The Paleo diet, which steers clear of grains, legumes, dairy, sugar, and every processed and industrialized form of food in order to focus on pre-agricultural food like meat, eggs, vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts for maintaining a good health, is often referred to as the “The Caveman Diet.” The Paleo diet for beginners who intend on trying this should also know that it comes with its fair share of misconceptions. The popular 6 misconceptions associated with the Paleo diet are as follows:
- A fad diet: A fad diet is one that is generally short term, focuses on unhealthy weight loss, and is extreme. The Paleo diet is not a fad diet. It is a lifestyle choice that favors food that evolving humans thrived on for thousands of years before agriculture came into the scene. The Paleo diet, beginners should know, has also proved to be beneficial in healing disorders.
- It is more meat oriented: This is a misconception because while meat is paleo food, there is more to the Paleo diet than meat. Often, more calories come from fat and oils, nuts, and fruits than meat in this diet.
- It is elitist and expensive: One reason why it appears that the affluent seem to follow the Paleo diet is that it costs more to buy kale than it does to buy, for example, a frozen TV dinner. However, in the long run, a paleo lifestyle will cost you less than what obesity and diabetes will. Maybe, the more we demand kale or grass-fed meat and the more we eschew frozen pizzas, the more this diet can be made accessible to everyone.
- It is unhealthy to cut out entire food groups: However, there remains the fact that until about 10,000 years ago, for 99.5 percent of our evolutionary history, these food groups were not even a part of our diet and humans still survived.
- It is a low carb diet: This is a misconception because while the foods that constitute a paleo diet are low carb by nature, highly active people are advised to take more carbs to complement their active lifestyle.
- It is a one size fits all approach: It is not that kind of a diet. The Paleo diet is what you would call a template for a healthy lifestyle. It is flexible in approach and allows for changes.