The Paleo Diet

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I need to lose a lot of weight. I'm overweight and my doctor is getting concerned about my health in particular type 2 diabetes which runs in the family. I've also got high blood pressure and well, I'm lazy and lethargic. I don't like calorie counting, I'm no good at portion control and easy what I want when I want. I've heard I can do this on a Paleo Diet and don't need to calorie watch. I like the idea of eating what I want, when I want but what is the Paleo Diet please? How do I go about it? Does anyone else here follow it or know anything about it please? Is it just another tad diet or is it genuine?
 
With type 2 diabetes as a concern I wouldn't do Paleo.
My best advice is rather than find a diet book off the shelves, ask your doctor's office for the name of a good nutritionist.
Or ok, you say you are lazy, lethargic and have high blood pressure.
The first thing you need to do is read labels.
Get rid of all high salt foods in your house.
Then go through and get rid of all the sugary stuff.
Now when you go grocery shopping avoid the following aisles.
Chips, cookies, crackers, bakery, pasta, frozen foods.
If you must have a grain, get a whole grain one like rice.
For easy portioning, buy the frozen chicken breasts and just cook one at a time.
On other meats, find a baking sheet that fits in your freezer. Line it with wax paper and when you come home from the store, put individual portions on the baking sheet and freeze. When frozen, store in a freezer bag and just take out the portions you need.

On tinned foods, look for low salt items and for fruits make sure they are packed in 100% juice.

You only have to think about it, however often you grocery shop.
 
Never heard of it to be honest, 'diets' don't always work so maybe eat less, exercise more is a more sensible way to go. Calorie counting can be boring, time consuming and confusing if you don't know what you are doing. Rather than' go on a diet' see it as a life style change, small changes at a time until eventually it will come natural to you.
 
With type 2 diabetes as a concern I wouldn't do Paleo.
Why please? I don't understand. I thought it would help getting weight off.
And I don't eat tinned fruit. It's not a big thing here in the UK.
Tinned spaghetti hoops or Heinz baked beans are another matter and I don't I know who Richard Simmons is.
 
Why please? I don't understand. I thought it would help getting weight off.
And I don't eat tinned fruit. It's not a big thing here in the UK.
Tinned spaghetti hoops or Heinz baked beans are another matter and I don't I know who Richard Simmons is.
If I remember correctly, Paleo is mostly raw foods. Too many fruits cause blood sugar problems.

Richard Simmons was a fat kid who once he did the clean out the cabinets and avoided certain foods and started exercising lost an immense amount of weight. He then went on to help others.
 
If I remember correctly, Paleo is mostly raw foods. Too many fruits cause blood sugar problems.

Richard Simmons was a fat kid who once he did the clean out the cabinets and avoided certain foods and started exercising lost an immense amount of weight. He then went on to help others.

Thing is though, our ancestors ate a lot of raw food so I sort of understand the reasoning but our bodies have changed over the years and they didn't have very good teeth, maybe due to eating so much sugary fruit.
 
I am not a doctor or nutritionist or even a counselor but I can tell you that Paleo is a fad.
Now I do have a couple of very personal questions because I don't want you to land in the hospital or worse.
Are you slightly overweight or are you obese? If it is the latter then do NOT try any diets you may read about. Talk to an expert. It isn't just a matter of cutting calories. Cut too many at once and it will reek all kinds of havoc. I know a woman that landed in the hospital because she tried the grapefruit diet. It was 1000 calories less than she needed just to maintain her system. I mean her heart.

Now on the other part, and in college I started classes to become a counselor, (gave it up for family reasons), you said your doctor was concerned. My question is are you really concerned or just want to please the doctor?
You need to find a motivation for yourself to lose and keep off the weight otherwise no matter what you try it won't work.

Now my best advice is lose the junk food and start exercising. Even 5 minutes a day to start is better than nothing.
Oh and no diet drinks, they are worse for your blood sugar than even regular sugar.
Protein is much better for your blood sugar than a lot of carbs.
(Yes, I have blood sugar problems. )
 
Thing is though, our ancestors ate a lot of raw food so I sort of understand the reasoning but our bodies have changed over the years and they didn't have very good teeth, maybe due to eating so much sugary fruit.
Oh yes, raw foods are good. Just not as an extreme. Most societies also hunted animals both for the hides and the meat. Heck the cave men ate the Wooley mammoths.
So ideally a balance of the raw foods and natural meats would be wonderful.
 
Once again, your best bet is to avoid empty calorie foods.

Oh and you really don't want to try a weight loss program unless you have 24/7 access to the loo.
Most start you out on green beans which in quantity will/can give you the need for the loo and lots of TP.
 
Thing is though, our ancestors ate a lot of raw food so I sort of understand the reasoning but our bodies have changed over the years and they didn't have very good teeth, maybe due to eating so much sugary fruit.
Depends on what you mean by "ancestors". Our distant ancestors ate almost all raw food but only lived to 25 - 35 anyway before something ate them. By the time sugar became available very little raw food was on the menu even for the poor. They would eat a low protein pottage [ie a sort of poor quality vegetable/grain stew] while the rich went to the other extreme and ate an almost entirely meat diet with a huge quantity of sugar in "after dinner sweets".
As for the OP I'm sorry but the hard fact will always remain calories in = calories out - weight stays the same. Calories out exceeds calories in - weight goes down. Fancy / fad diets are just a way of making money for their inventors. It is I'm afraid a hard cruel and unpalatable but true fact. Under no circumstances allow yourself to reach the "denial" stage - the "Oh I don't really eat all that much anyway" stage [perhaps you don't for someone doing heavy manual labour 8 hours a day - but do you ?]. A chap I used to work with said exactly that but would happily eat more bacon in one breakfast than I ate in three. I fear you have three choices 1 - accept the illness 2 - eat less 3 - burn it off. Once you have decided which is your choice then the whole task becomes easier.
 
Paleo isn't raw food. Its just food that 'we' would have eaten in Peolithic times. The 'caveperson' diet, if you like! Any of the foods allowed can be cooked. Personally I think its bonkers but it can aid weight loss, mainly due to the lack of cultivated grains and crops (such as potatoes and rice) - so its low in carbs, high in protein.

The diet goes back before the invention of farming, meaning that grains such as wheat, dairy, alcohol, coffee, refined sugar, potatoes and salt are all off the menu. All processed foods are also banned. A typical Paleo meal would be made up of meat or fish, served with accompaniments such as eggs, nuts, seeds, fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices. Legumes such as lentils and beans, which are included in most weight loss diets, are also banned. Don't know why as I thought legumes grew wild... but that's the rules!

It has reportedly had success because its easy to follow. The idea of the 'healthy fats' seems to me to be another bit of nonsense. I think cave-people would have used fat from animals and not vegetable oils.
In a damning report from 2014 the British Dietetic Association labelled Paleo a ‘Jurassic fad’.

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I am not a doctor or nutritionist or even a counselor but I can tell you that Paleo is a fad.
Now I do have a couple of very personal questions because I don't want you to land in the hospital or worse.
Are you slightly overweight or are you obese? If it is the latter then do NOT try any diets you may read about. Talk to an expert. It isn't just a matter of cutting calories. Cut too many at once and it will reek all kinds of havoc. I know a woman that landed in the hospital because she tried the grapefruit diet. It was 1000 calories less than she needed just to maintain her system. I mean her heart.

Now on the other part, and in college I started classes to become a counselor, (gave it up for family reasons), you said your doctor was concerned. My question is are you really concerned or just want to please the doctor?
You need to find a motivation for yourself to lose and keep off the weight otherwise no matter what you try it won't work.

Now my best advice is lose the junk food and start exercising. Even 5 minutes a day to start is better than nothing.
Oh and no diet drinks, they are worse for your blood sugar than even regular sugar.
Protein is much better for your blood sugar than a lot of carbs.
(Yes, I have blood sugar problems. )

Motivation to lose weight should be life itself.
 
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