The Paleolithic Diet

[LitNetIsGreat]

http://www.earth360.com/diet_paleodiet_balzer.html

Thoughts on the 'Paleolithic diet' as above? Do you think it is a good idea to follow it? It seems to make sense to cut out sugary junk food etc, as always, but can potatoes/pasta/rice be 'bad' for you? I thought carbs like that were a good thing especially prior to exercise? Also how is one supposed to live without pizza?

Extract:

For millions of years, humans and their relatives have eaten meat, fish, fowl and the leaves, roots and fruits of many plants. One big obstacle to getting more calories from the environment is the fact that many plants are inedible. Grains, beans and potatoes are full of energy but all are inedible in the raw state as they contain many toxins. There is no doubt about that- please don’t try to eat them raw, they can make you very sick.

Around 10,000 years ago, an enormous breakthrough was made- a breakthrough that was to change the course of history, and our diet, forever. This breakthrough was the discovery that cooking these foods made them edible- the heat destroyed enough toxins to render them edible. Grains include wheat, corn, barley, rice, sorghum, millet and oats. Grain based foods also include products such as flour, bread, noodles and pasta. These foods entered the menu of New Stone Age (Neolithic) man, and Paleolithic diet buffs often refer to them as Neolithic foods...

The essentials of the Paleolithic Diet are:

Eat none of the following:

· Grains- including bread, pasta, noodles

· Beans- including string beans, kidney beans, lentils, peanuts, snow-peas and peas

· Potatoes

· Dairy products

· Sugar

· Salt

Eat the following:

· Meat, chicken and fish

· Eggs

· Fruit

· Vegetables (especially root vegetables, but definitely not including potatoes or sweet potatoes)

· Nuts, eg. walnuts, brazil nuts, macadamia, almond. Do not eat peanuts (a bean) or cashews (a family of their own)

· Berries- strawberries, blueberries, raspberries etc.

Try to increase your intake of:

· Root vegetables- carrots, turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, Swedes

· Organ meats- liver and kidneys (I accept that many people find these unpalatable and won’t eat them)...

I'm glad to see that beer is not on that list.

Edit: From Wiki:

On the Paleolithic diet, practitioners are permitted to drink mainly water, and some advocates recommend tea as a healthy drink,[60] but alcoholic and fermented beverages are restricted from the diet.

[Jack of Hearts]

This reader prefers the speculation that the paleo diet works only as an indirect effect of reducing carbohydrates or swapping high glycemic index carbohydrates for low ones.

This is all based on the presumption that adipose tissue is facilitated by the effects of insulin; and that adipose tissue persists despite any other requirement of the organism in question (hence the direct inefficacy of exercise toward reducing said tissue).

But nutrition science is freaky. There are many who say the insulin hypothesis has been debunked. Unaware of the argument, but it's out there. This reader has enough compelling science and first hand testimony to warrant considerable confidence in the effects of eliminating carbohydrates from his diet (although the back of his mind whispers of the indirect effects of ceasing intake of high fructose corn syrup other weird crap. Eventually this becomes an epistemic dilemma of how can we know what's affecting what.)








J


EDIT: As for living without pizza... that's just not living at all.

[qimissung]

Interestingly, I just read a discussion on another site about diets like this one and the Candida diet. Someone said that the human digestive system is very adaptable. We can manage to survive on just about anything, which I think most of us know to be true.

I also read an article recently about calories and how scientist believed that all calories are equal, but one study of diets did seem to indicate that most people gain weight when carbs are added to a diet.

Having said that, the paleolithic diet is not bad; I think we just need to use common sense about eating-everything in moderation. Grains and beans are good for us,they provide energy,along with protein and veggies. We need all of them in a day.

It's the processed foods that are killing us. Cut that out, cut down on sugar, and we're good in my humble opinion.

[LitNetIsGreat]

I agree the first step to any healthy diet is to surely cut out processed junk. I'm still not sure about cutting out or reducing carbs though.

[Lokasenna]

My main concern is that the average life expectancy in the paleolithic period was 33 years. Though one presumes practitioners of the diet won't limit themselves to paleolithic medicine?

Just because it was good enough for your great-grandfather (400 times removed), doesn't mean it's going to be good for you.

[LitNetIsGreat]

My main concern is that the average life expectancy in the paleolithic period was 33 years. Though one presumes practitioners of the diet won't limit themselves to paleolithic medicine?

Just because it was good enough for your great-grandfather (400 times removed), doesn't mean it's going to be good for you.

Yes, one of the counter arguments against the claim that 'diseases of civilization' is that Paleolithic people didn't live long enough to get them, but looking at isolated tribes such 'Western diseases' appear redundant.

One of the most frequent criticisms of the Paleolithic diet is that it is unlikely that preagricultural hunter-gatherers suffered from the diseases of modern civilization simply because they did not live long enough to develop these illnesses, which are typically associated with old age.[12][17][181][182][183] According to S. Jay Olshansky and Bruce Carnes, "there is neither convincing evidence nor scientific logic to support the claim that adherence to a Paleolithic diet provides a longevity benefit."[183] In response to this argument, advocates of the paleodiet state that while Paleolithic hunter-gatherers did have a short average life expectancy, modern human populations with lifestyles resembling that of our preagricultural ancestors have little or no diseases of affluence, despite sufficient numbers of elderly.[12][184] In hunter-gatherer societies where demographic data is available, the elderly are present, but they tend to have high mortality rates and rarely survive past the age of 80, with causes of death (when known) ranging from injuries to measles and tuberculosis

I don't know about the great-grandfather x400 thing. I'm sure that the human body is not adapted to cope with endless levels of corn starch, sugary junk stuff as well though.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

I wonder if there are appreciable differences or effects between today's engineered means of food production versus the unaltered, "unspoiled" foods obtained during paleolithic period.
For example the antelope of 20,000 years ago versus the engineered diet of domesticated livestock of today.

I make an effort to include a variety of raw nuts such as almonds, walnuts, pecans and seeds in my diet.

Beer is healthy and therefore I include it in my diet.

[Shea]

I first heard about this diet when I had to go gluten free last summer. I'll probably try it sometime after my 4 year old stops being ultra picky about what he eats. It's actually a great way to eliminate possible allergens that you may not be aware of. Then you can slowly reintroduce them to see how you feel. It's incredible how much better I feel when gluten isn't running through my system, especially now that it causes so much physical pain as well. It's completely worth it to avoid pizza, though I'll get a gluten-free pizza every 2-3 months. When I first went gluten-free, after the first 3 months, I stopped craving even the gluten-free alternatives. It seems daunting to avoid your favorite foods, but I guess when you do it for medical reasons, it's really not so bad after a while.

Oh, and for the beer drinkers, it's not gluten-free, but there are gluten-free beers. I've never been a beer drinker, so I can't tell you what the difference is in taste.

[Gladys]

I was a disciple of Nathan Pritikin in the 1980's and his Spartan diet specifying low fat, low salt, and low sugars, and only complex carbohydrates. No one but no one gained weight on this. Three decades on, Pritikin seems to have got it right, except the low fat should instead have been: low saturated fat.

That The Paleolithic Diet forbids beans seems odd. Also lower GI potatoes are now available here. A diet that does not restrict red meat is rather curious. But all in all, I would score this diet 4 out of 5.

[cacian]

I misread the title for neolethic diet. I wonder they would make of this diet.
and then this made me think:
What do you call someone who does not care for diets and calories table checks, eats with the season everything from fish meat vegetables and all else is healthy and never diet?
Lost in diet?

[LitNetIsGreat]

Another point against the lack of carbs in a diet is the Mediterranean diet. It's not as if breads, pasta, pizza (and wine) ever hurt the Italians much.

[TurquoiseSunset]

I don't think the Paleolithic diet is too bad, for the reasons mentioned by other posters. Even though I read the original article about how potatoes, beans and grains have toxins and so on, I still don't see the harm in moderate amounts of those particular carb foods.

I actually follow the Mediterranean diet, in a casual way. It just seems balanced, healthy and, most importantly, fuss free.

[qimissung]

That's actually the direction I'm going in, too, TurquoiseSunset. Plus, the food's tasty. And it involves wine.

[TurquoiseSunset]

Exactly! How can you argue with a diet where the food's delicious and healthy and includes pasta, wine, cheese and olive oil?

[LitNetIsGreat]

Definitely, and I'm off to a brilliant Italian tonight!