4 ms·

The paleo dogma needs to stop. Eating whole, unprocessed, natural foods is great, but the science behind the paleo diet being “the one and only diet that ideal

The paleo dogma needs to stop. Eating whole, unprocessed, natural foods is great, but the science behind the paleo diet being “the one and only diet that ideally fits our genetic makeup” - I mean if that literally doesn't sound like dogma, I don't know what does. There is no "one and only" stone age diet - you ate what was around you! The Inuit aren't eating oranges and spinach, that stuff doesn't grow in the tundra. Similarly, you won't be eating deer and bison in Greece, but you will be eating fish and olives. There are societies across many geographic regions with long life expectancies, and their diets vary wildly. The Grecians eat lots of fruits, veggies, olive oil, fish, goat milk and wine. The Japanese eat soybeans, sweet potatoes, white rice, seaweed, and fish. Sardinians eat lots of game, goat cheese/milk, beans, and barley. Each is home to peoples with the longest life expectancy on earth today, and each has at least one staple that is not considered paleo friendly. Alan Aragon did a great talk critiquing the paleo diet, which you can read more about here[1]. [1] http://www.nsca.com/uploadedfiles/nsca/inactive_content/program_books/ptc_2013_program_book/aragon.pdf http://www.nsca.com/uploadedfiles/nsca/inactive_content/prog...

shard972 11y ago
> Eating whole, unprocessed, natural foods is great, but the science behind the paleo diet being “the one and only diet that ideally fits our genetic makeup” - I mean if that literally doesn't sound like dogma, I don't know what does. The paleo straw manning needs to stop. Most people I know that use paleo as a standard to live by don't think it's the be all, end all. That if you eat anything you couldn't get 60,000+ years it's automatically bad, that isn't how people that actually follow paleo go about it. > There is no "one and only" stone age diet - you ate what was around you! The Inuit aren't eating oranges and spinach, that stuff doesn't grow in the tundra. Similarly, you won't be eating deer and bison in Greece, but you will be eating fish and olives. The fact that you put this out as an argument against further proves what im saying, I really don't see how this applies to anyone but the hardcore strict paleo which doens't really exist outside of the ones who write and sell books. > There are societies across many geographic regions with long life expectancies, and their diets vary wildly. Yes, these kind of conversations are the ones I find myself having with paleo-minded people more often. About trying to work out what food our bodies work better with, I really am stumped as to why you are seeing this is a knock on paleo. > The Grecians eat lots of fruits, veggies, olive oil, fish, goat milk and wine. The Japanese eat soybeans, sweet potatoes, white rice, seaweed, and fish. Sardinians eat lots of game, goat cheese/milk, beans, and barley. Each is home to peoples with the longest life expectancy on earth today, and each has at least one staple that is not considered paleo friendly. If you read the book outliers you would also know that food isn't the only contributing factor to life expectancy by a long shot. The example in the book about the greek town who by any dietary standards was eating incredibly faty and unhealthy foods had extraordinary high life expectancy, believed to be due to their extremely high happiness due to their tight-knit social structure. > Alan Aragon did a great talk critiquing the paleo diet, which you can read more about here I don't see why I should even bother when you start off your comment talking about the dogma needs to stop and you throw out a bunch of half assed arguments which don't address paleo directly. This dogma needs to stop.
- austinjp 11y ago
  The point being that humans are generalists: diet, activity, everything. There is no one perfect diet that works for everyone. The mess of evolution has left us with intestines and behaviours that will generally keep us alive for as long as possible under most circumstances. "Eat food. Mainly plants. Not too much." "Specialisation is for insects." Both those quotes are trite and not without problems, but these are the Occam's razors I'd take to most discussions of diet and lifestyle choices.

shard972 11y ago

> Eating whole, unprocessed, natural foods is great, but the science behind the paleo diet being “the one and only diet that ideally fits our genetic makeup” - I mean if that literally doesn't sound like dogma, I don't know what does. The paleo straw manning needs to stop. Most people I know that use paleo as a standard to live by don't think it's the be all, end all. That if you eat anything you couldn't get 60,000+ years it's automatically bad, that isn't how people that actually follow paleo go about it. > There is no "one and only" stone age diet - you ate what was around you! The Inuit aren't eating oranges and spinach, that stuff doesn't grow in the tundra. Similarly, you won't be eating deer and bison in Greece, but you will be eating fish and olives. The fact that you put this out as an argument against further proves what im saying, I really don't see how this applies to anyone but the hardcore strict paleo which doens't really exist outside of the ones who write and sell books. > There are societies across many geographic regions with long life expectancies, and their diets vary wildly. Yes, these kind of conversations are the ones I find myself having with paleo-minded people more often. About trying to work out what food our bodies work better with, I really am stumped as to why you are seeing this is a knock on paleo. > The Grecians eat lots of fruits, veggies, olive oil, fish, goat milk and wine. The Japanese eat soybeans, sweet potatoes, white rice, seaweed, and fish. Sardinians eat lots of game, goat cheese/milk, beans, and barley. Each is home to peoples with the longest life expectancy on earth today, and each has at least one staple that is not considered paleo friendly. If you read the book outliers you would also know that food isn't the only contributing factor to life expectancy by a long shot. The example in the book about the greek town who by any dietary standards was eating incredibly faty and unhealthy foods had extraordinary high life expectancy, believed to be due to their extremely high happiness due to their tight-knit social structure. > Alan Aragon did a great talk critiquing the paleo diet, which you can read more about here I don't see why I should even bother when you start off your comment talking about the dogma needs to stop and you throw out a bunch of half assed arguments which don't address paleo directly. This dogma needs to stop.

austinjp 11y ago
The point being that humans are generalists: diet, activity, everything. There is no one perfect diet that works for everyone. The mess of evolution has left us with intestines and behaviours that will generally keep us alive for as long as possible under most circumstances. "Eat food. Mainly plants. Not too much." "Specialisation is for insects." Both those quotes are trite and not without problems, but these are the Occam's razors I'd take to most discussions of diet and lifestyle choices.