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The Paleo Diet

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by Cordain, Loren


  Many registered dietitians and knowledgeable nutritionists would predict that any diet that excludes all cereal grains, dairy products, and legumes would lack many important nutrients and would require extremely careful planning to make it work. Just the opposite is true with the Paleo Diet—which confirms yet again that this is exactly the type of diet human beings were meant to thrive on, as they have for all but the last 10,000 years.

  The Paleo Diet provides 100 percent of our nutrient requirements. My research team has analyzed the nutrient composition of hundreds of varying combinations of the Paleo Diet, in which we’ve altered the percentage as well as the types of plant and animal foods it contains. In virtually every dietary permutation, the levels of vitamins and minerals exceed governmental recommended daily allowances (RDAs). The Paleo Diet even surpasses modern cereal- and dairy-based diets in many nutritional elements that protect against heart disease and cancer, including:• Vitamin C

  • Vitamin B12

  • Vitamin B6

  • Folic acid

  • Magnesium

  • Chromium

  • Potassium

  • Selenium

  • Soluble fiber

  • Omega 3 and monounsaturated fats

  • Beta-carotene and other plant phytochemicals

  In fact, the Paleo Diet is packed with much higher levels of many nutrients that are deficient in both vegetarian and average American diets, such as iron, zinc, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, and omega 3 fats.

  Let’s take a quick look at the daily nutrient intake of a twenty-five-year-old woman on the Paleo Diet. Out of a typical 2,200 calories, half come from animal foods and half from plant foods—all available at the supermarket.

  For breakfast, she eats half a cantaloupe and a 12-ounce portion of broiled Atlantic salmon. Lunch is a shrimp, spinach/vegetable salad (seven large boiled shrimp, three cups of raw spinach leaves, one shredded carrot, one sliced cucumber, two diced tomatoes, lemon juice/olive oil/spice dressing). For dinner, she has two lean pork chops, two cups of steamed broccoli, and a tossed green salad (two cups of romaine lettuce, a half-cup of diced tomatoes, a quarter-cup of sliced purple onions, half an avocado, lemon juice dressing) . She tops it all off with a half-cup of fresh or frozen blueberries and a quarter-cup of slivered almonds. For a snack, she has a quarter-cup of slivered almonds and a cold pork chop.

  Nutrient Daily Intake RDA

  Calories 2,200.0 100%

  Protein 190.0 (g) 379%

  Carbohydrate 142.0 (g) —

  Fat 108.0 (g) —

  Saturated fat 21.0 (g) —

  Monounsaturated fat 54.0 (g) —

  Polyunsaturated fat 21.0 (g) 21.0 (g) —

  Omega 3 fats 6.7 (g) —

  Water-soluble vitamins

  Thiamin (B1) 4.6 (mg) 417%

  Riboflavin (B2) 3.6 (mg) 281%

  Niacin (B3) 56.2 (mg) 374%

  Pyridoxine (B6) 5.9 (mg) 369%

  Cobalamin (B12) 10.3 (µg) 513%

  Biotin 113.0 (µg) 174%

  Folate 911.0 (µg) 506%

  Pantothenic acid 11.5 (mg) 209%

  Vitamin C 559.0 (mg) 932%

  Fat-soluble vitamins

  Vitamin A 6,861.0 (RE) 858%

  Vitamin D 0.0 (µg) 0%

  Vitamin E 26.5 (mg) 331 %

  Vitamin K 945.0 (µg) 1,454%

  Macro minerals

  Sodium 813.0 (mg) —

  Potassium 8,555.0 (mg) —

  Calcium 890.0 (mg) 111 %

  Phosphorus 2,308.0 (mg) 289%

  Magnesium 685.0 (mg) 245%

  Trace minerals

  Iron 21.5 (mg) 143%

  Zinc 19.8 (mg) 165%

  Copper 3.5 (mg) 155%

  Manganese 6.4 (mg) 181 %

  Selenium 0.147 (mg) 267%

  Dietary fiber 47.0 (g) —

  Beta-carotene 3,583.0 (µg) —

  As you can see, the Paleo Diet is extremely nutritious. The macronutrient breakdown for this sample 2,200-calorie diet is 33 percent protein, 25 percent carbohydrate, and 42 percent fat. Note that for every nutrient except vitamin D, the daily nutrient intake ranges from 1.5 to more than 10 times the governmentally suggested RDA. Even “healthful” vegetarian diets don’t reach these nutrient levels. The Paleo Diet is rich in antioxidant vitamins (A, C, and E), minerals (selenium), and plant phytochemicals, such as beta-carotene, which can help prevent the development of heart disease and cancer. In addition, the high levels of B vitamins (B6, B12, and folate) prevent elevated levels of blood homocysteine, a potent risk factor for atherosclerosis, and also have been associated with a reduced risk of colon cancer and spina bifida, a neural tube birth defect.

  Even though the fat content (42 percent of total calories) is slightly higher than that in the average American diet (31 percent of total calories), these are good fats—healthful, cholesterol-lowering monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Actually, the monounsaturated fat intake is twice that of saturated fat. As I discussed earlier, the high levels of omega 3 fats also help protect against heart disease by their ability to thin the blood, prevent fatal heartbeat irregularities, and lower blood triglycerides.

  Not only does the Paleo Diet provide you with an abundance of nutrients, it’s also extremely high in fiber. This, too, can lower blood cholesterol. It promotes normal bowel function and prevents constipation as well.

  Finally, because extra salt and processed salty foods are not part of the Paleo Diet, the sodium (and chloride) content here is very low, while the potassium content is quite high. As we’ve discussed, this high-potassium/low-sodium balance helps prevent high blood pressure, kidney stones, asthma, osteoporosis, certain types of cancer, and other chronic diseases known to be associated with high-salt diets.

  The amount of vitamin D you’ll get on the Paleo Diet is negligible, because vitamin D is found only in trace quantities in all naturally occurring foods, except for fish liver oils. But we don’t need to eat that much vitamin D—we can get all we need from the sun. (When we’re exposed to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, our bodies synthesize vitamin D from the cholesterol in our skin.) Our Paleolithic ancestors spent much of their time outdoors, and they manufactured all the vitamin D they needed from the sun’s natural rays. Today, many of us get insufficient sunlight exposure to synthesize optimal levels of vitamin D. This is why milk, margarine, and other processed foods are fortified with vitamin D. We would all do well to incorporate some of the Stone Age lifestyle and make sure to get some daily sunshine. However, if your busy lifestyle doesn’t allow it, particularly during short winter days, I recommend that you take a vitamin D supplement (at least 2,000 I.U./day).

  Perhaps the most important element of the Paleo Diet is its high protein intake—nearly four times higher than the RDA. As I’ve discussed, this high level of protein helps you lose weight by increasing your metabolism and reducing your appetite. A 1999 clinical report in the International Journal of Obesity by my friend Dr. Soren Toubro and colleagues from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen, Denmark, has shown that when it comes to weight loss, high-protein, low-calorie diets are much more effective than low-calorie, high-carbohydrate diets. In the ensuing eleven years, hundreds of scientific papers have confirmed these seminal results. Also, high levels of low-fat protein lower your cholesterol, reduce triglycerides and increase good HDL cholesterol, and reduce your risk of high blood pressure, stroke, and certain forms of cancer. When accompanied by sufficient amounts of alkaline fruit and vegetables, high-protein diets do not promote osteoporosis. Instead, they protect you from it.

  The Typical American Diet: A Nutritional Nightmare

  Now let’s take a look at this same 2,200 calorie diet for our sample twenty-five-year-old woman—but let’s replace most of the real foods (lean meats and fruits and vegetables) with processed foods, cereal grains, and dairy products. Remember, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Pyramid encourages you to eat six to eleven servings of grains every day. The nutrient b
reakdown depicted below closely resembles that of the average American diet. This is the same diet that has produced a nation in which 68 percent of all American men over age twenty-five and 64 percent of women over age twenty-five are either overweight or obese.

  For breakfast, our twenty-five-year-old woman eats a Danish pastry and two cups of cornflakes with 8 ounces of whole milk, topped off with a teaspoon of sugar, and drinks a cup of coffee with a tablespoon of cream and a teaspoon of sugar. Because of the large amounts of refined carbohydrates consumed for breakfast, her blood sugar level soon plummets and she is hungry again by midmorning, so she eats a glazed doughnut and drinks another cup of coffee with cream and sugar. By noon, she’s hungry again. She goes to the McDonald’s near her office and orders a Quarter Pounder, a small portion of French fries, and a 12-ounce cola drink. For dinner, she eats two slices of cheese pizza and a small iceberg lettuce salad with half a tomato, covered with two tablespoons of Thousand Island dressing. She washes it all down with 12 ounces of lemon-lime soda. Let’s examine the nutrient breakdown of this dietary disaster:

  Nutrient Daily Intake RDA

  Calories 2,200.0 100%

  Protein 62.0 (g) 57%

  Carbohydrate 309.0 (g) —

  Fat 83.0 (g) —

  Saturated fat 29.0 (g) —

  Monounsaturated fat 19.0 (g) —

  Polyunsaturated fat 10.0 (g) —

  Omega 3 fats 1.0 (g) —

  Water-soluble vitamins

  Thiamin (B1) 1.0 (mg) 95%

  Riboflavin (B2) 1.1 (mg) 87%

  Niacin (B3) 11.0 (mg) 73%

  Pyridoxine (B6) 0.3 (mg) 20%

  Cobalamin (B12) 1.8 (µg) 88%

  Biotin 11.8 (µg) 18%

  Folate 148.0 (µg) 82%

  Pantothenic acid 1.8 (mg) 32%

  Vitamin C 30.0 (mg) 51%

  Fat-soluble vitamins

  Vitamin A 425.0 (RE) 53%

  Vitamin D 3.1 (µg) 63%

  Vitamin E 2.7 (mg) 34%

  Vitamin K 52.0 (µg) 80%

  Macro minerals

  Sodium 2,943.0 (mg) —

  Potassium 2,121.0 (mg) —

  Calcium 887.0 (mg) 111 %

  Phosphorus 918.0 (mg) 115%

  Magnesium 128.0 (mg) 46%

  Trace minerals

  Iron 10.2 (mg) 68%

  Zinc 3.9 (mg) 33%

  Copper 0.4 (mg) 19%

  Manganese 0.9 (mg) 28%

  Selenium 0.040 (mg) 73%

  Dietary fiber 8.0 (g) —

  Beta-carotene 87.0 (µg) —

  This diet typifies everything that’s wrong with the way most of us eat today—the modern, processed food-based diet. It violates all of the Seven Keys of the Paleo Diet—the ones we’re genetically programmed to follow. Except for calcium and phosphorus, every nutrient falls below the RDA. The protein intake on the standard American diet is a paltry 62 grams (57 percent of the RDA) compared to that of the Paleo Diet (a mighty 190 grams, or 379 percent of the RDA). Remember, protein is your ally in weight loss and good health. It lowers your cholesterol, improves your insulin sensitivity, speeds up your metabolism, satisfies your appetite, and helps you lose weight.

  Even though there is very little meat in the typical American diet of this woman, the saturated fat content (29 grams) is 38 percent higher than that of the Paleo Diet. Worse still is the mix of fats. Healthful, cholesterol-lowering polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats total a meager 29 grams. (In contrast, they add up to 75 grams on the Paleo Diet.) There is only 1 gram of heart-healthy omega 3 fats for the whole day in the typical American diet compared to a bountiful 6.7 grams in the sample Paleo Diet meal. Is it any wonder that the cereal-based, processed food-laden American diet promotes heart disease?

  Now take a look at vitamin B6 (20 percent of the RDA), vitamin B12 (88 percent of the RDA), and folate (82 percent of the RDA). This woman’s diet is deficient in all three of the vitamins that prevent toxic buildup of homocysteine, the substance that damages the arteries and further predisposes you to heart disease. Inadequate amounts of folate also increase the risk of colon cancer and the birth defect spina bifida.

  It’s also worth noting that this sample American diet has three times more sodium—but four times less potassium—than the Paleo Diet. This mineral imbalance promotes or aggravates conditions and diseases due to acid-base imbalance, including high blood pressure, osteoporosis, kidney stones, asthma, stroke, and certain forms of cancer. The daily intake of magnesium is also quite low here (46 percent of the RDA). Numerous scientific studies have shown that having a low magnesium level puts you at risk for heart disease by elevating your blood pressure, increasing your cholesterol level, and predisposing your heart to irregular beats. A low intake of magnesium also promotes the formation of kidney stones.

  A high intake of antioxidant vitamins and phytochemicals from fresh fruits and vegetables is one of the best dietary strategies you can adopt to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. Unfortunately, when cereals, dairy products, processed foods, and fatty meats displace fruits and vegetables, they automatically lower your intake of health-giving antioxidants and phytochemicals from fruits and veggies. There is no comparison between the RDA percentages of vitamin A (53 percent), vitamin C (51 percent), vitamin E (34 percent), and selenium (73 percent) in the example above and those in the Paleo Diet: vitamin A (858 percent), vitamin C (932 percent), vitamin E (331 percent), and selenium (267 percent). The Paleo Diet contains forty-one times more beta-carotene (a natural plant antioxidant) than the average American diet.

  The average American diet is also deficient in zinc (33 percent of the RDA) and iron (68 percent of the RDA)—which, along with a low intake of vitamins A and C, can impair your immune system and open the door to colds and infections.

  Because the average American diet is loaded with refined cereal grains (six servings in our example) and sugars (123 grams or about a quarter-pound in our example), it increases the blood sugar and insulin levels in many people. If insulin remains constantly elevated, it causes a condition known as hyperinsulinemia, which increases the risk of a collection of diseases called metabolic syndrome—type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, and harmful changes in blood chemistry. But refined cereals and sugars are not part of the Paleo Diet—which means that your dietary insulin level will be naturally low and you will automatically reduce your risk of metabolic syndrome diseases. Last but not least is fiber. The average American diet contains a measly 8 grams compared to 47 grams on the Paleo Diet.

  Many nutritionists would say that the example diet is healthful because it contains large amounts of carbohydrate (55 percent of total calories) and a low total fat intake (34 percent of total calories). This is also the message that most Americans have heard loud and clear—that healthful diets should be high in carbohydrate and low in fat. Unfortunately, when it comes to actual practice, most high-carbohydrate, low-fat diets look pretty much like our example of the typical American diet—a nutritional nightmare that promotes obesity, heart disease, cancer, and a host of other chronic illnesses.

  Why You Can’t Overeat on the Paleo Diet

  Most of the foods we crave—and that make us fat if we eat enough of them—contain some combination of sugar, starch, fat, and salt in a highly concentrated form. (If you think about it, sugar, starch, fat, and salt are pretty much the recipe for all the foods people tend to overeat.)

  In nature, a sweet taste is almost always associated with fruit. This is what drew our ancestors to strawberries, for instance—the desire for a “sweet.” However, as a bonus, they got much more than the sweet taste—fiber, vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and other healthful substances that improved their chances of survival. Similarly, our Paleolithic ancestors sought foods with a salty taste. Salt is absolutely essential for your health—but you don’t need much of it. The trace amounts of salt found in fresh fruits, vegetables, and lean meats were just right for our ancient ancestors—who also got a hefty dose of potassium along wi
th the sodium. Today, almost all processed foods are grossly overloaded with salt.

  Real Food versus Fake Food

  Today, much of our food is also fake. What does this mean? It’s created, not natural, food. See for yourself. How about a snack of dry white flour? Of course not; by itself, flour is bland and tasteless—you’d choke on it. However, if you add water, yeast, salt, vegetable oil, and sugar and then bake the result, suddenly you’ve got white bread. If you take this same mixture, deep-fry it in hydrogenated fats, and then glaze it with sugar, it becomes tastier still—a glazed doughnut. Or you could add bananas and walnuts to the original dough, bake it, and coat it with sugar and margarine, and you’ve got banana nut bread with frosting.

  If you want to feel more virtuous about the whole thing, you can substitute whole-wheat flour and honey and call it “health food.” But the bottom line is that none of these highly palatable food mixtures even remotely resemble the foods that nourished all human beings until very recently. In Paleolithic times, starchy foods weren’t also salty; now we have potato chips and corn chips. Sweet foods were never also fat. Now we have ice cream and chocolates. Fatty foods were almost never also starchy. Now we have doughnuts that are not only fatty and starchy, but sugary as well.

  It is extremely easy to overeat processed foods made with starch, fats, sugars, and salt. There is always room after dinner for pie, ice cream, or chocolates. But how about another stalk of celery or another broiled chicken breast? Many overweight people can easily polish off a quart of ice cream after a full dinner. How many could—or would—eat an additional quart of steamed broccoli? The point here is that it’s very difficult to overeat real foods—fruits, vegetables, and lean meats. Fruits and vegetables provide us with natural bulk and fiber to fill up our stomachs. Because they are low-glycemic, they also normalize our blood sugar and reduce our appetites. The protein in lean meats satisfies our hunger pangs rapidly and lets us know when we are full. Two skinless chicken breasts for dinner may be filling—and two more might be impossible. Can we say the same for pizza slices?

 

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