Paleo?

[Rosa]

I am liking that theory.

See I think thats the thing, if you are a person who can have "a little bit of chocolate" you are probably not someone who has to worry about their diet. There is no half way for me, its all the chocolate, or none of the chocolate! Much prefer how I feel on none of the chocolate

[Dr Know]

I am liking that theory.

See I think thats the thing, if you are a person who can have "a little bit of chocolate" you are probably not someone who has to worry about their diet. There is no half way for me, its all the chocolate, or none of the chocolate! Much prefer how I feel on none of the chocolate

I didn't used to be able to just have one square of chocolate, but I can now because that extremely profound comment of Kate Moss' always plays on my mind 'nothing tastes as good as being thin feels'

[Dr Spouse]

I was reading a bit about this and it seems to be based on some random made up notion of what cave men actually ate and also on the idea that our bodies have not changed at all (plus, of course, the blood type thing is also based on random non-connecting information).

Apparently cave men ate a lot more grains than this diet would have you believe (they just didn't grow them) and also most European people have evolved since then to be able to eat dairy perfectly well (though not necessarily people from other parts of the world).

We don't even know what changes our bodies have made to fit in with other changes in the diet since then - the Mediterranean diet and the traditional Japanese diet for example both seem to be very good at keeping people healthy and both include a lot of grains and not a huge amount of meat, and the Mediterranean diet includes a reasonable amount of dairy, especially cheese.

The main thing about these types of restrictive diets is that to follow them you have to eat less processed foods, you have to cook more, and you have to think more about what you eat.

[bisy backson]

i think its a really interesting concept - agree with dr spouse on the skepticism about whether its based on fact or fiction - but imho anything that gets people thinking (and talking) about what they put in their mouths, and making healthier choices because of it is a win in my opinion.

I don't follow this to the letter, but i follow the concept - mainly as that's how my eating has evolved over the past couple of years, till finally last week i stopped eating all sugar, & cut out 99.9999% of processed foods.

i can't tell you how much better i feel for it, loads more energy, as someone else said, don't overeat, don't binge in the evenings any more - which was always my sticking point.

i eat a slice of toast for breakfast (cos i couldn't work out what else to have my poached egg on), but haven't eaten anything else out of a packet or box (except the odd tic tac or two ) and it feels amazing. I didn't get pmt this week when normally i would be raging and agree, i've been out to restaurants and always managed to find something that doesn't involve rice or pasta or hard cheese or flour (which i haven't eaten for probably around 6 months now anyway) and i think once this settles into your 'belief' system, it becomes a natural way of eating anyway.

i don't think of it as a 'diet' at all, for me its part of a philosophy about how i want to treat my body (for me goes hand in hand with lots of exercise) so just my mind to cleanse now!

bbxx

[DillyDally]

I was reading a bit about this and it seems to be based on some random made up notion of what cave men actually ate and also on the idea that our bodies have not changed at all (plus, of course, the blood type thing is also based on random non-connecting information).

Apparently cave men ate a lot more grains than this diet would have you believe (they just didn't grow them) and also most European people have evolved since then to be able to eat dairy perfectly well (though not necessarily people from other parts of the world).

We don't even know what changes our bodies have made to fit in with other changes in the diet since then - the Mediterranean diet and the traditional Japanese diet for example both seem to be very good at keeping people healthy and both include a lot of grains and not a huge amount of meat, and the Mediterranean diet includes a reasonable amount of dairy, especially cheese.

The main thing about these types of restrictive diets is that to follow them you have to eat less processed foods, you have to cook more, and you have to think more about what you eat.

I agree, Dr S, and the bit of your post I've put in bold is why plans like this 'work'

[cheeky_biscuit]

I don't think cutting out a food group is healthy.
I've just started an intashape program with my gym
http://www.intashape.com/index.php - I don't know what the program is like on the website, it looks like you have to pay.
and it all makes perfect sense - it's all about targetting fat loss, rather than weight loss - so you lose the bad weight & keep your good lean mass.
Basic idea is to have no meals with more than 10g of fat, 3 balanced meals/per day, a mid morning & mid afternoon fruit snack, and an evening snack if you are hungry (fruit/pickles).
I've been doing this for about 10 days now and have lost an inch off my waist (haven't done the other measurements).

[bisy backson]

I don't think cutting out a food group is healthy.

well depends if its a food group, or just an unhealthy part of it. Refined & processed food isn't good for you so sticking to natural food, rather than low fat stuff, which is often hugely processed, full of chemicals & preservatives and sugar/artificial sweeteners, has got to be better for you?

not picking a fight btw, just saying how i see it.

i was reading about something that said you should go for food that has five ingredients or less. once you start looking at labels it becomes clear fairly quickly which food is 'better' (ie less full of chemicals, additives, preservatives etc)

goes back to what i was saying on the other thread - all you need to do to lose 'weight' is make sure you take in less calories than you expend to create a deficit.

the only way you will lose fat and maintain (or grow) muscle is by weight training - diet alone won't achieve this. (i think but correct me if i'm wrong ) which is why/how you can get leaner but still increase your bodyweight - and is also the only reason you can be sure you've done this is to have your body fat % measured (with callipers) rather than just weighing yourself.

(sorry, i know i'm on my soapbox but its a current area of interest and research for me!)

bbxx

[cheeky_biscuit]

i was reading about something that said you should go for food that has five ingredients or less. once you start looking at labels it becomes clear fairly quickly which food is 'better' (ie less full of chemicals, additives, preservatives etc)

I totally agree with you bisy - it's the way we live here - so I don't think about it, you know when it's 2nd nature.
We use stock cubes but everything else is home cooked, unprocessed (does low fat natural yoghurt count as unprocessed?), soups, cheese is cheddar, brie, parmesan, mozerrella (not low fat, eaten in moderation), snacks are fresh fruit.
I think we've got a lot of the same thoughts bisy - I never weigh myself.

[DillyDally]

well depends if its a food group, or just an unhealthy part of it.

It's a whole food group All grains (so no wholegrain cereals, brown rice etc either) and all dairy. Oh, and alcohol (is that a food group ). My friend doesn't quite manage that

[bisy backson]

It's a whole food group All grains (so no wholegrain cereals, brown rice etc either) and all dairy. Oh, and alcohol (is that a food group ). My friend doesn't quite manage that

ah sorry, i thought for some reason c-b was talking about carbs sorry!

actually i never thought about grains as a food group - but i don't eat grains either (not as a protest against cruelty to grains but have gradually naturally eliminated them from my diet - apart from that one slice of bread of course!) and i would say i'm probably the healthiest person i know (not showing off but its true - it's a very very rare day that i'm sick, and i don't take any supplements either).

Dairy, thought, is a different matter and i think you'd have to think very carefully before eliminating that

c-b have a look on the yoghurt ingredients and you'll see - i eat low fat or fat greek yoghurt and it only contains milk, cream and cultures. and is YUM with a bit of honey! certainly not what i'd classify as processed but i'm not claiming to be a purist! i eat feta cheese too but not any other cheese. unless its really creamy runny brie....

i do have an issue with sushi though, and am currently trying to come up with a way to justify the (white ) rice in that!

bbxx