Caveman Did Not Have a Long Life Span - Why Eat Like One?

So this is something I've been curious about. I think I need to just read the book. Some people swear by the paleo diet. However, the lifespan back then was about one-third of the lifespan today. So why is it a good idea to emulate that diet?

Plus, another thing I wonder is - people lived all over the world with very varied diets - depending on where they lived and the climate and what was abundant there. Why is a certain supposedly "paleo" diet chosen?

The whole idea just does not pass the common sense test to me. Ok, have at me all you paleo lovers!

The paleo diet isn't meant to make you like a caveman; it's based around the idea that our food sources have changed rapidly and drastically in the last ten thousand years while our digestive systems have not evolved to adapt to those changes. Anatomically modern humans have been around for about two hundred thousand years. Agriculture first appeared only ten thousand years ago. And industrialization of food has been only a couple hundred years. Our diets today do not resemble the ones we evolved to eat.

Paleo came from this idea that we'd be healthier if we ate what we evolved to eat, rather than what has very recently become available. Unfortunately, it's become somewhat of a misnomer in this regard and is simply a meat-heavy, grain-free diet. Realistically, the first humans would have subsisted mostly on flowers, fruits, leaves, and roots but eaten meat in large quantities whenever available. They also went days without eating anything at all until something became available.

At its simplest, paleo is really a no-brainer. It makes perfect sense to give the body what it has adapted to need. As to the vehement paleo-diet advocates, there's often more anecdotal than scientific evidence (as with most diets).

Think of all the things we have now that are increasing our life span: modern medicine, plumbing, dental care, law enforcement, etc. THESE are the reasons we live longer than the cavemen. It's certainly not our superior modern diet.

Hmmm. I guess I see it as stupid. I don't know what else to say. If you want to be a cave man because they are so superior, than go be one and shut up. Go kill animals with a spear or rock and eat them raw or whatever cave people did. But don't stand there in your $200 loafers and $250 designers jeans and talk to me about the superiority of what cave people ate. There was nothing superior about what they ate. It was all they had available. It wasn't a choice they made.

---

> Yes. The highly educated do tend to be 'yuppies', but that doesn't suggest that they're wrong.

Life span then was due more to environmental hazards, predators, lack of medicince, infant mortality etc - But, health problems such as obesity, diabetes, etc were not as prevelant.

The premise of the plan is that physiologically we are not much different in our nutritional needs than then and most of our issues area result of our overprocessed non-natural GMO food supply.

In terms of diet, the focus is eating whole natural foods such as meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, and fruit. How is that not healthy?

The paleo diet isn't meant to make you like a caveman; it's based around the idea that our food sources have changed rapidly and drastically in the last ten thousand years while our digestive systems have not evolved to adapt to those changes. Anatomically modern humans have been around for about two hundred thousand years. Agriculture first appeared only ten thousand years ago. And industrialization of food has been only a couple hundred years. Our diets today do not resemble the ones we evolved to eat.

Paleo came from this idea that we'd be healthier if we ate what we evolved to eat, rather than what has very recently become available. Unfortunately, it's become somewhat of a misnomer in this regard and is simply a meat-heavy, grain-free diet. Realistically, the first humans would have subsisted mostly on flowers, fruits, leaves, and roots but eaten meat in large quantities whenever available. They also went days without eating anything at all until something became available.

At its simplest, paleo is really a no-brainer. It makes perfect sense to give the body what it has adapted to need. As to the vehement paleo-diet advocates, there's often more anecdotal than scientific evidence (as with most diets).

Human beings did NOT stop evolving ten thousand years ago. Evolution continues, the same as it ever did.

It's a fad<snip>

Yup, a 2 million year old fad.

To me it seems to be a license to gorge on meat <snip>

Then you don't understand Paleo, this isn't just the original Atkins with piles of steak, too much protein does not work.

Most people who eat this way have WAY more veggies in their diet than they used to.

Sometimes I think the whole 'caveman' analogy hinders more than it helps ...

Not to mention that Diabetes, Crohn's Disease, Ulcers, most cancers and a slew of other illnesses and ailments were very rare and didn't become common in human history until our diets became laden with sugar and garbage carbs/processed foods. I'd rather die with a sabertoothed tiger eating my face than Ronald McDonald eating my liver

No, that is about 'detection probability' - there were no doctors around (in 'caveman' times) to diagnose any of those ailments - that's not to say they didn't exist. There would have been 'sickly' humans and strong ones - but there would have been no way to determine what caused some to be sickly and weak. Cancer, Diabetes (Type 1), and many other diseases did not magically appear with the advent of white bread and canned beans.

Also, the image of that freaky McD clown eating your liver is deeply disturbing...... Thanks!! :laugh:

So this is something I've been curious about. I think I need to just read the book. Some people swear by the paleo diet. However, the lifespan back then was about one-third of the lifespan today. So why is it a good idea to emulate that diet?

Plus, another thing I wonder is - people lived all over the world with very varied diets - depending on where they lived and the climate and what was abundant there. Why is a certain supposedly "paleo" diet chosen?

The whole idea just does not pass the common sense test to me. Ok, have at me all you paleo lovers!