As I was weeding out junk from my email, I stumbled across an email from half price books about some huge sale, so of course I clicked on it! One of the books they have advertised is
Now, I have to mention here, that 1) my bachelor's degree is in Anthropology, so of course this caught my attention, 2) Unlike a lot of these strange diets, the author of this book has a PhD in Medical Biophysics (see below), and 3) I swore a long time ago that I was done trying these fad diets that pop up here, there and everywhere that profess to end autoimmune symptoms. I had tried just about everything I'd heard of (gluten free, nightshade veggy free, lactose free, sugar free etc etc), with no real results. BUT...this looks like an interesting possibility. Wondered if anyone has actually tried this diet, how difficult (and expensive) it is to maintain it, and if they have had any positive results.
Brief bio of the author: Sarah Ballantyne, Ph.D., earned her doctorate degree in medical biophysics at the age of 26. She spent the next four years doing research on innate immunity and inflammation before becoming a stay-at-home mom...
Couple things to remember about paleo. The life expectancy during that period was 20 years, largely because of poor nutrition especially ricketts from lack of dairy. The diet is extremely low in tow very essential nutrients for PsA patients Calcium and Vitamin D. Supplementing is not really a Very "natural" thing to do. That aside the diet is highly dependent on meat. Anyone who has lived on a ranch will laugh at the concept of grass fed beef (they don't laugh except with each other at folks paying extra $$ for it.) meat is not the sameas during the paleo period, and even if you buy low grade meat (that with low fat levels, you are still buying a way high fat diet. Same witgh "free range" chickens" etc etc. I'm not saying we couldn't all make better food choice. At the end its not much different than the basic Atkins style low carb diet. Whos to say
Won't hurt so long as you supplement heavily the missing nutrients and vitamins minerals etc. Might even help
I’ve read a lot about the paleo diet and basically followed it for about 4 months while weeding out food sensitivities and working on healing my gut after my Celiac diagnosis. It didn’t do anything for my inflammation, but did help me better figure out what works for me as far as diet goes. For many who follow the diet, they see improvement in their general health just because they’re eating better. Some experience issues with being unable to tolerate the protein load.
I don’t think there’s any one size fits all diet for inflammation, but am a big proponent of eating healthy and avoiding foods your body doesn’t tolerate well.
Good responses....and truly very much in line with my general thinking about diet/nutrition. So glad I posted this so that I had some time to come to my senses before rushing out and doing what I swore I would never do again - jump on the fad diet bandwagon.
I've started watching my lactose intake very carefully because I was having horrific bouts of IBS symptoms every night for hours at a time. I'm now on Sulfasalazine, but even on the med, I figured out that drinking milk and eating ice cream were triggers for nastiness. So now I use unsweetened almond milk and avoid ice cream altogether. Oddly (or not so oddly now that I've done some research), I can eat normal everyday yogurt and cheese (real cheese - not that processed cheese-type stuff we put on sandwiches) without any problem. Also, I have been cooking and eating healthier and using far more fresh veggies and fruits than the canned or even frozen varieties which sort of evolved recently over the space of a few months. Since my mother in law moved in (she is diabetic and can't eat vitamin K-laden foods because she is on coumadin), my entire family has started eating much much healthier. Now we eat brown rice only (no white rice here!), whole wheat pasta instead of normal pasta, and fresh veggies and fruits with every meal. I've simply stopped buying the canned crap we used to eat, and rarely eat any processed foods at all anymore. Although...I still do occasionally bake a cake once in a while. :)
In the past, I tried going gluten free, which ended up costing a mint, tasted terrible, and created far more work in the kitchen than I am capable of doing at this point (mixing various gluten-free flours to bake my own bread - are they kidding?!?). I like using the whole grain breads, 100% wheat pasta, and brown rice. They taste yummy, and aren't any more work than eating white bread, white pasta, and white rice...just healthier! I do have a couple of more labor-intensive recipes that I want to try in the near future (gingery quinoa stuffed acorn squash, for starters YUM).
Thanks for your responses. Just kick me in the rear whenever I started talking about wanting to try some silly diet thing again, ok? :)
Timber wolf - that great diet you are talking about now - wholegrains, fresh fruit and veg, lean meat, that is the go.
You have to admit that the time when life spans really started to increase coincided with intensive (but chemical free ) farming, way back when. I’d prefer a life span of 60 years, high quality, than one of thirty or less (Paleo) or 90 but poor quality (but we don’t always get a say in that one).
I’ve always eaten very well (might have junk food like McDonald’s or hot chips twice a year), but it didn’t stop me getting my illnesses. I crave nutrient rich food though (like blueberries) when I’m feeling particularly bad, and I’m pretty my eating well maximizes my energy - it also keeps me at a healthy weight, which is not only essential to minimize joint damage, but since the research says adipose tissue (like belly fat) creates inflammatory cytokines at a disproportionately high rate, also may have a role in at least stopping the inflammation from being worse than it could be!
Paleo’s way to extreme for me! But I do feel my best when I really minimize the carbohydrates in my diet. I eat mostly vegetables, salads, reasonable amounts of fruit (mostly hi-antioxidant fruits like blueberries) and meat, fish and poultry, with reasonable amounts of fat. I don’t worry too much about natural fats, use olive oil a lot, and I avoid all vegetable oils like they’re toxic. I find that eating carbohydrates (particularly gluten-containing ones) make me crave more of the same. And when I go down that slippery slope, my pain worsens. Since lowering my carb intake, I have better weight control than I’ve had in my adult life. I haven’t lost much, but at least I’m not gaining. And it makes me feel good. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. LOL
It’s funny that you bring this up. I just had a war on FB with some friends of a guy I know who are hard core Paleo proponents. I’m glad you have more sense. Ther point was this: that’s the “real” Paleo diet is one base on whole grains, lean meats, and fresh fruits and vegetables, avoiding “processed” and “manufactured” foods (that’s not paleo, that’s a normal healthy diet) and that the fad diet is different than that. Oh, and Paleo is a “lifestyle”. Geez. Any group that can’t take criticism, or scrutiny and is that defensive sounds like wither a fad or a cult to me. Also, Us News listed Paleo as a pretty awful diet to stick with any poor on the nutrition side.
I have read these posts with interest as I have a fellow fibromyalgia friend who is trying Paleo. She swears it has worked wonders for her and I was starting to wonder if I should try it too. However, I am married to a meat and potatoes man who hates vegetables and fruit. Too expensive to buy two separate grocery lists and I don't have the energy to cook two different meals. So, I am glad I haven't jumped on that band wagon as well, I do love my veggies and as long as I add them to what I cook for hubby and I can enjoy them I am happy. Well, except that I can't seem to lose weight no matter what I try...
As I read more deeply into the whole "paleo" philosophy, I realized how wacked these people actually are. They swear that this is exactly what the people ate in the paleolithic era (with some modifications, as there are no longer the same exact types of food available - like mammoths). Having taken lots and lots of college classes in paleobotony, archaeology, and lots of other nifty topics, I can honestly tell you that we have no real clue what people ate in the paleolithic era other than what we have found in reconstituted human and animal feces. And on a side note - who wants that job??? <shudder> So, in any case, I've passed on the paleo diet, and will continue to prepare meals with whole grains, fresh organic fruits and veggies and meats that are as nonprocessed as I can get...
I just thought I'd let you know wolf lady, my peaceful calm afternoon sitting on the porch litening to beautiful music smelling wonderful things from the kitchen for tomorrow as I sneak into my stash of cadburrys is shattered as I furiously google trying to learn how to reconstitute 10,000 year old fecal matter..........
There are all "degrees" of Paleo eating - from people who are hardcore to people who follow the basic guidelines of what to and what not to eat. Another issue I have with this and other diets is that it supposes that people ate properly back then and that we have the same physiology as we did then - or that there's a one-size-fits-all diet for all humans, which just isn't true. :)
Lamb: I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you :)
I actually met several people who have that as their job. One lady gave me a blow-by-blow description as she proceeded to do just that while I stood and watched. It was....messy. And smelly. And disgusting. Then once it was reconstituted, she proceeded to throw on some rubber gloves and started sorting through it by hand with a very fine sieve to pull out all the seed and nut remains. Once the seed and nut remains are removed, they take several samples to look at on slides. again...<shudder>
A t-rex just arrivedat the smithsonian from the rocky mountain museum in bozeman. the guru there is a guy by the name of Jack Honer who was the inspiration for alan clark in jurrasic park. One of the highlites of the tour of the museum is watching these guys work doing all that stuff (horner believes he will have living clone of a t rex) My grndaughter however gave him a lesson in palentolgy a few years ago. She found a rock in the parking lot that she was sure was a fossil. I didn't think itwas She knew it was because of the black shape on it. We went back in after our pic nic and were watching the guys at work when the next thing knew she pounding on the glass for one of the guys to come out. one did - jack horner. she showed him her fossil. he told her he didn't think so and the black shape wass overspray from oil. She looked at him and said well of course silly.... dinasours turn into oil. He agreeded but determined to win, he said it could only be a fossil if there were others in the area. She assured them there were. she found it right outside, and the place was full of fossils. Horner traded her a sharks tooth for her valuable fossil. Lst time were there she was po'd it wasnt on display yet./p>
That is a terrific story! I just recently went to my son's school for "career day." I was a presenter. The principal put me last on the roster of old people giving lectures to the ENTIRE school, so I worked hard to figure out a way to wake everyone up. Anyway, one of the questions was what college degree did you need to do my job (nonprofit sector). I told them I had an B.A. in anthropology, which was basically worthless in the field because "you have to have a PhD. in Anthropology to be Indiana Jones." Got a lot of laughs on that one. Amazing how pop culture icons make us relevant to kids...
Its tougher to get into a doctorate program for palentology than medical school, so my freshman roomate BS palentologist now stock broker told me. The marine biologist that cleans my office says his field is tougher to advance in. I am truly convinced everyone no matter the field needs to start in the liberal arts. They need to be educated before they can learn something.
I follow a low carb ketogenic diet to lose weight. The weight loss and reduction in sugar/carbs/grains has been very helpful for me. Dr. Stephen Phinney’s “the art and science of low carbohydrate living” is a good resource.
A low carb diet can be anti-inflammatory.
yep. The way things are going, it almost makes no sense for kids to go to college these days - NOT that I intend to tell my teenagers that! I have an almost 18 year old who has decided to take a year off, get a job, save some money, then either join the army or go to college in music. Ouch. I also have a 15 year old who is convinced that he will either be an architect or engineer. The interesting thing is, I have not prodded, pushed or suggested to my kids in any way what they should be "when they grow up," other than jokingly telling my 15 year old he should be an attorney since he likes to argue so much. :) They have managed to find their way towards their own strengths all by themselves. My 15 year old is finishing up his freshman year of high school, and has signed up to take conceptual physics next year. Oh...and also AP Literature and AP Algebra II. All that rounded out with Choir and Speech and Debate. My oldest is graduating May 30. I'm just really really happy he is graduating. For a while there, it didn't look like it was likely to happen this year. If he decides to join the army, I'd like to see him get some college classes in him first so he can join as an officer rather than starting at the bottom, but I'll let him go his own way. I may, though, insist that if he decides on music he dual major with education so at least he can get a job as a music teacher when he gets out of college!
tntlamb said:
Its tougher to get into a doctorate program for palentology than medical school, so my freshman roomate BS palentologist now stock broker told me. The marine biologist that cleans my office says his field is tougher to advance in. I am truly convinced everyone no matter the field needs to start in the liberal arts. They need to be educated before they can learn something.