The Paleo Diet

“The Paleo Diet” is based upon eating wholesome, contemporary foods from the food groups our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have thrived on during the Paleolithic era, the time period from about 2.6 million years ago to the beginning of the agricultural revolution, about 10,000 years ago. These foods include fresh meats (preferably grass-produced or free-ranging beef, pork, lamb, poultry, and game meat, if you can get it), fish, seafood, fresh fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and healthful oils (olive, coconut, avocado, macadamia, walnut and flaxseed). Dairy products, cereal grains, legumes, refined sugars and processed foods were not part of our ancestral menu.

Decades of research by Dr. Loren Cordain and his scientific colleagues demonstrate that hunter-gatherers typically were free from the chronic illnesses and diseases that are epidemic in Western populations, including:

    Obesity
    Cardiovascular disease (heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, atherosclerosis)
    Type 2 diabetes
    Cancer
    Autoimmune diseases (multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, etc.)
    Osteoporosis
    Acne
    Myopia (nearsightedness), macular degeneration, glaucoma
    Varicose veins, hemorrhoids, diverticulosis, gastric reflux
    Gout