If you’ve been even slightly interested in the fitness industry, you’ve heard of a Paleo Diet.
And if you’ve heard of the Paleo diet, you know what a Paleo diet elitist is.
This Paleo diet is another fad diet that completely cuts out types of food; basically you “eat like a caveman would.”
Last time I checked we have evolved into a much more complex body and with our nutritional needs changing with the types of food grown, we have to eat differently than a caveman.
Don’t get me wrong, eating “chicken” McNuggets or Taco Bell isn’t necessarily what I would consider healthy, but I digress.
What is Paleo?
The Paleo diet aka Paleolithic diet is a fad diet that came around in the 2000s and basically acts as if you were a hunter-gatherer.
This means you eat fruits and non-starchy vegetables that the cavemen gathered, and protein that they would have hunted.
Proponents of the diet therefore recommend avoiding any foods that they claim were not available to humans at that time, including dairy products, grains, legumes, processed oils, and refined sugar.
This sounds familiar…
“Hey this sounds a lot like what Cutty has told us to do, is he advocating Paleo?”
No… I’m not advocating Paleo… let me tell you the rest of the “rules” of this diet.
Paleo is basically a keto diet which means high in fats and (very) low in carbs.
This isn’t bad necessarily, but running a keto diet indefinitely is going to do a number to your metabolism.
Healthful Mama hits it on the head with this statement:
Paleo was founded on a myth, and cutting out entire food groups just doesn’t make evolutionary nor scientific sense.
So what does the Paleo diet exclude?
Well there are so many different descriptions on what you “can and cannot” eat, but I found this handy little “cheat sheet” that goes along with most sources:
This sounds a lot like “eating clean” that you suggest…
You’re right, I am a huge proponent to “eating clean” which (to me) means that you cut out most of your processed foods.
Instead, cook and prepare your meals with fresh vegetables and actually enjoy what you eat.
I’m telling you to enjoy your Pizza Hut or your mac and cheese, just in moderation.
The general idea of the Paleo diet is great.
I’m against the paleo elitist diet, but not the ideas that they have used from other healthy eating diets.
Eating fresh foods and cutting down on massive consumption of carbs and starchy foods is beneficial.
Stressing over if your food is grass-fed or hormone free is silly, although I do urge buying from local farms and attempting to find foods that are more natural and organic.
Cutty, why are you against the Paleo Diet?
The Paleo elitist diet is a marketing ploy for “eating clean.”
Not only this, but with many people trying this fad diet, it is creating a bunch of orthorexic and neurotic eaters that don’t know any better.
When they wonder why can’t find the “acceptable” foods to eat and then afford it, they start losing their muscle gains and performance, and eventually turn back to their old ways.
Eathropology pretty much sums it up with this:
As a “fad,” the paleo movement is a bunch of highly enthusiastic people with a lot of disposable income and time who are deeply committed to a particular way of being fit and healthy.
Quit jumping on these fad diets and learn what your body responds best to.
It will take some time, experimenting, and learning how to cook.. but I promise that it is worth it.
So if you don’t want to be one of those guys that eat boiled chicken and boiled broccoli for every meal and still don’t make gains; listen to me, I’ll help you reach your goals.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter and follow my motivational twitter channel GreatnessCubed aka Greatness³.
I’m not following a paleo plan (I’m into ketogenic eating) but I have looked at it, and it’s nothing like you describe. The Paleo diet is a “clean eating” diet steering people away from processed/refined foods and sugars, as they were not around before modern times. It is low in carbs, but it is not ketogenic. Paleo eaters can choose to eat ketogenically, but the actual purpose of Paleo is to escape the ills of the processed, standard American diet.
Your dislike of paleo doesn’t appear justified even based on your own article. You try calling it a “fad” to insinuate its lack of lasting benefits. You throw a jab at supposed food limitations like “boiled chicken” but you know it doesn’t take much searching to find a wealth of delicious paleo recipes, diverse in cooking methods and ethnic traditions. Unfortunately, readers new to the idea of paleo eating may take your sarcasm as fact.
Your frustration seems to be aimed more at certain fans of paleo eating: elitists. But you need to prepare yourself for a sobering fact: every way of eating develops elitists when it becomes popular. That’s not a reflection of the regimen so much as it is our culture and classism.
I saw the same thing happen with raw veganism; people with high disposable income promoted expensive, imported “superfoods,” manufactured overpriced products and developed high-priced restaurants for the cool kids. In ketogenic eating, people sell ridiculously priced MCT oil, bone broth powders, etc. If you recognize this trend, you can direct your critique more accurately. When the elitists swarm all over the clean eating “fad,” you’ll be glad you did.
Thank you for the suggestion :)