The Caveman Diet

Forget those faddish diets: the grapefruit diet, the South Beach diet, the cabbage soup diet, Posh Spice's latest starvation diet. There's only one diet real men need to worry about and that's the Paleo Diet - aka the Caveman Diet - which, in its most basic form, consists of what our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have eaten.

Who says so? Ray Mears. He's qualified to pronounce on such matters because he has spent more than a decade researching what our distant forebears used to survive on. He has also spent weeks in the wild with nothing more to eat than nuts, berries and lean meat. These, he believes, are the key to avoiding illness and premature death associated with our excessive western consumption of refined sugar and carbohydrate.

"Our ancestors were hunter-gatherers who ate a lot of meat and fish. They had a completely different diet from ours today, and if we were still eating that diet, I'm certain we wouldn't be getting as ill," says Mears. "We still have a Stone Age body. We have modern minds, but our brains and bodies still require the same food."

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Comments

[SEQUOIABISON]

It depends upon how far back in our ancestry you are willing to go.

Basically, according to Linnaeus the father of Taxonomy and the classification of animals, Humans are in the Frugivorus category, meaning we have an anatomy very close to the primates, specifically the Gorilla, which is a vegetarian in the wild.

A great article below gives us some insight into what our diet is supposed to be based on our anatomy.

The Comparative Anatomy of Eating
by Milton R. Mills, M.D.
http://www.vegsource.com/veg_faq/comparative.htm

[rjmiller]

In contrast, cavemen died at the age of 30 with no teeth and horrible arthritis. I would prefer scientifically verified advice from a nutritionist instead of anecdotal nonsense from an anthropologist.

[Apple8]

That is exactly what I was thinking!

[wm1066]

Your information is gleaned from where?
If you take the time to read about the paleolithic grave sites you will see that these people where very healthy but died mostly from trauma wounds, archeaologists thought they would find disease amongst this group but not so, they found the beginning of diseases in the neolithic sites.
They did find bad teeth in the early Egyptian graves but attribute that to the sand from the desert blowing into their foods causing broken teeth.

[singermuse]

Eight years ago I read the book "Neanderthin" by Ray Audette, and proceeded to become healthier than I had ever been before. 4 years later, for ethical/spiritual reasons I dropped the animal protein/products and became even healthier by adopting a carefully researched and followed raw and living foods vegan diet.Paleo and Raw Vegan diets are both excellent ways to get healthier and more youthful. I believe they saved my life.

[rr00]

About 6 years ago my doctor gave me the simple advice "eat like a caveman. cut out as much processed, man-made foods as possible (basically, really make an effort to avoid anything that wasn't available to our distant ancestors.) shop along the perimeter of grocery stores -- fruits, vegetables, nuts, eggs, lean meats. eat enough to satisfy you, whenever you're hungry."

It's so simple. I took his advice, enthusiastically stuck with it, and I can say with absolute certainty that it works. I almost never get sick, have zero digestive problems, and my sleep requirements are far lower now. After integrating regular exercise, my bodyfat % dropped enough to reveal that "six pack" that I wanted for many years.

I would encourage anyone who is having health problems (maybe type 2 diabetes, weight issues, whatever) to seriously consider this type of eating as a lifestyle.

[recless]

People are confusing life expectancy and longevity. Live expectancy is how long the average person lives. Longevity is how long does the average person live IF they avoid early death by disease or injury. It is unknown what longevity was for cavemen, but in Greek and Roman times some lived into their 70s, 80s, and even beyond, even though life expectancy was below 40.

[JScott]

Well if there are 6 billion people in the world there's no way we could all be hunter gatherers.

[DennyCrane]

I've been eating this way for years and not only am I in the best shape of my life, I rarely get sick. The people who dismiss this diet by saying that cavemen only lived 30 years are narrow-minded. Cavemen had a short life expectancy because of things like poor hygiene and having to contend with wild animals. But most of us been so brainwashed into thinking that certain "health foods" are good for us, things like dairy and grains. Seriously, why do people think this stuff is healthy? What other animal would eat the milk products of another animal? Milk is meant for infants, not adults. And yet we eat processed dairy. The caveman diet is very simple. If the food hasn't undergone major processing from its natural state, then you can probably eat it. But if you can't figure out how it arrived in its final state, why are you eating it? Just look at a piece of bread? Where do you find bread in nature? Does it grow from a tree or walk on land? No. Stop believing all the myths the government and big business put out. Americans are such sheep.

[Swerinjer2]

Weston A Price Foundation > paleo

[arunachala]

yeah, if i remember correctly from my intro archaeology class, the life expectancy of 'cavemen' was about 25-30

[tedmore123]

Yeah, but you'll look great.

[Jonahson]

He must be joking right? Those cavemen certainly won't live long if they are to eat the way they did now at least we will live longer then them with our higher tolerance to mercury in fish, pesticides in vegetables and lead in the air.

[Marioli]

Many people simply eat too confused without a sense of what their body can handle. Too much different foods based on too much and confused and highly aseptic medical information.
Most probably, the reason the Mediterranean Diet, the Japanese Diet and all the others work so well for people living there is because they eat in a way that their genes are used to and their body can handle well. Even though I like to have Japanese food every few months I know I wouldn.t thrive on it. I´m European and a good and well-chosen variety of foods from around here makes me feel best.
If we really listen into ourselves we will get the best info about what our bodies need. I was surprised when I found how seldom I really consciuously want meat, chicken or fish. Then, I.ll have it.

I think, the most difficult change people having to loose weight have to master is to stop eating "just because" and "just so". They actually have to learn hunger, and true craving/want that comes right from the bodies instinct.

[joebiz]

Cavemen and caveladies were probably running around chasing or being chased by wild animals. They weren't sitting around blogging on the Huffpost . . . . Well, come to think of it, I'm sure there are lots-o-cave dwellers hunting and pecking right now with a glistening Twinkie by their side. Mmmmm good.

[Ezerbio]

Try to eat lots of meat and fish like this article says our ancestors did and cut your life short by 30 years. Great advice! People keep trying to reinvent the wheel with the topic of diet when it is so simple. Eat a wide variety of natural and real, unprocessed food; the majority organic fruits and vegetables.

[Gasparilla]

Just eat lots of fruits and vegetables and less meat, and eat as much unprocessed food as possible. Brown rice, potatoes.

[Rockwell]

Um, cavemen died in like in their early 30s. So again, what's so wonderful about this diet?