An Etymological Defense of 'Paleo'

'Paleo' has become a word. That much everyone can agree on.

It all went awry when it became a brand-philosophy. Suddenly, you had 'Ancestral'(?) thought leaders drawing arbitrary lines in the sands of progress. The movement that I had come to recognize as a loosely cohesive, diverse, and burgeoning discipline that was going to shed light on the true nature of our species and do the hard work of interpreting possible or even optimal manifestations of that truth, suddenly became a colleague-bashing, factional display of ego. There were all these people who wanted to interpret evolution in healthy debate about health -- yes, this is important -- but not wanting to participate in a cult brand or pseudo-philosophy.

So some of them disparage the word, avoid the word altogether, or even smite the logic of the word, all without offering a linguistic alternative. I'm not really here to judge the way that unfolded. I'm here to defend the simple use of the term 'paleo'. Not the brand, just the useful manipulation of an element of language.

Whether paleo-ancestral-primal-archevore-evolutionary-etc., the word 'paleo' has become a part of my vocabulary, and it will stay that way for one reason: it's useful.

When I look at my girlfriend and ask, "Is this paleo?" She knows exactly what I mean. I don't need to go into the intricacies of ratios and toxins and cooking methods and packaging. She knows exactly what I mean, and it has little to do with Cordain's Paleo Diet.

When I ask, "Is this paleo?" what I mean is, "Is this food natural to the human diet in evolutionary terms and healthful according to the general standards of ancestral health experts?"

There really is no other word that can accomplish that. It is a word rife with meaning and subtlety and complexity -- dare I say beauty -- and cannot be replaced. It has become the cutting edge of health language. The words before it, words like "organic" and "whole" and "natural" have been rendered obsolete in my eyes, because they have been captured in a word's simple evolutionary perspective. Phrases like 'all-natural feedlot beef' and 'organic whole wheat pasta' are an ancient useless language.

'Paleo' is a word that emerged from the ashes of ideological fragmentation, stronger and more comprehensive than before, and should be regarded as such.

Qualitative Results on Self-experimentation

So what's up with self-experimentation? Is it dumb or helpful?

I think Kurt Harris was right when he played down the importance of results on self-experimentation, but I also think Richard Nikoley was right when he pointed out that personal results aren't always in line with mainstream expert opinion.

Solid scientific evidence is king, especially when it cautions a certain food item, but where the grey area exists, self-experimentation can be helpful. This is why several weeks ago, I embarked on my own self-experimentation. By no means was this extensive. I just wanted to see how my body reacted to changes in diet, in order to see if the diet could be optimized for my own goals.

The particulars: I gave about two weeks to each type of eating strategy, keeping to it about 80-90% of the time. Some of the categories may seem strange, but they were things that I either came across or dreamt up or heard interesting arguments for and wanted to try them myself. I only noted things that were significant, so no 'this kind of, sort of changed'.

I should note that I was doing more of a pure paleo diet before starting this experiment. That means Cordain-style. No proportions or anything, just eating the right foods whenever I wanted, as much as I wanted, and not worrying about anything. Also, I exercise 3 to 6 days a week, highly varied in different elements of athleticism: aerobic, strength, etc.

Here are some observations of each of my adventures:

Pure paleo. Low fat, low carb, meat, veggies, fruit, nuts, berries.

*High variety in food items eaten

*Great skin tone

*Lean physique (certainly not WeakLean)

*Tremendous appetite

*Sometimes limited mental focus and burnout

Zone-paleo. Strict balanced proportions of protein-fat-carb using paleo foods. 6 meals a day.

*Consistent, sustained energy levels

*Dodgy appetite (always somewhere between hungry and full)

*Improved recovery time

*Blunted binge 'cheat' cravings (cuz I was never starving for them)

*Gains in speed and strength over two weeks

High-carb paleo. Added potatoes and white rice, moderate fat intake, 3 meals a day.

*Energy fluctuated throughout the day

*Digestion issues

*Meals were filling and cheap

*Slight fat gain

*Plenty of energy for exercise

*Increased appetite

Lacto-paleo. Added butter and cheese mostly, little milk and greek yogurt.

*Skin tone went to shit

*More dynamic flavors in meals

*Digestion just fine (unexpected result)

*Low food volume (felt full on less)

*Decreased appetite (butter)

In conclusion, I learned a little and found some gems outside the Cordain-paleo model. I'm certainly going to use more butter, simply because it's palatable magic. Also going to add potatoes every now and again. Red potatoes in particular are delicious.

There's also the fat issue. I found that consciously adding fat to meals was very helpful, and made the meal taste better and quench my appetite more easily. This was true for butter, as well as paleo stuff like avocado, coconut, even olives. It was also helpful to think of each macronutrient relative to others, and I'm still doing that without even trying because it makes cooking easier.

I found that the Zone diet was too frequent of meal timing to be convenient, and I'm the kind of guy that likes to gorge himself, so I'm sticking to three meals and some intermittent fasting. I'm definitely not drinking milk, and I'm leaving cheese for cheat meals because I want my skin complexion back. Also, I found white rice to detract from the flavor of the meal most of the time, and it did weird things with my digestion, so I'm limiting that too.

N=1 might be bad science, but it helped me tweak my diet so that it's more fun and more substantive. I can definitely vouch for self-experimentation.

A Better Food Pyramid

Some of the food pyramids I've seen include marginal foods and confuse the essential elements of the diet. Here's my take on the heart of the paleo diet:

*This pyramid represents volume, not calories. The bulk of calories comes from animal sources.

I certainly eat outside of this pyramid from time to time, but this is the model of perfection that I strive for and that helps me stay true to the core food categories. A few notes:

Fresh is best. Homegrown > Local Farm > Grocery > Canned

Raw maximizes nutrient delivery. Many foods lose nutrient value when cooked, and many foods that require cooking are starchy, which negatively affects insulin response over time.

Grass-fed AND grass-finished. It's important to clarify this with your local farmer, as grain-finished meat compromises its nutrient profile for 'better' flavor.

Focus on food quality. Being new to North Carolina, I'm taking time to learn the local farms and their methods before selecting where my meat comes from.

Hopefully this pyramid will be a helpful interpretation that is easier to understand.