Paleo Diet: A Healthy Way Back to Nature
Anyone could tell you that we were not designed to eat the modern Western diet. We didn’t evolve to eat cheese burgers and sugar sodas. It isn’t natural. A growing community has responded to this unhealthy eating trend by modeling the foods they eat after the human diet before the arrival of civilization and farming. This is called the Paleolithic diet or Paleo diet.
You may think of this as extreme. But the modern diet is wreaking havoc on our bodies in ways that was unheard of before the advent of civilization. Americans are dying of heart disease and diabetes (even cancer) in numbers our far ancestors could not imagine. Accordingly, these diseases are called ‘diseases of civilization’ and are draining our resources and taking our lives. The main villain is what we eat.
In response to the rise of processed, unhealthy foods and the health consequences that come with them, many people have chosen the Paleo diet, turning the clock back to eating the same types of foods we consumed as hunter-gatherers. Many swear by this diet as often the benefits are astounding, both in concern to energy, health and weight.
Debunking Myths about Paleo Diet
It does not mean disappearing into the woods and hunting with a bow and arrow. Instead, the Paleo concentrates on the food you eat (you can still cook food unlike the Raw Food diet). It tries to replicate the original human diet.
Although there is some disagreement what the Paleolithic diet consisted of, most include a plenitude of fruits, vegetables, roots, nuts, fish and lean meats. Equally important, carbohydrates are minimized as grain is excluded from the diet. Salt is reduced to a small fraction of what the average American eats, returning the body to a healthy potassium to sodium ratio. Even legumes (beans, soy, etc.) are sometimes left out.
Reason For Paleo Diet Over Other Healthy Diets
For proponents, the reason that the Paleolithic diet is healthy is simple. We are nearly the same genetically as we were 10,000 years ago when the first farming and animal domestication started. Our bodies were in much better shape, and we rarely died from the food we ate. The different diet we now eat is likely the main culprit of many of our biggest health problems. These ‘diseases of civilization’ existed even when a farmer did as much labor, if not more labor, than a hunter-gather.
Their culture is antithetical to our own. Paleolithic men and women lived off the land and were often forced into being nomadic. They foraged for wild fruits, vegetables, tubers, nuts and hunted game. They also scavenged. The food was cooked on a fire when necessary and if it was processed at all, it was done very crudely. This kind of simple operation is the exact opposite of the production of foods found in our supermarkets.
Successful in Scientific Health Studies
There is no one agreed upon Paleolithic diet nor is there one Paleolithic diet for all hunter-gatherers. Arctic communities relied on animal sources almost exclusively, because of the scarcity of plants. However, most of the evidence points to nearly all hunter-gathers eating more plant-based foods in more hospitable climates. Generally speaking, the experts believe that the Paleo community has somewhat overemphasized meat/fish consumption. That is important when considering the scientific support for the Paleo diet. Yet, most scientific studies that have shown the value of the Paleo diet have these properties (this compared to the average American diet).
Paleolithic Diet Tested by Scientific Community
- High vegetable intake
- High fruit intake
- Higher nut intake
- Higher meat consumption (lean or grass-fed meat)
- Higher fish consumption
- Moderate egg intake
- Moderate legumes and potato consumption
- Little oil
- Almost no grains
- Very little dairy
Although the results are preliminary for the effectiveness of the Paleo diet, in one study, the Paleo diet outdid the Mediterranean diet in restoring the blood levels of people with heart disease to safe levels. It has also shown promise as a treatment for people with Type 2 diabetes.
Perspective on Paleo Diet
We have made such advances in medicine to limit the lethality of infections and injuries that did in the average human being before the modern age. However, in spite of this, we do ourselves in with the foods we eat, even though most Americans can choose healthy foods. The Paleo diet is about taking back control with a formula that wasn’t cooked up in a lab (no microwave dinners), but proven by the resilience of our species.
Although we cannot recommend any diet to our customers (that’s your doctor’s responsibility), Meze Grill caters to the dietary needs of the Paleo diet along with many other diets. We give you the choice and flexibility that makes it easy to keep your Paleo diet on the go.
Here are two studies that showed the promise of the Paleo Diet:
Beneficial effects of a Paleolithic diet on cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetes: a randomized cross-over pilot study