How the Paleolithic Diet Makes You Eat Like a Caveman

The mere thought of cavemen brings to the mind a host of images ranging from their long, wild hair to their hunting clubs. However, most people do not even realize that the cavemen have actually set the best example for eating healthy and natural foods.

The cavemen lived during a time age before agriculture took a foothold in societies around the world. They walked for extreme distances to hunt and gather their food, and were extremely fit and healthy. They ate mostly of the animals they hunted and also ate fruits, nuts and berries. If there was ever a scarcity of food in an area, they moved on to find another area filled with provision.

The Paleolithic diet can be said to be the oldest human dietary pattern of all. Ten thousand odd years ago people learnt how to do farming, but the actual completion of the Paleolithic age came already 20,000 years ago. We know that the genes involved in nurturing adaptation of the human metabolism needs hundreds of thousands of years before it can properly adapt to conditions. This is probably why theorists of the Paleo diet believe to date human beings have not fully developed their metabolisms to cope with eating grains, legumes and dairy products. These were all in fact introduced only at the time when agriculture first started and were not eaten at all in the Paleolithic era.

The Paleolithic diet emphasises dropping processed foods completely from one's diet. Even if they are made up of wheat based foods like bread, donuts, cookies and pastries. The cavemen never even heard of these foods. The same applies to dairy products that were not available to the cavemen and that is the reason why the Paleo diet wants us to stay away from milk, yogurt and butter etc. The cavemen actually ate a very nutrient rich diet that consisted of animal based proteins, fresh fruits and vegetables.

In the Paleo diet we are told to eat lean cuts of meat as this was the habit of the cavemen. They were lucky during the age they lived in because none of the animals they hunted had undergone any kind of human interference in their rearing. We can add lean meats to our diet from a selection of leaner cuts such as these listed here: chuck steak, London broil, lean pork, pork chops, pork loin, flank steak, top sirloin steak and lean beef. Beef burgers are also fine as long as they contain a minimum fat content of 7% or less. Poultry consisting of chicken and turkey breasts are welcome in the Paleo diet. As are eggs since we know the cavemen ate them also. Just be sure to not eat more than six eggs in a given week.

The Paleolithic diet aids the body in the absorption of key nutrients. Your body also benefits from a much more balanced distribution of minerals and vitamins. One of the most important benefits however is the resultant slow down of one's digestion made possible by eating lots of fresh plants and lean meat. A slower digestion translates to even blood sugar levels as well as a regulated appetite. This helps you by making you feel satisfied for longer periods of time, effectively preventing your food intake from reaching unhealthy levels. Which means you won't overeat and hence you won't increase your weight if you don't want to