Some time over the past year or so something has exploded across popular culture and it has slowly become a trend amongst celebrities and everyday people alike. What is it you may ask? Why, the Paleo Diet of course! This wack-a-doodle diet is endorsed by doctors, recommended by dietitians and promoted by health food stores across the country. This diet is packed full of contradictions and requirements that go against years of medical research and discoveries about the human body. Now, I'm no expert and I don't claim to be a professional in the field of health but I do have years of experience and research which has guided me to my own conclusion.
THE PALEO DIET = FAKE!!!
By the statement I mean the creator pulled random rules from a hat threw them together and decided, "This is a good idea!" I, on the other hand, unlike so may people in America, I am not fooled. For this blog article I am going to go point by point from a list of guidelines for the paleo diet and just voicing my opinion on why it is impractical and unhealthy. I will include links to the article and my own video summary.
Let us begin.....
Paleo Diet aka 'The Caveman Diet'
"A diet based on the types of foods presumed to have been eaten by early humans, consisting chiefly on meat, fish, vegetables and fruit and excluding dairy or grain products and processed foods."
As if we are able to know that this is what early humans actually ate....most likely, it isn't. The key word to focus on in the above quote is the word 'presumed', meaning they are just guessing that this is what early humans ate. There's no actual proof that this diet is accurate.
1. A paleo diet should be high in fat, moderate animal protein and low carbohydrates. Calorie counting is not encouraged, neither is portion control.
When you have a diet high in fat you absolutely have to watch your portions and calorie intake because fatty foods tend to be much higher in calories. This also sounds awfully similar to the Atkins diet which was proven to do more harm than good because it was focused around fat and protein. Diets like these says, "You can eat as much meat or fat as you want." You become full on fat faster and stay full for longer meaning you won't eat a lot more. Meaning YOUR PORTIONS ARE CONTROLlED AND YOU RESTRICT. Therefore the very first two sentences of the guidelines are contradicting each other. Not off to a good start there.
2. Eat generous amounts of saturated fats. Animals fats are good but only if they come from healthy well-treated animals. Some plant based oils are okay but do not cook with them.
Fat that you eat becomes fat on your body, period. Early humans relied on a high fat diet because times were tough and so their bodies held onto the fat since they didn't know if they were going to eat the next day. Our bodies actually function similarly to this today. When we eat fat our bodies says, "I can use this later." And our body stores it. And from that we become fat. With a diet primarily focused around fat defeats the purpose of a diet.
3. Eat generous amounts of animal protein.
Not protein, but specifically animal protein, as if that's the only kind of protein there is. In #2 it says "well treated animals" and in #3 it contradicts that by saying "it's okay to kill animals." Where's the logic in that?
4. Eat generous amounts of fresh or frozen vegetables either cooked or raw served with fat.
I say it in my video and I'll say it again here, "Then what's the point of eating a vegetable?" Seriously if you're just going to cover it with fat might as well skip the vegetables. Vegetables are meant for nutrients and vitamins to help your body function. Fats on the other hand just block things up and cause so much irreversible damage to your organs and normal bodily functions.
5. Eat low to moderate amounts of fruits and nuts. Consider cutting off fruits and nuts all together.
Fruits are high in sugar (carbohydrates) or glucose which is needed if you want your brain to function. As I said above your body holds on to fat and uses it up slowly but carbs your body can burn through quickly and use as energy now. By cutting out fruit you'd be cutting out the best thing for your body to work. As for nuts "I thought this was a high fat diet?!?!?!"
6. Preferably choose pasture-raised and grass-fed meat from local, environmentally conscious farms.
But not ethically conscious farms.....KILL THE ANIMALS!!!! (I don't think it's necessary for me to even go into that one.)
7. Cut out all cereal grains and legumes from your diet.
No grains probably because 1) they are delicious and 2) because they're actually healthy for you. Grains in their pure, unprocessed state are full of fiber and even some protein and the oh so evil carbs. So I guess according to the paleo diet carbs are bad, you should constantly be backed up cuz fiber is a no-no and ONLY PROTEIN FROM ANIMALS! And since you're only allowed protein from animals then naturally legumes are eliminated too since they're nature's protein.
8. Cut out all vegetable oils except for olive or avocado oil but do not cook with them.
This limits your sources for fats, forcing you to turn to animal products. They are so sneaky.
9. Eliminate added sugar.
So while you're at eliminating naturally sugars like fruit might as well cut out all sugar in general. What a depressing diet......
10. Eliminate dairy products other than butter and heavy cream.
YES NO DAIRY, except for the fattiest diary products....this diet continues to make no sense.
11. Eat when you're hungry. Do what feels most natural.
They're basically saying, it's okay to starve yourself or it's okay to binge as long as it's pure fat. For someone with an eating disorder background or tendencies #11 is terrible advice. I would say it is terrible advice for anyone. The majority of the population already has a messed up relationship with food and this diet is just encouraging that mentality to grow.
12. Eliminate external stressors.
Well no shit sherlock! I don't understand how this made the list. This is just common sense and has nothing to do with a paleo diet or any diet for that matter.
Yes don't over-exercise, you wouldn't want to use all that unnecessary, extra fat and calories you're carrying around. If you still think this diet is serious I don't know what to tell you.
14. Consider supplementing.
Well if you were eating a proper diet then you wouldn't need a pill to give you what you're lacking. A proper, balanced diet would already contain the nutrients and vitamins your body needs.
15. Play in the sun.
THE FUCK?!?!?!? What does that have to do with anything?!?!?!
****Conclusion: When you focus so much on one nutrient you neglect the others, equaling an unbalanced diet resulting in binging and weight gain. Fat makes you fat. High fat and little exercise keeps you fat. If you really want to be as close to a caveman as possible you might as well run around naked (in the sun) and eat plants.
15 Paleo Diet Guidlines
Video: Paleo Diet???
I could go on for days on the hypocrisy and insanity that is the paleo diet but I won't.
Peace & Love,
The Punk Rock Vegan
