Calling All Paleo Dieters!
David L. Katz, MD, MPH
CMO, Tangelo. Founder: Diet ID; True Health Initiative. Founding Director, Yale-Griffin PRC (1998-2019). Health Journalist. COVID Curmudgeon
My prior column was NOT about the Paleo diet. To avoid any possible misunderstanding, let me rephrase that: my prior column was not about the Paleo diet.
At last check, though, it had nearly 200 comments, many of them rants in defense of the Paleo diet I never attacked in the first place. This might be the first scientific evidence that the Paleo diet produces illiteracy? Or vice versa. Whatever.
More likely is that in our “ready, fire, aim” culture, people write comments about articles they haven’t actually read- perhaps on the basis of comments they have read, written by other people who also never read the article.
Whatever the explanation, the train of irate commentary ran entirely off the tracks. Because, as noted, the column in question was NOT about the Paleo diet.
Rather, the Paleo diet was invoked to point out that it CANNOT legitimately be used as justification for the now popular “eat more meat, butter, and cheese” movement for two reasons. First, the Paleo diet explicitly EXCLUDES butter and cheese, dairy products appended to the human diet only since the dawn of agriculture. And, second, the meat consumed by our Stone Age ancestors differs markedly from the meat most people eat today. Those people invoking the Paleo banner to justify eating hot dogs and deli meats are the ones attacking it, not I.
So, what are my views of the Paleo diet? On the basis of available evidence, as well as the robust relevance of evolutionary biology, it is a legitimate contender (although by no means the only one) for “best diet for human health” laurels. I have published that very conclusion in the peer-reviewed literature. I have also opined on the Paleo diet in pop culture- although NOT, as noted (in case you missed the memo), in my prior column. Did I mention that was not about the Paleo diet?
I do have some concerns. The most salient is that it is, of course, impossible to eat a ‘true’ Paleo diet, since virtually all of the animals and most of the plants our ancestors ate in the Stone Age are extinct. Second is that relatively few people claiming to eat ‘Paleo’ do it well, meaning a diet of game and diverse plant foods. Third is that Paleo eating was a part of Paleo living, which included lots of daily physical activity, hunting, and gathering; those are routinely omitted (as are other important considerations, from fiber intake to sleep; sun exposure to stress). Fourth is that what worked for scattered, isolated clans may work a lot less well for a global human population in excess of 7 billion.
But such concerns notwithstanding, I think the Paleo diet, practiced with fidelity, is a vast improvement over the typical American diet and a worthy contestant in the “best diet for health” pageant. I did not, and do not oppose it.
I do, however, oppose crazed, semi-literate, knee-jerk, read-only-the-title, ready-fire-aim, spear-slinging stupidity, no offense. In accord with which, kindly permit me to offer a tip: steer clear of such wanton spear casts when next hunting mammoth. Because if you find one, it’s really likely to piss him off.
-fin
Dr. David L. Katz has authored three editions of a leading nutrition textbook, and he throws a mean spear. He is a bit concerned that if our Stone Age ancestors could come back and see what a pack of loonies their offspring have turned out to be, they’d never stop throwing up.
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10 年Well said
LPC (Cand.)
10 年Thanks as always for a sane, well-reasoned perspective.
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10 年I agreed with you on that columm. Indeed, what the Paleo diet advocates is just Hollywood's notion of what Paleolithic people ate. Archaeological evidents suggests otherwise, especially concerning grains. I read somewhere that anthropologists found grain fragments in the teeth of skulls dating back 200,000 years. And you are right about dairy products, since domestication of animals happened during the NEOLITHIC period. In the end it probably is not your diet, but your genes anyway. My great-grandmother and my grandmother both lived past 100, active until the last couple years of their lives, and neither were close to the Paleolithic diet.
Health for all at no cost
10 年Whatever you want to eat, eat. The only condition is that you should wait for feeling of hungry for next dish. With regards
cand.psych. aut. (psychologist) at Favrskov Rusmiddelcenter
10 年Your statement that the Paleo diet produces illiteracy is very weak. You very briefly mention the possibility of reverse causality, which actually makes much more sense if you think about it, but I believe that there is a deeper underlying explanation to the nature of the comments to your current and previous column. For many people, following strict dietary rules has long stopped being simply about nourishing the body with the necessary ingredients. It is about belief in doing the right thing, it is a way of life and it is about belonging to a group (or in some instances, arguably a cult). All of a sudden you are treading over people’s religion here, and not just choice of lunch. Now let us go back a bit here and think, what would a Paleolithic community do, if they saw you approaching their cave waving something that from a distance looks like spears, or even worse, if they thought you were trying to set fire to their totem? Would they let you get close and hear you out, or would they throw some stones at you as soon as you were in reach?