I received this first comment from Julianne a few days ago and asked if I could post her experience. Part two I received this morning and added to the post. Here is the basic order of operations:
She adopted the Zone and saw significant improvements in a number of issues including blood sugar regulation and performance. She ate this way for 12 YEARS, but still suffered from some inflammatory issues and mild autoimmunity. She found the Paleo concept, removed grains, legumes and dairy, supplemented with vit-D…and has none of the issues a mixed Zone diet addressed. This sounds vaguely reminiscent of Laura Demarco’s experience of seeing good performance on a Zone diet, markedly BETTER performance on a Paleo approach. As an aside: I now have HUNDREDS of examples along this line. The interesting thing is all I did was ask these folks to “try it, tell me your results”.
So, how does one respond to this type of information? One way is to dig in one’s heels, ignore the fact that food quality matters, and insist elite athletic performance and optimum health await some kind of perfect food proportionality. It’s like numerology, only with food. It also implies a type of attempted strangle-hold on the truth reminiscent of the Inquisition and Church during the Dark Ages. Galileo anyone?
The alternate approach is to recognize food quality is your most important issue with regards to nutrition. A food quality approach fixes issues that no amount of slicing and dicing proportions will fix. Once you have a handle on food quality (Paleo) THEN, if and when you need more fine tuning, break out the weighing and measuring to see if that can give you more juice in your desired endeavors.
Here is Julianne’s experience:
As someone who started on my passion for nutrition on the Zone diet (about 13 years ago) I would have agree with your evaluation of Sears work. Just as a little background, my journey began with reading books to try to help my cousin who was dying of cancer. One of those books was the zone diet just published. At that time I was a designer (designing equipment for people with severe disabilities). Once I started the zone diet, I was hooked on nutrition, blown away by the difference it made.
However my swollen knees (auto immune) and stiff neck and a few other problems (constipation and PMS) continued to a minor degree even with all the anti-inflammatory fish oil I was taking.
I recently completed nutrition science (on top of my RN qualification) to degree level, and gained a much better understanding of the biochemistry underlying nutrition.
Recently (amazingly only this year) was I introduced to CrossFit and as a result paleo eating – which I have been devouring both literally and the information and books. I had to take notice when I read Cordain’s papers on auto immune issues and grains / legumes.
It really is the key – my joint problems and gut problems and PMS have gone, completely. Also I would have to agree with vitamin D – I wasn’t until last year that I started taking vit D supplements regularly and have been virus free for 2 years now, it also contributed to less joint inflammation. I had a blood test after taking 1000iu per day for some months and it was only in the normal but low range, I’ve since increased it to 5000iu per day. Retesting will be interesting. We are just coming into spring and cold wet days are not condusive to getting sun on the body.
I too like to help people, my dad who had a bipass at age 55, is still tramping, working and has amazing bloodwork just short of 80. He would probalby have been back for more bipass surgery if he hadn’t changed his diet from the recommended high carb he was religiously doing after his bipass. 5 years ago my brother survived a bone marrow transplant with very little GVHD thanks to swallowing large amounts of high quality omega 3 which dampens the cytokine storm underlying bone marrow transplant reactions.
So personally my life is way better for knowing about nutrition. Still I feel like there is SO much to learn. (Masters degree in Nutrition science next).
And sadly – at the beginning of my learning journey I didn’t know nearly enough to help my cousin.
So I will keep learning as much as I can, continue doing Zone /Paleo (bit lower on the carbs though) plus Crossfit – I LOVE this combination!
I am looking forward to hearing more on your thoughts behind your disagreement with Sears on very low carb diets.
Robb – you are an inspiration for me – I hope I can touch as many lives as you do!
Julianne
You are welcome to use my post.
With regards to the effects of the Zone Diet, going on to Paleo, here is a short run down of how I progressed:
When I started the Zone Diet in 1996 I was around 54 kg (I’m 5? 1.5?) tall.
I had bad PMS (breast pain) and severe menstrual pain. Poor recovery after exercise, reactive hypoglycemia. One or other of my knees would swell at regular intervals especially after a long brisk walk. Stiff sore neck (joint problems that I have exactly the same as my mother, she was diagnosed with a mild form of lupus. I did have a postitive blood test, anti-nuclear factor postive 1 in 64, speckled pattern, however this is not conclusive.)
The Zone diet caused dramatic changes, PMT disappeared, big energy increase and great recovery after exercise. Stable blood sugar, weight loss down to 49 kg. However severe menstrual pain continued, joint swelling continued, PMS came back if I wasn’t super strict. I was eating grains and legumes most days on the Zone diet although not a lot.
Added Omega 3 some months down the track, joint and menstrual pain hugely decreased, still regular knee swelling though. It also decreased PMS. Still constipated – which I had wheat bran for – although it grated in my stomach.
I managed to control the knee swelling with megadoses (tablespoon full of high concentrate) Omega 3. If I didn’t it would come back.
After reading Loren Cordain’s work, by now I have been doing the Zone diet, (I also became a zone diet instructor) and taking omega 3 for 12 or so years – I cut grains and legumes out completely 4 months ago. Added vitamin D as well about 18 months ago.
A large ganglion cyst that had been getting bigger over the last 7 years started to shrink. – It is now almost undetectable, no knee swelling at all for 4 months despite all the squats at running at CrossFit. Interestingly I had a Pizza meal one night as an experiment and the next day the ganglion cyst was tender. Re constipation – all is good now, although I do add a little ground flax seed, have kiwifruit and lots of salads – works way better than wheat bran. I don’t have to take nearly the same amount of omega 3 to control inflammation, as I just don’t have any joint inflammation.
Even though my auto-immune / constipation / PMS etc were not all that severe, just a big annoyance that I had to live with, to get rid of them completely is absolutely amazing. I never imagined that it was possible. And certainly in all my training as a nurse, and more recently as a nutritionist, I hadn’t seen this kind of research – mainstream education just doesn’t teach you most of this stuff.
robb awesome info do u consider green beans a legume, have u heard of people having more CPK realeased into the blood post workout above normal, creating severe soreness 2-3 days after WODS would u recommend more V-D
thank u
jd
JD-
Not sur eon green beans, I find no problem with them, CPK is not what MAKES you sore, it is an indicator of an ass beating. Gradual ramp up can mitigate this. I don;t know how much vit-d you ae taking, so it;s tough to recommend “more”!
Great stuff! I noticed in her description that she removed grains and legumes but did not mention dairy specifically. I agree with the grains and legumes removal as this past weekend was full of parties and unfortunately I broke down and had chili, pizza, and one beer. I haven’t felt that gross in awhile and I swear I’m still coming off the wheat as I’ve had a constant headache and I’m convinced it’s my body craving wheat. Anyways, back to dairy. While I know you recommend the “try it out” approach, I doubt that you would recommend anyone consuming legumes and/or wheat for any amount of time. What about dairy? I’m of the position that as long as you don’t consume wheat or legumes, dairy doesn’t pose any problems. I know strict Paleo takes it out but I wanted to get your opinion on it. Akin to eating corn tortillas, is some dairy everyday ok (like lactose free milk, cream, some cheese and maybe ice cream here and there)? Thanks Robb. I think this is an area around Paleo where people have a lot of questions.
Mark-
For someone with autoimmunity and or insulin issues I’d steer clear of dairy for the most part.
Sounds good, one more question if I may. Back at the Boston Nutrition Cert. you said that if a client is failing to lean out then try and remove cheese sticks for example from their diet and they should lean out. Is it a combo of the sodium and potential bloating that dairy can bring (if one can’t digest it well)? Thanks again.
Mark-
No, it;s the inulin response.
I take a multi vitamin containting 800IUs of Vitamin D (200% stated on bottle). Would you recommend taking more on top of this, per day?
Thanks.
Amy-
Yep.
Hey Robb thank u for the feedback i am getting really bad soreness from wods and have taken time off to see if that would help still sorness, i eat pure paleo ttrain 1on 1off, it seems i have alot of inflammation in muscle i guess i take cod liver oil 2-3tsp a day
Jd
Robb,
Completely off-topic, but I thought you might find this interesting:
http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/jdc/article/PIIS1056872704000959/abstract
I’m still not giving up my NorCal Margaritas, though. 🙂
Mike-
I wonder if 29ml of tequila would be ok? Perfect second round of experiments!!
Hey Robb,
First off, thanks so much for all that you do. It is really appreciated. How much vitamin b would you recommend daily for someone who is eating paleo, crossfitting and is 5’10” 200lbs? Thanks!
Jordan
Jordan-
About 5,000iu seems safe place to be.
Amy,
I was taking 800iu per day in a multi before I added another 1000iu per day. It was still not enough to get ideal blood levels.
I also don’t get much sun (it’s winter here) and for years I avoided in the summer as I am very fair.
Thanks Robb!
Hey Robb,
Vit D thread over at CF with some test results:
http://www.board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=51855
If you’re severely deficient like I was I would suggest taking 10,000 IU for about a month, then dropping back to 5,000 IU maintenance.
From what I’ve read about 100 IU sustains 1ng/mL, and you want about 50ng/mL optimally so 5,000 IU maintenance is approximately right (depending on weight of course). So yeah. That’s all I got for now.
Steven-
That’s kinda why I threw that out there…safe middle ground whether the person is big or little. It;s a funny thing, but the more specifics I give folks the more questions it generates!!
Hope you are doing well.
Hi Robb,
I’m finally, finally getting stricter with paleo. A real quick question.
Will the book have anything about Irritable Bowel Syndrome in it, success stories etc? Personal interest I guess. I’ve definitely seen some improvement but still not at 100% – Maybe I’m not strict enough yet..
Really, really looking forward to the book/s anyway. Hope they’re coming along well.
Just as a sidenote – I’m amazed at how many people at my affiliate aren’t all that interested in going paleo. I think they see it as being way too restrictive.
thanks again,
adrian
Adrian-
Paleo is amazing for IBS.
the restrictive piece is kinda funny. Ribbs,a nd veggies does not sound particularly restrictive to me, but hey, I just like eating this way. Similarly, I just pester people to try it for a month, figure out if i;s worth it for them, then modify from there. It should not be viewed as a religious conversion! Just a month long experiment to see what it can really provide.
Re IBS,
To add to using Paleo for IBS:
I found this book a great read – especially helpful if the IBS in linked with the auto-immune condition Ankylosing Spondilitis. The IBS low starch diet, by Carol Sinclair
http://www.lowstarchdiet.net/
Also useful in my experience, a course of probioitics. Aloe vera and omega 3, and maybe enzymes.
Interested in the Paleo Diet, have had success in the past with the Zone Diet. Just need to do it.