The Paleo Diet: What Is it?

Chances are good that you’ve heard of the Paleo diet.

Chances are not so good that you can explain it in detail.

So what is it?

Background:

The idea behind the Paleolithic diet, also known as the Stone Age or caveman diet or simply as Paleo, is one of an ancestral eating pattern and has been used as the basis for a number of early versions of the diet since the late 1890s. It wasn’t until the release of The Stone Age Diet in 1975 by Walter Voegtlin, a gastroenterologist, did those ideas become popular. In 2002, that popularity was taken to new heights with the birth of the modern Paleo diet in Loren Cordain’s book The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Foods You Were Designed to Eat.

Overview:

Proponents of ancestral, or primitive, diets in the fashion of Paleo argue that optimal health can be obtained by adopting the dietary pattern of early man. The Paleo diet in particular contends that obesity and most of the chronic diseases associated with the Western diet are the result of agrarian society, which includes the foodstuffs produced by it and ensuing sedentarism as people didn’t have to expend so much energy for their sustenance. Thus, to prevent many of the body composition, metabolism, and health issues linked to the modern lifestyle, one should mimic the habits of hunter-gatherers in the Paleolithic era by eating pre-agricultural foods and engaging in regular exercise.

What To Eat:

Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, eggs, and fruit and nut oils, such as coconut oil, walnut oil, and olive oil, are all permissible on the Paleo diet. So too is any kind of animal flesh from the air, land, or sea you can think of, such as grass-fed, organic, pasture-raised, or free-range beef, pork, chicken, quail, venison, and bison, as well as salmon, tuna, mackerel, shrimp, and calamari. In fact, you can eat as much of the stuff as you like!

What Not To Eat:

The Paleo diet strictly forbids all grain products. And by “strictly”, that not only means all bread, cereal, pasta, and other stuff consisting of wheat, rice, rye, barley, and other grains but also grain-fed meat. What else is prohibited are starchy vegetables, like corn, squash, beets, and potatoes; beans, peas, peanuts, hummus, and other legumes; dairy products, such as milk, cheese, butter, and yogurt; sugar that isn’t naturally occurring in fruits, ruling out honey, candy, soft drinks, fruit juice, and various sources of added sugar; and highly processed foods, including bacon, hot dogs, deli meats, margarine and refined oils, salad dressing, jarred sauces, and cake mixes. The “do not eat” list continues with the inclusion of artificial sweeteners, salt, alcohol, and coffee.

Results:

A number of studies have compared the Paleo diet to other dietary interventions. Overall, the research suggests that the Paleo diet may have a positive effect on many health markers, including weight, blood pressure, glucose tolerance, and triglycerides and cholesterol levels. However, the studies with these findings have been few, as well as composed of small sample sizes, been of different designs, and conducted for brief durations.¹ That means the results are in the short term and not conclusive enough to make strong claims about the diet’s benefits, especially those in the long term.

Now, while research from larger and longer lasting trials with consistent methodology is needed to conclude the Paleo diet’s efficacy in weight management and preventing chronic disease, it can already be said with absolute certainty that the reason why Paleo might exert any of its effects isn’t for the one proposed by those within the Paleo community. According to the evolutionary discordance hypothesis, the human body, particularly its digestive system, hasn’t evolved in the past 10,000 years to meet the change in diet that emerged with farming. The “diseases of civilization”, of which obesity, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease are among, are alleged to be the result of this mismatch between the modern diet and human biology. That, in a nutshell, is the theoretical framework for Paleo, as first put forth by Stanley Boyd Eaton and Melvin Konner in 1985. In the time since then, evolutionary biologists have disproved the discordance hypothesis with the advent of genetic research, as the sequencing of the human genome and DNA analysis of early human remains have revealed that the genetic makeup of modern man doesn’t match that of our ancestors. That essentially means that humans have indeed evolved in response to the change in diet, which can be seen by lactase persistence, or the ability of adults to digest the lactose in milk, and the presence of a large number of genes related to the breakdown of dietary starches.

Safety:

Long-term clinical studies are needed to assess the potential risks of the Paleo diet but based on what’s already known from research on various matters of nutrition, some speculation can be made about possible concerns. One is that with the exclusion of dairy, following the Paleo diet may lead to a calcium intake much below what the recommended daily intake for that nutrient is. If uncorrected, this could affect bone health and lead to osteoporosis. What’s more, with the Paleo diet encouraging the consumption of a large amount of red meat, someone on it may consume more saturated fat than is recommended. Though not specific to Paleo, medical studies have shown that a diet high in saturated fat increases the risk of cancer and heart disease. Lastly, whole grains have been found to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain forms of cancer. Seeing as to how this entire food group is excluded on Paleo, the diet may increase the incidence of those chronic diseases. Those are just some of the possible risks that may be associated with the Paleo diet but won’t be known for certain until more work is conducted to pin down the long-term implications of it.

Other:

The Paleo diet has spawned two particular offshoots that are less restrictive and more inclusive of other dietary lifestyles, respectively. These Paleo-centric versions are the Primal diet and Pegan diet.² What sets the Primal diet apart from the main Paleo diet is that legumes, starchy vegetables, raw or organic full-fat dairy, honey and other natural sweeteners, and unsweetened coffee and tea are allowed in moderation rather than being completely off limits. As for the Pegan diet, its name is a sign of its combination of Paleo with veganism, with the instructions being that 75 percent of intake should come from plant-based foods and the remaining 25 percent from meat, poultry, eggs, and fish.³⁴ These differences aside, the same critiques about Paleo are to be found concerning these diets, and that is there aren’t enough long-term, large-scale studies on them for a consensus on their benefits or risks.

Glossary: diet, dietary fat, exercise, fitness, metabolism, moderation, nutrition

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Monster Longe

Monster Longe is a personal trainer in San Diego. He has been lifting weights for +25 years and training clients in the gym and online for about half of that time. When not working with clients or making content that's easy to read, understand, and apply to everyday life, he enjoys long walks and leaving buildings crushed and entire city blocks decimated in his wake.