Let us make it clear! The Paleo Diet is not ‘set in stone’ (sorry for the unintended pun!). Staffan Lindberg at the Department of Medicine, University of Lund, Sweden posited the principal of what the diet of Paleolithic Man/ Women was likely to constitute and how massively the diet of today has diverged from this. View: Staffan Lindeberg.
The ‘Paleolithic Diet’ is based on what Stone Age man ate compared to what we typically eat now. Research indicates that the Paleo diet improves cardiovascular risk factors in type2 diabetics – significantly more than a standard diabetic diet – i.e. the Paleo diet lowers triglyceride, blood pressure, weight, BMI.
The Paleo Diet is also linked to maintaining good gut microflora and hence supporting digestive disorders such as IBS (IBD) and Crohns Disease.
The Paleo diet includes all foods that CAN be eaten raw (yet there is no need to eat them raw!) and importantly excludes grains, processed foods, dairy & ‘novel’ foods. The logic: grains and beans (etc.) were not eaten by Paleo man as they were not safe to eat raw (at that time). As such today our physiology has no mechanism to use these food sources to good metabolic effect.
The diet is used by many professional nutritionists and their patients with excellent results. Basically there are certain foods you should not eat and so the ultimate recipe choices for each meal are yours based on the right ingredients.
Last updated on 16th December 2014 by
For those just starting this diet a tip for replacing potato is to use cauliflower – it can be riced or mashed and is really satisfying when you really feel you need something to mop up juices from the main part of the meal. Another good website for recipes is http://www.paleodietlifestyle.com you have to buy the pdf files, but they are good recipes!
Can I also suggest http://www.devonrose.com for game and meat produced the paleo way. They actually do a paleo box for customers!
Hi Sue
Thankyou for this. Good idea. Chesnuts are also good for this, maybe mixed with some cauliflower, carrots and swede for a really tasty mash. Parsnip and pumpkin are aso good for mashing. Although sweet potatoes are not routinely advised because they are starchy, as they are not of the Solinacae family small quantities of these can be included occasionally too. Their lectins do not have the potential anti-nutrient effect of standard potatoes.
Finding sufficient variety is probably the biggest challenge for people new to this way of eating – but there really are penty of permitted tasty vegetables. PLEASE use this Blog to share your findings and ideas with others
Hi Amanda & all!
Have been so interested in this since you first mentioned it!
We have been a bit naughty and have actually started it already – on the 1st January, we made a clean break and started on this straight away!
I have been keeping a food diary over the last 8 days, as I think it will be very interesting to have a read back through – especially when looking for inspiration!
So far, I’m feeling great I must say!
I have always been a cheese-fiend! But to be completely honest with you – I’ve not missed it at all. I’ve not wanted any – something I never thought I would say. It’s changed my whole perception on food & meals.
I know it’s only been 8 days, but it really does feel amazing so far! There are some great recipes out there that are really worth trying – and some terrible ones that I will never try again! Haha! The cauliflower-base pizza is a massive no-no for me! It was soggy & just not like pizza.
But hey, you’ve got to try these things! Find some things that you like & build on them!
Our favourite so far is “courgette spaghetti” – we had it with meatballs & a red pepper and tomato sauce.
We have bought the best meat that we can afford – today, we had some beef steak mince from the butcher! It was just amazing & actually not that much more than the lean mince that you get in supermarkets. But the taste was second to none. Another good one was some local butcher’s sausages (gluten free) – We had them with sweet potato & suede mash.
So far, so good! It’s just been amazing. We’ve had on average 10 portions of veg & fruit a day.
Really, really looking forward to continuing this. I also want to say a huge thank you for introducing us to it. I’ve never felt so strongly about this sort of life change before, but this fits us so, so well.
Good luck everyone – looking forward to hearing your experiences & sharing ideas!
What supplements (if any) are recommended for someone on the paleo diet? I’m otherwise healthy and 66 years old.
Thanks
Sue Fallon
Dear Sue
Good question. We are presently embarking on some research as to how the nutrition Gap manifests in people eating the paleo diet. We have done the work on a standard UK diet but not tailored towards paleolithic eating. My own feeling is that the foods that are included (fruit , veg and meats) are much the same as we analysed for our original work and the same shortfalls will apply. We know that fresh fruit and vegetables contains around 60% less minerals than the same foods did 80 years ago, the same is true of most meat. So to be on the safe side and ensure you have sufficient nutrients for protection and optimal metabolic function I would suggest our Wholefood Multi plus either fish or krill oil would be an effective level of supplements to accompany the paleo diet.
I will be rewriting our current Nutrition Gap information over the next few months, looking in detail at the profile of the foods eaten by paleo man and the profile of the same foods now and establishing the nutrition gap – but from my current knowledge and research to date I am confident that what I have suggested above will be very much representative of the shortfalls that will prevail today.
So if you are 9 stone or over I would go with 2 wholefood multi and 1-2 krill oil/day. If you are eating more than 3 portions of oily fish a week then reduce the krill to 1 a day. If you are under 8.5 stone then reduce the wholefood multi to 1 a day.
Best wishes
Amanda – Cytoplan