Dr. Loren Cordain is one of today’s most influential nutrition experts. When Cordain was growing up, his father gave him books about how our Stone Age ancestors lived off the land. His mother encouraged him to eat well, with plenty of fruits and vegetables. Those early factors, plus Cordain’s later desire to eat well to improve his athletic endeavors, inspired him to become one of the world’s foremost experts on Paleolithic nutrition.
The Paleolithic people were man’s early ancestors, and in fact the word Paleolithic came from combining
paleo (old) and
lithic (stone). Paleolithic people were considered hunter-gatherers; the bulk of their diet consisted of animals and wild plants. One of the first books to examine non-Western diets in relation to disease, particularly dental decay, was Weston Price’s
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration: A Comparison of Primitive and Modern Diets and Their Effects (Harper & Brothers, 1939). Notes Price, “Some of the primitive races have avoided certain of the life problems faced by modernized groups and the methods and knowledge used by the primitive peoples are available to assist modernized individuals in solving their problems.” Again, Price wrote this in 1939.
The nature of the diet of Paleolithic people drew the interest of Dr. Boyd Eaton and Melvin Konner, who published a paper on this topic in
The New England Journal of Medicine in 1985. Reading this article inspired Cordain to seek out Dr. Eaton and work with him on several research projects. In 2002 Cordain’s book
The Paleo Diet was published by John Wiley & Sons.
Cordain’s book defined the diet and discussed in detail the benefits of eating the types of foods available to Paleolithic people – lean meats, seafood, fresh fruits and vegetables – over the types of diets that became dominant after the Agricultural Revolution. One of my favorite mottos that describes the Paleo Diet is “If it doesn’t fly, swim, walk or isn’t green – don’t eat it!” And this riddle: “Imagine you are standing naked on a deserted tropical island holding a club and a sharp stick – what would you eat?”
Two common criticisms of the Paleo Diet have been that man has evolved since that time and the lifespan of Stone Age people was shorter. In response, Cordain says that most of our genetic heritage was established before the development of agriculture. The Agricultural Revolution began about 10,000 years ago, or 500 human generations; in contrast, the Paleolithic period had its origins 2.6 million years ago. As such, Cordain says that the human genome has had insufficient time to adapt to a modern diet. As for the second objection, Cordain contends that in contrast to the deaths that afflict modern societies, such as chronic degenerative diseases, many Stone Age deaths were the result of accidents and the trauma of lives spent outdoors without modern medical care.
The Paleo Diet 2.0
As for why he wrote
The Paleo Answer: 7 Days to Lose Weight, Feel Great, Stay Young (Wiley, December 2011), Cordain says, “Paleo Dieters, as well as newbies to the concept, want to learn more about the Paleo Diet and how it can help them lose weight and improve their health.… This is a book about adopting a modern healthy diet and lifestyle consistent with our genetic heritage as hunter-gatherers.”
And although Cordain’s first book was not a particularly hard read, it did have quite a bit of technical information that was necessary to explain the science of the diet. For some, the history lesson could be somewhat dull. In contrast,
The Paleo Answer is a quick read that breaks up the technical material with testimonials from individuals who have had success with the Paleo Diet; consider it more of a companion book.
The book contains four sections with a total of 14 chapters. It is not necessary to read the chapters in order if you have already read
The Paleo Diet – simply read the chapters you find most interesting first. Here is how the book unfolds:
Part One: The Paleo Way. This introductory chapter reviews the history of the Paleo Diet, which Cordain illustrates with a Google graph of trends showing that “the Paleo Diet was unknown to all but dedicated fans until three years ago.” Cordain’s first book gave impetus to the diet’s popularity, and there has been an added boost from the many “boot camp” types of programs that have endorsed the Paleo principles recently.
Part one includes a section about saturated fat, as this topic has been a subject of criticism about the Paleo Diet. Cordain also discusses some practical ways to apply the Paleo principles to living in the 21st century. Says Cordain, “…the Paleo Diet is not really a ‘diet’ at all, but rather a lifetime way of eating to maximize health and well-being to prevent and cure illnesses and diseases that run rampant in Westernized countries.”
Part Two: Paleo Pitfalls. If you are one of the more than seven million adults in the US who are vegetarian or who have friends who are vegetarians, you need to read this chapter. Paleolithic people were not vegetarians, preferring animal foods when available, and Cordain has found that of the 229 hunter-gatherer diets he and his research group have studied, 46 percent of their daily calories came from animals. Further, throughout the book Cordain explains in detail the pitfalls of vegetarianism and makes the following conclusion: “I can’t lend my support to any version of a vegetarian diet that people may adopt for the mistaken idea that these diets improve overall health, because they don’t.”
And to that I add two of my favorite lines from the British television comedy Whites: “If God didn’t want us to eat animals, he wouldn’t have made them out of meat,” and “A cow is basically all the different cuts of beef you can get – in a handy leather bag!”
In addition to the vegetarian controversy, part two has a chapter I strongly endorse: “Just Say No to the Milk Mustache.” Cordain pulls no punches in attacking the milk industry marketers, and he provides a strong case as to why drinking milk is not an effective way to prevent bone fractures. Here is Cordain’s summary of the problem: “Milk is designed to make young animals grow rapidly and to prime their immune systems and prevent disease by allowing hormones and other substances in their mothers’ milk to enter their bloodstream. This is a brilliant evolutionary strategy to encourage survival for young suckling animals at the beginning of their lives, but it is a formula for disaster when adult humans consume a food intended only for the young of another species.”
Part Three: Maximum Paleo Living. For those who want to get a head start on their personal Paleo nutrition program, this chapter outlines a seven-day diet plan. Recipes for the meals can be found in Cordain’s
The Paleo Diet Cookbook. I should mention that Cordain has another book that discusses meal planning,
The Paleo Diet for Athletes, which he co-authored with Joe Friel, MS. However, that book is written more for endurance athletes. And I should also mention that I do not agree with Cordain’s general recommendation that conditioning programs should “regularly mix both aerobic and strengthening activities.” For more on this subject, pick up a copy of my book, the
German Body Comp Program.
Cordain has two more chapters in part three, one about supplements and one about the importance of drinking pure water. The chapter on water is a good one, and in fact at the Poliquin Strength Institute I have installed the best water purification system on the market for my employees and visitors. As for the chapter on supplements, Cordain endorses the use of fish oil, and also a vitamin D3 supplement for those who are not exposed to sunshine regularly. That’s fine, but I strongly disagree with his statement that “You don’t need or want any other supplements,” if for no other reason than the fact that the fruits and vegetables we farm today in our nutrient -depleted soil are inferior in quality to the plants that grew in the Paleolithic period.
Part Four: The Paleo Answer for Everyone. This section contains two chapters, one about special considerations for women and one for children and infants. The women’s chapter gives special attention to the prevention of breast cancer through the low-glycemic-index/low-glycemic-load foods associated with Paleolithic nutrition. “The Paleo Diet maintains multiple nutritional characteristics that will help protect you against breast and other common Western cancers,” says Cordain, one reason being that “…high-glycemic-index diets increase the risk for developing breast cancer.” As for the chapter on children and infants, Cordain focuses on the challenges of restricting processed foods in this age group.
For those who want to learn more about the value of Paleolithic nutrition, Cordain provides an extensive reference list. Such research is one reason for the recent explosion in the popularity of the Paleo Diet. Interested in practical advice on how to eat well? Pick up a copy of
The Paleo Answer and get with the program.