Saturday, September 18, 2010

BBC picks up on the paleo diet

The BBC News has picked up on the paleo diet.

Our ancestors in the palaeolithic period, which covers 2.5 million years ago to 12,000 years ago, are thought to have had a diet based on vegetables, fruit, nuts, roots and meat.

Cereals, potatoes, bread and milk did not feature at all. It was only with the dawn of agriculture (around 10,000 years ago) that our diets evolved to include what we think of as staple foods now.

But why do they put meat at the bottom of that list?? 


Good quote though:

 "Palaeolithic man may have died earlier than we do now, but he didn't die of bad nutrition."

22 comments:

JP said...

It's definitely biased. I mean vegetables have to be healthier than meat, right?

Chris Robbins said...

It's good that it's in the news, I guess. But the fact that they wrongly over-emphasise veggies & Unilever gets a mention kind of turns me off.

Matt Joseph said...

In addition to the non-meat bias, I'll add that I'm pretty sure the paleo diet was NOT low in fat!

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Stephan Guyenet said...

That's cool. Although where did they get the idea that the paleo diet was rich in vegetables? And where did Cordain get that idea? I haven't come across much evidence that modern or ancient HGs eat many vegetables.

Michael said...

The accuracy of the statement aside I think it's great that mainstream media picked it up period...it's a start!

Methuselah said...

The curious thing for me is the Unilever involvement. Not sure what they think they can get out of this.

Methuselah said...

Okay, on a second reading, I see they say that the idea is to

"create a healthier diet for people today, drawing inspiration from that period."

I guess this means the inevitable release of products whose ingredients are roughly in line with Paleo eating.

But for sure they will have to bastardise and bend the principles of Paleo to meet the profit agenda of their shareholders.

Asclepius said...

I cannot wait for Unilever to launch a low-fat, grain-based PALEO snack (with no added salt or sugar)! It will rattle the cages of the CARBarians.

Seriously though, the big issue for the current diet-food manufacturers is that any PALEO food the manufacture will be in direct competition with what they already produce (the low fat, complex carb stuff). One precludes the other.

How can you market a low fat, complex-carb product as healthy, next to another one of your products that has minimal complex carbs and a lot of fat?

By saying one of these products is healthy/healthier, you are claiming the other is not.

Even Joe Public will whiff the marketing crap on this one.

Methuselah said...

Excellent point, Asclepius. But if Nike can start releasing minimalist shoes, then Unilever can start selling Paleo food. Brazen hypocrisy is a corporate strength. They will merely say they are catering to all 'philosophies'. That said, by getting involved in rigorous research into the area they are risking not being able to use this approach.

Adam said...

Every time I think I've figured out what's healthy and what's not, I get hit with new information. I've lost some of my extra fat and I'm pretty happy with the program I'm using through http://www.reallifeforhealth.com.
But now am I supposed to give them up because they're not Paleo?
Have you heard of them? Their system is really easy to use and it does everything. They have 1000's of different recipes to choose from and they help you build a fitness and nutrition plan that suits your goals. They even send you printable daily meal plans and menus, as well as printable daily or weekly grocery lists, which are broken down by the area of the grocery store or supermarket. I guess they'll have to update to include the 'Paleo' section if it catches on. I'm just happy that there's no pills, or required supplements. I'm really impressed with it, especially since they offer a free trial. If anyone looks into it, let me know what you think about it vs. strictly Paleo.