Paleolithic diet’s pros and cons
When on the paleolithic diet, you try to eat as people did in prehistoric times. Although during prehistoric times, the proportion of meat, vegetable and grain consumption varied from region to region, today’s paleolithic diet usually consists of a high protein, high plant and low grain diet. Since we don’t readily have access to wild game and wild plants, today’s paleolithic diet consists of mainly grass-fed meats, fish, fruits (mostly berries), vegetables and nuts. The diet limits the consumption of grains, legumes, dairy, salt and refined sugar.
The paleo diet may have some health benefits such as lowered blood pressure and weight loss; however, this is probably due to the lower calorie and lower fat intake and high fiber intake more than the specific composition of the diet, i.e. high protein, low grain content.
Many American diets are high in fat, sugar and salt and low in plant foods. In some ways, the prehistoric diet is healthier than many American diets. In fact, the paleo diet is very low in salt, sugar and saturated fat – major contributors to many chronic diseases.
However, this diet does have some drawbacks. One major concern is that the paleolithic diet would be hard to follow in today’s times. Add a little bit of sauce or dairy to your foods and you have already “gone off the diet.” This diet is also higher in proteins and lower in whole grains and other nutrients than what is recommended for the body.
The bottom line, adopting some forms of the paleo diet such as eating more fruits, vegetables and lean meats is beneficial. However, you should include whole grains, dairy and legumes in your diet as well.
Depending on the region, people in prehistoric times did eat wild grains, which had more nutrients than many of today’s nutritionally lacking breads such as white bread. Although you may be able to adopt some habits from the paleolithic diet, eating the prehistoric diet exclusively would be difficult in these times with all of the modern conveniences, recipes and flavors we have at our fingertips.
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