Should You Follow Paleo Diet? (Part 1)

Fads diets are increasing dramatically every day. Caveman diet, Stone Age diet, and Hunter- Gather diet; all are names for the same diet, the Paleo diet, which comes from Paleolithic era (the time when human gathered his food before the development of agriculture). This diet is the most followed fad diet for 2013!  It started in mid 1970s by the gastroenterologist Walter L. Voegtlin. It focuses on meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, but not dairy products, legumes, or grains.

It recommends eating anything exists before agriculture discovered. So some fruit and vegetables are not allowed; like the night shade family (such as tomato, and eggplant). Also it promotes eating grass-fed beef, free- cage chicken, free-range eggs, and organic fruits and vegetables.

It claimed that it can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, arthritis, type II diabetes, and even some cancers. However, many people follow this diet, because a friend or a personal trainer; swears that this is the best diet for weight loss and, and feeling energized around the clock.

A Paleo diet looks like this

There was no broccoli at Paleolithic era!

Let’s weigh the pros, and cons of this diet:

Pros

• Sugar, caffeine, and alcohol intake are not allowed.
• No processed and junk food.
• It gives high satiety (means you feel full for a longer hours).
• It has a decent amount of fiber.

Cons

• It’s a very restrictive diet, it forbidden whole grain and dairy products, and emphasize a high protein food items.
• Cost factor, very expensive.

My precautions

• Basically, it’s a low carb diet. Therefore, many followers of Paleo, lose weight quickly, due to the fact that American diet is high in carbohydrates esp. the refined ones.
• The modern Paleo diet is full of food that our ancestors weren’t recognized.Such as Paleo pizza, Paleo cookies, and Paleo pies. Most of them made of coconut, and nut-based flours. Do you think our ancestors couldn’t survive without cookies? Also eggs and nuts weren’t really too available back in time.
• The differences between modern meat, and ancient one. The latter is grass fed has no antibiotics, no growth hormones, and no cruelty applied upon them. Yes, Paleo recommends looking for these varieties, but they are expensive, and hard to afford on the long run.
• It eliminates whole food groups like dairy products, and whole grains that offer a lot of benefits like soluble fiber, minerals and vitamins, and there a lot of studies show that they reduce or cut risks for many diseases, (link is in the bottom the article).       
• The claimed health advantages of modern Paleo diet come with a high price for the environment. Paleo is not a sustainable diet, means, to eat a huge amount of protein daily (eggs& bacon for breakfast, chicken for lunch, and steak for dinner), will require lots of environmental resources such as land, water, and livestock, also it needs lots of non-renewable energy to keep animal protein available around the clock,  year- round.
• Unfortunately, there are no enough evidences to prove claims for this diet, and how it can protect the body form the degenerative disease. Yes by cutting sugar you will do a huge favor for your body, but the high amount of protein will be a large load for kidney to handle daily, also high protein intake may deplete calcium in your body, also meat comes with saturated fat that increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Personally, I didn’t give it a try. Because I believe it’s not worth it, and it’s not economical. I don’t believe in restricting, and omitting an entire food group. Some people have allergies or intolerance for kind of group, but you can’t generalize this for mass.

I advise everyone who is willing to try a fad diet, first to cut the intake of processed food, sugar, caffeine, and alcohol, consume fresh fruits and vegetables, and be physically active. And then see if there any positive changes in your health, and if you still feel unhealthy consult a registered dietitian before you take any major changes.

Do you follow Paleo diet? Why? If not, what is your eating lifestyle?

For further reading

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/106988.php

http://robbwolf.com/2012/05/17/paleo-diet-sustainability-economic-growth/

http://wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/health-studies-on-whole-grains

http://fatlossevolution.com/debunking-the-paleo-diet/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2724493/