Is The Paleo Diet The Best?

Want to have the strength and leanness of a caveman?  Maybe you should have some Paleo in your diet.  Proponents of “Paleolithic nutrition“ say modern humans are genetically adapted to the diet of their Paleolithic ancestors.  Are they right? (Watch us cook a Paleo meal.)

THERE’S NO arguing that thirty-some years ago, Americans – and the rest of the industrialized world – were slimmer.  Look at any pictures of groups of people taken before the 1980s, and you’ll see few obese people.  Go back a few decades earlier, and it would be rare to see anyone overweight at all.

Certainly ain’t so now. Now we have industrial manufactured fast food.  It’s comprised of poor quality salt, sugar and fat — and these three ingredients conspire to make us eat more of the food they liberally inhabit, and grow quite plump in the process.

[Watch How To Get Fat Without Really Trying.]

Over the decades, food has changed in its variety, composition and availability.  Which begs the question:

“What is the most ideal and natural food for a human being?”

And here’s another:

“Is the Paleo Diet the best?”

Well, a long time ago, the only fast food was fleet of foot.  It took hard work and luck to eat “back in the day”.  Cavemen ate very differently than us; in fact, they probably never tasted any grains at all, a major ingredient in industrial strength, fully-manufactured fast food.

The diet of our long-ago ancestors consisted mainly of fish, grass-fed meats, vegetables, fruit, roots, and nuts… and excluded grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils.

And, by the way, they were thin.  (Probably cranky, too.)

Now, certainly our friendly cave dwellers had more than their food selection to thank for being thin. They had to work hard (calories expended) for the food they were fortunate enough to eat (calories in).

I imagine it took more effort to bag a Mammoth than to idle in the drive-in lane at MacDonald’s to obtain lunch.

The Mammoth’s, like the cavemen, are gone.  But what they ate has been studied, and has become the preferred diet of some modern (wo)man city dwellers for more than forty years now.

First popularized in the mid-1970s, Paleolithic nutrition is based on the premise that modern humans are genetically adapted to the diet of their Paleolithic ancestors, and therefore the Paleo diet is the best diet. Given that human genetics have scarcely changed since the dawn of agriculture, the supposition is that the ideal diet for human health and well being is one that resembles this ancestral diet.

Proponents of this diet argue that modern human populations subsisting on traditional diets allegedly similar to those of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers are largely free of diseases of affluence,and that two small prospective studies of the Paleolithic diet in humans have shown some positive health outcomes.

Now there’s one particular friend of mine that his friends call “Hammer”, “Hambone”, “Hammerman” or simply “SH”.  I’ve mentioned him before on this blog in a post entitled 7 Ways Meditation Builds Your Brain, and noted that Hammer is an adventurer.  He tries a lot of things.  As a metaphysical mentor of mine would say, Hammer endeavors to “make known the unknown”.  It’s just the Aquarius in him.

So, when Hambone announced that he was on the Paleo Diet, I wasn’t surprised, or particularly intrigued, as I knew a bit about it and already understood its appeal.  But I was hungry, so I told him to get his sorry ass over here and let’s cook up a Paleo Meal.

Here’s Hambone and me going caveman:

 

 

If you’ve had any experience going “Paleo”, let us know. Don’t be shy… scroll down to the Comments section.

Last Updated on December 5, 2014 by Joe Garma

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Joe Garma
 

I help people live with more vitality and strength. I'm a big believer in sustainability, and am a bit nutty about optimizing my diet, supplements, hormones and exercise. To get exclusive Updates, tips and be on your way to a stronger, more youthful body, join my weekly Newsletter. You can also find me on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.

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Paleolithic diet - May 14, 2012

Many experts believe that this kind of diet keeps an individual healthy and free of diseases.

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