Back To Basics: The Primal Diet

The Paleo Diet shuns processed foods for meats, fruits and vegetables.

Humans have been on the Earth much longer than cookies, cakes, individually wrapped cheese slices, and many of the unhealthy foods believed to be linked to disease and obesity. Believing that our lean, mean, fighting-machine ancestors were healthier than we are today, many people are taking their diets back in time, following what is known as the Paleo (or Primal) diet.

You wouldn't put diesel in a gas-burning car, so why would you feed yourself grains when your body isn't designed to burn grains as fuel?

Melissa Ott, a 23-year-old on the Paleo diet

A Day in the Life: How Melissa Eats Like a Caveman

To give you an idea of what a typical daily menu could include, Melissa Ott shares a day in the life of eating like a caveman.

Snack before gym workout: banana or several strawberries

Breakfast: protein smoothie with handful of raw cashews

Lunch: Bison burger topped with avocado and nitrate-free bacon on a bed of wild greens

Afternoon Snack: Banana topped with cashew butter and unsweetened, shaved coconut

Dinner: Marinated grass-fed sirloin kabobs with mushrooms, bell pepper, red onion, zucchini and yellow squash served over cauliflower “rice”

Evening Snack: Homemade Popsicle made with fresh berries and coconut milk or a few squares of dark chocolate

Ott adds that eating out socially with friends isn’t hard; she can modify nearly anything on any menu to fit her new way of life. She allows herself to give into cravings twice per week — fries or pasta usually. Also, she learned to listen to her body and only eats when she is hungry.

“If your body isn't telling you that it's time to eat, there's really no reason to stuff something down your throat just because someone arbitrarily says that we're supposed to eat at this time, this time and this time every day. Hogwash. Listen to what your body is telling you and you'll be just fine,” she said.

Digging up the Diet

After she graduated college, Melissa Ott, 23, of Pittsburgh, wanted to be fit and lean. She and her boyfriend hit the gym and ate lean meats, whole grains and organic fruit. A year later, she remained a size 12. In June 2011, Ott came across Loren Cordain’s book, "The Paleo Diet."

“I was attracted to the Paleo diet because eating many fruits and veggies was encouraged," she said. "A caveman wouldn't have walked past a berry bush without eating some of the berries. I fell in love with the idea of eating like our ancestors because it just makes sense. If our bodies are designed to eat a certain way, we should eat that way for optimal performance. You wouldn't put diesel in a gas-burning car, so why would you feed yourself grains when your body isn't designed to burn grains as fuel?”

While there are several variations to the diet -- depending on whose book you read -- in general the Primal diet promotes eating as our ancestors would: fish, nuts, berries and vegetables. It cuts grains, dairy and legumes.

In her first week, Ott lost nearly five pounds. By the end of the first month, she had shed 10 pounds and was down one pant size. Her energy level was up, her skin was clearer and her migraines and frequent stomach cramps were gone.

“When I make a change to how I eat, it's not simply to lose weight," she said. "I change how I eat to see if I can increase my wellness, my fitness and my energy levels.”

Health Benefits of Paleo

Robb Wolf, author of "The Paleo Solution," agrees that the primary advantage of the Paleo Diet is not weight loss. But, he says, looking smashing in an evening gown or tuxedo is also great motivation.

“The body fat you lose is such a no-brainer, so we rarely talk it. What we’re really interested in is reversing systematic inflammatory diseases that are killing people,” he said, citing his own health issues as the catalyst for his change: In 1998, while he was working as a biochemist and living a vegan lifestyle, he became viciously sick.

“You name it, I had it,” he said, rattling off problems such as colitis, high triglycerides and depression, adding that his mother was also becoming intolerant to dairy and grains.

Wolf thought that if you take out grains, dairy and legumes, what else is there to eat? Then it hit him; before farmers, you had hunter-gatherers. His research led him to Cordain, whom he calls his mentor. Wolf saw immediate results with the Paleo Diet and later opened a gym in Chico, California, where he began teaching the diet to clients.

"This is the most vitamins, minerals and antioxidants for the fewest calories you can get," he said, citing another one of the benefits: slower aging. People can't believe he's in his 40s.

The Paleo Push ... and Pushback

While several books contributed to the popularity of paleo, Wolf says everyday people drove the diet’s growth as they began to compare notes online of their successes.

“It just went viral," he said. "There was once very limited information, and it just exploded. ‘Paleo Diet’ has surpassed ‘vegan diet’ in search terms."

Ott’s online searches for recipes no doubt contribute to that trend — and make adhering to the diet much easier.

“There is an extensive online community of paleo enthusiasts, so finding good recipes is actually super easy," she said. "The recipes themselves are easy to make, and nothing tastes weird or funny or different."

The only drawback for Ott and her boyfriend is the cost. While they already paid a bit more for organic produce, the introduction of eating free range and grass-fed meat daily has upped their grocery bill — a cost they are willing to pay for a longer, more active life.

Not everyone is a believer in the benefits, though..

“Some people give me weird looks when I explain that I eat like a caveman,” Ott said.

Wolf adds that many discount the Paleo Diet because carbs are eliminated. That's not true, he says. The diet is actually carb neutral and allows foods such as sweet potatoes and summer squash.

Don't completely withdraw from your current eating regimen at once, cautions Stella Metsovas, a food and science clinical nutrition expert based in Laguna Beach, California.

“Rather, I’d suggest replacing one meal per day and remain paleo within that meal for a complete month," she says. "The following month, try and replace another meal. Keep track of your health through a journal or online tracker such as LiveStrong’s MyPlate."