Eating like a caveman in the digital age

You may or may not have heard of the Paleo Diet. It’s a way of eating that that is similar to that of our paleolithic ancestors. It’s no secret that I’m a fan of this way of eating, because I write about it a lot and discuss it on the radio. But today I address whether or not eating like a caveman in the digital age is difficult.

The answer may surprise you. Eating the way our caveman ancestors did is actually not as easy as one might think. It is, however, beneficial to eat as closely as possible to the way our caveman ancestors did.

Cave men hunted and gathered their diet for two million years. It was during that time that nature provided what they ate based on season, location, etc., and because man evolves so slowly, eating natures natural selection of seasonal bounty is what man has evolved to do best on.

About ten thousand years ago, the “hunting and gathering” way of life shifted when man began cultivating agriculture and domesticating livestock. It was at that time in our evolutionary history that man started dictating what he ate, instead of eating what natured provided to him. It was also at that time that man’s diet shifted to eating foods such as grains and dairy for the first time.

Unfortunately, our bodies haven’t evolved to be able to break down the proteins of many of these cultivated foods, so we eat foods that we don’t assimilate well.

Today there are many studies into the paleolithic diet. Dr. Loren Cordaine and his team of researchers have led the pack with over 30 years of research into the “perfect” human diet, and I encourage you to read into the research to see just how important eating the diet we are designed to eat is for your health.

In a nut shell (pun intended) here are the basics of the paleo diet:

*Eat clean, organic, season foods from the earth or food sources that had eyes.

*Avoid all processed and man-made foods.

*Avoid dairy, grains, and legumes, as these are all difficult for us to digest and they are highly inflammatory.

*Eat lots of fiber, nuts, seeds, healthy fats, coconut, and clean animal-source proteins.

There are many great benefits of this diet, one being that it is largely anti-inflammatory. I have helped many clients shift their diet and exercise programs to be more in line with the functional lifestyle of our ancestors, and the results have been astounding. We are an “inflammation nation” and the space age diet causes inflammation, which is at the root of most disease and discomfort.

Give the paleo diet a try and see for yourself. Not only will you lose weight, feel better, and improve your health, you will experience (probably for the first time in your life) what it feels like to be truly healthy.

Heather Morgan can be reached at Facebook.com/eacrossfit.