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The paleo diet promises to make you fitter and healthier. But is that really true? How restrictive is the so-called Stone Age diet, and is this way of eating even worth recommending?
Because there are so many different diets out there, I've promised to regularly cover them here on my blog and give you my honest assessment. That way you can form a solid, objective picture of each approach. In this post you'll learn everything essential about the paleo diet: what it is, what you eat on it, and who it's suited for.
Before we start, let me quickly introduce myself: my name is Marco Laterza, I'm a personal trainer from Zurich. I support my clients with training, nutrition and mindset. A holistic approach to health and fitness matters to me, and it's something I want to pass on to everyone. If you're interested in working together, feel free to get in touch anytime.
What is the paleo diet?
Now let's get to the actual topic. What is the paleo diet? Well, the term paleo comes from "Paleolithic," the Old Stone Age. The paleo diet is based on the way our ancestors ate back when we were still hunters and gatherers.
The reasoning is actually pretty simple: through evolution, our bodies adapted ideally to the food available in that era. So if we mainly and exclusively eat the foods that existed back then, we can digest and use them without any problems.
The paleo diet focuses on fresh, unprocessed foods. This way of eating isn't a recent trend – its origins go back to the 1970s. Two anthropologists, Eaton and Konner, studied numerous population groups back then and observed what they ate as hunters and gatherers. This was published in 1975 in the book "The Stone Age Diet."
What am I allowed to eat?
Of course, it would be impossible to eat exactly like our Stone Age ancestors. On the paleo diet, though, you mainly rely on foods that could either be hunted or gathered back then. So which foods can you eat without worry?
- Vegetables: with vegetables you can pretty much indulge as you like, since fresh vegetables have been around for a very long time. Here you should mainly focus on buying fresh, seasonal vegetables. It's also important to choose vegetables that people didn't specifically have to cultivate, like potatoes
- Fruit: you can eat fruit too, since various fruits already existed in the Stone Age. As with vegetables, you should go for seasonal fruit, since it's fresher.
- Fish and meat: back when we were hunters, meat and fish were essential foods. They provide valuable protein and fats too. You can go for any type of meat or fish here – seafood is allowed as well.
- Nuts: nuts and seeds can also be eaten without worry on the Stone Age diet. A handful a day is roughly what you should aim for.
Beyond that, you can season with all kinds of herbs and spices. When it comes to drinks, water or mineral water should mainly be your go-to, of course. But coconut water, various types of tea and coffee are fine too.
As you can easily tell, this way of eating is fundamentally very low in carbohydrates. Things like refined sugar, wheat and dairy products should be avoided on the paleo diet.
You also skip heavily processed foods. That includes not just junk food and various ready meals, but bread and pasta aren't allowed on this diet either.
Who is this diet suited for?
The paleo diet is mainly about buying fresh, unprocessed food. You also cut out a lot of sugar and highly processed foods, which is of course very advisable. If you want to live healthier in the long term, the Stone Age diet is definitely worth considering.
That said, you also need to keep in mind that high-quality, unprocessed food often costs more. If you can afford to switch from frozen food to fresh meals, and especially if you actually have the time to cook that much, this way of eating is definitely worth recommending.
Where you're likely to run into trouble with the paleo diet, though, is if you're vegetarian or vegan. Meat and fish are absolutely on the daily menu with the Stone Age diet, as are animal fats instead of plant-based oils. So if you don't eat meat or animal products at all, you'd be better off skipping the paleo diet.
This is also largely because legumes aren't allowed on the Stone Age diet. They may have been around for a long time, but they're made up of short-chain carbohydrates that aren't easy for everyone to digest. Since the paleo diet only allows easily digestible foods, legumes don't make it into the eating plan.
The pros and cons of the paleo diet
It's certainly advisable to cut out highly processed foods and sugar. With this way of eating, you're forced to cook a lot yourself. As a result, you usually end up cooking healthier too.
Various studies have already shown that the Stone Age diet brings a number of health benefits. Through the deliberate choice of foods, this way of eating is said to improve blood sugar levels and thereby reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
This is confirmed by studies on the one hand, and can also be seen among today's indigenous peoples on the other. They too eat similarly to the paleo diet, and it's clear that they suffer less from being overweight and from high blood pressure.
There are, however, some criticisms of the paleo diet worth keeping in mind. For one, it's quite demanding if you want to switch to this way of eating. Cutting out grains and dairy is already a huge change. On top of that comes the higher price that comes with higher food quality. You should be aware of that too.
It's also often criticised that protein intake on this diet is too high and can lead to health issues as well. Gout or kidney stones could be the result.
My conclusion: would I recommend this diet?
So let's get to my final conclusion: would I recommend the paleo diet? On one hand, it has to be said that the concept of the Stone Age diet has some good ideas. It's obviously only beneficial to rely on fresh, unprocessed food in everyday life.
That said, I also think this way of eating is quite restrictive. No pasta, no bread, no potatoes, no dairy. For many people this might work, but I'm sure that for a lot of people, this change simply isn't sustainable long term.
Everyone should find a way of eating that they can ideally follow for their entire life. If you manage to do that with the paleo diet, there's nothing wrong with it.