"Paleo-Diet" Trashed!

[festive1]

I didn't make the rules or the diet. I've got no answers for you, Rhythm.

[Jackalope]

A diet based on eating only foods that were available to cavemen, essentially. Lots of meat, veg, and nothing processed. There's limitations on grains, since they weren't around back then.

Gonna be hard finding veggies that were available to "cavemen". Meat too, really. Amusingly, of the three things offered - grains are probably one of the first things available to "cavemen".

I looked into this a while back and it appeared to me that the emphasis was on eating types of foods that would be available to paleolithic man, and highly shunning processed foods.

Lean meats, legumes, greens, nuts - that sort of thing.

Obviously, no one adhering to this diet is running around nomming on mammoth steaks. Likewise, millennia of agriculture and animal husbandry have rendered much of what we eat unrecognizable to Og and his merry clan of hunter-gatherers.

As one person explained to me: the modern diet of highly processed foods is something our species has not had time to adjust/evolve to. Whether or not there's anything to that hypothesis, I couldn't say. Whether there's any health benefits to the paleo diet, I also could not say.

Myself, I am trying to stick to preparing meals using fresh ingredients and avoiding processed / prepared foods where possible (as well as eating at restaurants who do the same). Occasionally, I even succeed at doing so. I couldn't say if there's health benefits to that either, but the food does taste better to me.

There's a restaurant nearby that has a "paleo-friendly" menu - and I eat there occasionally not because I think there's anything to the fad, but because they serve tasty foods - such as game meats - that aren't commonly found.

[The Grand Nudger]

LOL, I know I know - it's just mystifying to me. I have to ask somebody!

[Gilgamesh]

These whackos always ignore the fact that life expectancy in the paleolithic was about 25.

That didn't necessarily have anything to do with the diet, though, unless you're arguing that processed foods help you live longer.

I also don't see why anyone would take issue with the fact that they aren't literally living like cavemen, hunting/gathering their food.

[The Grand Nudger]

Processed foods definitely helped paleolithic hominids to live longer. That's what all those stone tools (the time periods namesake) were for-....processing things. It ain't easy to take a bite out of an animal on the hoof (hence all the pointy sticks, for processing game in it's natural state)- and the bite is worth even more cleaned (for flesh), macerated(for bone),- and finally cooked(for everything). You never know, you might want to preserve it as well. Jerky in the winter is worth more than steak in the spring.

[Gilgamesh]

k, processed foods of today. We've come a long way in making food convenient. We've sacrificed health for speed. How convenient, indeed.

[The Grand Nudger]

Alot of our processing has to do with health. Fortification, pastuerization, preservation, etc. Even those examples that I don't think are kosher (cardboard food) still serve to increase the overall amount of nutrition available to a hungry planet. As always, we eat what we can-where we find it. Paleolithic hominids weren't health nuts - probably would have shit themselves over a can of cheese whizz.

[Gilgamesh]

Alot of our processing has to do with health. Fortification, pastuerization, preservation, etc. Even those examples that I don't think are kosher (cardboard food) still serve to increase the overall amount of nutrition available to a hungry planet. As always, we eat what we can-where we find it. Paleolithic hominids weren't health nuts - probably would have shit themselves over a can of cheese whizz.

k, what you consider processed/convenience food contains a lot of foods I would not consider processed/convenience. Just saying 'cardboard' food, fast food, frozen food; none of it is actually convenient. It's counter-productive.

[The Grand Nudger]

Well, most food is processed in one way or another (and each of those things I mentioned met resistance - and still do-). You've simply drawn a line where there may not be room for one.

For example, to you "cardboard food" seems meh - but it exists as a way to deliver food at a very low price point. That's important.

Frozen food exists as a way to preserve perishables - again, important.

Fast food, I don't understand the hate. Nobody goes into a McDonalds thinking "oh boy this is gonna make me healthy as an oxe!" It's comfort food, nothing wrong with that.

The thing that I would stress about "diets of yesteryear" is that too much emphasis seems to be given on -what they ate- (often incorrect, and to be honest most people today and yesterday have eaten whatever they could get their hands on), when the emphasis should probably be on -what they did-. A burger and some fries ain't gettin you any closer to the grave if you manage to move around during the day.

[Gilgamesh]

Well, most food is processed in one way or another (and each of those things I mentioned met resistance - and still do-). You've simply drawn a line where there may not be room for one.

For example, to you "cardboard food" seems meh - but it exists as a way to deliver food at a very low price point. That's important.

Frozen food exists as a way to preserve perishables - again, important.

Fast food, I don't understand the hate. Nobody goes into a McDonalds thinking "oh boy this is gonna make me healthy as an oxe!" It's comfort food, nothing wrong with that.

Cardboard food is more expensive than buying the whole ingredients.

It's irrelevant as to whether or not the person thinks it's healthy; Fast food is an inconvenience, if societies goal is to have healthier, longer-living citizens.

The thing that I would stress about "diets of yesteryear" is that too much emphasis seems to be given on -what they ate- (often incorrect, and to be honest most people today and yesterday have eaten whatever they could get their hands on), when the emphasis should probably be on -what they did-.

I agree.