Average Paleo Diet

[SkinnyDevil]

The debate rages on about what paleo-era humans actually ate. Was it mostly meat (zero or low carb)? Was it a mix of anything available (omni)? Was it primarily vegan with occasional injections of scavenged (and later hunted) meat? I've heard string arguments for all of the above.

I've even heard one fellow say that it doesn't matter, because humans are primarily vegan and so the adoption of eating meat is contrary to their nature & health just as eating cooked foods is contrary to our nature & health.

There is little doubt that humans are capable of surviving & thriving on all manner of diets, and even "paleo" is a vague term. The first raw foodist I ever heard of ate things most on this forum would say are far from paleo, yet he ate primarily raw fish, wild veggies, and uncooked rice (he ate it after it sat in shallow pools of water in the warm Japanese sun) when he lived alone for a year in the wilderness.

So, all this brings me 'round to asking each of you (based on your personal research & experiments and reading of the available research): What do YOU consider properly paleo?

[instant]

This makes sense but then it doesn't. Whenever I read articles about are ancestors whoever writes the articles makes very good points for supporting there claims. This is why its so debatable because I find good information were meant to be vegetarians then i find good sources were near carnivores.... The truth always lies in the middle?

[William]

"You are what you eat"

Chemical analysis of bones of paleoman is identical to the bones of wild African lions. There is only on way to do that, and that is eat like a lion.
People tried that and died for lack of fat, so add fat and you have the recipe of paleolithic food.

Debate is driven by superstition, fantasy, illusion, fat-o-phobia, demons and so on, not worth a fart in a wind storm.

[TylerDurden]

I've checked the various studies and they seem to strongly indicate that palaeo peoples had diets with 95%+ animal foods in Arctic areas, with figures for carbs  going up to 25% of diet with regard to peoples near the Equator(I think they mean 25% in calories).

The omnivore approach seems the most logical as palaeo peoples did not have an exhaustible supply of foods available at any one time and would have had to be opportunistic. They would therefore have depended largely on animal food(solely because it would sate them for longer) but they wouldn't have turned up their noses at any available wild fruits/veggies, and maybe even some tubers.

Re that raw foodist:- raw fish and wild veggies are most definitely palaeo! It's just the rice that isn't.

[William]

I've checked the various studies and they seem to strongly indicate that palaeo peoples had diets with 95%+ animal foods in Arctic areas, with figures for carbs  going up to 25% of diet with regard to peoples near the Equator(I think they mean 25% in calories).

They were not in Arctic areas. Until ~3,700 years ago, the North Pole was in southern Canada, between James Bay and the present U.S. border.
So the Equator was also elsewhere.

[TylerDurden]

They were not in Arctic areas. Until ~3,700 years ago, the North Pole was in southern Canada, between James Bay and the present U.S. border.
So the Equator was also elsewhere.

You're forgetting that palaeo tribes migrated on and off the glaciers so would have been in warmer climes as well. And the equator couldn't have changed location etc. I simply don't believe in these Velikovskian-like notions of great upheavals shifting Venus or the equator or whatever.

[SkinnyDevil]

Re that raw foodist:- raw fish and wild veggies are most definitely palaeo! It's just the rice that isn't.

Yes, I know. My point was that while he didn't use the term "paleo" (he died way back in 1972, if memory serves), he was living in the wild and did not cook his food. Yet rice was a staple for him and thus it opens the door to ask if paleo humans, at least in Asia, ate uncooked rice as a staple - which makes rice as paleo as anything else.

[Raw Kyle]

Yes, I know. My point was that while he didn't use the term "paleo" (he died way back in 1972, if memory serves), he was living in the wild and did not cook his food. Yet rice was a staple for him and thus it opens the door to ask if paleo humans, at least in Asia, ate uncooked rice as a staple - which makes rice as paleo as anything else.

Rice didn't exist then.

[SkinnyDevil]

Depends on what you mean by "then", Kyle.

Rice has been actively cultivated in Asia for over 10,000 years (some say the oldest cultivated plant in Asia) and simply gathered long before that. It was not invented or created all those years ago (despite it being easy to genetically modify now), it was already growing wild. For how long no one is sure, but it was most certainly being gathered in the late paleolithic and early neolithic periods.

The individual in question was eating wild (so-called "unpolished") rice. All his food was collected from the wild (this was pre-WW2 in Japan).

Living in the wild alone, gathering, hunting/fishing, and drinking pure stream water...sleeping under the stars and living under the sun. How much more "paleo" does it get than that?

[DeadRamones]

I saved this link from Paleodiet.com  http://www.foodtimeline.org/ Not sure how accurate it is though. but at the least they provide plenty of info.

My experience with any vegetarian/vegan friends or people I meet. They all seem brainwashed. They talk about how meat causes to much acid & mucus in our body(I think that's a good thing no?). They have stupid arguments like "if I eat a potato & throw it in the ground it would grow, try doing that with a piece of meat".

They think they have the natural human diet, yet mostly all have to take some sort of supplement to compliment their diet. How is that natural? Also they pretty much all lack basic knowledge of grass-fed & wild meats vs conventional factory farming meat.

I'm sure there are some very knowledgeable vegan/vegetarians. Unfortunately, I have yet to meet one.

[TylerDurden]

There is some truth to the notion that (cooked) meats cause  mucus. I noticed that mucus in my throat was much less on a RPD diet, such that it became more difficult to swallow really dry, water-deficient foods like pastry unless I gulped lots of water after each bite.Plus, pasteurised dairy (and even raw dairy) causes a lot of mucus due to undigested casein - I used to have endless blocked-up noses during my days of dairy-consumption.

[PaleoPhil]

They have stupid arguments like "if I eat a potato & throw it in the ground it would grow, try doing that with a piece of meat".

LOL Thanks for sharing that--it's quite possibly the most humorously ridiculous argument I've encountered yet.

They talk about how meat causes to much acid & mucus in our body(I think that's a good thing no?).

Lex Rooker and I have talked about how highly acidic urine resulting from all-meat diets has not had the negative effects that vegetarians claim it will have--quite the contrary. As for mucus, my experience complements Tyler's. I hypothesize that chronic mucus may be a symptom of the body trying to get rid of something irritating, antigenic or imbalancing. In my case, when I eliminated dairy and grains the mucus reduced dramatically. When I eliminated plant carbs the rest disappeared.

[DeadRamones]

LOL Thanks for sharing that--it's quite possibly the most humorously ridiculous argument I've encountered yet.

I'm guessing it's one of those sayings to convince people into a vegetarian diet. I've also read it in FOOD COMBINING & DIGESTION by Steve Meyerowitz. I bought this book a year ago to help me understand digestion. Worst $10 I ever spent. It's talks about digesting in a fearful tone. According to the author 2-3hours to digest food is to much work for your body. It's also full of vegetarian propaganda & ridiculous statement.

Page 106go to a zoo. Look at the animals. The carnivores are prowling & growling. They are restless & angry. Now look at the sheep,the cows,the horses & elephants. They sit in peace & eat from your hand. The author must of not realized those animals have been domesticated. My dog & cat are carnivores. They would gladly eat off my hand & for about 16hours of the day, they sit in peace.

[PaleoPhil]

Page 106go to a zoo. Look at the animals. The carnivores are prowling & growling. They are restless & angry. Now look at the sheep,the cows,the horses & elephants. They sit in peace & eat from your hand. The author must of not realized those animals have been domesticated. My dog & cat are carnivores. They would gladly eat off my hand & for about 16hours of the day, they sit in peace.

LOL Thanks for the additional hilarity. I'm tempted to sign that book out of the library for the jokes. It's like a nonsense book written for 6-year-olds or something.