Hello all,

I am halfway through reading The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson and was wondering if anyone here knows about the book. My question: is The Primal Blueprint diet and Atkins diet the same? The diet is also a low carb diet, and the only difference I see is that you are encouraged to eat fruits, but not encouraged to eat dairy. Any thoughts on this?

We do have a group of primal/paleo people. You can find us chatting here
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/carb...ry-2011-a.html
You are very welcome to join us!

The two diets are very similar. A noteable difference is that on a paleo/primal eating plan you would not be eating any grains, and many paleo/primal followers don't do dairy as well. Also on paleo fruit is not restricted, but paleo followers will say to limit fruit if you're trying to lose weight.

I sort of feel like Atkins is the "how to lose weight" and paleo/primal explains why Atkins works and explains why such an eating plan is much healthier for us.

I have the cookbook version, but the Paleo Solution is up next on my reading list. Also if you haven't read either of Gary Taubes' books, you likely will really enjoy them as well.

I read it. I liked it, and I think it's fairly compatible with Atkins theory, but it is a bit different.


If you compare all or any of the low-carb and carb-conscious or glycemic-conscious diets, you'll find similarities and differences not only in theory, but in suggested practice. Some people will say the differences are minor or inconsequential, and some will say that the differences are vitally important.

I don't think the science of weight loss is precise enough to declare any one program the definitive "best." Rather the best diet, is the one that you are most comfortable with sticking to (even if that means your owna hybridization or tweaked *******ization of a plan).

I've used a food journal and symptom log to help me decide "how low" I needed to eat (I'm still adjusting this as I learn more). For me, I use an exchange plan because I'm just more comfortable with exchange plans, because I'm most familiar with them. I've dieted with exchange plans since I was 8 years old (Weight Watchers was an exchange plan until the mid 1990's)

I also find that with an exchange plan, I can more easily identify problem foods. I can more easily notice a pattern, when I can easily identify how I'm eating differently. For example, I learned that grain foods cause more health issues and weight loss stalls than fruits (I wouldn't necessarily have noticed this if I hadn't used an exchange plan and hadn't experimented with different distributions of exchanges).



I own at least a dozen low-carb diet books and low-carb diet cookbooks, and I've read probably 100 books. I like the Paleo/Primal philosophy. I don't agree with every point in The Primal Blueprint, but I think it's one of the better Paleo books (definitely more practical, with it's 80/20 philosophy towards modern foods). The book and the cookbook are both on my "too buy" list.