Paleo = dying young?

CrusherKun

Eat like the cave men huh? Conflicted I Be!

Some say its healthy cause you leave out all the grains that were not a part of that diet, but some believe cavemen didnt live long because of all the high fatty meats they ate caused early deaths because of the cholesterol.

I think it be another fad. Look at Atkins....sure it helped, but was it a healthy life style change? Leaning more towards NO!

fitlass76

People are really thinking cavemen had a shorter life expectancy due to their lack of rice?
And not the fact that there were no doctors, hospitals, basic medicines or any type of medical care, for anything from childbirth to infections to animal bites, falls and injuries?
Hmmmm...

Mr_Knight

Some say its healthy cause you leave out all the grains that were not a part of that diet...

Cavemen ate grains.

What they didn't eat was pastured cows.

bcattoes

Paleo = living tens of thousands to millions of years ago.

You can't eat like they did. You can't live like they did.

HappyStack

Nobody really knows what was eaten and how in the palaeolithic period. We know there was a lack of grains, but there's nothing to suggest the diet was predominantly meat over predominantly vegetables. Diet was dictated by opportunity, it's highly likely there were entire seasons where there was no vegetation and/or no meat.

The truth is that the human body has evolved to be extremely good at negating deficiencies and overconsumption. All of these studies saying you'll die if you eat too much of this or that or not enough of the other are alarmist nonsense.

jonnythan

Paleo is a gimmick and there's nothing inherently healthier about it.

mattowan

The only thing we know with certainty is that they didn't eat processed food. Stick with real, organic, pastured (they didn't have factory farms either) food and you will be fine.

toadg53

yup, what Mattowan said.

jonnythan

Stick with real, organic, pastured (they didn't have factory farms either) food and you will be fine.

Why?

caminoslo

Paleo is a gimmick and there's nothing inherently healthier about it.

The myplate and food pyramids is a gimmick.

Of_Monsters_and_Meat

The real question is, what did our ancient Annunaki overloads feed our ancestors.

Dewymorning

"I want to live hard, die young, and have a great looking corpse"

-I have no idea, and it probably isn't even an accurate quote anyway.

PinkyFett

It's not a fad for some. People do it because of diseases like Hashimoto's.

caminoslo

Eat like the cave men huh? Conflicted I Be!

Some say its healthy cause you leave out all the grains that were not a part of that diet, but some believe cavemen didnt live long because of all the high fatty meats they ate caused early deaths because of the cholesterol.

I think it be another fad. Look at Atkins....sure it helped, but was it a healthy life style change? Leaning more towards NO!

Well if these are gimicks keep doing what your doing cause more people are getting unhealthy
Modern medcine + paleo = win win situation
American food pyramid or my food plate= this is why you are on a diet/exersize and this is why we have an obesity epidemic.

Escloflowne

Wasn't the Paleo diet just rated the worst diet?

jonnythan

It's not a fad for some. People do it because of diseases like Hashimoto's.

Not sure what Paleo has to do with Hashimoto's. A diet appropriate for Hashimoto's and Paleo are not synonymous, even if they're compatible.

agarlits

People are really thinking cavemen had a shorter life expectancy due to their lack of rice?
And not the fact that there were no doctors, hospitals, basic medicines or any type of medical care, for anything from childbirth to infections to animal bites, falls and injuries?
Hmmmm...

Well that's what we assume. I made an appointment to interview one, but he never showed...

neandermagnon

palaeolithic people didn't die from too much cholesterol from eating too much meat.

the reason the average age of death is lower than for modern people are as follows:

1. high infant mortality
2. higher mortality from accidents etc (you try hunting large animals with palaeolithic weapons) and from not having any medicine (maybe there was a little herbal medicine but that's not going to significantly impact the death rate) which means if you get badly hurt or get ill there's no-one to save your life
3..species of humans other than Homo sapiens had a naturally shorter lifespan, i.e. they reached sexual maturity at a youger age, reproduced younger, and were elderly at a younger age. this is determined by genes.., over time humans evolved a longer lifespan, most likely due to having to learn more in childhood as human culture became more complex

The palaeolithic diet (as in the actual foods that palaeolithic people really ate0 didn't increase or decrease their lifespan.

as for the pseudo-paleo diet of interet gurus... it's not based on palaeoanthropology or archaeological evidence

caminoslo

By the way, gummy bears have no fats in but I wouldnt count of them as healthy.

SteveJWatson

Also: Paleothic people ate diets that were restricted by geography.

I find it funny that as a Northern European, on paleo I could eat bananas, tomatoes, peppers...all of which have been in our diet for 2 generations max but not peas, which have been in our diet for god knows how long (and even longer than that when you consider that the wild analogue of peas - vetches grow in the hedgerow and you can bet your *kitten* people ate 'em)

ThickMcRunFast

1) 'cavemen' isn't really an accurate term
2) ancient societies ate grains (up to 10,000 years ago)
4) there was no 'one' diet. They just ate whatever was around.
3) they probably weren't dying of heart disease. more likely it was starvation, infection, or getting trampled by a mammoth.

Everybody's wrong!

firstsip

It's not a fad for some. People do it because of diseases like Hashimoto's.

What does Paleo have to do with Hashimoto's? Is it because of lower carbs? That's just glorified Atkins, Keto, whatever whatever. And lower carbs is often a suggestion, not a tried and true for all people with the disorder. Last I checked, some of the vegetables deemed Paleo were also goitrogens.

amyoliver85

I agree with mattowan. I just have to say though, the the principles of Paleo are okay and the foundation it provides for eating healthier is a good one. I don't eat a lot of meat, and I don't eat red meat nearly at all. You have to do what is right for you and for your body. But I think we can all agree that processed foods are no good for healthy bodies. If the only thing you take from Paleo is that, then you're in okay shape on the road to better eating habits.

As far as grains, they're not inherently bad for you. It's the way in which grain products are produced today that is the problem. Overly processed anything is not very useful to the body and can cause inflammation. When my great grandmother ate bread as a young girl, her father harvested the wheat. Her mother milled the wheat. They got eggs from the chickens on their farm that ate organic food (because there wasn't processed chicken feed), and they milked a cow and made butter without pasteurizing the milk. That is totally different than how bread is made today. I don't eat bread because my body doesn't like wheat at all. It's not gluten intolerance it's a wheat allergy. I also don't drink cow's milk. I'm still trying to get off cow cheese. Though I will still have dairy when I visit people overseas or who have farms and make everything themselves.

But it is important to note that you don't need grains. Fiber can be gotten from other whole foods. The argument is typically that you can't get enough of those foods, but I disagree. If I eat enough broccoli to get my fiber for the day, I'll be nice and full and get the nutrients I need to be healthy.

I'm by no means perfect. There's plenty of times I have processed foods. It's a habit. And a tough one to break.

But just remember, there's nothing inherently wrong about grains, about dairy, or about the Paleo diet. Paleontologists and archaeologists have actually recently been able to find evidence that Paleolithic people had a much more varied diet than previously believed--people at my work have been involved in some of this research--and what we're learning is fascinating.

Processed foods are not good for you. Unprocessed or lightly processed foods are okay. But that also doesn't mean you have to swear off processed foods forever. Just be smart.

neandermagnon

Nobody really knows what was eaten and how in the palaeolithic period. We know there was a lack of grains, but there's nothing to suggest the diet was predominantly meat over predominantly vegetables. Diet was dictated by opportunity, it's highly likely there were entire seasons where there was no vegetation and/or no meat.

archaeologists know quite a lot from fossilised remains of animals with cut marks from stone tools and other archaeological evidence, and also from molecular studies of teeth and bones of fossilised early humans

neanderthals got all their protein from meat (molecular studies on their bones show that) but also ate vegetables, which they appear to have cooked prior to eating (studies of remains of plant particles on their teeth have shown that) and in terms of what animals they ate, these include woolly mammoth, woolly rhino, wild horses and donkeys, reindeer, bison and various other similar sized animals, and also other neanderthals (although it's not clear whether they were killed to be eaten or whether this was part of a funerary rite (this evidence is from cut marks on bones caused by stone tools, and other archaeological evidence)

palaeolithic people did eat grains, i.e. wild grains when they were in season. And legumes. And all the other things that are banned on the paleo diet, except dairy (other than human breastmilk in infancy and early childhood). The quantities of these foods is what differed from post-agricultural populations, as palaeolithic hunter-gatherers only eat plant food in season there's no evidence of them storing food long term.......... (although mesolithic populations stored grains and built silos to store them, prior to anyone actually cultivating the grains)

The truth is that the human body has evolved to be extremely good at negating deficiencies and overconsumption. All of these studies saying you'll die if you eat too much of this or that or not enough of the other are alarmist nonsense.
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Justifier

I'm pretty sure cave men died young because they were eaten by the dinosaurs.

Akimajuktuq

Why do you feel so motivated to post on a topic that you are completely ignorant about? Heart disease deaths rampant in Paleolithic people? Please post your sources.

There are more factors affecting mortality than diet. Seriously, is it logical that our species is still here if they were eating a deadly, non nourishing diet? Completely illogical. Use your brain… (eat some fat so your brain can resume functioning as it was designed to).

butterfli7o

Sigh. Do whatever freaking works for you. I know many people who personally feel better now than they ever have because of switching to a Paleo lifestyle. All you have to do is Google and you will see a score of people who are now ailment-free because of ditching grains, gluten, dairy, etc. You really think all these people are making it up? Sorry, I don't.

_Pseudonymous_

It's not a fad for some. People do it because of diseases like Hashimoto's.

Not sure what Paleo has to do with Hashimoto's. A diet appropriate for Hashimoto's and Paleo are not synonymous, even if they're compatible.

Many People who have Hashimoto's eat an AIP (auto-immune paleo) Diet in order to help with the symptoms of Hashimoto's and to avoid flair ups. Many people with this auto-immune disease have food sensativities or have reactions triggered by certain foods. Many people with Hashimoto's tend to avoid gluten and dairy along with other allergen foods for this reason.

firstsip

Sigh. Do whatever freaking works for you. I know many people who personally feel better now than they ever have because of switching to a Paleo lifestyle. All you have to do is Google and you will see a score of people who are now ailment-free because of ditching grains, gluten, dairy, etc. You really think all these people are making it up? Sorry, I don't.

Aren't anecdotes awesome?!

Akimajuktuq

Paleo is a gimmick and there's nothing inherently healthier about it.

The myplate and food pyramids is a gimmick.

Yup, a very financially motivated gimmick for sure.

PinkyFett

It's not a fad for some. People do it because of diseases like Hashimoto's.

Not sure what Paleo has to do with Hashimoto's. A diet appropriate for Hashimoto's and Paleo are not synonymous, even if they're compatible.

You don't know much about it then. I don't follow paleo and I have hashi's, but I know a lot of people that do and are healthier. Hashimoto's is linked to gluten intolerance and problems with dairy too which is why it's appropriate. Many people also follow the auto-immune paleo diet to find what they are or aren't intolerant to.