What is the Paleo Diet

 The concept behind the Paleo Diet is to only consume food that a “caveman” would have sustained himself with.  No, not the Freddy Flintstone type of caveman (he had a wife and modern stone-age kitchen and a car), more like Tarzan or George of the Jungle type of ruggedness.  Think spears, a fascination with fire and very low inclination to possess a green thumb. (Although, I believe Tarzan is a vegetarian considering that he talks to animals.)

It may all sound archaic but the Paleo Diet or the Paleolithic Diet is backed up by scientific research and is actually a modern nutritional plan.  It was a concept introduced by gastroenterologist Walter L. Voegtlin, in his book “The Stone Age Diet: Based on in-depth studies of human ecology and the diet of man.”  It has been widely endorsed and adapted by since then. 

Advocates of the nutritional plan argue that the human body is genetically hot-wired to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. And that anything that is farmed or processed is unnatural and therefore should be avoided. The diet is high in saturated fat and provides very little vitamins and minerals.  Nonetheless, despite the concern regarding nutritional deficiencies, those who adapt the lifestyle show no signs of having cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Check these photos out and be inspired.

The Paleo Plate

While Paleolithic diet cannot be mimicked in its truest form,   the modern diet plan consists of the following based on the availability of the food sources.

-          The ideal meal plan for the diet should consist of grass fed meat and free range chicken and eggs as well as fish caught in the wild and other seafood.

-          Two thirds of the plate consists of vegetables and fruits that has low glycemic index.

-          All kinds of grains are to be avoided.

-          Yes to Meat including fat, Fish and Seafood, Vegetables, Nuts, Seeds

-          No to Legumes, Cereal Grains, Starchy Vegetables, Dairy Products

Advocates of the Paleo Diet say that for the diet to work, it is best to ease into it – to eliminate restricted food one at a time.  They say it is not just a form of diet, it is a lifestyle.

The Drawbacks

The problem with the diet is that it is too restrictive and to adhere to the rules would mean extreme deviation from any existing cuisine, including vegetarian cooking.  So in order to sustain the lifestyle, a cookbook and a nutritional book is required. Not to mention the fact that you need to make sure that the meat you are purchasing is free range or grass fed. 

Take for example Calcium, the human body requires higher amounts of this nutrient as we get older.  Milk is on top of the calcium rich food, so the question is, do you take a calcium supplement or do you look for other sources of calcium within the allowed food list?  The next question is how much of that food do you need to get enough calcium your body requires? (This article seem to answer the question)

Is the Paleo Diet for you?

The bottom-line is not whether it works, the real question is if it will work for you?  Do you have the patience and emotional acuity to keep it going?  The diet does not give you many options in terms of variety in food and flavor which is why a cookbook is better than trying to experiment on your own, unless you are a nutritionist who happens to be a cook. And by the way, it is the priciest diet out there.