I hate counting calories.

I don’t like keeping track of how much I’ve eaten, I don’t like obsessing over how many grams of a particular nutrient I’ve eaten, and I don’t like worrying that I ate too much/little and the end of the day.  Not only do I hate counting calories, but I know that calories are really only half of the battle, as they’re not all created equal – 400 calories of Doritos do NOT affect your body in the same way as 400 calories of high-quality vegetables and chicken.

Fortunately, if you can expand your horizons and remove certain types of food from your diet, you can stop worrying about counting calories FOREVER (sorry, the Count – ah ah ah).  About fifteen months ago, I stumbled across a particular type of eating that doesn’t require counting a single calorie AND allows you to eat as much as you want (I’m serious – I explain later).  Oh, and it will help you lose weight, build muscle, and get in the best shape of your life.

I know, that sounds like an ad for some really shady supplement or diet book that you’d see on TV at 4 AM.

Putting aside the marketing mumbo-jumbo, it’s a diet – it’s actually a lifestyle, but we’ll stick with diet for now – that actually works.  How do I know?  Because it has caused jaw-dropping transformations in many people, including my friend Saint (whose ENITRE story you can read here):

I’m talking about the Paleo Diet.

Cue the Baltimora!

(warning: this is the LONGEST post I’ve ever written on Nerd Fitness at over 4,000 words).

WTF is the Paleo Diet?

Oh lord, another “diet.” I know, it sounds like a fad/marketing ploy, but it’s actually quite legit.  You see, tens of thousands of years ago, before Nike, Cap’n Crunch, pasta, and Heathy Choice meals, our ancient ancestors survived and thrived as hunter-gatherers.  Although it’s been a really long time, our genetics haven’t changed that much since then.

The average Homo Sapien back then: was tall, muscular, agile, athletic, and incredible versatile.

Today’s “average” Homo Sapien: overweight, out of shape, dying from a myriad of preventable diseases, stressed out, unhappy, and sleep deprived.

So what the hell happened? Agriculture!  A few thousand years ago humans discovered farming, the agricultural revolution took off, and we changed from hunter-gathers into farmers.  We settled down, formed societies, and the human race progressed into what we are today.

The problem is, our bodies never adjusted properly to eat all of the grains that we were now farming.  Robb Wolf (who I’ll talk about shortly) has a great analogy on why we haven’t adapted.  Think of a 100-yard football field.  The first 99.5 yards are how long Homo-Sapiens spent as hunter-gathers – they became REALLY good at it during that time, and over thousands of generations our bodies adapted to that lifestyle.  That last half-yard represents our species after the agricultural revolution, where our diet has shifted (but our genetics haven’t).

So, instead of loading up on lean meats, vegetables and seasonal fruits, we’ve become a species “dependent” upon grains – bread, pasta, rice, corn, and so on.  Our government continues to recommend 6-11 servings of grains a day, and the people of our country continue to get fatter and fatter by the day.

66% of us are overweight, 33% are considered obese, and those numbers are only getting worse.

Clearly something’s not right.  The Paleo Diet is an effort to go back to eating how we’re biologically designed to eat, before the agricultural revolution, allowing us to tap into our genetic potential and start living healthier immediately.

So how does the Paleo Diet work?

Note: I am not a doctor, registered dietitian, or a food scientist.  The words below are a summary of what I’ve read from half a dozen books and hundreds of websites, studies, and articles on the subject, put into my own words to simplify things as much as possible.  The articles and books I’ve read have hundreds of scientific sources that they use, so I’ll leave those sources to them.

Back in the day, grains weren’t part of our diet.  We ate what we could hunt or find – meats, fish, nuts, leafy greens, regional veggies, some tubers and roots, occasional berries or seasonal fruits, and seeds that other animals hadn’t decimated.  Grains came around extremely late in our development cycle and have been causing problems ever since.

As Mark from Mark’s Daily Apple (a website that I visit daily and whole-heartedly recommend) points out in his “definitive guide to grains” article, grains cause kind of a funky response in our system.  Grains are composed of carbohydrates, and those carbs are turned into glucose (a type of sugar) in our system to be used for energy and various other tasks to help our body function – any glucose that isn’t used as energy is stored as fat.

Rather than me explain that part with thousands of words, just watch this three-minute video which I’ve referenced many times – “Why You Got Fat“

Next, most grains contain gluten and lectins. What are they and what’s wrong with them?  I’m so glad you asked:

• Gluten is an protein found in things like rye, wheat, and barley (and possibly millet?). It’s now being said that a large portion of our population is gluten-intolerant (hence all the new “gluten-free!” items popping up everywhere).  Over time, those who are gluten intolerant can develop a dismal array of medical conditions from consuming gluten: dermatitis, joint pain, reproductive problems, acid reflux,other digestive conditions and auto-immune disorders.  Most people who are gluten-intolerant go undiagnosed.
• Lectins are natural toxins that exist within grains that exist to defend against consumption! Yup.  Grains have evolved to keep themselves from being eaten by us.  Suck.  Because of that, these lectins are not a fan of our gastro-intestinal tract, and won’t let it repair itself from normal wear and tear, which can let all kinds of crap that doesn’t belong into parts of our body where they can do some damage.

As Mark so eloquently puts it in his article: grains are unhealthy at best, or flat-out dangerous at worst.

Considering our government has recommended tons of grain consumption daily for maximum health for decades and continues to subsidize corn farmers, it’s not too much of a stretch to see why government research into the health hazards of grains has been slow coming.

Another big part of the paleo diet is almost the complete eradication of sugar.  Unless you’re getting your sugar from a fruit, forget it.  Sugar causes an energy spike and crash in your system, turns to fat unless it’s used immediately, and wreaks all kind of havoc on our system.

So, no grains, no sugar, no processed foods. Many studies have shown that an incredible number of diseases and lifestyle issues can be reversed with these two simple changes.  Here’s a time magazine article on cancer patients who switched to a zero-sugar diet and saw positive results.

But where’s my energy?

So, if we’re not eating 300+ grams of carbs every day, where are we supposed to get our energy from?

Remember, our bodies are designed to operate on a lower amount of carbohydrates than what we’re used to eating, so less carbs isn’t an issue.  When there is an absence of carbs (which is how we’re USED to operating), our body will take our stored fat and burn THAT for energy (in a process called ketogenesis).  It’s even possible for our bodies to convert protein glucose for energy when necessary.

What I’m trying to tell you is that our bodies are pretty effin’ efficient.

So, less carbs = less glucose in your system, which means your body will have to start burning fat as your fuel source.  Win!

So all carbs are bad?

Nope.  Carbs still serve a purpose in our diets, but they’re not essential – (check out the Inuit Paradox for a great read on societies that exist without almost any carbohydrates).  I prefer to get my carbs from vegetables, sweet potatoes, and fruit.  Why is that?  These foods are naturally occurring in the wild and don’t need to be processed in any way (unlike grains) in order to be consumed.

The other great thing about vegetables is that you can honestly eat as many of them as you like and you’ll never get fat.  They’re incredibly nutrient dense and calorie light – six servings of broccoli (and who would eat 6 servings at once?) has 180 calories and only 36 grams of carbs.  A single serving of pasta (and NOBODY eats just one serving of pasta) has 200 calories and 42 grams of carbs.

What about dairy?

Dairy’s a tough one, as most paleo folks tend to stay away from it - a huge portion of the world is lactose intolerant, and those that aren’t usually have at least some type of an aversion to it.  Why is that? Because no animal in the entire kingdom drinks milk beyond infancy.  Hunter gathers didn’t lug cows around with them while traveling – milk was consumed as a baby, and that was it.  As with grains, our bodies weren’t designed for massive dairy consumption.

Here’s a great read on the benefits/criticisms of dairy.

Personally, I’m split on dairy, as I can drink whole milk without any sort of issue and I’m considering adding it back into my diet to get enough calories to bulk up.

So no grains, no dairy: what DO I get eat on this diet?

Okay, so if we cut out the grains, almost all processed foods, and dairy, you’re left with only things that occur naturally:

• Meat – GRASS-FED, not grain-fed…which causes the same problem in animals as they do in humans
• Fowl - chicken, duck, hen, turkey…things with wings that (try to) fly.
• Fish – wild fish, not farmed fish, as mercury and other toxins can be an issue
• Eggs - look for Omega-3 enriched eggs
• Vegetables – as long as they’re not deep fried, eat as many as you want
• Oils – olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil – think natural
• Fruits – have natural sugar, and can be higher in calories, so limit if you’re trying to lose weight
• Nuts – high in calories, so they’re good for a snack, but don’t eat bags and bags of them
• Seeds - same as nuts, can be high in calories
• Tubers – sweet potatoes, yams.  Higher in calories and carbs, so these are good for right after a workout to replenish your glycogen levels.

Steak with asparagus and sweet potato fries, grilled chicken salad, massive omelets that will fill you up for the whole morning, apples dipped in almond butter (my new favorite snack ever),

and so on.  Pick any of the things from that list, and eat as much as you want of them (with the noted exceptions), and you’ll feel better and most likely lose weight.

How come I won’t get fat though?

Because these foods are so nutritious and filling, it’s almost impossible to overeat.

To get the equal number of calories from a bag of Doritos or bread (which, as you know, you can eat all day long and never really feel full), you’d have to eat like 2-3 mactrucks full of broccoli and lettuce.  Okay that’s clearly an over-exaggeration , but it’s absolutely true.  A GIANT plate of vegetables and a reasonable portion of meat can keep you full for hours, while eating carb-heavy foods can result in you being hungry again just a few hours later.

Whenever I need to lose weight for vacation or something like that, I go 100% Paleo and I can drop a few body fat percentage points in a few weeks (while combining it with strength training and interval running).

I like success.

But I can’t give up my muffin/pasta/bagel/pizza/donut/bread!

Okay then, don’t try the Paleo Diet! Simple as that.

If you’re happy with how you look, your energy levels are good all day, and you don’t see any room for improvement, then keep doing what you’re doing – I won’t force you to eat like this.  However, if you’ve been struggling with weight loss, have no energy throughout the day, need eight cups of coffee, hate counting calories, and want to start turning your life around today, why not give it a shot for 30 days?

JUST TRY IT: if after 30 days you haven’t noticed a marked improvement in your quest for a better life, then go back to the donuts.  At the very least, work on MINIMIZING those foods and see how your body adjusts.

How much should I eat of each nutrient?

The FDA recommends a ratio somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-20% protein, 10-20% fats, and 50-60% carbs.  Ugh. No wonder this country’s collective waistline is ballooning out of control.  I’d say my current diet now is probably closer to 50% fats, 25% protein, and 25% carbs.  I think Mark over at Mark’s Daily Apple might be up to 60% fats and down to 10% carbs.

Both of us have a body fat percentage down in the single digits.

Keep it simple: try to get a really good protein source with each meal (eggs, steak, chicken, fish, pork) with each meal along with some vegetables or fruit. That’s it.  If you’re having trouble getting enough energy or calories daily, add some healthy fats into the equation: avocado, a handful of almonds or walnuts, almond butter, olive oil, and so on.

Now, fruit does have quite a bit of sugar in it, and nuts have quite a bit of calories…so if you are following the paleo diet but not losing weight, check your fruit and nut consumption and see if you are loading up on those at the expense of vegetables and healthy protein.

What I’m trying to say is this: fat should make up a big percentage of your diet.

Baaaaack up: I thought fat made you fat?

Pooooooor fat. It has been rip to shreds over the past number of decades, so companies have been doing everything possible to make everything low fat and “healthy!” (while adding all sorts of preservatives, chemicals, and sugar).  Yup…cut out the fat, increase the carbs….and look where THAT has gotten us.

Why has fat been vilified? Rather than get into the politics of it myself, I’ll let Gary Taubes, author of the incredibly-thorough and well-researched Good Calories, Bad Calories take over.  Here’s an article he wrote for the New York Times a decade ago: What if its all Been a Big Fat Lie? Take the 15 minutes to read that article – it could radically redefine your thinking on fat and carbohydrates.

So, feel free to eat healthy fats, and stop buying ‘low fat’ garbage.

Do I need to eat every 3 hours?

Nope.  Eat when you’re hungry, don’t eat when you’re not. Going again back to our evolutionary history, we didn’t always have the luxury of going to a vending machine or drive-through window to pick up food.  Sometimes we’d go all day long without finding any food, or even days at a time.  Luckily, we’re designed to use our excess fat stores as energy in these situations.

Don’t worry about eating every three hours – our metabolisms aren’t that smart.  Sometimes, it’s even okay to skip a meal or two, as long as you don’t go berserk and eat 7 pizzas because you’re so hungry afterward.

This type of eating is generally referred to as Intermittent Fasting.