Kurt Harris, a physician, writes about paleo-style nutrition, arguing against grains, sugar and refined carbohydrates, and sharing his own diet.
HN commenters recommend it as a clear guide to paleo that focuses on metabolism over food reenactment, though one wonders how his diet will affect his arteries.
When people ask me how to lose weight or get in shape, I say a couple of things that are quite controversial, though they won't be in 5-10 years as modern conventional wisdom catches up to the science.
1. 90% of what you look like is what you eat (not how much, what) rather than, say, how much you workout or your genetics.
2. Optimize what you eat before you optimize how much you eat. It is more important to eat good clean food rather than eat small portions of still bad food.
3. Exercise fast, short and incredibly intense.
#1 is something I say to catch them off guard and eliminate excuses (genetics).
#2 is the real issue. The past 25 years of diet information in the US is basically misinformation. We were told that we had to eat less fat and cholesterol and we would be healthy. Science has shown this not to be the case but we are just now catching up to that science.
For instance...this is an ideal diet for nearly everyone:
1. Eliminate grains, sugars and most fruits (high-glycemic index fruits for sure: think watermelon)
2. Load up on veggies, eggs (best protein source around) and meat (high fat meat is great...no worries)
3. No oils other than coconut or olive
4. Unless you are trying to gain weight, minimal starches (potato/sweet potato etc)
5. Some nuts...don't go crazy with them.
6. some fruit, but only of the berry/cherry variety
7. minimal diary
http://www.paleonu.com/get-started/ is a great place to start.
#3 is b/c low intensity exercise doesn't really…
This trumps absolutely anything else you can do: avoid starch and sugar. Eat only meat/fish, vegetables, and fruit. Simply don't eat sugary drinks, cereal, oatmeal, rice, potatoes, bread and so forth. This way everything you eat is nutrient packed.
Eggs and dairy are the best foods I know of. I normally eat four eggs a day (scrambled in lots of butter) and have a large glass of half and half, or sometimes I even drink straight up cream. Full fat yogurt is a fantastic food. I try to dominate my calories with saturated fat. The research is now clear that this is perfectly healthy. It's also a very efficient way to eat because I can very comfortably eat only two meals a day about half the time. Fat sticks with you.
Take vitamin d3 every couple of days. The research that has come out in the last few years on vitamin d is fairly shocking. Most people are deficient and it's a huge risk factor for infections and cancer. We are built to spend almost every day outside in the sun, generating vitamin d in the skin, but people don't do that now, so supplement.
As for exercise, sprint work and brief, intense strength training sessions are the best. Two 20 minute lifting sessions a week are sufficient exercise if that's all you can afford, but you must do it intensely. I frequently dry heave a bit in the shower after. Jogging and cycling are much inferior from a health perspective. You do want to build muscle mass and increase growth hormone and testosterone levels. …
I started the paleo diet about 6 months ago. In that time I lost about 18kg of fat easier than any other diet I have ever been on. My blood lipids (I was about to start statins for cholesterol) have all improved dramatically in this time, to the point where my doctor is now incredibly interested in the topic. My psoriasis and eczema have all cleaned up dramatically. The crossfit gym I go to has seen massive improvements in lifting etc once people went paleo. And I am finally off the Prozac for anxiety. Needless to say, for the population of n=1, this experiment worked wonders. I know a lot of people won’t take this anecdotal evidence, but if you jump into any of the many paleo forums, you will hear stories like this all the time. If you want a serious easy to follow, health improvement, I highly suggest this diet.
For more resources on the topic I suggest a few books.
http://www.primalbody-primalmind.com/ - Primal Body Primal Mind by Nora Gedgaudas – Lots of science.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/ - Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson – Lot more accessible. Give it to your parents etc.
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-Bad-Gary-Taubes/dp/1400040787 - Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes – Very long, but explains where the American Dietary guidelines came from and why they are wrong. (Cliffs notes: http://higher-thought.net/complete-notes-to-good-calories-bad-calories/ )
Some excellent…
It's true that obesity is a growing problem, and it is likely also true that nearly all cases of type II diabetes can be prevented with dietary changes. But, the article repeats the 'reduce saturated fat' meme, which lately has been called into question.
Gary Taubes
http://higher-thought.net/complete-notes-to-good-calories-bad-calories/
Robert Lustig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
Cynthia Kenyon
http://donmatesz.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-insulin-controls-aging.html
Nutrition and Vision Research at Tufts (Allen Taylor)
http://hnrc.tufts.edu/1192109687036/HNRCA-Page-hnrca2ws_1192109688533.html
Kurt Harris
http://www.paleonu.com/get-started
Mike Eades
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/
Uffe Ravnskov, "fat and cholesterol are good for you"
http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm
LivinLaVidaLowCarb
http://www.thelivinlowcarbshow.com/shownotes/
Weston A Price
http://www.westonaprice.org/dentistry/289-invisible-toothbrush.html
William Davis
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/
etc.
You might be interested in looking into the PaNu approach to paleo.[1] The author of that blog puts a lot of emphasis on focusing on metabolism rather than, as he puts it, food reenactment. e.g., dairy isn't strictly paleo, but he acknowledges that it's an easy way to up fat intake without the type of ill effects that you're more likely to see from glutens.
Worth checking out anyway. It's certainly changed the way I approach nutrition, even if I haven't bought into the paleo thing wholesale.
>I think it's a blood sugar effect -- all the food I eat is low in GI so I'm not getting the blood sugar spikes I used to.
Definitely agree here. I've noticed a definite shift in appetite since I've made a point of limiting my intake of high GI foods.
[1] - http://www.paleonu.com/
The paleo diet is awesome. I've lost a considerable amount of weight on it, and feel and look much better.
Also, a diet with staples like grass-fed beef, pastured butter (or any other healthy animal fat), avocado, and fish is my kind of diet. No more forcing down bitter grain or soy products in fruitless attempts to go "healthy". Plus, my meals are so substantial and high in fat that I only need to eat once or twice a day.
For anyone interested, there's a lot of good paleo sites out there, but I'd start with http://paleonu.com and http://freetheanimal.com
And if you can, pick up Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.