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Comment by chipsy | Hacker News Reader

Paleo diet. Cleared up my skin, ended headaches and tiredness, decreased my caloric intake and body fat without any overt discipline, lowered my blood pressure, and increased my strength and stamina.

Downside: No grains, beans, dairy; that means no coffee, no chocolate, no soy, no cheese, no bread or noodles or pastries. (Plus sides: bacon, sausages, eggs, figs, dates, walnuts.)

I gradually fell into this diet by carefully noting which foods made me feel bad ~15-30 mins after. I did this over a process of many months starting sometime in February. Finally, just a few days ago, I concluded that I was basically drifting into Paleo of my own accord, and for me to be at my best I had to go from reduced intake of the banned foods to complete removal. I'm still going to cheat every now and then, but I know I'll feel it every time.

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This plan worked out fantastically well for me. I started eating this way around April of this year, saw results after a very short time, then started weight training 2-3 times a week. I'm down to about 145 lbs from 175, and as long as I stick to the good foods (meat, veggies, some fruit) I feel great. Being healthy has been a great help for hacking because of better focus, energy levels, and overall mood.

Paleo has been great for me as well. I'm active as an athlete (rugby) and a bit of a crossfitter as well (that's how I got into Paleo) and it's been fantastic. As you mentioned, I think it's important for people to find the balance of food that works for them. I'm very non-strict Paleo (still eat dairy, black coffee, legumes, etc) but the elimination of high-fructose products and grains has skyrocketed my energy level.

This sounds interesting. I've had a few unusual diets in the past, and found packing lunches the hardest part. What types of things do you take if you need to carry a lunch with you?

Without packing anything, anywhere there are convenience stores I can usually get beef jerky, nuts and fresh fruit drinks, but one often finds corn syrup, soy and wheat dumped arbitrarily into all three of them, and there's no vegetables on offer, so it's not really the preferred solution.

A more balanced meal would involve a box with pre-cooked meat(I like boiling up fresh sausages in olive oil, it's very easy), some veggies, and a fruit item. Right now I'm able to work from home so I don't really have to plan ahead like that, but it's the obvious next step.

A pork chop and some carrots. There's nothing complicated about it. You can do OK at grocery store buffets, actually.

I wouldn't say "no coffee" is a paleo thing.

Also, I would say experiment with dairy. Dairy makes me feel great. Full fat yogurt is a fantastically cheap and healthy central component to a meal if it agrees with you (I think ethnicity is relevant here). Yogurt has minimal lactose. So what if cavemen didn't have it.

Dairy can be problematic for most people. Lactose tolerance is the exception outside of Europe [1] and west-central Africa [2].

  [1] http://www.medbio.info/Horn/Time%201-2/Lactase%20map.gif
  [2] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/LacIntol-World2.png

Yogurt, especially with probiotics usually isn't a problem as it contains very little lactose.

It really depends on your individual tolerances. Before I started on my trend towards paleo I was heavy into dairy and I've determined that it contributed to a stomach cramping problem.

Coffee is a bean, as is cocoa. I can manage pretty well with beans most of the time, but they're doing something that I can't pinpoint yet. It's an iterative thing, and when I cheat it's an opportunity to learn more about how those things affect me.

I don't think coffee is technically a bean. It's the pit of a fruit. Anyway, it has no calories. Cavemen almost certainly drank various teas.

It's very important with the paleo stuff not get caught up in what I've seen aptly described as "food reenactment." Honey and many starchy roots are technically "paleo", but you should still mostly avoid them. Brains and colon meat are definitely paleo, but you can't feasibly purchase them. "Paleo" is a good starting principle but in the modern world it's insufficient and you have to go with the research and what works for you.

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