those processed carbs and i’ve noticed i do feel better overall. Not as bloated and tired after a meal. I need less carbs now to satiate myself now that we are kind of weaning ourselves off of it.

    my goal is still to do a vegan paleo diet of this just to challenge myself and see if i can do it. Time will tell.

    ps
    i laughed at the part about putting coconut milk in your tea. The first time i saw someone put milk in their tea i thought it was disgusting. I used to drink only jasmine and other asian varieties. …

    • Thanks Annie,

      yeah, this one took some putting together but I enjoyed it and found it interesting so that’s why I took the time to write it all out.

      So you said you read the primal blueprint but you didn’t say what you thought of it…

      I definitely notice these days when I have too many carbs so this diet does interest me but for the moment I’m happy with the general idea of moderation – the part that really interests me as you can probably tell from the interview is the legumes (I wasn’t a big fan of legumes before but since doing the slow-carb I kind of like them as an alternative to bread, pasta and rice, particularly chick-peas and lentils).

      Still – I may try Paleo at some stage, always up for a bit of experimentation…

      • What did I think of the book? I liked it but…. there are some things I would not adopt on a daily basis.

        Pasta and especially rice will always be a part o my diet. Maybe smaller amounts but still…

        sigh..

        • Yeah, I like rice too.

          I never thought I would be able to give up pasta and rice but actually I could.

          I still eat both on Saturdays (my cheat day as I’m still loosely following slow-carb).

          my question is more whether I really need to cut out all of these things completely as in the Paleo diet – I originally liked the slow-carb experiment because the cheat day is sort of a vent for temptations which might come up during the week – I can always tell myself to hold off until cheat day. Paleo seems more full-on and like you, I like rice & pasta.

          I have noticed a difference though when I don’t eat them. We’ll see…

          • We’re down to 3 days on carb and 4 days off carb. I want to get it down to 1 or 2 days carb and the rest none.
            How do you do it with the kids? Do they follow what you eat or do you just not take the carbs while everyone else does?

            • Sounds like your moving towards the 5+2 diet or something similar.

              I still cook pasta for the kids all of the time and then just don’t eat it or share the sauce but eat mine with lentils or vegetables.

              My kids love pasta and generally have a good diet, so I definitely don’t impose any of my rules on them. In fact I like it that they eat things I can’t around me all of the time, it tests my will power, plus I still enjoy cooking for them, even if I don’t get to share a lot of what I cook.

  3. Hi Alan, great post! I have recently been thinking about doing something similar as I am sick of not sleeping well and waking up un refreshed. Nearly all my adult life (but more so at times of stress) I would feel sick on and off. Bloated, nausea, pain even body shakes. Eventully I was diagnosed with fructose and lactose malabsorption and I followed a FODMAP diet for a couple of years. No wheat, onions, apples and pears and limited amount of garlic and fruit. It took awhile but I got better. I have introduced wheat and diary back in the diet and I don’t notice any major issues, however I am just not feeling the best I can. So am keen to see if I can wake up full of energy. The diet shouldn’t be hard, followed so many over the years, but cutting out rice and potatoes and oats for breakfast will be hard. And dairy. I doubt I will cut out these forever but moderate them. Anyway, I will start for a week cold turkey (thats how I role) from next Tuesday. I will let you know how I feel after that.

    • Hey Vicki,

      thanks for sharing so much in this comment. Please do promise that you will come back here and update on your progress, it would be a good thing to do and I’m also really interested to find out how it goes for you!

      take care & best wishes,
      Alan

      • Hi Alan and Alison,
        Well I have done the 30 day challenge – really wasn’t hard and I didn’t feel any withdrawals or major cravings. We had the best food! I have never eaten so much (good) fat in my life – nuts, eggs, meat, avocados, coconut oil, ghee etc. And I lost 4.6 kilos! And I wasn’t really overweight before I started…or so I thought. My 19 year old daughter followed along and she also lost weight and she definitely didn’t need to. My mood has positively improved. My sleep is better, but still wake up far too early and can’t get back to sleep. But at least I don’t wake up cranky. I have got to tasks that I have been putting off for years. Suddenly I have lost the “can’t be bothereds”. My challenge now is to see how I can moderate this. Last Friday I had my work Christmas party and I had two wines, potatoes and Christmas pudding (the rest was pretty Paleo) and I have not been feeling well since 🙁 Queasy etc. Yesterday I have my first cappuccino and I had stomach issues all night. Could be a fructose thing as I had mango as well. Oh well, after Christmas I will be back 100%. One not so good side effect both my daughter and I have found is that the last couple of weeks we have not had much energy in our weekly Zumba class. Just not able to lift those legs and just wanting it to be over. So we must need more something (and we don’t want to lose any more weight). Should be have some rice, or potatoes? Or do we increase fat? I still can’t believe we lost so much weight so easily without reducing calories and eating so well. Some days I am so annoyingly positive!! Oh and my dry skin has improved 🙂

        • Wow wow wow Vicky.

          That’s awesome. Thanks for coming back here and sharing this. So what is your plan going forwards? To stick to something like 80-90% Paleo as Alison suggests in the above interview (i.e. you don’t have to be a complete zealot about it/it doesn’t have to be 100%) or do you actually intend to aim for 100% Paleo accepting that there may be a few exceptions along the way?

          I still haven’t gotten round to trying this yet myself as since the 4-hour body trial, I eat fairly healthy though my interview with Alison and also reading your progress here has got me thinking I should perhaps at least try the 30 day challenge…

          The main concern for me is no legumes – they are a pretty big part of my diet at the moment and what I use to replace pasta, bread and rice. Also the slow carb I think is easier because of the cheat day though talking to Alison about that, I agree this can sometimes just introduce temptation and may be better left out altogether.

          thanks again for sharing your progress here!

          • Hi Alan, I plan to stick to it as best I can. I have sourced grass fed meat that I can have home delivered and a weekly box of organic fruit and veg. I think as perhaps a monthly treat I may have pasta, pizza, dessert or something yum. I don’t think weekly treats are necessary as the food I have been cooking is so yum! I definately will be adding dairy back in but maybe with weekend cappuccinos rather than twice daily. And maybe small quantity of rice. I think I will just have to see how I go. I need to have a reminder somewhere of how I used to feel if I start eating too much non Paleo! Thanks for this blog, I have been enjoying it very much. Merry Christmas to you and your family!

            • Hey Vicki,

              I hope you had a great XMas – sorry, I went offline for XMas before getting a chance to respond to this (but we did 😉 … have a good XMas that is).

              Your plan sounds really sensible & I think I will end up doing something very similar – i.e. following the general principles of something like slow-carb or Paleo whilst continuing to learn about food and nutrition and refine my diet and tastes accordingly.

              And you’re right – as you get going eating healthier food I do believe you tend to get a taste for it and that makes everything so much easier.

              Very best wishes for the coming year Vicki, thanks for coming back with this update, for reading our site and for your comments!

  4. Paleo has changed my life. I’ve been on it for 2 months now and have lost 2 stone. I hardly ever think about food. Before I would be thinking about lunch and dinner while I was eating breakfast. If you’re buying Mark Sissons, the 21 day challenge is a much better read than Primal Blueprint which is a bit heavy going for me.

    • Hey Sian,

      thanks for the comment, and also for the book tip! Did you try the ‘cold turkey’ method then? i.e. what kind of diet did you have before switching to Paleo?

      • Hi Alan, I’ve battled with my weight all my life and have tried every diet on the planet. I’m 50 now. I even have 32 qualifications related to health and fitness and used to help others. I had quite a serious eating disorder at one time so I have to be careful about “dieting” as that can bring it back again. I just feel completely calm about food and I think it’s to do with the amount of fat keeping you full and not having the insulin ups and downs. All my joint pains have gone, migraines have stopped, allergies are gone, I sleep well and I have loads of energy. I used to think that there was something wrong with me mentally because of the eating disorder but I realise now that there was a physical thing going on with insulin that I couldn’t control. Using coconut oil on my skin and in cooking is fantastic. My skin, hair and nails have never been better. Best wishes. Sian.

  5. Alan and Alison,

    Wow! I am so glad to see you, my online friends, get together!! You both are great people! Go figure, my two British friends and I placed you together. Miles apart.

    I am not the type of person that is strict with my diet. So I try my best at eating as close to what nature has given us. But I do love pizza and hamburgers and popcorn. I also love apples, grapes and peppers. I eat both.

    But I say go for it. BUT only if you can make it a way of eating and not a DIET. I have looked into the Paleo diet a little and if I were to change the way I eat permanently, I would choose Paleo. It is the way we are suppose to eat. Our systems are set up that way.

    I am so tired of people “dieting” and then reverting back to the way they ate once they lose the weight. It is not about weight. If you eat healthy ALL THE TIME and in moderation, you will be not be overweight. (Minus any health issues.) I know, I am not one to preach, but I also never diet.

    I admire Alison for sticking with something that works for her and her family. And I admire Alan for being sticking with working to be healthy all around- mind and body.

    ~Allie

    • Hey Allie,

      I really enjoyed the interview so thanks for introducing us, I was a little worried about the audio dropping out in places but it’s not too bad in the end once the call was chopped up into individual questions.

      I’m still kind of 50/50 on this at the moment, you know I love experiments but I have a lot of experiments at once at the moment 😉 I probably will give Paleo a try at some stage soonish though, I’m thinking after XMas, just because as Alison says when people make food for you with love, it’s really hard to say no, I can really relate to that particular point, and we do a lot of family visits around XMas (OK, ‘Holiday’) time 😉

      Didn’t you tell me you love sandwiches?

    • Hi Allie!

      Yes, we finally managed to do this interview, months and months after you introduced us!

      I agree about the dieting word. It is very damaging to simply go back to the old way of eating after a period of restriction. This is a lifestyle although the vast majority of people who are paleo indulge a little from time to time and there are also some fantastic cookbooks with paleo treats designed to eaten at celebration times. After a while, the energy and feeling of well-being overwhelms the desire to eat food that isn’t optimal and it doesn’t feel like a loss at all. Quite the opposite. 🙂

      • Alison,

        I love this comment: After a while, the energy and feeling of well-being overwhelms the desire to eat food that isn’t optimal and it doesn’t feel like a loss at all…. Perfect.

        That’s the kind of sustainable benefit that really makes sense and hopefully ‘talks to’ people who may be worried about faltering along the way.

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