Paleo is not magic, just sensible.

Love this post by Skylar Tanner on the realities of a paleolithic / caveman / primal diet.

"why do I generally follow a paleo diet and encourage my clients to do the same? For my clients, it is for the reasons I listed above: increased protein and fat lead to a spontaneous reduction in caloric intake. On top of this, most people are eating a shit-tastic western diet to begin with, so any move toward preparing food themselves whilst eating more fresh fruit and veggies is a step in the right direction. Once they’re prepping their food, a person learns what real portion sizing is, reducing their crappy food chemical consumption, and, sometimes, learn to like different foods they never considered. A nice side effect is that people seem to unlearn the notion of “clean your plate”and stop eating when satisfied."

(*snort* "most people are eating a shit-tastic western diet to begin with")

"There’s nothing magic about paleo diets: increased fats and protein mean increased satity. Increased fresh ingrediants, better food prep, less processed crap."

Good points, (and I concur) though I agree more with Dr. Dan over At Darwin's Table:

"The controversial point he makes that I know will ruffle some feathers is that weight is all a matter of calories in vs calories out. I have written a post on this which can be found here. Speaking of simplistic arguments I think that this is definitely one that needs to be reconsidered by scientists. Obviously, energy and calories are important and saying that they are not is a little extreme. But we are not robots we are biological entities and therefore there is far more complex systems at work that can’t be explained by such a simple equation. "

I agree. Gary Taubes in his book Good Calories, Bad Calories talks about the importance of FAT and how you can eat an 1800 calorie diet of fat-full foods and lose weight but stall out on an 800 calorie diet packed with carbs. How can this be if it's just calories in / calories out?



"As for learning about portion controls. I still have huge meals and yet now I am losing weight. I have eaten limited calories in the past and not lost weight but on paleo it IS easier. What I have learn’t is to eat the right foods - but these are probably lower in calories."

Ditto this from my own personal experience. I also eat enormous meals. I eat only when I'm hungry and I'm like a snake who's eaten a rat most of the day - stuffed. I think it's not that Paleo foods are nesessarily lower in calories, but that what you eat satisfies you so you eat less per day.





Having said all that I actually really enjoyed his post. Its challenging


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