The paleolithic diet is known by many names; paleo diet, the caveman diet, stone age diet, or hunter-gatherer diet. The basic premise to this way of eating is that we must eat the foods that are natural to our evolutionary blueprint. If we can eat according to the way our far off ancestors did, in the paleolithic era (10,000 years ago) we will be set free from the modern foods that are making us sick.
The belief in this methodology is that our current diseases and complaints truly began when we opted out of our natural hunter-gatherer diet. The onset of modern agriculture, animal husbandry, and mechanical processing and packaging was the end of the Paleolithic era.
In this plan we would eliminate all grains, dairy, beans/legumes, potatoes, sugar, and packaged food. We would focus on the foods that are free from technology and processing, like meat, fish, shellfish, eggs, tree nuts, vegetables, roots, fruits, berries, and mushrooms. Oils would be those that could be gathered by man, like olives, palm, coconut, avocado, walnut, almond, hazelnut, or pecan. All animal products are preferred to be wild, or grass fed, with an emphasis on organic when possible to mimic the natural micronutrient profile of nature's food, free from chemicals or additives.
What I love about this diet fad is its urgency to get rid of processed, packaged, chemically produced food. This is so vital and important in revitalizing the body and activating healing of any kind. Those who can adhere to this plan will gain benefit initially because of eliminating the common allergens of the modern diet, wheat, dairy, soy, and corn. They will theoretically be cutting out all sugars, additives, and chemicals, and will finally bust through some of their food cravings. They will be focusing on protein, and will thus lose an initial amount of weight, and could potentially stabilize their blood sugar. But sometime down the road the Paleo followers may reach a roadblock. Let me tell you why.
Toxins & Increased Acidity
The prime flaw in this approach is the emphasis on animal products. In a world brimming with over populated, factory raised, hormone and antibiotic-laden animals, we are not going to be receiving the health benefits of the wild game that was once present in the open lands of our ancestors. No longer do we have an abundance of animals at our disposal free from human influence and taint. Even 'grass-fed,' 'organic,' and 'free range' labels are devised by man, with numerous loop holes and criminal actions set behind them.
In her book, The Jungle Effect, Dr. Daphne Miller decided to go on a journey to the spots on the planet where chronic western diseases were absent. What she found was fascinating, and very applicable to the paleolithic diet. Each group of people, whether in Greece, Africa, Mexico, or Iceland, ate in entirely different ways (some with grains, mostly plant-based, or mostly animal-based), but with amazing health benefits and qualities of life.
When speaking of animal products, Iceland became a vocal point. The local woman she was staying with would not touch the salad that she had made. The Icelandic people loved eating a plethora of animal products instead as the staple of their diet. How could they eat all these animal products, and still have benefit? Upon further investigation researchers discovered the key. The animals and fish they had been eating were raised on clean, open water, or nutrient-dense soil and plants that had been untouched by man (imagine a scene out of Lord of the Rings, where land is vast, fresh, and clear). This enabled the antioxidant, fatty acid composition, and other healthy compounds to be transferred from the flesh of the animal to the flesh of man. These people lived in rural areas, where raising and taking advantage of wild animals could support the human population.
Although many of the Paleo Diet advocates emphasize the importance of the source of the meat, they miss this one significant point: how can we truly be taking advantage of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle when we are not hunter-gatherers? How can we claim to mimic that lifestyle when the consumption of animal-based products today coincides with the consumption of low-grade, low-nutrient density material? We are exposing ourselves to animals who are not pure and wild in their origin, and who are eating plants or feed that is from nutrient-poor, degraded soil.
Tired all the time? Suffering from joint pain, muscle pain or weakness? Constipated, suffering from acne, eczema? If you are not in a place on the planet where you can kill your own game on a regular basis, your adherence to this philosophy may down the line create toxicity, and overly acidify your system.
The Myth of Evil Versus Good
As in every diet fad, it is always good against evil. Some food is the crown jewel, and the other is the root of our suffering. But is this dogmatic approach really beneficial?
As in the aforementioned book, where Dr. Miller traveled the world, and in older works like Weston A. Price, these researchers find that healthy and thriving populations have diverse and wide-ranging diets, with many different staples, and ratios of foods. They find one common denominator that is withdrawn from all these golden examples, processed food. This is where the Paleo diet is right. Processed and refined food is a method in our current civilization that is causing disease.
Where the Paleo diet goes wrong is in assuming that taking evolutionary steps back to our caveman days is the end-all, be-all of our needs. It is an assumption based on the flimsy demonizing of a wide-range of foods that some populations have thrived on, with good qualities of life. Legumes, root vegetables and grains, for instance, have been used in the highly touted Mediterranean diet, and in the Mexican, African, and Greek populations with longer life spans and hardly any sign of western disease.
Any diet that excludes food that is natural, wholesome, and untouched by man is most likely off track. Natural, unprocessed whole fats, carbohydrates, and proteins can be the cornerstone of a enjoyable, delicious, and youthful diet.
Long-Term Lifestyle Challenges
Anything that we attempt to incorporate in our lives must be done with care and awareness to our personal disposition. We are polar beings who are constantly changing. One day we may need more of a macro-nutrient, or less of a mineral. Going through puberty, menopause, or a stressful time in ones life are all examples of how we need fluid and flexible wisdom in place to always have health on our side.
The Paleo diet, albeit with temporary health benefit, is regimented and unrealistic in its approach. Although the base of the diet includes fruits, vegetables, and healthy, natural oils, most people, especially those with high-stress and physical demands, are going to rely on the protein-dense animal products as the base of their caloric needs. The average person will have to rely on mail-order meats and animal products, expensive organic meats, or vi for conventional choices when over budget and in need of convenient fixes. This will over time challenge the individual to be steadfast on this plan without wavering in the real world, and will create physical imbalances and toxicity in the body.
In Conclusion
There are many questions one should ask. How much data exists to support the dietary and disease findings of the Paleolithic days? And how far should we take this philosophy? Were the vegetables and meats steamed, stir fried or boiled in the Paleo days? If not, then shouldn't we follow that restriction as well, in the event that raw foods were what promoted health? If that was the case, would you follow suit and take it to the next level? Or would you much rather have a way of eating that is not part of such a bound construct?
Staving off the processed and denatured consumables of modern food manufacturing is smack-dab on spot. But encouraging the consumption of a high ratio of animal-based protein, and eliminating plants that have shown benefit in cultures around the world, is unhealthy in our day and age. Now more than ever we need more plant-based disease fighting, anti-aging, immune-enhancing phytonutrients to combat our stressful and toxic state, that are not present in animal products.
People who are excited about these new ideas are precisely those who need to approach their diet from a more intuitive, and self-assessed perspective. They may need to look at the emotional reasons that they eat, heal any digestive impairment that was developed from their previous diet, and above all learn how to make decisions in the real world, without feeling bogged down by a 'regimented religious experience' of a diet.
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