Debunking the Paleo Diet Myth

Dr. Kasia Kines, Nutritionist, CEO and founder of EBV Educational Institute
Virtual clinic serving the US and globally
[email protected]

I absolutely support improvements in the way one eats. I am just naturally skeptical of new food fads and “diets” and cannot tolerate brain washing of any type (comes from being Polish). One of the “in” diets is the paleo diet or paleo movement: paleo- recipes, paleo dietitians, paleo-friendly protein bars, etc. It is a great improvement to the typical American diet, don’t get me wrong, since you eat food and not food products, and since it eliminates some foods that often bother people’s health such as gluten and dairy (although there are so many variations of paleo that I cannot keep up!). However, like any diet, it has a dogma whose premise based on our evolution is not based on facts. And so when I see clinicians and marketers alike referring to it, it just makes my stomach churn. What exactly do people mean by paleo????

It is not my intention here to criticize the foods that are part of this diet. It is a personal choice and, over a period of time, this diet can help calm down the immune system and make it easier for the gastrointestinal tract to heal. It is not a fix-it-all and is not sustainable. But at this time, I want to focus on clarifying that it is a myth that we ate this type of diet in Paleolithic times. I am just really tired of every single proponent of Paleo Diet giving this argument to support it: that we did not consume certain food such as grains or legumes, in the Paleolithic period.

The Real Paleo Diet…

According to the paleo claims, we were hunters –gatherers and evolved to eat large amounts of meat, while we did not consume legumes or grains. But Christina Warinner, PhD, archeological scientist who studies health and dietary history of ancient peoples using bone chemistry and ancient DNA,  explains how, rather than hunting, we had evolved for starch-rich plants. We evolved to cook foods already in the Paleolithic times.  Plant microfossils from grains, e.g. barley family, have been found on the teeth of Neanderthals, and starches form grains, legumes and tubers have been found on Paleolithic grinding stones that predate agriculture more than 10,000 years.  Humans did not discover these foods during the Neolithic period – they had already been eating them, albeit in smaller quantities, for a long time.  Dr. Warinner debunks the Paleo- myth in details as a scientist in her TED talk, which I highly recommend (about 20 minutes). I think you will find it fascinating and entertaining. I suspect she was irritated enough to step in and create this presentation.

I am all about health, factuality and…common sense! Let’s eat more for our our physiology – more (whole) foods, mostly organic, mostly plants and mostly NOT food products! Call your foods foods!

Kasia Kines

Dr. Kasia Kines, Nutritionist, CEO and founder of EBV Educational Institute
Virtual clinic serving the US and globally
[email protected]