What is the Paleo Diet? Why is it the best Human Diet?
In geologic time we humans have not been on the Earth for very long, less than half a billion years if you consider the dozens of different versions that the human form has adapted in various times and situations. During most of that time the collective ‘we’ have had a great diet and then about 10,000 years ago the collection of foods that we consider good food began to shift, not for the better.
Archeologists love to name periods of time depending on the way in which human interacted with their environment and used the Earth’s resources. 10,000 years ago was the end of the Paleolithic age, so calling this the Paleo Diet is a bit of a misnomer because we had been eating this way through all of the other previous eras as well, more or less. On the other hand the research that was done was based in a large part on measuring human remains from the Paleolithic time to today’s modern period and in the process realizing that when humans added grains, beans and dairy to their diets the population shrank in height, significantly. The average height for humans is still not as tall as their counterparts at the end of the Paleolithic period. Makes you think!
During most of humanity’s time on Earth we thrived on a diet of lean meats and fish, vegetables and fruit, nuts and seeds. The vegetables were mostly freshly gathered and non-starchy. For example a potato is a starchy vegetable that requires significant cooking to be edible. While some root vegetables were part of the diet they were not the core foods. Today how many people consider French Fries or a bag of potato chips a meal or snack? That’s why Paleolithic people were a lot leaner than today’s couch potatoes.