The Paleolithic diet, also known as the stone age or caveman
diet, is often cited as a good alternative to the modern diet. In his blog post on
the
stone age diet, David McEvoy summarises the main difference in the
lifestyles of our ancestors: "They lived a natural life without supermarkets,
ready-made meals or processed foods, and they had never heard of diets." But what exactly is the stone age diet, and
what are its specific health benefits?
What are the health benefits of the stone age diet?
This post
outlines the overall health benefits of the stone age diet, explaining that
tribes whose diets have not changed for thousands of years "possess greater
endurance and force", and are much less likely to suffer from adiposity,
diabetes, hypertension or oncological diseases. Likewise, as soon as elements from the modern diet are introduced
into such communities, these conditions also appear shortly after.
In particular, a recent study has shown that the stone
age diet is good for people with diabetes.
A clinical study in Sweden compared 14 patients following the
Paleolithic diet with 15 who were following the Mediterranean diet. After 12 weeks, the blood sugar rise in response
to carbohydrate intake was much lower in the stone age group: -26%, compated to
-7% in the Mediterranean goup. There is
a detailed discussion of these findings here.
So it would seem that the stone age diet is a good choice
for people with diabetes. But a quick
search of the WDDTY archives reveals other significant health benefits of this
diet.
On our Forum, a
practitioner contributing to a recent thread about fibromyalgia
states: "My approach now is to put everyone on the Paleolithic, or stone age
diet, take pharmaceutical grade fish oils, a non dairy probiotic, drink
vegetable juice and start some deep breathing exercises."
Other findings suggest that the stone age diet may
help metabolic syndrome, and even -
as indicated by an article by Harald Gaier from the WDDTY database - can help
those with HIV
and AIDS.
So the health benefits of the
Paleolithic diet are extensive. But
what does it actually consist of?
What does the stone age diet consist
of?
A good overview of the Paleolithic diet can be found in a
post by Dr Ben Balzer entitled ‘Introduction
to the Paleolithic Diet'. I fully
recommend reading the entire article.
However, in summary, Dr Balzer's advice for following the caveman diet
is as follows:
Eat none of the following:
- Grains- including bread, pasta,
noodles
- Beans- including string beans,
kidney beans, lentils, peanuts, snow-peas and peas
- Potatoes
- Dairy products
- Sugar
- Salt
Eat the following:
- Meat, chicken and fish
- Eggs
- Fruit
- Vegetables (especially root
vegetables, but definitely not including potatoes or sweet potatoes)
- Nuts, eg. walnuts, brazil nuts,
macadamia, almond. Do not eat peanuts (a bean) or cashews (a family of their
own)
- Berries- strawberries,
blueberries, raspberries etc.
Try to increase your intake of:
- Root vegetables- carrots,
turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, Swedes
- Organ meats- liver and kidneys
(I accept that many people find these unpalatable and won't eat them)
Recipe suggestions for the stone age diet
Changing your diet may seem like a daunting task,
particularly if you cannot think of ways of introducing particular foods into
your meals. But, inspired by Annemarie
Colbin's helpful post on ‘Protein
Breakfasts for the Health Conscious', which gives a catalogue of specific meal
suggestions for those who want a high protein diet, I have scoured the web for
menu suggestions for those seeking to adopt the Paleolithic diet.
One post on the Body & Health blog, part
of a series of posts on the stone
age diet, gives the following provisional menu:
Variants of breakfasts:
- Porridge from natural oat flakes with a grated apple and cinnamon.
• Low-fat natural yoghurt without sugar and preservatives, nuts and fresh
berries.
- Two boiled eggs, green salad with an olive oil, an apple.
Variants of dinners:
• The hen baked on a grill, the big salad from green vegetables, an olive
oil.
- Low-fat cottage cheese, berries and fruit.
- Stewed with greens mushrooms and some nuts.
Variants of suppers:
- Baked turkey with stewed vegetables.
- Herring in the oil, grated carrots, onions and soya sprouts.
- Fruits.
Even more comprehensive is a post called ‘The Caveman Diet -
10 healthy foods from a Stone Age diet', which lists 10 components of the
stone age diet that are readily available today, and explains why they are good
for you. The post also points out:
None of these food items exist today exactly as they
did in the Stone Age, but they form a healthy approximation, with good fats,
phytonutrients, fiber, vitamins and minerals. A diet that contains only these
ingredients is far from boring and is readily available. But be sure to wash
those carrots!
The full post is well worth a read, and can be found here.
So it seems that the stone age diet could be a good, healthy
diet for anyone wanting to improve their general health and reduce the risk of
developing health problems. Of course,
if you want to live more healthily, you would also do well to read my post on ‘How
to live longer and age healthily', which collects various tips from
bloggers about how to increase your longevity and improve your health
throughout your life. As always, if you
have any comments on the advice I've collated here, please share your thoughts
below.