The Paleolithic diet or 'caveman' diet.
Has anyone heard of it / tried it? If so what are your views?
I am interested in trying this. It is basically a diet that stems back to our caveman days. Meat, eggs, fish, nuts, berries and root veg are in but potatoes / sweet potatoes or cassava, grains or dairy products are out. The article states that we eat too many lectins and toxins which are in these products and which are a possible cause of disease.
http://www.earth360.com/diet_paleodiet_balzer.html
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by bsc on -
Well, a very low carb diet is actually pretty paleo. I guess you need to start with Cordain, and then check out Mark's Daily Apple, Free the Animal, Robb Wolf and then Dr. Kurt Harris. Much of the basis of the diet is to return to the diet of our ancestors who were primarily hunter/gatherers in the belief that the changes that came with cultivation of grains/roots/cattle resulted in the SAD and all the current woes of western civilization. I actually follow some of the thinking, trying to eat less grains/roots, more whole foods, more grass fed/pastuered natural meat, eating more healthy fats, etc. There is a whole paleo culture with "orthodox" and sub cults. Another interesting site is Hunt Gather Love.
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Permalink Reply by BadMoonT2 on -
If you eat low carb you are close already. I meet all the requirements except dairy, I still eat butter and cheese. I used to raise grass fed beef and miss eating it. If you follow this way of eating you wind up with a very diabetic friendly diet, can't hurt.
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Permalink Reply by Jan on
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Yes, I have heard of it. No, my niece would not be interested in eating this way. Does not appeal to me either. Does not seem to be healthier than other ways of eating to my way of thinking; not sure I agree with the premise.
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Permalink Reply by bsc on
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I'd be interested in what you eat. Kurt Harris suggests the following rules:
1. Eliminate sugar (including fruit juices and sports drinks) and all foods that contain flour.
2. Start eating proper fats - Use healthy animal fats or coconut fat to substitute fat calories for carbohydrate calories that formerly came from sugar and flour. Drink whole cream or coconut milk.
3. Eliminate gluten grains. Limit grains like corn and rice, which are nutritionally poor.
4. Eliminate grain and seed derived oils (cooking oils) Cook with Ghee, butter, animal fats, or coconut oil.
5. Favor ruminants like beef, lamb and bison for your meat. Eat eggs and some fish.
6. Make sure you are Vitamin D replete. Get daily midday sun or consider supplementation.
7. 2 meals a day is best. Don't graze like a herbivore.
8. Adjust your 6s and 3s. Pastured (grass fed) dairy and grass fed beef or bison has a more optimal 6:3 ratio, more vitamins and CLA. A teaspoon or two of Carlson's fish oil (1-2 g DHA/EPA) daily is good compensatory supplementation if you eat grain-fed beef or no fish.
9. Proper exercise - emphasizing resistance and interval training over long aerobic sessions.
10. Most modern fruit is just a candy bar from a tree. Go easy on bags of sugar like apples. Stick with berries and avoid watermelon which is pure fructose. Eat in moderation.
11. Eliminate legumes
12. Eliminate all remaining dairy including cheese- (now you are "Orthodox paleolithic")
I pretty much follow all the rules except 12, I eat a lot of cheese and eggs. I also eat three times a day and have legumes occaisonally.
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Permalink Reply by Bob on -
I've been eating this way for 6 months, I make baked goods with Almond flour and eliminated all artificial sweeteners, which is just ground almonds - no grain. I'm Type I on a pump, I average around 2 units of bolus insulin a day, less than 12 units total (bolus & basal) for 150# bodyweight. My last 2 A1c's were 6.2 each and, using my CGM, my glucose is normally within 80-100 range 70% or more of my day.
Huge success and I don't feel that I am sacrificing anything - exactly the opposite.
bsc's links to Cordain, Mark's Daily Apple and Robb Wolf are must reads. We've also found interesting recipes in SCD cookbooks and gluten free cookbooks - not everything there works, but some things are great.
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Permalink Reply by bsc on
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I've not heard much about the SCD diet. I believe that is the Specific Carbohydrate Diet used to help manage Crohn's and Celiacs. I believe it is strict grain-free, lactose-free, and sucrose-free. Do you have more info on the SCD diet and do you have any particular books you like?
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Permalink Reply by Bob on
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Yes - your correct about SCD - the recipes in the SCD cookbooks are a good base, but we modify to make them Paleo - don't use corn starch, but extra almond meal for thickening; don't use agave nectar but honey or maple syrup and cut those amounts way down.
We like: Healing Foods - Elephant Publishing; Everyday Grain Free Gourmet - Bager; Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook - Amsterdam and, of course, Sisson's cookbook is excellent. Whole9life.com has some excellent recipes on their blog.
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Permalink Reply by Natalie ._c- on -
I'm more or less following this, but the one thing I refuse to give up is milk. It's my last remaining comfort food. I'm trying to eat more low-carb vegetables and nuts, and I'm eating more meat than I used to. The interesting thing is that I'm NOT hungry, and I have been losing weight. Which is a good thing! :-)
I'll get my labwork done in late Feb. and I'm waiting to see what effect it has on my cholesterol and triglycerides. That's an important issue to me.
So it might be worth a try to you!
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Permalink Reply by Frances on -
I don't know about the toxin health claims, but I do know that my diet is pretty paleo and that I'm doing great on it--tons of energy, at a good weight for my height, better BG numbers than what I started with. I do still have greek yogurt and some milk in my coffee.
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Permalink Reply by Helen on -
I've read the exact opposite actually - that the Paleolithic diet is probably more healthful for us than our modern Mediterranean diet.
Here is the link to the Pubmed article for the study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21118562
Basically, it says that the paleolithic diet is more satiating to us calorie for calorie than the Mediterranean one. It's actually somewhat similar to some the diets of some Asian cultures - lots of fresh vegetables, and meat, but not many dairy products or grains (except rice). I think the modern version is modified, and not quite the original paleolithic diet. I've never tried it strictly myself, but many things have merit in moderation.
Here's another article about a study involving Type 2 diabetes and the paleolithic diet: http://www.diet-blog.com/07/paleolithic_diet_better_than_mediterran...
Hope that's somewhat helpful. Good luck! :)
Helen
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Permalink Reply by Natalie ._c- on
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I just read an article about a book about eating habits in China that extolled vegetarian and vegan eating as far more healthy than eating meat. And there were lots of comments afterward about how people were doing so well on this plan.
It gets to the point where it's hard to tell just what's what, and if I were the average American, I would just throw all the diet advice into the wastebasket!!
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Permalink Reply by bsc on
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Was this by chance a discussion of the "China Study." You know what they say about statistics. Denise Minger over at RawFoodSOSgained fame for her reexamination of the same data. It ended up refuting many of the China Stud claims and even the author was unable to find fault with Ms. Mingers assessment.
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