Tuesday 14 May 2013

What is the Primal Diet?


The 'Primal' or 'Caveman diet' is a culture of low carb, low calorie and high protein diet with the broad aim to improve health. It is fair to say that the concept of low carb diets took a bit of a media pummelling during the 90s, largely due to the dim view of the Atkin' Diet. However the trigger word "low carb" is about as far as the similarities go between Atkin's and the Primal Diet.

A summary of the Primal Diet

In a nutshell the Primal diet mimics the nutrition of our 'hunter gatherer' ancestors, based around lean protein, healthy fats and lots of vitamins and minerals. The menu typically consists of meat, fish, nuts, eggs, roots and vegetables.

Fats vs carbohydrates

Many low fat diets promoting low fat, low protein, high carb diets were commonly found in health magazines but a new age of nutrition has emerge with the understanding that fat is not the primary health concern but the excessive intake of carbohydrates - particularly processed and 'hi-GI-carbs' that have been linked to illnesses such as obesity, diebetes and coronary heart disease.

Paleo or our own method of madness?

Robb Wolf's: The Paleo Solution is certainly the most popular low carb or 'Caveman diets' and Mark Sisson's: The Primal Blueprint also contains some great information. Our take on nutrition does not differ greatly from these two approaches, but with the emphasis on making the lifestyle more accessible and more applicable to your average person constrained by money, convenience and of course a degree of want of indulgence.


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