So Now We Need to Eat Like Our Ancestors?

I read a comment on a blog the other day that the paleo diet was just another fad.  Is it?  I don’t think so.  Whether the diet  is called paleo, primal or LCHF (low carb, high fat), it is a clean way of eating that for many people can result in weight loss, more energy and improved health.

It’s pretty funny actually seeing all the “paleo desserts” and other baked items using some very strange sounding “flours”. (I didn’t know nuts could become flours.)  Of course any decent diet is gluten free nowadays.  That goes without saying.  But really?  Paleo cookies, ice cream and smoothies?  I don’t know about you but I don’t think my ancestors were baking up a storm in the kitchen or whipping something up in the Vitamix.  For that matter, I doubt anyone was eating coconut oil a couple thousand years ago.  Maybe olive oil,  but coconut?

In my circle of friends and acquaintances (mostly middle aged), it does seem like people are tending towards lower carb diets. Last weekend I was in my favorite farmer’s market in Studio City, CA.  There were lots of organic fruit stands.  And they were really busy. I looked at the people buying up loads of fruit and most of them were skinny.  Mmmm, skinny people are buying sugary fruit. More confusion.  Is low carb better?  If you are confused about what you should be eating, join the crowd.

What I do appreciate about all the “latest fad” diets is that they are sane.  Call them what you want.  It is about eating healthy food the way nature intended.  I think being a vegan (without vegan processed foods of course) is pretty healthy as well as a raw foodist. Each diet has its own merits.  I don’t believe there is one diet for every body either.  Our ancestral background does have an effect on what we should be eating now.

I Believe We Can Figure Out Our Own Diet

Earlier today I watched a really enjoyable 12 minute video called “The Calorie Myth” by Jonathon Bailor.  Jonathon made a clever point in his video “We were slimmer and healthier before we ever knew what a calorie was”.  That is so true.  My mother, nor her mother, every counted calories (or carbs for that matter) or went on diets.  Never.  And while they might not have been the “Hollywood” skinny body type, they always had healthy body weights.  When I was growing up size “zero” didn’t even exist.  Why?  No one was that skinny back then.  The smallest size was a 5.  Now, I am from Canada and our sizes our smaller up there so our size 5 was (and still is) probably closer to an American size 3.  I have a fond memory of starving myself  and getting so skinny in my early 20’s that size 5 was too big.  Ah, those were the days…..

Though I may never see a size 5 again (or even 7 for that matter), I believe if we all focus on just plain wholesome food and fine tune what works with our body and what doesn’t, we will at least be a healthy size, have lots of energy and feel good.  After all, that is really what matters in the long run…right?

Will I ever stop wanting to be a size 5?  Probably not.  The conditioning to be skinny has been going on for too long now.  But maybe I can at least stop calculating those damn calories or carbs in my head every time I eat.  Just maybe.

To your Health!

Peter Gillham