Okay, in the Part I of this series we took a look at going gluten free. Going keto was Part II. In this third part, we’ll take a look at the Paleolithic, or paleo, diet. If gluten free is described as “don’t eat wheat,” and keto is described as “eat lots of fat and few carbohydrates,” then the paleo diet translates to “go out and kill something, then eat it.“
Paleolithic Diet
The paleo diet is basically eating like a cave man, or someone in the paleolithic era, from about 2.5 million years ago to 12,000 years ago. Once humans started settling down and farming, raising their own crops and herds and moved away from the hunter-gatherer stage of life, a more modern diet ensued including foods like grains, legumes, fruits and, naturally, beer. And, since man cannot live by beer alone (apologies for paraphrasing the Bible, Matthew 4:4 and Deuteronomy 8:2-3, King James Version), we invented bread.
Of course, back in the older parts of the stone age, when humanoids, we weren’t just homo sapiens back then, meandered about the planet, we adapted to a large range of environments, from jungles, to tundra, to seashores to idyllic mountain passes high in the Himalayas where people never age. Because of this, human anatomy adapted to a wide range of food type and sources, as well as availability, leaving critics of the paleo diet with plenty of fodder for attacking the diet’s premise.
So stop thinking about paleo as being a stone age diet and start thinking about it not being a modern diet, filled with processed foods, additives and unbelievable shelf life. Also exclude grains, legumes, dairy products and sugar since, with the exception of honey, those foods are products of a modern world where food is farmed and managed. Now you have an idea of what the diet consists of.
The basics of the diet really lie in the discordance hypothesis, as published by SB Eaton and M Konner in the New England Journal of Medicine, 1985 in the article Paleolithic Nutrition — A Consideration of Its Nature and Current Implications. The idea is that the human body isn’t genetically matched to the modern diet that existed after farming became common and that most diseases can be attributed to that discordance. Of course, like many scholarly articles, the authors didn’t say that practicing a a paleolithic diet would cure all mankind’s ailments, only that the hypothesis deserved more detailed study.
Some arguments against the paleo diet are that humans did have some genetic changes after we settled down as farmers and ranchers, and we developed genes needed to adapt to the foods we ate. One such adaptation is genes that help us process starches in our diet, as starch intake increased after farming, especially grains and potatoes, took hold.
But Does It Work?
In the last quarter century, the hypothesis has been studied. Mostly, studies confirm that humans in the paleolithic era ate differently than modern humans (never underestimate the power of PhDs to state the obvious in a very obscure yet scholarly manner…) but some have indicated that a paleo diet, for some specific groups, may have an effect on health or the reduction of disease occurrence. Of course, if you study anything long enough, you can find it proves something, but there are at least some signs that a paleo diet can help some people. By its nature, this diet can help reduce triglycerides (lots of fish), blood pressure (no salt) and help with glucose tolerance (no processed sugars).
Unfortunately, like many diets, it can have negative effects as well. When you cut out the grains and legumes, you cut way down on the dietary fiber content of the average meal. Dropping dairy loses a source of calcium as well as protein. Going paleo you should not be taking dietary supplements like fiber, calcium or other vitamins and minerals, since cave men couldn’t run down to the local mega mart and buy Flintstones vitamins (yeah, that sounds weird, no cave men in a cave man diet…). But we’re not going to rat you out for meeting your needs and staying healthy.
Since a paleo diet results in higher protein intake, the balances in the human body will change due to the diet. Similar to a high protein diet like Atkins or South Beach, people on the diet often show a decrease in appetite, resulting in a lower calorie intake. Combined with the lack of processed foods that are higher in empty calories, or calories providing little nutritional value, the lowering of caloric intake can contribute to the loss of weight. After all, the basic formula for weight loss is that when calories used are higher than calories eaten, you lose weight.
There are two extremely valid objections to the paleo diet and a few rather strange arguments against it. One of the strangest arguments is that cave men didn’t live very long so their diet is no good. The problem is here is a lack of cause and effect. The same logic also proves that cancer makes you live longer. Cave men didn’t die of cancer and lived short lives, modern people die of cancer and live long lives. Hence cancer makes you live longer. Of course, modern people rarely die wrestling a mammoth to the ground for dinner either.
Another somewhat bogus argument here is that cave men ate a lot of meat and meat isn’t good for you. Actually, meat is fine for you and cave men probably ate a lot more vegetables than meat. Roots and leaves don’t run away when you try to kill them like pigs do. And, while cave men didn’t eat processed and farmed grains, they certainly ate wild grains they could find. They pretty much ate everything they could, since life was find food, eat food, make cave babies and die. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when Candy Crush isn’t tugging at your will.
But, the paleo diet can be expensive. A bag of walnuts costs a lot more than a box of spaghetti. And, to eat strictly paleo, you need to eat organic meats, wild caught fish and non GMO everything. (Need to do a blog post on what the heck GMO really is and what it means!) Not to mention the preparation time, since nothing is from a box or can. Not all of us, can afford to eat like this. Okay, many of us can’t.
But the most valid objection to the paleo diet is that it’s a diet. Diets really only work if you stick to them. Which means no slipping back. And spending the required amounts to stay on the diet. Few of us can refuse foods offered at family gatherings or as gifts, even if it’s something that isn’t on our diet. You cheat once and swear you’ll never d it again. Then, since it didn’t matter that you had that one chocolate bar, you’ll slip and try another. Especially at Easter or Valentine’s day. And mom’s pumpkin pie is so good at the holidays. You promise you’ll be good again after the New Year. Eventually, you just forget about the diet because it’s too hard, too expensive, too confusing or you just don’t like what you have to eat. It’s the reason we eat like we do, we grow fat like we do and we die of heart disease like we too often do.
No diet is perfect, some work for some people. Find what, if any, works for you and live, or die, with the consequences.
Disclaimer
As always, the information presented here is informational, not a medical diagnosis or recommendation. Before you start on a paleo diet, or any diet regimin, see your doctor. As always, heed your doctor’s advice. A paleo diet isn’t specifically good for you, you need to accommodate for the lack of some essentials in your diet. You can do that and stay in your diet plan, but it takes changes to your life style. And you won’t necessarily lose weight or feel more energy, these depend on balanced nutrition as well as routine exercise. Remember that fad diets are often fads for many people but, if you maintain a sensible diet that meets your needs, those same fads can work.
Here at HalfCracker Ranch, we don’t practice fad diets. Besides, how can a diet that excludes biscuits and gravy be any good for the human body? I hope cave men at least had bacon…