Paleo Diet Vs The Gluten Free Lifestyle

[lewiss]

Hi

Could any body straighten me out what is the difference between the paleo diet and the gluten free diet. Or is there any difference, please comment would be helpful.

sljh

[beachbirdie]

Hi

Could any body straighten me out what is the difference between the paleo diet and the gluten free diet. Or is there any difference, please comment would be helpful.

sljh

The basic rundown...

Paleo is a diet based on anything "wild caught-wild harvested". Grass-fed meats (NOT feed-lotted, corn-fed), fresh fish/poultry, fresh fruits and vegetables, some nuts and seeds, NO processed/refined foods (no canned or boxed stuff), no dairy though some cheat and use cream/butter.

Gluten free is simply anything that doesn't have gluten in it. A lot of gluten free diets are just like the Standard American Diet ("SAD") containing baked goods, hydrogenated fats, processed and canned goods, etc. as well as the usual dairy/egg additions.

Google paleo diet, there's lots of info out there.

[rosetapper23]

The biggest difference is that we don't eat ANY grains whatsoever, and we eat more healthy saturated fats and protein than other people. Also, everything must be organic. The Paleo Diet, as I understand it, allows dairy and some alcohol, but the Primal Diet does not. Personally, I put organic butter on almost everything. And, no, fat does not make people fat--carbs do. I tried the Primal Diet for a while, and it was awesome....but, in the end, I found it too restrictive and missed dairy and my glass of wine, so I switched to the Paleo Diet. I occasionally cheat by eating brown rice or some cookies. Both diets are extremely healthful, and the weight just drops off if you follow it closely. If you want to read more about the Paleo Diet, www.marksdailyapple.com is an excellent site.

[~**caselynn**~]

Great info, I had questions about paleo as well, I'll check it out!

[nvsmom]

As I understand it, the paleo diet does not allow beans...I can't remember why.

[rosetapper23]

That's right! No beans, because our forefathers couldn't eat them without cooking them...and fire wasn't available back then. As you probably know, beans contain toxins, which dissipate when cooked.

[beachbirdie]

That's right! No beans, because our forefathers couldn't eat them without cooking them...and fire wasn't available back then. As you probably know, beans contain toxins, which dissipate when cooked.

Whoa. I'd never heard about toxins in beans! What evil things are hiding in them? Off to Google...

Okay, just back from the Great Information Emporium in Cyberspace.

What an eye opener! There are Open Original Shared Link in raw beans. I always knew there was a danger associated with fava beans and I never use them, but wow. I didn't know about kidney beans. I love kidney beans!

[lewiss]

The basic rundown...

Paleo is a diet based on anything "wild caught-wild harvested". Grass-fed meats (NOT feed-lotted, corn-fed), fresh fish/poultry, fresh fruits and vegetables, some nuts and seeds, NO processed/refined foods (no canned or boxed stuff), no dairy though some cheat and use cream/butter.

Gluten free is simply anything that doesn't have gluten in it. A lot of gluten free diets are just like the Standard American Diet ("SAD") containing baked goods, hydrogenated fats, processed and canned goods, etc. as well as the usual dairy/egg additions.

Google paleo diet, there's lots of info out there.

Thanks, much to restrictive for me, right now being qluten free, and eating starchy product, is okay, i do eat a lot of organics, but i have had lot of opposition and different views organics and how they grown close to chemically treated crops, anyways thats for another time.

Lewiss

[Cara in Boston]

After a year of being gluten free, my family has started eating much more paleo and everyone is benefitting (even the non-celiacs).

I could never have done it before - I would have missed my pizza, bagels, and flour tortillas - but since we had already given up those things, the transition has not been hard. Yes, there are gluten-free alternatives to all the things I missed, but I didn't find them as satisfying AND I put on 10 pounds eating them! No thanks!

We still eat dairy - but not nearly as much - and occasionally have corn on the cob or beans - but not often. I am not crazy-strict about it . . . we still use soy sauce (gluten-free) and add sugar to some things.

Even my nine year old (not gluten-free) has noticed he feels much better in the morning after a breakfast of eggs, veggies, and fruit then he did when he had a bowl (or two) of cereal. The kids snack less (don't get hungry in an hour) and behavior is more consistent.

I imagine we will keep moving in this direction until we are eating most meals free of grains, processed sugar, legumes, and dairy. (maybe we'll keep the diary . . . )

Cara

[kittty]

Human ancestors used fire to cook food since well before we evolved into our current "Homo sapien" physical state, so I'm not sure why beans wouldn't be included.

[bigbird16]

Beans and other legumes aren't considered ideal in primal and paleo diets because of the lectins. Lectins aren't particularly good for digestion. They keep critters from eating the plants. Soaking before cooking and fermenting can help with that.

This past spring, I took a wild edibles (and non-edibles to avoid) course.* Two plants we looked at were wisteria and redbud. Both are legumes. Redbud pods can be eaten raw when they are at their teeny tiniest. As they grow, the lectin content increases. Any larger than miniscule, they must be cooked. At a certain point, even cooking won't help, and they are poisonous. Wisteria seeds are deadly. They'll end your foraging right quick. According to the instructor, most of the world's legumes are not fit for human consumption. Why? The lectin concentration.

*Disclaimer: Do not eat plants in your yard or in the wild unless you make a 100% positive ID and know without a doubt which parts you can use and how they should be prepared, or you can die quickly in a lot of distress.

[Menic]

Quite a few foods require some sort of reaction (usually heat) to become edible. Take meat, as an example, where cooking it not only kills off various bad microscopic things but also breaks down the meat at a more structural level. Since the discovery of fire as a cooking mechanism, people have evolved to rely on cooked animal proteins over eating them raw. Obviously some raw animal proteins are more easily digestible, like tuna.

I'm not sure why various paleo diets draw lines about what can be eaten versus what can't based on cooking necessities. Some food provide way more nutritional value prepared than raw (for an historic example, see the key role corn played in Central America).