My last post being 10 days ago, this has got to be the longest stretch of “time off” since my first few years of blogging. I don’t think I’ve gone more than a few days without a post since going paleo-ish.
So what’s up? Well, a few things, roughly outlined as follows:
- I’m going through major changes in my professional life. After 20 years as an entrepreneur, building a successful company, etc., I decided some months ago to do something else…and because I care about our clients, was unwilling to attempt to “sell” them. So, we stopped taking new clients last October and I’m shutting things down deliberately via client attrition. As far as what’s next, I’m pursuing management / systems / change consulting gigs at the moment. Here’s my Linkedin profile for anyone interested in networking in that regard (still a work in progress).
- My far more flexible style of eating—moderate carb, fat, protein…basically—combined with simplicity, and perhaps aspects of #1, seems to have had a number of behavioral effects in me. I’m simply not as interested in “slaying the dragons” as I used to be, or in maintaining my exclusive role as “Angry Dick” in the Paleosphere…and I’m happy to relinquish that role to others—but they better do it right, or I’ll have to come back.
- I have increasing misgivings about the whole direction of the Paleosphere.
In terms of #3, where do I begin? First of all, I have to first point the finger at myself for encouraging things to go where I now feel uncomfortable with the whole deal. While I lashed out at dietitian morons, slammed know-nothing celebrities, bashed grant whores and made fun of various fringe and extreme groups like vegans, I never did it, in my mind, to move people in the direction of being a fringe, extremist, exclusive, whack job paleo cult—but simply to provide some laughs, entertainment…some form of identity and yea, even a bit of a sense of superiority.
But it seems to me that the whole thing has really gone tribal, with virtually all the trappings of tribalism, including which faction of the meta-tribe one belongs to, identified by which t-shirt and style of Vibrams they wear. As an aside, I designed an FTA t-shirt early on, and when I got mine, found myself unable to wear it in public. So I took it off the blog after a short while. I’m just not a team spirit kinda guy.
Anyway, I’ll have more to say on this later, of course, and I’m working on getting a guest post in here that speaks to these issues—but at this point don’t know if that will work out. [Update: we’re all set and the post will be up tomorrow.]
What I want to do going forward is to take a sensible, thoughtful, skeptical, and flexible approach to this whole thing. I’m not prepared to “slam paleo” or excise it from my writing vocabulary; but instead, continue to seek out synthesis among various approaches to a decent diet and exercise regimen. For instance, I’m not sure when it was that Anthony Colpo updated his The Fat Loss Bible, but I do believe it must have been pretty recently, because Chapters 11 and 12 read like one of the best short introductions to paleo eating I’ve ever seen. Combined with his “calories count” and quantitative approach to fat loss and lean sparing, that book is a real gem in my view. Most particularly, his emphasis on nutrient density are very much in line with my own, when I posted my nutritional density challenges for liver vs. fruit and liver or salmon vs. bread.
He’s not the only one, but those I find myself most in line with while not feeling a need to agree with everything, don’t really wear a paleo badge, nor extend the secret handshake. Paul Jaminet. Martin Berkhan. Stephan Guyenet. kurt harris. Melissa McEwan. Chris Masterjohn. Even Lyle McDonald. While none of these guys call themselves paleo, they all care about good nutrition, quality food, and a fat loss approach that doesn’t amount to the equivalent of: eat as much fat as you can and magic will happen…with the caveat that there’s no such thing as too much bacon; and oh, by the way, have you tried the “paleo” brownies, pancakes & cookies?
And here’s another thing. They all maintain modest looking blogs that are content rich and low on flashy design. I dunno, but some of the efforts at style over substance and monetization out there just leave me with a bad taste in my mouth.
But maybe it’s just me. And what say you?
Alex 
John 
Matthew Allen Miller 
Jesrad 
Leslie 
Absolutely. Your next step is to accept the idea that lots of fruit isn’t necessarily bad, either. 🙂
The idealization in this community of women with fourteen-packs — not just as an exception but an *ideal* that everyone should aspire to — by a bunch of 20-something clueless idiots, also bugs me. It has nothing to do with fitness or health. Melissa has written some excellent stuff on this, and so have a few other “paleo” bloggers, so I’ll leave it at that.
In some ways, the paleosphere is deeply out of touch with reality. For a long time now, I’ve been encouraging people looking for help to just eat simple, real food. I don’t mention any specific “diets.”
I should probably add Melissa to that list above, as well as Chris Masterjohn.
I don’t think there’s anything paleo at all about the idealization of ripped, super low body fat. I was talking with a guy who does search and rescue, and he said that ripped athletic types fare the worst in those situations because they carry no caloric reserves. I can’t possibly believe that paleolithic man thought having no body fat stores was a good idea.
Indeed, if you look at many hunter gatherers you cannot see really really well-defined abs. Even in the men.
…except for the hunter-gatherer ones, not living on marginal nutrients.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1C6dkqJ5V-g/TaM3FZ1oSQI/AAAAAAAAAAQ/vOc15i8k1jE/s1600/Bathurst_Island_men+%25281%2529.jpg
http://www.paleotraining.co.uk/userimages/hunter-gatherer.jpg
Oh, and someone I know personally said some shit about something. Q.E.D.
I think there’s a distinction to make between ‘yep, the guy has abs’ and ‘he’s ripped and shredded.’
There is, but “well-defined” happens somewhere around 10% body fat, and gets insanely cut by around 6%. A 180 lb man at 10% has a store of 18 lbs of fat, which is 63,000 calories. That in addition to muscle tissue and you’re looking at well over a month’s supply of energy, and that’s assuming your dealing with someone stupid enough to not be able to secure a single bite of food in over a month. Even the 6% guy is looking at close to a month before shit gets real. That doesn’t sound like a selection pressure to me.
Totally agreed. I have made this point many times, ie, you have a few hours of glycogen under strenuous circumstances but potentially months with fat metabolism and gluconeaogenesis.
But, does that go to how we ought to be operating in a quotidian way, or, does it evidence just how very deep our evolution is as to survival?
If you can eliminate pot bellies as a survival factor (i.e. we don’t store fat so we can hibernate winters), then it makes reasonable sense to assume that body fat is most effective when it’s minimized to only whatever level is necessary to buffer nutrient delays, since the advantage of having less mass is a huge survival bonus. I think a month of buffer is well above that necessity, so any fat beyond that would increasingly handicap a natural (HG) human while conferring no additional advantage. Women have different fat storage patterns and carry fat that has reproductive and nursing value, so the survival factors are different. Evolutionary calculus is certainly a complex undertaking and fraught with potential error from starting off with mistaken axioms, but I’m pretty confident I’m in the ballpark on this one.
I would say that’s true except for extreme latitudes, north or south. You’re not seeing their abs in any case, owing to the fur they wrap themselves in. May be not the case for a couple of months of the year, but I’ll bet it still gets pretty cool at night.
I theoretically have my fair share of “Ice Age” heritage, although European descended people of modern extraction probably have far less than they assume, and I can hardly retain any visible fat on a feast-famine (IF style) eating pattern, which I’ve done for years. I would think the feast-famine model would be even closer to reality in the extreme latitudes than in Africa.
I know for myself, eating a paleo diet of all grass fed meat and tubers I have naturally become the leanest I’ve ever been (visual abs,somewhere below 10 %) and that’s practically with zero exercise. I think a lot of those modern hunter gatherers you see with pot bellies have access to imported sugars and white flour treats. Johns picture says it all.
The Venus figurines were paleolithic carvings. Sure not svelte. http://arthistoryresources.net/willendorf/willendorfdiscovery.html
Figurines from the Danube Basin (albeit neolithic 4,000 b.c.e.) also show a huge preference for large bits. Now, not all female figurines are endowed with enormous breasts, but large hips and buttocks appears to be de rigeur.
Oh, and Monica, in terms of fruit, I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t eat much, usually, but ocassionsally gorges on it.
Bing cherries in season are número uno on that list. Grapes probably a close second and they have these sort of mandarin oranges here called Cuties that come out over a few months once per year and I’ll eat 5 or 6 in a sitting.
Oh, and I’ll eat a good half of a large watermelon a few times per year.
Had a banana this morning, kinda choked it down. I dunno. I just can’t really go bananas on fruit.
Yeah, not suggesting it’s necessary. And I have never heard you saying fruit will make you fat, though some paleo people claim this, or that it will give you diabetes. !? Silly. A lot of people can’t handle lots for digestive reasons, of course.
Some people clearly overdo fruits. It share with sweets the quality to be eaten even if your stomach is full. My guess, if somebody is crazy about fruits, it is better to treat it as a desert.
I know lots of people who “overdue” fruits and are crazy about them. Not a single one has an above average BMI or diabetes.
Monica, a majority of the digestive problems are due to unripe fruits. Most humans couldn’t pick out ripe fruit if they had a gun to their head. There are many other individual factors of course, but this one’s a biggy.
It’s comments like these that make me say fuck it! I have to pay extra for grass fed meat, get trained on how to pick out fruit so I don’t eat something unripe etc. I’m leaning toward being miserable on weight watchers which will cause me to eat more processed food and be starving for a time but it seemed to work for me.
Great blog Nicholas. Whatever you gravitate toward next will be great work I’m sure.
I didn’t finish my thought. I meant to end this by saying I want to try all the things that I made fun of (grass fed meat, good fruit). My point is I want to lose weight the best way I know. Then when I am at a good weight I am comfortable with use some of these paleo ideas. I didn’t mean to make fun of what C2U said. Sorry C2U! It’s good advice. My main problem is I am inconsistent–just like most other Americans.
Well, Monica, some of those people are backing their arguments with serious amounts of science – and not the epidemiological kind – like Lustig, Mat Lalonde, etc. Fructose can be very problematic. Shall we just ignore the science?
Paleo philosophers do not say that fruit will make you fat, or give you diabetes…
Let me squelch this right here and now..
What the point is, is that fruit and it’s natural sugars causes us to want to over-eat fruit.. Fruit can cause cravings because of the sugars..
You get Diabetes from bad diet… Fruit isn’t bad diet, it’s a food group that causes cravings.. Cravings many of us try to avoid so that we can either maintain our weight, or continue reducing..
I don’t doubt that it could cause some people cravings, but that is not a universal experience. I have no problem at all with the fruits I do eat (apples, citrus, stone fruits, cherries, and berries.) What disrupts my metabolism is starch. If I eat a large enough portion, it spikes and crashes my blood sugar, but even small amounts of starch, eaten on a regular basis, increase my appetite and drive me to overeat.
Your change in mood also quite possibly is a result of lowered cortisol and adrenaline from not forcing your body through gluconeogenesis all the time. Some of your more bombastic stuff seems similar in attitude to how I felt when was doing fairly severe caloric restriction out of pure stress years ago in grad school.
Don’t mean to be a pain, Monica, but the assumption that we aren’t designed to be a little “bombastic” is unsupported. How do you know? The un-neutered males of just about every other species of primate I can think of certainly tend toward periodic bombasticity. There is nothing more invigorating and life affirming than the feeling a male on the far side of 35 gets when talking/staring down a male of 20 or so. If it’s true that scarcity provided a strong selection pressure on us, would it not make sense that those who were a bit more bombastic would’ve been first to eat and feed their families? Perhaps all the fruit and grain is making some folks unnecessarily weak and docile?
Looking forward to some more *beyond diet* kind of stuff, as well.
Glad to see you posting again !
“But it seems to me that the whole thing has really gone tribal, with virtually all the trappings of tribalism, including which faction of the meta-tribe one belongs to, identified by which t-shirt and style of Vibrams they wear.”
This isn’t limited to just paleo, IMO it’s more of a “signs of times” thing. I see the same phenomenon happen everywhere, in every domain (sports, science, movie-going, anything goes). That’s, I think, a consequence of the Internet: lowering transaction costs tremendously, it lets the Wisdom of Crowds take full effect. People who depended on “the officially annointed experts” for directions now resort to more loosely-knit bands of informational gateways to take decisions for themselves, because those prove more adapted to their needs time and again. People “sync” together around shared memes and principles in smaller, more diverse groups, and thus society is getting more granular, fast. Nation-states will have to adapt somehow, eventually. But that may just be wild speculation 🙂
“People “sync” together around shared memes and principles in smaller, more diverse groups, and thus society is getting more granular, fast. Nation-states will have to adapt somehow, eventually. But that may just be wild speculation ”
Interesting perspective. I suppose that in the long view of things it’s better to rally around small tribes than God & Country and all those symbols.
Yes, better for those doing the rallying. Now the question is how to manage so that God and Country don’t take over and also so that we don’t devolve into tribalism, a casual synonym for constant low-key warfare….the verbal version of which is happening right now in the nutrition sphere as you say. Write the book Richard! 🙂
Get this completely. Have been Paleo for just over a year and at first was astonished and outraged at the nutritional nonsense fed through mainstream media and advertising. Not to mention “nutritionists”. Over time, and particularly the past couple months, my way of eating has evolved (haha) to settle into a pattern of good whole real food. It’s no longer a big deal to me to eliminate foods that are a waste of calories and make me feel like crap, but it is to those around me who still feel I have an eating disorder. But WTF, that’s their choice and this is my choice, and while it makes me sad and a little exasperated to listen to health complaints when there’s such a simple solution, I no longer feel compelled to offer my .02 of advice. I’d still like to read your insights on the more ludicrous aspects of modern food politics 🙂
It feels like there is the beginning divergence of the ancestral health movement and the optimal diet for health and longevity. As much as we began by couching the movement on diet, as influenced by an evolutionary biology template, it seems as though we are moving beyond that initial template. It will be really interesting to see what kind of results we get back from the metabolic ward studies that are just beginning.
I hope that we continue to pursue the science in other areas, such as sleep, stress, and fitness, with the same laser like scrutiny that we have with nutrition. But I don’t feel like we should fear the fringe groups who attempt to co-op paleo/ancestral health; as they are a sign of gaining more mainstream attention, and the cream will eventually rise to the top.
I’ve always enjoyed your acerbic writing style Richard. Coupled with an eye for connecting the dots and bringing folks into the fray, you are an important voice in the conversation.
Good job, Richard. Glad to hear your output is reducing, if only to make my own (significantly reduced due to research responsibilities) blog output look like something approaching prolific. 😉
Life’s a process, so it’s natural that as you go through it your focus and behavior will change. Kudos for just recognizing and embracing what is.
I still remember being a total dick to a “trainer” in a gym about a year after I started CrossFit. I was so clearly superior in my head that I let myself act superior in random situations. Looking back I see my behavior as ridiculous, but seemed reasonable at the time because so many people “didn’t get it.”
I see mastery of diet and exercise as similar to mastery of any other thing in life. When I was learning how to program, I ate, slept, breathed programming. I got really good at it, then it just became integrated into who I was. The behavior surrounding the acquisition and subsequent mastery of a skill or set of tasks is quite different from the behavior that emerges when the skill has been integrated and you’ve moved on to acquiring other skills.
It’s pretty natural to be bombastic during the acquisition. The constant us/them, wrong/right, good/bad helps to define the elements. Once defined clearly for yourself, the need to think along the concrete black and white lines drops away.
I’m betting you feel pretty relaxed in the areas of food and exercise. And what better state to start on a new round of learning and acquisition? What was a drive in the area of food and exercise can now just be an interest. Of course you won’t quit learning, but it’s an interest, not a moral imperative. 😉
Can’t wait to see where you go from here.
Well put Bill, that process of inflated expectations and excitement followed by doubts, disillusionment and then finally a balanced acceptance or mastery is similar to the adoption of new technology. Check out Gartner’s excellent Hype Cycle that describes this process in a cool diagram:
http://www.gartner.com/hc/images/215650_0001.gif
The tribal obsessives around Paleo may simply not want to leave their “Peak of Inflated Expectations”. Perhaps Richard has reached the “Slope of Enlightenment”?
You’ve given me a bunch more resources to help in my own journey towards health. Thanks.
I said on here like 6 months ago that “Paleo” jumped the shark and I stand by that. It’s basically marketing hype built around an elimination diet. Once you figure out what not to eat the important step is to start adding food back in,thats where real health,vitality and well being are to be had.
you’re absolutely right Richard. I too find myself more interested in the people you listed, who don’t consider themselves “paleo” necessarily, whatever that actually means, but are still in line with eating real food. that’s the reason why I never committed my blog to “paleo”… there’s so much more to diet and nutrition than paleo, even though its a significant piece, and a great starting point. “Ancestral diet” is a much better term in my opinion, although it’s not so catchy
A little sad that things are changing, but I really hope you still post food porn!
Interesting re the business, I’ve been doing the same thing as far as work goes for 26 years and self-employed for most of them, about a year ago I stopped taking on new clients. Part of it was being active and healthy again, part of it was family obligations taking a toll, but overall all it was a sense that something had to give, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be the parts of my life that I like the best.
Most liberating thing I have ever done.
Richard – This post is why I like you. You’re honest, no bullshit.
I am not paleo either, I’m not primal, low carb, whatever. I did get caught up in it, but I smartened up.
I agree with a lot of the nutrition, but I hate dogma. It smells like religion to me – and that’s all about control. I hate control – but then again I also hate stupid.
I’ve lost the whole mojo of posting myself. See, going in one direction (IE “paleo”) finds me painting myself into a corner. People then have an expectation on how you are supposed to be. It’s like being back in high school again, in a clique.
I hated those fucking cliques. I was always my own person, fuck em if they don’t like me.
If I want to eat/make no-knead bread – fuck it. I’m gonna. If someone wants to tell me with a cold hard straight face that I’m gonna die of insulin resistance or an overdose of medication for diabetes – fuck em. (Funny thing is it’s a lot of people who have no fucking idea about the disease spouting off that shit.)
I’ve given up some diabetic forums for this same reason – pushing low carb down my throat. Like its the only method of managing MY disease. (Eerily similar to the ADA mindset…)
What I like about you is you keep it real. If you eat fruit and do fine, then you say so. You aren’t trapped in a dogma.
I hope to see more of what you are posting. FTA isn’t about “paleo” to me anyway. That’s too much dogma. Too religious.
FTA is about being free from those shackles. Free from the bullshit. Keep it up, I know I’ll keep reading!
How is Paleo dogmatic? Veganism is dogmatic. Paleo is self-regulating. If new science comes about, someone will blog about it and the word will spread. It’s only dogma when you deny that science. Haven’t you noticed how Paleo isn’t so much low carb anymore? There are high fruit eaters like Denise Minger there are high starch eaters as well. Paleo changes according to the science, religion doesn’t.
Religion actually does change over time. It just pretends not to (in the present), and occasionally it has to burn a few witches before coming to terms with the new face of eternity (ha!).
You seem to finally be at peace Richard. Your experiences seem to mirror mine (and many other’s) in the paleo journey, from the lunatic fringe (questioning benign foods such as olive oil) to just having fun with it and eating what you need for the day with some occasional treats thrown in (mmm ice cream). Your rants were fun while it lasted though.
Good post Richard
I’ve got bored by much of the paleo stuff recently. I started bumping up carbs about a year ago – no gluten but more parsnips, spuds, bananas etc – and got leaner and felt better. I am coming back to the old bodybuilding diets now but that is another story.
I had something on my blog a while ago that there were 3 ideas that seemed to be the sexiest at the moment:
– mitochondria
– microbiome
– epigenetics
I think more and more we need to focus on those…..and that involves a lot more than diet.
+1 microbiome !
how so… ?? physical activity you mean?
positive/balanced outlook?
finding ones balance point?
…u fill em up
Agree! Keeping our mitochondria happy may be the most important thing we can do.
Great post! I am definitely with you on the paleo movement. It’s one of the reasons I never liked to tag myself with the term. It’s easier from a communication point of view, and like you have mentioned in the past, whether we like it or not, humans will categorize themselves and others.
Regardless, its much more human to grow, adapt, evolve, and stay agile as you continue to learn and process new things. The problem with paleo and even ancestral health as a name is that we are fixated on the past. It’s just the start or a basis of our knowledge, but we live in modern times, and must find our way in what we are given. I don’t care if caveman did or did not eat something. At the end of the day, is what I am eating right now good for me, and does it contribute to my overall health (body composition, mind, soul, energy, etc).
Low vs high carb, fructose vs glucose, PUFA vs SFA, all seem so petty from this new perspective.
I am pleasantly surprised to discover that I can’t disagree with a single thing you said! Being an old dude, however, I might have cut the fancy websiters a little bit more slack, since they don’t have a Soc Sec check coming in every month. Looking forward to your next posts — plural!
Great post Richard. Thanks.
Rice and potatoes are back in.
Any guesses on when someone in the paleosphere will give the go ahead for eating bread?
My guess is November 2012.
Any takers on an over/under?
I think that for me, bread and pasta will remain an indulgence. I know what it does to my intestines, no longer being ‘adapted’ on a daily basis.
I had some smoked salmon ravioli in a cream sauce the other night, out to dinner with a longtime business colleague at a fancy Italian joint. I like the flexibility of being able to say what the hell, but not doing it all the time, and not having to visit the paleo confessional.