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Even though the paleo diet has a number of followers and seen a surge in popularity, there are many misconceptions about this diet. These misconceptions arise through false information, a bad image of paleo dieting, and even marketing attempts by other fad diets to discredit the paleo way. Genuinely, everyone I know in the paleo community decided to adopt this way of eating in hopes of improving their health, and they did. In the media the paleo diet gets a bad rap because the lifestyle is bad for business. Think about it, if people stopped eating 2 things, grains and vegetable oil, 95% of a traditional supermarket suddenly loses its customer base.
The paleo diet is also known as the caveman diet and people poke fun that the average lifespan in the prehistoric era was 35. They had a high infant mortality rate, they died from broken bones, injuries, and infection, all of which can easily be remedied in today’s world. They did live into their 70’s and 80’s but they weren’t chained to prescriptions like many people in that age bracket today.
If you lived in the woods what would you eat? You’d eat what you could forage and hunt. It’s simple really: Eat real food that promotes health and wellness. We’re not genetically designed to eat chemicals and processed nonsense, our body recognizes real food. It needs the nutrients that real food provides.
1. All Paleo People Eat Is Meat
The diet is about eating the foods that make you healthy and avoiding the ones that don’t. Grains, sugar, vegetable oil, legumes, and processed foods, don’t fit the paleo model. This is due to the fact that these foods don’t promote optimal wellness. There are millions of people who have problems with grain based foods. Daniel Lieberman is an evolutionary biologist who wrote: The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease
. In his book he explains how our brains got smaller, we grew shorter, and our bones became weaker after we introduced farming into our diet. If you look into The Paleo Approach: Reverse Autoimmune Disease and Heal Your Body
, The Wahls Protocol: A Radical New Way to Treat All Chronic Autoimmune Conditions Using Paleo Principles
, or any other paleo book you’ll see that vegetables make up 75% of the paleo diet.
The paleo diet is about eating nutrient rich food that does not contain harmful substances and agrees with our body. It is not a re-enactment of how the actual cavemen ate. Most paleo dieters do not go out hunting for boars or deer and roast the meat on a flame but I’m one of those people who do.
2. Paleo Dieting Is For Fat Loss
Fat loss is one of the benefits of a paleo diet but it is not the goal. For most of us the goal is simply to feel better by eating real food and eliminating the things that aren’t good for us. I decided to go paleo because it is an anti-inflammatory diet and I wanted to see if my tight connective tissue would loosen up. Unlike the Atkins diet or other low carb diets, the paleo diet is not overly concerned about weight loss. Initially when systemic inflammation in a person’s body begins to subside they will likely see a larger weight decrease not long after adopting the diet, then it will level out.
What if you don’t want to lose weight? I didn’t have weight loss goals when I went paleo; I was a size 6 at the time. Now I weigh more, probably from lifting weights on occasion, but I wear a size 4… Tighter not lighter is the motto because muscle mass determines how active you will be in your later years. When you’re more active at an older age you’re more likely to live a longer life.
3. The Paleo Diet Is Not Practical
I’ve been eating paleo since 2014. It’s fine. It’s practical and it’s easy. The place where I see people get stuck is that initially it breaks their routine. Right now you are probably a lot like I was. You have your favorite dishes, easy recipes, and your go-to’s that don’t require much thought or effort; they’re in your back pocket. Now take away grains, legumes, dairy, added sweeteners, vegetable oil, and processed food. At this point most people get a bit of a panicky feeling wondering what in the world they’re going to eat. Initially it will seem difficult because you have to put thought into finding something new; your pocket is nearly empty.
It’s just like anything else. Once you find your groove it’s not any more difficult that any other way of eating. Some people start with cook-ups. They’ll cook time intensive ingredients that will hold up in the refrigerator for a few days. Making extras and freezing leftovers is another trick. When you have a well stocked refrigerator and freezer paleo doesn’t take any more time than anything else. A simple 1 pan dish:
Pan + Fat + Meat + Veg + Seasoning/Sauce = Quick Meal
4. The Paleo Diet Is Expensive
My last blog post discusses whether paleo is expensive. Your best food sources are local. For the best nutrient density and transparency on how your food was grown and raised shop at farmers markets and other local suppliers. May think that organic is the absolute best they can buy but it isn’t. Local produce has a higher nutrient content, it’s picked in season, and many farmers use organic practices without paying for the certification which will save you money.
Since you will be doing your own cooking, you’ll be spending less on food. When you are no longer paying a corporation to prepare and package “partially cook” your food you’ll save money. I took a friend paleo grocery shopping and she was shocked that she spent $60 less than she normally did.
5. The Paleo Diet Is Not For Women
There are many arguments for this stating that women need more carbohydrates… There is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate. There are essential fatty acids and essential amino acids we have to consume because our body can’t manufacture them. Glucose however, our body can make it if we need it through a process called gluconeogenesis.
Paleo isn’t a strict template that applies to everyone rather it’s about finding what works for you as an individual. Some people eat dairy, some eat rice or quinoa, it all depends on your goals. I don’t eat chicken or potatoes because they don’t work for me but that may not be the case for you. What I know for sure is that people who move to America see their health decline and when we export our food (restaurants) to other countries we see their health decline. Simply learn to eat real food, single ingredients that you put together yourself. If you don’t know how to cook start watching cooking shows. Most chefs cook with real food ingredients so they’re a great resource to learn from.
These are just a few misconceptions. There are many more but pay them no heed. The best way to know about anything is to try it out for yourself. Try out the paleo diet for 3 weeks or a month. If you start looking and feeling better, stay on. If not, you may go back to your previous way of eating. Chances are high that once you go paleo, you’ll never go back.
Originally posted on October 5, 2018 @ 20:33
