Paleo Diet
The Paleolithic Diet
You see it every day, someone goes to grocery store grabs a box of Mac and Cheese some frozen burgers and goes home to make their families dinner for that evening. But what did man do before processed food was available? Even more so, what did man do before the agricultural revolution almost 10’000 years ago? The term “Hunter-Gatherer” is almost lost to the modern world, something that you only hear about in stories of our past or in fictional recollections. Another question I pose to the reader, What is the food that we consume today doing to our bodies? Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death, accounting for 41% of fatalities. So what can we do, How do we change how we have been eating our entire lives? The answer in certainly not simple but there is evidence to support that by adopting a not-so new approach to dieting we can literally prevent disease, increase vitality, and prolong our life-span. But what is the approach that I’m talking about, And if it is not so new then why are people still virtually unaware of its existence? There could be any number of reasons to that question, and that is not the point of this research paper. I am here to discuss one particular food movement and the positive effects it can have on the human body.
So what is the Paleolithic, or paleodiet? It is a nutritional plan of wilds plants and animals that the various human species consumed during the Paleolithic era, a period that lasted about 2.5 million years, and ended about 10’000 years ago with the introduction of the agricultural revolution. (O'Keefe & Cordain, 2004) Terms such as Paleolithic diet refer to our actual ancestral diet, it includes lean meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. It excludes however all grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils. Paleolithic nutrition is based on the idea that modern humans are genetically adapted to the diet of their Paleolithic ancestors and that human
You see it every day, someone goes to grocery store grabs a box of Mac and Cheese some frozen burgers and goes home to make their families dinner for that evening. But what did man do before processed food was available? Even more so, what did man do before the agricultural revolution almost 10’000 years ago? The term “Hunter-Gatherer” is almost lost to the modern world, something that you only hear about in stories of our past or in fictional recollections. Another question I pose to the reader, What is the food that we consume today doing to our bodies? Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death, accounting for 41% of fatalities. So what can we do, How do we change how we have been eating our entire lives? The answer in certainly not simple but there is evidence to support that by adopting a not-so new approach to dieting we can literally prevent disease, increase vitality, and prolong our life-span. But what is the approach that I’m talking about, And if it is not so new then why are people still virtually unaware of its existence? There could be any number of reasons to that question, and that is not the point of this research paper. I am here to discuss one particular food movement and the positive effects it can have on the human body.
So what is the Paleolithic, or paleodiet? It is a nutritional plan of wilds plants and animals that the various human species consumed during the Paleolithic era, a period that lasted about 2.5 million years, and ended about 10’000 years ago with the introduction of the agricultural revolution. (O'Keefe & Cordain, 2004) Terms such as Paleolithic diet refer to our actual ancestral diet, it includes lean meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. It excludes however all grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils. Paleolithic nutrition is based on the idea that modern humans are genetically adapted to the diet of their Paleolithic ancestors and that human