The caveman diet is a nickname for the Paleolithic diet (paleo diet for short), also known as the stone age diet. It includes foods similar to those our remote hunter-gatherer ancestors ate, such as meat, fish, eggs, nuts, vegetables, fruits and mushrooms. It excludes most or all cultivated grains, dairy products, salt, refined sugar and processed fats.
History
Various authors and nutritionists have promoted the paleo diet, starting with gastroenterologist Walter L. Voegtlin in his 1975 book, "The Stone Age Diet." In 1985, radiologist Dr. S. Boyd Eaton and anthropologist Melvin Konner of Emory University attracted media and academic attention when they published a paper on paleolithic nutrition in the New England Journal of Medicine and followed up with a book, "The Paleolithic Prescription: A Program of Diet & Exercise and a Design for Living."
Theory
During the Paleolithic era, which lasted about 2.5 million years and ended about 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture and animal husbandry, humans ate only wild plant foods and meat they hunted. Eaton and other proponents of a paleolithic-style diet say humans have changed little genetically since then and that our bodies are much better adapted to the hunter-gatherer's diet than to a modern agricultural and industrial diet of grains, refined carbohydrates, dairy products, trans fats and sodium-heavy foods.
Typical Paleo Diet
Because it's impractical for most of us to eat wild hunted animals, insects and foraged plants, variations of the caveman diet recommend modern foods, such as grass-fed beef, that resemble those of the Paleolithic period. Eaton advocates a modern diet that adheres closely to the estimated balance of nutrients those hunter gatherers ate: about 35 percent of calories from fats, 35 percent from carbohydrates (at least half from wild fruits and vegetables), and 30 percent from protein. They ate little saturated fat and virtually no trans fats, and took in a much higher ratio of omega 3 fats to omega 6 fats. They ate far more fiber than we do, and very little sugar and sodium.
Benefits
The Paleolithic diet resembles other higher-protein, reduced-carbohydrate diets that studies have shown may help promote weight loss and help control blood sugar in diabetics.
Research
Some studies, including a small Swedish study reported in 2009, have shown that Paleolithic diets reduce cardiovascular risk factors in diabetics, but Paleolithic diets as such have not been well researched.
Criticisms
Anthropologists such as William Leonard of Northwestern University say the Paleo diet is an oversimplified look at human nutrition and that it's the diversity of the human diet, rather than avoiding non-Paleo "bad" foods, that has helped assure our species' success. Our hunting ancestors may have been healthier because they burned up a lot more calories than we do, he notes.
Cautions
The Paleolithic diet is low in vitamin D and calcium. (Promoters of the diet suggest taking a vitamin D supplement if you do not eat a lot of liver.) Meat-heavy diets can be high in saturated fat, which has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease. And eating a lot of fish can expose you to environmental toxins such as mercury and PCBs.
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