What Is The Paleo Diet?

Fans of the paleo diet believe our bodies are better suited to eat foods consumed by early humans who lived in the Paleolithic age. These foods include lean meat and plants rather than the heavily processed and high-carbohydrate foods many people eat today.

Walter L. Voegtlin, M.D., first put forth the paleo way of eating in his 1975 book The Stone Age Diet as a means to better health.It later became popular in the 2002 book The Paleo Diet by researcher and exercise physiologist Loren Cordain.

Paleo diet-friendlyfoods include lean unprocessed meat, seafood, leafy vegetables, fresh fruit, eggs, nuts and healthy oils. Meanwhile, the diet doesn’t allow grains, milk, cheese, potatoes, legumes, processed foods, added sugar or salt and refined vegetable oils.

The paleo diet has been shown to result in health benefits such as reduced waist circumference, lower triglyceride levels (blood fats that are associated with heart disease, diabetes and liver disease), as well as a decrease in blood pressure, according to a 2015 review of trials in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. However, missing out on important nutrients is a risk—and many of the health benefits paleo touts may be due to weight loss incurred from the diet, as opposed to the diet itself.

The paleo diet can be tailored to individual food requirements. “I often help people customize it, especially athletes and active people that need more carbohydrates for fuel,” says Pittsburgh-based Heather Mangieri, a registered dietitian, certified specialist in sports dietetics and author of Fueling Young Athletes. “Incorporating a few more complex carbohydrates—like oatmeal, potatoes and other whole grains helps to supply the extra fuel needed for activity, while still following a healthy eating plan and reaching personal goals. The key is eating what you need, and not overdoing it.”

“From my experience, most people who claim to be following the paleo diet are actually following a modified form of it,” she adds. “That’s okay, though, because following a strict paleo diet is not necessary to lose weight.”

The Autoimmune Paleo Diet

Variations of the paleo diet have emerged over the years. One adaptation is the autoimmune paleo diet. This is an elimination diet, which requires a person to remove foods from their diet one at a time to determine which foods specifically cause symptoms associated with autoimmune diseases. Here, eliminated foods are those which paleo diet proponents say are common offenders, such as grains and processed foods.

While research evaluating how the paleo diet impacts autoimmune disease is limited, there’s been anecdotal evidence of its benefits. Such was the case for Sarah Ballantyne, who has a doctorate in medical biophysics and is the author of The Paleo Approach: Reverse Autoimmune Disease and Heal Your Body. She found that following the paleo diet significantly eliminated symptoms she experienced for years, such as irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, anxiety, migraines and eczema. After switching to the paleo way of eating, she also lost weight and slept better, she says.

The paleo diet prioritizes certain unprocessed foods with no added sugar or salt and restricts others. Allowed foods include:

• Fish and seafood. These provide protein and omega-3 fat.
• Lean, grass-fed meat. This offers protein low in saturated fat, vitamins (B12) and minerals (zinc, iron).
• Fresh fruit. This provides antioxidants, phytochemicals and fiber.
• Non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, cucumbers and squash. These provide vitamins, minerals, fiber and phytochemicals but are low in calories.
• Sweet potatoes. These root vegetables are touted by paleo proponents for their nutritional benefits.
• Eggs. These offer omega-3 fat (in omega-3 enriched eggs) and protein, as well as vitamin A and choline from the egg yolk.
• Nuts (except peanuts which are legumes). These provide monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, fiber, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients.
• Olive oil. This is recommended for its heart-health benefits and contains monounsaturated fat and phytonutrients.

The paleo diet is lower in carbs. Restricted foods include:

• Grains products, such as pasta and cereals. Refined grains have a high glycemic index—meaning they can cause your blood sugar level to rise quickly, triggering the release of insulin, a fat storage hormone. Despite whole grains having health benefits, the paleo diet limits all types of grains (not just refined grains).
• Legumes, such as beans, soy and peanuts. Beans in particular have a moderate glycemic index.
• Milk, cheese and yogurt. These arenot allowed because paleo proponents say they often have hormones and are associated with gastrointestinal problems, as many people do not absorb the sugar in dairy.

The paleo diet includes a variety of foods, so with some culinary creativity, daily meals need not be dull. Based on the recommended and restricted foods outlined in the paleo website created by Cordain, here’s what a week of meals could look like, even for someone who is not an expert cook.

The paleo diet touts a slew of health benefits, including:

Weight Loss

Weight loss is a major benefit of the paleo diet, research shows, even though calorie counting and portion measuring are not called for. For overweight or obese people, shedding extra pounds can be beneficial to their health.

Glucose Control

Consuming less sugar, processed foods and refined carbohydrates (processed carbs without the fiber) is a must for people with diabetes, and the paleo diet may help improve glucose control, according to a small study by researchers at the University of California San Francisco. “Eliminating sugars and limiting salt is by far the biggest benefit of following a paleo diet,” says Mangieri. “In fact, most people can have success losing weight if they focus on reducing those nutrients alone.”

Improved Body Fat, Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Levels

The paleo diet can help control weight and waist circumference as well as assist in managing some chronic diseases, according to a 2019 review of studies in Nutrition Journal.

And one small 2015 study found that after four months of eating paleo foods, people with high cholesterol showed improvements in their cholesterol and triglyceride numbers, which are key to preventing heart disease.

Furthermore, the paleo way of eating resulted in short-term improvements in waist circumference, triglyceride levels, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels compared to other diets, according to another review of randomized trials in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

There are risks associated with going on a paleo diet, such as:

• Eating too much saturated fat. “A true paleo diet is rich in vegetables, berries, sweet potatoes, nuts and seeds. If you eat enough of those foods, you can get enough fiber,” says Mangieri. “The problem is most people do not. Many people take what they want from the diet, like eating all the meat they want, and fail to focus on the vegetables. That can definitely result in a diet that’s high in saturated fat.”

• Not getting enough vitamins. “Because the paleo diet does not permit any dairy foods, getting adequate vitamin D and calcium [is] definitely a concern,” says Mangieri. Furthermore, with so many foods on the do-not-eat list, some people may simply find it too hard to maintain this eating pattern.

As with many diets, how you put a paleo diet into practice matters.

Get your omega-3 fatty acids.

The paleo diet recommends eating lots of fish and lean meats, primarily for their omega-3 fatty acid  contents—with good reason. Omega-3s can reduce risk of heart disease and stroke, according to the American Heart Association.

Replace junk food with healthy treats.

The paleo way of eating offers plenty of alternatives to sugar and salt-laden foods. Instead of candy, try eating a few dates. Instead of salty chips, try a mix of nuts and seeds flavored with spices like garlic powder and cumin.

Sources

Voegtlin, Walter L., M.D., F.A.C.P. The Stone Age Diet. New York/Washington/Atlanta/Hollywood: Vantage Press, Inc.; 1975.

Cordain, Loren, Ph.D. The Paleo Diet. Revised edition. Hoboken, New Jersey. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2002, 2010.

What You Should and Should Not Eat on the Paleo Diet. The Paleo Diet. Accessed 03/04/2021.

Manheimer EW, van Zuuren EJ, Fedorowicz Z, Pilj H, et al. Paleolithic nutrition for metabolic syndrome: systematic review and meta-analysis. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2015;102(4):922–932.

The Autoimmune Paleo Diet. Mindd Foundation. Accessed 03/04/2021.

Melberg C, Sanberg S, Ryberg M, et al. Long-term effects of a Palaeolithic-type diet in obese postmenopausal women: a 2-year randomized trial. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2014;68:350–357.

Magkos F, Fratterigo G, Yoshino J, et al. Effects of moderate and subsequent progressive weight loss on metabolic function and adipose tissue biology in humans with obesity. Cell Metabolism. 2016;23(4):591–601.

Masharani U, Sherchan P, Schloetter M, et al. Metabolic and physiologic effects from consuming a hunter-gatherer (Paleolithic)-type diet in type 2 diabetes. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2015;69944–948.

de Menezes EV, Sampaioi H, Carioca A, et al. Influence of Paleolithic diet on anthropometric markers in chronic diseases: systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutrition Journal. 2019.

Pastore RL, Brooks JT, Carbone, JW. Paleolithic nutrition improves plasma lipid concentrations of hypercholesterolemic adults to a greater extent than traditional heart-healthy dietary recommendations. Nutrition Research. 2015;35(6):474-479.

Genoni A, Christophersen, CT, Lo J, et al. Long-term Paleolithic diet is associated with lower resistant starch intake, different gut microbiota composition and increased serum TMAO concentrations. European Journal of Nutrition. 2020.