There, I said it..

Two monsters in the world of low carb, any of you forum members tried both, and roots to one more than the other?

I NEVER tried paleo before. I have done Atkins several times previously, lost weight, but returned to "normal" eating habits and gained back.

To me - after reading about Paleo - I summarizw the difference in:

Paleo: LC with fruits but no dairy
Atkins: LC with dairy and no fruits (at least initially during induction and OWL)

I can do this or the other, I love fruits and dairy so I am compromising either way..
Also, I know calories "don't count" with Atkins, is it the same with Paleo?

I'd be interested in hearing some thoughts on the matter, and thanks in advance..

most paleo plans do not encourage fruit when you are trying to lose weight- so similar to Atkins, it is more of a maintenance food....
Also, some paleo authors allow for high dairy in small amounts, and Atkins said dairy can be a major staller for some people, so to be cautious with it.

The 2 programs are extremely similar.
Personally, i like the way Atkins laid out his ladder to reintroduce foods- his system is great for discovering how each food effects you.

Both are great plans IMO- eat whole, unprocessed meat, fish, eggs, veggies- plenty of healthy fat.
see how your body reacts to nuts, seeds, high fat dairy, low sugar fruit, etc....

Thats a very good answer, thank you

Relevant to your interests?

http://huntgatherlove.com/content/p...rimal-vs-atkins

Honestly what I'd recommend based on personal experience is a combination of both.
Some people on paleo and primal, mostly, as someone on the MDA message board put it "young guys who like to show off their attitudes", brag about how many pounds of fruit or potatoes they can eat a day and still lose weight. However, many women and people with a lot of weight to lose will difinetly agree about restricting carbs for weightloss.

The things I like about paleo and primal are the emphasis on good quality foods when possible, and avoiding bad for you things like wheat, soy, and industrial seed oils. However, there is less emphasis on low carb, and for someone who can easily binge on and gain weight from sweet potatoes, fruit, and raw honey that can be a problem.

With Atkins the focus isn't on that so much as just restricting carbs, and when it comes to some of the Atkins products, and even some of the recipes, I cringe at some of the ingredients like soybean oil, MSG, and wheat gluten.

Fantastic visual - thank you for sharing that link. I also enjoyed Carl Pick's comment underneath the diagram.
I think it very beautifully illustrates how there are good things to be taken from each of the LC diets and people are free to choose the best parts of each to tailor it to themselves.

Paleo is not necessarily low carb as things like fruit and sweet potatoes and winter squash are allowed while they would be too high carb for Atkins (or any low carb diet).

Paleo is all about "if the caveman could eat it, so can you and if he can't, neither can you" diet.

My two oldest sons have both eaten Paleo for over 5 years and said dairy is absolutely not a part of paleo...although conceded that it's a lot like low carb diets. Everyone always has their own version of it.

Thank you all for your responses..

I think another major difference I discovered by reading more about Paleo is how they focus on the quality of the food too, like grass fed meat, and so forth..

I think I will try more of a low carb primal?

If anyone is doing Primal I'd like to hear their thoughts and how they made the transition from Atkins maybe..

Also, would you count calories on Paleo or primal IF you are trying to lose weight?

Thanks!

The big difference for me is the processed foods - Atkins allows for splenda, packaged shakes and bars, heck - you can have products containing infinite chemicals and sugar as long as your carb limit is met. I maintained on Atkins, but switching to more LC paleo is when my skin finally cleared up for the first time (no dairy/sweeteners?) - so i am sticking with it.

As you can see my plan is "whole foods." I don't consider myself "paleo" or "primal." For the most part I keep it low carb, although I do drink grass-fed milk fairly regularly and use grass-fed heavy cream from time to time. Just getting rid of processed pre-made food goes a very long way towards curing what ails me, I've found. Meat, eggs, veggies, fruit, and dairy works for me--and I've lost twenty pounds since Xmas. I find people obsess too much about Atkins, which in turn is in my opinion unnecessarily restrictive ("OMG I ate carrots and they're not on the list of approved induction veggies!!!!"). I'm not a sweets fan and while I do have a sandwich now and then I generally tend to stay away from grains. You can't go wrong eating real food.

They are only unnecessarily restrictive if they don't affect you. I for sure cannot eat carrots, or even an occasional sandwich.

Both plans are open to what works for you and if you are trying to lose, maintain or gain. Neither pretend to be "one size fits all".

I moved to Primal from Atkins; like this morning I made a bowl muffin of eggs, cream cheese, cocoa, and instead of a packet of Splenda I used a bit of locally made berry jam.

Since my husband and I have been tasting the difference, we are fussy about sources, getting a lot of our meat grass-fed, and free range eggs, and so forth. We are fortunate to have good local farms so it's not that bad in terms of cost.

I can no longer eat the watery eggs, soy-tasting sausage, and revolting ground beef that has to be cooked right away before it rots before your eyes. I can't handle the butter which tastes like plastic.

I still stay away from grains and starchy vegetables, rarely I have beans or a high sugar fruit, but I do have high fat dairy, berries and nuts, (almonds, walnuts, pecans, no peanuts or cashews,) and most of my vegetables are salad greens, peppers, green beans if we eat out. Good fats, a small farm butter, coconut oil, hemp oil is my only seed oil and it's different, it has wonderful Omega ratios.

The big differences from when I started on Atkins are no artificial sweeteners and better sources for our meat and dairy. I tried going dairy free and it didn't make a difference to me, but for lots of people it does; dropping the grain and the dairy is a huge part of Paleo's success when so many people have trouble with it.

You can totally be low carb Paleo! Or Primal, for that matter.

I have to add that I had lost most of my weight with Atkins, but these last 20 pounds I've been maintaining with Primal. Now that I have a grip on my Adrenal Fatigue, I've dropped four pounds even though eating for Adrenal Fatigue I know my carbs have gone up!

For some folks, a carb is a carb, but for me, it's not. The carbs in fruit don't bother me while the carbs in potatoes do. I think this is how I was able to transition to sweetening with fruit instead of Splenda. I also have a mere shadow of a sweet tooth, compared to my past. I don't crave it, I don't add sweetener when I have my Greek yogurt with raspberries, etc.

In my opinion the sole purpose of Atkins diet is losing weight, while Paleo diet focuses on losing weight and staying healthy too.

If Atkin's was only about losing weight it wouldn't suggest a maintenance phase, and a wouldn't advocate for a lifelong way of eating!

People do use it as a means of weight loss and quit after losing the weight, which is not right..

And a key element of Atkins is adding IIRC 5-10 grams a day back after weight loss, and holding there for a week or so. Repeat if needed. This will determine how many carbs a day the dieter tolerates.

Maybe you're right but the paleo has a lot of benefits like :

Improved lipid profiles

Improved acne and depression

Better digestion