Paleo Diet: What to Eat and What to Avoid

The Palaeolithic Period, also called the Old Stone Age, was, to put it mildly, pretty primitive.

Prehistoric man lived without such modern-day culinary necessities as butter curlers and lemon zesters; they didn’t even have decent salad spinners. It was a very basic time where people got by without recipe books and full condiment sets.

As far as we know there were no celebrity chefs or cooking programs from which to gather inspiration. People simply made recipes up as they went along, quite literally. They happened upon an animal; they killed it and ate it. If something other than a leaf dangled from a tree, they picked it and ate it. And it seemed to work. Though personal health records from the Prehistoric Age are scarce and certainly weren’t computerised, it is unheard of a caveman or cavewoman been diagnosed with heart disease or diabetes.

This dubious ‘fact’ seems to have motivated certain modern day health nuts to return us to our roots, so to speak, and eat like prehistoric man. That’s the basis of the Paleo Diet.

What is Paleo diet?

Paleo diet, also referred to as the Paleolithic diet, caveman diet or stone-age diet, focuses on eating whole, unprocessed foods like grass-fed meat, free-range poultry, vegetables etc.

The Paleo diet plan is rooted in the notion that anything you can hunt or gather can be eaten as part of your diet plan. 

What can you eat on the Paleo diet?

• Non-starch vegetables, such as pumpkin, peppers asparagus and onions

• Fruit, particularly strawberries, mango, cantaloupe and figs

• Lean beef, poultry and pork

• Game such as venison and quail

• Eggs, ideally free-range

• Fish, including shellfish

• Nuts and seeds

What to avoid on the Paleo diet?

• All dairy products including milk, cheese, yogurt and butter

• Processed and cured meats like bacon, hot dogs, deli meat

• Starchy vegetables, such as potatoes

• Legumes, like beans, peanuts, and peas

• Cereal grains, such as wheat, rye, rice, and barley

• Sweets, including all forms of candy as well as honey and sugar

• Artificial sweeteners

• Soft drinks and fruit juices

• Highly processed foods

What do the experts say about the Paleo diet?

Research on how effective Paleo diet is, is still in its early days. Some say the Paleo diet has shown promising signs in weight reduction, while others are concerned at a diet removing entire food groups considered to be essential to general health. The best advice is to stay tuned as the research and evidence builds.

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