While a huge body of science lies behind the creation of The Paleo Diet concept, as with many other scientific concepts, it boils down to something very simple. So, it’s very unfortunate that fad versions of the diet, strange theories (like the idea that our ancestors lived on salt licks), and popular personalities have made the Paleo Diet seem confusing. This has led to many arguments about what is and isn’t Paleo—arguments that really shouldn’t exist.
There are actually two simple ways to look at what is Paleo? The first is to focus on emulating the foods that our Paleolithic ancestors ate. The second, which is even simpler, is to look at what they did not eat and remove those foods from our diet. Let’s briefly explore both.
There is some understandable confusion and debate around the concept of eating the foods we evolved around. The fact is there isn’t a perfect record of the foods that were eaten. Furthermore, many of the foods that existed during Paleolithic times no longer exist. Fruits were wilder, smaller, and more nutrient dense. Hunted animals were often larger, and their body fat composition was different. And even if some of the foods do still exist, many of us don’t live on the same continent as our ancestors. So, we don’t have access to them.
This is why we sometimes refer to it as the Paleolithic Diet Template. The idea is to emulate our ancestral diet. Exactly what that looked like is still being debated; that’s the debate we should be having. Nevertheless, there’s no argument that at its simplest, the Paleolithic diet consisted of a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, lean meats, fish, eggs, nuts, and seeds.
To describe what The Paleo Diet is another way, we look to the foods we know our Paleolithic ancestors did not eat during human evolution. Surprisingly, 70 percent of the foods that make up the modern Western diet fit in that category. They are (as a percent of the Western diet)1:
Cereal grains: 23.9%
Refined sugars: 18.6%
Refined vegetable oils: 17.6%
Dairy: 10.6%
Alcohol: 1.4%
Total: 72.1%
As you’ll see throughout this website, those foods have been associated with obesity, chronic inflammation, and what are commonly being referred to as the Diseases of Civilization: metabolic syndrome, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and autoimmune conditions.
The Paleo Diet mostly eliminates these foods from our diet. While some criticize the diet for eliminating those foods, suggesting it leads to nutritional deficiencies, the truth is that eliminating those foods actually improves the nutrient density of your diet.
It’s really that simple.
1. Cordain, L., et al., Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century. Am J Clin Nutr, 2005. 81(2): p. 341-54.
