The Paleo Diet (21 page)

No universal dietary recommendations apply to everybody, even though we all have the same starting point—our evolutionary past.

Many people don’t even know that some foods—particularly, grains, dairy products, legumes, and yeast—are to blame for some of their health problems. They may not make the diet/health connection until they eliminate these foods and then reintroduce them. Listen to your body as you gradually return to the diet nature intended for us all. Find out what works for you and be sensible ; alter your diet so that you can live with it—but remember, the further you stray from the basic principles of the diet (lean animal protein, fresh fruits, and vegetables), the less likely you’ll be able to reap its health benefits.

When we eat the foods that we’re genetically programmed to eat, we won’t develop nutritional deficiency diseases. As I discussed earlier, pellagra (niacin deficiency) and beriberi (vitamin B
₁
deficiency) have never been found in hunter-gatherers—modern or Paleolithic. In chapter 2 I showed how the vitamins and the minerals eaten every day on the Paleo Diet—a modern Paleo diet—far exceed the RDAs in almost every category. This diet is nutrient-rich by any standard, and it provides us with everything we need to be healthy.

This does not mean that people on the Paleo Diet don’t need supplements. You may choose to bolster your diet with certain supplements, including those discussed next.

Except for fatty ocean fish, there is very little vitamin D in any commonly consumed natural (that is, not artificially fortified) foods. This wasn’t a major problem for our Paleolithic ancestors, who spent much of their time outdoors and got all the vitamin D they needed from sunlight. Today, for most of us, sunlight exposure is a hit-or-miss proposition. This is why, to prevent rickets and other vitamin D-deficiency diseases, processed foods such as milk and margarine are fortified with vitamin D.

Do you get enough sun? (“Enough” means about fifteen minutes a day.) If you don’t, and you’ve stopped eating margarine and milk, you should supplement your diet with this nutrient. The DRI for vitamin D is 200-600 IU (for “international units”). Because many studies have suggested a link between low vitamin D levels in the blood and a number of cancers—including breast, prostate, and colon cancers—you may want to boost your daily supplementation to 2,000 IU. However, this is not one of those “more is better” nutrients. Vitamin D is fat-soluble, which means it can accumulate in your tissues and eventually become toxic if you take too much of it. The tolerable upper limit for vitamin D in adults is 2,000 IU daily, although recent studies have challenged this value and suggest that a more accurate limit is 10,000 IU.

Here are the keys to healthy sun exposure:

Although our bodies are basically the same as those of our ancient ancestors, we live in a vastly different world. The pristine, unpolluted Paleolithic environment no longer exists; we are regularly exposed to numerous toxic substances that didn’t exist 100 years ago. The food we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink contain minuscule residues of pesticides and chemical and industrial contaminants. These pollutants are inescapable; they’re even found in remote parts of Antarctica and Greenland.

Nobody knows the effects of a lifetime exposure to these noxious agents. However, it’s clear that a well-functioning immune system—bolstered by antioxidant vitamins and minerals—may help protect you from a variety of environmentally dependent cancers and diseases. The medical literature is overflowing with studies showing the potential of supplemental antioxidants to reduce the risk of heart disease and many cancers.

The Paleo Diet is exceptionally rich in antioxidants—even with no supplementation. It contains, on average, more than 500 milligrams of vitamin C (more than nine times the RDA), more than 25 IU of vitamin E (more than three times the RDA), and more than 140 micrograms of selenium (more than 2.5 times the RDA). Also, because this diet is loaded with fresh fruits and vegetables, it’s high in beta-carotene and many other plant substances (phytochemicals) that protect against many types of cancer. But for some antioxidants, it may be beneficial to supplement your diet. These include:

Some people just don’t like fish or shellfish, no matter how it’s prepared. If you’re one of them, I recommend that you take daily fish oil capsules. There are two active ingredients, both fatty acids, in fish oil that produce its many beneficial effects—eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). You should try to take 1 to 2 grams of EPA and DHA daily. Depending on the brand and the size of the capsules, you will need to take about four to eight capsules per day to get sufficient EPA and DHA. Regular fish oil supplementation will decrease your risk of cancer and heart disease and may reduce certain symptoms of autoimmune diseases and inflammatory disorders.

One of the keys to making this diet work is ensuring that your modern Paleo food is always available. Many of us have schedules away from home or at our jobs, where it is impossible to prepare or buy fresh, unadulterated fruits, veggies, and lean meats. This means you will need to prepare some of your food at home and bring it with you. But this isn’t a problem. For most people, lunch is the most common meal away from home, and “brown-bagging” lunch is the norm for many working people.

You don’t have to prepare three separate Paleo meals from scratch every single day. What works best for most people is to simply double or triple the size of the evening meal and then bring the leftovers for lunch. Put parts of your salad and main dish in a sealed container that night and take them with you the next morning. Toss in a piece of fresh fruit, and you’ve got a terrific lunch! You can also cook two or more main dishes in the evening, use one, and immediately refrigerate the other for use later in the week.

This same principle works for your condiments (salad dressings, salsas, marinades, dips, etc.). Mix up a big batch on the weekend or in the evening, put it in a container, and store it in the refrigerator until you need it. Nothing could be simpler.

Most supermarkets now stock precut, washed salad vegetables and mixes of lettuces. Completely mixed salads (spinach, Caesar, etc.) in sealed plastic bags without added dressing are also commonly available. These packaged veggies are great for people on the go who want to eat fresh foods but don’t have time to prepare them. So if time is of the essence, you can make a wonderful, healthful salad by simply opening a bag of cut, washed, and mixed salad greens. Try tossing in some cold shrimp, shredded crabmeat, and olive oil or dressing that you have made beforehand, and you’ve got another instant Paleo lunch.

You’re invited over to a close friend’s house for dinner, and it’s spaghetti and meatballs. That’s okay, just this once. Your daughter baked you a triple-chocolate birthday cake and would be devastated if you didn’t eat at least a piece. That’s okay, just this once. Things happen—and a few occasional and minor dietary indiscretions won’t make much difference to your overall health if you follow the diet the rest of the time. However, if these indiscretions become the rule and not the exception, you will increasingly lose the healthful benefits and weight-loss effects of the Paleo Diet.

How can you make the Paleo Diet work in the real world? Do the best you can. When you dine out, it can be a challenge—or downright impossible—to follow the Paleo Diet to a T. In the real world, many restaurants build their menu around most of the foods you’re trying not to eat. Even though many restaurants now offer low-fat or vegetarian meals, few restaurants sponsor Paleo cuisine. In the best situations, you’ll be able to stick pretty close to the Paleo Diet; in the worst cases, you may have to throw in the towel.

However, most of the time, you should be able to pull it off with just a few transgressions. The key is “triage.” Assign your priorities based on urgency:

Most breakfast restaurants serve fresh fruit and some form of eggs. Because fried and scrambled eggs are usually cooked with trans fat-containing margarine or shortening, order your eggs poached or hard-boiled. Or have an omelet filled with veggies—hold the cheese and skip the toast. A cup of coffee is okay. Sometimes you can find smoked salmon or fish for breakfast or shrimp-stuffed omelets; try to include healthful omega 3 fats whenever possible. A lean ham slice or pork chop or a lean breakfast steak is another option—but make sure that you also get a big bowl of fruit to balance the acid-producing protein load. Try to keep salt to a minimum (this is probably the most difficult aspect of dining out).

Lunches are usually pretty easy, now that most restaurants offer salads, lean meats, and fish as entrées. If your salad comes with croutons, ignore them, and try to get an olive oil-based dressing. For dessert, order fresh fruit.

Dinners out are usually fairly easy, too. Even pasta-heavy Italian restaurants usually have seafood or meat entrées. You can ask to have these dishes prepared without added flour or breading, skip the potatoes, and get a side order of steamed vegetables. Treat yourself to an occasional glass of wine with dinner. Japanese restaurants are a breeze. They almost always have fish, shellfish, or lean beef and plenty of steamed veggies; just skip the rice and the soy sauce (it’s far too salty, and most soy sauces are made with wheat). Chinese restaurants can also be dealt with deftly by avoiding dishes that are rich in sugary, salty sauces, such as sweet and sour pork and deep-fried “crispy” dishes. Go with stir-fried chicken dishes or, better yet, steamed crab or fish. Use the same strategy in ordering Chinese vegetable side dishes; ask your waiter or waitress to omit any sauces and just bring fresh steamed veggies. Mexican restaurants are a bit of a challenge, but again, with careful selections you can stick pretty closely to the Paleo Diet. Once in a while, there will be no choice; you’ll have to accept whatever food is available. In those cases, limit your portions.

You may choose to dine out, buy food and take it with you in a cooler, or buy it in supermarkets, grocery stores, and even roadside markets along the way. Fresh fruit and veggies are universally available, and they travel well in an ice-filled cooler. Try making your own beef jerky (see chapter 10); it’s delicious and filling, and it tastes great with fresh fruit. Hard-boiled eggs, cooked beforehand and stored in the cooler, can be indispensable for breakfasts on the road.

Instead of stopping where most traveling Americans do—at the first exit with a fast-food restaurant that looks fairly clean—drive a mile or two from the highway and find a supermarket. Most food stores have deli sections with premade salads, and many offer a salad bar. Apply the triage principle and do the best you can. For example, precooked chicken (roasted or rotisserie-cooked) is available at most supermarket deli counters and is an option in a pinch. Make sure to take the skin off before you eat it. If you didn’t bring any paper plates and plastic utensils, pick some up while you’re at the store. Water-packed tuna isn’t ideal, either, but it will do while you’re on the road.

The support of your spouse, immediate family, and friends can make a world of difference in any big life change. Tell them what you’re doing and why—whether it’s to lose weight or to improve your health. Explain the logic and rationale of the Paleo Diet and share your successes with them. You don’t necessarily have to put the entire family on the diet, and many of the meals that you’ll be eating on this lifetime program of nutrition are not very different from the types of food you ate before. You can always include bread, rolls, or potatoes with your family meals and give family members the option of eating them. In nearly all public settings, unless you call it to their attention, most people won’t even realize that your diet has changed—until they notice your weight loss, increase in energy level, and improvement in health. Who knows? They may see the healthful changes you’re experiencing and want to join you.