The following categories of food are forbidden on Paleolithic-type diets, with a few caveats:
No Refined Sugars
There is a long list of ingredients which are essentially "sugar". Some allow small amounts of honey or pure maple syrup - but this would have been a rare treat.
No Grains
Yes, there were wild grains, and a few roasted kernels have been found in ancient fires. But really - how much wild grain could have been collected at a time? Answer: not much. Corn is a grain.
No Starchy Tubers
No starchy tubers, including
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Yams
Cassava
Manioc
Some say beets
No Legumes (Beans, Peas, Peanuts)
These are usually outlawed on the premise that most of them can't be eaten without cooking. Much is made of the lectins in legumes, which some people may be sensitive to (research into lectins is in its infancy and not a lot is known about this with any certainty).
No Dairy Products
Early people did not eat dairy products before animals were domesticated. It has been pointed out that there has been adaptation to dairy products in some genetic lines, but no author of this type of diet endorses eating dairy including milk, butter, cream, yogurt, ice cream, cheese, etc.
Some Meats
Most processed meats (made with nitrites and additives) are not allowed, including hot dogs, bacon, sausage, and lunch meats, although sometime more healthy forms of these can be found. Cordain does not allow fatty cuts of meat, including poultry skin and dark meat.
Certain Oils
Definitely avoid the following:
Corn oil
Cottonseed oil
Peanut oil
Soybean oil
Rice bran oil
Wheat germ oil
This includes products, such as mayonnaise, which include these oils.
Cordain has a long list of preferred oils in his book based on their ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids. He also is down on tropical plant oils (coconut and palm) which have high levels of saturated fats. Other writers definitely include these tropical fats as fine to eat.
No Salt
Most authors of this type of diet advocate not adding salt to food or buying heavily salted food.
Other
No vinegar - Lemon or lime juice is preferred over vinegar; no pickled products.
Yeast is not allowed
Well, Cordain is just one paleo author, albeit currently the best selling one. But not all agree with his take on the paleo diet. He emphasizes lean meat, limits eggs, allows artificial sweeteners, and recommends canola and flaxseed oils based on their chemistry. Other authors disagree with all of these.
ReplyDeleteI try to look at the diet in a positive way, and emphasize what you can eat. This and my showing the paleo variations can be found here Paleo diet explained.