The paleo way of eating is on of the best thing that ever happened to me. I lost 10 lbs. the first month and am now doing the Whole 30 challenge which is even more paleo than other paleo diets. Although we can never eat exactly like stone age people, we can at least try to get rid of all the bad things in our diets like sugar, flour, additives and preservatives.

Primal has transformed my life beyond measure

weight loss has become pretty straight forward, rarely hungry, zero cravings (which is awesome) and for the first time ever I am in control of my food after 20 odd years of yo-yo dieting on the bullpat low fat high carb diet the NHS tell you to eat

15 years of suffering with chronic IBS, tonnes of drugs to deal with it and horrible side effects including that vile drained feeling all the time all gone and all had i to do was give up wheat and gluten

I am the fittest I have ever been in my life, I can run for an hour easily without stopping

I was pre-diabetic with blood glucose hitting 19 and I would pass out for an hour after eating a high carb meal, now i never go over 5.8

But the most amazing thing is my mental state, after spending the last 10 years living in a mental black hole of depression and constant thoughts of death I am now just happy and smiley all the time, for no reason lol

20 years of quackery, miracle diets, drugs and other crap and all i had to do to sort my life out was go primal, give up processed food and grain, I still eat dairy but it doesn't seam to affect me.

Oh and I seam to be very resilient to colds and flus now, I used to come down with everything for twice as long as everyone else, now I see people at work off for 2-3 days bed ridden and I just feel a bit under the weather for a few days.

That's great Eric!
I wonder how much money the NHS could have saved if they had put you on a primal diet all those years ago and just sent you on your way?

Eric, I am so happy for you. I am always happy to someone that rescued themselves from the evil effects of gluten. Enjoy !!!!

my doctor scratches his head when he sees my blood work

"how is you cholesterol 4.3 when you eat so much fat and dairy", i drink a 450ml of whole mile a day lol

across the board all my bloods come in pretty much bang in the middle of the desired range, even my liver function on an avg of 240g of protein a day, as he said there vastly better than his (and hes younger than me) and my recent VO2max test scored me top for someone in there early 30s not mid 40s


oh and my dry eye syndrome, slowly went over 9 months, no one has any idea what that was about

What is the difference between primal and paleo?

To the best of my understanding, paleolithic eating means "eat nothing that your paleolithic ancestors would not have been able to eat." What that means in our modern times is eat meat that is either wild, or if domesticated was raised free range and grass fed. Eat only the vegetables that would have been around in the paleolithic, OR restrict yourself to modern salad vegetables (it's not as if romaine lettuce was around in the paleolithic, but hey, you've got to eat something). As far as fruit goes, eat only berries...modern fruits are really nothing like what was around in the paleolithic. Needless to say, absolutely no dairy, no grains, no alcohol, no coffee. Some herbal teas would be OK. A lot of paleolithic eaters also take an extra step and go without using soap, shampoo, deoderant...they claim that after the first few weeks, they no longer smell. They still wash, but not with these products.

Primal, on the other hand, is a more gentle paleolithic approach. Primal eaters are basically paleolithic eaters who DO occassionally indulge in dark chocolate, red wine, fine cheese, coffee with heavy cream. They would also be using soap and shampoo. Mark Scisson of Mark's Daily Apple talks about the 80/20 approach...eat clean (paleolithic) 80% of the time. The other 20%, enjoy the foods you like, but still stay clear of the grains.

I hope this was helpful (and accurate!) Other folks may be able to clarify and/or correct any errors I made.

I read something that refuted that quite handily lately. I wish I could remember which blog. Anyway, they were a number of native, unbred fruits that are far, far higher in sugar than supermarket fruits we eat.

I don't think there's any real clear distinction between paleo and primal. Not all paleo's are 100% paleo 100% of the time. In fact, I'd bet none are.

I've gone primal by stages since ditching wheat last December. Moved to eliminating ALL grains, and this month, a total ban on seed oils like canola and soybean. I still do high fat, mostly fermented, dairy; organic coffee in a French press, occasional alcohol.

I've lost five pounds on the scale (even though this summer I'm eating berries or cherries most days) and it looks like ten. My stomach hasn't been this flat for a long time. And I have hip dimples!

This move has really refined my tastebuds. I was rushed for time one evening and got a package of creamed spinach out of the freezer. It had pretty good ingredients; half and half instead of skim milk powder, less than 2% maltodextrin & such... but after I microwaved it, it smelled like baby puke and I had to throw it out.

My cooking skills have gone from 30 to 110 miles per hour this last year. Living with NO processed or convenience foods is a challenge.

But the way I feel makes it more than worth it.

thats how i see primal, for me its mostly paleo but for me it includes dairy as dairy was an important food in many cultures

Was it Mark Scisson who coined the term "Primal?" Whether he did or not, I think he's an amazing person..l really enjoy his website. His views on fitness are refreshing.

I used to get painful bloating. As long as I stick to this diet I experience almost none.

Thanks for the clarification. I think I've been transitioning to Primal without knowing it. I've been eating organic, cage-free chicken and eggs for years after seeing a tv documentary about the way the other chickens are tortured. However, since learning even more about factory farming recently, I now buy only wild-caught fish and whatever grass-fed, humanely raised meat is on sale at Whole Foods. The expense is a problem, but I can't bear the thought of eating animals that spent their entire lives crowded into dark sheds standing up to their ankles in their own feces. Vegetables now are only from the farmer's market, usually not organic but I want to support them against the big bully corporations. I only eat berries because I like them best. A bit of Greek yogurt, cream in coffee, and occasional good dark chocolate and wine. I didn't realise this was primal eating because it feels very luxurious and decadent - and I've never felt healthier or been slimmer in the last 10 years, or had better blood tests in my life! So, yeah...it sure has helped me.

all my health came back when i went Carnivore..
then switched to Paleo when the farmers market started bringing in the spring crops...

but this isn't about me..
this is about a woman i've been mentoring for the last 3 weeks, teaching her the Paleo way of life.

this is her story:

Ana is a hispanic woman that has been raised on beans and rice and really not much meat. when she met me she was scheduled for a biopsy in her duodenum, yesterday (October 7th).

when i met Ana, i knew that she was glutened poisoned just by her skin, her body, her bloat, everything about her screamed "Glutened."
so i started talking to her, we had a couple of things in common and i thought i would befriend her..
i do believe i am now on this earth to save people.... and that's been my mission now for the last 13 months..
so ana came along in my life, we made friends and i gently started telling her about the Paleo way of eating..
i talked to her about food, carbs, pain, illness and then i showed her my before and after photos...
the pictures sealed the deal and she asked me to coach her.

we have visits where we talk mostly about diet, exercise, how we feel, changes, what we eat instead of other things... how we avoid gluten, how to cook etc.... it's like a support meeting.. it helps her and keeps her inspired.

yesterday was her 3 week mark on being gluten free and coke free..
she told me that the reason she was supposed to get the biopsy was because for years, she has not been able to digest food. she throws up, has diarrhea,
bloating so bad she can't sleep.. she's been plagued with this for years and she said she's tried every food combination, read all kinds of books, tried following different plans..

and then she met me.
through my guidance and enlightenment about the Paleo way of life, she told me yesterday that she is 95% recovered.. no ailments in 3 weeks, she's losing weight, her skin is clear, she feels well... first time in years.

she had tears in her eyes last night when she told me she thought she was slowly dying... and now she feels like she has a new lease on life.
just by removing coke and gluten.

she has a long way to go.. she needs to hit the thrift store for a smaller belt to hold her pants up..
but she's smiling, she's eating, she's sleeping, she's laughing and now she's preaching the Paleo way of life to all who will listen.

yesterday, i found a Meetup group here in Nashville that is Paleo..
we both signed up and we're going to our first Paleo meet up dinner on Sunday eve.. she's excited to be meeting more people "like us."

she canceled her surgery, told her doctor about her recovery and the doctor didn't ask her what she was doing to heal....
3 weeks, her digestive system is healing..
she's 95% better than she's been in years.
that my friends is a miracle.

Being able to help yourself is great but to help somebody else is pretty amazing. I have had people ask me for advice but then when I have started to give some advice you can see them lose interest as soon as they are told they need to change something.