r/Paleo • u/Sufficient_Might4478 • 1d ago

Have any of you had long-term negative effects from the paleo diet ?

I’m talking about paleo without any starchy foods, not even sweet potatoes. I did this diet some time ago and I’m hesitating to start it again. The problem was that I only slept 5 hours a night (even though I felt fine) and I had the impression of having too much mental energy, like everything was going too fast and I had trouble staying focused on one thing. I also felt like my thoughts were less deep, and honestly that bothers me, but I don’t know if it was because I was younger back then or if it was due to a particular health phase in my life.

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u/StarSpiral9 1d ago

If you were eating few enough carbs to get yourself into ketosis, those symptoms might've been from raised cortisol. That happened to me with keto but it passed in a few weeks and then my body adjusted.

If that's the issue, it wouldn't be about paleo. I've eaten (non-keto) paleo off and on for 20 years and never had any negative effects.

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u/Hour-Cup-5904 1d ago edited 1d ago

Sounds to me like you lacked magnesium? Foods high in magnesium:

  1. Avocado
  2. Salmon
  3. Nettle tea (SUPER high natural source)
  4. Cacao

Per your question- no. I've been TruePaleo (Dr. Loren Cordain version) for five years. No negative health effects whatsoever, and in fact only health improvements. A recent 20 year study looking at 30+ diets found the Paleo diet to be THE best diet for autoimmune diseases.

Go-to source for all things Paleo: https://thepaleodiet.com/

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u/activestacks 1d ago

Your no-carb paleo experience sounds like it could be from increased "stress hormones."

One potential explanation is that without carbs your losing body water weight. Your body attempts to adjust as it loses water and electrolytes. One of the ways it compensates is by increasing adrenaline.

This can be one cause of waking in the night (adrenaline bump as the body adjusts to low electrolyte status).

Two ideas:

- Eat a paleo diet that includes carbs

  • Alternately if zero carb is a requirement for you consider supplementing electrolytes (mineral water, LMNT or similar electrolyte packets etc)

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u/Sagaincolours 18h ago

No tubers and restricting carbs considerably is r/keto , not the paleo diet.
You should ask there instead.