Loren Cordain wrote the Paleo Diet based on his research about the probable diet of our human ancestors. The concept of the Paleo approach to eating is that humans were evolving for millions of years prior to the Neolithic period, which is when agricultural practices changed our diet considerably. Cordain affirms that grains were not a part of the prehistoric human diet and were only introduced at the time of the agricultural revolution 10000 years ago.

In the past 200 years the industrial revolution has changed our diet to an even greater degree with the introduction of processed and artificial foods as well as an increase in the amount of food that is available to us due to our ability to store foods for a long time.

Cordain claims that these changes have created a detrimental effect on our health and declares that they are responsible for the diseases of modern civilization including obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

The Paleo Diet Basics

Cordain states that the genetics of humans is best adapted to the diet of our human ancestors prior to the introduction of agriculture. As such the Paleo diet is based on eating foods that would be available to humans in the absence of all technology so as to mimic the diet of hunter-gatherer societies as much as possible.

Many foods are restricted on this diet for the reason that that they were not available to our prehistoric ancestors. These include all processed foods, sugar, salt, grains, legumes, dairy products, coffee and alcohol. Potatoes are also restricted because the varieties available now are genetically and nutritionally altered and are much higher in carbohydrates in comparison to those available in Stone Age period.

While eliminating grains and refined carbohydrates does make this a relatively low carbohydrate diet, it is less restrictive than other diet plans of this nature such as ‘Atkins’ and ‘Protein Power’ because most fruit and vegetables are allowed in unlimited portions.