Paleo and Crossfit Questions

[Mike Ridgley]

After reading the information directly from various Paleo websites, most of these sites tend to specifically exclude dairy product.

Reading some recipes on this site, it seems that eggs and milk and sometimes even potatoes are acceptable. I have even read eating oatmeal is OK.

Are there any other foods that are acceptable with CrossFit but not part of the Paleo diet?

Just trying to get the fundamentals dialed in so I can prepare and build meals correctly.

TIA.

[Moran Bentzur]

read the crossfit nutrition prescription here:
http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/start-diet.html (wfs)

Paleo diet is many things to many people. thepaleodiet is a trademark of Dr. loren cordain and he is strict about dairy (including oats), grains, legumes.
Other people follow a less strict paleo/primal nutrition plan with either some food group allowed or cheat meals inserted.

My suggestion would be to go on a 30 day strict Paleo challenge and after that slowly test what you can insert back into your routine without adverse affects.

[Joe Bernard]

People don't follow diets to a "T", they allow for concessions so that they can eat a way that is sustainable for them for life. Diary is a grey area, some people tolerate it others don't (I can only tolerate eggs). Sweet potatoes are useful postworkout for replenishing muscle glycogen, but regular white potatoes are not so try to avoid them (people will chime in saying they are good, again a debatable point). Oatmeal is a grain and should be avoided, but again depending on who you talk to they can either be bad/good because some tolerate them while others don't. You starting to get the picture?

To see if you can tolerate the food in question, cut it out for 2-3 weeks and then reintroduce it and see what happens. Also, it's your eating habits, if you want to have some dairy because you like it, go ahead. If that (or white potatoes or oatmeal) is the worst part of your diet, then you are doing pretty well.

[Sara Fleming]

Realize that if you cut out a food for 2-3 weeks you are going to down-regulate the enzymes you usually use to digest said food and when you re-introduce it, it may make you feel sick, even though you may not be sensitive to it.

A better way to judge whether or not you are sensitive to a food is if you feel better when you aren't eating it. For example, do you usually have sinus congestion and when you cut out grains does it go away? Then maybe you have a problem with grains.

But, if you cut out grains and sugar for thirty days, don't be surprised if you have a tummy ache when you re-introduce them because you have probably cut down on your production of amylase, an enzyme necessary for breakdown of starches to sugar.

Strict paleo is not really necessary for most people.

[Brian Baggetta]

Strict paleo doesn't allow dairy or grains, so no potatoes and no oatmeal.


Eggs are allowed, although strict paleo types recommend limiting them. (An egg is not a dairy product, regardless of what the refrigerator case at your local grocer says.)

What's your reason for wanting to go paleo, and how committed to it are you/how important is it for you to be strict?

[Katherine Derbyshire]

Originally Posted by Brian Baggetta

Strict paleo doesn't allow dairy or grains, so no potatoes and no oatmeal.


Eggs are allowed, although strict paleo types recommend limiting them. (An egg is not a dairy product, regardless of what the refrigerator case at your local grocer says.)

Potatoes aren't grains, either. Not sure why strict paleo doesn't like them, unless it's because they were domesticated recently.

Katherine

[S.S.]

Originally Posted by Katherine Derbyshire

Potatoes aren't grains, either. Not sure why strict paleo doesn't like them, unless it's because they were domesticated recently.

Katherine

Potatoes are tubers, which are off-limits for paleo. The reaons they are not allowed for paleo are: they're toxic when not-cooked, high-glycemic, low in phytosterols, and they contain enzyme blockers and lectins.

[Mike Ridgley]

Originally Posted by Brian Baggetta

Strict paleo doesn't allow dairy or grains, so no potatoes and no oatmeal.


Eggs are allowed, although strict paleo types recommend limiting them. (An egg is not a dairy product, regardless of what the refrigerator case at your local grocer says.)

What's your reason for wanting to go paleo, and how committed to it are you/how important is it for you to be strict?

I can be strict if I am prepared - such as making my meals many days in advance. For now, I have made a nice beef sirloin vegetable stir fry with no additives other than olive-oil and some spices. This should get me through the week until I can gain more knowledge.

I am glad to learn that eggs are acceptable - they are a great source of protein and are quick, easy, and transportable (when boiled).

Thanks for the responses.

[Greg Crawford]

Originally Posted by Shane Skowron

Potatoes are tubers, which are off-limits for paleo. The reaons they are not allowed for paleo are: they're toxic when not-cooked, high-glycemic, low in phytosterols, and they contain enzyme blockers and lectins.

Shane, this is not a blast at you, but rather a generalized comment. Please take no offense.

I've noticed that this term is used frequently without scientific support (ie a citation). Here's one (scientific means a reviewed,published paper, not a website) that shows GI varies rather widely for different preparations and potatoes. Although I agree with a lot of what is said about potatoes etc, I have not seen an abundance of scientific support for the position. We should be careful to either separate our theories from fact supported by scientific evidence, or be conscientious about citing support. There are a lot of folks trying hard to understand and educate themselves here and we do ourselves a disservice when we blindly repeat ideas that we don't truly have a basis for.

WFS http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15800557

[S.S.]

Originally Posted by Greg Crawford

Shane, this is not a blast at you, but rather a generalized comment. Please take no offense.

I've noticed that this term is used frequently without scientific support (ie a citation). Here's one (scientific means a reviewed,published paper, not a website) that shows GI varies rather widely for different preparations and potatoes. Although I agree with a lot of what is said about potatoes etc, I have not seen an abundance of scientific support for the position. We should be careful to either separate our theories from fact supported by scientific evidence, or be conscientious about citing support. There are a lot of folks trying hard to understand and educate themselves here and we do ourselves a disservice when we blindly repeat ideas that we don't truly have a basis for.

WFS http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15800557

Here is another study which finds differently that baked potatoes actually have a GI of over 100. Even if we average out the two findings, potatoes are still high-glycemic.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17327869
(wfs)

While in certain situations potatoes may not be considered "high" on the Glycemic Index, in most situations in which Americans eat them they are high-glycemic. Additionally, they are higher on the glycemic index than nearly all other paleo foods, with the exception of a few fruits, and fruits are supposed to be eaten sparingly according to the paleo diet.