My Thoughts on The Paleo Solution by Rob Wolf
The Paleo Solution By Robb Wolf
Recently I had a guest on that talked about fermented foods and a diet high in protein and fat and low in carbohydrates. I know many of your are skeptical about this (of course you are because it defies dogma) but I can tell you personally it works. Over the last year and a half I have focused on a diet of meat and veggies, I weighed myself for the first time in a long time this week and the results are 71lbs of lost weight.
I have not counted calories, I have not even paid attention to fat, I have eaten plenty of bacon and steak and I have not exercised at all in the conventional 1-2-3-4 way. About three months ago I went full tilt bore on it, no more bread (and you know how I love beer bread), no noodles, no rice, I didn’t just eat them in moderation I banished them. The slow loss accelerated and I shed 25 pounds of those 71 in 90 days.
My exercise routine has been gardening, walking and playing with my dogs. I haven’t done a push up (my shoulders were nearly destroyed by my zeal for them in the past) or a jumping jacks and I haven’t been hungry at all.
During this 6 week period is when I interviewed Doc Fermento and found Robb Wolf’s book The Paleo Solution. In the book and in the interview a certain thought came up but was never completed. Basically that some foods are actually designed to repel themselves from being eaten, they are bitter or hard or taste bad until they are cooked and or processed in some way. Rob puts it this way in his book, if you eat a blackberry the seed passes in your stool, a blackberry is designed to be eaten. If you eat a wheat berry it is destroyed and is lost to digestion, it is designed to repel us from eating it. Doc Fermento made some similar analogies during his interview.
Well, while reading The Paleo Solution I had what I consider an epiphany that completes this line of thought. Here it goes,
“All food meant for human consumption is edible and tastes good in its raw natural form even if that isn’t how we eat it due to cultural or health related reasons.”
Let me start with meat, no doubt many of you have never eaten raw meat, unflavored, unsalted, unseasoned plain old raw red meat or fish. I have and I can tell you it is easy to chew, tastes good and if not infected with bacteria or other pathogens does not make you sick. It is only our cultural bias that makes us think we need to cook meat along with the modern reality of how meat is handled and the health risks it creates. Yet make no mistake raw meat tastes good to humans if they are devoid of bias.
Conversely rice is only good to eat if soaked and boiled or steamed, the same is true of wheat, ever toss a handful of wheat berries unsoaked into your mouth? So I started considering all the foods that are acceptable in the Paleo/Protein Power world. For instance sweet potatoes are a go while white potatoes are a no go. Ever eat a piece of raw sweet potato? Yum! In fact try grating one on a salad it is wonderful. Yet how about raw white potato? Not so good minus the steam bath and butter now is it?
I tried this with every food on the go vs. no go list and only one food really stood out as being a somewhat no no and still tasting good raw, it was corn. Funny enough corn is considered a “consume in moderation” food, one of the few cross overs in the world of paleo style eating. So my one “grain” for the last 90 days has been grilled corn once or twice a week with a steak.
Those of you who have seen me recently at Salt Lake and Denver know just how dramatic the weight loss is. I feel healthy and I feel better than I have in years. I have no plans to start “working out” either even though Robb Wolf advocates it. My paleo ancestors walked everyday, they built stuff, they ran only when chasing or being chased. None of them did dips or squats or other repetitive motion activities that destroy our joints.
Again I know many will doubt this can be true, that a man can eat ribeyes, sweet potatoes, bacon and pork chops and loose weight but results are hard to ague with and two pictures are worth 2000 words.
Here is a picture of me right after I left corporate American about 18 Months ago at OpenCamp in Dallas Texas. Three years of “client entertainment” at fancy restaurants and clubs along with stress created the person you see below.
Jack at 281
Now I am not trying out for the cover of GQ and I am not trying to develop a 6 pack, though my wife commented about my abs last night (wink) but contrast the above photo to this one with me standing next to Dave Canterbury two weeks ago.
Jack at 210 with Dave C.
Of course the Government in their eternal wisdom states that I should be about 175 pounds but I played football as a senior in High School at 190 lbs, so I feel pretty good about being 210 at 40 years of age and government is the last group I look to for approval in my life. So I am sticking with my epiphany from now on,
“All food meant for human consumption is edible and tastes good in its raw natural form even if that isn’t how we eat it due to cultural or health related reasons.”
If you want to debate me about this I really don’t have the patience for it. I have over 70 reasons now as to why I know this lifestyle works and works well. To understand what losing 70 pounds is like go look at a 5lb tub of butter in the grocery the next time you are there. Then realize that I lost 14 of those eating the very food government and government medicine insists makes us fat.
If you want the science read Rob Wolf’s book, “The Paleo Solution” and you will find the science overwhelming, personally I don’t need science, I am sticking with results.
This does leave me looking at buckets of beans, rice, pasta and grains in my preps and thinking about how wise storing them is. I have decided I can use it to feed my neighbors while I live on deer, rabbit, tilapia, eggs, goat and chicken and it is survival food if I need it. I also want to point on one last thing for the doubters.
NO I AM NOT SAYING you can eat big macs and loose weight, they are full of sugar, full of unnatural fats and wrapped in bread. I am saying you can eat a ton of high quality meat, ignore the fat and eat large amounts of vegetables, seeds, nuts and fruits and loose weight.
My one indulgence is dark chocolate in moderation, goes nice with a dark beer for desert. I also now love “NorCal Margaritas” a recipie I got from Rob’s book. I really recommend Rob’s book along with Protein Power by the Doctors Eades for those who are skeptical and can’t simply judge the very clear results.
Books Mentioned in this Post
I love the paleo diet. So far I’ve lost 5lbs. in one month.
Beware of coconut milk. It’s like drinking mineral oil. The results can be very dramatic. VERY. (yes, there is a horror story that goes with this but I simply cannot go there).
My daughter is vegan and is always sick and always over weight.
The best thing is, I’m not hungry. And if I do get hungry it only takes a very small amount of food to satisfy me.
And I agree with Jack….life without chocolate is just like a day without sunshine.
I don’t think that is your daughter’s veganism. She probably just eats junk. People can eat crap on any diet. Everyone should find a diet that works best for them. The main thing is to make the healthy choices within the confines of the diet. Sounds like you have with the Paleo diet. Congratulations.
I’m probably inviting a shitstorm in a paleo thread by defending veganism, but just like meat-based diets there’s a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. My wife is a vegan and she’s extremely healthy, athletic and strong. She eats the things she is supposed to eat and does the things she’s supposed to do. Healthy lifestyles are healthy lifestyles, whether they involve meat or not.
Coconut milk makes any meal exciting though. Get some tikka masala paste and make a stir fry with it, you’ll love it.
I highly recommend the book “Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life” by Brendan Brazier. The guy is a triathlete (certainly not the stereotype of the frail / sick / weak vegan I seem to often hear about) & really knows his stuff. I found a copy at the library.
I am so freaking stoked to see this post.
It would be great to see you do a show covering food storage and “eat what you store and store what you eat” through a paleo’ish lens.
awesome jack congrats on the weight loss
i try to do the same thing but other people in my house don’t agree and some of the stuff around the house gets to be too much of a temptation
nuts are a big problem for me too any nuts in the house are consumed too fast and too much i have to treat them like a treat almost like candy and only get some and have them in bigtime moderation or when i’m out hiking etc 🙂
awesome post jack
well good for you jack,,,i’m not much of a meat eater but i know it is not the fat that makes us fat , it is the starches,, and nothing works better than getting rid of soul sucker jobs and eating natural food,
good for you
My doctor is a Paleoish advocate. (can not get him off the dogma of the fats issue) I have been sticking more or less to a Paleo deal. I’m still in corporate America so I need to do the workouts. (besides I like working out and hanging out with SF types, a perk of living in Tampa FL next to McDill AFB home of SF command)
Awesome post Jack!
I’ve been following the paleo lifestyle for about 18 months. The weight loss hasn’t been as much as I’d like it to be (about 20 lbs) HOWEVER, I’m dealing with a bunch of autoimmune diseases so I am on a different curve than most people. What I can say is that I fell so much better eating/living this way.
My blood work is seriously better as far as the autoimmune issues are concerned. To see my blood pressure drop down in to the normal range and my antibody markers fall to less than half what they were at the height of my illness is amazing.
I didn’t think that I had a “gluten issue” but I gave the plan a shot just to see if I felt better. I did, so I stuck to it. My one and only “on purpose” cheat was to go wild for Thanksgiving. (there’s a hot Italian clam dip, rife with bread crumbs that I love) I felt ok the next day. Day 2 was like Dawn of the Dead. I seriously thought I was going to die. My fingers swelled up, all my joints were hot and inflamed. I could barely walk due to the pain in my hips. It took a month to feel better from that so, I will not be purposely falling off the paleo wagon again.
The other thing that’s awesome about Robb Wolf is he’s big on pushing the Liberty Garden concept, which is right down the alley of so many of your listeners.
Thanks for all you do,
Eriko
Jack, I can completely back your results. I read the Paleo solution about 6 months ago after reading 4 Hour Body. Since then I have been eating about 90% Paleo with the only exceptions being some times when eating out and not completely controlling the ingredients. I have lost 22lbs in that time. The amazing thing is I haven’t hit the gym at all. I’m in the shop or sitting at my desk at the day job. I have had to modify my food storage, but with a couple of chest freezers and lots of good local farms around, we’re storing lots of grass fed meat and veggies.
Good Job Jack, I’m happy for you!!
Welcome to the club, Jack! It’s so great for me to see this here! I’ve been doing the Paleo diet for a few months now and evangelizing it to everybody I possibly can. Now my question for you is: How are you going to store a year or two worth of food without having processed “non-food” ingredients and grains and flour? I’ve been struggling with that very question myself, and the answer for me was rice, dehydrated veggies, a garden and a hunting rifle but I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts. You definitely see things a little differently than the average bear.
Again, welcome to the club! I’m truly happy to see you embracing this, and I know how much you loved your bread!
Many beans and lentils (not red lentils, if they have been split apart!!) can be sprouted. I’m actually doing a hot and sour chicken and cabbage soup tonight because I have sprouted mung beans myself. I’m only a beginning sprouter though. (I’ve also done radish). So that might be something for your bean preps, assuming they are still alive and viable. Ironically, a friend over the weekend gave me the Primal Blueprint to study… very similar thinking. Seems like anyone I know who goes even somewhat in the direction of Paleo/Primal loses at least some weight.
I also agree with Patrick above. I am def exctied about this post and would love to hear a show on stocking up on food for this type of eating.
Jack,
I have being meaning to try and get you two together. Not only does Robb have a great podcast, he is also an advocate of permaculture and a libertarian from what I can gather from listening to his podcasts. He would be a great interview for TSP!!
Funny, not one (1) of my Japanese friends or colleagues are overweight. Their diet includes a hefty dose of starchy rice at virtually EVERY meal. Curious no? Bitter things designed to repel? It’s obviously a bit subjective, but there are some very healthy leafy greens that are “repellent” to a lot of people.
Calories in, calories out (including effects of food on metabolosim of course, which is where it gets interesting). They eat in moderation and walk everywhere. It’s not rocket science. You don’t have to go Paleo to be very fit and healthy, though if it works for some for whatever reason, then that’s great. It is the results that matter.
The Paleo looks a lot more healthy than the Atkins though, allowing as it does for “natural” carbohydrates from nuts and vegetables. Personally I’m interested in the lacto fermentation aspect.
There might be some differences among those of different lands. I’m told that many Asians share a somewhat different pancreatic metabolism, which may be an adaptation. The one vegetarian friend I know who is doing well on that diet is of Japanese ancestry. My aforementioned Paleo-loving friends are pretty much all of European ancestry. It very well could be different strokes for different ancestries.
I did pretty well on a traditional Japanese diet (I’m Japanese) but still over weight. For me, adding back in even the innocuous rice cause joint pain, Which breaks my heart. At leash good old sashimi is paleo!
-Eriko
The calories in vs. calories out is a very simplistic, but oft repeated view of things. It’s not that simple. The type of diet you eat has a major impact on your endocrine system, which has a lot more to do with it than simple calories. Why would a formerly obese person who lost weight and is the same sex, height, current weight, etc. as another person get fat eating the same amount of calories? Calories do matter, but it is not the holy grail that some would have you believe. Humans aren’t calculators, and your “maintenance” level changes every day.
I suggested that type of food effects metabolism; regarding endocrine system, I’ll admit I don’t know much about it. As for different peoples having different diets working well for them, it makes some sense at least as a hypothesis. After all different races are different for environmental reasons. Also, there’s some recent research which indicates we adapt biologically much more rapidly than some might expect. Ten thousand years of grain consumption is a non-trivial amount of time and there may have already been GI differentiation from prior pure hunter gatherers. As for calories in vs. calories out, it is simple. BUT, assuming you don’t have a serious hormonal problem (like cortisol) paying attention to it will work. I have a friend at work who’s lost nearly 100 lbs on simple weight watchers. When I trained for triathlon, I sure as hell had to pay attention to the calories in/out, mostly to get IN the right amount of the right kinds (tons of complex carbs) at the right times, or it was crash and burn city.
I’m not talking down Paleo at all, I’m just not signing on dogmatically either.
“My paleo ancestors walked everyday, they built stuff, they ran only when chasing or being chased. None of them did dips or squats or other repetitive motion activities that destroy our joints.”
LOL – they did a LOT more than walk around and build stuff, Jack. They didn’t walk on roads, bicycle trails or even trails. Try walking through the bush and see how much elevation change is necessary, especially if you are stalking or moving quietly. They most certainly squatted a LOT, every day… up and down. They threw spears, rabbit sticks, pulled bowstrings, hammered and scraped with stone tools (try scraping a hide all day with stone and bone and it will make you wish you had worked out a little more). I’m not saying you “need to work out” but please don’t try to justify your lack of motivation to do so by saying that paleo people lived anywhere close to the same posh lifestyle that you and I lead.
AWESOME!!!! Thank you Jack. I remember you mentioning that you were reading Paleo Solution, and I was going to ask you about it. I guess I don’t now!! I have a lot to say on the subject, but I don’t want to take up too much time. I’m shifting my focus in my life around gaining knowledge on the “4 P’s” Permaculture, Prepping, Probiotic’s, and Paleo. This week show’s and this post has been so spot on for me! Bleeping great week this Jack!!
Thanks
Bryan B
Tom Naughton (http://www.fathead-movie.com/) did eat at McD’s for a month & lost weight. However, he did it smartly & documented it in his educational and funny movie “Fathead” (Dr. Eades is interviewed in it). Coincidentally, he recently bought a small farm. I’ve been wondering if he will be applying permaculture principles. Permaculture and paleo/primal just go together.
Second the suggestion for food storage for paleo-types.
I tried to do the Paleo diet and followed the 1-week meal plan of 30 day diet in the book but it cost me $214 for one week of food, which at this point I’m unable to afford on a regular basis. So I’m going to come up with a plan to reduce my bread, noodles, grains, starches intake and have it not be so expensive.
I must say the beneficial bacteria are amazing. I feel so much better.
That’s a lot to spend!! Have you seen this written by Robb Wolf? http://robbwolf.com/2011/09/21/paleo-is-expensive/
I know you might not be buying the best cut’s or most organic veggie’s (What does that really mean anyway?) . But, maybe it will help. 🙂
There have been studies performed that shows that cooked meat is significantly easier to digest. Evolutionary biologists posit that since the discovery of fire, humans have actually lost some of the strength of stomach acids and our ability to tolerate certain bacteria that are present. Fire does the job by denaturing certain proteins to reduce digestion time by as much as 50-75%. While fire does cause protein to lose some of the good stuff, even if you are eating it raw, it takes so long for a portion to digest that you excrete it first.
Don’t get me wrong, there is not much that tastes better than a well prepared medium rare steak.
Jack — do you still drink beer on the paleo plan?
Jack,
Congratulations on the large weight loss. I need to lose that much weight and am going to go paleo. I have read a bit about it and listened to some podcasts, but your testimony sealed the deal for me.
Very cool Jack. We have modified some of what we eat since that episode. Our first step is to remove the processed foods and eat “real” foods. Our bodies know how to eat “real” food. Another thing I am interested in came from a different guest on eating a balanced meal based on taste. From my research this comes from the ayurvedic diet. I think we can take the best (or the stuff that works for each of us) from each of these systems and be better. I think being conscious of what we are eating is a step in the right direction. This ties very nicely to AgriTrue as well.
That is a great story on your weight loss with a shift in your eating plan, Jack.
I am following a similar eating plan that the owner of my gym is recommending. Essentially it is a healthy version of the Atkins diet. (protien, healthy fats, really low carbohydrates). A couple of the guys at the gym did it and averaged a little better than 4 pounds a week of weight loss over 16 weeks.
So a typical meal might be Omega3 eggs or chicken breast with almonds or steak with a green salad or a protein shake with a scoop of natural peanut butter. It is pretty easy to follow and due to the frequency of eating, you’re never hungry.
Cheers
Brian W
n=1
Works for the individual. Here there are enough 1s in here and elswhere. Another great book is “Why we get fat.” by Gary Taubs.
Hey Jack! Just read your article on the Paleo diet. I’ve had the same results losing 40 lb., but the reason I’m writing is there is a person and his web site that you might be interested in. His name is mark sisson and the website mark’s daily apple. He been living this lifestyle for a long time and is a wealth of information. Thanks for all you do from a follow Arkansan.
I am not on the paleo diet but am doing Adkins, which is meat, fat and limited vegetables. I have not eaten a starch or complex carbohydrate in two months. In that time I have lost 27 pounds. I am a non-insulin dependent diabetic whose glucose readings are normal for the first time in years. I will check into the paleo diet when I need to stop the rapid weight loss because it looks like a good replacement for this diet, which has to stop sometime. Thanks for the wonderful info.
Sharon- I also am a diabetic controlling it with ‘diet alone’. The Atkins diet, if
done properly and following the recommendations of adding carbs, is easy to
follow. Fruit is the next thing to add, in moderation. It’s the diet I started on last Nov when I was diagnosed. It is NOT what was advised by the Certified Diabetic Educator Registered Dietitian – that diet consisted of 15-30 grams of carbs at each of 3 meals and 2 snacks. My doctor is thrilled with my progress, both in blood glucose readings and weight loss of 40 lbs and insists I continue with what I’m doing.
So, I eat meat, fish, poultry, eggs, bacon, sausage, veggies but not starchy ones, and some fruit with most veggies and fruit coming from the garden.
I feel great, look good and have great energy – and I’ve reached that great age
of 65. The paleo diet will work for anyone at any age as long as they are able to
change the mindset of what a ‘good healthy’ diet is.
Another book I’d recommend is “Evolving Health: The Origins of Illness and How The Modern World is Making Us Sick” by Noel Boaz that advocates the paleo lifestyle without (I think? it’s been a few years since I read it) directly naming it as such.
Good work on losing weight.
My personal opinion, is that restraining one’s self to any given system is… less than ideal, however I will admit that may be due to the rather stunning failures in logics that I have witnessed out of some such people. My own way of thinking about it produces two loose rules. 1, everything in moderation, and 2, your taste-buds will tell you what you need.
but hey, if one of these systems is working for you, good on ya
Congrats on the new lifestyle Jack! The results are obvious. Not only have you seen significant weight loss, but you look as if you have more life and light in your eyes. I have been interested in the Paleo diet for about a year now after being introduced to it by some Adventure Racing buddies. They have said that not only do you keep the weight off, but their energy levels are always at peak as well. You’ve motivated me to seriously read up on it and give it a go. Good on you brother and thanks for bringing it to the public!!!
my 2 fav. podcast. this one and robb wolfs. INTERVIEW ROBB WOLF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! please & thank you!
side note:
i sent courtney clay your way.
i just sent lierre keith your way and hope she finds it a “good fit” to take steps to be a guest. she wrote The Vegetarian Myth. (former vegan of 20 years gone PRO-paleo grass fed meat.) most AMAZING book about agriculture killing our planet and bodies. she’s co-wrote a book about HOW to take action on changing the downfall of our future. she’s gone far to explain the REAL limitations of just individual preparation. not that it’s not good but WHY it’s not enough.
SHE’S worth presuing if she doesn’t write you. or read her book and think on it.
“Deep Green Resistance” by Lierre Keith, Derreck Jensen, Aric Mcbay
Glad the food storage aspect was mentioned. As most know, protein and fats do not store well. Harvesting protein, whether from hunting or livestock is considerably more involved than storing beans and rice in buckets.
Awesome, I too have started the paleo book not to long ago. I’m down about 25ish pounds myself. I also stumbled on a workout book Body by Science by Doug McGuff MD. He believes in the ancestral (paleo) style of eating but has a complety different take on how people exercise. Very interesting read. I’ll be starting that workout routine soon.
Thanks for the site/show. Keep up the great work.
I recently switched from atkins to paleo after listening to the ask bryan podcast, and then following it up with some research of my own. Thanks for the heads up jack. I’m a big, but active guy, and I was at 320 6 weeks ago, and am at 294 now. First 4 weeks atkins. It sure is nice to eat fruit on paleo, goodbye induction. I’m still sticking to low carb, I just like that I don’t waste time counting carbohydrates in food. I’m not a dietician. Thanks again. Also, for long term preps, we still are storing up rice, beans, dried, and freeze dried things. It’s just too economical to not, and we can simply barter them if we need to.
Just found this article at MEN after reading your post. Thought you might enjoy it:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/natural-health/fats-you-need-zm0z11zhir.aspx
Great job on the weight loss! Amazing!
Jack,
Congrats on the weight loss. That is really awesome.
I picked up the Paleo Solution immediately following your interview with Ask Bryan. I dont have a lot of weight to lose, but wanted to shed some pounds. So far, 10lbs in the first three weeks and I feel good.
The real test will be when I have my blood work tested in a few more weeks. I am the type that has all my previous lab work entered into an excel spreadsheet, so I should get a good sense of the change.
Keep up the great work!
Am down 33 pounds on paleo and my autoimmune diseases are much better. I’m still not quite right, but don’t need the steriods to keep a reasonable quality of life (mostly – perhaps the odd couple of days now and then). Have to lose another 33 pounds or so to get rid of the extra fat padding.
My energy levels still fluctuate and I get a bit irritated by that however I have a list of medical symptoms a yard long that I no longer have so I’m hoping that my last few symptoms will go too.
I have two questions: the first is to ask about prepping for a paleo diet in a TEOTWAWKi situation. I presume in a SHTF situation that freezing will still be an option even if power supply is intermittent as a generator can fill occasional gaps. It costs around a unit (1 kwh) of power a day to keep the freezer going.
My second question relates to winter meals. My husband does not think that soup is food, nor that meat and steamed veg is right for the main meal – he wants his roast potatoes, pumpkin, parsnips and something that makes him feel like he is “full”. Meat and veg just don’t seem to do it in winter. Does anyone else have this feeling?
Just a note for those wanting to sprout lentils and beans. I did that for three months at the beginning of the year and thought it was great till I got sicker and sicker with my auto-immune diseases. It has taken 6 months to recover from that flare up. So I suspect that the bad stuff in the legume seeds is still there in the legume sprouts – after all the plant doesn’t want you eating the tiny sprouts just as they are coming through the ground, any more than it wants you eating its seed. So be warned. Think of those people with auto-immune disease as being the canary in the coal mine warning you of possible disaster.
And also think, if we can get rid of inflammatory diseases like auto-immune disease and type 2 diabetes we will also be stopping other inflammatory disease like heart disease and Alzheimers.
Squats do not destroy ones joints. They strengthen them. Perhaps if one overloads or doesnt ever take time off they will incur damage, but ‘destroy’ is hyperbole at best. I think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone working in physiology that would say otherwise. Unless someone has a preexisting injury or performs the exercise wrong this would not occur.
Yes, squats performed correctly are great for you. Most people don’t do them correctly. The problem almost always lies with the user!
@Grant, I totally disagree your opinion infers that a human being needs to be trained on how to go up and down and if they do it right and if they do it wrong it is bad. There is NO natural reason in all of creation for any motion to be preformed over and over in sets of x number of reps, it is not a natural thing to do. No animal in the world does this unless I would concede it is related to a sexual act or scratching an itch. We can agree to disagree here and I did concede that some people have to do more conventional exercise due to lifestyle and living conditions. It isn’t good for your joints though, again I recommend you look into empty lung conditioning. It works with any exercise and gets you the same results with far fewer reps.
I agree that the movement itself should be intuitive, but the problem is that most of us don’t live in that natural environment. Most people sit at a desk all day and develop horrible posture, extremely tight hip flexors, etc. and that is what causes problems with the natural movement. Toddlers squat correctly without thinking about it because they don’t have those negative environmental factors playing against them. If we were all living like we should, I totally agree with you. I’ll check into the empty lung thing. Sounds interesting.
You can eat fruit on paleo? How much can you/do you eat?
You can eat fruit on the paleo diet. How much you want to eat is up to you and your goals. If you are overweight and inactive you should probably eat little to no fruit. If you are lean and active you can consume a fair amount of fruit.
One of us … one of us … 🙂
Hot damn, Jack has joined the club! I went Paleo/Primal at the first of the year. I wasn’t after weight loss but was fed up (pun) with feeling like shit after a day in the woods or garden. Problem solved!
I don’t ‘work out’ either, unless you count cutting/splitting/stacking firewood, building my permaculture system, rock retaining walls and running WFO all day with the rest of my homestead chores, plus the day job. I feel like I’m 30 again.
Looking good MR JACK.
Some foods can be good for you in one way and bad for you in another. For example, drinking wine in moderation on a daily basis is healthy for your heart but bad for your liver. The constant assualt is what really takes a toll on that particular organ. If you got rip roaring drunk every once in a while, it would not hurt your liver as much.
Having said that, I won’t argue with the weight loos you have achieved but what do we know about the effect this diet could have on your heart?
I’m not officially ‘paleo’, but I always try to moderate the butter, chesse and bacon and be more liberal with the fruit, veg and nuts.
Yea, I like this post. With one exception:
Functional fitness doesn’t just include being able to walk around and build stuff. Even building stuff requires the ability to lift stuff, to move stuff, to sit/stand in different positions, etc. Other aspects of life (even getting out of bed) require some level of functional fitness: being able to squat and get back up, being able to lift a box or a bag of soil, being able to chase around a chicken that just won’t get back in the coop, being able to drag a pig you just shot that’s still kicking due to nervous reflex, and so on.
I personally do CrossFit workouts while trying to follow a Paleo type diet. I eat lots of salad, fruit, meat, nuts and try to avoid refined carbs and grains, as hard as that may be. I have noticed a considerable increase in functional fitness since I started CrossFit: I can lift more, I can run faster, parts of my body are harder, etc.
So don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Yes, functional fitness can be attained by living your type of lifestyle, but for us cubicle dwellers it requires a bit more work and planning.
@Octavian and you base your opinion on what? All the real world stuff you mention like bags of soil, hunting game, etc I deal with. Our ancestors didn’t do crossfit workouts, wear nike shoes or do any repetitive motion unless it had a real purpose.
@Jack: that was basically my point. Most people nowadays live a lifestyle where it is very hard to get physical exercise as part of their daily routine. I am one of those people. To be functionally fit for my daily routine, I only need to be able to type and sit, which isn’t that hard.
In your particular case, you need to have more overall fitness than me to accomplish your goals. However, I’d still like to be able to accomplish similar goals, so I exercise (run/walk/bike/pushups/squats/etc).
I wasn’t disagreeing with you, just saying that we’re in different boats.
Getting away from carbs is fine but you have to be careful with any diet, no matter how healthy it is – there is no perfect cure-all food. If you eat too much of something you’ll have problems. Eating meat is fine (I’m a fan) but some people might end up eating too much of something else to compensate.
And weight loss isn’t everything. You might lose weight but make sure you’re taking care of your heart!
@Chris it isn’t a diet it is to me anyway a list of foods I eat and a list of foods I don’t eat. The list is long, the variety is huge. If it would taste good in raw form I eat it, I don’t count calories or portion sizes, neither did our ancestors.
After paleo and crossfit my weight stayed close the the same but body fat droped from 13% to 9%. I ate tons of meat and veggies like jack I never once counted a calorie or fat. I ate more meat on paleo than I did not on paleo and my blodd pressure and colesterol went down.
paleo is incredibly healthy for your heart. google cholesterol myth.
For sake of discussion, I believe that we were given the gift of learning how to modify certain substances to become edible ie “food” for a reason. “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;” and “Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.” The problem is that we most often don’t do things in moderation. We find something(s) we like and we fixate on it/them. The vegans say we’re supposed to only eat plants, why were we given canines for tearing? The carnivores say eat meat but yet we have molars for grinding.
The key is finding the balance, imo. Knowledge is nothing without the wisdom on how to use it. Jmtc.
Belief is not fact man.
Im stoked to see you become a Paleo convert Jack. I’ve been on it since April or so and religiously listen to you and Robb’s podcasts. Really excited about the possibility of a Robb Wolf interview. Congrats Jack
Excellent! I’d meant to ask if you’d heard of Robb Wolf. You beat me to it.
I’m not entirely paleo, but doing a vegetarian version of Tim Ferriss’s plan. Using Robb’s insights to fill in the gaps though. If you squint a bit it almost looks paleo. Even while sabotaging myself gloriously every Saturday and messing up in little ways the rest of the week, since January I’ve lost about 40 lb (most of that in 6 months), my blood pressure is better, and I look and feel years younger. Food quality really makes a difference.
On food storage – Recently the paleo experts (including Robb) seem to be coming to a consensus: Rice, dairy, and legumes could fall into the same category as corn after you reach your health and body composition targets. Try a little. If it makes you feel worse, then continue to avoid it. Otherwise you can probably eat small amounts a couple times a week. So the food buckets might not be a total waste. Just don’t go off the rails and risk your health.
I prefer to see the buckets as cheap food insurance. If we’re not starving, then the buckets stay sealed. If we are starving, then our top priority is to keep the family alive. After 20 years we could compost it or feed it to animals.
Lentils and freeze dried meat have potential as long term storables in this context. Vegetables, maybe a little for flavor…
Jack, have you seen “I, Caveman” on Discovery yet? Robb Wolf with an atlatl! That show alone is enough to merit an interview on this podcast.
Great job Jack. I can also hear a great deal less stress in your voice since you have left the rat race. I believe this will allow you to survive much longer. Keep up the good work.
Lookin good Jack, if you where a woman i”d kiss ya,
Power to the meat eaters
Good job Jack!
I’ve been reading the other book Bryan Davis mentions in your interview with him called “Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health” It’s really opening my eyes to some pretty disturbing things about what the product we call wheat (which it shouldn’t be because of the genetic mutations we’ve created in it over the last 30 years) has done to the american diet. I’ve just started changing my diet to exclude wheat and I think your idea that “All food meant for human consumption is edible and tastes good in its raw natural form even if that isn’t how we eat it due to cultural or health related reasons.” fits right in to my line of thinking. I buy it!
Ya, Permaculture Food Forest and Game/Meat!
There are other books – The GAPS diet (not a diet but a way of eating) which explains well why our guts don’t respond to grains. And Cure Tooth Decay by Ramiel Nagel. Interested in the science, Google these for more good info. along these lines.
I do not agree with your Darwin/Jesus hybrid philosophies (hybrids are not good, I’ll stay with heritage and Jesus 🙂 enough said….. moving on…..
I love this podcast! This was one of my ‘issues’ with prepping.
Do talk more about it, because it’s this ‘outside the box’ kind of thinking that people need time to digest (pun intended). And it can be made more affordable when done as a food co-op. I live in the city and butcher my own chickens, ducks and rabbits, buy grass-fed beef and raw milk along with my friends co-op style.
~Peace out
I faithfully followed a diet for six months that seems similar to this one insofar as eliminating carbs is concerned. My motivation was the ulcerative colitis that had caused me so much discomfort. After six months I returned to the gastro doc. “I don’t see any sign of the disease.” Weight loss was a problem for me, though, as I was already thin to begin with. But, it just showed me what a doughboy I was at the time eating all the bread, carbs, et al. That weight came off quickly. But, as my family only rarely ate red meat it took a while to build mass to a healthy level. It was a good lesson about going into a crisis prepared. I wasn’t.
This is fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. Good on you Jack! Good on anyone willing to give some self-experimentation a try.
Opening minds and challenging the dogmatic dietary B.S. we have been buried under, Awesome.
Another note. Don’t get sidetracked and drug down a rat hole debating/arguing with vegans. There are millions seeking health improvement, invest your time helping those that want/need/seek it. This idea was proposed by Robb Wolf at the Ancestral Health Symposium- I strongly agree.
I went out on a limb even mentioning the paleo approach during my brief time talking with Jack. I am thrilled that the message was well received. I am looking forward to see where this all leads.
I have never been overweight, but I have had dramatically different diets in my life. I was raised on the typical Australian meat and 3 veg diet, then when I vegan from 16 to 22. Then when I got into Permaculture I got back onto eating meat. Now recently I and my partner have moved to eating a Weston A. Price diet which is very similar to Paleo. I now have a diet heavy in fatty meat, full cream raw milk, home grown veggies and very little pasta, rice or bread. I eat probably 1 loaf of sourdough bread every 2 weeks. As a vegan I would eat nearly a loaf a day. I eat bacon and eggs for breakfast every day, yes every day and feel better for it. I used to eat porridge (oatmeal) for breakfast but have found the fatty foods have a much longer supply of energy for my work, which is physical labour. I have never felt as good as I do now and I eat far less than I used to. I’m looking forward to the show on Paleo homesteading and prepping because its always been an issue for us trying to figure out long ter storage of foods heavy in saturated fats. Looking good Jack, hope you reach your goals for your body, not weight or any of that shit 🙂
Look at you Uncle Jack! Excellent work on the diet!! Keep it up!! As someone who’s lost 6olbs myself I know just how rewarding it is to be able to do all kinds of activities you couldn’t do not too long ago.
I lost weight through Biggest Loser DVD’s and WW program at first and then progressed from there, people that want to argue about weight loss and right and wrong are a lost cause, the secret is finding what works FOR YOU and sticking with it until you reach YOUR goal.
Judging by the photos I’d say it works you look great jack
Hi Jack, Great podcast.
I used to do the Atkins diet and never felt better. But due to pressure from my Doc etc (I have very high blood pressure and a string of other problems), I stopped. Now I am on even more tablet and feeling crap.
I will do the paleo way and see if thats works for me. I think it will.
But one question. You say as a general rule ‘if it can be eaten in its ‘raw’ form then its ok’ (al right not verbatim) so would things like honey fall into that catagory? You can eat it straight off.
Same with milk?
I have ordered the book you reccomended and will read up.
Thanks
alan
@Alan, if I drink milk I drink WHOLE milk, reduce the fat you increase the sugar. I don’t drink much I use heavy cream in my coffee, I would state that milk if consumed should be as close to its natural state as possible and in moderation. Milk is a growth food, it is designed to support life during rapid growth, no adult animal in the wild consumes milk. Honey, yes, again in moderation and you will be surprised how little needs sweetening if you get off grains, legumes, etc. I have no need to sweeten and apple or strawberry. Honey in tea yum but that is sort of like something I do after dinner, sort of a desert lite type of thing. Start taking coffee and tea with no sweetener. First week or two it will be a bit hard then you grow accustomed to it. After a few months taste coffee or tea sweetened as others drink it and you will honestly spit it out, it will shock you how sweet people make the stuff.
Keep in mind the “if it is good in raw form it is good to eat” is my idea though I garnered it from Rob’s work it is not his claim. To me it all revolves around variety. If you drink a gallon of milk a day you are going to have issues, if you eat some cheese once in a while, cook with butter, occasionally have a glass of milk, it really won’t matter much. I strive to eat a minimum of 10 foods a day or more, witch such variety things sort of control themselves.
I have gone full paleo, fell off the wagon and went back to full paleo within the last month or so. I agree that the evidence for a full paleolithic diet is overwhelming. It does present a challenge to prepping, but I think you are addressing the issues. For me, I prepare with lots of canned meats and vegetables along with my garden. I also store beans and rice because if times get really rough, any source of calories will do. It does not make sense to discard items that you will use only if the SHTF while living a paleo lifestyle.
Thanks again for doing this show.
Looking good Jack! I’ve checked out Robb Wolf’s book and have started to read it.
The idea that if you can eat it raw in its natural state as the deciding factor makes it seem easy to decide if it fits this lifestyle. I would think it would be pretty easy to eat this way with practice.
You mentioned that wheat was out because you dan’t eat it raw. How does Tabouli fit in this? It is made from bulgar wheat,soaked in cold water, then mixed with olive oil, lemon juice, parsley and mint. You can also add tomatoes, onions or other veggies if you like. Would this fit into the Paleo style?
@CandBabyE, it doesn’t fit, “in its raw state” doesn’t mean uncooked it means unaltered. The only thing I need to do to make a piece of meat taste good is get past the hide, to make a sweet potato taste good remove the peal and hey that isn’t even too bad. When you soak wheat you begin a starch conversion process that makes it edible. Wheat to me is not “human food”. Now understand I personally feel that eating it that way is a LOT better than eating it as refined flour but I choose not to. Everyone must make their own choices here, I have made mine and won’t endorse another one as optimal. Unfortunately many here feel that by not agreeing with them I am insulting them, which I just don’t get.
I of course “cheat” myself, I do eat some dark chocolate, though coco beans are pretty good strait chocolate in a bar ain’t paleo. I also drink beer, which is derived from wheat. Why? I like both and feel I have done enough to improve my health but I am not about to try to make the case that I wouldn’t do better if I got rid of these two items.
So eat your Tabouli if you want to but it is still wheat, just like my beer is. My feeling is as long as you don’t have a gluten issue and if you get at least 70% of your calories from meat/fat sources, 20%ish from fruit and veg edible in raw form, you can pretty well do what you want with the other 10%, it is still cheating though. Like I said when I go out to a steak house I have a piece of bread, rest assured at Thanksgiving there will be white mashed potatoes and stuffing, highly un paleo but it is one day a year, if that makes sense.