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The Paleo Diet

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Gee, so it turns out that it won’t kill you after all:

Even short-term consumption of a Paleolithic-type diet improved glucose control and lipid profiles in people with type 2 diabetes compared with a conventional diet containing moderate salt intake, low-fat dairy, whole grains and legumes.

The biggest nightmare for Big Pharma is that we can treat Type 2 diabetes (which seems to be a diet-related “disease”) with an improved diet.

9 thoughts on “The Paleo Diet”

  2. You had me until “big pharma”.

    Ain’t insulin off patent, and diabetes in general not a big source of profits?

    (It’s more likely that the biggest diabetic nightmare for any pharmaceutical company is their competition coming up with a one-pill cure, though that’s super-unlikely.)

  4. I went on the low carb high fat diet back in Sept. My triglycerides went from 950 to 175. The dr wanted me to take Crestor but I decided not to…my triglycerides have been high since the 1st time I got tested back in ’90, usually in the 500 range. I don’t intake much sugar but I love bread. I cheat now and again…ate a whole pumpkin pie, gobs of mashed taters and stuffing over Thanksgiving and again at Christmas…but stay on diet pretty good.

    1. From my own experiences with a low carb diet the thing which makes you crave bread the most is the folic acid it has because it’s leavened and fortified. Try taking some folic acid supplements when you get the cravings, they should subside a lot.

      Ultimately I gave up on the low carb diet after a couple of years because it was putting too much pressure on my kidneys (probably too much protein and not enough fat). I also got joint pain after those years but it basically subsided with time as I got off the diet.

      Today I don’t think it’s a good idea to single mindedly pursue any diet which excludes any given major food product. I think the Paleo diet is a bit of a misnomer as is the theory as I often hear it. Paleolithic peoples were hunter-gatherers who not only ate meat and fruits, but they also ate roots and nuts as well. You don’t need to cook nuts to eat them. The main difference is nuts have a lot of vegetable oil in them unlike, say, bread. While those roots which are edible raw don’t have enough energy in them that you can just live off them. You can’t live off just on carrots for e.g.

      1. “Paleolithic peoples were hunter-gatherers”

        and if they are anything like the hunter-gatherers in today’s Amazon or Africa, they didn’t eat meat twice a day, nor even every day.

        Watched a documentary once where a western persons stayed with an Amazon tribe, they only caught meat once every three days and then it was just about a handful each once shared across the village families.

        1. Don’t know about the Amazon, but I suspect the meat/human ratio in Africa in the paleolithic era was much higher than today. Same in northern America and Europe prior to agriculture.

          1. Plus we’re probably descended from the really successful hunters who had enough leisure time to become gentleman farmers. ^_^

            “You’re still hunting frogs and salamanders because you suck at hunting.”

  5. I’m living proof. Low carb high fat diet, blood sugars approaching normal range, off insulin now. Dropped over 15 Lbs.
    check out dietdoctors.com, Dr Jason Fung, Dr. Ted Naiman.

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