Modernising The Paleo Diet

The time was more than 10,000 years ago and the paleolithic people were learning new skills to build tools out of sticks and stones. They lived in caves in small groups of people and foraged off the land to gather plant material for food. They hunted fish with handmade stone tools and hunted land animals for meat when they could.

They didn’t have cars, pens, paper or computers.

There were no gyms, CrossFit boxes or group fitness studios. If they couldn’t catch something they went without it. Sometimes they grazed, other times they fasted and then ate in excess. Their diets consisted of leafy vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, seafood and animal meat (1,2) and contrary to popular belief of the 21st-century paleo promoters, based on historic stone tool and teeth plaque studies, the paleothic people also consumed grains and legumes as well (3,4).

However skip forward to today's modern era paleo diet and a simple description of what the paleo diet is about can be represented by the following table from the popular paleo promoter Rob Wolfe from “The Paleo Solution: The original human diet”

So not only do we now know that the 21st-century promotion of paleo is incorrectly represented in the foods that are supposed to be avoided, but we also need to recognise that the lifestyles and evolution of human kind today are far beyond those of the paleothic people as well. The simple fact we are also omnivores, meaning we eat both vegetation and animal product, contradicts the opinion of the 21st-century paleo diet as well.

Meat is heavily promoted above its necessary requirements in the paleo diet, which is ok for a carnivore who solely eats meat and has the ability to internally biosynthesise crucial vitamins like Vitamin C, however we as omnivores can not, and instead rely on plant material to provide us with a lot of the vitamins and minerals we can not obtain from a meat based diet.

The foods promoted in a paleo diet are undeniably great quality foods and I agree we should all try and eat more of them. By simply removing some processed food and swapping it with whole foods will in itself help with health markers tremendously for the large majority of readers.

However, to imply that we should simultaneously avoid other food types without a legitimate reason is quite frankly unacceptable. We live in a society with enough food fear and social exclusion as it is, we most certainly do not need to be demonising more food groups, which places more pressure on individuals to adhere to the ‘rules’ of a particular nutrition protocol and further exacerbates the food fear movement we are currently experiencing.

Furthermore, I think it's also important to recognise that simply following a food type guideline without a food quantity reference is a risky move. While the foods in a paleo are ‘healthy’ it does not mean the calories consumed by them beat physiology. The truth is, while the paleo diet is a physically healthy diet in that it promotes high-quality food, it is potentially psychologically and socially excluding as well as potentially pro weight gain as portion control is not a part of the diet concept.

Now if you have read any of my previous articles on nutrition you will see I am quite broad and holistic in my approach to nutrition. I promote food freedom, the removal of food fear, having psychological and social food freedom and of course eating high nutrient dense foods as your primary intake so that you can leave a little room for the fun stuff as well.

The facts are:

• Consuming grains are fine.
• Consuming legumes are fine.
• Consuming starches are fine.
• Consuming dairy is fine.
• Consuming sugar is fine.
• Consuming alcohol is fine.

In essence, there is nothing wrong with any of the foods listed above when we consider their consumption in the context of an entire diet. Will sugar or alcohol provide us with nutrients for health? Well no, no they won't.

But do they potentially offer us social and psychological benefits?

Absolutely they may.

So in line with my holistic approach to eating I suggest the following:

Consume wholesome, nutrient-dense, minimally processed foods just like the paleo diet suggests for the largest majority of your daily food intake. Then leave a portion or two for the other foods you also love and consume them without guilt. A 250 calorie snack of non-paleo foods will not impair the benefits of the nutrient dense consumption of food you eat each day in a 2000+ calorie diet.

Practice dietary balance, acknowledge the need for being socially included in your enjoyment of food and above all ensure whatever diet protocol you choose to align with is one that is both physically and psychologically healthy.