It sounds like my vacation is insulating me from some of the sturm und drang in the paleo/primal world -- Primal North implied on facebook that he's embarrassed by the unscientific nonsense in the fringes and regrets how his blog name associates with them. Yeah, as usual, the heretics (not Stan) take a core idea, turn it inside out and radicalize it, and make EVERYBODY look like a nut. Just look at paleos and Mormons....
Sounds as though an inquisition might be overdue? Can't ride the Paleo bus if you aren't actually Paleo? Perhaps the poster child of not-really-paleo should be Kresser, whose Personal Paleo Code says it's just fine to eat and behave in not-paleo fashion if you feel okay doing it?
(Actually, Stanton wrote a really good post a long time ago, about that "i feel okay so why not" point of view. Short version: you feel okay NOW, but ....)
The attention-whores and ass-clowns are what will ruin Paleo, not the errors Cordain made when drawing his first conclusions. I can certainly relate to P-North's opinion -- some of the people out there who are associated with the primal banner (even though many have renounced the label) are what make this WOE and lifestyle unpalatable to "outsiders." Because some people want their cupcakes, they're eager to prove that cupcakes aren't so bad after all.
I realize i may sound like the pot calling the kettle black. I experiment with non-paleo "foods" and i have no intention of giving up alcohol. I "cheat" with regularity. But i fully realize and publicly proclaim that it IS cheating. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that a diet bereft of grains, industrial seed oils, fructose and dairy (AND alcohol) is head-and-shoulders above the Perfect Health Diet in ... healthfulness.
Falling off the paleo-wagon from time to time is "only human." Making a virtue of it is just stupid.
Tess, I'm no longer following any of those paleo blogs except maybe for Robb Wolf. There's enough insanity out there with the conventional dietary wisdom without stressing myself out with the paleo crowd with their "safe" starches and other bullshit. I figure when they get to my age they will see for themselves what's what.
ReplyDeletei like Robb too, and Mark Sisson, even though i don't have them on my blog list. i may not agree with all they espouse, but i think they have their heads on straight. the ones that really chap MY hide are the ones who can't see how lucky they are, basically!
DeleteInsects are paleo. I'm waiting with bated breath.
ReplyDeleteyeah, i'm not quite ready, myself.... ;-)
DeleteMy favorite comment, which appeared on Dr. Oz's site where he wrote that beans and other neolithic foods are paleo: "This diet is about as paleo as my computer."
ReplyDeletethat IS a great comment! ...a lot of people mistake part of the "ancestral health" community for paleo, too; WAPF for example allows a lot of foods that are far from what i find optimal for myself. but i still find them a good source of info and recipes.
DeleteThere's some wackadoo stuff on the WAPF site, and the "benefit" of drinking raw milk might simply be avoiding grocery store milk. But I like Masterjohn's articles and I don't think most people would go too far wrong following their advice.
DeleteAlcohol must be paleo, as long as you ferment grapes in a ram horn.
ReplyDeletetechnically of course, alcohol did exist, but must have been as rare as honey-trees -- certainly our ancient grandparents didn't enjoy a daily cocktail hour. ;-)
DeleteAlcohol IS paleo. People have been very creative in finding moode-altering substances and figuring out how to ferment anything since way before agriculture time. Where they didn't have starches to ferment, they used psyhodelic mushrooms to get high.
ReplyDeleteyes, i recently heard the speculation that people started agriculture to be able to make beer, not bread. that brought a smile to my face! :-)
DeleteA while ago I had a period reading a lot about travellers experiences (probably because in my 20-s I thought I would never be able to leave the border of my country). I remember it was a common trouble for a traveller to deal with the offering of a revered tribal alcohol-containing drink which was regularly consumed by the tribe males, but the traveller thought was revolting because the drink was manufactured by chewing and spitting some root into a vessl and let the mass to ferment.
DeleteYes, Galina, I never understood the Paleo vinegar ban. Or that salt thing.
ReplyDeletewhen animals go out of their way to find salt-licks, i can't imagine people not doing something similar!
DeleteIn addition with not particularly wanting to be associated with some of what passes for Paleo these days, I've found in the past that saying you're doing Paleo, HCLF or a ketogenic diet (or really a combination of all) requires quite a lot of explanation. Recently I've simply started telling people I'm on the Atkins diet. Everybody knows what it is - or at least they think they do. Too bad if they think I eat steak all day long. I only eat steak once a day in reality.
ReplyDeleteThat should read "In addition to". My English is horrible sometimes.
DeleteOh LOL, HFLC of course. Well, HCLF ketogenic could be fun, too.
Deletesounds like one would be HUNGRY on a ketogenic HCLF! :-)
DeleteActually, I never tryed to eat a Paleo diet. Probably my case - LC Weston Price Diet. I am sure Mary Vernon wouldn't approve, but it rather accurate discription.
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