Based on the Paleolithic area, the paleo diet is a dietary plan evolving around whole foods, including lean meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.  Otherwise known as the Stone Age diet, the paleo diet aims to limit foods that were popularized in the last 10,000 years. The reasoning is that humans are genetically predisposed to eat certain foods that could be hunted and gathered by earlier humans. As farming practices changed over the last few thousand years, humans have adopted a modern diet that includes dairy, legumes, and grains—food products that were not around during the Paleolithic era. 

The discordance hypothesis sums up the reasoning, stating that the change in farming practices that introduced so many new foods to humans in a short period of time did not allow for humans to adapt their body to diet changes. This discrepancy is believed by to contribute to modern issues in obesity, heart disease, and diabetes that we see today.

Many people who follow this diet are doing so because they want to “reset” their digestive system, while many others do so for weight loss or maintain a healthy weight. There is also an ethical standpoint to eating a paleo diet, as many people find modern farming to be unethical. Additionally, some people follow this diet simply because it helps with planning meals. 

Read do’s and don’ts to the paleo diet plus a couple of recipes below: