Admission #1: A Paleo-type diet is actually pretty awesome in my opinion.

Admission #2: I’m NOT strictly Paleo and I’m certainly not a “Paleo Nazi”, so spare me that rubbish.

Consider…

Meat, veg, nuts, seeds, fruit, and good quality fats are in.

Grains, legumes, dairy and processed foods are out.

Sounds pretty spot on overall to me!

Not to say it is the only way to eat for health, but it sure as hell is better than the way the majority of the population eat.

The important thing to bear in mind is that “Paleo” is not one single “diet” or eating plan. IT’S A TEMPLATE. There are so many variations and ways to tweak this way of eating that I think it’s an unfortunate misnomer to label it “the Paleo diet”.

Some of the criticism I hear really irks me. Not because I’m staunchly pro-Paleo (I’m not), but because a lot of it seems to centre around the supporting arguments for eating this way rather than the actual nutritional and health benefits it provides.

For example, critics might claim that the foods that are promoted in the Paleo-world are not truly Paleo due to changes in how we selectively produce food. Or they may claim that this diet isn’t actually that of the Paleolithic era and that the timeline we have estimated is wrong. They may even claim that just because we were only recently introduced (from an evolutionary perspective) to agriculture, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we can’t have adapted to it. These points may or may not be valid. But should we even care?

I mean come on. Does it really matter if original estimates of the exact time period are a bit out? Or if fruit and veg of the modern day is different from the fruit/veg of the Paleolithic era? Or even if adaptation can take place within the 10,000 years or so since the advent of agriculture?

Perhaps to an anthropologist. But to someone simply interested in being as healthy as possible, in having as much energy as possible, in reaching their athletic performance potential, and in generally just feeling great, then should we worry about those arguments? As one of those people, all I care about is if this way of eating and living lets me attain all those things I’ve just mentioned.

And it certainly gets me 80%+ of the way there. After that some smart experimentation comes in. Try butter, cream, white potatoes, rice, properly prepared legumes and see how you do on them. It’s all about working out what’s best for you.