The Paleo Diet, also known as the Caveman Diet, is a model of eating whose premise is to eat in the same way we did 12.000 to 2,59 million years ago, in the Paleolithic age.
Obviously, the evolution of the human being has been linked to the transformation of our diet, incorporating dishes such as legumes into our food source, which are very beneficial for us, but which, however, are prohibited for all those who follow a paleo diet .
You can find numerous web pages that highlight the benefits of this diet, however, we want to focus on the totally opposite, and there are several reasons why we apply in this way.
Would you like to know which ones? Pay attention.
When does the Paleo Diet arise and what is its goal?
Before explaining the reasons why you should refuse to follow the paleo diet, we want to give you a brief introduction so that you understand when this movement of the paleo diet arose, and what is the main objective that is being pursued.
It was popularized in the 70s by the gastroenterologist Walter L. Voegtlin and since then there have been many people who have joined this movement, in which its main foundation consists in affirming that the human being is genetically constituted to feed itself as it did in the Paleolithic, completely rejecting the current diet.
In addition, he points out that a diet based on these principles avoids suffering from diseases. And, additionally, it is completely opposed to the intake of processed products, which currently constitute a large part of the diet of many people, which, of course, contributes enormously to damaging their health and the creation of diseases .
Therefore, and before explaining the 5 reasons why you should refuse to follow this eating model, we point out that, as usual, it is possible to extract some positive aspect from such diets, in this case, encourage the intake of plant products natural.
Reasons to reject the Paleo Diet
We are going to focus on explaining the 5 most important reasons to reject this diet, among other reasons to oppose the Paleo diet.
Elimination of necessary food
This is the first disadvantage of following this diet. As we have already pointed out, humans have radically evolved since the Paleolithic age, and eliminating entire food groups can have negative consequences for your health.
For example, this model eliminates legumes from your diet, which have great benefits such as magnesium, selenium or manganese.
Necessary proportions
In this section, the cave man’s diet leaves much to be desired.
The reason is that we do not know exactly what the daily amounts of food were eaten.
Therefore, if the premise of this diet consists in affirming that genetically we have not evolved enough to modify our diet, the fact of not knowing what amounts to eat contradicts the essence and logic of this model.
Change of environment
Although a priori it seems easy to choose to feed as we did thousands or millions of years ago, the truth is that the environment has varied enormously, in such a way that neither the animals, nor the facilities, nor the rest of the factors continue the same way, which makes the task difficult.
Protein surplus
To these disadvantages we add the fact that this diet requires including animal protein in all daily meals, which range around 4 meals. However, this statement lacks logic, since, if the objective is to eat as our ancestors did, the daily intake of animal protein should be reduced considerably, since our ancestors lacked the necessary means to be able to hunt and refrigerate animals with which to ingest these amounts proposed by this diet.
Olana ara-pahasalamana
For the end we have left this disadvantage, which is rather a danger. And it is that some investigations carried out before the rise of this movement indicate the following risks:
- Twice as much of a key marker associated with heart disease is produced, increasing your chances of suffering from it, according to studies conducted by researchers at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia.
- The paleodiet supposes the daily intake of red meat, more favorable to produce TMAO, which supposes an increase in cardiovascular risk.
- Calcium deficiency and vitamins such as D or B.
To conclude, we point out that, although you should not choose to eat as if you were in the Paleolithic age, it is true that, today, many people follow an unhealthy diet.
If in your case you are looking to lose weight, lead a healthier life or any other reason that leads you to change your diet, you can choose other ways of eating, such as eliminating ultra-processed foods, increasing your intake of natural products, fruits and vegetables, and, of course, don’t forget to exercise if you want to lead a healthier life.