Paleo vs Modern Diets - Key Differences

What Did the Cavemen (and Women) Eat?

What is meant by Paleolithic?

Paleolithic people were hunter-gatherers. All their food came from what they could hunt and find around them. For most of the period, most of the cultures tended to be nomadic, following food sources.

The period after the Paleolithic period is called the Neolithic, which began approximately 10,000 years ago. This is when people started settling in one place (becoming more sedentary, although still very active by today's standards), and agriculture was a big part of this. Especially, people started growing sources of starch, especially grains, which could be stored. Another big innovation in the later part of the Neolithic period was the development of pottery, which made it easier to cook and transport staple foods.

Writers espousing Paleolithic diets point to evidence regarding both prehistoric people and more recent hunter-gatherer populations that agriculture increased chronic diseases such as heart disease in these populations.

How do Eating Patterns and Nutrition Vary Between Paleolithic and Modern Times?

There are a number of major differences between our diets and those of the "cavemen".

Types of foods

Early on, before fire was controlled, only food which could be eaten raw was consumed. This ruled out grains, legumes, and some tubers such as potatoes. Even when early people started to use fire to cook food, they were mainly limited to roasting or toasting it. Besides meat, a few roasted nuts or grains by the fire were pretty much it. Additionally, before animals were domesticated (around 5-6 thousand years ago) milk and dairy products were not consumed.

Obviously, any refined sugars other than occasional honey, or any processed foods, were totally out.

What exactly was eaten by early people clearly varied according to geography, but most of the diets are thought to be at least half animal foods (including insects), and many up to 70% food of animal origin. Gathering enough plant food to support highly active people simply wouldn't have been feasible in most places.

Despite this, large amounts of vegetatation were consumed - some estimates are that in many areas early humans ate up to 6 pounds of greens per day. (This is a lot of greens - about a grocery bag full, but this produces only about 400-700 calories. However, the nutrient load of those greens is huge, producing many times the minimum daily requirement of most vitamins and minerals.) Of course, other parts of plants were eaten, including nuts and fruit, though we probably couldn't recognize the ancestors of the sugary fruit we eat today.

Fats

A key difference that has been identified between Paleolithic Diets and today's standard diet is the difference in the types of fats we consume:

We consume far less Omega-3 fat. This is the type of fat we commonly think of as being in oily fish and flax seeds, but it turns out that game meats contain more omega-3 fat than domesticated animals. Greens also contain this type of fat - in small amounts to be sure, but many early people ate a LOT of greens. (Probably the reason game meats have more omega-3 fats is because they eat greens.)

We consume more saturated fat. When we fatten up our cattle on grain and corn, we increase the amount of saturated fat in the meat. Early people ate more fish in many places, as they would have had to be near a water supply. Much of our saturated fat comes from dairy products, which Paleolithic people didn't eat.

We consume more Omega-6 fat. One of the big points that authors of paleo-diets make is that our consumption of Omega-6 fats has skyrocketed at the same time that the amount of Omega-3 fats has declined. This is mainly due to the large amount of soybean oil and seed oils such as corn oil in our diets.

There is mounting evidence that this decrease of Omega-3 fats along with the increase of Omega 6 fats contributes to the inflammation that underlies many of our modern chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis.

Note: Different authors vary on their estimates of the total amount of fat these early people ate and what should be recommended for those attempting this type of diet. Cordain (The Paleo Diet) points out that game meats are naturally low in fat, and that we should seek low fat sources of protein. Others disagree, positing that the higher-calorie fats in organ meats, bone marrow, etc, would have been prized and that the percentage of fats in the diet would have been higher.

Amount of protein

Estimates are that the diets of these early people was about 20-35% protein. Paleo diet authors recommend high protein diets, usually at the upper end of this range.

Amount of Fiber

Although this varied greatly by geography and season, most Paleo people ate high fiber diets, of up to 100-200 grams of fiber. (The warmer the climate, the more plant food and fiber.)

Glycemic Load

There is no disputing the fact that Paleolithic people ate a diet that was far less glycemic than today's diet. Carbohydrate probably contributed about 20-40% of the calories, and none of it was processed sugars and grains.

Vitamin and Mineral Consumption

It seems that the foods that have been added since those early days have mainly served to dilute the nutrient concentration in our diets. Grains are not very nutrient-dense compared with vegetables, meat, and seafood, while added sugars and most cooking oils are devoid of nutrients.

Food Variety

Most Paleolithic people are said to have eaten over 100 different species of food on an annual basis. Most people do not achieve this in today's world, and yet we know that food variety, especially a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, is one of the basic tenants of a healthy balanced diet.

Amount of Salt

We surely eat more salt now. Loren Cordain feels that the altered ratio of potassium to sodium is important.

Antinutrients

Writers about Paleolithic diets often talk about substances in grains, legumes, and some other foods which can interfere with absorption of nutrients, such as phytic acid. Other molecules, such as lectins, are said to contribute to a situation in the gut where the intestines let larger molecules pass into the blood, possibly contributing to allergies and autoimmune conditions. This condition is called "leaky gut", or "increased intestinal permeability".

Other Issues

Cordain points to the acid/base balance of foods, which he feels is altered.