Diets, Foods, Numbers Pt. II.V: Paleo

The Caveman Diet

Imagine yourself living before the phenomenon (hmm) of modern-day society. You spend a great deal of time napping in the sun, but far more time running away from bobcats and angry hippos. You get hungry from all of this napping and running and additionally spend a great deal of time (wow, these pre-civilization-ers had a lot of time on their hands) rooting around in the shrubs for berries, possibly some bananas…perhaps you fashioned yourself a sharp stick and were able to kill a chicken. Dinner is served.

You now know everything there is to know about the Paleo Diet, kind of. The basic principle of the paleo diet is eliminating everything that is not produced directly from the earth. As cavemen did not have agricultural abilities, processed grains are not permitted. Anything that you would not be able to make if you lived off the land is not permitted.

I have never really explored the science behind this or taken this diet literally, i.e. pretend you’re a Neanderthal living in South Africa….Ok, so now let’s explore what type of vegetation was abundant in South Africa 300,000 years ago. Not doing that.

The Paleo Diet is meant to be high in fats – similar to Keto Diets – and moderate in animal protein. There is also an emphasis on limiting carbohydrates with the exception of fruit, however fruit consumption is to be limited also. It is not advised to count calories, as a matter of fact DO NOT count calories. Just like Low-Carb diets, counting calories is not advisable. Dairy, processed food, and grains are omitted from Paleo.

I have had success with the Paleo Diet in the past. Now, when I say success I don’t mean I lost any weight, I just managed to keep it going for more than a few days. Why? I don’t really eat dairy, so pretty much the only thing I eliminated was grains and the occasional snickers bar. However, many people who experiment with paleo are not doing so for weight-related goals. Paleo is thought to help with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc. Essentially the Caveman diet is thought to be more in tune with what the body’s digestive system was built to eat. Because cavemen were extremely healthy, even though they died between the ages of like 18-32.

Issues with the Caveman Diet

It may cause you to overindulge:

In my experience, any diet with a selling point of ‘Eat as much as you want,’ is cause for potential disaster. Using myself as the research subject, an individual used to being constantly limited in the quantity of food permitted to them on a daily basis when faced with this type of slogan gets very excited and tends to overeat.One rotisserie chicken and three bananas later, you are probably not much closer to your weight/health goals and are also probably not feeling too hot.

 

A moderate amount of protein:

It is recommended that you should eat a moderate amount of animal protein on this diet. So what do you eat, because I for one cannot really get full from eating broccoli. Not for very long however. I’m sure some versions of the Paleo Diet do give you some specs to follow, i.e. how many grams of protein/fat blah blah. These specs are in fact just another way of counting calories. Tricky, huh? You’re not so free to eat as much as you want after all.

 

Wine:

 

Many Paleo studies include a glass of wine in the ramifications.

Don’t you have a wine tree growing in your yard?? We do. It’s like maple syrup, you just poke a hole in it and the wine flows out. Sometimes I just ditch the bucket and just hold my glass right up to the hole. Wine Tree. Super paleo.

 

Ok, that’s all for now! Next up, the 80/20 rule!

But first tell me, what is your experience with diets? Do you like Low Carb? Paleo? 

 

❤ Cammy