Diet Advice from a Cave Man? Oh yes!
Jane Brody at the New York Times wrote an article bashing the Paleo Diet, or rather, one meal plan in particular, as if that were the end all and be all of paleo diets.
Let’s discuss!
Is it practical?
Jane calls into question the difficulty inherent in broiling salmon in the morning while getting themselves ready for work. She furthers wonders if someone could dine out? And “most important of all” can they live happily without a piece of bread, cracker, or ice cream?
First, you don’t have to broil salmon every day. Additionally, there are ways to dine out that follow the precepts of the paleo diet, and third, you don’t have to be 100% adherent to the diet to get the benefits of it.
So, is it practical? Perhaps it’s not as practical as pouring yourself a bowl of insulin spiking cereal, in milk that is homogenized and pasteurized, stripping it of all of its nutrients so they have to be shoved back in. And the Calcium from milk isn’t even readily absorbed by people anyway, so there’s that to consider.
Is it practical? My family cooks up some homemade sausage or chicken thighs, takes about 10 minutes. We roast some broccoli or cauliflower, which takes about 30.
Instead, maybe we could reconsider the lifestyle choices that have led to people needing to sacrifice good nutritious food for the sake of convenience. That constant cortisol drip and horrible breakfast are only a part of what has led to all the chronic diseases afflicting our society.
Paleolithic era people didn’t live past 40, so didn’t suffer the chronic diseases of our time.
That might make sense, except that it’s ridiculous. Not only did people in the Paleo era live longer than 40 on a regular basis, chronic diseases like diabetes are now showing up in children.
When agriculture came into being and people started making cereal grains a staple, the average lifespan dropped. In the Roman empire, it dropped to under 20 years of age! They were dying younger, and sicker than in the paleolithic era. In that time they were dying from injury, not disease.
Paleo is better for health
The funny thing about this is that in the article, she does say it’s better than her advocated diet, the Mediterranean at promoting weight loss, and reducing Type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease. Yet her vote goes for Mediterranean. Because it’s more flexible. Yet she’s already decided the Paleo diet isn’t, because of one example that she used.
Her biggest argument against it is that it’s inconvenient.
Is health inconvenient? Is convenience worth your health? That’s up to you. In my opinion, convenience is what has led to all the diseases that are plaguing our society right now. Jane Brody is advocating convenience, forgetting that that is what got us here, to one of the sickest developed nations on earth.
You’ve got to do what’s right for you, that’s for certain. If your interested in eating in a very healthy way, don’t let Jane Brody dissuade you from a diet that is actually quite easy, sustainable, delicious, and chock full of all the vitamins and antioxidants you might need.
Resources: marksdailyapple.com, chrisskresser.com, whole30.com