Why I Don't Like the "Paleo Diet"
I am becoming more and more concerned with the increased number of "Paleo" desserts and baked goods being offered. This is moving people further back toward a Standard American focus toward higher carbohydrate intake versus healthful fat intake.
I suspect very few of our hunter gatherer ancestors had access to strawberry vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, or even enjoyed going out for a bite of chocolate "Nutella " granola. The Paleo movement is finding ways to get sweet and processed foods into their daily diet, feeling guilt-free about it as coconut flour and almond flour are not grains.
-For Example: 2 tbsp of coconut flour is 17-25 grams of carbohydate. More importantly, its breakdown is 55% carbohydrate, 31% fat and 14% protein. Once you add any sweetener (fruit included) to this you move the carb percentage even higher.
- On the other hand, almond flour is 72% fat, 15% protein and only 14% carbohydrate, much better.
While I understand the occasional step off of the path to enjoy something that "tastes good", allowing our tongue to define satisfaction and not our desire for feeling and being great, these should be rare snacks, but not part of the "Paleo Diet". It's a confusing message and ultimately puts it at risk for the same downfall the "Gluten-Free" movement has suffered. Now people on a gluten-free diet are eating GF pop-tarts and sugary cereal for breakfast with a GF muffin, a GF sandwich for lunch and GF pasta for dinner. Their glycemic index and insulin levels may actually be worse than before they were "Gluten-Free". I propose new nonemclature for the sake of keeping the true Paleo Diet preserved:
-Standard American Gluten-Free Diet - A diet that is gluten-free but heavy in processed and refined grains and refined sugars that allow one to continue to consume processed foods.
-Standard American Paleo Diet - A diet dissimilar from early hunter-gatherers with feedlot meat, farm-raised fish, "Paleo" cupcakes, muffins, pancakes and other fare made with honey, fruit and other high fructoce containing sweeteners known to be the demise of our health.
These should be rare snacks with the vast majority of days spent consuming whole, farm-fresh eggs, grass fed meats, wild-caught fish, raw nuts, grass fed/whole fat dairy (my addition, not formally Paleo), vegetables and some berries.
I've predicted for some time that soon we will see Paleo bakeries. I've been validated, unfortunately.
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