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Devils'Advocate · 10-02-2013, 07:37 AM

I'm not exactly sure which forum this is supposed to be in. The food and entertainment forum seem more geared towards "which restaurants are best" or the proper way to prepare or cook something.... not really diet related. If the mods think otherwise, please move it with my apologies.

I said to someone yesterday that if I took all the meal plans that I have been given over the years by family doctors, internists, psychiatrists, personal trainers, nutritionists, registered dieticians, etc, I'd have enough paper to wallpaper my bedroom.

The book that I am currently reading really pushes the paleo diet... so whatever a caveman could have eaten is okay, the rest is out. So eggs, meat, plants such as fruits and vegetables are all okay... but legumes, starches and sugars are all out. As is dairy. The author is Dr. Barbara Berkeley.

The diet is QUITE similar to that which I was given by my personal trainer in terms of being very, very low in starchy carbs. The typical day on the PT's diet is "Breakfast: 3 eggs, 3 egg whites, steamed vegetables, whey shake; Lunch: Beef strips in a bed of salad with olive oil dressing; Dinner: chicken, mixed vegetables; Snacks: Almonds, raw vegetables". Or day 2: "Breakfast: Whey shake with berries, full fat plain yogurt; Lunch: hardboiled eggs, ham and veggies; Dinner: ground beef, mixed vegetables; Snack: Apple, raw vegetables" So, again, no legumes, no starches, no sugars. So very similar to what the doctor above prescribed.

However, as a vegetarian, the paleo diet is really, really hard to do given that I use legumes (beans - be they soy, kidney, lima, chickpeas, etc) for protein. As well as greek yogurt. But for the last 4 months that I have been working with the PT, I have started doing the whey powder smoothies and doing a LOT more eggs/egg whites.

So I was sent to a dietician yesterday by my psychiatrist (I don't want to complicate things too much by explaining why a psychiatrist is sending me to a dietician). The dietician basically ripped the meal plan apart. Basically "The reality is that you need carbohydrates in your diet. They provide energy, vitamins, minerals and fibre. Adults should be getting 65% of their daily caloric intake from carbohydrates." She went to town on the paleo diet ("cavemen did survive hundreds of thousands of years on that diet... 30 years at a time"; "Yes, there are doctors touting this diet, but doctors have to take 1 course on nutrition in their whole education. On the other hand registered dieticians spend years studying nutrition"). The dietician outright said that her meal plan was based primarily on the Canadian Food Guide. She wanted me to have 12 servings of starchy carbs in one day where a serving would be things like a slice of bread, six crackers, an Eggo-sized pancake or 1 cup of Special K.

So it would be a VERY, VERY, VERY different diet than what the PT has me on. So I went to the PT this morning and we chatted. "I had a friend who was asked to sit on the working group that came up with the Canadian Food Guide. She decided not to once she looked at who else was on the committee. She was to be the ONLY dietician in the room... everyone else was a representative of industry. The food guide is a mess because of political lobbying and should be taken with a huge grain of salt, if not ignored outright".

So I am lost as to who to trust. I do know that the last time I went with more carbs, I gained 15 pounds which is why I started going to see the personal trainer. Since I've been with the personal trainer my weight has gone down 5 pounds and my body fat has gone from 23% to 19.8%. So the low-starchy carbs diet SEEMS to be working for me, but my GP, my psychiatrist and the dietician are all shaking their heads. There just seems to be so much conflicting advice out there that people just don't know what they are supposed to be eating.

10-02-2013, 07:37 AM	#1
Devils'Advocate #1 Goaltender Join Date: Jul 2005 Exp:	Nutrition I'm not exactly sure which forum this is supposed to be in. The food and entertainment forum seem more geared towards "which restaurants are best" or the proper way to prepare or cook something.... not really diet related. If the mods think otherwise, please move it with my apologies. I said to someone yesterday that if I took all the meal plans that I have been given over the years by family doctors, internists, psychiatrists, personal trainers, nutritionists, registered dieticians, etc, I'd have enough paper to wallpaper my bedroom. The book that I am currently reading really pushes the paleo diet... so whatever a caveman could have eaten is okay, the rest is out. So eggs, meat, plants such as fruits and vegetables are all okay... but legumes, starches and sugars are all out. As is dairy. The author is Dr. Barbara Berkeley. The diet is QUITE similar to that which I was given by my personal trainer in terms of being very, very low in starchy carbs. The typical day on the PT's diet is "Breakfast: 3 eggs, 3 egg whites, steamed vegetables, whey shake; Lunch: Beef strips in a bed of salad with olive oil dressing; Dinner: chicken, mixed vegetables; Snacks: Almonds, raw vegetables". Or day 2: "Breakfast: Whey shake with berries, full fat plain yogurt; Lunch: hardboiled eggs, ham and veggies; Dinner: ground beef, mixed vegetables; Snack: Apple, raw vegetables" So, again, no legumes, no starches, no sugars. So very similar to what the doctor above prescribed. However, as a vegetarian, the paleo diet is really, really hard to do given that I use legumes (beans - be they soy, kidney, lima, chickpeas, etc) for protein. As well as greek yogurt. But for the last 4 months that I have been working with the PT, I have started doing the whey powder smoothies and doing a LOT more eggs/egg whites. So I was sent to a dietician yesterday by my psychiatrist (I don't want to complicate things too much by explaining why a psychiatrist is sending me to a dietician). The dietician basically ripped the meal plan apart. Basically "The reality is that you need carbohydrates in your diet. They provide energy, vitamins, minerals and fibre. Adults should be getting 65% of their daily caloric intake from carbohydrates." She went to town on the paleo diet ("cavemen did survive hundreds of thousands of years on that diet... 30 years at a time"; "Yes, there are doctors touting this diet, but doctors have to take 1 course on nutrition in their whole education. On the other hand registered dieticians spend years studying nutrition"). The dietician outright said that her meal plan was based primarily on the Canadian Food Guide. She wanted me to have 12 servings of starchy carbs in one day where a serving would be things like a slice of bread, six crackers, an Eggo-sized pancake or 1 cup of Special K. So it would be a VERY, VERY, VERY different diet than what the PT has me on. So I went to the PT this morning and we chatted. "I had a friend who was asked to sit on the working group that came up with the Canadian Food Guide. She decided not to once she looked at who else was on the committee. She was to be the ONLY dietician in the room... everyone else was a representative of industry. The food guide is a mess because of political lobbying and should be taken with a huge grain of salt, if not ignored outright". So I am lost as to who to trust. I do know that the last time I went with more carbs, I gained 15 pounds which is why I started going to see the personal trainer. Since I've been with the personal trainer my weight has gone down 5 pounds and my body fat has gone from 23% to 19.8%. So the low-starchy carbs diet SEEMS to be working for me, but my GP, my psychiatrist and the dietician are all shaking their heads. There just seems to be so much conflicting advice out there that people just don't know what they are supposed to be eating.