Is the Paleo Diet for You?

The Paleo diet created by Loren Cordain is designed on the premise that we should only be eating foods that our Paleolithic ancestors could hunt and gather from nature. It isn’t entirely clear that we humans really know what the cavemen ate; after all we weren’t there at the time. But there is general and reasonable consensus that they ate animal meat and plants they could find in the area where they lived.

There has been much hybridization and genetic modification in animals and plants over recent years. It is unlikely we could actually match the diet of the cavemen. For example, the fruit we eat today did not exist in its current form 10,000 years ago. Modifications have made the fruit much sweeter (and much more attractive) than nature apparently intended.

In its strictest form, the Paleo diet includes meat/fish/eggs, non-starchy vegetables, fruit, and healthy fats like avocado, olive, and coconut. Most fruit has minimal fat but note that these fats are extracted from fruit.

Absent in this strict version are dairy, all grain, legumes (beans) and commercial oils made from grain (such as corn, canola, soybean, etc). Our Paleolithic forbearers didn’t have cows to milk, cookbooks to read, someone to somehow extract/process grain into oil. They got all the fat they needed in the meat. Also excluded are all processed foods, sugar, and artificial sweeteners.

The foods excluded in a strict Paleo diet tend to be those that many folks have difficulty digesting and cause autoimmune or allergic reactions.  In the typical autoimmune “elimination” diet, these are definitely the foods on the first elimination list.You can read about autoimmunity on my website, www.allaboutthefood.org.

The Paleo diet can be and frequently is modified although Loren Cordain will not approve. For example, if dairy is not a digestive issue for you, then some will add in dairy. Legumes contain anti-nutrients that impact digestion and reduce the availability of minerals. However, there are ways to prepare beans to minimize those issues. My book has a chapter, “What the Heck is Phytic Acid”, that describes the way to prepare legumes.

A good case can be made for a Paleo diet, particularly if you have digestive issues or autoimmune disease(s). Absent are the high carbohydrate (and by extension, calorie) processed foods that generate hunger and are a primary cause of overeating.

While information you read on the Paleo diet doesn’t mention “ketones,” the mark of a Ketogenic diet, the elimination of processed foods is absolutely going to result in the burning of body fat. That “burning” creates the ketones you will read about in the discussion of a Ketogenic diet.

Following the Paleo diet with reasonable care eliminates a need to count calories. Foods can be made to look and taste good. Whole foods included are nutrient dense. Paleo is touted as a healthy diet but it will inevitably be a weight loss diet if you are carrying extra weight. Weight can be be lost and kept off because adherence to the diet is easy. One can comfortably eat a Paleo diet long term.

Next week we will examine the Keto diet.