The Paleo Diet

The Paleo Diet

Obesity, heart disease, diabetes: These are just a few of the health conditions that proponents of the Paleolithic Diet or Caveman Diet blame on our sedentary lifestyles and modern diets, which are loaded with sugars, fats, and processed foods. The solution? Cut “modern” foods from our diets and return to the way our early hunter-gatherer ancestors ate.

To get an idea of what that means, we turned to Loren Cordain, PhD, a professor in the department of health and exercise science at Colorado State University and author of The Paleo Diet. To be and stay healthy, Cordain says, exercise regularly and follow a strict diet of only foods that can be hunted and gathered.

The Paleo Diet: What Is It?

In its purest form, the Paleo Diet allows only those foods that man ate when he first roamed the planet millions of years ago.

Foods to eat on the Paleo Diet:

Lean cuts of beef, pork, and poultry, preferably grass-fed, organic, or free-range.

Game animals, such as quail, venison, and bison.

Eggs (no more than six a week).

Fish, including shellfish.

Fruit, such as strawberries, cantaloupe, mango, and figs.

Nonstarchy vegetables, such as asparagus, onions, peppers, and pumpkin.

Nuts and seeds, including almonds, cashews, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds.

Olive oil, flaxseed oil, and walnut oil (in moderation).

Foods to avoid on the Paleo Diet:

All dairy products, including milk, cheese, yogurt, and butter.

Cereal grains, such as wheat, rye, rice, and barley.

Legumes (beans, peanuts, peas).

Starchy vegetables, such as potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Sweets all forms of candy as well as honey and sugar.

Sugary soft drinks and fruit juices.

Processed and cured meats, such as bacon, deli meats, and hot dogs.

The Paleo Diet: How Does It Work?

The diet can improve your health by eliminating high-fat and processed foods that have little nutritional value and too many calories. It emphasizes loading up on fruits and vegetables that are bursting with healthy vitamins, minerals, and fiber, which fills you up faster so you eat less. 

You’ll lose weight because any time you restrict whole food groups, your calorie intake is lower, says Lona Sandon, MEd, RD, an assistant professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. Whenever you burn more calories than you consume, this equals out to weight loss, she says. The focus on lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables over sodium-rich processed foods can also contribute to weight loss, though she also points out that the Paleo Diet wasn’t created to be a weight-loss diet.

Note that though nuts and seeds are allowed on this diet, they can be high in calories, and people who want to lose weight will have to limit consumption of them.

The Paleo Diet: Sample Menu :

Breakfast: onion and spinach omelet with liver pâté

Lunch: tuna wrapped in lettuce with almonds

Snack: hard-boiled eggs

Dinner: beef bourguignon

Dessert: ice cream made from coconut milk

The Paleo Diet: Pros

By eating fruits and vegetables, you’ll get many of the essential vitamins and minerals you need.

The diet is simple. You eat the foods that are acceptable and avoid those that are not there’s no prepacked meal plan or diet cycles to stick to.

The diet emphasizes exercise. Exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle and can help you lose or maintain your weight.

The Paleo Diet: Cons

A hunter-gatherer diet can be difficult to maintain, especially long term. Because most foods are eaten plain, it can get boring after a short time.

It can be expensive foods that are organically grown as well as grass-fed beef and other meats typically cost more.

There’s no scientific proof that the Paleo or hunter-gatherer diet wards off disease, Sandon says. Any evidence of its benefits is anecdotal.

The Paleo Diet: Short-Term and Long-Term Effects

You could lose weight following a Paleolithic diet quickly, depending on how strictly you adhere to the foods from the allowed list and how much physical exercise you add to your daily routine.

Long term, you have to be sure you’re getting calcium and other nutrients you’re missing by not having dairy products and certain grains. Some Paleo-approved foods such as salmon and spinach contain calcium, so you have to be sure you’re including them in your diet.

“Nobody knows the long-term effects of this diet because no one has researched it to any degree,” Sandon says. It’s not really a new concept; instead it’s one that’s been recycled through the years, she adds.