For the month of January, I gave up eating all grains, dairy, artificial sweeteners, natural sweeteners (except fruit), and legumes. Did I discover that I have some kind of crazy gluten/lactose/stevia intolerance? Nope.
I went Paleo.
Many in the Diabetes Community have been talking about the Paleo diet lately, and it seems the trend is growing among those fellow PWDs interested in investigating new ways of eating. You know, it’s what is dubbed the “Caveman Diet” since it involves eating what the “original” humans ate back in the cave-person days. So, I decided to try it out myself and see what all the hype was about.
Short for paleolithic, eating Paleo is what some folks have called a fad diet, but the premise is rooted in the supposed historical diet of humans. Established by health scholar Loren Cordrain, the Paleo diet consists of lean meats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. See anything missing? They toss out all processed foods, grains, dairy, and legumes, along with simple sugars and artificial sweeteners.
Proponents believe that humans were genetically and evolutionarily designed to eat foods that were available during the Paleolithic era, versus the agriculturally-based diet that was only developed in the last 10,000 years — and even more so the processed and chemically-based diet of the last hundred years. Followers believe that eliminating certain foods in their diet will reduce inflammation in the body, and folks will enjoy health benefits like weight loss, reduced bloating, clearer skin, and more energy.
Now, I’ve only been experimenting with the Paleo diet for a couple of months, so I’m hardly an expert. A lot of the Paleo diet can be hard to swallow (pun very much intended), and as with anything health-related, your miles may vary. This is simply my experience and what I’ve learned.
With so many food groups cut out, it’s easy to see how the Paleo diet might be considered a fad, unsustainable and even unhealthy. In fact, that’s exactly what U.S. News & World Report thinks, which is why they named the Paleo diet the worst diet (#28 out of 28). Of course, if you look at their reasoning for the diss, it’s mostly because the Paleo diet hasn’t been studied scientifically in people, so the pros and cons are somewhat vague to researchers.
At least, as of now. So all we have are the anecdotal accounts of those of us who’ve embraced Paleo to some extent.
Why Go Paleo?
It was evident to me that PWDs who eat fewer carbohydrates seem to manage their diabetes better than those who eat a higher carbohydrate diet. Last year, I briefly researched the Paleo diet, and discovered a few “paleobetics” who seemed to be doing fabulously on the diet. I also found dozens of testimonials from people who had nothing but good things to say. Even still, I remained skeptical but I realized that I couldn’t form a real opinion until I tried it myself.
I came across a 30-day experimental challenge called the Whole30, which many health bloggers have participated in. The
Whole30 website then led me to the New York Times best-selling book, It Starts With Food, written by Whole30 creators, Dallas and Melissa Hartwig.
I downloaded their book on my Kindle and devoured it in four days. The book laid out the whys and hows for the Paleo diet and the logistics of completing the Whole30 program.
My first words to my husband after finishing it: “You have to read this.” (Which he did, because he loves me.)
Many Paleo bloggers and their readers will readily admit that eating like a caveman is more of a general principal, because there was no single caveman diet. It’s kind of like telling someone today to eat like a human. The caveman diet likely ranged from primarily meats to primarily plants, depending on where the cave-folks lived. Plus, many Paleo followers now insert various ingredients to “paleo-ify” certain foods, such as kale chips, spaghetti bolognese made with spaghetti squash, and banana bread made with almond flour. Certainly not something a caveman would have dined on!
Grains, Dairy and Legumes, Oh My!
But dissecting the diet, it’s important to look at why grains, dairy and legumes so bad for us… after all, I’d been under the impression they were healthy. What about all those vitamins, minerals and good whole grains?!
Some folks attribute the rise in heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and other diseases to our 10,000-year-old “diet of agriculture.” For most Americans, we consume far more carbohydrates than we would need on a daily basis, and our waistlines prove it. Many health experts now believe that carbohydrates, especially processed foods but even grains, stimulate the appetite because the brain doesn’t respond to the nutrients the same way it does to meats and vegetables. Think about it: how many of you can eat Oreo after Oreo without stopping? How many of you can say the same thing about a rib-eye steak?
“Legumes and whole grains contain some of the highest concentrations of anti-nutrients in any foods,” Cordrain writes. “These compounds frequently increase intestinal permeability and cause a condition known as “leaky gut,” a necessary first step in almost all autoimmune diseases. Further, a leaky gut likely underlies chronic, low-grade inflammation, which underlies not only autoimmune diseases, but also heart disease and cancer.”
However, there is also plenty of research showing that whole grains and legumes are good for you, but that simply overdoing it on the anti-nutrients will cause problems for your gut. So perhaps it’s not so much a matter of cutting these items out completely as it is consuming them in moderation — even the supposedly healthy stuff.
For the Hartwig authors who penned It Starts With Food, it comes down to believing that grains have fewer benefits compared to fruit and veggies. Because of the potentially unsavory consequences, they think we should stick to a non-grain diet. In addition, many people also report seeing health improvements when going gluten-free.
Dairy is probably the most hotly debated area of the Paleo movement. The reason: dairy can actually be really good for you. It can also be bad for you. Dairy that comes from hormone and antibiotic-infused cows living in incredibly close quarters should probably be avoided. High-fat, and even raw (if you can find it), dairy is recommended because it has a good mixture of protein, fat, and carbohydrates. On the Whole30 plan, they cut dairy out completely because it could have negative consequences to the gut. Plus, it just seems unnatural to them that we humans are the only mammals that consume the “baby food” of another species.
In addition, the dangers of saturated fat and cholesterol, which originally scared many people away from the Atkins diet, may have been overstated. New research has come out that dietary saturated fat and cholesterol does not raise the body’s cholesterol. The foods that replaced them, like margarine, may have actually caused more disease than the foods the health authorities originally blamed. So enjoy those eggs!
Adventures on the Whole30 Challenge
The Whole30 Challenge itself is like Paleo bootcamp. It is the Hartwigs’ attempt at rebooting your system, helping you identify foods that aren’t doing your body any favors. Does dairy make you break out? Do you get indigestion from gluten? Does sugar give you a headache? For 30 days, they ask you to go on a strict Paleo diet, but they also ask you to avoid “paleo-ifying” any junk food or treats, and you aren’t supposed to count any calories or weigh yourself at all. This is not a diet, they say, this is about our relationship with food.
One of the biggest take-aways of the Whole30 is that food is a choice, but many of us find ourselves in habitual cycles of poor choices. Starbucks in the morning, candy for a snack, fast food for dinner. Sometimes we anticipate the food before we’re anywhere near eating it, or we think we need it because it’s ingrained in our routine, like dessert even if we aren’t hungry.
It’s easy to look at the program and think, Wow! I could never do this. That is hard. That is crazy. I thought like that at first, too, but then the Hartwig’s reminded me that this is not the Whole365. The reason to do this is simply to reboot your system, and then after 30 days, you’re allowed to transition back to eating normally, if you want to. Others stick to a mainly Paleo diet moving forward, with allowances for special occasions.
Here’s what the Hartwig’s have to say about the challenge of the Whole30:
It is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Quitting heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard. You won’t get any coddling, and you won’t get any sympathy for your “struggles”. YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE not to complete the program as written. It’s only thirty days, and it’s for the most important health cause on earth – the only physical body you will ever have in this lifetime.
Really, how can you argue with that?
My husband and I dove in headfirst and dumped a bunch of our non-Paleo foods. We purchased a Paleo cookbook to aid us in what we could and couldn’t eat. We also referred to message boards like PaleoHacks, and blogs by Paleo experts like Mark Sisson, Robb Wolf, and Chris Kresser.
And yes, we did start and finish the 30-day challenge!
This Whole30 definitely had an influence on my diabetes and it was for the better. Here are 5 things I discovered during my 5 weeks on the Whole30.
1. My blood sugars started dropping right away. It only took a couple of days before I saw that my blood sugars were lower and steadier throughout the day. After a few more days, I started having a fair share of low blood sugars!
2. My basal insulin is impacted by my diet more than my bolus ratios. When I first started dropping frequently — a 3-4 low blood sugars a day — I thought I need to cut everything. Turns out, I did need to drop my Lantus by 10%, but I didn’t need to do anything to my bolus ratios. (Yet.)
3. I have the best control in recent memory, but it’s not perfect. Like anything that involves tweaking and adjustments, the Paleo diet is hardly a cure. Now that I’m taking less insulin, there are fewer chances for me to go low, and more chances for me to go high. You can never expect anything — not a diet, not a medication, not an insulin pump — to run the show for you.
4. If you eat low-carb, you have to bolus for protein. This was the biggest shock for me. After querying my friends, I discovered that bolusing for approximately half the protein is what I need to do to prevent a post-meal spike. Gary Scheiner, author and CDE at Integrated Diabetes Services, explained, “Since your Central Nervous System needs glucose to function, if your diet is lacking in carbs, the liver will convert some dietary protein into glucose. So it is usually necessary to bolus for some of your protein whenever you have a meal that is very low in carbs.” For me, a low-carb meal is anything under 30 grams of carbs.
5. My skin and energy levels improved. Not really diabetes-related, but certainly benefits!
My body didn’t respond to the Paleo diet with significant weight loss, but I did lose 4 lbs and my husband dropped a whopping 13 lbs!
A lot of people have asked me about the cost of eating Paleo. While it did cost us more at the check-out counter, we also didn’t eat out at all during January. The more meals you cook at home, the more money you’ll spend at the grocery store. But we found that meals with more protein kept us full longer, so we didn’t need to spend much money on snacks.
Life as a Paleo-betic
It didn’t take long before my husband and I were committed to keeping up our Paleo diet long-term, although we have eased up. We don’t want to miss out on life moments, but we also don’t want poor food choices to ruin our health either. Based on recommendations by the Hartwigs, we are eating raw and saving our non-Paleo foods for special occasions. Actual special occasions, like birthdays — not a random Tuesday afternoon when we’re bored!
My next A1C is scheduled for April 1st. My first A1C since going on MDIs was nothing to write home about, but I’m curious about this next one. Many people say that diabetes is easier to manage on insulin pumps, but there wasn’t any difference between my insulin pump A1Cs and my first MDI A1C. I wonder if the secret to better control will be in my food choices, rather than in my technology.
One thing that I kept thinking about during my month-long Paleo experiment was how much of diabetes really is an experiment anyway. Think about how often we have to try out different things to see what works: Changing up bolus ratios and basal rates. Fiddling with different temp basals or snack choices before working out. Alternating what we eat for breakfast. While the Paleo diet may not be for everyone, I wholeheartedly believe that if what you’re doing currently isn’t giving you the results you want, maybe you should consider starting another experiment!
 Diet — with Diabetes)
Great article. Thank you for writing of your experiences. It will hopefully help me make a choice about going paleo or, not.
I’m a bit wary of adopting the dietary habits of people whose average lifespan was 24 years…
Honestly, the “science” behind the paleo diet is, well, not science, it’s pseudoscience. The premis that early humans evolved to eat a specific diet and that, therefore, that diet is our healthiest option, is a severely flawed premis. Firstly, why is the paleolithic era the optimal health era? Why not later humans, who have more in common with us now? Or earlier humans, like australopithecus, who ate savana grass? Or why not go even further back in our evolutionary chain? The diet of paleolithic man was not varied and had far fewer healthy options than we have today, and considering his generally petite stature and brief lifespan, there’s not only no evidence to support the notion that it is a more healthful diet, the evidence is counter to it!
Humans have evolved since the paleolithic era. In just the past 250 generations we’ve gone from being a species that was almost entirely lactose intolerant to one where the majority of individuals are lactose tolerant. Choosing one arbitrary point in our evolutionary past as ideal is nonsensical, and presumes that evolution has a goal (which it doesn’t) or that it has stopped (which it hasn’t). Furthermore, it promotes the false dichotomy of chemical vs. natural, and the general scientifically illiterate fear of “chemicals” — completely disregarding the fact that…well, everything is chemicals. EVERYTHING IS CHEMICALS!
There are certainly some health benefits from eating this diet, in that it’s lower in sugar and made up primarily of highly nutrient-dense foods, and I have no problem with anyone who wants to give it a go for health reasons. What I have a problem with is the flawed logic and bad “science” behind the diet. The whole paleo angle is marketing spin. And, again, I don’t have a problem with marketing spin, except when it further promotes the dangerous scientific illiteracy of our culture and the paranoid, antiscientific fears of diet police.
Yeah…I just can’t find the motivation to adopt the health habits of people who would consider my 29 years a good run!
Nice post! A little supporting documentation on “human” lifespan in the Paleolithic Era: http://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/Finch1561.pdf
I had to look it up, but it appears the paleolithic era extends from 10,000 years ago to 2.6 million years ago. About a year ago I read an excellent book on the subject: “Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human” by Richard Wrangham, Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University.
Thanks for the correction. I admit, my mid twenties life expectancy claim was based on misremembering 20-30 as the lifespan rather than 30-40. Doesn’t change the fact that I don’t want to consider my late 20s my winter years!
One thing I think we all learn early on when we are diagnosed with diabetes, type 1 or 2, is that everyone thinks they know the best way for everyone else to eat! In my experience, the paleo-proponents are some of the worst of the lot (along with the raw foodies)!
Thanks for the comment! Keep in mind that the original Paleo folks were also at risk for disease (because no modern medicine) and attacks from animals and other cave-people. The reason our lifespans have increased is because of our advancements in technology and medication. Remember, as PWDs, we would have died within 1-2 years prior to 1921!
Not so much a correction, but an addition to what you wrote. If you look at the chart on page 10, one can infer that I you go back to the beginning of the paleo era that life spans did average about 24 years. Wrangham’s book sites archaeological data showing homo species with “camp fires” dating nearly a million years ago. He argues that the ability to cook food drove the evolution of our large brains (requiring lots of calories a day to operate) and smaller intestines. He cites studies that show we double the amount of calories we absorb when food is cooked. He also mentions any interesting point that nearly 50% of raw foodists women have no or significantly disrupted menstrual cycles due to lack of nutrition.
Take what you want and leave the rest.
If people really want to eat like “cavemen,” they should eat the whole animal: liver, spleen, intestines, brain. Cavemen didn’t try to avoid fat, a good source of energy, and ate lean meat only when they couldn’t get fattier meat.
You say the Times mentions coffee without dairy. Does the Times think cavemen drank coffee?
I’m not knocking the diet. I think LC is great for diabetes, and if paleo gets you started, that’s good as long as you don’t overdo the fruit. I just laugh at some of the cliches in the paleo world.
Oh, I agree! There were many factors that contributed to earlier death in paleolithic humans that we have overcome today with modern medicine, but I think this is actually even more an argument against the “science” behind the paleo diet; The reasoning behind the diet is based in the Naturalistic Fallacy, and the fact that science has allowed people to live twice as long as we used to (and for diabetics like us, way longer), is just further evidence showing that “natural” isn’t necessarily better. The diet also relies on another logical fallacy, the Argument from Antiquity (a form of the Argument from Authority), and when it comes to health, this is probably the most dangerous logical fallacy there is.
So, while I definitely concede that there are some health benefits to eating this way, I think it is important to clarify that the reasons that the proponents of this diet give for it’s healthfulness are not scientifically or logically sound, and that we must be very wary of any health claim that hasn’t a sound scientific or logical foundation.
Oops, that was meant to be a reply to the post responding to mine.
Allison – I read with interest your first hand account of your experiment with the Paleo diet. Congrats on completing the 30 day trial and thanks for reporting your experience here. I switched to a low carb diet that shares a lot with the Paleo diet. I do eat dairy, however.
I am now 9 months into this diet change and the results have been dramatic. I’m a T1D and I’ve cut my insulin requirements in half while losing 20 pounds. My BG control is better than it has been since my honeymoon period 29 years ago. My blood pressure dropped and I’m no longer taking a blood pressure medication.
Probably the biggest change in my BG control has been a large reduction in BG variability. The standard deviation (a measure of data variability) as measured by my CGM software downloads dropped from the 50′s and 60′s down to 30 or less. As a result I have fewer lows than before and no severe lows. I’ve enjoyed many post meal BG’s that have flatlined for hours. My BG is not perfect and I do have to correct for high BGs, just not as often as I used to.
Diets always seem to produce controversy since people get defensive and are highly reluctant to change their way of eating. For me, eating low carb (about 50-70 grams per day max) has enhanced the quality of my life, especially my ability to control my BGs.
Tx for sharing your common-sense experience. I am not surprised your basal needed reducing. I need less basal when I significantly reduce my carb intake. Conversely, eating really high carb for even just a day can increase my dp. As far as the Paleo concept, I find it very plausible to cut out grain. People can debate whether grain is bad or not but regardless you can get all the nutrition you need from non-grain sources. If you keep eating this way, you may see your cholesterol levels drop.
Paleo diet is good because it considers the lean meat and vegetables which are rich in nutrition and protein. But it can also be useful for vegans as meat can be replaced by green and leafy vegetables as the herbivores eat green leafs only which are rich in protein.
@Fiona, We are not herbivores. My sheep get their protein from grass, but they also graze all day in order to eat enough. Green and leafy veggies don’t contain a lot of protein.
Spinach contains about 7 g of protein in a 10-oz package. I need about 75 g protein a day, and a larger person would need more. So to get my protein from spinach, I’d have to eat about 10 packages a day, doable but difficult.
That’s why vegans eat foods richer in protein, like beans. Unfortunately for us, they’re also rich in carbs
I’m sure this diet helps control blood sugar due to less carbs. But there is a spectrum of eating habits and this diet is an extreme that has little peer reviewed scientific studies to support it. Why are oreos and soybeans put in the same category? What the hecks wrong with legumes? Soy is high in protein and fiber and quite low in carbs. I doubt anyones bs ever spikes from tempeh or tofu. The leaky gut thing sounds made up, and I doubt its actually supported by any scientific literaure.
I would like to see how the diet compares to someone who eats no sugar and low GI carbs like barley and beans, along with plenty of veggies, nuts, seeds, and lean protein. My guess is that results would be the same or better. Comparing the extremes of eating a diet high in refined simple carbs like oreos, potatoes, and wonder bread to the Paleo diet will definately show a signifigant difference, but its the in betweens that requires us to think more critically. Also, do all the paleo folks go out an hunt the wild animals for protein as the cavemen did? Buying pre-packaged, factory farmed pork, beef, and poultry is hardly paleolithic and is not nutritionally the same- yet another flaw.
I haven’t been reading posts anywhere lately so it was a pleasure to jump back in to my favorite blog and read a wonderfully written post-thanks Allison!
I think Paleo is pretty fantastic for people with diabetes-for the blood sugar reasons that most of us who have experimented with this way of eating have enjoyed. But, we’re still so far away scientifically, from figuring out what people should eat because it’s so individualized. People who criticize the paleo diet do so for several valid reasons. One is that two people can eat the same diet and one’s health can improve and another’s can plummet. And of course that doesn’t factor in emotional issues and personal gene expression, etc. (So most all nutrition studies are pretty shady and uninspiring)
What I love about paleo for people with diabetes is that the modern paleo movement has evolved to something pretty flexible for many people. For example, I know many people with diabetes who use the paleo diet as a way of organizing and building the main components of their shopping list and keeping a healthy basis to their diet but they certainly include small amounts of grains and legumes in their diet as they feel they need/want them. For example, I use organic raw dairy because I tolerate it super well-but others don’t and then who cares what a diet rule is? If it doesn’t work for you, why consume it?
There is nothing worse to the human body that I can think of (aside from dramatic stuff like a sledgehammer to the heart) than high blood sugar. It hurts every cell in the body and we are nothing but cells and if you really want to improve your health, your priority as a diabetic is blood sugars. Worrying about one’s calcium intake while an A1c is high is a waste of time and energy. A high A1c is guaranteed to take us down much faster than almost any nutritional deficit.
Paleo also usually means removing processed foods. I can think of a million ways that’s a wonderful thing.
If I didn’t have diabetes I would eat a lot more grains than I do now-and not because of wanting to-but because my blood type (one of the newer ones indicating a better adaptability to the era of agriculture) and my energy levels indicate to me that when I eat rice and beans, I feel amazing versus when I eat low carb, higher fat food-I feel kinda blah.
But not as “blah” as when my blood sugars are out of control.
So I make tiny exceptions throughout the day and I stick with paleo for the most part. I’d encourage just about anyone with diabetes to try it and then tweak to their own liking-we certainly aren’t made to all eat the same. It’s just that lowering carbs sure does help an insulin using diabetic (and if you don’t agree, do some math-that should help)
By the way, to the person who commented about people dying at 24 back then-I’m pretty sure that was mostly due to things that had NOTHING to do with diet.
@SYSY, I don’t think you quite understood the argument I was making in my post, perhaps you should read it more carefully. As I said, I do think there are health benefits to this diet, but they are not as extreme as its proponents claim and there is no good evidence or logic behind the claims made by its proponents for why it is healthful.
It’s not any different than any other nutritional/diet studies out there. They are all diametrically opposed, even when successful. It tells us the individual factor is huge. Sadly, most professionals in the medical community don’t get this, yet.
So the proponents are usually ones who have benefited from the diet and therefore their word is really just speaking for them and not others. But I think there is fantastic evidence for all the major diets out there-it’s just that not one diet is going to work for all. If something works great for one person-that’s pretty good evidence. I guess the problem lies in trying to tell people what to eat. Aside from helping them avoid processed, fake stuff, the key should be to “listen to your own body” I get your point, it’s just that it’s all a marketing spin-people want others to give it a try in case it helps them (businesses want money). I’d be nice if they didn’t guarantee results because that’s a load of bs but it’s just like every other diet out there in that sense. We just need our communities full of people who can think for themselves. Sigh…there is so much to this issue, I could ramble on all day!
I agree that most people can’t think for themselves, let alone critically, when it comes to food. That’s why fad diets like these are successful. The diet dictates not to eat a particular list of foods and the dieter follows it, hence success. Most people don’t actually think about whether the foods on the do not eat list are actually bad for you, they just follow the prescription. Some people need that. I have a friend who’s diet tells her carrots and onions are bad, and she’s not a diabetic just trying to lose weight, but she can eat a big greasy burger without a bun anytime.
I see benefits to the Paleo diet in that is elimantes refined carbs, but legumes and diary (if you body tolerates it) is a stretch. Plus their food pyramid is WAY off, with meat being the most food type that is consumed. Should be mostly plant foods, then meat, unless you’re native to the arctic circle. I will also say that after I was diagnosed with LADA I desperately tried to stay off insulin by eating low carb and high protein and fat, only to fall severely underweight. My blood sugars were all within normal range but I was withering away. My doc decided for my health that I needed to up my carbs and take insulin. Now I am back to healthy weight. Low carb is great if you need to loose, but I’m not convinced it’s sustainable. Most people’s bodies need carbs for energy, albeit not the amount and type that a typical American consumes.
Dear Allison – I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or what, when I read your note re the paleo diet – I’ve been eating this way for years – probably over 30 – I didn’t know it was a diet! Some of this is due to the need for gluten free choices, some due to influence along the way from cultures around the world. Other than the small intake of milk / milk products even my morning porridge fits – all seeds from very ancient places – quinoa /buckwheat / flaxmeal / sorghum / rice -and a very large dose of cinnamon! I haven’t eaten legumes as a ‘normal’ part of my diet for eons – I’m so glad that somone else thinks green beans are not absolutely neccesary! Even my chile is devoid of beans! [lots of pepper!] And nuts – well I figured out a while back that blood sugars didn’t fly around so much with most nuts for snacks. I’ve been telling people for years that [a little] butter is better – a lot of raised eyebrows! And of course the sweet carbs because of the diabetes have usually been fruit. As well I use recipes with mollasses if possible – or maple syrup instead of say corn syrup / honey. I knew I was getting old – but paleolithic? How about just a decade or two ahead of time? And there are very few who turn down my cuisine – the pecan cake I made for a recent family birthday disappeared [gluten free too]
Very enlighteneing article! thanks.
@ Susan-
The Paleo diet does not include any grains, even the ancient ones. So your morning cereal of quinoa, buckwheat, and rice would be off limits. And no, green beans and other legumes are not absolutely essential, but they are certainly beneficial to one’s health and by no means unhealthy. Maple syrup or molasses is really no better for a diabetic than any other simple sugar.
It is not grains or carbs for that matter that causes T1 diabetes. It is an auto-immune disease in which there are all sorts of theories on the environmental trigger, none of which I know to be grains. This disease unfortunately prevents us from digesting carbs. It’s the diseases fault not the carbs. In no way am I advocating the white bread, french fries, cake, sugar in everything diet that many people eat in this country. But to suggest that things like barley, edamame, black beans, and quinoa are deleterious to your health is absurd. I have yet to see any studies on a diet based on low GI whole grains, lots of veggies, nuts, and modest amounts of meat and dairy products.
The next step, and the step I recommend for most diabetics, is to go ketogenic. Lower carb intake even more and up your fat intake to compensate — healthy natural fats like saturated and monounsaturated from healthy animals or cold pressed from healthy plants. The science overwhelmingly identifies sugars and processed fats as our enemies. Flip the world over and become healthy again.
Thank you for this article – I’m happy that Paleo diet got so popular in a short amount of time as I’ve experienced its positive effects myself (and my husband). If you’re like me, it might be difficult to make the transition to the paleo life style.
After trying some recipe books, we found that a fix Paleo Meal Plan (we like the one on http://timreviews.com/paleo-recipe) is actually an effective way to start as it doesn’t leave any open questions for you.
Jane
Thank you AllisonN for your post. I started the diet 15 days ago resulting in a reversed carb/basil ratio from 60/40 to 40/60. My skin has a noticeable look of color change and feel, especially my feet. I wonder how you bolis for protein grams?
It’s difficult to find well-informed people in this particular subject, but you sound like you know what you’re talking about!
Thanks
I do not have diabetes, but my health has improved just from following the Paleo diet for one month. I have lost weight that I struggled to shed for over a year. going from 243lbs to 229lbs. What can be wrong with a diet that stresses eating real food.
[...] Read More: http://www.diabetesmine.com/2013/02/experimenting-with-that-paleo-caveman-diet-with-diabetes.html [...]
Surely carbohydrates are needed to help maintain blood sugar levels? if diabetics arent consuming carbohydrates wont that lead to more hypos? im a type 1 diabetic and tryed to go paleo last year and it resulted in my having a fit and being taken to hospital while being told if my parents werent in the house i probably would have died.. i then got told by my doctor that it was stupid of me to try a no carb diet.. i want to try the paleo diet again to help lose weight but i am terrified of having another fit.. the only way i can see it working is if i were to consume something like porridge before exercise and before i go to sleep..? and i am unsure of what to do with my insulin, currently on nova-rapid and glargine, im assuming i would lower my glargine? and only inject nova-rapid like once a day? and help would be greatly appreciated! thanks.
Very appreciated article! paleo is a perfect way for people with diabetes, this is a big help for every one I absolutely love this article! very remarkable information. So can we feature your article in our magazine and give credit for writing it? also check : http://bit.ly/PaleoMagazine.
The experience detailed by Alex above is probably the reason low carb is discouraged by doctors for type 1s. For type 2s, however, I don’t see why it shouldn’t be tried.
AllisonN, thanks for sharing your experience here. You post is very well written.
It’s not accurate to say that the paleo diet hasn’t been studied scientifically in humans. Undoubtedly, we have much less scientific data on it compared with the Mediterranean and DASH diets.
I’ve been keeping track of the paleo diet studies for almost two years. Those interested in the underlying clinical studies can find most of the diabetes-related ones at my Paleo Diabetic blog (paleodiabetic.com) using these search terms: Frassetto, Osterdahl, Kocturk, Jonsson, Lindeberg, Granfeldt, Klonoff, O’dea.
-Steve
[...] 1 PWD (person with diabetes) AllisonN wrote about her one-month paleo diet trial at DiabetesMine. The paleo diet version she followed was the Whole30 program, with which I’m not terribly [...]