Pseudo CoupPosts: 2,698
Posted: 4 Jul 2011, 10:54amSubject: The (Paleo) Diet and Fitness Thread
First off, apologies for the horrible belatedness of this post. I have no exceptional reason. I have been adjusting to a fairly different personal and work schedule in my life, but I have still spent considerable free time procrastinating. Ironically, my diet has also been comparatively poor for the last few weeks, which has effected my energy levels, but I only have myself to blame for that.
Due to the fact that the paleo lifestyle is, these days, considered contrarian, I expect some questions and counter arguments. Bring it on. I feel pretty comfortable on this subject.
Ostensibly the diet is quite simple. It is based heavily on the tenets of evolutionary theory and our knowledge of historical diets and practices, with some refinement through modern science. The idea is, basically, that the body has not evolved properly to anything made after the birth of the agricultural revolution. To not make the naturalistic fallacy, this does not mean that all things post agricultural revolution are bad, but the vast majority of foods present nutritional issues for our slowly evolving bodies and minds.
At its base level is this simple message: the only foods you can assuredly eat, ever, are.... Meat (Red/White/Fish), Vegetables, Fruit (Seasonal = Better), Seeds and Nuts. If you stuck to eating those and those alone you would be healthier than the vast majority of people on the planet even if I told you nothing more. But there is far more to it.
Meat
I’m not going to spend time here telling you why Red Meat = Cancer studies are bullshit, I’ll link to that stuff, suffice it to say they are shoddy science bullshit. Red meat should become your best friend on this diet, protein is king. Basically, so long as you have a moderately active life, the general axiom is to aim for about 1 gram of protein for every POUND you weigh per day...not kilo, pound....All sources of red meat are solid. I love game meat, it may take some effort for others to adjust. All sources of white meat are solid. Fish is really fucking good for you, though mercury in the waters is actually a real problem, so don’t eat so much you poison your brain.
Vegetables
Smash them. Smash them like I want you to smash meat. They are really fucking good for you. They also contain more fibre than bread. Which is good, because bread and cereals are the devil, and this means you will not only still shit well, you will shit better than you used to. TMI time: when properly eating paleo, my shits take about as much time as my pisses, and I have no wipe up, just clean snaps. Sorry, thought you should all know. Also, for guys, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli and the like) increase testosterone, and for all sexes they are excellent for fighting cancer.
Fruit
Fruit is an excellent source of energy and is also great for fighting cancer, but I am of the camp that says smashing too much fruit will do damage to attempts at losing weight (assuming you are getting enough calories from other sources). Obviously most fruits are almost pure sugary carbs. A little fruit each day, or throughout the week is excellent for your health though. I’m big on berries. Taste wise, health wise and better for weight wise.
Seeds and Nuts
Natures superfood or whatever. High in protein, fat (gooood fat), and carbs. Again don’t overdo, but a handful of walnuts a day can be very good for you. They are an excellent source of Omega 3, and Omega 3 fats really are all they are hyped up to be. Get them in to you.
Exceptions
Some times I can get down with sweet potato/normal potato and other tubers etc. But I would advise mostly as a post workout meal. Carbs post workout, assuming you are trying to build muscle/strength can be very useful.
Cheat Meals
Try not to cheat too often but I would say this; though I would try not doing any cheating for the first two weeks of this new diet as the body fully adjusts, somewhere in the future you are going to want to cheat, or you are going to be out with friends at two in the morning and eating shit food is the only option. Just fucking do it, without any guilt pains. If you get so up tight about cheating you will eventually fall to temptation and spend the next week gourging on chocolate and other shit. This is the problem with most people on restrictive diets, they get absurdly up tight and fail.
Alcohol
Is not paleo, obviously, but fuck all that noise. I’m not asking you to be a saint. My way around this, as a binge drinker, is fairly simple: I try to only drink straight spirits and red wine. Scotch is my friend. On the rocks is obviously fine.
Not Food and Drink Paleo Stuff
Sleep
SLEEP. Sleep Well. 6-8 hours a night, in a room that lets in no unnatural light, and contains no unnatural light within it. No radios, no televisions, no media sources on anywhere distracting your chimp mind. This has been harder for me than I expected, but it is important. Yes I go on the odd three day crack bender. Fuck you.
Fitness
I have a great deal of respect for Crossfit, even though I haven’t done it in 6 months. But that is mostly a poverty thing. If you aren’t as poverty stricken as I have been in 2011 then I suggest you go see Ben Norman at West Hindmarsh and see how fucking good that program is. Apart from that I’m about to start trying the Leangains model of fitness, and I will report back. They are the only two camps I read up on these days, as they seem to be the most solidly paleo, and they both appear to be getting fantastic results. I will link to Martin Berkhan’s Leangains site at the end.
Intermittent Fasting
Okay this is still food related. You don’t have to be like me, but as part of my A) Immense respect for Robb Wolf and B) My recent decision to adopt Leangains, I will be intermittent fasting. Again. I used to do this, before I spent too much of the last couple of months being lax with my diet as I adjusted to changes in my schedule. Essentially it means I don’t eat between about 8PM and 1PM the next day...then I eat all my fucking food in a 7 hour burst of destruction. I won’t explain this to you, if you get that far you will get as far as reading the links to Wolf and Berkhan that I leave here. They are better at it than me.
Supplements
Most supplements are bullshit/unnecessary. There are two exceptions. Vitamin D. We clearly don't get as much sun as we used to, and this makes us sad pandas, get some sun in tablet form. Far more than is advised on the side of the bottle. I smash about 5 a day....Omega 3. On days I don't eat a lot of salmon or eat some grass fed cow, I drink omega 3 liquid, it tastes like ass, but it is very good for you and it is stronger, ratio wise, than any of the tablets sold in hippy stores around this fine nation.
Links...in the next post up a bit later in the day, not much later, because I’m still waiting for some things to upload to google docs.
Due to the fact that the paleo lifestyle is, these days, considered contrarian, I expect some questions and counter arguments. Bring it on. I feel pretty comfortable on this subject.
Ostensibly the diet is quite simple. It is based heavily on the tenets of evolutionary theory and our knowledge of historical diets and practices, with some refinement through modern science. The idea is, basically, that the body has not evolved properly to anything made after the birth of the agricultural revolution. To not make the naturalistic fallacy, this does not mean that all things post agricultural revolution are bad, but the vast majority of foods present nutritional issues for our slowly evolving bodies and minds.
At its base level is this simple message: the only foods you can assuredly eat, ever, are.... Meat (Red/White/Fish), Vegetables, Fruit (Seasonal = Better), Seeds and Nuts. If you stuck to eating those and those alone you would be healthier than the vast majority of people on the planet even if I told you nothing more. But there is far more to it.
Meat
I’m not going to spend time here telling you why Red Meat = Cancer studies are bullshit, I’ll link to that stuff, suffice it to say they are shoddy science bullshit. Red meat should become your best friend on this diet, protein is king. Basically, so long as you have a moderately active life, the general axiom is to aim for about 1 gram of protein for every POUND you weigh per day...not kilo, pound....All sources of red meat are solid. I love game meat, it may take some effort for others to adjust. All sources of white meat are solid. Fish is really fucking good for you, though mercury in the waters is actually a real problem, so don’t eat so much you poison your brain.
Vegetables
Smash them. Smash them like I want you to smash meat. They are really fucking good for you. They also contain more fibre than bread. Which is good, because bread and cereals are the devil, and this means you will not only still shit well, you will shit better than you used to. TMI time: when properly eating paleo, my shits take about as much time as my pisses, and I have no wipe up, just clean snaps. Sorry, thought you should all know. Also, for guys, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli and the like) increase testosterone, and for all sexes they are excellent for fighting cancer.
Fruit
Fruit is an excellent source of energy and is also great for fighting cancer, but I am of the camp that says smashing too much fruit will do damage to attempts at losing weight (assuming you are getting enough calories from other sources). Obviously most fruits are almost pure sugary carbs. A little fruit each day, or throughout the week is excellent for your health though. I’m big on berries. Taste wise, health wise and better for weight wise.
Seeds and Nuts
Natures superfood or whatever. High in protein, fat (gooood fat), and carbs. Again don’t overdo, but a handful of walnuts a day can be very good for you. They are an excellent source of Omega 3, and Omega 3 fats really are all they are hyped up to be. Get them in to you.
Exceptions
Some times I can get down with sweet potato/normal potato and other tubers etc. But I would advise mostly as a post workout meal. Carbs post workout, assuming you are trying to build muscle/strength can be very useful.
Cheat Meals
Try not to cheat too often but I would say this; though I would try not doing any cheating for the first two weeks of this new diet as the body fully adjusts, somewhere in the future you are going to want to cheat, or you are going to be out with friends at two in the morning and eating shit food is the only option. Just fucking do it, without any guilt pains. If you get so up tight about cheating you will eventually fall to temptation and spend the next week gourging on chocolate and other shit. This is the problem with most people on restrictive diets, they get absurdly up tight and fail.
Alcohol
Is not paleo, obviously, but fuck all that noise. I’m not asking you to be a saint. My way around this, as a binge drinker, is fairly simple: I try to only drink straight spirits and red wine. Scotch is my friend. On the rocks is obviously fine.
Not Food and Drink Paleo Stuff
Sleep
SLEEP. Sleep Well. 6-8 hours a night, in a room that lets in no unnatural light, and contains no unnatural light within it. No radios, no televisions, no media sources on anywhere distracting your chimp mind. This has been harder for me than I expected, but it is important. Yes I go on the odd three day crack bender. Fuck you.
Fitness
I have a great deal of respect for Crossfit, even though I haven’t done it in 6 months. But that is mostly a poverty thing. If you aren’t as poverty stricken as I have been in 2011 then I suggest you go see Ben Norman at West Hindmarsh and see how fucking good that program is. Apart from that I’m about to start trying the Leangains model of fitness, and I will report back. They are the only two camps I read up on these days, as they seem to be the most solidly paleo, and they both appear to be getting fantastic results. I will link to Martin Berkhan’s Leangains site at the end.
Intermittent Fasting
Okay this is still food related. You don’t have to be like me, but as part of my A) Immense respect for Robb Wolf and B) My recent decision to adopt Leangains, I will be intermittent fasting. Again. I used to do this, before I spent too much of the last couple of months being lax with my diet as I adjusted to changes in my schedule. Essentially it means I don’t eat between about 8PM and 1PM the next day...then I eat all my fucking food in a 7 hour burst of destruction. I won’t explain this to you, if you get that far you will get as far as reading the links to Wolf and Berkhan that I leave here. They are better at it than me.
Supplements
Most supplements are bullshit/unnecessary. There are two exceptions. Vitamin D. We clearly don't get as much sun as we used to, and this makes us sad pandas, get some sun in tablet form. Far more than is advised on the side of the bottle. I smash about 5 a day....Omega 3. On days I don't eat a lot of salmon or eat some grass fed cow, I drink omega 3 liquid, it tastes like ass, but it is very good for you and it is stronger, ratio wise, than any of the tablets sold in hippy stores around this fine nation.
Links...in the next post up a bit later in the day, not much later, because I’m still waiting for some things to upload to google docs.
"There is a most absurd and audacious method of reasoning avowed by some bigots and enthusiasts, and through fear assented to by some wiser and better men; it is this. They argue against a fair discussion of popular prejudices, because, say they, tho' they would be found without any reasonable support, yet the discovery might be productive of the most dangerous consequences. Absurd and blasphemous notion."
