US New and World Report recently published their Best Diets 2014, ranking the Paleo diet dead last amongst the other thirty-one diets assessed.
I'm not sure non-Paleo-supporters seem to care about those eating according to a Paleo diet. While I don't get all wistful about the concept of communing with cavemen as we tear fleshy bits from game and crunch on dirt-laden root vegetables, I love the clean, whole foods aspect of so-called Paleo eating. I'm not competing in a popularity contest, and I don't treat my health as a fad or a short term race to improvement; going Paleo is a lifestyle change that I passionately believe in, have executed, and is working well for my entire family (two toddler boys included).
Eating large quantities of vegetables, accompanied by predominantly lean proteins and healthful fats and some fruits, nuts and seeds is both delectable and transformative. Within one week of "going Paleo" I found my energy levels restored (impressive for a mother of two young boys, one of which often nurses multiple times throughout the night), and improved clarity and cognizance (I.e. sayonara, brain fog). After cleaning up my diet, it was easy to discover foods that my body dislikes, and I avoid them altogether (or most of the time).
I find much of what said article outlined about the Paleo diet to be laughable, and symptomatic of a failure to investigate the details of Paleo eating. It perpetuates stereotypes that Paleo-eaters eat pounds of fatty meats amidst piles of bacon. The "facts" employed by the "experts" to asses the diets are obsolete. And the mere fact that it [the Paleo diet] scored a 2.0 out of 5 in terms of nutrition is enough to dismiss the so-called experts' opinions alone. While I could exercise quite a diatribe about all that is wrong with their assessment (not to mention tear apart some of the diets that are ranked so highly), I will simply link to Dr. Loren Cordain's rebuttal, as its brevity and references are difficult to contend with.
If you're seeking an improvement in your overall health and wellness, I recommend you to read It Starts With Food, and give yourself thirty days of a Paleo-ized diet to prove to yourself whether or not said way of eating is healthful for you. If you don't care about the Paleo diet, then by all means eat how you like, but please avoid toting false notions and binary precepts about a diet you haven't studied sufficiently. I must close here, lest I digress into a tirade about the meaningless noise fostered by the ubiquity of social media, as well as the false sense of security enveloped in treating "experts" as infallible.
To each their own, but less unfounded noise would be enjoyable. Peace.
