Going Paleo
I have a questions about Paleo
Upfront warning! Prepare for a Scooter Rant!
Definition from Paleo Site
"Paleo is a simple dietary lifestyle that is based on foods being either in or out. In are the Paleolithic Era foods that we ate prior to agriculture and animal husbandry (meat, fish, shellfish, eggs, tree nuts, vegetables, roots, fruit, berries, mushrooms, etc.). Out are Neolithic Era foods that result from agriculture or animal husbandry (grains, dairy, beans/legumes, potatoes, sugar and fake foods). "
I can certainly see where most grains may be out but seriously, grains are seeds and my guess is that monkey man ate anything he could get in his mouth that didn't kill him/her. If the Paleo Man found a potato does anyone really think he would toss it because it wasn't on his list of approved foods? Sugars are out but there are literally hundreds of sugary foods this early man would have eaten. Sugar cane, Banana stocks, Coconuts etc. and would this pre modern human turn down a nice wild sweet pea? Seriously? They would have ate it for the energy value in a split second. I'd bet my life on it. I mean seriously, and in a joking manor, these people watched a white hard thing come out of a birds butt and they ate it. They would eat anything that didn't kill them. I am not sure what the difference is between meats pre animal husbandry and post animal husbandry but my guess is that if you’re eating beef of any kind the rules are violated. However, beef came from someplace so somewhere some place Paleolithic hunter-gatherers ate a cow.
Second, anyone have a clue what the life expectancy of the Paleo man was? It was short probably from injury and just plain hardship i suppose. Paleolithic hunter-gatherers would, in my estimation, do anything to make life easier. That is why we evolved. If they had the option of smashing open a walnut or getting into an almond vs. the simplicity of eating a pea pod or a potato, I can almost guess where they would go for food.
I can see excluding foods that are created that didn't exist in nature, they are unnatural. And I can see eliminating grains to some extent but tender green wheat might have beena valid food item. If I were a paleo era dude and I found a corn stock, which we know existed back then, I’d eat it raw right off the stock. I can’t imagine a world where they wouldn’t eat it and any scientist that says they wouldn’t is blinded by his own research. The oldest South American cultures ate roots and corn. There are several roots that are all over the world that are genetically traced back to South America. If they had it available, they would eat it.
These fad diets never cease to amaze me. Paleo is really the next generation of Atkins and South beach, just a slightly healthier version.
And now I see people talking on the Google Groups about how to take a bath Paleo style. How do I shave my legs, what do I use in place of soap. OK people, throw out the houses, clothes, toilet paper, toothbrushsed and grow some ....s. Go Paleo full out! I really hope they don't come over my house after a run if they go on a soap strike. Enough of my rant but everywhere I go I see some post on this diet.
LavaRunner,
"OK people, throw out the houses, clothes, toilet paper, toothbrushsed and grow some ....s. Go Paleo full out! I really hope they don't come over my house after a run if they go on a soap strike. "
This from a man who gave up shoes? 
More seriously, again I find paleo eating has about the same reasoning behind it as barefoot running: Don't fight evolution. Or take into account what our bodies were meant to do.
I agree with you about roots. I eat potatoes, carrots and sweet potatoes under the reasoning that they are digestible (if not that tasty) raw. But I'm not sure that grains are digestible raw. I pretty sure you can't just eat raw rice or wheat and get anything out of it. It probably goes right through you (as we all know raw corn does). (Sorry about that imagery.)
So again, if you think of paleo as only eating foods which are digestible uncooked and unprocessed, then its not that complicated, not that crazy, and not that different from the ideas behind barefoot running.
I gave up shoes so my feet wouldn't stink 
Not showering or using soap would ruin the fresh smell 
I agree with you on the premise of eating what would naturally be digestible. There are some grains that I imagine would fall into this category when young and not dried but they would hardly be a staple since they would be very seasonal and many sprouts of those grains certainly would be edible. A hunter Gatherer sort would probably dig into a nice Egyptian wheat-grass bed or maybe some other tender grass sprouts. They might even eat a few soy beans here and there. Corn if chewed is digestible. It is the un-chewed that you must be seeing ROFLMAO
"A hunter Gatherer sort would probably dig into a nice Egyptian wheat-grass bed or maybe some other tender grass sprouts. They might even eat a few soy beans here and there. Corn if chewed is digestible. It is the un-chewed that you must be seeing ROFLMAO"
But those things would have been available for only a very brief time during the year. Seeds sprout, get gathered and shit back into the ground (by humans or animals) in a very short cycle. Until grain storage methods evolved and multi-season harvesting came along, the availability would have been very limited. On the other hand, animals that could survive on what we couldn't eat were very plentiful. I understand the rant, but I buy the Paleo arguments as way more convincing. But I think it comes down to individual tolerance. I personally feel like my intestines will turn inside out if I eat grains, so that makes the diet way more appealing
I loved your rant Scooter. And I'm with you...I'm a "vegitarian" who eats fish and fowl...just to prove the exception of the "veggie" rule, and I find I do better with a little more protien....I pay attention to how food makes my body and mind feel....and sometimes, my mind/emotions demand a chocolate truffle sheet cake...I don't eat beef because I do not like they way it makes me feel AFTER I eat...I LOVE beans and any legume, and I LOVE the way I feel eating them, especially with some nice rich brown rice and a little bit of tumeric. I love greens of all kinds, raw and sauteed...
Life is too short to spend too much time following rules and systems other people made up...weather in morality, or in dietary....find what works for you, and enjoy what you eat/do...if eating Paleo works for you, keep doing it....if trying different diets in the wonderful attitude of experimentation works for you, do it...if diet of twinkies and stout work for you, then chug away 
I won't be following any "diet" anytime in my forseeable life, I will follow the cues of my own body however, to the best of my knowledge and ability.
$0.02 on grains: many are much more digestible if sprouted or fermented, which I don't consider to be heavy processing. Beer is made from sprouted (malted) barley, and malted barley water is IMHO very easily digestible...it was often used as a food for invalids or sick children.
I'm also fond of south indian dosas, which are made from fermented rice and lentils and I find much more digestible than most wheat breads (even good sourdoughs can give me issues, I find).
I'm curious about the giving up foods from grains...think I will try this part first and see what happens. That will be a big change actually and will do it gradually...should be interesting.
$0.02 on grains: many are much more digestible if sprouted or fermented, which I don't consider to be heavy processing. Beer is made from sprouted (malted) barley, and malted barley water is IMHO very easily digestible...it was often used as a food for invalids or sick children.
I'm also fond of south indian dosas, which are made from fermented rice and lentils and I find much more digestible than most wheat breads (even good sourdoughs can give me issues, I find).
We did the whole fermenting/soaking grains thing and finally decided grains just weren't an important part of our diet that we needed to be so complicated about it - and they still made us sick in that form, anyway - I totally support beer as part of any diet, though!
I think Nate nails it. I never decided to "go Paleo" - it was more I discovered what my body could and couldn't tolerate well and it fit the Paleo label pretty well. I used to think everyone should suck it up and eat what was available, but now I feel everyone needs to be their own food detective. There is so much food available, much of it horrendously bad, that it really makes sense for everyone to make an effort to figure out what it optimal for their individual health, be it veg or all meat or whatever. If I have to reject 99% of the food offered to me, either because it doesn't agree with my stomach or it has artificial ingredients and flavors and colors, or too much sugar, I am fine with that.
Found another ultra marathoner who is a raw vegan. I'm really thinking of going this route for my next dietary experiment. I'm fascinated by this since contemporary thought is you either need to be on a standard runner's diet which includes lots of grains or you go low carb and let fat be your fuel. I've done variations on both of these and think I am better off on a fat based diet. Now I'm interested in seeing for myself how people can run long distance and sustain themselves on a diet that is predominately fruit.
startingupagain - have you tried to give up coffee? I have heart issues if I drink enough coffee (runaway heartrate if I push my cardio too high) and I've figured out that forgoing coffee prevents this. For this reason, and even though I love the taste of coffee, I know that my body does not agree with coffee. I've been sticking with green tea lately and I haven't dealt with any HR episodes as of late.
For what its worth, I did have my first large quad caramel latte in over a month today and the effects weren't quite unexpected. My heart rate was increased pretty much all morning long as well as coming down with the shakes. Likewise I became quite gassy and my urine turned a rich yellow. To me this proves that my body does not care for either caffeine, sugar, dairy, or the combination of any of these items. Too bad it tastes so damn good.
Give up coffee! That's crazy talk!
Seriously, no, I haven't tried. I don't have health issues with it if I keep it to two or three cups a day, which I do. But I understand your giving it up. In the same circumstances, I would as well.
(And nothing goes in my coffee but half and half)