Paleo Diet Gets Dissed, and a Few Numbers

The Paleo diet was ranked the worst of 20 diets by US News and World Report recently, below even diets like veganism. (Apparently, nutritionists and US News and World report haven't heard of vitamin B12, genetic maladaptions of beta carotene conversion to retinol in 50% of the population, taurine, choline, DHA, or excess phytoestrogens.) Cordain et al have already issued a nice rebuttal to this silly ranking, and it that includes scores of references to the actual scientific literature -- what a concept.

Yep. Apparently, eating nothing but fresh, unprocessed meat, fish, eggs, nuts, vegetables, and fruits is just too controversial.

See, it’s not the USDA subsidized crap like Hot Pockets, doughnuts, cookies, candies, ice cream, cakes, baked goods, and fake "foods" that are to blame for Americans getting fatter and sicker every decade. Nope. It’s gotta be the red meat and eggs (both of which have gone down in per capita consumption over the past 4 decades as grains, seed oils, sugars, and dairy have gone up).

The idea that the paleo diet would be placed at the bottom of the list by a nutritionist or some idiot reporter is a concept that is easy to understand... just like all nutritional concepts proposed by reporters and dietitians these days. All you need to do is look at the list of diets.

Many of the “diets” ranked high on the list are just weight loss regimens offered by giant companies making millions off of high profit margin “food” products. Seriously? Don’t get me wrong -- it’s possible to lose weight on Weight Watchers or even to make good food choices when following the program. But what are many people on Weight Watchers eating? Low-fat, industrially processed garbage. If you think what most people on Weight Watchers is healthy, go the freezer section of the grocery store sometime and read the ingredients list to a container of fat free Cool Whip, Weight Watchers TV dinner, or Skinny Cow ice cream treats.

Having a family rife with heart disease, hypothyroidism (including Hashimoto’s), Type II diabetes, and multiple cancers, I’m naturally interested in keeping on top of my health. Both grandparents on my paternal side died of colon cancer -- a rather nasty way to go, if you ask me. You could say that the genetic deck isn’t exactly stacked in my favor.

So I do keep track of this stuff a lot more intensively than your average PCP would. Here are a few n=1 health numbers after 3 years of paleo eating (attempt to strictly limit or eliminate grains, seed oils, or refined sugars) and several months now of being largely dairy-free. This is from last week's bloodwork that I ordered. Let's take a look-see, shall we?

Total cholesterol: 143

HDL: 66 (ideal)

LDL: 69, if you use Friedewald calculation. Down from 2009. My actual LDL is probably around 42 using the more accurate formula published by Iranian researchers in 2008.

Triglycerides: 42 (ideal), down from 50 something in 2009

Triglyceride/HDL ratio: 2.2 (ideal)

Hemoglobin, hematocrit, and folic acid: all at the high end of ideal

A1C: 5.6, down from 5.8 in 2009 (not ideal, but certainly an improvement)

C reactive protein: 0.89 (low risk for cardiac event and general inflammatory marker)

Homocysteine: 4.4 (low end of reference range, another marker of inflammation)

Lots of other numbers there, but I won’t bore you with the details. Every single value of three pages of results except for my TSH is smack in the middle of the reference range.

My A1C is a little higher than I’d like. More weight lifting might help: my sugar intake is already very low and is restricted almost entirely to fruit. I also ordered a full thyroid panel and anemia check, as I tend to feel a little sluggish at times. My TSH is a little low, which might indicate a sluggish pituitary. Lest you think I’m starting to sound a little like Eve on Northern Exposure, no major problems there.

So to wrap things up, I'd just love to know when the health benefits are about to expire as a result of eating paleo. But I guess it’s just my “good genetics” and “young age," and I'll just have to check back with the bloodwork regularly with all the “artery-clogging” grass-fed beef, pastured eggs, and coconut products I’m eating.

Check out the current tally of people who say the’ve been helped or not by the list of 20 diets. That’s enough censure in itself, I daresay.

“The conventional wisdom is mostly wrong. All one need do is take a look around.” -- Richard Nikoley