Paleo vs Primal nutrition-for beginners

What's the problem with bread?

I had a problem with it. It was the calorie density. I always explained it this way. I could have one chicken sausage with limited fixins on a bun.....
Or I could have two sausages, no bun, add onions, beans, some BBQ sauce, peppers, etc.....and have a whole plateful of food goodness for the same amount of calories.

I also found lots of tortilla/wrap options that eliminated a lot of the calories and sugars in bread. Lots of sandwiches got turned into wraps/burritos. There's some low calorie/sugar ones out there.

And, I used a lot of the 35 calorie bread for sandwiches and stuff.

I still ate bread. I just avoided it sometimes in favor of quantity of other stuff. In fact, I can't imagine life without bread. If I had to live without it (or pizza) for the rest of my life....I'd chuck it all and go back to weighing 300+ lbs.

 

Getting off of processed food and eating real food would improve the diet of the majority of Americans.  Most Triathletes that go Paleo fall in the category of most American and so they usually see a big boost in energy. You will feel great, but the one isolated study that I saw done on the Paleo diet for eliet Triathletes concluded that this diet was not able in improve triathlons performance.  Still the Triathlon nutrition gurus say that most Triathletes would do well on this diet due to getting rid of the processed foods and eating real food. Going Paleo isn't required to do that though.

 

I know people who cut bread and wheat out of their diet. One is AG competitive (top 20 in his AG at Kona) and he told me that cutting out wheat did a lot to change his body composition.  I haven't seen any studies on bread or wheat to Triathlete performance, but the nutrition Gurus that I have come across were NOT prescribing for anyone to go on bread-less or wheat-less diets and said that wheat was a good source of nutrition for most triathletes.  I don't understand the aversion to bread.  Why is bread your nemesis. Do you have an intolerance?  Are you trying to change your body composition (if so how does cutting bread accomplish this? I really don't know.)? Other?   

Edited by BlueBoy26 2016-12-02 12:46 PM

Without using terms like "Paleo" or "Primal", there are endurance athletes that use a lower carb diet to adapt themselves to burn more fat and rely less on Carbohydrtates.

At least 2 of the top 3 Ultraman world championships do this. Some Protour cycling teams and Tour de France winners do this. Some top 10 Kona pros as well.

It's not for everyone but there are pros and cons of it.

Diet tends to almost become a religious thing that pretty passionate and not so objective on. And for every study that says X is good, another says it's bad.

I would recommend you consult a nutritionist who has worked with athletes. There are some who will work with you online, if there aren't any in your area. I don't follow any particular diet, other than trying to eat less processed foods and refined sugar. But I do know plenty of athletes, particularly women, who are very strict about some diet or another (vegan, gluten free, paleo, you name it) and they often fail to take in enough total calories, healthy fats, carbs, iron, etc. That can affect performance, energy levels, immunity, resistance to injury, fertility, and other aspects of health. The needs of athletes are somewhat different from that of the general population, and those of women athletes probably a bit different than men. Just following a set diet without carefully thinking through your needs is probably not a good idea.

As for bread, I eat very little of it, because I actually have trouble finding any decent bread here. What is available is all white and doesn't keep well. I lost my only local source for whole wheat bread last year. Unless there's an actual intolerance, I don't think whole wheat bread would be a bad choice for most athletes. It has plenty of nutrients and makes a nice base for portable meals. But it is rather calorie dense, and bread makes up a pretty big chunk of calories in the average American diet. I'm guessing if one did cut back or eliminate bread, that might help someone trying to lose weight, simply because it would eliminate a major, fairly calorically dense but not always nutritionally dense (if refined flour) source of calories. In my case (don't need to lose weight) it has been a headache trying to find something to replace it for a portable post-workout breakfast!





Edited by Hot Runner 2016-12-02 7:51 PM

My wife and I eat what people would for the most part consider a Paleo diet but we are not flawless adherents to it. That would be no fun. The majority of our intake is meat, non-starchy vegetables, nuts, seeds and fruit. We have for the most part given up wheat, rice, white potatoes. Dairy is limited to goat cheese, feta or parmesan shredded on a salad. No more slabs of cheese on a sandwich piled high. We eat for te most part whole and un-processed food. If I am eating carbs they are generally going to be in foods that take some effort to process. We went down this road for weight loss and I have shed 35 lbs. I thought giving up many of the foods I'd eaten my whole life would be tough. It was only a short term (a couple of weeks) adjustment.

Our key is to let ourselves occasionally enjoy some of the foods we no longer eat. We are in North Idaho, where there is essentially no good bread, but if I am in the SF Bay Area or Portland and the best sourdough in the world is being served on the side of a good restaurant meal, I am going to have a slice or two. Enjoy a small piece of the cake that your host made for the dinner party you are attending. Have a big burger once every couple of months if you find the ultimate burger joint. Have a beer after a day hunting. There are things I gave up that I still never eat because I ended up not really missing them, like pasta.

Fueling in this manner has allowed this 61 year old to complete a HIM and a couple of sprints this year. Having just gotten into tri over the last couple of years, I will frankly never be competing in age group worlds. I don't have to ratchet my nutrition up to that level.

Eating simple works for us. Call it Paleo or don't...

Edited by HaydenHunter 2016-12-03 7:20 AM

Not bragging, but I HAVE, as of September, competed in AG Worlds. (70.3) Not podium-level, but would be reasonably competitive (my coach claims top 20; I'm ranked #18 right now) if I hadn't ridden....er.....a tad extra! And I eat a pretty normal diet. It's not as "healthy" as I would like, as my food choices can be limited here. Mostly fish, tofu, lean meat, rice, noodles, veggies, fruit, oatmeal, nuts, yogurt. Not much variety, but it's not because I'm following a diet; it's what's available! I do enjoy the occasional treats--bacon and fries are my "nemeses". I've decided I can have each once a week if I want, but not in the same meal/day. Have a little, and you won't crave them so much and over-indulge.

Food is fuel, and if you are hoping for the best performance from your body, you don't want to routinely feed it crap. But taking that to extremes and rigidly following a diet, where you are denying yourself things you love and missing out on life experiences (trying local foods when traveling, enjoying a dinner with friends) in my mind is counter-productive, unless there is a clear medical reason (like diabetes, celiac, or a peanut allergy). And in many cases, these rigid diets lead to under-fueling or imbalanced eating, which is counter-productive.

One sacrifices a LOT (free time, $$, energy, late nights, the usual blood, sweat, and tears) to get to a level to qualify for Worlds, and even more so, I'd imagine, to be a top competitor there. It just doesn't seem like giving up a normal relationship with food, except "maybe" for the week or so prior to a big race, when your main thought would be to optimize nutrition and not get sick from eating something weird, would be worth it. Not sure how to put it, but if you start to consistently resent the sacrifices you are making, I don't see how the sport is making a positive impact on your life. It has to be a labor of love. If strictly following a paleo or low-carb or whatever diet makes your life more enjoyable and makes you feel awesome, fine, but I don't think it' necessary to compete at a top level in the sport.

FWIW--I have been lucky enough to watch a lot of the pros eat and even join them at breakfast buffets. With a few exceptions, they (at least those who do HIM) are clearly NOT following any kind of special diet! Ranges from the "see food" diet (one top male European pro puts chocolate on pretty much everything at breakfast) to simple, healthy food and lots of it.

Yep, life's not that difficult, it's overthinking that gets us in trouble. Just eat clean and skip stuff that reads like a chemical experiment. I would disagree with avoiding oils/fats though... you do need those, but make sure you get the good stuff and not over doing it. Avocado's, nuts, etc. contain fats, but they're good fats.

You will get a ton of opinions on the subject. Many of them from people who have not read up on the subject.

Paleo is more of a philosophy based on ancient mans diet which can't truly be duplicated today

Primal is an attempt to take the philosophy and relate to today's world, on what the human body has and has not adapted to. There are food items that this diet still leaves up in the air whether is should or should not be eaten. Saying it will work for some but may not for others. It also adds in a life style, saying the man was meant to do physical labor and move around regularly unlike what most americans do today.

If you took a vegan diet and added in animal products you would have basically a Primal diet. Which is mostly eliminating processed food.

As for bread I can tell you that the wheat you eat today is not the same as 50 years ago. It was genetically engineered back in the 60's in order to produce higher yields. I actually have recipes from my mother and grandmother with change written in because the flour changed. Whether or not it is bad for you people could argue forever. I'll say that I personally feel much better when I cut bread(mostly wheat) products out of my diet, and I try to keep it to a minimum.