Despite the many grain free recipes on this blog and my frequent admonition to eliminate refined grain based carbs from the diet and limit even properly prepared grains to a moderate level, I don’t choose to eat paleo or primal.
I especially don’t want my children to eat this way.
My reasons are pretty straightfoward when it comes to Paleo. They are more subtle with regards to Primal.Â
Paleo Diet – Misguided from the Get Go
The Paleo Diet as written by Loren Cordain can be quickly dismissed as unhealthy because it makes a number of wild claims that are completely unsupported through close examination of Traditional Societies as studied and documented by Dr. Weston A. Price in his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.
For starters, he says that wild animals are low in fat, but buffalo fat is more saturated than even beef fat from domesticated cattle.
He recommends canola oil as a source of omega-3 fatty acids, yet most canola oil is deodorized during manufacturing which destroys these delicate fats. It is almost always of GMO origin.
Cordain extols the virtues of lean meats but Traditional Man prized the fatty, cholesterol rich liver and other fatty cuts.
Perhaps Cordain’s most ridiculous suggestion of all is to rub flax oil on meat before cooking. Flax oil should never be cooked as it turns rancid and would be toxic and carcinogenic to consume!
His recommendation against grains and all starchy root vegetables (tubers) goes against discoveries of grains in the ashes and pottery of some of the most primitive humans and widespread use of tubers by many Traditional Societies. For example, ancient hunter-gatherers ate oats as confirmed by archaeological evidence.
Finally, his claim that primitive man did not consume salt is just plain baffling. Just because a salt shaker wasn’t on the dinner table doesn’t mean that salt was not consumed via other methods!
Ashes from salt rich marsh grasses were added to food in African tribes. Salt rich blood from hunted game was used in food preparation after being carefully collected.
In the final analysis, there isn’t a whole lot of paleo in The Paleo Diet! Â
With so many misguided recommendations in the book as a whole, embarking down the path of the Paleo Diet is clearly fraught with a clear and present danger to health!
Primal Diet – Traditional But Is It Optimal?
My reasons for not eating Primal, however, are a bit more subtle.
Folks who eat Primal typically base it on the book The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson. The diet excludes all cereal grains and recommends against all conventional dairy although raw dairy is considered acceptable. Saturated fat and natural cholesterol are rightfully embraced as health supporting. Learning how to make bone broth is advised.
The book warns against soy, transfats, phytates, lectins, processed foods, and of course sugar.
In essence, the Primal Diet does indeed recommend a way of life and eating that is in harmony with Traditional Wisdom and following this approach to eating can be a healthy choice for some.
Remember though, that only a few Traditional societies didn’t eat grains. The vast majority did! Hence, unless you are of Eskimo or Masaai heritage who ate a carnivore diet, it is best to be eating your grains.
Primal Eating Blows Out Thyroids?Â
As an example of Primal eating not being a good long term choice, let’s examine the case of the former Fitness Editor for this blog, Paula Jager CSCS, who used to eat Primal for several years. She was even featured on Mark Sisson’s website in 2011 as an example of newly minted 50 year old in amazing physical condition. Indeed, Paula eats extremely well and works out religiously. She’s gorgeous!
However, back in 2015, Paula made the decision to go back to eating traditionally prepared, gluten free grains for health reasons. I know several other women who went back to grains due to failing thyroid health after several years eating Primal or Paleo. Women beware! I have not observed a single woman do well on this type of diet for more than a few years, particularly those with children or those who are perimenopausal or menopausal.
Why is eating traditionally prepared grains ultimately a better approach than Primal?
Not All Traditional Diets Are Created Equal
In Dr. Price’s travels, he noted that some Traditional Societies were healthier and had more excellent physical form than others.
For example, during Dr. Price’s travels in Africa, he examined several five cattle keeping groups: The Maasai of Tanganyika, the Muhima of Uganda, the Chewya of Kenya, the Watusi of Ruanda, and the Neurs tribes on the western side of the Nile near the country of Sudan.
These groups were largely carnivores with their diet consisting primarily of blood, meat and milk. Fish was also eaten by some. The liver was highly priced and was consumed both raw and cooked.
Grains, fruits, and vegetables were consumed in small amounts.
These largely carnivorous tribes were very tall with even the women averaging over 6 feet in height in some tribes. All these tribes had marvelous physiques and perfectly straight, uncrowded teeth. Six tribes had no dental decay whatsoever.
On the other extreme, Dr. Price also examined largely vegetarian tribes such as the Bantu. This agricultural group’s diet consisted primarily of sweet potatoes, corn, beans, bananas, millet and sorghum. A few cattle or goats were kept for meat and milk and frogs, insects, and other small animals were also consumed.
These tribes were dominated by their carnivorous neighbors and they did suffer from low levels of dental decay – about 5-6% of all teeth.
The final African group Dr. Price researched were the Dinkas.  The Dinkas followed a truly mixed diet of whole foods without the tendency toward the extremes of the carnivorous Maasai or the agricultural Bantu.
While not as tall as the primarily carnivorous, cattle herding groups, they were physically better proportioned and had greater strength.
The Dinka diet primarily consisted of nutrient dense, properly prepared whole grains and fish.
Dr. Price’s close study of these African groups convinced him that the best Traditional Diet – one that encourages optimal physical development in children – consisted of a balance of properly prepared whole grains along with animal foods (especially fish), and not tending toward extremes in either direction.
This is surely one of the most important lessons from Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. Avoiding of extremes particularly when it comes to the diet of growing children, is the best and most wise approach when their optimal development is the goal.
So while I am not against eliminating grains in the diet particularly when a temporary period of gut healing is called for (such as with the GAPS Diet), the long term optimal way of eating is a balanced one that includes grains as described and noted by Dr. Price.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
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Sources
The Paleo Diet, Thumbs Down Book Review
More Information on Maintaining a Healthy Weight
Dukan Diet
Losing Weight with Coconut Oil
Zoe Harcombe Diet
Fasting with bone broth
Raw milk fasting
Bulletproof Coffee Weight Loss Risks
I wish gut healing was a temporary thing. I have been healing my son’s gut for ten years and still going strong. When I meet someone with a good, healthy gut, I will be sure to mention a good “balanced” diet to them. In the meantime, I will be a strong advocate for grain free, sugar free living.
@Jill: After 10 years I think I’d be looking at something different. I mean really – 10 years?? Maybe research what you might possibly be doing wrong instead of insisting that a certain way of eating is optimal just because you read it somewhere or it’s good for someone else’s lifestyle.
It must be creating a stess level not to be believed.
Also I should add that by eating Paleo/primal I have reached a more healthy weight and maintained it and am in the most excellent health that I have ever been in in my life at 34 years of age. Cutting out grains has cured me of an inflammatory disease and in combination with increased probiotics and fermented foods has healed my gut!
Well I’m not so eloquent with my words so I’ll just say what I think: this article is a piece of crap.
I have been eating this way (Paleo / primal) for a very long time and while I do eat some grains, I agree 100 percent that any grains should always be soaked and or fermented. I love the Weston A. Price foundation and nourishing traditions. I do consumer some raw dairy and we do not ever advocate the use of canola oil that is completely ridiculous!
@Raluca–where does one begin to find out about metabolic type and needs, etc.? I agree with your thoughts that we’re all made differently and would therefore need different nourishment. Any thoughts?
If people are interested in this subject and educating themselves more, I highly recommend the book Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet by Elaine Gloria Gottschall. She actually explains the science behind why it is difficult for the body to digest grains and certain types of sugars. After a long period of trying various diets, this is the one that has made the difference in my digestion.
Also, in reference to Weston Price’s observations, it is important to remember that correlation does not equal causation. Definitely important information that he gathered, but let’s not forget that true results must control for all variables that may effect things like height, build, etc.
Hi Sarah,
Thanks so much for this article. I have been flirting with the idea of going primal for a while now, but after reading your views and reasoning I think I will just stick with the traditional diet we are on. I really appreciate your knowlege and wisdom in regards to traditional foods. Thanks again.
She doesn’t quote any sources, and both the Primal Blueprint and the Paleo diet have undergone tremendous changes, and are changing all the time. Look at some studies, read the forums on MarksDailyApple.com, and see that everyone reacts differently to different food choices but in no way are grains and corn anything like they were when they were first domesticated. You can’t read one blog and assume that THAT is the prescribed way of eating. I think these diets and lifestyles may have been touted as a fad, but you really can’t go wrong by sourcing your meat from grass-fed&finished farmers and trying to eat organically/non-GMO with regards to vegetables, fruits, nuts, oils, and fats. It’s about sustaining the environment and lifelong health as much as it is about the “diet”. And you might feel just fine eating grains/gluten, but the phytates, lectin, and gluten render their nutrients unavailable to our bodies. A lot of our “traditional diet” has to do with what lobbyists are doing in D.C. Money money money.
Thank you for your post, Sarah. My body needs grains. I’ve been hearing for a while from traditional food people that grains (even traditionally prepared) are bad for one’s health, even though Dr. Price found healthy groups that ate them.
Unless there is a health reason for doing so (weight problems, gut imbalance etc) eliminating grains from the diet is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
This type of thing does generally happen when there is a REACTION against something that is excess in society – in this case, overconsumption of grains. Responding by cutting them all out of the diet makes little logical sense to me. Perhaps cutting them all out for awhile (even a few years) may be beneficial but I would wager that MOST people who eat Paleo or Primal will eventually go back to eating grains. Just my opinion of course. Extremes in anything particularly in the way one eats tend not to last over the long haul.
Not to mention epigenetics and microflora Enterotyping puts most “paleo” in question. Eating paleo gave me severe constipation which led to numerous other problems. Eating “traditional” for my “tribe” – ie: Northern European ancestry has done wonders.
I always see that, and it makes me wonder. We eat so many veggies at my house, and nuts (soaked and dried) that constipation is definitely not an issue – until we have a special day or something and eat bread or sugar again. I guess everybody’s system must react a little differently.
While I classify myself as Primal, I am not above slathering a piece of real sourdough with butter once in a great while. That being said, I do not consider grain based foods necessary for any real macro or micronutrient contribution to the diet. What nutrients are in properly prepared whole grains that can’t be found in a diet rich in pastured animal products, fish/seafood, vegetables, tubers, fuits, nuts & seeds? There aren’t any to my knowledge (and please correct me if I’m wrong.)
HOWEVER…what we eat, and what we choose to feed our children is ultimately a personal decision. The WAPF protocol of soaking/sprouting/souring is an excellent way to remove some of the anti-nutrients and render grains more nutritious. I absolutely agree with this, but that is quite the process and finding organic, non-GMO, non-toxic grains can be difficult for many. Not to mention the time investment to properly prepare them. While I commend people who take this time to make sure the grains they and their families eat are properly prepared, many might find it easier to just avoid them altogether. I think either/or is perfectly acceptable.
In today’s day & age, where so many families subsist on a diet primarily composed of GM corn, GM soy, dwarf hybrid wheat, and PUFAs, I think any move toward Paleo (revised), Primal (my favorite), or WAPF style eating would result in dramatic health improvements. Then tweak as you see fit.
I choose not to eat grains because they make me fat, and make my joints creaky. Vegetable/tuber sources of carbohydrates do not. Is this just me? Am I just vain? Perhaps. But I’m going with what works for me.
Hear, hear! I find it sad that the big names in paleo are so careful to be gracious about related styles of eating, as seen by the complementary comments about attendees at the Ancestral Health Symposium (http://blog.cholesterol-and-health.com/2011/09/my-pocast-interview-with-blogger.html), proper grain preparation (http://www.marksdailyapple.com/soaked-sprouted-fermented-grains/), and the sweet spots where different carefully considered diets intersect (http://cavegirleats.com/paleo-primal-weston-a-price/), and are rewarded with something like this.
I read widely, blogs and otherwise, and I see no reason to foster snippishness between the few strong voices in this small corner of the popular health pond.
Excellent post, Lauren!!!
These various real food plans can definitely all learn from each other.
First let me say..i enjoy ur site! I have been reading bout Primal/Paleo…wholefoods movement 4 a year now & went Primal Sept 12 ! I am up in the air about white potatoes…but not grains…I am trying very hard to convince my daughter not to give her baby 5mths grains…here is another view on grains… http://www.foodrenegade.com/why-ditch-infant-cereals/
As I mentioned in the post, grains are not beneficial for a child under 1 year old. This is because babies do not produce enough of the enzyme amylase yet to digest carbohydrates. After one year, it’s perfectly fine to serve properly prepared grains as long as there isn’t a health issue that precludes them.