"NeanderThin: Eat Like a Caveman to Achieve a Lean, Strong, Healthy Body" written by Ray Audette is a diet book that suggest you eat like a caveman -- in other words, no processed foods. Actually, the concept goes fat beyond eliminating processed foods and suggests that any foods that rely on the technology of agriculture, which includes grains, legumes and dairy, should not be eaten. This is one of several versions of the paleo diet.
Paleo Diets
A paleo diet is based on the concept that you eat as a hunter/gatherer would. Paleo diets can be incredibly restrictive; all grains, beans, legumes and dairy are eliminated, as is most fruit. It's a very low-carbohydrate eating plan -- carbs come from vegetables, the few allowed fruits and a small amount of honey. Your diet primarily consists of meat, fish, seafood, eggs and nuts. Paleo diets claim a number of benefits, from weight-loss to curing chronic modern diseases such as diabetes and cancer. Of course, simply cutting out all refined and over-processed junk food could help with weight loss and illness.
Could I Eat This?
Seeking to redefine what "natural" is, Audette uses his own personal experiences as the basis of "NeanderThin." After being diagnosed with diabetes and arthritis, Audette began to research auto-immune disease. Along the way, he decided obesity was also an auto-immune disorder and that these auto-immune diseases were only found in agricultural societies. By returning to a pre-agriculture way of eating, Audette believed he could reverse his conditions. The premise of "NeanderThin" begins with one simple question: "Could I eat this if I were naked with a sharp stick on the savanna?"
The Fat Debate
Like many low-carb diets, there is no calorie-counting or portion control. Audette recommends snacking on pemmican, a mixture of beef jerky, lard, dried cherries and honey. Staples of the diet include meat, eggs, fish, seafood, vegetables, nuts and berries. "NeanderThin" is a high-fat, high-protein diet that includes a lot of saturated fat. In a an interview with CBS News, Audette said "When you don't eat fat, your hunger never goes away. As fat consumption has gone down in the United States, and this is very well documented, weight has gone up." CBS News reports that some dietitians think Audette's approach is "a primitive, artery-clogging mistake."
Sample Menus
Although many foods are eliminated in the paleo lifestyle, you can still enjoy a wide variety of flavors. A typical breakfast could include eggs, bacon and raw carrots or fried tomatoes, or steak and eggs or a pork chop and eggs. Of course, typical breakfast foods such as cereals, or a bagel and cream cheese are forbidden. Lunch could be a salad with any type of meat, chicken or fish. You could have roast chicken with vegetables, a pork loin with steamed vegetables, or a vegetable soup made with coconut milk for dinner. If you choose not to snack on pemmican, you can try plain beef jerky, celery wrapped in ham or pork rinds.
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