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The Modern Healthy Lifestyle Checklist is growing. 1. Barefoot running. (check for me) 2. Paleolithic diet. (nope) 3. Stand while hacking not siting. (nope)

• deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
• klochner 16y ago
  regarding #2, diet fads come and go every decade or so. imho the jury is still out.
  • rue 16y ago
    It also turned out that the actual paleo people did eat carbs: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/10/19/paleolithic-diet-inc.html http://www.boingboing.net/2010/10/19/paleolithic-diet-inc.ht... Of course, even if they had not, it does not mean that the paleo diet is somehow automatically better: the only conclusion that can be made is that it is an adequate diet to sustain a person.
    • scotch_drinker 16y ago
      It's a common misconception that the paleo diet means no carbs. It's just the type of carbs that they prescribe or proscribe. All plant matter is predominantly carbs and is where most of the carbs in our diet should come from. Breads, donuts, pancakes, sodas, etc are highly refined carbs that bear little resemblance to the carbs our paleolithic ancestors ate. On top of that, there is growing evidence that a grain based diet is highly detrimental to our health. Regarding cattail flour, there are several things to note. One, it was coarsely ground which is in direct contrast to the majority of flours that we currently consume. Whole grains are in general better than overly processed grains if you're going to eat grains. That being said, the evidence for our ancestors eating cattail flour comes in around 30,000 years ago. The Paleolithic period goes back 2.5 million years and the evolutionary history of our digestive habits is largely without any grains. Just because we have been eating grains for 30,000 years does not mean that's what we ate throughout the majority of our evolutionary history. I'm not a nutritionist but I do eat a predominantly lacto paleo diet and the changes in my body fat, sleep habits and energy levels have been extraordinary. Anecdotal? Yup but it can't hurt to give it a try. That's usually my advice on the paleo diet. Far from being a fad diet, it's much more like a lifestyle change that seems to make sense in my experience.
      • rue 16y ago
        > Just because we have been eating grains for 30,000 years does not mean that's what we ate throughout the majority of our evolutionary history. This is true. Even granting the paleo premise, though, eating something through evolutionary history does not in any way imply it is the most optimal food for humans. Only that it is a sustainable diet. It irritates me that people (many of the fad-chasers at any rate) seem to think that way. Then again, it also irritates me that people generally think evolution is an optimising process. > I'm not a nutritionist but I do eat a predominantly lacto paleo diet and the changes in my body fat, sleep habits and energy levels have been extraordinary. Did you make any other lifestyle changes along with it?
        • scotch_drinker 16y ago
          I agree, it is sustainable. However, I think it's more sustainable than the average Western American-European diet and certainly more sustainable then things like Atkins and South Beach. I firmly believe that grains and gluten are producing silent damage and health issues. Of course, this is again largely anecdotal based on my personal experience. I did not make any other lifestyle changes, at least not on a conscious level. My exercise, stress, job and the usual suspects are all still the same. My body fat is down 2% without any increase in exercise. My sleep cycles have increased (at least according to my Sleeptracker watch) by about 50-60% on average. My energy levels are completely subjective but it "feels" like I have more energy. I haven't done blood work yet to see what my cholesterol and thyroid levels are but should have that done in the next few weeks.
          • rue 16y ago
            Interesting! How much do you exercise in general? Carbs obviously pack a lot of calories and I have empirically observed that in mostly sedentary people cutting carbs seems generally more effective than dropping fat intake (hence the success of Atkins), whereas moving into the moderate exercise range the situation is reversed.
            • scotch_drinker 16y ago
  • jpr 16y ago
    So what's your advice for the time being? Keep on shoving cheeseburgers to our pieholes?
    • achompas 16y ago
      Wow, really dude? Paleolithic or fast food? Nice.
    • symkat 16y ago
      Or perhaps look at the way people eat in other countries outside of America where most people aren't obese and compare notes.
      • pyre 16y ago
        Yay America bashing! Let's compare notes with Somalia (or <insert starving nation here>)! edit: The idea that "America == Bad" and also " !(America) == Good" is a fallacy that seems to get up-voted way too often here (and celebrated in way too many other places).
        • gommm 16y ago
          There are a lot of things the US do very well, it's a wonderfully entrepreneurial country and is at the forefront of research and technology. But like everywhere not all is perfect and food is not something where the US shine. As a european who went to university in Rochester and has lived for quite some times in different countries Asia and Europe. I can say that I've never seen any countries where food habits was as bad as in Rochester... Of course, there were some good restaurants in Rochester, there were farmer markets but all of the restaurants at the university served greasy unhealthy food (I couldn't stand the food there and actually lost 10 pounds in 6 month because after 3 weeks I got tired of all the food served there and just didn't feel like eating much). Now, Rochester might be extreme, it is after all the home of the "Garbage Plate" but really it was shocking and while all of this is anecdotal, the statistics do show that US has a very high number of obese...
        • potatolicious 16y ago
  • Evgeny 16y ago
    Well, this particular "fad" has been around for a couple million years or more ... compare that with "eat whole grains" fad for example ...