I tried something very close to paleo about 2 years ago. I got terrible gout on that diet, due to all the meat (the purines in the meat caused my gout). I probably have a genetic predisposition for gout but all the same I would be careful if you have anyone in your family that suffers from it. After seeing 3 different doctors I was referred to a rheumatologist who helped me control the gout through diet alone (no gout since controlling for diet). I now diet using calorie restriction maintaining sensible carb/protein/fat proportions and all essential micro nutrients which works for me.
I'd be willing to bet it was excess fructose that was causing you gout problems. Our ancestors ate rich, fatty meat and didn't get gout.
http://chriskresser.com/will-eating-a-paleo-diet-cause-gout
Actually I don't really think there is enough evidence to show that my ancestors ate what is called for in the paleo diet. I eat tons of fructose in fruit all the time and it doesn't cause me any gout whatsoever, but I have seen some new studies that show a possible fructose linkage, I would like to see more experiments before deriving any conclusions. I found the two biggest causes of gout episodes were alcohol and purine rich foods (meat, lentils etc.) which jives with medical consensus around the disease. However that said I was told not to cease eating meat because it is still good for me in recommended proportions by a Doctor who specializes in that area.
You're absolutely right. I find it immensely amusing that so many people think our ancestors ate a "low carb" diet1. At least one of the major theories about early human foraging is that it was mostly based on the consumption of tubers, with meat as an occasional supplement. Modern human foragers are all over the place on the animal foods consumption spectrum: the most obvious thing about human foraging is that its about eating rich, complex, hard to extract calorie sources wherever they are found, and it is necessarily opportunistic, not ideal.
Also the thing about fructose is bizarre: we are the descendants of primarily fructivorous animals, one of whose main calorie sources is fructose. We have a beautiful, complex, specialized fructose digestion pathway that screams "adaptation for eating fructose". The problem is there is no ideal food: all diets in ancient history involved massive tradeoffs between starvation and toxins or other digestive or health issues. Even if eating meat turns out to have been our primary calorie source, this may have involved an adaptive tradeoff of the form "stay alive now, eat lots of (dense) calories from fat because by the time you die of heart disease your genes will already have been passed on". Not necessarily a tradeoff that modern humans should accept.
1. I realize that some Paleo-ers are more subtle and talk about grains and legumes as bad carbs, and maybe tubers are good. But how the hell your body tells the difference is beyond me. Both food sources give you complex starches; natural forms of both are loaded with toxins which generally require processing (modern grains and tubers have had this bred out of them).
TL;DR: Actual science about what is good to have in your diet FTW!!
Thanks for those ideas.
It's not a religion or belief system for me. I merely reviewed some very positive studies and looked at lots of people who had amazing results from paleo like eating.
There is probably a reason this style of eating is the most popular "diet" "trend" the last few years. I think it is because it works so good on so many levels.
So my main thing isn't to prove or disprove any science but to see personal positive results. Yes, it is working for me!
Mainly I avoid wheat like the plague and stick to a large variety of lots of veggies, standard meat/fish portions and added fats such as olive oil. I do eat some rice and potatoes to keep carbs up when the whim hits me.
So far I can report --
I am satiated with this food palate
I don't have cravings
I don't count calories
I can skip meals without effort or remembering to eat (actually happens a bit)
I'm dropping fat
I feel pretty darn good
I'm not having weird side effects like insomnia
My craving for beer has diminished to the point I shun it
I can pass up bread, pasta, and most wheat products easily, although my 7 year old son has been forcing me to have a nightly warm brownie and ice cream. Apparently those aren't paleo approved! lol
I'll keep checking in here with my N1 reports as time passes. I'm thinking about shooting for a Whole 30 sprint starting around Sep 9th. Would love to have a 5-9 lb monthly fat drop if possible.
Anyone up to joining me for a Whole 30 challenge starting in September, let me know.
If it works for you, then that's great. No worries.
The only issue I have is with people who claim it "must" work or that it is the "ideal" diet because it's how our ancestors ate. They didn't, necessarily, and in fact, I'd be very surprised if humans in any environment ate any one way. Modern foragers, for example, range from about 20%-95% of calories from meat/fish (cited by some Paleo-ers as an average of 60%, of course, LOL).
Part of the issue here is defining "works" - for you, "works" means it helps you lose fat - that's great. But any ancient diet must have been the opposite, since the primary issue for ancient people was not starving, not avoiding heart disease or building acres of toned muscle. :D
This is another part of the fructose wierdness. There's been this big hoo-hah about the possibility that fructose makes you gain weight, and by-passes your "fullness" signaling system. Of course, if you are an ancient primate, putting on weight was fantastic, and eating loads of fruit was probably necessary for getting enough calories into your diet. That doesn't mean that fructose is "bad" and non-paleo (in the real sense of paleo) - it means it precisely is paleo, and that might be a reason to watch how much you get!
So anyway, it's everyone's right to choose whatever diet seems right to them, of course. I'm just saying that given the disconnect between what modern western people and ancient foragers need from their diets, I suggest not looking to the past to figure out what that diet should be. Current dietary science might give folks a better answer.
Enough paleo-anth nerdiness from over here.
