About the paleo-diete.
The American gastroenterologist Water Wonglin said that the health problems of modern man began with the Neolithic Age, i.e. with the period of sedentary life and agriculture. In 1975 he published a book.
It described how, from his point of view, modern man should eat. And he should eat as he did during the Paleolithic period! When the caveman ate meat from hunting, as well as nuts and fruits. That is, the main sources of food were hunting and gathering.
According to Water and his followers, the human genome has not changed in these hundreds of thousands of years. The diet he preaches promises to save modern man from gastrointestinal problems, as well as from diseases such as diabetes and obesity.
Let’s first look at what paleoditis is based on. According to the adherents of this diet, a modern person, to feel good, should eat like in the Stone Age.
In contrast to vegetarians, paleodite followers claim that it is the protein diet that accelerates metabolism. And the presence of fast carbohydrates in food increases blood sugar levels.
And here, of course, you can agree. When eating protein food, which has a low glycemic index, we can really achieve normalization of glucose in the blood.
We wrote about it in the article about low-carbohydrate diet (how to lose weight without torturing oneself) –
Paleodite devotees claim that it provides an opportunity to quickly lose weight – also a good statement, because many people dream about it.
But we know that any diet has a lot of limitations.
What does the paleodite permit and forbid?
- It is possible to
- Lenten meat and poultry: the animal or poultry must be raised and fed with herbs and hay, not grain and mixed feed;
- Game: roe deer, hare, wild duck, partridge or quail;
- Wild fish and seafood: salmon, salmon, salmon, shrimp, crayfish, mussels, seaweed. Fresh-caught, frost-resistant;
- Eggs;
- Mushrooms;
- Nuts and seeds: walnuts, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts. Unsold and untreated;
- Berries, fruits, greens, herbs (especially in the form of spices);
- Vegetables that do not contain starch;
- Vegetable oil: olive, linseed, coconut, avocado and walnut oil.
You can’t do that.
- Milk and dairy products;
- Cereals and cereal products;
- Legumes;
- Vegetables containing starch;
- Sugar;

Diet supporters claim that the use of protein products, along with vegetables and fruits, helps to strengthen the immune system, relieves obesity and helps to maintain youthfulness and longevity.
The benefits of paleoditis
- It’s quick to lose the extra pounds. Refusing to eat carbohydrate-rich food and replacing it with protein products in combination with fiber leads to weight loss in 1-2 weeks.
- The feeling of saturation lasts a long time. Hunger disappears. Protein is processed for a long time, so the blood glucose level is stable. Appetite is reduced.
- There is no severe caloric restriction. The diet is made independently. The main rule is to strictly adhere to the use of only permitted foods.
The main principle here is based on the use of products with low glycemic index. But this is not new. This is the basic principle of a low-carbohydrate diet for patients with diabetes mellitus and obesity. This diet stimulates fat burning through a process called ketosis.
If you have a task to get your body back to normal quickly, this diet can come in handy.
Many cross-fitters claim that intensive training together with a paleo-diet helped them to lose weight quickly.
But many athletes also claim that it’s hard for them to recover from their hard workout using only protein. We need carbohydrates that will quickly fill the body with the missing energy. Therefore, it is necessary to eat more sweet fruits, nuts and fatty fish.
However, well-known crossfields such as Greg Glassman, Jackie Perez and Cheryl Brost claim that it is the diet based on the principle of paleoditis together with training that gives them the opportunity to keep in shape and achieve good results.
Scientists about the paleo-diete
Despite the obvious advantages, the opinion of most dieticians is more critical than positive about paleoditis.
In 2015, the British Diet Association recognized it as the worst diet in the world. The disadvantage of paleodieta is that it restricts a person’s ability to obtain many nutrients. To eat like a caveman, you have to change your lifestyle, not just your diet. This is socially difficult to do.
There is too little evidence that paleodieta improves health or guarantees protection against various diseases.
Oz Garcia, an American nutritionist and promoter of paleoditis, claims that over the past 15,000 years, our body has not undergone any changes. He claims that our body is alien to those products that people began to grow as farmers and pastoralists.