jimmie65's Journal, 12 February 2012

I admit to more than a passing interest in the Paleo diet. Let's face it - for us guys, a diet that lets us eat all the meat we want is sexier than a Victoria's Secret model.

But the more I read on it, the less a Paleo diet makes sense. I've picked up a couple of the Paleo diet books and read their reasoning and research, but it just doesn't hold up to the counter-arguments.

A couple of the biggies for me:
1. Stone age humans had a max lifespan of about 40 years of age. Considering I'm already 46, I'm aiming to love *slightly* longer than that.
2. The diets of some of the healthiest populations in our world today are significantly different than any of the Paleo diets (Mediterranean diets and Asian diets, in particular, come to mind.)

I do think there are some strong positives in a Paleo diet - getting rid of processed food, for example.

For me, however, it comes down to one issue and one issue only: there is something seriously wrong with a diet that denies the healthy nutritional impact of a pint of good beer.

A couple of good online articles:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-katz-md/paleo-diet_b_889349.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet

On cutting out entire groups of foods: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-harlan-md/lowcarb-diets-linked-with_b_851506.html (admittedly, I could drive a truck through some of the holes in his reasoning, but the research was interesting)

And I'm only posting this article (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/irene-rubaumkeller-/the-truth-about-obesity-w_b_403400.html) because of one line:
All these teasers to cure obesity lead to one place, and one place only: eat healthy, whole, unprocessed foods and move more. THE END!