The Paleo Diet in a Nutshell

I had to post this video on the Paleo diet in a nutshell. My friend Cindy just sent it to me, by email knowing that it would make a great blog post. It does such a good job describing, no “illustrating”, the modern day landscape that is making people fat, sick and nearly dead.

But first, as you watch this, keep these 3 myths and untruths in mind that we’ll get into in greater detail in future posts:

1) Just because Paleo man may have eaten lots of animal meat, ( I don’t know for sure how much they ate; I wasn’t there. Were you?) doesn’t mean that is how we should eat to live today. There is value to nutritional science that focuses on the nutrient density of a food, and epidemiological studies that give us a clear picture over time of what promotes health and what doesn’t. And, common sense about the environment of our bodies, let alone the planet, that tells us that eating too much animal food (even if it comes from organically raised, grass rich pastures)  is not the foundation of a healthy eating plan.

That is why understanding nutrient density and eating the most nutrient rich foods first, upwards of 80-90% or more is the key to your health and longevity first and foremost, as well as your performance and your success living at or near your ideal weight.

Too often, people gravitate to a meat-based diet when they have a Paleolithic view and then start getting into what Michael Pollan calls “macronutrient wars”. This may be the single biggest war of nutritionism and the most misunderstood “gray areas” of healthy eating and living, ever.

2) There is also a picture of a cauliflower used in the video, which is used in a way that would make you think it was bad, or the opposite of having a brain. I don’t know what the intention was, but I would have used a brick or a blob mass of fat instead, because that cauliflower is one of the many foods that’s going to become part of your nutrient rich diet, in a great tasting way of course.

3) To expand upon what I stated in point number 1. Organically raised, pasture grassed, grass fed beef… while better than agrifactory raised animal products, does not make it a nutrient rich food or a food category that you want to eat in significant quantities.

One possible reason we have agrifactories is because when animal foods are available in significant quantities, and people don’t have to kill them first hand like Paleo man had to do, people tend to want them more. Especially if they have not yet had the experience of eating Nutrient Rich foods in great tasting ways. Animal foods are super stimulating foods. They are intoxicating just like alcohol and chocolate. And natural farms would never meet (meat) the demand we have today. So promoting significant meat consumption, while beating up agrifactories, presents a dilemma. Re read point number 1.

And before you think I’ m a soldier for veganism or vegetarianism, keep in mind I’m neither. If anything I’m a nutritarian, and I do eat small quantities of animal foods from time to time for reasons other than nutrition.

Enjoy this video it’s great!

What are your thoughts?