Everyone's talking about the paleo diet, but is it actually good for you?

IS the paleo diet really all it's cracked up to be? Two health experts weigh in.

IS the paleo diet really all it's cracked up to be? Two health experts weigh in.

Paleo mimics the diet of cavemen and aims to manage weight and prevent modern-day disease. It permits meat, fish, eggs, fruit, veg and nuts, but off-limit foods include potatoes, sugar, legumes, grains, dairy and salt. 

YES

Dr Ben Balzer

A Sydney GP with a special interest in the paleo diet

“In 1999, I had a fatty liver and a family history of diabetes. The final straw was when I weighed 104kg and wore size 40 pants. I’d heard about paleo and it seemed obvious that a diet we evolved with would be ideal, so I started learning about it. 

I had some initial qualms but they were answered thoroughly. Wholegrains are quite poor sources of fibre compared to fruit and veg. Grains, beans and potatoes are low in many vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, plus they have a high glycaemic index and are full of lectins, which I believe play a major role in many unexplained diseases.

I was concerned about cutting out dairy, but except for Eskimos, hunter-gatherers don’t get osteoporosis; in fact, their bones are thicker than ours. You get less calcium on the paleo diet, but lose less in your urine. 

Paleo gives great results. My health is good and I weigh 88kg even though I’m a self-confessed “slacko”. It’s easy to stick to and gets easier because you become more sensitive to the punishing effects of the food you’re not supposed to eat. I didn’t used to react to gluten much. Now if I eat a bread roll, I feel as if I’ve been run over by a truck.

My daily diet is now eggs and fruit for breakfast, meat or fish and veg for lunch and dinner, and some berries and nuts.

The medical profession is in the dark about 85 per cent of diseases, but hunter-gatherers don’t get 1 per cent of those we get, such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, heart attacks, asthma or dental caries. 

I’ve advised people with osteoarthritis and auto-immune disease to eat paleo with great results. It isn’t suitable for those with iron overload, kidney disease and uncontrolled gout. It would be verging on impossible for vegetarians, but I say, ‘If God intended us to eat seeds, he’d have given us a beak.’”

NO

Lisa Renn

An accredited practising dietitian in Melbourne

“The paleo diet does have a few pluses: It’s good to cut down on processed foods such as white bread, chips, packaged cold cuts, sugary cereals – all stuff people don’t need. But when you knock out cereals and legumes, you cut out a heap of fibre, and that’s not good. 

Veg, fruits and nuts contain soluble fibre, but we also need insoluble fibre from wholegrains and quinoa to keep bowels moving, and resistant starch from legumes, wholegrains, pasta and potatoes that may provide protection against colon cancer. 

If you’re eating larger amounts of meat and less fibre, I’d be concerned about the long-term effects. We could well be in for a spate of increased bowel cancers. If you’re also cutting out dairy and calcium, that could mean decreased bone density and increased osteoporosis. Then there’s the emphasis on coconut oil, which is high in saturated fat, so the jury is still out on that.

Another problem is that all the protein can be expensive, so it’s tough for someone on a budget. For someone who’s time-poor, it could be difficult to come up with interesting food ideas that don’t take an age to prepare. There’s no grabbing a quick sandwich. 

I had one client who went on the diet, despite being a healthy weight. When she came off it, she discovered she’d messed up her metabolism so her weight went up. Meanwhile, her personal trainer, who was recovering from a bowel blockage due to the paleo diet, couldn’t wait to get back onto it because it was so effective for weight loss.

Diets often don’t lead to commonsense decisions; you get into that diet headspace instead of a sustainable, healthy and intuitive way of eating. I know paleo’s principles are supposedly based on what our ancestors ate, but we don’t know exactly what they ate – there was a wide variety of populations with a wide variety of diets, depending on geography, season and opportunity.

And the main thing I can’t get my head around is why would you want to eat like people who never lived beyond 40?”

Originally published on bodyandosul.com.au