Caveman diet: what is it and how does it work

Geschatte leestijd: 4 minutenBack in time with your diet? With the Caveman diet, also known as the Paleo Diet, it is assumed that humans should return to the lifestyle of our prehistoric ancestors in terms of nutrition. Paleo comes from the word Paleolithic, which stands for the old stone age. In Greek, Paleo means old and lithos means stone. The idea behind the Caveman diet is that many of our health problems are due to our changing dietary patterns. The human body and processes have not fundamentally changed, but the way we consume food has.

Would you like to return to the menu of the caveman?

Inhoudsopgave

• Wat is het caveman dieet
• Beginnen met het caveman dieet
• Fase 1: Elimineren van bewerkte voeding
• Fase 2: Aanpassen aan de caveman
• Wat mag je eten tijdens het Caveman Dieet
• Wat mag je niet eten tijdens Caveman dieet
• Conclusie

What is the caveman diet?

Since humans have inhabited the earth, the dietary pattern has changed little, and we ate like our ancestors who lived in the hunting and gathering periods. At that time, humans had to hunt or gather their food. Only in the last 10,000 years has this changed due to the emergence of agricultural society. Since then, our diet has undergone rapid changes. Heavily processed and refined products were consumed daily, and Caveman followers see this as a negative development. According to them, the human body has not evolved along with these changes and therefore cannot process these foods well, leading to health issues such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases.

If we return to the menu of the caveman and eat like our ancestors, our bodies will positively respond. Avoid products with a barcode and you will have more energy, feel fitter, and become more vital. Many Western lifestyle diseases decrease by following the Caveman diet, at least according to its proponents.

Getting Started with the Caveman Diet

When starting the Caveman diet, you need to make some adjustments to your diet. This diet does not focus on the quantity of nutrients or calories you consume but rather on the type of food you eat: is it processed or not? You should avoid processed foods and shift towards natural and unprocessed foods as much as possible.

You start the Caveman Diet in 2 phases.

Phase 1: Eliminating processed foods

In the first phase of the Caveman diet, you start by replacing all products that our ancestors did not eat. The easiest way is to consider whether each food was available in nature during the time of cavemen and whether it is processed. If the answer is “no,” you should remove it from your menu. Some examples of what you cannot eat during the Caveman diet:

• Bread or other grain products
• Rice and other rice products
• Sugars or refined sugars
• Dairy
• Potatoes
• Legumes
• Oils from factories, such as margarine
• Soft drinks

Products like bread and other grain products were not available to our ancestors. Humans started eating bread only when we began cultivating grain. Similarly, dairy was not available to ancient humans and should be avoided in this diet. Butter and margarine should also be eliminated. When cooking, use olive oil or sunflower oil sparingly.

In addition to eliminating food in phase 1, you also need to adjust your physical activity. After all, cavemen were active and not sedentary. So, in phase 1, you also need to eliminate all physical inactivity. Try to go back to basics. If you can bike or walk to work, do so. Make sure you not only eat like a caveman but also move like one.

Phase 2: Adapting to the caveman

Since you have eliminated many things from your daily diet and activity level in phase 1, in phase 2, you can add some things back in. These additions also relate to food and activity and replace the things you removed in the first phase. This means you will eat more like a caveman. There are plenty of foods that you can eat because our ancestors ate them, so stick to those. Foods like meat, fish, eggs, shellfish, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and much more are allowed. Especially foods without a barcode are safe. Additionally, you need to move more, just like a caveman. In Phase 1, you eliminated all inactivity from your schedule, and in Phase 2, you will add activities back in. Make sure you focus on improving the quality of your training, not just the time you spend exercising. After all the effort, it is essential to rest well because cavemen had no stress, and neither should you.

What can you eat during the Caveman Diet

What you should not eat during Caveman diet

Conclusion

The Caveman diet has many benefits. After all, the nutrients you eat are mainly unprocessed and natural, and you become aware of what you eat and how much you move. Many people who make this switch feel much more energetic, stronger, and healthier. The chances of losing weight with the Paleo diet are significant because you quickly reach a calorie deficit. Followers of this diet eat more protein. Eating more protein can lead to longer satiety and a higher thermic effect of your food, meaning your body burns more energy just by eating more protein. Finally, you retain more muscle mass by eating protein, which also has its advantages.

The critics of this diet argue that you have to eat too much meat, but you can adjust this by moderating the amounts. Moreover, meat is a source of protein and an important component of muscle cells, but not the only source of protein. Hence the popularity of this lifestyle among Crossfit athletes. Since most nutrients have a low glycemic index, you will quickly notice that you have more energy because your blood sugar level remains more constant. Refined sugars and alcohol, on the other hand, cause your blood sugar level to rise rapidly, leading to significant fluctuations.

Finally, this is not a crash diet, unlike many other diets. By adjusting your diet to that of cavemen, you can adopt a true and healthy lifestyle. Whereas you will not last years with a South Beach or a Cambridge Diet, with the caveman diet, it is more likely.