What is the Paleo Diet? (2024)

Whether you’re looking to lose weight, managediabetes, reduce risks of cancer andheart disease, mitigateautoimmune disease, improve performance or simply want to experience the best health possible, a diet that is abundant in all the micronutrients that our bodies need and that simultaneously omits foods known to be problematic for health is your best bet. What does this diet look like? Its foundation is the mostnutrient-dense foodsavailable to us, includingorgan meat,seafood, and both huge variety and copious quantities ofvegetables, with otherquality meats,fruit, eggs,nuts, seeds,healthy fats,probiotic and fermented foods, herbs and spices to round it out. At the same time, it omits foods known to be inflammatory, disrupt hormones, or negatively impact the health of the gut, including allgrains, mostlegumes, conventionaldairy products, and all processed and refined foods. Yes, this is the Paleo template.

Over the past decade, Paleo has grown from a relatively underground movement to a diet that dominates news headlines, bestselling books, and even products in the grocery store. But despite its popularity, the scientific rationale for Paleo remains wildly misunderstood and misrepresented. For example, we might know that grains are a no-go, that vegetables are fantastic, and that dietary fat is nothing to be afraid of (despite years of thelow-fatpush from various health authorities), butwhyare these guidelines in place? Here’s a hint: the answer has little to do with reenacting what our early ancestors ate, and everything to do with what modern science says is best for our bodies!

In short, Paleo is anutrient-focused whole-foods diet,with the goal to maximize foods that heal and minimize foods that harm.It improves health by providing balanced and complete nutrition while avoiding most processed and refined foods and empty calories. It’s not a way to simply lose pounds quickly (even though, for many people, it has that effect!), and it’s not a fad that dissolves under scientific scrutiny; rather, every Paleo principle is rooted solidly in the latest research and data.

What do you eat on the Paleo Diet?

Following a Paleo diet is actually pretty simple.There’s a huge variety of health-promoting foods to choose from, including

• quality meats (grass-fed, pasture-raised, wild as much as possible)
• organ meat, offal and bone broth (aim for 5 times per week, the more the better)
• fish and shellfish (wild is best, but farmed is fine) (aim for at least 3 times per week, the more the better)
• eggs
• vegetables of all kinds, as much variety as possible and the whole rainbow, aim for 8-14 cups per day
  • Green vegetables
  • Colorful vegetables and fruit (red, purple, blue, yellow, orange, white)
  • Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, kale, turnips, arugula, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, watercress, mustard greens, etc.)
  • Sea vegetables (excluding algae like chlorella and spirulina which are immune stimulators)
  • Edible Fungi, like mushrooms
• fruit of all kinds
• herbs and spices
• healthy fats (pasture-raised/grass-fed animal fats [rendered or as part of your meat], fatty fish, probiotic/fermented foods (fermented vegetables or fruit, kombucha, water kefir, coconut milk kefir, coconut milk yogurt, supplements)

At it’s core, the The Diet We’re Meant to Eat, Part 3: How Much Meat versus Veggies? and The Importance of Vegetables.

Variety is very important because a variety of different foods supplies a variety of different nutrients. By focusing on as many different whole foods as possible, it’s easier to achieve sufficient and synergistic quantities of all the nutrients, including potentially some that haven’t been discovered yet. Easy strategies to increase variety include “eating the rainbow”, meaning that you choose fruits and vegetables of different colors, and “eating snout-to-tail”, meaning you eat every part of the animal, including offal.

For a complete list of here.

How can the Paleo diet improve health?

Clinical trials demonstrate that aPaleo dietprovides diversehealth benefits, including:

• reducesheart diseaserisk by improvingcardiovascular diseaserisk factors (seeThe Paleo Diet for Cardiovascular Disease)
• reduces inflammationand restores immune regulation (seeThe Autoimmune Protocol)
• reduces cancer risk(seeThe Link Between Cancer and Autoimmune DiseaseandThe Link Between Meat and Cancer)
• reversesdiabetesby improving blood sugar regulation and restoring insulin sensitivity (seeThe Paleo Diet for Diabetes)
• promotes healthyweight loss, reversing obesity and overweight (seePaleo for Weight Loss)
• improves symptoms ofautoimmune disease(seeThe Autoimmune Protocol)

Long-termstudies show that thePaleo dietimproves all-cause mortality, a marker of overall health and longevity. One large study showed that following aPaleo dietreduced all-cause mortality by 23 percent, comparable to the Mediterranean diet. Every single study of thePaleo diethas shown benefits to health markers. And, studies of thePaleo diethave now followed participants for as long as two years with zero adverse events reported. Two years is considered ample time for any potential down-sides to Paleo to turn up. At this point, there are none! For details, seePaleo DietClinical Trials and Studies.

By focusing on the most nutrient-dense foods available and by eliminating foods that can contribute to hormone dysregulation, inflammation, and gut dysbiosis (where the bacteria in your gut are the wrong kinds, wrong diversity, wrong numbers, and/or in the wrong part of the gastrointestinal tract), aPaleo dietcan improve a vast array of health conditions. It’s also great for weight normalization, meaning that overweight and obese people tend to lose weight but underweight people tend to gain weight.

ThePaleo dietprovides the foundation for a healthy digestive system. It supports healthy growth of a diversity of probiotic bacteria in the gut through its focus on prebiotic and probiotic foods and through its avoidance of foods that contribute to gut dysbiosis (where the bacteria in your gut are the wrong kinds, wrong diversity, wrong numbers, and/or in the wrong part of the gastrointestinal tract). It supports the health of the tissues that form the gut barrier by supplying essential nutrients required for gut barrier integrity and by avoiding foods that are inherently difficult to digest, are known to irritate or damage the tissues that form the gut barrier, or that are known to stimulate the immune system.

ThePaleo dietreduces inflammation and supports normal functioning of the immune system. Foods that are inherently inflammatory are avoided, removing this unnecessary stimulus for increased inflammation. By providing the essential nutrients that the immune system requires to regulate itself, an overactive immune system can be modulated. By providing the essential nutrients that the immune system needs to function optimally, a suppressed immune system can recover.

ThePaleo dietsupports liver detoxification systems by supporting gut health and by providing the essential nutrients that the liver needs to performs its functions. ThePaleo dietsupports hormone regulation by focusing on foods that contain the nutrients required for hormone balance and avoiding foods known to stimulate or suppress vital hormone systems. Because providing the body with the essential nutrients that it needs to be healthy forms the basis of thePaleo diet, every system in thehuman bodyis positively affected by this approach to food.

A diet that’s nota Diet

ThePaleo dietis also the first time a set of diet principles has been compiled using modern scientific health and nutrition research. While the initial insight leading to thePaleo dietwas gleaned from studies of Paleolithic man and both modern and historically-studiedhunter-gatherers, the core support for this way of eating comes from contemporary biology, physiology, and biochemistry. There are thousands of scientific studies that each evaluate how components in foods interact with thehuman bodyto promote or undermine health. These are the studies used to form the basic tenets of thePaleo diet, which you can read about in detail inPaleo Principles, the most comprehensive Paleo guidebook every created.

There are no hard and fast rules about when to eat, how much protein versus fat versus carbohydrates to eat (Paleo is not alow-carb diet, seeCarbs Vs. Protein Vs. Fat: Insight fromHunter-Gatherers), and there’s even some foods (like high quality dairy, whitericeand potatoes) which some people choose to include in their diets whereas others do not. This means that’s there’s room to experiment so you can figure out not just what makes you healthiest but also what makes you happiest and fits into your schedule and budget.

Best of all, thePaleo dietis not a diet in the sense of some hard thing that you do that requires a great deal of willpower and self-deprivation until you reach some goal. It’s a way of life. Because the focus islong-termgoodhealth, thePaleo dietallows for imperfection but educates you so that you can make the best choices possible.

Sustainability is an important tenet of thePaleo diet, meaning that this is a way of eating and living that you can commit to and maintain for your entire life. This means that you have the flexibility to experiment with your own body to discover what is optimal versus what is tolerable, to find what works best for you and fits into your life for thelong term. For some people, flexibility is achieved by following an 80/20 rule (or a 90/10) rule, which means that 80% (or 90%) of your diet are healthyPaleo foodsand the other 20% (or 10%) are not. Many people find that they are healthiest when their 20% (or 10%) continues to avoid the most inflammatory foods such aswheat, soy, peanuts, pasteurized industrially-produced dairy, andprocessed foodchemicals.

What don’t you eat on the Paleo diet?

The foods that are eliminated in aPaleo dietare the ones that provide our bodies with very little nutrition (especially for the amount of energy they contain), and that are difficult to digest (which can cause gut health problems and contribute to gut dysbiosis), and have the ability to stimulate inflammation or mess around with important hormones.

Generally, aPaleo dietexcludes:

• grainsandpseudograins(cereal grainsincludewheat, barley, rye, andcorn; pseudograins include quinoa, and buckwheat)
• legumes(legumes with edible podslike green beans are fine)
• dairy(especially pasteurized industrially-produced)
• refined andprocessed foods(including refined seed oils, akavegetable oils, like canola oil and safflower oil;refined sugars;artificial sweeteners; and chemical additives,emulsifiersand preservatives)
• junk foodand fast food

There are many foods that can be additionally problematic, especially for those with chronic health conditions, typically referred to as “gray-area” foods (see theAutoimmune Protocol).

There are also many foods that might be tolerated and reintroduced to your diet after an elimination phase. This is generally referred to as the “shades of Paleo”. Some people enjoy whitericein their diets. Others include good quality (i.e., grass-fed)dairy products, which is generally considered fine with the caveat that a large percentage of people are sensitive or intolerant (and might not know it). The best way to know whether or not these foods work for you is to cut them out completely for a few weeks and then reintroduce one at a time and see how you feel.

What aPaleo dietis NOT:

ThePaleo diet, while sometimes referred to as “thecaveman diet“, isnota historical reenactment of our paleolithic ancestors from theStone Age. It’snotan all-meat or meat-heavy diet as it is sometimes portrayed, and in fact, thePaleo dietputs great emphasis on eating tons of veggies (8+ servings per day, see TheImportance of VegetablesandThe Link Between Meat and Cancer?). ThePaleo dietisnotzero-carb, low-carb or ketogenic diet (seeHow Many Carbs Should You Eat?andAdverse Reactions to Ketogenic Diets). Healthy sources of Paleo carbohydrates include fruit (apples, bananas, melons, berries, citrus, plantains… seeWhy Fruit is a Good Source of Carbohydrates) and root vegetables (sweet potatoes, squash, parsnips, yucca…).

ThePaleo dietisnota dogmatic approach to eating with no flexibility, room to cheat, or ability to self-experiment. In fact, a key tenet of thePaleo dietis recognizing bioindividuality and providing the broad education to help everyone understand the best choices but also figure out what works (and doesn’t work) for them as an individual. Another key tenet is individual sustainability, meaning that you make the best choices as often as possible, but youdon’tneed to be perfect. Ideally, you’ll learn what your body needs to thrive and what it tolerates and then live somewhere in between (and if that means the occasional slice of birthday cake orice cream, that’s okay! seeMaking Healthy Choices: What’s Your Currency?).

ThePaleo dietis also not just a diet. Most people refer to it as thePaleo lifestyleorPaleo templateto emphasize that this is a way of living, not a diet that you go on for a few months to lose some weight for a wedding, and that it incorporates equal focus on lifestyle factors (like sleep, stress management, activity and community; read morehere), sustainability, regenerative farming practices, and environmental protection.

Where can I get more information?

This website is full of articles, easily accessed through the menus or the search function, that address most aspects of thePaleo dietand lifestyle. If you enjoy the science, you’ll love mynewestbook,Paleo Principleswhich includes 200+ recipes, and twentymeal planswithshopping lists! Also, learn more about thePaleo Lifestylehereand about theAutoimmune Protocol here. And, get completePaleo dietfood lists here.