In this episode, Stacy and Sarah discuss all the competing, yet similar versions of Paleo that fall into the larger Paleo tent. What do they have in common, and what separates them?

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The Paleo View (TPV), Episode 201: Schools of Paleo Thought

• Intro (0:00)
• News and Views (1:18)
  • Happy Longest Day of the Year!
  • Sarah and Stacy talk about their kids on the swim team. Go kids! Swimming daily has helped our kids build their confidence in the water
  • Stacy and Sarah both are taking the summer off from big projects to play with the kids.
• Our Topic: The Schools of Paleo Thought (10:58)
  • There is no central organization of Paleo, so there’s room to develop different ideas from different thought leaders.
  • We thought it would be interesting to go over the different ideas
  • All Paleo leaders agree: we’re trying to eat the diet that makes us feel the best.
  • People are individual: Stacy eats some heavy cream, but no popcorn, for example, but Sarah is the exact opposite!
  • The similarities between philosophies are greater than the differences.
  • Standard Paleo
    • Robb Wolf and Loren Cordain: Grain-Free, Legume-Free, Dairy-Free, Refined sugar-free, Refined oil-free
    • Chris Kresser and Sarah add: find the most nutrient dense foods to add to your diet
    • Loren Cordain is also very low carb and low fat as well. His anti-green bean and anti-potato stances and anti-salt are not generally accepted
    • The Cordain stance on lean meats is due to the idea that most meat isn’t grass fed or game meats, thus not what humans are designed to eat, but he’s simplified to lean meats to try to be more understood.
    • Check out Episode 88 on balancing Omega 3 and Omega 6 fats for informations of fat types
  • Primal
    • Mark Sisson created Primal
    • It includes dairy and also includes a lot of lifestyle factors, including the 80/20 rule.
    • 80/20 rule has been widely adopted, including in the second edition of The Paleo Diet
    • Mark came into the Paleo seen from the side when Paleo and primal followers realized they had a lot in common.
    • Early Paleo focused on the whys of Paleo, but Mark was one of the pioneers who talked about building a sustainable lifestyle.
    • People who think Paleo, think challenge. Then people enter Paleo with a strict challenge mind set
  • Whole 9 Life/Whole 30
    • Their approach is a very strict approach inside of the challenge, but outside of the challenge are much looser. For example, the Hartwigs will eat gluten.
    • People tend to think the Whole 30 rules should apply all the time when they approach Paleo from the Whole 30
  • Lots of different subgroups and controversies have stepped up
    • Low Carb vs. Safe Starch
    • Low Fat vs. High Fat
    • Lacto-Paleo/Primal
    • Perfect Health Diet (Primal + Rice #TeamWhiteRice)
    • Weston A. Price (Grass fed Dairy plus Soaked, Sprouted, Cooked Grains and Legumes)
      • You can ferment wheat to the point that it tests as gluten-free, though a celiac probably shouldn’t touch it.
      • But even the gluten-free labeling threshold (20 parts per million) can cause reactions in people with severe sensitivity
    • Auto-immune Paleo (like Sarah)
    • The Allergy people
      • Often they need very specialized recipes.
  • Sometimes you’ll go to a site with a different philosophy and find recipes that don’t align with your ideas.
    • Russ Crandall, the Domestic Man, is a very talented cook, but he’s Perfect Health Diet. His recipes include Dairy and Rice, often times. People are constantly telling him that he’s “wrong” or “not Paleo”
    • Different Paleo ideas don’t make you wrong, they just make you different!
    • Russ had open heart surgery and a stroke and his own diet gave him back his health!
  • There are as many ways to implement Paleo as their are people who do it!
  • Figure out what the optimal version of this nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory, whole food-based diet is for you!
  • And remember: We’re all on the same team!
  • Next week, we’ll talk about all the different Paleo challenges and we might have a soap box or two!
• Thank you for listening!
• Outro (46:23)