Reverting to the eating habits of your prehistoric ancestors may boost your health and keep you from gaining weight---at least according to the theory behind the hunter and gatherer's diet. The plan calls for eating simpler foods than many you likely consume today. Though processed food is out, the theory calls for eating the greatest variety of foods you can, as your ancestors naturally did due to the need to forage and hunt. Some 300 natural, edible plants are available, for example.
Identification
The best-known hunter-gatherer's diet is called the Paleo Diet. It's contained in a book penned by Loren Cordain of Colorado State University's department of health and exercise science. Cordain is the best-known researcher in Paleolithic nutrition theory, notes Jonny Bowden in "Living the Low-Carb Life." Others plans exist, including "Neanderthin" by Ray Audette, Troy Gilchrist and Michael R. Eades.
Features
The diet involves eating lean meat, seafood, fish and poultry along with nonstarchy vegetables and fruits. Quantities are unlimited. The diet disallows all processed foods, cereals, legumes and dairy, notes Bowden. It also disallows Neolithic-era foods such as potatoes, beans and legumes, according to the Paleo Diet website. Dieters are advised to eat foods that have "an absence of technology" in "Neanderthin." Your Stone Age ancestors naturally ate a high-fiber diet due to all of the wild fruits and non-starchy vegetables they consumed and did not consume any added salt, for example. Acceptable oils are derived from fruits or tree nuts, such as avocado, olive, coconut, almond and walnut oils, advises the Paleo Diet website.
Significance
You get fat by eating foods that are not suited to your genes and digestive system, according to the theory behind the diet. Refined sugar, fatty meat and processed foods are some of the biggest culprits, Bowden notes. That's because humans adapted to a diet over a couple of million years that is vastly different than the one you eat today. Bowden says there is actually evidence to back this theory, as humans haven't changed much genetically in 2.5 million years on Earth.
Effects
The advent of many modern diseases coincides with dietary changes, say diet advocates. These include obesity, heart disease, cancer and diabetes, according to Bowden. Such degenerative diseases were unknown to our Stone Age ancestors, assert authors Audette, Gilchrist and Eades in "Neanderthin." Eades is a medical doctor who says he has prescribed a Paleolithic diet to more than 5,000 patients.
Considerations
The Paleo Diet does have some drawbacks. It does not incorporate exercise as an important component of the plan, though it does not discourage it either, according to Diet Spotlight. It also may cause constipation, may not take the prehistoric lifestyle fully into account and does not address hormonal or genetic issues involved in weight gain. It also may be hard to stick to because foods dieters are not supposed to eat are so readily available, and there's no mechanism to address cravings.
References
- "Living the Low-Carb Life;" Jonny Bowden; 2004
- Diet Spotlight: Paleo Diet
- "Neanderthin;" Ray Audette, Troy Gilchrist and Michael R. Eades; 2000
- Paleo Diet: Paleo Diet Summary Introduction
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