Paleolithic Diet Facts
The Paleolithic diet comes from the Paleolithic era, so is often called the caveman diet. It derives from the basic hunter-gatherer diet that we used to live on for millions of years before a growing population, intensive agriculture and modern farming changed our diet.
Many bulk grown foods that we eat today including wheat, grains, legumes, dairy, maize and soya are not natural foods that we are designed to eat, they exist because we of the necessity to feed a growing population with a cheap source of food.
As our population grew, it became necessary to develop of farming processes in order to be able to feed the ever increasing numbers of people. Corn and grains we a cheap solution to meeting our immediate needs but little thought was put into the long term implications of how this would alter our core diets.
A Natural Caveman Menu
We existed for many thousands of years, gathering foods we found or hunting for meat and fish. Our bodies are designed to extract maximum goodness from a typical hunter-gatherers menu, fish or meat one day, fruit or berries the next, then some nuts or roots or vegetables and so on.
Your body produces a different enzyme depending on whether it is trying to digest proteins or carbohydrates. Meals containing mixed food groups have only been eaten for the last 10,000 years or so, which is no time at all on an evolutionary scale and that is why so many people struggle to adequately digest their meals properly.
For each food that you eat, your stomach will produce a suitable enzyme to digest it, but if you eat combined proteins and carb’s at the same time the two enzymes fight each other and your food isn’t digested very well.
Foods to Avoid
The Paleo diet is centered on avoiding modern processed foods and foods we aren’t naturally accustomed to digesting, including; wheat, potatoes, grains, legumes, refines salts, dairy, refined sugars and refined oils.
We are not designed to be able to digest these foods that are not natural food stuffs to us. The refined foods are particularly difficult to digest which is why they are often stored in the body as fat. Any food that has been processed should not be eaten, only natural organic foods should be on your plate.
What Did Cavemen Eat?
To be healthy, energetic and full of vitality, your diet should include; meat (organic naturally), fish, fruit, fungi, eggs, roots, nuts and vegetables. These are our natural diet, and one that we are designed to eat and digest efficiently.
Cavemen would generally eat these foods as they found them rather than make up complex mixed meals mixing proteins and carbohydrates which is the modern norm. It is still possible to create fantastic meals with different food on one plate, but by grouping the foods together correctly, your stomach will be able to easily digest them making you healthier, giving you more energy and adding vitality to your life.