Low Carb Confidential

I like Dr. Dan’s site, At Darwin’s Table, where he discusses his success with the Paleo diet, as well has his beautiful photographs of the meals he conjures up. But I don’t know all that much about the Paleo diet, other than it is a low carb variation.

I asked him to write a primer on Paleo for the uninitiated, and provide a couple of links to more info in case this sounds like something that might work for you – if, like a lot of people, you’re 1 month in to a resolution and it doesn’t seem to be clicking, maybe this might work – LCC

I was asked by Low Carb Confidential to write a post explaining a variation on low carb eating that is known as the paleo diet. I will do my utmost best to explain it. But please understand that there is a lot of variation in this diet and so I will try to keep to the basics and remember this is from my perspective.

Another appropriate name for the paleo diet would be evolutionary nutrition. Although the field of evolution has shaped most theories within biology, for some strange and bizarre reason it has not influenced how we look at our diet. I mean ‘our’ diet because evolution has certainly led to a much deeper understanding of the diets of many species of animals. But not humans. I guess that that is the essential question of any paleo dieter – what are we evolved to eat?

This is not an insignificant question. Humans evolved to eat certain foods over the six million years that our species have roamed the planet. Our genetics are adapted and geared to particular foods and nutrients. These include vegetables (not starchy root vegetables such as potatoes), fruits, nuts, seeds, meats (incl lots of fish) and organs. This is essentially the paleo diet. You can eat as much as you want of these foods as our body is evolved to deal with them. Carbohydrates such as grains and rice were not on the list of food items for a paleolithic hunter gatherer. These foods started slipping into the human diet about 10000 years ago and with huge negative health consequences. Our brains and skulls became smaller, we became shorter, our bones more brittle, we suffered from tooth decay and worst of all we started to develop the modern diseases of civilisation – cancer, heart disease, diabetes etc.

You may be wondering at this stage why then did hunter gatherers die so young. The fact is that hunter gatherers died from trauma, such as been trampled by a woolly mammoth, or from infectious disease. Those that made it through to old age were extremely healthy. Explorers at the start of last century were amazed at how healthy hunter gatherer populations were and there were numerous reports on how these folk were simply free of modern diseases found in the west. Sadly, there were an equal number of reports of when these tribes began to consume western foods and the subsequent devastation of that tribal populations health. Suddenly, these hunter gatherers developed diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Clearly modern foods (predominantly carbs but also dairy) contribute significantly to these diseases.

So we go back and hunt large beasts? No that’s impossible as they are no longer here. Luckily we can gain the best from both worlds. With medical science today we are relatively safe from infectious disease and broken bones and so we don’t have to worry about the fatalities that hunger gatherers did. So if we adopt the diet of our paleolithic ancestors we will surely also avoid the other fatalities that are common in the west. These fatalities that we consider normal and a part of everyday life but are not and should not be. The fatalities we call cancer, heart disease and diabetes plus all the other modern diseases of civilisation.
So here are some guidelines to the paleo diet.

What To Eat:

Unprocessed oils such as olive oil

Meat

Seafood

Nuts

Vegetables

Fruit

Eggs

Organs, Marrow etc

What Not To Eat:

Dairy Products

Grains

Rice

Pasta

Starchy Vegetables (ie potato, sweet potato)

Beans, legumes or peas

There are three problems with the modern diet that have been heavily linked to the modern diseases of civilisation (diabetes, cancer, heart disease, alzheimers, stroke etc).

Modern diets are high in carbohydrates – Carbohydrates increase insulin levels, which wreak havoc on our bodies including promoting the storage of fat. Our paleolithic ancestors consumed diets low in carbohydrates and our genome is not evolved to deal with large amounts of this macronutrient (for more information read this post). Therefore, I aim to keep my carbohydrate intake to less than 50g a day. This means limiting my intake of fruits and non-green leafy vegetables.

Modern diets are high in Omega 6 fats – The modern diet heavily leans towards Omega 6 over Omega 3 fats. The ratio is well over 10:1 in favour of Omega 6 fats. Omega 6 fats cause silent inflammation, which has devastating impacts on our body (for more information read this post) and has been strongly correlated with heart disease. I aim to keep my ratio similar to that of our paleolithic ancestors – a 1:1 ratio. I do this by consuming fish (especially oily fish), lean red grass-fed meats, and fish oils.

Modern diets are highly acidic – Hunter gatherer diets achieved an acid/base balance whereas modern diets lean towards the acid side of the spectrum. Incorporating grains and dairy severely increases the acidity of your diet and in order to compensate your body strips your bones of calcium to keep an acid/base balance. To keep the balance I eat plenty of vegetables (base yielding) and avoid grains and dairy.

I went on this diet a few months ago and have managed to lose over 25 pounds without too much effort. This after years of trying to lose weight and failing all the time. I couldn’t speak more highly of this diet and it is a low carb diet to be sure. If you have any questions please feel free to email me (bassett199@gmail.com).

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