Phase 1????

[lance]

Hi, I'm quite new to this forum, but I have been eating "paleo" for awhile now.  I have understood that skipping meals or fasting for a day can be beneficial, I do not fully understand the reasoning behind phase 1.  When I started I immediately cut out grains and anything processed or that had to be cooked, but I still ate regular meals throughout the day while teaching my body to burn fat.  I found it harder to initially stick to the diet if I let my stomach stay empty for too long, and my hunger pain and lack of carbs would drive me straight to the grains.  And how, when you are able to gorge on grains and other processed foods during phase 1, does that teach your body to burn fat.  It seems to me that it would just cause a sinusoidal graph of blood sugar vs time.  But how does it effect your metabolism?

[Jana]

If I do some copy/paste from the food section of this web page

What Stage One aims to achieve
Start the fat burning process, weight loss can begin immediately.
Help you to truly feel the effects that food has on you.
Increase your energy levels.

It's easy to maintain the life style, and go through the weight loss stage when you are aware how crappy certain foods (an overload of it) make you feel.
Otherwise I don't think that a metabolic switch occurs on paleo diet, I prefer to think that the whole system is being reset back to normal.

[lance]

If no metabolic switch would occur without phase 1 then I would be very weak and sick or even dead right now.  But you never really answered my question.  I read the stuff already about the phase, I want to know the "science" behind it and the reasons why it would work as it is said to work.

[Lilnicki]

The point of stage one is to get you sick of eating junk for your feast..... I have no idea of the science behind it, but I know this diet works for me and all the other people who are posting here..... Sometimes you have to forget the theory behind the science and jump straight in with the practical. And see the results for yourself.

Nicki

[Jana]

To put some science behind it I recommend going to a library and reading Biochemistry by Judith and Donald Voet and Molecular biology of The Cell by Bruce Alberts and coauthors. I found them complementary, both extremely illustrative, the style of writing is understandable to anyone. Unfortunately I can't recommend a book on nutrition or glucose and addiction because I don't know any in this fields.
For the biochemistry class, the University of Virginia has a good quality text on their web page. Just change the numbers of the chapters to when you are ready to move to the next chapter.
http://web.virginia.edu/Heidi/chapter18/chp18.htm

Next to all this, my belief is that phase 1 has more a psychological importance than a metabolic one. It's about learning that you don't really need all the french fries, sodas, pancakes.... and that these foods actually make you feel bad, bloated, ... and learning how much you really need to eat.

[lance]

Hi, I'm quite new to this forum, but I have been eating "paleo" for awhile now. 

I'm not questioning the diet's effectiveness or anything such as that.  As I said I also eat this way.  I just didn't understand why during phase 1 you are allowed to eat anything.  But I do now thanks.