It’s January and with the dawn of a new year, it feels like there is always some influencer pushing whatever diet happens to be working for them. There are a few diets, however, that seem to keep coming back. So, today we thought we’d tackle one such never-ending diet: The Paleo Diet. What is the paleo diet? I’m so glad you asked. Let’s get into the specifics.
What is the Paleo Diet?
According to the Mayo Clinic,
“A modern paleo diet includes fruits, vegetables, lean meats, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds. These are foods that in the past people could get by hunting and gathering. It doesn’t include foods that became more common when small-scale farming began about 10,000 years ago. These foods include grains, legumes, and dairy products.”
To be clear grains include: wheat, corn, barley, oats, rye, and rice. And, unlike other diets, the paleo diet also excludes ancient grains like: quinoa, millet, amaranth, teff, and sorghum.
To be clearer, legumes include peanuts, beans, lentils, green beans, peas, chickpeas, and more.
What’s the Argument for Eating Paleo?
The idea behind the Paleo diet is to eat foods likely eaten by our Paleolithic ancestors (those who lived in the Paleolithic era). This is based on the idea that our bodies have not evolved quickly enough in the last 10,000 years to properly digest foods that have arisen largely due to farming.
Now, this sounds fair enough, right? Let’s revert back to grassroots and eat foods the earliest humans ate!
Let’s however consider how human evolution works. The idea that our bodies haven’t had enough time to evolve to eat the excluded foods in the paleo diet ignores many modern examples of human evolution. The ability to digest dairy into adulthood, the genetic mutation that produces blue eyes, and the immune resistance to malaria have all been recorded as happening within the last 6,000-10,00 years.
The Pros and Cons
The paleo diet does have some pros and we’d be remiss to mention those. For example, the paleo diet has been shown to promote weight loss and cardiovascular health.
That said, further research has indicated that consistently eating a paleo diet alters the way your gut works. A serum trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), a gut-derived metabolite associated with cardiovascular disease increases when you follow the paleo diet. This indicates that, eventually adding whole grains and fibrous starches would be necessary to maintain the cardiovascular progress initially seen by eating paleo.
Another pro for the paleo diet is that it will greatly decrease how many processed foods you’ll be consuming. Consuming high amounts of processed foods can cause inflammation in some people. Also, the lack of grains and legumes encourages consuming more fruits and vegetables than the average American.
That said, if we are modeling our diet after our ancestors due to their superior health, we might be missing the mark a bit! A recent study in The Lancet, looked for atherosclerosis (clogged arteries from cholesterol and fats) in over 100 mummies from the Paleolithic era and 35% of them showed signs of this disease!
Let’s Take a Closer Look:
When considering, what is the paleo diet, you must take into consideration the fact that there can’t possibly be any one paleo diet. After all, our paleo ancestors lived all over the world. That means that the foods harvested by hunters and gatherers were greatly influenced by geographical region, season, and opportunity.
For example, those living near the southern seas would likely eat much more fish than red meat and the fruits and veggies would be more akin to pineapple, mangos, and coconut. In contrast, those living in the mountains would find other foods like bison and deer with berries and leafy greens. Paleolithic humans living in the Mediterranean or Nordic regions would have equally diversified diets.
The bottom line? The human diet is meant to be diverse and flexible. Our ability to adapt to our surroundings and eat the foods available to us is part of why we have survived for so long!
Debunking Some False Claims
Not to be “that girl” but the idea that Paleolithic ancestors did not consume grains has been largely proven as false. Studies have discovered starch granules on ancient tools, implying that early homeo sapiens were consuming grains and grasses as early as 105,000 years ago!
As for dairy, did you know that some cheeses in Europe have been consumed for over 7,5000 years?!
So, Should Dancers Eat a Paleo Diet?
Dancers historically have complicated relationships with food. And, while we do recommend our athletes try to decrease how much heavily processed foods they consume, we do not recommend eliminating any foods from your diet.
Say it with me, there is no such thing as “good” or “bad” foods. And any diet that creates this sort of elimination mindset is one we would generally discourage.
That said, elimination is not the only reason we don’t recommend the paleo diet for dancers. Dancers need complex carbohydrates like starchy vegetables, whole grains, beans, and other legumes. Not only are they excellent sources of fiber for keeping our guts happy and healthy, but they are packed with energy!
Even The National Academy of Sports Medicine does not recommend the paleo diet for athletes because of its low levels of carbohydrates.
TLDR?
What is the paleo diet? It’s a diet that eliminates dairy, whole grains, and legumes in an effort to eat like our Paleolithic ancestors.
This diet, however, overlooks a lot of evidence that our ancestors didn’t adhere to any one diet. Their diets varied depending on geography, season, and opportunity.
Overall, we don’t recommend that dancers follow the paleo diet. Not because it’s inherently bad, we just know that elite athletes need plenty of carbohydrates and fiber to function at their peak.
A good rule of thumb? If a diet cuts out a large number of foods, putting them “off-limits”, that’s a red flag that it may not be sustainable in the long term. And, after all, a sustainable lifestyle is one that a dancer needs to thrive.
Have questions about what that looks like? Give these blogs a read: Are Foods Good And Bad? Building a Healthy Relationship with Food, Probiotics and Fiber: Your Guts Best Friend, Life After Macros: The Principles of Intuitive Eating, Explained, How to Track Macros Like a Pro
If you’re looking for more guidance, feel free to reach out at dancerswholift@gmail.com or shoot us a DM on Instagram @dancerswholift! We’d love to hear from you and answer any nutrition questions you might have!
