Self-Aggrandizement: shape up - part 2: eat like a caveman

shape up - part 2: eat like a caveman
Filed Wednesday, March 3 2004.

In the last section, I explained why eating old-school, waaaay old-school makes sense: our bodies evolved for it, and function much better when we do. Paleothic eaters, like more modern hunter/gatherers, were lean, fit, and free of most of the chronic diseases that plague society. So what, exactly, did they eat?

Well, lots of different things. Obviously Paleolithic hunter/gatherers in the heart of Africa ate wildly differently from those living in the Swiss Alps or along the coast of Alaska. Fortunately for you, with the miracles of the modern food system, you likely have access to the vast majority of what any of them ate. Unfortunately for you, you also have access to all kinds of other items that almost certainly didn't show up at Paleo dinnertime. What makes the cut? First, two rules of thumb:

If you were stuck out in nature with nothing but some sharp sticks and rocks, would the food still be available to you?
Could you eat it raw, unaltered and unprocessed, and still extract the nutrients from it without becoming sick?

If you can answer yes to both, the food fits. That doesn't mean you have to actually procure the food yourself using rocks and sticks. Similarly, that doesn’t mean you have to eat it raw. (In fact, given the number of bacterial contaminants in today's food system, eating uncooked meat, poultry, fish or eggs is probably a very bad idea). You just need to choose the foods where you could if you had to.

Functionally, those two questions boil down the world of food into six very easy guidelines about what you should eat:

All the lean meats, fish and seafood you can eat.
All the fruits, nuts, berries and nonstarchy vegetables you can eat.
No cereals / grains.
No legumes.
No dairy products.
No processed foods.

That's it. A paragon of simplicity. Of course, the tough part is actually following those guidelines day to day. To that end, a few relevant questions:

1. So how long do I have to eat like this?

Try this question instead: how long do you have to brush your teeth? Obviously, as long as you'd like to keep your teeth. Similarly, you need to eat Paleo as long as you'd like to stay fit and healthy.

2. Whoa, whoa, whoa! So you're saying I can never again eat chocolate cake or a slice of pizza?

God no! Yesterday evening, I met Krissa at the Magnolia bakery, and you can be damn sure I didn't pass up eating a couple of cupcakes because of some caveman guidelines. This is where most diets get ugly. People follow Atkins or South Beach or whatever obsessively for a few weeks. Eventually, however, the cravings add up to the point that they basically crack and end up eating an entire carton of Ben & Jerry's in one sitting. Then they beat themselves up about being unable to follow the diet and simply quit trying.

Instead, I recommend shooting for eating 90% of your meals Paleo. I've been hitting that level myself, and it seems to be more than enough to create great results. If you end up at a nice restaurant, by all means, eat dessert. But a Harvard study about a decade back showed that most people eat the same twelve meals again and again. Replace (or modify) those with Paleo-friendly alternatives and you can hit the 90% mark exceedingly easily.

But, if you're jonesing for some item of food, eat it. Nobody ever got fat at a single meal. It's what you do most of the time that generates most of the results.

3. No grains? So is this one of those low carb diets?

No. Actually, the avereage hunter/gatherer got between 30% and 40% of their daily calories from carbohydrates (not far from the 45% to 50% in the average US diet). The difference is simply that the carbohydrates they ate (in the form of fruits and vegetables) were much healthier than the relatively nutritionally empty (and glycemic load heavy) ones in refined grains.

As compared to Atkins or any other low-carb fad diet, the Paleo approach has more protein and carbohydrates, less fats overall, though more healthy fats and a better Omega 3 to Omega 6 fat balance. Plus it naturally includes vastly more fiber and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals).

4. But all the lean meats, fruits and vegetables I can eat? Don't I need to cut calories to lose weight?

Not really. Despite what Weight Watchers would have you believe, metabolism isn't a simple linear system where calories gained = calories in - calories out. Foods are subject to enzymes called partitioning agents, which decide what to do with the incoming fuel - use it for immediate energy, store it as fat, flush it out of the system, etc - and different types of foods inact partitioning agents in different ways. In other words, decades of research have shown that what you eat is significantly more important than how much. Additionally, as fruits and vegetables contain lots of fiber, they have very low calorie density - you can eat a lot of them without getting an unreasonable number of calories in. Similary, as protein and moderate amounts of fats activate the satiety sensors in your digestive track, your body naturally tells you when you've eaten a good amount of lean meats and seafood, no conscious calorie restriction or other deprivation needed.

5. What do I do if I'm a vegetarian?

This one's tough. The reality is, you were made to eat other animals as part of your diet - that's why you have those sharp front teeth. You can certainly eat Paleo sticking to just eggs and seafood as protein sources. If you're strictly vegan, though, you really can't make the diet work. (If you are, I'd suggest you at least take a moment to thumb through the Beyond Vegetarianism site, which presents, very level-headedly, some of the nutritional problems vegan and fruitarian diets present.)

6. Won't eating this way mean really simple, bland meals?

Definitely not. For a slew of Paleo-friendly recipe ideas, check out Paleo Food.

More generally, for further information about eating Paleo, and the science behind the idea, you might wish to explore the PaleoDiet page.

So, in summary:

Eat all the lean meats, fish and seafood, fruits, nuts, berries, and nonstarchy vegetables you want.
Skip the grains, legumes, dairy products and processed foods.
Aim to stick with it about 90% of the time.
Get slim and healthy as a result.

Next up, a first look at exercise, the other half of the equation, in "Train for the Hunt" (or, as Greg prefers, "Walk Like an Egyptian".)

shape up - part 2: eat like a caveman Filed Wednesday, March 3 2004.

shape up - part 2: eat like a caveman
Filed Wednesday, March 3 2004.