Why not Paleo...?

Just like every other fad diet over the past 40 years, Paleo is a relatively new diet trend that has been making major headway in our society.  Paleo's claim to fame is to eat like our ancestors did during the Paleolithic era.

The Paleo diet does support clean eating (whole, unprocessed foods), which is far better than the average American diet of GMOs, and fast and processed foods. Yet there are so many interpretations and misinformation surrounding the true definition of this diet and what eating like a "cave man" really means.

The most common and widely used Paleo diet consists of eating grass produced meat, fish and sea food, eggs, fresh fruit and veggies, nuts and seeds, and oils sparingly, with meat at nearly every meal.  It's basically a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. (Anyone remember Atkins?)

What's scientifically wrong with the Paleo theory:

1. The true Paleo diet (primal, cave man, etc.) is one with an emphasis on eating foods direct from nature and more plants than animals. The current diet trend tends to push a lot of animal -- daily.

The best available estimates suggest that those ancestors obtained about 35% of their dietary energy from fats, 35% from carbohydrates and 30% from protein. Saturated fats contributed approximately 7.5% total energy and harmful trans-fatty acids contributed negligible amounts. Polyunsaturated fat intake was high, approaching 2:1 (v. 10:1 today). Carbohydrate came from uncultivated fruits and vegetables, approximately 50% energy intake as compared with the present level of 16% energy intake for Americans. High fruit and vegetable intake and minimal grain and dairy consumption made ancestral diets base-yielding, unlike today's acid-producing pattern.  ~ Dr. Eaton, Department of Anthropology and Radiology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA

2. Our ancestors hunted their meat, which was wild game, and consisted of lean meat such as antelope. A big difference from today's factory farmed animals that are full of antibiotics, parasites, and hormones.  There also weren't a lot of cows, chickens, turkeys, or pigs roaming around those days.

3. Paleolithic ancestors consumed as much as 100 grams of fiber daily, from a variety of plant foods eaten in large enough quantities to fuel that high energy demand. The average adult is only eating about 15 grams of fiber daily.

4. Meat has a higher caloric base than plants.  This means you would have to eat many more calories in order to feel full, which was necessary for the bodies of our ancestors who expended roughly 4,000 calories each day to hunt wild game.  Quite the opposite of today's society that just needs to drive to the market to pick up meat. 

5. Our ancestors did not eat meat every day, nor even every week.  Months would sometimes go by in between meals containing animal, which left them mainly on a plant based diet.

“We have special immune systems, special brains, even special hands, but our guts are ordinary and for tens of millions of years those ordinary guts have tended to be filled with fruit, leaves, and the occasional delicacy of a raw hummingbird.”      ~ Rob Dunn, Science Writer and Biologist in the Biology Department of North Carolina State University 

Read more here.

What about free range eggs and meat?  Aren't those good?

No. 

The USDA requires that “free-range” animals have access to outdoor areas, but there is no provision for how much time they must be allowed to spend outside or how much room they must be provided with to do so. The Associated Press reported that the USDA’s regulations don’t “require the birds to actually spend time outdoors, only to have access.”(2) Even if a farmer opened the door to a coop with thousands of birds inside and then closed it before any chickens went outside, he would still be able to use the “free-range” label.(3) ~ Peta

Read more here.

But I buy organic meat.  That must be better than factory farmed.

Somewhat.  Some organic meat may be free of hormones and antibiotics, but that label is not a guarantee.

Like the “free-range” label, the “organic” label does not guarantee that animals were treated any better than animals raised on conventional factory farms.  Fewer than 3 percent of cows on dairy factory farms and fewer than 2 percent of chickens are raised in accordance with these standards.(12) One cattle rancher complained, “Organic is a straightjacket [sic] with too many constraints.”(13) ~ Peta

Read more here.  

What's fundamentally wrong with the Paleo diet:

It's basically a high-protein, relatively low-carbohydrate diet, which cannot sustain the human body long term.

Some problems associated with the Paleo diet:

- Constipation (animal products contain no fiber, causing them to sit in the digestive tack, slow transit time, and heighten exposure to toxic chemicals)

- Possible kidney problems (due to the kidney's inability to process waste from high protein intake)

- Precursor to Cancer (cancer cells develop in an acidic environment which is common in animal protein.  For more info on cancer, click here. See what foods you should be eating and avoiding here.)

- Weakens bones over time (to regain the  natural pH balance in the bloodstream, the body must buffer the influx of acid. One possible buffer is calcium phosphate, which the body borrows from bones—the body's main storage depot for this essential mineral.)

Conclusion:

The elimination of processed foods is the primary benefit of the paleo diet, as well as immediate weight loss.  But this diet is not true to our Paleolithic ancestors, nor is it sustainable long term in today's growing society.

As with everything, research, research, research.  Support organic.  Eliminate processed foods and anything that needs advertisements in order to sell product.  Figure out what works best for you and your family.

Good luck!

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