The Paleo Leap Diet, often referred to as the "caveman diet," encourages individuals to consume foods presumed to have been available to our Paleolithic ancestors. This dietary approach centers around the notion that our bodies thrive when nourished with foods that existed before the advent of agriculture approximately 10,000 years ago.
What is the Paleo Diet?
The paleo diet typically includes meat, fish, vegetables, and limited quantities of fruits, nuts, and seeds. Conversely, it excludes grains, dairy, legumes, beans, sugar, highly processed foods, and items with artificial ingredients or added hormones.
Macronutrient Composition in Paleo Diet
The typical Paleo diet tends to be slightly higher in protein, higher in fat, and lower in carbs than the standard American diet, so Paleo often gets pigeonholed as a “high-protein diet.” But it doesn’t have to be. You can do Paleo with any combination of protein, carbs, and fat you like. If you want a very high-fat, low-carb, low-protein true ketogenic diet, that diet can easily be Paleo.
Potential Benefits of the Paleo Diet
Weight Loss
Dr. Adrienne Youdim, an associate clinical professor of medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine, suggests that eliminating carbohydrates and processed foods may not be a bad idea - especially in the case of processed carbs - and may result in weight loss, since the bulk of the American diet comes from carbs. When you cut out processed foods and their empty calories - things like cookies, potato chips, butter, sweets, and sugary drinks - you’ll lose weight (as long as you have weight to lose).
Improved Metabolic Health
Research indicates that the paleo diet may offer benefits beyond weight loss. A review suggests that, compared to other diets, the paleo approach led to small improvements in blood pressure in people with signs of metabolic syndrome, fasting blood sugar, and triglycerides, which are fats found in the blood that can increase your risk of stroke, heart attack, and death.
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Emerging research suggests that the paleo diet (or the ketogenic diet, which is a more aggressive low-carb, high-fat diet) may help manage type 2 diabetes. A study found that people with type 2 diabetes who followed a paleo diet for two weeks saw improvements to their blood sugar, lipid profiles, and insulin sensitivity compared with those who stuck to a more conventional diet filled with salt, dairy, whole grains, and legumes. Another study found that within 12 weeks, a paleo diet helped people with type 2 diabetes reduce their body fat, increase insulin sensitivity, and improve blood sugar control, among other benefits. In the same randomized controlled trial, those participants who did paleo and exercised also improved their heart health and boosted their lean muscle mass.
Potential Risks and Considerations
Nutrient Deficiencies
Cutting out whole food groups can certainly help your weight loss efforts, you may run the risk of missing out on key nutrients. For instance, some experts caution against the paleo diet because eliminating dairy can leave you with lower levels of calcium and vitamin D. Over time, this could put you at risk of developing osteoporosis, bone fractures, or rickets.
Overemphasis on Meat Consumption
Many also worry because the diet is often interpreted as meat-centric. If you’re not careful about the types of protein you eat, the diet can put you at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, Dr. Youdim says. Red meat, for instance, is high in saturated fats, which can raise blood cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease.
Sustainability
Like any diet, the paleo diet can be hard to sustain without proper resources. Planning Paleo meals can be hard, especially if you're used to grains or beans as staple foods.
Who Might Benefit from the Paleo Diet?
People who’ve had trouble following diets that require them to count calories or macronutrients may find this way of eating helpful. With the paleo diet, there are foods you can eat and foods you can’t eat, plain and simple. That doesn’t mean sticking to the diet is easy - in fact, many find it tough to follow, Youdim says - but it requires diligent food prep rather than calculating and journaling.
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Who Should Exercise Caution?
Even though some research suggests the paleo diet can help people with type 2 diabetes, they should consult a doctor first. Any drastic reduction in carb intake is worrisome for this group, especially for those who are on insulin; your blood sugar levels may plummet if you don’t make changes to your medications first, Youdim says.
Given the concerns over inadequate calcium and vitamin D, those who are at risk of osteoporosis (such as thin women over age 50) should proceed with caution and work with a doctor to make sure they’re maintaining appropriate levels of these nutrients.
Finally, people with chronic health conditions such as heart disease or kidney disease should also consult a doctor first, says Erin Dolinski, RD, a clinical dietitian specialist in Royal Oak, Michigan. “With certain kidney diseases, an excessive intake of protein could actually strain your kidneys, reducing function and potentially leading to failure,” she says.
Practical Tips for Following the Paleo Diet
Protein Intake
The authors cited an optimal weight-loss protein intake as 1.2-1.6g/kg of body weight per day, which works out to 89-119 grams/day for women or 104-138 grams/day for men. They recommended 25-30 grams of protein per meal. Just eat protein-rich foods at every meal and you’ll be fine. 25-30 grams of protein per meal is very achievable on Paleo with no particular effort. Say for example you eat a pork chop for dinner: that’s around 40 grams of protein. Or maybe you’d rather have beef: 4 ounces (around 1 adult-sized serving) of cooked 85/15 ground beef has around 29 grams of protein. Perhaps you’re more of a fish lover: half a cooked salmon fillet has 39 grams of protein.
Sample Meal Plan
Here's a two-week sample meal plan with a printable grocery list so you can see how it can work on a day-to-day level. The plan assumes you'll be eating 3 meals and a snack every day. It's fine to skip the snack, or even one of the meals, and just eat larger amounts at the other two meals. The meal plan is sized for two people. Lunches are written to be portable if necessary, for people who eat at work/school. Most snacks are also portable.
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Week 1
- Day 1:
- Breakfast: Breakfast Casserole with Sausages (makes 2 days of breakfast; save the leftovers for tomorrow)
- Lunch: Portable salad: grab a can of tuna and an avocado with some salad greens, oil, and vinegar, and mix it all up.
- Dinner: Butterflied roasted chicken with wild mushroom soup.
- Snack: Apple
- Day 2:
- Breakfast: Leftover Breakfast Casserole with Sausages
- Lunch: Portable salad: grab a can of tuna and an avocado with some salad greens, oil, and vinegar, and mix it all up.
- Dinner: Beef and Winter Vegetable Soup with oven-roasted eggplant
- Snack: Frozen berries with a drizzle of coconut milk (and honey if you like)
- Day 3:
- Breakfast: Breakfast stuffed peppers (makes 2 servings; save leftovers for breakfast tomorrow)
- Lunch: Leftover beef and winter vegetable soup
- Dinner: Grilled chicken breasts with zucchini (save half the chicken for lunch tomorrow)
- Snack: Beef jerky
- Day 4:
- Breakfast: Leftover breakfast stuffed peppers
- Lunch: Leftover grilled chicken breast on top of salad greens with vinaigrette
- Dinner: Spicy Pork Chili (makes 2 days; save leftovers for lunch tomorrow) with pan-fried Brussels sprouts
- Snack: Piece of fruit
- Day 5:
- Breakfast: Cabbage and onions fried up with bacon
- Lunch: Leftover pork chili with baked sweet potatoes
- Dinner: Pistachio-crusted salmon (makes 2 servings; save leftovers for breakfast tomorrow) with roasted beets and sweet potatoes.
Paleo Diet Apps
- Paleo Diet Plan: This app is great for anyone wanting to start paleo diet, but isn’t sure how to begin. Paleo Diet Plan is a great platform for beginners who are looking to try something new by establishing a foundation fit to your needs. The app has multiple ideas on meal planning, but also provides details on the best snacks to fulfill your cravings. My favorite feature are the many dessert ideas, which are the toughest to make up yourself since this diet doesn’t allow refined sugars.
- Paleo Leap: Paleo Leap is the ultimate paleo recipe guide. This app has over 900 recipes to choose from, which are broken down into categories such as red meat, poultry, fish and seafood, soups, salads, sweets and snacks, as well as many others. You can even filter recipes by whether or not they use slow cookers, if they’re autoimmune-friendly, or if they fit a certain price range.
- Nom Nom Paleo: Nom Nom Paleo won the 2014 Webby award for best lifestyle app and is run by popular food blogger Michelle Tam. Nom Nom Paleo was recognized as the #1 Food & Drink app, and there are over 145 simple recipes on it. All recipes are free of gluten, soy, and refined sugar.
- Yummly: Yummly is an app any food lover can enjoy, paleo dieters included. This app has over 1 million unique recipes that can be filtered to fit any individual’s dietary needs. Although Yummly is not exclusive to paleo diets, there are lots of paleo-friendly recipes on this app. You can also make a shopping list of items you need for recipes and purchase kitchen tools through the app.
- Eat This Much: Eat This Much is an easy and fun way to get your diet on. You provide information on your diet goals as well as the foods you like, and the app will generate a complete meal plan that fits your needs. You can track your caloric intake and find recipes that fit your dieting criteria. By tracking your goals for each day, this app provides extra motivation to continue eating paleo.
- Paleo (io): Paleo (io) lets you to search for any food and it’ll tell you whether it’s paleo or not. If a food is paleo, the app provides explains what makes it paleo. Over time, you’ll figure out which types of foods to avoid on the paleo diet, and you won’t need to use this app as much.
Paleo vs. Mediterranean Diet
- The Mediterranean diet is low in fat by Paleo standards (around 35% fat, depending a little on who’s running the study, and obviously the ketogenic versions are higher). But that’s at the high end of the typical government nutrition guidelines, and more importantly, the Mediterranean diet is focused much more on getting high-quality fat than on reducing fat as much as possible. And the Mediterranean approach seems to work. In the real world, advice to eat a Mediterranean diet consistently produces better results than advice to eat a low-fat diet.
- The Mediterranean diet is constantly praised as a sustainable or healthy way to lose weight. This review looked at studies comparing the Mediterranean diet to other dietary patterns for weight loss in people with obesity. That’s obviously a victory for the low-carb crowd: their diet works as well as the current “golden child” of dietary advice. But wait…why not combine the two for a double whammy of weight-loss success?
- A ketogenic diet is a very low-carb, very high-fat diet (usually less than 5% calories from carbs, with around 80% from fat). Ketogenic Mediterranean diets take out all the bread and legumes, and replace them with more olive oil, low-carb vegetables, fatty fish, and nuts. This research suggests that those “heart-healthy whole grains” aren’t actually necessary for the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet; most of these diets were basically Paleo with some low-fat dairy thrown in. For Paleo eaters who find the Mediterranean diet concept interesting but don’t want to venture into the land of whole wheat and chickpeas, this might be a good place to start.
- The original promoter of the Mediterranean Diet was Ancel Keys (yes, the same Ancel Keys better-known for unjustifiably demonizing saturated fat and cholesterol as the “causes” of heart disease). Keys traveled to the island of Crete, off the coast of Greece, and observed that traditional Cretan dietary patterns were associated with low rates of heart disease. But even people eating the Mediterranean diet in studies don't end up as healthy as the Cretans, and this review points out one possible reason why. The people living in Crete and southern Italy at the time also enjoyed “a relaxing psychosocial environment, mild climate, preservation of the extended family structure, and even a siesta, as well as regular activity, mainly through walking.” Think about the lessons of Roseto, PA: strong social connections can dramatically reduce rates of heart disease even when the people are eating huge piles of refined flour and everyone smokes.
- The Mediterranean Diet is the fat-is-not-evil wedge that’s slowly filtering into mainstream dietary advice. It’s the poster child for “good fat,” for unprocessed foods, and for focusing on overall diet patterns instead of picking on just one nutrient. The latest version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans even touts the Mediterranean diet as a suggested dietary pattern. Do you have a favorite Mediterranean-inspired recipe?
One Meal a Day (OMAD) and the Paleo Diet
One big argument for this from a Paleo perspective is that it’s closer to an actual hunter-gatherer eating patterns. It seems plausible that hunter-gatherers in the Paleolithic wouldn’t have stuck to a strict schedule of 3 meals per day: modern hunter-gatherers certainly don’t. More importantly, Paleo is about learning from evolutionary history, not caveman make-believe: what’s the evidence that an OMAD-style eating pattern actually improves health?
With equivalent calorie restriction, meal frequency doesn’t have a huge effect on weight loss. But if tinkering with meal frequency is the strategy that lets you painlessly reduce calories, then regularly or occasionally eating one meal a day might be really helpful.