Spent some time at Barnes and Noble today in their Diet and Health section. It's an interesting place to visit- especially if you have a distinct view on nutrition. There are so many diet books out there and different ways of thinking. For me, it's almost unimaginable at this point to think that anyone still drinks soda and eats cheezits and expects to be thin. But moreover, I know people- specifically women- who are trying to be healthy and do the right thing by the planet and turn vegetarian or vegan. They eat fruit and vegetables- thinking they're equivalent; they eat a lot of soy products, eat "heart-healthy" wheat and oats; and a lot of dairy....and they're overweight.
I perused the book, Wheat Belly, which basically targets, yup, you guessed it, wheat as the culprit. Wheat has been grossly distorted and tampered with by modern geneticists and food labs and now our bodies can't process it. Cut wheat. Cut belly fat...says that author. Wheat is in way more products by the way than just bread, pasta, and beer. It's in everything from soups to sauces to... well, everything. If you cut wheat and you cut out products with added sugar or high fructose corn syrup (soda, even ketchup), you've eliminated 90% of processed American foods. Cut out hydrogenated oils and products with corn (or corn starch) and you basically have a Paleo diet. What do they eat? They shop around the perimeter of the supermarket- in the produce aisle, and the meats, eggs, and fish, and pick up a few staples like virgin olive oil, grass-fed butter, spices (need those spices), and maybe hit the middle for beef jerky, a pan, light bulbs (still need 'em), and nuts (though sometimes are in produce).
So is there a way to be Paleo and largely vegetarian? I went to the Diet and Health section to take a look if there were any books that adressed the issue. Nooop. I did see one about high-carb living (riiight), and also one about a vegan fireman who opposes meat consumption. But nothing on vegetarians who are Paleo. I tried vegetarianism btw for six months, and found myself eating a lot of beans, rice, quinoa, grains, and pre-made Indian curries. My friend, Joe, used to be a vegetarian for many years and found himself very overweight and not in good health. My little nephew who's five and being raised vegan had to see a GI about stomach issues. Apparently he has an occasional egg.
I would say it is possible to be Paleo and vegetarian if you include eggs, turkey, chicken, and fish. I think you could do it as a fish eater with bean based products (tofu, seitan, etc) but I don't think you'd see the benefits as much. The main thing, to my mind, is- As a vegetarian, couldyou live without bread and grain products? When you look at the back of those tofu and seitan products, many have wheat added. I'm not sure why- maybe to change the consistency? So if you actually based your diet on plants, could you survive and thrive and not be hungry. Also- plants are carbohydrates- which stoke your insulin levels and cause your body to retain weight. Could you do it with just eggs and no animals (fish, tukey, etc) killed? And what are these vegans eating that's fattening them up? I think gluten-free products have a lot of sugar and some starches like potato starch and corn starch...I know low-carb yogurts have a ton of sugar. I always check the back to see if carbs outweigh protein in grams. Typically they do unless there are no sweeteners.
Here's Primal Blueprint author, Mark Sisson, on Paleo...
It would be interesting to try a vegetarian version of Paleo. As is, I typically eat 3 eggs for breakfast, sometimes with spinach; 2 cans tuna and some salad for lunch, have a afternoon protein shake from Muscle Milk with water, and have a lb of lean turkey chili for dinner. I have been eating more burritos, more corn chips, and having more light beer. But overall, I've been good. Not sure. I remember when I became a vegetarian. I was shopping at Ralph's buying salmon and seeing it under the plastic wrap, just thought, man this is disgusting. All these fish are being killed and this doesn't even look like a fish. It's just some pink-orange material that I eat. Just gross. Slaughterhouses are horrible places. Cows are gentle creatures- totally innocent. Do they suffer? Do they feel pain? Yes. Is methane ruining the ozone layer? Yes. Are these beautiful yoga girls getting fat? Sometimes. Am I jerk for writing about this? Maybe.
This would be a good code to crack for them. Comments welcome oh ye silent reader.
GPR
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