Tuesday, November 30, 2010

This is from a fan of the show "the Colony" that I was on. He has since started following info here on the blog and places like it. This is an email that he sent me to share. I have added some of my own stuff and what is not original I wrote is in green.

The Paleo Solution

Two weeks ago I embarked on an experiment to figure out if there is any truth to the Paleo diet (as in “daily intake of food” kind of diet, not just a way to lose weight). This diet piqued my interest because the guy i heard it from (Adam Ticknor) is a personal trainer/retired Marine scout sniper and was in great shape. No diet has ever sucked me in before because they are not geared toward athletes and feature emaciated models who probably don’t eat anything. You can learn some more about it on Adam’s blog and decide for yourself.

To give you perspective, my diet has always been “great” as considered by current advisories of nutrition. I eat a lot of whole grains, fruits, veggies, and low fat milk. All of it is organic, and I never eat fast food or cokes.

But before I go over the results, here are some of the highlights of the theory behind Paleo, so that you can have a brief idea of what it’s about:

* The rules are simple: you can only eat meat, veggies, fruits, and nuts. No dairy (until your gut heals), grains, (Yes that includes OMG WTF!?! WHOLE GRAINS TOO!?!?!?!?!?!) or legumes.

* The USDA food pyramid is horse crap. Bear in mind it was produced in 1994 and modeled on research older than that. It’s produced by the United States Department of Agriculture, the regulatory body created to ensure that the U.S. agricultural commodities (like corn, soy, and wheat) are profitable (small conflict of interest?). It is this same body that is responsible for most of the “nutritional” information being taught.

* Grains and sugars are generally high glycemic foods that trigger your body to release insulin, which signals the body to store fat and slowly increase insulin resistance (you may have heard of a “rare disease called Type II diabetes here in the US).

* Many foods (grains especially) contain gluten, a protein that appears in many grains (and an astonishing amount of everyday foods). Gluten aggravates thenative flora of your intestinal tract/gut (see celiac disease), causing a variety of problems until the gut can heal itself. Many autoimmune diseases and bowel problems (Chrohn’s, IBS, celiac, etc..) have been completely resolved by following a Paleo diet.Gluten is one of many similar proteins that tap dance on your gut lining. There are many different versions but they show up in grain type plants and grain fed meats. Eat grass fed!

* Here’s an illustration to understand why grains are bad: most fruits “want” to be eaten. Why? Because when the animal (or American fatso) eats them and takes a crap, they’re spreading the seeds (which are protected from our stomach acids and enzymes) and even are so polite as to fertilize them. Grains are the opposite. If they are consumed, that is the end of the road. They will not survive the stomach and will be rendered inert in the feces. Thus, the grains have natural toxins in them to discourage being eaten (Most of you will see the word “toxins” and think, ‘well gee, I haven’t rolled over dead from poisoning.’ Not those kind of toxins; think “irritants”). Notice how organic meat is grass fed instead of grain fed? The principle is the same.He says see them as irritants. I say see them as TOXINS. These are not irritating, they destroy, think having a rock in your shoe and walk 20 miles. At first it is an irritant. Then it is a full on foot destroyer. You will have a hole in your bloody foot if you did this. Because Gluten is in EVERYTHING it is a toxin.

* Eating fat does not make you fat, and it is in fact both beneficial and necessary. It is the carbs from grains that cause this. Carbs, whether complex or simple are ultimately turned into glucose, which again causes increased insulin levels and storage of fat. Notice how most people eating low fat/lots of whole grains can’t lost any weight?Most things will stimulate insulin. The more insulin you stimulate the greedier your fat gets. Grains, sugars rices stimulate a lot of insulin, irritate/damage the gut (toxin the gut) then don't offer a great deal of nutrients in return. It is a you provide and sacrifice and the grain does not.

* Your body can use both proteins and fats to make glucose (rather than carbs), which is necessary for brain function.

If you know anything about nutrition, you know that the previous highlights are the equivalent of telling a mathematician that 2 + 2 does not equal 4; it is both shocking and difficult to believe.

That is why I have offered my body up as a human experiment.


I began this experiment weighing in at 180 pounds. I was not in very good shape (by my standards), but certainly not overweight at 6’1; most people would call me “skinny”.

Within 7 days I hit 172. Yes, that is 8 pounds dropped in 7 days.

My initial instinct told me it was merely water weight, but that proved to be incorrect.

Not only did my weight stay there, but as the diet continued, I lost even more weight eventually bottoming out at 170 at the end of the 2 weeks. A concerted effort was made to eat similar portion sizes in order to be getting the same number of calories, and I also abstained from exercise.

How did I feel?

The first few days were rough, I won’t lie. No matter how much food I ate, I felt constantly hungry. I didn’t have much energy, and my head felt cloudy. If you’ve ever fasted it was very similar in nature.

Obviously it is difficult to withhold yourself from most of your favorite foods. In The Paleo Solution, Robb Wolf discusses that there are receptors that are bound by carbs that are the same ones that bind heroin and cocaine, so you can be literally addicted to those foods. This definitely seemed true because of how crappy I felt. According to Robb, this is also the period that your gut is healing.

After several days of this, it seemed to clear up. I felt great, I wasn’t tired after work, and I was sleeping well. My pooping became very regular, and was always firm and required no toilet paper (I still wiped just to be sure ;).

Don’t say I was never real with you….

Toward the end of the diet, my body began adjusted, and I was craving healthier foods.

As a point of interest, I did violate the diet once. Just over a week into the diet, I ate at a dinner that was being held for my cousin, and not wanting to be insulting, I ate a couple rolls and some grits.

Guess what happened?

Within an hour of the meal I had fairly intense bloating, which was followed by loose stool. The day after I catered a wedding. I had to poop 4 times during it, and with 0 being “the meat in that burrito looked really undercooked” and 10 being “did someone just hit me in the balls with a baseball bat?” my stomach felt somewhere between 8 or 9.

The biggest overall problem is the sheer shock of trying to view food completely differently. Cooking is pretty easy when you can always make a casserole, throw some meat and cheese on some bread, or throw a pizza in the oven. Your menu significantly shrinks when you can’t have grains or dairy. I had no clue how many carbs I was eating, not just on a daily basis but every meal.

I found myself eating a lot of plain veggies, fruits, meats, and nuts. Water gets old after awhile. Sharing a fridge with people that are not bound by the same rules makes it even more difficult. As you eat your broccoli, asparagus, squash, and trout while everyone else is eating burritos, burgers, and pizza, it is a bit demoralizing.

I purchased a Paleo cookbook and have learned some new tricks about trying to spice things up (literally). I found that if you prepare a lot of your food over the weekend, you’ll be a lot less tempted to crumble when you come home from work hungry and tired.

What are the implications?

I was blown away by the amount of fat I cut (and that was without exercise). I was consuming more meat than usual (and thus more fat), and still lost weight. I think the information about high glycemic foods is fairly obvious and is even available on Wikipedia. It’s a simple logical deduction that if something makes you fat, it’s probably not good.

My system is probably a bit more sensitive than most (my Grandmother has Celiac disease), so maintaining a 100% strict Paleo diet is maybe not necessary for some. However, I would advise everyone to try it for 30 days and see how you feel. You’ve got nothing to lose.

Personally, I enjoyed the discipline of it (I have some sadistic tendencies), and I know I felt better. Since the trial stage of the diet ended, I found myself desiring foods with grains less, as my body almost seemed altered from the experience. I plan on starting the diet back soon and will post an update about my progress soon.

*As a caveat, it is of interest to note the reactions of individuals that I have discussed Paleo with. Most people react with obvious shock at the intensity of what the diet requires. Some are brave enough to admit they aren’t willing to give grains up, which is in line with most Americans (and we’re seeing how well that’s working out). It’s sad that a lot of people constantly complain about their weight, how they feel, being depressed, and when presented with an option that could help them, it is dismissed because it’s “too hard” or “it can’t be right to not eat grains.”The begining sucks. week one grumpy and tired, week two bitchy and assholish, week 3 ahhhhh week 4 superstar. This is a lifestyle not a diet. Once you do it and figure it out life gets easier in almost every aspect. If you look, feel and perform better you will be more successful in life.

Thanks for sharing

7 comments:

  1. The Paleo Solution is the book written by Rob Wolff. He also has a podcast called the paleolithic solution

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  2. For those wanting to investigate more info on gluten, there is a lab in Dallas, TX that is the best for doing gluten tests. Now, basically you'll see that even in their info, they say EVERYONE should cut it out, not just those diagnosed with a sensitivity, so even they are basically saying, save your money, why even get the test...

    BUT it may be worth it to some people to spend the money and see on paper the results of their gluten test, stick it on the fridge, realize how one brush with gluten can set them back from the approx 6-12 months average of gut healing (yes 6-12 months!) etc. (Adam you probably disagree but I bet some people need 'authorative results' as motivator, whatever works for them)

    Hee is the site - their Q&A section has some great technical info that anyone would benefit from if interested

    enterolab.com

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  3. Yes I disagree.
    I want to empower people, not have them give their power away. I dont want them to give away their power to someone else. That was my issue with the whole Obama concept which was hope not empowerment. I prefer experiential based education. If we tell them they can get information they will collect it but do nothing with it. Make them do it success is about doing not thinking.

    So for everyone get out there and quit fucking around. Stop eating grains, bread, rices, pastas, beans, legumes and sugar. Dont screw around with your sleep and see how you look feel and perform.

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  4. i'm going to chime-in here in support of experiential based, applied learning/education. i've been a professional health care provider for over 16 years. in patient education one of the biggest challenges is NOT the availability or dissemination of information, it is APPLICATION & COMPLIANCE - - how do we access and inspire internal motivation to institute change and external support during that process to maintain tenacity of spirit/mind throughout the entire process??? these tasks are not easy but having information alone is NOT enough - - it must be applied.

    unfortunately, at present, the information supporting paleo is not widely known or is misunderstood. personally, upon first hearing "no grains", i thought it was akin to the atkin's high protein diet but after a little research realized i'd prematurely judged. i've been paleo now for 11 months after 22 years of being vegetarian/vegan. using myself as a guinea pig i am convinced of it's validity from personal experience and hearing/reading Loren Cordain & Robb Wolf's work. i've also begun to include it in my metabolic syndrome (diabetic/heart disease cluster) and auto immune disease patient education.

    anecdotally, it seems to me that those that need it most find it hardest to maintain compliance - - i include myself in that group (the first 6 mos was HARD!!!) my present hope is that we can get this information more widely disseminated AND applied. and also figure out how it can be done sustainably (a whole other topic!!!)

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  5. It's all about breaking your own will. Eventually your view of food is completely transformed. If you have enough gut irritation, you won't even desire the same foods because you know you will be miserable.

    The way I look at it? I can eat food that is perhaps not my favorite in the world for an hour and a half every day, but feel awesome for the other 15 that I am living life.

    Like most things in life, you really can't have it both ways.

    *As a side note, it is fascinating (and really pathetic) that you'll introduce this kind of information to family, friends, co-workers who are overweight, low energy, and unhappy people, and they'll react with such derision that you'll think you suggested genocide to them. People are so hopelessly addicted to carbs/gluten containing products that it is not worth feeling great all day to deny themselves that stupid hour and a half they spend eating every day.

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  6. I wasn't sure which would be the best place to share this info, but this seems as good as any:

    Something not well advertised that is often hidden is something called "inulin" (no, not insulin...inulin).

    I found out about it from http://is.gd/iHwl3
    I don't claim that the info there is the best source. It's just where I heard about it.
    Each person should do their own research, but it's definitely something look into.

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