Debunking the Paleo Diet, Essay Example

After viewing “Debunking the Paleo Diet” with speaker Christina Warriner (March 19, 2013), it became obvious that this “diet” which is loosely based on some of the findings of Eaton and Cordain in 1997 (“Old Genes, New Fuels: Nutritional Changes Since Agriculture”) is nothing more than another diet gimmick created to make someone wealthy. As might be expected, this Paleo Diet which refers to the diet allegedly consumed by prehistoric peoples during the Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age) has become very popular with diet-conscious Americans who are always striving to find the right combination of food ingredients for a healthier and longer-lasting life. The basic premise of this diet is to “eat like a caveman” who for the most part was omnivorous as a hunter-gatherer.

Recent paleontological evidence from Europe indicates that prehistoric man consumed a wide range of food ingredients, such as wild animal meat, grains, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and other common natural staples. Evidence also demonstrates that after the Agricultural Revolution, man’s diet altered drastically via consuming more animal products like beef, pork, and poultry. Therefore, Ms. Warriner’s attempt to debunk the Paleo Diet works out beautifully, due to using facts and cold, hard scientific evidence that shows that eating like a caveman just does not work for most people today whose body chemistry and metabolism will not tolerate a diet high in healthy foods as contrasted with consuming lots of dairy products, processed TV dinners, soda pop high in sugar, salt on everything, and French fried potatoes.