I mentioned the paleo diet yesterday without going into any details about it. If you're familiar with the diet, skip this post (and probably the next two or three!) If not, here's a brief introduction.

With any diet plan you have to consider two different things - what is it, and why should one follow it. Once you've decided to follow a plan there are other things you'd be interested in, like recipes and tips for cooking and eating out and so forth, but that's for later. I'd rather not try to address both questions in one post, so I'm going to start with an overview of what paleo eating is, and save the justification (why some people think it is a good eating plan) for another post.

There is not any one paleo diet. When I say paleo I mean a diet similar in substance to the diets proposed in the books "The Paleo Diet" and "Neanderthin," various websites like the Caveman Forum and Catalyst Athletics, Art De Vany's site, and a few other places. These diets all recommend that we eat more like our paleolithic ancestors - and I don't mean their table manners, I mean eat the foods that were available to our stone age ancestors and only those foods.

If you're not an anthropologist you might wonder what those foods are. Basically, we're talking about avoiding any food that was developed after the advent of agriculture. Stick to what hunter gatherers ate. Lots of meat, fresh vegetables, some nuts, some eggs, fruit. Eat more of the meat - organ meats, the heart, etc. What can't you eat? Grain (any grain), potatoes, legumes (beans), and dairy (you can't milk a wild animal). So no bread, pasta, peanuts (they're legumes), etc. No cheese, milk, butter. No artificial stuff - no nitrates, preservatives, no vitamins, no modern crap.

Why? I'll explain that another day.

Not all paleo diets are identical. I think all of them advise staying away from grains and beans. Some add nightshades to the prohibited list (tomatoes, peppers). Some allow dairy, some not. Some advocate eating all or most of these foods raw. Some allow limited quantities of alcohol (wine, beer) but some don't.

A few big issues are as follows. Different adherents have different beliefs about saturated fat. So some advocate cooking in canola oil, some in coconut oil (the latter is mostly saturated fat, which I think is fine, but many disagree). As I mentioned, a big issue is whether dairy is allowed and how much. Clearly dairy is not paleolithic, but for some dieters that's okay. Coffee and tea are other questionable substances - not paleolithic, but may be okay, may not, depending on your slant.

Meat is good (in fact, necessary). Some advocate trimming the fat, others advocate eating all of the good stuff (our stone age ancestors definitely ate the fattiest parts of the meat). One issue with beef fat is that our paleolithic ancestors ate animals that were grazing in the wild. The animals they hunted weren't cooped up and fed grain all their lives. When animals eat grain the kinds of fats they store in their flesh are different than when they eat grass. Grass fed animals have much higher levels of Omega 3 fatty acids and other healthy fats. Going to town on regular store bought meat may or may not be healthy but it isn't really what our paleolithic ancestors did. On the other hand, eating grass fed beef (which can be bought online and ISN'T the same as organic beef) is very similar to what our ancestors ate.

Different advocates stress fruit to different extents - everyone allows it, some advocate limited it. Dried fruit (fruit you dry yourself, without adding preservatives and sugar) is good, as is jerky, but storebought dried fruit and jerky might have stuff in it you don't want to eat.

Summary: meat, lots of veggies, some fruit and nuts. Maybe dairy, maybe limited alcohol, maybe limited artifical stuff like sweeteners.

What will I be doing? I can't be superstrict. I'll still be eating small amounts of cheese (I can't do veggies without some salads, and I just can't do that without some parmesan, but no more milk and whey shakes). I have twenty pounds of grass fed beef on its way to me as we speak courtesy of Fed Ex. I'm going to drastically cut back on or eliminate diet soda. I'll drink green tea, though, and some beer. Most of these exceptions are for willpower, not philosophical reasons - it's not that I think the green tea is important, it's just that I can't give up soda AND tea all at once and have any chance. I'm pretty sure I'll break down and eat pizza or something once a week or so, but maybe I'll cheat less.

Will it work? Stay tuned.

Osu.