Paleo : Its so easy, a Caveman could do it!

The Original Paleolithic diet, was designed, as the name implies, to mimic the diets of our Paleolithic ancestors, who lived up until about 10,000 years ago, when modern agriculture began. It is based on the premise that, while our food technology has improved since the advent of agriculture, our bodies have been a little slow to catch up. We are better suited to the longstanding hunter-gatherer diet. The Paleolithic era lasted approximately 2.5 million years, it is theorized that during that time, hominids had sufficient time to adapt to the evolutionary pressures of the hunter-gatherer diet, and since then, we've had too little time to re-adapt to an agricultural diet.

Basically, you are physiologically designed to eat like a caveman or nomad, even if you no longer know it.

According to Dr. Cordain's version of Paleo, there are six main premises to follow during the diet, all of which have roots in the ancient hunter-gatherer diet :

here is a link to the theory behind the rules

Unfortunately, these premises, while helpful, leave open a bit too much room for interpretation. Where does my favorite food in the world, coffee, stand in all of this? Is roasting considered processed? What about salt? Or honey? Different versions of Paleo cut these grey areas in different ways, and in the end, its really up to you. Unlike Atkins, there is not exhaustive list of what to eat and not to eat on Paleo, and no hard and fast rules concerning carbohydrates either. 

However, on her website ( here ) Dr. Cordain expounds a bit more on the rules of Paleo. As far as carbohydrates go, the theory is that you should obtain 35 - 45% of your daily caloric intake from carbohydrates, 20 - 35% from protein sources, and the remainder in mono and polyunsaturated fats. (Fats which are liquid at room temperature) For contrast, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, makers of the infamous MyPlate and Food Pyramid, generally recommend a 45-60% carbs, 15-30% protein breakdown.

The best way, in my opinion, to calculate the number of grams of carbohydrate you should be eating on Paleo is thus :

Begin with an estimate of the calories you consume in a day  [for me its about 1800-2200 Cal/day]

Then multiply by the percent of calories you should obtain from carbs [ lets start with 35%]

1800 Cal (0.35) = 630 Cal from carbs

Then using the generally accepted calories to grams exchange,* 4 Cals / 1 gram of carbohydrate, we find the number of grams of carbohydrates we should consume :

630 Cal  ( 1 gram / 4 Cal) = 157.5 grams

This means that if you consume about 1800 Calories in a day, 630 of them should come from carbohydrates, which means you should consume approximately 157.5 grams of carbohydrate in a day. (booyah algebra!) After three weeks on 45 grams or less a day, this seems like a lot to me, but in comparison to the average western diet, this is actually quite low. 

Now you may be wondering how all of this translates into a very real, everyday kind of life. I began this morning on my first day of Paleo with a fruit smoothie made with coconut milk and strawberries, a hard boiled egg, and a cup of coffee. I feel a bit guilty about the coffee considering it toes the line in the grey area of Paleo, but I just love it too much to give it up completely. What I have promised myself is this, I will have only the one morning cup, and the rest of the day will consist of tea to get me through. Seems fair enough.

The other thing which was different this morning is that, for the first time, I am not alone in my crazy scheme. My mother has decided to join me on Paleo in the hopes of kickstarting her currently flagging weight loss. Unlike me, my mom is not pesce-octo-lavo-vegetarian, (means I eat fish, eggs and dairy) and will be able to better eat the full range of Paleolithic foods. Hopefully, Paleo can do for her what it purports, and it will be wonderful to have a compatriot in my diet experiment. Time to get down with our caveman roots!

* For the full range of exchanges, including fats, proteins and alcohol, see here