Why the "Paleo Diet" Needs a New Name

The Paleo lifestyle is dear to my heart. I know....that seems like an extreme statement.  But honestly the whole lifestyle (whole foods and functional- as opposed to chronic - exercise) has helped me change my mindset about what it means to be "healthy."

So when videos like this TEDx one pop up, I get a little frustrated.

Christina Warinner, an archaeologist, feels the need to "debunk" the Paleo diet. I want to be infomred about all angles, so I watched the video. What I saw had very little "debunking," and instead showed me that many people have no idea what the Paleo diet is about.

She starts off by by saying, "The main idea behind it is that the key to longevity and optimal health is to abandon our modern agricultural diets, which make us ill, and move far back in time to our Paleolithic ancestors more than 10.000 years ago and eat like them."

Okay...kind of. We actually don't suggest abandoning ALL aspects of modern agriculture, or even most aspects of modern agriculture. I am more than happy to reap the benefits of eating apples, oranges, and avocados year-round. (More on this topic later!)

Warinner then goes on to say that the diet is made up of four components, one of which is that the diet centers around the idea that our ancestors ate a lot of meat and therefore we should eat a lot of meat. STOP. Right. There. Who said that? The principles of the Paleo diet actually say red meat won't kill you if you cut down on inflammation-causing carbs, saturated fat doesn't clog your arteries, and eating food products with high carbs and no fat will harm your insides. Those principles do not demand that we eat more meat...they're simply saying we can branch out beyond turkey and chicken breast. Does this mean some people will eat more meat? Yes. Does that mean the diet "tells" us to eat significantly more meat? Nope.

Warinner then says that the Paleo diet claims an ancestral diet "definitely did not contain grains or legumes or dairy." False again. We know that EARTH is a large place and there were forms of grains, legumes, and dairy consumed to varying degrees around the world by different civilizations. What the Paleo principles actually say is that the grains and legumes of today look nothing like the grains and legumes of our ancestors. We've destroyed most benefits they offer, so many people who follow the diet (but not all) eliminate those two food categories completely.

Then, she goes on to debunk Paleo "myths." Let's take a closer look at these myths, shall we?

Myth 1: Paleolithic peoples consumed large quantities of meat. I sort of addressed this already, but let me re-cap. No educated person made a blanket statement claiming all civilizations consumed large quantities of meat. Maybe the Inuit, who lived off of seal and whale meat, predominately ate meat due to their mostly frozen environment, but even that civilization consumed plants like berries, grasses, tubers, and seaweed when available. Tropical Paleolithic civilizations ate mostly fruits and vegetables with the occasional small animal. So I'm not sure where this myth came from. Maybe Christina Warinner is watching too much TV.

Warinner opposes the idea that we're made to eat meat by discussing the ways in which we're meant to eat plant matter. ::Frustrated pause:: I'm pretty sure the Paleo community is in agreement that we're meant to eat lots and lots of plants. Have you seen how many salads we eat? I've known a number of vegetarians who consume far fewer vegetables than what the Paleo diet prescribes.

The next part is my favorite. She shows this picture:

She proceeds to say that these are cuts of meet from factory-grown fattened cows. Paleolithic people wouldn't eat this meat. Instead they would eat lean game and organ meats. WE. ARE. IN. AGREEMENT. If she had spent any time researching the Paleo diet, then she would be well aware of the following: large-factory meat is not considered healthy, organ meats are fantastic, bone marrow is nutritious, and lean game meat is the preferred protein choice. Now I'm beginning to think this lady is just plain lazy. There is no myth here. 

Myth 2: Paleolithic peoples did not eat whole grains or legumes. I also addressed this earlier, but let's see if Warinner has any gems for me to rant and rave over. No? She brushed over this one quickly. She said we have proof that they did eat grains and legumes. Fine. No one said they didn't. But here's what they didn't eat in the Paleolithic era: sugary cereal, Special K bars, honey buns, donuts, granola, sandwich bread, Belvita breakfast biscuits, pancakes, waffles, biscotti, Quaker blueberry flavored oatmeal, energy bars, protein bars, 100 calorie snack packs, corn syrup....you get the point. Grains (corn is a grain) and legumes are not the same today as they were 20,000 years ago. If those grains suddenly become available, then let's talk.

Myth 3: Foods in the Paleo diet were consumed during the Paleolithic Era. Warinner has a couple of good points in this discussion. She states that many foods loved by the Paleo community  are actually results of agriculture and Neolithic developments. She points out that foods like bananas, lettuce, and tomatoes were bitter and not very pleasant before they were "domesticated." So far, I'm on board. Here's the thing, Christina: At no point in time has anyone claimed we are trying to mimic exact historical behavior or recreate history. Warinner is correct. These are not Paleolithic foods. What she doesn't understand is that every "Paleo expert" is quite aware information. The healthy principles should not be discounted because the term "Paleo" doesn't match... 

She then displays a picture of someone's breakfast which included a blueberries, sliced avocado, and scrambled eggs. 

She thinks she's being super cute and witty by saying, "First of all, the blueberries are from New England, the avocados are from Mexico, and the eggs are from China." This statement elicits laughter from the audience, as if to say "Those stupid Paleo dieters." ::Sigh:: Let's try this again: We are not trying to recreate history. We're trying to eat whole foods and avoid internal inflammation from processed foods. 

She points out that foods like broccoli, cabbage, kale, and cauliflower are results of agriculture and were not even edible foods during the Paleolithic period. Her point seems to be that some marketing director's choice of words when choosing the term "Paleo" was misguided. Does that mean because the diet has a historically inaccurate name we should just eat white bread and pasta because they probably got that wrong, too? What is her point? 

Then...in one beautiful moment...she says "I need to clarify that there is no one Paleo diet." Excuse me while I regress to childhood here...DUH! No educated person has every claimed otherwise. Ever. As I mentioned earlier, the Inuit diet likely looked very different from the Anasazi who looked very different from the Taino. (I know those aren't Paleolithic peoples. Again...we understand "Paleo" is poorly named and the diet does not re-create history.) We know diets are different from region to region and civilization to civlization.

And one of her last points: "Three billion people cannot eat like foragers on this planet, we are simply too big." Oh, Christina, do you see people trying to forage? I don't. Maybe a few mushrooms or berries can be foraged, but I'd bet my left foot that 99.9% of Paleo dieters go the grocery store...

"Eat like a caveman" is a saying used to help people avoid the center aisles of the grocery store...we don't want to BE cavemen and cavewomen. 

"So can we take lessons from this Paleolithic diet that we can apply today?" Here is the part where she says a bunch of things that we agree with and are huge parts of the Paleo diet...she would know that if she had spent any time looking into this diet she's "debunking."

Lesson one: "Diversity is key." Done. Warinner says most of what we eat contains three ingredients; corn, soy, and wheat. She says that's bad. ::More frustrated pausing:: Isn't that what the Paleo diet has been saying all along? No corn. No soy. No wheat. Eat real food.

Lesson two: "We evolved to eat fresh foods, in season, when they are ripe." I try to stick to seasonal foods. I only buy acorn squash in the Fall. I only buy berries and watermelon in the summer. I buy grapefruit in the winter. Other than those foods, however, I generally buy food any time of year. So, yes, this is a lesson we need to learn. But it's one the Paleo community is well aware of.

Lesson three: We evolved to eat whole foods in their complete package. THAT'S EXACTLY WHY PALEO DIETERS DON'T EAT GRAINS AND CORN. They are SO different from the original plant, and we break down grain into nothing but sugar. 

These lessons are the same lessons that one learns when researching the principles of the Paleo diet. 

So here's what I've gathered from the video: Christina Warinner has an issue with the term "Paleo." Someone made a decision to give the diet a catchy name, and that name has resulted in a large amount of "debunking." Chill out, guys. We're just saying fat isn't the devil, eat your veggies, and avoid processed foods. 

Everything else she says in the video are things that Paleo dieters agree with. So there is no "debunking" necessary. There are no "myths." There's just Christina Warinner...not doing her research. 

I'll leave you with this quote from Nom Nom Paleo, one of the most popular Paleo blogs out there:

…there isn’t just one definitive, monolithic, one-size-fits-all “Paleo diet.” Some Paleo eaters choose to go super-low-carb, while others of us are happy to munch on a baked potato or a bowl of white rice every now and then. There are Paleo eaters who can’t imagine life without dairy, and more orthodox folks who refuse to touch even a pat of butter with a ten-foot pole. The Paleo tent is big enough to fit a host of different approaches, but the core tenets of ancestral eating remain the same:

• Prioritize whole, unprocessed, nutrient-rich, nourishing foods. Eat vegetables, grass-fed and pastured meats and eggs, wild-caught seafood, and some fruit, nuts, and seeds.
• Avoid foods that are likely to be more harmful than healthful. Especially when regularly consumed, certain foods can trigger inflammation, cause digestive problems, or derail our natural metabolic processes, including many grains, improperly cooked legumes, sugar, and highly-processed seed and vegetable oils.
• Once a baseline of health is established, we can reintroduce some of these foods (like dairy, white potatoes and rice—not processed junk foods) to see where each of us sits on the spectrum of food intolerance.

If you've made it this far, thank you!!! I appreciate that you read my rant :) 

Question: What are your thoughts? Do you have any issues with the Paleo diet you'd like to hash out? Even I have a couple of issues. I still don't understand why quinoa isn't "allowed." If someone could explain it to me, that would be great :)