The PhoneBoy Blog

Paleolithic Diet

24 Jul 2005

After over a year of being on Atkins (much to the surprise of my wife), and having it be somewhat successful at it, I wasn’t necessarily looking for a new diet. However, I have been kind of “stuck” at around 216 pounds for over 6 months. I’d like to lose another 20 pounds or so.

While I’m not sure exactly how I got to this place, Paleolithic Diet contains a whole mess of resources about eating paleolithicly, i.e as our ancestors did prior to the discovery of agriculture and farming. After reading a few of the articles here, I am convinced that this approach makes sense.

If you actually look at Atkins, it’s actually not all that different from Paleolithic eating, at least in the later phases. The big “problem” on Atkins is controlling carbs, even from potentially healthy sources like fruits and vegetables. I guess this is where the South Beach Diet comes in.

The basic tenents of the paleolithic eating lifestyle are:

1. Would the food in question be available to me if I was stuck out in nature with nothing but a few simple tools (e.g. a sharpened stick, rocks)?

   • Can I eat the food in question in its raw, unaltered, unprocessed form, extracting the nutrients from it without becoming ill?</ol> Basically this means you can eat:

     • Meat (yes, you can eat raw meat, but you probably shouldn’t)
       • Fruit
         • Vegetables
           • Nuts (except for ones considered legumes, e.g. peanuts and cashews)
             • Dairy (certain items)
               • Honey (in small quantities)
                 • Eggs

                   • </ul> But wouldn’t eat/drink:

                     • Grains (wheat, corn) or anything made with grains (e.g. bread)
                       • Legumes (e.g. beans, peanuts and cashews)
                         • Tube Roots (e.g. potatoes and potato-like things)
                           • Sugar or sugar substitutes (Yes, that includes Splenda or Aspertame)
                             • Dairy
                               • Alcohol (though a small amount is okay)
                                 • Just about all processed foods

                                   • Fruit Juice (even 100% varieties)</ul> Now you’ll notice that Dairy is listed in both lists. There are differing opinions on Dairy. Those that do say dairy is okay limit you to cheese, butter, and cream. Given what I had been eating on Atkins, it basically means I need to eat more fruits and veggies and not be as concerned about the carbs that might come from these. I should probably cut back on the dairy products I eat per above. I am also trying to cut back/eliminate stuff sweetened with artificial sweetners.

                                     Today, I went to the store and bought a bunch of fruit. I bought some veggies, but I had really been missing fruit lately so that’s what I bought a lot of. I even bought a coconut (at my son’s request). I basically had fruit for dinner. Yum.