Paleo diet: pros, cons and how to keep the good stuff

The paleo diet, also known as the Paleolithic, cave or Stone Age diet, tries to create a food system with which to re-synchronize with our genetics and evolutionary reality.

It is based on the consumption of foods available in nature before the Neolithic Revolutionagriculture and the beginning of a sedentary lifestyle, when our ancestors hunted and gathered.

The current paleo diet can be vegan

Who claim paleo diet today Vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts, roots, algae, honey, meat and fish, eggs and animal offal are included. All refined products, dairy products, cereals and pseudo-cereals, legumes, sugar, molasses and syrups, salt, alcohol and coffee are excluded.

Presents as a diet for regain health, lose weight and combat degenerative diseases of current civilization, such as cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases, obesity or diabetes.

Why go back to prehistory?

The paleo diet has become popular thanks to the books and writings by Loren Cordain, American scientist expert in nutrition and exercise physiology. His defenders postulate that in the Paleolithic our ancestors obtained 55% of their daily calories from animal protein, 15% from fruits, vegetables and seeds, and the rest from fats, especially saturated.

The paleo diet shares with philosophies such as raw veganism the idea that our digestive system and our genetics have not had time to adapt to the changes happened since the generalization of agriculture and, more recently, sedentary lifestyle.

Although hominids have existed for about 6 million years, modern humans arose 200,000 years ago and agriculture around 10,000.

The Industrial Revolution, also food, is barely two centuries old. And in recent years, changes, both in food and in lifestyle, have accelerated dizzyingly. Too fast for our biology to have been able to adapt.

Excess animal protein

The paleo diet, as it is currently proposed, has its weak points, especially with regard to the consumption of animal protein, since it recommends including it in all snacks, between 3 and 5 a day.

The evolutionary logic of the proposal itself does not justify this consumption. Our ancestors could not eat animal protein on a daily basis because they did not have the logistics or the technology to hunt animals with such ease. Nor did they have the refrigeration systems we have today to preserve it.

Other studies suggest that our ancestors, after spending the day collecting and hunting, met at the end of the day to share the food they found among all of them. That is to say, they practiced prolonged fasting daily during which they made physical effort and only ate once at the end of the day.

A completely different model

Basically, the paleo diet proposes a completely different food guide, almost inverted, from the food pyramid we know (with an abundant presence of carbohydrates) and proposes a return to the origins to recover health and vitality.

It is not a temporary diet, but a complete paradigm shift. But the thing is not so simple: whenever a movement arises, its variations appear.

Thus, in the paleo diet, there are currents that defend that food should be eaten raw. Is he raw paleo, meeting point with non-vegan raw food.

Do you know the “pegan” diet?

There is also a current “pegan”, which comes from paleo + vegan, that proposes a much more vegetable paleo diet. For ethical or sustainability reasons, they refuse to consume large amounts of animal protein, although they do include it in small doses, so its name is debatable.

They have also been designed paleo omnivorous proposals such as the ketogenic diet or the autoimmune protocol (AIP), to combat widespread health problems. They are strict and, after following them, it is essential to adopt a new way of eating for life.

you can keep the good

The paleo diet can provide an interesting point of view to veganism, as it emphasizes the importance of knowing our evolutionary and food history, as well as choosing the best foods for health.

Many people who have opted for a vegan lifestyle out of ideology neglect such an essential aspect as taking care of oneself. They consume products without animal suffering, but nothing natural or healthy, with colourings, flavorings, preservatives and other additives that are not recommended.

feeding raw vegan, alive or raw vegan defends points that we also find in the paleo diet and that it is important to vindicate:

Incorporate a good amount of healthy fats. Avoid refined and processed. Choose organic food, not much altered by the methods of agriculture and, if possible, local. Do not eat cereals or legumes (only their buds or germinated in small doses). He physical exercise, especially fasting, it is also key.

Beyond the model, we must not forget that We are not only what we eat, but also what we think, what we feel, how we act, the place where we live and with whom we share it.

The meat intake proposed by the paleo diet, if we all carried it out, is unsustainable worldwide, and no matter how much it is insisted that it come from animals raised outdoors and on grass, the ethical position against animal exploitation is Irrelevant.

That is why we must not forget that, in the paleo movement, there is also the “pegan”, a more conscious and compassionate version.

How can you make your diet more paleo?

The base of a paleo-inspired diet should be plant-based and 70% raw. These are your allies:

Vegetables: give priority to those that do not need cooking. Little sweet fruits: They provide energy without ups and downs. Fermented: They are easy to digest and promote intestinal health. Seeds and nuts: They provide protein and fat. Activate them (let them soak for a few hours before preparing them). Germinated: They are full of life and nutrients. Coconut oil: a great source of healthy fats. Choose it virgin. Super Extras: Add brightly colored, antioxidant-rich foods.

Also include foods in moderation that give you a extra energy at the same time as sweetness, but without abusing them:

tubers: They are ideal as a source of carbohydrates if you eliminate cereals and legumes, especially if you play sports. Accompany them with healthy fats –oil, seeds, avocado…– to avoid glucose spikes. Sweet or very sweet fruits: Also accompany them with healthy oils and fats.

Finally eliminate from your diet the foods that inflame the intestines, such as gluten and dairy.