Introduction/Review
The Paleo fad diet has been available for quite a while now. The actual idea that by switching to consume ‘paleolithic’ food one will get much healthier can be traced to as far back as 1975. Nevertheless, it was not up until the year 2002 (which saw the publishing of Loren Cordain’s book The Paleo Diet) that the concerned diet began to enjoy much popularity with people.
The diet’s philosophy is not too difficult to grasp, “Eat like our ancestors, and you could not only improve your health but also lose weight” (Orenstein, 2012, par. 1). Such a claim is backed by the assumption that processed food, eaten by the majority of people in just about any country, is much too high on fats and carbs – something that naturally results in increasing the likelihood for this food’s aficionados to end up gaining some excessive weight. The foods of a cave dweller, on the other hand, could not have had such a quality by definition, since there were no food-processing plants during the Paleolithic era. These foods include red meat, eggs, fish, fruits, nonstarchy vegetables, seeds/nuts, and olive oil. The diet’s presumed main benefits are as follows:
- While on this specific diet, a person will never have to worry about getting enough lean proteins, which play an important role in ensuring the proper functioning of his or her immune system. One’s willingness to replenish his or her body with lean proteins daily is also commonly recognized as the foremost precondition for the concerned individual to be able to enjoy having strong muscles and bones.
- Those on the Paleo diet are guaranteed to receive adequate intakes of different vitamins and minerals (contained in fruits and vegetables) as well, which in turn will reduce these people’s chances to succumb to several different illnesses, believed to be at least partially triggered by the factor of ‘nutritional deficiency’.
- The Paleo diet does tolerate some moderate intakes of the so-called ‘healthy fats’ (such as Omega 13), on the part of its affiliates. This results in both – causing the discussed diet to enjoy the reputation of being ‘tasty’, on one hand, and showing that its provisions are continually updated to correlate with the latest discoveries in the field of nutriology, on the other. It is understood, of course, that this increases rather substantially the diet’s popular appeal.
According to the nutritionists who endorse the Paleo diet, it only takes a few weeks from the time when a particular person decides to become a ‘Paleo dieter’ for such his or her decision to begin paying off in several different ways. Among the most notable effects in this respect are commonly listed, “Improved blood lipids, weight loss, and reduced pain from autoimmunity” (Wolf, 2014, par. 7). Moreover, it has also been reported that the diet’s committed practitioners tend to exhibit a positive attitude towards life. Many nutritionists regard such reports as yet additional proof that by becoming affiliated with the Paleo diet, people can increase the efficiency of metabolic processes in their bodies.
Nevertheless, there also appear to be a few cons to the diet in question. Among the most notable of them can be named:
- It usually proves very challenging for ordinary people to remain thoroughly observant of the diet’s provisions while taking practical advantage of it. The main reason for this is that the organically grown fruits and vegetables, which account for the bulk of food items on the menu of just about every ‘Paleo dieter’, are pricy. Moreover, they cannot be stored in the fridge for too long.
- There is an apparent lack of empirically obtained evidence as to the diet’s ability to help the affected individuals, within the context of how they go about trying to lose weight.
- There is still much uncertainty as to what may account for the diet’s long-term effects.
- Many of the diet’s discursive provisions appear clearly unscientific, if not to say deliberately misleading. For example, those on this particular diet are expected to refrain from consuming sugar, unless it comes in some ‘natural form’. However, there is very little rationale for acting in such a manner, “There’s little evidence that choosing ‘natural’ sweeteners such as agave nectar, date sugar, honey or maple syrup, rather than sugar, has any health benefits” (“Should you eat”, 2015, p. 5). This naturally presupposes that the Paleo diet should primarily appeal to individuals with very little (if any) education.
Discussion/Recommendation
When it comes to assessing the effectiveness of a particular diet, one should pay little attention to other people’s personalized opinions of it, especially if these opinions appear strongly supportive (uncritical). Instead, it will make much more sense to look for the statistical data of relevance, regarding this diet. Once evaluated in conjunction with what different analytical studies have to say about it, the benefits of the Paleo diet will emerge exaggerated, to say the least. The reason for this is that the findings of most studies conducted to define the diet’s effects on the selected participants are best defined as mutually inconsistent and even contradictory.
For example, according to the study by Masharani et al. (2015), “Even short-term consumption of a Paleolithic-type diet improved glucose control and lipid profiles in people with type 2 diabetes compared with a conventional diet containing moderate salt intake, low-fat dairy, whole grains and legumes” (p. 944). However, according to the findings of the Australian study (conducted at Edith Cowan University), which aimed to identify the effects of the Paleo diet on women, “The Paleo diet causes more negative side effects than traditional diets… (The female participants who agreed to consume the Paleo diet for one month) reported higher rates of tiredness and difficulty sleeping” (“Paleo diet probed”, 2016, p. 21). The most plausible explanation for this is that the Paleo diet is not so much of a diet per se, but rather yet another method for capitalizing on the irrational desire of many gullible people in the West to lose weight without having to lead a physically active lifestyle. (Johnson, 2016). The striking dichotomy between the findings of both mentioned studies is most likely signifies that the Paleo diet has no spatially stable effects on people, whatsoever and that there must have been some unaccounted factors at play affecting the concerned outcomes – pure and simple.
In light of the above-stated, one can hardly be in the position to recommend the adoption of the Paleo diet by just about anyone, with the possible exception of those men and women who happened to be bored with themselves and who have enough money to consider throwing it in the air.
References
Johnson, A. (2016). Paleo diets and utopian dreams. Skeptic, 21, 10-18.
Masharani, U., Sherchan, P., Schloetter, M., Stratford, S., Xiao, A., Sebastian, A… Frassetto, L. (2015). Metabolic and physiologic effects from consuming a hunter-gatherer (paleolithic)-type diet in Type 2 diabetes. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 69(8), 944-948.
Orenstein, B. (2012). The Paleo diet. Web.
Paleo diet probed. (2016). Australian Nursing and Midwifery Journal, 24(3), 21.
Should you eat like a caveman? (2015). Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter, 33(5), 4-5.
Wolf, R. (2014). What is the Paleo diet? Web.