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I've probably had days where I've had more of a paleo intake than not, lots of lean meats and veggies. I never experience the desire to not eat.
Taking in higher contents of "healthy" fat is what keeps us satiated on Primal/Paleo. We have also become adapted to burning fat for energy on a regular basis due to eating this way over a consistent period of time. I add coconut oil to my coffee and also cook with it for the healthy fats it provides. I rarely experience urging hunger even while reducing my caloric intake by ~800 while in weight loss and my energy levels are great. It makes it easy to perform short, intermittent fasting if desired.
The whole "healthy fat" thing has become absurd. Now people are claiming that every fat of type is healthy....though ironically the only fats that are essential (polyunsaturated fats) often viewed the most negatively. "Healthy fats" has just become a marketing gimmick. Coconut oil doesn't provide any healthy fats, coconut oil is almost entirely composed of saturated fat. The least "healthy" fat and one that is entirely unessential for one to consume, your body can create it.
Though dieting is all about quick and most often short-term results, lifestyle changes need to be based on healthy eating patterns. We have no reason to believe, and many reasons not to believe, that the paleo diet promotes good long-term health. The advocates of the paleo diet need to do research to substantiate their claims...that is how science works.
We need PUFA's, I just do not get them from vegetable or seed oils. We store excess carbs as saturated fat, so there should be little risk to ingesting more of it (depending on the source anyway). It certainly keeps me feeling satisfied. My weight dropped, my energy levels rock, and I feel great. That is all the proof I need for this stage of changing my eating habits. When I am ready to "maintain" I am sure there will be tweaking to undergo, and I appreciate reading the information you provide. I am no expert, but this worked for a few people I know, and it has worked for me in regards to reaching my intitial goal of not being a walking heart-attack with 50 extra lbs on my frame. There is no denying that switching to an all whole food diet is far superior to eating a bunch of man-made processed junk.
We store excess carbs as saturated fat, so there should be little risk to ingesting more of it (depending on the source anyway). It certainly keeps me feeling satisfied. My weight dropped, my energy levels rock, and I feel great. That is all the proof I need for this stage of changing my eating habits.
The bold statement isn't the case, very few carbohydrates will be transformed into fat as that is the last thing your body wants to do with carbohydrates. In feeding studies, you have to over feed people carbohydrates by a large margin before de novo lipogensis (the process of converting carbs into fatty acids) starts to generate noticeable amounts of fat.
What amounts to "excess carbohydrates" is vague, but carbohydrates are first utilized for immediate energy needs, after that your muscles and liver will convert them into glycogen, if your glycogen stores are full your body will start to utilize carbohydrates as much as possible instead of fats and lastly it will convert them into fatty acids. So many things have to happen before your body even "thinks" about converting carbohydrates into fat and the reason why its a last resort is that the process (de novo lipogensis) is inefficient and ~30% of the energy is lost.
The interesting thing about Paleo food, is that you don't eat unless you are really hungry. I contemplated dinner tonight, I want a bowl of pasta with cheese. Nope. I can have a salad, salmon, eggs, Brussels sprouts... Forget it. Just a glass of wine. Done.
There are days when I literally don't want to eat anything at all and I have to force myself to have something for dinner. Other days I am fine with just my breakfast of about 800 calories and won't eat the rest of the day. Other days I will have two-three normal meals. I've been toying with the idea of trying intermittent fasting because I never get that feeling of hunger that I used to pre-paleo and I want to normalize my eating habits over each day. I might go even further than the 16-8 that seems most common and just take it to one large meal at a certain time each day. IF seems popular with the paleo crowd and it's certainly easier than with a SAD because of the lack of hunger that seems to accompany paleo.
I have followed the Paleo type diet for several months and find that I am about as lean and muscular as I have ever been. I do work out a lot, and am not completely strict...(I love ice cream).
But...Paleo is just one choice among many ways to eat for health and fitness. It works for me, but it may not work for you.
The key thing for anyone is whether the nutrition program you use gets you the results you want, AND whether it is something that you can stick with as a lifestyle change. Too often people go on "diets" that are like holding your breath. You can do it for a while....but eventually you go out and gulp air...or down a box of donughts.
After trying out many different nutrtion programs over several decades of being athletically fit, it seems to me that there is no one perfect system that works for everyone. There are 6 billion people in the world and there are vast differences in the way different groups eat. In short, there are lots of ways to be fit and healthy. But...
There appear to be a few things that have a powerful impact on how much body fat people in the US seem to accumulate. One is the amount of sugar many people consume, and the other is eating "food like products" that are designed to make you eat more and more of them.
Sugar seems to be included as an ingredient in lots of processed foods. There is a staggering amount in sodas and sports drinks. Sugar added to coffee...? If you work at cutting out the sugar and junk, then you may find that you don't need to go on a "diet" that just does not work with the way you want to live.
Taking in higher contents of "healthy" fat is what keeps us satiated on Primal/Paleo. We have also become adapted to burning fat for energy on a regular basis due to eating this way over a consistent period of time. I add coconut oil to my coffee and also cook with it for the healthy fats it provides. I rarely experience urging hunger even while reducing my caloric intake by ~800 while in weight loss and my energy levels are great. It makes it easy to perform short, intermittent fasting if desired.
I've looked at Robb Wolf's book. he doesn't give serving sizes, but I don't see many of the recipes or suggested meals as that different as many of the meals I eat. What I did take away from the other post I commented is that perhaps the poster was looking for a certain sensory experience that she couldn't have.
I can't see myself eating loads of coconut oil, but great if it works for other people.
We need PUFA's, I just do not get them from vegetable or seed oils. We store excess carbs as saturated fat, so there should be little risk to ingesting more of it (depending on the source anyway). It certainly keeps me feeling satisfied. My weight dropped, my energy levels rock, and I feel great. That is all the proof I need for this stage of changing my eating habits. When I am ready to "maintain" I am sure there will be tweaking to undergo, and I appreciate reading the information you provide. I am no expert, but this worked for a few people I know, and it has worked for me in regards to reaching my intitial goal of not being a walking heart-attack with 50 extra lbs on my frame. There is no denying that switching to an all whole food diet is far superior to eating a bunch of man-made processed junk.
I agree that reducing processed foods is a great goal for everyone. Curiously though there are processed foods out there that are pushed in the paleo/primal circles. Mark Sisson sells a shake mix on his site...seems a bit hypocritical.
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Paleo Diet - Only if it works for you
