The Palaeolithic Diet

[poliphilo]

Ailz talked to her doctor about her low-carb diet. He was all in favour. He thinks we should eat the way our hunter-gatherer ancestors did- lots of green stuff, nuts and fruit in season, meat when and if- because that's the sort of diet our bodies are designed for.

Comments

[red-girl-42.livejournal.com]

I just finished a book that talks about how much humans have evolved since paleolithic times, largely as a result of agriculture. I don't really buy into the notion that our bodies are "designed" for an environment that existed hundreds of thousands of years ago. Adult humans couldn't digest animal milk back in those days, for example, but now most of us (definitely those of northern European descent) can, because we have evolved to be able to do so. But the paleo diet treats dairy as off-limits.

There are some good aspects of the paleo diet, however, like eating a lot more greens and fewer processed carbs. The less processed anything is, the better.

A lot of people say they feel better when they drastically reduce carbs. I end up miserable. I mostly eat whole grains, but I do need them or I end up with headaches and lightheadedness and I'm hungry within about 30 minutes of eating. :-(

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

When I wrote the heading "The Palaeolithic Diet" I was unaware that such a thing actually existed. I thought it was just a clever wheeze of our doctor's.

Ailz isn't eschewing dairy. The books she's been reading are fine with milk and cream and butter. The diet she's on is low carb rather than no carbs at all. She eats a bit of bread, but has largely cut out potatoes and rice and cereals.

[red-girl-42.livejournal.com]

Heh, yup, there's an actual Paleo diet and while most of its principles are pretty sound, I get annoyed when people use evolution to claim that we are "designed" for this or that.

But it sounds like Ailz's diet is really just more commonsense. Hope it works out for her!