If you believe that eating the way your ancestors from way back ate will provide you with health benefits and possibly weight loss, then you might want to consider following the Mesopotamian Food diet. The Mesopotamian diet, also known as the Paleolithic diet, seeks to eliminate foods from the diet that wouldn't have been available to early humans.
Significance
Your genetic makeup is almost completely identical to that of early humans, according to Creighton University. Therefore, you've evolved to eat the foods that those early humans ate. The problem is, modern humans' diet doesn't resemble that early diet at all, since early humans ate no grains and very little sugar.
Function
By following the Mesopotamian diet, you should be able to stabilize your body weight and even lose weight, according to Colorado State University. In addition, you potentially can improve athletic performance and reduce your risk of heart disease, autoimmune diseases and potentially even some forms of cancer.
Details
The Mesopotamian diet provides more total protein and fewer carbs than a standard American diet, according to Creighton University. Followers of the diet should get about 30 to 35 percent of total calories from protein, about 25 percent of total calories from carbohydrates, and the rest of their calories from fats.
Types
Ideally, protein in the Mesopotamian diet should come from free-range or wild-caught sources such as venison, according to Creighton University. You shouldn't eat any grains, sugar or legumes, and instead should get all your carbs from fruits and vegetables. The fat you eat should be unsaturated fats such as olive oil, and you should avoid dairy, since early humans didn't consume milk products from animals.
Significance
Although diets based on what early humans ate generally contain a large percentage of animal protein, they don't raise the risk of heart disease, according to a study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition's March 2002 edition. According to lead researcher Dr. Loren Cordain, the fats contained in wild-caught meat appear to protect against heart disease. If you're planning to adopt a Mesopotamian diet, however, you should check with your doctor first to make sure you'll get adequate nutrition on the diet.
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