The Paleo Fad

I have been rereading Loren Cordain's book, The Paleo Diet. The basic idea is that the best diet is one that our ancestors would have eaten before the invention of agriculture. I call it a fad because that is what it is. That does not mean that such a diet does not have its good points.

The basic idea is the elimination of anything that our ancestors could not have eaten: dairy, grains, legumes, and soy. But yet for some reason most advocates of a As you can see by these two competing food pyramids, there is some difference of opinion among Paleo advocates as to the "perfect" diet. paleo diet will use olive oil, which our ancient ancestors would not use either. I am one to advocate complete and total consistency, except when I don't.

One point I harp on with my Biblical blog posts is that it is often impossible to port over Biblical law to our modern society. We do not live as a subsistence farmer in 1400 BC Israel; we do not live  in a city state in Asia Minor circa 50AD. Yet these are the exact people to whom the Old and New Testament are addressed. In the same way, we cannot port over these very artificial rules in an attempt to find the ideal diet. Domestication of plants and animals has profoundly changed the nutritional components of the food we eat.  This means that we cannot eat the same way our ancestors did—it is not possible.

Instead we need to take the foods we have and try as best we can to mimic the diet of our ancestors. For me this means that I have reduced the grain portion of my diet and replaced that with more vegetables. The fat that I save from my reduced dairy consumption I replace with olive oil and other fats to get the vegetables past my taste buds.

I can only evaluate my success as moderate.

If you have the desire to learn more about Paleo lifestyle, the following lecture by Loren Cordain is a good place to start. Even if you do not share Cordain's view of evolution, it is still worth watching.