This article contains the basics of the Paleolithic (or Paleo) Diet. Sometimes this diet is referred to as the Stone Age diet or Caveman Diet. The diet is relatively simplistic in implementation, yet this article is only a high-level overview for information only. Use it as a means to decide if further exploration into this diet is still of interest to you. There are many diets out there and this is just one of them. So, if after reading this, you don’t think that the Paleo diet is for you, that is perfectly acceptable. If you want more information, I’ve included some links to other sources on how to eat Caveman style.
History
If one considers that the Paleo diet is supposed to mimic what our ancestors ate during the “Old Stone Age” Or Paleolithic era, then you could say that this diet started about 2.5 million years ago. However, The history of the modern Paleo diet is a little shorter than that. The foundation of the modern Paleo diet was set in the 1970s by a gastroenterologist named Walter Voegtlin. But the diet itself started to soar in popularity in 2002 when Loren Cordain published his book “The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Foods You Were Designed to Eat”.
There is no mistake that the occurrences of many diseases have been on the rise since the early 1900s. It is the thought that this increase in chronic illnesses and metabolic diseases corresponds to the increase in the availability of processed foods. Proponents of the Paleo diet maintain that eating like a caveman eliminates the processed goods that are causing health issues today. It is based on the theory that we evolved to be able to eat a certain set of foods, and modern processed foods are not well tolerated by our genetic composition.
The biggest issue with the Paleo diet is that there still isn’t a lot of solid scientific evidence that backs up any of the major health claims. There are smaller underpowered studies that show promising results. But nothing (yet) to hang one’s hat on scientifically. It is a relatively young eating methodology. Only about 320 articles have been published in PubMed since 1959 on the Paleo diet. Contrast that with Almost 7,000 articles on the Mediterranean diet in almost the same amount of time (since 1961), and almost 3000 articles written about the Ketogenic diet since 1931.
Lack of scientific research isn’t a death knell for the diet, read on to see what it’s all about and why it could work for you.
How to Eat Paleo
The premise of the Paleo diet is to only eat what a caveman would have eaten. If you consider that a caveman was a hunter-gatherer, you could assume that if it was grown, caught or killed, it was eaten. The difficulty in identifying exactly what was eaten is in part because these hunter-gatherers lived all over the globe. And what was readily available to be eaten by someone living in the desert was different than what someone in the northern tundra could have eaten which was also different from someone living in a coastal region near the equator. What is true, though, is that any food that requires processing beyond cooking or crushing is generally off-limits.
New archaeological research has shed light on the actual diets of the Paleolithic people. Plants, Animals, Seafood (fish when near water), and insects made up the real Paleolithic diet. It’s good to note here that recent discoveries point to the stone-age people having both tools and fire and were probably able to do some processing of grains and legumes, plus cook foods. They likely had wild-grown barley that they may have even pounded into a flour. Although it’s generally to be a high-protein diet, the real Paleolithic person probably didn’t get as much as we can today because it was harder to catch or kill. Perhaps only 3% of the diet actually consisted of animals. Fish and seafood would have been a huge component in coastal regions, but insects would have had to make up for nutritional deficiencies.
Barring all the real history and facts of the actual diet of the stone-age man, the modern Paleo diet takes a pretty simplistic view. And because of this simplicity, it is easy to understand. Just ask: “Would a caveman have eaten it?”
Foods to Avoid
Let’s get this list out of the way. The Paleo diet has a pretty extensive “off-limit” list of foods.
- Dairy: Hunter-gatherers did not herd or domesticate animals so it is thought that any type of Dairy (including milk) was not eaten. The only milk consumed would be breast milk as a baby.
- Processed foods: Anything processed, sodas, canned goods, packaged meals, etc are off-limits.
- Refined Vegetable oils: Many oils today require quite a process involving nasty chemicals to extract the oil from the plant. Stay away from highly refined oils. (stick to cold-pressed olive, avocado, coconut oil)
- Refined Sugar: No refined sugars are allowed. The only sweetener allowed is honey.
- Salt: Added salt is to be avoided. The caveman didn’t have salt.
Foods that are Controversial (but considered to be “avoid”)
- Grains: There is some controversy on this one. The current Paleo diet says “No grains in any form”. Though as indicated above, there is evidence that whole grains straight from the plant were likely eaten. If you choose to add these to your diet, stick with only whole grains such as barley or quinoa. Avoid any that have been processed to be quick-cooking, bleached or refined.
- Legumes (beans and lentils): Again, evidence now points to the inclusion of beans or lentils in the real caveman diet, the modern Paleo says to avoid them. This includes Peanuts. (but not nuts like Walnuts). Should you choose to keep these in your diet, stick to unprocessed legumes and lentils. Still avoid peanuts.
- Potatoes: Research shows that the caveman would have eaten tubers. However, the modern diet says to stay away from potatoes.
Foods you can Eat
- Meat: Meats from animals that are organically fed and finished. Beef should be from grass-fed cows.
- Fish or Seafood: Especially eat fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids like salmon or mackerel.
- Eggs: Eggs contain a ton of nutrients (think about how one egg needs to make a whole chicken).
- Vegetables and fruit: Stick to whole vegetables, preferably organic. Frozen if needed, but not highly processed. (Avoid canned veggies).
- Nuts and Seeds: Most nuts and seeds are fair game (remember, Peanuts are off-limits).
- Healthy Oils: Nuts or seed oil like walnut oil, olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil.
Benefits and Concerns
While the data isn’t strong showing scientific evidence of disease curing effects of eating Paleo, anecdotal evidence indicates that many people enjoy eating this way, feel better and have seen improvement in their health markers (blood pressure, cholesterol, etc).
Overall, eating minimally processed whole foods is way better than consuming the highly refined, processed or packaged goods so abundant in our western diet. This is a healthy way to eat.
Benefits reported (but not necessarily confirmed) Include:
- Improved Blood Pressure control
- Improved glucose tolerance
- Better appetite management
- Lower triglycerides, and
- Weight loss
There are a few concerns to take into consideration.
Skipping dairy could be an issue for some people prone to osteoporosis. However, there are many vegetables that also contain calcium. Check with your doctor if this is an issue for you.
The foods to avoid list can be daunting and pretty much no restaurant food or pre-packaged foods would be “ok”. This would mean more time in the kitchen. This isn’t a bad thing. But it does mean that when adopting this diet, you need to consider that added time and what tradeoffs you may need to make to see if it is a lifestyle change you can maintain. Like all diets, the benefits gained while on the diet, go away when one goes off the diet. So make sure you can stick with the restrictions forever.
Lastly, if you try to stick to organic foods and grass-fed beef, free-range chickens, etc, this diet can get expensive. My counter to that would be: eating a non-grass fed steak is still better than eating a beef frank which is highly processed. So if that is a consideration to you, don’t let the high price tag of organic “clean” foods be a barrier, choose whole foods as much as possible, and if you can splurge on organic or clean foods do so.
Conclusions
While the Paleo diet lacks large studies to back up health claims, there is anecdotal evidence that people have experienced positive health effects from the diet. If you are looking for a way to eat that is simple to implement this diet could be for you. If you don’t do well with eliminating foods or long lists of prohibited food, you may want to stay away from this diet. As with any diet, to reap the benefits long-term, it must be something you can stick with for the rest of your life.
If you are interested in trying the diet for either weight loss or health improvement, it’s best to monitor your own feelings and health markers. Talk to your doctor to get baseline tests and to make sure you don’t have any health concerns that could contraindicate following the Paleo diet.
Are you still on the fence regarding a diet? Here’s my overview of popular diets. Or, you can choose to eat healthy without dieting.
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