Paleolithic Diet (Hunter/Gatherer)- Anyone else doing it?

i am moving there more and more.

i just read the web sight....
my sister practically cured her son of autism (post vax...he was adopted and she had no choice) by following this diet with him.

my kids have all kinds of spectrum stuff and i have arthritis and bloating and SUGAR ADDICTION.

used to be grains to in a big way, but i have fazed that out over the last year...now sugar.

anyway
i am subbing, and looking for support and info on the paleo diet during the crazy holiday food rush.

cheers!

I am not sure if we are doing a specific paleo diet here, but I think we're on to something similar.

My husband has had a heck of a time losing weight. He was in super shape during his athletic years (mountain biking, martial arts, rock climbing) and weighed in at about 135 lbs and 5'7." He is naturally small framed, and even when at the height of his strength (he never figured out how many pull-ups he could do because he got bored doing so many!) he was really wiry and small.

Now that he has a desk job and has to be in the office all day he'd gotten up to 165 lbs or so, which is right on the cusp of overweight for his height and frame. Despite the fact that he runs for an hour or so three or more times a week his weight has been climbing for the past few years, and nothing he has done has seemed to bring it down. We ate in a way that I considered pretty healthy: all organic, lots of fruit and veggies, non-homogenized dairy, only whole grains (but a lot of these), pasture-raised meat...

Last month he asked if I could cut out starches from his food. I am the main cook of the household and tend to do all the grocery shopping. He wanted to go off all grains, potatoes, and such. This was BIG for him, because in the past he has been extremely reluctant to make any diatary changes.

I was willing to try the no grain and low starch thing, and started adjusting my cooking. I have begun using a lot more meat and eggs. We've always eaten a good amount of vegetables, but I started putting a ton more in his lunch, especially raw. I've cut out almost all the starches and starches that he normally eats (he never had much of a sweet tooth to begin with, thank goodness). The amount of fats originally worried me, but the results have been really amazing!

In a little over one month, with no change in exercise habits (continuing with the running and the little indoor rock climbing we do), he lost 8 pounds, and a couple inches around the waist. He is using preciously unused belt holes, and his pants are becoming too big! He has had bowel issues as long as we can remember, and even those seem to be normalizing. I've kept him well supplied with food at work, and he says that he is never hungry anymore, and that his usual blood sugar issues (hypoglycemic) have not seemed to be as strong.

I'd like to get to know more about the Paleo diet, because it seems like that is along the lines of what we are doing. We do use a small amount of dairy in the form of yogurt and cheese, as well as a good deal of butter, and I'm not sure how that stands for a paleo diet. I know we are not 100% in line with it yet, and I would like to know more about it.

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Weird. I knew before clicking on it it was going to Mark's Daily Apple!

I think this is a good basic diet to structure things around. WE advocate it in our facility. The difference is we don't say lots of meat (neither does Cordain, really.) We say huge amounts of vegetation, some meat, some fruit and some nuts. No dairy. No beans. No soy. I don't have an issue with pastured eggs.

I think cutting out processed food, grains and dairy in general is going to go a LONG way to cultivating health. I personally think you can play a bit with the ratios of the others and eat pretty intuitively. How much you need of the macronutrients and the like will depend on your activity level, and really the focus should always be on nutrition. There are times we may need more of certain micronutrients than others. It is important to realize at all times that food is medicine in it's own rite so no diet out of a book is going to be the end all be all. This is a good place to start though and don't forget to check out The Garden of Eating for a great paleo style cookbook.

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This will always be the take home message. WE all have different requirements at different times. Listening to your body will always yield results (when it's not thrown out of balance by processed food.