The Paleolithic Diet - Should We Eat Like Our "Caveman" Ancestors?
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The Paleolithic Diet - Should We Eat Like Our "Caveman" Ancestors?
The Paleolithic Diet - Should We Eat Like Our "Cave Man" Ancestors? By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS |
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Burn The Fat And Feed The Muscle Book
Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle Syndicated Q & A Column
(Ask Tom Venuto - The Fat Loss Guru)
QUESTION: Hi Tom: Your Burn The Fat, Feed
The Muscle ebook was an eye-opener for me. I am
following your advice closely with very good
results. I'm a semi professional windsurfer and
a mountain biker, and especially for the latter
I need to be as lean as possible. Thanks in
large part to your program, I'm well into single
digit body fat and dropping. Just recently I
came across a book called the paleolithic diet
and I was wondering if you ever heard about it?
What's your opinion on this book? Is it worth
reading if I already have your book? Is the
program any good?
Mariusz
Poland
ANSWER: The "paleolithic," "stone age,"
"cave man," or "neanderthal" eating plans have
been around for a while and there are quite a
few books that have been written on the subject.
In general, with a only few minor constructive
criticisms, I think they are right on point, and
will benefit your health and definitely your fat
loss efforts.
A "Paleo Diet" is actually quite similar to my
Burn The Fat program, only with the starches and
grains (and dairy products) removed completely.
In fact, a "paleo" or "cave man" diet is very,
very similar to the "contest" (bodybuilding or
physique) diets I recommend in Burn The Fat,
Feed The Muscle and this is most definitely a
great way get very lean, very fast.
On physique competition diets (bodybuilding,
fitness, figure, etc), you leave the lean
proteins, lean meats, nuts and seeds, the green
veggies (fibrous carbs), and some fruit in the
diet, while reducing or removing ALL processed
foods and SOME of the grains and starches.
(usually the dairy products go too).
When it comes to MAXIMUM FAT LOSS, the removal
or reduction of grains and calorie dense starchy
carbs in favor of lean protein and veggies will
definitely help speed the process - even if
that's only because it reduces caloric density
of the food intake, although there are other
reasons.
Lean protein (fish and meat) + good fats & nuts
+ lots of green veggies + some fruit = LEAN!
And thats basically what the "paleolithic" diets
recommend, because the principle there is to eat
like our "stone age" ancestors did - before
there was McDonalds, Coca Cola and other junk
food.
The premise is that since our genetic code (the
human genome) has changed less than 0.02 percent
in 40,000 years, this means that our bodies are
still expecting to get the same foods and
nutrition they were getting 40,000 years ago.
By eating what our "stone age" hunter and
gatherer ancestors ate, say the paleo diets, we
will rid ourselves of the health problems and
the obesity problem that has only recently begun
to plague us as a result of modern lifestyle and
processed manmade foods.
Forty thousand years ago, you had to eat
nature-made food. There was no food in cans,
boxes or packages was there? The packaging was
peel, a skin or a shell!
There were no TV dinners. There was no drive in
fast food. There were no convenience stores.
There was no corn syrup. There was no white
sugar. There were no hydrogenated oils. No
chemicals. No preservatives. No artificial
anything.
There was only what could be hunted and
gathered: Meat, fish, nuts, seeds, plants,
vegetables, fruits.
My only real constructive criticism is that some
of these programs not only recommend removal of
all grains and starches (and even dairy), they
outright condemn them - sometimes unfairly, I
believe.
They say that agriculture arrived on the scence
only 10,000 years ago so foods produced as a
result of agriculture should also be on the
"banned" list and that includes 100% whole grain
products and even rice, potatoes and other
starches which are not manmade.
The truth is there are some starchy
carbohydrates and grains which are very
minimally processed or completely unproceseed
(the only processing being cooking).
Also, some people can metabolically handle
starches and grains just fine, while others
cannot. The same can be said for dairy products.
This is known as metabolic individuality.
Because this individuality exists from person to
person, I don't believe it's necessary to
recommend that "EVERYONE" cut out "ALL" the
starches and grains "ALL" the time.
I do believe that many people are getting an
overdose of refined carbs and sugar and that
moderating intake of concentrated carbs almost
always accelerates fat loss.
However, the nutrition program you choose should
depend on your metabolic/body type, your current
body composition and state of health as well as
your goals (maximum fat loss vs. muscle growth
vs. maintenance, vs. endurance
athleticperformance).
I don't believe that "agriculture" and
everything that came with it is "evil."
I believe that highly processed and refined and
packaged foods are the "nutritional evils" we
should be aware of.
To remove brown rice, 100% whole grains, sweet
potatoes, oatmeal, legumes and so on for healthy
carb tolerant people, especially those who are
highly active and or already at a normal body
fat level doesnt make a lot of sense to me.
In particular, for athletes with a high energy
expenditure, eating the concentrated complex,
starchy carbs and grains - from natural sources
- can be quite important.
Sure, there are some "renegade' nutritionists
who prescribe high fat diets for endurance
athletes and claim that will provide high energy
and high performance, but that is controversial.
Also, an explanation for athletes successful on
such plans may be that they are metabolically
suited for more fat and protein to begin with,
so that conclusion shouldn't be generalized to
everyone.
Thats the trouble with so many programs -- the
creators might say, "It worked for me and for
some of my clients, so this is the way EVERYONE
should do it."
Everyone is different, so the true inquiring
minds will inquire about what is best for THEM,
not the other guy... In the case of highly
active healthy people and athletes, I would lean
towards a decent amount of natural carbs
forperformance goals (and pull back on starches
and grains when goals change to maximum fat
loss).
The key word here is NATURAL!
There is a HUGE difference between natural
starches and grains and refined starches and
grains.
For example, look at old fashioned unsweetened
oatmeal versus sugary, white flour cereal
grains. How can you throw those together into
the same category??? They are no where near the
same, but often they get lumped together by
those who are adamantly "no-grain" or
"no-cereal" allowed.
What about sweet potatoes? why cut something
like that out of your diet? They are not
processed or man made at all are they?
Aside from that minor quibble I have with some
of these programs being too strict with their
"Absolutely no grains or starch allowed," there
is a lot anyone can learn from the "paleolithic"
eating concept.
The questions raised from these programs and
books are good ones:
"What were we eating tens of thousands of years
ago?"
"What are we genetically and environmentally
predisposed to eat?"
"what has gone wrong with the modern day diet
that has led to so much disease and obesity
which didn't exist thousands of years ago?"
I believe that too many people get caught up in
low fats or low carbs or whatever the trend of
the month is, but the real source of our problem
is neither fat nor carbs, it is an excess of
processed, refined man-made food! (combined with
a serious shortage of exercise)
If you study and understand the concept of
eating according to your personal goals and your
unique body/metabolic type first, which I
discuss in chapter 5 of my book, Burn The Fat,
Feed The Muscle, then I believe you will get
even more benefit from the further study of the
"paleo" eating concept, as you will be informed
and flexible enough to adapt it to your personal
situation.
Loren Cordain and Ray Audette have written two
of the more notable works on the subject (the
Paleo diet and Neanderthin). You can get either
of these at almost any bookstore or Amazon.com.
You can get my Burn The Fat program at
burnthefat
ANY good nutrition program - for health or for
fat loss - is going to be focused on natural
foods and it will teach you how to get the
processed food OUT and the natural food IN
When you analyze ANY diet or nutrition program,
keep in mind what ageless Fitness Icon Jack
Lalanne has always said,
"If man made it, dont eat it!"
THAT is the essence of eating how we're supposed
to eat!
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Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written more than 200 articles and has been featured in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide.
