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and this is why I wish the paleo-fanatics would stop harping on the "evolutionary based" part. I eat pretty much paleo. I avoid grains, I limit dairy consumpti

by vitno 14y ago

and this is why I wish the paleo-fanatics would stop harping on the "evolutionary based" part. I eat pretty much paleo. I avoid grains, I limit dairy consumption, I avoid a lot of sugar in my food. However, a lot of the "science" behind paleo is bullshit. The name & culture is the worst thing that could have happened to the diet. Food is important to your health. I eat a lot of vegetables, high quality meat, and avoid high amounts of carbs & sugar now. How could I not feel better? It doesn't have anything to do with evolutionary adaptability. edit: knowtheory below is referring to something I edited out regarding an attempt to double blind myself to ensure this wasn't all in my head.

knowtheory 14y ago
See, that's just fine! It's awesome that you've found a diet that makes you feel better. But here's the thing. You can't double blind yourself. That's the whole issue with blind trials. Double blind trials require that you do not and can not determine whether you are in the treatment group or not. Additionally, unless you're having an unrelated person prepare the food, w/o any knowledge of which foods are in the "paleo" group vs the control group, you're not operating double blind. If it's just you and another person, it would be challenging to set up a double blind experiment (although i'd be interested to hear what you tried).
- vitno 14y ago
  I removed that. I figured that I would get some flak. :P I did have my roommate prepare the food. Another one of my roommates swapped/labeled the food and then went to class, no interaction. It was mostly because he didn't believe that I could feel it and that it was mostly in my head. (which I totally understand, I was pretty worried about that as well) We switched out white flour for some almond flour. We also did another one where he sweetened something using honey and another using corn syrup. (I could totally taste the difference there though) Certainly not rigorous, but enough to make me pretty sure it isn't entirely a placebo effect. I'm planning on getting a Celiac Sprue test at some point.
  - LaGrange 14y ago
    If you have adverse reactions to wheat products after provocation (even tiny amounts should trigger the effects), then it's indeed likely that you do have coeliac disease. About 1% of population have it, so it's not that surprising. Just remember that a test would require a proper, long provocation, otherwise you'll just get a negative from the biopsy because there's no intestinal damage anymore. On the other hand, if a diet helps, and provocations after, say, a month (but without your knowledge) make things go downhill fast, you can be sure enough. Welcome to the wonderful life where you get to check yoghurt for trace amounts of wheat products, and pizza is a holy grail (one of my closest friends is coeliac, for people in Amsterdam area, Woodstone in Haarlem makes good gluten-free pizza).
    - acangiano 14y ago
      I'll add to this that it is often (not always) possible to detect the presence of Coeliac Disease through a blood test. That should be the first step before going the colonoscopy route.
- whatusername 14y ago
  Some of the paleo-esque promoters like Gary Taubes have been making similar comments about most "mainstream" nutrition research. That being said -- you don't need to find the optimal for the population. You only need to find the optimal for you. And so even un-blind testing is reasonably effective at that.
mangostache2 14y ago
Mat Lalonde (PhD Organic Chemist, Harvard) does a good job of dispelling the bullshit Paleo arguments. At the end of the day though, he still follows a generally Paleo diet. One of his talks: http://vimeo.com/27570335 http://vimeo.com/27570335
- vitno 14y ago
  This is great. Thank you so much for showing me this.

by vitno 14y ago

knowtheory 14y ago

See, that's just fine! It's awesome that you've found a diet that makes you feel better. But here's the thing. You can't double blind yourself. That's the whole issue with blind trials. Double blind trials require that you do not and can not determine whether you are in the treatment group or not. Additionally, unless you're having an unrelated person prepare the food, w/o any knowledge of which foods are in the "paleo" group vs the control group, you're not operating double blind. If it's just you and another person, it would be challenging to set up a double blind experiment (although i'd be interested to hear what you tried).

vitno 14y ago
I removed that. I figured that I would get some flak. :P I did have my roommate prepare the food. Another one of my roommates swapped/labeled the food and then went to class, no interaction. It was mostly because he didn't believe that I could feel it and that it was mostly in my head. (which I totally understand, I was pretty worried about that as well) We switched out white flour for some almond flour. We also did another one where he sweetened something using honey and another using corn syrup. (I could totally taste the difference there though) Certainly not rigorous, but enough to make me pretty sure it isn't entirely a placebo effect. I'm planning on getting a Celiac Sprue test at some point.
- LaGrange 14y ago
  If you have adverse reactions to wheat products after provocation (even tiny amounts should trigger the effects), then it's indeed likely that you do have coeliac disease. About 1% of population have it, so it's not that surprising. Just remember that a test would require a proper, long provocation, otherwise you'll just get a negative from the biopsy because there's no intestinal damage anymore. On the other hand, if a diet helps, and provocations after, say, a month (but without your knowledge) make things go downhill fast, you can be sure enough. Welcome to the wonderful life where you get to check yoghurt for trace amounts of wheat products, and pizza is a holy grail (one of my closest friends is coeliac, for people in Amsterdam area, Woodstone in Haarlem makes good gluten-free pizza).
  - acangiano 14y ago
    I'll add to this that it is often (not always) possible to detect the presence of Coeliac Disease through a blood test. That should be the first step before going the colonoscopy route.
whatusername 14y ago
Some of the paleo-esque promoters like Gary Taubes have been making similar comments about most "mainstream" nutrition research. That being said -- you don't need to find the optimal for the population. You only need to find the optimal for you. And so even un-blind testing is reasonably effective at that.

mangostache2 14y ago

Mat Lalonde (PhD Organic Chemist, Harvard) does a good job of dispelling the bullshit Paleo arguments. At the end of the day though, he still follows a generally Paleo diet. One of his talks: http://vimeo.com/27570335 http://vimeo.com/27570335

vitno 14y ago
This is great. Thank you so much for showing me this.