The Stone Age Diet is also called: Paleolithic Diet, Paleo Diet, Caveman Diet and Hunter-Gatherer Diet. It is a nutritional plan based on the assumed ancient diet on wild plants and animals. The Stone Age Diet lasted for about 2.5 million years, until it ended 10.000 years ago, when the development of agriculture started. This means that back in the Stone Age, people were not introduced to food products like grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar and processed oils.
During the Stone Age, before the development of agriculture, our ancestors didn’t suffer from cardiovascular disease or diabetes. They had a lower body weight and blood pressure. So what was their “secret”? Well, the first thing that comes to mind is the fact that they were very physically active, but there are other factors.
Humans during the Stone Age, lived on lean meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, roots and nuts. The Stone Age Diet that existed before the development of agriculture, contained more fibers and less fat. Here is a list of food products that were not a part of the Stone Age Diet:
The Stone Age Diet today is based on what humans ate during the time before the development of the agriculture. This is why the Stone Age Diet include berries, fruits, vegetables, root vegetables, fish, egg and wild meat. Protein and fat should have a ratio of 3:1 respectively by weight. Humans during the Stone Age ate a lot of animal organ meats like the liver, kidneys and brains. The Stone Age Diet emphasizes this kind of meat that is extremely rich in nutrition.
The Stone Age Diet exclude food products that weren’t around before the development of agriculture, such as rice, pasta, bread, refined white flour, cooking fat, salt, sugar, milk and dairy food. Carbohydrates should be kept as low as possible. Also, the food is cooked from scratch so you can’t use any canned or processed food in the Stone Age Diet.
More people would lose weight and become healthier if they would cut down on fat, sugar and salt, according to research. Our body doesn’t really need much sugar and salt in order to function. The Stone Age Diet doesn’t include cooking fat, sugar or salt and is therefore a great diet if you want to stay healthy and avoid cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity. But always consult with your doctor before trying a new diet. Also, let’s not forget that many of us could become a lot healthier by just becoming more physically active, as they were during the Stone Age.