Quote Originally Posted by Sky King View Post
While I think the Paleo Diet is just another way for people to make money....
I wanted to point out that you may be allergic to coconut. I am horribly allergic to coconut and to soy.

I have to note that the bike hermit would die on the paleo diet and I lost 25 pounds and kept if off for 30 years once I started eating like the bike hermit - which is primarily veggies, fruit and -GASP - Pasta. We eat meat maybe once a week and rarely eat meat when bike touring.

Again, eating a balanced diet of healthy foods goes a long way, now if I can cut down on my beer intake...
It may be a coconut sensitivity, true. I'm fine with coconut oil and shredded or flaked coconut, but when you eat those things, it's typically in really small quantities. Coconut flour is so processed into something not even resembling a coconut and when consumed, it's in a much more highly concentrated quantity. That might be why it gets to me, I don't know. It's easy enough to avoid though, so I don't sweat it.

The paleo diet has a name purely because that's what someone decided to call it and it stuck. There is no official licence on the word like there is on South Beach or Atkins or Weight Watchers and there are no "paleo" branded foods on the shelves of your supermarket. In fact, depending on which books you read, there are lots of names for it (Primal, Neanderthin, Paleo Diet, Paleo Solution, etc) so I really don't think it's a marketing tactic. Who exactly is making money? Bloggers? Cookbook authors? Somehow, I doubt they are going to retire on their salaries.

I should also point out that while I love it and how it makes me feel about food, I recognize that this diet is not a miracle or anything. I mean, if you are celiac and didn't know it, then the switch may seem like a miracle, I'm sure. But for those of us who chose to eat this way for non-medical reasons, it's just another way of eating. No different than vegan or vegetarian or any other chosen way to eat. What I don't understand is why there is such an obvious bias against the diet from non-paleo people. I know that most paleo proponents are super gung-ho and highly annoying, but that is no reason to dismiss the way someone chooses to eat.

Anyway, I'm not directing this at anyone here in particular, just my general observations. It's why I hesitate to even use the word paleo in casual conversation anymore!