Q&A with Dr. Cordain

1. In your opinion what were the most significant changes the modern man suffered in comparison to our hunter-gatheres ancestors: in our diet or in the way we exercise? Or where the combination of the two of them that made modern man more sick?

Dr. Cordain: Modern people (men, women and children) are considerably less active than our ancestral hunter gatherer ancestors, and it goes without saying that our diet varies dramatically from their’s.  Both of these recent environmental changes wreak havoc in our stone age bodies and underlie diseases of civilization.  For hunter gatherers, energy input (i.e. food energy) was directly linked to energy output.  They had to expend energy to obtain energy (food).  With the advent of agriculture, we have broken that ancient link between energy input and output,  Virtually no energy is expended as we march down the supermarket aisles, filling our shopping carts..

2. Is the key of paleodiet the fact that there is no refined carb in the diet?

Dr. Cordain: I published a scientific paper (Cordain L, Eaton SB, Sebastian A, Mann N, Lindeberg S, Watkins BA, O’Keefe JH, Brand-Miller J. Origins and evolution of the western diet: Health implications for the 21st century. Am J Clin Nutr 2005;81:341-54. ) available as a free PDF download at my website (http://thepaleodiet.com/published-research ) which lists 7 fundamental nutritional characteristics demonstrating how the typical western diet varies from our ancestral eating patterns.  One of these 7 characteristics is indeed refined carbs, but they certainly are not the only problem with the current western diet.

3. Although the hunter-gatheres men ate meat I imagine part of their diet came from fruits and plants. How big this part was? Do you think the ideal is that the modern men has the same diet pattern as them?

Dr. Cordain: First off, let’s not be sexist.  Hunter gatherers include men, women and children, and they all ate meat and lots of it.  At my website ( ), we have published a scientific paper outlining how much meat was typically consumed by hunter gatherers.  About 55-66 % of the daily energy came from animal foods, and about 35-45 % from plant foods.  We believe that modern people (men, women and children) should try to emulated these percentages.

4. In there any evidence that points that the adoption of a diet that mimics the hunter-gathered´s reduce the risk of chronic diseases?

Dr. Cordain: Yes, to date 5 scientific studies have demonstrated the superiority of contemporary Paleo diets compared to diets for diabetics, and the Meditteranean Diet.  You can read all about these studies in my new book, The Paleo Answer, available at my website: (http://thepaleodiet.com/ ).  Further, I have compared the micronutrient (vitamins & minerals) density of contemporary Paleo diets to the USDA Food Pyramid (now called My Plate) and it is superior in virtually every nutrient.  You can download this paper (Cordain L. The nutritional characteristics of a contemporary diet based upon Paleolithic food groups. J Am Neutraceut Assoc 2002; 5:15-24. ) at my website (http://thepaleodiet.com/published-research )

5. Based on the hunter-gatheres daily physical activities is that possible to infer an ideal exercise pattern for the modern man?

Dr. Cordain: My scientific research group and I have estimated the daily energy expenditure in hunter gatherers in this scientific paper (Cordain, L., Gotshall, R.W. and Eaton, S.B. (1998). Physical activity, energy expenditure and fitness: an evolutionary perspective. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 19(5): 328-335. ) available at my website (http://thepaleodiet.com/published-research ).  Clearly they were much more active than we were because much of their activity was necessarily linked to food acquisition.  Most modern people lead sedentary lives requiring little or no activity.  If this is the case, you should try to exercise for at least an hour for a minimum of 3 hours per week, but clearly, the more you can do the better.

6. And how about women? Did they exercise in a different way, didn´t they?

Dr. Cordain: Hunter gatherer women, although they typically were not involved in hunting large game, they maintained highly active daily routines that we have contrasted to male activity patterns in the scientific paper listed above.

One Response to “Q&A with Dr. Cordain”

1. Paleolithic Diet says:

   February 7, 2012 at 12:31 am

   I have been following this lifestyle for a year now and I agree with everything you have mentioned. I have lost weight and I feel great! This is great information, thank you very much.

   Reply