Welcome to the World of the Hunter
By Hend Seif El Din
Courtesy of www.ThePaleoDiet.com
How would you define the Paleo diet?
“Paleo” stands for Paleolithic, which means the Old Stone Age, the period lasting from the first appearance of primitive stone tools in the fossil record (approximately 2.6 million years ago) until the development of agriculture (approximately 10,000 years ago) in the Middle East. During this period, lasting 99.6 % of the time humans existed on earth; all humans were hunter-gatherers and only consumed the wild plant and animal foods in their native environment. They did not eat any refined sugars (except occasionally honey when it was available seasonally), vegetable oils, cereal grains or dairy products. Today these foods comprise 70 % of the energy in the typical western diet.
Contemporary “Paleo” diets mimic our pre-agricultural, hunter gatherer diets in that people are encouraged to consume the food groups (with common everyday foods found at the supermarket) our ancestors typically ate (fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, meats, poultry, eggs, fish and seafood) and avoiding foods and food groups normally unavailable to them (processed foods, refined sugars, grains, vegetable oils, dairy products, salt and alcohol).
What made you consider developing a new diet program?
Actually, I didn’t “develop” this diet program and it certainly is not “new.” What I did do was to work with hundreds of scientists from around the world to uncover the basic diet that all humans consumed before the agricultural, industrial and technological eras. Although refined sugars, grains, vegetable oils, dairy products and salted foods comprise more than 70 % of the energy in the typical western diet, these foods were rarely eaten by any of the world’s hunter-gatherer societies regardless of their geographic location, season or culture.
How did you come to the realization that this is the healthiest way to eat?
The most powerful idea in all of biology is Darwin’s theory of evolution via natural selection, an idea that fundamentally underlies scientific thought about all aspects of life from the tiniest organisms to humans. Incredibly, this authoritative organizational template for all biological disciplines had been rarely considered in human nutrition until my colleague Boyd Eaton’s now classic paper in the New England Journal of Medicine was published in 1985. I read Dr. Eaton’s paper in 1987 and then fully realized that the fundamental template for optimal human nutrition, or for that matter optimal nutrition for any organism, had its origin in the evolution of that organism and the ecological niche it traditionally occupied.
Who would you recommend the diet to?
All people who would like to improve their health, lose weight, reduce their chances of chronic illness and reach their maximum genetic potential.
What are some of the health benefits of the Paleo diet?
There are few or no chronic diseases, which don’t respond favorably to this lifelong way of eating. Nearly 70 % of all adults in the western world maintain one or more of the signs and symptoms of the metabolic syndrome (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and more). Recent clinical trials show that the Paleo diet is more effective in reducing metabolic disease symptoms than diabetic diets, the Mediterranean Diet or the US Food Plate, formerly known as the food pyramid.
Why is the “gatherer” diet not so good for us? What does it do to our bodies? In other words, why is a “hunter” diet the better option?
Plant foods lack (or are biologically unavailable) key nutrients, which are essential to prevent disease and promote optimal health. Plant foods are deficient or low in the following nutrients: vitamin B12, the long chain omega 3 fatty acids (DHA and EPA), iron, zinc, vitamin B6, iodine and taurine. Only by combining plant and animal foods as our Stone Age ancestors did for millions of years can we obtain all of the crucial nutrients needed for optimal health.
How exactly does the Paleo diet work?
The Paleo Diet is simplicity itself – eat real living foods: fresh fruits, vegetables, grass produced meats and poultry, fish, seafood, nuts and certain healthful oils (olive, avocado, macadamia, flax, coconut) and avoid any food that contains added salt, refined sugars, vegetable oils, cereal grains or dairy products. Paleo dieters are also advised to avoid beans and legumes for the reasons outlined in my latest book, The Paleo Answer.
With certain food groups left out of the diet, such as dairy for example, how can I be sure that I will not develop certain deficiencies?
I have actually published a scientific paper (Cordain L, The nutritional characteristics of a contemporary diet based upon Paleolithic food groups. J Am Neutraceut Assoc 2002; 5:15-24. http://thepaleodiet.com/published-research-about-the-paleo-diet/#2002) showing that by eliminating refined sugars, grains, vegetable oils and dairy products, the net nutrient density (vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals) of the diet is richer than with the inclusion of these foods. If fruit and vegetable intake is about 35 % of total calories and vitamin D intake (or synthesis via sunlight) is adequate then dairy products are not required to maintain calcium balance.
How can the Paleo diet protect me from conditions such as the “leaky gut” syndrome?
“Leaky gut” occurs when the cells lining the small intestine lose their integrity and increasingly become more permeable, thereby allowing intestinal contents (food proteins, bacteria, pathogens) to bypass the gut barrier and potentially interact with the immune system. Many dietary elements are known to promote a leaky gut (whole grains, legumes, alcohol, chili peppers, and others – see my book, The Paleo Answer). By avoiding these foods and others with a contemporary Paleo Diet, you will reduce your risk of all diseases, which are associated with a leaky gut.
So for people with a leaky gut, following the Paleo diet is key?
Virtually all chronic diseases of the western world (heart disease, cancer, autoimmune diseases) cannot progress without chronic low-level inflammation. Increasingly, scientists now believe that a leaky gut promotes systemic, chronic, low-level inflammation.
Undoubtedly, the diet is not the easiest one to follow…any advice for Paleo newcomers?
Don’t think of this lifelong plan of
eating as what you have to eliminate or reduce from your diet, but rather what you are adding to your diet. If you are a typical westerner or Middle Easterner, then 70% of your daily calories come from refined sugars, grains, vegetable oils and dairy. By replacing these foods with real, living foods (fresh fruits, vegetables, grass produced meats, poultry, fresh fish, seafood (clams, oysters, mussels, crabs, lobster, abalone, crayfish etc.), your diet will become enormously enriched. Try foods you seldom or never eat. Eventually your appetite and body will reject foods as too sugary, too salty and too starchy. You will sleep better, your mental outlook will improve and all indices of health and well-being will soar. You will never want to return to your old way of eating once you give Paleo two to three weeks.
