Are you following a Paleo Diet?

[My Bariatric Life 764]

Most everyone reading this will agree that we've eaten too much processed food and it has been a contributing factor in our obesity. The evidence is in our expanding waistlines and the growing ranks of those of us getting weight loss surgery. Many post ops, myself included, over time follow a Paleo Diet (paleolithic diet). "Eating like a cave woman" may be a bit of a marketing ploy, or catch all to make the diet fun and memorable. But the fact is that eschewing grains, dairy, legumes, sugar and processed foods and eating Protein, non-starchy vegetables and healthy fats, makes *me* maintain my weight loss and feel better. I should mention that I also do not eat red meat. I also should mention that I have celiac disease and lactose intolerance.

Many nutritionists aren’t buying this way of eating. They say we’re biologically different from our Paleolithic predecessors and that diets that ban whole categories of relatively unprocessed foods are too restrictive and flawed from a nutritional standpoint. I concede that we are biologically different from our cave-dwelling ancestors. But I whole-heartily disagree with the standard American diet -- SAD for short, and aptly acronymed in my opinion -- which is the diet espoused by most nutritionists. I absolutely see an immediate weight gain when I go back to eating grains.

What do you think? Have you tried the Paleo Diet?

[Stevehud 1,790]

ill agree with the nutritionists in that one we dont know what the paleolithic mans det really was, we have guesses but i suspect they ate a lot more fruit and natural sugars than i will ever allow myself, but ill say this also i know you dont eat red meat and i truly believe red meat was a staple of paleo man, probably a lot more as they probably ate meat when they had it until they could eat no more to fend off the dry spells and harsh winters etc. But on a personal note, whatever works for each person is the best for them. But best for me is not best for you and vice versa.

[blondebomb 580]

I had only 1 app with the NUT preop..and what she teaches i totally disagreed with..i let her do her spill then i mentioned to her what my plan was bc i had already made these changes a yr earlier and this was what i chose to do she got on the same page with me as far as portion size and sugar content grms per serving to do..but its mine boggling how the FDA is still teaching in what i personally feel is doing more harm then good to ppl..its sad. I do a mix of paleo and ketogenic ..the ff/sf diet and low fat is what got i followed the past 30 yrs..got fatter and fatter..its been organic grassfed for me raw organic sugar or stevia im 90% off dairy i do use heavy whipping cream for my coffee in morning but thats it. Unsweetned almond milk .i eat raw pecans daily . but its working for me. To each there own. Im 8 months out and have yet to see that NUT again..doubt i will either. I see surgeon in may for my 10 Month po..i eat as fresh as possible..luv salmon..wild caught..i say do what works for you personally but its what we do..????

[Elode 8,093]

I can't because I won't give up my Quest bars or Protein Shakes so I guess I'm out on this one

[DroppinLikeItsHot 52]

I'm about 70% paleo. I still eat cheese regularly, only sometimes carbs, and sometimes a sweet tea.

[Flygirl123 150]

I'm still pre op & I try to follow the Paleo diet. It doesn't help me lose weight ,in fact last year I gained weight while strictly following the diet for 6 months. That was my final straw, then I started looking into WLS. On my 6 month pre op diet I followed Paleo diet & counted my calories. Only then was I able to lose a small amount, 15 lbs. I feel much better following the diet. Also, my hashi is better, my antibody count goes down. So I plan to continue diet po op. I still struggle with dairy. I'm not sure if that answered your question.

[Mike4132 256]

I'm eating more "paleo'ish" than before but still enjoy some dairy and sugar free stuff. I've cut out most carbs and starches and am probably closer to an Atkins style of eating. (Which in all reality is very similar to paleo at the later stages of his diet.)

[drmeow 323]

I have done both Atkins and paleo in the past and find that a mix of them work best for me (still pre-op but it's what I plan for post-op eventually as well). I try to avoid most artificial sweeteners but on occasion will use them, and I cannot eat as much fruit as many paleo people do. If you consider that in paleolithic times, fruit would have been available only seasonally and was MUCH less sweet than it is now (having been selectively bred for higher sweetness over many generations) and it required more work to collect it vs washing an apple from the fridge, I can see how fruit could be way overused in modern times. Same with things like honey - lots of work to collect it and would have been very sporadic in getting it.

So low carb, as natural as possible, but I'm not afraid of healthy fats. We'll see what I tolerate after bypass

[My Bariatric Life 764]

@@Stevehud I think the whole eat like a cave man is just a marketing ploy, just something catchy for people to latch onto. Even if we irrefutably knew what the caveman ate, so what... how is that applicable to us today? Our lifestyles are completely different. As well I assume there have been biological and physiological changes across the span of evolution.

I agree with you that diet is not a one size fits all solution. My belief is that we need to listen to our bodies, experiment, and we will know what we need and don't need. Getting attuned to listening to our bodies is, to me, a very important technique after weight loss surgery to master. I also believe in Hippocrates' philosophy, "let thy food be thy medicine" meaning that nutrition is key to disease prevention and healthy living -- and chemicals in foods are key to getting many diseases. Its irrefutable that eating fresh food and eliminating processed foods from your diet, as espoused by Paleo and many other diets, is the right way to eat healthily. That's a no-brainer.

For me, there is no way I am going to eat red meat owing to it completely grosses me out to eat sentient beings. While it is true that fish and fowl have feelings, too, it just doesn't bother me to eat them. But as far as eating a cow, lamb, pig, goat, etc, to me it is the same as eating a dog.

Nor would I eat grains or dairy owing to my celiac and lactose intolerance. As far as legumes and starchy veggies like peas and white potatoes, they are high in carbohydrates and increase my cravings for sugars and that then leads to hunger.

So that's my experience with it and hopefully that's helpful info for someone evaluating a plan of eating for her/himself.

[My Bariatric Life 764]

@@blondebomb the FDA is owned by the multinational chemical and food companies like Monsanto. Do you know that all of the thousands of brands that you see in a supermarket are essentially owned by a monopoly of four corporations?

[My Bariatric Life 764]

@@Elode you can do Protein Shakes made from egg whites if you did want to go Paleo. The Quest bars are too high in carbohydrates for me. It triggers hunger and weight gain for me.

@@DroppinLikeItsHot that's actual Primal Blueprint, similar to Paleo but allows dairy.

[My Bariatric Life 764]

@@Flygirl123 I ate cheese all the time and used lots of cream in my coffee and I did not think that I would be able to give up dairy. I followed Primal Blueprint for years because it allowed dairy. But then I did the Whole30 program and after that followed Paleo. Much to my delight I do not miss dairy!!! And it has absolutely improved my weight!!! Good luck with your surgery!

[My Bariatric Life 764]

@@Mike4132 there are indeed quite a few high Protein diets. I reviewed the best of them, I believe it was 7 of them last year or two.

[My Bariatric Life 764]

@@drmeow it sounds like you have a good plan! Cheers to you for going into this with a plan of action, which is more than I did when I had gastric bypass in 2003. I used artificial sweeteners for a very long time. When I did research on aspartame it nearly blew my mind as there was a HUGE conspiracy behind the clinical trials. The FDA investigator actually was a whistle blower and quit his job because over the cover up going on. Years later when I did Whole30 I realized that the sugars in my beloved Protein drinks and coffee were truly addicting. I craved sugar for nearly the 30 days of the program! I have become attuned well enough to my body to realize when I've reached my sugar limit. For example, after Whole30 I went Paleo... diet and weight were great... then I began to have hunger cravings and upon further reflection I discovered that the roasted coconut juice that I was using in my iced coffees was triggering the addiction cycle again. So I now dilute that with mineral Water.

Good luck to you for a safe surgery!

[Kindle 8,667]

To say we should eat like a caveman is like saying we should feed our pets all raw diets because their wolf ancestor do. It's theories like that that keep those of us in the veterinary field in business...mostly due to serious GI infections, recurrent diarrhea, perforated intestines and my least favorite, impacted colons.

I'm not saying that the paleo diet contains unhealthy elements, it's just that it seems incomplete. Paleolithic man was basically limited to eating what was locally available. A caveman living in Europe ate differently than one living in Northern Africa or Asia. And where is horse listed on the paleo menu?....this was a big food source for some Stone Age tribes. And they didn't eat dairy because they hadn't domesticated animals yet, not necessarily because it was bad for them. Like someone else said, it's basically a marketing ploy like so many other fad diets. And to say you eat "mostly" paleo or paleo X% of the time is like a "vegetarian" saying they only eat chicken once or twice a month.

Edited March 27, 2015 by Kindle