One thing that annoys me about the average American’s idea of the Paleo Diet is they think I live my life in an orgy of red meat and fat. Let me correct some impressions about what I am doing.
1. Paleolithic peoples ate only wild game because that was all that existed. Animals that eat natural diets of grasses have a much better breakdown of healthy fats like Omega 3s than farm raised, feedlot, corn stuffed cows that are bread to be fatter than their wild cousins were. If you are following a truly Paleo Diet you will strive to choose the leanest cuts of meat you possibly can. I certainly have a much healthier intake of good vs. bad fat than the average American.
2. From the available archaeological evidence it seems likely that Paleolithic peoples ate on average a diet of 60/40 vegetable to animal. This means they still got the majority of their calories from proteins and fats but these were much healthier fats than what the typical American consumes today. Additionally the 60% of their food that was vegetable is significant as it was truly high-fiber, high-nutrient vegetable matter – not processed, reconstituted, and deep fried.
At a typical meal I consume less meat than the typical American and two servings of vegetables that are neither salted nor covered in butter or margarine. On a normal day I consume at minimum 7 servings of vegetables, on days when I slack I get about 5. Most importantly I eat a large variety of veggies that are highly nutritious: broccoli, mixed greens, Brussels sprouts, artichoke hearts, spinach, asparagus, and others make several appearances on my plate during the week. This doesn’t even count the fruit (black berries, raspberries, blue berries, apples, and avocados).
So tell me: what’s so bad about eating tons of fresh veg and fruit and not eating Wonder Bread and white rice?
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