Books and Babble
  • Home
  • Books
    • Book Review Archive
    • Movies, Places, etc
  • Babble
    • Tiki's Clicks >
      • Cameras
      • Phlog
      • Pictures >
        • Portraits
        • Europe 2006
        • Korea 2008
        • Ghost Town USA 2010
        • 2011 >
          • Seattle 2011
          • Critters
          • Southwesterly Parts >
            • Animas Forks
            • Silverton - Lake City
            • Moab
            • Santa Fe
            • MacDonald Observatory
            • Around Town
            • Bayfield
          • Northerly Parts >
            • North Shore Photo Shoot
            • Duluth
            • Boundary Waters
            • St. Louis
          • Niece
          • The Great American Road Trip
          • Pumpkin Pie from Scratch
        • 2012 >
          • St. Louis 0112
          • Wedding and Reception
          • Michigan & Minnesota
          • Camping in Jasper
          • Houston Zoo 102412
          • Smithville Photo Contest
          • HMNS Pixel Party
          • Texas Ren Fest
          • Picture A Day
        • 2013 >
          • Arizona
          • HMNS Pixel Party - Faberge 0213
          • Houston Lightning
          • New Orleans
          • Minnesota Road Trip
          • S&S Wedding
          • Fireworks
          • Hungary Hungary Honeymoon
  • About Me
    • Places
  • Bakes Blog

Paleo Ponderings

3/19/2012

2 Comments

 
I've been looking into the Paleo diet. It seems to be a more natural system for your body. It has a healthy foundation, and unbeknownst to me, I had already done it. 

The basic idea behind the Paleo diet is hunting and gathering. Paleo gets its name from the Paleolithic hunter/gatherers. With this in mind, we can assume that berries, veggies, and meats are all acceptable. Grains have changed our world. One common thing you hear among Paleo-ists is that our bodies haven't had enough time to develop the means to digest grains. I don't know if I agree with that. Wheat has been around for ages.  You'd think with this much time that we'd be able to digest it. 

Corn is different. Corn came from the "New World". So, unless you are of significant Native American or Indios descent, you probably are not able to digest it well. I know I can't. Corn always messes with my system in ways I won't talk about in this blog. 

" [S]ince farming was unknown, intake of crops like wheat, rice and so on was missing. This actually saved them from a lot of health problems which can occur due to crop consumption. Crops like rice, wheat, barley, corn, oats are responsible for many a hazard. Secondly, these cavemen were not having any access to dairy products, which today are so much a part of our diet." http://www.paleodietfoodlist.net/2011/09/benefits-of-the-paleo-diet/

This is what makes the most sense to me. No animal husbandry, no dairy. No farming, no grains. This makes sense to me. I recently saw this list of foods that were acceptable and not acceptable on the Paleo diet. Let me just state that I am not posting this here as a reference. I'm posting it here because it is ridiculous. 

Allowed Foods

Lean Beef (trimmed of visible fat)
Lean Pork (trimmed of visible fat)
Lean poultry (white meat, skin removed)
Eggs (limit to 6 per week)
Other meats (rabbit, goat etc)
Organ meats (liver, tongue, marrow etc)
Game meat
Fish
Shellfish
Fruits 
Vegetables
Nuts
Seeds

Moderation

Oils (coconut, olive, walnut etc)
Beverages (diet soda, coffee, tea, alcohol etc)
Dried fruits

AVOID (Pay close attention and I'll explain later)

Dairy
Cereal Grains
Grain like seeds
Legumes
Starchy Vegetables
Salt-containing Foods
Fatty Meats
Soft Drinks
Fruit Juices
Sweets

Picture
Let me reiterate that this diet is based on a hunter/gatherer society. If I came across some legumes like peas, I would totally eat those. Picture it: Thousands of years ago, you're a gatherer. You see these green pods and split one open and taste whats inside. Screw that, you just take a bite out of the pod. Guess what. It's delicious.

Why are we banning peas? Seems pretty natural to me! 

Another thing I had issue with on that list was the prohibition of starchy vegetables (tubers). I guarantee that some hunter gatherers were also root eaters. Toss one of those tubers on the fire and you have yourself a darn good meal! We know they ate meat, so they had plenty of fire! Why ban potatoes and sweet potatoes? What did Cassava root ever do to you?

Next they're trying to take out the fatty meats. Go back to that image you had in your head of yourself is a hunter gatherer (if you're female, I assume you're imaging something like this -->

Got that image in your head? Good. Some beefy dude just took down an animal. Add it to some flames and bingo, you have food. Win. I doubt you know when your next meal will be coming from, but heck, lets just cut the fat off that meat and feed it to the dogs. 

Of course that didn't happen! They ate the fatty meats all the time. I understand that this diet has been morphed to benefit our current culture, but that list of foods was just ridiculous.

Now, I know that this diet works, if you don't get too hung up on rules. Not like the Paleolithics had rules about food. Eat whatever is natural. Grains require a lot of refinement, so avoid those. Pretty simple. Don't think you have enough time for this diet, doesn't matter. Most of the foods can be eaten raw. No cooking necessary! After college I didn't have much money. I had a good housing situation because I knew a guy who needed a renter in his extra house. Win. I didn't have transportation so I had to walk to the grocery store. It was only about a mile, but in the summer that weeds out what groceries you can bring home. No frozen or refrigerated foods. Nothing too big, only what I could fit in my backpack. I bought healthy foods because when I was craving junk food, I would be required to eat what I had... or walk a mile to the grocery store. Eating healthier, only eating when I was hungry, and walking a lot (no other real exercise... fail) I lost 50lbs. I've since gained some of it back because I've been traveling around a lot and I began to confuse the words "convenient" and "good". I think it's time to get back on track. So here I go. It's not as hard as you might think... assuming you like fruits and vegetables. :)

2 Comments
Bonnie Gutsch
3/19/2012 12:16:53 am

I'm pretty sure hunter-gatherers didn't have diet soda either. And technically all meats are farmed, except the kind Michelle gets that was literally hunted. haha I agree that list seems ridiculous. I like your walking to the grocery store method better. :-) Good luck!

Reply
Dad
3/19/2012 04:45:51 am

Don't forget that the cave men spent most of their time and energy just finding ways to survive. That means that they expended a lot of energy to gather or hunt their food (exercise). So a high fat diet didn't cause them as much trouble as it does to us. Still the best approach to losing weight and keeping healty-- exercise more, eat less. In my situation I know that a lot more exercise and some appreciable weight loss will improve all of my health problems, from high blood pressure to high cholesterol to high blood sugar. Less TV and more long walks. I have heard that grains are not very good for you, but I don't know if that is definitive or not. More info?

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Blogs I Follow

    Books of Adam
    Hyperbole and a Half
    27b/6
    Life with Mrs. D.
    The Pioneer Woman
    Subscribe to receive email updates!

    Enter your email address:

    Archives

    December 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009

    Categories

    All
    1000 Words A Day
    2009
    2012
    2013
    2014
    28 Days Later
    3g
    42
    4th Of July
    90
    About Me
    Accidents
    Acrylic Nails
    Addict
    Adventure
    Adverts
    Advice
    Aldous Huxley
    Aliens
    Alternate Realities
    America
    American
    Andromeda
    Andromeda Drinking Game
    Arch
    Articles
    Attention
    Aunt
    Austin
    Awesome-ness
    Baking
    Bathroom
    Bathrooms
    Bbc
    Before And After
    Bible
    Birthday
    Blood Meridian
    Books
    Boredom
    Boxes
    Brake Check
    Brave New World
    Bread
    Brontosaurus
    Bubble
    Bumblebee
    Buzz Mcnabb
    Car
    Cars
    Cat
    Cemetery
    Change
    Chocolate
    Chores
    Christmas
    Christoper Eccleston
    Church
    Class
    Clouds
    Coche
    Coffee
    Colorado
    Colors
    Comic Con
    Compassion
    Confessions
    Contest
    Cooking
    Cop
    Cormac Mccarthy
    Crafts
    Creepers
    Critters
    David Tennant
    Daylight Savings Time
    Deer
    Definitions
    Demotivational Poster
    Depression
    Dinosaurs
    Discovery
    Disease
    Doctor Who
    Dog
    Dogs
    Doll
    Douglas Adams
    Dreams
    Drinking Game
    Driver
    Driving
    Duluth
    Dumbledore
    Dumpster Diving
    Dyslexia
    Dystopia
    Economy Fake Nails
    Eggs
    Electricity
    Emotion
    Engagement
    English
    Etymology
    Exploring
    Eyes
    Fail
    Fake
    Fake Nails
    Fall
    Family
    Family Guy
    Family Tree
    Fashion
    Fast Food
    Feet
    Felicia Day
    Fireworks
    First Impressions
    Flash Fiction
    Flickr
    Fondness
    Food
    Forget
    Fortune Cookie
    Fortunes
    Fresh
    Friends
    Games
    Garden
    Generosity
    Gentle Ben
    Google
    Grape Juice
    Greek
    Guys
    Harry Potter
    Health
    Hermits
    Holidays
    Home
    Homesteading
    House
    Houston
    Human
    Hurt
    Husband
    Id
    Ideas
    Irony
    Jeff Goldblum
    Jerk
    Jesus
    Jewel Staite
    Jurassic Park
    Keep Austin Weird
    Kids
    Kismet
    Knitting
    Langauge
    Language
    Las Vegas
    Laughter
    Laziness
    Lemons
    Life
    Lines
    Lists
    Little Moments
    Lost In Space
    Lou Ferrigno
    Love
    Matt Smith
    Mcdonalds
    Michael Crichton
    Michigan
    Microscopes
    Minnesota
    Missouri
    Money
    Monty Python
    Mortal Kombat
    Mothers
    Mothers Day
    Movie
    Movies
    Mr. Darcy
    Multiverse Theory
    Nathan Fillion
    Needlework
    Neil Gaiman
    New Years
    New Years Resolution
    Norse Mythology
    Novel
    Npr
    Obama
    Odin
    Office
    Office Supplies
    Ones We Love
    Orange Juice
    Oranges
    Outbreak
    Paleo
    Paleo Diet
    Paleo Diet Review
    Paleo Food List
    Paleo Review
    Parasites
    Park
    Patchwork
    Penny
    Personality
    Personal Question
    Pests
    Peter S Beagle
    Pets
    Philosophy
    Phone
    Photography
    Picasa
    Pictures
    Pirates
    Pirates Of The Caribbean
    Potc
    President
    Pride And Prejudice
    Priorities
    Psych
    Publish
    Pumpkin
    Pumpkin Pie
    Pumpkin Pie From Scratch
    Puppy
    Question
    Random
    Reading
    Recipe
    Relationships
    Renaissance Festival
    Ren Fest
    Resolution
    Retrospective
    Review
    Road Construction
    Road Trip
    Romance
    Rommy
    Roots
    Rude
    Santa Fe
    Scarborough Faire
    Seattle
    Sewing
    Shenanigans
    Shop N Save
    Short Story
    Sister
    Smitten
    Sociology
    Spirituality
    Stable Economy
    Stargate
    Star Trek
    Stephen King
    St Louis
    St Louis Arch
    St Patricks Day
    Stress
    Subliminal Messages
    Subway
    Sunshine
    Surgery
    Surprise
    Survival
    Tc
    Teleportation
    Telescopes
    Texas
    Thad Allen
    Thanksgiving
    The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime
    The Fly
    The Long Dark Tea-time Of The Soul
    Then And Now
    Theoretical Situations
    Theory
    The Stand
    The Transporter
    Thor
    Thoughts
    Time
    Timeline
    Time Travel
    Tolerance
    Tom Baker
    Towel
    Towel Day
    Tracks
    Traffic
    Trailer
    Travel
    Triage System
    Turkey
    Twitterpated
    Tycho
    Update
    Utopia
    Valentine's Day
    Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
    Walk
    Watership Down
    Wedding
    What I'm Reading
    Winter
    Words
    Work
    Writing
    Yahoo
    Zombie
    Zombocalypse
    Zuul

    RSS Feed

Copyright © 2015 COPYRIGHT Nicole Koves. All rights reserved.