As an avid Crossfitter I often find myself amidst people who are gung ho about the paleo diet. In fact, last February my CrossFit gym dedicated the entire month to paleolithic eating. At the time the diet sounded amazing; I was new to CrossFit and in desperate need of changing up my diet from the all but nutritious “college foods” I had been consuming. After attending the information session that my gym provided us about eating paleo, I was energized and eager to embark on this new food journey. However, as my restless and curious mind lay awake that night, I couldn’t help but question if the diet was actually scientifically sound.  If you keep reading this post, I will share with you the the information I discovered about the paleo diet. 

For those of you who don’t know what the paleo diet is, it’s a diet based around the the foods a hunter-gatherer of the paleolithic time period would have eaten. The diet is rooted in the evolutionary belief that we as humans have not evolved much since the paleolithic period, and therefore we should be eating as the paleolithic people ate.  People who eat paleo consume lots of meat, vegetables, and animal fats, but find themselves going without dairy, grains, or legumes (a chart of foods allowed/not allowed is pictured below).

Photo taken from Nick L. Pfeffer.

Although the paleo diet seems like a nutritious option that has sound logic backing it up, much of what the diet is based on is partly irrelevant. I would like to first point out the claim about how humans have not evolved much since the paleolithic period. This basis is entirely untrue. As an article by Farris Jabr points out “Within the span of 7,000 years … people adapted to eating dairy by developing a lactose tolerance.” (Jabr). This basis also fails to include the evolution of our own microbiota that live among us. For instance microbiota in the human gut evolve faster than we do, and therefore it can be concluded that the microbiota present in the human gut today is not the same as the microbiota present in our paleolithic ancestors (Jabr).

The other basis of the paleo diet that I want to point out is the assumption that fruits and vegetables of today’s world are the same as they were during the paleolithic period. Christina Warinner’s TED Talk explains why this cannot possibly be true. While enthusiasts of the paleo diet rave about how they’re eating the same foods as the cavemen once did, Warriner explains how fruits and vegetables that we eat today have been selectively bred for dozens of generations, rendering them genetically different from their ancestral counterparts (Warinner). In fact, she goes on to mention that the broccoli found at the local grocer didn’t even exist back in the paleolithic period. Throughout the years wild broccoli was selected not only to produce the broccoli we see in supermarkets, but also to produce kale, cabbage, and brussel sprouts (Warinner).

Although the paleo diet is extreme and its foundation is built on assumptions that aren’t scientifically true, not every aspect of the diet is bad. The paleo diet reduces the consumption of processed foods and encourages its followers to eat a diet richer in meat, veggies, fruits, and nuts. When used as a guide, the paleo diet can provide its followers with many clean eating options that are good for a healthy lifestyle.

Works Cited

Jabr, Ferris. “How to Really Eat Like a Hunter-Gatherer: Why the Paleo Diet Is Half-Baked [Interactive & Infographic]”.  Scientific American. 3 June 2013. 17 Sep. 2016. Web. www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-paleo-diet-half-baked-how-hunter-gatherer-really-eat/

Warinner, Christina. “Debunking the Paleo Diet”. Youtube, uploaded by TEDx Talks, 12 Feb. 2013. 17 Sep. 2016. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMOjVYgYaG8