Has any distance runner succeeded on the Paleo Diet?

Paleo4Me wrote:

It works for me. I used to have frequent headaches, skin problems, irritable bowel syndrome, unexplained itching, strong body odor...

sounds like mild form of coeliac disease or other form of food allergy, no wonder excluding some products from diet (i.e. grains) helped alot. Excludind dairy usually helps, too - alot of people got undiagnosed allergy to milk.

tomtom wrote:

sounds like mild form of coeliac disease or other form of food allergy, no wonder excluding some products from diet (i.e. grains) helped alot. Excludind dairy usually helps, too - alot of people got undiagnosed allergy to milk.

Exactly, and I've likely had it most of my life. When I was a kid I'd take the insides out of a sandwich and discard the bread! My immune system is VASTLY better, too.

Paleo4Me wrote:

Exactly, and I've likely had it most of my life. When I was a kid I'd take the insides out of a sandwich and discard the bread! My immune system is VASTLY better, too.

see? anonymous guy on letsrun.com diagnosed you correctly, while whole medical establishment failed to do so :D

anyway, don't give credits to paleo diet - in your case, every diet without grain (or diary, if it's your allergy problem) would help.

The difference is, paleo diet most likely would give serious side effects - weak bone structure is one of them. Say hello to certain injuries.

gfhgfhgfgh wrote:

Can someone give an example of what one would eat on the Paleo diet? What would the menu look like for the day?

breakfast: mcdonald's

snack: mcdonald's

lunch: mcdonald's

snack: mcdonald's

dinner: mcdonald's

snack: mcdonald's

tomtom wrote:

see? anonymous guy on letsrun.com diagnosed you correctly, while whole medical establishment failed to do so :D

anyway, don't give credits to paleo diet - in your case, every diet without grain (or diary, if it's your allergy problem) would help.

The difference is, paleo diet most likely would give serious side effects - weak bone structure is one of them. Say hello to certain injuries.

Why would it cause weak bone structure? I get a LOT of calcium from leafy greens and other foods besides dairy. Do you know of any studies, perhaps research on bone density amongst hunter-gatherer populations? I am not implying that I myself am a hunter-gatherer, unless it's hunting down bargains on organic produce... ;)

he's probably going on that dumb China Study, which ignores the fact the there are plenty of societies who eat NOTHING but meat and are completely healthy.

It's called treating symptoms.

tomtom wrote:

Paleo4Me wrote:

Exactly, and I've likely had it most of my life. When I was a kid I'd take the insides out of a sandwich and discard the bread! My immune system is VASTLY better, too.

see? anonymous guy on letsrun.com diagnosed you correctly, while whole medical establishment failed to do so :D

anyway, don't give credits to paleo diet - in your case, every diet without grain (or diary, if it's your allergy problem) would help.

The difference is, paleo diet most likely would give serious side effects - weak bone structure is one of them. Say hello to certain injuries.

Paleo4Me wrote:

Why would it cause weak bone structure? I get a LOT of calcium from leafy greens and other foods besides dairy. Do you know of any studies, perhaps research on bone density amongst hunter-gatherer populations? I am not implying that I myself am a hunter-gatherer, unless it's hunting down bargains on organic produce... ;)

few reasons

1.

only study regarding low carbo high protein diet I know

2. basically every meat-eating tribe suffer from massive osteoporosis, i.e. eskimoo - highest fracture rate in the world (don't listen to forum trolls, read studies instead, eskimoo are cripples in their 40's)

3. hunter - gatherers differ from todays people in many, many ways. Natural selection (weaklings were killed, population after population), MUCH more running and fighting, MUCH more sun, MUCH harder enviroment. And they usually die in the middle of 30's, so even with diet prone to cause massive osteoporosis they might have healthy bones.

tomtom wrote:

few reasons

1.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12148098

Thanks for the link, I'll take a look.

My diet is NOT low carb and high protein. I eat a lot of carbs with the fruits and vegetables. It's also fairly high fiber, probably 35-40g per day. I don't gorge on meat, I eat the egg in the morning, some nuts & seeds throughout the day, and 4-5 oz. of lean protein in the evening. On days I can work out I'll eat more food with the same general balance. I would never do one of the extreme diets like Atkins.

When I was an infant (a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away) I was allergic to cow's milk, and apparently didn't do too well with the soy stuff, either. Now I'm off both of them, other than occasional yogurt.

My concern with legumes and beans regards their implication in leaky gut syndrome, something Dr. Loren Cordain goes into in depth in his material.

If my bones start breaking in a few years, I'll know you were right and I was wrong. :)

Paleo4Me wrote:

I'll know you were right and I was wrong. :)

yes but why wait that long

Fat Boy wrote:

The Paleo Diet is crap. Read the China Study.

Fat Boy is right. I read them both and The China Study trumps the Paleo.

I had a very similar diet for several weeks, but as my miles increased (now up to 60pw) the carbs I was getting from fruit and veg just wasn't cutting it even though my total caloric intake was probably on target. I was bonking in every run over 6 miles. Now I'm incorporating several elements of the Paleo, but reintroduced oatmeal, potatoes, rice and feel a lot better. I still don't touch dairy and that's probably not smart as a woman.

not touching milk is VERY smart. Remember, osteoporosis exist only in countries, where milk consumption is very high. Sure, it has lots of calcium, but it has lots of protein, too, which damage bones. For example, broccoli got much more calcium per 100 kcal than milk or cheese, much more vitamins and minerals, and does NOT cause bone demineralisation.

try to cut down carbs like popatoes, they have very high glycemic index. Even banana got lower, much lower, and it's vitamin bomb.

back to topic, here is race relation from guy on diet kinda similar to paleo - he is eating only raw, but he excluded eggs and meat:

http://www.30bananasaday.com/profiles/blogs/50-mile-ultra-marathon-race-1

Paleo4Me wrote:

My concern with legumes and beans regards their implication in leaky gut syndrome, something Dr. Loren Cordain goes into in depth in his material.

there is no such thing as "leaking gut syndrome", it's bunch of other diseases, putted by some "alternative doctors" together and claimed to be the real source of all problems, including autism, cancer and, probably, poverty in 3rd world countries too.

sure some of their claims might lead to health benefits. i.e. excluding milk products and grains from diet may be very healthy for allergic persons (and for others too, probably), but it has nothing to do with mysterious leaking gut.

tomtom wrote:

there is no such thing as "leaking gut syndrome", it's bunch of other diseases, putted by some "alternative doctors" together and claimed to be the real source of all problems, including autism, cancer and, probably, poverty in 3rd world countries too.

Don't forget global climate change! :)

I don't consider Cordain to be an "alternative doctor" - he's primarily a scientist. I realize that other scientists' research contradicts the concept of leaky gut, but such a disagreement is inherent to science, isn't it?

See, explaining schizophrenia by demon infestation may be called concept too. But unless any kind of evidence is published, I'm calling it "madness".

Don't get me wrong, I'm very open to all kind of alternatives - i.e. im using dietary changes to cure various diseases, when someone got symptoms as mentioned earlier, I'm advicing discounting grains and milk from diet, while "normal" medicine usually just prescribe some (expensive) pills to ease symptoms. I believe recommended iodine intake should be at least few time higher, same for vitamin D, while fluoride and bromine should be excluded completely, even from toothpaste. But leaking gut? Cmon...

cavewomanNOT wrote:

I had a very similar diet for several weeks, but as my miles increased (now up to 60pw) the carbs I was getting from fruit and veg just wasn't cutting it even though my total caloric intake was probably on target. I was bonking in every run over 6 miles. Now I'm incorporating several elements of the Paleo, but reintroduced oatmeal, potatoes, rice and feel a lot better. I still don't touch dairy and that's probably not smart as a woman.

I ate the way I've described during training for my half-marathon PR in 2008. I had absolutely no trouble whatsoever, felt great on my long runs and enjoyed the half, though the last 3 miles were a little tough. Like I said, it works for me, but I'd never prescribe it for anyone else - who am I to do that?

tomtom wrote:

See, explaining schizophrenia by demon infestation may be called concept too. But unless any kind of evidence is published, I'm calling it "madness"...

...But leaking gut? Cmon...

Have you looked at Cordain's research?

Paleo4Me wrote:

I had absolutely no trouble whatsoever, felt great on my long runs and enjoyed the half, though the last 3 miles were a little tough. Like I said, it works for me

is no good without time