Paleolithic Diet - Practices

Practices

The paleolithic diet is a modern dietary regimen that seeks to mimic the diet of preagricultural hunter-gatherers, one that corresponds to what was available in any of the ecological niches of Paleolithic humans. Based upon commonly available modern foods, it includes cultivated plants and domesticated animal meat as an alternative to the wild sources of the original preagricultural diet. The ancestral human diet is inferred from historical and ethnographic studies of modern-day hunter-gatherers as well as archaeological finds, anthropological evidence and application of optimal foraging theory.

The Paleolithic diet consists of foods that can be hunted and fished, such as meat, offal and seafood, and can be gathered, such as eggs, insects, fruit, nuts, seeds, vegetables, mushrooms, herbs and spices. Some sources advise eating only lean cuts of meat, free of food additives, preferably wild game meats and grass-fed beef since they contain higher levels of omega-3 fats compared with grain-produced domestic meats. Food groups that advocates claim were rarely or never consumed by humans before the Neolithic (agricultural) revolution are excluded from the diet, mainly grains, legumes (e.g. beans and peanuts), dairy products, salt, refined sugar and processed oils, although some advocates consider the use of oils with low omega-6/omega-3 ratios, such as olive oil and canola oil, to be healthy and advisable.

More moderately, Kurt G. Harris recommends avoiding fructose, linoleic acid, and gluten grains as the primary Neolithic agents responsible for modern diseases, and "the rest is just tinkering around the edges."

On the Paleolithic diet, practitioners are permitted to drink mainly water, and some advocates recommend tea as a healthy drink, but alcoholic and fermented beverages are restricted from the diet. Furthermore, eating a wide variety of plant foods is recommended to avoid high intakes of potentially harmful bioactive substances, such as goitrogens, which are present in some roots, vegetables and seeds. Unlike raw food diets, all foods may be cooked, without restrictions. However, raw Paleolithic dieters exist who believe that humans have not adapted to cooked foods, and so they eat only foods which are both raw and Paleolithic.

According to certain proponents of the Paleolithic diet, practitioners should derive about 56–65% of their food energy from animal foods and 36–45% from plant foods. They recommend a diet high in protein (19–35% energy) and relatively low in carbohydrates (22–40% energy), with a fat intake (28–58% energy) similar to or higher than that found in Western diets. Furthermore, some proponents exclude from the diet foods which exhibit high glycemic indices, such as potatoes. Staffan Lindeberg advocates a Paleolithic diet, but does not recommend any particular proportions of plants versus meat or macronutrient ratios.

According to Lindeberg, calcium supplementation may be considered when the intake of green leafy vegetables and other dietary sources of calcium is limited.