"To call a diet on which humans lived for millenia a fad is just ignorance. In fact, it is the modern fad of eating a high-carb, high grain, high-sugar diet that is harmful." p50, The New Evolution Diet, Arthur De Vany
The New Evolution Diet continues to be the book that I come back to when I stray from "Paleo" eating. Art De Vany has a blog he maintains and is considered the grandfather of the Paleo movement- though he doesn't use that term. He simply began a personal study of what foods reduced insulin levels naturally in his diabetic son and wife in the 70's. He was an economics professor so studying data came naturally to him as did publishing papers. His first paper with his thoughts on Fitness and Diet was "Evolutionary Fitness". You can google it. His approach is very straight-forward and the book, the New Evolution Diet, expands upon it and makes it more palatable to general audiences.
I'm still sort of baffled by all the "conventional" thinking about health and nutrition. Specifically- the issue of calories. The mainstream thinking- which I see all the time in Men's Health publications has to do with the "Calories in, Calories out" equation. "Eat less and exercise more" is supposedly the recipe to losing weight. Gary Taubes addressed this extensively in his paper- What If It's All a Big, Fat Lie? and his book Why We Get Fat; and What We Can Do About It. That book is actually denser than DeVany's and more science-oriented, though less science-y than Taubes' tome- Good Calories, Bad Calories.
So calories are one issue that stick around....and another is about red meat. I know several people now who are moving forward with a vegetarian based diet- thinking it's healthier. I just got an invitation to a barbecue from my friend who's very overweight- and the main selling point was that they'd have grilled pineapple. Grilled pineapple is delicious, yes, but the sugar content is high- especially versus grilled steak or hamburger. The Nurse's study published by Harvard last year seems to have really hit the national media hard- and it's a drag.
I eat a lot of calories primarily from a high protein, low carb diet ( a lot of meats, eggs, and fish) and have very low cholesterol, low triglycerides, no diseases, more energy, strength, and stamina than ever. I credit the Paleo diet and my habit of 4-8 week weight lifting routines- as well as adopting sports I'm interested in (surfing, tennis). Getting adequate rest and drinking water have also been important.
There's a lot of temptation in our society. I don't watch tv so commercials don't get to me- but, just in shopping at grocery stores, there's always candy by the register, and happy hour specials, and yeah, it gets to be laborious explaining your dietary habits to incredulous people (often women). They often are freaked out that you're having a salad or think they're "foodies" by being into baked goods like pies and cakes. Friends too can sabotage you just by not understanding- just by being ignorant. They think you only eat meat.
The Paleo diet is about eating whole foods; nutrient-dense foods; not eating processed foods loaded with sugars or that trigger insulin spikes... The idea isn't to be a caveman. It's to eat foods that humans evolved on. This is a great a article on the subject from Nerd Fitness:
http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/10/04/the-beginners-guide-to-the-paleo-diet/
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