
Why the Paleo Diet Is Half-Baked (2013) - ca98am79
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-paleo-diet-half-baked-how-hunter-gatherer-really-eat/
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IvyMike
I am convinced that most weight-loss diets that succeed (even if only for a
time) work because they limit you to a subset of foodstuffs.

The diets substitute "have willpower to eat less of everything you already
eat" (which doesn't work for most people) with "limit yourself to this palette
of food that you will get bored of very quickly", which people seem to do
better at.

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jkldotio
I have suspected this for a long time as well; by requiring attention and
planning to get the appropriate items from the limited set permitted by the
diet the real goal, making an evaluation each time you eat, is achieved.

I suspect people cycle through different palettes/diets until they find one
that suits their personal tastes, or until some other stars align in their
life and motivation such that their next attempt was going to succeed anyway.
People then become cargo cult evangelists for that particular diet. That's
without even looking at some of the people who profit from diet fads and
promote them with various techniques.

That's all conjectural on my part though, perhaps one day a researcher that
models memes with techniques from epidemiology will get an appropriate data
set to seriously investigate.

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yetanotherone
All of this highlights the need for more funding towards nutrition science.
It's absurdly hard to do this stuff (e.g., controlling what people eat for a
year), so it's expensive. But given how expensive things like diabetes are, I
think it'd be societally efficient to drop $100M or something on few grand
randomized controlled experiments.

This[1] is the closest thing I'm aware of. You'd sorta hope governments would
make this kind of thing a priority.

[1] [http://nusi.org/the-science/current-science-in-
progress/#.U9...](http://nusi.org/the-science/current-science-in-
progress/#.U9hDvIBdX4J)

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kristiandupont
This strawman is the most common way of "debunking" the paleo diet. It's like
saying that vegetarians should only ever eat vegetables. The article even sort
of acknowledges that:

    
    
      Some Paleo dieters emphasize that they never believed in 
      one true caveman lifestyle or diet and that—in the fashion
      of Sisson's Blueprint—they use our evolutionary past to 
      form guidelines, not scripture. That strategy seems
      reasonably solid at first, but quickly disintegrates.
    

..and then goes on to attack the same strawman.

No doubt there are people out there that think the paleo diet means that you
should live exactly like hunter-gatherers and think they know what that means,
but I think for most people on it (I am not one), that is just inspiration
that leads you to conclude that maybe meat is less dangerous than popular
advice would have you believe, and maybe the better guideline is to avoid food
that's been heavily processed. This certainly feels like what Mark Sisson is
proposing.

~~~
jljljl
The point is that even the guidelines are murky, and that it isn't clear what
foods our "evolutionary past" intended us to eat. The best that the evidence
seems to suggest is that diets varied widely in early humans.

So basing your diet, even loosely, off a false or unclear understanding of the
diets of early hunter gatherers, is probably a worse strategy than following
more contemporary research on the health benefits of different dietary
strategies.

~~~
scythe
>is probably a worse strategy than following more contemporary research on the
health benefits of different dietary strategies.

You've implicitly assumed that the strategy is not also informed by
contemporary research, but the particular framework being criticized, that of
Mark Sisson, makes extensive reference to contemporary research.

In fact, a reader of _Mark 's Daily Apple_ is probably linked to more peer-
reviewed articles than a reader of, say, _Scientific American_. Consider e.g.:

[http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-definitive-guide-to-
resis...](http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-definitive-guide-to-resistant-
starch/#axzz38uSWlbfX)

~~~
jljljl
I'm not attacking Sisson's framework. I haven't read much of his stuff, but
the Primal Blueprint does seem to base a lot of its information off of
assumptions about what Paleolithic hunter gatherers are supposed to have
eaten.

The article above makes a pretty good case for why building your diet from
this foundation may not be the most reliable framework. If Sisson is using the
latest scientific research to develop his system, then fine. But this is
hardly a "Paleolithic" diet then. Why not just say "Avoid processed foods
because they have been shown in numerous studies to have negative effects?"

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js2
I crossfit, a community that is associated with the paleo diet. No one
interprets paleo literally. It's just a buzz word that generally means eat
less processed foods, more fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and healthy fats,
and limit grains. Some folks do cleanse diets first. I've seen folks loose
dozens to hundreds of pounds. For many, this is the first time they've
actually paid attention to what they are eating. And this is really the
important part. Pay attention to what you eat and avoid processed foods as
much as possible. Call it paleo or "clean eating." Who cares.

Aside, I don't think carbs are evil, but they are very energy dense and not
particularly satiating, especially refined carbs (i.e. carbs not from
produce). I run 60 miles a week, crossfit 3-5x a week, and still have to pay
attention to limit calories from refined carbs.

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lipoicacid
Are you including indigestible carbs (fiber) as part of natural whole grain
sources, fruits (pectin), oats (soluble fibers) as part of your "not
particularly satiating" carbs? I spent 6 months on paleo, 12 months on keto,
and 6 months cyclical keto. I have found that complex carbs have helped my
training and weight loss far more than restricting carbs in general. It seems
that proper carb sources are just as satiating as loading my bowels with red
meat (and the outcome is vastly preferred).

~~~
js2
I don't eat red meat but maybe a few times a year. My protein is mostly from
fish, eggs, greek yogurt, fowl, and protein powder/bars sparingly.

I don't find carbs in any form particularly satiating. Unless I have protein
and/or fat with a meal, I'm hungry quickly after. So steel cut oats, not
satiating on their own. But if I add say crushed walnuts to the oats and have
a couple eggs or greek yogurt too, I fine almost till dinner. The more refined
the carbs, the worse it is for me.

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erichmond
These kinds of articles are getting tired. Most people who started paleo years
ago have modified their diets to be more of a "natural foods" diet. The only
people I know who still adhere to a paleo diet are the ones trying to sell
cookbooks, or somehow profit on the name paleo.

Furthermore, if these articles really wanted to help people, they would
explain what pieces of the paleo are bogus, and what pieces make sense,
because the fact is, if most people cut back on processed grain, refined
sugar, and processed seed oils, and doubled down on fresh fruits and
vegetables and solid protein, they would in fact become healthier.

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graeme
Robb Wolf is a prominent voice in the paleo diet movement. It's worth noting
his comment on this article:

\--------

I'm not sure what it says about the broader scientific community that they
seem incapable of actually articulating what has been written by folks in the
Paleo/Ancestral health field?

I adress Pro. Warinner's TED talk here:
[http://robbwolf.com/2013/04/04/debunking-paleo-diet-wolfs-
ey...](http://robbwolf.com/2013/04/04/debunking-paleo-diet-wolfs-eye-view/)

\------

Most debunking of the paleo diet actually attacks a strawman. There ARE some
people who say they eat paleo and follow this strawman, but most don't.

