Didn’t early humans only live to about 30?
Not exactly….. Average lifespan figures can be misleading due to high infant mortality. Early humans also didn’t have the benefit of modern medicine or the ability to deal with trauma, infection, parasites etc. For example even by the 1850s the average American lifespan was still less than 40 years old. This doesn’t mean everyone was grey haired and worn out by age 35.
Studies of ancient skeletons and modern hunter gatherers and foragers give indications that infant mortality was high, but for individuals who survived childhood and made it to 15 years of age they had a good chance of a long life in good health.
http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US39-01.html
http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/gurven/papers/GurvenKaplan2007pdr.pdf
Didn’t Paleo man eat different diets depending on where they lived?
A Paleo Diet is not about trying to live like our ancestors. It is looking to our ancestral past to to give us ideas about how our digestive system developed and what foods are best fitted to meet this.
Despite people in different parts of the world having different diets, there were many commonalities. They all ate meat and plant based foods that were available, which is the basis of a modern paleo diet.
Don’t we need carbohydrates to function?
It’s a common misconception that a Paleo Diet is very low in carbohydrates.
It can often be much lower in carbohydrates than the diet you are use to, but given that diabetes is now an epidemic, and often due to the over consumption of sugar and carbs, this is usually a positive change.
Paleo lifestyle followers choose to consume however many carbs they wish from fruit and vegetables, including starchy vegetables like kumara. Most people include potatoes in their diet unless they have an autoimmune issue, and some even choose to include white rice for extra carbohydrate.
But doesn’t meat cause cancer?
It is true that processed meats may increase your risk of colon cancer. Luncheon, ham, frankfurters etc are foods best avoided.
When it comes to unprocessed meats the difference is all in the cooking. Charring meat (or any food for that matter) can cause compounds that have been shown to cause cancer in test animals, so choosing lower heat cooking methods like slow cooking is a better option.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20663065
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21540747
But won’t all the saturated fat cause heart disease?
We’ve been told for years to cut down the saturated fat to reduce heart disease, but unfortunately the scientists got it wrong.
The diet heart hypothesis was the work of Ancel Keys who cherry picked his data to prove his hypothesis. The US government ran with the recommendations and the rest of the western world followed.
New studies show that saturated fat in the diet does not increase risk of heart disease and in fact by replacing saturated fat with vegetable oils can actually increase risk of cardiovascular disease.
http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.e8707
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2010/01/13/ajcn.2009.27725.abstract
http://authoritynutrition.com/modern-nutrition-policy-lies-bad-science/
But how do I get calcium without dairy?
Turns out dairy isn’t the only source of calcium. Dark green vegetables and seaweed, small fish, meat and bone broths are all good sources of calcium.
But having strong bones takes more than just calcium. A wide range of nutrients is needed, and a diet that enables absorption of these minerals. Phytates in foods like grains and legumes can make absorption of calcium difficult. This could explain why despite high consumption of calcium, rates of osteoporosis are still high.
http://whole9life.com/2012/02/what-about-calcium/
What about fiber?
Taking grains and legumes out of the diet is going to have an effect on fiber consumption but that is not likely to be a problem? Many of the health claims about fiber have turned out to be false.
Insoluble fiber is unable to be digested or absorbed by the body, therefore nutritionally ineffective. All the cereal products that boast of high fiber content only serve to bulk up your stools, fine if you like that sort of thing.
Vegetables and fruit are excellent sources of soluble fiber, they serve to feed the all important gut bacteria. A paleo diet should be high in plant based foods, and therefore contain adequate fiber for your body.
