So… What exactly is a paleo diet?

This is a question that I have been researching over the last two weeks, ever since this lifestyle was recommended to me by a health practitioner. While the details about my health issues are not the main focus of this blog, one thing he said to me was “Your metabolism is shut down. Sugar is your enemy, and you need to stop eating sugar and carbohydrates all together if you want to get better.” He recommended a 28 day cleanse (of which I’m currently on day 16) and the adoption of a paleo diet going forward.

This seems a bit extreme, sure. But when you consider that I have tried almost every diet known to man (names have been deleted to protect the innocent), have adopted an exercise regimen of 4-5 days per week, and have been unable to lose weight or achieve health, something needs to change. As many people do, whenever I’m on a “diet” I tend to gravitate toward low-fat substitutions of my favorite foods – low fat ice cream and baked potato chips come to mind – but I’m never satisfied on those foods, so I almost always eat much more of them than I plan to. And, if my body is shutting down and unable to metabolize these foods properly, then I need to eliminate them so I can reach a place of total health.

But what should I eat? Here’s a description of the paleo diet, from Wikipedia:

The modern dietary regimen known as the Paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet), also popularly referred to as the caveman diet, Stone Age diet and hunter-gatherer diet, is a nutritional plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various human species habitually consumed during the Paleolithic era—a period of about 2.5 million years duration that ended around 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture. In common usage, such terms as the "Paleolithic diet" also refer to the actual ancestral human diet. Centered on commonly available modern foods, the "contemporary" Paleolithic diet consists mainly of grass-fed pasture raised meats, fish, vegetables, fruit, roots, and nuts, and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, and processed oils.

First popularized in the mid 1970s by gastroenterologist Walter L. Voegtlin, this nutritional concept has been promoted and adapted by a number of authors and researchers in several books and academic journals. A common theme in evolutionary medicine, Paleolithic nutrition is based on the premise that modern humans are genetically adapted to the diet of their Paleolithic ancestors and that human genetics have scarcely changed since the dawn of agriculture, and therefore that an ideal diet for human health and well-being is one that resembles this ancestral diet. Proponents of this diet argue that modern human populations subsisting on traditional diets allegedly similar to those of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers are largely free of diseases of affluence, and that two small prospective studies of the Paleolithic diet in humans have shown some positive health outcomes. Supporters point to several potentially therapeutic nutritional characteristics of allegedly preagricultural diets.

As someone who belongs to a CSA, frequents farmers markets, lives near health food and specialty stores, and buys many organic foods, in theory this should be an easy lifestyle for me to adopt. However, I have a serious sweet tooth to contend with, as well as a penchant for eating out (hey, I live in New York City!) and a fondness for wine with my dinner. The keys for me will be yummy, creative and easy recipes, as well as information about the benefits of a paleo diet and the negatives of processed food. All of which I hope to share here.