Hey
there! Welcome back. Let’s just dive right in and talk about what has been
happening with my day to day Paleo experience. I have been feeling pretty good
lately. I am stronger, more focused and generally happier. However, I have
found a major down fall with my personal paleo experience. I am finding myself
not eating if I don’t have a good option around instead of eating something not
within my paleo plan. So more and more I have found myself skipping lunch and
getting frustrated because my options are limited.
The
problem is not the diet, actually the opposite, I am still more energetic on a
missed meal than I was when I was vegan. I think the problem for me is time
management. I find myself running late and refusing to jump for the fast and
quick options that announce themselves all over the streets as I drive to
class. Every weekend I come up with all these great and elaborate plans of all
the things I am going to prepare ahead of time so that I have a stocked pantry
with ready to eat options during the week- needless to say, that hasn’t
happened yet.
Do
I think that I would have a much better experience if I was more organized and
had time to make awesome substitutes for all the cravings I have been having
lately? Yes, I really do think that I could have a much better experience. All
this has got me thinking about the downfalls of the paleo diet. And whether those
downfalls are worth the trouble for me.
One
of my big downfalls, which I know is going to sound silly but stay with me, is
that I am not a caveman living in a pre-agriculture society. So what? Well, to
be completely honest it is not as easy to find natural foods as it is to find
unnatural ones. I mean, a caveman could theoretically speaking, walk up to an
apple tree and take one and eat it. Yet on the other hand, when I walk to the
little cafeteria by my class to get an apple, they are on occasion all out. In
other words no apples, but plenty of processed and packaged snacks that will
give me a boost of energy before guiding my crash.
I
know what you are thinking, buy your own apples from the grocery store or the
farmer’s market and bring it to school. Once again, theoretically that is the
way it should be, not to mention it is probably more cost effective. But
sometimes I have so much to do that it slips my mind to run to the store to get
an apple to I can have a snack in class. But that’s beside the point. I am
finding hard to maintain a healthy eating routine because of my lack of
options.
While
the latter is my personal problem or obstacle with the paleo life style. I know
that there is a lot of research about why the paleo diet may not be the best
option for a healthy diet. So let’s explore one of those arguments together,
the major one, there is no way that we can know or imitate what our ancient
ancestors did. I found an article called “Michael Pollan Explains What's Wrong
with the Paleo Diet” written by Cynthia Graber who is an award-winning print
and radio journalist (MotherJones).
In
the article, which is a summary of an interview, Pollan offers some of his
point of view regarding healthy eating habits. Let’s look at his argument
against how often we should be eating meat. “One problem with the paleo diet is
that "they're assuming that the options available to our caveman ancestors
are still there," he argues. But "unless you're willing to hunt your
food, they're not." he continues
with the explanation that, “the animals bred by modern agriculture—which are
fed artificial diets of corn and grains, and beefed up with hormones and
antibiotics—have nutritional profiles far from wild game. Pastured animals,
raised on diets of grass and grubs, are closer to their wild relatives; even
these, however, are nothing like the lean animals our ancestors ate. So,
basically, enjoy meat in moderation, and choose pastured meat if possible”
(Garber).
Between
you and me, I don’t think that is much of an argument, really what he is saying
is widely accepted by paleo advocates. Under no circumstances did I believe
that I will be eating exactly what my Paleolithic ancestors ate. I did not however,
anticipate the extra added cost of getting clean meats- and by clean I mean
grass fed no hormones added meats. Pollen’s argument is really about how
realistically most people cannot afford to buy clean meat for every meal, and
thus he concludes by eating meat in moderation. The cost argument does have
some ground but not a direct attack or criticism of the diet itself. Don’t you
think?
I
don’t think that there is an argument quite strong enough to persuade me away
from continuing to pursue the paleo lifestyle. Although to be completely honest
I have modified my interpretation so that it works best for me. I ran into
great advice in one of my cook books that said something along the lines of
shooting for an 80/20 % paleo diet (Credicott). What I like about this
philosophy is that if we strive for perfection we may fail, but if we can
account for mistakes, which are inevitable, than success has a much greater
rate. I am ok with knowing that I will have struggles and I will not always eat
or drink what I should. Yet, I am confident that for the most part I will be
doing myself and my body a favor by being conscious of my decisions even if
they aren’t great ones.
Work
Cited
Credicott,
Tammy. Paleo Indulgences: Healthy Gluten-free Recipes to Satisfy Your Primal
Cravings. Las Vegas: Victory
Belt Pub., 2012. Print
Graber, Cynthia. "Michael
Pollan Explains What's Wrong with the Paleo Diet." Mother Jones.
Motherjones.com, 17 Jan. 2014. Web. 23 May 2014.
