• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Domestic Dreamboat
  • Recipes
  • Special Diets
  • Kitchen Basics
  • Meet Carissa
    • Contact Me
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipe Index
  • Resources
  • Work with Me
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipe Index
  • Resources
  • Work with Me
×
You are here: Home / Uncategorized / Should You Eat Like a Caveman? Pros and Cons of the Paleo Diet

Should You Eat Like a Caveman? Pros and Cons of the Paleo Diet

Published: Apr 30, 2015 · This post may contain affiliate links, which means I make a small commission if you buy an item in my links, at no charge to you.

 

Should You Eat Like a Caveman? The Pros and Cons of the Paleo Diet.

It seems I can't browse my Pinterest feed lately without coming across numerous recipes being touted as "Paleo" friendly. The Paleo diet is "The Diet" to be on right now, and it's popularity is lasting much longer than I expected it to. But it's still going strong, and my guess is that many of you have thought about trying it at one point or another, either to assist in weight management or just to improve your health. And of course, if you type "Paleo diet" into Google, you will find a myriad of sites, all listing the seemingly endless benefits of the diet, but no drawbacks. That's where your trusty dietitian blogger comes in - I'll give you an unbiased list of the pros and cons of the diet to help you decide if you want to try it or not. Because, after all, no diet comes without it's drawbacks.

What is the Paleo Diet anyway?

The Paleo diet is based on what our caveman ancestors would have eaten long, long ago during the paleolithic era. This time span lasted for roughly 2.5 million years and ended around 12,000 years ago. The thought behind this diet is that humans' nutritional needs evolved to match the foods available during this time period, and that we should continue to follow the same type of diet today to avoid the many diet and weight related chronic diseases that are becoming so common today (obesity, diabetes, heart disease, etc.) After all, these conditions did not exist in the caveman days.

But does that even make sense? There is no evidence that our current nutritional needs are based on food availability of any time period. Also, think about the lifestyle of a caveman: physical activity levels would have been much higher and a much greater energy expenditure would be required to even obtain food. And getting food would never be guaranteed, so there would likely be long time intervals between meals at times when food was difficult to come by. Life has definitely changed, so it makes sense that our diet should have changed too. Unless of course, you want to actually live in a cave and hunt and forage for your food full time.

What Can I Actually Eat on the Paleo Diet

Foods allowed on the Paleo Diet

  • grass fed meat
  • seafood and fish
  • fresh vegetables and fruits
  • eggs
  • nuts and seeds
  • oils

Foods not allowed on the Paleo Diet

  • grain products (the Paleo diet is Gluten Free)
  • legumes
  • dairy
  • sugar
  • potatoes
  • processed foods
  • salt
  • coffee and alcohol (deal breaker alert!)

Pros and Cons of the Paleo Diet

Pros:

  • reduced intake of unhealthy processed foods (this may mean a reduced caloric intake for many), including sugar and salt

Cons:

  • avoidance of a perfectly healthy (and necessary) food group (grain products) which could lead to inadequate fiber intake (especially since legumes, also high in fiber, are not allowed either)
  • many people miss the point of the diet, and find "creative" ways to include their favorite foods, like desserts (do you really think cavemen were baking cookies and blending smoothies in their caves?)
  • expense and time involved in following a restrictive diet
  • difficulty of eating (and drinking) in restaurants and social settings (ahem, no alcohol)

The bottom line

While I do really appreciate that the Paleo diet gets people to reduce their intake of processed foods, I think that that is where the benefits pretty much end. You would be just as well off if you just consciously reduced your intake of processed foods. There is really no evidence to support that the Paleo diet is any healthier than any other diet. And one major red flag of any diet is if it recommends the complete avoidance of a food group. This one does (grain products), which could lead to complications arising from nutrient deficiencies over time. Skip the hype and don't bother with the Paleo diet. If you want to make a healthy change, just cut back on processed foods, sugar and salt.

(Visited 40 times, 1 visits today)

More Uncategorized

  • How to Start Feeding Your Baby Solid Foods
    How to Start Feeding Your Baby Solid Foods
  • protein and workout1
    Do You Need More Protein When You Work Out?
  • wheat
    Should I Be on a Gluten Free Diet?
  • Meal planning - one step further

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

017A1164 cropped

Hi, I'm Carissa! I'm the face behind Domestic Dreamboat. I love to cook, I love to eat, and I love to stay healthy. Thanks for joining me in my homemade journey!

More about me →

What's Trending

  • Homemade spreadable butter on wheat bread.How to Make Spreadable Butter
  • A wooden spoon scooping lazy cabbage rolls from a skillet.Lazy Cabbage Rolls
  • Pumpkin Spice Bran MuffinsPumpkin Spice Bran Muffins
  • Korean beef and mushrooms over rice in a black bowl.Quick and Easy Korean Beef and Mushroom Bowls
  • Overhead photo of pink popcorn in a bowl.Old Fashioned Pink Popcorn

Footer

↑ back to top

Policies

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

About Me

  • Contact
  • About Carissa

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Copyright © 2023

0 shares
Domestic Dreamboat
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}